[System]
Age: 23
Civil clothes: Thief Clothing (see bottom)
Thief clothes: He tends to wear leather armor lined with chainmail and a long dark cloak. He also tends to wear a long red scarf.
Weapon: Long sword
Tools: Lockpicking tools, daggers, razor wire
Bio: TBR
Not important info: Swift and acrobatic, excellent with a sword and dagger, natural pickpocket, and incredibly stealthy.

[User]
Kalardia's capital city, Ivek.

Night was started to fall once again over Ivek, some stars were already visible and the streets started to get crowded, the people could enjoy the fresh air of the night after a hot day of work, the merchants took this opportunity to make more money and so lowered the price of their products, children ran across the streets playing hide-and-seek or with balls made of leather while some adults yelled at them worried they may cause an accident.
The guards looked at everyone who passed by suspiciously.

Hotarubi was in the square, leaning against a tree, with a sweet smile on her face she watched the children play without worries.

"I'd love to see everyone was this happy..."

She told herself, watching children play was what she enjoyed the most, however there was a job to do that night, Hotarubi was wearing her thief clothes under her kimono, ready for the mission, but was not the time yet.

[Assistant] Deep inside of one of Kalardia's most grandest towers, a cloaked shadow moved swiftly in the twinkling moonlight. There was nothing on his form to make him noticeable, although his face - grim, scowling, and slightly symboled was evident. A length of parchment - a document written in golden ink - was skillfully folded and placed within a hidden pouch on his leg. As he dashed passed a guard, the cloaked shadow suddenly leaped up like a crow, disappearing out of the Tower's top floor without a sound. If one looked up at the night-sky, they would see a long, sharp, dark purple and black crow gliding through the air. A bit more concentration would show that the giant crow was, in fact, a human.

[User]
Hilda let out a small huff as she carried a hefty crate filled with spices. She had been consuming her time all evening with aiding a merchant whom had just received his goods from a foreign country. The young woman usually spent her days as such just to have a small amount of pocket money to roam about with. Though she did receive pay from picking off enemies, she did dabble a little in peasant life to make just a little more for herself and others if needed.

"There you are my boy!" The old merchant patted Hilda's back as she set the crate down in front of him. "You've been working hard all day, I hope this isn't troubling."
Hild shook her head in reply and wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her cotton blouse.
"Here you are, take a little extra for being such a hard worker. You'll be quite a fitting man." The merchant placed a few coins in the palm of the presumed male's hand and wandered back into his shop, leaving Hilda to finish off her day.

She shoved the coins into a small leather pouch holstered onto her hip and sauntered off. Her figure had disappeared into a looming spot in the alleyway and just as suddenly her armored silhouette had shimmied up walls and stood up on the roof.

[Assistant] Mason walked quietly down the streets. Her pink kimono felt tights around her but mainly due to her wearing her bright colored fighting gear beneath her kimono. She was heading towards where she had hid the rest of her supplies for the red haired girl had a job to do. She hated her hair being up in it's stupid bun but she did it for the sake of disguise.

[User]
Fleur snuck up behind Hilda, before suddenly clasping the woman's shoulder. "Busy watching, I see?" Fleur giggled. She was dressed in her thief clothes, with a bag slung across her shoulder. "I just got away with some gold myself. It won't be long before everyone is on alert" Her giggling continued. She had woken up with a spark to do her duty and to make the poor happier.

"What have you done today?" She felt in the mood for a good brag, she took a deep breath and stretched.

[Assistant]
Simbad walked through the crowd timing his movement with the rich looking merchant behind him and then suddenly stopped. As soon as the merchant bumped into him Simbad whirled around and got up into his face while simultaneously ripping the mans coin purse from his belt and shoving him. As always the rapid input of pushes left the poor merchant bewildered and totally unaware of his unfortunate loss, "Watch where you're going money bags." Simbad spat at the man disdainfully at the man the weapon at his belt keeping the man from arguing and walked away leaving him confused and a bit less wealthy. He quickly turned down an alleyway and looked at the loot he got, more than his usual pulls, this would be able to feed him for at least a couple weeks.

As he glanced around he saw the red-headed girl in the pink kimono, Mason was her name, walking somewhere purposefully. Curious to see what she was up to he stalked her carefully keeping someone between them and several feet back.

[User] Evanglina leans up against an alleyway near the square. She looks across the way and sees Hotarubi standing there quietly. Evanglina smiles, running her sharpening stone against one of her katanas. Her black wig hair fell in front of her face and she brushes it out of the way furiously. She hates the wig, but she has to keep it on in order to keep her secret. She looks at Hotarubi, waiting for her signal to go whenever she does. Hotarubi is still in her civilian clothing and Evanglina rolls her eyes. She wouldn't stay in her civilian clothing. Not this night at least.

[Assistant]
Vallyn stared at his own left hand for the longest time, staring at the alabaster skin with a scrutinizing gaze. Every time he looked at his hands, all he saw were bloodstains. His entire life had been spent on revenge, and those around him had suffered fates worse than death. Allies, enemies, passerbies. They all died. The young man had remembered the King collecting him and the others for a task, the building of the guild, three months after his incarceration. "A chance to atone," Vallyn muttered to himself, clasped in the deepest shadows of the sewers. "Though will these acts ever clean these hands of mine?" The thief lamented.

Dropping from his perch in the sewer, he landed upon the walkway with practiced grace and made his way towards the ladder. Like a spider, he managed his way up the rungs and slowly, and as silently as he could, removed the lid to the sewer. Propping himself out and quietly replacing the lid, Vallyn hastily made his way to the next shadow and followed it in the utmost silence.

There was a job to do, after all.


[System]
Friendship Gem Tracker:
Stargaze, the Orphan (played by @Guardian Angel Haruki): ♦♦
Skobeloff, the Trickster (played by @rush99999):
♦♦
Fellwing, the Seer (played by @Vertigo): ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Shieldwing, the Warrior (played by @Digizel): ♦ ♦ ♦

---

NPCs:
Pronouns: He/him

Species: Dragon

Age: Bearded Dragon

House: House Tessith

Colour: Royal yellow

Moons: Stone, Liberty

Looks:
- Large curled horns
- Thick scales
- Icy blue eyes with slit pupils
- Long, wrinkled snout with crocodile-like teeth
- Bat-like wings, each tipped with an extra 'claw'
- Clubbed tail
- Bulky body

Description: Soon to be named an Elder dragon and take his place on the Council, Garrock is simultaneously smug about the superiority his age grants him and mournful of his lost youth. He was once a member of a pilgrimage clutch of decent repute called the Dawnfire Clutch, but while the rest of his comrades moved on to form new clutches, Garrock chose to remain solo and has prided himself on his self-sufficiency ever since. He dislikes relying on others to solve his problems, especially those younger than himself, and has been known to have a particularly sharp and cruel tongue when forced to interact with clutches of drakes.

Name: Fogdance

Pronouns: She/her

Species: Dragon

Age: Bearded Dragon

House: House Tessith

Colour: Silver

Moons: Spirit, Stone

Looks:
- Hornless, has two small fins on the side of her head
- Pale grey scales speckled with darker greys
- Large, indigo eyes that always appear somewhat teary
- Short, rounded snout, resembling a sea turtle
- Large wings that form a crescent-moon shape when spread out

Description: While Garrock may state that House Tessith's tenets encourage independence and self-reliance, there are many dragons within the House of Diamond who interpret 'living simply' as being more community-focused. Fogdance is one such dragon; nurturing by nature, she is one of the teachers and caregivers for Tessith's drakes, and has been recognized even by the mentors of House Semscale for her patience and diligence. However, beneath her gentle exterior, there is something frail and somber within the older dragon that many glimpse, but very few truly understand. After all, how can someone surrounded by so much love be so sad?

Name: Alpin

Pronouns: He/him

Species: Brownie

Age: Young Adult

Looks:
- Scrawny, with very thin, pointed features
- Covered in wiry ginger hair
- Outfits often include a hat and a scarf, and favour muted greens and browns colourwise

Description: Alpin is seen as something of the village idiot among the brownies of his island: lovable and ultimately harmless, yes, but with very little sense between his ears. How true this opinion is and how aware Alpin is of his fellow brownie's judgements is up in the air, as while he seems pretty oblivious most of the time, there are moments where he demonstrates a keen perceptiveness and an understanding of things deeper than his peers.

Name: Bartley

Pronouns: They/them

Species: Brownie

Age: Elderly

Looks:
- Chubby
- Beady eyes and large, drooping ears
- Covered in brown hair that is fading to grey
- Wears tiny, half-moon spectacles
- Has a fondness for old shirts and trousers, with very little variation

Description: An older brownie with a love for tinkering and crafting, Bartley prefers the company of one or two friends at a time as opposed to large groups, and likes to keep their hands busy with a project even while in conversation. They have a very short, blunt manner of speaking that can some time come off as rude to those unfamiliar with them, but in truth, Bartley is just shy and not always sure how to best express themselves.

Name: Tamba

Pronouns: She/her

Species: Dragon

Age: Rawscale Drake

House: House Myndoth

Colour: Pastel green

Moons: All

Looks:
- Antler-like horns
- Soft, pastel green scales with splashes of orange and yellow
- Large purple eyes
- Feather tipped wings and tail
- Chubby, rounded body
- Wears round spectacles

Description: For a drake so young, Tamba is considered extremely well-read. She's rarely found outside of Myndoth's libraries, and is capable to memorizing reciting whole passages from the books she studied. However, when it comes to socializing, she's far less adept, and tends to either talk far too much or far too little with no in-between.

Name: Pleexem

Pronouns: He/him

Species: Dragon

Age: Rawscale Drake

House: House Tessith

Colour: Lilac

Moons: All

Looks:
- Gazelle-like horns
- Soft lilac scales with pastel green splotches
- Large bluish-green eyes
- Feather tipped wings and tail

Description: Tamba's twin and current clutchmate, Pleexem makes his sister look like a daredevil by comparison. He's afraid of pretty much everything and everyone, save for Tamba and some older dragons in House Tessith, and is rarely seen without his sister by his side.

Name: Echo

Pronouns: She/her

Species: Elemental (mixed: wood, water and earth)

Age: Unknown

Looks:
- Humanoid torso
- Translucent greenish-brown skin with bioluminescent gold freckles
- Long bluish-green hair resembling leaves of a willow tree
- Eel tail in place of legs

Description: Echo is a very enigmatic being, even by the standards of elementals. She's implied to much older and more powerful than she appears, and like the dryads who tend to the dragons' hatchery, may have access to knowledge beyond. This knowledge is probably why she chose to take care of Stargaze after the drake's egg somehow found its way into her case, and also why she eventually drove the drake away.

Name: Kyte

Pronouns: They/them

Species: Dragon

Age: Winged Drake

House: House Semscale

Colour: Peach

Moons: Liberty, Spirit, Storm, Void

Looks:
- Hornless, with 'winged' ears
- Pale orange scales that fade to pink, like the sky at dawn
- Round, hawk-like golden eyes
- Long, bird-like legs ending in sharp talons
- Small bumps above nose and down their back
- Very thin

Description: Originally belonging to a different pilgrimage clutch, circumstances have lead to Kyte being placed with the younger Tamba and Pleexem. As such, they've taken on an 'older sibling' roll to their new clutchmates, not as a leader but in that they're willing to do whatever it takes to keep their friends safe, even if it puts themself at risk.

[User]
Skobeloff

"Whoa!" Skobeloff exclaimed as he was glomped by Tamba.

"Thank the moons, a friendly face at last!" Tamba exclaimed in kind as she glomped Skobeloff.

"I'm glad to see you as well, Tamba." Skobeloff said happily.

"Careful, Tamba," The other drake spoke up then. "For all we know, he could be corrupted too!"

"Oh, you're right!" Tamba said before letting go of Skobeloff and stepping back to examine him. "Hmm, it's actually hard to tell in this light, gimme a sec."

"...It's been three seconds already, Tamba. What's the hold up?" Skobeloff said with a cheeky grin after three seconds of silence as he watched Tamba call upon the moons for light.

"Well, at least it's something," Tamba said as a small mote of light flickered into existence on her claw. "Do you know how tricky the moons have been since we've got here? I've been barely able to do any magic. Not sure if it's because of the Darkness being present on this island or simply because we're in a shaded area. Now, if you'll just..."

"Of course." Skobeloff complied as he allowed Tamba to check for any sign that Skobeloff was also his Shadowself.

"He seems alright. No wierd black veins OR any change in his colouration." Tamba said to her fellow prisoner once she had confirmed that Skobeloff was untouched by the Shadows.

"If you say so," The other drake muttered as he approached. "You know him better than I do, after all."

"So what's been going on here exactly?" Skobeloff asked. "Why is Fogdance so obsessed with keeping everyone safe? How did things get to the point where the Darkness managed to claim her for its own ends?"

[Assistant]
Stargaze

Stargaze answers Alpin, "Hi Alpin! It's nice to meet you. I'm Stargaze! Echo raised me on this island," She then apologizes, "Sorry for startling you like that. Fellwing is able to have these really cool visions, and she must have seen you in one of them,"

She continues "Oh, right! Thank you for helping us out of that mess! We're trying to get to Echo and see what's going on with Home,"

[User]
At Skobeloff's question, the two younger drakes exchange a look. "Well, we have a good idea of when it happened," Tamba began. "We're a little more fuzzy on the 'how' and the 'why'."

"She's been acting strangely ever since we got here," Pleexem interjected. "Even before things started going wrong, she's just been so jumpy."

"You're one to talk," Tamba said with a snort. She turned her head back to Skobeloff. "Besides us two and her, there were four other dragons with us. Vipereyes and Alto were among them." Skobeloff will recognise those names as members of Myndoth, a bearded and long-tooth dragon respectfully, and from he knows of them, it's easy to see why they were chosen for this specific mission: Vipereyes is Myndoth's expert on poisonous fauna and flora, while Alto - short for Altostratus - was a budding crafter who was known for rarely speaking the common dragon tongue but preferred instead to either use sign language or one of the elemental languages, all of which he was fluent in.

"There's also Maug, who's from Tessith, like me and Fogdance. And finally, there was Kyte."

"They're the other member of our clutch," Tamba explained, motioning between herself and Pleexem. "They're from Semscale. Since we're still new to working together and me and Pleexem were already going to be here representing our Houses, our Sponsor thought they should come along with us, as a team-building exercise of sorts."

Pleexem grimaced. "Obviously, they weren't expecting things to turn out like this."

"The island was perfectly fine for the first few days," Tamba continued. "Fogdance was on edge, yes, and we were having a couple of disputes with the local pixie village about expanding the stronghold and how that would cut into their territory. That was a whole mess, but we seemed to have come to agreement." She sighed. "Then one night, we just started hearing strange sounds. The next morning we found claw marks on the trees. We thought the few pixies who still disagreed with us were playing some sort of trick to try and get us to leave, but when we went to confront them about it, they got mad at us. Apparently, some of the pixies had gone missing the night before, and they of coursed blamed us."

"That went on for a couple of days," Pleexem added. "More pixies disappeared, more weird sounds in the middle of the night."

"We noticed how quiet the forest was during the day, too. Vipereyes noted how she saw less and less fauna around the place, and Alto told us he hadn't felt the presence of elementals either. We decided after a while we should send word back to the Capitol. Maug offered to act as messenger, so they left." Tamba lowers her head solemly. "We never saw them again, and we never heard anything back."

"Until you showed up, that is," Pleexem pointed out. "You're the first word we've heard from anyone in weeks." He looks at Skobeloff with a mixture of hope and dread. "Did... did Maug ever reach the Capitol? Are they okay?"

---

Stargaze's explanation did nothing to ease Alpin's surprised expression. "You had a vision? About me?" he says, looking up at Fellwing. He looks a little embarrassed. "I wasn't doing anything stupid in your vision, was I?"

He then looks to Stargaze when she mentioned Echo. "Echo..." Alpin repeated, a hint of recognition in his voice. "Right. She's the elemental who lives near that willow tree." He nods. "Yeah I think I know the way to her place. Thankfully, it's in the more watery part of the swamp, which means we're not likely to run into any more brownies. Not many of us really like swimming." He frowns as he gestures to his surroundings. "I mean, I ain't particularly fond of it myself but if keeps us safe, it keeps us safe."


[System]
Species: Human
Age: 25
Planet of Origin/Birth: Alderaan
Force Sensitive Y/N: No

Appearance:

Skills/Abilities:
- Subterfuge: Thanner Antares is a spy, and spy's deal in secrecy. He excels at avoiding detection, and he is able to slice into computer networks and security systems.
- Smooth-talker: A master of deception, Thanner is able to utilize his suave and sophisticated demeanor to manipulate others effectively.
- Sharpshooter: Trained in marksmanship at the Imperial academy, his weapon of his choice is the sniper rifle and he has carried out several assassinations on behalf of the Empire in the past.
- Traitor: Given his background, he also has a working knowledge of Imperial procedures and personnel, which has proven to be an asset to the Rebellion on multiple occasions.

Equipment:
- Sniper rifle
- Blaster pistols
- Stealth field generator
- Fusion cutter
- Night vision goggles
- Charm and charisma

Psychological Profile:
At the end of the day, Thanner is a turncoat. He is a traitor to not only the Empire, but to his family. Although he believes what he is doing is morally right, Thanner continues to struggle with this notion of betrayal and he is haunted by the missions he's carried out in service to the Empire. He past also makes it hard for others within the Rebellion to fully trust him. Thanner can't blame them.

History:
Thanner was born into a wealthy and respected family on the planet Alderaan. His father, Commander Calder Antares, served in the Republic government and has since gone on to become a highly ranked and very well regarded Imperial officer, a true loyalist to the Emperor's cause. To Thanner's father, legacy is of the utmost importance, and he instilled in his son a strong respect for authority. During his teenaged years, Thanner met and fell in love with an idyllic young woman named Rashira. Rashira did not share the same views as Thanner with regards to the Empire, but he still greatly admired her spirit. Unfortunately, politics would soon come between them, and Rashira left Alderaan. At the age of 18, Thanner was intent on following in his father's footsteps. He would attend the Imperial academy on a full scholarship and soon became an Imperial officer in his own right. Thanner learned quickly how to present himself in order to rise the ranks of the Empire. His noble bloodline, combined with his ability to manipulate his fellow officers allowed him to ascend quite quickly.

Imperial Intelligence soon took a great interest in the young Antares, noticing his uncanny ability to know exactly what to say at any given moment. He was recruited as an agent of the Empire, carrying out secret missions at the highest level of discretion. The Rebel movement was growing across the galaxy and Thanner was exactly what the agency was looking for, a skilled operative with an undying loyalty to the Empire. The only problem was, Thanner's loyalty had started to wane. He had seen the atrocities committed by the Empire, especially the ones committed by his own father, and for the first time he questioned his place in the galaxy.

Thanner specialized in anti-Rebel operations, detecting and eliminating Rebel sympathizers or spies. However, he grew to resent his actions over time, and he would become the very thing he swore to destroy. He became a double agent, selling Imperial secrets to the Rebel cause. His contact within the Rebellion was none other than his lost love Rashira, who had grown to become a powerful freedom fighter. Unfortunately, his treason would soon be discovered by Imperial Intelligence, and his family legacy would be disgraced in the eyes of the Empire. In the Empire, the penalty for treason is death, and Thanner's father was ordered to be his executioner. Commander Antares was forced to chose between his son and his Emperor, and he would chose the latter. Luckily for Thanner, Rashira still considered him to be an asset of great value to the Rebellion and she led a Rebel strike team on a mission to rescue him. During the ensuing escape, a firefight erupted. Rashira was shot and killed by Thanner's father, a sacrifice that allowed Thanner to escape.

Thanner now fights on the side of the Rebellion, still haunted by the sins of his past and by Rashira's sacrifice.

Yes, and:
During his time as an Imperial agent, he gathered vital intelligence that aided the Empire in their conquest of the planet Uslam. This has led to some (understandable) hostility from Corporal Jenk Beskad and Corporal Keller "Bits" Vannin, both of whom are natives of Uslam. Coproral Beskad in particular harbors great distrust for Agent Antares, owing not just to Thanner's past alliegiances but because of his personality as well. Beskad is a rugged loud-mouthed miner while Antares is a smooth-talking man of sophistication, born into the highest class of society.

[User]
HK-51 re-activated on cue to the Human Female pointing at The Master.
"Warning: Safety protocols disengaging - I am detecting aggressive behaviour towards the Master. I would not threaten The Master if I were you, meatbag."
His cold and synthetic tones pierced the room, and all eyes turned on him and the incredulous woman

[Assistant]
Hayca had been standing behind most of the veterans. She had been observing and assessing the greenhorns according to her own weird measurements. The moment the captain was outside of earshot Hayca walked up to Keller. "So, who are you placing your bets on this time Bits?" She looked over at the group and started pointing at two men. "One, two aaanndd..." A grin formed on her face as she pointed at Toland. "Three." She looked back at Keller and gave him a shove with her elbow. "Those are my picks, gonna bet ten credits on each of em. Speaking about credits, who won last time?" She said, still with that same grin on her face.

She actually wanted to bet on the new lieutenant but saying that directly to a superiour officer's face might get you into trouble. Speaking about the new guy, it looked like the sarge would be the one who was going to have to keep the platoon together, cause this guy looked like a whimp. Besk saluted to the guy. Well, he shouldnt really expect any salute from her untill he had proven himself as a capable member of the unit.

Besides that, she was rather happy with her picks and was almost sure that she'd win this bet.

Right at that moment the droid which had been collecting dust all this time reactivated and started calling Tadia a meatbag. Well, it certainly seemed like things were gonna liven up in a few minutes.

[User]
"I think we split the last round. Lemme see...." Vannin evaluated Hayca's picks, rattling off baseless assumptions about each of them under his breath and listing things like 'funny smile' as if they would have an impact on the soldier's lifespan in battle. When he was satisfied, his volume came back up to a conversational level and he finished his train of thought. "... kind of a limp I guess or not, but you're right about Chompers there, he'll go for sure. And Tats for three? Maybe." He bobbed his head left and right, and one could almost hear the loose screw in his head clanging against either side of his skull. "But I'll take the squid over him, if droids don't count. And that one." He leveled a finger at Thanner Antares. "That one smells like a clone vat. I'll go double that he's first." The humor drained from his voice entirely. He knew imperial defectors were a dime a dozen, and sometimes -- like the Captain -- they even came with some useful talents. But this one had a grating air about him that, for some reason, was setting off alarm bells in Vannin's head. "Make it triple, if I'm the one that breaks his neck."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, corporal," said the Lieutenant. Vannin shrugged, as if to say 'Whatever helps you sleep,' and straightened up a bit. He raised his voice, trying to draw some attention away from the myriad powderkegs that seemed to be springing up on every front. "My name is Lieutenant Durod Byron. I understand you folks have been holding your own out here for some time, and Fleet Command is real happy about the way you boy... you folks do work." The look on his face said that he hoped nobody noticed the blunder. "Now we're here to fill in some gaps, and help you keep doing what you do best. I know this can be a little awkward, and hopefully we'll get used to each other pretty quick, but in the meantime I just want you all to know that I'm not here to change the way you fellas do business. I'm gonna do my best to stay out of your hair, and together we'll get the job done, your way. So. Take a few minutes and get acquainted. The new guys brought a little extra gear, feel free to help them square it away, and we'll meet up in the briefing room in two hours. Got a hot new target in mind, should be a good hit." He glanced at the HK, and a glimmer of dread flashed across his face as he envisioned a brawl breaking out. "Better make that one hour. We'll get some introductions out of the way and go over the mission." He came very close to saying 'dismissed,' but decided against it at the last second, made a half-salute, and stepped off.

Before leaving the hangar he whispered something to Sergeant Sekula.

Vannin didn't make anything out of that conversation, but he turned back to Hayca and said, "Guess he doesn't want us punching the new guys just yet, huh."

[Assistant]
Toland spasmed for a moment, being caugh off guard twice in a literal matter of seconds. He should of known that the HK-51 unit he had worked on weeks ago would be persistent, but being close to a stalker never came to mind.

"I'm sorry, one second," Toland asked Tadia politely with a hint of embarrassment.

He turned to HK, grabbed the droid by the "shoulders" and stared him directly into his sensors.

"I'm sorry, but this is getting to be a little much," Toland told the droid outright. "I am not your master. I don't want I be your master. I want you to find the person with the most facial hair in this room and make him your master. That is a direct order!"

With that done, Toland turned back to Tadia with as much composure he could muster and saluted her.

"Private Toland Vas, at your service. Not a complete idiot and yes, good with droids. My big metal friend here is Betuu. Say hi."

"Hi," Betuu copies as if he were a big weaponize parrot.

"Also, side note," Toland added in, "I don't condone anything the HK unit just said before. He's not mine."

[User]
Thanner stood among the regiment's new recruits, and could not help but turn up his nose at the stench of cheap liquor in the air. He knew that the regiment's soldiers considered themselves to be separate from the pirate crew aboard the Intruder, but he found it difficult to make that distinction himself. As he glanced across the room at the veterans of the unit, the likely source of the foul odor, he noticed one of the soldiers pointing a finger at him and muttering about. Thanner smirked and turned away, undoubtedly projecting a foulness of his own. It was the stench of arrogance. Of elitism. A stench not so easily washed away. In his short time with the Rebellion Thanner had become privy to such accusatory gestures and mutterings, and he had become exceedingly adept at shrugging them off. Perhaps too adept.

Thanner refocused his attention as the new Lieutenant spoke.

"My name is Lieutenant Durod Byron. I understand you folks have been holding your own out here for some time, and Fleet Command is real happy about the way you boy... you folks do work."

"Not a great start," Thanner thought to himself, glancing around again at the rugged folks in his midst.

"Now we're here to fill in some gaps, and help you keep doing what you do best. I know this can be a little awkward, and hopefully we'll get used to each other pretty quick, but in the meantime I just want you all to know that I'm not here to change the way you fellas do business. I'm gonna do my best to stay out of your hair, and together we'll get the JOB done, your way. So. Take a few minutes and get acquainted. The new guys brought a little extra gear, feel free to help them square it away, and we'll meet up in the briefing room in two hours. Got a hot new target in mind, should be a good hit."

To say that things would be a little awkward was surely an understatement, but Thanner was confident that he would soon be able to smooth things over. He had been in tough spots before, but he had always been able to talk his way out of a situation. In truth, his tongue had saved him more times than he could count, and it was what allowed him to excel as an agent of the Empire. Thanner had much less confidence however, in the Lieutenant's ability to lead. Thanner knew that, above all, these gruff military-types responded to authority and detested weakness. After what these men had been through, they had no place for weakness. Lieutenant Byron possessed authority on paper, but he oozed weakness through every orifice, and Thanner knew that the veterans would detect this as surely as he detected their disgusting aroma. He wondered how long the Lieutenant could survive in this environment.

After the Lieutenant finished his address, Thanner made his way across the hangar, deliberately walking past the same soldier that had been unsubtlety gesturing in his direction previously.

"Guess he doesn't want us punching the new guys just yet, huh," he heard the soldier say.

"I should certainly hope not," Thanner replied casually, "For your sake."

Turning his back to the soldier, Thanner carried on. He saw the Lieutenant whispering something to a woman before exiting the hangar, and he managed to catch the woman's eye with his own piercing gaze. He strode over to the woman and extended his hand, ensuring that the display was seen by the soldier he had mocked.

"Sergeant Sekula I presume? My name is Antares...Thanner Antares."


[System]
Theme song: Twenty One Pilots - Lovely

Chris N. Green

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 *Photo-shopped image of Black Veil Brides front man, Andy Black.

---

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-Basics-
Age: 240
 Gender: Male

-Appearance-
 General: Christopher stands at about 6'4", and neither thin nor thick in weight. His eyes are very noticeably dull-red, which he writes off as being a bizarre genetic mutation that most people tend to believe. Inside his shirt, he hides retractable wings that are 18' in span, with soft, black feathers. The skin he wears is pale, though not abnormally so. Often times, he wears an unimpressed look on his face, nearing a scowl. His lower lip is pierced on the left side, and he is rarely seen without the ring in.
 Build: Average.
 Hair/color: Dirty blonde.
 Skin color: Light pale.
 Eye color: Dull red.
 Other: Lower lip piercing; hidden scars on back; light scars on arms.

-Other-
 Personality:
 Chris is described as a people-pleaser by his human acquaintances. Which he is, but not for anyone else's gain but his own. A professional psychiatrist, perhaps, could describe him as a paper-certified psychopath. However, this is simply from his demonic genes. Chris has a thirst for violence and power, yet there's another part of him that wants to quell those waves of rage. Another description of him: a walking internal conflict. However exclusively internal. To the outside world, Chris is a gentleman. A lover. He is peace.
 Skill list:

* Pyromancy: can conjure and manipulate fire.
* Necromancy slavery: can conjure undead slaves for a limited amount of time.
* Speed & Strength: very fast and very strong.
* Mild regeneration: non-fatal wounds heal relatively quickly.
* Melee: Chris frequently practices martial arts.
* Dual-wielding: Chris frequently practices battling with a sword in each hand.

 Etc: Has a brother named Jacob.

[User]
Scarlett was training like normal until she heard a great crash in the field, she was training in. "W-What happened it felt like an Earthquake at this hour?" Scarlett thought with her depression taking hold. She could sense presences of two people within the vicinity she decided to go searching, and it didn't take long to find a massive crater, she was holding the Scarlett Rose in her hands. She sighed at what is going on until she looked down inside of the crater and sees two male demons fighting, with the one on the ground being hurt. She swallowed her pride a bit and her blade was glowing a different color and it was courage, which was multitude of different colors. "S-Stop it, no one told me there was other demons in the world, I thought my family was the only ones," Scarlett said pretty loudly towards the two that is fighting without knowing their names.

Her tone of voice was mostly an ordering tone of voice and she never really asked anyone to stop fighting before.

[Assistant]
Obviously, Jacob wasn't expecting to be intervened, and especially not by such a small, weak-looking young woman. He hesitated for a moment long enough, allowing Chris to once again throw the man off of himself and jump to his feet. In him, there was a slight hesitation as well. A few swift strides put him at the woman's side, looking at Jacob as the man clenched his fist in anger, sword by his side. He snorted, "What, you gonna have a little girl protect you?"

Chris glanced sideways at the woman. There was no way he was going to look like a weakling. He rolled his eyes in disregard to his brother. "No, just wondering if you're even evil enough to hit a lady."

"Not like I'm not a demon," he grinned, revealing several razor-sharp teeth. His eyes began to turn black, as if being filled with dark liquid.

"That's low even for you," Chris growled, holding both of his hands palms-upward in front of him and trembling a bit until two battle swords appeared. He grabbed them quickly and brandished them toward Jacob. "Three swords against one," he said in reference to the sword the girl was holding.

[User]
Scarlett was slightly amazed, which was her courage helped the person, who's next to her, which had dirty blonde hair. She noticed he somewhat looked like he had a trouble with the one still in the crater clenching his fist and sword because, and she can tell he had injuries on his body. She heard what the guy in the crater said about her, even though she has to agree with him about she is shorter than most demons. She was looking directly at the man in the crater but heard what the guy next to her said. The Scarlett Rose blade starts to glow black, since Scarlett had fear deep within her soul, when she saw the man in the crater's eyes turning black. "I guess these two really resent each other," Scarlett thought for a bit.

Scarlett hears the dirty blonde next to her say what he said and noticed him summon up two Battle Swords and also grabbed them quickly and brandished them towards the guy in the crater. Scarlett smiles slightly when the guy with dirty blonde hair said, what he said. She held the Scarlett Rose in more of an offensive position than what she had when she came to investigate the area, which was defensive. "Y-Yeah, it definitely is," Scarlett said slightly nervous. She is kinda trying to hide the fact she was blushing a little bit, which is why she looked nervous instead of blushing. The Scarlett Rose started to glow, its normal blue in color.

[Assistant]
Chris took note of the fact that the woman's sword seemed to change colors, though he wasn't sure why. He watched as Jacob tensed and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with a shake of his head. "Whatever," he said. "It's time for me to go. This isn't over."

"You've been saying that for years," Chris smirked, watching Jacob disappear with rage, leaving behind a weak cloud of black smoke.

[User] Scarlett sighs a relief when the person in the crater vanishes into a puff of smoke and she somewhat relaxes. She stars at the dirty blonde, sighs and she looks at his wounds. "I-I can heal you if you want though you probably want to know my name before I do anything like that," Scarlett said shyly to the dirty blonde guy standing in front of her. She seethes her sword into her seethe since she carries it wherever she goes. "My name is Scarlett Nina Atkinson, it's nice to meet you this is the most exciting thing I have done in awhile," Scarlett said happily with a sigh of depression in her tone of voice. The sword in her seethe was glowing a mix of blue, pink, and yellow all at the same time.

[Assistant]
At the offer of Scarlett to heal his wounds, Chris shook his head. He said, "No, it's okay. They'll heal soon. No need for you to waste energy on them." In fact, as he spoke, they began to heal slightly. It would still take another hour or so for them to heal completely, but the bleeding had already stopped.

"My name is Chris Green. It's nice to meet you, too," he said, and then asked the question that had been itching his throat, "Why is your sword changing colors, if I might ask?"

[User] Scarlett sees the dirty blonde's injuries are healing and is happy to see that her healing powers aren't needed right now. She hears the person's name was Chris Green and she smiled slightly until he asked of her sword. "The Scarlett Rose changes colors based on my moods and the color it usually shows is blue, which is in turn is depression," Scarlett said explaining. Since she said the word blue, the sword in its seethe starts glowing a blue faint aura. "The primarily reason why I am depressed is no one in my family is paying attention to me anymore, it's like I don't exist anymore," Scarlett said depressingly.

[Assistant]
Chris listened to her story, thinking about how it was pretty upsetting that her family didn't pay attention to her much anymore. He nodded his head in sympathy and said, "If it makes you feel any better, that was my brother."

He tossed his swords into the air, and they too vanished, leaving behind black smoke.

[User] Scarlett heard Chris say that the male in the crater was his brother and she smiled somewhat mostly that he listened to her without telling her to go to her room. "I-I guess he always wants try to kill you or something," Scarlett said holding her hand near her chest. Scarlett noticed Chris tossed his swords in the air and they vanished quickly and leaving a black smoke. Scarlett sighs slightly and turns towards her house, the Atkinson Residence. "M-My house is this way if you want to come," Scarlett said shyly towards Chris. She puts her sword on her back and it glows a pink in color. "My mother died giving birth to me," Scarlett said teary eyed and crying. She remembers who told her this and it was her father Nick.

[Assistant]
Chris nodded in response to Scarlett saying that his brother always wants to kill him, because he did. Jacob was always trying to find a way to bring about Chris' demise. Scarlett told him that he could come to her house, and he decided that for now he would. He could feel the cut on his throat beginning to heal more, and then Scarlett began to cry after telling him that her mother died giving birth to her. He frowned and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," he said. "It's alright. I never knew my dad."

[User] Scarlett sees Chris' hand touch her shoulder. She calms down when he told her that he never knew his dad either. "O-Okay I will try to stop crying," Scarlett said wiping her tears away. Scarlett starts to walk towards the Atkinson Residence, which is a big mansion in the distance and it is only five miles away. "The staff usually keeps my secret I train out here, since I wouldn't want to be grounded by my father," Scarlett said slightly teary eyed.

[Assistant]
It relieved Chris, yet bothered him at the same time that she was quick to agree to stop crying. As Scarlett began to walk toward her house, he politely followed, taking note that the house was very visible from this distance and that it was absolutely huge. He recalled the house that he lived in -- a brick one, not big, but not small either. It was very modest but very comfortable. This one seemed gigantic compared to it, gigantic and easy to get lost in.

"Why would you get grounded?" Chris asked.

[User] Scarlett was continuing to walk home looking at her home, which is massive but she feels proud to live there. She listens to Chris ask about, why she would be grounded. "Even though my father ignores me," Scarlett said a little bit teary eyed. Scarlett stops and turns around slowly towards Chris and looks at him with a gentle smile. "He would only ground me to protect me from his enemies, which would want the Atkinson Family Fortune," Scarlett said with a smile. Scarlett turns back around and continues to walk towards the Atkinson Residence. Scarlett was slightly worried about telling a person she just met awhile ago, which she is worth a lot of money but her family's home is a very large mansion in the middle of nowhere.

[Assistant] Listening to her speak, he nodded. To be truthful, he was baffled by her ignorant innocence to trust him with this information, however vague it was. It was obvious to anyone who came this far out into the country that these people were loaded -- after all, their house was a very large, very extravagant mansion. It was no secret that they had a fortune. "That's understandable," Chris told her. He looked at her and saw that there were tears in her eyes again. "Why are you so upset?" he asked, concern in his voice. "I've just met you but you've done nothing but cry."

[User] Scarlett hears his concern in his voice and somewhat feels a little bit relaxed. "I-I got into a fight with my father before he went to work," Scarlett said crying. The Scarlett Rose starts to glow a brighter blue since that fight with her father made her cry much. Scarlett looks at the ground while walking and she was walking slower. "H-He told me to stop bugging him and he came close in hitting me but didn't," Scarlett said that is a sad tone of voice. She cannot really remember the last time her father tried to hit her because it never happened until he left for work around the morning times.

[Assistant] Only the fact that Scarlett was still a stranger stopped Chris from shaking her like a rag doll. The pathetic display she was presenting was irritating him to no ends. She started walking slower, and so he adjusted his pace to hers. With a stoic expression, he only looked straight ahead, even though she sounded so sad. "If you're bugging him, stop," he said. "Even if you aren't bugging him. If he says you're bugging him, just leave him alone. He can't miss what isn't lost."

[User]
Scarlett heard what Chris said about just leaving her father alone so there can't be anymore confrontation. She looks up to the sky for a bit and notices a helicopter going towards her house, and it had the Atkinson Family's Symbol on it and the Atkinson Corporation logo on it. It was a Silverish Blue Helicopter and it was flying high but she could see it clearly. Scarlett looks back at the Atkinson's Residence and a regretful sigh, which she gave. "I-I agree with what you are saying," Scarlett said with a better attitude than just depression and sadness. She starts to walk a little bit faster, which was her walking speed before she slowed down. The Scarlett Rose was glowing a dimmer blue in color.

The Atkinson Corporation's Helicopter slows down to a crawl because it was about to land in the backyard of the Atkinson's Residence on one of three helipads and the helicopter stays going for a bit since it is quite loud still.

[Assistant] "I know I don't know you," Chris said as he followed her eyes, watching the helicopter even as it readied to land, "but I can already tell you need to toughen up." He looked at her with a serious look and then asked, "Who's in the helicopter?"


[System]
Nicknames/Aliases: Drake

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Gifts: Energy Manipulation, Dragon-Themed Traits(Wings, retractable claws, heat resistance, etc), ???

Loyalty: He's a wanderer, loyal to those he gets close to.

Description: Drake is a tall and lank figure, ranging around 6ft. Most of his muscle resides on his upper back, right around his wings, making him an avid flier. The rest of the boy's lack of strength he makes up in being quick and evasive. His silver eyes resemble that of a reptile-cat crossbreed and are often referred to as looking most like "dragon eyes." His wings, while leathery in nature, have a thin coat of fur on them similar to that of a bat's. He also has sharp predatory canines for chewing through tough meat and is likely the source of why he is more carnivorous in nature.

Drake can regularly be seen wearing a white tank top and his signature sleeveless leather jacket. He never takes it off, as it has become a form of constant. Something that stays the same while everything around him is changing. Other parts of his apparel include black jeans, a pair of black and white sneaks, fingerless motor gloves, and a chain necklace. The necklace is adorned with a sentimental jewel at the bottom, shaped like a dragon tooth but made of some kind of crystal or stone.

Personality: Drake does his best to stay under the radar. Having grown up in Erubesco, he knows just how much they don't care for people in the wastelands. That being said, he typically keeps to himself to avoid dragging other people in. He may act cold toward strangers as a survival precaution, but there is still good in his heart. He wouldn't be able to just sit and watch if someone were in dire need. The boy does have some unresolved anger management issues, so his rage will occasionally show its face if provoked and mess things up. He does his best to stay calm, however, in whatever way he can.

Skills: Drake has a number of skill sets, though none of them are ideal around the kind of people he's up against. Street smart is the best way to describe Drake. Without any real intimate education, the boy lacks any advantage on the intellectual spectrum. However, his potential for schooling is likely far above average. He's a great strategist when given the chance, as well as an excellent stealth asset. He is also very intuitive.

His energy powers give him the ability to sense those around him. He will usually know if someone unfamiliar is coming around the bend and can recognize previous auras. It is very hard to sneak up on him.

Weaknesses: While the boy is immune to heat, he is extremely susceptible to water and cold. What would take an hour for one character to get frostbite may take the boy a mere five to ten minutes.

Loved ones are also an Achilles heel. He is very likely to sacrifice himself if it means saving someone he cares about. The same goes for children, especially those around the same age as Kyle. 5-9 year olds, typically.

Brief History: Drake's mother, Charity Coleman, and father, Sebastian Coleman, were both two of the original chairmen in Erubesco. Both were highly regarded while they were alive. Sebastian, however, had a heavy drinking problem which developed early on. With Sebastian being an abusive drunk, Drake often got the short end of the stick. He stayed strong through it all, even focusing on keeping Kyle, his little brother, safe.

Kyle, fed up with all the fighting between factions, had joined Liberty in an attempt to bring the two together. It didn't end well, and the younger brother was killed during a public speech by an explosion, which was blamed on each opposing faction. Charity committed suicide after discovering Kyle's death. Sebastian, however, decided to take it out on Drake first, before joining his wife in the afterlife via a drunken accident.

After receiving this news in a less than pleasant demeanor, Drake set off on his own, making the decision to shy from both factions. Having discovered the corruption on both ends, he vowed to end the war between the factions once and for all. Somehow...

Other:
* Drake's favorite food is steak with Slim Jims and beef jerky being a close runner up.
* Drake is secretly really good with kids, but is usually too reserved to show it.
* Drake's hair is actually fur similar to that of a border collie.
* Drake is incapable of sweating anywhere but through his mouth, if at all.

Realistic ref

Kyle and Drake art

[User]
Kora was quite prepared to take knocks fighting against the metal man. If a broken rib or two was the worst injury she'd every sustained in the line of duty, she'd be extremely lucky. What was wasn't entirely prepared for the merc whose offer she turned down to apparently drop the price and weigh in on the fight as well. And not on her side.

From her rather compromised position it was hard to move as it was, and by the time she heard the peculiar, muted noise of the projectiles it was too late to avoid them.

Kora cried out in pain as her kneecap splintered. The leg of her uniform ripped and warm blood came coursing down her shin. The knight was just able to swing herself in so as to momentarily use the tinman as a human (well, metal) shield to prevent it striking both her lower limbs. Her gaze flickered down to her knee.
She was pretty certain it wasn't bleeding enough to kill her.

She was also pretty certain that with two potential opponents it would cost her the fight.

Unless.

"Am I clear to activate?" Kora spoke through gritted teeth as she talked back to the Citadel.

"I hope you are entirely clear that the mission brief outlined 'alive'."

"Cut the crap ORIN! Am I clear?"

"Fine. Yes. Activate."

 Back at the Citadel ORIN cringed momentarily at the moment the audio squealed and cut as the mic disintegrated. Knight was on her own now. Hopefully smarter than she looked.

The heat wave that exploded out of Knight Norrevinter's body tore up the ground in a circular arc around her with an intensity that caused dry grass and wood to immediately burst into flames and the ground around her to be seared like charcoal. The ice that was bid to rise up was not only melted but blasted to steam.

The Knight's eyes, once a ferrous grey, were now a bright, luminous crimson, the irises glowing like crucibles in a furnace. The very air that issued from her lungs seemed to warp and twist with heat.

Whilst her arm was still in the grip of the metal man, she turned from him with complete abandon, and disregarded her apparent fellow knight's appearance on the scene. Her target was the ashrat. That vulture who dared think he could take advantage of this situation for his own gain. A wolfish smirk crossed Kora's face for a moment before she let loose a screaming battle cry and flung her free hand out, unleashing a wave of heat and force toward the merc. It rocketed out of her body in a wide cone and came at him like a perfect little scale model of a pyroclastic flow. Flying ash, rocks, and superheated air that tore up the ground and scorched the rocks.

The hammer of the gods.

[Assistant]
@TechnoWizROK@ScoundrelQueen

A hit. Not surprising, considering the situation. With an injury like that she wouldn't really be a threat. Lazily he occasionally shot bullets at her as she used the tin man for cover. It wasn't a state that could be maintained. Either the tin man was going to end this one, or she'd be forced out of cover and get shot. Either way, this was not going to go well for the knight.

Of course, that was when a sudden ice barrier popped out of nowhere to attempt to separate the knight and the tin man. Looking briefly over Alex spotted another fellow, who was now pointing sword at him. Really? A sword? Whoever this guy was, they certainly valued style over function. In a real fight there was no way you'd even get close enough to use that thing, so him waving it around was a bit of an empty gesture. Unless he was trying to indicate his willingness to open Alex's mail?

Of course, Alex's internal dialogue was interrupted by a sudden explosion, which appeared to originate from the knight. She had mumbled something into an earpiece before suddenly heating up immensely. Pressure differentials created a shockwave, and a blast of hot air caused Alex to be momentarily pushed off balance. Huh. Turned out he'd underestimated the knight girl. She pulled back her arm before moving it rapidly forward, the air around he hand seemingly twist from the heat. Knowing that an attack was obviously coming Alex threw up his right hand, a wall of granite instantly forming between himself and the scary heat-laser. He was rewarded a moment later with a sound similar to thunder and another blast of hot wind, indicating that his intuition had been correct. So not only did she have explodey powers, but she was also able to shoot heat-lasers. Maybe he should have take this a bit more seriously, and shot her in the head instead.

Regardless, he now had a number of issues to deal with. Foremost was the issue that that explosion had probably destroyed anything valuable the knight lady had on her. Which was a pain. Why was he even doing this if there wasn't any gain in it. Sighing at the waste he sent a grenade flying over the wall with a flick of his wrist. It landed softly, bounding off the hard sand, beeping softly. Of course the lady knight wasn't able to move properly, courtesy of that hole in her knee. He'd like to watch her try and hobble out of the blast radius, but that fragmentation grenade was probably going to shred her. Lots of offense and no defence made for a glass cannon. Oh well. Maybe he'd at least manage to get some respect out of this from the locals. Turn it into a story about how he'd intervened to stop the authorities from claiming this little backwater shithole. Not much of a silver lining, but Alex worked with the tools he was given.

Glancing over at the fella with the sword Alex started walking towards him. His outstretched right hand continued to generate more granite wall, separating himself from the fragmentation grenade and wounded laser-knight. "Oi, buddy! You're a frost guy, right? Don't suppose you could rig me up some cooling right about now? I suspect it's about to get really hot over here." There was an almost friendly casual tone to Alex's voice. It didn't sound like the voice of someone who was currently trying to kill someone else.

[User]
Drake had taken a few shifts throughout the night, having been best fit for lookout seeing how he could both perch himself atop a building and sense out any nearby auras or threats. After being fed, it was the least he could do for the group and he didn't mind taking longer shifts than the others. He did manage to get a couple hours of sleep, albeit not much due to his distrust and lingering paranoia. Even so, he was feeling a lot better in the morning after receiving a much needed meal. Certainly not in peak condition, granted, but better nonetheless.

As they arrived in town however, his nerves spiked and there was a dwindling regret in the back of his mind. Drake typically kept to himself in the wastelands, and so this kind of atmosphere was extremely new if not a bit intimidating. And Overreach's singing did little to calm his nerves. His gloved hands tightened around the draw straps of the small sack he carried on his back. He was always partial to keeping a smaller bag, as a backpack was often harder to manage due to his wings. That, and he preferred to travel light anyway.

It wasn't long before the suggestion of splitting up was mentioned, putting Drake in a position he didn't want to be in. Towns were a new concept for him - he had avoided them up until now. So needless to say, he was a little more than clueless as to how to traverse it. However, seeing how the group was splitting up, he felt he had very little choice in the matter.

He stood there for a moment, swallowing down the hard lump in his throat and focusing on the task at hand. Silver eyes looked about, observing the other citizens briefly to gain some intel on proper interaction and mannerisms before he set off to look for a specific stand. A food stand, of course. It didn't take long to find one, and he approached carefully, shrugging his sack off and digging inside. From it he pulled two unopened water bottles. Fresh water in the wastes was something that always fetched a fair price, regardless of supply. Everyone needed water - well, everyone but him. Drake had a bit of a… medical problem, one could call it, when it came to digesting water. Or getting wet, for that matter. Needless to say, two bottles earned him a decent amount of food in return - several bags of jerky and a handful of canned beef soup. It was enough to rightly fill his bag, which he slung back over his shoulders, harboring one of the packets of jerky to snack on as he walked.

And rather aimlessly at this point.

While he was feeling rather confident in his venture thus far, he admittedly wasn't sure where to go from here. At this point, he was practically sightseeing and people watching rather than doing anything practical. He was starting to consider taking off again when he heard some commotion a little ways down. Curious, the winged boy drew closer. It looked to be some sort of tavern and, low and behold, Dawn had also managed her way to this building from a different direction. She also knew someone inside, from the sound of it. Had she been involved in whatever had just gone down here?

Drake wasn't particularly keen on being anywhere near a bar, his experience with alcoholics being less than savory, but after seeing a drunken man half sprawled on the ground, he felt it wrong to let the telepath tread forward on her own, even if she did know someone inside. Alcoholics were often known to be illogical and sometimes even dangerous.

"Dawn," he recalled curtly as he approached, his eyes casting a brief glance toward the man on the ground before looking back to her. "Everything alright?"

The boy's gaze trailed to Lucas a bit uncertainly, as he seemed to be the most likely culprit for the dazed man lying on the street outside.

"A friend of yours, I'm assuming?"


[System]
Formerly Igarashi Kaito

Nicknames/Titles:
Much to his horror, the goblins of the Claybitah Tribe have come to know him as the 'Brainy Gob'.

Gender:
Male

Age:
Current age: Four
Age of death in Japan: Seventeen

Species:
Goblin

Original World (Where they reside in the real world):
Osaka, Japan

social status:
Offishal Thinkah Gob of the Claybitah Tribe

Appearance:
Standing at a solid 3'7", Chatak is a just a little taller than the standard goblin. Something about the way his face is built generally seems to make him look like he's either angry or scheming, even though in reality he's probably legitimately trying to be friendly.

Personality:
Chatak, despite how he may come across, is not actually a particularly brave person. Not now as a goblin, not before as a human, never. In fact, he is the kind of person who would rather avoid conflict if possible. He is also very much the type of person who wants to make life as easy for himself as possible, although trying to actually achieve this unfortunately tends to mean he has to make his life significantly harder in the short term, and then hope to god that it all works out and makes it easier once he's done. Of course, if there's one thing he wants even less than a hard life for himself, it would be to make things hard for other people in the process, and while he definitely doesn't see himself as one, many could consider him a legitimately altruistic person.

Oddly enough, being a goblin doesn't seem to bother him as much as one might expect. Sure, the fact that his chances of dying from any number of horrific circumstances before the age of twenty are somewhere around ninety-eight percent isn't great, but the awful reputation goblins have isn't really that new to him. People thought he was some sort of scary, violent person they needed to avoid even when he was a human, so it's nothing new really. He'll still keep himself disguised while in most settlements of course, but it's less out of sadness and more out of fear.

Backstory:
Due to an unfortunate quirk of genetics, Kai was always a pretty scary-looking kid. Every look was a glare, every smile was a grimace, and every word he said came out sounding more like a pissed off growl than an actual attempt to connect to people. Naturally, this led to other kids picking fights with him, which only made his growing reputation worse, and eventually he just started trying to avoid them altogether or escape them with clever distractions and schemes. He actually managed to get pretty good at it too! Still though, in the end, just not getting involved in fights anymore didn't do a whole lot to make knowing that pretty much every non-family member who knew about him thought he was a violent thug any easier. Slowly, over the course of a few months, he started to show his face in public less and less, until eventually he was all but a complete shut in by the time he turned seventeen.

Despite all this though, he hadn't completely given up on living a normal life, even if he had to set it aside for now. Instead, he focussed on improving his talents in the areas he was passionate about, specifically cooking. If he worked hard enough, maybe he could move to another city like Tokyo, put this past and reputation behind him, and make a fresh start there working as a chef. His parents encouraged this idea, just glad that he actually had a plan of some sort rather than just becoming a NEET.

Of course, he couldn't exactly blame them for worrying about that. After all, he did share a lot of the usual neet hobbies. When he wasn't cooking, his life was mostly taken up by games, anime, light novels, or anything else that might briefly catch his interest. The number of hours he wasted looking up random, meaningless things because he read about them in a manga or something and thought 'hey, this could be useful just in case it happens to me' is something he hopes he never has to be faced with.

Because seriously, was he really so dumb that he thought he'd actually get isekai'd or something?

Well, as it turned out, the universe apparently got mixed up and decided to reward Kai for the wrong efforts. He doesn't actually remember what happened to him to bring him to this place. He assumes he died, but he has no idea how it all went down. All he knows now is that when he woke up, he felt very, very weak, and anything he tried to say came out as a high-pitched wail.

A baby.

Somehow, he still retained all his memories and knowledge from his life as Kaito, and although it took a while to actually understand what they were, by the time he was two he had sorted them out well enough that he realised all that useless knowledge he'd gathered was actually pretty damn useful now. Goblins weren't stupid, but their short lives and a mutual distrust between them and the rest of the worlds races meant that things like proper education or an understanding of technology beyond the stone age at best wasn't really a thing. Naturally, he wanted to do what he could for his tribe, so he used the knowledge he obtained as a human to try to improve the lives of his kinsmen as a goblin. Though this had the benefit of making the Claybitah tribe significantly stronger and more stable than it had been previously, it had the unfortunate effect of putting Chatak in the spotlight, with the other goblins considering him to be some kind of prodigy, quite possibly even the smartest of all goblins. As someone who considered his own intelligence to be average at best, this was absolutely terrifying. However, he now found himself stuck as an authority figure of sorts in the tribe, and even the chieftain has acknowledged the importance of his knowledge.

It is for this reason that he has set out from his homeland towards the human territories. Though he'd collected a good amount of basic knowledge on a lot of different subjects during the last years of his life as a human, it could only take the tribe so far. If he wanted to truly help, he needed to learn even more about each and every one of them. At the same time, maybe he could somehow convince a few experts in those fields to return with him, or at the very least improve the image of goblins in the eyes of the other races...

Skills/Talents:
Cooking
Gardening, though he doesn't get much chance to use it nowadays...
Sewing
Scheming
Tinkering
Decent swordsmanship

Powers/Abilities:
Goblin Physiology
Though not exactly a power in the usual sense, Chatak has the same naturally hardy nature as all goblins. Out of necessity, goblins have evolved into surprisingly adaptable survivors, being quite resistant to poor weather and inhospitable environments, able to survive far longer than many other races on significantly less food and water, and a natural resistance to sickness and disease. Their small size also gives them great agility, and their eyes are remarkably good at seeing in the dark, although complete darkness does make them unable to see in colour.

Items:
A sword he created from cockatrice bone.
A long, white coat, and a matching hooded mask to hide his goblin nature while in settlements.
Various pieces of chitin cooking equipment and knives.
A bone needle and some thread.

Other
Has a beloved hyena companion named Patches, who he often uses as a steed or to help carry equipment.

[User]
*Yakeru*

---

---

A soundless darkness. A sudden flash. A silhouette of a man running away. He had seen his face before. Now it was fading away but the eyes, the look they had, remained in his mind. The colour of red on his hands and chest, mixing with rain. No air. Pain. A soundless darkness. A flash of light again. White. An outstretched hand. Pain leaving him. Sleep.

With a sudden and deep gasp for breath, a young man got up from one of the now open coffins. He kept coughing and gasping for air for some time, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around him, paying only attention to himself. His hands quickly moved towards his chest where he had expected to be wound. Strangely there was nothing to see. His eyes wandered over his clothes, his breathing going from fast to a more irregular speed. He did not recognize the clothes he was wearing. Or did he? Vaguely, somewhere in the far reaches of his mind, he remembered seeing them before. Then he suddenly knew.

Feeling the fabric of the tunic for the first time, the outfit he had created and drawn for Yakeru, the hero of his light novel. It almost made him laugh in disbelief. Everything he was wearing was exactly how he had imagined it to be. Even the sword, that was lying next to him. The details were most impressive. His gloved hand touched the steel of the blade and he was surprised it felt warm instead of the expected cold.

Certainly I must be dreaming, right? But I remember getting shot...what happened?

Finally he turned his gaze to the coffin he was sitting in and he scrambled out of it in shock, the smile now gone from his face and his eyes going from bewildered to panicky. Was this some sort of crypt? In the dimly lit room he could make out other coffins against the wall. He swallowed. Did the dream turn into a nightmare? He tried to steady his breathing, calm down but he felt that he couldn't. Sensing he was not alone in the room, he quickly looked around to see if he could spot the person or persons there.

A young woman was standing at the opposite wall, watching him and he sighed a breathe of relief glad to see a friendly face albeit looking as shocked as he probably did.

"Uhm...Hello. Do you...know where we are?" He blinked and put his hand to his mouth. This was not his voice and yet he had spoken with it. Even though his heart was racing still from the slight fear, his voice had not sounded like how he felt but more like the voice of someone who considered all this just a nuissance.

His attention suddenly turned back to the other coffins. What was going on?

[Assistant]
David woke up with a sharp gasp, like he was desperate for a breath of air. Like he was deprived of air, looking around the room wondering what just happened. Last thing he remembered he was home, and now...he was here. Trying to remember his life on earth, what led up to this moment. Wait....he couldnt remember anything. His old life was gone like a blur. He knew his name, it was David, where he used to live and the face of a woman. Was she his mother? Getting out from the coffin, cursing as his legs gave out. Wondering how long he was passed out for. Looking around the room, seeing a few more people also waking up.

"Where the hell am I?" Everyone else looked just as confused as he was. They didnt seem like they were the one behind this, they looked just as confused as he was. Cursing as he tried to stand, looking around the room. Something felt wrong here, like someone or something was watching him in here. "Excuse me? Hello? Umm do any of you know where we are? Or....why were here."

Pinching himself, clearly he wasnt dreaming. Running his hands along his body, not feeling any wounds. And he wasnt scarred or anything. This didnt look like anyplace he been to before. Looking at the others, he decided to introduce himself. "Umm, My name is David Markovia....I think it is at least." he said, unsure if he was right about his past. Everything was still foggy, he couldnt remember much of what his life was like before. Just his name, where he lived, and a woman he recognized. That was it.

[User]
Robert didn't fully understand the quest given, but then again he never understood that tower anyway. A group of individuals being zipped out from another world now awakened in a body that who knows what picked for. And he was expecting them to help? There's no guarantee that they'd actually be nice enough to do so, but they wouldn't even understand to begin with. But urgency clouded all logical judgement, as the man in the black gambeson hastened through the tower corridor to the coffin chamber. They should have already awakened, and to his guess confused, scared. He was pretty much right, to no one's surprise.

Approaching the four newly-arrived was a rather sharp-looking young man in black gambeson and breeches, huffing a little from his travel to the tower. He quickly brushed his hair over his forehead with his hand, gave everyone a quick glance, before letting out one last puff before speaking, in a hurried but seemingly casual tone.

"Everyone up? Everyone good? Functional? Hmm?" He glanced across the rather diverse group of individuals, before cutting right to the chase. "This...never has a good explanation, but I'm going to need you to ready to fight, soon. Yall familiar with it?"

[Assistant]
Chatak decided it would probably be best to walk into the city as he approached. Sure, just walking alongside Patches might seem a little odd compared to the usual animals a human might see around these parts, but at least this way he might just seem like a halfling or gnome with an exotic pet. Riding into town on a hyena's back though just seemed a little too gobliny to not get called out. Then again, it's not like the rest of his appearance wasn't at least somewhat suspicious too. He had to make sure none of his skin showed, but that fact would have thrown him off in itself if he was one of them...

Still, not like there was much he could actually do about it. Gobs weren't particularly appreciated by most other races, so he had to do his best to hide his identity until he knew the people he got help from wouldn't get scared off. Honestly though, it wasn't like he could actually blame them if they did. The vast majority of gobs weren't exactly pleasant to be around, and up until he started putting his ideas into action, the Claybitah Clan wasn't much better. However, after his suggestions had started to show results, the gobs of the tribe had started being able to focus on other things than just surviving from day to day, and he felt it marked a significant improvement on how bearable they were to be around. They actually had time to make things instead of stealing them now. But that had led to the realisation that his knowledge was only going to get them so far. If he wanted the tribe to keep growing as it had, he was going to need to know how to take that information further. That meant finding experts on the subjects, and either getting notes from them or taking them to Claybitah territory himself.

Preferably the former, because it was entirely possible the empire might send someone to wipe them out if they heard of a goblin tribe getting too advanced. Might pose a threat to the nearby villages, after all.

Either way, the point was that he needed experts, and that meant he needed directions. He'd already started getting weird looks from a few of the people in the streets, and nervously adjusted his mask just in case it might've accidentally left a bit of green exposed. When he was mostly sure it hadn't, he hurried along to the massive tower in the middle of the city, one he still had a few very, very vague memories of from his childhood, where his brother had brought him to be saved from the verge of death. Twice actually, though he doubted most would ever know that. He wasn't entirely sure why he was drawn to it now, but as he approached, he caught sight of a nearby guard by the entrance.

Great! He was sure they'd give him directions!

"Ey, Guardman?" He asked, still having trouble with the hume language. "Me Chatak. Chatak need smart people. People who make building, or metal, those type. You know where?"


[System]
Age: 48

Race: Human

Appearance:

Personality: Allanon is a pensive man having lived a life seeing the darker side of humanity he carries many of his decisions with a lot of weight. He is decisive and discerning. He appreciates the small joys in life whenever he can afford to. He very much likes to reminisce over his childhood as it was a simple time where his decisions had little impact over others lives. His word means everything to him.

Allanon grew up as a member of the wealthy Valentis family. He was the fourth son and grew up with less responsibility than his older brothers as they were the ones to take over the administrative work of their company. Early on he took a deep interest in swordsmanship and learned as much as he could from various tutors and mercenaries.

The day Allanon became an adult was supposed to be a celebrated day, however, his father and oldest brother had entirely unexpected plans. Debts were being called by the Calabris family, and instead of money they wanted Allanon. Apparently, his martial skills had caught the attention of their family head: Varic Calabris. If the Calabris family desired, the Valentis family could be completely wiped out by them, and Allanon knew this. This was the first time that he felt the burden of responsibility, although at the time he only felt trapped and betrayed.

Taken away from his life of freedom, he was brought to the household of the Calabris family and presented to Varic himself. Varic explained how he was seeking talented individuals to make an elite team to work exclusively for his family. Allanon would be one of seven, but first a six month intensive training session was required of all of them to test their potential. Allanon reluctantly agreed as he knew he had no real choice, and before long he had to forget his reluctance to survive the training.

He built a good relationship with each member of the team as they were sent on black ops missions for the Calabris family. Some were stealth retrieval while others were bloody executions. Each of them knew the price of failure. One member of the team: Marissa Faye was the beacon of light in their team. In spite of the often awful tasks they were sent to do, she kept their morale up. Allanon admired her for her attitude and as time passed they fell in love and eventually married. Instead of rings they had a matching pair of longswords made as a symbol of how they met.

At 40 came the worst betrayal. Considering them too old to be effective, Allanon's team was executed by the Calabris family. At least they attempted to. A full platoon of mercenaries was hired to eliminate what had come to be known as the Ironblades. All government officials had been paid off to view them as criminals, and bounties were placed on each of their heads. The initial assault was defeated, but at the cost of two members of the Ironblades including Marissa. Her dying wish was for Allanon to do his best to create as much light as he could in this world, and he promised he would.

The Ironblades agreed to split up and go into hiding while making contact once a year to keep tabs. Over the next eight years two of the five remaining Ironblades were caught and slain. Allanon was the only one to remain in Portea the whole time. He started working as a vigilante and consultant for those in need in exchange for nothing.

Equipment:
Matched Longswords: While his sword style is a single sword style he has kept Marissa's golden blade with him as a reminder of his promise to her. They are enchanted so that so long as they are in close proximity to each other they will maintain and repair themselves.

Throwing Daggers: He has ten of these on a bandolier ready to throw as needed.

Abilities:
Valentis Sword Style: A balanced single-sword style created by Allanon over his lifetime. It is renowned as one of the best sword styles in the world for many-on-one combat.

Stealth and Disguise: Many of Allanon's operations required the use of stealth and disguise, and while it was not his primary role he learned many things from the now deceased Ironblade that was responsible for disguise.

Extra notes:

[User]
Allanon's brow twitched with irritation when attention was put more on the massive warrior and the book than the mission they all came out here for. The mission mattered more to him than this bit of drama. Then he heard Anrak state about his lack of sleep and his irritation grew. As powerful as he was to tear off a piece of flesh from the wyrm any lack of self care could jeopardize any warrior's safety. Any deviation in reaction time could result in death.

Allanon stepped between Anrak and the other two briefly facing Anrak. "I do hope that lack of sleep doesn't become a liability in this mission. As powerful as you appear to be you have limits. Perhaps, it would be best for you to have stayed back at the inn." He turned to Eduard and Kistal. "This man volunteered to risk his life to find and raid a Calabris' operation and help rescue complete strangers. Regardless of how he came across that bible he has chosen to do an honorable thing. He certainly deserves better than to be threatened with a blade. Red Saints have done much to bring light into this world do not tarnish their good name by threatening to draw blood."

If Anrak had indeed stolen the book justice could be served, however, it did not need to be served by payment with blood. That was not what Marissa would have wanted.

[Assistant]
Eduard considered his options. On one hand, the beastman appeared to be telling the truth. Though, he did his best to intimidate Eduard, though the doctor barely flinched. He'd seen a lot in 30 years, seeing a half-beastman with dozens of scars wasn't going to be enough to force him to stand down. But, Allanon had a point. It was pointless to argue about this now. Either way, he was here and if he could be used to clear the camp, the more the better.

Sheathing his sword, Eduard turned toward the cave.
"You're right. We should focus on the mission."

He wouldn't admit it, but he was tired himself. In fact, he hadn't eaten anything. Should have stopped by the nearby tavern before leaving…

[User]
Hilde ended up staying with Chihiro, The chief looked around first, making sure no threats were close and then nodded before finishing taking the skiff over to the cave without them. To say that the sudden accusations against Anrak made Hilde a little on edge was an understatement, however, the man's actions so far were quite peculiar for someone who would just be a bandit. She watched the exchange between the men while standing next to Chihiro, awkwardly staying out of the quarrel, but still too surprised enough at it to leave. She seemed a bit let down when hearing the truth com out about Anrak. She thought it was was her first time seeing a firepriest, but it turned out to be a fake instead. When the arguing was subdued by Allanon, she carefully walked up to Andrak, looking at him with a sigh of frustration. However, she pulled a fine bladed knife out from her kit and with a flick of the wrist it stabbed into the ground close to Anrak. "Here... take this. It should be easier than.... whatever it is you are doing...," she said flatly with a slightly disgusted look in reference to him biting the meat off of the hide. She then nodded towards him and started to walk back to Chihiro visibly frustrated and not making much eye contact with the others besides her friend.

 Bidzil instinctively grabbed his sheathe when this doctor person drew his sword, however it seemed like the others were already on top of it. Unlike the fight with the wyrm, he would actually be of some use in a fight between people, though, who to side with in this situation would be hard to say. He'd like to say he would side with the large man, however, the man could be lying through his teeth, even if his actions so far didn't quite support it. When Allanon voiced his opinion, he nodded in agreement. "Whatever he is, He has done nothing but help us so far. I'm sure there are enough people here that if he did try anything harmful, it wouldn't be good. Besides, similar to what you said, I don't think thieves make it a habit to volunteer to posibly sacrifice themselves while trying to free enslaved. Unless they are dumb I guess...," Bidzil said with a wide grin forming. "As for what you said earlier, Allanon I believe?" he asked making sure the name was right, "For my skills I'd say I'm at least competent with my weapons. If you want to spar for practice before tomorrow I'd be glad to," he finished with an excited gleam in his eye.

 The night was filled with the sound of struggles through the street, and although the people of kalla were much stronger and organized than the varuk bandits that roamed the sands, they weren't used to such large scale attacks, especially not ones that seemed to occasionally be armed with magic. There was one mage in particular that rushed to where Allard was fighting, smaller than a varuk, about the size of an average human. When Allard turned to charge him, the man stood his ground as he charged a spell, a circle glowing around him as he yelled an incantation and held up a staff that shone brightly. Allard tried to cut him off before he could finish but it was too late. Large heavy chains like those used on an anchor burst front he ground and wrapped themselves around Allard, keeping him from moving. With another quick incantation, a spear burst through the ground as well, going through Allard's chest. The behemoth roared out in pain as the attack stuck home. His axe dropped heavily to the ground and he started to cough up blood.

 The mysterious man took a few steps to the large man to examine his work. "What is strength's worth when it comes to magic?" he chuckled, gloating over his victory. However, he was off-put by a low grumbling laugh. He looked up to see a very sinister face staring at him from under the chains. Allard's voice growled out, "Allow me to answer your question with a demonstration." Allard then, along with the weight he was holding up in chains, slid down the spear a little as he headbutt the other man's skull, caving it in on contact. The chains and the spear dispersed as the mage died instantly, but Allard fell to the ground as well. His hand started blindly searching for his axe, and once he felt it, he grasped it and hauled himself up. "Where..... where is my daughter..... you....sons of bitches...," he cursed between ragged breathes as he picked up the mage's dead body by the collar, only to just now notice the man was dead and tossing him to the side.

 Allard looked over to his inn where he saw the two foreigners from last night. "So....you came....," he mumbled as he tried to take a step towards them, however, the injures sustained so far barred his ability to move effectively. He stumbled forward. On closer inspection, Allard had many, many lethal looking injuries, but the man was still breathing. Of the corpses that littered the place, it seemed that there were a number of mages in the mix. How any lone man could fight a multitude of magic users without any magic himself would normally be described as a miracle, yet there must have been more than twenty mages in the square alone done in by his axe. If one were to investigate them in particular, they didn't look anything like the standard Killiman Desert native either. Whoever was raiding the village had outside help.

[Assistant]
Kalla

"It does seem a bit... excessive for a small caravan town," Sev agreed, nodding towards the cluster of dead mages. As far as Sev was concerned, any magic user who couldn't hold off a guy with an axe wasn't worthy of the title 'mage.'

"I doubt this town has enough wealth to justify this kind of loss of life," Sev continued to Maeve, "any normal bandits would have given up the moment they got a bloody nose, not push into that meat grinder. Meaning they are hear for something or someone in particular. I'm hardly a person of much import, but if they truly were after one of us travelers they would have devoted more to rushing the inn than a couple hooligans."

The warrior-mage pondered as Allard headbutt another mage hard enough to cave the 'mage's' skull in. Coming to a decision he spun his staff conjuring a bit of fire at its tip to light his way in the night.

"I don't know if you are skilled in healing, but I am not. Don't suppose you could look after our barkeep and tavern while I go... retrieve someone who is better able to answer our questions."

Before waiting for an answer he vanished around the side of the tavern.

-----

"Idiots," the varuk mage spat, watching from a safe distance as one of his fellows was thrown aside by the berserk innkeeper, "never let a warrior get that close to you."

"That chain spell was reasonably impressive," one of his cohort said.

"Not if it couldn't hold one man in place."

"Greetings gentlemen!" Sev called, walking around a corner to where the small group stood, small flame still burning over the tip of his staff, "I don't suppose any of you are willing to answer some questions?"

"Get him!" the mage yelled, rapidly chanting a spell to constrict the man who'd foolishly announced his presence, grinning as the chains close around Sev, "rule one of sneaking up on someone, don't announce your presence."

Ofcourse that grin turned to surprise as the first man slashed at Sev, only for the blade to pass clean through the Sylve without leaving a mark. Moments later the image dispersed revealing that the chains had closed around an illusion.

"Rule one of magic: control where your target's attention is," A voice whispered in the varuk mage's ear just as a hand closed over his mouth.

The other men, after a moment of confusion turned to look back at their leader, who appeared to be looking around in confusion but not saying anything for several moments before he too dispersed like an illusion.

"So," Sev said two streets over where he'd half drug the Mage, "you can either answer my questions, and tell me why you are here, or..."

Rather than finish the warrior mage lifted his staff and tapped it on the ground. The polished wood seemed to crack and split, falling away starting from the top to reveal a shining spear blade, wreathed in fire, and continuing down the weapon seeming to turn it from a wizards staff to a magical spear of some power. Sev pointed the weapon's tip at the mage's heart while placing a foot on the other man's knee to keep him seated.

[User]
Allanon's interest had been piqued. Bidzil was a young man at the peak of his strength. A spar with him could be a good experience, and the more opponents he fought the more his style grew. He could tell from the young man's stance that he was at least familiar with combat, and not some young fool just looking to test himself. "Bidzil was it? A spar would be quite a good warm up. Competent would be the bear minimum I expect for a sparring partner. I have met about a dozen masters that are better than I, and I imagine there are several I have yet to meet. Perhaps, you may be an interesting challenge."

Allanon took a step back with a simple swordsman's salute to Bidzil. "Just say when."