"Right... right... this should be enough here!" Called a miner, who dragged a particular witch along with him into the darkened mine entryway. Even up at the surface, the hints of the clamoring beneath them in the depths of the mine was more than noticable. Between the frustrated cries of the miners, and the screeching of whatever had been causing them so much trouble, there was barely any room for Ms. Magpie to piece together a cohesive thought. At first, she had doubted the miner, whom so rudely pulled her away from her ritual with talk of an "emergency". Such had been the case for the rest of the adventurers who had been cobbled together for this particular "quest". They had been elsewhere, with their own business. From the broadest side of daylight had emerged a stocky, bronzed miner, whom carried the gore of a small creature on the head of his pickaxe. He had made no offerings of "please", he simply stated that whomever he had found had been drafted. Pickings were slim out in the sticks of Brisshal, and the sad group he managed to scrape from the bottom of the barrel was what he had. Clearly the witch had been busy, as she had so bluntly yelped at the stocky miner. Clutched in Ms. Magpie's hands were the struggling legs of a mange wracked rooster. Every step made by Ms. Magpie was one where the rooster would voice its unwillingness to be apart of the vile plot the witch was brewing. While whatever that had been cast aside, rather unceremoniously, it could not help but notice that the witch was still dragging it about. When it wasn't tearing apart its own larynx in frustration, it tended to look out towards the rest of the conscripted party--its eye glaring, judging. Ms. Magpie paid the cockerel no mind. She had been perfectly willing to speak over its insentient crowing thus far, "Clearing out kobolds? Should be simple enough." She had repeated, having no real relevant information on the actual nature of the monsters in question. Off of the noise alone, it was clear that they were outnumbered. If the cadaver the miner was dragging around was any indication, she estimated a single kobold to be generally smaller than a Fearin. Many of them could have been packed down there, in fact, she wasn't certain that the small group had the combined energy to really properly handle the full scope of the infestation she was starting to imagine. "What are you waiting for!? There's kobolds about! Come on. I didn't get you all together to talk amongst yourslves." "I can prepare a ritu--" Even though she had been speaking louder than she usually would to compensate for the heavily vocal rooster, she found her voice being drowned out upon reaching a certain word. Pausing she thought through it, "I can prepare a spell, if given enough time. I cannot wipe them out, but I can attempt to make sustained combat more difficult for them." Ms. Magpie then realized that she had neglected to look down. A lot of her plan revolved around affecting the air quality with a dense, sinking miasma. If any of her compatriots had been Faerin, then her plan would have its complications. "Oi, get down there!" Her heart jumped into her throat. Faerin had been the bane of her existence ever since she first dropped down into Terrasphere. One Faerin stood out above all, and once again, Ms. Magpie was in the imp's presence, "Hello again, Ms. Theoni. How is your tongue faring?"
The short faerin with bright golden hair stood among the competition with a smug expression. Though the original intent of this quest being handed out to a group of adventurers was for them to work together to eliminate the kobold threat from the mines, as it was apparently quite the infestation. Yet the moment it had been mentioned that they would be paid a bounty by the number of pests they exterminated, Theoni's competitive side could not help but awaken. And with that, an incontestable certainty that she would be the one to stand a top the highest pile of kills by the end of this extermination quest. Armed with her trusty bow from Honeyhome, and her archery practised rigorously before agreeing to partake in this mission, she was more than confident in her abilities. Whilst these other chumps ran around in the dark, she would be sniping the oversized rodents with impossible accuracy. Headshot, headshot.... she could hardly wait to be shouting out that phrase. She also contemplated how furious the losers around her would be as they realised how helpless they were. The very thought of it made her tremble with anticipation, the bow shaking in her grasp as she mostly tuned out the words of the miner who had guided them. The only thing to break her ignorance cocoon was a voice which suggested a plan that might steal some of her thunder. Something about spells and magic, a real cheap tactic which made Theoni scowl. She looked in the direction of the voice, and then had to glance up to compensate for the considerable height difference between the two. She recognised this perspective as she looked up the tall Yladian's body, and the hard to read face looking down at her. "Oh, sup Maggie." The Faerin greeted with a half wave from one hand, the other supporting the bow she had hooped over her shoulder. They had crossed paths near a pond and ended up being attacked by a dire stag. Back then she had been helpless, having no weapon of her own whilst the witch was casting strange spells. But now she had no disadvantage. And what better way to get revenge for the aforementioned tongue burn, then by completely demolishing Magpie on this kobold killing spree. "Yeah, yeah. Much better without your crappy tea. Stuff was gunk." The short girl remarked, turning her back on the other woman as she looked to the tunnel the miner was adamant about them entering. Your average archer was not meant to charge in first but instead hang back and shoot from a far. Theoni Vex was not the average archer. She had no idea how to really perform her role. But she imagined she did, and had an impossible ego to back up those illusions. Front lining into a horde, shooting arrows left and right, awesome. "No hard feelings when I take all the kills, yeah?" Theoni taunted, figuring it nice of her to give Magpie the heads up. "Hey, maybe you can save yourself the humiliation and try cooking up something that don't suck instead."
Conscription, since nearly time immemorial, has not been a particularly joyous occasion. The annals of history are lined with legions of the common rabble, exploited for purposes and machinations privy only to the nobles that looked down upon their number from above. The tragedy of conscription, however, and all its various merits and shortfalls, were beyond Hanzo Generico. All he knew was that this was beneath him. But then again, the ninja had asked for it. He had been stalking the miners through the forest, beneath the shadows of the sequoia, to stake his claim upon the greatest prize of all: that which did not rightfully belong to him. While laborers of their ilk seldom made for glorious bounty, all Hanzo required as payment was the thrill of taking. Besides, one of them had packed a glorious lunch of chicken and gravy. Eventually, his hunt had ended, and Hanzo, certainly not one for victory without gloating, had taunted: “Hey, suckers; what do ya’ll got for me?” As it happened, this miserable debacle with the kobolds was what they had for him. In the present time, Hanzo watched on as a small group of their ragtag bunch had broken off and charged into the infestation, spurred forth by a miner’s indignant remarks. They were idiots, the lot of them - there was no glory in the vanguard, not really. Hanzo would observe the proceedings from the dark patches of the mines, leaping out only to claim the final blow. So, for the time being, he’d content himself by making small-talk, much to the miner’s consternation. “Why would she have any hard feelings? If you’re an archer, you’re the DPS dude.” Hanzo inserted himself into Theoni and Magpie’s exchange, concealing a grin. He’d give this apparent glory-hog a false sense of security. He was a ninja, and ninjas were the best KSers.
Still with the Maggie. There were few ways to shorten Ms. Magpie (including, but not limited to “Ms.”), and every which way was far more acceptable than Maggie. Fate had brought the two together once more, thus allowing Ms. Magpie to continue forming a petty grudge. At the surface, she kept up an almost pleasant façade,, “Very well. I am relieved to hear you’ve made a full recovery.” The whole “kill stealing” aspect that had dominated conversation had been nothing short of ludicrous. She could not fault Theoni, however. During the whole incident wherein a herbivore nearly devoured the two adventurers, Ms. Magpie never bothered to use one of her more offensive spells, leaving Theoni in the dark about their dark nature. If anyone was going to be securing unearned kills, it was going to be Ms. Magpie. Between arrows and shurikens, there was a window wherein an object was not being flung at absolutely terrified monsters. It was in that moment that one of Ms. Magpie’s slowburn DoTs could seal the deal with one last, anti-climatic tick. Not to mention that the same miasma that was going to impede the kobolds was also going to have a notable effect on Theoni’s aim, and overall long term health. Unfortunately for everyone but Maggie, the unusually vindictive witch had not shied away from her initial plan, in fact, her reluctance was spurred away by the knowledge that she was going to be traveling along with Theoni once more. Luck, for once, was on Ms. Magpie’s side. The requisite cast time on the ritual was going to give her ample time to figure out a way for her to spin what would befall Theoni as anything other than intentional. Until then, she simply nodded. Showing great skill as a ninja, the ninja had snuck his way into the fold, “Quite. I'm merely here to help; I can disrupt and weaken them." She added, supplementing Hanzo's claim, "I am Ms. Magpie by the way, not Maggie." It was just the three of them, evidently, in the belly of what could have been a whale, had it been a hair smaller and not made entirely of stone. At least the noxious fumes that were soon going to start creeping through the mines were going to help lend to its air of whale innards. “Before we enter, I have something for us.” In a motion that could have easily been read as a threat, she dug her free hand into her alchemical satchel. The stench of stale mining air was slowly drowned out by the thick, choking aromas of some of the horrifying herbs the witch willingly carried on her person.This time, she did not have a drop of tea to offer, instead, she had had something much worse. In her hand was a spherical vial housing an almost gelatinous soup of red algae, spiked black mushrooms, and other ostensibly diabolical accouterments. Without warning, she popped the cork. Flowing outward was a stench so unbelievable it even brought up a look of unease to Ms. Magpie, “This is a simple darkvision potion, it will allow you to see in the dark of the mines without having to rely on torches.” As a show of good faith, she was the first to down one of the potions. It took far longer than any potion drinking needed to take. Its viscosity was more in line with old molasses than anything fit to be called a “drink”. Gasping, upon having a moment where her throat was not being clogged up by the still thickening mixture, she turned to the rest of the party, offering the last of the vials, “Do try to avoid vomiting; I only have three more of th... these.” She suggested, looking quite nauseous herself. 'Now... shall we begin?"
As the master of jeers self congratulated herself on another put down, she was surprised to find the first response did not arrive from the Yladian, who was no doubt deflated from the extraordinary put down about her tea, but someone else altogether. Alarmed that anyone might just inject themselves into a conversation, especially when she was in the business of laying down the smack, Theoni turned to see who the mysterious guest was. Regrettably she had to look up again, the curse of her height persisting still. Theoni very much wished she had not bothered. A strange pale man with freakish eyebrows stood nearly as tall as Magpie, his expression oddly blank as if hiding something. The short Faerin frowned to make sure he knew he was not welcome. "Because-" She started, only to be cut off by Magpie. Not that an interruption would ever slow her motor mouth down. Rather she just continued to speak, though her words carried less gravitas than the witch's words. "-I'm gonna absolutely crush her numbers and take home all the bounty. The rest of you jokers aren't getting squat, y'hear?" Mostly nobody did, as Magpie had been especially loud about correcting her name to avoid Maggie catching on. How futile the witch's attempts were, Theoni had made it her goal to persist with the nickname and ensure it would stick, no matter what. The Faerin was several steps ahead on this game and not willing to budge. The gauntlet thrown down, she could only amp up the tempo. Which meant saying Maggie more. The Yladian granted her opportunity. "The heck is that, Maggie?" asked Theoni, as the witch revealed the round vial from her satchel of indescribable terrors. The Faerin was certain she had heard a desperate shrieking coming from the bag, though it had been surprisingly quiet, as if uttered by a tiny creature. Her pointed ears twitched, she guessed it better not to question what could possibly be in the bag and instead focus on the ghastly looking potion the witch had taken a swig of. Against her better judgement, she accepted one of the vials, mostly because it provided opportunity for her other plan. "This stinks, Maggie. You're saying it will help see in the dark, Maggie? Like for real Maggie? All this darkness just going to light up for me, Maggie? You sure, Maggie? I dunno Maggie..." The Faerin rattled on pointlessly as she undid the cork on the top of the vial and sniffed at the concoction. Stank as terrible as it looked through the dimmed glass. She had suspiciously eyed all the vials when snatching one, just to make sure they were the same as the one the witch had downed. Would the spindly lady go through all the effort to make matching drinks of different... rather than be suspicious, the Faerin tapped the side of her forehead to enter inspection mode and got the same gibberish for all the vials. "Well, Maggie, if it'll make it even easier to beat you, Maggie, I'll try it, Maggie." Theoni had more name mentioning in store but had to gag on the horrific sludge she had just drank. It seemed to cling to the insides of her mouth, sliding down her throat ever so slowly that for a moment the short girl was distressed that she might choke. A few swallowing motions and finally the disturbing concoction was no longer noticeable. What did become clear was her vision, albeit only slightly. It seemed the witch was not a complete hack. "Woah I can actually see more!" The golden haired archer exclaimed in genuine surprise, then remembered her task a few seconds after. "...Maggie." Doing her utmost to pretend the pale ninja was not around, Theoni decided to take the lead on the matter, stepping forth into the no longer intimidating darkness. As if using some almost non-existent light, her eyes could see the outlines of the walls and other shapes in the darkness. She reached to her back to pull one arrow from the quiver and notched the projectile onto the string, preparing the bow to take a shot as she lead the group. "Yeah, just follow me. This'll be a piece of cak-" The noxious after-taste of the potion finally hit her taste buds. "Gah...." Theoni groaned and took another step forward. This was no time to lose composure, she had to be the best. The greatest...! An actual piece of cake to get rid of the awful taste would be great though. Hopefully the others were suffering as much as her. Despite the ailments, she did notice a slightly movement in the cave ahead. "I'm never trying anything you make again..." remarked the archer as she drew back her string and then released an arrow into the darkness. After a second, something yelped further into the cave, followed by a thud. The Faerin had been quick to shift her gaze from the shot to the other two adventures after firing, ensuring they witnessed the full smugness of her smirk. "Headshot." It had actually hit the creature in the back, but she was banking on them not having the time to investigate.
