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Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

So much progress.

Caravan: Resurrection

Baeshri Pass, Caravan Centaurus
_{3rd of Summer - 10:25 PM}

Zay leaned back as Flin rummaged through the pockets of the corpses. He widened his eyes and nodded. "I didn't know you were into the fur, Lieutenant," he teased. Neal rolled his eyes and knelt opposite to Flin, slowly searching the other Myti's pockets. He and Flin both found something, one after the other. Each Myti, along with several explosive devices much like the flash-bang that misfired earlier, carried a familiar device that the highest ranking officials in Arcadia used to communicate. They both had miniature Psy-stones with purple etchings across their entire surface.

"Well I'll be damned," Neal grunted, "They were better equipped than I thought." Zay narrowed his eyes and stood up. Bandits were getting their hands on Psy-Stones now? Just how far did the black markets of Thoris run? Those things were expensive, and very difficult to manufacture. Even if they came all the way from Leias, for common thieves to get their hands on those trinkets was unheard of. But it went further than that. These were no ordinary Psy-Stones.

"Is that all they had?" Noru asked.

"Aside from a bit of money and a few gemstones, it looks like it." Neal confirmed. The medic vigorously rubbed his eyebrows at the thought of ruffians with Psy-Stones running A muck through the trade routes.

"Then we were targeted," Zay hissed, "Targeted like animals."

"That may be that case." Noru stepped towards Neal and grabbed the stone he'd found. "These aren't ordinary Psy-Stones." Neal rose an eyebrow. Zay shook his head at the situation. "They're not made of the same gemstones as the ones used in Arcadia. These things could be capable of communication across longer distances than your typical stone."

"They could be short-range stones as well," Zay added. Noru sighed.

"That's true. For all we know, they were just using these to coordinate their assault."

"Well, they aren't made in Arcadia. At least, I've never seen anything like this. Even the King's stone isn't this unique. Most officials use ruby crafted stones, and those things aren't even strong enough to communicate across half the city."

"So they didn't come from Arcadia," Neal grunted, "So what?"

"We can't assume that, either," Noru added, "Especially not with the rampant criminal activity trudging about the lower districts."

"So this tells us nothing." Neal moaned impatiently.

"It tells us that they're organized and well supplied," Zay corrected Neal yet again. At this point, Captain Geroldus was growing increasingly frustrated. With these two men correcting every one of his sentiments, he felt like an idiot. "Caravans don't typically take the Baeshri pass. It's not known for beast attacks, but it's a hazardous trail, and it's painfully secluded. So why the hell would there be bandits out here waiting for somebody to pass through?

"Maybe they were especially patient," Neal groaned angrily, waiting to be corrected once again with his eyes fixated on the Myti's body before him. Then he froze. "I thought it earlier," He mumbled, "But it's not impossible that this is related to the attack on my Caravan!" Zay grabbed his chin and thought it over for a minute. It wasn't impossible that the two attacks were corrected.

As the men spoke, Flin was able to find something else on the Myti's body through his diligent search. Near the base of her spine, just above her tail, there was an obscure black tattoo. Beneath it, jutting slightly from the back of her shorts, was a small piece of paper. Zay glared at Flin with a subtle smile.

"I know they tried to kill us Flin, but it's awfully rude to feel up an unsuspecting maiden while she's unconscious." Noru's head snapped towards Zay.

"Can you control your inane humor for just a minute!?" He shouted. Zay frowned and rolled his eyes.

"Easy, Lieutenant. You wouldn't want to attract something dangerous."

Baeshri Pass, Caravan Centaurus
_{3rd of Summer - 10:25 PM}

Noru's shout was loud enough to pierce the shell of Centaurus' caravan, so much so that it echoed across the Baeshri hills as an indiscernible murmur. There weren't any particularly dangerous creatures nearby in the moment, but Noru's frustration did not fall upon deaf ears. Rem and Ellorei were making their way across the Pass around that same time, and they were less than half a kilometer away from the stranded knight of Arcadia.

Kel Underworld, ???
_{3rd of Summer - 11:52 PM}

Fifty Eldi were lined up row by row in a massive, well-lit cavern. They all wore similar clothing, but none of them looked the same. Men and women were dressed in bright red hues; They wore bandannas, ties, coats, shorts, helmets, tattoos, piercings, pants and shirts. They were different, so very different from one another. And yet, standing before their commander, those citizens all looked the same.

"What a time to be alive!" A woman shouted from atop a large wooden box, overlooking the people lined up before her, "A time of peace! A time of stagnation! A time where the government has nothing to be concerned about! Where its people can breath Kel's air without any urge for change!" She paused and looked out to the masses. "Pathetic."

A series of hoots and cheers sounded from the groupings in front of her, going silent shortly after.

"We live in the shadow of their wretched tower, surrounded by the artifacts of old! Eldan men and women without any desire to progress as a Nation! Scientists and researchers that work only to learn more of the very magic that has separated our people. The very magic that has been weaponized, and used to subjugate the world into a false state of peace! Something that our leader refuses to change! We are forced to stand by as Eldi become entrapped in a self-defeating cycle of silence and servitude, selfishly sustaining themselves on knowledge while some of us are forced to writhe in agony! Starved! Beaten! I say this has gone on long enough!"

Another roar from the crowd echoed throughout the secluded little cavern.

"We are thrown in with the rest of these wretched evil-doers and labeled as thus, with no regard for our intent! Criminals! We are called criminals! They call us criminals while Senator Ero is allowed to profit off the backs of real monsters! Those that live in the shade suffer because it! We suffer!"

The crowd echoed her announcement: 'suffer!'

"No longer can this go on! Kel's people require a wake-up call, and we will give it to them!"

The crowd's uncoordinated roars of approval flooded the cavern. Each and every one of the Eldi present cheered and cheered, clapping or hollering random phrases across the room. Their leader, Parthia Mylygnos, stood proudly over them and rose a single first into the air. They group slowly began to inch towards a united chant. Their words finally united into something discernible.

_{'Crimson Shades'}

'Crimson Shades'

'Crimson Shades!'

'Crimson Shades!!!'

Northern Marrenfall, Gybol's Cafe
_{4th of Summer - 9:47 AM}

The morning was a fresh relief across the wide-spanning suburbs of Marrenfall. As fresh as it could have been, anyways. Gybol's cafe sat only a few kilometers off the edge of Varbos, one of the largest industrial districts in all of Marrenfall. The air quality of the Eastern Suburbs varied on a day-to-day basis, dependent solely on how Thoris' winds decided to blow. A westward wind would bring subtle aromas of burning coal to the edge of the suburbs, sometimes thick enough to taste. Stale weather meant for a more enjoyable atmosphere, where the air was still coarse, but not enough to directly impact on the lives of civilians. Today, the wind blew to the east. Although this brought the locals a deal of peace, it also meant that many people would be visiting from the west to make a myriad of purchases. Residential locales that were positioned closely to Marrenfall's factories often had some of the most advanced and affordable products, after all.

This also meant that Gybol would see quite the influx of business. His cafe was already quite the success, despite its relatively small size. He was, after all, one of the few producers that managed to forage for produce outside the city walls, albeit on rare occasions. Ingredients that some might consider exotic would wind on his menu from time to time, while on some very special occasions, visitors might have been treated to something out of this world. One of the many perks of his occupation! But his only other co-worker, Nina Belfont, was not fond of his business' scale. If she were in charge, Gybol's storefront would already be flooding the entirety of the suburbs. If she had her way, they would have a chain of Cafes by now. But things don't always work out the way you want them to.

The morning rush was especially rushed today. Over twenty customers were flooding the tables and standing in line for their turn to sample Gybol's recipes. The workload was at least four times heavier than usual, far more than the already minimal staff could handle, but the people of the suburbs were not especially impatient. If this were anything like the cities to the southeast of Marrenfall, the twenty-something customers would have made quite the ruckus as they dined and/or waited for their orders. But Gybol's modest Cafe, despite the large showing, was as quiet as it could get.

The only one making noise was Nina.

"You ready with order #21 yet?!" She screeched from across the cafe while standing over a woman and her husband. They exchanged a warm smile, not bothered in the slightest by Nina's overbearing voice.

"Boss???"

Most anticipated Games of 2018-2019

God dammit.

Most anticipated Games of 2018-2019

You're welcome to disagree, but lootboxes and microtransactions are paths to disingenuous business practices. Full stop.

I agree to some extent. In fact, I'd go as far to say that the practice itself is disingenuous.

I'd thought that everyone had the common sense to come to the conclusion that paid loot boxes are bad by now. They are, and have always been, a play on the same psychology that things like trading cards and casinos abuse. It's funny to think about how both of those practices saw similar controversies at some point. Is it possible that business practices which aim to quite literally manipulate people into spending more money, are dishonest and could be very unhealthy? Especially when exposed to children and teenagers that have yet to develop the skills needed to properly manage their money? In a social dogma where people prefer to spend, rather than think?

Could loot-box practices maybe, just possibly, be a major and valid point of contention? A significant issue that warrants the backlash it attracts? Could this trend suck ass? Could it be just as important, if not more important, than the nebulous and completely erroneous social effects that video game themes have otherwise? I dunno, man.

These issues persist. Regardless of whether or not companies exist to earn money, which is perfectly valid, they do so through contempt-worthy means constantly. To dismiss things like loot boxes and pay-to-skip tactics as non-issues is pretty silly.

Okay, then what you are mad about is, the MMO team that continues to work on updates, fix errors, work on new content and expansions and a bunch of other things try to incorporate a way for them to get paid for their continued work.

...Subscription fees? I mean, theme-park MMO's have become grind-trash after WoW went soft, and sandbox MMO's have the potential to fail miserably for the same reason that RPs fail on this miserable website. The MMO genre is a huge money sink for producers, and doesn't have as much potential to pay out as people seem to think. The only reason things like WoW and FFXIV are so huge, is because they have a solid fan base to leech off of. F2P MMOs are a dime a dozen, with only a few actually seeing any success. Even then, a lot of F2P MMOs have crashed and burned after living out their life-span.

Have you played FFXIV levels 1-60? It's absolutely fucking garbage. Had to be the worst experience in any MMO I've ever had to endure. WoW's 1-70 during MoP wasn't much better, either.

To be fair, all MMO's are bad, so why even play them in the first place? kappa.

---

The only MMO I'm kind of excited for is Pantheon which may see a 2019 open beta release. It looks promising, kind of.

Resident evil 2 Remake looks amazing. Also...

MEGAMAN X LEGACY COLLECTIONS AHHHHHH

Caravan: Resurrection

Nillium Encampment, The Burroughs
_{3rd of Summer - 9:19 PM}

Philip froze when Paric started to stumble. He'd recognized him after that. The man was familiar. An Eldi with a drinking problem, and curly brown hair. His expression went blank when Paric stumbled over. Damn it all. This had to be bullshit. Philip was almost convinced that this drunkard had either hallucinated seeing Ayer, or that he was too drunk to even know where he was. But it wasn't the Nillium's responsibility to manage and coordinate the drunks. Mop was a prime example of how little they cared. He rolled his eyes and walked past the man that called him over, stepping into the Alleyway with disappointment dragging him down.

'He probably just confused a rat for the runaway'

While most of the guards were unconcerned with Philip's little venture, Mop's curiosity had been peaked. He watched as Philip wandered off, catching only the edge of Paric's silhouette from where he sat as the two disappeared into the Burroughs. Locke pushed himself up onto his feet and took another swig from his wine bottle.

"Awright, awright, show's over. Back to work ye lollygags," He groaned with purple liquid running down his chin. The disheveled man slowly stumbled across the boardwalk, while his subordinates quickly returned to their posts.

Baeshri Pass, Caravan Centaurus
_{3rd of Summer - 10:24 PM}

Neal walked over to Lyullia and grabbed the cuffs that she'd created with a nod and a smile. "Stopping their movements is enough for now," He assured her. Zay reached up and snatched the cuffs out of Neal's hands in order to restrain the two Myti himself. Nor rolled the women over and began to feel along their exposed, furry torsos, looking for injuries with his mana as Zay moved to position himself opposite to the medic. "It was the head," Neal said, pointing at his forehead, "I stomped her-"

"Do you not see the gaping hole in her torso?" Noru hissed, quickly prepping another batch of liquid from the bottles he'd retrieved earlier, "If they bleed out, it won't matter if they have brain damage or not." Working quickly, the man was able to patch up Daelin's handiwork in a manner of moments. While he did that, Zay latched the cuffs around each woman's wrists, and ankles.

"Hup-" Zay breathed, placing one hand over each of the chain-links one by one. With the last of his mana, he created a few metal spikes that fused with the floor of the caravan and kept the women in place. "I'm not sure if that is a good idea."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Red and blue energy crackled and clashed against each other across the entire battlefield until it was completely obscured from view. The light beamed out into the void that surrounded Yzeira's tower, so brightly that it could be seen from the surface of the planet. The beam of energy swept around to follow Jenso's approach as he launched his first punch, which struck with so much force that the barrier nearly split in half. Cracks shot out from the impact point as Yzeira spun around. When Jenso's drill hit his barrier, the cracks shattered, leaving him open despite deflecting Jenso's initial attack. That's when the beam consumed him...

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 212 ~

_{...As if I'd run!!!}

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Faced with an insurmountable power, and yet..." Yzeira's final orbs began to rotated around his body before flying upwards, and then re-positioning themselves in front of him. They spun in a circle, creating a circular charge of energy, much wider than Jenso, large enough to cover his approach. Suddenly, the man's hair flashed, and went completely red. His aura, usually concealed, released itself in an explosion of energy that engulfed the entire tower from top to bottom. A massive beam swept across the field, heading towards Jenso without any sign of weakness. It was raw unbridled power.

"Why won't you run!?"

---

~ End Of Chapter 211 ~

Caravan: Resurrection

Baeshri Pass, Caravan Centaurus
_{3rd of Summer - 10:24 PM}

"I figured as much," Noru exhaled, immediately tending to Flin's injuries after discerning where most of the damage was, "Fortunately it's nothing too troublesome." Zay looked over at the unconscious Myti and then back towards the Door after Daelin shut it. Neal watched him closely. The larger Captain snatched the Caravan Key from Daelin after he was finished with it, and reopened the door without a word. Zay spun his entire body around.

"Hey!" Captain Copp yelped. Neal ignored him and picked up the Myti that was outside, brought her inside, and locked the door behind him. "Hey!!" Sir Geroldus dropped the other cat-woman beside her comrade and glared at Noru.

"Treat them," He ordered, "and do as Flin says. Bind them too." Zay rolled his eyes and slumped himself back over the table. He was likely to give the same orders once he calmed himself. No point in making a fuss over Neal's actions.

Caravan: Resurrection

Baeshri Pass, Caravan Centaurus
_{3rd of Summer - 10:23 PM}

"As much as I don't like to admit it, scouring the pass for a single girl is more dangerous than staying put," Neal cut in. Zay nodded to himself silently while letting out a slow, reverberating burp. Neal glanced at him in disgust for a split second and sighed. "But I agree that there should be some form of reconnaissance. Whether we decide to hunker down, or leave in search of aid, remaining ignorant of our surroundings is liable to get us all killed."

"Easy for you to say," Zay croaked, "They've got archers, and they're Myti. If they're still around, we'll be walking right into another ambush. And that one woman..." Zay stopped and clutched his forehead. "If we stay put, at the very least, we retain a defensive advantage." He lowered his hand and stared at the table in front of him. "Besides, if Marilyn had survived, she would return to the Caravan right away, wouldn't she? I doubt they'd let her scurry off if she were injured. Any way you look at it, that's enough proof to avoid an intensive search."

"She couldn't be far, whether she's alive or not," Noru added while tending to Pyra's injuries, "Simple reconnaissance is enough to confirm Marilyn's fate. That explosion couldn't have launched her far, even if she was closer to the explosion than any of us."

"There's truth in those words, Captain," Neal affirmed.

"I don't like it," Zay objected, "Not in this darkness." The Captain suddenly stood up and placed a hand on the mana-lantern embedded in the ceiling, brightening the room significantly. He sat right back down afterwards. "At the very least, we shouldn't be wandering around in the middle of the night." Neal closed his eyes and leaned against the side of the Caravan's inner wall. Then he peered down at the unconscious Myti at their feet.

"Can we dispose of these corpses? Both this one, and the one outside? It may not be possible to move the Venbu, but I'm not fond of speaking casually around dead bodies." Noru, finished with Pyra's treatment, looked down at the woman. Her chest moved, ever so slowly, and the edges of her eyes began to twitch despite the indent in her skull caused of Neal's earlier stomp. Captain Geroldus straightened himself immediately. He recalled that she'd survived, but to still be alive even now without medical treatment? Any normal Myti would have been killed outright. Noru turned towards the body and leaned against Pyra's bunk in surprise.

"I don't think this one is dead."