Current
Wash away the sorrow all the stains of time
3 mos ago
Fusing into the unknown
3 mos ago
Looks like from here it, it only gets better
2
likes
8 mos ago
Forgotten footfalls, engraved in ash
9 mos ago
Stalling falling blossoms in bloom
Bio
Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.
Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.
Fair, I just put him cuz I wanted to encounter him at some point again :b I'll swap him out for... it feels cheating since I already have The Guyzoch as an 'umbrella', but would the Shadow of Colossus's... colossi, be fine? Or should I single one out?
Special Combat Agent Will Wedgewood, CENTINELS Planetary Secret Service, Blossom City field office, better known as The Crimson Fist...
Wonder-Red!
Origin - The Wonderful 101 Personality - Will Wedgewood is a meek, panicky sort of guy, one who's most likely to cower and run from danger than stand up to it, though he's selfless enough to make sure those around him are safe before himself. In actuality, Will Wedgewood - aka Wonder-Red - is as valiant as they come. Bravery is a trait shared by every Wonderful One, but Wonder-Red takes his dedication and focus to a whole new level. All that matters to him is the mission and the safety of others. Despite impressive marks in training and testing, Red is still a rookie to proper field work, and can carry himself a bit too formally - he seems almost obsessed with calling people by whatever longwinded title he gleans from their interactions, with a very keen memory and eye (ear?) for detail. Background - Forty years ago Earth was invaded by the GETHJERK, an alien armada with hopes to destroy humanity with no obvious motive for doing so. Earth's defense forces at the time barely managed to fend off the attack in what was to be called Earth Defense War I. Needing to better prepare themselves for the return of the GETHJERK, the United Nations created the CENTINELS Planetary Secret Service, a military force formed to secretly recruit and train one-hundred members from all across the world, soon to be known as The Wonderful One-Double-Oh, to face off against the GETHJERK should they strike again. Such an invasion occurred some twenty years after Earth Defense War I - now on equal footing, the alien armada attacked with great numbers and force. It was a hard-fought victory, but Earth Defense War II left the world in one piece still.
Enter Will Wedgewood. A child at the time of Earth Defense War II, his father, Arthur Wedgewood, was a CENTINELS officer, sent on a mission to infect the invaders with a special computer virus. Will, having stowed away on the airship his father piloted, couldn't do anything to stop Arthur's death. The GETHJERK attacked the ship, culminating in Arthur sacrificing himself to help save his son.
Now, another twenty years later, Earth Defense War III has just begun. Will Wedgewood had joined the Wonderful One-Double-Oh, taking over the title of Wonder-Red from the current Commander Nelson, and stationed within Blossom City. At the time of GETHJERK's attack on the city, Wonder-Red, as elementary teacher Mr. Wedgewood, ushered his class to safety before donning his CENTINELS suit, prepared to counter this new, final, invasion.
And that's when Galeem attacked. Neither the Wonderful One-Double-Oh or the GETHJERK would've had a hope of stopping it even if they realized what was happening. But it was the perfect storm. Galeem consumed their world out from under their noses, while they were fighting each other, and that's what ended up being brought into the World of Light: a war. Galeem's influence has dampened both forces for the most part, but the Wonderful Ones are still out there, still in the frame of mind of being under attack, and it's only a matter of time before the GETHJERK come out into the open and spark planetary destruction all over again.
Specialty - Team tactics & coordination, hitting really big things really hard Level - 1 Experience - 0/10 (The amount of EXP required to level up will increase by 10 each level, but rewards get bigger, too) Powers -
Unite Morph - The signature piece of technology CENITNELS has produced is the Unite Morph, which are essentially a series of versatile 'hard-light' projections built into the special CENTINEL-suits each Wonderful One wears. The form, function, and properties of a Unite Morph is coded directly into the suit, allowing whole people to merge together and create the Morph. The more people, the bigger and more powerful the resulting Unite Morph becomes - a good rule of thumb is that the smallest a Morph can be requires 6 people, at 1.5x the size of its wielder. The current available Morphs are:
Unite Hand - Wonder-Red's main Morph, which is as one would expect, a giant red hand. It can do anything a hand can normally do, punch, grab, pull, tickle, etc. At larger sizes Unite Hand gains a set of thrusters to add some oomph behind it, and one unique property it has is being entirely flame-resistant, and can even catch alight with no adverse consequences.
Strengths -
The Virgin Victory - Being a team stationed all over the world and needing to group up at a moment's notice, the Wonderful One-Double-Oh don't have a traditional HQ. Instead, their command center is The Virgin Victory, a flying warship helmed by Commander Nelson. He and his second in command Alice McGregor pilot The Virgin Victory and deliver support to the Wonderful One-Double-Oh, from transport to firepower and everything inbetween. It's currently out in the skies somewhere, with Wonder-Red retaining contact with it, though Galeem's influence is hindering any further use for the time being.
CENTINEL Suit - Wonder-Red, as well as every Wonderful One, has a highly advanced battle-suit at their disposal. Each suit appears different, but at the core they provide the same benefits to their wearer: enhanced super-strength, agility, and reaction time, with the technology itself being able to be used in one three-billionth of a second. It's also what allows them access to their Unite Morphs, so that's pretty important.
Unite Up! - Obviously, the Wonderful One-Double-Oh work best as a full team, one-hundred members strong. As they've all been scattered to the various corners of the World of Light (and out of necessity as getting one hundred individual people in the same place quickly is kind've a crap shoot to begin with), the technology used to make Unite Morphs affords for a bit of corner cutting. So long as there are several Wonderful Ones present, a Unite Morph can be supplemented using ordinary civilians that aren't geared in the necessary suit, letting Wonderful Ones use larger, stronger Morphs while operating at less-than-full capacity. It's a temporary fix, of course, and is liable to strain a participant if done too often.
Weaknesses -
Divided We Fall - To be a Wonderful One is to already be expertly trained in combat against powerful foes. Wonder-Red, and by extension anyone else, can hold their own in a fight if solo, it still leaves them at a very severe disadvantage. No access to Unite Morphs, primarily.
Limits & Faults - While extremely impressive already, Unite Morphs are in no way perfect. The Shirogane Drive used to power them can only hold so much power at a time, restricting the frequency that Unite Morphs can be formed, as well as how large they can get. Too much too often will leave the team unable to form more until they juice back up. On top of that, what the Unite Morphs are made from has some gaps in effectiveness; certain elements, such as fire, electricity, or light-based attacks, can break a Unite Morph right down, and coming into contact with anything too 'spiky' will do much the same. Certain Morphs are able to withstand these conditions, but not all of them.
Infighting - Pobody's nerfect. Now, get about a hundred Pobodies together and force them to be a single unit in a high-pressure situation? There's going to be disputes, arguments, insubordination... you know, typical human things. At best, it's amusing. At worst, a fight amongst the team at the wrong time could lead to things going south, fast.
Spirits -
Guest List -
The Guyzoch - a band of space pirates led by one Prince Vorkken with his righthand Chewgi. Vorkken arrived on Earth shortly before the invasion, meaning he and his group got swept up in Galeem's attack as well. They're out to find the best warriors of the galaxy and bring them into their folds, setting their sights on the Wonderful One-Double-Oh. They have their own Unify Morphs as well, which could prove very valuable to the team... if they can best them. There's also the space cop Immorta, a much more affable ally on her own quest to take down Vorkken, with more ties to the errant Prince than she lets on.
Henry Stickmin - a fellow failer of funny QTEs and a crafty guy who always has just the tool for the job.
Phoenix Wright - ...I don't have a quip for this one I just like the guy.
Inventory -
Wonder-Pendants - pendants worn by every Wonderful One, emblazoned with the team's symbol. These devices allow for the donning of the CENTINEL suit, as well as housing the Shirogane Drive that powers it. Don't have it, can't do it. Easy.
Vulcan Knuckles - Wonder-Red's personal weapon, a pair of custom gauntlets that allow for speedy and precise punches, and act as the basis for his Unite Hand morph.
The sheet is good. Given our discussion, level ups are going to be both interesting and impactful for Billy here. Since Phoenix Wright has already appeared in the RP, however, you can replace him in the sheet's Guest List.
As mealtime wound down, with all who partook in it packed with enough meaty, cheesy, spicy, savory goodness to see them through the arduous ascent ahead of them, contemplation of how exactly to go from here picked up. Poppi didn’t exactly appreciate the way that Mao misconstrued her statement, but even if he argued from a place of selfishness rather than concern for the others’ wellbeing, his pronouncements contained a few grains of truth. If every problem could be solved by just throwing more manpower at it, the entire population of Alcamoth would be swarming festive little Tostarena Town like a plague of locusts, its heroic hordes robbing Deportes Bienes blind and eating the Happy Hongo out of house and home. The image of everyone tripping over one another trying to scale the mountainside made Tora chuckle through his empanada, although in truth he knew as well as the next Nopon that the dangers in store were no laughing matter. When it came time to actually fight the boss he wanted all hands on deck, but until then an oversized party seemed pretty much cost-prohibitive.
Of course, even if everyone reached that consensus, a million questions remained, the most obvious being the question of who would stay behind. Despite the disadvantages incurred by his new upgrades, Yoshitsune seemed intent on making the climb, even if he lacked even the most basic idea of how to go about it. Approaching Jesse for ideas was a stroke of luck on his part, although not for the reasons he might think. Before she said anything Joker, remembering well the many remarkable features of the FBC director’s Tool Gun, interjected with a different idea. “Well, she could tie some balloons to you and then pull them around with her power. But look, even if there’s a way to get you up there like that, you’ll be totally dependent on either a hackneyed mechanical solution or someone else risking his or her own neck to carry you the whole way.”
Mona gave a sagacious nod, his little arms crossed. “This is gonna be risky. We can’t afford to have dead weight. It’d be smarter to stay down here, then back us up when the time is right.” Given that his countryman hailed from the distant past, and lacked any sort of grasp on technology, Joker hoped that Yoshitsune would see the wisdom in his more modern peers’ suggestions.
Big Band shot the cat a brief but pointed look for his condescension. “Although Mona coulda worded that with a li’l more tact, he’s got a point. If anyone can’t fly, climb, or jump good, you oughta think twice ‘bout makin’ the trip,” the trenchcoat-clad detective warned. Murmurs broke out among the group as the team members reflected on themselves, and after a few moments Heavy, Medic, and Blue Poison decided to sit out. Even Ciella reconsidered her participation in the climb, knowing that her greatest asset, her Agito form, couldn’t be employed casually.
As the team of stay-behinds grew, Juan stepped forward to offer some consolation. “Don’t worry, amigos, you won’t be bored down here!” he told them, his voice every bit as larger-than-life as the rest of him. “Loco as it might sound, Tostarena’s got a heaping pile of stuff on our plate we oughta deal with, so any help would be muy bien!”
“Especially from an Al Mamoon official,” Tostada added, her eyes on Ciella. “Naturally, the tourism industry means the town can reward you all amply for your efforts.”
Although what the town’s guardians spoke of sounded rather like something that was beneath her, Ciella gave a stiff nod. “...I suppose that is within my ability.”
With one decision more or less made, Raz had already begun working his thinker about the other piece of the puzzle. If a substantial group planned to stay behind in reserve, how exactly would they go about backing the away team up when push came to shove? He mentioned zip lines and the cannon he spotted in Deportes Bienes, although the team dwarf stepped up to shoot him down even after Midna said her piece. “Unless you’re talkin’ Deep Rock’s stuff, zip lines are for goin’ down, not up!” the Scout reminded Raz. After pushing away from the table he hefted the bright yellow Platform Gun he’d purchased from the sports shop with his own gold. “Didja mean this ‘ere Platform Gun? Well, it en’t exactly my specialty I’ll admit, but it shoots out a loada plascrete that makes a big ol’ disc wherever ya pointed it. Good for us while climbin’, not so much for whoever’s down ‘ere.”
Midna also mentioned the possibility of luring the region boss down rather than bringing the others up, which held some water as far as Band was concerned. “If we can do that, we ought to. Still, we shouldn’t place all our bets on bein’ able to manipulate this thing like that. Otherwise, someone could just fly up, flick its nose, and come right back down. Or hell, just shoot the dang thing.”
Primrose ended up cycling back to the original topic, wondering why the notion of everyone going up in the first place might pose an issue. She also introduced a newcomer, an acquaintance of hers that she’d apparently met here. As Midna chatted away Tora and Poppi couldn’t help but be a little jealous, having missed their own friends since the very beginning of this whirlwind adventure, but neither planned on losing faith just yet. Somewhere, out in this crazy, mixed-up world of light, Rex, Mythra, Nia, and the others were waiting; their time would come.
Since the team’s appointed leader and figure of authority, Fox, seemed to be keeping quiet, Poppi decided to answer the dancer’s question as best she could. “Poppi think big group take more resources, attract more attention, and make communication plus coordination harder. We not have enough supplies or equipment. Also, there higher chance of losing track of individuals, causing collapse or avalanche, and accidentally interfering with one another. If something bad happen, chain reaction could lead to catastrophe.”
Tora shivered, remembering a few narrowly avoided disasters in the icy innards of Tantal. “Meeeeh...Tora even more happy that Poppi going to carry me.”
“Confidence ain’t always enough,” Band summarized. “Now, I don’t claim to be an expert, but even I know that mountain climbin’ ain’t nothin’ to take lightly. I seen a movie or two back in the day that chilled me straight to the bone. The only reason we have a chance in the first place is ‘cause of all the powers and stuff we got. I don’t wanna see any o’ y’all cast your fate to the wind.”
Panther crossed her arms. “That just brings us back to how we’re gonna get everyone up there, though.” Her giant pigtails swung back and forth as she looked around the group in search of ideas. “Can anyone, like, teleport or something?”
Out of everyone present, it was the town guardian Tostada who stepped up first. “Actually, there may be a way for those who make the climb to bring the others up after them.” The blue-skinned heroine headed toward the restaurant’s door, gesturing for the others to come along. “If you’re finished, pack up your things and follow me.
A few minutes later, the couple dozen Seekers stood on the northern outskirts of Tostada Town, gathered upon the red sands at the head of the trail. In front of them loomed the unfathomable eminence, a wall of stone that from their point of view blocked the whole horizon, reaching as far in either direction as anyone could see. For now they stood on the foothills, so it would be a while before the going got too steep, although that meant a great distance yet to go horizontally as well as vertically. Everyone could see the point at which desert red gave way to wintry white, and even what appeared to be snow-laden trees, a narrow but tight-packed coniferous belt of murky green around the mountain’s immense waist. Only by turning around could the heroes grasp the altitude they’d already attained, for from here they could peer outward over not just the rooftops of Tostarena Town, but over the whole of the continent’s Eastern Desert, and thereby take in that ceaseless expanse of wind and sand in which the splendid city of Al Mamoon appeared to be more than a speck. It really put into perspective not just how far the heroes had come, but how far they had yet to go.
For now, their attention lay on the rectangular totems jutting out of the sand at the trailhead. Tied with scraps of cloth that fluttered like scarves in the wind, they stood no taller or wider than fence posts. All of them bore columns of holes carved into their fronts, and though most appeared to be no more than black pits, a handful of the little pillars featured dark blue stones that glimmered slightly with latent power. It was to these artifacts that Tostada directed the group’s attention. “We don’t know much about these crystals, but a number of those who seek to scale this mountain have pried them loose to take on their journeys. Perhaps you can make something of them.”
Sectonia rose to the occasion, eager to flaunt her talent for magical appraisal. She examined the small stones inlaid into the faces of the pillars, then the larger gems that crowned them one apiece. Despite there not being many left to pore over, the Florelia’s ruler came away with a solid idea in mind of just what they were meant to do. The big ones, roughly the size and shape of wine bottles, appeared to be magical anchors capable of receiving transmitted payloads, while the smaller stones boasted the ability to send them wherever they might be. “Like ships bringin’ cargo in to port,” Band analogized. “Looks like we’re in luck. If we take the destination with us, anyone down here can zip right up to it at a moment’s notice.”
The team quickly gathered up the remaining portcrystals and ferrystones, although the grand total came to just two of the former, and eleven of the latter. As they did, Peacock pointed something out about her compatriot’s logic. “Hold the phone, whaddya mean ‘notice’? How’re they gonna see or hear anything way down here? I fly a mean flag, but nobody’s peepers are that good!” From hammerspace she produced a pair of red and white flags and waved them to show what she meant.
As it turned out, the ferrystones didn’t glow if their portcrystal wasn’t available, so that problem solved itself in short order. In fact, with most of the issues figured out, not a whole lot remained to bar them from getting on with it. Few of the Seekers, assembled and outfitted for a grueling odyssey to the split peak of the lonely mountain, could claim that they faced this foe without at least a little fear in their hearts. But this was why they were here--to overcome impossible odds, and save the world.
“The first leg of the journey should be easy,” Tostada was saying. “Between the sand and the snowline it’s mostly canyons and crags. Just keep an eye out for Riders on the way up. They don’t mean any harm, but there’s always a ton of them out racing, and they’re about as reckless as they are committed to winning. Don’t worry about them even if they crash, just make sure it’s not into you.”
“Sounds like fun, meh,” Tora grunted, less than enthused about the prospect of being hit by careless mountain bikers. He shook his head and took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Stage One - Redstone City
From a distance it looked like nothing more that a stony slope that rose from the dunes, pitted and gouged by the incessant scraping of desert winds, but as they grew closer the climbers realized both how wrong they were and how little justice Tostada’s words did the incredible natural wonder that sprawled before them. Before them sprawled a veritable metropolis of rust-tinted rock, a burgeoning expanse a dozen stories high of walls and doors, arches and columns, balconies and galleries, ramps, rooves, and towers, as if an entire civilization had been hewed from the earth by primeval hands. Yet, as far as Tora’s awestruck eyes could attest, very little of it seemed to be manmade. Even as he waddled forward, stepping in and out of the shadows cast by the afternoon sun, he struggled to come to grips with it. By now the Nopon figured he’d be at least a little desensitized to all the marvels this World of Light kept throwing at him, but nope. Thoroughly able to separate the art from the artist, Tora just couldn’t stop being amazed by the wonders of Galeem’s creation.
As such, when the first bike slammed into him at seventy miles per hour, Tora was not remotely prepared. In fact, he’d already totally forgotten Tostada’s words of wisdom, so he only even registered the incoming blur a split second before it struck and managed to interpose his shield in the way. “MEEEH!?” he screamed, more surprised than hurt by the high-speed collision, although the same couldn’t be said for the Rider. The tartan-wearing man launched overhead like a bullet as his bicycle crumpled into scrap metal, soaring straight for the canyon wall. Focused by the realization of what happened, Tora whirled around, his eyes wide with fear. “Oh no, nonono! Tora sorry! Tora…” Just as suddenly as they arrived, both bike and rider blipped out of existence with an effect rather like television static, then reappeared totally unharmed off to the side a split second later. Not even shaken, the supernatural sportsman began working the pedals in a frenzy, desperate to rebuild the speed he’d lost. “...Sorry?” Tora watched him go in complete bewilderment until the biker disappeared around a corner a moment later, not a word uttered, as if the terrific impact never happened at all.
Poppi lowered her hand, glad that the ether barrier she’d channeled to protect her Masterpon hadn’t shattered from the collision. “Now Poppi understand what friend Tostada meant,” she remarked offhandedly. “Please stay alert, everyone!”
The appearance of other Riders all around quickly proved that Tora’s encounter was no isolated phenomenon. Arriving right at the start of a large-scale Mass Rass, the Seekers found not one, not two, not ten, but a hundred Riders to deal with all hurtling through the area. They cruised downhill at high speed, constantly hitting walls, one another, and sick tricks after flying off jumps in what would have been an exhilarating spectacle if the heroes weren’t right in the middle of it. Most of the daredevils sped through on bikes, but some came on go-karts, skateboards, or even skis (somehow), and some weren’t humans at all. The living wrecking balls known as Gorons rolled down the Redstone City’s narrow ‘streets’ with destructive power, easier to see coming but much harder to stop than their human counterparts, and similarly rotund Shiverians bounced through the canyons like giant, fuzzy ping pong balls. All of them seemed to be having a grand old time, too, in stark contrast to the heroes whose progress their sport was making considerably harder. Whether through dodging, blocking, parrying, or other means, the Seekers needed to push through.
Claws flashed like daggers in the meager, sickly yellow light of burning sea slugs, and in their wake spurted odorous, unclean blood. Taken by surprise, the murlocs staggered away from the interloper hurled without warning into their midst, gurgling as they clutched their throats in a vain attempt to staunch the flow. Whether they bled out or not Nadia didn’t care; for now, she needed to focus on the Shark Giant menacing her friend. That Ace had faced bigger and tougher in his storied monster-hunting career she didn’t doubt, but none of them could afford to underestimate their opposition--not here, in this accursed place, swaddled by sickness and infested by horrors of the eldritch deep. She landed on the first floor with feline grace and spotted the pelagic brute, its encrusted anchor held tight as it fought the Cadet man to man. Nadia could hear a whole lot of hubbub filtering in from outside, but for now she managed to concentrate on the task at hand. Ace was okay, so much so that he could still crack jokes, which made her smile despite the circumstances. “Okay, let’s!”
Before they could get to it, however, something happened to Ace’s weaponry. It burst into a virulent green flame, taking both monster hunter and cat burglar by surprise, which given the circumstances led to an immediate, unintended side effect. Unbothered by the sorcerous fire and very, very pissed, the Shark Giant walloped Ace straight through an exterior wall and back into the village’s central basin. After him went Kamek, directing his support to the injured party to help him fend off the murlocs whose animosity turned his way. Instead, Junior came to the rescue, pelting the Shark Giant with both splattershot fire and bioelectricity. He taunted the monster from above, and with a garbled snarl it turned its attention on him, swinging its anchor again and again. Nadia realized that it would be only a matter of time before Junior got hit. As her confusion turned to anger she bared her gleaming fangs. “Nyaow it’s purr-sonal!” Without a second thought, she launched herself forward.
Once in range Nadia closed the remainder of the distance with a Cat Scratch, her claws aimed to rake through the exposed flesh under its arm. She could only guess where this twisted fishman’s protective ribs ended and its guts began, but she went all-in nonetheless, executing a second slash to deepen the wound before she sprang up to deliver an axe kick that cleave into the side of its face. The blow tore out a chunk of flesh right around the spot where its malformed, vestigial eye had been inundated with Junior’s paint, but the Shark Giant didn’t so much as flinch. Instead the oceanic juggernaut swung its arm without looking, as if to swat a fly. Nadia steered clear of the flailing blow with a downward blood spurt, then landed on the monster and kicked off just in time to avoid it twisting toward her. Three rows of teeth clamped down on empty air as she flipped backward, her gymnastic maneuver landing her on the floor a safe distance away.
She clenched her teeth as the Shark Giant turned her way. No longer interested in the annoyance that was Junior, it gathered itself to plow through the shack straight for her. This thing was strong, so strong that it could fight as mindlessly and sloppily as it wanted. Nadia could work with big and stupid and had done so before, but this thing made even the toughest Dagonian thug in Little Innsmouth look like a guppy in a fishbowl. Even damaging it was an issue; clusters of shellfish and tube sponges either adhered to or protruded out from most of its body, creating a grotesque armor that provided an extra layer of protection. Punches and kicks were going to hurt her more than they did it. Then again, even with its attention one hundred percent elsewhere, the best she’d done hadn’t even slowed it down. No matter how Nadia sliced it, this was going to be rough. She steeled herself, and the monster charged.
It crawled across the waterlogged floor of the shack with the speed of a ghost in a horror flick, then threw itself at Nadia mouth-first. She obeyed her panicked impulse to get the hell out of the way happily, dashing diagonally to avoid a toothy demise before she pivoted on her heel to strike the Shark Giant from behind. She closed in with a leap of her own and extended her arms to deliver a flying x-slice, then once back on the ground followed up with a Nail Clipper into a flip slash that brought her back to her feet. The giant began to turn, raising its anchor with both arms to smash Nadia flat, but the feral decided finished her combo off with Claws for Concern, a full-force crescent slash that brought her off her feet with its lunge and into a forward roll. Unfortunately, she misjudged her distance, and her enemy needed to course correct only a little to bring its weapon down on her with cruel might, just as Kamek and Ace re-entered the building.
A yowl of agony exploded from Nadia as the anchor fell upon her. Its force cracked her bones, and its point pierced all the way through her back and into a lung. With a roar the Shark Giant raised its weapon, feral still attached, and swung it in a vain attempt to hit her again. Instead Nadia tore free, flying away limply to crash into the shack’s wooden wall. She hit the ground in a heap, hacking up blood. “...Damn it,” she gasped, her voice haggard and hollow as she rose to her hands and knees. The Life Gem had already begun stitching her together, but her mistake had cost her dearly. A couple more like that and its healing would be too weak to keep her in the fight. With dismay she noticed how little she’d managed to gouge out of the Shark Giant’s body, and with it couldn’t help but despair at how long it would take to bring the monster down at this rate. This just wasn’t a foe she was equipped to fight on her own.
Luckily, she wasn’t on hand. With a longsword made deadly by dual empowerments Ace engaged the Shark Decoy, while Kamek appeared with his retinue of magical clones to extend Nadia the same support he shared with Ace earlier. For a moment Nadia didn’t realize what was going on, but when her healing accelerated and a malefic fire empowered her natural weapons, she didn’t question it. “Purr-fect!” She jumped to her feet, worse for wear but still more than able to fight.
Since the Shark Giant was busy with Ace, Nadia went right ahead and darted in to hack away at its thigh, one, two, three times. When turned on her with a roar and a swing of its anchor she leaned way back, detaching her head as she did, and felt the wind of the monster’s bludgeon in her hair as it breezed by her. She then whacked her head with the flat of her tail like she might a cricket bat, embedding it ears-first into the Shark Giant’s head. This time the brute actually staggered a little, and after putting her tail back, Nadia’s body took full advantage of it with a super-powered Limber Up kick that launched the blood-slicked anchor from the monster’s hand. She then unleashed a sneeze for the riposte, wrenching her head free in a spray of feculent fish goop to sail back over to her body.
Nadia caught her head and popped it on to watch the Shark Giant flail with visceral satisfaction. In this state it was wide open for Ace could go to town, and maybe even finish the thing. Despite the pain that still lanced through her back, Nadia grinned. The tides had turned.
Outside, the battle was similarly intense. After saving Delsin, Link found that the watery battlefield he’d helped to rid of murlocs had become a target-rich environment once more, and nothing commanded his attention quite like the loathsome Judicator. The hellish clamor stabbed into his mind like a poisoned blade, its eldritch toxins rattling the bindings that kept him sane, but the sight of outside assistance in the mix stayed his hand. Though as eager to carve the two-headed abomination into pieces as Link, Spinal recognized a cannon when he saw one, so when Geralt called forth his Ordnance Platform the pirate and his pokemon stepped back for a moment to give him all the space he needed. A second later the deafening report of the Witcher’s Abyssal artillery rattled the fishing village, a thunderclap on par with those of the storm surrounding Carcass Isle, and in its wake came the wailing of the Judicator. With almost half its life erased in a single blast, it howled its pain with not just the drowned voices of its two heads, but a guttural groan from the jagged maw that lurked beneath, or perhaps extruded forth, that damnably human torso. The swordsmen then passed one another, with Link skirting across the basin’s surface to take on the Sea Crawlers while Geralt waded through to finish what he started.
After emerging onto the plaza’s central promontory the Witcher engaged the Judicator in battle. Their swords clashed in the rain, sending up sparks amidst the clangs of silver against bronze. Though the horror fought with surprising ability, especially given the bombardment that left it wounded and shell-shocked, the exchange made Geralt confident enough to fight for real. Spinal joined the fray with gusto, teleporting in and around the Judicator to hack at its leg joints one by one. The monster fought with reckless abandon, spewing out gushes of blight from its mouths and swinging its scales like a flail along with its sword, but it couldn’t compete against the double onslaught. In the span of a few short moments its assailants drove it back toward the well it crawled up from, at which point Spinal’s Dhelmise unleashed its Anchor Shot. Steel chains ensnared the Judicator’s limbs, holding it in place for the others.
When Fizz joined the fight, however, he put a stopper in any plans to dispatch the Judicator quickly. His seastone trident, carefully aimed and swiftly thrust, helped to take down the Quen barrier already touched upon by the Judicator. Once unhindered by Quen, his polearm pierced Geralt’s armor and sank into his flesh over and over, inflicting bleeding. The little squirt moved constantly, darting around to reposition himself for another meaty stab, and if a coordinated attack forced his hand Fizz pulled off Playful Trickster, becoming untouchable for a brief moment as he vaulted to safety on his trident. Over the years Geralt had outmaneuvered many a larger foe with his speed and his wits, which made it all the more ironic to now find himself on the receiving end. Worse still, with its enemies’ pressure diminished, the Judicator took the chance to lash its own back with its scales like a flagellant, knitting together accursed flesh to heal some of the damage already dealt to it.
Meanwhile, Link attended to the monsters that emerged from the body of Scylla in the eastern harbor pit. He loosed an arrow at each to mixed results, getting the most mileage out of the shots that hit Eel-ectric and the tongue of the Hermit. Tidehunter cared little for the arrow embedded in his chest thanks to his Kraken Shell, which due to its negation of a flat portion of any physical damage dealt to him, made him incredibly resilient against low-damage attacks. The shot did, however, get his attention, and with a snort the burly leviathan waded Link’s way. Four to one made for poor odds, Hero of the Wild or not, but after another moment Link found himself in good company. Sakura arrived to push the Sea Crawlers into the shallows, which left Tidehunter all to Link until Peach arrived to back him up, her fusion with Chao Hu keeping her above the water. Tidehunter did not turn away from the two-on-one fight, for even if his damage output turned out to be inferior, he was confident that his wealth of debuff-inflicting abilities would tip the scales in his favor.
Sakura’s fight with the Sea Crawlers featured an explosive start, and though the street fighter managed to get her foes moving toward where she wanted them, her limited visibility didn’t tell the whole story. For instance, she didn’t notice that ‘Crabby’ reduced the damage of her explosive Hadoken to all three using its Coral Shield, but zoomed in to engage all three. Before they could surround her she put her new skill to use to deftly avoid Crabby’s haymaker, V-Shifting out of the way of its blow, then maneuvering it into the shallows. That put her at odds with all three at once, although her eager smile never left her face. The battle was on.
She kicked Crabby and ‘Clammy’ in sequence, but by the time her foot had connected with the latter, the former was on the offensive. Even if Sakura’s remarkable strength cracked its chitinous armor, the sheer crustacean bulk beneath absorbed physical attacks well enough to leave it almost totally unfazed. It unleashed a ground pound, the pressure wave kicking up debris and water in equal measure. Through the tumult flew a lightning-charged bubble, launched by ‘Zappy’ from afar, to explode on impact Both attacks, meanwhile, gave Clammy an opening. It lunged for Sakura in an attempt to clamp down on one of her limbs or even her head with its own, only to fall short. Sakura uppercut its rock-hard jaw in return, taking some damage to her knuckles and also triggering the electric aura placed on it by Zappy, shocking her. As Sakura and Clammy landed the relentless juggernaut Crabby attacked again, followed by a lash from Zappy as he used his electric eel like a whip. When he got back up, Clammy did not rush in again, but opened wide his four-hundred-pound head to spew a poisonous cloud in the area. Each of the three Sea Crawlers, it seemed, had a trick or two of its sleeve, and together all three could apply so much pressure that even a whiz kid like Sakura could barely keep up.
Bella's arrival put a sudden stop to the Sea Crawlers' bullying. She burst from the basin to snap the jaws of her leviathan tail shut on Clammy's human body, then dragged the monster into the water with her. In a miniature maelstrom she began her death roll, inflicting constant grievous injury without giving the enemy a chance to so much as get its bearings. When the poison cleared, only Crabby and Zappy remained before Sakura.
The Chalk Prince, the Fallen Child, and the Skullgirl
Albedo did not anticipate the child breaking the silence he’d allowed to settle back over the small group in their booth by the window, although in all fairness Frisk had broken the ice earlier, too. No researcher worth his salt would forgo re-evaluation of prior conclusions when presented with new evidence, and even if just with a few words, this youngster seemed to be challenging Albedo’s conclusions about their nature. Maybe it wasn’t introversion that prompted Frisk’s typically taciturn demeanor, but a sort of considerate deliberation. Nobody could provide a better example of shyness than Treat, after all, and when juxtaposing her distance with Frisk’s nearness Albedo could see quite the contrast.
Then again, maybe he was making mountains out of molehills. His new acquaintance had just commented on Linkle’s eyes, describing as ‘cool’ what would probably be scary or at least ominous to the average middle schooler. Having observed her eyes himself, Albedo found himself in agreement. Of course, his definition of ‘cool’ better suited the brisk air that permeated the foothills of Dragonspine, but he knew the colloquial meaning, and irises that shone like rubies, inlaid with patterns resembling the matching halves of skull, struck him as fascinatingly novel. Still, Linkle couldn’t accept the compliment even for the sake of small talk. She could not disassociate her eyes from the evil that created them. So rather than chime in his consensus, Albedo stayed quiet, still except for the effort it took to take another sip of his cocoa. Did she truly believe that the Skull Heart’s touch conferred the irreparable taint of evil? In the alchemist’s mind he could thwart that hypothesis, convinced by ample evidence that Linkle possessed a good heart still, figuratively if not literally.
“Purity is a rare phenomenon.” he said softly, murmuring into his cup. “Oftentimes so much as to be merely conceptual. Nobody is pure good, nor pure evil. Every one of us is a mixture, diluted by countless sources. And yet, does what someone’s made of truly define what someone is?” He fixed his seafoam-green eyes on Linkle’s vivid red rubies. “People are remarkable creatures. That one is merely the sum of one’s parts...to me, that sounds like a hasty conclusion. As long as humans can choose, they can be more than the cards dealt to them.”
After that came the arrival of Treat, followed shortly by the arrival of the corgi on Albedo’s chest, then the arrival of Frisk to endow the friend-shaped animal with a sweater-clad embrace. Given the dog’s position, that meant getting up close and personal with Albedo too, yer the child betrayed not a hint of hesitation. Although momentarily frozen by indecision despite the mounting temperatures from the trio of heat sources, the alchemist decided to repay the gesture of friendliness in kind and display no aversion; he did no more than tilt his head away so that his chin wouldn’t impact Frisk’s cranium. If his time with that joyous rascal Klee taught him anything, it was that children wore their hearts on their sleeves. Maybe all of them liked doling out hugs as much as she did. “How...sweet,” he breathed, trying not to disturb either of the little ones making his booth their home.
Linkle’s encounter with Treat, meanwhile, took a different turn. Having her ears called ‘cute’ made the wolf girl smile despite herself, but when Linkle unveiled her long, silky rabbit ears, Treat jolted as if jabbed by a cattle prod. “Oh!” she squeaked, her eyes wide with fear as unwarranted apologies spilled out of her like spaghetti. “S-sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize..!” Without another word the girl backed off, averting her eyes from Linkle as if even her gaze might be an insult of some kind, until she could turn tail and dash out through Grillby’s front door. Albedo watched her fluffy tail flap back and forth until Treat ran out of earshot.
“Ah...that’s unfortunate,” Grillby remarked, rubbing his fiery head. “It’s my fault for forgetting. Apparently, before moving here she lived in a village of rabbit-folk like you, miss. As far as I know they treated her worse than dirt.” The gravity of his words made it clear that there was no pun intended. “Feared, distrusted, bullied, ostracized, the works. The rabbits in Snowdin aren’t much better. They’re so sure she’s just biding her time to eat them that they don’t think twice about making her life hell, and there’s not a thing anyone can say to convince them otherwise. But she’s got nowhere else to go, so she just shuts herself up inside. Living around bunnies has made her one lonely wolf.” The fire elemental gave a mournful shake of his head.
Albedo mulled over the information. “Routine cruelty from rabbit-eared people would explain the reflexive flight response, I suppose.” He glanced at Linkle, confident in his assessment that she could not let another mischaracterization stand. “I would hazard a guess that you’re not okay with such a state of affairs?”
A vicious outburst of Curse from the monstrosity’s hurled weapon put a momentary stopper in Barney’s plans to roast it like a marshmallow, but not for long. Rather than a graceful dodge roll the hatted man pulled off more of an ungainly flop, but considering how much stronger this aberrant Shadow looked than those gangly Shaxes, anything beat getting hammered by that terrible element again. Once well out of harm’s way he got to his feet, hefted his flamethrower, and let loose.
From his makeshift flamethrower gushed a torrent of vivid neon blue, an unnatural and alarming shade of energy that seemed almost as much liquid as it did fire. The Nuclear tide slammed into the Shadow like it had physical weight to it, and though it had been idealistic for Barney to hope that his own element might reveal itself as this monster’s vulnerability, he discovered a profound sort of enjoyment in the act nonetheless. He couldn’t quite understand, let alone articulate, the primal satisfaction that bathing this thing in Nuclear fire brought him, but after a hellish couple hours of supernatural suffering he wasn’t about to dial it back. Only after a moment did he realize that the yelling that filled the air was his, and it took a handful of clicks before he registered that his flamethrower had run dry. With his magic and firepower depleted, and any physical skills liable to render him unconscious from the backlash, he could do little but let his firearm disappear and sink down to the ground. The rest was up to the others.
Luckily, the other guys didn’t seem eager to let the Shadow regain control over the battle. Caelum, bless his heart, seemed to be taking action once more. The guts it took to come out of one monstrous encounter, gain nothing but bruises and fatigue for Caelum’s efforts efforts, and then willingly take up arms to fight through the next, filled Barney with awe. After the first time any sane person would have gotten as far away from a fight like this as possible, and been thoroughly justified in doing so, but Caelum did not run away. If anyone deserved to get a Persona, it was this guy.
Of course, he needed an opening to introduce that rebar of his to the Shadow’s vital areas, and even with his own Persona powers diminished Dakota, Dakota was determined to help. In the corner of Barney’s eye a radiant light suddenly blared into existence, flying forth in a parabolic arc. A flare? Barney shielded his eyes from the miniature shooting star, which turned out to be a great idea when it exploded against the enemy’s body. The brilliant flash left the Shadow dazzled, blind and unable to stop a surprise impalement at Caelum’s hands.
It hit the dirt, broken and vulnerable. In an instant Barney recognized the same critical opportunity that gave him the chance to end things with his own blasted nemesis back in the cathedral, but Nick didn’t need someone else to tell him to strike down this disturbing parody once and for all. “Kick his ass!” Barney cheered, mustering what spirit he could. The pounding of Nick’s feet against the littered ground brought him into melee range in seconds, allowing him to put all his anger and frustration into a mighty hammer swing straight into the Shadow’s head. A bloodcurdling crack sounded out, and the wall of Curses flickered. That was all Barney needed to pump his fist, celebrating one more demon conquered. “Yes!”
With blistering speed, however, he found that his celebration had been premature. Not to be done in so easily, the Shadow lashed out and felled Nick with a single blow. Barney’s blood froze as the monster then picked him up, filling the tense air with jeers. Their gambit hadn’t worked. Nick was going to die! “Dag...nabbit!” The war cleric grit his teeth as called forth his wheel, which he used for support as he fought to stand, but his tired muscles just didn’t want to listen. “Hold...on!” He managed to get to his feet, but a couple dozen feet between him and the Shadow might as well have been a couple dozen miles. After shooting a bewildered look at Vincent, as if to scream do something!, then at an unknown punk-looking guy who’d appeared out of the blue nearby, he realized that he had no other choice. “Samsa…!” he groaned, invoking the bestial Persona that could fight on his behalf. “Save...save!”
Before he could do anything, a wall of pressure struck him, and as Samsa faded it became all that Barney could do to keep himself from falling over. He looked up, taken aback, to find Nick at the center of it all, surrounded by familiar azure flames. It dawned on the spectator that he must be witnessing the very same phenomenon that had overtaken him not so long ago: the liberation of his soul, and with it the birth of a power strong enough to save himself from destruction. The man in the monster’s grip now looked less like a scared teenager and more like a soldier, and though Barney couldn’t see any Persona floating by his side, he knew what had taken place. Nick Waller had awakened.
“Hell yeah!” Spindle whooped. “Welcome to the wakin’ world, soldier boy!”
A burst of submachine gun fire ripped into his tormentor, breaking its hold as it reeled and roared in pain. Free from the monstrous thing in more ways than one, Nick rallied the troops. Inspired and more than ready to put the freakish Shadow to rest, Barney steadied himself and manifested his own Persona beneath him to carry him forward. If what happened during Barney’s own awakening held true here, this creature would begin to mutate out of control, having been hollowed out by the loss of what became Nick’s strength. Reduced to a chaotic, gibbering mess of self-perpetuating negativity in a last ditch attempt to destroy the original, it was nothing more than trash that needed to be disposed of. Almost like an inauguration ceremony--out with the old and in with the new.
Either way, they needed to act fast, and none knew it better than Spindle. Having been flying so low as to endanger herself in the fight, she spotted her chance when the wretched mass went to pursue Nick, and reached out with Odradek’s power. The next instant the Shadow ran into a web of silken threads, stuck tight for as long as it took to ooze through the gaps. “Yah! Got that sorry sumbitch! Alrighty fellas, time to cream its corn!” She looked back to save at Vincent, Barney, and Dakota, noticing Lorenzo as she did with no small amount of surprise. “Hold on, who’n tarnation are you?! Wait wait, it don’t matter, just hurry up and help us kick that thing’s keister ‘fore we’re all toast!”
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news today, but I figured I'd post this in the OOC: A lot has been going on, and due to personal reasons I'll not get into, I'll be taking an indefinite leave from Guild. This last year has been incredible and a great experience and I'm thankful to have taken part, and I apologize for the potential inconvenience this could cause. But I hope that overall, you all keep trucking and find a ton of fun in the future.
I'm terribly sorry to hear that. I hope that you'll be okay, and I know you'll be very missed. Goodbye for now, and God bless you.
The persistent cold downfall drenched friend and foe alike, and the odious tide of gibbering pelagic fiends surged forth to crash against the Seekers like a wave against the shore, but nothing could douse the vengeful heroes’ spirits, and Nadia’s least of all. A fang-toothed grin stretched across her face ear to ear, a smile wholly different from the expression she’d worn in the warm glow of the campfire earlier, when in a moment of peace a profound and hitherto unknown joy fluttered in her innermost heart. A jokester who seldom took anything seriously, the cat burglar known as Ms Fortune adored playing around with her opponents, but this wasn’t that, either. It was nothing more complex than a vicious glee at the prospect of finally cutting loose and venting all the pent-up stress and frustration piled upon her soul by the nightmares of the Maw. It was past time that she erased something evil and foul from this world, and her allies were on the same page.
When the first murloc poked its head over the edge of the roof, Nadia let loose the surprise she’d been laying in wait to unleash. Her leg, pulled by her arm to an impossible angle behind her back, lashed out with the elasticity of its muscle fiber in a killer axe kick and split the fishman’s grotesque head like a watermelon. It hurtled off to the side, what remained of its brain struggling to come to terms with what happened as it disintegrated, and two more slimy, teal-scaled murlocs hopped up to take its place. One held a rusty billhook longer than it was tall, its curved, scythelike blade ready to reap limbs like grain, and the other wielded a giant crab claw like a cestus. They attacked at the same time with a stab and a slice, forcing Nadia to scramble backward to her feet, and in that moment one more friend of theirs joined the party. Blue-scaled and ridden with repugnant tumors, it carried both a leviathan’s tooth as a club and a seashell shield, and without hesitation lunged straight for her.
Nadia sidestepped its swing, spinning up her arm like a drill as she did, then drove the deadly point into the mottle flesh just behind the murloc’s vivid violet eye. To her annoyance she found the monster’s hide a little tougher than she bargained for, having hoped for an instant kill, and with the others coming she didn’t have the time to dig deeper. Instead she tore free in a visceral spray and sent the wretch off for a spin kick just a hair too late to deal with the claw murloc’s haymaker. Her rushed attempt to block it hurt like hell, so when it came back the other with for round two, rather than try to block she went low in a corkscrew slide, leaving the monster a victim of its own inertia as she knocked it off its feet. She sprang to her own and narrowly avoided a thrust from the third murloc, but when she went to counterattack the creature adjusted its grip and pulled back. Its billhook blade caught Nadia’s upheld arm and sliced right through, dropping the limb to the ground. The feral’s face lit up with horror. “Oh no!” She scooped the fallen limb up with her foot and popped it into the air. A blast of bloot erupted from the stump to shoot it forward, its claws piercing through the baffled monster’s mouth like a five-set of fishhooks. Nadia snickered as she shot out a bundle of fibers from her own stump to reconnect her arm. “Anyway!” She pivoted backward, using centripetal force to haul the murloc off the roof and over her head in a judo-like throw. It cratered into the wooden planking behind her, which both shook the whole roof and gave Nadia another devilishly clever idea, if she did say so herself.
The other two descended on her together, attacking on both sides. In dodging the big one’s shield bash she took a painful slice to the back from the lancer. She rolled with it to keep it from cutting too deep, then while bent over struck back with a One-Two Punisher. The move softened up and then sliced into the billhook-swinger’s nose, but for her troubles Nadia received a frenzied club swing each to her shin and upper arm. “Me-owch!” she gasped, dashing backward with the aid of sprayed blood. Normally she’d be fighting a lot more mobile than this, but without a good idea of the roof’s size or integrity she couldn’t jump around all willy-nilly. The sight of her bruised and bloody, however, brought both murlocs right back in--just as she wanted. Seeing no reason to change strategies, they attacked from both sides once more, but this time Nadia went low with a Hand in Hand. The extended double-strike went beneath their defenses and hooked upward to pierce through the bottom of their jaws, which meant that when Nadia retracted her arms into place both fishmen staggered toward her, reeling. She dropped to one hand to execute a Kitt N’ Spin, tearing through their legs with talon and tail to both sweep and deposit them in a pile with their spear-wielding friend. Finally, the feral grabbed the planks to either side of the heap and leaped into the rain-filled air. Silhouetted before the moon at the apex of her jump, her muscle fibers pulled taut, and with a terrific cry she shot back down like a giant rubber band. The next second her full-force kick smashed all three murlocs straight through the roof and into the hovel below.
Simultaneously there came a loud splash and a wet, sickening crunch. All three murlocs more or less exploded when they hit the shack’s rotted floor, although they did cushion Nadia’s fall. She sprang away from the mucky mess and landed, as always, on her feet, her heart pounding from exhilaration. As the malodorous mound melted away into gunge-soaked ash she dusted off her hands, laughing. “Whoo! Didn’t even pull a mussel!” Her elation faded as she realized just how bad it smelled in here, prompting her to look around. As bad as the village outside had been, if this sorry excuse of a dwelling was anything to go by, it was worse indoors by far. Shielded from the elements, the place seemed to be a breeding ground for all sorts of horrid aquatic life, from urchins and sea cucumbers to clams with teeth and dubious polyps to things that she didn’t even want to look closer at. For goodness’ sake, even what she thought were candles were actually just wax-white sea slugs, burning away quietly in their little dishes. Noticing that the murlocs left their weapons behind, Nadia grabbed the billhook and made for the door. She slammed it open, smacking a rogue murloc into the deep water of the plaza, and leaned out of the doorway using the polearm against the doorframe. “What’d I miss?”
Much had happened in just a couple minutes. To begin with, right after she jumped away the Koopa Troop assembled into a tight-knit firing squad behind the cover of a horde of bouncy balls, which explained the absurd racket that Nadia heard from that direction when fighting. The moment the Bytans gave way to the fishman onslaught, Bowser and company opened fire, laying into the incoming shark giant with everything they had. Nadia regretted missing it; they must have had one hell of a shootout, although it must have been one hell of a gamble, too. Packed tight between the buildings on the sodden street, the Koopa Troop blocked everyone who hadn’t scrambled early to fight in the central plaza, including Geralt and Bella, neither of whom could either get through or get a shot without fear of hitting their allies. Once Bowser’s crew started shooting, their ranks became a maelstrom of chaos--a singularity of gunsmoke, concussive force, obscuring rain, headache-inducing noise, and dangerous recoil. Shipgirl armaments, unlike normal vessels whose hulls transferred the force to the surrounding water, dealt with recoil by pushing their water-skating wielders in the opposite direction, and in a confined space that made things risky. Projectiles collided in midair, strikers and minions got hit, many shots went wide, and just about nobody could see or hear what they were doing. In return, they mowed through a handful of the murlocs before they took cover underwater, and dealt incredible damage to the shark giant even as he plowed towards them. Taking the bombardment like a champ, the giant fought through the flame, force, lightning, poison, and confusion, and for just a moment it looked like he and that huge anchor of his might actually reach the Troop. In the end, however, even that abominable juggernaut went down, and the Koopas’ fusillade came to an end with ringing ears and blurred vision.
Eager to get out there and help Sakura, Bella took the chance to push through the first opening she found, splash along the remainder of the street, then dive headfirst into the waters of the plaza. Beneath the surface the Abyssal could fight in her element, her leviathan tail a force to be reckoned with as it slaughtered murloc after murloc. She swam in the direction of Sakura, but ended up slowing down when she realized that the Street Fighter was doing just fine. Better than fine actually, as Sakura dispatched fishman after gurgling fishman with finesse. In fact, she ended up falling victim not to a murloc, but to a sudden sneak attack from a crabsnake lurking in a jellyshroom by the plaza’s edge. Bella’s massacre came to a swift end as she charted a course for her beloved savior.
Sakura’s call for help found a swifter answer. Having been picking off stragglers while on the move, Link came to her rescue long before Bella would have made it, bifurcating the offending crabsnake so that Sakura could rejoin the fight. Of course, that exchange didn’t stop a distracted Mirage from falling victim to exactly the same trap only seconds later. The commotion brought the attention of the murlocs, and though Delsin did a pretty good job fighting a few back two at a time, he misjudged the depth of the plaza basin versus the streets and submerged himself right after Sakura tossed him. That put the tally of teammates in danger to two, and though Nadia decided it was about time she started helping, she couldn’t help but be distracted as the courageous Ace struggled against fearsome shark giant, all on his lonesome.
In an instant she decided that the others could take care of the vulnerable. In fact, Blazermate had already jetted over and deployed her ubercharge, which prevented the crabsnake digging deeper even if it didn’t break its hold. Her protection, however temporary, meant that he had nothing to fear from the gaggle of murlocs headed his way. Sakura, Bella and Link, meanwhile, were well-positioned to help Delsin out while he swarm for the shallows. All that mattered right now was the shark giant pummeling Ace. But the pelagic brute had driven him into the shallows on the north side of the basin, where the heroic hunter no doubt meant to keep it away from his allows. How could she get over there?!
Nadia rushed back into the shack, then took a running jump from the doorway, billhook in hand. Knowing she didn’t have enough height, she airdashed backward in midair and jammed the butt of the billhook into the soft wood, where it lodged fast. She grit her teeth and started to swing, using high-pressure blood bursts to build up speed until she could let go a moment later and fly into the air. With the last of her pressure she airdashed forward, aiming for the well upon the promontory in the basin’s center. No stranger to high-flying maneuvers, she stuck the landing, then sprinted along the top of the overgrown well frame. The unique fishman by the wall watched her come, ready with his trident for an attack, only to be ignored as she dashed overhead. As she got closer Nadia saw that Ace had managed to escape his pummeling and even turn the tide somewhat. Instinctively she could tell that the meaty uppercut he landed with his shield would be a perfect chance for a follow-up, and with a sudden strength Nadia launcher herself toward him, spinning through the air like a propeller. As Ace’s blow knocked the shark giant’s head up, Nadia came down with her tail extended like a sword, skewering through the monster’s clammy white flesh.
It would take a lot more than that, however, to stop it. Blubbering uproariously, it bodily hurled itself at Ace. If he did not move he would be pinned beneath its terrible weight as it smashed into the big shack behind him, where it rolled to its feet ready for more. Nadia’s attempt to jump clear sent her flying over the balcony and into the hovel’s mossy second floor. This time, sadly, she didn’t land on her feet. Her tumble came to a quick end when she found herself confronted by another pair of murlocs, already fanning out to surround the stranger hurled into their midst. “Ugh, more?! I don’t have mari-time for you!” Ace had done great on his own, but if it took the entire Koopa Troop to put the other one down, he was going to need help. Nadia lunged for the murlocs, carving through each throat in turn, then left them to mull it over while she jumped down to give Ace a hand.
As the heroes soon found out, however, when it rains, it pours. All the ruckus from the fighting in, on top of, and around the basin, particular from the Koopa Troop, had not gone unnoticed. The island's degenerate peace had been disturbed, and now it was waking up.
Right as the fishmen were just about depleted, a number of the shacks in the basin’s vicinity opened up to divulge another nine or so angry murlocs, including a couple behind Bowser’s crew. More fishmen the Seekers could handle, but nobody anticipated the next source of enemies. So great was the disturbance that the massive sea monster in the pit harbor to the east, Scylla, stirred to wakefulness. Somehow, even in a pitiable state of merciless torment and harvest at the hands of the murlocs, it clung to life. Its gruesome head lolled back and forth, then opened wide its gaping maw to projectile vomit a trio of Sea Crawlers into the water. Rather than relief, however, Scylla found only further agony. A moment later a portion of its chest cavity burst open, revealing another, even bigger anchor-wielding brute than the shark giants that preceded him: Tidehunter. As Scylla sank backward, dying, he waded forward with a roar.
Peach, having just shotgunned the last lamplight murloc into oblivion, gave the green behemoth a miserable look. “Come onnnn…”
Then, up from the well in the center of the town, a malignant horror crawled forth. A conjoined abomination of staggering decreptitude, it hacked apart the well frame with its green-tinged brazen blade so that it could emerge in all its stultifying hideousness. It raised its scales and shook them like bells, each clang piercing into the depth’s of the princess’s mind in an all-too familiar fashion. A vein popped in her forehead. “COME ON!” she screamed, taking out a grenaduck to hurl at the blotch on reality across the water. The time for mowing through fodder had already come to an end; the elite enemies had arrived.
Along with the curses, however, came an unexpected blessing. A sudden fit of hollow laughter drew Peach’s eyes to a rooftop across the basin. In the flash of lightning she spotted a pirate skeleton, along with some sort of living anchor that floated behind him. After a moment Spinal leaped from his perch, with his Dhelmise in tow. He landed on one of the rowboats scattered around the basin and surged forward, slicing at the murlocs who lunged for him in true swashbuckling style. He landed on the little island with the well and immediately charged straight for Fizz and the Judicator, evidently happy to take on both at once with the aid of his floating anchor. If the situation had already been chaos, now it was pandemonium.
The Chalk Prince, the Fallen Child, and the Skullgirl
New loot acquired: Souls x620 A sort of ephemeral quantity bound to oneself, immaterial and conferring no burden. Souls, sen, runes, echoes, scrap, geo, widgets, haze...whatever you call them, they are a universal currency that, if not usable outright, can at least be exchanged most anywhere. But beware: death will drop one’s whole sum on the ground for others to collect Young White Branch x2 Use to transform into something that blends in to the surroundings. Little Dusk's first sorcerer's staff eventually became a seedling, and then three white birch saplings. The young branch is said to still contain echoes of little Dusk's capriciousness. Alluring Skull A skull resplendent in the scent of souls. Throw to shatter, spreading souls which attract enemies. Not effective for all foes Burn Heal A minty-cool aerosol tonic that can be sprayed on a target to quell a painful Burn NeverMeltIce A spiky fragment of a glacier’s frozen core. Even if it sweats in sweltering heat, it will never grow smaller. Although pokemon can just hold it, it must be fashioned into a charm or other accessory for others. Increases ice damage by 20% Ice Bomb A magical throwing item that does pretty much no damage but can freeze water
Grateful for a warm respite, Albedo settled into the booth, allowing the characteristic coziness of the diner’s orange-hued interior to flow into his being and chase out the chill. Even in the face of hypothermia the alchemist managed to keep himself rather composed, so he couldn’t blame Linkle for not noticing his deteriorating condition, and he certainly hoped she didn’t blame herself. No matter how well she kept the sepulchral influence of the Skull Heart lodged within her at bay, she couldn’t avoid the fact that the way the unconsciously looked at things had changed. With no heart to beat and no blood to pump, the undead archer couldn’t feel the cold like Albedo did, and given her traveling partner’s general unemotive restraint she really didn’t have much to go on. “Don’t worry about me,” he told her, trying to set her mind at ease. “I should have spoken up sooner.” The two of them had enough problems without having to grapple with internal conflict.
Maybe sensing the diminished heat within his customer, Grillby worked fast to prepare the alchemist a warm beverage, and before long the hot cocoa was on its way. It arrived, however, in unexpected form. When he turned to retrieve his drink Albedo found himself looking down at a young kid, inconspicuous and unidentifiable. He dimly remembered seeing this child around Snowdin here and there during his prolonged stay, perennially quiet and unmemorable. They had never spoken, let alone been introduced, which made the person who came bearing sweet relief a stranger, for all intents and purposes. Then again, looking at it from Frisk’s perspective, Albedo was a stranger, too. Stranger than most in all likelihood, given the indifference he showed the townsfolk while going about his research and experimentation. It occurred to him for the first time that the average person in this town might very well fear or mistrust him, given his repeated contact with the tattooed man who drunkenly stalked these Highlands. Yet here this child was, all the same.
He accepted the hot cocoa. “Thank you,” he told Frisk. The urge struck him to say more, maybe start a conversation or at least extend some pleasantries to show that he didn’t mean to be as cold as he felt. Curiosity as to why this child would approach him now tickled him; did they want something, or was it out of the kindness of their heart? But he couldn’t figure out how to start, or what to say, so instead he took a sip of the cocoa. Hopefully it would limber up his mind along with his body.
Luckily, he had Linkle to handle the whole talking thing. She brought up the dog he’d been taken care of, wondering where it was. Before Frisk could respond, however, Grillby chose that moment to speak up. The attentive bartender had been keeping an eye on Albedo’s condition, and being the one in whose care the alchemist left his canine companion, felt responsible enough to interject. “I asked Treat to look after him,” he told them, his sputtery voice carrying across the quiet restaurant. “You know, the wolf girl? I figured she could use some company.” He pulled out a phone, bulky thanks to its copious insulation against fire, and made a quick call.
With further interaction with Frisk left to Linkle, Albedo waited in silence, nursing his cup of cocoa as the heat flowed through his fingertips and up his arms. He remained almost motionless until a gray blur abruptly hurtled by the window mere inches away from him, taking him by surprise. Rather than spilling his drink with a sudden jerk, however, the alchemist maintained his composure, and managed to avoid losing even a single drop. He breathed a sigh of relief, and after another moment Grillby’s door opened with its characteristic chime to reveal the white-haired wolf girl Treat, bundled up in gray for the wintry weather, with none other than his corgi snuggled comfortably in her arms.
“...Hi?” she greeted them, breathless from her sprint over. Despite the speed with which she arrived, she hung there for a moment in the restaurant’s threshold, as if the eyes of all its occupants on her created a physical barrier she could not break through. In fact, she almost looked like she wanted to bolt away as quickly as she came, but the moment the little dog spotted Albedo he perked right up, letting out an eager whine. After that Treat couldn’t possibly keep them apart, and with no small amount of reservation headed for the booth where Albedo, Linkle, and Frisk had congregated. “H-here!” Linkle accepted the squirming offering and wasted no time introducing the creature directly to Albedo’s chest, so fast that he barely got his cocoa out of the way in time. With the corgi, the chocolate, and the kindness of so many strangers, he figured he’d be warm again in record time.
Personality: Therion is cynical. During the time spent with his seven fellow travelers ("friends," he has to remind himself) he has worked through most of his deeper trust issues, but the fact remains that for most of his life he's seen some of the worst humanity had to offer, so it stood to reason that you can't take someone at face value, especially someone you've just met. It's one of the reasons he prefers working on his own. Or... was one of them anyway. He still says he works better solo when actually on a heist. He is a thief, one of the best, and his confidence is due to his sheer skill at his occupation. Sure, the few times he's gotten caught were pretty devastating, but he was still a pro among pros. He exercises his skill liberally, and has certain rituals he follows to ensure success rather than actually plan things out in advance.
His personality can be abrasive, his confidence coming off as arrogance especially when mixed with his dry sense of humor. He is sarcastic and rough around the edges, with a sharp eye and sharper tongue. He isn't friendly in the slightest, though despite his harsh past he still holds a sense of camaraderie with those he travels with. He shows he cares in his own way, not directly but with subtle gestures or weak jokes. He holds a sense of pride that prevents him from admitting things easily, and he tends to deflect rather than let his true feelings be known. Unless those feelings are negative, in which case he won't have a probably saying it aloud. That said, being a thief Therion would much rather avoid trouble than make a fuss - but he will hold a grudge.
Background: Orphaned at a young age, Therion grew up on city streets and alley ways. He was a street urchin, with a talent for pick-pocketing that got him into trouble one too many times. Sitting in a prison at age twelve, Therion met an older boy named Darius who convinced him to team up and break out. They were successful, and the two of them formed a dynamic criminal duo once they'd escaped. For four years Darius and Therion made a reputation for themselves as master thieves, performing all kinds of elaborate heists. At some point Darius was approached by a gang called Cianno, with a proposition. Get rid of Therion, and you can join our group.
Darius called his partner out to meet in the heights of the Clifflands, the most recent stop on their cross-country thieving journey. He told Therion about the offer he'd been given, and like a fool Therion thought there was no way Darius would go through with it. They'd known each other for years, and why would be come clean about it if he was planning on disposing of him? However, Darius lashed out with his blade, catching Therion off guard. He'd slashed at Therion's face, cutting him but missing a fatal blow. Off balance but already drawing a weapon to retaliate, Therion moved to defend himself when Darius moved in, shoving him hard from the cliff.
It was a long, long fall.
But he'd survived. It was a miracle, though many times while enduring the pain Therion kind of wished he hadn't. He'd been found by some good samaritans who dragged him back into town. That was six years ago. Ever since Therion had kept a low profile.
Well... sort of low. He had become something of a 'phantom thief,' because while no one knew his name or face, tales of his escapades still swirled around rumor mills. He had to keep himself fed after all. He had mostly stuck to the Clifflands, venturing out only when tales of a mark were particularly interesting to him. And there was one such tale that tickled his fancy, right in Bolderfall. A manor with a huge treasure inside, in the upper part of town. Therion made quick work of getting passed guards, dogs, and locks. Inside the manor he found an exquisite gemstone, but before he could snatch it he was discovered by the manor's butler Heathcote. They dueled, and though Therion emerged victorious Heathcote had managed to shackle Therion with an iron cuff around the wrist. It was a Fool's Bangle, the mark of captured thief. They weren't designed to be removed.
This one, however, apparently had a special key to take it off. Heathcote revealed that the rumors were planted, the whole thing a set up designed to attract a thief that the lady of the house could use for a mission. Cordelia Ravus, whose family's prized Dragonstones had been stolen away, was looking for someone good enough to steal them back. The reward was the removal of the Fool's Bangle. Upset and shamed, Therion reluctantly agreed.
It was on the road out of town that Therion met a strange duo around his age. One was a tall, scruffy young man with a lazy smile on his face, who radiated a friendliness and warmth that was almost nauseating. In contrast the beautiful woman with him was stand-offish, and the smile she wore was obviously fake. It was the kind of awkward meeting of a group of strangers who just happened to be heading in the same direction at the same time, and the cliffs were not at all wide enough to keep away from each other. The young man introduced himself as Alfyn, not hesitating to strike up a one-sided conversation with Therion. Despite the slightly uncomfortable journey filled with small talk, shifty glances, and fending off Birdians, after they'd all exited the Clifflands Therion was shocked to hear Alfyn invite him to journey with the duo. At the time, Therion recalled rejecting his offer. But then the three of them just kept traveling in the same direction. He knew they had seen the bangle on his wrist at some point, and yet they said nothing. Even the woman, who Therion had come to learn was named Primrose, began warming up to him after a week or two. If asked Therion would say No, I'm not with them, but despite himself he began warming up to them, too.
The rest was history as they say. The now trio met Olberic, H'aanit, Cyrus, Ophilia and Tressa after that, and explored the continent together. It would have been a lie to say that after a few months Therion didn't enjoy their company. Even Tressa whom he regularly quarreled with had a special little place in his heart with the others, as much as he was loathe to admit. The group even proved useful while hunting for the Dragonstones. It turned out having a support network made life easier, who knew?
After obtaining one Dragonstone and failing to secure the others, Therion's return to the Ravus Manor was bitter and frustrating. They had tracked the stones down to a black market, but a run in with his old partner left old wounds aching. Darius, the man who had betrayed and left Therion to die all those years ago, was in possession of the remaining Dragonstones. He would have to face Darius, but he needed time to recover and track him down again. In the mean time the group of eight travelers pursued another target: the Obsidians. Arriving in Noblecourt, their dancer stated that she would face the crows alone. She always said that, the hypocrite. Of course they didn't let her. The eight split into two groups of four, one to accompany Primrose and the other to secure supplies for their journey further North. There was no dramatic scene accompanying Therion's passage in the World of Light. He was leaning against the outside of a shop while his fellows bartered inside. Tressa had forbidden him from "making trouble" while Primrose was dealing with her past here, and begrudgingly he obliged. Idly he rolled a coin between his fingers - and then noted a blinding white sweeping towards him. There was no time to even draw a dagger before he was engulfed.
Specialty: Rogue
As a thief, Therion excels at speed, stealth, and sleight of hand. In combat, his specialty is evasion and debuffing.
Level: 1
Experience: 0/10
Powers:
Thieves' Specialty
The ability to debuff opponents. In this case, the skills Shackle Foe to lower an enemy's physical attack strength, and Armor Corrosive to lower physical defense. Perhaps most importantly, Therion can steal from enemies mid-battle.
Strengths:
Master Thief
He can slip in and out of a place without being noticed, pick all but the most complex of locks, lift items directly from people who remain unaware until hours later, and has enough of a discerning eye to tell when something is valuable.
Fleetfoot
Therion is very speedy, letting him take the initiative in battle and more easily evade attacks. Of course it also helps him outrun trouble in the first place.
Precision
Or in plainer terms, Therion is able to land critical hits more easily. It also help when throwing, catching, or really doing any kind of intricate work.
Weaknesses:
Short-Sighted
He doesn't think that far into the future. He has a tendency to go in to situations with no back up plan, with only the devil's luck to carry him through. If things don't work out he shifts into winging it. Naturally in a fight this can lead to some sticky situations.
Prideful
The ego that kept Therion literally shackled with the message "caught red-handed." Therion's stubbornness means he relies on no one but himself, and he'll carry on with disadvantages just to prove a point.
Poor Magic Control
Therion's low SP pool coupled with his lack of proper training means that his control over magic is sorely lacking. That's not to say he has no talent as a caster, but the only spell he really knows is called Wildfire for a reason. His spells have a tendency to spread wider or flare up stronger than intended.
Thieves' Tools: lockpicks, rope and grappling hooks, small pry bar, etc.
A simple short sword
Stinging Dagger, a blade laced with poison
A couple of throwing knives
Some ill-gotten gains?
I'm hard-pressed to find any fault. Excellent work! We can coordinate a way to get Therion involved when you like. In the meantime though, we should decide what 'ill-gotten gains' he has on him.
New Striker spiritbound: Ezio Auditore da Firenze A highly versatile, masterful, and valuable spirit. Ezio can strike with a variety of weapons from a variety of angles, appearing from hiding in Fox's vicinity as if he'd always been there, rather than from Fox himself. He possesses a rapier, a hammer, a crossbow, a flintlock, and his iconic hidden blade; he can appear from grates and trapdoors, spring from bushes and haybales, and also just fall out of the sky directly over opponents. Although his up-front damage and defense are low, his assists can deal high critical damage at good speed, and a moderate cooldown means he can be utilized frequently
As pleasant as Tostarena Town seemed to be, nobody deluded themselves into thinking that they’d be here long enough to enjoy its various diversions, refreshments, and amusements. Anything beyond a quick meal and a visit to whatever shops might offer the heroes aid on their upward journey could wait until after they’d finished their mission. A reward to spur them onward would serve them a whole lot better, after all, than a distraction to swindle their progress. Still, it took a lot of effort for Tora to shut out the spirited symphony of guitarrónes, vihuelas, marímbulas, and maracas that the Tostarenans had struck up once Ellie’s performance died down. Even after the long train ride and his grueling defensive training, the delightfully lively mariachi music -a total novelty to him- made the Nopon want to bust out dancing, so it was with a heavy heart turned his attention away from the spectacle and to the matter at hand.
He rejoined the conversation just as the topic of mountaineering gear got into full swing. Midna pointed out that the Phantom Thieves had already done some groundwork for them, but while Skull grumbled about the vertically challenged Twilight Princess calling them ‘kids’, Panther spoke up to set the record straight. “Er, actually, we couldn’t even get enough for ourselves, to be honest. We didn’t have a lot of money left over, and there wasn’t, like, a great selection, either.” From her inventory she produced her own acquisition, a hefty overcoat made from the thick fur of a sand seal. “Aside from some scarves and earmuffs, this is it, basically. Mostly ‘cause the boys are pretty much covered, while I’ve got…” she gestured broadly to her red snakeskin catsuit, which thanks to her Lamia fusion couldn’t even be zipped all the way up anymore. “Y’know, this.”
It didn’t take long to realize that just about everyone else shared in the Thieves’ financial woes, too. Raz gallantly offered Midna some cash, which earned him a couple stares from the other broke heroes, but luckily nobody stepped forward to pinch any more of the youngster’s pennies. Still, that left the vast majority of the heroes without suitable preparation for an arduous, freezing climb. Remembering the frigid depths of Tantal made Tora shiver despite the desert heat, although he also remembered the solution employed by a certain Welsh catgirl during those wintry misadventures. “Poppi,” he began, turning to his artificial blade. “What think about switch to Fire core and give Tora piggyback ride on mountain? If Nia get through Tantal by clinging to Pyra, then surely Tora can do same?”
Poppi looked up at the frosty peak with a hand on her chin, considering her Masterpon’s suggestion. “Not bad idea. That way we save on money, and also not get separated even during snowstorm. Plus, can even fly with Tora on back in QT mode if something go wrong.” She glanced back down at Tora with a smug smile playing about her lips. “Plus, Masterpon in terrible shape for rock climbing. Not nearly agile enough on own.”
“Exactly, meh!” Tora agreed, happy as a clam. In one fell swoop he’d just ensured that he would not only stay warm thanks to the ambient heat of Poppi’s ether furnace, but also not need to exert any effort!
“Just make sure that Masterpon keep sharp eye out,” Poppi added. “If Poppi going to be doing all work, Tora need be ready to point out threats and defend Poppi at any moment.”
And there it was. By now Tora expected some sort of catch, although in this case he’d been planning to watch out for his partner anyway, so he didn’t begrudge her one bit. “You got it, meh!” With that taken care of, he dispersed along with the others, heading to the town’s fountain to watch his comrades figure out their own cold-weather accommodations. A number headed over to Deportes Bienes, the sports shop, but his attention quickly drifted when a tantalizing aroma drifted past him on the breeze. “Meeh!” he marveled, breathing in deep the fragrance of Mexican cuisine. “Tora think it good time for lunch!”
Rather than the least bit surprised, Poppi looked amused, as if she’d been running a stopwatch in her head to see how long it would take her creator to broach the subject. “Shocking. Lead way, Masterpon!”
While they scoped out a restaurant where they could grab a table for everyone, Big Band and Peacock joined the crowd inside Deportes Bienes. Raz wasted no time consulting an inner voice of his, albeit in a pretty weird way even by World of Light standards. Even if it took Ellie by surprise, though, the display with Ford didn’t even register for the other teenage girl in the place. Being more or less a living embodiment of zany madcap hijinks thanks to the Avery Unit, goofs were Peacock’s bread and butter, and her baritone chaperone couldn’t have been around her for long without getting at least a little desensitized to such things, too.
Peacock wasted no time getting down to business. “Awright fellas, watch the merchandise!” Eschewing the polite moderation showed by Primrose, she summoned her thuggish pals Andy Anvil and Tommy Ten-Tons to help her scour the place for anything useful. Jesse quickly found herself with even more to be apologetic to Ellie about as they rifled through the place, shouting back and forth.
“Hey, take it easy, kid!” Band admonished. Rather than join them turning the place upside down, he headed for the counter to get help from the wide-eyed cashier. “Hola, amigo. My crew and I are fixin’ to come to terms with the monster flyin’ ‘round the mountaintop, and we were hopin’ to grab some gear for the trip.”
Between the trio of hoodlums perilously close to ransacking the place and the heavy metal giant looming over him, the Tostarenan looked more than a little nervous. “Hahhah, uh, c-certainly! W-well, uh, we’ve got just about everything anyone could...could, uh, possibly need! Cleats, ropes, climbing spikes, bounce pads, zip lines…”
Toward the back of the store, the Heavy voiced his dismay over the hat selection. “What is this puny headgear?!” he bemoaned. “Where is ushanka? Heavy need keep ears warm!” He tossed a baseball cap behind him, which Blue Poison -currently trying on a dark gray cloak sort of thing that went down to her knees- only narrowly avoided.
“Oi!” the Scout, also present to gear up for the ascent, pulled a giant yellow weapon from a nearby shelf, an industrial tool nearly as long as the dwarf was tall. “Wot’s the idea, mate? This is the same Platform Gun the Engineers use back home!”
“Platform...gun?” Band’s eyebrows went up. With his trench coat and mostly mechanical body allaying the need for warm clothes, he considered himself in the market for anything that might make the climb easier. “Not bad! Guess I gotta have me one o’ those!”
The Scout nearly leaped out of his skin when Tommy jumped over and crashed down next to him, his massive weight shaking the whole store. “You ‘eard ‘im!” The toon grabbed hold of the Platform Gun and attempted to pull it away.
“Piss off!” the Scout erupted. “If the Engineer ain’t around it’s moine! Besides, finders keepers!”
The sharp note of Band’s trumpet blared through the store to calm the chaos. “Take it down a notch, folks!” Although the argument subsided, the detective’s efforts did little to set the cashier’s mind at ease. “Hey now, don’t fret. What else ya got?”
Clearing his throat, the rather overwhelmed Tostarenan continued. “Well, uh. We’ve got lots of our best sellers in stock. The Indie Mantle is, uh, weather-resistant, nice and cozy, and...inconspicuous? And our Basic Glider means you don’t have to worry about falling ever again!”
His eyes were drawn to a comically large pile of items headed his way, mostly Indie Mantles and Basic Gliders, carried by Andy Anvil with great difficulty. With a groan he dropped the goods on the checkout counter, then stood there wheezing while Peacock sauntered up. “Greetin’s! We’ll be takin’ this to go!” Tommy stomped up behind her, having lost the Platform Gun but gained the imprint of a heavy-duty boot in his forehead, and crossed his arms.
The cashier eyed the heap of items. “Er, right, uh...well, I’d need a minute to make sure, but that’ll run you at least a…” Despite having no throat, he managed to swallow. “A thousand gold?”
Band’s eyes widened. “Hold up, we don’t got that much even if everyone chips in.” Two mechanical arms deployed, one to raise his hat and the other to massage his scalp. “Hmm. I don’t s’pose you take credit?”
“Credit?” The Tostarenan looked confused. “What does that mean?”
Peacock grinned. “Means I’ll gladly pay ya Tuesday for a knuckle sammich today!”
“Y-you mean I give it to you today and you’ll pay later?” Tugging at his collar, the cashier looked unhappier than ever. “N-not to, you know, be rude or anything, but how do I know you’ll actually do that? This doesn’t seem like a good idea!”
“Oh?” In an instant Peacock’s mood turned. “Wise guy, eh?” She reached up over the counter and with menacing slowness deposited a George Bomb.
Band deployed a mechanical arm with which he swept the George off and into Peacock herself, in whose face it exploded. When the smoke cleared it revealed her pretty much unharmed, though. “‘Scuse us,” Band said hastily. “That was just a joke, she don’t mean a thing.” He cleared his throat. “So no credit. That’s fine. But what if we just borrow the stuff?” The cashier’s incredulous look did not deter him. “We’ll give it right back after we get done. Look, you can take my word for it. I ain’t just a detective, but also a personal friend of King Validar. Ya know, the head honcho over in Al Mamoon? Check it.” In quick succession he showed the cashier his badge, even though it meant pretty much nothing in this world, then the Gold Pass. “Listen here. If you ain’t down, I’ll respect your decision and get these fools outta your hair. But I ain’t puttin’ on the ritz here. We gotta go up either way, and if we don’t got what we need, some of us might die. So I’m askin’ ya. Will ya lend us a hand?”
The cashier looked skeptical, but after considering his options he relented. “Um...well, okay. I’ll just take whatever you have on you right now as collateral. And if you haven’t paid by Tuesday…uh, well, you’ll be terrible people!”
Peacock whooped in triumph and immediately began gathering up the new loot with her gang. Band, meanwhile, held his hand over his heart and gave a solemn nod. “Don’t you worry, sir. We’ll get it all back in your hands before ya know it.”
A few minutes later, the shoppers found most of the other heroes gathered at the Happy Hongo, Tostarena Town’s main restaurant. Midna’s best attempt to find quests, secrets, or other ways to get rich quickly bore little fruit; aside from a handful of purple coins found floating throughout the place, this town seemed to offer only ways to spend money, rather than make it. In a stroke of luck, however, Happy Hongo didn’t actually seem to charge for food, so everyone could forgo the tomfoolery that went down inside Deportes Bienes and enjoy a tasty lunch. After meeting Ciella and receiving an explanation from her, a pair of local heroes, Juan and Tostada, were on hand to both keep an eye on things and get to know the new arrivals better.
Once the whole group was together the Conductor, having left his train to take advantage of the free lunch, could reach a more-or-less accurate headcount while everyone munched on their tacos, tamales, enchiladas, and chimichangas. “Eh?! Twenty-peckin’-four of ya’s are all gonna climb yer way up that gigantic mountain?” he questioned, incredulous. “Don’t that seem like a wee bit too many?”
Not so distracted by the smells that she couldn’t consider the situation, Poppi spoke up. “It would be hard to keep track of everyone. There lot more that could go wrong, and not everyone have skills or powers for big climb.”
Tora quit stuffing his face for a moment to chime in. “But if we do boss fight, we need everyone we can get!” He went right back to chowing down as the discussion that would pave the way for the coming ascent continued.
Seeing everyone okay did wonders to lift Nadia’s spirit, even in such a wretched place as this. Sakura’s sheer joy at being returned to normal warmed the heart, and though not everyone could find it within themselves to express their relief with quite so much exuberance, she really did speak for all of them. The Seekers’ escape from the hellish bowels of the Maw, now just another of this foetid island’s lifeless, beached ruins, as well as the return of their true selves, was something worth celebrating.
Closing out that abominable chapter of their adventure also meant any even greater communal debt to Blazermate. Full-size and flight-capable, she could have left the kids behind at any time inside the Maw to save herself, but instead she remained behind to see them safely through. Without her medical aid, the acid rain sustained by just about everyone in the Depths might have been the end of the Seekers’ tale. Now, with everyone collected from the pounding surf, she could practice some well-earned self care.
New item acquired: Beloved Hand Mirror I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. What ever you see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful--- The eye of a little god, four-cornered. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers. Faces and darkness separate us over and over. Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me, Searching my reaches for what she really is. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands. I am important to her. She comes and goes. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish
The only other team member not to see a substantial size increase was Hatty. Though she didn’t look happy by any stretch, the little girl was okay, and seeing that even the group’s smallest and possibly most fragile member made it out of that nightmare alive and well (or at least, as alive and well as one could hope) put a lot of worries to rest. Now that everyone knew how much it sucked to be both miserable and tiny, the Seekers were only too happy to share with her what comfort they could.
Nadia was relieved to see that the Koopas made it out in one piece. It honestly came as a surprise to the feral how integral the troop of goofballs had become. At some point, with nobody noticing, that oddball family of dragon-turtles came to be both the physical and emotional core of the team, which made the realization that Junior especially was back to normal all the more impactful. Still, the lack of Chef Bros and baby behemoths was a sobering reminder of the danger they’d all endured.
New Striker spiritbound: Chef Bro Summon a small gang of Chef Bros, who are Hammer Bros (pictured above) with chef hats and frying pans instead of hammers, to deliver a volley of hard-hitting cast-iron skillets to batter down anything in their path. Highly effective against anything weak to blunt force and a good distraction
Accompanied by Peach and Rika, both shipshape in their own ways, the Koopas joined the others in their coral shelter with an extra surprise in store. A little magic from Kamek restored the Atomos to its full size, instantly providing the whole group with a dry and spacious refuge from waters above and below. A quick examination confirmed that something about this accursed island rendered its magitek engine practically nonfunctional, but given the circumstances, any blessing was a welcome one.
Nadia was also glad to see the team’s offensive backbone of Link, Mirage, and Geralt okay. Although the’d been sort of cute and surprisingly capable as kids, the team needed their full might now more than ever, and though all three weapons experts would be indispensable, nothing screamed ‘full might’ more than the giant Witcher’s imposing size. No matter how many monsters lay in her team path, Nadia felt certain, their own monster would reign supreme.
Nobody’s welfare, of course, struck her quite so much as Ace’s. For a minute there Nadia had begun to worry anew that maybe all of the monster hunter’s layers of gear had gotten so soaked that no warmth could reach his body, or that maybe one of his many weapons wounded him during the tumult. But Ace’s never-say-die attitude would not be so easily extinguished, and when he stirred at last Nadia heaved just about the heaviest sigh of relief in her whole life. Although her instincts just about made her jerk away when he started moving, she stubbornly stuck it out beneath his arm, hoping with held breath that he didn’t mind. Her worries came to an abrupt end when he suddenly squeezed her in a hug, which left her red-faced and grinning like an idiot. It was hard to explain, and even kind of hard to think, but for some reason no amount of cold, rain, brine, muck or corpse-stink could wipe the smile off her face.
After another moment they slid apart, with the hunter needing to make sure nothing on his person was amiss. Nadia tuned into what Sakura was saying, and agreed that lingering here didn’t make a whole lot of sense when they didn’t know what awaited them elsewhere on this island. The street fighter also mentioned her fusion with Arashio, which made Nadia remember the state of her own. “Oh, that’s right!” she hopped up and went over to Peach, grabbing her by the arm. “Can you undo mine? I can’t use my guns or water-walking any more because I’m out of oil, so I guess I’m ‘ship’ out of luck. Might as well go back to Ms. Fortune Classic.” Nodding, the princess obliged, extracting the spirit of ill-fated Northampton from Nadia’s chest. When the light died down, the feral was back to her original self from head to toe, and not just that--every trace of water and grime was gone, leaving her as clean as could be. Her ears perked right up the moment she realized, after which she twisted back and forth, looking herself over. “Whoa, hey! I thought I’d be soakin’ wet fur-ever!” Given the heavy rainfall she wouldn’t be dry for long, of course, but even just a few moments of comfort would be wonderful.
The idea of re-fusing with Northampton, and hopefully regaining her powers at full, hit her a moment later, but when Nadia tried to insert the spirit again she found that it wouldn’t go in. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” she allowed. “No use tryin’ to game the system.” She glanced around between the others and offered the spirit. “Anyone want her?”
It was at about that time that a stranger showed himself, an ordinary-looking human who looked only a little less put-upon than the refugees from the Maw. In a place like this Nadia couldn’t help but be suspicious of anything she didn’t know, but the wood that Delsin offered wasn’t just real, but also dry. Before the Koopas could light a fire inside the Atomos’ cargo bay Peach wisely pointed out that the smoke buildup inside could present a hazard, which left the group’s shelter beneath the coral trees as the best option. With added material from the airship’s inside the team got a lively campfire going in no time. It plus the privacy of the airship’s rooms meant everyone could warm and dry both themselves and their clothing, undoing the damage done to them by the elements. That left only the possibilities of food and rest, but given the atrocity of consumption they’d suffered through, the heroes could make do without eating for now, and with all the energy lost during the Maw voyage undo, another few minutes’ rest would be enough to get everyone going. Nadia sure as hell wasn’t going to eat these dead things, after all, no matter how much she liked fish.
They spent part of that time learning about Delsin, and though those who questioned him were more concerned with his presence on this island than anything, the Conduit -as he called himself- went ahead and prefaced his explanation with a few shreds of his life story. Another shipwreck, huh? The mention of weird things ignited the cat’s curiosity. “Miss Fortune,” she told him, encompassing both her name and his situation. “I split apart. What kinda weird stuff, dude? Anythin’ you can tell us, we wanna know.”
Delsin didn’t know much about the island or the village, but his account of the sailors’ fate certainly complicated things. A few moments into the conversation, however, a lightning strike brought it to an abrupt end. The bolt struck the Maw, it being the highest metal object around, far enough so that it endangered nobody but still close enough for the flash and thunder to take everyone by surprise. In the moments that followed the heroes were quiet, with no noise except the rainfall and the occasional squelch of parasites hard at work eking a living from the carrion, such that it was. Peach took a deep breath. “Well, I hope everyone enjoyed being dry for a little while. Let’s go.”
Nadia steeled herself for the wet and the cold as best she could, then stepped out into the rain.
Going inland along the river that emptied into the sea, the heroes found the terrain quickly getting dicier on either side. Large outcroppings of rock, encrusted with barnacles, grown over with seaweed, and forested by ghost-white corals, rose precipitously. Everything looked hard, sharp, and slippery, making the idea of climbing both difficult and dangerous. If something ambushed her group the moment they stepped into the village, Nadia worried that everyone crammed into the little river valley would make for easy pickings. Luckily, nothing jumped out at them as they approached the first buildings, each nestled tightly against the rock and packed together like sardines, showcasing a certain economy of construction. Maybe whoever built this place cannibalized their ships in order to make these homes, requiring them to make the most of every plank. The result, however, was a claustrophobic and squalid cluster of hovels, and with everything horribly overgrown by sealife it was nigh impossible to tell where one house ended and the next began. Gurgling, sucking noises issued from within that Nadia didn’t care for one bit. She ran her fingers along the wood, found it soft and slimy, and shivered. Although the stink of death had faded, a fishy foulness so thick she could taste it had taken over, and the feral couldn’t say that she liked it better.
The group proceeded down the street, sloshing through the ankle-deep water. It looked like the whole village lay under at least six inches of water, though at least the earth beneath turned out to be mostly even. They found signs of life straight away, taking the form of sea maggots among the barrels and nets. Slow but extremely tough, they spewed stinging brine at anyone who got too close, then retreated into their shells when threatened. Nadia gave one an annoyed kick and moved on, unwilling to spend any effort on the pests. With the others she splashed by a lone lantern sitting out in the rain, its candle long since extinguished, then passed beneath a crude bridge silhouetted by that bizarre, sickly yellow moon. It was at that point that the Seekers entered the village proper.
They found themselves at the edge of a wide-open area surrounded by walls of decrepit, sealife-infested shacks, some two or even three stories high and many connected by ropes if not bridges. The ground fell away in front of them, forming a basin in the roughly circular plaza, at the center of which it abruptly rose again to create a little island topped by a well, upon which grew a number of hideously pulsating sacs. Many of the buildings featured little piers and boats, suggesting that this sorry hamlet may have always been submerged. The chief issue, however, wasn’t the water. It was the monsters. A multitude of glassy-eyed, slack-jawed fishmen scuttled around the place, some agile, some bloated with pus, and a few ghoulish things with organic lights dangling from their foreheads. Most of them seemed intent on the area’s east side, where the water deepened into a harbor ringed by leaning, peaked shacks, and a great pit down through the island into the depths provided ocean access. A huge and especially horrid carcass was lodged there, perhaps having come up through the tunnel at some point in the past only to get stuck. The murlocs chipped away at its still-living body, harvesting it piece by piece for food and materials to make their weapons. Still, a good few murlocs lurked throughout the town center, and when gangs of them spotted the intruders they moved to attack. They slid through the water with eerie fluidity, then emerged to hop through the shallows in a jarringly inhuman gait, wielding their weapons of bone.
Nadia’s lip curled, and she bunched her muscles before leaping into the air. She climbed onto a nearby building, ready to do her fighting somewhere the fishmen didn’t have an advantage. The creak and bend of the rotted planks beneath her gave her second thoughts, but any cat worth her salt could be light-footed enough to make do. “Up here, fishsticks! Who wants to get chummy?” With claws at the ready she waited for murlocs to come after her, eager to slice them to repugnant pieces, and when a handful leaped up onto the roof after her she got right down to business.
A good twenty-five murlocs infested the fishing hamlet’s center, fourteen green, seven blue, and four glowing. As she fought, cutting and drilling through the monsters’ flesh, Nadia spotted an unusual fishman who looked tougher than the rest hanging back near the well. Meanwhile, the two shark giants didn’t hold back one bit, instead plowing forward both through the water and across the land to tear the Seekers limb from limb as they roared. Even if they couldn’t reach Nadia on the roof, the rest would need to be wary of their brutish power. Even worse, if anyone got too close to the jellyshrooms growing here and there, a crabsnake would lunge out to grab the hapless hero and try to drag him or her in, creating an opening for the fishmen to do their worst. It was a tough fight in a terrible arena and awful conditions, but after the Maw, everyone was itching to do some damage.
While typically just about anyone would loathe the prospect of being assigned additional work after just barely scraping through a previous assignment, the members of Nero’s little team took the news pretty well. Pit seemed eager to see the sights that the ultra-variable composite world had to offer, and Nero couldn’t really blame him. Though not the type to go on safaris, hikes, and travel abroad in search of novelty, this crazy realm sure did have an awful lot on offer. Mostly an infinite smorgasbord of various monsters to fight, according to Nero’s experience so far, but finding something could would be a nice change, and the name ‘Rocket Arena’ left the devil hunter cautiously optimistic.
Though not nearly as jazzed by the idea, Yuri at least seemed to agree to the exploration mission, and to Nero’s surprise the thoughtful kid immediately paid some mind to practical concerns like food and water. It struck him as funny and maybe a little sad that this high-schooler was being more responsible when it came to team welfare than he was. “Yeah, yeah, let’s do that,” he said quickly. “The diner can probably box some food up for us. How about it, Banjo?” If the bear and bird consented they’d be given a portion of mission funds to buy some meals and drinks for the road. Meanwhile, Nero made for the gas station shop. “I’ll find us a map, see if I can figure out a route for us to take.”
Several minutes later everyone reconvened in the Minotaurus, plans made and rations acquired. Cindy cheerfully waved farewell to Nico and the rest as they pulled out of Hammerhead and took a road headed north. “Good luck, fellers! See y’all real soon~!”
The Paved Wilderness was pretty large, but compared to the Land of Adventure, it wasn’t that big, especially going north-south. Northward travel also had the added benefit of bringing the van and its passengers steadily closer to the unfathomably vast black pit at the center of the continent, giving them a better look at the vast array of asteroids, planetoids, and other cosmic debris floating up from below. Nero could only imagine, as crazy as it sounded in his head, that some sort of space-themed area must exist down there. He’d only been on the brink once, back in the Dead Zone’s Charnel lane when the Suffering attacked, and he’d been a little too busy trying to save the van to peer down into the depths, but that was the impression that his brief glimpse gave him. Of course, that beggared the question of if -and how- the forces of Alcamoth might operate in such an impossible region. For now though, he didn’t want or need to think about any of that. Exploring the Paved Wilderness was his mission, and that started with the Rocket Arena.
Nestled next to some pretty extreme crags, which themselves featured industrial pipes big enough to drive trains to and a giant skull big enough to flatten an apartment building were it to fall, was a glass-domed arena surrounded by towering multi-tiered spectator stands. In front of it stretched an immense parking lot home to vehicles of all kinds, from relatively standard cars and sports cars to more futuristic hover bikes and racers to mega machines like the Apocalypse Sasquatch and the aptly-named Mammoth. Naturally, a whole bunch of vendors lined the parking lot, mostly food trucks of various stripes. The whole thing made for one crazy sports supercenter, and Nero knew he’d be lying if he told himself he wasn’t at all interested in seeing what a game of Rocket League actually looked like.
“Well, looks like we’re here,” he announced as Nico pulled into an empty parking spot between a tough-looking buggy and a bathtubmobile. Everyone vacated the van and set off through the parking lot, headed for the main building. As Nero watched, a car rode up the inside of the glass well, defying gravity through sheer speed and grip to intercept a soccer ball as big as tall as a two-story building. His eyebrows rose. “Huh. Well I guess this won’t be boring, huh?” He glanced between the others. “Any thoughts? We probably wanna get in touch with some locals, figure out what we can about the area. Probably no need to stick together, either.” As the group neared the stadium, he listened for any suggestions from his company.
Even if he seemed rather impersonal at times, Albedo remained a living being at the end of the day, and that meant he couldn’t stand the aura of extravagant cold that radiated from Linkle in the midst of her tranquil fury. He backed away, giving the Skullgirl a wide berth as she approached the remains of Tuley’s home. Her every step crystallized the grass and soil in a small area around her, a couple feet in diameter, leaving behind a flash-frozen trail. When she reached the briar patch, however, she allowed the true, lethal strength of her cryomancy to really shine. Her frigid touch glazed over and then into the entire loathsome plant, chilling it to the core foot by foot and yard by yard, until all that remained was an ivory-white sculpture spiked with icicles. Then it shattered, its brittle mass crumbling to nothing under the power of Linkle’s kick.
It was a more symbolic than functional act, since that alone wouldn’t restore Tuley’s livelihood, but it helped take the edge off Linkle's temper. Her aura of absolute cold faded away, though it would be a while before the chill left the air, and a while longer before it left Albedo’s spine. Throughout his travels with her so far the alchemist had seen so much of the girl’s warm, friendly side that he’d almost forgotten about the side of her that trapped the Stranger beneath a mountain of ice. He was glad that this young woman, a veritable avatar of cold and death, was a good person at heart--and not the monster either the goddess Freya or the detestable Skull Heart made her out to be.
For now Albedo didn’t spend much time wondering what drove the witch of the woods to do exactly what she did. Instead he moved forward to lend a hand. Once Linkle went quiet, he picked up the slack. “She’s right. It would be unwise for you to stay,” he told the little old gardener. “We will help you as best we can. It is only fair that we do our utmost for you, seeing as our arrival played a part in this debacle. You did nothing to merit such cruelty.” When it came to helping with Tuley’s things, he made overt use of one of his more subtle abilities, stowing the gardener’s various belongings in an invisible Inventory on his person that did not burden him in any way.
In short order everyone was ready to go, and a good thing too, since Linkle realized something important. Albedo nodded and picked up Tuley, following Linkle to the flagline. Just as before, they rode the gravity-defying rope banner skyward, flying up through the mists with their little passenger held tight. After ascending past the clouds Tuley gawked at the glory of the Alpine Skyline with wide eyes, seeing for perhaps the first time in his life a glimpse of the world’s vastness. With no time to waste, the teenagers took flagline after flagline between the peaks and soon arrived at Goat Village, where they explained the gardener's situation and pleaded for the villagers to lend him a hand in these trying times. Luckily, the mountain folks accepted wholeheartedly. Before he knew it Tuley found himself surrounded by villagers eager to help him get situated, offering to carry the seeds, tools, and other things the pair salvaged from Tuley’s ravaged home.
Now that the sorry affair had as happy of an ending as they could hope for, Linkle and Albedo sped onward, zipping higher and higher still until they reached the Cold Monastery. Father Guerra was surprised to see them again so soon, and when confronted by their urgent questions and warnings assured them with placating hands that there had been no new arrivals or disturbances since their departure. A thorough search, with the battle priests and priestesses helping, turned up no sign of Freya. Skadi, meanwhile, was just as the blonde teens left her. Nothing seemed to be amiss.
“Plants, hm?” Guerra mused, rubbing his whiskers. “Might be her power’s limited up here in the cold. Whatever the case might be, rest assured we’ll keep a sharp eye out. We’re a peace-loving place, but anybody who might think us weak is in for a rude awakening. The average monk here is a master of kung fu, the clergy can weaponize their faith, and even I...” With a rather dark chuckle, the good father crossed his arms. “Well, I have my ways. If this Freya is as bad as you say, she will not escape justice. As they say, may God forgive her, for I will not. Peace be with you, my children...”
With no sign of the errant goddess and the Cold Monastery about as secure as it was going to get, there wasn’t a lot left for Linkle and Albedo to do other than follow their original plan. Since Albedo didn’t know a way there other than one from Snowdin, that meant retracing their steps across the icy cliffs and through the pine-dotted snowfields. There, they got the chance to re-experience the delight that was constant ice elementals and, just when they thought they found somewhere to hide, the deceitful and painful Tree Women lashing out at them with icy breath, whiplike branches, or ember clouds. By the time the pair finally made it back to Snowdin, it was mid-afternoon, and even if Linkle was raring to forge onward they couldn’t set out straightaway, either.
“I am sorry, but I need a moment,” Albedo gasped after entering town, his already soft voice weaker than usual. “The cold has set in. The ice from the mountains most likely melted while we were down in the glades, dampening my coat and decreasing its protection. If I go too much longer, I may risk serious and perhaps permanent damage.” He pointed in the direction of Grillby’s, and the two hurried inside the alchemist’s usual haunt. Albedo removed his coat and with Grillby’s permission hung it by the fire to dry, then eased into a booth. “Hot cocoa, if you don’t mind,” he requested, and with a nod the dapper flame elemental got to work. Rubbing his hands together, Albedo did what he could to get the heat flowing through him once more, and not keep Linkle waiting too long.
Umm...I don't know! Yes to both? I would like to get started early. I would also be okay with waiting. I mean I did solo RP with you for both Sakura and Jesse, and it was a lot of fun, but also a little more necessary story wise? just to integrate them into the main plot? meanwhile Karin is already established. If she was doing anything exciting by herself, it would probably be battling more evil like how she helped with hunting down Sephiroth. But that's a whole other sidequest you'd have to come up with that would just be a Karin solo adventure. But not like, something super important involving a whole new area and a powerful artifact and a whole frickin heroes journey like with Linkle.
I guess my main issue is I would feel guilty adding a whole new post for you to do every week just for little old me XD
Well, if me putting in extra effort would make you feel bad, not doing so kind of sounds like a win-win, doesn't it? Still, I could probably still do something for you on an off update day, maybe Wednesday, or we could do another small collab. Just something small-scale and fun to position Karin somewhere. After all, Limsa is dealing not just with the post-Sephiroth situation, but also the fallout of the Battle of Black Bay. We could definitely come up with something, and maybe provide a hook for the post-boss plan.
Sounds good! Frisk could help them get through Snowdin, if anything.
Linkle's already been once, and Albedo's been operating out of it for some time. Frisk will have probably seen him around, quietly researching, reading in the library, drawing in his sketchbook, or fetching samples from the wilds. They probably wouldn't have interacted, but the sight of him out and about with the mysterious, friendly, and a little scary new arrival could get Frisk's attention. They're bound to pass through on the way to the hospital, their current destination, in search of a 'modern' place where they could look up some much-needed information on the internet. Of course, being both from medieval times they're just doing the best they can.
Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.
Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.<br><br>Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.</div>
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