Fantasy Nightmare Hunter (closed)

[Daniel Reaving]

Ariana and Jane complied to the mans demand and sat down together, huddling together for warmth the two sat and waited patiently. 15 minuets past and the girls were fast asleep with each other until they awoke to the sounds of something coming. Soon a white and grey wolf came from the woods. The man from before following behind as the wolf stood on its hind legs and spoke with a motherly tone. Asking them what happened and why they were all the way out here Ariana spoke. "Mama and papa got us out of the city...... the paladins wanted to take me and sissy for some reason." Ariana said in a tired groan as she curled up in the wolfs arms along
With her sister. "They called mama and papa traitors... said they broke the laws of paladins." Jane chimed in quietly as Tho'mer took off with the girls in tow. It didn't take long for the chill of night to affect the girls as they both nuzzled into the wolf for warmth. Then they reached the top. When tho'mer set them down they stood patiently as he spoke about the rock. Hearing him say they had to tickle the rock made the girls giggle before Ariana took the feather and walked to the rock curiously. Then she reached out and gently tickled the rock with the feather wondering what would happen and if she was doing it right. "Am I doing it right?" She said as Jane went to her side and watched. "Maybe your not tickling it in the right spot... try doing it faster." Jane said which Ariana did to see if it would work.

 

[NineTimes]

Charlie picked up their wits, and promptly lost them again, turning into a long-haired cat with brown and blonde spots and intense orange eyes. Feather quickly adjusted his back and picked up Charlie before ducking into a bush and dropping the bag and taking out a roll of bandages. He quickly wrapped the bandages around his fist, knuckles boxer style and signed at Charlie to stay there and lay low. Charlie shifted back into their more human form, retaining the tail, ears and whiskers. Charlie quickly hid behind the foliage, takeing Feather's bag with them and clutching it to their chest. A small dull pain, that grew came from their chest as they tried to take deep breaths.

Feather walked out around the corner to face the battle. He ran up to a male paladin and promptly kicked him in the groin, hoping to gain his attention.

 

[JadeGreen17]

-Emmaline, Ariana and Jane-

First he briskly led her to a passage that was an offshoot of the main chamber. This passage was much more well constructed, with a tile floor and brick archways preventing any cave in. This led them to another room that had the appearance of a miniaturized underground colosseum carved from the bedrock of the mountain.

Though the circular arena was of a more moderate size, perhaps 15 or 20 meters in diameter, with the floor composed of black crystalline sand not unlike that which the Blindman appeared to dissolve into when teleporting. There were two rows of unkempt bleachers, most of which had crumbled by the roots, vines and ferns that grew freely by the glow of the lightstone that hovered above the center of the arena.

"This is the sparring arena. When negotiation fails (and with Natevar leading a mission it often does) we Hunters need to be ready for combat. Probably the best room in the temple, though I think it speaks for itself."

He walked to a podium and opened a large book on it. On each page was a monster. Some had been familiar to Emmaline, others she had never even seen. Opening one page triggered ebony zombies to burst through the sandy ground. Turning to the next page, the zombies dissolved and the sand began to slosh about like waves on the high sea. A serpentine sea monster made dives and thrashed about in the 'water'. Turning to the third page, the arena fell flat once more and a lone humanoid figure formed from the sand. The being had a large, disfigured head, almost as large as its torso that upon closer inspection was revealed to be dozens of heads facing outward in all direction; something akin to a bunch of grapes, only with screaming and wailing faces.

He leaped down into the arena. He pulled a pair of handles from his belt, each one extending into a large silver sword. The hydra-like humanoid began to strike at him, its heads shooting out on long stalklike necks and attempting to bite at Repid with oversize mouths. He ducked and weaved about them, trying to get in close. He sliced one of the necks off, causing everything past the cut to disintegrate back into sand. He continued his advance, but the attacks intensified. One of the heads shot out and bit the warrior on the neck. Then, though Repid himself was not made of black sand, he dissolved into a pile of it along with the beast.

There was a short pause in which Emmaline noticed one line on the documentation of this monster on the opposite page of the book.

"Close range engagement is very ill advised; use long range attacks to eliminate all heads on the head bundle; then target the heart to kill."

The lightstone above shone a spotlight on where Repid had been standing. The sand began to rise and form once more, taking on the form of Repid. His vibrant colors returned to the monochromatic black puppet through a series of bright sparks. The light then released him as he staggered about, rubbing the spot on his neck where he had been bitten; though the skin there was pristine once more. It was somewhat unclear whether his blunder was unintentional or intentional as to demonstrate the resurrecting feature of the arena. He did look somewhat humiliated.

Repid seemed far less enthusiastic about every other destination on the tour. Everything he showed Emmaline from here on out was through gritted teeth, as though he simply wanted to avoid another temper tantrum from Natevar.

He led Emmaline quietly up the balcony in the big cavern opposite the door to the tesseract room. This led into a long wooden hallway with sliding panel doors on either side. He explained that these were the quarters, gesturing to a staircase, quickly explaining that there were more quarters above and this level and the kitchen was below. He then showed her down the opposite end of the hallway which opened into a cavern far larger than either of the ones they had seen before, with floorspace comparable to a soccer field. It seemed to harbor many of the same lifeforms as were in the Tesseract room, but there were also a few fully grown palm trees and what looked like a garden was set up in one corner of the cavern, along with an outhouse. A few small birds and butterflies fluttered about the cavern. Opposite the main building was a narrow cave that headed up a ways, but was sealed at the end by massive boulder. Maintaining semblance with the tesseract room and the main hall, at the opposite end of the room was a large waterfall that spilled over feeding the network of streams that weaved their way through the floor of the cavern.

Three lightstones hovered above the cavern, providing light. From here, it became obvious that the wooden portions of the temple were actually an underground building, built right into the side of the cavern wall. Repid didn't have much to say about this area, but he pointed out the outhouse and the front door, explaining that one had to tickle the boulder that stood in front of the door to get it to move. (Saying so in such a way that he knew Emmaline wouldn't take such a bizarre explanation seriously)

-+-

Outside, Ariana was tickling the rock, and as if on cue with Repid’s hasty explanation, the massive house-sized boulder began to shift with a low rumble. The shaking shook the mountain both inside and out as the rock slowly lifted impossibly balancing on a small point revealing the passage. Warm air began to rush out from the exit as Tho’mer and Tasrist led the girls down the passage into the large cavernous room. The rock slowly began to lower once more behind them. The four arrived in the large cavern to see Emmaline and Repid in the middle of their tour.

“Great- just what we need. More arcadians here to-“ Repid reconsidered, and restrained himself from spouting off an insult. “What are these two doing here?”

“Found them- on the side of the mountain.” Replied Tho’mer, who was more than a little out of breath from carrying them up the mountain so quickly.

“Blindman asked us to bring them to the temple.- Emmaline did you finish your trial already? What was it like? What kind of weapon did you get? Can I see it?” asked Tarist with a giddy excitement.

Tho’mer cleared her throat. “Emmaline, this is Ariana, and this is Jane- er wait- I’m sorry your Ariana and your Jane.”

“Why don’t we shave one of them bald? That way we can tell them apart.” snipped Repid with a chuckle.

-Marcus' Trial Start-

The book of trials still hovered above the room, shining spotlights about. The lights focused on Marcus and the paper staircase formed in front of him, just like it had for Emmaline. Natevar turned to Marcus.

"Now, I know you just heard this a little while ago, but I always feel obliged to tell people this. Once you step into that trial, there's no turning back. Once a Hunter, always a Hunter.”

-Feather and Charlie confrontation-

-the fight was taking place on a trail outside of town, at least thats how I imagined it. Replace alleyway with bush thicket or big rock and your good to go-

The Paladin who had previously been distracted by the fight staggered over in surprise, but recovered quickly. The hard thump of his armor codpeice made it clear that the paladin had suffered little damage from the attack. After all the Paladins of Arcadia might have never been the fastest or flashiest fighters, but their armor was second to none.

The Paladin turned his attention to Feather, drawing his sword and striking out at him. There was a glint of admiration in the young warriors’ eyes, a respect for Feather’s attack that walked the line between bravery and stupidity. Feather felt the sting of the silver sword cut across his chest. It was a superficial hit, but a sign that he was in trouble.

Realizing this, the vampire dove onto the Paladin from midair and tackled him. The two began thrashing about on the ground in a vicious fight. She clawed and bit at the paladin, but all she managed to do was carve scratches into the finely polished armor. The Paladin rolled over on top of her, pinning her neck to the ground with one hand and sliding a dagger from his belt with the other. He brought it down directly through the vampires chest. The vampire let out a hiss and began sputtering as black syrupy blood began to ooze from her mouth.

The massive bestial man turned and when he saw the girl dying on the ground, his face turned from shock, to horror, then to rage in in an instant. He let out another roar, this one of anguish and frustration and seemed to regain his strength despite his heavily injured state. He charged the Paladin, who was still getting to his feet, and bucked him with his antlers several meters into the air. The young warrior was sent flying and tumbling down a slope.

He seemed to be getting more furious with every passing second. His eyes locked with the paladin captain, who called a retreat. A few moments later, he was picked up in the beasts mouth and being shaken about like a dog’s chew toy, before tossing him to the side to tumble down the same slope his compatriot had. At the sight of this, and by his order, the remaining paladins fled the battle, many of them limping and injured.

The girl with the crossbow pistols was furious looked to give chase, but the Atlantean hunter held his sword out, indicating that she should not. She made a frustrated grunt and threw her weapons down. The group turned their attention to their dying compatriot, having seemingly completely forgotten about the person she had sacrificed herself to protect.

The bestial man knelt beside her. He began to revert to looking more human. The coarse black hairs retreated into his body, and the large antlers shriveled with the same creaking and groaning sounds back to bony knobs. It was a strange sight, this huge beast of a man was weeping like a child at the sight of his fallen companion, begging her not to give up, to stay with him, to live.

The Atlantean simply knelt down beside her, looking with a pained expression. He had been hardened to the death of his companions in his centuries of service. He had witnessed many die on missions, and some just died from old age. The other girl looked both furious and heartbroken, and let out a loud frustrated yell to the sky as she to knelt by the girl. The witch tried to offer her some medicine, but with what little strength she had left, rejected it.

This vampire girl, of whom feather or charlie knew not her name or background, knew that the silver blade had pierced her heart, and that she was now at death’s doorstep. She spoke each of her fellow team members in kind, with faint, whispered, raspy words, saying something to each of them.

White flames began to lick the dagger, still lodged in the vampire’s chest, and began to work their way outward. She closed her eyes, and bore a sad smile as the flames quickly intensified and enveloped her, then blasted outward in all directions. The flames touched everyone with a bit of warmth, but did not burn them. They curved upwards and spiraled about, forming together into a trail that danced about the night sky before returning back downwards and being absorbed into a small ornament hung around the neck of the Witch.

Her body was gone, but her mechanical arms remained there. The weeping beast-man picked them up and put them over his shoulder. The Atlantean slowly regained his buisness-as-usual mentality, but the notes of loss and sadness were very clear in his voice. “We’ll take her soul back to the temple, mourn her, and set her free.” He spoke solemnly to his companions before turning to Feather. “Feather, I strongly recommend you and Charlie- relocate far away from here. Those Paladins will be back before you know it.”

With that, the Atlantean started to walk away. He left the dagger that had impaled the vampire, which was still planted where she had fallen which, apparently gone all the way through her and the very tip was lodged in the packed earth of the trail; though there was no other sign that she had been there just a moment ago.

 

[Daniel Reaving]

The girls jumped back a little in fright when the rock shook, then rose off the ground. Both quickly running behind tho'rmer as they watched the rock rise. Each taking one of tho'timers hands they were lead inside and were greeted by two people. One having started to make a rude comment before having stopped and the other a girl that was silent for now. The two listened to them converse a little before tho'rmer introduced the girls and got there names confused making them giggle. "I'm Ariana." Ariana said happily before pointing to her sister. "And that's my sister Jane!!" She said happily as her sister waved.

Then the ride man made a comment of shaving one of them bald which made the girls jump a little and hide behind the closest thing they could find who so happened to be Emmaline. Both girls standing behind the woman peaking out from behind her at the mean man with cautious eyes as Jane spoke. "Don't let the mean man cut off our hair!".

Epiphany JadeGreen17

 

[Epiphany]

The tour went about as expected. Well, the parts that weren't the sparring arena anyway. The spectacle of a book-activated magical ring that could make monsters out of sand...the Paladins had their share of magic but nothing quite like that. Particularly not one with theoretically lethal consequences. Emmaline frowned as Repid reformed. "How do you know if you're actually you or just a copy-" But seeing the expression on the young warrior's face, she decided to drop the subject.

The rooms and kitchen were as expected but the inclusion of a vast garden with birds and butterflies caused the ex-Paladin to shake her head in disbelief. The Nightmare Hunters had strange priorities. At least the sound of the waterfall and the sight of wildlife made for a pleasant environment to be in. She raised a skeptical eyebrow when Repid said the boulder required tickling to use but the arrival of four more people from the exit silenced any remarks she might have said.

She stood there silently while the group traded remarks. When Tarist expressed interest in seeing her weapon, though, Emmaline looked doubtfully at the handle she'd tucked into her belt and handed it over for the other to inspect if so inclined.

Upon being introduced to Ariana and Jane, the vampire nodded gravely and said "Pleased to meet you" in a tone that quickly ended in surprise as the girls promptly hid behind her. Glancing behind her, Emmaline turned back to Repid and said, with a completely straight face, "I'd say you have bigger problems than telling two girls apart. Like learning to duck."

JadeGreen17 Daniel Reaving

 

[JadeGreen17]

Emmaline, Ariana and Jane ctd

"Yeah, like you could have done any better. I bet you've never even seen one of those things in the flesh before." Snarked Repid before walking back into the underground building. Natevar passed him on the way out.

"What set off the magical alarm?" He queried as he entered the room.

"It was just these two." Replied Tho'mer as she gestured to the girls. "Ariana and Jane" (she got them correct this time.)

"Are they initiates?"

"No. Blindman just wanted me to bring them up." Replied Tasrist studying the weapon handle with such intensity it might as well have been a priceless jewel. " Never said anything about them becoming Hunters. They're just here as guests, I presume. One of them's got a Chakra spirit though- uhh... the green one."

"I haven't seen a Chakra spirit around here since that... Auron fellow was stationed here."

"What happened to Marcus?" Responded Tho'mer. "Don't tell me he's taking his trial with nobody watching."

"No, He said he needed time to think about joining up; took the tesseract run back to Chespake. If he ever changes his mind, the rune should still work for him and he can return. With that I guess we've only got one new member, unless of course these two-"

"You can't be seriously suggesting that?!" Scolded Tho'mer. "These girls have already been through enough, you can't just put them through the trials the minute they walk in the front door. I don't even think they're of age for the tirals. It's late; and they're probably very tired and hungry."

With that she gestured to Ariana and Jane to follow her into the underground building. Natevar turned his attention to Tasrist who was fiddling with the inset gemstones on Emmaline's handle. He grabbed the weapon from Tasrist and placed it back in Emmaline's hand. To this he said "Careful, give Tasrist five minutes with this, and he'll break the magical lock on this, and it'll open for anybody who presses the button. Give him five more, and he'll have disassembled it to study its inner workings and you'll never see the thing whole again."

"Please" Smirked Tasrist with a smile. "I could do that in alot less than ten minutes."

"Why don't you just show her how it works, and not mess around with other people's weapons unless you're asked."

 

[NineTimes]

Charlie hid behind the bush clutching the bag hearing the sounds of the fight, and finally the cry of anguish. They felt another stab of pain from their bruised ribs, and let a small tear loose.

Feather stood in shock as he felt the sting of silver. He watched as the vampire got impaled, because of his blind bravery. Feather wanted to approach as the vampire gave her goodbyes but as he watched the Atlantean walk away he decided to say something. He thought about signing an apology, but decided it will not be wanted. He thought for a moment and ran in front of the Atlantean before signing, 'Thank you. Have a safe trip back. Your friend deserved better.' and giving a bow of respect.

He then went on his way back to get back to Charlie to find them full out sobbing. They gingerly picked Charlie (who is very light for their size) and cradled them.
"Can we stop for food at the next town?" Charlie said quickly wiping away the tears and making their way out of Feather's hold.
Feather nodded and picked up his bag, setting onto the road again.

 

[Epiphany]

The vampire let Repid's snarky remark pass by without comment. Although not much younger than her, Emmaline had left behind his attitude and ego years ago in youth. To be a Paladin of Arcadia, one had to set aside the self for the good of all. Evidently, the Nightmare Hunters were somewhat less selective.

She pondered briefly what Repid's trial had been like.

Emmaline nodded once as Natevar entered the room, and stepped back to let him confer with his other colleagues, gently moving the two girls she was 'protecting'. The mention of a Chakra spirit lifted an eyebrow up, though. The ex-Paladin turned to glance back at the two girls, trying to discern which seemed different from the other, and whether there were any telltale signs of possession. None of her new colleagues seemed nervous about it being in here, though, nor had they made any effort to separate one girl from the other. Safety clearly was not a concern.

When Tho'mer motioned, reclaiming the girls, Emmaline nodded to them and said "Go with her, you're as safe here as anywhere."

Turning back to Natevar and Tasrist, she accepted the handle of her weapon back and eyed it doubtfully. "...So...how does it work? I just push these buttons?"

 

[JadeGreen17]

Feather+Charlie Trek to the Next Town

The nearest town was that of Pinespider. The town was only a few hours walk from where they had set out from. However, Pinespider could hardly be labeled a town; it was more akin to a work camp. Only totaling a few dozen buildings, Pinespider had one town hall, one pub, a post office, general store, lumberyard, a few old garages for logging machinery, and mill and a bank. The rest of the town was simply seasonal cabins for the lumberjacks who came and went with the snow.

The town was close enough to make the trek and arrive by dawn, but far enough and small enough from their last home for obscurity. Nestled deep within a narrow valley between two mighty peaks, and surrounded on all sides by towering conifers, the town would be almost impossible to spot until you were right on top of it.

The path was narrow and overgrown with ferns and saplings. Bizzarely there seemed to be two paths, spaced apart by about ten meters, both paths defined by deep depressions in the earth and rock at regular intervals.

The night air was cold; a soft breeze blowing down from the snowy mountaintops, but the moonlight lit their way. The forest fell unusually quiet, and as the night cooled, a mist set in over the river in the valley.

The purple eyed witch made note of their heading long after the two had headed their separate ways, knowing with little doubt where the two would be heading; knowing that hiding out at the tiny logging town would be a sufficiently obscure home for them, and making a mental note of this as her team returned to the themple.

However neither she nor Feather and Charlie could have anticipated that the town would be utterly abandoned upon their arrival; despite it being the middle of summer. The lights being left on, the food in the general store was still fresh and many of the cabins were unlocked... It was as though the entire population had just vanished.

Emmaline @ The Temple
Apparently there's a user named 'The' and I pinged them by accident.

"Yes, actually. Your weapon needs to be concealed from the prying eyes of both civilian populations and anything that you might be on speaking terms with. As you saw from your trial, we pride ourselves on finding solutions other than violence; but as you may already know from being a Paladin, there are times where we have no other choice."

Emmaline would see that pressing the top button activates a mechanism. Metal segments telescope out and form seamlessly into a long silver and steel rod, with a mace head on one end, before contracting in and the rod seemingly becoming a single seamless piece of metal. The weapon didn't look too dissimilar from her previous weapon in fact; with the striking edges of the macehead being a brilliant gold to contrast the dull bluish gray steel and cold silver.

"You might be familiar with this. I seem to recall Paladin armor sometimes utilizing an mechanical bracer not unlike this. Well, i will tell you that the Hunters did that first, and we do it better."

In pressing the bottom button, the macehead would contract and the seams in the rod would reappear. Gears and levers bent the rod into a recurve bow; two miniature harpoons firing together and connecting to form the bowstring.

"Yes, uhm watch the bowstring when changing modes-or wear an armor gauntlet. There was this one woman here awhile ago who wasn't paying attention and the bowstring actually connected through her arm. I had to sort that one out and needless to say that wasn't very much fun.

So, top button for mace; bottom button for bow. Press the alternate button to change modes quickly, and press the button for the mode your on to revert to a handle. Magical loyalty. If someone else tries to use it; it will fold up and refuse to open. If the mace feels too heavy, too light, or imbalanced somehow, I can adjust it. If you want to adjust the draw weight on the bow, I can do that too. Arrows should be in that box, tap them on the end to unpack them. If you want a backup weapon or-"

"That's enough Tasrist. She's smart enough to figure it out on her own." Groaned Natevar who had clearly heard Tasrist go on like this many times. "Anyways. I've got a whole backlog of missions for you; but you should probably learn your way around that thing first, in case things go south. Tho'mer is something of the groundskeeper, if you want a room, she can set you up. Let me know when you're ready for your first mission, I'd like to accompany you, see what you can do."

NineTimes Epiphany

 

[Epiphany]

"I've often found having a weapon in plain sight can help find solutions that don't require violence," Emmaline said with a dry chuckle. "But this is your operation, your rules and I've agreed to abide by them. Having something I can carry discreetly will be...useful, I'm sure."

The statement was just a little odd coming from a woman still dressed in the underlinings of a Paladin of Arcadia.

Emmaline experimented with pressing the buttons, getting used to the activation sequence, the motion of its movement and the change in weight. When she assembled a bow, the vampire gave an experimental draw on the bowstring to test its weight and nodded approvingly. "Magical loyalty, you said?" She eyed the handle curiously. "Useful. Thank you for the demonstration."

When Natevar interrupted the conversation, the ex-Paladin nodded solemnly. "I've had a tour already. It would be useful to receive a room so I can leave these clothes there, assuming you have something more...discreet to change into." There was a touch of dry humor to her phrasing, as if she were amused by the Nightmare Hunter emphasis on discretion. "Once my garments are seen to, I'll be ready for assignment. Assuming you have a wardrobe on hand, shall we say...one hour? Meet back here?"

She lifted an inquisitive eyebrow at the field commander, curious as to what he'd be like to work with. Emmaline had plenty of battle experience but never with these parameters and never with those who weren't Paladins. This promised to be eventful!

JadeGreen17

 

[JadeGreen17]

Natevar met with Tho'mer inside the underground building; on the second floor. She was taking care of Ariana and Jane in a bedroom; busy rearranging the furniture to add a second mattress so the girls could share a room. Tho'mer finished and turned her attention to Emmaline.

"Your room is right here" she said gesturing to one of the sliding wood panel doors. It had a small metal lock, not unlike the one on Emmaline's box, but with an extra dial. When Emmaline walked closer the dial spun but did not click open. "Turn that dial so the tick marks line up if you want your room to be private." She remarked.

The room was of a decent size; and there was a gap in the furniture where presumably a bed would have been. Judging by the marks in the wooden floor which looked extremely recent; Tho'mer had, in her haste, taken the bed from Emmaline's room and put it in the room across the hall. Suddenly realizing that gesture might not be received kindly by Emmaline; she stammered out "If... if you still want a bed- I can get you one. I think we have a few spares in storage..."

There was an old looking chair; that seemed to be made of bamboo and straws, a very sturdy looking study desk. One corner of the desk had what seemed to be a miniature floating earth carved of a solid piece of tawny-colored stone. [Like a much miniaturized version of the Tesseract Hovel, which Emmaline hasn't seen yet] It was covered on all sides in a thin film of water covered the surface outlining the oceans and continents. A tiny stone moon and glowing crystal sun hovered in place showing the current positions of the sun and moon. All three bodies hovered above a stone platform with a few dials on it.

The desk had supple stationery, and there was a small bookshelf lined with many ancient texts, including (curiously) the Arcadian holy text; the Nexium. There was also a blank journal left closed on the desk. There wardrobe was left open with several neatly folded outfits inside. There seemed to be at least one outfit to match the current popular fashions in each of the great cities. Aside from that; there wasn't much else aside from an old end table that had once been a nightstand and a side door that presumably led to a washroom.

"I'm taking out Emmaline on a mission in a bit; we'll be in Northwind. If any other initiates show up; make sure you lead them to the book of trials. You know how to do that- right?"

"Natevar..." Tho'mer sighed, returning her divided attention to the twins. "I can take care of the duties here at the temple. I am the groundskeeper, and you should have a little more faith in me than that."

Epiphany

 

[Epiphany]

Emmaline studied the lock with interest, noting how it operated, sparing a brief thought for how it all worked. Nightmare Hunters were known to employ strange magics that Arcadia's Paladins didn't traffic with. The presence of so much advanced technology, well beyond what Arcadia could manage, surprised her much more. She had some mild awareness that most of the rest of the world was somewhat more advanced in their technology than Arcadia, as those nations spent less of their time and attention focused on fighting the monsters of the world. Emmaline found it a bit discouraging to realize how far her nation had fallen behind as a result.

If only everyone else had done their part...

The vampire chuckled at Tho'mer's discomfort and shook her head. "I'm only here long enough to change. The commander and I have a mission to attend to. I can wait for a bed."

Her eyes strayed to the floating earth and the spectacle of it took her breath away. She stared in wonder for a moment before the resentment at the technological and magical supremacy of other nations and groups rose once more. Emmaline tore her gaze away, took a satisfied note of having a copy of the Nexium available, and faced the two Nightmare Hunters.

"You have other guests," she said to Tho'mer. "They should be your priority."

To Natevar, the vampire nodded. "I'm ready, sir. Though if you know and care to explain, I wouldn't mind hearing what a chakra spirit is."

 

[JadeGreen17]

Natevar had left, and returned shortly thereafter wearing a pair of tattered overalls and an ugly plad jacket. It was alien; out of his Hunter armor he looked like a relatively unassuming lower-class man dressed in plain clothes; that was of course; aside from the gnarly scar across his face.

"Ready so soon? We're going to Northwind. I don't know how well you handle the sunlight; every vampire is a little different, but we'll be at a very high latitude. Might want to wear something with a hood just to be safe.

Also, don't worry about not having armor yet. The entity we're going up against isn't dangerous to life and limb; but this mission is nevertheless important."

...

Natevar paused; a bit taken aback by the question. He started to lead Emmaline out of the wooden temple; into the main hall through to the tesseract chamber while he answered.

"Well, there is a lost spirituality; one that told of seven focal points of energy in the body. These were known as Chakras, and each of them had a spirit. Seigns can tell you alot more about them than I can; but the spirits supercharge the chakra, giving the person some kind of ability or gift. They are given to a person at birth; and they reincarnate to a new owner when the old owner dies. They're not dangerous... unless of course the person bearing the spirit becomes dangerous."

Epiphany

also NineTimes Daniel Reaving don't fall behind.

 

[NineTimes]

Charlie and Feather arrived at the small pack of lodgings around dawn.
"It's empty, I'm immediately suspicious. We need to leave." Charlie said robotically after they checked out the first cabin for people. Feather hesitated for a bit, touched the bandages on his chest an nodded.
'We should stop for food first. We're running out.' Feather signed before looking at a tumbleweed pass by. They entered the market, only some signs of a rush left. Charlie knelt down to inspect a red spot on the floor.
"I. . . Let's hurry up. Please." Charlie said, stuttering minimally, Feather nodded again and began packing essentials. Charlie tried to slip a bar of candy between the rations, Feather caught then and signed at them to put it back. Charlie sighed and put it back onto the shelf.

 

[Daniel Reaving]

Ariana and Jane had quickly became distracted by the room having wandered off a little bit together while the adults conversated. Soon though they heard the others talking about the two and wandered back to tho'mers side both gently taking a hand when they were gestured to follow as they went off with her. "Miss what were you guys talking about?" Ariana asked softly as she looked up to the tall being Jane also looking up for an answer as they walked at her sides. "Can you go save our mama and papa miss?" Jane asked after a second hopping to get the answer her and Ariana wanred

 

[JadeGreen17]

Feather and Charlie @ Logging Village

The red spot; was of course blood. Following the trail out of the general store there were only three drops. There was of course also a bit of blood on the corner of a shelf next to it, where the merchandise (Jars of jam, sauce, syrup and preserved food) was in a disarray. It wouldn't take an expert investigator to deduce that somebody had injured themselves on the shelf, briefly paused, then headed out the door in a hurry.

The village was unseemly quiet. All around them towering old-growth trees with trunks a meter wide at the base tightly hugged the edge of the logging camp on all sides, some of them only meters from the outermost cabins. A gentle breeze blew through the countless needles, causing the massive trees to sway and creak slightly, their narrow apexes swaying a meter or more just from the moderate breeze. It began to grow cloudy, as a light mist set in, blowing off the nearby river and the sun was blotted away; leaving the village lit diffusely in a haze.

The two were surrounded by a deafening silence; the only sound being that of their own breathing and the distant rushing of the river as the water gently rolled its way over the assorted bed of stones, the crisp water churning and bubbling as it flowed from the glaciers above. In this silence one could barely feel it; but there was a few moments rumbling deep below the ground, subtle; but it felt as though the entirety of the mountain were tensing up, preparing to erupt with violent force. The vibrations felt like they were moving; like vast titanic snakes burrowing about in cavernous passages deep within the mountain. As suddenly as this deep tremor started, it stopped, and the mountain seemed to groan and settle back into a restful state.

NineTimes

Ariana and Jane @ Western Temple

Tho'mer stopped at Jane's question. She figured it best not to inform the girls of their orders' duties. They had recently had a very traumatic experience with the Paladins, and surely informing them immediately that they were a part of a group that did much the same thing as the Paladins might just unsettle them further. After several seconds she nervously answered. "N-nothing. It was nothing that concerned you two."

The gray wolf turned her attention to a kitchenette area between the two rooms. She pulled some sugar, cocoa and milk from glass jars in the cover, and lit a small stone stove with a magical rune that gave off a deep reddish flame, setting the milk on it. At Ariana's question, she stopped one more and agian was forced to answer a hard question; one she did not like the potential outcomes of.

She pieced the story together from what she had heard. One of them was actually a spirit; and apparently the Paladins had caught on to this and planned to execute her. However the girls' parents sacrificed themselves so they could get away. Though Tho'mer was no expert on the Arcadian justice system, she knew that human criminals were often not punished as those they called Nex. There was always a chance they could be executed; the situation would be complicated and did involve them being in contact with a being the Arcadians would consider evil. But it seemed more likely to Tho'mer that they'd be deported from the city or jailed; this gave her hope.

She decided it best to answer openly. She could hardly bear the thought of seeing the two girls break into tears, but she couldn't bear the thought of lying to their faces either. "I don't think your mama and papa need to be saved... those Paladins wanted to catch you, not them, but you'll be safe here, just until things get sorted out." She finished nervously, concocting a scenario in her head in where she would request a seeker be used to find the girls' parents, and reunite them. "Now- I hope you two like Hot Cocoa." She said becoming more cheerful as she turned around holding a tray with two jars of hastily prepared cocoa on it. " Drink up and get to bed. We'll find out about your parents in the morning, okay?"

Daniel Reaving

 

[Epiphany]

Given access to her own room, with its wardrobe already containing outfits from every land, Emmaline selected...a grey farmer's blouse which she tucked into a dark homespun skirt. Beneath she wore a pair of leggings, less for warmth and more for modesty if battle arose and she needed to whip the skirt off to effectively fight. Over the outfit, she selected a travel cloak, complete with hood, to help shelter her from the elements she didn't feel...and from the one element she would.

"I see little point in wasting time," Emmaline said with a grim smile as she met up with Natevar. She nodded approvingly at his own choice of incognito costuming. "I still feel like myself, and I think that my thoughts are as they were. But I don't know how long that will last given my condition. I wish to make the best use I can of the time I have left."

She raised an eyebrow at his comment about sunlight...and paused. "I...don't know how I handle sunlight now! I haven't come into much contact with it since I perished." The vampire lifted the hood of her traveling cloak and arranged it so it cast a shadow over her face before tugging on a pair of work gloves. "I hope this will do."

Emmaline digested the news of going to Northwind, turning over her scant knowledge of the isolated nation-state and its Thorium production. Her concealing clothes would fit in there, even if she didn't feel the cold much anymore. "Anything you can tell us about our mission would be welcome. Otherwise, I'll follow your lead, sir."

As they traveled to the tesseract chamber, the ex-Paladin nodded at Natevar's explanation on Chakras. "Then the girls I saw are powerful...or at least have the potential to great power. Will you recruit them? I imagine left on their own, they may be easy prey for those seeking such power for their own ends...or they may grow to be dangerous on their own merits."

 

[NineTimes]

Charlie lost their balance easily at the sudden shaking, crashing into a shelf, bringing down a mountain of sweets on them. Feather grabbed onto a shelf to steady himself. The rumbling stopped and Charlie popped out of the mountain, chewing on a lollipop. Feather quickly took the lollipop and threw it into the corner before helping Charlie up. Charlie scoffed in indignation and stuffed a handful of candy in their pockets.
"This is scary. There's blood on the floor, a random earthquake, what next!?" Charlie shouted at literally no one, waving their arms in the air. Feather rolled his eyes and picked up a supply that had fallen. They paid the estimated amount and left.

The due walked outside into the mist, hardly being able to see anything. Feather pointed to a lodging and they entered, viewing the inside. It was pretty small, with a red carpeted floor, a bathroom to the right, a moose head above the fireplace, a bathroom to the right and a lone bed. Charlie took off their jacket, draped it over a chair, then turned into a cat to go an curl up on the bed's pillow. Feather set his bag beside the chair, and took his journal out. He gave a fond smile to the sleeping Charlie and began to write a small poem.

 

[JadeGreen17]

Emmaline's First Mission

"That should more than suffice." He responded, viewing Emmaline's outfit. Though... I don't think there's many farmers in Northwind.

As the two walked through the main chamber to the tesseract; the book of Trials still hovered above the chamber floor, casting its shadows in brilliant blues, greens and purples. The magical spotlight wavered around the room, wandering to Natevar, then to Emmaline then refocusing on a spot on the ceiling above the banister that led up into the wooden structure.

"Our mission- Is to get rid of a Jinx Elf. Let me tell you, if there ever was an incarnation of the being you call Nex; these little bastards would be it. They feed off of human suffering, but they're smart enough to know that seriously harming a person could get them discovered, so they settle for the little things. Tie your shoelaces together, sneak things precious to you and hide them in strange places, things like that. He'll be invisible, so we'll have to invoke the Blindfolded Man's magic to be able to see him. When we get to where he's at, just say

'I know in my presence, there is a Jinx Elf
now little fellow, reveal yourself.'

That will break his invisibility spell, for you at least, and he'll realize that and most likely make a break for it. If we can tag him with this (Natevar slid a large ornamental dreamcatcher from the front pocket of his jacket, with a large red gemstone below the webbing, displaying it just long enough for Emmaline to see what it was) we win. Ideally we do all of this without causing too much of a stir for people in the city."

Natevar stopped, already a good way down the passage after his lengthy explanation of the mission. He paused at the last question as he headed across the stepping stone bridge onto the rune.

"Those two? It ultimately depends upon what happens. If we can find their parents and reunite them, then most likely not. They're not of age. Perhaps when they turn 14, the Blindfolded Man will contact them again and offer them both full membership. Then again, Seigns is not of age, but he doesn't have a family to go home to.-

-Now then. As I told Marcus, these are Tesseract Runes. Alls you need to do is stand on it and one of us say 'Tesseractus', and it will take us to the tesseract hovel. From there we tesseract agian to Northwind. But heads up, first timers usually get a little woozy. Ready to give it a try? "

Epiphany

Daniel Reaving Hehehe all the npcs is still under the impression that Ariana and Jane are <14 years old.

Feather and Charlie get a Tree-at.

The cabin was quiet, and for a few moments the only sound was that of Feather's pencil scratching against the page of his journal. The mountain shook once more. The tremor was gentle, almost soothing and stopped shortly thereafter before. Suddenly the whole cabin shook and shrieked a deafening cry as timbers splintered and the building was thrust upwards by an ever expanding column of branches and green needles erupting from the floor.

The floor began to tilt, all the furniture sliding to one side of the house as the expanding column grew until about three quarters of the cabin became fully uprooted from the foundation rolling onto a wall while mostly maintaining its structural integrity. The remaining quarter continued upward with the expanding tree, the rafters of the roof and a window entangled in a stunted branch. Several knotty timbers from the lower parts of the wall on that quarter dropped away as the roof and rafters continued upwards.

The spectacle would have largely gone unnoticed by the two, but a tree was rising up before them in an odd manner; undergoing centuries of growth while simultaneously being thrust upward from the ground. Branches shredded dirt, but they also grew longer and thicker in the moments that followed.

The final result was a twelve story tall conifer standing triumphantly, bearing a trophy of the cabin it so violently conquered in the form of a roof section and windowed wall that it wore around a thick branch roughly halfway up like a ring. Shortly thereafter, the cheap nails that held the frame together gave way, and the wall and roof section plummeted twenty meters to the forest floor, where it shattered into a pile of scraps. The remaining portion of the cabin, Feather and Charlie dazed, but mostly unharmed, stood perpendicular to the ground on its end wall while a water pipe that had previously fed into the bathroom was now gushing onto the packed earth surrounding the cabin.

This shouldn't seriously injure your characters in any way unless you want it to. It's just a big surprise and makes a mess of things.

NineTimes

 

[Daniel Reaving]

The girls were quickly sag heartened by the Shewolfs responses to them but quickly pushed those thoughts away at the mention of hot cocoa. Hastily the girls both raised a hand and in unison said. "I do I do!!" Running over to the shewolf they gently reached up and took the big mugs both saying thank you to her before they started to drink the hot cocoa.

It didn't take for the girls to show signs of sleepiness once the hot cocoa was finished. Leaning against one another there eyes grew heavy causing them to run them every so often to try and stay awake. Accompanied by frequent yawns from the both of them they eventually gave in and looked to Tho'rmer. "Can we sleep with you?" Ariana asked in a soft tone as the two looked to tho'rmer for an answer

 

[JadeGreen17]

Tho'mer sighed as she set the dirty mugs aside on the counter, and picked each of the girls up, carrying them to the room she had prepared with the twin beds. She figured there would be no harm in sleeping with the two; after all in a few days, they would surely be back with their parents or in a new home, or sent off to the Eastern Temple, so there was no risk of this becoming... a regular thing. She carefully tucked them both neatly into the purple and gold silk blankets in the temple beds, before letting out a loud yawn herself; walking on all fours in a circle about the space between the bed and then flopping to the side on the wood planks in where she almost instantly drifted into sleep.

With that the temple fell quiet. The lightstone in the lantern above the room automatically dimmed, though the lightstones outside continued to glow, shining in through the shaded window; giving the illusion they were sleeping during the day. There was but the sound of the waterfall in the front cavern endlessly spilling itself into the pools below. A bird fluttered past the window. Somewhere upstairs was the gentle dink of a hammer, not loud enough to be disturbing but loud enough to be heard.

(Funny I thought I posted this reply... Good thing it autosaved.)

Daniel Reaving

 

[NineTimes]

Charlie had tried to grab onto Feather and the floor after unsuccessfully shifting back into humanoid form, maintaining a variety of catlike traits. Charlie and Feather fell onto the ground, Charlie landing arm first with a sickening crunch. Feather stood up quickly to face the tree at and picked Charlie up to carry the into another cabin, leaving them on the bed.

Feather looked around for an axe, finally finding one and walking up to the Tree-At, giving it and experimental tap with his index finger.

Charlie moaned in pain as they were picked up by Feather and dropped onto the bed. They watched as Feather left to get the axe extending their arm to the door before it closed.
"Wait. . ." They said before slipping into unconsciousness

 

[JadeGreen17]

Feather and Charlie @ Pinespider

The tree didn't respond to Feather's tap in the slightest. It didn't seem to be any different from a normal tree, for that matter. The bark was covered with chunks of packed dirt in places; to be expected after its rapid explosion from the earth. It was however, a meter wide at the base and felling it by hand, with a woodcutters axe would surely take days, if one were optimistic. Surely it would take some heavier machinery if Feather intended to remove the tree in any sort timely manner.

There was another small tremor, this one seemed to emanate from the ground behind Feather; the Lumber Mill. Two of the equipment garages had been left open. One contained a portable crane for hoisting logs onto barges in the river; though judging by the prominent boiler and missing wheels it was very old and had long since been decommissioned and scrapped for parts.

With the other garage, the town's naming of Pinespider suddenly started to make sense. Resting on a platform was a massive arachnid-esque vehicle; barely fitting even in the two story high garage. The machine would stand on four massive mechanical legs; suitable for the mountainous forested terrain where wheels or caterpillar tracks would likely fail. Two additional sets of limbs were mounted; one containing a large pair of claw like appendages for moving massive trees, while the other contained a pair of forward-set circular saws two meters around. The machine had seemingly at one point been painted a bright fire-truck red, but the paint was worn and dulled by dirt, time and chips that allowed rust to run freely over its hull. Its head was that of a glass cupola that could raise and lower to allow visibility of the work area, and its abdomen that of a massive block of diesel engines and hydraulics.

BTW Tree-at was just my attempt to make a really bad pun. XP.

 

[Daniel Reaving]

It didn't take long for the girls to fall asleep. Cuddling together in tho'rmers bed as they slept soundly not being disturbed by the small noises and lights that came from outside
(Sorry it's short don't know what to post)

 

[Epiphany]

"Farmer, laborer, peasant." Emmaline shrugged at Natevar's critique of her 'dressing down'. "I've never been to Northwind but surely they have a lower class. I'm sure people will go out of their way to avoid talking to me like this."

There was a reflexive stiffness to her comment, to the way she walked. Emmaline had been born to a family of some fame and note in Arcadia. She'd been bred and raised to be one the nation's preeminent Paladins, taking her place in history beside other famed warriors. Never once in all her life had she imagined she'd be reduced to wearing anything like this, even as a disguise. The very idea of needing a disguise was a sign of how completely off track her life had become.

Granted, her life was so far off track it'd lost sight of the road. Because she was dead. There was no return to what she'd been.

She watched the Book of Trials with interest as they passed before turning her full attention back to Natevar. Emmaline found his briefing...well, almost relaxing. It was nice to have a briefing again, to have a mission, orders, a purpose, an objective whose success or failure lay within her hands. The incantation was ridiculous of course but then magic was often nonsensical to her. It didn't need to make sense, it just needed to work.

Like the Tesseract.

"I can be discreet," she said to Natevar, reading between the lines of how he hoped this mission would go. "I can turn into a flock of bats to spy silently in the night, unnoticed by any. But even without my...powers," she said, grimacing over the word, "I'll avoid trouble if I can."

Emmaline accepted the explanation of the child and the Chakra spirit with a single nod. The Tesseract Runes were much more interesting now, given they lay before her. She glanced at Natevar and gave the older man a grim chuckle at his mention of getting 'woozy'.

"Try me."