Yankee

What Are You Listening To?

New to Town

Hello and welcome! If you have any questions feel free to ask. Enjoy your stay!

Decibitus [Moved to a new thread]

𝕷𝖊𝖓𝖆

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~8AM | MT ARAPILES | CAMP GROUND

---

Lena still hadn't grown tired of Sigrun's specific brand of greeting, nor the way she handled her dispatch job at Lucema Regini. It was... "cute." Yes, Lena supposed that was the word for it. And it really did help to chase away the morning's weariness. At first, Lena had been completely confused by it, but quickly came to find it endearing. So as usual when it was Sigrun informing them of their missions, Lena gave her a smile and happily let her stick that little star to her shirt. With work to be done and Wisps to be found, their meeting was brief before the Reapers were ushered out of the doors.

Getting from the office to the Arch was a simple thing. Before actually going through it Lena hummed and stretched her arms over her head, lacing her fingers together as she did. Today may prove to be an interesting day, given the way that some of the groups were set up. She could only imagine some of the trouble the team sent to Japan could get into. Her own assignment was in the wild country of Australia. It wouldn't be Lena's first time going there. After so many years as a Reaper, she'd been to every major corner of the world at least once - and yes that included Antarctica, a trip she'd never forget. Australia though, that was an interesting country. She couldn't recall having visited the mountain they were being sent to, so as far as she was concerned the new experience would be plenty of fun even if the job itself turned out to be a quick and easy one.

As for her own group... well, she had plenty of thoughts about them.

"Okay Team Vamos~" Lena said as soon as she was through the Arch and on the other side, standing at the dusty campground. "I hope you all enjoy rock climbing, or can actually fly."

She found it endlessly amusing that the powers that be (that is, Reapers corporate) had chosen Gali and Vorya for a job at a mountain famous for it's cliffs and climbing. Poor things, it was probably pretty embarrassing to be recovered and sent home like this - but that wasn't going to stop Lena from poking a little fun at their expense. Besides that she was sure they wouldn't have the same issues with this new group.

"Make sure your 'freebie' isn't me, alright, Amelia? The view here is gorgeous, so I'd hate to be sent back prematurely without getting the chance to take it in as much as possible..."

Although if possible Lena would like that none of the Reapers ended up as collateral damage, they'd probably be fine in the long run. Amelia was always a fun wild card; humorous, out-going... buuuuut truth be told Lena's opinion of her might change if she was ever on the receiving end of that bullet. As it stood, Lena quite liked her.

She suggested starting their search at the place some of the campers, oblivious to their presence, were gossiping about. Vera chimed in, mentioning it was a good a place to start as any. "Mhm~ I agree."

Lena liked Vera too. She was more stoic than most, but not unkind nor unfriendly. Silence that happened to fall around her was of the comfortable type, at least in Lena's opinion. Whether it was working together or meeting up after the day was done, it was time well spent. Especially in regards to the former, Lena found her to be more reliable than most. She declined the offered cigarette with a polite wave of her hand, but smiled at Vera in return all the same. An expression that widened as Vera teased the Sister. Ah, now Kathy was quite the surprise. In life, Lena had been Catholic, though not as devout as her parents had been. It was so long ago now that it was funny to think about. In death, she had shed most of her theological assumptions. Her first meeting with Sister Catherine brought all of those memories to the front of her mind and she'd been on her best behavior only to find that the good Sister had been living in Decibitus for a long, long time and was more laid back than was to be expected from a nun. She, too, was surprisingly funny with some of the things Lena had seen her pull.

There weren't any among their group that she disliked really. Even that stuffy Ogawa had his merits, for example his fashion was on point. She didn't know much about him compared to the ladies other than he was efficient at his job, which didn't come as a surprise. And who knew, maybe today was the today she would learn a little more about him? Only time would tell.

The sound of another voice, a familiar one, perked Lena's ear. She turned to the tree that was currently housing another Reaper.
"Oh, Aron! You didn't go back with the other two?" She gave him a playful tut tut with a wag of her finger, but it was obvious she was only joking. In reality she was pleasantly surprised that he hadn't gone right back to work - now he could join them! ...at work!

World of Light

Word Count: 478 (+1 exp)
Level: 7 - Total EXP: 169/70
Location: The Under - Colorless Woods
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
D34C25

They may have escaped the worst of the ambush thanks to immediately resorting to violence, but Primrose was anything but comfortable while the six of them were surrounding by man-eating spiders. Animals and monsters couldn't be reasoned with even if they hadn't been under Galeem's influence. Primrose was sure that as soon as any of them let their guard down, the predators would dive in.

The largest spider among them, which the dancer could only assume was their queen or equivalent, did just that. With a flash of light she was upon them, right in the middle of where the Seekers were making their stand. The sudden displacement of air and the force of her bulk landing on top of them threw Primrose off of her feet. She rolled backwards, scrambling to stand as the pyromancy in her hand expanded into the Flame Fan. A couple of the smaller spiders (at least compared to Silitha) had tumbled nearby, getting a face full of fire as Primrose waved the fan to ward them off.

The Seekers were afforded a brief look at the brood mother in all her terrifying glory before she would teleported again. Silitha was huge, standing at least two and a half times as tall as a man, letting alone the width of her legs. Her body was scaled with hard chitin, several glimmering red eyes embed in her face, and her maw was absolutely filled with needle-like teeth. From that mouth the spider queen's harsh voice screamed out, though Primrose could barely make out the words over the cacophony of noise around them.

Chaos was the rattling, staticky noise of the spider brood circling and taking their chances while Silitha teleported in another flash of dark light and brought her legs down hard in a smashing motion. She was less like a spider and more like a complete monster, and as the most dangerous thing here presently she needed to be dealt with.

While Kamek's summons handled keeping the area clear, the rest of them could focus on the brood mother - and while Silitha was focused on the largest of the Seekers, Primrose could perform another empowering dance. Steps one, two, and three were Sealticge's Seduction. The sultry movements were for the wizened Koopa wizard himself, spreading the effects of his shield spell to the rest of the Seekers. Surely it would be invaluable against those heavy forelimbs, preventing any of squishier Seekers from being smashed.

In addition to the dance, Primrose went on the offensive this time. Her own short range teleport put her behind the spider queen's abdomen, and she leapt up to stab at it's underside with her dagger swelling with dark magic. She maneuvered herself back in order to use the Ravaging Confession once more to catch up should Silitha teleport again, prepared to test the limits of her borrowed ability.

Word Count: 2025 (+3 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 166/90
Location: Edinburgh MagicaPolis

So there was someone out there freeing people from Galeem's influence - that was good news! It was a shame that Frisk's friend had disappeared, but hopefully they were alright out there wherever she was. A curse seemed like serious and unpleasant business, but it would have been nice to point her in the direction of the Alcamoth to get help with it.

Her two other pals were less lost, and the "sentient orb of pestilence" earned a curious look and a brief "Er, hi there," unsure if said orb was capable of replying. With a promise of introducing them to another freed person later, the group got around to finishing up the stage and props.

Once everything was set up they still had some time before the show actually began. The Spheals were just about ready too, and while they were cute and the Ace Cadet liked them fine, he hadn't expected that Sierra would assign him the task of trainer.

"Huh? Me?" He pointed a finger at himself, making sure he heard her right. He looked down at the Pokémon and then back up. Sierra was going over her expectations and other information, and by the time she'd handed him the scarf there was no time to protest - as Band, Red, and Lucia moved on to scope out the area. The Cadet held the scarf in his hands, wanting to at least admit one thing to Sierra and Frisk before he gave the whole training thing a go.

"I've never really done anything like this before, so, uh... well I'll try my best," he told them, wrapping the show fabric around his neck. "So no blubbering if it's not perfect, that goes especially for you, Dumpy." In response, the Spheal rolled over onto it's back.

---

After what felt like the shortest fifteen minutes ever, the show began. Though he didn't feel completely prepared, he could wing it with the best of them. He had a bucket of fish at his feet and a partner across the stage, what could really go wrong? For the Cadet, "stage fright" was not even a word in his vocabulary. He broke out into a wide grin when Sierra introduced him, waving both of his hands over his head at the crowd. When the stars of the show arrived, all eyes were drawn to them. The Cadet glanced at Frisk, turning his smile on her and mouthing 'just like we practiced!'

With a quick, sharp whistle the Cadet called the Spheals attention over to himself. He couldn't claim to know a lot about showmanship, but he didn't need to in order to know they should start off simple and gradually ramp up to the most exciting tricks. "Exciting," of course, being subjective. At any rate, the Cadet picked up an inflated ball in each hand, about as large as the Spheals themselves. He showed them off the audience briefly before tossing them to the sisters Happy and Sadie. This trick was a piece of cake for the Pokémon - they bounced the balls high into the air and between each other, passing to Glenn and Dumpy as well so that all four were juggling them, and catching thrown fish whenever they didn't have the ball. After about a minute or so the Ace Cadet pointed the Spheals toward Frisk, where she was holding up some hoops.

The Pokémon easily bumped the balls through the circles, earning the applause of the audience. Glenn and Dumpy hopped up onto the fountain's edge and clapped their flippers together happily, while Sadie and her sister swam up behind them. The two of them nudged Glenn and Dumpy from behind until they rolled backward, and then there were Spheals balanced on top of Spheals. With surprising balance and strength the Spheals turned to swim back toward Frisk, bouncing and tossing their fellow Pokémon towards the hoops like they were balls themselves. The would-be trainer had to pitch herself to one side in order to make sure one of the thrown Spheals actually made it through the hoop, but otherwise it had been a pretty flawless maneuver. The Cadet was surprised too, and joined in to applaud once he was finished up preparation for the next routine.

While the crowd's attention was focused on the Spheals on Frisk's side, the Ace Cadet had been setting up the show's little target stands. Sierra had assured her two new trainer hires that the Spheals knew what to do, they just needed some prompting, and so far she'd been completely right. At the moment the big balls of fur were swaying to the music, perfectly in sync with each other as Frisk tossed them fish one at a time and turned their blubbery bodies back in the direction of the Ace Cadet. Target shooting (the Cadet wasn't sure if there was some special term for it here, but that was basically what they'd be doing) was technically the second part of the next trick. The first part would be getting them over to the target area, or else risk their Water Guns going wide.

Frisk led them along the front of the fountain, walking along the outside while the four Spheals rolled along it's edge following the scent of her fish bucket. The was pretty cute, especially with the happy, dopey smiles on the Pokémon's faces, but why the crowd seemed to get so excited over just the Spheals rolling the Cadet would probably never know.

Once they were close enough to Ace and the targets, Frisk nudged the Spheals back into the water and left them in the Cadet's care. "Here we go!" he said, mostly to himself, as he dangled a fish above the first target.

The first Spheal popped up out of the fountain where it'd been submerged and fired it's Water Gun at the target while it was airborne. It was a classic bullseye shape, but as long as the Pokémon hit the target that would be good enough for the first time trainers, no matter how far from the center the shot was. Thankfully, Glenn had good aim. Oh, wait, maybe that's Happy? It was a bit hard to tell in motion when they all looked so similar to each other.

Either way the move hit it's mark and the Spheal splashed back down into the water. It held it's face above the surface, mouth open and eagerly awaiting it's prize, which the Cadet tossed to it. The next few minutes followed that pattern: a Spheal would pop itself into the air and shoot the designated target, earning a cheer from the crowd and a fish from the Cadet before it sunk back down and waited for another turn. The targets gradually got smaller and harder to hit, but the Spheals were professionals! Only one Water Gun missed, Dumpy's move dousing the Cadet in frigid water. He was all too glad that he'd managed to find some good winter clothes before this or else he'd freeze, but it was no harm done besides some laughs from the audience. With some luck, maybe they'd think it was part of the show.

It was a good thing that they'd decided to go with Water Gun for this segment, because apparently the Spheals had practiced the same trick with Ice Beam too. There was some other kinda of beam they'd be moving on to as well... after another small break.

"Good job!" the Cadet said, kneeling down to quickly ruffle the fur on the Pokémon's heads as they gathered up again and wobbled their spherical bodies to the beat of the music. "And no hard feelings," he whispered to Dumpy.

They'd soon be going into the finale, if the Cadet remembered their plan correctly. A quick glance over at Frisk confirmed that she'd been setting up a ramp in the mean time, the segment immediately before the end. The same way that Frisk had led the Spheals over to his side before the Cadet mimicked now, slowly leading them along the fountain and letting the crowd get their fill of their rolling along the edge. Really, they went wild over this part for some reason.

The ramp part that they'd gone over in that brief fifteen minutes before the show was deceptively simple. The Spheals would line up near Frisk, and she'd lift them and place them at the top. Then with their Powder Snow, the Spheals would freeze the sturdy ramp as they went down it. It was the trick with the best chance for each Spheal to show off their personalities, while also being the one with the greatest risk of going wrong with the amateur trainers. It was a staple of the show, so they couldn't just leave it out. Fingers crossed!

Dumpy was first, and she happily took Frisk's offer of fish before being hoisted up to the top of the ramp. She swayed there for a moment, eyes closed and happily enjoying the spotlight and the music. The audience waited with baited breath. Then the Spheal tipped forward, rolling head over tail down the ramp toward the water. She picked up speed and soared off the end and into the air, where she waved her flippers around before landing back into the fountain with a splash. The crowd cheered for her, and were clearly excited for the Spheals that would follow.

...wait, was she supposed to freeze it? the Cadet thought, watching off to one side. Maybe Dumpy was first just to show off how the basic ramp worked?

Glenn followed her up, and he did freeze the ramp in front of him before sliding down. The ice extended the ramp slightly, making his jump a little higher, and when he rolled off of it he did the same cute flipper wave as Dumpy and splashed back down. Happy went next, building on Glenn's ramp with a truly intense ice curve, making it into a half-pipe. When she rolled down the angle of her ice sent her straight up - and naturally she landed back on the ramp, completing another roll back to the start. And then again. Sadie waited at the top of the ramp, nestled between Frisk's hands while the audience cheered for the continuous stunt. When Happy's momentum was gone and she finished, she sat dizzy and satisfied in the middle of the ramp until the Cadet waded into the fountain to pick her up after some not-so-subtle gesturing from Sierra. Perhaps a minor hiccup, but nothing Sadie couldn't pull them back from. She unleashed the Powder Snow and froze the ramp into a loop, then wasted no time in throwing herself down it. She zipped through and spun in the air off the jump, barking happily all the way down until she splashed into the water.

And just like that, the hardest parts of the show were over. The Spheals cooled down with another music break, bobbing up and down and eating their rewarded fish for a job well done.

The finale was something that the Spheals had done so many times that Frisk and the Ace Cadet hardly had to do much at all, besides give them a helping hand up to the fountain's middle section. There the Spheals spread out and rolled in a circle around it, stopping only to wave at the audience and do a cute little turn before rolling back the opposite way. The final act saw the Pokémon come to a rolling stop and look into the air for their cue. Ace and Frisk took turns tossing the last of the fish high over the fountain where the four Spheals aimed at it and released their Aurora Beams all together. When the rainbow energy crashed together overhead it was with a burst of beautiful color. The crowd oooh'd and aaaah'd at the light show, mini auroras forming overhead like the name of the move suggested.

The music swelled and cut off with the final fish, the show finishing with a wave of rainbow. The Spheals turned to the audience and clapped their flippers together, once again drawing an applause.

hallo!

Hello to you too, and welcome!

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.