ERode

Kᴀʀᴍᴀ + Fᴀᴛᴇ

Just gotta be skilled enough to make the double mage no archer meta the new thing.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

The blood was everywhere, even if what was shed was hardly anything that more experienced adventurers would have been concerned with. Dark red splattered the leaves as Matteo struggled for air and for escape, his pounding heart only aggravating the injuries already incurred. The blows from the goblin’s club wasn’t enough to break bone or cause internal injury, not one so small, but it left cuts and bruises all the same. The goblin’s assault went unchallenged until Matteo suddenly forced himself sideways, tossing the green creature off like a rider off a bucking horse.

It was incredibly fortunate then, that Muu’s reactions were fast enough to shift the angle of her short sword moments before it sank into Matteo. The sword thrust into the bushes and the dirt instead, as the club-wielding monster sprang up onto its feet once more. Glared at them with hateful eyes, prepared for the next attack…and immediately turned, scrambling to attack the isolated Ash instead.

The knife wielding goblin had gotten off one good stab into Ash’s right calf before the cold kiss of her machete drove into its neck, cutting into leathery skin and sinewy flesh. With a sharper blade, she could have brought her blade into the bone of the beast’s spine. With a smaller blade, she could have held it icepick style and delivered a powerful stab. But the goblin yelped instead, pushing away immediately at the sudden pain and causing Ash to stumble on her punctured leg as well. Retreating a couple feet away, it snarled as its free hand patted against the injury and for a moment, Ash could read the indecision in its eyes.

But the shrill cry of its comrade roused the devil-beast’s own courage once more, and the two of them jumped at her, the club-bearing goblin swinging hard at her injured leg while the dagger-bearing one practically jumped onto her, trying to force her prone.

Re: Zero: The High Council

_{Hero's District, Priestella}

”You’re the last one.” She pulled out a chair and sat in it, folding one leg over the other. ”I'm Captain Crunch. I oversee a fair portion of the king's naval fleet and am currently stationed here to make sure the waters remain bandit free.” She folded her arms. ”So, tell me what’s up..”

Captain Crunch’s beauty certainly didn’t fit her name, and even her position as a...captain? commander? of the Navy seemed at odds with her hunter-ranger outfit. More than anything, she stood in stark contrast with the faceless Mono, looking more like someone who popped out of a basic eroge than something that, well, existed in ‘reality’. Then again, Aer had also looked weird. Maybe it was simply the way the world was built?

Seated opposite to her, Yuuki brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes as he leaned back against the chair. The walk had been rather tiring, especially with a pack as large as his, and though he was too absorbed in the upcoming interrogation to gripe about it before, the blue-eyed youth was certainly happy to be able to rest now. Almost made him wish he still had his mug with him. Where did that guy go anyways? Yuuki grimaced slightly at the memory, and ended up drinking straight from the thermos instead, almost-scalding tea hitting his tongue and passing down his throat.

Rejuvenating as always.

“So, uh…” Yuuki said, after realizing Captain Crunch wasn’t saying much more, “Are you going to be...asking me questions, I guess? Or, like, what?”

Crunch closed her eyes with a groan. ”I'm asking for an account of what happened to you.” Her eyes opened again. ”You seem to be a bit better equipped than the others though, what were you doing before you were teleported?”

Ah, that was nice and straightforward. “Uh, basically, I was preparing to head out on a trip, and it was winter where I was, so I had all my gear with me, when BAM, I was in a dark place with some shadow-monster-dude? That ring any bells for you?” He paused, then continued with his story. “Anyways, he talked about love and witches and then other stuff and told me to take his hand and was probably going to eat my head off if I didn’t so when I did WHAM I’m here.”

“Oh yeah, would you happen to have a mug or something I could borrow, er...Captain Crunch?”

The corners of Crunch's lips twitched. ”That was a very detailed description, thank you.” She stood up. ”I think I saw Mono holding a strange cup. It was made out of a smooth, shiny stone. Maybe he'll let me borrow it.” Crunch started to approach Yuuki's side of the table when she suddenly stopped and clamped a hand over her nose. ”Mmmmph!”

Yuuki’s light expression faltered, ever so slightly, as the green haired woman suddenly looked nauseated. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?”

She quickly took a step backwards before taking her hand off of her face. ”Your smell...” She coughed. ”This land you came from...” She turned to Yuuki, and her brows were crossed. ”Were there cultists where you lived as well?”

The concern disappeared, twisting into something else. “Yeah,” he spoke, “Why do you ask?”

Crunch folded her arms again, but this time she was standing. When she had perfect posture, it was evident that she was actually very tall for a woman. She could only be a few inches shorter than mono, but crunch might be able to challenge him at arm wrestling. ”Because you smell like them.” Her brow furrowed further. ”More than any of the others I've interrogated.” She slammed her hand down on the table. ”I can only think of two explanations for your smell to be this strong. Either you've been around them for a long time, or you're one of them.” She narrowed her eyes. ”Which is it?”

Blue eyes matched green, and the smile that eventually emerged was half-hesitant. “Why do you think I wanted to go on a trip?” Yuuki’s smile became sharper, harsher, his voice tightening, his fingers white against the table. “Fucking sucks that what they worshipped was the real thing, yeah?”

”A trip huh?” Crunch stood up again and folded her arms. ”Is that what this was? Transporting yourself and all these other foreigners here was just taking a trip to you?”

Yuuki blinked, and with that, the mood was dispelled. “Wait what? No, like, the trip and this whole thing was totally separate. I was actually gonna take the Shinkansen down to Tokyo and then figure things out from there, not like, you know...get dropped by this black dude into Prastalla?”

Crunch's gaze didn't waver. ”Your origins are extremely problematic.” Crunch sighed. ”We will be able to release you as soon as the others, unfortunately. I will discuss your situation with Mono and see what he wants to do. I'll probably have more questions for you later.” She walked towards the door. ”It is probably only a small comfort, but I will return with a mug.” When she got to the door, she stopped and turned to face Yuuki one last time. ”But for now I have one last question; You weren't their leader, were you?”

There was no smile now, only a gaze of fathomless depth.

“My father was.”

Jigokuraku Academy

Zone 4

@ShwiggityShwah
It was by design that Hiroki had fallen into the pit trap after the ‘bait’ that was the training dummy, but the jet-powered student had been tracked for much longer than that. The screaming of the jets carried clearly through the thick fog, and his scent too, worked up from the sweat and the ‘something’ that had been inside the pit, now formed an invisible trail.

There were some amongst the students who could have picked up that odd scent, that could have cautioned against it. There were others who could have shone through the mist, to get proper bearings within the fog. But Hiroki didn’t have what they had, and, without his turbines clearing the mist around him, he didn’t notice the large shadow until it was too late.

A tremendous form flew through the mist, vespers of vapour streaming off its bronze scales. The height of an adult male but perhaps thrice the girth, the beast was reptilian in its appearance, bearing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth that stretched itself in to an expression half-amused, half-hungering. The thick tail behind stretched out a good two meters, a veritable battering ram of scale and muscle, while dark crimson coated its rectangular head. Compared to its massive haunches its arms were much thinner, but only relatively so, and all four appendages ended in sickle-shaped claws, three in one position and a thicker one opposing.

So many natural weapons, but it body slammed Hiroki instead of employing any of them, sending the steel-blue youth rolling a good three meters before slamming into a tree. Opening its great maw, the Beast roared with a ferocity that distorted the fog itself, sound ripples blooming through the white vapours, and charged once more.

If nothing else, the warning was fair.

Jigokuraku Academy

Zone 4

@ShwiggityShwah
As the mist parted during his landing, Hiroki saw another one of the strange, colorful stones that had been scattered over the area. It glimmered a verdant green, looking very much like the sort of marbles that kids would have liked to collect in a different age and time. Seeing no other reason to rethink his options, the turbine mutant landed, grabbed the dummy's arm...

...and fell through the ground, dragging the dummy with him. His footing gave away as he passed underneath a camoflagued tarp and, with the clumsy weight of a human adult pressing down on top of him, Hiroki hadn't even had chance to react before he strunk a pile of loose dirt, twenty feet down. If it had been a proper pitfall trap, maybe he would have been impaled, but no matter how non-lethal, it was clear that whoever designed this portion of the exam had no qualms with using bait.

He was only banged up though, in the end, his tumble answered with a couple of bruises at best. The dummy that had tangled up with him was heavy, but nothing oppressively so. It was a mistake, but nothing that would cripple him. Hiroki could still work.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

“HUEK?!” went the club-wielding goblin as Muu collected herself in time, driving her foot into its distended belly. Her legs were trained, the beast was light, and with a sound impact, the goblin flew back, right into a still-hesitating Matteo. Nervous as he was, the thief wasn’t even able to align his dagger properly before the goblin slammed into his torso, sending both of them tumbling into the bushes. They fell into a disorderly heap, but it was the goblin that scrambled onto its limbs first, one clawed hand squeezing down onto Matteo’s throat while another hand swung down in a chaotic flurry of club blows towards his head.

Somewhere along the way, Matteo’s dagger had been lost, but the red puncture wound on the goblin’s back, not deep enough to be fatal but not superficial enough to be of no effect, showed that it must have done something at least.

On the other side of the fire, the dagger wielding goblin didn’t give pause at all as Ash recovered swiftly, her own machete drawn and swung. At such a low posture, such a small size, a powerful swing was more demerit than merit, and her first blow went wide, wide enough that the goblin leapt for her right foot, claws extended, jagged teeth revealed, dagger in motion. It would cling onto her calf and move up from there.

Curse of Strahd [5E]

Oh, right to the climax for Mirror, eh? Though Tae would have liked more time to eat and carve and eat and drink and chat and eat, getting straight to the point was fine as well, and having her curiousity sated so quickly was nice too. Her own face burned red from drunkeness, but the words coming out of Granny's mouth made more sense than not. Gypsies causing trouble? Tae certainly had no problems with beggars herself, but when those beggars turned into magically-enhanced muggers? Definitely a no go!

"No worries," she laughed, "Thought with all the build up you were gonna be sending us to clear out an orc tribe or something! Anyways, curse hijinks are great and all, but what 'bout 'em numbers? They a big group or something?"

Partway through, a server had opted to swap the wine Tae was guzzling with water, but the damage was clearly done at that point, and it was looking more and more unlikely that she would remember any of this in the morning.

Jigokuraku Academy

Zone 6

@Scribe of Thoth@Animal
Despite Shiki’s initial intent, Shun’s directives pulled the USB boy away from Goro’s searchlight and towards a different sector within the disaster zone, the two disappearing into the formless fog soon after. Without the guiding light, it was a bit harder to watch their steps as they navigated the claustrophobic and confusing alleyways in search for people in need of rescue, but it was easy traveling if one wasn’t afraid of the possibilities of monsters popping out from the corners.

Soon enough, the residential area, where Shun and Shiki must have simply been on the outskirts of, gave way to wider streets and more open space. Rows of one and two story buildings stood before them, the lifeless and displaced signs showing that they must once have been stores. Now though, they were only husks, the windows shattered and all but the heaviest or most valueless objects pillaged from the interior. A couple stores featured trucks smashed into them, the wailing of dummy targets sounding weakling within, while other dummies were toppled underneath a hazardous pile of cardboard boxes. In one direction, the remains of a music shop still blinked its neon signs sadly, even though its interior was bereft of everything except for faded, wind-torn posters. In another direction, the burnt ruins of a home appliance store stood, its steel frame out lasting plaster, as husks of electrical appliances stood in disarray.

But it was the sight in the center of the commercial district that caught the two boys’ eyes the most easily: a large, bright red mailbox, standing perpendicular upon a dummy’s back as it laid flat on the ground.

Now, wasn’t that a weird one.

Kᴀʀᴍᴀ + Fᴀᴛᴇ

Ier-Briar's theme, reflective of her disappointment in the menfolk of the RP.

Kᴀʀᴍᴀ + Fᴀᴛᴇ

---

_{Province of Ilagorn -- Adventurer's Guild a.k.a. The Delipitated Duck
12th Hour of the 2nd Day, Summer}

---

It looked as if only dregs remained now, the rest of the new adventurers either too intimidated by a group made almost entirely of women or too prejudiced to think that such a party could not ascend to glory. Ier-Briar had her own concerns, of course, about how much ‘weight’ she would be burdened by if she was the sole individual capable of standing at the vanguard, but those concerns could become a ‘legend’ just as easily, of the singular warrior who shielded her lesser companions from the grasp of devil and beast. Yes, she certainly will consider this situation as an opportunity for great growth.

The apparent final adventurer that had the testicular fortitude to stand up to her challenge was one who was certainly more keen of eye than strong of arm, judging by his lacking muscles, and Ier-Briar couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment at the quality of the men who had so far presented themselves before her. Another beardless eunuch, it appeared, and though being a loresinger didn’t REQUIRE a great beard and a belly full of mead, it was still disappointing that southerners were so bereft of manliness. A rogue or a bard, neither of which she could trust her flanks with in combat.

Sounded like her legend was only going to grow at an even more exponential rate at this point.

“I’ll take you then,” the blonde warrior said flatly, “Sign here. And as for your musical persuasions…save your voice so you may sing tales of our valor once we return from our maiden massacre.”

The charter and pencil was thrust into Nimr’s face, and, after giving the green-haired skinny lad a scant few moments to mark down his own signature (literacy wasn’t a real requirement, after all), Ier-Briar snatched it away again and marched right up to the bespectacled woman by the counter, setting it down with finality.

“I’ve found my comrades, unorthodox as they are. Now, what work have you to offer those eager to prove their valor?”