Freya had been back in her home, finishing up her packing when she got a text from Steph in a language that was actually understandable and yet, she read it in her head in a way that sounded how the Bogan spoke. She blinked at her phone for a second and asked aloud, "Am I cursed?"
Steph would feel her phone vibrate and as she got a text back from Freya saying that she was a bit busy at the moment but would catch up with her later if she told her which route she was heading to. So, with that Steph was free to go to park to go catch a fire doggo. She'd walk through the busy streets of Grand Glory City, making sure now to miss out on anything because God forbid she missed out on anything. Eventually, she would reach her destination.
Trainer School
It’s a school. Kids around Grand Glory City flock here eventually to learn the basics of Pokémon battling, or there are trainers that come here only to attend the odd lesson before they embark on their big journey. There’s a patch of grass and trees on the side where wild Pokémon can be found, and every week, breeders and rangers are known to release a new species in the park to help introduce them into the ecosystem and give these kids a chance to gain experience against different kinds of Pokemon. And, of course, there’s plenty of Pokémon battling among the students as they do their best to learn. In fact…
To the right immediately after one enters the school, there’s a list of students in a ranking-list on a wall. A huge list of the 50 top students, ranked in Pokémon battling ability, and there’s a thing that anyone who visits can challenge the list to get onto it temporarily. Leaving for too long obviously means falling off the list, but those who rank high gain some benefits and bragging rights.
That aside, let's have a brief summary on what's happening here.
Kids are having random battles and besides kids, there are just residents of the city who are just enjoying the scenery, and some are even having picnics. There were groups of kids that seem to be hunting after random Pokemon and a few of them were gathered around a natural pond. Seems like Water-Type Pokemon were an option.
The wild Pokemon that you could tell are wild and catchable are as follows...
Pokédex Entry #403 – Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. When its muscles extend or contract, it generates electricity. When it senses danger, a Shinx will let the electricity run through it, causing it to glow. If threatened, it uses its muscles to flash a bright light to blind the predator while it flees.
Pokédex Entry #824 – Blipbug, the Larva Pokémon. A constant collector of information, this Pokémon is very smart. Very strong is what it isn't. Often found in gardens, this Pokémon has hairs on its body that it uses to assess its surroundings.
Pokédex Entry #054 – Psyduck, the Duck Pokémon. Psyduck is constantly beset by headaches. As Psyduck gets stressed out, its headache gets progressively worse. It uses intense psychic energy to overwhelm those around it.
Pokédex Entry #058 – Growlithe, the Puppy Pokémon. It has a brave and trustworthy nature. It fearlessly stands up to bigger and stronger foes. Extremely loyal, it will fearlessly bark at any opponent to protect its own Trainer from harm.
What will you do?
1. Trainer School Park. There’s a small park of grass in here. What kind of Pokémon might be in it? 2. Talk. Plenty of students and teachers. This is a wellspring of knowledge, someone must know something. 3. Challenge. Work your way up the leaderboard! Specify the level of opponent. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Study. You want to know something? Feel free to learn about it here! 6.1. Pokémon Habitats. Learn where you might find a specific kind of Pokémon! 6.2. Evig Geography. Learn more about the different places in Evig! 6.3. Names to Remember. Learn about Gym Leaders, Elite Four, or the like! 6.4. Local Legends. Learn about different tales from around Evig! 6.5. Pokémon Breeding. That’s also a subject. 6.6. Battling Basics. You likely know them already. 6.7. Specify. Tell what you want to learn and we’ll see if we have a course!
Connected areas: Grand Glory City. All around, of course.
That curly mound of lavender hair suddenly shifted and then suddenly snapped towards him to reveal Miss Jacqulyn in her, uh, less than glorious self. Jason was met by a tanned skinned woman with deep, dark circles surrounding her eyes that had thick lensed glasses though her eyes were forcibly wide awake, bloodshot, and somehow jittering. Sleep and she looked like they were in a long-distance relationship, and she hadn't texted back in weeks. Yeah, she did not look like the picture of health.
"Jaqulynspeaking.HowcanIhelpyou?I'mverybusywithmyresearchsopleasedon'tbothermeunlessitisimportant." That wasn't typed out incorrectly. The woman was not speaking with spaces. She spoke with such a rushed manner that that her words just crashed into each other like a bad car accident on the freeway and it just kept piling up. Unless Jason was reading the text in the post itself, it was probably hard to make heads or tails of what the woman was saying in her sleep deprived, caffeinated high.
The librarian that accompanied Jason looked completely unfazed and was gathering up the parapets of coffee cups that littered the table.
The old man leaned in to inspect the evidence with an arched brow and well, he was proven to be very wrong much to his own relief.
"Huh, I'll be damned. My apologies miss for the accusation miss. Not every day you see something as incredible as that." He said, leaning back in his seat being able to relax again. "Still, to be trusted with something as rare as that means that he must recognize something in you. From what I've heard on the news that boy is a real prodigy, so I bet he has a real keen eye for talented trainers."
It was the answer that made the most sense. Faye was one of the chosen talents selected and approved by Adriane and the league administration, so it stood to reason that Basil saw something in Faye as well. It was only just luck that she happened to meet him before any of the other new trainers. What exactly he saw in her though was completely up in the air though it was enough to give him confidence that the Pokemon within the egg would be able to grow and thrive with the fledgling trainer.
Still, Faye was still not exactly sure if the old man's assessment of what kind of egg she was given was correct, which prompted him to look slightly offended. He gave gruff grunt and handed her egg back to Faye.
"Lass, I've been breeding Pokemon before your parents were born. I am absolutely certain. The coloring is different, but the pattern is overall the same. From the state of it, it looks like it was laid recently, but considering I don't when it was laid or how long Basil had been holding onto it, I couldn't give you a solid estimate of when it'll hatch. Could be a few days to a week." He said with a bit of uncertainty. Sure, the old man was an expert in his field, but he wasn't a magician. This was the best answer he could give her with the information presented to him.
Then the boy, who was quite rude, suddenly piped up after his already thin patience thinned even more. The cogs in the old man's head were slow to move as he tried to figure out what forest Tristan was speaking about until he looked at the two of them as if they were absolutely insane.
"Hold on, you mean the woods here? Are you out of your minds?" The old man said hardly. "Two things happen to those that attempt to enter the woods: you either end up back where you started, or you're never seen again. Do yourselves a favor and forget about it."
However, Faye already knew that. She already mostly knew the story behind the Illusive Woods and the stories of how to enter it freely. Well, she only knew the broader scope of it, but the finer details were lost on her. What she read from her time studying in the great library of King's Cross was basically just fanciful poetic dribble. When it comes to myth and legends, these were the closest to historical fact that anyone could get. However, there was information that she was able to glean enough that there were two ways to enter the forest though whether or not she decides to share that information with the veritable dickhead that she had the misfortune of spending her morning with.
The monk just glanced over to the one person who may have been enjoying this less than him. The incarnation of bitterness and queen of insults, Adelyn, was complaining in response to Nolan's question that was not directed towards anyone, but she felt the need to put her noble spin on it. The only language that she spoke in was insults. Nolan was convinced that she came out of the womb and instead of crying like any newborn infant should, she instead expressed her discontent of the quality of the blanket she was swathed in or insulted the doctor for the infantile way that she was spoken to. Really, she could find anything to complain about she absolutely would. Adelyn could complain about the weather for being a singular Celsius warm or too cold. Heck, she would probably complain about how the tea served in this guild was not of the finest loose-leaf tea and was simply some cheap bags of black tea.
"As if the nobles are any more civilized. It's the same story, different coat of paint." scoffed Nolan as he took another sip from his drink. His facial expression hardly changed from its indifferent scowl. "Between this or the nobles, I'd rather deal with normal people having fun than dealing with some snobs looking their noses down at me. Sort of like what you're doing, Viper." Nolan knew that he was going to get an earful from Adelyn so in preparation, his eyes glazed over as if he was staring into another world to gain enlightenment. Disassociation was preferable to whatever verbal onslaught she would give him.
His eyes then trailed to another who seemed to get a kick out of Adelyn's penchant for cutting words and it was the guy that looked way older than he actually was, Kiba. His cheeks were flushed red from drinking and his facade of stoicism seemed to crack a bit. Nolan, in his complete disinterest of Adelyn's future insults, pushed her head down and leaned over her to talk to the swordsman. At least he would be more pleasant company than miss complains a lot, despite the fact that the man rarely spoke. "Well, at least one of us is having fun. I didn't think you'd be much of a drinker."
@Joshua Tamashii Well, there was only one way to go. With nerves of steel, she continued to walk along the river further with her ghostly companions, including the wild ones from earlier, and further down through these strange ruins towards the source of the mystery. She would begin to realize that she was soon walking down and down a steep, rocky slope where she needed to watch her step lest she meet a terrible tumble. Walls of sheer solid rock would soon to replace the greenery of her surroundings as the afternoon sky slowly turned into night with stars only just began to dimly peek through. Her trek did eventually pay off; she arrived at her destination.
Amelia stood before a gaping hole in the stony wall that led to a cave system. The only thing that she could see was pitch blackness though thankfully, her smartphone Pokedex thing had a flashlight feature so that was not much of an issue. It was pretty clear that this was the entrance to the source of the hellish malice from earlier, so there was only one thing to do, except something was completely off.
The moment the spirit medium tried to enter the cave, she felt resistance. It was as if she was pushing against a wall of rubber, as if something was giving way but then pushed her back though with a determined push, she would eventually make it through although with a bit of a stumble. Looking back at the entrance, she would see strange runic markings of blue light in the air by the cave forming a web though it seemed as if it was tattered from age. Whatever that was, someone or something was trying to make sure something did not get in or out.
If she still did not turn back, the only way forward was through the darkness. The only thing she would even hear were the droplets of water and the sound of rubber soles meeting stone echoing. The interesting thing though was that instead of the intense burst of negativity coming at her once, it was more like a steady stream that was more manageable though unsettling, nonetheless. However, she though it was coming from a single entity, but she would begin to realize that it was fragmented; Amelia could sense several sources at once.
Amelia would go deeper and deeper into the cave, descending further downwards until she stepped out into an open space and there was oddly, light. It was still dark mind her, but there were sources of light that somehow illuminated this space.
Lost City
Once a great prospering city only now reduced to a sorry, broken state worn down by millennia and forgotten by history. Loneliness permeated every facet of the ruins with only the trickling of water from stalactites and the river coursing to break the silence. What is a city even doing all the way down here anyway?
What does Amelia do?
(Message from the DM. If you continue, you are stuck in the dungeon until you clear it or lose. This is your final chance to turn back.)
Critical hit! The Ice Shard hit one of the Trubbish with tremendous force, sending it bouncing along the ground only to hit a wall and was knocked out. Meanwhile, the other Trubbish was so started by Dush's Astonish attack that it slipped and fell into the rushing water like its other friend earlier. So, that meant that there was only one left and it just stared at Steph and the Pokemon that were going to gang up on it. Rather than dealing with getting absolutely rocked, it fell over onto its side with closed eyes and its tongue lolling out. It was pretty obvious that it was playing dead, but it was either that or actually getting the shit knocked out of.
With that out of the way, the Toxel approached the Bogan girl and looked up at her. "Tox, toxel!" Against its better judgement, it seemed to want to join her out of gratitude.
It rolled once... it rolled twice...it rolled thrice!
Steph caught Toxel!
Gender: Female Type: Electric/Poison Personality: (Up to player.) Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: (Up to player.) Level: 5 Moves: Belch, Tearful Look, Nuzzle, Growl, Acid, Flail Ability: Rattled The Pokémon gets scared when hit by a Dark-, Ghost-, or Bug-type attack or if intimidated, which boosts its Speed stat. Held Item: Currently at full hp.
New Pokémon caught! Steph earned 2500P!
Would you like to give a nickname to Toxel??
If not, it would give a nod of understanding and run off along the sewers. Still, Steph's efforts would not be wasted. One of the remaining Trubbish dropped a strange sludge item. Strangely enough, it had seemed to be trying to heal them though was that it?
The older man arched his brow with very clear skepticism and said, "Basil Rivens? You mean that nice boy that joined our region's Elite Four? You met him and he gave you an egg? Miss, you don't need to make up tall tales just to impress your friend here." He motioned his hand towards the young man looking at his phone.
"Now, let's see what you-" Upon just taking a single glance at the egg the old man's eyes widened and just stared at it in stun silenced for a minute. Not a metaphorical one, but actually just stared at it without uttering a single word without breaking contact from it. Eventually he took a deep breath and said, "It's a Larvesta egg, and a shiny one at that."
He turned his glance back to Faye with a much harder look than before.
"You're either telling the truth or your stole this from someone. There are not many people in the world who have the means to obtain this egg given their rarity and in Evig only less than a handful of people have one. I wouldn't be surprised if the Elite Four have their own, but if we're talking about people who are famous for using a Volcarona, its evolution, then there are only two people: the fire-type gym leader, Geir though from what I've heard he doesn't leave Ashborn much, and Adriane Brand."
"Well, she's the kind of person that tends to forget about her own basic human needs when she's focused on something. If I'm going to be honest, I think she's just fueled by caffeine and sheer determination." The librarian said as she led him through the many aisles of bookcases and areas where students were sitting around and studying, some on their laptops writing papers. Definitely some of them looked like they have not slept for weeks at a time. Speaking of sleep deprivation, the living personification was not far off.
There was a desk lined with to-go coffee cups stacked up on each other among towered of texts and notebooks. The only thing that could be seen of the actual person was just a mound of curly lavender hair and a long dark brown jacket cloaked over her. Jason could hear a constant muttering from her. She was completely unaware of his presence.
Sitting at the bar watching this rather unexpected concert was a young man with a fair complexion, messy, wavy chestnut brown hair, and deep red eyes that did not register any sort of emotion though what really made him standout were the baggy monastery robes that he was wearing. They were a deep, desaturated brown teetering on black with gold, ornate trimming marked around its edges though the interior judging by the hood was lined with a white cloth and wore fingerless gloves that were the same brown as the robe and a turtleneck underneath. One could make out that he was wearing dark boots with a prominent heel. It did not take much to figure out that this young man had come from a holy order or from some temple given Pergrande shared its border with the theocratic kingdom ironically named Sin or from some other kingdom.
Well, the people in the town of Rembrandt would know this young man as Nolan, one of the newer members of Starborn and a bit of the local mystery. No one really knows who he is or where he came from. He just appeared at the town entrance one day with a monster he killed to sell its parts and there was an altercation between him and the guards that turned violent, which resulted in the guards being brutalized though in Nolan's defense he did not throw the first punch. There were guards that did not take kindly to foreign mages and took Nolan's cutting words with less grace, resulting them to use numbers to harm a lone mage that they thought they could bully. They made the severe mistake of picking him of all people to assault.
He would've been arrested have it not been for the effort of his current guild master, Jenna, stepping in and was able to find witness to corroborate with Nolan's claim of self-defense though that did little change his now shaky relationship with the town guards. In the end, he did end up joining the guild for the steady work and to have a base of operations though he has not really been known to be warm towards the rest of the guild besides Mark and their friendship is mainly built on mutual silence and drinking. Other than him, Nolan had not been making that much of an effort to make friends and it's not like his general demeanor made it any easier for people too approach him, save for a certain someone.
So, in typical fashion Nolan just sat there with a glass of spirits, a gin and tonic, watching the rest of the guild dance along to Jenna's music. He looked strangely uncomfortable with being there like he was completely out of his element. Nolan just sat there stiffly, taking the occasional sip of his drink while looking at the crowd awkwardly.
"Is it really something worth celebrating?" He asked aloud with a deep exhale to no one in particular. This kind of festive energy; the noise, the people were exhausting.
So, how does one explain the feel of ice shrapnel hitting someone's eyes? No, seriously how? That it stings like hell to get point, serrated bits of glass in one's eyes? Because obviously it would bloody well sting! One of the Trubbish just hit the ground rubbing its eyes to ease the pain and the other one was in so much pain that it rolled around without regard to its surroundings, it fell into the water and was whisked away by the current. So yeah, that just happened. Did it survive? Honestly, who knows.
Anyway, Jack was able to close the distance between the other Trubbish aiming for the shit bird Dennis while it used Leer to lower their defenses. Together they knocked them back with its two Scratch attacks and in retaliation, the two Trubbish used Poison Gas at the two of the Pokemon. How do the two Pokemon avoid getting poisoned, if they can do that?
Meanwhile, Dusk went as fast as a ghost candle can be just to use Astonish on the other Trubbish. Honestly, thing was just now that one Jojo meme of getting its shit beat on by the Litwick and the Toxel got attacking a paralyzed trash bag. Who would've thought the jumped would become the jumpee.
Now given that all of the Trubbish were just getting their shit kicked in and generally had the same amount of health left over so the paralyzed trash bag was the one who would get absorbed into a ball.
It rolled once... it rolled twice...it rolled thrice!
Steph caught Trubbish!
Gender: Female Type: Poison Personality: (Up to player.) Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other: (Up to player.) Level: 4 Moves: Pound, Recycle, Poison Gas Ability: Aftermath Damages the attacker if it contacts the Pokémon with a finishing hit. Held Item: Currently at low hp and paralyzed
While Jason wondered how this place was not the capital of the region, it only made sense that Starbor had this much. After all, this was the region of progress and given the technological achievements that have come from this region, it's not surprise. This was the regular standard of living found in the region and was pushed forward even more by the new government that replaced the one previous one infested by Cipher ops and corrupt politicians who stood to gain everything. Just like with Grand Glory City this was an effort to show that the heart of the region, its people, to show that they were strong and able to come back even from the worst disasters. This was something that Jason must've been aware enough given his parents' effort to help repair it. That and this isn't a videogame so there actually is room to fully develop locations to be more sprawling and more to do.
Now back to the matter at hand. It actually wasn't hard for the professor that Jason was talking to figure out who the young man was referring to. The professor that he was speaking too was a short, stout, plump man with puffy gray hair, thick round glasses, and a mustache so bushy one could not see his mouth. "Ah, you mean Jaqulyn. You'll probably find her in the library. If you see her, please tell her to get some sleep." If that was not cause for concern, then nothing was.
Well, all roads pointed towards the library so that is where Jason went. Walking along the streets, walking past students and teachers alike and with a bit of help pointing him in the right direction would find it and he of course eventually would it. The library matched the gray stony aesthetic of the district, built into the interior of the tree. It had steps leading up to the entrance, stone Corinthian styled columns decorating a massive doorway, and large sun windows. Upon walking in, Jason would be greeted with the strange juxtaposition of a library, a place of academic learning and self-improvement, and plant life that seem to grow with little restriction. Roots wrapped around the reception desk as trees seemed to be growing along the walls and in the middles of the corridors. There were even flowers and other strange things growing that Jason would not be able to identify, some even emitting light, but no one else treated it as odd.
Whatever reactions Jason had Of course, he still didn't know what Jaqulyn looked like so still needed the librarians to help look for the woman and they certainly did. The librarians exchanged looks of certainty to each other and one spoke up and said, "Uh, I know where she is. She's in her usual spot by the mythology and religion section near the back. You're welcome to talk to her, but... Well, you'll see."
While talking to the Runerigus, Amelia would feel it again. That spectral energy that she felt back in Grand Glory City erupted spectacularly again and this time it was far fiercer than before. She would feel as if her very being was being gripped by a grizzled, chilled hand and was trying to rip it out of her. Cold sweat dripped down her head as her own breathing would become shallow and every hair on her body stood up while she would feel a sense of dread wash over her. It was a cocktail of every negative emotion possible stabbing repeatedly into the poor girl. Grief, melancholy, bitterness, rage, and above all else was a unified feeling of malice.
Then there was a strange feeling of warmth, gentleness. The ancient words carved into the stone, even the ones on the Yamask and Runerigus, lit up with an ethereal light blue, lighting up encroaching night and that terror slowly began to melt away from her. When the feeling had finally stopped, the light did not fade away, but flickered like a flashlight running almost dry. The ghosts accompanying her rushed over to her side to make sure she was okay though they looked confused with what just happened.
She much closer now to the source. Does she continue?
The narrator has left the building because Jesus fucking Christ what the actual hell. The audacity of this man was just outrageous that it is taking all the might of the universe to not have another bird shit on his stupidly expensive jacket, but that would not happen, yet. If Faye left him in the dust, it would be completely understandable.
For whatever reason Faye puts up with the living fragile masculine ego, they walk along the main road passing through the countryside that was route 1. It was just a bit before 9 am and there was a slight chill given that it was only early spring though they were warmed with the beams of sunlight from a cloudless day. It wasn't long though it may have felt longer for Faye until they arrived at a well maintained, small modern wood cottage that Faye was directed to by Rosa. Outside was an old man with a long, bushy gray beard sitting on a rocking chair with a cup of coffee. He was wearing denim overalls over a light blue collared shirt and worn boots. The man was just enjoying his morning only to see a couple of strangers he had not seen around these parts before.
"Ah, hi there. How can I help you both?" He asked with a kind smile.
Personality: Someone that keeps his secrets close to his chest and does his best to keep others at a distance. Nolan is an abrasive, grumpy, sarcastic young man that is easily irritable and rarely smiles though chances are if he is smiling, he is mocking someone or watching them get their just desserts. In that regard, he is a bit twisted and is not above acts of cruelty and viciousness to get a job done even if lowers peoples' opinion of him. Well, it is not like he cares what people think about him and he is not someone that goes out of his way to form attachments with others though it's not due to some dumb reasons that attachments make him weak. It's a "why bother" sort of mentality. They'll leave him sooner or later.
The few things that he prides himself on is his skills as a warrior and as a scholar of the ancients. Nolan is a naturally curious and studious to the point where some would call it an obsession to obtain power and knowledge. Things such as wealth and status mean absolutely nothing to him; he only thinks of earning enough for what he needs and generally will try to find ways of saving money by just doing things himself, such as growing a vegetable garden or mending his clothes. That and he just doesn't respect people who are born into a position of power without having done anything to earn it or prove that they deserve it.
He is terrible with women as well. Nolan tends to get easily flustered and embarrassed, especially if he becomes their focus and in general, he doesn't really know what to do. This understandably leads to quite a bit of teasing. Lord help if a woman actually even tries to flirt with him.
Despite all of this, he is not heartless. Nolan will save people even at the cost of his own wellbeing for no reward because he cannot ignore someone in trouble, even if that person was a right prick. Well, unless they were really monstrous then he'd just leave them to their fate.
Magic:
Crematory God Slayer- God slayer magic is an ancient magic in which the caster able to attain the abilities of a "god", using a specific element as their type. A Crematory God Slayer, as the name states, allows to generate and manipulate ashes filled with searing hot embers with the capability of slaying a god. He is able to use it to enhance physical attacks and mold them to create physical objects. To restore magic and rejuvenate themselves, the user devours ash. The magic itself has a variety of uses from pure offense to sheer impenetrable defense. Since ash is already matter that has already been burned, it is a counter against flame-based magic or anything that generates heat at all. It is even an excellent insulator for electricity unless wet. As well as due to the heat from his magic, he does have a resistance to heat.
However, what makes this magic stand apart from even other Slayer magics and ash magic is its connection to the dead. Ashes are used as a vehicle to summon souls of those who have passed though they must be willing, and they will not obtain their original bodies. They will be in an ashy form and do not have the ability to communicate verbally though do have the ability to interact with the physical world and even fight on the user's behalf. Nolan can even summon someone's soul, but that requires an item related to the one being summoned and whether or not they want to be summoned at all. The side-effect of this is that he seems to have an ability to sense spirits.
Crematory God's Bellow: After gathering magic in his mouth, Nolan releases a powerful tornado of ash and embers that is sent towards his foes. This tornado carries considerable force, being capable of ripping, tearing, and searing whatever is caught in its path.
Crematory God's Explosive Cinders: Nolan creates a sphere of searing that is sent forward with a punch motion. Once it reaches its target, the sphere expands and creates a large explosion.
Crematory God's Wayward Wind: Nolan generated a tornado of searing, shredding ash from his hands that sends its targets upwards into the air.
Crematory God's Mantis Scythe: Nolan creates protruding razor scythe blades from his forearms. The blades themselves glow with the embers in them and can burn their intended target as well.
Crematory God's Domain: Nolan creates a spinning dome of ash around them that acts as a barrier for incoming attacks while also serving as an attack that sends whoever is caught in it flying. Mostly serves as a 'get off me' move.
Crematory's God Bitterness: Nolan creates a hail of bullets made of his ashes that are sent at high speeds to pierce through and riddle with holes. He can also perform a version where he just shoots them all at once like a shotgun.
Crematory God's Peerless Arrows: Nolan creates swirling spheres of ash that then form into drill bits and spin at such high speeds that one can hear them whirring. They are then shot towards their target with the intention of drilling through them.
Crematory God's Wrath: Nolan arounds his target with swirling blades of ash in order to limit the targets movements while simultaneously making sure that no one can go near the target. He can redirect the blades to focus on the target to cut them.
Crematory God's Hellion Cage: Nolan creates a circular rage with spikes pointing inwards on the bars. At any moment, Nolan can make the cage collapse on itself, resulting the spiked bars to converge on themselves and skewer the target.
Crematory God's Bloody Coffin: Nolan creates stream of ash that surround and encase its target only to compress and crush its target.
Crematory God's Fell Tale: From the Nolan's tailbone, they create tails of ash with a bladed edge that have various uses, such as long-range stabbing, slicing, defense, and even movement. The tails can also fuse together into a larger one for much more powerful attacks. At the moment, Nolan can create three.
Crematory God's Appetite: Nolan creates a massive skull of ash that flies at its target with its mouth open before biting down on its opponent, crushing them and then exploding.
Crematory God's Iron Spider: From the tips of his fingertips, Nolan creates strings of razor-sharp ash that can be used to slash and bind its targets.
Crematory God's Eruption: Slamming a fist on the ground, Nolan creates an erupting tower of searing hot ash that explodes beneath its target with great force, causing burning damage and blunt force damage.
Crematory God's Blood Flower: Nolan generates a field of budding flowers made from ash and when activated, they bloom only to then explode like a landmine. They can either be activated by contact or Nolan can activate them. He can even delay an explosion to trick a foe or even mix them in with non-explosive flowers as well. The flowers when they bloom look like Red Spider Lillies.
Crematory God's Sable Field: Nolan generates black spikes from the ground around him to impale his foes. Useful against multiple opponents and to limit an opponent's movements.
Crematory God's Sable Geyser: Nolan generates a tower of spikes beneath his opponent to impale them.
Crematory God's Blockade: Nolan creates a massive wall of ash meant to withstand extreme force and to cut people off from a path.
Crematory God's Burning Rudra: Black ash gathers around Nolan's hands which they raise above their hands before sending it off in a destructive gust of wind of burning ashen blades that send whatever its targets flying while shredding whatever it comes across.
Crematory God's Vengeful Bombs: Nolan infuses violent souls into small spheres of ash that home in onto their targets and explode on impact.
Crematory God's Armor: Nolan can cover his entire body or parts of it in a shell of compressed, hardened ash for a boost of defense while also using its hardness to increase the damage done by physical blows.
Crematory God's Wisps: Nolan summons spirits through his ash as a medium. At low levels, he can summon them as simply a ball of floating ash though he could also summon them in a humanoid form as well.
Crematory God's Siege Knights: Nolan infuses lesser souls into large bodies of compact ash they can fight. These forms have relatively decent physical strength and durability though are slow. They are made to look like eight foot-tall, armored knights with spears and a shield.
Crematory God's Assassins: Nolan infuses violent souls into ash with lithe forms. These fighters are much faster and can easily manipulate their form to dodge though have lack strength and can be destroyed in one hit.
Crematory God's True Sight: A spell where he can see the souls of all things, living or otherwise.
Secret Arts
Black Dharma- Destroyer's Trishula: Currently, this is Nolan's most powerful offensive spell. It takes the form of a trident after gathering and focusing a large quantity of ash. It is typically thrown at high speeds and this spell has great piercing capabilities, but its power is so great that whatever is surrounding is crushed by the weight of its magic power, distorting the space around it. When it makes contact with its intended target, it will explode into a consuming column of ash for miles. Technically he could just stab someone with it to set it off, but that would be dangerously stupid since not even the user would be immune from the explosion.
Black Dharma- Night Parade of a Hundred Demons: Nolan creates a sea of ash, expanding as far as the eye can see. The target(s) standing in the ash are then grabbed by the legs by an innumerable number of hands to be dragged down into the sea and be "spirited away" or to put it simply, until they cease to exist in this world. Flying or getting to higher ground does not help as it will continue hunt after its target(s) until it succeeds. Even destroying it is difficult as they regenerate. What fuels this are the souls of the vengeful. Nolan has no idea where the targets actually go when they are spirited away or if they are actually destroyed.
Black Dharma- Naraka: A spell that connects the physical realm with the spiritual. Nolan traps his target(s) in a cloudy dome of ash that completely blocks out any light. Those within it feel a cold sensation as the ash enters lungs, making it hard to breathe if they don't cover their nose and mouths. The true terror comes from the fact that Nolan was able to breach the spirit real to have the spirits who cannot pass on cross become perceivable within the confines of the sphere. Those trapped within it can hear their voices, their screams of terror of confusion, begging for this to end. It is a twisted spell that is meant to break someone psychologically though it varies depending on the level of empathy of the target.
Equipment:
Holy Symbol Necklace: A holy symbol of the god he is supposed to worship. In Nolan's case, it is a crescent moon made from gold.
Sacred Texts: Whatever texts that survived from the destruction of his monastery, he brought them. They are about several topics mainly about the gods, history, and God Slaying Magic. They are in a language that is long dead.
Journals: Filled with Nolan's thoughts and observations of magic, especially pertaining to God Slayers. Written in the same language as the Sacred Texts.
Smoking Pipe: A habit that he picked up from his teacher, Nolan has a smoking habit. The tobacco that Nolan preferences has a sweet, yet savory smell reminiscent to mesquite and juniper.
Gourd: Contains ashes for when Nolan needs to restore his magic.
Forged Documents: Given that he is supposed to be dead, he goes around with fake identification documents when entering different kingdoms from his time as a merc.
Monk Uniform: Has several of them. They are the only articles of clothes that he actually has.
History: A young wanderer that simply refers to himself as just "Nolan" that showed up outside of Rembrandt one day dragging a high ranked monster he killed to sell its parts. However, he was confronted by the guards and after a few choice words and then had a civil conversation with Nolan's fist to their faces. He didn't start the fight, but he sure ended it. In any other situation, he would have had been in some serious trouble, but a strange woman named Jenna helped him escape any repercussions. It had turned out that there were some guards that did not take kindly to foreign mages entering and had been picking fights, but they were unfortunate enough to pick Nolan of all people. Thankfully, this Jenna was there to help him and even told him that she ran a Mage Guild, something that Nolan had not seen in years. For now, he joined the guild for the meantime to find steady work.
What the rest of the guild knows about Nolan is that he used to be a monk and then later became a mercenary for a bit wandering between neighboring kingdoms. If anyone tried to ask him for any more details, they would be told "It's none of their fucking business." Well, besides that he is very obviously not good with women to a comical degree and that he and the guards are on terrible terms. Most notably, he has not told anyone what his magic actually is, and the guild master is the only one who knows due to her witnessing it and having actual knowledge of what it is supposed to look like. If word got out that he was a slayer, his best-case scenario would life imprisonment and the worst is execution, neither getting a trial. He can't die, not yet at least.
Nolan's life should have been one of privilege; he was born into the Waltz Konzern, one of the largest trading companies in the entire kingdom of Fiore with influence that reached beyond its borders. When people think of rich families, they typically think of one with cold, uncaring disconnect, but in reality, the Waltz were a warm family. He was the youngest of three, the eldest being his brother and the second eldest was the daughter. His father was a brilliant, stern man that instilled the virtues and value of hard work into him and his siblings and his mother, kind and warm as she was, was a tough as nails woman who was a better salesman than her husband in terms of playing the social game. They were raised to take over the business when it was their time and perhaps, Nolan would've made a fine businessman if things didn't go the way they did.
When he was five years old, he was on a trip to the Kingdom of Sin with his parents who were overseeing a new project. His siblings were away at a private boarding school, so it was just him and his parents. It was during that trip where they were caught in a sudden storm that tore the ship apart and sunk it along with the passengers only for Nolan to wake up on the unfamiliar shore of Sin coughing sea water alone. No passenger, crew, or his parents were to be seen as he searched the beach though, instead he was found by someone else. There were people who saw the wreckage and went to search for people only to find a lost, recently orphaned boy wandering aimlessly about. They told him to come with them, that they would help him, and like any child shellshocked and confused he listened and put his trust into them, trust that they would shatter. They were slavers and were only there because when they received a report about a shipwreck, their aim was to kidnap and sell them into slavery.
The thing is, Nolan wasn't sold into slavery. He was kept as a personal pet by the head of the operation that was referred to as the Mistress. Nolan suffered at her hand of abuse for months on end until a man attacked her base of operations and rescued the slaves though the Mistress got away. Many of the slaves themselves were able to go home though Nolan with no one to take him in, traumatized to the point he refused to speak, and just a stranger in a land he was not even sure where he was, his rescuer took him in.
Turned out his rescuer was a man named Arjuna, a monk from a sect of warrior scholars taught the supposedly lost art of God Slayer Magic and just started living their way of life in a village that they lived side by side with. Nolan threw himself into this new life desperately so and learned many things, such as self-sufficiency with things such as farming, sewing, and so on. Of course, the big thing was being taught God Slayer Magic by Arjuna and the rest who lived in the temple and was taught ancient history that had been hidden from the rest of the world. It was hard, but Nolan found himself to be happy with the newfound life that he fell in.
For the next 11 years Nolan wouldn't forget the trauma, but having a stable, supportive community kept him afloat for as long as it did. However, his life had a running theme of everything being taken away from him. One day, Nolan went out to hunt game to make an offer to his God and when he returned, Hell awaited him; fire and blood ran with a great frenzy. The entire sect and village were slaughtered by a lone individual, a white-haired man with black horn and gold eyes. In a fit of rage and despair, Nolan threw everything he had and then some at this man and no matter what Nolan did, he couldn't touch him. The worst part? The man didn't even kill him. He didn't say a single word to Nolan. Only just the cold, emotionless, inhuman eyes staring through him and then just disappeared as quickly as he came.
With nothing left for him, Nolan buried whatever remains of the monks and villagers he could find and performed burial rites for their passing and grabbed whatever texts that he felt were important enough to take and sealed the remaining texts and relics away to make sure they did not fall into the wrong hands until the day he returns. Nolan left the place he called home a changed man, broken and bitter. For the next couple of years, Nolan ended up working with several mercenary groups stationed in Sin, Enca, Desierto, Joya, and Bellum as not an official member, but for many one-off jobs ranging from acting as security, hunting monsters, hunting criminals, and so on. He garnered a divisive reputation; on one hand, in combat his ruthlessness and brutality were matched by few, and his attitude was generally unpleasant, but he was also just very efficient and had the power to back it.
In between jobs, he searched far and wide for any information regarding for the man that laid waste to his old home, but he had found nothing. No one could tell him anything about who or what that thing was. Even the texts were of not much help for there was no record of a God like this existing though the possibility could not be ruled out. This has been his obsession for the last two years.
After his last job, Nolan finally got a hit after all these years about that man; someone travelling from the Pergrande Kingdom said they spotted someone that matched that man's description. Nolan with no hesitation left for the kingdom and the rest was history.
Strengths: 1. Knowledgeable: Nolan had read many, many ancient texts regarding the history of the world and magic, but he also knows how to farm, raising cattle, mending and making clothes, hunting and so on to be self-sufficient. This extends to his street smarts as well. Working as a wandering mercenary in many kingdoms, one has to develop skills to survive such as gathering information, negotiations, and so on.
2. Combat Freak: Due to growing up being taught various forms of combat and being pit in different combat situations as a mercenary, he is well versed in both hand-to-hand combat and weaponry.
3. Dancer: Is actually quite the capable dancer though it's only a hobby.
Weaknesses:
1. Emotional Repression: He represses all of his trauma, stress, loneliness, and sadness to the point that he is a ticking time bomb. Nolan has no healthy coping mechanisms, and it leads to self-destructive behavior.
2. Difficult to get along with: His general disposition makes it quite difficult for people to want to be around him.
3. Women: The guy gets easily flustered around women and really just doesn't know what to do. The man absolutely has no game.
Motivation: To make sure that man burns.
Guild and guild mark location: Rising Starborn, Right shoulder
Team Members: None at the moment
Name: Zenith Villard Age: 21 Class: B
Personality: Someone that always has a smile on his face, Zenith is a very kind and honest person with a strong sense of duty and justice towards his fellow man, even if he does not know them. He is the kind of guy that will sit there if someone needs to vent or talk and listen for as long they need him to without judging them. A patient man, he does not tend to resolve issues with violence, but with words if it can be avoided. A surprisingly sarcastic, sassy person with a sharp tongue though all in good fun.
Very few can match him in discipline. Zenith is the kind of man that would wake up at 5 AM every day with a smile on his face. His skin is very thick so it would take a great deal to actually make him angry though it is best to not test those limits.
At first glance with his bright and social nature, one would assume that he would be extroverted, but he actually is quite introverted. He needs his alone time or else he become quite the grumpy individual.
History/Bio:
Do the right thing, that was the lesson that was hammered into Zenith growing up. His parents were Rune Knights, his grandfather before then, and before them there was a tribe, they descended from named Uru that protected Fiore long before the kingdom was established, where an agreement that their people would serve the kingdom in exchange to letting them continue on their traditions. They strove for ideas of justice and service to the people of Fiore. They were everything that all knights strove to be, even until the moment they died protecting people from dark mages.
It was to no one's surprise that Zenith decided to follow into his parents' footsteps to become a Rune Knight as well. He enlisted and trained at a military academy to become a disciplined, powerful soldier and when the time came, he sure enough earned his spot in the Rune Knights. He did not even last a year.
The issue was not resolve, laziness, or any sort of behavior that would be disgraceful to the Rune Knights. It was quite the opposite in fact. Zenith was assigned to a precinct Hargeon Town and while there, he discovered that there were multiple people fudging the numbers on the number of arrests made to make it seem like they were accomplishing more than they actually were. Of course, he investigated and brought evidence in the form of audio recordings and documents to his superior officer. His superior told him that they would look into it. This was the biggest mistake of his life.
It began with his peers harassing him, then given an extra workload only to be given a poor performance review no matter the result, and then he noticed that other Rune Knights were actually following him everywhere he went. There was no debate that this was some sort of intimidation tactic, but it would have taken much more to deter Zenith from doing his job...and they were quick to realize it.
Zenith was arrested and charged for conspiracy of leaking classified info to Dark Guilds, a crime that he did not commit. He was held in prison for two months and when the day came to the trial, the charges against him were dropped due to lack of evidence, but he knew that this was simply just a message to him; that he was completely powerless and if he ever stepped out of line again, they would make every little moment of his life into a hellish experience.
He had been intimidated, disgraced, and humiliated. His career was dead in the water and there was no future for him in the Rune Knights, even he could see that clearly. The only thing left to do was to leave, but not without a parting gift; he made sure that he had copies of the evidence he compiled for the fraudulent data and dropped it off at newspaper because if he was going down, it may as well have been in flames.
Problem now was that after having that criminal charge on his record and the media shit storm he caused, his job prospects were nil at best. He eventually did return home and eventually decided that he had no chance of life in Fiore and that he would need to leave the kingdom. At the same time, he was asked to take Akemi, a girl that he shared a sibling bond with, as far away from Fiore by her grandparents to which he agreed to.
They travelled through Ishgar not without incident no small part to Akemi and eventually arrived in the kingdom of Pergrande where they found a strange sight, a traditional guild. They had heard rumors and did seek it out, but he was not sure what to expect. They did end up joining as a way to obtain stable income and perhaps find a mage that could treat Akemi's condition.
Beast Soul - Minotaur: A bipedal, muscular bull while slow, has great physical strength that can easily smash through several layers of concrete and stone.
Beast Soul - Gungnir: A streamlined, lean body of a bipedal insect-like creature with compound eyes and a herculean beetle's horn. Gungnir is his fastest form currently. To the trained eye he still appears to be a blur and at his fastest he can create an after image of himself.
Beast Soul - Iron Devil: A bipedal lizard-like creature with sharp claws, fangs, and durable armored scales that resemble iron. It is a durable form that can withstand considerable duress, and its fangs and claws are as expected to be razor sharp.
Beast Soul - Zephyr: It takes the form of a mighty eagle with razor sharp talons with crush force that can shatter stone and a durable beak. What it lacks in combat versatility it makes up with speed and mobility in the air. Typically used as a partial takeover.
Takeover - Crystalized Soul:
This is a form of ancient, deep magic from his Uru ancestors. When the first beings gained sentience, they began to ask why. Why did things work the way they did? Why did they happen? How could they happen? When collective thought thinks about these questions en masse, they can give birth to a new creature, something that isn't a god or could be called sentient. They are more akin to elementals in that they purely represent an idea, something that can only cause destruction if left unchecked. When used, each form influences the user's personality depending what idea they represent and require much, much more magic to use.
The entity that represents humanity's unending grief. Passed onto him after his mother died.
Appearance: A strange, unnerving humanoid being. Nevermore stands at 8 feet (2.4384 meters) tall though it is always slouched, making it appear shorter than it actually is. Its body and its limbs seemed to resemble long, gangly black tree branches despite the fact that they have a texture of wrought iron. Those same branches make up its torso to form something that resembles ribs. Protruding from its back are those black, iron branches except they are sparsely covered feathers made from the same material to create something that looks like wings. Its head is humanoid save for a raven-like beak and also has the same black coloration as the rest of its body and its mostly featureless save for when it opens its mouth to reveal its human teeth and long, sharp tongue.
Abilities: Darkness: It is not darkness in the traditional sense, but more of the "gravity of darkness." The darkness that Nevermore generates manipulates gravity within its reach. This darkness can be used in wide swathes or can be shaped into attacks such as spheres or blades of heavy gravity. Nevermore, despite its wings, cannot fly so it uses its darkness to simulate flight. However, at the moment it is quite taxing on his body, so it is not something that can be used in quick succession.
Limb Extension: Nevermore can extend and retract its limbs. Can use its limbs for long range attacks and such.
Branch Generation: Nevermore can create more branch-like limbs from its body that can be used for a variety of purposes, such as wrapping new limbs around its already existing limbs to make a heavier attack, increase defense, a flurry of attacks, and so on.
Notable Spells: Plutonian Shore: Darkness expands in all directions to cover all exposed surfaces. Anything that is caught in the general area of the darkness will experience intense gravity pushing their bodies down and crushing them into either dust or into submission.
Blades of Pallas: Zen creates blades of darkness though they are technically not sharp. They have a such an intensely strong gravity that whatever is caught on their edge is just cleanly cut in half from the impact.
Endless Night: Zenith creates numerous spheres of darkness that hover in the air far and wide. Then they shoot out branches of piercing darkness that branch out irregularly until the spell fills out an entire area.
Lenore's Maelstrom: Zen generates countless spheres of intense gravity that swirl around the target, ripping them into pieces as the spheres collide with the target.
The entity that represents humanity's unceasing rage. Passed onto him after his father died.
Appearance: A hulking beast of a creature that appears to be made of red stone with bits of stone protruding in its body in strangely organic shapes. It has no eyes, only a mouth with teeth made of stone. What people would mistake for markings glowing around its body is magma flowing through open crevices like blood pumping through veins. Its spine protrudes from its back with spikes that travel down it its tail. Its claws are also just made of stone.
Abilities: Immense Strength: This is a form that can lift a building and smash someone with it.
Immense Durability: It is like punching a mountain. Any blow would be lucky to even crack its stone body.
Absolute Rage: Using this form induces so much rage that mental magic just doesn't work.
Magma Generation: This form can generate magma for attacks, but they are not precise techniques due to the rage that is constantly tearing at his mind and more like a sledgehammer being swung about.
Strengths: Trained Soldier: A disciplined and effective fighter even without his magic. He is most comfortable with Hand-to-Hand combat and typically does not need weaponry due to the nature of his magic.
Detective: As someone whose old job required him to track down criminals and solve cases, he is quite proficient at complex problem solving and has great intuition.
Poison Immunity: After repeated consumption of Akemi's cooking Zenith resists most poisons if not just straight up immune.
Cooking: Is just a really good cook. Part of his job as a guild member is to be the guild chef.
Weaknesses:
Too Selfless: At times he gives so much of himself that fails to take care of his own needs. Sometimes there are those that take advantage of his good will.
Explosive Emotions: He puts everyone else at first instead of facing his own issues, so he bottles it up until he can't take it anymore. For all the times he lends a shoulder to cry on and be someone that everyone can rely on, he doesn't know how to ask that from others.
Akemi: Despite not being his sister by blood, she is still family to him. She is his responsibility and given her sickly, sheltered nature he is always worried about her.
Guild Mark Location: Lower back, Blue
Extra: Is very good at cross dressing and makeup. He will be prettier than you.
Personality: Someone that keeps his secrets close to his chest and does his best to keep others at a distance. Nolan is an abrasive, grumpy, sarcastic young man that is easily irritable and rarely smiles though chances are if he is smiling, he is mocking someone or watching them get their just desserts. In that regard, he is a bit twisted and is not above acts of cruelty and viciousness to get a job done even if lowers peoples' opinion of him. Well, it is not like he cares what people think about him and he is not someone that goes out of his way to form attachments with others though it's not due to some dumb reasons that attachments make him weak. It's a "why bother" sort of mentality. They'll leave him sooner or later.
The few things that he prides himself on is his skills as a warrior and as a scholar of the ancients. Nolan is a naturally curious and studious to the point where some would call it an obsession to obtain power and knowledge. Things such as wealth and status mean absolutely nothing to him; he only thinks of earning enough for what he needs and generally will try to find ways of saving money by just doing things himself, such as growing a vegetable garden or mending his clothes. That and he just doesn't respect people who are born into a position of power without having done anything to earn it or prove that they deserve it.
He is terrible with women as well. Nolan tends to get easily flustered and embarrassed, especially if he becomes their focus and in general, he doesn't really know what to do. This understandably leads to quite a bit of teasing. Lord help if a woman actually even tries to flirt with him.
Despite all of this, he is not heartless. Nolan will save people even at the cost of his own wellbeing for no reward because he cannot ignore someone in trouble, even if that person was a right prick. Well, unless they were really monstrous then he'd just leave them to their fate.
Magic:
Crematory God Slayer- God slayer magic is an ancient magic in which the caster able to attain the abilities of a "god", using a specific element as their type. An Ashen God Slayer, as the name states, allows to generate and manipulate ashes filled with searing hot embers with the capability of slaying a god. He is able to use it to enhance physical attacks and mold them to create physical objects. To restore magic and rejuvenate themselves, the user devours ash. The magic itself has a variety of uses from pure offense to sheer impenetrable defense. Since ash is already matter that has already been burned, it is a counter against flame-based magic or anything that generates heat at all. It is even an excellent insulator for electricity unless wet. As well as due to the heat from his magic, he does have a resistance to heat.
However, what makes this magic stand apart from even other Slayer magics and ash magic is its connection to the dead. Ashes are used as a vehicle to summon souls of those who have passed though they must be willing, and they will not obtain their original bodies. They will be in an ashy form and do not have the ability to communicate verbally though do have the ability to interact with the physical world and even fight on the user's behalf. Nolan can even summon someone's soul, but that requires an item related to the one being summoned and whether or not they want to be summoned at all. The side-effect of this is that he seems to have an ability to sense spirits.
Crematory God's Bellow: After gathering magic in his mouth, Nolan releases a powerful tornado of ash and embers that is sent towards his foes. This tornado carries considerable force, being capable of ripping, tearing, and searing whatever is caught in its path.
Crematory God's Explosive Cinders: Nolan creates a sphere of searing that is sent forward with a punch motion. Once it reaches its target, the sphere expands and creates a large explosion.
Crematory God's Wayward Wind: Nolan generated a tornado of searing, shredding ash from his hands that sends its targets upwards into the air.
Crematory God's Mantis Scythe: Nolan creates protruding razor scythe blades from his forearms. The blades themselves glow with the embers in them and can burn their intended target as well.
Crematory God's Domain: Nolan creates a spinning dome of ash around them that acts as a barrier for incoming attacks while also serving as an attack that sends whoever is caught in it flying. Mostly serves as a 'get off me' move.
Crematory's God Bitterness: Nolan creates a hail of bullets made of his ashes that are sent at high speeds to pierce through and riddle with holes. He can also perform a version where he just shoots them all at once like a shotgun.
Crematory God's Peerless Arrows: Nolan creates swirling spheres of ash that then form into drill bits and spin at such high speeds that one can hear them whirring. They are then shot towards their target with the intention of drilling through them.
Crematory God's Wrath: Nolan arounds his target with swirling blades of ash in order to limit the targets movements while simultaneously making sure that no one can go near the target. He can redirect the blades to focus on the target to cut them.
Crematory God's Hellion Cage: Nolan creates a circular rage with spikes pointing inwards on the bars. At any moment, Nolan can make the cage collapse on itself, resulting the spiked bars to converge on themselves and skewer the target.
Crematory God's Bloody Coffin: Nolan creates stream of ash that surround and encase its target only to compress and crush its target.
Crematory God's Fell Tale: From the Nolan's tailbone, they create tails of ash with a bladed edge that have various uses, such as long-range stabbing, slicing, defense, and even movement. The tails can also fuse together into a larger one for much more powerful attacks. At the moment, Nolan can create three.
Crematory God's Appetite: Nolan creates a massive skull of ash that flies at its target with its mouth open before biting down on its opponent, crushing them and then exploding.
Crematory God's Iron Spider: From the tips of his fingertips, Nolan creates strings of razor-sharp ash that can be used to slash and bind its targets.
Crematory God's Eruption: Slamming a fist on the ground, Nolan creates an erupting tower of searing hot ash that explodes beneath its target with great force, causing burning damage and blunt force damage.
Crematory God's Blood Flower: Nolan generates a field of budding flowers made from ash and when activated, they bloom only to then explode like a landmine. They can either be activated by contact or Nolan can activate them. He can even delay an explosion to trick a foe or even mix them in with non-explosive flowers as well. The flowers when they bloom look like Red Spider Lillies.
Crematory God's Sable Field: Nolan generates black spikes from the ground around him to impale his foes. Useful against multiple opponents and to limit an opponent's movements.
Crematory God's Sable Geyser: Nolan generates a tower of spikes beneath his opponent to impale them.
Crematory God's Blockade: Nolan creates a massive wall of ash meant to withstand extreme force and to cut people off from a path.
Crematory God's Burning Rudra: Black ash gathers around Nolan's hands which they raise above their hands before sending it off in a destructive gust of wind of burning ashen blades that send whatever its targets flying while shredding whatever it comes across.
Crematory God's Vengeful Bombs: Nolan infuses violent souls into small spheres of ash that home in onto their targets and explode on impact.
Crematory God's Armor: Nolan can cover his entire body or parts of it in a shell of compressed, hardened ash for a boost of defense while also using its hardness to increase the damage done by physical blows.
Crematory God's Wisps: Nolan summons spirits through his ash as a medium. At low levels, he can summon them as simply a ball of floating ash though he could also summon them in a humanoid form as well.
Crematory God's Siege Knights: Nolan infuses lesser souls into large bodies of compact ash they can fight. These forms have relatively decent physical strength and durability though are slow. They are made to look like eight foot-tall, armored knights with spears and a shield.
Crematory God's Assassins: Nolan infuses violent souls into ash with lithe forms. These fighters are much faster and can easily manipulate their form to dodge though have lack strength and can be destroyed in one hit.
Crematory God's True Sight: A spell where he can see the souls of all things, living or otherwise.
Secret Arts
Black Dharma- Destroyer's Trishula: Currently, this is Nolan's most powerful offensive spell. It takes the form of a trident after gathering and focusing a large quantity of ash. It is typically thrown at high speeds and this spell has great piercing capabilities, but its power is so great that whatever is surrounding is crushed by the weight of its magic power, distorting the space around it. When it makes contact with its intended target, it will explode into a consuming column of ash for miles. Technically he could just stab someone with it to set it off, but that would be dangerously stupid since not even the user would be immune from the explosion.
Black Dharma- Night Parade of a Hundred Demons: Nolan creates a sea of ash, expanding as far as the eye can see. The target(s) standing in the ash are then grabbed by the legs by an innumerable number of hands to be dragged down into the sea and be "spirited away" or to put it simply, until they cease to exist in this world. Flying or getting to higher ground does not help as it will continue hunt after its target(s) until it succeeds. Even destroying it is difficult as they regenerate. What fuels this are the souls of the vengeful. Nolan has no idea where the targets actually go when they are spirited away or if they are actually destroyed.
Black Dharma- Naraka: A spell that connects the physical realm with the spiritual. Nolan traps his target(s) in a cloudy dome of ash that completely blocks out any light. Those within it feel a cold sensation as the ash enters lungs, making it hard to breathe if they don't cover their nose and mouths. The true terror comes from the fact that Nolan was able to breach the spirit real to have the spirits who cannot pass on cross become perceivable within the confines of the sphere. Those trapped within it can hear their voices, their screams of terror of confusion, begging for this to end. It is a twisted spell that is meant to break someone psychologically though it varies depending on the level of empathy of the target.
Equipment:
Holy Symbol Necklace: A holy symbol of the god he is supposed to worship. In Nolan's case, it is a crescent moon made from gold.
Sacred Texts: Whatever texts that survived from the destruction of his monastery, he brought them. They are about several topics mainly about the gods, history, and God Slaying Magic. They are in a language that is long dead.
Journals: Filled with Nolan's thoughts and observations of magic, especially pertaining to God Slayers. Written in the same language as the Sacred Texts.
Smoking Pipe: A habit that he picked up from his teacher, Nolan has a smoking habit. The tobacco that Nolan preferences has a sweet, yet savory smell reminiscent to mesquite and juniper.
Gourd: Contains ashes for when Nolan needs to restore his magic.
Forged Documents: Given that he is supposed to be dead, he goes around with fake identification documents when entering different kingdoms from his time as a merc.
Monk Uniform: Has several of them. They are the only articles of clothes that he actually has.
History: A young wanderer that simply refers to himself as just "Nolan" that showed up outside of Rembrandt one day dragging a high ranked monster he killed to sell its parts. However, he was confronted by the guards and after a few choice words and then had a civil conversation with Nolan's fist to their faces. He didn't start the fight, but he sure ended it. In any other situation, he would have had been in some serious trouble, but a strange woman named Jenna helped him escape any repercussions. It had turned out that there were some guards that did not take kindly to foreign mages entering and had been picking fights, but they were unfortunate enough to pick Nolan of all people. Thankfully, this Jenna was there to help him and even told him that she ran a Mage Guild, something that Nolan had not seen in years. For now, he joined the guild for the meantime to find steady work.
What the rest of the guild knows about Nolan is that he used to be a monk and then later became a mercenary for a bit wandering between neighboring kingdoms. If anyone tried to ask him for any more details, they would be told "It's none of their fucking business." Well, besides that he is very obviously not good with women to a comical degree and that he and the guards are on terrible terms. Most notably, he has not told anyone what his magic actually is, and the guild master is the only one who knows due to her witnessing it and having actual knowledge of what it is supposed to look like. If word got out that he was a slayer, his best-case scenario would life imprisonment and the worst is execution, neither getting a trial. He can't die, not yet at least.
Nolan's life should have been one of privilege; he was born into the Waltz Konzern, one of the largest trading companies in the entire kingdom of Fiore with influence that reached beyond its borders. When people think of rich families, they typically think of one with cold, uncaring disconnect, but in reality, the Waltz were a warm family. He was the youngest of three, the eldest being his brother and the second eldest was the daughter. His father was a brilliant, stern man that instilled the virtues and value of hard work into him and his siblings and his mother, kind and warm as she was, was a tough as nails woman who was a better salesman than her husband in terms of playing the social game. They were raised to take over the business when it was their time and perhaps, Nolan would've made a fine businessman if things didn't go the way they did.
When he was five years old, he was on a trip to the Kingdom of Sin with his parents who were overseeing a new project. His siblings were away at a private boarding school, so it was just him and his parents. It was during that trip where they were caught in a sudden storm that tore the ship apart and sunk it along with the passengers only for Nolan to wake up on the unfamiliar shore of Sin coughing sea water alone. No passenger, crew, or his parents were to be seen as he searched the beach though, instead he was found by someone else. There were people who saw the wreckage and went to search for people only to find a lost, recently orphaned boy wandering aimlessly about. They told him to come with them, that they would help him, and like any child shellshocked and confused he listened and put his trust into them, trust that they would shatter. They were slavers and were only there because when they received a report about a shipwreck, their aim was to kidnap and sell them into slavery.
The thing is, Nolan wasn't sold into slavery. He was kept as a personal pet by the head of the operation that was referred to as the Mistress. Nolan suffered at her hand of abuse for months on end until a man attacked her base of operations and rescued the slaves though the Mistress got away. Many of the slaves themselves were able to go home though Nolan with no one to take him in, traumatized to the point he refused to speak, and just a stranger in a land he was not even sure where he was, his rescuer took him in.
Turned out his rescuer was a man named Arjuna, a monk from a sect of warrior scholars taught the supposedly lost art of God Slayer Magic and just started living their way of life in a village that they lived side by side with. Nolan threw himself into this new life desperately so and learned many things, such as self-sufficiency with things such as farming, sewing, and so on. Of course, the big thing was being taught God Slayer Magic by Arjuna and the rest who lived in the temple and was taught ancient history that had been hidden from the rest of the world. It was hard, but Nolan found himself to be happy with the newfound life that he fell in.
For the next 11 years Nolan wouldn't forget the trauma, but having a stable, supportive community kept him afloat for as long as it did. However, his life had a running theme of everything being taken away from him. One day, Nolan went out to hunt game to make an offer to his God and when he returned, Hell awaited him; fire and blood ran with a great frenzy. The entire sect and village were slaughtered by a lone individual, a white-haired man with black horn and gold eyes. In a fit of rage and despair, Nolan threw everything he had and then some at this man and no matter what Nolan did, he couldn't touch him. The worst part? The man didn't even kill him. He didn't say a single word to Nolan. Only just the cold, emotionless, inhuman eyes staring through him and then just disappeared as quickly as he came.
With nothing left for him, Nolan buried whatever remains of the monks and villagers he could find and performed burial rites for their passing and grabbed whatever texts that he felt were important enough to take and sealed the remaining texts and relics away to make sure they did not fall into the wrong hands until the day he returns. Nolan left the place he called home a changed man, broken and bitter. For the next couple of years, Nolan ended up working with several mercenary groups stationed in Sin, Enca, Desierto, Joya, and Bellum as not an official member, but for many one-off jobs ranging from acting as security, hunting monsters, hunting criminals, and so on. He garnered a divisive reputation; on one hand, in combat his ruthlessness and brutality were matched by few, and his attitude was generally unpleasant, but he was also just very efficient and had the power to back it.
In between jobs, he searched far and wide for any information regarding for the man that laid waste to his old home, but he had found nothing. No one could tell him anything about who or what that thing was. Even the texts were of not much help for there was no record of a God like this existing though the possibility could not be ruled out. This has been his obsession for the last two years.
After his last job, Nolan finally got a hit after all these years about that man; someone travelling from the Pergrande Kingdom said they spotted someone that matched that man's description. Nolan with no hesitation left for the kingdom and the rest was history.
Strengths: 1. Knowledgeable: Nolan had read many, many ancient texts regarding the history of the world and magic, but he also knows how to farm, raising cattle, mending and making clothes, hunting and so on to be self-sufficient. This extends to his street smarts as well. Working as a wandering mercenary in many kingdoms, one has to develop skills to survive such as gathering information, negotiations, and so on.
2. Combat Freak: Due to growing up being taught various forms of combat and being pit in different combat situations as a mercenary, he is well versed in both hand-to-hand combat and weaponry.
3. Dancer: Is actually quite the capable dancer though it's only a hobby.
Weaknesses:
1. Emotional Repression: He represses all of his trauma, stress, loneliness, and sadness to the point that he is a ticking time bomb. Nolan has no healthy coping mechanisms, and it leads to self-destructive behavior.
2. Difficult to get along with: His general disposition makes it quite difficult for people to want to be around him.
3. Women: The guy gets easily flustered around women and really just doesn't know what to do. The man absolutely has no game.
Motivation: To make sure that man burns.
Guild and guild mark location: Rising Starborn, Right shoulder
It wasn't that the Toxel wasn't going to fight. It just stood there frozen not from fear, but from surprise by the sudden appearance of a third- party getting involved because who would expect that to happen in a place like the sewers? So as the gas was being dispersed by a thoroughly angry and very afraid Pidove, the Toxel took its chance and threw itself at one of the Trubbish using, its body crackling with electricity, and on impact it did not do much damage, but the sentient trashbags body sparked with bursts of electricity. The move had paralyzed it.
As previously stated before, Dennis' Gust was able to disperse the gas and pushed it down the various other paths of the winding sewers though there was still a bit that hung around in the air because there is so much that one Pidove can do against a coalesced cloud of toxicity. However, it was enough to stave it away from Steph and her Pokemon to keep them from being poisoned for now.
Making use of the confusion and panic of the would-be jumpers, Jack was able to send an Ice Shard at one of the enemy Trubbish and just nailed it straight in the face with enough impact to make its roundish body roll back though it hopped up on its feet ready to fight. Albeit it, it definitely was a bit wobbly in its step and looked like that just a simple push would be enough to put its lights out. Meanwhile, that one Grimer from earlier just didn't get a chance and just ate another ball of fire from a very grumpy candle and was now knocked out, laying spread out (splat out?) on the ground. Despite that, Dusk would feel pangs of pain as it felt its insides burn from the poison course through its ghostly veins.
Unlucky for Steph, the remaining Trubbish were able to recoup after being caught off guard from the surprise attack and now decided to focus their forces on the other two Pokemon fighting since that Litwick was running on borrowed time. Two Trubbish leaped at Jack to throw down some Pound attacks at the Sneasel and another two went to use Pound to smack down the shit bird that blew away their Toxic Gas. The fifth one was forced to stand still due to the effects of paralysis, which made it an open target.
The elderly man looked quite friendly enough. He definitely showed his years though with a surprising amount of hair, thick rimmed glasses, wearing a very cozy maroon sweater and brown khakis. The old man was also sitting in a wheelchair that definitely seemed to be a bit more of an older model.
He had a kind smile and said with a chuckle, "Rustic is a very kind way of putting it." The way he said it did not show any sort of bitterness, but something else. It was more like a sort of longing, yet fondness. He did catch himself and brighten his expression. "Ah, thank you. I suppose it's the one thing I am able to maintain these days. I used to do the maintenance work, well, as much as I could. I used to have help, but finances aren't what they used to be."
When asked about the importance of the manor to the town's history, he said, "Ah, yes you certainly are correct. This manor and its family have a deep relationship with the history of Florasong. If you are interested, why not come in for a cup of tea and a chat."
With fresh vigor Jason decided that it was time to continue his journey through the village and begin his investigation of the fabled shrine, starting with the person who seemed to be the most knowledgeable about it residing in the Scholar District. To get there, Jason would get on the cable carts again and descend below the Entertainment District and further beyond the hectic Market District. The noise around the cart itself began to dim as it descended lower and lower beneath the trees. Actually, one could even see the change as the people who rode the cart with Jason seemed to either dress in a more distinguished fashion such as a professor or college aged students working on projects and homework if they were lucky enough to find a seat. Eventually, the cart shifted to a halt and the doors slid open.
Starbor Village
Scholar District
Within the shaded canopies of the village was a quiet layer, where the scholars and academics would gather to research and teach. A large portion of the district is taken up by the campus of Linnea University, one of the few big-name academic colleges outside of Edda City that is famous for its natural sciences. The campus itself was littered about with laboratories as well as other facilities, one of them being a library that the university itself allows the general public to enter and beyond that there were a number of cafes where students can go to work in peace.
Walking around, Jason would see students walk through the Scholar District among the various students who were making their own ways to class or just in their daily life in general. It was quieter in comparison to the raucous, bright Entertainment District and one could tell that this was a place of history when just walking on the cobbled stone streets and the old stone buildings that were miraculously somehow being supported by the trees.
How here was the thing. Jason knew that there was someone who was researching and looking for the shrine was in this district. The issue though was he was not told where in the district they were.
What does Jason do?
1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in towns and cities. 2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Specify what kind you’re looking for. 3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Notable Places. Visit any of the facilities of the city! 6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon. 6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things. 6.3. Kiosk. Great place to ask for directions. 6.3. Linnea University. Lecture Halls, Admission, and so on. 6.4. Linnea University Public Library. A wonderful place filled knowledge and commonly used by students to study. 6.5. Laboratories Typically, no one outside those authorized has access to them. 6.6. Cafes Great to relax or as a meeting spot. 7. Rail Carts. Take a cart to help you get around the village. Agriculture District, the Scholar District, the Market District, and the Entertainment District
When everything was settled, Trista and Faye would join the Andersons for a lovely dinner, albeit an awkward one given what Tristan had gone through today and getting a rather cowardly Torchic and then there was Faye would have to deal with the existence of Tristan in general. This is reported by a completely unbiased narrator who is totally just not trying to get people off this god forsaken farm.
They could spend the night at the farm and go out to journey tomorrow or they could go out at night. What do they do?