Fantasy The Vermilion Dragon (Main Thread)

[Melon Bomb]

The Story

It is said that the ancient golden dragon Tianlong emerges from the heavens only once in a millennia, bestowing upon Laoa's worthiest hero the divine will. Centuries upon centuries of long-winded strife between the four warring nations culminated with a decisive victory led by legendary swordsman Ia, who in a shocking move splintered and single-handedly defeated all four generals in direct combat. With this, he decreed a new edict to the people of Laoa: A great migration, half of the population of each territory would rotate, from ally to enemy, from enemy to ally. With such measures in place, they would find it difficult to enact war against their own brethren - and to estrange the new pilgrims in their land would mean that they must also be prepared to forsake their own kin, sent off beyond the borders.

The golden dragon Tianlong applauded Ia's strength and his cunning, descending in a sea of golden light and blessing the great hero with divine power.

But, every story has a twist. In what could only be described as an act of madness, Ia drew his blade and slew the dragon immediately after receiving his power. From there, he boldly declared a new ordinance: To follow under his rule, or perish. Fearful of his newfound abilities, citizens flocked under his supposed. . . protection, establishing the Holy Dragon Empire, Tiansheng - an empire that spiked directly into the center of all four borders of the once conflicted nations in confidence of its superiority.

Now, new heroes must arise to end the tyranny of the Mad Emperor before all of Laoa bends to his will.

- - -​

 

[Melon Bomb]

Village of Mashu, Baiu, 1517

-

Under the blistering afternoon heat waves, the awnings came down like clockwork and passing faces were hidden under wide-brimmed straw hats. The streets were busier than usual, but not by much.
Subtle like a river's breeze, word blew into town that the mayor was hiring a lot of extra muscle for some ill-defined job - most were already wise to it and skirted around the village's volley of red flags.
The foolhardy ones, or perhaps the less informed adventurers, swept in looking for work.

And others. . . had their own problems.

Momo kicked open the tavern doors, snapping out her fan as she was hit with summer's sweltering rays. Behind her, Kai carried her swords, her bags, and probably any sense of humility she had left, too.
"It's too damn hot," she complained, purposely angling the fan so that none of the cooling wind would reach her sweating bodyguard. "Ah, it's so hot!"

"I ain't your pack mule, you know," Kai grumbled, shuffling past a giggling couple walking arm-in-arm. Momo snapped her fan shut and spun around on her heel, jabbing the paper folds into his nose.

"If you want to get paid, you will be," she retorted smugly, satisfied when the larger man limited his reply to a sarcastic roll of the eyes. Slowly but surely, the duo continued to follow the dusty roads, making a conscious effort to hug the shades hanging over the stores. "And once I kick your useless behind back onto the streets, I'll have a way better bodyguard, who's way stronger, way hotter, and-"
The young woman paused again, glancing back and clapping her fan over her shoulder as she mockingly gave the man a once over. ". . . way less tacky."

"It's not tacky!" he protested, tugging on his coat collar for her to see. "These are traditional Qinlan raiments-"

"Who asked you?" she yawned, dismissing him with a lazy wave as she began walking again. Kai could feel a vein pop in his forehead but stewed silently, keeping his tongue to himself. Short-lived as it was, she was still his employer right now. He wasn't about to fumble his check over a snappy comeback.

"Anyway, how are you going to look for a new bodyguard, exactly?" Kai asked, wisely changing the subject. "Don't tell me. . ."

"You know about the job postings," Momo said. "The people running this village are looking for meat shields, one of em's bound to be pretty good."

"You're a filthy scavenger," he sighed, shaking his head.

In front of the village hall, Momo plopped down on a bench beneath the cover of a willowy maple, folding one leg over another and keeping her hand fanning herself. She watched, interested to see what curious faces would appear, or what unexpected events may unfold. . .

-

Skyflash Chachalotte Berries LostHaven KindlyPlagueDoctor Gl!tc_H Killerclown

 

[LostHaven]

Akane Hiromi
Village of Mashu

The sun was absolutely merciless, even Akane couldn't deny that. Even despite the heat, the Kitsune skipped down the roads, with no regard for the heat. Ice sorcery had its uses other than freezing people to death. Many people glanced around at Akane, either due to the fact that there was a hot girl bouncing around, or because Akane somehow wasn't sweating fountains. Mainly because there's a hot girl. Or both. For all she was concerned, Akane couldn't careless about what the reasons were. She was the type of person who didn't really mind too much if somebody was staring at her rear. Humming, she made her merry way toward the village hall.

The mayor of this particular village had been looking for bodyguards for some mission that had been vaguely described. On her way to the village, many more experienced adventurers had warned Akane to steer clear of whatever job this mayor was offering. Maybe they didn't want to see her die? To be honest, Akane didn't really mind if the mission was perilous. She just wanted to have a little bit of fun. Taking ordinary jobs gets a little bit boring after a while, after all.

Akane stopped in front of the village hall, and scanned around for any interesting people. The group Akane had been traveling with expressed that they had no interest in taking the job, and despite their advice, the kitsune still waved her goodbyes and went off the Mashu Village anyways. Looking around, Akane saw a girl, around her twenties sitting on a bench fanning herself, while a grumpy looking man stood behind her. The man appeared much older than the woman, ruling out (for the most part) them being a couple. She assumed the taller man was an adventurer or something hired by the girl, since he appeared to be carrying all the girl's bag as well. Plopping down on the seat next to the girl, Akane greeted her rather enthusiastically, like Akane was friends with this girl. "Heya! I'm Akane. Are you taking the mayor's job too? And why is that old man there so grumpy?" She asked, pointing her thumb behind her at Kai.

Melon Bomb Gl!tc_H

 

[Gl!tc_H]

Oura Kirishima
Village of Mashu

Despite the murderous heat wave, Oura dragged himself outside the of shade he looked behind him. His tail was soaked it was literally dripping with sweat.

Oura sighed: "great! Just great" despite his fire magic powers he is still sweating a lot.

Now all he wants to do is to quickly find a job and get it over with. Oura strolled the streets, everyone was staring at him, no one has seen any body sweating that much, whelp the main reason probably was because of his tail slowly he dragged himself to the village town hall. he over heard murmur about that the mayor of the village was hiring body guards, he went around to the local population asking the villagers if they can give him more detail. Most of them did not even know about the quest, but those who have known about it did not have the actual details for the quest. many did not advise Oura to go. Oura on the other hand was excited, he liked unknowns and surprises. Thus finally after 10 years of dull and rigorous training Oura was craving for some action and a real adventure.

He went up to the notice board to look for anyone else who is doing the quest, right as he was going there his eye caught something odd, there it was another kitsune sitting next to another lady with some body guard. Strangely the kitsune's tail was dry and she happens to not be sweating at all.

"Yo are you guys going for the quest as well? and why aren't you sweating like there no tomorrow.

Gl!tc_H LostHaven Melon Bomb

 

[Chachalotte]

Chen

The boy went toward the busy street with a hood, glancing back and forth. He had a flask full of juices and he didn't hesitate to drink, cleaning his mouth with his elbow.

Great. With all these people, I won't have any problem with sneaking around.

He thought before playing with a stick, holding a piece of paper. It was precious, the offer from a mayor he couldn't refuse. The price was probably going to be extremely rewarding and he needed cash for someone that was special to him. Even without his juices, he was used to hot or cold weather from where he was. His path finally reached its end, the village hall. His eyes pierced at everyone around the bench, closely. They probably will take time before noticing he was there, his footsteps were hard to hear, almost like a shadow moving.

A grandpa, a girl, a woman without much cleavages and a Kitsune were the first nicknames given in his mind before he lied on the wall of the hall. He crossed his arms and waited for the next outcome, keeping an eye while listening to the conversation at the bench, quietly. There weren't many persons, they probably were feared by the mayor offer, but whatever. He had to do it. He started to take a coin from his pocket, toying with it by throwing it into the air.

Gl!tc_H LostHaven Melon Bomb

 

[Skyflash]

Linyi
She'd heard a rumor floating around that the mayor of a town in Baihu was recruiting hands for a certain job. Curiosity, longing for some adventure, anx the desire to see the world before the Tiansheng came, took her from her home all the way back in Xanwu and she wasn't that far away from Mashu when she heard the rumor. Half-drunk she stumbled through the streets of Mashu, using her guandao as a makeshift walking stick.

"'The mayor is hirin' for some job.'" She mumbled to herself. "'Must be something shady if he's not givin' much information'. Yeah that's great and all. But why must it be so damn hot." The oni took her sake-filled gourd and drank from it, the cool liquid helping alleviate some of the heat. After some aimless walking she finally found the board where apparently everybody and their dog was staying.

Scanning the crowd she saw a small girl, a rather old grouchy looking man being her, an energetic kitsune, and a man somewhat further away in the shade. Wanting to check the board but wanting to get out of the heat more, she shuffled over to a nearby building and sat in the shadow it casted, leaning her weapon against the wall, cradling it in her shoulder. "Ugh, it seems everybody god the memo about this job huh?" She said to nobody in particular, taking a gulp from the gourd in her hand, absently staring towards the group at the bench.