• 030 / 118 HP

They stood, bruised and battered, staring at a person-shaped hole in the rock.

Big enough for one. Someone skinny, someone not packin’ too much meat from the guardian they’d slain at the springs. But just one. Of course, they’d already decided who was gonna be the lucky guy to squeeze through it and who’d have to turn back and report what they could to the Rangers. What had happened to Temperance made it pretty damn clear they’d reached a point of no return, and for those of them who’d taken heavy hits earlier in the Spire, this was the end. Damn. Well, she’d done her best to rock-paper-scissor for it anyway, but Ivan had turned out to be some kinda savant at the three-part hand game and, after a dramatic final showdown with Portia, had earned himself the place.

“You saw somethin’ the rest of us didn’t see out there, y’know,” Des said to @Iván Carl , leaning against the stone wall. “Somethin’ special, I reckon.” She peered through the crack, letting her eyes linger on what lay just beyond, and reluctantly took them away again. The woman gave a sheepish laugh, resting a hand on the back of her neck. “Good game. You be safe now, hear? Meet up in Stokbon to talk about it all later?” She raised her brows, a wry grin twisting her lips for a moment, and stepped away. Destiny beckoned to the others, squaring her shoulders. “Brad—Portia? Sure hope y’all come too. I’ll try and track down you-know-who once we’re back in service, but ‘til then… aw, it’s been a hell of a ride.”

Sure wonder what’s out there, she thought wistfully for a moment as she turned her back on their final scout. Some part of her objected—she was still rarin’ to go, to see, to do—but another part of her remembered that visceral squish as the giant’s hand had struck the ground, remembered the fear. The horror. I’m scared to die, she’d admitted to the rest of them earlier, and it was true. While their healer had been snuffed out like a candle flame, Destiny had chosen to escape with her life intact. Because of Temperance, hell, Destiny was able to stand here now sayin’ her goodbyes, and that on its own was an ending worth dustin’ your hands over. There were times when a gal had to look at themselves, guide or not, and realize they had limits.

Aw, but it’s all right. Some places are better left unexplored. It was Terrasphere they were talkin’ about, after all. There would always be more—infinitely new, infinitely beautiful. Hell, she wouldn’t forget what had happened here. What they’d discovered, what they’d lost—or what she’d felt along the way.

“Let’s get outta here.” Smacking Bradwynne on the back and throwing an arm over Portia’s shoulders, Destiny turned back. They had a whole lotta nasty waiting for them up there, but between the three of ‘em, hell—I think we’ll make it through.

Tracker​

 

• 78 / 121 HP

As he stared at the giant thing within the fog, he was instantly frozen in fear. Every moment that had transpired while he was fighting that giant angel hatchling was replaying in his mind. His legs lost power as he stumbled to the ground as he continued to stare at the thing. The flashbacks continued to run within his head a lot of times, and then it gradually sped up, making him groan as he grasped his head in pain, as his boots kicked onto the ground helplessly. The pathetic display continued on for minutes before he stood up, still trying not to look at the monster, and then trudged forward, noiselessly, not a thud of the boot would be heard. After he had quite gained a distance from the colossus, he heard something crack and splatter. Who was it? Bradwynne suddenly felt an ache in his heart.

He should not even call himself a hero after this. He just let one of his comrades suffer excruciating damage without him being exposed to it. But who was it? He then stopped until the others caught up to him. Ivan was there. So was Portia. And lastly, Destiny, although she looked as if she was crushed. So, the person who was crushed was...

As he was hearing the colossus move away, he then saw what really happened. A red stain was seen along with a giant footprint, and that red stain was once that person he had wronged, @Temperance. As he saw it, it reminded him of the fate of Jezebel at the hands of Jehu. As the story had quite made him puke a lot of times, it surprised him that he did not puke this time. Maybe it was because he loathed his own inability more than the graphic imagery right here. And then he heard those words.

"You need power?" Those melodic words were heard again in his mind, first when he had to fight a huge number of bandits. Although he had fainted from the excessive use of this power, but this time it should be quite short. And moreover, No. One. Should. Be. Left. Behind. He then shouted, this time it was as if he brought a chorus of angels with him. He wanted to revive this red stain and he needed the power to do it.

"MICHAEL, GABRIEL, RAPHAEL, URIEL, I ACCEPT! LET MY BODY BE A VESSEL OF YOUR WRATH!"

He then knelt down as he muttered a very long Hebrew incantation, the crucifix of the rosary hanging on the red stain. The rosary first glowed, and then the glow flowed all throughout his body. A faint halo then formed around his body, and while he continued chanting, concentric circles of light radiated from his head. A pillar of light then plummeted on his body, and when it was subsided, two pairs of wings could be seen on his back. Wasting no time, he started the incantation for the revive spell, now with the chorus of angels. The incantation he had uttered, in Hebrew, was long, but as he chanted it, the red stain glowed, as well as the ground around it. The glow on the ground subsided as the stain emitted a greater glow as it formed the shape of a human, a naked one. As he completed the chant, what seemed to be an angel descended into where they were, and seemed to kiss the human form, before ascending again. The glow subsided, which showed the complete body of Temperance, all in her naked glory, which made Bradwynne close his eyes. He then said, "Looks like one of my clothes should fit your sultry form." While moving his head away from Temperance's body, he manipulated his menu, and then materialized a set of clothes. With his eyes closed, he then wore the long black glove-like things first on his hands, which should cover all the way to her pectorals with her breasts. He then wore the white trousers on her legs to cover her butt. Now everything should not be quite lewd, he opened his eyes to fix everything that he had worn while he was still blind, while putting the flowery kimono on her body and the black boots on her feet. He then carried her on his back and then continued walking, lagging behind the party.

As he had felt before that Sharkie jumped from his arms before he noticed the red stain that was Temperance, he remembered where did he run to, and he then noticed a hole nearby some set of stones. He wanted to go down through there, but everyone also wanted to, and following a rock-paper-scissors tourney it was decided that Ivan would go. Having no other words to say than what he had typed, he just said, "Good luck pal. And take good care of Sharkie, he will find the way for you." He then walked away.

Tracker​

 

• 53 / 116 HP

Portia wasn't sure what to expect when she placed her hopes in Brad's use of his white magic, eyes gleaming with a hint of anticipation only to be let down when his spell failed. She was no healer, and she had never seen any attempts at resurrection being performed before. Even with all that remained of Temperance being stains of a bright red scattered on the floor and on some of their clothes, too, did his failure mean there had to be specific conditions for the spell to be performed? Perhaps the body needed to stay mostly intact... Yet that didn't matter now, it was a matter she'd try to find out more about when she was back on known land.

''I'm sorry but I'll have to agree with Destiny and say you should be the one to go instead of any of us.'' Her words came later than expected, that much she knew, especially when the fate of the group rested on the results of a childish game they all knew very well from their childhood memories: Rock, paper, scissors. It was a surprise to see the coincidences between Iván and herself, both of them choosing the same tactic each time even when they faced each other. Scissors... And scissors again, only for the game to end when he chose rock instead of following the pattern they had established. It was a silly thing to do considering he was fighting for a chance to go while she also wanted him to go.

''Having seen the effects of that strange berry poison myself, I doubt these two will try to get in trouble if they do get drugged once again. But you... I wouldn't want to worry about your newly-found Gods telling you to stab me in the back or something, and you seem like you really want to be the one going down that hole. Just take care. We'll talk later.'' She stepped aside, clearing the path for the masked man to move forward as she took a position beside Brad and Destiny, those who would remain inside the cave and use more traditional means for returning to the surface. Her attention immediately shifted to the remaining members of the party, pushed to focus on their current goal.

''Someone seems eager to get out of this hellhole. Are drinks in Stokbon that good?'' As though her weight meant nothing to the female who had held her before, she was pulled into the woman's bubble with ease, an arm over her shoulders and enthusiastic invitations granted to the few who remained. Not an ideal situation by any means possible, but one she welcomed nonetheless.

 

• 54 / 118 HP

There was nothing else he could do. When his exhausted form laid eyes on the titan, Iván's only option was to disappear. It was instinctive. The others didn't even cross his mind until it was too late. Being invisible had always been second nature to him. He put faith in the others' wisdom. Destiny and Portia would probably charge the monster, being the heroes that they were, but he knew they still each had a brain, and that massive of a monster would be too terrible a foe. Bradwynne would probably try to save everyone by sacrificing himself, but why would such a beast settle for one of them when it could just have all of them? Temperance would run away. She would survive. She's survived this long, done her own thing, she would be the last to fall.

"No..." Iván froze as the shining beacon of light suddenly went out, like an ant to a giant boot. Nothing remained of Temperance. Nothing that could be identified as Temperance. He dropped to his knees as soon as the monster disappeared. He stayed like that for a while.

But they had to keep going. They had to finish the mission or let Temperance's sacrifice be in vain. Iván didn't know much of her before the quest. This was their first time meeting. But he didn't have to know someone that much to mourn their loss. She was a part of the team. She may have even saved his life, though he can't be sure. This was just a game, but that realization, that truth, didn't make him feel any better. The shock, the pain, all of it was drowning him. "But we have to keep going..."

Finally, they came across the end of line, all of them that remained tired, both physically and emotionally. In front of them was a hole. Only one person could fit through it. It was the final obstacle, what was keeping them from moving on, from honoring Temperance's sacrifice. After discussing their next move, the group decided to choose who would go down the hole with a game of rock-paper-scissor, which Iván won after beating Portia last, though both of them had agreed beforehand that he would be the best option to go down the hole. The vision he had when he was unconscious... It might be the key. At least it could be something.

He watched the rest of them bid him their farewells, only nodding in response, with Bradwynne leaving Sharkie with him. He watched them all go, before turning to the strange creature in front of his feet, "Looks like it's just you and me. Pity I don't have my utensils with me at the moment."

The tunnel became darker, colder, smaller the further Iván got. He stumbled a few times but he persisted until he no longer could. Before his light went out, however, he saw something magnificent, enlightening even. He couldn't help but smile as death knocked on his door.

Highway to Hell
↑ *I'll take any mod if there are even any* ↑
79 + 56 + 22 + 53 + 64 + 56 + 59 + 2
Roll / Tracker​

 

"That's it?" Temperance asked, glancing at the measly portion of gold tossed her way across the table the Ranger occupied.
"You wanna fatten that up a bit more, for hazard pay?"

"HAZARD PAY?!" the stout man laughed, thumping his leg with a beefy club of a hand, more than a little spittle flying from his wide rotten-toothed mouth.
"You idiots don't get no HAZARD PAY! Should've made better terms before you went 'n risked your neck for such a modest sum! That'll teach you adventuring lot to be so careless! Hahahahahaha!"

"HahahahahaHAHAHAHA.." Temperance mimicked, and then raised a hand to fire a blinding light directly into the man's eyes. He fell backwards out of his seat, screaming as his eyes visibly steamed beneath his clawing, desperate hands, while the woman's own nimble fingers pocketed as much of the gold as possible.

She wasn't about to deal with this nonsense. Not after what had gone down so recently. Running out of the man's tent, she leaped up onto a horse that had been hitched nearby and took up its reins, riding off down the path and vanishing from the scene as quickly as she had come.

The Rangers had been surprised to see her return alone, wounded as she was. They'd asked word of what had happened, and she told them the truth. Well... she told them the truth she wanted them to hear; that they had gone down, found strange and inexplicable things, and a giant monster had begun attacking. She might have fibbed a touch and mentioned that... oh... the entire party had died, except for her, and she'd been forced to return alone?

The reality of the situation was less fantastic, surely. They had been surrounded by fog. A monster loomed before them, taller than forever and with a gaze as cutting as the sharpest blade. Everyone had silently signaled their intentions, Destiny herself pointing directly at the beast with urgency, which had meant a single thing to the woman: attack the giant stupid.
But, wouldn't that get them all killed? Well, everyone seemed DETERMINED, so there was only one thing she could do. Heal.

The assholes. Had. Hidden. And she had stood there, the only thing on its radar as Destiny ran away and everyone else slunk off into the shadows to hide. Its strike had come down, down, crushing a terrible blow. She had dropped her supplies they had gathered from the strange quill-beast, and the meat had exploded in a horrible red mist. Tired of this party and its bullshit, she had immediately quit the team and vanished from the comm channel, her HP no longer visible, her Incognito skill hiding her from their view. She had left them to fend with the beast alone, and trudged wearily back to the Rangers, alone. As they continued forward, she head back, determined to steal their rewards... or whatever amount she could get her hands on, at least.

Seriously. Fuck parties. She hoped at least one of them had died.

 

“…”

Iván walked silently into the Stokbon office of the Rangers of the Emerald Dawn, as if he was just coming home to get an earful. The group had failed their mission, somewhat, like mismatched sweat jackets and dress slacks keep failing his real-world friend Jack who was addicted to a lifestyle he would never understand the allure of. Seeing the quest-giver with her extravagantly voluminous curls made Iván think of exacting revenge right then and there, but he quickly realized dying again and in such a short amount of time would be troublesome. Maybe if they had given them jet-packs, maybe they wouldn’t have suffered as much. He made a mental note to invent that with Lightning Ironworks.

“Hello, Suzanne,” Iván intentionally got her name wrong to spite her, calling him some random name he half-remembered from some of his Internet chats. He just wanted to get this over with, so he could already move on to the next adventure, like all of this was a psychopathic ex-girlfriend. Of course, Iván had no experience with dangerous girls, excluding the pair that stabbed him in the back during his first mission for the Aristocracy. He lamented how his recent plans have all let him down, how a lot of his relationships haven’t been successful. He’s been played but a part of him doesn’t really care now. He’s been playing Spider-Man to a lot of Gwen Stacys. It’s time to say goodbye. “Here’s a bottle of what had been spring water. It smells like hell because you sent us to hell.”

The girl didn’t even have to open the bottle to know how horrible it smelled. The stench of sulphur wafted in the air as soon as Iván procured it from inside his coat. “I want my fair share of the reward… Gold, weapons, armor… Give me something that won’t make me feel like I wasted a life fighting a giant monster down in Satan’s anus.”

 

Bradwynne entered the Stokbon branch office of the Rangers of the Emerald Dawn, very dejected. He had clearly failed to keep the party together, to clear off all misunderstandings, and, then, had failed in not leaving everyone behind. He sat there like someone who was crazy trying to revive Temperance, and he had really thought he had succeeded, but it was all in his imagination. Although he had not felt the same guilt towards what happened to Ivan, as it could have happened to any of them, as he had known that he had been revived somewhere and so should have died in that hole along with Sharkie, the angels bless his soul, he needed a hazard pay. The pay that should fit for a person who risked and eventually gave his life for the sake of exploration.

Speaking of the devil, he saw Ivan trying to argue his case about what he had just experienced in that hole. Apparently he had been killed by a monster within what he had just called as Satan's anus, and he can't help but laugh about the metaphor. Anyway that woman who had been manning the place seemed to stiffly reject another share of the reward for Ivan, so it should seem that he had not received something like a hazard pay. But anyway he had to get his own reward, and so presenting a parchment notebook, he then said to the woman, "My report about the hole." It should give a comprehensive detail about the terrors of the place, from the water dragon in the underwater lake, to the hallucinogenic berries in the underground primeval, to the hedgehog monster nearby a hot spring, to the colossus within the fog. How to approach, how and when to gather resources, and the ways to traverse the hole. He also took note on what minimum mastery of adventurer was needed to travel the place freely, with the number of supplies needed. And then, when he had received his pay, in which he frowned because there was not that much, he then gave some coins to Ivan, saying, "Your hazard pay. Not that much because that person was so stingy," he then glared at the woman, and then returned his gaze towards Ivan, "...but I hope it should suffice."

((The coins were the result of a Discord discussion, and so should be purely RP.))

 

“How’d Brad get ahead of us?” Destiny asked, pushing the door open and shaking her head like a dog to clear the wet droplets from their final ascent. She didn’t want to talk about what the hell they had to do to get back up to the underwater level from the ooze-splashed forest, but it wasn’t pretty. Her sharp blue eyes widened as she saw the other occupant of the branch office and the lean woman bounded forward. “Ivan! You beautiful son of a bitch, how’d it go? Never mind,” she added quickly, smacking the man on the arm, “Tell us later, I bet you got a real story to tell.”

That said, she turned to the pink-haired gal manning the desk, leaning across the counter. A puddle of fishy-smelling water formed under her elbow on the wood. “Hell, have we got a report to give you, lady. I got it right here,” she continued, rolling up her sleeve where she’d been busily taking notes in sharpie on her skin. She’d had to really rack her brains on the way back to come up with some of the messy details. “We first encountered the beast named Sharkie when… mm… hurt anklet?” The Yladian bent her arm over her head as she struggled to read the messy handwriting on the underside of her bicep, “Ankle. We decided to… goddamn…” The black-haired woman looked between her writing-covered arms, trying to figure out where the report continued, “—and Temperance then got smashed into a bread… red? Stain… hang on. This is all outta order. Aw, hell!” The water was starting to wash some of the ink away. What the hell was the point of permanent marker if it didn’t even stick around long enough to read a report to a receptionist?

Destiny rolled her sleeves back down, admitting defeat. “Well, guess Brad worked pretty hard on his too, so that oughta be good enough for now,” she said, wiping her palms on her pants. They left messy black smears across the fabric. “I’ll message y'all later if I don't forget, there’s a couple points I’d still like to touch on.” Privately. Hell, to be honest, Des didn’t think her memories of the place would ever truly fade. It had all been so vivid, and surreal, and exciting—she’d seen things she’d never dreamed of, and felt things she’d never had before, and maybe never would again.

Well, can’t say that for sure… her hand slid into her pocket like Frodo with the One Ring, lingering over the cool, smooth shape she’d plucked on the remaining party’s way back up the spire. She didn’t know why she’d picked the berry. Not exactly. Maybe I just wanted to know it wasn’t my last shot. That I had a second chance. Whatever the reason, Des waved off the gold presented to her. “Aw, I couldn’t—was the least we could do. Well, arright, just a couple. Twistin’ my arm here.” Reward collected, she beckoned to the others. “Arright! Drinks on me? Think we all deserve to wind down and relax a little. I’ll send Temperance a PM and catch y’all later, mm?” Her lips quirked. “Hell… It’s sure been somethin’.”

 

There was absolutely no surprise in her features as the players who died before now stood in their presence. It was a game, after all, but not just any game.

''Let me handle this, won't you?'' She knew one of her teammates had already gone one step ahead of the duo and handed a report to the pink-haired lady who hired them for the exploration. Yet, when all was said and done, and rewards shoved into their arms, she felt there was an impending need to talk of what had transpired in the spire. Her thoughts, her voice, her opinion. ''There was a lake and we found creatures on it, no signals of any other person who could've gone before us once we touched land. There were a ledge and a small creature we decided to take with ourselves but there were no ways of moving on without diving underwater.''

''I lost an ear to an underwater monster while others received wounds of their own, too, it looked like some sort of dragon and I was powerless from stopping it from doing much more damage than it already had, but we killed it and pressed on.'' Her hands undid the bandages as to allow the Ranger a better view of the wound she had acquired, and within seconds, she materialized her ear out from her inventory and tossed it over to the woman. A clean cut did the trick, just as @Destiny Divebird specified when she took a closer look at it herself. ''There was a forest at the bottom of the lake with strange fruits that acted as active drugs to some of our party members, specific details... Please go ahead and ask Bradwynne and Destiny instead, but I'm sure you'll read it in his report.''

''While I do not expect you to believe me, neither do I expect you to give up on your research of unexplored land when we haven't found the source of such strange happenings... The only advice I can offer right now is to tell your men to prepare themselves should you try to arrange another party. The climatic conditions down there are unforgiving, and so are the beasts,'' having said her piece, the woman folded her arms over her chest and shifted her attention towards a matter much more important at the time: the pay. There wasn't much expectation on her end for a job that had finished before reaching their final goal, but at least she would be content with whatever she could lay her hands on.

''That... It won't do, I'm afraid. I don't have a desire for gold, but I will take whatever you can offer for another chance at killing the damn things we encountered there. Weapons, devices, poison. Anything, really. Guess you could say it's an ear for an ear.'' The Runestone, then, came into her possession with a tense sigh from the female.

She really hoped it would help with her magic.