[System]
art by the magnificent Tervola
Abstract: A masked Traveller with a permanent grin

Detail:
When Spook stands still and quiet, he is a most menacing figure: the mask and hood and well-used sword give passersby good reason to avoid crossing his path. He looks like something that might spend his free time summoning dark hellions or snatching children in the night.

This, according to the Travellers who know him, is a hilarious idea. The very thought of Spook doing something as productive as summoning a beast of any kind is simply ridiculous. Spook is best known for being cheap, for his endless sense of humor, and for taking nothing at all seriously. He couldn't pretend to be evil if his life depended on it.

The Travellers have asked him why he knows the rare magic runes of the Magi. They've asked him how he learned to fight so well when he barely had the discipline to stand up straight. They've tried, time and time again, to see what he was hiding under that mask -- but to this day none have succeeded.

[User]
The view through the magus lens presented Meryn with the following scene:

Alex, poised for another jab at the Traveler, was positively radiating yellow and red spirals that flickered and spun and whirred all around him. He wore his heart on his sleeve and perhaps loved too much; the forms that surrounded him were hostile toward Spook and protective of the felidrakes and of his fellow cityfolk.

Emma's dreams were blue and green and white, except for dark spots like bruises that marked them; they flitted and pulsed like fireflies in the air around her, changing color, faltering only occasionally. At the moment they were spinning and sparking, alarmed that a child was missing. A few of them even moved forward ahead of Emma, as if to check around the trees for Lux's presence.

Lily's dreams were steely pink and deep blue, angled and deliberate and a bit fuzzy; they clung to her shoulders and sat on her head like wise little angels. At the moment their little wings were outstretched, angered and holding their ground. There was a sense that they had suffered a great loss, but remained bright through sheer determination.

Kelsier's dreams were jet black, sharp as knives and shimmered like oil. They hovered over his shoulders obediently, and they moved in flashes. There was something organic at the center of those jagged edges -- something that seemed to always be watching, maybe even hoping. It glowed slightly orange, flickering in and out.

Spook was . . . empty. Where everyone else was a tumult of motion and color, Spook stood calm and serene and void of any hint of a dream.

"Why are you here?" Spook went on. He lowered the cage and tipped his masked head at Alex. "You're bored?" He glanced toward Emma. "Running away from something?" To Kelsier, "Looking for something?" To Lily, "Or maybe there's just nothing left for you back there." His grinning voice matched the mask's smile.

"This is how all Travellers start: alone, unsatisfied, scared, determined. At first it's a field trip, the wonders of the forest and the discovery of magic and freedom. Then you make decisions." He held the cage over the void again for a moment, then thought better of it and instead shoved the cage into Alex's arms. With a scuff of his boot he broke one of the lines of the sigil, and the portal vanished without a trace.

"If there's anyone back in that city that you'd like to keep safe, you'll come with me -- because this disease has already claimed half the surrounding cities, and I'm here to make sure Enn doesn't become one of them." He gestured to the cage in Alex's hands. "If that starts to look or act strange, bring it to me immediately."

He wasn't smiling anymore.

[Assistant] "If there's anyone back in that city that you'd like to keep safe, you'll come with me -- because this disease has already claimed half the surrounding cities, and I'm here to make sure Enn doesn't become one of them." He gave the cage to me. "If that starts to look or act strange, bring it to me immediately." Spook said. I was stunned. He just changed in an instant. This disease had taken half the cities around us? I looked at the Felidrake. I started checking it, mainly to see if it was hurt, but it didn't seem to be. No disease seemed to have taken it either. Hopefully it would stay that way. I used a spare strap on my rucksack to tie the cage to it. "What about the others?" I asked, to no-one in particular. "How are we going to move them?"

[User]
When Meryn peered through the magus lens to see the scene below, she felt her breath stop in her chest. It was just a tiny moment, a pause in her heartbeat as her lips parted. And then time hiccuped back into place and the air in her lungs released. Seeing her companions' dreams… they were beautiful, each of them. They fit so well, and yet all seemed to catch her off guard as Meryn saw them glisten in the air. It felt… intimate. Almost intrusive, as though she had no right to witness things so personal and unique. And yet Meryn was still endlessly grateful for the opportunity. She took her time, cataloguing each one.

Alex's explosive passion, Emma's quiet tenderness, Lily's rich maturity, Kelsier's measured focus, and Spook's… nothing. Her eyebrows pulled together at that. Where were the Traveller's dreams? He had to have at least one, didn't he? New questions piled on top of old ones Meryn had already collected concerning their mysterious guide. Was it because of those runes stained across his skin? His mask? What if he was something… else? Something unseeable by the magus lens? Meryn's face pinched more in concentration as she pulled the trinket away from her face.

She looked again down at the scene, now devoid of the fantastical manifestations. Meryn was too far away to hear what they were saying, and the only one facing in her direction was Spook. His mask gave her no clue as to what was being discussed. But she watched the body language change, saw how the mood so subtly tensed. Alex had stopped throwing punches, at least.

Meryn forced herself to her feet, grimacing at the pain but otherwise ignoring it. She glanced over her shoulder at the bird. Her head bobbed in thanks and a small, crooked smile appeared on her face. Then she scooped up the annoyed felidrake – claws and all – and plodded back down the hill. She'd spent long enough perched up there. Best to get back to the group. Slipping the magus lens in her bag, she listened to the muffled sounds of the bell under her jacket.

She reached the group as Spook finished his ominous speech, coming to stand a bit behind Lily. What had he said? Something about a disease? Meryn's eyebrows pulled together again and she glanced from Alex to the caged felidrake and back to Spook. Then she looked down at the lethargic creature in her hands.

Now, Meryn didn't trust Spook as far as she could throw him. Not since he'd remained an enigma to the magus lens, and certainly not since that stunt with the serpent monster. But if he knew more about this disease that was threatening Enn, then it seemed wise to defer to him. She gave a short whistle from her spot behind the group to get his attention. Though of course, it was impossible to tell behind that mask of his. Her eyes were narrowed a bit as she focused on him, still trying to figure out who he was underneath everything else. She raised the felidrake a bit in a silent question.

[Assistant]
The moment Spook explained the epidemic that had apparently spread to these felidrakes, Lily's let loose a long-suffering sigh. For just a moment, she sagged, her head bowing between her shoulders—and then she was standing and brushing off her hands, fast enough the moment of exhaustion might have just been a trick of the light, shoulders back and chin high.

"Thank you, Spook," she said pleasantly, turning away with one last glance at the innocently grassy earth where the magic circle had lain just moments before. She planted her hands on her hips, nodding to the Traveller. "It is quite nice to know what's going on, for once. However, it's also nice to give the little critters a chance, no?" Personally, once the full scope of the problem was revealed, Lily was more willing to listen to Spook, as long as he had a good reason—the felidrakes were cute, but a handful of beasts was nothing compared to cities full of fathers and daughters and aunts and grandmothers.

Lily moved briskly to grab her pack from where she'd set it when Spook called for volunteers at the circle, resettling it on her shoulders and giving one last brush off to her knees. She was quiet—her movements signified her deferral to Spook's leadership well enough, and anyway, she didn't trust herself to speak further for now.

If the surrounding cities had been wiped out by disease, what had happened to her sisters?


[System]
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Appearance:

Personality: Completely self-serving, anarchic and vain, Chloe seems to go where she wants, when she wants to go there, and not a minute sooner. She allies herself with anybody who seeks to overthrow the current power structure, no matter their motives or methods, and when the a revolution she was aiding succeeds, she rises up with the next group of insurgents. She has a constant lackadaisical attitude that annoys the people around her, as though she doesn't care who they are or why they're around in the first place. Whatever is going on in her head is more important to her than her interpersonal relationships, and she barely seems to remember other peoples' names.

Bio: Chloe was born into a poor family on the wrong side of the tracks. Their house was constantly getting broken into and robbed, and it wasn't uncommon for her to watch her father literally fight to take back their home from squatters and gangs. This was how she spent the first ten years of her life. However, in her tenth year of life, even this routine was uprooted and taken from her, as she and her family were seized by a small upstart gang, beaten, and put to work by them. Chloe never saw her father again after that day. She and her mother lived an uneasy life, essentially as slaves for this random gang of thugs with very little power, but there was nothing that she and her mother could do, because they were powerless.

On the day she met the incubator, there was no convincing that needed to happen, no goading or talks. She had a wish that she would go to any lengths to fulfill.

At present, she is known to support rebellions in any form. In Aurora, she has chosen to ally herself with the Shadow Compact, since she likes the way they do business. Most people question why a magical girl would ally herself with humans to overthrow magical girl superiority, but she has never mentioned her motives even once to anybody. She enjoys living a hedonistic life without any ties to other people and without any particular direction, and she has no true friends to speak of, though she has uneasy allies and very loose acquaintances. Chloe's been at this magical girl thing for quite a while now and seems to enjoy the rhythm of it. While she knows that one day it has to end, focusing on the present is what brings her joy.

Allegiance: Shadow Compact. While uneasy, she has formed a sort of partnership with the Shadow Compact. She has power, and seems hell-bent on overthrowing the rule of the current magical girl system for some reason. Many in the organisation don't like her involvement, but even they can't argue with her results in the face of their own relative powerlessness.

Skills: Chloe is physically strong from all of the non-magical fighting she engages in, and the constant labour work that she never quite managed to separate herself from. Even when not powered up by magic, she is stronger than most girls her age and can hold her own against an adult in a fight. If you asked anybody else, the rest of her skillset would consist of annoying people and being mysterious.
Weapons: Brass knuckles
Other: Chloe isn't very quick to make friends for obvious reasons, but that doesn't necessarily mean she wants to be that way...

Magical Girl Appearance:

Wish: It's not known to the public.
Weapons: Power Fists, great for hand to hand combat, blocking heavy attacks, and general wanton destruction.
Powers: Obviously something to do with her unknown wish, but this is also unknown.

[User] Mistake, please ignore.

[Assistant]
While Maria did expect some kind of reactionary action or word from Eponine once the rogue left, she didn't expect that. She must have also kept a pent up anger inside her during the entire duration of the meeting, which was understandable given her newly-met acquaintance. While in a normal situation she would have scolded her of acting so violently inside the house and demanded she would go hunt some witch seeds or otherwise recompense, there was a more pressing subject at hand. Besides, she was also close to throwing her tea cup at the wall at some parts of the conversation.

Did she bite her tongue? She is not as devoid of emotion as I assumed of her, then.

"I will be lenient this time and forgive you for your act of transgression," Maria said. At this point, she didn't mind if the entire mansion crumbled, since she would be moving up into a much better building soon.
"But there is something that troubles you. Could it be related to the discussion I had with the rogue? You seemed uncomfortable during it."

[User] "Your clemency is more than I deserve," Eponine replied. When Maria asked what was troubling her, Eponine looked away for a bit, then looked back, "My lady spoke of rebelling against the queen and conspiring with Shadow Compact. With all due respect, that is an act of treason. Ever since you took me on as your knight, I have served you and Aurora with utmost loyalty to preserve our fragile peace and the rule of law. Given your position ad rule, I never suspected you would harbor such thoughts. I am...conflicted. To you I owe much, but how much of what I owe you do I also owe to Aurora and the order it symbolizes?"

[Assistant]
Maria's voice turned pleasing and comforting as she spoke.

"Oh Eponine, I understand how you feel," she said, and with her magic, slowly rose into the the air from her wheelchair. She floated slowly towards Eponine and then around her like an angel without wings. " But I must take this drastic measure to preserve peace in Aurora. Alexandra is too vacuous to rule her. She simply twiddles her thumbs and acts like a figurehead while the neighboring cities and nations gain in warriors and land, ultimately bringing war and suffering to Aurora and its people too. Were I to become queen, I would bring order to Aurora and all of those lands, until the entire world is in eternal peace and rest.

She now stopped and caressed her cheek as she floated before her. "Don't you remember the dream we had, my dear Eponine?" She then whispered into her ear:

"A world of absolute order. We can achieve that, you need only to believe in me and we will have it, together."

[User]
Something clicked in Alice's mind telling her to stop what she was doing. Her head started to hurt a bit but Alice pretended it was nothing so that Violetta did not notice it. She was about ready to activate her scythe when the pain started getting worst. She moved her hand away from her necklace and the pain started to subside.
Just what was that? It was like...I was trying to stop myself. That's right. This can be solved peacefully. All I need to do is lead her to that abandoned lab. If anything happens, then I will activate scythe...yes, I will do that

Alice took a deep breath in and let it out to calm herself down. If I had activated my scythe, it would to a battle which can be avoided. There was no need for pointless violence. Alice recalled her dislike for pointless violence and scolded herself for giving in too early to her thirst for battle. However, she would just remain transformed in case she needed to bail quickly as she knew Violetta was probably not alone and her allies could just come rushing in with just a call from her cellphone. Alice then giggled at the other girl for admitting herself being a dog of the Authority. The other girl had a sense of humour...maybe there was no need for a fight...maybe. Alice then crossed her arms.

"Since I'm a such a good citizen, I will help you fulfil your role as a government dog by leading you to something I found some days ago. It was something I never seen before. The place was deserted when I found it so I'm not sure if its what you are looking for. Follow me if you want to check it for yourself."

Alice then jumped onto a building roof. She looked down at Violetta.
"We will take the scenic route aka jumping over rooftops."
She then went on her way to the place she found the lab.

[Assistant]
Well. That was anticlimactic. Violetta had something on the order of fifteen battle plans and was already working on the sixteenth, most of which involved abusing her powers for fun and profit and stalling until her reinforcements arrived. But to win without fighting was the greatest victory, and the girl had decided to come quietly, after all. What was the term again? "Help the Valkyries with their inquiries?" Violetta idly scratched at herself with the tip of her flamethrower, and took a few leaps up the building. The concrete bent and left footprints for her as she passed by it. If she'd wanted to, and didn't care about leaving a trail, she could've walked up the wall. But she took leaps up, perching on windowsills and glazing bars, careful not to use too much of the supernatural power that fueled most magical girls.

Up above, the air was smoky, and almost dingier then the floor. A billion fumes and gases leaked out here, before mixing in with the wind and drifting somewhere far away where they could cause some other natural disaster. She dismissed her weapon, out of fear that it might start a chemical fire, and turned to her companion. For now, she seemed... Accepting. She'd guessed that the whole "anti-authoritarian" palaver had worked. The only girls who survived for long were lone wolves, and people like that were easier to manipulate. All you needed to do was convince them that what you wanted them to do was somehow hurting da man. Even if da man said that, they bought it. And in this case, da man was one Crown princess Alexandria Hertz.

"Well?" She began, once she'd caught up. "Lead the way, Missus...?"

[User]
book of bad juju

Alice nodded and led the way.She had purposely chosen the 'jumping on rooftops' route as it would take a longer time to get to the site. She would get there faster on the ground since she was familiar with the roads and knew certain short cuts. However, she wanted to talk to Violetta and Alice knew once the both of them reached the site, Violetta would be too busy snooping around to have a decent talk. The talk they had before could not be considered as one since it was more like a showdown with words which could have escalated to fight. While still jumping and running along the building rooftops, Alice turned to the blonde girl.

"So...what's your story, Violetta? Why are you with the Authority and a magical girl?"

It was just a simple question to start the conversation. Eventually, Alice would ask Violetta a question related to her true goal of co-existence. She needed to see if the other girl would at least open up a little so she could guess where she stood. If Violetta was opposed to the idea of co-existing with the normals, then Alice would have to decide to finish her off or not at the lab. However, Alice would rather not resort to that.

"Sorry, if I suddenly asked. It's just been a while since I met another magical girl....you know...yeah."

[Assistant]
Half a dozen alarm bells went off in Violetta's head as the other girl chose that moment on the rooftops to start a conversation. It would've been so much easier to use the streets, where the wind didn't get in your ears and make you miss half the conversation. Why had she decided to talk then? Was this a trap? There was no real way out of it, she realized, without talking about herself. And she wanted to avoid that at all costs, but the alternative was offending a teenage girl whose petty doubts and worries were amplified with alien science from the far future. Whatever happened wouldn't be solved with a heart-to-heart on the opposite sides of a bathroom stall, not here. But between the devil and the deep blue sea, the only real option she had was to be as vague as possible. She stepped on an old brick chimmeny, on the face of it to gather her thoughts, and pushed away again.

"My parents died when I was pretty young, around when I contracted." That seemed vague enough. No reason to tell her the whole truth, after all. "And they always said I had relatives in Germany. After that, I just kinda tried to find myself, y'know?" With any luck, she didn't. "And then I got something useful where I can be ignored 'till I fall into despair."

She paused, circling an old antenna dish, and went on.

"What about you, mystery girl? You haven't even told me who you are. The authority might even have a file on you."


[System]
Nickname(Optional): Pfft, no.
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Physical Appearance: Of Average build with short dark hair, Neil isn't exactly the most unique specimen. He is fit but not noticeably so. He isn't big at all, but he is also not small. He has a face girls can find cute, but not exactly dreamy. Tanned skin and a ruddy complexion from all of the machine's he's worked on, coupled with the calluses on his hands gives him an experienced look despite the very youthful appearance he has. All in all, other than the twinkling of his eyes and the trademark grin, he is essentially average. He has dark eyes and very dark brown hair, enough to be considered black under most light. He's about 5'10 and 165 pounds.
Clothing: He often wears baggy pants, mostly military cargo. He likes to wear single colored T-Shirts. Usually he wears red.
Personality: Oh, now that is a question. To say Neil is eccentric is...well, that hits the nail on the head. Very good with hand-eye coordination, competent combatant, good engineer, and a daring pilot. But prone to sarcasm, snide remarks, unorthodox behavior, and just good old fashioned explosions. He's a born jokester, though behind his charming yet insufferable demeanor belies a certain intelligence, and to those he enjoys, he does tend to have a big heart.

[User]
Alexander shook from lasting fear, his tousled hair disheveled and whipped to the left from the forceful removal of the aircar. But as the reality of his life remaining donned on him, he let out a rattled breath, and an anger returned to his visage. "You..." he seethed between his teeth, his blue eyes fixed on Junebug. "You insolent-" A foot appeared where his jaw had been, and the royal's neck snapped back, followed by the rest of his body as the unconscious captive fell over. Neil clapped his hands off, satisfied with his handiwork at silencing the man.

"Eat it bitch." Neil spat, grinning, seemingly engrossed in his own world. The pilot turned to Junebug a moment later. "Why didn't you shoot him?" Neil took the shotgun and hefted it, aiming at Alexander, only for it to audibly click once more. "Why didn't y-oh." He turned the comm back on, only to hear Aiden speaking tersely and harsh to Junebug.

"Bring him to me, and we will speak of this later." His voice cut out, to be replaced by Taya's more soft, sympathetic voice. You could almost hear her strained smile. "I got the camera's working again, you probably figured out. I also unaltered the footage from earlier...good job team?"

Neil absorbed all of the information, and nodded after it dawned on him what had just transpired. "Oooooh."

---

The following hours were filled with shouting and aimed guns, as the Prince and his party first fled the opulent wing of Alexander and made their toward the first station of guards they had found, being swiftly inducted into custody while the royal officials of Dar'mond reviewed the tape and gave the footage a metric scan and a full diagnostic. It was only by the will of Aiden's mother the Queen, and the fact they had given themselves over willingly that the officials had even bothered listening to them. That and, the famed cult status the Highlander crew had gained in their brief time on the planet.

Prince Aiden had been cordoned off by the Dar'mond Planetary Defense Department, and after hours of sitting in a cell, Junebug, Neil, and Taya had been set free and escorted under arms to their quarters. The guard that accompanied them to their rooms were decked out in Daristeel plate and carried the latest plasma rifles, embroidered with gold and bronze filigree and enhanced sights along the base of the barrel. Neil had to admit they were fine looking weapons, and judging the power cells, they could even be used in a light anti-tank fashion.

They didn't deign to speak with the crew, however. The doors had simply been shut behind them. However, the group did not even have time to get undressed when the doors were reopened. Taya sighed heavily, deciding not to even give a curtsy to whoever was coming to greet them. As the gateway opened, Ranald stepped through with that looked like a portable vidcaster ledger, his smile meeting his eyes. "Well, I suppose the heroes of Dar'mond have found themselves out of the noose yet again." He said, albeit somewhat sadly, oddly enough.

"Here is the invitation for tomorrow's coronation. It has not been officially announced yet, but the Prince insists the planet gets it over with. I feel as if this ordeal has taxed him."

He placed the invitation in Junebug's hands. "Oh and..." Ranald bared his teeth as if he was about to do something unpleasant. "I am afraid, Captain Cykali, that the Prince has decided that he shan't attend with a date. But he looks forward to seeing you and your friends." There was a small uncomfortable silence, and Ranald clapped his hands to banish the quiet. "Well, you deserve your rest. You will be celebrated and rewarded come the morning...and you have my personal thanks for clearing the Prince's name."

With a bow, he escorted himself out. Taya was already asleep on the lush couch, having not heard the brunt of the man's message. Neil unloosened his collar, grimacing at the suit as if it was personally offending him. "Well...I'd hate to pass up free food, but maybe we should just go." Neil said, then realized what he was suggesting. Junebug's bewildered look showed her surprise at him giving up treasures and prizes.

"You're right, you're right." He said, and placed a hand on his hips as he looked around. His sleeves rolled up and his collar unbuttoned, he would only need a cigarette and Neil would look the part of a scruffy, fetching noire character. He went over to the bar and his delighted "oooooo" revealed that they had restocked the bar yet again. He tossed Junebug her favored whiskey poison, and took up a second bottle for himself.

"So when do we tell Taya?" Sayeeda asked, swilling her bottle, tipping its butt into the air.

"Let's surprise her in the morning." Neil grinned, and tapped his bottle into hers as he took a large gulp as well. He sighed audibly, and a thought popped into his head not moments later. "Since we're going tomorrow, wanna be my date?"
Though it was a serious question, Neil fluttered his lashes.

[Assistant]
Sayeeda laughed in spite of herself and clinked her bottle against Neil's. The glass tonked unmusically but she didn't let that stop her from taking a mouthful of the smoky liquor. Neil might have had a point, the fancy of aristocrats was nothing to play with. Granted Aiden didn't seem the sort to have them all impaled on a whim but… well they had risked enough they deserved to get paid.

"It is a date," she declared with a throaty chuckle. And may the stars save us if it goes sideways she added mentally.

It seemed that the red carpet that the Highlander's crew had previously enjoyed was well and truly rolled up. When they arose the next morning they found that while the doors were unlocked armed guards politely but firmly turned them back to their quarters. They were able to establish contact with Lonney, who to Sayeeda's horror, seemed to be developing a taste for the news feeds. Somehow, and she had her suspicions, footage of last nights events had been leaked to the press. The prevailing narrative seemed to be that while Alexander had tried to usurp his brother, most of the death could be chalked up to the 'foreign killers' who Aiden had generously, but foolishly, bought to Dar'mond.

"Nice," Neil griped, "we save his ass and now this." Sayeeda could only shake her head. That was the way it was sometimes. Politicians needed mercenaries but they were rarely welcome once the cold calculus of victory started to grind away. If nothing else they were a reminder that where one regime could be toppled by hired guns, so could another.

"I'm just mad I missed my chance to be swept off my feet by prince charming," Sayeeda grumbled mostly in jest.

"You just make a terrible damsel in distress," Taya observed, swiveling in her plush leather chair to face Neil and Sayeeda as they sat at the table playing cards for the few small denomination credit chips they had.

"Plus I don't think Aiden is much of a dashing Prince. I mean he says all the right things but you should have seen him last night. He was terrified," Taya disagreed. Sayeeda snorted as Neil took the pot with a particularly unlikely play, she peered suspiciously at her cards.

"That makes him human, only an idiot wouldn't have been afraid," Sayeeda declared, tossing a card half heartedly into the play area. Taya arched an eyebrow.

"You two didn't seem afraid, I wasn't or I mean not totally terrified," she protested. Junebug grinned without humor.

"Maybe we are just dumber than we look?"

House arrest aside the day progressed more or less as normal. Instead of travelling to the Royal Seamstress the entire department came to their room, dividing the space up with mobile partitions so they could be dressed appropriately. Sayeeda strenuously overrode every attempt at a traditional court dress, settling instead for a black top made of a leather like material and accented with gold. The thing had a breastplate like appearance and pinned over only one of her shoulders leaving the right side of her from throat to armpit, with a generous scallop of bosom, bare. For her lower extremities she selected a black on black slashed skirt that fell nearly to the ground and long leather boots of matte black leather with high but sturdy heels. Around her waist she hung an intricate belt of woven gold strands which gathered and expanded from a central clasp consisting of a gold rimmed saphire the size of a lemon. At the right hand side of the belt hung a platinum chased holster which held a unadorned 20 mm pistol. The choice to go armed horrified the dress makers but they lacked the authority to prevent it. Her hair she wore pinned up on one side, held in place by long pins of polishe electrums, accented with small sapphires. As a final touch she added a small pin to the shoulder clasp of her top. It was a small shield bearing a raptor spreading its wings, dark blue against a silver field the formal sigil of Andor's Armored. Over the bird stood two golden captains bars in simple bas-relief.

Most of the clothing was run up by computerized fabrication units and sophisticated material printers, though the final tailoring was done by the team of clucking women, each eager to put their own stamp on the project. Junebug looked into the mirror with satisfaction as the final laces were pulled tight on the corset like breastplate. The effect was almost ascetically slimming and pleasing to her eye. Maybe there was something she would miss about this place afterall, she never looked this good in her pt gear.

"Are you ready Neil or are you going to primp all evening?"


[System]
Age:33

Gender:male

Rank(Disciple, Master, Bully, ECT):Master

Martial Arts Style(Unless you're a disciple):Chinese kempo

Gang Affiliation(If any):

Looks:

Height:6'2"

Backstory:One day, while Rekin was walking home from school (He was 18) he heard a scream come from a alley way. He was hesitant but he ran to see the source when he turned the corner and saw one of his friends getting mugged by a man with a knife! He saw the attacker was about to attack so without thinking he got in front of the woman to block the attack, but instead he lost his eye and got stabbed in the stomach soon falling to the ground but before he blacked out he saw a tall figure behind the mugger. When he woke up he was in the house of a old Chinese kempo master with his wounds patched up, so he decided to learn a thing or two. But a 10 years later the old man died so Rekin left and found the dojo where he continued his studies.

Crush(If any):open I guess

Personality:very serious but can still be sarcastic every once in a while, constantly putting the lives of his students in danger, and he would put his life on the line for other people.

Other:Hello, I'm a potato and I love it.

[User] Rekin jumped over the wall of the dojo landing next to Kiro "I'm a docter." The man said, as he examined Kiro "Don't worry boy this won't hurt at all." the master lied as he rolled Kiro over and hit the back of his neck with his elbow "Here we are, all better." he said, slightly mad that no one told him they had a new student.

[Assistant]
Bakusa looked up from his training, as he heard Kiro collapse. He smirked. 'I see, he hit the chin just right to send the kid's head spinning in circles. The trauma fired too many neurotransmitters at once to overload his nervous system, putting him in a temporary state of paralyses. Even if he feels okay, he still has absolutely no control over his body. It's a good technique, and could stop an opponent in a single blow. That is, if the little guy were to master it.' Bakusa had seen similar moves done hundreds of times throughout his Muay Thai career. He was clearly interested in Kiro's training, but continued to claim that he was just feeling the rush of the moment the other night when he claimed he'd show him a couple of moves.

"Oh, God!" Kiro exclaimed, as tears streamed down from his eyes once the master hit him. "Where do you people keep coming from!?" The teen angrily screamed, as he stood up to tell Rekin off. "Hey, wait..." Kiro looked down at his hands and legs. "You're a miracle worker, doc!" Kiro explained what the master already knew, as he hugged and kissed his legs. "I thought I was going to die." He cried.

[User] Rekin looked down at the boy pushing Kiro off of his legs "Yes, yes I know I'm great, I do this type of stuff every day at my bone clinic across the street." Rekin said with great pride "But now I guess I'll stay here for a while to teach you. I'm sure my workers can handle it." he said with a creepy glance in his eye.

[Assistant] "Bone clinic? Across the street? How we live in the middle of nowhere and for streets all we have is a dirt path!" Shin yelled as he smelt something fishy about Rekin's absence. Shin grabbed his tea pot and poured him another cup and took as sip. "You were probably just reading manga again weren't you!"Shin yelled as he was trying to get to the bottom of this.

[User]
(SOME DAYS LATEEERRRRR...)

"Extra, extra!" Niijima exclaimed out to the passing crowd, as school was just letting out. "Weak Twig Kiro beats the Invincible Ijime! Now claims to be biggest bully in school!" He relayed the news to everyone, as he handed out newspapers to help get the word out. He stopped a group of teens, as he handed them a few papers. "Thank you, thank you. Yes, it's a very good read, I assure you." He laughed.

"What are you doing!?" Kiro angrily exclaimed, as he quickly stormed over to Niijima. "How many of these have you passed out!?" He frantically asked, as he started to rip up the newspapers in Niijima's bag, throwing them on the ground, and then angrily stepping on them.

"I don't know, one, maybe two..." he shrugged,

"Oh, alright. That's not too ba-" He was cut off mid-sentence, as Niijima finished.

"hundred." Niijima maniacally laughed, as Kiro was too late! The word had already spread thanks to his great reporting skills! "I am in the Newspaper Club, you know, Kiro." He shrugged again with a small chuckle.

"You idiot, this is exactly how I got in the fight with Ijime in the first place! Because all you do is spread lies!" Kiro angrily screamed at the alienoid freak, as he began to choke him (in a comedic way). The young boy suddenly paused, as he thought about how Niijima had worded things. "Did you just call me by my name?"

"Right, that's what buddies do, right? They call them by their names!" Niijima laughed it off as if they were indeed close friends. He managed to get away from Kiro's grip, as he started to walk off. "Just follow along with the plan, old friend! Keep doing what you're doing!"

"Plan? Friend? What's up with that guy?" Kiro sighed, as he looked over to some people reading the newspaper. The group shifted their eyes away from Kiro, assuming he was no one they'd want to mess with.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Elsewhere, at some later unspecified time again...)

"There he is." A tall, dark-haired man smirked, as he stood in the middle of a narrow street used for walking. There was a man jogging in his direction from a far, slowly becoming more and more visible. "I suppose the grunts didn't lie, this is his usual route." He mumbled, as the figure got closer and closer. "There you are, ol' pal!" He laughed as if they were friends, as he seemed rather relaxed. However, an experienced fighter would know that this specific position made it impossible for anyone to get passed him without difficulty. The man threw the jogger a small picture of Kiro from a previous year book, expecting the man across from him to catch it. "Apparently, this kid managed to defeat one of our guys from the Karate Club, Ijime. He's now claiming to be the strongest the school's ever seen." He explained the photo. "They wanted me, as usual, to test out the runt to see if he was Ragnarok material," he continued, "but then they told me I should bring you along." The man clenched his fists angrily. "That's when I realized that this was the perfect chance! You see, ever since you joined Ragnarok, you've been gunning for my job! If we go into this job together, then I know you'll get all the credit. They might even offer you a commanding position! However, if you're mysteriously beaten up by this new fighter, and then I swoop in to finish the kid off..." He crouched slightly, as he put his fists up. "You'll be out of my hair for good! Here and now, Shaz! Man between man, the winner can keep their position in Ragnarok, and the other must leave for good!" The man angrily shouted out to his opponent, clearly having a lot of boxed in anger towards the situation. He rushed at Shaz, throwing a series of lightning fast jabs and crosses, seeming almost impossible for anyone to dodge, they were coming in way too fast! Clearly, this guy was no amateur.

[Assistant] Shaz dodged all the attacks and grabbed both his arms and squeezed them tight so he wouldn't get out. "Ha do you know who talking to bastard I won't lose to him and I certainly won't lose to you," Shaz said letting his arms go. Shaz remember seeing the boy when he visited school some days . "And don't worry you can just sit here and hand me your position already because I'm going to go and beat," Shaz said calmly as he his sun reflected of his sunglasses and he began to walk away towards the detection of the school.

[User] The man rubbed his arms, as Shaz had really left a mark. "Hey!" He exclaimed, as he looked up at the man. "You're not getting off that easy, you punk! Show me some respect, I'm your commanding officer!" He angrily shouted, as he shot out a furious roundhouse to Shaz's head. Attacking when the opponent wasn't looking, a technique for a coward. The man figured if he could catch the Judo user off guard, then he would be able to sweep the floor with him with ease.

[Assistant] Shaz caught his leg right before it hit him in the head. "Your trying to hit a man with his back turned only cowards do that huh no wonder why I'm going to take your spot as commanding officer," Shaz said as he grabbed his leg with both hands and throwing him over his slamming him to the ground throwing garbage from a near garbage can on the man. "How bout you just sit there and rot with the rest of the trash because you fit right in," Shin said as he put his hands in his pockets and he began to head off again. (so cool)

[User]
Sweat poured down furiously from Niijima's face, as once Shaz had taken away the bag of trash, his hiding spot was completely revealed (he's squatting in the trash can). The boy sighed in relief, as Shaz walked off. 'He didn't notice me...' He thought, as he picked a banana peel off from his head. 'Kiro, my boy, I'm not sure if you'll be able to take this guy, even with your kung fu skills.' He pulled out his PDA, as he got to work on tapping. 'Darn it, this will ruin my entire plan if he gets crushed now! However, it's still always good to root for the winning team...' He weighed his options, as he slowly disappeared back into the trashcan.

(Later, near Ryozanpaku...)

Niijima peaked around a bush, as he trailed Kiro and Ally back to the dojo. He poked at a few things on his PDA, as he laughed silently. "Looks like I'll be killing two birds with one stone today." He whispered. "My original mission was to have Kiro aware of his new threat, but now..." He continued to whisper to himself, as he crawled through the bushes to continue to follow the pair in secret. "I'll get to see where the kid's been getting all of his amazing power from!" He practically screamed this, as he couldn't help but get excited.

"Huh?" Kiro turned his head to look behind him, as he could have sworn he heard someone. "Must've been nothing." He shrugged to Ally, as they continued walking.

Niijima shivered slightly, as he lied very low to the ground, holding his mouth to keep himself from making a peep. 'Get a hold of yourself, Niijima!' He slapped himself. 'You're a professional!' He reminded himself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We're home, guys!" Kiro yelled out, as he and Ally entered the dojo's grounds. He was slightly nervous today, as the mysterious Master Rekin was suppose to teach him. After Shin whipped him, treated him like a horse, and almost killed him, he just wanted to go back to Asuka. In comparison, the latter was a much more gentle master, he could only imagine what this new teacher had to offer to him.

Bakusa was training as usual, as he stood in front of several dozen stone statues. He took in a deep breath, as he charged at his 'opponents'. The Muay Thai God of Destruction threw about ten punches, ten elbow blows, ten kicks, and twenty knee blows, all within the span of about a second. He let out his breath, as he stood on the other side of the statues now. Each one crumbled to pieces, as all that was left now of the statues were their bases. He completely obliterated them all.

[Assistant]
Ally looked around at Kiro's mention of hearing something. She turned to the brush and heard nothing, not even a peep. "Hmm, must be hearing things, Kiro," she answered. No one really took this path, so he could've just heard a scavaging bird.
~~~~~
Ally shook her head at Kiro's introduction. It was silly and she hoped none of the masters found his entrance disrespectful or she might be in on the punishment. "Well, it was nice knowing you," Ally said, placing a sympathetic hand on Kiro's shoulder. Her goal was to scare Kiro a little bit since she didn't get much fun in the dojo. She then made her way into one of the buildings and got ready to train.

"Hmm, looks like Kiro isn't ours today," Asuka chuckled to Shin as she watched her two disciples walk in. Even though Kiro wasn't officially her disciple anymore because everyone was training him, she would still call him that. "How about some of that tea you promised so we can mourn our loss?" she chuckled. She didn't need to worry about Ally as the girl would have to do warmups before any technique training or conditioning.

[User] Niijima stood in front of the enormous gate, as he shoved his PDA back into his pocket. "Wow, that's one intimidating door." He laughed, as he proceeded to try and push open one of the doors. It wouldn't budge one bit! "They must have locked it from the other side." Niijima wrongly assumed, as he started to walk back down the path he had just came from. "Oh well, what is a spy suppose to do..." He shrugged, supposedly giving up, until he suddenly stopped. "Niijima jump!" He screamed, as he pulled off an amazing jump onto the flat part of the gate's roof. He wobbled on the gate, as he struggled to keep his balance. He got onto his belly, as he dangled his leg on the other side of the gate, slowly easing himself down so the drop wouldn't be so bad. Suddenly he looked up, as he could feel several eyes watching him.

[Assistant] "Okay Kiro, I understand that no one taught you the greatest martial art of them all...Chinese kenpo." Rekin said nodding at himself "So I'll teach you a new technique." he said getting in a fighting stance "So Kiro what you want to do is..." the master stopped as he noticed someone on the wall of the dojo Another disciple? Rekin thought to himself, still staring at the boy who was now over the wall "Quick, boy come over here you're going to miss the lesson!" the man shouted concerned about the kid.


[System]
Username:
Austronaut
Race/Species:
Human

Gender:
Female

Age:
20

Career (if any) and Skills:
Duelist
Dancer

Weapons:
Rapier, Dagger, brace of dueling pistols. Throwing knives.

Attire:
Biancca dresses in a mercenary's approximation of court dress. She wears an ensemble of white and red silks with a tightly fitting leather vest. Stylish but functional leather boots round of the costume as well as a red cape, popular in Tilean dueling circles.

Equipment/Other
Poisons: Raised in affluence Biancca knows the polite way of doing things.
Clothing: Biancca's affection for pretty dresses and clothes is something of a joke. She dosen't travel light if she dosen't have to.

Physical Description (as detailed as possible please, pictures not accepted.):
Biancca is a beautiful Tilean woman, with dark hair and sparkling dark eyes. She has a classically beautiful heart shaped face, the kind Tilean painters like to use for a model. Red lips form a little cupid's bow mouth that make her seem friendly and more innocent than she actually is.

About average height she possesses a lithe grace and her slight frame supported tightly corded muscle. She has a dancer's physique which has treated her well in the mercenary life.

Mental Description/Personality:
Biancca is vivacious and loves life. She is quick to anger and quick to forgive. She has a regrettable tendency to leap before she looks and to become caught up in the drama of a situation when she should rightly be paying attention to business.

While generally friendly, she can be mercurial, and quick to be swayed by a handsome face or convincing oratory.

Background/History:

Biancca was born into the lower Tilean aristocracy and spent her girlhood in and around the various petty courts of that war torn kingdom. As a result she has an unusually good education, particularly in etiquette, and speaks like a noble.

Unfortunately for Biancca her various bastard uncles were a staple in the mercenary trade and filled her head with tales of glory and adventure. Quickly the safe walls seemed stuffy and constricting. It was no real challenge to use some of her allowance to get some training and to use her looks to convince amorous bravo's to show her a trick or two with sword or pistol.

By the time she turned seventeen she enlisted in a mercenary company with the sponsorship of her Uncle Rodrigo. Sleeping rough wasn't all it was cracked up to be but she found adventure and excitement a'plenty.

[User]
Just as quickly as it had all began, just as Bjorn was able to tackle and strangle a screaming goblin, the would-be bloodfest turned into... dinner.

It was an odd moment for Bjorn. There he stood with a large, heavy slab of stone he'd picked up, ready to hurl it at the offending goblin that had attacked them all from above. In those moments, the Norsca had a chance to make a few very important observations:

First: he realized the dwarf was right, and these were all probably going to be his brothers-in-battle. These people would be the ones he'd depend on for survival.

Second: he realized that while he could possibly kill them, that would leave him without brothers-in-battle.

Third: he'd probably lose the job if he killed his compatriots.

Fourth: food. Eat.

Therefore, deciding it was best to belay his killing urges, Bjorn sat himself down at the feasting table and grabbed a whole platter of mutton for himself. He ate voraciously, much as befit a hungry barbarian, and displayed all the courtly niceties of a rabid, starving wolf.

As he ate, the Skaeling began to look over his... battle brothers... for the first time. Well, he had seen them before, but things were finally calm enough that he could inspect them. The dwarf he gave his attention to first, wiping grease off his chin as he eyed the fellow. He seemed caught in a conversation with the woman that had entered the room last, grumbling something about the "manling lordling" that Bjorn couldn't make out over the sound of his own chewing. But what struck Bjorn was he was staring at an obvious veteran, a man whose hand appeared to be made of metal. His hair was graying, and his scars were numerous. Perhaps he couldn't reach the top of a bookshelf, but he seemed like an asset at the least.

Then there was the woman. Truth be told, Bjorn found it hard to be attracted to her, as much as he missed having a warm woman pressed against him. True, she was beautiful enough, but she was still young. What's more, she was shaped like a twig. She didn't have the girth of a proper Norsca woman. She did, however, have a warrior's confidence on her face - and that confused Bjorn, since she didn't seem to carry any real weapons on her. What in Khorne's accursed name did she intend to do with that skinny sword? Still, she had those guns as well, and if she was any good with them, well... that would be useful. That would be very useful.

His eyes flicked to the hobgoblin next. What little experience the Norsca had with hobgoblins told him they were a treacherous lot, not to be depended on in a pinch. Though this greenskin's attire was a little foreign to him, Bjorn had no doubt the best way to make sure the little monster actually fought was to keep it in front of him.

Bjorn trusted the smaller goblin a little more, specifically because he could throw him farther. He also noticed the goblin was eyeing him specifically, the same way he'd seen soldiers and adventurers staring at well bred horses for sale. The goblin, being weak like goblins naturally are, must have decided that the biggest person in the room was the best to keep close. This made sense: in greenskin bands, it was often the biggest, scariest ork which ruled them all.

Of course, that probably meant the goblin, like his taller kinsman, would turn yellow as soon as any of the fighting went south. And it could very well be the goblin was just thinking about stabbing him in the back first, or contemplating which boot to steal first should he die. Once again, the Norsca made a mental note to make certain the greenskins marched at the front of the battle lines.

There was one more fellow among these battle brothers: the halfling. He just... boggled Bjorn. He was musclebound, like a small, rounded ball of raw fury. If he didn't know any better, Bjorn might have thought the halfling was a tiny ogre, so muscular was he. He ate like a champion, too, tearing at a haunch of ham like some sort of ravenous beast. His face had a sort of scowl to it, even though he certainly seemed to be enjoying his meal, as if he were going to rip off the arm of anyone that threatened his platter of meat and vegetables. And his cleaver... it was...

Well, Bjorn knew he didn't want to learn if the halfling could swing that cleaver just yet.

Really, when Bjorn looked out at the group as a whole, he realized something: there was an awful lot of distrust. The greenskins were hard to read, but that's because they were the little sort, and the little sort always wanted to find good fights while being more than eager to switch sides at the wrong moment. Nobody seemed particularly enthused about the state of affairs. If this was going to be his band of brothers, and if they, as a group, were going to do any work for the crazed lord that gathered them together... They were going to need some sort of camaraderie, weren't they?

"You've got a mighty healthy appetite, shortstuff," Bjorn grunted to the halfling with a belch, grinning over at the halfling. "And you've got a mighty weapon, too. If you fight like you eat, woe betide our foes, eh?" With a chuckle, the Norsca grabbed at the nearest pitcher of ale and took a solid gulp from it, belching yet again. Then he looked about the table with another sweep of his head.

"So, we're all here for this Lord of Guh-cargo's job offer, eh?" Bjorn thought aloud, pausing in his meal and setting his elbows on the table. "This seems a damned motley crew. It might help if there were names to go with these ugly faces, or else I might just call you something we'd all regret!" The huge man slapped his hands into a bowl of water, splashed the stuff over his face, and started to clean his face just so.

"My name is Bjorn. They call me bear-blooded, though I can't imagine why." Wrapping a giant hand around a haunch of meat, the Skaeling then tore off a piece, swallowed, and grinned in a friendly manner at his company. "Well?" he grunted. "Spit out your names! I'd rather know who I'll be singing of should any of you die in battle."

[Assistant]
The stained, dusty heap of multicolored fabric had squeezed itself out from under a pile of broken planks, shrieking and scurrying over behind the fur-clad giant on base instinct, darting from one tree-trunk leg to the other as the familiar sign of Dwarven bloodlust glittered in Sketti's eyes and the house manservant crumpled in on himself in growing despair.

"Ehhh, phwoar!" it had squeaked, obnoxiously, waving the I AM A MERSENARY stikk like a defensive talisman, "What a, um, terrible accident!"

---

Food had a way of enforcing the most uneasy of truces, and so it was that the would-be hirelings now sat around the banquet table as the dust settled, and one or two stubborn chunks of rubble dropped down from the erstwhile balcony above.

"See, I was jus' lookin' about fer da boss of da castle," Gobskag was explaining, shrilly, "When I noticed dis, ehhh..." the goblin's beady red eyes shifted between Jan and the Dwarf, "evil-lookin'... one-armed... 'alfling..." he tried, "All lurkin' about, wiv a crossbow an' all like, eyein' the proceedins below. And ehhh, I heard 'im mutterin' like, sayin "I'll get dese gits if iss da last fing I do, cos I 'ate da boss of dis castle an I'm gunna shank anyone what tries ta help 'im!""

Gobskag stuffed a whole potato in his mouth, not even slowing down as he continued his tale and chewed at the same time, potentially goading Biancca to put a musket ball between his eyes and spare her another moment of Etiquette Hell.

"Well, bein' of an 'eroic nature, I charged the git, an' fought wiv all da strengf I could musta, which is why I was shoutin', see -- but it were too late! Da platform fing started to break, and he disappeared inna puff of smoke, leavin' me ta fall to my deff! 'Ow was I to know dis castle was so shonky? Fank Mork da damage weren't worse than it was! And that, ehhh, the, ehh, nice... stunty... didn't get krumped."

Gobskag tried not to look shifty, unfortunately looking shifty about trying not to look shifty.

"You boyz an' ehh... girly-boyz..." he attempted, eyeing Biancca uncertainly, "...can calls me Gobskag da Great, top finga-waggla of da Scarey Face tribe, an' also da Black Bonez tribe. Dey's all dead, mind, but it still counts."

Another potato and the top half of a drumstick, bones and all, followed the first into Gobskag's abnormally capacious gob.

"Fooo, ehhh.... (chomp, krakk) ..Whem duff we gef paid?"


[System]
Age: 18

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Weapon:
Two metal tonfas, Artorius and Gwenhwyfar (formerly Lawnslot). Both are identical, visually, save perhaps a few differences in internal mechanism. In the traditionally held position, the longest part of the body aligning along the forearm, the forward facing post is actually a shotgun barrel; though standard shells are the usual ammunition, dust rounds can be loaded instead. The storage area expands along the spine of the weapon. The recoil is often used for propulsion when useful. The primary length of each tonfa actually has a blade running along it, resembling one half of a sword, to be specific.

This is because both weapons are capable of combining into a large, long sword; Caledfwlch. The two weapons reconfigure in such a way as to create a long, straight two-handed sword with a straight crossguard. The shotgun barrels are reoriented as the crossguard, one pointing to the left and the other to the right, used to enhance the power behind his swings.

Artorius and Gwenhwyfar both have one other unique attribute; high capacity batteries built into their frame. Each battery continuously siphons a supply of Aura from Benjamin, building the energy up so long as they are, in some way, upon his person. This energy can be released with a button built in below the shotguns' triggers, on the handle of the combined blade, or on the handle of the smaller tonfas. The release of this energy usually is used to power his Semblance, and must be replenished over time when discharged.

Joyous Guard
Expansion Calibrated for Ultimate Resistance
B. Lloyd #8 of 7

An expansion device manufactured to work in conjunction with Artorius and Gwenhwyfar. In its default form the Joyous Guard is a tower shield, large and incredibly heavy. Two racks are integrated into its back side for holding the two tonfa when not in use. It can be held in hand, affixed to the forearm (vertically or horizontally) or stored on Benjamin's back. The top and bottom sides taper off into wedges, enabling it to be used as an offensive bludgeoning weapon when affixed horizontally to the forearm. Its connection to the forearm is carefully designed to ensure that both tonfa are compatible in use when the shield is in play, though Joyous Guard is primarily intended for use with Caletfwlch. The shield is manufactured from dense, durable metals, making it even heavier than it looks. For this reason Gravity Dust was used in its construction, making it nearly weightless in Ben's hand. Notably, however, it is Aura-coded to Ben's Aura; in the hands of anyone not on its whitelist, the Gravity Dust reverses and makes it too heavy to be lifted.

Joyous Guard's secondary configuration requires the use of Artorius and Gwenhwyfar. The shield unfolds, incorporating the transformation mechanisms in both tonfa to provide the necessary components for the configuration. Namely they provide part of the edges and part of the hilt of the immense two-handed sword Joyous Guard becomes. The effects of the Dust carry over in this form, ensuring that Ben can swing it almost as easily as he would Caletfwlch. In fact, due to the nature of F=ma, a swing from it will be many times as devastating with a fraction of the effort. Like Caleftwlch, the shotgun barrels incorporated into the hilt aid in granting increased force to its swings.

Finally, in a tertiary configuration, Joyous Guard can convert while affixed to Ben's forearm by splitting down the middle and orienting the magnetic racks used to hold Artorius and Lawnslot along the two horizontal halves. The Lightning Dust used to generate that magnetic field, in this form, cranks into overdrive to turn the shield into a forearm mounted electromagnetic cannon. Slow-firing, but incredibly potent in its offensive power. Artorius and Lawnslot are absolutely necessary for this configuration, as they provide the additional structural stability needed to let Joyous Guard withstand the considerable forces exerted. As a bonus, however, this makes their shotgun barrels useful in this configuration.
Specialty: Benjamin is a highly adaptable fighter. He lacks dedicated defensive capabilities, but his weapons serve very well as augmentation to forearm blocks. The lightweight nature of his weapons, however, also means that he is a highly agile fighter. His preference is to move as quickly as possible, landing strikes when opportunities present themselves and evading blows (blocking if absolutely unavoidable).

Use of both his Semblance and Caledfwlch is exceedingly rare, to the point that they have not yet been used during his career at Beacon. Both are abilities and options he keeps to himself, aces up the sleeve. Ultimately, his style permits him to act as the situation demands, though the drawback to the continuous siphoning of his Aura, as well as his lack of any dedicated defensive tools, is that his personal defenses are noticeably lower than others'.

Semblance: Deinamig: Benjamin is capable of using Aura to fuel an individual section of his body to well beyond its usual limits. Fueling his legs, for example, will drastically increase both speed and power of his legs, and fueling his arms will do much the same. This can, theoretically, be applied to any section of his body. The Aura for this is usually provided by the resevoirs built up within his weapons, but that supply is not infinite. If a situation arises where he is unable to tap into it (or it runs out) he can directly fuel his Semblance with his present Aura.

Personality: Benjamin is a friendly guy. He also, at first glance through his performance in school, nothing to write home about. Average or slightly above in all his classes, with the only oddities appearing once one takes a closer look. His homework assignments represent minimal effort, while all examination scores actually place him near the top of the grading scale. Between the two, depending on how the class is run, they average out to roughly average grades. In short, Benjamin doesn't bother to do his homework until the last minute, if at all. He conforms to a decidedly nonstandard view of what is important, and what is not. Things he views as "busy work", such as most homework assignments, are treated with at best casual disregard, while things he views as important (tests, examinations, practice, getting to know people) works at. His strange views actually are rooted in a single opinion; if it isn't something he needs to do in order to do well in his life, it doesn't really matter. People skills will be important, combat skills will be important, all of the knowledge he amasses will be important. So he takes his tests and exams seriously, but at the end of the day… Who's going to care, once he leaves Beacon, whether or not his did his vocabulary flash cards?

This practical viewpoint extends to many aspects of his life, but he will always make an effort to get to know people. His wit might be a little sarcastic at times, but anyone who he views as a friend will find that few will go to greater lengths for their friends. Aside from his practicality, which more than a few teachers might instead term "laziness", Ben has one other notable quirk. He seldom fights at full capacity. He believes it is always best to have an ace or two tucked away up the sleeve, so that if a situation ever arises where he simply can't handle it, or needs just a little more power… He has something to draw on.

Color: Steel Gray

Emblem: A single inverted sword set behind a shield emblazoned with a crown device.

Appearance: Benjamin is a few inches short of six feet, making about average height for his gender. He has an athletic build, obviously necessary given his school, but he isn't overly muscular.The fighting style he prefers requires nimble movements, mandating that he maintain both a reasonable muscle mass as well as his agility. A faint grin is his default expression, blue-gray eyes bright with life under slightly messy light brown hair. He wears the Beacon school uniform completely unmodified, though it isn't at all uncommon to see him take the coat off and carry it around. When not attending class (and thus not required to wear his uniform), he tends to default to jeans paired with a black or gray long sleeved shirt. Light but durable boots are his footwear of choice, as his usual field attire simply adds some lightweight gray armor over his torso, and perhaps greaves to his shins. Artorius and Lawsnlot are carried at his belt, one on either side.

[User] Krysthane brightened up, actually this gave her the perfect chance to began questioning. "No sir, we're here for a mission actually. As you probably know a bunch of police officers are down with the flu right now so my team was called in to temporarily assist and keep an eye out. Right now we're attempting to investigate some reports on vandals in the area causing some problems in the area, do you know anything about that? Oh and also, I know it sounds silly but have you had any Grimm sightings in the area recently?" Krysthane inquired, all business now that her playtime was done. Hopefully these knights would have something more concrete to work on, so far it seemed the Grimm sighting were nothing serious.

[Assistant]
Ciel - Resolute
"I am still unsure on all of this something smells foul about all of this" Ciel spoke up stating her own opinions on the matter at hand. While it was true that these people weren't the strongest minus her minor effort of fear and getting caught in the illusion. "I do think that it could be a front and perhaps we were meant to find these but this could just be me being overly cautious." She continued as she turned briefly to face her team mates. Maybe it was just her but she did believe that despite everything that happened that it was to easy to grab said information they were practically screaming their colors for the world to see. Still she supposed Jack could be right and they were mere peons in the scheme of things rather than anything else. Beyond that though they completed the mission and to her that was what mattered more it showcased to her at least her faults and she was going to become stronger or have a way to make sure she won't fall for such illusions again.

[User] Daniel watched as Greyson put two cards face down and declare, "Two fours." If Daniel understood correctly, he needed to put cards face down as well and tell his opponent what they were. Sounded simple. A little too simple, perhaps. Well, he'd learn the rules as he went. Daniel took one card from his hand and placed it face down, saying, "One 5."

[Assistant] I say your bluffing" Greyson said with a small smile wondering if he was right, it was a small thrill thinking he could be right or wrong on this. Not fighting for your life kind of thrill but it was so much better then sitting in bed waiting for his wound to heal. If Greyson was right about Daniel's bluff then Daniel would have to take all the cards currently on the pile the name of the game was to empty the hand and if they had most of the cards in the deck they would end up loosing the game. Greyson wondered how Robert and Priscilla were doing as they talked about a pet having a semblance or something. Greyson didn't think it was odd since the Faunus were part animals why wouldn't a real animal have one? That was just Greyson's opinion however...

[User] "I say you're bluffing," Greyson said. Daniel raised an eyebrow. Now there's the catch in this game, Daniel thought. So the objective was to lie about the cards they were placing down, and without getting caught, probably. Unfortunately for Greyson, Daniel had not been lying about the card, and Daniel flipped the card over, revealing it to be the 5 of clubs. "Sorry, man, this is a five," Daniel said, grinning. "So, what happens if you get it wrong?"

[Assistant]
Sarina Tala Dei (SC) and Vega Venetia (VGNB)

Vega was left annoyed after the two Faunus left a mess in the Dining Hall as she saw the littered floors of the dining hall while observing a group of pissed off annoyed students. Why did we have to have a freshman with us… As she sighed. "Hey Gratia" as she looked at her with her annoyed face "Next time watch what you say in public. Anyway" as she looked to her cousin "Tala, can we…leave. I'm done."

"Alright. Let's continue our tour." While the tour group finished cleaning up their table, Sarina was talking to group of angry chefs. "Their names are Shiro Kuhaku and Gren Orchid of Team Swansong." She said in an orderly tone. The tour group followed her outside of the Dining Hall; Sarina saw an open window and approached it to seeing Gren. "Tsk, freshman." As she mumbled.

The tour took them to their final destination the Dorms. "This is the Dorm area you will be living in. I live just across you VGNB which is nice and I have people I can finally relate to. Clair you are with me."

Out from her jacket pocket, she revealed six keys. "Here are your keys" as she gave out to everyone.

"Anyway, welcome to Beacon." Sarina said unenthusiastically as she entered her Dorm room with Clair.

Sarina living area was decked like her own personal apartment. She had her own couch and a table in the middle around a flat screen TV left of the lockers while on the right with various furniture around the one facing the windows right center in the middle was clearly hers as she decked out the place with dressing mirror, cabinets for her clothes etc. Three beds were in their but were pushed against one another in one corner. The bathrooms remained unchanged.

Sarina then plopped down on her couch. "Ugh" As she moaned. "Make yourself comfortable Clair."

While that VGNB had entered in their room, Vega checking out the living room. "Wow, this living space is big. I can definitely make this place fancy just by getting some furniture and decorations."

[User] Greyson sighed seeing he was wrong and he answered "if I get it wrong then I take all the cards currently down. The object of the game is to loose all the cards in your hand and whoever has no cards in their hands win" Greyson said as he took the 3 cards currently down and he looked at the cards he currently had and decided to tell a truth and said "two 5 of clubs" Greyson said putting the pair down in front of him waiting to see what Daniel will do...

[Assistant]
"We all set?"

The query was uncannily calm, given the situation. Which is to say, calm for being prepared to dive headfirst into a potentially very dangerous mission. They'd chosen it for that very reason. Something big, something dangerous, something difficult; all to show that they could hang in there like the rest of them. Ben knew that, maybe, that wasn't quite the healthiest attitude. Charging at the world with something to prove tended to make people stupid. But, knowing that something isn't wise isn't the same as being able to change it. He did have something to prove. They all did, and they all knew it.

Looping Artorius and Lawnslot through their holders, finally satisfied that they were ready, he surveyed his team. BAST. Bastion. Most teams at Beacon weren't quite what you'd expect, but his was definitely the misfits. Dropouts, slackers, antisocials, and the too social. All the terms most would apply to them. Terms even Goodwitch probably applied, even if she didn't say them out loud. But none of them were quite true.

He had something to prove. But he was damn proud of the team he was on, too.

"Gonna be a hell of a ride. Anyone needs anything else, I'd get it now."


[System]
Species: Human

Gender: Female

Age: 34

Nationality: Outreman, previously citizen of Angjusk

Occupation: Deputy head of department - Cradle Research & Development

Cybernetics:
* Cradle quick-access implant - Allows access to and from the Cradle environment without additional hardware. This advanced module also reduces fatigue caused by the process, allowing power users multiple entries in a single day.
* Tier 7c 'Cradle Builder' suite - Grants access to the programs created specifically for 'terraforming' the Cradle. Tier 7 out of 20 allows Freyr to auto-build a variety of specialised equipment and propose-build mid level structures.
* Ilyes Brand communication and productivity module - Standard implant for access to Outremer's communications network. Also integrates with many well known productivity tools like a personal assistant, as well as more bespoke scientific tools.

Backstory:
Freyr was born on Angjusk, an older colony than Outremer that was renowned for its military materiel, particularly star ships.

Her mother was an innovations tsar assigned by the government to a consortium of the planet's largest ship manufacturers. During most of Freyr's childhood, her mother's sole task was making sure Angjusk battle fleets were the best money could buy in the Diaspora.

Before she was born, her father owned and operated a series of protein farms across Angjusk. After a chance encounter at a lobby meeting, he was headhunted to co-ordinate the military industrial complex's entire food supply chain. He also met his future wife, as it was Freyr's mother who had recommended him for the job on that fateful day in the lobby.

Freyr was born five years later. Her early life was a whirlwind of schooling, snatches of intimacy with her parents (when they weren't busy) and extended periods with friends. She discovered a natural capacity for learning and excelled in her studies. So much so that she received offers from universities across the Diaspora to come and develop with them.

Her mother and father both pressured her to consider diplomas like Interplanetary Relations or Agrarian Policy. However Freyr was not interested in pursuing a career in politics. Angjusk has been involved in at least a dozen small conflicts since Freyr had been born. She had seen how politicians would destroy entire cultures for the sake of influence, and wanted none of it.

In her first act of defiance, Freyr accepted a position at a school in Babylon, the main city of a far away frontier colony called Outremer. Driven more by the desire to have time away from her planet than by the subjects on offer, she researched what Outremer was known for. It was here that she first discovered the object powering this section of the Diaspora - the Cradle.

She quickly became obsessed with its untapped potential and seemingly unknowable past. She decided to pursue Xenobiology and Machine Intelligence as her subjects of interest, voraciously consuming the knowledge gathered so far on the Cradle.

It was here at the university that she met her future partner, David, who was studying art history. Isolated from her family and friends, alone on a strange planet, Freyr was glad of his unassuming company and kindness. They grew very close over the course of their degrees, and moved in together after graduation. Their daughter Amy was born a few years later.

After Uni, Freyr was picked up by an Outremer administration outreach team and placed in a government career fast lane. Her obsession with the Cradle made her an obvious choice for the Cradle Research & Development department. Once there, she quickly proved herself capable. Several breakthroughs in her first five years meant she was allowed to hand select a team of dynamic young individuals to help pursue her work. A couple more catapulted her into a deputy head of department role, to the ire of some of it's older and more entrenched members.

It was on her 34th birthday that the Cradle abducted her family. It had been acting strangely for weeks prior, rolling back years of terraforming. Freyr had been working round the clock to figure out why, practically living at her field office by the Border. David had bought sweet treats and had Amy with her.

What can only be described as creatures emerged from beyond the Border and overran the camp. A panic spread through the mostly unarmed workers, leading many to flee for their lives. Freyr's last memory of her family was being propelled across the camp by one of the creatures. She could only watch from her position immobile on the floor as they carried off her husband and little girl.

Security forces conducted a sweep of the immediate area beyond the Border, but found no sign of them. So Freyr began looking by herself as soon as her broken bones were reconstructed. Months went by. Her work stopped and her mental health deteriorated. Eventually she was placed on sick leave and her access revoked, after she attempted to use her influence to organise an armed excursion deep into the uncontrolled zone.

[User]
The camera covering the incident was located in the same atrium they were in. Freyr looked up and over her shoulder to locate it behind her. The initial view was quite far from the action, but she could zoom and enhance it with little trouble. It was also a bit gloomy, as only the emergency lights were on. The timestamp at the start of the video was the dead of night in Babylon terms, so Freyr guessed everyone had long gone home.

After a few seconds, four dark shapes appeared from the stairway in the corner of the frame. Freyr guessed these were the Skinners. They didn't look out of place, as they wore the standard issue Cradle newbie jumpsuit, however from the footage they were clearly on edge. The one in front brandished a pistol to ensure the office area was clear before motioning his colleagues forward. Two of the other activists were carrying bulky briefcases, which they laid down on two of the free tables. Once they'd been opened, Freyr paused the video and zoomed in. One of them was a laptop and one of them was clearly some kind of bomb.

"How the fuck did they get a bomb into the Cradle?" Freyr asked. Major Osman shrugged. "We're looking into it now - they may have had help. Keep going, it gets better." Freyr hit play again.

One of the activists armed the bomb, another connected their laptop to one of the consoles and then began typing manically. The other two checked out of the windows and generally looked nervous. "What was that?" Freyr asked, pointing to a section of the screen covered by the big side windows. "Just wait." Karos murmured. One of the guys standing guard seemed to notice it as well, as he stuck his face to the glass and peered in that direction. He turned around, shouted, and the other person rushed over as well. Freyr turned the sound on.

"I didn't see what it was… i think it's below us!"
"Ok. We need to wrap this up now!" How long until it's armed and the data is ours?"
"Two minutes."
"I need five."
"We don't have five fucking minutes, we need to get out of here right now."
"Wait...did you hear that?"
"Yeah - get the scrambler armed and then we're leaving. I'm gonna check downst-"

A loud crash made Freyr jump in her seat. In the blink of an eye, the activist standing by the window had just disappeared out of it. The man who'd just turned away to go downstairs whirled around, as did the two others on the opposite side of the space. The leader raised his pistol, but clearly hesitated when he saw what came through the window. Freyr leaned in til her face was almost touching the glass, not quite able to grasp what she was seeing.

It had six insectoid legs, shiny black, and a compact, armoured carapace. But quite unlike anything Freyr had seen before, the carapace and abdomen behind that were punctured by at least a dozen violet tendrils. They worked as appendages to heave the creature through the gap and also held the immobile man it'd captured like a limp doll. The thing had a short neck and a face… Freyr's breath caught the moment she saw it. It was a human male's face, pale and contrasting with the sheer black of the body and legs. The eyes were bulging and completely black, but she recognised the face nonetheless. Her mouth dropped open and a silent scream shook her body as her eyes filled with tears.

The creature had David's face.

The rest of the abduction was very brief. Screams rang out on the recording as the leader fired his handgun at the creature. But when another of the things crashed through a window behind him, they were quickly overrun. The creatures held all four of them aloft like broken playthings and scooped up the unarmed briefcase bomb before exiting via the same windows they entered.

But the only thing Freyr saw was her husband's visage through streams of tears as she howled in anguish at the screen.

[Assistant]
Vreta's investigation was a slow process. The marks on the office building were on multiple sides, so it was difficult to say at a glance exactly where those who made them had come from or gone too. He had to move slowly and carefully enough not to be spotted by the guards, while also keeping an eye on his surroundings for anything notably out of place. Fortunately, whatever damaged the office building did not seem to have the word "subtlety in their vocabulary. As he was circling the perimeter of the building, he noticed a high fence with plenty of marks, scratches, and a bit of damage of its own. Something had scaled it, and likely quickly. Now that he knew where to look, he could see traces of the intruders' path towards the building, though since he could not follow in that direction, he instead looked to track where they had come from.

Following the path into the neighboring lot, Vreta soon realized there was a lot to track. He could not be sure of the exact size of the group that had scaled the office, but they had been moving in a rather loose group. Quite spread-out. It would take a while to investigate the area around the warehouse, and that was if he did not need to go inside. If he did, he would probably have to just be content with an incomplete search. Still, the soldiers guarding the office had not extended their perimeter to the neighboring lots, so it was possible he could find something before they decided to sweep the area.


[System]
Gender:
Male

Appearance:

Stands at a large 6'4. Broad of shoulder and hulking in build. Well-defined muscle, though deeply scarred across his body. Favors furs over silks when outside of his armor. Typically favors massive two-handed weapons, and is most commonly seen wielding a massive flanged mace.

Abilities:
Dragan primarily utilizes both blood magic and necromancy in tandem, befitting a vampire known as the Death Knight.

As a blood mage, Dragan specializes in physical enhancement, preferring to fight in melee with a physical weapon in hand. Of course, he's entirely capable of utilizing the other aspects of blood magic as well, resorting to blood weapons when disarmed and blood barriers to defend against magic. Strangely, though, he has never been seen actually casting a ranged blood spell.

As a necromancer, Dragan keeps it simple, traditional, and efficient: zombies, skeletons, and other such more mundane undead with which to drown his foes in a sea of corpses. One will occasionally see larger abominations within his forces, but these are rare and tend to be pre-prepared, with Dragan seemingly unable to raise these at will in the field as he could with groups of lesser undead. Of course, Dragan cannot simply raise armies at will. Without preparation, he tends to be able to create a dozen or so undead soldiers at a time, given enough materials. With the proper rituals and rites, however, Dragan is entirely capable of acts such as raising entire graveyards at once or binding the shambling bones of large creatures into his service.

Both of these aspects combined leave this particular vampire as a frontline general, leading undead armies into the thick of battle.

Personality:
Dragan follows a twisted sense of noblesse oblige in his dealings. To him, vampires are inherently higher life forms as compared to humans, and thus bear responsibility towards them as a result. Humanity in Dragan's eyes are, at the very least, higher than cattle. It would be more accurate to say that he treats mankind as ignorant children: unable to fend for themselves or make wise decisions. Thus, vampires are to safeguard humanity within their borders, and for this service, deserve the blood they require to survive. After all, this was simply the feudal contract as existed in eras past. Only now with more worthy lords to rule over man.

As a follower of noblesse oblige, Dragan strives to be as great as he can in his personal conduct. He conducts himself with elegance and decorum. However, this is also matched with a penchant for violence and direct action. Where other vampires prefer subtle manipulations and secrecy, Dragan simply strides through problems with a suit of hulking plate armor, a massive weapon, and an undead horde at his back. He is a lord, after all, and lords do not skulk like cowards when their authority is challenged.

In regards to the Goddess, Dragan is a loyal enough follower that he swears to fulfill his divine mission without complaint. Having served the Queen once already, he sees little issue with working to bring her back.

Bio:
The vampire lord known as Dragan Meszaros, the dreaded Death Knight of eras past, was once known as the crusade's greatest shame. Born as an orphan ward of some irrelevant church of a now-dead god, Dragan grew to be a paladin of the same church, setting out on quests throughout the land. He slew monsters, saved the innocent, and championed the light of his god.

Despite his successes, however, Dragan slipped ever into deeper frustration and melancholy as he saw the same stories happen time and time again. Men create problems for themselves that he had to solve for them. Tragedies and villians were created through human sins. The apathy, greed, and wrath of humanity were greater foes than any mere monster that had ever stood in his path. Men were ever more incapable of managing themselves.

Dragan's final days as a paladin were spent chasing the rumors of a vampire in a great duchy of a now-forgotten kingdom. When he arrived, however, every value he held was challenged. The duke was a vain tyrant, working his people past the breaking point and abusing the fruits of their labor to glorify himself. The commoners barely cared about this vampire in the territory: a few deaths a month barely compared to the starving masses. In fact, when Dragan did finally track the vampire's thralls down to an outlying village, he saw something there that broke him. The people in that village, the vampire's cattle, were doing far better compared to the rest of the duchy. Better fed, working for themselves, and just...happier.

It was then that Dragan knew his truth: man was inherently unable to rule itself. Left to its own devices, humanity would eat itself alive. Dragan gave up. He fell. Returning to the duchy's capital, the once-vaunted paladin launched a brazen assault on the duke in broad daylight, slaughtering him and his meager guard. Afterwards, Dragan returned to the vampire's village, throwing the unworthy ruler's head into the middle of the town square. With the vampire's attention piqued, Dragan knelt before him, stating that he had seen the true light.

Bemused at the thought of taking a fallen paladin as Ichor's child, the vampire turned Dragan. After a period of time adjusting to his new existence and learning all he could of vampirism, Dragan took his leave, setting out on his own with his patron's blessing. Centuries later, the vampire known as the Death Knight scourged the land, conquering a kingdom with his undead army in the name of the Queen. He sought to replace the incompetent rule of man with his own benevolent tyranny. But this was not to be. Not in this era. Such a public, reviled monster was one of the first targets of the Hundred Paladins, made more urgent by the shame that he was once a paladin himself. While the bulk of the Hundred tore through his armies with their silver swords and divine blessings, their strongest champions engaged Dragan himself and laid him low. The Death Knight was shattered with his kingdom, his dreams dashed as the Hundred moved on.

[User]
Captain Argus Fellborn

It was clear that this sea monster wasn't fooling around, Argus observed as one of the pieces of floatsam was pulled beneath the waves. Argus pressed onward, wanting to stay ahead of the beast.

As they got closer to the mast in the distance, another platform beneath him was pulled under. Fortunately, he still had both his reflexes and sea legs, and was able to avoid losing his balance and falling into the water. Unfortunately, there were more skeletons coming. One of them came at him with a fishing net, intent on immobilizing him. Argus would be impressed with the creativity of it if he weren't the target.

He probably could cut his way through the net, but that'd still slow him down, and he couldn't afford even a momentary delay with that monster practically nipping at his heels. But just as a ship could sail against the wind, this could be used to his favor.

"Thanks crewmate, I need this," he mockingly spoke as he caught the edge of the net and threw it into the water behind him, hoping it might be able to slow the beast down even for a moment. Just as he began to parry and cut his way through those in his way, Cynthia's spear came hurtling forward, impaling several skeletons as it hurtled into a mast.

She's got a bit of a competitive streak, Argus noted as he took advantage of the strike to resume his flight forward. She'd make a poor candidate for a thrall- it'd be a great waste to suppress such a spirited, defiant personality with a surrender of one's will that accompanies enthrallment.

Perhaps he was jumping the gun- they still needed to escape these skeletons and this sea monster before he could think about rebuilding his crew.

[Assistant]
Location:
Human Village
Landshark@Asuras@VitaVitaAR

---

Whether Giles had much to comment on the vampires words, he didn't speak it. He'd merely order the rest of the villagers to do as previously ordered. Quickly they'd clamor to grab anything they could, barricading and sealing off the door to the basement as the vampires made their descent…

Dragan was the first to engage, the beast hearing him approach as he'd rush towards it, hammer raised and poised to smash its face in. The creature, quickly turned its head towards the vampire knight in response and with little care for its own wellbeing met Dragan's charge with its own. Dragan's hammer met flesh, slamming the creature's face against his hammer with a sickening crack.

Whether through its own momentum or power though, it didn't have the intended effect of smashing him through the ground. Instead, it would carry through, its antlers slamming against his armor as the beasts claws, in a frenzied, gluttonous rage tried to rip and tear at his armor, trying to find anyway to get to the fleshy bits within as it gnashed its teeth and howled.

Luna's assault was as elegant as she was, it seemed. The beast, upon feeling the magical restraints on its flesh, chains attempting to bind it, shrieked, looking up from its meal just in time to see the vampire launch her assault upon it. Her sabre slashed its flesh, right near its neck, the blade cleanly cutting through it as blood oozed from its wounds. It struggled against its bonds, arms flailing and shrieking, wrapping its gnarled claws around one of the chains, pulling and wrenching the chain as another cut was delivered to its head, right through its eye.

Finally, with a hiss and a loud shriek, it managed to break the chains, flapping its weak wings and leaping into the…well, it tried, only to bang its head against the ceiling, and then promptly fall upon Luna, still aiming to claw and otherwise injure her in a somewhat admittedly unconventional manner.

From further down the hallway, the shouts of more humans, cut short. They likely weren't going to be able to save many unless they hurried. There didn't seem to be an obvious way that the beasts had gotten in down here.

Location:
Forest of Beasts
This

---

Landing on the beast, it struggled, throwing its head and bucking its body as it'd slow to a halt, trying to throw the vampire off as she'd plunge the silver blade into the creatures arm as it made an attempt to grab her, earning another pained shriek as it'd recoil, but still not down as it'd clutch the injured arm, giving her just enough time to plunge the blade into the skull of the antlered beast, having a near immediate effected as it bucked and tried to remove the pest from its back coming to a near complete halt and almost throwing her off - and it would have, had it not been for the first creature that had finally managed to grab her.

She'd feel pain in her stomach, the beasts claws having impaled her as it'd pull her from the beast, slamming her into the ground where it'd pull its claw from her stomach, proceeding to try and maul her.

Location:
Human Village, Riverside

---

Akyasha engaged the beast, bloody axe sinking into the creatures knee as it hadn't even seen or acknowledged her presence up until it was too late to avoid it. The beast howled, gurgling as it'd immediately tur blood oozing from the wound but the cut was far to shallow to reach bone, cutting through what seemed to be nothing but fat, making the beast more agitated then anything. Immediately, it'd turn, making a wide sweep with the ship mast in its arm in an attempt to slam it into the vampire nun.

Inside, Julene made it back down to the first floor, the building quickly lighting up with fire, but the undead were not so easily deterred. Not caring for their own unlife, and still burning they'd leap from the upper floor, trying to accost and drag her down with them, while the ones on the stairs and lower floor still made their way towards her.

"Tch, just die already." She'd growl, managing to block a strike from one of the undead creatures, shoving it back into a wall that was on fire. She had to get out of here before the other barrels ignited - but the things were being awfully persistent in slowing down her escape from this place.

Location:
Pirates End
Paladin

---

Perhaps, Argus better be glad even considering making a servant of the Violet Witch a thrall was not considered some form of treason.

"Not far now captain!" Cynthia called back, retrieving her spear from the wood that it had found itself resting in as argus tossed the net into the water nearby…whether or not it had some effect for the moment. More skeletal undead would pull themselves from the water around them, earning an annoyed growl from Cynthia as she'd quickly engage, slicing through more and leaping through an open hole on the ships hull that she had pulled her spear from.

"This way! Hurry! That thing-!"

Too late.

Whatever it was, slammed its bulk into the ship hull, cracking its weakened frame, splintering it and sending it sinking into the waves, Cynthia disappearing further within. In the same instance, the platform under Argus was slammed into with enough force to completely shatter his already unstable footing! He'd need to act fast unless he'd want to find himself swimming with the undead and whatever creature that was.