[System]
Species: Human

Gender: Female

Age: 34

Nationality: Outreman, previously citizen of Angjusk

Occupation: Deputy head of department - Cradle Research & Development

Cybernetics:
* Cradle quick-access implant - Allows access to and from the Cradle environment without additional hardware. This advanced module also reduces fatigue caused by the process, allowing power users multiple entries in a single day.
* Tier 7c 'Cradle Builder' suite - Grants access to the programs created specifically for 'terraforming' the Cradle. Tier 7 out of 20 allows Freyr to auto-build a variety of specialised equipment and propose-build mid level structures.
* Ilyes Brand communication and productivity module - Standard implant for access to Outremer's communications network. Also integrates with many well known productivity tools like a personal assistant, as well as more bespoke scientific tools.

Backstory:
Freyr was born on Angjusk, an older colony than Outremer that was renowned for its military materiel, particularly star ships.

Her mother was an innovations tsar assigned by the government to a consortium of the planet's largest ship manufacturers. During most of Freyr's childhood, her mother's sole task was making sure Angjusk battle fleets were the best money could buy in the Diaspora.

Before she was born, her father owned and operated a series of protein farms across Angjusk. After a chance encounter at a lobby meeting, he was headhunted to co-ordinate the military industrial complex's entire food supply chain. He also met his future wife, as it was Freyr's mother who had recommended him for the job on that fateful day in the lobby.

Freyr was born five years later. Her early life was a whirlwind of schooling, snatches of intimacy with her parents (when they weren't busy) and extended periods with friends. She discovered a natural capacity for learning and excelled in her studies. So much so that she received offers from universities across the Diaspora to come and develop with them.

Her mother and father both pressured her to consider diplomas like Interplanetary Relations or Agrarian Policy. However Freyr was not interested in pursuing a career in politics. Angjusk has been involved in at least a dozen small conflicts since Freyr had been born. She had seen how politicians would destroy entire cultures for the sake of influence, and wanted none of it.

In her first act of defiance, Freyr accepted a position at a school in Babylon, the main city of a far away frontier colony called Outremer. Driven more by the desire to have time away from her planet than by the subjects on offer, she researched what Outremer was known for. It was here that she first discovered the object powering this section of the Diaspora - the Cradle.

She quickly became obsessed with its untapped potential and seemingly unknowable past. She decided to pursue Xenobiology and Machine Intelligence as her subjects of interest, voraciously consuming the knowledge gathered so far on the Cradle.

It was here at the university that she met her future partner, David, who was studying art history. Isolated from her family and friends, alone on a strange planet, Freyr was glad of his unassuming company and kindness. They grew very close over the course of their degrees, and moved in together after graduation. Their daughter Amy was born a few years later.

After Uni, Freyr was picked up by an Outremer administration outreach team and placed in a government career fast lane. Her obsession with the Cradle made her an obvious choice for the Cradle Research & Development department. Once there, she quickly proved herself capable. Several breakthroughs in her first five years meant she was allowed to hand select a team of dynamic young individuals to help pursue her work. A couple more catapulted her into a deputy head of department role, to the ire of some of it's older and more entrenched members.

It was on her 34th birthday that the Cradle abducted her family. It had been acting strangely for weeks prior, rolling back years of terraforming. Freyr had been working round the clock to figure out why, practically living at her field office by the Border. David had bought sweet treats and had Amy with her.

What can only be described as creatures emerged from beyond the Border and overran the camp. A panic spread through the mostly unarmed workers, leading many to flee for their lives. Freyr's last memory of her family was being propelled across the camp by one of the creatures. She could only watch from her position immobile on the floor as they carried off her husband and little girl.

Security forces conducted a sweep of the immediate area beyond the Border, but found no sign of them. So Freyr began looking by herself as soon as her broken bones were reconstructed. Months went by. Her work stopped and her mental health deteriorated. Eventually she was placed on sick leave and her access revoked, after she attempted to use her influence to organise an armed excursion deep into the uncontrolled zone.

[User]
Chapter 2 - Perfidious Dark
She was back in the Cradle. Everything around her was wrapped in night, a perfidious dark, crisscrossed with purple skeins on the walls, ceiling and floor. She looked down at her hands; they were covered in black, bristling algae. It crept up her body, toothy shoots wrapping around her neck. She opened her mouth to scream, and algae sprouted from in there too, curling around her lips and blocking her nose.

"Mummy?" A small, thin voice called from the dark. She looked up, unable to breathe but still searching for her daughter. The algae crawled past her eyelids and wriggled under her eyes. She couldn't blink. "Freyr, where are you?" A man's voice called, far away. She called back with every fibre of her being, but could only manage a muffled hum, deep within her throat. Something in the darkness chuckled.

A pale human face, one she remembered, but with black eyes and a gaping black hole for a mouth, appeared from the dark in front of her. "I can seeeee youuuu." It sang, it's voice wet and somehow dead. She screamed anew. The face flew toward her, on the end of a giant insect creature. It's mouth grew wider and long, sharp teeth appeared that filled her vision as the algae covered her eyes-

Freyr thrashed around, screaming into her pillow until she was finally awake and her covers lay on the floor. She heard clattering and looked around just as Masgard, the lawyer from yesterday, and four guards with guns burst into her bedroom. "Dr Lang!" Masgard shouted, then he surveyed the look on Freyr's face and the abandoned covers and realised what had happened. "Bad dream?" He asked. Freyr nodded, grabbing the covers back up to drape them over herself. "Clear." Officers began calling from all corners of the apartment, including in the bedroom. "Ok, everyone out please! I need to talk to my client. I'll let you get dressed, Dr Lang. Sorry for the disturbance; we thought someone was trying to kill you." Masgard grinned sheepishly.

Once everyone had left her bedroom, Freyr quickly changed from her night clothes into some sturdy, comfortable trousers, her work boots & gloves, and a black tank top. She rejoined the living room, where Masgard was waiting with two takeaway cups and a large paper bag. "I brought some pastries and something hot to drink." Freyr was actually starving after only eating a small part of her dinner, so thanked him and tucked in. "So, i have news from the Cradle." Masgard began after they'd each eaten a pastry. He sat across the breakfast bar from her, his hands clasped around his cup of tea. Freyr looked up. "What's that?" She said after politely swallowing what was in her mouth at the time.

"This is classified top secret. You Know Who-..." Masgard tapped just below his right eye, taking Freyr instantly back to the mysterious man with the augmented eyes. "...-wanted to bring you back into the Cradle personally to hear this, but i persuaded him you needed a little time away from that place." Freyr smiled gratefully. "Thank you, i appreciate that. After last night i…definitely need some time to decompress." She grabbed the canister of pills that were still sitting on the counter, and took one with her tea.

"So..." Masgard leaned forward, drawing Freyr in with him. "They sent a team back beyond the Border last night, to investigate the equipment that abomination with the human face was playing with. They found some advanced Rothian-tech communications array, with an activity log. It seems the creature used a testing backdoor to commandeer several comms arrays here, in real-world Babylon. It sent several encrypted bursts to coordinates on the surface of Rothia, the Rothians' homeworld." Freyr couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you telling me that thing was trying to talk to someone, light years away?" Masgard shrugged. "I'm not an expert, but those are the facts so far, yes." Freyr took a big sip of her tea, deep in thought.

[Assistant]
Depite having been up late into the night, Vreta still had no choice but to start his morning early. The events of the previous day had generated enough paperwork and meetings to fill most of his morning. Though, the night had, at the very least, dealt with his wounds. The holes that had been melted through his flesh were nowhere to be seen once he removed his bandages. The new scales that had grown over them were immaculate, with not so much as a scar to remind him of his ordeal. As well, his implants' readout of his current vitals showed no remains of his internal injuries. The nanites that had flooded his body had worked quickly to mend him. Once their task was complete, the majority of his nanites returned to a dormant state, while the excess he had been injected with had recycled themselves into raw materials.

On the insistence of the local police, Vreta gave his statement just after having a rather sizable breakfast. Fortunately, the police were willing to come to the embassy to speak with him, else there would have been more delays with arranging an escort for him. When speaking with the Humans about the attack, Vreta kept his responses straightforward and fact-oriented. He provided them with a copy of his recording of the attack, and for any questions he answered, he tended to just explain what happened in that recording. Altogether, he made sure that any word he gave on record to the Outremer government could not be disputed for its accuracy.

It was not until Vreta was able to get a secure, superluminal comms line back to his superiors on Rothia that he started to give his own judgment on the events of the previous day, both in the Cradle and out. In his opinion, there were opportunities now that the Rothians could not afford to waste if they wanted to uncover the mysteries of the Humans' prized Cradle. In Vreta's opinion, the attacks by the creatures in the Cradle showed that Outremer's government did not have as firm of control over the Cradle as they would like their people to believe. He could not know if this was a new development, or if attacks like this had occurred in the past and subsequently been swept under the rug. However, the fact that so much of Outremer's administration and organization was tied to the Cradle made them especially vulnerable to any problems with it. The fact that Vreta had seen this might have been a motivation for the attack in the park. Most certainly, Vreta did not believe it was Skinners that were responsible for the attempt on his life. Vreta had seen firsthand that the Cradle was fighting back against the Humans. That was a vulnerability that the Rothians could leverage, so the attack could have been motivated by a desire to prevent Vreta from sharing what he had learned. The fact that he had survived, though, made matters all that much worse for the Humans. Unless their government was willing to throw their agent to the wolves and brand her a terrorist, they had compelling evidence that there was a government-sponsored attempt on a Rothian citizen's life. That alone could be a justification for war, but even if his people did not want to resort to violence, it could also motivate damaging sanctions to the Outremer economy.

What Vreta had not expected was that the Humans themselves would be the one to call a meeting. Rothian diplomats had already been preparing to demand a meeting with Human officials to discuss the previous day's events, but before that demand could be made, they were sent a request for a meeting with the apparent purpose of discussing the Cradle. It was not a move that Vreta would have expected, given their previous patterns of behavior, which made him wonder if there was something more he did not know? In any case, due to his personal experience with the attacks in the Cradle, the Rothian representatives had requested his presence at the meeting. Whatever the Humans' motivations, Vreta would be able to see them in person.

[User]
Freyr thought back to her discussion with the Rothian, Vreta, idly massaging her arm. He'd said the creature with David's face had talked about 'finding toys' just after using that communications array. With this new information, she concluded it was highly likely 'toys' was a way for an immature construct to assign value to something it didn't have Human words for yet. The question was, who's vocabulary did it pluck this word from? Freyr couldn't help but think it was her daughter, Amy's, lexicon. The evidence so far pointed to them being alive in some form in the Cradle. She just had to find them.

"In fact, there's a meeting this morning with the Rothians. We're going to look for permission to open an investigation on the coordinates we pulled from the arrays. Blue Eye Guy has requested your attendance, as the Cradle Research Division's new head." Freyr sharply looked up from staring into her tea. "That's Karos' job." She snapped. Masgard regarded her sympathetically for a moment. "Dr Lang, Dr Childermass died in the Cradle... I'm told you were very close...I'm sorry." The medication hadn't kicked in yet, and Freyr could feel anger and grief bubbling up to the surface. She felt her grip tighten on her drink. "He's been gone less than a day, and already they've made me head of department?" Masgard nodded. "The guy moves quickly, I must admit. He said it'd be good for you to link up with your team to-"

Freyr crushed her takeaway cup between her fingers, sloshing hot tea all over the breakfast bar. "THEY'RE ALL FUCKING DEAD! And now you look at me like I know how to fix this!" She exploded, standing up and glaring at Masgard with tears suddenly streaming down her face. The lawyer awkwardly grabbed up his cup and the bag of pastries to prevent them from getting wet. Freyr hissed as the pain from her burned hand kicked in. She rushed to the sink and held it under cold water. The sensation triggered memories of the energy burn she'd sustained to the same arm in the Cradle. "Freyr…" Masgard soothed, coming around to the sink. "I've read your file. You are the brightest mind in your field. No one else has your combination of specialised education, knowledge of the Cradle, and first-hand experience of what it's capable of now. If anyone can figure out how to fix this, it's you!"

Freyr pushed past him, heading into the bedroom and slamming the door. Masgard stood outside, trying to listen to what was going on inside. "With the amount of infrastructure that relies on the Cradle, i don't need to tell you what is at stake if it gets any worse." Eventually, Freyr emerged from her bedroom, jumper on. "Come on. Let's go to the meeting." She sighed, motioning with her head to the door, hands in pockets. Masgard grinned. "Now that is the spirit!"


[System]
* Gender: Female
* Age: 22
* Appearance: "I'd ask you to leave them alone, but I don't think my words would reach thugs like you at this point."
* Can Manipulate Qi/Ki?: N/A
* Specialization: N/A
* Abilities: Torako has no supernatural capabilities to speak of. What she does have is a well-forged katana, named for a myth about a child from the moon, Taketori. It has no unique capabilities, and the name is simply given due to its fine craftsmanship and excellent cutting ability. Torako is a swift and direct combatant. One of her specialties is iaido.
* Personality: Those who practice swordsmanship in Rikoku have something of a stereotype constructed around them. Stern, serious, unflappable, these are words frequently associated with them. Ushijima Torako is exactly none of these things. The Tiger Lily of Rikoku has something of a reputation as being dangerous, but the real girl is a laid-back and friendly sort, who is easily seduced by good food and fine sake. She'll talk to just about anyone about anything, and many who meet her fail to realize such a girl could ever be the Tiger Lily. Torako is quite casual when speaking with others, as well, unlike what many would expect, but even with a less-refined manner of speech, she still refers to those around her in a remarkably respectful manner. Torako expresses nothing but gratitude towards people who share new things and experiences with her as well. This lackadaisical, cheerful attitude, however, abruptly changes when Torako decides to enter combat. This is usually only when directly challenged, or when someone around her is threatened. While if it is a mere challenge to a sparring match, she will remain cheerful, anything else is treated with the utmost seriousness and without hesitation. Torako, in an instant, goes from a friendly, somewhat silly girl, to a swordswoman with no hesitation to kill if necessary. She also holds a deep adoration for her homeland, even as she travels, she will always return to Rikoku.
* History: The history of the girl who has gained the unofficial title of the Tiger Lily of Rikoku is not a well-known one. An illegitimate child of Ushijima no Goro, the nobleman did not wish for her existence to be publicized. Even with this un-fatherly decision, at least one of the motivations was so that she would not be taken and used as nothing but a tool to get back at him, for her sake as well as his own. She was secluded to the family's dojo, and initially her training began for the sake of self-defense rather than anything else. However, it was discovered that she took to the training with incredibly fervor and intensity, dedicating herself to to the way of the sword with an unyielding focus. Unfortunately, at this time, her father was becoming more and more paranoid, towards his fellow nobles, especially the young daughter of one family who seemed in a position to take a great deal of power... And at this time, his hidden daughter was becoming so intensely skilled in swordplay even at a relatively young age...
It was his decision here that made Torako become the Tiger Lily. That Bloody Tiger Lily of Rikoku. Unwilling to dismiss the words of her father, Torako became an assassin for the Ushijima family. Her skill with a blade lead to an unexpected surprise, and even disguise she came to be known for her swordplay and flowing, almost silvery hair. Several nobleman died, many guards were brought to their deaths by the Bloody Tiger Lily as well. But for all her efforts, Torako ultimately failed. Goro was slain, though Torako never saw the killer, and the Ushijima family's home was set ablaze. Torako's travels began both to find her former instructor, whose body was not among those slain, and for vengeance. But as the girl traveled, and discovered how truly wide and wonderful the world is, vengeance became a distant memory. The Bloody Tiger Lily's reputation, however, did not leave her, though now, as she became a traveler whose sword raised only against those who attacked her or others, or those who challenged her directly, simply calling her "Tiger Lily" became more common. Torako always returns to Rikoku, for even with the painful memories of the destruction of her home, she still loves her homeland. But indeed, she loves her travels as well. While vengeance is a distant thought, Torako still wishes to find her vanished teacher once more. And if directly confronted by her father's killer, who's to say what would happen...
* Other: A decent cook in a pinch.

[User]
Things seemed to be going well enough for the Xu, having been able to force his adversary on the defensive as his fist delivered a flurry of punches laced by razor-sharp wind. The gale that had started forming around the two felt a bit... Well, exaggerated to him, but at least it helped add to the moment. He could feel his muscles screaming out in pain, begging him to stop; his heart, on the verge of collapse, was beating more rapidly than the winds around him were blowing. But this was one fight he couldn't afford to hold back on. With the last of his energy as his body was about to break, Xu cocked back his right arm, readying himself for a punch...

When Xin's counterattack struck him head-on. It pierced through the armor of wind he had set up, the qi underneath, and went straight through his torso. Though it wasn't necessarily fatal, the battle was more than over by then.

He... Had lost.

With a defiant smile, Xu coughed a few times, blood mixing itself in with his spit as the winds died down around the two fighters. So, this guy turned out to be the real deal in the end, huh?

"...Hm. I'll keep my word. Do what you wish." he stated, falling to his knees as the blood continued leaking out from the gaping wound across his body. "Nam-seon, you know as well as I do that we're damned regardless of what we do now, so there's no point in not coming down here. Move, you Daeyang blockhead; the sooner we get this over with, the better."

With a grunt, the bandit's companion jumped down from his perch on the branches above and landed beside Xu, a grim stare as he looked at Dai Xin.

"That battle... You fought well. Dying to such a skilled fighter... I have no regrets." Nam-seon sighed, taking off his katars and placing them to the side. "Do as you will."

[Assistant]
As both men knelt before him, ready to die, Dai Xin stared at them for several long moments.

"I despise thieves and killers, especially those who prey on others that cannot defend themselves." he began. "Those who steal, and rape, and burn. Like those others back in the forest. I would rather see them die slow, painful deaths, regretting everything they have ever done, begging for release that is denied them. Fair trial for men like that--for most, in my opinion--is a waste of time. They forfeited the rights of humans when they committed inhumane acts."

He folded his hands into his sleeves.

"But good and evil are merely the notions of man, possessed by each in his own manner. So I act as I wish and disregard both."

He looked towards Kyang for a moment, thinking back to her reactions about his lifestyle of violence and extortion. Towards Torako. Her innocence had been merely a facade, hiding a no-doubt troubling past. Then he looked back at the two men.

"You are excellent fighters. You showed me a technique I do not yet understand, and gave battle with spirit, though I judged you as dogs earlier. To kill you would be a waste of talent."

He turned his back on them and began to walk back towards the two women.

"Leave the service of your master and pursue a life others would call just, or devote yourself to your arts. Let us clash again another day; at that time I will reconsider whether or not I will take your lives."

[User]
The fight that Kyang just witnessed left her glad to be a distance away from it. There were cuts coming from fists, deflections coming from the wind, a pouring of energy into a desperate fight that went beyond the naked eye. She had trouble keeping up, but it was clear when it ended. Xin's bare hand had impaled his opponent with such abrupt brutality that Kyang flinched.

What followed was something that caused more shock and confusion to Kyang than any bout of ki-fueled combat ever could. Xin showed mercy. It was not just the mercy that gave a chance to those forced to do wrong, not just blind mercy for absolute strangers, it was the worst kind of mercy; mercy that was giving something up in the process. There was no guarantee that these guys wouldn't go right back to being highwaymen. In the tumult of Kyang's immediate reactions, she believed that Xin didn't know what he was doing and acted accordingly.

"What?" She said sharply, throwing down the crossbow she had found. "Xin, what did you...? Why?" Things started to click together and Kyang began to shout, "You are impossible! You do not even know these people!" Kyang leaned forward on her glaive and gestured to one side, "You think they're going to suddenly turn their lives around because you spared them!?! Oh, talent!? Talent doesn't tell people to be virtuous! You're walking proof of that! What, is your brain made of the same as ochre dirt as the colour of your hair!?"

Kyang knew that she was not going to convince Xin grounds of morality, especially once she heard her own argument label Xin as guilty in the first place, so she threw up her free arm in futility. "Oh, have it your way then. See if the guy missing half his stomach is going to live anyway!" Kyang then threw up a finger towards Xin's face. There wasn't just morality amongst her protests, "But, so help me, if I find out that we don't get a bounty out of this - if those showmen start holding up caravans again - I'll find what makes you tick, Xin. I'll get to you. I'll find a way to make your life unbearable and I won't have to ever take a swing at you in the process!"

In the seconds that followed her rant, Kyang locked Xin's eyes with bared teeth and huffed out four short breaths. There was no way that she could fathom how to harm Xin, or whether it would make any good difference, but she was angry all the same. Venting seemed to peter her out to the point of settling down. She curled her lips, closed her eyes and began taking some deeper breaths, though they were forced and loud at first. "Alright..." Kyang said during one exhale, before breathing in again. "Let's just collect our bounty, then I don't have to deal with this any further." Kyang opened her eyes and looked to Torako, "What do we need to show as evidence. Heads? Weapons?"

[Assistant]
Torako chose not to comment on the decision that Xin had made, or the argument brewing between him and Kyang. No, instead, her attention was focused solely on the defeated bandits. Quietly, she approached them, one hand resting on the hilt of her katana. Her gaze was cold. The blood was drying on her skin and kimono. Her expression was set intensely, displaying a simmering anger deep beneath the frigid look. She came to a stop directly beside the one who had suffered the defeat from Xin.

"Let me tell you this," Torako began, eyes traveling across his body for a few moments. Her actions here were only natural to her, in the face of who these men were and what they did, what their path in life was and where it had taken them. Indeed, it only made sense to do what she was about to. "If you return to a life of pillaging after your defeat here, nothing will save you."

To illustrate, she quietly unsheathed Taketori, the blade gleaming in the light.

"You will die without understanding what has cut you. You will die in an instant. This is the vow of the Tiger Lily."


[System]
TRIGGER WARNING
Seriously, there's hecka dark material ahead, my dudes. Venture at your own risk.
"I'm good at diggin', and not much else."

---
Themes:
(Common)
(Rarely)
(Evolved - Demiblin)
(Evolved - Palablin)

Gender:
Male

Species:
Goblin > Mystic Stone-Hardened Demigoblin

Appearance:
It's your standard goblin, though he has a far weaker chin than most goblins. Honestly, he just looks like a really short human with green skin, a long and pointy nose, and pointed ears. He has hair, but it's only growing right above the middle of his head like a mohawk, and it refuses to spread anywhere else on his head. It's actually kinda long.

With the evolution to Demiblin, not much changed for the lad aside from his skin growing MUCH darker overall, nearly a bluish-charcoal color, and Digbie's arms being covered in a large amount of bright blue sigils. Digbie's eyes also began to glow, though this is mainly noticeable when Digbie's eyes are covered in shade.
(I'll be doing art of this boy in time).

Goals:
What do you want, Digbie? It certainly isn't power...

Past Life:
Digbie didn't really have a life. It was more or less just a collection of him existing and being somebody that he couldn't tell people about. His dad said something about how his mom was still around and he loved her, but Digbie never saw her. He suspected that she was in the back room of his old house, where it smelled, was obnoxiously cold from an under-draft, and always buzzed like flies, but he wasn't ever allowed in there.

Early on in his life, Digbie liked to play around in the backyard with his trusty shovel, digging around everywhere and getting into gardening (though he was never any good at the latter.) When he wasn't at school, he was probably digging a hole in his backyard. It helped him cope with the skulls of people in his room when his dad was apparently 'done' with them. Digbie couldn't understand, and he didn't understand why he came home sometimes to find his holes covered up. At first it scared him, but he grew out of it.

He was around 14 or so, making somewhat respectable grades at his school and a pretty smart fellow at face value, when his dad got mad at him. He made a low grade in his history class. His dad yelled at him and cast him to the bathroom while he thought about how to punish his bastard of a son. Digbie was scared, but Digbie was also smart and didn't break the bathroom to worsen the punishment. His dad settled on turning his hobby into a punishment, and after feeding him a good meal, sent Digbie to the backyard to dig a hole and find a bone in the backyard, but he had to find a bone in a spot of the yard where he had never dug before.

Digbie began to dig a hole on Sunday.

The authorities found his body in the hole two Saturdays later.

He actually got pretty far.

Abilities:
This is outdated and won't be reupdated. Just keep track of Digbie's actual posts, the most recent one is the most up-to-date.

Milestones:
Evolved to Demigoblin. (Link to Post)
Level 10!!! (Link to Post)

Inventory:
Like abilities, I won't be updating this further. Digbie's recent posts are up to date, though.
5/10/2020 - Updated to correspond with Level 10

[User]
Ardur The Pixie  Don't mess with the white mage >>>> PROMOTED! /// day 8 // Evening / Location - J11

Ardur was breathing heavily while he watched. Too tired to do anything the pixie sat down and tried to calm his beating heart. This fight was in the hands of the others now, and he surrendered to the fact that he would just get in the way. While resting, he was able to go over his skill points with his new level increase. He must have been close because Rattleskull wasn't even dead yet before he got his new level.

Looking down the list while the fighting continued in the back ground. He had 7 points to distribute for his third level. The selection this time had also increased which was nice as well as noticing the new shield spell and the fact that he was almost half-way to a new healing spell made him smile. Ardur continued to ponder the other skills, they would surely take some time to level some more than others. Considering this and the direction of the cave reborn currently.

Ardur placed 4 of the 7 points into taming to bring it up to a usable skill and put the remaining 3 points into fireball bringing it up to 0.7. He could only hope that this would help him out in the long run.

His attention turned back to the fight at hand while he continued to rest. Rattleskull was going down quickly in a state of near confusion. Obviously he had never faced such opposition with so many foes. It was easy to understand that having so many creatures working together would be strange to anyone. Even then, such information was useful. It meant that any other creature that would oppose them would be caught off guard at least momentarily by their team work. Even if, it was a bit sloppy.

Finally, the boss monster fell and it took all their might and tricks to finally win. The creature died in anguish and fear. Their kill was not clean by any means. Ardur could only hope that the next things they fought would go quicker. He never really minded death or gore, but he didn't particularly like suffering. It just isn't what he is into.

Then he received another notification, "You have overcome a harrowing trial! Your Battle experiences have culminated in new power! You are now Level 4! You gain Skill Points to use as you please!"

"Another level up and 5 more skill points?" well then this was definitely a strange occurrence. Ardur quickly put 3 of the 5 skill points into Fireball giving him Fireball I. the last two points into Stronger making it go from 0.6 to 0.8.

The others seemed to finally take a break and rest, the slow realization of what just happened slowly seemed to dawn on them. Ardur sighed making his way to the goblin leader. Stepping up to the lifeless former foe he watched as the others began to start processing the loot from this kill. Ardur stayed out of their way for the most part, he was only interested in one thing. Food. Something he found easy to get to near the neck. The others had already started to behead the corpse and pulling a few strands of muscle fiber off between their cuts seemed to satisfy him.

It didn't taste good, it never did. Still, he nonetheless ate the large goblins flesh while standing away from the others. The wisp that he gave the mana crystal too earlier approached him thanking him for the crystal and tried to ask about teaching him some magical skills. Before he could answer another pixie came into the picture and began to converse with him. They spoke of spells and ability's he didn't know of before demonstrating them.

Ardur would try to remember what they said about their own abilities before speaking his peace. "I would love to train with you in spells but later." A bright fiery flash could be seen in the distant cave. "As you can see the goblins are still pressing towards us, and they don't know their leader has fallen. I don't know about the rest of you reborn, but I don't really want to kill any more of them." He paused for a moment to consider his thoughts. "I mean we killed their leader, their strongest. All that's left is crispy, but he seems smarter than Rattleskull and could be reasoned with to live in harmony with one another. Or at the very least in peace." He wiped the goblins blood from his mouth and looked towards the others. "The least we could do is try. However, if the rest of you choose to continue this killing spree I won't get in your way."

Ardur was interrupted by a sudden shift and froze in place. something seemed off yet enchanting about their home. that with the new information about their world and this new dungeon could be a problem. hopefully it doesn't draw in more powerful creatures. they needed to rest and regroup before facing a new threat.

Jason seemed to have other plans. As everything seemed to settle and the others looked to be lost in their own thoughts and feelings, the slime called out to him for a heal. Ardur was close by him and thought the yelling after the headache he just received was a bit much but ok. The pixie was able to cast Minor Heal II on Jason before he sped off. Whatever it was he was doing made him quite curious so the pixie followed suit keeping pace with the slime and flying just above him.

Amsterdam

Level: 4

Health: Full
Mana: Full
Stamina: 1/2

Inventory: N/A

Clothes: N/A

Weapons: N/A

Magic/Skills: Shield II, Lesser Flight III, Minor Heal III, Physical Conditioning I, Fire Resistance I, Taming I, Fireball I

Kills for current level:

[Assistant]
~THE OTHERWORLDLY CAVERN~

---

Consciousness slowly returned to Ash as the foggy visions of the dream faded. Whatever she dreamed it had gone in nearly an instant. She had never been good at remembering dreams in the first place, even when she was human so she didn't think too much of it. Merely finding a way to try and break out of this annoying shell once more! Ugh, what was this? It was even tighter when she originally broke out of her first egg, wasn't it? Urgh, either it had gotten smaller or she had gotten larger. Judging from things, it was probably the latter.

With each waking second, focused returned and she could feel her new body. A twitch of new muscles from her shoulder blades, cramping painfully as she tried to move them. Her neck felt it too, like a bad night of sleeping. She almost didn't even notice her new tail. And just who was making that annoying racket?! Clawing her way out of this shell once more, she jabbed at it with her tail and claws as best she could, and finally her vision returned.

"Urgh, somehow that wasn't restful at all..." She wearily shook her head, shaking the sleepiness from her eyes as she crawled out of this new shell, stretching her body, blinking and gaining vision back just in time to see...Colchain running for the hills? And a goblin...? Almost immediately Ash assumed a defensive stance. It seemed like whatever this evolution thing had done both increased her stats as well as hopefully refilled her stats, so she could...wait.

"...The goblin from earlier?" Ash lowered her new wings, flapping them experimentally. "...well, this is not quite how I imagined our second meeting to go. Allow me to formally introduce myself. Ash, former human and if my hunch is correct, so are you."

How very helpful. Sometimes, system, stating the obvious was mildly infuriating.

"I'm a little upset you scared off my friend, but I suppose that's not really a issue in the grand scheme of things." Ash sighed, exhaling and shaking her head as she decided to take a seat much like a cat might, front legs holding her body up and tail curling around her body. "I am glad to see you are alright. I was concerned when I heard those fools decided to attack the goblins. I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less from former humans, resorting to violence the first chance they get." Blinking Ash cleared her throat. "...look at me rambling like the old woman I formerly was." Before she could continue however, something peculiar happened. Another system message, and a fairly important one from the looks of things.

Ash frowned. Well, she hadn't really a clue as to what any of this was but she was wholly uninterested at the moment. Perhaps she was a little curious as to what it all meant, but doing so would likely mean she had to interact with the other former humans and to be quite honest, she had no desire to do anything of the sort. In fact...what was she going to be doing from now? Violence wasn't something she liked. She wanted to avoid it. She wasn't the same as them. Like always. Always the outcast. Even the two pixies and other lizard seemed to have left her.

She could continue her original plan of finding other lizards, trying to make something with them. She'd just need to find Colchain again whilst looking out for others, especially with all this confusion going on perhaps it could be easy.

"...Hmm, I'm considering leaving this cave." Ash continued after a second of thought, mostly disregarding the system message and giving Orchid a curious head tilt, as if wanting her opinion. "I grow tired of the other humans already, aside from you and I have no desire to particularly contend or deal with them."

[User]
Ah heck yeah! New level ups!

... oh, that's not so good.

Jason grabbed the goblin's attention as he thought about what to put his stats into. There was an ability that... confused him. It was {Taboo}. What exactly did that mean? It piqued his interest as he grabbed up all of his things and ran towards Jason, dragging his pack along behind him. Whatever that message meant, Jason was probably the safest bet to be with at the moment.

"9 into Taboo, 1 into Stronger, and 2 into Rock Spire!"

He hoped that whatever was happening would result in something good occurring for him.

As the goblin ran, he couldn't help but satisfy his curiosity as he used {Tremor Sense II} to see what exactly was changing around the cave. He wouldn't get too much to see, but he could hopefully sense what was going on at that time.

Putting 9 points into {Taboo}, 1 point into {Stronger}, and 2 points into {Rock Spire}.
RUNNING LIKE HELL (using Tremor Sense II in the meantime!)

---

+ {Use Light Equipment]
+ {Tremor Sense - Tier II}
+ {Soil Manipulation - Tier I}
+ {Stone Shot - Tier I}
+ <Curved Rock
TM
>
+ <Ratskin Pack
TM
>
- Mana Crystal
- <Woodland Pick
TM
>
- Rock
- Rock
- Rock
- Rock
- EMPTY
- 5 Rocks
- 3 Mana Crystals


[System]
Position: White House Chief of Staff
Age: 43
Sex: Male
Physical Description:The first thing one notices, especially in a clean cut crew like a Republican administration, is that Mike Gerard, AJ Shepard's Chief of Staff, wears a beard, and it's a shade lighter and slightly redder than his hair. He has a flair for navy suits with soft shoulders, fitted slim, over the typical gray and black of the WH, and they're paired with a burgundy, usually, foulard tie. His smartwatch is worn, idiosyncratically, on the underside of his wrist. He swears he buys off the rack, and he might, the motherfucker.

Brief Bio:Born in Woburn, Mass, Gerard came from a family of striving (lace-curtain) types that pushed their kid forward. His parents paid for the Malden Catholic tuition; mom, a social worker, and dad, an electrician, made the necessary arrangements for Mike and his two sisters, Liz and Pat, to attend without really complaining about it. But Dad loved that Mike played hockey for Malden.

Fast forward to Dartmouth College, hockey, history, qualitative social sciences, which is to say a confluence of geography, psychology, math and all sorts of complicated shit. College was busy; ROTC helped pay the tuition his parents couldn't. Instead of a study abroad, which he could ill afford, he interned for credit in Ted Kennedy's office.

Fast forward to Afghanistan, Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 556 operating in the Northwestern part of Afghanistan. Multiple deployments through 2007 when a grenade blast does damage to his vision and leaves him with recurring neurological damage that causes migraines. He also lost a piece of his right leg, which required a prosthesis. Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Cross. He left the service on a medical discharge at the rank of Captain. He joined Teddy Kennedy's staff, then over to John Kerry's staff when Teddy passes. As a Kerry staffer, he made the transition from staff at the Senate to staff at the State Department until 2016, when he ran for Congress in Massachusetts.

Fast Forward to the House, 5th Massachusetts when the Senate seat comes open and someone needs to take it in a special election. The guy the GOP put in there, trying to get another shot at a seat, was steamrolled, in a campaign that got the messaging right, even in a midterm where a Democratic president was not doing so well.

Fast Forward to three days after AJ becomes the president-elect. Mike gets a call and takes the meeting out of respect; they'd always had an amiable relationship in the Senate and a good vibe in collaboration across the aisle. Mike comes out of that meeting looking like a ghost grabbed his balls. Then, to the wonderment of the press, he gives a terse statement along with AJ to the effect that he has accepted the post of White House Chief of Staff, and duty to country comes first. The press freaks, but they have no idea, not yet.

Issues/Agenda:Lots of Republican operatives are wondering what the fuck the Democratic golden boy of the senate is suddenly doing as AJ Shepard's chief of staff. He's not the only cabinet member in there that doesn't pass the litmus test. The thing is, Mike Gerard is a Massachusetts liberal. On criminal justice reform, he's soft. On education, he wants to spend too much. The NRA has a special place in hell that is reserved for veterans that speak against them.

On the environment, for example, he is a big fan of energy technology, which benefits his state, which does tech and renewable energy, especially piloting offshore wind in partnership with industry big boys -- and he was instrumental in moving legislation through to that effect in the Senate with surprising support on both sides. He had to concede things to the oil boys to get it, and so he did it. The 2020 Renewable Resources Act (RRA) balanced a lot of different concerns and he still brought the bacon through to Massachusetts; it took one and a half years of back and forth to get the support for it, and it was a coup, really stepping into Teddy's old shoes.

On foreign policy, he believes in engagement, which means that use of force has a place on his spectrum. In this regard, he is often accused of being a sellout or soft, depending on who is commenting. He has a complex criteria for use of military action, but he's been in favor of eliminating terrorists with drone strikes, though he has concerns about civilian casualties. He is, perhaps as a result of having dealt with local forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, wary of alliances with the wrong people. The Arab Spring had an impact on him too -- he felt the US position was watered down by established interests. The same interests will seek to establish position with the aliens. US thinking on policy will have to shift radically to questions they'd never considered before - interstellar tech transfers, colonization...and if the aliens decide to divide and conquer the nations of Earth.

Mike is looking at what needs to happen to protect Humanity, and thinks the way forward is through the UN. His job, as Chief of Staff, is no less than to keep this administration on task with the threat/opportunity of the aliens.

And so much of this is less important than it was, but some of it will be more important than ever, as this administration grapples with the aliens and all the consequences of first contact. His driving reason for joining this White House is to make sure that the opportunities from alien contact benefit the nation at large, and avoiding a haves/have nots scenario as much as possible. In this sense, he is informed by the Catholic values of social justice, and Teddy Kennedy rubbed off on him here. Aliens are a danger, but they're also an incredible potential for positive social change.

Notes:Married, with two kids. His wife, Sarah, is notable for her USAID work and subsequent work on behalf of Medicins Sans Frontieres in a support and management role. She's also a feminist author and a frequent target of a certain type of televangelist. The tinfoil hat wearers also have a field day; he's Catholic, she's Jewish and all possible conspiracy angles get covered.

[User]
"Yeah, we could threaten the Russian about another sanction coming from us," Hyo murmured to himself as the Vice President making her points clear from across the table. But to be true, the first part of the meeting doesn't really concern him. After all, it is their expertise. And it is better to leave the matter to the master, despite the fact that he is also one of the best in his work.

Looking to the vacant seat next to him, where Raymond Rose usually seated comfortably with a lukewarm cup of coffee in hand, a sense of nostalgia come across Hyo's mind. But there wasn't that much to remember about. Yes, they were colleagues. Yes, they are co-workers that prefer to exchange some unlaughable jokes during pass time. And sometimes, they do give others favors in supporting each other bills when addressing the House. But that is that. Ain't no decades of friendships nor comrades in the political battlefield. Just an acquaintance to each other.

But still, a question is needed to put forth, why did Raymond do that? It has only been a few months in and already a person is out? Hyo knew he wouldn't buy that. For surely, nobody would be sacrificing their clean status because of something like this. Unless it is because of someone bribe him which required an investigation from the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit). But the current situation requires more undivided attention from Hyo. After all, this is not only about Ray but the whole department itself. And as a matter of fact, it is reasonably difficult to interfere the nation's economy without dabbing into the Department of Commerce's specialties, which would make him look like a power hungry politician if do so.

"Yes. Don't be too worried about the Russian. The fact is that they are more dependent on us than we to them on import and export speak for itself. So, I suppose another sanction threat would be enough to stop the Russian from at bringing this to the table. For the Chinese, I will try to think of a solution about this…"

Hyo stopped, seemingly trying to construct his next line while sipping the cold coffee.

"As I was saying, I will try doing my best with the Chinese. But it is not within my power to promote domestic commerce. And there are only two solutions that I see, we could consider another candidate. Or we could separate it up in half, half goes to the Department of Labor and the rest for the Treasury."

For Hyo, it was a bold move. Of course, he knew the proposal would likely to never get past the Lower House, he wasn't betting on it. Actually, if that bill gets to the President's table, there is a more severe problem to fix than just deleting the Secretary of Commerce out of the presidential succession line. No, his reason was comparatively simple. It was just a warning shot, a reminder for any people in this room to not fiddling with their personal interests during these times. Because for Hyo, what if the President heard the suggestion from the Vice President and actually choose the person she handpicked. There would be groups in this room. And although that chance is slim, he would prefer not taking that road or any roads with the same mindset.

"Well, while we are still on the discussion of the economy, I had recently sent a bill to amend the Dodd-Frank Act. As you all know, after the President's message, 5 banks declared its failure and a few minor strikes happened. The 5 banks were all community banks with each asset are less than 50 million dollars. Fortunately, we found another a bank that would gladly take all deposits of three. The others two? Not so successful. Of course, what ensured has been paid off. But about 9000 to 11000 people were affected quite heavily. So it would really help me if you guys can put a nice word when the amended version gets propose into the Lower and Upper House. "

[Assistant]
"I'll do what I can," Bill said with a nod towards Hyo. "I golf with the House Banking Committee Chairman. I'll whisper sweet nothings into his ear the next time we're on the links."

Bill suddenly remembered that he hadn't golfed since... well, since he was informed about the alien crisis. As much fun as it was for him, who had the time any more?

"But back to Russia," he said with a glance towards the veep. "Madam Vice President, you raise some good points. Sweden is willing to share their communications with us and have given us snippets once things have been translated. So far it's basic questions about our planet and people, how old we are and if we're carbon-based. Shannon Volgel is our ambassador over there and she's been instructed to treat the Swedes with kid gloves. They're responding well to that, less so with Russia's more forceful approach. They're already wary and I'm afraid if we go along with the Kremlin, they may cut us both off and control the conversation entirely. Things get messy when that happens."

[User]
"There's no way to stop the Swedes now, they know more than we do at this point. Exchange of information is a necessity here anyway, bottom line." In a planetary crisis, or impending one, Mike was thinking essentially of the idea that national agendas were less important, but he'd always been an internationalist. However, the political chaos leading up to consensus was a thing that he was keen to manage. They had no idea when they'd be doing more than talking to a seemingly-automated probe, but they knew it was coming. It could be a century or more, or it could be tomorrow.

"The alien agenda at this juncture is hard to gauge on the basis of that communication, but we should be prepared for any number of scenarios," He almost referenced "To Serve Man" but realized that someone would leak that and create chaos in the press. It was a controversial story right now, and in an era of heightened fear, he didn't want to add fuel to that fire.

So Mike Gerard did the smart thing and sipped his coffee in order to gain a moment to phrase a reply, rather than just respond.

The public conversation was already influenced by sci-fi reading; Mike never thought he'd be reading sci-fi books in this job, but he'd had a few revelations courtesy of reading for something besides entertainment. A couple of these novels discussed the impact of inability to communicate and how that touched off tragedies. "We will need to feel out a even a friendly contact very carefully. I think the Russians will appreciate that mindset," he added without mentioning the Yeltsin years. The dissolution of the old Soviet order gave rise to something less than promised and the Russians were wary of a game changer now, "But if I were asking questions of that probe, I'd want to know a ballpark on travel time. If the probe is sticking to technical topics, then we should query about interstellar travel times, perhaps even ask it how it got here so quickly, and how quickly the probe's information will get back to the other side."

The President nodded at Mike, but then glanced over the table and then back to Bill, his coffee untouched, "Well, this is what you get for double-dipping, Bill," he said wryly, "How do you feel about convincing the Swedes to broker this information to the Russians through us? Also, I want to suggest to our friends in Sweden that our priority is to obtain data and that we are willing to combine resources on a joint scientific task force to that effect -- we should have a sit down with Dr. Feinberg," director of the National Science Foundation, "and Bob Gordon," NASA director, "and figure out what to propose to the Swedes in terms of collaboration."

"Any thoughts on that, Bridgette? I think Bill should keep the dialogue going with Russia, but I think you might need to take a plane trip to Sweden." AJ's intent here was obvious, rapprochement between Scandinavia, close to the Baltic states and wary, and Russia, which was scared shitless like the rest of them. And, calculating it, he knew that sending a woman leader to spearhead would play over well in that region.


[System]
Gender: Female

Age: Unknown, appears to be a young adult

Race: Halfling

Appearance: Instead of metal her armor plates are made of wood with bone and wood spikes.

Height and Weight: 3'0"

Weapons/Items: She carries several primitive weapons. A rough wooden boomerang, multiple flint knives, and a curved tusk with a grip that she wields like a mix of a sword (with the sharp point) or a club (the rest of the tusk). Her boomerang and knives aren't of exceptional quality, but as she knows how to make them she doesn't seem to mind treating them as totally disposable weapons.

Skills: Chack is an exceptional climber, and while her movements may lack any sense of flair she is capable of being incredibly agile. She also knows how to construct simple weapons and armor using scavenged materials, and frequently spends her downtime chipping out a new knife or carving down a boomerang. She also makes small scrimshaw carvings, often crude representations of animals, or else just strange marks that she seems to invent. She's a middling shot with her boomerang, but she's terrifying with her other weapons in melee combat. She fights like an animal, jumping onto her target before pulling out her short, sharp weapons or else twisting joints and even biting at exposed flesh.

Magic: She seems to treat some of her scrimshaw carvings as though they had some mystic significance, but nobody has ever seen them do anything.

Personality: Chak is naturally clever, but she grew up without any exposure to civilization beyond seeing strange dangerous people go through the ruins. Her behavior is almost animalistic in some regards, and not in the cute or endearing way. She prefers to communicate in grunts when she can, mostly in regards to yes / no questions and the like, since she still doesn't have a good grasp on the common language and finds it unpleasant to try to express herself with it.

Bio: Left at the Crumbleport orphanage at a very young age, the Halfling that would become Chak was a normal, curious child. Like any curious child, she wanted to explore. Nobody noticed until nightfall that she had wandered off, and by then she was lost to the ruins. She was quickly presumed dead.

The lucky young Halfling wasn't dead though, and instead managed to survive and even eventually thrive living in the wilderness. She learned to make tools and protection from natural materials, patterned after the objects used by the tall creatures coming and going from the city. She learned to hunt, and in time became a dangerous predator herself.

[User]
To say that Isabel stood on the edge of the ruins would be inaccurate, because the ruins never ended. All of Crumbleport was an amalgamation of ruined, ancient structures, tumbledown but more recent buildings, and brand new construction. The "ruins" stretched from the coast, well into the jungle, and as Crumbleport shared no borders with other principalities, nobody had ever bothered to define exactly where it ended.

And yet Isabel stood on the edge of something. Maybe it wasn't the edge of the ruins, and maybe it wasn't the border of Crumbleport, but it was some imaginary line. Some line that, it was understood, marked the barrier between safety and uncertainty. It looked no different from the rest of the town. There was no line, no sudden dropping or even a sudden increase in foliage. Nearest anyone could figure, the watchtower stretching out of the trees to her right(held up more by magic than by mortar these days) was the furthest one could walk without being prepared for danger.

Isabel was as prepared for danger as she could be. She had practiced a few spells, and the Bottle on her back had just one prepared spell preserved inside of it. It was a kinetic field, which she could activate at a moment's notice, to protect her from attack, or a structural collapse or something like that. The rest of the Bottle's cells she left empty, to capture ancient magic for further study. She also carried a brand new leather bound notebook, held on a chain from her belt, to keep track of anything she needed to notate. Currently the only words in it were the day's date at the top of the first page. She wished she could bring a scribe student. When working at the University, there was an abundance of scribes in training who were perfectly willing to write down anything you said just to practice their calligraphy. But none were willing to go where she was going.

Isabel took a final breath of safe air and then stepped forward, eyes scanning wildly around as she did so. When nothing happened, she took another step, and another. She smiled, pulled her notebook from her side and wrote:

"Three steps in. Not dead yet."

Then she continued walking.

[Assistant]
Devon watched Isabel head off. He shook his head with a smug smirk. They won't likely see that one alive again.

That was how life was in crumbleport. They stood on the grounds of untold evil waiting to grab you at every turn.

Devon wasn't afraid though, evil was supposedly in his blood. In his lineage. He was looking for the answers, but he needed to go looking to know for sure what the truth really was.

He strode through the ruins deciding it best to head to the tavern. It was run by dwarves to no ones surprise. It was called "The Stone Cellar" and it was very popular. He could use a drink of rum right about now.

[User] Jack sat inside 'The Stone Cellar' at a table by himself. He had several documents about the ruins of Crumbleport. Deciding where to start is one thing but it's best to learn about the place before stepping in. Learning of its origin may help get an idea of what to expect and better prepare yourself. He was looking through them wondering where to start and what horrendous beasts he would find down in the ruins, especially on the deeper levels when it really gets underground. "This place really is more than just a maze isn't it. The entire place was covered in ruins. Choosing a place to start was deffinetly a tough decision. One misstep and it was over. Jack looked around to see others that looked like they wanted to check out the ruins. Some were here for the treasure, some for knowledge, and someay even find great power. Jack was looking for the ancient secrets hidden within. Who knows what lurked within those ruins. Jack was waiting and preparing for his long journey into the ruins of Crumbleport.

[Assistant]
Devon sat at the bar, ordering himself some rum to drink. Looking behind himself, the pale man noticed Jack immediately.

He stood out like a sore thumb, his armor, and his documents scattered about before him. This man wanted to explore by the looks of things.

The thought had crossed Devon's mind immediately; he needed someone to travel with. Devon needed a party of his own if he intended to be successful. Being lost wasn't something he was used to, but all the same, he didn't want to be alone when he tried to discover his true lineage.

Devon must have been staring for quite some time as he noticed a few people glance in his direction. Devon turned and took a drink of his rum. He wasn't sure he wanted to bother the knight, but in the same instance, he was curious if he'd help.

[User]
From the top of a broken pillar, gleaming yellow eyes watched the approaching human. Pretty sure it was human anyhow. Well, well, well, what were they doing here, hm? Walking around her ruins like that? Probably another wannabe 'professor'. Those people were so boring. The 'raiders' were a bit more interesting, but also a lot louder and meaner. Rarely did anyone come out here that she thought was actually fun.

Not that it ever stopped Ekra.

She giggled, jumping over to a stone rooftop filled with holes and dodging past them. A little further up was a trick she had set up a while ago, one that had used up a fair amount of rope and time. She knew it'd work though. She watched the human, crouched on her perch as the human slowly began walking along the decaying pathway, pausing to write something - Ekra would have to grab it, she was fond of flipping through those; sometimes they even had pictures - before continuing on. Her smile grew into a grin as the human got closer.

Right when the human was where she needed to be, Ekra yanked on the rope nearby. Ahead, suspended from an overhanging tree, a spiky log dislodged and immediately swung downwards. Fast enough to catch attention, certainly fast enough to be seen, aimed right at the human's midsection-

And then, not a foot away, crumble into harmless wooden chips and sawdust.

Ekra's raucous laughter tore through the quiet ruins.

[Assistant]
Isabel cried out in surprise, and thrust her hand forward. The Bottle whirred as it discharged the prepared spell. A wave of force emanated from Isabel, blowing the crumbling bits of wood away from her at great speed. Isabel smiled and lifted her notebook to write again.

K-field worked like charm. Disintegrated booby trap. Must prepare new one.

She checked the ground for a loos bit of rock or a string that might have set the trap off, but found nothing. That meant, she reckoned, that it had been set off by some sort of magic. She lifted her gauntleted hand and started turning the dial on the back of it, trying to find traces of the magic for capture and study.

[User]
"Tricky's trap. She near."

The voice came from almost directly above Isabel, and a glance upwards would reveal a short figure, her clothing similar in colour to the forest around her. More notable at the moment was the fact that she was hanging upside down from a tree branch, seemingly completely at ease dangling with her knees hooked over the thin sprig of wood. With a slight swinging motion, she released her hold and began to fall, the branch springing back upwards without her weight. It looked like she was going to land heavily off balance, but as she hit the ground she crumpled into an inelegant but seemingly quite effective roll, if the way that she quickly sprung to her feet after the nearly fifteen foot drop was any indication. She didn't stand straight, instead her posture was more hunched, her center of gravity closer to the ground. Curious eyes peered up at Isabel, the Halfling's head tilted slightly.

"You, Smarty out learning, yesyes? Here-" she gestured to the surrounding area, "safe most like. Tricky put traps around, scare ruin people." She peered closer, squinting slightly before creeping forward a bit, moving almost as though she was ready to drop to all fours. "You... IS Smarty, yes? Supposed to meet a Smarty here."


[System]
Age:18

Gender:Male

Le powah level: 150

Who were le trained by?: Master Shen (Crane School)

For how long?:12 years

Alignment:Bad, I don't know if he'll reform yet or not. I will say neutral evil.

Race:Human

If you could have one wish granted by the eternal dragon, Shenron, what would it be?: He would wish for his last name to be removed. *cough* *cough* Or maybe for immortality, you know. I'm just kidding. XD

Abilities: Increased speed, strength, agility. The usual.

 Eno can fly, a unique ability learned from the mighty Crane School.

Ki blasts, the most basic form of energy.

Dodon Ray, an energy beam shot from the fingertip, more powerful than the average kamehameha.

Solar Flare, a powerful technique that temporarily blinds anyone who comes in contact with it.

That's all that comes to mind right now.

Do you enjoy perverted old people?: No. :|

Looks: I'm just recycling old looks from random roleplay characters I've used. XD

Personality:I think that right now Eno will be a cruel, heartless individual, who has been pushed this way because of his brutal, inhumane training he's gone through (more on that in his origin). He believes that the Crane School is far above any other method of training, and that everyone else is below him in terms of power, skill, and discipline. He also appears to have no compassion for his fellow students, only ever bringing up their faults and flaws, rather than their success in their training. He'll change later on, as it'll begin to seem a lot like his duty to stop Demon King Piccolo, but I don't know how much this change will actually be. It could be subtle, it could be drastic. *Shrugs*

Crush:Open. I actually like the thought, I think it would be interesting.

origin (optional): Eno is the great-great-grandson (because it was so long ago that Mutaito was alive, so...) of Master Mutaito, the man who trained both Master Roshi, as well as Master Shen. It is because of this that Master Shen has pushed him harder than any other student, as he is expected to live up to his ancestors. Eno resents this, actually hating Master Mutaito, despite never actually meeting the man. He hates that he is constantly compared to the man, as he wants to build up his name as a fighter without his great-great-grandfather's help. He hopes to become stronger than Master Mutaito ever was. Which is quite the feat, as Master Mutaito was one of the strongest humans to ever live, if not the very strongest. That's all I really wanted to say, pretty much he's just been training to be a deadly fighter since he was a child.

Other:1324

[User]
"Hey come back here I'm not done with you yet also why do you keep calling me a turtle lover i don't even like turtles that much!?" Shin yelled as he tried to explanation out of Samu. Shin put his hand over his eyes to try to make out what the dog man was trying to do. He seemed to be charging up and attack that he was about to blast at Shin. "Hey that's unfair your cheating! Shin yelled even though he clearly doesn't know the rules.

Saitama was looking up, "Huh did you say do do ray...what does it do turn him in to a Dodo bird?" Saitama asked unsure if he was going to get a response at all. "Hopefully that kid doesn't get turned into a bird" Saitama thought as he a thinking bubble started to play out the scenario of the boy getting his by the ray and turning into you guessed it a dodo bird.

[Assistant]
Samu ignored all of Shin's questions and continued to charge. "Dodon Ray!" he shouted clearly, launching the yellow beam of energy from his finger at Shin. Trhis is it, I've already won the battle! Eno will be proud! he thought, happier than ever. He would carry on the good reputation of the Crane School and lower the Turtles' morale by crushing one of their puny Turtle Companions.

(I accidentally described TriBeam in the last post. XD)

[User]
Shin was looking at the attack knowing he could have dodged it but Shin was stuck in his place as bad memories of Mercenary Tao using it against his father. Shin was hit right dead in the shoulder making Shin slam off the ground leaving a burn on his shoulder. Shin was once again down on the ground "AHHH!" Shin yelledw while laying on the ground. before the announcer could get the chance to count Shin got up putting his hand over his injury. "No I...I can't lose to this guy if I lose here what would be thee point of my training it, and i wouldn't help Kiro either if i lose to this guy it would make that other Crane student unbeatable" Shin thought as he began to grind his teeth to keep his mind of the pain. "I won't lose!" Shin yelled so Samu could here. Shin began to move really fast making a bunch of Afterimages, but they were only distractions for his real plan. While Samu was trying to find the real one in the group Shin jumped as High as he could jumping even higher of where Samu position Shin was began to fall down coming right at Samu.

"Wow what a powerful attack how could he stand after that is he even Human?" Saitama asked he was began to see that the kid was up to something but what.

[Assistant] Samu let out a bark of victory as Shin was hit. He would've liked to hit the kid in the face, but this was good enough since he was injured. Samu laughed so hard his eyes closed for a moment. When he opened them back up, he was surprised to see several Shins around the arena. "What? How?" Samu yelled. This... This can't be happening! I won't lose! He began to shoot ki blasts at the Shin copies, trying his best to find the boy. "Where are you, Turtle Boy?" He looked around, trying to find the real Shin as he dispersed these illusion clones. "You can't hide from me forever!" Samu saw something flash upwards and felt his fur get ruffled by the wing. "What the-?" he stammered before looking up, only to see Shin's foot coming straight for his face!

[User] Shin kicked Samu in the face jumping off of him to catch more air at the same time. As he started to go face forward to make his speed go faster so he could catch up Samu who was falling when he caught up as began to throw punches and kicks as both were falling Shin made sure to say above knowing if he let him get over him he can just fly off. As Shin felt he was going to about to lose Samu he jumped off again realizing he went a little far away he began to use he helicopter to slow his fall a bit closing off the distance again grabbing on Samu leg so he would fly off. "I'm not letting you get away!" Shin yelled as he began to climb on the dog mans back.

[Assistant] Samu spun in the air and put his arms in front of his body, trying to block as many kicks and punches as possible. No, no, I can't lose this fight, especially not to a friends of the Turtles! he screamed furiously to himself. He bit out at Shin, hoping to catch him off guard, only furthering to expose his face to the attack. There was nothing he could do at this point. He couldn't fly away, he couldn't launch Shin off of him, all he had to do was take this onslaught and then get back up. "You won't win this, Turtle Kid!" Samu barked, his voice cracking a bit. His throat dried as the pain continued to grow and grow. You need to win this for Master Shen.

[User] Shin then keep climbing until he was on top of Samu accidentally covering Samu's eyes as he almost lost his grip. Shin then jumped off of Samu back up into the air again. "I need to get him back to the ground once I can I can finish this, but how " Shin thought as he began to come down with another kick but to only for Samu to dodge it. "I missed!" Shin said as he began to fall back down to the ring Shin began to fall down faster and faster. "Dangit I'm defenseless like this Shin thought my only way of getting out of this is if I get to the ground quickly" Shin thought as he turned away from Samu to go face forward to reach the ground as fast as possible.

[Assistant] Samu felt relief once he managed to dodge one kick realized that Shin was now turning away from him! This is my chance! He started to fly down towards Shin, the annoying Turtle Friend, and started to charge up another Dodon Ray. He was going to charge up his ki enough so that he wouldn't have to worry if he hit anywhere but the face. If Shin was even grazed by his powerful attack he would be knocked out instantly, or at least Samu guessed. "Say goodnight, Mr. Turtle!" he growled, closing the distance between him and Shin as he flew down faster.

[User]
Shin could see Samu's shadow off of the Ring seeing that he was coming right behind him. He did a flip landing on the ground on his feet and quickly moved dodging the Dodon ray. As soon as Samu was in ranged Shin leaped and punched Samu making him crash right off the ring making breaking some of the tiles of the ring. Shin had huge grin on his face "I got him!" Shin yelled in excitement while landing clenching his fist in excitement all he had to do is wait for the announcer to count as this could be the end of the fight.

"What! the boy pulled a complete 360 in the fight!" Saitama yelled. "No wonder why I lost to him he's on completely different level then I am only means I need to work harder" Saitama thought to himself. "I will get stronger," Saitama said under his breath making the promise that he will train even harder than ever before even harder than training until he was bald.

[Assistant]
"H-Huh?" The announcer stuttered, as he saw Shin look off in his direction. "O-Oh, right!" He exclaimed, as he quickly ran over to the manwolf on the ground to begin the count. Everything happened so fast, the announcer was still trying to comprehend all of what took place! "One!" He counted, putting out his index finger to the unconscious Samu's face. "Two!..." He put up two fingers.

Eno growled, as he took a step out into the open, just outside the entrance to the temple. "You're not going to give up so easily! Get up and fight, Samu!" He angrily shouted, his fists clenched tightly. He sounded rather harsh, but it was only because he genuinely cared.

"Stand up, you worthless mutt!" Master Shen shouted angrily at his young pupil, as he leaned over the grounds' barrier to make sure Samu heard him nice and clear. "If you don't get up now, you'll be a disgrace not only as a Crane Pupil, but as a fighter!" The old man assured him.

"Three! Four! Five!" The announcer continued.

[User] Samu's body ached and all of his energy was zapped from the Dodon Ray. "One...! Two...! Three...!" He began to push himself up, the pain in his shoulders unbearable. He knew he couldn't lose this battle, not for himself, not for Master Shen, and most importantly not for Eno. He heard his friend's calls from the crowd. "Four...! Five...! Six...!" He heard Shen's words and they hurt him more than the physical pain. The world was spinning around him and he was losing balance even though he was only propped up on his elbows. He had felt pain before, but this was worse than any of that. I can't lose! Samu thought desperately as he rose even higher, now on his palms. "Seven...! Eight...! Nine...!" He noticed his claws were torn, some completely missing, but this only flowed determination higher. He tried to push up using all of the strength left in his thighs. The world continued to spin and Samu's body failed on him. He collapsed as the count hit, "Ten! Shin is the winner by knockout!" Just then a Dodon Ray blast shot right for Samu! He couldn't do anything but close his eyes and let out a whimper. He didn't mean to upset anyone by losing, he really did try his best, and now he was going to die because of this friend of the Turtles.

[Assistant]
"Ten! Shin is the winner by knockout!" The announcer exclaimed, as the crowd began to go wild once more.

Master Shen growled, as he raised up his finger, pointed straight at the pupil. "I'll kill you!" He shouted angrily, as the powerful yellow beam shot straight out from his finger tip, aimed dead-center for Samu's forehead.

"What!? Look out!" Jackie Chun exclaimed, as he watched in horror from the entrance of the temple, there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. He should have known the old fool would try something of the caliber.

"Master, no!" Eno screamed, as he started to dash off for the platform, but things were already too late. Master Shen's ray was much faster and stronger than anything the two students could ever shoot. Suddenly everything seemed to go silent, as Eno heard an impact, he was certain that the manwolf had been hit. It was too late.


[System]
Race: Human
Age: 27
Gender: Female

Appearance: Isabeau has short auburn hair. It is longer in the front, sitting just below her chin. Bangs, neatly parted to the side, hang over her forehead and just barely brush over her eyebrows. Her eyes are something to behold; light green surrounded by a thin ring of gold. Freckles sprinkle lightly over her nose. She stands at about 5'7" tall, a petite upper body sitting upon wider hips and thick thighs. Not overly muscular though her body is tone. When exposed, displayed on her back are a number of scars, some seeming a bit more prominent.

Image courtesy of @Diabolic

Clothing: She typically wears light fabrics, leathers and cloths of darker shades, red being her favorite color. A large cowl normally covers most of her features. Dark brown leather boots extend up just past her knees, straps and buckles secure padding where would be needed. Plain cloth pants are held up by a thick black belt, lined with a few pouches and oddities.

Weapons: Through her training, she has become a jack of all trades. Though her favorite weapon is the battle axe strapped to her back. She has a dagger hidden within her boots and one saddled to her belt at her right hip. The dagger hanging from her belt is a curved dagger, with a ruby embedded within the hilt.

Alignment: chaotic neutral

Skills: Part of the reason why the witches wanted to do away with her because she did not have the affinity for magic as they did. However her time in the Assassin's Keep allowed her to develop other skills and techniques:
Shadow Prison: Isabeau is able to shadow step to her foe for an attack. During this attack, her foe's movement speed is drastically reduced temporarily
Wild Blow: Isabeau is able to manipulate the shadows around her weapons, increasing the damage done by her attacks. The attack is usually used when attempting to sunder a shield.
Wildfire: Despite not having the understanding of the weave, as the witches did, Isabeau was bestowed with a gift from her mother. The gift of Wildfire. This gift takes an enormous amount of energy to control and wield. When called upon, the shadows immediately surrounding Isabeau will ignite and deadly flames will surround her as well as coat her axe, adding fire damage to her attacks. This generally leaves Isabeau quite drained afterwards

Magic:N/A -see skills above

Backstory:
Though actual details of her birth are a mystery, there are rumors of a witch who fell in love with a prince from a far away land.

The prince had journied far in search of a magical herb that was said to cure a sickness plaguing his kingdom. He came upon a young woman living deep within the woods. Beautiful in every way imaginable, the Prince became enthralled with the young woman and insisted that she leave the woods and return with him to his castle. But she could not leave her home. For she was a witch, just as her mother before her, and so on down the line. Their family and gifts had been banished from the kingdom long ago, and since, had taken refuge in the forest, tending to the wilds and those who dwelled within its sanctuary.

Disturbed by the story, the prince vowed that he would speak with his father to lift their exile if she would return with him as his bride. Gleefully, the young woman accepted. And with the prince as her guest, she spent her last few days in the woods saying her goodbyes and making arrangements for after she left.

Those last few nights blanketed by the stars, we're magical for her and the prince, though as the story goes, it was the last shred of happiness for the young couple. Grandmother Amari, the high witch of their clan, had high expectations for the young witch. Plans which did not include the Prince, plans which would've been especially ruined if the prince took her away to become a princess in the castle. Though a silver lining appeared that would help Amari's plans along. And so the high witch gathered her kin, and her plot for war went into action.

The night before the two lovers were to leave for the castle, Amari had one of the youngest within their clan travel to the cottage where the two were staying. She silently crept in, cloaked within the shadows and darkness of the night. With one clean swipe of her blade, she sliced his throat open, and without anyone noticing, made her way back out. He bled out onto the bed next to his beloved, who never stirred, and never realized his death until the next morning.

It wasn't until many months later did they all realize the young witch was with child and when the news had traveled to the High Witch, it was ordered to discard the baby once it was born. The young witch with fire red hair and green eyes encircled with a gold ring would never know her daughter.

Isabeau continued to meet only betrayal and despair as she grew older unfortunately. Bred into a world of death and darkness, she was raised within the Keep of the Assassin's Guild and was honed into the land's deadliest weapon. She was taught to cast all emotions aside, especially that of love. Though being the girl she is, passionate and vibrant, her one downfall is what led her to her situation.

Isabeau always acted the tough girl, but there was something so innocent, so pure and delicate behind her eyes and under the scars. It lived right there beside the rage, buried deep within her heart. Unfortunately, the violence of her wrath has been all that she's known since she could remember. They called her a berserker, at the time, she never knew what they meant.

She held on so tightly, grasping at the last few strands that were her life. She was bruised and burdened, battered and afraid, and on the run. Catching the first boat out of her land, she fled. She wasn't sure of where'd she go, but this was no longer her home.

[User]
Robert had been silent this whole time. He felt like something was watching him, And whatever it was. Its presence felt like a constant itch that he couldn't reach. His sword was having the same problem. Trying to sense for the thing that had been watching them. However it seemed to no avail so they decided to shrug it of for the time being. He was surprised however to see a few new faces, One of which being a bloody orc! Now Robert had seen a few orcs before, Most of them a bunch of crazy sword wielding bad-asses. It was a very rare sight to see an orc since most of them had been hunted down or killed. However this only counted in his country. What surprised him even more was that she used a bow. Most orcs used giant swords. So this was a rare sight indeed.

He would talk to here later and she what she was all about. He then looked at the new guy. Just looked like the regular mercenary trying to make his living in the world. He did however have a gun, Which was interesting since guns where pretty expensive. Again something he would look at later. Then a women approached. Robert just ignored here hoping that she would go away. Then she spoke,"Excuse me" A soft grunt barely hear able over the sound of the tavern. Again Robert just ignored here hoping she would go away. However Loannes responded to hear clearly curious what she wanted to say. "You're all destined for great danger, sacrifice. Victory does not come without blood or loss, but it is a possibility. "

Now this raised an eyebrow, In any other case, Robert would have told her to leave before he would make her. But since this had been the weirdest few days in a long time. However before he could respond "The Red" said."Either explain yourself, woman, or I will end you here as testament that I do not take lightly any supposed threat on my fate or that of the realm." Robert ignoring "The Red" looks at the women and said."Ignore my very aggressive friend here. He probably did not mean it." He then looks at "The Red". Clearly preparing himself to strike." Atleast i think he does." @The Harbinger of Ferocity, @Belwicket, @Jon Y, @The Fated Fallen, @Dragoknighte, @boomlover, @KazeXDZ, @IcePezz, @Lucius Cypher.

[Assistant]
"You would be wise not to speak for me," The wilder began, pausing to adjust his footing accordingly, trusting Robert as little as he trusted this new addition - the woman - "at least if you desire a long life."

The demeanor the Druid of the Fang carried with him had no love of Robert, least of all his "gold and glory" persona and the overly ornate sword he bore. The man, like Roanoke, was everything the wild man loathed the civil folk for.

The grasp around the old blade adjusted faintly but visble enough for the entire lot to see. "Our enemy is powerful and numerous... prone to whisper words of our supposed 'doom'."

"Either she will explain her actions or pay accordingly for her intentions."

[User]
"I mean no harm to your group, it's actually quite the opposite. ", Genevieve had responded.

Isabeau had remained in the back, tucked in the shadows of the afternoon sun on the side of the tavern. She couldn't gauge if this one was a threat or not, but there was something wrong, she could feel it in the air.

Genevieve's gaze lingered over them all, and despite her location, Isabeau was quite easy for the stranger to spot.

"It is your destiny to complete this quest. I have spent my life studying the ancient texts of my people. They talk about a Princess of Darkness, and how she will lead a group of unlikely heroes." Her eyes seemed to burn a hole in Izzy'a skull. "This expedition however, will lead to your deaths, unless you allow me to help you."

[Assistant]
"All this talk of destiny and fate- I am the master of my own fate. So clearly, you've no idea what you're talking about.", Isabeau growled lowly, not moving from her spot, securely leaned against the wall.

"And why should we trust you anyway"

[User]
"And now it is my turn to be suspicious," said Ioannes openly and honestly. "Who are your people? How do they know what they know? Who is this Princess of Darkness and why should we allow her to lead us?" Ioannes didn't have a problem with Princesses, while Darkness...not all Darkness is evil, it was just easier for evil things to hide in the dark. Then, he listened to Isabeau's reaction, then turned back to Genevive - not that he knew her name.

"I echo the question asked; why should we trust you? You just blantantly accused one of us of being the 'Princess of Darkness', which some people might take as an insult. More to the point, what information do you have that can prove to be a game-changer?" He then looked at The Red, his own gaze saying: you were right.

Which he was.

Harbinger of Ferocity, @Belwicket, @Jon Y, @The Fated Fallen, @Dragoknighte, @boomlover, @KazeXDZ, @IcePezz, @Lucius Cypher.

[Assistant]
There was an air of arrogance about the unknown woman. As seemingly meager and mousy as she was, she was the poster queen of socially awkward. Being sheltered behind her books most of her life, she never really learned about social cues and niceties, or how one shouldn't call people out on their birth right in front of others who clearly didn't know.

"She knows very well who she is, I won't waste my time debating truths and birthrites. What you seek up in the mountains, it could very well turn the tides of this war. It is a very dangerous, and very powerful tool. You should know that Jeltheor is not the only one searching for it.". She was so matter-of-fact, pushing her glasses up in their proper place.

[User]
"Heh... Heh ha ha ha ha!"

Orchid sat quietly as the scene around her became tense. Some mysterious lady came to them with a vague prophesy, which some members of the table questioned, a few even seemed threaten. Orchid, however, stood up and offered the woman her hand. "I am da Green Orchid, please ta meet ya. Sophistry aside, seems to me dat yer trying to tell us 'bout the location of some good loot to fight some big evil in da land. Sounds right up mah alley, so let's skip da dark story and get to da point. Wot we lookin' fer, wot does it look like, and wot does it do?"

[Assistant]
Genevieve sighed softly. She didn't expect to have this hard of a time with everyone.

"Is is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Orchid. But before I go into the details of the artifact, I must know if you're all on board for this quest. Jeltheor wishes for this city to burn. And the demons that some of you have fought, well. It is only just the beginning. I'm sure some of you have gotten that feeling. ... an ominous sensation of sorts. There is one wandering town somewhere. This much I can tell. And I know the demons won't stop until they have complete control. If that means eradicating this world, that is just what they'll do. So, are you all with me?"