Mcmolly

Plague-Hunters 2

After a long flight of stairs the two finally arrived at the entrance of the castle, a giant gate looming over them. Drake was the first to notice something wasn't right.

"He should have already come. They customarily have someone waiting at the gate. This is highly unusual." Drake noted.

Willo cocked her head to the side and observed the castle. From afar it was certainly an interesting structure, to command such a presence that its shadow could have been cast across the town in a more agreeable light. Up close though, it was a monolyth, and she had to regard it was far more sincerity. The gate alone was larger than anything she'd ever seen in her hometown, and she figured there'd be little good in trying to climb it, as was the case with most gates. Even still, she was eager to step inside the castle's halls, for if they seemed so aweing on the outside, she couldn't imagine what they'd be like within.

"Waiting at the gate?" she asked, confused. "Thought this place was abandoned by normal folk. It still has a bellhop?"

"They do have keepers. Considering what lies beneath the castle, leaving it unguarded would not be wise. However, you are correct. This castle is a relic, a mere shell of what it used to be." Lazarus explained while stepping closer to the gate.

Surprisingly there was nothing to prevent the gate from being opened and despite it's size the gate must have been quite light, possibly made of star metal, the material most commonly used to craft switch-weapons, since Lazarus pushed it open with seemingly little effort. That or Lazarus had a lot more strength than he originally let on, despite not looking the part.

He cautiously stepped inside and immediately crouched as something caught his attention. A faint blood-streak lead further inside the building.

Following with admittedly less stealth to her air, Willo nonetheless crouched with Laz when something seemed to spook him. She tried to spy what had left the blood trail, but clearly the beastie -for really what else could it have been- was feeling more like enjoying its meal indoors.

"Think our friend did that?" she asked.

The huge hall continued on for what seemed like forever and so did the trail with it. Lazarus stood up and looked ahead.

"Unlikely." He responded. "There probably would have been alot more . . . mess here if it was so." He finished in an uncharacteristic way, using a rather crude vocabulary.

"Sounds like my kinda freak. So he's got buddies, then," she said, more than asked. It seemed naive to expect that the only beast they'd run into would be their target, but hey, hoping never hurt anyone.

"No. Whoever did this . . . was a human." Lazarus said.

That caught her off guard in a few ways. What were other humans doing up here? Other hunters, or treasure-seeking folk? What could drive someone to come to a place like Bloodleaves of their own accord. Friend or foe, she wondered most of all.

"Think they already did our job for us?"

"Doubtful. The presence of the aforementioned creature is still strong." He responded as he stepped forward, mainly staring at the ceiling then at the walls.

Willow once again kept to Laz's heels, eyes following his around the entrance. Atrium? Was that the word? She'd never been in a place so fancy before, it was liberating not having to worry about stretching her arms out and touching either wall.

"Guess it was a good try."

Lazarus didn't even take two steps when he suddenly stopped again causing Willo to bump into him.

"Wait." He told her as he took out a small piece of paper out of one of his pockets.

She sputtered whatever foul taste of Laz's clothing had decided to stick to her open mouth and took a few steps back, but said nothing.

Lazarus streched out his arm with the piece of paper in hand. The paper suddenly caught fire and runes lit up on the side walls and on the ceiling.

"That explains the lack of any form of lock on the gates."

Willo blinked. Yikes, she was not looking to get cut up or blown up or frozen, which was evidentally contrasting to the wishes of whoever preceeded them.

"Any way to disarm those without...y'know," she made a small exploding motion with her hands.

"Yes, but I will require your assistance. There is likely a control rune nearby that allows these other three to be temporarily disabled without removing them outright." And without further explanation, Drake began carving his own rune right on the edge of the barrier that kept them from entering.

A few minutes later he carved the final line into the rune and it's effect became visible immediately. A large portion of the barrier lit up while leaving a visible hole in it right where Drake had drawn the rune. The hole was definitely a tight squeeze.

"As expected. I won't fit. You however . . ."

Willo grinned and clapped her hands together. Sure it wasn't climbing, but maneuvering through tight spaces was something of a passtime for people of her stature. "Don't you worry Laz, I'll get that rune down in no time."

Unslinging Cinderwill from her back, she set it against the wall and approached the runic hole. Too small to dive through, she had to carefully inch through it, which again was no problem. More than one way to skin a cat. Once her head had gotten to the other side, it was only moments after the rest of her was up and standing across the port.

"Very good."

"Alrighty! Step two? How do I know what I'm lookin' for?"

"It will most likely be another rune similar to the ones on the walls, with an additional part that can be removed. Look in nearby rooms."

"Aye-aye, cap'n," she said, before whirling about to nose through the closest doorway. Of course, her eyes were kept peeled for any triggers that might set off other runes, but if she could keep light on her feet, she figured it wouldn't be too much of an issue.

At the end of the large chamber stairs lead upwards sticking to the walls and leading to two doors on each side of the wall respectively and before the stairs another set of doors. The trail of blooded ended at the door to the left.

Pushing through the first door she came across, Willo found herself hoping that leaving Cinderwill behind hadn't been a mistake. It wouldn't have fit through with her anyway, but still, it unnerved her.

RWBY AU;Heroes of a Different Story (Mission terminated. Wishing you all well.)

Russ and Mister Waldgrun

Remedial weapons manufacturing, first day of term

As students filed into the large workshop, they could see a cleanly dressed Huntsman at the heart of the class. On a large workstation sat a briefcase with a holographic map of his weapon hovering above it.

"Welcome to class, kids. I know many of you are already familiar with this technology," the brown haired Huntsman said, turning to face the incoming students before gesturing to the large foundry dominating the workshops far end, "But for whatever reason you need a refresher course. Nothing wrong with admitting you need help.” He observed, shifting his green eyes to look over the room before turning back to the central workstation and dismissing his own project.
“There are a lot of reasons you might be in this class; Some of you never got the chance to learn properly, some of you had their weapon destroyed at Initiation. But the fact remains, you need to start from the beginning, and I’ll gladly help any of you who ask.” He noted, “Otherwise, feel free to work as you will, but come to me for approval before you start forging.” He trailed off, waving a hand to the rows of workbenches. “Oh, before I forgot. Mister Waldgrun.” He added almost as an afterthought

Some might have found it degrading in one way or another to end up in this class, hell “remedial” was in the title, and Russ was fairly sure that wasn’t an honor. The man that would be their teacher sounded like he was trying his best to ease things, but it didn’t take much to scratch through the surface, this was the “oh fuck” class, the “oops” class. Russ was well-acquainted with both sayings, nearly second-language in fact, and considering she had no actual bar to lower, being remedial didn’t seem so bad so long as she came out of it with a weapon.

Which was all well and good, confidence was confidence and rarely could it be considered a fault. But, standing before the workbench it became suddenly and extremely clear that Russ had no idea what she was doing. Sharpening weapons? Sure. Cleaning? You betcha. Creating one from the ground up and expecting it not to break apart or blow up in her face on use? Ehhhh…

She raised her hand. ”Ay uh… ‘Mister Waldgrun’?’ Any tips for a first timer?”

”Rori, right?” he inquired, gesturing for the girl to join him at the large work station in the heart of the room.

”Russ,” she said, absent, passive, but sure all the same. She came over to his side and cast her gaze over the table.

”Alright then, Russ,” he confirmed before tapping a few keys on the workstation, loading a blank weapon template ”First things first, always start knowing what sort of weapon you want.” he informed the girl, bringing up a catalogue of basic forms ”Any idea where you’d like to start?”

Russ stared at the blank template. She had an idea of what she wanted, swords were all she’d ever done more than polish, but all the same if she had to look at something like the Son or the Daughter again, she might hurl. At length, she gave Waldgrun a nod, and tried to picture it with her hands as she spoke.

”Sword, one-handed...made for slashing. Get the job done clean and quick, y’know? Don’t wanna have to draw it unless it’s gonna get dirty.”

”Hard to go wrong with the classics.” the teacher observed, filtering through the weapon catalogue ”One handed slashing, What do we have…” he scanned the various blade forms ”Preference on blade length? Single or double edge? And do you want any range capacity?”

She held an arm out, trying to eyeball its length. ”About yea long. Single-edged, and keeping it fairly melee, I’m no sharpshooter. But…”

The blade wasn’t all she’d have to worry about. Sheathing the Son and Daughter had been easy, but there was nothing to it. Besides, she’d chosen a slicing weapon without minding that her muscular strength was perhaps below the stellar average.
”If it’s possible, I’d like to get dust chambers in the sheathe, and some manner of firing the blade out. Quick-draw, y’get me? Hot and fast.”

”Simple, and easily doable.” Another quick sort option for quick draw and the list was down to a handful of blades, ”Take a look, see if you can’t find one you like.”

She did, quickly even. Not too long, not too curved, maneuverable if she couldn’t get the job done with a few strikes.

Selecting her blade, she moved to the next step. ”Looks like a good fit.”

Grey nodded, ”Not a bad choice. Push there to load the base model into the workspace.” He instructed, pointing to a plus sign in the corner.

Russ did as instructed.

”Alright, see the crystal icon? Push that, it’ll bring up dust mods. Oh, You’ll want to look in sheathes first.” The brown haired teacher indicated, taking a moment to look around at the other students working unusually quietly, seeing no indicators of odd behaviour.

Again she sifted through the menus, coming upon a design she liked. Rectangular, thin enough to be worn across the hip, the small of the back, or over the shoulder, but wide enough to accommodate for the blade as well as what mechanisms might be required. That done, she waited for the next step.

”This is where it starts to get tricky. You’re going to have to decide placement of the dust system manually. Pick the dispenser you want and the program will format it for the current weapon, but you need to set where it mounts. Make sure it doesn’t hinder your movement.”

As far as engineering went, Russ could be thankful the design wasn’t too complex. Figuring out where to put the dust mechanism wasn’t hard per say, just involved a bit of forward thinking. On the flat of the sheath was no good, on the end was potentially disastrous, which left her more or less with two options: top or bottom. She went with the latter, that way she could still get her hand around the sheath if need be, and it would be less likely to impede her draw.

”Got it,” she said, once it was exactly where it ought to have been.

”Alright, that particular mod has two canisters. This is the fun part; picking your dust. Oh, you wanted quick draw, aye? Easy to mount a simple launcher in that sheath. Or go without if you prefer. All a matter of preference.” he trailed off, pointing at an icon resembling a platform with a spring underneath.

Two canisters, eh? That made matters simple enough, in fact she didn’t even need to think of her answer. Damned as the blades might have been, they were just what she was looking for.

”Wind an’ lava’ll do. Superheats the blade before shooting it out, trigger for each,” she said, and went about selecting each dust’s position.

”System is intuitive enough. I’ll let you make any other adjustments you might like, while I go check on the others, and then I’ll get the foundry warming up.” the teacher affirmed, stepping away towards the first row of benches to assist a young man with a growing look of frustration.

”Thanks teach, you’re a real lifesaver,” she said, and tried to make her voice match the genuine gratefulness she felt. She might have missed the bar, but the thought was there nonetheless.

With that she gave her weapon-to-be one last look over, made sure everything was in its rightful place, then nodded to herself and went to the foundry to wait.

A few minutes later Grey approached the foundry, waving his scroll across a scanner to authorize its use. ”Just hit load from main bench, the foundry will handle the heavy lifting.” He instructed before stepping aside, retrieving a toolkit from a locker and handing it to Russ ”Then you get to build it. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

”Can hardly wait,” she said, but gave him a thankful nod in tandem. She sent the foundry to work then stepped back to watch it do its thing. Russ had never heard of weapons being made in such a manner, but figured Huntsmen and Huntresses likely didn’t build all their weapons from pools of steel up.

One by one the parts were dispensed, and when they looked cool enough to touch without charring her skin, she scooped them up and brought them to another workbench. Then, tools in hand, she splayed the pieces out and tried to figure which went where. Wouldn’t be too hard, like stacking sticks, or building stone houses. Those two were comparable, right?

It took time, but eventually she had the blade in its handle, hiltless but with a defined cutoff. The sheath took a bit more fiddling, but it too came together, the blade even fit inside it without sticking or catching. It felt well in her hands, and on her hip, it wouldn’t sag and would remain latched inside until needed. Russ could claim to be proud of few things, but this sword was certainly one of them.

”Well, it’s all in one piece,” she said. ”What do you think? Did I pass?”

”It’s a start. You’ll stay in my class through the semester, though. give you time to continue tweaking it until you’re 100% confident. Nothing major, but maybe the blade’s too short or charges too fast,” he looked over the completed weapon, giving an approving nod, ”I’m not a huge fan of grades, so call it a pass on your first assignment. Make sure to practice whenever you get the chance.” With that, the green-eyed huntsman returned to his own workstation, waiting for another student to call on him.

RWBY AU;Heroes of a Different Story (Mission terminated. Wishing you all well.)

Alright, sounds good to me

RWBY AU;Heroes of a Different Story (Mission terminated. Wishing you all well.)

@Phantomlink959 I've got no issues with having her just show up with it to get things rolling. May not be able to do much tonight, have classes starting this week, but I'll be free.

Plague-Hunters 2

@NanoFreakV2 No worries! Collab's up and going.

Plague-Hunters 2

@NanoFreakV2 Sounds good, welcome back! o/

Plague-Hunters 2

Willo was now the sole member of Drake’s team, however the reason behind was still unclear. While on the way to the castle Drake often glanced at Willo which no doubt made her feel uncomfortable.
After fairly long walk Drake finally spoke as they neared the imposing structure before them.

“Tell me. Have you felt light-headed, sick, or in any way not yourself since we arrived in Kiruth. It is of great importance.”

His voice was indeed a relief. Willo was used to Lazarus being a bit on the creeper side, hell it was practically part of his character, but this particular brand of silence put her on edge. So much so that when he asked her a question she had no quip to tack on to her answer, no snark to add to her tone.

"N-no sir, right as rain."

A pause followed before Drake spoke again.
"Good. The task at hand is far more precarious than I originally suspected. Even more so now that Aelar and Ramone are no longer with us. In this castle, there is a creature, which is shrouded in mystery. I have yet to encounter one such as this, however it is rumored that it can manipulate the mind of lesser beings. Some have an inherent ability to resist it, usually those with a strong will. Aelar obviously does not. It would have been dangerous for him to join us and too dangerous to send him to the ship alone. In the end I chose you to continue on. It would seem I have chosen well. The mere fact that you have not even sensed the creatures presence speaks well for your strength of character. However, I cannot guarantee the same will be true when in close proximity to this thing." He paused and glanced at Willo, possibly to gauge her reaction.

In the back of her mind Willo was worried for Aelar, but at least he and Ramone would be alright, so long as she and Laz handled whatever beastie was holed up in Castle Bloodleaves. but of course at the front of her mind was the fact that he'd chosen her to continue on with the test. She looked up to Lazarus, eyes wide and excited, smile muted only by the teeth digging into her lower lip.

Then came the innevitable bouncing, accompanied by a squeal of delight. "We're gonna kick so much ass. Whatever the hell this thing is, it's not gonna know what hit it."

Evidentally, the idea of the creature's influence growing stronger didn't frighten her. But then she'd never dealt with anything of its caliber before, so it seemed time would tell. At the very least, her demeanor remained light-hearted.

Drake did not respond in any way to her comment, instead he took out a small peice of paper and held in front of Willo. A rune was represented on it, the same one Lazarus cut into Aelar's skin.

"If you feel yourself lost to it's influence use this. It's an unusual kind of rune. It must be drawn in blood. I hope I don't have to explain it any further. It is quicker and lasts long if cut directly into the skin." Lazarus explained.

By now the two were nearly at the castle. A long flight of staris awaited at the end of the path they were walking.

She took the paper from him, doing her best to commit the rune to memory. To say the idea of carving something into her skin didn't frighten her at least a little bit would have been a lie, but if she had to choose between that and whatever the hell would happen otherwise...well, didn't seem like much of a choice, really.

"Thanks, Laz," she said quietly, then stuffed the paper into her pocket.

Lazarus only nodded in response.
"Take the bandages off your arm." He then told her out of the blue.

She did, unwinding them until they came free. "You uhh...you want these or...?"

Before she could finish her sentence the sight of her arm robbed her of that. The cuts she had from the previous fight. They weren't just healed. There was absolutely no sign of them. No scarring, nothing.

"Good." Lazarus noted. "You can take off the rest, Your wounds should be healed now."

"Aw hell yes!" Willo quickly did just that, and tossed the remaining bandages aside. "This stuff is awesome, y'know that?"

Plague-Hunters 2

@NanoFreakV2Sure thing, have fun!

NCQuest: Favors for Favors (Taking new players)

Definitely sounds like fun

NCQuest: Favors for Favors (Taking new players)

@ADParis It's gonna be pretty vacant except for this kinda stuff <D