[center][h3]Tora, Poppi and Big Band[/h3]
Level 9 Tora (5/90) Level 8 Poppi (74/80) and Level 2 Big Band (13/20)
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon
Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC], Midna's [@DracoLunaris], Yoshitsune's [@Rockin Strings], Red’s [@TheDemonHound], Laharl’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 890 / 1707[/center]

With just a few exceptions, the team so talkative when it came time to deal with potential enemies took a taciturn turn, leaving Tora and Poppi a little bemused but Band nonplussed. What the others got up to was, after all, none of his business, so long as it didn’t interfere with his own investigation. What did surprise him was Fox declaring his intent to go it alone, taking the detective’s suggestion of sticking to smaller groups to the extreme. Primrose, meanwhile, took Panther up on her implicit request, and laid down an implication of her own that Band agreed with. In any unfamiliar city it just made sense to keep another pair of eyes around to watch one’s back, and in one in the grip of an active shadow war? A no brainer.

Midna offered the team a little help by listing off the Bounties she remembered seeing up in the palace, all of which stood a couple levels above the rather mundane tasks posted to the job board. She herself, however, assigned herself to the disturbance in the church. The princess of darkness would, it seemed, be tasked with bringing a mystery to light. Yoshitsune, Red, Sectonia, Tora, Poppi and Laharl said nothing for the time being. Band couldn’t help but agree with Primrose: this group could use some extra help communicating, and not just across long distances. Well, no matter. He had some business to take care of, and so stomped off in the same direction as Fox, and left those who remained to sort things out.

“Well!” Braum declared to break the silence, slapping his knees as he got to his feet. “I can think of no better use for these muscles than hauling fruit! Just leave that one to me.” He put a totally confident grin on display, reassuring everyone that they need not worry about the produce delivery.

For his part, Tora considered one of the Bounties that Midna recalled, which sounded easy enough to him. He hopped down from his chair. “Tora and Poppi can clear out cistern, meh!” he volunteered. “Icky nasties not stand chance against Tora and Poppi supreme team!” That said, however, he knew an opportunity when he saw one. The Nopon waddled over to tap Red’s shoulder. “Hey! Tora not know you very well, but this good chance fix that, and you seem good at fighting, too! Want join Tora and Poppi?”

Whether or not Red accepted, the pair got moving shortly. After consulting the train station’s map board to find water treatment, Tora walked there with a skip in his step. Compared to the sheer effort of braving the unknown for the sake of the Seeker’s mission, going down into some sewers to kill rats was a paradoxical breath of fresh air. Classic adventuring fare, Tora figured.

On the way there, Poppi attempted to glance up at the sun, but found it too strong for even her optical sensors. She blinked, turning her gaze back to the streets. Each one bustled with activity, full of a huge variety of unfamiliar faces. Who would have thought that such a normal city existed way out into such an inhospitable region? “How Masterpon handling desert heat?” she asked.

“Phew!” Tora wiped some sweat off his row. “Not fun, Tora tell you that! Hotter than Mor Ardain, and way more sandy. Tora more thankful for Poppi than ever.” He glanced her way. “Um, now that mention it can Poppi cool Tora off now, meh? Became really hottypon in train station, even in shade.”

Obligingly his companion showered him with a spray of diamond dust, and the Nopon sighed in relief and delight. “Ah, much better! Thank you Poppi!” She smiled and bowed her head, happy to help. As they got underway once more, her Masterpon returned the question. “How about Poppi? Hold up okay, meh?”

“Oh, it alright. Sand in joints annoying. Overall durability decreasing slightly faster than normal, and ether drain slightly higher to regulate temperature. But Poppi enjoy desert.” She tapped a finger against her chin. “Or maybe, it better to say Poppi fascinated by desert. It so incredibly vast. Bigger than any Titan. Looking out over miles and miles make Poppi feel very small.”

Tora nodded. “Meh, meh. That for sure. Tora smaller than Poppi, too, so it even worse. Although Tora care more about all the walking. Legs killing me! Good thing Tora build up resistance running around Titans all day with Rex.”

After a slight laugh the artificial remarked, “Poppi grateful Tora not give her tiny Nopon legs. If Masterpon want be carried, just let Poppi know~!”

Tora spotted the entrance to the waterworks and changed course for it as he shook his head. “No thanks, meh. Tora determined hold on to what little dignity Tora can.” With one wing he scratched his belly. “Well, in public, at least.”

The water facility turned out to be surprisingly well-lit and brightly decorated, with flower patterns across the walls and ceilings. A stairway led Tora and Poppi down into the cistern itself, which opened up into a grand central chamber. Only after oohing and aahing over the great stone head that loomed above them did Tora remember he was here to kill some rats or something. “Well! Tora couldn’t imagine more pleasant sewer system. Let’s go, Poppi!”

“Roger, roger!”

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/LHDvDxY.png[/img][/center]

[hr]

[center][h3]Primrose & Panther[/h3]
[@Yankee][/center]

Glad for the dancer’s acceptance and company, Panther headed south from the train station in the footsteps of the other Phantom Thieves. Where they ended up she could not rightly say, but once she grew near enough she could reach them via radio contact. Just how their masks allowed them to communicate she didn’t know, but she sure wasn’t questioning it. With that in mind, all she and Primrose needed to do was wander around the southern section of Al Mamoon, and Panther certainly didn’t mind a little sightseeing, even if she felt like having lunch soon.

Bit by bit they worked their way through the streets, with no response to her occasional hails. Everywhere she turned there was something new and interesting, and her stomach led her where her eyes did not. Try as she might, however, poor Panther couldn’t wheedle so much as a single kebab from a bored-looking cart-minder with her feminine charms. Despite boasting more allure than ever before she met failure at every turn, as if everyone saw straight through her--which was not out of the question, as only a little observation was enough to convince Primrose that her new friend was a terrible actress. “Jeez, what do I have to do, Marin Karin?!” she pouted at length. “Whenever I see someone else do this, it seems like the easiest thing in the world. Just bat a few eyelashes and suddenly people are tripping all over you.”

She looked herself over, wondering if her new outfit was to blame, or if her snake tail was putting people off, but ended up glancing at Primrose. “Oh, uh. I mean the, like, royal ‘you’, but I guess you’ve got that stuff nailed down. You’ve been turning heads all day.” As she spoke Panther did her best to keep her envy out of her voice, since she bore Primrose no ill will whatsoever. “Sorry, it’s just a little frustrating to not know what’s wrong.”

[center][h3]Midna[/h3]
[@DracoLunaris][/center]

Midna’s trail, and the city’s accommodating if relatively sparse shadows led her to the shuttered church without incident. Though not that large, the [url=https://i0.wp.com/archaeologyinbulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Bulgarians-Age-of-Empires-II-Definitive-Edition-2-Veliki-Preslav-Golden-Round-Church.jpg?fit=713%2C399]former place of worship[/url] sported both impressive domes and well-laid roofing tile, both in a bronze color that contrasted its stone brick. Even without a lot of familiarity with this architectural style Midna could tell this place was old. More pressing than its appearance, however, was whatever allegedly lay within, and that drove the Twilight Princess to look for an entrance.

The main door seemed thoroughly sealed, but the church had a number of windows. All those at street level had been nailed over with wooden boards by whichever city officials condemned the building, but those higher up had made such treatment impractical for several reasons. Toward the church’s top its openings were less windows and more missing sections of wall with interspersed pillars, and for someone who could float they offered an easy way inside.

The moment Midna entered, however, demonic runes closed over the openings, trapping her inside. Given her experience with Twilight Beasts it wasn’t the first time something like this happened, and it wouldn’t be the last. What it meant concerned her more: the presence of enemies that could be dispatched in order to dispel the barrier. That made things easy. And the freakish, gibbering noises she could hear down below made it even easier.

In the wide-open space of the church’s ground floor, a [url=https://assets.gamepur.com/images/dead_cells/thumb/Cursed_Sword.png]strange-looking sword[/url] rested, embedded, in the altar. It contrasted sharply with the style and decor of the place, suggesting that it did not belong, and since being jammed there it had attracted all the wrong attention. Three [url=https://i.imgur.com/SNlM56a.png]grotesque things[/url] contorted themselves before it, leaping and gyrating in a bizarre, disturbing dance of adulation. They were mockeries of flesh, bone, and eye too horrible to ever have been human, and the noises they made as they supplicated before the cursed blade were the stuff to keep the average man up at night.

Midna knew what she had to do, but she knew not if she had the strength to do it. If this seemed like more than she could handle, surely there existed another way out of the church that she need only find.

[center][h3]Fox & Big Band[/h3]
[@Dawnrider][/center]

With Band trailing at a respectful distance and not at all trying to hide it from Fox, the detective followed the pilot as he made his way north through the city, then northwest. Maybe Fox thought he could figure things out on his own, but Band doubted his new acquaintance heard the whispers like he did, and with things the way they were Band didn’t plan on either of them going solo. This wasn’t necessarily the direction he would have chosen to start a sweep in, but Band was in no rush. These things took time, especially when done right, so he was in it for the long haul.

Fox’s happenstance wandering took him to a relatively open area among the buildings, its mosaic paths leading through carefully cultivated garden beds brimming with flowers. Marble fountainheads carved into fish and serpents spat streams of water in fanciful arcs for children to play in. As soon as he entered, Band slowed for a moment and set a timer in his head. He’d been here last night and taken the whole thing in, but not in a pragmatic sense like he wanted to now.  There existed only a short period in which he could get the lay of the land without looking like he was searching for something, so he needed to read between the lines fast. In that department his long years of experience were an invaluable asset, and as his eyes swept over the scene they saw a great deal.

Judging by both the furnishings on the buildings and the architecture itself, the park lay between a residential district to the north and the business distinct to the east, with the train station and a few other public other utilities just on the other side of a row of hotels to the south. Temporary accommodations and transport went together like bread and butter after all, and so did work and rest in the lives of the average citizen. Foot traffic between the two distincts along the upper-right quadrant of the park far outweighed it in the rest, told as much in the wear on the tiles as by the people walking that route even now. His wasn’t the only eye savvy to that phenomenon, however, and the buildings lining that section of street outshone their peers elsewhere. And above them all was the establishment right in the corner, the Hound Pits.

With doors wide open to invite in anyone bracing themselves for the work day or relaxing after it, the [url=https://external-preview.redd.it/WgACdA_D7mGlDFbYgIyuE73k_4VsTsVrImZsShwkmFs.jpg?auto=webp&s=8ce0fcbec47b8a85bb655431a1fd508885c44bbc]comfortably laid-out bar[/url] had been buzzing even in the wee hours of the night when Band’s train rolled in, and it was buzzing now. Not too busy, not too calm. A waypoint in a threshold, a liminal space between worlds where anyone could find a few moments’ refuge. Band waltzed that way.

Rather than enter, however, he parked himself right outside. With one spindly mechanical arm he removed his hat, which he held upside down and dropped on the ground in front of him. From beneath his coat he produced a music stand that he sat down on, and the front parted to admit a saxophone. When he put it to his lips, the spell was cast: for however much he stood out normally, the big man had disappeared. Set up like this he was barely higher on the social ladder than a beggar; his very presence posed a question to each and every bystander as to whether they would avert their eyes and mind their own business, or stop to listen to his music with the unspoken expectation that they would toss a little something something into his hat. He played low but upbeat, a familiar and pleasant tune that perfectly complemented the sort of brief but vivacious meetings and meals of a working day lunch or drink. His jazzy, soulful notes wove through the air, across the park and into the bar. Band felt quite confident as he banked on nobody sallying forth from the Hound Pits to shoo him off, what with his playing skill. If anything the proprietors might be willing to tolerate him for the extra atmosphere he provided and the extra customers he attracted--the townsfolk might even think him a hired amenity of the bar itself. In only a few moments the biggest man around put himself off everyone’s radar, faded into the backdrop, a piece of the scenery. Out of sight, out of mind.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=454lU4zO0KY[/youtube][/center]

It was as good as an invisibility potion, and it allowed him to accomplish his real purpose. In this comfortably transitory, interim place, he could pick up all sorts of things both from inside the bar and out. Sound, after all, was his speciality. Even while playing Band could eavesdrop on a bevy of conversations, whether at rest or on the move, hunting for any suspicious trace that might point him in the right direction.

[center][h3]Al Mamoon - Palatial Gallery[/h3]
[@Zoey Boey][/center]

Joker turned his eyes on Jesse as she approached, offering her sympathies for Morgana’s condition. In the heat of the moment he didn’t identify her before, but now he recognized her as the woman he’d seen acting casual near the gates. A redhead, at least ten years older than him, seemingly capable. Judging by her involvement in the action and what seemed like an understanding with the guards, he guessed she was some sort of undercover security. Then again he might be overthinking things, since ‘unaffiliated bystander’ worked just as well. She didn’t seem to shy away from a fight or freak out when faced with strange things, which lent credence to the idea she possessed some degree of power and/or agency of her own, although she arrived too late to make much of a difference. 

“We’re alright,” he told her. “Considering everything that gun seemed capable of, it could have been a lot worse.” The stranger went ahead and dispelled any need for conjectures by spelling out her own reason for being here. Having failed to apprehend such a dangerous and unpredictable individual before no doubt stung. At least she would be able to enjoy some good luck today. “Well, no need to wait for next time. Mission control?”

“Yes, what is it?” a girl’s voice came through some hidden communicator.

“There should be a UFO above the museum. Do you see it?”

“Ummm…” A brief moment passed before Joker’s contact got excited. “Oh, yes! I see some sort of golden...thing, covered with balloons and jets!”

Joker gave a slight smile. “There’s a man riding it. Disarm and apprehend him, please.”

“Sure thing! Going in now!”

“Great. Joker out.” The Phantom Thief ‘hung up’, then helped Skull lift up Mona. He waved at Jesse. “Where’d you come from? The courtyard?” Unfortunately for Jesse’s well-planned conversational tactics, she would need to wait for now. As the guards picked themselves up and unruffled their feathers the Phantom Thieves made tracks down the corridor Jesse entered through. They moved as if they knew the place, straight past the reflecting pool and out through the Japanese screens into the courtyard.

There the small group found an [url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EMgH0PUWkAEPkjc.png]honest-to-God alien ship[/url] hovering above the hedges, its flashing lights dull in the daytime and the cthuloid ornament on top gently rotating. A number of large tentacles extruded from its bottom, one of which constricted the very hapless scientist who’d managed to give Jesse and the others the slip. His gun dangled in the fingers of the three hands that terminated one tentacle, and a crumpled Infinite Spring lay face-down in a planter dotted by shreds of balloon rubber. Although the contraption featured no eyes, it waved when the Thieves approached, both parties without even a shred of apprehension. “Hi, Joker! I managed to catch the guy. Totally blindsided him too. He shot me with this, I think?”

Necronomicon held out the tool gun with her hands for Joker to take. As he accepted it he noted that the formerly small tri-hands compared in size to his own, confirming what he’s hypothesized as he approached. “This gun changes things. He made you bigger, I think.”

“Bigger? Oh, no! Now everyone’s gonna look at me weird! I can’t stick out in crowds!?” The UFO wrapped herself in a couple of her tentacles as if to hide her face, mortified.

Joker kept his focus on the gun, trying to figure it out, as he replied without paying direct attention. “Don’t worry, Futaba. We’ll just fix it with this, and even if we couldn’t, we’d still like you.”

“Wha!?”

Skull’s increasingly confused look turned to annoyance. “Oh, for cryin’ out loud! Joker, it’s Necronomicon, not Futaba! And you: you’re a spaceship, remember? Nobody’s gonna care! Might even be better if you can fly more people around.”

“Will you dummies quit arguing and shrink my head already!?” Mona could only look so irate upside down.

Just a little embarrassed, Joker threw up a hand in resignation. “I’ve been trying! This thing just doesn’t want to listen.” For some reason, the Tool Gun wasn’t responding to him. Jesse, however, could somehow feel it even when it wasn’t in her hand, as if it longed for her touch.

“Maybe it’s got some kind of security measure?” Skull suggested. “Or maybe Necro squeezed it too hard.”

“Oh no!” the remarkably self-conscious spaceship repeated in dismay. “Am I gonna be stuck like this forever?”

“At least you can still move!” Mona cried, wiggling angrily. “Here, gimme that thing!” The bunch continued to argue, with the old man sneaking in some protests here and there, but it was the Tool Gun on Jesse’s mind.

[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
[b]Level 4[/b] Nadia (27/40)
[b]Location:[/b] Bottomless Sea
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Frog's [@Dark Cloud], Mirage’s [@Potemking], Mr. L’s [@ModeGone]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1352[/center]

An extremely dizzy Nadia remained all but senseless for a while, strewn across Shippy’s deck, but with the Life Gem’s help she began to recover, spurred on her way by the strange sensation of being touched in many places at once. “Mrow!” Her head yelled, jerking awake to find half her parts held tight in Rika’s arms. “That’s my, nyahaha…! That tickles! No petting! Lemme go, lemme…[i]achoo![/i] She sneezed her head right out of the Abyssal’s collection, alarming Rika and shifting the whole lot enough to send her bits back down to the deck in a heap. Muscle fibers shot out from her various separation points to reconnect them, and in the span of just a couple seconds Nadia pulled herself together enough to sit up and catch her falling head in her hand. With a grin she popped it back on, but the moment she tried to get up she plopped right back down. “Guh! I guess I’m...still dizzy. It’ll be a minute or two be-fur I’m...good to go.” She reclined against the ship’s mast to get her head fully on straight.

Her position turned out to be a front-row seat for what happened next. Nadia watched, spellbound, as a gigantic slab of weathered stone tumbled from the seastack’s peak. Even with Shippy well removed from its splash zone she couldn’t help but be a little intimidated by its titanic mass, and worried along with Sakura about what fate might befall the Cadet and Bowser, who as far as she knew were still up there with that horror. Link shared their concern, and unveiled his magic tablet once again for an even more ambitious save than the last. The feral’s eyes went wide when she realized just what he meant to do. [i]Can he really do it?[/i] Saving the out-of-control Atomos was one (very good) thing, but this veritable mountaintop was a few whole orders of magnitude bigger and heavier. Yet Link was dauntless. He thrust the Sheikah Slate skyward from Shippy’s prow, sending forth the golden chains of stasis, and with a metallic note the slab stopped in its tracks.

Nadia let out her pent-up breath in a laugh. “Whoa...way to go, Link! A real catch of the day!” When the Atomos swooped near she spotted Bowser leap from the suspended mass to its deck, his own catch held tight in his claws. The sight of Scylla still in one piece took her by surprise, and though Geralt answered for Sakura she did not hesitate to voice her own dismay. “What!? She’s still alive!?” she yelled aloud for the sake of anyone who didn’t happen to see. “Why?” Whether from her high-flying stunt or the battle in general the feral still wasn’t thinking straight, so she couldn’t fathom King Koopa’s intentions for the tiny terror. It just didn’t make sense!

Up on the airship, Scylla rolled across the deck and came to a stop on her stomach. “Oww!” she cried, childlike, and when she rose onto her elbows her face was one of bafflement. In that brief moment she looked, for the first time, rather like a confused little girl. The illusion did not hold. 

When she realized that somehow she’d been restored to pristine health, Scylla gave the Koopas a look that dripped venom, and cackled. “Hehe...heheheheheh!” From beneath her dress a flood of tentacles burst in a writhing mass, all at their original size. She rose as they piled beneath her, cackling while she raised her arms. The Atomos began to sink downward, overburdened by the combined weight of the horror’s heaped-up limbs. All seven eel heads formed up around her, bearing down on the Koopa’s like a ravenous pack of dogs. They lunged, only to stop short as an immense, flabby purple arm careened just over the Bowser’s head and slammed Scylla head-on. The flailing horror screamed as Tentalus clotheslined her right off the Atomos and into the time-stopped crag, which unfroze the next moment with the Cadet still atop it to hurtle into the ocean with a tremendous splash. He had little choice but to leap for Tentalus, but ample cause.

Not annihilating the Atomos in the process, of course, came as an unexpected and indeed unintentional miracle for its passengers. Any hasty conclusion that the much bigger leviathan was on the heroes’ side was crushed as purple tentacles, regardless of warnings, erupted from the sea. One batch appeared on either side of Shippy, and another around Geralt’s Ordnance Platform. The two that wrapped around his main cannon’s barrel wrenched the whole upper portion of the machine sideways and pushed around its sub-weapons, rendering everything but the Witcher himself harmless, provided he wasn’t thrown into the drink.

Nadia jumped to her feet, took a split second to steady herself, and charged. She raked the flabby meat of the nearest tentacle with her claws and found it way less tough than Scylla’s eels. Likewise Peach blew apart a couple with ease thanks to a Grenaduck and her boomshot, but a new problem quickly presented itself. The tentacles regenerated shockingly fast, with a new one rising to grab hold of the ship or its cannon batteries mere moments after the last sank beneath the water. 

Luckily, if Tentalus meant to take down the Atomos it was already too late. Free of its nightmarish burden the airship got out of the behemoth’s range lickety-split, so Tentalus focused on the horror floundering at the base of the seastack instead. While its lower tentacles held tight the other threats it rounded on Scylla, its arm raised to pummel her once again. Its enormous orange eye was full of rage, but not so keen that it spotted something moving through the great behind it--something very, very big, and headed its way very, very fast. As Nadia hacked through another tentacle and leaned on the railing to catch her breath, she watched the severed stump slide down into the water, and froze when she saw [url=https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QaEwnPnYGg2jqxaovJGUGZ.jpg]something else[/url] rising up from the deep. “Sh-sh-sh-SHARK!” she screamed, and everything turned to chaos.

The [url=https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/955229664369528604/45E2F390B6333219ECC0E7021E568FC8155EB18C/]Megalodon[/url] erupted from the ocean like some primeval god, so close that when it brushed against the inconsequential vessel the impact sent its passengers sprawling to the deck. It breached with enough force to send its entire mass up from the surface and toward more tempting prey than Shippy: Tentalus’ back. “Ace!” Nadia yowled. “JUMP!” A moment later the nightmare shark plowed into its target,  its nested jaws carving through flesh like it was butter. Tentalus bellowed, its tentacles letting go of their holds to whip wildly, as the titanic shark’s weight drove it into and below the water. There came a splash soaked everyone to the bone, and the monsters were gone.

Peach coughed explosively, slapping Shippy’s wheel.  “Go, go, go! Get the hell outta here!” Once Ace and Geralt had been collected the vessel lurched forward across the choppy sea at maximum speed, quickly leaving the seastack and its horrors behind.

A moment passed before Nadia even dared to breath again, let alone speak. She crawled over to where Blazermate’s dispenser still stood and wrapped her arms around it to take care of her fish bites and resupply her cannons. “Hoooooh…” she exhaled after she could feel the machine’s healing warmth. She gave a weary smile. “That was craaazy. Always a bigger fish, I guess. Gotta give that thing credit for helping, I guess. Sea plus.”

A hand appeared on the railing nearby and Bella hauled herself up onto the deck, her sundress utterly soaked and her expression utterly haunted. “Excusez-moi, I need to...lie down.” Nadia shakily let go of the dispenser to help pull, with Sakura’s strength from below a great help to shift Bella’s tail. Once done the feral steadied herself against the railing to give the others a chance at the dispenser, and looked out across the sea while thunder rolled overhead. Both the structure with the beacon and the storm were a lot closer. “Waves getting worse,” she observed, shifting her balance to stay upright as Shippy went up and down the swells. “Hope nobody’s seasick.”

[center][h3]Snowdin[/h3]
[@Gentlemanvaultboy][/center]

[center][hider=For Linkle]You have acquired:
[b][url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darksouls/images/f/f6/Witchtree_Branch_(DSIII).png]Witchtree Branch[/url][/b] - [i]The branch of a large, well-tended witchtree, used as a sorcery catalyst. Witchtree staves are customary in the far north, and allow for faster casting than ordinary catalysts. Its skill is Steady Chant, which boosts the strength of sorceries for a very short period[/i]
[b][url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/gensin-impact/images/d/d8/Item_Birch_Wood.png]Birch Wood[/url][/b] - [i]It is easy to work with and produces smooth cuts. Furniture made using such wood is both beautiful and durable[/i][/hider][/center]

With an ever-so-slightly amused look as he considered Linkle’s conjecture, Albedo led the way toward the narrow cliff path. “It is impressive, isn’t it? A completely different architectural style from any place of worship I’ve ever seen. The product of a totally different culture. Beautiful, perhaps even frightening in its austerity, with a less-is-more sort of attitude conveyed through the structure itself.” The alchemist paused momentarily as one boot sank into a drift, then yanked it out and dusted off his new coat. “I’m almost eager to see the inside.”

Unfortunately the moment of clarity during which the pair saw the monastery faded, and the chill wind brought curtains of snow. It made the mountainside road, already more treacherous and uneven than either would have liked, a dangerous prospect even with crude fences built into the stone here and there to provide some support. The required climbing and jumping meant that without some ingenuity the Skullgirl would be better off leaving her sled beneath an overhang for collection on the way back.

Even without it, however, she carried a potent burden as she made her way along the precipice. The wolfish wind bit into her with unrelenting fangs, chasing what little warmth remained from her husk. Ahead of her Albedo, aided by his flower constructs, faded into the tumultuous white. Certain death loomed only a few feet to the right, and with mortality so clarified it became tougher to keep the darkness from her mind. It numbed her and weighed her down, telling her that freedom from her suffering waited far, far below. Only in flashes could she make out a blurred figure ahead, but the indistinct shadow was not the outline of the boy she’d come to know. It loomed larger, taller, with a crown like the top half of a wagon wheel. It obstructed the path before her, telling her that inevitable confrontation lay somewhere ahead, yet however far she pushed on it continued to recede. [i]Try and drown me out all you like,[/i] the howling wind seemed to whisper. [i]I am here. I grow stronger. I am your destiny.[/i]

After what seemed like an age, the storm subsided, and Linkle caught up with Albedo at the monastery’s gates. Nobody answered a knock, and the frosted doors swung open without difficulty. The alchemist made his way across the snowy courtyard and to the doors of the first tower. These, however, opened wide on their own, and the two were admitted inside.

It was warmer inside than out, but not comfortable. Like the freshness of a clear fall day, it was just cool enough to bring out inner focus, while still being livable compared to the winter outside. That was far from the sharpest contrast, however. Despite its stark exterior the monastery’s inside featured a staggering multitude of color. Albedo’s eyes went wide at the amazing arrays of mosaic and tapestry, quilt and banner, mural, pillar, and painting. It was dreamlike in its beauty, its rich scarlets and crimsons the most impressive of all. Before the visitors stood two priests, [url=https://cdn.imgbin.com/12/22/2/imgbin-dungeon-fighter-online-maplestory-priest-video-game-nexon-warrior-XTd59gh5Cihwdfe1SM74LFJ2D.jpg]one male[/url] and [url=https://wiki.dfo-world.com/images/5/5e/Female_Priest_Portrait.jpg]one female[/url], both lightly armored and with enormous cross-shaped weapons stowed on their backs. The man, burly with strong brows, looked a little on the scary side, while the woman’s gaze was as dispassionate and chilly as the ice that hung over the doorway. They gave their visitors time to take in the sights, and the woman only spoke up when approached. “Welcome to the Cold Monastery,” she greeted the duo, her voice low, even, and soft. “Whether you are here for worship, enlightenment, or for a reprieve from winter’s clutches, you may stay here so long as you preserve its mindful tranquility.”

Albedo kept his voice at a whisper. “Thank you. We are here in search of knowledge. May we explore this place and ask around?”

The woman nodded. “The first three towers and their various shrines are open to you. Please do not disturb anyone engaged in worship or meditation, but those unoccupied by such pursuits may be able to help you.” Bowing their heads, the priests moved aside to let the visitors pass. Albedo stepped between them and right away spotted a number of [url=https://banner2.cleanpng.com/20180526/kzf/kisspng-mortal-kombat-shaolin-monks-mortal-kombat-x-shaol-5b097645c64fa5.5171779015273467578123.jpg]monks[/url] kneeling at the far side of the main space, which explained the whisper. Still a little taken aback by the cultural rather than opulent splendor of the interior, he wondered where to go and ended up looking to his companion. Maybe Linkle would be better at navigating a temple than he.

[center][h3]Edge of the Blue - Creature Beach[/h3][/center]

When the members of the posse went at her, Sephiroth went on the defensive, using thrusts from her nodachi to make her opponents think twice about how badly they wanted to get close. She managed to stab into Karin’s shoulder, not too far from her heart, and then into Bacchus’ chest and a fishman’s throat in quick succession, but that was all her strategy managed to achieve, for its fatal flaws were then made evident. The lethality of thrusting attacks could heartily discourage one enemy at a time, but against a group of seven, and with such a ridiculously long blade, the others closed in far too quickly. Sephiroth’s attempt to charge up a Gigaflare came to an abrupt end when Birdie, whirling his chain like a vertical lasso, slung its metal length to grab her arm. A hearty yank pulled the much, much lighter woman off balance and canceled her spell. Then Karin, holding fast despite her bloody wound, dashed in.

The young lady’s face featured none of the smugness or elegance she put on display for Sakura the other day--only a cold grace, and lethal effectiveness. Sephiroth had, after all, made clear that this was a fight to the death. With righteous fists she delivered a one-two strike to the murderer’s diaphragm, then liver. Robbed of breath and paralyzed by the agony of a cattle prod to a vital organ, Sephiroth sagged to the sand.

Even as she faltered, however, Sephiroth was consumed by rage. It bubbled and roiled inside her, screaming even if her voice could not. How could she be brought to her knees by this trash...this rabble!? Her strength and defiance welled up inside her, overpowering the paralysis, and with a wordless scream she clasped her limp fingers around Masamune’s hilt. Rivulets of blood, the blood of humans, fishmen, a Pokemon, and even a god, spattered the thirsty sand as the blade flashed in the sunlight.

Then, as the last fishman burbled his last, Nanu’s Lycanroc bolstered his fading consciousness and unleashed his Counter. His stony claws ripped into Sephiroth’s arm with twice the force of her own desperate slash, shredding the flesh and muscle of her sword arm as he gouged the bone. Overloaded by a flood of stimulus and baffled by what just happened, the swordswoman could only watch as her foes closed in. Though ants to be crushed beneath her heel, she had fallen to the ground, and now they were swarming atop her, ready to eat her alive. 

“I almost feel bad for this,” Shantae sighed. “But you asked for it.”

With the fight clearly over the posse might have stopped there, if it weren’t for the gleam in their eyes. There would be no mercy now.

“Gothitelle…” she dimly heard someone say as Bacchus raised his jug with both hands. “Heal pulse, now!”

Before Sephiroth could figure out what that meant, the jug mashed her face, breaking her nose and knocking out teeth. Karin and Birdie took over as Bacchus and the Lycanroc received their healing, pummeling her with the graciously unstoppable force of a waterfall and brutal, ungainly strikes, respectively. Once no longer bleeding out Bacchus belly-flopped in again, throwing Sephiroth into the air in a spray of sand, where the Gothitelle coalesced a crumplezone of psychic force amidst a flurry of fireballs from Shantae. The Lycanroc brought her down with a leaping slash.

Birdie saw his chance. “Now I’m gonna ‘ave my fun witcha!” He charged forward with a heavy headbutt, striking Sephiroth as she fell. She flew off to the side only to stop suddenly, the chains wound around her pulled tight. With a leer Birdie pulled her back toward him. As she slid under he leaped over and pulled her around again in a full loop to smash into the sand again in a brutal version of jump rose. After two revolutions, during one of which he did the splits mid-air, he pulled off a somersault to drum up some extra force and slammed Sephiroth face-first into the sand, burying her up to her middle. Then Shantae fell from the sky in the form of an elephant and crushed the murdered to smithereens.

When Shantae got up a moment later and turned back to normal, the group found only a pile of ashes in the sand, and three spirits sitting atop it: one of a long-haired man wielding the nodachi, one of a masked sorceress, and one of Scharnhorst. Nearby the fishman spirits floated, tragedies in and of themselves. As the other pursuers worked to steady their breathing and nurse their wounds, Nanu gathered the spirits into his Bag, and Shantae looked horrified. “Oh, gosh...oh, gosh! What in the world came over me?” She held her hands to her head. “Even for such an awful villain, that was too much…”

Holding her hand on her chest, Karin was only a little farther ahead in composing herself. “My word...we must have gotten a little carried away.” She kept her eyes off the ashes while the policeman did his work. “I can only guess...that the vile woman there...awakened something primal in us. Some kind of extreme fight-or-flight instinct.” She glanced at Bacchus, who was scratching his beard uncomfortably, and at Birdie, who seemed a little disquieted himself, but neither said anything.

Nanu looked grim as he withdrew his Pokemon. “My apologies, folks. Things can get pretty awful in this line of work, with lives on the line. If the peacekeepers of Limsa were any stronger, I would not have asked you to come.”

“No, no, it’s alright. I insisted I should be part of the team, anyway,” Shantae breathed. “If I’m really a hero, then it’s my duty to confront evildoers.” Her breathing steadied as she gazed off to where the sea met the sky. “I only wish that this felt a little more like justice.”

“Guess we oughta ‘ead on back to Limsa,” Birdie grumbled as he wiped bloody sand off his shoulder. “Tell ‘em we got the slag ‘n all.”

Shantae frowned. “I’ll go back to that place and give them the guards’ spirits. Tell them the bad news. Its the least we can do after we dragged them out here, only for that monster to cut them down.”

Nanu nodded, and the group got underway.