"Oh, come on, Mitchy, I'm sure it can take it~" Igno tried to reassure Mitch, patting the battered car's hood affectionately. "I'm sure it's got enough spite in it to refuse to die for a couple more hundred years!"
Cool Dude
Nether Vegas Gate
Vivian smiles, seeing her friends responding more eagerly than she expected from their earlier down-in-the-dumps attitude.
Vivian: "Hey Mindy, Igno. Looks like you guys are doing pretty well for yourselves. Happy to be out and about?"
The longer Mitch stares at that path, the more he can make out certain oddities. For example, he sees pairs of numbers, which deductive reasoning would probably infer indicate how much distance in kilometers you are from your journey, as well as map coordinates. This must be the kind of thing the natives see all the time, and it would probably be disorienting to another person. Thankfully, you are not most people. You're Mitch.
The constant tapping of the hood of this ghostly car does seem to arouse the attentions of whatever horrible spirit inhabits it, as a skeletal cab driver manifests itself in the front seat and turns to look at everyone. With a stuttering voice not unlike the rattling of the cab, the skeleton commands "WeLl, GeTTTTT iN, tH-tH-tHe MeTeR iS rUnNNNNNiNNg"
Edited by Raidouthe21st on Nov 16th 2018 at 2:33:32 PM
We Are Our Avatars Forever (Now on Discord by invitation, PM)
"Yeah, I'd say I'm doin' well. I'm ready to bring on the fight!"
Mindy hops in the cab at the instruction of the spooky man.
"Well, I finally get a chance to make sure my home is safe once and for all, so yeah, I'm doing pretty good!" Igno grinned, before motioning towards the car: "And hey! Spooky taxi!"
Military Grade Shitposter
Nether Vegas Gate
Staring at the path, strangely enough, seemed to divine more information. Perhaps the pendant was now sensing his will to go out and get shit done. In any event, now he had a distance number and a set of coordinates - the destination. It was, strangely, less odd than most other people would have expected it to be - he was no stranger to augmented reality heads-up displays that put this kind of information into the world around him.
Waving to the skeleton driver, Mitch looked at Igno. "Like I said - beats walking." He then headed over towards the driver's side, and looked the summoned demon right in his lack of eyes. "If you can understand these co-ordinates - head to grid square three-dash-ten, roughly southeast of here. About six kilometres away." He proceeded to - along with Six - board the beast of a junker summoned for their transport, and steel himself for what was coming.
Wasn't something out there?
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Cool Dude
Nether Vegas Gate
"YeS sssssIrrrrr..." rattles the skeleton cab driver. Once you all pile in, the ghostly taxi cab slowly sputters to life and trundles off, wherever Mitch tells it to go. Dilapidated and crusty it might be, but its driver seems to be dependable enough. It trundles over desert and rock like they were not even there. While you do encounter a roving band of feral ghouls who were attempting to make a few unlucky desert roamers their next snack, their attempts to impede your progress were...considerably lacking.
That's the highlight of your journey so far; Sitting cloistered together in a shaking junker of a car that shouldn't hold your weight, with the driver rattling and the busted radio crackly singing the dulcet tones of Frank Sinatra over the screeches and gargles of ghouls being turned into radioactive paste under the tires. This portion of your life is probably not going to be mentioned in your autobiographies, just saying.
Trial The First
Eventually, Mitch's belief that something is out there is proven completely valid. The cab comes to a complete stop in front of a sign that says "DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE HORRIBLY- NDR" on it. Right beside that sign is another sign that says "TERRITORY OF FLUFFY" in a more crude handwriting. Whatever this Fluffy is, it must have warranted quite a lot of effort on the New Demon Republic for them to actively tell people to stay away. The desert land here is pockmarked with bombed out craters from aerial raids and artillery striking the area. You see scorched remains of soldiers left there in the hot sun, surrounding the biggest crater of them all. In fact...that crater appears to be the end mark of the path that Mitch can see using his pendant.Edited by Raidouthe21st on Nov 16th 2018 at 3:40:10 PM
We Are Our Avatars Forever (Now on Discord by invitation, PM)
Military Grade Shitposter
Trial One
The ride over was eventful mostly in how uneventful it was. Given the terrain of Nether Vegas, it was an incredibly smooth ride, filled with the same sort of 60s jazz and country that people around Texas must have liked before whatever demon-nukes that terrorized this place hit. There were a few feral ghouls present, but everyone was armed to the teeth, and none of them were even able to get close before somebody shot them.
Which brings Mitch to now, as he disembarked the car. The first trial - the line was out. Distance: less than one kilometre, the pendant says. Out in the distance, craters. Warning signs put up by the NDR. Higher than normal levels of gamma radiation coming from a massive crater in the center, inhabited by something apparently called Fluffy.
Something that had already made a meal out of a good few NDR troopers.
"Well. Not starting us off easy, huh?" Mitch advanced forwards, Six following behind a few seconds after.
Nether Vegas Gate
It had taken a while for her to find the first landmark the strange flightless bird had pointed out, but eventually she was able to orient, and soon Kulve Taroth found herself staring at the impressive, if ramshackle, gates of New Vegas. Civilization in this tortured, hot waste. It felt like the Wildspire, yet somehow... more oppressive.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Cool Dude
Trial One
Advancing yourself is ridiculously simple. Practically nothing else except a few flies seem to live in this area. Or want to live. As you walk past the sign at the edge of the crater, you can see in the crater what looks to be...an ordinary cardboard box. And lying on top of this box is a creature
that looks like a human child dressed up in a cat-themed slumber suit. Although it also looks like it's wearing a wool sweater over it. As cute and non-intimidating as this small thing is, you might want to take not that it's one of the only living things out here barring yourselves.
S.E.A captain
A War far,far away
The young knight swung down his sword into the skull of the zombified remains of one of those he was supposed to protect and slowly pulled it out. Yhe war against the weird people has raged for way too long and it even tires his immortal body.
Suddenly a signal was heard and the young knight pulled out a box
"is that what I think it is" asked the knights treavelling companion.
"indeed I think its time for THE SHINING KNIGHT and my glorious steed Vanguard to pay a visit to some old friends. Come vanguard we ride!"
" I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end." "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."
Trial One
Igno could barely stifle a laugh as he stepped out of the car and followed the others. "Oh, Jupiter, you son of a...!" He paused mid-sentence, glancing at the others, wondering if he should be the one to break the bad news.Edited by FokiasTheJester on Nov 19th 2018 at 7:16:19 PM
Military Grade Shitposter
The First Trial
The largest crater contained merely two things; a cardboard box, and a human child, dressed up in a cat suit.
Well, only if you counted physical objects; there was still quite a bit of hard gamma emanating from the crater, courtesy of the tactical nuke the NDR must have hit this thing with. Still, the sight of it left Mitch perplexed. "What? Jupiter expects us to kill a kid?"
Six, in the meanwhile, merely looked to Igno. "You seem sorta like you know something. Share with the class?"
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Trial One
"Weeeeell, where do I begin..." Igno trailed off, still trying to control his laughter "It's been sitting here for a long time already, for one. All these craters and stuff? Yeah, that's from unsuccessful attempts to take it out. Now, we're pretty sure Fluffy ain't, like, 100% invincible, but he sticks to this place, so after losing a couple thousand people from both the bear and the bull, they decided to just leave 'im alone."
"... That, and he's too cute to actually strike with your full force." Igno added, glancing aside.
Edited by FokiasTheJester on Nov 19th 2018 at 9:19:22 PM
Military Grade Shitposter
Trial One
Six took in the information Igno had fed her - namely, that both the NDR and the Legion had tried to take it down. And yet there it was, lying down. For a moment she considered how they were going to kill it where the might of the NDR had failed, but then a strange and quiet alien thought entered her head.
She considered it, and found it adequate.
"You think we can talk to... him? Her? Whoever that is down there? Maybe they want something."
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Yep, fanart by me (inspiration from the Hallowee
(Outfit reference is here: https://twitter.com/StarFoxFan23/status/1063199110247919617?s=09
(my twitter))
Somewhere in a cafe in a mall...
Wiz was looking on his phone while he waits for Boomstick. The two wanted to meet up to hang out for a bit, before the duo works on the next fight for their webshow Death Battle, but right now it was only him.
The scientist sights and goes through his platinum blonde hair, one of the ideas he picked up for wearing casually, after getting almost tramped by fangirls at one point.
Currently too lazy to switch pics... Although, it's cute, shut up
Trial One
"If we can, yeah." Igno nodded. "I mean, do we even know what the trial is supposed to be about? It just points here with no other info..."
Military Grade Shitposter
The First Trial
Six looked over to Mitch, Igno having prompted her to ask for extra information. "Well? Anything else that pendant of yours is telling you?"
Mitch looked around for a few seconds, trying to see if there was any other information the pendant would give him... though he could already guess it probably wasn't going to. This was the trial, whatever it was; they were, in all likelihood, going to need to wing it.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Cool Dude
The First Trial
As he stares at the amulet once more, Mitch's ears ring uncomfortably. He feels as though Jupiter is whispering straight into his inner ear, and it's still not a pleasant sensation to listen to a god even if it's filtered through a holy artifact.
For their last clue before the pendant falls quiet once more, a text box briefly appears in front of them before.
Luckily for all of you, as you stand and discuss upon the edge of Fluffy's territory, the titular slumber cat is..doing nothing that looks obviously menacing. At this moment, it is currently playing with a ball of yarn as big as its small body. It's hard to say if the demon knows you're even THERE, to be frank. Or if it's so confident and/or slothful that your presence doesn't even register as a threat. It's fifty-fifty in that regard.
We Are Our Avatars Forever (Now on Discord by invitation, PM)
Military Grade Shitposter
The First Trial
"Obtain the pelt of the lion of Nether Vegas," Mitch mumbled, looking at Six, still a little shell-shocked by the sensation of a god focusing on him... but a bit less than last time. "I think he wants us to get that kid's costume off of him."
"Well," Six figured, "given they dropped a nuke on him... her... whatever they are, point being that they lived, I don't think violence is an option here. I propose talking."
Not having served in Kerberos, and thus not understanding the irony that Noble Six was suggesting diplomacy, Mitch decided to step into the crater and move towards this Fluffy. He was going to need to ask for it. Or perhaps perform another trial to earn it.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Cool Dude
The First Trial
Mitch would have no troubles moving into the den of the lion's lair. Whether it's because he's not walking in with the intention of causing violence, or because of his calm nerves, Mitch senses...no hostile intentions from this strange demon. He doesn't sense anything at all as it bats the large ball of yarn with its stumpy legs and arms. When he gets close enough, the creature turns its head right at him incredibly suddenly, causing a tiny jingle sound from the bell on its collar. It doesn't open its eyes, but he can tell Fluffy is staring straight at him.
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Military Grade Shitposter
The First Trial
It clearly knew he was there. Its eyes were closed, perhaps, but Mitch knew it was staring at him. Fortunately, it didn't seem hostile, but somehow Mitch felt that it was the only luxury that he was going to get for this trial. Who knew how attached it was going to be to that costume? Who knew what he was going to have to do or bargain for to get it? If he could?
"Hello," he started with. He wasn't too sure if it could understand English, but given how netherworlds tended to be, he was willing to bet on it. And if not he would improvise.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Cool Dude
The First Trial
The cat demon stares at Mitch. Without opening its eyes, it says in a very clear voice "Hey" in a very passive and disinterested tone. Despite sounding like it's without any motivation in its body, Mitch can see the thing is alert and ready to strike should it need to...even as it's holding the ball of yarn bigger than its own body in its stubby paws.
We Are Our Avatars Forever (Now on Discord by invitation, PM)
Military Grade Shitposter
The First Trial
It understood English. That was a good start, at least.
Fluffy was a very strange... whatever it happened to be. It sounded very shiftless, yet at the same time, with only a minor understanding of body language it was easy to see that it knew what kind of a threat he could be, a man in armor with a machine gun. It was ready to strike, if need be. Maybe with that giant ball of yarn.
"Nice crater you've got here," he decided to continue with.
In the distance, Six merely looked over the rest of her companions. "Are we sure we want him to be doing this?"
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Cool Dude
The First Trial
Vivian, who's sitting near the edge of the crater while watching through a pair of binoculars, shrugs in response to Six. She didn't need to say much since she definitely thinks Mitch can handle avoiding getting himself pointlessly slaughtered. Even if he's twitchy on occasion, he's at least competent enough...right?
Fluffy continues to casually converse with Mitch. "Bit toasty. But I like it like this. It's where I live." It sits upright as it continues to keep its shut eyes level with Mitch, still holding the ball of yarn.
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Military Grade Shitposter
The First Trial
Six casually stared off into space to an outside observer; of course, she was just observing the situation using her helmet's zoom functionality. "Well, he hasn't gotten himself eviscerated just yet, at least, so he's gotta be doing something right."
Off in the crater, Mitch relaxed a bit - at least for now, he was out of the woods. He could build a bit of rapport, to hopefully make cutting to the point a nonlethal event. "Not every day I meet somebody who gets hit by a nuke and likes it. Then again, not every day I meet somebody who gets hit by a nuke. Non-demons have a nasty habit of, uh, dying."
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."
Mindy nods to Mitch.
"We're gonna be facin' whatever Jupiter throws at us," she said. "I don't expect it to be easy, but I can't just sit out somethin' like this. Not after what we've been through."
"Oh, howdy Vivian."