CriticalHit

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Once more Orochi could feel his fangs tear through Goblin flesh, the taste of blood no less pungent than moments prior when he'd attacked Crispy. He internally cringed as the odor overtook his senses, though whatever constitution he possessed stopped the lizard from gagging. He just had to hold on, the venom would take effect soon and then the greenskin would be down. As if answering a silent prayer, the goblin soon collapsed... though now Orochi found himself hurtling towards the stony floor!

The lizard hit the ground hard, his scaly body almost skipping across the stone a short distance before he skid to a stop belly up and winded. Then he saw it, the same goblin he just brought down getting up with club in hand and looking very, very pissed off. Orochi's mind screamed at him to move, but he couldn't quite work up the strength to get up and dodge. He wouldn't be able to get out of the way this time, Orochi sealed his eyes and braced for the impact...

But it never came. Instead he heard the sound of a body hitting the floor, curiously he opened his eyes and saw the goblin lying on the ceiling? How did that make any sense? Even if this was a fantasy world shouldn't gravity sti- Wait a minute, I'm still upside down aren't I? Mustering the strength he could, Orochi flipped himself over, and slowly he rose to somewhat unsteady feet.

"Not going to lie, that hurt quite a bit." The lizard said to nobody in particular, as he made his way over to Rain and Digbie. "She's right... we may have wiped out these ones but there are way more goblins than we can handle. Plus, I think they're going to be a bit more wary from now on. So there goes the element of surprise. Let's get out of here, I don't want to end up as a trophy." Though it pained him to say so, he knew that Rain was right. If they stuck around too much longer, that would be game over for them. He looked up to Digbie and spoke " By the way, that's Rain. Rain, this is Digbie. Now that we're introduced, lets bail."

@Zeroth@Gardevoiran@Old Amsterdam

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

As the jade lizard withdrew his dagger-like teeth from the pryromaniac's ankle, the potent taste of foul metallic blood and flesh fresh in Orochi's maw. Much to his delight it seemed that Crispy was no longer moving. Had he done it? Did his utterly idiotic and reckless plan actually work? The goblin was down on a knee and covering his vitals... truly unfortunate for Orochi. He begun pacing closer to his now immobile target, checking the Greenskin for any vulnerabilities.

Right, he knows to cover his weakspots... Okay then, I'll just cripple his legs, can't do much if he ca-

Though before he could finish that thought, a sharp, acute pain ripped through the lizard's scaly flank. Reflexively, Orochi jumped away from the unknown attack, avoiding some of the force behind the blow thanks to Oberon's magic. Though now he bore a somewhat unsightly gash on the right side of his chest. The lizard whirled around and looked upon his aggressor with slitted scarlet eyes full of seething fury, a pained and angry hiss escaping his mouth. A little Goblin girl, wielding a weapon much more advanced than the others had struck him. In other circumstances, Orochi might have wondered just how a young Goblin could get the drop on him like that. Yet at the moment all Orochi could think of was how she had injured him.

And how badly he now wanted to return the favour. He didn't know where this prideful desire was springing from, but he knew that he would hurt her, maim her for what she had done! The sword wielding Goblin was trying to help Crispy get away! Though in doing so she'd turned her back on the scorned lizard... it was the prime opportunity to exact some revenge. Filling his jaw with acid Orochi launched the caustic blob at the pair of retreating goblins, before turning his focus to the other monsters in the area. Mourningstar, Digbie, and another lizard Orochi couldn't identify from his current position seemed to be faring well against one of the Goblins. Though now Digbie had caught the ire of another...

Go after the Goblin brat or save Digbie's skin... he thought to himself as he looked over both of his possible targets. If Crispy managed to recover as he was taking revenge it could mean serious trouble for Orochi, there was no such risk in helping his Goblin ally. Orochi sped towards Digbie, cursing under his breath as he looked upon his aggressor one last time, trying to commit her appearance to memory. He'd get revenge, just not yet.... The jade lizard approached the hostile Goblin from behind, his focus hopefully on Digbie still. Preparing himself for a moment, Orochi flashed as much of a grin his body was capable of towards Digbie, before he shot towards their opponent. He ran up the aggressor's leg, using his claws to dig in to the verdant flesh as he ascended past the torso and shoulder. Before attempting to firmly plant his fangs in the Goblin's neck and take him out of the fight with a healthy dose of neurotoxins.

@Zeroth@Lucius Cypher@Gardevoiran@ReusableSword@floodtalon@Old Amsterdam@King Cosmos

The Promise of Adventure & Family --- [CLOSED]

Stats

HP: 300 / 300
MP: 180 / 200
Strength: 15, Rank: I
Endurance: 15, Rank: I
Dexterity: 25, Rank: I
Agility: 25, Rank: I
Magic: 20, Rank: I

Perfect... and then there was one.

Noctis thought to himself as his second green-fleshed assailant disintegrated, leaving not more than another gleaming nugget of his victory. This was it, he was really doing it! He'd never felt more alive than he had now, and the completion of his first victory was at hand. Just one more Goblin and his first battle would be won. Not to mention that the monster was still under the effects of Doom Call, in essence, Noctis had already won.

Flashing a grin back to the still observing Winter Maiden before turning towards the last foe of this batch, before darting towards it and exclaiming. "Checkmate!" The werewolf swung both of his blades across the monster's chest before bringing them down just above the goblin's collarbones on either side of its bright green head.

@Ithradine

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Well so much for that effort. Not only did he miss the rat completely, his warning was also completely in vain as well. Oh well, at least the vermin didn't get to cause any damage to his allies before the combined efforts of stone and spell stilled it forever. Now at last, they could eat. The carcass that would have been positively revolting to the person Orochi once was, now seemed to be inviting and enticing to the lizard.

"Finally fortune favours us." He said as he advanced upon the fallen rodent fangs prepared to rend flesh and feast once more. That was until he was interrupted by Digbie, asking a question he thought quite foolish. Shooting his greenskinned ally a look of pure confusion he responded.

"A way to cook this... you're serious? I'm a lizard Digbie, how would I have a way to cook this?" The lizard sighed As he turned his gaze back to the bonfire as he noticed that two of their number were now missing. Did she seriously just wal -erm, float on in there? Orochi knew that he couldn't just stay out here. Despite her abrasiveness, Mourningstar was a fellow human just like he was. She did not deserve to die. No. Orochi would not let her die in there. He'd made his mind up, though perhaps he could get some extra backup... Looking back to Digbie the lizard called out.

" Tell you who might have a way though. These Goblins seem to have quite the party going on here. What do you say we... "sample" their methods and get ourselves a fire going out here?" Not waiting for an answer, Orochi took off towards the towering blaze...

...and was greeted by the unadulterated chaos that was currently happening. Mourningstar was currently face to face with roughly five goblins... Not a great situation, and to make matters worse Crispy was amongst them. If I don't do something quick, she might... No. Can't let that happen! Orochi thought to himself as he skittered up behind the squadron of goblins. The wisp seemed to be attempting to convince the goblins to join her, Orochi doubted these goblins would bow. From what he had seen they were like animals, only the strong had the right to rule, or so it seemed. It was more likely that they were about to attack Mourningstar, if the growing pyre within Crispy's palms was any indication.

He had an idea of how he could save this situation, though it was in all honesty both reckless and risky. What way more fitting could there be... Orochi thought to himself as he crept up behind the pint-sized pyromancer, hopefully the chaos of the situation would allow him to strike unnoticed. Thus far the wisp had treated this world like a game, In most games disrupting one's concentration during casting had interesting results... So now he'd play his role, the rogue ganking the mage. Presuming that all went well, Crispy's attention would be divided and perhaps his spell would fail! He lunged at the caster's exposed ankles, fangs ready to tear his goblinoid flesh. Orochi would attempt to inject the goblin with a large dose of his paralyzing venom by staying latched on to his leg before tearing his fangs away violently.

@Zeroth@Gardevoiran@floodtalon@Old Amsterdam@ReusableSword@King Cosmos@Lucius Cypher

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Thank the Demon Lord that someone else around here has some kind of sense...

The lizard thought to himself as Oberon aired concerns of his own, maybe he could put some form of trust in the pixie. Quickly he shot a glance at the sprite, crimson eyes scanning the winged form up and down. At the very least he seemed to have more foresight than Mourningstar, though that wasn't really a high bar to surpass at this point.

A very peculiar sensation overcame Orochi, causing a feeling akin to a shiver to roll down his reptilian spine. The feeling was alien to him but not malefic, as far as he could tell. Was this perhaps magic? Mourningstar was talking about a "shield spell" of sorts moments ago... Maybe if he managed to befriend the pixie, Orochi could attain an understanding of the arcane. If he wanted to make use of that skill he'd attempted to use before he'd need to learn eventually, and he would take any advantage he could get in this land of fantasy. As he pondered this the pixie suggested that the group scout their target first, and assess their odds of success.

" I agree wholeheartedly Oberon. There's no sense in us running head-first into our second deaths."

Hmmm, he wondered if maybe their little party of former humans should place itself under new management. A person who could think tactically was a much better candidate for leader than a chuunibyou on a power trip, or so he thought. There was also the fact that she was treating this whole scenario like a game, their second chance at life, treated like a mere game. Needless to say, her leadership was questionable at best. When the wisp went to answer his concern, Orochi waited with bated breath... and he was almost staggered at her sudden change in demeanor. Not only that but in an instant she was back to her old self, quick enough to give the lizard tonal whiplash.

Seriously! What the hell does she think this is?

Looking slightly beyond the orb of eccentricities, Orochi was able to see the Goblin that Rain had nailed before talking to another of it's ilk... before he was summarily blasted again by venom. On the bright side, Crispy was wounded now. However the Goblins were now searching for a lizard... "Just great... something tells me I won't be able to get the drop on them anymore." The lizard hissed under his breath, now noticeably agitated. Perhaps the absurdity of the situation had him annoyed, and maybe hunger had started to bring on irratibility. Nevertheless, Orochi turned away from the fire and looked to distract himself but a sudden appearance caught his attention instead.

A dire rat, and an unfriendly looking one by the looks of it, was rocketing towards Digbie's legs. If he didn't do something, one of his fellow former humans could get injured and thus be weakened for their little raid. That simply wouldn't do. Almost reflexively, Orochi began sprinting attempting to set himself on a collision course with the overgrown rodent. "Watch your legs Digbie!" he warned as he charged, fangs bared. The plan was to pounce on the single-minded creature and pump it full of enough toxins to render it immobile, before tearing a nasty gash in the creature as he extracted his fangs. With any luck, he'd wound or maybe even kill the beast.

And he'd also finally get something to fucking eat.

@Zeroth@Gardevoiran@floodtalon@King Cosmos

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Orochi followed along as Mourningstar lead the makeshift alliance towards her hunting grounds of choice, the Goblin bonfire. Though he wasn't exactly confident in the wisp just yet, he would stick around for a while longer. At least until he could finally get some food. Maybe then he'd look into finding the other lizards from yesterday, hopefully they had gotten away... He shuddered to think of what the Goblins would do to them if they were caught. In most fantasy settings, Goblins were savage and cruel marauders, and if that translated itself into this new reality.

He didn't want to imagine what his allies may be undergoing at this very moment. By going to the bonfire he might just confirm his worst fears.

No... I'm worrying for that which I can't change. No point in that.

Nevertheless he needed to keep himself focused, a wandering train of thought could lead to an untimely re-acquaintance with The Reaper. Mourningstar delivered her little plan of action, and as foolish as it sounded, Orochi thought it just may work. Hell, even if it didn't everyone would be focused on the little light running her mouth and not him. Leaving Orochi to act unnoticed, perhaps investigate the area for signs of Rain and Ash.

Oh yeah, and he'd probably be able to take out those who challenged the eccentric wisp. Though maybe it would be best if she took a hit or two, could help dismantle that irritating ego of hers. Pacing towards their impromptu leader, Orochi stopped a few steps in front of her dimly glowing body and spoke.

"So you go in, try to convince them, and once all hell breaks loose we swoop in and clean up the stragglers..." Orochi sighed before continuing. "Right. Your plan sounds great except for one pretty major flaw. There are a lot, and I mean A LOT of goblins here. We'll be severely outnumbered and overpowered if they can call in assistance... Especially if that assistance includes the big one or Crispy. So then... what do you suggest we do if that happens oh great leader? Because if we stick around when that happens our second lives end here, and personally I'm not looking to get familiar with Death again."

@Zeroth@floodtalon@Gardevoiran@King Cosmos

The Promise of Adventure & Family --- [CLOSED]

Stats

HP: 300 / 300
MP: 200 / 200
Strength: 15, Rank: I
Endurance: 15, Rank: I
Dexterity: 25, Rank: I
Agility: 25, Rank: I
Magic: 20, Rank: I

"Damn it!"

The Werewolf scowled as the feral creature's claws grazed his arm, he'd been careless and allowed the kobold to wound him, albeit superficially. Each wound he accumulated was another liability, another weakness to exploit for his enemies. Thankfully he was not on a lower floor, there a single scratch could be a death sentence! Or so he had heard. The beast's struggle was in vain however as the now angered adventurer put an end to its flailing with a well placed stab. A small softly glowing gem dropped where the beast had breathed it's last, proof of Noctis's conquest incarnate. There was no time to admire his work however, as the pair of greenskins were still alive and rushing closer to him with each moment!

He needed space, needed to isolate the monsters. Pulling back a good distance and sheathing his blades, Noctis cleared his head and reevaluated the situation. One down, but I'm still outnumbered! What do I do... The Werewolf thought to himself, and seconds later the solution revealed itself to him. With a little bit of magic he could potentially separate the ravenous creatures, and thus gain the upper hand in this engagement! Quickly he begun to speak the words of power that would turn this fight in his favor!

"By the dark work of destiny, your doom has been ensured!"

As the spell finished, Noctis drew his daggers again and lunged at the goblin he did not target with his incantation. Hopefully his spell would give him the time he needed to pull this gambit off. Reversing the grip on one blade, Noctis attempted to plant his reverse grip dagger in the goblins skull. Maintaining his grip he attempted to get behind the creature and open its throat with his other dagger.

@Ithradine

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Within the stony tunnel Orochi slowly began to stir. His crimson eyes reluctantly revealing themselves as a noise somewhere between a hiss and groan involuntarily escaped the groggy lizard. It took a few moments but he eventually managed to gather the willpower to stand up, and stretch his jade scale clad form. Mere moments after standing up, it hit him. The feeling of hunger coursed through Orochi, animalistic instinct telling him to go out, kill and feast.

In fact, there was the perfect target still sleeping right next to him. The pixie wouldn't see it coming, it wouldn't even have time to react if he struck true. He crept closer to the winged creature who was looking more tempting a target by the second. All Orochi needed to do was clamp down on it and make sure it couldn't get away, and then he could sate his hunger...

Hold on... that's Oberon! W-what the hell am I thinking!? Orochi jumped back as he realized just what he was about to do. He'd met up with a group of others like himself yesterday. Other mortal souls that had been reincarnated as monsters at the whims of the Demon King, Oberon was one such former human and here Orochi was about to... No! I cant do that! Not to another person... The lizard thought to himself as he shook his head, in a twofold attempt to both awaken himself further as well as remove himself from that terrible train of thought.

A reverberating voice from deeper within the tunnel caught Orochi by surprise as he turned to face its source. The goblin of their party,
the appropriately named Digbie had carved out this little outcropping last night and it seemed that he wasn't satisfied with just that. The scattered and shattered stones creating a literal trail of carnage that was left in the goblin's wake as he tunneled onward. The amount of rock that he had chipped away was staggering, almost colossal from Orochi's point of view.

"Wow... that's a lot of progress. I guess you're called Digbie for a reason huh?" The lizard responded as he started walking towards the mouth of their little alcove.

The chuunibyou wisp Mourningstar was not far from the entrance and looked to be practicing some form of spell. He looked on as he recalled his vain attempt to utilize his scribe skill yesterday. Evidently he needed to learn an actual spell before that skill would be of any use, but how would a lizard go about that? He didn't exactly have innate ability like the wisps and pixies that inhabited this cave. Though for now it could wait, he supposed. His top priority at the moment was food and his compatriots would likely agree with him that they should deal with that need sooner rather than later.

" Ahh what a glorious cave morning, a new day is here and everyone is trying to kill each other. I don't know about you guys, but I think we should go find ourselves some breakfast. Wouldn't you agree?" He said to the others as he gave as best a grin that his lizard body could manage.

@floodtalon@King Cosmos@Gardevoiran@Zeroth

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Huh, guess I'm a pretty good shot. Ryuu thought to himself as he watched the former aggressor plummet to the ground whilst it writhed in pain from his venom. He'd honestly not expected his surprise attack to work out so well, it seemed that he was lucky today. The goblin of the group stood ready with what looked like a makeshift stone club, thankfully lowering it and asking Ryuu if he was from Earth as well.

"You would be right goblin, I am also from Earth. Why would I have jumped in and helped if I was just another lizard?"

Looking the greenskin before him over, Ryuu noted that he looked rather... unequipped and young. Not that he was much better though... He did recall though, when he had made his choice of rebirth goblins was amongst the births available to him. Add in the fact that this goblin seemed to have memories or at least knowledge of Earth and Ryuu was certain that this greenskin was also reincarnated by the Demon King. Another lost soul... I wonder what his story was? The lizard wondered as the wisp from moments ago caught his attention. Turning himself to face the glowing ball of light, Ryuu listened as they introduced themselves.

As "Mourningstar" gave her summarized speech, Ryuu noticed a few things that struck him as odd. First of all she claimed to be one of the Demon King's generals, whcih he highly doubted that a mere wisp was. Usually that role was saved for horrific Archfiends or a ludicrously powerful beast, at least from his experiences with the genre. Not only that, but she immediately proposed that she lead them and left before he could even interject! Combine that with the fact that she called herself Mourningstar lead Ryuu to one natural conclusion. She's a total chuunibyou, off in her own world... Left speechless, Ryuu's thoughts drifted back to his allies from earlier. Could Ash and Rain possibly be from Earth as well? The pair of them did seem to carry themselves with a certain degree of personality and individuality that was utterly absent in the other lizards he'd observed. He needed to inquire when they decided to reconvene later, the goblins hunting party was likely still searching for them, so he'd stick around with Mourningstar's little squad for a while. Maybe they could go hunt something, as hunger was starting to make itself known once more in the lizard's mind.

The pixie introduced himself as "Oberon", it seemed that Mourningstar's whole group was in on this whole extravagant alias thing. Thinking about it, he may have been foolish in giving out his real name to his Lizard compatriots earlier. This was a fantasy world after all, and more often than not true names held power in these settings. He'd not repeat his mistake twice! Lest these others gain some form of power over him. Besides, if he were to stay with their eccentric group, who was he to break their little tradition?

"Ah yes, a name would be useful... I am Orochi. Pleasure to meet you Oberon."

He followed the pixies' gaze to their supposed 'leader' toying with the corpse of the wisp he'd slain. Ryuu wondered, were wisps edible? They certainly didn't look like the most substantial of portions... Though watching as the other Wisp attempted something the lizard could not recognize, it reminded Ryuu that he had a skill of his own he'd not attempted to put to use yet. Apparently he was able to imbue items and things with the power of spells he knew via writing, though in his reptilian form writing may be easier said than done. Glancing at his claws he wondered if he could make them work as his utensil of choice? Only problem was he didn't exactly know any spells at the moment, and as such his skill was kind of... useless. Attempting to write with his claws in some nearby dirt, the lizard called out to the others.

"So then, now that we're all nice and introduced, what's first on the agenda? I wouldn't be opposed to doing some hunting right about now."

@Zeroth@King Cosmos@floodtalon@Gardevoiran

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Why the hell did I think that would be a good idea? The lizard thought as he darted away from his newfound allies. Not only had he gone and isolated himself from the other seemingly friendly monsters. He'd also got the attention of a herd of goblins, albeit relatively young looking ones as well as whatever that thing was. He'd made himself known to them now, they would be certain to be on alert next time they even thought they saw him. So Ryuu ran, and ran. Far away from the pond as he could manage, if he could lead even one of the Goblins away his distraction would be a success.

Eventually his panicked sprinting turned to stealthy skittering once more, as Ryuu found himself stumbling onto quite the scene. From a relatively concealed position, he watched as a Goblin, a Pixie, and a Wisp interacted. Strangely enough they did not attempt to shed each other's blood, not unlike the gathering he'd fled from moments before. Even moreso interesting was that they were speaking to one another, about a number of things that made Ryuu's reptilian jaw hit the stony floor.

They also knew of the Demon King. Not only that, but one of them had remarked about death being a rather unpleasant experience. Perchance they had all experienced a similar ordeal? He had to know for certain, so he'd have to establish himself as a friendly face and quickly before this lot disbanded.

Though before hew could move out of the brush, an opportunistic Wisp took a shot at the distracted Pixie. That couldn't be allowed. After all, how could he ask if these monsters were like him if they were naught but sizzling corpses? Ryuu prepared to launch a ball of venom at the aggressor as he creeped out of his cover, taking a few moments to line up his shot. Satisfied with his aim, the lizard let loose his acidic fury upon the arcane assassin! The lizard swiftly scurried over towards the others as he spoke.

" Couldn't help but overhear you lot talking about Earth, care to chat after we get rid of this glorified spark?"

@Zeroth@Gardevoiran@floodtalon@King Cosmos