Adventurers Guild Adventurer's Guild - Receptionist's Desk

Discussion in 'Roleplaying Games' started by AliceShiki, Jan 28, 2019.

  1. strikegunner

    strikegunner Well-Known Member

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    @AliceShiki
    "Is it okay to sell the mana crystal to the guild?" *pay the fee*
     
  2. A5G_Reaper

    A5G_Reaper [DCLXVI, sohyee, and iampsyx's cute imouto]

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    Task: Save my Niece please... [Available] ( @strikegunner is interested in partying for this one.)
    Requester: Asgith, Blacksmith
    Quest rank: D
    Rewards: 10 Large Copper Coins and 1 free item repair ticket.
    Description: My niece had recently registered in the Adventurer's Guild, she was pretty happy and enthusiastic about it, but I was pretty worried... Turns out my worries held true, during a quest in the Caves of the Dead, she found a Cursed Axe that possessed her! She already killed both her parents while rampaging in the town before running away...
    I understand she is dangerous, but she is all family I have left... Please saver her... You can get any details you might need by talking directly to me.

    "Yo! There should be no more problem with the cursed axe. The girl's at the temple now, Fen is telling the news to the client."
    "Well ain't this some classic mess. Cursed axe? Couldn't get more generic." A gourd idly chatter as he read the quest details. "Anyway, you can call me Gourd. Pleased to meet you."

    "Hey gourd, I'm Fen. How are people in tavern nowadays. I haven't go eat there for a long time." Fen greets Gourd and drinks water while confirming quest details.

    "Same old, I've not been there often myself; so, I guess we should find this Asgith first of all."

    "I know where's his blacksmith is. Follow me."
    *leaves the guild hall*

    "That's convenient." The gourd followed, hoping that his current partner have better sense of direction than one particularly energetic girl.

    ___________
    [Asgith's blacksmith]
    Fen: *knock the door* Hello Asgith, we are the adventures who accepted your request

    Asgith: Oh hey, it's you. Aaaa... Is it Fen?
    *Fen nods*
    Asgith: And who is that ummm.... golem? *points at gourd*

    "His partner for this time." The gourd waved. "Just call me Gourd. Or Jack."

    Fen: Asgith, let us hear your niece story first.
    Asgith: My niece, she is half-dwarf around 4"6 tall. She got brown hair and wearing a white shirt, blue pants and leather armours. I heard when she was rampaging she got red eyes and went toward caves of the dead three days ago.

    "That's where we're going then." The gourd nodded. "I'll fetch some things first, meet me at the east gate in half an hour."

    "got it. I will talk with Asgith a bit"

    The gourd's garden used a special blend of water and tarvine sap to keep them moist, with a ratio of ten to one. It allowed the other plant to acclimatize to the tarvine's presence while at the same time preparing the soil for further cultivation in the future.

    How was that relevant to the quest?

    Tarvine sap was paralytic. Pure sap was enough for the infamous heartstopping capability when introduced to wounds. If it's diluted, though? It changed into medicinal use for palpitation, numbness, as well as muscular relaxation.

    Thus, it's commonly used for nonlethal takedown.

    Since the last sap harvest, he kept sever small buckets of the mixture inside the toolshed with differing ratio of dilution. Inside of them was six throwing knives, the blades left to soak for several days to retain some of the tarvine's properties. Three were left within the pure sap, hese were for killing. The remaining three were steeped in the greatly diluted sap-water combination instead, these ones he took into his knife belt.

    That done, he reset the few simple traps inside the shed. Just some board with nails sticking out of it, but whoever stepping on those would lose their legs at least - with a garden of poison, there's little reason not to use then after all.

    "East gate, twenty minutes. Seems that I'll be early."


    Fen's SS
    *smithing sounds*

    "Asgith, what should we do about the cursed axe?" Fen asks Asgith when he repairs Fen’s equipment.

    "As long as my niece is safe, it's up to you guys”

    *sips a cup of water* “Do you think you can modify cursed weapon?”

    “Why do you… Are you sane!? You will be possessed by that axe like my niece!”

    “Don’t worry, he will stop me”

    “You mean the guy named Jack? Do you trust him? It seems you two don’t know each other well”

    “I just trust in fellow adventure, at least he should be able to escape and report the guild. Now, what’s your answer?”

    “I can do it but I need a hand from someone who learned dark magic, cursed should be deal with one who knows it right?” *hands repaired equipment*

    “Dark magic user huh. I don’t there is someone who uses dark magic in the guild right now, I have to ask the receptionist. Here the fee.” Fen pays for the service and leaves the workshop.

    *Alright, I got 30 minutes before meeting at East gate."

    *****

    "There you are!" A gourd waved from his shaded spot under a tree. "Let's go! Any more news from the client?"

    "No, just a friendly chat" Fen shakes his head and walks towards the gate. "We might fight some undead on the way so I went to church to get the blessing."

    "Just shred them off." He shrugged. "So, any idea how to find her? It's quite a big area."

    *thinking*
    "Since undead should still be hostile towards her, I think she might not be too far away from entrance"

    "She's been at it at three days. Would be a minor miracle if she's even alive." He noted. "We got to hurry then."

    *****

    "We're close."

    It's not hard to tell, what's with an increasingly obvious trail of mutilated undeads as they got closer to the infamous cave. They'll run into the girl soon or at least her corpse. He hope it's the former, would be harder to explain otherwise.


    Fen whispers to Gourd "We got two skeleton archers on the right side behind the rock. Don't look, let them come closer to us first." Fen takes out wooden spikes in his pouch "I can deflect one arrow with these."

    The gourd twirled his shield.

    "No problem for me, I could just rush them. You go find that girl."


    "She has brown hair, right?"

    "That's what he told us." Bracing with his shield, the gourd shot forward toward the bony archers. Their bows and arrows weren't maintained since before they died, but it would pierce a man without problem. Unfortunately there's a whole lot of metal on the way, one of the arrow slapped aside while the other missed entirely.

    The gourd snatched one skeleton by the leg and swing it against the other like an oversized club, repeating several times until all that's left was a messy pile of bones.

    "Alright, let's catch up."


    Fen left a note for Gourd, draws the arrow sign pointing to the path ahead and runs toward that direction

    Note:
    "I spotted her with black tattoos, it's worse than I expected. I will go after her first."

    It didn't take long to catch up. The girl was almost unrecognizable with black tattos spreading across her body like some invasive tendrils, centered on a rather large battle axe she's swinging toward nearby undeads.

    "Heya." He hopped next to Fen. "At least she's alive."


    *sighs* "Got any plan? We can't take those hits directly." Fen points at the girl who's crushing skeleton into pieces

    "How good are you at close-quarter combat?"

    "If you don't let her swing horizontally, I can stick to her for long period of time until my stamina runs out" *unsheathes his axe in reverse grip*

    "That's too dangerous for you. Her strength is abnormal." The gourd grabbed his throwing knife in icepick grip, one coated in diluted poison. "Keep the undead away, I'll subdue her."

    The girl was a head shorter with stocky built. Some rather worrisome gash littered her body, but it didn't bleed and showed some sign of healing. So the curse wasn't completely harmful - he doubt she'd survive this long without it. But even that was reaching the limit, she'd break down sooner than later with how she fought without self preservation in mind.

    He shot off toward the berserking girl, shield-bashing a skeleton to pieces on the way. She was gripping the battle axe with both her hands and swung it at him as he closed the distance, but he halted just in time for the swing to miss. It smashed heavily on the dry ground leaving her fully open, in which the gourd lightly stepped in and buried the knife on her left bicep.

    "...the arm is limping, but her grip doesn't loosen. Troublesome."

    He waited for the pessmud to take effect but the grip on the axe wasn't affected at all. Seemed that the axe or the tattoo or both had something to do with how she's not letting go even with paralyzed muscle. It would add some complications, but wasn't out of expectations yet.

    She charged, but the swing was noticeable slower. A harsh tap to the side of the axe with his shield sent the trajectory away from his body, then a second knife found its way to her other bicep.

    That's half the job done. Now she couldn't lift her axe even if she could grip it like her life's depending on it. Well, didn't stop her from trying to ram him, but he half-crouched and flipped her hard using her own momentum as she arrived. She spun twice before landing roughly on her belly, and he'd sat on her outstretched arms before she recovered. He pulled out some rag and stuffed it to her mouth to avoid complications.

    "Let's get that cancer off your hands eh?"

    Prying the axe off one finger at a time proven to be a highly tedious affair, with the host's muffled screaming and constant thrashing abound. But without her arms she could kick as much as she want and still fail to dislodge herself. It actually took longer to remove the axe than to subdue her, but her hand immediately went limp after it separate and finally he pried it off with a grunt.

    A field of red descended. Blood rains from the sky as a sweet whisper echoed, a promise of power and greatness all within grasp. Black tendrils crept from the edge of his vision as something squirmed in his hand-

    "Shut the fuck up."

    It cleared with a hiss, the axe keened. Sounds almost like fear, but that shouldn't be possible. It's an inanimate object. Impossible, he ascertained himself.

    Looking around, the girl's fully unconscious now. She'll need some healing but there's nothing immediately fatal. Retrieving his knives, he seek Fen around. There's not a single undead interruption, so the man did a good job. Picking up the girl in a fireman carry and with the axe on his free hand, he approached his partner.


    Fen smashes skeletons' head to confirm their deaths, suddenly a large shadow behind him tends to attack him with a weapon. Fen quickly rolls to the right and hears a sound like an explosion next to him.

    "What!?" He looks an appearance or the enemy "Death knight!?...No, it's just skeleton knight but..." Fen carefully observes the skeleton knight "He's huge and those tattoos also resemble that girl. Is it also that axe's work?" *grins* "This is interesting!"

    Fen parries the long sword that is descending and make it shift away from his body. He steps on the long sword that stuck to the ground and uses it as a footing to leap toward skeleton knight. Lightly landed behind the knight he uses the axe's heel to strike knight's' left leg.

    "The bones are tough" Fen climbs on its back but got shake off.

    Skeleton does the laughing gesture

    "This fucker is looking down on me." Fen throws the axe at skeleton head and taunts him "Come at me, you #$@!%@&" Fen's eyes grow a bit brighter.

    "Need a hand?" A gourd called from a safe-ish distance. "Got the girl, we could retreat anytime."

    Fen dodges another vertical slash "I need a weapon. Hmm? Give me that axe, that will do it."

    "It got the curse." He plainly stated. "I got it under control, could you?"

    "I will be fine~" Fen blocks another hit with a spear but the force is too much so the spear broke in half.

    "Fine, but I won't be nice if I need to take you down." "As for you - behave." He tossed the axe forward. Was it shuddering? No way, it's an axe.

    Fen grabs the axe. A sweet voice echo in his head and Fen's vision becomes blurry.

    ((Weak one...Obey me...I will give you unrivalled power you seek...))


    ((Haah!? What the fuck you are talking about. I'm giving you a chance clean your own shit so you should be the one who obeys me))

    ((Don't push your luck kid! I am...))
    Fen interrupts voice from the axe.

    ((A fucking old man who can read the situation. You can't even directly control that skeleton knight. I can destroy you by using the axe you possessed to block that giant sword easily so don't get cocky. So do you want to visit afterlife or obey me, decide in 2 seconds))

    ((OY!..)) Fen starts the count. ((One...Tw..))

    ((Stop! Stop! I will let you use me so don't! Hey! look forward! dodge it! dodge it!))

    *Grins* ((Good choice)) Fen jumps backward, then the black tendrils form into tattoos on Fen's arm that is holding the axe. The skeleton swings his sword down at Fen again.

    "I'm ending this." Fen grips the axe tightly, dodge the incoming attack and break the skeleton's spine in half.

    "Not too shabby"

    ((Shabby? Compare to your weapons earlier, I am in a different realm!)) A sweet voice replies.

    ((Shaddap! Your blade is too blunt. Can you even take care of yourself?))

    *depresses* The voice cries quietly.

    Fen retrieves his broken weapons on the ground and waves at gourd. "Our job is done, let's go back".

    "I've subdued The Coveted, and I got to say that wimpy thing doesn't even qualify to be a cheap knockoff." The axe let out a somewhat offended keen. Must be his imagination. "Let's go. I don't understand how did this girl lost control to it."

    Fen catches up with gourd "Does she need any treatment? I got some bandages and ointment"

    "She's not bleeding, so nope. But best if we drop by the temple first, it's not something bandages can fix."
    -Fen got a rather wimpy cursed axe. (*angry axe noises in the distance*)
    -The target have been recovered and deposited at the Temple of Ophelia. No permanent disabilities aside from some scarring, but mental state is unknown.
    @AliceShiki @strikegunner
     
  3. A5G_Reaper

    A5G_Reaper [DCLXVI, sohyee, and iampsyx's cute imouto]

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    Task: Drinking Challenge [Solved by @Razogul] [Solved by @Haxagen] [Failed by @SpearOfLies] [Taken by @Fossil][Available]
    Requester: Garrosh, Unbeatable Drinker.
    Quest rank: E
    Rewards: 4 Large Copper Coins + As many Drinks as you can chug before either of us pass out.
    Description: Nagrand's orcs are too weak. I have been traveling across the whole of Edhellen looking for a fitting challenge, and so far all have disappointed me.
    Come forth brave adventurers! Test your might against the invincible Garrosh! Drink until one of us passes out and may the victor stand to drink another day!!!
    Drinks on my tab, though you'll be drinking the same stuff I am.
    * The requester will only pay the 4 Large Copper to those that actually beat him.
    This Quest can be taken multiple times within the week, though only once per adventurer.

    "Free drink? Well, why not. I wonder if it'll take effect this time."

    Coming to the tavern filled with orcs, he was pointed to the one called Garrosh. The gourd took the stool next to the supposedly invincible one.

    "You drank before?"

    "Definitely more than you."

    "Ho! Let's skip the pleasantries then!"

    The bartender, as if on cue, slammed a pair of large mug in front of them. A gourd and an orc each picked one up and without further ado, downed the content.

    "Next!"

    *****

    Garrosh drained his mug rapidly while the gourd was slower but steadier. But after five mugs, the former started to slow down.

    "Another."

    Five mugs later, the orc seemed to need a bathroom trip but his pride won't let him walk first and thus he kept going.

    "Keep it pouring."

    At twenty, he was struggling to keep the yellow liquid moving down his throat.

    "Come on, we barely started."

    After twenty four mugs in a very short period, the orc abruptly emptied his stomach onto the floor accimpanied by good-natured laughter and jeering from his friends. Then he just staggeringly ran to the lavatory on the back, leaving the contest behind.

    "Sooo... do I wait him to come back?" The gourd asked, not the slightest slur in his speech.

    "Hah! Just wait for him to pay your due, since he puked everything he's out. You drink very quickly! Usually people slows doen by the tenth but you forced Garrosh to keep up, good job!"

    "What can I say? I've been at it far longer than he."
    -The gourd sincerely hope that he didn't give the other guy alcohol poisoning.
    @AliceShiki
     
  4. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    So a Manticore is hunting the mountains near Seditio...? Hopefully it doesn't try to go down towards Ternus... This seems like trouble...

    *pats Phini-chan's head with one of her tails* You did a great job though, glad to see Karst-san is now safely within the village, hopefully things turn out for the best for him~

    And... Fairies are very special girls... Be sure to take care of yourself, evil people always lurk around somewhere, you wouldn't want them getting near you...

    Your reward will be of 9 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points~

    Take care now~
     
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  5. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Ah, it's alright Fen-san, we'll buy it without issues, I'm sure Caligo has some uses for it if you don't~

    Pleasure doing business with you~ *bows*
     
  6. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Well, glad you could solve it properly, hopefully the girl's mental state can be recovered by the healers... We don't need more curses in this town...

    Ah, I'm sorry, I digress... The reward, right? So... 10 Large Copper Coins for you two to split as you see fit, as well as 4 Guild Points for each. And the free repair ticket of course, I guess you can discuss between you both to see who keeps it.

    Take care now~

    ((*pokes @strikegunner too*))
     
  7. strikegunner

    strikegunner Well-Known Member

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    "Gourd (@A5G_Reaper), you can take the repair ticket. I already got this axe as an extra reward" *slaps the cursed axe*
    ((Oi!!!))
     
  8. A5G_Reaper

    A5G_Reaper [DCLXVI, sohyee, and iampsyx's cute imouto]

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    ((*slaps axe* this bad boi can fit so many curses in it))
     
  9. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    I suppose alcohol can't affect plants in the end... Good to know I suppose?

    The reward are 4 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points~

    Take care now~
     
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  10. A5G_Reaper

    A5G_Reaper [DCLXVI, sohyee, and iampsyx's cute imouto]

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    (( :blobsweat_2::blobsweat_2::blobsweat_2::blobsweat_2::blobsweat_2: ))
     
  11. MrAconter

    MrAconter Well-Known Member

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    [Gather up to 3 Poison Hemlock]
    After i went to my Storage to get the Plant Box i used the last time i went to gather the "Daturas" herb.

    I headed out north towards the Village i visited the last time to ask the old granny for help in my search for herbs.

    After a couple of hours i saw the village and greeted its resident as i made my way towards the house of the old granny.
    I knocked on her door and waited, it took her some time to open up but she greeted me with a warm smile.
    I said:"Hello there, i don´t know if you still remember me but i once came by to gather some "Daturas" herbs and asked for directions. I once again come looking for some directions if you know where to find another herb."
    The granny raised her hand towards her chin seemingly thinking about what, she smiled:"Ah hello there son yeah i do remember, i
    showed you the way towards the stream with those herbs yeah. What are you looking for this time ?"

    As the granny seemed to be willing to help i opend up by describing her what herb i was searching for.
    She once again raised her hand towards her chin thinking:"Yeah i once saw these herb, let´s do this i do need help to gather some herbs myself and in the region where i need to go are some wolfs and other predators who are on the prowl there, you take me along to gather some herbs and i ill show you where i last saw this herb of yours."
    As soon as she said then i had to smile, it could have not been better i get lead to the place i need to go and someone who at least has seen that herb in person and to get rid of some wolf or other smaller predators i would have to deal anyway if i go alone would pose no problem or inconvenience so i agreed.
    Since it would take some time to reach our destination she suggested we head out on the next day to avoid camping in the open.

    Since she suggested that i decided to return in the morning and to do some training on my own until then.
    OoC: This part is not related to the Quest and is only included for the sake of Character development
    --------------------
    I left the old granny´s house and search for a dark and secluded place nearby.

    I found a barn ans asked the farmer if i was allowed to rest on the hay inside and to do some training until tomorrow.
    He said i could do so for 10 Small Copper Coins, i agreed to that with easy since it was a small amount anyway.

    After the farmer left i put my things down and drew my bow just like the other times i did some training.
    This time i gathered the Shadow/Darkness at my fingers tip and connected it to the bow, i slowly tried to draw the bow further and further to stretch it, it broke apart time and time again with only small success.
    My aim with this was to either enhance my bow and arrow with the element of Shadow/Darkness or to create an entire Arrow made out of Shadow/Darkness, the best result would be to achieve both but one of them would already increase my strength.
    After some time of training i went to rest on the hay.
    The next morning i packed my things and went towards the old granny, as i arrived i saw the granny already there surrounded by two small kids.

    He went closer and greeted the Granny and kids.
    The Granny smiled and said:"This boy is "Karn" and this girl is "Vila" they are my grandchildren and will tag along to learn about some herbs if you don´t mind."
    I waved at the Kinds:"Hello tho Karn, Vila my name is Aconter and i will accompany you to gather some herbs" he turned towards the granny:"Should there be any predators nearby just take cover with your grandchildren and i will deal with them but please keep in mind if i should tell you to run pleas do so and don´t hesitate"
    Both the granny and the kids nodded seemingly happy with what i said.

    We went on our way with the granny in front leading the way and Karn and Vila running all around us having fun on this road trip.
    The granny showed them around pointed at some herbs and told them if they are eatable or not and which they should not touch if possible.
    Even though Aconter had traveled alone trough the world for a long time he noticed that a smile had made its way up his face as he looked at them, with a feeling of longing in hearth he kept on following.

    After an hour or two we made it to the stream and followed it upwards.
    The stream split apart into two the main stream which we followed an one way smaller one to the east.
    There was a tree log over the stream so that one could go over the stream.
    The kids had no problem going over but it was a bit harder for the Granny so i helped her.
    As we progressed i noticed that the stream became smaller and smaller.

    We closed in on a small patch forest and the granny warned that after this part there could be some danger.
    The kids tensed up and i took my bow and an arrow ready to draw.
    We moved closer to the stream as the herbs we were looking for grew nearby.

    The Granny advised the kids to gather the herbs she needed and i looked around for my herb.
    The Granny called me and pointed towards the other side of the stream there were two of the herbs i looked for.
    I went trough the stream as it was only as high as my knee so it was no problem.
    i dug out the two plants and the earth that they were growing in.
    With the two plants secured i went back to the granny.
    I went up ahead to look for at least one more herb so that i could finish my Quest.
    But apparently lady luck was not on my side i did not find even a single herb.
    As it grew darker we decided to head back to the village.
    As we made our way back i spotted a rabbit and shot it down and took it along.

    After we arrived in the village we cooked the rabbit and i said my farewell to the three and headed back to the Guild

    Gathered Plants:
    - 2 Poison Hemlock
    Spend:
    -10 Small Copper Coins
    -1 Arrow
    I returned to the Guild and brought the plants to the Receptions Desk:"Hello there @AliceShiki i brought back two of the herbs that Jack wanted"

    OoC: I asked before about improving my char and adding Ability´s, i wrote about what i was thinking to do in the report and would like to hear if that was something that is allowed to get or not. FYI i would like to go further down the path of Shadow/Darkness inherent skills for my char later on if that is allowed of course.
     
  12. A5G_Reaper

    A5G_Reaper [DCLXVI, sohyee, and iampsyx's cute imouto]

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    Task: Injured People Needed [Taken by @Blitz] [Taken by @Haxagen] [Taken by @strikegunner] [Solved by @Razogul] [Available]
    Requester: Mother Superior of Ophelia's Temple
    Quest rank: E
    Rewards: Free Healing for your Injuries
    Description: Some new priestess have joined the temple and are being trained in Healing Magic. While they already have some practice with wounded animals, they lack experience in healing actual people.
    The requester wishes for wounded adventurers to come to the temple and let the novice healers tend to their wounds... While they are not completely without experience, they are still novices and may commit mistakes.
    No monetary reward is being offered as Wounds healed for free is enough of a reward. Any adventurer that ends up worse off than they initially were have no right to complain as they took the request fully aware the healers are novices.
    This Quest can be taken multiple times within the week, though only once per adventurer.
    A gourd wandered into the temple of Ophelia, where some sisters in white brought him to a side hall for the healing. There were several other adventurers there, mostly with light to moderate wounds, taking advantage of the free healing provided. Seemed to be an annual thing, there's no way so many could gather here otherwise.

    "Uum, excuse me? Mister Gourd? I'm Sarah, the novice healer. Could you point out your wounds please?"

    It's a small girl about fourteen years old, blonde locks tied in a ponytail behind her. Her blue eyes restlessly swivelled around, completely nervous.

    "First time?" The gourd asked. She nodded very slowly. "It's fine, I'm not sure if normal healing could fix me up. Just take a look alright?"

    That seemed to take some edge off her, starting to look more determined than before. The gourd undo a knot at the end of his left sleeve, revealing that it had a line cut up until the armpit for easier unrolling. Pulling it up bared his power arms, which was... not a pretty sight.

    For one, it's almost had no flesh left. Just thin layer of skin sticking to the bone.

    Then the ulnaris bone was rather obviously broken at the middle, made more apparent by his deathly skinny frame. It was propped by two solid wooden branches and tied with bandage, but anyone with that kind of wound had no business exerting the limb. Much less bracing a shield.

    Finally, its coloration was deep purple centered on the break. It spread far, disappearing into the sleeve up and continuing until the wrist down as if his arm is one giant bruise.

    "Come on now, don't gape like that. How bad is it?"

    "H-how bad? It's terrible! You need an expert healer-"

    "Ssh, just do your stuff and tell me how it goes."

    She very reluctantly agreed, gently setting the bone as correctly as she could and chanting her magic. A soft glow seeped into the skin, easing the bruises until it fade to more normal coloration.

    "Sorry, I can't heal the broken bone. But with rest or a better healer you will heal in about-"

    She chattered beamingly even while trying to hide her exhaustion, but stopped and stared wide-eyed as the healed bruise rapidly return to the original size. The gourd hid a wince, shaking his head as he unrolled his sleeve.

    "It's some kind of curse, not your fault." He plainly tell her that. "I'm afraid that it won't heal even with every priest in the temple working together; well, thanks for your assistance though. You did a good job."

    The girl's tearing up now. He felt bad, hope he didn't leave her some trauma-

    "Don't give up Mister Gourd!" She grabbed his gourd rather forcefully. "I'll study hard and learn the strongest miracle! Nobody should suffer from such terrible curse!"

    And with that, she disappeared into the temple complex. Scratching his head, the gourd left with some curious eyes following him.
    -The gourd sincerely hope that he didn't made a young healer obsessed over insidious curse and how to dispel them.
    @AliceShiki
     
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  13. Naraku

    Naraku 『』『』『』

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    After reading the report, Gasp sighed and handed the rewards to both of them, they indeed gave a break to the soldiers, what was troubling him was... Monster bunnies? There is also that, what is next? Monster slimes? Aren't they considered as monsters..? They are too adorable to be monsters.

    "Good job, you get 8 Large Copper Coins each and 4 Guild Points each as well, see ya for another quest report I suppose."
     
  14. Haxagen

    Haxagen Fallen's|Addicted to Gacha

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    "I'm back and better. Sometimes a simple chat can be more effective than any magic spell."
    Elaine smiles.
    Still dazed from my previous quest, I slowly made my way over to the church.

    *Knock knock*

    “Hello? I’m here for the quest…”

    The person who opened the door stared at me with some confusion, so I pointed at my guild badge.

    “Here from the Guild. Took the request. Training for apprentice healers.”

    His furrowed brows got visibly more furrowed.

    “Missy...I think you’re at the wrong Church. This is the Church of Lord Raldtorias…”

    Oh. Why didn’t you say so earlier?

    “My bad…*hick*...I’ll be going along, then. Much thanks for the help.”

    “Wait!...Do you need someone to escort you there? It’s not that far away, but in that state…”

    “Nein. I’ll be fine.”

    He looked even more concerned from that, so I smiled, waved, and walked off.

    10 minutes later...

    “Now, what happened exactly?”

    “I drank too much. I think I had 4 mugs of beer before fainting.”

    “I see...Then, you’ll be looking for a spell of Detoxification. Then...Montmorency! Come over here.”

    A timid girl with freckles on her face shyly entered the room, holding a rough wooden staff in her hands.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    “Well, let’s do this, I guess?”

    “O-Okay! S-Sacred Light, cure all ailments! Detoxification!”

    A bright light emanated from the tip of the staff, blanketing the room in intense light, and then...

    Nothing happened.

    I stared at the cleric girl, even as my minor headache seemed to get worse.

    “I’m sorry...My healing abilities are subpar as compared to most other apprentices, so I can’t use anything other than Lesser Cure and Light Heal…Whenever I try, it usually ends up creating a huge flash of light, followed by nothing...”

    “Hmm...What kind of spells do clerics like you learn at the basic level?”

    “Uhm...There’s Bless, Lesser Cure, and Lesser Light...Although, I’ve only managed to pick up one of those...the other two are too complex for me to understand…”

    “Maybe it’s not a problem with you, but rather that of the spells themselves? After all, I did hear that some people simply cannot pick up certain types of magic, while others learn those easily as if they were nothing. Perhaps this is your case?”

    The girl hastily straightened herself, and stared at me earnestly.

    “You think so?”

    “Of course I do. If the ends don’t justify the means, change them until they do. Everyone has something they are good at, and something they are bad at. Cheer up, okay?”

    “Thanks for the encouragement...I guess that’s an adventurer for you, huh? Still, your work is really dangerous, Elaine. Your parents must be quite worried for you.”

    “Parents?”

    Now that I think about it carefully...

    “I don’t have any recollection of them.”

    “Eh?”

    “Not a single bit. Oh well, not that it matters. I don’t feel any sort of desire to find out, anyways. Maybe it’ll become clear in the future, who knows? Don’t give up hope and continue working on it, okay, Montmorency? Next time if I get hurt, I’ll be relying on you!”

    “Ah?! O-Of course! I’ll do my very best!”

    And so, I left without getting my headache cured successfully, but it would only be a while later that I realized, that having a pleasant chat about nothing much in particular had gotten rid of most of the pain.
    @AliceShiki
     
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  15. Unreachable Hope

    Unreachable Hope Unspecified, Wandering and Doubtful Member

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    @Nurman
    "Here we are, back from our quest.", Cinis said as he felt exhausted, he felt like he should go drink something.
    Before actually taking the quest, Cinis sighed as he saw the quest sheet, there was nobody around he could ask to party with him, maybe, there were some, but they were probably busy with other stuff.
    So, he entered into the tavern and wandered around, asking on a mild voice.


    "Is there anyone who would like to take this quest with me?"

    Having wasted the last week chasing after but failing to catch a criminal, Ayumi sits in the Tavern, her gloomy mood apparent to all that take a look at her. But, suddenly, she hears someone asking for allies on a righteous crusade quest!

    She does not hesitate for a single second and jumps up from her chair, making her presence known with a loud clatter as she accidentally knocks over said chair. Slightly embarrassed, she props the chair back up and sighs in relief as nothing seems broken.

    Then, she turns towards the person which requested allies. The first thing she notices is a big burn on his neck, which looks rather ugly. The second thing is the fact that he is an elf. I wonder if the myth that elves don't eat meat is true? She wonders, before addressing this elf. "Excuse me, I'd like to join you in the quest."

    "That is perfect then.", glad to have found someone rather quickly, Cinis introduced himself with a smile as he showed her the quest sheet he has picked earlier.

    "My name is Cinis, pleased to meet you, in short we have to retrieve a treasure in the Demonic Volcano, or around this area the very least, you are in?", he asked a second time just to be sure, before looking at the person he was looking at that, it was... quite an unique look he supposed. These clothes seemed to be... more, how to say that, sophisticated? He did not know how to describe it, but that was rather curious, as well as interesting, perhaps he could get to discover something when they are on the road.

    "If yes, let's just go check with a receptionist if we can get this quest."

    Ayumi quickly reads the quest sheet with her rusty and broken knowledge of the written language, grateful for the quick summary of the quest which follows with Cinis' introduction, although she considers the content of the quest to be slightly disappointing. Just as Ayumi is about to suggest immediately starting with the quest, she remembers that Cinis obviously doesn't know her name.

    So she introduces herself and confirms Cinis' question: "I am Ayumi, and I want to aid you in this quest."

    "Then, let's go.", after she said this, Cinis went to see a receptionist, to get their quest granted.

    A dozen of minutes later, they were still in Nagrand and Cinis began to ask about how they would need to deal with their needs, whether she could do it his way or not. As he did not want to use money.
    "I have a few questions, as for the food, do you think you can hunt animals so we can save up money? As well for the water, there are rivers, as long as we do it right, we can safely drink it. And last point, can you sleep outside, as in, in the forest without any thing that may seem like a bed? On top of that, to get to Nyllia, I suppose we will have to use Kuro's service, so we might need to pay a bit of money, but it should be fine, we should have enough."


    Listening to Cinis' barrage of questions, Ayumi's head starts hurting. What kind of useless question are those? In the end, she decides to just state her opinion on the matter. "Our desire for righteousness will keep us going, no matter how often we fail to catch animals! Thirst cannot stop the righteous, and sleep will only be allowed once we have returned with success!"

    "...", hearing this, Cinis sighed, was it a fanatic? What a shame, he picked the wrong partner, maybe it will be alright, but it does not begin well.

    "Ha, it seems fine. We will have to rest and eat still, because if we won't, we will starve and die, it would be rather a shine and you won't be to continue being righteous if you are dead. So, let's just be careful. We should depart now to Kuro's Crossing Service to get to Nyllia and then to the Demonic Volcano.", replying after a long sigh, the adventurer stretched his arms and looked at the sky. He felt like it will be a troublesome journey, how marvelous.
    It was time to depart toward the west.


    This statement baffles Ayumi, before she nods after a few seconds, agreeing. You can't be righteous if you are dead. Why did she not think of that before? "Okay," Ayumi utters after a few seconds, "let us get going?"

    "Yeah.", how many days should it take for them to get to Kuro's? That was rather a good question, if they were simply walking, it should take around three days according to Cinis' unreliable calculus.

    Hours later, the half-elf sighed as he did not feel like walking, he preferred to sleep and talk, like anybody to be honest. Also hunting, it is quite a fun activity.
    "Mmmmm, we should find a way to shorten our trip... three days of walking seems a bit much...", were there wild horses around here? Or a carriage, at the very least, they would walk a bit less and would be able to rest without exhausting themselves.
    "Any ideas?"


    Thinking about a way to shorten the trip, Ayumi feels tempted to answer with: Pure determination! But the elf doesn't look determined for that, or actually anything, so she does not say it, and keeps thinking for a while, before coming to an (in her opinion) genius idea. "Do you know if there are any bandits with horses in the area?" she questions Cinis. "We could kill them, and take their horses. Two problems solved at once!"

    "Actually, at first I thought you were going to say something that would give me an headache... but you gave a pretty good idea.", being completely honest with her, Cinis nodded and then wondered where would they find the bandits.

    "That's good... well, I never searched bandits, where would you find them? In the vicinity I suppose, near the main ro- oh wait, we are on the main road. Then, it should be rather easy, we just have to well, walk and see if we end up encountering one, eh."

    Shocked, Ayumi remains silent for a few seconds. He saw through me! Casting a suspicious gaze at Cinis, she then asks: "Can you... read thoughts?"

    "Of course not, I might be an half-elf, but I don't wield any magic. You just... seemed to be a bit foolish, since well, you were ready to discard what you need to live in sake of your righteousness. which... was a bit dumb, because as I said earlier, if you die, what can you do for it? Nothing. So I did expect something foolish from you.", he was showing that he was glad that it did not happen and continued to peacefully walk on the road while making on purpose to shake his coins, to make the chinkings echo, bandits shoud be quite greedy after all.

    "Anyway, let's try to attract them, okay?", getting back to the main point, Cinis began to whistle rather loudly.

    "Oh." Mutters Ayumi, slightly confused. Finally, she decides to just carefully look around, trying to spot bandits. After thinking for a few seconds, she adds: "Try to hide your weapons?"

    "Eh, they are already hidden. I don't have a coat for nothing after all.", using his wooden cane to walk, Cinis smirked as he began to hear non-natural noises from the northwest it seems, he waited to get a clear view on the opponents, first, counting their numbers.

    "They are coming, slowly but surely. Try to count how many are they." , continuing to walk as if there was nobody attacking them.

    With a frown, Ayumi tries to count them while holding herself from charging at them. Dirty scum, you should be purged from this world! Ah, but the ambush, I have to wait... "Let's run? We can try to lead them into an ambush, and count them while running? Oh, but we'd exhaust ourselves while running..." Then she remembered her barbed wire. "Let's run, I can make traps! They'd chase us, and we will kill them!"
    "Mmm, I generally dislike running. I prefer to wait and kill, well, after we can separate, a few will pursue you, a few will stay with me, as if I was a bait trying to gain time, what about it?", he could as well say that he can not run. But, why would he say it? They can deal with it rather easily in his opinion, half a dozen, they won't die, bandits generally aren't trained people. That's what he learnt, if he was alone, he would surrender, then stab them in the back, or at least something along those lines.
    On top of that, they did not seem to be that protected, they did have a horse though.


    After thinking it over for a few seconds, Ayumi nods in agreement.

    "Let's go then.", keeping on walking forward, Cinis expected Ayumi to fake fleeing once they get out of their hideout, after not even a second, six bandits appeared on the road, perhaps there was more behind those six, and they began to rush toward the two of them. But as for now? It should be rather easy.

    "Ah! Here they are, let's proceed with the plan.", as they appeared, Cinis drew out his crossbow which was already loaded.

    Immediately as the bandits appear, Ayumi forgets the plan, suddenly her iron pipe in her right hand, and places herself before Cinis, but a bit to the left so that he still has a line of sight to the bandits.

    "...", Cinis just sighed, well, an all-front fight, it's good as well. It's easier and simple. Aiming at one of them, the bolt was launched and lodged into a bandit's throat, who immediately fell to the ground due to the pain, rolling sideways. Switching weapons to the Khopesh, he slashed at the coming bandit before they could do anything, then, his head almost fell off their body since half of his neck was cut.

    "Four left.", he could not attack a third one as they were too close to him, swiftly backstepping, he avoided a stab that almost pierced through his side, a bit higher and his ribs may have been cracked. With the pummel, he stunned the one who tried to stab him, a slight smiled appeared on his face.

    Seeing one of the mounted bandits charging at her, Ayumi throws her pipe at him, hitting his head and knocking him out. As another bandit slashes at her from the left, she quickly conjures some barbed wire for protection, managing to dampen the blow so that it does not cut through or crush her bone, then pulls said bandit down and tosses him before the hooves of the last bandit's horse, causing him to come crashing down, while the bandit that was tossed before the horse gets brutally trampled over.

    "Eh, nice.", seeing what happened on his left, he commentered as he crushed stunned bandit's throat with his wooden cane. How nice. There was only one left, and well, it seemed that he realized his situation and wished to flee, eh, perhaps... they should kill him. He might have some money on him. Quickly reloading his crossbow, he aimed at him, originally at his back, but because he made some strange and useless movements, the bolt pierced his knee.

    "Alright, so, we got a horse, we got six people, dead or alive, whatever, they are doomed to die due to their injuries, we just need to check on them if they have any money or stuff."

    Staring at the horses and bandits, Ayumi suddenly has a revelation. She had no idea how to ride a horse. Absentminded, she responds to Cinis: "You do whatever you want with the loot, justice is rewarding enough for me."

    "Eh, I was planning to use the loot to pay Kuro's service. But since we got a horse, I guess we don't need to use Kuro's Service, so let's split half-half, okay? The weapons, let's just throw them, we could get money, they might be in copper but we can't really carry these with us. So, let's just throw them...", then he began to check each body, some were still alive but who cares, if they try to do something, he will just punch their faces.

    The first one.
    "Ouch... quite poor, 11 small copper coins... that's sad. There are still five... how did they even get their hand on a horse..."
    The second one.
    "Eh, 4 small copper coins, that's pitiful. I guess that's life. Nothing much we can do about it."
    The third one.
    "...nothing. Yeah, he probably was the careless type to lose everything.", he was trying to reassure himself before checking the fourth one.
    "I am glad, one that is decent, 1 Large Copper Coins and 6 Small Copper Coins." alright, only two left.
    "Mmmmmmm... where is this... he has something right... here it is, oh, oh, 2 Large Copper Coins, and the last one seemed to be the fanciest among them..."
    Finally, the last one.
    "...well, not as much as I expected. 2 Large Copper Coins and 3 Small Copper Coins."


    Time to count everything.
    "Overall, it makes 5 Large Copper Coins and 24 Small Copper Coins, eh, rather fine for a few bandits. On top of that, we have a horse. Perhaps, they just stole it."


    "I do not require money." Affirms Ayumi her opinion, who thinks that carrying around all that money would simply be impractical. "You just take it."

    "Eh, okay, this is fine by me. One day, I would need to store that somewhere... I am becoming heavier with these, oh well, it's not that bad yet.", he felt like he should really store it somewhere, if only there was a sort of bank in Nagrand. Oh wait, what if there was one? He never searched, he should.

    "Anyway...", Cinis swiftly climbed on the horse and said as he strecthed his hand to her with a rather tired look. Perhaps, he got addicted to sleeping.
    "Get on, we are gonna ride the horse till the Demonic Volcano. That's quite far, but as long as we nourish this beast, it should be fine."


    Looking at Cinis' outstretched hand, Ayumi ponders. Finally, she asks: "And you're sure you know the way?", grabs his hand, and gets on the horse behind Cinis. Needless to say, she can barely keep herself on the horse, and tightly hugs Cinis. Before threatening him. "I swear, if I fall off because of you, I'll bash your head in."

    "I know, I know, it's west then in the worse case, I can just follow the river, when this one end, we shall head north. If you remember the map, it should be more or less this.", hearing a second comment, he replied on a sarcastic tone.

    "Well, it would be a shame to have spirit haunting me, I will be sure not to go too quickly.", and then, the horse began to gallop toward the West.

    "Wait, you bastard, let me get used to this fi-!" Ayumi's shout gets cut short as she tries not to fall off or bite her tongue.

    One day and half later, while keeping on following the river, they arrived at a crossing, and now they needed to cross the river, which could be considered as rather troublesome. If they had a map, they would be there. The horse trotted the whole way until there.
    [​IMG]
    "Well, let's take a rest now, we shouldn't be that far. We are halfway, afterwards, we would arrive at the Demonic Volcano. Let's check later whether the horse can cross or not, if it can, it is perfect, if it can't... well, we will have to go around the river, at least, we would discover the Holy Empire of Men.", Cinis sarcastically said as he was sweating a bit, the warmth seemed to become heavier and heavier as time went on.


    Wobbly, Ayumi dismounts the horse, her gait an obvious sign of having ridden for far too long. At this point, she has her jacket tied around her waist and the few topmost buttons of her uniform unbuttoned.

    "It's too hot here!" she protests, fanning herself with her hand as she carefully sits down on a nearby rock, her butt and legs hurting from the time spent on the horse. As she turns her gaze to the river again, she sighs to herself.

    "How are we going to cross that...?" With the two rivers meeting, they have joined together into a deep stream. "Hey, Cinis, let's just try crossing it further north, okay? And drink before continuing. I don't think anything can cross the river here."

    "Hey, we are going to a Volcano, get used to it. It will be even hotter once we get there.", Cinis said as he went to relieve his thirst beforehand. After hearing what she said, he went to check the river's dept as well, and confirmed it was too much, on top of tht, the flow was a too violent as well, he looked at the center of the crossing. Something felt off.

    Dismissing this thought, he then replied to Ayumi after thinking for a bit, if they needed to go North, he hoped he did not need to enter the Empire, it would more troublesome than anything
    "Yeah, we should do that... well, while we are resting and thinking about the next, we can talk, for example... what are those clothes? I never have seen this kind of clothes before."


    "Oh, these clothes? They are normal where I'm from. You've never something like this before?" asks Ayumi slightly confused, while stretching. Then, she starts walking towards the river, leading the horse along with her to drink.

    "That reminds me," she ponders, "where am I from? It didn't look anything like Nagrand, or like this." After mumbling this, she scoops water up with her hands and starts drinking, ignoring the ache of her left arm where she was hurt in the fight with the bandits.

    Absentmindedly, she looks around. Wait, is something moving in the water? Before she knows what is happening, something wraps around her limbs and lifts her into the sky. "Hey, what the fuck is this!?" she shouts. The something turns out to be tentacles from some sort of giant creature within the water. "Cinis!" shouts Ayumi while struggling to break free of its grip. "Get over here and help me!"

    "Haa...", quickly standing up, Cinis still sighed as he took his crossbow and aimed at the thing in the water, the tentacle was too unstable, he could not aim at it, it was too risky, he could harm Ayumi. So, he needed to wait that it gives an opening, meanwhile he could... he remembered something, he had Henbane, yes, Henbane, this hallucinogenic plant, well, originally, he wanted to keep it for himself, but well.. he guessed he would share it with this creature.

    "Here you go.", he rememberd what happened with those flowers, just smelling it made him his sight getting twisted, then what if the Henbane actually get digested by this creature? It will probably not, but once its sight gets troubled... it will panick and throw Ayumi. That was his plan. Luckily, it will either throw her on the land.

    Seeing the henbane getting closer and closer to the center of the crossing due to the water violently flowing, it stuck to the creature. The tentacles suddenly began to tremble, to brutally move, the surface of its head slightly showed at the surface... at this moment, a bolt was lost and injuried its head. Pain plus a bit of hallucinations, it should be enough to release her.

    The sudden shacking, however, dazes Ayumi. Then, in pain, the monster tightens its grip, causing Ayumi to scream out in pain and curses. "GodDAMNIT!" As she wishes to tear apart the monster (and perhaps Cinis as well), it happens in an instant. Her second manifestation, the 'tail, appears, bursting forth from her hip's back within a second, thrashing around wildly and spewing smoke everywhere.

    With a lucky hit, it manages to weaken an already strained tentacle, freeing one of her arms. Ayumi then grabs her pipe and starts bashing it at the tentacles around her recklessly while shouting a seemingly endless amount of curses. At this point, the monster finally releases Ayumi - although mostly due to the effect of the Henbane - causing her to drop down onto the rocky shore in a small cloud of smoke.

    She lands partially in the water, but hits her head on the rocks, and her curses find a sudden end as she is knocked out, all of her manifestations fading along with her consciousness.
    "It worked. The Henbane had a nice effect it seems.", Cinis commented as he went near Ayumi to pick her up, avoid the water as much as possible who knows if the Henbane had such an effect, then he went toward the horse to go north, before that, throwing a glance at the creature, he saw it slowly getting above the surface of the water.

    A real monster indeed, to be more exact, an octopus, his tentacles seemed to be hitting... the bubbles that were on the river, for some reasons, it saw these as enemies, it was not stopping to attack. Seconds later, it blowed fire on the river.

    "Okay. No time to waste.", while the octopus seemed to be busy whipping the bubbles that appeared due to the shakings, as well as creating water vapor with its fire breath, Cinis was busy carrying Ayumi, then climbing the horse and began to gallop toward the North, getting away from the octopus as quickly as possible.
    A huge octopus that can spit fire, it seemed pretty dangerous, they should report it once they are back to the Adventurers Guild.


    I am walking to school. Though it is not as usual, as there have been various brutal murders around the area, rumors even say it was the work of cannibals. I do not believe them. Cannibals? Pah. Well, no matter who it is, today I will stop them for good.

    School passes by in a blink as I prepare myself for the encounter which I'll provoke on the way back home. Then it finally is time to go home.

    On my way home, I am purposely taking the way through the abandoned industrial district, where most of these murders have happened. Everything is normal. Then I spot something moving in the corner of my eye. A person.

    Without hesitation, I dash towards this person, which starts to run away from me. After a couple of minutes, we arrive in a dilapidated warehouse, which surprisingly enough still has electricity. The person turns around; a stranger, but with a malicious smirk on his face.

    Then something hits my head from behind, and I stumble forwards, where a fist meets my stomach, accompanied by a burst of bone-chilling laughter. "You will be our dinner today!"

    I try to defend myself, dizzy, and struggle as much as I can, but that does not prevent a knife from stabbing into my body. With a burst of adrenaline, I start biting and clawing at my attackers, their blood and flesh unusually sweet in my mouth, and pull out the knife from my stomach.

    With a spurt of blood, I charge at the group of cannibals, hacking and stabbing them, as our fight destroys a lot of the strange machinery surrounding us. Then one of them rips a gas hose out if the wall, the black, nauseous smoke it is emitting numbing my senses.

    Suddenly the hose is wrapped tightly around my neck and I flail the knife around helplessly. The entire warehouse is splattered with blood here and there, the black smoke is slowly filling up the entire warehouse, and various partially broken machines are emitting sparks.

    A pipe hits my hand, breaking its fingers, and the knife drops to the ground. I feel teeth tearing into me, the beat of my heart fading with my consciousness as more and more of my blood and flesh, of myself, gets torn from me.

    Then I die, the sweet embrace of death promising peace. But a sudden blinding light fills the warehouse, turning all that remains of the warehouse to dust along with myself, but not the cannibals which left some time ago.
    After a while of being unconscious, Ayumi starts tossing and turning, moaning in pain, and muttering strange words.

    Feeling her moving while the horse advanced rather quickly, he decided to stop, a bit away from the river as he felt a bit worried about the creature, afterwards, he prepared a campfire and put his coat over Ayumi.
    Hearing her moaning in pain, he did not react and simply waited for her to wake up, he could hunt, however if she woke up while he was not here, it might be troublesome... he could also try to hunt fishes, it was rather near but considered what happened earlier, not really advised.


    "Mmmm...", he sighed and just patted her head as he wondered what could they eat. If she did not wake up soon.

    Cinis' hand seems to calm Ayumi down, and she slowly but surely calms down. From that point on, it doesn't take long until she regains consciousness. "Mmm... wha? What happened?" asks Ayumi dumbly.

    "Overall, you were knocked out by that octopus monster after I released you from its grasp with the bolt I have launched and Henbane I threw on him. So, I carried you, rode on the horse and put you next to the campfire I prepared. Unfortunately, I have no food on me as I couldn't hunt and leave you alone and unconscious.", Cinis replied, trying to provide details about what happened hours earlier.

    "Oh." After a few seconds of trying to understand everything, Ayumi continues: "I'm sorry?"

    "No need to, who could have guessed there was such a monster in the river...how are you feeling? Not too dizzy, you lost a bit of blood."

    "I'm feeling a bit weak." answers Ayumi, and elaborates: "My left arm, in particular, I think the wound opened up again, it feels worse than before."

    "Ah, that's rather unlucky. Let me try to see your injuries... or actually I don't give you the choice, without an arm, you will be a burden.", Cinis looked at her left arm, lifting her sleeve, he was not really careful, let's say that if she screamed in pain, he might ignore her.

    "Haaa... I should have bought bandages. Well, I guess I will have to rip my coat.", during a second, he wondered if he should rip his hoodie, but no, the coat will just become shorter instead. His coat would really have lived a lot of things, of being used as a bags for many different herbs, it had one nasty scent. He ripped a part of his coat and used it to more or less bandage her left arm, it was better than nothing.

    "Anyway, stay here, I am gonna hunt some animals so we can eat something, afterwards, we will go further in the North, to go to the Demonic Volcano and try to solve our issue."

    Ayumi merely mumbles a thank you while suspiciously smelling the 'bandage', then twists her face due to its scent.

    While Cinis walks away, she shouts after him: "Ah, if you need some barbed wire, I can give you some!"

    "That's fine, it's just an animal, a bolt in the head, then it's finished. Honestly, if my leg wasn't injured, I would be happy to borrow your barbed wire since I would be able to be quick, but I am not, anyway, I will go, see you soon.", walking away after smiling, Cinis sighed at the loss of one of his bolt against that Octopus thingie.
    It was quite an arid temperature, the half-elf quickly found himself in the middle of nowhere.


    It would be easy to get back, but as for now, he needed meat and perhaps some fruits for the horse, one animal should be fine for both of them. A dozen of mintues later, Cinis found an animal, it was a gazelle, rather easy to kill, just one shot. The bolt quickly found itself in the gazelle's throat, it seemed to choke on its blood before dying.
    Cinis did not care a little bit about this and began to drag this creature toward the campfire, whether it was alive, dead or dying, he was dragging it.


    While Cinis was busy hunting, the remnants of the Henbane he carried in his cloak began to affect Ayumi. With her already being weak from her injuries, she now lies on the ground, delirious and hallucinating.

    Coming back with gazelle's corpse to the campfire, Cinis sighed when he saw Ayumi, should he knock her out? She was so troublesome, after getting injured, now it seemed she was taking some drugs.
    Instead of trying to calm her, he simply began to cook the meat after skinning the gazelle, as long as she was not causing troubles or anything along those lines, he will not put her to sleep.


    "Calm down or you will starve, okay?"

    Seemingly incapable of understanding Cinis, Ayumi mutters: "No, not the syringe. Not the syringe..."

    It does not seem like she will be coming back to her senses within the next few minutes.

    "Sure sure, then, no syringe, instead it would be chocolate, good ol' chocolate, isn't that plenty good?", Cinis said as he was soon finished to cook with the gazelle. So, she took syringes against her choice? The half-elf sighed as he thought that she should calm down, maybe she could not, but she will.

    After a few more minutes, Ayumi finally calms down, the exhaustion of the day having drawn her to sleep.

    "Well, I guess she would have to eat that after waking up.", finishing to cook, Cinis got himself a part of the gazelle and had his dinner before going to sleep.

    The night passes, weirdly enough without some sort of creature attacking, bothering, or stealing from the party.

    As the first rays of the sun paint the world golden, Ayumi is forced awake by pangs of hunger and sunlight. After groggily looking around, she spots Cinis, and crawls towards him. "Cinis." she calls, gently pushing him.

    Waking up, Cinis yawned and looked around, feeling quite refreshed, the first he did was pointing at the meat, before messily saying words.

    "Eat that... after, we are gonna get back on the tracks to get to the Demonic Volcano, okay? And... yeah, good morning.", Cinis began to stretch as he did not really want to get up, if only they had a carriage, they would be take turn to sleep the whole day.

    "Mmh. Mmngng." After muttering something incomprehensible in answer, Ayumi crawls towards the meat and rapidly consumes it without any resemblance of grace.
    'Just like a beast.', Cinis sighed aas he took a part of meal as well and began to eat it, there was still a lot of meat to consume, since well, a gazelle can not be completely eaten in two meal unless there were two gluttons.

    "Try to eat more properly and not lower yourself to a mere beast.", he just commented, but he didn't force her to eat more properly, it was none of his concern after all.

    Ayumi doesn't even stop chewing to acknowledge the comment, and instead just waves one of her hands dismissively before finishing her portion. Satisfied, she pats her slightly bloated belly but still directs her longing gaze on the next portion.

    "Did you perhaps become deaf..? Oh well, if you wish to continue to eat, continue, it will be a shame to waste it and I am not hungry anymore.", finishing his breakfast, Cinis laid down on the ground and decided to rest a bit more.

    "And once again, try to eat properly this time. It shouldn't be that hard, right?", sarcastically, he repeated what he said, he found this situation quite odd, she was eating like a beast despite... well, it seemed that her sanity was in a pitiful state. Or so he thought.

    Ayumi hesitates. After a few seconds, she embarrassedly states: "I'd bet fat if I ate more... and, I only eat this way because it is faster! It's not like I don't know how else to eat, okay!?"

    "What is it, beast girl? Did I perhaps hear your voice?", Cinis turned and laid down on his shoulder as a smirk appeared on his face. Then, he shook his head and made some remarks about what she said.

    "Eating a lot is fine if you are gonna spend energy anyway, and we basically have a day or more of ride until we reach the Demonic Volcanoo, on top of that, to get back to Nagrand, we should have three days or so. So we have time."

    "I-I'm not a beast girl!" claims Ayumi, but hearing about the time left until they reach their target, or get back home, she lets her head fall down dejectedly. "That long..."

    "You are not a beast? I thought you were Ayumi...", Cinis faked to be shocked before getting back to the main point, while still having the same lazy demeanour.
    "Well, that's why we shoud leave just right after you are finished with eating, but if you eat too quickly and puke, we will take even more time."


    "What about my name!?" with a shout, Ayumi gets up, her pipe suddenly in her hand, but Cinis' next comment turns her anger into shame. "I-I'll be fine, let's just get on our way..."

    "Eh, miss Ayumi is quite short-tempered, I suppose I should stop teasing you, shouldn't I? Anyway, let's just get back on the road.", as a smile crept on his face, Cinis stood up and walked toward the horse, he climbed on it and waited for Ayumi to get on as well.

    "Ready for a whole day of ride?", while he was waiting, the half-elf began to caress the horse's mane.

    A few seconds of silence as Ayumi does not know how to react until she decides to pretend that she has never heard it. With a cough, she comments: "I would prefer if we did not have to ride, but yes, I suppose I am ready."

    Looking at Cinis caressing the horse's mane, she really, really wants to tease him back. After thinking for a bit, Ayumi comes up with this rather childish attempt: "How does it feel to ride your lover for a whole day?"

    "How does it feel to ride someone's else lover for days?", Cinis, as calm as he could be, mindlessly replied as he simply smiled at her poor attemp. Then, he streched his hand toward to Ayumi, to make her climb on their mutual lover.

    "But don't worry, it is a generous one and it is willing to share the place.", he decided to continue with this stupid joke.

    "T-that's..." Ayumi's voice trails off, and she, in embarrassed silence, gets on the horse behind Cinis.

    Whistling on a happy tone while trotting further in the north, he found out that the river seemed to be less and less deep as they went north, after a while, the horse could finally cross safely the water, they did not need to give up on it, which would have been a shame.
    A horse? Come on, who would give up on such a wonderful creature. Being able to carry so much and cross so much distance at such speed, life literally becomes easier with it. Imagine if they had to walk from Nagrand to the Demonic Volcano, it would have been hell...


    On a side note, as they finally arrived at the Demonic Volcano after one day and half, they finally reached it. Indeed, it was terribly hot, the pressure was heavier than expected.
    As Cinis looked around, he saw a few demons, no, there was a sort of camp there, he wondered what they were doing here.


    "Anyway... according to the first team that came here. There is somewhere a crack, leading to a... temple after 2 or 3 hours. Which is none of our concern as this quest is related to a map they found, on which we can see a big red cross around the outskirts of the Demonic Volcano."

    Ayumi, as opposed to Cinis, hates horses. Mostly because she is not used to riding them, which is why her whole body hurts. So she could not be more happy about finally dealing with the quest.

    But, looking around, she remembers that she has already forgot what exactly they were supposed to do here. Luckily enough, Cinis recited the quest's contents. "So..." she wonders, looking around the area dumbly. "Do you see the red cross somewhere?"

    "...the red cross is on a map of the Demonic Volcano and its area.", he could not help but sigh, he also wanted to smack Ayumi for being so foolish. He sighed and decided to wander around the Demonic Volcano.

    "Normally... the place where there is the red cross on the map should be more or less 'forbidden', as in, it is dangerous to go there. People should avoid this place. In short, search for suspicious place.", feeding the horse was becoming more and more of a problem as the place was hotter, thus water was harder to find, perhaps they would need to ask the demons to take care of it while they would be busy.

    After thinking for a few seconds, Ayumi wonders: "Hm. If the map doesn't tell us where we have to search, what's the point of the map?"

    Looking around, she doesn't find anything obviously restricted. With her legs still hurting from riding around all day, she does not start searching blindly but instead turns her attention to the demon camp. "Should we just ask them?"
    "So, we don't search the wrong area... As in we know, it's around the east of the Demonic Volcano, but after it might be hidden or something like that ", after some seconds, he signed a second time. Then her question came and he simply nodded, going towards the demon camp on a house.


    As they saw him arriving, he immediately raised his hands to show he had no weapons and asked.

    "Do you know any place that is... dangerous, as in a sort of beast is guarding it?"

    "Eh? Ye, I know the place, a sort of underground palace, easy to miss as it is half buried in the ground. It's called the... Nest something, I think.", the demon said as he pointed at the North East.

    "Ye shouldn't go there else you will die, people never come back once they go there.", pretty reassuring but that's where they need to go. Just need to fetch the treasure and flee.

    "Thanks, sir... Can you keep our horse and at how many kms must we cross?", Cinis said as he descended from the horse before the demon replied.

    "Sure, we get a free horse, after all, you won't come back... Anyway, 2 or 3 kilometers, as for the creature inside, who knows?", this jaded behavior was slightly annoying but the half elf did not mind as he simply thanked him. Just 2 kilometers by feet, it should be fine.

    Happy to be walking instead of riding, Ayumi utters a quick 'thank you' towards the demons, before skipping towards where the demon pointed, humming the melody of Iron Maiden's 'Fear of the Dark'.

    While on the way, she turns towards Cinis: "So, do we know what we are looking for looks like? Any plan on how we'll do it?"

    "We know nothing except the location, so we can't really know or establish a plan of we have nothing. So we will improvise, as long as none of us die, everything is fine.", he said as he looked at the sun that was slowly descending.
    "But... how will find the heirloom? If we don't know what the heirloom is, we could pick up anything, thinking it is the heirloom..." ponders Ayumi, while slowly lifting her iron pipe to poke at Cinis for fun.

    "Basically, it's a treasure, so, the thing that seems to be the costlier would be the heirloom, every noble love these.", Cinis commented and then after a while saw the so-called Nest something, what a disgusting scent. There were a lot of stuff around, the area was terribly desolate. Basically, it seemed to be a simple hill with just a rotten scent. Basically, there must be a lot of corpses in decomposition here. Where is still the question.

    "Search around, there must be a narrow entrance somewhere."

    "Hm..." In an attempt to lure out whatever guardian there might be, Ayumi picks up a rock and tosses it at the hill, but even after waiting for a few seconds, there is no reaction.

    Then, finally, Ayumi begrudgingly starts to wander around the area, searching for some sort of entrance.

    After a dozen of minutes, Cinis found something, it was a sort of rabbit's hole, but when looking inside, he could see marble, and sort of columns, it was indeed something made by mankind. Thus, it should be the place.

    "Ayumi! I think I found the place, but can't see more... are you ready to go?", he asked as he was a bit bothered about how narrow the entrance was.

    Ayumi, which had been loitering around the place bored until now, suddenly straightens up and rushes towards Cinis. "Finally! Let's get in and bring justice to whatever awaits us! Purge the scum!"

    With these words, she immediately jumps down into the rabbit hole. Only to get stuck.

    "...first, always be calm, don't jump carelessly like this, remember that justice is nothing if you are dead, everything is nothing if you dead, so always, no matter what happens, be careful, be attentive, be calm. Okay?", Cinis began to feel to sick of this impulsivity, couldn't she be... less childish for a bit? Especially when her life might be on stakes considering that the creature that might down there could simply overpower them?

    "Haaa... now, try to get out of this plight by yourself, and calmly.", he did not even want to help her this time, if she was not so... oh well, she is young, that is normal. Quickly shaking his head, Cinis felt that he unexpectedly realized that he easily got angry, it felt... odd.

    With an exasperated sigh, which leaves no doubt that she isn't taking it quite as seriously, Ayumi answers: "...okay, fine." and starts to dig the hole wider with her hands. Shooting a quick glare at Cinis every few seconds.

    After a sigh, the half-elf shook his head and helped her digging the hole as he clicked on his tongue. This kid was too much of a trouble. Really, people advise her and she is being rude. Perhaps he should let her run into the wolf's mouth or let her get wrecked by tentacles.

    A couple of minutes later, during which, miraculously, nothing ate Ayumi's legs, the hole is finally big enough to allow for proper entry into and exit from the cave. Hesitating for a bit, Ayumi decides to let Cinis enter first. In her opinion, that would be the approach with the least chance of her getting nagged by him again.

    Having the urge to roll his eyes, Cinis entered first and since he could see in the darkness, it was indeed the best way to deal with it, of course, that was not because of this she let him enter first, after all, Ayumi did not know that.

    Descending, it was a temple, it was far from being a Nest, or at least, the name of the temple was Nest something as the demon said. He looked around, four columns and one door that was ten feet tall and seven feet of lenght.

    "Well... I suppose our treasure is behind this door, along with its 'guardiant'... wait.", there was something written on the wall, it was graved on this stone.

    "Those who seek wealth and knowledge be warned it is protected by a being that is neither alive nor dead and crosses time as a mountain but still moves to crush those that trespass into its Domain, what you seek beats like the hearth of newborn child but still runs cold as stone".

    As expected, it does not give many clues, or at least, the range of what someone can think is way too large.

    Ayumi climbs into the hole after Cinis, and takes a rather futile look around, as she isn't able to see a lot. "Where is the guardian?" she wonders, her pipe in her hand, poised ready for battle.

    But no matter how much she looks, her eyes can't penetrate the darkness or see the door. Rather annoyed, she suggests: "Let me just bait out the guardian while you get the heirloom? I'll try to run around outside while you rush to get the heirloom. I can't see anything in here."

    "Seems fine... as long as you don't get killed that is. Just stay near the exit and try to attract it with noises... And if it doesn't work, well, we will improvise.", after all, it was a guardian, it may not even be able to go out, as Cinis said this, he slightly pushed the door, an heavy door, he hated those, it always make so much noises as if they were crawling on the ground.

    "...let's see." Then he peeked through the door, it was a wide room with no other paths, suddenly, the ground trembled as if they woke someone from a deep slumber and they felt startled.

    "...", how reassuring, unable to see the creature, he saw something at the center of the room, on a sort of stand, a dozen of chests. Each of them was different. Which one was the right one? Of course, there was no light.

    "I see the chests but no guardian yet. I may go in, any suggestions?"

    "Alright. Tell me when to make noise, I'll be sure to succeed in getting it to chase me." proclaims Ayumi, which had remained at the entrance, where the light of day enters the room.

    Seeing Cinis being silent while looking into the room, she questions: "So? What are you seeing?"

    "Nothing much, I guess I will scout.", slipping into the room, Cinis looked around and decided to stay near a wall. As in, he will follow the wall until he gets a proper grasp of the situation. So. That's where this putrid scent came from. There were corpses and skeletons a bit everywhere, they seemed to be ready to wake up.

    Undead, how reassuring. But those are the ones who originally came here for the same reason, retrieve a treasure. It seemed that there was nothing else than the corpses and the chests, mmm, what... Is... This..?

    It was on the ceiling, a long and large line of polished rock which... Shouldn't be able to hold on, who should be falling due to their constitution, it was not the same material, it was in marble, and there was rock covering it. As well as... The rock seemed to be... Moving?

    '...' he could not talk nor move, he would attract attention. How would he make a sign to Ayumi in those conditions?

    Ayumi answers with a quick: "Okay!" And then yawns, bored because nothing is happening.

    Well, he could not wait any longer. He will die out of starvation. He thought of something, long live the ranged weapons, he took his crossbow, silently loaded a bolt and aimed at the door. The one separating Ayumi and this... monster.

    A bolt then was launched and hit into the door, at this moment, the serpent of rock fell from the ceiling and crashed on the ground, creating a mini earthquake. It... was huge, wider and bigger than the door.

    A serpent golem? At the same moment, the undead began to come back to life, as the serpent rushed toward the door and crashed on it, charged on it again...

    At this moment, Cinis sneaked toward the chest, hoping that the door will hold on long enough before getting to Ayumi, or... that it turns back and notices the half-elf.

    As time ticks on, Ayumi first gets bored, then worried. What's taking him so long? Did something happen? Then, she hears a faint ting from behind the door, accompanied by a large crash following it. Before she can properly react, something large hits the door and the whole room shakes.

    After throwing a few curses around, Ayumi partially calms herself down. "Okay, so, there is something big behind the door, most likely the guardian. And it's angry. And most likely after me." The thought of running away briefly crosses her mind, but she shakes it away. Even if Cinis is dead, it would still be right to keep her promise and only run away when there is no other choice.

    So, even as the second and third impact hit the door, she waits, pipe in hand.

    After approaching the treasures, Cinis could finally see the chests more properly, on each of them were graved some words. There were exactly eleven boxes, the first graved line was the same on each of them.

    'To my descendant.', however, below this line, there were different names, different last names and so on. He did not understand anything. What was the name of thei grandfather and their last name..? Now, that's an issue. No, wait, were they even a noble family?
    Carefully, he rechecked each chest and noticed that three of them did not have last name. Which one is it..? Out of ten chests, three do not contain any last name.


    Cinis as he realized he had to guess based on first names, perhaps he could simply see if he could guess the origins of these three names and took the one that seems to fit.

    Meanwhile, while a certain half-elf was busy thinking, the door of the place was suddenly broken down. Now, Ayumi needs to run.

    With a large sound akin to an explosion, the door breaks open and a big, snake-like creature made of rock charges at Ayumi from behind it. "What the-!?" with a shout, Ayumi dashes out of the way, and the snolem (snake-golem) charges into the dirt wall, creating a rather large hole.

    At this moment Ayumi knew, she ****** up. After giving a quick, helpless glance at her pipe and more or less feeble arms, she decides to run away. But as the snolem is blocking the only exit, she resorts to dodging in order to stay alive, which proves quite hard.

    The snolem is surprisingly flexible for its material and size, and its charges and tail smashes scrape by Ayumi very close. And, as if it were toying with her, it keeps preventing her from leaving by blocking the exit.

    He had the three names, the first one was Marth, the second one was Golas and third one was Madulsa, considering the three names, the one that seemed to fit the Loyd's family was Marth, it was simple and neat. While Golas and Madulsa does not seem from the region or so Cinis thought.

    Then, the second isse was... how to open the chest? There was no key at all. Wonderful, he was sure that it was filled as well. Because it was rather heavy. Just in case, he turned the chest upside down and noticed another sentence.

    "Sole heir of my blood, only the pure shall impinge this treasure.", pure breed? Two generations passed, the blood must have been altered through marriages, then, would they even be able to open the chest? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. But that is probably their grandfather's name.

    "Okay... now, it's time to carry it and... avoid the undeads...", he sighed as they slowly began to go toward him. Well, it should be fine. Just need to push them away. In the end, he found the heirloom, whether they can open it or not was not up to them, right?
    At this point in time, the snolem is slowly but surely driving Ayumi into a corner. Needless to say, Ayumi does not even try to hit it with her pipe, and this situation is making her quite angry. If she could, she'd tear the snolem, it's creator, and the quest giver into pieces.

    Her pipe and tail are useless against the snolem, her barbed wire gets torn through as if it weren't there, and all she can do it run around aimlessly, incapable of escaping. "Damnit, Cinis, hurry it!"

    Getting out of the place as the undeads weren't much of an issue, Cinis saw how the snolem was playing around with Ayumi while it was blocking the exit, how could he deal with this... it was a predicament. She can't even run away from this thing, so how could he when he had a crippled leg? Either he leaves her to her fate and flee or he tries to help, in both cases, it will be terrible.

    "Ah... I guess I will throw it.", Cinis was speaking about the chest, he will literally throw it outside while the snolem is playing around with Ayumi. He wondered about how to attract it. Since it is supposed to guard those treasures... perhaps, it will feel it once it leaves the nest?

    "Hey~ oh~!", instead, he will just shout and throw the chest outside as the snolem suddenly spares Ayumi for an undetermined time as it was attracted by the presence of someone else.
    Once it saw the chest midair, it literally threw itself on it, planning to take it back, completely leaving Ayumi which was a great news. Charging, it grazed the chest, and cracked one of the chest's corner.


    "Go!", he said as he, as well, was going toward the exit, from where they came from, for now, they had a bit of time as the snolem dug itself into the dirt for soem short seconds.

    Seeing Cinis enter the room, Ayumi would leave out a sigh in relief, if she had time to do that. Instead, she somehow manages to hang on until he actually throws the chest, finally freeing her from the snolem's oppression.

    "Finally!" She shouts, rushing forward and heaving the chest, which due to the snolem landed in the room, out of the room, ignoring the bruises and scratches on her whole body from stone shards that the fight with the snomel caused.

    Once outside, she doesn't stop but tries to create a distance from the hill, looking back over her shoulder every few seconds.

    "Oh man... I suppose it's my turn.", unable to properly run, Cinis was still hurrying toward the exit, however, while he was going to leave, he could feel it, its call, it was behind him, ready to charge, to strike at him and break his spine. Taking his shield, he quickly turned back and faced it while stepping back toward the exit.

    As he expected, it was charging toward him, as he evaluated this situation, he thought that if he blocked well, and positioned himself properly, in each case, he will be thrown flying in the air, but if he is thrown through the exit...
    It will be a pleasure.


    "Come here!", of course, his shield was destroyed into pieces, however, with this charge and the impulse he took on the serpent thank to the shield's momentum, he was quickly thrown outside the Nest something. Crashing on the ground, his eyes stayed focused on the thing that almost killed them. It never followed them, never ever.

    "Well...", feeling scratches and some rocks piercing his skin, Cinis sighed and stayed down on the ground as he felt relieved.

    Suddenly as Ayumi looks back, she seesCinis flying out of the hill and hitting the ground, but the snolem doesn't follow him. Relieved, she drops the chest and stares at her now aching left arm. The bandages Cinis put on completely drenched in blood, with some slowly flowing down her hand, while her left hand itself is actually aching worse than her wound. Probably due to the fact that it has multiple stone shards stuck in it.

    As she brings her right hand over to pluck them out, she notices that it isn't faring much better. The time spent carrying the chest especially seems to have pressed a couple of shards deeper in her hand.

    With a sigh, she drops both of her hands and trots over to Cinis and pokes him with her foot. "Hey, you still alive?"

    "Of course I am you little scoundrel... ah, you alright? Not too injured?", Cinis said as he felt some bones that seemed to be broken, that's terrible. Loss of shield and broken bones, wonderful, on top of that, since the trip started, he has lost two bolts... terrible. A waste of money.

    "I really don't want to stand up...", even though he said this, he still stood up and went to take the chest, however he could not, one of his arm was... wonderful, really, amazing.

    "Well, is one of your arm alright? Because I can't carry it with one arm. Broken bones you see.", an awkward smile was on his face as he said this.
    Looking at her torn and blood-drenched clothes and body, Ayumi nods. "Yeah, I'm alright. This much won't kill me. My left arm isn't too good, but my right one still works as it should."


    She walks up to Cinis and, with a bit of determination, lifts the chest up together with him. "Let's get this on the horse, and then we're on our way back?"

    "Yes, but before that, we should ask some stuff to the demons, like... bandages and... clothes perhaps, don't you think? Perhaps they have something to disinfect our wounds like... alcohol.", Cinis chuckled after saying this and checking on both himself and Ayumi.

    Ayumi was in a worse state obviously, but it didn't mean he was in a good one, if they go on without bandages, it is doomed to become worse than expected.

    "That sounds like an idea, but... do we have enough money for that?" worries Ayumi.

    "Well, don't you remember the bandits? We have money, one we didn't need to work for, as well, after all, we did not need much efforts to kill those bandits, did we?", Cinis said as they slowly approached the demon camp.

    "But killing bandits is hard work!" proclaims Ayumi, while adding: and almost cost me an arm in her mind.

    "Hard work? What was harder, retrieving this treasure or killing the bandits. Relatively, retrieving the treasure... I should saying treasure and say heirloom, anyway, retrieving the heirloom will provide us a much better reward in terms of money than what we gained by killing bandits that did not even know how to fight properly. So, even if we use the money won by killing them, we still win money."

    Cinis said as he compared the five large copper coins with the reward of the task, it was greatly different.

    Thinking it over, Ayumi feels like she might be able to agree with Cinis. "But... fighting bandits is still work!"

    "Alright alright, it is work.", after some minutes, they finally arrived at the demon camp, their first reaction when they saw both of them was shock after seeing that they had a chest with them. One of them burst out in laugther and began to count money, it seemed that he won his bet.

    Ayumi simply asks: "Uh, can you help us with our injuries? We can pay... some money."

    "Errr... how was the Nest? And yeah, well, you can take back your horse and we only have bandages.", afterwards, Cinis decided to intervene and asked on a perplexed tone after looking around the camp.

    "Do you have also have clothes? Do you think common clothes and some bandages are fine for 3 Large Copper Coins and 5 Small Copper Coins?", the demon nodded and brought what was asked to Cinis and Ayumi before taking the money given by the half-elf. Incredibly generous, or so Cinis thought. Usually people would take the money before giving what was asked, he gave it after.

    "Thank you.", and then they now had new common clothes and some bandages for both of them, Cinis would use them to support his bones while Ayumi would use them for what she wants he thought.
    ...Thinking about it again, he remembered that they would need each other help to bandage considering that both of them have an injured arm. He sighed after this.


    Holding said clothes in her hands, Ayumi looks at her clothes - or more like, rags, and then back at the clothes, perplexedly. "How do I wear this stuff?"

    With the clothes and bandages, she stomps over to Cinis and pushes them towards him. "Help me with this."

    Being in a rather playful mood, the half-elf wondered if he should try to fool around with Ayumi.

    "Help with what? The bandages or clothes? The former I can understand, the latter... well, I knew you were a child but not that much.", Cinis said before yawning, he felt rather sleepy, if he could, he would take a nap, but of course, he can not do that.

    In response, Ayumi glares at him. "Yes, with both... it's not my fault I never wore clothes like this before!"

    "Alrigthy, let's begin with the bandages then I will explain to you how to dress yourself, okay?", Cinis continued to speak to Ayumi on a rather... gentle tone, yet obviously sarcastic, his goal was clearly to tease her.
    "Uugh..." Ayumi gnashes her teeth, "Let's just get this over with!" and starts to bandage Cinis without waiting for him to react. While certainly not an expert job, Ayumi's technique is... acceptable.

    After getting the bandages, Cinis just did a few things to tighten them as much as possible as long as it didn't endanger him. Keeping the bones in place was the most important, then, he started to bandage Ayumi as well, it was much neater and tighter as well.

    "Here, done, now, do you want me to explain how to wear clothes? Or you can figure out by yourself?", keeping a smile, Cinis' tone stayed... sarcastic no matter what he said.

    "Just explain it already! I don't want to walk around in clothes this ragged..."

    After explaining how to wear clothes to Ayumi while openly mocking her, Cinis took back the horse with her and decided to go back to Nagrand but carefully as both of them were injured during the process.

    "Just... before getting to the guild, I would like to open this chest..." Cinis said, he knew what was graved on it however, there was still something that could be tried out. That snolem damaged one of the corner of the chest thus...

    He took his seax, put the chest on the ground, and try to force it through the crack, after a few minutes, it did not succeed.

    "Well, nothing, I suppose it can't really be forced... the heirloom is indeed, but we can't open it without the pure 'blood' as it said.", Cinis sighed and then continued to talk.

    "Let's just get back to the Guild."

    While shouting: "Yes, let's get this over with!" Ayumi starts marching into a completely wrong direction, on foot.

    "The horse. And that's the wrong direction you fool...", having the urge to smack her, Cinis restrained himself and sighed as he mounted the horse and tried to put the chest on his knees.

    "Oh! Wait, let me help!"

    After multiple troubles started by Ayumi, they both finally manage to return to Nagrand.
    The chest the heirloom is in was damaged, supposedly the heirloom wasn't, and there are many more chests in the location for different family. There is a flame-spewing octopus in the northern river of Nyllia. Cinis got a horse and some money (2 Large Copper Coins and 19 Small Copper Coins) thank to Ayumi's selflessness who didn't want anything.
    Both characters are wounded (broken bones).


    The location of the heirlooms was something called the Nest, for some reasons, the locals told us that nobody came back from this place, perhaps, it was a joke to dissuade them to go there? Since they came back.
    OOC: And once again... my browser automatically changed the font... and added color codes everywhere... almost 600...
    You evil being.JPG
    Anyway, here goes 10.8K words~ (good luck)
    Long report~ (again)
    Don't blame (and hate) me, okay? D:


    OOC2: Well, we also didn't proofread (for obvious reasons), so there might be a lot of typos and stuff~
    *pokes @Blackwater*
     
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  16. Arexio

    Arexio Blob Fanatic | AG Player

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    "Mr. Gaap, pleasure to see you again. Here is my report." Ryul hands over the papers.

    Ryul headed down the familiar roads leading to the Temple of the Maiden God; he did come here for two gruelling and backbreaking very long weeks in order to cure his corruption disease (on Caligo's tab) that one time.

    Nevertheless, that was a very special and unique case involving an advanced healer specializing in Nature magic. Most likely, many of the novice healers this time used more basic forms of Nature or Water magic to heal people.

    As he strolled through the beautiful temple grounds full of flowers and other flora, his wide back began to flare in pain, once again from the burns he sustained in his last quest.

    The sole reason why he did not heal it himself with his own healing spell was due to this current quest, requiring individuals to come in with injuries for new healers to practice with.

    Part of him wonders why he chose to intentionally suffer like this. Ryul then realized he does not really have much of a choice.

    He needs the money so badly that he took up such an inconvenient quest in the first place. The scholar sighed as he wished he could just study all day or read about interesting subjects in the library instead of living the difficult life of an adventurer.

    His thoughts were interrupted as he made his way through the doors of Ophelia's Temple and walked up to the receptionist desk.

    Ryul then informed the staff of the reason for his visit. The friendly Sister dressed in all white took him to a side door and led him through several hallways, before they finally reached a somewhat larger-than-normal sized room.

    When they entered, Ryul could see a small group of what looked to be apprentice healers practicing their magic on some injured volunteers. Half of the novices looked to be making some sort of progress with their healing spells as the injuries were shrinking, albeit very slowly.

    The other half, however, were not nearly as successful as even though there were many different lights illuminating various body parts of the volunteers, the injuries themselves were not really changing (a few were somehow even getting worse.) Ryul hoped his own healer is of the former half of the group.

    Shortly afterwards, the half-elf was introduced to a nice young girl named Lydia. Apparently, she has been here for a number of months but was still working hard to study the teachings of Goddess Ophelia.

    Ryul soon found out that Lydia is behind her peers in terms of healing ability. She honestly confessed upfront that no matter what she tries and however many different ways she changes her approach, the spell always ends up completely failing instead; Lydia even started tearing up a little, her eyes becoming red, as she admitted that last bit.

    "Well, that certainly sounds like it has been quite frustrating and disheartening for you, Miss Lydia, especially since it seems like it is not for lack of effort." Ryul sympathized.

    "How about we just try it for now and see what happens, is that okay? Don't worry about the outcome. I promise it will be quite alright, no matter what." The half-elf tried gently persuading the girl.

    Lydia nodded sheepishly as she rubbed her eyes a bit. Ryul then unwrapped his cloak and slowly took off his shirt to show her the damage done by the fireball to his back, hissing in pain as the clothing brushed against the burns.

    The novice healer blushed ever so slightly after seeing his toned upper half. She then recollected herself and began using Water energy to cast a [Lesser Cure] spell. Eventually, the spell completed and light started to shine on Ryul's injured back...only for the glow to end up fizzling out, indicating the spell's failure.

    Ashamed, Lydia covered her face with her hands and struggled to hold back her tears. Ryul comforted the girl, telling her that it is okay and that she is still training. The novice healer shook her head in denial, compared herself to her cohort, and brought up the hypothetical possibility of her never being able to heal someone.

    After much convincing and more soft words, Lydia eventually got around to attempting another healing spell, [Light Heal], which also promptly failed. She cried. There was no holding back this time. Streaming tears, involuntary whimpers - she was an emotional wreck.

    Ryul saw that this was not working at all and that his words were not really getting through to her either. He paused in reflection as an idea just hit him.

    He gathered Nature elemental energy into the palm of his left hand, reached around and lightly placed his hand on his upper back, casting his minor healing spell [Nature's Balm]. Lydia stopped crying as she watched with fascination as the half-elf used Nature magic to recover about half of his wound. A small part of the mana resonated with Lydia who was standing nearby.

    Ryul saw this oddity and that she had halted her tears. In full-teacher mode, while he still had her attention, told her that there was the possibility that Water magic just might not work for her as well as other magic types. He explained how some people can really feel certain elements or more easily apply mana to specific branches of magic.

    The two of them then explored together the prospect of the novice healer being more talented in Nature magic. It turned out to be a success. Lydia learned the extreme basics of healing, using Nature magic instead of Water magic, from Ryul as a teacher and coach.

    Over a period of several days, Lydia finally got the hang of it and slowly but surely healed the rest of Ryul's injury. The apprentice healer thanked him unceasingly for helping her and gave him a small gift when he finally departed.

    As for Ryul, the scholar was glad to find that he truly enjoyed sharing knowledge as much as he did pursuing it. He smiled to himself as he finally made his way back to the Guild.
    - Light-moderate injuries were healed
    - Was gifted a simple flower brooch

    - Ryul discovers novice healer Lydia is struggling with healing.
    - Ryul helps her overcome her issue, and they find a new way forward.
    - Ryul renews his passion for teaching.

    OOC: @Naraku
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2019
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  17. Naraku

    Naraku 『』『』『』

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    "Oh, so you use Nature Magic, eh?", he probably used more types than this one however Gaap could not help but comment on this before getting back on the report, rereading it. For a second, he thought that he has read something off but quickly shrugged it off as he decided to simply go with the conclusion.

    "Alright, it seems to have went pretty well for you, well, good job with helping Lydia get back on her feet. Anyway, your reward are basically 4 Guild Points and a free healing which you already got."

    OOC: Mmmm, just a little problem, not that much as the error (imo) is understandable~
    http://guildslibrary.referata.com/wiki/Nagrand
    There, in remarkable locations, it is said that... I will quote~
    "This place is known as one of healing those in need, with the Sisters of the temple using Nature or Water healing spells", not really Light or Prayer Magic as you said~

    Side note, I love all you link everything, that's great~
    Good job anyway, tis was a nice read~
     
  18. Arexio

    Arexio Blob Fanatic | AG Player

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    "Yes, I have some affinity for Nature magic." Ryul smiles.

    "Thank you Mr. Gaap. Farewell for now."
    Ryul formally bows before leaving.

    OOC: Oh I see...Thanks for taking the time to point that out. That's actually not too difficult of a fix (I like to try to make my stories consistent with the setting, so it's not a big deal to correct). Bam. And done.

    Hahaha I'm glad you like the links; it helps give context. I'm trying to link all of them in my signature too (shoutout to @Nahrenne for the idea BTW).
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2019
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  19. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Welcome back Aconter-san~

    Glad you could come back safely, I'm sure Jack-san will be happy with the outcome~

    The reward will be of 6 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points. Take care now~

    ((*pokes @A5G_Reaper too* Hey! You got 4 coins back! ^^)/))
     
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  20. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    So... Your soul was locked within a gourd due to some evil curse I take it? No wonder you're so... Mysterious~

    Well, at least it was an interesting learning experience for the girl, I'm sure she'll dedicate herself more to it in the future~

    The reward is of 4 Guild Points, take care now~
     
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