Xaltwind

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Cool beans, Duoya. Looking forward to it. :)

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Taking point, Guard Lady began to lead the other two down the western pathway, her leather and metal-reinforced boots clinking gently against the stone walkway. Apart from that and the noise from the flowing sewer-water just to the side off them, there really wasn't much eTlse to hear.

The archer brought up a valid point though. A place like this was full of filth and anything that lived down here was likely just as filthy. A bite from a rat that drank sewer-water and ate rotting, decayed refuse was probably not the healthiest or safest injury to suffer, and the halberdier silently reprimanded herself for not having had the foresight to buy some sort of potion or medicine just in case. Then again, she wouldn't have had the money for the lantern if she'd done that, so it was either a choice between having a source of light and being able to perhaps see the attackers before they struck, or have no light and a high risk of being bitten, but having the means to mend it... Neither was particularly favorable.

And she couldn't blame her party-members either, they were all porcelain ranked after all, so none of them likely had much in the way of disposable income to begin with. No, she would just have to protect them and ensure they all got out safe and sound so they could get paid and be better prepared for the next time!

After rounding a corner and walking in relative silence for a whilea, Guard Lady stopped. The light from the lantern was just enough to illuminate something off a short distance, slumped against one of the sewer's walls... A pile of bones, with ragged, torn scraps of dirty cloth clinging to it. Swallowing a lump that had jumped into her throat, and taking a deep breath, the polearm-wielding girl walked closer, careful and vigilant with each step. Once within reach, she gently lowered her weapon and gave the pile of bones a poke. A rattling sound resonated as the pieces and bits of the heap shifted, and a skull rolled off the top. A human skull.

"Dear gods..." Guard lady exclaimed, slightly taken aback. Although she had trained fighting and knew that one day she would need to strike someone or something down, this was actually the first time she had seen an honest-to-goodness corpse, at least of a human. There were small marks all over both the bones and the skull itself, as if something had scratched the surface repeatedly... And given the lack of any flesh or organs, and the state of the tattered rags it wore, it was likely that this person had been ... Eaten...

Squeak!

A sound echoed from up ahead. Guard Lady stepped back, raising her weapon into a readied position, staring daggers down the dark, gloomy hallway. The sound of skittering, tiny feet could be heard now, coming from up ahead.

"Something's coming... Get ready." She warned her companions. "Make sre nothing sneaks up on us." The girl added, knowing that there would be nowhere to run if they got surrounded in this linear tunnel.

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

"This is not a socia-glurfghf!?!" Athena's reply to Dahlia was cut short, by a sandal-clad foot stepping nonchalantly on her face.

At this point, the young pallum woman next to Grentiloch burst into tear-filled laughter, holding her sides as she nearly toppled over. Grentiloch himself had to raise a hand to his bearded face and cough once or twice, to cover up the apparent snicker that might have escaped his lips otherwise. As if insult to injury, the offender of said foot-to-face-planting now squatted down next to the Goddess and requested to join her Familia, all the while the heap of humanoid limbs and mouths wailed and flailed hopelessly.

"Enough of this! Everyone calm down!" Athena's patience was indeed plentiful, but even she had her limits when it came to chaos and disarray. Surprisingly, at the behest of the Goddess commanding voice, all voices simmered down and all movement slowed to a crawling, eventual halt.

After some careful, meticulous unravelling, the lump of bodies untangled and freed itself from its singular state, allowing all nine individuals to finally breathe and stand on their own feet. However, this brief respite did not last for long, as the six brutish ones soon began pointing fingers and hurling accusations and angry, hurtful words at the fox-girl who had been the first through the door.

The renard, on the other hand, looked deeply insulted and denied any allegations about her having called the half-dozen adventurers various names and insulted their pride. As the squabbling grew louder, the mistress of Warrior's Rest rubbed her temple before speaking up, loud enough to be heard above the other voices, but not loud enough to be shouting.

"Listen. I do not care if this girl insulted your mother or your Familia, you are all strong adventurers, are you not?" She had one eye closed and the other open, looking at the group with a furrowed brow. "Surely you can agree that meagre words are not enough to warrant you breaking into another Familia's home and assaulting a Goddess?" At this, the majority of the offenders grew pale faces and averted their eyes, scratched the back of their heads or mumbled something incoherent.

"I think we can all agree that this incident is best left as it is, no harm was done, and no harm needs to be done. To anyone." Saying this final piece, the adventurers bowed their heads, apologized in uniform loudness and then rushed out the door just as fast as they had arrived. Athena sighed and rested her forehead against her palm, looking rather exhausted. "Honestly, don't the others know how to raise their Children properly?" This was said more as a musing to herself, rather than to anyone present.

Turning around, there were still three newcomers present. The girl, Dahlia, the renard who had bee the initial gate-crasher, and the Pallum who had sought fit to walk over a cluster of people rather than around them. The red eyes of the goddess rested on the trio for a bit, before speaking once more.

"Now that things aren't so complicated, why don't we go ahead and introduce ourselves, properly?" She suggested, her expression less than amused. "I am Athena, Goddess of this Familia, and these two are Tiramis and Grentiloch, two of my children." She motioned towards the pallum girl and the chienthrope senior.

"Yup." The old man said, nodding.
"Nice to meet'cha! Just call me Tira, okay?" The littler female said, winking and smiling as brightly as the sun.

the fox went ahead, apparently thinking she was so entitled because....... Reasons? Apparently she was called Ayame and hailed from a distant region, and apparently the Athena Familia was lucky to have been graced by her arrival. Although she spoke very politely and was good at presenting herself in an appealing fashion - to Athena - she had a somewhat snooty and arrgant air about her, especially towards the others. The fox-girl then requested to join the Familia, apparently assured that she would be a great boon to their ranks, though how and why was never clearly explained...

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

After joining up with her hooded friend, and their special ally the archer again, Guard Lady was relieved and grateful for rceiving the herbs from the latter. She wrinkled her nose slightly at the thought of shoving these two sticks up into her nostrils, given how silly it would look, but the thought of having to actually smell sewage, refuse and wet droppings quickly dismissed any silly notion of worrying about ones appearance. And so, with two quiet 'plops!' she stuck the things into her own nose.

Watching Shade open the manhole next, she thought the young man was very skilled. Of course, she wouldn't praise or commend him, as skills such as that were not exactly something decent and law-abiding nor upstanding citizens should know - but she couldn't deny its usefulness, and as such, would let him off without a scolding... This time. However! The fact that the boy went down the open manhole first was another matter entirely. Surely he had seen and been aware of their Archer-friend's new dress, not to mention the lack of ... Cover... for her very own posterior, yet he had still ventured down into the hole first, and now had an apt opportunity to stare up said hole while both girls descended.

Not that she thought the hooded lad to be a creep or lecher in any way, but you never knew with men. It would have been far more courteous to wait for the ladies to go down first, but perhaps he was just excited for the adventure? Or worried there might be enemies right below them? Still, she herself had far more armor and protection than him, so it would have made more sense for her to go down first. As such, the half-elf pouted a bit, watching as the archer gingerly descended next.

Her own climb down waas a bit more cumbersome. Not only did she had to slowly lower the halberd from ladder-step to ladder-step, so to not drop it, but she also had to avoid tipping the newly bought lantern. Thusly, her climb down was far less agile or graceful than that of her companions, and would one have looked up while she descended, they would have gotten a good eyeful of the pretty young thing's rear.

Eventually though she made it down. Finally unhooking her halberd from the ladder and resting it against a nearby wall. Reaching into her little bag that hung on her belt, she withdrew a small piece of metal and an equally small rock. Smacking the two items together a few times produced sparks, and soon the lantern was aglow with the warm, reassuring light of fire. Putting the items back in her bag, she picked up the lantern and grabbed her waapon once more, moving over to her allies as they were now discussing something important.

The archer had a point, out of all three of them, Guard Lady's weapon had the longest reach out of their weapons, and she was the most protected from the front. The archer girl's concern about bugs was a bit unusual, as the half-elf thought it obvious that icky, gross insects would prowl the depths of a place where decay and waste were plentiful.. But given the girl's outrageous response to a fly buzzing near her, she found it best to not confirm this truth for now. Scratching her arm casually and looking around the roughly hewn and mortared stone bricks that made up the sewer walls, Guard Lady replied.

"I'm fine with going first. It'll be much easier for me to protect you that way, plus you can watch my re-" She paused."... My back. Watch my back. But I can't really carry the lantern with my weapon drawn." A simple note was made. Her wweapon required both hands, so she couldn't well carry it as well as fight at the same time. She could give it to the archer, but the other girl also needed both hands in case of having to draw her bow and arrow. That left the boy, and lo' and behold, he only wielded a one-handed sword! Perfect!

"Do you mind carrrying it for us?" She asked, smiling friendly - with those two sticks in her nose - extending the arm and hand with the lantern towards Shade.

Nearby, the slow-flowing sludge-water of the sewers made itself apparent, yellowed and brown in discoloration. The sound of dripping and their slightly echoed voices was all that could be heard for now. Where they were now, there were two ways to go, either towards the east, or to the west. From here, and with the limited light of the torch, both ways seemed fairly similar. The eastern path though, far off still, split into a crossroads further ahead, with paths going in all directions. The western path only seemed to have a single turn in it further ahead.

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

I've read through Triss Honeyforge's character sheet. I see no problems with it and will contact you with the details about his stats and skills, as well as how to proceed after that.

EDIT:

Thank you, Vertigo. Very good of you to let us know. Of course Ayame can be made into a somewhat background-ish NPC for the time you're away, free to pop up whenever you got the time to make an actual post. So don't worry, you just focus on your trip and we'll see you again in October. :)

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

OwO, that was great. Thank you. xD

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

It seemed things were about to get started. The hooded boy had taken it upon himself to fill out their information at the reception, and the archer-girl had... run off...? Then returned? With herbs. Herbs that she proceed to insert into her own nose after clarifying that they were good for blocking your sense of smell. The Guard Lady couldn't help but place a hand infront of her mouth as she laughed slightly at the sight - the foreigner looked absolutely ridiculious with the two sticsk poking out of her nostrils. The amusement quickly turned to bewilderment though, as the girl porceed to quite casually pull off her own garments - right infront of everyone around her.

A resounding, echo-ey 'Oooooooooooh~!'-noise could be heard from the other people in the guildhall - particularly the men, as the girl did this. The half-elf herself could feel her cheeks flush a bit in embarrassment for this gir! Had she no shaem? Or perhaps, she viewed other people on the same level as potatoes and didn't care if they were watching or not? Once she was done undressing into her now limited new attire, Shade proceeded outside - either to escape the situation or because he was really eager to get going. In that regard, Guard Lady too was most inclined to move away and put this entire situation out of her mind.

Following the boy outside, she listened to his directions and his inquiry about a torch. A torch wouldn't be very useful though, sewers were damp and moist, if the flame was just sitting on an unprotected piece of wood, it would likely go out or become unusable if anything should happen to it. Still, torches were cheap so stocking up on a few could work... But it would be better to find a more secure and protected light-source for the long run.

"I think a simple oil-lantern would do." She suggested, knowing that those things could stay lit even when left out in the rain and wind. It was the default tool for nighttime patrols back in her home city. "I'll go see if I can find us one, hopefully for cheap." She explained, making her way down the street towards a place where she had seen many signs and plaques for shops back when she had arrived earlier.

It didn't take many minutes to locate a general store. The shop was of modest repute and upkeep, but there were a wide selection of hoods in both the display-window and on the shelves. After searching about for a while, constantly being oggled by the three-toothed, balding shopkeep who pretened to busy himself with stocking an already full shelf, the Guard Lady found what she was looking for and approached the counter. After being initially overcharged for the banged up, buckled and in-places rusted lantern, the store's owner was only willing to lower the price after having a good, long stare at the half-elven girl's cleavage... Much to her irritation. Luckily, she had managed to not punch the older lecher in his face, possibly knocking out those remaining teeth of his, and instead endured the objectification - after all, she didn't have too much money left to spend.

Having been generously gifted with a bonus can of lamp-oil, the Guard Lady left the store - steam nearly shooting out of her ears and her brows furrowed deeply. She would certainly not be visiting this establishment again, but at least the item they needed had been procured. It was only at this point n time however, that she realized two very important things.

First, Shade had only vaguely pointed in a direction and not given any specificis to where the manhole was supposed to be. Two, she had been to amused, then embarrassed, by the archer to accept the herbs for the sewer-dive. Hopefully, the latter would still have some on her - for she did not enjoy the idea of trudging through the unified smell of amonia, mold, rat and people feacl-matter as well as whatever other foul odors may linger below the town. Griacing, she made her way over to what looked to be a tavern, stopping there to look around for her two companions.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Will post a bit later, got laundry today - as well as having to go to the pet-store and buy some kitty-litter for my poop-machine of a cat.

Also, Steppe Archer is best girl so far. xD

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Go right ahead and wrtie up a character. ^^

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Unfortunate announcement:

I'm sad to say that Risqueboots is, as of today (September 9th) no longer a part of this roleplay. It's been over 14 days since their last post in the IC and they haven't logged onto their account for 6 days. Even prior to their disappearance, I sent both VMs and PMs asking if anything was wrong - to which I received no reply. I don't know if they've had some kind of accident in real life, if they joined too many roleplays and got burnt out or merely lost interest in this particular forum altogether. What I do know is that I'm sad to kick them out, as I did enjoy the character Leela quite a bit, but sadly I've been more than generous with their time-limit. I was hoping that when I got back from work today, I'd see a little post or message from them, I even took a nap and had dinner in hopes that extending their time would give them an opportunity to show up and explain themself.

Sadly, that is not the case ad as such, we're going to have to lose our first player to inactivity. It sucks, I know, especially since Risque was one of the first people who expressed interest in this roleplay when I made the interest check. I hope they'll come back to RPGuild at some point, maybe then we can find out what happened. But until then, we now have a vacant spot in the roster and will begin accepting new applicants that show up or are interested.

If you know anyone who might want to give this a try, let them know. Otherwise, if nobody shows up, we'll just have to keep going with the four of us.