Lord Santa

Protea - The Ebon Flow

"Oy, wait fer me!" Aron called out to the scaly parili.
Aron had been studying the breathing thing he'd been given, wondering what it was worth (a reasonable amount as it turns out) before the strange scaly guy ran down the sewers ahead of him. Aron quickly shoved the rebreather into his leather case. He'd figure out how to operate it later, or not bother. He did have experience, after all.

He hastened down the ladder into the sewers, and as he did, he was met with the smell of fresh rain after a storm. Not exactly a storm, but it smelled fresher than what most would expect. Of course, Aron already knew what it smelled like on any time of day.

With that said, the idea that the sewer always smelled bad was wrong. There were parts of it that dealt with sewage and parts that didn't. Sometimes, even the parts that did handle the sewage sometimes didn't, which could get very confusing. It was something Aron just dealt with due to his life experience. Run away from the stink, run away from the water, etc.

As the freshly swept sewer-smell washed over him, Aron was reminded of the days he spent in the sewers as a child. There were a lot more people down there a while back. As the sewers got bigger, however, the people became farther apart. There was always the occasional fellow homeless guy, but he didn't see them so much any more. What he did see more of recently were beasts. Big rats and the other sewer creatures became more common some time ago. Aron didn't really notice it, though, he adapted around it.

He jumped off the last few rungs and landed with a thump.

"Home sweet home." Aron said, grinning.

Good old nostalgia, alright.

"Hey, I said I can take you anywhere, but is there anywhere you really need to go, or are we just going to walk everywhere?" Aron called out above.

---

Ash, as per his habits, was behind the rest of the group, fiddling with the rebreather. He wanted to know that it wouldn't fail him in a critical moment. He had checked it when he'd gotten it first, but there was no harm in being safe. He checked the breathing mask, tubing, and the magical parts (and the other ones if I missed any). They all seemed to be in order.

He put it into his coat pocket and sat back, watching the others. It would probably reflect poorly on his character, but he wanted to be the last person in. There were a few reasons for this. The first was that he hadn't yet built a level of trust with his team. It wasn't a very good reason as most of the squad seemed fairly trustworthy, barring a few members. But the second reason was to cover the back. It was likely that the mission had some potentially harmful risks, and amongst those risks, there was a chance that pursuers with less wholesome goals were tailing the group.

While the expedition's presence had practically been proclaimed all over town, it was still a relatively sensitive mission. Considering it was a mission given to a group of misfits by the mayor's daughter, it had good public support. If it failed, public opinion of the mayor's daughter would sink, giving her political opponents an advantage.

Ash knew all this and stood back, vigilant. It was a job with a lot of potentially harmful unknown variables, and it had been his job to root out as many as he could.

[Full] True Faces [VR MMO RP]

Nice to know you care about me :P

The Gifted: A Fast Paced Superpower RP (Relaunch)

Isaac heard a sound behind him and sighed. He turned around and saw a pale woman with an old taste in clothes. Her question was predictable, but somewhat annoying. Isaac recognised that many people believed him to be a doctor, because of his lab-coat. However, he was a scientist. There was a fundamental difference between the two. Isaac normally didn't bother, but there were many things that annoyed him today.

He took a quick glance at the girl's vital points and found that they were healthy. At a glance, he could tell that she wasn't sick, but it her question was understandable. He knew why he was on the ship, he'd figured out the aliens. However, it was clear that the woman did not.

"No, you aren't sick." Isaac said.
It was probably clear at this stage, judging by his scalpel, but it didn't hurt to clarify. He walked up to the pod and held up his knife. He slashed quickly and the pod's door fell apart.
"And I'm not a doctor." He said, turning on his heel and walking away.

@Pirouette

[Full] True Faces [VR MMO RP]

((Anyone worried about approval of this content, don't worry! I have GM approval!))

-------------

"Here it is..." Food-kun said, standing in front of a cave entrance.

It was a pretty basic dungeon, one known to many players, yet it didn't attract many people. The monsters were moderately tough, but they didn't drop much. It was, however, odd that the cave seemed to house many different kinds of monsters from the area, and was hence dubbed 'The Chimera Dungeon'.

The monsters inside were only moderately tough, and they dropped a decent amount of change but seemed to have a lower chance of dropping items. The Chimera Dungeon lacked the bigger monsters, like dragons and giants, so it wasn't a dungeon frequented by high-level users. However, low-leveled players might find it tough. Amidst the foxes, wolves and deer, there might be the odd minotaur that would show up and completely ruin their day.

Food-kun strode in, as he had been doing in recent days. He strode through the dark halls, ignoring the small monsters, which ran away from him. He also ignored the relatively big monsters, hidden in the darkness, which also ran away from him. Almost no monster would willingly go near Food-kun because of his magnificent fighting spirit and fearsome reputation amongst monsters. He strode calmly through the dark cave, ignoring all the monsters. They almost tripped over themselves running away from him if he walked closer, but he never tried to touch them.

A group of mid-level users were challenging the dungeon. They were fighting monsters in a stone chamber. But they were surprised when the monsters they’d been fighting so hard (2 ogres that came out of nowhere) suddenly stopped in fear and sprinted in the other direction. As the party were confused, Food-kun sat in the darkness behind the doorway, wondering where he was going. He soon realised that he’d made a wrong turn at the last fork and turned around. The ogres, detecting his presence disappearing, reappeared to continue fighting. However, Food-kun’s hand flicked out behind him, launching deadly projectiles. As the ogres roared a new challenge, his wooden skewers shot through the ogres and embedded themselves into the stone wall behind the monsters. The ogres’ health bars fell to 0 from 65%. As the party milled about in confusion, Food-kun navigated the dark passages silently.

-------------------------------------------

"Oh, I'm here." Food-kun said.

He put down the map he’d been reading and stopped. In front of him was what appeared to be the remains of a rock slide, but Food-kun knew better. There was an illusionary wall at the side, and a completely dark passageway. He went in without hesitation and navigated the dark tunnels. Soon, light could be seen, and Food-kun emerged in a grassy clearing.

He was in a large, circular cavern that had a large hole in the top, which let sunlight in. The cavern floor was mainly grass, with a small ponds here and there and little copse of trees at the edge of the cavern. It was about as big as the property of a rich guy where he puts his mansion, or maybe a bit smaller than a rich guy’s personal golf course. Damn rich people.

Around the middle of the cavern, there was a shabby looking wooden construct with an ornate but old wooden sign, which read ‘Monster Café’. It was surrounded by large tree stumps, around which small stools were placed. The ‘wooden construct’ was technically a building, but it was rather shabby. Shabby would be a light word for it. It was like the construction was done by the hands of slimes, and it actually was.

As Food-kun walked to the ‘building’, shaped emerged from the woodwork. Slimes! Soft and squishy, they were low levelled-mobs. There were higher-levelled slimes, of course. They were often huge and had interesting shapes. However, these were relatively small, about the size of a deer. Furthermore, they had no form and were basic colours. They were simply purple and orange slimes. Clearly they were low-level monsters. Food-kun could make any low-level monster faint by staring at it for too long, but these didn’t. Food-kun didn’t want to harm them, after all. He had a reason for coming here.

"Blup blup. Look, chef is back!" The purple slime said.

"Yay!" The orange one cheered.

"I swear, this place just keeps getting better and better." Food-kun sighed.

The derelict café was pretty bad when he first found it, but every day he came back it seemed to get a little worse. Maybe that was just the passive corrosive properties of the slimes, or maybe it was just because it was old. The slimes were stupid, and things were constantly breaking.

"Thank you!" The purple slime said happily, not getting Food-kun’s obvious sarcasm.

"Nevermind…" Food-kun muttered quietly, opening his bag.

He deposited a bunch of wood, as well as carpentry tools.

"Food-kun, what’s that for?" The orange slime asked.

"Just watch." Food-kun said.

He began to renovate the small shack. Food-kun didn’t have the carpentry skill, but pretty much anything would be better than what they had now. Besides, his exceptional handiwork, dexterity and strength made it easier and faster. After around 20 minutes, he’d run out of wood. Now the shabby wooden construct was a pretty damn good lemonade stand. At least it made for a decent shop front.

It was all straight now, and it had a certain sheen to it, but there wasn’t too much artistic quality in it. He didn’t have the sculpturing skill or the carpentry skill, after all. It was built quickly and it was structurally sound, but it lacked art. Nevertheless, it was a lot better than it was before.

"Wow!" The purple slime exclaimed.

"It’s so beautiful…" The orange slime said, sniffing.

Certainly, it was basic, but it was practically sparkling. Food-kun was doing the finishing touches when a black slime appeared from inside.

"Huuah, hum." The black slime said, yawning. "What’s this?"

"Morning." Food-kun said in greeting.

"Oh, Food-kun!" The slime said happily. "Thanks for coming, I’ll go make you some coffee. Blup blup."

Food-kun looked after the black slime as it left to make the coffee. He was rather conflicted about it, really. He had never tasted better coffee, and he would’ve drunk it at every opportunity, if he didn’t know where it came from.

In fact, it was that very coffee which made him work with the slimes in the monster café.

----------------------------------------------

Food-kun had been exploring the Chimera Dungeon by himself. Eventually, he’d found the rubble. He was about to bust it down when he found the illusionary wall. He went through it and found the clearing. There’d been a group of monsters in the middle, but he didn’t know what they were doing. As he approached, the monsters all growled at him, but once he entered combat, they all ran away.
Food-kun was exploring the old building but there was a cup of nice-smelling coffee left on one of the stumps. Food-kun took it and drank it. He didn’t know what to expect, but he didn’t expect it to be good.

"This is really tasty." He’d said.

"Re-really?" The black slime had said nervously.

"Yup." Food-kun said, draining the cup.

"The scary human liked it!" The purple slime said, emerging from behind the counter.

"Say… The orange slime said cautiously, also emerging from the counter. "You’re a chef, right? Could you help us?"

Quest has been created!

Help the monster café

The monster café was once a neat and peaceful place of refuge for monsters to have their cup of coffee and eat meals. However, over time it has degraded into a shadow of its former self. For the sake of the monster café, the slime owners have asked the help of a renowned human chef.

Rewards:
- Cooking experience
- Secret monster café recipes
- Fame amongst monsters
- Friendship with the slimes

Do you accept?

"...I’ll help you." Food-kun said after a pause.

--------------------------------------

"Done." Victor said, wiping his forehead.

He had just finished re-furnishing the kitchen. Wood was a safety hazard, so he used the stone he brought instead. He put tiles on the floor and cemented (whatever passed for cementing, anyway) them together. He also got a better stove and oven, and he replaced the derelict cupboards with some new ones. He stocked the pantries with food from his own inventory and it was just about ready to go. Lastly, he installed the sink which he bought.

"Looks great! Blup blup." The black slime said, entering the new kitchen. "Here’s the coffee!"

The black slime held up a neat white cup full of steaming black fluid in its hands (kinda). Food-kun hesitated slightly before taking it. He took a small sip and the flavour seeped into his mouth.

"Thanks." Food-kun said.

"Glad you like it! Blup." The black slime said happily.

Despite where it came from, it was still good coffee. Possibly the best coffee. But Food-kun could make it better.

"You got more ingredients?" Food-kun asked.

"Yup! Big bag! Blup blup." The black slime said, holding up a sack labelled ‘coffee’.

"Alright, good." Food-kun said, stretching.

"They’re coming!" The orange slime yelled from outside.

Food-kun drew his kitchen knife and prepared a chopping board. He took the bag and put it on the counter. The slimes tensed as a large crowd of monsters came in from the holes in the walls. Food-kun got ready to cook and the purple slime flipped the sign on the store front from closed to open.

"Time to get cooking." Food-kun said, grinning.

Protea - The Ebon Flow

Aw man, now we won't get paid.

Protea - The Ebon Flow

<Snipped quote by Lugubrious>

Tomorrow afternoon in role play time or the actual real life tomorrow afternoon? Or maybe both?

@Oswald The Penguin

Probably real life. The sewers are clearing out in about an hour (in rp time), so I'm assuming it's tomorrow in real life.

[Full] True Faces [VR MMO RP]

wat

Protea - The Ebon Flow

Hey, what happened to bluemoon?

@bluemoon277, you there?

Protea - The Ebon Flow

Gah, I'm lost! Aron said suddenly.

There was only so much he could do while listening to other people talk, and he was getting a little confused. Also, he began noticing that people were looking at him funny. It was probably because he smelled like the sea, but he shouldn't smell that bad. At least the sewer smell was gone. Though it was replaced by a fish smell, and eating an entire semi-live raw fish probably didn't help matters.

But Aron knew what he could do. He stood up and declared his thoughts.

"I don't know about any of this structural integrit' stuff or investigation, He said, pronouncing it slowly. But if you all need to do some sewer diving, I'm your man!"

He pointed to himself proudly, taking pride in his skills despite them being... somewhat removed from the social norms.

"I know the sewers like the back of my hand! Lived there most of my life!" He said, grinning.

Aron didn't really love the sewers, but the sewers had helped him survive. He knew where all the monsters were, the twists and turns, and where the safe spots were when the floods came. He took pride in his 'home'. It wasn't his first choice, but he knew it better than pretty much anyone.

"If there's nothing more to be said, I'll go outside to brush my teeth for a minute!" He said.

Aron stalked off out into the rain, which was thankfully thinning. It would stop raining soon. It also meant that the sewers would clear up in an hour or two, and there could be fish left in the passages. However, the the passages would be slippery for quite some time. It was fortunate for the expedition, however, that it wasn't the right season for storms. Despite all his knowledge of the sewers, it would be a struggle to survive in them during a storm. It was part of the reason why no one entered them; the sewers were one of the worst killers in Ebb.

Aron didn't care about that, of course. He knew about it, but would be hard pressed to explain it. Instead, he exited the mayor's house. He walked up to the beach front and pulled out his leather case. It was precious to him, as it was worth quite a bit and it was waterproof. From inside the case, he extracted his special toothbrush (it's a metal one) and his special toothpaste (metal cleaner). Aron sidled down to the water's edge while putting some of his toothpaste onto his toothbrush before beginning the brushing.

The metal-on-metal made a relatively harsh grating sound, but it was necessary. He would've loved to eat the brush, but it was the only thing preventing his teeth from smelling like rusty metal and fish guts. He scrubbed his teeth thoroughly before spitting out the metal polish taste. He wiped the tooth brush off and replaced it back into his case. In its stead, he took out a packet of heavy-duty breath mints, taking one and putting it in his mouth. He grinned as he used his finger to check his teeth.

"Good." Aron said, extracting his finger but still grinning. "Can't forget dental Hygiene."

Yes, he smelled bad, and yes, he was homeless, but being sick was something he absolutely couldn't afford. There was no one else to take care of him, and he didn't have the money to seek treatment. As he was on his own, he had to take care of himself. He managed well enough, though. He wanted to make money, not lose it.

Aron walked towards the mansion as the mint dissolved in his mouth.

-----------------------------------------

Ash still leaned back on the wall as the others expressed their respective interests in the two groups. A rough looking man left, and Ash ignored him. Ash didn't personally mind either group, really. His... work had taken him to many different locations before, and sewers were by no means the worst place he'd been in. He still gave that particular award to [deleted].

Ash didn't have any preferences, really. His curiosity was piqued about the sewer's underworks, and he didn't want to miss the chance to work with a high-elf and a Parili. But...

Ash shifted his head to an almost inaudible degree, shifting his gaze to a curiosity in the group. A large man in a white coat. No one could deny his presence, and perhaps what drew Ash was simply because like him, the man hid his face. But Ash couldn't get rid of the feeling that the man was more than met the eye.

Perhaps it was the way he carried himself. The way he shifted his hood ever so carefully. Ash knew that behaviour, it was that of a man with something to hide. The man had expressed his interest in joining the land group, few as they were. The man's behaviour changed slightly, and Ash noted a slight change in the man's voice, which Ash identified as a very light fear. More trepidation than phobia fear, but fear nonetheless. Ash wanted to know more of the man, he wanted to know what he hid. What should Ash do.

"I will go with the sewer group." Ash said finally.

There were many reasons to go with the surface group, but the reasons to go with the sewer group outweighed the surface group ones. Furthermore, he didn't feel like trusting the surface group just yet. The aformentioned white-robed man, as well as a spineless seeming goblin. There was also a seemingly unhinged man in the sewer group, but that man had shown interest in their snow-elf participant, so he was unlikely to bother others. There was always a possibility, but there were more people in the sewer group currently, so Ash could at least trust the numbers.

Besides that, the sewers seemed relatively more dangerous and interesting, but he doubted his skills would be much needed on the surface. Even though the sewers were filled with water which naturally clashed with his affinity, he wanted to satisfy his curiosity. While tying up loose ends were his specialty, he was definitely curious about the snow-elf princess, the Parili, and the others.

Also, Ash was no longer an assassin, he was a mercenary. And he had a nagging feeling that the underground group might need his skills more than the above-ground group.

Protea - The Ebon Flow

Aron was quietly drip-drying on the floor. It was a nice mansion and there were plenty of seats available, but the problem was, it was a nice mansion. What right did some homeless guy have to come in and drip seawater all over the upholstery? That was why he was stuck on the floor, drip-drying. Aron didn't know many things, but he knew a lot about money. Lowering the value of something was something he just didn't do.

In fact, the guards were loathe to let him in initially. A soaking wet bearded man jumped out of the lake and said he was there for the investigation team. Yeah, not likely. Sure, the mayor's daughter was hiring all kinds, but it necessarily mean Aron's kind of all kinds.

They had a few problems with him, in fact. The first was the fact that he didn't have any money to his name (legally). The second was that he looked really shabby. The third and probably worst thing was that he smelled. He smelled like saltwater and fish. But hey, at least he didn't smell like sewer.

Aron was eventually let in because he remembered to put his slip of acceptance in a water-proof leather case which he always kept on his body. The guards let him in, albeit reluctantly.

Aron was glad, but cold. He was surrounded by wealth, but he didn't want to take any of it. Aron was honest (somewhat) to a fault, and stupid. He wanted to make his own money himself, despite not being able to hold on to money that often. Quite a problem, especially because of his diet.

Aron felt something squirming in his boots earlier and fished it out only to find that it was, ironically, a fish. As the mayor's daughter explained the situation, Aron bit half of the fish, half paying attention. He bit up to the fin, but was careful to not let the blood get onto the floor. Blood had a bit of iron in it, at least. As he chewed the fish flesh, his teeth ground something hard. Judging by the taste, he could tell what it was.

A copper piece! How lucky. Aron thought, biting down on the copper piece.

It made a soft crunching noise as he chewed it. As he swallowed it down, he put the rest of the fish in his mouth and began chewing that. Then he pulled some scrap iron out of his pockets and put those in his mouth too. It was a little rusted, but not to worry! Aron's digestive system made tetanus completely ineffective. As he chewed the metal, it made an audible crunching sound. Aron didn't notice so much because he was thinking about money, and his hunger.

--------------------------------------

Ash, who had stood stock still until now, moved. He put his hand in his coat to extract a stack of papers. He began slowly walking out of the shadows while speaking

"This is the information I've collected thus far." Ash said.

On the stack of papers, there was information about the sewers. What kind of creatures lived inside, abandoned branches of the sewers, when the tide came in and what people knew happened when it did. His report also contained reports from witnesses about the sinking buildings and phenomena occurring in Ebb. It even contained Ash's own conjectured links to each phenomena.

Immediately after he signed up for the commission, he went to collect information. However, there had been a disappointing lack of said information, and he had to piece together what he could.

"The current source of the sinking phenomena is unknown." Ash said. "The probability of city support structure instability is low, but not impossible."

He was slowly walking to the center table while explaining his findings.

"An investigation team was sent in, but it's highly likely that they've perished." Ash said, reaching the table. "Civil unrest is at a peak. Between the unexplained phenomena and the Ankou, it's likely that there's an unknown force acting on Ebb, and the missing investigation crew suggest that extreme force may be necessary."

As he finished his speech, he dropped the papers unceremoniously onto the table.
"That is why we were hired. Mercenaries, assassins, travelers." Ash said, slowly walking back to his spot.

He stopped in a patch of wall half in the light and half in shadow.
"Correct if I'm wrong." He said, leaning back onto the wall.