Yankee

World of Light

Word Count: 822 (+2 exp)(+collab below)
Level: 5 - Total EXP: 51/50
Location: The Under
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●

The nature of the "Basement" meant that the Seekers were doing a lot of stop-and-go. It was a weird experience, not being able to just blaze through the area's weak, disgusting monsters. Therion supposed that was exactly why it was designed that way - to force people to go in alone, possibly becoming overwhelmed, and perish; thus stopping a group's advance in it's tracks. Their momentum was slow going, but so far there hadn't been any worry that someone would end up dead. Yet, anyway.

What would turn out to be the final door way was decorated a little differently than the others, suggesting the inside would be different too. Therion did not enter, but judging from the sounds filtering through from the other side he could only guess what was going on in there.

When the battle was over and the doors slid open, Nadia, Jesse, and Ganondorf stood victorious. Therion slipped inside with the rest of them, standing around the opening in the floor while Sectonia's little bugs gave everyone a quick rinse.

"..." So there were more floors below this one. He supposed it shouldn't come as a surprise. But how deep exactly were they going to go, and more importantly how were they going to get back up? When they'd come through the chest, it had acted more like a magic portal than a real hole in the ground. They'd just have to hope for another portal out, once they were finished here.

Ms. Fortune led the way into the next area, and one by one the rest of the Seekers followed. The general stench of the place didn't lessen so much as change, a moistness being present here that wasn't up above.

Now that they'd "cleared" the first area, they knew what to look for: a more ornate doorway than the rest of them. To that end the group split up once more. The room to the North contained maggots, maggots, and more maggots. That one will be easy, Therion thought. In one of the last rooms he'd fought through, the maggots did little else but crawl around. The thief was quick to claim this one, expecting no resistance from the little monsters. The doors were sealed once he'd stepped through them, alone.

His sword was already in his hand. "Let's make this quick," he said to the room at large.

The closest maggots were blindly dragging themselves across the room's floor, easily put to their end with one swift stab. The others would soon meet the same fate, or so Therion thought.

The soft squeals of fellow larva dying drew the attention of the those with faces - some frowning and some smiling, and staring. Therion raised a brow. What, are these monsters going to start talking and try and guilt trip us too? But though the smiling maggots did open their mouths wide, they did not speak. The thief felt his hair stand on end. With shocking speed the chargers rushed teeth-first at Therion, far faster than they'd been crawling just a moment ago.

They missed him by a hair's breadth, unable to turn due to their speed they only kept going forward when Therion threw himself out of the way. Three of them had come charging, then slowed down when their prey left their line of sight in order to turn around and charge again. There was a pair (or perhaps four?) of dual faced maggots that took their shot afterward, coughing up what looked and smelled like blood cots that they spit towards Therion. His hope for a simple, easy room clear was dashed now that he had to spend his time dodging the eerily happy chargers and the attacks of the conjoined spitties.

Great, Therion thought, swinging his blade to catch a blood shot and getting splattered as it burst. The most annoying thing about that was that it seemed any little contact hurt just as much as getting hit dead on. It made the situation painful and stressful, and if he were a less confident man he would have worried about becoming overwhelmed just as he'd thought the dungeon was designed to do.

He made a quick decision to focus on the chargers, not wanting to risk a bite from them. He let the little buggers line up and rush toward him all at once, standing his ground and sweeping his sword in one motion. Their own momentum meant that the chargers sliced themselves apart on his blade, while staying put in one spot in order to end them meant suffering the sting of the spitties' blood shots. No problem. With one of the danger sources gone, the other would be no trouble at all to take care of - there were only two of them, and their shots were slowed than the chargers had been. Besides those, only a few of the harmless maggots remained.

---

Level 7: 34/70
Word Count: 1826
Location: The Under
Points Gained: 3
NEW EXP balance--- Level 7: 37/70
@Zoey Boey

When the room’s doors slid open again, it revealed the usual piles of ash and spirits, with a Therion painted red in the center having already claimed the prize. Beyond him was the only other exit which led to yet another dim and dingy room, where the sound of monsters scuttling around could be heard. Therion hadn’t moved toward the other door yet, though his ears flicked at the noise - and then flicked toward the sound of another person joining him.

"This is getting to be a pain."

Jesse strolled in, taking in the ‘sights’. One of which was on her hand. She examined the new insignia marked into her palm as she walked forward. “I dunno. Going from one sparse room to the other, killing monsters and then moving on…it’s almost nostalgic.” She said, finally looking at Therion.

“You don’t seem any worse for wear, though, Therion. Wanna take this next one together?” She asked, nodding her head over to the entrance to the next room.

"Nostalgic, huh?" He wondered what kind of weird pre-patchwork world past Jesse had, but honestly he had no real desire to find out. With her suggestion of taking the next room on together, the thief shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

As the two of them prepared to squeeze through the opening before the door slammed shut, Therion paused and cocked his head to one side. He was fairly sure what they'd find on the other side. He glanced at Jesse.

"...you're not afraid of spiders, are you?"

“Oh, deathly.” Jesse said flatly, nodding her head. “Why do you ask?”

"That kid was too, I think. And I've got a good idea that's what we'll find in... there..." The thought that Jesse was fucking with him occurred to Therion, and his glance turned into a sharper, scrutinizing look.

“...I guess I’m not as funny as I think I am.” Jesse said at Therion’s reaction. She held up her gun at her elbow. Jesse stepped off the ground and floated above Therion’s head. “We can go in together like this. We could strategize but we can probably just wing it and be fine.”

He nodded, finding no issue with winging it and having gotten too used to Primrose's teasing to humor Jesse's, well, humor otherwise.

When they entered and were sealed inside, the plethora of spiders waiting for them did not take them by surprise.

Jesse dropped down in front of Therion, taking point. She didn’t know exactly what tactics he used, but she did know that she could create psychic forcefields and was more than comfortable being the target of an entire room full of monsters. Though what took her by surprise was the sigil in her hand. It pulsed a blue light that then encircled her. Seven chunks of stone were plucked from the ground and began to slowly rotate around her.

“Woah.” Jesse glanced down at the light around her and her glowing ‘tattoo’. “Badass.”

She walked forward into the room, her gun switching to Shatter. A shotgun to obliterate fast moving enemies that wanted to get in close. Like a room full of giant spiders. The spiders weren’t bigger than Jesse, but they were perhaps, a little bigger than her shoe. They scuttled around randomly in great number, some bigger, some with longer legs. Jesse started blasting, carving out chunks of stone and turning spiders into ash.

One spider came near her, and Jesse watched as one of the seven stones in her new circle zipped down and squashed it. The stone exploded into debris along with the spider. “Sweet!”

"Watch the rocks," Therion said, flashing out from behind Jesse and keeping space between her sudden orbit of debris and himself. His own strategy was extremely simple in this situation: kill as many at once as possible. For that he again used his long sword, the blade able to catch a couple at a time.

The spiders were more of the same that he'd faced with Omori earlier - along with some much larger ones. Those paced quickly around the edges of the room, about three times larger than their brethren. These Therion kept an eye on while he slashed away. There didn't seem to be one of those gray spiders that were spawning the rest, so once they cleared the room that would be it.

He felt the sting of something colliding with him and bursting on impact. "?!"

He hopped back instinctively, feeling another something graze him while a third went flying passed. They were bloody red globs, hurled through the air at high speed. Despite the second only glancing him, it felt like he'd taken a direct hit - the same as when he’d faced the spitties alone just before this. He turned in the direction the shots had come, finding a stone-colored creature clinging to the wall, half-hidden in the dark corner of the room. Its mouth gaped open, showing off a quartet of teeth, and its single large black eye stared back.

Foom foom foom. The wall creeper spit another three blood shots. Therion dipped back towards Jesse, giving her a quick, "Heads up," as the shots sailed towards her orbit.
“Yup.” Jesse said, pointing her gun down and focusing on evasion. She stepped to the side. One of them got close. But after it passed her, it turned around and began orbiting with the six remaining stones.

“I’m very pleased.” Jesse said, smiling. She ripped a nearby boulder from the earth and flung it at the wall creep, crushing it flat and into dust.

Jesse switched to Spin and began barraging distant spiders with projectiles as she closed in on them. Even the big ones only took a moment more to pop. “It looks kind of hard to stab spiders with swords, I gotta admit.” Jesse commented to Therion as she passed him.

"Not hard," he said, "just annoying."

He was tangling with one of the larger spiders, alternating between stabbing it and crushing the smaller spiders under his boot. Like before, it was their numbers that was the main issue. Their bites, and even the spines on their legs caused pain, but individually they were weak.

Therion slashed the dog-size arachnid apart, grimacing as he watched it's halves reform into a pair of smaller spiders. It was true that blades weren't ideal here, but unless he tried his flame spell again he didn't have much else at his disposal... or did he?

"...I'm still getting used to the whole 'weird spirit stuff,'" he said, backing up towards Jesse again to give him some room to summon his striker in front of him. It was basically a living wrecking ball, so once it got to rolling any of the spiders still on the ground would be crushed under its steel body.

Jesse watched it go. Some spider got too close and got clobbered by one of her circling stones. “It’s pretty weird, yeah. I got a crazy old guy with me. I hope it’s not a fate worse than death or anything. I mean, he seems okay with it.” Jesse said, sweeping up the rest of the spiders.

Must've been that guy in the shaft, he thought, the one that saved Ms. Fortune from splattering all over the ground. Therion hadn't thought at all about how a sentient person would fare as a striker.

"He's still...?" He wasn't sure what he was going to ask. Alive? Able to think?

By the time junicorn's time ran out and Jesse finished up, there was nothing but ash covering the ground and blood stains on the walls where the remaining creepers had missed their shots. The wall creepers had been spared from the carnage on the ground, but with their earlier cover blown it was easy enough to avoid the blood globs they spat up - especially since the volleys of three were always shot in a straight line. These got a taste of their own medicine, a few throwing knives embedded in their circular bodies.

"I figured they were just mindless ghosts," Therion continued as the last of the enemies crumbled.

Jesse strode up to Therion’s side as the doors opened. “My guy listens to me and laughs and stuff. Whatever it is, it’s definitely not a full existence. We basically have total control over them, right? They know exactly what we want them to do. But it’s like I said, he doesn’t seem to mind. So at the very least, he’s not ‘there’ enough to care.” Jesse said.

“Maybe it’s just…I dunno. An imprint. That’s why we have to ‘talk’ them into it.”

"Hmm." The specifics of whatever was at play with the spirits, whether it was magic or some other phenomena, were way over Therion's pay grade. He was neither a scholar nor a philosopher, so thinking about it too hard would only serve to give him a headache. Then again, if they were chaining some poor sap's soul to themselves and forcing them to fight, that seemed important to know - but it didn't seem like that was the case.

"If they are still all 'there' and didn't want to do it, they'd just say no," he reasoned. "Otherwise they're just... shadows, I guess." He didn't have much more to speculate about with the strikers.

“If you’re a little hurt, I can have the alchemist heal you up a bit.” Jesse offered.

"I'm good," he said, holding up a hand to pass on her gesture of kindness. "Everything in here likes to spit blood, so. Looks worse than it is."

“Okay, good.” Jesse nodded. “‘Cause, you know, I didn’t wanna say anything, but.” She gestured at him and the remnants of the blood attacks.

"I know. But it's either this or turn into a cat and risk getting fleas down here." The wry tone of his voice suggested he wasn't really worried about it. He knew he looked like an art project gone wrong, and he lifted his arms to spread out the fabric and show all the red staining his orange and ochre shawl. When he did, his nose wrinkled at the metallic odor his new feline sense of smell picked up.

He nodded to the ring of rocks and single blood clot slowly orbiting around Jesse. "If that's something you picked up here, I'll gladly trade you."

Jesse scratched at her palm where the sigil was inscribed there. “Sorry, Therion, no dice.” She held it up to him. “I touched it and it just wooshed right in. Coulda been worse- coulda been on my face or something. That’d just be distracting.”

She unsummoned her Service Weapon and glanced around. “We should get back to the others before they move onto the next level. Come on.” She jogged back the way they had came, where she knew there weren’t any monsters. That way they could meet up with the others. Sheathing his long sword, Therion trailed after her.

Long time RPer looking for a good forum to get back into RPing

Welcome to the forum!

Long-time RPer searching for a new home

Welcome to the guild!

World of Light

Word Count: 993 (+2 exp) (Reward Exp +11)
Level: 3 - Total EXP: 60/30
Location: Dystopiascape - Midgar

So much information, so quickly. In all honesty, save for the Ever Crisis itself it sounded like the usual machinations of humans, just dialed up to eleven. If this had been a job handed down to him from the Goddess of Light, they would have ignored most everything and gone to find the source of the Crisis in order to put a stop to it, but in respect to the people that were asking them for help Pit devoted his whole brain to retaining as much of it as possible. From the breakdown of the Ever Crisis, the structure of Midgar's military, the layout of the city itself, it's political climate, how to get around, rebel groups opposing the government, the consequences of being captured by the G-Men...

The level of concentration on Pit's face was almost comical. I really, really hope someone is taking notes, he thought.

If he were to put the situation simply - very, very simply - then he would say that everything about Midgar that they'd just gone over was related back to the Ever Crisis, and whatever happened in the city would either hinder or help the Seekers as they sorted the mess out. If only all they had to do was win people over to their side, rather than navigate the complex inner workings of government factions and PMCs.

Some of the Seekers had suggestions on what to tackle first, and how. Pit weighed them in his mind. The thought of joining up with one of the military segments to get information from them didn't feel quite right. Maybe it was the subterfuge aspect? He would gladly help out in the fight against the Ever Crisis, which they'd end up doing anyway if they enlisted, so he wasn't sure what his hang-up was. Maybe some small blow to his pride at going from commanding his own legion to being a foot soldier? Whatever it was, it was something he'd have to put aside for the sake of the mission at hand. Besides, the angel didn't have any other ideas besides the Seekers rolling out in one large force and looking into things themselves, same as Midna, and their were some flaws to that plan.

"From the sound of it, if we got big enough that we'd be competing with Desporhado it doesn't sound like they'd let us get away with it easily. It'd probably end in a fight with them and weaken Midgar's defense," he said, titled his head. He glanced at the (very cool but also slightly intimidating) cyborg ninja. "But I guess fighting them'd be the goal for some of us."

Plus, as Goldlewis pointed out, they'd likely be branded outlaws if they did try and form their own faction as tempting as it was.

The general discussion and question and answer session was still in progress, but they made a brief tangent into introductions. It was only right, given they were joining hands with a new group. The cryptid came as a surprise.

"Pit here, captain of the Goddess of Light's royal guard. Unfortunately I, uh... don't have a lot more to offer besides my fighting skills right now, ehehe..." he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. The movement transitioned into one hand tapping the golden laurel that rested on his head as he went on. "If my connection to Skyworld was working, I'd be able to call in my own Centurion squads to help us out, especially if we were going to try and become an official group here. And Lady Palutena's clairvoyance would be able to pinpoint any Chimeras too. But..."

He shook his head, implying the complete radio silence he'd been experiencing for the rest of the group. "Maybe the connection will come back while we're here, but, uh, anyway! Fighting skills. And you better believe I have plenty of 'em!"

He went on to describe much the same information he had at the Seeker's own meet and greet earlier, going over his current abilities briefly. His angelic senses were mentioned only for transparency's sake. He'd never been able to use it to pinpoint invisible enemies, and being able to tell a regular human from a psychic, an Underworld denizen, etc. probably wouldn't be much help here.

He did end with a confident note though, promising, "We came here to help, so that's what we're gonna do! In anyway we can."

Most of the information from the other Seekers had already been covered or demonstrated, so there were no real surprises except one - one that Pit normally wouldn't have paid much mind if it didn't make the hot feeling of shame start crawling up his neck. Not only did Geralt have a wife but he also had a daughter! He'd come so close from taking a father away from his family! The angel looked pointedly away from the Witcher for the remainder of the meeting, but committed Ciri's description to memory.

The talks had begun to wind down after that, not slowing down exactly but becoming more focused. Information continued to be exchanged even after Roxas and Bede slipped out of the room. One thing they noted that was surprising and important was the area's knowledge of spirit fusion. They'd have to be careful of rousing any suspicion, especially their fused members - and hopefully Benedict would come around and give them some advice for that. He shared Karin's sentiment about wanting to start off on the right foot in the city they'd be trying to save, so avoiding trouble would be important. The recommended move, and something the Seekers slowly seemed to be coming around on, was to join the fight as part of one of the military factions. Pit would suck it up and do it, if it meant he was helping people.

So for which group to take on? Pit turned to Razputin. "If your friends are part of Psychoff, then it's probably a good place to start!"

World of Light

^{____________________________________________________}
Level: 7 - Total EXP: 168/70 ------ Level: 5 - Total EXP: 43/50
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Word Count: 1684 (+3 exp)
Location: The Under

Though she was getting used to all of the new technology of the world, Primrose couldn't begin to really understand how they worked. Even so, she didn't think that those little aircraft that Rika sent out were supposed to... be doing that. It was confirmed by Rika herself mentioning that they were acting weird. It looked almost like they were fish caught in a net and trying to pull their way out of it. The sight of it didn't do anything to quell the general feeling of unease, but at least the Makami and the motes had no such troubles.

The reason became apparent when Bowser Jr. coated one of the planes and it's immediate area in paint, showing the crisscrossing webs that were holding the device in it's sticky grasp.

Oh dear, Primrose thought, her calm expression tightening. With the fog and the color drain, it would make seeing these webs completely impossible if not for the child's quick thinking. The possibility that the entire forest around them was coated in these webs seemed much too likely for Primrose's liking. She wasn't afraid of spiders really, though she did find them unpleasant - but she could imagine the size and, given that ever present noise in the trees, number of spiders that created these webs. Getting caught in one alone would spell disaster. She was all too glad that Rubick and the Koopa Troop had followed her in.

They continued in, spurred by the arrow of Kamek's motes. With the knowledge that they were surrounded by spider webs came the fact that they were surrounded by spiders, which would have been apparent even if they weren't seeing their fleeting forms from the corner of their eyes. It was unnerving, knowing they were being watched. Stalked, even, as surely the arachnids were just waiting for one of them to slip up, take one wrong step and become an easy catch tangled in a web.

To prevent that from happening, Primrose stuck close behind the Koopas - the prince leading the way with his paintbrush. Somewhere along the line the dancer had dismissed her pyromancy, but she remained tense and ready to bring it back up should the need arise. It had been doing little to help light their path anyway, so instead she focused on keeping an eye out for any opportunistic monsters.

They came upon a dark hotel, and the sight of it was so absurd that Primrose couldn't keep a small smile from her face in spite of the tension. What patrons would they find here in this dismal forest? More than likely it had long been taken over by nature. There was little time to investigate it, because soon after spotting the building a howl pierced the air.

Makami! The Striker faded after it let loose it's howl, signalling the arrival of a truly huge spider. It was silhouetted in shadow, but the segments of it's spiny legs were easy enough to see. It inspired a feeling of disgust in Primrose, and a primal fear began to make itself known to her. With spiders skittering everywhere around them, even above, and the most massive one right in front of them, the reaction of the other Seekers was understandable if they were feeling the same things as her.

That the large spider seemed capable of some kind of primitive speech didn't make it any less horrifying. Much too late to do anything else but stay and fight or run now that the open fire began, Primrose chose to stay. The Peacock Strut was performed, increasing her allies' magical and elemental attacks. In her hands the flame of pyromancy shined white, but for now it only added a theatrical element to her dance moves as she buffed the party.

---

The spirits hadn't given him a feline's love for rubbing up against others, so Therion leaned away from Ms. Fortune's nudge. He did agree that one or both of them would have found a treasure chest-shaped entrance though, and it was there that the group headed after taking care of of some gruz flies - a throwing knife making quick work of a couple of the newborns that were smart enough to stay out of range of Nadia's 'fencing.'

So the group continued, separate from their comrades higher up. Moving on without at least giving them some sort of heads up might be poor manners, but whatever. Primrose and the others knew where they were headed. One of them probably had enough money to buy their own map as well. Therion wasn't under any illusion that finding any of the masks would be quick, but maybe if the others lucked out they'd meet up again with two out of the three.

The path that this group was currently taking became mining tunnels after only a short walk - and there were even workers cracking at the stone way down here. Compared to the miners at the mouth of the chasm, these were twisted wretches. Probably haven't seen the sun in Gods know how long, Therion thought. Fortunately the men down here, if they could be called that, were also just as oblivious to their hard work being plucked out of the baskets on their back. For now the thief didn't press his luck, only snatching one or two things. He didn't know what they were exactly, but if they were valuable enough to mine they were valuable enough for him.

As the group continued in, their forward scout (that being the eager Ms. Fortune) drew the attention of the mine attendants, whatever they were. As she engaged the centipede-looking thing, Therion took that as his cue to make himself scarce. There were plenty of shadows to duck into, and he did just that. It occurred to him that he should exchange the orange poncho for a darker color as he darted from cover to cover. Before he could get a good angle on the battle it was already over, with Ms. Fortune retreating into the shack. He couldn't really blame her, but she left them with two kindred to deal with.

Sectonia took over, and though it looks like she was going to finish them off she only managed to defeat one before she too retreated. Really? Therion thought. For all her bragging, she sure didn't put in the work when she didn't feel like it. Following the ladies' example Therion slipped into the shack while the kindred of rot were distracted, entering the chest and landing in the Basement.

"..." The room was basically featureless, and a cursory look into the jars confirmed there was nothing in them. There was a pervasive, rotten odor about the area that had Therion bring his shawl up to cover his nose, face scrunched. It would take a while to get used to that, not that he wanted to. To the East and West were monsters of some kind, though they didn't seems to notice as the Seekers filed in one by one. The only other thing of interest was the locked door, and Therion couldn't help but throw a smirk Ms. Fortune's way.

"If you think we'll need a key, I'll have to teach you a thing or two about being a thief."

He went over to the locked door, pulling his picking tools out as he went. Seconds went by as he finagled the keyhole, and then with a soft click the door slid open. Though he didn't look back at the other Seekers, Therion flourished his hands as though to say voilà.

Unfortunately there was not a mask inside. In fact when Therion entered, he only found what seemed to be a clump of meat. Floating meat, right in the center of the room, and little else.

"No mask," he called over his shoulder to the main room, as if anyone expected their search to really be that easy. Therion then went to claim his prize, whatever it was, cautiously reaching a hand out toward it.

He did wonder if it was really a good idea to just touch something like this, right before his hand closed around it.

For Therion

Stem Cells
A bundle of squishy organic matter. Upon contact with a living thing it embeds into the flesh, creating a vaguely baby-like fleshy red growth somewhere on the body. Stem Cells provides a big chunk of increased max health and heals the same amount, as well as a small increase to the speed of all projectiles. The benefit will remain even if the growth is excised.

It disappeared as soon as he grasped it. Immediately he felt a bubbling sensation under his skin, crawling from his palm up his arm. He jerked his hand away from the open air where the mass of cells had been, shoving the fabric of his poncho up to see what exactly was going on. There was a tense pulling, or maybe pushing, on the outside of his forearm where a pulsing red growth began to form.

A trap? Of course, why hadn't he expected that? The very notion of opening a treasure chest and falling through into this basement would count as a trap, so why not more once inside? The growth didn't hurt, but he wasn't going to take the chance of it doing any more to him. Therion swung his arm against the clay of the room's walls, splattering the foreign body in a spray of blood.

When he pulled his arm away from the mess, he found that the growth was crushed but not gone. It heaved as though alive and in pain, the vague form of a face taking shape. Therion's skin crawled, and the fur on his tail puffed out. What the hell was this thing? He discarded the thought of stabbing it in case he injured himself, but the next thought he went with wasn't much better. Wanting to get rid of the thing as soon as possible, Therion closed his other hand around the area and summoned flames. The smell of burning flesh just mingled with the overall unpleasant stench of the place. The fire flared up hard and singing the edges of his shawl and gloves, but it did it's job. When he killed the spell and pulled his hand away all that was left was a bloody smudge and a burn. Painful yes, but nothing he couldn't live with.

The whole experience took only a few moments, but when Therion emerged from the room he was singed and flecked with blood. "I'm fine," he mentioned. Really, he was now just eager to move on.

Feature Request Thread

This has kind of gone away from the topic of feature requests...

As a feature request, maybe it's possible to add "zeroth" posts to test threads?

Or if you want to be sneaky, you can type up the draft, replace it with a blank space, and then reference your draft in the secret Revisions page (roleplayerguild.com/posts/<postID>/revisions). You can only see your own revisions though ;)

@LegendBegins

Is it possible to be able to see revisions of your own posts outside of this? Like how the revision section shows on zeroth posts. Might also be useful for GMs to be able to see revisions made in their threads, idk.

World of Light

^{____________________________________________________}
Level: 7 - Total EXP: 165/70 ------ Level: 5 - Total EXP: 40/50
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Word Count: 1101 (+2 exp)
Location: The Under - the Chasm, Ruins

Therion had shifted back into human form after some gloating, and then they were off - following after Ms. Fortune as she led the way to the cartographer. Which, ultimately, led to the thief parting with some of his money in exchange for a map. He grumbled about it, but didn't plan to hold the feral to her promise. Then again he also wasn't going to tell her not to worry about it, because if she wanted to pay him back he wouldn't say no.

"A compass, huh," Therion said. He'd have to let Primrose know that his initial thought about swiping one was right. He didn't pull the item out from his bag until Cornifer had went on his way just in case. He hadn't stolen this compass from the bug man's wife (at least he didn't think so), but he had definitely stolen it. Once Nadia and Jesse came over to look he produced the compass, comparing it to the rather rudimentary map he'd bought. When Sectonia flew over as well to crowd them, Therion hunkered down into his poncho after marking the map with a very simple compass rose.

"Better than nothing I guess," he said. Once everyone had gotten their fill of looking at the small map of the ruins, he tucked it away. As for what they had to talk about, Therion didn't think it was a lot - they just had to pick a direction and go. Pretty simple as far as he was concerned.

"We shouldn't over think this," he said. "Unless we were planning to divide and conquer, all we have to do is pick a path."

They had enough numbers that splitting up wouldn't be the worst idea, but he didn't lean one way or the other on that point. If this were Orsterra, or any other world that followed familiar logic, he might have suggested it. But it wasn't, so it might be for the best that the large group tore through the underground as one noisy but well-prepared unit.

And for the path they should choose, Therion didn't have an opinion on that either. At the moment he was sort of resigned to being pointed toward something and told, "go, fetch," his earlier irritation fading - though not quite gone. So it didn't matter what direction they went, as long as they didn't waste a lot of time getting there.

At this point, an obstacle did appear. That man that had been following the group, a straggler who seemed lost and confused more than anything and with no name to address him by, had jumped into the pit to tail them. In doing so he'd woken up a rather large bug which began rampaging around. It was focused on the Adventurer now, but it would be a pain to avoid if they didn't do something about it now. Luckily, this obstacle did not last long - the most recent person to travel down into the cavity was the newly freed king of evil, who handily took care of it.

Looking over the group gathered together at the bottom of the cavity, which at some point included Omori and the Knight, Therion couldn't help but notice that both so called "guides" were here yet not all of the Seekers were. If they actually were going to split up, it would be nice to know. Maybe let the others copy the map while they were at it.

"...rest of them still exploring up there?" the thief inquired, leveling his question at Ganondorf who had been the last to descend.

---

"Up there," Primrose found herself in a misty forest, devoid of life. As she stepped into the area, the fog washed over her and cast her in monochrome light, draining the color of her clothes. It was dreary, but more than that the area was... discomforting. The deathly stillness was one thing, but when combined with the all obscuring fog, the buzz of what she imagined was insects high above her, and the blurry silhouettes of imitation trees it made for a very surreal and off-putting place. The fog was also not so much fog as it was a sort of fuzzy blanket, or so it appeared to her. The dancer walked slowly, wrapping her arms around herself.

Through the constant dull droning, the rustling of robes came from behind her. Joined by another of the Seekers, Primrose glanced at Rubick as he stepped up to join her in looking around. He had his staff held in front of him, prepared for danger.

"Expecting trouble so soon?" she asked the mage. Honestly she didn't blame him, given not only the Seekers' track record but the experience so far in the Under. Ambushed twice already, and it hadn't even been half a day.

She turned the palm of her hand up and produced a flame, attempting to burn off some of the fog around them. It did little to help, lending credence to the thought that this area was under some kind of... enchantment, for lack of a better word. It certainly didn't feel natural at all.

They went on a little more, their careful, measured steps not taking them far before they were joined by the Koopa Troop. Kamek stated that he didn't sense any magics, and though Rubick hadn't said one way or the other Primrose thought that if he had sensed anything, he would have exclaimed it so like he had with Ganondorf's power. Either way, the lack of any powerful spell around them put Primrose at ease somewhat. One less thing to worry about. The Koopas also went about setting torches and deploying their scouting abilities to get a better sense of the area.

"A good idea," the dancer commented. She added one more scout to the mix, summoning the Makami. It wouldn't hurt to have an animal's keen nose to go along with Kamek's magic motes and Rika's tech, even if it wouldn't last as long as them since it was a striker. She sent the wolf spirit out into the mist, watching it's body twist through the air. "Bark if you find anything, but howl if it's danger," she told it.

Now that the Koopa Troop had caught up to Rubick and herself, and Bowser had finished his explanation of what he thought the sound above them was, Primrose turned to them and the chameleon mage. "How far shall we go?" she asked, "I had intended to only look around a little while they went to see about a map, though I'm unsure how useful a map would be in this place."

World of Light

Word Count: 1122 (+2 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 163/90
Location: Edinburgh MagicaPolis

Lucia found an attentive audience as she described the agents to keep an eye out for. It was implied that things would more than likely come to blows whenever they came knocking, as Band has put it, so the former police woman's briefing on them was invaluable. The Cadet would have to keep her descriptions in mind, as well as the advice Sakura had given him earlier about close quarters fighting. A pair of crazy cops and a robot tag team, huh?

The Cadet echoed Band's gratitude for the information. After that, of course, was the group's plans for their next move. It was looking likely that they'd stay in the city for now, much to the Cadet's chagrin. It was fine, he could deal with it. Though the reason Band gave made the hunter give the metallic musician a sideways glance, half concerned and half amused.

"The what situation now?" he asked, prompting Band for the information the detective had learned while in the police chief's office, even if it wasn't in much detail. Of course after the explanation, the Ace Cadet pledged himself as back-up. Of course he wouldn't be leaving without the others, especially if there was danger ahead.

And as far as what to do in the mean time, picking up some odd jobs was suggested.

"Sounds good to me," he said, stretching out and leaning back in his chair. If they had to kill some hours until nightfall to investigate this skeleton thing and possibly get some clues to their actual objective, then there was no better use of their downtime then making money with it. Especially while they were cut off from the Alcamoth Mercenaries and the other Seekers. He looked over the list Lucia pulled out.

"What's the 'Swarm'?" the hunter asked out of curiousity, noting that it was mentioned a couple of times in the job listings. Something commonplace in the city, then? He couldn't imagine a big bug problem here of all places. He looked toward their local guide, and Lucia scrunched up her face.

"Vahmin. Like roaches but with heads like leeches. Can't sahvive out in the cold, so they hole up in basements an' crap wheah they can eat rats and make theah nests. Gross as hell, but nothin' people who can fight can't handle."

"Noted." So there was a bug problem even in an icy place like this. Interesting, but yeah, it did sound gross.

Assisting with the Spheal show was definitely the odd job out, seeming to be the only pleasant option. The Ace Cadet was not opposed to physical labor, but given the choice of it, dealing with some truly grotesque sounding vermin, dealing with cadavers, or dealing with trained animals? Well, he knew which one he would choose.

Band was on the same page too.

"Agreed," the Cadet said. Lucia's enthusiastic response sealed the deal. They'd help out with the show, earn some cash, and see where the night led them. The hunter stood up to accompany the rest of them out of the tavern. "Looking forward to it!"

---

"All Round" was right. The animals, about two feet around, were basically big friendly looking globes with feet.

"Aw, look at these little guys," the Cadet cooed, crouching by the fountain. The Spheal that must have been Glenn did come up to his outstretched hand, enjoying some scritches that the Cadet gave him behind his ears. He pet the Pokémon as Band confirmed what the group was there for, and as Sierra finished introducing each Spheal to them. "Snow cute."

Sierra's mention of possible poachers came as a surprise, but honestly with another look at the rotund animals it made sense. The Ace Cadet's face smoothed out into a serious expression, taking her whispered words seriously. It brought up memories of a couple of poor piglets who never ended up back where they belonged, and of course memories of his home world and his responsibilities there. Man, I really can't stand poachers.

He sighed and stood up, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Makes sense if they were after the pelts," he said, observing the Pokémon as they played in the fountain. "Their fur seems waterproof, and it's really thick - I'm sure it could make all kinds of useful stuff." Warm coats, boots, clothes lining, sturdy pouches... Plus the deep blue color and white spots would make for some nice patterning. If the Spheals were as docile as they appeared now, it would make them even more attractive targets. Of course any potential poachers would have to get around the whole "dead things turn immediately to ash" thing...

The Cadet only pondered over that for a moment or two before he shook his head slightly and stood up to properly face the two women.

"But not to worry, we'll keep everyone safe," He promised. He wouldn't complain if some poachers actually did turn up, so they could face justice. Oh, but the whole thing with police department... eh, if we can't deliver them to be locked up then a good scare should set them straight at least.

"Anyway, good to be working with you!" he said to Sierra and Frisk. As he went to properly introduce himself, an expression briefly passed over his face as though he were thinking about something complicated. In the end though he didn't say anything that might hint to the thought process his brain had just been put through. Rather than going through the naming convention thing as he had plenty of times over the last few days, instead he made it simple for everyone involved. "Call me Ace."

Worrying about the protection would come a bit later, for now the four of them were being hired to do a job so do it they should.

"Okay, just tell me what goes where!" He said, aiming a smile at Frisk. Between the lot of them, everything would be set up in a jiffy. Now that the Cadet's attention was directed toward Frisk, he he noticed something very peculiar about her. He smile didn't quite slip so much as twitch, and he blinked in surprise.

"Oh, you're...?"

Frisk was not under Galeem's influence. The Cadet glanced at Big Band and Wonder Red. How was it possible that she'd been freed if it was the first time the Seekers had been to this place? On second thought, why wouldn't it be possible? The Cadet's understanding of how the first Seekers got free was hazy, but they weren't the only ones out in the world without the light's brainwashing, right?

"You don't have the thing going on," he told her, helpfully wiggling his fingers beside his own eyes to clarify what he was talking about.

_{@Majoras End}

World of Light

Word Count: 626 (+1 exp)
Level: 3 - Total EXP: 47/30
Location: Dystopiascape - Midgar

The flight to Midgar after escaping the highway had been awkward. The actual escape itself had been quick, but stressful. Although Pit was glad he'd been able to shield a majority of the Seekers and what civilians he could, those he wasn't able to protect during the pile up left a bitter feeling in his chest as he boarded the cargobob. It came with the job though - you couldn't always save everyone even if you tried. The angel spent most of the ride with his face pressed curiously to the chopper's windows, trying to focus on the future. Most of the crew was tired out from the battle, even after getting healed up once they were all safe. They had the captive Benedict with them as well, which wasn't a comfortable addition to the party even after Roxas had freed him. Pit still wasn't sure exactly how he'd done it, aside from using his keyblade. Whether it was part of the weapon's function or an ability that Roxas inherently had would remain a mystery for now, as the boy had slept through the remainder of the ride.

Once the helicopter landed, the Seekers had been rushed inside to where they found themselves now. It was a rather simple looking conference room, though Pit wasn't sure what he expected in the first place. Something to match the city itself, huge and impressive, or maybe gritty?

Regardless, their hosts jumped right into offering information. There would be a lot to go over, and if Pit was being honest most of the governmental and political aspects would probably go right over his head. There was some election coming up or something? Generally he had little interest in those kinds of human affairs, and being that Skyworld was under the divine rulership of the Goddess of Light for eternity it's not like he had any firsthand experience with other kinds of governing anyway.

But the Ever Crisis? Dealing with some kind of invading threat, and possibly helping Midgar's security forces get whipped into shape? That, at least, he could wrap his head around. He could always work up to learning and helping with the city's internal problems, but they to start somewhere.

Pit turned his attention to the twin agents, echoing Geralt's inquiry.

"What he said. It's the biggest problem, right? And there's a bunch of militia already out there not doing too well?"

He did remember that Deadman had made it sound like the Ever Crisis was the most pressing issue. He struggled to recall all of the information that had been presented during that brief meeting with the small group from Midgar they'd met earlier, but it had been something about brain-eaters and invisible monsters that could infect people with something? It sounded pretty awful. Speaking of that meeting...

"Oh! Uh -" the angel looked between the people gathered at the table, unsure who he should direct his next question to when he continued. "Do any of you know someone named Deadman? He was one of the ones that got in touch with the Alcamoth Mercenaries, and he said he was still in Midgar. He mentioned that he was running... Bridges?"

The man's name was easy to remember for how strange it was, but Pit glanced over at Princess Peach as he recalled the organization name. Her short nod to him let him know that he'd remembered it right. "He'll probably be happy to hear we made it to Midgar to help out!"

Pit figured that Bridges and Goldlewis' group most have been one and the same, but if that wasn't the case then it meant that they had even more allies in the city than those gathered there in the conference room, ones that they should rendezvous with.

Pokemon: Ascendancy

_{_ _ _______________________________ _ _
mentions: Fiona @Psyker Landshark, Isiah @PrankFox, Sawyer @Vertigo}

As the battle raged on, Nordrin's team continued their work. For the most part they kept up their original orders: the Slurpuff focused it's Fairy Wind on any stray Pokémon, overwhelming the enemy while Azumarill kept up with damage control and the occasional blast of water to an opponent's face. Over all of them Ribombee flitted around raining down attacks.

Speaking of rain, they could use some of it right now since the continued onslaught was making Marquant's work essentially useless, new fires blazing in as fast as he could put them out.

"Fuck's sake," he grumbled, giving his Azumarill a sharp nod when the Pokémon looked back him for permission for a Rain Dance. With it granted, Marquant went about summoning the rain.

It was about that time that the three mysterious Pokémon were recalled, and a new stranger entered the scene. The man was dressed from head to toe with nary a hint to his identity, but it was clear he was the leader of this operation. And he seemed to know Fiona? Trust her to be involved in some mess without even knowing it.

The Pokémon he released was the most messed up looking Alakazam that Nordin had ever seen. More bewildering was the attack that it unleashed though - furious twisters carved paths through the area, endangering everyone in their path. Chiot and Marquant were flung away from the battle, pained from the heavy blow.

Ribombee, which had been pulling double duty healing all of the gym leaders' Pokémon while steadily stacking damage on the enemy with it's Pollen Puff, was completely caught off guard by the attack. It cried out and fell unconscious from the air, enveloped in the soft red light of it's Pokéball's return feature before hitting the ground.

"What the bloody hell was that?" That wasn't a move that Nordrin was familiar with. The dark winds had cut through and managed to deal a lot of damage so quickly, and to everyone around. One of the tornadoes had even gotten close to the back line where he stood with Feefee, and he could feel the biting wind threatening to rip at his skin and clothes. Okay, so the situation had just gotten even more serious.

Out of the four Pokémon that happened to be with him, he was now down to two and a half. Chiot had taken a heavy blow, and the fact that he was still standing was commendable, but it looked like one more attack like that and he'd be out of commission. The Slurpuff was already beginning to use it's Fake Tears, but Nordrin stopped it by issuing a different command.

"Chiot, Wish!" he said, and the Fairy-type pup let out a yip and did just that. That move would hopefully buy some extra time either for Chiot or any other Pokémon that happened to be around when it came true.

As for Feefee and Marquant, it was time to go on the offensive and make sure these feral Pokémon were taken care of.

"Feefee, you're going to have to get out there," he said. The Granbull puffed herself up and stepped forward, ready for whatever orders came her way. She didn't wait long. "Split up and get close! Feefee, on the Alakazam with Crunch. Marquant, you take that fucking Steelix on with Aqua Tail!"

He earned an affirmative cry from each of his Pokémon as they moved in. Granbull used Hydreigon's Dark Pulse as a cover in order to move in with her fangs barred. Meanwhile as the rain of Azumarill's earlier dance finally began to drizzle down for real, Marquant boldly rushed toward the Steelix. Out of all of Nordrin's remaining Pokémon, he was least concerned about the Azumarill - and the sooner that Steelix was taken out the less he had to worry about his Fairy-types. Still, that move Alakazam had used bothered him. What the hell was it, and how had it been so strong? He had second thoughts about splitting focus between the two opposing Pokémon, especially if the Alakazam was that strong, but taking back his words would not only confuse his team but also be shameful. He committed.