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9 yrs ago
dissertation done. can actually post again. yay.
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Hunt for Answers

They found their prey a little way out into the snowy plains where it had hunkered down in the snow, presumably to digest the tree it had devoured earlier. Its camouflage made it look like a small snowed over mound, or perhaps a large rock but this did not help it hide from the hunting party thanks to Kaldora’s aerial reconnaissance and the hunter’s own ranger and beast hunting skills. The party road in a wide disparate line as they approached, with Kaldorna and Zouyu able to be found off to the right while Arthanar rode in the center and leveled his musket at the monster.

”Even if it is as high level as Rodias it shouldn’t be too much trouble.” Kaldora replied confidently to Zouyu’s concerns as Arthanar’s shot rang out and the beast rose from its resting spot to charge the hunting party with an impressive degree of speed. ”This is our specialty after all.”

“[Evasive Action]!” Arthanar called out as the beast began to charge him and the center of the hunter’s line. He pointed down at the ground as he yelled, causing a faint pulse of green energy burst along the ground around him in a circle, buffing the Hunt’s captain and those around him with increased movement speed and agility. The loose formation the Hunters had adopted immediately came into play as those on the side of the formation spurred their dark unicorn mounts into a flanking action, circling to either side of the beast as it powered its way towards the scattering center. As the wings of the battle line fanned out dozens of oversized muskets were raised and aimed at the beast before crack of gunpowder and calls of “[Crippling shot]” rang out, causing hot lead to stab into the joints of the monster’s hind limbs.

Though the damage was minimal the shots sapped the strength of the beast temporarily, making its charge falter. As it did the hunters it had been careening towards dissipated, hunters dashing away and to the sides of its path of destruction, Arthanar’s skill letting them evade the monster with ease for a short while.

”Let’s go! We’re harassing it first.” Kaldora instructed Zouyu before spurring her own mount to race along after the right flank and calling out ”[Drive Beasts]!” to buff the speed of the hunting hounds and the hulking Smogticore in a larger and more manner than Arthanar had the mounted hunters. The hunting pack followed after the mounted Vampires, the Skinkhounds for the moment doing little else but barking at the great beast to intimidate it while the tamers leading them bided their time.

The House sized beast, still utterly enraged, charged the closest group of hunters as soon as they opened fire on it with standard shots from their muskets, their shots hammered into the monsters thick hide, leaving a dozen small bleeding wounds. It seemed like paltry damage compared to what would be inflicted upon them should the beast’s rampaging charge reach them. But reach them the beast did not. Once again green energy pulsed among those imperiled, boosting their speed and evasion, as Arthanar pointed at them and [Evasive Action]. Simultaneously a volley of [crippling shot]s from the other hunters once again slowed the beast to aid in their fellow’s escape.

This cycle would repeat several times over, with a clump of hunters forming and shooting to draw the beast in, only for them to scatter as Arthanar buffed them and the hunters behind the beast targeted its legs to stop it from catching them. This tactic gave Kaldora plenty of time to talk to Zouyu about Rodius’s battle back at the Beast Pens as the pair rode/ran around the outskirts of the hunters’ circular skirmishing formation.

”To reply to your previous question, Yes, I did indeed watch our young master’s battle in my arena, where he fought every Level 70 beast we had all at once!” she told him, before giving a quick recounting of how the match had gone. ”Quite the breathtaking style of combat, even if it was a tad slow to get the job done. I could feel my heart in my mouth every time he gracefully avoided death, and I could feel it break every time he acted in sync with comrades who are no longer with us.” she said before pausing as she recalled how Rodius’s fighting style had repeatedly left openings for his absent allies to exploit. The purpose he had given them had let her avoid thinking about how the other lords were gone but now that that fact had reared its ugly head again in her mind she could not help but see the gap in their own fighting style clear as day, the place where their sire should have been leading the charge.

She was broken out of her mournful reprieve by Arthanar‘s shouting “Kaldora. I’m runnin low!” from somewhere down the line. She knew instantly what he meant. The tactic they had been using had been slowly chipping away at the constitution of the beast, which now had dozens of minor wounds perforating its body, but it was reliant on Arthanar’s skill to keep the hunters out of its grasp. Now however he was running out of mana and so it was time to engage the second part of the plan.

”Ah, it seems we’re up. Thank you for your patience Darling. Go as wild as you wish, just be sure not to break it completely, as we do need it in one piece in order to capture it in the end.” she told the weretiger, before also unleashing her Smogticore on the beast with a cry of ”Nightshade, [Attack]!”

Though it was only a fifth of the size of the mighty tusked monster Nightshade the Smogticore charged it fearlessly with a roar at the behest of Kaldora’s skill, clouds of thick purple smoke streaming behind its head and neck like a lion's mane as it ran. The pachyderm, finally presented with a target for its ire that was doing the exact opposite of running away, counter charged, its hooves thundering across the plains as it bore down on the predator. Right as the two where about to clash Kaldora cried out ”[Dodge],” causing Nightshade to lunge to the side at the last moment with supernatural speed and narrowly avoid being trampled. The thick plumes of gas streaking after it collided with the pachyderm instead, stinging its eyes and choking its lungs while the Smogticore‘s tail lunged out, the toxic green stinger on the end raking the herbivore's side as the two passed one another.

As the Smogticore skidded to a halt behind the best and roared a taunt the pachyderm, bleeding, poisoned and temporarily blind, charged on heedless if the predator's challenge. Right towards Kaldora and Zouyu.

”Oh dear.” Kaldora commented as she urged her mount to evade the beast bore down on them ”This isn’t quite what was supposed to happen”
Hunt for Answers

”Oh yes. While our beloved sire Sun200 would love to have everything and anything in the pens, he was a collector through and through you see, I know for a fact he’d have prioritized getting this one if he saw it.” Kaldora replied when Zouyu suggested that her master would have loved to capture the beast. She knew she certainly would, it was quite the magnificent creature, at least compared to the rest of the sorry excuses for creatures that they’d seen so far. This one at least would make a fine fighter in her beloved arena.

”Quite the wild thing aren't you darling?” Kaldorna commented dotingly upon hearing the weretiger’s desire to punch the beast in the snout to establish superiority.

”Now as to whether we should try and bring it back. Well it’s still the day time and we don’t know quite how dangerous it is. Then again as you said there's only one way to find out how strong it is, and it would be good to know how dangerous this world can be as soon as possible. Also wasn't that area where someone saw those scouts hmmm?” Kaldora said as she debated the issue with herself out loud. She plucked a notebook out from her jacked and then flipped through a few notes she had made while hearing report earlier till she found what she was looking for and said ”Yes it was! That means we might have an ♬ audience ♬”

That last part clinched it for Kaldora who then immediately began planning the hunt ”We’ll need your leafy shade barrier of course darling. Some kind of fallback area for the wounded or sun struck. Maybe we can herd it into the forest?” she said, again mostly to herself before exclaiming that ”oh and I need to wake Arthanar of course.” before storming off into the camp.

After being awoken from his slumber and reacting with “cor what a beut” when shown the beast the hunt’s captain was fully onboard with the idea. In hardly any time at all the entire expeditionary force had been infected by the two senior vampire’s enthusiasm and the sleepy camp came alive with a buzz of activity. Mounts where saddled, hounds released and armaments were primed. Only a short time after Zouyu’s return a contingent of hunters and tamers road into the daylight to the sound of a horn being called. Clad in hooded cloaks, their faces guarded by masks and shielded from above by sunbrellas strapped securely to their mounts the vampires truly unleashed themselves on this world for the first time. They were hunters, predators one and all, and now they had finally found a worthy quarry.

With the Skink Hounds bounding along beside them and Kaldora’s Smogticor loping through the grass behind them the party made good time towards the snowy plains the beast called home.

”Remember ladies and gentlemen. This isn’t YGGDRASI and nor is this yesterday. Unlike the masters mad dash of the past week we’re in no rush today and we also don't entirely know what to expect of this world. So be careful my darlings, we have all the time in the world to get this right and no way of knowing we can set things right if things go arye.” Kaldora insisted

“Aye the lady’s got it right, keep your wits about you lads and lassies, we dinny know if we can get you back up if ya fall, and we definitely canny replace you now the master ain’t with us no more.” Arthanar added his words to hers.

”Just so my dear. Just so. But enough dire thoughts. For today is a glorious day, for today we will show this new world what we were made for! Onwards hunters, our pray awaits us!” she called out before spurring her mount forwards.

As the hunt approached the location of beast in a thunder of hooves a number of groups broke off to begin preparing the terrain while the main team rode closer to the pachyderm. They fanned out in well practiced formation, forming a wide net before they advanced towards the beast’s location, as hunters pulled out weapons while tamers rallied the skink hounds to run in between the mounted warriors

“We probably should a brought bigger hunin hounds” Arthanar commented as the comparatively small armored dogs got into position.

”Perhaps, but with my skills we should be able to let them bridge the gap.” Kaldora noted before asking the Hunt’s Captain ”Now then, shall we begin?”

“Aye, lets.” Arthanar replied, his anticipation almost palpable as he brought out his massive bayoneted musket before calling out to his hunters “Ya all ken the drill! Standard tactics for large solitary herbivores. Keep spread out and on yer toes and don’t get caught in its charge.”

As the hunters advanced out of the shade of the woods and onto the plains towards the beast Kaldora hung back a bit with Zouyu and spoke with him about what he should do.

”Stick with me for the start of this my darling, till we find out the temperament of the beast. Then what we’ll do is weaken it a bit before herding it or luring it into a trap our fellows are preparing at this very moment.” she explained simply.

As Arthanar checked over his oversized musket ahead of them it was rather clear how they’d be finding out its ‘temperament.
aiming to get a response up tomorrow, heading for the beast. been sick for most of the time this round has been out.

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,018(+2)
Bowser: Level 6 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (17/60)
Stress: 45/100
Bowser Jr: Level 5 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////// (8/50)
Stress: 88/100
Kamek: Level 5 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////(14/50)
Stress: 85/100
Location: Ancestral Farmstead, the Land of Adventure


The troop where mostly quiet throughout the journey back to town, Bowser and Kamek both loath to awaken the sleeping jr. There were two exceptions to this self imposed restful silence. The first was Bowser’s repeated summoning of Heel the Rabbit supporter striker to heal both himself and anyone else who still had lingering injuries. While Heel was not the most potent of healers the party had ever had by summoning the Rabbid every time they recharged Bowser was able to patch up everyone over the course of the ride without them using more healing items.

The other was Kamek quietly telling the Ace cadet how to get monster parts after the hunter had complained about their quarry turning to dust upon death. ”You need to be much more surgical in your attacks if you want to get pieces off of them before they disintegrate. One of the quests we did earlier today involved carving meat from far less dangerous beasts even that required such skill and precision that we had to hire a huntress to do that part of the quest for us. In a fight like that one we just had trying to kill it in such a way as to be able to retrieve its parts could have been detrimental to our ability to actual win to potentially a disastrous degree, or so I believe. he explained.

Eventually the team rolled into town and received a subdued hero’s welcome from the locals after they dismounted. The king and mage briefly shook of their fatigue as they marched through the crowds with straight backs and false confidence while Jr continued to dozen in Bowser’s reacquired hat.

”YEAH WELL THAT’S WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM THE BEST!” Bowser boasted with forced bravado when the Houndmaster expressed amazement at their success. Later in their room at the in however, after jr had been tucked in, Kamek confronted the unspoken truth to his King.

”That was far too close. We almost died.” he admitted as the two elder koopas prepared to camp down for the night. ”And it wasn't even our confrontation the area’s guardian.”

”Eh...” Bowser began doubtfully before he processed the second half of his royal advisor’s statement ”Wait. What? It wasn't?”

”I do not believe so. You described to me a healing pulse that purified all in Peach’s castle, including myself and the young master, when your doppelganger was defeated. There was no such pulse after that battle.” Kamek replied

”Gah. Well if it’s not that then what is it?” Bowser grumbled quietly.

”I do not know. That’s something to be investigated in the morning. What I do know is that we need to be stronger before we face it, whatever it may be. And this strange world has a way of gaining power, we just need to take the leap and start using it to its fullest potential.”

Bowser grumbled skeptically as he brought up one of the jars filled with husk spirits and shook the contents about a bit. ”I mean yeah. Maybe. But I have taste. And these weirdos aren't it.” he said, sticking his tongue out in disgust as he caught sight of the Thing from Beyond the Stars spirit floating among the rest.

”Well maybe not those. I suspect that might be detrimental or even dangerous to our mental states. But it could be worth keeping an eye out for strong creatures in this land and seeking them out specifically to gain their powers. A touch of preparation now could make all the difference down the line” Kamek suggested.

Bowser was unwilling to commit to more monster hunting, but Jr, who had been woken by his guardians discussion despite their care and had listened to the rest of it while pretending to be asleep, was far more receptive to the idea.




The trio slept through the night with only the brief interruption by bad dreams about being the COO of a videogame company and other such stress induced terrors and awoke the next day as ready to face the day as they could hope to be after such a harrowing evening. After wandering over to Mina’s restaurant for a hearty breakfast (paid for with rupees this time) which improved their moods somewhat. After explaining to a few of the townsfolk where the land of the dead was and how a bunch of people had gotten from there to here via the glowing machine on the back of the Bowser mobile the troop headed for the guild hall.

There they found the Guildmaster talking with Peach and attempting to wrangle his way out of paying them their well earned quest reward. His attitude had taken quite a turn around from the cheerful one of the previous day, but rather than worry about the whys of this shift in attitude Bowser simply saw an opportunity to show off in front of the Princess.

”WELL THEN WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS THEN!” Bowser interjected triumphantly as he plonked a jar full of spirits onto the counter. After a few moments of Bowser standing there smugly jr pointed out that it wasn't at all clear that the Brachydios was in the spirit stuffed jar. In response Bowser assured everyone that it was before picked up the jar, going over to a table and then dumped all of the spirits from the jar onto it. Then after a few moments searching he dumped the other jars of spirits onto it as well, producing a convenient pile for anyone on the team to pick sprites from later. After a few moments of searching by the troop the Brachydios sprite was retrieved by Kamek and presented for the Guild Master to see.

”I should think this is proof enough.” Kamek stated calmly while Bowser insisted that ”YEAH SEE. TOLD YOU IT WAS IN THERE!”

While the others bothered the Guild master and Peach Jr plonked himself on a stool by the spirits and stared hateful at the dead things while flitting between thinking about what he could do/hunt to get stronger and dismissing his schemes as hopeless endeavors that would never get him anywhere.

“So while the Blue is lovely, there’s something about being here down on actual ground covered by regular normal grass that... I don’t know, it just makes this feel so much more real? Makes me really realize I’m not dead anymore and that this isn't some bizarre dream or vision of heaven I’ve been living in for years.” Ossian said to Cerule as the expeditionary force rode slowly down through the footholds of the southernmost mountain range found on Atokhekwoi. Behind them the floating island they had travel here on loomed over a landscape of twilight, while before them stretched an endless untouched sea of green.

“You like? I planted some of that!” came a squawk from atop the standard the reborn void soul was carrying. It was a bronze pole with a cross stand, down from which a banner hung. It had a sky blue background upon which a depiction of a stylized representation of an Alma snatching a soul crystal from a dying flame was sown with verse. Atop this heraldry sat several Gemstone Gardeners, living and reborn, who had decided the divine artifact made an excellent perch.

“You did? When was that?” Ossian asked the Amber Macaw.

“Long ago. Place was new. Just dirt and rocks. And some big lizards. We make better.” the bird chirped.

“Huh. Well you did a fine job.” Ossian replied, her brief moment of near normality ended by the interjection of the fantastical.

“I know” the bird said, puffing up its feathers proudly.

Cerule laughed lighthearted at the birds display of ego, “Modesty not something Azura ever taught you lot huh?” she asked and then was left softly giggling when the bird clocked its head in confusion and asked her what modesty was.

“Well you're certainly in a jolly mood today” Ossian noted as her friend got a hold of herself

“How could I not?” Cerule replied, before spreading her arms wide to indicate to the landscape around them “Because your right. Being here, seeing this real actual normal ground, I feel more alive than I have in… eons? More? Whatever. It’s great.”

“Normal except for the fact that it was planted by a thousand year old parrot you mean” Ossian retorted

“And we’re a bunch of dead people wearing around in rock suits animated by music riding walking/flying sharks hunting soul destroying monsters. What's your point?” she replied jovial. Indeed the entire 3 dozen strong party where in fact dead and most rode on the back of hammerhead drakes, hulking predatory sharks they had brought with them down from the Blue. Those that did not ride had no need to do so, as the small cadre of towering Jotundar and one Ihokhetlani easily kept stride with their smaller mounted comrades.

“You say hunting, but mainly we don’t even know where to start looking” Ossian pointed out

“They’re massive black scaled demons with half a dozen horns grown out of their heads. How card could they be to find?” Cruel replied with a shrug.

“You wanna find reapers?” the Bird exclaimed upon hearing.

“Wait... how do you know what they are?”

“They live here…”

“Ok. and.?”

“... I live here. I wasn't with these ones at first. Saw big rock rive, then your comfy looking stick and joined in. Didn’t you notice?“ the bird replied, a touch offended. The other birds on the stand echoed its sentiment with cries of “yeah yeah didn't you notice?” “Looks nothing like us” and one “you very rude”

“Ok ok sorry sorry. But the Reapers? Tell us about them.” Cerule demanded, before adding a belated “Please?”

The bird considered it for a moment and then gave in to its urge to keep chattering “Scary Things. Hated us. To slow mostly, but when they do catch, it nasty. We kept away from them when could. Very dangerous. Or were.”

“Wait. Were?” Ossian asked with confusion

“Yeh. They dead now.” the Bird told the two, much to their shock. “Wanna see?”




There wasn't much left of the area where the thunderbird had made her final stand. Fire had scorched much of the terrain in a wide radius, but around the fringes a few carcass, or pieces of carcasses, still remained, slowly cooking under the sun.

“So” Cerule asked as she kicked at the skull of one of the monsters they’d only ever seen alive through the eyes of the dead “What happened?”

“Big old zappy lady and burny guy lived here. Very big birds. The biggest. Except Azura of course. Also Azura great. These two were bad.” The bird who had lead them their explained

“Bad how” Ossia asked

“Their stupid babies try to eat us”

“Ah.”

“So these giant birds, they killed the reapers?” Cerule asked, trying to keep them on track

“Probably. They go to mountain. Then big storm come. Then creepy people come. Then big bird come make big fire. We look later. Find this. Plant a bit. Is nice when enemies kill each other”

“Creepy people?”

“Creepy. Didn’t look more. Far away. Why go closer. They creepy.”

“Right. Well then…” Ossian replied before taking a slow look around the area before airing the awkward question “Now what?”

There was a but of aimless muttering from the others that had spread themselves out across the hill before Cerule exclaimed that “It’s one down two more to go!”







The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 491 (+1) (+16)
Bowser: Level 5 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////// (75/50)
Stress: 45/100
Bowser Jr: Level 4 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////// (46/40)
Stress: 88/100
Kamek: Level 4 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////// (52/40)
Stress: 85/100
Location: Ancestral Farmstead, the Land of Adventure




”Wait what!” Bowser exclaimed as his hat suddenly started moving on its own. As Jr and Mimikyu looked down with curiously at the wiggling hat the hat wearing kid suddenly popped out of it to take a look around. Jr waved weakly at her but the girl was far more interested in the state of the battle and luminous sky hanging above them.

”Oh right.” Bowser said upon seeing the girl. He’d assumed she’d be out of it for the rest of the night.

”Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were… hay wait where are you going?” Bowser was saying before the hat kid vanished back into the hat and began rummaging around in there. ”GAH! Watch what your doing in there! You could activate the...” he warned before Hat Kid got a hang of the controls and promptly deployed the boxing glove arms. The child bashed her way out of his grip before running off back towards the fighting.

”HAY COME BACK!” Bowser yelled after her with concern, but the girl just kept on going and nobody could stop her.

”Least she’s useful. Unlike me.” jr muttered morosely as the Hat Kid launched herself into the fray with an impressive set of Mario-esque flips and hat tosses/bounces before delivering a brilliantly bright flaming down smash to the beast’s head. With that final blow, the last of a furious assault that had been made by the rest of the gang while Bower retreated, the Brachydios was done for. It’s form dissipated into rapidly vanishing ash, leaving behind nothing but its sprite.

”Huh. Well. Glad that's over.” Bowser said before continuing after Jr’s car

”Yeah right. Any moment now something even more horrible is going to pop out and try and eat us.” Jr predicted. Fortunately for everyone involved, he was completely wrong.

Instead everyone finally had time to get their affairs in order, their heads back on straight or, in the case of Poppi and Tora, do a victory dance.

Bowser and Jr reclaimed the princes’ clown car by using Mimikyu as a long armed grappling hook. Meanwhile Kamek got his remaining Dry Bones to gather up all of the sprites (that went immediately claimed by others) and stuffed them into Bowser’s ever expanding collection of bottles so they could deal with dividing them once they were less exhausted.

The Koopa Troop readily agreed with the princess's suggestion that they head back(Bowser didn't even bother to try and claim the idea as his own). They piled into the Brother Grimm with the others as soon as they could, making the return trip just a touch more cramped than the outward one due to jr, Kamek and Jr’s car being added to the passenger list. The still hopelessness afflicted Jr was encouraged to get some sleep by his guardians and soon fell asleep, curled up by his father's side with the Mad Mantle acting as a blanket and Mimikyu enthusiastically taking the role of a stuffed animal.
also interested
Kaldorna, The Beast Mistress

The Sable Lord’s Might

“Secure those beasts so they can be healed,” Agathina yelled at the hunters from the commentators box after Rodias had finished his tutorial and the dust in the arena had settled. At her command the pack of beast tamers who had watched the lengthy battle with casual interest finished their idle discussions, exchanged the results of various bets that had been made and got to work.

”and someone find the Svelths before they sneak away,” she added, referring to the ferret like creatures that had been released and then never taken part in the battle.

The vampires descended upon the bloody battlefield and got to work as the gates of the arena rolled up to release hordes of thrall assistants armed with nets and Animal Catcher Poles.

As the bests where re-secured, knocked out, calmed or otherwise pacified Kaldorna released the [share senses] spell that had linked her the hawk her assistant had been carrying around to let her see the fight even as she was out on the hunt.

“So, our Lord fights like a dancer without a partner” she mused wistfully to herself as the hunt rode onward.




Hunt for Answers

”Well that’s certainly one way to do it,” Kaldorna said when she heard how the gardener had acquired the beast’s servitude by butchering its kin before its eyes.

”However you do run the risk of enraging rather than modifying the beast depending on the species. I’d suggest that instead… Ah,” the beast Mistress said in an instructive tone before she paused, realized what she was doing, and then her shook her head apologetically ”My apologies darling. You’re not one of my tamers that I need to lecture on how to properly handle beasts. Please. Do go on,” she insisted before listening to the rest of what Zouyu had to say

The beasts probably not being domesticated which was good in Kaldorna’ opinion. Her master's collection came before all but that didn't mean she wanted to get into a conflict with the natives over some livestock even if Zouyu predicted that they where weakling that couldn't even handle these simple creatures.

”We’ll have to wait for the village scouting party gets back to confirm any of your theories about the natives. As for the name of this beast, well you did discover them for the chateaux, so I think it’s only fair you get to decide what we call them, at least until their actual names from the locals,” she told Zouyu before getting to his question about whether they would be heading back immediately or continuing the search.

”When it comes to creatures, well, I have to say I’ve never seen such an abundance of species in my unlife” Kaldorna said, unaware of the vast difference in biodiversity found in actual living breathing landscapes when compared to a virtual one that only simulated what was strictly necessary for gameplay or atmosphere, ”Reginald, he’s the master’s bug catcher, is in quite the tizzy about all the types of insects to be found in this area alone. Back home it was quite a challenge to track them down but here, my goodness you turn over a rock and there's dozens of new species under there.”

She reached her hand inside her jacket and when she withdrew it had a small spider on it, its eyes glowing red like those of the lesser vampire thralls ”This little one’s particularly interesting. You see it’s venom petrifies its prey, bit like a Catoblepas’s breath. On his own the little guy’s not a danger, couldn't even break our skin if he tried, but I think his venom might be of interest to our dear director Graft or too rogues who like to poison their blades.”

She put the spider back in her coat and then continued, ”Sadly it seems to be one of the only useful species around, excluding your own find of course. Ah, such biodiversity there is to be found here and yet all of it so… useless,” she said with a sigh. ”For the moment there is nothing else here that we need to take back. Whether we ever should take them in… well that's still being hotly debated that I can assure you.”

Kaldorna seemed like she would happily yammer on for hours but Zouyu was spared from having to listen to the details of the discussion regarding the future of the collection when the vampiresse was interrupted by a bout of roaring coming from far to the north.

”Oh yes, there is of course the matter of whatever is making those sounds.” she said after the noise had subsided ”Arthanar was hankering to go after it all morning before I insisted he got some shut eye instead of charging off into the woods during the day. I wished to await your return and some success in finding a food supply before we looked into it. Now that you've returned with your livestock I think we can afford to take a look, don’t you?” she said with just a hint of mischief before she reached out and offered a hand to the Gardener ”If you like I can use my [Share Senses] skill to let you see through the eyes of a hawk I’m using for scouting. Then we can both watch as I have it go take a look see at whatever’s making that racket.”

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 616 (+1)
Bowser: Level 5 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////// (58/50)
Stress: 45/100
Bowser Jr: Level 4 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////// (29/40)
Stress: 88/100
Kamek: Level 4 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////// (35/40)
Stress: 85/100
Location: Ancestral Farmstead, the Land of Adventure


In a small puff of smoke final Koopa striker ran out its timer and its sprite returned to Bowser Junior. The match was over, and the Koopa troop had come out well ahead of the farmhands, of which none remained standing. Kamek had being incredibly effective once he no longer had to worry about protecting him, Bowser Jr thought glumly. The young prince was equally depressed about the fact that he was now preventing his father from participating in the battle, even if being cradled in Bowser’s grasp was comforting.

While the king kept jr and hat kid out of harm's way the battle raged on around him. It may have been coming to a close now that most of the thing’s forces had been dealt with but danger still remained. One of the last of the abominations, an invisible horse of some kind, managed to harm the human sniper Michael before Linkle revealed it with a shower of explosives and Peach blasted it clean in half with her shotgun.

It was fair to say that while Bowser was mainly looking out for danger that might threaten the children he couldn’t help but keep one eye on the Princess as she raced around the battlefield. While from Bowser’s experience his unrequited love hadn’t exactly been a slouch when it came to fighting but here and now she was on fire. As much as that might cause issues for him down the line he couldn’t help but admire her as she made mincemeat of their enemies.

The other threat remaining was the Brachydios. It, however, was in the middle being mobbed now that it was the only really notable threat on the battlefield. Nearly everyone who wasn’t out of action or dealing with the plow horse was getting stuck in. This included Kamek who, after he had finished his coaching of the Dry Bones’ football attack (sending them to guard Bowser’s side after they were done) and dropped off Mimikyu so the Pokemon could keep jr company, had swooped over to lend the rest of the team his support by casting his enlarging spell on the wounded and imperiled Courier.

This ganging up by the heroes, while clearly effective, did run the risk of them getting in each other's way, something perfectly exemplified by the arrival of the Ace Cadet at Bowser’s feet after he was blown off of their quarry’s back by the appearance of a friendly dragon. Rather than get up and rejoin the very busy fray the warrior instead approached Bowser to offer the king a healing potion for his messed up face.

”WHAT? YEAH SURE THAT WOULD BE GREAT BUT MY HANDS ARE A BIT FULL” Bower replied when offered, referring to the two children he was carrying.

Not wanting to continue to be a burden to his father any longer Jr insisted that ”I’m fine papa, you can let go of me now.” before attempting to clamber his way out of his position pressed against Bowser’s chest.

”Hmm. Alright here,” Bowser said as he lifted his son up and popped him on his shoulder, ”sit tight.”

Then he reached down, took the proffered potion with a nod of thanks, and downed it in one big gulp. The healing quickly suffused into his body and began mending what it could of Bowser’s injuries.

”AHHH, that’s better,” Bowser sighed contently as the pain dulled thanks to the Ace’s tonic.

”Now. Hmm,” Bowser glanced around the battlefield for something to do as he pocketed the potion bottle and added it to his collection. The Ace was handling the rest of the horse and the chaotic mess that was the Brachydios was a bad place to go while carrying children, so Bowser decided to deal with something safer. ”Lets get your car back,” he said to Jr before stomping off to retrieve Jr’s Clown car that had been freely floating about after the boy had been knocked out of it earlier.

“No that’s not it either. It’s more brown and is crispy like a nut.” Ossian explained as she examined Cerule’s latest attempt at creating a coffee bean

”Why do you want this again?” The Avatar said after a sigh. What she had at first thought of as a novel distraction had rapidly turned into a repetitive slog exemplified by the pile of strange beans currently littering the small round table the pair where sitting at.

“So we can make coffee,” Ossian explained simply, “which is a warm drink you might share with friends on a journey such as this.”

“And yes, before you point it out, I know I can’t drink it, but Azura did put a sense of smell on these things so we could still enjoy it that way,” she added. The pair where, after all, both dead souls which had been crystallized and then placed within stone automota known as Armonia and as a result neither needed, or could, eat or drink. Despite this the dead sometimes found themselves with cravings for things they could no longer consume and so resorted to smelling those things instead. It was a 50/50 shot on whether this would satisfy or intensify the craving.

”Then let’s go straight to that then,” Cerule said impatiently, before waving her hand and conjuring a coffee flask, which unbeknownst to both of them was identical in every way to the one split tooth had received and delivered, out of thin air.

The two stared at the, to them, futuristic fluid receptacle for a few moments before Ossian picked it up, popped the lid off it and took a whiff of the continents. After a contented sigh, or more accurately a deliberate mimicry of a sigh due to her lack of lungs, confirmed that “this is it”

”Huh,” Cerule said flatly, a little surprised by the sudden success after so many initial failures. ”I guess someone made the drink without making the ingredients first then.”

“A shame. We won’t be able to grow it then,” Ossian said

”Maybe I can...” Cerule muttered as she levitated a grape sized ball of the coffee out of the cup and then floated it before her. After staring at intensely for a few moments the fluid suddenly evaporated, leaving only the ground up remains of the bean behind. Then those grains clumped together to form a roasted coffee bean as it was familiar to Ossian. Then the bean turned green, a bright red berry grew around it, then the branch the berry would have grown on materialized as coffee plant grew into existence in reverse, first branches them stem and finally roots.

“Huh. Did not know that was how you grew those.” Ossian said as the plant finished being created. Years of being in the presence of the divine had sourly numbed her to the miracles they so casually performed.

”Explains why I couldn't replicate it from your description then,” Cerule replied before standing up from the little table they were seated at and carefully grabbing the new plant by the stem and picking it up off the table, ”Now let’s get this thing planted somewhere before we arrive.”

“Mm,” Ossian wordlessly agreed and in a few moments they had left the balcony, and the picturesque view it provided of the world rolling by below them, behind.

The pair strolled through the halls of the floating temple, currently being dragged south by a number of sky whales, at a casual pace, stopping occasionally to talk with others as Ossian encouraged almost everyone they passed to smell the coffee Cerule had created, until they found their way to the garden. It surrounded the temple, a great floating mass of soil bearing innumerable forms of plant life that where now joined by the humble coffee plant. These plants where the bedrock of life for the shoals of Tonnikala, great and small, that had been herded along with the island, a seed of the ecosystem gradually spreading across the Blue to every mountain peak.

This seed traveled south from its origin at the north pole across oceans and continents till it reached the heart of Atokhekwoi. On the other side of the world from their place of rebirth the dead placed their second home and the future basis of a second node in their plan to remake death itself. The great chains which the sky-whales had used to pull the vast floating structure were turned into anchors binding the floating temple to the peak of the tallest mountain in the south which, bathed in the warmth of the shining city of Heliopolis and the healing light of the Lustrous Garden remained forever a place where Galbar and the Blue where one.

As soon as the island was securely attached hundreds of soulless Armonia descended from it and began fortifying the mountain against any possible intrusions while the Tonnikala where set loose upon the surrounding area to make their homes among the floating temples above and dark mountains below.

Azura’s people, it was clear, where here to stay.




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