Graded [Kananto Village] The Dead Awake at Night, Part 2 (Blue Viscera Occult)

[Skyhunter]

8:12 AM

Renee Nyx



Renee looked to Kalina with a look on her face that showed she really hated what Kalina was saying, thinking as to why she would even take it down this route. A face that read; Really? Really?? Seriously? " What...? " Renee asked the vampire, " That is not I meant, Kalina, Dahak takes control of undead and can even see through their eyes. That much we have gathered so far; I know you're not evil. Maybe morally grey. Gawain over there certainly isn't evil. " Renee shook her head. She wasn't trying to insult her sister like that, or at least didn't perceive it as such, but Renee was being a bit naive here. " Don't take it as that, Kalina, I was not trying to spell as such. " Renee looked agitated that she would even think of such a thing. Her red eyes gazed over to the quieting Giant who was staring at them now.



" WHY? I DIDN'T HURT PEOPLE. TARKO ALWAYS BEEN ATTACKED, TRYING TO HELP. TARKO GET HURT. DAHAK RIGHT. NO ONE LIKE US. " The giant with many heads spoke, still laying on the ground, each head speaking if it could. " NOW TARKO CAN'T WALK. " It continued to speak, for how big and intimidating it looked, it didn't seem hostile. Renee felt a ping of guilt in her heart for this creature, this large creature with many heads.

Renee then heard Ray say she had an idea for something, the witch stared at Ray with a face that showed confusion, " Wait... Who are you? " Renee asked at first, she leaned in little to the woman and then realized it was that woman from earlier at the tavern, the woman that Gawain adopted. " Oh, you're that woman who looked like she was going to pass out! " Renee had wide eyes before she then wrapped an arm around her shoulders smiling, even though Ray was taller than her. " Let's hear your plan. " Renee had a smile on her face as they walked on over into the darkness away for a bit, still in view of everyone. Or their silhouettes at least.

While the two talked, Renee nodded at what Ray was saying, nodding after each of her sentences. Renee then laughed a little, " You are a strange one, you know. " Renee called out while she patted Ray's shoulder then nodded. " Let's do it, it could work. " Renee pointed at her. " Do you have it then? " She asked.

---



Garvin and Garrett met back up with the group, the two of them stared at the Giant as it wallowed in it's pain, " It needs to die. " Garrett growled. " It is a threat to us, it has to be a puppet for that necromancer. " Garrett explained, " The damn woman is right, this thing is dangerous, it could be spying for Dahak. " Garrett referred to Kalina. Garvin shook his head, " No. It is not, this giant could be a asset to us, it can lead us to where the necromancer is at. If it isn't a undead of course. Otherwise it would be under that Necromancer[s control and could kill us. " Garvin explained to his brother who scoffed. " If you say so, Garvin. " The executioner shook his head and crossed his arms.



Wyland slowly making his way over, looking at the vampire that pointed at him. Wyland chuckled a little, " You are much stress, Kalina, was it? " He asked. " I can check. If anything, i should be able to restore it's legs if we need to. If it is alive and not undead. Otherwise it will burn. I can cast a spell created by the Lord of Light to push influence from it's mind. I won't be able to tell if it is influenced or being manipulated by that necromancer but I can surely make sure it is not. " Wyland explained to Kalina, his eyes turned to Gawain who was also getting agitated. " Calm thyself, Gawain, was it? " Wyland placed a hand on it's shoulder, " Anger gets us nowhere, action creates change. Protect me if it attacks, or push me away. Whatever you think is best. Watch for suspicious activity. " He explained, he took a deep breath.

Wyland then raised his staff as light emitted from the tip of it, a strange rune appeared underneath him that had a symbol of some sort of deity. The rune lit most of the area up. strange wisps of light flew up into the air as Wyland held a hand out towards the injured giant. The light that enveloped his hand floated out over to the giant then surrounded it with a floating rune, the giant supposed named Tarko, looked a bit worried. " By the Order of Golden Wings, I permit thy to be cleansed and safe from opposed forces of evil influence. Let thy be free of evil. " Wyland spoke as the rune that surrounded the giant tripled, now having three surrounding the giant. The ring like runes then closed in on the giant as a ethereal golden light surrounded the giant. For a moment nothing happened but then... " RAGHH! AGGGHHHH! TARKO! BURNING! " The giant roared, it's insides beginning to light up, almost as if fire was erupting from within it.

The giant's hands gripped the ground as it squeezed, trying to comfort the pain somehow. The heads on its body all began to wiggle, they were screaming as well before the heads began to each rip from the body, they were a part of. Heads rolled out of this body, blood and gore oozing from the detaching heads, they each burning thanks to the incantation that Wyland had casted. Each of these heads then formed their own body from the blood. Creating a strange amalgamation of arachnids with the heads as abdomens. The blood and gore coming together as smaller heads and fangs. These spiders were numerous, there had to be about ten. But off the giant's body came headless corpses, these corpses had no sense of direction but they seemed to see from the heads that the spiders as the eyes from these heads stared at each of the party members.



There were only about five corpses, so some heads were missing bodies, but that was a total of fifteen enemies, the spiders were two feet long and one foot tall. They hissed staring at the group with their own eyes as the corpses lumbered forward, the eyes of the heads the spiders were attached to stared at each party member, the giant was no longer a thing, it's body was nothing but gore, muscle, broken bones and a regular spine with the actual giant's head on it, it's eyes glowing as it looked defeated. " OH... TARKO CAN'T FEEL ANYTHING. " It grumbled, it's voice broken and shrill from all the yelling. Looks like they had a fight on their hands. Wyland's rune was still active and still kept the area lit up, but these undead were now no longer burning. The rune had already taken it's affect.

---

Within the Kananto Crypts...



Su Chen would awake within a cell with little memory of what happened, she would only remember being within a city looking for supplies, entering a shopkeep's store of equipment, trinkets and good. But upon entering she would remember seeing a strangely dressed man holding the shopkeeper by his throat, absorbing their soul from their body with some sort of amulet. The man would look to Su Chen and she would see a darkened mask with purple eyes within the eye slits while he wore a dark cloak and had trinkets hanging from his person. The shopkeeper was only a dried and shriveled corpse. This man would drop said corpse and quickly appeared before Su Chen as the door closed behind her. A strong hand from this man would pick her up by her neck, immediately making her unable to move as this amulet that floated in his other hand glowed. She would feel her life drain and her vision fade.



The man stared into her eyes. " Ah, a very pretty subject you are, fair skin, beautiful eyes and body. " But then the man tilted his head for a moment. " Ah. You are like me. Interesting. I have finally found one after a few years. " This man chuckled evilly. Su Chen's vision would fade to black, but her life would not be stolen as she would feel her energy come back for a moment. " You will help my endeavors come to fruition. " He whispered. Through her blackness, small visions would appear of her being held up by magical forces in some sort of large room that she would not remember any detail of. She would only see the masked man reading through a book, in the book she would see pictures move like as if she could see through the eyes of someone else. But there was multiple, almost too many to really see. Her vision faded then reappeared, the man was chuckling, " Fool... You are a better subject than this one... Your anger. Rage. Your entire being will help me find them... Those damn secretive fools. " He cackled evilly, as if he was talking to someone she couldn't see and someone who couldn't hear him, a strange portal then would open up before him revealing a skeleton being attacked by some robed old man, he stepped through. Her vision faded. Then it reappeared with her being on the ground before the man and now with some sort of furry beast floating in the air where she originally was. " Take that one to the holding pits. If this one doesn't work, she will. " He commanded someone. Then she would get dragged across the floor away from this man as he stared at this small beast before her vision faded once more.

Now as Su Chen's memory came back, she would realize she was in a very terrible situation. Wherever she was at, it was not safe, her surroundings would tell her she was in a dungeon, but for what? Who knew, what did that man's words mean. She was trapped, in front of her would be a skeleton of someone who died here long ago. Across from her would be a locked cell, with someone on the otherside. Strange footsteps could heard as some large man came from the shadows, as it approached, she would see it's details of being a corpse that was reanimated, wearing armor and having a weapon in it's hand that rested on it's shoulder, a large sword. Seeing Su Chen it stopped. " Ah. You're awake, it's been a few weeks. Was wondering if you were dead. Good. Lord Dahak will be pleased to hear. " It spoke in a heavy and decayed voice, it's voice barely audible as it's throat has been decaying since long ago.



Interactions: Elvario Dante Verren II-CinderRadcliff-II Silent Angel LadyOfStars

 

[Elvario]

Kalina Chivernu
​

Mentions: Renee Skyhunter | Gawain Dante Verren

All in all, Kalina wasn't even all that interested in Renee's words, as none of them included a sign of her rethinking her naivety. It did stand out that her sister thought of her as morally grey, but that'd be a thing for later. The mentioned Gawain, whilst perhaps not being evil, was still being a pain in the ass. She hated his impatient call to action whilst also forcing them to decide what action to take. Enough so to snap back at him. “For fuck's sake! Decide for yourself if you're so eager for action!”

She couldn't care less about the giant's whining, as for all she knew, it was little more than an act. To that extend, she was in full agreement with the executioner. Killing this dangerous variable was their best option. She didn't exactly buy into the idea that something that wasn't an undead would be totally free from Dahak's control either. To that extend, she was planning to follow Renee and Ray to listen in on them, but the priest spoke up before she could do so. To her surprise, the priest proved to be more useful than she'd expected him to be when she called out to him in a last-ditch effort to come up with something. She was annoyed by his first few words, but he quickly made up for it by the latter part of his short speech and the actions accompanying it.

Truth be told, she was awestruck by his magic that did... something. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew it was impressive. Considering Wyland told them he'd 'cleanse' this thing, the easiest conclusion to reach was that whatever abominations it spawned were Dahak's spawn. With a bit of a smirk, she laid aim at the spiders and released her bolts whilst they were still spawning. She wasn't going to patiently wait for her enemies to be 'ready', after all. Besides, those things were gross enough to deserve a bolt through the head even if they weren't evil. Considering the heads were still burning for a bit, Kalina didn't even need to rely on her Darkvision to aim for them, as she had some pretty bright targets to shoot at.

It wasn't long until she spotted a pattern in the enemy's movement. “The wandering corpses should be useless if we get rid of these spider-head-things!” With the burning gone, she'd have to rely on Wyland's light and her own Darkvision to keep firing, but she'd keep doing so. The sooner they got rid of these gross head-spiders things, the better. It was a shame her hurting shoulder slowed her down a bit whilst reloading, but she pulled through. With a combination of [Well-aimed Strikes] and normal crossbow shots, she hoped to get rid of as many as possible spiders as she could in as little time as possible. She didn't wish to give these gross things as much as a second to ready themselves or even remain in existence in general. She'd leave defending the priest to Gawain and the brothers.

• Well-aimed Strike: – Fighting Style [Precision Strikes] F, Accurate F – Character focusses on cleanly hitting their target. [Accurate] - the technique makes it so the target's speed is treated as though it were reduced by 1 letter grade. - Grade F – 0 Post Cooldown.

 

[LadyOfStars]

Su Chen
Skyhunter

​

Disoriented and confused, Su Chen opened her eyes to the darkness of her cell and the horrors that surrounded her. Corpses and others who were trapped here just like her. What finally forced her mind to focus and her senses to cooperate was the appearance of the large undead figure outside her cell. With her back pressed against the wall she eyed the creature while slowly rising to her feet. Shakely her legs pushed her upward while she tried to remember how she ended up her. The memories were a mess, but she could make out the threat she faced and while most people would be frightened by the daunting task she was about to give herself, Su Chen found her excitement growing. She looked to the monster and activated Appraisal in the hopes of learning something about him.

• Appraisal - E

"This game continues to surprise me." She said in a soft, dry voice that was weak from lack of use. She pushed away from the wall, feeling the gritty and cold surface upon her palms. "How could I not have noticed that I walked right into a dungeon? Rookie mistake." While her eyes surveyed her surroundings once more she would activate her regeneration ability to begin properly healing any injuries she may have sustained while unconscious.

• Emperor’s Grace - Regeneration F - This ability treats Su Chen's wounds, healing them over time. - Grade F - 0 Post Cooldown

"I need to find that....necromancer. Killing him will probably give me a lot of loot." While she was thrown by her current situation, Su Chen's minds went right to the rewards that she might acquire from this 'dungeon' and the foes she would beat up. But she wasn't a novice, she knew that busting out of a cell required patience. Guards usually had patrol patterns programmed into them and she needed to see what this one was programmed to do before she made a move.

 

[Silent Angel]

Sophia Smith

The blacksmith looked completely lost, looking to the person who had been rude to her the entire time for guidance. She didn't even seem to resist as the witch pushed her crossbow so it was pointed at the ground, her eyes moving between Renee and Kalina. Her voice was nervous. Not afraid, more tentative at the morality of the situation she faced. "I... think Renee's right. He's hurt, and I don't think that it would be right to-"

She was cut off by the others. She sputtered, trying to get in a word edgewise, each time being spoken over by others. She looked pleadingly at Renee, saying, just loud enough for the witch next to her to hear, "This feels... wrong. I don't want to kill him. It would be like killing someone trying to surrender. It would make the majority of us maybe not monsters by title, but by action. And... if I was willing to do stuff like that so easily, I don't think I could ever look at myself in a mirror..."

However, the choice was soon taken from her. When the screaming started, she brought up her crossbow, ready, but not pulling the trigger. This was absolutely horrible. She wanted to shut her eyes, to try and block out the screams, but she knew that would be a mistake. When the body was literally ripped apart, she pointed at one of the heads, pulling the trigger to her crossbow as she said, weakly, to Renee, "I... I think the group needs to talk after this."​

 

[Dante Verren]

Gawain
Interactions: Skyhunter Elvario Silent Angel II-CinderRadcliff-II


Gawain would have scowled at Kalina if he had any facial features. "Fine you want me to make the choice with out group agreement, I'll fucking do it." he muttered turning as he raised his sword. It was the Priest Wyland that stopped him with a hand on the skeleton's shoulder. Glancing at the priest he was going to retort but found the wisdom in his words. If this creature really was innocent, then the light would show it. If it was a spawn of Dahek, he would put the poor bastard/bastards to rest. "Here's to hoping he does not burn" Gawain said to the priest.

What happened next made Gawain once again happy he was already dead. If he had still been alive it was likely he would have empty out what had remained in his stomach onto the ground at his feet. At first nothing bad had occurred, instead the creature seemed fine. It gave the illusion that maybe this creature was in fact an innocent in Dahek's evil horde. Then the beast innards started to glow, head writhed and screamed, and everything went to hell. Gawain watched in horror as the body burst into others. The spiders in particular were absolutely horrifying.

Quickly he pushed past Wyland and raised his shield up before him, Poising is sword he held it at the ready to strike what ever came close enough. "Wyland, stay behind me. Burn them as they draw near. " He barked out his command.

 

[II-CinderRadcliff-II]

Ray A. Scarlet - Anarchist Survivalist

Mentions: Skyhunter - Elvario - Silent Angel - Dante Verren

Ray watched Renee's reactions as she carefully unraveled her plan, appreciative that the witch at least found her plan to be a viable option. The two came to an agreement: Gawain and Garrett would take the front and fight off the majority of the hoards they encountered; while herself, Renee, and Wyland would provide supportive fire to protect their blind-spots. Kalina would scout ahead to inform the group of the path ahead, and Sophia would cover the rear with help from Garvin. This coordinated strategy would take advantage of the fighting styles she had briefly witnessed everyone use earlier against the small hoard, clearing a path through Dahak's lair while avoiding as many potential traps as possible. This was how she witnessed various groups from her time on Earth survive for lengthy periods of time, and the zombies of Earth were a little more... tedious to fight. At least, compared to the undead she's seen so far in this world. As Renee made her playfully snide comment and asked her about where her gun was, her eyes caught sight of an unusual mound of dirt with something protruding from it. Her feet cautiously made her approach the mount, finding that a single metal sheet bent into a peculiar shape with holes punched out all along the middle... Like the various stop-sign posts on Earth.

Her mind quickly caught on as she hastily dug into the ground, pulling up an unlocked box. Today was her [Lucky] day, as a single Beretta M9 pistol rested inside of the metal box. Alongside the pistol were three empty ammunition clips, a necklace with her name inscribed onto the dog-tag attached to it, a black bandanna with a skull pin clipped into it, and a couple old photos of her at various stages of her life. She pulled the pistol out of the box and set it next to herself, tying the bandanna around her forehead and sliding the necklace around her neck once more before putting the rest of the boxes belongings into her backpack - leaving the box nest to the metal pole and the empty hole before picking up the gun. Upon turning back to Renee she was in the middle of switching her camouflaged jacket out for a black leather jacket, slinging her backpack and bow onto her shoulders as she held up the gun for the witch to see.
"Luckily for me, this fight against this necromancer was the chance encounter I wasn't expecting." Ray remarked before showing Renee the pistol, her finger loosely around the trigger as the barrel was pointed towards the air. "Now then, we should reconvene with the others and inform them on how we'll proceed. I don't know how well versed the undead bastard is with how this strategy will work, but it'll be better than charging in without a plan."

[Lucky - Grade F, 2 Uses per RP] - Character can choose to have a good outcome as the result of a post they made.​

 

[Skyhunter]

8:15 AM

Renee Nyx



Before Renee ended up moving with Ray to see what she wanted, she heard Sophia, she placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling her strange chitin arm and nodded, " Agreed. But we have a long way to go my weird chitin covered female companion. " A weird thing to say.

The witch then moved with Ray. After Ray had explained her plan, Renee made a comment on how she would find this prop, but to her surprised, Ray ended up finding a small box with all her stuff in it, which confused the witch but at the same time impressed her. " How... Very convenient. " The witch commented watching Ray change and adjust her attire. Renee stared at her and smirked a little. " Dressing up for me, eh? Well, I am flattered, lady. But we aren't right for each other. " Renee joked. " But my mind can be changed. " Renee continued joking.

Upon hearing screaming and fighting, Renee turned to where it was coming from and saw the giant from afar burst into head spiders and separate corpses. " Oh wow... Necromancy is quite something, for sure. " She said in a tone that was almost praising the magic as she began walking that way, " Come on, lady, we have weird wonders to stare about. " Renee made her way over to the rest group fighting off these undead, she felt bad for the giant and saw what it was, another twisted monstrosity that Dahak had created either for them or for someone else. Despite all the fighting she could hear the giant screaming still, all be it weaker, looking through the crowd of enemies before them Renee would see the giants head still alive, groaning in pain with its large spine intact.

Renee saw a couple of these spider heads coming closer towards Sophia and Kalina, the witch made her way over to the two, stepping back into the light where she pulled her journal out. Upon opening it, the shadow that lived within came out and surrounded Renee staring at her foes. " With the power of light, I burn thy bodiless heads. " Renee chanted, Ray of Light - E - 2 PC. From her hand a light appeared, as the spiders grew closer to her allies, a beam of light scoured across the ground in front of Kalina and Sophia, burning the ground before them, keeping these strange spider heads away, the grass lit up in flames, keeping some of the area lit. Renee was able to burn one of the spiders, but it didn't die and instead caught flame, burning it's flesh and maiming it, but yet it still lived.

---



Garret upon seeing these corpses growled and moved forward with his axe, taking on these corpses, there were many of them to feel Garrett's axe and anger. he immediately moved into action, swinging his axe in pure malice, hacking and slashing through headless corpses. Garrett's cape of blood followed after him as he slashed through his enemies with extreme ease. Blood and gore flew into the air with each swing of his large and heavy axe, absorbing the blood into his cape that flew.



Garvin stood with Sophia, firing his large crossbow at enemies that came close, these spiders were very evasive and bulky, they were easily tanking their bolts, the heads took large bolts into the heads, but it appeared that it did nothing as the eyes continued staring at the group. The corpses getting ever closer to them, the only bastion being Garrett and Gawain who was with Wyland. They were taking on the bulk of headless corpses.

Wyland stood with Gawain as he shielded the old priest from these corpses, they came at him in numbers, three headless corpses attacked Gawain, slamming into his shield as they tried grabbing Gawain. Luckily for the skeletal knight, Wyland was there to help.

Kalina using her crossbow, even with an injured arm, was able to successfully hit a couple of these spider heads, but it seemed that their bolts didn't really do too much to them as they didn't die, and the heads suffered barely. They were still able to move successfully and grew evermore closer. Most likely the head was a distraction rather than an actual weakness to deter them. The head was strong enough to resist crossbow bolts from crossbows bigger and more powerful than hers, that being Sophia's and Garvin's. Even as the spiders came closer, these willy little things would even dodge out of the path of bolts that Kalina fired, they were quick too. Their fangs massive as their ugly looking eyes stared at the vampire and bug lady.



As Gawain was able to shield the older priest, he had stepped back away from the hording numbers, " Good job my boy! Keep them back, I will assist. " The priest used his lanky staff and raised it in the air, golden wings appeared above him, feathers of light slowly trinkled down as these wings flapped, lighting a small area up where they landed, then the wings merged together as beams of light burst forth into the ground, slowly moving around them, not burning the ground but rather any undead it came across. Swooping over the headless corpses in front of Gawain, burning them, which caused them to release Gawain as they groveled in pain, giving Gawain an opportunity to finally attack them.

Eventually, they would either be able to kill their enemies, or the spider heads were able to run away, many of them were dead and put out of commission. Silence would befall the group, the only thing that would be heard was the huffing and puffing of people retaining their breathes and the cries of the giant, that was still alive. Looking over to where it's corpse was at, all ripped apart and torn asunder, the head remained, crying in pain, a large head with the same glowing eyes, yet still alive. " TARKO IN PAIN... TARKO CAN'T FEEL ANYTHING. WHERE IS TARKO MASTER? DAHAK, TARKO NEED MASTER. " He was almost pleading, sounding scared.

" It needs to die. " Garrett commented, staring at the head of the giant with only a vertebra sticking out of it's head, about as long as a staff would be. Garvin moved to his brother, " No. It doesn't. Not yet, at least. It can still help us reach the lair. Look around us. " Garvin explained, indicating to the pitch darkness around them. " We don't really know where we are going. Dahak created this darkness. Deterring us, This giant is in a harmless state to help us now. there's no need to kill it just yet, brother. " Garvin explained. Garrett sighed, he could never argue with Garvin when he was called brother.

---

Within the Kananto Crypts...



" Oi, do not ignore me, woman. " A voice would enter Su Chen's ears, while a loud clanging would be heard, the undead guard in front of her slammed it's large sword on the bar of the metal cell, most likely making her jump. " I have to be honest with you, woman. You are probably not going to leave these crypts alive. " He explained, leaning against the cell she was in, he snapped his fingers and a undead came walking down the hallway, groaning and moaning. The undead turned his head to look at this smaller and weaker zombie. " Tell Lord Dahak that the woman is awake, when he's done with that small beast she is ready. " The knight told the weak undead.



Turning back to the woman as the animated corpse began limping away, " What is thy name? You look very out of place here, woman. " The undead knight observed.

Interactions: Elvario II-CinderRadcliff-II Silent Angel Dante Verren LadyOfStars

 

[Elvario]

Kalina Chivernu
​

Mentions: Renee Skyhunter | Ray II-CinderRadcliff-II | Sophia Silent Angel | Gawain Dante Verren

Kalina clicked her tongue in disappointment when she realised she'd made the wrong estimate of where these spider-head-things had their weak-points. She would've preferred getting rid of these creepy crawling bastards quick and easy, but that was clearly not an option. She figured the actual spider-head part, between the multiple eyes and just above the fangs, was her next best option, so she aimed her next bolts between the many spider eyes. Hopefully she'd be able to take down at least some of them, before they approached close enough for her to be forced to switch to her rapier and continue fighting in melee range. She'd fire regular crossbow bolts whilst they were still approaching, but the first to get close enough to force her to switch to her rapier would get a hit by a [Forwards Lunge] followed by a [Well-aimed Strike] if it was still standing (or against the second spider to get close if it wasn't). All of it aimed between the spider-eyes, above those nasty looking fangs.

As the battle eventually came to a close, Kalina could hear the giant screaming. For a split second, she almost felt bad for it. She listened in on the brothers, trying to make up her own mind. “I'd say you're both right and wrong. It doesn't look like it's still capable of harming us, so it shouldn't need to die so long as we keep a close enough eye on it. We should be careful though, these weird headless corpses and spider-things might not be the only trick that Dahak put on it, so simply trusting this head to help us towards our enemy is way too careless. The way it's crying for its master shows its loyalty. If we are to follow it, we should do so on the assumption that it'll try to lead us to our deaths, either for revenge or for serving his master. Perhaps we can plan something taking that into account, but until we figure something out, I wouldn't assume it to be harmless and helpful.”

She turned around, rubbing her painful shoulder. She was bloody thirsty after all this, but her supplies had ran dry during their fight at the village. She'd been able to get her fill during the aftermath, but she hadn't been able to resupply. Her thirst only grew upon seeing Renee and Sophia, but she was still too upset with how Renee's naiveness would have gotten them to follow this giant without a second thought. Sophia didn't seem any wiser. Gawain had better intuition, but didn't seem like he'd be able to provide her with anything, Ray had already lost too much previously and she'd be damned, perhaps literally so, if she'd ask the priest for help. She considered the two brothers for a moment, but quickly scrapped the idea. They weren't trustworthy or competent enough. Her best option was to just stay thirsty and wounded until things calmed down.

Having settled on that much, she focussed her attention on Ray and Renee. “So, did the two of you manage to come up with something?” She really hoped they'd be able to offer something better than the two brothers with their plan to get lured in by the enemy. Whilst Renee was too naïve, Ray at least, seemed like she wouldn't be that stupid and might just have a good idea or two. Either way, she'd already had a plan of her own as well, which she would relay to the others. “I'd personally suggest sending two or three people out with the head, pretending to blindly follow its guidance, whilst the rest shadows them. We can pretend they're being lured towards wherever the head points them whilst the rest of us follows from a distance and remains ready to deal with any trap or ambush they might run into. It'll be a dangerous role to play, but having just a few of us run into a trap or ambush means they'll only need to hold out long enough for the rest to help them, rather than all of us being stuck at once. I'm not sure about everyone's ability to stick to the shadows, but I'm confident I can remain pretty close yet out of sight.”

• Forwards Lunge: – Fighting Style [Precision Strikes] E, Accurate F, Penetrating F – Character lunges forwards to strike at a target accurately and with full force. [Accurate] - the technique makes it so the target's speed is treated as though it were reduced by 1 letter grade. [Penetrating] - weapon can ignore armours of similar or lesser grades and still hurt target. - Grade E – 1 Post Cooldown.
• Well-aimed Strike: – Fighting Style [Precision Strikes] F, Accurate F – Character focusses on cleanly hitting their target. [Accurate] - the technique makes it so the target's speed is treated as though it were reduced by 1 letter grade. - Grade F – 0 Post Cooldown.

 

[Silent Angel]

Sophia Smith

The fae smiled shyly at Renee. "The name's Sophia. I'd be happy if you'd be alright with using it." Her focus turned back to the spiders, noting that she wasn't doing anything to them. If those weren't the weak points, then where were they? She glanced to the vampire, noting that going for the spider parts seemed to be working, and so she quickly started to aim and fire at the bloody spider heads, picking them off as fast as her arms could.

She called out, "I think that plan isn't the worst, but I don't know if I'm stealthy enough or hardy enough to be in either group..." She paused before saying, nervously, "B-but isn't it a better idea to... not talk about this during the fight, but after? It's better to focus on what's at hand, after all!" She glanced around nervously as she fired another shot at a spider getting a bit too close for comfort.​

 

[LadyOfStars]

Su Chen
Skyhunter

​

Su Chen was startled by the sudden ruckus caused by the entity that guarded her cell. She stepped back to get a full view of the creature and smirked as she sized him up. Undead enemies were must haves in fantasy games so she wasn't surprised that there was an undead one in this game. "My name is Su Chen." She said dryly as her eyes followed the lesser creature that was sent away on an errand. Having more enemies show up to transport her or perhaps even the big boss would be risky. Could she escape that encounter? She also hadn't discovered how respawns worked yet, fortunately.

Looking back to the guard, Su Chen quickly made up her mind on the matter. Her body language subtlety changed with her feet sliding further apart and her hands tightening into fists as she lowered her stance. "Warning Shot!" She cried out as her right fist flew through the air towards the undead knight's head.

• Warning Shot - Super Strength E - This skill utilizes Su Chen's Super Strength, allowing her to deliver a powerful hit to her target that knocks them back. - Grade E - 1 Post Cooldown

 

[Dante Verren]

Gawain
Interactions: Skyhunter Elvario Silent Angel II-CinderRadcliff-II


Gawain cursed under his no existent breath as the horde shambled towards him. It was all he could do as he raised his shield and endure the tide of blows. He had no real chance to go on the offensive, merely to brace his already damaged arm with his body to keep the dead from reaching the priest. He debated giving a growl to the priest, telling him to go join the others while he held them here. He did not believe he would fall, but maybe chewed to a few pieces. These ones seemed much more ferocious then the last. Before he could say anything beams of light scorched the dead before him. Wyland appeared like an angel behind him, an annoying one who called him a boy. Still he accepted it and took the opportunity to lash out on the offensive, his sword striking against burning screaming corpses.

Like that the battle was won, and Gawain rejoined the group alongside the priest. He gave the priest a nod and a quick "Thank you.", but did not say much more. It was only until the discussion of strategy came up that he spoke up. "One problem with bringing the head is that it knows we are not allies and will keep screaming for his master. Dahek knows we are coming and is already making his preparations, but I doubt he knows exactly when we will get there. If we bring the head with us then the entire forest will know where we are at every moment. If we can get the head to cooperate, then I volunteer myself at the front. My armor makes for poor stealth, and my eyes can pierce through the dark allowing me to act as a guide in case it is needed." He didn't bother pointing out the obvious part about being a melee combatant.

 

[II-CinderRadcliff-II]

Ray A. Scarlet - Anarchist Survivalist

Mentions: Skyhunter - Elvario - Dante Verren

"If I'm going to be taking lead of the group for however long is needed, I might as well try looking the part of a leader. Plus the leather's probably a bit tougher to chew through than skin." Ray remarked to Renee with a very subtle smirk, sliding the pistol into her cargo pants pocket before getting her bow out and ready. "And just call me Ray." Came a quick retort before Ray sprung into action, helping Gawain and Wyland fend off against the spider heads with her bow. As she fought her ruthlessness against the undead made itself apparent, crushing the skulls of the spider-heads with her feet followed by an arrow to finish it off. She quickly learned from Kalina's mistake that the skull wasn't its weak-point, though crushing them underfoot and pinning the creepy crawly down made finishing them off easier - making it significantly harder for them to attack her as well. Ray almost seemed too... enthusiastic about it, though she didn't seem satisfied by it from the look on her face. By the time the fighting stopped she had probably killed four or five of the head spiders, using whatever clean patches of grass were left to clean off her boots from the blood and brains on them from the skulls she stomped in. Ray's attention was quickly caught by Kalina however, moving closer to the rest of the group as she readied herself about the groups plan.

"First and foremost, we should make sure that Dahak is as unaware of the plan as possible, so it'd be wise to get out of earshot from... whatever is left of the giant monster." Ray stated bluntly before walking towards the head, before opening up her backpack and grabbing a dirtied cloth from within. She tied it to the bottom of the monsters spine and slowly dragged it away from the group, until she was well over 70 feet away - far enough out of earshot to have it spy on their plans. With a brief jog back she could continue her discussion. "There, that should help with keeping the plan a secret for now." Ray sighed in relief before turning her gaze to Kalina first, as she was going to be a vital part of the plan she had. "We'll need someone to scout ahead of the rest of the group alongside the monster head, and based off of what I know so far you're best suited for that role. As for the rest of the group: We need two people up front to deal with the bulk of undead we may come across, two covering the rear to deal with ambushes, and three in the middle to support the others as needed..." Ray explained as she turned to the rest of the group, explaining the strategy she planned to use with the help of Renee. Garrett and Gawain would be up front to deal with the bulk of undead they'd potentially have to fight off, Sophia and Garvin would cover the rear, and the rest would support the others as needed. By the time Ray finished explaining everything except the gun trickery, she made her way back over to the monsters head and dragged it back over towards the group. She quickly untied the cloth from the spine before putting it back into her bag, then handing Garvin his dagger back from earlier. "Now then, since we've got our bases covered on how to proceed from here, anyone got any questions about the plan - or are we all clear?"​

 

[Elvario]

Kalina Chivernu
​

Mentions: Ray II-CinderRadcliff-II | Gawain Dante Verren

Kalina shook her head, upon hearing Gawain misunderstand her. “Having the head alert the entire forest would be the entire point. We'd have one group baiting the enemy to spring its trap on them and a second group to get them out of that trap and surprise whomever tried to trap or surprise us first. It'd be a double-bluff. We'd look like we're falling for whatever they've planned only to surprise the enemy in turn.”

She then spotted Ray dragging away the giant's head. “The priest should've already severed its connection to Dahak, but I guess one can never be too careful...” The 'plan' from Ray, however, was rather laughable. “Girl, you might as well tell me you want me dead at this rate.” She said, shaking her head. “Even if I'd rip this thing's vocal cords out and were to sow its mouth shut to keep it silent, the sheer size of it would make it impossible to stay hidden whilst dragging it along, so the enemy would see me coming from miles away. I like my own plan of sending in someone sturdy and brave enough to lure out the enemy a lot better than this. Let me do what I do best. I'll follow along form the shadows to see if I can ambush whomever is trying to ambush us whilst someone like Gawain or Garret takes care of the head.”

That said, there was something she was wondering about, so she went to check up on head and used [appraisal] on it, hoping to figure out a bit more. She'd also wave over for the priest. “Wyland, is there any chance you can stop making it feel pain or something? At least so it'll stop screaming for the time being.” Regardless of the success or not, there was something else Kalina was starting to wonder about, so this time she addressed the head directly. “Why do you even serve Dahak? He turned you into quite the abomination.”

 

[The Last Curse]

Selani Boana


Mentions: Skyhunter LadyOfStars ​

Selani hadn't been this mad in a long time. Sure, some of her employers back in the city were nothing short of assholes, and sure, sometimes she did want to wring her sister's scrawny neck, but nothing could compare to what transpired in the past few weeks. In Ryken, she had heard of a village up north called Kananto that had particularly lucrative bounties, and Selani, being as avaricious as she was, eagerly set way for it. However, when she finally arrived, Selani quickly learned that these 'lucrative bounties' were nothing more than unappealing house chores. The rewards themselves were pitiful, too; one bounty, in particular, offered a loaf of bread as payment. Selani had never seen such nonsense in her life.

Frustrated and thirsty in equal measure, Selani figured she'd visit the local tavern, and she had a drink. Or two. Or four. Everything got all hazy after the third one, but she did remember the tavern door bursting open, the hordes of undead soldiers spilling in, and the well-placed punch that knocked her unconscious before she could even nock an arrow.

When she woke, Selani found herself in a cell, and the weeks that ensued were filled with nothing but rage. In her journal, she scribbled paragraphs of all sorts of obscenities, all while antagonizing the aptly-named prison guard Humphrey. After all, the undead jailor refused to tell her his name, so what better than the most detestable one she could think of?

Despite all that, as she saw more prisoners enter and leave the dungeon, a growing sense of dread emerged in her. Obviously, these jails belonged to some utterly wicked person; the stench of death hung heavy in the air, the whole place was littered with skeletons, and she'd occasionally hear wailing and screams further in the dungeon. Yet, as hard as Selani tried to drown them out, it made her wonder: What would happen when it was her turn? Would she see her family again? What would they think? All thoughts that stabbed at her heart as the days passed by. As tough as she tried to be, Selani was terrified.

Presently, Selani was writing down her thoughts when the undead jailor lumbered to the cell next to her, likely to antagonize the new prisoner. She tried to pay no mind to him, but as the guard shouted and banged at the jail doors, she couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated. Finally, Selani lept from her bed with an annoyed croak and walked up to the bars, "Hey, Humphrey!" She shouted pointedly, "Quit your damn yapping! I'm trying to write!"

Selani expected the undead to turn around and meet her ire, but what she didn't expect was Su Chen's fist flying towards his face. Selani's eyes widened with shock; just what was this person thinking?

 

[Skyhunter]

8:20 AM

Renee Nyx



The witch stared at Sophia, offering a smile when told her name, a very strange smile. One of friendship but it had some sort of sinister feeling behind it, her smile just didn't feel right in this setting. She did give a wink though then her eyes moved onto the other characters, listening and watching other characters give their two sense and argue of what to do next, this was getting a bit boring for her. She just wanted to meet Dahak and be able to take the Lifelend, she cared not how they got there or who got hurt along the way, this was the key to her immortality. The witch stood there with crossed arms, although the pain they were inflicting on this Tarko was unnecessary.

Garvin butted into the conversation looking to both Ray and Kalina as Ray drag the head away before she came back, the head crying as it was dragged away. " TARKO CAN'T FEEL BODY. TARKO CAN'T EVEN BREATH BUT STILL LIVES? TARKO FEELS STRANGE. PLEASE DON'T LEAVE TARKO ALONE. " The head cried as it called into the darkness, then Ray came back, which made Garvin sigh. " Garrett, please go retrieve the head. You're strong enough to carry it. " Garvin told his larger brother who sighed and walked on out to the darkness where it cried at. " You people are heartless, you treat the head like it's a enemy. It's a victim of Dahak like the rest of these animated the necromancer conjured. " He explained with a shake of his head. " I think the plan with splitting the group into two could work. I say that me, Garrett, Gawain, Ray and Wyland remain in the front. Kalina, Renee and Sophia are in the back. We have our main forces in the front and our backup in the back. I think this will serve a good set of formations. " Garvin explained.

Garrett came back with the head once their conversation was over where the head continued sniffling. " WHY DOES TARKO ALWAYS BE TREATED BADLY? " The head spoke sadly, Garrett held the spine of the giant similar to a weapon, holding it against his shoulder with the head facing forward. Garrett then lifted the head up and stabbed it into the ground to face the group. Where it didn't really react so it probably either didn't feel it or didn't care. Wyland heard Kalina's question and sighed, " My magic is still in affect, Dahak has no way to know of this conversation. " He looked and sounded disappointed, probably in the group and their group deciding. The head heard Kalina's question and stared up at her once he finally stopped his crying, " T-TARKO WAS SAVED BY DAHAK. TARKO WAS BEAT BY FAMILY IN DEEP CAVES. TARKO NEVER KNEW WHY. TARKO WOULD BE DRAGGED, BEAT, STABBED, BITTEN. DAHAK SAVED TARKO, FAMILY NO MORE HURT TARKO. TARKO THANKFUL. " Tarko had a smile on his face now. " TARKO WANTED TO THANK DAHAK. WANTED DAHAK AS MASTER. " Tarko explained. " DAHAK ACCEPTED. TARKO CAN'T FIGHT, TARKO CAN'T TALK. BUT TARKO CAN SEE. TARKO CAN SEE THINGS. DAHAK LIKED THAT. TARKO COULDN'T SEE WORLD, BUT TARKO COULD SEE PEOPLE. TARKO COULD SEE WORLDS IN PEOPLE. TARKO SEES WORLD IN SOME PEOPLE HERE. DAHAK WANTS THOSE PEOPLE. DAHAK GAVE TARKO LIFE AND HAPPINESS, GAVE TARKO BIGGER BODY AND MORE HEADS TO SEE WORLDS. HEADS WERE KIND TO TARKO, TALK TO TARKO, SPEAK TO TARKO... NOW TARKO HAVE NO BODY AND NO HEADS. WANT MASTER DAHAK. " The head explained.

Garvin looked really confused then looked to the group, not really understanding what that meant. " Uh. Can you take us to your master? Or tell us where to go? We can take you to your Master. " Garvin explained, in response the head looked excited, " TARKO CAN HELP, TARKO WOULD LIKE TO HELP! TARKO CAN SEE REALLY GOOD! SEE WORLDS IN SOME OF YOU, DAHAK WILL BE HAPPY! TARKO WILL GUIDE YOU, TARKO GOOD GUIDE! PLEASE TAKE TARKO WITH YOU! WILL TELL YOU WHERE TO GO, WHERE HOME IS AT! " The head was similar to a dog, wanting to go home to his master, he was loyal but stupid. It seemed the head was willing to lead them. Garvin looked to Garrett who picked up the head. " Shall we go or...? " Garvin asked.

---

Within the Kananto Crypts...



The guard was pretty frustrated with this new addition to the dungeon, he was used to these fodder reacting and giving threats of how he would die or they would escape. Same things always said, but he was not used to being ignored, even using his weapon to try and get her attention, but it did not work. The guard growled now holding his large bastard sword, then the frog spoke up, turning his head to stare at the frog person speak which caused the guard to laugh, " Writings? You realize you won't be alive any longer and everything you own will be gone? You'll serve as a sacrifice for the First Rulers, you do not matter. " The guard growled, moving towards the frog with it's weapon ready. " You don't need to arrive to Lord Dahak with all your limbs in tact, you should be able to be ripped apart with your weak and fragile body. " The guard laughed lowly.



As the undead guard passed by Su Chen's cell, she was able to attack the guard and use her ability, while not killing the guard, she was able to throw it into the dark cell across from her. The guard grunted as he slammed into the cell, the guard fell to a knee before getting up to it's feet effortlessly, " You do have fight in you. " The guard cackled with a raspy and croaky voice, the guard sighed and had a look of malice in his eyes " I can't wait to rip your limbs off. You'll still live for Lord Dahak. " The guard was about to take a step away from the cell when a large hand wrapped around the shoulder of the guard who looked back at what grabbed him, there was a moment of silence before another hand grabbed his other shoulder, pulling the guard into the cell bars as smaller hands reached around the waist of the guard, grabbing keys. " Oh no. Nononono. Lord Dahak! " The guard tried to yell but one more large hand came around the mouth of the guard, when the keys were pulled into the cell, the guard's arms and head were ripped off with extreme ease.

The head was pulled into the cell as the body slumped onto the ground and the large sword fell to the ground. " Hmm. Your skull will not do. " A strange voice spoke in the dark cell. " You will not do at all. " There was a sickening crush then the sound of something made of slush dropping on the ground. Then small hands moved to the cell door where the hands tried to move the keys around into the lock before twisting, then. creeeeeeak. The door opened, a small hooded child came out, face covered by shadows. Walking out into the light to where both Su Chen and Selani could see him. Then a hulking shadow moved out into the light behind the child. " Good. Very good. " The same voice spoke. " Freedom. Or what is left of it. " The hulking hooded ghoul spoke sniffing the air, hands coated in blood from the animated guard he had just killed. " You two create a great distraction. Child, release them. " The ghoul spoke, the large eye on its back stared at both woman and frog lady. " We need more skulls and graves to find. Before they do. " The large beast spoke. The small child moved to each cell door and used the key to open them up for both characters. The child then moved back to the large ghoul, picking up the large bastard sword the guard had, barely lifting it up and handing it to the hooded beast who held it easily with his large frame. " You two should not be here. The Lord of these Crypts intend to tear your souls and life essence asunder. " He spoke.



Interactions: Elvario Dante Verren Silent Angel II-CinderRadcliff-II LadyOfStars The Last Curse

 

[Elvario]

Kalina Chivernu
​

Mentions: Renee Skyhunter | Sophia Silent Angel

Kalina listened to the continuously loud yapping of the head. She sighed. “I hate it when people turn into loyal pets just because one asshole treats them slightly nicer than the first.” In her own way, she finally felt bad for Tarko, believe it or not. She gave his words some thought. “So Dahak is looking for people of a similar origin as his own? That's rather peculiar.” She wondered what he wanted with them, but it likely wasn't anything good. It also made it clear that a lethal confrontation was all the more likely.

In any case, it didn't sound like there was any way to make Tarko betray his master. It's why she headed over to Garvin and whispered; “If you truly care for this giant's head, you might want to start thinking about what to do with it after we defeat Dahak, as this thing will probably hate us and end up alone and absolutely miserable.” She figured he might as well take the responsibility that accompanied the moral high-ground he was clearly leaping for.

Eventually, her strategy seemed mostly accepted, which was a relief. “Sure, let's go.” She replied to Garvin.

She remained behind a bit with Sophia and Renee to give the others a head-start, rubbing her still hurting shoulder. There was one thing she wondered about. “Why is it so infuriating to see that thing yapping on about its master when it's so clearly just being used?” She didn't really expect a good answer from Renee or Sophia, but she at least wanted to get that off her chest. At this rate, it was bugging her more than her thirst, which was saying something.

That said, as they started to move further towards Dahak's territory, Kalina would eventually fall back into the shadows to [stealth] around the rest of group in the hope of being able to ambush any ambushers.

 

[EMIYAman]

Kurikara
Interactions: Dante Verren Elvario II-CinderRadcliff-II​

A space of white. An empty plane not existing within reality but within the mind the soul, real yet not. This place was devoid of all things one would find in the waking world. This was not usually the case when it came to mental spaces as intelligent mortals have such robust thought processes spaces such as these tended to be littered with symbols and representations of their lives. The owner of this one however wasn't quite there yet.

His consciousness shifted like sand, almost impossible to take hold of. He drifted within himself unable to rouse himself out of his unwanted reverie. Kurikara had lost himself some way somehow he wasn't quite sure how he had "slipped" so speak he just hadn't gotten up. He drifted for some time on the fringes of consciousness being aware of himself yet not enough to do or think much of anything. Fortunately they wouldn't let him stay like that. "Awaken, there are those who need you. You can not yet afford to rest." Kurikaras helmet twitched, his clawed gauntlets gripped at something that was supposed to be there. Right, he did have a duty and there were those who relied upon him he could not leave them alone after all they had done together. As consciousness slowly returned to him the mental space which had housed the Living Armor collapsed the last vestiges of it fading as it was no longer needed by itself, Kurikara. The last thing he saw was the other ideal him whose power seemed so far from his own nod to him before it too faded.

Kurikara came too with his face planted firmly in the floor and imprint having been left upon it from the force at which he had collided with it. He put his hands to his side lifting himself off the ground rapidly gaining focus and an understanding of his situation. While making his way through the forest of undead while with his party he had somehow become separated in the initial onslaught of undead. He raised his head and saw the he had fallen into a small pitfall with his height it wouldn't be hard to climb out but why had he collapsed in the first place? He could only guess that the damage to his soul perpetrated by the Harbinger had left some wounds which had yet the heal and he had stressed them causing his recovery mode to boot in and shut him down prematurely. That was irritating.

He climbed out of the hole finding his sword on the edge of where he had fallen, and picked it up. One of his eyes caught the remains of the undead so he followed the trail of corpses. He ran through the forest as fast as he could muster unsure how much time had passed and whether or not his ward was safe. He ran through a particularly thick section of underbrush and arrived in an open space. And they were there looking more exasperated than when he had last saw them they were all alive, and were talking to a head? He made to reflexively cut it down but they noticed him and didn't seem to care about its presence. So he tentatively put his sword down. A strange feeling started to arise within him as he observed the group some sporting more wounds than before and seemingly surprised to see him he idly shifted from foot to foot feeling... shame. He felt embarrassed for the first time at having missed the fight and left them alone. He made to rectify the situation "Apologies, I briefly shut down and only recently rebooted now that I have returned we may assault the Necromancers lair with more resources." Kurikara made to join them bringing with him a few brambles which had caught on his foot and some stray leaves. As a suit of animated armor he didn't have many tells the average living thing would have but even some of them could tell he was a little sheepish.

 

[LadyOfStars]

Su Chen



When she felt the cold metal of the skeleton's helmet upon her fist, Su Chen smirked and slowly it turned into a smile as she watched the foe stumble. That same smile did not last long however as the prisoner kept in the opposite cell quickly attacked the guard in a somewhat eerie manner. She watched as the undead entity was torn apart and returned to death. Her curiosity in regards to the form of her battle companion was sated when the duo stepped out into the light. They were certainly not what she had expected and now she felt as though she had underestimated this game's NPCs. They were far more interactive than past games she had played.

The turning of the key set her free and without hesitation she stepped out of the cell and into the corridor with the strangers. Very seldomly were NPCs allies and enemies, especially if unprovoked. "You have my gratitude." The brawler expressed while she looked up and down the corridor. Her eyes landed on the amphibian that had been in the cell next to her. "What a wide variety of NPCs." She said aloud.

"Does anyone know where the exit is or will that be revealed after a small quest?" Her eyes looked to the creepy child and then to the equally terrifying monster.

Skyhunter The Last Curse​

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Skyhunter LadyOfStars ​

The thought of getting her limbs removed didn't sit well with Selani, but in an ironic twist of fate, it was the guard who got dismembered before her. Of course, she wasn't expecting this type of justice, especially not so sudden, but it was well deserved nevertheless. Still, Selani was curious about who her saviors were, and eventually, the pair showed themselves. Admittedly, Selani was taken back by their appearances, but as the larger creature unlocked the door to her cell, she knew this was the miracle she was banking on - as disturbing it may be.

Selani quickly stepped out of her cell and faced her two liberators, "Bless your souls. Thank you." She said, offering them a short bow of her head. Even after all that had happened, Selani wasn't one to show no gratitude.

With her imprisonment out of the way, Selani could finally focus on the task at hand: finding whoever threw her in here. Before Humphrey was slain, Selani vaguely remembered them spewing something about a 'Lord Dahak' and her being a sacrifice to these First Rulers - whoever they may be. The beast that had saved her also mentioned a 'Lord of these Crypts' that Selani could only assume was the aforementioned Dahak. There were also mentions of her soul being shredded and all sorts of spiritual horrors, but Selani didn't care for those threats, nor did she understand them. She did know one thing, though; when she finds this 'lord,' she'll put an arrow between their eyes.

However, her revenge plot would have to wait as Selani spotted Su Chen exit the cell next to her. She was about to introduce herself before the woman called her an 'NPC,' something Selani had never heard of. She croaked and quirked her head, "NPC..?" Selani repeated, clearly confused, "I dunno what that means, ma'am, but the name's Selani. A pleasure to meet ya." She looked over to the cell the two strangers emerged from and back to Su, "Heh, pretty ballsy of ya to sock Humphrey like that. Can't say the bastard didn't have it comin, though."

With her introductions finished, Selani returned her attention to the two strangers, "Look, I wanna leave as much as the next girl, but they took my weapons. I dunno what's happenin' here, but I ain't going to be of much use without my gear. So, you fellas got a clue where I can find it?"

 

[Dante Verren]

Gawain
interactions: Skyhunter Elvario Silent Angel II-CinderRadcliff-II EMIYAman


Gawain watched the back and forth with the now bodiless Tarko with limited sympathy. Of course on a base layer Gawain felt at least somewhat sorry for the loyal buffoon. He didn't seem evil, just desperate for his masters approval. It was that same fact that turned Gawain away from any significant feelings of empathy with the creature. He had experienced what blind loyalty to one person could lead to, especially when those with blind loyalty swore themselves to an evil being. Even those henchmen who aren't evil would still be capable of evil deeds in those situations.

Despite his input it seemed like the choice had been made and he fell in line silently beside the larger brother. After a bit of walking the sound of rushing metal echoed through the forest and Gawain turned to see an familiar suit of armor approaching. If he had facial muscles, he would have frowned at the sight, then smiled at the return of a companion. "That is in the past. Welcome back to the fight." he told the suit.

 

[Silent Angel]

Sophia Smith

Sophia steadied herself, the blacksmith doing her best to look everywhere that wasn't the head. What it said was making her uncomfortable, but also what they had done to it. She shuddered at the way it had screamed. Her eyes clamed closed as she did her best to force the memory out of her mind, instead focusing on those around her. She glanced at the members of the group, looking to them to see where to go from that point.

As they moved forward, she walked with Renee and Kalina, listening to what the vampire had to say. She stayed quiet for a few moments, thinking it over, before saying, "You're a spectator that has only hurt him up to this point. He doesn't seem the brightest, and after a traumatic experience, it seems like the main person who has helped him has been the person we're against. So who would you trust. Enemies of your friend who attacked you on sight, or the person who has helped you through one of the worst times in your life? We know he's evil, but to a person that he's only been good to, how are they to know we're telling the truth or lying?" She shot a look at Kalina, showing no small bit of annoyance. "Especially when your mind went right to killing him over any other option. Would you trust us if half of us thought murdering you was the best course of action?"​

 

[Elvario]

Kalina Chivernu
​

Mentions: Sophia Silent Angel

Kalina gave a deep sigh upon hearing Sophia's reply. “None of that is what I'm talking about. I'm not stupid to think he'd have any reason to like or trust us and I'm a little insulted that you think me to be so foolish. Besides, I won't apologise for the fact that my mind went right to killing him. He was one of the many creatures rising up from the ground and coming to kill us, which you conveniently forgot was happening at the time. Besides, all those heads and headless bodies coming out of him were, in fact, our enemy. Who knows what those would have done to us if we hadn't caught them before they could catch us? What I'm annoyed by is merely the fact that Dahak had gotten his hands on him before anyone better did, not me, just someone better than Dahak in general. I may be harsh, but I'm not cruel. Even I feel bad for the guy after learning he's just an easily manipulated idiot. It's why I'm glad I asked Wyland to check, rather than that I simply finished the job. Is that what you wished to hear? In any case, I'll tell you the same as I told Garvin. If you really care about him, you'll want to think about what to do with him after we bring down Dahak. You'll also want to drop him here, so he won't have to witness us finishing off his beloved master, as even I would argue bringing him along to show us the way only to kill his master as a result is just too cruel. He'll be devastated, which, come to think of it, you might as well blame on me. If you'll say it's all my idea, he might just hate me and the rest of you can grant him some better future. He seems stupid enough to believe such a thing.” Kalina herself was also a little annoyed. It was easy to take the moral high-ground without looking at the bigger picture or thinking of what that would entail in the future. She didn't get why she was the only one trying to plan ahead, whilst it seemed like the others were perfectly fine with killing Dahak right in front of Tarko whenever it would come down to it, which even Kalina herself would deem to be too cruel.

 

[II-CinderRadcliff-II]

Ray A. Scarlet - Anarchist Survivalist

Mentions: Skyhunter - Elvario - Silent Angel - EMIYAman - Dante Verren

Initially Ray seemed to take the decision the group made fairly well. Though whoever could read body language well could see that she was irritated at best, as she walked around to the corpses of the spider-heads she shot and quickly pulling her arrows out of them - violently tearing out the flesh that the arrows dug into with them without any hesitation. For some of the corpses that particularly gave her trouble earlier, she stomped her foot onto them as their legs twitched. Once she had retrieved all of her arrows she quickly paced ahead of the rest of the group to preemptively scout for any undead up ahead, distancing herself from the rest of the group to try and preserve what little trust in them she had already built up. Her footsteps through the forest were as silent as they could be while she was letting her frustration die down, an arrow at the ready and ears cautiously listening for the slightest sound. Her thoughts began to pool into a play-back of her old life, traveling alone and paranoid through the rubble of fallen cities and the ominous stasis the zombies of her world went into. Although their eyesight and earing weren't impaired, they primarily sensed danger or prey through vibrations in the ground, whether it be running or debris from crumbling buildings hitting the ground. Hearing and sight only helped distinguish whether or not the vibrations were from prey or not. As such, most zombies started going into stasis, only awakening from their slumber if a heavy/loud object fell or to the scream of a survivor. The random chance of a nearby building collapsing always fed her paranoia, and the worry that another survivor would screw up and drop something usually prevented her from grouping up. But such worries weren't as prevalent here. These zombies weren't apex predators that slaughtered an entire worlds civilization, but they also weren't an enemy to underestimate as shown by the monster.
Ray slowly calmed herself down after some time alone, slowing her pace so the rest of the canon-fodder division could catch up. It was what they were, whether Kalina had intended to be the case or not. She hated the vampires plan, but she knew better than to try and argue over a plan that the group was set on. If it failed, they'd hopefully default to her plan if they didn't die, and if not then the disagreement would be pointless anyway. By the time the others caught up Kurikawa seemed to appear from nowhere once more, somewhat putting her off due to her lack of notice to his presence. She probably got too lost in thought to notice, which prompted her to focus on listening out for danger ahead. Once was an honest mistake, and one that she didn't want to repeat again.​

 

[Skyhunter]

Renee Nyx



As Renee walked with both Kalina and Sophia, she began thinking of their next moves, Tarko this giant's head was a servant of Dahak, a powerful necromancer, in help guiding them to the master. Renee listened to what Kalina said and rolled her eyes, growing pretty annoyed with her sister at this point, thinking her way of thought was the best option: mangling, crippling, destroying and attempting to kill Tarko was a good option and didn't hinder or make them look like monsters at all. The group was sort of tense now, and Renee didn't like it. Mainly because it was taking too long to get to Dahak, she was anticipating seeing Dahak and what his magic can do.

But the Witch would have traded Tarko's life for this power Dahak has tapped into, which is what really is intriguing Renee. " Would you two stop bickering, I'm trying to think of ideas to stop Dahak, a opponent we know nothing of. Tarko isn't a threat until we made him a threat even though he had corpses and spider or whatever inside him, we still shouldn't have attacked him yet. " Renee explained, " Look at him, he's a useless head now. " Renee sounded frustrated. " Let's hurry and kill this damn necromancer, your amulet will be crucial so keep it on you, or better yet, give it to me. I more attuned with magic. " Renee held her hand out to Kalina, she was frustrated but she was half expecting to receive the amulet that Kalina had. Whether she received it not, the witch did not care. Whatever progressed them further. Up ahead they would finally reach the entrance of the crypt.

Entrance of Kananto Crypts...



Tarko would lead the group to a strange looking cave that looked like it was destroyed, these were the Kananto crypts that had been imploded. " This doesn't look like the Kananto crypts, Tarko. " Garrett growled as Tarko's eyes widen, " OH RIGHT, TARKO FORGET WORLDERS CAN'T SEE WHAT TARKO SEES. " The giant head spoke loudly, his eyes produced a brief flash and in the blocked crypts were replaced with a large metal door. A secret entrance. " THERE, TARKO SHOW WAY, CAN TAKE YOU TO MASTER DAHAK. MASTER DAHAK IS CURRENTLY SPEAKING WITH SOMEONE ELSE. " The giant's head spoke. Both Garvin and Garrett looked at the head, " Who is this other person? " Garvin asked, the head thought about it for a moment then tried to shrug but only tilted his head. " TARKO DOESN'T KNOW. TARKO NEVER SEEN THIS STATUE BEFORE. HE IS LARGE GOLDEN STATUE LOOKING. " Tarko explained. Garvin and Garrett both looked to each other then to the door. The doors began to rumble as the large metal door with dark decorations on them began to open up.

Revealing a large dark way down into the crypt, a eerie wind blew pass the group, sending shivers up everyone's spine who had a heartbeat. This was their descent into the lair of Dahak, the main cause for the town of Kananto to be attacked and besieged. There was a strange humming noise coming down from the crypts, the door revealed stairs that headed down into the earth, torches were mounted on the walls to keep the place alit. Before the group then came the same vision of Dahak from earlier. " Ah, so you have made it, with Tarko it seems. I was thinking you were going to kill him but instead you turned him into a head on a pike, well done. Now he's more useless than previously. " The vision mocked the group. Tarko frowned. " VISION, TARKO NEED TO SEE MASTER DAHAK, TAKE US TO MASTER, VISION. " The vision sighed, " Tarko, you loathsome head, your master is dealing with a important person right now, but go run along to your master, little dog. But take these knaves with you, they may do some good. " The vision spoke, which seemed to upset Tarko for a little bit.

The vision gave a wave before disappearing like fog into the crypts. Their only option was to head down unless they wanted to discuss what they wanted to do,

Inside the Kananto Crypts...




The large ghoul snorted at what Su Chen said, " NPCs? " He grunted like he was angry, " You sound like Dahak, a previous Skull Collector for me, always obsessed and talking with that lingo, even six hundred years later i remember his explanations. Talking of another world, NPCs, Quests, Stats, Points. Ridiculous. Sounds like you're just as annoying as he is. " The large ghoul grunted, sounding very annoyed. " I should do to you what I should have done to him. Cut your head off and collect your skull. Maybe if I did that, I wouldn't be here. " He slammed the bastard sword down on the ground, causing earth to break. But the small child with the ghoul came and grabbed his sheet, the large eye on the back of this strange beast looked down at the child for a moment before letting out a sigh and staring back at Su Chen.



" Perhaps I was too hasty on my judgement. Don't be foolish, girl, I am very real. Just as you. This is all real. Now then, shall we introduce ourselves before I rip your tongue out of your babbling mouth? " The ghoul asked in a very happy tone, The large eye on the Ghouls back looked to Selani, " You've been down here for a long time. The guards always spoke of you being important, but you were never taken to wherever Dahak lingers. What is your name, girl? " There was sounds of groans down the hallway there was standing in, looking they would see a couple of shadows approaching of shambling corpses coming their way. " Girl and frog girl, Let me see your skills in battle, you may yet be able to take on Dahak. " The ghoul chuckled a little evilly. Seeing the corpses, they had no armor but wielded dull and broken weapons. There was four of these corpses coming their way. The small child moved in front of the large ghoul, ready to defend them.



Interactions: Elvario Silent Angel II-CinderRadcliff-II EMIYAman Dante Verren LadyOfStars The Last Curse

 

[Elvario]

Kalina Chivernu
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Mentions: Renee Skyhunter

Kalina couldn't suppress a sigh when Renee still went on about how Tarko wasn't a threat. Just how bloody naïve could she get? Still, it wasn't worth arguing over the same topic again and again. Renee also apparently knew something about the amulet that Kalina had gotten from Dovus, demanding to have it. “Fine. Here.” She threw the amulet at Renee. Despite their disagreements, she knew Renee had a point about knowing magic a lot better. If she wasn't so bloody thirsty, perhaps she could gather her thoughts a bit better and keep her emotions more in check. Right now, however, it was tough enough not to start drooling whilst staying this close to her two favourite sourced of blood.

She should've never taken Sophia up on the offer to drink blood directly. Not only was it tough to settle on the relatively gross blood of animals afterwards, she had more and more started to realise just how much nicer the overall experience of getting blood directly from someone was compared to drinking blood from a cup or bowl, animal or not. Perhaps she really was turning into a monster now, rather than just having the title. Was that why she felt so angered when Renee mentioned the monsters earlier, because she was subconsciously weary about her own inner turmoil? She tried brushing it all off, as she had to focus on their current task, but it was difficult.

It was only when the vanguard canon-fodder of the group arrived at the entrance that Kalina snapped out of her inner turmoil and noticed the return of Kurikara. The Knightless Shiny Armour was a welcome addition to the group, as it'd be one more shield against Dahak. She could hear Tarko speak with the others from a distance, but couldn't quite make out most of the conversation, other than Tarko SPEAKING REALLY LOUD all of the time. Apparently Dahak had a guest, but she had no clue what she had to imagine with 'large golden statue' being their description. In either way, it was likely that they'd meet an additional opponent inside of those crypts.

Considering her stealth was useless in a group and considering the rest was already welcomed, her best option was to wait until everyone else had gone in and use her [Stealth] to sneak in after them. With some luck, she hadn't been spotted as of yet and could sneak in just before the illusion that was hiding these crypts would return. It was worth a shot, at the very least, as having a few people as hidden back-ups might make the difference, were things to come down to a life or death situation.