Chaldean Chronicles: Cadence of the Lostgrail
✅ - Pre-Lostbelt Game Rooms / 〚💬｜game-4
As other thing were happening elsewhere in the singularity, the team were sent to the city of Chengdu. A rich merchant family which had a heavy influence in economics in the city, as well as been a good source of funds for the war was requesting aid. They had been facing a case of thievery, while it wasn't much initially, the amount that it has happened over the years has stockpiled into quite the hoard somewhere.
It wasn't particularly hard to get past the gates, as it was a city a bit more removed from the frontlines of the war the gate checks were quite a bit more lax. Though upon passing by the gates, they're greeted by a very prosperous and bustling city. Particularly lines of stalls, shops, and inns down the main road of the city with people coming in and out of the varying establishments.
As the group moves on towards the upper class district the presence of the guards is quite a bit more noticeable. But rather than being an oppressive presence, they seem more relaxed an a part of the community. It was a seemingly close nit community, but this was the opening gate where things would be booming. If any of the party can read Chinese many of the signs have something related to the Yang clan, the same clan they were heading towards at the moment.
It wasn't hard to tell, but the city was on something of a split between a class and districts system. The lower class people being on the base, where as the buildings belonging to the middle, upper, and the castle were on their own layers. Though the lower class district didn't particularly seem all that poor, at the same time it wasn't hard to tell that they worked hard to make ends meet.
(So where are you all choosing to look first for their family~? Also who knows Chinese cause it'll make things quite a bit easier for you all.)
It's pretty easy for Mihaly to find himself someone of at least some figures of authority. Some guards were nearby just chatting away with one another as they walked around eating some very freshly steamed, steamed buns.The guard pair pauses for a moment, stopping to swallow his food and wipe his mouth so he seemed more presentable to the group.
"Ah the Yang family? They're on the edge of the upper class district. Just head on up there and walk down the main path for a while, their family compound is on the right side. Just know that they don't just anyone in though unless you have some sort of prior arrangement with them."
As the guard spoke he seemed pretty casual about the whole thing, not really bothered by the fact a group of travelers was looking for the Yang family. He treated it almost like it was a relatively regular occurrence for people to seek out the family for whatever reasons they may have.Without much difficulty Chiron could realize that while this place wasn't anywhere near the warfront, should an enemy break through that line of defense then they would most definitely come to this place before taking the city. Especially with the layout of the city, it would be one hell of a bitch to take. With there only being few ways to ascend the various layers in the city.A short walk up the various layers of the city, a mere 20 minutes away in the upper class district and as the guard said, on the right side laid the Yang Family compound. It was a very large compound, even by the standards of the compounds of other families beside them. Granted they were on the outer portion of the upper class district, so the compounds were bound to be a bit smaller than the ones further in.
The Yang Family's compound had a large sign on the front of it which said "Yang Family" on the front. Two very well armored guards stationed out front for the obvious reason of needing protection.
(Here's the guards)
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The two guards glanced at each other, then the one on the right side of the doors asks Mihaly in a bit more of a gruff tone,
"From which organization are you from? For confirmation purposes and all." (edited)The guard nods then turns towards the door, knocking on it twice before it opens a small bit, a young maid only 15 years of age or so peeking her head out. The guard whispers to the maid a small bit before the maid scurries off and the door closes once more.
"It will be just a moment... If you are the people who the Patriarch commissioned, it'd be nice if you solved it soon. Whoever keeps doing this is cutting our bonuses...""The master pays well to those who do well, those who fail him will feel repercussions for failure. He can be a very tough man, but he is a fair one. As for the thieves, I cannot tell you much as per the order of the master. He will inform you personally of the information we have gathered on them...""Our security is some of the best in the city, only worse than those in the castle at the peak and the high class nobility closer to the center. We have no holes in our security be it day or night."
The man says this confidently, not minding that the team was doing a bit of peeking around for routes that the thief could have used. But as much as they investigated, anything short of being able to truly go invisible and teleport out was pretty much out of the question. There was literally people patrolling around the perimeter of the compound at all points of the day, never missing a beat.Almost on queue the young maid from before opens the door and gives the group a bow.
"I apologize for the delay, the Patriarch will come see you now."
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/81/e2/1f/81e21fd116f7eeef2058e57608aad572.jpg
"This way then sirs and miss"
She gave the group another bow before taking them on a short walk through the compound. Most of the compound being lots of open space which included gardens, ponds, a training ground, and various little single room type building for people. At the center of it all being a larger building which she brought them up to the main entrance for the building, giving it a gentle knock.
"Patriarch it is I, Liu Chan bringing the Chaldeans..."
There was a pregnant pause before a stern yet seemingly gentle voice responded to Liu Chan.
"Let them in!"
With those words, Liu Chan quickly opened the door and stepped back so that the party could enter.In the back center of the great hall type building sat a man on a chair, obviously the Patriarch. To his side was a lady who leaned against him, dressed in all pink with this stupidly positive smile on her face. On a seat off to the side that faced the center of the hall sat another lady, a young lass who was maybe 17-20 years of age at most.
When it came to guards there wasn't to many, just three on either side of the man and lady in the center, one standing behind the young lady and two at the door. He stood up and met the group in the center, taking the chance to shake hands with all of them. It could be noted that his hands had callouses on them, a sign of someone who's done some hard work.
"Greetings Chaldea, it's good that you have finally arrived. This problem has plagued us for long enough and I wish to see an end to it. I have heard your organization's success rate at completing requests is quite high.""Well, as of the last few months frequently pieces of jewelry and unsecured money have been taken from my household. At present we are unsure of who has taken it, but I'm sure it's one of those people from the slums... They must have stolen some treasure from a higher class noble person which allows them to conceal the stolen goods..."
The Patriarch of the Yang family just scowls a bit at this, but his face returns to a more relaxed yet stern one. His daughter? on the other hand was just eyeing each and every one of the group to just get an idea of how each of them will be like."But of course we have, and we have investigated each and every one of our staff, but they have all passed our extremely thorough checks... If you wish to go investigate our staff once more go ahead, but it is most likely someone who lives in the slums.""We have seen a few here and there, but they are few and far between, far more was stolen than what was sold... All we can gather that it is someone of a smaller build but always has their face covered when they sell... It is also always to different vendors...""We do not speak of any of them by name, it would be suicide to join the underworld with your true name... Instead each wears a mask with the symbol of various animals on them... Regardless she has visited them all... All of which do their business in the sewers or the slums... It's safest to do that kind of business there after all...""I would go check the slums, there isn't anything here that the nobility would particularly risk angering me over."The Young Lady gives Mori a smile and wave. A oddly friendly one, not like her mother’s(?) smile but more like that of a merchant. One that always has meaning behind it, albeit a concealed meaning. As the group set out, it became more and more clear the difference in each class. When they finally got to the slums layer, where the sewers were it was a very harsh place to live. Many of the homes were paper thin, and had spots in the ceiling with holes in it. It truly wasn't difficult to find an entrance into the sewer ways, there were after all many difference ways in and out of the sewers. But it can be noted that a fairly large stream of sewage poured out from the sewers, and the smell beside it was awful. And I mean sticking your face into the rotting corpse of road kill that's been left in the harsh sun and has been smeared in shit and piss kind of awful.
As Mihaly approached and peeked into the sewers a wave of smell hit him, the stench even worse than the outside. A very heavy one which seemed to almost be engraved into the walls. The sight he saw inside was a pretty standard one, just a decent sized sewer opening, but it went in quite far, almost like an all consuming void. Going from dim to dimmer to dark the deeper he looked into it.As Mihaly looks around the three pathways to choose from, one lead way further in, continuing to be very dark, the way to his right was the same, but the way to his left was a really really large pile of not only what can only be excrements, but also whatever the fuck else gets tossed into the sewers, including a lot of trash.When Mori enters, he is hit by the same wave of smell, it being horribly sickening to smell, even worse than it was outside, but still just barely bearable.As your sight expands with Chiron casting Dark Vision on all of you, you can see just how horrid these sewers really were. If any of you really wanted to test the ground it had a slick and slimy consistency over the top of it that anyone could really feel the squelch under their shoes.
As Mihaly heads left with the group behind him, he, Nobu, as well as Chiron could note various sounds faintly echoing from all the different paths, most likely rats or something. Down that left room for Mihaly, oh shite a rat!!! Just a normal rat, but an angry fucker that's turned to you.As Mihaly enters the northern room, there's a huge pile of shit and gunk that had piled up, a small hole at the top, presumably where a toilet was far far above. There really isn't anything special but the rat and a lot lot of shit and trash.
By the way, this rat is angrily hissing at ya'll.As for those investigating for tracks, it didn't seem as if people had gone through this way recently(a lot of rat tracks though), perhaps the robber either came into the sewers another way or just hadn't come back in a while. (edited)This little rat goes ahead and tries to bite Mihaly, but doesn't exactly get at him... It's a hard life being a rat okay?We got a really dead rat as yall move along. Not to many troubles as you explore this short wing, just a lot of sewage and shit. Like giant piles of human feces half the size of yall.As everyone gets to jumping around the sewers, people were slipping and falling on their ass into the slimy shit and others were perrfectly fine. Overall, hey, Mihaly's gonna notice some skeletons climbing out of some shit. Perfectly brown skeletons!!!As Mihaly shoots the skeletons they get damaged quite notibly, but one rushes forward to go smack the person who shot it!! Right into the sewage it goes!! It can be noted that this thing is like waist deep in sewage.It truly wasn't hard to kill the skeletons, whoever made them had to have been at least a necromancer on the more lower end side of things rather than a servant or anything of notible skill. But hey, Mihaly has some visible shit where he got cut.Skillfully Chiron disinfects the wound and pretty easily relieves Mihaly of the possibility of a disease.Mori and Mihaly can reaaaaally feel just how heavy the stench is in the sewers, giving the two a strong sickness. It isn't any disease, just some nausea from it being horribly disgusting. Illya on the otherhand is fine for now... FOR NOW!!!As Mori looks down the way, it goes quite a bit deeper in, but there's a sunken portion with literal walls covered in shit... God these sewers are nasty as fuck, obviously there hasn't been anyone to clean it out like ever.Where Mori and Chiron come up to the (yellow) shit covered area, it's purely covered in shit and even sunken noticably into the sewage. No avoiding stepping into the sewage!! But it's only like knee deep or so for the average human.As the group start passing through the sewage, it was fine for the servants mostly, but when it came to the masters, Illya and Mihaly were mostly fine, but Mori yeahhh enjoy wet socks... Sewage wet socks cause that smell is really fucking strong for you right now.The group very soon noticed a large collection of small rats, and one very large rat. Some of which are hissing and alerting others to them. They're all very pissed rats...
As for Chiron's investigations, the only tracks are those which could easily be assumed to be a skeleton, whilst others are rats. No human tracks yet...Chiron managed to sense the skeletons in the pile of poop, dealing away with them quite effortlessly. Afterwards whilst investigating for necromancy rituals, there was a faint feeling of it, but these skeletons definitely weren't all created in the sewers, perhaps some were, but most were brought here externally.It wasn't hard to make it past after flying on over, but oh no more skeletons that are being easily dispatched right now!!As the group investigate the sewer system, they could note that there was more people activity past the gate, not a lot but still a little bit more than the other side. But what was most interesting was a bejeweled ring sitting on top of a pile of poop in the room not to far from the gate where the skeletons were murdered. With further investigation, not to far away was a locked wooden door?Illya went ahead with summoning the raven on the other side of the door. Fortunately the summoning went through and the raven was there and vibing on the other side. Flying not so high above the ground. It was there for but a few moments before Illya desummoned it. Instead when she walked up and shot off the doorhandle the door slowly swung back a bit, revealing a dark room. Though those with dark vision if they peek inside see quite the collection of riches, in a singular pile consisting of all sorts of things. Taels(money), jewelry, and other small objects all gathered up together~! Awww shit the stuff you were looking for. How to you proceed?As Chiron moves in, just past the doorway he could notice a very thin wire as he entered there wasn't a trap in the door way but just past that he tripped a trap by stepping on an incorrect stone and as his attention was a little more attracted to the little swinging rock traps set in the closest two corners. They were just a bit more obvious than he trap just past the door. But not by all that much... They're pretty basic traps though, nothing that could really injure someone decently equipped, more like something to deter normal people.
Anyways, the trap he tripped caused a few rocks to fall roll and fall over the entrance from a hole in the ceiling, though with Chiron's skills they were pretty easy to avoid. These weren't a lot of rocks or anything, just a pair of head sized rocks.As he tossed the stone, some of the gold got displaced and slid down clinking onto the ground. Nothing yet? Strange...As Chiron investigates the room, besides the two swinging rock traps there was a wire that lead to no trap? As well as a few single use knife flinging traps centered on right in front of the treasures. Besides that there was no other treasure? How do you wanna proceed?As Mihaly shoots the traps they wing back and forth a bit. Someone unexperienced with traps may have gotten hit in the head by a rock, but they're just normal rock traps. Just hanging there now...Well rest in piece these knife traps, they as Mihaly shoots them they activate and smack the opposite wall before clattering on the ground. Well now there isnt any traps, and a lot of treasure? What's next?As they all enter and start collecting the treasure everyone could hear the faint pitter patter of feet getting closer and closer. For everyone but Mori it was pretty easy to tell it was but one person and someone who was a bit lighter on their feet?The mysterious figure coughs after being hit, just barely staying conscious after being hit by Nobu. The voice of a young lady crying out,
"Stop, don't take it!!""I can't let you do that... I can't let you take awake all I've worked for!"
The hooded girl sobs out her words, obviously in quite a bit of pain."That's just how all you foreigners care about... Just the money..."
She rips off her hood then brandishes her knife, it was the young maid girl from earlier. Tears were streaming down her face, and her hand shaking uncontrollably."If you all even knew all the things they've done... Then you'd not return that stuff!"
She staggers a bit, still very very injured.
"I need it... I can't let you have it...""Do you even know how long I've been collecting all of that... They won't be able to hold out if we can't keep it..."
She lowers her knife for the moment seeing as they were capable of a civilized conversation, but her hand is still tightly gripping the knife."Nm..."
She doesn't say a word for a moment, debating on talking. While foreigners were untrustworthy to her, at the same time they could be her greatest allies?
"It's for what's outside this place..."
"It's not the end of the world, but it'll be the end of some of their lives... You have to had seen the conditions outside..."
She glares at Mihaly, still being slightly volatile despite being about to collapse."Nmm... I'd prefer if you don't take it at all but I understand... At least leave of the more valuable things... I can sell those for good money and feed those who actually need it over that man eater and her family..."
She spits out her words quite bitterly, still not exactly satisfied with how things are coming to be but understanding why it must be as such.She takes off her glove and munches on the bread for a bit, though not all of it. Instead placing it in her bag for the time being."As long as you leave some of it then fine... But again, we still need some of it left behind.""The jewelry should last us at least a decent amount of time..."
As she stumbled on past she put back on her gloves and put her hood back up. The maid girl then not so gracefully hopped over the sewage, slowly getting up due to her injuries, but then moves on into the room.
"Thanks for doing in all my traps..."
She then collected a small handbag full of some of the most valuable looking objects then stepped outside the room. The large majority of things still there, specifically a lot of the raw money was still laying there.
"There... That should be at least enough to let the young ones eat for a while... Also... Be careful of the young miss... Don't go accepting any offers to go into her room..."The girl lets the party take the stuff, monitoring them as they do so. Only making her exit after they themselves had left the area.For Chiron slipping her the gold was a piece of cake, and while she hasn’t noticed it yet, she’ll definitely be thankful for it later.As you all bring it back the head of the Yang family squints at you a small bit. And this is all of it? Forgive me but when dealing with valuables one must always be somewhat skeptical.”While checking through what was returned, and speaking with the Yang Family leader. The patriarch’s skillful insight he noticed that Mihaly’s word was mostly true though not entirely. Though for now he doesn’t say much on it. It may be a notable amount for normal people. But it’s certainly not enough to get into a conflict with the famous/infamous Chaldea. Especially with some of the things that have happened as of late with the war coming to what seems to be an end…
“I shall take your word for it then… Why don’t you join us for dinner since you all are here?””You need not stay if you have other things to attend to. But if not then I insist on it~””Is it not just common courtesy to invite someone to a meal when you have invited them to do an important job for you?””I see, if that is what you wish then I shall not for you to stay. As for payment, you may take half of what was brought back…”
The Yang Family’s Patriarch let’s out a small sigh, as for why the sigh. He doesn’t plan on saying.”Very well then… I bid you and your party goodbye.”
You are set out to investigate the village to the west near the mountains. Standing outside the base you can assume that it will take at least two days of traveling and one day of hiking through the woods before you reach this village. The weather is somewhat cold and nippy at exposed skin but is otherwise not terrible, though the forecast for the near future you can't exactly tell. As well as that the morning mist fumes around the mountain paths, making it a nice sight to see, though you can't exactly see far.
Checking the map available to Chaldea you know that the first two days of traveling will take you through many winding mountain paths in order to get out of your current area before you descend down into a valley of black pines.You're far south enough that at the very least the worst of the cold won't be as bad.
Onwards you went through the mountain path. It was a perilous journey for the bike. You could see one wrong move and you would pitch over into the valley hundreds of meters below where a stream ran along, sparkling in the soon growing midday sun.
The mist was chased away as high noon approached as the group zoomed down the mountain pass, kicking up a dust trail as a result.
@Game Ping 4
PP-15
@Thicc|Fie/Ali/Ayu/Miyu/Nag/Mel
Fie would notice on the mountain peaks all around them, some capped with snow that there was shadows contrasted against the white that was moving. They're high up though and the path that you are on is luckily still being covered from the angle of the sun in shadow that hides you.
PP-13
@[unintelligible sub noises]
Fuji ahead of the group would catch the sound before the others. Like distant shrieking and cawing like a flock of birds was somewhere above.
”I hear some birds, a pretty noisy flock if anything. I’ll check ahead and report. Tell the others”"Understood, keep alert but see if something's happening under them, or try to."
Informing the others as they drive, Wiltrud keeps a steady hand on the wheel.
1Listening closely Fuji would count at least four separate cawing noises that were just above her, just beyond a rock outcropping. She'd need to be careful if she was to go any further.
And even stranger the closer she listened she realized that these didn't exactly sound like birds. But almost like humans attempting to vocalize the sound of a bird.
@Thicc|Fie/Ali/Ayu/Miyu/Nag/Mel
PP-21
They were far away, almost on the other side of the sheer valley but you almost can swear that these creatures at least appeared humanoid and possessed some sort of additional limb. Like another arm or maybe a folded away wing. (edited)”Tsk! It sounds like something is imitating birds, and they seem to be in number of four. Get ready for anything, I will investigate further and see if I can make heads of tails of this. I will get back to you soon” as the talking ends, Fujibayashi would conceal herself, slowly advancing to investigate further the source of the noisesFie would see there were at least five on the other mountaintop.Climbing upwards you would begin to see four creatures sat on the outcropping, huddled around a carcas of a massive condor they had brought down. They looked sickly with feathers falling out of their wings as they hurriedly consumed their rotting prey.
”If this new powers serve me right, they are similarly looking to Greek mythology’s harpies, they look like people who have been transformed into birds, or birds who are trying to be humans. Wherever this words come from, I hope you understand them better then I do. But know they are here. Quite distracted already by eating a carcass, and they seem a bit sick. Fetahers fall. They might not attack us if we leave them at peace, although it’s your call what’s the next plan of action. But I care to say they seem to be docile” (edited)The path forwards was wreathed in shadows. If the group was quiet enough they could possibly sneak by."Hold your position. We've encountered these things before, they're no issue. Let's pass them by if we can."”I will watch them from a distance” she says picking up a rock from nearby, planning to use it as distraction if necessary ”If they hear you moving pass I’ll try to distract them with the promise of close and immediate food if necessary, already picked up a rock and if they seem to me they found you then I’ll try to see if this works” (edited)Everyone almost made it.
The keyword is almost.
Wilturd invertibly and accidentally brushed against a rock on the path that went tumbling down the cliffside, clattering all the way down.
Fuji would see that the Harpies heads all turned as one towards that sound source and their wings began to unfurl.
New prey. And fresh one at that.
@Game Ping 4”They heard you, be prepared, I’m going to try and distract them”"Yep, figured as much, hopefully that works..."The Harpies both turned their heads towards the sound of the rock clattering from Fuji. They began to slowly creep towards that sound, giving the group another chance to make it past.”Distracted, there might be no other chance, I’ll take distance to regroup myself”Silently the group would manage to sneak past the group of disappointed harpies who now had nothing to feast on but barren rock. You could hear their screams of fury now as they raged at this trickery.
But they had no prey now.
@Game Ping 4”I’m glad you managed to make it out, I will make sure to continue taking a lead ahead and preventing other situations like this. Congratulate the others on my behalf, high spirits are always important for good groups to stay together. You did great Wiltrud.”"Thanks, would have just been a waste of time and energy. Good to see I haven't fully lost my touch, of course~"
"It did. If we're lucky, that'll be the last we see of them until we reach our destination~"Mounting up again after a safe distance from the harpies you see in the distance that there are great big black clouds brewing far away and slowly apporaching. It's entirely possible that by some time tommorow you lot could have a bit of issue. But anyhow as you made your way down the mountain pass, it slowly becomes paved underneath your feet and coated in moss. Hands had built a naturally occurring path into a road of some sort.Evening, lightning up the clouds brilliantly like they were on fire, was beginning to fall and in a few short hours it would be dark no doubt.”Hmm, … Dark clouds mean that they contain a lot of rain in them, … also that a storm is highly likely, shelter is in need””Thunderstorm to be exact””In my opinion we should priorities shelter if we are not sure how far our destination is. Maybe a cave or sorts or take our times building a tent out of the branches and leaves”"Good point. See what you can find over there, we'll start looking ourselves."Fuji would find a rock outcropping on the path that provided a good amount of room for the group to settle down.
And it was shielded by the mountainside from any possible large storms that might break out during the night.”Might have found the spot, tell the others to gather leaves and sticks, we will make a rudimentary shelter and a fire for the night, I’ll go look for some flints to start the fire, and maybe a bit of food as well if we don’t have anything to eat. The spot is on a cliff’s edge if you go up to the right on the path, … although be aware, if we encounter a fight here. We might not have where to go. So bear in mind if you do think it might be an issue. Also for the last thing? Please get dried branches, green branches won’t burn as easily. I think you know that already. Tree sap would be nice as well as a fire starter. Will go see if we can eat lizard tonight” (edited)Drawing from within the knowledge of the core stored in her, Asteria would know that this storm would break sometime late morning tommorow but that it would escalate quickly when it did. In the meantime some lightning may break out occasionally but nothing too much."Acknowledged, good work. We'll be there soon, if the gathering goes well. Hopefully you can find more than just lizards though, or at least enough for a decent meal."
*Nodding to Asteria, Wilt gives her a thumbs up. "Forecast magecraft, I suppose? Useful either way. That said, alright. Assassin has found us a place to make camp, we just need to gather kindling, dry branches and some sap if you don't mind getting your hands dirty. Careful with the sticky stuff, of course. Oh, and did anyone bring rations or better food?"Fie would find 8 pounds of food from an assortment of sources as well as enough dry wood to keep the fire roaring the entire night.
And just in time as you watch the sun disappear over the mountain and the shadows rapidly creep up.
@Game Ping 4Boom! There's now a 30 foot high fortress tower on the mountainside where there hadn't been one before.
She shoots a wink to the group and stretches a bit whilst she helps take stuff into the fortress~!Night had now fully fallen over the mountains, bathing everything in darkness. Even the moon was mostly hidden by those black clouds, with only suggestions of moonlight peaking through occasionally to light the valley.Night began to fall as Fuji patrolled on the battlements but strangely she would hear clucking down the path they had come from during the evening.
Cluck. Cluck. Cluck.
@[unintelligible sub noises]Cluck. Cluck. Cluck.
On the path, a robed figure stood before her walking down towards the Instant Fortress. Its cloak covered everything saves for its mask, a massive break that it had for a head that was made of something like white clay or bone.
Cluck. Cluck. Cluck it went as it slowly approached Fuji's invisible location.
”Wiltrud we might have company wake the others up! Now!” she announces to her master loudly in her head to wake them up, before she would distract the being with a disembodied voice of her own “You shant walk further then you did, state your name and purpose. And suggest it make swift” right as she finishes to speak moving to another place, in order to confuse the being if it tries attacking the place where her voice was heard, pacing around (edited)Everyone would see on the path stood a dark figure in robes and a long beak-like mask or head seemingly talking to empty air while clucking loud enough for the entire mountainside to hear him.
@Game Ping 4"Fuji, guessing you're the one being talked to, what is that...person or thing saying?"”Let’s adhive their advice, it seems we are not sitting well with numbers, you guys flee, I will stay behind until I think it’s safe enough and I will follow, if I don’t come back, … don’t turn your head towards the mountain anymore” “We will take our leave, I presume you won’t follow?” maybe confusing as the voice comes from the same place, seeming as the disembodied voice didn’t switch this time, but barely how they will yet again move, she needs to be unpredictable"Got it, don't take any risks you aren't forced to."
"Turning to the others, she shakes her head.* "Do we get out of here? We don't know what we're facing, but it's not just some tourist."”Heh, … seems I’m growing on you, … just leave me, I can outrun them if need be. Just know and be realistic of the situation” (edited)”You guys should really hurry up””I don’t know if this thing is hexing me or warning me””Oh no, … the cliff side might collapse I think it’s trying to communicate”"We're headed down ASAP then. Meet us at the village if you can."”JESUS! Yes! I will be right there, at least that person was a good person, watch out for the figures we know nothing about them” (edited)Wilturd's bike would suffer the fact that the path was narrow and rough in her speed.While Asteria and Fie easily made it out of the bike before it pitched into the darkness, Wilturd wouldn't make it.1 ◉◉◉〇〇
Wilt would catch the bike and prevent it from taking harm before it would slam and paste her against the wall as she slowly went downwards.-204 ◉◉◉〇 The bottom valley was a rocky and rough place and in the dark, all you could hear was the rushing of a nearby stream as it gurgled and swelled.Luckily both Monta and Wilt would reunite with the group after all that drama.
Moving down the path you hear a deep rumbling behind, like a rock being gnashed on rock. Deep growls and thundering footsteps but they are now very far away, almost mistaken for the distant booming of thunder.
Suddenly you would hear this rumbling around a twist in the corner and a large creature that was big enough to take up the entire path would emerge out of the rock and stare at the bike, raising up one of its hands as if it was blinded by the headlight of the bike.
16
With a deft stunt, Wilturd would slip between its limbs and zoom off.
But the stone creature didn't even pursue or really react, it just cocked its head at them confused.Dawn arrives and you begin to wind down the mountain, exhausted from the drama of the night. But despite dawn approaching, it does not get any lighter, keeping the world in a humid twilight. Trees begin to appear and soon you are in a misty forest. Visibility is cut down to heavy obscured by the mist. And all the while the storm above could break at any moment. Already you hear the distant thunder.
”Wiltrud,” Fujibayashi’s voice blares out of nowhere probably startling her as she continues Something it uneases me about this fog, … I don’t like it. It feels wrong. Could it be some other kind of sorcery? We still don’t know what the being was attempting to warn us about” (edited)Fie would smell a familiar scent on the air over the stinking petrol of the bike as the party rumbled forward.
Rotting flesh. And lots of it. Just ahead of the path.
@Thicc|Fie/Ali/Ayu/Miyu/Nag/Mel"Hmm... Something tells me that bird guy was trying to tell us about things like the stone creature we passed. But this fog is a problem whether it's some sorcery or not, we'll have trouble getting through here..."”Tell the others I’m alright, I will go ahead and check where the smell is coming from and if I can spot danger, carefully advance slowly, I will be back”You pass by a tree that had been cleanly ripped through from the ground, a long line of shallow sinkholes on the ground, a large wooden bolt that was as long as Fuji was tall with a blood-soaked sharpened tip, thick silk rope at Fuji's head hight, and finally the corpses. A dozen of them along the roadside had been ripped apart with massive force or simply crushed until they were nothing more than piles of gore and broken bones on the ground.”Something is in here, … something that might be strong enough to rip trees out of the ground and claws that tear through flesh like well sharpened blades. Or grind them i. Between their hands flattening them” she nods taking steps back towards the party ”If I had a hunch? Now I have a belief, … the fog might be what he warned us about” (edited)"He talked a lot about stone and rock too. Could be this entire area was included in his little poetry episode. I just want to get out of here, and not hear clucking for a good while... Ah, do the bodies look fresh, or even recent?"”Judging by the smell?, … bodies usually start giving odour anywhere ranging from one to three days to my knowledge” pausing for a bit ”I’m glad you are alright, … I’m sorry for my inaptitudes and cowardly ways of avoiding battles. If only I was faster, … you might have not injured yourself, …” (edited)"No, that was my choice completely. I'd rather be a little banged up than stranded in this kind of place on foot... Not the worst I've had either."”I’d like to make sure you are alright fully, if I may apply the bandages whenever we manage to find a secluded safe spot. As for now, I will stay close, the fog hinders vision, so having to small areas of sighs won’t make much sense. And in confusion I might get lost into the fog trying to get to you. We need to be sure of every small detail. I seem to discover new stuff the more time I spend time in this, … spiritual form of mine. Seems tense situations do bring out the best in people. But when we get back at the facility we will have to take a bit of a step back for a bit. Also don’t forget to keep your mind still and focused, one wrong slide and we risk everything. Not to mention, this type of direct communication is something rather useful it’s a pleasure I get to annoy you directly, makes it more personal” she says letting out a chuckle before regrouping with the team, ready to look around and protect the people aboardGetting out of the bike you would see one of the bodies, shunted against and impaled against a tree branch through his stomach with its feet above the ground, twitching slightly as you approached. He was dressed in a tribal germanic tunic and was still grasping a long pike in his hand. There wasn't a smell of rot coming from him.
@MoonBowBishPoisonFist|PormalDue to her Fae eyes she would see him through the mist easily where others would have a hard time seeing.-51 ◉◉〇〇〇 
Suddenly his head shot up as Asteria's healing spell reinvigorated him. Then he looked down in horror at the branch impaling him.
"Oh Gods! Get me off this! Get me off this!" he began to frantically thrash in shock.It's hard to calm down when you're impaled through your guts and he didn't even seem to notice Asteria in front of him. He just kept screaming in shock, so loud that it was echoing throughout the entirety of the forest it seemed.
Coming closer Asteria would see just how young he was. A babyface with a crooked nose and bright blue eyes and shaggy brown hair. He couldn't have been more then sixteen really."Mama..." he whispered as he realized what they were about to do. He shrieked at the top of his lungs as he was removed and immediately began to pour blood out of his wounds. The pressure the branch had kept in was expelled by the action and both Wilturd and Fuji were struck in the face and chest by his arterial spray as he began to rapidly bleed out.
@Game Ping 4-202 ◉◉〇 Now limp, the spell fused the worst of the boys bleeding but you could see there was now a fist-sized hole in his stomach. At the very least he wouldn't die immediately. Covered in his own blood and sweat his eyes began to glaze over as he went into shock.-47
Effect: Regenerating [60.0 minutes]7 〇 Masterfully the wound sealed up and prevented any further septic shock even though the pain was still there, it was just a phantom. Now he was just a young boy panting on the ground with a sweat-covered face as he looked up at Asteria.
"Mama?" he said at her as he squinted, his face betraying his confusion. "Oh I never should have joined the Guard. You were right."
@MoonBowBishPoisonFist|Pormal"Oh... you're not her," he muttered as he realized. "W-w-who are you? Why is your hair... your ears... so funny?"
He nodded at Fuji as he mentioned water."Water... water would be nice, ASteria." he whispered weakly, "My name is Strauss."
He squinted at Wilturd. "Mercenaries? Where did you come from? From which tribe?"
Strauss' face darkened, "We... we were caught off guard. This strange fog covered them until they were right above us. We weren't even supposed to fight, just run back and report. It ripped the tree out of the ground and used it like a massive club. And it grabbed me... and slammed me..."
"The others? Where are they? Did Hardwin make it? He's got blond hair. He had the horse."
@Game Ping 4
Fuji wouldn't find too much interesting except the fact that there were at least twelve bodies here, But it was hard to be sure since it was impossible to tell which torn limb or crushed torso belonged to who.
But with her higher perception check Fuji would hear at the edge of the reach was the soft whinnying of a horse. Panicked. Scared. Somewhere in the mist (edited)”10 to 12 bodies, hard to tell. Most probably 12, there’s a horse neigh in the distance I will check out, verify with Strauss the numbers” (edited)"Got it, we're fine here so take your time." "Strauss, just to confirm, your group had around 12 people, correct?"
Fuji would creep closer and see a white horse on its side in a ditch, legs kicking out, she would see the reason why. Its legs had all been reduced to stumps, massive teeth having ripped them out just from the way its flank had been brutally bitten. Under the half-dead horse was another corpse, one with golden hair and a crushed ribcage, a look of shock frozen across his face."Fourteen men, he says. That means two are unaccounted for by your count, can you look for them? Wait- That horse probably shouldn't be there, be careful!"”Their friend is dead, … I will put the horse out of it’s misery. Been bitten alive. Is there anything that Strauss requires retrieval?” ’Wherever I go death must follow, a lone path I’ll walk and a life of solidarity I’ll take. Here te prayer I have for the others. Don’t cast your hex on them’ ”Don’t worry about me, if anything happens I’ll tell you”"Can you describe that friend? Strauss says the one with their horse ran days ago, how old is that corpse?"”It’s a man with golden locks, his rib cage is crushed and his face, …” she pauses for a second ”It was swift, he didn’t know what hit him. Tell him less descriptively” crouching down to put the horse out to nights she continues to check them man, patting him down ”Hard to figure out how long ago he died. All of them smell of root and it’s the same with him probably, but I’ll try to figure out that. But don’t get your hopes up for it. Does Strauss know if he something was in the yellow haired man? If he was that important he must have been needing to cary something, as well as with the others”"Fuji, that man was meant to get a warning to the village about an approaching pack of giants that will attack it through the fog, same as the ones that made the mess we found. Search him for a message and get it there as fast as you can, we'll catch up soon."”As much as I like to be independent, a cruise though the fog will not be an intelligent thing to do. I can just end up getting lost, and never deliver it. As well as not to mention that contraption is faster then I can run, and you guys still need me to be close to you. My contract was to protect you, I will be waiting just a bit ahead and join you when you pass by me” (edited)"We're moving then, regroup with us. The fog isn't something I'd race through either, but we're out of time if we want there to be a village for us to reach. One with anyone alive, at least..."”The fog feels amiss, … I still think it’s what the creature was warning us about, we can’t run, it’s from under, the sides, above, … it’s everywhere”Coming closer you would hear the sound of heavy footsteps through the trees. Thundering and shaking the ground with their steps. In front of you on the road, you would see a massive shape in the mist easily 20 feet high and massive with its club in its hand. Its back was turned as it stomped down the road, seemingly not having noticed the bike.
@Game Ping 4
Slipping beyond the Gaint Fuji moved through the fog and through it saw shapes that showed that the giant wasn't the only one there. At least two more large shapes loomed as she raced between them as well as smaller shapes in the form of creeping wolves that raced between the legs of the giants.
Soon the fog would break and Fuji would see in front of her there was a checkpoint on the road, a few barricades thrown up with torches all around to light the ten or so guards that had been stationed there. Two large ballistas had also been mounted within camouflaged positions. They certainly looked like tribal members, wearing the same green tunic as Strauss back there.
@[unintelligible sub noises]They seemed unaware of the threat as even the sound of heavy footsteps hand't reached them, seemingly blocked by the sound of the rain and distant thunder now falling.”Two more are ahead, accompanied by wolves” (edited)”That’s the minimal number don’t forget there might be more I haven’t spotted, the fog was to thick” she saidThe ten soldiers jumped and grabbed their weapons, an assortment of long pikes and spears. "Who the hell are you? And gaints?"
"Giants!" a burly beared man announced, "Damn it I knew this fog was bad news. Umbrah get on that horse and get to the village! Light up the fires on the way. Scorch their path."
The troops acted without hesitation and began to move. Such was the threat of giants and their discipline that they acted on it even when it came from a seeming stranger.
"How many of them were there?!" The commander shouted back and waved her over. "And get in here woman before they fall on your head!"
Result: 1d2 (2)
Total: 2"Strauss's group? We thought they were still on extended patrol when this fog rolled in. May their souls rest." The Commander said. "Wolves we can handle. The giants he can slay."
"We will hold our position here and try to buy the village as much time as possible to rally the garrison and sally out.""We have women and children in our village but we have a plan to get them out."You would hear that the stomping that was approaching the fortified outpost had stopped, and now it seemed to be growing more distant as you heard a deep screaming echo through the forest.
"What the hell was that?" The commander said, "You weren't the only one that came from the fog were you?"Already you could hear the sounds of barking in the woods as the Frost Wolves charged forward towards the source of the scream.
@Game Ping 4Let loose the hounds of ice.”Are you ok?””Are you ok?” "Well lets hope that whoever you can across has gods in them because they're calling down an entire gaint pack.""We're okay, we ambushed one and took it down...but not before it made some noise. It's all in our favor however, they're rushing back to where we were, and we're gonna get right past."
"Let's try to sneak, this is another opportunity. At the least, we should move away from here, almost certain they're all headed this way."”The man I’m with seems to be telling me there’s a whole pack coming” “How ,ay I be of use then?” she asks looking at the chief"I wouldn't be surprised, but we're making sure we won't be there when they come."“I will!-, …… trust you, … I will hold my current position” Assassin would announce as she closed her eyes, lowering her face down a bit when the ninja crosses her arm (edited)”The man I’m with seems to be telling me there’s a whole pack coming” “How ,ay I be of use then?” she asks looking at the chief "You can either help us hold this outpost or you can go help whoever is in there, cause only the Gods know how much help they need now."Seconds were left before the wolves would break through the fog.That required two attunemtn slots and they might not have the time prep that.You could now see the wolves themselves as shadowy suggestions bounding and jumping towards you.8 〇 Knipping at your heels you would escape the jaws of the wolves with barely room to spare. And now you were flying towards the village at full speed.Leading the way Strauss would bring the four of you to the small fort on the road that Fuji had gotten to. The commander looked in surprise at Strauss, "Strauss! I thought we lost you with that patrol!" (edited)"More strangers. This past week has been an eventful one for sure. Were you the people that drew those monsters away before?""Sir," one of the garrison troops said, "Don't think ears should wiggle I think."
"That's what your concerned about?""How big and sturdy is this magical fort of yours?""You have more then one of these things?" The Captain asked quizically. "How small are they that you can bring more then one with you?""Woah!" The soldiers looked in shock as the massive fort sprang up. "Um, that's new. Three more of that huh, how sturdy are these things."Suddenly the horseman that Fuji had seen had come right back. "Sir, the rain up north has swollen the river. There is no retreat at that route."
"Damn, then where is he?"
"It turns out before I arrived that a pair of giants was spotted at the eastern outskirts and he went to slay them. We're trying to get in contact with him. It was almost like they were trying to distract us and draw him away."
The commander looked at Monta. "How many people can that fancy fort of your store?"”Am I miss understanding your words perhaps?”"Hm? We'll be fighting from that fortress, unless you prefer to be fully mobile?""That will be enough to fit most of our civilians in the village, stranger," he said, "We rarely try to hold and make walls, preferring to sally out and take them before they reach our village but if what you say is true even your fortress should be able to hold up and protect them if they slip by."”I may not be resilient, … but someone has to keep them off after all. Getting crushed at least would be quick unlike the way I died last time”"Correct, you and Fie may be best off harassing them on foot... I'll leave that decision to you, then.""How do we use these boxes?" The commander asked Monta before he turned to Wilturd. "Into the one your friend just put in? Not enough time before the giants arrive. Buy me some time and you'll have a fallback point with ballistas covering you. Strauss can show you where we put down the traps that could slow them down." (edited)"Right how many do we get for the village itself then?"”My decision has been casted when I decided to join you. I’m a person of my honour and word, you haven’t betrayed me till now even if we know each other for but. Few days, although we had a few bumps at the start I do believe you are a very capable person. Never call yourself just the muscle again. You are worth more then you give yourself credit for. You may think the lantern won’t cast it’s light in this thick darkness you found yourself doomed and bound to. But just know you are truly a pleasant person to be around, … and funny. Heh~ you almost popped your hand to save a contraption. You are strong both mentally and physically. Just let me do what I’m good at”*And almost as que as the fortresses went up you could hear an all too familiar barking on the wind, through the mist.
"Frost Wolves. Always heralding the march of the Frost Giants." the commander said. "Ready yourselves men. Reinforcements shall arrive soon." (edited)”You are to close to the danger you need to beat into retreat just a bit I can handle this”"Gonna decline the offer, someone needs to be in position to trigger this device here while the line holds. You already know I'm good at getting through trouble, trust me once again, okay? I'll get back to the fortress once the trap springs."”You truly are stubborn, … very well, do your magic then. I believe in your word as it suffices” (edited)And like that you would see the winter wolves, ice dangling off their fur and forst on their breath bark and howl as they saw the prey in their blood-shot eyes.
The battle was on!
@Game Ping 4”We will have to talk about this when everything is up” even if her voice was sour Wiltrud can see Fujibayashi is smiling, clearly not meaning itThe first Forst Wolf would bound forward and strike a massive bite at Fuji, only to find itself chomping on empty air. It stared around in confusion. There could have been no way it escaped! (edited)Suddenly all of you would feel the ground begin to shake beneath your feet and the sound of great heavy weights falling onto the ground. In the fog you could see great lumbering shapes approach menacingly.
@Game Ping 4And through the mist you see a great creature, twenty feet tall and with stone made for armour. It had a stunted face and blunt nose, ugly in every aspect of the word. But in its hand it held an absolutely massive greatclub that could easily crush anybody.A Stone Gaint approached."Retreat a bit back!" The commander shouted, "The ballista are almost in place but we have no angle to help support you!"The Stone Gaint would simply just shrug off more the enchantment after its strike at a fellow wolf and just shrug off the weight of Fie's attacks. But her smites drew it back and broke several plattings off its armor and drove it back a few steps.The Giant made a tremendous roar of rage as Fie's shuriken blinded it in one eye.Suddenly a chill swept over the battlefield, freezing the moisture in the air and turning it to snow. Your breaths would suddenly mist and crystallize in the air. The Frost Giants came out of the fog, imposing and withouth faces.
Fuji would suddenly sense a Servant approaching fast at full speed.
@[unintelligible sub noises]
”They seem to not want to attack, yet be cautious, I don’t want to extract myself from this situation, yet. But we also need to check on the people, I advice you tell our group to come with you and to ‘advise’ me to check a few things with this man. That way everyone is a safe distance away while I can remain with my eyes on this person.” (edited)"Will that do? Keep an eye on him, of course, but don't give any sign of it if you can help that."”Indeed, I’ll keep close. Don’t mind of me, it’s almost as if I will not even be here, … you will also need to check the others and yourself for injury when we are done” the rain seems never ending “Understood” (edited) 
Lancelot's body vanishes before her strike can shatter him.
Everyone's escaped, now aware of the risk of crossing into any territory north. The squad found themselves outside the base, at the request of Wiltrud they were heading northwards in order to hunt down some giants as an attack on the giant forces~!
”Oh, … Wiltrud, I have, something for you if you don’t mind”
"Oh? Sure, hand it over."
”Oh sure, I’ll turn tails and get into position if I run at my full speed.” Fujibayashi truly is a speed demon, able to keep in tandem with even the motorcycle at times, even so she would stop on a branch, before turning around and to come back to her master after acrobatically falling from the skies in a flip seeing Paracelsus give them a gift as well “, …” 
‘I tho-, … nevermind, …’ walking up from the shadows now not invisible anymore having stepped into the light, she’d wave with a smile “Hey, I was meaning, … to give you this for a while, … I know it’s not much! And all and stuff and I’m sure you might see them everywhere, but I was thinking it could maybe help you when you need. Judging by what you also told me earlier with you know what” as with that extending a hand to give them a necklace of adaptation
Are we there yet?
She sighed in boredom, reaching her arm up high to the sky. Stretching her boredom out of her body.”Sorry, I’m on it” Fuji would say jumping back up into the leaves and disappearing, taking a dash out ahead to see if she can stop anything ”For thing so big there surely is no sound around”...As you all set off north it was a relatively peaceful journey, it was also not the longest of journeys. Strangely enough there wasn't any giants or ice wolves to deal with as you proceed northwards. Though on the flipside you weren't inside of the realm of Thrym yet...
The group ends up on the edge of Thrym's realm, only a few dozen meters from where the ice and snow begin to really take over. It's noticeably colder too...”Seems like we have cleaned this place, … nothing much to be honest. But this is where the problems may arise. Should I wait for you guys to catch up? Or keep on ahead?”"Wait for us, another team is getting the attention of the most troublesome things here to deal with them, or so I've heard, but that doesn't mean it's all clear... I'd be surprised if nothing shows up soon."What a wonderfull hell of ice~
She reaches her hand in trying to feel the piercing cold, rushing through her skin. Indeed a wonderfull hell of ice. What a magnificent hell this is. Wondering who created it, you could see her smirking imagining the scenes of tortures that have been put to place here
I expect a show to start soon! Go run further little girl~
It seems excitement jitters inside of her”, … I’m 28, … I’m not that little, …” she’d explain herself when awaiting for people to catch up, which shouldn’t be long ”I can’t just continue, when snow like this is ahead it would be unwise to do so. Lots of things can happen”It is snowing where yall are just so you know, and it noticeably gets worse the further in you look.And? If a pack dies, they just need to be replaced~ Death is just a mechanic!
She would giggle, chuckling as she continues through thos hell of ice enjoying the look of worry and probable suffering that is to come. What a wonderful master~ I guess she do know what I am at least
And if you that's not the case here, and you say that it will be over once you are dead, i would just say... This pack is a twisted one
Off into the distance, just barely you could see some spikes of ice curving and sprouting from the ground towards the sky. It could be an interesting place, but it's going to be quite the walk...Mostly because there's a shit load of snow(difficult terrain) between where yall are and there.”But whyyy? She keeps talking about us dying and being replaced! Does that not bother you?!, … Fine! I will ignore her, … but it’s just because you asked me nicely” tuning to see the person in the background she puts a finger on her chin, looking at the silent woman, thinking something is up as she walks up to her with a wave “Hey, you seem to be oddly not talkative. Is there something I can help with? "Unsettling and violent or not, she's on our team, remember that. Of course, if she threatens me or you directly, you have my encouragement to take action..."What a bore... 1Heh shall we go sightseeing first~? those pillars of ice seems fun
[You are a wonderful human~], she thought of her master. She liked the thought, the idea of testing them through hardships what more could she ask for but a popcorn?
It just looked fun~
And that is indeed her thought though you might not completely believe herAs everyone searches for somewhere they could rest without being spotted, there was a nice spot not to far away, it was just a small cave where everyone could fit in and be well hidden. It was maybe 200 ft back from where you all stood at the current moment, built riiiight into a cliffside.
Upon setting up the instant fortress, it was sat snugly there to provide a nice place to sit down and get rested up, it certainly wasn't super unnoticeable, but it was at least some more cover to be added if anyone wanted to chill in there or in the cave~At least they aren't getting attacked, it's a very peaceful rest luckily...Once you all set off towards the ice pillars, it could be noticed that there were giant tracks that headed that direction. Of course it seemed as if those tracks were at least a few hours old... It seemed as if it were only a few tracks worth of giants, but then again the ice spikes are a decently sized area.26
As Fuji makes her way forward the ice spikes grew larger and larger, eventually coming to a slightly lowered middle area with fairly large ice spikes, which stood at least 1 or two dozen meters tall. Whilst sneaking and searching around she was able to spot out at least 3 frost giants but there could easily be more with how many cracks, crevasses, and openings there were in the area.”Wiltrud, found some. Three in [insert area] around the spikes. The place seems to have much more things around I could look around if you want me. There always could be kore then this. Want me to wait or look further into this caves and other openings? Also do remember this are like those giants which made the place cold when we fought them with Strauss. We might need to see about it, … I could also shoot them and see how many follow me back”"Hold there..." "Assassin has found a few of them. Want her to bait them back to us or keep looking? We can go say hello in the meantime~"
Lets just get on it shall we~?Approaching the spires of ice was pretty easy, there weren't giants coming up to where the group was, honestly it was kind of strage... Fuji could also guide the others to where the 3 giants she saw earlier were too~!"Fujibayashi, we're coming to meet you, prepare however you want." And on they go!”Hm hm hm, … I can see you guys, from where you are, there’s one in every direction, there’s on to the left in a small crevasse much like a small cave, pretty much to the side, there’s one to the right which is just starting at a wall for some reason, and one more ahead of you behind the first formation””Want me to shoot one of them? I have pretty clear shot”"Wait until we're all in position."”Understood””I temporarily blinded the one behind the pillar-“ pulling the string back with 3 arrows in hand ”-continuing to injure the already harmed one Wiltrud”
”S-Sorry, I know I was suppose to let a bit loosely. I got ahead of myself. I apologise” the ninja would comment but and only to Wiltrud, as a breeze of snow would swipe pass, cloaking her yet again in her natural pure camouflage for just a second, much like the ghost of the snowsWell quite frankly these Giants are kinda sorta very pissed and running around trying to smack some bitches. Para just happened to be first in line to get absolutely wiped out... The giant is also screaming profanities in giant if anyone has the capacity to understand them?Well we got two more angry bitches inbound!!They wanna call your manager and complain about how hot the soup was!As you fight the giants a rumbling can be felt... Awwww shit...Incomes, the totally blonde sterotypical American douchebag and his two side pieces!!! They're also cloaked in full magical stuff!!! Fear them cause they wont let you rest...”Welp, … guess that’s it for me, … live long and fruitful will you?” a singular message is sent to her master finally beaten and bested*
of course, that would not be the end, the dark void would be filled with silence, cold, and solidarity, a new contract to call her may arise one day. But for now, the dark shall have Fujibayashi
a red symbol flames into the abyss, making her open her eyes, it’s warm, caring, calling her name as if a familiar voice wants them back. It’s, … reassuring as she reaches out to graze it with her finger, shakily trying to touch it with weak power she still has left, … as when she finally makes contact the sound of a strong edict is heard, in the void like a hammer hitting an anvil to forge a sword! She’s back, some of her wounds have been healed, more like still healing, but just as weak she can’t help except to look unable to move while on the floor in a puddle of her own red life force the stained cape of pure white now red as the rivers of Styx, she takes a breath in “Haaaaa~, …” lifeYou little... you leave that pest alone. I think you are quite dumb aren't you~?
She chuckles her now large body would roar the earth
She is down anyway now come to mama and lets have a lunch shall we~ A party full of suffering!The giant roars at this but ignores it for the moment as it was just a bit smarter than the provocations, but it still wasn't exactly smart...
So it will be like this huh? Well I suppose I tried. It seems I am still not ready to face these creatures. Hmm... Doesn't seem like anyone else is here.
While paralyzed from the shivering powers of the giants, she'd glance at Wiltrud and see that she is knocked out. With a mental sigh, she forms a message to her servant.
This might be the end for me, Taira.Not yet.
Today we may not kill the Genji. But today is not the time you die. (edited)Really? Well, come and save me then my hero- Then the connection cuts as Tao is knocked out from an attack.”H-Hello? Are you there?”Flurry of snow
Crimson on the ground
Yet the spirit never lets go
"...This really isn't for me." She's a warrior, not a poet, unfortunately. "But yes, we must move." Brynhildr and the group of Heroic Spirits she assembled are getting ready to head out.Brynhildr is taken aback by the strange devices everyone but Okuni and Ereshkigal puts on their face.
"What's that?"
@Game Ping 4
"They look hard to manage, but if they'll protect you from the toxins in the air, that is a price worth paying."
Brynhildr looks to Okuni and Ereshkigal.
"We'll have to keep our guard up even more then.""No, I'm not."
Brynhildr smiles weakly. "I'll be fine. I've managed for this long on my own."
She reveals a rune embedded in her armor.
"This rune wards off the influence of the poison. It's not a perfect defense, but it will keep me going."
Brynhildr takes the lead for the way through the moist and thick swamp. The way is illuminated by the late noon sunlight peaking through the tree thicket.
The toxic air is already affecting those who aren't protected by the masks.Good thing I'm wearing this mask... Jeanne thought to herself as she continues to follow Brynhildr through this toxic swamp."We're going deeper. This is about as far as I've ever been. It will be much worse in the core."
Brynhildr shrugs the poison off, though still affected by it.
"Could have been worse" Cu thought in his head while coughing to the poisonous air, what's luck to not have a convenient protection against themSuddenly, the muddy ground begins to shift and two large black dragons erupt out of it, their black scales glistening with a green liquid."!"
"Watch out!"
Brynhildr points out the danger, but it's already too late for the rest of the group to react.The Servants quickly attack the dragons, their bodies singing from the acidic breath that enveloped them.
Brynhildr tries to finish the last one of the two off, shooting a blast of energy at it with her spear."Is everyone alright?"
@Game Ping 4"Is everyone alright?" @Game Ping 4
3 ◉◉〇
Brynhildr is among the Servants that were hit the hardest, but she's at least still standing.
"I'll be fine. Let me try to mend everyone's wounds."
She nods to Tachibana for his assistance.6 ◉〇 (-1)
6 〇〇 (-1)
Result: 4 * 8 + 8
Total: 40As the dragons corpses begin to decay, the whispers leave Musashi's mind again and she regains full control of her senses.-283 ◉〇〇 Brynhildr makes a grim expression.
"If we don't put an end to this today, I'm afraid the dragons influence will spread even further than just your base in the mountains. But..."
Looking at the group, she's not sure if they're strong enough for this.
Through the tree thicket, the forms of other dragons loom in the sky, flying over the swamp."I agree," Brynhildr says. "If we're not enough, that just means we'll need more."
"..."
She thinks for a moment.
"I can return to the fortress and bring reinforcements. Can I trust you to clear the path forward for us?"The dragons notice the coming Heroic Spirits and rise out of the swamp just like the ones before them.
@Game Ping 4 join initThe sound of large wings beating in the sky comes from above. A young woman clad in a golden and white dress-like armor watches over the battlefield from the heavens.
5The dragons begin to overwhelm the Servants who are now entering the swamp's center.
With the same cold expression that she arrived with, the woman flies off.One of them digs its claws deep into Eresh, all the way to her heart.At the cost of Ereshkigal, the group manages to fight their way through to the center. Now, all they have to do is hold the position until the reinforcements arrive.
@Game Ping 4
Under the cold and chilling gust of the day, an order has been sent out from Chaldea to investigate the sudden burst of mana density in the areas. Even for the kind of Servants, they can feel that their Spirit Origin has been influenced by it. Fortunately, the snow storm seems to be inactive for the time being
@Fox/Wilt/[pending]/Wu/Lae
@Thunder - LS | ED | DO | HT
@[unintelligible sub noises]
@Bobby/Dechi/-
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutside
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| C
Francis despite being a Servant, he could hardly distinguish the thick mana from the weather but his natural instinct can tell him that there won't be any snowstorm until the Sun has escaped behind the mountains
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutside
Francis, your senses can pick up that there are many clustered of mana within 1 mile of you as if the place hindered their original existence but you can feel that they're not humanoid and have beast-shape appearance. Within 6 miles of you, your prepared knowledge about Giants can tell you that they are some wandered around the land, some may get blocked by the mana, some may hide from you by other means of concealment
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutsideYou take too long in making decisions.
She replied as she stopped.
Will you take more of your time, or will you start moving. As the group pressed on, the weather still keeps a cold and low state while the Sun still shines above their heads. Francis as their lead caught an uncanny sight of a weirdly shaped snow boulder, with his trained eyes he can see that it was formed no longer than 2 days. Its height far exceeded his but somehow it managed to not break down
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutside (edited)What do we do about it?It would be best to move then, it would be somewhat difficult to break through that amount of rock in any subdued fashion. Most likely, anyway.The group was laying low indeed but some of you are more "flashy" than others. The big boulder seemed to slightly flinch, all but Anastasia can see it but only Francis, Julie and Yagyu can see it clearly while the others looked at it as a flash
@Game Ping 4 (edited)Investigate it.
It almost sounded like a command, she sent it anyways to Francis behind them.
"There is no need for us to hesitste but but the other group has met with the same scenario. Wait for what happens there. "
She replies.Yagyu, you can remember that in life you haven't encountered any rock as big as this. But due to the irregular Singularity, this is unexpected
@Thunder - LS | ED | DO | HTIf it is simply covered in snow... Allow me.
Any news? The snow boulder, the weirdly shaped boulder, the big and proud boulder got lit up by Hime's flame. At first the boulder didn't flinch simply because it was a boulder, it was until it wasn't as the boulder started to shake. Snow after snow, they all melted to reveal that under the coverages were boars! 3 of them leaped out of the snow and extinguished the flame on them with chilly breath from their body. They looked at Francis but all switched sight to Hime when they realised she put them on fire
Needless to say, they all charged at her
@Game Ping 4Just a pack of pigs? And here I was expecting a slightly more clever giant... Ah, it will be a bit of exercise at least.The group made a quick deal of the boars, they were fierce but not as fierce as a good sword, a Thompson and guns! The team travelled and time to time they arrived at the empty village. It was evening right now as the Sun switched to a flaring red colour. They got about 3 hours left before nightime came
@Game Ping 4
Francis found that all the houses are suspiciously empty. They weren't too empty when there are equipment, food, crops....... In the houses. The owner left but why didn't they take their stuffs with them? Strange isn't it. Francis's memory still kept his previous tracking, the Giant group that he detected earlier was just 250m from here but time passed and they might travel further now.......Francis, your gigantic knowledge about giant made you aware of their existence. The giant group from earlier hasn't moved any further from last time, they are still trackable with your sense alone but there isn't any guarantees that you can catch up to them before nightfall.
Within the radius of the village, despite your confirmation earlier to have no one. Your sense seemed to pick up movement of a creature, you don't know their location but something told you that it stayed in one of the house you just checked
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutsideAs Francis swiftly kicked down the doors of each house, the results were still the same. Houses after houses and there were nothing even for someone as perceptive as him. It was just an unending search until he approached the last house. As he was about to go in, his senses jumped up like an average red head protagonist. This house this house this house this house this house this house this house this house, he has an urge not to go near it for some reasons. He wanted to step back from it despite it posed no threats to him
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutsideAs Francis was about to kick down the door, his foot met with a barrier around the house. After the kick, the barrier glew dimly before went back into being staticThe barrier that was surrounding the house simply went off as Tachibana's touch dispelled its foundation. The house was just a simple house without its Magecraft warding it
Inside, like usual there wasn't any trace or track of any creature. But this time, Francis can precisely see through the illusion and notice that someone or something is sitting in the corner of the house
While the group was talking outside, walking noise can be heard inside the house. The noise of a boiling kettle and pouring can be heard as if the individual inside didn't care about them
"Come in, I believe no one should be out in the cold at this time"
"Such hostility, and here I thought this old husk was a rude guy. Alright, wait for me a bit"
After a minute or two, unlocking noise can be heard with a grumpy complaint behind the door
Behind the door was a short person, their height only reached half of the door they just opened. They were wearing a robe with a hood but no one can see their face, it was darkness inside as if they didn't even have a physical body
"How may I help you?""What am I doing here? It's my house, this village is my hometown for years. This should be my question. What are you folks doing in this frozen wasteland?"
"Not belonging here, I see I see. You came from the South or West? Eh nevermind that"
"Unusual? Yes, you could say my existence here is unusual already. This frozen wasteland you're seeing isn't something normal, it wasn't always like this before. You could even say I'm a weirdo for staying here like this"
"Snow piggy huh, no I didn't see anything like that while I'm here. This whole village only got me as their last inhabitant"
@Game Ping 4Are you afraid of the Darkness, Archer?"Like you folks already expected, I'm not so young and out going anymore. People offered to shield me from the cold but nothing can be better than a hot cup of tea in the blizzard. Besides, I have some works to do with the uninvited guests that tried to claim this village as their own"
@Fox/Wilt/[pending]/Wu/LaeAre you afraid of the Darkness, Archer?
If you wish to continue your investigation for this village, then I will not change your mind or force you to follow me. There is nothing of note and interest for me in this area specifically.
She replies to Archer."Now now, why so curious of all the sudden? You folks also looked suspiciously out of place here too. But I'm just trying to enjoy my peaceful day so I guess I should tell it out"
"They were giants, 8 of them came in like some thugs trying to seize a place. They even broke down a house or too because their fat body couldn't fit in, I have to teach them a lesson so they don't bother with me again"
"Sorry but this is my limits here, I can't trust you guys with my friends and families. Now if you wouldn't mind, it's about time for me to do my job" The hooded figure said before he went in and took out a snow cart, with a snap he summoned 2 wolfs out
"Adios"
@Fox/Wilt/[pending]/Wu/Lae (edited)"He was holding something back anyway, those words were clearly scripted. It seems we may have to force more out of him after all..."How is it? Any news?
She asks the servants by the old man."Joe and I already told you what I could. Beware of the giants and be careful of the hateful blizzard, that's all" He said before turning right in one of the corner and vanished"Nothing about that man was right for this time from what I have seen, but we cannot follow through on that now. At least we know this man is something of an ally, if uncooperative. Let us go on, I would guess the Duchess is searching for a place to lay her Territory, and I may as well do the same." (edited)The best option for us would be to rest. However, we are not any closer to our established goal, we should at least have any sort of clue before we move on or rest.The best option for us would be to rest. However, we are not any closer to our established goal, we should at least have any sort of clue before we move on or rest.
The house doesn't have anything special in it. Only a chair, a bed and a small kitchen for minor comfort though there is something special. Up the bed there is a box, a small wooden box with a note on top of it, it reads
"Special item"
@Fox/Wilt/[pending]/Wu/Lae"The box appears non-magical"Tamamo was no fool but the box was warded with a magic aura to make it appears "non-magical". As her fingers touched its surface, a burst of mana came out of it and knocked her prone. Yagyu and Tachibana can also feel the burst but they didn't get knocked out due to being outside.
A barrier slowly formed around the house as if it was trying to catch the one who dared to touch the "special item""There is nothing in here but a trap. Can you remove that barrier forming?"As for Anastasia's group, they were travelling just fine until the snow started to harden. The blizzard suddenly came out and blocked the flaring Sun, it should be impossible but it just came and came with the strong gust of wind and stacked snow. The people at the village should also be affected by this if they wish to stay outside
@Game Ping 4Yagyu managed to reach Hime just in time to pull her out but the box seemed to hate them. Chains formed out of pure mana lashed out at them, Yagyu easily dodged 2 and evaded 2 of them with his agility, Hime managed to deflect one but 3 got the hold of her
As for Francis, his sense was blocked out by the snowstorm, it was heavily mana infused but he managed to see through some points and could tell that no one or nothing is nearby...... At lease that what he could sense
@Game Ping 4The chains went around Hime's arms before it pulled her back inside, Yagyu noticed that his weapon can damage them because they're Servant weapon but the barrier seemed to be putting up anytime soon. He can try to cut the chain down or run out and hope for the best
@Fox/Wilt/[pending]/Wu/Lae
@Thunder - LS | ED | DO | HT
We are having a problem here. I am taking care of it."A slight delay, but we will be swiftly catching up before long."Yagyu's swordsmanship swiftly cut down the magical chains. It wasn't too much of a probably and thus Hime got released
As the snowstorm continued on, Francis's sense kicked in when he noticed the wind patterns were odd. It was twisting mid-air like someone purposely controlled it, they seemed to be coming closer and closer to the group
@Game Ping 4 1"We are not your civilians, you're not our Queen. Cease from moving forward or we will freeze your innards" Voice can be heard from the snowstorm with some giggles"We bow to no one but ourselves, with words you can't persuade us woman! You may not be affected but your little friends seemed to not doing so well, it would be unfortunate if something chilling happened to them" As the elementals talked, the blizzard raged onLet me know your status and position, please.
Did he ask through the mental link*Do you require our assistance?*Understood, I'll engage it.The giant was tanking Francis's shot and Yagyu's slashes. Its body despite being enhanced, it was still snow at its core. Some bits can be saw coming out of it (edited)The Giant fell down on its knees, it was one step away from dieing as its body fell apart from piece to piece. It raised its hands out as if it wanted to be saved"I........, we surrender""Yes I understand" The Giant said before trying to stand up with one leg, hey it balanced itself with one leg
"The storm wasn't from us, we were from the storm. Great Father created this and it created us"
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutside"I don't know! He never said his name to us, we all called him Great Father because he was really great when making these storms""Geography? What's that? A form of human food? Area...... The area, you were talking about the area!!! Yes, yes I know the area, in the blizzard!" The Giant said with excitement"Map? Yes yes Giant can draw, can draw very pretty. I will draw, draw on snow" The Giant said before jumping to Francis and began to use its oversized fingers to draw
"The X, funny things are there. Snow! There are lots of snow there!"
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutside
"No no, the X is not only snow, the X is snow and friends! Friends are on X and snow is also there so snow is also friends! We have friends all over this place!""No...... We didn't know, he wasn't there for our birth. The storm was, the storm was Great Father's creation and we were the storm creation. We only knew Great Father through the storm" It said with a calm toneIn all honesty, Pegahmagabow-san, I believe this giant does not know either."Great Father, he lives under the sky, he stays on top of us but he wasn't part of the divine realm""Great Father, he lives under the sky, he stays on top of us but he wasn't part of the divine realm"
"No no no, I don't know!!! He can reach the highest mountain but I don't know where is he right now!!! Stop asking me hard questions" The Giant slammed the ground with its fistsThe Giant wasn't lying, he was being very truthful. He was just one in thousands of "Great Father" creation. He didn't even meet him face-to-face and only lived through the tell of a calm storm
@TheInsanityThatLiesOutside"No no no, I don't know!!! He can reach the highest mountain but I don't know where is he right now!!! Stop asking me hard questions" The Giant slammed the ground with its fists
"Hiss, stop putting your hot gun at us, we're innocent creatures"
"Thousands, your steps will bring you to one of us no matter where you go and how hard you hide. We're one but many, we're thousands but one. You will see and play with us in the cold wind hahahahahaha" The Giant giggled maliciously (edited)"Thr-eating?! No we just want friends..... Human used to be our friends before they abandoned us, they abandoned this snow, they went behind the grass and hill while leaving us here........""Before you guys came here, they left us without any note. The one who still wanted to play with us started sleeping for a long time. Here here I can lead you to them" The Giant said then started hopping like a energetic childThe Giant started hopping forward with one leg as they led the group through the blizzard, the chilling cold and the freezing touch of wind started to cling on everyone short of Anastasia. The Giant on the other hand started to absorb magical energy, its body started to fix the destroyed bits. After moving for a while, they were led on top of a small hill by the Giant, the snowstorm was still covering their view
"Here! It's down here! Our last friends are down here"
@Game Ping 4"Grahhhh, we're friends aren't we, we won't bite you" The Giant complained like a child to Francis, Francis was scary to it while the others weren'tWe can fight for now, miss. But I believe our best course of action is to move on and avoid unnecessary confrontation if we can help it, judging by our test of what the Giants can do.
Right now, we should focus on attaining the location of this 'Great Father', or establishing the territory of the Duchess.The Giant heard Francis's question and was about to raise its hand then it suddenly stopped. It trembled before continuing
"He- he's here!" It said while pointing its hand up North
The wind suddenly stopped, the blizzard went numb for a split second after the Giant's words. The blizzard then went up rapidly, its force continued to grow until everything was covered in snow, then from up the sky, rain of ice went down like a conquest over a defeated army, it was merciless and reckless like the Angel of Death's arrival
""Oh why oh why oh why" The Giant mumbled when it saw the hail of ice that rained down, it wasn't expecting anything to happen near here.
"Oh no oh no friends" The Giant shouted in confusion when it saw the group got hit by the blizzard, it climbed up the hill to see them out
After the hail of ice, the blizzard seemed to go down a bit. The wind was still chilling and unforgiving but it wasn't freezing them anymore (edited)"No no no it wasn't a coincidence, someone watched us, someone decided to do this. Please we should go back, he might be here" The Giant said in embarrassment, it almost made this into a lethal trip with its carefree nature
The Giant halted when it saw Anastasia deployed her Noble Phantasm, it was something amazing, it was something fantastic and made it forgot the snowstorm. It stood there in amazement until the wind got the better of it and pushed it back down the hill. It rose back up and climbed up again, it wanted to see the inside of this oversized house!!!"Name? I...... I don't have a name, everyone called us by Elemental or Giant, some called us monster but I don't have a birth name" The Giant said
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| CHow pragmatic. However, the Giant can be an asset that may assist us in the future. If we have its trust, it could be helpful. Retorted Munenori, seeing the logic in giving it a name."Цвет, Я запомню это имя!!!" The Giant responded in Russian, why did it know Russian? Fae Magic *wink*"Цвет? Цвет is my name now! Yes I'm Цвет and the only one!!! Thanks you, I now have a name bahahahahaha everyone will be jealous of me" The Giant laughed in excitement
"Цвет can't go in...... No! Цвет the Giant will guard! Everyone can count on Цвет!" Цвет proudly said, its mood was boosted by its name! Yosh!The Giant stood in front of the Fortress. It happily waved at Francis when it saw him, it then stared deep into his soul with its lifeless eyes
Athena's grasp of the magical world was incredible, it was something only a God could have done so easily. They could know that the hail of ice they just witnessed was connected through ley lines of magical energy across the land. But as they were probing into it, the snow suddenly turned non-magical, the mana vanished right in front of their touches. All of that magical trace went away without a warning
4
2 ◉◉〇
”There seems to be no solution other then me stepping up and taking the role to protect you from the hoard, I’ll try to hold them as much as, … but I’m uncertain of how much I’m capable to. Wiltrud take care”
and here she goes again, dashing head first into battle, oh the irony
Fujibayashi puts her left hand inside the small pouch on her back that’s strapped to her hips, as with that taking out a paper charm that she uses to mark one of the creatures, the ofuda flames up in a black smoke as it slowly vanishes when she says the command word whilst her right hand slipping inside of the bag as well, retrieving like from another dimension a Naginata
the mark appears on the aberration which in turn symbolizes the cursed weak point the kunoichi created and forced upon it’s body, taking a fey slashes at the creture spinning the bar of the weapon around her waistline and rolling to the side when the monster attempts to defend itself, the kunoichi takes out two kunais from a belt on her thigh fastened and tightened in place where 2 bō-shuriken find rest, as the creature attempts to trip it with it’s tentacle/arms by swiping the ground the ninja jumps up. Pressing her foot on it’s appendage/forearm slicing to the side at it’s eyes/where his head would be as with an acrobatic flip backwards releasing the ‘two’ (just flavor for ricochet) throwable weapons which land their mark on the creatures and hitting the cursed shadow trace staggering them for a second so her team can take adv and a cheep shot on them
'Neee Master~ I might need some help here'
@Crafter/Flower/Illya/Dad/OniYou need help?! I'll..bring someone to help ya go! Go Houkai go!
Mental cheer and use of his command seal to bring in his servant to help out the dear Chloe!
The Sicambri Tribe wasn't necessarily the friendliest nor the connected with Chaldea in any way other than their meeting. Nevertheless, Chaldea stood by them, in times of their trouble without any actual reason to. The Sicambrians placed defenses in the area, in all three directions where the Monsters will come, and they also positioned themselves in the inner area of the said defenses.
Every part of this forest is an ally and an enemy. With the positions ready, they knew it was bound to come due to the Casters advanced words. To the west comes Abberrations, to east comes Beasts and to the south comes Giants and he says that once all of them are done, the last one enemy will appear.
To the North is the prepartion of the human sacrifice. Some few screams of denial before acceptance could be heard.
Chaldea is to position themselves. Each house in the area has villagers within.
3 Villagers came out of the house, running for their lives as Arjuna speaks of what he said. The other Sicambrian Tribes looked at Arjuna as if he was mad, but they were too busy in the battle to actually say anything to him. Two children were left inside the house due to their fear of the ones outside.There doesn't seem to be anything else coming in at the moment. Instead, there was a slight shake in the ground all around them, as if something big was coming, but there was not a single notice of where it was, or anything at all, as if it wasn't actually big?
As the shaking began, Cu Caster came out of from the North Area.
MASTER CANDIDATES AND SERVANT HAVE BEEN DETECTED.
COMMENCING TRAINING OPERATION: SEIGE SURVIVAL TACTICS.
REQUESTING ACCESS TO SINGULARITY THREE ARCHIVE FROM TRIMESGISTOS: NANTES FOREST.
ACCESS GRANTED.
ENVIRONMENT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY REPRODUCED.
THE OPERATION SHALL NOW BEGIN.
START TIME: 1313.
MAY FORTUNE BE IN YOUR FAVOR.
As you enter the simulation room, immediately, you are invited to a view of a dense forested area. thick with moss and foilage. There are various footprints in the area, all leading to the ancient keep in front of the group, where your quarry lies. The forest is eerily silent, and with a simple glance at the keep, it was clear that it has been abandoned and destroyed many decades prior, a large gaping hole stretching from the 2nd floor to the top. The proper entrance to the keep has also been clearly broken down, the door long since was smashed in, replaced by dense foilage that seems to have recently been crushed by footsteps.
1
Couldn’t you’ve at least chosen a better name master…Ok first off, fuck you Dante is a cool name. Second, its only for fun and practice. Might as well use the simulation for practice if we ever need to give fake names.
3
As Raikou immediately cleaves through the knights in the center of the path in a swirl of poison and acid,
The knights fall over, seemingly neutralized, only to suddenly rupture in a stream of blood, the metal plates which once covered them blowing open
From the corpses of the knights, came eldritch horrors, tentacled beasts who each basically gave the middle finger to biology
4Woops... that- was... a misshot...... A misshot huh? I bet it was. You're lucky it was me cause if you would have hit anyone else I would have gotten mad at you. Now please aim correctly.I'm so sorry master! I promise it won't happen again-
As the battle raged on, suddenly, out of the corner of Ishtar's eyes, she notices the sound of trees rustling. If she looks carefully, she'll notice the glint of light off rifles, and beasts prowling about through the few openings in the foilage.
I see multiple enemies approaching us from all sides, we're surrounded. I'll take care of the right side with my noble phantasm, be careful master!
A frown played upon the goddess's lips, she raised her hand, pointing at the group of aberrations in the shape of a finger gun, channeling the entirety of her mana reserves to launch a devastating attack that'd hopefully vaporize the incoming forces.
“I'll show the full might of a goddess's wrath, you should be honored to have such a end, behold my full throttle, gate… open!”
“Annihilate them! An Gal Ta Ki Gal Šè!”
A portal of massive proportions appeared above her, and through it came the concept of venus, appearing in a sized down version of the giant space rock, the goddess compacts it into a giant bolt pulsating with power and unleashed it upon the horde.
SUFFICIENT DAMAGE HAS BEEN DEALT TO UNIT AB8. UNIT AB8 HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULY DESTROYED.
MISSION CODE NAME: SEIGE SURVIVAL TACTICS HAS BEEN COMPLETED
TOTAL TIME: 4 DAYS, 12.5 HOURS, ENDTIME: 16:15
REPORTING SIMULATION DETAILS...
DAMAGE TO BASE: 2
CASUALTIES: 0 COMMANDER, 0 VICE-COMMANDER, 2 PARTISANS, 0 VOLUNTEERS, 0 CIVILIANS
MINIMAL LOSSES HAVE BEEN TAKEN
SIMULATION DETAILS HAVE BEEN RECORDED AND ARCHIVED
'YOU HAVE DONE WELL, CHALDEANS'
NOW SHUTTING DOWN SIMULATION...
And with that, the environment around them slowly faded away, into a blank white room. The convoy has formed at the edge of Rome at nightfall as they prepare to drive through the night. Everything from advanced Leopard 2 tanks, to Marder Armoured Carriers to TPz Fuchs carrying guided missiles on their backs were lined up alongside dozens of troop trucks as the battalion rallied for one more time before the difficult journey to Genoa.
The air stunk of wet heat, exposed fuel, and exhaust fumes so thick in the air it turned your spit into black gunk. The noise was equally unbearable with the idling of dozens of engines and the shouting and swearing of hundreds of men trying to coax ill-maintained or damaged equipment from the battles before in the North.
And above it all was an aura of fear and trepidation as men and women of the German Battalion were clearly far from at ease at having to go north again. They all paced in place and talked nervously about how'd they'd survive in the unforgiving Northern Front in their eternal war against the Forest.
There were few buildings or even trees in the area as in the dark, only the great light of Rome was behind them. Above it all was the Grand Basilica with spotlights shining on it, tall imposing intimidating but the soldiers about to leave, it was something warm that they were about to march away from.
@Game Ping 4
A call down the line that shouted, 'Prepare to mount up. We are leaving in five minutes!"
In the meantime Beni would see in the dark a soldier trying to sneak away from the convoy ditching his helmet and with his head down load, passing a few dozen feet away from her but not noticing her.
@Bobby/Dechi/-
The comms system inside the helmet had been switched off as Detchi saw the man move deeper and deeper into the night.
Martha would see a soldier right next to her emerge from the house close to her, the flushing bathroom as he closed the door giving hint enough to his deeds. He'd notice Martha as he passed, his G36 rifle tucked under his shoulder.
"Like to say goodbye before we leave?" he muttered, mist gathering on his breath in the night air.
"Goodbye to us, I guess, before we go north. No idea why else you'd be standing around in this god-forsaken night to see a bunch of chumps loading up their vehicles.
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| C (edited)
"Peter Stumpp? Our new Field Medic? What might you want with him?" he asked Martha. "You his daughter?"
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| C"Huh didn't think the old man had it in him. I always thought of him as a crazy old smelly hermit my ma would talk about. Like that monster in the woods that would children away to his den if they misbehaved," he waved it away, "Anyways, he's just up there,"
He would point to Peter in the crowd.
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| C
The burst echoed through the convoy but nobody seemed to pay it much heed.
"Let that be an example to you idiots. Up north is dangerous enough, we don't need men abandoning their brothers and sisters," the officer that Viktoria had nodded to, "You all knew what the order was when you signed up. Deserters and cowards will be shot on sight. We are fighting for the future of humanity. I won't allow some idiot to compromise that."
@Game Ping 4
Through the night they would drive.There is no traffic on their side of the road considering most people are trying to migrate south, away from the border instead of heading north, toward it.
But sometimes they'd see a convoy pass by, battered with tanks sprouting holes and bad dents in thier armour. The soldiers riding on them looked half-dead as they stared at the convoy heading north.
Suddenly Peter and the others in the back would notice that both Kotz and Elias had sprouted nose bleeds and their eyes had become unfocused. Kotz's bleeding was so badly that blood from his nose was starting to drip onto the dashboard. A few vehicles would also start to erratically swerve and dip in the covoy but not to the extent of falling off the road or crashing badly into anybody.
@Game Ping 4Both of them would begin to shiver and shake slightly even.Peter would sense with his divine powers, that this was the work of a Fiend. A mighty powerful one.
@ArbyOrNotToBeOn the roof Peter would see despite the initial chaos of the convoy it'd settled back into position and now he was getting a loud honking from the tank behind his APC with the commander on its hatch yelling at him, "What the fuck type of stunts are you trying to do there, Tony Hawk!"
@ArbyOrNotToBe["Don't think about it too much."] The simulacrum says to Elias. ["I'm filling in for the other Peter's work as a field medic. He's not going to abandon this operation entirely so he assigned me this task. And... to look after you and your friend as well."] (edited)
The MG3 was a very complex firearm that had to swap barrels often or it would melt. Despite the fact it was hard to maintain it has a blistering firerate at 1000 rounds per minute and could shred a man in half with a single burst. (edited)Through much marching through the night through the fields in the dark you'd finally come across Genoa on the other side of the river.Genoa is an old, ancient city. It is the capital of Liguria and the most populated city of the Riviera. The city is famed for its old culture, of its Renaissance and Manneris to late Baroque and Rococo architecture. It’s buildings stretch over the foaming sea below as it climbs the side of a cliff which at the bottom sits the largest port in the entire reigon, of which is well known for the sailboats and yachts parked within it on a bright summer day as a gentle ocean breeze whips up the mist of the sea that floats across a sunny city on the Mediterranean coast.
The city you see now is nothing like that anymore. The picturesque buildings have been covered by concrete fortifications and sandbags. Windows have been boarded up and entirely smashed. On its paved cobblestone streets are no longer pedestrians or horse-drawn carts but super-heavy tanks that grind and crumble the street beneath their tracks on patrol as platoons of troops follow behind. Almost around every corner is a barricade with machine guns and barbed wire teeming all over them like a barnacle infestation. No longer is the Piazza De Ferrari populated by children returning from a tiring day at school but now it is home to Patriot Missile Systems and Radar Installations that prowl the night sky, praying that the Demon has not chosen this night to come. It only seems that the Churches have been untouched by NATO’s efforts, but they have their own defenses. Seach lights dance across the skies and low flying jets scream overhead.
On the bridge that enters the city from the south not too far from you, there are no less than two dozens of barrels belonging to cannons or howitzers aimed to destroy anyone who dares to cross the arched stone bridge.
This is the forward operating base for this region against the trepidation of the forest, the last stop before the darkness and the bulwark against which it shall crash.
The whole place was dark and on this side of the river apart from abandoned houses and a ferry port down the hill to the edge of the river there wasn't a hint of humans unless you considered the grazing cows and sheep.As Peter stepped onto the dimly lit stone bridge he'd see in the buildings opposite have figures move in the windows with guns resting on their sills a and at the end of the suddenly a tank rolled forward to block the road with its cannon barrel aimed straight at Peter.
A loudspeaker with an authoritative voice crackled on. "Identify yourself or be shot on site!"
Peter could calculate at least a hundred barrels pointed at him and a super-heavy tank staring him down."Just yourself?" the voice asked with a confused tone."Charlie get your bum off the seat and go check the man!" the voice cried out.
And a lone soldier would walk onto the bridge to Peter to go see the card.
"May I see, sir?"The man would squint at the card and nod, "Who assinged you to this god-forsaken city?""Jesus mary mother of christ he called you all the way up here?" he muttered, "Man I've been with only a day and he's just as strange as the rumours."
He turned around, "This one's good. Got called by the General!"The tank would stand down and so many guns clicked on their safeties at the same time it could be heard across the bridge."You're a long way from whereever you came from. If you're looking for the Colonel he's at the port in the NAVAL HQ. Oh and if I were you I wouldn't say a thing to those GIGN masked weirdos. I swear they're more of them everyday but I ain't gonna ask where they're coming from." the soldier would say before he went to take up positions leaving Peter alone.It's a city on lockdown with tanks and troops on every corner. Peter and his gang would see artillery in squares and open areas constantly firing and firing against the forest in the distant. All the while snow fell and cluttered the streets. This was unnatural snow he could see, blackened and like ash with a rotten smell that emanated from it.The Port which once housed leisure boats is now home to a dozen warships and even a helicopter carrier that sits idle in the dock. Most of the sailors seem to have left their ships for the night after a routine patrol in the afternoon. Standing guard over the ships were men in white uniforms but Peter would suddenly see as he passed that a dozen in black uniforms with the sign GIGN on the their shoulders. There was a argument out of hearing range.
In the meantime the naval HQ was right in front of Peter, a building overlooking the port.
Again two of the black uniforms would stand on guard at the doors to the HQ and raise their hands at Peter's approach.Because or Martha's curiosity she'd notice that these masked men were larger then average with larger bulk then normal. It seemed that they had a lot of gear underneath those bio-suits since it was lumpy in some parts. They carried themselves almost in unison when she saw them at the dock, as if they knew what the other was doing.
1The soldier would speak but his voice was heavily synthesized, "You're Peter Stumpp correct?"The man would reach for the comms set inside his helmet. "He's here."
There was a long minute as the man stood there listening.And Peter and the others would notice that the navy ships the GIGN had replaced the white uniformed sailors as Guards and that there were muffled sounds of thumping in the doors behind the two guards.
1"First surrender all your weapons you have on your self at once." the guard said. "We'll keep them at the gatehouse for you to collect when you get back,
@Game Ping 4
"We'll see about that," the soldier said. "Arms to the side and raised up at shoulder level please. And don't struggle." (edited)The soldier would take Peter's walking staff and hold it up, "What's this?" he'd ask in his electronic voice? (edited)"Could also use it as a crude weapon.""Hmph, fine. Let him take it. If it get's bad the commander will handle him personally." the other masked soldier said. "He'll be waiting at you at the room at the top of the Foyer. His office."
With that they would open the doors to reveal a large oaken hall with a main foyer at the center of it.
Peter could see seemingly the only people populating this place were a dozen of the GIGN soldiers and a few of them were handling what looked like laundry carts that they were pushing out.
Martha would notice that one of the GIGN had walked out the room after strangely holding a mop and bucket despite his heavy gear and as Peter entered quickly stepped to the side out of line of sight to him.
But not to an invisible girl no-one could see.
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| CBeni herself would note that despite having known many warm hovels and this while none compared to her own, was impressive on itself, but that there was a strange aura of tension in this hall as every single guard seemed to be watching them, turning their heads at Peter despite standing still as they held their P90 submachine guns in their hands.
@Bobby/Dechi/-There was a very slight 'creak' as Martha stepped up the stairs but nobody seemed the notice save maybe a burst a static and a impossible to understand voice crackling for a moment before stoppoing.
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| CBefore Peter were two oaken large doors that read on the plaque in front, "Main Command Hall and Office of Colonel Major Vincenzo Camporini."
He'd notice these doors were reinforced by steel beneath the wooden exterior.
@ArbyOrNotToBe (edited)"A second!" a voice would call out from behind the doors.More thumping. Then silence. "Yeah, yeah, come in. Sorry I've been trying to pack this monster of a suitcase.Peter would enter the room and note that it was a large rectangular office room with the door on the one long side and on the far side was a wooden heavy desk overseeing the courtyard Peter had just entered the building to with walls that encircled it and a closed gate. To the side there was a long table with sofa'd chairs on the sides clearly for tactical meetings with officers and in the other corner were a pair of heavily cushioned chairs next to a book shelf and wine rack.
There was a door that led to the side probably the bathroom to this luxury office.
At the end of which was a man in blue uniform sat down on the other side the table in front of Peter. He was a man with black raven eyes and a scar down his right cheek with white gloves. He'd just returned from the bathroom judging by the flushing sounds.
1 1
1
1
1A Mystic Eye user? He thought to himself. If so, it should explain how he's able to see Martha and Dechi.Straight to the point. I like her. Peter thought to himself as he continues to listen in on the conversation. 1The door would open and two faceless soldiers holding P90s in their bulky hands stood there.4 〇〇 (-1)
Perhaps. Although, personally, I don't really like this man. I want to gouge out his eyes and study it.So you noticed too? Peter responds. Well, there is not much we can do in this situation. Let us just follow these guards and get ready. And just as Peter was about to move to the two soldiers, he'll quickly cast Divine Sense out of curiosity.Peter could tell there wasn't a single living thing in this building. Well, save for Undead.
@ArbyOrNotToBe (edited)Strangely enough, it seems we are working with Dead Apostles. Or something similar to such a creature. Be wary.In the courtyard an armoured car was waiting for them and the two GIGN had gotten into it, motioning them to come along inside.Why am I not surprised. She'd state in their link as she smiled.They would drive through the fortified town just to the edge of the twon where the trees began. They'd stop at a graveyard marked 'Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno' at the end of which was the entrance to the catacombs.
The two soldiers dropped out of the car into kneeling positions with their guns held aloft scanning the misty graveyard for targets.
Before they left they'd hand a flashlight to Martha.
"Area secure," one of them would crackle.The door in front of Peter is an old wooden door that he can smell the rot and musk creeping through. Upon closer he'd notice on there handles there were smears of blood like someone had been struggling to open these doors.
@ArbyOrNotToBeThey were talking about the North falling, but it had already fallen. Should we actually kill that man and gouge out his eyes after this?
She'd ask curiously as she leaned to see Peters body reaction.I suggest otherwise. And I would not like to believe that the North has fallen this fast. I have some 'friends' I need to look after. He proceeds to place a hand on himself and Martha, casting a spell to 'bless' himself and the master.Dead Apostles will not benefit NATO. They are a plague, nothing more, nothing less. They offer nothing to satisfy the worlds knowledge.
She'd reply as she let Peter do his Magecraft."Rear sercured," one of the soldiers said.
"Don't we get any of the fancy protection?" the other would jest as he moved along with the group."The Colonel might have been wrong about you three. Ain't as wierd as I thought you'd be." they'd continue in their filtered voices. It was almost uncanny how they seemed to move in sync. "Anyhow we ready to move?""You ask too many questions," one said, jabbing the other just in the back, "The ladies right. He ain't our Major or Colonel anymore. He's a General now. Rising up the ranks real quick, ain't he?"Opening the door Peter would be meet with a large chamber with coffins slotted into the wall with two entranceways from there. One was a locked door and the other lead down a hallway into another chamber.
A fight had clearly taken place here with several coffins being broken open and tossed across the room to shatter, expelling their still-rotting inhabitants or skeletal remains. Several pieces of their jewellery lay scattered around the place.
It was dark with no natural light so both the GIGN lowered their NVG equipment.
"Bravo Six, going dark." (edited)
Which passageway would they choose? The locked one or the aforemented hallway?"Last batch that went in, only the General came out." the soldier said. He was silent from there as he kneeled down to cover the hallway."There was a howl of wind coming down the hallway the rest could see. The air smelled terrible. Like open sewage."You go down that way, we'll go through the other doorway.Peter would come across a large room that further served as a burial room but he'd notice that one or two coffins had been broken open and others with having been opened a while ago and then closed. The broken one's had been robbed of their corpses but whoever had taken them had left the valuables such as mementos and jewellery behind.
I have a feeling this Dead Apostle and her ghouls rob these coffins for corpses. To bring the dead back to life.Martha would see the soldiers take out a large holder of keys to unlock the doors before entering and locking it behind them with a loud click.
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| CThen one of the corpses, a bloody soldier with his jaw ripped off, rose of their grave clutching a machine gun in its hand. It began to take aim right at Peter...
@Game Ping 4Other creatures would also rise. They were screaming as they awoke, as if they realized the agony of being in this half-alive state was all they would feel for the rest of their existance.
I have a feeling this Dead Apostle and her ghouls rob these coffins for corpses. To bring the dead back to life.
Is that so.
She'd reply.
Oh, and did you see that? They seem to have a 'hold' here.
Telling him.
"Oh, and what's our game plan again?"Let's deal with these undead first.The first burst may have taken Dechi but she could dodge the others but soon enough the entire catacomb seemed to be descending onto her.
@Bobby/Dechi/-"H-h-help me..." one of them moaned as they fired away well-aimed bursts at Dechi. Despite still being reduced to this state they were soldiers. Good ones and even in death their training stayed with them.
@Game Ping 4Again and again despite being outmatched in every single way even the dead in this catacomb managed to land several lucky hits on the servants.With Dechi completing the last swipe the Undead underneath her blade would scream one last time...
before the entire room went silent.
@Game Ping 4
Ahead of Peter were a pair of wrought iron gates and through it he could see a long corridor with meltwater dripping from the celling with two doors to the side and at the end of the brick-layered passage was a dark pit that plunged into the earth. The pipes in particular the voice came from went in to the door on the right and into the pit.
@Game Ping 4
It would take one and a half seconds for the pebble to plop in something wet at the bottom.No sizzling sound. Just thick viscous fluids.Peter would see it fall far enough that the light faded from view but due to his night vision he managed to catch the glimpse of the bottom. Some one hundred feet below ending in what seemed like grey fluids that the pebble disappeared into.
@ArbyOrNotToBeThe door in front of Peter he could see had been kicked open with splinters on the floor and the doors having swung back into closing position because of a wind pressing against them, opposite to him.
@ArbyOrNotToBeJust as Peter opens the door, Dechi would see at knee-height a line of fiber wire so thin that it was almost impossible to any sense of human sight in this dark but her honed ones.
@Game Ping 4The line of fiber wire was drawn across the doorway.Peter would see in the rest of the room that it was another room for the dead, but again the crypts had been broken. Bits and fragments of skulls littered this room. Broken bones strewn all over. There were bullet-holes all over the wall. There were two Dead soliders and even a Ghoul that lay face-down, having been riddled by calculated bursts of lead.
But the strangest part was that Peter could see something white on the walls covering them. Like a viel of some sort.
Like a web of some sort.
As if one que behind one of the large crypts at the back that came up to his neck he could hear the sound of crunching and wet slapping sounds.
@Game Ping 4Stepping closer he could hear the crunching suddenly stop.Turning the corner Peter would find a creature with more then a pair of eyes staring back at him.
It was right over the body of a mangled Dead Soldier that looked like one of the American's from the surface. It had been dead a while and this creature was feasting over it.
It looked up to Peter, cocking its head like a wolf.It began to chatter and took a step forward. Then from behind the coffins another would rise. And then one more as they slowly crept towards the pair.Then they began to hiss loudly in unison.And with a screech the Spiders would leap forward claws extended.Sitting on the roof the spider-thing would constantly fire barrages and barrages of thorns at the two servants, holding the two servants through sheer volume.But with a violent hit Dechi brought it down smashing to the ground.There were smouldering bodies and two doors left in this room, save for the one the way they came.
@Game Ping 4It was the same hallway with the pit but here the pipes were speaking.It won't matter. We have a job to do. Take the lead and do not worry for me.If that is what you wish. "Saber. We'll continue with the search." Peter starts walking up to the pit to look at it one more them. "Let's move down here."It streched down with the stink. Like before Peter could guess it was one hundred feet straight drop You land in the muck and sewage at the bottom, there is indeed a small walkway to the side but even that if covered in human refuse. There is a pipe that is pouring more sewage in to the right, with a small passage off the the side, with the entire tunnel to the left twisting downward.
@Game Ping 4
There were bodies submerged in the sewage. Quite a few with bullet-holes but a lot had been torn apart. Again the all pervasive webs were covering many patches of the wall, having pinned Undead and Ghouls to them that were quickly consumed by something or riddled with automatic fire.More bodies again but it was clear that the fight hadn't been with casualties for several of the spider-ghouls lay dead and there was a arm floating in the knee-high sewage with the armpatch that said GIGN on it.
There was another wrought iron-gate to the side and at the bottom of which was a long drop slide of the sewage that appeared that it would flow into a greater deposit at the bottom.
@Game Ping 4Within the passage he was looking now there was a walkway on the very top that streched over the passage. At the end of this one it drained away into a smaller chamber that split off in three more ways.
@Game Ping 4
Dechi would notice that the pipes seemed to continue on the pipe to the right of the junction.
Marked X on map.
@Bobby/Dechi/-Another pipe in which sewage came in. But this time there was a steel maintance door to end of the tunnel."Rather a big place..." Peter says with slight annoyance in his tone.Dechi would see the pipes lead into a wall beside the maintance door.
@Bobby/Dechi/-More pipes...In the other passages they would turn to other places out of view. Though Dechi could hear what sounded like supressed gunshots now echoing through the hallways. But it was impossible to tell from what direction they were coming from. They clearly hadn't come here at all.
@Game Ping 4She would sense a path, a desecration by its very existance just to her right. Where the round of rushing water was the greatest.Over to the left, PapaAnd in this room it would be the largest you had seen yet. Stretching forward the water here seemed to be much cleaner, though not saying much as it was still so extremely murky that you couldn't see the bottom.
There was a platform at the very end of it.
She didn't seem like the voice at all. A blonde woman in a sweater vest that stood on the platform looking down at the group with a smile on her face.
"Well I've met the eyes, well eye, of the man who's about to kill me. So will you now tell me why?"
1"Threaten?" she asked quizzically, "I don't seek to threaten anyone. If anything I hold just as strong a distaste for this forest as you humans, even as ignorant as your kind sometimes are. I just want to stop him on from his self-destructive path."
@ArbyOrNotToBe"Those soldiers said the same things..." she softly continued, "It's clear you're a familiar but you have enough free will not have moved to kill me the moment you saw me. I didn't ask to be this way and he didn't. We didn't have a choice in the matter. Maybe your orders are wrong?"
@Game Ping 4"He's using you three." claws sprouted from her fingertips as she stared the group down, "But if you choose to continue this way. I will have no other choice. What I am doing here is bigger then just you three. He's going to unleash a scourge upon the North and open the way for the Forest to destroy everything with his Servant."
@Game Ping 4 (edited)"Well I can't really trust you can I? After all, he sent you here with his men." she said as she eyed down Peter. "And I'm not even sure if we have the time. I held off the last few assaults with my Dead and Ghouls, but you killed quite a few of them. His men are closing in and this time they have their own beasts on their side."
@Game Ping 4"Yes. His GIGN. His personal army of Nightmares." (edited)After all, we will have to kill them both anyways, no matter who is saying the truth."He's merely using this Forest as a tool, exploiting the current situation even if it will burn him from the inside at the end." she sneered, "Just like I said before. This is bigger than you three. I despise the sight of blood."
She raised up her arms and it began to glow at her fingertips. On command, corpses rose out of the thick sewage all around them.
"But if you three continue to stand in my way, then so be it."
And from the floor she picked up a bolt-action long rifle.
"I could care less if this Forest consumes everything. I just want to stop him. He lost himself a while ago and this is my fault.""I'll make your deaths quick. Do you three have names so I may commit them to memory to make sure they never fade?" she aimed down her sights.
@Game Ping 4
Suddenly you could hear a sudden blurt of suppressed gunfire and roaring within the tunnels.Master, she may try to charm you. Be careful.Saber. Make sure she doesn't get away. I'll protect our master.The supressed gunfire and roars has now become nearly defeaning from the other corridors. Even stray bullets seems to be ricocheting into the room from the door to the left. (marked with X).
@Game Ping 4
And with that suddenly the Ghouls and Dead she held under her thrall all coallapsed and crumbled into a second death.
Peace. At last.Would he play it?"If you're hearing this... I won't be cliche you know how you got this tape. First order of business if you're hearing this the evacuation tunnel, fastest way out, is the maintenance door down the ways. It opens up into a concealed position in the middle of the city. Not even he can reach there. Trust me. If I'm right. You'll need it."
<<Tape 1. End.>> "Room clear!" Suddenly a voice would call out from behind them and two men in full-body armour would enter the room with their sub-machine guns raised and scanning the room. "Friendlies!"
They were the two GIGN soldiers from before, covered in feces and blood. But seemingly still intact.
"Is she eliminated?" one of them barked."Where's her body?" one of them said through a scrambled respirator."Can you confirm her death even given the Curse of Restoration?" they seemed to lower their guard and lower their rifle as they stared around, "What a mess.""Good. Did she leave anything behind?" one of them said.
@Game Ping 4"Yes. And you're sure she left nothing behind?" one of them asked with fervency. (edited)"Perfect," they said in unison as they suddenly raised their pistols at the group.
"That's one less loose end."
"Target the Master," they rasped, "Just like he ordered."
And behind them two of the Spider-Ghouls with clicking and salivating manables crawled into the room on the celling. (edited)Suddenly one of them would charge forward and its arm would erupt out of its gloved socket to reveal an arm with wooden tendrils engulfing it. It would reach behind its back as it fused with a large cylinder object that it rested one-handed on it's shoulder.
"Back blast clear!"
And with a massive whoomp it fired the rocket launcher.
@Game Ping 4"Targets more durable then expected. Requesting reinforcements." the one next to Peter barked.Growling in fury at its wound the Spider-Ghoul would drag Peter through the sewage, submerging and bashing its head underneath years of human waste and trash.
@ArbyOrNotToBeThe GIGN would move quickly, trying to flank Martha while peppering her multiple forms with dozens of accurate bursts. But it seemed that despite their unnverving accuracy, they lacked the stopping power to even bring her down.
@Ma|Resur|Anastasia|King| C"Take th-" they all aimed their guns at Peter Stumpp when at the last moment they realized what he was attempting.You land on the grassy outskirts of Calias, bloody and bruised with bullets in very hole and chink imaginable. But still alive from the plots of the Colonel.
@Game Ping 41 ◉〇〇〇
2 〇〇〇
3 〇〇〇
4 〇〇 Suddenly just as Dechi finished her words. The very ground beneath her shook and trembled. To the south a intricate set of sigils and runes formed in the air, glowing a toxic amber. Before. With a thunderclap that shattered even nearby windows of abandon cars, a second sun awoke on the horizon. Even the backblast from the detonation rippled in a strong wing that swept through the area of the three.
And for a split second a massive figure appeared in the sky for the entire world to see. A God of Red Steel and unstopable might that had just unleashed a fraction of its power to rend a hole into the Earth that would forever remain.
The God of Mars had come if only for a moment. 4
And then it disappeared, the sky returning to its shape.But for a moment in the aftermath of the blast, Peter swore he could hear a howl in the most extreme of distances. 2Dechi could guess that where the blast had come from was about 350 to 400 miles to the south west of their position.
At the same time Peter and Martha would hear the 'whoop whoop whoop' of low flying scout helicopters coming from the distance to do a scouting run on the edge of the forest of Einnashe.
@Game Ping 4The Helicopters would move directly above the group, and slowly disappear ove the horizon....
And once more a howl on the wind that only Peter could hear. 
The Time for a Simulated Mission had come once more.
Todays Mission! Take out the Dead Apostle Threat within the confines of a Small Town.
The Rules are as follows:
Civilian Casualties are to be kept to a minimum
Property Damage must remain at a minimum
Mystery must be kept Secret.
If more than 5 People die, the Mission is a Failure.
If more than 5 People witness Magecraft and aren't taken care of shortly, the Mission is a Failure.
If more than 3 Buildings are Total'd, the Mission is a Failure.
@Game Ping 4
"Did the Dead Apostle escape, Saber?" A still, calm voice resounds on the fair-haired warrior's head.
"Escape... err, yes. There's an attendant right beside me... I did not think it would be a good look to... I-I apologise. I should prioritise the mission...!""Don't fret, Saber. You made the right call for now. Let's focus on circling her." He comforts her decision, as he himself considers where to go now.
"Wait, she just warped, didn't she?""I believe she went to the room marked with a portrait of a woman, but I don't think I saw her leave. Perhaps she's busy in there...? Is it some kind of workshop?""That's a bathroom, Saber. She's likely gone. Best to use our efforts looking elsewhere.""Everyone, there's a strong bounded field at the fast food building. It seems the Dead Apostle is trying to lure us into traps. Be wary.""How unsightly. Master, I cannot disarm any kind of magic, but I do have resistance to it. Should you wish to assault the building, say the word. Leave such trifling matters to the strong!"
"Master, we have assaulted the WcDonalds, but it has no secrets to hide. Mori intends to disable the Bounded Field, but we can't speak of any further success. Still, our squadron's injuries are minimal.""...The mattress store is burning up in signature...! I'm going there...! (edited)"I've found the Dead Apostle! It is surrounded by four ghouls! I will now engage...! Please, come to my aid as soon as you can!" Sending this message to his allies, he shifts his stance, his hands light and ready to throw themselves at the enemy.The Simulation around you begins to shake.
Everything is crumbling. And Eventually.. it's all just a Void now. As the group is sent in they’re on a volcano with flowing lava, the ash was pretty light and there didn’t seem to be any enemies yet. The succubus came over the intercoms,
“Alright darlings, stay out of the fire will you~? Past that, have fun!”
Oh no from the lava comes an angry brass dragon!! It’s only a young one though…Angry Dragon Mama comes out after you killed her kid!!!
”We’ll now… That was quite simplified… Well that’s all that was planned out my dearies so here’s when I send you out! Unless you particularly would like more?” (edited)”We’ll now… That was quite simplified… Well that’s all that was planned out my dearies so here’s when I send you out! Unless you particularly would like more?”
”Perhaps, but it is on you three if you would like more~”We got a dragon cultist angel thing and it’s not happy!!!Well Angel made quick work of Mango….As quickly as it dispatched Mango, Hercules leapt into action, slashing the Angel again and again until it laid on the ground a bunch of cut up body parts….
“Congrats everyone you did it!!!
Everyone gets yeeted out for healing!!! 
As the party gets spawned in, they are in a dimly lit area... A rocky area surrounded by high pillars of stone. The pillars are in every which way and are impossibly high to climb to the top of. A voice sounds over the intercom, a gentle and soothing voice,
"Be prepared to be the hunters not the hunted~"The lighting is currently dim light...
As everyone's speaking... A low metallic clicking could be heard emanating from all around them... Multiple sources of clicking? Ohhhh shit... (edited)
Angry screechy metallic monster noises!!Annoying.Hey isn't it a cute blind looking teleporting metal monster thingy?As Kintoki's strikes break down the creature a soft chittering can be heard... Then clacking, gears and metal grinding... Something changing... Or coming? Maybe both. (edited)
Elfriede fires her spells at the creature, felling the last of it... Then the chittering goes silent for a moment...Not long after a loud clanking can be heard... Clank, clank... Clank... It came from behind a pillar, somehow closer than expected... Damn Merlin spawning it close...
This thing seems very troublesome as attacks weren't hitting as hard nor was Naomi's magic working properly...As Kintoki finishes it off, sparks begin flying all over it and before anyone could react… BOOOOOOM!!! Magical force explosion which did massive damage!!! Almost wholly wiping out Elf…. Anyways, y’all are ejected from the simulation.
“Good job everyone~!” This time everyone was spawned atop a fairly large ship in the middle of the sea.
“Good luck my cute pirates.” (edited)
The party is left drifting out at sea for a few seconds before they feel and hear a thump. Something has rammed into the boat’s right side?Awww man pretty big sharkies!!!Well the two had murdered quite the amount of sharks... But now here comes Jaws!!!!Angry shaaak over the intercomes!!!Succubus over the intercoms: "Perhaps we should make a true Jaws shark later..." (edited)As Melusine takes the last hit to finish the giant shark... One last creature peeks up from the sea...And hoooooly shit it's a big ass turtle...Finally Melusine lands the killing blow on the dragon turtle!! Then the succubus comes over the intercoms.
"Lovely work today you two."
After she speaks she boots the pair outta the simulation. The group spawns into the current playing field, a limited area surrounded by ice and lava... One half of the field quite literally burning and very fucking hot... The other side is icey cold and in a bit of a storm...
"Oh this one isn't based off of a movie, just off of a horrible add I saw once~""Have fun darlings~ At least it wont be as horrible as my switching terrains fight during the Challenge Quests~""And sorry Ciel my dear, for the purposes of training you'll have some special restraints imposed on you~! Mostly because you are one of the best~"
1
As they were conversing two elementals spawned on opposite sides of the arena, one fire and one ice!! Both very not friendly...Angry elemental noises from across the field!!It's very notably hot for yall on the fire side... And very cold for Gil."Good job everyone with phase one!! Neeeext!!"
A very armored pair of the previous enemies pop on outta their respective elements!!As Fee lands the finishing hits all goes quiet for a moment before from the lava and ice comes two moblets!! A Phoenix and Leviathin? What the fuck Merlin!!!
"Have fun darlings!!! Boss battle!"The ice monster was an angry monster!! Rawr!!! But...Finally the monstah falls and dies, then the simulation fades away... A noticeable knocked out Desponia and a very not here Gilgamesh?
"Good job everyone!! Now lets heal her up yes~?"
A wild succubus teleports in and uses some very not human magic to heal up Desponia in her entirety~
"There we go~"
"Now now my darlings, get ready to have a little bit of fun! This one is to simulate being dropped into a foreign singularity without a clue of what is going on~"
The succubus gives the whole party a soft smile before she presses some buttons. Reality fading away around them as each of them are spawned in all sorts of areas around one general location... And by the gods it was horrible... Some were spawned in quicksand and quickly sinking, some were spawned in waters infested with parasites. Some even in fire!? Smoke heavily covered a portion of the battlefield and the winds were no slouch either...
Well surrounding the party comes quite the number of devils, not that Inari, Dee, Leopold, or Inari's fox could tell for the first while... But hey it's probably fine?Well the boss had fallen after reaping its bounty, leaving one unconcious and others quite hurt... But hey the remaining moblets are falling one by one.As the last of the creatures falls the simulation slowly fades away leaving them in a blank training room. The succubus already floating on over to pat Dee's head a few times before casually healing Inari up.
"Another lovely day of training everyone~" Yet another day of "training" made by Merlin and Da Vinci... This time everyone was spawned atop a small floating island with but one bridge to another larger island... And holy shit there's only a few bridges in and around and small flying islands everywhere... The whole area is above the clouds and if you fall off you're sure to die...
"Good luck my darlings~"
The succubus calls over the intercoms before various beings form around them on the islands!!
Honestly the land locked people are gonna struggle... Most of these bridges can only support so much weight, the sturdiest bridge being the first bridge to the largest island.Angry angel noises that no one can really understand as it flies into Naomi and shanks her with its sword.
Swiftly the two angels were dispatched... So the succubus cranked up the difficulty!Well as the last of the second wave of angels falls... We got another few giant angels spawning on the small islands!!! Oh no!!
This thing spawns in... Floating in the air...
Holy Cow: "Moooooo"
Holy Cow:"Moooooo"Angry cow noises!! And holy shit the cow looks fine after tanking Ash’s NP
Holy Cow: “Moo Moo Moother Fucker”Angry cow noises as it lets out bursts of divine energy at people!!
Lotta angry injured cow noises!!
Eventually the cow fades away and the simulation ends, leaving them in the room to leave as they please.
Ash is spawned atop a volcano, lava pouring out and a light ash rain falling around him... There's a little graveyard down the way a bit and yeahhh...
Aaaaaaand in the graveyard were two floating Liches!!! Hoh boy lets do this!There's a lot of big fireballs going off and Ash is kinda just standing there unharmed...
Angry fire fallen angel noises
As he sends his noble phantasm at the fallen angel it spins and spins and spins, faster and faster. Brutallizing the angellic being and tearing right through it leaving a bit of a mess and a scene from Mortal Kombat. Though not long after the simulated gore and terrain fades away to a soft clapping sound and a succubus floating around.
"Well done~ Just as well as you did yesterday." The party sets out after teleporting from their base to Sourd's in London. It wasn't difficult to find a carriage which took them from London to Swindon the whole trip taking a few hours to complete. They had set out in the late morning, and by the time they'd arrived it was well into the afternoon, perhaps early dinner time?
As the group got a chance to look about, it was a pretty nice town. Honestly closer to a city if anything. Everyone was peacefully doing their own things, going about their days. They had arrived in the merchant district so there was quite a bit of business going on. Various transactions from medicine, to food, to animals, and more. Though there did seem to be a heavier guard presence than normal and of the guards that had their visors up they weren't exactly super stoked. It was almost as if they were recovering from something.Master did you notice anything odd about some of the guards, like they had been awakened from da dreamless slumber or something of the like?After a little bit of conversation amongst themselves, the party sees a member of the guard walk up to them. Certainly a bit more well equipped than their fellows. Granted all the guards were very well equipped, sporting pleasant looking full plate armor, helmets, crossbows at their hips, and even well maintained swords. Anyhow this black armored guard walks up to the party and speaks in a pretty gentle and friendly tone as they flip up their visor to reveal a middle aged woman.
"Hello there, I see you've just arrived. What brings you into town today?"
"Ah fear not little one... You are fine, we are just on guard after a group came last and caused a bit more trouble than it was worth... If they show their faces again we will be sure to find them and put them to justice!"
The knight saluted the young lass, being valiant as ever. Though a small comforting smile was on her face despite the hint of worry in her eyes. Though of course she was being almost like a worrying mother, seeing her child journey out for the first time.
"There is much to learn about our town, if you'd like I could have one of my subordinates send you to the library? Or is there something you had in mind previously? As for paying respects to our Lady... The town square or the church which is right off the square would be the best places to do so."There really wasn't anything as the guards were basically just going about their day, talking bout normal stuff. Such as how the kids and spouse are doing, the weather, maybe getting a drink at the local pub, etc.
"Thank you, it shall be lovely knowing we can keep you all and the citizens of our glorious town safe from harm... And do not worry about money, everyone is quite well off. Even in the so called slums people are at least living a decent life. Now then, for directions towards the library, just continue down this road. It shall be on the left side, you cant miss it."It was clear as the group moved that the guards were keeping a subtle eye on everyone and everything in hopes of keeping everyone safe. Everyone went back to doing their own things and as they approached the center of town quite a few statues were there if a particular woman. And at the town center as was said, a giant church stood on one side of the square, and on their left was a fairly small library which had the sign indicating as much.*
or by using it in DMs with a message link.Despite a few worried guards the overall tone of the square was a very happy one. Families having fun by the fountain at the center, people going about various forms of business, others just going out for fun and the likes. Though as the group makes it to and enters the library they’d find it quite the cute one. Like something you’d find in someone’s home rather than anything grand. The whole library had nothing magical about it, it was purely a cozy little library. At first glance even the books seemed pretty average with titles like, “How to Invest for Dummies” or “I Was Transported to Another World and Made Lots of Friends, Then I Made a Wife of the Demon King!!”. The most interesting of titles was, “The Voice of God, Our Protector and Guardian.”
At the counter stood an older man, sorting through books that seemed to come fresh out of the parcel. He merely gave the party a smile and wave as he gestured for everyone to have fun.
or by using it in DMs with a message link.The old man chuckled a bit as he watched the group interact with one another. He clearly found it quite entertaining how the young people in his eyes were interacting with one another in this day and age.
"Indeed it is quite popular with you youthful people, especially younger children. That whole series is quite the fantastical and entertaining one. I also see there's a few others that have caught your eyes, are there any sort of topics in particular you are looking for or are you finding them well?""Ah yes, we all enjoy that one. The most prominent one would be the one titled, 'The Voice of God, Our Protector and Guardian'. It recounts quite a bit of our tale, from when we were just the smallest of villages and how she came forth and developed our village into a safe city for all."
He laughed over this and pointed to the shelf where they'd last seen the book. As the group looked around it seemed like quite the well kept library, and any sort of secret passage that may or may not be here would be a bit difficult to look for at this moment."Indeed she is, she's protected our town a number of times and brought the crime down so low that we need not worry about it... It warms my old heart that there's still people out there who'd work so hard for others..."
He laughs a bit at this with a small nod, the old man seemingly not noticing the undertone which it could insinuate. He was pretty much just your sterotypical old jolly dude."It is quite rare, but none the less it is quite appreciated and adored. As for seeing her, I have on a handful of occasions. Though she rarely comes out preferring to remain in an undisclosed location working on whatever it is she does. Be it assisting our town or whatever else she may like to do. But meeting her... She is not someone that you can just wish to meet, but she will come to you if she so chooses it."
The old man nods as he seems thoroughly distracted by Karna and their conversation, the old man enjoying being able to talk with someone for so long.The old man nods and gives the group a wave and jots down a few things in what seems to be a log book. As they exit the square was the same as when they entered, still bustling and active despite the sun setting at that moment. Giving them probably not to long before the town's night life kicked in.It seems like it's a waste of time to pursue the Lord directly ourselves, they'll likely seek an audience with us when we strike their fancy as divine beings are wont to do. I, for one, would rather not attend a meeting with only information that makes us sound like sympathizers if we can help it against the sun. If you ask me, this Lord is no different than the one of cruelty--rather than directly control the peoples to hide behind them, she bewitches them so they shield her willingly. Psychological warfare, how vexing... (edited)As the party decided between going to the church or deciding against it, they heard light whispers by some children. About how the church and the sewers held many secrets. How there was certainly a land of great happiness under the city if they'd just dig deep enough.
Another rumor floating around was that the Voice of God was a vessel for a true deity here to bless humanity with a life without the need for sins...
Furthermore there was a few other rumors about various things ranging from average relationship gossip, to things such as the person who was murdered by two fox ladies.Well the party after noting down those rumors heads on home in order to report back to everyone the strange discrepancy between what's happening in the town to what's on the Lord of Curse's files.There were some knights wandering about closeish to London, they were clearly the knights of the Lord of Curses. The party this time was dispatched to deal with them in whatever way they found most fitting, be it eliminating them, or by means of conversation.
It's like mid day or so right now.
”It is quite a wonderful day out, we are currently running around by order of the commander to find some run away criminals… Two women with fox like ears and tails, one black haired… The other pink haired, but with brown ears and tail… You all wouldn’t happen to know that of them would you? I see you have another fox lady with you here…”
*The man who was clearly their captain by their new and clean looking armor which sported few dents from testing. His tone wasn’t hostile or anything yet, but it held a lot of suspicion and caution.*"It's honestly quite irritating... They're both suspects in a murder case. The first one we have had in many years... But worry not citizens, we shall capture them and bring justice for the family of the departed, and for the safety of the people!"
The knights saluted the party, radiating patriotism and vigor and their pure hearted desire to be able to put who they believed to be horrible criminals in jail.Tristan if they get too jumpy they can be your dinner tonight..."Thank you for your encouragement, and we shall continue to hunt down these women. Please do stay out of harms way, if you see these women please inform the nearest guard so that we can capture and question them. There will be no need towards interfering with our investigation, we'd all prefer it if you stayed safe. These are dangerous peoples after all but we thank you for your offer. Aside from that, showing you around the area some is fine by me. We'd all love to show you this land we adore so much."
The knight leader smiled at this, finding himself quite happy that new people were looking into moving into the area. It may be a bit of a ways between London and Swindon, but it is still a cute and peaceful area that was totally worth buying.The leader of the band of knights had a younger man approach, seemingly in his late teens or early 20's. The young knight gave Tristan a smile and wave as he spoke.
"I'll step up and lead her to her desired location! Lady Tristan, where is it you would like to see?"Another one of the dozen knights speaks up too, looking forward to showing the crafter around.
"I can show you around, are there any particular requirements you have for the area? Perhaps like a slope, a lack of a slope, view of a river, or anything like that?"
While that knight asked Monta some questions about the area he wished to see, the knight captain gave Amane a nod.
"We are, and life is quite nice. Everyone gets ample pay, health care, work to do if they need it, there are all sorts of places that people run to have some fun from the red light district for adults, to game stores for the children... Though those are all in the town itself."
The knight commander was quite relaxed, clearly all of them hadn't caught on yet and were being pretty friendly about everything. It was a bit of naivety and a lot of just wanting to be friendly to potential newcomers.Baobahn, Monta, try to keep him away from the others for now at least. I'll update you depending on how the plan progresses.
Uhh...I mean. Alright okay yeah sure."We're given ample time to relax and recover, it's part of the routine. It's actually a bit funny when some of the others actually ask for more work hours but get their application for it rejected."
The knight captain chuckles at this thought upon recalling such actions in the past. Though does continue on with speaking not long after.
"But yes there are a few who like to slack off, that is fine though we just assign them to places where they can accomplish work whilst doing what they like to do best. As for those women... Well they aren't convicts for the murder yet, but we shall see to the investigation of this murder, and hopefully they either are the criminal or can lead us to them... Either way they will need to be punished for evading arrest. But you should be fine Ma'am, as long as you keep your hands clean and stay out of trouble there should be no trouble in return."Can I trust you to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. I'm confident with the plan but I can't shake the feeling things are going off too smoothly. Baobahn might take a bit to get back should things take a turn, can I ask that you keep your claws at the ready?"I am sorry but I cannot disclose any of those more particular details of the case. Only the alleged crimes themselves. But should not they have faith in the legal system? Is it not as trustworthy where you are from? If it is not able to be trusted then what good is it?"
The knight commander thought over the possibility for a bit, hoping that it wasn't as horrible as it seemed for Amane.The knights with Monta and Sith were going around doing their jobs well, displaying a clear love for the land and it’s people as well as a deep knowledge of the land.
The knights with the main group on the other hand frowned at Amane’s words, extremely glad at the fairness of the society they had the privilege of living in.
“That’s horrible… I couldn’t even imagine living in such a society… I think I can speak for all my subordinates when I say, I’m glad you could remove yourselves from that situation… And we hope that you’re able to find yourself a place be it here or elsewhere that you can be treated fairly, justly, and with love.””Oh no we all wish to reach higher positions. But we don’t want to see the people who are like family to us suffer because of it. Along with that It’s the concept of would you really desire to be at the top of a world which lacks any life. We all seek the enrichment of our lives, but we have distain for the harm of other lives during this process.”Baobahn, we can't gain anything from these fools. Knock out the Knight you're with and we can try to modify his memory later and then get back here. This is likely going to get bloody...lucky you.Haaaah? I don't get to kill him? What's with that. This some kinda joke Leo?!The sooner you get back here, the more you'll get to kill when you get back. Stop acting like a spoiled little princess and maybe I'll reward you a bit later.tch....
With that, Baobhan Sith would attempt to perform her duty as a knight. Aiming to strike at the poor knight. Her goal was of course to knock him unconscious.”Perhaps our views in the world are to different from yours… Respectfully, we shall be disagreeing with you. Perhaps we may be gears in the plans of The Voice… But never have we been denied the right to progress. We each bare our own burdens we seek to free ourselves from, but we at least seek out unity when we are to weak alone, than suppressing those under us to spread our burdens of progress. No matter… I believe this conversation is over, we must continue on with our search…”
The knight captain sighed upon realizing he could not show them a more peaceful and united way. It may not have been for everyone, but it is what worked time and time again for them.As Sith kills the knight who was with her in an instant, a little purple black light emanates from the captain’s helmet.
“Kelvin, Austin!”
The captain cries out in worry, before sending two knights each to go find Sith, Monta, and the two knights.
“I may disagree with your way of thinking Ma’am, but I shall set that aside for now. One of my men just perished, and your friends may be in trouble…” (edited)Well the knights over by Sith and Monta are fucked and cant reach the others... But one of the knights goes to protect Amane, the other knight stands back crossbow ready, and everyone else kinda just tries to smack Fenrir... Albeit none of their attacks pierce her skin.The purple light that was coming off of the knight captain's helmet suddenly turns into a little untouchable whisp and fades away? Strange...As Amane tried to figure out what the whisp was, she found that it was unlike anything she'd seen before. It had an extremely faint feeling, but one that was bottomless... Like a tiny black hole.One of the knights cries out to the others. "They're to powerful! Certainly they're allies of that fox! Run and report to the commander!"The last man was a crying and blubbering mess, and as he died he let out one last 'sorry'.A third attempt at trying to locate the stronghold of the Lord of Curses who truly seems like she isn't such a horrible person. Last time it was heard that there were rumors of something going on with the church in town? They weren't bad rumors, just particularly strange ones... Who knows though, it was heard from children... Anyways, the party begins at the edge of the lovely town which had grown large enough to be perhaps a small scale city.
As the party looked around the area from where they were getting to know each other, it could be noted that there was a relatively heavy guard presence. Granted all of them were minding their own business and even participating in a lot of the activities such as eating, drinking, buying and selling shiz, etc. Even so, there were a notable amount of them, but this didn't really put the inhabitants off at all, if anything they seemed quite comfortable and relaxed with their presence.
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Eventually once the squad set out to find some children, it would take all of maybe 20 steps. I mean it's a pretty populated town with a plethora of people going about. This group of children consisted of 5 children, 3 boys, 2 girls, having fun enjoying some cookies together! They were conversing about a number of different things from the church, to the Voice of God, to how they hoped all those criminals who hurt various people here would be caught... Specifically with that last thing mentioning fox ladies, and the description of some familiar people who could potentially be those from Chaldea.The children smiled and waved at Hana, then at Nursery. Clearly quite excited by the prospect of meeting new people. I mean they were only 5-8 years of age or so, they're still very much so in that age of wanting to do anything and everything without thinking about any consequences.
"Hello Sister Hana"
They all responded in unison before one of the little girls speaks up, fiddling with the end of her braided hair as she spoke to the the Sister and Book.
"If Sister Hana would let you, we don't mind sharing some cookies... And yeah we don't mind telling you what we know, what is it you wanna know bout them anyhow?"The children let NR enjoy some of the cookies with them, they were all nice cookies of all sorts of types. Sugar, chocolate chip, double chocolate, etc. One of the boys pipped up to answer Hana's question and to lay NR's concerns to rest.
"Don't you worry Alice! The guards will protect us just like they always have! They'll put all the bad guys in jail! And those rumors came from two fox ladies who came and probably killed one of the uncles selling stuff in the market district! Then then people who are probably their friends killed a group out on patrol... Millie who isn't here with us today lost her big brother because of those guys..."
They all gained a sad look on their faces briefly before comforting each other and regaining their earlier smiles. The little girl gives Achilles a nod then responds to him,
"Hello there, I'm Rebecca! What's your name?"The others pip up in order, first the boys starting with the first boy who pipped up, then the final lassie.
"Jeffrey!"
"Arthur!"
"Kenneth!"
"Jane!"
The 5 of them struck little poses, clearly having practiced this before. Though they clearly had at least 2 missing spots where someone else should have been. Aside from that, Arthur spoke on the rumors some.
"The adults wouldn't tell us much about it, just that there's fox people going around with other bad guys and killing people... And that we should stay safe inside of town where guards can see and protect us! But nice to meet you guys Alice, Rider!"
The others nod happily, hoping that they caught the probably chaldeans soon as well as being happy at meeting new friends."In the church there's a ton of smart people! You could also check the old grandpa in the library! He's one of the smartest people too!"
Kenneth speaks with quite the childish excitement for the possibility of having more people join them in town."Bye bye! Hopefully see you later! Be sure to stay safe from those bad guys!"
The children called out various things quite cheerfully and waved their goodbyes to the party as they set off.
On their path to search for the library or church, it took them towards the town square where it was very evident by the giant church and the shop with a book on the sign which was which. Among other things there was also desert shops, boutiques, etc. Aaaand hey there's a lotta statues of this one lady.
As midday came to be, the bells on the church began to ring. A plethora of people shuffling towards the church in order to pay their respects. It was no matter what their class was, the wealthy, the poor, everyone came together to pay their respects at the church. People began with reciting some words of prayer, it may have looked like a cult to some, or a proper religion to others. But what's the difference between the two, it's in the end a way to pay your respects to a higher power you believe in...As the group makes their way to the church, they'd find it jam packed. Though they did find a place near the back where they could observe everything going on. Its setup was quite the standard church, though replacing any form of statue of Jesus Christ, was the Voice of God, the Lord of Curses...
The priestess was dressed in a cute nunlike attire, she had a red marking trailing down her face kind of like she was crying blood. She didn't mention anything particularly important, rather as the group listened this was not to dissimilar to a normal church gathering on Sundays.
The priestess continued to recite prayers which held very similar ideas as the Christian Bible. Ideas of love, of hope, of humility, of respect. She was quite heartfelt in saying this and exuded an aura of charisma whilst she did so. She spoke on how that even though their protector, The Voice of God would continue to protect them, they would still need to learn to protect themselves too. Protect themselves by being decent human beings who respected life. Even going as far as to reference the murders committed by Chaldea and say how heinous those crimes were, and how they were now with The Voice of God now, resting in piece. Hour after hour she continued on and on about various lessons for the people to become better people with, and at the end she'd give them a small curtsey and some final words.
"I shall leave you with these last words... This mortal world may be filled with sin... But through the guidance of our Lord, we shall become better people. This is our journey, our test, to show that we are worthy of better."
With that she flashed a quick glance around the room and her eyes landed on the Chaldeans briefly before she slowly and peacefully walked away. Down a corridor and even through the shuffling of feet and conversations of the crowd, the party could hear a door close with a gentle thump.
For a while Enkidu followed unimpeded, though eventually came up on the door which seemed to be the direction the Priestess though there were guards posted in front of it. Two heavily armored knights which seemed more like paladins than normal knights. Aside from that, Enkidu could feel as they moved through the hall a strange feeling. That the earth was irregular there, they could feel it, but at the same time they couldn't. It was akin to staring at the abyss which was at the depths of Kur... It was an ancient feeling, a powerful feeling, a concealed feeling... Even with his powerful Presence Detection he could hardly feel the distortion, but yet he felt its imposing pressure... A contradiction.
@Game Ping 4"We apologize but we cannot let you speak with the priestess as of this moment. Though we shall inform her that you are seeking an audience... We can arrange for an informant to notify you when it is your time to speak with her..."
*One of the guards shakes his head as the cross their weapons before the door to bar the group from entry.*"It is not our place to assume.""Worry not, as long as you remain in the town for the time being then we shall be able to inform you within the day of receiving permission."P-Perhaps we should go for now and see if we can be friends later. Maybe the others in the little town know more of this Curse Queen and the Priestess lady here!”I apologize but even the majority of our sisters and brothers reside in homes outside of the church. What little space of residence there is here is solely for orphans who are not yet of age as well as the staff who directly care for them at all hours of the day.”
*The guard gives an apologetic nod to the group.*
“Though if you wish for close by accommodations many of the buildings close to the square on the residential road are inns of varying prices.” (edited)The party goes around in order to speak with whomever they wish to speak with. Beginning with the children they were back to playing and enjoying life, making sure everyone was all included and being happy as little kids should be.Jane speaks up with a smile as they all wave and greet NR.
"Hiya Alice! It's nice to see you again! And yeah, Miss Head Priestess is really cool! She comes out and helps people really often too and everyone loves her!""Oh we get to see her really often! She comes around to the orphanage at least once a week to check up on all the kids there! And uhhh..."
Jeffrey who had first responded trailed off a bit only for his thought to be picked up by Jane.
"Yeah she was born here, she's been around for a long long time! At least before we were born!"
The kids run around quite happily, giving the two lots of hugs!”Yup yup! She’s super cool! I wanna be just like her when I grow up.”
Arthur smiled at this before Jeffrey continued with Hana’s question.
“She does go outside the church from time to time, but she doesn’t do it often. Mostly Miss Knight Commander or Mister Merchant takes care of the stuff around town! They’re all known to be representatives of our lady and that makes it all the better~!” (edited)The whole lot of them nodded with bright smiles on their faces.
“We’ll be sure to Sister Hana! Bye bye everyone see you later!”After they wander around a bit and experiencing the town in all its joy and happiness the party comes across a well armored knight, her helmet on but giving orders to other knights. The party could feel for the first time someone who had some magic items on them.
The purple knight gave a bow as the others minded their own business. Many watching the group carefully whilst others continued their patrols and or ran off to do other jobs. She spoke in a pretty satisfied tone, her voice clearly reflecting she was a bit older of a woman.
“Hello there Sister Hanna, you may call me Commander Lawrence. What might you need on this fine day?”"Ah yes those individuals... I'm still unsure if they truly committed the crime of murdering those men. but after another one of my teams were murdered by another fox lady and her colleagues... Haaa... I do hope we can bring them all in soon, we've never had problems like these until these demons showed up..."
The commander let out a tired sigh as she looks to some of her other guards.
"Those men and women had families they left behind... While we can alleviate some of the stress, it's still saddening... But you need not worry about that, allow us to worry over that. I just wish for you to enjoy the time you spend here.""it is less about grief of them, for we are rather proud of them. But rather we grieve for their families who will surely miss their sons, their daughters, their mothers, their fathers, brothers, sisters... But never mind that for the time being... What is it you wish to know about the priestesses?"
The Knight Commander was quite cordial as well as respectful and calm, though she did show a hint of sadness at mentioning their families but stays quite firm in heart and words.”I can try but only they can be the ones to determine how long it takes them to heal… As for the Priestess…
The Knight Commander let’s out a small sigh, just a contemplating one. Mostly like an old grannie to her grandchild who’s doing dumb shit science.
“She is quite the progressive lass, and does very well in her position. But she needs to learn to step back sometimes for the way forward isn’t always the best way. As for her achievements, among them are her recent refurbishing of the orphanage, as well as helping our lady deal with many of us who were sick during the last seasonal sickness… Either way, I believe her to be a good child.”"It's quite mild, it mostly comes down to snotty noses and sometimes fevers. The only time people are truly worried for during that season are the elderly, the young, and the people who are prone to getting sicknesses."
The Knight Commander shrugged yet again as she thought it to be quite the mild thing, the symptoms not sounding to dissimilar to the common cold or flu."You ask many questions, a good thing for someone so young. But do be careful of delving in places you do not belong. But here is fine for the most part."
The knight commander warns the group like a scolding mother worried for her children before continuing on with her little speech.
"As for what it is that I say she needs to take pause on, is that she tends to be quick to come up with new ideas. But she must give time for her previous ideas to flush out first."The party proceeded to spend a few days in town, a town which they found out to be quite the pleasant and happy one which lacked much conflict or hate. Even the “slums” weren’t so bad as they’ve managed to keep it cleaned up and the people there doing their best to positively contribute what they can to society. Really the only downsides were the occasional whispers about hoping the criminals who murdered their own would be caught soon. Though eventually the day came where in the party was called upon by two Paladin looking knights. Of course contrary to the pictures they did have helmets on, through the visors up so you could see their faces.
“Greetings there, we’ve been notified you have been looking to meet with the head priestess. If you would follow us we shall bring you to her.”
Miss Paladin spoke with a disciplined and stern tone, quite clearly one who took her job seriously, whilst Mr Paladin was pretty relaxed with a small smile on his face.
"A pleasure to meet you Sister Hana, I am Paladin Almeria, and this is my partner Paladin Martin. I must thank you for your patience and hope that you have a good talk with the Priestess. Though do try to keep it as concise as possible as directly after your group she has a plethora of meetings to attend."
Almeria gave a little nod as she and Martin lead the group into the church, and to the doors that they were stopped at a few days prior. They both gave nod to the other Paladins guarding the door before turning to the party and gesturing to the two rooms on either side.
"We request that you enter either of these rooms first. Inside you will need to leave your weapons and similar. Of course you will be searched just in case and will need to change into provided attire. Your stuff will remain in said room and when you leave you may retrieve them from the same rooms you left them in. Please, ladies on the right, and gentlemen on the left. Should you lack any identifiable gender, whichever you identify more with is ideal."As the others made their ways into the rooms and got changed they'd note that there was 1 person of the respective gender in each room in order to monitor and be sure no weapons were taken. Though eventually after everyone had complied they were let into the room with the Head Priestess. She was at the moment rifling through a number of papers and upon the group's entrance, set them down and looked towards them.
"Hello once again... I hope you all have been well since my sermon..."
She smiled and gestured to the seats which were set around a coffee table with her desk two steps away from one end of said table. The room had quite the collection of books and folders, without a doubt meant to run the city. Honestly when it came to the room itself it was quite normal, but the chaotic energy under it was quite gut wrenching to the poor Enkidu.
With a snap of her fingers a few little dolls walk in from tiny doors which laid hidden behind her desk. They went about serving tea and a plethora of snacks to the party.
"Enjoy some refreshments as we talk... I would assume you are from Chaldea? You've made quite the mess of some of the civilians... A pleasure to meet you though, I am Sister Alicia, head of the church here..."
As the party made their way over and sat down, they could notice her eyes did have a slight glow to them. It also became more apparent that there were spells inlaid into the room, though nothing harmful from what you all can tell on first glance.Interestingly enough as Enkidu casts the spell the Head Priestess smiles at them. As far as the 'it's not gay if it's clay' knows from the spell, they are most likely a human or something as the spell did not trigger for her.
"I would ask you be careful about casting spells. Any harmful spells and you will trigger my security system..."The head priestess lets out a soft chuckle, placing a hand on her cheek as she watches Enkidu do their thing. She shakes her head and allows them to proceed with their check as it was only fair that they do as much.
"I understand it, as long as you do not try anything innately harmful or attempt to interfere or dispel said spells you will be fine. So feel free to go ahead and investigate."”I do not mind, most of the church is public space after all. The only rooms not open to the public are either locked or guarded.”
The longer Enkidu stands in the room the wider their perception of the chaotic area grows. Once a few minutes passed they could sense a handful of closer to the surface chaotic areas. Most likely entrances below… A handful in the mountains, a a few in the city, but the most obvious was the one directly under them in the church."I can only hope you will at least bring them here so that they can face justice before those who live here... But realistically that is a wish that shall go unfulfilled... Just tell them they are never to return... And hope they do not get caught by the guards... Whilst they will live, the masses will not treat murderers kindly..."
She let out a disappointed sigh before giving Caren a small nod with a smile.
"Now Sister Caren, a pleasure to speak with you about as much. What is it that you may wish to hear about her?"The Head Priestess gives Enkidu a nod as they leave and would find most all of the church is open to the public, from the kitchen to many of the storage rooms. The only real ones being dorm rooms and some rooms guarded by Paladins."Our lord likes to take things her own way... She is quite unpredictable in that sense... I cannot answer for her ideals but what I do know is that your group has already earned her ire..."
The Priestess sips on her tea, a cold and calculating look on her face despite the slight smile on her lips."Less your specific group, and more Chaldea as a whole... You know how many of them are just regular people doing their jobs and living their lives normally? As well as how many of those normal nonmagical people your Chaldea has murdered? Bah... But that is no matter for now... We shan't charge you for the crimes of the rest of your group... But know that should any of them return, we will not respond kindly..."
The let out an annoyed sigh as she crossed her legs, still watching the party with a slightly judgmental expression.
"As for meeting with our Lord... That will depend on if she chooses it... She knows all, sees all, hears all... As for if she wishes to meet with the rest of you, only time can tell..."Eventually they did find a way down stairs, a basement that was extremely cluttered clearly made to be quite safe with its clutter. It was almost as if it were made for the sake of children's hide and seek first and foremost, then storage second. Regardless, deeper into the large basement was a door, guarded by four another two Paladins... The aura of chaos flowing strongly from that entrance...
Meanwhile back with the rest of the party, the High Priestess nodded and thought over Caren's offer for a bit before responding.
"I would not mind such a tea party as long as the foxes do not come.""If you would like, there's a lovely place in the square we could meet up at."
The High Priestess had quite a soft look comparatively to earlier."Truly another woman of class, a shame mere beasts like they will never even have the slightest of understandings... No matter... And do try to keep on your best behavior should Our Lady show up. It would get quite out of hand should she be angered. Have fun retrieving them and do feel free to send mail, it is quite a bit easier to get into contact with me that way I at least get to seeing it by the end of the day most days..."
The High Priestess lets out a small chuckle and gave a little wave, the little dolls moving about quite cheerfully, if not a bit creepily to clean up everything. It was almost as if they had stepped into a Wonderland eques area...The party is left to their own devices, leaving quite peacefully and without obstruction. It of course would take a few hours to get back to home base but that's fine right?Location: Rome
Time of day: Close to midnight
After some good ol', ahem, "convincing" with some very helpful pilots that were ready to assist you in your journey, here we are, in Rome!
What you're looking for? Ancile, the Divine Shield of Mars, delivered from the Heavens to Numa Pompilius, Romulus' successor. It is said that this shield was one of the symbols that would guarantee Rome's status as mistress of the world. Numa, forseeing that it could suffer the same fate as the Palladium of Athena and be stolen, commissioned 11 similar shields to be built, so that any would-be thieves could not figure out which would be which.
You are in the Campus Martius, looking for the Aedes Martis, the old Temple of Mars, well after tourists have gone to their lounges and everything's gone quiet.
@Game Ping 4
30ft behind us, we’re being tailed.I will scout it out. said Ortlinde as she would turn around and move towards where Lucius had indicated. As she was still in spirit form, she should be invisible.Below.Three nuns and a priest are following us. said Ortlinde telepathically as she would now keep an eye on the priest and nun.Be prepared, looks like they are making a move. said Ortlinde telepathically again.
He is an honorable but powerful warrior. I fought alongside him in the forest singularity. said Ortlinde telepathically. She would now be on guard, knowing what he was capable of.Let's go.
"I am Mars Avenger. From my blood Rome is founded. My enemies are swiftly destroyed. My blood flows within you. Have you come to reclaim my divine treasure?" (edited)"Your claim is legitimate, but your strength has to be seen. Surpass this task of mine, and prove you can reach for what you seek."
"Was it truly the right choice, Bishop... Father? You could've chosen to take the shield and bring them all together.""Even so..."
"Do not let worry cloud your vision. If she is pious and just, it will be on good hands. Besides, she is one of ours, right? It might as well be still in our possession. We can always just track her down, hah!""It's a shame, Father. Things won't be as lively without her around anymore."
"Don't worry about it either. As much as I'm not overjoyed about it, we all have our duties. If the Church wants me to deal with it, so be it."
"... You never change, now do you? Let's go, then. We have a patrol to finish."
"Heh, you're right. With all sincerity in my heart, I'm gonna miss Rome."
"I wonder how this 'Chaldea' place will be.""It's a shame, Father. Things won't be as lively without her around anymore."
"Don't worry about it either. As much as I'm not overjoyed about it, we all have our duties. If the Church wants me to deal with it, so be it."
"... You never change, now do you? Let's go, then. We have a patrol to finish."
"Heh, you're right. With all sincerity in my heart, I'm gonna miss Rome."
"I wonder how this 'Chaldea' place will be."