FujiwaraPhoenix

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

Neir — Slums

It would be quite clear at a glance that the young man's claims of their friend being a slime—and one capable of communication and biomancy, at that—had caught Meira off guard. Something like a person would have been straightforward enough—there was no way someone forced to stay put would escape the eyes of the residents—but something as small as that?

Needless to say, the true nature of "C"'s friend complicated things.

"A slime... Well, if it's just a slime, it can't have gone far," she remarked before the fact that it was much easier moving a slime than it was a body pushed its way to the forefront of her mind. "...Well, on it's own, at least. There's no trace of the usual odd cleanliness from one moving in here, at least, so I suppose it had to have been someone abducting the thing."

The catgirl paused for a moment as she considered the information she had been provided before turning back towards "C", a slightly more concerned expression on her face now.

"You said that it knew biomancy, right? Is there any chance that someone else might know about that fact? Slimes knowing magic is rare enough, but one that could communicate on top of that..."

Regardless of the young man's answer, though, Meira would at least continue her attempts to help seek out his missing companion, up until the point where doing so became untenable due to both the lack of lighting and lack of definitive leads. Given what had happened earlier that day, spending any more time outside would likely put them both at more risk than not—which, ultimately, was not worth continuing the hunt until morning.

Maybe they could find some more leads after the night passed. At the very least, though, the guard house would work as "basic" lodging for the night; between making sure that Cassius' body was in working condition again and that package still needing to be collected, it certainly felt like the most logical course of action to take.

For what it was worth, though, the promise of a healer to help with Cassius' current condition was not for naught. Though the person in question—a young woman who appeared to be donning clothes typical of Western clergy—seemed to be somewhat surprised at the presence of an elf here, her ability to help mend his wounds—and, as far as any of those less accustomed to the magic of this world were concerned, whatever was ailing him from within—seemed to have visible effects at the onset of everything. Unfortunately, the poison that had wormed it's way into his body was not so easily cleansed...

But it was most certainly better than nothing.

Seeing as how she was being paid extra to make sure that there would be extra security until that ever-so-ominous package was handed off to the "proper" groups, Meira had no reason to abandon the pair as they rested in the guardhouse overnight—or, well, rested as best they could. At the very least, she would be awake by the time the other two were ready to do... Well, whatever it was they planned to do.

More likely than not, this would mean hunting down that magic slime. If it had any of the capabilities that "C" had mentioned it to have, then there was all the more reason to try and figure out some way—any way—to make sure that it both survived to the end and to make sure that the "usual suspects" didn't try to take it for themselves.

---

After some indeterminate amount of time—the child's running had been irregular in both stride and pace—Petra would eventually feel the child slowing to a stop near... Well, whatever location it was that they were so intent on bringing their new friend to. The rough sounds of wood being pushed aside indicated at least some sort of moment, but after the young child crawled into a structure of some sort they seemed to almost present the slime to the space around them under the assumption that it could see the space around them.

Whether or not it could in the first place did not, however, seemed to cross their mind.

"This is my home!" they declared before placing the slime on the floor. "Or maybe it'd be more like a hideout?"

Whatever it was, though, it would become quite obvious that the place was far more cramped than the shack that the otherworlders had first awoken in. Maybe that was to be expected, though.

Regardless, the child seemed to enjoy having new company present up until the point where whatever energy was keeping them going finally petered out. The grumbling of their stomach was not exactly a good sign in the grander scheme of things, but at the very least Petra would be free to move around (or even attempt to leave) once the child had fallen asleep.

Or not. That was a decision that was hers to make, though whether or not wandering around a completely foreign area of the town away from any aid was a good idea or not was probably worth considering.

@ERode@Zeroth@TheMushroomLord

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

??? — Smithy

Once the remaining undead were dealt with in equally unceremonious fashion, the trio would be free to explore what remained of the smithy. The door to the back room—where the actual smithing took place—was left slightly ajar, allowing for free passage through to what had once likely been the owner's heart and soul—figuratively, of course. Given how there didn't seem to be anything attempting to approach the group from within despite the chaos of the brawl that had just transpired, it seemed that the area was safe enough to explore without any fear.

Or, well, fear of any undead striking from anything past the storefront.

Past the scattered remains of the undead soldiers, though, it would be apparent that a majority of the goods here had been taken already by people long since gone. What remained were simple arms—spears and maces that had been left to rust, for example—and some leather pouches large enough to hold at least a few things.

Whether they were on sale or were the former owner's belongings mattered little now, though, but bereft of any other goods as they were, it didn't seem like they would provide much in terms of coinage. At the very least, though, they were better than nothing when it came to carrying what goods the trio had gathered around.

The back room, lit by little more than the faint sunlight filtering in, would reveal a plethora of unfinished metalworks and unworked ingots, as well as a few well-worn tools mounted upon the wall. To explore further or take what goods they could and depart was a decision the three would be free to make at their own discretion.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai

---

??? — Mosslit Cavern

Despite what might have been an idea situation otherwise, finding a glint of metal in the sea of trees below would have been a nigh-impossible task—doubly so when the bird had already disappeared past the greenery in the distance, as Javal would have been privy to when he had barely caught sight of the creature disappearing before. To extrapolate any approximate distance based on their current position would have been a difficult task on its own, but at the very least the group would have a general idea where the bird had gone based on that assumption alone.

Whether they could estimate where, exactly, that was now that they had returned to the cave where they had awoken was another question entirely.

Unfortunately enough, though, the cavern did not seem to provide the same level of safety as it had before they had left. While the sections closest to the exit were bereft of danger, any further forays inward—namely, towards where the chest was—would present the explorers with the presence of a large griffin curled up in the center of the room.

It seemed to be resting for the moment, head resting atop its forelimbs, but the presence of the creature was a concern on its own.

@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable

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

Kochiya Sanae

Hillside Hamlet

With Remilia's insight in hand, Sanae took a moment to consider what Remilia had said. Sure, from a pragmatic point of view the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion had a point—while their group was self-sufficient to a fault (at least in terms of combat power at the bare minimum), bringing along someone unable to care for themselves would only increase their burden as they traveled towards Nieve. The situation would only grow more concerning once they actually reached the place, seeing as how all of them had things to research (and in a completely foreign town, no less!).

...But even so, something seemed to be nagging at the back of the young woman's mind to at least check her out. She wasn't exact a bleeding hard, but it was hard not to trust her intuition when it had done so much for her in the past already.

Maybe letting Remilia check up on her wasn't such a bad idea. Probably not now—doubly so not in here, where people might not be inclined to have such a thing happen—but worth examining all the same.

"Erm... How much information can you get out of blood alone? I'd guess blood type's the bare minimum, and whether or not they're dehydrated or something...?" Sanae asked right as Anne entered the building and bore witness to the same girl they had been discussing.

Despite her reaction or the conversation panning out in front of her, though, the girl seemed to remain almost completely catatonic. For such a blasé dialogue about what to do with her, her eerie lack of response only served to further push Sanae towards at least getting her checked out.

"No problem; this girl, uh... She apparently arrived to this town with nothing but the clothes on her back and has been cooped up here like this ever since," the young woman replied, filling Anne in on what information she had gathered up until then. "She said some stuff earlier that Remilia presumed to be connected to the monsters that had arrived here—something about rot?—but we can't exactly ask her when she's like this. I was just thinking that if nobody else has any leads, then this girl would be the next best thing—and to that end, figuring out what happened and to get her back to normal might be worth looking into."

While the conversation persisted for a bit longer, ultimately a decision was made to bring the girl along for treatment (and a bit of an examination from Remilia once they were on the road). With the caravan choosing to move past the hamlet—Sila, or so it was called—it only made sense to return to traveling once any last farewells were made and the entourage passed through.

For what little it was worth, the area seemed to be clear of whatever those strange monsters were, and that safety persisted over the next few days as the caravan continued on towards it's destination. Unfortunately, the odd girl's condition saw no marked improvement over the course of their travels, though a "sanctioned" feeding on Remilia's part would reveal that the girl was most certainly not of human origin. What exactly she was, though, would require either someone more versed in the matters of the magical or a response from the girl herself.

On the fourth day after leaving Sila, though, the caravan—and those traveling with it—would finally see what the capital waiting for them was. Even from this far distance, the grand walls lining the city could be seen, stretching out and around on all sides to protect it from any danger, and past them buildings that seemed to reach twice as high. In the center of it all, a large castle could be seen, spires poking out in the distance as they reached out towards the skies above.

It was, even from this distance, undeniably a castle town lifted straight from a storybook.

Thankfully, the guards requisitioning the group at the gate were acquainted with the merchants leading the caravan, and simply by proxy of association it seemed that the group was free to follow them in... For the moment, at least. Past the walls lay white-stone houses inlaid with wood that almost seemed to make them stand out all the more in the midday sun...

And with them, an invitation for the otherworlders to explore as they wished. They were no longer bound by their informal contract now that they had arrived, after all, which meant that they could begin any examinations of the city in earnest.

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

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

Kochiya Sanae

Hillside Hamlet

The girl's words left Sanae feeling quite uncertain about the whole affair. It was quite apparent that the doll-like child in front of her was lost in her own thoughts, but given the state of the town the shrine maiden could only presume that she was referring to something else.

With that assumption in hand, though, the best thing that Sanae felt she could do for the moment was leave her be and maybe ask some of the other townsfolk about her. Something about the whole situation didn't sit right with her, and if there was any chance that it had something to do with that ominous premonition that Millie had, then surely it had to be worth looking into.

Taking a step back from the girl for a moment, Sanae began to do what only seemed reasonable at the moment: accosting any villagers still lingering nearby and questioning them about both the girl and the threat they had so succinctly decimated.

"Oh, that girl? She wandered in here looking like a worn rag a few days ago. I'm not sure where she came from, but one of the old men here—bless his soul—let her stay a while. She hasn't done much since, but even I'm starting to get a bit worried about her."

"Hm? Oh, those strange things? I haven't a clue where they came from, but I'm quite thankful to you and those other strangers for helping fend them off. Never though I'd see a talking tree in my lifetime, much less one coming to our aid."

"That girl is weird! All she does is stay curled up like that. We invited her to play a few times, but it's like she doesn't even hear us!"

The various quips and remarks the villagers had to provide her were unfortunately not particularly enlightening, but Sanae couldn't help but feel as if there was some faint throughline between...

Well, everything here, really.

If anything, though, it would probably be worth running by the others and get their thoughts on the matter. Call it intuition or pity or whatever else, but if there was any information to be gained, it would be from the near-catatonic girl who had fled here with naught but the clothes on her back.

It was at that point, though, that Remilia promptly stole the attention of almost everyone present by... Well, announcing her presence. But while the elderly and infirm took solace in the vampire's ministrations, the girl seemed to be unaffected by it in the slightest.

"Ah, Miss Scarlet!" Sanae called out, waving her over to the vampire before walking over. "I suppose I may as well start this discussion with you since you're here and all, but..."

At this point, Sanae relayed to her what she (and Youmu, given how the half-ghost gardener had been present for her inquiries) had heard from those present—the words of the odd girl included.

"Do you think there might be anything worth looking into here? She doesn't look any better now despite your healing, so I'd guess she's got some sort of trauma... But I'm not sure if leaving her with the townsfolk is the best idea, either."

Outside, though, Gwen seemed to be lost in thought for but a moment as Anne provided what information she had on top of her proposal to join the group. There was a brief pause as the blue-haired girl looked up at the sky with a pensive glance, then towards Maokai, before finally returning Anne's gaze with her own.

"While I would love to see this capital you speak of, I'm afraid that Maokai might be a bit too... Slow for your entourage—physically, of course. He'd also stick out like a sore thumb among people, and he isn't quite fond of them to begin with, so I think it'd be best if we continued on our separate ways. Oh, but if you do happen to find anything out in the future, please do try and let us know... Somehow, I suppose! If we're all travelers from other worlds, then there must surely be a way for us to communicate. If not, then all we need to do is meet again, no?"

With all that said and done, though, the caravan slowly began to pull in towards the hamlet. Rayne, in her haste, was the first to inform those in charge of what had transpired. Given their response—which included thanks that their group wouldn't be forced to take a detour and that no lives had been lost—it didn't seem impossible to convince them to stay a while longer if need be. The sooner they reached their destination, the better, of course, but there were still people here who could very well want to purchase some seldom-available merchandise or otherwise take their minds off of the events that had just transpired.

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

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

Neir — Slums

"Famous inventors?" Meira mused to herself as the pair walked along the evening streets, head tilting back and forth as she considered the question for a few seconds... Before promptly shaking her head no. "Sorry, none really come to mind. I'm probably not the best person to ask about stuff like that, though; fancy tools are nice and all, but if they're not cheap or useful enough to pick up, I'm not likely to even think about them. If they were... Then, well, I'd only really care about the item and not whoever made it, right?"

While the rest of the walk back was rather calm, the reaction of the young man upon reaching the ramshackle building she had first seen the duo (or was it a trio to begin with?) left Meira rather taken aback. She hadn't looked into the shack beyond catching a glimpse of "C" and his attempt at wielding a wooden board, but given the context that the adventurer-hopeful provided left the young woman more concerned than not.

"Couldn't move without help... Well, there doesn't seem to be any trace of a struggle, because there'd probably be more damage to the floor otherwise," the adventurer spoke calmly, placing one hand on "C"'s shoulder as she looked around the darkened room. "...What does your friend look like? I have a few hunches as to what might have happened, but I need more information before I try anything."

If whoever was here had been spirited away due to her getting them involved in that earlier mess, even if only incidentally, then she felt more than a passing obligation to make things right.

@Zeroth

---

??? — ??? Forest — Nest

With their heads cocked to one side almost completely in sync as Nyana adopted a defensive stance, the chicks continued to stare at the slimegirl-knight with rather curious expressions. Their heads continued to track her as she began to move, slowly but surely, towards the edge of their nest, but given how tall it was—no thanks in part due to the tree trunks lining the edge of it—they seemed to be in in real rush to do...

Well, much of anything, really.

Of course, in being introduced to a foreign object that didn't seem to be immediately out to harm them, one of the chicks eventually mustered up enough courage to actually interact with the weird bipedal metal object moving around.

Naturally, this meant poking at the shield that Nyana was placing between herself and them with it's beak. The clanking was rather audible as metal met metal—a testament to the hardness of both—but the force of impact, while noticeable, did not necessarily indicate any intent to simply pry the thing away from her.

@Crusader Lord

Shadow Contract: An Urban Fantasy Action RP

Tenjou Seika

Yamazaki High School

Despite nothing being immediately out of the ordinary as she left the classroom, Seika was quick to notice what felt like the entire building shaking at once. It wasn't the type of shaking one would have expected from something like a low-magnitude earthquake, though, but one more akin to someone turning the speakers up to their highest setting at a sports meet or concert. The initial concern that it had been a natural disaster was quickly put to the side, though, as the young student placed one hand on the wall and felt the reverberating beat of... Something pounding away.

"...What the heck is this horror game-like atmosphere all of a sudden?" Seika asked herself, one hand gripping onto her bag as she glanced around. The possibility that a scenario straight out of fiction was bearing down upon her was stuck in the back of her mind, the fact that all paths to the building's exit led towards the source of that ominous heartbeat-like noise did nothing to assuage her concerns.

But rather than choosing to waffle about endlessly as the night drew longer, the young woman chose to instead take a deep breath and simply make her way to the first floor. With any luck, all of this would be inside of her head and she'd just have a new ghost story to tell people during the summer.

Not like she had much of a choice, though; jumping out a window to get off school grounds—and on a higher floor besides—seemed like a great way to end up injured with nothing but paranoia to offer as an excuse for it.

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

??? — Smithy

Chaos quickly broke out as the undead closed in upon the three closest to them; though their swings were unfocused for what might have been the bodies of soldiers in the past, they had enough weight and heft behind them to threaten injury if they struck true. Though they had lashed out in some vague sense of coordination, the first to counterattack was also the next to be dispatched; the blow to the neck that Sora had delivered might have found similar success to the first undead they had found within the inn's cellar, had he not followed up with a more meaningfully decisive decapitation in turn. The dried flesh of the corpse gave way to the blade quite easily, but parting it from it's owner's body was a bit more of a struggle—no thanks in part to the remnants of what had been some leather beneath.

It would take some work, but thankfully the initial blow had rendered it prone enough to hack through with a bit of effort.

At the same time, though, the undead began to shift around to accommodate the loss of one of their number—or, well, those among their number that could still move after Bianca had knocked one out of the fight and dispatched a second in turn. One of the remainder took Sora's attempt at a decisive blow towards another as an opportunity to strike, but such an action was met in kind with Bianca's own defense—and with it, another somewhat gruesome resolution.

There were still a pair of undead remaining, but given how one of them was simply out of the fight at the moment only one remained a threat in the heat of the moment.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

---

??? — ??? Forest

Regardless of what the group would choose to do with the metal bird's tail feather, the choice to return to the cave seemed to be one set in stone. With the cliff face to guide them back, the trio would find the path to be the exactly as it had been when they had first walked it. Beyond the sun beginning to cross slowly into the distance, though, it seemed as if nothing had really changed since they had left. The only difference now, maybe, was that the path leading to and from the cave seemed a bit more precarious than before; given where it was positioned, though, maybe this location wasn't the safest one to use in the long term.

How to proceed from there, however, was still up in the air.

@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Route 5

While he had hoped that the paralysis would have stalled the Pawniard's assault a bit more, Richard's hopes simply amounted to nothing as Luna took a Fury Cutter to the face. The fight had quickly converged upon the Lileep's position, but any tactical advantage afforded by the presence of the fossil Pokémon meant nothing if their positioning was terrible. As things were now, any further battle would have Snivy out cold. With no knowledge as to the extent of their opponents' roster, having one less teammate available to fight was just asking for problems later down the line.

It didn't take more than a moment for him to recognize that both of their opponents were attempting to focus on Luna, and it took but a moment more for him to pull out her Pokeball and simply withdraw her from the battle altogether.

"That's a bit too close of a call for my liking," he remarked, glancing down at the capsule after pulling the Snivy back, "so let's not deal with that for the moment. Sara, you're up to bat."

With that, the trainer tossed the Nacli's ball into the air and released it onto the field—away from the three Pokémon already duking it out, of course. There were a scant few moments before it could process the situation, but getting it to recognize the immediate threat would hopefully help solve that issue.

"Sara, Mud Shot the Pawniard! Just keep firing until it goes down!"

With paralysis in play and the enemy Pokémon a fair distance away to begin with, Richard hoped that he could gain enough tempo to simply force the opposition to either attempt to weather the storm or fall trying.

@Rune_Alchemist

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

Kochiya Sanae

Hillside Hamlet

After the merchant caravan was informed of the situation and began turning around yet again, Sanae flew back up into the air to get a look at the area once more. Putting aside the copious amount of damage they had done to the landscape, though, there didn't actually seem to be any trace of those strange enemies they had fought earlier. The young woman had noticed them disappearing into nothingness earlier, but seeing the landscape battered but with no blood to be seen...

Well, it wasn't as if that was all to unfamiliar—danmaku duels usually resulted in a fair bit of collateral damage, after all—but with what they had seen from this world already?

That was strange.

With most of her companions already moving to question the town's defenders, Sanae chose to instead follow in Anne's footsteps and check up on the hamlet and it's residents. By this point, the villagers—though still somewhat on guard—had finally begun to check out the situation with their own eyes and, with any luck, go back to their usual lives.

Floating gently to the ground, Sanae slowly made herself known to the people present and, in much the same way she had informed the group of people she had been traveling with, let them know that everything was indeed safe now. Those who were more curious left to go check the truth of her words, while others chose to stay behind.

At a glance, though, Sanae found no indication that anyone here was any bit out of the ordinary—at least, not among those she had seen exiting the building. The question of why those things seemed to be converging here still stuck out in the back of her head, and the young woman felt like this was a good a place as any to start investigating.

"Um... Do you mind if I take a look inside?" she asked no one in particular as she pointed towards the doorway. "I just want to make sure that everyone's okay; we have a healer with us, so if anyone's injured, we can treat them."

A few cautious glances were thrown her way, of course, but in the end the remaining defenders of the town reneged and let her in.

The extent to which this hamlet was sparsely populated only really dawned upon her as she took a look around inside the room she found herself in now, though. At best, this was probably some sort of communal hall, given how the place looked very much like a somewhat well-decorated home, and given how few people were left inside, it didn't seem like there was any reason to converge here of all places.

"Maybe it's just because there were people here, then...?" she muttered to herself as she glanced around, only for her gaze to fall upon what seemed to be a lone child with pale golden hair, curled up in the corner in a fetal position out of the way of everyone else.

There was a brief pause as Sanae stared at them, then at the other villagers present, then once more at the child before walking over to see if she was okay. As she approached, though, the shrine maiden took note of how delicate they seemed to be; with unblemished, pale skin and none of the usual signs of someone who had seen even a day's work under the sun, Sanae felt that she might as well have been looking at a porcelain doll.

"...Hello?" she asked, kneeling down nearby to try and reach eye level with them, "Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?"

---

"Remilia, Rayne, Fran, and Anne? Such wonderful names!" Gwen replied with a smile on her face as she sheathed her scissors on her back before returning the Knight's handshake in kind. "You're quite right, Miss Anne; neither of us are from here. In fact, we were wandering this land for a few days' time before coming across this charming little town."

After she had replied, though, Maokai grunted briefly, shifting his gnarled body and causing the wood to creak and groan in response.

"...Those things were not unlike the Mist. A curse befouling the land itself... I suppose that even in this realm, mortals would seek to defile nature," he added, glancing briefly at Fran before turning towards where all of the creatures had come from.

"Oh? I suppose that those things were familiar, in a sense, but I certainly didn't feel any of the Black Mist on them. Probably for the best, though," the blue-haired girl quipped before glancing back towards the rest of the group. "Anyways, if you're looking for any injured, I had all the townsfolk gather in their town hall... Or some equivalent therein; it looked to be the largest building here, so it seemed like a reasonable enough place to hide away while we did what we could here."

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

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

Steven Yu

??? — Dirt Road

Though it did feel a bit awkward getting swept up in the situation (despite being one of the causes for their prompt departure from the open road), Steven found himself at least somewhat grateful that he wouldn't have to spend the next who-knew-how-long wandering through the world before coming across anything even slightly resembling civilization. Riding in a cart was a novel experience in it's own right (though obviously it was difficult to downgrade from any sort of modern vehicle), but at the very least it allowed the kitsune time to gaze at the scenery around them as they moved.

The guards that were keeping a close eye on him and his companion all the while, however, left him feeling a bit on edge all the same. They were strangers who were now barely in the good graces of someone who probably held no small amount of wealth (and possibly political power), so their trepidation did certainly make sense...

But at the end of the day, it was something the young man felt was worth being able to get some quick shelter with which to properly start planning for the days ahead.

While he had expected something fairly glamorous, though, Steven did not expect a grand mansion waiting for them at the end of their trip. Something smaller like a villa would have made sense, but something like this...

"...Huh. Impressive."

That brief utterance was all that came to mind as he stared at the building for a few moments, at which point 'Lady Darnell' offered them a place to stay for doing what they had—within reason, of course.

"Of course," he responded, bowing in turn before rising back up and turning to face her. "Might I ask if you have some books or maps of the region here? I'd like to familiarize myself with the area before departing."

Hopefully none of the other servants—or the lady herself—took any offense to that question; maybe his somewhat rugged appearance would help excuse his bluntness?

One could only hope.

@Raineh Daze

---

??? — Smithy

Though the door outside was now open and the sound of the bell ringing had worked prior to their arrival, though, the zombies all seemed to focus on the new sounds being made closest to them—and, in turn, the thing that was making them to begin with. The first zombie to lunge out at the group—or, more specifically, the hammer-wielding girl at their vanguard—found itself rather summarily dispatched by a rather devastating blow to the head. This, unfortunately, had the additional effect of creating a loud enough noise when the hammer met the old hardwood floor (and went clean through it to hit the foundation below) to make sure that the zombies were now well and fully focused on the group.

Or, well, as focused as a group of undead could be.

Rather than simply lurch forward as one might have expected from mindless undead, though, these zombies began to spread out, wielding their weapons with a vague sense of purpose before lunging out towards the group. Though time had not been kind to them or their weapons, being stabbed by rusty metal in a situation like this could very well lead to something less-than-ideal...

Never mind what those weapons could have been stabbing at until being sealed away in this place with their wielders.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw

---

Neir — The Drunken Bear

Though it was quite obvious at a glance that 'Peter' was dodging around her questions, Meira chose to do little more than give him a slightly disapproving glance as she polished off her sandwich. Ultimately, it wasn't her place to judge whether someone was in the right for hiding their identity or not, but...

"...Well, to each their own, I suppose," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "As long as you're not hiding your name because of some sort of criminal activity, I'm not going to fret too much about it... Though I certainly won't give any leeway if that is the case."

Without anything else to say on that front, though, the catgirl seemed more than fine with flagging down the woman serving them and asking for another sandwich to go. Given that they were a popular establishment for adventurers, a request like that was far from unexpected; in a few minutes' time, she had returned with a meal neatly packed in brown paper.

After handing off a few coins to the girl, Meira stood up and walked towards the door, glancing behind her to see if the young man had chosen to follow her or not. The skies above had indeed begun to darken by the time they had left the building, but at least there seemed to be some people starting to light lamps to walk around the evening streets with.

"Do you need to find your way back outside the walls?" she asked, glancing behind her shoulder with one hand resting on her hip. "It shouldn't take too long, and I can just report back to the guild once I'm done."

@Zeroth

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??? — ??? Forest

After making a (fairly) clear break away from the quartet of otherworlders, the bird would continue to soar above the sea of trees; unfortunately, the extent to which these trees seemed to stretch towards the skies beyond what might have been expected of a "normal" forest did not by any means make catching a glimpse of it as it departed any simpler. By the time Javal had made his way up high enough to a vantage point from which to see the creature, it had all but become a dot that glimmered against the natural greens and browns of the nature around it. Luckily enough, though, the dragoon would be able to catch a glimpse of it disappearing into the foliage—and rather deliberately, at that.

For what reason it entered the forest was anyone's guess, but if he wished to follow, then there was at the very least some sort of direction to start with now.

@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable

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The bird seemed somewhat unreceptive towards Nyana's remarks as it flew above the trees, caring not even when the slimegirl-knight began to—and continued to—talk and laugh to herself. Whether or not it could understand her words didn't seem to matter much in this situation, though; either way, the end result seemed to be the same.

Eventually, though, the metal-plated bird stopped soaring through the skies and hovered in midair, if only for a moment. Then, slowly but surely, it began to descent downwards, towards what was unmistakably a massive nest formed of broken trees situated atop the still-stable ruins of some sort of tower.

Unfortunately, said nest already seemed to be populated by a few residents already. Three chicks, all apparently coated in much the same metal as the creature that had brought her here, seemed to be staring up at their parent—and, naturally, that meant they were staring at Nyana as well.

After descending low enough to land, the bird (somewhat unceremoniously) tossed Nyana towards its chicks. But where one might have expected ravenous pecking and biting, the slimegirl would instead find that the chicks seemed...

Well, 'utterly confused' might have been an apt description at that point in time. Compared to the usual things they must have eaten, something covered in metal like them but also was most certainly not was more foreign than anything else.

@Crusader Lord