[h2][center]Geralt of Rivia[/center][/h2]
[center]Spiral Mountain, Land of Adventure[/center]
[center]Lvl 5 (19/50) -> Lvl 5 (21/50) [/center]
[center]Word Count: 834 words[/center]

Taking quick stock of the goodies his Spirit-crushing had gotten him (and that was only [i]slightly[/i] sarcastic, mind you), Geralt gathered round for another of Peach's Speeches. [i]Dammit, Dandelion, now you have me rhyming![/i] Her speaking was succinct, but purposeful. They didn't have to do this. But they did. Because that's what heroes did. Geralt, personally, was no hero, but he'd take the praise. At least she wasn't like the sycophants in Lumbridge, praising his every step and practically worshiping the Witcher. [i]That[/i] had been strange, and he was almost starting to prefer the open contempt Continent regulars had for his kind.

The party slowly crossed the bridge, coming along into a tunnel built into the earth. It was...strange. The tunnel was very clearly built with a different design from the structures that they'd just left, and while it was little surprise in this strange world born from the remains of other worlds, it still stood out to him. Whether that was because he'd picked up some appreciation for stonework from Zoltan or the sheer wrongness of it all, he couldn't be sure. 

Eventually, they reached their target: the strange, disturbing wall of darkness. Slowly, the group began moving into the wall that stood before them, careful at first, testing it, but more quickly when they were sure it wouldn't instantly kill them all. Satisfied that entering would be safe, Geralt followed after some of the others. 

The transition was much like going through a portal, and Geralt took a careful stance, trying not to lose his stomach to the feeling that spatial displacement always gave him. "Urrgh..." He groaned, forcefully closing his eyes before blinking a few times at the lack of light piercing into them through his eyelids. 

And when he opened his eyes, he realized why. They were in a world of darkness. Not just night, true darkness. Not a star in sight. Only strange, purple...something. He couldn't describe it. There were splotches of some kind of strange, dark purple substance swirled in the sky before them. 

This whole place was wrong. From the strange, porous ground beneath them, [i]floating in the damned sky[/i], to the other, larger floating island covered in strange black creatures made of rectangles, to the endless, almost disturbing backdrop of the eldritch sky. It was like when they fought that crystalline monster, but...not quite the same. There was a difference, and it was important, but the difference was difficult to properly describe. 

And then there was his medallion. It was vibrating. Here. In this dark, disturbing world. Oh, sure, it made sense. Portals, floating islands, creepy monster-things. But of course to add onto everything, this place was [i]magical[/i] weird. Not normal weird, noooo, had to be magic. 

Damn that Galeem, he could have been home hunting Drowners or something like that, not traipsing through magical darkness worlds with a bunch of do-gooders and their weird giant turtle monster boss. At least he was still getting something out of this. 

After a short period of everybody getting their bearings and looking around, Tora, the strange metal golem creature, found himself being attacked by the strange black rectangular creature. That had teleported directly in front of him to attack. Yes, that was what they needed. Teleporting monsters. Because things weren't crazy enough. 

Jumping into action, Geralt pulled his silver sword from his back and took a combat stance, only to witness two others being attacked. The Cadet and Sectonia, that uppity bee...thing. Deciding that Bowser was more than enough annoying monster-person to deal with, he rushed towards the Cadet, activating Quen to protect himself from any attacks, and taking a swipe at the creature. 

Of course, it teleported out of the way again, but when it returned, Geralt gave a ferocious grin and stabbed at it with all his might, silver piercing into the murky black body of the thing before him. It screeched, teleporting away once more and staring at the two of them from afar, anger apparent in its face. How he could tell, Geralt wasn't sure, but it was there. "Damn, these things don't play fair." He grumbled. Of course monsters wouldn't play fair, but was it so much to ask for more of those weird fish-people? They were so straightforward to kill, not unlike Drowners. 

Mentally shaking his head, Geralt drew his pistol and fired, missing his target and instead blasting the stone near it, causing the creature to teleport slightly to the side. Narrowing his eyes, Geralt frowned. "And now it's not coming back. Whoreson..." He grumbled again. "When it comes back, go for the legs. I'll go high." Geralt strategized with Ace Cadet. "That way we won't hit each other's swords." The sound of steel on steel (or silver, in this case) was damn annoying, and while any damage to his ear drums was never permanent, he'd still have a bit of ringing for a minute if he ever caught himself in a full-force clash of blades.