Psyker Landshark

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

Tyaethe's words hardly fazed Renar. It was hardly as if he was going to put on the armor before he could have both Fionn and Candaeln's resident smith examine it. The cloak, though? He damn well would. Whatever it would do to him was worth it in exchange for displaying his dominance over a foe he'd spent so much in defeating.

Regardless, he brushed the First and Youngest's words off, rising with his pillaged armor bundled up with the help of Fionn and Gerard, nodding his thanks to the two.

"I intend to have it all inspected before I use it, of course. Aside from the cloak. 'Tis a matter of personal pride." He spoke, as if that were the only important factor in this scenario. Well, in his mind, it was.

Once they returned to the Queen, Renar kept silent in the back. The quest was accomplished, and they were receiving what they came for. No sense in potentially mucking that up with an errant word. As for the reward...well, the odds of it actually being useful and not harmful to sane people teetered on a knife's edge. Hopefully, either they wouldn't have to deal with further fae insanity, or it'd negatively impact someone that wasn't him. Either or would suffice, really.

Moonlight and Witch's Work: An anime and JRPG-inspired Witch RP

Aurelia Hargrave

Well, she couldn't exactly deny that their entourage drew enough attention that the entire Powder District knew they were present. Six witches all in one place, moving in one direction, out in the open? Stealth was likely a failed endeavor from the start. Aurelia sighed at the realization, privately thinking that perhaps they would have been better served with only a few among their number even setting foot in the district to begin with. Oh, how Aurelia missed being Phantom Thief Etoile. She could have accomplished this task far more quickly.

But what's done was done. Aurelia could only adapt to what had already occurred. Forced to work with these other junior witches and with no other recourse, she only nodded curtly in response to both Cordelia and Carina, her hands sliding down to the two pistols holstered on her belt.

"Fair points." She stacked up on the alleyway, back to the wall next to it as she peered in. Nothing that could be detected with her skills out here. Which meant going up above for a better view, of course.

"Then I'll make for the roofs and provide overwatch. Try not to engage before I get in position. Or do, it's your head." Aurelia started clambering up the walls almost immediately after she'd spoken, using the various stones and railings as handholds until she leapt up atop the roofs with a front flip, drawing her two revolvers as she proceeded forward with a prowl, peering down into the alleyway below.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

"We do possess some in the wagon's stores." Izayoi responded to Chisato as both she and Galahad set about disarming the blade traps after Rudolf and Miina had handled the floor, and Esben worked at the sliding block puzzle. After some more time passed, the Kirins were through and past the traps, moving on down further into the caverns.

They followed the rushing waters down to a massive stone structure built above where the rivers converged, the Crystal of Water simply floating in the midst of the temple complex. It...looked as though it had seen better days. Where Cid had described the crystal to be shining azure, the massive floating repository of aether they were presented with was barely a dull, light blue, with violet seeming to creep in at the edges. A sure sign of corruption if there was any.

Before the Kirins could even approach it to hold their crystals aloft, rumbling came from below. A blur of turquoise emerged out from the waters, landing with a crash atop the temple steps, holding the high ground. It was...

A massive, statue-like golem filigreed with gold, swinging about a tremendous jug of water on a chain as if it were some sort of demented, thematic flail.

"HALT." The apparent guardian rumbled, an aura of sickly dark purple surrounding its form. "I AM THE TOTEMA, FAMFRIT. AS I STAND, NO EVIL SHALL BREACH THE TEMPLE. TURN BACK, INTRUDERS. OR SUFFER MINE IRE. WHAT SAY YOU?"

"Tis as Cid feared." Izayoi hunched down, one hand falling to her sheathed sword as she prepared to draw. "The guardian is corrupted. We need not waste words bantering with it. To arms! The quicker this golem falls, the more time we've to prepare for the invasion aboveground!"

"YOU WILL NOT RETREAT? THEN COME! FACE THE RAGING WATERS OF THE DARKENING CLOUD!"

After Era Mythos

ZEPHYR

Oh, great. Now the other buffoon in attendance was getting involved when no one asked him to. Though Sheena supposed she should've seen it coming. The worst part was that his little gambit was working: as the hero with the lowest numbers involved, she couldn't afford to turn down these opportunities as they came. Not if she wanted the higher-ups at Carmine to stay off her ass, at least. In a non-sexual manner. Being around Ladyice was seriously having her rethink any innuendo, even in her own head. Bitch.

...Was Ladyice in her head now? Absolutely goddamned disgusting. How did someone bleach their own mind? She didn't want anything the hag probably caught.

"God, shut up. I'll play along until you make me regret it. Now do me a favor and don't fuck things up for us for the next bit I've got."

ZEPHYR gave a very visible roll of the eyes, straight to the cameras, as Ladyice went on with the penetration joke out loud. Ignoring her completely, she turned to Armada, her gaze narrowed.

"...You're on. On one condition, of course:" Fine, Armada wanted to force them into this? She'd play hardball. "You're participating too. Unless RESPAWN doesn't want their own golden boy to test their tech. Second and third place," ZEPHYR gestured to Ladyice and herself respectively before pointing straight towards Armada. "Fight first. Unless you don't think you can take on both of us on your own home turf."

Sheena wasn't an idiot: one-on-one against someone with over three times her fame? In a straight match, she'd be crushed. But if she had the scores right, her and Ladyice ought to be an even match for Armada on paper. Much better odds for herself, and if shit went wrong? Public out of blaming the skank. Maybe that would get Isabela to shut the fuck up for a week or so.

After Era Mythos

soon

catching up on my shit

Falling Skies

CMDR SAGAN "VULTURE" KODOS

Finally, some amount of relative safety. As much as there could be during a planetary invasion, at least. Sagan sighed in relief as the squad reached the FOB at last, finally able to relax. He let the rest of his people head out first, reaching inside of his cockpit to pull out his last Rip-Gel. The caffeinated energy gel for at least long enough to get out of his cockpit and start coordinating logistics with the support staff.

An hour later and throroughly exhausted from pulling double duty after a battle to sort out the 7th's noncombat-related organization moving forward, Sagan stepped out of the command tent and made for the quickly set up barracks, intent on catching as much shut-eye as possible before they were slated to deploy again. Unfortunately, his dream of adequate, healthy sleep would be completely derailed by the soldier in his way that he was obligated to check up on, if only for propriety's sake, if nothing else.

"Rook." He grunted towards Braide, nodding. "First real engagement, huh? How're we holding up?" He fished in his pockets, offering the rookie another caffeinated gel. "Considering it's too late to pull out now, I'd give you the same advice I'd say regarding the Rip-Gel: save it for when you need it. Without a chaplain, I'm here if you need someone to talk to. Need your shit squared away as much as possible before combat again, kid. Don't be afraid to use the resources available to you, myself especially. So I'll ask again: how're we feeling?"

@TaintedMushroom

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

Fishmen died in droves, an even dozen torn to pieces within the opening seconds of the engagement. Izayoi ripped through a pair of sahuagin in a single charge, the edge of her blade resembling a fishmonger's more and more by the moment. She grit her teeth, decapitating the next to rush her and snatching its head out of the air to lift up with a show of intimidation.

They weren't here to kill them all, just drive them off long enough to make it down to the crystal chambers. Every moment they wasted here was one less to prepare for the true enemy approaching Brightlam in mere hours. Less, now.

Having taken grievous casualties in the span of barely twenty seconds, the fishmen began to break, most outright leaping back into the water while a few turned tail and fled on land. The latter ran straight into the dungeon's traps, an inadvertent step on a pressure plate causing gouts of flame to shoot out from the walls and cook alive what sahuagin remained. Izayoi wrinkled her nose as the smell of burnt fish began to permeate through the chambers, carelessly tossing aside the head she'd been holding.

"Traps for the unwary, the foolhardy, and the greedy. But of course." Izayoi sighed, flicking fish guts off her blade before she sheathed it. "One wonders how the Grovemasters were supposed to descend to these chambers to check up on the crystal."

Any who scouted ahead would find a veritable gauntlet awaiting them: pressure plates, magical mines, swinging blades, and what appeared to be a sliding block puzzle of all things at the end. Izayoi's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly upon hearing of the last one.

Iris Ascendis

Iraleth Kyrios

"I know." Was all Iraleth said in response to Rio's mutterings, nodding in agreement. She let him go off, moving back towards Professor Alto and Chunji.

At least it seemed they were all in agreement that continuing to move forward was untenable. As poorly as the idea of retreat sat with her, it was undeniable that moving forward on the road was suicide should they be assailed again.

She waved Kann off before any healing could be cast, wanting him to save his efforts for those more injured. With that in mind, Iraleth made her way back over towards the one carriage left, her gaze passing over Chloe without much in the way of emotion. After all, she wasn't going to condemn someone that couldn't fight without Ethos for not fighting. Perhaps this incident might galvanize Chloe and the others like her to learn in the future, but there was no use crying over spilled milk.

"We're fine, outside of the Professor." Iraleth responded to her kinswoman, finally sheathing her blade now that it seemed the danger was past. "Next time, we shall see how they fare when the lot of us aren't forcibly crippled." She stepped up to open the carriage door, waiting for Otis and Fiancetto to return before determining whether there would be enough room or if she would have to walk.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

And good goddesses-damned riddance to that waste of armor. Renar watched with no small amount of vindictive satisfaction as the trapper burned away, leaving behind the vestments it bore. And his eyes glinted with mercenary avarice.

"So as you've cost me, so shall I take what's due from you in turn." Renar exhaled, kneeling down as he started to rifle through the trapper's armor. The cloak was immediately taken and clasped onto his armor, of course. He needed one. If Renar couldn't keep the symbol of his first great victory, he'd replace it with this one. It had been a momentous duel, of course. Defeating a lieutenant of the Wild Hunt in single combat? Ignoring all of the ignoble tactics both fighters used, it would be a tale to tell should he have someone willing to back up every word he said.

He proceeded on with inspecting the armor. Best to bring it back to Candaeln for their resident smith to inspect and refit. At the very least, he'd like to take the helmet simply for the imposing visage it gave. Now, how to carry all this...ah. Of course.

"Gerard! Fionn!" Renar called out to his two closest friends. "Help me bring this armor back, would you? I want to see if it's still fit to wear."

@HereComesTheSnow @The Otter

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Upon hearing the news that he was the only living Grovemaster left, Zacharias looked as if he'd aged another decade. He slumped over, supported on his staff.

"I...see." His words came out with an extended sigh, the old man looking exceedingly weary. "Then I am all that is left to shepherd Drana Asaneu through this time of crisis." An intake of breath. He forced himself to stand up straight, projecting as best an image of strength as he could. "Very well. Let none say I shirked my duties. First things first."

The old sage turned to face the Kirins as a whole, his expression stony.

"I will not apologize for my beliefs. However, your actions since our last meeting have earned no small amount of trust. As such, I am willing to bury all previous conflicts in order to secure your aid in defending my home and the home of hundreds of thousands in this nation. As of this moment, any decree Isolde made against you is invalid. You have the fullest confidence of the nation, and go with mine blessing. Every effort will be made to inform all local forces of this change. Now, to business." He nodded briefly to Esben.

"I had been meaning to get on that point. Indeed, the crystal is of the utmost concern now. If your warnings prove true, then that is Valheim's ultimate goal. As such, I will grant you what you seek: the location of the Crystal of Water. It lies beneath the Cathedral itself, the chambers guarding it buried deep beneath the earth where the waters of the nation's rivers converge. Be warned: the dungeon beneath has defenses built within that cannot be circumvented. You will face a gauntlet of monsters and traps intended to both test the worthy and slay those who prove otherwise. I would aid you in this task, but I must rally every force available in order to meet Valheim's assault."

"Then I will station myself within the Cathedral itself and channel as much aether as possible in support of you and your warriors." Cid stepped forward, his expression grave. "I find myself unable to warp into the crystal's chambers. Either the guardian is deliberately suppressing my entry, or the darkness around it has grown. Nevertheless, should the latter have occurred, here is what you must do." A wave of Cid's staff sent glowing lights into the hands of all seven Kirins. When it dimmed, the objects were revealed to be glowing crystals of purest white.

"These are shards of the Mothercrystal's light itself, safeguarded from all who would seek to bring Her harm until the right moment. Now, the time comes for their power to be unleashed. If the guardian is corrupted...fell it. Then bring the shards to bear upon the Crystal of Water. Now, go. Brave Kirins. Brave Warriors of Light. Time is of the essence."

___

Guided by Zacharias's instructions, the Kirins moved swiftly through Brightlam Cathedral, brushing past frantic guardsmen, clergy, and temple knights alike all preparing for war. Their route took them through the prison, where Miina would notice an empty cell bearing the placard "Zeke Malina", as well as an open door.

Eventually, the sculpted walls gave way to winding stone, the atmosphere around them growing ever more dark, dreary, and humid as they descended into the depths. Running water grew ever louder in sound as rivers flowed through the reservoir below, the Kirins cautiously making their way downward. It was only a matter of time before they were assailed, fish-like lizardmen leaping out from the waters with snarls, spears and nets brandished.

"Sahuagin!" Izayoi hissed in alarm, hunching down as she prepared to unsheath. "Have care, their intelligence and tactics are akin to those of men!"