Yankee

Otreas is my OC. A Drow, fallen paladin of Lolth.

Welcome! Hopefully you can find a home here for your character!

My name says it all. Hello there 👋🤠

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World of Light

Troop-tube, ft. Pit II

Word count: 3941 (+4) (+1 rapport with all)
Level: 5 - Total EXP: 247/50
Bowser: Level 14 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (216/140) (+1 bonus pending)
Kamek: Level 13 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (92/130) (+1 bonus pending)
Rika: Level 9 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(111/90) (+1 bonus pending)

The Troop (and Pit) headed into the factory right through the front doors. The inside of the free standing building wasn't any less dismal looking than the outside of it, but it was a little brighter. Light sources were haphazardly hung, making pockets of light here and there. That remained true once the group descended a spiral staircase into an underground industrial complex, the only way forward they could see.

They could hear the sounds of machinery whirring a couple rooms away. Besides that there was some ambient creaking and shifting, something very unusual for what was supposedly an old abandoned building.

"I wonder why all the lights are still on? Who's running the factory?" Pit questioned as they continued through a set of large, automatic sliding doors. Power was obviously still being supplied to this place.

”The monsters, whatever they are? Maybe they are making more of themselves down here” Rika suggested as she scanned the touch she was holding between two fingers around the room

”Well, our host, technically” Kamek replied, before he pointed out that ”this is more of a stage than a real place after all”

”It’s good for the atmosphere, so don’t ruin that by pointing it out” Bowser grumped, giving Kamek a light poke for his immersion breaking ways

They continued a little deeper in, passing metal grates, broken equipment, and random junk. The chug of whatever machines the factory featured masked the approach of the first monster drawn in by the group's loud introduction. It was a little thing, shorter than most of them with a bulbous body and dopey face, but it toddled directly toward them from the direction they'd just come from.
Rika spotted it first thanks to the little toy sized scout plane she’d set to hover above her, spinning around and pointing her palm mounted rifle at it while calling ”Something behind us”

Bowser went ”Huh?” before stomping around to take a look, and then when he did, giving a snort of a laugh at its appearance. ”Where’d this goofball come from?”

”Not sure, but should we record it? We only have so much time to use the footage and get out” Kamek asked

"It's not really that scary," Pit pointed out as he got closer and squinted at it. "We should look for something bigger! With sharp teeth or something."

The monster did not stop its advance while the team talked, nor did it even seem to notice Rika's weapon trained on it. It continued to plod along until it was right in front of the minigame players, all grouped together to look at it. And then suddenly, violently, its body filled with air. It ballooned in size like a pufferfish, its abdomen punching out with more force than a car's airbag and sending most of its observers flying. It turned out that damage actually was turned on for this game, and though the blowfish monster's attack was unlikely to get through some of their actual defenses, it did take a chunk of their "HP" for the game away.

”Gah, like a fart filled bob-omb” Bowser complained, entirely unaffected due to mass and durability, before glancing to and fro at where his team mates had been with another ”Huh?” Failing to find them out as he turned back around, to find Kamek face down on the floor, while Rika had merely been knocked back and Pit getting to his feet halfway across the room.

”You all good? The camera good?” he asked his face down mage, receiving a groan from Kamek as he picked himself and the recorder up off the ground, and dusted both off.

The monster deflated, stayed put, and prepared to expand again. It wasn't intimidated by the king's immovable stature - it didn't really feel much at all, just going about its thing, which was rapid expansion. And with its low speed it had nothing else going for it.

"See? Not scary," Pit reiterated. Surprising, sure. Spooky? Not so much. Although neither he nor his team noticed at this point that they'd technically been injured "in game."

”Yeah that thing was a real joke. Only reason it got to do anything was because it was so puny looking” Bowser agreed with a nod, only to ”Huh?” and started turning for a thrift time when Rika called out ”It’s getting back up papa!”

Rather than let it do whatever it was doing this time, RIka just shot it. To no effect. Undeterred, she reeled back a punch and promptly vaultbreaker smashed into it, knocking the foe into the air. The gas bag rose, fell, and then was promptly slammed in the face by a kinetic strike module empowered punch from Bowser right before it hit the ground, launching it out the door and back the way it had come from.

”And that’s what you get for messing with the Koopa troop” Bowser declared, only to groan as it promptly came stumbling back out the door again.

”Damage is indeed disabled once again it seems” Kamek noted as he remounted his broom and floated back up into the air.

It plodded forward single-mindedly, one slow step at a time. At this point the group could tell it ran on a simple pattern of approach, inflate, and repeat; and since their retaliation hadn't put a stop to it, it was likely to just keep coming... but unlikely to catch up with them if they moved on.

On that point, Pit piped up. "I just thought of something! We're playing a game, right? So this must be like a first level monster. And there's probably a lot of them around the entrance. I bet if we run really far in, we can find a higher level one!"

”Know what, that checks out. You can't just pop all the good stuff at the start of a level after all” Bowser agreed, nodding with unearned sagelyness as he did so.

”Running time then?” Rika asked as she shot the floor with some sticky goop to slow the pufferfish like foe down as they talked.

"Yeah! Let's go!"

The goop worked like a charm, sticking the monster nearly in place as it wiggled, but by then the troop was long gone. They ran into the dark depths of the factory, passing huge revolving wheels connected by belts, vents placed randomly along the walls, and pipes that ran from floor to ceiling. They knew they were heading deeper in when they found a ramp leading down, and they followed it to a dark, wide open room dotted with parallel pillars. On either side of that room were large doorways that opened up to show a series of maze-like metal catwalks lined with iron bars, and an even lower area beneath them.

It was there that the group was heading, traipsing through the catwalks until they found another ramp. Here, the sounds of the machinery had all but faded away - but the sound of skittering took its place, along with the echoes of their footsteps.

Initially leading the group, Pit pulled back so that he was closer to the others. This part of the factory definitely had a spookier feel to it, especially combined with the knowledge that their diving bell was now much farther away.

”We did keep track of the way we came, yes?” Kamek asked, putting words to that concern

”Yeah yeah yeah, left, right, stairs, easy peasy” Bowser replied, and then commanding ”Now bring out some minions and lets flush out those freaks from wherever they are hiding”

”Of course sire” the mage replied, not particularly put at ease, before giving a command of his own: ”Up and at them, dry bones!” With an a wave of his wand that summoned a small horde of undead koopas that began to fan out around the area, click clacking about like gormless fools while Rika had her scout plane do some actual proper reconnaissance to try and spot whatever might be down here with them.

"The skeletons really fit right in," Pit commented. He drummed his fingers on one of the bars while the undead koopas scoped out the area. He did his own searching too, though only with his eyes.

If there was one thing that the monsters of this minigame had in common, it was that they seemed to prefer a direct approach rather than a stealthy one. So it didn't take very long for the first of the drybones to run into something. The minion turned a corner, a whoosh and a crunch sounded from where it had gone, and it didn't return. When Rika's plane flew over to see what happened, it could just make out a shadowed, multi-legged creature trying to consume it.

And it wasn't alone. Drawn by the general nosiness of the group, shapes moved in the dark and began to pick off the drybones on the outskirts of the room.

”I believe we have company. A lot of company” Kamek said as the taken down dry bones started to draw a bit more mana from him in order to reform, a fact Rika very much confirmed with her scouting plane’s more concrete sighting of a spook.

”Then hit record and let's get some juicy footage already!” Bowser commanded, which received an affirmation from Kamek and then the little green light on the camera lit up as he declared ”and action!”

It was perfect timing, as the monsters crawled out from behind their various cover to chase after anything and everything around them. Two creatures, with body shapes that brought arachnids to the mind, bore down on the drybones - though when Pit shined his flashlight on them to get a better look and illuminate them for the camera, they saw something much more monstrous than a typical spider.

"That's more like it!" The angel said. Spiders were creepy, that was just a fact of life - and these things were even creepier. They were almost as tall as Pit and Rika, and both longer and wider than they were tall. When the light fell upon their many eyes, the arachnids turned in the troop's direction. Their movement was part scuttling, part lurching, and their wide heads split apart vertically down the middle to show off two rows of flat teeth for grinding their prey. "Whoa... freaky!"

Pit was still physically among the troop, so he didn't feel all that threatened. Even if he wasn't, he had a plethora of weaponry to call on; which he did when the arachnids began to shoot thick strands of webs from their mouths. The Guardian Orbitars poofed into existence, flying around Pit and his team (so long as they were close enough) to block the sticky projectiles. Naturally the shields started to slow down the more hits they took, making Pit grimaced. "Ew..."

”You try and sticky slow us, I’ll sticky slow you” Rika declared as she pointed a palm at the floor between them and the spiders, and started splattering it with shocking goop to ward them off ”I mean I was gonna do anyway but still”

Not the brightest of creatures, one of the spiders walked right into the slime. It didn't appear to even notice that it was getting stuck, just continuing to crawl towards them at a much slower pace with its jaw snapping open and closed. The other used the trapped one as a bridge and trampled right over it (which the first also didn't seem to notice) to get nearer to its prey.

While all this was going on, the catwalks behind them rattled with the sound of something moving along them. It was loud enough that Pit turned around, brandishing his light like it was a sword. "Another one!"

He expected a third spider to join the first two, but this was a different beast. About the same size, with multiple limbs, but a much rounder shape. In contrast with the arachnids, this thing had no eyes to speak of. Yet it sensed the group of four amateur film makers somehow, and waddled toward them. It came to a stop at the catwalks' exit, blocking the ramp back up.

”That might be inconvenient, we do need to get back to the diving bell again after all” Kamek noted

”Yeah, move it you squiggly thing, or I’ll make you move!” Bowser demanded, stomping towards it while punching his palm with his fist.

It moved, but not out of the way. With Bowser's approach the barnacle ball-looking creature reared up on two of its tentacles and coughed out a plume of some powder-like substance at him.

The king made no move to avoid this, gawfing ”Dust! Ha!” at the mere thought that it could hurt him, only to get an eyeful of the stuff and go ”Gah, It stings!” before roaring ”you're gonna pay for that!”, dropping to all fours charging half blind towards the pest, tusks bared and prepared to give it a goaring.

It had no self-preservation instinct, simply meeting Bowser's charge with its lashing arms. None of the monsters tried avoiding danger or protecting themselves at all, because as the group had already discovered with the pufferfish earlier, they didn't need to. Unable to truly be harmed, their singular purpose was to down the game's players in increasingly frightening ways.

The king's tusk drove into the barnacle but failed to penetrate the tough outer shell. In return he was whipped by its tentacles before his King’s charge launched it up into the air. It crashed down behind him a moment later, unharmed, and immediately started to walk towards the rest of the troop, prompting an ”Uh, woops” from Bowser who had successfully moved it out of his way, but not out of everyone else's.

Meanwhile one of the two spiders was still struggling in the goop, retaliating by shooting its webbing, while the other accosted the team from the opposite of the barnacle. Pit fired upon it by habit with the Orbitars, but the shots did nothing. Oh, right! he thought. They weren't actually meant to be beating these things, just making a scary home movie. He hoped backwards once to avoid the monster's teeth, and once more as the Orbitars swiveled around and blocked another web strand headed his way. By now the two shields were stuck together, limiting their defensiveness.

The spider turned on Rika, and Pit glanced up at Kamek who was getting a bird's eye view of the situation. Did it look good from up there? Pit's torchlight had been a little erratic, but surely the small glow from Rika and Bowser was helping with the lighting. Could the camera pick up the weird, gurgling noise these things were making? "How's it looking!"

”Most concerning, I do believe you are surrounded” Kamek said, drawing attention to the barnacle now closing in behind them. In a similar move to Bowser, Rika proceeded to pull back her gauntlet, and then charge forward with it, the vault breaker punch bumping the spider up in the air and letting her pass under it, leaving only Pit surrounded by the strange beasts, and Kamek hovering just a bit above him.

That lined up with Pit's typical luck. He looked between the two monsters, wondering what he should do here. Escaping would be pretty simple, but maybe he could pretend to be in actual danger for the video? "Oh nooooo," he cried, though he wasn't the most convincing actor. He leaned away from the arachnid, not wanting to even pretend to get bit by it, and so was greeted with a tentacle slap.

"I'm in trouble~ !! Ow, wait, I really am in trouble!" Pit yanked himself away from the barnacle, almost tripping over the spider as he flapped his wings and bounded backwards and out of immediate harm's way. He hadn't really noticed what was being subtly displayed on the inside of the helmet until he saw the bar on one side going down. He was savvy enough to quickly come to the correct conclusion: it was a health bar, and his was already halfway gone. "I took damage! Kind of!"

At that point the second spider had wiggled itself free and scurried forward to hunt, while the one evaded by Rika and Pit turned to spit up at Kamek.

”Ack, well now, that’s disgusting” Kamek complained as he wiggled free of the web, before saying ”Still, these foolish creatures can’t harm me, so keep on your toes you three” before being proven wrong.

The barnacle, rather displeased with the way the troop and Pit were spreading out and escaping it, hunkered down and acted to bring them back together. It raised its tendrils up, swirling them around so fast it created a vortex that began to drag them all in.

Bower was frankly much too heavy, and Rika used her grappling hook to get away, but the unanchored arial Kamek could do little to nothing but get sucked into that blender of spinning tentacles.

When he was pulled close he was met with a lashing of its multiple limbs, putting a stop to the tentacle tornado but dropping the poor koopa's hit points all the way to zero. The screen of his helmet went completely dark and his body was flung away, along with the camera.

Pit had nearly been sucked in too, but managed to grab hold of Bowser's shell and cling on until the pull stopped. He landed on his feet when he fell to the ground, noting that the few leftover drybones had disappeared. Their cameraman was officially out of the game, and this area was littered with webs.

Rika leapt to catch the ejected koopa with one hand as the camera bounced away with an ”I got you” before landing in a power slide. She then dodged out of the way of a web as she held up the unresponsive mage and asked”Kamek?” before shaking him in alarm ”Kamek! Wake up!”

”Grab the camera and we’ll get him to that medical tent” Bowser called out, not believing the elder Koopa was dead more on blind faith than any logical deduction about how that wasn’t what death in the WoL looked like.

”Got it!” Rika called out, glancing around and then grapple-hooking the camera into her other massive hand. Then she ran, but all the monsters were in the way. Unable to vault breaker with her hands full, all she could do was duck, dodge and weave. Burdened by kamek, she was unable to do so perfectly, getting nipped and webbed but looking like she would make it, only to be clipped by a tendril right before she was home free.

She fell, helmet dark, payload tumbling to the floor. Bowser cried out in alarm, lunging forwards and grabbing both his kin in his claws, leaving the camera to bounce on behind him once more.

Since the camera and its film was their win condition, Pit chanced grabbing it while the monsters swarmed. He dove towards it, snapping it up and rolling to his feet. The health bar they were given for the game really wasn't all that big, since he was now down to about a fifth and Rika had been downed by several small attacks. At some point even the slow pufferfish they'd left behind seemed to have found them, as it toddled into the chaos. "Let's go before they take us out too!"

They ran back the way they'd come, onto the metal catwalks. In their haste (and not quite recalling which direction they'd entered from), they picked a random direction and sprinted down it. While moving, Pit grabbed the Orbitars out of the air and yanked them apart. The now separated shields whirled around quickly, back to near-automatically blocking projectiles. They hustled out of the room, avoiding the worst of the webbing as they fled. Luckily the creatures were pretty slow, and with some distance put between the monsters and them, it looked like they'd successfully escaped. From the whooshing sounds behind them it seemed like the barnacle might have tried its tornado again, but at that point it too had been left in the dust.

Which brought Bowser and Pit immediately to their next dilemma: how were they going to get out of the factory and back to the bell?

"Umm..." Pit tilted his head, shining the dim flashlight down the three routes available to them. They were just exiting the catwalks into a wide, featureless square room. On all sides were open doorways leading to dark halls, with no marks of any kind to differentiate them. Far behind them the sound of footsteps on metal echoed around the maze, though they already knew it was too 'dangerous' to go back the way they'd come.

For all of the previous times the angel had raided the Underworld, or navigated criss-crossing interiors in alien ships, or generally traversed Overworld, he still wasn't exactly confident in his sense of direction. Almost every time he was on a mission, he had the Goddess of Light's guiding voice in his head. Even if it came as a whisper such as when she was taken prisoner by Medusa, it was still there nudging him in the right direction. Without it, he wasn't sure which way to go. Well, except for the obvious.

"We just have to find a way that takes us up!" he said.

”Right.. Uh. ” the king replied, peering up at the ceiling at first as he took this quite literally.

They moved on quickly, with the camera tucked sort of safely under Pit's arm. With both of their hands full, the Orbitars remained rather than being replaced by a stronger weapon. If they were ambushed, they could still do their thing. The second, often forgotten consequence of delving too deep too fast was rearing its head now. With both Rika and Kamek gone, there was no way the two remaining boneheads would be able to retrace their steps or otherwise find a way back out without a minor miracle.

And there was one other thing too.

"Hey Bowser," Pit said, glancing up at the king. He'd been sticking pretty close, not wanting to get separated or taken by surprise if another monster showed up. "Did you see this other bar-thing on our helmets? It's smaller than the health bar. I just noticed it's been going down this whole time."

He tried to tap the area it was displayed on the helmet's face screen, but just bonked the front of his helmet with the torch. "What is it?"

”Uhhh. Wait. Didn’t that guy say something about air?” Bowser replied, right as the bar hit zero.

---

The two veteran Smashers had run out of time, ending up in a heap inside the medical shed back on the island they started the game on. The shed was small and narrow, so when Bowser spawned in his bulk pretty much obliterated it, smashing the wooden walls out so that the whole thing collapsed. Unharmed by the wreckage, Pit crawled out from under the wood and hopped to his feet, dusting himself off and then, realizing he was no longer holding anything, patting himself down.

"Aw man! Did we lose?" He turned back to the remains of the shed, shoving wooden planks aside and peeking around the king's large frame, but there was no camera to be found. "Nooooo, come on!"

His frantic failure to find the camera was accompanied by a pair of groans from the Koopas, and also Rika asking the question that was probably on a few minds, namely ”People do that for fun?”

World of Light

Fantasy Fixer Films II

Level 10 Primrose (226/100), Level 7 Therion (276/70),
Level 12 Sectonia (holding 6 level up) (3/120), Level 5 Roland (Holding 1 Level up) (0/60)
Word count: 4001 (+5)

Roland manipulated the diving bell so they could go down, down into the old world being the only one with any knowledge of how to vaguely use it. Upon reaching the ground, there was nothing to do but step out into the world. Unlike what Therion had feared, there was no water. Instead it was just pitch blackness all around besides the windows of the metal factory in front of them, and no monsters about.

The pyromancy flame flickered to life in Primrose's hand. She figured out the flashlight fairly quickly and clicked it on, as did Therion, shining the lights around the area. The outside of the factory was completely devoid of color, everything a monotone shade of gray wherever the dark shadows didn't blot it out completely. While there was debris of various things scattered everywhere there was only one building, directly ahead of them but still a little ways off. Much closer by was a circular hole in the ground, lined with stone and a metal staircase descending downward. Another entrance, or something entirely unrelated?

"Any tips from the 'horror master', or should we just pick a direction and go?" the thief said, casting a glance Roland's way.

Roland shrugged, saying. ”We have no clue what we will see down there, so just picking a random direction and going there sounds good to me. Just remember things like to ambush you from the shadows.” Roland said. ”I’m the camera man, so I can’t take point for this. Anyone wanna offer?”

Sectonia waved her hands, and while for a second Roland thought it was her offering, a few pink portals appeared and out popped light blue ant-like creatures. ”My antlers will take their initial attention.” Apparently these were the things that she said she’d summon, and thus Roland nodded. ”Alright, why don’t you choose where we start Mr. snarky?” Roland said, gesturing to Therion.

The snarky one ignored the comment, but he did survey the area a little more closely so that he could find a suitable direction. The outside looked devoid of life entirely, so inside or underground it was. With the helmet on it was a little harder to listen for anything they couldn't see, but there did seem to be faint noises coming from both directions. Steady methodical sounds, nothing that seemed like it was alive. After a moment Therion sighed and nodded towards the factory building. "Might as well head there."

"Then I'll go ahead with the little antlers," Primrose said, amusement in her voice. The antlers would lead the way with the dancer close behind, and with Roland at the back filming Therion and Sectonia could go wherever they liked, either in the camera's view or outside of it.

As they approached the building, and subsequently entered and descended a separate set of stairs, the noises Therion had picked up became louder. Now everyone could hear creaking, groaning, the turning of metal, and various other noises that wouldn't be out of place in a modern industrial factory - not that any of them save for Roland knew that for sure. There was also another, very distinct noise that reached all of their ears. It was... shouting?

The shouts and yells were muffled behind walls of solid concrete, so it was hard to tell which direction they were coming from. Undaunted, Primrose continued forward with the antlers leading. The underground factory was just as dark as expected, with only small areas of light scattered around from hanging - or sometimes even free floating - bulbs. The flashlights they held barely penetrated the shadows, but they did help somewhat.

"Sounds like someone else got here first," Primrose said. She supposed if multiple teams chose the same destination, they may meet up. Which made the possibility of cheating once again an option, which Therion pointed out. "We could always snag someone else's camera if comes down to it."

”oy oy, aren’t they your friends? Although its not a bad idea…” Roland said, looking for something to film.

”Probably one of the other groups. I wonder what they came into contact with…” Sectonia said, summoning some ice antlers to walk in front of the group.

”Hey, don’t we need to dedicate 20 seconds of our 90 second video with these sodas being drinken? One of each flavor within the 20 seconds? I’m not really in the mood for pop myself.” Roland said, pointing out their sponsorship deal that would earn them some bonus rewards at the end of this if they fulfilled it. Sectonia commanded her antlers to grab a flavor each, satisfying the need to drink this product while being attacked by a monster.

Eventually the shouting stopped, and around the next corner came a little guy. It was hardly bigger than Sectonia's antlers, with short limbs and a wide mouth. It spotted the four of them at the same time they spotted it, and it stopped walking only to stare at them.

”Huh… I was expecting something more horrifying down here. That's almost cute looking.” Roland said, Sectonia looking at the fixer, then the creature, then Roland with a look of mild disgust. Roland snapped back. ”What? I did say almost!”

Primrose agreed with Roland, at least on the first point. The large mouthed creature stood still while the antlers surrounded it all with drinks in hand. Now would probably be a good time to get the "sponsorship" out of the way, since the little monster didn't appear to be aggressive. She turned to the cameraman.

"Should we 'record' with the antlers no—"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Nearest to the monster, the moment the dancer's back was turned it opened its mouth and let out a blood curdling screech. It startled Primrose, and she whipped around with intent to burn the thing to a crisp. However, after clamping its mouth shut it moved, running a little distance away before stopping, peeking at the team of four, and then not so stealthily trying to run around behind them.

"..." Primrose closed her fist and snuffed the spell. Therion snickered at her, but picked up where she left off while pointing to the thing. "You wanna get this guy or look for something else?"

”Hm…. I have an idea…” Roland said as he directed the Antlers to start to hold their soda, sip it, and mill around. He got some starting footage of them chilling around and about the factory walls, acting like nothing was amiss. (Although Sectonia had to give those orders, Roland couldn’t really do it himself) and after a bit of a start, Roland used the next scream of the mouther to end the scene with the Antlers looking a bit startled.

”And there we go, there's some footage and a bit of a start. And some of our ‘sponsorship deals are done. I’ve got a couple other ideas but let's continue onwards.” Roland said, gesturing to move forward.

The four of them went on, followed by their monster tag-a-long for a little bit until they got tired of continually looking over their shoulders to prevent more screaming. Primrose gave up her lead to forcefully shoo it away. It skedaddled back up the stairway leading outside, finally leaving the group alone - though they wouldn't be for much longer.

It could have been any number of things really; the unknown number of other teams stirring up the factory's inhabitants, the screams of the little big mouth attracting other monsters... or maybe the monsters of this minigame were just high in activity to make for good video... either way, the team was beset by another monster before getting very far at all. This one blended perfectly into the dark, nearly invisible unless one was looking right at it. It was quick, and made a bee-line right for the easiest targets: Sectonia's antlers.

The monster reached out with its long arms and snatched one of the little minions, then began dragging it away into the dark. Roland had his camera on the antlers and started recording as they had been dragged away, 2 of the three antlers finishing their sodas in a vain attempt at the ‘special’ power listed on the soda to save them in trouble. The third being dragged off of, drinking the blue soda, had this happen though as they vanished in a whirl of waves much to the confusion of the creature dragging it away. Roland meanwhile had to put the camera away after that, having gotten what he thinks was enough sponsorship footage, as he struck at one of the creatures going for him and his camera.
”Hey, hands off. This is my camera!” Roland said as Sectonia offered him some support by striking the creature with her light beam. It dissipated as soon as she did, and the Travelers’ flashlights warded off any others. ”Hmph. We should probably move forward and find things that are more scary and less annoying.” Sectonia said, summoning a green antler and a couple blue ones for more fodder.

Primrose and Therion had a better grasp on the objective after watching Roland do his thing a couple of times. With new understanding, they had better insight into the game itself, and concurred with Sectonia - watching cute little ant monsters get harried by bigger, less cute monsters wasn’t very scary.

"Mayhaps a damsel in distress could make things scarier," Primrose suggested as the group continued on. Now that they were getting deeper, the factory was getting darker. Primrose looked at Therion when she followed up with, "any volunteers?"

"No," he said with a roll of his eyes.

They walked through winding concrete hallways that branched off into more and more hallways, punctuated by large steel doors. Rarely their path was blocked by lines of bright, hot lasers whose purpose was obvious to all of them, but otherwise they could freely go as deep as they wanted.

With the factory being mostly featureless, when they came upon a different looking room it was almost a relief. Though it wasn’t terribly big, it was wider than the hall they’d come from by far. The ceiling had collapsed, exposing a pitch dark hole above them and rubble on the ground in front of them. A new sound could be heard from here, almost like a disjointed accordion.

Therion tipped his head to listen to it. It was definitely getting closer, but the echo-y nature of the building made it hard to pinpoint. "Sounds like something’s coming. If it’s not scary enough for you, we can figure something else out."

Though he’d grown to like it somewhat, his Junicorn was pretty freaky looking. And Sectonia’s glowing face in the dark was most likely unnerving to those who didn’t know her. As long as their presentation was “scary,” it probably didn’t matter if it was authentic or not.

”Why are you looking at me like that…” Sectonia said as Therion was looking her over as if she was a monster. Roland meanwhile was keeping an eye out on this ‘newcomer’. While his hopes weren’t high on it being exciting, he didn’t want something to try to take the camera from him again.

While they stood around speaking, the harsh noise continued to get louder. Eventually it was loud enough to be near deafening, which is when the next creature appeared. From the hole above them, a silhouette just barely visible appeared. It did not have the comical or animalistic profile of the monsters they'd already encountered - this time, it seemed like they were looking up a man. Already it made Therion's hair stand on end, and Primrose to clench her fist in preparation. Without hesitation the dancer angled her flashlight up, revealing it.

It was indeed more like a man than anything else. He didn't appear to be nude per se, but instead it looked like his body was made of almost the same material the environment was made of. His face was shadowed, especially the sunken black pits where eyes would normally me. His body was very tall, and much too thin for a human. He held his arms up in front of him, his large hands and long fingers opened almost placidly. Every little step he made was accompanied by discordant musical notes. Although realistically any of the four of them would easily be able to handle such a foe, within the confines of the minigame and deep into a dark factory, this thing was definitely scarier than what they'd already found.

It stared at them for a second, enough time that if this really were a horror movie the fear would be able to sink in. Then it moved again. Realizing its intent, Primrose attempted to warn her team. "It looks like it's going to—"

Its arms unspooled, stretching more than three times its own body length. Being above them it immediately reached for the nearest person, the large queen bee, and grabbed her. To her credit, she wasn’t really into this whole thing at the moment, having seen disappointment after disappointment. The underground had way worse things.

Having little to grab on from above, the creature fell and grabbed Sectonia where it could get the most purchase, around her midriff. Sectonia, not too pleased by the now very loud sound near her and getting grabbed in such a manner, teleported away with an indignant and angry look on her face. Roland got everything, including her yelp of surprise, on tape much to her annoyance. As well as the retaliating sword floor that came up to greet the creature in retaliation.

However, like the minigame before, damage seemed to be turned off - for the monsters. The spikes didn’t harm it in the slightest, and it didn’t even notice them as its long arms began reeling Sectonia closer. She would be able to see that the “HP Bar” displayed on her helmet’s screen was going down.

"Are you alright?" Primrose called to her. She stood ready to defend the queen, but between the filming and not being able to see the 'damage' she was taking, neither she nor Therion were sure if they should intervene yet.

At this point Sectonia had freed herself from its grip, saying. ”I’m fine…” Sectonia was more flustered than anything. And this wasn’t the only monster here. As if being lured by this thing’s music, another creature, an old looking man, appeared around the corner. At first it seemed a bit odd, but harmless. That was until it opened its mouth wide enough to swallow a human whole, and it roared before it dashed at the one of the Antlers as the rest of the group had gotten away from the creature after seeing it take down Sectonia’s HP. Once it reached one of Sectonia’s antlers, much like its mouth suggested, it devoured it whole. Roland had gotten a bit of that as he ran, with this new creature now going after the other Antlers Sectonia left behind as a distraction and doing the same to them before going after the group, the Arms following behind being a lot slower.

Things were ramping up quickly now that they were suddenly faced with two dangerous monsters. It would be a good thing for their video, if they could make it out with the camera.

Their head start saw them down a new L-shaped hallway. When they turned, the path narrowed enough that the humans could just barely walk shoulder to shoulder. Being their cameraman, and thus at the back of the group, Roland could get a good view of the large mouthed man dashing toward them. Although there wasn’t too much film left now.

"It's catching up," Therion pointed out. And with nowhere to dodge or run to, the group's only choices were to fight or sacrifice one of themselves. Sectonia was first through the corridor, followed by Primrose, leaving the two men at the back. And since Roland was the cameraman... it sort of left things up to him.

With a sigh Therion skidded to a stop and spun around, about to summon his striker. Ending things on more monster battles would tie the whole video together, but unfortunately for him it didn't turn out that way. The former monk monster was upon him in moments, giving Roland a good shot of the creature catching up to, and eating Therion. Well… Roland didn’t know what to think about that. He had to deal with dying all the time in the library, although he never remembered any of it, and apparently this place had the same power, but still that looked very painful. And if that wasn’t the case, he’d have some choice words with the mascot character running the show… Still they all had to make a run for it, and as the creature made another roar, Roland got the message “Out of Film”, relaying he had finished recording everything. With that being said, Sectonia summoned a golden antler to allow them to escape back to the diving bell, the old man unable to get its large mouth around the even larger golden antler now bonking it on the head with its mace and the creature attacking the antler with fire.

The three of them remaining hurried through the complex, finding a ramp leading up. Primrose looked back, an urge to put the monster down making her hesitate to leave, but eventually she had to will herself to let it go. This was just a game after all. As the team ascended, they found they got lucky: the ramp led to the outside right next to their diving bell, and the entrance they'd seen at the start but neglected to take. Once they were inside, she closed the door and the bell lurched, pulling back up to the island in the sky.

---

As they arrived on the diving bell, Roland’s fears were put to rest as Therion was there by the shack. ”Hey, glad to see you're ok. Hope getting eaten wasn’t too painful.” Roland said, not actually remembering ever having gone through that pain, although Angela did tell him that that did happen once.

Therion had removed his helmet already, his ears twitching in lieu of a greeting when the others returned safe and sound. "It wasn't. I just showed up back here."

He wasn't upset about being sent back to base, seeing as he'd hardly wanted to go down there in the first place.

”Oh huh. Thats nice.” Roland said, still getting used to how easy things seemed to be. ”Glad to hear it wasn’t bad at all.” roland said, giving Therion a thumbs up.

Well, all that was left was to figure out how to upload this video. It took Roland a bit to fiddle around with the kiosk, but he figured out how to upload and turn his video into a playable disc, which had its own dedicated slot so the video could be uploaded and viewed. He wondered how this thing would turn out since they didn’t edit anything, although in his experience nothing was all that scary minus the thing near the end.

Now they could watch their film back, and see what it looked like to outside eyes. Their video began with a cold open, seemingly showing a small community of ant-like creatures chilling with each other outside of a spooky abandoned factory. They all had the sponsored drinks in hand, and were completely unsuspecting of the Mouthe creeping into frame. It screamed, its voice violently cutting through the ambient silence of the first part of the video and startling the antlers.

COMMENTS

WildC4rd: First
anon: Whats this
Brachy69: Ant babies! <3
anon: They have those down there?
1whogrips: LOL are they drinking WellCheers??
NORTEX: mid soda
DRNuts: Nah the grape is good
gddfan: Oh new monsters
anon: LITTLE GUY
Garlicklvr: OW MY EARS!!!
anon: Kinda think that thing is cute
orangekid: We have those where I live. Actually pretty common. Just dont let it sneak up on you
ParadiseLust: lol that thing is not very scary
anon: SO LOUD
anon: Is that ant freezing its soda?
anon: Isn’t that thing a plant?

The next shot was of the antlers in peril once again, with dark entities tugging them away into the blackness. The escalation from the little minions getting spooked to them being spirited away titillated the audience, though ultimately they were still just looking at mild monster on monster violence.

COMMENTS

Brachy69: more ant babies
anon: is this a documntery???
steelrabbit: watch out!
daughterofthedark: Top teir content! Shadow monster!
GOTHEM: I think it went away when they shone a light on it
anon: Please like this comment if you also liked the creepy crawly creature from the video
1whogrips: lol and they were still drinking while getting got
anon: OK BUT WHERE DID THE BUGS GET DRAGGED TO?!
anon: Wait did that bug get eaten by water?
[USER DELETED]: “You’ve won! Click here [Link redacted] for your prize!”
anon: Oh no its a bot.
Love2Hades: begone, bot!

The next cut was the appearance of the long armed monster. With Roland's steady hand he captured its reveal, its fall, its capture of Sectonia and her escape, as well as the spikes she raised and its indifference to them. At that point he'd backed up, getting as wide a shot of the room as possible and including the Orsterrans and the sudden appearance of the second monster.

COMMENTS

anon: Ewww so creepy
Brachy69: oh the bug mom!
anon: Mommy bug
anon: LONG
anon: LONG ARMS
gddfan: wtf
anon: IT GOT HER
anon: Arms got a good grab, I wish I was him.
cosmicjster: haha
anon: teleport hax
anon: is this real????
NORTEX: Spikes?
Harmonia: What is this?
Love2Hades: lol the crew got caught
raphaelambrosiuscosteau: girl!
anon: O////O who is that lady
Love2Hades: whistles
ParadiseLust: girl from the other vid was better
anon: Holy hell, what a banger. Love the weird creatures
p2: OHKO?
anon: nooo the lil bugs
anon: A demon shall never reach heaven!
daughterofthedark: He must not have done many good deeds

And finally, the last chunk of the footage was the pursuit. The camera jostled slightly as the team ran, adding to that found footage vibe as the long armed monster and the large mouthed monster chased them down the hall. Eventually the long arms was lost, unable to keep up with the rest, but its haunting accordion music could still be heard echoing in the background of the final moments of the video. The fallen monk charged forward in a blaze of fire, swallowing Therion whole. The video cut out very soon after that.

COMMENTS

WildC4rd: lol RIP catboy
anon: yummy
gddfan: Is that allowed?
anon: So thats where Clouded Monk went…
steelrabbit: so spooky!
GWill: did they make it out?
anon: obviously dumass how u think they upload the vid
1whogrips: LOL
arsonry!: it used fire :O
anon: good video!

When it was over the screen they'd watched it on darkened, showing the option to replay it. At the bottom was a counter for views and ad revenue, as well as another marker for the extra revenue they'd earned thanks to taking on a sponsorship. With absolutely no frame of reference for the numbers, most of them didn't know if they'd done well.

"I suppose once every one is finished, we'll be back with the host and learn who won," Primrose surmised.

”Yep. Honestly it was pretty boring besides the end. I’ve seen scarier things on a day to day basis.” Roland said, scratching his neck. ”I have no frame of reference myself, but there were far, far worse things in the under.” Sectonia commented.

She was completely right. All four of them had seen horrors far beyond what the minigame offered, but then again it was only a friendly video-making competition. Not to mention they didn't know how their video was going to be graded. Maybe these mildly scary monsters and the gradual escalation of spookiness would make the cut, or the other groups got unlucky.

World of Light

Speed Demons II

Word Count: 3,002 words
EXP: +4
Rapport: Primrose/Zenkichi +4

Watching the moving platforms as the pair caught their breath, Zenkichi hummed with a bit of concern. The very first platform would require them to swing off it and land on a nearby ledge, continuing upward from there. Below was another platform that was placed to allow any pairs that fell to return to the climb, as well, but it also seemed to require a swinging leap. ”They certainly didn’t make this easy on us, did they? Might as well just keep a steady pace, see how far we can get.”

Once they got moving, the pair made it onto the moving platform without issue, but the timing on the swing was another story. The first attempt was a failure, though it was because Zenkichi had taken too long to start swinging, and thus had too little momentum when the platform started moving back towards the entrance of the mine. This forced him to abandon the attempt, and wait until the platform raised itself once more to line up with the ledge before them.

Primrose would much rather take a few attempts than a fall, so she didn't mind waiting for her partner to be ready. Being the first to swing was already daunting enough. When he did launch himself the dancer jumped right after, maneuvering herself up to the wooden platform affixed to the rock wall and pulling Zenkichi up via the rope.

Naturally, just after she thought she preferred the slow pace to a fall, the next rock they stepped on began to crumble away beneath their feet. Almost by habit Primrose touched her scarf, but it did nothing thanks to Balan's magic and she dropped straight down.

Zenkichi had just landed on the platform when it collapsed, and without time to get back to the wooden platform, he fell right with her, a started yelp escaping his lips as they landed in a heap back where they’d started moments before. ”Well, that sucked. At least it wasn’t as bad a fall this time, but jeeze, this really is like a video game…” He mumbled that last bit, not trying to get into that bit of technology right now, before getting back up. ”Alright, stupid crumbling platform. Round two!”

Looking at the crumbling section that had left them stranded, Zenkichi hummed while the moving platform just above it went up and down. ”Short cycle on that one. That’s a bit of a pain.” Nonetheless, he got right back on the proverbial horse with Primrose and they repeated the swinging that got them there, before taking a moment on the wooden platform to watch the movement of the mobile one. ”We don’t get a lot of time, so we have to move quickly. Get on that crumbling block as it’s about to reach the bottom, then jump right away and land on the moving one. And if only one of us makes the jump, we can just pull the other up.”

The jump back to the platform was a little easier this time around, and all that remained was to put their plan into action. When push came to shove, it was…surprisingly easy, and they were on the rising platform with little issue and a moment or two to spare before the platform they’d left crumbled behind them. ”Guess it’s more the element of surprise on that one, huh…” he commented.

Primrose hummed in agreement. "I suppose that isn't the only fragile foothold either. Imagine if we chose the other direction, and encountered something like that in a much less fortunate place..." As she trailed off, her gaze flickered up around them. "Speaking of..."

There was another element to the mines that was only really apparent now, just a little deeper inside. Besides the dim light, the moving buckets, the crumbling rocks, and the shifting sand hills... there were also a lot of different paths. Before now, the way up had been straightforward. In the mines, they were likely to make things harder for themselves by choosing the wrong path. It was possible they'd get lost somewhere too, if the mines took up the entire inside of the mountain. Combined with the lighting issue, they were in for a rough time.

The elevator that Zenkichi and Primrose were on made a couple of return trips while they got their bearings. Eventually the two decided to make for the nearby moving platform, and after taking the time to make sure they were really ready they hopped from the second crumbling stone path onto the second conveyor. Now, though, they were faced with exactly the same problem: which way should they go?

There was an overhang slightly back the way they'd come that looked like it would bring them directly up. Another with a few "caution" signs hanging around it, and yet another moving platform that continued horizontally like the one they currently rode.

"All of them seem challenging," Primrose said as she observed. Well, save for the other bucket, but who knew where that led.

As the pair rode back and forth, thinking, Zenkichi looked up at the single, small floating platform above them. He’d long since given up any hope of winning, but he still had some pride in him, dammit! ”Straight up.” It would require careful timing to even get there, but the goal was to go up, and going straight up would surely be the fastest way, if not the easiest. ”That little rock right above us. We jump up, grab it, and swing from there. Grab the wall, swing around it, and onto that little platform just off to the side of it. From there, I see another platform moving. Or, the light from one, at least.” It was a bold strategy, and boldness like that had dropped them quite a ways before, but they’d been taking it pretty easy for a while now. They could afford a little effort.

"Ambitious." Primrose followed the path Zenkichi laid out with her eyes. It probably wasn't what she would have chosen, but she had little want to refuse either way. Without the worry of getting hurt, falling risked only progress, and since those ahead of them were way ahead, they weren't likely to catch up even if they took an easier path. She nodded at his choice, and the two of them began to prepare.

That being said, to get the timing right took another couple of passes, but get it they did, clawed gloves digging into the rock. They'd executed the plan exactly as it had been laid out, waiting until almost the limit of their grip's strength to make sure each swing would end up successful. [color=BFBFBF]”[i]Yosh!/i][/color] Zenkichi cheered, slipping into Japanese for a second.

Primrose caught her breath as they huddled on the small ledge they'd made it up to. Once their next destination, another elevator, was within sight they quickly hopped across another crumbling path onto it.

During another leisurely ride up, Primrose turned to her partner. "I admit we've made it farther than I thought we would," she said. There were certainly worse pairing combos, as demonstrated by those behind them. It had been fun so far though. She only mentioned it now because directly ahead of them, as the platform continued higher, the next part of their chosen path came into view... and she wasn't sure exactly how much farther they'd get from here.

Gone were the floating planks of wood and the larger rocks. Instead, positioned almost entirely vertically, were several tiny stones with telltale fissures running through them. She spotted at least three before there was a glow from another bucket, which was moving much faster than the ones they'd been hitching a ride on so far.

”Yeah, this is gonna be tough…” Zenkichi unhelpfully commented, looking up at the rocks between them and the next moving platform. It was hard to tell, but he could just barely make out another small wooden platform near one of the partially-broken stones that they would have to use as platforms. He wondered if it was a sort of rest spot between the several crumbling sections they’d have to traverse before the next bucket.

”I think we can take a rest on that little spot there.” He tried to point it out in the dim light, but it was hard to see, especially with the movement of their current location. ”Ready when you are.” He added.

Primrose glanced at him, one eyebrow raised. ‘Tough’ was an understatement. But she was up for at least trying, so the pair counted down quickly and made the leap just as their current platform hit its peak.

They hopped to the crumbling stone platform, then quickly looked up and jumped to the next one, grabbing hold of its side due to the height of the required jump. ”I got the swing.” Zenkichi said before letting go, shifting his weight to try and gain momentum. He could see the little wooden platform he had them aim for, but swung to grab the other side of the rock. ”Alright, I’m on. Let go now and swing to the platform!” He called.

Primrose released her hold and swooped down beneath Zenkichi. She looked to be on a good course, but couldn't quite make it in just one swing. She needed a little more momentum. Instead she kicked her feet off the bottom of the platform to gain speed on her back swing. "One moment," she said, conscious of both the time limit of Zenkichi's grip and the rock's chance to vanish. The second time she made it up, bracing herself to hold Zenkichi's weight and reel him in. "Alright."

The former turk was right, they could take a breather here. But with two grown adults, the space was tight. It was definitely the smallest platform so far, and the two of them had to stick pretty close in order to keep both of their feet on solid ground.

Primrose had caught her partner's earlier implication that he was a widower, and though so far he didn't seem to be the type he had fully admitted to being 'rotten,' so she couldn’t help but tease him, saying almost idly, "I trust you aren't getting any ideas."

Zenkichi shook his head at the implication, almost bringing his hands up on instinct to physically ward off any perception of himself as a creep, before realizing that doing so would knock her right off. ”N-No ma’am! Nothing like that! Boy, we are awfully close, aren’t we?!” Nervousness was coming off him in waves that somehow Akane-or Sandalphon- would find out and get the wrong ideas. He looked all around them, desperate for an escape from the awkwardness, before registering her tone and blinking. ”You’re…messing with me, aren’t you?”

Well, didn’t he just look the fool? Chuckling nervously, Zenkichi scratched the back of his neck. Two of those crumbling platforms before another moving bucket, he noticed, trying to move on from that moment.

Amused by his reaction, Primrose turned her head away to futilely mask a chuckle. Though she did confirm or deny either way. Instead, once she was through having a laugh she nodded towards the next set of jumps.

They tried for the same careful timing in order to jump from one crumbling stone to the other, and then onto the moving platform above them. Their rhythm was not completely in sync at first, likely due to the joke Primrose had played on Zenkichi, but after narrowly avoiding a fall they made it to the fish bucket and could stand a regular distance apart while they judged their next move. Ahead of them looked like the toughest section yet, with a short underhang, another very small wooden foothold, and a speedy vertical elevator. If Primrose was reading it right, they'd have to jump from their current platform, grab the protruding stone, swing onto the tiny plank, and then swing from that onto the next elevator...

”Alright…” Zenkichi muttered, still a little distant from Primrose. ”Shouldn’t be too bad. It’s basically a repeat of what we did just before, actually, though I’m pretty sure that little wood platform is smaller than the last one. As long as we don’t mess up that swing, we’ll be fine.” Taking a deep breath to re-center himself, Zenkichi’s demeanor loosened up and he stretched his arms. ”Ready when you are.”

Primrose figured she was as prepared as she could be, and let him know as much. "I'm ready."

As Zenkichi said, this was basically a repeat of last time, a little further down below. The main difference was how narrow the platform they were trying to land on from the swing was, but with Zenkichi holding the wall while Primrose started swinging, they were in good shape. Once Zenkichi felt the rope go slack to signal that his partner had landed, he let go. Hanging from the rope while she pulled him up, Zenkichi caught a glimpse of Geralt and his partner not far below them. She was pulling Ganondorf up onto the little wooden platform below them.

He decided not to call out to them, to avoid messing up their concentration, and once he was up, looked at the bucket ahead of them, moving up and down on its rail. ”I’m good to keep swinging.” He confirmed, keeping them in their usual jobs as he jumped off the platform to start building momentum. The dancer held firm, content to let Zenkichi swing as many times as he thought he needed to in order for them both to clear the jump. with the light in the mine gradually brightening as they went up, the exit must not have been too far above them, she thought. After a couple of rounds of swinging, he called ”Go!” as he swung by, Primrose leaping from the wooden platform to the elevating bucket, both landing just as it reached the bottom of its path.

The arcs of their jumps had been perfect, and their timing spot on. So it was unfortunate that at that moment, just after touching down, a hurricane force vacuum began to pull everyone and everything not nailed down toward the bottom of the mine. Primrose felt her feet had scarcely touched ground when she felt the force suction her, Zenkichi, and most of the fish in the bucket they'd been about to land on straight down the way they'd come, and then some.

Zenkichi groaned as he felt the gale-force winds pressing down on him, and try as he might, he couldn’t catch hold of the bucket, so the pair found themselves being pulled down with everything that wasn’t nailed (or magically affixed) in place. They crashed into another bucket below them, still being dragged by the force of suction, then fell even further down to crash into a solid section of floor, where Zenkichi could finally dig his clawed gloves into the ground to keep them in place, as he yelled out, ”This is so unfair, you know!” at the Universe, not realizing that it was another Seeker that was causing the wind force.

If not for the enchantment preventing damage, the two of them would probably have a few bruises the next morning with how they'd crashed down. While Zenkichi clung to the wall of the mine shaft they'd been forced down into, Primrose attempted to climb up the tether and add her grip strength to his. As it was, she was hanging half off the side of the platform they'd landed on. She couldn't pull herself back up while the vacuum was happening, so she just hung on as tightly as she could. Several seconds went by, and just when the two of them were about to lose their holds, the force subsided.

The dancer quickly lifted herself up with a huff. She doubted anyone expected that. How many others had gotten caught in that pull? After a few moments to catch her breath and regroup, she stood. Then she looked down to where the winds had come from.

She and Zenkichi had gotten pulled farther down than she thought, but not as far as some people. Below, she could just barely make out a whole group of people. The Koopa Troop, their partners, Ganondorf and his... she immediately noted that Therion, Ms. Fortune, Midna, and her partner Roxas didn't appear to be among them, nor did Sectonia or Captain Falcon or Goldlewis' teams. So they were either much farther ahead, or even farther behind.

"I see..." she murmured, motioning for Zenkichi to take a look as well. "Unfair indeed. Seems like everyone has tried their hand a cheating by now."

”To be fair, we did both use magic to make ourselves go a lot faster…” Zenkichi muttered, a little frown on his face. That probably counted, too. ”Oh, hey, Geralt got sucked down there, too. Ouch. We got lucky, managing to grab on here. Not much higher up, but still.” He sighed, looking around a bit more. ”Wanna keep going, or what? I’m up for whatever, but that kinda sucked a lot of the fun out of the whole thing.” He admitted, shrugging.

Primrose didn't answer immediately. Did she want to keep going? She had pride, but at least in some things she knew when to quit. And it was likely that she'd had all the enjoyment she was going to have during this game. She glanced at Zenkichi, then back down to the people below.

"I've had enough fun for now," she said. "What say you to meeting up with the rest of them down there?"

”Sounds good to me. Hey, at least we got to confirm that both our spells work to speed us up. If we’re ever on a team again and we gotta run from some kinda giant monster, that’ll be good to remember.” Zenkichi commented, gesturing his head towards the others as he started his way back. ”Maybe we can even let some of them hitch a ride, hah.” He joked.

World of Light

Stealing First III

Level 7 Therion (267/70) and Level 13 Ms Fortune (141/130)
Word Count: 838 (+2 Exp)

Secluded in the icy cave, Therion and Nadia enjoyed their short break in near-silence, allowing themselves a slightly longer reprieve than their first. The only sound seemed to be a rattling noise nearby, which steadily waxed, waned, and waxed once more. While typically a lot chattier than her companion, the feral didn’t feel the need to force any small talk. They’d come a long way together, sure, but with the finish line nowhere in sight just yet, the two needed their heads in the game. For all the ground they covered in Balan’s amazing make-believe wonderworld, it had been only five minutes or so. In some respects it felt like a lot longer, but while in the zone Nadia scarcely felt time pass at all. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. Of course, winning would be even more fun, so when voices echoed up through the fishy mines, the thieves readied themselves to run what would hopefully be the final stretch.

Right away, a conundrum blocked their immediate progress, but as they rested the two had plenty of time to figure it out. With no possible handholds above and only a floor of crumbly blocks below, they wondered if their route forward might lie below, and when Nadia’s protruding ears picked up that familiar rattling noise, they put together a plan. “Okay,” Nadia murmured, ears swiveling. “...Now!”

As the sound grew louder again they dropped onto the floor, even without any fuss from Therion. It fell away beneath them to reveal another mine cart, which the thieves barely managed to grab onto. They clambered aboard, hearts already racing again, and it carried them on an L-shaped path. From there, more tricky block-jumps awaited them, this time with barely any safety net beneath them. By now, though, Nadia and Therion were hitting their stride. They were adjusting for one another, unconsciously changing their timing to synchronize better. With a lot of dexterity, a little luck, and just a teeny tiny little bit of cheating, the two pushed past a gauntlet of crumbling stones, underhang grapples, and two-person swings. Most tense of all was the cart ride that slid just beneath protruding rocks, forcing the team to hop over each and land back on the cart. At one point, Nadia tripped on one of the stones and slipped between it and the cart, but Therion stuck the landing. With no time to be pulled up before the next block, Nadia swung beneath the cart to land on it from the other side, and the two continued from there.

Finally they jumped from the fish bucket to solid ground, where they found themselves in rosy pink light. A cool wind tousled their hair, reinvigorating them with the knowledge that they were almost outside. Climbing so quickly they almost fell again, Nadia and Therion raced across an open stretch surrounded by stone walls, the pink glow quickly deepening to atmospheric purple. After a couple icy jumps, they reached the open air once more, at a height where strong winds turned idyllic snowfall into buffeting flurries.

Nadia bounced up and down in excitement. “We gotta be near the end!” she told Therion, looking around for any sign of the competition. While a few other pairs blew through the first part of the climb, those mines had been the great equalizer, with different routes -and dead ends- that could confound cheaters as easily as anyone else. Here, though, all those routes converged.

Therion's scarf and shawl billowed with every gust of wind, easily showing its force and direction. It seemed the gale blew down from the mountain top, actively trying to dissuade any climbers from reaching the summit. That summit still loomed over them, but given all the progress they'd made and how distant the penguin town looked, Therion couldn't help but agree with his partner. The end was, technically, in sight.

There was one other thing that quickly became apparent to the two of them. The wind died down in steady intervals, meaning they had to contend with not just the gusts strong enough to threaten to push individuals off of their feet, but remembering the wind's timing so they weren't caught in a gale at the wrong time.

Timing, as much as teamwork, had been the name of the game so far so that didn't come as a surprise. While preparing to start the final leg of the course, Therion's own feline ears twitched and he turned his attention to where Nadia was looking. It seemed like they had company, a few other pairs arriving at about the same time they had. Now they had no time to lose.

"We can do this," Therion said, stated more as a fact than as a mere encouragement.

That wind would make jumping harder than ever, and with a very long fall between here and the entrance to the mines, blunderers had more to lose than ever. The thieves needed to not just finish strong, but get everyone else before they got got themselves.

Now I introduce myself and take a bow

Welcome! Depending on what kind of RP you want to do, you may want to browse either the 1x1 section or any of the other interest check areas. Happy hunting!

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