Adventurers Guild Adventurer's Guild - Receptionist's Desk

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

  1. AliceShiki

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

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    Welcome back Cinis-san~

    Wow, that was a pretty unusual quest you took, good job in clearing it nonetheless~

    ... I still don't get what the secret skill is though.

    In any case, you earned your rewards, 22 Large Copper Coins and 8 Guild Points~

    Take care now~
     
  2. AliceShiki

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

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    Well, it seems like you not only cleared the ambush, but solved the whole problem... Good job I guess? Don't bite more than you can chew though, alright?

    The rewards are 33 Large Copper Coins for you to split as you see fit and 3 Guild Points for each.

    Take care now~

    (( @strikegunner, @Skarmie and @Xalysian ))
     
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  3. FallonCreziato

    FallonCreziato Member

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    "Here you go. Hope the murderer skipping town doesn't mean I get shorted any payment."

    The town square was abuzz with chatter. Numerous citizens stood in a thick crowd, murmuring and gossiping amongst themselves as they looked onto the scene of the murder. In the middle of the circle of townsfolk stood Askel, The Red. He scratched his chin and furrowed his brow as he examined the crime scene, stopping only to scan the crowd of faces. His eyes slipped along the faces of the people nearby until they finally met mine. They didn't stray much further after that.

    I pushed through the people, shouldering and elbowing my way past those who didn't immediately back off of me out of sheer fright. It was times like this, when people avoided me like I was even more of a wraith than I actually was, that I started to somewhat miss being in the guild tavern. At least there I wasn't the most oddball patron, though I must say that I quite enjoy not having to worry too much about being harassed by strangers. As I strode towards him, Askel turned from the body and reached out to shake me by the hand. Rather than grasp his sweaty, somewhat grubby hand, I withdrew my guild badge and placed it in his hand. He looked down at it. He seemed surprised by my action, but I was sure that he would shrug it off.

    He did, handing it back to me wordlessly. I took it upon myself to break the silence.

    "Where's the body?" I asked, noticing nothing more than a rough man-shaped outline on the flagstones, traced in chalk dust.

    "Cart." He said, his gaze not moving from the outline.

    I strolled over to the small wooden hay-cart that was parked in the square nearby. There was a sheet of burlap covering the cart's payload. I lifted it up and let out a wince at the sight. The merchant's body could only be considered that by the most generous of terms. In actuality, what was left was a grey leather sack of bones, scrunched together and partially broken. I could tell from my experiences in leatherworking back on the farm that the man had been dried out like a tanned hide, but something did it quick enough that the tension had compressed him tight enough to snap bone. I examined the cadaver intently, but a shiver went up my spine and I turned around just as Askel came up behind me. I must have seemed nervous, since he acted surprised by my reaction.

    "A wee bit jumpy, are you? Not a fan of bodies?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. I scowled

    "No, just used to people behind me trying to stick a knife in my ribs." I answered, with a slight edge to my voice. I turned back to the body. "It looks like something dried him out, really quite quickly if it was able to break him up so badly."

    "Well, if I wanted someone to tell me what I could see for myself, I wouldn't have paid the guild for it" Askel snorted, then rolled his eyes at me.

    I frowned at his response, but my mind was more on the cadaver than on Askel's snide remark. Something felt... off. Not only was the corpse as dry as the dusty cobblestones beneath our feet, but he seemed almost... empty. Suddenly it hit me. I turned to Askel.

    "I need you to bring me eight tallow candles, a needle, and some chalk. I think I can find out what happened to our victim here."

    ~ ~ ~

    While Askel fetched me my supplies, I set to work preparing the body. Hoisting him on my shoulders, I carried him over to the place he was killed, meticulously settling his twisted body into the chalk outline that depicted his final resting position. I had expected him to be heavier, though his desiccated form was surprisingly (and almost pleasantly) light to carry.

    Once Askel came back, I began setting up the ritual. I started by placing each of the candles in each of the compass directions, then encircling each one with a ring of chalk dust. Once that was done, I inscribed lines of small runes leading from each candle to the body in the middle of the large circle of candles. Satisfied with my handiwork, I stood from the cobblestones and turned to Askel.

    "Whatever you do, don't smudge any of the chalk, and don't enter the circle. I have to make contact with the other side." I said, grabbing my polearm from my back. Askel stepped back slightly as I flicked the blade of the scythe out. Even in the bright light of the sunset, the umbral steel blade refused to return even the slightest glint to onlookers. I stood over the merchant's body with my scythe facing outwards. Slowly, I began to spin it around myself faster and faster, willing myself to smoke at the same time. The air around me whipped into a frenzy as the chalk runes began to swirl and shift into the air before settling down into an entirely different pattern. I grasped the scythe and, using the momentum of the spin, flipped the blade upward and drove the base of the handle into the flagstone at the center of the circle with a resounding *KRACK* noise. With that, the eight candles flickered to life in a griseous pale silver flame, and a heavy grey smog filled the circle and blotted out my vision.

    I Stood in the circle, but the ground and horizon beyond the candles and the chalk were little more than void and silhouette. In the flickering candlelight, I could see things stirring in the darkness, a claw here, a tail there, numerous shadowy vermin clawing at the edge of the light. I clenched my fingers on the hilt of my scythe, not daring to let go for even a fraction of a second lest I falter and let something into the circle. Besides, I needed it to ensure that he would show up. Luckily, he didn't keep me waiting, though I suspect the scent of his favorite play-toy was enticing enough to make him drop everything.

    In the darkness before me, two small but brilliant specks of crimson light blazed forth, glowing like torches in the gloom. A tattered-looking grey smock hid his features amidst shadow, but I could tell from his demeanor and the look in his eyes that he was positively grinning with delight. His pale, elongated limbs stretched from beneath his cloak, grasping in them a more gruesome version of the weapon I held myself. The blade of his scythe dripped with ichor, blood, and tiny glittering shavings of soulstuff caught in the saw-like teeth on the interior edge. The handle, carved of mottled rowan-wood from a tree grown at the dawn of time, was inscribed with countless names; a testament to a job well done, he had told me. He grasped it in bony fingers that seemed just as likely to flay the skin off of a creature with one tug as they were to gently caress it. Before me stood the abyssal creature that had spared me from death but had stolen from me my humanity. Before me stood the laughing harvester, Manakho. From him, waves of oppressive gloom radiated outward. Almost silent half-thoughts formed in my head, infinitesimal whispers begging me to give in, to just curl up in a ball and let the darkness take me, tiny crooning voices that sang to me just how sweetly it would feel for my heart to stop and my blood to still. I ignored them, though I doubt that I would have been able to do so if I hadn't been warped in the ways that I am. I steeled my nerve, and addressed him.

    "I seek the fate of this man, the one whose body lay desecrated by magic and whose soul was consumed." I said, fighting the slight waver in my voice.

    Manakho seemed amused by my request. He cackled slightly, the sound more reminiscent of steel scraping along a grindstone than of an expression of joy or amusement.

    "I... wassss not the one... who consssumed this one'sss essssence..." He hissed, his grin evident in the tone of his voice, "But it hasss been taken... nonethelesssss..."

    He reached one bony finger into his hood, and grasped one of his blazing red eyes, plucking it from it's socket and offering it outstretched to me.

    I snatched the eye from his grasp with one hand, the other still firmly maintaining it's hold on my scythe. To my surprise, the eye felt like a bead of cold glass, and it began to meld with my palm as I held it. I felt a slight throbbing in my left eye as my vision tinged slightly grey.

    Manakho let out another brittle peal of laughter. "Sssssee that which... hassss brought thossssse to my realm..." He sibilated, before slowly fading into the ether once more. The lone red eye winked out in the darkness as echoes of sharp raspy laughter filled the void around me before I was claimed once more in the dark fog.

    I collapsed to the ground in the circle, my vision swirling and my head heavy. Askel debated for a moment, before reaching into the circle to catch me as I slumped to the ground. Askel righted me on my feet.

    "Whatever you just did seems to have taken its toll. Are you okay? Did you find anything out?" he asked, somewhat worried by my condition.

    Ignoring him, I turned back to the remains of the circle and the desiccated body. Slowly, as I focused on it, I began to see a silvery silhouette standing above it. The silhouette was clad in garb similar to the cadaver's, and as I watched he began to grasp at his throat before hovering slightly into the air. The silhouette began to contort and squirm in the air as a glittering essence was drawn out of it, towards another silhouette which stood nearby, arm outstretched toward the first. The second silhouette was one that I didn't recognize, clad in hooded robes and what appeared to be a full-face mask. It drew the glittering essence out of the first one until it's victim had been shriveled and crumpled like a forgotten and unwanted piece of meat at a butcher's shop, before absconding away and disappearing. I turned back to Askel.

    "Yeah, Askel. I think I did."

    ~ ~ ~

    I filled Askel in on what I'd seen, then started my hike back to the guild. Along the way, I couldn't help but rub at my left temple in consternation. It wasn't like the reaper to be so generous, and I held sincere doubts that a creature as unfathomably ancient as himself would change on a dime. I shuddered grimly at the thought of the task he'd assign me in order to return the favor, as I knew in what little soul I had left that it would be one as severe as the reaper himself.

    Found desiccated body, realized body had soul eaten, did ritual to contact my "patron"; the Laughing Harvester reaper, Manakho. Manakho revealed that the man had not been reaped, and gave me his left eye in order to see the circumstances of the man's death. The man was killed by a hooded figure in a mask, who magically drew the life essence of the man out by force and consumed it for himself.

    @Naraku
     
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  4. Heckaton

    Heckaton Well-Known Member

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    ‘Sparring? I definitely can do that!’

    After taking the quest, Grendel immediately set out towards the Merry Mercenaries’ base, wasting no time in reaching the place. It’s been a while since he got to fight a decent fight (elementals and crows didn’t count, of course), and this quest provided him just the perfect solution: an all-you-can-fight sparring.

    [Oi, what do you mean we don’t count, huh? You’re underestimating us, black-horn? Oi!]

    Ignoring the voice which grew increasingly irritated along the way, Grendel reached the base in less than half an hour. Looking around, he spotted a man near the base’s entrance. Grendel quickly approached him, tapped his shoulder, and called out with a grin, “Good morning! It would be correct to assume you are a member of the mercenaries’ band here, right?”

    The man, surprised by Grendel’s sudden arrival and the strange enthusiasm in his voice, stared at him for a second before nodding meekly.

    “Good! Then can I meet your leader? I have something to talk to him about.”

    Still dumbfounded at the strange oni, the man nodded once again and led him inside the base, gathering questioning stares from the mercenaries as they passed. After reaching a tent, the man told Grendel, “Wait here, please,” before entering the tent. Soon after, he exited it, with a large man behind him. He was a man with a large, burly man which is only a head shorter than Grendel.

    “Hello there. I heard you have some business with the captain? Sorry, but he’s currently not here. Why’re you looking for him, anyway?”

    “I’m Grendel, and I’m here to spar-“

    As soon as he said the word, the whole camp cheered loudly, slightly deafening him and surprising Uzuki,

    [Caw! The heck’s wrong with you all, screaming out of nowhere! You trying to make me go deaf?]

    ‘Oh, come on, Uzuki, I don’t need a shout from inside as well!’

    After the noise calmed down, Grendel was met with a slightly apologetic Rosice,

    “Hahaha, sorry ‘bout that. You see, so far there’s only one other adventurer coming to spar, and while he’s by no means bad or anything, it’s not enough. You get what I mean?”

    Hearing his words, Grendel stepped forward and grasped his shoulder, “Yes! Yes! I get it completely! How frustrating it is when your routine slowly becomes dull, or how fighting the same dummy or people no longer excites you!”

    Receiving an unexpected response from Grendel, Rosice’s face beamed into a smile, “Ooohhh! To think this time’s adventurer is a fellow comrade! No, a brother in arms! Come then, brother, let us not waste time and start sparring!”

    ____________

    Moving on to the training area inside the base, Grendel is now once again facing Rosice, this time with their respective wooden weapon in hand: Rosice with a two-handed claymore, and Grendel with a poleaxe.

    “Just to confirm it, the rules are no magic allowed, and it’s a fight to first hit, right?”

    Rosice confirmed Grendel’s question, “You got it right. You ready, brother?” and after receiving a nod in turn, signaled the referee to start.

    “Both of you, ready your weapon! 3, 2, 1, GO!”

    As the words left the man’s mouth, Rosice made the first move as dashed forward

    “Sorry to disappoint you with such a basic move, brother, but- what!?”

    Contrary to Rosice’s and everyone else’s expectation, Grendel also dashed towards Rosice. Just as Rosice entered Grendel’s range, Grendel swung his poleaxe, making a horizontal slash.

    Upon seeing it, Rosice crouched down, slipped right under the poleaxe and sped up, his hands on his claymore. Noticing the incoming attack, Grendel stopped his dash, rotated his grip on the poleaxe, and thrust the tail towards Rosice’s head.

    As he saw the thrust in the corner of his eye, Rosice reflexively parried it with an upswing from his claymore. Seeing Rosice canceled his attack, Grendel took the chance, instantly lifted his foot and delivered a kick before moving back a few steps. This time, it landed cleanly on Rosice’s abdomen and sent him back a few meters.

    Seeing their short exchange, the audience cheered in excitement,
    “Damn!” “Did you see that?” “Oi, you losin’ already, Rosice? C’mon!”

    Ignoring the audience, Rosice and Grendel focused on each other, now regaining their stance. Soon, the commotion died down, and everyone waited for the next move.

    Now holding his poleaxe downward with the poleaxe’s had behind him, Grendel observed Rosice once again, ‘He’s a tough one, for sure. The kick doesn’t seem very effective, either.’

    [Well, of course it didn’t. The man hardened his skin, after all], Uzuki suddenly chimed in.

    Hearing the unexpected information, Grendel tried to ask, ‘Hardened? What do you-Hrm!’

    Suddenly, Rosice dashed forward again, this time much faster than before. His speed managed to catch Grendel off-guard, as he managed to enter Grendel’s range and swung his claymore to Grendel’s left flank.

    Flustered with the sudden attack, Grendel quickly blocked the attack, then swung down the poleaxe’s head towards Rosice. Unfortunately, Rosice evaded the hit by turning his body and delivered a body slam with his shoulder, pushing Grendel a few steps back.

    “Got you!”

    Off-balance from the hit, Grendel tried to regain his footing, but Rosice pressed on, continuing his attack with an overhead swing.

    ‘Damn! Gotta block it!’

    Grendel desperately lifted his poleaxe, and barely managed to block the claymore, but unfortunately,

    “Looks like it’s my win, brother!” Rosice said with a smile.

    *CRACK!*

    With a loud creak, his poleaxe was broken into two, and the claymore hit his left shoulder.

    Seeing the hit, the referee promptly signaled the end of the fight.
    “Match over! The winner is Rosice!”

    As soon as he said that, cheers erupted from the mercenaries,
    “Whoo! Nice fight, Blueskin!” “Breaking his weapon in a few hits? As expected from our vice-captain!” “Fight me next, oni!”

    [Guess that’s a loss for you, huh]
    ‘Yeah, it definitely is.’

    As Grendel went to retrieve a new poleaxe, Rosice approached him and patted his shoulder, “That was a good fight, brother! Too bad the weapon broke! I feel we could go on much longer if not for that.”

    “Agreed,” Grendel replied with a smile. “So how about round two? I’m still itching to fight, you see.”

    Hearing his reply, Rosice laughed out, “Hahaha! Very well! I’ll happily accompany you, either two or three or four rounds!” as he moved back to his position.

    In the end, Grendel and Roice sparred three more times, before Rosice switched with other mercenaries. At the end of the day, Grendel left the base, feeling content after fighting 10 more mercenaries.
    • Befriended the merry mercenaries
    • Fought a total of 11 people, including Rosice

    @AliceShiki
     
  5. A5G_Reaper

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

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    "So, what exactly happened here?"

    A gourd questioned the Kuin family's butler, currently on a side building because the main quarters was occupied by the ghost. Just how a single apparition completely halted the whole mansion?

    "Mister Gourd. You see, the baron's great-grandfather had a brother. He left in a self-imposed exile in order to avoid succession struggle, made a name for himself as a hero of justice at the empire. We've had no idea why he's back here, as a ghost no less! He took one look at the baron and practically kick my master out, saying something about unworthy of the title. Please get rid of him, one way or another."

    "...surely Sophia or Terry can deal with a wayward spirit?"

    The butler gave a murderous look.

    "Surely you jest, there's no way we risk the baron's child for that."

    "Ah... let me borrow them then. It'll be a good experience too, I'll keep them safe."

    The butler was about to object when the door burst open, an excited Sophia hopping into the room. Demanding to tag along. She's dragging Terry too; seems that the boy was dragged over the moment she heard that a gourd arrived in the premise.

    With a bit more pestering, the butler allowed it after fishing a promise from the gourd to keep those two safe.

    *****

    "Hello?"

    The gourd called out. The three arrived in the main hall of the mansion, his sword and shield alight violet. Seems that there weren't any need to comb the whole place for the ghost, seeing that it's standing proudly in the center of the room.

    "You are not of the Kuin bloodline. Scram."

    The ghost's equipment was somewhat similar to the gourd, cuirass and metal guards at the vital points but silver instead of black. He didn't have any helmet and wield only a single longsword, in which the keening blade flashed to run the gourd through.

    He slapped the incoming blade aside, noting that his shield glow dimmed noticeably faster than a blow of that force should cost. Magical aspect? Simply sharp? Dodging would be preferable.

    Even with his thought running he didn't stopped moving, his own blade coming down to cut the ghost. It stepped aside and away, stance perfect and unhurried as it examined the new contender with less derision than before.

    "You have skills with sword. Who are you?"

    "Ah, I'm just their guard." He gestured to the two kids behind. "What's all this thing about successors?"

    "Before mine passing, I left a pendant to my brother's child. When there come a descendant of our house to succeed mine sword art, the pendant was to be shattered."

    "Ah."

    That was Sophia.

    "...you know something about this?"

    She fidgeted a bit.

    "We may have broke a pendant in father's office when we played?"

    The gourd and the ghost were speechless.

    "..alas, what a waste. I have limited time in this form, insufficient to teach someone from the start."

    "Huh... say, won't it be good if you just be her Guardian?"

    "I beg your pardon?"

    "Sophia, show him your blade."

    The girl nodded and closed her eyes, mumbling some words. A few seconds later the ethereal agent of light materialized with a burst of divine light, before slowly fading leaving its blade floating and ready behind her.

    "It's semi-autononous, since her sword skill isn't developed yet. You could bound to her, teach her and protect her at the same time. Much better than a mindless sword. What says you? You could try attacking to see how it goes."

    "Verily."

    The ghost flicked and probed, and in response the Guardian Blade swivelled to protect its master. It fell to several feints in which the ghost could stab at Sophia although it stopped before coming to that. The gourd himself prepared Redshift just in case, but there was no need.

    "Marvelous, yet inadequate."

    In other words, I-could-do-better smugly.

    "Yes. She's the most suitable for your successor don't you think? And you don't need to fade away so long as you're bound to her, so it's in your best interest to keep her alive."

    The gourd pressed with his silvertongue, truly wanting to see what happen. Both Sophia and the ghost agreed, in which he immediately tell her how to do the binding.

    *****

    "Alright, that went well!" The gourd laughed on the way back, Sophia and Terry on his side. "That Sieg Kuin is truly skilled with the sword, I'm no match! He'll be great help to you!"

    "Umu!"

    "I can still hear you."

    "Hey, it's not like I'm badmouthing you!"

    After doing some short explanation to the butler, the gourd bid them goodbye and returned to town.
    -Ghost have stopped bothering the mansion.
    -Sophia Kuin gained her second Guardian Blade.
    -In time, she may even completely materialize him. Who knows.
    -Gourd is happy at the fast and easy job.
    @AliceShiki
     
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  6. Zero300

    Zero300 『Mask Maker』『Kamen Rider Khaos』『Demon Immortal』

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    Task: Apothecary Supplies [Taken by @Zero300]
    Requester: Apothecary Apprentice Mallone
    Quest Rank: E-Rank
    Rewards: 8 Large Copper Coins
    Description: I have urgent business to attend to, and as such cannot gather a number of herbs and other materials required for my upcoming examination by Master. The list has been prepared beforehand and will be provided to the person accepting this quest. Expedience is required, as not much time is left. Please help!

    After being approved to take on the quest, Zinc received a list of materials needed. Looking through the list, the doctor could immediately identify all of the items. They were just basic items anyone can find within the mountains to the south. Zinc quickly headed over there with his pet wolf. He needed Silver as some of the items require a strong nose to sniff out. Once the doctor arrived at the foot of the mountains, he began searching for the herbs as well as the other raw materials like minerals and ores found at the entrance of caves. Meanwhile, he had Silver sniff about for distinctively-smelling herbs like truffles and stinkflowers.

    Hours later, he dug out all the herbs he needed to find on the list. Silver also found the ones that needed his nose to find. All that was left were the raw materials found within certain caves. Zinc searched through some of the caves at the foot of the mountains and found a few of the items on the list. However, there was one item – Sunglowite – that he could not find no matter how much he searched. He recalled from a passage in one of the many books he had read over the course of his life that the Sunglowite grows in caves rich with sunlight. But, how is that possible? How do caves have access to the sun?

    Of course, it didn’t take long for him to think of a possibility. If a cave was to have access to the sun, they must be found higher up in the mountains where there are potential openings that could lead sunlight into caves. Zinc exited the cave he was currently in and scoured the nearby mountains. Soon, he found a cave near the top of one of the mountains. There were some cracks on the surface and clear opening at the roof of the cave. Zinc took nearly three hours to rush up the mountain and enter the cave. After walking deeper into the cave, the doctor finally spotted the material in question.

    Easy pickings! Zinc smiled as he mined the Sunglowite and stored the pieces into his backpack.

    Once he double-checked his list and made sure he had gathered all the required herbs and materials, the doctor headed down the mountains. Along the way, he caught a glimpse of a glistening hue of purple at the foot of the mountains. Zinc approached out of curiosity and found that it was a tree bearing a weird, purplish fruit. The doctor reached up and plucked one of the ripened fruits for examination. After a minute or so, Zinc concluded that the fruit was safe for consumption.

    Zinc bit into the fruit and swallowed the overflowing juices. Sweet! And with a tangy aftertaste just like a peach. Zinc decided to name this fruit – violet peach. With a smile, the doctor decided to pluck some more to eat during the trip home and to store in rotect jars for further examinations when he got home. With a satisfied look, the doctor headed home while munching on another violet peach. About ten minutes later, something unexpected happen.

    The violet peaches in Zinc’s hands started to decay and turn into an acidic, venomous mush. Luckily, Arsenic rushed out just in time to slurp up the poisonous delicacy or Zinc’s hands would have been melted off. Zinc grimaced at what had happened. He quickly brought out the rotect jars and saw that the violet peaches were similarly decayed. Even in rotect jars, these violet peaches could not be preserved. What was going on?

    Zinc decided to post up a quest once he got back. Maybe one of the other adventurers might have a way to preserve the fruit and bring some back for him to research on. In the meantime, Zinc opened up the rotect jars and dumped the contents out for Arsenic to snack on. The doctor quickly headed back home to submit his report and turn in the herbs and materials before posting a quest of his own.
    Zinc would like to post up a quest for finding a way to bring back 10 violet peaches. Zinc believes it to be a D-rank quest and would offer 20 Large Coppers as a reward.

    @AliceShiki
     
  7. Haxagen

    Haxagen Fallen's|Addicted to Gacha

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    "I'm back...that escalated in ways I didn't even think were possible..."
    “Elaine, I haven’t been to this Old Spice Village before, so you’re the only one that actually knows the way there, and so I’m deciding, against my better judgement, to let you lead the way. Please do not get us lost.” - M

    Naturally, they ended up lost.

    “Elaine...I thought you said that you’ve visited this village at least twice before? What’s with the sudden detours…?” - M

    “Uhm...I got lost…? Ehehe…” - E

    “You’re not lost. I can tell that you knew exactly which path to take today, but went for the wrong one nonetheless. Why?” - M

    “Uhm, uhm...I should be the one asking you this, Sensei. Why are you here…? I took this quest by myself, and it’s just three Hobgoblins. There wasn’t any need to wait outside the city for me…” - E

    “So I’m not welcome to tag along, that’s what you’re saying?” - M

    “That’s not it, Sensei! You’re always welcome to come visit me, but...you seem awfully strange today. Shouldn’t you be resting at home?” - E

    “No, I’m fine. Then, since there are no other issues, let us proceed.” - M

    * * *

    The trip was mostly made in silence, except for the occasional attempt by Elaine to start a conversation, to which the wolf girl either blatantly ignored, or mumbled a response half-heartedly in reply. Not exactly the most sociable behaviour, but it was unusual even for Mika, who only spoke when she wanted to.

    After a few hours of patrolling the wilds, Elaine picked up on the sounds of combat nearby, and the two headed over to check on it. They found the hobgoblins listed in the request standing over a dead bear, along with several other smaller goblins, some of them bearing injuries from slashes and bites. From the getup, it seemed that the three hobgoblins consisted of archer, mage, and swordsman.

    “We should lure and eliminate them one by one, so that we don’t have to worry about them teaming up...Sensei?!” - E

    Her companion, who had been silent up to now, simply stepped up in full view of the mob.

    “They’re injured, and hobgoblins aren’t of high enough caliber to be of threat to me. Just sit tight and I’ll take out all of them at once.” - M

    “Sensei!” - E

    “I’ll show you what lies at the end of power. Stormweave!” - M

    Remembering that blinding flash of light, as well as the thunderous clap of lightning that followed it, Elaine hurriedly covered her ears and shut her eyes.

    ...But nothing happened.

    “...Tch.” - M

    Mika clicked her tongue slightly but didn’t seem very surprised, instead charging right into the thick of the crowd, smacking aside the swordsman.

    “Sensei, wait! That’s insane?!” - E

    Her sensei was definitely acting strange. She didn’t understand why, but one thing was very clear to her; her distracted sensei didn’t see the hobgoblin mage preparing to cast a spell.

    “---- ----!”

    “I won’t let you! Glass Hunt!” - E

    Turns out that Elaine herself had been distracted, too. While the mage fell to the ground, dead from a snapped neck, the second one had been hiding behind the first one, nocking a few arrows as it did so.

    Where the arrow pointed at was a rather obvious question. And she couldn’t stop it either.

    *Twang*

    It was an average bow firing average arrows. At point-blank range, with the string drawn as tightly as the hobgoblin could do so. The target was distracted, and didn’t have any particularly thick armour on. Result?

    “UGH?!” - M

    And so, Mika got hit with arrows in multiple areas of her body. She spat out a mouthful of blood, and turned to glare at the hobgoblin, which had begun to retreat.

    “Grrrrrrr…” - M

    The remaining goblins attacked her, diverting her attention to them, and by the time the wolfkin dispatched all of them and collapsed, the hobgoblin had long since fled.

    “Tch, it got away on my watch...This is horribly insulting…!” - M

    “Sensei, now’s not the time!” - E

    “Let me go! I’ll catch it, chop off it’s head, smash it into paste, and make sure it never breathes again...! How...dare……ugh.” - M

    “Sensei, you’re losing too much blood! Please keep still...Sensei?!” - E

    Elaine started trying to salvage the situation, attempting to staunch the flow of blood, but the bandages that she bought along ended up soaked in blood before she could even apply them.

    “It’s not working! Why isn’t it working!” - E

    *Incoherent screaming in the distance*

    “Dammit, for another group of goblins to show up now of all times! Then…” - E

    Grabbing hold of one of the arrows, Elaine ripped it out as quickly as possible, trying not to think about the hiss of pain her unconscious sensei made as she did so. She washed it off with water from her canteen, before adding it to the bandage, tying a tourniquet.

    “Hmph!” - E

    As she exerted more force in order to pull the knot tighter, Mika groaned with considerable agony.

    “I know it hurts, Sensei, but please bear with it!” - E

    Sweating profusely, Elaine took a moment to check behind her for enemies, before reaching out for another arrow. There were four more.

    * * *


    “CLEAR THE WAY!” - E

    The small cluster of ten or so goblins froze. Normally, that respite would have been enough for Elaine to escape the encirclement.

    Unfortunately, Elaine had someone behind her wholly incapable of self-defence. Mika was lying unconscious, still bleeding out slowly, and she couldn’t be lightly moved.

    “Grrr, tch!” - E

    Five seconds.

    Four seconds.

    Three seconds.

    Then the shout’s effects ended prematurely, and vanished. There was still seven or eight goblins surrounding them, and unfortunately, Elaine’s first trump card could not be used again.

    If they all went for her, she might still be able to come out top after a desperate fight. Unfortunately, Elaine doubted that said goblins would ignore Mika, who was lying defenceless on the floor. Goblins were idiots, sure, but even they knew a bit about hunting.

    “Hey! Look at me, idiots! If you don’t, I’ll kill you!”

    She waved her sword about, trying to appear threatening. Didn't work. One of the goblins went for her unconscious companion.

    “Sensei!” - E

    The goblin chopped downwards. Elaine looked away---

    “Say, you look like you could use some help.” - ?

    *Clang*

    Then a silver-haired knight was beside her, having just dispatched the goblin by bashing it away with her shield.

    “How did you...Where...No, now’s not that time for that! Thank you so much!” - E

    The stranger simply nodded.

    “Nhh...Not a problem. This one is not very good with attacking, but this one knows how to hold the fort. However, this one recommends that you leave this place as soon as possible.” - ?

    “That’s a tad bit difficult to do, given how severely injured Sensei is.” - E

    “Nhn. This one understands, then. Firewall.” - ?

    “Uwah?! It’s burning---It’s not? It only feels warm to the touch...What kind of flames---” - E

    “Firewall won’t last forever. Hurry, while there’s still a path to follow. I’ll help to carry her too.” - ?

    “Uh...right! Sensei, just hang on for a bit more…!” - E

    And thus the trio escaped, carrying the injured third on their shoulders, and by the time the barricade of flames went out, leaving behind some badly burned goblins, they were already a good distance away.

    * * *

    “This should be a good place. Set her down here.” - ?

    Eventually, the path opened up to the side of a river, and their rescuer stopped, pointing to a large tree overlooking the banks. She then took out a few vials, popping the corks and pouring them on the bandaged wounds.

    “Medicine. This one will try to stabilize her condition, but there are small groups of goblin scouts roaming about this place. If they find us again, it’ll be very dangerous. Especially for your Sensei.” - ?

    “Then, I’ll guard you while you heal her.” - E

    “Nhn. Bad choice. If they find us again, they won’t be attacking alone, you know. The ones nearby will come running over, followed by the ones further away, and we’ll have a whole crowd to deal with. Purely defending won’t help us here.” - ?

    “Then what should I do? Just give up and pray?” - E

    “Not that. If you want to kill a snake, the quickest way is to take out the head, nhn.” - ?

    The head...

    “I’ll take out the archer first.” - E

    “Good choice. Without the hobgoblin to issue the commands, the regular goblins will eventually scatter and go elsewhere. However, you can be sure that the hobgoblin will be hiding amongst the regular goblins, nhn. Do you have a way to deal with that?” - ?

    “I do.” - E

    She didn’t, but Elaine replied in the affirmative anyway.

    “I see. Good luck, then.” - ?

    * * *

    Elaine was hiding in the bushes, staring. There was a cave nearby, and a goblin stood watch over it.

    “Hmmmm…” - E

    Her vision sharpened, and suddenly she could see a lot clearer. She could see every wart on the sentry’s ugly face, the rotten teeth as it yawned, the sight of it picking its nose---Ew. She quickly looked away, and hefted a dagger.

    “Ha-fuuu!” - E

    The sentry toppled without making a noise, the dagger sticking out of its brain. Elaine smiled grimly, lighting a torch.

    “Let’s see how well caves burn.” - E

    Then, after setting alight the bushes and shrubbery at the entrance, she tossed the torch, allowing the smoke to start filling the cave.

    “Gobble gobble?!”

    The first goblins rushed out in a blind panic, and died by her blade. Then the slower ones managed to escape the fire too, and were slain for their troubles. She’d just finished wiping the blood of her rapier when she heard it.

    “Gobble.”

    The hobgoblin walked out.

    “Gobble gobble.”

    It wasn’t holding a bow.

    Ambush, perhaps? Maybe someone is hiding in my blind spot, waiting for an opportunity.

    Thinking thus, she deliberately left herself open for a few seconds, but nothing happened.

    Hm? Then I guess I’ll just pay close attention as I take out this guy.

    Elaine took another step closer to the hobgoblin, who snarled and pulled out two really old blades.

    Wait a minute…Don’t tell me...

    For the sake of confirmation, Elaine took one more step forward...and the hobgoblin threw the swords at her. It was about as successful as it sounded like.

    Ha...ha ha ha.

    Elaine had a really vindictive smile on her face, as she slowly made eye contact with the hobgoblin, slowly placed her hand around the blade grip, slowly drew her rapier...and got into a charging pose.

    “If you’re an archer, why are you throwing swords?! Real archers are supposed to use bows and arrows, not throw swords! Did you think you're a bow or something?!” - E

    “Gobble gobble?!”

    “Even if you’re right, that doesn’t make you correct! Now eat this, the culmination of my training efforts! Tenacious Morning Rose---” - E

    Z
    A
    B
    A
    N
    I
    Y
    A!


    The hobgoblin archer shrieked miserably as it died, juice still leaking from the remnants of it’s destroyed brain. Elaine gagged slightly at the sight, before keeping her rapier, highly satisfied by the outcome.

    “I feel like something weird was mixed up in there at the last part, but well, nevermind! Time to go check back on those two, unless there’s still more inside wishing to challenge me? Huh?!” - E

    As if in response, the cave ceiling collapsed, covering the entrance.

    “Well, that’s it! Those two better be alive! But let me just take a break for a bit first...Haha…” - E

    Elaine sat down heavily on the floor, exhausted. The day’s events had finally caught up with her, and thinking back, she had done a lot of things over the past hour.

    “Just...a tiny nap first...Zzz…” - E
    @Quaesitor
     
  8. Naraku

    Naraku 『』『』『』

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    "Huuuh, an odd murderer, draining life.", Gaap muttered after reading the report, he always had a certain dislike for such people. Perhaps, because it's hard to notice them once they turn out badly? Unsure, that thought just faded.

    "Mhmmm... and yes, your mission, basically, was about discovering the killer and helping Askel to investigate, and you perfectly had done this. It never has been about catching him.", the receptionist continued, still with a confused look as he remembered the report.
    A smile crept up on his face.

    "Alright, here are your rewards, ten large copper coins along with four guild points, keep up the good work."
     
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  9. AliceShiki

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

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    Welcome back Grendel-san, glad you had fun~

    Not much I can say I guess? Strengthening in the middle of the spar when they said you couldn't use magic feels like cheating though...

    Oh well, good job out there, the reward is of 8 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points~

    Take care now~
     
  10. AliceShiki

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

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    Excellent job Jack-san, so glad everything was solved without much trouble being brought to the Kuin household~

    I wonder how far Sophia-san will go though... Makes me wonder if she'll destroy the entire Empire by herself~ *giggles*

    Of course I'm just kidding. Anyways, the rewards are well deserved by you, 89 Large Copper Coins and 16 Guild Points.

    Take care now~
     
  11. AliceShiki

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

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    Welcome back Zinc-san~

    Glad your job went without much issues, but... Such unusual peaches you found, good thing Arsenic helped you out or the results would be terrible... Well, poke me in private and we can work out the details of the quest I suppose?

    In any case, the reward will be of 8 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points~

    Take care now~
     
  12. Xalysian

    Xalysian Well-Known Member

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    Veri was not around this time.


    Valuren checked on the quest details once again, to confirm of the area he had to travel to. He decided to ‘climb’ the mountains to get to the Caves of the Dead, grappling his way to the caves.


    *******


    Travel time, 2 days since departure.


    He had arrived to the area of the Caves of the Dead, he guessed that he was close to the caves due to the undeads roaming nearby. He had hidden himself on the top of a tree, waiting for a perfect moment to strike the closest undead under him.

    Stomp!

    He dropped down with a force from his lower body, crushing the undead’s skeletal head skull. He turned toward the caves immediately to find the next undead, only to find an orc warrior. The orc entered the caves after leaving the remains of the undead he had slaughtered.


    Valuren had no intentions to try to follow the orc, however, since the orc had entered the caves. Valuren are going to use him as a distraction for the time he needed to, to grab a flower plant named Weiss Managor.


    Main problem on Valuren right now were that;

    He never knew about the flower plant’s appearance, and it’s very likely for him to notice the Weiss Managor to wither by the time he returned to the guild.


    *******


    Using a lit match, Valuren can slowly advance his way into the Caves of the Dead. He looked around his surroundings after walking straight into the caves.


    Nothing needed to be told other than Valuren hiding his way into the caves from the wandering undeads. Until two hours of walking…


    A blue light, no, a speck of blue marine light sparked in the cross-way in the distant. Valuren crept his way to the blue light, slowly than usual, trying to not alert the skeletal beings inside the caves. He even made sure to distinguish the match to cover himself more in the dark, then he hit something with his foot.


    He heard the sounds of the undeads were making and immediately hanged his back against the cave walls. He waited there until an hour passed before checking what he had ‘kicked’.


    He used his whip to wrap the object he had hit earlier, a distressed grunt can be heard - making him to disperse the chains almost instantly. It was the orc warrior.


    He poured some of the water from his new water-skin on the orc warrior, there were signs of him being alive, but not awake.

    He decided to leave him after that fact, for the marine colored light.


    Another hour later, he expressed his delight after getting close to the light, it was the Weiss Managor. There were five of them. He took some notes regarding to the flower by writing down details of the flower’s appearance, mostly for himself the next time he needed to get one.


    Valuren crouches down to sniff the flowers, it smells wonderful as he feels calmer from a single whiff. He picked out two of the flowers and felt himself the dark energy from it. He decided to cover the flowers with his forearm wrappings, leaving only the top uncovered.

    Mission completed.
    As he begin to leave the caves, he felt something gripping to his right ankle. He, instead of gazing back as the usual him, he glared toward the culprit. It was the orc warrior.


    “W-Who are you?”


    That was the moment where Valuren realised that, the orc’s eyes were nowhere to be seen. He had lost his eyes.


    Valuren crouched down to calm the orc warrior down. He quietly shush to the man.


    “I-I… I can’t see…”, the orc continued, “I was-… it hurts…?”


    The orc turned around, trying to ‘see’ with his bloody face. Valuren stands up after patting on the orc’s gripped hands on his ankle, telling him to release him.


    “Don’t leave me… it hurts…”


    The sounds of metal being lifted from the ground, Valuren had taken the iron shortsword and steps toward the orc’s side.


    “W-Wait! S-Stop-!”


    Valuren had to kill the orc, ending this man’s misery was the only thing he could think of as an act of mercy. He threw away the iron shortsword. It was bloody mess, he then heard the large stomping nearby - closing in to his location.

    It was time for Valuren to leave the Caves of the Dead, before he becomes the next victim of the undeads. He left the area without a problem with his grappling abilities.


    *******
    - Two days of traveling to the Caves of the Dead.
    - Four hours of ‘exploring’ the caves.
    - One day and a half of returning to Nagrand.
    - Brought two well-conditioned blue flowers, Weiss Managor.
    - Valuren feels lighter now.
    - Veri was asleep the whole time.

    He returned to the guild, he reached to the receptionist desk where the construct stayed idly as usual. He showed the Weiss Managor to the construct, there were no signs of both flowers withering, yet.

    Instead of being abnormally quiet to the construct like before, he decided to speak with a quiet, calm tone.
    “If you don’t mind, I’m taking one for myself.”

    @Lenaia

    ((Wow, this is the shortest report I've made.))
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
  13. Lenaia

    Lenaia Queen of Smiles

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    "Of course! Was the undeads thinning over there? Your journey sounds way too smooth... well, not my problem. Your reward, ten large copper coins and four guild points. Stay safe, yes?"

    A soft green glow enveloped one of the flower, in which the construct carefully laid in a box. It then stored it in the cabinet behind and returned to its position.
     
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  14. Xalysian

    Xalysian Well-Known Member

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    Before Valuren enter into the guild, he takes another sniff to the Weiss Managor before putting it back into his jacket, he goes to the receptionist’s desk, placing down his report. .

    “Fun.”, was all he could say for the time being, but his smile mostly says it all.

    With the information of the priest’s place from a kind receptionist, Valuren went to find the church of Razer in the town of Nagrand. He asked around about the directions to the church of Razer with the help of his inner soul’s voice as the usual.


    After getting directions to the church of Razer, Valuren are now inside of the church, meeting the requester of the quest, Fuzor, the Priest of Razer.


    “Ah, finally. I’ve been waiting for a while now!”, the priest greets V.


    Valuren nodded and lends his hand for a handshake, while the on his other hand he showcased his wooden guild badge.


    “Hm? Are you... possibly…?”


    Valuren puts back his guild badge into his jacket’s right pocket before creating an ‘X’ with both of his index fingers close to his lips, he even gave a kind smile and a left-eye wink to the priest.


    “Oh, you’re an interesting fellow!”, he continued after he remembers to introduce himself, “My name’s Fuzor!”, the card priest posed as if he was a butler, however, without the bowing part, "Priest of Razer!"


    The mute man also reacted by patting on his own shoulders while still gazing and smiling toward the priest, Fuzor.


    Fuzor showed a glimpse of appreciation toward Valuren.


    “Impressive! Now…”, he then takes out two set of deck cards, he looked rather intense with the grin on his face as he goes, “Now, choose which game you want to play for today.”.


    Fuzor reveals the first set of deck cards, “Five-draw poker… or…”, he reveals the next and last set of deck cards, “Old-o Maid-o?”


    Valuren points to the first set of deck cards, the priest smirked as he stored back the second deck away in a small dark chest, light enough to carry around the town. Both of them sat down on the table, facing each other, Valuren’s eyes were wide opened after witnessing the brand of the poker deck cards.


    Fuzor continued with his sinister grin as he speaks, “I’m sure you didn’t even realised it, but… your mouth were agape by the sights of these!”


    He spreads the deck of cards as he speaks, “Copper Edition!”


    Valuren places both of his hands on the table, grabbing one of the deck cards and inspects the quality of the fine works into making a single poker card. His mouth was mouthing a ‘W-Woah.’, Fuzor began to drink the orange juice from a glass that was nowhere to be seen at first place.


    He shakes his head while trying to ignore what he witnessed about Fuzor’s drink, he placed the card back on the table, it was Ace of Hearts. The priest began to gather the spread poker cards back to wash the deck cards back to its’ former status.


    It was as if watching a professional doing a magic trick with the poker cards, “Hey, Valuren-san, better not lose that jaw of yours.”, Fuzor snickered as he stopped shuffling the cards.


    Valuren puts his right palm toward his face, closing his mouth with it, he calmed himself and started to gaze into the priest’s confident glare.


    Yet again, out of nowhere, Fuzor slides 10 chips without tipping it over toward Valuren’s side of the table. He continued to shuffle the cards with a grin, Valuren inspected on one of the poker chips as he noticed yet again, the qualities of the crafts.


    Valuren puts back the chip along with the others, waiting for the game to begin.


    “Open the game!”, he looks like he’s posing with the whole set of deck cards at hand.


    Round One -


    Fuzor deals 5 poker cards to Valuren’s side and his own side one by one, he stopped at the third one as he realised something, “Say? Do you know how to play this, right?”, he sighed a relieved one after watching the orange-haired man nodded, he continued, “That’s a mouthful saved, let’s continue.”


    After finishing with giving 5 cards to each person, Valuren and him, he puts the shuffled cards to the right side of his before throwing a poker chip to the middle of the table.


    Valuren follows by throwing a poker chip and checks on his poker hands.


    Five of Spades, Six of Clubs, Ace of Clubs, Five of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds.

    A One Pair on Valuren.


    Fuzor then takes out a card from his hands after throwing another poker chip, “Draw One.”, Valuren kept quiet after hearing his words and watched him discard a card to draw a new one from the deck, “Your turn, draw, or stand?”, he continued before letting Valuren decide, “Or fold?~”


    Valuren shrugs in a manner to mock the priest as he throws in a poker chip before taking out three cards from his hand to draw three cards from the deck on the left side of the table.


    The order are now,


    Five of Spades, Five of Diamonds, Six of Hearts, King of Hearts, Five of Clubs.

    A Three of the Kind!


    Judging from Fuzor’s act earlier, he could had have a two-pair, which was better than Valuren’s one-pair. Now, the tables have been turned!


    The priest bets another poker chip, Valuren does the same, “Now, it’s Showdown!”, Fuzor readies himself to reveal his cards.


    Valuren reveals his hand, which is the ‘Three of the Kind’, Three Five’s. Fuzor followed with the reveals of his hand.


    Jack of Clubs, Six of Diamonds, Six of Clubs, Eight of Spades, Eight of Hearts.

    A Two-Pair as what was predicted before!


    “My, my, you got a good hand. Good-o, Good-o!~”


    Valuren drags the 6 poker chips from the middle to his side of the table, the number of the chips on each sides are now; Valuren’s 13, Fuzor’s 7.


    “We’re just getting started, round-o two!”, Fuzor deals the cards after gathering the cards from the first round.


    Round Two -


    Valuren throws in a poker chip, followed by Fuzor with another.


    Both of them looked at their cards, Valuren smirked to make the priest felt unease about his hand, but he returned back Valuren’s smile with a sinister grin.


    On Valuren’s hand;


    Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, Three of Spades, Seven of Spades, Three of Clubs.

    A Two-Pair.


    He decided to stand with the hands he got, Valuren mouthed a ‘Bet’ before throwing in two poker chips, “Hmph, getting cocky, I see?~ Draw Two.”


    Valuren controlled his expression from getting surprised by what Fuzor had said, he watches the priest discard two of his cards and draws another two from the deck on the table.


    “Oh-o, almost forgot!~”, he throws in four poker chips and smiled at him, “Raise.”, this sets off Valuren as he throws in four poker chips after clicking his tongue.


    The poker chips on the table are now, 12 chips. Valuren’s 6 chips, Fuzor’s with two poker chips left, “Here goes nothing, Valuren-san~.”, he throws in his poker chip, Valuren followed.


    Valuren decided to mouth the word, ‘Showdown’, accompanying Fuzor with his voice of, “Showdown!”


    Both of them reveals their hands;


    Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, Three of Spades, Seven of Spades, Three of Clubs.

    A Two-Pair on Valuren.


    Queen of Diamonds, Ten of Diamonds, Eight of Diamonds, Three of Diamonds, King of Diamonds.

    A Flush on Fuzor.


    “My, my.”, a menacing grin appeared on his face, “That was close, I almost lost-o!~”


    Valuren sighed to himself, lightly. He gazed deep into Fuzor’s eyes as the priest slammed his hand on the table to drag the 14 poker chips to his side. He then took a glance to his own side, at the chips he’s got left, 5 more.


    Poker chips;
    Valuren’s 5, Fuzor’s 15.


    Without delaying anymore time, Valuren mouthed a ‘Next hand.’ before throwing in a poker chip to the middle of the table.


    The priest throws in a chip as well.


    Round Three -


    Fuzor deals the cards for the third time.


    The scene are getting intense by the time the two of them looked at their cards and each other…


    Valuren stayed with a natural grin as he looked at both of his cards and the opponent in front of him.


    Queen of Diamonds, Two of Clubs, Jack of Clubs, Queen of Hearts, Jack of Hearts.

    A Good Two-Pair!


    He decided to discard one of the card and draws one, he then throws in a poker chip to end his turn.


    The card that was traded was Two of Clubs, to a, Ace of Spades.


    Fuzor pressed his cards against his cheek, grinning at him as he declares, “Draw One.”


    After he finished both discarding and drawing a new card to his poker hand, he then throws in a poker chip. Valuren decided to throw in one more poker chip to the middle, the priest followed.


    Valuren stayed quiet this time, waiting for Fuzor’s, “Showdown!”, the priest declared as he reveals his hand.


    It was a Two-Pair as well.

    Three of Clubs, Seven of Clubs, Ten of Clubs, Ten of Hearts, Seven of Diamonds.


    He followed behind, revealing his hands.


    Queen of Diamonds, Two of Clubs, Jack of Clubs, Queen of Hearts, Jack of Hearts.


    “Tch.”, the priest clicked his tongue as he reshuffle the whole cards back to the deck, “You must be lucky, Valuren-san~. Saishu raundo-da!”


    Poker chips;
    Valuren’s 8, Fuzor’s 12.


    Final Round! -


    Everything were quiet during the whole dealings of the cards to both sides and throwing in each other’s poker chips.

    Too quiet.

    The two of them glared at each other with the cards covering the bottom half of their faces, neither of them even realised that they were sweating bullets over poker, Valuren takes out the blue flower, Weiss Managor from a previous quest, before smelling it once again.


    It looked like Valuren regained his confidence, as he decided to discard one card from his hand and draws another one to his poker hands.


    One poker chip was thrown to the middle of the table.


    “...”, Fuzor glared at his poker hand as he declared, “Stand Pat-o!”, he grinned as he glared into each other’s eyes, he then throws in not one poker chip, but!


    “All-in!~”, he continued to grin as he waits on Valuren’s next move, was it going to be a fold, or a call? He seemed pretty satisfied with his original hand, could it be a Straight? A Full-House? Or possibly, it was a Flush?


    Valuren, on the other hand, he lets out a calmed sigh. He looked forward, directly into Fuzor’s eyes, he continued to gaze as he mouthed a ‘Call.’


    All of their poker chips are now on the middle of the table. All twenty poker chips! “Now, it’s time for…”, both of them at once goes, Valuren, mouthing the words.


    “SHOWDOWN!”


    Both of them reveals their cards, one of them was a Flush, and one of them was a Four of the Kind!


    Fuzor’s hand;
    Ace of Clubs, Jack of Clubs, Three of Clubs, Nine of Clubs, Four of Clubs.

    Valuren’s hand;
    Ten of Spades, Ten of Clubs, Ten of Diamond, Ten of Hearts, Four of Hearts.


    Valuren was the victor!


    *******


    “My, my… I lost again, on my own forte.”, the defeated priest lends his hand toward Valuren, “It was a good game!~ Have you played big time before, Valuren-san?~”, he re-shuffled the whole ‘Copper Edition’ poker deck cards again but this time, to store it back into the small dark chest.


    He shakes his head as a ‘No’ to Fuzor’s question, after that he shakes the priest’s hand while nodding at him, “Beginner’s luck, could it be?”, Valuren pointed at the deck cards in the priest’s hand and makes a movement that resembles as a dealer of the deck cards.


    “Oh-o! You’re really impressive and lucky, Valuren-san! Will you come by to play more card games with me?”, he smiles after noticing a nod from the mute victor.


    “See you soon, Valuren-san!~”


    “Hm, see you, priest Fuzor.”, in the voice of a female, Valuren waved back as he leaves the priest dumbfounded by the sudden vocal interaction with him, and with a feminine voice at that.


    After far enough from the church of Razer, Valuren was greeted by Veri, who appeared behind him, hugging his neck in her ethereal form - not revealing herself to anyone else but to Valuren, she commented about the game, “Looks like you didn’t even need my help to win back there, my Valuren.”


    “...”, Valuren goes to pat her head behind him, it looked like he was rubbing his back hair, it sent Veri into a ‘red’ blush as she phased back into Valuren’s body to scream at him to not do that again.

    They returned to the guild after that.

    ((Ah, this was a really fun write~.))
    @AliceShiki
     
  15. AliceShiki

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

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    Glad to see you had fun Valuren-san~

    Not much more to say I suppose, Fuzor-san will probably need to hone his skills even more~

    This is the first time I ever heard of someone playing poker with 5 cards though... I mean, I did know it existed, but dear Gods, people always play the 5 cards on table variant where I'm from~

    I learned some new rulings now, good to know good to know~

    In any case, the reward will be of 9 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points~

    Take care now~
     
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  16. Xalysian

    Xalysian Well-Known Member

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    Valuren returned to the guild after a few hours had passed, he placed down his report and a note on the quest. He checks the grips on both of his hands, before rubbing both of his palms together.

    “From ten… to twenty…”, he looks tired but he keeps a smile to reassure the cat-girl receptionist.

    At the orphanage…


    Valuren was greeted by the little owner, Shiori, he only gives a kind smile towards her as he pulls out two items, a paper about the sewing request and his guild badge.


    ‘If it came out as rude, sorry.’, was what he thought about inside of his mind, the little owner leads him into a small room. He noticed the sewing kits on the table nearby, the little owner turned around and faces him. He tries to be polite with a little smile toward the girl, adding a bow to ensure politeness.


    Shiori leaves him ‘alone’ in the room.


    He goes to the table and sits down on one of the chairs nearby, he decided to name the items he could at least recognize or just pinpointing what item is what. After figuring out which sewing item is used for, he looked around to find the clothes that needed to be repaired.


    He finds a large pile of clothes and an amount of fabrics, possibly to be used up on the sewing of the orphans’ clothing, next thing he do was to grab ten clothes from the pile and placed them on a chair next to him.


    He puts the first clothing on his grip and faced forward, “Veri, what do I do now?”





    Veri phased out from his body just to hit his head from the left side, she goes with a tone similar to a lecturer’s, “Why the hell are you asking me for?”, Valuren tries to hold his head from the ‘pain’ with his other hand, he turned to his left to tell her that it hurts.


    The inner soul groaned and cleared her throat, trying to collect her thoughts, “What a pain…”, she sighed before continuing, “First, grab the needle and a string of the yarn.”


    He placed the cloth on his lap before following what she told him to do, he picks up an item that looked like a needle, especially like a short darners and a ball of yarn, “Then, insert the yarn into that small hole of the needle.”


    Valuren’s face went from a neutral confused expression to a exasperated and confused expression.


    He turned to Veri and mouthed a, “How?”


    “I don’t know! Fold the yarn in half?”, he began to think about what she had just said, folding some of the yarn into a half and then, try to force it into the hole of the needle. He shakes his head about the possible two outcomes of the result he had created in his head.


    He then, thought of something completely different, he smiles as he turned to his left, to the ethereal form of Veri’s, “What?”, his thoughts transferred into her, giving light into her eyes, “T-That, that could work! Try it!”


    Valuren brings the yarn’s end toward his mouth and bit the yarn with his lips, pulling out the yarn and noticing the straightness of it, he picks up the needle from before and somehow managed to thread the yarn into the hole of the needle.


    “That’s my Valuren!~”, Veri’s excitement gone through the roofs as she hugged him by the head. Since it was her ethereal form, nothing really happens that affected his physical body, he lets out a tired sigh.


    He takes a glance to the cloth on his lap and the strained expression from before strikes back at him. The problem are now, how to stitch the clothing.


    “Ah, hey…”, she continued after confirming her thoughts, “Overcast, overcast stitches, do you remember how to… do that?”, Valuren tries to remember about the overcast stitches, he looked back at her with a tilted head, “No then… hrmm…”


    She thought to herself as she watched him lifting the clothing with a small hole, “Let’s see, cut a piece of the fabrics and follow what I’m going to do, okay Valuren?”, he nodded as he follows.


    After using the shears to cut down a small bit of the fabrics, he lifted his needle and waits for Veri’s next orders, “In and out, diagonally, try it.”, he nodded as he lightly stabs into the test fabrics, and bring in back out from the other side. Valuren’s eyes seemed to bright up as if he had found the solution to sew the orphans’ clothing.


    He thoughts inside of his head, telling her about what he thinks about the idea he just had, she let out a relieved sigh after hearing that from him, “And, that’s what make you my Valuren.”, she giggled before phasing back into his body.


    He hummed a song that heavily resembled to Canzoni Preferite as he continued sewing the clothes.


    *******


    Valuren had finished nine of the clothes from the chair next to him and now sewing his tenth one, he’s still humming, this time the song resembled to a Highway Star - Deep Purple.


    Veri decided to suggest Valuren to continue sewing articles when he’s about to finish with his tenth one, “Oh-ho, you finally managed to hit the tenth mark, how about adding another ten-?”, around the same time as she finished her words, Shiori enters the room, clearly heard of what she had said.


    “Oh? If you gonna go for another ten, then do it.”, she left right after placing down a glass of water on the table, not waiting to listen to his reply.


    He sighed heavily in resignation, before saying his catchphrase;


    “... Hell strikes me down…”
    - 20 article sewn.
    - Life Skill learned: Extremely Basic Sewing - Know very little about tailoring, the slowest progression skill for him. Go to someone else if needed a decent tailoring.

    @AliceShiki
    ((Really hope I didn’t ruin Shiori’s character or anything. There were a longer version of this report, but it just went nowhere.))

    ((edit: added another note))
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2019
  17. AliceShiki

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

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    Welcome back Valuren-san~

    I think Shiori-chan got pretty happy with the outcome, good job~

    The reward will be of 16 Large Copper Coins and 4 Guild Points~

    Take care now~

    ((I think you did fine, she didn't seem out of character to me~))
     
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  18. Unreachable Hope

    Unreachable Hope Unspecified, Wandering and Doubtful Member

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    "I am back, here's my report... frankly don't understand what happened, but I suppose it's none of my concern?", Cinis said as he rubbed his chin. He doesn't even know what is a Leyline and haven't seen the term before.

    "Anyway- I hope I didn't mess up anywhere. I had a bit of trouble reporting this... and well, gotta go to Mary soon, a broken shoulder is a bit too much of a bother."
    While reading the quest sheet, Cinis wondered how he should proceed to go the Cascade Forest, beforehand, he has misunderstood the quest and thought that he will have to cross the Caves of the Dead to go the Haunted Forest, however, after remembering that going to the Haunted Forest was basically suiciding, he reread the sheet and realized that he had to go to the Cascade Forest.
    His heart slowened in relief, fortunately, he would not have to pass through the Caves once again, while it would be easier than the other times since he is healed and that his leg is in a completely satisfying state.

    It was decided, on this trip, he would take Odio with him, remembering the locations of Cascade Forest, of the Guild and the scale of the map he once saw, he estimated that through a road avoiding major dangerous locations, such as the Great Maelstrom, makes around four hundred of kilometers of distance, basically, if he managed his time well, if the weather is rather average, if the chosen gait is fitting to its situation...
    He might be able to travel eighty kilometers per day, and that is, with a lot of micro-management, that is basically five days of horse riding to get to the Cascade Forest, at the very least, he would have the time to train quite a lot at riding, something that he rarely does usually.
    Which is a perfect opportunity according to him.

    Quickly following his thoughts, he bought some dried meat for two large copper coins, which is rather cheap, it is just to satisfy his stomach for today, then, he would probably hunt something at night to eat way more.
    One thing deterred him, it was that his sleep schedule will be messed up, that was pretty sad as the half-elf disliked one thing, missing sleep and being exhausted unless it is for fighting or training.
    Otherwise, he always hated these sensations which only bothered him during his whole life, fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he was used to be lacking sleep, as always, he could thank his father for this, if he was not here, how could he have become the man he is now?

    "Ha. What a joke.", he muttered as he got on Odio, quickly, it was time to trot, to go on.

    ***

    Hours later, and keeping on following the river, the half looked at the sky and began to ask himself some questions, was his way of doing things optimal? As in, how he deal with the empire spies? How he treat his family? His safety measures that they particularly disliked, considering the face they have made when he claimed to have protected them, that they should not change anything.
    Was he fundamentally wrong? Or was it related to something else? Were the circumstances different? Why would they get upset for it as well?
    Ain't all of them been imprisoned for years? So, why would staying in a forest, in a clearing where nobody would treat them badly would be here, be an issue?

    Unable to understand, he let out a sigh and some days passed.
    At night, the weather, for him, was quite cool, it felt refreshing, animals were there as well, so he could hunt in all freedom and have a pretty good meal as well, grilled meat is always great when it has been freshling hunted, skinned and prepared.
    Or so he thought, as night were real feasts to him.

    Thoughts of Liya, Aelia and Hornety regularly came to mind, each time, it was if something heavy inside of him was lifted and pushed away, his body felt lighter despite being more sickly, coughing more often. However when he realized that they all went away from him...
    It was as if the weight of the world was crushing Liya, such as his thoughts seemed to be filled with depth and regrets of having being unfair with them.
    Afterwards, frustration came over, to invade his heart, to simulate an ager, one that he never felt before, why could they not understand why he decided to restrict their freedom? Why couldn't they realize that even Cinis was disgusted with his own actions? Why did they leave so suddenly without trying to convince him? Wasn't it too unfair to do so?
    All kinds of questions were asked but replied right away.

    One night, he felt something odd, excluding the silence, he could feel eyes weighting on him, exactly, there was someone.

    "Show yourself or I will have to shove your throat with arrow, be it now or in a minute after you started to flee like a rabbit seeing a predator he would never be able to win against.", not even three seconds later, a bolt was launched after the adventurer suddenly turning back to hsi target hidden behind a tree.
    An odd sound echoed, as if someone pierced a piece of paper, due to this, perplexion reigned over Cinis' consciousness as he saw something falling, a letter, it was the herald. Really? THey replied to him with a letter?

    Is that a miracle? For the first time?
    Astonished, he was not aware that his enemy, herald, left without a notice, using the opportunity of the adventurer's surprise in front of this answer.
    Calming down his heart, seconds passing, he wondered how should he proceed with it, should he open it, read it and burn it or find an appropriate place to open it?

    Of course, he did not wait a second, his apprehension, his expectation, his hope, everything was inside it, and the content? It did not disappoint him in the slightest, on the contrary, this news was marvelous, in short...
    "I have more than a dozen of days...", before having a rendezvous with one of them to renegotiate the terms of the contract between his father and him. Again, something he did not understand, they are able to negotiate? To discuss in peace? Was it not practically impossible to do so with such people as them?

    How could he not be happy? A question however, was inscribed into his mind. Why did they need so much time? Are they up to something? Another conspiracy that will have as a goal to execute him without any remorse nor mercy? For a father, it seemed that doting was far from being his thing..
    After having this news, he thought that nothing could destroy this joyful day that was not supposed to happen, that was supposed to be a dream that couldn’t ever be achieved...

    Making his father bow down to his will, to bring him to the table.
    Hahaha.

    ***

    Since, soon, he would be reaching the Cascade Forest, he decided to continue reading Sonberg before continuing. Settling near a tree, he leaned against the wall, took his book and began to read, on a certain passionate tone.

    Then, now my definition of soul is defined, let's go further with explaining the terms I have used:

    Thinking: To me, the ability to think is first, to improve, to perfect oneself, to be aware that you exist.
    Then, do the animals have these?
    True, a bird learn to fly, but is that really an improvement? Wasn't it simply the natural course? Like how babies begin to walk, they begin to fly. If they could not respectively walk or fly, then... wouldn't they be called abnormal, underdeveloped or crippled? They are just how they should be. Plus, that's necessary for them, if the bird didn't fly, it would die, if the baby didn't walk, it would die. It's all related to survival.
    As for improving, animals do nothing else than what are they supposed to be, us? We are not doing only what we are supposed to be. Are we supposed to practice sciences? To write literature? To sing? To wage wars between ourselves? To separate ourselves with social barriers?
    Of course not, we are supposed to be animals, hunt, survive, eat, drink and sleep, all these mechanical activities.
    Before anyone contests, it is not a negation to emotions, animals do have emotions, a clear example, someone like us raging, going berserk, is he thinking about what he is doing? When it happens to you, are you thinking?

    Then... about being aware that you exist, I would link it with being aware that death exists. Right, then, you might say : "Animals run when they are in front of de-", I disagree, they run because they can smell the danger, that's like pain. What is pain? It's a warning that if things don't change, you will be in danger and animals receive much more PHYSICAL pain than us.
    Oh right, before I forget, when I speak about animals, I speak about wild animals, I am not speaking about the pets you have at home, these are completely excluded.
    After, as a counter-example, there is a case, elephants, what about them? They have burial sites, when one of their closed ones die, at least once a year, they go near their skeletons, stay a while and leave, each time.
    With this, can't we think that they realize that death exists? In my opinion, still, that's a no. Yes, you can see what they do is like how our people are going to the cemetery to pray for their dead ones, the difference is that for elephants... that's systematic, each time is the same, they go, they leave, they go, they leave...
    Imagine your brother died, would the first time you go to his grave be exactly as the second time? As the third time? As the fourth time?
    Would you cry each time? Would you fall to your knees each time? Would you feel the same things each time?

    Freedom: Freedom, first, is related to knowledge, without knowledge, you have no freedom.
    Let's take a simple example, a traveler gets lost in the forest, sounds like something that might happen quite often, then found himself in front of two roads, there are no signs, the choice will be random.
    Does he really have the choice? No.
    Then, let's imagine there is one sign, so one of out of the two roads lead to the unknown, the freedom is partial, let's get back to death, do people fear death? No, they fear the unknown behind it, after all, aren't we pretty much unaffected by death?
    I am alive, it doesn't concern me, what I am concerned about is "When? How? Why?", in this case, you fear the circumstances of your death. And when you are dead? What can death do to you? You are already dead.
    Then, the person, unless if he is someone who likes danger, he would choose the road indicated by the sign.
    And if there are two signs, well, he has the choice, he is free to choose what he really wishes for.

    Freedom could be said to be the ability to choose with knowledge.

    Education: Education, to me, is the embodiment of a being. This one shall be rather simple as I do not know how to explain it.
    To me, life is education, the human life at the very least, from the start to the end, you keep learning, confirming, denying, agreeing, arguing, evolving... be it about yourself or the exterior world.

    Reading this, Cinis felt like disagreeing, he did not know why, something felt off about it. while the line seemed more or less logical... he seemed to dislike that idea. Especially the part about freedom, his face twisted when his eyes were exploring this paragraph. A sigh escaped his mouth, he shall continue to read this nevertheless. Even if he disagreed with it, it was oddly satisfying to read this kind of work.

    Now that everything that needed to be done was accomplished, Cinis decided, just for fun and the sake of practicing, to gallop, to go the quickest possible on Odio, to control his movement the most fluently possible. As expected, Cinis happened to be pretty good at horse riding, didn't he basically ride more than three hundreds of kilometers after all? While days passed by quickly, these days have been heavenly for him.
    However, more he has been approaching the Cascade Forest, more rain began to fall savagely on him, and his horse. Trying to remember some facts about the Cascade Forest, the half-elf clicked on his tongue, realizing his ignorance on the matter.
    Keeping Odio would become too dangerous as for now, so he decided to continue his way by walking, rain did not affect him much neither did the cold but the lack of speed did annoyed him, leaving Odio was needed as the rain never seemed to stop... or so he thought, instead, he still continued to walk but brought Odio with him, if the horse galloped, he might... well, die due to the soil's consistance.

    ***

    Despite everything, all these misfortunes were forgotten once he saw the Cascade Forest from afar with the sunset, shining, letting the light pass through the forest, below the ceaseless rain, it seemed to reflect every droplet on this lowly earth, it was a lovely appearance for sure.
    Nearer and nearer, one thing surprised him as he saw the reality of this place, the trees were very tall and wide, being under one of these easily protected you from the rain.
    Seeing some knights, he walked beside them and introduced himself on one of the most polite tone he could ever do.

    "My name is Cinis, D-Rank Adventurer, it is a pleasure to meet you in this poetic place. Are you perhaps with Dolors', Nyllia's researchers and Lyra from Nagrand?", at his question and presentation, the understood with great ease who was he, he was the adventurer who took the request made by Lyra.
    It was, as well, the first time he meets Lyra, he knew from some gossips that some topics should be avoided like her appearance and age.
    Other than that, the adventurer did not know anything, then a bit later, the commotion began to fade. Noticing this, Cinis saw that a girl with silver hair, perhaps even white, blue eyed, in a alchemist attire he would assume. Is she perhaps an apprentice? He was unsure.

    "Show me your badge.", she said, on an indifferent tone, Cinis gave it to her and it seemed that she checked the authenticity of the badge. She nodded and presented herself on a lively tone, contrasting with her previous attitude, perhaps because she knows how dire is the situation in this forest due to the Leylines?
    "Nice to meet you! I am Lyra, this quest's requester, so, you will have protect me while we will deal with the magicky stuff~"

    oh. Oh, so that was her. It is Lyra, seeing her youthful appearance, Cinis realized that he really should not judge a book by its cover as she looked like a child (or so he thought) but was a renowned alchemist. How old is she though?

    "That's a pleasure as well. I have a question however, when do we go inside the Forest to solve the issue?"
    "At morning, so for now, you can simply relax till the sun rises. You really got on a good timing otherwise you would have completely failed your quest!", a bitter laugh escaped his mouth, it would have indeed been quite a shame.

    "Alright then."
    After bidding her a good bye, Cinis went to join the knights who immediately had a offer.
    "Before suffering in the forest! Let's drink!", alcohol, oh sweet and self-loathing nectar, enticing and sickening creature. It was time for some drinks, perhaps three cups.
    "Maybe four."

    The ambiance in the camp outside was quite cozy, they were all drinking, probably to throw their worry deeply into themselves, as if they were scared of something that might come out of the Forest.

    "I have some - questions -, what kind of creatures can you find in the forest? I am rather curious about it."
    "Ehhh, not some depressing topics!"
    "Everything you can find in a jungle but in waaaaaaay bigger!"
    "I wouldn't like to find a second you."

    Immediately side-tracking, Cinis felt at ease, despite being apprehensive about the next, while he drank a few cups, promptly, he evaded the party stayed near the firecamp, wishing to sleep in peace, tomorrow would be a pretty dangerous day after all, better be rested than having a hangover. Before sleeping, the half-elf checked on his horse and attached it so it stays near the camp, temporary protected from the rain.

    ***

    The next day, everyone, despite having eyebags, seemed to be pretty energetic even with the alcohol. The half-elf was feeling pretty fine, just like usual. One annoying thing would be the ceaseless rain, fortunately, there was the firecamp, protected by some kind of barrier, probably erected by one of the researcher? He did not know.

    "Aaaaah, well, then, let's go! Knights, surround us! And let's go forward!", there was nothing much to say, knights were guarding the researchers and Lyra, and Cinis was doing it like them. Simply going along with the flow and bearing with the rain, the adventurer looked around and found the forest beautiful, it was, despite everything, really colorful and lively, and he could smell it.
    Perhaps, saying that he could feel it fit more. The line, a line between death and life, while life is predominant, there is a not so negligent margin death.

    The soil was muddy, the air was humid, the clothes were sticky, did someone wish to drown them within this rain? Why wouldn't it stop at the moment? A sigh escaped his mouth, one choked by the sounds of droplets constantly falling.
    While they were trying to travel more or less sneakily toward a specific place, something was odd, excluding the rain, it seemed that, despite brimming with life, the forest was silent.
    No sounds.
    Something felt wrong, the danger was there, but it was trying to hide, to ambush them. Was it following? He did not know. How could he know? But his instinct told him that the harm was following them, walking in the footprints they leave behind.

    Arriving at the destination, they were at the feet of a sort of a cascade? Or a river? It was perplexing, how could they call it? After all, it was sustaining only thank to the rain, if there was no rain... what was special about this flow was that there was no source, only... directions, they arrived at a sort of crossing, near a clearing.
    "Alright, we would proceed with the magic stuff you won't understand at all here! So, prepare yourselves!", close to a seemingly deep flow of water and in a clearing?

    Why did it seem like a very bad position? The "rivers" are basically barrier, so if they come from the trees, they have no way out if they need to flee.

    Speaking out, Cinis began to speak.
    "Something might come out of the water and from thr forest, so we need to split, three quarters of us should be near the researchers while the rest, supposedly more skilled but more inclined toward long-ranged weapons should stay near the river, first, to warn if anything is there.", for some reasons, while he was simply an adventurer, they all acknowledged him, this odd feeling of acceptation made him reflect on last night.
    What could possible made them like this? To listen to him without complains?

    Whatever, he shall search for replies once everything is ended.

    Suddenly -
    The earth trembled, it screamed, it shouted, it irked all the creatures living in this forest. Unstable, everyone seemed to be prepared for troubles, the silence was broken, animals screams echoed.

    That was quick

    "It will take more or less a hour!"
    ...so, a hour of fighting with animals? Are you sure that's feasible? Isn't that... oh well, it's too late to back off.

    Just two minutes later, as the earth continued to tremble.
    Creatures popped out of the forests, well, monkeys, carnivorous and cannibal monkeys. As tall of any human, two or three first came, meanwhile, on the river, nothing happened.
    "Keep an eye on it. Gimme some arrows."

    Ordering them, he took out his bow and aimed at the monkeys while there was nothing in the river. Need to contribute as much as he can after all.
    A first arrow flew away from his bow and pierced an enemy's shoulder, allowing one of the knight to easily slash it. Since they had a lot of "freedom" for now, the knight took out the arrow and put it near the researchers, then, at each arrow, each of them will be stocked to be given back to the archer.

    Each of the arrow were non-lethal but contributed to the fight and the Knights could gradually get used to the monsters, to study their attitudes, their demeanour and such.
    After a half a dozen of minutes, they did not even need the help of archers to push off the monkeys.
    As for now, Cinis stopped shooting and began to observe the flow of the water more closely.

    "...that's higher.", the level of the water was higher. Like how throwing a coin in a cup will rise the level of the drink, something entered water, and that's something huge.

    "Well, that's troublesome.", after saying this, Cinis cleared his throat and shouted.
    "Prepare yourselves! Something's inside the flow!"

    ***

    Two dozens of minutes later, after a sudden surge of monsters from the forest, Cinis' attention was diverted as the tremble became stronger than ever.
    It is there, it appeared.
    A huge snake escaped the water, by huge? He meant ten meters long, fortunately, half of its body was still in the river.

    "It's there!", they were four against the snake, three knights, two specialized in long-ranged weapons and one in close-combat, and Cinis, the adventurer.
    "I will be distracting it!", with a heavy shield, one of the bodyguard approached the snake, to attract the attention and defend everyone from the strikes, everything behind them though? Would be discarded from their thoughts.

    After all, there are other bodyguards behind them, one group take care of one side and the other on another.

    Since everyone, except Cinis, used bows, they would be distracting the snake, the one on the ground will take all of its attention. First, its tail attempted to ward off the shielder, but, the strike happened to be weaker thanks to, first the arrows, and the shielder's unexpected strike.
    Quickly, after the shielder staggered, the snake attempted to bite one of the archer who avoided by rolling on the ground.

    "And shoot.", a bolt was launched and pierced below the snake's right eye, panicking due to the sudden surge of pain, the snake wriggled right and left and became unpredictable. Its tail threw the shielder and it plunged back into the water, fleeing.
    Not even a minute passed and it escaped, however, it will come back.

    After this action, humanoid aquatic monsters walked over the rivers, they were three feet tall, had a transparent yet solid body, grotesque forms, unequal proportions... they just did not seem to be natural creatures.
    Twenty of them.
    Shrieks escaped their disgusting mouths, without waiting a second, the half-elf took out his Sica and rushed toward them, due to his timely reaction, surprise spread among enemies and allies.
    Slit-throating the first one, before the monsters could react, a second time, the adventurer stabbed a second one through its eye.

    At this moment, instead of being dazed, unfathomatable screams echoed. The knights then reacted, each of them killed one, out of twenty monsters, fifteen were left.
    They are four, each of them will need to take at least three monsters.

    The shielder bashed into one monster and then his sword slashed at another one, the two other knights, using bows, did not have the time to swtich weapons, so they needed to flee after shooting an arrow, these creatures were weak, but numerous.
    Sidestepping, Cinis avoided the combined attacks of three monsters, afterwards, he rolled backward to avoided a few others hits. After avoiding a few times, he killed two of them, still through stabbing.

    A dozen of minutes later, all of these enemies were dead. it has been more than half a hour since this operation started.

    "Still twenty-thirty minutes..?", on each side, two dozens of corpses were lying on the ground... something odd was that the humanoid creatures, coming from the river, could be seen to be fading?
    The creatures disappeared... what were those? Why did it came out of the-

    A huge noise, again, erupted from the water.

    "Oh, you are back...", loading a bolt on his crossbow, the huge snake was in front of him. It did not wait this time and attempted to jump on Cinis, why? Because it noticed that this enemy noticed him, that's all.
    Aiming at the snake, he sidestepped, turned at 90° on the right and shot at the snake's eye.

    Exhaling, he prepared himself, he could not avoid the snake's panick, coming from his left, as the snake was wiggling, its tail crashed against his left shoulder.
    His bone cracked, no, it broke.
    Then, the three other knights acted out, each of them switched weapon to a longsword to stab the snake. Holding tightly on their weapon, the fact that the snake was moving while they were staing still accentuated its injuries until it found a way to flee for a second time.

    "Ouch..."
    And then, an earthquake happened. they could feel it under their feet, earth pillars seemed to rise up from the ground, however, it stopped after a minute.
    The adventurer did not move at all, he stayed down on the ground, moving when he knows nothing about what was going on was a bad idea.

    "We are finished!", hearing one of the researcher, Cinis was dazed, he did not notice a thing, except the earthquake, not- oh, so it was the earthquake.
    "Let's leave as quickly as possible, we will need to hurry!"

    ***

    Leaving the forest, Cinis heard some the knights and understood why he was welcomed and listened when he gave out orders, he had an Imperial name despite being an elf, it was as simple as this. These knights were respectful of that fact, and it made him smile.
    A certain warmth.

    "Aaaaaalright, so... I dunno how to say it but! There might be some... errr... side-effects! But we succeed, good job in protecting us!", side-effects? Uh-oh.
    At the very least, he completeed his job, being a regular bodyguard.

    "So about some strange things... the creature generated by the mix of Dark and Nature energies... these weird things who exited the water... then the snake, unexpectedly foolish, probably a very young one which growth has been accelerated due to a deregulation of the energies... and as for why it happened in the first place..."

    "Well, it's related to the Haunted Forest for sure, no matter how many times we checked while you were protecting us, there was no links at all with the Abyss or Tower of Babel, however, between the leylines of the Haunted Forest and the Cascade Forest, there is something that wasn't here before... a sort of intermediate."

    "What is the intermediate though? We could not define it, but it must be between the Haunted Forest and the Cascade Forest. Someone able to create such troubles must be proficient in magical matters."

    "...is that what we should say?"

    "..."

    "...well, we will see! Your opinions? Did it seem clear enough?"

    Then, while they speaking between each other rather loudly as if they wished to explain something, they asked the bodyguards if it seemed fine enough.
    "Yes, it was clear enough... ah, Lyra, Lyra. My work was satisfying?", while nobody replied, Cinis did and then asked something to his requester as he wanted to go back to the guild as quickly as possible.

    Hearing this while there were more important matters, Lyra could not help but burst out in laugther before replying.
    "Sure, sure! You have done a good job, you can go!"

    "Thank you, I gotta see a healer.", after tightly bandaging his left shoulder due to the broken bones, Cinis immediately left after waving at everyone, unwilling to discuss more, there were too many people, too many unfamiliar faces, he could not feel at ease with them if he had to speak.

    ***

    Seven days later, he returned to the guild, due to his shoulder, he took his time so he doesn't aggravate his own state.
    Before entering the guild, he coughed, covering his hand, he noticed... blood.

    "Oh great, I am gonna need serious healing.", especially if he begins to cough blood.

    OOC: And here goes 5-5-5K words (excluding the quotes).
    ...honestly, since I didn't know anything about Leylines, only heard vaguely about the term twice or thrice.
    I might have completely messed up with it~
    Edit 1: Added some spoilers so it's easier for you to deal with the report...
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2019
  19. Unreachable Hope

    Unreachable Hope Unspecified, Wandering and Doubtful Member

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    Why do I always forget?! @AliceShiki
     
  20. Heckaton

    Heckaton Well-Known Member

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    "I'm back. Here's my explor - ehm, quest report, Aria."
    “Huh. That’s one grand ruin, alright.”

    A week after he took the quest, Grendel is currently standing in front of a ruin’s entrance he’s supposed to investigate, located inside a cave on top of a hill in the middle of the plains between the Holy tower and the Cascade forest. The entrance itself appeared to be three stories high and made from stone, adorned with a few pillars along its surface. On its wall, numerous reliefs can be found, with the largest one being a horse, located right above the entryway. All in all, it looked like the whole thing was carved, instead of being built.

    “Damn, those are some serious work they put in! Seriously, why would someone make something like this in the middle of nowhere?” Uzuki voiced his amazement.

    “Guess that’s what we’re here to find out. Here, hold the lantern for a bit,” Grendel answered while handing Uzuki the lantern he held, before taking out a few papers Roland gave him back when they visited his place in Peonia a few days ago to ask the ruin’s exact location.

    Taking back the lantern, Grendel picked up the bag, “Alright, let’s explore this place,” before entering the ruin.

    _______________________

    Tap, tap.

    The corridors inside were as dark as it is silent, as the only signs of life come from Grendel and Uzuki (though signs of death might be more correct in his case) as they mapped the ruins while advancing. Although the entrance was rather grand, for some reason the corridors were very plain, only adorned with torch holders every now and then.

    After a lot of turns, empty small rooms, and locked doors, the two of them arrived at a large room, almost as large, if not larger than Nagrand’s market plaza. The ceiling was even taller than the entrance, with a spherical dome on the center. On the dome’s curve glittered numerous small stones, as if mimicking the night sky. Along its edges, a strange thin white rock was placed, illuminating the room along other similar rocks on the ceiling lines. In contrast to the plain corridors, this room was adorned to the brim with various murals, plaques, and frescoes, clearly showing the builder’s care towards the room.

    As their gazes descended, they saw a rectangular box sitting in the center of the room-which they quickly recognize as a coffin. On its surrounding four knight statues stood by as if they’re protecting the coffin.

    “No wonder the place was so extravagant. This is a tomb!” Grendel said in amazement as he starts checking the murals. Meanwhile, Uzuki’s eyes are still fixated on the center of the room - on the four statues, to be exact.

    “Oi, Grendel. Be careful with what you touch, and let’s not meddle with those statues. I got a bad feeling about them.”

    Hearing Uzuki’s warning, Grendel stopped for a moment, and glanced at the statues, “Did you detect any dark element from them?”

    “A little, but that’s not what worries me. It’s that they’re lingering stably around those statues, without dispersing like normal ones in the air. I think those four are most likely golems.”

    “Golems? Damn. It means this is most likely a high noble’s tomb. All right, then, I’ll be careful. Do keep an eye on them, alright?”

    “Heh. Not like I got anything better to do, anyway”

    Now continuing his observation with caution, Grendel checked each one of the murals, and copying the plaques he came across. Around an hour later, Grendel finished copying the last plaque.

    “Phew. I think that’s all. Are they still silent over there?”

    ‘Luckily, yes. If you’re finished, then let’s get out quickly. Staring at those things for an hour is tiring my eyes.

    “Agreed. I ‘m not eager to test the limit of their functions, either.”

    Turning back, the two of them left the room and started making their way out of the ruins to give the copies to Roland


    Not long after they left the room, Uzuki asked Grendel, “So, what’s the murals about? Did they tell you about this tomb?”

    “A little bit, yeah. Though any finer details would most likely inside those plaques. You interested?”

    “Speak away. Not like there’s anything else to do until we get out,” Uzuki replied

    “All right. Long story short, the one entombed there was a priestess of some sort of religion. She was a noble’s daughter before, but then chosen to be one. “

    “Chosen? By whom?”

    “Since the dress is similar to hers, I think it’s the predecessor priestess. The other priest and priestess’ dress have a simpler design, after all. Anyway, it seems she was a quite hardworking one, frequently helping people, praying for them, those kinds of things. But then, it looks like she suddenly died.”

    “Died? Why? Who built the tomb, then?”

    “I don’t know. The murals just went straight to her funeral. The one who built this apparently is her family member, or at least someone very close to her. The man frequently appears beside her, even in the murals about her nobility life.”

    “That’s quite the dedicated man. I wonder if he’s her lover?”

    “Quite possibly. Hopefully, the plaques will tell us more. Oh, that’s the exit.”
    • Found out that the ruin is actually a tomb
    • Described the murals to Roland, also handed the tomb's map and the plaques' copies to him
    • Found four golems inside the tomb, it seems like they're configured to just guard the coffin

    @AliceShiki
    ((I also got some idea to expand the ruin's lore background, if that's fine. can I pm you later?))