Graded [Alvheim Ruins] Dungeon Crawl Ho! - Remnant of Ancient Ambition

[Dante Verren]

Gawain
Interactions: EMIYAman lXlGamemaster


The skeletal cursed as he was trapped in the mud, his body groaned as he tried desperately with his might to free himself. It was ultimately no use as he was stuck. He had made the entire situation worse again. In his mind killing Persephone had been the way to fix it, and of course it wasn't that easy. Just likely with the necromancer victory had been in their grasp and he had screwed it up entirely. What kind of a failure of a knight was he that he couldn't kill any real threat, just trash mobs that got in his way. Any even mildly competent adventurer could take out zombies or even weak shadow beast, but only the best ones could defeat the final boss. A feat he has consistently failed at.

Continuing to struggle with little result left a rage building inside of him. "Kill the void beast, or free me and I will do what ever I have to do to send it back to the hell it was born from!" He yelled to his allies. He did not know if Titania was telling the truth about there being only one way to strike down the beast, but he was not in the right mindset to give it another thought. His own anger at the situation and his streak of failures meant he was focused on killing the void beast and destroying Persephone. A small part of him knew he would regret what had to be done to the human for the group to survive. That would be a regret he would have to deal with later.

 

[lXlGamemaster]

Lothric

Lothric struggled to move to his feet, hissing and growling through his teeth. This entire experience had been a constant test of the dragon's patience, taking away his freedom, taking away his health, taking away his friends... and now it threatened to take one more thing: his sanity. Shadows of his former self whispered things into his mind, the mentality of the god of destruction he once was taking over. It didn't matter that he was killing a former friend... it didn't matter that he couldn't leave... and it didn't matter that he was on death's door.

The crystal in Lothric's forehead sparked, bits of void magic struggling to break free from the mortal shell. His eyes were pure red now, caring only about one thing: destroying whatever was in his path. Like a rampaging bull the dragon charged head on, jumping and spinning in mid air. He predicted that the beast would start to deflect his blows now, so he swung with his tail to knock the monster's arm away, leaving its torso completely vulnerable for Lothric's teeth and claws

 

[EMIYAman]

Spoiler: Grim Resolution

lXlGamemaster Dante Verren

---

​

With the Void Beast bearing down on Charti, and Gawain trapped by Persephone's magic the situation seemed dire. Yet, Titania's message had been delivered. Within the vile creature of black muscle and inhuman form was their sole hope of salvation. For both them, and the Fae from their cruel and slow death. Charti was on the defensive blocking the vicious swipes of the beasts claws with her spear. Gawain was still constricted by the unyieldingly thick mud. Persephone the Fae who's body had been completely reformed by the black mud, gazed at him. She was confident in her victory and was unworried about the Void Beast, but that didn't mean she wouldn't act. She brought herself close to Gawain, his hood falling from his head fully revealing the skull underneath. With a mad grin she splayed out her hand towards him. "Ah, an Undead huh? I know just how to deal with you; mother taught me well. Even as I am I can manage this much..." Her hand glowed with a bright golden light, Holy Magic. Where it shined Gawain could feel a sensation as if his skin was near a roaring fire. With a wicked grin she brought the palm of her hand to his skull. The closer and closer she got the worse the burning sensation grew until she was mere centimeters from him. If she touched him, the pain would no doubt be excruciating. And his second death swift.

Before it could come however a laser cleaved through the air. Just as quickly Persephone's arm was separated from her body. Pouting she appeared mildly bothered, as if facing a rather bothersome inconvenience. "Thats no way way to treat your little sister, Titania." Wordlessly the Magitech Fairy stepped next to Gawain. Her drones glowing with energy as they threateningly faced Persephone. "Helping Undead now? Wh-" Her mocking words were cut short as another laser shot towards her this time obliterating most of her head. As before there was no blood or flesh. Persephone didn't even fall over merely stumbled before floating up straight again. Her head and arm beginning to reform as one eyed stared at the two of them with sickening glee. Titania flicked out her arm a blade of light materializing over it. With quick and precise slashes Gawain was freed. She nodded to him before facing Persephone. With most of her body reformed save her mouth she narrowed her eyes at Titania. Then a tentacle of mud shot out from the ground towards her. Titania's drone acted in kind turning on a dime and blasting the tentacle into chunks. They stared at each other intensely. Then just as Persephone's mouth reformed they struck. Titania shot out blasts with her drone while slashing with her arm blade. Unlike before Persephone wasn't keeping up an appearances, she barely even tried to dodge. She took the blows that she could and powered through the rest. Her fighting style if it could even be called that would have been suicidal for anyone else. It forced Titania to take the defensive at times despite being the faster of the two. But their fight seemed to have no sign of stopping and no clear winner.

A ways from them the Void Beast kept up its attack on Charti. She got what hits she could in, but while the beast seemed to not fully share Persephone's regenerative abilities it could still weather most of the wounds Charti could muster. Lothric who had been flung from the beasts arm in his pursuit of Charti, began to glow with remnants of his cosmic power. The dragon leaped at the beast who at the last minute moved to parry his desperate attack. Lothrics tail lashed out to open up the beasts guard. It partially succeeded as the beast had not suspected such a maneuver one of his arms was thrown off course. Leaving him open to the claws and teeth of Lothric but the other was still able to hold off the worst of the dragons attack. While the dragon could not deal a fatal blow from his angle Charti was freed from the beasts assaults, and thanks to the opening Lothric had made... With a yell she thrust her spear as hard as she could towards the wounds Lothric had dealt where the muscle was the thinnest. The spear penetrated with some resistance, but it wasn't enough for her. "RAAAGH!" With a roar and one final push it went all the way through where the Void Beasts heart would be.

It froze starting at them with the black pits of its head. Then blood, red blood began to spill from the wound. It let out a raspy grunt then raised its arm. Charti's eyes went wide as she clenched her spear while it was still in the beast. She expected an attack, but there was none. In fact it seemed to be ignoring them. Its head was pointed up and its arm outstretched towards the sky. "I- I want... to see..." It spoke. The voice which emanated from it was soft and familiar. Charti's eyes grew confused and a flash of pity came across her for a moment, but she grit her teeth ignored the uncertainty and ripped her spear out. A shower of blood followed it, spelling the beasts end. With its hand still reaching for the sky it fell onto its back and died. Its body began to flake then blew away in an unseen wind as black ash.

Persephone and Titania's fight continued to rage. Persephone capitalized on a opening in Titanias form. Her hand thrust out to grab the other fairies head. Then it fell off. With surprise she looked down at the limb which had splat on the ground collapsing into mud. "What?" Her eyes went wide as she looked over to see the Void Beast laying upon the ground dead. "No, no thats not possible..." She spoke incredulously unable to believe what she was seeing. Her lip began to quiver as an expression of despair came upon her face. She looked as if her world was breaking down around her. "No I... I cannot fail! My Master, my mother they need me to succeed! I CAN'T!!!" Persephone screamed out in anger, sadness, and confusion. Her expression twisted as if she was sobbing. Yet, she could not cry. Not anymore.

More of her body began to fall off in clumps of mud. She fell out the sky when her wings went, and fell to the ground when one of her legs followed. All around them the Dark Forest itself began to groan as if in answer to Persephone's sorrow. Then it began to fade away. Much like the beast the entire forest flaked off into black ash and slowly but surely disappeared. Charti breathed heavily as she stepped next to Gawain nursing a cut to her side the beast had managed to get off on her. "The Dark Forest will soon be gone. I... never thought this day would come." She spoke to Gawain as she stared at the broken form of Persephone. "I dreamt of it for so long. What it would be like if we succeeded. Of course, I always imagined it would be me and Chartres. Certainly not you, and especially not her." She inclined her head to Titania who stood over Persephone's body unmoving. Charti stared her expression empty. "I hated her, Persephone. I still do, for what she did to my siblings, to mother, to me. But..." She trailed off unable to summon up the righteous vengeance which had burned so bright in her only moments ago. "Thank you. I may have dealt the killing blow to that thing, but I would have never gotten this far without you. I think... that I didn't want to. But you dragged me along to the end, so... thank you Gawain." With that she fell into a silence all the words she could spare exhausted.

Titania stood over Persephone's collapsing form. Her body reduced to little more than an arm some of her torso and her head. With what remained beginning to slough off already. She raised her fingers in a command. Her drones came up to her with one partially damaged. They prepared to charge up their energy in a blast that would obliterate the rest of Persephone. They lingered like that for a time. All they need was the command from Titania. The Magitech Fairy stared, but did nothing. Then with a heavy sigh she declared. "Persephone is dead, mission complete." She put her arm back at her side and began to walk away revealing nothing of what she may be feeling. "PERSEPHONE!" Then a scream of worry and fear reached them. The fairies and Gawain would recognize the voice immediately. Demeter had appeared, manifesting herself out of the dirt no longer under The Dark Forests influence. The Sovereign, Fae Tree, and mother ran and desperately clung to what remained of her daughter. "Persephone I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I didn't want this... I'm sorry." The mother was soon racked by sobs as she held Persephone. Charti appeared in pain as she looked at her mother but said nothing. She knew her mother would never have been ok with seeing Persephone die, Charti thought she had been prepared for that... "Mother?" With a blank expression on her face Persephone called out. "Yes, I'm here. I'm with you." Persephone's eyes focused and noticed Demeter's presence. Her eyes softened and a warm smile lit up her face. "Ah, there you are. I'm so glad you are here..." Demeter had a bitter sweet smile on her face as she tried to comfort her dying child. "Of course. I'll ne-gh!" Her words were cut out by Persephone's hand clenching around her throat. Her expression did not change. "I'm so glad, I was so worried. Don't worry mother I'll save you." She still smiled as if content. Surprisingly enough Charti did not move or even looked worried though she did hold out an arm to stop Gawain knowing he would rush to her side. Titania as well merely stood with her back to the two. As before Persephone's last arm fell into mud. She appeared truly spent as if she had used the very last of her will in that moment. "I'm sorry mother, I failed as your child. I'm sorry Master, you were wrong to place your trust in me..." Demeter didn't care she had tried to kill her she merely held her close. Before she could console Persephone however, the body in her arms collapsed into mud and ash. Slipping through her fingers before blowing away. Demeter stared at her hands, trembling. Before letting out one last howl of despair. Of the grief of a parent who watching their child die. The Dark Forest was gone. All that was left was dirt which stretched for miles devoid of any nature. It was quiet save for Demeter. Above them, the Black Sun watched.

Spoiler: Villain

Someone clapped "My, what a touching scene." A sickly sweet voice spoke aloud. "The bond between parent and child. Soured by time and betrayal, yet unbroken till the end. There really must be a power in love, though our dear Persephone's was a twisted yet no less valid form of it." A man came before them. There had been no sign of his coming and no one had noticed him till now. He had simply appeared as if he had always been there. Clothed in gold and white with hair to match he made for an elegant figure. Save for the gold mask which hid his face from view. He stood with one arm behind his back while the other gestured as he spoke. He appeared far too cheery for the situation and was unnervingly affable.

Charti was not in the mood for anything at the moment. She hefted her spear and pointed it threateningly at the man. "Who are you?" She glared intensely. The man did not seem afraid or bothered, his expression was hidden but one could imagine the smirk across his features. A surety oozed off every action and every word of the man as if nothing bothered him. "How scary. No need to glare at me like that, I'm but a humble scholar performing my duties." She glared even harder and pointed the spear at his throat. The man raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Alright alright, If you insist. You may call me the Sovereign of Light, Helios." Chartis' eyes widened but she remained suspicious. "Another Sovereign? None of you have ever come here before." He dusted himself off. "As they say, there is first time for everything." He walked past her towards Gawain and Lothric. As he passed Demeter she looked up from her grief at the new person and gasped. Her eyes widened as she recognized him. "Ma-" Then she shut her mouth staring at him in with something like awe, and fear. Helios put a finger to where his lips would be as she was about to address him.

He stood before the Dragon and the Knight. Looked to them both, then at the corpse of the Void Beast. It had fully faded now revealing the corpse of Cephus blood pooled underneath him, and a strange black shard seemingly crafted from darkness itself. Looking at it was less like looking at an actual object and more akin to seeing a hole in space you could hold. The man thrust out his hand the shard floating to his open palm. He gazed at it for a moment then pocketed it. "You there, Lothric right? I recognize that energy signature anywhere. You are a Wyrm of the cosmos, similar to her yet not quite like the Serpent of Yliaster. Tell me, how is it being brought low to mortal mundanity? A change in perspective among your kind may as well be death." Despite how easily his words could offend his tone was friendly and comfortable. "You seem to have taken to your reduced state better than the Serpent, I'll be watching the show you put on. Us mortals may have use of a being like you after all."

Helios then turned to regard Gawain. He stared at him for a time longer than he had examined Lothric but there appeared to be no judgment merely amusement. "Ah yes, the Knight Gawain. Quite the namesake you've inherited, it's ironic. Especially with the way you've stolen your way into Demeter's heart. You've grown on her you know? Despite all her children she never once has had a friend, then a strapping young Knight falls out of the sky. Why its practically a fairytale." Helios places his hand on his chin as he converses with Gawain. "Though your hand in her beloved daughters death must make for quite the complicated feeling. She'll forgive her daughters with time, but an outsider and one who had grown so close in so short a time?" He chuckled quietly to himself as if sharing in an inside joke only he understood. "Love is powerful indeed. I pray I see more of its power at work before the time comes. Very well then it only stands to reason this is how it would turn out after all. Ever since I gave it to her I had a feeling it would end like this" The Sovereign Helios was growing vaguer and vaguer by the moment to the point where it seemed he wasn't speaking to Gawain at all. Then suddenly his focus was solely on him. "Well then. You've killed Persephone, stealing the joy of Demeter, and you'll then sequester off to your realm so far from this one. Leaving a grieving mother all alone, correct? Yes it rather fits. Then I grant you this, from now on you are a Sovereign. In name mostly, apologies I have not a domain to grant you, but you'll have to do with a name for now. That should suffice shouldn't it? Sovereign Hades." As he addressed Gawain by this new name the kindly levity which had been in his voice had disappeared into a regal declaration. Charti stared at their interaction conflicted, but simply too drained to care for much beyond her mother. Titania as before was stock still refusing to meet the gaze of anyone, and Helios hadn't acknowledged her either.

 

[Dante Verren]

Gawain:
Interaction: EMIYAman

It was over, the battle was finally one. The skeleton stumbled slightly in relief. Being undead his body could not produce adrenaline. yet his mind almost like a reflex responded like it had been pumped full of it. His rage was still there, but it rapidly started to simmer at the sight of the vanishing evil all around him. His head swerved around as he watched the monster, the forest, and even the evil fairy start to turn to ash. In normal circumstances it would have been a cause to celebrate, but this was a pyric victory at best. That knowledge of the struggles to get to this point definitely bittered what should have been a sweet taste.

Gawain stood and watched the death of Persephone knowing that this was no longer his place to take the final swing, she was dying and if the other two did not want to finish her off then
the twisted fairy would die slowly. He did look away and instead focused his gaze onto the shorter form of Chartes who stood at his side. She had actually called him by his name. he wanted to comment on it, but sensed that if he did then she would likely never use his name again, though he guessed that wouldn't be too much of an issue since he likely wouldn't be returning here again. Still he decided to respond a little more seriously, "You are welcome Chartes. In truth I did frustratingly little. You had the strength to defeat her in you all along, all I did was push you forward a little bit." He was going to say more then a heart breaking sight appeared, the form of Demeter.

Watching the mother comfort her dying daughter was a tragic sight. He was glad Chartes was there, for her arm did in fact stop him from going to Demeter's side. His mind knew that the doomed Persephone couldn't kill Demeter, but his body had acted. In seemed like in the short time that Chartes had learned to predict the Skeleton's actions rather well. For the rest of the final moments he watched in silence, not even saying anything when the golden man appeared and began to speak. He was glad that he didn't have any muscles or flesh, other wise his eyebrows would have raised when he swore he heard Demeter start to say master. His eyebrows would have raised even further when the golden figure started to speak of love. He couldn't help himself and he broke away from staring at the man to look at Demeter for a quick moment before looking back at Helios.

A small raspy chuckle came from Gawain as he hung his head for a moment, then raised it back to look at the figure. "Now that you mention it, I am only now realizing it. In my attempt to avoid one of the old greek tragedies, I end up the root cause of it. Like you said it is very ironic?" He paused for a moment, mimicked the motion of taking a deep breath even though no air would flow. "Gawain was not a name I inherited, but the name I chose when I was reborn from beyond the grave. Gawain was the name of a knight I Idolized, and I foolishly thought if I took his name then maybe I could live up to the famous round table oaths. Perhaps Hades is a name that fits better for me instead, a name that strikes caution and dread, not courage and joy. "

In a slow motion he sheathed his sword, letting it slide into the scabbard with a light thud. "I'm sorry that this is how it turned out Lady Demeter. I will not ask your forgiveness, for I cannot stay to earn it." He said to the sovereign, bowing his head in apology. He turned once more back to the man, "If this Sovereign title comes with a role I am afraid I cannot fufill that role just yet. There is a monster... no a group of monsters that I am hunting. Despite how much grief I might cause these beast are far worse and will do far more devastation then anything else I have heard of. Until they are stopped by myself or someone else then I will never forgive myself if I stayed in one place for too long. "

 

[EMIYAman]

Spoiler: An End

lXlGamemaster Dante Verren

---

In the aftermath of the battle Helios listened to Gawain raptly. He was surprisingly respectful allowing the knight to get all the things he wanted to say out, without interruption. With his fist to his cheek he stared at Gawain. The reflection of the undead upon his golden mask staring back at him. At Gawain's somewhat bitter chuckle Helios tilted his head. He seemed to ponder Gawains words for a time merely staring at him as he considered them. No one else moved or spoke as if they all hung off his word.

"The name, Hades. It is not one I grant without any thought but it is certainly without mocking. You are not Hades to strike fear and bring death, but because much like him. You are wholly separate from the world, you live an existence incomparable to many you can pretend but you will never be like them. Yet still you seek out companionship, justice, love." Helios started to slowly pace around Gawain with his arms behind his back. "Take solace in that, if nothing else. It is a sign of my acknowledgment of you."

He ceased his movement as he was about to pass the corpse of Cephus. He looked down at it briefly then looked back to the two of them. Beneath his mask a smile split his lips as he saw Gawain speak to Demeter. The nature spirit and Sovereign couldn't bring herself to look at Gawain hanging her head low refusing to meet his eyes or even speak. "Poor girl, simply inconsolable. Apologies Hades but you'll have to leave her be for now worry not I'm sure she'll come around eventually." Helios chimed up next to him speaking flippantly, then reaching into his pocket pulling out the black shard he had picked up. "I'm quite grateful I got to see all this, the data especially will be useful. Shame what happened, but in the end giving this to Persephone worked out well." For a brief moment the others had to process his words, but no sooner had they did... Charti stared at Helios with wide eyes an expression of despair and rage barely held back. Demeter herself looked similar but rather than anger her weeping returned in full force unable to handle the torrent of emotions. "Hm? Whats wrong you're all giving me rather scary glares." His voice was still just as amicable as before. But underneath his mask a mocking smirk grew. "Don't worry I'll be out of your hair soon enough I got what I came for. Titania?" The previously frozen Fairy perked up at Helios' words saying nothing. "Grab the boy." Titania wordlessly walked over and scooped up the corpse of Cephus. Then raised his arm. Charti with a rageful yell charged at Helios with her spear. "With that, your time here has come to an end. Struggle until the end, I'll be watching." With a snap of his fingers Lothric and Gawain disappeared into strings of light to be deposited outside the facility. The last thing they would see is Titania stopping Charti's spear with her blade, Demeter staring at Gawain with bitter longing and sorrow. And for a brief moment as Helios pulled down his mask slightly, his eyes.

​

 

[Novama]

Isekai Hell RP Grade​

Dante Verren LadyOfStars Beetlebuggo lXlGamemaster Individual Clyvelle

Congratulations on finishing the epic, those that stuck with it. I felt there was room for improvement in a few areas for this rp. Combat. Pacing. Adherence to standing to a lesser degree. A lot of npc interactions in this one. I'm not sure how well it striked the balance between cool npc's that helped advance the plot vs cool npc's that stole spotlight from the characters on occasion. Ideally, the rp's will be about the characters as much as possible, but cool npc's are kinda key to this genre since the character's aren't yet advanced enough to shine brightly on their own. Makes a reader think, I suppose. Would say sorry for the delay in grading, but you already know this rp probably needed parceled out a bit more than it was. Hopefully, the points will ease the pain of waiting.

Aftermath
The archeological society would be interested in what happened within the ruin. Especially why one of their members went in and didn't come back out save for his escorts. Assume, by extension, the academy and the nobles invested in it will have questions if the characters are ever found out and there will be investigations.

Rewards

Emiyaman - 75 points (narration bonus included)

Gawain- 63 points (narration bonus included)

• optional title acquired [Hades] - Character is wholly separate from the world. Character lives an existence incomparable to many and no pretending can bring character closer to others. Character will struggle to find companionship with anyone except outsiders like their self but the relationships will generally be short lived. such is the nature of an outsider. When character is isolated, they will have an edge in maintaining their state of mind and survival instincts.
• Asset [Alvian Facility Access] - character has minor influence as well as access to the facility should they ever wish to return.

Lothric - 70 points

• optional title acquired [Naive] - character is prone to acting and speaking in a way more experienced individuals would call foolish. Character is also mostly likely to find the chance or hope where none were. Character's naive nature might have some try to take advantage of them but will also make it easier for most to believe them to be sincere.

Partial Participants

Mitsunari - 56 points

TMK - 31 points

Astrid - 76 points