Xaltwind

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Brandy didn't seem phased by the stare of death which she was given by the ranger initially... That, or she didn't notice... Or the glare wasn't much of a glare to begin with. Once the undead woman started speaking though, the satyress listened intetly to every word she said, nodding at irregular intervals to signal that she'd been paying attention.

... Then the badass dark heroine tripped and fell...

If there was a sound-effect that would have signalled the mment, it'd been one of shattering glass. Brandy's eyebrow arched upward and a peculiarly amused smile formed on her lips... But she didn't say anything. Strange, given that it was Brandy we were talking about. Still, after Alice came over, helped the poor thing back up and gave her a run-down of... Stuff... Brandy finally chimed in.

"Yeah! So, I like, 'totes only understood 'bout half of wha'cha said there, but... If you're new to this stuff too, then you oughta join our party!" Brandy announced, invited and more or less sales-pitched to the new female before her. "We're legit! We've tackled runaway dogs, battled ferocious bun-buns and Al over here even kicked the snot outta some pervy bandits! She looks like one of those bookworm-types, but she's super-strong!" Brandy boasted and praised(?) her own group and partner's abilities... Leaving out any mention of deeds which she herself had achieved... Likely because there weren't any.

As the three girls chatted up a small storm though, the door to the Hall Mistress' office swung open, and a tired, slouched and somewhat slumped-over Karin emerged from the murky depths. There was an aura of fatigue and exertion on the bespectacled tanuki's face and she looked as if she'd just listned to someone read a dictionary aloud. In monotone. From start to finish.

Once spotted by the little bundle of satyr-boobies though, the raccoon-receptionist's sloow, zombie-like shuffle towards her desk was derailed. Almost flying over the counter, Brandy bounced her way over to the sharp suit-wearing woman and grabbed her hand, causing the woman's head to jerk and her body to stiffen in surprised.

"Wha-What!? Oh, Miss Vanillarin..."
"Heya, Kar! Listen, listen! Me'n Al got the job done! We smacked that horny rabbit good! Well, Al did anyway. I got kicked in the face... Maa-haa-haa, so embarrassing~!!" The way she said it didn't make it sound like she was very bothered about it though...
"I... Uh... Huh? Wait, horn-- Oh! The horned rabbit. Horn-Ed. Yes, I remember you two taking that quest yesterday. And you saud you finished it?"
"Yup, yup! It wasd like bam, wham, thank you ma'am! We got that douche-guy to sign and everythin'! Al even at the thing to gain its powers!"
"... Somehow I doubt that's why she ate it, but anyway, good job. Now, if you'll just let me get to my desk we can have your valiant friend fill out the proper paperwork." Karin said, with a polite business-like smile, while trying to brush Brandy aside.
"Whaaaa-!? Wha'bout me? Why can't I do it~?"
"Because you, my dear, cannot write in common, remember?"
"... Oh yeah! I forgot! Maa-haa-haa!"

Sighing, Karin walked over to her desk, sat down, fiddled with some paperwork which was lying spread out all over the place, lazily filed it all away in a non-organized fashion into her cabinet, then finally turned towards Sofia and Alice.

"Well then, congratulations on your second completed quest. If you'll just fill this out, and show me the writ of completion from the client, I'll hand over your pay." She said as professionally as usual. Then she noticed the new face, and she raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Ah, you must be a newcomer. I haven't seen you around the Litroot Guild Hall before. Welcome, I'm Karin, the receptionist here. Are you here to file a quest, or perhaps sign up to join? Or perhaps you're here from another Hall looking for work? Whatever the case, just let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Ah, the coffee. Thank you~" She said, explained, and wrapped up, before taking a cup of joe that Alice had prepared earlier and took a big old clunk of it, lettinng out a content 'Pffaaaah!-noise afterwards.

"So, Kar? Why were you in the big lady's room? Didja do somethin' to get a spnaking? Hmm? Hmmmm!?" Brandy suddenly appeared to the left of Karin, inching closer and closer, her face invading Karin's personal space more and more. The raccoon-woman backstepped as if she was evading an attack, startled by the quiet and sudden appearane of the short miscreant yet again.

"Miss Vanillarin! Ahem! That matter was related to Guild administrative personnel only, it's nothing you need concern yourself with." She answered, pushing her glasses back onto their proper perch on her nose while striking a pose with one hand on her hip.
"'Kaaaaay~! So, Al! Whadda we doin' for stuff today? There any good jobs? I wanna go 'splore some ruins, or a dungeon, or maybe judge an eatin' contest?" Brandy's ears witched excitedly as she bounded over to Alice with a clippity-clop, tail wagging just as excitedly as if she were a puppy.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

"Nah, I'm good!" Brandy replied when she was offered coffe. "I dun really like coffee unless you put some good stuff in it, if'n ya catch my drift." The satyr explained, giving Alice a playful smirk and equally playfully nudging the werewolf in her ribs with her elbow.

Then the door to the guild hall flung open and Swanky McDeathpants entered the floor. Brandy stared. And stared. And stared some more. Alice's comment about the new arrival's weapon and appearance went completely in through one ear and out the other, as the satyr stood there with a gooft expression on her face... At least, for a few Then she squeed. Like, really, really squeed. Complete with the whole, hands pressed up against her cheek and her entire body doing that wobbly, side-to-side wiggling while her tail rotated like a ... Rotor... on a helicopter.... And her ears twitched repeatedly.

"S... S... S.. S... SO COOOOOOL!" She then errupted in a very fangirly fashion, before looking over at Alice with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes and heavy breathing. "Al! Look! Look! Her outfit's amazin'! It 'totes shows off her slammin' bod', but it's also stylish and has that whole dark hero-vibe going for it, yeah!? And her hai! She really nailed that do, with her eye color and that porcelain-skin, she's like some unobtainable ice queen! Well, I prefer a bit of color on the skin myself-" She looked down at her hands and legs before going on. "-but still! She someone you know, Al? She a regular? The town's pro? Legend? Prodigy!? We should 'totes chat her up! C'mon!"

Brandy, having no patience or understanding for the possiblity that some people were not inbto the whole being-approached-by-a-complete-stranger-deal, quickly bounced on over to the side of this dark, mysterious archer-woman. Once next to the new arrival, she spent a few good seconds looking up and down, and from side to side, and around and about, the other woman before finally meeting her eyes and face - with a face and eyes filled with sunshine on her own part.

"Hiya! Nice to meet'cha! I'm Brandy, and that's Al!" She greeted, before quickly pointing over to the werewolf. "So like, spill! Are you like a local legend 'round here or somethin'? Ya don't look anything like the other girls who've dropped by when I first came here." She announced, unabashed and completely seeming to have forgotten that she'd been to this guild hall for the whole, whopping entierty of one day so far. "Ya here to turn in a quest? Returning from some big adventure? Ooh, what's ytur name? And where'd you get that awesome outfit! I'm so jelly, I want an adventuring outfit like that too..." It seemed Brandy had no trouble what so ever in finding things to ask and talk about with this newcomer. She then seemed to remember something and turned back to Alice, waving at her companion. "Hey! C'mon, get over here, Al. Don't be shy! We're getting to know each other. We're all adventurers after all, right?" She called, with the biggest most sincerest smile you'd ever seen.

Aether Saga: A Hero's Unlikely Journey (The Irish Tree and Xaltwind)

Mammonie listened with... Moderate... Interest, to what Vani had to say as they walked. His description of the angel-baby-thing wasn't very helpful, and his belief that the robot-voice that'd spoken to her earlier was 'divine' in nature was a bit too convenient for the demoness. Sure, it could've been some kind of deity, but depictions of gods and goddesses often didn't have them described as sounding like one of those automated phone-receptionits... So, for now, the golden lady would put that idea on the shelf.

Hearing that their draconic princess was going to be fine was nice though. She smiled for a very brief and barely noticeable moment. It wasn't that she was compassionately relieved that this other woman had survived her injuries, but more the fact that she constituted 50% of Mammonie's current chances of survivig whatever the hell this bizarre wortld was. Losing one of your two tutorial-guides at the very start of the game seemed like it'd make the future... Difficult... Not to mention the two seemed to have very sperate skill-sets and levels of knowledge, losing half of that would be not good.

Once inside the cave, the avarice demon plopped herself down next to the burnt-out campfire. She looked around a bit and waved goodbye to Vani as he left, wishing him a sardonic 'good luck'... In a frozen waste like this, trees usually didn't grow very well, nor was there an abundant supply of dry firewood... If anything, she'd be surprised if the poor elf brought back more than a handful of snow-covered and frozen-through sticks at most.

Then, a voice spoke up from the bundle that the paladin had left behind. Mammonie's eyes glanced over to the side, looking at the newly awoken dracowoman. Her words were... A bit irritating, to say the least, especially given the circumstances. Luckily, Mammonie managed to retain a calm face, although her eyes did narrow a bit as she smiled at the other lady in the cave.

"Well, isn't that nice. Too bad both of you don't." She said in response, a bit of haughty confidence in her tone. "The very first baddie we run into, and you two get taken out almost instantly. You're not exactly making me have a lot of confidence for your side of this conflict... So--" She paused for dramatic effect, gave Gram a not-so-very-good-smile and tilted her head. "-- I hope that's not all you've got to say about this."

In this particular moment, Mammonie felt that she was - quite clearly - in a much better position than Gram. True, she didn't know anything about the world, and true, if she was abandoned here and now she'd likely freeze or starv,e or both, to death... But comversely, she'd just pretty much proven to both herself and these other two, that she was a powerhouse who could rather simply take out toadies from this Evil Goddess of theirs... ANd that the two of them didn't stand much of a chance against even a basic baddie on their own. Thus, Gram's earlier comments about the demoness' inability to fight, and her seemingly unneighbourly thinking of throwing Mammonie under the bus, was now probably going to come back and bite the dragon-woman in the butt. After all, Mammonie was a demon, and demons weren't above holding grudges.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

As the werewolf called out to her, the drwosy-looking raccoon-woman snapped to attention and cast a quick, sideways glance over her shoulder. When she realized who it was that was calling her out though, she relaxed considerably before replying.

"Ah, good morning to you too, Miss Keller. It seems you're doing well this morning. How'd the hunt for that horned rabbit go yesterday? And where's your friend?" She responded in a polite, but largely disinterested tone of voice.

The two would reach the guild hall swiftly, and Karin would proceed to slide onto the cushioned chair at the front desk, fiddling with some papers and documents, before lazily putting them aside on top of an old drawer... Which already had a stack of paper on top of it... And from the looks of it, nobody had organized or gone through any of them in a long, long while...

"If you're just waiting around, why not have a look at the board? Or brew me a cup of coffee." The receptionist said after having finished her little charade of morning routines, giving Alice a wink and winning smile... She must've really wanted that coffee.

The quest board was, as per usual, sparsely populated with only the most basic of basic jobs. There was a 'quest' to pull out weeds in someone's garden, help pick apples, finding mushrooms, picking medicinal herbs, locating a runaway cat and - amusingly - delivering a letter to the not-too-far-away town of Gnarlton. Apart from that though, the rest were either just ads for local establishments, fliers for events and festivities that had already passed, or childish scribbles and charicatures done by local brats as a prank.

Soon enough though, a voice called out for Karin. It came from the Guild Mistress' room. The tanuki-woman sighed, took off and polished her glasses with a small hankerchief, before excusing herself and walking over to the tiny witch's office. Going through the door after knockingly gently, she vanished into the black, looming dark that seemed an awful lot like void-space, before the door closed behind her. Luckily, there were not screams of agony or shrieks of unceremonious fear.

... For now at least.

Meanwhile, as the minutes ticked on, a few familiar faces began to appear. It was some of the other adventurers who frequwnted the hall - most of them locals. Most of them were also just adventurers in name, having joined the guild because they were either curious, bored or liked to brag about it. There were also those who had ulterior motives for joining, such as finding a suitable life-partner... Or just oggling adventurers in general... Regardless, they greeted Alice with hello's and hi's, engaging in brief conversations before looking at the guild's board and letting out disapproving, disappointed or exaspperated moans and sighs of a plaintive nature. One girl grumbled under her breath about how there was never any good jobs 'in this backwater village' as she left the hall in a foul mood.

Moments after her departure though, the door to the guild flung open and slammed into the wall, causing its hinges to complain loudly. A bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and extremely confident-looking little satyr strode into the building. Her white-beige short hair, brown-red eyes and healthy tan - not to mention those ridonkulous boobs - made it very apparent that this was none other than the legendary Brandy! ... or, at least that's probably how she was seeing things, given the swagger in her movements.

She was wearing a different outfit again today. this time, she wore a white, long-sleeved shirt that showed off her shoulders... And... Either she was wearing a very, very micro-skirt, or she wasn't wearing anything at all below her waist, aside from those black panties that had been clearly
vissible the first time she showed up at the hall in her really, really revealing outfit. No matter the glares, stares, murmurs or reactions of her peers though, as soon as the satyress spotted Alice, her smiling face lit up even more, with eyes dazzling like the sun.

"Al!"

With bouncing noise, and bouncing bounces, she bounced over to where her friend-of-two-whole-quests was standing. Grabbing the other girls hands (paws?) and excitedly bobbing up and down, as if she was raising and lowering herself on her tippy-toes... Even though she didn't have toes... Well, not toes-toes, just hoof-toes...

"What's up? Ya lookin' like yerself today, girl. None of that silver-highlights-stuff ya pulled last night. Gonna be hundred-percent with you, you 'totes rock this look waaaaaaay better, Al. So wha'cha up to? Wait, where's that fat-tailed-chick that's usually lazing over at the desk? She not here yet? Maa-haa-haa~! What a slacker!"

She was, as per usualy, full of energy today too.

Aether Saga: A Hero's Unlikely Journey (The Irish Tree and Xaltwind)

Mammonie had a mixed expression on her face as she watched the little angel-nightmare fall to the ground and dissolve into sparkly particles. she looked both relieved and annoyed at the same time. Probably because, for all the trouble that that thing had caused, it went down surprisingly easily. Also, the fact that she had just heard a robotic voice inside her head, and manifested her game avatar's weapons, were still something tat felt a bit surreal and hard to digest. However, the avarice demon had no time to stand around and daydream, as the elven paladin - carrying an unconscious Cruella - came stumbling up to her side, slinging elated praise her way.

"I... Dunno... I wished really hard for a way to fight, and then I heard a robot's voice i my head." She paused and blinked, before realizing something important. "Oh, right. A robot's kinda like... Uh... A golem, I guess? Anyway. It spoke some kind of technobabble and then POOF! My magigun appeared right into my hand, right outta nowhere." She pasued again, looking down at the elaborate fusion of technology and magical artifice resting in her hand.

It was an odd sensation, to be sure. She could almost feel her items, well, the ones she had kept on her character at the moment of being pulled into the computer, at least. It was like they were in a big... ethereal... omnipresent trunk or grocery bag, and she knew exactly where everything was, despite it being nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It was, put it mildly, really bewildering and actually a bit nauseating, for it was a feeling and sensation that was completely alien to her mind. She could p0robably make use of it again if she tried, but right at this moment the golden lady didn't feel like faffing about with hammerspace-dimension-shennanigans.

"Huh. Good to see that you two survived. I'd be royally screwed if you guys bit the dust." Mammonie then added, a bit nonchalantly and perhaps a bit more pragmatically than was socially polite. "Anyway, this little fellow is called Chromecalibur. It's a magigun and one of my two main weapons. Wait. sorry, do you know what a gun is to begin with? Bah, it's too much hassle to go into details! It shots magic. Think of it as ... Uh, what's a good comparison...? It's a ... Wand... That's... Not a wand... ... ... ... You know what? Let's go to that cave you mentioned, okay?" It was apparently not her strong suit to explain things, and using game-jargin and terminology that possibly didn't exist in this world was probably not gonna help any.

There was another thing nagging at her core though. The feeling she had gotten after the angel-baby had died. that strange sensation of having performed physical activity, when she really hadn't... And the strange surge that came after... Had she just gained some kind of power, or boost? Was this what 'experience points' felt like to 'absorb' or 'gain'!? But wait.. She was max level, so how could she gain any EXP? That didn't make a lick of sense!

As she followed Vani, who had once more checked her out with a not-so-casual-gawking, along the snowy terrain, Mammonie couldn't help but be preoccupied with all of this weirdness that kept cropping up. The most noteworthy of cousre being that she was frickin' Mammonie! A game-character! How was any of this even remotely possible!? One minute, she's sitting at home infront of the PC, sipping a cup of coffee and lazily playing MOFU, and the next she's stuck in Not-Canada fighting flying death-babies in the bod' of a fictional avatar of her own creation! She rubbed her temple with her free hand, letting out a small sigh. She then looked over at the draconic woman in the paladin's arms.

"She gonna be alright? For that matter, are you hanging in theret? Looked like both of ya took a really nasty beating to that thing. Which reminds me... What the heck was that thing anyway? You guys get a lot of flying, murderous babies in this world or what?"

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Druid Girl nodded in agreement when Steppe Archer brought up the proposal to head back. Even if the injury to Big Red's leg didn't look or seem that bad, it could still get infected... But, the big lizard brawler seemed to think otherwise, and promptly stated that he was right as rain... He didn't seem like the type to grit his teeth and act macho, nor did he seem the type to try and impress and flaunt his masculinity... Mostly because of how mind-numbingly pragmatic the fellow seemed to be. So, Druid Girl would just accept that if the large swamp-warrior said he was alright, then he probably was alright.

She was about to go on to speak, when she noticed Steppe Archer walking over to the slushy remains of their defeated opponent, bend down and pick something up. Red flags and sirens buzzed all trhough Druid Girl's mind, and she quickly paced over to her ally, grabbing hold of the other girl's wrist and inspecting her hands and fingers. Once she was sure the little lioness wasn't having her skin melted off by residual slime, she gave the archer a stern but concerned look.

"You dummy! What if the remaining slime-goop were to burn you like how it did with Big Red? You need to be more careful, alright?" It was a scolding, but judging from the tone of her voice, the look on her face and how she seemed genuinely relieved that nothing bad had happened, it was clear to see that she was far more worried about her compatriot's well-being rather than being angry at her carelessness.

Now they were at an impass though. Steppe ARcher had suggested going back, but Big Red wanted to press on and keep going. Both decisions carried value. If they left, they could make sure Big Red was safe and unharmed, but they wouldn't get paid for the quest and would've wasted a lot of time and money on something that yielded no return. On the other hand, if they stayed and pressed on, they could probably finish the quest quick enough - if there were no more surprises at least - and get their reward, with the possibility of Big Red getting an infection or something even nastier... After all, while a sewer might be as damp and smelly as a swamp, the two were still fundamentally different. One contained stagnant water and putrifying vegetation, the other contained feces, amonia, humanoid waste and various types of mold and animal droppings...

"If you're sure that you're alright, big guy, I think it's best if we just finish up this quest real fast and then head back up." Druid Girl fianlly said, gently scratching her cheek with an index-figner. "Still, it's weird." She added. "That... gooey slime thing... I've never seen any of those before, in all the times I've been down here... And it didn't seem shy about advancing on enemies even when outnumbered, so I doubt they'd be smart enough to keep hidden all this time..." She thought aloud, now giving her chin a slight rub. "Maybe... Maybe it got in through one of the sewer grates outside of town? Or... Maybe somebody flushed it down here? Well, whatever, I just hope there aren't anymor eof those... Things... around." She finished, before coming to a realization.

"Y'know... if we hadn't killed that thing, it might've become the apex predator of the sewers. Think about it. The rats and bugs down here wouldn't be able to even hurt it. Hah... I guess we saved the natural order of the sewers." She ended off her thoughts, with a slight laugh. "Well, what should we do then? Head back and pick another tunnel, or keep pushing on in this one? Though, given the lack of critters, I'm not sure we'll find more if we keep moving on in this area." Her last comment was based on the fact that there hadn't been anything up until the slime in this particular sewer tunnel.

For now, in the warm glow of the torch, the nature mage would wait for what her allies wanted to do.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Brandy laughed, a mockingly valley girl-esque laugh, as Alice threatened th bandits with permanent castration should they ever try to do somehting like this again. Although, whetever they actually heard the threat or not, was a different matter entirely. After all, they were all lying on the ground, in fetal positions, both hands ontop of their respective junk, and making plaintive and whining noises... Which was completely understandable, given the circumstances.

As they began to walk, and Alice promptly thanked Brandy for her ... Whatever it was she had done... The satyress just laughed and gave the werewolf a few pats on the back in a friendly manner.

"Maa-haa! No biggie. I am pretty awesome though. And a smokin' hottie too. Maa-haa-haa~!" It seemed Brandy wasn't shy about accepting compliments, or tooting her own horn. "You're pretty cool too though, Al. I'm so glad I got to team up with ya." The little satyr added, flashing a happy, sunny smile at Alice as they walked back towards home.

The road back to Litroot was uneventful and unworthy of commentary beyond the incident with the bandits. Once the girls returned, they'd find that the Guild Hall, while still open, had no staff present. The tanuki receptionist had left a folded sign that read: 'Gone to bed! Please wait warmly. (HEart-Emoji)' on her desk. There were no light seeping out from under the Hall Mistress' room either, and no sound wa to be heard if one approached and place an ear on the door. It seemed that, apart from the sparsely populated quest board, there was nobody around.

Brandy pouted and complained about how her triumphant return from her first real quest was a total bust and how she'd make that glasses-wearing fat-tailed raccoon-woman pay for shirking her duties. She also made further comments about said tanuki's outdated dress-code and lack of yaddiyaddiyadda....... You kind of zoned out after the beginning, since most of the whining was irrelevant and/or completely misplaced.

Regardless, after she calmed down, Brandy sighed and told her companion that she'd return to the inn where she was staying. She was feeling a bit peckish and was going to see if she could rustle up some grub in the kitchen without the innkeep noticing... Or so she planned anyway. Of course, Brandy failed to specify which inn she was staying at, as Litroot - despite its size - actually had two locations for lodging. One was an inn of modest comfort and standards, while the other was a sleazy mix of both a tavern and inn, where those with less coin, or more inclination to drink, typically ended up staying.

Waving and telling her new friend good night, the satyress bounced off into the night, and returned to whichever locale she had left all her stuff in.

The night passed poeacefully.

Come monrning, the weather was a bit less favorable than yesterday. There were more clouds in the sky and a cheeky breeze. But regardless of that, the inhabitants of the little village still got up at the crack of dawn and began their daily routines. Once the sun had begun rising over the horizon, a sleepy-looking raccoon woman in a business suit could be seen, slowly walking towards the GORE Guild Hall, stretching her arms and letting out a seeries of exaggerated yawns... It seemed Kariin was on her way back to work, at a relatively early hour no less.

Aether Saga: A Hero's Unlikely Journey (The Irish Tree and Xaltwind)

"... Wut?"

Mammonie would state, in befuddled confusion, at the item that had just apepared in her hand. Out of nowhere. There was also the fact that she'd just heard a voice inside her own head, which didn't belong to either Mammonie or Camilla herself. Was she beinmg possessed by some evil, alien data-mind-hacking super-entity? Had she been turned into a video game-character and all of this was just someone else controlling and playing as her!? There were many questions and alarming tidbits to sit down and give a good thinking too.

Unfortunately, now was not the time to worry about such matters. There was a malicious flying death-baby that was trying to kill her, and her new ... Friends...? For some arbitrary reason. Now that a weapon had appeared in her hand, as she'd wished, the time to use it had come!

But could she use it? As Camilla, back in the fleshy world of meat-men, the only thing remotely resembling a weapon she'd ever held was maybe a squirt gun... Or a baseball bat during gym class back in her school days... Would she even be able to use this thing? Sure, Mammonie would've had no problem wielding it like a pro, but she wasn't just Mammonie, she was Mammonie's player stuck inside Mammonie!

But... For some reason... This feels... So natural...

The weight and feel of the gun in her hadn, the motion of moving it... The way to grip and hold it steady... It all felt like the most natural thing in the world. Like she was trying to ride a bicycle again, a bit rusty and wobbly at first, but with her body and senses quickly adjusting to remembering something that it knew perfectly well how to do. It was almost like her mind's eye could visualize an aiming reticule for her, moving to where the she was aiming the magic pistol. The confused epxression on her face melted away, and was replaced instead by a big old smirk.

".... Alright. You're the one who picked a fight, ugly."

BZORT!!

A strange sound errupted as she pulled back the trigger, and a blue flame was spat out of the end of Chromecalibur's muzzle. From it, a baseball-sized orb of luminous, crackling azure light was produced, and sped towards the cherubean nightmare at high velocity. But Mammonie didn't seem satisfied with just firing off one shot, oh no. The sound from earlier repeated multiple times, as she pressed down on her weapon's launching mechanism and unleashed several more shots of high-endisty magic bullets. All aimed for the little fiend in the sky.

If the macabre thing were to try and fly off or dodge, she'd lead her shots and try to intercept and anticipate it's flight and movement-path. If it tried to counter with any more of those painful, byt seemingly ineffective light-based attacks, she'd take off in a sprint, side-hop, pirouette or even cartwheel to get out of the way. Her muscles, limbs, reflexes and mind were all seeming to wake and warm up, as if they'd been asleep and waiting for something or someone to give them a shake and make them wake up again... And they seemed to be doing just that...

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Brandy readied herself, steeling her resolve and getting ready to charge head-first at the villains before her!

... And then Alice went bonkers.

The satyr could do little more than stand where was she was and look on, in total awe, as the mighty werewolf unleashed a day's worth of frustration on these poor, unwashed fools. It looked and felt so one-sided that you'd be forgiven fro thinking it was actually the two girls who were robbing the robbers, and not the other way around. Balls were kicked, bodies were thrown into trees, Alice was stabbed and didn't give two fudge-waffles... It was a dervish and level of ass-beating that the little satyress hadn't seen since the last time her adoptive family invited all the relatives, got drunk and had a good ol' fashioned rough-housing ho'down... But that'd invovled several fully grown minotaurs, this was just one werewolf alchemist who was kicking butt on the next level.

When the battle had been _resoundly won by the werewolf, and the girl was gleefully spouting out her plans and desires for what to do next, Brandy raised an eyebrow.

"Uh... Al... We... We 'totes didn't bring any rope, remember? And uh... Iunno how things with the guild work'n all that yet, but I don't think we'll get any money if we bring a buncha dirty, pervy, beat-up homeless guys along back." Brandy commented.

Not for not though, as the Guild was hardly a fort or sheriff's office. There wasn't anywhere to lock up criminals there, and it was more than likely there wasn't any place lik that back in Litroot at all, given the small size of the village. No, common sense dictated that if they were to bring these bandits back with them, they'd get complained at by the receptionist, and probably scolded by the guild mistress. It didn't seem like the best idea.

"Can't we just like, take their weapons so they can't hurt nobody more and then just leave'em here? Don't think any of 'em will be getting up anytime soon after the castration you served up, maa-haa-haa~" The satyress proposed, and laughed.

The bandits did not laugh. They were too busy lying on the ground, holding their junk with both hands, and groaning in unified misery.

Brandy proceeded to do what she'd suggested though, without waiting for Alice's reply. She gathered up the club, cudgel and knives, carrying them in both her arms, prssed against her squishy bosom. Returning to Alice's side, she smirked.

"Well, let's go! The town's this way, yeah?"

After which, she began to lead the way back to the village, leaving the now-robbed-robbers in the dirt, alone to wallow in regret and pain for the rest of the night. Unless Alice felt like kicking the shit outta people already on the ground, then they'd probably be feeling their bruises for the next couple of days instead.

Aether Saga: A Hero's Unlikely Journey (The Irish Tree and Xaltwind)

Mammonie didn't like the reaction that Gram was giving her after she'd asked about potential weaponry. She liked even less the comments and questions that followed. It seemed for all this dragon-woman's poise and attempts at making herself seem like some sort of mastermind, she was hardly infallible... Which was discouraging, seeing as she was supposed to be Mammonie's ally in this 'war on the evil god'-business... At the question of whetever Mammnoie was sure she didn't come with any of her own equipment, the avarice demon sighed and stretched out her arms.

"Does it look like I've got pockets? I already gave myself a search after we got into the carriage to make sure I wasn't carrying something in some weird place. Lo' and behold, there ain't nothing on me." She stated matter-of-factly. When Vani offered up the option of a sword, she merely shook her head. "I don't think I'd be much use with one of those. Didn't have any sword-skills back in MO-- home, and my class couldn't even equip them." She replied.

After Gram asked what types of weapons she used, the golden demoness tapped her chin. Did these people even know what a gun was? Let alone a magigun? Would there be any point in trying to explain that she used strangely shaped wands in order to choot magic without casting spells? Speaking of, since some kind of HUD was seemingly getting more and more clear to her, perhaps her skill-bar and other useful things like the mini-map would be coming back soon too? That'd be a huge he--

-- Suddenly, Gram shouted something, and then the carriage blew up.

"DA FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU--!?"

Mammonie, now stuck in a pile stuck, with her butt sticking up towards the sky and a her head stuck downwards, was unleashing a barrage of muffled noises and sounsd which were, more than likely, a plethora of swears and curses. Eventually pulling herself free from the impromptu sub-zero airbag, she looked around at the bizarre scene unfolding before her. Vani was on the ground, obviously injured, and Gram was a ways off as well, but in slightly better condition. Though both of their health-bars had dropped - a lot. The demon did a quick once-over of herself but... Really... Nothing seemed to be off. Despite herself having just been at the point of origin of an explosion, she seeemed... Fine..? She didn't even feel any particular pain or discomfort... A bit disoriented and confused, but no agony or sense of dying.

That is, until she heard a voice from above that sounded all kinds of ominous. Looking up, she spotted what could only be describe das nightmare-fuel, and her eyes that were usually half-closed opened up fully in disbeleif. A dumbfounded expression was on her face with her jaw hanging slightly agape, as she gazed upon something she'd never seen, or even imagined, before.

"... Awesome... A Death-Baby. Nope, this is just all kinds of nope." She saidk, before bracing herself for another attack by the flying cherub-monster... Only to be saved by the sudden appearance of a wall of ... Bones... Followed by being shouted at to run and flee if she couldn't fight. Mammonie's eyes narrowed and she put her hands on her hips in a display of annoyance, despite the situation.

"And where would I run? Did ya forget I've got no clue where I am, or where to go? If I ran off now, I'd probably just freeze to death in the snow somewhere, ya moron." She stated, irritated in her tone, but not enough so to be yelling.

Plus, there was another reason to staay. Usually, she wasn't the type to lend a hand or do anything for people unless they asked or paid. But, this draconic monochrome-woman who had brought her to this strange new world, had just shielded her from an attack by an unknown assailant. If there was one thing Mammonie hated, it was being indebted to people, no matter the reason. There was nothing worse than having people who had leverage over you. Also, thhe whole running off into a frigid, frozen-over wasteland with no knowledge of where to go or what to do seemed like a supremely good choice if she was ever feeling suicidal.

Still, what to do now?

Damnit all! If only I had something I could use as a weapon... Anything, even the damn starter-weapon from the tutorial areas would've work! This is just my look, I'd put all my weapons away into my inventory 'cuz I wasorganizing shit, and then I dragged off to Wonderland and get attacked by Frankenbaby! Jeeeeeeez! C'mon, internal HUD! Show me the skill-bar or menu-bar! At least lemme get my inventory! If I got sent here without any of my items, how the fuck am I supposed tro do anything?! That'd be way too unfair. C'mon! C'mon!

While internally mologuing with herself, and not paying any attention to her wounded ... Summoners... Or the flying baby of doom, the demoness was absorbed in her own little world, irritatedly making small stomps with one legs and making ... Chopping... movements with her arm, while flicking her hand open from a balled fist into a palm... As if she was trying to make something appear in it. She really, really, really wanted to just be able to summon something to fight with...

'Cuz running way wouldn't solve anything. If she didn't freeze to death, this flying baby-monster would just snuff Gram and Vani, and then come after her anyway. So, there really was only one logical thing to do: Kill the damn thing before it killed them!