[System]
Approved by @CrazyShadowy

"Oh my! Aren't you a cute little thing!"~
~Claudia DeFeren~
~"But you can just call me Claudia, dear. So nice to meet you."~

Age: Unknown (Appears to be in her early thirties)
~"You know, it's quite rude to ask a woman of her age."~

Gender: Female
~"My, what an odd question, my dear. I do believe I'm a woman"~

Species: Vampire
~"Don't worry, sweetie. I won't bite...unless you want me to."~

Physical Appearance:
~"Mmm, you like what you see?"~

 Claudia has a very voluptuous figure, round, curvy hips and quite an ample bust she proudly displays. Her long shimmering red hair, as smooth as silk, flows gracefully over her round shoulders and down her backside past her rump. She tends to wear it down alot too, only on occasions pinning it up in a sloppy bun. Her rosy cheeks and ruby red lips glow against her creamy white complexion, as do her sapphire blue eyes sparkle with a lust for life. Indeed, she is a beauty to behold.

Backstory:
~"Hehe, now I can't tell you all my secrets, honey."~

Personality:
~"Sugar, spice, and everything nice."~

Claudia is a very jovial and carefree woman. She loves to laugh, drink, dance, sing, and flirt, especially with other women. She has a vibrant personality that seems to charm everyone around her and lift their spirits, but if you cross her, she can be quite the fire storm.

Likes:
-Drinking wine
-Taking hot baths
-Women
-Reading books
-Playing piano
-Dressing provocatively
-The smell of chamomile, roses, and lavender

Dislikes
-Swearing
-Men in general
-Cigar smoke
-Enclosed spaces (Claustraphobic)
-Hard liquors

Clothing

During the day, Claudia wears a green dress with a hooded cloak, a pair of lace up boots and gloves. While simple, yet stylish, the hood protects her face from the harsh glare of the sun as well as giving her that mysterious beauty look. She only wears the hood when she is outdoors of course.

During the night, Claudia loves to wear a sheer, silk nightgown to bed (sometimes she'll wear nothing to bed). Though loose fitting, it still accentuates every curve of her beautiful body. If she has company over during the evening or she's just curled up beside the fire with a good book, she'll modestly cover herself with a silk, floral print robe.

House:

~"Oh, why hello, darling! Welcome to my lovely home!"~

Hearthstone Manor

m.youtube.com/watch?v=qo3VAltxlr8

You had met the lovely maiden upon your travels one night, quietly observing her, as you would a graceful fawn, in the verdant meadows of the Windy Hills. She bathed in a small stream, happily humming to herself, blisfully unaware of your presence. Your eyes, how they admired the woman, how the moon glistened upon her moist skin as she splashed cool water upon her face and body. Suddenly, her eyes catch yours. She gasps, coyly closing her hands over her breasts and her other...unmentionables, but you had already gotten a peak of her natural splendor.

Your face is red and burning hot as you make haste before she retaliates. Somehow later, she catches up to you. She is dressed now, but the image of her nude is still burned into your mind as again you are blushing. She smiles rather mischievously, asking if you enjoyed what you saw. Bashfully, you answered yes. She found you to be quite lovely as well the moment she laid eyes upon you. She then asks you if you would like to accompany her home.

The place is rather intimidating to you when you first see it. The manor stands tall and proud between the Windy Hills and yonder Thunder Woods, a spectacular view of the green larches, pines and oaks amidst the mighty snowy mountains towering in the distance. A cold chill graces your skin. It's either the downdraft coming from the mountain or...just an uneasy feeling.

She takes your hand softly, her smile so gentle and radiant as she welcomes you inside. You smile in return, albeit nervously, and close the door behind you.

The night you spent with the woman was one you will never forget, the way she took you into her arms, kissing you with so much passion, caressing every inch of your body with her delicate hands. You shiver pleasurably remembering it all.

But you remember another detail to such a wild, romantic night. The woman had bit you on your neck. It hurt at first, but the warmth of her breath eased the pain as she enjoyed savoring the drops of your precious blood. A vampire. She was a vampire.

Your fingertips grace the tiny wounds. They sting a little bit. You hear the woman downstairs humming to herself, such a quaint, happy melody. She was pleased with the night just as you were. You smile and pick your clothes up off the floor, dressing shortly.

Her home is very lovely and cozy you think as you descend the stairs. She awaits you, dressed only in her silk night robe, parting slightly to give you another generous peek of her lovely figure. She lounges across the plush sofa in the living room, her languid, blue eyes buried in a book. She looks up and smiles, a smile even warmer than the crackling hearth she's nestled beside. She closes her book, whispering,

~"Good morning, my love. Did you have a wonderful sleep?"~

Weaknesses:

Though she is a vampire, Claudia is only affected by a few common vampire weaknesses. She can still ingest garlic, albeit in moderate amounts, and she can still traverse through sunlight, only for a short amount of time before she begins to feel weary, light-headed, and at some points nauseous. Prolonged exposure to sunlight may even cause her to faint or her skin to blister painfully, but this is only in the case of direct contact with her skin.

Religious paraphernalia if touched to her skin will cause minor burns and the sight of such can cause her to have splitting migraines and even lash out angrily. Naturally though, a stake to the heart can kill her instantly. The same goes with forcing her to swallow holy water.

Powers:

~Shape-Shifting~
 As with most Nosferatu, Claudia has the ability to change shape into almost anything. Her most common alternate-form is of a black cat, but she can also form into a bat (naturally) or a cloud of dark mist.

~Vampire Allurement~
 With just a simple look into her eyes or a batting of her eyelashes, a soft smirk included, Claudia can gain control of someone and lure them to her subconciously. Of course, it's only effective if the intended target is of weak will, but she is rather persistent in her...endeavors.

[User]
Maka woke up like any day, her hill top house, windows open to allow the fresh air in. The moring air was always so crisp and it felt wonderful on her body. Clothed or not, she loved the way it smelled and cooled the house, it allowed for morning activities to be held out in the best way possible. Maka climbed out of bed in her pajamas and headed out of her room and down the stairs towards the kitchen. Waving good morning to her cat, she bent down and provided belly rubs. "You just love your belly rubs don't you Mr fluffykins?" Maka chuckled as it was neither her cat or was that his name, she called him as such as he was always in her house, the open windows allowed for such to happen. His real owner lived somewhere, she wasn't sure where. The collar wasn't much help at identification.

Maka continued towards the kitchen, she fixed up herself something to eat and a nice warm cup of tea, this is how she spent most morning. She sat in her chair nearest to the open window, watching the grass wave in the wind, the splendid scent of her tea with the crisp hill top air. Not as wonderful as mountain top air but this was a close second. She'd finished brewing her tea in no time, she took the bag out of it and added two spoonfuls of sugar, stirred it accordingly and sat back down. Listening to the birds and again watching the wavy grass in the wind.

She began to eat as she made, still unsure what to call it all she just called it as it was, food. She sipped her tea, ate her food and picked a little something off the shelf to read while she ate, it was an interesting story but she enjoyed reading it while having her breakfast.

[Assistant]
As Claudia strolled along the path, she breathed in the scent of the crisp morning air in a gentle sigh. It was going to be another beautiful day, she thought. The sun was high in the air, the birds chirping and singing as fauna frollicked in the emerald pastures. She smiled, watching as the little deer, squirrels and other adorable creatures playing in the grass and the flowers. A small woven basket hung from her arm filled with wild sweetberries and other assorted fruits and herbs, the bounty of nature.

Happily Claudia sang to herself as she tarried along. Shortly after, she rested beneath the cool shade of a tall oak.

[User] Spirit bounced along through the tall grass glades her pure white hair, and blue tipped ears could be seen easily in comtrast with the slightly gray ish green grass blades. She jumps and spins in the air changing from her animal form to human every now and than just for the hell of it.

[Assistant]
As Claudia sat with her back rested against the tall tree, she flanced over the picturesque and beautiful scenery of the valley. a soft, warm wind carried upon it a sweet, earthy scent that seemed to linger in the air for quite a while. She sighed peacefully, taking in the scent and the sight of emerald grasses dancing in the breeze.

Twas as she took in this gorgeous scene however, a peculiar thing she noticed hopping about the fields. An adorable white rabbit with floppy, blue tipped ears bounced up and down happily. A common thing to see in the wilderness, but...what be this? Claudia was amazed. She had heard of spirit kin before, but not once had she laid eyes upon one...especially one as precious as the young girl the rabbit turned in to.

~"She's adorable..."~ Claudia stood awestruck. The wind whipped about her cloak and her long crimson hair as she stood benesth the shadows of the tree, watching, observing the innocent spirit with dazzling blue eyes.

[User]
Spirit smiles ad turns into her human form. She stands there with one had under her breasts to giv them more support. She look around curiously and moved some hair oit of her face. "What a beautiful day... Bumper nothing happens"

Mystery sighs as he gets up from the table finishing his tea and grabbs his jacket. "I'm heading o it to my post, I'll see you around" He transforms into his spirit form and trots off to Crystal River. His blue markings glittering in the sunlight as he trots along.

Shiro stretches and turns into his spirit form and flies out of the house and off to Thunder Woods. His large white wings stands out against the blue sky, as if he was a small cloud. He soon got to Thunder Woods and landed on a low hanging tree branch so he can see the ground below and anyone who passes by

[Assistant]
The vampire chuckled upon hearing her voice, such a sweet and innocent little girl. She smiled ambling down the hill to greet her. ~"Oh my! Why hello, you charming thing! Lovely day, isn't it? I just happened to notice you frollicking about the fields."~ Yes, frollicking, such youth, such grace.

Claudia gave the youngling a brief looking over. Ah, she was quite an angel, an adorable round face, soft ruby eyes that glimmered with her youthful vitality and whimsical charm, and lest Claudia forget, those cute bunny ears. And my~ was she quite the developed young girl too.

[User] Spirit looks up at her than around the field. "Why hello there! I'm the Rabbit Spirit in charge of these lands. My name is Spirit by the way what's your?" she smiles brightly up the slightly lady. "But I can't talk to you for long it's against the rules unless you have summoned me here by my name and title. That works for any spirit. Spirits can even other spirits, I ciuld even summon my brothers!" She chuckles and her white rabbit ears twitched sightly.

[Assistant] Claudia grinned softly, albeit not much to expose her fangs. ~"Claudia, dear. Charmed to meet you."~ She introduced herself with a curtsey of her dress. ~"I must say, sweetie, I had no idea you were the guardian spirit of the Hills. I am truly honored to be in your presence."~ She giggled holding her hand to her lips. Had she a drop of blood in her veins, then certainly Claudia's cheeks would be red. ~"Ah, and forgive me, my dear. I will be sure to summon you properly next time. You are quite adorable, I will admit."~ She said with a charming smirk.

[User] Spirit tightly giggled being the innocent little girl she is. "We can continue talking if you like." She holds out her hand for a hand shake, but quickly pulls it alway, and her cheeks turn a light shade of pink

[Assistant]
Territ quietly knocked on passing trees as he started back in the general direction of the Windy Hills, where he planned to spend the rest of the day sleeping or something. Sometimes it's a real bother keeping to this whole vow to not go back into that line line of work. Regardless it was a nice day out. Maybe he could just spend today looking at clouds, or maybe practicing his shooting.

The cyborg sighed, his voice raspy and mixed with white noise."Shooting it is. God I hope something interesting happens today."

[User]
Claudia was about to take the hand when Spirit, and a fanciful spirit she was, bashfully retreated at the last minute. The vampire pursed her lips raising an eyebrow at her, then chuckled giving a warm smile. ~Sweetie, no need to be shy. I would love to continue our conversation. In fact, why don't we take a walk together? I always love strolling through the hills in the middle of the day."~ Though the sun wasn't her closest companion per say. Claudia did feel a bit light headed, but it wasn't too bad she couldn't enjoy little Spirit's company. She'd just have to find someone to feed from tonight, despite not enjoying it much.

Although the things after the feeding she really enjoyed. With a friendly gesture she presented her hand for the young girl to take.


[System]
---

AGE
37

GENDER
Male

NATIONALITY
German American

OCCUPATION
Animal behavior consultant

FIELD OF EXPERTISE
Zoology and Animal Psychology

LANGUAGES SPOKEN
German, English, French

PERSONAL HISTORY
Dirk was born in Germany, but his parents immigrated to America early in his life -the ripe age of four. Dirk's father was a professor of mathematics, and his mother was a statistical analyst. As such, he was raised to a high standard of education, and a strict one at that. Through this nurture and guidance, Dirk found his school years blew by until his junior year of American high school where he found himself a straight-A multilingual student of the International Baccalaureate programme, as well as one of the top athletes on his schools track team.

This academic prowess hit a rough spot during his Junior year of high school. Due to a combination of strict parenting and far too much testosterone in an adolescent body, Dirk felt the need to rebel against anything he could -his parents, the system, 'the man'. It was through this that he met a like-minded spirit by the name of Evan. In his independence, Evan was a regular Ken doll. Perfect in almost every way, and loved by everyone. For some inexplicable reason, Evan took Dirk under his wing, lifting him to the heights of popularity within his school.

It was the influence of Evan that both desolated Dirk's academic success as well as inevitably restoring it to its former glory. One day after what had seemed to both to be a normal day of partying. Upon waking up, Dirk found Evan on a couch just across from him -dead due to an overdose on something that Dirk was almost certain he had taken more of. Taking this as an omen and a blessing (though a rather depressing one at that), Dirk took the opportunity to turn his life around once again.

Though the sentiment was certainly present, the results may have been a bit too delayed to be effective. Soon after, Dirk's father succumbed to a heart attack, most likely stress related say the doctors. It was soon after that his mother died -liver failure after excessive alcohol consumption. The woman had a problem before her husband passed, but the problem was far worse after the passing of her husband it seemed.

This series of unfortunate events sent Dirk into a spiral of depression. On an impulse, Dirk adopted a pet to assuage this pain he felt. Always fascinated in intelligent animals, he adopted a crow. This first crow, appropriately named Poe, became his best friend through thick and thin. Perhaps the only reason he kept going, Poe kept him close companionship. Eventually the friendship between Poe and Dirk grew to include more and more crows that he obtained and trained. His murder of crows became a staple he was known for, among anyone close to him. Some found it strange, some found it endearing.

Tragedy struck on an otherwise ordinary day. Stray wiring, a candle left to burn, a kettle left on the oven. Any of the above would suffice, and Dirk never did find out what caused the fire within his apartment that killed his flock. Surprisingly enough, one survived -Beatrice, first successor to Poe and lifelong companion through and through. However, the loss of his entire murder was crippling to Dirk. To drown his sorrows, he turned to a bastard amalgamation of drugs, alcohol, and academia. It was through this that he actually ended up passing through college, getting a PhD in psychology (both animal and human), and going on to consult for various businesses across the globe. Securing work in zoos, labs, and private businesses, Dirk also worked through hobby after hobby, trying to find some form of fulfillment past his work. Unable to find anything, he spent his life engrossing himself in work, not allowing himself time to face a rather crippling depression.

It was through the advent of the UNKEO that Dirk found his true calling -change the world for the better by helping to take down these massive threats to the world.

[User]
Gordon sat next to the window as the plane lurched beneath him. He watched the clouds pass and tried his best to ignore the babbling behind him. That is, of course, until the Brazilian man stood up to brief them. At last, Gordon thought. He was grateful to finally have some reason for being on this plane — especially as it was headed straight for his homeland.

The pictures made his heart sink. Yet, he couldn't help but stare at them. The grief he felt was swallowed back behind a stoic face. The weapon that hung at his hip suddenly felt heavier than usual, as if it were reminding him, hey, don't forget I'm here by your side.

People offered up potential solutions one by one like a symphony of instruments trying to outdo one another. Gordon took in a long breath, contemplating the options. Above him, in the compartment hold, was a piece of experimental tech jostling around in a black suitcase. It wasn't specifically designed to shoot liquid nitrogen, but it might be able to be recalibrated if given enough time.

"Perhaps," Gordon said, clearing his throat. "We should look into the options given to us by our German friend here. He has a point. Bugs can be quick, and I don't doubt that this thing, whatever it is, will thrash around. That sort of thing makes for a difficult shot no matter how skilled the marksman. However, if we were to make an effort to freeze it and slow it down, we might be able to deliver the toxin in a more precise manner. It's more risky, but more safe…

I might have something we could use, perhaps. It all depends on what this thing looks like when we get there."

[Assistant]
Almost unnoticed towards the back of the passenger cabin, curled up and half-asleep, Chaim Abergil raised his hand. The thin Israeli stood up, brushed some dust from his Fire Service uniform, and spoke in accented English. "I don't know much about military strategy, I was only a private in the IDF," he said without preamble. "I just have a couple things to add." Abergil pointed at Lorenzo. "Getting powerful floodlights will be easy. Any decent-sized fire brigade will have rigs mounted on trucks with their own power supply. We can borrow some from the locals, and if need be we can ask other cities to lend out equipment. If we keep these floodlight trucks fueled and ready we can rush those quickly to the scene of an incident. So there's a quick, cheap, and practical way to put that plan into action."

Chaim waved vaguely in the direction of Dirk and Huan. "These gentlemen suggested poison and liquid nitrogen. Those also sound like good ideas, but I want to note we must take serious precautions if we intend to use either of those weapons, especially in a built-up area. God forbid we have to fight this thing inside city limits, we must first drive it out of town or at the very least to a large open space like a park or railyard before we try to use such weapons." His point made, Chaim said nothing else. He abruptly sat back down in his seat, propped up his feet, and closed his eyes. The plane rocked as it descended, only a few minutes away from landing.

Major Carvalho had been taking notes on a legal pad and nodded, obviously pleased with the brainstorming session. "Alright, so we're going with the theory that it might be some sort of amphibious insect. As far as weapons go we're advancing the ideas of bright lights, liquid nitrogen, and our own Ricin-Sicarius poison cocktail. I think Huan's little mojito recipe has the best chance of killing the thing outright, but as Gordon noted we have to get it to stand still first." He ticked through the items on the list. "We could also try arming a few Irish aircraft somehow, or asking for British assistance. I don't know if that last one would go over so well, no Irish politician would be willing to put British troops on Irish soil. There was some trouble about that last time. But it's still worth suggesting."

Carvalho rocked on his feet, nearly losing his balance as the plane's landing gear bounced off the runway. He chuckled sheepishly as he sat down and buckled himself in for the landing. He adjusted the creases of his fatigues, checked his boots, and finally reached into his bag and extracted his light blue United Nations beret, putting it carefully on his shaven head. He wanted to make a good first impression.

The big plane taxied to a halt on the runway, well away from the main terminal of the Galway airport- their arrival was being kept quiet. The team had to carry their gear down a metal stairway held up to the plane.

Not that no one was there to meet them, though. A handful of people- bureaucrats, Gardai, and soldiers. All of them answered to one man, a tall and aristocratic man in the uniform of a brigadier general. He was turned out smartly for the occasion in dress uniform, with a perfect regulation tie and gleaming Sam Browne belt. Next to the brigadier, Carvalho felt extremely underdressed in his duty fatigues. As if to compensate, he made his salute especially crisp. The general seemed amused by the gesture.

"I'm Brigadier Christopher Mahon. We greatly appreciate you coming out on such short notice." He gestured to some of the enlisted men standing nearby, who eagerly moved forwards and began to assist the team with their gear and luggage. "It's only an hour to sunset, and we expect there to be another attack somewhere along the coast tonight. So please, let's move quickly." Mahon briskly walked towards waiting cars, still talking in a rapid-fire tone. "We've got laboratory and workshop space available for your personnel at the University, and our military headquarters is at Renmore Barracks just outside town. We're sending out land and air patrols from there tonight, so if you'd like to join one of those you'd be more than welcome. We won't have any naval assistance until tomorrow night- most of the fleet is either involved with peacekeeping efforts or keeping cocaine smugglers from getting into Dublin Harbor. Or, if you prefer, we've booked you rooms at the Radisson downtown if you would like to rest." Mahon gestured towards the waiting Army sedans. "Just let the drivers know where you'd like to go."

[User]
As the Boeing edged closer and then started to descend toward the airport, Snow called to the tower, placing her landing request along with the necessary codes to allow her to maneuver toward the meeting position. For a poke of fun, she only announced that they were landing after the plane had it's first jostle of descent, picking up the intercom and speaking into it. "This is the lieutenant, 'cause there ain't no captains on my plane, we are now descending for landing. Please put your seatbelts on and secure all tactical nuclear devices and thermite bombs in their holders."

Once on the ground, the Boeing taxied toward the meeting spot. She made sure not to run anyone over as she parked the aircraft. "Thank you for flying with Knight airlines. Please take all personal belongings with you as you exit the aircraft, I've once forgotten and I assure you it is not fun getting them back." She nabbed her tablet before exiting the aircraft.

Once outside Snow listened to Brigadier Mahon attentively, taking note that he mentioned there were air patrols being sent out, but also that there were rooms booked for them. She was torn between two sides, either going out with the air patrols or sleeping, however she knew where her heart wanted to go. She leaned forward, whispering behind Carvalho's ear, "I'll be joining the air patrols. Call me if you need me." She turned on the spot and started her trot toward the sedans, climbing into one before requesting the driver to head for where the military aircraft were stationed. She had only partially lied to Carvalho, and she wouldn't be surprised if he already knew that she wasn't going to just be joining the air patrols, but she would most likely nab a helicopter and fly around on her own, on her own patrol routes. Rank had it's privileges.

[Assistant]
Dirk grimaced slightly as the plane shuddered to a descent. As the pilot spoke, Dirk took care to not roll his eyes. Never a fan of the joker type, Dirk preferred to keep the company of more serious companions. Always sounded like they were trying too hard. As he dismounted the plane, he gathered his belongings -most of which fit within his messenger bag, his only exterior luggage was under a cover towards the back of the plane. Dirk reached up to pull off the cover from the shiny metal container, and a wide smile spread across his face. Beneath the musty cover was a shiny sterling sliver cage, from within which a soft rustling could be heard.

Dirk pulled a leather armguard from within his messenger bag, and strapped it onto his right arm, over his suit jacket. His smile faded slightly as he crumpled the fine material of his suit, but the feeling passed quickly as he opened up the cage. Dirk held his arm far out to the side, and let the iridescent door swing free. From within, a flurry of black feathers writhed, scrambling for purchase anywhere. Wings flapping excitedly, the crow finally settled on the arm of Dirk, head flicking from side to side as it took in the environment. He turned to exit the plane with the bird on his arm, as he softly hummed a short tune of four notes.

He nodded briefly as he listened to Christopher Mahon, thinking through his options. "I think, perhaps, that my skills would be best put to use in one of the patrols. I believe Beatrice would be more agreeable to one of the land patrols, if that could be arranged?" Dirk said, nodding to his bird as he stepped off to the side. "I don't believe I would be of much use in a lab, unless one of you needs use of my biological or psychological expertise?" He added, leaving the question rhetorical and open ended. He had the feeling that none of them would take him up on the offer, but he left it open for them to decide. He took a brief look around to the others, taking note of the pilots decision to join the air patrols.

Dirk took long strides as he walked over to one of the sedans, back straight with eighteen years of having posture drilled into his head. His arm was held high up to his chest, almost like a cartoon mockery of a butler simply with a crow replacing the stereotypical cloth. All the while, Beatrice stood at attention, infrequently shifting her feathers or taking darting glances around at the scenery. Beady black eyes focused on whatever shiny objects nearby she could see, but quickly diverted. Dirk paused just next to the sedan, turning his head in case any of the others requested his assistance. Otherwise, he would simply go to the Renmore Barracks to join one of the patrols.


[System]
Perenelle Jean Pierce
Age:  19
Gender:  Female
Nomadic or sedentary:  Nomadic
Weapons:  Bow and arrow, throwing knives, and she will use her hands and feet as well.
Skills:  Sharp with the bow and arrow; climbing, speed, and agility. She has muscle, but no is nowhere being massively strong. She can pick locks and pickpocket. Her looks can be used as a distraction, too.
Any unusual traits? Does it show physically?:  ??
Brief Personality  Confrontation never suited suit Perrie. People tend to underestimate her and find her reserved nature a weakness. She will use anything and everything to her advantage and will cut someone off if necessary. This isn't to say she wouldn't stick by someone's side, though, if she did indeed like the individual. With a sense of undeniable pride, Perrie seems to make herself mightier than others. This is left to the viewer's discretion; she's a closed book whose pages are torn and tattered. Like a chameleon, she adapts to whatever situation she may be in, or blends into it as well. One thing people have observed is that she does not crack easily and bides her time.
Background  Perenelle does not share her past with many people. Those who were blessed with knowledge will only know she was from a poor family. Poverty-stricken and fairing on her own when her mother was sick, Perrie quickly became street smart. She stole from a young age and did whatever she could to support her family. Whether or not she has siblings, has not been shared. When her mother passed away due to illness, Perenelle was left to her own devices. She became a lone wolf and cared for herself at whatever the cost. Presently, she leads a group of bandits and is known as "Little Red" since she wears a mask that covers her face. The only thing outsiders see is her mane of red hair spilling out. They reside in New York.
Alone or with someone?:  With a group of bandits.
Other: She likes chocolate. Also might go by the initials "P.J"

Drake Taylor

Name:  Drake Taylor
Age:  21
Gender:  Male
Nomadic or sedentary:  Sedentary
Weapons (Don't go crazy):  A sword and a handgun.
Skills:  With the strength of a bear and daunting aspects of a lion, Drake comes across intimidating. His reflexes are great, but not his speed. He's brute muscle and cunning. Furthermore, he knows CPR, first aid, and is certified. He is also organized and thinking ahead rather than in the present.
Any unusual traits? Does it show physically?:  No
Brief Personality  Observing, rather than acting, does not suit Drake. He is a man of action and a man with a plan more than not. Battered from years of survival, he's come to have a hard shell. This makes it hard for him to trust or speak to others, as he has been burned a few times in the past. His willingness to help or protect others overpower it, and leaves him in a constant conflict. To say the least he's friendly, though he will run if he deems it necessary. The act of recklessness teeters on the edge of his consciousness daily. With a grin and tilt of his head, Drake's charming nature comes in handy, especially if he wants or needs something.
Background  The middle class family he came from worked harder than anyone Drake ever knew to survive. He had what he wanted, though it was always tight. New York native, Drake has become familiar with its' system, groups and false laws and social construction. He worked to support his family by doing odd jobs throughout the city. Nonetheless, it soon became not enough. His parents packed up and left to go search for a better life. Drake was traveling with them one day when he was separated due to a street fight. Since then he's been on his own and has not seen them since. This was a year ago. Still, Drake searches high and low for them and hasn't given up hope.
Alone or with someone?:Alone

[User]
Laura Miller
______________________________________________

August 18, 2039 10:00 AM
Central Brooklyn

As Laura walked around the city, going into abandoned buildings, one after another, she found very little items worthy of note. She had gone in restaurants, smaller diners, grocery stores, apartments, and most of them had already been scavenged by bandits or the many other travellers roaming the streets. Expired food, useless items like toys or storybooks of subjects long past were the pick of the day. Expired food had long since rotten, and these storybooks were no longer needed, an artifact of the past. Many of these buildings were but a shell of their existing self, and those that survived the shelling, were not much better. Although intact, they too suffered the fate of the rest of buildings among them. Abandoned.

While searching around in a grocery store in one of the many deserted streets filled with wreckage of cars, she happened to chance upon a pair of bandits walking around like they owned the road. These bandits never learnt. They didn't had to, not many people dared to stand up to them anyway. Well, in a way it was great for her, that they did not. It made hunting them alot easier being the dumb arrogant nuts that they were. One of them was carrying the same assault rifle she was using as well. Perfect. More ammunition.

Using the grocery store as cover, Laura began taking aim before firing away the bandits. Her first shot took the pair by surprise, and the first fell in shock. Unfortunately, she had missed the mark, and only managed to wound him somewhere in his torso. A shootout then occurred among the three of them, the resounding cracks of gunshots echoing throughout the city.

The two bandits were pinned in their only cover in the streets, while she had the freedom to move around through the store, and after several more rounds of exchanged gunfire cracked around, she got the better of them.

She run to check the corpses for potential loot, scavenging whatever ammunition they had left from the fight. It was then that she heard the ear-splitting scream. It made her jump with fright, and rifle in hand, she ran towards the source of the sound, trying to figure out whatever made that unearthly sound.

[Assistant]
James Cooper

---

August 18, 2039, 10:03 AM
Central Brooklyn

"To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to dream; aye, there's the rub."

White. Ringing. Slow, blurred movements in the distance.
Am I...dead? What killed me? I wasn't ready to die!
A metallic taste in his mouth and a sharp, throbbing pain in his forehead woke James. He couldn't remember his face being quite so sticky. Nor could he remember deciding to take a nap on the pavement. He rolled over onto his side and immediately clutched his head and cried out sharply.

This was not right. He was bleeding. There was blood on his head and it hurt tremendously. Oh...oh god. He WAS dying. No, it was too soon! He couldn't die yet! He hadn't even seen another person! And...and...okay, so maybe he wasn't actually dying, but he was still in a lot of pain.

Wincing, James stood and surveyed the road in front of him. He hadn't thought it quite so tilty before. The wall seemed awfully inviting, and he collapsed heavily onto it, body wracked once more with paroxysms from his head wound. Blood filled his nose and mouth, and all he could smell was iron. No smells of rotting building or slowly decomposing organic material. Just his own blood, trickling down the side of his face and mingling with tears.

This wasn't how today was supposed to go. It was supposed to be lucky. More crackles, more food. Against his better judgment, James felt betrayed. There was no food today. There was nothing. Just blood-soaked clothes and a pounding headache. All he wanted now was to go home, but he could barely stand. It had taken so long to get here, and the trip back was sure to be torture. The mixture of tears and blood flowed freely onto his sweatshirt and the concrete sidewalk beneath him.

A slapping sound reached his ears, startling him into clarity. Running down the street towards him was, for the first time all day, a welcome sight. Youthful spark returning to his eyes and mouth contorting into an unholy combination of grimace and grin, James pushed himself up, propping his body against the wall behind him.
The figure dashing headlong at him was a human.

[User]
Laura Miller
______________________________________________

August 18, 2039 10:05 AM
Central Brooklyn

As Laura got closer to the source of the ear-splitting scream, she saw that it had came from a man. And he didn't look like a raider. That was great. She didn't have to kill him then. Besides, from her position, he looked to be in pretty bad-shape. He was still moaning about, and he rolled over and clutched his head. He struggled to stand, and as he faced her, she saw the familiar crimson sight of blood.

Was he injured perhaps?

He sure looked like it. As she walked up to the guy, she took in his appearance. A tall and gangly man with a shock of wavy brown hair. His hair looked like it was soaked in a combination of sweat and blood. How long had he been injured? His face seemed to be flowing with blood, and so was his sweatshirt.

This man here, though he looked half-dead, was the first living person she had seen that wasn't a bandit raider. Some company would be nice, it's been a long time since she has had any company of any sort.

As Laura crouched down, she swung back her rifle and began to stare at the guy, she spoke "Hey, are you alright? Do you need help?" She then placed her backpack on the ground as she took out a relatively clean piece of cloth, she normally used for wrapping goods to wrap it up. She tied the cloth around his wound, like a bandana of sorts.

Best keep that covered until they find medication of any sort. Looking around, she saw that the two of them were completely alone in the deserted streets. Prodding the guy, she kept on the look-out for any sign that the guy was beginning to regain consciousness.

[Assistant]
New York - Brooklyn
10 A.M.

"HEY!" The deep yell was not enough to disrupt Perenelle's footwork along the narrow edge of the roof. Half the roof had caved in itself; the rest was fighting to survive. If she managed to make it into the building then out, Perrie knew she would be able to escape. If not, she wasn't too worried. After all, she was the infamous Little Red, was she not? Surviving was her first talent. The second was managing to escape without her victims knowing how she had. Her cherry red lips pulled upwards into a smirk as the cock of a gun sounded nearby. Eloquently following was a whizzing bullet. She grinned and hopped onto the landing. With her arms out to catch her fall and legs braced, she landed on the crippled landing. The bullet whizzed overhead and missed her. Giggling with amusement, the thief darted down the dilapidated staircase, taking two at a time.

"Goddammit!" roared the man with fury, stomping his feet and cursing fluently. Though she didn't catch all of it, Perenelle heard a few choice swear words that she herself would not have used. Loud voices, similar foul language, and aggravation were revived in Perrie's mind. The memories and thoughts she had pushed back were starting to haunt her once more. With a deep breath and narrowed eyes, she paused on the third last step and took out her bow. Vermin like this one were not necessary to this world. She strung an arrow and waited patiently, crouched on the step. The thundering of the man's feet were audible - one would think they would strive to be quieter. This didn't seem to be the man's goal; perhaps he thought he could intimidate her. How arrogant of him, she thought with an eye roll.

The second the door creaked open, Perrie let her arrow fly forward. The arrow pierced the man's heart, near an artery. The man's face contorted with rage and hatred, now became a mask of shock. "Got you, bastard," She hissed as she stood up. The man choke, his chest now stained with red, then stumbled backwards and fell. She strode over to him, hoisting her knapsack filled with supplies and food, and smacked it over his head. His eyes then rolled to the back of his head as he permanently fell silent. She grabbed him by his feet and struggled to pull him inside. She groaned after a moment and gazed around. There was someone coming up the street for reasons unknown.

Perrie adjusted her mask which was a combination of black and red. No one else in her group wore red on their masks; it was her color. The sides were laced with raven feathers; the front crisscrossed and was designed with lace at the top and bottom. The mask settled politely on her nose and covered her eyes. The rest of her face was shrouded by her hood. Perenelle smirked as she recalled what her masked appeared as. This had been with her for so long that she couldn't bear to part with it. Not only that, but it was her group's style. Without it, she was just Perenelle; people knew her name and face. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and memories, turning to the boy outside. She stepped over the dead man and took out her bow, stringing multiple arrows.

"Get over here." she ordered intently. The man jumped, startled, whirling over to face her. "Come over here now or I'll shoot you." He swallowed then reluctantly came over to her. "Pull him inside." He nodded once more, quivering with what appeared to be fear. It shocked her. How could a grown man be afraid of her? Then again, her group was well known, especially in New York. She watched him intently, bow still aimed at him. As the man hoisted her victim inside, Perrie followed him inside.

"Please don't hurt me." He pleaded as he finished and turned to her. "I have a wife and kids and –"

"-Oh I had no intention of doing so. It's your lucky day." She smiled sweetly, her eyes glittering. "You can run along now, little doggie." She gestured outside as if he didn't know it himself. He ran out hurriedly down the street and out of sight. Wherever he had been going, was forgotten. She almost felt pity for him. Almost. She tore her arrow out of the man's chest so no evidence was left behind. With a grin and a malicious smile, Perrie looked at the dead man. She kicked his shin then strode out the door, down an alleyway, and back to her hideout.

There was a meal to be made and people to feed.


[System]
Age: 80 (help me with this?)

Gender: Female

Race: Watumaji

Physical Description: Achi is heavily curved, with dark brown skin, topaz eyes, and short white hair. Her skin is extremely smooth, cool to the touch and slightly wet at all times. She has fingers that are half webbed. Instead of legs, she has a long tailfin. It starts the shade of her skin, but shifts to a brilliant orange-gold. Like most of her race who traverse the galaxy, she wears a sheer bodysuit that covers her from the waist up to the neck and arms. It is made of a material designed to draw moisture from the environment and stay damp to protect the Watumaji's skin. Over that, Achi usually chooses to wear a tunic from her home planet, one that is brightly colored and patterned, as well as jewelry that seems to be made of coral and bone.

From the waist down, she is settled in a water tank that is about the size of a personal scooter. The tank rolls smoothly on two treads, and Achi maneuvers it with a small control panel.

Personality: Achieng is gentle-hearted and caring, and at first glance would seem an odd choice for the military. However, she has an acceptance of all sorts of beings, human, chimera, android and otherwise, and her position as a soldier's counselor makes sense to those who go to see her. She can hear terrible things, stories of war and blood, pain and grief, and take them in without judgement or reproach. She listens, and she comforts, and only offers advice when it is asked of her; sometimes people simply want to be heard, not corrected.

Outside of her role on the ship, she is friendly to others and usually quiet. The only time she would show any fierceness is if she was in personal danger, or someone was harming another person in front of her.

Enhancements: None

Skills:
Diplomat- Achieng is an excellent speaker and can smooth talk with the best of them. If there was a mission that involved making peace instead of war, she would be a good candidate to take along.

Swimming- While she is inhibited by her tank on land, in an aquatic environment, she is far more at home. Achi is a swift and graceful swimmer.

Vocals- Like all of her people, Achieng can speak, but can also sing in what her race calls wimbo-kusema. The closest comparison would be whalesong, but a Watumaji's is much more powerful and loud. Some of the tones range below what many beings can detect, and some range far above. Achieng has a natural talent for it, and can be extremely loud to the point of causing damage if she had to be.

Equipment:

Water suit- Absorbs moisture from the environment to keep her skin wet and cool.

Travel tank- Contains space for her to rest, and water for her to rest in while she's on land. Moves on two treads and has a small hand control.

Vocal mask- Achieng has a tech mask that fits over her mouth that can be used to direct her already powerful singing into something that could be weapons-grade lethal.

Fishing knife- While she can only do so underwater, Achi is well trained in the use of a knife made to hunt fish. She calls it a knife, but it's half the length of her arm and hooked at the end.

(Like that, but longer.)

Bio: Achieng traveled with her parents around the planet, her mother being a singer that would visit great cities and small towns alike. Her mother's voice was said to be heard even by those whose souls had joined the Sea, and so she was requested at many dignitaries funerals. Unfortunately, Achi's mother became ill and never recovered. She died when Achi was still a child. Her distraught father took her to the home of her aunt, promising to return for her soon. He never did.

Young Achi grew up isolated. She was shunned by the townspeople, and shamed by her aunt. Her aunt considered her a freeloader, and her own past jealous of Achi's successful and well-loved mother came out on Achi herself. Her uncle did nothing to stop his wife's poor treatment of their niece. Achi's only solace was in her cousin, who ignored his mother's opinions and treated her as a sister. The two grew up close, and he was Achi's savior.

Unfortunately, her aunt was not much kinder to her own son, and as soon as her cousin became of age, he pledged (married) to someone and moved far away from home. While he did offer to take Achi with him, she declined. Left on her own, Achi honed her singing in secret, growing more controlled and powerful by the turn of each tide. She also did everything she could to earn money, trading, bartering, and singing for pay.
The day came when she too, became of age, and she wasted no time in gathering her meager possessions and leaving. After bartering for passage on an off-planet ship, she made her way through schooling and was soon assigned to a military vessel.

[User]
Adi took a moment to glance to the intercom as it was announced that interstellar travel would begin in approximately five minutes. The android knew the effects of almost every type of travel, though actually experiencing them was another matter. Although the emotion software was offline, Adi was built to notably understand organic natural reaction to things like travel. If calculations were correct, just about everyone was going to feel something. More or less, nauseous, in which can create the action of vomiting. A aspect that was replicatible if Adi was given organic solid investable matter but was not a likely act that the organics would really want replicated.

When the jump happened, the android didn't move but the blank blue eyes narrowed a little as their vision seemed to be warped. Their right eye twitched a little before both optical receptors closed to take a moment to adjust systems. Indeed... Actually experiencing something was different from just being programmed with knowledge.

As expected as the android examined the room, just about every organic wasn't feeling so well. Doctor Sel quickly offering support. Unstrapping itself, the android stood and took something out of their pocket. It looked like a blue pill, but when clicking the top of it the pill soon expanded and grew, morphing into a large plastic blue bag with a circled solid entrance. A device made for releasing stomachal fluids from their mouth.

"Please use the proper equipment when feeling ill. Too avoid a further mess and the organic reaction of being ill as well when seeing vomiting fluids." Adi spoke as one crew member quickly grabbed it from his hands and promptly threw up in it.

[Assistant]
Sitting in the lower decks, having arrived earlier, Jack mulled over a few documents that R3V had sent him about the mission. Missing colonies, no survivors, investigate, don't die. The usual. It all seemed a bit underwhelming to him and apparently him alone considering that the ship he was sitting in the lower decks of was about five minutes from jumping while in tow of a damn carrier. He shook his head and closed the wrist-based hologram projector and reclined in the seat he had fashioned for himself. He preferred it on the engineering decks of the larger ships. It was away from the people for the most part and he felt safer. He didn't enjoy riding in these oversized gun platforms. Hated it when he was in the military, hated it now. Too much can go wrong too fast and too many lives were at stake.

He just about fell out of the seat when the Jump happened, forgetting to actually prepare himself like a normal person would. He righted himself and could already feel his bowels trying to right themselves as well. For once, he was thankful that his armor could help with that. He reached down to check his equipment and make sure they made the start of the jump alright. He already knew that they were basically unaffected by the jump, but he still made sure. Faulty equipment was a death sentence.

After making sure everything was checked and not broken, he slung his rifle over his shoulder, made sure the safety was on, and clicked on the magnetic safety on his suit, turning a small light green on his shoulder. He did this just so those with hatred for bounty hunters would be put at ease a little, knowing that he couldn't actually draw his weapons at all. "Might as well head to the top deck and see how things are going...." He said to nobody in particular. He started the trek up the decks and to the main deck, greeting a few people along the way. He dared not take his helmet off. Not many people enjoy talking to somebody with a face that looks like he put it into an active rocket engine.

Stepping into the main room of the bridge, he took a place next to the door and leaned against the wall. At this point he could only wait for things to happen as he was not assigned any position in the ship. Least not yet. He could fake it and say he was a patrolman, but he decided against it.

He did happen to make sure that his credentials were in order before somebody flipped out on him, however. He was going to avoid a night in a brig at all costs.

[User]
Achieng came to after several minutes, groaning and clutching her head as she resurfaced into the sharp, cold air of the ship. She hid her face, embarrassed, as she straightened her tunic and wrung the excess water from her hair. She pulled up a map of the ship, and hustled her tank right down to the med bay.

"Ah, Doctor?" She wasn't sure of everyone's names just yet. "I would appreciate your help." Her head was still spinning, and she did not like the sensation of constant movement at all.

[Assistant] Sel got her tools ready once again back at the lab, after all she expected at least a few people to come complaining that they were sick, and as it turned out she was right on the money as one of the crew came on through into the lab. "Welcome, please, take a seat and tell me what is the matter." Head chest or stomach normally had different treatments, much better than just stuffing people full of pills like most auto-docs that she had seen on the streets. Removing her helmet she waited for a answer to her question.

[User]
It was obvious that there were hardly any former military officers on board aside from Rayland himself and a few other individuals whom operated on Jump Drive rigged vessels before and thus were seemingly immune to the influential psychological effects of warping through space and time instantly that impacted the body. Of course the potency of the effects and how long they would last was completely up to the individual whom perceived the visual experience of being stretched several hundred light years across the galaxy; clearly there were already a few people had recovered completely and began to go about their business as normal. The others however clearly needed more time, especially those whom never even traveled through slipspace before while awake. Luckily for them Sel had voiced over the comms that she would readily help treat anyone feeling ill.

Rayland examined the operational report on his terminal and begun looking over the recent events. All three carriers and their respective task groups had initiated a interstellar jump all at once in same area of space. Falymar Station had since closed down slipspace travel in that particular region due to the gravitational influx created by the mass jump and had begun sending pings to inbound vessels to relocate their exit vectors in unaffected space until the disruptions had settled. Though the entire expeditionary force had jumped as one unit, each carrier group had dispersed into different routes towards their intended target systems, travelling though slipspace to ease their approach. The reported detailed an ETA of roughly 3 hours until the force reaches its destination; right on schedule.

Figuring that crew would need to be briefed on the operation eventually, he routed the mission data from the meeting from earlier to the ship Briefing room; a central facility of the Infamous Alto that had remained inaccessible for quite awhile, only seeing legitimate use during important conferences and new crew orientations. The latter seemed necessary, it was only a temporary post; basically the same job the Alto signed on to. Rayland anticipated that if the mission went well, he and his crew would be handsomely and everyone whom joined up on this operation would be on their merry way. Assuming of course if they don't get shot up or become a grotesque space whale's lunch.

Rayland rose from his seat unfazed from jump and stretched his limb before making his way off the bridge. "Towan, watch the bridge for me. I'm going to go ahead and do my rounds, make sure everyone is feeling okay...Oh and get everyone organized for a mandatory meeting in the Briefing room in thirty."

"Understood Captain Rayland Sul'tari, assuming temporary post." replied Towan as Rayland made his way off the bridge. "All crewman; a mandatory meeting concerning the current operation in-progress has been scheduled in the Briefing room in thirty minutes. Guide lights for the Briefing room have been lit for new members for their convenience."

Just before Rayland could approach and exit through the bridge doors, his eyes caught an unfamiliar face…which was oddly concealed by large plated helmet…Which was additionally odd to wear in doors, along with underslung rifle. Since he did not recognize this individual, he naturally assumed they had came in along with the rest of the new personnel. Ultimately since he only had a crew manifest with names without an associable portrait, he changed his vector and approached the man instead, activating the holo-tool on his wrist so he could identify who this masked and armed fellow was.

"Greetings and salutations good sir. I assume you're one of the newcomers I take it?" Rayland didn't wait for an answer just as the crew manifest loaded on the wrist projector. "And you are…?"

[Assistant]
Jack looked at the man that was fast approaching him and was already sizing him up. Guy looked like he had been through literal storms of bullets and came out with more than a few scratches. Big, gruff, and tough. He seemed like he was, or at least used to be, the pride of the AISC. Considering the quality of the ship he was in, the guy had earned everything that he owned and more. There was a sense of pride in his step, of power, strength...maybe even cunning considering the look in his eye. He had a dominating look about him, as should be standard for a captain of a ship commanding so many individuals. He stopped and spoke to him, his voice was gruff but matched his analysis of him perfectly. He nearly swung his hand into the captain's and gripped it firm. As was customary, he tried to break the captain's hand with the handshake in a show of strength and valor. The captain did not disappoint him.

"Jack Harquin. A pleasure, Captain Sul'tari. I have been assigned to this mission, yes. Unlike many of the other members of your rather luxurious vessel, I have not been given a position in the maintenance of her, so I figured I would take up guard duty for the moment until we reach the destination."

He let go of the Captain's hand and crossed his arms for but a moment before he pointed a thumb at his weapons. "Oh, and don't worry. They're mag locked."

[User] Achieng smiled weakly. "Yes, thank you..." She was already seated, but she figured it was a gesture of welcome rather than a direct command. She really needed to read up on idioms again. "Since the jump, my head is telling me that the world is moving in circles. I do not like it at all. Can you please make it stop?"


[System]
Real life:
Age: 16
Appearance:

Birthday: 16 September
Personality: The best way to describe it would be quietly willful. He wants to do what he wants, when he wants how he wants to do it but he won't complain about anything unless it's something he doesn't like.
Bio: He's been playing for a very long time. Once he used to spend all the time he could, clocking thousands of hours in the game, but now that he's hit the roof, he's basically just screwing around. Although he spends almost all his time in the game, he has an amazing ability to cram last minute and he still gets average grades. They've been on the rise recently as he's stopped playing so much and his parents are happy that he spends more time out of the game than before.

In Game
Avatar Name: Datze
Avatar Title: Dragon God
Appearance: Similar to his real life appearance, but he looks about 5 years older and he has red hair. His wears red plate gauntlets and plate greaves made out of dragon scales and he also wears a face mask that covers his mouth. The mask looks like a dragon baring it's teeth.
Class: Ascended Dragon

Signature Move/s:

Overflowing Terror: Datze radiates an aura of terror several times more intense than even the terror of a boss-level Dragon's roar. The aura will affect anyone near or lower than his level and gives varying effects depending on the enemy's strength. Enemies slightly below the user's strength will have some large stat penalties while enemies far beneath the user's level could potentially faint from the pressure. Even beings normally not affected by fear such as golems and constructs will be affected by Overflowing terror.

Almighty Dragon Rage:
When Almighty Dragon Rage is active, debuffs from sources that are lower level than the user will not work. The user will also gain an aura which gives them extra damage and defence depending on the amount of enemies in range and the amount of hits taken; and the user will temporarily gain infinite stamina. Almighty Dragon Rage can also be expended to super-charge a Dragon Breath.

Secret Skills(But not all his skills): Dragon Heart, Dragon Bomb, Dragon Call, Descent of the Dragon God

Avatar Bio: This avatar is regarded by all of the players as undeniably one of the strongest avatars in the game. The class itself is considered legendary in lore, and the preceding classes are considered some of the hardest to advance.

Ascended Dragon is the final form of the secret Dragon class, a class in which a user over time slowly gains the stats of an actual dragon. However, very, very few people have ever managed to convert to the class, as even the first challenge is considered impossible. Fight and kill a dragon at peak condition by yourself. No help is allowed, and the fight must take place on a flat plain.

Those that managed it found it to be the least of the challenges, each challenge afterwards could only increase in difficulty. When the world deemed it impossible to advance to the final stage, one user was seen, standing upon a mountain of dragon corpses. As they watched, a huge white dragon descended from the heavens, and the two proceeded to fight. The brilliant flashes of light stopped anyone from clearly seeing the battle, but all of a sudden the light faded. He flew through the air, some kind of aura blazing brilliantly as he tore out the White Dragon's heart with his bare hands.

A little later, he came to bear the title 'Dragon God'. But what doe the title 'Dragon God' really mean?
"To be recognized by each and every Dragon as the Almighty." - Road of the Dragon God, an article on the legend.

[User]
Before the Night's Conquest of Caevum, there had once been a luxurious reception room in the monarch's castle where the king invited dignitaries to converse to them on a more personal level than what the throne room offered. It was a beautiful room, plastered with the finest decorations money could afford with a large, spacious balcony that allowed a view overlooking the city. No doubt it was to demonstrate the splendor of Caevum.

However, since Nacht took the castle for his own purpose, he converted the room from its original goal of diplomacy to that of war. No longer was there majestic paintings or marbles of world-renowned artists and fabrics of the most beautiful silk and cloth. Instead he commissioned for a long table with the map of the known world carved onto its surface. It sat in the center of the room. At the head of the table was a throne for him to sit upon facing the city of Caevum below his castle, raised only slightly to subtly show that he was above everything like a judging deity.

It was in this very room where he gathered his subordinates and discussed war.

A majority of his subordinates currently in the room with him were non-playable characters. Though they were only artificial intelligence, they had been with him since he began playing. Nacht valued their loyalty and they were much smarter than most players would think. They had a keen mind for military matters. From experience, a majority of player characters were just awful when it came to planning and strategy. If anything, they were more like brutes who wanted to use force to get things done. He didn't need those kind of people in high positions.

"We've recently inducted some new recruits into our ranks," said Connor, formerly a spearman in his original army until they expanded. He was a veteran despite his seemingly young appearance. "They're plenty strong, but they're making a ruckus about their positions. They think just because they're powerful that it means they can just move up the ranks rather quickly."

Nacht smiled, an action hidden by his helm. There were many high-leveled players joining him because they wanted to loot and pillage. They had the gall to demand higher positions. Many didn't deserve it.

Before he could speak, a player in the meeting spoke up, "They just want a bit of action. We've been having trouble with Seathia lately, right? Just send them over to burn the farmland that surrounds the city. We can try to starve out the population there."

Connor frowned. "True. Various guilds use Seathia as their base of operations, making efforts to capture it ineffective because of the strength of those adventurers. Starving them would have the leadership of the city surrender to us eventually."

"You," Nacht said, glancing over to the player that made the suggestion. "What's your name?"

The player, a woman he noted, turned to him. Her eyes were dulled by a bit of a fear. He had that effect on people. In a voice fraught with shaking, she said, "M-My name is L-l-lucretia. Y-you promoted me a w-w-week ago."

Nacht nodded. He remembered now. She was one of the few players that understood the importance of subtlety. "It's good that I've made the right decision. Lucretia, Connor, I'm placing both of you in charge of capturing Seathia. I give you both command of the third and fifth army. Do not fail me. For now, this meeting is over. You're all dismissed."

Connor nodded solemnly, a contrast to the beaming Lucretia. The two paired up together to discuss plans for the upcoming invasion. It was good to see people that treated the NPCs like they were people. Nacht did the same, but he would never go as far as seeing them as real. They were disposable, but he understood it was easier to have their loyalty by treating them well.

As the last of his subordinates left the war room, Nacht began checking any messages he received during the meeting. Many were threats against his life, but they were easily ignored. He blocked them to ensure that they never send another message to him again. They were pests.

Nacht read over the message he received from the "Dragon God" and snorted. Sometimes the man didn't realize how so many things went into conquering a city. Logistics, subterfuge, diplomacy, etc. They were all necessary. Nevertheless, his interest was piqued. Knowing Datze, his "quest" could very well be a party and this was his way of inviting him.

"It's not like I'm busy," Nacht muttered to himself. There was no harm in seeing what Datze wanted.

Without even standing up from his throne, Nacht began teleporting to his friend's castle.

It was only a moment later that he stood in front of Datze's castle. It was a quaint thing, but it did its job to intimidate any would-be heroes that faced his friend. Nacht summoned five knight NPCs to use as his entourage. If he timed his teleportation correctly, he would be fashionably late to whatever Datze wanted him for.

Nacht and his knights marched inside the castle, sweeping in with dramatic flair as he allowed his cape to flutter behind him. His five knights guarded him, two on each side and one in the back, equipped with extravagant, black armor.

"I am the Night's Emperor, Lord of Caevum, War Lord of the Continent and the World's Future Ruler. I am Nacht!" He shouted with pride. "Dragon God, you've summoned the Great Conqueror. Pray that you do not waste my time!"

[Assistant]
Quest 1 - The Monster Cafe

"Good, you're all here." Kosuke said, standing up and dusting himself off. Food-kun had said he wasn't coming in the usual manner, Katherine had brought some dolls which he hadn't thought was necessary and Nacht brought some soldiers, presumably to make a grand entrance. There were about five dragons perching on the towers behind him, visibly amused at his bravado, but Kosuke was most certainly not going to tell him that.

"May as well tell you all now, if you guys were looking for combat then you'll be disappointed." He said, although he'd already assumed that everyone else had assumed that he knew combat quests were way too easy for all of them and that this quest was probably something else. "I wasn't really sure if I actually needed you guys, but it's always funner doing quests with friends."

He pulled up the quest interface and pressed a few buttons. A few seconds later, a message popped up for the rest of the group.

"So, what do you guys think?" He asked them. "And Nacht, drop that damn act already!"

[User]
"A cafe where monsters go to get their coffee before being slain by people? That sounds like a nice place to go to... unless it vanishes again. I brought some stuff for combating things just in case, but guess I didn't need them. Not that I wanted to combat stuff, since that's boring now." Ao calmly said, looking at the Dragon God. She then looks around, seeing familiar faces. There were many males, but females like Ao can be seen, too. Ao then looked at the place where the door should be, and snapped a finger. Suddenly, a new door made of stone appeared where the door should be, displacing the rubble of the old door. She realizes she didn't create anything but pillars of varying types and sizes in awhile, since she usually denies the requests from people to make new things for them, believing that buying the required object from someone helps the economy and having people improve their skills to make the object would encourage them to not rely on people, the latter hopefully reducing the amount of message she gets. Although she has set her message system to not notify her of messages that aren't from her friends, the messages still catches her eyes when looking through the messages to find old messages.
Ao then shifted through the menus, trying to equip her light armor since her dress would reduce her mobility because of it's size, while the light armor doesn't. "Hmm... Let's deny the requests, block the perverts and check the gifts from my friends, if any before the quest begins." She thought, shifting through menus, swiftly typing out a message.

[Assistant]
"Monster Cafe"? Katherine muttered. "Why not a Monster Girl Cafe? It'd be cute, and not so intimidating. Not that we can't take care of whatever we find anyhow." Now she was just curious about what a Monster Cafe would be like to serve coffee. "This might be difficult in it's own way, since it's not combat. Great idea Dragon Guy." She didn't want to egg Datze on too much. She knew she couldn't handle most of the people in this room very well in a one on one.

Think again about what he said in his message she spoke about it, "Well, I guess I can see why you said bring Polymorph Potions." after which she looked in her inventory and frowned about two she had. Not probably enough for how many people there were here. "Did we need more? I could easily go and get some more." Her methods were not exactly the nicest though. It was a pretty well known fact really. Usually tricking people out of their items if she didn't feel nice enough to just buy them.

[User]
"Nah, your two will be fine." Kosuke said, rifling through his inventory a bit. "I just didn't think I had enough of these."

He tossed a bag of scales towards Katherine.

Ding!

"I got these from some really annoying assholes." He said, "They kept turning into trees and stuff."


[System]
Alright, here is what I have so far. Thoughts? Suggestions?
Gender:
Male

Age:
41

Appearance:
The first thing to strike someone about Viktor's appearance is how tired the man always looks, his dark green eyes being permanently marred with dark bags underneath them and always seeming to be bloodshot, even first thing in the morning or rather more accurately when his shift starts. His short hair, once jet black is now more a dark grey colour mixed with numerous streaks of lighter white. It's constantly in a messy state and is the last thing he'd consider worthwhile 'maintaining' since it seems perpetually untameable. That all being said he does seem to ooze energy, his eyes often darting around and his hands never really being still as he fidgets almost constantly. All in all he gives off the impression of being unable to relax or 'switch off' quite frequently, and it's quite noticeable to anyone who spends a little time with him.
Generally he doesn't go outside of the station, so the EVA suit he happened to be wearing was just standard issue. It just so happens to have an American flag on the left shoulder, being one of the few spare suits available at the time.

Job : Engineer, 1st class.

Brief Background:
Viktor was born on the 1st of January 2000 in a Russian scientific facility to the north of the village Khatanga, Siberia. One of the northern most towns in the world with a subarctic climate and very little in the way of luxuries, not that he ever visited the village much spending most of his time in the facility. His childhood consisted of a mixture of military and scientific education administered by the only teacher to a class of only six pupils, Viktor being the youngest as generally staff were dissuaded from having children. His parents were both scientists who spent the majority of their time working and paying little attention to their son despite his numerous achievements. He excelled academically despite hating everything about the environment he was in, earning top marks throughout his education. He excelled even more as he left 'home' to attend the Moscow State Physics-technical Institute, graduating as a specialist in both Aircraft Flight Dynamics and Control and Aeronautical Engineering. He completed post-graduate studies at the same institute as a specialist in the field of Mechanics of Fluids and Plasma. Quickly being snapped up by Roscosmos he soon became one of the foremost minds of his country, even working closely with the best mind of both NASA and ESA for many years despite the rocky political situation caused by Russia's continued 'aggressions'. He was one of the head minds behind Prospect Horizon, working on her from practically day one. That being said Viktor had never actually been to space and persistently declined opportunities to do so, even after the Prospect Horizon station became reality. Finally he was put in a position where his career forced him into space, his expertise being his down-fall as he eventually became one of the few Russian engineers capable of maintaining and upgrading some of the station's complex systems. He was sent on the 15th deployment and has been there for about a year now, very slowly adjusting to life in zero-gravity. With only four previous EVA experiences under his belt he is far from confident outside of the station, but even he hasn't been able to avoid it altogether, especially when the French engineer scheduled to do routine maintenance is sick.

Special Equipment:
Pistol Grip Tool - this specialty power drill allows astronauts to precisely select the amount of torque and speed needed for the job. It is easy to hold onto, even in bulky space-gloves. Powered by metal hydride batteries to stand up to the extreme temperatures of space.

[User]
Makoto activated the radio on his suit. He'd been working on the inside, installing upgrades to the computer system. Even though he had come over through a docking port, he was wearing his suit, with only the gloves and helmet removed. After all, you didn't want to be without a suit with someone working on the hull on an unfinished ship. One minor mistake and the hull could breach. "Hey Rodriguez, how's that comms dish going?"

"I'm just hooking it up." A few seconds later the computer notified Makoto that a new device had been connected to the system.

"Plug and play spaceship parts." said Makoto, "much better than the old style upgrades they use on the station. They should really upgrade their software." He verified that the new dish was installed and online. "Computer, connect to VGSAT 01 and download all available upgrades for the comms system."

The screen displayed a box which detailed the download. "1.1 gb/sec". He watched the download for a few seconds to make sure it was working. "6.8 gb of 1.2 tb." it read. "Such a slow download." he muttered to himself. "At least the upgraded software will speed it up from this 10 year old outdated form."

[Assistant]
[Post made while listening to this. Please accept my apology]

An older Canadian First Nations man floated over the left shoulder of a younger tech who was carefully attaching some wiring and cowling to the inside of one of the capsules. Both astronauts were grounded to the inside of the capsule carefully. Neither astronaut in any mood to have some of the stations energy stream blaze through them like a lightning bolt. It's the Canadian who speaks up, "You know what I think you did wrong in this case Percy? Should have connected the red ends last. Because those wires are live. And as much as we need these lines, it would have been alot safer to have connected them backwards." The younger astronauts looks at the set up nodding in understanding, "You see Pat? This is exactly why I wanted you to watch over my shoulder while doing this."

Neil Patrick Stienhauer nodded, "Okay I'll give you that. For now, you know. It's okay sometimes not to do things by the manual for safety's sake." Percy nodded, "Thanks old man." Just then the annoucement for the EVA walkers to report came over the PA. Neil checked his watch, "Damn time flies. Okay. Finish up. And don't fry yourself. I need to get down there. I'm the safety specialist for this walk." The older airforce major unclipped the grounding line. Pulled a half somersault, planted his feet then kicked off the cieling? and drifted through a connector coil carefully.

It took him all of 3 minutes. And soon he's squeezing through one of the connectors leading into the Airlock module. Reaching out with practiced ease he caught an overhead handlebar. Bringing himself to a practiced stop. He smiled at Ellie and Fabio, "Hey there you two, sorry about that was up helping Percy. Making sure he wouldn't fry himself. Didn't miss anything did I?" He smiled warmly as he floated over casually to start checking his suit.

[User]
Jeramiah was... Excited. Very very excited. He'd been briefed, he'd been trained (albeit briefly), and finally, he was just about to spacewalk... Like, actually move around, in a complete vacuum, protected by what is practically a few layers of fabric. It was nerve-racking, but exhilarating. He made his way through the station, the adrenaline pumping. As a child, he didn't dream of becoming an astronaut, so it wasn't as if this was some lifelong goal... but it was still awesome.

He arrived at the Engineering Airlock, smiling ecstatically at Ellie, Fabio, and Pat.

"Hey," almost out of breath from excitement. "How are we all?" He looked around. His suit was ready for action. He went over to it to begin preparing for the mission."

[Assistant]
Viktor starred dully at the instrument panel before him, his hands working whilst his mind was elsewhere. He finished with the recalibrations before pushing away softly as he continued to think about everything that could go wrong with the upcoming spacewalk, drifting weightlessly for a few moments before the crackle of the comms panel brought him back into focus as the familiar voice of Ellie Tavistock reached his ears.

"Calling the crew for EVA #57, for the Greenhouse Work to Engineering Airlock. Get yourselves down here within the next five minutes. Thank you."

His stomach lurched and did a little backflip as he groaned and ran both of his hands through his hair hesitating for a moment longer as apprehension filled him, taking yet another moment to reassure himself silently. 'It'll be fine' he said to himself 'You've done it before, you'll do it again. Just focus, get the job done and get back'.He knew that the build up was the worst part for him, bringing himself to actually just get out there, but once he was out there and working he'd relax a little and stop focusing on all of the worst case scenarios that could present themselves.

Starting to look pale as a spectre Viktor began the short journey through the station, floating along and using his arms to pull and push himself where he needed to go, the novelty of weightlessness having long ago faded and now the lack of direction and forces acting simply frustrating him whenever something slipped from his grasp. When combined with the almost constant exercise regime he had to endure he was definitely looking forwards to returning back to the sweet sweet earth and its wonderful gravitational field. As he neared the airlock module where the rest of the EVA team would be waiting he paused at one of the small windows and spent a brief moment gazing down at the world, as always the sight being somewhat humbling and breathtaking even after all of this time. His eyes flicked over towards the exterior of the greenhouse, the numerous bits of scaffolding and machinery drawing his attention as he imagined that shortly he'd be out there floating in the abyss with little more than a tether and thin layer of suit protecting him from certain death, his eyes focusing briefly on the inky darkness that loomed in the background of his vision.

"Chyort voz'mi..." he mumbled to himself, cursing in his native tongue as he often did as his nerves still panged almost painfully at him. A few moments later he propelled himself into the module, seeing that already Ellie and the Canadian Stienhauer were there preparing as usual, with the observer... something King it was, floating with a huge grin spread across his features. Still pale and a little shaky Viktor neglected to say anything to the others and moved right towards his suit, the American flag emblazed on the shoulder glaring back at him as if to taunt him a little as he quickly started to prep it and himself. He sweated a little as he did, though the sight of Ellie calmed him a little – simply because he trusted in her abilities and role, something he had quickly learned on his first few walks as she always had the patience to deal with him and reassure him if needed. If it wasn't for her he was sure that after his first spacewalk he'd have flat out refused to ever do it again.

Then there was Stienhauer, the capable Canadian who was more than familiar with these kinds of walks. All in all he was happy with the crew of the walk, each of them being an expert within their role, and with plentiful enough experience outside the station to get the job done as quickly as possible. Viktor didn't know much about King, their observer, but he figured that he would stay out of the way whilst they did what they needed to do whilst he filmed and took pictures, and as long as he didn't distract them there wouldn't be any problems, though he did slightly envy the man as he glanced again over towards him, his excitement practically oozing out of him as he was also preparing his suit for the walk.


[System]
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Appearance: A young man with brown/blonde hair and blue eyes, Andrew stands at 6.4 feet tall with wide shoulders and with a surprising amount of upper body strength despite his lean form.

Rank: Private First Class
Class: Lancer

Weapons and Equipment:
Lancaar M1
Ragnaid
Uniform
Blast Shield

Personality: Generally rather quiet, many people seem to assume that Andrew is dumb due to the fact that he tended to get low scores in school or that he tends to take on jobs that require physical labor. Anyone who has ever talked to him on a subject that he enjoys will quickly discover that he is actually rather intelligent, but he can't stand the education system.

While undergoing military training, the trainers discovered that Andrew was a rather empathic person to the point where it effected his ability to work with guns; Whenever the targets were humanoid in nature, Andrew wouldn't be able to shut off the part of his brain that said something along the lines that he was about to end the life of a human being. This hesitation and inaccuracy vanished whenever Andrew was training to be a lancer against a tank however; While he knew that tanks tended to have crews, since he couldn't see them he could focus on the armored machine of death that needed to be taken out.

Andrew is rare for the fact that he isn't racist. He honestly doesn't see the point in hating someone for how they were born since they didn't choose to be born that way; What he does hate however are the self entitled, arrogant, self serving assholes that seem to make up most of the noble class.

Bio: Andrew was born the youngest and only male child in the family with three elder sisters. Somewhat spoiled due to being the youngest in the family, Andrew had what is considered a wonderful childhood with a loving family and whenever he met anyone who didn't have such a thing he couldn't help but appreciated what he was so fortunate enough to have.

Andrew's school years had their share of good and bad teachers, but he never did seem to raise to high grade wise. Despite the best efforts of the more perspective of his teachers Andrew never really found himself invested in his school work and at times failed to see the point of some of the things they were trying to teach.

One of the major highlights of his school days was during a history class when the subject of the Darcsen and Valkyria war came up. The history teacher was a devote Yggdist and tried sell the idea of the Valkria's divine nature and how lucky the Darcsen's were that the Valkria were so pure of spirit to only punish them instead of wiping them out for the imperfect creatures that they were. Andrew openly argued against this, making the point that the so called 'facts' that his teacher was talking about was all written by the Valkria themselves and thus they were unreliable due to the nature of those who win wars writing history so that they would appear to be the good guys and those they fought against were monsters.

The argument that followed lasted for a while and Andrew was given detention for 'disrupting the classroom', but his classmates had watched as Andrew kept a cool head and made his arguments based on the facts of human physiology and other historical incidents in which history was rewritten where as their teachers arguments devolved into bullheaded religious zealotry that abandoned the need for facts. While it didn't sway everyone in the classroom, it did cause enough of them to question what they were being taught that Andrew considered it a win.

After school, Andrew tended to take on jobs that didn't require a higher education and tended to be more physical in nature until the call for solders rose up to defend their lands against the Empire. Andrew gladly signed up because he would rather get put into a proper squad rather then one made up completely of conscripts.

RP Sample:
Taking a moment to glance at a nearby clock and noticing that it was ten in the morning on a Thursday, Andrew tried to ponder where he would have been if he wasn't currently standing in a recruitment line for a war that his homeland hadn't wanted to be apart of with a grim resolve. He normally stopped by one of the village clothing shops in order to help them unpack and put out new stock on Thursday; Not the most challenging of jobs but time consuming and strangely fulfilling in its own way.

As time passed and the line grew shorter, Andrew took a deep breath as it was finally his turn to stand in front of the recruitment officer. "Name?"

"Andrew Macdonald."

[User]
As the APC came to a stop, Andrew didn't seem to react in an overly major way. While others jumped over the sides or scrambled to get weapons ready or even just kept a look out for hostiles, he placed his Lance on his shoulder and seemed to relax a little bit as he waited. His logic on the matter was that until someone shouted 'Tank!' or 'Lancer!' all jumping out of the APC would do was make him a target.

When the scouting party returned plus one, PFC Macdonald listened in silence until the matter of what to do with the new girl came up. Her suggestion to go with the scouting team to recover her lance finally caused him to speak. "Sergent, if I may we should disarm and tie this girl up and keep her under watch until we can get in contact with the powers that be and confirm that she is who she claims she is. For all we know she's an imperial spy that will murder our scouts once they are far enough away and lead us into an ambush... at the very least she could report to the Imperial forces that we are in the area."

[Assistant]
James listened to the MacDonald, mulling over what he'd said in his head. He'd already considered the possibility of her being an Imp saboteur who would sell them out the first chance she got, but had decided against it for two reasons; the first was that sword, it was foreign enough that he doubted they could get one easily. The second was in all the stories he'd been told about and all the videos he'd watched, the saboteur was packing standard issue Gallian weapons. So rather than risk them tying up one of their own, he spoke up. He did agree with her not going though, last thing a pair of scouts needed was a Lancer playing tag-a-long. "This doesn't feel like an Imperial set up. I mean, for starters that sword is too foreign. No way they'd get that easily and then field it to fool a bunch of Gallians that may or may not be coming. Then there's the fact that if she was a set up and this an ambush, they're waitin' an awfully long time to spring it."

James shrugs and rests his rifle against his shoulder, barrel pointing up. "Not to mention we don't know the other Squads' orders. But, I do agree with not takin' her along. Scouts move faster in pairs. Besides, what Imperial would take a piece of Gallian equipment when they're positive their stuff is better? We can get the lance, we just need the all clear to get going."

[User]
Fina kept fidgetting all the way inside the APC, her own weapon rattling muffled by the APC's engine. She had shrivelled to the max, obviously hesitant and wary of the others inside the cramped space. She could start hyperventilating at any given moment, she never liked people this awfully close. And then, two things happened. Sergeant Harald spoke, inquiring about what they thought. Fina felt conflicted. On one way, she couldn't bring herself to break from her shell with so many people, on the other the sergeant was a nice person. At least at face value.

"I-I'll dodododo...my best." was Fina's sudden yet hushed and barely noticeable answer."Looks preprepretty hard. Peopeopeople might die today." She said, clutching her weapon.

And then gunfire shots were heard, following by a small commotion. Fina gripped her weapon tightly, her eyes gazing at the people who had jumped out of the APC without a second thought and then to a certain newcomer. With a rather uncoventional getup as well. And then some of the other people were dismissing her as an imperial spy. While others wanted to get the lance this girl claimed she had lost.

She slapped herself hard, trying to get a grip. "Are we re-really sure? We couldcould re-really use another lance bebecause of the tatanks. But we couldcould lose two scouts, too." Fina added, eyeing the over eager Hunt. "I'm sosorry, but it had to be sa-said."

[Assistant]
Sergeant Harald, Gallian Militia

The Sergeant couldn't help but lean back slightly as MacDonald gave his spiel, caught off guard by the speech. It wasn't as though he disagreed with tub-thumping patriotism per se, but... Harald's main goal was survival for himself and the troops under his command; if he managed to help win the war in the process, then great, but if not... well, there were always openings for skilled hands in the Europan far north, where Darscens were more tolerated. He kept his peace though, not wanting to appear unpatriotic. A few of the others spoke their mind too, perhaps a sign that the training had broken some of the ice in Squad 4. Harald nodded confidently and was about to answer when a shot rang out in the nearby woods; Bons, now driving the APC at a decent clip, threw the brakes on in panic. There was a complicated moment involving the back door swinging open, the Sergeant loosing his footing to spill out onto the dirt road and the butt of a rifle landing in a sensitive spot between his legs. Harald's vision whitened for an instant and by the time he dragged himself upright, Hunt and Sykora had vanished. 'Fuck, shit, cunt...' He swore vehemently under his breathe but pulled himself together in time to get some orders yelled. 'Everybody out! Secure the perimetre, move it!' As the squad milled about in confusion, the two errant soldiers returned... with a prisoner?

Maybe it was the sudden stop or maybe the aching pain in his two veg, but Harald was mightily pissed off when Hunt reported in. 'Very fucking well Private, but the next time you run off on your own, I'll fucking 'ave y-'. He caught himself, a little late. '... There will be consequences. It could have been a trap for Valk's sake, you could have run into a firing squad. Or worse, gotten captured and then the squad, the Regiment, the whole damn operation would be compromised!' Harald again caught himself, realising how pointlessly angry he was getting. 'Just... just don't do it again. Wait for backup and orders next time, both of you.' He gave Sykora a meaningful glare to reinforce the point. 'Now then... Squad 11, right?' He looked the girl up and down, eyes lingering on the sword at her hip. Why did everyone seem seem to have a damn sword nowadays? He had worked hard to ignore the elephant in the room, but Kyo's sword (if it could even be called that; the damn thing was a piece of sharpened sheet metal) had already been an unneeded complication in the squad's line up. He felt a glimmer of pity for Squad 11's former commander, wondering if they too had felt his pain. Regardless, there were more important issues at hand. 'In summary, we lost a squad to ambush in these woods?' He nodded back to where they had came, his brow furrowing. 'Private Durandal, yes? Did you have a chance to collect dogtags? Any details on the forces that attacked you? Can you remember where?' His blood was still up from the anger, but a certain coldly professional part of him reminded Harald of his obligations. Their mission was to secure a route to Vasel and a route with Imperial patrols setting up ambushes was by no means secure. He turned to the others as Durandal got her story straight and growled, 'Get kitted up, weapons and ammunition only. Lancers and drivers will secure the APC; the rest of us have a patrol to kill.'

[User]
Private Durandal
Their skepticism regarding her was understandable, but the one that wanted to tie her up was rather... frightening. As if she hadn't already been through enough with the destruction of her squad, now he wanted to tie her up and treat her like a P.O.W? She held her tongue, however. Now wasn't the time to get into an argument.

Regan stood a little straighter as the commanding officer spoke to her. "Yes sir, Private Durandal. I... wasn't able to obtain any dogtags, sir. The force that attacked us was infantry only, I saw no armor. They hid behind a ridge and they must have had spotters somewhere, because they opened with a number of grenades, lobbed over from their hidden position. In the confusion, they rushed us. I tried to retaliate, but it happened too fast, my squad was wiped out and I had no choice. I-..." Her voice caught in her throat and she took a shakey breath. "I need to... sit down..." Her posture falters and she salutes Harold before she dismisses herself. She moves to the back of the APC and has herself a seat in the open back.

[Assistant]
PFC James Hunt|Road in the middle of nowhere

James did what he did when Captain Riserre started yelling at him when the Sergeant started; he tuned it out. Some back in his old unit would argue that's why he was always getting in trouble, but the truth of the matter was the Cap just couldn't take a joke. When it was said and done, with the order being given to kit up, James looked at the Sergeant again. "Hey Sarge, thought you'd like to know that she," he jerked his thumb towards Durandal, "downed two imps with her sword and I gunned down the third when I found her. So they're already down three people. That said, how big do you think the patrol is?"

For all his smart ass remarks, he also knew what questions to ask and when to ask them. Plus the fact of the matter was even the regular army had varying patrol sizes on record, so he thought he'd get a second opinion before making his own guess.

[User]
Andrew's brow narrowed a little as he heard James talk. While a lot of what he was saying seemed to be based on a twisted logic that didn't really make any lick of sense, his point about the sword did seem to have a grain of logic and truth to it; While an Imperial infiltrator that was trying to get in with an Imp weapon was either to stupidly patriotically arrogant to live or scarily competent due to noticing how rag tag the Militia's weapon lay out was, your average infiltrator that didn't have a death wish would have been wielding a Gallian weapon in order to avoid awkward questions. The use of such a strange sword either meant the girl was legit or so terrifyingly good at her job that he could only hope that the Empire wouldn't waste her talents infiltrating the Militia.

Maybe he was just being paranoid... or maybe he just wasn't paranoid enough. Hard to tell the difference these days.

Offering the Sergeant a silent salute, PFC Macdonald made sure his lancer was loaded once more before moving to sit next to the APC door, able to see out just fine but not expose himself to sniper fire or anything of the sort.