The Murder Palace™️

"We attack one after the other," Luin suggested breathlessly, glaring at the monster. "It’ll phase out to dodge the first hit…then we attack again as it comes back." She pointed at the Riftstalker and looked to Sebastien, waiting for him or Mona to initiate the attack so she could follow suit.

"Then very well." Flandre sighed, still a bit annoyed. "Try not to crash it."

"Got it." Sebastien said, gesturing for Mona to go first as she infused ice on herself and dashed forward, leaving a trail frigid air and icicles as she tried to claw at the Riftstalker. Sebastien would wait for it to dodge before firing his crossbows at it.

The Riftstalker ceased to exist as Mona attacked it, re-establishing its place in reality after the apparent danger had passed only for an arrow and a bolt from Luin and Sebastien respectively to dig into its skin. The monster howled but leapt out of Rime’s way as the raptor lunged for it, leaving it open to an attack from Mona.

"I knew you would say something like that," Sofia says bitterly, glaring at Viserys. "You're just like I always imagined you. You hear about Mommy doing a nice thing, and of course you're all like "nuh-uh". You're mean."

Bitter Tears (Pardoner's Dance)

Lucia's eyes widen from Awkeff's revelations. She clearly doesn't have a very clear picture of what they actually entail, but the way Awkeff said it is enough to send shivers down her spine. "C-Coldhabour? M-Molag Bal? Momma never told us about-"

Sofia grabs her sister by the shoulders and shakes her. "Luce! Don't let them get in your head! It's all just spooky stories to scare us. We knew they would do that."

Lucia shakes her head and turns back to the Dragonborn, her expression no longer scared, just sad. "It... doesn't matter, right? We're going to live forever. That's what Momma promised. Forever. Never freezing out in the cold again. Never bullied by mean people again. She said we could be... forever happy..." Lucia's voice chokes up as her eyes well up with tears. "Forever happy... together... as a family... but it's not a family without Momma."

Edited by Arachnos on Sep 2nd 2023 at 2:20:11 PM

I haven't even seen any Dauntless gameplay

Mona seizes the opportunity and fucking bum rushes the Riftstalker, charging with her full mass to knock the damn cat over to the point she ends up losing her own balance as well. She gets back to her feet in time to move out of the way for the others to strike as Sebastien reloads.

Edited by shroobot3000 on Sep 2nd 2023 at 9:28:39 PM

"Awkeff is right, you know. There's a reason Farandare never told you about the consequences of vampirism. I know you don't want to hear or believe it, but she was never a good person or a hero. And whatever lies she might have told you about us, we can assure you they aren't true," Viserys says, offering the girls a sympathetic look despite Sofia's bitterness towards him.

He pauses, thinking over his next words carefully before continuing.

"Do you have anywhere else to go? A place to stay?"

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Sep 2nd 2023 at 11:36:09 AM

The Riftstalker is slammed onto its side and the moment it returns to its feet, Luin lobs an incendiary grenade at it. The creature is wreathed in flame, badly weakened and heavily injured, but is not quite down for the count. With the last of its strength, it clambers to its legs and dashes at Sebastien, leaping towards the man with claws stretched and a hungry maw agape.

   "I assume not, and I doubt you would ever want to live under our roof, nor would I trust you to anyway."   

Awkeff grits her teeth.    "We don't have many options here."   

Next

Edited by KiriK on Jan 21st 2024 at 12:53:17 PM

Riftstalker

Sebastien waited and waited as the Riftstalker charged him. Right as it got close he double jumped out of the way, leaving an explosive tripmine present behind to hopefully blow up in its face to finish this fight(TM).

The Riftstalker was given only a split second to react to Sebastien’s dodge, and with that time it could do nothing but try and fail to halt its dash as the trip mine exploded underfoot and sent it somersaulting to the ledge of the palace.

There, it flailed weakly, trying to back on its feet and to a rift that had opened a few feet away. Rime crept closer to the Riftstalker, near to cut its throat and end the loathsome monster, but Luin held the Bird Wyvern back. She looked down at the injured creature and intelligent but weary eyes stared back.

"Let’s go," Luin took deep, exhausted breaths as she reached down for Lenoi and helped him to his feet, guiding the old man through the rift and back to the cave and not once looking back.

After all, they still had a town to warn.

Edited by ISZATSO on Sep 2nd 2023 at 3:04:34 PM

Sebastien hopped onto Mona and nodded, the Fanged Wyvern glaring at the Rifstalker before following Luin out through the portal. Hopefully they weren't too late.

Behind Luin, Lenoi, Rime, Sebastien, and Mona, the rift closed with a shattering crack.

She glanced about for Davik, aiming to help him up so the lot of them could return to the village. When at last her sight settled on the man, it was in the grasp of the final remaining Poacher, dressed in blue. The malfestio-man wasted no time in holding Davik out as a meatshield with one hand, working with some sort of device in the other. He pressed down on a button and with a flash of light, a swirling blue vortex appeared behind them.

"No!" The woman howled, diving to grab Davik but finding it to be too little, too late—the vortex had already engulfed the men, and they were gone.

"I'm really getting tired of seeing those poachers." Sebastien growled, Mona too fatigued to have closed the distance either. She growled, glaring at the empty space before exhaling as she took the moment to catch her breath.

"I agree. But I think I’m gonna see a lot more when I get Davik back." She glowered, getting to her feet and brushing her cloth-and-Rathian armor off. A faint whimpering drew her attention from Sebastien to another spot in the cave, where the Mizutsune-missus lay with an arrow embedded in her shoulder and a bolt in her ribs. Luin crossed over to the bleeding woman as she dragged herself up against a wall, holding up a meek hand between her and the approaching Hunter and speaking with blood falling from her lips.

"Mercy," She begged. "Wait…Listen." Luin paused in her tracks, drawing the tomahawk but didn’t speak or move. "You’re gonna go after your friend, right? You’ll want insurance. I-I mean, think about it," Another crimson-stained cough. "If they see you coming with me, they’ll…They’ll realize you’re here to negotiate, yeah? But if you just stroll up with your monsters and your weapons a-and that…fucking dude, there’ll be a fight." The woman reasoned, pointing at Sebastien. The Hunter hesitated. She glanced between the Poacher on the ground and the company of three behind her, and back to the woman. The Poacher was right.

"I’m counting on it." Luin lifted her axe into the air and buried it in the Poacher’s skull.

She wrenched it loose and cleaned the blood off, turning away from the body as she pat Rime’s neck and made for the entrance to the cave, walking in a stupor as though her thoughts were elsewhere.

Afflicted Mons

Basculegion

After noticing her elbow drop does nothing against Basculegion, she quickly reaches the conclusion the fish is an otherwordly being.

Get away from here. I'll get this alone.

The two boys get behind a nearby palm tree (are those things in a soil beach?)

Princess mode, Heart on!

Since the mermaid tail does her not favors in a ground battle, she swaps modes again: this time, she uses a yellow and blue dress, and holds a small wand in her hand and fires a dazzling shot at the fish.

Avalugg

Oh crap an earthquake...

Pica-Verse

Shortly before the video ends, the man grins, and a portal appears in the TV, sucking the teachers, the Young!Pica-Pica, the LRRH guys, Altina and Carolina!

... Altough the kids didn't noticed it.

...

They land in the schoolyard that appeared in the video, the man standing menacingly... With the fat girls (?) and the afro mem along him.

   I've got you.   

Sebastien didn't have anything to say to that. Part of him felt a little dirty for executing someone like that but they weren't exactly the best of people, not to mention he had a hunch the poachers weren't the negotiating type anyway.

Mona for her part kicked some dirt onto the dead poacher and snorted dismissively before she and Sebastien began following the others out.

Wordlessly, the woman mounted the Baron and began descending the rocky ravines and passages of the sandstone mountains, Rime and Lenoi upon his Morellatops following behind.

It wasn’t until they were halfway out from the amber-colored cliffs stretching high above them that she finally spoke once more.

"Those were the first times I ever killed someone, you know." She confessed to Sebastien in a quiet tone, slowing the Kulu Ya-Ku down and riding by Mona’s side. "I always swore not to kill a person, you know. Animals, sure, but people…I never thought I’d be able to look in someone’s eyes like that and just…end it."

Edited by ISZATSO on Sep 2nd 2023 at 4:02:47 AM

"Not something I particularly enjoy either." Sebastien sighed, giving her a sympathetic look. "It's one thing with a zombie or something since they're technically dead and just... shells. But another to take someone's life."

"First one had been a werewolf, ironic I know." he says, patting Mona who looks confused. "Was easy to think they were just a wild beast that had killed people. Until they turned back when they died."

"I got more used to doing it when necessary, but never want to get too used to it." Sebastien adds. "That's how you end up as bad as what you fight."

He left out the part where it's sometimes literal due to curses.

"But that’s the thing," Luin glanced back in the direction of the cave. "There’s nothing to get used to. I always thought if I did kill a man, I’d feel…sad, maybe. Or sick…or regretful. But I just don't. There’s nothing."

"Different people react in different ways. I know some hunters who just feel numb about it." Sebastien said. He's not really a psychiatrist though and he suspects Luin needs one with all this shit happening to her. Not the time to bring that up though "Maria said she never felt anything either, though she didn't enjoy it either and I could tell she didn't treat it casually either."

"I guess a better way to phrase it is, don't enjoy it or start treating as casually as taking out the trash." Sebastien said awkwardly. "I'm not the best at talking about this kind of thing, sorry."

"No, it’s—it’s alright. I get what you’re saying." Luin nodded, appreciative of Sebastien’s words. "And I won’t. At least, I don’t think I will—do it casually, I mean." A few moments of silence, before she spoke up once more.

"I’m glad you’re here, you know. In spite of…everything that’s happened today."

"And I'm glad I could be here to help." Sebastien said, smiling. "Even if this ended up being way more than just getting my kinship stone."

He hefted the rock for emphasis before safely stowing it away again.

Hub Centralis

Sariel walks out of an apartment with Kirike.    "I think you could use some encouragement. I will create a viewpane into another world, one where you have already explored some of your potential."   

"O-okay..."

With a casual wave of her hand, the angel conjures a large mirror, in which a vision begins to form...

—

Another World, Gensokyo

Kirike and her friend Stryker watch the setting sun from up in the sky over a grassy meadow.

"Still hard to believe I can fly... but there's no view of the sunset quite like one from up here."

"Heh."

They share a smile, before a large mirror suddenly materializes in the air in front of them, causing them to reel back. "WAH-!"

After getting over the initial startle, Canon Kirike, Core Kirike, Comics!Kirike, or just "Corike" hovers up to the mirror and gazes into its depth curiously. Her reflection looks back, but it lacks the blue watch she wears and is standing on a city street.

"Whoa..." they both say at once. Corike promptly turns to her side to see Stryker come up to the mirror, while Arena Kirike has the same sort of exchange with Sariel.

"Is that... me?" "I-is that me?"

"Seems to be."    "Indeed."   

—

"C-can they—" Arena Kirike starts to ask, but then...

"I can hear her! H-hey!" Corike calls from the other side, trying to get her attention, which she very much does.

"GYAAAAAAH!"

   "Easy there,"    Sariel warns.    "Deep breaths. Say something to her."   

"R-really? Um... okay..."

—

"I-if you can hear this... I... I heard you had 'explored some of your potential'.
"I'm still just beginning to learn, and M-Miss Sariel suggested meeting another me could boost my confidence... which is apparently a necessary step."

Corike reflects on her own journey. She's still far from a master, but just hearing the shaky way this other version of her talks, she can tell the latter is far from where she's at. "Hmmm..."

—

"Well, I wouldn't say we're exactly the same, but what worked for me was... meeting new people.
"People who related to my pain, who I could freely play games with, who sat and listened to me pouring my heart out, who gave me gifts, who taught me combat, and who helped me when I needed them."

Hub Centralis

For a moment, Angel pauses. She isn't in the immediate vicinity, but she's been paying enough attention to her surroundings to notice something that interests her. Out of the corner of her eye...

"Oh, hold on! I, uh, have a call."

Force of habit

pop

Still Hub Centralis

pop

"Like me! Hi, Kirike," says Angel to Corike through the mirror, standing next to Kirike and Sariel like it ain't no thing.

Arena Kirike yelps in surprise and Sariel raises an eyebrow in silence.

On the other side, Corike gasps, "Wait... Angel? It's the same 'you' over in that world? You're not an alternate version?"

"This is getting trippy," Stryker comments.

Edited by KiriK on Sep 2nd 2023 at 4:59:21 AM