Lugubrious — Roleplayer Guild

Ms Fortune

Location: Carcass Isle
Level 7 Nadia (25/70)
Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Blazermate’s @Archmage MC, Hat Kid’s @Dawnrider, Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, Ace Cadet’s @Yankee, Sakura's @Zoey Boey,  Link’s @Gentlemanvaultboy, Mirage’s @Potemking, Delsin’s @Rockin Strings
Word Count: 2807

Silence. Complete, conspicuous, and not at all reassuring. As the seconds dribbled by, and Nadia’s perky ears fell lower and lower, she let out a nervous laugh. “Uh, guys? Cat got your tongue? I mean, I get the whole ‘hero never asks for money’ deal, but we’re riskin’ life and limb here.”

With her brows furrowed, Peach considered the matter. Although she could no doubt count a couple altruists among the Seekers’ ranks for whom justice and peace were their own rewards, the cat burglar’s question was a fair one. “Well…while there’s no formal sum, I’m sure the people of Limsa and other settlements in the region would be glad to see the last of the Abyssal Fleet, the storm, and other monsters. Failing that…” she cleared her throat and gave Nadia an officious nod. “I can pay you from my royal treasury.”

“Really!?” Nadia’s ears perked right back up, and her eyes shone as bright as a future filled with money. When Peach nodded the feral gave a long, breathy sigh of relief, a toothy grin on her face. Even in a place like this, it seemed like every cloud has its silver lining, after all. “You’re the real deal, princess! If the upper crust where I’m from were half as classy as you, my world would be one hell of a better place!”

Peach brushed aside the praise with a smile. “Oh, you’re too kind. It’s really the least I can do, after sitting on it for so long. Better than spending it on parties and such.”

Bella, who’d been fiddling with her tail with a slight blush after Sakura’s encouragement, took a moment to chime in. “Indeed, you are most generous, demoiselle,” she said. “I am afraid zat I cannot accept your generosity, however. Even just experiencing Limsa is more of a privilege zan I deserve.”

Not for the first time Nadia wondered what the Seaplane Tender’s fate might be. Bella’s dark past filled her with regret, preventing her from even beginning to forgive herself despite the kindness and forgiveness shown to her. Would she ultimately bear responsibility for the tragedy she’d wrought as a member of the Abyssal Fleet? Or was the woman that stood before her a new person, born anew in yesterday’s fateful skirmish? Nadia didn’t have all the details, but she hoped for the best. If nothing else, Bella had Sakura by her side, and as long as she had someone who believed in her things would probably work out okay. Of that, Nadia felt pretty confident.

With her heart at ease, especially after Sakura mentioned a beach-having friend in Limsa, Nadia crossed her arms behind her head and laid herself back down on her bed of kelp, swishing her tail back and forth. Despite the chill, the odor, and the situation as a whole, the fatigue piled up by both the fracas in the fishing village and the rumble with Rhodeia left her just a little woozy, and after a moment she opened wide with a huge nyawn. Then, with alarming abruptness, she passed out. The feral was out like a light, her unnaturally deep catnap so powerful that it totally overrode the inhospitable grotto’s complete lack of comfort and safety. Despite anyone’s attempts to rouse her, she remained sound asleep, snoring softly, for several minutes.

It was during Nadia’s all-consuming snooze that the Koopa Troop came to terms with the somewhat drastic changes Kamek underwent as a result of her fusion. As magical as a phenomenon as it had been, the Magikoopa came away from the experience somewhat disenchanted. Peach pondered the nature of her change, as well as what left the witch dissatisfied. “Well, none of this is too surprising if you ask me,” she put forward after a bit, keeping her voice low as a courtesy to the zonked-out feral nearby. “It seems like spirits are additive. Since you fused with two humans, or people so close to human it doesn’t matter, you’ve got more human in you than Koopa. It’s like one opened a direction to take, and then the next took you further in that direction.” She put a hand on her chest. “My own differences are more slight since I only fused with humans. I didn’t…well, change back when I fused with Mr. Grimm, which left me half-and-half. But you did once you got two women to one koopa. So, majority rules?” She crossed her arms. “Oh, and if you wanted her magic and not her…woodland skills, or whatever, you should have put her in your heart rather than your head. If you want her out, let me know, but remember. Nadia couldn’t re-fuse with that shipgirl after I took her out.”

A few moments more and Nadia awakened, refreshed and blinking a few times to re-adjust to the fickle light in the heroes’ grotto. Inadvertently her eyes laid on one of the ceiling formations longer than she meant for them too, which gave her enough time to spot something bulbous and luminescent sliding around within the membranes hidden only partially by their ribbed, stony shells. “Eugh,” she said, her refreshment tempered by a resurgent feeling of ickiness. To get her mind off the unwelcome sight she focused in on Bowsers Jr and Sr, who seemed to be petitioning the transformed Kamek for a meal. “Wait, you can cook now?” she concluded, eyebrows raised. “That’s awesome! I mean, not that I want ya to or anythin’, ‘cause this place is gross as hell and I couldn’t keep down food even if I wanted to. But I’m jealous anyway, ‘cause I’m not kitten when I say I burn everythin’ I touch. It’s why I’m always eatin’ out, which itself is why I always need money, heheh.” Nadia rolled over and treated herself to a luxurious stretch like a cat, so much so that her bright blue muscle fibers extended clear out of her limbs and her finned tail curled over her head. Then she stood up and arched backward, quite unbothered by anyone who might be watching. “So, waitin’ on anyone? I’m o-fish-ially good to go.”

Peach glanced back at the tunnel through which her crew had come. “Just Link and Rika I think. Should be back any moment.

While the rest of her allies lounged around the grotto, Rika found Link and New Southern back at the start of the ever-so-squishy, oh-so-fetid Parasite Farm. She arrived in time to listen to her former adversary announce her resignation, and she did not like what she heard. Her shout seemed to take New Southern by surprise, but as she grew closer the spearfighter’s expression only soured. Being told about the wonders of life by someone capable of recognizing them for less than a day -by her own admittance, no less- was one thing. Doing so after helping kill Pacific and then absorbing her spirit was another. She found herself staring at a lollipop, thrust her way without a trace of self-awareness on Rika’s unrecognizable face. An even more withering look went Sakura’s way when the street fighter arrived, a resentful reward for both the brutal pummeling the Abyssal received and for the weirdly sunny, offhand way in which she treated the subject. Like she knew everything.

New Southern wore a look of dispassionate disgust as she slowly reached up to take the offered candy and stare at it a moment. At Link’s prompting she peered at his tablet, where she took in the various facets of his homeland. “This isn’t a cry for help,” she told the trio who pursued her. “I don’t need anything saccharine, or someone else’s happy memories, or any platitudes, or anyone to name me.” Her eyes narrowed at the lesser Abyssal. “Besides, what do you know of such things? Friends? Fun? You may know what the words mean. So do I. But we don’t know what they are. What they feel like. If we can even feel at all anymore.” She looked at Rika with something akin to pity, or maybe jealousy. “If, in your blissful ignorance, you’re able to get by on what paltry, meaningless things you've been fed so far, good for you. Really. But what about our sisters, in their dozens, their hundreds? Minds and bodies, made, unmade, and remade, losing themselves one brutal death at a time, until they’re just hate and pain in twisted prisons of white flesh and black metal. And all the while, us few Princesses stand above the slaughter without a care, so darkly glamorous, so appealing in various specific ways. Such unnecessarily beautiful monsters.” She shook her head as a mocking laugh rattled its way out of her, which sounded rather like a sob. Then her tone turned bitter and sarcastic. “I mean, you must have seen Harbor Demon. What sick game is this? Maybe that empty-headed Seaplane Tender can go on like this, but I can’t. It’s like we live just to be slain. Ogled first, if we’re lucky. Why is ours such a hollow, cruel existence? And why the hell did I have to realize any of this?”

New Southern held her head in her hands, squishing her palms into her eyes. Then she looked once more at the others before going over to lay back down on her crab. “You see why I’m over it all? You can’t just…start again from scratch. Maybe it’s impossible for someone whose existence has a point, or someone who’s convinced herself of it, to understand. But I’m done explaining either way. Just…go on with your adventure. I’ll leave you to your end, so just leave me to mine.”

You have Acquired:
Hermitaur Helm
Made from strong Daimyo Hermitaur. Its curved surface deflects attacks. Makes you look like a linebacker
Fresh Crab Claw
Might not look like much, but it’s actually quite a select piece of meat, and big, too. Could make for a scrumptious spot of seafood

Once the Seekers reunited in the grotto, everyone but the disinterested Spinal as ready as they were going to be, the entire crew could set out on the last leg of their remarkable journey through the embattled Deep Blue Seaside. The cave narrowed down again into a rough, water-eroded tunnel, only large enough for Bowser thanks to the spirits that shrunk him down a few notches. Nadia stepped both lightly and lively at the front of the procession, her soft footfalls hiding her advance as her sharp eyes probed the darkness for danger. Everyone stayed alert at all times, ready for whatever might confront them in the eldritch depths of this curse-shadowed isle, for though they knew what ultimately awaited them none had any clue as to what they should expect.

That said, when Nadia spotted a pale, slimy protuberance around a downward bend, she wasn’t exactly surprised. She held out a hand sideways to tell those behind her to slow up, then took another step to confirm her suspicions. Just as she thought, it was the gelatinous tail end of a snail woman, the same sort that she saw oozing around the Parasite Farm before. In a strange turn, however, this one had her hands clasped together in front of her, as if in prayer. Nadia waited a moment to see if the creature made any sudden movements, but she did not. “Guess she’s feeling sluggish,” she muttered. Then, in a slightly louder voice, she told the others, “Just a sec, I’ll handle this.”

She reached back and pulled off her tail, willing it to go rigid. Doing so made the new fins on the end bend inward as they hardened, making them look an awful lot like axe blades. That works, she thought to herself with a nod. Nadia then inhaled sharply and stepped forward to take care of business. “Don’t mind me,” she said under her breath as she approached. “Just gotta axe you a…a…”

Her jaw dropped, not at the motionless snail woman in front of her, but at the cavern that opened up around the bend. Just a few steps beyond where the feral’s quarry worshiped, the stone gave way to dark purple grass, and it blanketed a massive, open space full of alien flora. The soft natural glow of countless plants, including Comba Charms, Gurken Shucks, Orchey Shies, Umbra Seekers, and Void Baskets, combined with at least a dozen waterfalls scattered around, created a hauntingly beautiful hollow in constant, almost hypnotic motion.

Click for music

Of course, Nadia cared mostly about the chamber’s denizens, of which the snail woman before her was just the start. There were hundreds of aquatic or amphibian monsters in the cavern, maybe even thousands. And yet, with the exception of the cave angels that gently floated and swooped through the cave’s upper reaches, every single creature Nadia could see, no matter how monstrous, appeared to be hunkered down in prayer, or as near a thing as they could manage. All of them faced away from her, in the direction the Seekers were headed, and between the masses on either side was an empty lane through the grasses, plants, and pools, kept open as if to admit them. Speechless, and convinced at least for now that the plaintive snail woman was the least of their worries, Nadia reattached her tail and motioned for the others to come out.

If the monsters turned on the newcomers all at once, they would have a serious problem on their hands, but each and every one seemed totally fixated on the distant terminus of this alien cave. Hatty’s top hat confirmed the heroes’ destination to be one and the same, which inspired more than a little anxiety. But with little recourse but to hope for the best, the Seekers resumed their trek. Moving as quickly and quietly as they could, they passed the placid monsters a dozen at a time, and wandering eyes found creatures both familiar and unknown among their ranks. Ocean Crawlers and Pelagics, particularly shamans could be seen no matter where one looked, although for every fishman the group recognized they discovered some specimen or another that they didn’t. Not all the monsters seemed natural, however. Some fishmen and Ocean Crawlers appeared partially human, and among them Delsin could recognize a few of the passengers and crew aboard the ship whose wreck he inhabited until today–succumbed to the Pelagic Plague. Malformed horrors, both within and without protective equipment, sent shivers down the spine of anyone unlucky enough to spot one, possible provoking memories from a Depths they wished had been mere nightmare. Last but certainly not least, the Seekers saw a great many Abyssals huddled in the twilight. Almost all of them appeared to be the lower class, the degraded troops and the wretched fodder. Those without heads to bow, those without bodies to lower, and those without hands to clasp all clustered together by their pools and tunnels in commiserate silence. Judging by the gooey, alarmingly cyan smears, they seemed to subsist off the cave’s native Bloopy Fruit, which burst from their red rinds if crushed underfoot. Even when the Seekers found a rare Princess, there was nothing more than obliviousness and prostration to be had. And of course, there were stranger things still, like the glistening squirts that resided in the pools, the seabed titan who sat immovable, or the Squiffy Ghast whose aetherial harmony filtered through the aphotic shadows of the Azure Weald.

As the group walked along, ever-wary, Nadia occasionally took her eyes off potential threats to sneak a glance at her Abyssal allies. Bella, for one, seemed understandably distressed. Her restless tail writhed as it trailed behind her, splattered by stains of the Bloopy Fruit it happened to pop during the trek. The freaky, unnatural phenomenon at work in this cave was bad enough as is, but it wasn’t a leap of logic to imagine that this place had some kind of special significance for Bella and Rika. Even if they hadn’t been here themselves, seeing their former allies entranced like this couldn’t be good for good. Bella certainly made no attempt to disguise the horror on her face, but she kept her secrets to herself, and Nadia didn’t even entertain the idea of prying.

With the monsters of the Azure Wield unresponsive, and no fights except the ones they might choose to pick, the Seekers made good time through the lush terrain. They found no clues with which they might mitigate the bizarre forest’s mystery, so they were obliged to leave it every bit as eerie and goosebump-inducing as it was when they arrived. Rather than present a challenge, the experience served to ramp up the tension, building anticipation until the group was a veritable powderkeg of bunched muscles and nerves by the time they reached its end. At the far end of the largely straight cavern stood a wall of loose dirt, easily shiftable by even a bare minimum effort, so with monstrous supplicants on either side they started scraping away. Nadia used her tail-axe to avoid getting dirt under her nails, while Bella relied upon her own conjoined leviathan to shift the earth. Rather than risk unwanted attention with her scatterboom despite her perk of unlimited ammunition, Peach got her hands dirty as she helped to clear the obstacle away. It wasn’t long before the first ray of light shone through, and as the diggers worked to widen the opening, they got their first good look at the terminus–as bizarre as it was.

Where All Things Must Come

“This is impossible,” Nadia declared. She stared out in uneasy bewilderment at a shoreline of black sand, extending infinitely in either direction. Murky, wine-dark seawater capped by coagulations of seafoam stretched out into the horizon without a single wave, where it met a churning, illimitable expanse of storm clouds, unbroken but for a single, sickly green celestial body. It shone like the moon, every bit as distant and unyielding, but to Nadia it looked more like a collapsed eye. “We’re way, way below sea level,” she insisted.

“One hundred percent,” Peach breathed. “The village was at sea level, and we’ve only gone down since then.”

But this wasn’t exactly a normal beach. Just like the coastline where the Maw deposited them, this beach was choked with corpses. Whale, dolphin, fish both known and unknown, crab, astrocetus, megachelon, and more, so uncountably many more, all swamped the infinite water’s edge. A dark substance like oil or tar congealed in streaks across their bodies, and from their centers -no matter the species- extended umbilical cords, tangling and intertwining as they led into the ocean. Farther into the water lay the husks of many sunken ships, their masts protruding from the water in a grim, off-kilter forest with a canopy of rotten cloth. In the center of it all lay a single, snow-white cadaver, like nothing the newcomers had ever seen. Try as she might, Nadia could tell only two things about it: that nestled among the ghost-white tentacles in its fleshy hood lay a human face, and that its gut seemed to be moving.

She watched, flabbergasted, as the dead thing’s stomach heaved and twisted. The bulge inched toward the edge until a great surge of despicable viscera flooded out from beneath the veil, a mess of slime, bone, and tripe. Then, from the steaming heap, something stood. With a great effort it tottered to its feet on shaky legs, its own placenta clutched in its hand, and a shred of its own birthing sac draped over its shoulders like a cape. As it reached its full height, about seven feet, it sank in with Nadia that she wasn’t looking at some incomprehensible eldritch horror. Yet it was also not a man. It stood on two legs, limply dangled two arms, and stared across the water up at the moon with a face that probably had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. But Nadia didn’t want to see its face. She didn’t want to be here. Something primal, deep within her, stirred in terror and revulsion at the sight of this thing, even from a rear view. She couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t stand the thought of a world with both it and her in it. This thing needed to die. Yet even as she seized that conclusion and readied her claws, a strange sound reached her, only barely audible over the murmur of the windless sea.

The poor, wizened child was weeping. And for reasons Nadia could neither understand nor explain, tears welled up unbidden in her eyes.

Warning. Boss discovered

Orphan of Kos

A boss fight has begun. For those involved in the fight, and for the entirety of the fight, tensions and stakes are high--but so are the rewards. With GM posts accelerated to the point of both Wednesday and Sunday updates, Prompt Failure may result if you endanger your character but don’t post. However, rewards are accelerated:

<500 words is 2 points, 500-1000 is 4 points, and 1000+ is 6 points.

Objective: Defeat the Infant of Cerise, Orphan of Kos, and claim its spirit

The Chalk Prince, the Fallen Child, and the Skullgirl

Location: Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline
Linkle’s @Gentlemanvaultboy, Frisk’s @Majoras End

Frisk’s announced intentions plus Linkle’s alerted rabbit ears meant that the Chalk Prince and the Skullgirl didn’t need to exchange words to know what was afoot. When Linkle announced her suggestion, Albedo agreed without a second’s hesitation. “I wish you two luck in your investigation of the basement,” he told his new friend and wolf-eared acquaintance. “Please be careful. Malevolent spirits are cunning enough to pose a serious threat. Whatever might come your way, please make your safety your first priority. If something were to happen to either of you, I would be devastated.” He did not rush his advice, but spoke with utmost solemnity. By the time the alchemist finished speaking, however, Frisk had racked up a solid head start. Not too worried about the child leaving him behind, he excused himself with a slight bow, encouraged his cozy corgi to follow him, and set off at a brisk walk.

When he stepped through the front door, however, he found no sign of Frisk at all. “Curious”, he murmured, kneeling to scratch his dog’s ears. Albedo examined the yard despite seeing no places to hide nor reasons why the kid might want to do so, and his search came up predictably empty. Had Frisk set off at such a fast pace that they already rounded the mountain bend going downward? Such action would be risky, even foolhardy, on potentially slick stone steps, and so far Frisk struck him as the quiet and introspective type, rather than energetic and reckless. No, that probably wasn’t it, either.

Already low to the ground, Albedo turned his gaze downward at the snow. Tracks told the story of everyone’s goings and comings at the Beneviento estate, with their depth, size, and definition the prose. Just a little perceptiveness, and one could read between the lines. Among all the prints going inward and outward he zeroed in on the smallest, noting the set that came in from the mountain path, then a matching set going outward. He stood and followed them a few paces, with his corgi trotting at his heels, until he came to such a sudden stop that his dog’s snout bopped the back of his boot. Frisk’s tracks just…ended. No more within jumping range in any direction, not enough time to backtrack for a prank. Even more curious, Albedo thought. But not unsolvable. He called to mind the traveler he came to know in Teyvat, who could make use of the waypoints dotted across the land to teleport. That traveler could warp away with remarkable suddenness in basically any situation, be it standing, in combat, sitting down, or even swimming. It wasn’t crazy to think that Frisk could do something similar. Plus, all this speculation aside, Albedo knew where Frisk intended to go.

Where the rabbits were.

A few minutes later, Albedo and his dog emerged from the dubious path that led up the mountain, back on Snowdin’s main thoroughfare once more. While not really the social type, and certainly no hoarder of the townsfolk’s details, the alchemist had a rough idea where the rabbitfolk lived. He crunched over to the north side of the town, where the side street Warrens Way took him toward a copse of pine trees right behind the other buildings. At the short road’s end lay the Warrens, neither big or separate enough to be classified as a district, but still a distinct part of town for several reasons.

The Warrens took the form of a circular dirt plaza surrounded by forested hills with little dirt paths, beneath which lay the residents’ homes, and on top of which garden patches grew under the trees. Indeed, the Warrens held the honor of being the town’s agricultural center, a feat made possible by the plentiful magics used to keep this part of the town locked in perpetual spring. While most of the townspeople in Snowdin worked and lived wherever they wished without any real patterns, rabbitfolk formed the majority over here, and they were picky about who they allowed to dwell in their midst. In fact, their small group of elders formed the closest thing Snowdin had to any system of governance, although they presided over Warrens affairs exclusively. Although somewhat collectivist, the rabbitfolk were by no means isolationist, and dealt with Snowdin as much as anyone else. It was here, in the herd mentality of these villagers, that the source of Treat’s woe’s lay.

Although Albedo received a few curious looks, nobody treated him with suspicion upon his arrival. He was a known quantity in Snowdin, professionally if not personally, and not a perceived threat. He did, however, leave his corgi in Grillby’s before coming over. The average villager here liked dogs, but the diminutive Funny Bunnies rode the line between person and prey a little closely. At any hour of the day one could expect to encounter the Sylvans, another minority among the rabbitfolk, most easily distinguishable by their custom of wearing midriff-exposing clothing be they man, woman, or child. Unlike the FB’s, who were friendly and quick with a joke, the Sylvans kept to themselves. There were the outliers Panne and Yarne, who claimed to be shapeshifters called Taguels. At least, Panne did; Yarne seemed to be a hopeless coward, afraid of his own shadow. Then there were just the ordinary rabbitfolk with no particular traits beyond long ears and poofy tails, who formed the bulk of the populace here. All together, there were about twenty bunnies to pick and choose from. Trouble is, where was Frisk? Albedo needed to track the child down before anything physical happened, on the off chance that it did.
Lugubrious Member

Player on the other side

Status

Recent Statuses

Bio

Most Recent Posts
