[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1006946263599677521/1016748025986699284/ShadowToken.png[/img][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1006946263599677521/1022960834592383038/TMToken1.png[/img][img] https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1006946263599677521/1022960835091517530/TMToken2.png[/img][img] https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1006946263599677521/1026217248806932580/TMTokenOldGuy2.png[/img][/center] [center][h3][color=#bfafb2] The Journey - Part 2.2 - Side Quest - Attack On The Mind Pod - Unknown - Light Woods [/color][/h3][/center] The Penumbral party was on the “road” once more. After saving the village they started to make their way towards the Mind Pod, guided by their newest companion, George. He told the group the story of the village, how their people came to be and how they almost went extinct. The forest was calm, quiet before the divines played around with their lives and ended so many of them. Willingly or not. Before the village was overrun, they discovered what was the cause of the constant attacks and they formed a party of 20 villagers, meant to cut through the forest and destroy the cause of their problems, the Mind Pod. Thinking that if the Mind Pod would be killed, the attacks would slow down. The party was beset by flying dino-plants which killed a part of them, 7 to be exact and then things got worse when they encountered a pack of Dino-Rex controlled by the Mind Pod. Normally not a pack plant, these Dino-Rexes were different. They were protecting an area which the party believed to be the resting place of the Mind Pod…they were wrong. As they tried to avoid the Dino-Rexes, they didn’t realise that this was all a trap set by the Mind Pod. Unknowing that they were led into a trap, the Mind Pod herded them to a clearing where they got surrounded by the Dino-Rexes. A fight soon started but what the humans didn’t notice until too late was that the ones that fell, weren’t killed. They were taken away, the purpose was unknown but before they could all be taken, two of the group managed to escape. George and one more person, a horse with the upper body part of a human, named Chiron. Chiron soon left the village to look for help and has yet returned while George stayed behind to make sure that Chiron has a village to return to and that didn’t go so well. It seemed that the village was doomed until the Penumbral party arrived. Now, George was leading yet another party to the Mind Pod. Hoping that this one, smaller in size, might pass unseen or at least deal with any attackers with ease. “[color=0072bc] This is where we lost the triplets Legsies, Armsies and Toesies. Something came from above, got Legsies before she knew what happened. Armsies was next, his face was half-bitten off and died soon after. Toesies had the worst death, something came from below as she tried to defend Legsies. Bit her in half. We couldn’t do anything about it, they just died…the others came after. One by one, the original party was killed. Until Chiron and I were left. We ran as fast as we could. I thanked the divines for allowing us to escape that day but Chiron kept saying it seemed suspicious and seeing that the attacks intensified after we came back…make me believe Chiron was right. We just led them back straight to the village…[/color]” told George to the group. “[color=#bfafb2] Don’t worry, we’ll kill it and take revenge for your people. Potentially saving this whole region from being under the control of that [i] thing [/i] or at least, bring it into the Shadow Bazaar. I’m sure the Lady would find it useful for something.[/color]” replied Penumbra with a grin. Surely Ashevelen would find this creature valuable to someone if tamed. As they walked, Penumbra started to lag behind the group as Dahm traded stories with George, who somehow understood every rhyme that Dahm would say. Custosa was leading the group forward, spear at the ready. Penumbra was perturbed by questions. They recalled the conversation they had with Ashevelen and ran it through their mind again and again. What was their purpose? The Goddess wouldn’t do something on a whim, she always has a plan, so, what was it? To figure out a divine’s plan was something beyond mortal capabilities but that wouldn’t stop Penumbra. This was a journey of discovery that was for sure, but discovery of what? Knowledge of themselves? Knowledge about the nature of Umbra? Nature of trading? The questions were run thousands of times in their mind but answers eluded them for now, maybe later on in the journey. Eventually, George made a hand signal and everyone stopped in their tracks. He pointed a finger further into the forest towards a clearing “[color=0072bc] That’s where we saw the Mind Pod and where the pack of Dino-Rexes surrounded us. Get ready, it’s about to get ugly. I’m sure we’ve been noticed by this point and yet, no one attacked us. The forest is quiet, too quiet. [/color]” Dahm let out a yelp, started singing while staring at a massive shape that seemed to approach them. A loud [i] THUMP, THUMP [/i] soon followed. , “[color=yellow]Danger is everywhere Like deadly beast on stalk Danger, here and there Better watch where you walk’ [/color] Custosa readied herself, George went into a pugilist’s pose and Penumbra, sneaky as they were, hid inside the shadow. Quickly disappearing from view and going around the area where the monster was approaching from. And there it was. A massive Dino-Rex, bigger than the one Jeon rode on, pushed the trees away and suddenly the quietness of the forest made sense. With a loud roar, the creature’s green eyes gave away the fact that it was under the control of the Mind Pod, charged towards the group. Dahm used [Goddess’s Song] ability to enhance the shadows around to give Penumbra an edge, while Custosa stood right in front of the Dino-Rex’s path using the [Taunt] skill to attract its attention and getting ready the [Full Counter] ability the moment it would attack. Penumbra appeared behind the creature and using the shadows which Dahm creatively made for them, quickly took Geogre who was in position to attack with them as they teleported using [Blink+] above the creature, in the canopy of trees above. As they fell from the air, ready to attack the yet-unaware of the above danger, Dino-Rex, it finally reached Custosa and opened its mouth wide to swallow her whole. The moment the mouth made contact with her spear, the Full Counter ability activated and the Dino-Rex staggered back. Right into a [One Normal Punch] ability of George which pushed it to the ground and that’s when the onslaught started. Penumbra charged forward and activated their [Ashevelen’s Chosen] skill and almost instantly they teleported. Each time they’d appear two shadow-blades would cut through the Dino-Rex which was still stunned, a few hundred strikes in mere seconds proved to be enough. By the end of it, the Dino-Rex was covered in blood that was pouring from everywhere on its body and soon its big head let out a blood curdling howl before slumping on the ground. Level ups soon followed. Each hero getting 2 levels and George, 6 levels for taking out a creature way above the party’s level. The party stopped and went through their new abilities, telling each other their new ones and the upgrades of the existing ones in the hopes that it would bolster their already proven team-work skill. “[color=0072bc] That was easier than expected. [/color]” said George with a smile. “[color=green] Talk for yourself, you weren’t the one that had to stare down the Dino-Rex as it charged at full speed to you. [/color]” quickly replied Custosa with a wink. Penumbra and Dahm built a fire and threw the Dino-Rex’s body inside the shadow that it formed, making sure the creature would end up in the Shadow Bazaar. While they didn’t have the skills to harvest the important bits from it, Penumbra knew that someone at the Bazaar would have. “[color=#bfafb2] As much as I’d like to celebrate, we have to keep moving. That creature must’ve been controlled by the Mind Pod which means that it knows we’ve won. More are probably on their way to us right now. We got lucky with this one but now the Mind Pod knows some of our abilities, if it’s smart enough to lay traps it will be smart enough to plan against our abilities.[/color]" The party then went forward once more. Closing in on the clearing, shuffling humans and other mortal races started to be seen. The humans were dressed in the same manner as the other villages but the other mortals were very confusing for the party. There was one person that kept pacing around with the lower part of the body different than the upper part which looked similar to a human’s body. With a prompt from George, who explained what those other mortals were and what they're called, the group got ready to fight once more and surely a fight would come to them, right as they were ready to go into the clearning. [hider=Penumbra] Class - Champion Level - 8 Abilities - [list][*][Inspire] ability which inspires the user’s allies to fight until their last breath, to forgo fear or tiredness. [*][Shadow Javelin] ability which enhances the user's shadow manipulation to allow them to take out a spear made out of shadow and throw it at their enemies. [*][One with the shadows] ability which allows the user to hide inside a shadow becoming invisible to sight and odourless to smell[*][Passive - Low Resistance to Mental Attacks] a passive ability which makes the user a bit more resistant to mental attacks [*][Blink+] ability which enhances user's already existent ability to teleport allowing him to take one person with them at the loss of distance [*][Strengthen Shadow] ability which allows the user to make their shadowy form impervious to attacks for 3 seconds.[*][Ashevelen’s Chosen] special ability available only to Penumbra which makes them become one of the shadow of the area, enabling them to launch a series of attacks at an incredible speed.[*][Shadow Javelin+] upgrade of existing ability which allows the user to throw up to 3 javelins before the ability end[*][T.O.F.A. (Trade one for another)] ability which swaps the location of two items between each other. One which the user must hold in their hand and the other one that the user can see. [/list][/hider] [hider=Custosa] Class - Protector Level - 9 Abilities - [list][*][Enhance Reflexes] ability which enhances the reflexes of the user to allow them to make moves at unnatural speeds to dodge attacks for a few seconds[*][Increase Defence] ability which increases the natural defence of the user against physical attacks[*][Taunt] ability which allows the user to shout at nearby foes to attract their attention [*][Passive Ability - Enhanced Hearing] ability which is unlocked after a user loses one eye, allowing them to focus on their hearing more. [*][Passive Ability - Poison Resistance] ability which makes the user highly resistant to most types of poisons or venoms [*][Full Counter] ability which counters a physical attack with double the power back at the attacker, can only be used once a day[*][Magical Full Counter] ability which counters non-physical attacks and throws them back at the caster[*][Defend] ability which links the user to a person they’re close to. If said person is hurt, the damage is mitigated to the user.[*][Bulwark] ability which temporarily, up to 5 seconds, increases the size and strength of the user by 60%. [/list][/hider] [hider=Dahm, the Bard] Class - Bard Level - 8 Abilities - [list][*][Song of Confusion] ability which makes the user sing a song of confusion, making anyone who can hear the song (as long as they’ve got the ability to hear) see shapes at the edge of their vision, hear howls etc[*][Song of ignoring Pain] ability which makes the user sing a song full of adrenaline and mighty deeds which in turn makes allies who can hear it, ignore whatever they may have until the song ends [*][Goddess’s Song] ability in which the user sing a song which calls upon the power shadowy powers of Ashevelen to cover a small area in them[*][Song of Charm] ability which makes the user sing a song of love which makes the target believe the singer to be their best friend for a few minutes[*][Passive Ability - High Resistance to mental attacks] a passive ability which makes the user highly resistant to mental attacks[*][Song of Pain]ability which makes the user sing a song of pain that gives mental damage to three targets which the user wants[*][Detect] ability which makes the user sing a sub-vocal song which can detect the presence of other lifeforms in a radius of 5 metres around the user. [*][Cry me a river] ability which makes the user sing a song of sorrow making a single target be overcome with feelings of great sadness.[/list][/hider] [Hider=George] Class - Strongman Level - 6 Abilities - [list][*][One Normal Punch] ability which makes the user throw a super strong punch at a foe. Strong enough to bend metal. [*][Three Normal Punches] ability which makes the user throw three super strong punches at a foe which are strong enough to bend metal. [*][Boxer’s Reflexes] ability which makes the user dodge incoming attacks at high speed for 10 seconds [*][Lion’s Strength] ability which enhances the user’s already impressive physique, allowing him to perform one single feat of immense strength. [*][Normal Punch Barrage] ability which allows the user to throw 10 super strong punches at high speed. This ability can only be used once per day [*][Clap] ability which makes the user clap their hands with a very strong strength which makes a very loud sound meant to stun foes [*][Jump] ability which makes the user [i] jump[/i] high in the air[/list] [/hider] [hider=Summary] The party makes their way through the forest. George tells the story of how the village's first expedition ended and how they fell into a trap laid by the Mind Pod. Penumbra questions the motives of their divine creator but before they can find an answer, the group spots a massive Dino-Rex, bigger than the average Dino-Rex, coming towards them at full speed. Using great team-work they kill the creature and get a few level ups. [/hider] [hider=Spirit expenses] [b]Starting Spirit:[/b] 18 +1 Spirit - Appeared in the post +1 Spirit - Longer than 5k characters +1 Spirit - Creator doesn’t appear in the post +1 Spirit - Longer than 10k characters. [b]Ending Spirit:[/b] 22 [/hider]