An Ordinary Oddball
Technazan
Shannon took the map and compass with an enthusiastic "Thank you!"
"That sounds like a good idea," she said as she followed Skylar to the entrance.
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
swamp
Despite Kirsti looking like she's too preoccupied with taking in what is happening around her, she did listen to what Nadia said. Yeah, it seems silly to think this girl would kidnap Kirsti in the first place, especially since Nadia doesn't seem to look particularly threatening or anything.
So, Kirsti finally decided to take a deep breath and calmed down, and as if in synchronization, the wind around her calmed down too. Okay, okay, she thought, maybe the wind had something to do with me? Do I control the wind?
"Y-y-yeah," she whispered. "Let's do that. Maybe we can...figure out something together-"
Kirsti jumped when there's a brand new voice coming from the side, although she was carefully hugging Nadia close to her as she jumped out of the tornado while elegantly made a small opening just big enough for both of them to get out safely, leaving behind the bone tornado for the newcomer to contend with.
"Who goes there?" Kirsti shouted to the newcomer.
http://www.last.fm/user/sgtpendulum Yo, check out what I'm listening, it'll be heat, brah :^)
Too Many Surprises - Nadia at Sepulchrum Swamp
Nadia breathed a sigh of relief as Kirsti let go of her tension and the winds subsided. However, before she could respond, another voice decided to jump in, Nadia being carried along as Kirsti jumped back to put the tornado between them and the new... girl? It did sound like a woman's voice.
"Who goes- uhm, yeah, what she said!" Nadia sheepishly interjected... before the book again appeared in her hands again, open wide. "...why do you keep doing that...?"
Nadia decided to actually look at what the book's pages said, though it didn't say much. There was a picture of a streak of red and a bunch of question marks regarding name, history, etc., but it did have a list of stats laid out for Nadia to dissect... not that they made much sense to her at the moment.
"Okay, book, you're going to have to provide definitions to these terms you're throwing at me."
Erix'aad Desert
"Close. I'm Canadian." Mark grunted, looking slightly uncomfortable in the desert heat. He could feel the slime that made his body heat up- not to the point where it was evaporating, but enough to feel uncomfortable. He didn't react to Lynn's warning aside from a curt nod as they neared the settlement. "Anything to escape the heat..." Mark grumbled under his breath.
The Tiny Ember
Technazan
And so, the group was reunited in front of the gates of Technazan... although, the reunion was short lived as Hogger was awaiting them.
"I'm starting to think you all aren't normal travelers... Rather, I think you are all Guardians if I wasn't mistaken," murmured the Gnoll as he let out his signature chuckle. "Come with me, oh esteemed guests," spoke the Gnoll as he and a couple of guards started to lead the way.
After a few moments traveling the city's roads and gathering quite the attention, you all arrive at Gum-Gum's estate... which looks more like a palace than anything else.
"Welcome, welcome to my little slice of land in this big o' city," states Gum-Gum as he swings the doors wide open upon your arrival. "Now then, it seems that you aren't a normal group, but are a group of Guardians, yes? Well make yourselves at home and rest your legs!" said the Goblin as he pointed towards some female goblin servants who appeared with food and wine... along with juice for Shannon.
Gum-Gum smiled as he said that last sentence. "Lemme be blunt, I actually require the assistance of a few Guardians to help clear my mines from a few troublesome Earth Elementals. How about it? If you scratch my back then I'll scratch yours with information abound... I'm sure you all must be rather confused as to what is going on."
For once, there was a sign of sincerity coming from the Goblin Kingpin. It would seem that when making deals, he doesn't go back on his word.
"So, what'll it be? Will you help me out?"
The Druid's Tower
"There's just a lack of champions lately with there being only one Guardian left from the last generation. Currently, the World Lotus is wilting because there is a lack of Guardians out and about fixing the problems of the world. To be truthful, there's no such thing as good or bad, human, just perspectives and which ideals are stronger. As for the difficulty part, you are all new and are just beginning to learn what you can do, if you head to the World Lotus now, you will probably be killed by the battle that is being held there now as we speak."
"Essentially," the squirrel looked at Aileana waveringly before turning its attention back towards the group, "You all need to get stronger by fixing the world's problems before you can just up and heal the World Lotus and solve the battle between the demons and the angels."
"Exactly what my little companion said," said Morgana as she fed her companion a small chestnut. "Any other questions that you all may have?"
Zakuun's Castle
"Gah!" growled Zakuun as he used his arm to block the bite by the skeletal dragon, and as his throat was rammed by Julian's headbutt attack. Almost being knocked over, Zakuun let out a roar as sigils formed on the ground behind him and as a flaming hound-like beast with two heads emerged from the ground. "Go my hellhound, dispose of this wretched dragon!" he barked as his pet slammed into the dragon, smashing it into the castle walls as it begin to spew fire from its mouth at the skeletal beast.
"Guardians..." murmured Shuria as she brought a hand to her lips, covering her mouth in thought as an idea came to her.
"Die, wretched mongrels!" barked Zakuun again as he summoned his axe, causing it to disappear and reappear within his hands. "You face Zakuun, Demon Lord of Sepulchrum!" Letting out another battle cry, Zakuun threw his axe towards Dimitri before resorting to his fists to fight against Julian. Without the aid of his axe to weigh him down, the demon seemed faster and more agile, his attacks quicker as he started to throw punch after punch at Julian; attempting to pummel him to death.
"Believe in the me that believes in you!"
Gum-Gum Palace Estate
While they were heading to the estate, Skyler basically filled in the group with what happened on his end. Shannon summoning a warrior that explained they're in "a place of dreams", that Shanon fainted and he headed to the city to take her way from the heat, that he managed to get a bit of gold on him, got a map of the area and world along with a compass, that he was going to look for the trio with Shannon before the Gnoll interfered and of course, his own name.
When he got to the manor, he couldn't help but get some of the food and wine offered to them. After all, he spend a bit of time flying and that did take some energy. Plus it'd be better than the water and rations he stored in his bag. And then there's the whole guardian deal, who ever summoned that white light in the forest wanted him to take the role of guardian. Guard what exactly? Well can't really answer that question now since they have to do a quest for it. Plus well, it does give something to do. It'll probably be boring just staying in the inn plus his gold will run out eventually.
"Sure, I'm in for taking down the earth elementals..." thinking about inns, Skyler thought about an earlier event “...though to help with that, I have to ask something. You mentioned showing me and the girl to an inn. I wonder if that’s one you personally owned, maybe you could give us a free stay so we can rest up before we take on the elementals? Better than finding a lousy one in this city and not being in the best shape to take on your quest.”
Edited by JustaUsername on Oct 7th 2018 at 9:18:04 PM
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.
Master Saboteur
Terry - Eastern Forest Kingdom
"Ha, I don't think you need to worry about me." Terry reassured with a laugh, "If this is a dream, then I don't have to worry about dying unless..." but he trailed off as he remembered his previous condition back in the world. His world. He had actually forgotten about how close death really was.
"...Unless I do, I guess. Alright, I'll play your game." Terry said with his arms crossed, although the small smile forming at the corner of his lips betrayed the excitement that was starting to form in his mind. For a dream, this was starting to get interesting. "So what do we do then? Start grinding monsters in this forest until we level up?"
"Why does everything have to loop back to YGO?" -Guy who ruined YGO
Fwomph
Druid's Tower
Tibalt let his smile simmer for a little longer before downing the rest of his tea.
"Well I guess the only thing I've got left to ask is... Got any work that needs doing miss?"
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Sepulchrum Swamp
"I could ask you the same question! Summoning a tornado outta nowhere, like you're trying to get someone killed."
Reyna sighed as the raging winds didn't fade. Ducking behind the tree completely, she took a deep breath. Her leg muscles clenched briefly before she set off with a burst of upset dust where she was before. A bolting blur of red ran towards the tornado, bobbing and weaving between the bones filling the air with ease. As soon as she closed in on the tornado, Reyna felt her fingers instinctively move close together and snap. Instantly, it felt as if she had become almost weightless. With a light push, the wind rushed past as she took to the air with huge leap. The tornado passed beneath her as she sailed over the top, Reyna flipping gracefully in mid-air on her way back down onto the other side. She landed with the smallest of impacts, arms held out to the side for balance like she always did in the gym.
"But seeing as you weren't going to get rid of that until I said, my name is...Reyna."
swamp
If this is Reyna's idea of calming down, Kirsti's gonna be real with her, that this ain't it. Matter of fact, it sounds like fighting words. Kirsti carefully pushed Nadia to behind her back to protect her. She barely knew her any more than Reyna but at least she knows to trust her and, to a certain extent, protect her.
"Take a step back if you know what's good for you, Reyna" she said, as she pointed to Reyna, slowly gaining confidence on what she can do. "You couldn't be this casual unless you know something about it. Stand down or get fu-ARGGHH"
She was soon interrupted by this strange big cat that suddenly jumped beside her and stand in front of her, growling at Reyna. It looks like a panther except it looks sort of translucent and white in color. Is this one of the other powers of mine, she wondered, did I summoned it?
"As I said, stand down," Kirsti said one more time.
http://www.last.fm/user/sgtpendulum Yo, check out what I'm listening, it'll be heat, brah :^)
Eastern Kingdom Witch House
"Why do you need the World Lotus 'fixed?'" Maryland asked with a frown. "And why bring foreigners here instead of giving your own people this power? Actually, here's another question, why can we trust you? I dunno if I can ask for diplomas or whatever but right now you're just saying things and we have to go with it, and I don't like it."
Edited by Taco on Oct 7th 2018 at 5:48:06 AM
Erix'aad Desert
"Israel" Yuval answered, not wanting to say much else, he sighed, giving up at comprehending anything, he mumbled to himself almost silently "I don't even know any Irish people, and this dream is weirdly long. But if this isn't a dream, where on earth are we that each of us got here from a different continent? It can't be some alternate world fantasy novel plot right?"
Technazan
Rosenberg blinked rapidly at the mere sight of gnolls and goblins, and then at the sight of the palace, not to mention servants, before refusing drink and food entirely, not letting his guard down he continued standing up despite the offer of rest, groaning as Skyler agreed to Gum-gum's deal, glaring at the goblin for a brief moment of time, boxer sighed and moved his hand from his forehead and hair.
"Before you two strike a deal already, you want us all to go right? So I wanna get this right. Killing... Earth Elementals? What the hell does that entail are we like pest exterminators? Because I'm not an exterminator"
Up on Melancholy hill.
Druid's Tower.
..
"Well, given that we don't have much of a choice, the fact we're capable of doing insane stuff like summoning...Hammers...and Bikes? I'm willing to give anything a chance at this point." Mason paused and nodded. "Um...sorry if that sounds...well, reckless...I'm just...excited to try stuff, especially if we have the potential to be...well, Heroes. Doesn't the idea at least sound...KIND of Fun?"
Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?
AKA Nixer
Eastern Kingdom Forest
“Ooh! Lass is intelligent. Ye make a girl swoon,” Aileana cooed to Maryland, before turning back to Morgana and lowering her voice to one less jocular. “And thus a point has been raised. We come from a world where none of this exists, aye? Don't go expectin' us to catch onto this right away. Get to know the place and its people first. Real intimately, ye know? That way we can see how genuine ye are through more than mere words. I mean, the lad seems happy enough, yes – but these things do need addressing...”
She paused for thought, before lightly shrugging and indiscriminately dumping Little Aileana's coils over Tibalt's shoulders.
“Case in point. New experiences equal greater chance of acceptance of the previously implausible. I doubt Fake-Name here expected to have a rattlesnake dumped over his head today, but here we are. But right now, we don't have anything to go off of from you. Ye know they say the Devil disguises himself as an angel of light? For all we know, that could be true for you as well.”
She gave another of her not-quite smiles to the witchzerd, clasping her hands behind her back and strutting straight up to her – leaving Tibalt to deal with her little gift in the background.
“So, what say ye – oh great ‘Morgana’?”
bork
Technazan
Mark opted to stand as the group listened to Gum-Gum, though he did take a piece of fruit from one of the trays and popped it into his mouth, where it began to quickly dissolve into the slime. That's going to take some getting used t- holy crap, I can even taste it as it's breaking down. Wait a minute...what's this?
Mark frowned as pieces of information about the food he ate popped into his head: The nutrients and properties it had, and how it could be used in potion-crafting. What the hell...I can learn how to uses stuff in potion making by eating them. The slime shook his head as more and more questions popped up. Gum-Gum's voice drew his attention once again, this time asking for some assistance in the mines. And while Skyler agreed rather quickly, Yuval seemed a bit more level-headed, causing his opinion of the Israeli man to rise a notch. "Big man's got a point." Mark agreed. "We need more information before deciding to accept. Like what exactly are Earth Elementals? And anything else we need to be aware of down there."
Some Guy Or Something
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting - Julian @ Zakuun's Castle
Even in slow motion, Julian wasn't able to truly evade blows. Intercept them, sure, but not evade. Especially as the hand-to-hand attacks came out faster than Zakuun's previous ax attack.
"Listen, you piece of shit," snarled Julian, before headbutting an incoming punch. "I don't care if you're Vacuum, Demon Lord of Cleaning. If you ain't gonna tell me anything that isn't goddamn gibberish, then you can shut the fuck up." He reached out with his arms and clamped his assailant's jaws and thrust two (2) fingers towards Zakuun's eyes.
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior Val
Zakuun’s Castle
Dimitri panicked when he saw the giant axe flying towards him. This wasn’t like the incident with the flying bones – he was in mortal peril. Once again his body acted seemingly on its own, drawing from yet another new power placed within him. This time, the crackling of energy could be heard as a strange mass of shadows formed near the vampire. In a single moment, the darkness flew at the axe and collided, causing a spectacular explosion. Just like that, the once mighty weapon was obliterated, but not without leaving behind a parting gift. Fragments of the blade flew through the air in multiple directions. Most of them landed on the ground or hit the castle walls, but one lodged itself in Dimitri’s chest about 5 inches deep. Strangely, it didn’t feel as bad as he thought it would. There was pain, certainly, but it elicited little more than an anguished grunt as opposed to the horrified screams that he would’ve yelled out as a mortal man in this situation.
“Shit!” he snarled.
Blood poured out of Dimitri’s chest as he forcibly ripped the shrapnel out of his body. This would be a fatally idiotic move for most people, but the young man could hardly be called ‘most people’ at this point. He continued to stand resolute against the demon lord. His mind racing from adrenaline, he asked a simple question.
“Just what the hell is going on? I want some answers!”
With that, he quickly charged at Zakuun. Whatever he just did to that axe was dangerous, and could very well hurt the oddly strong old man with collateral damage if he did it again. So instead, he opted for some CQC. Well, sort of. His arm transformed into a swarm of tentacles with blades attacked to them, each of them trying to slash at the demon lord. The only sign he even registered what had just happened was a confused ‘what the fuck’ that he muttered under his breath.
Meanwhile, the undead dragon slammed into a wall, snapping off a couple of its now burnt ribs. It seemed to care little about its current condition, however, as it breathed a cloud of death and rot at the hellhound.
An Ordinary Oddball
Shannon sipped the juice slowly, enjoying the taste.
"This juice is good. Thanks, mister!" she said happily.
"Um...I'll help. I've got friends that can help. That seems like a pretty fair trade, y'know?" Shannon remarked at the deal. "What are Earth Elementals weak to? And what do they look like?"
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Showdown at Sepulchrum Swamp...? - Nadia
Well, today's been a roller coaster, hasn't it? Fall asleep studying about pie, wake up to two complete strangers ready to duke it out. "Hi, I'm Nadia...?" Nadia couldn't help but blurt out, since Reyna was at least considerate enough to give her name. "Now I don't know what's going on, but could you cut her some slack please? She's woken up in a weird swamp full of bones with no clue how she got there, no idea who the people with her are, and with strange abilities seemingly from nowhere... Now if you were in her shoes, wouldn't you scared or confused too? In which case you should show some empathy. But if you haven't been, then do you really have a right to judge?"
The Tiny Ember
Gum-Gum's estate
"Ah, yes, yes... an inn to stay for the night," the goblin boss promptly rummaged around his back pocket, taking out a small voucher and handing it off casually to Skyler. "Here, this'll cover any costs for a one night stand-, er a one night stay, I mean. Whatever it is you require before taking on my little problem."
Gum-Gum then turned towards Yuval, sighing all the while doing so. "Look, you just clear out some angry Earth Elementals for me in the nearby mining caves so I can continue on with my business, and I give you information that you can't get anywhere around here, Guardian." Gum-Gum made it apparent to single out that last word more than anything.
Continuing this trend, the boss goblin addressed Mark, "Look here, Slimey, I'm not an informant, I'm running a business here. Though, given how foreign you people are, I'll spill some beans here. Earth Elementals are... you know, rocks and dirt given mind," he points his forehead a bit before twirling his cane, "They're brutes that are probably upset that we're mining their homes for gems and decided to start fighting. Bad thing is, they attack anything and everything, so reasoning with 'em is a pain. It's best to just take them down before the ruin my mining equipment and hurt my workers. I'm getting tired of having to pay compensation out there..." Gum-Gum's last sentence was more of a whisper to himself than anything else.
"So, are you Guardians going to do your jobs and start protecting my people, or am I just giving out information for free?"
Gum-Gum seemed just a tiny bit impatient, until Shannon spoke up. "See, why can't you guys be like the tiny one? Agreeable, and cute," spoke the boss as he patted Shannon over the head. "I'll give another tip just because I have a soft spot for kids; them rocks are pretty strong to physical stuff, but are quite weak to magical-based attacks, especially water-based ones. Softens them right up for that physical stuff, you know?"
Druid's Tower
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't go butchering my woodland friends," sighed Morgana towards Terry. "I meant, go out and solve the problems of the world however you see fit, but start out small first. It'll give you experience on how things run here in Lotus, along with giving you the chance to sharpen your abilities."
"I don't really have anything that needs to be done, but what I can do for you all is grant you a small boon, something to help you along your travels," she said as she waved her hand a bit, letting a flow of magic touch upon everyone. 10 XP has been granted to everyone in the Druid's Tower.
After finishing her spell, Morgana turned towards Maryland and Aileana, addressing the questions that two had. "The world Lotus is the same as the life essence of this world, if it completely wilts, the planet starts to die. The reason the Lotus wilts is because there are so many problems over the world. In order to combat this, the denizens of Lotus have started to seek 'Guardians', or champions in other terms, to fix their problems since there have been a lack of them in our own history. Because we had this lack, I can only assume the ancestors of Lotus sought help elsewhere; your realm, for example. As for why you have powers, I can only assume that they were brought out from your natural abilities once you crossed over into our realm."
"As for whether or not you trust or believe anything I say, that is for you to decide, but the fact of the matter is you are all stuck here in Lotus. I will watch over you all however, for at the moment I don't know how you will act or will behave in this strange new land if left on your own. Which is why I would like you to prove yourselves by helping the locals and making a small name for yourselves. I do believe you'll find another Guardian over in the town who had appeared at the same time you did, but had refused to take the time to come here. Why don't you go and meet them?"
Shuria's new castle, formerly known as Zakuun's Castle
Zakuun, blinded by Julian's attack, covered his face with his hand in an attempt to reorganize himself, only to be met with Dimitri's flurry of attacks. Though, as the tentacled blades sliced against Zakuun's skin... the demon seemingly vanished into ash along with his pet, leaving the dragon to fight nothing and the blades to hit air.
"Zakuun was sent back to H'on...! Everyone, let's bail this travesty!" exclaimed one of the demons still in the pews, before disappearing into ash as well.
40 XP has been granted to those who participated in the battle against Zakuun
As the demons fled the castle, the 'humans' simply cheered as Shuria walked over towards Julian. "Thank you for your assistance, Guardian," she murmured as she bowed gracefully before turning towards Dimitri. "And yours, too."
"Sorry for making you my lover, dear," she hummed as she inspected the ash left behind by Zakuun and some of the other demons, "but I needed a reason to decline marrying that large buffoon... Ah, we'll need to redecorate that and that," hummed Shuria as she looked over the curtains and the tables before turning towards Julian. Shuria smiled to herself as she thought aloud, "You'd make a great undead if I say so myself... Is there anything I could do to repay you, oh kind Guardian? Perhaps some answers to your questions or some treasure that may be left here by Zakuun?" she handed a goblet made of gold towards the older man, hoping to entice him. "What say you, fellow undead?" Shuria smiled at Dimitri, curious what the two would do.
Edited by Toukas on Oct 7th 2018 at 2:33:28 AM
"Believe in the me that believes in you!"
An Ordinary Oddball
Shannon nodded. "Water. Got it."
She finished her juice and set the cup down.
"Right. Time to get down to business. Where's the mines?"
Edited by JumpingFruit on Oct 7th 2018 at 2:16:53 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Up on Melancholy hill.
"..Make a name for myself...?" He asked to himself, as he leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. It really did seem like a...another chance at life. Another chance to get what he never got to do in life. It was...kind of exhilarating!
Shoot, he would have been happy if he could get a full time job and eventually afford a car, but here he could be more than that, more than he ever could be back on earth! The ability to summon fucking Mjolnir attested to that little fact.
everyone else could be skeptical, suspicious, a snake woman, but him? He knew exactly where he wanted to go with this little path of life. This second chance he got.
To be a god damn HERO.
"Well, if there's another Guardian, I think it only makes sense to inform them a bit of their newfound life style, I think." He said, as he stretched his arms. "Where...would this town be, so I can go down there and greet them?" He looked up. "You know, get a...get a head start on all this stuff here."
Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?
Fwomph
Druid's Tower
Tibalt could feel the XP flow through him. More power, mo- goddamnit he had a snake on his head! Time to not panic and not upset the lady MADE OF SNAKES.
"There's a town marked on the map she gave us don't worry, I've got it."
He waved the map around a little and in the process tried to get the snake off him.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
AKA Nixer
Druid's Tower
The serpentine anomaly stared at Morgana for a few moments longer, cocking her head to the side as she pondered her answer – before giving her a short nod and turning, either unaware or uncaring of the magic flowing into her.
“Oh, very well then. That'll do for now. My curiosity needs satiating, after all. Might as well feed it if we're stuck here, aye? Let's be off to this supposed town then – unless ye all have unfinished business, in which case I'd be happy to leave ye all behind.”
She then diverted attention to Tibalt and the way he was squirming, and simply grinned, walking up to cheekily flick him on the forehead before strolling past and to the exit.
“Maryland, do remove Fake-Name's snake-based plight from him. Non-lethally. For the snake, I mean. Do what ye like with him – couldnae care any less. Steal his map if ye like. Less carry weight, aye?”
It was difficult to tell if she was joking or not.
Edited by Enirboreh on Oct 7th 2018 at 11:09:42 AM
bork
Technazan
“Yeah, we probably should at least get that before we start looking for the others” said Skyler. He than went to a shop selling that, not only getting a map of the nearby area along with a compass but also the world. The whole world is just one continent? Maybe it’s the current known world rather than the whole world.
He let Shannon have them, she seemed to be more enthusiastic about it. “Okay, lets go back to the entrance and I can see if I can notice them from up high. We can do more shopping later...”
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.