Ryonara

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

That was me again. I wanted Ebon to use his credits to train with Glynda to improve his semblance and use magic, but it wasn't approved. Though with magic existing and other strangeness going on, maybe Yue isn't so crazy to believe in all those fairy tales. With any luck she might just discover one of them in the RP.

The War of the Three

Aaaaand posted. Goodnight everyone.

The War of the Three

Hibiki & Shizuka

Hibiki and Shizuka were relaxing back at home, with Hibiki playing video games and Shizuka working on her rituals. Shizuka had just finished lifting the spell that forced her to be near her sister, as well as removed the life link, though Shizuka still intends to stay near her sister whenever possible. Hibiki always questioned why her sister insisted on making the life link in the first place, but Shizuka had her reasons. She knew that while she fought for the Machina of man, her true loyalties was with Hibiki herself. If Hibiki ever chose to defect and join a different faction, Shizuka would follow her. And Shizuka was certain that the others in the Machina knew this, and if Shizuka didn't make the life link herself then surely they would have tried to force Shizuka's loyalty to the Machina somehow. So now without the life link, Shizuka felt unsure. She was still loyal to her sister of course, and their recent accomplishments have earned them some favor with the Machina faction, but Shizuka couldn't help but feel uneasy here. All this fighting made it hard for Shizuka to relax like her sister.

Sensing that something was bothering her beloved little sister, Hibiki threw a pillow at Shizuka. "Hey! Let's play a game." As the two sisters played some games together they received Queen Eos's message about a new mission. They've never heard of this Alchemist before, and Shizuka wasn't too certainly about joining this mission. Looking at her sister, who's mechanical leg was quite obvious right now, Shizuka would rather much just stay at home for now. Alas, Hibiki in all her sisterly knowledge, knew that Shizuka was thinking of this and stood up with her sister.

"We're definitely going. Specifically, you are!"

Surprised, Shizuka immediately tried to plead with her sister. "Hawawawa! No, can't we just stay home this time? You almost got killed last time!"

"Psht, so did you! Besides, I got a plan... I'm not climbing the tower with you." Before Shizuka could question it Hibiki raised a finger to Shizuka's lips, her way of quietly telling Shizuka to shut up. "You just unlocked your new rituals for your wings, and it hasn't been properly tested yet! This would be the perfect opportunity to do so. And we both know that until I can upgrade to a new leg I'll only slow you down. Not only that but as Eos had said, we wouldn't be able to rely on her for information. So instead I'll see if I can't use my drones to scout around while you climb the tower. This will be good training, and this way I'll be out of any direct danger."

"Sis, you can't be sure of that! The nexus always has a way to make things worse. What if you get attacked while you're scouting for me? Or if you get taken prisoner? Besides, this tower challenge looks too difficult for me to do alone..."

"You won't be alone, the other Machina would be there with you. Listen sissy, you're a strong girl. You took on the Leviathan all by yourself! Unlike me who lost a leg and was nearly left for dead the last two times I tried to go on my own. Hell, you even survived that surprise explosion. I believe in your Shizuka, now how about you believe in me, hmm?"

Shizuka looked down at her feet, uncertain. When she was resurrected in the Kingdom of Heaven, she was raised to be docile and follow orders. That by following the Deva's commands and laws, Shizuka would never suffer. And at first this was true. Shizuka never had to do anything hard or stressful, and even her training was fun. But Shizuka ran away from heaven to be with her sister, even if that meant not only making the forces of Heaven Shizuka's enemies, but suffering through the Nexus as well. All of this just to be with Hibiki. And Shizuka wasn't sure what she'd do if Hibiki wasn't with her. But just as Hibiki could tell what Shizuka was thinking, she too could understand Hibiki's motives. Her elder sister just wanted Shizuka to be able to stand on her own two feet instead of being a tag along of Hibiki. Even if that's exactly what Shizuka wanted.

"I... I guess I can... But if you can't find somewhere safe, please stay with me! I don't want you trying to be in danger when I can't reach you."

Shortly after the two girls suited up. Since they had a bit of time instead of being forced out all of the sudden, they were able to change into their combat armor and geared up. Without Ascalon Shizuka chose to leave the Valkyire's weapons at home, since her combat armor would allow her to use the Rocket Hammer. It might not be magically enchanted to slay demons, but as long as the demons aren't immune to getting their skulls caved in, it would be more than fine. Hibiki herself made one slight modification to her Bastion Turrets: she can now detacht the main gun and carry it herself, which she normally couldn't do if she wasn't wearing her combat armor. While Hibiki is hoping to play a more supportive role, she was always a fan of cunning brutality. After all, no one expects the maid to tote a minigun.

Once geared up the girls activated Queen Eos's teleporting program and arrived just in time to hear the Alchemist speak. She was generous enough to explain each stage of the challenge. Hibiki was eagerly taking recordings while Shizuka just listened. The first stage was fairly simple enough: get across the bridge to the other side. The only issue however was that there was only one bridge, it's very narrow, and they would have to try to compete across against the other factions. The second challenge was basically a race to the elevators, or failing that a game of king-of-the-hill as whoever is left waiting in the lobby must fend off whatever the alchemist sends at them. The third challenge was much the same but with a maze and faction locked elevators. Shizuka wondered how often she could use her flying for these parts. At the very least, she'd like to be able to simply fly up the elevator shafts. Probably not that simple however.

The fourth challenge was basically a boss fight. Seems simple enough, but knowing that their host was some sort of mad scientist, there is like an eldritch abomination waiting for them. Fortunately it seems like fighting the guardian was optional, though no doubt it'd made ascending far easier. The last stage was meeting the Alechmist herself, which arguably was one of the most dangerous parts of the tower. At least with the other four levels the chances of Hibiki and Shizuka dying was there. Who knows what might happen if or when they actually meet this person.

Hibiki and Shizuka looked at each other and quickly formed a plan. While they should work with their allies, Hibiki still had everyone on comms, so assuming that they came properly geared they should be able to hear them as well. Reaching up to the side of her helmet Hibiki tried to contact her allies. "Hello? Commander Hibiki here! I should make up a cool codename. Anyways, if you can hear me then you must be on the Machina local Comms. I can't say I have much of a strategy here, but scooping out our competition I have a few ideas. I think I see Grafdakka with the Machina, and if he's still anything like the Grafdakka we know, he won't be too interested in problem solving. Assuming that he isn't eliminated soon watch out for his attacks, but take advantage of them too. What can hurt us can hurt our enemies as well. I also think I saw Juno somewhere around here... I'd be careful around her, but she's powerful too. If what the Alchemists said is true, then Juno could easily subvert the teleportation interference around the tower. Could be important!"

Soon a new member of the Machina went ahead and drew a card for them. Hibiki has never heard of this newcomer before and cringed when she chose to target the Angels of Heaven with a card that'd mostly just give them an advantage. How fortunate for them. Then the same girl ran ahead on the bridge. "Well so much for a strategy talk..." Hibiki said to herself. She then turned towards Shizuka and handed her three things: A deployment pack for a Bastion Turret, one of Hibiki's repair drones, and a the Stalker Cloak. "You'll need these more than I would. Catch up with the newbie and watch her back, work together, and get to the top of the tower!"

Shizuka took Hibiki's gifts and nodded her head. The time for hesitation and doubt was long passed. Without further due Shizuka ran after Ni-Mu, quickly catching up by using her wings to give Shizuka a bit of a push. "Commander Hibiki, engaging. I'll see the rest of you at the top." Shizuka said over the Machina communications. Meanwhile Hibiki looked up at the top of Hohenheim tower, which presumably is where the grand Alchemist herself was. This was a bit of a stretch, but anything could happen now. So Hibiki shouted out loudly towards the top of the tower to try to get Hohenheim's attention. "Hello! My name is Hibiki Meido, maid of High Queen Eos. If it is true that you have been banished many eons ago, would you perhaps like company courtesy of the Machina of Man? I could provide color commentary for all our viewers watching us today!"

Hibiki was very much aware of how utterly insane this sound. Asking this mad alchemist if she could keep her company, which could also imply that Hibiki had just volunteered herself to be strapped onto an operating table. Or make herself a hostage of not only the Alchemist, but potentially the other factions too. And being a commander of the Machina faction, Hibiki would be a high valued target even if her power wasn't nearly as great as other members. But this was the Nexus, and it was never bound to the rules of reason and logic. Everything here was a gamble, and Hibiki was willing to roll the dice.

@KoL@Flamelord@Banana

The War of the Three

<Snipped quote by Ryonara>

Well, it's good to have you back. Nothing important happened, since we were stuck for like the whole of the second half of December. The RPs are more or less resuming just now.

Anyway, what you are asking wasn't really foreseen on the original plans. I guess I can think of a way of doing such, even though no one knows the design of Hohenheim's Laboratory. The Alchemist can very well invite one (and, only one) person from each faction to her observatory so they can overlook the challenge from afar, Hibiki can be that if she wants. However, in doing so, she'll forfeit any rewards as well.

@KoL

I don't mind, Hibiki would rather want to see her sister try to accomplish the trials of the tower without Hibiki's guidance. Might end badly, but who knows.

The Chronicles of Dosei: Sands of Blood, A Dungeons and Dragons Roleplay. (Reboot)(Full)

Catarina La'Spada

Silently Catarina cheered to herself. Her technique had worked, giving her just the edge she'd need to win this fight. Around her Catarina was aware of how the battles elsewhere was going, noting that so far everyone was doing quite well. The gnolls were being systematically decimated, though a few still seemed to have a few tricks up their sleeve. No matter, there was only so much they could do before they would inevitably die. In the meantime Catarina wasted no time capitalizing on the gnoll's fall. Continuing her movement forward she aimed her blade right towards the gnoll's neck, where he was unarmored. When she got close enough she made a great stomp on his chest wound she had wounded him before plunging her blade towards the gnoll's neck. "Die already!"

---

Parum

Two down, one more to go. Thanks to Kalista and Veridis the sneaky gnolls were quickly routed, with the last remaining one running to his allies, who weren't likely going to be around for long anyways. Right now she had a few targets should could go after; Malkai seemed to be having some trouble killing the gnoll he's fighting, while Eleanora was now fighting a giant. Alexander was also fighting a giant of his own, who had just given him a hard smack across the sands. However it also looked like Vivian's scorpion was now in that battle, so Parum wasn't too worried. Instead she focused on the large gnoll attacking Eleanora and the other gnoll swordsman fighting Malkai.

From her position they were too far for Parum's daggers, but with a running jump out of the wagon, taking her huge bag of holding off of course, Parum was able to get a good twenty feet into the air. She spun her body around in order to use the momentum of her spint o give her just a few more inches and a little bit more time in the air, that time which she used to draw her daggers from her robes and hurled them at the gnolls. One dagger went towards the giant gnoll's face; Parum knew that her small blade wasn't really going to do him much harm. But if he saw the dagger flying at his face and reacted to it, then maybe Eleanora would have an opening to do some serious harm. The other gnoll that Malkai was fighting was effectively blinded, so he'd be much harder for him to see the dagger that Parum threw towards his neck. He was already looking pretty bad thanks to Malkai, and Parum intended to finish the job.

"Oofph!" Then the halfling landed in the sand, unfortunately messing up her landing due to her attacks and was laying on the ground. She was a bit dazed as she landed on her face, though no worse for ware than she was before.

The War of the Three

It's nice to be back home. And i see a lot has gone on. I get the general gist that we're all going to this Tower of Druaga, is there anything specific about Hibiki and Shizuka I should be aware of?

Also @TheWindel@KoL@Lonewolf685, would there be any way for Hibiki to be able to contact Shizuka as a sort of Mission Control person for this round? I kinda want to work with Shizuka some more and use Hibiki for a more supportive role, since they won't be able to rely on Eos for field information.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I'll be alright with that. I'm sure her mending is doing as much to help as holding the door would anyways, though I wished she had a way to attack them from the door itself. Vicious Mockery can only do so much.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

Ah, that took much longer then it had any right to. Sorry about that KoL. Life has been pretty rough on my free time. I hope I haven't missed much.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

Hibiki Toho

As Hibiki waited she thought about yesterday. She and Itusko had a lot of fun running the dungeons and fighting mobs. She let her worries about the Ebony Strykers and all that behind just to play the game. While Hibiki was no stranger to playing video games, DGO was the first time she ever played any sort of Virtual Reality game. Everything felt so real, so dangerous, that Hibiki did have a hard time at fighting at first. Whenever she got hit it actually hurt. Sure there wasn't any injuries and when she stopped playing she wasn't even sore, but it felt all so real in her head. If it wasn't for Itusko, Hibiki would probably just keep using hit-and-run tactics, attacking the enemy and then running off to go hide until they lose interest in her before jumping at them again. While she claims that it's her fighting style, Itsuko could easily see through her lies. Hibiki was just a scaredy cat after all.

Yesterday's Memories

@KoL & @Ryonara

Collab

It didn't took long for the Rampaging Tiger to arrive at outskirts of the Ebony Strykers' territory while avoiding random encounters with her bike. "If they think that a fancy fence will stop a tiger from getting in there, they gotta think again, heh!" Tiger said to herself as she observed the Black City and its ramparts through a pair of cheap binoculars. She placed them back on her inventory when she was finished and revved the bike's engine, before dashing straight to the main gate. "At least this once I can make them the favor to ask to come in. It's not like they are gonna say no to people that may join their guild, heh!"

A few minutes later. "Thanks boys. If I get in, what do you say of going on a dungeon? I know some really amazing places. Anyway, all I need to do is go to the guild hall and place a request, right? ;3" Tiger winked to the duo of tanks that was on guard duty at the moment, for a moment it even looked like a sparkle flew from her blinking eye, though in truth it were Tiger's pearly white teeth that caught a flash from a nearby lamp. Then, she revved her bike again and zoomed to the guild hall, trying to find the exact place where Smitten Kitten would be. Getting in was way easier than she thought. All Tiger needed to do was say that she wanted to join the guild and use a bit of her "persuasion techniques" to convince the gate guards that she was just a harmless kitty. "I don't even know why they bother to have guys guarding this kind of place? Then again, I'm still up to see a boy that can resist this smile, hehe!" Tiger took a glance at one of the rearview mirrors just as she parked her bike at an alley, just in case she needed a plan B —or was it C?— and began to look around the Ebony Strykers' guild hall to see if she could find Smitten Kitten somewhere, while casually planting remote controlled pipe bombs here and there, for that "just in case" scenario.

Smitten Kitten was careful traversing the guild hall. Practicably, it was crowded of people who were just hanging out. But this wasn't the sanctuary, so she was still in danger of getting attacked and killed if they spotted her. Going out the front door was out of the question, so Smitten Kitten needed to sneak up to a higher level. Fortunately, there was an balcony that Kitten could reach if she could jump high. Double fortunately, Smitten Kitten was very acrobatic and just unlocked a new ability that allowed her to double jump. As soon as she was certain no one was watching, Smitten Kitten jumped out from the shadows. When she reached the highest point of her jump, Smitten Kitten was able to jump again, this time doing a backflip backwards and onto the balcony. She didn't wait to see if anyone was watching and quickly ran out of one of the windows. While the height may have been high enough to hurt another player, Smitten Kitten's new ability also allowed her to ignore falling damage, so she fearlessly jumped out of the second story window and onto the streets below.

What did catch Kitten by surprise was Rampaging Tiger already being here. Hibiki had just logged in, and already Tiger showed up! Though seeing that she was on a motorcycle, she must be a fast driver. Smitten Kitten waved at her new friend. "Hiya! Let's hurry before they spot us." Coping what she saw in movies, Hibiki sat behind Tiger on her motorcycle, though putting their bodies side-by-side, Smitten Kitten was very small. Pretty much childlike, just like Hibiki. Holding on tight Kitten looked over Rampaging Tiger's shoulder. "Ready when you are!"

"Whoa! You're already here? I thought I would have to go to a secret spot or something like this to find you." Tiger was a bit surprised, or perhaps disappointed, that she didn't actually had to enact a heroic rescue of her friend. Either way that was a good thing and saved them the time, even if she didn't got the chance to show off her skills to Hibiki. "Anyway, you're quite cute like that, eh? I'd say we're a hundred percent compatible." When Kitten Finally got on the vehicle and was ready to leave, Tiger started it and began to dash away. The bombs would end up disappearing if no one messed with them until their duration was up, so she didn't felt the need to take them back. The most important thing was to take Smitten Kitten away from here, fast.

"Hold tight, Kitten, I spotted a backdoor when I was getting in, we can go through it but it might be a bumpy ride." Tiger kept on moving to the wall, instead of going through the front gate. When she was near a particular place marked by a construction site, Tiger picked a grenade and threw it on the wooden board that was blocking an entrance to the Sewers, which could take them back to the neutral territory. "And, there we go!" She yelled as they entered the dark and damp underground scenario.

Doing as Tiger said, Smitten Kitten held Tiger's thigh tightly, peeking around her as they zoomed through. No one stopped them as they raced through the streets towards a sewer entrance. Kitten actually remembered that entrance as the same one she had met Corpse Collector before she was teleported to the Ebony Stryker guild hall. There was a slight pang of guilt as those memories surfaced. Kitten didn't want to admit it, but when she killed Corpse Collector she knew that it was a slippery slope before Kitten herself might end up like the people she hates. People who just use and manipulate others. Smitten Kitten hadn't really thought about it much, but she knew in the back of her head that even if she didn't really tell CC to do anything, even if she wasn't smart enough to actually control someone like her, Kitten had betrayed her. True, Corpse Collector deserved it. If it was Moon Rider instead, Kitten may have done the same, and for the same reason: People like them need to die. Hibiki was just still trying to accept that she's the one who has to kill them.

Eventually the two girls managed to get deep into neutral territory. Assuming the Sweepers aren't on patrol or some outlaws aren't roaming, they should be safe. "Whoa, that was my first time riding a bike! It was kinda scary, moving through those tunnels so fast." Kitten was a bit shaky as she stepped off the bike to stretch her legs. A short strut later and she was fine. "Okay! Now we just need to head to the Red Kingdom and find their king. We can get a pardon from him, and we can go do other things. I need to get stronger, and I heard of a good ruin that could help me level up."

"You'll get used to it in no time. It's nothing like one int the real world,heh! Someday I'll take you on a ride there as well" Tiger left the notion of when that day would be a bit vague, after all there were a few years until Itsuko was old enough for that. At least they could indulge on it inside the game as much as they wanted to. "Anyway, the Red King won't come to us so, hop in again." Tiger revved her bike once more, waiting for Kitten.

It was not destined to happen though because the sound of a large gunshot was heard right before the front half of Tiger's ride combusted into shreds of flame and metal. The faint crackle of electricity followed suit of this audible assault but judging from the initial gunshot, the perpetrator couldn't be too far. Indeed, as the smoke and dust cleared up, a single figure walked out of the debris with a manic grin on their face, the new girl walking slowly with all the confidence in the world, an evil gleam in her eyes as she swung her gun to rest on her shoulders.

"Good evening bitches. It's nice to be back and all that fuck shit, but frankly I'm pissed and I'm wanting to skin some people. Starting with your traitorous little ass Kitty."

Just as Hibiki was starting to relive that moment, Emma arrived. "Nya! Where'd you come from!?" Hibiki assumed a faux karate pose as if she was trying to defend herself, but it made her look more silly then threatening. When Emma offered one of the dumplings Hibiki tentatively took one. Emma was nice, but Hibiki didn't know the upperclassman very well. She was rather nervous about how Emma was like around newbies like her. "T-thanks! I ah, I haven't really thought about where to go. I figured you know... I could look at the cultural things, like Thomas said. M-most of the main events aren't going to be happening soon, but I guess we could stop by the guilds and see what they have set up too..." Hibiki grew gradually quieter as she spoke as if she had said something very stupid. She knew Emma wanted to go check out the guilds, but Hibiki... Hibiki wanted to pretend DGO was just a game for now. But the guilds and anything related to them aside for now and look at what the world has to offer outside VR. Maybe it was stupid though.

"W-where do you wanna go, senpai? I kinda don't really know where to start, so I'll just follow your lead."

@KoL

The Chronicles of Dosei: Sands of Blood, A Dungeons and Dragons Roleplay. (Reboot)(Full)

Catarina La'Spada

"Hnn! Weak!" Catarina retracted her sword just as it scrapped the gnoll's armor. When he'd tried to go and cut off Catarina head, all she needed to do was lower her body a bit and let the blade bounce off her helmet. Despite it's silly shape, it was still armor; it could be used to block and deflect attacks as well as any shield could. And by lowing her body Catarina was able to parry the gnoll's blade as well, locking her Domina against the gnoll's sword to prevent it from moving further. Despite having her blade occupied with one of the gnoll's, she was far from defenseless. Quite the opposite: she was going to use her defense to attack.

Holding her shield close to her body Cataraina thrust the spiked tip of her shield into the Gnoll's chest. Even if his armor could deflect the shield's spike, Cataraina followed through with her strike using her whole body. Thus not only was she putting her full weight into stabbing the gnoll, but even if she couldn't he'd be bashed by her shield and the rest of her body. And with the momentum of her tackle she intended to knock the gnoll onto his back so she could stab him in the face with her blade.

"Fall!"

---

Parum

Parum was ready for one of those brutes to try to hop into the wagon, but she was genuinely surprised to see that they had gnolls sneaky enough to get the drop on her. Parum turned around just as she heard the sands shift, raising her dagger defensively. Just as she thought she was going to get hit Kalista jumped in front of her. In what Parum thought was a heroic sacrifice was actually a clever tactic. With Kalista using a spell to protect her from arrows, Parum could use her to block arrows for her. "Thanks Kalista!" Not one to waste an opportunity like this Parum hurled both her daggers at the gnoll who tried to shoot her. One dagger went straight for the gnoll's eyes, knowing that he would try to protect his face when he saw the dagger incoming. And if he didn't then a knife would fly into his eye. But a second dagger was thrown shortly after heading lower into the gnoll's chest, which Parum knew she had a better chance of hitting. After tossing her daggers out she drew two more and readied herself for another attack, hiding behind Kalista.