The Irish Tree

Overlord: Momento Mori

Post up! As usual, lemme know if anybody needs something addressed, collabs, etc.

Overlord: Momento Mori

@Xaltwind @Guess Who

The Mountain Village

Having completed their task and relayed their information to one another, the fox and the dragon librarian would find little to be done left in the village. However, not before Corona ran over to deliver a piece of the Amberlyte to her. A rather sizeable chunk too. Chuckling, Corona said: "Don't tell my dad, okay? It fell off one of the carts. Sooooo...technically, not stealing."

With the gift received, Corona would depart, heading off to do...something. Probably bother Mars.

The journey back to the Chateau would be rather simple, given that now the twosome could easily scale the mountain now that they knew the path. Albeit, avoiding being seen meant taking a more roundabout path, but the twosome's speed and strength afforded by their high levels meant that it was barely more than an hour's walk. They'd be home by lunch.

Rodias would be waiting for them, poised upon his seat within the library. He was without his cloak and Nightmare Troupe armor, giving him a strange casual look to him. Like a nobleman at peace reading books...albeit, a nobleman with a green pallor to his flesh. Smiling nervously at the two of them, he would clear his throat. "Ah, um...welcome back...Kath I know I said that I would guard your books but...the mimics of Enderal sort of...managed to grab a few while I wasn't looking."

It was clear by how terrified he looked that he knew how terrifying a berserk Kath was. And, he figured that at least being honest up front might mean that he wouldn't have to fight a dragon to submission. "Sooo, how was the village?" he asked, wanting to change the subject fast.

@DracoLunaris

The Hunt for Answers

Zouyu was lightly kicking his feet back and forth, gleefully watching the hunters do their thing as he approached while keeping pace with Kaldorna's mount. His ears perked up as he listened to Kaldorna's explanation, eyes shining with amazement at the idea of one person fighting that many high level monsters at once. But then, the heartbreak part came up. He'd never personally been given the privilege to see the fights that had taken place within the Climax Hour, but he had always been assured that it was beautiful to behold. One time, Yaoishisaurus even told him all about the time that a stray magic blast nearly took her head off, before Loss, and Kiss My Axe intercepted. It all sounded so...insanely cool!

"Why is it heartbreaking?" Zouyu would ask, scratching the side of his face as he pondered. Rodias was strong, stronger than anybody in the guild so...why did he still fight like someone on his standing was behind him to help?

Zouyu's peanut sized brain wouldn't have time to consider all the possibilities though as Kaldorna ordered for him to go on the offensive. Well, limited offense. They didn't need the thing dead. Plunging his hands into the earth, Zouyu would cry out: "[Fifth Tier Magic: Wall of Stone!]" before a gargantuan block of rock and mud emerged to corral the mammoth-like beast, just as Nightshade blinded it. But...it seemed that he'd either slipped up, or not counted on the beast charging dead ahead.

A sneer crawled across Zouyu's usual calm and gentle face, teeth gnashing together as he reactively sensed the killing intent of a fellow beast, before he would stand up, hands swirling with arcane winds.

"Know your place, trash," the Gardener would say, lightning swirling around his forehead, and wind swirling around his arms and legs. He seemed especially enraged at the idea of a beast challenging not only himself, but Kaldorna. In an instant, Zouyu's fist would dive into the earth, claw splaying out in the dirt as magic swelled forth. "[Sixth Tier Magic: Bones of the Earth!]" he would cry out, before fifty foot pillars of bones encased the mammoth, as if it were surrounded entirely by ribs, the beast's thrashings and beatings mimicking the sound of a heartbeat thudding against one's chest faster and faster, before Zouyu would return to his gentle expression.

"[First Tier Magic: Entangle! First Tier Magic: Giant's Jump!" he would say, as a tremendous amount of vines started binding the mammoth within the cage, the Giant's Jump spell causing Zouyu to pounce over seventy feet in the air, before he landed on the mammoth's head. Exhausted and blinded, the beast was unable to resist as Zouyu bound leather and vines around its tusks, making it into a makeshift reign as he waved to Kaldorna. "Kaldornaaaaa~! Its ready to be made your pet!" he cried out, adding in: "Good work everyone! You all made it too weak to break the bones!" to make sure that all knew he wasn't trying to steal anybody's thunder.

@Xaltwind @Stern Algorithm

Valkyrie Code: V

As his frustration grew, Rodias eventually would start idly stabbing his own shadow as he typed, taking the keyboard to the ground as he entered a sitting position. It was sort of like playing Five Finger Filet, only with a shadow that was animate and really, really good at evading.

After settling on variations of Salem's name for attempts at a password, Rodias' eyes would alight as he finally saw the screen glow green in approval, a password being accepted after about 700 permutations of Salem. It seemed that he really was Dr. Drd's favorite...albeit the string of numbers coming after the doll's name didn't help Rodias here.

Accessing the administrative console of the advanced COIN, Rodias would begin powering up its primary systems, switching on the golems that ran it, and, finally, reaching the power switch for the Chapter Keeper Isolde. Slowly sliding his finger up, the switch would flick, and the entire room would flicker for just a moment with the enormous power surge needed to power Isolde. The room would settle soon however, and the hiss of the casket that contained her form signaled the opening of the lid.

"Before he vanished, Dr. Drd was working on a side project. Renovation of an abandoned floor, and attempts to improve the intelligence of the beings within along with their efficiency. So, Salem...in a way..." the Sable Lord would say, directing Salem's eyes to follow him as he went to support Isolde's neck as her systems booted up. "Isolde is your step-sister."

@Lucius Cypher@Rockin Strings@Archmage MC

Hunting for Inspiration

Just before Rodias would have been turning in for the night, the knock upon his door was a welcome sound. It was lonely, watching over a library all night and pouring over tomes...he had no idea how Kath did it. And enjoyed it. Then again, he never was a bookish person.

Answering the door, Rodias was glad to receive the Dragon Maid and Goblin Lord into his chambers, pulling up chairs for the both of them to allow them to get comfortable. Listening intently to Mamoru's explanation, Rodias was clearly in thought as he touched his chin, thinking of what to DO with people that were to be tortured. His still relatively rational, normal mind reasoned that torture was bad, and so was murder...and yet, some part of him had an innate curiosity to figure out this information at any cost.

"Ditronius...definitely wasn't a name I remember hearing back in YGGDRASIL. And these resources from description sound new too. Interesting..." Rodias would say, pouring over the scroll as he reviewed Mamoru's words. It was clear that a decision had to be made, as gathering resources would certainly draw attention. Chuunitrixx's scouting parties could send back resources, certainly, but if there was perfectly good material beneath their feet, who could stop them from simply taking it? The options were conflicting, and it showed in Rodias' eyes. "Thank you both for this information. I'll consider the possibilities after we receive Kath and Ashara's reports. It might be easier to find a source of income and pay people to gather it for us than to use our own manpower to do it...but for now, that's only theorizing..." Rodias would say, just before Light barged in.

Some part of him felt he should be reprimanding her, but...Light was difficult to satiate in her desire for human contact, and her request for payment was unusual, but worked to his advantage. Getting up, Rodias would reach into his cloak before producing a sizeable bag of coinage, saying: "Well...perfect timing Light. Sadly Kath and Ashara aren't back yet, but...we have someone that we need to talk. And I can tell that you've been bored. As such...I'll pay you for the information you can extract from the prisoner that Gromgard's goblins have in custody. So long as its something prevalent...even something as small as how many days are in a year here, I'll make sure that you're appropriately compensated. Does that sound like a good deal?"

Realizing that this was about to turn into a Human Resources nightmare, Rodias would produce bags of coinage for Gromgard and Mamoru as well, with much smaller bags being given to the goblins. "And here, for all your hard work. Speaking of work and compensation, Gromgard, I'd like to commission several art pieces from Penn and Shill. Portraits, namely. They're less likely to wander off if they have their hands full with producing artwork, no?"

---

Bone Daddy would quickly come to find that there were numerous bones at the ritual site, either buried, or left bloodied upon the ground. More bones to work with...and more music to make. Whether it was by coincidence or some sort of magic upon the place, Bone Daddy would begin hearing the melody of the woods itself in the whistle of the wind and the chirping of the bugs.

@Enkryption

Establishing Territory

Over the course of the week, the settlements of Gothika would grow at a rapid pace, due to the singularly driven purposes of each. The land itself was a ripe orchard for each settlement, each grower and tender and miner and fisher finding resources in abundance, as well as hardship to follow. One could imagine the reason so few people lived in this area was the savagery of it; Where men feared to tread, beasts pranced bravely.

The first week of establishing the frontier would be hard fought, but soon, the dividends would trickle back to Gothika. Resources that, now with the newly reactivated COIN system, were flowing in abundance to the places they were needed in the Chateau. New ores for creation of items, new plants to experiment with cooking and potion-making, new plants from which cloth could be woven, and, a little bit of information that could only be found from living in the wilds for an extended period of time.

Overlord: Momento Mori

Post will be going up tonight @Rockin Strings.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood

Take your time man. We understand.

Overlord: Momento Mori

@The Irish Tree Might need an idea of where Light should go, otherwise I'll just roll a dice and she'll go off in a random direction, possibly causing chaos to whatever event is happening there xD.

@Archmage MC

Hmm...could have her go try and assist the goblins in torturing the cultists? I imagine her help would be appreciated.

Dungeon Clearer! The Wonderful World of an Adventurer

Tossing in some tentative interest as a Cup, since y'all ain't got no cups to sup.

Also is there any form of druidic magic in the setting?

Goblin Slayer: Newblood

Steppe Archer happily took half of her offered apple, munching it with gusto to the point that she seriously looked ready to eat the core as well. Thankfully however she didn't. The smell of the Salty Pork Inn was...wonderful, to say the least. It reminded her a lot of the smoking tents that her tribe used to preserve meats, which caused her partially filled stomach to feel empty all over again, wishing she could tear into some meat and delight in the taste of cooked food.

Her eyes were fixed on the plate and bread, the druid girls head nodding fast enough that it looked like she was liable to break her neck. "I-I'll take some Day-Old bread and cold ham sir! If there's any left. Um...my druid friend there said I could share her room with her...would that be okay? I could split paying for it with her," the nomad girl said, not quite accustomed to sleeping in an inn. Digging through her coin purse, Steppe Archer would get out the necessary coinage, figuring that she could forage for her own breakfast come morning, or buy some herself with the money from the night patrol that they'd yet to receive. She was thankful that the stable fee was weekly, but she knew she had to get more money...otherwise, she'd have to leave town with Torchfire. Things were so much harder when money got involved...she missed the bartering ways of her tribe. It was so simple...a newly made knife for a pelt, a fresh boar kill for a coat, and medicinal herbs for spices.

Why was civilization so COMPLICATED?

Overlord: Momento Mori

Post is up! As usual let me know if I have missed anybody that needed an update from me to move forward, or if you don't have anything to do and want something to do.

Overlord: Momento Mori

@Xaltwind @Guess Who

The Mountain Village

A quick, snorting laugh would escape Corona before she rolled up her sleeve, showing off the slight bit of muscle she had. "I'm a big enough girl to take care of myself. Thanks though. Don't get called cute much when I'm working the forge," she said, clearly appreciating the compliment.

A couple more trips back and forth with the numerous carts of ore would let Ashara see Corona break a sweat, which the girl quickly wiped off her brow. Smiling, she lead Ashara inside, letting her see the forge and store in its entirety, with finely crafted blades, spears, axes, armor, and numerous displays lined up proudly. It seemed that the town had a good supplier. Ashara could tell that the equipment wasn't magical, nor anything particularly powerful, but a skilled artisan had very clearly poured their heart into making them. Said skilled artisan was a man of remarkably large build, putting to shame most of the men in the village with his muscularity. His rose red hair seemed to glow with the light of his forge's embers, his large dark eyes squinting from the heat as he finished cooling a blade.

"Papa, we just got that shipment you ordered!" Corona said, causing her father to rise. Which would let Ashara also see that he was actually shorter than his daughter. Coming over, the smith would grin as he wiped sweat from his brow. "I see you got someone other than Mars to do your chores for you," he chided, giving his daughter a hug. "What, you two have a fight or something?"

Corona clearly didn't enjoy that idea, and bonked her father on the head with her fists, which seemed to do little more than amuse her father. "M-Mars is a jackass anyways! I don't need his help!"

Looking over to Ashara, Corona's father would respectfully bow his head and chuckle. "Sorry about the trouble my daughter gave ya. Usually Mars helps out, but I bet he's busy with his guard buddies. Here, I'll get ya his fee. Was gonna be extra this time since it was on such short notice too. Here," the smith would say, reaching behind the counter while he was still being bonked futilely by his daughter, tossing Ashara a bag filled with jingling coins. It may have seemed a lot, but she could bet it was a smaller currency in greater numbers. "Seventy-Six Olm. Usually he does it for Fifty."

Were Ashara to open the bag, she would find seventy-six shiny, metallic green coins that made a pleasant sound when clinking together. They were minted in a slightly rectangular fashion, with flat long sides, and short rounded ones.

---

Meanwhile, Kath would have managed to pass herself off as a traveler interested in literature, giving her a chance to ask the general store owner to show her some of his books. From her intellect, and him telling her the titles, she would soon be able to discover the basic alphabet of this language was in fact one to one with the standard english alphabet. Which was fairly convenient...almost too much so. Each symbol corresponded to a letter, and that meant that virtually every word could become legible if one could become adjusted to the more blocky glyphs used. But, without money, browsing was all that Kath could do.

As she exited the store, Kath would feel someone watching her, a relatively short figure compared to the hardy townsfolk. Her pale skin was barely visible beneath the leather cloak she wore, the faintest visibility of an orange colored eye peeking out from beneath...before the figure vanished as another person passed between their sight line. At that moment, Ashara and Kath would both feel an immensely powerful presence suddenly appear, then vanish from the town entirely. A power that was, potentially, on par with a Chapter Keeper.

@DracoLunaris

The Hunt for Answers

Zouyu couldn't help but beam, taking it as a compliment that Kaldorna called him wild. "Hehe...Lady Yaoishi wanted me to be a real druid. I'm basically a talking magic tiger. And she said something about how I was supposed to have a brother but...eh, who needs one? The Chateau's like a big family already." His reaction to Kaldorna wanting him to remake the leafy canopy he'd used to shield the vampires was immediate, as the forest itself offered leaves to create a massive barrier to shade them all, one that he would maintain so long as Kaldorna wished.

As dissapointed as he was in having to hang back and wait for the trap to spring, Zouyu obeyed and remained at Kaldorna's side, giving her a personal leaf shade so that she wouldn't have to hold her sunbrella up. "So...what are we going to do if its like, stronger than Rodias? Oh, yeah, did your hawk thingie let you see his fight!?" Zouyu asked, just as Aranthar checked the thing's temperament with a shot.

...Which showed that its temperament was: Violent when angered.

It would begin attempting to break apart the hunters' formation, dashing with a surprising amount of speed to attempt to gore Kaldorna's hunters. Judging from the difficulty they would have with it, as well as the power it possessed, Kaldorna could estimate that it was around level 40, making it about equal with Zouyu in terms of power, if not proving to be stronger than the gardener beside her.

@Xaltwind @Stern Algorithm

Valkyrie Code: V

As Rodias furiously typed away, now on passw0rd908023987981230989 and the last shred of his sanity, he was admittedly startled by the sight of a doll head, then several more zooming towards him to inquire as to what he was doing. Clearing his throat, Rodias would say: "I'm attempting to reactive Chapter 5, and the COIN system. It wasn't needed for a long time since...since nobody has needed it, but trying to find out Dr. Drd's password is proving...difficult, to say the least."

A frustrating fact popped into Rodias' head. Salem was Dr. Drd's creation. Salem was the closest thing he had to a pet project. Salem MIGHT have a clue for the password...but...some stubborn part of his pride was refusing to cooperate. Continuing to furiously type away at passwords, Rodias would give Salem quite the show as he eventually grew so frustrated that he would summon a dumb cash shop item to his hand, a stress ball in the shape of a bat that, when squeezed, extended the tongue out and made the eyes bulge. The not so subtle twitch of his eye would also let Salem know that the lord was clearly struggling, which could at the very least provide a bit of entertainment.

@Inkarnate

A Prayer for the Lost

With naught else to do but return to her chapel grounds, Aurora would quickly find herself greeted by one of the individual priests in place at the church, who would bow respectfully, knowing well that she was basically the bishop, and he himself wasn't more important than any of the other priests. He was a large figure who's kindly face was seren, as if he himself were at peace despite the request he was about to make.

"Ah, Lady Aurora, welcome back. I was wondering...what are your thoughts on Lord Rodias' leadership as of yet? I admit, I am relieved that our remaining lord is not one of the Evil Alignment but...Neutral is unpredictable. And Chaotic Neutral..."

The priest clearly had reservations about Rodias' leadership, but whether or not that was a result of prejudice, or genuine concern. It was understandable though, since a man of the cloth was guaranteed to have reservations about a vampire ruling over him. They were creatures of unholy nature, regardless of the world they found themselves in. Several people within the church were observing subtly, attempting to gauge how their leader would proceed.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood

Steppe Archer beamed as they walked away, a job well done under their belts, and a rumbling in their stomachs. Steppe Archer slumped a bit at hearing the druid girl's stomach, her own seemingly agreeing as it grumbled. "I uh...don't really have money for food tonight but I'd gladly share your room. Hehe...most of my money goes into stabling my horse," Steppe Archer admitted, scratching the back of her head. Looking to their Lizardman friend, Steppe Archer would say: "But I won't go sleeping in a bed if our big pal here has to sleep on the floor, feeling like it wouldn't be fair for him if Steppe Archer got better treatment for being a girl. And small.

Fishing through her backpack, Steppe Archer would offer an apple to the druid girl, smiling. "Its not much, but it might help you save a little by fighting off hunger pangs for the night," the archer would say, just as her own stomach grumbled.