The Irish Tree

Aether Saga: A Hero's Unlikely Journey (The Irish Tree and Xaltwind)

Vani was amazed at the power that Mammonie had displayed, and kept looking her weapon. "So...a golem spoke into your mind and your weapon manifested? Sounds divine in nature to me...but I don't know of any Golem Gods." Vani was lost in thought as they walked along, brought back to reality by Mammonie's attempts at explaining how a gun worked. "Oh, so its like one of those Magilocks that I've seen people carrying around. ...If that's how powerful one can get, I can definitely see the appeal. You took that thing out in an instant!"

Then came the question of Gram's well-being, to which Vani would reply with: "She'll be just fine. Gram's tougher to kill than most anyone I know. Plus, I've been healing her as we walked. One big benefit of being a Paladin is healing people just by touching them for a while. As for me...aches and bruises, but I'll live. If I took a direct hit like Gram did though, I'd imagine you'd have a holey paladin instead of a holy one." Lame joke aside, Vani at least seemed to be alright, and as a small curvature of rock and snow came into sight, he picked up the pace. "As for what that thing was...it was...I guess you could say an ascended angel. They're like, beings that used to serve the Goddess Divine before she went mad, and followed her into madness. They don't show up often but they take an army to defeat usually. Oh, there! That's the cave we used."

Inside, the smooth inner walls of the cave were dark and chilly, but it was a far cry from the frozen waste outside. Vani's light spell would make it easy to move around, and he would set Gram down with a length of cloth atop her, freshly unfurled from his traveling supplies. A bunch of burnt up firewood was sitting in the middle of the cave but looked useless as could be. Vani would crack his neck before turning to the cave entrance. "I'll go get some firewood, and then we can cook up some of these rations I brought. We won't be here long; Gram can conjure her chariot again once she wakes up, and we'll be back to civilization in no time. I'll be back," the paladin would say, marching out into the cold to get wood for a fire.

Mammonie would be left alone with Gram, who's breathing was stabilizing now that she was laying down. If she focused hard enough, she could see the bar representing Gram's vitality slowly climbing back up...but there was also a portion beyond it. A deathly slate gray far beyond her bar, as if she had negative HP.

"I thought he'd never leave," Gram said, rolling onto her side suddenly and looked at Mammonie. "You pass."

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Steppe Archer had to agree...kicking that thing had been a huge mistake. But at least Big Red wasn't all that hurt. And, as he said, stuff wouldn't seep past his scales and cause an infection. "I agree on finishing this up quickly. I wonder if that thing ate all the rats and roaches itself or not. That'd be convenient for us," she said aloud while trying to peek down some of the corridors. "I've never seen anything like that either."

"I think we should head back. Something like that, that seemed to move on instinct alone, it probably ate just about everything in these tunnels and got that big. As nice as it'd be to call it a day claiming its kills, we don't have any proof that anything on the quest died. If you want, I could scout ahead on the next tunnel, and run back if there's any trouble." Steppe Archer was all for continuing since their Lizard Fighter claimed to be good to go, even in poopoo water. She was a bit worried that there might be more of those things, but as long as they kept an eye and ear out, they'd be able to run if things got tough.

Infactorium: A New 4Xpansion (Overlord RP) [DISCONTINUED]

"Vat 37...check. Vat 38...check," Levia listed off, holding a clipboard in her larger set of hands while the more human-like ones scratched off check marks with a pen. The various slime breeds that had been produced by Levia via a lot of "poof-poof", a lot of "smoosh", and just a pinch of "bing bing wahoo" with touching slimes together, she'd have a veritable assembly line of slimes going to and from the other parts of the guild. Their main purpose was transporting goods, recycling useless materials that Tungsten couldn't do anything with, and anything that someone bossed them around to do. They'd even made special slime tubes for specific non-acidic messenger slimes to slip through, carrying mail when message scrolls would be too expensive.

"Aaaaaand Vat 45. Done~" she said, dropping her clipboard right onto a cyan colored slime that absorbed it happily, leaping into a tube to carry it to the proper channels. Falling back, Levia was caught by a large noxious green slime, the likes of which squished under her weight and formed into the shape of a chair. Crossing her legs and taking her hat off with her tail, Levia would take a drag of a poisonous cigarette, blowing the residual smoke up into the ceiling. It felt nice to be needed, but man...slime breeding was hard. And boring. It wasn't breaking stuff down herself...and the slimes were the ones doing all the running around. Flicking some of her cigarette's sulfurous ash into a nearby metallic-colored slime, she would take another drag right after. "...I wanna do something for everyone," she mused, sinking further into her slime chair.

She'd get up, finish her cigarette, then go to her semi-new private bathing chamber which consisted of a bunch of rejected slimes, their corrosive properties either too weak or too strong for usage. But, for someone too strong to be dissolved, there wasn't a better way to get clean. Levia would dunk herself in, clothes and all, and swim around for a bit, ponder the meaning of life, and wonder how Faetalis was doing. Then, she'd emerge, bored again, and take another cigarette from her pack. "...Papa's an idiot. Made me for one freakin' thing and then nobody needs that thing...and now these slimes are doing all my work for me..."

Then, a realization hit her. ...If they were doing all her work...did that mean taking a day off wasn't such a bad thing? Paralyzed by the realization that she had a modicum of freedom, a smidgeon of restraint broken...Levia was terrified. She needed advice from someone professional...someone that knew how to do their work and love it no matter what. She needed to talk to Mae.

The halls of Infactorium were repaired and maintained with that Bauxite they'd excavated, and Levia was careful not to damage it, or create a type of slime that would recklessly eat through it. In the same manner, the dragoness chimera was cautious as she walked at a brisk pace. The Gorging Trough was her destination, as she wanted to know how Mae kept finding joy in her work when, as far as Levia knew, she could leave it to her Maneaters for most things. Gammaton and Tungsten had mostly mindless minions that needed commands, but the Maneaters had will, personality, everything that everyone else had. With delicacy as her focus, the dragoness would sneak into the trough with enough effort in being sneaky that one would be forgiven for thinking she was there to steal some food. Easier said then done though with [Stealth Sneak] active.

She needed ideas, for what to do for everyone, what to do for herself, and what to do for their leader who was off by herself. Something nice for her to return to.

Aether Saga: A Hero's Unlikely Journey (The Irish Tree and Xaltwind)

BANG

High density, limitless caliber, and enough force to punch through an entire fortress slammed into the spawnling of divinity, a large hole piercing its chest and slicing two of the rings around it cleanly in half. The infantile figure would vomit a strange golden ichor, most likely its blood, before a second shot finished it. The rest of the shots would break apart the remaining ring, huge chunks of it disintegrating upon contact with the arcane bullets. All too easily, it fell as if it hadn't just completely annihilator the two she'd just met. Slumped on the ground, the figure's remaining ring crashed down beside it, its body and rings fading into golden particles as the mouths on the rings cried out.

"Lady...Divine..."
"Demon...spawn..."
"The War...must renew..."

The voice was faint and weak, before it sputtered out entirely with one last sound of a groan. Each and every bit of the thing dissolved, leaving behind nothing but a faint stain of gold upon the snow.

Vani stared in disbelief, now carrying Gram in his arms as he approached Mammonie. "Holy Lyriel...that was amazing!" he said, grinning at the woman before him. "And here I thought you weren't capable of fighting. How'd you do that? I've seen some weapons like that before, but you were firing it way faster. And you pulled it out of nowhere!"

Vani would clear his throat, before shaking his head, knocking off a bit of snow that had come to rest upon his head. "Sorry, that's...that all can wait. For now, we have to get to shelter before we freeze in our boots. Lady Gram's out cold, so we're going to have to go on foot. But we made camp a short ways east of here, in a cave. I can at least get a fire going while we recover."

Mammonie would feel that, with the battle's conclusion, "something" was happening within her body. It was a strange feeling, almost similar to the after-effect of a light exercise. It was almost like her body was acclimating itself from that kill, readying to continue. Almost like exercise.

There was no convenient gauge for it, but she imagined that despite being max level in the game she'd come from, she had just "gained experience" in some way.

Vani would begin moving, his left hand upon Gram's back continuing to glow as he salved her wounds. "...Crap, sorry, I completely forgot to ask but...you're not hurt, are you?" Vani's question was one of concern and bewilderment as he looked Mammonie up and down...and a bit more up in the middle. Again. Then, he'd shake his head and turn around, marching on.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

Alice had been given the kindly offer of shelter a few days ago by a local farmer, with the minor caveat of just helping a bit with the morning chores to repay him. She was a working girl at heart, and the least she could do was milk some cows and feed the chickens for him. After washing up and getting dressed in her alchemist's robe, Alice would depart for the guild. Last night was a little crazy, so she hoped that Brandy wouldn't suddenly be afraid of her after getting a night's sleep to think about how Alice had gone on a bandit ball-busting rampage.

"Good morning, Kariin," Alice would say as she took a seat by the guild's board, tail wagging as she browed over the usual dull jobs for the town. It was somewhat sleepy work, but she figured she could bear with doing it for a bit longer until Brandy was fully fledged. ...Thinking about that term, Alice wondered if she herself was even full-fledged, considering just yesterday she screwed up walking a dog, but...she could still fight! She bet if she got a big enough bottle, she could make a Dragonbreaker bomb no problem!

Reassuring herself that she wasn't already washed out as a novice, Alice was simply passing her time waiting for Brandy, peeking over what kind of requests were coming in today. Hopefully, some big money would roll in and let her order some premium ingredients for her experiments.

Infactorium: A New 4Xpansion (Overlord RP) [DISCONTINUED]

I'm all for a timeskip.

Aether Saga: A Hero's Unlikely Journey (The Irish Tree and Xaltwind)

Parsing...
Parsing...
Parsing...
Access established. Interdimensional Link reupped. Accessing Inventory.

A small, robotic sounding voice would resound in Mammonie's mind, while the infant angel weathered the snowballs being thrown at it, which, admittedly, weren't doing nothing. It was drawing its ire more and more...and now it was shooting another laser. As expected, honestly. The beam would collide directly with Mammonie, inflicting the first true hint of pain she'd experienced in the new world she'd found herself in.

It was like...the feeling of being shocked, except it was all concentrated and circling over and over again on her abdomen, the continual beam of light trying to eat away at the demon's body, but only seeming to hurt her, not injure her in any capacity. All the while, a distinct feeling was coming to Mammonie's hand...

The itchy trigger finger that would summon her way of fighting.

Vani was struggling to make his way over, raising his shield into the air while looking at Mammonie. "Fulgur Shield!" he would shout, a bubble of lightning surrounding Mammonie, breaking the beam and giving her enough breathing room to process what she could do...or rather, what her body's instincts were telling her to do.

Gram was now unconscious in the snow, barely alive thanks to Vani's minor healing powers. But she was fading fast.

Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

There was a lengthy pause before Alice dropped her quarry and puffed her cheeks out, clapping her hands together. "Good point. I don't want their stink on me, Alice said, before unceremoniously tossing the bandit leader to his men. "He's not bleeding too bad. Patch him up once you morons can walk straight. And also!" Alice would say, adding another piece to her statement after kicking her leg up on a nearby tree, causing it to shake. "Try a stunt like this again, and I'll make sure you never walk straight again," she said, brandishing her claws. "Got it...?"

Alice would walk with her chest puffed out, returning now to the guild with Brandy. "...Um...thanks for that back there, Brandy," Alice said, tail wagging slightly. "I got so caught up in fighting them that I wasn't thinking straight. Or...at all, really. Daddy always said: 'Go for the balls', so...I kinda got a little too into breaking stuff. I might have wound up killing someone if you weren't here. So...Thanks."

Alice, even in her full moon state could smile, and smile she did, hands behind her back as she said: "You're an awesome partner."

The rest of the journey back would likely be fairly smooth, all the while Alice was drooling looking at her decapitated rabbit. She really, really wanted to eat it now...but she figured Brandy was right before about it tasting better cooked. They also had all the junk weapons from the bandits to sell off, but that could wait until the morning.

Aether Saga: A Hero's Unlikely Journey (The Irish Tree and Xaltwind)

There was a very long, awkward pause both from Vani being ashamed of her noticing his eyes wandering, and Gram's hand shaking while holding her cup. "You...are completely unarmed? I assumed your weapon was magical in nature or...this is a problem. A major, absolute, catastrophic problem..." the dragoness would say, biting the glove of her thumb. "Are you quite certain that you're without any of your...well, means of fighting?" she would ask, letting her thumb free as she regained a bit of her composure.

Vani would rub his chin, looking Mammonie in the face. "Honestly, I had you pegged for a magician. What with the lack of armor and weapon and all. Also, yeah...sorry. Just not used to seeing people dressed so...y'know," he said. After giving it a moment of thought, Gram would ask: "What manner of weapon did you use to begin with? I've never heard of this 'Railgun'. Or Chromecalibur. Are they blades?"

At Gram's question, Vani would pat his fist into his open palm. "If you use swords, you can use one of mine. This one's only usable by someone of my faith, but back at the temple I have a few more stored."

...Mammonie would realize more and more how far into the deep end she was being thrown. But, she was also gradually getting more and more used to this state of being. Enough so that the details of the textboxes around Gram and Vani were getting clearer with more details, as if her brain was processing out a list of their general traits and abilities, but only ones known to her.

Then, Vani would look a bit ashamed. "...The truth is, we...didn't know a thing about you before we even summoned you."

Gram would wave her hand dismissively. "...It can't be helped. If you cannot fight, then...we'll have to fall back onto my other plan-" Gram would say, before she tensed up. "...Dammit. They found us-" she would say before a blinding flash of light would erupt from overhead, the carriage blown apart in an instant.

Gram and Vani would be flung from the carriage, while Mammonie would find herself relatively unharmed, sent flying in the opposite direction from the blast. The cold snow had broken all of their falls, but it seemed that while the MMO-player was fine, Vani was bloodied, a hand clutched over his chest as a gradual pulse of golden energy seeped from his palm. Gram was covered in fragments of bones, having been protected by a swift conjuration of undead around her...but blood still soaked her otherwise pristine attire.

Floating above from a singular ringed gate that had burned itself into the sky was a figure that could best be described as angelic beyond humanity. A myriad of eyes, limbs, and faces melted into three rings that rotated slowly around a figure resembling a cherubim, a small humanoid angel resembling a child. Save, however, for the fact that the child-like figure had no eyes or face, a set of empty holes serving as its eyes as it examined Gram and Vani, then Mammonie.

"So it is done"
"So she has come"
"Our Lady's antithesis"
"Demon..."
"Demon...!"
"DEMON!"

the eyeless faces of the rings spoke, the cherubim's hand extending forward, before a ray of blinding light surged forward, this time aimed squarely at Mammonie.

A wall of skeletons formed to intercept the blast, Gram's arm raised just in time to give Mammonie some defense. "If you can't fight, then run! Me and Vani will..." she said, before falling to her knees in the snow. From a glance now, Mammonie could see bars representing their very lives, both of which were far in the red and inching closer to the brink. It was likely that they were no match for this thing whatsoever.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

With their lizard friend's leg safe from imminent digestion, Steppe Archer would pump her fists in the air excitedly, just in time with her druidic friend's smashing of the ugly pile of poo-scented pudding. "Nice! The ice really did work!" she exclaimed, glad to see that in spite of getting a little bit of his scales injured, Big Red was as tough as ever. She was sure that she'd at least be crying if that was her skin...but like he said, scales were tougher.

"Just don't go kicking vaguely liquid monsters again," the archer would say, tilting her head as she noticed the faintest glimmer from where the slime had once been frozen. It was...a ring of some kind. Tarnished copper with a small green gem inlaid upon it. "Huh. This might be what made that slime..." she said aloud, putting it in a pouch before adding: "Personally, I think we should get him out of here right away and wash that burn wound. Who knows what kinds of things that slime ate? Aside from maybe that ring."