_____Swift crunching, rushed steps across winters fallout as the red cloaked figure transverse the forest in pursuit of her target. The faint glint of light reflecting from under her sleeves as the rustled, her daggers drawn and ready for her pray. Right hand spinning the dagger to wield backwards as she ducked down and gained speed preparing to strike. The sound of snow crunching increasing as her prey was once more in sight, the rouge goblin that escaped her group frantically scraping away from his pursuit. While taking the life of something still had weight on Kaede’s shoulders a simple ‘it’s a game’ devoid the feeling long enough to strike swiftly. _____Frames passing as Kaede quickly leaned towards her left where her prey glance back in frozen terror. Two swift motions of her arms, right gliding upward while left descended along the neck of the goblin severing his head. Kaede’s frame slamming to a halt and gliding across the snow for a few feet as her target dropped in a pool of his own blood. The red hunter rising slowly, her chest stinging as she allowed herself to breath in the missed air to focus on her pursuit, weapons slashing across the air to clear some of the blood as she rose to stand fully. ”You… Pain in the rear… I hope that hurt!.. Making me chase you this far…” _____The young mature voice cut the quiet woods as Kaede sheathed her daggers after a quick rub clean along her cloak. Hands reaching down to grab the head of the goblin while the other reached for what she could only assume was the goblin’s shirt before dragging it along in the snow back the way she had come. Grey eyes slowly easing from anger to sorrow. Taking the life now getting to her as she gazed to the clouded skies above. The falling snow slowly increasing in down fall leading anyone to assume it was going to get worse out, and much colder soon after. ”Why can’t they let you throw a corpse in your inventory in this game… it would be so much easier and less troublesome!” A grumbled complaint as the girl trotted forward.
That was intense. Even with the small boost in visual perception, his eyes had a hard time following the fight from (if you could even call it that) from start to finish. Even from this distance it was clear the woman was no amateur when it came to matters on the battlefield. Alric wasn't quite as skillful. Sure he had a sword, but his ability to handle it was average at best. Instead he chose to focus on building up other skills and it seemed his effort was paying off now. Despite the body being dragged away, the goblin's soul remained in full glory for anyone with spirit magic to see. It was probably confused more than anything else and he figured it probably had some unfinished business that could now never be resolved. As a result it was left unable to move on. What a terrible fate; doomed to haunt the same location where it was slain. It made the man almost thankful players were able to be resurrected. He'd take a death affliction over being a restless spirit any day. --- Call it curiosity, but Alric couldn't just let this slide without investigating. Killing was one thing, but to carry the corpse away somewhere afterward? What could she be doing with it? He had to know. But also didn't feel like dying if she happened to be in a poor mood. Thankfully, the snowy environment made the task much simpler. All he had to do was just follow her footsteps after she walked away. And hope she wouldn't stop for any reason of course. With any luck the man would be able to get the answers he sought and avoid direct confrontation with a potential threat at the same time.
Oblivion Witch Agatha had been out exploring the area while hoping to run into some enemies that needed destroying. Hopefully, she thought, she could run into some bandits and steal their stolen loot. Maybe even some food and a coat. Even if that wasn't going to happen, then at the very least she could run into some kind of monster. A good fight could really get the blood moving. "Damnit... I gotta learn some fire magic or something. This weather is bull and I don't have enough cash to buy a coat or anything. Whatever, If I'm the Oblivion Witch I better act like it. Just deal until you can find some bandit's and steal their fire, food, shelter, and whatever else. Survival of the fittest yada yada yada..." Basically, it was a fairly typical, although cold day and Agatha was kind of regretting tracking out in the cold and snow to screw around, when she could have just as easily been in a pub drinking cocoa and telling people how great she was. It was while she was debating on turning back towards town that she heard something. "Hmmm.... was that a shout? Sounded like it came over there. Maybe someone was attacked? If that's the case, and I save them... I can probably get a reward. Hahaheh! A reward and something to annihilate... yeah, sounds like a good deal! The Oblivion Witch cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted towards the noise. YOU HEAR ME WHOEVER YOU ARE! OBLIVION WITCH AGATHA IS COMING! IF YOU'RE A MURDERER, YOU MIGHT AS WELL SLIT YOUR OWN THROAT NOW! IF YOU'RE A VICTIM, HAVE THAT 'THANK THE HEAVENS YOU SAVED ME' REWARD READY! HAHAHEH! OFF WITH A BANG!" There, now they know I'm coming. That gives them plenty of time to kill themselves or get their rewards ready. Haha! Man, This is going to be easy! Broomstick! The broomstick that had been vertically floating behind Agatha within arms reach moved in front of her and dropped into a horizontal position. "Hehehe..." Agatha took a running start while the broom kept at a close distance. Reaching full speed, Agatha leaped into the air. "RIDE!" The broomstick positioned itself directly under Agatha as she landed on top of it. Riding atop the broom like a skateboard, Agatha maneuvered the broomstick just high enough so that her feet wouldn't drag on the ground then sat side-sadle. "Alright! Broom, let's go!" Agatha channeled more of her aeromancy into the broom. As it's speed increased a stream of thick black exhaust began extruding from the broomstick's wake. At irregular intervals, small green flashes of light sparked from within the exhaust. Traveling through the forest, Agatha eventually came upon blood splattered across the snow. "Woah!" The broomstick slowed and came to a stop. Still sitting atop the broom, Agatha noticed footprints leading away from the site. "That way it is! Man, it's too bad I can't just fly with this thing. Don't get me wrong, riding broomstick like a hover board is definitely awesome, not to mention being able to sit on this thing instead of having to walk everywhere is the bees knees, but still, flying around would be so much easier... " And again, the Oblivion Witch was off again. After traveling for a few moments, Agatha saw a figure that looked to be either stalking or creeping ahead of her. Guess that's them hahaheh... well, let's make an entrance! Extending her feet forward from her sitting position, Agatha dropped closer to the ground while boosting forward. Coming up quick on the figure, she used her broom to make a "peel-out" maneuver sliding around the figure into a position directly facing him. Now blocking the path, Agatha floated high enough to let her legs dangle. Brushing some snow off of her black pants, Agatha crossed her legs, then her arms. She grinned at the man in front of her. "So, are you the victim or the murderer? Let me know quick so I can decide what to do with ya... Hahaheh!" @Alric Stalwart @Kaede Hoshi
“Ah, shit…” He grumbled as a new woman descended in front of him. It seemed the day was destined to just keep getting stranger and following that rogue turned out to be a bad idea now that he had to deal with this. Whatever. There had to be some way out. His mind raced with ideas, but each lead to a dead end soon after being brought to the light. He considered running, but given the circumstances probably wouldn't be able to get away on foot from someone who could literally fly. Fighting was another option, but far too risky to be used as anything except a last resort. That meant he had to use reason. In other words it wouldn't have been a bad idea to just start digging his grave now. “Lady, I have no idea what you're talking about; but I was a bit busy before you showed up. I also don't want either of us to get hurt over a silly misunderstanding, so you should move now and just let me go on my way.” While he spoke Alric had slowly raised a hand up to grip the hilt of his blade. It wasn't like he was lying. He really didn't feel like fighting a random woman he had only met less than five minutes ago. It just happened to be his poor luck that he chose to go outside when all the crazy people were out. His eyes watched @Oblivion Witch Agatha carefully in an attempt to spot any quick movements. Each second wasted here meant the odds of catching up to the other woman would become slimmer and slimmer. Hopefully his words had reached her though and he'd be able to release the tension coursing through his muscles.
Did... he just call me "lady"? Agatha smiled warmly at Alric, held out in her hand, and lifted her pointer finger as if pointing upwards. Then in a soft voice... "Arcane cutter." Still facing @Alric Stalwart the Oblivion Witch swiped her finger to the right as a narrow beam of blue and purple energy shot out of her finger cutting cleanly through two trees. "I am Oblivion Witch Agatha, not 'lady'. And honestly, I couldn't give less a shit what you were busy with before I showed up. Unless of course, it was murder. Agatha lowered her finger and lazily reclined on her broom. "So get this, here I am out exploring, enjoying my day, when I hear some shouting. Typically, I could care less but then it hits me, what if someone's getting attacked? Well naturally, if the person getting attacked is then saved that person would often give their rescuer a reward right? So there I was thinking, 'Well if I go help this person, at the very least I'm going to loot the attacker's corpse, and probably get a reward on top of that.' Sounds pretty good right? So I haul ass this way and what do I stumble upon but blood splatters in the snow... and no body. So where did the body go? I don't know? It's a mystery! But then I see tracks. I follow the tracks and who do I find, but you." Sitting up, Agatha rested her head on her palm atop her knee. "Now then, I told my story now how about you tell me yours? That way, we can get this whooooole misunderstanding cleared up." @Kaede Hoshi
The snow underneath Celestine’s boots crunched softly as she took each step. Pulling her dark coat closer to her - as if the fur inside might help bring her more warmth - she realized the fatal flaw of this particular coat. “It is goodness that hood is great warmth… but it is hard hearing with the ears of mine pressed down,” she murmured quietly to herself, trudging along step after step. The top of her hood featured two, very obvious, round bulges where her triangular cat ears stuck out. Unlike most Felis-minded coat hoods, this one obviously wasn’t very accommodating of this racial feature. “I do the wondering if there is persons who can swap for a cat clothing,” she pondered, trekking along through the snow. “But this is great warms, and the snuggleness is of heaven, so maybe it is worth the keeps.” Almost downright hugging herself, Celestine rubbed the sleeves of the coat closer to her skin, wearing a silly, grin as the soft and fluffy inside offered her a cozy sensation. Even as the snow began to fall thicker, she was largely unphased. “Hm…?” Slowly, Celestine began to catch an unusual sight with her eyes. In the sea of whiteness, another color was growing closer: red. It was a fairly bright red, and it stood out like a mark of paint on a blank canvas. “Delights! It is been too many times since I have seen the persons,” she remarked to herself, changing course to meet up with the distant figure. “I will speak a hello.” Before she’d closed much of the distance, Celestine immediately noticed another few shapes which looked off. As the two of them finally drew close enough to hear each other, it finally became clear what those shapes were. “Eww,” Celestine remarked, turning up her nose at the decapitated head and matching corpse. It was one thing to slay monsters and the like, by to carry them along was another thing. Maybe she was going to go cook it for some weird kinda meaty meal? “I was coming here to say my hi,” Celestine explained to the red-cloaked girl dragging along her corpse. “I did not do a realization that this can be a bad time for my hi. Err…” she stalled, glancing over at the lady from under her hood. The young woman looked a bit upset over something, and - noticing this - Celestine returned her a gentle look. “Can I do an asking about the um…” she paused to search her mind for a way to describe it, “head of a dead you have there?” @Kaede Hoshi
Okay. So she actually was crazy. But at least he was still alive. For now anyway. Terrasphere really was home for a bunch of eccentric types and this 'Grand Witch Agatha’ woman was no exception. Still, he listened as she droned on about the events that lead her here in hopes of finding any clues regarding the murder she mentioned. Then it dawned on him. There was a way to get out of this after all. “Sorry. Had I known I was talking to the great Oblivion Witch Agatha I would have addressed you as such... But as you can see, I'm not a corpse and I'm also not carrying one with me either. Our goals may be more aligned than you think though. If you saw my tracks then you should have noticed that there was actually a second set leading away from that spot as well. I ended up here because I was following them to find the murderer.” So far so good. Nothing he said had been a lie till this point. He conveniently forgot to mention it was just a goblin who was slain, but figured it was better that way. The odds were divulging information like that after his previous explanation would only make him seem more suspicious to the Oblivion Witch. Why would anyone willingly waste their time trying to find someone for killing a goblin? Agatha would probably just think he was trying to hog the rewards she mentioned for himself and as a result use her magic to put more holes in him than a slice of Swiss cheese. “You know, there's probably still time to catch up to whoever did this. The snow hasn't covered their tracks yet. I see you're strong… But do you wanna fight a killer by yourself? You should bring me with you! I’m decent in a fight and I don't need a cut of your rewards. I was just curious about the person’s motive. So what do you think?” @Oblivion Witch Agatha
Seriously? He's not the murderer? You can't be serious... who the hell else would be out here? He doesn't look like he was hunting? Maybe a bandit or something? But then wouldn't he have just attacked me out of the blue? Well, I guess I didn't give him much of an opportunity to do that. Haha, that was a pretty cool entrance! Well, looking at him now, I don't see any blood on him... so, he could be telling the truth? There are another set of tracks... "Ughhhhh..." groaned Agatha. "I thought for sure you would try and stab me or something, then I could bring in your leg or another part of you to the authorities for a reward... and now I have to keep going deeper into the woods. Today's getting more annoying by the second. Whatever, fine. I already came this far, I'm already out here, might as well just see this through. So help me God, all that's going to be left of the bastard that's making me trek all the way out here is a finger for me to take into the authorities." I guess I'll just stow asking him why he was out here in the first place until after we catch the murderer. So help me, if he the actual murderer, or some jackass bandit trying to get the jump on me, I'm going to hang his skull from the top of Broom. The Oblivion Witch brushed some snow off her hat and started to follow the other set of tracks. She stopped and turned back to @Alric Stalwart "Well?! What are you waiting for?! Hustle up! Let's goooo! The broomstick is a single seater, so you're not getting a ride. Unless you want me to drag you from the back of it? I doubt that would be very comfortable though. Now put a jog on, we got a murderer to catch and you're leading the way!"
_____Kaede was not expecting to meet someone else out here, to be honest it was one of the reasons she picked here to begin with but seems no matter the fates she was drawn to others or them to her. As the other girl, by the tone of voice approach Kaede took a shallow breath and tried to smile, although under the effects of her mood and the temperature caused her smile to look slightly twisted and annoyed as the cold nipped at her nose and hands she forgot to glove before leaving. Listening to the girl drew a shallow heartfelt laugh, English was hard to learn and hearing someone else butcher it like she once did was soothing and a relatable thing they both shared, a plus when dealing with someone annoyed to calm them down. _____Moving to set the parts of the goblin down before raising her hands to show she was not trying to do anything wrong before moving them behind her back so she could relax. Looking over the girl quickly gave Kaede a rough idea what race she was, not to mention the accent, although she could not pin the origin it was clear they both found the game from outside the states. ”If you must know…” Kaede cough, her accent showing in the first part of her reply before she resumed speaking as clearly as she could. ”About seven klicks due south of here is a town that this guy and his group had been raiding. Since I go there to sell things I’ve gather that I don’t need. When I got there they asked me to hunt them down, so I’m bringing proof that I found them and took care of things for them so things go back to normal.” _____Kaede would reach back down to pick up her slain foe and resume dragging it across the snow towards the town. She had some distance to cover and to be honest, anyone who wanted to talk with her could do so while they walked. There was also the glaring fact, or rather sound of a falling trees that had Kaede in the mindset to keep moving. @Celestine
The tension Celestine felt dispersed the moment the girl in the red cloak laughed. Laughing was nice. It was hard to be scared of someone who had a sweet laugh like that, even if they were literally dragging around a lifeless corpse. Celestine returned a warm smile of her own, though she seemed unsure what was so funny. It was probably her speech, but it also could’ve been this darn hood. Celestine relaxed even further as the stranger dropped the corpse and took a friendly stance with her hands. She wasn’t particularly worried in the first place: after all, she had yet to meet any real murderers. It seemed like going around killing people could easily give one a bad rep if they weren’t careful. Celestine’s eyes appeared to twinkle a bit as she detected a faint Japanese accent. It was one of her favorites, even if she hadn’t the slightest idea how to speak it. Shame she dropped the accent so quickly, she could’ve had some fun with it. “I was of thinking that ‘clicks’ were the soundings of a pen,” Celestine questioned? This time she was legitimately confused. “I did not know it also does the units of distance.” She shook her head, dismissing the topic. Following along beside the stranger, Celestine finally admitted something… “I am actually lost. Astorea is of great bigness, and everything is white, so I can not find the south in all this north, east, and west.” She paused a moment to scratch her head awkwardly through the hood. “But that is the great kindness of yours,” she complimented, glancing at the corpse. As the gruesome sight stared back, she rethought the idea, “Well… so I think. Anyway, I’m Celestine, and I will be doing the following of you because you are looking like you can find the south.” As the sound of a tree crashing down to the snowy ground reached her ears, Celestine whirled around to find the source. Nothing was immediately visible, aside from a very distant puff of snow, presumably from the heavy object smacking the ground. She turned back and began to walk a bit faster, urging the stranger to follow suit. “So umm… your dead you are doing the carrying of… did it have the allies? Any of the big and scary kinds of allies?” @Kaede Hoshi
”Sorry, klicks was something my father taught me, it’s a shorter way of saying kilometers, seven of them is roughly four maybe five miles give or take…” Kaede would scratch her head with the back of her hand holding the goblin’s head for a few moments as the gears turned, math was something she could do if she slowed down to think but at the moment she had to do such on the move. ”If we wanted to make it to town within the next three hours we would need to take roughly two steps a second… I’m not sure my math is fully correct though.” Kaede turned slightly to shrugs her shoulders as she kept walking. ”Most times if you want to find your direction… try to see where the sun is shining, if it is early the sun will be at east, if it’s late the west. From that just remember N.E.S.W. Never eat soggy waffles… north, east, south, west.” Kaede would blush lightly, that was the only way she could remember something important by hearing it said in such a silly way. ”I’m Kaede, most people just call me the ‘red cloak huntress of the white mountains’ though… Not exactly someone who talks much to people sadly ha-ha.” _____Kaede would wave the head slightly to try and show her dismissing any further talk about the name she was given. She did not like to talk much and there was only so much talking she would do with those she slightly trusted like Celestine. What could be noticed however was Kaede’s growing focus on glancing behind them, something did not feel right and as long as Kaede held onto the corpse she would be slowed down, not to mention she did not know if Celestine could escape should something happen. ”Up ahead there should be a small cave, by the looks of things this snow storm is going to make traveling to village in one go almost impossible, not to mention if we make it there fast enough whatever seems to be on our tail might pass us by or give us the jump over them.” @Celestine | @Alric Stalwart | @Oblivion Witch Agatha
“Oh, okay,” Celestine nodded in understanding to the girl with the red cloak. “I can do the understanding of kilometers.” She followed along with the other girl’s math in her own head. It was difficult, considering the two of them were of different heights, and probably took very differently spaced steps. In the end, Celestine just gave up and took her word for it, “That is of a great distance to be doing the traveling in this weather of great coldness.” She casually opened her palm menu to peek at her temperature meter, which looked relatively fine for the time being but was definitely dropping over time. As the girl went into detail about how to tell the direction from the sun, she marveled at the knowledge. She’d never actually seen someone in real life who knew how to navigate that way, mostly because in real life people had maps, satellites, and other such aids to help them out. Perhaps this sort of knowledge was more commonplace here. EIther way, Cel couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at her silly way of remembering. “I do not know: I am thinking the waffles of sogginess are the best of taste,” she argued, knowing full well that wasn’t the point. “But it is a good advice, so thank you for telling me of the soggy waffles.” She paused and then introduced herself, “I am Celestine. Most of the people just call me… umm… Celestine. Or Cel... I guess.” She looked a little distressed at the lack of any cool nickname like Kaede, but shrugged it off. As Kaede mentioned the cave, Celestine considered the idea of parting ways. This sounded like a nice enough girl, and a traveling companion was always nice, but three hours seemed like a lot of travel time just to get to a town. Surely there must be another one closer in another direction? Unfortunately, she couldn’t deny the fact that she was lost, and even if she was five minutes from a town, chances are she’d pass it right by. “Okay then,” Cel finally agreed, following alongside Kaede. “I will continue to be doing the following of you then. I hope I am not being of trouble for you with my following, but even with the soggy waffles, I am still of lost.” She gazed up to peek at the sun, which barely shone through all the white. She still hadn’t the foggiest clue where anything was in this world, so it didn’t make much of a difference. “Please do the sharing of the cave with me?” @Kaede Hoshi
”Better to camp with others then alone.” _____Kaede would smile happily before going some distance into the cave and going over her UI to get out some spare wood and stones to start making a fire. As she was getting ready to spark it however deeper into the cave seemed to growl before loud stomping approached them. Kaede seemed to ignore it as she resumed her focus on starting the fire and the sounds got closer. After several attempts Kaede got the fire going and soon after tackled by a small wolf who started licking Kaede to make her laugh. ”So that is where you went you little troublemaker! You and your caves i swear one of these times i might leave you behind if you run off like that.” _____Kaede would slowly push the young wolf off her frame and work to keep the small embers burning to ignite the fire. The wolf soon turning his focus to Celestine and rushing over to sit in front of her wagging his tail happily. Kaede shaking her head slightly before addressing the situation. Celestine meet Tsuki-Yomi, sadly he won’t leave you alone until you pet him, and if you don’t he will try to tackle you to get your attention, that or you have food and he wants some… You don’t have to feed him though, he eats enough already.” Kaede spoke with a smile, to be honest most people Tsuki-Yomi encountered he disliked, but chalking it down to half animal race Kaede let it slide. _____Once the fire was decent sized Kaede moved away to dry the sweat from her face from staying close to the heat. Arms stretching up as she leaned back to sit and relax in the cave. If Celestine did pet Tsuki-Yomi he would soon rush over to Kaede’s side unless he was pet behind the ear prompting him to roll around happily and bark lightly before returning to his master. Kaede calmly reaching to pet him as she watched the growing intensity of the storm outside and tossed another small log towards the fire. @Celestine
“I was doing the same thinkings,” Celestine agreed, as Kaede accepted her questionable offer of companionship. As Celestine wandered behind the girl in the red cloak, she gave an unrestful glance at the darker interior of the cave. She didn’t seem to have any problems where she was since plenty of light was bouncing in from all the white snow. It was the deeper part she couldn’t stop glancing at nervously. That dark, unknown part that light could not hit. She squinted and was just barely able to make out the form of Kaede as she prepared a warm fire. “Oh, good. I can be doing the entering of the cave if there is a light,” she called from the awkwardly long distance, as she continued to hang around the outer part. Once a spark of light finally began to illuminate the deep dark, she slowly inched her way inside, only to notice the mysterious growling sound. Celly immediately fell into a battle-ready position and started muttering some sort of spell incantation, but paused once she realized something: Kaede was… laughing? “Oh, I see,” Cel sighed, relaxing and returning to a more casual pose. Once the little wolf came up to her side and sat there was an expectant little tag waggle, a high-pitched little whining sound came from their direction. At first, Kaede might’ve thought it was Tsuki-Yomi, but it grew even louder as Celestine started running in place with a stupid smile on her face. “Cuuuuuuuute,” she finally shouted, unleashing the build up energy and almost downright tackling the wolf with a hug. She pet him, both with her hands and her cheek, rubbing it up and down the side of the wolf’s head. “Who is saying the cat and the dog can not be doing the getting along? We are doing the getting along just fine,” she hummed to the wolf in something that resembled baby-talk. It took a good long moment for Celly to finally release the wolf from her grasp. She breathed heavily, trying to calm down from the massive burst of energy she’d just released with her little cuddle-fest. Fireplaces: those were good for calming down. Straightening her coat, Celestine calmly walked up to the fire and sat down beside it, feeling the delightful warmth. “Sorry. I can be of great excitement when I see the cuteness,” she explained to Kaede, staring at Tsuki-Yomi with the same silly grin she had before. @Kaede Hoshi
So this was a thing that was happening now. Somehow his peaceful stroll through the wilderness had turned into a manhunt alongside an actual witch. This world would never ceases to amaze him, but Alric would likely need a few days off from the game after this adventure was over. All he could do was shrug in response to Agatha's ramblings before taking the lead as instructed. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, this was just a game after all. He wasn't about to break a sweat while she sat comfortably on a broom though. He walked at a steady pace, occasionally looking back to make sure she was still there. “So… What's your deal? You only wanna find the killer so you'll get rewarded? Not that it would necessarily be a bad thing.” @Grand Witch Majolica --- (OOC: Really short post but I don't wanna hold this up any longer lol)
