Xaltwind

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

That's Artemoose for you, rood as phawk. D;
I'm just waiting for her to walk up to Yinha and be all: Using magic to enhance your assets isn't very commendable, hmph! And then have her hamburger summairly start nibbling at the elf's melons. Because horses are as intelligent as hamburgers.

Overlord: Momento Mori

How have you guys been since I took a break? Anything cool happening lately?

@Inkarnate

Lots of things.

- Graft found a hidden NPC made by his maker, that he adopted it.
- Kath and Ashara went to a crummy village.
- Mamoru created a network of spies with her clones.
- Chuunitrixx sent our her mimics to create villages and camps outside the Chateau.
- A level 100 Gorgon, who was also a Player from YGGDRASIL; attacked the Chateau.
- Gromgard, Lord Chimpy Bits and Ashara took on a cult.
- Chuunitrixx lost an arm.
- Zouyu fell in love with Ashara.
- Chuunitrixx gave birth, then smashed up, four eggs.
- Ratta died, then was resurrected.
- Graft's conspiring to take over the Chateau.
- Kaldorna and friends went out and caught some local wildlife.
- Isolde got turned to stone.
- Salem did some weapon-testing with Charme.
- Flan and Violet took a steamy bath together.
- Bone Daddy turned into a skeleton mecha.
- Rodias became depressed.

So yeah, a few things have happened.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

The sleeper has awoken...
... And what a graceless awakening it is... xD

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Palace Ruins

With the eradication and almost complete absence of the smaller crystals in the tower now, the large blue crystal had lost much of its opacity. In fact, it was more clear and see-through now than it was blue, and the glow it had emitted before was all but gone, no longer visible in daylight hours. However, as Cecilia began to try and carefully chip away at the object, she would find that even with herself holding back and practicing restraint, each strike cracked and fragmented the large crystal, casuing much more damage than she had anticipated.

Furthemore, the cracks seemed to spread on their own, the sound it made reminiscent of crunching and shattering ice, as the tears in the surface began spread all over the prison-like object. Eventually,t he cracks, tears and chipping had become so prevalent and all-encompassing that the entire crystal was covered it, and, began to shudder and tremble - bits fell off even without provocation or outside interference and the big thing bega to emit a low, hollow ringing like, as if wind was blowing through a narrow gap or some such.

Crrrrrrrrrrsssshhhk!

A sudden strange, unfamiliar and obviously unfitting sound then left the crystal, and as it did, beams of light - white and pure, began to spill from the cracks in the surface. Fortunately for those in the tower, it didn't seem as if they were harmful - as nothing happened when one of these floodlights fell upon their frames... Though they were quite intense and very blinding to try and stare at directly... And then, there was ntohing. A soundless burst of bright, blinding light so overwhelming you might have thought you were dead and travelling towards the Heaven. But not just the tower, no, the plaza outside was also able to see the brimming, flooding luminence leave the cavity which the fallen star had caused. But more important than that was the utter and complete silence. No noise, no speech, no voice no background sound... All sound, in a 500 foot radius from the tower, were lost for what felt like a frozen hour... But was actually less than ten seconds.

As the light quickly faded then, the sounds of the world slowly came flooding back into the ears of those affected by and caught in the sudden silence. For those outside the tower, nothing had changed at all, in fact they could almost be forgiven fro having thought it was a hallucination or daydream. Those inside the tower, on the other hand, were privvy to quite a non-disputable sight that confirmed that which had just happened to be reality. Where once frozen in place like a statue, trapped in the blue star that fell from the heavens, stood now the horned girl - purple hair and dark garb, with her long drape-like cloak over her shoulders - in the very place that her prison had once been, on the same floor as the three liberators. She still held the same pose as she had before, with arms crossed and held infront of her face with knees slightly bent in towards each other, and her single visible eye was still closed. But she was free. No longer trapped in the clutches of the star-crystal-cell that had confined her.

Mmph...

A soft, cutesy moan then suddenly left the girl's lips, and her one eye slowly opened, as if she had been asleep while standing. Her shoulders relaxed and her arms slowly lowered themselves to hang along her sides. Her posture straightened, and with lazy, slow-moving motions, she turned her head to the right, then the left, then looked down at the floor and then up at the ceiling. Finally, she landed her gaze on te three individuals infront of her.

... At which point, her eye shot wide open, an expression of absolute confusion and terror spread across her face and she let out, with a sweet but panick-filled voice:

"WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON!?"

Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

Druid Girl followed her big, red and scaly comrade as he made way into the exterior of the brush on the northern side of the road. There was nothing particularly noteworthy, apart from a few specks of brown that shouldn't have been present on some of the greenery. However, once they came upon the corpse of the poor unfortunate woman, the dark skinned girl let out a surprised and horrified gasp, quickly clasping her hand over her own mouth to silence the outburst - in case whoever had done this was still nearby.

The little pixie on her shoulder sprung off and flew down to the body, circling it overhead at first, then gently touching down on the cold body. It was a horrific sight indeed. The poor woman's clothes had been ripped and torn in numerous locations, her body was covered in cuts, bruises and puncturings, while her face was distorted into a horrible, frozen mask of fear, pain and despair. Her rather ample busom was also spilling out of her torn shirt, and would have been rather impressive, were it not for them too being covered in small wouds and dried blood.

The druid turned her head away and stifled a slight gag. She had seen dead humans before, both at funerals and otherwise... But this, this was the first time she had seen someone in such a wretched, mangled state. Not only was it horrible and upsetting, but also frightening and unnerving to think someone, or something, could do this sort of awful, atrocious thing. When her lizard friend began to walk back to the road though, she almost called out to stop him... But the girl resisted the urge.

They had no tools on them, or in the wagon, to dig a grave, nor did she know any earth-moving spells as of yet. Gathering wood to build a pyre would also take too long and waste a lot of the day, not to mention risk drawing the attention of who or whatever had originally done this back to their location. As cruel and sad as ut was, they could do nothing for this poor, mid-thirties woman. Well, except the very least of things. Stepping over to the corpse, Druid Girl knelt down and gently closed the dead lady's eyelids, as well as pushing her agape jaw shut. She looked at this person, who she had never seen or met before in her life, and felt her eyes water a bit.

Eventually, after what seemed like a long time but was actually less than a minute, she rose up and started following after her burly companion. As they returned, they would find that Stppe Archer had been good on her word, keeping a watchful eye over both their wagon and their employer. Speaking of their employer, the farmer had a twitchy, fidgety air about him once they came back, as if he was sitting on neeldes and his skin had started crawling.

"W-well, wha'cha find?" He asked nervously.
"A ... A dead woman." Druid Girl replied.
"Whassat ya say?" The farmer asked, eyes going wide with surprise.
"There was a dead woman... It looked like she'd been... Tortured... And possibly violated as well." The druid's head sunk a bit and her face became full of sorrow.
".. But ya didn't find anythin' else? No signs of them who what did it?"
"No, nobody showed themselves, and I didn't feel like looking around there, after seeing the sorry state she was in."

The farmer let out a long breath of air, as if he had been holding it in up until now. Leaning back in his seat, he looked up at the sky above, scratching his chin and cheek in thoughtful contemplation, or so it would seem at least. The man then looked down from his seat at both the lizard and the druid, a strangely concerned look on his face.

"Ya alright leavin' her like this then?"
"We don't have time, or the tools, to give her a proper burial. And building a pyre might lure back whoever attacked her in the first place."
"So, you just leavin' her here to get eaten by wolves'n maggots?"
"It's not like I want to!" The druid replied, uncharacterisically angry and loud, before her shoulders slumped and she put a hand on her own forehead.
"Sorry, that was a unfair o' me." The farmer apologized, sincerely too.
"No, it's... It's fine... Can we just please keep going?"

As she said that, the girl climbed back into the wagon, her eyes having a certain shadow cast over them and her usual bright smile and sunny eyes replaced by a melancholic and saddened expression that wasn't quite her typical disposition. Still, the girl was young and seeing something terrible like this was as good a reason as any to be both upset and sad, even if it had nothing to do with her personally. The farmer made sure to ask Big Red if he was ready to go as well, before cracking the reins and ushering the old mare to once again start on the path.

The rest of their trip would feel like it took forever. A gloomy silence hung over the party as they slowly rolled along the countryside. Eventually though, they could begin to spot the outline of buildings in the far distance, as well as notice fields of golden wheat stalks spring up alongside the road as they got closer and closer. The sun was yet high in the sky, although past noon at this point, and though some clouds came and went, the weather was still nice and fair. As the view of his home drew ever closer, the farmer let slip a toothy grin.

"Ain't far now, youngsters!" He called, a peppy cheer that seemed to have washed away his somber attitude from before. Then again, anyone who managed to get home safely would likely react in a similar fashion, right?

From here on though, there'd just be a straight, albeit bumpy, shot straight to the farm. A series of wooden buildings, a silo, a fence and a shack. The typical things for a farm to have. Simple, rustic and largely unimpressive. Still, it seemed they would be able to complete the first quest without any unpleasant hic-ups from here on.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

As a sign of good faith and non-hostility, I strongly urge the Artemoose to offer up her quadraped hamburger to the big lizard-thing! A peace-offering of food is custom among primitive tribes! *sagacious nod*

Now let's roll that D20 and see what'll happen once team Crystal-breaker actually shatters the crystal... Will it explode and kill them all? Or will it give them EXP orbs? Maybe a permanent buff or debuff? So many options... So many possibilities...

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Small update is small.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Inside the Ruined Palace Tower:

At first when Cecilia's spear struck the large blue crystal, nothing of any considerable noteworthiness occurred. A simple 'tnk!' noise sounded, as if the woman had just playfully jabbed at your average lrage, common rock on the ground. However, as Annabelle began to shatter the myriad green and pink lesser crystals that lined the entire whole of the tower's cavity, slowly but surely a change was happening. The glow from the small crystals began to diminish for each large collection that was destroyed, and likewise, the blue hue of the larger, imprisoning crystal began to fade, making it ever slightly more clear and akin to see-through glass, rather than blue-tinted crystal.

It didn't seem like the crystal had any malevolent or insidious mechanism to protect itself either. As the smaller crystals shattered and disappeared, no other change than the decresing color-saturation and the dimming of the outward glow would be noticed. It seemed the Spellblade had managed to successfully find a means with which to do... Something... to the crystal, without having to risk her or her companions' health. Huzzah! As the color drained from the crystalline prison, Cecilia would also notice that any strikes she made against it were beginning to chip away at the outer surface, and as the thing grew weaker from continued destruction of its smaller brethren, these small chips would gardually develop into cracks.

Continued crushing of the small crystals seemed to be the way forward to cracking the big blue one after all.

Meanwhile, on the plaza below...

The burly lizardman, the buxom high elf and the - now unconscious - paladin, were quite lucky. Behind them, the church they had been in seconds ago finally collapsed entirely, causing a huge wave of dust and gravel and petty debris to flood out of the alleyway they had just left. A huge, billowing cloud rose from the location where once the imposing structure had been, slowly descending like an unwanted blanket on the area just around it. Distant shouts of surprise and confusion could be heard from far away.

West Gate of the Forgotten Ruins:

"General Nomoronth!"
"What is it?"
"We've finally secured both the north and south gates completely! They're fully under our control, sir!"
"Good and?"
"... And? Oh! Reports suggest that we've managed to deal with most of the adventurers and mercenaries from the south. The majority of their remaining numbers seem to be falling back towards the eastern gate now."
"East gate? What about the forces of the eastern nations stationed there?"
"Ah, yes well... It seems, sir, that once we seized both of the north and south gate, they turned around and abandoned the ruins... The east gate is completely unguarded, according to our scouts."
"... So, they didn't even try to stay and resist. Hmph, cowards."
"Sir?"
"Nothing. What about the Palagrian force south of here?"
"Sir! Reports state that they're slowly pulling back towards their own borders."
"Has any enemies fled their way?"
"Not since they took actions against the retreating merchants from earlier today."
"Heh, wise choice, dogs.... If you stayed, we could've accused you of interfering in Imperial affairs..."
"Sir, what now?"
"Hm? YOu need to ask, boy!? Have our forces march on the east gate from both north and south! Take it, hold it and then begin to move into the center of these decripit old stones! Don't let anyone stand in our way! Cut every non-Imperial down, no prisoners, no mercy."
"S-Sir! Understood!"

The young aide ran off once again, leaving the stone-faced general to watch his lackey's back with a discontent sneer. At least now things would begin to progress faster, and with any luck, their men would seen encounter whichever fool sellsword had acquired this fallen treasure, and then they could just wrest it from their cold, dead hands. Really though, what possible treasure fell from the sky? A moonrock? Some kind of shiny star bauble? What a complete waste of time and men.

The general let out a tired, irritated sigh and turned around, surveying the impromptu camp that had now been established. So many of these reserve-troopers had suffered injuries from those blasted southern adventurers and their cutthroat-masters. So many had needlessly lost their lives as well. While he held no respect for these still-wet-behind-the-ears pups, they were still soldiers of the Empire, and more importantly, they were under his control. To lose soldiers to something as pointless as a hunt for some phantom treasure? Ridiculous. It almost made the man want to laugh at the sheer absurdity.

... But he wasn't the type to laugh... So instead he kept watching his men and his camp go through their motions, waiting for further news.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

Nah, Vani is sleeping soundly in Kaze's burly, manly lizard-arms already.

From Oubliette to Oublioth [R.I.P]

She might not, but her gargantuan bipedal monitor-lizard pet might.....
Run away, Artemoose! Run awaaaaaaaay!