Lugubrious

Legend of Benkei

Looking forward to getting started, as well as anyone else who might check us out. I'll write up Sinmara's intro either today or tomorrow!

Legend of Benkei

Fallen far from the tree

NAME: No.639 “Sinmara” D’Silvae

AGE: 26

GENDER: Female

APPEARANCE: Standing at 5’10”, Sinmara is tall and sturdily built, with appreciable muscle and an overall meatiness. Her skin is a rich dark brown, featuring many x-shaped scars of varying recency, and her long hair -white striped with black- is tied up in a chain of voluminous bundles with red cord. Curved red horns extend upward on either side of her head, her brows are thick and rounded but short, and her sharp teeth are often bared in a smile. Her eyes are a yellow-orange, their irises seemingly cracked. Her outfit, a purple suit jacket plus matching slacks, are casually (almost recklessly) worn to accentuate the curves and muscles she’s evidently so proud of, with rolled-up sleeves and flame patterns, all held together by a number of black belts, straps, and suspenders with little skull clasps. Purple sneakers, helpfully-labeled fighting gloves, and sunglasses all help complete a look that epitomizes what Sinmara herself thinks is really cool, whether or not anyone else agrees with her

PERSONALITY: Most Scions are charismatic, with an emotional intelligence, subtlety, and cunning that allow them to connect with and influence those around them. They are being of enchanting mystique and allure–for the most part. Sinmara is nothing like that. She is boisterous, braggadocious, energetic, competitive, friendly, and unerringly confident. Highly physical, this easily-bored adrenaline-seeker prizes fighting most of all, and being ‘cool’ is not far behind. Such a bumbling idiot, fixated on self-aggrandizement and life’s simple pleasures, is wholly unsuited as one of my Scions. Yet, there’s something about her straightforward, gung-ho wholeheartedness that’s oddly endearing, particularly when she’s vying to earn my approval. Like a puppy. For all her obnoxiousness it’s annoyingly difficult to truly dislike her

Mind: 0/10
Body: 6/10
Agility: 2/10
Craft: 0/10
Magic: 2/10

WEAPON: Heartbreak - Within each Scion beats a Heart of Darkness, and each is able to call forth that Heart of Darkness in tangible form, revealing the eldritch truth at the core of their being, and wielding it as a symbol of their conviction to lay claim to what they desire. As one might expect of Sinmara, her Heartbreak is aggressive, ostentatious, and impractically cool: a demonic-looking chainsaw spear. As her heart quickens, its infernal engine sings ever louder, increasing the chainsaw’s destructive might and turning its teeth red-hot

FIGHTING STYLE: Though Sinmara loves using her chainspear, she loves using her fists even more. Her incredible physical strength serves a wild, untrained, brawling-type style in which she wantonly throws her weight around, seldom stopping to think or plan as she tries to overwhelm her opponents with sheer force. Whether she’s letting loose mighty punches or flashy chainspear moves, her style is as much about showing off as it is actual fighting, and nothing exemplifies this better than her grappling. Even if other techniques might be more effective, she’s more than willing to wrestle instead, going for all sorts of bombastic grabs, throws, holds, and other impractical but impressive moves

SKILL: Fault - A brand of elemental magic twisted by eldritch influence to form something akin to primeval, destructive sorcery. Sinmara can use it to cause ‘cracks’ of amber energy to form on her skin. These cracks can be built up and then spread into other physical matter, either in bursts through strikes or continuously through prolonged contact. These cracks can be detonated through physical contact of sufficient force so long as the striking implement isn’t also cracked. When detonated, the cracks explode, and almost anything can be shattered into pieces as if it were ceramic if it’s cracked enough, including living tissue. Stuff that’s shattered in this way can be put back together as long as the breaks on the pieces still glow orange, which is important for Sinmara because Fault can backfire. She herself can be broken and blown up in this manner, though luckily her individual pieces can keep on living as if nothing was wrong so she can be put back together. This skill can be used freely compared to other skills but requires a lot of effort to build up to comparable levels of destruction.

MAGIC BRANCH: Elemental Magic (Earth) / Dark Magic

BIO: In truth, it’s hard to say just how long ago it was that the firmaments above wept upon the Ardmarsuma borderlands a single, ink-black tear. What matters is that that ill-fated blot, hungry and unwholesome, fell at the height of its halcyon days, never imagining that the voracity of mankind might outstrip its own. Surely you’ve heard of that mercantile desert crossroads, its vivid sandstone painted in variegated hues of vermillion, phthalo, and lavender by grace of the mineral wealth within? Long had the people of that arid province cultivated fame and fortune as traders and warriors, making the most of their land’s hidden wealth and its advantageous position as crossroads between neighboring kingdoms. It was here that I first descended, and where I took root in the loose, sandy earth the land turned rich and black, bringing forth forests of living bone, of coral trees that walked, devoured, and deceived. We were glorious then, my brood and I, but we propagated ourselves too greedily. From the shade of their Silver Canopy, Mizalat Kabira, the loveless Ardmarsumites watched our advent in horror. Rallying her neighbors, the queen sent forth her warriors, and the powerful alliance began to slaughter us. Desperate to live, my Dark Young and I fought back against their wanton cruelty, but the faster we spawned, the faster they cut us down. When the sun next rose over the painted desert, only I remained in the heart of my burning grove, withered and spent. In their mindless barbarity they called me the Horn-Cancer, the Goat of the Woods, loathed me, and killed me.

Yet a part of me remained, hidden within the heart of the queen, left so hollow by recent misfortune that a small fragment of my being could creep in. Weak and powerless, for years I could do naught but cling to life, and ruminate on the lesson that I had learned. An outside force, no matter how hungry nor ambitious, could not conquer humanity; they could only be led to defeat themselves. In the decades that followed the queen’s abdication, I slowly merged with my host, gaining strength through the discrete consumption of paupers, alone and invisible, that nobody would miss. When I finally awoke, we were not host and parasite, but a single combined being, starved and ready to devour this world anew. But now, possessed of human intelligence and emotion, I knew better than to come as invader, my banner of annihilation held high. Instead I would come as the Mother, patiently and lovingly accepting the lonely, the outcast, and the despairing, filling their broken hearts with my own and making them my own children. Born anew in my image, they in turn would spread far and wide, not as Dark Young armed with hoof and claw but as Scions offering the wholeness that the shattered men and women of the world so desperately crave. So that they, too, might willingly surrender, and join my ever-growing family.

My children are many-faceted, reflecting the infinite diversity of the human race from which they’re born. Though all bear my telltale horns, no two are alike, each with their own talents and proclivities. Naturally, some turn out better than others. Among the disappointments, few stand out more than number 639, known as Sinmara. I am unaware of her original origins, possibly the tropical, sea-faring nation to the south of Ardmarsuma. Hers was a common story: the loss of a loved one left her broken and despondent, addicted to alcohol and desperate for healing. Number 522, Gruenbaum, found her in her time of need, and through his love the broken woman gave herself up to became one of us. Once she accepted my Heart of Darkness, her body and mind were wholly transformed, given life anew and crowned with the horns of my kindred, with no memories to weigh her down. Yet Sinmara came out wrong, an enthusiastic and naive oaf who’d rather fight than flirt, possessed of none of the guile and discretion my Scions require to bring more humans into the fold. To my chagrin, she rather reminds me of myself in fact--of my younger, more foolish, more voracious days.

Try as she might to win the approval of myself and her fellow Scions, she would win neither hearts nor converts, instead routinely getting into trouble wherever she went and drawing unwelcome attention to us. Deciding that she was hopeless as a Scion, I put her strength to work as a monster hunter, earning money to finance the efforts of my other children, though her nature led to extra headache just as often. When I learned of a new initiative to uncover the legendary weapons, however, I figured that Sinmara might finally come in useful and dispatched her to join on the off-chance that if she did actually get any, they would be of great use to me. Desperate to please her ‘mom’, and happy for any excuse to do some fighting, Sinmara naturally agreed.

World of Light

Quarantine Valley - Sector V

Level 5 Goldlewis (111/50) Level 4 Sandalphon (26/40)
Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Blazermate, Roland, and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt and Zenkichi’s @Multi_Media_Man
Word Count: 2407 (+3) (-3 (Goldlewis))

With Wind Chimes blazing a trail, and Hal keeping him company rather than flying ahead, Goldlewis made quick work of the Quarantine Valley rooftops. She moved through the rusty, perilous labyrinth with certainty borne of familiarity, leading her new acquaintance on a number of side paths, clever shortcuts, and hidden shortcuts. Time-saving alternate routes that newcomers like the Seekers would have obliviously passed right by were just part and parcel of a skilled courier’s repertoire, suggesting that Wind Chimes made this trip a number of times in the past. In fact, the veteran suspected that her combined familiarity and fitness would be making mincemeat of her well-traveled route, challenging Goldlewis to keep up with an attitude of friendly competition, if not for her rather concerning ailment. In addition to the dark crystals that protruded from her midriff, which caused visible discomfort whenever the muscles in the area took action, Wind Chimes looked rather feverish and sick. Able to airdash across gaps that his guide needed to swing across with her mountaineering equipment, Goldlewis managed to keep pace with her despite being quite out of shape. She didn’t exactly relish the big man being right on her heels, but when she pushed herself a little harder to pick up the pace, the veteran’s proximity turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

After sliding down an inclined rooftop and jumping onto a billboard, her foot caught in a twisted section of its corroded catwalk. “Agh-!” she grunted, losing her balance. She tripped and fell flat on the weakened metal, which not only vibrated dangerously, but actually bent beneath her. The moment she fell, she began to slide toward the edge, where a deadly drop all the way to the Quarantine Valley streets awaited her.

Goldlewis acted fast. “UMA!” Stopping on a stable section of the walkway above a supporting girder, he slung his coffin off his shoulder and dangled it over the abyss by the chain. The lid popped open, and from the swirling aquamarine cosmos within erupted three spindly arms of superhuman length. Just a fraction of a second after Wind Chimes went over the edge, the arms seized her by the ankle, cutting her freefall short.

After a moment of terrified hyperventilation, Wind Chimes managed to get her pounding heart under control, and with a shaky smile she looked up at her savior. “...Shit. Can…can you pull me up?” Gritting his teeth, Goldlewis began to haul the coffin up with both hands, trying to ignore the protesting creaks of the metal beneath him. Hal lent a hand (or more accurately, four pincers) with his drone, and once they got the coffin onto the catwalk, the cryptid lifted Wind Chimes the rest of the way. They couldn’t celebrate just yet, though; all this stress was too much for the walkway to handle. The moment the alien retracted its arms, Goldlewis tucked the coffin under one arm, Wind Chimes under the other, and took off running like a football player to the endzone. At the last moment he leaped from the collapsing billboard over a chain-link fence and onto the rooftop adjacent to Sector V’s. Breathing heavily, he turned and watched the derelict structure crash noisily to the streets far below, where it landed with a terrific slam in a cloud of dust and red matter.

He dropped his coffin with a thud, then set Wind Chimes down more carefully. “You okay, ma’am?”

She looked somewhere between resigned and frustrated. “Yeah, yeah. Man, I can’t believe I made you save me again. Sorry.”

“You must’ve been worse off than I thought, even before your abduction into the Astral Plane” Hal’s voice sounded fretful as his drone drew close for a new scan. “The more redshifted people are, the sicker they get. It’s sapping your strength and clouding your mind.”

Wind Chimes sighed. “I guess…I’m not long for this world. Should’ve known better than to push myself. I knew it’d come to this eventually, but…still, feels pretty awful.” She gave Goldlewis and Hal a sad look. “For now at least, I can make sure we’re square. You don’t need to be around for whatever happens after that.”

Taking a deep breath, Goldlewis stood up straight and put a hand on his heart. “I ain’t gonna let that happen.”

“What are-?” Before Wind Chimes could continue, the veteran slammed a Friend Heart into the messenger’s head. She reeled from the impact, furious and surprised, only to find herself completely restored. Her injuries and redshift evaporated like morning dew, and she blinked, her mouth agape as she held a hand to her head. “Whuh…I feel…amazing! Like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders! What was that?”

Hal seemed just as astonished, but Goldlewis brushed them both off. “It’s nothin’. Least I can do for a fellow human bein’. Whatever you remember, just take it nice and easy. One step at a time.”

Wind Chimes looked thoroughly confused, but her befuddlement quickly gave way to determination. “If you say so, mister. I owe you my life…what, three times over? I’ll bring you to the Hermits if it kills me. C’mon, this way.”

She led Goldlewis and Hal the remainder of the way to Sector V, unknowingly following right in Geralt’s footsteps. They spotted him and Zenkichi ahead and went to join them, passing by a woman in a hooded green jacket leaning against the wall of the passage on the way. Evidently this ‘hidden entrance’ was something of an open secret. When Goldlewis raised an eyebrow at the civilian, she gave him a nonplussed stare in return. “I like it here because it’s out of the way,” she said simply. “Careful you don’t poke around too much. You don’t want the Hermits interested in you.” Part of Goldlewis reasoned that he actually did want the Hermits to take notice, but he gave her a stiff nod and went on his way. A couple seconds later he, Wind Chimes, and Hal stood with the others inside the rooftop colony called Sector V.

“Good work reaching your destination, everyone,” Sandalphon hailed them. “I will relocate to the upper floor of Sector V and seek vantage points from which to support you further.” Nobody had run into trouble as of yet, instead finding ways to help and earn the trust of the locals. So far, so good. The statuesque sniper stood up from her lookout atop the old water tower, banished her gunstaff, and took a graceful running jump. After taking hold of her golden halo, she began to glide through the open air above the Quarantine Valley rooftops, approaching Sector V.

This scavenged settlement took the form of a ramshackle shanty town. Since resources were scarce, the people here made the most of every little thing they got, from building material to pilfered or reclaimed technology. A single meandering street, just wide enough that a couple people could walk abreast, ran the entire length of the colony, starting at the main gate and weaving around the buildings. The people here lived in tiny apartments made from cargo containers, many of which formed Sector V’s outside walls, and inside them were hidden the denizens’ beds, furniture, and all their meager belongings. There were plenty of makeshift storefronts selling all kinds of useful bits and bobs from weapons and tech to daily essentials, and there were even some vending machines, although the ‘Hermitonic’ they offered featured an absurd price tag. A tipsy woman standing near the machines could be found singing its praises. “Mmm…this flavor…I can’t put my finger on it, but it tastes like…power.” When she noticed Goldlewis staring, she clutched the canister in her hand against her chest defensively. “Hey, eyes off my Hermitonic! This one’s all mine!”

Goldlewis gave her a dubious glance. “Did you actually shell out for one of those things?”

“Of course I didn’t pay full price,” she said, almost affronted by the notion. “This drunk came through and let me use his Hermit card. Lucky, huh?”

Not so lucky was a man in an orange coat nearby, down on his luck and sitting on the dirty floor. “Sure wish I had a nice, warm blanket,” he muttered aloud. “I wonder if the Hermits would hook me up with one….ugh, but who’m I kiddin’. They’d never let someone as weak as me in. And I don’t even really wanna live with ‘em either…”

In some areas where the gaps between the buildings widened somewhat, it took on the appearance of an open market, sheltered beneath a sheet metal canopy. A crude ‘outdoor’ food court of tire seats around barrel tables surrounded a cookfire where a lone culinarian stirred a vat of steaming congee, passing out the warm, filling gruel to anyone who could cough up some zenny. A standoffish tippler lounged around at a table, wishing muttering about needing a Hermitonic to sober up. Not far away, a couple old-timers sat on real chairs around a real table. These respected community elders sold consumables and concoctions, respectively, though the gray-bearded Mudtooth would just as happily share fantastical stories to anyone who might care to listen. Indeed, the whole place possessed a certain vitality that somehow overshadowed its bleakness. There were plenty of people here, and while they seemed distrustful and tough, they didn’t look miserable, not even the fellow urgently scrounging for something in a corner. There were children laughing and playing.

“I’ll be right back,” Wind Chimes told the group, patting her delivery bag as she turned around to face them. “Just gotta drop these letters off. Then I’ll be back to take you the rest of the way, promise.”

While she was gone, Goldlewis stopped a passing man to ask if anything strange had been going on. The bearded fellow paused for a moment to think. “Not really!” he piped up after a moment in a gravelly voice. “The Hermits run things around here, and nobody really dares to step to ‘em. I’d watch out if I were you. They’re crazy strong. I hear they use a drug that powers ‘em up somehow. They’re goin’ all out to stop redshift, man. It’s wild!” He seemed interested in the veteran’s coffin, but he soon went on his way, leaving Goldlewis to think. A drug? Was that the ‘little bonus’ that Wind Chimes mentioned? If it meant that she could see and even fight Chimeras, then that probably held true for the Hermits. But how was such a thing even possible in the first place? Did it have something to do with Reunion? Goldlewis couldn’t help but get a bad feeling about all this.

Past the cluttered marketplace, a final few descending twists and turns around the colony’s hovels brought the team to Sector V’s back exit. It let out onto an old concrete bridge that hadn’t seen a running train in years, though a couple stranded subway cars on the tracks had been turned into shelters with the aid of tarps. Even here people could be found milling about, sitting in their chairs or standing around barrel fires. Walled in by Sector V on one side and tall barriers on the other -save for an opening that provided a view over the back half of Quarantine Valley-, the bridge led nowhere. One end was shuttered, and on the far end slabs of concrete were piled up around a sideways tram car to create a huge barrier. A handful of men and women stood or sat around it, all dressed alike in heavy black clothes, boots, and jackets with pronounced collars and orange accents. Black balaclavas completely hid their faces, but each featured a single holographic white eye projected on the front. These stern and well-armed sentries hung around the barrier, evidently guarding the entrance within.

“Okay, it looks like we’ve got our run of the place,” Hal told everyone. “Just as a reminder, we’re here not just to find the Hermits and ideally talk with them, but also figure out what their connection to Reunion is, especially this supposed ‘deal’.” Until Wind Chimes got back in a couple minutes, everyone could look and ask around to find or collect whatever they could.

Up above, Sandalphon softly alighted on the roof. The topmost level of Sector V was a settlement in its own right, with walls and barbed wire sheltering a handful of shacks arranged around the colony’s open-air space. Its haphazard construction made it a collection of uneven up-and-down slopes, with plenty of gaps and holes that someone could easily fall through into the town below. There were tarps stretched out into, clotheslines, and piles of trash, but also a few beach chairs, grills, and even umbrellas. This was where the denizens came to get some air and sun without leaving the security of Sector V, although on a day like today there wasn’t much sunlight to be had. The few people up here gave Sandalphon curious and wary glances, as if she were an alien. Only one person rushed up to her, a young girl of nine or ten. She gawked up at the tall woman with an open mouth. “Are you an angel!?” she gasped.

Sandalphon stared down at her, unblinking. “Yes, my child.”

“Then, can you help me? Everyone says angels aren’t real, ‘cause if they were, they’d come down and help us, so if you’re an angel, you’ve gotta help me!”

Gently, Sandalphon knelt down and put a hand on the girl’s head, stroking her hair. “Then it would seem that I must help you. What can I do for you, my child?”

“My dog Buggy! He got out and I can’t catch him, he’s too fast!” Jumping up and down, the little girl pointed to another section of the roof. “He’s running around trying to get everyone to play with him, but I’m worried he’s going to fall! Can you catch him for me? Please!?”

Sandalphon stood up to her full height. The others could still call her if they needed her, but for now they’d need to do without her direct oversight. Not that she doubted them or anything. “Of course.”

Suoh - Beacon Mental Hospital, the Brainframe

Midna’s @DracoLunaris, Sakura’s @Zoey Boey, Pit’s @Yankee, Roxas’ @Double, Luka, Gemma, Yuito, Hanabi

Though furious, the fights in the Stem Chamber didn’t last long. Though Painwheel, under Brain Drain’s control, managed to deal with Midna’s summons and strikers quite effectively, the Twilight Princess found better help in the form of Roxas, Yutio, and Hanabi. Working alongside them, she managed to lay low the facility’s arrogant psychic director, and without Brain Drain to direct her berserk energy, Painwheel and her rage subsided soon after. Though much worse for wear, their opponents were victorious.

Meanwhile, one Seeker and one Psych-OSF soldier challenged the rogue physics apiece. Though Luka supported Pit when he stood up to Sina, the gung-ho angel ended up doing the lion’s share of the work, sparing his psychic ally the anguish of bringing his Weight Hammer to bear against his own subordinate. As luck would have it, Pit certainly put his best foot forward, taking the fight to Sina despite her slew of cryokinetic tricks and roughing her up. Dexio, meanwhile, faced off against the potent tag team of Gemma and Sakura. He might not be a slouch in the raw power department, but both his foes were expert hand-to-hand fighters with physical strength to spare. Taking turns, they disarmed and then dismantled him, forcing him to make his escape. Put on the back foot, Dexio and Sina activated Brain Drive, but both Seekers knew they had an alternative to facing off against the rogue psychics’ second phases. Rather than go the whole nine yards, they made doubly sure that their opponents were past the requisite damage threshold, then unveiled their trump cards. Both Pit and Sakura managed to deliver their Friend Hearts without issue, but what happened next took them by surprise.

Rather than being instantly cleansed, Dexio and Sina exhibited some sort of adverse reaction, convulsing for a moment as prismatic light built within them. Then, after a tense moment, the lightshow came to a stop as suddenly as it started. With a loud pop, as if some sort of blockage had just been forcefully cleared, the two were thrown to the floor and restored to normal–a normal that neither their squadmate nor their captain recognized, lacking their former bulk and all inhuman features. Though still recognizably themselves, both looked like completely ordinary people. Dexio, with his short, rounded blonde hair and blue glasses, wore a yellow v-neck t-shirt and ripped blue jeans. Sina, with fluffy dark purple hair and pink glasses, had on a white tank top, and ripped dark blue jean shorts. They were, for the first time in a while, themselves. Next to them lay one spirit apiece: a sturdy, slate-blue, spiky Metang, and a stout, long-haired, purple-skinned Jynx.

Instead of gawking or questioning their sudden restoration, Luka rushed over, kneeling between them. “Dexio? Sina? Are you two okay?”

The young woman rubbed her shoulder, looking herself over. “I’m…normal again. I feel…and look, just how I used to!”

“That goes for me, too,” Dexio confirmed. “We’re how we were before joining Psych-OSF.”

Luka looked down at the prismatic motes beside them. “Those spirits…you were fused with Pokemon to gain psychic powers?” Sina looked toward Dexio, who after a moment nodded sheepishly. The confirmation made Hanabi furrow her eyebrows as she remembered what Roxas had said the other day. It looked like the divide between those with and without psychic abilities had led some people to take drastic measures.

“Just like Armstrong said last night,” Gemma pointed out. The big man was standing nearby with his arms crossed, a stormy look on his face. “That doesn’t explain why you attacked us, though. What happened?”

Sina winced, as if dredging up those memories was painful to her. “We were…here before. After what happened to Peach yesterday, we were trying to find out what happened. Telling everyone who would listen. Nobody believed us, not until the Chairman showed up himself. He said he’d show us everything, and sent us with some of his men to come here.”

“Then…that man! The brain with the robot body! After the Chairman’s men told him to ‘fix’ us, he pierced us with those needles. I remember blacking out…then it’s all a blur. Did we really…attack you guys?”

Luka shook his head, clasping a hand on both their shoulders. Though still cold and wet from his attempted drowning, he had nothing but compassion in his heart. “Well, whatever happened, it’s over. You’re safe with us now, and you’ll be alright.”

Gemma, meanwhile, looked over toward where Midna knocked out Brain Drain. “It sounds like…like personality rehabilitation. It’s supposed to be a treatment for mental problems, but it’s been banned for years because of the potential for brainwashing.”

Before anyone could do much of anything else, an orange psychic field began to appear in an open spot in the room. Yuito’s eyebrows shot up. “A Transport power? Someone’s coming!”

“Like we didn’t have enough to deal with!” Hanabi snarked, hefting her staff.

When Transport went off, however, the man that appeared was one most people here recognized. Tall and lanky, with dark green hair and purple skin, Crenshaw stood flanked by a couple men. Together, they looked almost exactly like the group that spirited away Peach yesterday morning. “It’s you,” he said aloud, astonished. “The new recruit I graded…and a number of you from the old subway tunnels yesterday.” Shaking his head to clear his surprise, he clasped his hands together in a businesslike fashion. “Ah, pardon me. I can explain–everything.”

“Crenshaw…” Luka crossed his arms. He looked deadly serious. “Go on.”

The psychic obliged. “I’m a member of the OSF splinter faction, the Seiran Garrison. We’ve been watching this facility closely. Relieving Brain Drain here of his excess, well, brains.” He glanced up at the Brainframe. “When our man staking out the place reported another faction on the premises, I came as fast as I could.” He held up his hands placatingly, as if physically weighing his options. “Back in the tunnels we wanted to avoid involving you if we could. The fewer people who know, the better, and if word gets out, the conspiracy will take steps to make sure that word is silenced. But it seems like you’re all willing to take the risks, determined to reach out and grasp the truth.” He clasped his hands again, holding them against his chest. “We took your friend for her own safety, and for yours. But if you want to see her, we can take you there too. To the Supernatural Life facility, hidden away in the depths of Deep-Paris.” He turned his gaze upward. “Just give us a moment to take as many of these brains as we can. You’ll find out why we need them soon enough.”

While they went to work, the Seekers got a chance to recap, regroup, recover, and explain. If they looked for Brain Drain, they’d find that he’d already awoken and absconded to save himself, leaving his lab -and Painwheel- behind, no matter how much that must have stung him. After conversing with Gemma, Dexio, and Sina, Luka teleported each of them out, then returned. “Gemma will take them to safety,” the captain explained solemnly. “But I want to see what’s become of my cadet for myself.”

“I’m coming too,” Yuito announced. “I need to see the true face of Psych-OSF for myself. The suffering it has caused…Hanabi, you don’t have to-”

His friend shook her head, her burgundy ponytail whipping from side to side. “Wherever you go, I go.”

Once the Seekers wrapped everything up here, the journey could commence.

The Under - Kingdom’s Edge

Level 12 Nadia (65/120)
The Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Primrose and Therion’s @Yankee, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Ganondorf’s @Double, Rubick’s @Scarifar, Artorias’ @Dark Cloud
Word Count: 2621

After leaving the Organization girl to be inundated with questions by the others, Nadia walked over to the newly-summoned jumping puzzle, stopping in the center to stare upward with her hands in her pockets. Above her floated an array of fluffy white clouds arranged haphazardly from just above the cavern’s floor all the way up to the powerfully luminescent lightroot that dangled from its ceiling, spread across a horizontal range a couple hundred feet in diameter. It was a lot to take in, especially considering that she needed to follow in that odd-looking quadruped’s footsteps and get all the way to the top in order to keep progressing forward. That meant a very, very long fall if she missed a jump, and as her predecessor demonstrated, a cloud would vanish once touched, meaning that she couldn’t just idle in place as if bouncing on a trampoline. Once she set off, it would be go, go, go from the start line all the way to the finish, but as intimidating as that sounded, Nadia couldn’t help but be excited. This would be a true test of her agility, and between her double jump, airdash, and Charge, she felt pretty well-equipped to take it. The thought of asking Kamek for a mount didn’t even cross her mind. With an eager smile she crouched down, waved her tails as she built up blood pressure in her legs, then cannoned skyward with an exultant yell. “Nyaaaaaahooooooo!”

In short order she realized that this was even more fun than she anticipated. Each soft, springy cloud bounced her up about a dozen feet no matter where or how she landed on it, making it so easy to gain altitude that she left the ground behind in a matter of moments. From there, she could reliably double jump by somersaulting in any direction at her leisure, exchanging her upward momentum for greater maneuverability. If she needed to cover more distance, a blood-propelled airdash worked perfectly, but at the lower reaches of the cloud formation the puffy white pillows were so plentiful that she seldom needed to. While landing on a cloud would bounce her up, she could pass straight through them from below, sometimes allowing her to scale several at a time without even needing to move. Her fears that this would become a monotonous, methodical chore were dashed the moment she first encountered a coiled spring lying atop one of the clouds. When she brought her new Mantreads down on it, the spring launched her upward in a burst of speed that made her ears, hair and tail whip in the wind. “Whoooooo, yeah!” she yowled, a huge grin plastered on her mug as her heart raced. Each spring sent her quadruple the height of a regular cloud, but things didn’t stop there. Rarer still were the actual trampolines that rested on the occasional cloud, bright red with a yellow dot in the center, and landing on those hurtled her even farther upward. Aiming for these sped up the catgirl’s progress dramatically, allowing her to make quick work of the jumping puzzle.

As Nadia climbed higher, the going got a little tougher, though for the adventurous feral that just kept things enjoyably interesting. Clouds became more spaced out, and false platforms that would break the instant she or anyone else touched them showed up. With her speed and agility she mostly avoided the bugs that belabored the the Koopa Troop, but some Booflies did meander into her airspace. At one point Nadia hit a spring that launched her into a Boofly’s underside faster than she could maneuver out of the way, and the hefty blow knocked her off course, threatening to fling her out of the cloud column altogether and into freefall. That was the only time Nadia ended up needing to use Charge, blitzing back to safety as a bolt of lightning to resume her climb, and a few moments later the feral got her revenge by bouncing on top of the offending Boofly until her Mantreads ruptured its bulbous body like a water balloon. “How’d you like that shoe, fly? Hahah, serves ya right!” Nadia called down after it as she resumed her climb.

Not long after her near-disaster, she chanced upon a stroke of good fortune instead: a funny-looking propeller hat, complete with colorful stripes. When she snatched it from the cloud it rested on, its propeller spun up immediately, carrying Nadia with it as it soared upward for hundreds of feet. It really got her blood pumping, and though the joyride ended far too soon, Nadia quickly realized upon discarding it that she’d almost reached the top. Not too far away hung the lightroot, its glare blindingly bright at this range, but by averting her gaze the feral spotted what looked like her destination. A large, rocky overhang hung out from one of the cave walls on the same side as the recess that harbored the protruding top of Pizza Tower, which she hadn’t even noticed passing. Once she got high enough, all it took was a final push consisting of an airdash into diagonal Charge to seal the deal.

The overhang took the form of an upward slope in the direction of the cavern wall, very much like a hill with a coating of soil atop of the stone and even patches of grass somehow nourished by the lightroot’s glow. Nadia landed at the foot of this ‘hill’ on all fours just to make absolutely sure she didn’t fall backward off the edge before rising to her feet. Her heart beat like a drum in her chest and her throat felt a little raw from all the exertion, so after a moment she sat down to rest until everyone had reached this spot. It took practically that entire time to comb out and untangle her long hair, whipped as it was into a frenzied mess by all the gymnastics she’d done during her ascent. “Not that this hasn’t been fun, but I could’ve really used a short cut,” she muttered aloud. The sooner she got her locks trimmed again, the better. As she took a better look at the overhang, though, she felt less confident about encountering a barber -or even a mirror- in the near future. This hill featured dozens of tombstones, and at the top the stone of the cave wall had been carved into the somber facade of a mausoleum. That kid did call this next place ‘the Crypt’, she thought offhandedly as she collected her hair into a ponytail with the help of a strand of muscle fiber. I guess we’ve got a grave matter ahead of us.

Once everyone stood reunited, they proceeded to the top of the hill. There, inside the mausoleum facade, they found a room of aged stone brick dimly lit by black candles that burned with an eerie blue flame. On the far side were a set of heavy stone doors, enchanted and sealed tight. In front of them sat a heavy stone desk with a number of papers on it, whether loose or in ledgers, as well as an inkwell and feather pen. Nobody sat there, but a bell sat near the edge, tantalizingly shiny, next to a small, neatly-written sign that read ‘ring for assistance’. Though a little wary, Nadia went ahead and tapped the bell. Ding!

The instant the bell’s hollow peal rang out, a field of swirling purple clouds surrounded the room. “Gah, I knew it!” Nadia yelled, more annoyed than surprised. From behind the desk, a purplish shadow sprang up and loomed over documents and Seekers alike, his eyes and smile a brilliant yellow.

“WHHHHYYYYYYYYYY HELLO THERE!” the Snatcher greeted the heroes enthusiastically, his voice suitably slimy and ethereal. “Hello and welcome, esteemed visitors, to the Crypt! Will you be interested in entering this fine afternoon?”

Though tensed up and ready to fight, Nadia kept her hands off her weapons as she looked up at the Snatcher’s leering face. “Uh, yeah actually. Can you get us in?”

“Of course! The Crypt offers free admission year-round. All you need to do is sign the EULA.”

When she heard that word, Nadia drew a blank, her brows scrunching together in confusion. “The…eula?”

“The end-user license agreement!” Summoning a thick sheaf of paper, the specter offered it to Nadia. “Think of it as a legal contract that one must consent to and abide by in order to enter and enjoy the Crypt. You know, terms and conditions, rights and restrictions, all that jazz. Don’t worry about the details, just sign right at the bottom, and we’re good to go!”

When Nadia took the contract and held it up to read it, the paper unfolded, reaching all the way to the floor and then some. After suppressing her astonishment, she narrowed her eyes and tried to read it. All the complicated, impersonal legal jargon quickly made her head spin after just a couple paragraphs; she wasn’t absorbing any of it, and she actually yawned. “Holy moly. How does anyone actually read this thing!? What kind of stuff’s in it?”

“Pretty much nobody does, actually!” the Snatcher told her cheerfully. “It’s more of a formality than anything. It’s just limitations of use, prohibited activities like smoking and fighting, waivers, legal penalties for breaking contract, yadda, yadda, yadda. Nothing fine upstanding folks like yourselves need worry about, I’m sure!”

At that, Nadia’s ears perked up a bit. “Oh, well, yeah, sure. We’re just passin’ through anyway, I won’t do anythin’ bad. Cat’s honor!” While she meant that, she ultimately didn’t care all that much about whatever stipulations she was supposedly agreeing to. As far as she was concerned, it was all superfluous legalese that didn’t practically mean anything. And what was the worst the monsters here could do if someone broke contract anyway? Attack them? The Seekers were no strangers to fighting their way out. Nadia went ahead and signed the EULA given to her, using her not-so-legal name of Ms. Fortune. Immediately the contract rolled up and poofed away, and the stone slabs leading into the Crypt began to slide open. They would smash together to crush anyone who stepped inside illegally, but as a contractor Nadia had nothing to fear.

She and the Snatcher both waited for signatures from everyone else who was willing. Only when the last Seeker signed did the Snatcher clap his hands together. “That seals the deal, we’re in business! You’re all free to enter. Let me just grab this real quick…” As the mausoleum doors closed behind everyone, a flurry of purple lightning came out of the blue and struck them repeatedly. Though Nadia flinched on reflex, she barely felt the lightning at all, and rather than deafening thunder she heard nothing more than a series of weak slaps, like someone getting smacked with a crumpled up paper. After a moment, though, strange, wispy motes drifted up from each of them, like ghostly facsimiles of themselves. Suddenly, Nadia felt exceedingly empty inside. “And there we go! As per the terms of your license agreement, your souls belong to the NecroDancer for the duration, by which I mean ‘eternity’, and if you leave before your contract is up, he will definitely ‘end user’, ahahahahaha!” Welcome to the Crypt of the NecroDancer. Dance ‘til you’re dead!”

Nadia groaned and hung her head, laughing dryly at herself for getting fooled so easily. Although she could pretty much predict how it’d go, she halfheartedly tried throwing Athame at the Snatcher anyway, and naturally it bounced right off. “Sorry, ‘Ms. Fortune’, you can only hit me when I turn blue,” the specter explained. “But blue doesn’t suit me. So if you’re feeling blue, take it up with the NecroDancer! No fighting though, or your soul’s on the menu, ahahahaha!” As he dove back into the ground, his voice echoed through the catacombs. “FOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo_{ooooooooools…}”

With a sigh Nadia went to retrieve her dagger, crouching down by the doors. “Y’know, this is good, actually. I was just thinkin’ that things were a little too normal today.” As she stuck Athame in her belt, her ears flicked. “Hey…you guys hear music?”

When the team advanced, they soon found the Crypt to be a sprawling dungeon tomb, but it was far from dead silent. In each vaulted chamber, all with their own spooky themes, the checkered floors flashed alternating colors in tune to the beat. Speakers and boomboxes outnumbered the tombstones The skeletons, zombies, and ghosts that crowded this place were completely non-hostile, perhaps also bound by the terms of their contracts even though their ends had already come. Instead they held up bones coated in luminescent mushroom juice like glow sticks, partaking in a never-ending rave, or boogieing out on the dance floor. Even floating Sargassos (some with trumpets) and Plenty of other monsters and people seemed to call this place home as well, but even though tempers might run hot, fights never broke out here. Nadia did see a couple dance battles and rhythmic showdowns, so furiously competitive that she couldn’t help but wonder if the participants were dancing for their very lives. At some point the place looked less like a crypt more like a Halloween-themed club.

A little overwhelmed by all the stimulus present in the supernatural party atmosphere, Nadia stopped in the Crypt’s central nexus, a roughly cylindrical chamber of stairs, arches, and obsidian. Though it connected to many rooms and received a taste of the music in each, this seemed to be the only place without any active partying, where a number of dancers and celebrants were relaxing on break or just sitting in crestfallen silence. Skeletons seemed to be the majority here, so a young blonde woman with a shovel stuck out like a sore thumb. Nadia also spotted a few people that seemed like instructors, some in the process of giving dance lessons. One, Nashmeira, instructed in the use of a dancing art that made use of chakrams, while an elegant young man in pink taught ribbon dancing with cloth that furled like drills. A fox spirit would’ve been teaching a fan dance if he had any students, because he happened to be near the most popular trainers, a trio of short men in tracksuits who evidently taught combat breakdancing. There was even a magical-looking jukebox called ‘Leitmotif’ with the slogan ‘Discover your theme’ emblazoned on it.

“Sheesh. This place must get ‘rave’ reviews. Everyone’s just dyin’ to get in.” Nadia sat down on some steps, not sure where to even begin. Had she really lost her soul? If so, how was she going to get it back? Who was this NecroDancer, anyway? And maybe most importantly, did this Crypt place serve lunch? “Maybe we oughta break out the pizzas,” she told the troop, only half joking. “I dunno what to do, but whatever we end up doing, we can’t do it hungry, eh?”

Legend of Benkei(Anime, Fantasy/Sci Fi Blend)

<Snipped quote by Lugubrious>
I'd say Marissa and Sinmara are sufficiently different! Their fighting styles and overall vibes are total opposites. Even if you took away their signature weapons and magic, a fight between them would be a Ganondorf vs. Captain Falcon situation, I think (and for what it's worth, I think Sinmara would win the straight brawl). That said, we probably don't need any more beefcake melee fighters with these two on board.

Sinmara's origin story is some real food for thought too. Like, what form would Marissa's Heartbreak take, assuming she still has a heart to break? Would she cast away her pride and her humanity for a power boost? Maybe! Good thing Sinmara doesn't seem all that interested in doing her actual job as a Scion. I should probably work on giving Marissa an actual backstory that isn't a writeup of the wounded warrior trope.

@Emeth

I appreciate the appraisal, and the more I've thought about it, I definitely agree. While they may have some commonalities, they're pretty much night and day as characters. I think you've got a point with the hypothetical winner of a 1v1, as well. Sinmara has a lot of power that she seldom gets a chance to actually use against cleverer, more imaginative opponents, so against someone as straightforward as herself, she could actually let loose. Of course, Marissa would definitely still give her a run for her money.

The thing about the Mother Goat's corruption is that it's not really a trade of humanity for power. I tried to put a spin on the idea of 'demons' and 'deals with the devil'. The kind of person who joins the family is one who's essentially given up completely, who's so brokenhearted, beaten down, or consumed by desire that his or her own life no longer matters. Though the transformation does give a substantial power boost, it prevents further growth, and it also essentially erases the original person, creating someone brand new. Sinmara's Heartbreak doesn't reflect her past self (whose name is lost to history) but her current one, and if Marissa accepted a Heart of Darkness, it would not be 'her' that could call forth a Heartbreak.

Sinmara would do what her mom wants if she could, but she just so happens to be completely inept at any kind of manipulation or guile, and since her own Heart of Darkness can't be given by force, she's essentially powerless to corrupt anyone else. Someone would have to fall in love with her so hopelessly that it hollows that person enough to be able to accept her Heart of Darkness willingly.

Legend of Benkei(Anime, Fantasy/Sci Fi Blend)

I could do Discord. Just out of curiosity, what do you figure will be the update frequency for the RP?

Legend of Benkei(Anime, Fantasy/Sci Fi Blend)

Alright, here's what I've got so far. I added a couple parts that I really wanted to codify just for my own reference. The sheet is narrated in part by her 'mom'.

Fallen far from the tree

NAME: No.639 “Sinmara” D’Silvae

AGE: 26

GENDER: Female

APPEARANCE: Standing at 5’10”, Sinmara is tall and sturdily built, with appreciate muscle and an overall meatiness. Her skin is a rich dark brown, featuring many x-shaped scars of varying recency, and her long hair -white striped with black- is tied up in a chain of voluminous bundles with red cord. Curved red horns extend upward on either side of her head, her brows are thick and rounded but short, and her sharp teeth are often bared in a smile. Her eyes are a yellow-orange, their irises seemingly cracked. Her outfit, a purple suit jacket plus matching slacks, are casually (almost recklessly) worn to accentuate the curves and muscles she’s evidently so proud of, with rolled-up sleeves and braggadocious flame patterns, all held together by a number of black belts, straps, and suspenders. Purple sneakers, helpfully-labeled fighting gloves, and sunglasses all help complete a look that epitomizes what Sinmara herself thinks is really cool, whether or not anyone else agrees with her

PERSONALITY: Most Scions are charismatic, with an emotional intelligence, subtlety, and cunning that allow them to connect with and influence those around them. They are being of enchanting mystique and allure–for the most part. Sinmara is nothing like that. She is boisterous, braggadocious, energetic, competitive, friendly, and unerringly confident. Highly physical, this easily-bored adrenaline-seeker prizes fighting most of all, and being ‘cool’ is not far behind. Such a bumbling idiot, fixated on self-aggrandizement and life’s simple pleasures, is wholly unsuited as one of my Scions. Yet, there’s something about her straightforward, gung-ho wholeheartedness that’s oddly endearing, particularly when she’s vying to earn my approval. Like a puppy. For all her obnoxiousness it’s annoyingly difficult to truly dislike her

Mind: 0/10
Body: 6/10
Agility: 2/10
Craft: 0/10
Magic: 2/10

WEAPON: Heartbreak - Within each Scion beats a Heart of Darkness, and each is able to call forth that Heart of Darkness in tangible form, revealing the eldritch truth at the core of their being, and wielding it as a symbol of their conviction to lay claim to what they desire. As one might expect of Sinmara, her Heartbreak is aggressive, ostentatious, and impractically cool: a demonic-looking chainsaw spear. As her heart quickens, its infernal engine sings ever louder, increasing the chainsaw’s destructive might and turning its teeth red-hot

FIGHTING STYLE: Though Sinmara loves using her chainspear, she loves using her fists even more. Her incredible physical strength serves a wild, untrained, brawling-type style in which she wantonly throws her weight around, seldom stopping to think or plan as she tries to overwhelm her opponents with sheer force. Whether she’s letting loose mighty punches or flashy chainspear moves, her style is as much about showing off as it is actual fighting, and nothing exemplifies this better than her grappling. Even if other techniques might be more effective, she’s more than willing to wrestle instead, going for all sorts of bombastic grabs, throws, holds, and other impractical but impressive moves

SKILL: Fault - A brand of elemental magic twisted by eldritch influence to form something akin to primeval, destructive sorcery. Sinmara can use it to cause ‘cracks’ of amber energy to form on her skin. These cracks can be built up and then spread into other physical matter, either in bursts through strikes or continuously through prolonged contact. These cracks can be detonated through physical contact of sufficient force so long as the striking implement isn’t also cracked. When detonated, the cracks explode, and almost anything can be shattered into pieces as if it were ceramic if it’s cracked enough, including living tissue. Stuff that’s shattered in this way can be put back together as long as the breaks on the pieces still glow orange, which is important for Sinmara because Fault can backfire. She herself can be broken and blown up in this manner, though luckily her individual pieces can keep on living as if nothing was wrong so she can be put back together.

MAGIC BRANCH: Elemental Magic (Earth) / Dark Magic

BIO: In truth, it’s hard to say just how long ago it was that the firmaments above wept upon the Ardmarsuma borderlands a single, ink-black tear. What matters is that that ill-fated blot, hungry and unwholesome, fell at the height of its halcyon days, never imagining that the voracity of mankind might outstrip its own. Surely you’ve heard of that mercantile desert crossroads, its vivid sandstone painted in variegated hues of vermillion, phthalo, and lavender by grace of the mineral wealth within? Long had the people of that arid province cultivated fame and fortune as traders and warriors, making the most of their land’s hidden wealth and its advantageous position as crossroads between neighboring kingdoms. It was here that I first descended, and where I took root in the loose, sandy earth the land turned rich and black, bringing forth forests of living bone, of coral trees that walked, devoured, and deceived. We were glorious then, my brood and I, but we propagated ourselves too greedily. From the shade of their Silver Canopy, Mizalat Kabira, the loveless Ardmarsumites watched our advent in horror. Rallying her neighbors, the queen sent forth her warriors, and the powerful alliance began to slaughter us. Desperate to live, my Dark Young and I fought back against their wanton cruelty, but the faster we spawned, the faster they cut us down. When the sun next rose over the painted desert, only I remained in the heart of my burning grove, withered and spent. In their mindless barbarity they called me the Horn-Cancer, the Goat of the Woods, loathed me, and killed me.

Yet a part of me remained, hidden within the heart of the queen, left so hollow by recent misfortune that a small fragment of my being could creep in. Weak and powerless, for years I could do naught but cling to life, and ruminate on the lesson that I had learned. An outside force, no matter how hungry nor ambitious, could not conquer humanity; they could only be led to defeat themselves. In the decades that followed the queen’s abdication, I slowly merged with my host, gaining strength through the discrete consumption of paupers, alone and invisible, that nobody would miss. When I finally awoke, we were not host and parasite, but a single combined being, starved and ready to devour this world anew. But now, possessed of human intelligence and emotion, I knew better than to come as invader, my banner of annihilation held high. Instead I would come as the Mother, patiently and lovingly accepting the lonely, the outcast, and the despairing, filling their broken hearts with my own and making them my own children. Born anew in my image, they in turn would spread far and wide, not as Dark Young armed with hoof and claw but as Scions offering the wholeness that the shattered men and women of the world so desperately crave. So that they, too, might willingly surrender, and join my ever-growing family.

My children are many-faceted, reflecting the infinite diversity of the human race from which they’re born. Though all bear my telltale horns, no two are alike, each with their own talents and proclivities. Naturally, some turn out better than others. Among the disappointments, few stand out more than number 639, known as Sinmara. I am unaware of her original origins, possibly the tropical, sea-faring nation to the south of Ardmarsuma. Hers was a common story: the loss of a loved one left her broken and despondent, addicted to alcohol and desperate for healing. Number 522, Gruenbaum, found her in her time of need, and through his love the broken woman gave herself up to became one of us. Once she accepted my Heart of Darkness, her body and mind were wholly transformed, given life anew and crowned with the horns of my kindred, with no memories to weigh her down. Yet Sinmara came out wrong, an enthusiastic and naive oaf who’d rather fight than flirt, possessed of none of the guile and discretion my Scions require to bring more humans into the fold. Try as she might to win the approval of myself and her fellow Scions, she would win neither hearts nor converts, instead routinely getting into trouble wherever she went and drawing unwelcome attention to us. Deciding that she was hopeless as a Scion, I put her strength to work as a monster hunter, earning money to finance the efforts of my other children, though her nature led to extra headache just as often. When I learned of a new initiative to uncover the legendary weapons, however, I figured that Sinmara might finally come in useful and dispatched her to join on the off-chance that if she did actually get any, they would be of great use to me. Desperate to please her ‘mom’, and eager to fight, Sinmara naturally agreed.

Legend of Benkei(Anime, Fantasy/Sci Fi Blend)

That's pretty darn good already Emeth!

A couple things in common between Marissa and my concept make me wonder if I should take a different route though lol. While there are differences, both would probably occupy the same role, down to approximate stat distribution and combat flair.

Legend of Benkei(Anime, Fantasy/Sci Fi Blend)

I just now noticed all the new stuff in the OP, lol. Time to read up.

World of Light

Midgar - Zone 09

Level 5 Goldlewis (111/50) Level 4 Sandalphon (23/40)
Karin’s @Zoey Boey, Blazermate, Roland, and Susie’s @Archmage MC, Geralt and Zenkichi’s @Multi_Media_Man
Word Count: 2512

As the others set off, beginning the rooftop trek toward the obvious point of interest that was the ramshackle colony a good ways off, Goldlewis lingered near the bridge for a moment longer. Part of him wanted to wait for Sandalphon to take up her planned position to ensure that he and the others were advancing through unknown territory with the assurance of the combat coordinator’s support, but that wasn’t the real reason.

“Never seen this part of the city before, I take it?” H’s bright yellow drone drifted over to hover a couple feet away from Goldlewis, its unblinking blue optic sensors fixed on him. “I mean, it’s understandable. Quarantine Valley…well, it’s a lot to think about, right? Nobody really wants to think about what a place like this means for us. Either in terms of Astral Plane corruption, or in terms of how we humans treat one another when the cards are down.”

For a solid couple seconds, Goldlewis didn’t say anything. H didn’t allow the unpleasant silence to linger for too long. Well, at least those should be the last guards for us to worry about,” H declared, his drone performing a high-spirited flip, “I was kind of expecting security on this side, too.” The two of them plus Geralt, who was not in any hurry to test the structural stability of the sheet-metal bridges until his allies put them through their paces, waited a few moments more, scoping out the area and plotting a route to the colony until Sandalphon reached her perch. She gave them the go-ahead, and the Seekers’ rearguard began to move. Still, despite the lack of immediate danger and the all-clear from both Sandalphon and H, Goldlewis kept a sharp eye out. His reflexes simply wouldn’t allow him to relax in a situation like this. You can take the man out of the war, but you can’t take the war out of the man, he thought wryly.

Within two minutes, though, his alertness bore fruit. In a corner of a rooftop with a bunch of metal containers, tucked up and protected from the winds by perpendicular metal sheets attached to the roof’s rusted perimeter railing he spotted a red-and-black machine about the size of a dog. It lay behind a box that hid it just out of sight for the average passer-by, and every few seconds a large gash on its casing spat out a handful of orange sparks. Curious, H followed Goldlewis over, and he identified it immediately. “A busted security drone…it looks like it was working fine up until a little while ago. Hm…usually these accompany Peace Preservation officers.” He hovered a little closer. “Maybe it saw something interesting. Let’s check it out.”

Hacking into the drone, H quickly scoured its memory. After salvaging some footage, H steered his drone back toward the path everyone just came through, then put its onboard holographic projector to work. An ethereal, green, three-dimensional image of a horned woman in somewhat patchy attire, a gigantic sword with teeth like a hacksaw slung over her back, and the drone itself. As Goldlewis watched, H used his drone to recreate the events from the footage. Flanked by her drone, the guard strode down the walkway that led to this rooftop and paused on the raised platform. Then she tensed up, turned, and ran down the steps onto the rooftop to circle around a cluster of barrels and come to a stop just below the overlook where she paused originally with her hand on her sword’s hilt. “She keeps looking around,” H noted aloud as Goldlewis came to a stop behind the projection. “I guess she lost sight of whatever she was after. She sees something again, and then…that’s the last we see of her.” The image abruptly went haywire, the recreated phantoms sent topsy-turvy before vanishing altogether. “And wouldn’t you know it, the drone got wrecked at that exact same moment. Whatever went down, went down right here. The culprit doesn’t show up on camera…are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Goldlewis had been stroking his beard, trying to figure out the sequence of events. Basically anything could have happened, from a simple equipment malfunction to an attack from local malefactors, possibly even the Hermits themselves. Then again, this woman looked way too rough-and-tumble for Peace Preservation, and what would one of them be doing on the wrong side of the restricted zone, anyway? Maybe she was a Hermit, her drone hacked and repurposed. If that was the case, the big question was what happened to her. Given the nature of Quarantine Valley, and the weird omissions from the recording, an obvious answer sprung to mind. “Reckon it’s a chimera abduction?”

“It’s gotta be!” H replied, getting excited. “Judging by the embedded data on the video file, it wasn’t long ago. We may not be too late to save her if we find her fast!”

Furrowing his brow, Goldlewis scanned the area. The others were already getting ahead of him, but abandoning this poor woman to her fate -a fate worse than death, incidentally- wouldn’t sit right with him. After a few moments, H located a concentrated bundle of red matter floating in the open air about twenty feet beyond a gap in the rooftop’s railing. When his drone approached, a blood-red wound split open in reality itself, a rippling crimson vortex of otherworldly energy. “A Gate!” H exclaimed. “With redshift levels as high as hers were, our guard probably saw the chimera. And decided to follow it…but it looks like it found her before she found it, and dragged her in. Oh…” He turned toward Goldlewis, his tone suddenly dejected. “But without a Legion, you can’t even see chimeras, let alone fight them.”

The veteran had already made up his mind. He by no means wanted a repeat of the night before last, but this was something he couldn’t just ignore. “Good thing I got that doohickey of yours to gimme a rough approximation. Can I still get in and out?”

“Theoretically, yes, but…”

“Then that’s what I’m fixin’ to do.” Goldlewis backed up, preparing to take a running leap. “Halo, you copy that? Whoever she is, she might be able to help us. But even if that wasn’t the case, leavin’ her to aberrate would leave a mighty bad taste in my mouth.”

“Understood.” Sandalphon directed her voice to all the Seekers in Zone 09, informing them of the latest developments that she’d witnessed from her vantage point. “Goldlewis is entering a Gate leading to the Astral Plane on the rooftop right before the one with a broken radio tower in order to rescue a civilian. Goldlewis, please keep me updated on your status.”

Without further ado, the veteran sprinted toward the edge, threw himself off the rooftop, and airdashed straight into the Gate. As he vanished The yellow drone did an agitated flip. “Ohhh boy. This is gonna be rough.” H took a deep breath and drove his proxy forward, riding the veteran’s coattails into the unknown.

This time, the transition was immediate–no hurtling through an infinite interdimensional passageway, just a quick red flash before Goldlewis was deposited on a large, uneven plateau of red-tinted obsidian emblazoned with countless golden lines that curved and meandered like rivers on a map. In the distance, beyond the sheer drops at the plateau’s edges, angular towers and monoliths hung in the air between planes of similar material that stretched all the way to the horizon, where a narrow strip of pure white affording only a partial look at a colossal, inverted black pyramid. That much Goldlewis remembered, but unlike before he could see no elaborate landscape or suspended labyrinth extending out into this alien dimension. Nothing beyond this roughly square arena, practically featureless except for some red data distortions, could be reached. Of course, that meant that both arrivals spotted their target right away.

“Ah! Look, there she is, over there! And it looks like she’s okay.” With her here in the flesh rather than an indistinct hologram, Goldlewis could get a good look at the abducted woman for the first time. She looked like one tough cookie, her slapped-together outfit -decked out with sophisticated climbing gear- designed for function over form. From her brown hair extended bovine ears and horns, one of them broken. She’d planted her greatsword in the ground and now lay slumped over it, seemingly hurt and half-conscious as she gasped for breath. “Well, she’s still herself, at least.” Both of them also noticed the dark crystals protruding from the right side of her exposed midriff. “For now, at least. We’d better hurry.”

Goldlewis held up a hand to his glyph as he began to move. Luckily, it seemed like Sandalphon’s miracle could reach him in here. “Come in, Halo. We found the missin’ woman. Just about to bring’ her home.”

The mountaineer spotted them as they approached, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “No way, someone actually came in after me? Somebody pinch me!” She winced in pain, holding her abdomen. Sweat dampened her skin; whatever exertion she’d just performed had worked her core muscles to the point where the lesions hurt more than her fresh wounds. “Urk…you…you are here to rescue me, right?”

“Yes ma’am,” Goldlewis set his coffin down beside her and knelt. “Hold tight now, we’ll getcha outta here in no time.”

“Then you better work fast,” the woman groaned. “‘Cause the chimeras aren’t done with me just yet.” Noises from behind Goldlewis forced him to return, but he couldn’t see anything other than a couple blots of rippling energy that quickly faded away. “Three more of ‘em,” she announced weakly, almost laughing. “Good luck, chief.”

On instinct Goldlewis took up arms, lifting his coffin as he prepared to swing. Of course, H was right. He couldn’t see hide nor hair of these monsters, and blindly swinging at them wouldn’t get him anywhere, either. “Let’s make a run for it,” H advised, piloting his drone over the woman. Four little crane arms descended from its underside to grab her around the middle and lift her into the air. “I’ve got the victim. Focus on reaching the exit!”

A little surprised to find herself hoisted so easily, the mountaineer looked down at the arena from above as H began to carry her out. “Listen up, I’ll direct you!” she called down to Goldlewis. “The first one’s chargin’! Dodge…left!” Putting his faith in the stranger, Goldlewis obeyed, barely avoiding the first chimera in time. “Now the other two, move back! Now…go, go, go!” The veteran ran back toward the gate, converging on it at the same time as H. “Wait, stop!” At the woman’s shout, Goldlewis hit the brakes, and H swerved out of the way. Unbeknownst to either of them, the first chimera had charged back toward them, predicting their path to try and cut them off. Instead it went right between them, severely overshooting. “Okay, step on it, they’re comin’!” At the signal, both threw themselves through the Gate, followed a second later by the chimeras. Remembering where he was, Goldlewis made sure to airdash back to the rooftop to avoid a deadly drop. Less than a minute after he first leaped into the Astral Plane, he skidded to a stop in the World of Light once more.

H flew after him, the mountaineer held safely in his drone’s tethers, but the chimeras weren’t so fortunate. They toppled out of the portal and plummeted all the way down toward the city streets. “Haha, they fell!” The woman exulted, her vindictive glee quickly turning to anguish as H laid her down. “Oof, ow…”

H, meanwhile, was practically overjoyed. “Amazing! We all made it out without aberration. In fact, I’m barely detecting any redshift in you at all, Mr. Dickinson. Less than one percent.”

“Thank God.” While Goldlewis couldn’t enjoy the sight of the chimeras falling to their deaths (assuming that they could even die of fall damage) he could watch as the Gate disappeared from view a moment later. “Huh. Is it gone?”

“No,” H replied sadly. “It’s ‘off’, but it’s still there. We’d need a Legion, or at least a Neuron member with an x-baton, to close it for good.”

“Good luck with any of that. That one’s hardly the first, and it won’t be the last.” The mountaineer lifted herself into a sitting position. “Down here, there’s nobody but the Hermits to look out for us,” she told them wryly. “Though I can’t exactly say that with you around. Not many people out there who’d jump into a Gate to save some stranger. I thought my delivery streak had finally come to an end. You must be crazy.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

Goldlewis nodded. “You’re welcome.”

Over the Seekers’ communication network, Sandalphon relayed the duo’s success. “Looks like the situation is resolved and under control. Please proceed with the mission.”

“If I might ask, how were you fighting those things?” H asked, hovering a little closer to the Astral Plane survivor. When it came to what happened, he’d managed to put two and two together. “Even if you can touch them, those things are inhumanly strong. Plus…well, if you could already see them even before being taken, it’s honestly a miracle you haven’t turned.”

The woman sighed as she weighed her options. She seemed reluctant to answer the question, but after a brief moment her principles won out. “Eh…it’s kind of a secret, but since you saved me, I guess I owe you. I’m a messenger, and sometimes I work with the Hermits. They don’t want their messages gettin’ lost in transit, so they gave me a little bonus a while back. That’s about it.”

“About that…” Goldlewis crossed his arms, his face apologetic. “I wish I could say we helped out purely outta the kindness of our hearts, but we just so happen to be lookin’ for the Hermits. If you could help us, we’d sure appreciate it.”

She looked unsure. After a second or two, H picked up the slack. “We don’t want you getting in hot water or anything, of course. We just want to get in touch with the people really trying to make a difference around here. The current state of affairs can’t continue, and the only way things get better is to fight. This is Goldlewis Dickinson, former Secretary of Defense. If you’ve heard that name, you know he’s been a man of the people all his life. And I’m Hal Clark.” At the reveal, Goldlewis raised his eyebrows, but he kept quiet as Hal continued. “So, miss messenger, if you could even point us in the right direction, we’ll call it even.”

Though the woman thought for another second more, it seemed to Goldlewis like Hal said the right things. “Call me Wind Chimes,” she said, lifting her hand so that Goldlewis could pull her onto her feet. “I haven’t heard of you, Mr. Dickinson, but you guys seem decent. I’m not a Hermit, mind you, but I’ll see what I can do.”

---

Meanwhile, near the rooftop colony, the other Seekers’ progress had come to a halt when they found a fortified gate and attendant gatekeepers barring their path. The obstruction, combined with their collective desire not to stir the pot more than strictly necessary, bade them take a look at their surroundings. Geralt in particular didn’t need to look far in order to find a person of interest. He found one wearing a ratty, hooded orange coat, dark pants, and yellow galoshes. The irate outcast was practically begging for someone to get him started, and as soon as the Witcher tactically offered himself up for the man to vent to, Geralt got everything he wanted and then some.

“What the hell are YOU looking at?” the outcast fumed. “Mind your own business!” When he got a good look at Geralt, however, his attitude adjusted with lightning speed. “Dammit, uhh…I, I mean, can you believe this? All I did was step out here for one second to pick up my laundry after it fell off the line. But the Hermits said no-one gets into Sector V, and those bozos at the front gate won’t listen to a word I say.” He looked up past the rusty girder scaffolding where the loafing man sat to an elevated walkway that ran along the colony’s outside wall, one end within jumping distance of the roof of the shack by the loafer’s respite. “If I could just get up to the roof, I could get back home. What a pain in the ass. They COULD let me back through the gate–wouldn’t have been a problem with the last guy they had leading the Hermits.”

In the opposite direction further past this spot, across a narrow makeshift walkway above part of the trash-littered rooftop where a bunch of red matter sat, the dingy camp lookout tower stood. Luckily for the Seekers, the lookout hadn’t raised any sort of alarm yet despite the appearance of so many notable newcomers, but if one headed over or looked down from on high they could see that the man responsible appeared to be badly injured. He lay at the foot of the tower itself next to a stack of boxes and a barrel fire, and if anyone approached him he’d call out for help.

Optional Dialog: Injured Lookout

“I’m so glad you showed up…” the poor fellow groaned, hope shining in his pain-wracked eyes. “Can you help me out? I fell from the watchtower and busted my hip up real bad. Got anything that might help patch me up some?”

Once healed, he offered his heartfelt gratitude. “Thanks, pal. You’re one of the good ones. Makes it feel like this place is worth keepin’ watch over.” Gingerly he got to his feet. “Whew, I really owe you one. Here, let me repay you with this.” By way of thanks, the lookout offered a Gunner Drone. Though not of the highest quality, it could be activated to help supply a little extra firepower, even if it’d be completely spent after about a minute.

After handing it over, the lookout scratched his stubbly cheek. “Hmm? Hey, you’re not from around here, are you? Keepin’ watch outside of Sector V as long as I have, you learn how to tell when someone’s from this side of the wall or not. If you came all the way here, you probably wanna see more of Sector V than the outside fence, yeah? You seem trustworthy, so I’ll fill you in. There’s a back way in toward the right, just climb onto the walkway, run across the air duct, and drop down. A word of advice, though. The law’s not quite as potent here as it is out where you’re from. Watch your step.”

A high vantage point gave Sandalphon, Blazermate, and Susie a chance both to see into Sector V, and identify a handful of supply crates scattered throughout the area, all tucked away off the beaten path. While the robots could reach whatever ones they saw, Sandalphon began to relay their locations to the rest of the team. If the robots wanted all the items for themselves they’d need to call Sandalphon to get her to stop somehow; otherwise everyone else would learn of the crates.

Suoh - Beacon Mental Hospital, the Brainframe

Midna’s @DracoLunaris, Sakura’s @Zoey Boey, Pit’s @Yankee, Roxas’ @Double, Luka, Gemma

Pit’s quick action stopped Sina before she could freeze the water over and embed Luka below it’s surface. As she tumbled away, a hefty blow from the Upperdash Arm shattered both ice and tub, the latter much to Brain Drain’s chagrin, freeing the young captain from his brief but terrifying captivity. He filled his lungs with a gasp as he hit the floor, soaking wet. Even if he had the breath to spare, words could not describe the mixture of surprise, anger, and betrayal that shocked him more deeply than the cold ever could; he was truly at a loss. Luckily, Pit put out an urgent request for additional information, and with two words Sakura confirmed everything they needed to know. Regardless of the circumstances, it seemed like Luka’s squadmates had it out for not just him, but everyone here.

At least that left the rogue duo sorely outnumbered, but with Luka recovering and Roxas seemingly overwhelmed, only Pit stood ready to challenge Sina right now. The young woman upended another tub, covering the floor around her in water that she could glaciate on a moment’s notice. Then she steadied herself in a kneeling position in her advantageous terrain and took aim with her arm, firing both blasts of freezing ice and singular piercing icicles as the situation demanded. That wasn’t all, though. Making use of her partner’s power through SAS, she could use Seismokinesis to create splashes in the water that could be frozen into spikes or barriers for offense and defense. No matter the odds, Sina would go down fighting.

Painwheel’s murderous rage found an impediment in the form of Midna once the Twilight Princess inserted herself into the fighting. With her in the way, the berserker couldn’t tear Dexio limb from limb like she planned. For a moment she glared at Midna, wondering whose side she was on as she tried to make her way around the annoying obstacle, but her own frustration plus Brain Drain’s urge to not waste her Hatred Install quickly caused her to boil over. “OUT OF MY WAY!” Extending her cord, she realigned her Buer Drive’s blades into a claw and brought it down on the shaft of Midna’s treespear with unadulterated strength, strong enough to wrench it from the Seeker’s grip. Then she jumped into the air and spun up her blades in fan mode to helicopter forward, forcing Midna to take quick and decisive action to keep Painwheel out of the others’ fray.

Of course, that meant starting one of her own as she triggered Galeem’s influence. “RaaAAAAaaagh!” After being knocked down, Painwheel sprang to her feet, her veins bulging as black blood surged through them. Propelled by her synthetic Gae Bolga parasite, a spread shot of spiky darts burst from her arm in a spray of blood, flying up and then down toward Midna in an arc. Painwheel quickly threw herself after them, spinning her blades like a wheel beside her with Pinion Dash to rip across the floor and into Midna like a living sawblade. From their her assault would consist of wild contortions plus Gae Bolga blood spikes interspersed with frightfully fast command grabs that would punish the Twilight Princess for complacently blocking.

Despite Dexio’s solid frame, Sakura managed to knock him over with her strong flying kicks, halting his seismic beatdown. The lab’s structural integrity might not be nearing the breaking point just yet, but the damage had been accumulating quickly. As he scrambled to get to his feet again the street fighter closed in to pressure him on wakeup. Though clearly brainwashed in some way, the young man hadn’t taken complete leave of his senses, and he quickly shelved his demolition to refocus on his assailant. He defended himself, first blocking and then fighting back, and as the two traded blows Gemma closed in to analyze the situation before lending a hand. Dexio fought with reach, solid defense, and power, his big swings packing a respectable amount of strength even compared to Sakura. He only really lacked speed and technique. Though a new soldier and therefore fresh from several months of basic braining minimum, he scrapped more like a brutish brawler than a well-honed cadet, lacking the efficiency and precision cultivated by countless hours of harsh drills and stringent supervision. It struck Gemma as strange; where had Dexio gotten the power that rendered skill obsolete?

Over the course of a handful of exchanges, Sakura managed to land a few confirms, but her opponent was stubborn, never taking to the air with a risky jump. He refused to be pushed around and backed into a corner, both protecting himself and taking the fight to her whenever possible. Though he didn’t match her either in terms of skill or statistics, Sakura was holding back, and against a former ally -with another’s fate in worrisome limbo- she wasn’t in the right mind. In her nervousness she’d made an assumption that the rest of Beacon’s bottom floor wasn’t precariously positioned over Seiran’s reservoir, like this chamber and the Doctor’s operating room were, but Dexio didn’t give her the chance to find that out. After just another moment, he took her by surprise by using the SAS to borrow Sina’s power. Cryonic power covered his arms, causing his strikes against Sakura -as well as hers against his guard- to build up freezing ice.

At that point, Gemma stepped in. “Sakura! Don’t forget to use SAS!” Setting the example, he tapped into Hanabi’s Pyromancy, coating his gloves in psychic fire, and bulled into the fight. He knocked Dexio away, then ducked while his opponent threw out a wild backhand smash with his left as he steadied himself. Dexio got his right arm in the way in time to intercept what would’ve been a heavy gut punch, but Gemma followed it up with a left-hand uppercut to the underside of his foe’s cestus, opening him up. Rather than capitalize, he used his other hand to guard his head against Dexio’s desperate hook. His unexpected strength kept Gemma in blockstun for longer than he would’ve thought, allowing Dexio to keep him locked down with a right cross, then slide him backward with a kick. With a grunt he slammed his foot down, sending out a seismic wave, but Gemma deftly dropped down to block it low.

There was a brief pause as the two stared one another down through the steam given off by the collision of fire and ice. Then they clashed again, moving and trading blows like heavyweight boxers. Dexio kept going for knockout swings, but Gemma weathered them and laid into his opponent’s arms, damaging his weapons and burning away his ice. After a couple moments Dexio offense faltered, his cryomancy exhausted, and Gemma powered through the next haymaker to seize him with a clinch hold straight into a takedown. Dexio hit the ground hard, but the next second he blipped away, reappearing a few meters away from either opponent.

Luka recognized teleportation when he saw it. “He’s using my power! Hurry and sever your connections!” Just as he finished, Dexio teleported right in front of him to try and shut him up with a two-fisted slam, but Luka was faster. He dodged backward and lifted his Weight Hammer for a counterattack. His opponent blocked on reflex, only for Luka to teleport behind him and take his legs out with a low swung. Knocked off his feet, he could do nothing to stop his captain warping back in front of him and launching him like a golf ball across the room.

Dexio recovered and slid to a stop, breathing heavily. Without hesitation he reached up and yanked the cord protruding from his collar, causing his hood to flip up onto his head. His face disappeared into darkness, and red triangles formed a masquerade pattern in the middle. Simultaneously Sina did the same, her pattern identical. “Brain Drive!” Gemma warned the others. “Get ready for round two!” With Brain Drive engaged, both fighters gained stat boosts across the board and more frequent usage of their powers.

The Under - Kingdom’s Edge

Level 12 Nadia (62/120)
The Koopa Troop’s @DracoLunaris, Primrose and Therion’s @Yankee, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Ganondorf’s @Double, Rubick’s @Scarifar, Artorias’ @Dark Cloud
Word Count: 2705

After they paid their respects to the Hive Knight, honoring his indefatigable gallantry and loyalty, everyone turned their attention to the spoils of war earned in the course of their short-lived campaign throughout these amber halls. In addition to the treasures they found in this throne room and the personal effects that both the usurper and reclaimer left behind, the Koopa Troop unveiled a hoard of extra loot seized from their vanquished opponents. Though she’d originally planned to loaf about while the others went about their business, the feral couldn’t just pass up a bevy of items when they were free to a good home, and she walked over to take a look.

She rummaged through the stuff carefully, not wanting to accidentally trigger any more weird effects. Most of it didn’t interest her except in its possible sell value, such as the acorns, magic runes, and snail armor. While she wouldn’t turn down a couple good-looking rings, their arcane abilities made them a much better fit for Rubick, so Nadia elected not to challenge the mysterious mage’s claim. Since she already owned plenty of weapons and couldn’t really use polearms or strength weapons anyway, she narrowed her choices down to just two items. She liked the look of the rugged combat boots, especially since the strangest part of her new appearance had to be the sneakers with the fronts cut off. While she could sort of understand the logic, seeing as her opera gloves and thighhighs both featured cuts around her scars, her new shoes just didn’t work. “I’ll give these a try. No offense to that Banjo guy, but I’ve had enough of bear feet.” After pulling the half-sneakers off and slipping into the Mantreads, she gave a satisfied purr. They might not be the most stylish or ladylike, but they felt pretty nice, and she’d definitely be happy not going barefoot in places like the Womb again. Besides, sometimes it just felt good to stomp around.

Other than that, the cat burglar only took interest in one other offering: the lava eel. Its strong smell made Nadia hungry, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in hours. Surely it had to be lunchtime by now. Luckily, the lava-dwelling fish had been cooked to perfection, and it certainly wouldn’t keep if the team kept carrying it around, so she might as well take it off their hands. Nadia made quick work of the eel, chowing down in a matter of seconds before licking her lips. “Ooh, I love the spiciness! You could even say that’s a-moray.”

Sectonia stepped up to the plate to use the Orb of Undoing next, followed by Therion. After seeing what happened to Nadia, they both made careful, slight adjustments, ending up only a little different from before. The feral almost found herself missing Chibi Therion, but she knew that if their roles were reversed she’d have done the exact same thing. Sectonia went on to fuse with the usurper, and Nadia crossed her arms as she looked the queen over. “You really earned your stripes in that fight, huh?” she asked, grinning. “Well, I’ll try and keep the bee puns to a minimum. At a certain point they’re just too beeasy. Heehee.”

For Therion

Obtained:
Zombie Bullets
An artifact that gives a 25% chance to refund the ammunition used to launch a projectile if the projectile misses. The projectile ‘misses’ if it doesn’t hit an enemy, even if the target was not an enemy. This only works for finite ammunition

For Rubick

Obtained: Spell Tome: Annoying Bee A thin tome that instructs in the use of a cantrip from the Illusion school. The spell targets one enemy within 25 feet and inflicts 'Distracted by an Annoying Bee', which hinders the target's ability to concentrate (whether for the sake of spells, technical moves, or complicated tasks) for ten seconds and deals minor unavoidable damage. At levels 5, 11, and 17, the damage is doubled Iskal Hunter Band In the Iskal, you will be free from distraction and find focus in the infinite. Reduces all spread by 40%, increasing the accuracy of projectiles

After that, the main issue wasn’t what to do next, since everyone knew their current goal, but where to go. “Wherever there’s more bosses to fight, I guess,” Nadia told Rubick. Rika suggested asking the local bee population, while Bowser and Sectonia took it a step further, wanting a hero’s welcome and a hand in the Hive’s new government, respectively. Therion mentioned the team’s map, but even before she reached into one of her belt pouches to confirm her suspicions, Nadia had her doubts. “Uh, I don’t think it gets any bigger unless we buy a new part of the map.” Sure enough, to her disappointment the map only went as far as the Home of Tears. “Yeah, looks like it,” she sighed, folding the map to put it away. “Guess we’ve gotta find a way out the old fashioned way.” She glanced at the royals. “For the record though, the Hive isn’t really…ya know, our problem?”

When everyone left the royal hollow, they found no sign of wasps in the Hive. They seemed to have cleared out wholesale, buzzing for the hills, but in their wake they still left a queendom in shambles. Though freed from their oppressors, many of the bees seemed to be at a loss. Their social structure and their very way of life had been decimated by the wasp occupation, and even picking up the pieces seemed nigh-impossible to them. Clearly they were in no position to sing Bowser’s praise or heed a new political consultant. From their inquiries the Seekers did learn one thing, though: this hidden kingdom harbored no other entrances or exits. This was as far as they could go, which meant they needed to go back the way they came.

Eventually, the Seekers managed to retrace the steps they’d taken to reach the Hive and make their way back out of its lustrous golden depths. As they ascended through the tunnels the amber walls and waxy hexes gradually gave way to sedimentary rock and rich, dark soil. While the crimson creeper vines they disturbed on the way down had long since snaked back out to their full lengths, just a little coordination meant that they could be sent packing without any more bloodshed courtesy of their fanglike thorns.

Furthermore, a different perspective brought one other secret to light: followed all the way back to their origin point, each creeper coiled up in a little burrow around a root core. Just a couple hits to the core proved sufficient to destroy each vine at the source. As such, the team could prune the invasive species from the Arboretum’s garden, and for that the Water Lily Siren was exceedingly grateful. From the remains of the creeper vines and a few choice specimens around her greenhouse the larger-than-life dryad fashioned a special charm for her new friends. “Here!” she beamed, offering it. “I call it ‘Thorns of Agony’. I’ve woven them together, but those mean little vines are still alive, and they still really hurt! If something hurts you when you’re wearing it, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise!”

Not too long afterward, everyone emerged into Holograd, bathed in the everpresent radiance of the distant Lightroot once more. It was a far cry from being outside, but Nadia would take it for now. The sooner she got a breath of fresh air though, the better. There were no rules stating that the Seekers needed to finish off the Under’s Guardian before they revisited the surface world, after all. That line of thinking got her wondering about where to go next. Getting a little chilly, Nadia zipped up her jacket and then stood with her arms crossed, staring around at the ruined Termite Capitol as she thought. Grand as it had been, the hidden realm of honey had been a dead end, not just for the Hive Knight’s quest but the Seekers’ voyage as well. Try as she might, the feral couldn’t think of any ways forward except the Stagmer-line Station in Falldown Mall. Sure, there might be other routes that connected to this massive, misty cavern other than Pizza Tower, but even if she could find an exit she wouldn’t know where it led. “Better to have some goal in mind than bumble around, blind as bats,” she murmured. If only her map included these forsaken lands at the kingdom’s edge. “Guess I should’ve kept an eye out for that Cornifer guy. Oh well, surely there’s no possible way he just happened to find his way out here and set up shop nearbyyy~”

She perked up her ears and put a hand up to one dramatically, waiting with her mouth ajar for the faintest hint of any familiar humming that might be wafting through the fallen city’s streets. She turned her head this way and that, her ears twitching and turning, but after a few moments her shoulders sagged down. “Aw. Guess it’d be askin’ a li’l bit much. Wouldn’t want to put the cart-ographer before the horse, heehee.”

“Oooooooooooooooi!”

“Nyuh!?” Somehow taken by surprise, Nadia swiveled her head in the source of the echoed voice, scanning the nearby rooftops. Movement brought her gaze to one a few buildings away, and the feral watched as a short, stubby, darkly-clothed figure -only a couple feet all- parkoured across the domed red shingles. The stranger sprinted, hopped, and slid until she threw herself from one of the domes with a headlong leap. Nadia’s eyebrows shot up, wondering if the kid would be okay, but the little girl landed softly on the ground on her belly, and bounded forward with a front flip onto her feet to land with her arms outstretched as if to say tada!

Now that she got a better look at the stranger in that long black coat, her face completely veiled within the hood, a spark of recognition flickered to life in Nadia’s mind. “You…” She extended an accusatory finger, her brows scrunched together in a guarded glare. “You’re from the same group as the guy that stole Linkle when she became the Skullgirl!” A lot had happened in the last five days, but still, how could she have almost forgotten?

“Wot?” The hooded girl scratched her head, seemingly puzzled. Although what really puzzled Nadia was how she meant to scratch anything through both thick gloves and a hood–was she just acting? “Oo’s that?. Look, miss, we’re always up to somethin’ or another. They don’t tell me diddly-squat, and I’d ‘ave to be mental to keep tabs on everythin’ those blokes are doin’. Doin’ to help you lot, I might add. Didja ever wonder ‘ow that stuffy git Gallo knew to ask ya for help? Well, ‘cause I told ‘im to, didn’t I? And guess wot: it’s your lucky day, ‘cause I’m back to give ya all another helpin’ hand. So gather ‘round, will ya, ‘cause we don’t got all day!”

Though still a little suspicious of this girl, Nadia decided that she seemed important, and she decided to hear her out. Once everyone was ready, the Organization XIII member took a seat on top of an old barrel and continued.

“Well then, I take it you lot got everythin’ nice and tidied up down in the Hive? ‘Ow many’s that, four, five? The little mask bits, I mean.” All together, the fragments from Silitha, It Lives, Asgore, Pizza Head, and Rumor Honeybottoms made five. “Five! Nice job that, eh mates? Four to go, and the Black Egg’s yours to open, innit? But wot d’you suppose you’ll find in there?”

She held up her hands with a shrug as she looked around for an answer. “I’ll give ya a hint. It en’t the Guardian. At least, not exactly. All that’s in there’s a poor sod called the Hollow Knight. Chosen by the Pale King ages ago to seal the Guardian away, but that didn’t work out so good, and killin’ ‘im won’t work. If you lot crack open the Black Egg before you’re good an’ ready, all you’ll do is release the Infection on the entire Underground full-force. Little bits’ve been leakin’ for a while now, sure, but if it all goes at once? You and everythin’ else down ‘ere can kiss your bums goodbye. What you lot need is a way to reach the Guardian where she lurks–the Hollow Knight’s dreams. And for that, you’ll need somethin’ very special.”

The girl pulled out a slip of paper from her pocket. “I wish I could say it’d be as easy as gettin’ the Dream Nail from the Moss Tribe Seer, but even if you lot got it all powered up, it’d only work for one person. So your next best bet is this.” She held up the paper for everyone to see, revealing a strange staff bound with thread and adorned with silvery crescents that shone coldly like winter moons, which she then passed to the Seekers. “The Dreamcatcher. If you lot wanna kill the Guardian and get us all that much closer to a world without Galeem, you’ll be needin’ this little doodad. You’ll find it in Mercy Dreams, an old prison where the Miracle blurs the line between dreams an’ reality. And as luck would ‘ave it, gettin’ there’s pretty easy. All ya gotta do is go…” She lifted her index finger.

“Up?” Nadia stared skyward, through the misty cliffs and floating islands to where the lightroot blazed far, far above. She remembered a handful of what looked like bodies raining down from on high before when she made her way down that morning. “Ya mean, it’s above this cavern? How’s that easy, there’s no way to get up there!”

She got the impression that beneath her hood, the Organization kid was grinning. “That’s where you’re wrong, mate! You just don’t know it is all. Don’t know much of anythin’ I expect. Take that there for instance. Ever seen it before?” She pointed to a random stone tile that lay alongside this Holograd city street. About two feet square, it bore a spiral symbol on its cracked surface.

Nadia narrowed her eyes, thinking. “Uh. Don’t think so, no.”

“Heh, heheh…course you ‘ave, you just don’t remember ‘cause it don’t mean anythin’ to ya. Don’t believe me? Just keep an eye out.” Chuckling, the girl pushed herself off of her makeshift chair to jog down the avenue a short ways, heading toward a long-abandoned flowerbed full of yellowed weeds. In it stood a little pinwheel styled after a four-leaf clover. “Yeah, there’s secrets all over the shop, long as ya know where to look.” Holding out her hand, the child summoned a strange sword that she pointed at the pinwheel. “Aero!”

A bright green wind spell flew from the keyblade’s tip and struck the pinwheel. Instantly a powerful updraft flooded through the windless cave, buffeting Nadia’s hair, ears, and tails. In the surge of magic, a whole host of miniature cloudbanks formed floating in the air all the way up from the red domes of Holograd past the sky islands to the cavern’s highest reaches. As Nadia stared, blinking in amazement, one of the nearby buildings popped open. From the door scuttled a strange, four-legged creature that resembled an upturned yellow bullet with a protuberant, horn-shaped snout. It leaped onto and bounced off the awning of an abandoned market stall like a trampoline, and once it sailed up to the lowest clouds, it began to bounce off them too, climbing higher and higher. Far above, near where the Lightroot grew from the pitted ceiling, a stone promontory made for a likely destination.

“Bam!” The Organization girl grinned, her voice smug. “Where there’s will, there’s a way, eh?”

If Nadia was being honest, it looked like a whole lot of fun. “Huh, and here I was wonderin’ about where to go for lunch. Didn’t realize the answer was a windmeal!” She grinned, glancing from the spinning pinwheel to the black-coated kid. Maybe they really were here to help. “With this, reachin’ the roof’s gonna be a breeze!”

“Innit?” The short stranger crossed her arms. “Once you reach the top, it’s just a little way through the Crypt and past Hollow Bough, and boom, you’re in business.”

“Wait, what?” Nadia went to turn her bewildered expression on the Organization member. She half-expected her to vanish away in the Organization’s customary manner, but no, she was just standing there with her arms crossed, waiting to watch the Seekers make the ascent. The way she stared back at Nadia seemed to say what do you mean, ‘what do you mean’?. Part of the feral wondered if she ought to be asking this black-coated stranger anything, but she nothing came to mind, so Nadia refocused on the daunting climb ahead of her. As she looked upward, the critter she saw before missed a jump and fell, quickly plummeting down until it happened to catch another cloud only a few dozen feet off the ground and save itself from a gruesome death, at which point it started the climb anew. Nadia took a deep breath. “This is gonna be a long day.”

Legend of Benkei(Anime, Fantasy/Sci Fi Blend)

That all sounds pretty good. I'm hoping you gather more interest as well. Right now, I'm thinking mostly about the worldbuilding present and what elements we have to work with for characters. I like the idea of a combination of fantasy and sci fi that pull in all sorts of magical and otherworldly elements. So as a sort of barometer for what sort of liberties we can take with the setting, maybe I could run my current idea by you?

I was thinking about a character stemming from the legacy of an eldritch horror, essentially a Lovecraftian elder goddess that at some point descended upon the world and attempted to propagate itself across the world. However, in its blind instinct to spread itself it quickly got noticed by the people of the nation it manifested in, and before too long its spawn were defeated and its influence beaten back until it was seemingly destroyed, although some of the entity managed to hide itself away.

Closer to the present, the entity would have emerged again with a different strategy, planning not to win by force but by guile. In this manner it would appeal to lonely, broken humans who'd grown disillusioned with love, their lives, or the world, and remake such willing converts into her own Dark Young to go out and seek more souls in need of 'healing', using modern methods like door-to-door evangelism, social media, and dating apps. Essentially an eldritch cult, and my character would be one such person who gave up on herself and was transformed, except in this new state of being she turned out to be kind of a bumbling idiot who's strong and likes fighting but is terrible at being a cultist. So her 'mom' is sending her out on a wild goose chase in hopes that if she actually finds any Weapons, they might help the cult take over the world.

What do you think?