Lugubrious

World of Light

Most of that sheet is great, but there are a couple points I'd like to bring up. Strengths are a character's talents rather rather than powers. What you have right now are several powerups, ones that are too strong at that, available in one with no perceptible limits. A powerup is something external to the Slayer that he encounters periodically in his game, so while it's possible that they could be adapted, it would have to be in a far more controlled fashion.

You pretty much describe his Strengths in the Specialty, which could easily be replaced with 'Offensive Powerhouse' or 'Point Man'. For Strengths, you could reroute what you have in Specialty to something like:

1. Physical power - the Doom Slayer boasts superhuman physical strength
2. Weapons expertise - possessing an instinctive understanding of and affinity for firearms, the Doom Slayer is skilled with a variety of new firearms and can learn to use new ones very quickly
3. Unrelenting - an incredible degree of stamina allows the Slayer to keep on exerting and fighting far beyond most combatants

You also get access to one Power. A good place to start might be Glory Kill, which could allow him to replenish health or armor depending on how he kills his enemies.

By the way, just out of curiosity: why does he have the Infinity Gauntlet in his picture?

World of Light

Hello i was wondering if i could join this rp? I was thinking of using Doom Slayer, Isabelle or Waluigi.

@Eviledd1984

Certainly! Any one of those would fine fine picks. Doom Slayer has already featured in the story, but he could be retrieved so that's not an issue. I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Final Fantasy Crystallum en Absentia

Artemisia

Just when Artemisia assumed that the group would be working cohesively to make the best of this terrible situation, that oaf Avaddon took it in his head to enact Blaike's suggestion all on his lonesome. Even worse, he suggested that out of everyone present, herself and Luna were incapable and needed to be protected by the other four. The black mage scowled at him as he made sure to give Luna some reassurance before leaping away into the trees. “Stay safe,” she called, her voice not even a little genuine. She might have just as well said 'drop dead.'

A moment later Edgar asked if Avaddon really took the best and most reasonable course of action, which would have earned a comment construable as sarcastic if Artemisia didn't just then realize she forgot about him earlier when getting miffed. Balder spoke up on her behalf, though, and shortly thereafter confirmed her observation: there would no retracing steps today. Edgar started rattling off an explanation of what was going on, but the anomaly he mentioned turned out more interesting than Artemisia assumed it would be. She took the dreadful fog to be an omen, reacting to powerful fiends lurking within the murky woodlands, but what Edgar said made it seem as though the forest itself sought to bring about the intruders' demise. ”How repugnant,” she muttered.

The group forged on, tensions rising once again. With the path gone and their lifeline severed, the aspiring monster hunters faced severe peril. Unlike in a normal forest, they couldn't just keep going and trust in the trees to eventually give with. This forest had a heart, twisted and black, hellbent on leading any intruders to oblivion. The gnarled wood and heavy air conspired against them to lead them around in circles; even if fiends did not take them, hunger and thirst eventually would. Artemisia's group had already been snared in the spiders' web, and soon the vibrations would lead the predator to its prey.

Artemisia held out hope that she could escape by boosting above the treetops, and she really wanted to, but she couldn't afford to coward out in any situation short of catastrophe—when there was no hope of survival if she stuck with the group. What if things didn't turn out as bad as they seemed, after all? She would be the one who abandoned them. If they started getting picked off, she reasoned, then she would run. But who could say that her strategy was foolproof? Maybe the fog extended above the treetops too. Maybe things were worse up there than down here, where at least there were places to hide. Artemisia breathed deep, keeping herself steady. She kept her hands up, ready to swirl up a storm as she scanned the trees.

Epithet Erased: Use Your Words

A boisterous yell from behind Lou drew his attention back in the direction of the kids he'd gifted his chain to. When he looked, the man found a short but remarkably broad man charging his way, which necessitated a double take. Where had that guy been hiding!? He even held a sword, readied in such a way that left little doubt as to the little knight's intent. On second glance, however, Lou noticed that the sword itself didn't quite look real, and neither did Gawain himself. Lou didn't get any farther along in his thought process, for the knight drew close enough to launch himself upward for a jump attack. It was the final predictable nail in the predictable coffin.

“Tch. What a maroon.” Being unarmed himself, Lou had no intention of trying to block that crushing blow. Instead he stepped to the side, his sandy footing giving the evasive maneuver a rocky start, but he did really have all the time in the world. Gawain's weapon cleft nothing but air before it smacked into the sand with a poff, and Lou aimed a ponderous kick at the knight's chest. “Got past my epithet, huh? You musta not seen it. That means someone's summonin'.” He let loose another kick for good measure. “I hate summon epithets! Fight like a man!”

A moment later, however, he realized something. The strident light of his own epithet, radiating from the bling he'd discarded, shone no more. “What? I didn't...” His gaze fell on the kids. One of them did it for sure, using an epithet probably. Did they destroy his chain? Send it elsewhere? Well, he could figure it out once they got wise, because right now one was on the attack. “My gold ain't cheap trash, you chumps!” he exclaimed angrily. “You rotten kids just don't know quality when you see it!”

Another one of them, the boy, seemed to be digging in the sand. While he wondered why, the suspense didn't last long. After a moment the glow of his chain shone forth, drawing all eyes once again. “You buried it?!” he cried in disbelief, affronted that the horrible kids would do such a thing to his bling. He watched as it jumped into the air and sailed his way. “Oh hey, thanks.” Only after a moment did he notice Jude hitching a ride, a spectacle so comical that for a second Lou stood as still as a deer in headlights.

Just a second, though.

Putting the gears in his head into overdrive, Lou quickly canceled the radiation from his chain, imbuing his epithet instead into his bangles in brief but explosive fashion just as Jude got into melee range. “Flash in the Pan!” This burst of light didn't draw attention, but it did dazzle, the strength of the flash hitting Jude like an airbag. As the kid dropped, Lou's chain wound itself around his neck, and the man smirked. “Heh, how 'bout them apples? One down, one to...hggghh!”

He turned a moment too late. Noelle charged into him at full tilt, her momentum passing through Lou as if he were no more than a bug on a windshield. He toppled instantly, hitting the sand hard, and the next moment Noelle ran straight over him. A moment later the woman slid to a stop in the brook, nearly falling over in the process. She was breathing heavily, and her face was wet with tears, but Noelle's reddish-brown hair bore an unmistakable fiery luster. When she looked back, she found Lou trampled and half-buried in the sand. “Wuh...what the hell?” The others, including his group, Noelle's and Penny's circled around him. In a daze, he looked this way and that. “Anyone...get the numba on that truck what hit me?”

Noelle glared at him, looking as fierce as she possibly could. “Train.”

Lou might have said something else, but Rosco kicked him in the side, leaving him a wheezing lump. “Damn lunatic. You might've had a point, but nobody's with you now.” He looked over at Jude, Jessica, Penny, and even Haywood. “Good job keeping him distracted and taking down his epithet. That was a nasty one...takes a real self-centered motherf...uh, jerk to pull that out.”

Heath took the chance to offer a helpful reminder. “Okay, now that's over with, we can get to work. Our kids are still out there, maybe trapped or in danger. Every second wasted here is another they have for their lives to tick away.”

Nodding fervently, Noelle grabbed Heath's arm. “We should split up. Cover more ground.”

Harry raised his hand. “Make sure you're in groups of at least three! If you split up into ones or twos in an unknown area, you're basically asking for an accident or to get picked off. Happens all the time in movies.” He looked over the kids, who'd been the most under fire in the fight with Lou. “Um, are you all okay? I can use my epithet to heal you if you're hurt. Even helps with headaches.”

As he spoke, Noelle and Heath broke off to head up the beach northward, following along the treeline. Every few seconds one of them called out, either for Lucy or for Tucker. While the implication that anyone who could should be helping remained in effect, the others received no explicit directions. The world, such as it was, was their oyster.

World of Light

Right, so I just wanna clarify I'm still here. I'm just lurking for now since things are hectic IC rn. Might not post for a while in that regards. Sorry if I seemed to ghost you guys. :T

@Majoras End

You mentioned wanting to play a new character after giving up Joker, and if that's the case you wouldn't be thrown in with the main group, so the situation IC has no bearing on your activity. I have to say that if you do not have an active character on the roster, you're not here; you've been regarded as withdrawn for some time now. If you want to rejoin, you'll need to make a new application.

Final Fantasy Crystallum en Absentia

Artemisia

Well, that turned out to be pretty easy. Artemisia couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. This Luna really knew her stuff; the black mage liked her random facts, but she wasn't a walking encyclopedia like this girl seemed to be. Then again, Arty reasoned, such talents wouldn't serve her well in a fight, and all that precious knowledge would go to waste if Luna became mulch for the local megaflora.

Before she did, though, Artemisia wanted to hear about her past. On this count too, however, Luna disappointed her. She kept things vague -purposefully vague- and only admitted she came from a life of luxury, which at this point served to do nothing but confirm the obvious. After a quick and slightly worrisome turn in the direction of angst Luna ended up deflecting, trying to turn the question back on her fellow hunters-to-be. Artemisia's mind was elsewhere. “Goodness, how many well-to-do scions leaving behind a life of security and privilege to go on a grand adventure does this group have?” Blaike already fit the bill, but she looked around at the others in turn expectantly for the sake of her joke, never suspecting a thing.

Few others seemed inclined to answer Luna's question either. Mitra spoke up somewhat quickly, reminding Luna that the party was indeed on a dangerous mission. The half-elezen might have forgotten, but despite her own participation Artemisia had been keeping it in mind. Her general unease kept her muscles tensed, ready to fire off a spell at the first sign of danger. After Mitra's suggestion the group fell quiet, keeping a silent vigil until its leader murmured that he might have made a mistake. No, really? she thought, tuning out Blaike's attempt to get in on the conversation. We find an unusually dark and ominous forest where things aren't as they should be, waltz in anyway, and suddenly we're having second thoughts. You're a fool, and we're fools for following you. This is how horror stories start. And now we're in the rising action.

A moment later a monster emerged from the brush, with neither pomp nor ceremony, and Artemisia's dark expression turned to one of surprise. “Aha!” She would have busted out a blast of magic if Balder, Avaddon, and Ianthe weren't standing directly in her way. Before she could re-position, the miniboro beat it, leaving as fast as it came, and leaving Artemisia to stare at the bushes curiously. ”Odd...” Balder did well enough to explain the strangeness of the situation, stacking another layer on the already-teetering tower of reasons why the group shouldn't be here. Blaike went ahead and got the inevitable suggestion of splitting up out of the way, which was another horror story classic. Luckily cooler heads prevailed; there would be no getting picked off one or two at a time today. Ianthe urged Artemisia to get closer, and she complied without complaint.

It didn't take long for Artemisia to notice a change in the air. Mist began to pool across the ground, and before long it blanketed the forest floor, hiding the already-dubious path from sight. Well, that's bad. As long as the team had the path, they could at least retrace their steps backward to get out, but that window was closing quickly. They could all be trapped in here forest, doomed to wander the dark forest as forgotten spirits forevermore. Well, all of them save Artemisia, who could airboost above the canopy and 'fly' to safety. Just as the black mage thought about doing that, Luna clutched her head in pain. Like Ianthe the black mage assumed she'd been hit by something, but a quick look at her head turned up no wound, not so much as a blotch of discoloration on that lustrous, silky hair. She's going batty, Artemisia hypothesized while Luna warned that everyone was in great danger. “Well, obviously. But it's a bit late for that,” Arty said, her voice dry. “Can't see the path anymore.”

World of Light

Tora & Poppi

Level 6 Tora (50/60) and Level 5 Poppi (45/50)
Location: Snipers' Mountain, the Land of Adventure
Word Count: 718

Under the cover of white smoke the Ace Cadet retrieved Blazermate, reviving her behind the gigantified tree where Peach took shelter. The medabot's short-lived incapacitation came to an end as she found herself face-to-face with her savior and a sovereign, all pretty much pinned down. With the obfuscating cloud covering just less than half the distance to the base of Spiral Mountain, the trio couldn't rely on it to make safe their approach, so they were left seeking other options. Peach examined the gleaming disc the monster hunter somehow procured. “That looks like a trophy base. They appeared when we fought the Subspace Army a long time ago. If thrown at an enemy it could make them into a miniature trophy permanently, an actual collectible. But they need to be weakened first, or it'll bounce off.” She took the risk of sneaking a peak at the tower, but the snipers seemed otherwise engaged. “That might not be possible. Plus, it could also deny us their spirits. We could definitely use strong ones like those. “Sectonia made it to the top, but in despite the insect queen's size and power, she would need to content with Link up there. And from tournaments prior, Peach knew that to be no joke whatsoever.

At the same time, Fox sprang into action and Hat Kid made her intrepid move. With nothing more than her slender scooter as mobile cover, the child hoped to get close enough to gain entry to the tower, but she owed her success to Fox. At the moment the End was picking off Cuphead before returning his attention to Bowser's tree to search for Kamek, and with the Sniper, Gough, and Link all temporarily distracted by Sectonia, only Quiet and Imani remained to scan for targets. Quiet took her best two shots at Fox, and despite his speed got frightfully close, only narrowly missing him the first time as he bounded off a tree and the second time as he swung off the rope bridge. Instead her bullet severed one of the handrail ropes, leaving the two halved to dangle. Imani, meanwhile, was looking the wrong way. Fox made it into the tower's entrance, and Hat Kid reached the spiral path along with Mimikyu and Banjo and Kazooie, whose their knowledge of the terrain allowed them to navigate the moat and emerge at just the right spot. The four began their climb, and Imani took notice. Climbing to the edge of the tower, the crossbowwoman began to fire black arrows straight down, hoping to hit one of the invaders as they hurried upward.

A moment later, Sectonia's raid ended abruptly. No sooner did she get sent careening away from the parapets by Gough, however, than Courier 6 soared skyward, hurled by his heracross. All eyes who could spare a moment lay on him as he took aim down the barrel of Michael's own sniper rifle, the power of which anyone who braved the Mushroom Kingdom could attend to. In rapid succession he emptied the magazine, sending six lethal payloads toward snipers' nest below. The odds weren't great, but the Courier took worse ones, and this time his gambler's intuition paid off. One bullet struck Gough, elliciting a bellow of pain as the giant staggered. Four hit the stonework, blasting stone into slivers and dust, but nothing compromising. The last hit Quiet square in her bare back, killing her in an instant and blowing her spirit off the tower to float slowly down. In a lucky twist of fate, her death spared the trophification of Donnie a moment later, whose indecision plagued him so much that he had yet to emerge from his original cover.

Unfortunately, the Courier did not get to see the fruit of his labor. The Sniper, having professionally withstood the shock of several high-caliber near-misses, held his breath and pulled the trigger. A trophy of the Courier dropped from the sky, its momentum changed by the impact. He bounced off part of the wall, once more off the ground, and into the river. “Now that was a proper bloody rootin',” he whispered, chambering his next shot.

He then watched cat-Bowser explode from the tree, growing in size rapidly. “You prancin' show pony,” he grumbled, almost incredulous at the lack of foresight. Sights fixed on Bowser the moment he emerged, and fingers laid on triggers, but right away the Koopa King started shrinking again. The unexpectedness of it all bought him a precious moment in which to hurl his hat, but by the time he leaped clear of the bent tree and started to grow again he took a shot from the End and then the Sniper in quick sequence. With his momentum partially canceled by the forced of the black arrows, his markedly normal-sized statue span through the air toward the tower. His hat never made it, instead receiving an arrow from Link midway, and Bowser himself smacked into the structure hard enough to dislodge a few bricks before dropping. His fine plan, having grabbed too much attention from such competent marksmen, amounted to little, and his trophy hit the ground near the edge of the Ace Cadet's smoke.

Shortly thereafter Tora awoke, carried to safety by Toadies and revived by Linkle. By his own words he expected what happened to him, but he looked shaken all the same. “Meeeh...snipypons sure quick on draw...” With no more ammunition, he couldn't do much, so instead he watched as his rabbit-eared friend started doing something. Her long hair turned bright blue and with a wave of her hands she sent out a wave of ice. It traveled along the ground toward the hill where Poppi took cover, growing a wall of freezing crystals. Though not perfect, with a number of holes that would readily admit any black arrow that came by, the construct meant that Tora and Poppi could reunite. “Oh, thank you, thank you!” Tora sang, and after Linkle sent out her cuccoos as decoys, the Nopon rushed forward himself. He sprinted along the wall as fast as his little legs could carry him, huffing and puffing. Atop the Tower, Link aimed an explosive arrow at the newly-erected cover, but thanks to the commotion made by Linkle's birds he couldn't get a good idea of where to shoot. When he did fire, his arrow ended up blowing apart the central section of the wall just a moment after Tora got clear. A few seconds more and the inventor leaped into his blade's arms, reunited at last.

“Masterpon made it!” Poppi remarked, smiling wide. “Poppi thought masterpon would bite it for sure!”

Tora laughed it off, though in truth he'd just about had a heart attack, and he hoped nobody heard him scream over the blast. “Meheheh, Poppi worry too much.” When she set him down, he looked at her determinedly. “Hey, Tora have idea now we together. If switch in ice core, can use Blade Arts to create cover so we get closer.”

Poppi's eyes lingered on Linkle's ice wall for a good long moment. “Did masterpon think of that all by self?”

A sigh escaped Tora. “No, obviously not, that part from Linkle. And we can't just make ice, only do ice damage, so cover will be fog. Tora idea is once we get close, we switch Wind core and use Noponic Storm while flying up. With giant mist storm, no way can snipeypons shoot us. Then, release storm and drill into tower where friends bash it.”

After a moment Poppi nodded, her derision replaced by respect. She knew her creator to be a doofus, but that didn't mean he wasn't sometimes a genius, too. “Okay, let's do it.”

Soon after, a volley of missiles flew out from behind cover. Poppi QT launched ice-imbued missiles from safety not at the tower but at the area in front of it where the Cadet laid down some smoke, just moments after Geralt and Bowser Jr got out of it. When the missiles exploded, freezing ether filled the air, joining with the smoke to create a think cloud of twinkling silver diamond dust. Into the mist boosted Poppi Alpha and Tora, with the Drill Shield in front carrying Tora along with its own thrusters while Poppi pushed from behind. Once close enough, Tora leaned back, the signal for Poppi to use Poppiswap and switch to wind. “Noponic...”

“Storm!” The artificial blade flooded the Drill Shield with ether, revving its bit into overdrive. A whirlwind gushed forth, collecting the fog and spewing it upward in a tremendous torrent of freezing mist. Up into the cloud flew the pair, until the face of the Spiral Mountain before them gave way to stone architecture.”Brace self!”

Poppi twisted nearly ninety degrees, changing the duo's direction from up to forward. The next instant the drill hit stone, and empowered by the might of wind, it tore through to deposit Tora and Poppi on the tower's base floor, behind Fox but ahead of Hat Kid, Mimikyu, and Banjo-Kazooie. The Nopon spat out a mouthful of stonedust. "Ptuh! Yucky!" He picked himself and looked around at the tower's empty confines. The whole way up stretched various levels of scaffolding, and a crude elevator dominated the middle. Not a stair in sight. "Huh. Well, that worked," he remarked, wondering what to do next. He didn't honestly expect to make it this far; maybe the others really had the snipers distracted. "Fun too, meh?"

"...Yeah..." Poppi said, sounding dazed.

Overlord: Momento Mori

@Lugubrious
Might as well ask a question here too. How long of a time-gap is there inbetween the attack on the Chateau and Tabula and Papillary's sudden rise to level 45? Also, when and where did Graft get the resources to put together the EXP Farm? I thought you mentioned earlier that the Factory was very low on resources, and given that Chuunitrixx's mimics only share 5% of their brought-home materials with the entire Chateau, it seems a bit strange how Graft had the the resources and time to put this togther so fast. o_o;

Of course, that's just my opinion, and again, I don't know the time-lapse for all of these things.

@Xaltwind

The growth wasn't instant. I've been mentioning that Tabula and Papillary have been training for almost the whole RP using Graft's minions that he cuts loose via his control to become enemies. The reason I gave a level now was that they couldn't go any higher because there weren't any stronger minions.

Enkryption mentioned that there are a lot more resources to go around than you thought, which Graft will use without caring where they come from, and which Graft is pretty much the sole claimer of since nobody else is really doing any expansion. Plus, the room itself isn't new, since constructing brand new rooms in the limited confines of a larger building doesn't make sense, but rather a recycled manufactory. The materials of the machines in there were reused. Plus, he really did get the monsters from Kaldorna. I spoke to Draco about it and we made an arrangement. I mentioned that the Factory was low on resources way earlier when it was, before the mimics started trucking stuff in.

Final Fantasy Crystallum en Absentia

Artemisia

As the group of hunters advanced, the atmosphere of the forest surrounding them continued to be more than a little impressive, but it didn't exactly get any worse, at least not at any noticeable speed. Nothing jumped out at them just yet, so Artemisia's rising apprehension started to even out. Still, she couldn't exactly start her mind wandering at a time like this, so she contented herself with listening to the dialogue between dainty Luna and her new lady knight friend. Despite the circumstances, the mention of Luna's bow seemed to lift her spirits, her manner quite casual all of a sudden. The knightess replied in kind, also pretty lighthearted if a little forced. Is she trying to break the tension? Because it's working. She even went as far as to introduce herself, offering a rare and nice-sounding name that made Artemisia think.

Toward the other side of the party, the spearmaiden and swordsman exchanged a few curt phrases, their 'conversation' as succinct as it was unsatisfying. As such Artemisia turned her attention back to the others, just in time for Luna's bright, excited voice to ring out through the woodlands in a far-too-cheerful examination of the name, revealing it to be both a name for a butterfly and a flower. The black mage didn't mind, though, since random facts like that never failed to capture her attention. ”Hm, is that a fact?” In addition, the thought of such a formidable and stolid-looking lady knight having such a cute and girly name made Artemisia giggle. Almost like an expression of inner beauty and whimsy, buried deep down under all that discipline and muscle. If she's got a reputation to uphold, she might keep that name hidden away beneath that armor too, sharing it with only those she trusts to see her true self. Wait, no, she just told it to a bunch of strangers.

Almost getting so sidetracked that she stopped paying attention, Artemisia tuned back in just in time to realize that whether she meant it or not Luna was saying something else, aside from that she knew a lot about organisms. Whoa, she grew up with access to a library? She might have lived in a big city like Civitas Miribilia. But who's a tutor? Some kind of teacher? Not wanting to come off like the uneducated mountain yokel she technically was, though, the black mage kept quiet. Instead, since there seemed to be no monsters around at the moment and nobody said to be quiet, she decided to repay Luna's trivia with some of her own. That meant trampling right over the girl's rather childish lack of self-assurance, of course, but that was hardly her fault. We're not a support group, after all.

”If you know that, you probably know about the plant I'm named after too. Well, less plant and more family of plants. Worts, sagebrushes, sage, wormwood, even tarragon. Not exactly flowers, I'll give you that, but still plenty good. Strong odor, strong flavor, strong all around. We don't die easy.” She crossed her arms, looking proud herself. “Plus, you get absinthe and vermouth from the stuff. Pretty cool, right?” The whole time she neglected to mention her name, but if Luna knew her stuff she might even be able to guess it.

Artemisia, however, gave her only a few moments before fixing her with an innocently inquisitive look. If Luna wanted to chat, she ought to experience an expert, and though no doubt a woman of many talents Ianthe wasn't cutting it. “Almost as cool as someone with libraries, and tutors, and fortes who goes shooting for enjoyment becoming a monster hunter, huh? You must be a real natural talent. What's your story?” Sure, she was putting Luna on the spot, but Artemisia's voice held no hostility. As a connoisseur of stories, she wanted to learn what made the girl tick.

The North Road

While Mort inwardly questioned the wisdom of allotting the group's youngest and most foolhardy member watch duty, it was neither his business to control Ardonne's affairs nor inquire as to what inner turmoil seemed to render her insomniac. Instead he allowed himself to drift off, uncommonly comfortable in and accustomed to the meager accommodations the wilderness provided. It would hardly be the first time he made the earth his bed and the night his sheets, and with any luck, he reflected as he dozed, it would not be his last.

A little rest did not render him oblivious to the world, however. After some time passed, Mort stirred from his light sleep. Whether by chance, reaction, or some sort of instinct, he awoke to stare across the darkened landscape and into the pitch black of the Cullis Woods, where not even the faint, dreamy moonlight reached. A feeling in his gut told Mort that something or another was amiss. That sort of impulse didn't always tell him straight, not even most of the time, but long years and a good few scars taught Mort that he shouldn't let the rule mask the rare -and dangerous- exceptions. Besides, if ever there was a time to be cautious, it would be on the brink of the domain of the infamous Beast.

Slowly, Mort slid up with his back to a rock, and focused. He narrowed his eyes as he scanned the treeline, trying to make out every little variation in shape or color. He strove to tune out the wind and the rhythmic rustle of leaves in the canopy, listening instead for anything abnormal. A shuffling-aside of the underbrush, the creak of a branch that a weight settled upon, even the classic snap of a twig. Mort even took a few discreet sniffs, trying to parse the air itself for any hint of the extraordinary. A creature monstrous enough to tear apart entire squads of soldiers must surely be large and powerful, but he could not put aside the possibility of a silent killer, terrifying in the subtlety of its slaughter. Mort breathed deep, taking in the night.