Rune_Alchemist

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Location:
Cogsfell
12.000 hours
@Waylon@Click This@AzureKnight@Pyromania99@Sniblet@VitaVitaAR

---

Astreya was quick to engage the demons, being the first to have her boots on the ground and the first to eagerly engage the creatures. Eleanors bullets whizzed past, a few potshots towards the hounds, grazing one and impacting another in the side but it didn’t seem to react aside from a growl, lunging towards the chef turned maid. Nor did Astreya’s buckshot seem to do anything immediately to the lumbering mass.

The bullets pierced its thick, tarry hide, a few dribbles of lava-esque blood spilling onto the ground and quickly cooling as it continued its bulldozed its way through the onslaught, seeming not even registering any hits or pain that it had. Even the rapid fire slugs from Senya’s cannon seemed to do much aside from merely slow it down just enough that it wasn’t fully sprinting by the time it was within range of Polina’s blades, using one of its massive arms as a shield, causing the seven shots bullets from Polina’s arm to embed themselves in its flesh, only one managing to penetrate far enough to bore a hole into its tough hide, another wound leaking molten fire.

It didn’t slow down much as it made its way finally to Polina to engage in Melee, its lumbering arm crashing towards the maid, heat from its body causing one to instantly sweat from the intense, parching heat as it blacked the ground with its mere steps. Bones would be crushed if she was hit, not to mention the burns. Three of the blades would become stuck fast in its tough flesh, if not for the excellent forging and magical reinforcement no doubt the blades would have simply melted. The fourth caused a mere graze upon its flesh.

Unfortunately, things were only going to get worse for the maids, having made such a commotion upon landing.

Senya’s bullets ripped through several of the hounds, the large caliber projectiles cleanly taking chunks and holes out of their flesh temporarily incapacitating them as they’d fall to the ground. This was accompanied by a second salvo from Katherine’s dolls. A line of rifle fire slammed into them, and the halberdiers would find themselves having to deal with several large hounds, three taking to engage them only to be fended off, though none dealt decisive blows.

And the source of that laughter?

Something that would perhaps, make Kat’s little kitty heart pause with potential fright.

”Ahahah~? Oh what is this? Little dolls? Ehehe, well aren’t you so weak looking little things!” The moment the dolls had come around the corner, one would be snatched up by tendrils, tossed into the air…and then completely crushed and swallowed by the appendages. The others would take note of the corpse of a man being dragged along behind it, one of his arms seemingly having been eaten. He was lacking clothes, though.

“So fragile~! Ehehe, oh I’ll break you and you and all of you!”

The figure had now waltzed into the square. A small looking girl dressed in a black robe, standing just barely four feet five. Eight tails extended from just above her butt that seemed to move and have a bit of a life of their own, able to grow to size and be used as both appendages and seeming to be able to morph into mouths. Her pale red eyes alight with some form of perverse delight, and her odd discordant laughter was easily heard now as she’d step into the square, seeing both the maids and the Dolls.

“Ah? Oh, oh look…eheh, little mortals! Little mortals for me to do with as I please!” The voice and her face was completely discordant with what she was saying. Kat could see the remains of one of her dolls in the small things maw before it was quickly swallowed as it’d lock eyes with her. "Hmm, he was getting boring anyways! Why don't you all entertain me instead!” She'd toss the barely alive man aside onto the ground, the eight appendages growing in size, grasping the ground with their maws and flinging herself immediately towards Kat, mouth widely grinning with a predatory, toothy grin.

There was no doubt, this was a High demon! A High demon was present!

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Location: Alavaris
Cathedral
@Psyker Landshark@Asuras@Erode@VitaVitaAR@Click This@Pyromania99

---

Illena acted swiftly. Shadows melded, moved, slithered between the undead horde that was oblivious to her assault. The armored paladin seemed unresponsive as she’d rush it, shadows bursting from the ground in the shape of a hound, fangs of shadow aiming for the armored undeads head.

It would be a surprise at least, that it would move so swiftly.

Just before the fangs would meet its head, the armored humanoid jerked its entire body around, an armored hand grasping at the shadows and with a mighty swing, slammed the shadowy wolf back into the old stone below, its hands lighting up with faint remnants of holy power, completely dissipating the shadows.

This did not stop Aleksiya’s spears, though, as they'd slam into the armor of the paladin. The undead hissed, groaning as one spear pierced its armor and quickly, jerkingly turn towards Aleksiya just in time to see Giselle lashing out with her weapon. With a growl, it'd raise its hands and with fading holy power it'd deflect the blade with its hands, leaving the bloody weapon lightly corroded and the paladins own hands with a deep cut. This was followed by it lunging forwards, attempting to grapple Giselle as it'd reach for her weapon.

Above, Dragan launched himself towards the skeletal giants arm. Warhammer met bone, the force of the impact enough to cause some of the ancient bones to crack, but not enough to completely break the force completely as Dragan would be finding himself being slammed back into the ground, engaged in a small contest of strength as the skeletons' weight bore down on him. Unless he did something, he’d likely be crushed as it’d raise its arm for a second smackdown.

Akyasha’s gorebats nodded, swiftly flying away from the battle. No doubt they would return soon enough, gorged and full of blood and ready for their duty of being either used as sacrificial pawns or aiding the others with small boons of blood. For now though, she’d engage those that had made it to atop the wall. Bloody maces smashing and crushing their bones. With dragan’s wraiths still supporting her, this should quickly make short work of the undead.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

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She got a glancing blow all things considered. She had been hoping to at least put it out quickly, but things rarely went as expected on the battlefield. A she'd easily land on her feet, Cecil sighed. She was feeling a bit tired, all things considered, and there was very little need for her at the moment. A brief respite as the battle around her started to otherwise die down was just fine. She had did her job as well as one could expect, so slacking off a bit now was fine.

"...man, this fight was a mess." Cecil grunted to no one in particular.

"A griffin is a mighty fine prize. I am not surprised they didn't wish to miss the opportunity."

Cecil didn't respond to Shael, only planting her bow into the ground and leaning on it, a keen eye mostly keeping out for surprises.

---

@Raineh Daze

And appreciate their doom was all they could do. The bandits that had engaged Tyaethe were quickly realized that this singular paladin, this little girl, was completely outclassing them in every single way despite their number advantage. The one with the shield watched in terror as the entire thing was simply stopped by a mana fueled fist right to its dent the thick steel of the shield. Felt like his own arm had broken two from the impact.

As Tyaethe's sword came down, he'd brace himself once more against the blow realizing only too late, that was an incredibly bad idea. Dwarven steel and supernatural strength cleaved right through the armor, a deep gash carved onto his chest as his forearm was completely severed. Blood oozed from the wounds, splattering the ground as he'd fall backwards.

And as Jeremiah fell, the remaining bandits, if there had even been any had already decided to cut their losses and choose desertion and flight over facing any sort of justice at the hands of the Roses.

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

@Pyromania99

“I’ve been tied up this entire time.” Yuisa grunted. “Do I look like I could have escaped?” The former cultist struggled with the ropes, glaring at the demon though she didn’t make any overt hostile moves otherwise. Once the demon had sought to untie her, Yuisa go to her feet, glare not leaving her visage as she’d look down at her chest, grimacing at the sight of the demons seal seared on her flesh.

“...you’ll regret this, demon.” Yuisa hissed. “But I don’t have a choice for now, do I?”

“She’s cute when she’s angry, ahahah!” The demon cackled. “Well, do whatever you want to with her Vammy. We’ll have our fun with her later. Lets see what this so called god wanted us to get from this…prison or whatever.”

Now all she had to do was wait until night, like Iva had said. Yuisa spent the remaining time mostly glaring and scowling, not saying two words even if spoken too unless she had to answer. When it finally came time to depart, Yuisa followed Vammy out of the house, after putting on her robe and mask back on seemingly insistent on at least trying to be unseen by the rest of the villagers.

And so night fell, and the pair made their way to the obelisk. The cold wind blowing in from the sea wasn’t felt by the blood demon, and if Yuisa minded she said nothing as they came upon the old ruins of the Goddess Spear. The black, glassy stone obelisk pierced the night sky, and was positioned just right so that the first of the twin moons would rise behind it. She could feel a faint trace of magical energy coming from the obelisk, but it was old and distant, as though it was coming from elsewhere.

Well, for now they were alone and there didn’t seem to be anything odd here. Yuisa remained silent, though she was still glaring at Vammy.

Current Happenings

Current location: Dawn
Time: afternoon
Current Objective:
Find the contraption the God Iva mentioned

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Potential Events:

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@ERode

---

“I’m not singing!” Maira objected instantly.

“And I wouldn’t want her crone voice singing anyways!” The old woman replied, almost just as instantly, the fact she had just described her own voice was lost on her. “Nay, I would much rather play a game of some sort…hm, but what games do you young ones play these days? I certainly don’t know…hmm…”

“Atzi, you’re not helping.” Maira shot Atzi a glare, huffing. “I’m not playing a stupid game. Give it back already!”

“But its not even yours, thief! So its finders keepers now! Or maybe I should just run? Hm…you, big muscled oaf over there, lets make a wager.” A long, thin finger pointed towards Atzi. “There’s a shrine deeper in the forest! Old place, really old. About as old as the land itself, after all it was made by the land itself.” She’d cackle. “Whoever gets there first and retrieves the old deer ornament from it, gets this shiny thing!”

“...that’s a bad idea!” Maira narrowed her eyes. “...Atzi, I don’t like this woman. Something about her isn’t right…”

“Oh dearie me, me not being right? I’m not sure what you mean. I’m just a passing old woman, nothing more, nothing less.”

Current Happenings

The goddess adds more pictures to the screen for Atzi. She gets the feeling the goddess is pitying her.
Current location: Kyr Forest
Time: Morning

---

Current Objective:
Retrieve the Orb before the cultists do

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Potential Events:

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@Click This@Crusader Lord

---

“Well, thanks for the help indeed lass.” Eirhild said. She had been tensely holding her hand on her blade hilt through the entire encounter, and was only now relaxing as the group moved through the village, following the Yaga. “Never been this far north ‘fore. Can’t say its a friendly welcome.”

“Something has the Krysa spooked.” A brusque reply the Yaga ignored the snow starting to fall, leading the three towards a small house towards the middle of the village. “Someone trying to attack one of their wisemen or something? I dunno. They blame that merchant that travels through here around this time.” Assuming they followed her, the interior of the cabin was well built, with a number of ornate and decorative carpets hanging on the walls colored in reds, whites, and bright yellows. The Yaga moved to the firepit, warmth quickly crackling to life. Curiously, over the firepit on a shelf above it was what looked like a small shrine to a deity of some sort. A well made wooden fetish, in the shape of a serpent eating its tail.

“Jivka. My sister earlier is Jolča.” She’d lean against the wall near the fire pit, folding her scarred arms across her chest. “She’s still training to be our Elder’s successor, but she still has a lot of pull in the village.”

“That’s nice an’ all, but what was that whole bit about being Emissaries of the death Goddess?” Eirhild asked. “I barely know who that is and all.”

“Never been to these parts before, eh?” Jivka chuckled. “It was a lie, mostly. We know you’re not, but the Death Goddess is a not someone you want to anger. If they waylaid you any further…there was a good chance they might irritate her.” Her mouth curled into a frown. “Jolča says the best way to appease her is to…get rid of the problem. I’ll leave that to your imagination.”

Current Happenings

The goddess is playing fetch with a dog
Current location: Dawn
Time: Morning

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Current Objective:
Gain access to the village
Or perhaps you’d like to avoid it entirely and go straight to Mie?

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Potential Events:

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@crimson Paladin

---

“Oh, Dawn? That little village to the south?” A friendly tone accompanied with a smile. “I’ve heard of that village. A pleasant place, I’ve been told by a number of traders that pass through here.” She’d remain sitting, glancing away from Novak and towards the snowfield that played out in front of them. Gray clouds were starting to move in overhead, signaling soon, snow would fall.

“A bit far for us to care for, though. We have our hands full keeping the yaga in line and dealing with dissidents these days. Styd, so much work these days….cant even have a good drink.” The Krysa officer eyed Novak’s flask with obvious interest. “I don’t suppose you’d let me have a swig, friend? I’m rather parched out here. The Tsarita has me running all over hunting a particular person of interest…well, less hunting and more figuring out how to deal with their refusal of cooperation.”

A simple request…but would he grant it? The shouts of the ratmen in the distance seemed to indicate they found their quarry and were in the process of recovering the basket and the documents.

Current Happenings

The moon goddess waves hello, a little dialogue box tells you good morning
Current location:
Northern Snowfields
Time: Morning

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Potential Events:

@Cu Chulainn

---

Raelzeth watched as Gideon collected soil samples, briefly wondering if he was part mole or something as he’d place the dirt into glass vials. Who on earth had vials specifically for that? Thoughts about how weird that was, was quickly shoved out though as he’d place the samples in her hands and asked a slightly, in her opinion, stupid question.

“What, do you not know how Stone singing works either?” Raelzeth rolled her eyes. “Some smart guy you are. Watch a pro at work!” Raelzeth then took the first vial handed to her, opened it and proceeded to drop the samples into the palm of her hand.

“Aaaa~” Whatever Gideon would think of that would be unheard as the Shadow Elf inhaled, a began quite literally, singing. A high pitched tone as her voice echoed through the forest. The earth in her hands trembled slightly as the pitch lowered, Raelzeth closing her eyes as she seemed to focus on the task at hand. As the pitch lowered, the earth in her hands began to move, just slightly as loose grains of earth began shifting, climbing atop one another and sculpting themselves into a loose pillar.

With a wavering voice, Raelzeth’s singing flowed like water as the earth would move itself back into the vial seemingly of its own accord.

“Ugh, that’s tiring.” Raelzeth complained, huffing as she’d take the second one, and started to repeat the process she had done with the first. Her brow furrowed as some of the pieces of earth didn’t initially move. Little fragments of dull grey colored things. An adjustment in pitch. A slight staccato with abrupt and sudden changes. They too, would soon move.

“Whew…this one,” She’d say, once the soil had been collected back into the vial. “Small amounts of iron in it.” It was the sample from the area of upheaval. “More what’s in normal soil I think, but that’s where the Iron Vein I found was.”

Current Happenings

The moon goddess punches an oddly shaped square tree that produces an oddly shaped square block of wood which she then somehow turns into a wooden pickaxe.
Current location: Dawn
Time: Morning

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Potential Events:

Echoes of a Moonless Night

Kaeru

Name:
Kaeru Nakanishi
Age:
18
Appearance:
You'd be forgiven for mistaking Kaeru as a woman. Not out of any attempts to deceive or other impishness mind you, he simply likes being as he says 'cute and the best looking person in the room...also that most masculine clothing looks absolutely fu-ahem, really boring.', which, should incidentally, give you a little glimpse into his personality. Standing a slightly shorter than average height for men, a slender, feminine form Kaeru takes great care in his appearance. Long blond hair with lively, amber colored eyes.
Personality:
A cute appearance that belies an absolutely foul mouthed little gremlin. Kaeru is a lively, energetic sort that puts his 110% into basically everything with a smile. In fact, you could say he does everything almost with too much of a smile, whether it be fighting, working, or using an incredibly colorful vocabulary to express displeasure at something, chastising someone for making fun of his appearance, or when he's using his as he says 'extremely fine legs' to beat the ever loving doughnuts out of someone. (he does try to keep his mouth in check, though)

That is to say, you'd ever rarely find Kaeru not smiling about something or just enjoying life in general. Towards other people, he takes the same, casual approach. A overly friendly, pretty foulmouthed guy. Won't stop him from occasionally teasing people or behaving like a little imp, if he thinks he'll get a giggle or reaction out of someone, though.

Might as well have fun with things, occasionally.

Abilities:
Aside from a self proclaimed ability to 'look his best no matter what', Kaeru only possesses his ability as an Attuned as far as supernatural elements go with Nyoko. Depending on whos the more dominant party at the time of Resonance, the result may end up being Kaeru being a more physical fighter or a Nyoko whose more skilled with her necromancy.
Skills:
-A skilled acrobat and danger, has been taking ballet and other formal dance lessons since he was young.
-Martial arts. Specifically, Karate and Jujitsu. He's a fairly skilled practitioner of both, though far from perfect in either as he's only been training and doing both for a comparatively short while.
Equipment:
Does his hat count? How about his good looks?
History:
Kaeru has had a somewhat uninterested background, by his count. A father that was incredibly strict growing up that was heavily into martial arts, and a workaholic mother. His father, desperately wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, and growing up it seemed, initially at least this might be something that Kaeru wasn't initially suited for. A somewhat skinny build that lacked muscles, and a seeming disinterest in the same hobbies as his dad.

So it came as a surprise and relief when Kaeru ended up taking to Martial arts, and seemingly enjoying them as much as he did, even if Kaeru refused to really do much in the way of strength or muscle training, and instead would spend his time more leaning towards fashion and ending up taking up dance lessons at school.

So he'd grow up, eventually becoming a fairly skilled martial artist, dancer, and taking up helping his father out at the gym and dojo as a receptionist and also sparring partner. (ignore the fact he's got something of a fanclub among the members). It was during this time, that Kaeru, would be accosted by a Nekomata on his way home from work who looked a tad bit worse for wear. Apparently, she had seen him training, and was intent on being taught martial arts or something.

The odd manner of their initial meeting aside, initially, Kaeru brushed her off. Mostly because he was still technically training himself, but she kept pestering him, going so far as to even find their dojo and standing at the reception desk all day and asking every single hour repeatedly, much to his fathers own amusement. After some back and forth, his dad said it might be a good idea and a good show of his own training if he did teach her.

He wasn't initially into the idea, but well, whatever. Wasn't like he hadn't sparred with a Youkai, before. It wasn't unusual for a Youkai to take some interest in human martial arts, especially something like an Oni or other more physically inclined Youkai. Over the following year, Kaeru and Nyoko as he learned her name was, ended up becoming quite close, considering their own slight love of causing trouble and getting up to no good, eventually deciding to become attuned and eventually deciding to become attuned and contracted and she confided in him her reasons for hunting grudges. When they found someone opening a grudge hunting agency, well, Kaeru was looking for a second job other than what was effectively a receptionist, and he could put his martial arts to practical use, so why not!

Also he'd feel a lot more comfortable letting Nyoko do things if there was some sort of support network since she has a habit of going off on her own.

Other:
N/A

Necromata

Youkai:
Name:
Nyoko
Race:
Nekomata
Age:
23
Appearance:
A white haired beauty, and very clearly a youkai if the fuzzy ears and cat tail swishing behind her didn't give it away. Nyoko is very much a youkai of the modern era and it shows in how she dresses, preferring light, casual clothes and typically her favorite jacket and a pair of shorts and comfortable boots. Unlike her partner, she doesn't go out of her way to appear in any way, much to Kaeru's chagrin.
Personality:
Nyoko is as calm and collected as one might find of her slightly mysterious and cold appearance. She is very much a self involved type that doesn't like people, nor does she often think of anything except for herself first, you could say she's a fairly selfish cat because of it, always putting herself first above others, often lost in thought and generally being fairly quiet or muted towards others, speaking in terse and otherwise concise and short sentences to spend as little time speaking as possible.

This, can make others think she's a bit on the rude side, and well, they wouldn't be wrong. Nyoko being a Nekomata has a certain propensity for mischief and messing with humans. While shes not unfriendly, she does love messing with, occasionally scaring humans, and generally playing usually, harmless pranks on them. Like putting a random skeleton in their closet, or spooking them with a random harmless haunting.

Kaeru apologizes profusely.

Just hope she doesn't find you some manner of cute or you're going to find a random cat in your bed when you wake up occasionally. There will be no escape.
Abilities:
Nyoko, being a Nekomata is naturally adept at Necromancy and minor illusions. Though considering her relative youth compared to more older youkai, her skill isn't anything to write home about, for now and she doesn't particularly actively train, either.
Necromancy:
Being a Nekomata, Nyoko has a natural talent for things concerning the dead. Specifically, raising them and using spirits and other undead to fight. How does she summon them? Through ritualistic dancing. She directs them the same way, too. Summoning spirits to attack, bind, slow, and otherwise hamper foes movement in order to slowly wear them down. A few examples include summoning skeletons to grab foes from below to trip/grapple, some manner of spirit to directly attack, or even a ghost or two to act more offensively and as an occasionally distraction.
Illusion:
A smaller facet of her abilities, and mostly limited to altering her appearance slightly or used to deceive others. At most, she can create false, intangible copies of herself temporarily for throwing off an opponent, or rendering herself temporarily unseen.
Skills:
Unlike Kaeru, she doesn't possess any notable physical skills, save perhaps for some natural flexibility.
History:
Nyoko has been a solitary cat most of her life. She was born as a pure white kitten up in the mountains, and lived there most of her cat life, where she befriended a young school girl that ended up frequenting the mountain with her friends occasionally. She's who gave Nyoko her name, and occasionally would bring her fresh tuna or canned cat food to feast upon, but eventually the girl would stop coming, leaving Nyoko to fend for herself.

Wanting to know what happened to her, the cat would eventually start heading into the city...where she'd see a poster with the name of the girl on it, along with 'missing person'? At the time, she wasn't sure what that meant, but as she'd venture more into the city, each time learning a bit more about the humans...soon enough, the young cat would turn into a Youkai - a Nekomata.

Since then, she's been looking for this girl when she's had a chance, if nothing more than sheer curiosity and wanting to know what happened to her, and over time even if it was just incidentally, hunting grudges was something she eventually came to blame on this girls disappearance. That said...she wasn't exactly great at fighting. Not having any formal training aside from her innate abilities? Well, to say she wasn't particularly great at hunting grudges was an understatement, and more often then not she'd end up getting more hurt than what was really necessary.

So what'd she do? Find someone to train her. Not that she knew exactly what she was looking for or doing in that regard, she wasn't familiar with how humans worked in a lot of ways, still mostly keeping to herself and away from them. Fortunately, it wouldn't be long before she found someone that she thought could teach her. Why'd she pick Kaeru? She doesn't say, aside from muttering something about something has no right to be that cute.

After getting her tail handed to her on a silver platter by a particularly ornery grudge, she approached him at night, on the way home, in a totally not suspicious manner. He said no, she followed him until he said yes. Soon enough after some persuasion and help from Kaeru's dad, the two became friends and eventually attuned. They have a much less master student relationship and a far more casual one since Kaeru can't be assed to be all formal.

Soon enough, she heard of an organization being put together or recruited to hunt grudges. She brought the idea to Kaeru who only after a few moments of thought agreed. He could use the extra pocket change and was eager to actually put his martial arts to use.

Other:
- Is still looking for leads on what happened to the girl she used to know.

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

Location:
Southern Giants Rest
Bandit camp, early morning.
@Pyromania99@FrogRFlowR@VitaVitaAR

---

The fomorian tilted her head, a wolfish, predatory grin forming on her lips as she’d look Fio up and down. Fio would get the distinct feeling she was eyeing her up, specifically, her chest area.

“Hmm, I dunno…aren’t witches supposed to be taller?” The fomorian would reply after a moment. “Where’s the intimidation? The spookiness? You got the right attitude for it but your looks leave a lot to be desired.” She was spouted some sort of nonsense, it seemed.

While the Fomorian was busy sassing and drawing Fio’s ire and the three were busy taking stock of the situation now that the battle was effectively over, Luna could hear a few shouts of victory from where she had left her men and the archers. Three distinct voices…meat at least, that the three had managed to come back alive. A few shouts from them signaled they were already planning on securing the area and searching the premises themselves.

Luna would at least, find something to help transport the deceased with. A small cart that was hand pushed and full of firewood. A simple transport that could easily be pulled by a steed should they have one.

Location:
Harzel Border Fort
@Crimson Paladin@Guy0fV4lor

---

The wyevern missed, mostly, the tips of its claws would barely graze the knight's armor, a few deep gouges appearing in the frozen exterior. Acting swiftly, Ethelred would stab the butt of his lance into the creatures talon, piercing its relatively weaker scales with little difficulty. Ice bloomed from the wound, the wyvern hissing in displeasure as the ice began spreading through its legs, frostbite quickly starting to set in.

In response, it’d attempt reaching down with one of its wings, attempting to bat Ethelred away, only to be met with more pain as the sword would cut into its flesh.

ka-thunk

The sound of the siege weapon firing, followed by the sickening, cracking sound of a large bolt slamming into the wyverns neck, instantly impaling the creature as the bolt ripped right through its scales, sending it reeling back and its body contorting painfully as it was staked to the ground with a foot, and subsequently had its entire neck broken and pierced by the ballista bolt.

It didn’t move.

“Ha…hahah…” He could vaguely hear Grainne laughing from her position above. A small cheer rose out from among the surviving knights.

A short lived relief.

Grainne ran to the edge of the ramparts, steadying herself with both her hands as she’d gaze out over the field. Ethelred could hear a commotion, the sounds of roars, galloping of hooves. The earth shaking from the weight of some beast.

“...Icicle! The big one’s coming!” Grainne shouted. The soldiers shouted, scrambling away from the tower as Lonan and a birthday suit Reinhardt came galloping into view. Lonan veered his fey steed to the left, then to the right, as Reinhardt took one of his halberds, slamming the head into the ground and with a herculean heave, cleaved rocks, earth, and dust into the air, a small, temporary smoke screen.

A beam of fire sailed right by them, slamming into a hill someways behind the fort, completely obliterating it.

“Evacuate the area men! Do not engage that beast!” Lonan shouted, briefly locking eyes with Ethelred, then moving his gaze to the remaining Ballista as he’d stop briefly. “Sir Reinhardt! Grainne’s on the Ballista!”

“Uoooh, uselesssss. More shall be juuuudged…” The dragon wasn’t stopping its charge, it was aiming to bulldoze them all and seemingly an attempt to completely destroy the fort with its physical might alone.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

@Waylon

Was in a slight bit hurry last night but
an update was made and if you could please post this round, that would be fantastic thank you muchly.

As I explained to Sniblet in the discord just on how I do things here, the small mooks (Hellhounds mentioned in this case) Are free reign to kill within reason (Like, don't kill all of them in one post) but the big gorilla tank thing is sort of a miniboss for the prologue here so I'll be determining how successful any action you take against it is.

Echoes of a Moonless Night

@PKMNB0Y@VitaVitaAR

I present thee...a Necromata and the resident femboy. I feel like their histories are a bit...eh, could be made better, but overall I couldn't really think of much else to do with 'em. Didn't want anything too complex, so lemme know if there's anything wrong with the two or I need to add anything.

Kaeru

Name:
Kaeru Nakanishi
Age:
18
Appearance:
You'd be forgiven for mistaking Kaeru as a woman. Not out of any attempts to deceive or other impishness mind you, he simply likes being as he says 'cute and the best looking person in the room...also that most masculine clothing looks absolutely fu-ahem, really boring.', which, should incidentally, give you a little glimpse into his personality. Standing a slightly shorter than average height for men, a slender, feminine form Kaeru takes great care in his appearance. Long blond hair with lively, amber colored eyes.
Personality:
A cute appearance that belies an absolutely foul mouthed little gremlin. Kaeru is a lively, energetic sort that puts his 110% into basically everything with a smile. In fact, you could say he does everything almost with too much of a smile, whether it be fighting, working, or using an incredibly colorful vocabulary to express displeasure at something, chastising someone for making fun of his appearance, or when he's using his as he says 'extremely fine legs' to beat the ever loving doughnuts out of someone. (he does try to keep his mouth in check, though)

That is to say, you'd ever rarely find Kaeru not smiling about something or just enjoying life in general. Towards other people, he takes the same, casual approach. A overly friendly, pretty foulmouthed guy. Won't stop him from occasionally teasing people or behaving like a little imp, if he thinks he'll get a giggle or reaction out of someone, though.

Might as well have fun with things, occasionally.

Abilities:
Aside from a self proclaimed ability to 'look his best no matter what', Kaeru only possesses his ability as an Attuned as far as supernatural elements go with Nyoko. Depending on whos the more dominant party at the time of Resonance, the result may end up being Kaeru being a more physical fighter or a Nyoko whose more skilled with her necromancy.
Skills:
-A skilled acrobat and danger, has been taking ballet and other formal dance lessons since he was young.
-Martial arts. Specifically, Karate and Jujitsu. He's a fairly skilled practitioner of both, though far from perfect in either as he's only been training and doing both for a comparatively short while.
Equipment:
Does his hat count? How about his good looks?
History:
Kaeru has had a somewhat uninterested background, by his count. A father that was incredibly strict growing up that was heavily into martial arts, and a workaholic mother. His father, desperately wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, and growing up it seemed, initially at least this might be something that Kaeru wasn't initially suited for. A somewhat skinny build that lacked muscles, and a seeming disinterest in the same hobbies as his dad.

So it came as a surprise and relief when Kaeru ended up taking to Martial arts, and seemingly enjoying them as much as he did, even if Kaeru refused to really do much in the way of strength or muscle training, and instead would spend his time more leaning towards fashion and ending up taking up dance lessons at school.

So he'd grow up, eventually becoming a fairly skilled martial artist, dancer, and taking up helping his father out at the gym and dojo as a receptionist and also sparring partner. (ignore the fact he's got something of a fanclub among the members). It was during this time, that Kaeru, would be accosted by a Nekomata on his way home from work who looked a tad bit worse for wear. Apparently, she had seen him training, and was intent on being taught martial arts or something.

The odd manner of their initial meeting aside, initially, Kaeru brushed her off. Mostly because he was still technically training himself, but she kept pestering him, going so far as to even find their dojo and standing at the reception desk all day and asking every single hour repeatedly, much to his fathers own amusement. After some back and forth, his dad said it might be a good idea and a good show of his own training if he did teach her.

He wasn't initially into the idea, but well, whatever. Wasn't like he hadn't sparred with a Youkai, before. It wasn't unusual for a Youkai to take some interest in human martial arts, especially something like an Oni or other more physically inclined Youkai. Over the following year, Kaeru and Nyoko as he learned her name was, ended up becoming quite close, considering their own slight love of causing trouble and getting up to no good, eventually deciding to become attuned and eventually deciding to become attuned and contracted and she confided in him her reasons for hunting grudges. When they found someone opening a grudge hunting agency, well, Kaeru was looking for a second job other than what was effectively a receptionist, and he could put his martial arts to practical use, so why not!

Also he'd feel a lot more comfortable letting Nyoko do things if there was some sort of support network since she has a habit of going off on her own.

Other:
N/A

Necromata

Youkai:
Name:
Nyoko
Race:
Nekomata
Age:
23
Appearance:
A white haired beauty, and very clearly a youkai if the fuzzy ears and cat tail swishing behind her didn't give it away. Nyoko is very much a youkai of the modern era and it shows in how she dresses, preferring light, casual clothes and typically her favorite jacket and a pair of shorts and comfortable boots. Unlike her partner, she doesn't go out of her way to appear in any way, much to Kaeru's chagrin.
Personality:
Nyoko is as calm and collected as one might find of her slightly mysterious and cold appearance. She is very much a self involved type that doesn't like people, nor does she often think of anything except for herself first, you could say she's a fairly selfish cat because of it, always putting herself first above others, often lost in thought and generally being fairly quiet or muted towards others, speaking in terse and otherwise concise and short sentences to spend as little time speaking as possible.

This, can make others think she's a bit on the rude side, and well, they wouldn't be wrong. Nyoko being a Nekomata has a certain propensity for mischief and messing with humans. While shes not unfriendly, she does love messing with, occasionally scaring humans, and generally playing usually, harmless pranks on them. Like putting a random skeleton in their closet, or spooking them with a random harmless haunting.

Kaeru apologizes profusely.

Just hope she doesn't find you some manner of cute or you're going to find a random cat in your bed when you wake up occasionally. There will be no escape.
Abilities:
Nyoko, being a Nekomata is naturally adept at Necromancy and minor illusions. Though considering her relative youth compared to more older youkai, her skill isn't anything to write home about, for now and she doesn't particularly actively train, either.
Necromancy:
Being a Nekomata, Nyoko has a natural talent for things concerning the dead. Specifically, raising them and using spirits and other undead to fight. How does she summon them? Through ritualistic dancing. She directs them the same way, too. Summoning spirits to attack, bind, slow, and otherwise hamper foes movement in order to slowly wear them down. A few examples include summoning skeletons to grab foes from below to trip/grapple, some manner of spirit to directly attack, or even a ghost or two to act more offensively and as an occasionally distraction.
Illusion:
A smaller facet of her abilities, and mostly limited to altering her appearance slightly or used to deceive others. At most, she can create false, intangible copies of herself temporarily for throwing off an opponent, or rendering herself temporarily unseen.
Skills:
Unlike Kaeru, she doesn't possess any notable physical skills, save perhaps for some natural flexibility.
History:
Nyoko has been a solitary cat most of her life. She was born as a pure white kitten up in the mountains, and lived there most of her cat life, where she befriended a young school girl that ended up frequenting the mountain with her friends occasionally. She's who gave Nyoko her name, and occasionally would bring her fresh tuna or canned cat food to feast upon, but eventually the girl would stop coming, leaving Nyoko to fend for herself.

Wanting to know what happened to her, the cat would eventually start heading into the city...where she'd see a poster with the name of the girl on it, along with 'missing person'? At the time, she wasn't sure what that meant, but as she'd venture more into the city, each time learning a bit more about the humans...soon enough, the young cat would turn into a Youkai - a Nekomata.

Since then, she's been looking for this girl when she's had a chance, if nothing more than sheer curiosity and wanting to know what happened to her, and over time even if it was just incidentally, hunting grudges was something she eventually came to blame on this girls disappearance. That said...she wasn't exactly great at fighting. Not having any formal training aside from her innate abilities? Well, to say she wasn't particularly great at hunting grudges was an understatement, and more often then not she'd end up getting more hurt than what was really necessary.

So what'd she do? Find someone to train her. Not that she knew exactly what she was looking for or doing in that regard, she wasn't familiar with how humans worked in a lot of ways, still mostly keeping to herself and away from them. Fortunately, it wouldn't be long before she found someone that she thought could teach her. Why'd she pick Kaeru? She doesn't say, aside from muttering something about something has no right to be that cute.

After getting her tail handed to her on a silver platter by a particularly ornery grudge, she approached him at night, on the way home, in a totally not suspicious manner. He said no, she followed him until he said yes. Soon enough after some persuasion and help from Kaeru's dad, the two became friends and eventually attuned. They have a much less master student relationship and a far more casual one since Kaeru can't be assed to be all formal.

Soon enough, she heard of an organization being put together or recruited to hunt grudges. She brought the idea to Kaeru who only after a few moments of thought agreed. He could use the extra pocket change and was eager to actually put his martial arts to use.

Other:
- Is still looking for leads on what happened to the girl she used to know.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Location:
Cogsfell
12.000 hours
@Click This@AzureKnight@Pyromania99@Sniblet@VitaVitaAR

---

Whatever Myrilla thought of Lucrecia’s words, she gave no indication as she’d stand at the side of the ship, watching each of maids dive overboard with their given mission. It was no doubt in part to see their judgment and function in the field, after all…even if the had all the information in the world, demons were rarely so easily dealt with.

As they fell, the could see demons. Some small, some larger, running through the streets. The smell of fire, sulfur and fell heat quickly met the maids as they’d fall, and Polina, saw fit to launch a pre-emptive strike on the demons that she saw, noticeably…the largest one she could currently see. Three shots from her rifle above the howls of demonic beasts and occasionally scream from an unlucky human.

Each shot would hit its mark, hitting the creatures centermass even if it was hard to tell what exactly it was this far away, or how much damage it did, but the moment the bullets pierced the creatures flesh, itd stop whatever it was doing, screeching loudly and beating the ground with large hands as it’d furiously turn in the direction of the shots fired.

It would not take long for the creature that Polina had antagonized to show itself. The unintelligible screeching and roaring was already heading in their direction. They could feel the ground rumble slightly, loud, fast footsteps as whatever it was charged right for them. A loud, demonic growl as it’d round the corner of a nearby building, slamming into it with its body and knocking what little remained of the building into rubble.

It was…some sort of large, black, hollow creature. The size of a tank, and built like a gorilla with shorter legs and large, massive hands used for walking as it slid to a halt, nearly crashing into the fountain as it’d turn its headless, hollow body towards Polina. Instead of a head or any seeming vital organs, it was replaced with a hollow that was as big as the width of its shoulders that was full of roiling, hot magma. Its flesh was black and tarry, smelling of burned flesh.

She could see the charred, quickly melting, remains of recently deceased in the beasts ‘stomach’, if the hollow space could be called that.

There was no doubt about it, this was a Greater beast. The shots Polina fired seemed to have done nothing but agitate it for the moment as it immediately charged towards the maid, seemingly aware that she was the one that had attacked it.

Katherine and the others could hear other demons howling. A group of demonic hounds bolted into the square, having heard the commotion, numbering about six. Odd, discordant laughter could be heard not far away, too and was slowly getting closer.

Seemed this little stunt had alerted a decent number of demons to their location.

Perhaps they should finish this quickly.

---

"Bozhe…I still can’t believe you did that." Leoniya sighed. “And was it wise not to tell them more? They are just recruits, we should be helping-”

“I’m not coddling them, rat.” Myrilla tersely replied. “Better now they get acquainted with how brutal the denizens of Naraheim can be, especially those of the first circle.” She’d chuckle, watching as one of the maids decided to paint a giant target on their collective backs from her perch above. “If they can clean up and find out what happened here, then that means their training and skills are at least passable. If not…then I’m feeding every single one of them to my pet.”

“Prostite?”

“...Oh, nothing. I just have a lovely pet dog back home. He’s quite the vicious and voracious little thing.” Myrilla turned, dress fluttering in the wind as she’d bring the cigarette pipe back to her mouth. “That said, if things truly turn dire…you have my permission to use that toy of yours.”

“Pravda?! Oh great serpent I haven’t been able to use him in ages!” Leoniya smiled brightly. “I shall go make sure he’s ready to drop!”

Echoes of a Moonless Night

Nekomata necromancer shall be made tomorrow