[System]
Stella Herbalem

Character Quote:"Beware the most beautiful flower, as it might be the most deadly."

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Character Summary
Aliases:Flower Girl, Star, Stella-Bella
Age: 12
Birthday: March 20th, 2008
Ethnicity: White
Birth Place: Berkeley, California
Godly Parent: Demeter
Cabin Number: 4
How Many Years At Camp: 0
Gender: Female
Occupation At Camp: N/A
Languages: Ancient Greek, English, some Spanish

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Appearance
Height: Currently 4'8"
Weight: 85 Lbs
Body Type: Skinny but healthy
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Red
Skin Tone: Pale with freckles
Tattoos/Scars/Piercings: One piercing in each ear lobe.
Personal Style: Stella likes to keep her hair nice and long, and she usually has it loose, but she will braid it sometimes when she's working in the gardens. She tends to wear easy to wear clothing, jeans and zip up sweaters the most, casual clothing. She hasn't really found too much of a personal style yet, as she is a twelve year old girl, but she does like wearing more 'earth tones' or things in green that match her eyes.

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Psychology
Cheerful* Spacey * Friendly * Sheltered * Optimistic *Impulsive

Sexuality: Unknown, she's twelve and not sure yet
Relationship Status: Single
Personality: Stella is overall a very bubbly young lady that honestly has nothing but good and happy thoughts for the world. Part of this is because of her upbringing and her fathers influence on her. This has led to her being a bit sheltered about some things, like some of the issues of the world, as well as issues that might arise from being what she is. However, overall, she is a cheerful and spunky young girl with bright eyes and a happy smile.
Fatal Flaw: Excessive curiosity: She is too curious about the world and sometimes it can get very distracting, as she will wander off, her head being in the clouds (according to her fathers.)
Habits: Chewing on her nails, skipping over cracks, whistling when gardening.
Hobbies: Gardening, cooking, reading, and hopscotch.
Fears:
* Fires
* Homophobes
* Pure black darkness

Likes:
* Strawberries
* Tea
* Puppies
* Books
* Poppies
* Rain

Dislikes:
* Big felines (Lions, Tigers, ect.)
* Snow/ Frost
* Bullies
* Strong Black Coffee
* Horror Movies
* Baseball

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Skills
Demigod Abilities:
* Chlorokinesis: As a child of Demeter, she has the ability to control plants, like accelerated growth and plant sensitivity.
* Karpoi Summoning

General Skills:
* Baking
* Gardening
* Reading
* Some knowledge of poison
* Sewing
* Cooking

Combat Skills:
* Some self defense lessons
* Some knife lessons

Magic Item: * A seed packet full of flower seeds that never empties. (Gift from her mother.)
* Sickle from Demeter. (Helps her control her powers.)

What Do They Carry On Them:
This includes your clothing, jewelry, your wallet, your id, your keys; cash (denote which country), a picture, lighter, cigarettes, weapons you may carry, shoes, purse, bag, pistol and so forth. If it is not listed you are not carrying it. Again, keep it grounded in the real world. Limited to spots provided.
* (Less carried and more being followed by) Arbor, their pet plant wolf.
* Clothing - Sneakers, jeans, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie, stud earrings, necklace with a peace sign on it and a flower watch.
* Purse/Wallet - Backpack~
* Wallet- With a library card for Berkeley Library, $250 US Dollars, A Berkeley Bus Pass, A few gold drachma.
* Celestial Bronze Dagger, gift from her mother.
* Paperback books
* Photo album
* House keys
* Small makeup bag with a collection of normal seeds in it.
* Sewing Kit
* Stuffed Red Panda plush
* Cell phone
* Small otter plush

Possessions In Cabin:
* Extra clothing
* Tablet (Not really used.)
* Practice weapons
* Small planter of her more interesting plants
* Extra soft pillow from home

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History

Biography
Stella always was an unusual child from the time of her birth, as she had two fathers that loved her and one another very much so. They were rather quiet about whom Stella's mother was, always saying she was a surrogate that wanted to remain anonymous, and Stella was alright with that until she was twelve and things changed.

Stella was raised by her fathers, with both a wealth of information and plants around her, as one of her fathers was a professor of biology, and the other was a celebrated flower arranger, as a Japanese-American man. It was still clear that she was a bit odd, as she had attention issues, and she was always happiest when outside in the sun and among the plants, and talking to them happily. Her fathers never saw anything odd with it, and encouraged her more.

Things started to change as she got a bit older and entered middle school, and she started to notice more and more weird things. Like creatures that others didn't see, and that people were following her. Her fathers assured her that she was alright, and nothing was wrong. It was only towards the middle of December that things changed drastically in her life.

How Long Have They Been At Camp Half-Blood:
Stella technically hasn't made it to Camp Half-Blood yet, but they are on their way there. It was half-way through the school year, and she was struggling a bit as usual with her ADHD and dyslexia when she caught the attention of one of her classmates. Around half-way through the year, the classmate introduced himself as a satyr, and told her that there was a camp she needed to go to. After talking with her dads she set off for the camp, on a grand cross country trip.

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Additional Information

Theme Song: Strawberry Fields Forever

Extra Information:
See previous Character for Sample
Favorite God: Hades and Persephone, followed by Freyr
I agree to follow the rules for this RP and understand that if I do not follow the rules, the GM or Co-GM may kick me out of this roleplay.

[User]
Arthur Stanford

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Location:Outside
Skills: N/A

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 Arthur puckered his lips for a moment. He hadn't considered for the possibility that the prophecy could call for one of them and not the other. He really didn't like the feel of that. If the prophecy called for him, then he practically had to go, lest the world burn at his feet, but if it called for her, he'd be worrying constantly. This sort of codependency wasn't healthy, they needed to be able to exist as individual people, but he really didn't have the capacity and life experience to fully understand that. All he knew, was that he was scared to be seperated from her.

 Arthur started to roll out the middle and said, "I get that, I just... It doesn't feel right to be able to do something, and not do anything, and I don't want people here to get hurt, and I don't..." Arthur didn't have all the words he needed, but he was trying, "So, where you go, I go, if I can. I'm not going to hold you back from helping, and I'm going to do what I can to make sure I don't hold myself back either." He said, committing to the idea of helping people. Selflessness was a difficult thing,or at least there was when stakes are involved, but he had to try.

[Assistant]
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Location: Apollo Cabin
Skills:

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 "I'm a bureaucrat, Ms. Isley. Most of my strength lies in the pen rather than the sword," Leandra said, though the statement was only partly true. She was a fighter, but she'd found that her strengths were most powerful when she was underestimated, so she didn't mind understating her role in New Rome. "I was calling for a tactical retreat. I was loving Team BureauCat as much as you, but I thought the battle would end with less injuries had we the aid of more warriors, perhaps even a plan. And inventory is the lifeblood of any organized institution. Back at New Rome, keeping a close eye on it was part of my job. I've made an effort to do so here as well. You can never be too careful." With that, Leandra exhaled a breath from her nose, letting any desire to engage slip away with it. She let her eyes glide back over to Alexandra, giving her a nod.

 "Yes, of course. You can always just...come get me," Leandra stated, letting out a small sigh at the words. She so dearly longed for the days back home when the scheduled appointments and meetings outweighed the "I'll find you when I need you"s that Camp Half Blood seemed to inspire in its residents, even the new Roman ones. "Anywhom, I'm going to fetch myself some breakfast. Would you like me to grab you anything? Or have you already eaten? I know it's a cliche, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Also, erm..." she reached her finger under the neck of her shirt, poking it through the bloody hole. "Is that a no on the top?"

[User]
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🌈 Leda Storm 🌈

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Location: Camp Half-blood: Outside Dining Pavilion -> the Shrines
Skills: N/A

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 Leda grinned a little bit, seeing the snowman that was under construction. It was nice to see that despite all of the doom and gloom in the air, kids were able to just be kids. It was reassuring - that even if things were at their absolute worst, there was still a little love and light to be found. "I'm good with cleaning them together if you are, luv," Leda said, mostly because she didn't want to be apart from her girlfriend while doing the task. It'd be more fun to have someone to talk to anyways. "Figure we could start with your dad's shrine, yeah?" she suggested.

 Ordinarily, Leda started with Zeus when it was time to handle the Big Three, but she figured it'd be fine if they went out of order, as Kiera was Poseidon's kid. She also really hoped that the gods wouldn't somehow get into more of a fight over who had their shrine cleaned first that day. They were unbelievably petty at times... but hopefully not that petty. "Gotta scrape the barnacles off of it," she teased. "Although more seriously, the main thing is just replacing the water, as somehow dirt and shit always ends up inside of it no matter what."

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☀ Nancy Parker ☀

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Location: Camp Half-blood: Dining Pavilion
Skills: N/A

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 Nancy had an ulterior motive for not necessarily being the leader during the War Games - she was quietly scouting her replacement. Romans elected their praetors of course, but she wanted to know that there would be someone suitable to step up to the plate once she left. She really didn't want the only person interested in running to be Leandra. After everything Leandra had put her through, she didn't want to imagine what New Rome under her administration would look like - they'd probably be well supplied but instantly wiped out the minute trouble came knocking. "I'm not sure even I could get the Greeks into--" Nancy cut off suddenly, a distant look coming into her eyes. For everyone watching her, it was like she had started to go into a trance...

 ... And then it became something much worse. Her body stiffened up, before she started convulsing. She fell off the bench she had been sitting on, hitting the floor as her limbs were jerking and twitching all about. To anyone with medical knowledge, it looked like she was having a seizure.

 Nancy wasn't aware of any of that though - her mind was somewhere else as her body was twitching and convulsing about. She was in the Labyrinth, with Madalyne, Andy, and... dammit, which ginger was that? They really needed to limit the number of gingers. The group was clearly running from something, but it was too dark to really make out just what it was. Nancy was incredibly confused and terrified, as the group then approached a pit - a pit that something told Nancy didn't have a bottom. Mads had a sword in her hand with a symbol on it that Nancy didn't recognize and Nancy, in her vision, screamed as something impaled Mads. Mads dropped the sword - and the gem? And then some tentacle like thing went after the two items as Mads fell into the pit...

 Her vision cleared and Nancy found herself on the ground, her head aching - she must have hit her head during the vision. She didn't want to get up, knowing that likely a majority of the Greeks and Romans had witnessed her go into the prophetic 'trance.' "I need something to draw with," she mumbled.

[Assistant]
Location: Camp Half-Blood - The Big House
Skills: N/A

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Stella had more questions when he said Roman and Greek versions, but she was too caught up in her sadness and sniffling. Her fathers had bid her off with hugs and kisses, and loving goodbyes, and now she wasn't sure that she would see them again for a while However, she did perk up a bit when he said that that she could go home eventually, but maybe after learning how to defend herself. That did make sense, that manticore from earlier was pretty determined to kill her and the other girls. She hiccuped for a moment and then took another sip of her cocoa when a small group of people arrived.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Stella Herbalem... and uh... is it okay if I don't know whom my mom is yet? Chiron said she'll probably claim me later or something?" She gently reached out and shook Kristin's hand and looked at the trio again. She lifted her hand to her mouth and started to chew as if guided by some bad instinct. Her old bad habit was kicking in because of her nerves. What if her mother never claimed her? What if her dad's hated her because it turned out her mom was a goddess? It didn't even occur to her that they might already know that.


[System]
Age: 18

Gender: Male

Appearance:

Ryley falls around the height of 5'8''. He normally has a serious look on his face, but he doesn't really realize it, and it changes fairly easily. His hair often gets messy, despite his attempts at combing/brushing/whatevering. He prefers to wear a lighter t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Y'know, the 'usual'. He doesn't really care about appearance that much though, and prefers comfortable, practical clothes.

Personality:
Ryley is a very 'down to earth' type of guy. He can come off as sarcastic sometimes due to this. He won't run away from the truth of things, even when things are rough. However, he'll do what he can to change the 'truth' of matters if he doesn't like it. Also, just because he faces the truth doesn't mean he won't lie.

Ryley respects others' opinions and ideas, as most of them have a good reason or cause behind them. Due to this, many people find him to be friendly. However, he tends to avoid people with ideas he doesn't agree with, if possible. This may seem rude, but Ryley doesn't want to argue others with strong beliefs, as he believes no one wins in those cases.

Ryley enjoys the company of others, though he's not that good at small talk. He's better at having deep discussions. He may throw in a quick quip here or there in normal conversations, but overall he prefers to listen.

History:
Ryley grew up in Unova. More specifically, Opelucid City (W/W2 version). His mother died only 6 months after he was born, so he grew up alone with his father. His father worked as an assistant to the town's gym leader, Drayden. Due to this, Ryley learned a lot about dragon types, especially the legendary duo Reshiram and Zekrom. The idea of truth and ideals fighting always interested him, though it was slightly confusing.

When he was 9 years old, his dad got laid off due to less trainers battling. He couldn't find another job in the city, so they had to move from home sweet home. They ended up moving to Violet City, where his dad got a job maintaining Sprout Tower. Though the lore of Opelucid was great, the history of Sprout Tower, combined with the nearby Ruins of Alph managed to sate Ryley's curiosity.

Eventually, the wild pokemon's aggressiveness became so bad that Ryley couldn't travel to the Ruins alone. He became fairly agitated due to this, and wanted to do something. He tried asking questions around town, and soon found out that the wild pokemon everywhere were being more aggressive, but nobody knew exactly why. He decided he'd try to find out the source of the problem, and solve it. He got his dad's approval fairly easily and signed up for a license. With equipment in hand, he headed out.

Quirks/Habits/Other:
-Likes to learn about lore and history of various things
-Doesn't have much of a taste. He often goes with whatever is healthiest, or he's in the mood for.
-Loves the feeling of when a good plan succeeds.
-Doesn't really realize it, but he's good at predicting what someone is about to do based on their movement and changes in pattern.

Inventory:
- Pokeballs x5
- Burn Heal x5
- Paralyze Heal x5
- Sleep Heal x5
- Antidote x5
- Potion x5
- Two extra sets of clothes
- Old X-transceiver (acts mostly as a phone)
- Camping gear
- Notebook and 3 pens
- $100
- A black backpack to carry everything in

Pokemon:
None

TL;DR: Morally stable, and mentally strong. Fairly social person. Often serious and very curious.
His color is yellow

[User]
-Alexander Elric-

Alexander just came out of the Pokemon pens. He had just given them their final meal for the day. He had been working on those meals for the last three hours and he was dead tired. He always did his best for the poor beasts, even if it might not make a difference to them on the long term. He locked the door and walked several paces. Then there was the sound of something breaking, quickly followed by alot of commotion from the Pokemon. At first Alexander didnt care too much, probably a broken plate or something, one of the Pokemon must have stepped on something and caused this. It'll calm down in a moment...

He was about to walk back home when he heard something which sounded an awefull lot like a fight. What was going on in there? Ooh crap, did he accidentily open one of the cages? Ooh no, his uncle is gonna kill him if one of his Pokemon gets injured... Ooh crap, ooh crap...

He quickly turned around and tried to open the door but it wouldnt open. Why no- Ooh right! He pulled his keys out of his pocket. In his hurry he didnt see what key he was using. Apparently it was the wrong one. Well maybe this one wa- And ofcourse he drops the keys. Damn, damn... He picked up the keys and now got the correct one and opened the door.

All the Pokemon were jumping up and down in their cages, they all had very clear scars of battle. These were no ordinary Pokemon, they were used in illegal fights which were arranged by some associates of his uncle. All of them had seen their fair share of battle and vicious beasts.

Alexander's eyes quickly scanned the pens and it didnt take long before he spotted what caused the commotion. The roof of the building was made out of glass and apparently a Zigzagoon had accidentily broken it. It had fallen in another pen and... Ooh no! Why couldnt it have fallen in the pen of the Furret! Instead it fallen in the pen of the Mightyena and it didnt look that happy with it's new visitor.

Honestly, at first Alexander was relieved. The Zigzagoon would not be able to really harm the Mightyena so Alex want in trouble. He was about to turn around and walk out when the Zigzagoon's pleas for help reached his ear. It was hartbreaking for Alex... He couldnt let the small animal be torn to shreds by the Mightyena, he just couldnt! But, what about his uncle... Again the plea for help sounded. Screw his uncle! Screw the rest! This was much more important!

He rushed over to the pen and opened it. The Mightyena didnt notice and was too fixated on the poor little Zigzagoon. Just as it was preparing to pounce Alexander rushed in to shield the Zigzagoon with his back. The Mightyena didnt care that this young boy was in the way, he would just attack both of them. It pounced at them and his claw scratched ove-

Alright we're here! New Bark Town! Any passengers who need to be here need to leave the bus now!

Alexander jumped up, startled by the loud voice of the bus diver. A drip of sweat was running down his forehead. A dream... It was just a dream... He got up, grabbed his backpack and as he was walking out of the bus he was rubbing his hand over his back and started mumbling. It was just a dream Alex... Toughen up already! He slapped himself across the cheek as the bus was just departing. It's been two years and it's still haunting him... Snap out of it!

He ran his hands through his hair as he was taking a deep breath. What was he doing again? Ooh right, he was getting himself his first Pokemon! Well, atleast that was something to look forward to. Yes, he should look forward and not look back to the past! Now all he had to do was go to the Pokemon lab and get his own Pokemon! But... Wait, where is the lab again? Ooh no problem, he'll just look again on his map which was in his suitcase. Now, where did he leave his suitcase? Last time he saw it it was laying nicely packed in the back of the... bus.

He looked back and just saw the bus going over a hill... a quarter mile away. Really? Really!? Dammit! Out of frustration he kicked at the busstop sign... In hindsight not a good idea.

How am I now going to get to the lab... Apparently there was no other way. He had to take drastic measures. It pained him to do this but he had no choice. He walked up to the nearest person he could find and... Asked directions.

[Assistant]
~Avery Grant~

Elm sure was taking his sweet time. Avery knew that the guy got distracted by his work pretty easily, heck it was one of things that he admired about the man, but usually Alfy or someone would be alert enough to hear a visitor. Or…

Or was the Professor onto something big? Like, MEGA big? A breakthrough that would revolutionize the PokeWorld?!! It had to be! Avery was grinning like an idiot, wanting to knock the door down and see for himself. He had just grabbed the door when something hit him.

 "Err, hey!"

A sound.

A voice?

A sentence.

A person.

A witness!

OH DEAR ARCEUS, BUSTED.

"Err, are, you, err…."

Avery quickly spun around, hands shooting behind his head. He held the back of his neck, arms up and elbows out. A guilty grin was plastered on his face. It was Elm. It had to be Elm. Elm was going to scold him for entering without permission.

It wasn't Elm. It wasn't anyone.

Huh. Weird.

A soft breeze floated by, sweeping Avery's hair from his face. And a bush had decided to fly, apparently.

Wait. No. Not a bush. Hair. Hair?

Then he noticed her.

It was someone.

She was, well, quite small. Bushy pigtails, green hat, tensed shoulders. Avery blinked. Who was she? Where'd she come from? Wow, she was small. He didn't usually have people looking up to him. Did he? Alfy, but he didn't count, he was just a kid. Was this girl a kid? Was she lost? She was probably lost. Avery was about to ask, but the girl repeated herself.

"Err...are you, err…?"

Err? She kept saying Err. Did she think he was this 'Err'? Avery knew most of the people around these parts, but he hadn't met Err. Maybe Err was a friend of hers.

Maybe Err was her dad.

OF COURSE! This little girl was looking for her father named Err. And she had mistaken Avery for him. It made sense. Although...did Err look a lot like Avery? Maybe she was blind, or just very upset. Avery understood. His thoughts got all tangled up when he was upset or angry. So he didn't do that anymore. Better to keep his wits sharp.

 "You here for, err...you know?"

Then the girl pointed to the lab. And Avery felt silly. It made even more sense. She wasn't a lost child who thought he was her father. She was here to see Professor Elm. So she wasn't a little kid. Probably closer to his age. Except...she thought his name was Err, and thought that Err was Avery.

Avery smiled softly at the poor, confused girl.

He laughed kindly.

"No, I'm not Err. He's inside. I think. Although it's pronounced 'Elm'. He's a pretty cool guy. I guess if you're here to see Elm, you're here for a Pokemon? Same here."

Avery stuck out his hand for the chica.

"I'm Avery, your new friend. Nice to meetcha."

[User]
A day like today 10 years ago would be one where kids would be playing outside, having a fun time with others and possibly the wild pokemon. It only took one glance to see that it wasn't the same. It felt… empty, for a lack of better words. As this thought appeared, a small sigh penetrated the emptiness of the small town. Well, today was the beginning of trying to change that.

Ryley turned his gaze towards the lab. There he would start his life as a pokemon trainer, all of the risks and rewards entailed. It was odd trying to describe his feelings at the moment. The closest he could manage was a mixture of fear and excitement. Fear over the possibility of injury, the unknown adversaries he would meet, and worst of all, the possibility that the truth he's looking for was something far worse than he expected. However, the excitement of receiving a pokemon, meeting new friends, and the future of journeying slightly outweighed the fears he held.

Ryley shifted his position slightly on the tiles. He had arrived early with the help of a guide, however he had arrived a bit too early. With nothing better to do, he climbed onto the roof of a house, lay down, and basked in the sun. The owners of the house seemed to be out, so he felt as though he wasn't intruding.

In any case, it seemed as though some people were gathering at the lab. It must have been time. As Ryley got up from his prone position, he realized he had made one mistake. The trip up had taken a bit of climbing, but the way down would be much, much harder. Ironically, in many cases it was the other way around. The irony didn't help.

"Shit…"

A bit of forethought would be wonderful next time. Well, he needed to get down, and the easiest answer seemed to be the way to go. Launch initiating in T-minus 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Thump. Launch failed. As Ryley got up off the ground, thankful he hadn't broken anything based on his initial inspection, his first thought was how incredibly stupid he felt. His second was hoping nobody had seen that. He had jumped from the southern side of the house, so no one from the lab should have seen anything. But still…

Shaking his head, Ryley headed around the house towards the lab, and the people that surrounded the entrance. An introduction would be customary here, but thing is, it felt awkward to do so. He would be directing it at everyone, but everyone seemed to be occupied. It would only serve to make him the center of attraction, or he'd just be ignored outright.

Ryley decided to stealthily join the outskirts of the group, waving his hand in a non-verbal introduction. There! Two birds with one stone. Now all he had to do was wait for more people to arrive, and/or be let in.


[System]
Apparent Age: 20? 25?

"IS": A rabbit, for all you know.

Description: This Kite stands at 4'4" as a bipedal white rabbit shrouded in black attire noted in 'Armaments'. Lithe and otherwise physically unimposing.

Armaments: Mage attire, at a glance. They're garbed in a yet-to-be-inspected midnight-black fabric: A hooded robe ending at the knees and elbows, long boots with a yet-to-be-inspected metal 1.5inch heel and toes, gloves end in similar metal segments at each fingertip. All Kites currently seen are dressed the same, sporting a horned bird mask which somewhat obscures the fact that they're not human, though the fur of Violet's kite is snow white. The purpose of the mask is currently unknown.

Teraterifficence: Violet's Kite apparently wields a terrifying proficiency with psionics, capable of 'thinking' concepts into reality either inside another person's mind as vivid, potentially brain-melting hallucinations or, as demonstrated in Post Zero, manifesting physical objects typically in the form of nebulous and fleeting bladed objects.
A uniqueness in what 'pact' that has apparently been signed with Violet, Violet's Kite does not stay dead, apparently capable of rapidly recovering from mortal injury or at least eschewing the finality of spells that would otherwise outright kill a target. The extent of this power is currently unknown.

Your World: The Backwards Castle; built upside-down, its tallest tower reaches far underground.

Backstory: There is a tree. There is a kite. There is more than one kite. This one belongs to Violet.

Main Theme

Boss Theme 0: 'The Tangled Kites'

Name: Keepakura Suketthe Nyvaal 'The Seer of Eyes and Biter of Teeth', 'The Keeper of All Hollows', 'The Bird That Eats Us'

Apparent Age: Indeterminable

"IS": Indeterminable

Description: A snow-white beak and nebulous darkness filling in their empty eye-sockets and mouth save for how a set of large humanoid teeth and a long ink-black tongue seemingly float within. They posess a myriad of hands and heads, though a body has yet to be seen.

Armaments: Indeterminable

Teraterifficence: Unknown

Your World: The Backwards Castle

Backstory: "See nawh...once upon a tiiiime...ah simply was...an now here we aahr~"

Other: Speaks with a hauntingly pleasant southern drawl akin to a gentleman at all times.
"The Haunt"

"The Bird That Eats Us!"

Obligatory: Sponsor 'MasonParker' on Paetreon for their artwork that I used for 'Keepa'

Name: Kaath...
Apparent Age: Their alien race makes it difficult to discern anything between "25-40"
"IS": A monster
Description: Standing at about 5'6, Kaath appears monstrous and feathered. They wear a greatcoat of a mastercraft design, plates of metal set in and out in a quilted pattern with a belt around the waist to distribute the weight. Underneath sits a bespoke fit of a breastplate over a gambeson. Breeches tuck into plated boots with greaves hanging casually from their thigh. Casual, almost lazy of a donning. Upon the lapel of their coat's collar are three distinct pins of honorific significance. Simple, but profound in each of their design.

Armaments: A sword of radiant magnificence and perfection that stands in stark contrast to its current wielder's motif.
Teraterifficence: Currently displayed is a strength and speed wholly supernatural in demonstration, wielding a greatsword with the tact and speed that one would a shortsword.
Your World: Yet to be elucidated.
Backstory: Kaath's coat has a few pins upon their lapel. One of a crest of galvanized steel, a shield with two spears linked with laurels. One of a serpentine dragon on a plate of presumably silver, kept well polished. One simple dagger with a backdrop of a crescent moon.
Other: Nothing yet.

[User]
Violet would listen as Walker would try to make his inclusion based on her opinion. As she heard him talk, she remembered a term used in comics from her world, A "tsundere". Walker seemed like he was playing hard to get. It probably wasn't accurate but it was a fun idea to play around with. Violet would playfully lean towards Walker, Awwww Walker, is that your way of saying you want to join us? She'd let out a chuckle and continue. If you'll leave it up to me then I'd be happy to have you with us. She'd give a curtsy as a way to welcome her already accepted teammate. He's rough around the edges at times but he's still got plenty of worth to him. She'd raise her head to look at Walker, Your realism helps keep me grounded so to speak. As long as you can put up with my 'outbursts' then I think we can be a great pair!
 She'd look over as Jasper spoke up. I did notice you seemed a bit distracted. We're you expecting them to lead us to town? Sure they could take the glory, no matter how undeserved it is, but a little extra security wouldn't hurt. She tried to think about how Jasper felt about this. Given how distracted he was, she couldn't tell if it was impatience or fear. Both seemed rather unlikely, given Jasper's character, but still, something that needed to be considered. So should we be ready for a fight when these people show up or will things go smoothly for the most part? Violet wasn't ready to fight now and if the enemy's size is to be taken at face value, they could easily end up surrounded. The better question would be what to do should they get captured. True she could 'say' that she and Walker give up on their quest should they force the topic, but what if they say to 'kill the rabbit and let go of the string'? Her hands would be tied then. The best she can hope for is to follow those two across the bridge and hope for the best.
 Violet then had a thought. Hey these people we're waiting for, you don't think Kaath went after them, do you? From what you said, it sounds like she doesn't like them very much, and when she left the cave, she seemed to be in a pretty sour mood. You don't think she's... dealing with them, do you? She'd been thinking about everything since they left the cave. She'd let her guard down since they were in new scenery and felt like, without the presence of Keepa, she didn't have too much to be afraid of. Wondering about how much she missed or didn't think about, she quickly remembered something she let go of. That guy who ran off when your hand fell on him, was he one of Kedvan's... boys? If so, they could already know we're here and could set up an ambush. She'd look to the bridge but it looked sturdy enough to not give way under anything minor. Everyone, stay sharp, they could be lying in wait anywhere.

[Assistant]
"My way of saying that, as before and as always, I keep acting in the interest of others and some damned greater good." Fat lot of good that had done him, robbed him of whatever passed for an afterlife in his home..city, he couldn't bring himself to say or call it anything else at the moment. She made her decision, and he snuffed out the pipe, but not before taking one last drag and blowing out a series of rings, letting them float through the air as he stared at them, intently, before putting out the pipe and pocketing it. The rings would drift on for sometime, far longer than they had any right to, but fade eventually they would. Seemed she was keen on having his type around, well there was no accounting for taste. Maybe dragging her out of that mess with Keepa was a smart idea after all, even if it had left his shoulder smarting something fierce for a fair bit. "That's a mutual expression, V. When it comes to all that...mage nonsense you'll be on point. I know just enough about it to know when to keep my hands to myself."

 That was...mostly true at any rate. He knew a bit more than he would let on, Walker never dealt in complete honesty outside of the most dire of circumstances, but he could be known to tell mostly truths. Of course the cog golem would make some backhanded apology, and he snorted at the remark on both manner of speech and accent. Fine, let the field be calm for now, he wasn't going to get anywhere antagonizing what passed for their only escort through this place. Though before he could remark on that, the thing decided to finally speak up that the men who were supposed to be here were missing. Wonder if these bastards were lazy or got themselves into trouble, both, or neither even. Hard to say with dishonest crooks, never knew where you stood with their lot. He didn't like the idea of fighting a whole gang, not in the woods. Nor on this bridge for that matter, as he scanned the surroundings intently. Too many ways to come up the sides, too many places to ambush from. Like some damn alleyway only greener. "What did happen to her, anyways? Halfway reasonable and gets...vanished? Whatever words are appropriate for whatever mage trickery that was..."

 "Odds of scrapping it out with an entire gang is tricky. If they're halfway smart, they would get the first hits in, and make them count. Keep alert for anything out of place, near as we can tell of course, and be ready to move. Really depends on who we run into first, and their temperament. Here's an old saying from back home some of the nicer folks kept by that might be useful for now: 'Offer one hand in friendship, but arm the other one just in case'." In such a situation, figuratively speaking, you'd have one of their hands preoccupied to slide a knife into between their ribs if they proved to be unfriendly. Still, if they needed this gang, well, there was far worse he could do for company. He ran his own gang for awhile before things went poorly, they come across this Kedvin, the biggest tool, and he might just be able to get a handle on what and how this fellow operated. Would speak volumes on their odds of getting anything more than a fight out of him.

[User]
"I have...concerns..." Jasper admitted in a strangely human lilt to their tone as if they were actively sharing a half-truth of sorts. "Yes. It was my intention to rely on Kedvin and his crew to safely lead you two back to Ispar. While they may be arrogant and occasionally uncouth, I had been levering most of what plan I can improvise on the information that they would be right here waiting for you."

There came a long pause after Walker's question, the alien mind of the golem burning through an unnecessary amount of time to produce an answer. "...or he has delivered a warning," Jasper replied to Violet's question about the man from before.
"The Lord Madam, Kaath is...unlike...the common swordsman, as I hear you may have witnessed," an uneasy pacing to their explanation, as if to do so was an awkward manner of betrayal, "A...mage...may spend their life memorizing words from books. What Madam Kaath is...not this sort. She once described to me how the words came to her in their sleep...words meant for forked tongues."
Hands on his hips, Jasper turned away from the railing to better follow the group. "I digress. 'Vanished' is an accurate way to describe one of her...words...and it is common knowledge that she is fluent in dozens more. Many of which unsettle the people of Ispar..."

No sooner had the words left their frame, than did the mist far upstream swirl from how a colossal quadrupedal form strode from the forest, coming from the direction the group was headed. A distant creaking of wood and steel emanated from the form that braced to pause in the middle of the stream. From the distance, it may have been difficult to make out, but stout forms of significantly smaller figures bustling about on the scaffolding built around the towering thing's somewhat obscured body. It appeared to twitch, the faintest nub of what could be expected to be its 'head' turned, casting a powerful ray of light into the edge of the forest. After a moment, it let out a haunting fog-horn of a roar, belching black smoke into the empty sky, above, and continuing its long strides into the woods, swiftly disappearing from view.

"I should not say The Lord Madam, Kaath, is a 'monster'.....she is, however...dangerous. She is from some time, past, and many worry there are few, remaining, who can do much to stem her...moods," Jasper remarked, watching the last of the silhouette vanish behind the distant foliage, "That Strider, just now, was 'Vandal Savant', a patrol craft of The Brass Bastards. They should not be out this far...but it is good that this one is."

Jasper slowly, disappointedly shook his head.

"If the warning reached Kedvin and his band, there is a very good chance they have abandoned us and are en route back to town. When Kaath catches them, they will likely be......murdered......to the last man, and their remains will be left to Cart-Dragger's monsters' whims." His expression flat, but the meagerest of frowns having replaced their previously pleasant demeanor. "I must offer my condolences. This is not how it usually is, though I am optimistic The Lord Madam has no intentions of attacking us...as she would have, by now, if she so chose."

With the end of the bridge a bit more visible, small details offered credence to Jasper's predictions. Off to a side, two of the boards appeared to have been pushed to more widely part by some large, flat object being forced between them. The edges around this strike were coated in a semi-recent sheen of blood. What altercation or reason for the damage was left to the imagination, as this appeared to be the only inconsistency. If it was a fight, it must have been quickly and eerily cleanly decided. Other details became apparent as they neared the end. Large patches of dead grass in splash-like patterns, a fallen tree with the stump so smoothly cut that it shimmered like marble, and...a groaning sound drifting from the direction the tree fell, having apparently flattened a small hidden camp.

Of the two tents, one sat pinned under the tree, flat to the ground with only twisted supports and shredded fabric to hint at what it once was. Gauze, bandages and ripped cloth when those must have run out, soaked with blood and haphazardly strewn about the scene. Tending to the injured must have been a frantic and temporary effort, shortly chased off...save for one figure.
A tousle of dirty blonde hair, a blue plaid bandana around their neck, they wore a studded leather chestplate, pauldrons and bracers. Their right leg seemed fine, though a hoof poked out of the other, having kicked their boot off. Not only did they appear alive, but they rolled, raising a hand to block the light of day with their good hand, the other appearing shriveled to baby-like proportions on the same side as the goat leg. Their eyes were puffy as if they had been crying, and it reflected in the break in their voice as they called out, "Wh-whose there!? R-Rodger? Kieth?" they started, choking a sob down as they rubbed their eyes and blinked back at the group, gritting their teeth. "Oh..." they sighed, long since defeated by what violence and terrible curses they had witnessed and unfortunately survived. "...sh-she..." he tried to begin, mouth agape lips trembling as they simply had no words for what had transpired as they looked down to their deformities.


[System]
Age: 30

Sex: Male

Appearance: 6'2" with black hair and blue eyes. White skinned. Noticeable facial hair at the chin and finely trimmed. Sporting a more Westerly appearance with a short and thin leather duster coat, white button-up shirt with a popped-out collar and a loose scarf-like tie, dark faded blue jeans, and boots.

"Shh, I'm focusing...And trying to look intimidating."

Like many of the Societas Academia, Travis has a very good understanding how magic functions and how certain spells are performed. Being an Untalent however, much of what he has learned is unfortunately outside of his realm of implementation and only gets by with the bare basics of each aspect. But to him, this is perfectly fine; the spells Travis can produce by himself are considered useful survival tools in order to help him get by.

His real prowess is through the deciphered tomes and runes recovered throughout his journeys, capable of extending his abilities beyond his current potential. Though if anything, they too are yet another means of allowing him dissect and better understand their magical functionalities and eventually reproduce their effects in more manageable and efficient methods.

Funnily enough, given his recent and occasionally perilous encounters, Travis has been seen to be a rather surprisingly athletic runner.

"Magic is simply another form of science that is growing and evolving as we continue to discover and learn more about it."

Being an Untalent amongst a rather social community of more capable Talents can definitely be rough. Condemned to a lesser status because of one's natural inability to coordinate with magic fluidly was the fate many Untalents within the Societas Academia faced almost daily. Travis however didn't seem to be bothered by this too much. In fact, he was perhaps too busy studying and discussing theories to really care at all.

While as an Untalent and indeed had higher expectations set against him by his self-deserving peers, he enthusiastically conceptualized these endeavors as welcomed challenges in order solve rather petty societal crises to stress about. Though Travis was no ace mage and was more likely a magician as far as skills go, his main strength was his constructed knowledge base with a fierce understanding of the architecture of mana and magic implementation.

After years of hard study and grueling practice, Travis eventually achieved the rank of Aspect trainee and began the next phase of his training. Without any particular proficiency found in any particular set of spells, he would then opt-in into the Aspect of Scholar. As one would expect from his intuitive personality, Travis had felt right at home with his new position and became eager to set out for new discoveries.

What he didn't know was how cruel and horrifying the world could be outside the Societas Academia. The concept of death was something many students were well versed in, some more than others, but to experience and its many forms was something rather undesirable. Thus for Travis, now a Scholar, would soon come to know and witness this concept on more than one occasion as he pursues his quest for knowledge.

"So I spoke to an ebony dressed lady from the Cult of the Enlightened. We actually had a pleasant conversation until I asked about the concept of soul weaving. She laughed. Her fur coat cried. Suffice to say, I left in a hurry."

Despite his humble demeanor, surprisingly as an Untalent, Travis is certainly not afraid to speak his mind and express his views when necessary, sometimes comical or sarcastic if it benefits the mood. Being an easily fascinated and curious sort, he takes his role as a Scholar by heart (if not seriously) and seeks knowledge whenever he can find it; until it gets him into trouble. Nonetheless, he does show great pride and devotion to his line of work, atypical as it may be.

Travis can sometimes be described as a pacifist or "pass-the-fist" as he himself describes it. He sees no need for violence and certainly rejects the notion of killing but acknowledges the need for self-defense if he cannot negotiate his way out of a troubling confrontation. Of course said confrontations are usually created by something he may have said or done without any harmful or insulting intent.

"When the going gets tough...See to it you're not where the tough goes."

[User]
"I see." Raiya's voice a contemplative whisper.

The mana crystal lamps did little to light the way, which was probably because the charge in them was waning and no one had bothered to charge them in years. But if the way was lit just a little better, Nemo and the others could see that Raiya was visibly shaken, and almost in a state of panic.

It's even worse than I could have ever imagined. Not only has Nemo been suppressing his true power. But he has an innate abiltiy or some form of knowledge of a lost magick that gives him a limitless potential, and makes him by nature the enemy of every Talent. No, every life form.

Raiya shivered as her imagination took the idea of Nemo absorbing the entire world and animated it fully in her mind.

What can I even do? I didn't sign up for this. DAMNIT! At this rate, I'll never be able to get back to the Yakuza

She fumbled in her jacket with her shaky hand to take out the flask, contemplating downing the rest of the entire flask. She loosened the cap, but as she went to bring it to her lips, the shakiness of her hand was so severe that she dropped the flask, spilling the entire contents on the ground.

She was so at a loss that she hesitated in picking it up, letting it lay on the ground for several moments.

[Assistant]
Nemo saw the flask spill onto the floor, he had been trying to observe Raiya's reaction beforehand but was distracted by the mishap. Noticing Raiya's hesitation caused Nemo to bend over and pick it up himself. He brushed it off clean from the ground and then extended his hand to give it back to her. "You should be more careful, that's a very collectible piece you've got there." He commented.

Nemo then placed his gloved right hand on her shoulder, even in the dark his pale white eyes were still visible. "You know, I really hope we can get along in the future, Raiya."

[User]
As soon as Nemo placed his hand on her shoulder, she imagined all of her mana rushing out of her through his hand, her becoming a withered husk, dying while being assimilated into Nemo's mana pool. The thought made her flinch momentarily, and when she snapped out of it, she had realized she was still alive, and Nemo had extended his hand out for an abnormally long time to return the flask.

"Y-yeah. I hope so too..." Raiya replied hesitantly as she greedily snatched the flask back and placed it into her pocket.

With an absent mind, still lost in thought, she continued to walk forward, not noticing the corridor had shifted to the room with the multiple passages. As soon as she stepped into the room, her foot touched a plate on the ground triggering a trap.

Two large slabs of granite, one from the bottom and one from the top of the corridor, rushed together in an instant. Everyone except Artos had made it into the room with the multiple passages. Once the slabs came together, that was the end for Artos, and this was readily apparent. The small seem in the middle of the blocked way to the corridor oozed black blood, which dripped into a pool on the ground in front of the blocked path.

Raiya picked up the crystal inlay and placed it back in her ear.

"Uh- Felix-?" Raiya began.

"No- I know. Artos is dead. I felt his manadial blink off. He was the rearguard. The last one in the formation. It could have just as easily been anyone else. But he died doing his duty." Felix sighed.

[Assistant]
With Nemo's spell settled, so true was the skeleton's ambush. The blast and the resulting shrapnel had dispatched the trap's undead reserves, leaving nothing left to throw at the unconventional party. The gates leading deeper into the catacombs soon opened, giving off a grinding whine as the large doors dragged across the floor's surface. It was perfectly evident that their first trial was not over and they per permitted to advance.

All of a sudden, everyone's manadial went off with Felix's returning voice coming through the magical devices. Travis fiddled around with his own manadial until he found the earpiece to the still personally-not-so-well-understood contraption in his hands. Felix, unexpectedly, congratulated everyone in an overly blissful manner, betraying a rather calm and professional mannerism as observed before. Nemo gave a casual bow and returned thanks to those whom made his spell all the more effective. Travis nearly became blushed in receiving so much praise, from an Arch Mage no less.

"Erm, yes. Ah, I certainly made due with what I had. Pleasant to know it contributed well in the end." Travis returned, sounding awkward in his attempt acknowledging the compliments.

While it was difficult to take note during the fight, Travis recounted the spells that were utilized by his compatriots. Though he had accepted his limitations, Travis was somewhat humble about his "lacking" mana endurance. While he could not ascertain the number of spells everyone was capable of mustering, Travis himself knew he had a wide arsenal at his disposal. But many times in the past, did he had quickly confirm how draining his spells were and the physical toll they came with as well. With such a fight leading into a battle of attrition, Travis knew how risky some of his capabilities were had he used them, especially more than once.

While in the end, his reserved but logical participation proved efficient, as an Untalent however, there was more he wished to efficiently perform. Perhaps there was something he could soon learn from his other allies just as his influence for his next rune project had come from Artos' earlier presentation. Raiya's Shinto-based magic came off like an enchantment that helped projected the main spell through her blade. The intelligent utilization proved very effective against the skeletal orge, decimating it in one go. Enchantments were not outside of Travis' scope; in fact, it one of the things he could adequately manage on short notice, provided proper necessities available. As he thought more about it, a possible and likely repurposing of one of his new runes could prove radically effective as an enchantment.

Nemo's massively destructed spell was simply something Travis had not anticipated on. The amount of mana needed to even charge such a spell would have been ridiculously high. While perhaps it would have been a chunk for a Talent to deal with, Travis couldn't even hope to last in the casting process. However, its creation did require the projection of a graphical construct of some sort; something that begged Travis' curiosity. Despite the Latin trigger word and potential backgrounds with the Church, he pondered if the large "X" from earlier was more than just representation. If anything it seemed similar like casting a rune spell. However its process was performed, he imagined an alternative manner for one of his deadlier tricks if the time arose.

Felix eventually explained that the catacombs they now travel through were the conceived final resting place of a now deceased people called the Valakites that were said to, literally as Felix detailed, disappeared from the face of the Earth. A sudden inclination came to mind as he turned his head back to the carnage and the heap of bones behind him. Travis himself researched into the subject of the Valakites and the ware they waged with the Jews but to learn that the Academia had a hand further elevated his astonishment further. First the denial of the Paragons, then the existence of the catacombs, and now the burial grounds of a lost people. What else had the Academia been involved in that was not campus known? It the very thought intriguing but was grossly outplayed by how terrifying the possibility lead on. Raiya seemed deep in thought as well while Nemo expressed hunger, seemingly towards the mana crystals as before as Travis recalled the puzzling man dropping a shard down his gullet. Dare he ask why that was a thing?

Immediately upon stepping out of the previous room did they now enter into a hallway with lanterns of similar make as the rest of the place lighting up as they passed by each one. Felix warned of an upcoming room which split into different paths. Instead of having everyone move through their own pathway as Travis had immediately thought of, their advisor however advised against that course of action and instead openly preferred everyone to stay together in order to adequately deal with any danger likely lying in wait no matter the path selected.

Nemo and Raiya had begun to build a conversation as they strolled ahead, maintaining their assigned formation while he in the middle and Artos on rear. The hallway itself seemed more and more expansive with their two leaders still talking about their past lives. Travis didn't know quite know if he should take the opportunity to listen to them but the with the manadial earpieces laid in their ears meant a private conversation was on foot. Whether it was recreational or mission related, Travis certainly had no chance of involving himself in the matter. Given the time they seemingly continued to obtain as they continued down the hallway unopposed, Travis decided to take the moment to brainstorm more on his projects.

His cryogentic rune concept was very much incomplete but had a reasonable design to it that could make it just as efficient as his more explosive rune. While heat and oxygen was an easier factor to produce, water however demanded more attention to detail and create for that matter. Collecting the H2O in order for the rune spell to freeze could be pulled of from the surrounding moisture. But what if the climate was hotter though? It was likely he would need to incorporate a water projection spell into the mix. It was feasible but how much additional mana could that need? Travis wasn't necessarily picky really efficiency was now the apparent requirement now that he was capable creating something easily effective.

It was when they reached the space Felix mentioned did Travis, almost unknowing of their location began to turn his attention to Artos, seeking input from his icy comrade. But with a sudden click coming from beneath Rayia did Travis hear the load crashing sound of two heavy forces colliding against each other. It was so close that Travis nearly reeled forward has his ears briefly ringed. While he didn't flinch as much, a sudden inclined thought occurred to him, causing him to slowly look behind him, with dread soon washing across his face.


[System]
Appearance:

Super Alias: Noisemaker, Dr. Ding

Age: 25

Power(s):Cassie has the ability to emit, absorb, and analyze vibrations; in other words, she manipulates sound.
Genes: Super-senses, force manipulation.

Super Suit Specifics:Cassie wears a white enamel androgynous power suit that is easily mistaken for a robot. It looks something like the following image.But the head has a single red camera in the center like the following image.Cassie wears a white hooded robe over all this.

Cassie's power suit provides a decent amount of protection and minimal strength augmentation while providing her with many options when using her natural ability. She has many devices that produce or augment sound. Notably, she has a sword/bat that is essentially a massive tuning fork that she can make vibrate at different frequencies to shatter different materials. She also carries many small disc-shaped emitters that she lays around to create acoustic or harmonic zones that amplify her power. Cassie's suit was not designed by Edna Mode, though it still comes with the standard homing device and communicator.
Skills:Cassie has a PhD in theoretical physics and can do high-level math in her head, which helps her with the complex behaviors of sound.
Personality:Cassie comes off as stern and no-nonsense. She believes that superheroic acts should be a duty rather than a passion and looks down on those who do it for the thrill. She believes that supers are beholden to the people and should be held accountable if their recklessness harms or endangers the populace. This is not a popular stance among supers but has earned her a degree of clout among the BSA. Some supers see her as a traitor, but she frankly doesn't care what they think. Cassie believes in discipline and order and sees the government as the rightful holders of the reins over supers, red tape, bureaucracy and all. Cassie does have a nurturing side, like a teacher; and will praise and reward those willing to obey.
Biography:Cassie's parents were the Chinese-American duo, Dr. Ding and Tremor. Dr. Ding was the brains, a telwpath who used his incredible senses and ability to communicate discreetly to spot for Tremor, who could manipulate the ground and create earthquakes. Before Cassie was born, her parents played classical music towards the womb, based off a quack theory that doing so would help the unborn child's brain develop. When Cassie was born, everyone was surprised to hear Beethoven's Ninth Symphony playing from the baby. Cassie was only around 7 or 8 when the famous court case, The People vs. Mr. Incredible happened. Her parents, despite being supers themselves, saw merit in the suit filed against Mr. Incredible, and reassessed their own performance. They also saw this as an opportunity to stop Cassie from becoming a hero since they felt hero work was too dangerous for her since her ability did nothing to protect her, having zero defensive capabilities. They had Cassie focus her energies on her studies instead. Still, they didn't want her losing her super heritage, so they let her train her abilities in secret, always stressing discipline, control, and precision, reminding her that she had the potential to be extremely dangerous. As Cassie went through, her parents wondered if the classical music had worked since Cassie demonstrated super intellect and became an ace student, skipping a few grades in the process. She went on to university, and then to graduate school where she earned her degree. Cassie also showed an interest in sociology and political theory as she tried to figure out her place in the world as a super and has even given a few speeches in support of a world where supers operated only under government supervision. This has earned her a spot in the BSA's new program.
Equipment/possessions:Her super suit is a design she was able to squeeze out of defense contractors that she had collaborated with on research projects. She lacks a certain degree of sentimentality and doesn't keep mementos. She has her glasses because her eyesight is horrible even though she could use echolocation instead.
Others:She sometimes goes by Dr. Ding, which is her father's super alias because she not only shares the surname, but she also has the degree to warrant the title of doctor. She sometimes announces her arrival by emitting an 'elevator bell' *DING* sound as a signature.

[User]
Rebekah Green

The acid hadn't worked, which was a pity, but with Mr. Incredible now wrestling with the sensor array on top of the robot, she had to change tacks. With one hand outstretched toward the onmidroid with her fingers splayed, Karearea focussed her power into the popup eye to shrink it. She slowly clenched her fist as she did so. The gesture wasn't strictly required for her to use her powers, but she found that the motion helped her focus.

The idea was that shrinking the sensor array (but not its connection to the main body of the robot) would release Mr. Incredible's hands, and maybe give him enough room and leverage to rip it off entirely, the armour now being small, so thinner and weaker. Even of that didn't happen, however, she figured it would play havoc with the electronics anyway. She knew that the the resistance and current in any wire was proportional to its size, and since she was indiscriminately shrinking the whole popup, not just the part trapping Bob's fingers, the the sensors and circuits in there would be affected too. Suddenly, the inputs and outputs wouldn't match what other components knew how to interpret, fuses would blow and if she was really lucky, the whole part might go offline.

[Assistant]
Omnidroid and Incredibles

Cassie's call caused the robot to stop and look around at her, but it didn't appear to be standing down. Rather, it changed direction and started rolling at her instead. It had ben a clever idea to mimic the original master of the omnidroids, but sadly, they had only ever been controlled by remote, and not by voice.

Down on the ground, and now thankfully away from the robot's destructive path, Dash heard Magnastar's call and rushed over to her, and kept jogging on the spot while Mako took advantage of the breather.
"What's the plan, Stan?" he asked quickly. "Got an idea?"

Up on top of the robot, Mr. Incredible had been able to get his hands free from under the sensor array, but his tugging upwards to rip it off completely wasn't getting him anywhere. He settled for slamming a fist down on top of the thing and leaving a sizeable dent in the weakened material before he jumped off the rolling ball. He had been getting dizzy up there.

With the damage done to its sensors, the Omnidroid Beta had to slow up a bit. It's tough exterior could deal with getting shot, slammed, pounded, zapped and burnt, but getting magically warped from the inside wasn't something it was prepared for. It wasn't completely catastrophic, but after fuses had blown and surge protectors had kicked in to save the core components, it was down to about half of its normal perception, with several of its more sensitive and unusual detectors going offline completely. It could still 'see' the supers around it, but its 'vision' was fuzzy and a little slow.

[User]
"Yeah, I need you to get Vi to make a forcefield to stop it from moving, along with anyone else who can hamper it's movements. We need to work together to overpower it. Mr Incredible just did some serious damage to it. I am going to try and use my Magnetism to help try to get it to stop moving, but once we've secured it, I am going to try and use my magnetism to scramble it's brains and shut it down," Magnestar explained,"Can you spread the word?"

Once Dash ran off to spread the plan around she would immediately plant her feet and begin to focus her magnetism in pulling the Omnidroid back towards her. She would draw her sword now to try and guide her powers more effects.

[Assistant] As the droid began rolling at her, Cassie started to slightly panic. Still, it wasn't the worst thing that could happen. For one, it made it easier for her to lead it into her acoustic trap, which she started running towards. Then running the calculations in her head, she started firing her best estimate of the droid's resonant frequency at it. When it had entered her ring of harmonic amplifiers, she had them all play the same frequency, and though the sound itself could not be heard, its vibrations could be felt as a low rumble to all in the vicinity. Cassie hoped this would jostle loose something: screws, circuit boards, whatever. She knew from case files that the omnidroid's greatest enemy was itself, and the concept of applied destructive harmonics was essentially making a material destroy itself from the inside, so she hoped the principle applied here in the same way. Still if it kept rolling and didn't stay in the trap, damage would be minimal at best. And Cassie would become a pancake. She wasn't exactly the most mobile super.

[User]
Omnidroid, Incredibles and Rebekah Green

As the omnidroid closed in on Cassie and entered her amplifying circle, it's spherical body began to ring like a bell. It was still running its interferers on the inside and trying to block the sound's destructive effects, but slowly they were being overpowered. Slowly but surely, the robot was losing in its struggle with the Noisemaker.

Weakened as it was, the robot kept rolling on towards Cassie, but it was suddenly interrupted by a rippling purple sheet of force blocking its way. Violet too became visible, but just long enough to give an encouraging thumbs-up gesture before disappearing again.

Mako's message spread quickly, through Dash's quick legs and blunt tongue. Quickly, he, Elastigirl and Frozone had descended on the robot, and were working to keep it immobile. Its clawed arms whirled around and snapped at them, but the supers skills kept them just ahead of the omnidroid's pursuit.

Up on her perch above the battlefield, Karearea recognised the new plan did did what she could to assist. She focused on specific segments of the robot's many-jointed legs and grew them, causing jams where the joints wouldn't move smoothly any more. This limited its mobility, causing it to stumble and stagger as it moved about.

[Assistant] Attempting to pull an obeject of larger mass then herself can only have two real effects. First, nothing, or second, she launches herself at the object she was attempting to draw. In this particular instance, at first it was nothing, but once she saw that the Omnidroid was halted she switched into phase two. She started running toward the Omnidroid and launched herself through the air. Using the momentum of the increased draw of her magnetism she took her Katana and focused on forcing it to vibrate rapidly by constantly drawing and pushing the metal in rotation, like she had done with the pan in the induction testing earlier this evening. With the blade rapidly vibrating she plunged it into the surface of the Omnidroid. Once through the surface she changed her focus into simply putting out the most powerfull magnetic pull she could through her katana. Mako hoped that it would be enough to overcome any magnetic shielding protecting the Omnidroids electronics.

[User]
Cassie gave Violet a nod of acknowledgement for erecting the forcefield that pretty much saved her from becoming a pancake.

Seeing Mako's attempt to cleave the Omnidroid with her katana, Cassie wanted to see if she could help her in that regard. Despite the sheer amount of noise being generated, Cassie was still able to 'hear' the sound of Mako's sword vibrating, reminding her of the 'cooking' attempt she made in the kitchen. Realizing that Mako was trying to superheat her katana through magnetic vibrations, Cassie helped with sound vibrations by switching her acoustic traps to match the sword's vibrations. Maybe it would help the blade slice into the robot's hard metal shell, or maybe the blade would shatter from the stress.

[Assistant]
Omnidroid

The enhanced vibrations of the katana helped it to carve out a sizeable scratch in the omnidroid's shell, then a growing incision that was growing deeper by the second. The problem with this was soon reveal, however: superheating the blade was causing it to lose its temper and solidity faster than it was melting through the omnidroid's temporarily lava-proof outer casing.

With a final magnetic heave, the part-melted sword came free of the robot, along with a section of the robot's shell that had either melted onto it or been deformed enough by the magnetism to tear free. The hole was about a square foot in area with sharp, jagged edges.

In response, the omnidroid abandoned its attempts to break out of its cage and focussed solely on Magnastar. Its two claws became giant saws that swung towards her, while its legs retracted and the whole thing started to roll so that Mako and the hole would be underneath it.

[User]
With barely any time to react at all, Magnestar attempted simultaneously to leap out of the way of the blades, and away from the droid, while unloading her clip of ball bearings into the hole she had made. Once clear of the droids reach she called out, "Keep it steady!" She knew that it wouldn't want to move anywhere for fear of exposing the hole inside. That was fine, with her ball bearings inside of it, she could launch them around all over the inside of it ripping through control panels and servo motors and sensors until it finally shut itself down, or was unable to continue operating.

To do this, Mako closed her eyes, trusting her teammates to keep the droid from moving anywhere, and focused all of her senses on her magnetic abilities. She was looking for the 19 ball bearings that she had rolling around the inside of the Omnidroid. Once she had one she focused on it and pushed it straight away from her with as much force as she could. More than likely it would just roll along the inside curve of the spherical foe, but once it had made it half way up the arc she would draw it towards herself as strongly as she could, trying to draw it through the center core of whatever it was that was in there. She would move the next ball bearing the same way, and the next and the next until she had a swarm of them dancing around inside of the machine. Of course, this much control required more than just mental commands, this required a physical exertion as well. Using finely trained physical moves from her own brand of Ninjitsu, she spun and kicked and punched like she was fighting an invisible opponent with her eyes closed, in an effort to keep the small metal missiles spinning inside the Omnidroid.

[Assistant] With the hole Magnastar was able to open up in the Omnidroid, Cassie knew it was time to finish this. She made a gesture like a conductor urging the orchestra to a crescendoed finale, easing her hands in front of her, palms upward. The acoustic traps she had laid out switched back to the frequency that she believed was as close as she could get the droid's resonant frequency and amped up the volume. A perfect shape, like a sphere, was great at redistributing stress. However certain stresses, like harmonic stress, tended to concentrate at flaws and imperfections: chips, cracks, fractures, etc. It was Cassie's hope that the hole Magnastar had carved would be a great focal point for her acoustic stress to concentrate, and that the material, while a metal and therefore malleable, was hard and brittle enough to actually start shattering.


[System]
Username: rush99999
Race/Species: Gnome

Gender: Male

Age: 112

Career/Class: Artificer

Weapons:
* 1 homemade matchlock rifle
* 3 homemade matchlock pistols
* A seemingly infinite supply of ammunition for aforementioned firearms with various enchantments
* 1 large steel monkey wrench

Physical Description:
Hobnob is shorter than the average gnome. He stands as 3 feet rather than 3 and a half. A small magical mishap during his 1st attempt at merging magic and engineering left Hobnob's full head of hair and somewhat bushy eyebrows turquoise. After many a day of inventing rather than shaving, Hobnob possesses a luxurious beard rather than the goatee a gnome usually has. Aforementioned beard is also turquoise. While his eyes are green, you wouldn't be able to tell because he never takes off his goggles. While he isn't what you'd call muscular, all the manual work he does when making inventions keeps him out of the scrawny zone. There is always a sharp pencil behind at least 1 of Hobnob's ears.

Armor:
* Leather armor with a rune based magic resistance enchantment
* Everything else resistant chain mail (No enchantment here. Is't just very sturdy chain mail.)
* Leather gloves with a rune based electricity resistance enchantment, a glyph based heat resistance enchantment, and blade resistance because it's leather.
* Hobnob's goggles are also surprisingly durable.

Equipment/Other
* 1 gnome made smoking pipe
* A seemingly infinite supply of pipe weed
* 1 large tool kit
* 1 canister of blueprint paper
* 1 gnome fishing rod
* 1 small bag of magic seeds that grow into mushrooms large and sturdy enough to sit on in 60 seconds.
* The lenses on Hobnob's goggles have glyph based enchantments that allow him to see in different types of vision. Each type of vision makes the goggles glow a different colour when in use.
None: Ordinary Vision
Green: Night Vision
Orange: Thermal Vision
Blue: Mana Vision (Allows Hobnob to see the magic in the world and beings around him and tell how highly concentrated it is.)
Black: X-Ray Vision
White: Telescopic Vision

Mental Description/Personality:
Hobnob is incredibly eccentric and fixated on inventing things to the point that the aforementioned fixation over-kills the magic addiction that dabbling in the arcane arts usually brings. Hobnob also enjoys pond fishing while sitting on large mushrooms.

Goals:
Step 1: Find money for crazy inventions.
Step 2: Think of and invent crazy inventions.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit.

Background/History:
* 112 years ago, Hobnob was born in a small town in Cutterstone to an inventor and an enchantress.
* As he grew up, Hobnob took an interest in his parents' work. They were happy to teach, he was quick to learn, and by the time he was 35, Hobnob knew some basic enchantments as well as most of the ins and outs of inventing.
* Soon enough, Hobnob got the idea to combine what he had learned from both of his parents. His invention exploded during the enchanting, but the explosion did nothing worse than turn Hobnob's hair turquoise.
* Many years of studying and research later, Hobnob decided it was time to try again. This time around, he received assistance from 7 other like minded artificers and 2 like minded enchanters.
* Their work bore fruit, and The Obstacle Flattener Mark 1 was born...and exploded 7 days later. Convinced they could get it right the 2nd time around, Hobnob and his crew began work on Mark 2
* At the end of it all, The Obstacle Flattener Mark 2 was fully operational...until it exploded 7 weeks later. Undeterred, Hobnob and his crew began work on Mark 3.
* 7 months went by before the explosion happened. Just as Hobnob and his crew had predicted
* Before work could begin on Mark 4, Hobnob and his crew realised that almost all of their money was almost all gone.
* And so at the age of 111, Hobnob and his crew decided to leave Cutterstone to find odd-jobs and merc-work to fund their inventive endeavours after realising that their work on The Obstacle Flattener had almost emptied their collective coin purses.
* 1 year later their adventures bring them to Starkvale and the beginning of this RP.

[User]
Why Hobnob had to come along, he could not fathom. He simply wanted to get back to Hillcrest to see how the work on The Mark 5 was going. But instead, Kayden had decided to drag Hobnob along to the home of their 1st voluntary employer for some reason. Hobnob's only consolation was that a letter from Doctor Diminutive had arrived that told Hobnob that Secret had been found. The letter also said that even though Doctor Diminutive would only need to apply 20 leaches at most, Haukford still refused medical treatment from the gnomish doctor.

While waiting for their new employer, Hobnob was adding to 1 of his blueprints. Ever since few weeks before he was inducted into Kayden's mercenary band, Hobnob had been playing around with an idea for a firearm capable of firing even when wet. Such a thing would be accomplished by making this gun fire bullets by hitting them out of the barrel really really hard with a tiny hammer, rather than igniting a small amount of gunpowder to launch the bullet out with the resulting explosion. Such a thing should be impossible, but when you have enchanting in your toolbox, the list of possible things increases sharply.

Hobnob looked up briefly when wine was offered. "None for me" he said "I don't drink". With that said, he looked back down at his work.

[Assistant]
The handsome woman, with her blonde hair tied in a bun, raised an eyebrow at their manner. "
I'm just the help...
" she muttered. Still, she had been stationed to be there so she wouldn't walk away, at least until she received a 'no' from everyone. The large man and the diminutive Gnome looking over what she assumed was an aclehmist's nightmare unnerved her somewhat, though the Captain seemed suave and refined enough to be within these accommodations, and the shorter woman did not seem too out of place.

Kayden gave Lis a grin. "I admit, it's a tad cliche'." he told her, letting out a chuckle. He called the woman over with a wave of his hand, and then sighed. "Don't take this as an example of my usual manner, but...it is free." He took two wine glasses, and downed one with little effort. The next, he held for later in his left hand, his other hand with its thumb within his belt. Allard's comments drew his attention, and he raised an eyebrow. Inquisitiveness he didn't mind, as long as it disrupted nothing. The serving woman had left by that point. "Just keep mostly to yourselves. It's all about presentation with Nobles. However, I wanted all of you here to hear what this Pembrook had to say."

As if on cue, they suddenly heard the distant 'clack' of something upon the ground, over and over and over. It ominously came closer, as if it was a stalking shark. Closer and closer, yet painfully slow.

Kayden nearly chugged his other glass when he saw the Lord Pembrook, for it had been revealed that the clack was indeed a cane, and the man holding the cane looked almost like a mole. Short, fat, his beard looked more like whiskers, and he seemed to be almost blind. "G-greetings fellow swordsmen!" he called, waving at them with the free hand. He wore fine clothing and many rings on his fingers. "My my, what a large group you have!"

"It's only the four of us, my Lord..." Kayden replied, trying not to offend the old man.

"Four?" He squinted. "Ah yes, those are the chairs. Anyway, yes yes I am quite glad you have deigned to meet with me, yes. I am quite glad indeed. Yes yes, follow me!"

He abruptly turned around, and as painfully slow as he had been before, he began walking away.

Kayden looked like what the kids called 'done.' "
By the Gods
...Sir, sir please. We're only here to hear what mission you'd give us."

"Ah, but why not speak in the living room?"

"We're fine here, thanks."

Lord Pembrook halted, and turned. "Are you certain?"

"Yes, indeed." Kayden replied, his smooth voice very breathless from the sigh he was making. He decided it was time to down that second glass of wine. As he chugged, the Lord halted and nodded. "Very well. You see, my boy. You see, recently I have come across a proprietor that wishes to buy a trinket I have in my vault, yes. Yes in fact he seemed quite interested."

"Cool."

"Yes, hehe. And Indeed I did not wish to part with it. No, my, I could never! For the Book is quite old, yes. Quite old! Very old, you see."

"I do."

"So! But see, yes. Yes, see. The man seemed very peculiar. Very peculiar. My servants told me as much as well, as did my house priest. We believe he will attempt to take the trinket out of my vault by force, you see."

"Because he was peculiar?"

"Oh, many nasty rumors in town, my good fellow. Many. And one can never be too careful, and so I dearly hope to hire you to be guards for my vault for a few weeks, that is, until things have died down and we can be sure, you see. Indeed, yes."

[User]
At the sight of the noble mole-man, Lis' left eyebrow arched in disbelief, lips pursing in a displeased manner. Her look only soured more as the ancient Lord Pembrook began rambling on about nothings; clearly his mind was addled with old age (And alcohol, judging by the redness of his nose and size of his gut), and he still seemed to be living out his younger days in his mind. Although glad Kayden seemed to be dealing with it in a professional manner, part of her wished she'd taken the offer of wine now. If this job was going to be as dreary as it's employer, she was going to need a lot of alcohol to cope.

"We're guarding a dusty old book?!" Her harsh whisper to Kayden was equal parts incredulous and annoyed - this had not been what she was expecting from her first job with this company. She had expected fighting, bloodshed, excitement - even guarding a caravan on the road would prove more entertaining than being locked in this creepy old manor looking after an antique. Eyes darting back to Lord Pembrook, Lis stepped forward slightly to gain his attention; her not-so-quiet whisper to Kayden had gone unnoticed by the elderly man. His misty eyes did turn to her, double-taking and blinking in surprise as he had to look down, rather than up as he had with Kayden. Cheeks flushing red momentarily (Honestly, she wasn't that short - why did people still get surprised by it??), she cleared her throat, arms folded across her bosom in a businesslike manner.

"Surely tracking down and... dissuading this proprietor would prove more fruitful?" She suggested in as neutral a tone she could manage; only just catching herself at the end of her sentence and stepping back slightly to look at Kayden - he was the Captain, and it wasn't her place to decide such things; hopefully he didn't consider this for her to be speaking out of turn... otherwise they'd have some real problems down the road. Lis' opinion enjoyed being expressed.

[Assistant]
Allard nodded as he left the book alone and walked over closer to where Lis and Kayden were standing. He had to suppress a chuckle when an old overgrown mole came from the hallway greeting them as "fellow swordsman". Maybe at one point, but the man was definitely lacking something that he used to have had he ever been called a swordsman before. Allard couldn't suppress his smirk that he had, but it didn't take long for it to melt away. The way the man spoke was just a little less than frustrating, and little more than mind numbing. From what he gathered, they were here to protect some old book, that was from Pembrook's own description just a "trinket", from a person who is just vaguely peculiar.

Allard slid his flask from his pocket and threw some back before asking the mole man to attempt speaking any further. He then looked over to Lis and seeing that she looked a fair bit agitated already at the man, he offered her the flask. She may need it to if they were going to make it through this man's explanations. "What is special about this book and, more importantly, exactly what kind of rumors are floating around about this peculiar person?" He then folded his arms as he continued,"Also, it would be nice to have a name or information on whoever it is so we know who to look out for."

[User]
When their new employer arrived, Hobnob divided his attention between listening to the discussion and working on his blueprint. When Lord Pembrook asked the mercs to join him in the living room, Hobnob was glad Kayden talked him into staying where they were. At the pace the mole lord was going, it would have taken weeks to get there.

Soon after Pembrook started speaking, Hobnob found himself paying more and more attention to what the lord was saying. Hobnob liked peculiar things. Probably because he was a little peculiar himself. Then Lis suggested simply going after the proprietor. "There's a chance Mr Peculiar might not be that desperate for the book" Hobnob said in response "If we did what you suggested, we might end up beating some random collector senseless for no real reason". It was then that Allard asked his questions. "I was just about to ask the same thing" the gnome said "In what way was this proprietor peculiar?".


[System]
Gender: Female

Age: 21

Career/Class: Courtesan/Duelist

Physical Description: Camilla is a medium sized woman around 5'5. She possess the slightly bronzed skin, angular features and dark hair common among Tileans. She has the smooth clean lines of a classical statue and the lean musculature of a dancer. Every part of her seems artfully contrived, as though she stepped from the canvas of a master painter. Camilla moves with deliberate grace which is appropriate to her profession.

Mental Description/Personality: Camilla is a fiery impetuous young woman. As a child she was selected from among orphan's for her physical beauty and raised to fill the role of Courtesan in the decadent courts of her native Tilea. Among her studies were poetry, dance, repartee, song, politics, literature, art and sword play.

Camilla is out of place in rough and dangerous situations, and although naturally adventurous and curious about the world she is no heroine. She has a fiery temper and has a tendency to act rather than to wait if given the chance. While technically trained with the sword, Camilla's education is that of the stylized art of the sword rather than the rough and brutal style of real combat, while she is perfectly comfortable fighting a duel to the tough for the entertainment of a crowd, she had little experience with real killing.

Camilla has a passing devotion to Randald and Shyalla, although she tends to focus on the world in front of her rather than the world beyond.

[User]
Clothing it turned out, was cheap. Most everything in Port Reaver, as the place was charmingly named, was cheap. Goods for sale here were rarely purchased legitimately and were sold, often as not for a handful of coin and a few barrels of rum. Although there were bribes to be paid overhead on goods acquired at sword point was low and the fact that a proportion of the crew was not likely to survive acquiring those goods, wages were also manageable. So it was that an hour later stepped out of a tailor, if such a term could be applied, in an entirely new wardrobe for the price of a few pieces of silver. The supplies on hand didn't really run to dresses so she had instead a long shirt of white silk that hung down to her thighs giving the same effect. SHe wore trousers in long gray and black stripes tucked into Tilean boots with broad silver buckles. She wore a sash of red silk around her waist to belt the shirt in place that gave her a rakish and piratical look. The tailor had also been kind enough to scrub the dirt and blood off her, a service he had been so caviler about that Emmaline wondered just how wild a town Port Reaver could be after dark.

Amal had gone to speak to the captain of the Destrier having finished buying his own clothing well before she had exhausted her options and was due back at any minute. Emmaline had found an inn, there were several in the area and purchased a room for the night and then returned to meet Amal. She passed the time browsing the various shops and chandleries, amazed at the variety of goods available in such a remote settlement. There were even a few swords in one pawn shop that claimed to be of Elven manufacture, though Emmaline was reasonably sure they were fakes. There were many pistols, hand guns and even what looked to be a Dwarven flame cannon, though how anyone here could manufacture fuel remained a mystery to her. Books and purported arcana was less impressive, though Emmaline saw several places that claimed to sell such things, they were inevitably forgeries or simple baubles meant to con the gullible, something she was familiar with from having hawked no few faux love potions and fake astrologies in her time in Altdorf. It seemed that any serious arcane works would have to wait until Marienburg. Well that was fine, in order to buy much more than their passage on the Destrier and their room and board they would have had to have sold the artefacts they had liberated from the City of Sotek and Emmaline was sure they would fetch a much better price in Marienburg.

"There you are," Amal called and Emmaline turned to him with a smile and a flourish to show off her new clothes.

[Assistant]
It was a strange but fruitful visit with the captain, which he felt he dressed appropriately for. It hadn't taken Amal to find a good outfit, and it was somewhat similiar to Emmaline's though with a different feel to it. Ever the bandit, Amal had not seen to wear any sort of bright colors now they were back in some form of civilization. His belt was now made of leather, and he donned a dark coat that sat atop a white linen shirt. His pants were slightly baggier than Emmaline's and more bland in color, though a crimson bandana was tied around his head to keep his thick, dark hair out of his eyes. The final item, a wide brimmed hunter's hat fit snugly atop his head.

The Captain was an Imperial, known as Captain Walhem. His eyes and hair were nearly as bright as Emmaline's though there was flecks of grey from age and travel. He didn't judge Amal by his manner or accent, and after some conversation confessed that he was friends with Captain Diego by a flippant comment on a certain sailing story he had been delighted to tell the thied. Amal told him of the ship's fate and the Captain's passing, and though it brought a stormcloud over the man's features, he thanked Amal and told him as far as he was concerned he and his companion would be welcome on his ship free of charge.

This had brought a skip in Amal's step, leaping onto the docks and striding passed the fish sellers and cargomen hauling frieght off newly docked ship. A few roads further into the city and he passed by the marketplace where a weaponsmith was selling his wares. Amal reached into the bag and looked at the pistol he had taken off of the Empire man back on the El Cargador. Perhaps purchasing some powder would be of some use as well.

Minutes passed and he had a pawned infantry officer's saber at his belt, with 20 pistol balls and powder neatly tucked into a newly bought leather pouch that fit snug on his new belt.

He found a mirror at the edge of the street and strutted up to it, looking himself up and down. He looked very much the same, but somehow far different as well. No longer was he the street rat of Al-Hiekk, but Amal the adventurer! Who did some thieving on the side, granted. It was then he spotted Emmaline, and made his way over to her, calling to her.

He saw her give a flourish, and he watched and tried to do the same in response. He hadn't the flair she had, but he was a quick study and didn't embarrass himself. They smiled to one another, and Amal gave a wink. "By the way, we're getting a free trip on the Destrier."

Emmaline blinked. "How did you manage that?"

He placed his hand on the small of her back and shrugged. "I have my ways. So, do we have a room or are we to sleep on the grass again? If it's the latter, I think I will go steal a blanket. We're running out of that fool's money."

[User]
+Events of Tavern at the End of the World+

Emmaline awoke as golden light crept in through the window. She stirred lazily for a moment, reaching over to feel Amal's warm form beside her. With a sudden shock she sat bolt upright and the motion caused Amal to roll out of bed grabbing for his pants in the same motion his hand came up with his sword.

"Scheisse, it's already dawn," Emmaline cursed. Amal looked at her in concern for a moment before realization dawned in his eyes and he lurched upright pulling on his trousers and gathering up their few possessions with his other hand.

"By Allah, they ship will be leaving!" They pulled on their clothes as hastily as they could and ran for the door, Emmaline still buttoning her shirt as they rushed down the stairs. The taproom was nearly empty save for the bartender who started awake as they thumped down to the ground floor. A few men lay passed out at tables and booths, but all were to heavily drunken to do more than snort and snuffle.

"I trust my establishment," the bartender began but shut up as Emmaline hurled a handful of small coins at him as she fled out the door following Amal, they burst on to the sleepy street and raced downhill towards the sea. Sure enough the Destrier which had been slated to sail at down was in the process of setting her sails to carry her out with the morning tide. Amal shouldered his way past a long shoreman as they pounded passed the stevedores who were just beginning the task of loading cargo onto another large brig ignoring their startled shouts, jibes, and in the case of Emmaline who still hadn't managed to fully button her shirt, marriage proposals.

By the time they reached the edge of the dock there was already six feet of clearence between the bulwark of the ship and the dock. Amal made a flying leap and caught a hold of the bulwark with one hand. Emmaline was far less sanguine about her chances but leaped also, golden hair flying like a banner as she sailed across the gulf towards the ship. Amal caught her hand a fraction of a second before she planted her face into the hull and fell into the harbor and a minute later they were hauled onto the deck by grinning sailors, apparently very amused at the last moment arrival.

"I'm sorry friend," the Captain said with a jovial look at the pair of them, "I waited as long as I could!"

[Assistant]
Amal was hauled up as the Captain laughed, who himself held Emmaline's hand to help her be hoisted up. The thief might not have been able to pull off that sort of maneuver had he not had sufficient food or rest the night before. He had been 'running on fumes' as the Dwarfs say, though he had no idea of the origin of the saying. Soaked on certain sections of their clothes, Amal removed his coat and placed it on Emmaline to keep her wet chest out of the view of the other sailors.

"It was our fault. I'm simply glad my companion woke up on time." He said slyly and kissed her cheek. Amal shifted and got to his feet, removing his hat and blinking at the sun, trying to see the weather. A habit since the shipwreck, but at the moment there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

"I'm glad you had such quick feet!" Captain Walhem chuckled, and he ushered them to follow him. The ship looked similar in proportion to the El Cargador, but with a decidedly different style. The build was thicker and there was more steel along the ship's frame, but the majority of it was very much laminated wood, built for speed. On deck, most of the men were busy at work, hauling ropes and mopping the floors under the morning sun. The heat had already begun to fall upon them.

Amal had never seen so many northerners in one place. Luckily they were all too busy at their work to notice his ethnicity or Emmaline's sex, if problems regarding either were ever to come up. He truly hoped not. He'd have to explain to the Captain why he slit someone's throat and tossed them overboard. Perhaps if he did it at the dead of night...

"Two floors below, three doors on the left you'll find your quarters. Here's the key. Lunch will be served in a few hours, and I suspect, Manaan willing, we'll be in Marienburg in ten days or less." The Captain explained, boasting at the end there. He saw Amal and Emmaline's looks of astonishment, and the man grabbed at his girthy suspenders, grinning. "Aye, got into a trade deal with the stunted folk of Karak Azul. We're using a motor to keep this ship going, though sails are still up. It mostly just keeps us flowing even against the wind. Weather won't be a problem for this ship unless we capsize."

The two looked at one another with concern. "Well, that is good to fear- I mean hear!" Emmaline declared.

[User]
"So the steam compresses until it lifts the piston which works the arm?" Emmaline asked leaning forward to observe the metal workings of the engine. The engine-room was well below the waterline in a section which might once have been part of a powder magazine. The steam engine itself was the size of a small wagon, though a lot of that was a large wooden barrel that stored water. According to Makem, a balding mustached engineer from Nuln, fresh water worked best and kept salt from building up in the pipes which drove the propeller. Although he had initially been nervous to allow Emmaline near the machine, her persistent interest and her ability to transmute salt water into the pure element had eventually won him over.

"I have to admit that some of it is a bit too complicated for me," Makem admitted, wiping the sweat and cold dust from his face with a filthy handkerchief.

"The Dwarves have arts of engineering that we know nothing off," the man went on, sounding equal parts sour and impressed. He punctuated the remark but patting the chugging machine happily.

"I can keep it running, and make minor repairs, but if anything goes too far wrong we just shut her down and rely on the sails and Mannan's good will." Neither the engineer nor his two offsiders seemed to mind Emmaline's daily visits over the past week to see the engine and all three men seemed to find plenty of time to show her around. Emmaline nodded and straightened brushing coal dust from her cheeks.

"So that's what the gauges do? Measure the pressure in the chambers?" she asked. Makem nodded and opened his mouth but before he could speak a shout came from deck.

"Sail ho!"