Hello! I'm Yankee. I'm usually down for pretty much anything: action, adventure, romance, horror, taboo, comedy, smut, gore, slice-of-life, etc. I like cute, fun stories just as much as dark, gross, traumatic stories. I love fluff and whump in equal measure (well... maybe whump a lil more) I enjoy creating original characters for RP, but I get as much enjoyment writing as canon characters in fandom-based games! On that note I like comic books, cartoons, and videogames. I'm also very into cosplay and art!
I am a very slow writer, so my preferred posting pace is once per week or less. I usually post on weekends. I like to have fun while writing, so I prefer relaxed partners who don't take things too seriously. Remember: fiction =/= reality.
Feel free to PM me if you like, however I do not check PMs immediately. Might take me a day or two... or ten to get back to you.
____________________________________________________ Level: 11 - Total EXP: 334/110 ------ Level: 10 - Total EXP: 391/100 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● Friday Morning Word Count: 857 (+2 exp) Location: Esaka, the Forbidden Kingdom
Naturally the pair of Orsterrans were in favor of disposing of the city's Consul sooner rather than later as well, and it was for that reason that Therion was even helping out with the G-Corp stuff in the first place, which he went on to say aloud. "I figure that our Consul has something to do with the Heavenly Principles. And I was hoping that claiming that bounty would get us a private meeting with her."
He spoke as casually as he could make himself, though his tail had flicked over to curl around one of the legs of his seat. If he was right, it would be as good a chance as any to take B out. Even if she recognized the ambush for what it was, there was something that all of the consuls so far had in common besides their taste in armor: their arrogance. He would not be surprised if any of them willingly stepped into a trap just to prove it wouldn't work. And, Aelfric willing, would suffer the consequences for it.
Without a concrete grasp on what the Principles actually were or how they worked short of just writing them off as some sort of magic, Primrose was not quite as sure of that course of action. Then again she didn't have an alternative to offer, so she merely nodded once and finished her cup of tea. "If we could set up an isolated meeting like that it would be ideal, but we'll also have to prepare for a confrontation that could happen at any time," she said, echoing Band's words.
It was a bit of a downer of a discussion for breakfast, but most of the group was finished eating anyway. They were going to be breaking up and heading to their respective Pools areas, or other places in the city soon. But before that the sigil for the phone magic Primrose had learned manifested by her head. Besides the brief practice with it the night before this was the first call she'd gotten with it, and curious as to what the UN would contact them about so soon she tapped the magic circle.
A diversion was it? Waiting patiently until Haehyun was finished, Primrose promised the woman she would impart the information before the call ended, even though she had the sneaking suspicion that the other group was well aware that most of the Seekers -including the dancer herself- were already gathered together.
Therion had stared back at Big Band when he felt the detective's eyes on him, his expression one of mild curiosity and annoyance both, as if he could tell exactly what Band was thinking and that the man was real presumptuous to assume the thief didn't have any better use of his time.
...which, of course, he didn't. Not a one. Not without a bead on Kazuya for the bounty he'd brought up or any other pressing matters to look into. But he could still act like he did, at least until he let out a sigh through his nose and unfurled his tail. "I guess if it'll help," he said dryly, pushing his chair out from the table to stand.
Primrose produced a few zenny as she stood too, heading over to the diner's front counter and saying over her shoulder, "maybe I'll come by later to watch~"
She'd already learned a lot just by casually observing, so after visiting the UN's hospital once more to look into that ki-tuning (and what, exactly, this diversion was meant to keep the Kings' eyes away from) she would likely be at the Pools again today to keep an eye on things... and now that it was the second day and the Loser's Bracket had started in earnest, perhaps stick around the Mortal Kombat side of things and see what she could scoop up there.
After bidding the Seekers good bye and good luck, the dancer made her way to the High Tier. The thief tagged along after the more enthusiastic Koopa siblings, headed to the Middle Tier. When they arrived he took in the colorful, exaggerated areas that made up the theme park where the Power Stone Games were being held and the equally colorful, exaggerated participants that had already gathered. There was one that really stood out though... that being Juri. Therion recalled Pit saying something about her being on the Avenger, but now she was obviously back in the city. Which was overall good as it raised the Seekers' collective power, but he also recalled that she was not exactly a team player.
Weird coincidence that she turned up here though, enough that the look Therion had shot her when she appeared was suspicious. Then it turned indifferent, almost dismissive when she wrote the whole event off. It was hard to take her seriously when she was also about to join in on the so called 'kiddie pool tournament' herself, even if Therion did sort of agree with her.
Well, whatever. While Junior and Rika went over to question her, Therion turned his attention to identifying a host or announcer to get the rules from.
Winterhold College - School of Mensis/Aurelian Nexus
Word Count: 2199 (+3 exp) Ace - Level: 9 - Total EXP: 516/90 Level 7 Heismay (55/70) @Lugubrious@Yankee
After stepping into the next room and getting an eyeful of yet more bodies arranged in what he assumed was some kind of dark intent, Ace turned his head to look away from them. Of course the rows of deceased scholars -or students- lined the walls, so after a moment the hunter turned his eyes up to the dark ceiling instead. He almost suggested just turning around and gambling with whatever the next random room would be, but it would be pretty irresponsible not to check the place out in case it had any hints on getting out of this labyrinth. Plus he was not keen on splitting up in case Heismay disagreed with just saying 'nope' and leaving this one alone.
I take back anything I said about this being my lucky day, he thought to himself. He'd seen more horrific scenes of dead and undead over his stint with the Seekers than he had in his entire life prior (though to be fair, the creatures of creepy stories were pure fiction in his world), but it was particularly bad lately.
"It doesn't really help, but at least they must have been transported here like that," Ace said, expression pinched. "The last room too. Couldn't have been... uh, recent."
Technically not true, but the alternatives were much more terrible to think about. The Cadet would stick with his first thought, given so far everything they'd killed in the college had turned to ashes.
Eventually Ace tapped at the scoutfly cage affixed to his coat. The little insects flittered out and flew a circle around the room. Normally they were more useful in bigger spaces, but if there were any hidden monsters already here waiting to ambush them from the dark at least the Seekers would get a heads up. They briefly buzzed around the hell hound, and after a moment of wondering if they'd be able to get it tag along with them Ace glanced down to Heismay with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Where do we even start?"
Heismay remained quiet for a moment as he watched the scoutflies flutter around, until he felt reasonably sure that their aimless meandering meant that no active threats were nearby. Of course, he could only feel so comfortable in a room full of tastelessly arranged cadavers, but the eugief kept a stiff upper lip as he approached one of the seated mummies carefully. “Considering that the slain turn to ash in this world, perhaps these bodies are more akin to ‘props’ placed here along with the College, rather than true remains.”
After entering the corpse’s hypothetical attack range, he paused for a moment, then moved closer. With little more than dry bones and skin like paper, these bodies didn’t rot or smell, at least. Since they lacked any kind of muscule, he reasoned that only magic could animate them rather than any lingering remnants of life, and he didn’t get as strong a sense of magic in this place as he did the Forgotten Commune. Slowly, he extended his hand. “As morbid as this is, these unfortunates may still yield clues about this place’s true nature.” He gingerly pried the instrument in the corpse’s fingers from its petrified deathgrip.
When he got a better look at the thing, Heismay blinked. In his hand he held a toothbrush, crafted from wood and hog bristles. It seemed like all the dead scholars in here had one. Confused, the diminutive eugief peered through the bars of the cage on the dead man’s head to inspect his teeth. Metal braces gleamed faintly in the flickering firelight. As he lingered by the corpse, pondering the meaning of his discovery, Heismay became faintly aware of an unexpected smell. After a moment he picked up a squat, disc-shaped can the size of his palm, containing a mixture of powders with a quite unidentifiable odor. It smelled a little animal, a little chemical, a little salty, and a little burned. Yet, something of that nature wasn’t totally unknown to Heismay’s Renaissance-era world. “Tooth…powder?” Quite baffled, Heismay looked around the room, spotting more canisters he hadn’t noticed before. What was the connection between ritual sacrifice and dental hygiene…?
"Is that what's in these?" Ace asked, nudging one of the tins in another section of the room. After the scoutflies returned to their cage the hunter had followed Heismay's lead in giving the area a look around. If there was a connection, Ace didn't see it yet.
So far he didn't see much of anything that might clue them in on navigating the college, or even that might prove useful in other ways. He certainly wasn't about to recommend using any of the brushes or powders here after all. Of course if the rows of corpses (props or not) weren't very forthcoming with useful information, there was still the lone body that sat separate from the rest to check.
Ace walked over to it, noting the robes the man wore. This was the only clothed corpse in the room, so even leaving its special seat aside it was probably fair to say this person had been more important than the others. "Probably the leader of this group?" Ace mused aloud, looking between the deceased in front of him and the auditorium-like rows of the others. "I guess a lecturer, or... more like the head of a cult?"
He murmured something about the creepiness of it all before getting a closer look to see if the head of the school had any more differences to note. When he did, though, his magic sense began to tingle, not overwhelming but still strong and bothersome enough to give him pause. Although he couldn’t see anything, there was something anomalous about this corpse in particular.
After a moment of hovering Ace took a few steps backward, opting to trust his gut on this one. If he touched the body it might summon another set of monsters like the ritual monuments in the last room had. Even if this one didn't have the same dark atmosphere, there was definitely still something strange going on.
The Cadet looked over at Heismay. "Did you find anything else? I'm not seeing anything that looks important around this guy... and I feel like maybe touching him would be a bad idea."
He gave the eugief sort of a hapless shrug, his eyes flickering towards the door they came through, which was the only one they could see. It might have just been a cursory look around but they'd still done a little investigating, so now Ace figured it would be fine to broach moving right on. "Wanna try our luck with the next room?"
Though he lacked any kind of magic aversion, and was in fact a dabbler in the dark arts himself with his archetype awakened, Heismay felt inclined to agree. His eyes lingered on the long-dead, highly dubious person of interest for a moment before. Then he shook his head and brushed off the whole room with a dismissive wave. “Yes, let’s.” As he turned to go, he beckoned for Edward’s wayward hellhound to follow. “Coming along? The more, the merrier, as they say.”
The door through which the Seekers entered had quietly swung shut while the two conducted their investigation, so according to the rules they’d come to know about this place, it would no longer lead them back to the Forgotten Commune. Ace reached the doorway first, and despite his strength, it took a substantial effort to throw open the doors.
Aurelian Nexus
Before the two stood a large vault with a high arched ceiling supported by stone columns. Directly across from the entrance there seemed to be a small chamber with a recessed statue of impressive height. Clusters of candles provided ample firelight, and they illuminated a grisly scene. Upon the floor a giant pentagram had been drawn in chalk, with a blood-red candle at each of the five points, their flames much brighter than they should have been. Above each floated a unique, unfamiliar sigil. In the center lay a grotesque blob of twisted, coagulated tumor-flesh, with multiple heads and seats of limbs protruding from the inhumane mass.
“Eugh…” In the short time he’d been in Winterhold so far, Heismay had seen some unpleasant sights, but this took the cake so far. “Another ritual? We’ve some truly rotten luck.”
Ace echoed that sentiment completely, glancing about the room before his attention settled on the writhing thing with a grimace. "No kitten."
As they watched, one of the bodies began to stretch out from the mass, adulating in an unknown tongue as it waved its nublike arms. The candle-flames seemed to dance in time with its chants. Heismay gave a heavy sigh in irate fashion. “This one, however, does not seem inclined to wait for our involvement.”
At this point even Ace was finding it hard to stay plucky, but he did his best anyway because disheartenment wouldn't help anyone. In fact it was actively harmful in situations like these, so the hunter threw Heismay a small, sidelong grin. "If this gnarlycuga thing wants a piece of us, let's give it what it wants," he said while forcing a bit of bravado.
Ace took the hilt of Yato and drew the blade as he took his long sword stance. But that being said he knew better than to assume that a big hunk of muscle-pretzel was all this creature was, so he held back in order to first see what it would throw at them. The fact that it, and the body that looked like it was trying to split off from it, were sitting inside the occult circle didn't help his hesitation to jump right into offense.
“Hmph!” Heismay kicked off the battle with an experimental slash straight to the cancerous heap. It was dense, and though his longsaber left a long gash it didn’t cut very deep, and nor did it draw blood, if this horror indeed had any to bleed. The faces that littered its mass flinched in pain, and its little protruding limbs writhed, but when it made no move to reciprocate the attack Heismay hacked at it twice more. Going for one of the heads seemed no more effective. “Tis quite sturdy,” he growled through gritted teeth, not sure this was the right approach.
After a moment, another body extruded itself from the mass, stretching upward. Heismay jumped up in order to slice at it, but even then the wretch did not round on him. It merely lifted its own hands and joined the chant. This time, dark magic sprung forth, and a handful of frogs poofed into existence. One stuck its tongue out at Heismay like it might a frog, which did no damage but yanked the eugief toward it. A simple kick was all it took to make sure that wouldn’t happen again. More of his attention turned toward the candles, which had flared even brighter in response to the Coven’s chant. He couldn’t help but get the sinking feeling like this was building toward something, and the monster’s efforts were just an attempt to slow its attackers down.
Once Heismay got started it quickly spurred Ace into following his lead, seeing that nothing strange happened on the swordman's approach or attack. Relatively strange for the situation anyway. He took to the dark mass of flesh's other side, drawing his own blade along it. He cut a line across heads, eyes, limbs, and whatever else made up the blob, but the results weren't much different than Heismay's. Shallow but visible damage on the collection of bodies, even the legendary weapon hard-pressed to cleave through the bulk. And was it just the Cadet overthinking now that the mass had begun casting, or was the flesh hardening further after another individual had pulled itself up?
“Hunter!” Heismay called suddenly, his voice a little frantic. “We’re not hurting this thing fast enough. Mayhaps we should turn our efforts toward the candles, instead?”
"Candles?" Ace stopped mid-swing, swiveling to check what Heismay was talking about. There were tons of candles in this room, but he must have meant the blood red ritual ones that dotted the points of the pentagram around them. The flames that burned on their wicks seemed almost alive. A second later and the hunter realized why his comrade had made that suggestion: destroying the components of whatever spell this thing was trying to cast would ruin its plan way faster than hacking away at the creature itself. It was good thinking!
Ace twisted, bringing his sword around in a low circle slash that brushed painfully against the Coven but was aimed at slicing the candle nearest to him in two. His blade carved through the wax, but even that seemed far denser and stronger than it should have been, albeit nowhere near as durable as the Coven. These were no ordinary candles and would require dedicated effort to demolish. Seeing his comrade’s decision, Heismay peeled off from the meat mass and tried to kick another candle over, only to find it solidly stuck to the floor. “Damn it,” he growled. Confounded at every turn… what were they going to do?
Location: Esaka's High Tier, Forbidden Kingdom (Friday Morning) Word Count: 1991 (+3 exp)
There was no conspicuous canine present to signal the start of a match at the abandoned ring this time, nor was there any dramatic flash of lightning or anything of the sort. Just the drizzle of rain, Pit, and Grima. They didn’t actually need a count down though, as this was not an official tourney bout. In fact, if the angel standing on one side of the ring had anything to say about it… this would be a swift, one-sided beat down to free his fellow Smasher’s body. The quicker, the better.
Without further warning beyond his quip, Pit pulled his bow up and his arm back, creating an ethereal string to draw on. During the motion a glint of blue light traced his hand and formed a line with an arrowhead at the front. Then the light arrow shimmered, its color changing to soft gold. Finally, Pit met Grima’s eyes with a cheeky grin. Before releasing the arrow he jumped, wings pulling him into a showy backflip and keeping him airborne - and then one light arrow peeled apart into three as they sped towards the dragon’s vessel.
Grima herself didn’t utilize any flashy moments. Instead, she simply raised her hand, several magical glyphs forming around her open palm before rapidly expanding to create a shield that intercepted the three arrows coming for her. And as soon as the third one slammed into her shield, the vessel dismissed the shield and brought her hand close to her chest, a mass of dark energy forming around it. Then she swung her hand out, sending out an orb of darkness that launched itself towards Pit.
It seemed that the angel had anticipated something like that, as he didn't appear surprised as he nimbly dodged the magic and fluidly drew his bow again. The combination of spell and sword was definitely familiar to him, but if there truly was no trace of Robin in Grima then she wouldn't be expecting the light arrow's special trait.
"Now try these!" he said, firing another volley. This time they were one at a time, in three different colors: blue, gold, and purple. The purple arrow crackled with visible static as it flew straight forward - and through, if it wasn't intercepted, able to pass right through physical objects. The blue and gold seemed to follow the same course, but before landing they both suddenly changed direction. They curved up and around Grima, the blue slightly faster and gold imbued with elemental light, attempting to strike Grima from opposite sides.
“Again?” the vessel commented with a roll of her eyes, this time her hand gathering more shadows before a trio of black bolts shot out to intercept the arrows. The first one collided with the purple arrow without problem. The other two however swerved past Grima’s magic, giving the fell vessel just enough time to register her miss before they slammed into her from both the front and the back, eliciting a shocked gasp of pain as she staggered in place, “You- How-” Grima began, only to cut herself off with a growl, reaching her hand out towards Pit. And on the nearest wall to him, a shimmering circle of black magic rapidly formed, and when Grima clenched her hand into a fist and yanked it back towards her, a series of spikes erupted, trying to catch Pit before he could dodge away.
The ol' curving arrow trick never failed in both catching their targets off guard and leaving Pit with a smug look on his face afterward. Pit snickered, already nocking another to chase the Fell Dragon down when he heard more than saw her latest magic. He turned to look over his shoulder as the spikes burst into existence, then twisted out of range - of the first couple. Now with his back to Grima, Pit's bow was thrust out in front of him to block one of the spikes aimed at his center. It pushed him back while the rest in the series cut against his bracer, elbow, and the tip of one wing as he pulled it out of the way.
Okay, not as one-sided as I thought! he thought to himself with a wince, tucking both of his wings in against back as the spell ended and he spun around towards Grima once more. His movement didn't stop at just that, one of the bladed bow's pointed ends aimed at the white haired woman in a mid-ranged, spiral stab.
With a slight twirl of her blade, Grima stepped into Pit’s attack, her sword clanging with Pit’s bladed bow and parrying the blow, letting Pit fly by her as she pivoted. It didn’t take long afterwards for Grima to use the momentum from her parry to spin and slash at Pit’s midsection. Regardless of if he dodged, blocked, or was hit by the strike, she would then leap into the air and attempt to use gravity to plunge her sword down. Non-lethally, yes, but it would still hurt like hell.
He'd ended up meeting her weapon with his own, his free hand supporting the flat of his blade to strengthen the block and hold his position. Which ended up with him still in place when Grima came down sword first, but the angel didn't look worried as he followed her with his eyes. There was another crackle of violet static, this time at his feet, and he zipped backward suddenly as the space he was in burst in an electric shock wave. It wasn't strong enough to send anyone flying, but damage was damage. And Pit was ready to start piling it on.
"One more time!" he called, practically giving Grima a heads up as he drew the bow again. Another round of arrows snaked towards her, all blue this time, twisting before going to strike just as before. Only one flew straight, the final one fired of the group, which featured two small orbs of flame that circled the arrow head as it shot forward.
This time Grima was prepared, narrowing her eyes slightly as she calculated the trajectory of the various arrows before whirling around, her blade singing through the air as it managed to intercept and parry each of the blue arrows. The one that held the two orbs of flame however, Grima was forced to conjure another shield, barely getting it up before the arrow slammed into her defenses.
The fire balls burst against the shield, thwarted from the explosion that would have triggered if the fire had collided with the electricity that still clung to her form. Pit was only a little disappointed that that plan hadn't worked out. He still had a whole heavenly host of stuff up his sleeve to try after all, and if Grima learned to handle the arrows this quickly then he'd just have to try something else.
He did fire two more arrows though, one slightly slower but stronger as he charged the shot first. While they sailed toward Grima, Pit himself followed after them. If she expected them to curve then she would have guessed wrong this time, as they both went right for her to break either against her magic or her vessel while Pit lashed out with a spin of the bow, making a sharp pinwheel that would continuously cut up whatever it came in contact with.
Grima’s response to the incoming arrows was to simply cast another shield, this one covering her back for a moment in anticipation for the arrows curving around her. When they didn’t, she was barely able to react, batting aside one arrow before the other slammed into her shoulder. The vessel didn’t react with anything more than an annoyed grunt however as she brought her sword up to block the spinning pinwheel that was Pit’s bow, a flurry of sparks erupting as the two weapons clashed.
The clash itself was but one of the reasons why Grima was currently frowning. That, and she was now focused on the fight. She had no intention on killing the angel before her, despite her reservations, but it was clear that they were demanding all of what Grima could offer.
And more, as she'd soon find out. Since Pit couldn't break through with his bow, it was time to pull something else out of his arsenal. With one final clang! he drew his blade back, breaking their stalemate. Without giving Grima any time to reposition he let go of the bow with one hand and swung it at her underhand with the one arm, but during the motion there was a glimmer of light - brief and easily missed. Suddenly the blue and gold weapon had been replaced by an entirely new one, a blur of gold and red and black. Pit grinned at her as the quick-summoned Upperdash Arm was on track to smash right through Grima's defense and deliver the uppercut of a lifetime.
“You wre-” was all Grima could say before the Upperdash Arm smashed directly into her face. Time itself seemed to pause, lingering on the devastating hit, before Grima was sent flying directly into a wall, collapsing to her knees and barely able to stay upright thanks to planting her sword into the ground and catching herself on its hilt, one hand holding onto it while the other covered her face, “Cretin, gah… THIS is your idea of ‘initiation’?”
"Just the first part of it," Pit replied, staying where he was in the ring and letting the Arm weapon dissolve back into light. The bow was back in his hand as though nothing had happened. He looked Grima over, assessing something she was not privy to. Then, in a way he thought was helpful but probably just came off as condescending, he said, "don't worry, you're doing good! It's even kinda fun!"
“Oh, this is fun for you, is that it?” Grima asked rhetorically, pushing herself up to her feet, “Fine, I’ll show you something to enjoy. Make sure your tagalong is watching closely.” with that, the Fell Vessel raised her hand into the air, a sudden spark of massive magic forming around her: A telltale sign of her signature Expiration.
The change in the air was stark, the atmosphere turning heavy and baleful. Pit's eyes widened as the spell grew, just the feel of it making his nerves tingle from the tips of his fingers to the edges of his feathers. It was evil energy, plain and simple. Or maybe not so simple, as the shadows began to twist, forming a dangerous looking shape. For a moment, the angel started to second guess his decision.
Pit.
He snapped out of it at the sound of the goddess' voice. I know - I started this so there's no backing out now!
Even if he wanted to call it off, the fact that Grima was gleaming was the whole point of their fight. She wouldn't be able to stop until one of them was soundly defeated. And it wasn't going to be Pit! He was going to wipe Galeem from Grima's mind and get her on board, Robin or no Robin!
Let's hope this works, otherwise you're in for some morning dragon slaying!
The angel shot forward toward Grima, intent to reach her before her spell was completed. He didn't raise his bow; instead Pit pressed his empty hand to his chest as he ran, withdrawing a pink, cartoonish heart from it. It glowed softly, a sharp contrast to the dark silhouette of head and horns that grew clearer by the second. Pit raised the heart up and threw it the rest of the way. The warm heart sunk into Grima when it hit her and burst to heal her wounds and cleanse her of all foreign influence. Pit skidded to a halt after the pitch, tense as he made sure the heart worked well enough to disrupt the Fell Dragon's spell concentration.
Word Count: 6,377 (+7 exp) Ace - Level: 9 - Total EXP: 513/90 Level 7 Heismay (52/70) @Lugubrious@Yankee
"I don’t hear anything," Ace said once they’d left the poor woman to her wallowing. His brows pulled together as he clarified. "I mean, I don’t hear anything weird. That I wouldn’t expect to."
The creak of wood, the soft splashing of water, the groans of the monstrosities moving around and their own footsteps amid other little ambient noises. To the Cadet there was no noise strange enough to pinpoint, so he was willing to bet that the woman was either suffering some affliction that tuned her in to something only she could hear, or that she’d gone mad a while ago. Ace glanced down at Heismay, particularly the eugief’s ears before meeting his ruby eyes. "Do you?"
“You mean, the ‘blackness’?” Although Heismay shook his head, he subconsciously kept his voice down. “No.”
"In the other room I did hear some noise I thought was weird, but I couldn’t find where it was coming from. Probably not the same thing-"
Oh right, the other room! It was almost funny how easily it had slipped his mind after the surprise of running into another Seeker so quickly, stepping into the alchemical laboratory, and then going right back out of the lab into a whole shanty town.
"You said the rooms shift around, right?" Ace turned his eyes up to the wooden crossroads they’d come from, rubbing at the back of his head. "I didn’t even think of it ‘til now, but this definitely isn’t the room I came from! I was in a bunk room. So every time we open a door, we’re gonna get a whole new place, even if it’s the same door?"
The realization prompted a raised eyebrow from Heismay. “Truly? Then there is no navigating this place. We might be here a while.”
The hunter groaned. "This really giggisux."
Just when he was starting to get used to all of the magic wantonly used by his teammates, now they'd all had to get sucked into this magic labyrinth. How were they supposed to get out of here if every door led to a random area, one that wasn’t even guaranteed to be a ‘room’ at all, like where Heismay and Ace found themselves now?
The Cadet suppressed a shiver, slapped his palms to his cheeks once, and then looked back at Heismay with a little more of his normal go-getter attitude showing. At the very least, this put into perspective the importance of thoroughly investigating each place to get every item and clue possible, in case any of it could help them find a way to leave.
"Alright, let’s just grab the bull by the fangos! When you’re ready we’ll have a real look around this place - but I think we should start with clearing out anything dangerous first."
Which meant the multi-limbed pustule carriers that crawled through the levels below them as the most obvious dangers, but anything else that might impede their search as well.
Heismay gave a curt nod and readied his blade. “Let us begin.”
On the way down to the next level, the first of many surprises reared its ugly head. A Forgotten emerged from the hut at the far side, registered the Seekers as they creaked across the rotten planks, and charged. As it plodded toward them on all fours, strange spores broke free from its bulging boils, but Heismay’s first thought was on the foe ahead of him. “Hup!” He hopped forward with a somersault, his longsaber flashing in a vertical circle as he cut into the Forgotten from above. When he sliced clean through one of the pus-filled tumors, it popped, exposing a section of raw, unprotected flesh. The monster stumbled, gurgling in pain, and almost fell off the bridge.
Only when Heismay landed did he truly observe the spores as they floated down, their vile green glow rapidly intensifying. “Look out!” He hopped backward just before the spores exploded, which proved to be more punishment than the feeble bridge could handle. The blast broke it in half, and splinters flew as the Forgotten plummeted down, down, down into the gunky pool below. Though very aware that he might have just leaped into an ambush, Heismay chanced a quick look back to make sure Ace didn’t take a tumble as well. “Hunter?”
"I'm good!" Ace called back. He was currently swaying over the hole blasted into the wood, suspended by a short chain that connected to the slinger on his arm. He definitely hadn't expected the spores to be explosive - he'd figured poisonous if anything, and had gone in to follow up on Heismay's attack, leading to this. True to his word though he was still in one piece, if a little singed.
His anchor point protested the weight. The whole place being made of wood eroding from moisture made it even more precarious than it looked, and the shanty town already hadn't appeared particularly sturdy. Ace gripped the chain and swung over to land on the remaining planks before the beam above him could snap.
"Guess it'll be trickier than I thought, but no problem." It just meant melee attacks would be riskier, but ranged ones probably still worked - and there was a shiny new bowgun on the hunter's back just waiting to be used. He glanced down to see if he could tell if the creature had survived the fall before looking back at Heismay. "Think they can climb?"
After confirming for himself that Ace seemed to be in good shape, Heismay began to search the immediate area for any more hostiles. “Better to assume they can,” he reasoned. Although the Forgotten had managed to startle him, both with its sudden appearance and its explosive payload, Heismay felt better than before. The anticipation always turned out to be worse than the actual enemies involved, and since he’d been expecting mages in Winterhold College, explosive crawlers weren’t that big an issue. He did feel bad for whatever these monsters used to be, though, and he couldn’t help but wonder if their proximity to that alchemy lab -with all those freaky jarred specimens- was a coincidence. Only after thinking this did he remember what the Cadet said about opening doors in here. That would take some time for him to wrap his head around.
Heismay couldn’t see any more Forgotten in the immediate area, but there were a couple more lurking farther down in the shantytown towers. Their presence gave Ace just the chance he’d been looking for to put his new Crab Buster to use. Though not as accurate as his other bowgun, the glowing pustules on the backs of these mutants were hard to miss. While he took potshots at the Forgotten, the eugief tentatively poked his head into the hut that the first creature emerged from. This one seemed bigger than average, so he carefully checked each corner of the first floor, but nothing jumped out at him. Among the decrepit furniture here, only one table had stood the test of time, and upon it sat a green cowboy hat. It looked stylish, if a little damp, and definitely too big for Heismay’s head. Nevertheless he picked it up and stuffed it in his pack, reasoning that someone else might want it. Then he made for the stairs to the basement.
One step at a time, Heismay creaked down into the lower level of the hovel. Only a little torchlight filtered through the gaps between the wooden slats to reach this dismal place, but the eugief could see relatively well thanks to his night vision. What he saw, before he even reached the bottom of the stairs, was a grotesque, slouching mass of oily, viscous green slime…or was it paint? A random assortment of malformed limbs and bulging eyeballs surrounded half of a human face, its melting, ichorous flesh exposing a rictus grin. On such a horrendous visage, the emotion of fury looked especially appalling.
“Aarrrgh!! I could FEEL victory in my GRASP! You TOOK the hat! But just... DIDN'T PUT IT ON!! WHY?!” Heismay froze at the sound of a twisted voice, abysmally deep and awfully wet, like a demon with a phlegm-filled throat. “You just... put me away in the bag. Didn't even try it!? Not for a MOMENT. You are INFURIATING.”
Heismay’s mind raced. Hat? The hat he picked up? A chill shot down his spine as he felt something in his bag squirm. From the way this thing referred to that hat as ‘me’, was it a mimicry born of this monster somehow? Although the situation alarmed him, Heismay couldn’t help but find it odd how preoccupied this being was with its trap not working out, purely by accident. “I didn’t think it would fit me,” he offered as an excuse.
“BULLSHIT!” the monster snarled. “It would TOTALLY fit. You made no attempt.” With a growl, the abomination writhed horribly. “ARGGGGH. Nothing is going my way. What am I going to do now?! This was my SHOT. Forcing some idiot to kill the others for me. I'm just stuck with voices in my head, now?! Forever?! NO. No way. I can still do this.”
Heismay turned to go, running up the stairs to the first floor. “Ace! I need a hand!”
“I just need to try again on the next idiot…” Toxic Fred continued from below. The next moment, the floorboards burst and the monstrosity hoisted itself up into the shack. Only with a corkscrew bullet jump did Heismay evade its grasp. “And instead of a hat, your CORPSE will be the bait!”
The shouting easily passed through the wooden walls, reaching Ace in the quiet pauses between bursts of gunfire. Every malevolent creature taken out now was one less they would have to deal with later, so leaving the scouting to the actual scout and picking off what he could only made sense. But as soon as he heard the start of rising voices the hunter blinked and turned towards the shack, and at Heismay's call he wasted no time in sprinting to the eugief's side. He made it to the door as the angry slime was breaking through the floor, and though the Crab Buster was already aimed and ready to fire, the sight of this Fred made Ace hesitate. He'd seen a lot of unusual people, monsters, and monster-people, but nothing quite like the thing in front of them.
He had no idea if bullets would even work on a viscous enemy like this, but he was about to find out.
"What's with him?!" he asked as he pulled the bowgun's trigger. Unlike Heismay, Ace hadn't spared a thought for the Forgotten's original forms, simply assuming they'd always been that way, but now he wondered if this guy had suffered some transformation down here - or if he was just a monster that Heismay had set off.
The bowgun bolts, even those that directly hit one of Toxic Fred’s eyes, did not elicit quite the response that Ace expected. These were not true organs, after all, but painted simulacra meant to mimic the real thing. Instead of getting wounded, the monster’s oily body merely parted, leaving holes behind. Still, every little bit of paint separated from the whole and splattered across the planks was one step closer to victory, and the hits were definitely registering if Fred’s reaction was anything to go by.
“GAAAH! Another one, even MORE annoying, somehow! Get over here and get what’s coming to you!”
If Fred wanted to be up close, Heismay did not want to let that happen. With his flashing longsaber he hacked at the horror’s myriad limbs and deflected their clumsy swipes. Fred had a lot of arms, though, and this wooden platform did not offer Heismay much room to maneuver. After a frenzied few moments, a hastily deflected paint arm managed to scratch one of Heismay’s long ears, leaving a little green muck behind. Within seconds the eugief could feel a foreign substance pushing through his veins like fire, weakening him from within. “Hngh. Poison!”
“AHA!” Emboldened by his success, Fred sent a half-dozen arms at Heismay in a vicious lunge. Of course, Ace knew as well as anyone that Heismay was neither as small nor as weak as he looked, at least not all the time. The hermit transformed, alight with orange energy as he assumed the form of the Assassin. A cleaving swipe from his curved greatsword scattered Fred’s limbs in splotches. With a spin, Heismay then brought a Lurking Nightblade down on the main body’s head.
Fred gurgled angrily. “Urk!” Realizing that Ace and Heismay were a match for him in this state, he allowed his painted form to change. “Heh heh heh heh... I don't need to fight you alone…” he chuckled. The next second, he violently split into three parts connected by tendrils, his green paint hardening into the more solidly defined form. “HEH HEH HEH HEH… MUCH better.”
His glee came to an abrupt end when Heismay cast Mudo in his face and a dark explosion erupted amongst his eyes. “Augh!” Still using his Assassin Archetype, the eugief jumped forward with a wide swing to catch all three parts in one slash, then reverted to his normal form and leaped away from a fusillade of angry kicks.
The three segments taking more distinct physical forms was a boon for the bowgun, or at least it felt that way as once Heismay was clear and the monster hunter opened fire once more each landed shot punched solidly against the hardened paint conglomerate. Ammo chewed through the fragment on the left until it collapsed back into a puddle. Ace half expected it to reform, but it only seeped through the gaps in the floor as the two remaining sections attempted to make up for the loss.
They swelled together for a moment, upper and lower jaws connecting to spit blobs of toxic paint at the Seekers. Then the pieces charged through the gunfire with their limbs lashing. Ace dodged out of the way of the projectile and fired the slinger's hooked claw at the right section of Fred. Before it connected the Cadet jerked the chain up, forming the anchor shape at the end that wrapped the chain around the segment and drove the sharp end into it. It stopped Fred in place, the middle section flopping over at the sudden halt.
Even like this the right fragment shuddered and attempted to throw poisonous pieces of itself about, though another twist of the chain as it was reeled back carved the anchor through it, and the follow up from the Crab Buster was more than enough to melt it. The center section remained, but deprived of its legs Fred would have to use his tentacle-like arms to maneuver - and he was not quick enough to escape the eugief's saber.
“This is it!” Heismay jumped, sprang off the hut’s outer wall for extra height, then brought his sword down in as heavy a cleave as he could manage. A plunging thrust might have worked, but against a sentient paint mass without vital organs to penetrate, separation made more sense to him.
With Fred’s center mass already softened up by plenty of bulletholes, Heismay’s finisher sliced clean through. The monster’s many eyes bulged, his half-mustache frayed in almost comical fashion, and after a second its lips curled for one final snarl. “This is bullsh-”
The two halves of Fred’s abominable head split apart like banana peels melting into colorful gunk.
Heismay let out his breath. He could still feel his foe’s toxic parting gift inside him, but while the poison would probably continue to rankle his insides for a while, it wouldn’t be enough to keep him down. “Well done,” he told Ace, a little breathlessly. “You cleared out the swollen ones, yes? Let’s get to the bottom of this place while we still can.” With so many monsters in here, there had to be something worth protecting.
"Yep, all that I could see - and good work you too." Ace offered the eugief a fist to bump, though it didn't occur to him that Heismay might not recognize the gesture. "I might have an antidote in my bag if that thing got you good. Potions too."
Without Blazermate or Sandalphon to rely on it would probably behoove them to stay as healthy as possible as they explored, but then again saving such single use items for when they really needed them might be smarter.
“If it does not subside soon, I’ll accept your antidote,” Heismay decided. If his system couldn’t counteract the poison, it could spell his doom no matter how manageable it might seem at first.
A minute later, the two reached the bases of the shanty towers. They ringed the fetid reservoir that Heismay and Ace saw from above, and now that they were down here, the odor was abysmal, though it stank of rot more than it did sewage. Heismay wrinkled his nose, his eyes narrowed in distaste. “Tis lucky indeed that my sense of smell pales in comparison to my sight and hearing.” With how things had been going so far, he half-expected something truly wretched to lurch out of the stagnant basin, but if there was something alive in there, it took long enough for the tension to fade. Once he judged that the moment had passed, Heismay took a better look at his surroundings. Though the cistern’s bottom featured mossy stone brick walls, interspersed with gnarled roots and streaks of crusty saltpeter, it did offer two rounded tunnels opposite one another, dirty but mostly dry. At the end of each, Heismay saw a foul altar of wood, bone and rope, with multiple corpses tied up in ritualistic fashion. Purple light shone from the eyes of the dead, and an unpleasant, almost scratchy hum emanated from them.
“Some form of grisly occultism,” Heismay ventured after a moment, his voice low. “For what purpose, I cannot fathom. Yet I am quite sure that we would be better off without them.” He peered at Ace. “Shall we split up and dismantle them both at once?”
"Split up..." Ace repeated quietly, looking between both paths. It wasn't that the hunter was afraid to go off on his own, but staring down the corridors into the face of, as Heismay put it, grisly occultism threw a heaping amount of doubt onto a plan that otherwise Ace wouldn't have thought twice about.
"I guess that would be the fastest... just hope it doesn't turn out to be a 'grave' mistake." He said the last part mostly to himself, thinking up some macabre wordplay to make himself feel better. A moment later Ace held up a hand to stop his own thoughts from starting to rush. With the same hand he hitched a thumb down the tunnel on his left. "Okay, destroying them at the same time probably is the best option, so let's do it. I'll go this way. After a sec to raise my spirits."
His words prompted Heismay’s big ruby-red eyes to linger on him a moment longer, ever-so-slightly uncertain. He wasn’t aware of Ace’s disinclination toward magic, but he was picking up on some doubts, and if the hunter himself wasn’t confident it might be better to stick together. Plus, not being a pun lover, he took the wordplay a bit more seriously than he probably should have. “Hmm…”
The two parted ways, with Heismay vanishing into the shadows. It was only a short walk for Ace to the end of his designated tunnel, and getting close to the witchcraft didn’t make him feel any better. The air in here practically crawled; he could see tiny, itchy black distortions, subtle but unnerving. "This is giving me Bazelgeuse-bumps..." he said to himself.
Still, nothing happened while Ace hesitated in front of the creepy set up. Briefly he turned to look back down the tunnel he'd come from. Nothing continued to happen up until he attempted to damage the altar, drawing his sword this time. The whole thing let out a loud, startling creak, and both the dark distortions and purple corpse-gaze intensified. Dark magic blossomed in the corners of the room, churning like oceanic whirlpools, and from them came four sunken jumpers. Seething with volatile fluid, the ritual-twisted wretches began to leap, and with each froglike bound they planted a gelatinous mine where they landed. A moment after the pandemonium began, however, one of the four jumpers disappeared into the darkness and did not re-emerge.
Already wound up, the noise and the sudden summoning made Ace flinch just long enough that the first Jumper out of its portal collided with him. They went down to the ground, the creature swiping until Ace got his boots between himself and it, kicking its glowing chest hard enough to throw it off and rolling to his feet. He didn't even notice that one went missing as he tried dealing with the other three. His sword was drawn but he was not in the right state of mind to parry - evasion then? The next one leapt and Ace dodge to one side, slicing along the pustules on its back with the blood drawing Sakura Slash. He could tell these were a fair bit more durable than their green cousins just from the feel of the blade against them.
Then of course he stepped into one of the piles of slime that one of the Jumpers left behind as he did his best avoiding them in the small space, triggering its detonation. He staggered, back hitting the wall, barely lurching away as a Jumper slammed into the brick beside him.
Ace turned the Yato's blade and drew up in an underhanded swing that caught the next Jumper across its face and flung it back before jamming a hand into his field pouch to feel for one of the utility bombs in it. The creatures might not even have regular senses to take advantage of, but if they did then living in a dark, dank place like this would probably make them susceptible to sudden bright light - and he had to try something! The Cadet pulled a flash bomb and threw it at his feet where it erupted and engulfed the room a moment later.
For a split second, every shadow vanished and pure, chemical light blasted the oubliette’s depths. All three jumpers gave an agonized, gurgling shriek as they blindly flung themselves away from the baleful glare. The flash bomb also illuminated -and stunned- Heismay, the unseen slayer of the fourth jumper who’d decided to join Ace stealthily to make sure there were no problems, unbeknownst to the monster hunter himself. Heismay’s sword clattered to the ground as he groaned, holding his eyes with both hands. One of the jumpers, already wounded by the eugief, turned its attention toward him upon recovering. While blinded, though, Heismay wasn’t deaf. He leaped to the side to evade the leap, then transformed into the Gunner and took aim at the sound of the jumper landing. His Sleep Shot struck the monster and knocked it out like a light, just long enough that its own gel bomb went off and blasted it into a wall.
Naturally any triumph that Ace might have felt at driving the Jumpers back long enough to regroup was completely negated by the unfortunate surprise that he'd caught his comrade in the flash as well. Though Heismay couldn't see it the hunter grimaced and followed with, "damn, sorry Heismay!"
Though his apology would be better if he made use of the opening he'd made for himself, which he got right on doing. The sound of Ace moving was totally different than the Jumpers, the clinking of his metal equipment and brushing of his fur armor distinct from the fleshy impacts of the mutants. While Heismay transformed and took aim at one, Ace squared off against another that was blinking the stars from its purple eyes. His weapon bit deep into its extra set of arms that it hastily raised to protect its head, but when it scrambled back and reared up on its legs with intent to slam the ground and set off the rest of the mines around the room prematurely, Ace followed swiftly with his sword. With a jab it sunk into its middle, twisted, and ripped up through the glowing chest. Pieces of what was probably viscera and whatever explosive bile they spread gushed out as the Jumper toppled backward, defenseless against the fatal blow that came after.
With one left Ace spun in the direction he'd seen it last, lashing out with a wide lateral slash as it tried leaping for the new enemy in the Gunner archetype that it'd heard fire at its kin. When the blade connected it sent the Jumper to the ground, leaving yet another dangerous puddle behind as it popped back up and got ready to jump again. The Cadet's eyes flickered from it, to the remaining gel mines, to Heismay. He slammed the long sword into a sheathed position at his side, taking an iai stance. Only once the creature came at him did he move again, blade flashing out to catch the Jumper mid-air. And he estimated that it would land again... "One hundred centimeters in front of you, fifty-two to your left!"
That wasn’t very far, so while Heismay wasn’t confident he could shoot that way while blind, he had other options. “O, power of kings!” Switching archetypes, he became the Assassin and lashed out with Lurking Nightblade in a wide horizontal sweep. The heavy slice finished the jumper off, leaving just the vile altar.
As the eugief’s sight returned to him, he narrowed his eyes, then launched his metal frame at the ritualistic monument. “Begone!” His blade scattered bones and body parts, cracking the framework, but it wasn’t enough to destroy the profane thing. That honor, it seemed, would go to Ace. At that point the hunter wanted this over with as soon as possible. He swiped his sword at the base of the structure, weakening it more than enough for it to collapse. It broke apart along the fractures Heismay had created when it fell, though for good measure the Cadet made sure to slice apart the wheel that was its foul centerpiece.
Strange violet flame raged through the fragments of the altar, consuming the materials and corpses in seconds. When the flash fire died down, only one thing remained: the bone shaft of a macabre weapon of some kind, expertly made but lacking any kind of blade.
Heismay padded over to Ace as he cleaned his blade. “One down, one to go.” After he blinked the last few fleeting stars from his eyes, he offered the hunter a conciliatory smile. “And fret not about the bomb. I should have better communicated my intent to join you.”
"I'm glad you did," the Cadet told him, returning a smile of his own after wiping a hand over his clothes to make sure nothing was sticking to them, real or imagined. The explosive slime would be a pain, but those dark distortions in the air had been particularly off-putting. After waffling for a few moments about whether to take the bone handle he eventually ended up grabbing it, though he packed it away rather quickly. Then he turned back to Heismay. "Fur real. Been at this Seekers of Light thing for a couple weeks now but this kinda thing's still out of my element. Feels better to have somebody Wacha-ing my back, though. Rest assured I've got yours too!"
At the opposite end of the sewer system lay a similar room, its befouled altar slightly different in appearance but no less loathsome. This time, Ace and Heismay stood united, ready to face whatever came. In addition the eugief had an idea. Given the jumpers’ explosive tendencies, he’d collected their spirits, and now he crushed them in rapid succession. The first cashed out a few coins, the second a strange eyeball, and the third a hex wreath formed of seabird bones, but the fourth gave him what he’d been looking for: a grimy round bottle packed with heavy, oily, and very flammable-looking grease. Heismay tossed it up and down in his hand. “Got a light?” he asked.
Ace opened his mouth to answer with an affirmative, but when he actually thought about it he stalled. It was a little funny that with all of the tools he carried a simple fire starter was not among them. There might have been one with the camping supplies, though it was lost or on the Avenger. There was also that portable grill, but... well, regardless of the fact that he'd have to remember to pick one up, he did have something that should work.
In the ammo section of his field pouch there were different types of bullets, nearly indistinguishable save for the colors of their casings. The Cadet had made as many kinds as he could back when he could as they weren't quite as easy to craft as the standard rounds given the materials they needed. Now he withdrew a clip of red ones.
"Flaming shots," he answered happily, already on board with the eugief's plan. It took not a moment for him to unload and replace the heavy bowgun's ammo with the incendiary rounds. Then he hefted the weapon up. "Ready to fire!"
“Here it goes!” Heismay pitched the tar bottle at the altar. It shattered, its contents splashed across the profane structure, and the next moment Ace’s special shot ignited the whole thing. In an instant the whole thing began to shake, its corpses writhing as their inner glow surged. The intensity of the response frightened Heismay for a brief second, but the sight of miasmic portals galvanized him into action.
Instead of sunken jumpers, however, the burning of this altar beckoned forth the Sunken Witch cackling madly as she dragged a huge, heavy anchor behind her.
”The ringleader!” Heismay guessed, brandishing his saber as the witch charged. She swung the anchor high in an uppercut, which the eugief dodged with a sidestep, then brought her bludgeon down in a massive slam that Heismay leaped away from. As he slid to a stop by the tunnel entrance, he assumed the Gunner’s form and nailed the witch with a Poison Shot. “A taste of your own medicine!”
Slower to move was the Ace Cadet, but move he did, not about to let Heismay fight alone. With the Crab Buster already equipped and ready for more action, the hunter followed the Poison Shot up with gunfire of his own. The remainder of the clip of Flaming Shots ripped from the bowgun towards the witch, followed by a hail of the normal ammo on hand with only a brief delay between them.
The gunfire perforated the witch’s black attire, staggering her for a second or so. Rather than attempt to return fire with any hexes or familiars, though, the witch just charged at Ace. She swung her anchor in a loop, intercepting enough shots that she could close the distance with a leaping smash, though not without Heismay’s longsaber slicing across her back the moment after she landed.
Ace had rolled out of the way of the slam as the witch came down, and though she was too close for the bowgun's optimal damage range he didn't risk swapping out the weapon while she was focused on him. That anchor suggested that she preferred to get up close and personal like this, which honestly suited the hunter just fine. He'd much rather deal with that than spell slinging, but he remained on guard anyway, not ruling that possibility out. He backed up, feeling for the edge of the room with his heel so he'd be able to tell how much room he had to maneuver as he kept the pressure on with his shots.
Heismay’s distraction gave Ace the brief window he needed to make some space, while the eugief himself darted away from the witch’s swings. Given the damage already done to him by Toxic Fred’s poison, Heismay could especially not afford to take a clean hit from the mad hag’s anchor. His goal wasn’t to do damage, but to divide his foe’s attention and give his ally as much time to shoot her up as possible. Thank goodness I did not attempt this alone, he thought wryly.
After a few seconds, Heismay backpedaled a little too far, close enough to the burning altar to feel the heat on his back. The corpses’ clawing grasp reached for him, raking his coat, and he hurriedly batted at them as he hopped away. By the time he returned his attention to the witch, though, she had already reached the Cadet. He wasn’t quite cornered, but one wrong roll and he would be stuck between the wall and the witch’s weighty steel prongs. “Over here!” Becoming the Assassin, Heismay lobbed a Mudo at the witch’s back, but the dark magic might have just as well been a mosquito for all the effect it had. Realizing his rushed mistake, Heismay broke out into a run to try and race to Ace’s aid.
Though riddled with holes at this point the dark clothed woman did not slow down. Ace had a general grasp of his spacing as she swung at him, and the hunter continued to pull the trigger in between dipping, dodging, and side-stepping the iron anchor. It was hard to keep focus though, and when the spell burst on the witch it verged on breaking as Ace's gaze flicked to the impact spot while the witch did not even flinch.
She whipped her arm back and brought the anchor over her shoulder with a heavy swing. Poor timing on Ace's part meant he'd missed a window to reposition and could only duck as it slammed into the wall where his head had been, wedged deep into the stone. The witch did not let her weapon remain stuck for very long, grasping it in both hands and forcibly yanking it free while chunks of brick rained down on the Cadet. Being pelted with rocks was nothing he couldn't weather, but the situation in general wasn't good. He knew he could survive if struck but enduring that for a counter attack was preferably a last resort - so how to get out of this before the witch brought the anchor down again?
Ace dropped the bowgun first. He hated to treat his equipment that way but stuck in this close of quarters he'd need to swap weapons after all. It clattered to the ground as one hand flew to the hilt of Yato once more, but without something to throw the witch off he wasn't sure he'd be fast enough to intercept her. Something, something-! He discarded the options that came to mind for various reasons until he felt the soft weight around his neck as he shifted. That was something. Something he could control. Ace's other hand grasped the pendant as a vision of a skeletal wyvern manifested, flying up through the witch as she hefted the anchor for another swing and taking her aback. It didn't deal her any damage, but distracted her long enough for Heismay to arrive and for Ace to surge up out of his crouch while the wyvern circled back towards him.
Weakened to take more (and deal less) damage the witch screeched as Heismay's blade sunk into her back. At the same time, a slightly more empowered Cadet stabbed his own sword into her front. Skewered, the witch tried flailing her weapon at both of the Seekers until she could no longer hold it, then clawed at them while her body gave out and she eventually slumped over. When the blades were pulled out she fell to the ground and began to disintegrate. As she fell, the last of the foul altar’s strength gave out and the flames consumed it. Quickly the orange flames turned violet, ravaging the wreckage until nothing was left save a curved and wickedly sharp blade, a perfect pairing for the black-wrapped bone recovered from the other altar.
Ritualist Scythe An awkward but lethally sharp instrument of merciless death. Its blade carves all the quicker based on how many different statuses the target is afflicted with, ensuring a quick end to their suffering. Dran ritualists are zealots to the core, dedicated wholeheartedly to those arcane arts that require an especially honed tolerance for depravity and the stench of death. Though the power and resources their acts garner is tempting, there are more comfortable and less pungent ways to make a living.
Heismay let out his breath, the tension slowly eking out of his muscles. “Twas a brief but bitter struggle,” he summarized. “Hopefully, that is the last we’ll see of this occultism. And with any luck, the labyrinth will be that much easier to depart from.”
Ace nodded in agreement, taking a moment to let himself lean against one of the still intact walls and catch his breath. "Yeah. One hex of an experience, but we got through it." The hunter was definitely grateful that he'd run into Heismay so quickly, as ending up in a place like this one without a friendly face would have been much, much worse. Recovered after said moment, he withdrew a small pouch of powder from his bag and tossed it up into the air. The lifepowder scattered around the room, healing himself and Heismay. A sort of consecration of the area if one were inclined to think that way.
Then Ace collected the bowgun, properly stowing it away before moving on to the scythe head to complete the piece. He'd wielded something similar earlier on in the Seekers' campaign, although this one looked a little more rustic in addition to ritualistic. Hard to tell if it was a magic weapon, and after a moment of scrutinizing it Ace looked over to see if the eugief was interested in their hard won reward. It could be handled similar to a long sword, he reasoned, or at least that was how he and fellow monster hunters tended to use scythes. It'd take some learning to get used to but it wasn't as far off in fighting style as it might have looked.
Once that was settled and the two of them made it back out onto the cistern's edge where they could see the rest of the shantytown again, Ace pointed straight up to the cross bridge a ways above them.
"Now that it's cleared out let's scour this place for anything we missed, then see where the next door takes us!"
____________________________________________________ Level: 11 - Total EXP: 332/110 ------ Level: 10 - Total EXP: 389/100 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● Friday Morning Word Count: 987 (+2 exp) Location: Esaka's Low-Tier, the Forbidden Kingdom
There were probably a bunch of similar street diners, but with Roland's direction, finding the morning's meeting place was fairly easy. Primrose arrived just as she said she would, looking as pristine as ever. She slipped into a seat at the table after having already caught a server on her way over, and soon after a small plate of baozi and spiced, simmered whole eggs was placed in front of her. She'd ordered what had seemed interesting on the tables of the other diners and was not disappointed in the eggs, which smelled wonderful and had an appealing spiderweb of sauce cooked into their whites. Their warm flavor came through just find despite how delicate they looked.
"Good morning~"
She had not arrived alone of course, as her partner in crime Therion accompanied her. The sight of the two of them together was a pretty common one after all. The thief had chosen to indulge in the fruit he'd swiped the day before, though just like at dinner he wasn't shy about picking from the plates of Seekers distracted with striking up conversation.
Speaking of, Roland expressed his concern about his next opponent, but Therion had even less to say about that combatant than he had about Azrael last night. "He's not very popular," he told Roland, which suggested that this "one shot, one kill" business was a "cheap gimmick" as the local yokai population would put it. He met Roland's eye, his next words meant to be ribbing. "I'd just avoid that 'one shot' if I were you."
The Orsterrans both gave a nod at Amaterasu's news as delivered by Rika, and even Therion barely stifled a snort of laughter at Yayama's unexpected joke. Neither of them had a clue what their angelic captain meant either, though they supposed it could have been related to what the divine wolf had brought to their attention.
Like any band of traveling adventurers though, there was an interest in trading a few stories brought up. Primrose and Therion had both been in the Under with Bowser Jr. and Rika and were content to let the siblings tell these stories, though they did chime in went they felt like it.
"Even bigger dragon-turtle," Therion said for Yayama's benefit when the koopa prince mentioned "papa," and when Rika followed with the same word he nodded toward the girl and added, "penchant for adopting." Or at least that's what he'd overheard a few others say about the missing Bowser.
When the siblings began arguing on whose choice in information was better, Primrose leaned in towards the detective and lalafell and said, "P was a spoiled dictator that could meddle with time itself. Very irksome. And poor Asgore... he'd been fighting alone for a long time. They're right though, he was one of the first to really clue us in to the true nature of this world."
She dipped a finger into her glass of water she'd been given along with her tea and drew out the vague shape of a sun on a napkin, still visible even as it started to dry. Then she did the same with another shape, this one appearing to look more like an eye.
"He and that Master of Masters... they gave us these two symbols to look out for." Though the dancer couldn't say that she'd seen any before or since. She also added with an amused smile and glance at the royal siblings, "as I recall, the old king would have taken exception to anyone trying to claim one of those memorials."
At some point Therion had leaned back and folded his arms behind his head. He did not bring up the Basement that part of the then Purple Team in the Under had suffered through, because it was disgusting and hardly the kind of topic for breakfast. Although his nose did wrinkle slightly at the mention of Consul F, he didn't say more than amend the reason for the Home of Tear's constant rain. After a scalding dunk into it, he wouldn't have been able to forget. "Big underground lake above it."
As for older stories for Yayama, Primrose hummed and mentioned the Sandswept Sky, just a region or two away from the Forbidden Kingdom they found themselves in now. "We traveled a vast desert before that, climbed a huge mountain, rode an... iron train to destroy a giant demonic worm," she said, briefly gesturing between herself and two other Seekers. "That was where we picked up Therion and Big Band."
If there actually was a hierarchy among the Seekers of Light based on how long they'd been with the group, Primrose would have been higher up on that ladder, only a few rungs below Junior - though she didn't say as much.
"And now we're here doing 'official' fights and teaming up with some spies. For the 'good of the city,'" Therion said. He'd beaten it away from Al Mamoon after getting his fill of it pretty quickly, but after having not thought about it for a while he could see some superficial similarities with Esaka... or at least with factions within Esaka.
Primrose took a sip of her tea and then looked over the gathered group. "Oh, yes, that UN group you all were working with? Sakura, Therion, and myself paid a visit to that headquarters last night. Their leader would like to extend a formal invitation to work together."
The edges of her mouth quirked up, apparently having thought the need for formalities a little silly. "Also, discounted hospital stays and... ki-tuning. One of their members mentioned it would really help those fighting in the tournaments. A process to strengthen the body that she likened to... tuning an instrument's strings.
"I plan to go hear more about it myself this morning." Far be it to leave untapped power on the table.
Hey, thank you for the warm welcome and no worries though actually I do have one question in mind, how does anyone add images here?
There are two ways! You can use an image that was uploaded elsewhere, like imgur or another site and just close them in [img][/img] tags. Like this: [img]https:// www.shutterstock . com/image-vector/example-signlabel-features-speech-bubble-260nw-1223219908.jpg[/img]
Or you can use the site's built in image host on your profile and link them from there, though you'll still have to use the "[img]" tags to get them to actually show in posts.
Hi there @Lilac404! Welcome to RPG! This site is fairly similar to other traditional RP forums, but there are some things that set it apart. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
Friday Morning Word Count: 1596 (+3 exp) Level: 9 - Total EXP: 506/90 Location: College of Winterhold?, The Frozen Highlands
When Ace woke up, it was a slow process. His consciousness returned, and he heard and smelt burning logs in a fireplace nearby. He blinked his eyes open, finding that he was lying on his side on hard ground. He didn't get that prickling sensation of anyone else being in the room with him, but he did feel something. Intangible, uncomfortable. It was all around him, and even on him - he might be imagining it, but the residual magic of that teleportation spell seemed to cling to his clothes and skin. Goosebumps formed and the hunter sat up quickly, pressing a hand to his mouth to stop a few dry heaves.
So the Seekers on the White Team had just been separated from each other and randomly teleported to different places? Or something? This was the worst. It more than giggisux. How were they supposed to get into contact with each other, let alone meet up again? Were they even still in the general area?
Ace closed his eyes again and took a few long, deep breaths through his nose. Finally he removed his hand and started assessing himself. It didn't look or feel like his body had changed, thank the heavens and everything else. His gear was also all accounted for and unaltered. His bee- right, that Bnahabra-looking tag along, that had managed to stick with him somehow. Probably because it had been literally sticking to his coat, the little hooks on its neopteran legs allowing a good grip. It did look pretty dizzy though.
"Told you," he murmured to it with a hint of a humor, petting its soft furry mane.
Alright, he had to find out where he was and then find everyone else. A cursory look told him this was a bunk room, maybe part of a larger dorm. Ace rubbed his forehead and willed the worst of his discomfort away, but before he stood up motion in the corner of his vision caught his attention. He turned to the nearest bed, or more accurately the space under it.
They looked like little people, dressed in tunics and pointed caps. They shuffled together at the far end under the bed, though when Ace's eyes found them all four turned to look his way. They sported wide grins on angry red faces, which did not look friendly in the slightest. Armed with little pickaxes, the gnomes toddled toward Ace with surprising speed and didn't hesitate to take swings at him.
"What the-!" The Cadet scrambled back, kicking a few away as he got to his feet. He was more taken by surprise than in real danger, as though their tiny weapons were painful as they hacked at his legs they weren't making any deep wounds. It would be death by a thousand cuts only if he let them do it.
A flash of Yato shattered three of the gnomes one by one, a single slash all it took to destroy the things. The humbee recovering and dive bombing with a ram of armored head took care of the fourth. They had basically exploded into pieces, leaving no ashes or even spirits behind.
"Guess we weren't gnome alone after all," Ace said, though the humbee did not appear to understand wordplay. The hunter figured that the area might be dangerous, but he hadn't expected the ambush in this room, however ineffectual it had been. He swept the underneaths of the other three beds to make sure there weren't any other nasty surprises waiting, but he only found some pieces of scrap metal and springs (which he took) and a few dirty magazines (which he quickly shoved back under with a flushed face when he realized what he was looking at).
Well now that he was already looking around, he figured he had better investigate the room as a whole in case he could find anything useful. The nightstands beside each bed were the next logical place to look, so he opened the draws unceremoniously. Normally he might have felt bad about raiding what must have been people's personal belongings, but that had all flown out the window after being forcibly teleported and then attacked by violent little people. He found a bag of some big biscuits shaped like bones in one, along with the shed fur of some animal on the mattress next to it. Forgetting that they'd sent the machine that made impossible creatures back to the Avenger, he took some tufts of the hair as a bio-sample. Plus the biscuits of course. The next drawer had some sort of sleeping mask, emphasis on mask as it featured some air purifying device affixed to it that would cover the wearer's nose. Next was empty pill bottles and scattered pills. Reading the labels on the bottles told Ace nothing, as he was unfamiliar with the names and ingredients listed.
One never knew what might come in handy though, so he scooped the pills into one of the bottles and pocketed it along with the mask. Maybe Sandalphon could scan them and determine what they were for. Maybe they could even help with the symptoms of her disease.
Ace acknowledged that that was wishful thinking and moved to the last nightstand, from which a frog toy hopped out of the open drawer and bounced around the ground. Since making those toys in Christmas Village, the hunter had a deeper appreciation for the work that went into them, especially ones with simple movement like this. It was pretty cute too. The humbee had flitted down to follow the toy curiously until it eventually wound down and came to a stop.
"Bring that here," Ace told the humbee as he opened his bag once more. He went to go fetch it himself but was pleasantly surprised when the bug actually listened to him and grasped the toy in its legs before it flew over to him with it. It dropped the toy into the bag, pleased with itself. Ace gave it a smile, coupled with a playfully suspicious look. "Oh so you understood that but not the joke?"
It titled its head innocently. The thing was nice and all, and it probably really was stuck with the Seekers now, but the hunter didn't want it getting into trouble let alone danger. It might be able to handle itself given it had attacked one of the gnomes of its own accord, but for now... Ace withdrew the one pal sphere he had on him, the one he'd practiced making from scratch before, and tossed it at the humbee. Maybe it was the wrong capture device for this particular kind of creature as when it was sucked inside there was some sort of visual distortion that didn't look like how capturing the reindrix had, but after a few airborne shakes it seemed to have worked regardless. He took the blue crystal sphere and affixed it to his belt where it would be easy to reach quickly.
Having walked around the room already, Ace had seen a single set of doors that was his way out. He waited to open them, because besides the fire crackling away in the center of the room, he also heard some sort of movement above. Looking up was only stone ceiling though, and he found it weird that he would be able to hear anything through a thick layer of stone like that. That must mean there was something else in the room still.
Given the ceiling was clear, Ace stepped onto the poster bed frames to get a look at the space above them. So far nothing, nothing, and a light weight disc that wasn't quite flat (whatever it was, he was taking it). Over the last one he checked, he spotted a dark shape that he initially thought was another toy of some sort. When he reached out to take it and was met with the feel of cold metal and rough twine he furrowed his brow and hopped down to hold it next to the fire light.
This couldn't be a toy, despite being a doll of some sort. It looked like a wooden carving of a human, tied up and impaled with old nails. To Ace it gave off a sense of foreboding, especially when he turned it over in his hand and saw that a photo of a girl was nailed onto the doll's face.
He shouldn't take it. He didn't even want to be touching it. But in a situation like this, how could he leave it? What if it was something meant to hurt whoever this girl was? What if it was connected to something else? He couldn't even destroy it without knowing what that would do.
The hunter must have stood there squirming and fretting for longer than he'd thought, because his mounting anxiety over the object was only broken when he heard something beyond the door in the room. His head snapped in that direction, and with doll still in hand he ran over to press his ear to the door. He definitely heard something, but it was impossible to tell who or what it was.
Obviously the only thing to do now was open it.
With little hesitation Ace took one of the door handles and opened it wide in one push. Immediately the green glow of the next room flooded into the dormitory, and Ace found himself in some sort laboratory.
More surprising was that at the same time, the other side of the double doors swung inward to reveal a familiar eugief's face. "...Heismay!"
[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/8fb8f456-882a-426c-a680-b47401f20c22.png[/img]
[b]If you're on my page, check out the RP [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/193061-world-of-light-the-endless-now-the-ultimate-vg-crossover-rp/ooc]World of Light[/url]![/b]
[color=gray]___________________________________________________________________[/color]
[h3][sub][color=gray]♤[/color] 21+ [color=gray]|[/color] UTC-5 [color=gray]|[/color] Casual Roleplayer [color=gray]|[/color] 1x1's: [b]closed[/b] [color=gray]♤[/color][/sub][/h3]
[color=gray]___________________________________________________________________[/color]
Hello! I'm [color=springgreen]Yankee[/color].
I'm usually down for pretty much anything: action, adventure, romance, horror, taboo, comedy, smut, gore, slice-of-life, etc.
I like cute, fun stories just as much as dark, gross, traumatic stories. I love fluff and whump in equal measure (well... maybe whump a lil more)
I enjoy creating original characters for RP, but I get as much enjoyment writing as canon characters in fandom-based games!
On that note I like [abbr=including manga]comic books[/abbr], [abbr=including anime]cartoons[/abbr], and videogames. I'm also very into cosplay and art!
I am a very slow writer, so my preferred posting pace is [color=springgreen]once per week[/color] or less. I usually post on [color=springgreen]weekends[/color].
I like to have fun while writing, so I prefer relaxed partners who don't take things too seriously.
[b]Remember[/b]: fiction =/= reality.
Feel free to PM me if you like,
however [color=tomato]I do not check PMs immediately.[/color] Might take me a day or two... or ten to get back to you.
Forward all complaints to [@stone]
+
[img]https://i.imgur.com/iYtoiU7.png[/img][/center]
[sub]If I suddenly drop off the face of the earth without saying anything, just assume the worst.[/sub]
[right][sub][sub][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/179862-yankees-characters-past-present/ooc]Character Storage Locker.[/url][/sub][/sub][/right]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-center"><img src="https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/8fb8f456-882a-426c-a680-b47401f20c22.png" /><br><br><span class="bb-b">If you're on my page, check out the RP <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/193061-world-of-light-the-endless-now-the-ultimate-vg-crossover-rp/ooc">World of Light</a>!</span><br><font color="gray">___________________________________________________________________</font><br><div class="bb-h3"><sub><font color="gray">♤</font> 21+ <font color="gray">|</font> UTC-5 <font color="gray">|</font> Casual Roleplayer <font color="gray">|</font> 1x1's: <span class="bb-b">closed</span> <font color="gray">♤</font></sub></div><br><font color="gray">___________________________________________________________________</font><br><br>Hello! I'm <font color="springgreen">Yankee</font>. <br>I'm usually down for pretty much anything: action, adventure, romance, horror, taboo, comedy, smut, gore, slice-of-life, etc.<br>I like cute, fun stories just as much as dark, gross, traumatic stories. I love fluff and whump in equal measure (well... maybe whump a lil more)<br>I enjoy creating original characters for RP, but I get as much enjoyment writing as canon characters in fandom-based games!<br>On that note I like <abbr class="bb-abbr" title="including manga">comic books</abbr>, <abbr class="bb-abbr" title="including anime">cartoons</abbr>, and videogames. I'm also very into cosplay and art!<br><br>I am a very slow writer, so my preferred posting pace is <font color="springgreen">once per week</font> or less. I usually post on <font color="springgreen">weekends</font>. <br>I like to have fun while writing, so I prefer relaxed partners who don't take things too seriously.<br><span class="bb-b">Remember</span>: fiction =/= reality.<br><br>Feel free to PM me if you like,<br>however <font color="tomato">I do not check PMs immediately.</font> Might take me a day or two... or ten to get back to you.<br><br>Forward all complaints to <a class="bb-mention" href="/users/stone">@stone</a><br><br>+<br><br><img src="https://i.imgur.com/iYtoiU7.png" /></div><br><br><sub>If I suddenly drop off the face of the earth without saying anything, just assume the worst.</sub><br><br><div class="bb-right"><sub><sub><a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/179862-yankees-characters-past-present/ooc">Character Storage Locker.</a></sub></sub></div></div>
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