"Well this is at the very least going to be entertaining." Roland mused as he listened to the female NPC describe the quest. It was clearly a shout out to a collection of old t.v. series from prior to the new millennium, it seemed at least one of the programmers of this game were into vintage offerings. That said it bothered Roland slightly, as every quest until now had been clearly unscripted as the game used a dynamic questing engine that automatically produced quests based on the NPC's needs, this however had the feel of being a crafted homage to the tales of yesteryear. This fact made Roland hopeful that there may be some kind of extra reward beyond the normal gold, and master points. Roland found he had stopped listening to the woman in front of him as he pondered this and redoubled his attention to her. She was an older women possibly in her late forties, apparently she was the parent of the so called 'red ranger' Jason, and was concerned about his well being. "So what exactly are these ranger powers?" Roland asked interrupting her with a smile. "Well", she replied, "To be honest it started out as a game of make believe we encouraged Jason and his friends in. They'd dress up and run around the nearby woods hitting each other with sticks. Over the years their games became more and more elaborate until at some point they began to believe they had special abilities..." She trailed off as she looked to the other adults gathered there. They were the parents of the other kids, and nodded at Jason's mothers explanation. "I have a feeling we aren't getting the full picture here." Roland thought to himself as he watched the group of parents shuffle in place. He had learned there were five kids total, aged from 10-14, a pink ranger Kimberly, a red ranger Jason, a green ranger Tommy, a blue ranger Billy, and a yellow ranger named Trini. This game they had been playing had lasted a little over five years, and they had recently been talking about some new boss type creature that had appeared in the woods nearby. According to Jason's mother they had asked permission to group up and going on an overnight adventure in the nearby woods in order to stomp out the evil. The parents had eventually relented in the request after a few weeks of begging but were skeptical about the ranger's safety. As if on queue, the rangers suddenly erupted from the house nearby in a cacophony of playful screaming. Each was dressed in onesie pajamas the color of their ranger, and each carried their own unique wooden weapon. Jason, and Tommy strode in front of the group pushing each other over who would be first, each carried wooden swords, but Tommy's was more a long dagger. Trini followed behind them scolding them to get along, she carried twin wooden daggers. Kimberly walked behind her, holding a toy bow and arrow set, whispering to the yellow ranger, and she was followed by a silent Billy who wielded what looked like a real oaken quarter staff. Roland's smile turned into a frown as they began to frolic around the yard chasing each other in some nameless game. "I have a feeling this is going to be more trouble than it's worth." He said in barley in an audible whisper as he eyed the parents who encouraged the children asking if they were ready for their great adventure, and sighed slightly as they all cheered at the question. He turned to his companions with an exasperated look secretly hoping for one of them to simply to talk the parents out of this mess. @Rosalie Browne @Animus Marle @Purity Divine
@Rosalie Browne @Animus Marle @Roland Rutledge From Purity's perspective, Druuk Island was massive and she had a hard time finding out where exactly the place the quest she took was. After getting lost for what seemed like forever, even with asking directions, she finally managed to find the house. At least, she hoped she found the house. "Heeey, I'm here!" she said cheerfully as she walked over to the parents and some other people there, "What did I miss?" Then she heard a shout as a boy ran over to her, jabbing his sword at her direction. "Follower of evil! Justice shall be served!" he crowed, causing her to blink in confusion. "...What?" Next thing she knew, a stick flew through the air and jabbed her in the side. "Ow! Hey!" She looked around for the culprit, only to find other children rushing towards her as the boy from before took the lead. "Follower of evil! Follower of evil!" they chanted, causing her to puff her cheeks in annoyance. "Hey, just because I wear all black doesn't mean-" Then they promptly charged. "U-U-Uwaaa!" She ran around the yard, trying to get rid of the kids that were hot on her tail. "U-Um, hey! A little help here!" she called out as she was being chased.
Animus was beyond excited: not only was this his real quest but there was a clear emphasis on a good old fashioned homage to Super Sentai/Power Rangers. Animus' dad had shown him archives of old tokusatsu shows, and while Power Rangers was beyond cool, what was even cooler was Kamen Rider, an even older show that had been running since 1971, and even continued in the 2020s with Kamen Rider Legacy being the latest show. In fact, a movie was set to come out and included a teamup with Decade, the anniversary character from the late 2000s. While Druuk Island was a bit of a hard place to navigate, Animus' enthusiasm was what kept him through, thinking of all the cool poses he'd be able to do and what lyed ahead. He saw a group of parents and children in color-themed onesies, as well as two other adventurers. The kids were clearly rallying against the woman in black, as she did sorta-kinda look like she fit into the mold. Like superheroes before him, Animus ran into action. "Worry not young heroes," he said in an over-the top heroic voice. "For I am here to help you! I am your ally, MECHA RIDER ANIMUS!" He then proceeded to emulate his favorite Kamen Rider's pose, and looked over to the woman in dark clothes. "And she is not a Follower of Evil! She is the next Mecha Rider! Uh, MECHA RIDER PURITY!" "Do a cool pose," he whispered over to her in a completely normal voice. "And now, once everyone's here, prepare to make those bad guys COUNT UP THEIR SINS!" @Rosalie Browne @Purity Divine @Roland Rutledge
Rosalie had heard a lot about this island; supposedly, it was a haven for pirates and criminals. Strange place to bring up kids, she thought. But, to each their own. What mattered now was that Rosalie had traveled to the island for a babysitting job of what, after she had caught up with the others, was proving to be a strange kind. Their charges were definitely reenacting a certain TV show from the real world, right down to their names- though, they seemed to be missing one, if Rosalie remembered correctly. It kind of bothered her, seeing something so clearly inspired by the real world here. She felt a bit less comfortable in her adopted skin. But she'd have to get over it while she was here. To these kids, she was nothing more or less than Rosalie Browne and she'd have to act like it. While one of her companions incurred the children's wrath, another of them seemed to know exactly where these kids were coming from. Nerd, she thought, before giving her old self a mental slap. If it would help connect with the children, the man's nerdiness was absolutely an advantage. "And I'm... Rosalie," she said, figuring that she stood little chance of making herself seem like a cool hero. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." She nodded with a smile to each of the children. @Purity Divine @Roland Rutledge @Animus Marle
Chaos had seemingly ensued as the other adventures began to introduce themselves to the kids. “Well this is a fine mess” Roland noted as one seemed to be terrified of them, while another egged them on declaring himself Mecha Rider Animus. He wondered if Animus was even his character’s real name and not just some persona he had made up on the spot. Eventually Rosie introduced herself in a normal manner, but it seemed too little too late in Roland’s estimation, as each child in turn returned back to their antics fighting imaginary minions, and the one adventurer who was still being chased by the over eager green ranger Tommy. Roland stroked his chin as he began to slowly develop a plan, maybe Animus’s idea wasn’t too far off base, and looking at Purity it didn’t seem the children were too picky about their opponents. Carefully he stole Animus and Rosie aside leaving Purity to her fate and told them in a whispered tone, “I really don’t want to stay out in those woods babysitting all night, but until they find this evil lord of theirs my guess is they aren’t going to want to come back.” He shifted his eyes to the children making sure they were fully distracted feeling a slight pang of guilt for leaving Purity out to the wolves so she could serve as a distraction. “So give me about half an hour and head straight north into the woods from here, I’ll come up with some sort of disguise and be that evil minion they are looking for, I’ll let them beat me and then you guys usher them back and we’ll be done here, sound good?” He asked appraising their reactions to his plan. Roland’s mind raced as he waited their response, he wasn’t concerned they’d agree, as much as if they did how he was going to make this convincing. He did a quick mental inventory of the items he had on him, a sword (which he probably shouldn’t risk using at his current skill level), an egg protected in cushioned leather bag, an old used garment from a previous quest, and the leather harness he was wearing. Not a lot of it would be useful, and to make matters worse his egg would be in danger if he was going to take blows from those children, he made a mental note to have one of the other adventures hold on to it before he ran off. He guessed he could use the garment, to hide his face roll around in some mud and stick some branched in his armor, and hope the children didn’t think too hard about his disguise. He’d run off to do just that if one of the two adventures agreed with the plan, so he merely waited for their opinion on the matter. @Rosalie Browne @Animus Marle @Purity Divine
@Rosalie Browne @Animus Marle @Roland Rutledge Purity didn't really think about how the guy knew her username, but that didn't matter to her. All that mattered was getting the kids off her metaphorical tail, and Animus' idea seemed like a good way to do so. "U-Um, yeah! I'm Mecha Rider Purity! You can't just, uh, attack a Mecha Rider! We're on the same side, yeah?" That seemed to satisfy the kids and they left...except for one. "I don't trust you, follower of evil," said Tommy, pointing his wooden dagger at her, "The others may not see through your disguise, but I can!" "I'm not evil, though... Come on, give me a break." With a small "Hmph!" the boy crossed his arms. "Prove to me then! Help us find the Dark Lord and then I'll believe you!" "Alright, alright, sheesh." She looked over to see that the other three babysitters were conversing with each other. She figured she should go and see what was going on. "Hold up one moment, Mecha Rider, pfft, Purity needs to talk to her fellow M-Mecha Riders, pfft." Holding in her giggles at how silly it was calling herself a Mecha Rider now that she wasn't being harassed, she went over to the group that seemed like they were having a plan. "So...they wanna fight the Dark Lord," she said, "Just wanted to let you guys know. Anyway, what were you all talking about?"
"So, his plan is to go into the forest and pretend to be the monster to complete the quest," said Animus to his fellow Mecha Rider. Animus put his hand to his chin for a moment, thinking intently about the quest. Sure, the quest seemed near-harmless, but the set-up seemed somewhat similar to his Japanese superhero shows. "Well," he said, looking over to Roland. "I don't think that's a half-bad plan, but the inner Sentai nerd in me is screaming out and honestly, the best thing you can do with a homage-y quest like this is to be genre-saavy. What if the fact that they're children that we're babysitting is just a ploy? Like, sure, this is a game to their parents but the big bads they're fighting are actually real? Young children are a mainstay in tokusatsu productions, especially ones like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai that are aimed at a family audience. I can think of multiple stories where children see monsters or demons that their parents or teachers don't believe exist, but the Sentai group or Kamen Rider of the year does and fights the monster for them. Maybe they could be playing to those tropes, meta-wise?" "In that case, I can't let you go out into the woods alone and dress up. I mean, TV logic says the real monster is going to creep up behind you. Why don't one of us come and cover you while you make your costume and the others get the kids into the woods to beat you up?" "By the way, I'm Animus, if you couldn't figure out from my 'Mecha Rider' name."
Rosalie gathered with the others as Roland directed. Playing the kids' enemy was a sound strategy, but she thought it was missing something. Would he really be able to convince them that he was the bad guy just by saying so? ...okay, that was kind of a silly question. It was, after all, just a game. Animus, however, was onto something, even if Rosalie didn't quite get all his technical terms. There were a lot of no-good folks around- what if these kids really were somehow supposed to end up defeating one? "I know," Rosalie said, having an epiphany after Animus' suggestion. Turning to Roland to address him, she looked a bit uncertain before speaking. "How... how about I play the victim? The 'damsel in distress' so to speak?" she suggested. "I could stay on guard a bit while he got the costume together, then he could pretend he'd captured me. I still don't have much to fight with but my pitchfork, though." @Roland Rutledge @Purity Divine @Animus Marle
Roland flashed a smile at Purity as she approached, “Finding the Dark Lord, the name is Roland by the way.” He replied in a jovial tone before Rosie, and Animus explained their view points. Roland nodded as they each had their turn considering his options. On one hand if Animus was right and there was a supposed demon in the forest, it would likely be better to bring the entire group in, on the other hand Rosie would make a perfect damsel in distress given the kid’s interactions with her if there wasn’t. So the question remained was this a serious quest or not. Roland’s gaze rolled over towards the kids running around with their wooden weapons as he replied, “Well if this is based on the old sentai and power ranger shows, then the kids will be the key to defeating the demon lord anyway, and I doubt there would be anything we can do, but observe.” He crossed his arms in front his chest as he continued explaining his thought process, “Either way I don’t think we’re in actual danger here, if it’s faithful to the show they will save us at the last moment, if it’s not we can cross that bridge when we come to it.” Confident in his reasoning he moved to grab Rosie’s wrist, “I expect you to be at least proficient in pitchforkery,” he said with a chuckle as he dragged her behind him as he darted off into the woods hoping that Purity and Animus could corral the children long enough for him and Rosie to prepare. Once he got fairly deep into the woods he set to his task, talking out loud as he removed his leather harness, “So have you been playing long?” He asked as he pulled out the garment he had from a previous quest, it was a silk gown of a Marquis, and he dunked it in a nearby puddle conveniently soaking it brown. “I’m pretty new myself.” He continued, as he pulled the gown out setting it aside for now. “Missed out on the beta and everything.” Roland moved to spreading mud over his leather harness, “I hope returning this to my inventory cleans this thing, I haven’t tested that yet..” he said sniffing the leather worrying the puddle may have contained more than just stagnant water. He set the piece of armor aside, removing his sword and walking over to a shrub and using it to shear the branches from it. He began to collect a small pile of branches while he continued to talk to Rosie, “So I really don’t have a great plan when they get here to be honest.” He admitted, “I think it will probably be safest if I just pretend to cast a spell on you, I hope you’re a good actor.” Once he felt he had enough branches set aside he returned to the gown and leather armor, satisfied they were dry enough to not make too terrible of a mess. He once again grabbed his sword and tore three holes into the gown before pulling the fabric over his head, fixing the holes in front of his face so his eyes and mouth could be seen. Over the garment he pulled on his leather harness, and began to jab the branches underneath it. After a few moments the branches managed to outline his shoulders and chest with a small collection of green leaves, he turned to Rosie, “Well do I look menacing enough?” he said with a small self-deprecating laugh. @Rosalie Browne @Animus Marle @Purity Divine
@Roland Rutledge @Animus Marle @Rosalie Browne "Nice to meet you all, I'm Purity," she said with a grin as she nodded sagely, "Yeah, I bet the kids would be the key to finding this Dark Lord, just have to have them find Mr. Dark Lord and make them happy until their parents get back, right?" It should be easy enough, at least that's what she thought. Perhaps the kids will take the bait and behave while fighting the "Dark Lord." Eventually Roland left with Rosalie in tow and she turned to Animus. "Guess it's just us, huh? We should get this show on the road. Hm...maybe we can act all panicky and say that the Dark Lord kidnapped one of us. That sound good?" She waited a few moments for his answer before looking back at the children. "Right, let's go." She immediately rushed towards the children with wide eyes. "Guys! We got a problem!" she said rapidly, hoping that she sounded panicky enough, "The Dark Lord kidnapped one of our own and we need to get her back! We need all five of you to defeat him and rescue her so stick together, alright?" There was a moment of stunned silence as the kids took the information in.
Animus paused for a moment, thinking over the plan. It was a strong one, even paying into the old "damsel in distress" tropes that Sentai fell into WAY too many times, to a point where it had been completely worn out. Still, Animus was willing to go along with it, it was pretty smart. "All right, I think we've got our bases covered, then, this should work out." Animus paused realizing the other person he'd detonated as "Mecha Rider" was really named Purity. "Oh, crap. I was just using that as a generic term, it was just meant to be like, of the opposite of evil. That is... well, it's weird." Animus let Purity inform the children, and he had to admit her acting was pretty good. Too good, in fact. The children just stood in stunned silence for a moment before the youngest ranger, Billie, spoke up. "Bu-But this hasn't happened before! We always just beat the bad guys and save the day!" Billie started sniffling and crying. "Who knows if she's even telling the truth," said Jason, pointing a finger at Purity. "She's a follower of evil, she's PROBABLY LYING!" "Hey," shouted Animus in his adult voice. "She's not a follower of Evil, I saw it too! Besides that, you're just judging her on her appearance!" Oh god, here came the part of the Power Rangers franchise that was the absolute worst: the time for the kids to "learn a lesson". Well, if Animus was going to do it, he was going to play it straight. "Just because someone looks mean, doesn't mean they're mean on the inside, and it's what's on the inside what counts. I wore a pair of black pants, black shoes and a black shirt yesterday: does that make me a bad guy?" "Nooo," said all the children in unison. "Right, so what if Mecha Rider Purity wears all black! That doesn't mean she's not our friend, and I think she looks cool! Now, why don't we all go into the woods and beat the poop out of a bad guy!" "All right," said all of the Mecha Rangers with excitement as they moved into formation behind them.
Rosalie found herself pulled off into the woods by Roland. Almost like she actually were being kidnapped, though he was thankfully acting rather light-hearted about it. She took a seat on a fallen log as Roland prepared his disguise, wondering what exactly he was going to do for one out here. She briefly wondered what sort of reaction she should have if he started changing his clothes, but it soon started to look like he was only putting it on over his regular outfit. "Not too long," Rosalie answered Roland when he asked how long she'd been playing. "I'm still sort of exploring my options, trying to figure out what I want to do here." He mentioned a beta, which wasn't something she'd heard of, but it would make sense that there would be one. That said, she wasn't sure she'd have liked to be part of the beta for a game like this. So far, things had seemed really stable and realistic- she'd hate to find out what it'd be like to experience a buggy game so immersively. At any rate, now it seemed to be time to start making plans. Roland was going to pretend to put a spell on her? A bit creepy, but he was playing the villain here. As for her acting skills... "I guess I'm not bad at it," she commented with a smile. Finally, Roland's disguise was complete, and Rosalie looked it over. "Kind of looks more 'druid' than 'dark lord' to me, apart from the mask... but I guess it depends how you play it." @Roland Rutledge @Animus Marle @Purity Divine
