Xaltwind

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

What, and just rush all the hard work and engaging backstory that has gone into the ever-important side-quest about him taking a bunch of smelly, dirty children to find their negligient mother? Not a chance!

Besides, Torran's efforts are going to be rewarded. He's the only one who didn't magially and conveniently appear at the front door of Warrior's Rest without any explanation after all. Doing things get you stuff, yuppers.

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Woot, everyone's all posted up. I'll try to get a post out either a bit later tonight, or tomorrow after work. There'll likely be a bit of micro-managing for a while now, since Athena's going to have to give falna to three different people all in a row. I'll try my best to make it feel special and meaningful to each of you, though at the same time keep it streamlined so we don't get bogged down doing it for too long... Plus, we need Torran to eventually show up, which should be happening rather soon.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

After thanking the archer for both checking up on her and offering to buy her some sort of curative, Guard Lady let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding in. The brief moment of rest on the alcove gave pause to recover from the sudden, mad dash they had had to perform to avoid the swarm. Albeit, both sides had suffered great losses in the fighting, the rats were now less than a handful and the roaches still more than a dozen and a half. Of course, she couldnät actually see this, due to the dark, but it was something the dark elf-in-disguise would have noticed doubtlessly.

After hearing Shade's remark about them leaving once ready, and then the archer's explanation of what a nest actually was, the halberdier frowned a bit. If a 'nest' was just a large gathering of rats, then wouldn't it have been more accurate for the quest to specify a certain number of rats needing to be killed? Or at least denote the 'nests' as 'hordes' or 'packs' or some kind of numeric value, rather than as some sort of dwelling? She didn't like how whoever had posted that quest had - even if not intentionally - mislead them. She would make sure to have a choice few words with the guild staff once they got out of here.

Now was not the time for belly-aching though! With the battle below drawing ever closer to an end, their window of opportunity was closing ever tighter. When the archer mentioned doubling back for their lamp though, the girl lit up. That was right! Even if the swarm of roaches had come from that direction, there was no way the entire pathway back was filled with them - after all, if that had been the case then the roaches would have had an endless supply of reinforcements and won the battle instantly. But given the time it had taken for the two sides to duke it out, it would seem that this was just a lone, large group of insects.

"I think that's a good idea." She said, nodding to the foreign girl. "I can see well enough in dim light, but pitch black darkness is another thing entirely." Her head shook slightly. "The old guy who sold me that thing really gouged me on the price too, so I'd rather not leave it behind..." She jested, smiling sheepishly, as if that half-rusted piece of metal and cheap glass was worth risking one's life over.

Using her polearm to get back onto her feet, she gently tapped at the nape of her neck, then patted at her bottom. It still stung. Of course it did, no way fresh bug-bites would stop aching this fast. Sighing, she moved over to the ledge and knelt down on one leg, then with a big, swinging motion, let her halberd sweep at the base of their elevation, preemptively cutting away any would-be threats lurking just below. No sounds were heard though, so it seemed clear enough.

"Should we go then?" She asked, looking at her comrades in the dark.

Over a ways away, the bugs were now busying themselves with finishing off the last stragglers of the mammals. Lumps of brown-gray fur with steams of blood and broken, shattered bits and pieces of insect lay scattered in an unssemly display of gore and carnage. It was like a morbid painting of some secret, nightmarish war. Still, if the roaches were too busy eating the dead rats - and their own fallen - then it gave the group the advantage to get by, either further into the sewer, or back towards their missing lamp.

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Luck was seemingly on the trio's side today. As they passed by a bunch of the giant, hissing rodents, the big vermin quickly noticed the vast approaching horde of lesser vermin, and decided to defend their part of the filthy sewers with all their might. A skirmish between fur, fangs, chitin and mandibles broke out - not too different from an actual war between soldiers... Albeit, far more unsanitary and ferocious. Regardless, with the beasts and bugs pre-occupied with biting each other to deaht, the party had managed to secure some form of respite - for now.

Guard Lady grabbed the extended hand of Shade, and with a bit of crawling and scraping, she managed to get onto the ledge with the other two. Sitting on her knees, leaning forward and panting from both exhaustion, slight pain and sheer relief, it took a while for the girl to respond to the querries of her allies. Looking up at each of them in turn, she forced a brave smile.

"I'm fine, it stings a bit, but I'm alright."

In truth though, since they had left the lantern behind, she couldn't exactly tell if the injuries were bad or not. With gloved hands, she couldn't very well feel if there was any blood or not, and honestly she didn't want to touch the areas that stung either. Just remembering the sensation of having the creepy crawlies skittering around on her body was enough to give her goosebumps, and the sting from their bite made the hair on her neck stand up. The offer of a salve or ointment or whatever was tempting, but the pain wasn't bad enough to warrant such measures just yet.

"I don't think I'll need any soothing, the bites sting, but it's not so bad I can't deal with it." She explained, slumping down on the side of her legs to rest. She couldn't raelly sit on her behind, given one of the stinging areas were there.

Still, they were now in both a good and a bad position. The good news were that they could reasonably easy defend this alcove from whoever won the battle below, but the bad news were that whoever did win was either going to call reinforcements to feed on the dead and defeated, or would begin a siege of the plateau. Well, that was the worst case scenario at least. Without the oil lantern, seeing had become a lot harder and Guard Lady cursed under her breath for leaving it behind - that thing had cost her last coins after all.

"Say..." She started, a thought in her head coming to light. "Do you two know what a rat's nest looks like? I've never seen one myself" She paused. "... And how do we destroy one? Are they flimsy enough to that I can smash them apart with my halberd?" Her question was fair, to an extent, without the lamp they really had no other option than to bash, slash, stab and kick any nest they found until it crumbled. If they had brought the lantern, they could have poured some lamp oil on the nests and then burnt them down, but unless they went back for their abandoned light-source now, that was a lost option.

The gnashing, gnawing, screeching and crunching continued below - albeit it was slowly dying down in intensity... At most, they had a few more minutes.

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Fresh new week everyone! Let's give it all we got, hey, hey, hoooo'!

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

With the arrival of the bugs, both of her allies seemed to agree that discretion was the better part of valor - which is to say, they fled. A completely acceptable tactic in the face of cockroaches the size of your average sneaker. So in response ton this development, it did not take many moments for Guard Lady to turn about and chase after her two comrades - one of which was screaming like there was no tomorrow - again, understandable.

Unlike her two nimble and agile friends though, the half-elf had to not only lug around her polearm, which wasn't exactly designed to be a weaponn you ran with, in addition to her armor. Now, leather armor didn't weigh particularly much in and of itself, but the many bits and pieces of metal she had added to it on her own accord eventually added up. In addition, she simply wasn't as fast a runner as the other two adventurers, resulting in the culmination of her lagging slightly behind her comrades.

Guard Lady could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead and her breathing grew hurried and uneven. The constant skittering and crawling of the mass of insects behind her was unnerving and grotesque, to say the least. The hooded boy shouted out his plan to lead the insects into a group of rats, which was fine - provided they could outrun the little monsters long enough.

As they rounded a corner, Guard Lady's eyes widened slightly - she had misstepped and caused herself to become unbalanced. With an 'omph!' and a clattering thud, she collided sideways with one of the sewer walls. Momentariily stopped, she shook her head and began to run anew. Alas, this short litle delay had caused some of their pursuer to have somehow managed to catch up with. With chittering mandibles, the foul things leapt and managed to latch onto her back! At first, she didn't notice due to the adrenaline and frantic situation, but soon enough she realized something was moving along her backside.

"Wha- AAAaAaAh!" She let out a surprised, as well as painful, cry as one of the bugs took a bite on her neck. The sensation was not dissimilar to someone pinching your skin - hard - between two long, sharp nails - but without letting go. Using the hand not holding her weapon, she swatted at the creature and managed to knock it off her shoulder, but alas others still remained on her body. One crawled lower and took a nice chomp at her posterior, while the other tried to crawl over her shoulder to get at her upper exposed chest.

Their legs felt like tiny needles whenever they touched the skin and their bites were horrible. Again the girl swatted at the one on her shoulder first, followed by one assaulting her romp. Now free of the trio that had managed to latch onto her, Guard Lady did everything in her power to keep pace with the two friends in front, hoping that Shade's plan would work out well. The two bites on her did sting quite a lot though...

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

The Roaches are comign! THE ROACHES, OH MY GODS!

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Letting out a sigh of relief as the last of the giant rats bit the dust, Guard Lady got back onto her feet slowly, using her polearm as a maekeshift leverage device. When the archer rushed to her side, asking how she was, the half-elf smiled - though it was a smile of a somber and apologetic nature, rather than one of happiness.

"Ye- Yes, I'm fine, thanks." She answered, feeling a bit frustrated, a bit ashamed and a bit relieved. "I'm sorry I didn't stop them in time." She continued, looking at her feet. "They were a lot faster than I thought, and a lot more... Evasive then I expected." Of course, this was only her really first, actual battle, so mistake were bound to have been made - though this fact did little to comfort the girl.

Moving her free hand to feel around the area where she had been bitten, Guard Lady let ot a puff of air as she found the hole the rat had made in her armor. Luckily, the leather had been strong enough to not be bitten through, but it would require repairs if to remain useful once they left this awful place. It waas somewhat ironic though, the rat had leapt and aimed for her chest, but her ample... Assets had caused the rat do bummp its head in them and instead bite down on her stomach-area - rather than her upper-exposed endowments. Perhaps she should consider buying a chestguard that covered that particular area next time...

The boy with the hood then disappeared for a bit, stating tht he was going scouting. For the duration he was away, Guard Lady kept a vigilant eye on the path behind them, determined to not let any more rodents sneak up on and ambsh them. Still, she had the time for some small talk and couldn't help but want to thank the arhcer properly.

"Thanms again, archer." She said, still peering behind them into the gloomy darkness. "You were really impressive back there. You moved and acted like those big, nasty things were nothing. You even saved my clumbsy butt." She let out a slight, forced laugh at the last part, again feeling somewhat ashamed and useless in the big whole. Both the archer and the boy had managed to take down marks of their own, yet she had been knocked on her ass and had to been saved. Sure, things like that could happen to anyone, but that didn't make her feel any better about botching her job.

When Shade returned and informed the two girls that there were more rats, Guard Lady only nodded. Of course this wasn't the end, they still had to find the nests where the rats bred and destroy them... Well, at least three of them. But where could they be? Rats usually just dug holes in the ground or hid in cramped, dark places... So what did a rat's nest look like? Especially one for giant rodents like these.

Scshshcshscchschsssch...

"Wh- What was that...?" Guard Lady turned her head away from the hooded boy. Something sounded... Strange. Like raspy, scratchy fingernails rapidly scraping across a hard surface. It was different from the skittering of the rats, and sounded far more... numerous? Plentiful? Peering back towards the path behind them, from the faint glow of the lantern on the floor, Guard Lady saw it... The horror.

"Insects!?" She exclaimed in both surprise and alarm. And yes, insects - huge roaches to be exact. Cockroaches the size of regular-sized rats to be even more precise. A vast number of them too, marching in a mass of black, revolting scratching towards the party. But why? Had they heard the noise from the battle? Or did they sense the smell of blood and fresh meat from the dead rats? The reason wasn't really important now, what was important was that there was a horde of giant cockroaches approaching them that numbered more than two dozen. Even if they stayed and fought, insects weren't like animals. They didn't back off or hesitate, they just pushed on and on, forging ahead mercilessly. Even if her halberd took out five in a row, the boy killed several with quick slashes and the archer took some down with her own blade, there would still be more than enough to reach and overwhelm them!

"This is bad! We can't stay here!" The half-elf exclaimed, feelinga shiver run down her spine. But where to go? The path only led in two directions, and according to Shade, there were more rats up ahead. But going back meant running through the black, jumbling army of roaches. What were they to do?! Regardless, Guard Lady took her halbered in both hands and entered into a firm, staunch stance, waiting for the other two of her allies to decide what to do.

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Everything's coming up Torran.

I like how Triss is either oblivious to the fact that he stepped on a Goddess, or is just plain ignoring said fact. xD

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Rats! Litterally and figuratively!

The little monsters had cleverly laid an ambush, clearly using the pile of bones as bait to draw in unexpecting prey, only to pounce on them with the all the cunning and skill of a master assassin! ... Or, perhaps not... Regardless, the situation was nevertheless very real and very dangerous. With one of the vermin rushing straight past Guard Lady, the half-elf turned as quickly as she could in order to intercept it. Alas it was too late, the little mongrel had already begun attacking the hooded boy. What a failure on her part, or so she thought, she had been in charge of front and yet she had let their very first enemy just slip by her, shameful.

Still, there was time to redeem herself yet! A second rat from behind was dashing towards their archer-friend, hell-bent on catching them from behind. Even if she were to try and help the boy fend off his attacker, her weapon wasn't exactly suited for small, precise attacks and chances were that she'd take the head off her companion just as well as the rat if she tried swinging for it. Thus, she decided to move infront of their forgeiner-friend, placing herself between the other girl and the oncoming rat. With a swift, determined movement she raised the polearm and brought it down sideways in an attempted horizontal slash.

Sadly, the rat - while much bigger than usual - was able to see the attack coming and somehow managed to evade the cleaving swing. Having missed her mark, Guard Lady became unbalanced and had to recover from her failed attack. This moment of disarray allowed the huge vermin the chance to counter, and so it did - leaping into te air and biting down on the girl's torso. HEr leather armor buckled and deformed slightly under the large frontal fang of the rat, but it was durable enough to withstand being pierced through at the very least. The sudden addition of weight on her torso was enough to stagger the half-elf though, and in a clumbsy backwards motion, she dropped her weapon and fell on her bum, trying with all her might to pull the beast loose from herself, all the while cursing under her breath.