(Event) Reclamation of Pride | Page 10

• 101/121 HP
• 84/114 EN
Carry

HP: 111-10 | EN: 104-20​

At first Alkaid could hardly believe this was much a trial if some midget catgirl could pass through, but as she watched others fail, she couldn't help but hesitate. Was there some kind of trick to it? What had Caccu said? Carry your sins, or something?

A sudden frown. If this were another way the game tried to mess with your head, Kyouko had plenty to answer for...

But then, she was sure someone would've complained if so. Reaching for a crown with a sudden urge of confidence, she repeated in her head there that was no way it'd be too bad.

She was wrong.

She'd made it maybe a third of the way in until finding herself pincered between two orbs, one of which blasted her back to where she started. So desperately did she try to hold onto the crown, thinking that if the damned thing weighed so much surely it'd be fine if it didn't take a bad fall, if she were to fall and then let go, only for a crack to form the second it hit the ground.

And that? That was the true energy sinker.

7
Fail
Tracker / Roll​

 

• 99 HP
• 87 EN
Supporting

(-20 Energy, Carry Crown)

This isn't good, we're spending too much time here...

Seraphy was currently on standby, biting her lip. She had intended to sustain the line of adventurers undertaking the trial, but the line was starting to look short. Too short, in spite of her role as a manager of the general state of health of the party. Here was a catch 22. Seraphy honestly didn't know what was the right answer, but in her heart of hearts she guessed that one should always approach the problem before, before worrying about the problem after.

Maybe it'll work out somehow Seraphy, later is later, and for now we need to...

Seraphy shouldered a crown. She then placed it upon her head. And from there, she secured it tight with both of her hands. Suddenly, gravity felt as though it had increased tenfold.

--------------------------------------! "THIS IS REALLY HEAVY!!!"

Seraphy's knees buckled.

No! We can't afford to fall here Seraphy! Look! Everyone's doing their best! Everyone's counting on you!!!

She took a step.

A puddle of sweat had already formed beneath her shaky legs. Her face was twisted. She was gritting her teeth.

...Another step.

Haggard breaths. Spittle ran down the corner of her mouth as she gasped for air.

...Another step.

Her bangs clung to her face blinding her. She had no little to no idea where she was going. How far she had gone.

...Another step.

As she wheezed, she began to sink under the weight. She stumbled. Locking one leg, she painfully prevented her fall.

...Another step.

The road may as well have been endless. Her mind was a blank and endless white. How far---------?

....
...
..
.

Seraphy collapsed.

The crown's weight slid off her head as she fell. Gasping, Seraphy reached out her arms in exhausted desperation, and as she did so, she caught it----but the weight continued to pull her face first toward the ground. As the crown crossed the threshold of the other side, it dispersed. Seraphy continued her descent ready to slam upon the pavement--------only someone caught her. Seraphy wasn't sure who, she had already blacked out...

Tracker / Roll
54
Success
7 / 25
​

 

• 80/100 HP
• 70/100 EN
Carry

-10HP Soul Blast, -20EN Carry

Dear Destiny, a stupid idiot who can't even carry a goddamn crown from one side of a room to the other-- you are a fool, and literally have no skills in this game even though you've been playing for months, and...

Destiny was still in the process of composing this letter to herself when it became obvious she was never going to finish. The task, that was, not the letter. That would be finished later under her breath during whatever the next hellish challenge had in store, she was sure. It was their current predicament that was doomed to fail, at least this round.

Aw, crap. As the Yladian reached the halfway point of the bridge and was faced with an imminent game of glowing spirit-dodgeball, she dropped the "careful crown-mother cradles her child" act. "Hell." She stopped, attempting to backpedal away from the threatening soul orbs. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone on this bridge-- she stepped on the person's feet behind her and stumbled, the crown escaping from her grasp. "Goddamnit, no--" It was too late-- the damn things were more slippery than a basket of eels.

And then the heavy-ass magical glowing crown fell on her toe and hurt like a bitch before, to add insult to injury, it rolled two feet miraculously unharmed before breaking neatly in half.

Still cursing and holding her hurt foot, Des looked up from her boot just in time to see one of the Soul Orbs looming in her vision just before the ball of light pushed her off the side of the bridge. And of course, she had to hike all the way up the damn hill again and stand in line with the rest of the increasingly frustrated, bruised Lions to try and carry the rotten thing all over again. I'm gonna kill Crane. This all would have been so much more fun if she'd been able to watch him continuously fall on his ass.

Tracker / Roll
38
Fail
​

 

• 138/148 HP
• 88/128 EN
Carry

Some people made it look incredibly easy, not the least of which was the little Felis who was first to make it across. He watched others take the crown, and there had been some successes, and some failures across the board. It was about half and half, interestingly enough. But with that, Emerath shrugged, and decided to take a shot of his own.

After Destiny had taken her crown, and the pedestal automatically replaced another, he pulled on it, almost losing his grip and balance immediately from the unexpected weight and slippery nature. He grunted, as he pulled together all the strength he had, and started to make his way across the bridge.

Immediately, he saw the orb coming after him, and he managed to duck the first time, using the reflexes of his Martial Arts. But the orb came back for another round, and Emerath started to run as quickly as he could with the stupid heavy crown, which didn't result in much more than a light jog, really. He huffed as the orb quickly caught up, and only just managed to sidestep it, as it whizzed past him and into the distance.

With an abrupt stop on the part of the orb, right at the end of the bridge, Emerath groaned. He'd have to find a way past it, and sure enough, it flew right at him. Thinking quickly, Emerath managed to utter a quick incantation that pushed the wind under his feet and launched him upwards and over the speeding orb, right to the end of the bridge. Of course, this also resulted in him almost losing his grip on the crown at least three times during his flight, but that didn't matter. He made it, as he placed it on the water, and made his way back across the bridge, making sure not to get in the way of his companions making their own attempts.

Tracker / Roll
83
Success
8 / 25
​

 

• 73 HP
• 90 EN
Carry

-10HP Failed carry | -20EN Carry

_____With everything considered, Kaede was not happy about green skin. Not to mention the fact she was glowing she could only sigh as she just had to deal with the hand she was dealt with. Her red cloak pulled to cover as much of her body so only her face would emit the glow for others to see and she strayed decently behind others not wanting them to point out the obvious. When it came to the next challenge Kaede could only sigh and try to help the others out.

_____Slowly making her way across the area without much trouble, sadly her luck once more kicking her in the face at the last moment. Watching almost in slow motion as one of the orbs blasted her to the ground and burnt her cloak forcing her to discard it or risk burning herself, not exactly remembering the whole glowing issue she was dealing with. Looking to the ground as she got back up with her green bubble of light. Eyes flaring with rage as she spun to face the orbs.

[color=ff2400]”I’m going to fucking destroy every last thing in this fucking place! I don’t give a damn if it caves in while I do it!”[/color]

_____Unsure if it was just her clouded vision but the aura of light growing as she drew her dagger and growled loudly, she was not having the best day so far and someone was going to pay for it. But with the bandit king still elsewhere the only target Kaede had was the orbs and unless someone calmed her down she would likely not stop there.

Tracker / Roll
44
Fail
​

 

• 98 HP
• 122 EN
Carry

If he did it once, he could do it again, and with that in mind, the midnight haired muse continued on with his journey. Limbering up as he jogged back to the starting point to grab another crown, Cain rolled up his sleeves, did a few hip twists, and prepared for another go of this obstacle course. More were faltering now, even Seigi struggling despite her heroic might. It was heavy, wasn’t it? The weight of the past? Compared to that, even the weight of future consequences, of the world’s noose, was light.

Cain grunted with exertion as the second mystical crown pressed its weight on his shoulders. Heavy. Heavier than before now that his muscles have fatigued. Dark eyes narrowed, brow furrowing with doubled effort. He could still manage it, definitely. The energy within his body was greater than half, and the music that sang inbetween clenched teeth gave his legs the extra ‘oomph’ required to make each step. Fewer individuals were risking it now, having seen the failures of others before them, but as far as he was concerned, that just meant more space to run.

A breath. Coil your legs. And then…

RUN!

It was like rushing through a quagmire while chased by bees. Alerted with that one step, the defense system of this Crown Carrying Minigame activated immediately, iridescent fairy lights flying out to intercept him. The first was ducked under. The second was sidestepped. The third was smacked out of the way. Fourth. Fifth. It was wearing down at him gradually, the defense system grinding him out in a battle of attrition. Each reaction was slower than the last, and he narrowed his eyes further, further, diving deeper into his reserves.

And then, it reminded him.

It seared at his neck, the weight of the world, and Cain gasped suddenly. Another path. Another possible future? He reared back, the world around him appearing once more.

And he saw it. The girl that sold the hot drinks, stumbling forward blind and deaf, crumbling under her burdens. Misaligned. Heading to the brink of the edge.

A decision: forsake for success or save for failure?

The noose slid off a moment later.

A pulse of white light struck the core of his soul, but Cain made it just in time to catch @Seraphy before she toppled over.

“Oi, drinks girl. Didn’t get enough sleep with your Witch Ops? Shouldn't nap here, ya know?”

Tracker / Roll
38
Fail
​

 

• 90/100 HP
• 80/100 EN
Carry

Journeying onward through this labyrinth like space Kaeda wondered how people could find such thrill in this, she felt lost. Trying her best to keep but still so out of the loop. Checked out at best for the most part until the small Felis began demonstrating. Kaeda fumbled nervously at her clothing, this wasn’t something she wanted to take her chances with. Watching others readily take up the task without the slightest clue on the outcome was almost honorable. With each new go she watched on with baited breath, her heart raced, her ears pinned flatly against her head in concern but she felt frozen; glued to the very floor beneath her feet.

She couldn’t wait much longer, if she did she’d end up left behind. With a small growl to herself she took off and set out for her target- the crown. Grabbing it quickly she spun herself lightly only to jerk with the weight of the crown itself, her claws dug into it but to no use as it became quite the balancing act almost. Gripping it tightly to her chest to keep it from slipping she ran quickly across holding her breath in the moment she was nearing the end of the bridge, only to allow her tunnel vision get the better of her. An orb that floated carelessly by her suddenly sensed the crown, In a flurry the orb sped up and quickly smacked into Kaeda, causing her to yelp in dismay. Before she could process what was happening she was met with another quick blow, enough to knock the crown from her grasp. Her eyes widened as it shattered at her feet, her hands stretched out but unmoving. This was her chance. She blew it. Her eyes glanced back to where she started. Dare she try her luck once more?

Tracker / Roll
43
Fail
​

 

• 140 HP
• 60 EN
Carry

-20 EN for carrying

Hefting another crown, Velka sought to make her way across the bridge once more. The object and her own heavy armor testing her dexterity and endurance as she just barely scraped by. One particular orb had it out with her as it made several passes, the last of which almost managed to knock the crown out of her hands. In the end though, she was left on the other side of the bridge with an intact crown and no real wounds to show for it. With none of the orbs landing a direct hit, Velka took a moment to step back and take a breather.

Tracker / Roll
58
Success
ez​

 

• 138/148 HP
• 68/128 EN
Carry

It almost felt too easy. Emerath knew this would end up going to his head, as he practically danced around all those having trouble with the task set before them. He knew he was probably going to get some bad karma for being a showoff, but he didn't care in this moment. As everyone else was failing the mission, Emerath was succeeding with flying colors. It wasn't often he got to do this type of thing, especially considering he had relegated himself to the back line for most of this adventure, watching as all his friends ran off to be heroes. Well now it was his turn.

A part of him wanted to pull out his lute and start playing a tune as he carried the crown, but given the weight of the object, that would have proved far too much. Much in Emerath's favor, it seemed that many of the orbs were distracted by his comrades, and so he used that to his advantage to make it to the end unharmed. He was exhausted from the two trips, but he was successful. So he figured that balanced out the worth of it all. At least nobody could say he was entirely useless.

Tracker / Roll
78
Success
10 / 25
​

 

• 125/125 HP
• 144/164 EN
Carry

-20eng, carrying a crown

Incognito.

That's what she was. Totally obscured, totally ignored.
She had been present from the start, witnessing the efforts of the adventuring group to fight their way past all manner of dangers and horrors. Masked in the form of one of the generic NPC adventurers that had been following and helping out. It was easy to disguise yourself as somebody that was so readily ignored; the only times she was even given passing concern was when she was expected to hit things with a sword in a fight. Which was hard to do, considering she had no martial skills. But with her theatrics, she'd faked the deed well enough to make it this far.

Now, though?
Now everybody seemed to be clambering around on a bridge, trying to lug big heavy crowns from one side to the next. She didn't understand the why of it. Frankly she hadn't paid much attention to anything up to this point; she'd been too busy focusing on acting like a boring old NPC.

​

With the Doppleganger ability she appeared an almost duplicate to another figure walking around... save for a few differences that made it an imperfect copy. And that actually served in her benefit in this situation, because those slight differences made her appear to be a similar-but-not-exact NPC that had been generated for the quest, as a helper.
And... she'd better keep helping, if she wanted to keep following these people to steal some of the loot at the end of their quest.

Walking over to the alter, Temperance scratched her head and pretended to be a confused dumb strong-man, acting as though she wasn't quite sure what was going on. To anybody watching, it would appear as though the hammer-wielding farmhand adventurer was perplexed by the magic of the regenerating crowns. Nevertheless, a crown was picked up, and the muscled figure began to waddle across the bridge with marginal grace in spite of the strain of the crown's weight. As each orb neared, the farmhand seemed to just flow out of its way, like a practiced drunk avoiding each hazard on his way home from the pub. The crown was deposited upon the far altar, and the farmhand began to return to pick up a second. Temperance wondered whether she should attempt to heal these poor sods, who kept getting hammered by floating orbs. Hmmm...

Tracker / Roll
85
Success
11 / 25
​

 

• 173 HP
• 113 EN
Carry

With a smile, Roland bent down to grab the stone he had found. "What is this..." he muttered as he turned it over in his hands inspecting it. It clearly wasn't a clue regarding the bandit's true nature, but it was indeed magical. Sadly, Roland could not determine its specific effect, well without empowering it. With a sigh, he stuffed it into a pocket and began to walk away, only to suddenly lift his arms in the air flapping them uselessly, while screaming, "QUACK!" at the top of his lungs. As soon as he did it, he dropped his arms to his side and continued forward as if nothing had happened as if unaware of the odd occurrence.

Eventually, the group decided a path and Roland followed along, sticking to the back quacking off and on. Slowly the group around him began to become sparse, much to Roland's confusion. Next, they were tasked with carrying their sins across the bridge, an odd task but one easy enough. Without much effort, Roland simply grabbed a crown with one hand and tromped across the bridge expending minimal energy. "Well, that wasn't so bad... QUACK!"

Reclamation Tracker / (Roll) Reclamation of Pride
84
Success
12 / 25
​

 

• 90/100 HP
• 80/100 EN
Carry


-10 health from Soul Blast
-20 energy from Carry attempt​

Perhaps it had to do with the fact that his mind was elsewhere as he searched, but by the time the group had decided where they would like to continue towards, Yukisa had not come up with anything that would come in handy for the rest of this quest. All he found was a strange furry insignia, which could, at best, be thrown at someone in order to get their attention, and maybe leave a hexagonal-shaped bruise. Sadly, he wasn’t particularly interested in the value of it… all he wanted was to be useful from here on out.

“Looks like we’re going to be together for a while longer,” he said to his pointy stick with a sigh, pulling it closer to him as though he were apologizing for even considering abandoning it. When he noticed that the rest of the group was already moving on, he stood up, quickly following suit before he gets left behind with the rubble.

The passageway certainly was as magical as it was made out to be… well, as magical as an elevator in the medieval ages, anyway. When the dark underground cavern was lit up by the felis’ fire orb, Yukisa looked around curiously. It was an ancient structure, the intricate decorations long faded away. What of course caught his attention the most were the matching altars: if he learnt anything from video games, those things would be important. And as anticipated, Caccu demonstrated just what its importance was.

Watching others follow her lead, the silver-haired male felt excitement build up inside him. ‘This is my chance,’ he thought with determination. No weapons or talent was needed here, only agility… something he should be capable of.

Without hesitation, he grabbed one of the crowns from the altar, and began to rush across the bridge. Immediately, any nearby, unoccupied orbs sailed towards him. Luckily, he managed to side-step the first one that approached!.. Except, due to the combination of the crown’s weight, slipperiness, and his general clumsiness, that sudden movement resulted in him losing his footing and majestically falling on his ass. Now vulnerable, a second orb seized the opportunity to quickly slam into him, and the crown shattered into pieces.

For a few moments, he sat there, slightly dizzy and in shock from what had just occurred… then a sigh escaped his lips, and he wilted like a dying flower. “Damn, I couldn’t even manage that…”

Tracker / Roll
6
Fail
​

 

• 101/151 HP
• 100/130 EN
Carry

Seigi's eyes started to sparkle as a veteran gave her one of the shiny things. "I knew it!" This was the place. The right one. Zeus and Caccu both were indeed true heroes! "Greed is bad. And this is the acknowledgment for not falling into temptation." A mocking grin appeared on her face while talking to nobody in particular. "Take that, yah dirty capitalists!" The crimson hair cried out before continuing on their way.

Arriving at the crown room things seemed to be pretty tame and easy until the Orbs activated. But weren't those criminals just stupid, boring, bandits?! They weren't supposed to have these... this kind of magical security(?) shenanigans! And if they had this kind of power why not just use it to blast them to smithereens? Not like an immortal could die, though.

Unless, of course, they got lost? Maybe this was the passage-way to another great adventure entirely? As exciting as that might be, Seigi still had to deliver some JUSTICE so she couldn't really afford that luxury. Shaking her head the girl shrugged. Forward was the only correct choice anyway.

"Hmpf. I'll show you so much muscle you never wanna see another one! @Cain Darlite." Feeling like the Miracle-bringing Muse had her just challenged, Seigi took a Crown and set her sight on the goal. "Guts and Effort." She whispered to herself.

"Guts, and Effort." It couldn't be too hard, could it? Sure, the crown was slippery and there were a bunch of death orbs floating around BUT at least the weight wasn't too much of a problem thanks to her Heroic Might! Positivity was key.

"Seigi Dash!" Seigi ran forward. Not much thought put into anything. Simply forward. Closer and closer until... "Ehh-? Arrghhh!" An orb decided to snipe her! "Screw you!" The crimson-hair said annoyed as she stood up. Failure simply meant she had to try harder.

Tracker / Roll
21
Fail
​

 

• 115/125 HP
• 124/164 EN
Carry

-20eng, carrying a crown
-10hp, soul blast

Well, that had been simple enough the first time... Heading back to the first altar, the in-disguise Temperance picked up another crown and began to move it towards the altar to continue the whole strange affair when everything suddenly turned distracting. From a loud shout of QUACK out of nowhere, to several blasts from nearby orbs aimed at her and others. Stepping backwards out of the way of one attack, she was hit in the shoulders by an orb that had drifted behind her and out of her range of observation. Knocking her down, the crown broke, and one of those attacks the orbs had been throwing around struck her and caused a grunt of pain to come from the disguised thief-healer.

Grunting with pain and effort, Temperance stood back up and dusted herself off before stepping off to the side to observe some kind of path through things.

Tracker / Roll
27
Fail
​

 

• 148 HP
• 60 EN
Carry

-20 EN from carrying the team

Okay, next.

Now she's back to where the crowns was, now she had to formulate a plan to get across without getting shot. Her armor wouldn't probably survive another soul blast from the orbs. Are those orbs susceptible to illusion magic? Even if they are, their number and how they spread out in position might pose a problem, but there's no hurt in trying.

Before she got herself a crown, she concentrated to get her spell right. Corvella have never used a illusion magic at this scale, so this might come out very exhausting for her. After thirty seconds of mumbling incantations, she conjured a rather large veil of illusion, covering around the bridge. It wasn't designed to make her disappear; that would be too much energy, but rather to delay the reactions of the orbs of what is happening.

As she walk through the bridge, still trying to maintain the spell by focusing, the orbs can be heard moving and blasting behind her. That means the delayed perception is working, although not perfect enough that she almost got hit by a stray blast. No longer able to maintain the spell, the blonde knight broke the illusion on the last five metres before dashing straight into the pool.

Another crown for the Lions.

Reclamation Tracker / (Roll) Reclamation of Pride
99
Success
13 / 25
​