Sedjwick

The Marauders (2018)

Valanx was in the lab looking at the Ulnar venom again. The newest anti-venom should have worked. All the data suggested that it would neutralize the poison, so why hadn't it worked? He injected the anti-venom into another vial and placed the sample under a microscope. He watched the reaction again. After watching the anti-venom do it's job, he separated the remaining solutions. The reaction had proceeded as normal, but there was something weird about what was left over. There was either an unexpected product, or a reactant that didn't react. He placed the unknown substance under a microscope and began an analysis. He rushed over to the body of their deceased loadmaster and extracted a vial of brain fluid. He put this new sample under another microscope and began an analysis. Somehow, there was a powerful neurotoxin in Anderson's system, identical to the substance he had isolated from the neutralized Ulnar venom. But if the Ulnar venom contained both a hemotoxin and an neurotoxin, why were they unable to isolate the neurotoxin from the venom until they had neutralized the hemotoxin? With a few swipes of a gloved hand across the displays, he logged the data for further analysis. Maybe Rae would be able to make more sense of this. This poison stuff was more her territory anyway. He just worked on this sort of stuff on the side when he had nothing else to do or the matter was of greatest urgency as it was here, or at least it had been, and probably would be again. Those rats were still out there in certain places. The Marauders had just wiped out a large portion of them, but they hadn't annihilated the entire race.

He had just saved the new information on the venom when a call came in for him over the comms. "Valanx, we have a cryo-pod in the cargo bay that needs to be examined. Please see if you can find any information and report back to the Captain once found," Rae instructed.

"Affirmative," Valanx responded. "Also, I found some new information about the Ulnar venom. You'll want to take a look at it ASAP. It's... confusing." With that, Valanx left the lab and made his way to the cargo bay to examine the cryo-pod. Why did they have a cryo-pod? Was this something to do with the mysterious "precious cargo" they had picked up? Was that why the Ulnar had chased them until they wiped out their entire fleet? Hopefully this cryo-pod would provide answers. If it was a commercial transport cryo-pod it likely had an internal memory card that would describe the contents, the route, the ultimate destination, and any special notes regarding hazardous materials or other dangers the contents presented when released. He should be able to read any information with a quick scan as long as the internal circuitry was intact. With the amount of jostling the ship took, though, it may require some repairs before he could read it.

As Valanx neared the door to the cargo bay, the captain stormed by with a girl that Valanx had not seen before. Valanx would have asked about this, but the captain's mood was not one he wanted to test at the moment based on his facial expression and the way he was walking. Besides, he was needed elsewhere, and hopefully where he was needed was also the place where the answers to the myriad questions swarming through his brain lay.

Final Fantasy RK: The Lost Pages

Velu caught the crystal that the moogle tossed to him. He examined it carefully, unsure what it was, but it seemed to have no other properties besides allowing him to understand what the moogle was saying, which was certainly welcome since it seemed that this moogle was the one responsible for Velu and the others showing up here. Unfortunately, the moogle was unable to explain what was going on before a door burst open and a giant smoke monster burst forth. "Okay, explanations can wait," the red mage decided. He ran at the beast at the same time that a woman with advanced weapons that Velu had never seen before did the same. She froze the monster's legs then used it's tail to mount its neck. Velu rushed forward, sword flashing. He leaped at the monster and slashed his sword at it's ugly face, slicing it from its left eye, across its nose, and to the right side of its mouth. He landed on his feet and jumped back in a defensive posture, watching what would happen next.

Final Fantasy RK: The Lost Pages

Velu and his companions, a knight, a monk, and a black mage, stopped at the nearby village. It was getting late, and the four heroes were tired from fighting monsters that had been dogging them for the past three days. They went to the various shops in town to see if there were any weapons, armor, magic, or miscellaneous items that they had any need of (Velu purchased a new sword and the Heal spell), and then went into the inn to sleep for the night. Velu feel asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, but when he woke up, he was no longer in the inn, and the people surrounding him weren't the companions he had been traveling with for the past week. He blinked and looked around. "What's going on?" he asked, unsure who he should be addressing. "And where am I?"

Final Fantasy RK: The Lost Pages

Name: Velu
Age: 16
Gender: male
Species: human
Appearance: tall and slender, fair skin, white hair, wears a red fedora with a white feather, a red shirt, a red cape, brown pants, and brown boots
Brief Bio: Velu was just an explorer traveling the world until one day his travels brought him to the shrine of one of the four crystals in his world. The light of the crystals was dying as darkness began to rise in the world. To combat the darkness, the crystal gave its light and power to Velu, allowing him to become a red mage. Along with three other companions, he had to journey across the length and breadth of his world and into the very heart of the world to confront the darkness and restore the power of the elements to the four crystals.
Summons: Bahamut, Ifrit
Weapon of choice: sword
Magic: fire (1-3), ice (1-3), thunder (1-3), cure (1-4), heal (1-3?) (starting with these at lv 1, will gain others later) will also acquire: life (1-2), mute, slow, stop, sleep, dark, confuse, haste, break, exit
Abilities:
Weaknesses: his only real weakness is that he doesn't have any particular strengths
Strengths: as a red mage, he is versatile in his ability to use black and white magic as well as physical attacks, but about halfway through the game he tends to level off and fall into a second or third position in terms of usefulness. He is also unable to use any ultimate spells/weapons. Overall, a fairly well-rounded character with no particular strengths or weaknesses (jack of all trades, master of none).

Heroes of Camp Half-Blood: Waking Darkness

Isaac nodded at Chiron and dashed down the hill and into the Big House as quick as he could. He prepared a cot for the unconscious boy and was just about to walk back out when Chiron arrived. "Should I get a healer?" he asked the centaur. He had planned on doing that, but if the boy was just unconscious that was probably unnecessary, so it was probably a good idea to ask first rather than potentially waste someone's time.

Final Fantasy RK: The Lost Pages

Name: Velu
Age: 16
Gender: male
Species: human
Appearance: tall and slender, fair skin, white hair, wears a red fedora with a white feather, a red shirt, a red cape, brown pants, and brown boots
Brief Bio: Velu was just an explorer traveling the world until one day his travels brought him to the shrine of one of the four crystals in his world. The light of the crystals was dying as darkness began to rise in the world. To combat the darkness, the crystal gave its light and power to Velu, allowing him to become a red mage. Along with three other companions, he had to journey across the length and breadth of his world and into the very heart of the world to confront the darkness and restore the power of the elements to the four crystals.
Summons: Bahamut, Ifrit
Weapon of choice: sword
Magic: fire (1-3), ice (1-3), thunder (1-3), cure (1-4), heal (1-3?) (starting with these at lv 1, will gain others later) will also acquire: life (1-2), mute, slow, stop, sleep, dark, confuse, haste, break, exit
Abilities:
Weaknesses: his only real weakness is that he doesn't have any particular strengths
Strengths: as a red mage, he is versatile in his ability to use black and white magic as well as physical attacks, but about halfway through the game he tends to level off and fall into a second or third position in terms of usefulness. He is also unable to use any ultimate spells/weapons. Overall, a fairly well-rounded character with no particular strengths or weaknesses (jack of all trades, master of none).

Final Fantasy RK: The Lost Pages

Wait, so are we using established characters from the games, or can we make up our own original characters?
@soren

Heroes of Camp Half-Blood: Waking Darkness

Isaac waved goodbye to his dad as he hopped out of the car and began the walk up Half-Blood Hill. He climbed up the hill and past Thalia's Pine, and then he saw the boy lying on the ground. He rushed to the boy's side. "Are you alright?" Isaac asked the boy, kneeling down and taking the boy's arm in an attempt to help him stand.

@soren

Final Fantasy RK: The Lost Pages

Name: Velu
Age: 16
Gender: male
Species: human
Appearance: tall and slender, fair skin, white hair, wears a red fedora with a white feather, a red shirt, a red cape, brown pants, and brown boots
Brief Bio: Velu was just an explorer traveling the world until one day his travels brought him to the shrine of one of the four crystals in his world. The light of the crystals was dying as darkness began to rise in the world. To combat the darkness, the crystal gave its light and power to Velu, allowing him to become a red mage. Along with three other companions, he had to journey across the length and breadth of his world and into the very heart of the world to confront the darkness and restore the power of the elements to the four crystals.
Summons: Bahamut, Ifrit
Weapon of choice: sword
Magic: fire (1-3), ice (1-3), thunder (1-3), cure (1-4), heal (1-3?) (starting with these at lv 1, will gain others later) will also acquire: life (1-2), mute, slow, stop, sleep, dark, confuse, haste, break, exit
Abilities:
Weaknesses: his only real weakness is that he doesn't have any particular strengths
Strengths: as a red mage, he is versatile in his ability to use black and white magic as well as physical attacks, but about halfway through the game he tends to level off and fall into a second or third position in terms of usefulness. He is also unable to use any ultimate spells/weapons. Overall, a fairly well-rounded character with no particular strengths or weaknesses (jack of all trades, master of none).

Heroes of Camp Half-Blood: Waking Darkness

Name: Isaac

Age: 14

Godly parent: Athena

Appearance: short for his age, skinny but with some muscle definition in his upper body, lightly tanned skin, honey blond hair, gray eyes, wears an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, shorts, and sandals

Background: Isaac was born from Athena and a military history buff. He was raised by his father, who never spoke about his mother besides the enigmatic phrase "she was a goddess." Isaac was home-schooled by his father and two professional tutors. When Isaac was 5 years old, his father began teaching him how to use various types of swords. Isaac took to swordplay like a fish to water and quickly became competent with most Greek and Roman styles of fighting and has also picked up some other styles, but he is less accomplished with them. At the age of 12, his father escorted him to Half-Blood Hill and sent him to Camp Half-Blood. There had been no attacks from monsters, but his father knew that this would not last much longer and Isaac would need to learn from more experienced teachers if he was to survive. Athena claimed Isaac shortly after his arrival, and he quickly made himself at home at Camp Half-Blood, though he still missed his home and his father. He goes home every fall, but comes back to Camp Half-Blood every summer and has grown to enjoy and look forward to his time at the camp.

Power: intelligence/cleverness, nimble and light on his feet

Weapon or gifts from godly parent: a knife that transforms into a sword. This was a gift for his 12th birthday. It has a handle shaped like an owl, and when in sword form it can change into any type of sword he wants with a single thought.