Graded [Briar Thorn Forests] - Red-Like: Without a Second to Spare

[Etymarchen]

I - Without a Second to Spare - II​

---

• Out of Character
• Reminders

• 
  Everybody has been informed of various pre-establishments through DMs and informed ahead of their character’s goals and starting positions.
  TAGS:
  
  CHARACTER GOALS:
  
  • Lacie - Find her rabbits
  • Hildegard - Discover more with regards to the red crystals and wolves of which she had previously encountered within the forest.
  • To be updated as characters reveal goals over time within roleplay
• 
  A few friendly reminders for those in the roleplay (not necessary to read but they may be helpful):
  
  
  • Posting Expectations
    • 2-3 day post cycle FINAL. Missed characters WILL be skipped and auto-narrated. No exceptions.
    • Feel free to use any gap time between Narrator posts to have your characters interact with one another. Take advantage of this so long as you are not in combat nor any immediately competitive roleplay.
    • All interactions towards the environment will be proctored by me. If you interact with an object or choose to harm something in some way, wait for me to deliver how the environment responds. Otherwise, what you wrote may be overwritten or cancelled. Avoid auto-succeeding where it is possible.
    • If you desire for others to wait such that your character responds first to a scenario, feel free to ask or request me to ask for such from the rest of the party.
    • If the roleplay runs too long or enough progress is met such that a satisfying conclusion can be met, we may split the roleplay into a separate set of chapters to allow for improved pacing.
  • Actions and Skillchecks
    • You have 3 total actions you can do per turn, be it Movement or Action.
    • Actions can include: attacks, defenses, abilities, thinking, sensing, long term speaking, object interaction, contributing to another character's actions, etc.
    • Note: Your character might have knowledge that you as the player do not have. Certain methods of recalling information, whether analyzing an object or not, may give the player more knowledge to a scene.
  • Have value for life, presence, and time.
    • Death and maiming are possibilities within this roleplay - You may find yourself in danger, and there may be consequences.
    • The world is alive - Expect the world--NPCs to respond to your actions in correlation to their implications.
    • Time is moving forward--both in real life and in roleplay - It's fine to make a decision to save yourself or another party member even if it may not be the best decision. Sometimes the best decision is to act before others do so first.

Recap for One's Search for Reunion
The preceding campaign would follow multiple converging tales and technically two rabbits found; the first tale: Hildegard's quest to discover the truth behind the missing adventurers and explorers. The second tale: Lacie's attempts to seek her missing rabbits after being chased off by an apparent wolf creature.

While investigating for her rabbits, Hildegard and Lacie would be met with a red hooded girl running away from something while carrying Lacie’s rabbits. Lacie would chase after the girl. It turns out the things chasing the red hooded girl were the lost adventurers/explorers Hildegard was looking for, being controlled by a red crystal of sorts. They would stop to interrogate Hildegard to know where the “girl with red feet” went, to which Hildegard would refuse to answer.

The adventurers would then transform into wolf-like monsters, mauling Hildegard horribly, thus leading to her certain death. In a stroke of luck, however, she would awaken to the realization of having been saved by a strange grotesque woman.

The tale of this monstrous forest and her hungry children thus continues.

---

Those within that crossroads of the Briar Thorn Forest had heard the solemn lullaby.

They had heard every melodious note which ascended graciously and ended--a somber, yet beautiful ending which evoked a sense of melancholy in response to a soothing, as it would follow down the pathway of the west.

The experience which Hildegard had was no dream. Nightmarish, perhaps, but that did not change the fact that it was a reality at the end of the day. It seemed that she only had one magic enhancement coin left to bypass the Briar Thorn Forest's magical disruptions.

Before her was a grotesque, foul-reeking woman. While unconfirmed, there was a chance that the woman knew what had happened or had gone to happen with the wolves of which she had barely survived...

Humming that same lullaby was that same woman of backwards legs as she would continue to chew on her meat, the red juices spilling everywhere about her dress. Her green expression pulled up to a sharp, toothy grin as her vine-bound legs limped from point A to point B. Point A, being by Hildegard's side. Point B, towards the same jewel-tailed birds who were previously (and aggressively) tugging back and forth on the large, wriggling flower. Though much of the young ones would approach the woman fondly, chirping cheerily as they would seat themselves upon her form, too taking some of her snack for themselves. The older ones, however, flocked away almost immediately, crying out for their children to follow suit.

Oblivious grunting fulfilled the air as the woman would realize, hopping cheerily as she gestured to chase after the said birds--only to quickly fall over her own legs and weight upon the same large flower which had wriggled throughout--whoever was inside the flower would like end up feeling the brunt of all her weight if nothing was done--

Good thing that person could hear the person coming.

---

Meanwhile, Lacie's grand chase continued.

"Wait. Please. Miss, please--"

Lacie eventually tripped on a random tree root, face planting into the forest floor, dropping her parasol in the process as the girl would continue to make her distance. She was already about sixty feet away from Lacie when she began her chase. The distance then would have only increased further, making it more and more difficult to reach the girl. If Lacie were faster, perhaps it would have been possible to catch up.

"Ow. Lacie's dying for a fourth time again today. To yet another tree root. Still, she must go after her rabbits." she muttered with a passionless voice, eyes looking upward--

To be met with a purple-skinned demon of a great, long horn alongside a skeleton with a map and pen.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Lacie is in danger. Oh no. Oh no. The living dead is here as well as a demon. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no--" Picking herself up, the girl would begin to dash back towards the way from which she had arrived.

 

[Elvario]

Zahrah Fiore
​

Mentions: Shower-Needing Lady | 7's Etymarchen | Hildegard Dante Verren

Flower power. That was a concept that Zahrah once learned about, yet had completely forgotten about. Until now. They remembered it was a huge movement, also intended to make people happy. However, Zahrah couldn't for the life of them remember how it worked. They shouldn't have saved it on an external drive instead of the internal one. The quest for happiness had now driven them to a quest for comprehending the concept of flower power. As such, they did what every sane, reasonable person, would do. Find the biggest flower they could and study it! After all size = power. Oddly enough, that flower was big enough to fit into, which meant their study could even continue as they very scientifically studies what it was like, being surrounded by flower power on all sides. Although it certainly gave them a very cosy feeling, it didn't quite match up with what they recalled flower power to be about. Well, they didn't recall much about flower power, that was the issue, but somehow this still wasn't quite right.

All in all, their research was inconclusive. When they heard someone coming, they perked up. Literally, as they jumped out of the flower again with force. “Hello there, mademoiselle~ They greeted the smelly lady gleefully. “I'm doing a thorough study into flower-power and I'm currently at a dead-lock. It's quite vexing, all things considered! Such a spectacular, big flower like this, even cosy on the inside, would be guaranteed to make everyone happy, right?” Zahrah suddenly had a brilliant idea, as they quickly skipped up and past the woman, trying to shove her into the flower. “You should try it yourself and give me your unbiased feedback! I'm sure it'll make you happy! I'll just need to know how much and for how long! You'd have my eternal gratitude, of course!” Zahrah said, trying to [Smooth Talk] the woman into entering the flower.

It's then that they noticed the birds and other woman. “Hello there birdies and knightly-looking-miss! It's a beautiful day out, isn't it? Would you like to try this flower as well? One can never have enough research materials! Your voluntary participation in this flower-power experiment will be highly appreciated!”

D Grade Cooldowns (0/2)

• Smooth Talker – Character Grade D, Appraisal D, Empathy E, Insight E, Performance F, Persuasion E, Seduction E – Character combines whatever (meta)knowledge they can find out about someone with persuasive, empathic and seductive smooth-talking in an attempt to make others act according to their will. - Grade D – 2 Post Cooldown

 

[Sisyphus Happy]

Liu hadn't even noticed that little purple interloper on the ground, so absorbed into the process of making the map. His linework improved significantly, and the fun little motifs he added to his works were becoming more detailed. Gently he added in lines and continued stippling the vague details indicating the terrain and climate of the area around him. That being, forest -- thick forest which impeded his work greatly. At first he was taking advantage of his stunning speed, discovered at length after continuing to push his limits as this form, devoid of soft flesh, seemed to hold many advantages, and mapping the forest would have been a short adventure indeed. No more than a day, he wagered, dodging like a bullet at a safe but inhuman speed between the trunks and mossy boughs. However, this place was not by any means deserted. As he darted through, many strange figures were appearing -- he had no intention of interacting with them and kept going his way to maintain his safety. Plus, stopping was a bit of a task at those kinds of speeds. There was a figure he met and began walking with soon after, and they shared that Eros, the name of this creature, is looking for someone in the forest, and Liu is looking for a location.

This figure was not unkind and he chose to walk with it for a little while, merely for the sake of company while he continued in his work. It was during a period of friendly silence that Liu looked up from his map and then down toward the prone figure. She began tittering in a frightened manner and ran away. Liu held still for a moment in a way that only inanimate creatures can and then turned sagely to the side a little, admonishing, "and she is away, without even a greeting. Are we so fearsome? I was under the impression that of all the undead creatures one might encounter, skeletons are the least worrying. Is she the one you're looking for?" he complained, watching her go, nonplussed.

Faynorae on Eros and Etymarchen on Lacie

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interaction: Etymarchen Elvario


Besides the light burn of rage deep within, Hidlegard at this moment primarily felt pain... lots of dull aching pain. A low groan escaped her lips as he eyes opened to see the ground at eye level. Her mouth tasted of dirt and blood, probably her own blood at that. "I'm going to fucking kill that wolf" she managed to say in low voice. Searching her gaze fell upon her sword and the last magic token laying by her side. Carefully she reached over and pocketed the coin, before grasping her sword. With a fair built of effort she pushed herself up, using the weapon as a crutch to get back on her feet. That was when she realized she wasn't alone.

Instead of V or Vanta like she had hoped to see, there was some kind of twisted monster woman. It was good that the warrior was not queasy, otherwise Hildegard might have felt sick looking at her. Still she froze in her standing position. The creature wasn't paying attention so if Hildegard moved quietly she might have been able to sneak away. Of course any chance of that was blown away as something else emerged from one of the large flowers she had observed previously.

The figure looked human, male or female was hard to tell. Still it had womenkind of plush energy about it. Almost like the figure seemed threateningly cuddly and extremally loud to add too it. "I would rather go back to being eaten alive by creepy wolf spirits then get in that flower." she responded not trying to hide her distrust in the slightest bit. Internally she sent a prayer to what ever god was watching her "Lord of heaven above please don't let me die by this weird creature. At least give me a fighting death".

 

[Faynorae]

​

1. Overture; And hereforth I stand.
Today, Eros was looking for something. For someone. This, someone, was most likely within this forest, the demon was sure of it. For a long while now, Eros had been doing everything in quite a lonely manner. But for the first time in a long while, the demon was accompanied by somebody else. Well, this somebody didn't have a body. Does your skeleton count as a body if it is the thing that moves? Eros wondered momentarily if there was a brain within the skeleton's skull. Was it magic? It did exist after all. The demon dared not question. After all, it was quite discourteous to question someone's inner workings, on the other hand, it was quite nice to finally interact with anything other than flowers after so long. Eros gazed into the glass of a mirror, which reflected absolutely nothing while the skeleton did his mapping. It showed not the scenery of greenwood, nor the face of the beholder. The demon wondered how there could be such glass in the world. It was truly magical. Exciting even. Eros would stop admiring their non-existent reflection when they would notice a small girl who had fallen over. Dropping a familiar-looking accessory as she skittered off in fear.

Eros stared as she furthered away, glancing down at the parasol before brightly smiling. "Ah! How dainty!" Eros exclaimed with a slight hint of excitement, picking up the parasol and then twirling off any dirt that might have clung to it. "I had not the need to hold such an item in a long time. My, I feel so elegant suddenly!" The demon mused whimsically, before delicately closing it. Eros then turned to the skeleton and smiled warmly. "Young folk fear many things, and It is not a child of which I search, Mister Mappist," Eros replied with a gentle tone. "Natheless, it was quite queanly of that maid to not introduce herself as well as being so assumptious, but, I do think it would be verily discourteous of ourselves to not return such a lovely gaud, the child may cherish it after all," Eros added on as they stared at the parasol, admiring its intricacies. It must've had a lot of care put into its making. All the more reason to return it if it's so preciously made.

Eros then looked at their surroundings, before looking back at the skeleton which accompanied them. "Whither had the child run forby, Mister Mappist? My memory fails me." The demon asked with a slightly bemused tone, smiling thoughtlessly. On the other hand, Eros thought, Why would one need to have their parasol open within a forest with trees which covered most of the sunlight? She'd be much more likely to damage it if anything. What an unthoughtful child.

 

[Etymarchen]

• Out of Character

• 
  
  Remember that for this roleplay, you will need to make active decisions with movement, analyzing objects, or following after characters. In most cases, I will not automatically assume that you’re following anybody or going somewhere–you’ll need to specifically type that you’re following after someone, going down a specific path, or doing something yourselves. You’ll receive more context to a scene by interacting with objects.
  
  GOAL REMINDERS:
  
  • Lacie - Find her rabbits
  • Hildegard - Discover more with regards to the red crystals and wolves of which she had previously encountered within the forest.
  • Eros - Looking for somebody beautiful

---

Location: Briar Forest - Crossroad of Jeweled Birds and Flowers

Several titles and statistics appeared from the woman as Zahrah's Appraisal (as part of Smooth Talk) would activate, discussing the woman's terrible, abysmal Precision. Perhaps it remarked upon her limping nature. Several question marks would appear for her other statistics.

Appraisal would recognize her name as Briar Tiefschlaf.

What would have stood out especially from her many conflicting titles would include many, many concerning statements. She had several criminal titles including but not limited to [Murderer], [Thief], [Assaulter]—[Maneater], [Traitor], [Defector], [Misfortune Bringer], [Abettor of Monsters]—And yet others spoke of other traits regarding the woman. [Maimed], [Human], [Healer], [Cursed]—[Naive]?

Though careless as it was, the woman would nod along with Zahrah’s request, going inside of the flower immediately as it would close up, protecting her from harm’s way. It seemed that Zahrah’s [Smooth Talking], under normal circumstances, would not have actually had any effect on the woman, though she would oblige very quickly and very willingly regardless. A cheerful ”Ehhrrrrooooawwwuyhhhnnn!!” resounded from inside the flower as she opened it up to nod her head towards Zahrah, clapping her hands together. “Suphah…suphah!! Comfffyy!!”

Still, Zahrah's [Empathy E] and [Insight E] were not enough for them to be able to fully interpret the woman's grunts, which seemed to be because of something preventing her to speak properly. It, too, seemed clear that the woman understood the party perfectly well, even if they could not understand her themselves. Perhaps somebody else would be able to provide a means for a method to better or further understand her. Otherwise, Zahrah would potentially need to seek further knowledge in attempts to understand her.

The birds, of course, would respond back to Zahrah with blank, yet curious stares as they would fly about–seating themselves upon the plush golem, chirping cheerily, friendly and approaching to them unlike they had been with the woman.

---

Briar: Where the Forest Sings to Welcome

Note: Key: Black lines suggest roads.

As Fei Liu would scan the area, he would be able to note much of the surroundings within the pathway they found themselves in. While the leaves hanging over the afternoon sky made it difficult to distinguish the patterns of sunlight, it seemed that they had quite some time before night would arrive.

For the most part, that specific area of the forest seemed rather empty-handed. Perhaps the several paths that made sense of the area were meant to its mainstay. The western path appeared, however, to have a strange tome before its entry point.

Alternatively, as Fei Liu and Eros would come to notice, there were many pale green flowers amongst the trees, whispering amongst each other curses and vices. Their aromas were bitter, stunning–almost paralyzing in their scent. Perhaps they could be able to offer them something in exchange for something else, though there were other priorities at hand at the moment,

Fei Liu, of course, would be reminded thereof the direction of which the girl with blue ribbons had gone from Eros's question. It seemed she had taken forth southwards.

A lack of decision to follow after the girl with a red hood would allow her to successfully run off into the northeastern pathway. Whatever it was that the girl with blue ribbons in her hair might have been seeking from her seemed impossible to realize now that she was far gone ahead. There was a chance that she could be caught up to, of course, but that depended on the actions chosen.

 

[Elvario]

Zahrah Fiore
​

Mentions: Shower-Needing Lady | 7's Etymarchen | Hildegard Dante Verren

The knight lady was being quite the spoil-sport, but then again, Zahrah definitely respected her for standing up about what she was into. “Wow, you're into being eaten alive?!? That's pretty extreme miss, but I respect the great confidence you must have to be so open about it!” Then again, Zahrah didn't think that such a fetish would make her last long. “With all due respect though, miss knightly miss, I must advise against it. I'm sure you'll find safer roads to happiness and pleasure~” They said, as they give her a thumbs up and a wide smile.

That left the smellier of the two ladies. She did respond to Zahrah's request, which was neat! “Great, great~ One supah supah comfy! So far, results are undeniably and universally in approval of flower-based happiness!” With that little test done, it was time to address the more serious stuff. “Oh my~ That's quite the collection of nasty things you've got to your name miss Tiefschlaf~ Who'd imagine that such a charming lady was a murderer, thief, assaulter, maneater, traitor, defector, misfortune bringer and abettor of monsters... wait..” They looked at Hildegard. “Do you know what an abettor is, miss knightly lady? My memory fails to recollect the meaning of the world, it's quite the 404.”

Then again, they also saw another side. “Don't worry though, miss! I can see there's still a nice lady left in there! Being cursed and maimed can't be nice, so we should get rid of that stuff, shouldn't we?” The one other thing that stood out was the horrible precision. Zahrah, being the genius they were, was quick to reach the obvious conclusion. “Oh my! Are those plants around your legs not decorations, but crippling-evil-making incarnations of pure evil!?! How terrible! No, no, this can't stand! You can't be happy if you're cursed, right? Hey, miss knightly lady, can you help me get these roots off of her? Perhaps we can get her un-cursed and un-maimed!”

With or without Hildegard's help, Zahrah would attempt to get rid of the vines around the woman's legs. “I see, I see, flowers are happiness, but vines are incarnations of evil! How twisted art thou, nature?!?”

Of course Zahrah wasn't just popular with the ladies, but also with the birds. They wished they had some nice and juicy pumpkin seeds to give their new friends, but alas, did did not posses such a thing. Then again, they were quite proud that the birds chose them as their seat of comfort. “Look, look, miss knightly lady! I've got enough fairy-tail energy to attract the birdies~ Witness the power of the plushiest person alive!” They only let the birds distract them for so long, however, as they had a nasty smelling lady to untangle for some vines.

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interactions: Etymarchen Elvario


For a moment Hildegard thought her brain had given up and any chance of reasonable thought was gone forever. This random stranger who popped out of a freaking flower had not only misunderstood her very obvious distrust and had somehow spun it as some kind of fetish. It's a good thing that magic was blocked here, or she would have absolutely used her strongest ability to run this degenerate wacko through with her sword. Alas she only had one coin and was not about to waste it on this. So instead she left out a sharp breath and forced her body to relax enough that she could lower her sword.

He rage was temporarily replaced by a slight rush of fear and concern as the weird flower creature's titles were spoken out loud. Hildegard then turned her attention on the weird flower creature and by instinct took a step back. What kind of monster had she found herself facing? Still the weird creature hadn't been hostile to her yet, and this even weirder degenerate seemed content to humor it, so maybe she could just leave them be and it would solve two of Hildegard's current problems.

Turning around she eyed the forest around her trying to get a good idea of where her previous attacker had gone. "Good for you" she growled back to the degenerate. "While you two have fun with the super flower or what ever it is, I still have a job to do". she said before crouching down and inspecting the area for signs of those tracks

 

[Sisyphus Happy]

​

"Whither... forby..." he mumbled ever so faintly, turning his empty sockets toward his pink companion. By definition his face was unreadable. After a moment of silence, he gestured toward the umbrella, "I believe we should bring this back and see if we can demonstrate our benevolence. Perhaps we may yet endear ourselves with the young one," he suggested languidly. With a smooth gesture he motioned down the path toward where she left off. Having frozen in place, he seemed to be waiting for Eros to proceed or counter with another offer. While he waited, the light whispers filtering up from around him. His skull's gaze slid from Eros to the green flowers around them. At first, absorbed in his maps, he mistook them for some sort of lightly colored ground cover plant, something of little consequence.

He then looked between the plants and Eros, inwardly expecting some kind of explanation. Usually he would rely on his facial expression to change the inflection of the moment but without it he seemed merely to look between the plants and Eros. The flowers were somewhat ominous and it stirred his nerves. Though he came to understand his vessel more, the magic suffusing all things still escaped him, though merely as a matter of inattention. Yet again, it became a glaring weakness and a danger, "and we may also avoid this whispering foliage," he added with a dissatisfied tone.

 

[Faynorae]

In an empty lake, feet submerged.​

Eros smiled at their skeleton companion as he repeated the demon's words. Eros seemed to have not only forgotten the location to which the girl had run away from them, but also that they should be making use of more 'common' words. It was either the skeleton didn't understand the words Eros used, or he was judging Eros for their choice of words. In anyhow, it didn't matter since the demon's companion would point in the direction Eros was looking to go. What a kind mappist indeed! "I give you my thanks. It would be ever so pleasant to not be seen as monsters. So it's important that we must move forth~♪" Eros would say with a cheerful tone and bright smile, as they softly clapped their hands.

Eros would then stop immediately, once they realised and heard the flowers' whisperings. The demon would then look back at their bodiless companion and notice how they looked between the flowers and themself. Eros would've thought the Mappist would know what these flowers actually were, but then he suggested the two of them avoid the flowers. Eros would sigh and then smile gently. "I apologise, please don't mind this one for a moment. If you wish to move forward then please do move ahead. I will catch up momentarily." They would softly speak, before carefully treading closer to the flowers, trying their best to not step on any other plants.

Once Eros had become near to the flowers, they would crouch down. "Hist hist, pardon me." The demon would speak gently with a subtly cheerful tone, "I mean not to intrude, but my name is Eros, and I would like to ask for your assistance. Is there by any chance that you have seen a young maid run by here? I'm sure this child had long dark hair. You would have my deepest gratitude if you could tell me." Eros would state, still with a friendly smile and respectful tone. While staring at the flowers, Eros would make sure to [Appraise] the flowers as they talked. Hopefully, they'd know something useful. Other than that, learning more about flora was always so fun!

 

[Etymarchen]

• Out of Character

• 
  
  The timers have been revealed.
  
  GOAL REMINDERS:
  
  • UNIVERSAL GOAL: Reconvene and get to safety.
  • Lacie - Find her rabbits
  • Hildegard - Discover more with regards to the red crystals and wolves of which she had previously encountered within the forest.
  • Eros - Looking for somebody beautiful
  • Zahrah - Research flowers fo the sake of happiness~!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!

---

Location: Briar Forest - Crossroad of Jeweled Birds and Flowers

As Zahrah would begin to try to assist the Tiefschlaf woman in ridding of the vines that wrapped about her legs, she shook her head with a solemn smile as she would carefully seat herself upwards, easily unraveling the vines on her own.

It seemed the vines assisted in holding together many other bandages that were in-place for the woman.

Beneath the vines were several strange, glowing, arsenic green veins that heavily marked her legs--a green deeper, more vibrant than the green that remarked the rest of her body and skin. For a moment, she would cringe at the sight, but she would nod her head regardless as she struggled to speak.

"Ehhhhh...hhhuuuurrrhhhh," she barely mustered out, "phuuttt....ehs...oo...queeee...frien...quehnot...hellp. I...quehnot...hea...l...."

She held her thumbs up with a gleeful, toothy smile.

"Baht!! Ehts!! Oooqueee!! Immm! Allliiive!! Laaiiksssnowbuhruhhtharrewaantt!! Frienn!! Ehs!! Hea!!! Frien...listened!!"

She clapped her hands together as if nothing was wrong, before she would start to wrap the bandages and vines all about her legs once again--as she continued to attempt and struggle at speaking.

"Soohh...! Long!! Since....havh...frien...who...not....Purima...ann...no hurrt...Bahtt...noveehhhlla..ghe...let...mu...in..."

And as Hildegard looked around, she would notice that many new footprints (of which she would realize belonged to the many people possessed by the red crystals) went in two main directions: half of them went into the eastern forestry and the other half seemed to go into the narrow western path--the direction of which Lacie had originally gone.

From the distance, however, the group would hear a sustained growling...one which prompted all of the birds still in the area to immediately rush and flock away and to the safety of the flowers--quickly would the flowers enclose upon the birds, protecting them from harm's way.

Looking up, Tiefschlaf would glance towards the party, struggling to pick herself up as she attempted to move along, pointing four fingers up to the party followed by two as she struggled to speak once more.

"Dehhnnnn...herrr...fvhor....ess...hunngg...rry....must...run...nn...tthw...tthwwoo...."

---

Briar: Where the Forest Sings to Welcome
​

Note: Key: Black lines suggest roads.

Appraising the flowers, the Eros would be able to make note of their names--

They were known as Salvia haltrial--more often referred toward as haltrial flowers, with pollens that caused an incapacitating effect.

With D Intelligence and D Vitality, a few main titles remained prominent for Eros's recognition: [Monster], [Pompous]...

As soon as Eros would consult the flowers, of course, the flowers fell silent--before eventually sniggering and giggling amongst themselves--

"Ahuhuhu~! Oh, my!! Look at these dumb, primitive looking Outer Monsters!!"

"God, they smell sooooo bad~!! Like, G-O-O-D-N-E-S-S!! How can they even live with that stench of theirs~?!"

"I betchu Mister Second's not gonna like how sssttttiiinnnkkkyyyy they smell! 'Grrrooowwwlll!!! Meoww!!' And he's even stinkier than both of them combined!! He already didn't like Miss Four who was just here a moment ago singing her ugly little tune~!"

"Or!! Or!!! Or!!!! The forest will gobble them up first!!...Just like how One seems like she'll be taking that even dumber looking human girl in soon over in the southern path!!! Hehehehe~! Maybe she'll have one of her loud and annoying little union chant down there too~!"

"Ahhh~! You stupid looking outsiders look sooo ugly and uncultured being all lost and clueless like you are right now~!! You're probably going to get sooooo lost and die in the forest miserably all because you can't figure out the way to the Human safe zone of Redhowl before the sun sets~!"

"But it's not like the humans will even like or accept you anyway~! Cuz you're monsters~! Not that us completely and utterly superior inhabitants of the Forest will accept you either, but you could always just become slaves for us if you just really suck that much at living~!"

...And [Major Pricks].

 

[Elvario]

Zahrah Fiore
​

Mentions: Shower-Needing Lady Etymarchen | Hildegard Dante Verren

The knightly looking lady was such a spoil-sport. It's nice that she told them to have fun with their flower, of course, but to not join in with this highly scientific experiment was rude. Then again, Zahrah was a fair bit curious. “Oh, what kind of job are you doing, miss knightly lady? Perhaps I can help~”

That said, Zahrah's attention went to their latest friend first. “Oh my, that's some fancy glowing green stuff~” Zahrah remarked, witnessing the arsenic green veins. They had no clue what it meant, but weren't one to judge. Even though Zahrah didn't get most of what their new friend was saying, they nodded along as if they totally got it all. After all, wouldn't it make their new friend unhappy if they couldn't be understood? That wouldn't do. “Oh, you've had a queen put those on you? That's quite a thing, quite a thing indeed.” Zahrah nodded. “Yep, yep, you are alive! Wait, do you like snow? That's neat. It's pretty cold, yet pretty! Yes, yes.”

Zahrah was a little shocked to discover the next facts. “Your previous friends hurt you and tried to force you to bathe? How terribly mean! Even though the smell sensitivity of most beings would be a little-off-put by the odour of death that surrounds you, that doesn't give them a right to try bath you! Then again, for the sake of making lots of friends, perhaps it would be better to smell more like flowers and less like death? I wonder if flower-based happiness also includes flower-scent-based happiness? Oh, we should try that! Would you be willing to help me? We can try to make you smell as much as possible like nice flowers and see if that makes it easier to get new friends? Would you be up for that?!?” Zahrah was pretty excited at the prospect of expanding their research into flower-scent-base approaches.

Sadly enough, a growling made their bird friends fly off. “See you later birdies~” They called out, waving them goodbye. Oddly enough, they'd hide in the flowers, which meant that even birds knew how well flower-based happiness worked. Truly a marvellous thing. Next they turned to the sound of growling. It seemed like Zahrah's new friend was a little worried about it, but Zahrah didn't get why. “Oh, are those the bad wolves the knightly miss was talking about? That sounds troublesome~ Do they eat cotton and cloth? If so, I might be in trouble~ I'm pretty sure my mom would be sad if I let my body be used as a chew-toy by mean doggo's and we can't have that!”

Tough choices. “Are you going to be okay miss Tiefschlaf?” They asked the plant-lady, a little worried about her. After all, they weren't sure if the growling was also a danger to their newest friend. If their friend confirmed it wasn't, they'd nod. “Alright, alright, then goodbye for now and see you later~” They'd give their plant lady a good-bye hug and call out to the knightly-looking lady. “Do you want to come along miss? My experiences tell me that fighting against growling monster in the forest is bad for one's happiness, especially if one loses.” With or without Hildegard, for as long as their new friend was fine with them running, they'd run off in the opposite direction of where the growling had come from.

 

[Faynorae]

​

Staring at the lake, reflecting sky and clouds.
"My oh my." Eros was completely astonished. They would never have expected such... insolent creatures. Was Eros entitled? Or was Eros correct that a creature shouldn't show such disrespectful behaviour to them? It was most likely the latter, these flowers were both unpleasant to smell and to talk to. On the other hand, these flowers were far from flowers. They were monsters. Pompous, rude and insolent monsters. They spoke of people, named after numbers. One who stinks and another who sings. They also referred to someone named One, who was going to 'Take' a dumb human girl. These flowers also spoke of a nearby human settlement, unfortunately, they were true in the fact that they wouldn't be accepted. Unless... Heh.

Still, Eros would still have to remember their number rule as a former princess. 'Always smile brightly, and never show a thing inside.' Showing what you feel and show what you know was a weakness. On the other hand, these flowers spoke of a human girl who went Southward. That girl... That could've been the one who dropped this parasol. She might be in danger.

With this information, Eros would stand up. With a gentle smile, they'd put a hand to their cheek while looking at the flowers. "Lovely, you all have my sincerest gratitude." Eros would praise the flowers. "So very kind of ye' to tell this one and my dear companion that there was a settlement nearby, and to also have warned us of the dangers in this forest!" Eros would state with an obviously mocking cheerfulness. "I must say, Your aroma is quite unique, but not to my taste as well. I much rather prefer the mildly sweet citrus smell of Fuchsia." Eros would say with a slight giggle. "I bid you farewell, dear flowers." Eros would give a slight bow with a bright smile, as they'd begin walking toward the direction the Skeleton had previously pointed to, still being very careful as to not step on any of the flowers.

Eros would turn to the skeleton, "Mister Mappist! We'd better be in a hurry, methinks that the young maid may be in some form of danger." The demon would yell enthusiastically, as they would then turn back to the path moving forth at a much more lively and faster pace. Eros would take note of the surrounding area as they moved. As the demon walked, they'd think to themself, Why did one of those say meow and growl? Were they cats disguised as flowers? Why? Just Why?

 

[Sisyphus Happy]

Fei failed to grimace and nodded. Apparently she was in some form of danger, the rude young one from before. Upon the first steps they took down the path, Liu turned to the demon, lagging a little behind at first. The path they took was terribly overgrown and he was only able to navigate it by employing his darkvision. The "path" was marked by nothing but an absence of bushes which at some points seemed to be a coincidence as it cut a knotted path through the foliage. Loam and leaves matted their path and sinister bushes often reached their bushy arms over to hide it from them and block their way. He spoke while they walked, "now, I wish not to alarm you but I am not suited to combat. It has been... a long time since I have done any fighting and I am, at best, out of practice," he warned his companion, worried the most about having to deal with some yet unseen creature. He continued gravely, "however it is unlikely that this danger can outrun me. I will go ahead and make sure she remains unharmed," he notified Eros, taking two preparatory steps ahead.

Then, there was barely a motion. His posture was immaculate as he went, his legs working without effort; and on the third step a mound of dirt the size of a cake reared up in the soft, dark dirt in front of Eros, a giant gash in its front where Liu's heel was placed a moment's moment before. If the dirt were drier it would have created a cloud of dust but instead clods of dirt hopped the hill and disturbed some leaves a little ways behind. In just a moment, Liu rocketed ahead, tearing down the path at unbelievable speeds, though not his top, in order to make his way to the young lady. Doing his best to keep his eye out for the beast in question, though at such [Fast B] speeds he must have a hard time, he intended to stop right in front of her.

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interaction: Etymarchen Elvario


Hildegard's eyes narrowed as she observed the splitting directions of the tracks. While she desperately wanted to go after the beast and strike it down, seeing that there was a group that had gone after Lacie gave her a change of heart. If there was even a chance the pack had caught up to the girl in red and Lacie was still with her.... Hildegard would never be able to rest easy again if she knew she hadn't tried to stop the worst case scenario.

Slowly she raised her self back onto her feet and looked over at the two unique characters she was with. The monstrous one seemed to be trying to say something that Hildegard couldn't understand, however she did make out a few words. Primarily the word friend. It looked like the two had bonded pretty well, good they could keep echoer company in the weirdness. Then again this forest was dangerous, and if Hildegard was going to go after the wolf monster then she would need help. Hildegard looked over to her pink haired aqquiantence and sighed. "I wasn't sent on a job to find people who had gone missing in these woods. On the way I encountered a strange girl who was looking for her rabbits. While helping the girl I found the missing people, they were being controlled by some kind of wolf monster using some kind of crystals to infect and mind control them. I managed to break one free then I was beset upon on all sides. I should have died."

Hildegard then turned her gaze onto the plant creature. "I apologize for my rude behavior so far, my assumption is you saved me, or at least you didn't finish me off when those monsters left. So thank you." Hildegard said and gave a half bow to the creature. Standing up right again she took a sharp breath of air, "As much as it wound's my pride I must ask for both of your help. It is clear to me that the divines have not blessed me with the best skill set to handle this mission alone. Right now this girl I met and another little girl are most likely being hunted by this wolf monster and it's victims. I don't know why the creature wants them, but I cannot on good conscious ignore it. " She raised her sword and pointed down the path Lacie and the girl had ran down. "Will you two help me save them?"

 

[Elvario]

Zahrah Fiore
​

Mentions: Bestie #1 Tiefschlaf Etymarchen | Hildegard Dante Verren

“Oh ho ho~” Zahrah uttered, pleasantly surprised when the knightly lady suddenly decided their existence was worth acknowledging. “Oh my, that sounds like quite the task.” They then petted Tiefschlaf on the head. “Good job saving the knightly lady~”

However, there was one thing that stood out. “Losing one's rabbits sounds like a disastrous source of unhappiness. We must help the girl!” What was the other thing again? “Ah, being controlled by wolf monsters doesn't seem good either~”

That said, there was a little bit of a problem. “Ahaha~ I'd love to help you fight, but I'd be little more than a chew toy and I'm not sure if I can activate my masochist algorithm in this condition~” That plan was definitely a no-go. “I say we run for it! My new fried here is a bit slow though, but I've got an idea!” Oh yes, they had a brilliant idea. “You grab her arms, I grab her legs and we'll all make a run for it in the direction of the ones we need to save. Strength in numbers and all, right?!?” Zahrah didn't really wait an answer, as they already tried wrapping their arms around Tiefschlaf's legs (Elasticity E) to have a firm hold for when they'd take her and run off.

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interaction: Etymarchen Elvario


Did they just say masochist algorithm? While he brain tried to processes the sure absurdity of the statement, Hildegard stared in shock at this absolute degenerate that she had just asked for help. What kind of nightmare had she just gotten involved in. Still she took a deep breath and sheathed a sword. She badly needed a fight. She needed to beat someone in a martial duel or die trying. The former would help her vent her anger, while the latter would put her out of her misery.

"I might have a way to fix your magic if or when we needed it, but I only have one left. I used one and the other one vanished. " That being said she really wanted to use the coin herself, and also really didn't want to know what this creatures... magic was like. She then watched as her knew "ally" tried to pick up the plant monster. "That looks like the most ineffective way possible to carry her in this situation. Besides I'm not picking her up with out her say so." while it sounded like Hildegard was concerned for the creatures personal space, it was actually because she had no garmented the creature wouldn't attack her the moment she was in biting range if the creature didn't want to be carried.

 

[Elvario]

Zahrah Fiore
​

Mentions: Bestie #1 Tiefschlaf Etymarchen | Hildegard Dante Verren

Zahrah was shocked to the deepest depth of their innermost core! They'd made a catastrophic failure, an irreparable mistake, a dramatic decision! How'd they ever live with themselves after this? “Oh, no, oh no! I'm so, so, so, so, sorry! How could I ever forget about something as important as consent? Ah, my maker would've deleted me on the spot if he were to know this! Ah, such an embarrassing mistake!” If they would've had tear-ducts, they would've been crying by now.

“Miss Tieflschlaf, would you please forgive my insolence and impertinence! I know it's a sin too deep to fix easily, but I can only beg for your forgiveness. That said, I do wish to ensure we can all continue to be healthy and happy! Thus, I must ask, would you please allow us to carry you along?!? It seems like we have people and rabbits to save! Would you care to join us in our noble quest?”

There was another thing Hildegard mentioned, which made them think for a bit. “Magic... magic... Ah!” Things clicked. “Like the fancy healing the foxy baron mentioned as an excuse to be smoking! Yes, yes, that sure seems interesting and useful, but I must say, there is little to fix, for I never had any~” They were pretty happy sounding for admitting to the fact they were next to useless, should there be violence.

 

[Etymarchen]

• Out of Character

• 
  
  woof
  
  GOAL REMINDERS:
  
  • UNIVERSAL GOAL: Reconvene and get to safety. Save Lacie.
  • Lacie - Find her rabbits
  • Hildegard and Zahrah- Discover more with regards to the red crystals and wolves of which Hildegard had previously encountered within the forest.
  • Eros - Looking for someone beautiful
  • Zahrah - Research flowers fo the sake of happiness~!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!
  • Monika - Help a lady and her rabbit out (and maybe where the heck she is)
  
  

---

Location: Briar Forest - Crossroads of Jeweled Birds and Flowers​

As Zahrah would recognize, the growling did not seem to come from one place in particular. Rather, it seemed to come from many multiple different spots--as if it was echoing in round. Even so, it was not as if the growls had belonged to many different voices. Rather, they clearly came from a singular source...

Listening to Hildegard’s request, the woman would nod her head along with patient display as she would cautiously look from spot to spot, as the unknown growling continued to resound through the crossroad. Her gaze remained focused as she would begin to approach one of the trees within the area.

As Zahrah's playful antics would have typically made it difficult for any regular person do as they intended, Briar Tiefschlaf would, as soon as the plush golem would start to reach for her, simply [Transform] into a larva-esque creature to avoid the golem's elastic shenanigans before reverting back to her regular form, walking over to various broken runic pillars which remarked the path they had already intended to take.

She pricked her finger amongst certain thorn briar amongst the forest, before pressing her bloodied finger against the pillars.

In response, the pillars would begin to rumble--as much of the forest's vines would suddenly outstretch--grabbing Hildegard and Zahrah...

And forcibly pulling them deeper--further into the forest.

---

Briar Glade​

Leaving the clearly prickly and insolent flowers behind, Fei Liu would rush down the southern path—bones rattling as he ran faster and faster than Eros could pick up—even as they would be going in the same direction.

Still, they would be able to trek through the forest trail in a manner timely, with Eros eventually catching up as the haltrials would continue to giggle along their path. It seemed that beyond their penchant for gossip, the flowers remained quite numerous in numbers even as the group would pursue the path.

Another appraised title of theirs would come to mind as Eros would continue along their path:

[Linked Thoughts]--noted to generally link or share their decisions or thoughts.

Fei Liu and Eros would eventually reach the western end of the buffer zone.

---

Eastern end of Buffer Zone
( EMIYAman | Elvario | Dante Verren )

...Pap...

...Pap-pap...

"Sqqquqsquesquesqueqsquesquesqueeee--"

PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPA--

When Monika would awaken, she was alone in a strange forest. Alone, without the rest of her soldiers--her men. One lit, not with sunlight, but instead a strange blue, mint, and pink throughout the dark forest. Though the last thing she had known was that which she had never been in such a previous nor strange forest--nor was she ever so familiar with such strange, talking mint green flowers.

She, of course, additionally found herself being attacked over and over again by a strange black creature--one that seemed quite quick to be shouting at her in unspeakably offensive language.

At the same time, however...it didn't seem to be doing any harm to her at all.

Its little plushy punches did nothing to actually damage her, yet frantic as it was in its attempts for whatever it was it was punching her for, it continued to do so. Realizing that she had awoken, it shouted even more dangerous curse words at her before pointing its plushy fingers at her with an expression of frustration and anger--running around from spot to spot as it would pout and grunt--offering her another kick in frustration and retaliation of its failures.

It was a weird black rabbit--one that stood on both its legs and sat solely on its tush rather than laid on its stomach. Continually childish in its antics, it would proceed to then roll about the floor of the forest as it pointed toward the incident going on beyond the bushes--

It was not actually gibberish squeak they spoke, rather it was in a tongue too offensive for them to say on RPN, so they had to be censored, but it included something along the lines of "wake up you stupid harlot--you look like one hell of a fool sleeping out in these bushes with all those scary wolfy demons out and about. If they spot me first they're definitely gonna eat and kill me--so you're super hecka lucky that I saved your damn tush from these stupid wolves!!" (Everybody is aware of what it's saying as it is still Common language.)

SPLAT.

Suddenly, Hildegard and Zahrah would appear from the vines, dropped--spat from their grip and into the ground next to Monica as they would slowly retreat. Panicked but quiet scream-squeaking occurred from the black rabbit with the sudden manifestation of Hildegard and Zahrah from the forest vines.

"OH NO!! OH NO!! OH NO!!! OH NO!!!!" the rabbit would squeak, panicking.

Appearing afterwards would have been Briar, pulling herself out of the vines from which the group had appeared through--

"OH NO!!!!! ANOTHER MONSTER!!" the rabbit squeaked more--

From beyond the bushes, the Hildegard would be able to spot a black haired girl with blue ribbons in her hair, running around with an expressionless face as she continued to shout:

"Oh no. Oh no. More monsters appeared before. Oh no. Oh no. Lacie is dying. That one blonde knife-eared elf guy lied and Lacie is going to die a miserable, terrible, painful death unless somebody does something. Oh no. Maybe Lacie will finally get back to Hildegard. Whoops, she forgot all about her, actually. Oh no. Maybe Miss Hildegard will be super angry and serious again. Oh no."

It seemed that the shortcut that Tiefschlaf showed them would direct them both to the location of one of the rabbits as well as a spot that would allow them to reach Lacie almost immediately...but...

"Miss, are you alright...?"

A lone girl would appear, walking towards Lacie with a rather aloof gaze. Beyond the red veins that remarked her body, it seemed that she was perfectly fine--perfectly normal. Hildegard, however, would have been able to recognize the girl that would approach Lacie.

( Sisyphus Happy | Faynorae )​

Of course, Lacie and the girl were not the only people that they would spot. A strange skeleton man (Fei Liu) and Eros would emerge from the western end of the trail, as the same haltrials from before would continue to laugh and snicker at the pair. This, of course, did not make it impossible for the two to still appear with surprise in mind.

The location they currently were upon might have been a small clearing, but the trees and bushes would offer them much camouflage and protection, even if only temporarily so. Throughout the area, it seemed that certain arrays of red dust were present, even as they were difficult to analyze with eyes alone.

For a moment, Lacie would think with regards to how to answer the girl--"no," was what she would muster. "Lacie has been lost for way too long. And Lacie can't find her bunnies. At all."

To which, the girl would tilt her head, to ask with a following question: "Hmm...do they happen to be small and black...?"

"Indeed, that sounds like Lacie's rabbits. Does Miss Stranger know where Lacie's rabbits are?"

'Miss Stranger,' of course, smiled briefly. "Yes, I do, actually...

i t tasted d e l i c i o u s . "

She was one of the wolves that had killed Hildegard.

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interaction: Etymarchen Elvario EMIYAman Sisyphus Happy Faynorae


Hildegard groaned as she was plopped onto the ground after being dragged through the goddamned forest. She officially hated this place and would happily burn it to the ground if she was able to. Alas she lacked that power, so for now the forest was safe. Opening her eyes she pushed herself up to look around. What she saw as utter chaos. Her new pink haired ally was lying on the ground further away, and then there was a rabbit punching out some kind of military woman. The rabbit was the most important part and Hildegard had the realization that this was probably one of Lacie's rabbits. "Are you Laci-" she was going to say to the rabbit until a voice caused her head to turn.

There was Lacie, somehow unhurt but starring down a monster with out even realizing it. She hadn't even really heard what Lacie or the girl had said, only the tone of the other girls voice. It was the same as the wolves that had tried to eat her alive. There was a physical reaction of fear from Hildegard, a twitch in her leg and a spark of anxiety in her heart. It was as if her body was terrified of that damned voice. Still she forced back the bile building in her throat and charged with ever bit of speed she could manage, drawing her blade from it's scabbard as she ran. She did not pay any more attention to her pink ally or the military girl. She paid no attention to the rabbit, the skeleton, or the other monstrous being. Her focus was entirely of separating the head of the body the wolf had posed from it's shoulders, and making sure Lacie wasn't hurt in the process. She would have used magic, but frankly in that moment she had even forgotten she had a coin to do so.

 

[Elvario]

Zahrah Fiore
​

Mentions: Bestie #1 Tiefschlaf Etymarchen | Hildegard Dante Verren | Eros Faynorae | Fei Sisyphus Happy

“Wheeeee!” Zahrah would yell out as they were pulled through the forest, waving goodbye to Tiefschlaf. It was a bit sad that they weren't able to get a hold of their new bestie, but this sudden vine-ride was quite exhilarating. They should really re-asses their earlier conclusions. After all, vine-based happiness was possible after all! Who knew they could make for such a thrilling ride? Zahrah did, right now. It was certainly a thing to note.

Upon arriving at their destination, a fair few things stood out. Most notable was the bunny. “Ah! Bunny!” They yelled out in surprise. “Great timing! Please allow me to bring you back to your owner to ensure her continued happiness!” They were a little surprised at the rabbit's panic upon the arrival of Tiefschlaf. “Nah, don't worry, she's my friend! Calling her a monster just because she's a little scentally challenged and has a whole array of scary titles to her name is mean! She's really nice once you get to know her, I know from experience~”

That said, they were happy to see their friend had come along with them. “Don't mind them, miss Tiefschlaf, I'm sure the rabbit will realize how cool you are soon enough~ Thanks for the ride, by the way, it was really fun! Oh, and I'm glad you came along~” The more friends the merrier, after all.

On the topic of 'more friends', they noticed a woman (Monika) laying down on the floor, who'd been harassed by the bunny. They'd happily extend a hand to try help her up. “Hello there~ I'm Zahrah, plushiest person alive and flower-based happiness researcher! Might I have the honour of helping such a dashing lady such as yourself up from the forest floor?” They gave Monika a charming smile as they used [Smooth Talker E] whilst offering a hand to help her up.

There was yet another girl running in the background, but Hildegard was already going after that one. That said, they were soon drawn to a gathering of other folk. Hildegard was busy having fun with some sort of wolf, whilst a skeleton man and... “Oh my, what an absolutely gorgeous complexion~” Zahrah couldn't help themselves from uttering upon spotting Eros, loud enough to be audible to all.

Another proper introduction was in order! “Anyway, I'm Zahrah, finder of bunnies and professor of plant-based happiness~ Nice to meet you all~” Acting as if Hildegard hadn't engaged the wolf in a battle for life and death, Zahrah would approach the wolf. “Wow~ You've got the whitest sharpest teeth I've ever seen! Why don't we just calm down and get along for a bit? Oh, I know! I can brush your fur for you, miss wolf! I'll make it so nice and shiny and great that you'll forget all about wanting to eat bunnies~ It'll be good, great and better, you can count on it~” They said with the utmost seriousness and confidence, using [Smooth Talker D] to convince the werewolf of the greatness of their plans.

There was one thing they were questioning, as they turned towards Fei. “I must say, sir, I've never seen someone take extreme dieting to this degree. As commendable as your mental fortitude must be, I cannot help but wonder if this is truly making you happy? Surely you could afford taking in a little bit of food every now and again, right? I'm sure you'd be equally beautiful with a little meat around your bones and without letting your diet guide your life's choices!”

D Grade Cooldowns (0/2)

• Smooth Talker – Character Grade D, Appraisal D, Empathy E, Insight E, Performance F, Persuasion E, Seduction E – Character combines whatever (meta)knowledge they can find out about someone with persuasive, empathic and seductive smooth-talking in an attempt to make others act according to their will. - Grade D – 2 Post Cooldown

E Grade Cooldowns (0/1)

• Smooth Talker – Character Grade E, Appraisal E, Empathy E, Insight E, Performance F, Persuasion E, Seduction E – Character combines whatever (meta)knowledge they can find out about someone with persuasive, empathic and seductive smooth-talking in an attempt to make others act according to their will. - Grade E – 1 Post Cooldown

 

[Faynorae]

​

I see myself, as who I am.
Huff and puff. Breathing in and out, the demon had become worn. "Ahhh--" Eros exhaled. "Why... W... So quick.." The demon would speak, referring to Fei, before standing up straight. How unexpectedly agile. "My oh my, Mister Mappist, you are quite the swift one... I am not up to par." Eros would exclaim, as they would stretch out their arms.

Eros would take a look around, taking note of all those insolent and horrible flowers with their disgusting scent. "Oh, and I would like to tell you, that these 'flowers' probably aren't even flowers. Best we be wary of them." Eros would tell Fei, before looking further at their surroundings. Eros would first notice the young maid that had dropped her parasol. How convenient! But who were these other people? There was someone wearing armour. They looked like the classic knight in shining armour that you would often see in various fairytale books. Though, their armour didn't seem to be shining or as regal as the ones in said fairytales. There was another person, they had pretty pink hair and they seemed... soft, somehow.

Eros was somewhat taken aback as the knightly woman ran at... that thing? What startled the demon more was when the pink one suddenly 'yelled' about the demon's complexion. Eros covered their mouth as they laughed a bit. "How lovely!" Eros would exclaim on impulse, slightly less loudly than the pink one. While smiling brightly and giggling a little bit. This was very unexpected for Eros, it somehow excited them a little bit.

"Mister Mappist, we should surely be on our way to return this trinket to that child. I am sure she would be quite elated to have it back!" The demon would say with a smile as they'd begin to slowly make their way toward the strange group of people. "It is of utmost pleasure to be of one's acquaintance, Finder of Bunnies, Professor Zahrah. My name is Eros~" The demon would introduce themself to Zahrah with a smile and a polite tone. "I am here to return something to that young maid, who I presume is one of your travelling companions?" Eros would state, gently gesturing to the parasol they held and pointing to Lacie with their free hand.

"Oh! And, you say you study plant-based happiness, is that correct? Well, these 'flowers' that surround us know quite a lot about this forest due to their intertwined nature. They also speak of folk known as One, Mister Second and Miss Four. Have met you these people by any chance?" The demon would try to inquire more from this group. If not inquiring, then they'd as least warn these people of the potentially dangerous folk the flowers mentioned. It also seemed like this Zahrah person was quite eloquent. So they may be able to get more out of these flowers than Eros could. "And have you heard of a nearby human safe zone? I think its name was... 'Redhowl'? Do you folk hail from that place?" Eros would ask, maybe they had more information on that place as well.

 

[EMIYAman]

Monika Rommel
Interactions: Elvario Etymarchen Faynorae Sisyphus Happy Dante Verren
​

She remembered the last time she had seen her father. It was soon after her fourth birthday, when she was still just a little girl. The faces of the men that had come to their door was blurred in her mind, but years later she had learned their names. General Burgdorf and general General Maisel. Proud soldiers of the Wehrmacht. Yet they did not come for congratulations or in friendship. They had come to deliver an ultimatum, a choice. She hadn't understood many of their words then. She was simply too young, but she had seen the way her father looked at them. He had come to them shortly after. He had hugged her mother as tears fell from her eyes, then he stooped down, picked her up and held her close to him. His hug had been so, so tight. At the time it felt like he would crush her and she had complained, but now she wishes she could have enjoyed it just a bit longer. Her father had followed the men out of his own home, and that was the last time she had ever seen him. She's had time to come to terms with it ever since she was a young woman. But, a part of her still wished that she could have had more time with him. Just enough to show how much she loved him...

Pap...pap...pap...

There was a sound, and a feeling. What was it? It seemed to get louder and the pressure more numerous.

PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPA--

What was it, where was it... Her, face?

Monikas eyelids fluttered before slowly opening. As her eyes took in the light her vision began to adjust. There was a figure on top of her.

"Papa?" Then it punched her again. It didn't hurt, but it certainly woke her up and wiped away any irrational thoughts that the thing was her father. Her confusion was replaced with surprise, shame and indignation. "Gott!" Monika back fisted the thing off her and quickly scrambled to her feet. The furry figure began to let out the foul exclamation she'd likely find at a bar rather than... A forest? Incredulously she looked around at her surroundings before bringing her attention back down to what she now realized was a black rabbit. She pulled her sidearm from her side and aimed at the rabbit. She didn't shoot, but she needed some kind of grip on the situation. It kept speaking to her despite her assurance she was no longer dreaming. Not only that, it wasn't speaking any language she knew. Yet she could understand it.

"Be quiet!" She hissed at the rabbit aiming her gun at it threateningly. Taking a deep breath Monika tried to get a hold of her emotions and take stock of the situation. "Fuchstrupp what's th-" She stopped looking around realizing her soldiers were no where in sight. "Verdammte..." Letting out a sigh she quickly realized wherever she was, her subordinates weren't near. Something must have happened when she crossed over through the portal. By all accounts she should have been deposited in the exact same place as Fox Squad yet they weren't here despite their orders. That means something went wrong. Ignoring the rabbit she briefly deliberated what to do. The forest surrounding her was strange from the color of the foliage, talking rabbits and flowers, even the sky itself was a strange color. Monika wondered if the rest of the world was similarly bizarre.

Before she could form a plan of action the sound of a high pitched yell of excitement and groaning foliage reached her. Soon after two people suddenly fell upon the ground not too far from her. Monika stared at them, blinking. Soon after another person appeared though this one was possessing a warped body and sickly green skin. For all intents and purposes she seemed like a particularly exotic corpse that had yet to decay. In had been a couple minutes at most and already this world was showing how different it was from her home in spades. She lowered her gun but kept it in her grip fingering the trigger just in case. In this abnormal scenario it was her one comfort of order over chaos. Looking at the two, one of them a young looking girl with pink hair and a vibrant energy called out upon seeing the black rabbit. The little creature was making a racket about a "Monster" directed at the sickly looking girl. Monika leered at the rabbit, though she admittedly could see where the thing was coming from as her appearance had unnerved even her. At the girls words she now had a name for the so called Monster. "Tiefschlaf". Monika chewed on the name. It was without a doubt German, as she knew its meaning of, "to sleep deeply". Was it merely a coincidence, or perhaps something more? Whatever the case the girl was likely not German as she would have recognized the symbol and style of her country by now, but it was something worth looking into later.

The rather pink girl soon approached Monika. She was by means a tall woman being rather average, but even she practically towered over the girl. With a smile she offered her hand to Monika introducing herself as "Zahrah" along other things that she couldn't quite make heads or tails of. Her name sounded somewhat middle eastern but it was not her forte so she couldn't be sure. Her cheeks grew a mite flushed, apparently they were also the flattering type. No matter it was nothing she was no used to. She eyed the self proclaimed "plushiest person alive" still trying to get a handle on a situation that seemed to continue to develop left and right.

Seeking to get information out of these people Monika put on a disarming smile and took Zahrah's hand into her own gloved one. "Pleasure to meet you Fraulein Zahrah. You may call me Rommel, I'm what you could consider an explorer." She once again looked to the rabbit as it continued its fearful yells. She scooped it up grabbing it by the scruff of its neck. "I believe you were looking for this, ja?" Monika offered the rabbit to Zahrah rather intent to have it rid from her presence. However soon after Zahrahs attention was taken by another individual this one just as strange. It appeared to be another young lady. Though she had pink hued skin and a horn sticking out of her forehead. Monikas mind immediately went to "Demon", because of course this magical world would have something like that. Though this one looked far to kindly and docile to be a tormentor of Hell, though for all she knew that was the point. Trailing behind her was a cloaked figure. Immediately her eyes widened upon seeing them as unlike the girl they called Tiefschlaf this one was well and truly dead. It was a walking skeleton the kind you'd hear of in Halloween stories and old myths. There was no flesh upon its body whatsoever, how such a thing could be possible was beyond her. She was incredibly fascinated, though she made a point not to show how out of her depth she was.

As they began to converse rather animatedly Monika let her eyes wander from the skeleton. The other one who had fallen upon the ground with Zahrah had stood up. Revealing themselves to be a woman in armor reminiscent of a knight and wielding a longsword. She quirked an eyebrow, it was rather primitive. Though Monika looked at her the female knights attention was somewhere else. Following her gaze she could make out a another young girl just ahead of them, apparently this forest was full of them. Her eyes narrowed, and she began to approach. At first she wore a smile as the girl seemed to be somewhat distraught. Though the lack of inflection in her monotone voice made it hard to tell. "Guten Tag Mädchen! Is something the ma-" She stopped. The monotone girl was speaking to another. The smile fell from her face as she realized that had been what the knight was focusing upon. Monika was unsure as to the situation but there was a tenseness in the knight that kept her guard up. Though even if that feeling wasn't there she would still keep her pistol close at hand. Just as she had this thought the knight began to rush towards the blonde girl drawing her sword as she did so. No sooner had she done this the girl suddenly changed shape into a black creature of shadow with a wolf like appearance. It's voice was rather unsettling to her. Without missing a beat she raised her Luger and pulled the trigger unloading as much of her magazine as possible into the creature, her face impassive as she did so.

 

[Sisyphus Happy]

Though the world tends to smear all around him when he travels at such speeds, he got the sense that the scene before him would hold more than he expected. Indeed it did. He inclined his head toward Eros as the out of shape creature drew up beside him, saying nothing to most of his pleonasmic piping. His excuse would be that he was carefully surveying the scene. New individuals in this purportedly wild forest thronging around and carrying out their own wills, they all seemed to meet in this clearing. Faintly he wondered if every feral tree and flower-gossip in the world conspired to bring together these chaotic bipeds. All the best for them, since they all have a habit of killing each other. Fewer hands to chop and clear wood and weeds. Between him and the purple one, an insignificant distance away, yet another little girl stood for a moment before swelling and sprouting hair all over her body. Some manner of dog person loomed now, and the girl seemed displeased indeed. Liu, not a great fan of dogs, though they did have a few military applications, let out a quiet 'hm.'

Absently rubbing his calcium chin, Liu quite easily ignored the other prattling going on. Though he was an admirer of old yóu xia novels, a guilty pleasure, he found it tiring to so formally introduce oneself to everyone else present. The silver streak of a woman, it seems, had the right idea. Liu could recognize armor. Perhaps finally someone he could get along with, he thought idly as Eros' words behind him suddenly lowered an octive, making him sound uncharacteristically masculine, and that of the prattling pink one before him rose in pitch. He rode his action through their words and sped away through the scene, snatching Lacie's parasol from Eros' grip. In a fraction of a second, he took two bounding, powerful steps which propeled him at absurd speed between Hildegard and Zahrah. Digging his foot into the ground, he slid in a tight arc to interpose himself between Lacie and the wolf, then promptly raising the closed umbrella before him like a rapier, he attempted to jam the device into the wolf's mouth while working the mechanism to open it. With the element of surprise and stunning speed on his side, he hoped the wolf would be unprepared to react.

"Perhaps it's time to back away," he suggested to the purple girl the moment he appeared between them, turning his head to the side and regarding her with the empty bowl of his left eyes socket.

Spoiler: TL;DR

Employed [Fast] to close distance in round from the south, positioned self between wolf and Lacie, attempted to shove lacie's umbrella in the wolf's mouth and open it, instructed lacie to step away.

 

[Etymarchen]

• Out of Character
• Ability Calculations

• 
  
  Please write action summaries in the future as per 3 actions per competitive turn rules. Thank you. The minimum format per action I ask per action is
  
  1. EXAMPLE: Aimed at wolf.
  2. TEMPLATE: <Action type> <in the direction of> <target>
  3. MOVEMENT TEMPLATE: <Movement> <with skills/ability with given grade if applicable> towards <location>
  
  In addition, it will be very beneficial to consider coordinating your actions in the future. Secondly, while I will assume for the present round that all unspecified actions/skill uses chosen are based in their lowest possible ability grades (F) so that cooldowns will not be forced to apply, note that you will be expected to denote the Skills and tools (weapons/gear/etc.) that comprise of your action in the future, else you will not reap the benefits of your skills/abilities even if your intention was to utilize them.
  
  GOAL REMINDERS:
  
  • UNIVERSAL GOAL: Reconvene and get to safety. Help Lacie
  • Lacie - Find her rabbits
  • Hildegard and Zahrah- Discover more with regards to the red crystals and wolves of which Hildegard had previously encountered within the forest.
  • Eros - Looking for someone beautiful
  • Zahrah - Research flowers fo the sake of happiness~!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!
  • Monika - Help a lady and her rabbit out (and maybe where the heck she is)
  COMPLETED GOALS:
  
  • Discovered location of rabbits
  • Group has reconvened.
  
  
• 
  DAMAGE CALCULATIONS
  F:A = 1:6; S =7;
  
  1. HILDEGARD BEHEADING SLASH (HP: )
  (Strength C (4) | Sword D (3) | Ability Use (0))
  EFFECTIVENESS: 7
  
  4. Monika
  (Precision C (3) | Gun E (2) | Ability Use F (1) + Steady Hands F)
  EFFECTIVENESS: 6
  
  5. Fei Liu
  (Strength D (3) | Ability Use F (1) | Combo +1 )
  EFFECTIVENESS: 7
  
  Total Team-up Counter on Wolf: 9
  //No surprise bonus
  
  

  ---

  
  1. Blonde Girl Werewolf
  + Dodge (+1)
  + Defend (+8)
  + Defend (+1)
  EFFECTIVENESS: 10
  
  

---

Location: Buffer Zone​

Zahrah Elvario
A loud bang resounded from Monika's gun. It was unlikely that it stayed unheard--sounds of flapping flocks responding to the sudden, loud noise. It was very likely that their location would be known.

Zahrah's talkative nature alongside the rabbit immediately alerted the wolf of the presence of the many intruders in its way, but they would not fail to receive an assessment of their appraised targets.

Appraisal told Zahrah much regarding Monika and the wolven beast.

With regards to Monika, Zahrah would be informed of the [Human] woman's current state of mood--it seemed she currently felt embarrassed for whatever reason, beyond the presence of paranoia and fear...too would Zahrah be informed of the woman's low Strength (F), decent Intelligence (E), poor Vitality (F) and higher than average Speed (E). Zahrah would not, however, be able to interpret Monika's Precision.

With regards to the wolf, it seemed her name was 'Aelia Bradley,' a young lady-paladin from Briar's Capital of Larun. Though her precision (F) and speed (E) proved particularly unnecessary to worry for, questions remained at her strength, vitality, and intelligence. While it was particularly difficult for Zahrah to truly be able to interpret her nature provided her possessed nature under the influence of another one, it seemed that much of her previously honorable titles under the name of the Minor Goddess Larunda, would now be tarnished by several criminal titles for several different and uncharacteristic crimes committed by her--Murder, Abuse, Vandalism--

She could no longer be recognized as human--for she was now a [Monster] at the demise of the red crystals.

Other prominent titles would include those which would regard her as [One of Many]--victims, it seemed, to whatever plague came from the red crystals described by Hildegard, [Werewolf], [Hive-Minded] and [Undead].

---

Combatant Actions ( Dante Verren | Sisyphus Happy | EMIYAman | Elvario )

Hildegard ( Dante Verren ) no longer had the element of surprise on her side as she swung her sword to behead the wolf--and neither would Fei Liu, as much as his Fast F speed would benefit him in allowing him to assert himself between Lacie and the wolf.

A grin appeared at the the [Wolven] Aelia's expression as she would shift herself to its left side to [dodge] Fei Liu and Hildegard's attempts to surround and dismantle her, safely managing to save itself from Hildegard's potentially fatal beheading and [defending] herself, taking advantage of her Heavy Armor to minimize the damage done not only from Fei Liu and Hildegard, but also towards her armor [Attacker Effectiveness 7 + 2 from combo vs Defender Effectiveness: 8 + 2 from combo].

Lacie, realizing the potential danger at hand as well as the distracted nature of the wolf, would turn back and flee into the bushes from which Hildegard had emerged.

The true concern of the party, however would emerge from bushes remarked with red dust.

A girl, alongside three other transforming wolven individuals materialized from the red dust as they giggled at the sight and presence of Hildegard--who would, as she did with the previous girl, recognize them all the same--all infected similarly with the red crystals.

"What a cute pink gift!! Hi Religious Girl!! Hiii!!!"

"Did you come back to play with us again?!?! We're sssuuupper happy to see you again!!"

Due to the nature of their approach, Zahrah, Fei Liu, Hildegard, and Monika would find themselves being ambushed by the party of possessed individuals. As a result, unless they were in possession of any sensory abilities to save them, they would not be able to defend against the incoming assault.

Muttering chants, the possessed [Mage] girl would begin to channel power from the same red crystals that remarked her body, glowing remarkably as the veins would spread further along her body--as a strong, peppery red smoke would smog over the party (D Grade Effectiveness: 5; Skills: ???)--hazing over the party. The smog would make it difficult for Hildegard, Zahrah, and Monika to see, but Fei Liu's [Feature: Dark Vision] would allow him to remain to be capable of sight.

The other three, unaffected by the red smoke, would assume their wolven forms [Transform], closing their distance on the cute but distracting pink object ( Elvario ) that had been chattering all about beforehand (D Grade; Effectiveness: 5 + 3).

From where Lady Tiefschlaf stood, several vines would outstretch, attempting to grab hold of Zahrah to rescue her from the wolves and pull her back into the bushes--but it was incredibly clear that her attempts alone would not be enough to save Zahrah...

---

Eros - Faynorae

The several haltrials that watched the scene playing out would giggle at the scene at play, chattering about as they would mock and insult Eros for several things beyond their intellect once again, answering the many questions that Eros could not receive answers to from the others.

"You don't know who One, Second, and Four are?! Wow!! You outside monsters really are ssuuuupppeerrr historically inept!!"

"There's like, sooo many Ones like...right there~! Hehehe~! You outside monsters must be suuuuper, suuuuuper dense!! I could NEVER imagine myself being as stupid as you!!"

"Four? She's the forest!! And she's also super stupid and mistakes monsters to be a part of her!! That's why us [Monsters] can use our super, duper amazing magic here while all these other subraces can't~! Ehe~!"

"And Second...?"

Even as the flowers continually yapped, a major portion of the flowers became quiet, before giggling about.

"Hehehe~! You're dead!! You're deaadddd~!!"

"He's always, always angry when he hears loud noises."

"He's coming this way. Without a second to spare~! But look at your friends!! All surrounded and incapable of acting!! Boohoo!!"