Desna hadn't realized how ugly things could get. She had seen ugly people sure. Even now, she was surrounded by them. The kobolds though? They were super weird and ugly. Like hideously so. Did they not have any shame? If it had been her should probably would of killed herself if she'd been forced to live such an existence. How they found the strength to get up every day was truly a mystery. That was why they must be attacking them though. It was envy. An ugly emotion that did nothing for their features. Desna was glad to see the anxious looking person in her group cast a spell first.
She did so hate to make the first move. Second though? That was fine so long as it insured she got the killing blows and thus all the glory. Everyone knows that it's only the last hit that matters.
So she chanted and fired a cool white light down the narrowish passage towards the dog people. Desna hoped they died because she really wasn't feeling up to living in a world that allowed such ugly things to not die to her attacks.
Carrying Zambo on one’s back is as entertaining as it gets. Despite the surroundings not having much other than grey stone, Zambo kept on humming and chatting with Svend in sustained excitement. He couldn’t help but wonder where this constant glee comes from.
Then the humongous silhouette showed up. And then Zambo whispered to him exactly what he wanted to hear. “Hey! I think that's the legendary Panda Dragon Bear! How cool is that! This is going to be amazing, our first kill a monster that cool!”.
Svend felt goosebumps all-over… could it really be THE legendary Panda Dragon Bear. He wanted to taste it’s meat so bad he salivated at the very thought of grilled piece of PaDraBe meat. His eyes went wide open as he thought up a daft yet amazing idea. He pulled out his crossbow and held it between his left elbow and his ribs in a single swift motion, as he taped up the tip of a couple crossbow bolts hoping the notorious beast didn’t give him the usual luxury of first foe.
When he actually held his crossbow firmly in his left hand, took aim with his lighter’s cap flipped open in his other hand. He noticed what he had his sights on was a...slime. The slime had already jumped at Zambo. The misjudgement that Zambo was weaker solely based on his physique just cost him a large chunk of its expiry date and Svend’s disappointment made what was left much more painful.
The sudden change in circumstances called for a change in strategies but it was too late for that. As he shrugged, he thought to himself “Let’s see if Mr.Jelly here is flammable!”. He lit his bolt and "fired" away…
Artur Ila poked around with his spear for a while, trying to see if he could find anything hidden. Some loot, or a switch perhaps? And, as their luck would have it he accidentally stood on a slightly raised stone in the floor. The stone, which was now certainly a secret button, sank into the ground. And then there was a few moments of silence. Moments in which Dorian and Artur would have had no idea if anything had happened at all. And there came a whoosh. Suddenly a wall descended from the ceiling behind them and the floor retreaded under the walls until it was completely gone.
Artur and Dorian tumbled downwards with all the grace of a terrible simile.
They fell a good ten to fifteen feet through the cool still air. Landing with a soft thud on what appeared to be some kind of platform that had been set up for whenever someone had decided to drop in. Neither of them being damaged by the fall thanks to the platform. But now they found themselves in a corridor much like the one from before. Except the dead end was no longer dead. They could go forwards in the direction the dead end had previously been. Or they could head back towards the circular room. Except, now, they would be underneath it. Because Artur and Dorian had made their way to the second floor. They would need to keep their wits about them if they hoped to get out.
OOC:
Spoiler
Congrats guys! First ones to floor 2! Good luck finding those monsters. :3
As plans go... this one could have been better, thought Dorian as he watch his companion poke around with his...(knife-stick?) weapon. He couldn't help but to feel a little annoyed and embarrassed as he gazed on. Maybe we should have taken a different path? Maybe he should have joined one of the other groups? Maybe he should have taken that owl-guy(SVEND! that was right! He had said his name was Svend!), well maybe he should have taken Svend up on his offer. Maybe he should have taken 15 minutes and saved 15% by switching to Geico! Maybe this! Maybe that! Maybe! Maybe! Maybe! TOO MANY MAYBES! He didn't have time to be second guessing himself like this. What he needed to do was to stop standing there like a jerk and help his teammate! At least that's what he intended to do.
Before Dorian could take one step, his companion stepped onto a switch in the floor. Dorian stood there not knowing if anything had happened. He turned around as he heard something slam down behind him and found himself facing a wall that wasn't there before. The thing that really caught his attention though, was the distinct lack of floor under his feet. Next was the fall, then the landing..., which hurt. Sure they had only fallen like fifteen feet, but fifteen unexpected feet, so yeah it hurt.
Dorian rose in a crouch and looked at his surroundings and for a second thought that he was in the same hall that he was just in. Until he looked behind himself and didn't see the spherical hall, or the wall. Okay, this might be bad. Dorian straightened and turned to his teammate to get his thoughts on the current situation.
"I think we should find a way back to the entrance before we try to follow this path any farther, but what do you think we should do?", he asked as surveyed their surrounding while keeping a firm grip on the sword in his right hand.
- The Non-sensical Adventures of Artur Ila & Co. -
Poking. A lot of poking. So much poking. There is no way that Artur should be poking that much in a day. But here he is, poking every single thing with his glaive. Surprisingly, all that poking didn't even dull the blade at all, so that was a nice thing to happen to him. But damn, did he look stupid poking everything. If it all comes down to it, it beats side-tracking... maybe. So there was Artur Ila, poking the walls like a mad man, with a sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, some secret passageway will open up in this dead end. Luckily, that sliver of hope was proved truthful, but it wasn't because of all the poking. Artur moved around and stepped on a slightly raised stone on the floor. The stone sunk into the ground, revealing to be a secret button that let a wall descend from the ceiling, closing the two unlikely adventurers between two walls.
"Don't tell me I jinxed it." Artur winced. "Don't tell me I activated a trap."
Soon, the floor underneath them retreaded into the walls
"I think it's a trap."
When the two realized that there is no longer any ground that supported them, they both tumbled down like a terrible anecdote.
.
.
.
THUD. The two fell fifteen feet down and landed on a platform that was seemingly placed to anyone who actually did await it. It was slightly uncomfortable in the landing but there was nothing that caused any damage.
"Soo... it's not a trap."
Artur got himself up, dusting off the dirt from his pants. He looked around and noticed that they were in another similar passageway than where they were before sans the dead end. Kudos to the creators of this place because damn the passageways look so damn identical. The two companions looked behind and noticed that the spherical room is no longer behind them. They were at a whole new floor by the looks of it and by the whole falling spiel.
"I think we should find a way back to the entrance before we try to follow this path any farther, but what do you think we should do?", Artur's nameless companion asked as he continued to survey their surrounding while keeping a firm grip on the sword in his right hand.
Artur noticed that he lost his glaive and quickly searched the ground to retrieve it.
"Seems like a good idea. We should try to go back and rendezvous with other adventurers. By the looks of it, and by the way we fell down... I think we are at the second floor. World record there, bud, there is no way the others could've made the second floor at this pace..." Artur smiled but went back to all seriousness. "Let's go find an exit, but lets still keep an eye for anything, the monsters could be more dangerous here."
And together, they set forth once again into the unknown, searching for the exit they so desired.
Spoiler
Status:
Level: 1
Power: 60 I
Endurance: 60 I
Agility: 60 I
Dexterity: 60 I
Magic: 60 I
<<Magic>>
<<Skills>>
- Master of None I
>All stat points must be of the same amount; increase in experience gain.
Ukufa pounced from the shadows and straight at the Goblin that held the sword.
It almost saw her.
Almost.
But almost isn't good enough in a fight. Almost means Ukufa's axe rushing down and cleaving through the Goblin's neck. It's head went flying, it's body vanished in a small poof of... something. And a small magic gem tumbled to the floor.
But now the two remaining Goblins were onto her. The two sprung to their feet and screamed. Then, one empty handed and the other wielding the bone the pair had been gnawing on, they charged her. And they were hoping to deal some payback.
Today is a shitty day for Reuben. That's for sure. First, he got to meet with Seth, the God whose mouth is fouler than even the foulest putrid abomination that resides on Niflheimr. Not that Reuben has ever seen Niflheimr himself though, but hey, Hel's the ruler of the place and she's a pretty decent house keeper. A little of a clean freak, even. There shouldn't be anything too foul down there. Well, anyway, the point is that bloody God's mouth is fouler than even a huge pile of one-week-old dead frog carcasses. Not that Reuben's ever smell those either though. Eh, you got what he's trying to tell.
Even worse is the fact that he's now on his first day of dungeoneering, a quest that will affect his Familia's future greatly. He's never been involved in a real combat in the upper world, and now he's supposed to fight for the future of all unliving under Hel's care (which amounts to 7 undead cats, for the moment. That and a few sympathizers. And some deceased souls that Hel saved from the early stages of the dungeon, which now roams the world as decent, well-mannered, civilized zombies). The pressure is on, and he's not sure that he's ready to tackle it yet.
And to finish it off, he didn't even get to ready his mind for it. For a psycho bitch with idiotic strength has decided to give him the position of a "meat shield" and dragged him along with her to one of the most ominous-looking gates, and kicked him down the road before laughing maniacally while speaking some unintelligent gibberish. Rude.
"What the hell is wrong with you, you bloody vixen! What if you tore me arms right off me should-ahhhhh?!" he complained loudly as he tumbled down the flight of stairs.
There was a certain reputation among the Nyx Familia, in that they always knew how to make a sudden and surprising appearance. Evander did just that, coming out of a shadowy alley within one of the merchantile wards of a mostly residential district of Orario. The city was huge, but there were always paths and roads and routes and tunnels and bridges and all sorts of other methods to head right into the bustling center of it all: The Tower of Babel. After having ran so far from the training monastery, Evander felt that hesitation in his step that most people felt when they were about to approach a location entirely alien to them.
Evander left wet foot-prints behind him, having stepped into an oily puddle in the alley's damp cobble-stone floor earlier, and he slowly made his way through a narrow market street. He sauntered past individuals who gave him a slightly curious glance before going on their way. The kiosk owners kept their eyes on him though, who knows when a thief might appear? The Nyx Familia, although notorious for being spies and assassins, were not petty thieves...criminals, perhaps, but that was all suspicion, no solid evidence of Nyx Familia interaction could ever be found. This wasn't a Familia where anyone could commit any offense and be hidden from the authorities by the Familia, no, there was a reputation at stake here for this exclusive group, and they would waste no time in cutting ties with anyone who broke the rules.
Evander had been raised to be a fighter from when he was a child. Joint-operations between Familias was where a considerable portion of the Familia's income came from, so the young recruits or the children born into this Familia were expected to take the mantle of the older agents. Some didn't, and were respectfully transferred to other branches of the Familia, while most took pride in their training and duty to uphold their Familia's status among the others. The street began to curve now, and the breeze picked up. The weather was pleasant, nothing remarkable. This morning, Evander had prepared himself for his first Familia operation into the Dungeon. Things had gone differently from what he expected.
Kenneth Montana, one of the Nyx Familia's most important and skilled Heralds, had been conversing with a manifestation of the Goddess herself over the past few months as he finished preliminary training and initiation for the newest agents into the Dungeon Corps. Kenneth was personally tasked in training those few agents who his subordinates considered gifted in the art of stealth combat, rather than their speech or sneaking skills, although these few chosen ones were adept in those two other subjects as well. There was one young man, the child of a woman Kenneth highly respected, who he took as an apprentice, simply because the two were just so much alike. Compared to the other chosen ones, Evander seemed to have something special in him. No, it was not because he was the offspring of a spirit and a human, rather it was the fact that it did not matter what he was in terms of heritage, he was simply in possession of raw talent that could be honed and molded into something truly grand.
"Honestly, you just want to turn him into a little version of yourself." Kenneth's wife had remarked when she heard her dear husband go on a tirade of how he might have the possibility of transforming this young man into the Familia's next best Dungeon Corps agent.
Kenneth shot his wife a bewildered look and then frowned when he realized the truth in her words. Begrudgingly he crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged.
"Well...yeah...that too..."
It was this morning in the training monastery, where Evander went up to his mentor's office. For weeks he had been told that his paperwork was being processed for when he would finally join the Dungeon Corps in the Nyx Familia, there-by graduating from being a trainee. Now, with the paperwork having been filed, he could move on. Evander was extremely excited to join his mentor in the famous Dungeon Corps, where tales of Nyx Familia agents were regarded with popularity. These men and women were risking their lives for the Familia, much more than the spies or diplomats were. Inside the office, Evander found Kenneth in his uniform, perched atop of a tree planted within the office itself. The man then leaped from the tree, and landed silently onto his desk, which was cleared of all items for such an activity.
Spoiler
"Celty had to dig this one up from the archives for me, it's all about tradition and what-not, hence why I'm dressed up today. Hmph, I really do think they never cleaned the blood off from that last time I was in the dungeon. Man, this thing just...doesn't smell right."
Evander couldn't smell anything through his mask. It was also tradition to hide your face in the Familia when business was being discussed, unless you were one of those outgoing diplomats or negotiators from the Persuasion Corps.
"Yeah, doesn't it just sound lame? 'Persuasion Corps'. Dungeon Corps is where it's at, son." were Kenneth's exact words that day he extended his arm out the boy, and they began their master-student relationship.
"Mornin' there, Evan."
Evander really didn't like it when Kenneth called him that. He tolerated it anyways.
"Time to get on your big-boy shoes...or, er, whatever the fuck those things you wear on your feet are. Honestly, Evan they look like socks, but just...whatever floats your boat dude. I look like a cat with these things on so who honestly gives a fuck? Anyways, Evan, the Nyx Familia is all about tradition. Years and years ago, when the very first manifestations of Nyx herself started appearing on Earth and scaring the shit out of people, the Dungeon Corps was just a couple of chumps looking for a job because they were pretty much bums who could sneak really well. Nyx recognized the darkness in their hearts, not the bad kind of darkness though, not that sociopathic or pedophilic shit, but the good kind of darkness, y'know? Man, I sound like a coffee advertisement. Celty says I'd fit right in to the Marketing, hehehe, Corps. Now just wait up, Evan, just wait up. Listenlistentomelisten. Why the FUCK do we have to add 'Corps' to the end of 'Marketing'! Seriously! They don't deserve the 'Corps' like we do, man, we actually fight and do dangerous shit. Hey, I might be completely wrong because I don't know about this shit, maybe other militaries in the world actually do have legitimate Marketing Corps, but fuck me man I still can't get over it's title. It's ludicrous, Evan. Marketing Corps, what kind of beaches are they fucking storming, eh?"
"Master Montana, I believe you had a mission for me?" Evander responded with a hopeful tone. He was a good listener, and always enjoyed Kenneth's tangents or anecdotes, but honestly if serious business was going to happen today that affected Evander's future he'd rather get to it as fast as possible.
"I digress, sorry about that Evan. I just try to make people laugh. Helps them digest the terrible things they see in the dungeon, and move on, y'know? OH WAIT, you wouldn't know would you? You rascal. You haven't even done your first Dungeon raid! Haha, oh man, well today's the day Evan! Now I hark back to my previous story, about the manifestations of our lovely leader essentially inspiring these lowlife sneaky-types to get their asses in gear and fuck some shit up in the dungeon. Well, Evan, you're going to do exactly that, in the exact same fashion they did. It might take you an hour, it might take you a week."
This was sounding rather exciting now to Evander.
"Tell me my directives." the young man confidently inquired. Kenneth chuckled and shook his head.
"Evan, back in the day the Nyx Familia was not known at all. Look at us now, we're still rather unknown even if our numbers and financial status has drastically risen. These handful of people who were chosen by Nyx herself, the Familia's fore-bearers, they had to work extremely hard. Nothing was given to them. Evan, d-do you know why this Familia has a Marketing...pfft, excuse me...a Marketing Corps and a...Persuasion Corps? I always thought they were pretty meaningless, how about you?"
In truth, Evander had believed them to be a bit useless and inferior compared to the majesty of the Dungeon Corps. However, there were some really good-looking girls in these departments and he did not want to openly bad-mouth them.
"Well Master Montana, I believe they must be here for a reason, right? I never thought to ask." Evander confessed.
"Well here's your answer, Evan, and it isn't pretty. These bum-ass, ratchet fore-bearers of ours looked like slumdogs, plain and simple, and literally no other Familia was paying them any attention. There were very few of us back then, there was no way we could handle the dungeon by ourselves, we would die. Nyx even said that we needed to make allies, convince the other Familias that they needed our special skills. Funny, how what appears to be one of the strongest deities in the world chooses the, relatively speaking, weakest or lowest people as her Familia. So for what seemed like months, these hobo-looking, downright smelly, and poor-as-fuck losers became...well...direct-response marketers. Do you know what those people are, Evan? Do you?"
"Ehhh, not entirely, no? W-what are they?"
"Those are the motherfuckers, right, standing outside on the street or the boardwalk, yeah, trying to sell food-choppers and cleaning supplies to people who walk by, when these people just want to go and get some lunch from down the street."
"W-what?! O-Oh my Goddess."
"Yes, Evan. Our fore-bearers were essentially pitch-men. Thus, the Marketing...ahem...Corps, was founded."
"So the Marketing Corps pre-dates the Dungeon Corps?!"
"Indeed my good man! Anyways, we worked on our image. We got cool suits, like the ones you and I are wearing now, although they looked slightly different back then because we didn't have all the money to make couture outfits. Now people started to at least look our way. We directly approached Familias and asked them to take us with them. A lot thought we trying to rob them, or just didn't trust the way we look. Nyx suggested we work on our speech skills."
"Wait, are you about to tell me that--"
"Hence...the Persuasion Corps was born."
"OH MY GAAAAWWWWDDD--"
"Mind-fucked! Welcome to Mind-Fuck! Where you get fucked, IN THE MIND! Bshwooooom!"
The two agents began to pantomime their heads exploding using their fingers while making explosion noises. Eventually they stopped.
"The Dungeon Corps, the largest and most celebrated department in this Familia, Evan, was the new kid on the block. Once we finally convinced the other Familias to accept an agent or two into their raid parties, that was when shit started to get done. People didn't realize they needed us. We were the heroes that Orario deserved, but not the ones they needed...because we weren't heroes."
"I swear I've heard that before."
"Well Bat-Bro, that book protagonist for the detective novels that the Thoth Familia makes, he was based off of someone from the Nyx Familia!"
"Oh wow, awesome!"
"Yep, just some trivia for yah there. Now, onto the main point. Evan, since the Nyx Familia is ALLLL about tradition, this is how you're first Dungeon Raid is going to go down. You're going to march up to that tower. You're going to approach a group. You're going to introduce yourself, you're going to explain yourself, and you're going to ask if you can join that raid party. If they refuse, no problem, you try again. You keep trying, until you eventually get a party that accepts you! Just like our fore-bearers did. All your speech and negotiation training is not obsolete just because you're trying to get into the Dungeon Corps. Once you're done with the raid, and you've survived any betrayal attempts to what have you, you get your ass right back here, and then there will be much celebration! Drinking! Sex! Games! Fun! Who said the Nyx Familia doesn't know how to have a good time?"
"Master, did you mention betrayal?"
"Oh yeeeeeaaah. Back then we got back-stabbed all the time! Nobody wanted to share loot because we were all trying to start up our own Familia ourselves. So, that's how our Kill Corps was established. Our veteran members would reach out to other Familias who were screwed over in these joint operations, and then Nyx would authorize certain individuals to go and do...certain things...to certain targets...that we may or may not have done so, because there were people willing to pay us to do this shit. Evan, you don't ever want to bein the Kill Corps. In fact, the Kill Corps doesn't exist, who told you about the Kill Corps again?"
"Y-you did--"
"WHAT?! What Kill Corps? What's a 'Kill Corps'? Did you mean Marketing Corps? Certainly you must have meant Marketing Corphphahahahaha! Pfffffft. S-sorry, man I just can't keep a straight face talking about those guys. I met Celty when I visited a Persuasion Corps mixer actually, that's where she works did you know? We connected over our shared disdain for that lame Marketing department.. Haaaaaaahhh, oh man, she's a great woman. Damn Evan, I wish you were my son."
"Huh?"
"What?"
"...What did you--"
"Eh, get going, alright? You packed your shit? Get a move on, then, Evan. You're going to be late anyways, sorry about that, guess I talked for too long."
"Late?! M-Master?!"
"Get going Evan, all the good parties will be gone by now! Once you've done this, never again will you have to embarrass yourself, the Nyx Familia goes by a contract system, the party will be ready for you when you get to the tower. Until then, you'll have to do it old-school. TRADITION, EVAN! TRADITIOOOOOOONNN!"
Evander raced out of the monastery, with Kenneth's booming voice still echoing outside through his open window. When Evander arrived at the tower, it was noticeably lacking of any raid parties who were preparing themselves to enter the dungeon. He sprinted inside, passing by parties who were coming out of the dungeon, and then entered a room where there were many doors, each with a sigil above them. Already a few groups were off, and Evander felt that it was too late to try and barge in and properly introduce himself. He'd either have to wait for more parties to hopefully arrive, or come back some other time. How long had Master Montana said? It could have been an hour, or a week?
Suddenly, Evander's eyes darted to one door. A single individual entered it. From what Evander could tell, it was a fury figure who seemed to look like a noob-level adventurer. What were they doing going in alone?! Maybe they were just following a party who had entered that door beforehand. Evander stepped towards a middle-aged man who was standing near-by.
"Hello, sir. Um, what do you do here?"
The man responded in a gruff, disinterested tone of voice. He appeared to be a warrior, given his bulky frame and armor. However there were no weapons on him.
"I'm a trainee handler. You don't need to know what Familia, and we're not looking for any more party members, kiddo."
Other Familias had their trainers come with the noobs? Evander felt a slight form of envy, it seemed as if the Nyx Familia expected more of their agents and did not cater to them as much as the other Familias. Still, Master Montana's presence would have been appreciated none the less.
"Uh, wait then I assume your trainees have already moved on?"
"Yep. The trainees I'm looking over have already gone inside the dungeon. If you're looking for somewhere to join, you're fucked kiddo."
"How did you know I was--"
"Nyx Familia agents all look the same to me. Don't you have a reputation to uphold, young man? You arrived here late as balls. It's always the same, new blood trying to find a party to join for that initiation ritual or whatever the fuck it is. You guys are weird. Still, I sort of pity you."
"Gee, uh, thanks then?"
"Don't be salty, kid."
"I wasn't bei--whatever...do you know what doors the groups went through? Maybe I might be able to join one who doesn't have a lot of members already."
"Optimistic, eh? Good heart, lad. Sure, I'll help ya' out."
By the time the man was done explaining, Evander was feeling a sensation of anxiety and excitement in his gut. Maybe he might be able to catch up to these interesting groups of people. However, there was one issue which troubled Evander.
"Hold on, sir, what did you just say?"
"I said that around the time you arrived, the large parties had already moved on, but there was one lass from the looks of it, who decided to venture solo into one of the doors."
"All by herself?"
"Yep. Brave of her, but also dumb if she can't handle the dungeon."
"Wait, what door did she go through?"
"That one right there. It's been a good amount of time, now, enough for her to have found monsters. Sure it's the first floor, but...hrmph, now I'm getting a little concerned. Oh well, I've had people die or get seriously injured before. It's sad, but it's what happens."
Evander looked around the room to each of the doors the larger parties had gone through, and then stared at the door Ukufa had entered. He sighed, acknowledged that what he was about to do was incredibly risky and unnecessary, and then did it anyways. Evander ran to the door which Ukufa had entered, and sprinted in the darkness through the first level Eventually he heard loud noises, like the banging of steel and monstrous screaming. His heart was beating fast, but he remained stable. The darkness was his ally. Evander crept through the shadows, staying quiet as he neared Ukufa's fight. There she was, a strange-looking being handling a duo of goblins on her own. One was already slain, and Evander felt somewhat useless. She could handle herself, he told himself. Yet, that gnawing feeling of concern was still there. Damn the consequences, he needed to act because it was the right thing to do.
So Evander moved in, hoping his ambush would pay off.
Spoiler
Status
Level: 1
Power: 100
Endurance: 50
Agility: 75
Dexterity: 75
Magic: 0
Magic
n/a
Skills
Hex Step: Evander gets a movement speed buff for every skill used near him by allies
Inventory
Items:
Khopesh (Weapon)
Gear:
Assassin Mask (Armor)
Skintight Shadow Suit (Clothing)
Shadow Shoes (Clothing)
Spoiler
Crimson Cloak (Accessory)
Gloves (Armor)
[Empty] Utility Belt (Accessory)
Valis: 500
Edited by Shmuser Name, 16 January 2016 - 06:19 PM.
She hadn't expected the Goblin to be so weak as its head rolled off and it vanished in a poof leaving behind something shiny. The other two seemed to be ready now as one grabbed the bone it was chewing and went in for the strike. Ukufa picked the hilt of the sword that the dead goblin was holding as she tried to regain balance from her lunge and immediately
went for a low diagonal swipe aiming to stop both of the goblins in their tracks just as she sensed something in the shadows.
A potential fourth monster. Things weren't as easy as they had sounded. If she would fall to these lowlifes, how will she be ever able to avenge her family. Her eyes glimmered in the little light that was present in the dungeon. Her inner fire simmered as she continued to fight.
Spoiler
Status <You start with 300 Stat Points to spread as you please.>
Level: 1
Power: H150
Endurance: I90
Agility: I40
Dexterity: I20
Magic: 0
<<Magic>>
<<Skills>>
Blood Rage (Level I): Ukufa's strength increases the more damage she takes.
Through the vast entity that is the Internet, we now find ourselves in an unfamiliar place. A place of new faces, new personalities, and new adventurers alike. This place is the new home of our motley crew, and it is called Batoto. Here, as we meander through bustling streets and cobblestone draped markets, we find the first new person we will meet this day. Diabolical Rhapsody. What is so curious and is immediately the most noticeable thing about this shy soul is his height. Towering over eight feet high and sporting a two-handed mace that weighs more than some men, one would expect this scraggly bearded giant to be a savage barbarian. Yet those who dare try to scratch the surface a touch soon find a kind soul who so earnestly aims to please. Accompanying the vodka that he drinks and sings softly to is a pen quill made of the finest eagle's feather. His tools of imagination and creation, the studious giant fervently writes his passages for us all to see.
Thoth Familia, Selene Familia, Baron Samedi Familia.
The four kobolds rushed the young trio of adventurers. It was, let's say, distressing for poor Matthias. So he did what any panicked magician would do. He started casting magic. In this case, gravity magic. Aiming at all of the kobolds with a large area attack obviously meant that the damage was more spread out, and less effective. And then he had to contend with the kobolds natural endurance and magical resistances. All in all Matthias didn't manage to collapse the kobolds into a furry little pile of pain, but he did slow them significantly as they felt their arms and legs become at least twice as heavy.
And still they charged the group. Though they charged in a very sluggish manner now.
But not for long, as Desna fired off her own magical attack. One of a much more direct nature. A blast of light. It blasted into the face of one kobold, and took his face with it as it followed into the kobold directly behind it. The first kobold disintegrated into a puff of white smoke and a magical stone fell to the floor. The second took a hit and really wasn't enjoying its time as it lay on the floor unable to get up.
Eddie, meanwhile, was busy summoning skeletons. When he was done, just about as Desna's attack was finishing up, he sent them at one of the kobolds. The didn't immediately destroy it, but they were working on it. And they'd get there soon enough.
OOC:
Spoiler
One dead and one wounded from rogues attack. Dudes skellies will pick that one kobold apart in time. The unharmed one is still trying to attack, the wounded one can't get up because of useys gravity skillz. Skillz with a Z.
Kobolds did unpleasant things sometimes. For instance, they angrily charged at people, and were grotesquely ripped apart by skeletons, and made gross noises, and--perhaps worst of all--refused to be crushed to death by gravity. Despite Desna's moon laser taking out one and a half kobolds and Eddie's skeletons doing strange things to another, one final kobold seemed to charge uninhibited at Matthias, despite his best efforts to kill it. This was in the first place rude, but also the slightest bit terrifying. What if it reached him and poked at him with his possibly disease-ravaged little hands? That would be horrible.
Releasing the gravity spell for a second, he cast it again, this time focusing solely on the last charging kobold. The pressure put on him from the previous spell was nothing compared to this one. I mean, that was the plan anyway: to crush it into pieces so small no one would recognize that it once had a scary dog face.
Desna had successfully killed her first...well anything. She assumed it was dead at least. This was a new experience for her. Was she supposed to be undergoing some kind of moral dilemma about the killing of intelligent creatures for no reason other than her own advancement? She wasn't if anyone was wondering She was a little annoyed though. She kind of wanted it to be a bit flashier. Only one kill was kind of subpar. You know? Also, the fact that they were alive but wounded just kind of made them more ugly. Which Desna hadn't really expected. It was gross.
She could do better though. She saw one of them charging...uh...that one kid. M something. She would fire a laser at that one and maybe if she lined it up she could hit the one getting up from the gravity spell. Desna just needed to get a good angle on it. Optimally, that angle would also not hit any of her teammates but maybe it might? She was like eighty percent sure it wouldn't.
Hel Familia, Inari Familia, Dionysus Familia and Kuebiko Familia
And now we finally get back to the largest of the newly formed groups as these four young adventurers, and one terrified Bull, make their way down the pathway marked with a skull.
Now, perhaps a skull wasn't a very good warning picture. The fact that four people decided, instantly, to walk down that path was a sure indicator that something about the warning just wasn't working. Maybe a skull was too vague. Maybe whomever carved it should simply have written 'Don't you do it.' and moved on with their lives. It would have probably been easier than drawing a skull too. But, alas, they did not write a simple message. They did the other kind of thing. They carved a message that you didn't understand until you knew what it meant, but when you knew what it meant it was incredibly obvious.
This group now knew what the skull had meant.
And I'll bet they all felt silly for not knowing right from the get go. It was so obvious now.
Because as the walked down the passage way it began to open up somewhat. The passage became more like a grand corridor. The bare stone began to take on a chiseled look. As though someone was imitating brickwork. And then, for reasons nobody had bothered to explain, skulls began to appear on the walls. Many, many skulls. They lined the walls. Now, that was creepy all by it's lonesome, but the fact that they turned to watch as you passed added a brand new layer of creepy. And when they group finally hit the patch of corridor with a ragged old carpet they finally met opposition.
A skeleton stood before them. He had patchy leather armour, time and battle-worn down to scraps, and a mace in his hands. Also, he had no head. The eye sockets of the skulls that populated the walls began to glow a faint green-blue and their teeth chattered together as though they were laughing. The skeleton gave a test swing with his mace, tearing it through the air with a whoosh.
Plitzintecuhtli Familia
The great Zambo with his mighty little arms swung his sword straight at the face of the incoming slime. Zambo may not have had much on the slime in terms of strength, endurance or even height, but his hit was a good one. Zambo bitch slapped that slime out of the sky. A thick chunk of the slime separated from the rest of the body and splattered against the wall. The rest of the slime landed back down in front of Zambo. The surface of the slime began to move. It shifted and warped and shivered, shaking itself about until the gap in it's body was no more. The slime was smaller now, but back in one piece.
Just then a flaming arrow pierced the creature, courtesy of Svend, punching a hole right through it's body. The fire didn't seem to do much more in the way of damage, in fact the slime seemed to put it out with it's goo pretty much the second it touched it. For a brief moment though, before the hole in it's body closed up around itself, Svend would have been able to see something in the center of the slime. Some sort of stone or something? It was a strange thing whatever it was. And possibly a very blatant clue too. Perhaps someone rolled well or something. Hmm...
"Get em boyz!" Eddie proclaimed as the skellies converged onto one of the kobolds. They were individually weak, but there was strength in numbers and soon the kobold would fall under their might. Eddie was really hoping that more interesting monsters might show up, as these creatures were appallingly boring. Or, failing that, some for some monstrously strong creature to show up so that he might "heal" his new friends. People liked being healed, he was told. If they had an extra arm, well, that was just a bonus wasn't it?
"Quickly boys, we don't have all day!" He urged them on, smacking Randy with on the base of his neck with the backside of his cane to hurry him up.
"Oh, you mean thing right here?" she said with a smile to the zombie, while waving at him with his very own right arm. Her smile quickly turned into a grin, "You better hurry and get your arm back before this little guy starts eating it!" pointing to a little creature on his arm that seemed to be eating the rotted flesh on his detached arm. She then tossed his arm away from him, laughing as she watched him scramble after it.
As she stopped laughing, she heard a voice from behind them. Turning around around to see the owner of this voice, she saw an old man. "Laughable, huh?" she said to no one in particular as she turned and watched Reuben's struggle to get his arm back from the little critter. "I'd say." she said after a moment of silence, trying to contain her laughter.
Once the others recovered from their 'fall' they introduced themselves to the new addition to their party, though the zombie was a bit reluctant at first as he glared at Tama for what she did, while Tama simply looked on with an innocent smile, which enraged him further. With introductions out of the way, they continued on their way through the dungeon. As they continued walking, the place started to become less cluttered and looking much nicer, well, compared to before anyway and skulls started appearing on the walls. Staring at the skulls as she continued to walk on, "Honestly, Now they line skulls up along the wall? Totally throwing off the Feng Shui of the place." she shakes her head with obvious disapproval.
Moving on, they came across an old ragged carpet laid out on the floor of the dungeon. Following along the tasteless carpet, they came across a skeleton wearing worn down armor and an old mace in its head. Oh, let's not forget to mention that he doesn't have a head. How can that thing be moving about with no head?! she thought as she looked on at the skeleton, noticing how absurd it was. It was then where she heard the chatting teeth of the other skulls as their eyes started to glow. It was thanks to that she realized something. Well, it was merely a hunch but it was definitely possible.
"Alright, this is how we'll do things. You!" she pointed to Samson and his cowardly Bull, "You two, or at least you will," after noticing that Salvador was trying his best to sneak away unnoticed but failing, freezing in place as Tama glared at him. "Will distract that Skeleton warrior as the rest of us destroy the skulls. Got it?" She commanded, not giving anyone a say in the matter as she assumes command. Her train of thought is that the skulls along the wall act as the skeleton warriors 'Eyes' therefore, whatever 'they' see, the skeleton would see the same. So if they destroy the skulls, it would limit what the skeleton is able to do/see, thus hindering it.
Of course, it was only a hunch, so she could be wrong but it's not like she was going to tell that to the others, she grinned as she took out her katana and began slicing away at the skulls.
OOC:
Spoiler
Status: Tama makes her glorious debut at the expense of Reuben (Fay's character) and Samson (Rob's character).
Level: 1
Power: 120
Endurance: 50
Agility: 65
Dexterity: 65
Magic: 0
Magic Spells:... N/A
Skills:
Juggernaut (Rank I): A skill that allows her to temporarily decrease one stat to increase another. The amount of stat points up for exchange depends on the rank of the skill. Currently converts at a 5:1 ratio.
Inventory
Items: N/A
Gear:
Weapon: Nameless Katana
Armor: Basic light Armor
Valis: 3000
The Epic Of X:
Spoiler
While we fade away from the bustling market where our benevolent giant resides, we spend what seems to be endless hours winding through the unfamiliar cobblestone streets. Slithering through the labyrinth of darkened streets and narrow passages until in this expansive city, we reach a place where the light rarely touches. There, beneath a fickle and flickering lamp, sitting upon her throne that marks her the queen of the underworld with a cunning and seductive smile is none other than I-Am-X. Calmly observing us with a yellowed iris beset upon harrowing black, her fanged grin only grows wider as her fingertip guides the rod that stirs a tall, thin glass of suspicious looking Red Wine. Here in the Dark, we exist temporarily in her Kingdom. A place where the unsavory sorts can find sanctuary, a black market, and often the tools of death, subtlety, and subterfuge.
Sliding her sultry fingertip upon the spine of a book, the tome seems almost alive as it shudders and props open to a blank, but weathered page. Dipping a sharpened fountain pen in ink, she takes her mark upon the leathery parchment after a sip of her Bloodied delicacy. Not a moment later for us, the innocent-minded folks living upon the streets above, she describes to us her next devilish machination.
Remember the bits about Reuben is having the worst day of his life? Yeah, things keeps on going downhill by the minute. Remember the fox bitch that kicked him down the stairs? She decided that it's funny to play with Reuben's arm and then toss it around like it's a frisbee. Really rude, that little bitch. Imagine if the roles are reversed: Reuben is the one that tore her right arm off and dangle it around without a care in the world. What would happen then?
The entire society will condemn him for his act. They'll hunt him down, dismember him, and put him inside separate casks and bury them six feet under in six different locations to make sure that he did not do such atrocity ever again. But here, with the cute-ish fox girl doing the abusing, everything is fine. Not even the other members of the quartet lent Reuben a hand, or go out of their way to condemn the mad girl. No, they're just standing there bedazzled by her "impish" behaviour. Talk about screwed up society and double standards.
Meh.
However, things are starting to get better for Reuben afterwards, even if with the thinnest of margin. The improvement we're talking about? They come in the form of eerie skeletons popping out of the walls. To many, these things might seem to be an omen for something even worse. For Reuben, however, they're the perfect outlets for him to vent his angers. Let the bitch act all smart and leader-ey as she wants to, Reuben is one step ahead of her. Before she even decided to tell others what to do (baselessly, I might add), our mighty undead protagonist has already started bashing the laughing skeletons with his bare fists.
Early birds get the worms, yo.
OOC Stats:
Spoiler
Status
Level: 1
Power: 100
Endurance: 75
Agility: 50
Dexterity: 75
Magic: 0
<<Magic>>
#N/A
<<Skills>>
+ Assimilate - Stein could consume fallen monsters' soul core to increase his own stats.
As the bolt flew past his crossbow and splashed through the slime. For a moment he thought he saw small marble in the narrow gap his bolt created. Svend wondered, was this the proverbial achilles heel of the slime. He remembered hearing something about certain monsters having weaknesses form the more veteran members of the Familia.
“Hey! Mr.Jello here just might have a weakness, I saw some kinda marble looking thing where my bolt hit.”
He then shot well aimed bolt at the marble-like thing...
"Alright then! Time wrap this party up " he said. Zambo jumped aside, providing Svend a clear path to make his shot. He had trust in the big man's abilities and observation. Although he had only recently met Svend, and had no real reason to put so much faith in him, Zambo simply did almost by gut instinct. Right now in the heat of the fight such faith aided him, the lack of indecision removed unnecessary time in his reaction's leading to split second synchronization that may seem like the r\result of years of training together to outsiders.
In he heard rather than saw the bolt shot by the owl man hurtle past. Quickly leaping back into action he followed up with a quikc flurry of slices, hoping to catch said marble in one of the many cuts.
It could be said, that warning signs exist, and with good reasoning too. For those who dare to ignore them, who are they to ignore what troubles would soon be before them? To a discarded eye, a knife! A sword! Death follows shortly. Go'on, perhaps, was riddled with that thought.
"Huh, well what do you know. Guess it was an honest warning. Wahaha!" He broke out, seemingly amused by the situation they had no sooner found themselves in. But, present peril aside, just what were they? This would be group, this misappropriated troupe. Go'on himself doubted the importance of his attendance, and doubted the firm connection between everyone in audience. No sooner did he think, did he begin to scan the area. No, not so much surveying the many skulls around him, nor the skeleton up front.. he was scouting, trying to figure out those he would soon have to trust.
"Laughable, huh?"
She was the first one to address him, and appeared to be the de facto leader of sorts. Whoever she was. Tama. She seemed aggressive--pushy. Much like a child who wants just about everything. Go'on would give her a spanking, if she so asked for it. Having dragged along her teammates, rather than convincing them to join together, Go'on severely doubted the foundation of trust built amongst the trio before him. No more evident was this truth, than in the face of Reuben, who, having been ransacked and ragdolled about, found himself fed up with everything, running off to take the headless skeleton on his own. Another character to keep an eye on, for sure. Go'on found the idea of a zombie fighting off against a skeleton to be humorous, and so did his pencil and paper, to which he began to scribble away.
Sycophant
I am the Crooked Man,
Who twists and turns
And bends to every man’s whim
There is no bone left in my body
That belongs to me
Another rendition was complete.
Lastly, he turned his attention to Samson, who had unfortunately became Tama's next victim. He hadn't thought much of him, but considered the man to be a shrew, no less. Anyone folding under that woman's hand was bound to fall to that fate. Still, Go'on recognized the threat before them, and willingly threw himself forward. Whereas the others decided to focus on the skulls, Go'on rushed in to aid Reuben, as the two would take on the mace wielding menace.
"Ah, say.. you there! What did you think of the sign, it was silly, no?"
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