Gentlemanvaultboy

World of Light

I'm going to wait until the day after Lugu posts at the latest to update the Cia fight, give everybody a little extra time, though if everyone involved posts before he does I'll update immediately.

World of Light

Linkle

Merge Rate: 21%

Location: Frozen Highlands - Snowdin ~ Grillby's

Level 8 - (67/80) + 1

Word Counter: 411

@Lugubrious@darkred

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The interior of the bar was just as homey and inviting as anywhere else in town. At least, it look as though it had been before Linkle opened the door. Once she stepped in out of the cold she got that feeling you get when you interrupt something private and receive more than a few...not exactly hostile looks, but definitely ones that were far less friendly than she was used to. Even the dog, which was troubling enough to hake her hesitative. When even the animals gave you a look like that it was enough to make someone think that they knew some kind of secret about you. Maybe she shouldn't have come in here. If they knew what she was they would atta-

Linkle shook the intrusive though out of her mind. Don't be stupid. They might just not like travelers. Maybe there was something going on that made her appearance suspicious or something. They didn't know about the Skull Heart. Besides, that bartender was made of fire and they weren't paying him any mind. How did he even wear clothes without them burning off? What were the glasses for if he didn't have any eyes?

As Linkle buried the voice of the Skull Heart under a series of observations and pointless questions she heard the door swing open behind her. She turned and spotted a young red-haired woman, around the same age as her and dressed far more appropriately for this weather, come in from the snow. "I'm so sorry." Linkle said, stepping awkwardly back to give her room enough to come fully inside. Of course, what was she doing standing here and worrying? Nothing but blocking traffic, it seemed like.

That's why she happily took the living fires greeting as an invitation to walk right up to the bar. She patted herself down to look for the purse, only to realize she had given all her funds to Link. Hopefully information was free. "I was looking for a little help. I'm Linkle, wandering hero! A guy in a black coat took me from my friends and dumped me on a mountain over..." She looked around, then pointed in a direction were the mountain definitely wasn't. "Over there, I think. Has anyone like that come in here before, someone in a long black coat? Oh! Also!" She held up the lootbox. "Should I offer this to the tree? I don't want to get in trouble with any of the local gods."

World of Light

The Sorceress of the Valley

@Yankee@Dark Cloud@Dawnrider@Lugubrious@ZAVAZggg

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Link

Level 3 - (25/30) + 1

Word Count: 1286

Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town ~ The Bismarck Restaurant

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There is, in every battle, a few scant moments between when battle is declared and battle is joined. They pass quickly. There is enough time for an arrow to cross the distance between two enemies, for a bottle to be flipped and held by the neck, for a soldier to decide whether he is a hero or a coward in the face of the oncoming charge. Usually, there is just enough time for these small things.

Sephiroth slipped into these moments like a knife between the ribs. It helped that no one, until this moment, had had a reason to pay him any mind. He was neither ally nor enemy, just one particularly ominous face in the crowd, until with his actions he declared for the group currently attempting to rescue Link. He moved past the group, placing himself between them and Cia. The Dark Link she had sent to skewer an annoying from, perhaps sensing his killing intent, lashed out but found itself wanting. It's sword went high as the SOLDIERs went low, cleanly slicing the shadow apart at the knees and sending it floundering to the floor. It swung its sword vainly in Frogs direction till it impacted and vanished in a puff of dark smoke. Sephiroth didn't bother looking back to confirm the kill, moving forward to the prey in front of him. Cia met his gaze, eyes narrowed, portal cupped above her head pulsing.

On the other side of the group the first Dark Link spun towards them. Frog stepped back, closing ranks with them and lifting his shield to defend the group. Link started to follow his example, knowing the strength of three shields would be enough to stop their attacker cold. The Cadet, however, had other ideas. After the display of their mysterious new ally Nightsky Ripper practically begged to be put to the test and Ace was only too happy to oblige. As he broke rank with Link and Frog, stepping forward into danger and swinging his sword to his hip, Hat Kid also joined the fray. Literally leaping into action she sailed over the battlefield and began mixing a potion mid flight, finishing as The Cadet drew. Nightsky Ripper flashed out of its sheath. Dark Link brought his sword around with all the strength and momentum he could muster to try and deflect the blow. A ringing sound resounded thorough the rapidly emptying restaurant as they clashed.

It was not a fair contest. The Cadet's technique was meant for things much bigger and heavier than a single swordsman. Dark Links sword arm was thrown back, his balance shot, and in that moment Hat Kid chucked her vile and let the contents blow up in his face before sailing over him toward more desirable enemies. As the smoke cleared Dark Link got a good look at his normal counterpart as Link, now gripping an axe that had seen better days with both hands, spun once and brought his weapon down on it. It caught Dark Link in the shoulder and exploded into particles of blue light, but the force was enough to fling the doppelganger back into one of the nearby tables.

As this was happening Sephiroth had already leaped into the air, feigning his sword strike but unleashing instead a fireball of terrible power at Cia to maim her beautiful face. This endeavor, however, had assumed she was done summoning Dark Links. As the fire flew towards her another appeared from the portal she held, then another right after. They hadn't been intended as human shields, but they worked. The pair were engulfed in the flames, scattering into so much black smoke. From that smoke leaped another dark Link, bringing his weapon down in a overhead swing at Sephiroth. Regardless of whether it succeed in wounding Sephiroth the Dark Link would vanish like the other three once it performed its attack.

Cia, meanwhile, spun away to gain some distance from the mad swordsman that had attacked her. This was absurd to her. Just how many allies did they have in this restaurant? How many more would come? Perhaps it would be wise for her to escape. She could teleport away, grab an army (it wasn't hard), and come back to try again some other day to really teach them the consequences of interfering with her lov-

All these thoughts were knocked out of Cia's head as a small child descended from above and introduced their skulls to one another. Hat Kid came out the better of the exchange, bouncing harmlessly away, her head harder than even the notoriously hard headed sorceress. Pain rang out in Cia's skull as she stumbled back, head lolling backward to stare at the tented eves of the restaurant. "Fine." She breathed out, her face contorting in pure rage as she whipped it forward to face these meddlers. "EVERYONE DIES!"

Cia began to laugh heartily as darkness covered her body, distorting her form like a heat mirage. For a moment it liked like she had an extra arm here, an extra leg there, until one of those mirages separated from her entirely. Then another. Then Another. Three more Cia's stepped out of the woman, aligning themselves in front of her. They were completely identical, save for three key features; each was still wearing the distinctive bird mask that the original had left lying on the differ table, each twirled their own scepter in their hands, and for some reason each had come out as its own separate color this time. Perhaps it was a consequence of basing the spell on the underlying magical principles she had observed in the Four Sword. It was also why none of the women seemed any less real or insubstantial than the original. They were all Cia. They were all furious.

Prime Cia, Purple Cia, threw out her arms. A wave of dark magic spread out across the room, forming a barrier around the exists and balcony of the restaurant and trapping both the party and any unfortunately sluggish guests. As she did Red and Blue raised their scepters at the group and began firing off an indiscriminate barrage of dark magic orbs at the group.

Green had her own ideas. She broke into a run, going a an impressively quick few steps in her heels before lifting off the ground entirely and hovering around to the side. Once she had a better angle on Frog she whipped her scepter forward like a pro fly fisher. As she did the tip of the scepter flew off on a long wire toward Frog, looking to entangle and pull the knight who had started this whole disaster away from his allies for some personal time. She had felt something from him when he had knocked her scepter away that intrigued her. If she couldn't draw him in she would at least try to give him a hard lash across the skull.

Meanwhile Dark Link pushed himself up from where he had caught himself on the table, sword at the ready despite the nasty chunk that had been taken out of his shoulder and the scorch marks that barely registered against his skin. It seemed as though this one was made of hardier stuff than the simple constructs summoned by Cia from her portals, and flames of its mistresses fighting spirit seemed to fill it with a renewed vigor. It waited for someones guard to be forced open, either from dealing with the projectiles or trying to assist Frog. Then it would jump at the chance to run them through.

Royal Rumble!

@Hammerman@Scarifar@KillamriX88

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She still hated him. Sorry Christine, but dear immortal everlasting gods above did she still hate him. He just had to remind her why, too. Tonight of all night, her first night back, she's civil, she opens up for once and what does he do with that olive branch? Oh, yeah, that's right, take it and stab her in the heart. She stood stock still, teeth gritted, white knuckled as every word Rurik spoke pushed her steadily through right through anger, past fury, way past livid, until she was so mad it was legitimately becoming hard to string together complete thoughts.

"You fuck." She said, coughing up the words from somewhere deep in her throat like phlegm. "You...you murderous fucks try to have me...I apologize to you...you should...you can't even...gyahhhhngggg..."

She devolved into complete incoherence as she began to shake like an active volcano. The air around them began to heat up and the front of Katherine's dress began to smoke and dissolve as the heat from he scar burned through the material and shone through, looking for all the world like a lava filled crevasse over her heart and giving her a neckline that she would have never been comfortable with if she had been thinking about it. The words "incandescent rage" had perhaps never been more appropriate.

And then, to make things worse, someone just had to put themselves in the way. A first year, one of the first years it sounded like. Her name..her name..her name...she searched through the rage clouds to try and find a name, anything to distract her from what she really wanted to do right now. Linda? Miranda? Rochelle? Michelle! Michelle, Belinda. Had that split personality thing going on. Good kid about half the time, kind of annoying the other half. What was she saying? This is a ball. A ball. Have some fun. Fun! Fun.

Fun.

Christine was having fun.

She focused on that, repeated it in her mind, and as she did she swore she could hear another voice chanting it like a mantra alongside her. Christine didn't need her sister being the drama bomb that ruined her night. She felt the shaking subside enough for her to think. Right. Right. Was she okay? Absolutely not. Was she in control? Hell yes.

"Yeah. We're all having fun tonight." She said slowly, turning to the pair in one of a first year and forcing a smile. "Thanks you two. Thank you so much. And as for you." She said, fixing her burning gaze back on Rurik. "You have a great night too. I'm really trying to mean that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go cool off."

With that she turned stiffly and stomped off, careful to keep her eyes to the floor as she picked her way through the hall. She hadn't spotted any ninja mask in the crowd tonight but if she did it would take a miracle to keep her from knocking his teeth out of his head as she was now. It would be better for everyone involved if she got out of here for a bit.

She felt more than saw herself shove open the door and emerge out into the chilly nighttime air, plodding across the cobblestone path laid out before that lead to the adjacent park. Past the eager couples lining up for rides on big fancy carriages like something you would see out of a fairy tale. Across the carriage road, straight on past a bench, onto the grass, through a small cusp of trees whose stray branches sizzled as they brushed past her. Straight, straight, straight.

She found herself, eventually, at the edge of a pond. It was fairly large, so large it had a beautiful wooden bridge that was even now being crossed by one of the laughing couples on their magic carriage ride. She watched it, standing there on the shore until the laughter and clip-clop of hooves faded away. If she were a movie princess this was about the point in the plot where she would spontaneously break into song. Instead she spread her arms wide, tilted forward and let herself bellyflop right into the pond.

The water closest to her immediately boiled, erupting into a storm of churning bubbles as her heat dissipated into the water fixture. Wafts of steam began to rise off of it into the chilly air as Kath's head emerged, hacking and couching and blowing water out of her nose because she hadn't held it because she was a god damn idiot. "Worst princess ever." She said to herself as she tread water. This thing was surprising deep. They must never have intended for someone to jump in at all, least of all from the side she did. On the upside, the area she had plunged in was now at least as warm as a hot, relaxing bath. Relaxation was exactly what she needed, so she took a deep breath of the steam and felt herself beginning to mellow out. Nearby her mask popped up out of the water. She grabbed it and backstroked until she felt her back hit the bank. She held on there, wiping the hair out of her face and making sure she didn't have any more wardrobe malfunction. Finding none, she sighed and let herself sink a little deeper into the water.

"I'm trying, sis." She said to herself. "By the gods I'm trying."

World of Light

It's not that big a portal. It's like the size of a big dinner plate.

Looks like I'm going to have to go again pretty quickly.

World of Light

*Mistake*

World of Light

Link

Level 3 - (22/30) + 2

Word Count: 799

Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town ~ The Bismarck Restaurant

@Yankee@Dark Cloud@Dawnrider@Lugubrious

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Cia took her eyes off of Link and the Cadet ever so briefly as the cart rolled up, bumping softly against the two of them as it settled into place. For a moment her anger was replaced with confusion, and in that moment Frog took action. Games of subtlety were all well and good, but the knight well knew that there was only one way to deal with a dark sorcerer.

She heard his declaration, but that only gave her time to stand before Frog bridged the distance between the in one leap and brought his blade down on her weapon, wrenching the scepter from her hand as she backed away from the table toward the middle of the open floor. As she did so her hold on Link seemed to slacken. The Hylian shook his head, as though trying to shake out the last of the dark webs she had spun around his mind. He looked down at Frog, confused but grateful nonetheless.

The look Cia was giving them now, by contrast, was pure venom. "You..." She breathed out through clenched teeth, then snapped her fingers.

The only thing that alerted the three of them was the sound of the bussing cark Hat Kid had rolled over being tipped over, sending plates and cups shattering across the ground as something emerged from underneath it. One shadow separated itself from all the others, rising up from the ground and swinging its blade for Ace Cadets head. Link had turned to face the noise, and in the instant he had seen a comrade in danger his shield was already on his arm. He turned, raising the heater shield to try and deflect the blow but only really managing to block it. Their attacker tried to press the attack a moment longer, testing his black blade against the blacksmith sisters expert workmanship, before backflipping out of counter attack range.

This new enemy was a shock to Link, because it was him. Not him exactly, though. His tunic was all wrong, he had armor, a hat, and a scarf that Link felt a pang of envy for. What set his apart the most, however, was that he looked to be made of living darkness. Link had seen this before in a special suit of armor he'd bought from a man who lived under a bridge. He wondered, was this the sort of creature Kilton had made that suit out of?

"Kill the redhead and the toad." Cia ordered, raising her hands to the sky as dark magic began to race across her body like a wild fire. "We're leaving this town."

"Hyaaa!" Dark Link screamed, holding out his sword and spinning like a tornado toward the three of them. As he did a magic circle appeared between Cia's hands. A purple portal, out of which leaped another Dark Link that aiming to stab its sword right into Frog.

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Linkle

Merge Rate: 21%

Location: Frozen Highlands - Snowdin

Level 8 - (65/80) + 2

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On the run through the ice fields Linkle had been left thankfully unmolested by giant monsters, though that was probably helped by how she had hewn a little too close to what turned out to be some extremely unstable ice. Nearly falling into a well hidden and huge crevasse had been enough to convince her that running full tilt across the landscape was a bad idea, so she had taken her time and stepped carefully the rest of the way.

Thankfully there was no such obstacle in her path to the village, which she was in awe of the moment it came into view. It was a different sort of awe than what was inspired by giant cities like Alchamoth. How in the world did a place look so warm in a place so cold? She wandered into town, dazzled by the twinkly multi-colored lights that hung from the town sign as she approached it. The town was called Snowdin. It was a strange named, but it seemed fitting for this place.

She walked further, up to the tree that loomed over the town. She reached up into the branches and booped one of the decorations that hung from it. The bulb let out a merry little jingle as it shifted on the branch. What was this for? Had she come on the day of some kind of festival? She looked down at the boxes in brightly wrapped paper that lay scattered at its base. Were these offerings? There was no one on the street to ask.

Looking around, though, she spotted a familiar sign on one of the nearby buildings. Where had...oh, yes! That building at desert rest stop. She had never actually gone inside it. She had been to busy mucking up Mr. Cid's garage to ever figure out what it was. Maybe there was someone in there that could help her. Parking her sled right beside the building and tucked the lootbox under her arm and made her way inside.

World of Light

@Dark Cloud
Yes.

World of Light

@Dark Cloud
The Witcher was a book before it was a game.

World of Light

Link

Level 3 - (19/30) + 3

Word Count: 1355

Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town ~ The Bismarck Restaurant

@Yankee@Dark Cloud

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Ace may not have been the most subtle of people but compared to Cia he was a golden grifter god when it came to hiding his intentions. The very moment he had made his presence known, interrupting a description of the hero riding a gutsy Zora prince into battle that she found particularly riveting, she fixed him with a gaze that promised red death if he didn't desist.

Link, by contrast, regarded him with some confusion for a few moments before sudden recognition wiped it from his face. "Yes, lots of work. Thank you for reminding me." He said, springing to his feet as the Cadet pulled him up. As the Cadet did Link swept his eyes back and forth across the restaurant, seemingly only now realizing exactly where he was and how many innocent people were around them. "Can we pick this up another time?" he said across the table. "After all, we don't want to cause a sce-"

She shut him up with a snap of her fingers, dark power snaking its way across her fingers as Link went rigid and planted his feet to resist all attempts by the monster hunter to move him. Scowling, the witch turned her attention back to the Cadet. "I don't know who you are, but you are interrupting a very special occasion." She said coldly. She sat up, reaching down to her side and pulling up some kind of war scepter she began idle playing with much like Link had been with his silverware earlier, the crystal at its head giving off a faint and eerie glow. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this, boy. This world undoubtedly has many Heroes to choose from." she continued, a playful sadism creeping into her voice. "Allow me this one for now. I swear I won't harm a hair on his precious head. Otherwise, well, I have no problem bending you over my knee in front of all these nice people."

If anyone watching were to glance down from this confrontation onto the floor behind Cadet and Link, the astute would notice something odd about their mingling shadows. Link's real hand was empty, but at some point his shadow had drawn a blade.

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Linkle

Merge Rate: 21%

Location: Frozen Highlands - Dragonspine Mountain

Level 8 - (62/80) + 3

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As Linkle continued on down the coastline the first thing she spotted were the delightful flocks of birds the scampered across the sand. They regarded her curiously as she approached them, but once she started getting to close they let out a chorus of squawks and made for the water. Linkle ran after them, diving into the middle of the group and wrapping her arms around one of their bellies, lifting it up into her arms as it continued to flap its flippers and kicks its stumpy legs. "You're a big girl, aren't you?" she said over its protests. It was the first thing that came to mind. This bird was twice the size of the average cucco, and apparently not nearly as loyal or deadly judging by the way the others left this one behind and escaped to the safety of the water like the bird version of a Zora. What it was, though, was warm. So unbelievably warm. She felt the birds warmth spread through her chest, a oasis in the middle of a freezing desert. Like a traveler lost in that desert it was a hard thing to abandon. She didn't know how long she stood there holding it, but it was long enough for the bird to decide that it was either safe or dead already and stop struggling against her. By the time she resolved to put the bird down and continue on her way of few of the others had even come back to observe her from the surf, and the released penguin eagerly ran back to them as Linkle waved goodbye and felt the cold start to seep back into her bones. As she pressed on she wondered if maybe you could domesticate them, and thought she should definitely come back and get a few for Rick once she got in contact with everyone again.

The tower she had been following was, as it turned out, smack dab out in the middle of the ocean. It didn't look like their was any way forward from where she was either, unless she wanted to freeze a trail out to that monolith and she didn't want to risk that without being able to swim. Who knew what else lurked in the water around here.

She did find the weird light though, coming out of a strange floating thing that she peppered with a few arrows just to make sure it wasn't an enemy. Confident she walked out and began studying the smooth surface of the thing. She started to reach out and touch it, but jerked her hand back at the last second and regarded it warily. "You want to offer me a wish?" She asked, but the thing just floated there silently. That probably meant safe, right? Nodding to herself, she reached out and laid her palm on the surface. She didn't know what she had expected, but the thing popped open like it had been waiting for her revealing a host of treasures inside. So these were treasure chests. That was great to know. She pulled everything out to examine and jumped back when the thing folded in on itself and plummeted onto the beach.

It was a pretty good haul. The Pokeballs she put in her pouch with the others, more eager than ever to try using them considering how alone she was. The sealed contained she opened immediately, steam wafting off the still warm food as the freezing air hit it. At the same time the smell hit her and she couldn't help herself. She sat right down on the beach and tucked in. It was funny how hard it was to notice that you were hungry when you felt empty all the time, but she took comfort in the fact that she still got hungry at all. Warmth filled her again, however briefly, as the steak and what she realized was potatoes settled into her stomach and gave her concrete proof that her stomach was still in fact there. It didn't make her feel whole, but it did make her feel full. That was probably the best she was going to get.

Patting herself on the stomach she turned her attention to the last two items. The lootbox she recognized from back in Lumbriged, and she would have to carry it to someone who could open it for her. The other prize was designed to do exactly that, a set of instructions for what she quickly figured out was a basic man-powered sled and a bunch of sticks and twine. She set to work, lashing together the sled as instructed and placing the lootbox onto the fruits of her labor. After an experimental drag across the sand and finding the weight to her liking she looked around and tried to figure out where to go next. The village obviously wasn't anywhere around here, so maybe she should try and get a better vantage point and find it again. She had a pretty good idea of where that cliff she had been dropped off was, she could make it back there. Grabbing the sled she took off back the way she came to find that cliff again.

After a single short stop to try (and fail utterly) to get the penguins to ride her new sled she set off again, away from the beach. She weaved around rivers and streams, plowing over browned leaves and snow like a reindeer prancing across the tundra. Of course, she missed the fact that every step carried her further and further from the mountain until suddenly she was making her way across a vast icefield and spotted, in the distance, the smoke that had been her original destination. "Would you look at that." She said happily. "I must have missed it earlier on the way to the beach."

She did a quick course correction and made a beeline for the village, hoping that monster she had seen earlier wouldn't get in her way. It had probably moved on by now, right?