The Most Pious

Dungeon Master

It had been a peculiar day for the newbies to Terrasphere, regardless of how they'd acclimated to the game, they'd all recognize the job posting from a local group and follow along to see the job done as well as they can. The job was for an fighting arena, a coliseum as some might call it but it's scale was in no way as grand. A place for people to fight and test their mettle against one another. Some sold themselves into bondage for a better life, while others purely fought for their own amusement or profit; it was a very flexible and upstanding establishment that even allowed slaves to fight for their freedom after purchasing them from higher authorities and nobles. The job listing was to try and capture one such slave who was originally supposed to be fighting for freedom against competitors.

The one leading them to the job site was a large muscular man, burly in his statue, he sported a beard and his top half was exposed showing rippling muscle. It was clear he had once been a fighter himself from the scars on his body, as they walked towards the place it all happened, he tried to explain the details to them as well as he could with his fierce accent and uneducated vocabulary. "It's like this see, we take in fighters from all around and put them in these little rooms. Then, when the time comes to brawl, we open the doors and let them have at it in the arena. This one bloke though-- He just ain't following the rules. Broke right out of the place with some weird ability we never seen before and ran off." The man spoke bringing them around the back to where the people were kept. Some rooms were rather nice, with blankets and fine furnishings, the doors even left open. Others were clearly for slaves though, locked tight with the bare necessities only.

"Now, it ain't such a big deal, we all been there in this place, fighting for life's hard stuff but we all paid our dues. This bloke's gotta come back and pay his too. Our boss got some 'fancy professional' with all the bells and whistles and what have you, but I ain't got faith in the guy-- Too vicious, too cruel, I much rather have me some right adventurers who know the good from the bad to do the job then some guy who'll take it so far." The man spoke rubbing his head as he gestured towards a particular room, they'd be able to see the door was already open, clearly by the key, left that way from a search no doubt. The back of the cell however had been blown open as if a wrecking ball had smashed through it, but the rubble was all on the outside suggesting it had been forced open from within. "I tell you, I don't know how the bloke did it, but if you gots questions, I'll answer them however I can eh?" He spoke rubbing his head.

OOC:


@Aeiou @Megan Tritor @Ju Huan-Xiang

 

Megan let out a small cackle, her thin frame rocking in the effort. It only made sense that such mortal fools would reach out to the one blessed by the sixth star. It hadn't surprised her to learn the true form of his building. Man was such a needing creature, after all, it only made sense that his mind would sink to this debauchery. Still she was relieved their task was not to fight here, rather capture an escaped convict. It had seemed one of their fighting slaves had grown bored of his torment and had fled from his prison of blood. Their hope in finding the villainous escapee without her was minuscule at best. Still upon gazing at the hole the ex-prisoner had left in the wall, Megan’s knees buckled in fear, as her entire body shook. She tried unsuccessfully to push the fear aside as she gazed at the man with wide eyes. His body was massive, yet lithe giving even an inexperienced fighter like Megan a sense of his martial presence. Even though he did not say so, it was clear he was once a fighter in this wretched den of excess.


As the man spoke, Megan managed to control her trembling. It was unbecoming of a dark witch as herself, after all, and the man actually seemed rather nice surprisingly or not. In fact, had she not known better she would easily mistake him for a seller of melons. Well if the melons had grown knives and attacked him as he harvested them, but a melon seller all the same. Yes, this was a man that Megan didn’t need to fear at all. “Human!” she blurted out after his brief dialogue had finished, “You send us on a fool’s errand! How are we to know the slave when we find him, if you don’t tell us more about his aura! Is it dark with grandiose malice, or pathetically pale like those who plow the fields? Do they subscribe to a sign of the gods, do they know the power of darkness, or have they succumbed to the light? ” She was really getting good at speaking like a proper dark witch! Megan couldn’t help but try and stifle her ever growing smile, “By what means will you give us to accomplish such a task!” Her eyes turned, again to the hole in the wall instantly draining her confidence, “…and… is he really that…strong?” she had seemingly already forgotten about the other hunter that had been hired. Hopefully he wouldn’t prove to be a bigger obstacle than their quarry itself.

 

Of all the places to start a quest for a new adventurer, an arena wasn’t one that came immediately to mind. At first sight, Aeiou gulped — surely this man leading them through the large stone arches wasn’t expecting a fight? The team itself was rather small in stature, and while Aeiou was sure each could prove themselves, he wasn’t sure if this was the place to do it. He couldn’t help but give a small sigh of relief when they walked past the hall leading to the sparring stage, instead steering towards another corridor and leaving the blood-soaked sands behind.

Room upon room passed by, and peering inside one could see how some wouldn’t mind the life of a gladiator. The others, well, one could see why it might be a life to leave behind. The room they were brought to made it quite clear that whoever they were tracking wanted this life far, far behind. As the party stepped into the room, Aeiou was met with a block of text hovering in front of him. Eyes darted over it all quickly before he directed it off, only to be met with another block of text, this time from a player. Hoo, boy. This was going to be a test in speed-reading for the support, no doubt. He left these text blocks hovering to the side to refer back to as he stepped into the room and over to the gaping hole. His feet scuffled in the rubble and his brow furrowed. Some "strange ability", no doubt. Perhaps magic. Aeiou glanced up at his fellow adventurers.

Aeiou

Neither of you happened to pick up Jinn's Eye from the Welcome Kit, did you? Would be real clutch right now.

 

OOC: I have received an OOC message from Luca asking for a Brief extension, out of consideration for the previous event's passing and possible life issues interfering I'll allow 24 hours for her next post. If there is no post in the next 24 hours, for the sake of carrying on the quest we will have to skip for now but she will be free to join when possible in the future. @Luca @Megan Tritor @Aeiou

 

“Gobbu, I do hope you’re leading me to the right place...” Huan-Xiang muttered under her breath. Following the greenish creature along. Her clear blue eyes scanned her surroundings as it changed from a busy market to an arena.

Ju remained quiet for the most part, even after she met with the other party members and the man responsible for filling them in the information necessary to follow through the job. As she listened to the man and observed her surroundings Ju furrowed her brows for a moment. For the most part, Huang-Xiang was an individual that tried to remain in neutral ground as much as possible, though wasted potential was always something she couldn’t help but step in. Uncertainty began settling in when she realized even among “slaves”, there were fairly different life standards.

At this point, Ju dismissed her gold goblin back home. Leaving her tiny green companion around places like these was a risk she did not want to try. When the man finally introduced the party to the root cause of the problem her instincts screamed at her telling that this was the result of magic casting. For a moment the grappler shook her head in an attempt to set that thought back for now. When @Megan Tritor voiced her concerns, the pink haired lass took liberty in going ahead and analyzing the situation inside the room. The way the room bent outwards heavily suggested that whatever happened in it, the forced used to break it came from inside.

Ju returned with her arms crossed, just as Megan finished talking and the man rubbed his head explaining that he had no idea how it all happened. “First, I'm going to suggest you don't trust every adventurer like that. Second...Did that 'professional' check the cell already? Or is it open because someone that works here checked the room before us?” She walked slowly towards the party, turning to the man once she stood beside @Aeiou and Megan. “Also, I may not agree with the way the little witch talks, but she raises a good point. How does that slave look like? Did anyone hear anything when the slave escaped the room?”

In response to Aeiou, Ju slowly shook her head in denial. “Sorry. Mine is that super-not-so-useful goblin I dispatched a few minutes ago.”

 

The man seemed to hesitate briefly, as if overloading from the questions before a hearty laugh finally came out. His big bear like hand gave Megan a rough pat on the back that might threaten to shove her down. "HAHA! He ain't hard to find, that bloke's got ears the size of my Johnson-- Freakish otherworldly ears." The man laughed as he proudly proclaimed the intensity of his own manhood. "The boy's got a way with some magic tho, we didn't think he'd do this seeing as he only knows healing magic-- really, I dunno what he did to make this happen at all, it doesn't make sense." The man gave a vague shrug explaining that the slave studied illumancy, the person themselves was an elf, thus extremely noticeable in a crowd because of their ears, but he also went to explain that the man had arm and legs were metal plated while wearing strangely light armor in other places.

"As for the pro-fella, well, he swung by here earlier, right now he's probably out around back snooping around. A broody fellow he is though, I seen a lot of tough fighters in my day but he wasn't like them, was real weird like-- walked and talked all human but you could see it in his eyes the 'human' wasn't there no more." The man confessed, it was clear he didn't want to put much faith in that kind of professional which was why he was looking for adventurers. "IF you guys got no more questions though, I'll make with the introductions all quick like and send you on your way?"

 

"A jinn's eye?" Megan asked clearly unsure of the question. She hadn't heard of a new player's welcome kit. She hadn't been offered anything when she had first created. As she was lost in thought, the man moved forward slapping her on her back. Megan scowled at the ugly man as his large hand landed on her, thrusting her forward with a pat. She nearly lost her balance, swinging her staff wildly before bringing it back under control. Rather than voice a complaint she shot icy glares in his direction, mumbling a nonsensical spell under her breath. That aside it seemed the group had their answer, they were after an elf, which was apparently rare in this land. Odd considering this game is a fantasy game, but nonetheless that made it easy. "Metal arms and legs? So we're dealing with a cyborg?" Megan asked out loud with great excitement easily forgetting the earlier assault. "Oh and he's a magician! I shall dub him the full metal mage!" Megan beamed as she began to prance around the ruined jail cell.

The man went on and continued explaining the other guy, some player with inhuman eyes. Likely this would have interested her if it wasn't for the previous information. For now, she was solely focused on finding the cyborg. Finally, the man finished his long winded explanation, pointedly ignoring all questions regarding their auras. Megan supposed the man was simply mundane; it was foolish to assume otherwise. Megan clutched her hat tightly as she speedily tried to push past the brute. The time for questions was over, it was time to start the investigation! She hadn't seemed to realize that they likely needed to talk with the other hunter first... and if it could be avoided she'd do so.

 

@Stella @Aeiou I've yet to receive a post from either of you yet, do please try to post within the next 24 hours or I may have to skip you this cycle.

 

(OOC: Changes have been made to this character, but please consider her the same Ju from the first time I posted in this thread. Thank you.)​

Ju’s eyes narrowed as the man laughed at questions brought up by the party. Shortly after, she sighed in disappointment after hearing the man’s response. As she imagined the slave escaped through the use of magic, and that was something outside of her specialization. Ju spoke up when Megan retorted a question about the name of the event item that Aeiou talked about.

“It’s an item given to those who logged in the first day. I think it… Tracks magic? Sorry, I’m not very knowledgeable about the whole magic thing.” She pointed at Aeiou’s hat with her right thumb “I think that hat is one of them. Mine was that goblin.”

She ignored the man’s attempt at upping his own ego while pondering for a moment over the fact that the slave that escaped the cell was an elf. So elfs existed in this world, but if most slaves actually fought their way to freedom, why did this particular one want to escape? Maybe the elf had help from outside. She heard the bearded man continue on, giving more details on it’s appearance and the fact that the slave could use healing magic. Ju heard that supportive magic could be used in offensive spells, but her knowledge about the magic subject wasn’t the best in the party. She rubbed her temples for a moment annoyed at the fact that she could not come to a conclusion by herself. The words used by the man to describe the professional did not send her any positive vibes either; her hope was that everything would work well with her party.

When the man offered to move on, she agreed. “Sure thing. The longer we take, the harder it’ll be to track that elf.” Her opinions on the matter, however, were mixed. Ju was not in favor of slavery, but when a kingdom as large as Falderen employed the use of it, opposing it was a hard task to simply believe one could acocmplish it in a quest. Regardless of where the man led them to start their quest, Ju spoke up to the party.

“So, what are you both good at? I’m a bit of a brute and don’t have much grasp in magic.” Normally, she would not reveal information about her fighting qualities. But given the quest situation, building trust between them for now was a proper step, at least on her mind. “ I use body combat to kick and wrestle things, Berserk for going angry, and Guard to defend myself. A bit plain but it works. What about you two?”

 

To pay dues in an arena was not a life Aeiou would have expected in Terrasphere, but it was quickly becoming more and more clear that this world was dark, and hard. One look at the guard and you could see that many inhabitants learned to take a beating in order to stay alive. But if that was to be expected, and if these dwellers understood that, there had to have been something to make their target bolt the way he did.

Especially one that turned out to be a fellow practitioner of Illumancy. Aeiou furrowed his brow as that information popped up. For someone to bust open this wall, it had to be forceful. While he was only just trained in Illumancy, Aeiou wasn’t sure if even a high-level buff would be able to let you punch through stone. But, the elf also happened to be wearing metal greaves and boots. Another thing not-too-common amongst mages. There was something about this that didn’t add up to Aeiou, but he would let these thoughts percolate. More information was needed, certainly, as this room seemed almost barren.

Just in case, Aeiou opened his palm menu and turned on Investigation Mode, suddenly the room was highlighted with the rudimentary basics. He let his eyes run a quick scan of the room before saying, ”With dues to be paid, maybe he was skimping? Have other … uh, fighters done this before? Any guards stationed that would keep something like this form happening on a regular basis?”

It seemed that the only person that would have more answers was this … “professional.” But if a burly man like their current guide was uneasy, Aeiou didn’t know what to think of meeting the professional. But it was the only other way they had to turn. Aeiou gave a curt nod in agreement as the rest of his party urged to press onward to meet with this other tracker. He stepped in behind Ju (@Stella ) as @Megan Tritor tried to bounce her way past the guard and out of the room. As they began to exit out of the room, Aeiou gave it one more glance over before another text box from Ju appeared. She was curious about what they could do. Aeiou gave an uneasy glance towards the guard before swirling his hand up and in front of him, producing a welcoming, beating orb of healing light in front of them. He still carried his starting halberd on his back, but hopefully his hesitation to pull it out proved that when worse came to worse, he would be in the back to assure your ass was covered and patched up before he was in the middle of the fray. The illumancy in his hand dissipated and he gave a small smile. Support in and out of the fight, it seemed.

 

Dungeon Master

The burly muscular man only gave a vague shrug, the talk of 'logging in' made him furrow a brow, scratching his head in confusion. "Eh? Like at an inn? Is it some kinda fancy prize for customers or something?" He asked Ju who mentioned the beginner's prize, oblivious to the reality outside of the game, merely trying to make sense of a foreign word with what he knew and context clues. Rather then dwell on it though he tried to move past the confusion but it took him a moment to gather what he knew. "Aright aright, If you just head out that way you'll catch him eventually I suppose, the expert's out that way to." The man spoke gesturing to the hole in the wall, ushering the group through the best he could.

Naturally aeiou's investigation mode provided minimalistic results. There wasn't anything particularly relevant outside of a few scorch marks here or there, evidence of Illumancy as well, but as a practicing individual themselves, it was clear illumancy wouldn't really be able to do this making the information that much more puzzling. "This's the guy." The Burly man would explain suddenly gesturing to a man covered from head to toe in thick armor. Not one scrap of skin or flesh could be seen, the expert was armed to the teeth with thick plate and weaponry lining his back. He had been crouching around nearby the wreckage, looking at a puddle in some dirt when the burly man approached to introduce him.

He was a slave hunter but seemed to have no name to give, as if he was raised from childhood simply to hunt. His words curt and rude, he sneered seeing the collective group, giving them a simple once over before his harsh voice could be heard through his expensive face plate. "Mph, a bunch of children still wet behind the ears. They practically smell like milk still." He snorted with disdain, his actions clearly unbecoming but he didn't seem to care, as if he held himself up five levels higher then the others. The burly man also seemed to snort and turn away from the expert, the pair mixing like oil and fire waiting to spark off in an argument. Rather then engaging though the muscular gentleman only exhaled a frustrated sigh turning to the group of newbies with a hopeful but dimwitted expression. "Well, I do hope it all works out in anycase. If you find the bloke, bring him back here to serve the rest of his time aright?" He asked with a smile, trying to send them on their way to hunt for the elf man himself, the trek taking them particularly deep into the town's slums where the poor lived.

OOC: Note: From this point forward, please roll me 1d100s with every post, when necessary additional modifiers you should use will be added in my posts below. The dice code is [dice*]1d100[/dice*] without the asterisks.

Additional Modifiers:

• None

 

Jostled out of the slave’s room, Aeiou couldn’t help but let his gaze stay glued on the scorch marks for as long as possible. That was odd … perhaps they came from some other magic, or a makeshift explosive. Aeiou opened his mouth as if to speak up about it, but he was hustled out through the hole in the wall before the words even came to him. Instead, his teeth bit into his lip to work out his frustration. It appeared as if that was the last of the room they would see. Even still, Aeiou couldn’t help but try and get one more glance over his shoulder before his attention was brought to the fellow hunter. Aeiou wasn’t expecting to see anyone bigger than their arena host. He didn’t think anyone could get any bigger. But as the slave hunter stretched to his full height, the small faerie was quickly shown that he had been wrong. The hunter was massive, fully-armed, and not too excited to see the band of ragtag adventurers. Not to say Aeiou couldn’t blame him though — it only took a glance at @Megan, Ju (@Stella), and himself to feel a tiny bit doubtful that they could compete with a hunter such as this. Nevertheless, they would have to.

As the hunter spoke down to them (literally and metaphorically), Aeiou sent his eyes down to the ground in shame. He caught sight of the puddle the hunter looked at before, keeping his Investigation Mode on to see if it couldn’t help him discern what the liquid was. The exchange between their guide and the hunter caught his attention, as it seemed that their guide was leaving them. Aeiou looked between the guide and the hunter and couldn’t help but give a small whimper as their guide ushered them off.

”Guess we’re rolling with the big guy.” He said, making sure to avoid direct eye contact with the hunter … if those were his eyes. The heavy plate armor made it a little tricky to tell. He took a wide path around the hunter and looked down the way towards the town slums. The target would hopefully be there … the last thing Aeiou wanted was to disappoint their new acquaintance even further. Aeiou would hover on the outskirts of the group for now, still giving the hunter a wide birth and instead letting his two comrades have their turn with trying to measure up to the hunter’s lofty expectations.

Thrown die:

53

 

Megan looked at the group of people before her as the seemingly froze in time, sure she herself had been frozen, but after a good shake of her head, she had come free. What had happened to this place? What was going on? "Oooooooie," She whined clearly confused, "Why isn't anyone moving?" Her answer was returned with nothingness as Stella faded away from the world in a sudden fashion. Wide-eyed Megan took a step back, clutching her trusty rotten staff close to her chest, "This isn't funny guys, stop it." As she said it the ugly man disappeared as well, melding into the shadows, all that was left was Megan and the one named Aeiou. She couldn't tell whether or not he was affected by the witchcraft, but she didn't want to stay and figure it out. "Come to me, the spirit of water, Shiva, builder of ice, protect me from the delivsh delights that plague this world, and deliver me to safety!" As she spoke a small shimmer of blue ice began to form in a bubble around her before seemingly solidifying in the solid air, while it rotated around Megan in a pattern only magic could create. Inhaling sharply the young girl burst forth to the exit, planning to leave this place and never think about it again.

-exiting thread-

 

Congratulations!

Thread Completed

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