Fantasy Guild of Heroes: Recall Protocol

[Birdsie]

RECALL PROTOCOL ​

Around the world, hundreds of heroes flash back into existence from their imprisonment.

These are their stories - the stories of their glorious return, their song of champions - and their fight against the Overlord.

Spoiler: Mephisto's Announcement

 

[Birdsie]

Recall Protocol

"Not everyone wants to be saved," said the first voice, admonishingly.

"Not everyone can be saved," said the second voice, modestly.

"And yet, we'll still try," said the third voice, resolute.

- A Threnody of the Founders, Vol. II.

LostHaven Kovacs June Verles Dalamus Ulom

---

Around the far northeastern fringe of Albion would be what most of its citizens defined as, 'desolate.'

Around this part of the country was the small, perfectly unremarkable barony of Hessen. There were no major cities within the barony - the closest one would have been Tirin, a good sixteen hours of uninterrupted horse travel away; and that was presupposing that you were fortuned with good weather; a trait this region wasn't known for.

There was, however, in the middle of nowhere, a small village known to its citizens as Caspul Village. And down the cobblestone path, deep into the woods heading in the direction of the heartland, one would be able to find the only tavern and inn within the general giant-spitting distance: the charming Doldrum Drummer's Chantry inn. A three-floor building of rickety wood built in the post-and-beam style; yellowed walls and thick lengths of dark timber leading to a double-door with a transom of mottled, stained glass. Around its entry pillars hung slightly dried, husky vines. The interior was relatively empty for lack of travelers, manned by a hunky-looking half-orc occupied with cooking an entire pork on a spit roast.

And it's within the very middle of this unassuming inn that several people flashed into existence simultaneously, after months spent in the void. All that heralded their approach was a sudden poof of wind, a loud whistling noise culminating in a tinnitus-inducing bang, and a flash of amber light.

"Agh!" The half-orc barkeep fell over in surprise, clattering over a chair. One of the few patrons who were present in the room almost spat out his drink.

Silver Wolf Alteras lil_kreen Hanarei

---

At the same time, in the capital city, Bowerstone...

"My Overlord." Salazar Dalmon, one of the High Stewards of the Royal Court, bowed very deeply in Kyro's direction, right hand moving up in a circular motion and left foot gently inched back as was common for such a greeting towards one's supreme lord in Albionian custom. And then, a shallower but still respectful bow towards the woman in the coat. "Your Worship. Thank you both for seeing me on such short notice. I am happy to say that in coordination with the ARC Advanced Ritual Research Division, we've managed to complete a working sorcerous blueprint for the project you requested. All it requires now is your stamp of approval."

Respectfully, Dalmon handed the papers, scrolls, and blueprints over to one of the courtly attendants, who brought it directly to Kyro.

Across the dark parchment bearing the insignia of the Albion Research Center, there sprawled an extensive and detailed blueprint - arcane symbology and system efficiency graphs, mana rotational output requirements, geomantic line predictions, leyline tap designs, physical architectural outlines, a rough geographical display of the device's reach, on top of other minutiae. Another few papers showed the rough, expected costs. Above it all was the unifying label of the project, the glorious seal of words - a script, ironically - which'd finalize Kyro's hold over the country if realized: 'Albion Defense Grid.'

A project that'd cost innumerable hundreds of golden talents and lesser coinage to construct, maybe as much as twenty percent of the royal treasury to initiate, and then another such quantity over time to supply wages, resources, and ingredients for the ritualists and sorcerous workers. A project spanning the entire nation, using up innumerable millions of hours of man-labor and machine labor; resources would be fed to the ravenous beast of industrial and military development like coal being shoveled into a bottomless pit. The Grid's power source alone was ridiculous, costing more than sixty percent of the entire blueprint outline, and being the main timesink in terms of construction time. Its core element would be an energy harvester placed on the most powerful leyline node on the nation's land, supplemented with elemental power-gatherers. One of the Sarafan volcanoes would provide energy for the entire infrastructure of the northern half of the country, using a geothermal vent and magma processor that'd have to be drilled far into the mantle. It'd also have the side effect of boosting the local stoneworking and steel economy; a very, very minor boon compared to the real, tasty prize in front of his eyes.

It was sad, then, that it'd take months - if not years - to complete even with these outrageous, almost inexcusable expenditures, when he needed it finished yesterday. In a few days from now at the latest, if he was planning to not face significant resistance from his enemies lurking in the shadows.

After some minor questioning and small talk with some of the High Stewards present in the room, the door opened, as a pair of high-ranking warriors in outfits of dark green lamellar in coats of dark leather - both of them bearing the insignia-markings of Captains of the Snake Circle, the infamous black ops group.

One of them approached Kyro and whispered into his ear, "We have confirmation, sir. Type-A incident, as you said. Two minutes ago near Tirin. Should we dispatch a response team?"

Swire Captain Gabriel

 

[Hanarei]

Claire Motoye

How does one find that which supposedly doesn't exist? It was the question the young knight had found herself lost trying to discover. The Guild of heroes had been a name she had heard of before in her early childhood and through her teens. The knights as a group had heard of them after all and even many of their numbers saw it as a possible place to go once attaining the title. Still searching from them the only response for those willing to speak was the fact they no longer existed, lost seemingly to time five years ago suddenly without a word. Whether they had disbanded, or perhaps had been wiped out. Either rumor seemed to cast it in a rather grim light.

Claire though didn't give up hope. She knew they had to be out there... somewhere... anywhere. She was confident in it! I mean, sure she had been looking for over a year now, but I mean... they had to exist right! Yes! She wasn't going to give up on it. No matter how many people gave her weird looks about looking for what they considered now a Fairy Tale she was convinced she could find it. Where better then some small little village out in the middle of nowhere to find a supposed guild in hiding right? I mean its about the dozenth one this year alone but...

No, this is the one Claire! I feel it in my heart and soul! I mean the last time... it was just my heart, and the one before my soul... but this time its both so it has to be right! I know the answer is nearby! That man who was willing to risk his life and limb for the last of my gold to tell me and lead me on a week and a half long trek to where I am now wouldn't of lied to me after all! I do hope he is alright though, he wasn't anywhere to be seen after I gave him all the gold and ran off despite him saying he wasn't able to walk... ah I'm sure he is fine and he didn't hurt himself!

The young knight nodded to herself sitting at her little table in the corner with what could best be described as pity scraps of food given her lack of money. Luckily for her the half-orc owner offering a little something and some space tucked away in a small storage closet for her offering to move a few things around for him. A faint growl of her stomach was followed up by a bit of a sour expression on her face more so out of guilt feeling as if her body was being ungrateful for what little she was being given. As she lifted the small little utensil with the scraps of meat she had on it placing it in her mouth as the loud noise and bright light flashed. The girl blinking as the light seemingly had no effect on her though the noise at least partially registered though luckily sparing her ears as several people flashed into existence before her.

",,, I..." She muttered the food in her mouth making it hard to speak as she chewed it up quickly, at least as quickly as such a minuscule scrap of meat would allow, swallowing it down almost whole nearly gagging as she blinked shaking her head trying to gain some composure. A bright smile on her lips as fortune turned. It was all true what the man had said! I mean it didn't involve anything of what happened but, she was right! Her heart and soul was right even if her gut had not been as on board!

"I knew it! The thing happened!" She spoke as she clapped her hands together. She actually had no clue what 'the thing' was nor really what this all meant... but it had to mean something that would lead to the Guild of Heroes. She thinks.... right? Maybe? Possibly?

 

[lil_kreen]

Inns have many interesting things to eat and see within Albion as often they are centers of whatever passes for social life. This one, however, sufficed today for a different value of interesting than most. The poof of wind and a burst of light erupted in a wild swing of long carmine legs with flexible black tips over the top of a patron. A spider in the rafters was common but not one the size of the work horses outside erupting from the void directly into one's day. An armored hind end might stop one cold when it approaches opposite fangs the size of one's hand flipping out from the chelicerae that form Jaunt's mouth parts.

Amid the void Jaunt inwardly chants the various hymns of the Matriarchy's quietus dances to hold onto creation in the utter non-existence of the void. His sense of hearing dimmed as much as the light grew as the loudness of that sound clipped by its explosion at the limits of his hearing. Jaunt's mind raced with the world flooding away the drought of sensation as instincts sprouted from the earth in response. Many eyes quickly scanned the room as legs reached down to find earth. Duty latched onto the nearest intelligent creature his instinct said was matriarch. That armored rough crocodilian abdomen skin flexing with legs barely contacting the ground before Jaunts path seemed to reflect off the the floor backing directly overtop of the charge instinct had placed him over.

Conscious thought took a moment to return as the giant armored spider removed a very large octagonal slab of a weapon from its back. The many talons along the ridge line of one blade arm grip the sawtooth mount as it menaces at the nearest moving objects. The large fangs spread outward and forward over someone's head as with a prodigious field of view didn't need to move his own. At this likely uncomfortable range one could see the heroes guild seal affixed to his under armor beside each folded arm with the opposite one a seal from his own birth Matriarch. Though he was trying to speak with the small speaker on the side of his cephalothorax, strapped to the right of his fangs, it had long since lost its battery charge. One of the long arms with four opposing wedge phalanges pressed at a button on it as some semblance of coherent thought tried to return.

 

[LostHaven]

Faust Windfallow (& Co.)

The Raven's Arcana | "Ah, I smell it. The distinct scent of profits!"​

Tap, tap, tap, taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap-

For hours without end, a the elder lich incessantly tapped his cold, bony fingers on his mourning wood desk without pause, growing increasingly stricken with irritation and extreme boredom. Wasn't the whole reason he started this 'merchant' gig to cure boredom, Faust pondered to himself. Immortality may have been an unattainable blessing to the large majority of mortal men and practitioners of magic alike, but few considered the severe con of this whole 'undying' shtick; boredom. Inconsolable, incurable, insufferable boredom. After all, one could only go around posing as an emissary of Death, or beating in the skulls of dragons with frying pans, or eradicating the miserable, utterly abominable race known as 'Gnomes' of the face of the known multiverse before getting tired of it all.

"ARRRRRUUUUUGH-" Without warning, nor rhyme or reason, the lich suddenly grasped the table, and flipped it into the air with force unreasonable by a virgin mage, letting out a shrilling screech of frustration in the process. The table stayed airborne for but a few seconds before it came crashing down with the ringing of split floorboards and crushed glass. The table in question was utterly unscratched, however. "FUCK, HOW MANY DAYS HAVE WE BEEN JUST SITTING HERE?!" Faust screamed into the roofless void above. There was a moment of silence, only to be shattered by the sharp clacking of footsteps behind one of the hundreds, if not thousands of skyscraper-like shelves that littered the Raven's Arcana like a labyrinth. A young girl with blonde hair emerged from behind one of the shelves, her face obscured by a mask of identical design to Faust's. She looked on at the elder lich with a mixture of annoyance and apathy in her eyes. Without a word, she approached the capsized table, her eyes drifting down to assess the damage for but a moment, but swiftly returning to look the owner right in the socket.

"By my count, it's only been twenty minutes since we stopped," said Emily in a cold, seemingly indifferent tone. "I should also remind you that Xylzrilyn and I were both opposed to the idea of stopping at a barren, unnamed desert," she added. For a moment, one could almost make out the venomous glint of a stare aimed toward Faust, but it was gone faster than it had came.

"Oh, my foolish apprentice! If I recall correctly, we had decided by vote! Three-to-two, if I recall correctly, this was settled with nothing but cold, hard fucking democracy, the most ideal of governing systems," Faust retorted, to which Emily's lips twisted into a grimace in utter disgust.

"With all due respect, Kodbromaal would twist off Bahamut's testicles and shove them in Tiamat's mouth if you ordered him to, and Alexiel voted in your favour with the full knowledge that your idea was miserable. Democracy is flawed when half the population allowed to vote are, to put bluntly, less cognitively functional than a mentally disabled myconid with down syndrome."

"I thought it would've been fun to have a sand worm for a customer!"

"What the f-"

Unfortunately, before Emily, a perfectly respectable young woman could tarnish her reputation by uttering a curse word, Faust's gloved hand darted out toward her face, and clutched her by the cheeks, impairing her speech. Her eyes widened in half-shock and anger, but Faust didn't seem to notice at all. However, despite her clear discomfort, Emily kept herself from tearing the lich's spine out as the urgency in Faust's movements made her believe, even if for just a moment, that there really was some sort of danger. "Shush! You heard that?" Faust whispered. Emily just shook her head with the lich's icy hands still clasped tightly on her cheeks. Faust rotated his head side to side, as if carefully scanning their surroundings. "Profits."

Emily's eyes immediately glazed over into a dead fish stare, and the life left her face. With one fluid, practised motion, she reached into a hidden slit in the side of her dress to produce a wand, about fourteen inches in length, carved of a pale blue wood with various runes inscribed into the cylindrical surface. She whipped it in Faust's direction - less than a second after she had retrieved the wand, its tip shone a brilliant azure, and within half a second of whipping it out, she had blasted an arcane missile directly into Faust's chest.

More shockingly, however, was the fact that Faust evaded a point blank magic missile by Cha-Cha Sliding to the left, freeing Emily's cheeks in the process. Then, the lich did a bizarre Tango spin with a seemingly invisible partner, his cloak fluttering with the twirling motion before he dropped to the ground in an immaculate split that would make a gymnastics Olympian athlete jealous. Following this peculiar choreography, Faust immediately hopped back to his feet with a nimbleness that shouldn't belong to a wizard, and began to howl in laughter. He tilted his beaked mask toward the ceiling and howled hysterically into the sky, hands outstretched into the air as if invoking some sort of evil God. "OH IT'S HAPPENING, IT'S HAPPENING, EMILY!" he exclaimed with pure joy as he skipped atop the table wedged into the floorboard with an enormous spring in his step. "I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE THE DAY! QUICK, TELL KODBROMAAL TO TAKE THE SIGN AND COME BACK INSIDE! ORDER XYLZRILYN TO CEASE RECONNAISANCE AND RETURN IMMEDIATELY! AND TELL THAT INCORRIGIBLE WHORE OF A PALADIN TO STOP SCHLICKING HERSELF WITH A CURSED HOLY SWORD IN FRONT OF THE STATUE OF A HOLY DEITY!"

Confused by the sudden shift in tone in Faust's song, Emily raised her wand as she considered blasting him a second time. Surely, the thing that stood in front of her had to be a skinwalker pretending to be the 'Suspicious Salesman of General Wares', right? That madman was almost never this elated, not since he put some gnome's still-living head in their fridge. "Wha-" Emily opened her mouth to mutter in confusion, only to be interrupted once again by Faust who leapt off from the table and grabbed her tight by the shoulders. She let out a yelp of surprise and (mostly) disgust, kicking the lich in the pelvis by reflex, to no avail. Skeletons had nothing down there to cripple.

"DON'T ASK SO MANY QUESTIONS, MY YOUNG PADAWAN! THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO CHANGE - THERE ARE ADVENTURES TO BE HAD, WARES TO BE SOLD, AND PROFITS TO BE MADE! NOW, NO MORE DILLY DALLYING! ONWARD WE GO, TO THE ULTIMATE SHOW!" Emily 'gently' tore Faust's hands off her shoulders before wiping her brow in distress. What the hell was a 'padawan'? He was high, wasn't he? Must've been the deathshade parasols, he always seemed to take one too many past the safe dosage, though how narcotics could affect undead always puzzled her. Whatever, she thought, once the damned skeleton was in this manic state, there would be no stopping him. Sighing, Emily left Faust to his antics as she herself made preparations. It seemed like things was about to take a turn for the incredibly stupid.

 

[June Verles]

Sasha Korneev

Imagine those brainwashing scenes, where they lock you in a chair and force you to look at images. Now change the chair with the void dimension and instead of a screen it's your mind being flooded with all the knowledge in the multiverse through the connection to Yggdrasil. In short, insane mental pain for 5 years. If not for Mr. Noone's interference she definitely would have been brain dead, or at least mentally insane like Eik which would probably be worse in her mind.

Though of course she appreciated her return to her senses, she didn't appreciate having to relearn how to automatically breathe for a few minutes. Dropping out of the dimension she just lands on the ground and just spams like some sort of fish out of water as her brain takes a few moments figuring out how it her body worked again. It would have probably been easier without all the varied commentary from inside her head.

"WHEEEEZE!" Eik, who was finding this situation so funny, ran out of air somehow as a psychic presence while laughing and was currently on the ground, wiping away his tears.

"Plants don't need to breathe or move, this wouldn't be a problem if you let me turn your whole body into a plant instead of just replacing your arm and leg." Christopher Armitage, ever the plant enthusiast endorsed abandoning her humanity.

"This is why you only do biceps and abs, cardio is for betas who want to be healthy." Sir Fuchsalot, added, completely unrelated to the problem.

The woman wondered if she could shut them up forever is she lobotomized herself before getting up onto her butt, and looks around completely disorientated, now missing an eye and having to familiarise herself with her plant limbs, lovely roiling fields and a nice warm sun in the sky.

"W-where am I?" She asked, grabbing onto her left eye.

"Northern Espania, above the Holdenplace river!" a new voiced responded in a helpful tone which made everyone there confused as they all just stared at him a man in unison.

The psychic presence appeared as a purple knight armor, his face covered by a helmet except for his mouth so the illustrators could draw him more easily.

"Sorry, who are you?"

"Adventurer 1, adventurer by profession! Pleasure to be your acquaintance everyone!"

And before anyone could comment on how his name was also his job Mr. Noone, the final tenant in the apartment block that was Sasha's psyche, intervened.

"I used this opportunity, when someone opened the void dimension to find an easily molded body and implanted your mind and used the power of the summon to shift it's body and equipment to fit. I'm sorry about that Mr. 1, if that's your last name, not really sure how your nomenclature works, but you were just the easiest being on this planet to replace."

"It's okay, just sad couldn't tell my wife and step daughter good bye. I wonder if body hijacking qualifies for life insurance."

On that note, Sasha went all over her equipment to make sure it was all in good shape before starting to follow the river down towards the nearest centre of population while the others threw a welcome party for Adventurer 1 in his head.

 

[Captain Gabriel]

One of them approached Kyro and whispered into his ear, "We have confirmation, sir. Type-A incident, as you said. Two minutes ago near Tirin. Should we dispatch a response team?"

Lord Gabriel Baryon
Location: Bowerstone -
With: The Court Birdsie , Kyro Script Swire

Lord Baryon was a very simple man, all things considered. He'd spent numerous years of his life amassing power, little by little, until he gathered enough to be where he was standing - in Kyro Script's presence. He was allied to the most powerful (debatable) man in Albion, and he was one of the most powerful men this side of the continent.

As far as the project was concerned, Gabriel was very satisfied. He'd worked on the Albion Defense Grid's blueprint along with the court sorcerers and many scientists, and had a notable input on numerous parts of its design; there were few things that could beat several hundred years of experience in a topic. Using a volcano as an energy source was actually one of his ideas; none of the researchers thought it doable, but with a few alterations and minor adjustments, Gabriel managed to implement the idea in a functional, reasonable manner.

His mansion - pretty much a city-state, by the sheer size of the land it sat on - was outside of Albion's territories, making him the official sovereign of the unofficial nation that was built around Baryon Mansion. There, he had a small personal army, made up of volunteering citizens, people that couldn't pay off their debts - to be fair, Gabriel was very reasonable to them; other people might've killed them or forced them into slavery - and small special forces team made up of vampires, trained by yours truly in the mystic arts and in the art of war.

Having so much influence over local politics meant that Gabriel had eyes and ears everywhere. Lord Baryon closed his eyes for a moment, sending a psychic call to all of his children in the area near Tirin. He felt a distant response, unuttered obedience, and a quiet, deeply-felt loyalty that he picked up by way of their blood link.

"No need. I'll have eyes on the situation rather soon, Thueban. Several of my children are in the area, they'll deal with it from a distance," Lord Baryon said coldly, clutching his chin with his blood-red talons, thoughtfully. His mind raced with all the possibilities of what might've happened, and then it clicked. His gaze briefly turned to regale Kyro Script, his black-and-red eyes empty, devoid of any emotion aside from boredom. "I believe this is what I've warned you about. My clairvoyants are rarely wrong, if at all. They're back."

 

[Alteras]

Averza Reyes

LOCATION Inn at Caspul Village, Northeastern Albion

INTERACTIONS (nearby) Claire Motoye, Jaunt Nemesis, Sophia Gertrude

CS

A young female adventurer, clad in iron armor accented with a blue fabric, clung to existence in the deep emptiness. She sat in a meditative position, or rather the remnants of one. Her hands were open but strained and shaking, almost clenching whatever imaginary object would be on those palms. Her face was scrunched up, her eyes shut tight in pain, her jaws locked together in agony, her back bent forward bearing the weight of inexistence. Covering her in a faint film of magic was her blessing, expending all its might to preserve this fragile being.

Suddenly the woman appeared in the middle of the air in an inn, alongside a few others. Her body hit the floor, breaking her already faltering posture and sending pain throughout her sense-deprived body. Her eyes shot open, revealing her blue gaze to the world, flooding her vision with sensations not felt in 5 years, before blinding herself. Her mouth stretched open, but no sound was made from it. She stretched out her right arm into the air with sudden vigor and flicked her hand towards herself. A weak gust of wind flew towards her face, filling her lungs with the musty air of the inn, but it was far better than nothing. She laid there coughing uncontrollably before slowly transitioning to a routine inhale and exhale, as she was flooded with sensory information; the clamor of the inn patrons, the delectable scent of roasting pork, the earthly colors of the inn, the dirty feel of the floor, and taste of air from the world of the living. Slowly the woman realized what had happened. Averza Reyes has survived and is alive.

As Averza's strength returned to her, she struggled to stand up and stumbled towards one of the tables. She snatched a mug of beer from a patron and poured all into her mouth, gulping it down like a fish. She slammed the empty mug onto table with a cry.

"AHHH!!! I'M ALIVE!!!! I swear I won't ever make fun of sis's meditation ever again!"

As she supported herself against the table, still clenching the mug, she looked up at the shocked patron sitting before her. With a sheepish grin, she let go of the mug, shuffled her hands around her armor, and tossed out several gold coins towards the bewildered guest.

"Sorry 'bout that, buddy. Have a bit extra for your troubles." She turned around and slowly walked towards the others who appeared alongside her as the man muttered a thank you. As she stumbled forwards, she remembered the words of their guildmaster, the same words that almost broke her meditation while she was in the void. She fished out her Guild seal and tossed it to the ground.

"Almost died because of a shitty announcement. Curse that walking wardrobe disaster." she muttered as the emblem jumped and danced across the inn floor. Approaching the others, it seems a few of them got out of the void in a better state than herself. Nonetheless, they all looked alive. She stopped and looked at her compatriots before placing her hands on her hips.

"Now what?"

Silver Wolf lil_kreen Hanarei

FontsFonts Coded by Alteras

 

[lil_kreen]

Jaunt Nemesis
Location: Inn at Caspul Village, Northeastern Albion
With: Averza Reyes Alteras | Claire Motoye Hanarei

---

The hymn imagery in sound and emotion he'd drowned his mind in started to drain away as consciousness reappeared after five long years. A sodden mind irrationally pushing the speak button started to stir in that he wasn't getting a response from the small device. A wedge finger pressed to the surface and with a click dislodged it from the holder clip. It dropped from hanging off his digit into the other hand as an eye had to stare to remember what the problem was. Energy. Battery. The void drained everything away.

After flipping out a crank handle on the back started to whirr and turn the self-powered device with a paired whoop as he ranged across its reception. Long forgotten what he'd even left the channel on. The bleak color of eigengrau needed to speak on the very short-range radio repulsed his instincts even as another conquered it handily when a Matriarch spoke nearby. The Gardener's many-eyed stare fixated on her his large primary eyes with askance limp fangs as he struggled to take in anything. The legs repositioned in staring at his charging transceiver again then blindly stopped cranking to remove the heroes guild seal just to discard it in instinctual imitation of the false matriarch before the reason why belatedly assembled itself in his brain. Many legs sift and jocky for a solid position to crawl down from halfway up one of the beams as the guild seal thunks hard onto Claire's table with a mutual shatter against a ceramic plate. The slab of a hammer attached to one man-sized polearm of a limb slowly dangled downward on each side obscuring others nearby from what was below him. In lacking the dry land in mind to fit two beings in it instinct ruled protectiveness toward one and confused curiosity at the other.

The cranking resumed with a voice crackling and melodic like some music bleeding through from another station as he pointed the speaker at Averza, "A false matriarch? Machine smashing then the border was so dark. I remember now."

Bits of reality crawl one at a time out of the hymn-sodden flood in his brain as semi-autonomous tips of his legs repeatedly reject using Claire as an anchor point to get to the floor.

The voice centered its station slightly but was still noisy, "Announcement? That we should break the seal? I agree with it. You did. So did I. Others should too if they have not. Your position is dangerous, false Matriarch. We should move somewhere the others do not see us."

Jaunt had to divert his gaze to stare at his right blade-arm as it tried to surround the chair with a false matriarch in it. Instead sluggishly placing it in a resting position beside the other with the hammer attached. The sharp talons along the blade edge shifted and clacked in anxious instinct at the new position away from defending both sides.

 

[Hanarei]

Claire Motoye

Claire looked on as the various figures that appeared seemed to be struggling to adjust a bit to their new surroundings. Had they been pitched in some epic battle of the ages in some other realm this time only to be tossed back to the world? Perhaps simply having teleported from a dimension of which the Guild now hailed in order usher her towards the path where she had been seeking to find for over a year now? Perhaps just simple evil doers that had found their way to their world which would attract the supposedly lost guild back to action? She had to admit the spider itself upon a quick glance did make her feel as if the first or last options were the most likely ones, at least if it wasn't perhaps something else entirely.

The young knight stared on gawking at the newcomers like a child looking upon the mystical sights and sounds of a carnival. Not the most flattering of appearances for one menat to be a knight though perhaps the situation at least gave her some excuse for the look of awe she had put on. Her observant gaze had caught onto the Guild symbol even so briefly of the spider and then that of the pretty young woman as it skidded across the ground a small distance from herself. It was a marker she had at least some familiarity to, though the traces of such had been left obscure about as lost as the Guild itself. The symbol itself only seeming to be shoved into her eye sight as it came crashing down smacking into her plate tossing up the little remnents of pork scraps she hadn't yet had time to chew upon for several minutes to have a chance to possibly consume them.

The spider seeming to crank something seeming to finish. She witnessed as a noise seemed to emanate from whatever it was before coming to witnessed the sound of... nothing. It wasn't as if she didn't know sound was coming out of it, even if it wasn't audible to her she could tell it was making some noise. Some sort of effect that was otherworldly, though she had to admit much stranger then a lot of the other things she noticed her magic interfered with. Magic after all wasn't uncommon in this world, but this... it was something completely alien. She blinked before shaking her head. She focused upon the sound, bending her natural magic with her Mana to allow her to actually understand what the sounds were. Perhaps not the best idea given it could be anything such as inciting hypnosis or causing some other ill effect though it seemed to be directed towards the woman and no one else looked noticeably hurt by it?

"...eak the seal? I agree with it. You did. So did I. Others should too if they have not. Your position is dangerous, false Matriarch. We should move somewhere the others do not see us."

She blinked as it did seem the two magically appearing travelers were talking to each other. She wasn't quite sure what the announcement was or what a wardrobe disaster had to do with anything. Never mind what the spider was going on about a false matriarch? The fact it seemed to mention the idea of going elsewhere that others might not see made her jump up a bit alarmed not wanting to lose her chance at what she saw to find the mythical guild she had heard of and been searching for now for so long.

"W.. wait you two! You two know the Guild of Heroes... right? I.... I mean.. excuse me my lady and..." She spoke realizing her lack of knightly formality, only to realize she hadn't the slightest clue how to address a large magically talking spider formally. I mean should she address it the same way? It made sense to but... she didn't know what to even address it as. The girl seeming a bit troubled a faint glow on her cheeks along with a look of unease as she tried to find the right words to use.

"You dignified travelers... and company... I meant to say." She spoke feeling it wasn't the best answer but the one that at least came off a bit more respectful without accidentally causing any il harm unintentionally. It was a rather weird situation to be put in for anyone and despite the idea of being cautious and trying to wait things out so she could make a more informed introduction, she didn't want to miss the chance at what she could only to assume was fate finally helping to bring her to what she was searching for this whole time and she was certain they had to be key to it all.

lil_kreen Alteras

 

[Swire]

Kyro Script

LOCATION Bowerstone

INTERACTIONS Birdsie Captain Gabriel

Yesterday
The air split as the creaking of the ivory wood windows opened. The cool night air covered the floor as hot air escaped through the window. Kyro's mind filtered the day's work again for inspection. Arariagonterisa stayed close by, such was his request. For the demon that never sleeps, much of her free time would come after his consciousness had faded away.

"Arariagonterisa, is there a way to create a living energy network?"

Arariagonterisa gave Kyro a rather low look of doubt. "This is about the Albion Defensive Grid?" Kyro gave her a small confirmation. "In the past, I bore witness to a civilization that was able to use magic to create a sentient network of sentinels. It's even possible such a network could drain resources and expand."

Kyro's eyes opened as her words enveloped his mind, racing with the complexities of such a possibility. Nearly achieved was an idea of paradise.

"We can visit their ruins if you would like. They aren't far from here."

Kyro picked up his nightly book and affirmed her request. "Well then, I shall take my leave." Arariagonterisa said leaving the room. A vacuum swept over the room as the demon's presence vanished, Kyro's ragging imagination dissipated as time bled into the next day.

Present
"My Overlord." Kyro twitched as his mind had taken on a sudden torrent of ideas in a mere moment. Such a lack of focus could only attribute to his loss of sleep. Another problem worth solving. Sometimes, if only occasionally, he envied Arariagonterisa. At this rate, the very world will be unable to keep up with the sheer number of issues he must solve.

"Dalmon." The monotoned words escaped Kyro's mouth, echoing within the room. "I am always appreciative of your efforts. Thank you for your hard work. I know this was requested on short notice. That being said, I will be constantly monitoring the progression of this project, and even making changes as we move forward."

Pausing for a moment to ensure Dalmon was aware of his desire to intervene at certain points.
"Please be as malleable as possible given the circumstances, I look forward to your continued support."

Ink splashed across the paper as Kyro placed his steal of approval before handing the papers off.

Shortly after Kyro was greeted by both the members of the special ops and Baryon.

Kyro raised his hand in the air to signal a pause in the court. Shortly after Arariagonterisa stepped up in his place. "An urgent matter has come up. Lord Script must take his leave. I will take his place for the time being."

Kyro signaled both Baryon and the members of the black ops to follow him into a different room where no others could hear them.

"You are to eliminate them." He directed his words to the Captain. "Kill the guild members before they become a problem. Mephisto will likely arrive so that is your time limit. Each of you have been hand-picked, I don't want to lose another because of your mistakes Captain. Your top priority is the survival of your team. Do you understand?" Clear as glass his word pierced through any uncertainly there may have been. Failure was simply not available.

"Dismissed." Kyro said. He then switched to addressing Baryon. "I ask you to lend your aid to this endeavor. The cleansing of the guild is required. They represent a great threat to both of our rule. Your assistance has always been of help."

 

[Birdsie]

"So long as they have their Guild Seals on them, we won't lose track of them. By midnight, we'll bring you their skulls, Your Highness," answered the Snake Circle Captain, nodding to his partner and then stepping off to prepare as soon as he was dismissed.

Swire Captain Gabriel

---

As the 'heroes' made themselves at home, the various people reacted in the only rational way a bunch of random villagers would: stumped, silent shock. Even the half-orcish bartender simply observed from his position on the floor - and later, from behind the counter, after he stood up - and simply watched the exchange. He watched, even, as the heroes in question tossed away their Guild Seals. He watched, even as they started to discuss what comes next, and as the knight that had entered the tavern before started to speak with them.

"'Scuze me, yer lordships," greeted an approaching halfling farmer, a straw hat and a pipe in his mouth. "Yer from the Guild, aye? I can see wi' 'em trinkets ya tossed e'ff. Lissun, it'a'd prolly a good idee to run, yes'm? Ay Overlord gon' dispatch a hunt'r squad or sn'yk cercle, or Ten 'nly know whatta el'ze if ya don' git awt 's fast 's ya can. I'll reckon."

(And then he spat in the cuspidor, which was also there, because if a halfling with a weird Southern-Scottish accent was there, why wouldn't there be a cuspidor?)

Hanarei lil_kreen Alteras Silver Wolf

---
After several days of adventuring, it became plainly clear that she was in some kind of fantasy world. It seemed like this was a familiar place to some of the people living in her head. Even Dendrophile Christopher - as she'd taken to calling him - recognized the world they were on as Melicau, one of two inhabited planets in the Solaris system.

Using her newfound magical powers and Gungnir, she was capable of finding work in the Adventurer's League of Melicau as a simple adventurer, doing easy but well-paying contract work. Given her rather menacing appearance, most people steered widely away from her. She avoided using any of the rounds in her assault rifle, as there was no certainty whether or not she'd be able to locate a craftsman or blacksmith capable of replicating them. It was damn irritating - it was a powerful weapon, too, even with magic in consideration, but too risky to use. How stupid would it feel to waste all her rounds on an ogre, only to discover a year later there was a far better use for them?

After the easy contracts dried up in the countryside, she asked around and found there was more of a demand for mercenaries and adventurers in the west. She bought a sumpter horse at the nearby stables and was then off. As she was moving west from Pavega to Valladoba, Sasha encountered an odd sight on her way down the road. A shop with a signboard that had a dark raven, a bunch of grapes, and an ancient spelltome on it, signed as the, 'Raven's Arcana' in dark gothic letters. It seemed to radiate otherworldliness and oddity with its very appearance, much in the same way as a cemetery radiated the chill of the grave, and the ghetto at three AM radiated you not being welcome there.

LostHaven June Verles

 

[June Verles]

Sasha Korneev

Sasha came up with to name her new ailment, Pollophrenia [Pollo(mind) and (phren)] much to the dismay of Eik for not using an norse name and Fuchsalot for being a fucking nerd. Seemingly neither of them appreciated following proper entomological traditions.

Luckily this condition came with some positives, Adventurer 1 and the Dendrophile were quite the info dumps that she needed to get around in this new universe. Forcibly hijacking over Adventurer's 1 body also meant that he retained his unique mana print, so he could just his global adventurer register to go on quests so she could skip the herb gathering. It also meant that she retained a way for anyone who wanted to find Adventurer 1 to find him, mainly his apparently lovely but extremely violent family.

"Sorry, I'm still somehow bad of hearing even though I'm just a consciousness in someone's mind, your daughter is a what?" Eik asked confused.

"You heard it right! A national diamond hand crushing champion. Me and Scourge, the great raider of the east are very proud of her." His wife liked being addressed by her title, it was like a Phd. for warmongers.

"Woah your daughter is definitely a sigma male." Nodded in an approving way, with folded hands.

"Diamonds are a 10 on the mohs scale because they are made from coal which is made from plant matter."

"Had to make it about plants didn't you...." Mr. Noone would sigh and put down his psychic tea cup.

At least having the ability to watch a spontaneous bit in her mind at least made it so she wouldn't be bored. But back on topic, she would take a lot of mid level quests to get familiarised with her body and abilities, keeping only the money she needed to sustain herself and sending the rest to 1's family, in the hope they didn't realise something was wrong and because Sasha herself felt bad about it.

She would have taken more difficult quests if she managed to find a party, Sasha herself telling the others that she was fine with it but in reality she hoped that this new chance would allow her to make more friends and present herself in a more sociable manner. Apparently maintaining eye contact doesn't get rid of the killing intent that you gain after spending your entire life becoming a killing machine, who'd guess.

In the end she did make one new friend in this world, sort of.

It was difficult buying stuff when most people apologised for bothering you when you tried to approach them, or worse just comically pass out in sheer terror. The horse she would have manage to purchase would be one "Midnight the killer of men". But it was actually fine with Sasha, because she was a woman. She ACTUALLY discovered it was actually a really chill horse, letting her braid it's mane as it fed on the leaves growing from her wooden arm.

A horse, was a good start in her attempts to be more sociable.

A bit of travelling later she would arrive in vision of the suspicious shop, if the gothic black inked sign post wasn't already edgy enough. Either way, Sasha secretly saw enough manga and anime that this place was definitely a place of interest because of a cooky shopkeep with rare items or something. She was also not stupid, so there was no way she was actually going in there in case it was some sort of secret boss.


Stopping at a tree about 100 feet away from the shop, she would tie Midnight up and weave some handsigns, before slamming her hand on the ground.

"Flora Magic: Wood Clone." As a circular arcane circle appeared on the ground before, roots and plants forming in her vague shape before taking her form and colour. It was a good way get in and not be harmed if she got obliterated inside, but the downside was that she could only make one and she had to be immobile to do complex actions with it.


"Why are you casting magic like that, I've never seen it done so." Mr. Noone commented.

"It's because she's a narutar-" and before Eik could finish his jab, his neck was snapped with the strength and speed only a girl trying to hide her secret nerdy hobby could summon.

"Lol." said Fuchsalot "Lmao."

"Guys? Eik isn't breathing, how is that even possible he's a mental ghost."

"Plants can't get their necks snapped-"

"SHUT UP." they groaned in unison, oh look Eik was alive.


With that settled, the body double would enter the store without further delay.

"Hello?" She beckoned.

Noble Scion LostHaven

 

[LostHaven]

Alexiel Pendragon

The Raven's Arcana | "It was just getting good too~"​

Though store in question was but a rickety, run-down caravan parked at the side of the road, the moment the wooden clone traversed up and creaky, rotted stairs into the caravan, Sasha would be struck with a heavy sense of nausea, even if it was just a moment. Before she could even register that she had just entered a shady, damp, tiny-ass store, Sasha had stepped into an unbelievably vast forest of shelves that lined a seemingly endless plain of barren, creaky wooden floorboard. Each shelf was stacked to the brim with collections of items, rusted relics, glittering treasures, and countless numbers of oddities whose functions were utterly inconceivable even after first sight. The shop lacked a ceiling, and as Sasha looked up, she would observe the shelves extending upward without end into the dark, lightless abyss looming above.

The shelves were arranged in aisles forty-nine shelves long, and at the opposite end sat a single counter, with a single doorway lurking behind it, leading to presumably a 'staff only' area. The only other object that adorned the otherwise barren counter was a rectangular, two-celled storage unit that looked suspiciously like a refrigerator from Sasha's old world. However, more bizarre was the receptionist seated at the counter.

Or, what one would assume was the receptionist, if they were to ignore the fact the silver-haired woman seated at the counter was dressed in little more than an almost-transparent nightgown, with her legs unceremoniously kicked up on the table, with zero regards given to etiquette or privacy. Her hands were rested on her thigh, holding a foreign book that she seemed to be reading very intently. Upon noticing the customer, the woman let out a soft sigh, shut the book and glanced up at their new arrival. The scantily-dressed woman began to scrutinize Sasha, and as she gazed her up and down, Sasha could practically feel the receptionist's eyes violating every part of her body. Alexiel's lips slowly curved into a wide, lecherous grin. "Ara~ What an adorable little customer~" she purred as she slowly licked her lips. "We don't get such cuties like yourself very often~" She added as she brought her legs off the counter and leaned in, letting her excessively bountiful chest rest onto the table. The 'tome' she had been reading was left, closed on the table. A quick observation would reveal the tome's 'name' as... 'Ane Naru Mono...?'

"Welcome to the Raven's Arcana~" Alexiel chimed. "Would you like to make a purchase? Would you like browse? Or, perhaps, would. You. Prefer. Me?"

June Verles

 

[Alteras]

Averza Reyes

LOCATION Inn at Caspul Village, Northeastern Albion

INTERACTIONS (nearby) Claire Motoye, Jaunt Nemesis

CS

Averza's face tightened slightly at her compatriot's form of address towards herself. "Ahh. Don't call me—" Just as Averza was about to correct the spider, she noticed one of the patron approach them. She turned her body partway while shifting her feet into ready stance. Her hands were no longer resting but was now open and free, ready to respond. With a vigilant eye and guildmaster's and spider's words echoing in her mind, she quickly scanned the woman.

"A sword by her side, enchanted? Lightly armored. A knight. Magic oriented? Non-hostile? Judging by her tone, she doesn't seem to have ill intentions." Having finished her judgement, she relaxed her stance ever so slightly. "That's right... Do you have something for us, we're in a rush."

Before she could hear a reply, a halfling farmer approached them and gave them a warning in heaviest accent she's heard in a long time. "Thanks for the warning." she replied on their behalf. Considering the spider friend seems to be struggling with communication with all that noise at the moment, she decided to be the talker of the group and get some info. "Where are we? ...err... Near Tirin you say? Northeast? Got it! Thanks!" Having gotten the minimum info needed to travel, she decided it was time to go.

"If you need something, follow us. Let's go!" Averza said to the two as she started making her way to the door, but not before helping herself to a portion of one of the shocked patron's meals in exchange for yet more gold.

Stepping out of the tavern, she started snapping her fingers. small gusts of wind blew around her hands, but nothing substantial. "Damnit... My blessings weakened huh... The void really took a toll on it huh." Considering that her wind blessing expended itself protecting her in the void, it wasn't too much of a surprise to see it so weakened. She could still feel the magic, but it wouldn't be of much help beyond the lowest of intermediate spells. "It'll be better to conserve my mana here. Time for some old fashion running."

lil_kreen Hanarei

FontsFonts Coded by Alteras

 

[lil_kreen]

Jaunt Nemesis
Location: Outside of Inn at Caspul Village, Northeastern Albion
With: Averza Reyes Alteras | Claire Motoye Hanarei

---

Jaunt's ability to understand spoken language was a narrow bridge to travel as it was. The small human that got the false Matriarch's attention made for an impenetrable message. As long as the Matriarch seemed to understand then all was right with the world. The wetness in his mind was starting to dry out though he felt so much of his strength was still hidden under echoes of the hymn. The world around him started taking better shape as paid attention to the scene and looked at the other false matriarch coming to the realization instinct already knew they were there. The spider pivoted his center of many eyes with more able if quick interest in now coming to conscious awareness of the timid citizens for the first time. A quick flip clicked his hammer into a spring holster on his side with the gimbal artillery rifle still there on the other. There wasn't a threat right now but there would be soon. The transceiver was charged enough for now and stopped cranking to latch it back on.

At the newcomer the white noise was gone in the formal breathless voice from slurring less color into the eigengrau, "Another false Matriarch is welcome but, yes, you must come with us. My given name word is Jaunt."

A being his size going through the door required some maneuvering as far too many legs than made many observers comfortable stretch and torque to get his body through the doorway. A shake of each leg and shifting of the thick silver mineral wool armor blanket and saddle helped get the cold out of his limbs for travel. He tore a sprig of flowers out of the ground by the base of the stem near the door and started chewing on the plant. As one that didn't use their mouth to speak actively eating did nothing to sully his voice compared to what the void already did to his inner being.

His speaking pitch from the speaker on the side of his head did smooth and deepen as he better enunciated pitch under the warming sun while looking with his primary eyes at Averza's hands, "The void is as close to perfect suffering as my kind can know. Thank you for handling the small one, false Matriarch. I am glad you retain as much of your inner elegance as you have. There are trials ahead."

They were already on their way with him quietly scuffing behind. The ridged portions of his mouthparts crushing woody stems and leaves made noise and his person little more. Though starving at least the world was covered in food. He'd have to eat on the move.

Thinking of her earlier disdain the long angular hand and its triangular all-opposed digits broke off one of the flowers of the plant he was eating, "Did either of you want me to use a different word to call you? You may ride on my saddle at your will; I am not the fastest horse but I can move fast enough at your lead for very long."

 

[June Verles]

Sasha Korneev

As the wooden body double entered the shop, it would grab on it's head as her senses had to familiarise itself with the immediate shift in environment. Or she hoped that's what it was and not her dust allergies, seriously you would think that if you could afford to put all your merchandise on the shelves straight out of the hall of prophecy from harry potter you could afford to have them cast prestidigitate on themselves once in a while to clean themselves.

No matter, she thought to herself, at least this seemed to follow the mysterious magic item shop as opposed to the hidden boss archetype.

Or so she believed until she made it to the counter and to the woman manning it. When such a outwardly beautiful lady focused their gaze on you like that anyone would be embarrassed, unfortunately both her embarrassment and fear responses are the same due to her unique education, so instead of blushing and covering their face her one uncovered eye would go wide open and return a death glare, looking up at the scantily dressed woman 20 centimetres taller than her.

"255662." She noted.

"Careful. According to her tastes this lady is a shotacon and you never got a growth spurt, if she swings both ways you are in her prime target range." Eik assessed shortly. "Brace yourself Sasha, all of the sensors verify that she is a bonafide thot, a fallen angel one at that." Mr Noone added, neither of the two senior wizards getting that serious before.

"Good taste."

"What do the numbers mean?"

"Dryads are hotter." Chris, made his already well known opinion known again when no one asked.

Back to reality Sasha would continue the conversation.

"Who are you, what is this place?"

LostHaven Birdsie

 

[Hanarei]

Claire Motoye

Claire looked on as a wave of excitement filled her. Despite her attempt to contain her giddiness, the glee could be seen oozing from the bright curved smile on her face. She had found what she was looking for now! That shady looking fellow who ran off with her money had gone above and beyond what he even promised! She was one step closer to filling her role as a Knight of the Wander and a savior of those in need! As the halfling approached the young knight seemed to snap back to reality trying to soften the grin suppressing her child-like excitement though not fully able to compress it even as it seemed he had some rather unfortunate news to report.

The young knight turned towards Averza as she beckoned her to follow. The notion of asking to join flashing in her mind then and there though it seemed like a rather poor time to do so given it seemed they were being hunted. Her eyes turned to the spider giving a nod, repeating the name Jaunt in her own head in an effort to memorize it better. She headed out right behind the woman missing the rather awkward show of the large spider attempting to slip through the doorframe.

She watched as the woman seemed to be focusing on casting a spell, the girl seeming a bit uneasy at first as it seemed her attempt to use it fizzled out. It was only natural she would assume it was her fault though it seemed clear after a brief moment of thought that it didn't seem to be Claire's fault. She hadn't been touching her after all, and if she had casted the spell it would of likely came out in full effect, just simply not effecting her in any way. Perhaps it had to do with whatever caused them to appear suddenly where they did?

She turned to the spider, the pitch of the speaker a bit uncomfortable to hear the more she actively allowed its sounds to become tangible to herself. She looked on as the idea of riding a giant spider seemed interesting, though she would likely have to use her magic to do so... it was always a rather confusing thing to know what her magic allowed and what it did not. Giant spiders weren't a very usual sight so she could only assume it might require some manipulation on her part to be able to do so despite how monotonous it appeared visually.

"Oh, excuse me. I am Lady Motoye, though really its just a very formal title, Claire is a much simpler name to call me by." She spoke with a bright smile bowing her head lightly to the spider. The young woman seeming to realize her complete lack of urgency as she tried to amp herself up. I mean sure, she wasn't part of the Guild but she did want to become part of it. It was best she traveled with them. Who knew if she would even get another chance to find them again given how long it took to find them.

"If... you don't mind the burden of carrying me. I don't mind running... though I am... not really the fastest on my own. I have trained myself to the best of my own physical capabilities of coarse, I just don't have magic or anything to help make myself faster. I don't exactly... get along with magic, and I kind of need to do a bit of extra focus using it if magic is used n myself which can wear me out after a little while." She spoke attempting to be very brief given the need to move quickly. She couldn't help but feel like she was already potentially being a bit of a burden.

lil_kreen Alteras

 

[Alteras]

Averza Reyes

LOCATION Northeast of Caspul Village, headed to the border

INTERACTIONS Jaunt Nemesis, Clair Motoye

CS

Averza gave a half-hearted smile at the Jaunt's cheer(?). She wasn't quite sure herself. "Thanks. Looks like you're speaking clearly now. And true, though I don't think anything else can quite give us or any other member of the guild the same pain as inexistence itself anymore."

And with that, she started walking forward towards the end of the village. Each step she took gave her more familiarity, the sensation of movement, of energy, of life. Soon she was jogging, then running. She felt the wind brush across her face, giving her the same joy that it once did long before she was trapped in the void. It wasn't the same without her featherstep, but it was still the sense of freedom. Now, she had to ensure her freedom in this new world she's found herself in.

Leaving the village she pointed to the mountains far in the distance. "That way!" she yelled back towards the others. "We head northeast! Cross the border! And into Laurellia!"

Hearing Jaunt's offer for a ride, she didn't hesitant. She immediately jumped off the ground. and landed on top of the giant being's back. "Thanks buddy. Averza Reyes, though Averza will do just fine." She said before turning to help the young knight, Claire, up the spider. Settling herself into a comfortable position, she turned to address whatever Claire had wanted from them.

"Now then, why would a fine lady such as yourself be looking for the Guild?"

Hanarei lil_kreen

FontsFonts Coded by Alteras

 

[Captain Gabriel]

He then switched to addressing Baryon. "I ask you to lend your aid to this endeavor. The cleansing of the guild is required. They represent a great threat to both of our rule. Your assistance has always been of help."

Lord Gabriel Baryon
Location: Bowerstone
With: The Court Birdsie - Kyro Script Swire

"Indeed," Lord Baryon replied, folding his arms to his chest. The vampire lord regaled the Captain with a single glance, minimally amused. He closed his eyes, breathing calmly, as large amounts of sensory information arrived, directly into his brain from the eyes and ears of the vampires he'd sent as scouts. "But they're not stupid, captain. They're discussing destroying the seals. There are people I do not recognise among them. A large, talking arachnid as well. They're inside an inn, and in a hurry to get out," Lord Baryon said flatly, making some of the Snake Circle members in the room visibly surprised.


They wanted to bring the Guild members' skulls to the Overlord, but Gabriel would do them one better; one much, much better. And to do that, he breathed in and focused, traveling with his mind through his bloodline, until he reached the infamous Third Generation.

There were a few individuals, in this particular era of his bloody ancestry, that were known to be particularly bloodlustful. Ever-hungry, but still unable to leech on the psychic energies of mortals as Baryon himself was able to. He directed a powerful thought at them, with a single, strict order. It was filled with other minor instructions, on how to act and how to protect themselves in case anything went wrong, but the juice of the instruction was...

Induct them into the family, my children.

"They are powerful indeed, sir Script," Lord Baryon said, turning back to watch Kyro Script with his blood-red eyes. Although the situation was relatively dire, Lord Baryon was calm, collected, even ecstatic with the whole situation. "But I wouldn't worry; they are visibly weakened, as far as my scouts can discern. I have sent some of my older children after them. Their objective is to induct the heroes into his little heritage, which will put them under my indirect control by virtue of bloodline. Then, once I can use Blood Magic on them, their whole selves will be ours."

Lord Baryon watched as the Snake Circle Captain left with his men, after they had been dismissed.

"Remember, Overlord Script," the vampire gently said, once they were mostly alone in the room. "My offer still stands. I know how to make the ritual. All it requires is a drop of my blood, and your consent."

 

[LostHaven]

Alexiel Pendragon

The Raven's Arcana | "Aw, not interested in some fun?"
​

Though Sasha's icy-cold death stare did not perturb Alexiel even in the slightest, the paladin let out a low sigh. "Playing hard to get, are we?" She persisted, smiling alluringly at her 'adorable little customer'. The sudden series of numbers Sasha blurted out caught Alexiel's attention, but before Alexiel could question the cryptic numbers, Sasha had followed up with an enquiry of her own, to which Alexiel lifted her chest off the desk and leaned back to open a drawer to the side. She proceeded to produce a number of documents which she placed on the table.

"This is the Raven's Arcana," replied Alexiel as she slid the documents toward Sasha. "The Owner is an impotent virgin of an Elder Lich, and everything in this store is a part of his collection. Every last item you see on the shelves is an ancient relic at worst, and everything is for sale. However, we cannot guarantee the safety of the merchandise - many may be possessed by potent curses and hexes." As Alexiel explained, she motioned toward the documents, possibly suggesting that Sasha would skim through them. However, a quick glance would reveal columns upon columns of tiny, fine-text stating that any damage caused by merchandise after being purchased, and what means the merchandise is used to fulfil are not their responsibility. The usual terms & services stuff that nobody bothers to read, much like the end-user license agreements of every video game. "Of course, there is the option to make a request for the nature of merchandise you are looking for, or have the Owner appraise your items before making a purchase, but that will cost extra."

Having finished her obligatory and extremely tiring introduction to the damned shithole of a magic item shop, Alexiel let out a long sigh as she leaned right back into her chair and crossed her arms tightly, squeezing her chest unnecessarily to make her already copious cleavage pop out more from her already borderline unsafe-for-work nightgown. "And me? I'm Alexiel Pendragon, 'faithful' paladin of the Order of Ceneia, loyal worshipper of the lawful good Goddess of Purity and Order, I suppose." Despite every last part of the woman down to her sheer aura suggesting that she had long fallen from the holy and righteous code of a paladin, should Sasha have some spell or ability to detect lies, she would find that every last word uttered from the lecherous woman's mouth was nothing but truth.

"Now, that said, my cute little customer, do take a browse through the stock - if you wish, I can call the Owner, just for you~ He is rather hospitable to those that catch his eye after all, and as far as my personal standards are concerned, you pass~" she added with a wink.

June Verles

 

[June Verles]

Sasha Korneev

The mind of the midget Russian girl now looked like the NASA control room, Eik would stand in front of a bunch of screens that displayed jumbles of information and Sasha ocular's vision while Mr. Noone handled one of those computer terminals.

"Sir, the cold shoulder protocol has successfully deterred the imminent threat so far." The scientist said with a sigh of relief.

"Good, good." Eik would approve as he leaned down on a microphone. "Sierra Kilo, this is ground base, the mission is going according to plan, all countermeasures have worked perfectly so far, continue with your operation."

"They're taking this really seriously for just talking to an attractive lady." Adventurer noted with a bit of a confused tone.

"You don't get it, humanoid females who know what they want and how to get it are a beyond Omega level threat, I would know my mother is a succubus. I'm just like to be immune to such wiles." Chris noted, the man who stares nonstop at new plant life forms for upwards of 24 hours while breathing way too heavily for someone just examining.

"Who cares whatever you simps are talking about, where's the button that makes her look at her tits?" Fuchsalot asked, as he pressed a myriad of random buttons, which lead down to Sasha bending her head down and observing the paladin's bosom for a noticeable amount of time, followed by a blush washing over her face.

"Nice." as the control room got flooded by red lights and loud distress sirens.

"RED ALARM, RED ALARM, The girl isn't ready for that! Her best romantic experience are dating sims you fool!" As Mr. Noone rapidly started working on his terminal.

Whilst bleeding from his nose with Alexiel's chest covering the screens, Eik would lean down still just as serious. "Sierra Kilo, Sierra Kilo this is home base, listen to me! Activate redirection manoeuvres now!"

Back in the real world, Sasha would snap to reality and grab the papers out of Alexiel's faster than the eye could track, which she used to cover her face in an attempt to allow her to compose herself. Even with the small font, the girl was prepared by her draconian mother on how to be a killer in the corporate world not just the normal world. And nothing calmed her down more than long, tedious terms and services agreements.

In about 2 minutes and 32 seconds, having calmed down Sasha hoped to move on from her previous slip.

"I understand the terms of this contract, I just don't understand why your business would care and what sort of legislative entity holds me or you to these terms? Is this some sort of magical contract? Do I need to sign it? If it truly doesn't matter what I do with my purchases why would you make this." She questioned.

"If you want me to speak with your manager I don't mind." Though internally, she was happy she could interact with someone who didn't constantly poke at her lack of real life romantic experience.

Birdsie LostHaven

 

[Silver Wolf]

Sophia
Location: Woods Around Caspul
Interactions: N/A
Nearby/Mentioned: Hanarei lil_kreen Alteras


​

Somewhere off in the woods, the sound of steel ripping and rending flesh could be heard in seemingly random intervals. Growling mixed with intense yells echoed, but only for moments. The sounds originated from a small and shallow cave where a woman clad in red was locked in battle with a dire wolf. Why a dire wolf? She would really like to ask the Guild Master about that, but he did make it clear the spell could go awry. Her luck just seemed to be not on her side today, and her sword arm had already sustained a minor bite. Sure, possibly very obnoxious, no, very obnoxious since it had reduced her arm's effective strength by half currently. She didn't need half to finish the job though. In fact, it did her a favor.

"Aegisblood!" the knight shouted. Suddenly, blood erupted from her wounds and formed around her shield and sword. Swirling in a brilliant glowing red which seemed to become part of the weapons themselves. Her shield and sword visibly changed, the direwolf growled and returned to its battlestance. Her first swing missed by clearly falling short of the beast, the extended range was gone. Normally, her sword in this form could reach well beyond its normal limits, but instead it didn't extend at all.

A clang was heard as the wolf's next attack was stopped by her shield. With a quick bash, it was stunned and she moved in to strike again. Both were wounded, one would walk out alive. With this small opening, she stabbed into its second leg, forcing the creature to shift its weight again. During this, a vicious warcry came from her and the blood formerly part of her weapons shot out and hit the beast square in the head. With its dodging capabilities finally reduced, it had no way to avoid the strike. Shortly after, she switched her sword to the other hand and ran up as the beast flailed to get blood out of its eyes. With a swift stab to the neck, the job was mostly over. The beast lost more and more blood until it could stand no more. Eventually it lost consciousness, and Sophia closed its eyes and said a small prayer.

With the beast felled, she took out her bandages and began furiously wrapping her arm before she started to lose too much blood, but she was already starting to feel weaker. This only enhanced as the adrenaline wore off and she was left panting in the cave maw for a good solid while. Once she could finally get up, she made way to find a road. It would be a bad idea to see if the wolf had a mate or worse, a family out hunting. Despite her clear need to recover after only using her weapons once, she searched her being for Aegir's presence. No more than static, a familiar sensation still lingered on the precipice of her being.

She continued to hobble her way until she finally found a path. Once she was on the path, she felt her legs finally give out from the shock her body had gone through with no support. She had been defending herself, not others. Such actions would not grant her Aegir's blessing, even though her oath was clearly messed up from whatever was done to her.

The bandages became soaked, seems she didn't have the strength to wrap them tight enough. Her only goal had been to try and stop the bleeding, not slow it. She leaned on a tree and started trying to wrap it again, using her teeth to exert more pressure. Little did she notice the sound of footsteps on the road.

 

[lil_kreen]

Jaunt Nemesis
Location: Woods Around Caspul
Nearby/Mentioned: Hanarei Alteras Silver Wolf

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Jaunt's head paid rapt attention to each though his head didn't move between speakers. It was easy to keep them both within the range of at least one pair of the primary five black eyes. As they talked his head did start to judder slightly whenever a different voice spoke. A side effect of sensory hairs lining flex points in the head plates rather than any ear holes through his natural armor. Though the closer the new one got to him the easier she seemed to slip his senses. Deep down below the drowned mountain where lived his instinct to serve it felt that he was doing his duty but couldn't the least quantify why instinct felt it was so.

Opting for formal title used the first in a fist-pump of acknowledgment to Claire, "My oath is to the Matriarchy wherever it lies, Lady Motoye. You are never a burden to the high soldiers as we are born to provide as the Matriarchy needs us to."

The first matriarch leaped with dancing agility that he banged the flats of his forearms together to appreciate as she sailed overhead. As she made contact she entered his awareness with perhaps a moment of static running over the skin. A walking leyline conducting his strength to others in direct contact a Tiller easily ceded power to the Matriarchs whether false or not. Though to him, that sense of a looming thunderhead advanced for a moment then vanished never come at all as he helped the other up with a backswing of his blade arm to stand on. Something in his head seemed to agree to insist on lying that she was even there at all. Intellectually, he could feel that two were riding him with a light test shake of the armor/saddle to check the buckles. Should he stop looking at her the sense of her pressure or shifting weight on his back vanished entirely to just false Matriarch Averza. A doctrinal decision to trust in the Matriarchy, even if this one apparently could not rely on them, resolved his concerns and began moving northeast.

The spider's speaker increased in volume to be heard more easily as he changed a dial, "The void has drowned out much of the art I used to know but Eigengrau is a difficult talent that is hard to forget for long! I will go overland, Averza, they will look for us by road."

Unlike horses, the spider's jogging gait was one with a faint undulation akin to riding a water raft. The top layer of the saddle was soft enough though toward the back alligator-like bumps of the hide on his pointed abdomen could be felt faintly moving as he lifted and flexed to clear rocks. The bottom of his weapon racks had padded lower spars for bracing with the legs in the times he clambered easily over sheer rocky slopes. The large hammer and sizable rifle clanked slightly from spring-clamps in time to the undulations as he went along. Starving as he was avoided leaving a trail of torn plant life for some to follow and took rocky paths he could travel but horses or normal men would find treacherous.

Along the way it made for several vantage points to check whether they were being followed. Though in looking for hidden threats in the distance found something else instead. Along a road formed by long use of hunters whether dire wolves or men. Yet another false Matriarch perhaps? It was hard to tell at this distance but they were particularly small like the other human false Matriarchs. Covered in red splatters in such a way that it couldn't all be finery.

His instincts considered a trap then discarded it at the howl of duty, "Lady Motoye, Averza, up ahead there is another. It seems a Tiller is drawn where it is needed today. I think another false Matriarch is injured."

The crawl down to the forest road made an altogether unique sound of shuffling and rubbing many-jointed legs. Close enough to view he laid his stomach onto the ground for an easier dismount by Lady Motoye. If they dismounted he'd reach back and remove his hammer with a clank of springs.

 

[Hanarei]

Claire Motoye

The knight turned her gaze to Jaunt giving the spider a nod. Fixating herself once again bending her magic's rules. She could feel the burden increase a bit, but she was well rested enough that she assumed she would be able to last a while. She didn't want to create a bad first impression after all, as strange as the meeting itself was. She sure as heck wasn't expecting to be meeting a large talking spider, particularly one that seemed to poof into existence from what seemed to be a place called the void. She climbed up lacking the grace Averza seemed to posses though doing so swiftly enough at least to not burden but a few extra seconds of time in her getting on.

Claire blinked as she heard Averza ask her what she wanted with the Guild. The young knight seeming a bit lost as she blushed lightly shaking her head seeming to come back to focus on what she had originally come there to do. The fact she had actually managed to find them was still a bit of a shock to her.

"Ah... y... yes! My name is Claire Motoye and I wish to join your order!" She spoke seemed to realize a bit of the awkwardness of restating her name out of a need to try and be formal after she did so. She did tend to be the type to blunder when it came to social interaction a bit, particularly if she was trying to be formal.

Any sort of embarrassment she faced was stopped short hearing Jaunt speak mentioning someone else being ahead. The girl blinking as she wasn't quite sure just who it might be. Given how crazy the day already has been who knew what could be ahead. What had been cautious excitement had quickly turned to worry seeing the seemingly injured knight before her. She shuffled to get off, finding Jaunt's motion to fall to his stomache greatly aiding her in slipping off moving up to the injured woman. She looked to Jaunt rather uneasy.

"I... I.. don't have cloth on me... and I would rather not take the risk of doing so myself... unless it is needed. I'm a bit worried if I might slip... and if I'm not properly using my magic for it I might accidentally inflict a serious wound." She spoke seeming to show a great deal of hesitance. Her mind could only slip back recalling a little spar where she had accidentally cut her sparring partner, the wound she inflicted not being able to be healed normally requiring her poor partner to be bandaged and spending over a weak having to be careful and wait for the wound to heal normally.

"I have... some first aid knowledge, though I'm far from an expert either." She spoke wanting to offer her support to the wounded woman even if she might not have any extra supplies for it.

"Are you alright miss? Any pain you are feeling? Perhaps feeling a bit light headed?" She asked fumbling a bit though trying to do her best while things were figured out standing nearby attempting to keep her calm even if she might not reflect the perfect symbol of calm herself.

lil_kreen Alteras Silver Wolf