[System]
Gender: Male.
Age: Unknown, due to warp influence.
Faction/Race/Species: Adeptus Astartes.
Sub-Faction: Fallen of the former Dark Angels of Caliban.
Rank/Position: Former techmarine.

Mental and Physical Traits: Xepherial is a logicalist and a pragmatist to a far greater degree than his Adeptus Mechanicus mentors would be comfortable with in current times. He is sharp of mind and exemplifies a scientist in his pursuit of truth and understanding. Ideally, his fighting is done by the machines he communes with, which can be quite substantial with all of them working in blessed coordination. He prefers to plan ahead and be prepared for battle, but should he personally engage, his sharp mind can simultaneously command four extra limbs in addition to his own, making him a terrifying opponent indeed. He doesn't have much experience fighting unarmed and unarmored and doesn't plan to gain that experience. He's standard size for a space marine but of course does see to the maintenance of his biologic components as diligently as he would any weapon or vehicle. He is typically quiet and confident and fully devoted to the Emperor while also fully respecting the presence of the Omnissiah in all non-sentient machines.

Appearance: Xepherial looks surprisingly youthful, with straight black hair and light colored skin. His eyes are a confused shade of hazel, but he usually wears his helm. He always wears his artificer power armor, a variant of the Mk V Maximus, with the left pauldron being black and bearing the old icon of the sword and wings. The armor of the right arm and left leg is red. His servo-harness is black, bearing two servo-arms, a combi-tool, a Fyceline Torch and a Plasma Cutter. The Machina Opus is clearly visible on his midsection and right pauldron, while his chestplate bears the typical Imperialis.

Wargear: Calling upon his training from Mars, Xepherial was able to repair and maintain his gear. He has the servo-harness and four accessory arms which wire directly into his spinal column for maximal control by his brain. He carries a bolter and still has his Omnissian power axe. Other than that, he is accompanied by whatever constructs he has either built or found across his path and restored.

History: Xepherial began as a native to Caliban, was recruited and trained, survived, and a century or so later was sent to Mars. He spent the standard 30 year cycle at Mars and then returned home, just in time to miss departing with El'Johnson and the majority of the Dark Angels forces in the Crusades. Apparently, Luther and the Lion had some kind of disagreement that was mentioned only in whispered rumors that had caused some bad blood. For the next 50 years, El'Johnson kept failing to return to Caliban, and everyone began to suspect a problem. Xepherial had been "left behind" with the Lutherian Dark Angels, and was on that side of the fence when Lion El'Johnson finally did return to Caliban after the Horus Heresy and civil war broke out. Xepherial remembers everything.

That was because it all happened only less than 50 years ago, according to Xeph. The warp storm had sucked him in and thrown him across time AND space far into the future. He originally had no idea where or when he was and wandered alone on a strange hostile world on the edge of the warp that was ruled by human warbands and mercenaries. His first encounter with the natives quickly demonstrated that he could not be easily taken down and salvaged, so a truce was eventually reached. Xepherial agreed to temporarily join the warband, exchanging his service for information and supplies. He came to be a respected oracle of sorts giving his adopters quite an edge in their inter-gang wars simply by upkeeping their machines.

The forsaken denizens of his world seemed to quickly become more and more depraved over time, and the worship of chaos was something Xepherial couldn't stomach. For years, he listened to communication lines and plotted his departure form the world, driven by the need to discover what had happened to his home planet, his chapter, and his honor. Finally, the predictions of a psyker, a shaman among the natives told him a set of coordinates where he must go, that "one of his kind" would be found there, but also he gave a warning. His brothers were his brothers no more, and if they found him, they would kill him.

Xepherial eventually acquired a small ship and was able to revive its machine spirit enough to fly once more. Deciding he would rather die than waste a warrior's years on some Emperor-forsaken hellworld, Xepherial launched himself on a mission of faith.

[User]
Ga'duk waited patiently in his seat, the rumbling engines and high alert in the rest of his squad going largely unnoticed. He had performed and confirmed his ready check twice, although the sergeant had fixed his mask so that it was actually sealed and would protect him from a hard vacuum if the hulk had vented its atmosphere. The pilots navigated around shining spotlights on several crash sites across the hulk's shell but were always less than satisfied by the possible landing zone. The sergeant moved to the front cabin and began arguing with the pilots so that he could depart and complete his mission, Ga'duk on the other hand rocked gently back and forth day dreaming of mopping a vast station rather than getting "'oonds" and having to spend days with the medi-guys.

Finally the sergeant and pilots hammered out a plan and pulled the rear of the transport to a section of hull that seemed sturdy enough to bear their weight. The transport locked itself to the hull with some mag-clamps and opened its door to bare hull. The guards understood immediately and broke out their breeching cutters, thin jets of hot plasma slowly burned through the hull leaving droplets of hot slag cooling on the floor. While the guardsmen were cutting the sergeant turned to Ga'duk. "Are you ready?" he said rhetorically, Ga'duk nodded but the sergeant continued "good, now when we get the hole cut you have to go out FIRST and KILL anything that is NOT us. Ok?"

Ga'duk nodded slowly, "y-..yeah, i got it sarge" he said laughing "i'll squish dem"

The sarge slapped his shoulder "yeah, thats good, its what He would want."

Ga'duk's eyes went wide "He? You mean da Empoor?"

"Yes, He wants you to squish the enemy"

Once the sarge stopped talking Ga'duk charged the half cut breech slamming with his full weight and strength, several of his squad had to dive out of the way to escape from being crushed between the ogryn's shield and the hull. The first impact warps the hull and audibly strains the metal, each of the gaurdsmen stare at Ga'duk in surprise both his unexpected charge and his immense strength buckling the thick hull. He backs up and readies to charge again, "squish dem for da Empoor!" he shouts as he charges again crashing through the weakened hull into a large corridor. He raises his axe and searches for a target bellowing a barbaric warcry, but finds none. The guardsmen follow him out and form a semicircle barricade of las-guns around the breech. Ga'duk looks around again while lowering his axe before dropping his head, "I sorry Empoor, der was nuttin to squish.." he said, vox channel open. His entire squad chuckled but Ga'duk was visibly wounded that he could not fulfil the Emperor's will.

[Assistant]
The generators started to light up, slowly. But instead of the usual blue hue it gradually turned to purple in the same rate which it grew in luminosity. Until it was a raging inferno of warp light that intermixed with the plasma within.

During this, Zuriel felt an opening, a rift further to the fore of the hulk. It closed almost as soon as it had opened, but something came through.
Was it a summoning? Or just a single effect? No matter what, it was no minor psychic power being unleashed and more importantly, there was another psyker on board.
He smiled, he suspected there probably was other on board the hulk, probably even psykers. Definitively psykers if one counted deamons. Albeit weak ones.
Now he knew, he cursed his wandering mind. He had let too much energy through, his ritual was disturbed. The generator hissed and spat, wailing faces emerged in the light and in the corners of vision and atop the machine, a fury and some disfigured dark fiend sat and licked their mouths when gazing at the dread magi busy with the ritual.

If it was more power the warp wanted, it would get it.
Zuriel cast his hands towards the ceiling and began shouting his incantations instead of simple murmuring. He allowed energy to pass through the veil at an increased rate and more than that, he enforced his will upon it even further.
The small deamons on top of the reactor wailed in terror, they had misjudged their planned meal and now fled. There was no time however as the dread magi violently gestured more energy into the star, energy began to visibly enter it and wind began to rush into the symbol. The deamons tried to clamber and flee, but was pulled in by the gale wind which violently yanked at the robes of the fallen tech priest. The pathetic deamons dematerialized and became energy to fuel the ritual.

As black tar like warp stuff dripped from his eyes, mouth and from under his robes he finished the incantation.
The generator was now running at more capacity than it was supposed to bear, light shone out from rips and tears in the reactor and the ship got a massive influx of raw electricity.
Lumo bars exploded, blue lightning arced here and there and warning sirens began to blare.

With a black smeared smile Zuriel exclaimed.
-"Excellent..."

The generator was going to explode... in time. For the moment it was producing enough power to probably run a couple of ships, armed only with lances in high combat pressure.
The only thing keeping them from rupturing instantly was the energies Zuriel put in place to sustain it. It would not last forever.

As he turned around and began to walk away with heavy steps, he couldn't help but fiddle with his fingers, holding his fingertips at the fingertips of his other hand and flexing.
He was on his way to the sensorium.


[System]
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Age: Around Early 20s
Height: 165 cm
Appearance: People only heard him on early and during the war, no one knows who he is except the king, prince and king's military personals. They describe his appearances unique and odd along with other knights. It was a iron-clad with a different design, an odd looking headwear with a pair of horned attached, the facewear resembled as a demonic looking. He fought savagely with a multi type of weapon in the heat of the battle. Without an armor, he is wearing kimono and hakama. He has a medium skin tone, handsome facial, shouldered length black hair that always tied as ponytail and a pair of brown eyes.

Bio: He came from the land of Samurai. An only son of the defeated daimyo that fled to the nation along with his mother. With an unfortunate event, the ship they ridden capsized by a tidal wave. He was only the one that had been recovered from the shore of Kindeance. He entered his service at 16 years old from the lowest to the knight of the field. On his skirmishes he gained his nickname of The Horned Ironclad Demon. Adapted with various type of weapon in the heat of battlefield, matching enemies from one against the hundred, he fought savagely and brought fear to the opposing side. He took many of the heads of suspected superiors on opposing side to the king. A samurai way to proven himself as useful fighter. He served loyally to the king and developed a close bond to the young prince.

After his service. He became a member of the Adventurer's Guild. Rose up the rumors about him as he keep soloing the high difficulty quests.

When the event came by, he received a special quest straight from the top, which is the king himself. He accepted it because he knew he was trustworthy and capable to doing this special task and the young prince was involved on this event.

The ronin attended the king along with the unfamiliar new faces.

Skillset and spells:

Mononofu: The way of the samurai. Compatible with various samurai weapons and mentally focus during the battlefield. Gaining almost perfect Hit rate and has an immunity against mental debuff. When mounted, gains high ground advantages along with the compatible weapons.

Ki:a natural energy given off by people and objects when they move. It exists separate from mana. Ki-sensing can be used to predict attacks and others' movement, including natural objects and events found in nature.

Perfect counter: Deflecting melee and physical projectiles. Counter and re-counter counter attacks.

Equipment: Personal horse, samurai armor set and samurai weapons, adventurer bag, convenient consumable stuffs for traveling and a tea set.

Others: He is an experience fighter with quick reaction time and have a sharper instinct than an average. He is also light footed. He likes tea and love to promote his cuisine as he is good on cooking.

[User]
"Our man need to sleep somewhere, yeah? Good point though, so we go in fast and hard. You got our exit planned?" This felt kinda rushed, unless Sparky here secretly already kept a plan to assault the target. Wont be too surprising if she did, honestly. The elf had way too many obstructive layer to be just a disposable pawn like the rest of the team. Just what kind of company was she running?

Yvonne took another bite out of her chicken. Whatever company it was, they made some damn good chicken.

"Yeah, nah. Let's just attack them as your initial plan. If it goes well there should be no tangible way to connect it to us." As if any plan ever went well. If it require more than two steps it's less of a plan and more of wishful thinking, but Yvonne just shrug. She'll improvise on the fly if it's necessary, it's nowhere near her first time up shit creek with no paddle. "You sure our target will be there? It's well past midnight in eight hours."

[Assistant]
[GM Post]

The idea was solid, but plain physics dictated that it wasn't a possible outcome. Converting the ashes back into paper was a slow, energy consuming process, but as it went there's clearly something wrong with it. The reproduced paper was based on the remaining corners - ergo, completely blank. Combustion tend to be a one way street after all.

A fly buzzed and landed on the paper. It rubbed its front pair of legs impertinently.

[User]
The fly was incinerated upon approach, and he irritatingly shot the ashes and paper in his hand forward, making a cloud of black smoke and a decent smear on the wall.
 His usefulness to this team at this point was already questionable, but it only seems to dwindle further.

 No, there's one more foray left to tackle. Henri moved closer to the stairs and carefully discarded all the items that weren't his but Cedar's, then headed down the stairs, meeting the other four members mid-way.
 As he took something off from inside his coat, "Cedar, I left your stuff in there. Matilda," he handed back her family's medallion, and walked past them. "I'm going to check the submerged floors."

 His shoes make an awful amount of clacking noises without Cedar's boots, huh. Putting bronze soles on his shoes for easier sliding and skating... It definitely is one of the ideas of all time.
 After making sure that all the items within his body are fully sealed to prevent water damage, and depraved of air to prevent buoyancy, he walked down the waterlogged stairs and into the water.

[Assistant]
[GM Post]

The submerged level was pitch black. Moss grown on just about any surface, while tiny fishes lazily floated around the room without much care to the world. The layout was much the same as the floors above, and equally empty. Seemed that this level wasn't instantly flooded back then, allowing the content to be evacuated before the water took them. The structure itself was relatively well-preserved despite decades sitting underwater, though the great logs holding up the ceiling had shown some signs of rotting by now.

The stairs still continued down, to what must've been the cellar.

[User]
Kaito listened quietly to Jazdia's plan. It was pretty audacious to just blitz in through the front door, grab the man and get out. However if they could manage to lure away enough people, they might make it to the target and get out. However, the aftermath could become problematic. The Black Serpent's guild would see it as a declaration of war.

"I think it is plausible. With the distraction and the element of surprise to actually get in and get out. No one in the Black Serpent guild is going to expect anyone storming through the front door. So far so good. But the plan hinges on if we can find evidence of their involvement and if we can persuade the royal court to make a move. If we fail on that second part we'll have the entire guild coming for our heads. I doubt constable Delving would be very pleased to raid the Black Serpent guild for us after today, in the case he's not involved with them himself. Who do we present the evidence to?"

[Assistant]
Invoking Golem Automaton's 30ft-radius perception to be able to 'see' solid surfaces and temperature in the water.

 As he walks deeper in and the mineral oil grease seeps upward out of his body, he wondered. What exactly did he expect to find here? These lower floors must have been submerged for an innumerable amount of years, exploring this has a massive chance of being completely fruitless in relation to finding the prince.

 Nevertheless, he pushed on, down towards the cellar. He was curious.

[User]
[GM Post]

An actual door actually barred the cellar entrance, though the once solid wood had rotten soft and the hinges rusted brittle. It detached and slowly fell backward with the slightest push, impacting the ground with a dull thud. There's many objects here - barrels by the dozens lined the walls on both sides, whatever it contained had long since compromised by the rotting wood. There's a sizeable wooden table down at the center, flanked by long benches, equally rotten to the rest of the room. On the far side was what looked like a well, its purpose made obsolete by the sheer amount of water available in the immediate vicinity.

On closer examination, a few chests were stacked at the corner next to the barrels. Rot had started to afflict the wood, but nowhere as severe as the rest of everything in the cellar. Was the wood treated before?

[Assistant]
Cedar gladly reclaimed his clothes and boots-- then set about washing the remaining bits of muck (and filth, from the way he came in) from his extremities before re-clothing himself.

"Nice ta get my clothes back on--" he murmured. "Nasty way in though-- an' I JUST had a bath!" He frowned in that inscrutable way he did when displeased.

He turned to face Matilda.

"Looks like 'is place is all cleared out a'eady. Shame-- I werent none too sure if'n there was bastards in 'ere stills er not-- Spent a good hour planting surprises for em, if'n they was... Had jus' gotten all clean from walkin' the marsh all in muf fur for disguise reasons, when Henri said ya was in here aready. Glad ta see ain't no harm done... Lesee what the dumbshits lef' fer us."

Reclaiming his walking stick and leaning on it in his usual manner, he began his own inspection of the room he and Matilda were in.

[User]
[GM Post]

Some part remained relatively untouched. The bedrolls was still laid out in order on one side. The one cookpot with a layer of moldy something at the bottom was still by its lonesome at the corner after someone kicked it off the spit a few days ago. The face-down corpse and unstrung bow hadn't moved at all from its previous position, near dead center amidst the pool of dried blood and a veritable swarm of flies. And some crows, that took stock of the party for a grand total of three seconds before returning to their feast.

A few things changed. The ash that was gathered by the cooking fire had been dashed against a wall, leaving a white-grey splotch and a few scattered scrap of paper. The rolls of tools have been, well, unrolled to reveal their secret. Empty backpacks piled on one side, its content regurgitated and rearranged in an obsessively neat manner across the floor.

A few adventurous flies were crawling over the recently unveiled preserved food, impertinently rubbing their front legs together like a group of evil masterminds.

[Assistant]
By this amount of barrels... How much of this waterlogged room is just wine? If someone else swam in here, would they get drunk?

 He grabbed one of rotten barrels and cast Inorganic Heal on it. Yeah, that would work. He tossed the repaired barrel aside, back into where he found it, as he focused on the two chests beside the corners of the barrel racks. Wait. He walked a little around the table, and saw a third chest, and a fourth. Ah.

 He summarily kicked the table and chairs aside, disintegrating them into nothing but a disheveled wood pile on one side of the room, and willed the chests to scoot closer to him so they're all at arm's reach. These chests... It's probably safe to open them underwater, right? These chests don't exactly come waterproof.

 Henri began opening them, one by one, with his own hands so as to naturally dismantle any such magical traps laid on them, while using Telekinesis to basically command the locks to release or be shattered.

[User]
[GM Post]

Thankfully, the way alcohol worked it'll disperse very quickly in presence of water. Not like Henri could get drunk, but still. Think of the fishes. As for the latest loot, each of them let out sizeable air bubbles as they're opened. Upon closer look there's rubber lining the rims, giving them good waterproofing to last through all these decades submerged.

They're filled with bottles. The first two, according to the label, was whiskey. The next two had differently shaped bottle, labeled vodka. Not like it's readable in the pitch black. Within each box was a piece of paper that was probably receipt or something, now completely drenched by the rushing water.

[Assistant]
Chonan nodded at Jazdia, and took the arrows from her, along with the map that listed the targeted locations. "I shall start early to make the needed preparations. Thank you for the meal; I'll catch up with you guys later." he said, while making a bow to the party, before immediately leaving the inn.

He headed to the weapon shop to browse for a bow, pathing straight to their displayed wares, where he picked out a decent long bow then tested its pull weight. Nodding his satisfaction to the shopkeeper, he approached the counter to make his purchase.

"A Longbow huh? Well, that's something new from you." the man said. "What happened to your sense of artistic fashion? That seems a bit plain for your tastes."

"It never hurts to try new things." replied Chounan.

"I see.." said the owner, rubbing his face with an amused smile, as Chounan counted out the coin.

Having made the purchase, he left the weapon shop. His reasons for purchasing a simpler, more common bow were pretty straight forward: His preferred Yumi was rather conspicuous and easily identified. He did not want to be identified as the culprit, should people start asking. Appearances weren't important. The clothing he had on underneath his armor was dark, and would blend into the shadows in the alleys at night nicely.

***

(This mission should be effortless. I've been practicing the bow since I was 3, and this will be no different from any of the competitions I've shot in, and took the purse.) he thought to himself.

Soon enough, it was time for the mission. He took his horse, Kuro, and dressed in a hooded cloak for extra concealment. As his name suggested (for any that knew the language, anyway), Kuro was black, making finding the branding mark on him difficult in the daylight, let alone at night. Identifying him should be all but impossible.

Like a bandit on a raid, he headed for his first target. He remained calm, enforcing the proper breathing techniques from his many competative shooting contests back home. He drew the bow back, then released the arrow straight into the rafters of the warehouse, right through the open ventillation window without stopping his horse, before moving to the next target. One arrow per warehouse, unless size dictated more.

Using the back alley ways, and 'scenic byways' to escape guard patrols and Guild members, he made his way back to link up with the group once more in the early hours of the morning, meeting with Jazdia as she was having her morning breakfast.


[System]
Age: 18
Appearance:
God Parent: Hades
Power:
 Can sense when a mortal or half-blood that he knows has died through a buzzing in their ears. On with this, he can see/sense auras.
 Umbrakinesis: ability to control shadows for offense,defense or shadow travel. Able to make himself and others he touches invisible for as long as they remain still.
 Personality: For being a dark mysterious person he is a really big smart ass. He is sarcastic and witty
Fear: Oddly enough has an intense fear of fire, can tolerate it but doesn't like to.
 Mini bio: Kou's mom was a disappearing act much like his father. Grew up in an orphanage until he ran away at the age of 13. As a child a lot of weird things happened to him at the orphanage he grew up in so he didn't make friends easily. He sulking personality didn't help either. As time went on he became a loner, spent most nights on the run and rested and ate what he could find during the day, for some reason darkness was easier for him. He once made friends with people on the street while he was on his own. He saw one of them die by being killed in a street fight, as his friend died he has this high pitch buzzing in his ears. He didn't fully understand what had happened. Around the same time he noticed different shades of grey around people, some were darker, almost black, while others were almost white. He didn't understand what they meant but he slowly took note of them in his mind to think on later.
He can also play with shadows, which he discovered one night, he can make them solid like swords or other objects, he can slightly cast them around him but he gets tired easily so he doesn't push it as much.

[User] Kou sat still in a small alleyway, a slight chill in the air made him huddle to maintain body heat. He stares at a small bakery in front of him. It's snuggled between a large building and an alley that he calls home half the times. The larger building seems to have fallen out of business, so it's really curious on how the bakery is still open. The name Heavenly Bakery was written on the windows. The bakery was decorated with snakes and wheat plants which was really unusual for a bakery. After a couple of minutes sitting down he pulls out a small black pocket watch. It's about 10 pm, the owner of the bakery throws out all the old bread around this, he normally doesn't mind when Kou takes the bread. It's not like the owner needs it for anything. Kou hungrly jumped to his feet when he heard the small bell ring and the back door to the bakery opens. The owner steps out, this is the first time Kou actually sees him. A big burly man, with a round belly and a round face to match. He has red facial hair that looks like it's taken years to be there. A half moon of hair sits on his head that match the color of his beard. His eyes look like they belong in a forest of trees, and the smell of bay leaf follows him, which Kou can't differentiate from the man or the store. The man goes over and stands in front of Kou, "Hmp back again I see?" Kou looks to the owner with a half uninterested look, he tries his hardest to not look desperate, it doesn't seem to work though. The owner smirks and throws the trash outside the door. Kou hesitates before jumping to the bag and ripping it open. There is nothing, just boxes and bags. 'Fuck… now how do I leave without making a fool of myself' he thinks to himself. He calmly gets up from the ground , dusting himself off and slowly walks away from the bakery. The baker lets out a deep belly laugh "Now now, why dont you come inside for an actual meal? Eating old bread must not be good after a while" The owner walks after Kou, placing an arm around him and guides him into the shop. Kou tries to protest and hide his eager grin on his face. The bakery smells of wonderful foods, there are so many colorful pastries on the racks and a clear case full of others foods. The shop is warm from the giant bread ovens located in the back, next to the ovens he notices a stairwell leading upwards, which he takes to be where the man lives, since he never sees him leave. Kou takes in all the warmth, not knowing when he will feel it again, with fall nearly over, winter is quickly approaching he will have to find some way to keep warm. The bakery goes up to the counter and waves Kou over to meet him. "So what can I get you boy?" The bakery said in his jolly deep voice. Kou walked up and looked at the display, not really know the names for any of them just points at random things and looks back at the man. The man laughs and pulls out the goods that the boy pointed at and brought them over to a table and set them down. Kou followed and took a seat, only hesitating for a moment before eating as much as he could. The baker sat down "The names Benjamin, nice to meet you there" he looked over to Kou expecting a name in return. Kou wipes his mouth "The names Kou" he says hesitantly. The baker stands up and walks over to the pathway with the stair well. "Well whenever you're done you can stay here for the night, just be outta here before opening." The baker walks to the side door "Be seeing you boy" Benjamin says and leaves.

[Assistant]
Mom was always out and about but that doesn't mean a girl can't have fun! A beautiful blonde haired seventeen years old walked through the mall with pep in her step and a massive amount of bags on her arms. Newly purchased outfits, accessories and shoes, so many shoes! Arriving at the bus stop, she climbed aboard juggling the bags as nightfall began. Sitting down in the seat the blonde let out a puff of air releasing her exhaustion; this was tiring, all this shopping all day with no break in between. But it was the only way could cope with her neglect from his mom and the missing presence of her dad.

Her head shook hard as she bounced on the bus looking out the window. She needed to not think like that. Despite what could actually happen, she could be in a situation much worse. Plus her mom's black American Express card has been a blessing to her and her mom didn't even notice. Sighing softly she blinked her electric blue eyes and looked down at her hands. Taking a cab was problematic because she seemed to mess with the wiring and functionality of the cab and cars. Especially if it was an electric car; maybe this is why her mom drives an old pickup truck and their music wasn't the radio, it was their voices. Despite the situation at hand, her mom did the best she could with what she had.

It was just another lonely night with no one around; her mom was gone in Los Angeles doing a show and wouldn't be back for a few days. Adeline had the home all to herself and she wasn't going to complain. However, it did make the nights long and lonesome; then again she had been alone for a long time.

The next morning Addie pulled herself out of the bed and prepared herself for the day. She had always been an early riser; as soon as the sunlight hit her eyes she was wide awake. Sighing she pulled on a yellow sundress that hung off her shoulders and stopped at her knees with a pair of sandals on her feet, grabbing her small purse she slung it over her shoulder, checked her makeup and hair before locking the door behind her and heading down to the bus stop.

Being dropped off in the downtown area she let out a long sigh and placed her hands on her hips as she looked around. So where to begin? Grumble grumble, turning on her heel, the bouncing blonde went straight for the downtown area, knowing that her first destination was food. Addie found herself staring up at the bakery called "Heavenly Bakery" the sign read that they opened at 8am and it was 7:50am according to her little watch on her wrist and the eagerness of her bouncing showed how excited she was to eat some delicious pastries.

[User]
Kou wakes up quickly and wided eyed, he looks around slightly forgetting where he was. The warmth of the room helped remind him, also the comfy bed…He cuddles up in bed for the last bit of warmth 'I really don't want to get up, and I certainly don't know when the next time I'm going to feel a bed again'. The pastor of the church near here always told Kou that he could stay in the homeless shelter they had but Kou always felt unwelcome there the one time he slept there for some reason… He sighed and got up. He looked out the window and frantically looked at his pocket watch. The little watch indicated that it was 7:50. He ran down the stairs and looked around. There was no signs of the baker, Benjamin told Kou to leave by the opening of the bakery but he had no idea what time that was. He decided not to push his luck or the kindness of Benjamin. Kou took one quick look around the baker, embracing the warmth one more time before walking out the side door of the bakery.

Kou makes his way out to the front of the bakery. The bright light caught him off guard. He doesn't do well in the daytime, he's more of a night person, among the shadows… He always felt their present and he couldn't tell if it was poor health or mental illness for being on the streets all his life but he swears he has some small control over them. Sometimes he swore shapes appeared in the shadows when he focused on them hard enough. Kou stuck in thought wasn't paying any attention as he walked right into a girl standing in front of the bakery. He fell right into her nearly knocking them both onto the ground. "Oh Ma'am I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention." he looked up at the most beautiful blonde he may have ever laid eyes on. He stood there in awe for a few seconds waiting on her to react.

[Assistant]
Staring into the window of the soon to open bakery made her lick her full lips in anticipation to a hearty breakfast that awaited her as soon as the doors open. She was so focused on the display window that she didn't even notice the door had opened but instinctively turned towards it and smacking directly into the individual who came out. Her whole body stumbled backwards and she nearly fell over. Catching herself with the window, she turned her electric blue gaze to the person who came out.

He was a young man about her age. His pale skin was an interesting contrast to his dark hair and he looked like he had just woken up. Despite his tired appearance something about him was interesting and she found herself tilting her head in wonder before she realized he had spoken to her. Addie shook her head quickly before answering him back. "Oh no, it's okay just… be more careful next time."

"Oh good morning!" A young man's voice said from behind them, he was dressed as a waiter. "Are you here for the couple's breakfast?"

"What?" Addie said with a questioning tone in her voice.

"Oh you know, today we offer free breakfast for any couple coming in in order to celebrate love." The smile of the waiter was somewhat reassuring.

Addie reached over and locked her arm through the young man who just bumped into her. "Yes, yes we are. Right dear?" She turned her gaze to the young man and gave him a bright smile before pulling him along and following the waiter inside. After being placed at a table, she sat across from the man and folded her arms onto the table leaning forward. "Sorry, this is just too good of a deal to pass up. This place is delicious. I'm Addie by the way."


[System]
Nicknames/Alias/AKA: (He calls himself Julian, but he's known as "the big guy" around Whitecross.)

Age: 20

Gender: Male

DOB: May 13, 1996

Occupation: Student / Part-time stocker and cashier at Oryana Grocery

Race: Shifter

Hair Color: Dark brown

Eye Color: Gold

Height and Build: 5'11", muscular yet lean.

Other Appearance: Julian uses hair gel to keep his hair spiked out of his face. He likes to wear well-fitting thin hoodies and T-shirts that show his athletic build, along with skinny jeans and worn black Converse.

History/bio:

It is mythologized that King Lycaon of Arkadia infuriated Zeus, the god of the sky, by wanting to serve him a slaughtered child, his son Nyctimus being one of the options. Zeus' angry response was to bring lightning bolts upon fifty of Lycaon's sons and turn Lycaon and Nyctimus into wolves. The descendants of Nyctimus became Shifters, able to shift in and out of their wolf forms at will, while the descendants of Lycaon found themselves as Lycanthropes, cursed with uncontrollable transformations under the full moon. Shifters hated the Lycanthropes and still do, having the goal of demolishing the race.

Nyctimus' daughter, Phylonome, gave birth to twin sons, one of whom founded and populated Rome. Among his descendents were shipbuilders, who joined the trade business and sailed in the modern-day Mediterranean Sea. These people gained the family name Marinus ("of the sea"). In the 1500s, the Italian Wars resulted in the Italian city states spending a period of time under Spanish rule. A few families named Marinus immigrated to Spain and changed their names to Marino. When news came of a new land discovered, a few Marinos set out on ships the Americas. One family began their new life in what is now known as Florida.
It was known from the moment Julian was conceived what he might be. Julian was born in a private hospital in Ocala, Florida, on May 13, 1996 to specialized doctors. DNA tests confirmed that Julian was indeed a shifter, although his bright golden eyes, differentiating him from non-affected brown-eyed family members, was enough indication. Appropriate personal and medical arrangements were made.

Julian was an only child and lived with his parents in Ocala. His father, Edward Marino, was the senior manager of a company that sold furniture and household appliances. He received discounts as well as a good salary, and filled the entire apartment with furniture and appliances from that specific brand. Being loyal to his work, yet quite the proud person that he was, one of Edward's favourite things was when guests noticed the uniformity of everything in the house. He would often position the items so that the brand name was visible, and try to drop subtle comments into conversations about how much he liked using such-and-such an appliance from this brand. If guests were so interested as to ask about it, the resulting conversation would often revolve around how Edward worked for such a great company. He wore brown contact lenses to change the colour of his eyes, even though they were hardly an unnatural shade of golden brown. His mother, Roisin Wilson-Marino, was a second-generation Irish-American. She used to teach general science in a middle school, known among the students for giving out relatively simple assignments for easy marks while still being somewhat of an effective teacher. When Julian came, she decided to work from home and provide science lessons online, available to the middle schools of Ocala. This gave her time to give Julian her undivided attention.

Julian seemed like a regular temperamental child in his youth. He attended Maplewood Elementary School and developed a knack for appearing to befriend loners. He loved to talk and was seen as a natural leader. He was overly-sensitive to criticism, throwing tantrums in class and expecting people to comfort him. He was also a jealous child, getting angry if he perceived someone as better than him at something and arguing if he lost a game. Although he was small and skinny no matter how much he ate, he had above-average strength and speed. He excelled at all sports and never seemed to get hurt. He also had a suspiciously good sense of hearing and smell, sometimes making him feel overwhelmed. It was decided that music lessons would help him control his attention to at least sounds, and he took up guitar lessons. It took four tries to find a guitar teacher patient enough not to drop him. Perhaps picking up from his father, he was proud of his heightened abilities and senses and liked to show them off.

His first shift conveniently happened in the summer between elementary school and middle school, in the middle of an intense dream. When Julian woke up the next morning, he felt different in the bed. He screamed loudly when he saw what he had become. His mother ran into his room with a worried face that was immediately replaced with relief, confusing Julian. That day, his mother told him the legend of the Shifters and the Lycanthropes and his family history. Since Julian had no clue about any of this, it took him a few years to fully understand everything, but this only served to confirm his belief that he was special. He was sworn to secrecy, only deciding to keep this oath after Roisin explained the family's potentially doomed fate if the secret was let out. He didn't want to bring any negative reputation and harm to himself. His father revealed his own wolf form and took to training Julian how to control it, taking him to the Ocala National Forest to practice hunting and wolf behaviour.

Out of fear for revealing the family secret, Julian's parents hired several tutors to home-school Julian through middle school and high school. Most of the tutors grew to dislike Julian for his arrogance, but kept coming for the pay. His friends from elementary school, the young loners, had had enough of Julian's controlling ways and happily cut off connections from him when they stopped going to the same school. Julian denied his isolation and simply dismissed these old classmates as unworthy of his friendship. He selected new, worthy "friends" in online chats and video games, meeting up with the ones in his area to attend events and party. He had a girlfriend for his last two years in high school, a tall blonde named Lily Flynn. She lived with an abusive family and was used to neglect enough to be with him, using her time out with him more as an escape from her home than anything else.

A plan long in the works, Julian's parents sent Julian off to Whitecross to attend Gringore Academy after high school. They explained to him that he would not only received a college education, but would learn about his powers as well. Infatuated by the opportunity to finally show his powers to the world, Julian promptly broke up with Lily. He moved alone to Whitecross two months after he turned 18 and took residence in the dormitories of Gringore Academy. He hardly needed any time to adjust to this new isolation. Being outgoing and an extrovert, Julian had no trouble busying himself with studying, parties, events, and a part-time job at Oryana Grocery, socializing whenever and however he pleased. He has developed a crush on a same-aged floor-mate, a witch named Susanna Lim, who he has tried unsuccessfully to seduce by talking about how special he is.

Family/Relationships:

Edward Marino - Father. Shifter. 52.
Roisin Wilson-Marino - Mother. Human. 49.
Lily Flynn - Ex-girlfriend. Student at Hillsborough Community College. 20.
Susanna Lim - Crush. Witch. Student at Gringore Academy. Floor-mate. 20.
Sam & Alex - Students at Gringore Academy. New floor-mates. 18.
Other/Extra: Julian is aware that Lycanthropes are the enemy, but hasn't had much to do with them yet. Julian enjoys talking to people (about himself), working out at the gym (especially in front of the mirrored wall), playing all sports, and being in situations where he can take the lead. Julian also tends to give people nicknames no matter how well he knows them, especially if they're also called Julian.

[User]
Alas on shook his head and grinned. Always on the move. With a bit of a huff, he rose from the table and followed his new acquaintance at a walking pace not bothering to run after her but maintaining sight.

He was just beginning to worry that Anwen might fully disappear from his range of vision when she seemed to stop at the base of a particularly hardy tree. Rationalizing it to be her home; or just something she found the littlest bit interesting, given her characterization thus far; he began walking a touch more quickly before eventually reaching the base of the tree. Looking up the colossal trunk, he wondered how someone could live like this. The isolation, of course, would drive one mad, but also it just seems so…

"Cramped."

He looked down at the expectant Anwen, resting in the dirt and roots as though it were nothing. She seemed to be allocating him some time to investigate, so he went back to investigating the tree. Running his hand up the trunk, he imagined the decades it must have taken to bring this beautiful creature to its current shape. Broadening his gaze to he surrounding vines and roots, he saw the little ecosystem at work: a miniature garden of Eden all working around a nymph with no idea how impressive—how beautiful—her world was.

"Thanks for bringing me out here." But, Alason began to wonder, that begs another question. "Why did you bring me out here?"

[Assistant]
Loki was woken up to a high pitch "kewee-kewee-kewee" coming from outside his apartment. He let out an annoyed groan and rolled out from under his sheets. He stopped to let his eyes adjust to the darkness as soon as his feet hit the floor beside his bed. It was definitely too early for any sane person to be up. His eyes quickly adjusted into his night vision, and he sleepily walked from his bedroom to the adjacent living room + kitchen. He threw open the screen door leading to the small balcony. His African crowned eagle Syxtar Shade was perched on the balcony railing and abruptly stopped its annoying "wake up call."

 "What?" Loki snapped as the cool early morning air bit at his bare chest. Shade cocked its head to the side and gazed at him with its piercing yellow eyes. "You want to go hunting. That's why you woke me up so early, right?" he questioned. Shade let out a sharp cry that grated on his ears. "Okay, okay. Hush up before someone hears you." He turned around and went back inside, leaving the screen door open.

He took a quick shower; the bathroom like the rest of the apartment was small and unassuming. It wasn't completely desirable, but it beat living in the dorms at Gringore Academy. He tried that his first year. Tried being the operative word. He was close to murdering his obnoxious freshman roommates. After his shower, he looked through his closet for something suitable to wear in the woods. His closet was filled to the capacity with dark colored clothes, a large portion of which were suits. He pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans, a burgundy long sleeve shirt, black combat boots, a navy hunting vest, and a watch to complete the outfit. He grabbed one of the black suits and dress shoes to put in his car so he could possibly change into it later. When he was done getting ready, he peeked his head back outside. "You know the drill, Shade. Meet you at Gringore," he exclaimed before shutting the screen door. He then grabbed his car keys and headed out. While he drove, Shade flew high above, staying hidden the best it could.

Loki and Shade ended up spending hours hunting and exploring in the forest and fields around Gringore. Shade was a born hunter and could dexterously maneuver its 5' wingspan. It caught multiple rodents with ease and ate several of its catches. By the time they started heading back to the academy, Loki was in a better mood, and Shade had a decent breakfast.

[User]
Tony sat across from his friend, he knew she didn't like turning her back towards others. He on the other hand had no problems with such. Not that he was extremely trusting of the student body at Gringore, he trusted his sense of intuition in public. And at the very least, he had Penny to keep an eye on his back while they ate. She always looked around- she used to try and hide it from him, but realized that it was a futile gesture a long time ago. Tony didn't have extensive abilities like Penelope or some of the other potential Guardians, while he had extensive control over his own telekinesis, he didn't have incredible strength, immunity to poison, near-immortality; rather, he had a level of intuition and sense of people that gave him an edge on the other applicants.

"So, excited for your final year? Looking forward to going to Rome for the test? That's coming up next summer, isn't it?"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, its a little unnerving. I still need to get a recommendation letter too. I'm not allowed to ask my dad for one, so I'm stuck asking Chief Évora or Professor Bianchi." Tony replied, inbetween bites of his sandwhich. "I'll probably ask the chief tomorrow- so let's try to get through tonight smoothly, yeah?"

Getting in trouble right before asking a staff member for a recommendation- regardless of whether or not the staff liked him or not, was in some bad taste. "Anyway, the Fitzroy party, you wanna drive, or me?"

[Assistant] Julian flexed his arms in response, trying to make them as big as Séamus' arms. He worked hard to gain muscle on his naturally lean body, and took pride that Séamus had noticed. "Let's do some weight training. We can spot each other." As they operated the machinery and lifted weights, Julian saw that Séamus could lift a lot more than him, but comforted himself by reminding himself that Séamus was naturally much bigger and taller. He couldn't stop his jealousy. "Did you do anything special to get so big? Any special exercises or routines or anything?" He listened greedily for a response, imagining his head on top of a bodybuilder's physique. As he followed Séamus' workout, he tried and failed to hide his exhaustion behind excuses and snarky comments.


[System]
Age: 18

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Weapon: Fists. Send help.

Crow's Beak: Crow's Beak is, at its core, an alternative form of the ubiquitous poleaxe-- a Lucerne Hammer. Also known as a Bec de Corbin (from which the moniker 'Crow's Beak' has been derived), this weapon is characterized by the four-pronged hammer at its head, curved spike upon the opposite side (the eponymous "beak"), and an even longer spike that extends from the top of the haft.

In the case of Crow's Beak, the shaft of the weapon is long and sturdy, extending well above his head at six feet even. Rather than one solid unit, though, the bottom half twists off into a semi-automatic shotgun, providing Luke with some now sorely needed ranged offense, whist the top half simply maintains its original function as a slightly long-handled warhammer. Finally, the aforementioned, sole piece of carryover his original weapon comes in the form of that topmost spike, now a thin yet sturdy coil of steel that retains the stabbing capabilities of the classical design whilst gaining an additional boring (as in the ability to bore through something) utility, in case sturdy armor should be encountered that he cannot simply smash, shoot, or stab through.

Specialty: Close-Quarters Combat, with a focus on all aspects of unarmed fighting as well as simply outlasting opponents through sheer guts and an advantageous semblance. Not a tank so much as a sponge, and not the tip of the spear so much as the glue keeping everything else in one piece. Soon to begin working on middling and longer ranges.

Semblance: Healing Blood: Rather than focusing primarily on the defensive, shield-like capabilities that most Auric individuals come to take almost for granted, Luke's semblance causes it to take an almost entirely different route when dealing with physical trauma— rather than outright absorption and nullification, his aura instead fuels massively overdriven levels of healing. In essence, rather than stack up defenses, Luke's method of survival is always being able to get back up for more after something flays him alive. While still tougher than a normal human by leaps and bounds, you're more likely to see him spilling blood than any other Hunter. This is, in actuality, not quite a bad thing— that same aura-charged blood, when in contact with another's wounds, will impart similarly accelerated restorative effects until it evaporates. In a way, it befits him: To be knocked down seven times means you must stand up eight, and to help others means you must be willing to invite harm upon yourself.

Personality: Luke is a person that can be described, plainly put, as "selfless to a fault". Driven by a deep-seated sense of justice and desire to become a hero, all it usually takes for him to want to step in and help someone is a moment of weakness, or the sign of someone being in need— something he often denigrates as him just being nosy and incapable of leaving well enough alone when he takes issue with something. That same sense of self-deprecation colors a good portion of his self-esteem; he has pride like any other guy, and will stand up for himself if under what he deems as undeserved attack, but his admiration for those he is surrounded by far outweighs that which he holds for himself. Prone to monologuing in his own head, he is a natural conversationalist even in spite of his status as a "recovering pariah", equally capable in the roles of both straight man and wise guy. This is why, to some, he may seem like a simply good-natured, friendly young man with a keen ability to laugh at himself— rather than the fairly melancholic and snarky, if permissive fellow lying beneath the surface. In some ways he's a walking contradiction, being silly and sober in the same breath— just as he values and preaches safety overmuch for someone almost suicidally willing to rush into danger for the sake of another. Too smart to ignore his faults and too dense to acknowledge his virtues, "selfless" really does fit the bill— for the value he places upon himself can be practically nonexistent.

Color: Black Hole

Emblem:

Appearance:

A bit on the short side, at 5'7. Athletic physique, as is the standard for those putting themselves through the type of physical training necessary to even think of becoming a hunter, if on the slimmer side of things. Interestingly, that little hair-antenna seems to be some form of indicator of his emotional state, easily as expressive as the rest of him, gray eyes included. Tends to like hoodies, sneakers, and jeans or khakis whenever not in uniform. Hailing from a town in the mountains near the northern tip of Vale as he does, even the long days spent outdoors hiking and training in preparation for his enrollment at the academy haven't done much to change his medium complexion, and his relatively long and straight black hair makes for good insulation in the wintertime.

[User]
Gratia Mindaro - Armoury

"No."

She wordlessly took the pair of binoculars from Luke, weighing the sturdy old piece of plastic in her hands. It would require some of her own work to restore to perfect working condition, but what she had been given was acceptable for her purposes. Her gaze drifted away from the other teenager and towards the plastic surface of the binoculars. Once likely a jet black sheen, they had greyed over the years, and a layer of dust was still present upon its body. It was a surprise, knowing that this object had survived so many years intact, to the point where had it not been for the colouration, she could have mistaken it for new.

Gratia lifted the binoculars up and in front of her eyes. Luke Schwarz' confused face was clear through the lenses. She tapped a button, and the binoculars seemed to whirr, a light noise escaping its mass as the view zoomed. Now she could see Schwarz' nose in clear detail, from the tiny, tiny blackheads to the red of the skin. She tapped a button again, and the binoculars whirred, zooming out.

They worked well.

That was fortunate.

The Mistralese huntress lowered her binoculars, once again allowing her cold, impassive eyes to meet those of the other teenager's.

She spoke.

"Merci."

[Assistant]
Luke Schwarz -- Armory Scraproom

Cold, impassive black met warm, amiable grey, and teenaged boy nodded in response. Looked like he'd pulled out exactly what she was looking for, after all.

"No problem."

Closing the box up, he shoved it back into its spot on the shelf, loosing a very small grunt, more a hnh, of exertion in doing so. Scooping up his own pieces, he glanced around the room for any more interesting-looking piles. While he did mention having everything he needed with the screen's addition to the contents of his looting, it would also behoove him to have a backup or two, right? Redundancy wasn't always a detriment, especially when it meant options.

Additionally.

He blinked, looking over to the short-haired gunslinger he'd moments ago subjected to his own breed of awkwardity and half an internal monologue. He ought to do right by her as well. Especially since she'd been so forthright with him about him practically needing to be walked through this class step-by-step. It was the least he could do.

"What about you, Cian? Anything you need help finding?"

Granted, phrasing it like that made it sound more like an obligation to repay a debt than an honest desire to help out...

His sister seemed to have gotten the "straightforward" genes as well as the "height" genes in his family.

[User]
Kuhaku Shiro - Armory Class

 What to do, what to do? Shiro had a rough idea of what he wanted to make. A drafted 'schematic' crudely drawn onto his Scroll's painting application. All he needed now were the hard goods. The materials to actually create what he set out to come up with. White furry ears twitching like a pair of satellite dishes with an electronic version of Tourette's syndrome, Shiro wandered about looking at the classes' multiple random parts bins. Muttering to himself quietly like a madman, he held an odd back and forth conversation.

"For the body of collar, maybe some sort of polymer or plastic material? I think this class has a 3D Printer and CNC machine...I think. Bah, polymer would probably be better and able to stand up to the rigors of fighting."
Loudly, he rummaged through a bin he thought might have what he needed.
"It'll need to have a secure way of closing and snapping shut. Maybe machine out something like the way some game console controllers are made.."
Absent-minded, Shiro randomly tossed unwanted parts over his shoulder. Not exactly thinking about the mess he was creating or who he may potentially hit..
"After that, secure it shut with some small phillips head screws. Those should be around here somewhere...Now, what to contain the glow-in-the-dark chemical...Maybe some medical tubing with the ends sealed shut. Agh, where is...!"
At another bin, he located a bag of chemlights and the tubing he needed. Problem still was the material required for the body of his collar. Pausing his search, Shiro frowned and thought for a moment. He hadn't properly named his creation-to-be. Shrugging, he continued his loud search for mats. Ears and tail perking, he found a carton of sterile latex gloves and some protective goggles just in time for his Scroll's timer to set off.
"Oop! Gotta put this on hold for now." Trotting through the discarded mess he created, he set his found materials on his desk and trotted back over to the Degreaser tank where part of Kladenets lay in a grate. Removing his black gloves, he slipped the latex ones he found on over his bandaged hands and lifted the grate out of the tank. Dripping wet with solution, Shiro gently shook off the excess liquid and carefully removed Kladenets' spine. Looking around, he located the sand blaster and strided over. Kicking the back of the sand blaster open, he gingerly set the weapon part into the machine and slammed it shut. Staring through the glass window of the machine, Shiro remembered that he had forgotten. Forgotten a rather crucial step.

Letting out an muffled/exasperated sigh, Shiro removed his latex gloves and angrily searched the web on his Scroll once more. "Damn it. What PSI and grit did I use before?" Muttering to himself, he again wandered around the class looking for bags of a specific grit of sand.

[Assistant]
Cian Kuze -- Armory Scraproom

Cian sighed as she looked at the small pile next to her full of small parts that was needed to make the headset work. Though she turned her head when she heard Lukes question what was she missing she had the major components for the headset and goggles what else did she need? Well beyond that the redesign required a different set of goggles but she had what she need with the basic frame she found. So all that really remained was a lens which she was holding and a transceiver she need a pair of them. "I need at least two transceivers Luke and a additional rectangular lens." she said as she went back to searching through the scrap pile looking for the items in question.

[User]
Abel Fulgurate – Grimm Studies
@forsythe@krayzikk@Onarax@Jedly

At last Abel's spirits began to rise. To assign credit where credit was due, Jack's bold move had come up aces for the team. Of course, a Megaladeus with its bite disabled provided a stiffer challenge than your everyday fish, its speed and strength would not prevent the students from serving up a hefty portion of defeat on plates of cold steel. Even Robert's tomfoolery -how did he even get into Beacon!? And how did I lose!?- failed to take the edge off Abel's good mood, even though his presence made the sudden invention of the first-ever Robert-ke-bob a remarkably probably event. While others kept watch, like Cobalt and Sangue, or did nothing, like Sepia, Diamond, Benjamin, Napoli, and Delta, Abel resumed his steady aiming of the Ampere. This time, with the Grimm monster at the surface in a mad effort to hydrate Robert and figure out how to not bite a giant foam lilypad, there lay for Abel a clear shot.

He did not waste it.

The guardian grinned as his weapon hit its mark, piercing its side. "Hey, listen for a sec'!" he shouted. "I hit a painful but nonvital spot so the thing doesn't berserk. If we kill it now, we can turn it into mincemeat before it goes nuts. I give it twenty-five seconds until our attacks don't work anymore. Time to move!"[/color] He closed his fist and pulled, threads of electricity yanking the speared Megaladeus toward the side of the pool. It was now or never.

[Assistant]
Luke Schwarz -- Armory Scraproom

"Like this one?" he asked, holding up a matching lens literally the second after she had finished her response with a smirk. Handing it over, he was almost surprised by his luck there. He'd literally been eyeing it as she had begun to respond.

Nice timing.

"Two transceivers..." he repeated, bringing a hand back to his chin to his chin and closing his eyes thoughtfully. He knew he'd seen some a while ago...

His eyes opened wide as it came back to him. That's it! the same box he'd been digging through while he started this whole sequence! He was fairly sure they'd been there, along with a plethora of other useful objects that he simply hadn't needed. Perfect!

Setting down his things once more, he deftly side-hopped over to original box, bending over and yanking it back out from the shelf.

Forcing the cardboard flaps apart as if opening some great set of double-doors, he beheld them, laying at the top of the pile: two gray blocks, what you might find if you disassembled an ethernet port or somesuch, the compact combinations of both transmitter and receiver.

"These?" he asked again, presenting them to her in each hand.


[System]
Species: Human

Age: 28

Gender: Female

Appearance: Shorter than average, dark hair, somewhat sun-kissed skin from outdoor activity, and way less scars than one would've expect. Usually clad in mail hauberk adorned with pieces of banners from felled foes (or a pretty dress, at rarer occasion), and always with at least one weapon in her person.

Bio: When Yvonne was born she's the only child to the opulent but very much declining house Rosenving, it took less than two more decades of ridiculous parties and all-around bad financial management before it was driven to the verge of bankruptcy. Naturally there comes the talk of marriage upon which Yvonne, an oddball obsessed with distinctly unladylike things like driving the business end of a weapon into someone's soft flesh, all but absconded with her great-grandfather's blade. The rest of her life was spent in a wild ride of mercenary work and avoiding (more commonly, well, thoroughly violencing) the men hired by her family and/or her would-be fiance to bring her back. Her journey brought her all round the three kingdoms and more, even after her ancestral home collapsed and pursuers stopped coming.

Invited by promise of great reward and, among other thing, to try save the little henchman boy that used to follow her around (yes, that would be the prince), and the fact that she happen to be lurking around the border already, Yvonne stepped back toward the royal court of Kindeance once more.

Skillset: Well versed in outdoor survival, knack for murder and violence, oddly high spatial awareness, dancing, easily thrives in chaotic situation, very good at intimidation, weaves pretty dang well, and is proficient using common melee weapons. Personally prefers the mace despite her title.

Spells:
-Mansplitter (Self-buff. Gain inhuman strength for a very short period. The stronger the effect, the greater the backlash.)
-Warcry (AoE debuff. Inflict terror in a wide area. Greater effect on closer target, and greater effect on direction Yvonne is facing.)
-Bloodlust (Passive. Haste, pain tolerance, and resistance to mental effect. Starts off weak but ramps up as the fight goes on.)
-Resilience (Passive. Harder to injure, less affected by existing injuries, and heals a lot faster than normal at the cost of increased calorie usage.)

Equipment: Daily necessities (preserved rations, a tin pot, medical supply, knapping, change of clothes, etc), adorned mail hauberk, the sword her great-grandfather wielded that probably never saw use since then until it landed in her hands, a heavy flanged mace, a rondel dagger.

Other: Can be inserted to the plot any time it's convenient (or fun) to do so.

[User]
Henri was simply there by the stables, sitting on the barrel he carried to there, a mere three feet next to someone's horse. He might've came here too early. He exhaled. It bored him. There was an odd lack of a stableworker today, either. Alright then, might as well do something.

 With the town on edge during the recent events, it was oddly quiet in these stables while he embarked in the throes of cleaning this eternally unused water barrel. His telekinesis could only keep up appearances, he needed actual water. Well, he could also use telekinesis on the water, creating a localized cyclone inside the water barrel. He then dumped the dirty water out, and rinsed it again. Nicely done.

 Now, for the sprinkling system... It has to be something large enough for Ceddy's paw hands to just pull up, and a diligent spray of water would pour out on the side. Henri began to carve a large rectangular shape out of the side of the barrel, then filled the carved side with steel which he then poked small two-millimeter holes onto at the lower half, alternating to form diamonds if connected. Then, he added a frame outward that would tightly hold another sheet of metal only one-third as long as the first one. This sheet can be moved up or down to seal the watering holes. Then, the last thing is to attach a small hoop to the sheet to tie a long leather rope onto, and tying the other end of it to a smooth metal ring to pull easily from the shoulder.

 A few more checks to see if the external sheet slides smoothly, then filling up the water barrel to make sure water stays in when closed. Pulling the sheet up creates multiple tiny streams of water, much like a watering can. Amazing.

 After that exciting ordeal, he's back to simply sitting on the water barrel, now with a pony harness by his feet and a Scroll of Arcane Bolts in his hand. It would seem hasty and prone to misshaping if Henri were to turn this pony harness into a backpack sling for this Ceddy, as he knows not of his measurements and might build it too small. For now, he focused on studying this scroll, which if he guessed at the mechanics, should be as simple as pooling your mana at a spot and hurling its condensed form at your enemies... He wouldn't know until he tried, though. It's not safe to test this scroll in this area.

 Jazdia, huh... Where has he heard that name before? It's quite the unique name, but he couldn't pinpoint from where.

[Assistant]
2:10 P.M.

Rascade city outskirt, Kingdom of Kindeance.

Once a bustling hub of commerce, this town was now rarely seen by outsiders. The rumor of imminent war and their recent policy to tighten their border control had made most people steer clear. No longer merchant flocks and the ship docks in their street and harbor, causing the economy to stall considerably. People didn't seem to be troubled by it, however. Maybe because the lockdown was just announced five days ago and a dent in the kingdom's economy was barely felt.

With the help of the swordmaster Chounan guiding them through the city maze and alleys, the trio finally arrived at the... less sophisticated part of the city. A ghetto if you may, but don't let the average citizen hear you saying that. Those Nouveau Riche would gasp in horror before telling you that you are an imbecile and there was no such thing in this prosperous city. The others, however, would nod to that notion and blame that on the influx of immigrants from their neighbor Meche who then formed their own destitute community, giving a stain on the face of their great city.

With discrimination and prejudice becoming more rampant these days, who could really blame them?

Their destination was a very busy middle-class tavern named The Black Swan. Which, based on Jazdia's analytic mind, had positioned itself cleverly on the market. As long as they have thirst and coin, everyone was welcomed, from nobles to paupers, immigrants, travelers, and natives alike. And while this gave a sense of inclusivity, it systematically encourage its patrons to flaunt their wealth for everyone to see. Really, it was not showing off if you couldn't rub it in someone's face, and this tavern facilitated you to go wild with your petty ego.

Still, it was a tavern. Information circulates as much as coins and drinks. Coins lure all kinds of people including those with dishonest hearts and scheming minds who sedulously taking the advantage of the addling nature of liquors, which needless to say didn't mix very well with one's financial acumen.

Sauntering through its main hall, Jazdia fixed her sight on a room with decorated walls located on a slightly elevated floor. The so-called VIP area, reserved exclusively for those with a more prominent background they even had a well-dressed bouncer guarding the entrance.

The bouncer, to their surprise, immediately welcomed them upon seeing the expensive (and gaudy) armor Chounan was wearing.

Jazdia didn't even need her power to find what she was looking for. The table in the middle of the room was so loud it attracted the attention of the other patrons. There were four men, three gentlemen were obviously nobles, and the person who was shuffling the cards was an ancient being wearing heavy illusion makeup from head to toe to make himself look like a whimsical noble boy in his late teens. As the coins piled up and another round began, the noblemen watched with sneer and anticipation.

Jazdia approached the table. A foul game was at play and the victim would be these three seemingly obnoxious aristocratic gentlemen. She was rather undecided if she should intervene.

Placing her hand between two invisible fox ears, the elf decided that she just need some fluff to ruffle. Whatever happened next was up to chance... as any gambling should.

"Are ya winning, son?"

[User]
Kaito was so focussed on playing his victims that he did not notice the three people closing in from behind. It was only in the moment that Jazdia put her hand on his head that the kitsune noticed the presence of that elf. Just hearing her voice sends shivers down his spine and for a moment Kaito loses his concentration on his elaborate web of illusions revealing his fluffy fox tail for just a split second. Although the kitsune was sure that the men across the table would not notice, the two friends of Jazdia's might.

Kaito always felt a certain tension, nervousness when Jazdia was around. Maybe it was because she had the ability to see right through his illusions or maybe it was her piercing gaze that seemed to go right through to the darkest depths of your soul. Seeing those bits of you that you desperately hide far away while convincing yourself that it isn't there. He couldn't put his finger on what it was but the Kitsune knew one thing for sure, the elf knew how he felt and she was thoroughly enjoying it.

It took a few seconds before he regained his composure and turned his head towards Jazdia. With a bit of an annoyed look on his face he spoke "I see you still carry the same attitude towards proper etiquette, miss.... Sparky" Not that he had expected anything different from her. If Kaito had learned one thing about Jazdia since their first encounter, it was her absolute lack of respect for any form of authority and etiquette. She would even refuse to bow in front of the gods themselves. A character trait that Kaito certainly appreciated.

"Anyway, I certainly hope that I am going to win. I betted a fair deal of money on this game and don't want to explain to my father why our families coffers have shrunk a bit today. But since you're here, it is safe to assume that my presence is required at the estate, right?" Spoke Kaito as he pretended that the elf was some sort of servant of his noble house. He was sure she would understand that he was dragging her into his web of lies and could only hope that Jazdia would play along.

The three men at the other side of the table were flabbergasted about the exchange. In their perception Kaito was a young nobleman that should have been addressed by a servant with the proper respect. What the elf had shown was utter contempt about etiquette to the point that a proper punishment would be in place. Yet the young master let her get off easy.

The kitsune turned towards his victims again. With Jazdia here, he knew he had to wrap things up quickly. Her visits always meant business and you never knew what was cooking in her head. The pretty elf might intervene if he made her wait too long. Not to mention that she had brought two friends. Must be serious business. "Gentlemen, my apologies for the interruption. It appears that there is some business that requires my presence. This will be the final round for today. Anyone want to raise their bets?"

With much anticipation the three men stared at Kaito. All were waiting for the final card to be drawn and placed open on the table. All had strong hands and were confident that they had a good chance of winning. Not to mention there was a good deal of money at stake. The kitsune slowly picked the card from the deck and placed it face down on the table. He quickly looked at the three men who all tensed up. Then Kaito revealed the card.

Lord Baltimore jumped up from his seat and slammed his cards on the table in the most un-lordy fashion possible. "Go beat that!" he shouted in excitement as he revealed the second strongest combination of cards possible in the game. The two others looked at the cards that were revealed on the table and then to their own hands. The excitement drained from their face, making room for frustration. A few annoyed growls could be heard as mister Ridgeway and mister Conway accepted their defeats.

Lord Baltimore was about to grab the pile of gold coins when he realized that Kaito had not yet revealed his cards. All three men turned their heads towards the kitsune who sat there just silently with a straight face. "no, you're not going to tell me that you have a royal straight, right?" spoke lord Baltimore. Then Kaito revealed his hand, card by card until a royal straight, the strongest combination of cards was laid out in front of him.

[Assistant]
On the way out Yvonne collected the belongings she handed over earlier, finally feeling adequately protected with the weight of weapons in their holster. She had to modify her appearance a bit, removing the multicolored adornment to leave the hauberk plain. The riveted mail wasn't exactly a common thing due to how pricy it was, but still plentiful enough among the more well-off soldier and mercenary that it wouldn't draw much attention. The heirloom sword wasn't adorned much in the first place, wrapping some rag on the handle was enough to conceal it as a standard arming sword. Everything else can be find in any decently large armoury, thus was of no issue to wear in the open.

Their de-facto leader brought them to one of the better inn in the city, pricy enough to bar the less savory (or the destitute) while still affordable enough to see plentiful traffic. Off to the side room she followed, past several gamblers toward the one that probably had more wealth staked than the rest of the room combined.

There's a flash of furry ears and fluffy tail, but all it earned was a raised eyebrow from the mercenary. Far from her to point it out for no one's benefit. She had an inkling of what this man was worth to them, if it's even a man under the glamour. Yvonne wasn't unfamiliar with the type, always seems to have a pair of extra ears whenever something interesting occured. Jazdia's contact, then?

For the most part Yvonne kept quiet, though upon the grand reveal she had to struggle from cracking a grin. Now that's a hedged deck if she ever saw one. Dunno how it's arranged, but the odds of just one good hand was rare enough - much less four in the same round, and right at the closing game with the highest stake? If someone tried something like that in a low-end tavern they'd get knifed within the hour. Sometimes right then and there, by the outraged players.

Nothing that helped the investigation so far, but at least Yvonne got a new nickname for the elf. Sparky rings so much better than Blondie.


[System]
"The world is full of nice people. If you can't find one, be one."
Soul
Kindness
Age
12
Gender
Female
Appearance
She is about 4 feet tall and has naturally sad green eyes, but really most of the time she's smiling. She tends to tie her hair up into a ponytail whenever she can to keep it out of her face. She doesn't actually have any of those bandages on her right now, but otherwise that picture is how she looks. She has no scars in absence of the bandages either, she's perfectly fine at the moment.
Personality
In a few words: Kind (duh), secretive, observant, playful, joyful, and confident. She's always got a smile on her face, either because she's usually able to find something to be happy about, or for other's sakes. She may not be brave enough to run head-on into danger, or even sure that she'll make it through whatever obstacles she comes across, but she has confidence that in the end everything will turn out alright. She often keeps her thoughts to herself unless she's trying to cheer someone up.
History
As the story goes on you'll learn more about her, she won't bite if you ask.

[User]
Ginty will keep his Integerty
 Ginty calmly looked around to figure out where he was. It seems like he is in some sort of underground moonpool, he has only read about them in books, though, he never thought that they were actually real. It's no time to think about things in story books now Ginty! We gotta stay alive and figure out how to get out, He thinks to himself trying to access his situation before doing anything too bold, Okay... where are you, Ginty... You are in a moonpool with you feet in the water... your cold... Best bet is to get out of the water and try to dry off. So he does just that, he first slowly takes his legs out of the water to make sure that his skin can get to the temperature change, he then slowly stands up to get a better look at where he is exactly. Once he got a feel for where he is he decides to loose his family necklace and try to loose some of his wet clothes so he can dry off better which would help him warm up, he gently places his stuff on a rock by something that seems to be like a tree. Thats a plant! I can start a fire with that but I don't want to use too much energy... I need that to get out, he thinks to himself knowing that talking would also use too much energy. He then walks up to the tree and uses one hand to push against it to see how stable it was.
 The tree was thin and the wood should be dry enough to start a fire. He then looks around for something he can use, the first thing he finds are rocks, but he could easily drop it and hurt himself and it would take to much energy to use the rock like it was currently, so he continues looking around and seeing an overturned bus seat and a bunch of clothes and a backpack of a sort, but if he chooses that option he would have to use more energy to swim in the water and swim out, and the water is too cold to do that. He sighs before looking up and sees some vines he could use to make a net and use to get the backpack. He quickly nods his head and walks over to his necklace grabbing hoping that he could use it has a hook of a sort before climbing up the tree know that it was strong enough to climb by how hard it was to push. He was barefoot so climbing the tree was slightly painful not he didn't get hurt to the point he was bleeding but because he was barefoot it was easier to climb up the tree. Once he got to the top he held onto the tree with once had and threw his necklace at the vines hooking onto them and pulling the down.
 It worked but he dropped the necklace causing it to fall to the ground. Ginty watches it fall and tightly holds onto the tree, based on his knowledge of survival from the books and shows he has watched the best thing to do is to watch where you are going has you climb down so you don't fall and get hurt. He does just that but slips and few times though but catches himself. once he got down he quickly got to work on weaving a net to use to get the stuff out of the water using his necklace like a saw. He kept some of the leaves to use has fire feed once he get's it started. He then throws out the nets to the clothes to practice with it before trying to get the backpacks and the bus seat. It takes him a few tries before getting a hang of it and even after he get's a hang of using the net it took him three good tries to bring in the backpacks.
 Now that he has the backpacks and the clothes he starts off by moving the clothes to some wear that they can dry off with his over clothes. He then looks down and his underclothes, all he had on what a pair of black shorts and a black tank top on, It's better than nothing. Now let's look through these bags He sits down Indian style and grabbed his first backpack. There was a hand full of snacks, some paper, and a water bottle. The other's had similar things but one of them had a pocket knife and a tin water bottle. Ginty's face lit up when he saw the metal water bottle and a pocket knife. Ginty stood up and took out the blade of the pocket and began to try get an axe blade on a rock or the rock at least sharp enough to cut down the tree. It take a bit of work but he does get some type of edge out of the rock.
 He then walks over to the food collecting and places the food onto a rock where he could see it from all directions to make sure nothing steals it, before taking the backpacks and lining them up with the clothes to dry out so he could use one of them to store the food, a different one to store supplies, and another one to store the clothes in. Once he got his workspace organised and cleaned up he starts on the fire, but first, he got to get that tree down. Ginty grabs the rock axe blade thing glad that he normally wears thick leather gloves everywhere he goes. He firmly holds the rock piece in both hands and takes a good swing at the tree making sure to focus on one spot that was softer than the others. It takes him a good twenty or something hits until he cut it down enough so that he could push it over the rest of the way. He huffs and stretches stiffly dropping the metal piece and checks his hand. They were sore but they'll be okay.

[Assistant]
Rena Narim, Soul of Justice ♥

---

Falling...
 Screaming...
 CRASH!
 These were the last things Rena remembered before her world snapped to black, sweeping her senses away and into the inky void of unconsciousness. The next thing she knew, there was a light, pulsing pain in head. She gave a cough, and opened her left eye, finding her right eye to prefer to be closed. This concerned her a bit, but she reasoned that it may just have been bruised a bit.

 She forced herself to her feet, supporting herself using the wreckage around her. She rubbed at her face, causing warm blood to smear onto her hand, and her to shudder. She took a shaky step forward, seeing the map in front of her. She figured that she would need that once she made her way of the cave, if she wanted to be able find her way back home. She carefully pulled at the map in front of her, and then heard Lucia call out, who's voice she recognized. "I'm fine Lucy, kinda..." She called out, and then coughed again. "I don't think I'm that beat up anyway..."

[User]
Soul of Perseverance ♥ Mimi
Generator SIN @Vesuvius00 @Laach @Natsu @The1Rolling1Boy
Hearing Lucia's compliment after having pushed Naomi off her, Mimi blushed. No one had told her she was a great leader before, only that her actions were "dangerous" and would bring similar "danger" to others. "Thanks Lucy." She mumbled, before returning to observing as Lucia seemed to do the same. A small sound resounded through the cavern; "Mrs. Cassidy is in danger."

Hearing Dilloh's words silently echo through the cavern just before Lucia roll-called for others, Mimi was spurred into action again. "Danger" There it was again, that word she'd heard so often. She had never really understood it, but from everyone's reactions to it, she figured it must be something bad. Gesturing for Lucia to come along, she scurried off to where the voice came from. Passing by a pile of bags and clothing before arriving at Dilloh's location. Looking around to locate mrs. Cassidy, but not seeing her Mimi asked "Where's mrs. Cass--" but interrupted herself as she looked down over the edge to see whar Dilloh was staring at so worriedly. About one-and-a-half meters beside Dilloh, she was looking over at mrs. Cassidy dangling over a black, menacing void.

Quickly thinking about a solution Mimi concluded they'd need something to pull her back up without the ground giving in further...obviously. They needed something like a rope, but that wasn't exactly something you'd carry on you at all times. Remembering she'd seen a pair of jeans on the way here, she rushed back to the pile of clothes with a quick "Hold on!". Quickly grabbing two pairs of jeans, she turned to Dilloh and yelled for anyone to hear "If anyone can help, grab something like a rope and help us pull!"

Returning to Dilloh, she threw a pair of jeans on his shoulder, the pipes bungling over his back and chest. "Give that to Cassidy so she can hold on to something, after you do, grab this one and we'll try to drag her back. Extending Dilloh one half of the jeans so he could grab hold of that himself. "You help me pull, Lucy! And everyone else too!" As she said this, Mimi was praying people had chosen to actually show up as well as praying this would go right. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as time seemed to slow around her. Her gaze locked at Dilloh to make sure she wouldn't miss the crucial moment, a multitude of thoughts ran through her head. What if mrs. Cassidy did fall? Sure, it would confirm mrs. Cassidy was weak if she did, falling was for the weak after all, but despite her wanting to be proven to be superior, Mimi was hoping that mrs. Cassidy wasn't entirely weak, that she'd at least be strong enough to not fall here.

[Assistant]
Lucia ~♥~ A Kind Soul
Still hoping to help everyone.

Lucia sighed in relief as she finally found where Naomi was hurt, and was certain that the older girl was still alive. She had a nasty gash on her leg, but without anything to wrap it with Lucia couldn't do anything to help that at all yet. She considered trying to clean the wound with the water from the pond, but before she could act on the thought, she heard others calling out now, answering her call from before.

At the first call Mimi ran off, beckoning Lucia to follow her as she did. Lucia stood up and glanced down at Naomi before deciding to follow. The older girl would be fine for a little while, right? "Wait up!" She was slower than Mimi in getting to where Ms. Cassidy was, and once she got there she had no idea what to do. The teacher was hanging over the edge of a cliff, an older boy trying to hold her and keep her from falling. Mimi went to get a few pairs of jeans from a pile of backpacks and clothes, and Lucia looked around to see if anyone else was coming to help. It, didn't seem like it yet, but there was a good chance that everyone was still stunned from the crash and couldn't really help.

As Mimi lay out her plan, Lucia took hold of the now makeshift rope, ready to pull when it came time. "Wait, shouldn't we try to tie these together and then tie one end to Ms. Cassidy? then we can all pull from this end away from the cliff so none of us fall over either."