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If there is virtue in vice...
There are those in this world with limitless power. There are those in this world with limitless depravity. There are those in this world who only observe the chaos that unfolds before them, immortalizing it in stories. This is a story of one who follows all three paths, and the mortals wrapped up in a twisted whim.
However, this is not his story, if those the audience follows claim ownership of it.
This is your story, then, you poor souls brought into this mess. You are fragile, you are weak, but a stone under pressure becomes a diamond.
For now, you are in a dream. You can feel the warm, wet breath of something and the touch of cold scales.
While you stare into this darkness, describe yourself.
"Who are you, and what do you wish to be?"
The question rings in your ears.
Ooc: can I join? If so may I need more details of this story so I can think of a proper introduction?
"Hmmm?"
A high-school aged girl with long, blonde hair looks around, but she can't really seem to tell where the voice is coming from. Its just kinda weird. She feels around for something, but seems unable to find it.
"Oh, this is one of those freaky dream sequences right? Let me try!
My name's Crystia Langston, high school freshman and F-Type. I wanna become the greatest hero in the world!"
To describe Jhin, the most apt comparison would be a black swan, a dance in twilight, a rain of petals and a splash of blood. To put it simply, a masked murderer playing artist. Drifting in the void, he speaks.
I am a prodigy. A misunderstood genius. I am Jhin. I will be known thought out time as a creator.
Jhin then continues to drift. He awaits his curtain call.
A question huh... What a weird dream, the work of another with odd powers? Whatever the cause is, even in her dreams the young woman would just shrug and pull out a bottle of whiskey and start drinking.
"Who I am, simple. Akia Sato, supernatual Merc. What I wanna be though... Tricky question? Happy I suppose? But even I'm not really sure what would actually make me happy. So I guess the answer is in the end, I don't know."
With that her voice goes quiet, absently pondering the questions asked and staring into the darkness with a curious raised eyebrows
An older boy, around college age stared into the dark. how funny, they thought. So used to blinding light that encroaching darkness almost felt like a relief. Of course, this brief peace as always was interrupted by pestering questions.
"What does that matter? Can't I even find peace in my dreams?
...
Fine, Roshine. That's what the family head named me. I'm a bishop whose next in line to inherent the power of my family's arc angel.
What a pain to have to explain all that.
If you're asking what I want it's to not be bothered anymore. It'd be nice if one of my siblings took over the family instead but that's nothing but fantasy. I'm the eldest so even if I'm a flunky the head won't budge."
This once quiet peace was now causing him to become silently agitated. On his face he simply looked bored but he was actually growing uncomfortable with all of this.
Three yellow eyes appear in front of you.
"Crystia, a strong-willed soul...
Jhin, quick of mind...
Akia, riding the flow of luck...
Roshine, yearning for balance in life...
That is what strikes me the most."
The voice speaks to you and three others you cannot see.
"I wish you luck."
Images flash by. A temple interior, a mess of vines, dull gray stones... the last image to grace your dreaming self is that of a museum, of a half-destroyed angel statue-
Then you awaken in your own bed as you have done before so many times.
The dream still awaits for any newcomers, but this is where your ability to act is regained.
(edited by Thorne-yuriev)
The surprise is enough to bring Thorne's thoughts to the attention of the entity questioning him.
"You desire strength, yet another soul of power...
I wish you luck. May you find your soul at peace with the coming events."
As with the others, images of places he doesn't recognize flash rapidly, until settling on the image of a museum and the crumbling angel statue...
But before he can approach it, he awakens in an alley once more.
"Ah.. That was a weird dream.... You feel it Bastet?"
Crystia stretches as she awakens the dream didn't really bother her much.
"Bastet" was an intricately woven scarf hanging off the bedframe in her small apartment, hanging right next to Crystia like some kind of dream catcher. Though it obviously didn't work too well at that.
"Oh well, time for another good day."
Crystia follows her usual morning routine, getting fed, washed, and dressed, before heading outside, the golden scarf tied around her neck.
"You think it might have something to do with that museum? Yeah I've got time anyways. Lets see about looking it up."
He awakens. This dream he had. It must have been for a reason. He must fulfill this inspiration. It is time. He dons an outfit befitting of someone of his caliber, a long flowing white cloak, a block filled with contraptions being held up by his shoulder. With this he is almost complete. A white mask is all he needs to complete himself. Transforming him from a dull man to Jhin. Jhin then jumps towards an easel and tries to capture what he saw in an abstract painting. What was it? Some statue? Worst case he can improvise.
(edited by FOUR)
Roshine would wake up in the same spot he fell asleep in, the underside of a bridge. There was a bit of dirt on his white and gray uniform from sleeping outside. He'd look down at his clothing before beginning to glow, the dirt disappearing as a blinding light was realized in a similar color to the filth. He's get himself up, no signs of starvation in his expression as if his body was simply maintaining itself.
"Were those images sent to me by God? No, they're never that direct. They'd order me to come back already if that was the case. Seems suspicious I guess. The kind of thing I was told to keep an eye out for maybe... What a bother...why me? Whatever, I'll get this over with. Oh, yeah, guess I'll have to use that trick."
Air would begin to vacuum into his hands. Wings made from a greenish light would sprout from his back as he soared into the sky. He hoped that finding out more wouldn't be a bother. Perhaps it was futile but at least then he had an excuse to ignore the dream.
thorne wakes up on an alleyway he slept last night, near him, are people who are still outside in which they are still asleep.
"what time is it now...?" thorne doesn't have a clock to check the time, but on his theory, it may be afternoon because of how the people are here.
"I should get going." thorne walked inside the alley way again trying to avoid people before he is being getting attention by them again, for that, every closed road he had to climb, get inside some tunnels, all of that to try to find the fifth key today, who knows where will he get to today too...
"ah maybe... I should sneak in some schools to see how is every subject is being taken too, I haven't cheeked on that...!" he is still interested and curious about this world's machines and things that it has gone through... It was always like him.. A curious little boy who is always interested in things.
Akia would wake up with a yawn, she doesn't really have anything to do today. No jobs in need of dealing with, no missing persons reports on the news that might be that jackass from a few days ago's work. In the end she simply sighs and climbs out of bed slowly, instead of actually going anywhere the Inscribed simply begins fixing a breakfast of bacon and eggs with toast.
"What a weird dream though, and I can remember it so clearly too... Something was up with that, but figuring out exactly what it was seems... Tricky. Then again, I do have a lead."
She would sigh, a conjured bottle of her favored whiskey falling upon the table and being poured into a glass, what better start to a day right?. By the time her meal is finished the merc merely shrugs a bit and settles upon searching for this museum that was seen in her dreams, hopefully finding it won't be too hard. And assuming she managed from there the next move would simply be visting the place.
The museum, for those out searching, isn’t difficult to find. An exhibition today has made both the newspapers and the subject of idle street chatter. Even the students of the city are energized - even the non-art students are lured in by whatever rumors the items on display bring. Some say they’re cursed, others say they’re of a forgotten era of art. This chatter and, for Roshine, the impressive three-story museum itself are what draw the attention of our protagonists.
Jhin’s inspiration flows onto the canvas, twisting and shaping into the form of the statue: an androgynous angel with most of their left side (wing included) missing from whatever had broken it off. He feels a sense of protection and sorrow from this piece.
"Hey, you thinking what I'm thinking Bastet?"
Naturally, the scarf doesn't say anything, but Crystia takes it as a confirmation anyways, cracking a grin before running off towards the museum
"There might be some other magic objects in there."
"Shit...that obvious..."
Roshine was hoping that he'd have some excuse to not get involved but with it being so obvious he'd have to be heretical to not delve further into this mystery.
"Probably shouldn't swear or something...Even if it's a small amount. Whatever, God will have to forgive me for that I guess."
He'd use his ability of flight to land a few blocks away from the museum, preferably with less people observing him. He had no desire for pointless questions.
From there he'd walk to the entrance on foot. Trying to not stand out aside from his obvious holy seeming uniform.
Jhin does a quick flourish with his brush before signing it. Talking a step back to admire his work.
Perfection. A piece worthy of my name. Still, the medium could use some work, it never truly has the shock and awe I convey with Whisper. Still. Now I must find where to put it. For instance that museum...
Jhin then takes the painting, as well as a large hand cannon, hiding the gun under his cloak he taps the floor with a cane before setting off himself to the museum in his dreams.
"hmm...? A museum?" thorne have read the giant paper that has lots of information as it picked it and read all the information which he bearly read.
"a museum... If I remeber, there was one museum I had in my own world where her majesty only visits, but a public meseum in public... I wonder what kind of things does have" he muttered to himself "maybe it also where the key portal holds?" thorne changed his idea of going from school to museum, but first he has to find the shortcuts...
"ah right... I just got this card..!" out of his red scarf he picked up his green card written ur where it has a picture of a girl opening a bedroom door to a different placein the garden, he throws the card to flash away and teleport him to the place called the 'museum'
A museum, not Akia's scene at all. In fact she'd normally be found in a bar or a club or... Anywhere else other than this really. But for the moment her curious nature as an investigator of the occult has caused her to look into this nonsense rather than merely ignoring it and having fun.
"What a world, I could be doing anything else with my time and effort and instead I chose to mess around in some museum looking for a half busted statue? Geez, must be going crazy."
She's also talking to herself but that's fairly normal for this woman's standards. Either way, for the moment she'd simply look around quietly and aim to find this strange statue she had been shown.
All the pieces have gathered to this place from the dream. Fate’s gears are turning, but the effect is yet to be seen.
Aside from some strange looks - the attire of Roshine and the sudden entrance of Thorne in particular drew attention - the arrival at the museum is without hassle for our dear players. The exhibition is on the second floor of the museum according to a sign up front. There’s also regular paintings on this first floor if that catches anyone’s interest. A young man and woman are having a lively chat nearby about a few of the pieces.
The second floor’s exhibition area is distinctive due to its roped off sections and glass cases. Ornate crosses, ebony rings, and carved stone caskets sit under the bright ceiling lights. Near the center of this display is the angelic statue... but unlike in the dream, this one is whole, and its hands come together in prayer. A gray-haired man studies the statue with a cold yet curious gaze.
Art, there was some intrest in the old world for him but it was mostly the result of growing up only knowing bits and pieces of it. Overall, it was just another distraction. He'd walk slowly as he made his way through the museum, looking between diffrent art peices.
Of course, Roshinw had no intrest in talking to anyone. He held no prejudice against normal humans but it was easier to pretend he did since then they wouldn't become a bother.
Of course, eventually he had to get to the more religious section on the second floor to find the statue from that vision. Crosses and other things people considered relics were all too common to him to the point they just seemed like somewhat more simple works.
The angel statue itself was the only thing he hadn't often seen. People hardly care about making a statue of something they interact with everyday. That didn't mean he wanted to talk to the gray-haired man yet there didn't seem to be much else here.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Maybe skipping right to the point would allow him to avoid any unnecessary chatter...or offend the man so much he doesn't want to deal with Roshine at all. That could be his excuse to leave...
as Thorne got teleported from some street to the meseum, he got to see some statue in which had their wing broken, he felt bad that he can't fly to the sky without it's other wing, he saw many beautiful pieces of art that he hasn't seen before as he felt relaxed, of course, there wasn't any portal key in this place either, but he feels better after he saw every piece of art in this museum.
not long after, he interacted with the grey and white uniform guy before he even asks him, he is confused of why would a random person appear as he realized he is abnormal in this world.
"I... I am Thorne, I'm here just visiting this museum for the first time..." he is cautious of him, he doesn't want to start any fight with this man, but he is so nervous too.
(edited by Thorne-yuriev)
Akia stands and stares at the statue with a bored look on her face... Not even broken the same way, but it's the same place. And looks like an undamaged version, so what the hell was that vision about then? The Inscribed is just a random merc who's pretty good with 'Alcohol' after all, not some master of divination who can crack any portent with ease.
The man who opened with such blunt questions to grey hair is interesting though, in a worrying sense anyways. Who knows what his deal is, but it's worth listening to by the bored drunk's standards anyway. She'd grin a bit as a simple wine bottle appears in her hands, absently sipping at it without giving a damn who might see. And more importantly, listening closely to their conversation.
“Hey this place is pretty fancy, dontcha think?”
Once the girl has paid to enter, Crystia begins talking to their scarf again. Unsurprisingly, the scarf doesn’t respond, but the girl lets out a huff anyways
“Yeah yeah I know I came with a mission, but I’ve gotta get my money out of it! Why don’t you just scan the place if you’re bored?”
They weren’t exactly subtle as they went around, viewing the first floor paintings while they were here.
Jhin brushes past the other paintings, after all, none could match his skill. His eyes lock onto the statue though, it seems. Familiar. Jhin then pulls out his painting from earlier and compares the two. His is missing a piece, but otherwise they seem identical.
My my, how odd. It's as if my creation was duplicated onto this stone.
Jhin then over hears another set of patrons arguing, or at least that is what it sounds like. He adds his own two cents to the mix as he places the painting next to the statue.
Perhaps you are the sculptur? If not, I would appreciate directions to them.
The paintings encompass styles from realistic to abstract... actually, the latter is what the duo on the first floor are talking about.
“What’s with this thing? It’s just a few squiggles. Even I could do that!”
“Hey, there’s got to be more to it than just what you see...”
As the two bicker, Crystia’s eyes are drawn to a portrait of a fox-like beast with a body like bright thunderclouds. The title is “Chefei of Greed.”
—-
The gray-haired man only glances at Roshine for a moment before returning his gaze to the statue.
“...Just another patron. I’m here to look at this sculpture.”
His response is blunt and almost sarcastic in delivery.
“That’s an odd question. Should I be asking the same of you?”
Before he can ask further, the lights of the museum flicker, then shut down, plunging the first and second floors into darkness despite the windows on this sunny day. After a few moments, the lights return - a backup generator’s work, or was it just a malfunction in the lights?
"Huh, yeah. Sure is pretty."
Crystia's eyes glaze over a little. She had forgotten how much museums bored her, especially when it was just her and Bastet. But now that she'd gotten this far she had to pretend to be interested. So Crystia spends some time looking over a few of the paintings, one in particular draws her eye, but the lights are shut off before she has too long to look at it.
"Aw man... Just my luck. You ever heard of a Chefy?"
Crystia whispers this last question, as if finally remembering that she shouldn't be too open about it. But Bastet wasn't familiar with it either
"Weird. Looks like one of those fox ghosts... Yeah, I should probably get moving."
Crystia hadn't been much interested in paintings anyways, so she took Bastet's queue to head upstairs now, looking for the artifacts they were interested in.
(Small note, I was speaking to the NPC, and I think the NPC was responding to Roshine, and Roshine was talking to the NPC?)
Jhin then scoffs and begins to walk away, thinking to himself that this whole thing was a waste of time. However, the lights then flicker and he tenses up for a moment. Nearly drawing his gun before sighing.
What shoddy architecture, this place isn't a museum. It barely even has anything worthwhile.
Jhin then scans the crowd, looking for a staff member or someone who looks like their in charge, perhaps he could get answers.
Not the answer he was looking for. Was this man not telling the while truth or was he seeing significance where there was none. He was annoyed by this but it seemed more people were arriving. Just what he nee-
The lights would suddenly go off and for a Moment Roshine would feel himself struggle to breathe. Darkness was never the most ideal environment for him to handle much if anything. By the time they came back on he'd already be in one of the rooms corners keeping am eye on everyone else.
Better to let the others figure things out. Less stress for him.
Thorne doesn't even have any idea what was the guy was talking, or who are they, and there was another another grey-haired man, so he wasn't talking to Thorne at all.
"well, better not get involved for something I don't know, I guess" he sighs of relief and left.
As he went a floor down again to look at the paintings again, they are simple paintings, but this is what made thorne a little bit inspired by art again, it made him think about the dream that he had when he looked at the painting.
"coming to think about it... I had that one weird dream too today" he talked to himself as he remembered the pitch black dream that he had, 'who are you and what do you wish to be', when Thorne thinks about it, it is weird to have a dream where someone asks what does he wish when he thought about his wish...
As he left to the entrance, he looked at the one-winged angel again, he wonders what was the history behind this angel, as he looked through the statue and its discription.
"I wonder... If schools also teach some history behind this angel and why they lost their wing" as he looked through the discription again, he looked at the way that this statue looked like...
Akia would take note of the other oddball folks gathered about, someone who's entirely too blunt, some guy with a mask, and some kid muttering about a dream. Even to some 2nd rate investigator like her, they stand out a bit. Drawn here by the same thing as her? Or just weird attracting weird as it often goes.
She can't be sure which is correct at the moment, and doesn't feel any grand reason to stress out over it. What happens will happen, but for the moment all she does is lean back against a wall with a now empty wine bottle that vanishes into nowhere. Perhaps a show worth showing up for shall begin, but if not she may end up heading out sooner than later.
“What was that?”
“A power outage?”
The visitors whisper to each other about the lights, but it’s just a mere ripple in their behavior, fading as soon as the art holds their attention once more.
A person in a security guard’s uniform catches Jhin’s eye. He’s speaking into a radio. After a moment of silence, he says something into it again, but slightly louder. This cycle repeats again and again with the guard looking more frustrated each time. Eventually he puts the device back on his belt, muttering something about “that newbie” slacking off as he rushes to stairs leading upwards.
The plaque on the statue says little is known of its origin, but it was found in the depths of an old morgue. He feels compelled to look at the statue.
The air pressure drops rapidly.
The statue’s left side collapses, creating the half-destroyed statue from the dream. The crash is drowned out by the sound of shattering glass and a howling wind. There’s shouts and footsteps and more things falling, but that feels like white noise when staring at the void-eyed specters with bodies like sickly plush dolls. These five flicker in and out of sight around the statue.
They say something that sounds like gibberish but you know its meaning somehow: “What is this? A new place to play?”
The woman would stare forward at the creatures, some form of supernatural being then clearly. That's enough to draw her true interest.
"Play huh... Now what kinda games do you all like I wonder? And how's it going, wasn't expecting to see anyone showing up like that!"
Even as power gathers up within the woman she'd smile at the beings, perhaps they can be reasoned with, if she's lucky anyway. If not well... She'll fight she guesses, and hope that some of the others can prove to be useful. Five on one isn't great odds by her standards. If they didn't seem hostile, she'd merely try to keep chatting.
But if the things moved to attack her, they'd be met by a pair of bottles flying towards them at high speeds while she scrambles away. Both of which are Molotov cocktails that would explode in a dazzle of flames which lights up the darkness of the area.
Thorne got away fast as soon as the statue collapsed wondering what's going on right now, as now they became some doll-look like creature, thorne felt that those things don't look friendly.
"another monsters here too?!" thorne prepared his tome he was embracing and opened as the time's pages flips itself, throne touched a word from one of the time pages to make icy spikes against the dolls.
As he defeated them one by one, thorne noticed there was an woman fighting them and helped her.
"are you okay, ma'am?" thorne asked that but he was busy fighting the other monsters.
"Blasphemers...Let's get this over with."
The space around him would suddenly seem darker as he began to draw any light he touched into himself. Like a black hole only as he drew more in his body would begin to illuminate as well.
"Disciple of Barachiel. Let my faith be known. Praise be to our lord of the Eastern Orthodoxy. Allow the Angel within to unveil its power upon those who would question order.
Light off illumination, shimmer!"
All at once the light that seemed to fill his being would be released to try and erase the specters with a moderate amount of power.
"oh hey, are those real monsters?"
Crystia asks no one in particular. She hadn't been in an actual fight before, but she was pretty eexcited.
still... everyone else in the room seemed a lot more experienced. So for now Crystia hides behind one of the statue and asks her scarf.
"Hey, Bastet. Think you can scan these guys for a weak spot? I wanna make my entrance as cool as possible."
Jhin watches the uniform like a hawk high above watching their prey. He nearly follows them but is stopped when his ears pop from the air pressure. Whipping his head around to find the source of the issue when he notices the specters
Argh. Fine then. I'll get answers later. For now...
Jhin then draws his hand cannon seeing others attempt to strike the specters. Firing a shot that rings through out the museum.
Let the show begin!
"We like lots of games! Like tag, and-" The largest poltergeist cries out as icy spikes fly at it, but half of them pass through its flickering body, instead hitting the other four. The blast of light obliterates three of them, leaving only two small ones behind. Their bodies had no resistance to that scorching light. It's like an exorcism to them. Bastet finds no other obvious weaknesses.
"Th... that wasn't nice... Big siiis!" One flies away towards the stairs leading upwards. Jhin's shot just phases through its body. As it flees, it spins to create a green twister that moves towards Jhin.
The other poltergeist creates another green tornado, this time roaring towards Thorne. After doing so, it furrows whatever counts as its eyebrows and starts inflating like a balloon.
(edited by Hundred-S)
Akia sighs heavily upon them doing... That, she was actually trying to get some answers from these things. Whatever little bits of info they could give her, and they didn't seem overly hostile before being attacked, nor all that dangerous if things had taken a turn for the worse. Instead, now she's left simply leaning back away from the fight she didn't even want, just shaking her head while calling out.
"You know, I was gonna try and learn something useful here. But y'all just had to shoot first and ask never huh? I've done it too, but come on. These little things didn't seem that dangerous to be so worried."
The bottles that will shatter into a burst of flames when reaching a target still remain in her hands, ready to be tossed at any enemy which might decide to attack her. Though given how quickly the others are killing, doesn't seem all that needed. Better safe than sorry.
"Those who have warped through blasphemy are beyond salvation.
It's a bother to try talking to them. Besides, I want to go back home soon."
With that excuse given Roshine would back away for a moment seeing as he hadn't been attacked. He'd begin absorbing light into his body once more from the lights within the building before...
"You guys can handle this."
He'd simply project the light out in it's purest form. Anyone who looked directly at him would find themself blinded by the blaring light.
"I've got this! You can't escape justice fiend!"
Crystia shouts as she runs out of her hiding spot, moving past the remaining poltergeist to chase the fleeing one upwards towards the roof.
As soon as she's out of earshot the girl asks her scarf
"Hey Bastet, did you get anything good? O... Oh. You mean they resist physical attacks? Well how am I supposed to hit it then?"
Regardless of these concerns, Crystia still chases after the fleeing one in order to look more heroic. Can't have doubts now after all.
Thorne raised his right hand creating a small ice barrier trying to avoid the tornado, even after the tornado came, the ice barrier started to break as pieces were shattered into the ground and melted, the tornado almost damaged Thorne with the ice barrier after it broke, his right should started to hurt as it became paralyzed for a moment because the effect of the barrier-breaking, his right hand went back to normal but his shoulder still hurts.
"I understand that??" despite his right shoulder injury, Thorne was confused of what did this woman meant about these would aren't so bad "but remember, even if they don't seem to be dangerous, you don't know when will they take other lives since they seem they would attack people by any time, ma'am" however as he said that, Thorne started to think why was she saying that what did she meant exactly but Thorne doesn't have any time to ask right now as he was fighting the remaining poltergeists
those remaining poltergeists don't seem to be affected by Thorne's ice attacks, it may be because they resist ice attacks, however.
"I need to find that card then..." Thorne tries to pick his red N fire card from his scarf, as was able to pick it out from his scarf, he tried to hit the remaining poltergeists by throwing that red card causing only a small fire, after that the card flashes into Thorne's hand as a timer appeared in the front of the card '34.33 sec left'
and then Thorne got back to his usual ice attacks, but this time, he tried to attack them with many icy branches, freezing the ground in which it'll grow into spikes on the poltergeists, waiting for the card he used just now to be usable.
I doubt anything could be gained from these simpletons. Demons only have one thing in mind.
Jhin then spies the tornado coming right for him, doing a piroute towards the wall, mid spin he fires another shot towards a spectre before unhooking his cane from his leg. Using the cane to hook a painting and throw it at the tornado in case the piroute wasn't enough to dodge it.
Resistant to physical strikes? Hmph, how drab.. Let's try this then!
Jhin then twirls the cane like a conductor before pointing the bottom of it at the spectre he previously fired upon, shooting a hidden pellet imbued with a paralyzing agent in order to paralyze it.
The expanding poltergeist appears ready to burst, but the fire and ice combination makes it pop in a rush of air, its body fading into nothingness. The energy it was gathering fizzles out in sparks of light. The few other visitors who haven’t fled murmur from a safe distance away. What was that? What happened? Is it safe now? More and more break away for the first floor, likely heading to the exit.
The silver-haired man from earlier is trying to soothe one of the few paralyzed bystanders that remains. “Forget about that. Focus on getting to safety.”
“But- the doors- and my phone-“
—-
The fleeing poltergeist is completely and utterly unaffected by the bullets... but the paralyzing agent causes it to fall halfway up the stairs. Its body is assaulted by Thorne’s magic.
“B-big sis! Help!” are its last words as it fades.
Halfway up the stairs, Crystia notices a potent metallic scent and can faintly hear something...
“My dear, my dear, what happened?”
(edited by Hundred-S)
“Umm... Guys? I’m not sure if killing these things is super heroic?”
Crystia doesn’t sound very sure, but it’s not going to stop her from standing between the stunned poltergeist and the madman with a gun.
While waiting for a reply, she whispers to her scarf
“Hey, Bastet? Think you can scan for the source of that smell? Magic signature or anything? I feel like things are gonna get bad.”
As Crystia requested, her scarf silently scans the rest of the stairway for some kind of magic signature that might be indicative of this other creature within.
The blinding light around Roshine would fade away. The immediate job for him to do was gone and now it seemed he just had to wait a while to see what everyone else had to say about such events.
"Tch, this is why non-Bishops should just stay out of Bishop work. I guess this world hasn't reached anywhere even near that point though. How wasteful..."
This creature feels much stronger than the poltergeists, blocking out all light and dark energies. It’s got a strong mind as well, and cold and sparks would be muffled. Bastet can also detect faint human signatures - not dead, but lacking most of the spark of life.
Run! Run as fast as you can, there is no escaping the masked gunman!
Jhin follows the poltergeist up the stairs, ready to fire off a third shot but stopping when it fades before him. Listening to Cristian's wisdom.
Sigh. I suppose. Not like these things give me much to work with anyways.
Jhin then reluctantly unloads his gun as he clicks in a new magazine. Four more shots.
Well then, what now? I suppose the only way forward is up the stairs, unless one of you want to question that silver haired man again.
(edited by FOUR)
"Ok, cool. we're done shooting. Phew. Yeah, I don't really thi-"
Crystia breathes out a sigh of relief, only for her short celebration in defusing the situation to be interrupted by her scarf's updated analysis. The girl nods at seemingly nothing
"Yikes, wow. That sounds pretty bad. Which is good! I'm gonna go save them now bye!"
Crystia waves to her new.... Friends before running up the stairway towards the source of that signature. If people were in danger then it was the perfect time for a hero to show up!
Akia would just sigh in annoyance at the "Bishop", whatever the hell that is. He doesn't seem very likely to be helpful. As for the green haired girl though, she'd run after that one with a worried look on her face. Seems a decent enough if naive kid, be a shame to just stand by and watch her get hurt, or killed.
"I think the stairs have been chosen for us, or at least for me. I'm not about ta just sit it out and let someone risk themselves without my help..."
This kid obviously has some sensory powers or the like, and she sounds worried enough for Akia to take it somewhat seriously. The fact she'd find someone with such power very useful as an ally is merely a secondary reason to follow after her.
Jhin quickly follows suit, even though he preferred to work by himself, he wasn't about to be left behind in such a dangerous place. An artist after all needs space to do their work, and having the analysis edge is something he desired.
Up we go then. Onto the climax! Following the heroine seems smart for now, the other two should tag along.
Ooc: wait hold up I don't understand, did I actually kill innocent lives??
(edited by Thorne-yuriev)
OOC: they’re SMT style demons which is usually more morally neutral since they mess stuff up but can be negotiated with and all
(edited by Crystia)
With everyone on the same page, let us continue our story.
With the chaos on the second floor mostly taken care of, some of our protagonists ascend the stairs. Reaching the top, they and anyone following them are hit by the stench of blood. The unlucky museum visitors on this floor are collapsed with claw marks across their skin. If it weren’t for Bastet’s analysis, they’d be written off as dead. One of them groans and sits up. He stares at Crystia with wide eyes.
“H-hey, you-“
Whack.
A blow from a long, scaly tail knocks him back down. The body of the creature descends gracefully on scaly wings. Though this demon has the dress and flowing brown hair of a woman, her skin is as stone-gray as the tail making up her lower body. She stares down at the unconscious man with disdain.
“You just won’t stay quiet. I thought you were dead. Do humans have nine lives like cats? Or is it...?”
She smiles sweetly and slithers towards the group. She holds out a hand as if nothing had happened. Two silver rings glimmer on her clawed fingers.
“You... humans... are you responsible for the noise downstairs?”
Ooc: so since I missed so far because I was caught by irl stuff, first of all Thorne's berrier got broke and more people got in danger because of that and jihin is the one that saved lives, and then we are going now upstairs??? May I have a short sammury, if so sorry if I asked that again.
Ooc: I also get confused about the silver haired man parts, I really can't tell any difference between that gray man and thorne too at all too.
As Thorne defeated those Poltergeist, thorne still has his right shoulder still injured that he holds his left hand to his injured, he looked around all of these people who are panicked by this event, he is now at the second floor, about what happened earlier, he is unsure of what's going on anymore, but he really wants to lighten up up the mood but he can't after what happened, 'what were those just now?' he remembered the last words of that one demon he fought just now 'B-big sis! Help!', he started to think, what if he was fighting some innocent soul that he doesn't know, he is yet still ignorant of whats going on.
As he looked around the people again, he is unsure of what would he do to lighten up the mood because he can't, even though all the things he had in his journey made him around learn around new things, when he looks at it now, he asked himself of what was he doing the whole time then, he is doing all of that all alone, he only knows how to throw spikes, make icy things, freeze enemies in a short while, and trying to support others, he remembers again he wants to be stronger enough to never be useless to his brother again.
"Adam... Granet, what would you do at times like these... ?" he whispered himself worried he might've done something wrong as he let go of his left arm and picking up his tome that he put next to him only looking at it.
He looks at the people again, even at times like these, he would open his tome to summon icy butterflies to cheer up some troubled people, but now he can't.
“The noise?”
Crystia furrows her brows in confusion As the others follow behind her. It takes a moment for them to realize
“Oh yeah, you mean the gunshots? Yeah that was him.”
Crystia cheerfully points to Jhin, a little behind on the tone of this situation. Her scarf has to remind her about the near-dead people
“Hey, so like, you’re the big monster that’s hurting all these people right? Cuz like. I mean if you are I’m gonna have ya stop you.”
Crystia bumbles her way into asking the demon a question in return. She hadn’t actually done anything heroic yet so she was really eager for the opportunity.
Hmph. I don't produce noise I perform. Every bullet, every soul. It is perfection in motion. After all death in inevitable. I simply make it beautiful.
Jhin then takes his cane and pokes at one of the bodies. Checking their wounds.
Hmm.. Still. I must agree with our Heroine. I can't be overshadowed.
He would remain back on the first floor for now. It wasn't worth it to him after all. If the matter resolves itself then that's for the better. Besides, these interior lights aren't bright enough. At best maybe he could pull off some moderate light blessings. Electric blessings were the easiest to perform but they seemed to situational to him.
All and all it would be easier if he had some sunlight to work with.
"What time is it anyway? Well? If you people have time to freak out then you can tell me the time right?"
That slithering lower half is a big turn off right there, she'd almost be kinda good looking... And these people laying around, it's obvious who the cause is. Here words as well, they're making this far too simple of a choice. The Inscribed doesn't waste any time on speaking to this beast, instead the two Molotov cocktails she'd created would... Vanish, can't afford to be so careless around all these people. How annoying.
Instead, the thing before them would be met with a burst of high-speed high-pressure liquid blasting straight towards it like a blade. Wide enough to cover a good chunk of the area and hopefully cut in, but tall enough that the knocked out people would be passed over entirely. Of course, if she can duck with enough speed then that's an escape route for the enemy too, but sacrifices must be made when fighting around random civilians.
(edited by Akia-Sato)
[3F]
The person Jhin jabs twitches slightly, but is either too pained or too terrified to form any kind of response.
The beast laughs at Crystia. It’s a melodic laugh that one would attribute to an angel.
“Yes, I’m that ‘big monster’, the Beast Melusine. Are you some kind of hero~?”
That light tone, however, is torn into a snarl as the jet of liquid sends her coiling, writhing, thrashing across the floor. Her wings flare out with a snap.
“You humans... the male said death can be made beautiful, right? I’ll carve you into something worthy of this museum!”
She twists her body and coils her tail, using it as a spring to leap forward. She flies at Akia and Crystia like a serpentine torpedo, claws extended to tear through their flesh. This Feral Claw has more of a punch-like impact than a slash, but it’ll still draw a lot of blood if it lands.
—-
[Lower Floors]
Some murmurs confirm a time of 4 PM. One of the bolder men in the crowd speaks up. “But how? I could barely see anything outside the windows, and the moon’s out...”
While this is going on, the silver-haired stranger places a hand on Thorne’s shoulder. “Are you alright? You seem shaken.”
(edited by Hundred-S)
As the beast comes rushing towards them, it would be met by an inky black shield of some horrible liquor that merely forms into a large pool designed to block the enemy's attack while Akia steps back. If their foe pushed through it though, she might start to feel... Fear, maybe. If such things could work than the putrid black substance would leave her feeling as though horrors might appear at any moment.
That's all the woman really has time for though, throwing up a quick defense and trying to avoid the blow as best she can.
"Yeah yeah, I'm sure you'll kill us all just for fun right lady? Please, I'm no stranger to attempts on my life so you'll have to do better to scare me!"
Hopefully the barrier is helpful, but she's not so sure the fear will get into their target. Nor even that it'll be slowned down all that much.
"The moon? Must be a high level of Blasphemy if it's causing environmental effects. Definitely not helping them then. No telling what can happen under these circumstances.
..."
Despite giving his spiel Roshine would walk over to the stairs they had used to get up. He'd stare at them for a few moments before beginning to walk up slowly.
"I should at least check I guess.
What a bother. All of you should try to stay together. Keep your faith and I'll be able to tell where you are.
The lord has not yet forsaken you."
"Heck yeah, Crystia Langston, I'm gonna be the greatest hero..."
unfortunately Akia springs a blow before the girl can finish, causing Crystia to turn to the older woman indignantly
"Whaddaya think you're doing? We were having a nice conversation and everything."
Crystia wasn't really paying attention when the Melusine's attack started, but fortunately she has eyes in the back of her head. As a manner of speaking. Once Akia splashes her brew in the air, the scarf bends, partially unwrapping itself and reaching out to touch the barrier. The shield becomes a little smaller as it closes in on itself, but also turns into a solid denser than diamond. With this increase in hardness it'd be almost impossible to break
Crystia: "Then you had to ruin it by going in first and all."
Jhin takes out a lotus flower and takes a deep breath after observing the wounds. Smiling at the work the demon did, before throwing a trio of them in front of him, they quickly plant themselves into the floor. If anything were to step in them blades would dig into anything they could before exploding in a blast of steel.
I am quite impressed, this kind of fear is rare. But it seems diplomacy is off the table. they always say that the pen is mightier then the sword. I never found much truth it in to be honest.
Jhin then quickly jumps back, trying to make some distance between him and Melusine before firing another shot from whisper directly at the wings.
I suppose I'll cover the two of you from back here. Good luck.
"ah--!" thorne quickly noticed some silver-haired stranger after he puts his his hand on his shoulder, he than steps away, nervous after he was spacing away thinking about what's going on earlier, he holds his tome now between his left arm and his chest too.
"I'm okay! I was just spacing ou-- ouch" he raised his right arm and spinning it, his shoulder started to bleed as if Thorne felt it was burning right now.
"wait, hold up..." thorne then picked up his 4 cards out of his scarf, he has so far one red N card of a fire picture, one ur card of a girl going through another door picture in which it is still darker because he used it before, one green Sr card of a man holding cat merch merch, and the last blue ur card of a silver haired man (Thorne) sitting in an icy garden picture, he noticed that all of them doesn't have any healing ability to it.
"I am okay... It is just a little scratch that I had earlier, so I am okay, alright?" thorne laughs nervously, as he remembered he should've at least replaced one of these cards to a healing card at the lobby before travelling to this world.
As he heard some people whispering around outside the museum that they can't see anything but the moon, thorne was curious and confused of that.
"a full moon right now...? But we just happened to be attacked by those things and how the moon is out...?" he whispered to himself forgetting about his own doubts and then his own injury.
[3F]
Melusine’s claws scrape the reinforced barrier. Her attempts to fly over it are made equally fruitless by the shot to her right wing. For a moment, it appears the combatants might have a moment of respite.
Then Melusine grabs the edge of the solid shield, vaulting herself over with one powerful tug. The nightmare brew doesn’t even make her bat an eye. At worst, her hair is soaked when she lands. As soon as her palms touch the ground again, she shoves against the tile floor to send her lower body swinging in an arc. This use of her tail like a whip is aimed at the closest targets (Akia and Crystia), but once it’s over her glare turns towards Jhin.
This scene as well as the earlier-described carnage is what greets Roshine.
—-
[Lower Floors]
“If you insist. I’d take care of it so it doesn’t become infected.”
The stranger takes on a thoughtful expression.
“If what they say is true, I’d be careful. We may not even be on Earth anymore.”
He says this completely seriously. Either he’s a conspiracy theorist or knows more than he lets on.
(edited by Hundred-S)
"then you are a healer?" thorne asked "if so, please do" he puts all of his cards inside his scarf, offering to heal his shoulder.
After what that silver-haired man said about this just now, thorne can't feel the 4 key portals he conquered, neither he feels any key portals around too, thorne felt like that maybe what he said is true then.
Hold on, if what he said is true, did his predection just happened to be a coincidence of coincidences or is he just feeling that we are on another world too, however this man just feels kind so maybe thorne was just misunderstanding this, but he needs to ask something about him then.
"so then, who are you?" he asked to the silver haired man, he'll just need to hide about what he felt about the key portals and all of these things would be confusing to him too.
She'd just respond to the younger woman in a blank voice while preparing her next move.
"She was trying to kill people! Those childish ghosts were one thing, but a murderous monster isn't worth speaking to!"
The woman isn't going to stay on the defense forever, instead she down a glowing golden liquid that appears in a small bottle and suddenly gets... Much faster, stronger, tougher, all-around better, and with an insanely quick motion, the tail would find an attempt at parrying aimed towards it, with an enitrely too tough heavy liquor bottle that would clearly be a good club.
If she managed to push it back, the snake thing's face would find itself beset upon with an inhumanly strong smash from her makeshift club that seeks to send it flying backward. Otherwise, Akia would likely just be in a world of hurt from the failed attempt.
Ooh. How I love the daggers of furious women. Showing such passion. It truly is an inspiration!
Jhin smiles as he fires off another bullet at Melusine's eyes. This time running forward and leaping over his own traps with a twirl like an ice skater. Upon landing he takes 3 more traps out and throws them into the air, aiming them at Melusine's backside. Jhin then unhooks his cane and fires a shot through the 3 traps in the air, causing a rain of steel petals.
In carnage I bloom. Like a flower in the dawn.
"It could have been a misunderstanding! Ya never know until ya try"
Crystia's scarf tugs at her, drawing the girl's attention back to the fight going on. Fortunately their shield gave them a good amount of time to focus.
"Alright Bastet, Aegis mode!"
The scarf decides it would rather wrap itself around the whip before rapidly hardening itself in an attempt to crush the Melusine's tail.
Of course, Crystia isn't nearly strong enough to keep the Melusine still, so she'd end up getting dragged around by her own weapon, coughing as she yells
"You were supposed to be my shield!"
Roshine would look around first seeing if there were any windows in the room. Not that it mattered too much to him. A simple window wouldn't be enough anyway. Maybe if they were on the top floor breaking the ceiling would allow him to fight at full power but he didn't need much of an excuse to not work anyway.
"I'll just observe for now. If they fail then guess I'll have to do something but it'll probably be fine anyway."
[3F]
There are some windows at the walls of the exhibit, but they’re a fair distance away. Moonlight trickles through the shadows outside.
Melusine, blinded by the shot and slowed by Crystia’s weight, clashes with Akia with less force than intended. The demon is sent backwards with a roar. As her body flies onto the traps, her enraged clawing manages to grip Crystia and pull her in. Though sharp claws tear at Crystia in a frenzy, more danger comes from the razor-sharp petals shooting towards them both.
—-
[Lower Floors]
“Oh, no, I don’t have such talents. I’m no healer or medical professional... but I’d say you should put pressure on the wound and you’ll be fine. Call me Yasuhiro.”
After examining the wound again, Yasuhiro reaches for something in his pocket, then curses under his breath.
“I’m afraid I’ll be of as much use to you as the rest of these people unless you want someone to ponder with. Or a clear mind perhaps? I’ve been told I’m rather calm under pressure.”
Akia would smirk a bit, the petals she can dodge for now... Well, mostly, a few do manage to slice into her though. Causing blood to start dribbling down from the woman's sides, that's fine though. Nothing she can't handle.
The more important part however is their snake friend would find herself beset upon by another form of Alcohol, beer which appears from directly behind the demon and attempts to engulf her with blazing fast speed.
Before quickly shooting down in heat to the point of becoming a block of ice that aims to cover the being's head and upper half by freezing at supernatural speeds. With any luck, this snake hates the cold as much as real ones do.
"A... Misunderstanding, sounds absurd to me! I'd prefer to get the drop on my enemy rather than ending up ambushed, for a mere human like myself a single mistake can easily mean death!"
"Ack.. Breathe!"
Crystia manages to gasp out as she's unfortunately being dragged around by her neck. After doing a little damage, the scarf rapidly uncoils itself from the Melusine, instead winding around behind Crystia and bundling up into a shield that quickly hardens in order to protect her from the petals.
At which point Crystia can't really do much more than try to kick away from the Melusine in order to get back some control over the situation.
"What're you even doing Bastet?"
Hm. Well that somewhat backfired. Never the less, the show must go on!
Jhin then fires one more shot from whisper as he gets a nasty smile on his face, breathing in deeply. His gun begins to glow purple as magic seems to fill it. He is planning a show stopper.
Oooh. When they see you, they will cry~
Jhin laughs as he grips his gun, at this point the barrel is glowing with power, he spins it in his hand as he prances around.
They call me mad. All artists are mad!
Jhin then stops himself and aims whisper right at Melusine's head, finger on the trigger as he takes one last deep breath
FOUR!
Jhin then blasts a bullet with seemingly boundless strength, his body doing a twirl from the recoil alone. Anything that the bullet strikes would be hit by severe almighty, as well as sprouting horrific golden flowers that caused unsettling feelings to arise upon looking at them
"eh? did I show some worry here?" thorne was nervous "sorry if so..."
"I'm just confused of what did these things that attacked us meant to be, that's all..." he moved his eyes away nervously.
"it was yasuhiro was it? I'm thorne" he continues "and please don't tire yourself that much, if you need any help, just tell me!"
he yet still have any doubt about how did yasuhiro know that we are not in this world, for now, He'll just let that slide and focus around what's going on.
“Woah, hey, get off me!”
While Crystia fruitlessly attempts you kick herself free, Bastet has a... Better idea. The scarf reaches over to the ice covering the Melusine, and rapidly hardens it, making the ice as tough as diamond while rapidly causing it to contract in an attempt to crush the demon.
[3F]
Clamped tight within the Bastet-reinforced ice, Melusine has no defense against Jhin's finale. Her screech is cut short by the roar of the shot and her wrathful face is framed by illusory flowers dancing across her skin. She fades in a hiss of steam, leaving behind her two silver rings.
These two rings hover upwards and away towards two paintings on the back wall. They pulse once, then shatter into light that descends to the second floor. The paintings they had touched transform, too - the left painting now depicts a dim cavern with the title switched to "World of Pride," while the other displays a vine-covered tunnel with the title "World of Gluttony."
---
[Lower Floors, specifically 2F]
Yasuhiro nods. If one were watching closely, they'd see a hint of a smile on his face. "I shall keep that in mind. You be careful as well."
From the third floor, specks of light descend and fall onto the broken angel statue. An orb of purple and black energy - or perhaps it's better called a "tear in reality" - forms on the sculpture. It's only large enough to stick your finger into.
(edited by Hundred-S)
Crystia falls on her back. Her clothing is now covered in blood, some of it hers, some of it not. She lays there for a few seconds, before suddenly jumping back up like a maniac
"That was AWESOME, my first bit of hero work and we've already beaten a bad guy! High five!"
Crystia moves to give her scarf a high five, only for the piece of cloth to quickly wrap itself around her wounds instead.
"oooh, hey. That tingles a bit. Hehehe."
its pretty slow, but Bastet begins to stitch back up its user's wounds, within a few minutes leaving their body and clothes as if they hadn't been injured at all.
The woman would grin a bit, she's got some blood over herself as well. Torn up clothes that are all too famimlar issues with Akia but... She just pulls out a bottle of whiskey from thin air and takes a long gulp, smiling over at the other two with a slight wink.
"Well, that was fun. My alcohol content feels too diluted with blood now so I'm gonna fix that a little yeah? Jokes aside, I'll keep in mind yer little magic scarf can work with ice. And as for your artwork Mr. Fours, not bad at all. Takes some time to set up but I like to pretend I'm decent at stalling. Decent work, we might make a pretty good team if we can get some things in order."
She'd then shrug a bit and make the bottle vanish again, looking forward at the newly changed paintings.
"Also anyone else got the sense those things changing like that might be important? Could be a wild goose chase, but my gut says they matter somehow. Everything happens for a reason where magic and monsters are concerned."
Jhin raises his arms in the air, before doing a little twist and bowing as the flowers bloom. A satisfied smile on his face as he puts the gun away for now.
Sorry. But I am already booked out. Still. These paintings are intriguing. I'm no mage, but those paintings do look important. Perhaps an analysis is in order? If nothing else I assume that there are more demons inside the paintings?
"Oh uh, random drunk lady. Her name's Bastet. Say hi Bastet!"
The scarf doesn't seem to respond to Crystia, leaving the girl to pick up one of its ends and wave to Akia with it before continuing
"Oh and I'm Crystia Langston, the greatest hero in the world! Nice to meet ya fellow champions of justice."
Crystia cracks a big grin as she waves to the other two. Its only around then that Crystia notices a fourth, not almost dead human standing around here, so Crystia waves to Roshine as well
"Hey, uh dude. Do you know first aid or anything? A lot of these people are lookin' rough after that monster showed up."
"alright, I will" thorne nods back
With his mind at ease, he noticed a purple orb falling from the 3rd floor after its descending, he got close to, wary of it if there's anything could be at its worst.
"what is going on up there?" thorne worried about the people upstairs, he opened his tome and made 2 icy butterflies appear around him, one of them went upstairs while his other icy butterfly is flying around thorne, so it could tell him what's going on the 3rd floor, he then looked at the sculpture that was turned from a purple orb, still wary of it.
"what is that orb, is there something going on with it?" he looked at the sculpture, he recalled of what happened earlier when those things after it broke the statue, thorne remembered that as if maybe something bad will happen, he turned his head back to yasuhiro.
"yasuhiro, you have to get people into safety, I fear something bad may be happening" he turned his head back, he isn't ready to battle yet, but he hopes he is wrong around his theory that this sculpture may also break and turn into these things.
Roshine would take a moment before responding. He had kept a low profile but it wasn't too surprising that he had been noticed.
"Maybe, depends if anyone has any light that comes from something living."
That was the easy way of course. He supposed there was another way and doing so might be time consuming...but if they died now then they wouldn't be able to do his job for him.
"Actually, on second though there is another way. You'd need to hold still though and don't yell at me if it hurts a bit."
Without saying much else he'd walk up to Akia, provided there was still blood on her clothes he'd aim a hand towards that. He would directly touch it but he got close enough.
The blood would slowly begin to shimmer before dissolving and becoming completely illuminate. The light would travel into Roshine's hand as a crimson glow seemed to coat his body. Though he seemed oddly uncomfortable with this process.
It would take a few minutes of Roshine seeming extra irritable but final the light from before would burst from his hand in the form of a red vapor that would travel across the room, invigorating the cells of any living thing it passed through causing a rapid amount of regeneration.
"I hope the lord doesn't curse me for blessing something like blood."
[3F]
The healing pulse works quickly, mending the wounds of the scattered bodies. Though it’ll be a bit before they can fully recover physically and moreso mentally, they’re saved from the danger of dying.
The man that had been knocked out by Melusine’s tail is awake by now. He lets the icy butterfly that had entered the room land on his hand. “That... was terrifying. Did you guys stop that demon? Thank you... I swear I saw the afterlife during all that...”
If anyone would approach the paintings, they’d see the canvas shimmer and become more transparent. It’s like what’s shown on the canvas is what the frame is a gateway to.
—-
[2F]
As Yasuhiro keeps the crowd from getting closer, the orb... does nothing. It wavers in size ever so slightly but appears harmless for now.
(edited by Hundred-S)
The orb isn't doing anything dangerous for now, thorne felt relieved about it, but he is confused of where did this orb come from and why, he can't let his guard down.
"it seems like it is not doing anything for now..." he puts his left hand under his chin, while thinking about it, the icy butterfly that was near him came to his right ear as if it was whispering him with a voiceless voice, as Thorne heard that the icy butterfly is being hold by someone else before it knows what's going.
"alright, thanks" thorne nods to the butterfly, and he decided to head upstairs to see what's going on, and ask them what was happening on the 3rd floor.
"people, don't ever get closer to this, it doesn't do anything but I advice you not to get any way closer to it for safety sake" thorne runs to people to tell them that.
"I'll go check upstairs for a moment" thorne left fast to head upstairs as fast as he could while his tome is still open.
As Jhin is uninjured, the holy blood would mostly unaffect him, although he does seem impressed
Ooh. Hemomancy, didn't know you were with one of those darkin. Ironic for someone who uses light.
Jhin then twists to the person who regained consciousness and asks them a question
If that was a demon I expected more.. My name will be sullied being associated with them. Never the less do you know anything about these paintings?
"That means we have a healer, awesome!"
Crystia excitedly pumps a fist in the air before coming back down to the ground, giving Roshine a big smile before waving to the conscious guy
"Sure did. I'm Crystia Langston, the hero who saved everyone. Oh yeah, with healing man's help of course."
Crystia winks at Roshine, as if making it more obvious that she was trying to share credit even though they were the person who did the least.
Finally, the girl decides to deal with the elephant in the room, that being the paintings.
"Alright, looks like the demon probably came out of one of these. It'd be faster if we split up, but going together would probably make it easy. Whadda you think Bastet?"
Per usual, Bastet starts by scanning the paintings for some kind of demonic energy. A feeling similar to the Melusine to confirm Crystia's guess
Bastet detects multiple demonic energy signatures behind the paintings, was well as an otherworldly feel from the world beyond the paintings. It’s a world of pride and a world of gluttony, but most importantly a world of demons.
The man slowly nods. “That demon came out of one of the paintings. W-wait, if the paintings look like that again, could another one come through - sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Miss Langston, you and your friends were a real help, but be careful. I’m not sure if this is the end of this chaos. Maybe I could board up the paintings...?”
Akia would look over at the... Holy man? Whatever he is, breathing in her spelled up blood causes her wounds to begin healing at a rapid rate. Which is, nice.
"Right then, that's cool man. Very helpful to say the least, and I'm sure your lord will understand that it was for a good cause! And Crystia huh girly, nice meeting ya I guess. Don't call me random drunk lady, it's Akia Sato actually. And I ain't even more than tipsy yet!"
She'd crack her knuckles slightly while looking over at the obviously magical paintings, so what's the deal with those things... Well dude over there wanting to board them up seems, a bit futile really.
"As for boarding the place up, doubt it'll do us any good. If more monsters are gonna burst out from there they'll probably do it regardless of physical barriers... Any ideas on where to go next though? I got nothing."
Not used to being thanked Roshine would almost seemed to freeze up a bit.
"S-sure, whatever. Turning things into light and then converting them into a blessing isn't convenient in the least bit really..."
He'd stare at the paintings for a moment but it really just seemed like another announce.
"Must be more blasphemy..."
He'd look over at his companions. He was almost surprised at their lack of creativity. He seemed to grumble under his breath a bit.
"This sucks..."
He'd head for the painting of the vine covered cave. If there were plants then maybe light existed there too.
Right...this was his job...
"He'd attempt to put a hand on the painting. If there was some kind of reaction then he'd act accordingly. If this was a gateway then the place in the painting would be where he'd go.
"Oh, yeah. Bastet says those're totally portals. Leaving 'em be would probably be super bad so we're gonna have to take care of it, or things'll get really bad really fast."
Crystia gives an energetic, yet focused analysis of the situation before immediately reverting to their usual goofy self and waving at Akia
"Alrighty named drunk lady, I believe in you! Now lets get going."
Crystia gives Akia a thumbs up before watching Roshine touch the painting. She already knows its a portal so if Roshine goes through, she'll follow
“You’re going in...? Er, good luck, and be careful. I’ll make sure nobody else wanders into them.” The man gives Crystia and Roshine a small wave.
The painting of vines is as easy to pass through as the air they breathe. The floor has a slight give to it that sucks at their feet. The vines here are numerous to the point of acting as walls. The only way forward is the “hall” itself, leading to stairs and a black snake statue.
The inscription on the statue reads as follows:
“Man is the most ravenous creature of all. It consumes all it needs and much more at the expense of its kin. Though virtue is in moderation, the tragedy of the commons forces gluttony to drive their choices. Eat or be eaten. That is the law of this world.”
"What a stupid statue...
Well, guess it's based on outdated information."
With that said he'd see no point in remaining in place any longer. It was better to get to wherever this all lead as soon as possible anyway. He still needed to determine just how much he actually would be able to do here.
He'd follow the staircase where ever it led. He wasn't too concerned for now whether or not Crystia was following. Getting away form a threat quickly was actually easier for him to do than most things.
Jhin watches the others for a little bit before following through as well, keeping his trigger finger ready and wits about him. Reading the inscription before following behind Roshine
What a brutally honest snake. But. It does forget to mention that we create.
"oooh, creepy. Statues like that just scream 'boss den'. I hope its a snake."
Crystia remains cheerful as ever, following Roshine alongside Jhin as they all proceed deeper into the unknown
The stairs lead downwards, deeper into this jungle. There are a few different ways they can go.
To the left is a corridor that has a slight bend to it. Leaves obscure some parts of it.
A few meters to the right is a massive hole. It goes at least fifty feet down and is six feet wide. The faint glimmer of water can be seen at the bottom.
Finally, an open area in front of them has some inhabitants. A red-skinned goblin and two cats in red hats and boots are lying on the ground. At the far wall is a door with a dog-like humanoid on either side.
When thorne went upstairs and reached to the 3rd floor, everything that was from the 3rd floor changed, and there's also stairs upstairs too???
"was I late?" thorne was confused, he couldn't see anything properly from his icy butterfly, but he feels the second icy butterfly is nearby here, the icy butterfly that is flying around thorne went to the man who was holding the other icy butterfly, as Thorne sees the man who seems to be innocent too.
"Hey, were you the one who was holding the icy butterfly?" thorne asked to the man, "if you are, then what was the mess that happened here?" he then turned his eyes to the stairs, he wants to go there since everyone are there, but there are important things inside about that purple in which he can't let it go.
“Ah... there was a monster here, but some folks took care of it. They’re inside that painting to take care of the rest.” He points at the rightmost painting titled “World of Gluttony.” There’s a painting next to it titled “World of Pride.” Both appear to be portals of some kind.
"So... I'm which way did they way did they go?" as Thorne asked this, he made more butterflies, he tried to recall the numbers of these people that the butterfly remembers.
"so, how many of these folks you felt at that time?" as he asked the same butterfly he was with, it remembers it was about 4 or 5.
"then 4 people..." thorne created 8 icy butterflies, a little icy butterfly wings started to grow on thorne back.
As so then, thorne picked his blue ur card from his red scarf, and dropped it above to flash away, 4 butterflies has a flashy blue aura, those 4 normal icy butterflies would protect them creating a little berrier while the others makes them return to Thorne later in emergency status, thorne thought about it as a simple strategic plan that the mage in his world use this when soldiers fighting the south nation, all he needs is to wait and ask that man about the other thing.
"by the way, about that, there was a purple orb that fell from this floor to the 2nd floor, was that also from these kinds of portals?" thorne asked the man.
“They went in that World of Gluttony painting... huh? Orb? I don’t know what you’re talking about...”
"I see..." thorne nods as he let all the 8 icy butterflies he had onto the 'world of Gluttony' following all of these people who fought the monsters.
"well, where do I have to explain?" after the butterflies went to the portal, thorne explained the situation that happened in the lower floor, where the the light broke from the 3rd floor and an orb was falling, and what happened after that.
Even when explaining to that man all of this, thorne was busy flipping the pages to find a way to communicate those people through the icy butterflies he sent.
"ah! There it is!" thorne found the word 'голос' on the 109th page, leaving only to the butterflies reaching to these people.
The Icy butterfly from that man's hand finally let it go and flew around thorne with the other icy butterfly.
lol
"Oh hey, more friends. Awesome, let me handle this one guys!"
Crystia excitedly runs over to the group of demons, succeeding in her job of grabbing their attention if nothing else as she shouts to them
"Hey there, you guys look a little rough. None of you happen to know a jerk called Meluseek right?"
"What a...unique girl..."
Meanwhile, Roshine would simply look around to see if anything was giving off any amount of light. If he had something to use he could at least try to support the girl when the blasphemers she approached inevitably attacked.
Akia would glance over towards Roshine curiously, he said something about turning things into light so... Maybe she can help there.
"You need light to do things, right? That's what I took from you saying something about turning stuff into it. I could try and get ya some fire to work with, but uh... I'm not any good at keeping it from burning us if we're too close."
Of course maybe this can avoid coming to violence entirely, that would be nice. If not though then they have something of a backup plan she supposes, insofar as 'hurt things badly as quick as possible' can even remotely be called a plan. Not like they have better ideas.
Jhin notes his surroundings and begins to back up, letting the others hold up the front
I think ill let you all deal with the negotiation. Sing if you need music.
Jhin then smiles before crouching down a ways away from the crowd, opening his shoulder to reveal a large mechanism with 4 chambers, he then takes the back of his gun and attaches it onto the chambers, and finally the cane being attached to the muzzle. Forming an odd sniper rifle. Jhin then readies himself, for a curtain call.
[Museum]
The man slowly nods as he listens to Thorne’s explanation. “I don’t know much about that. Maybe those rings those people found caused it...? Sorry, I’m as lost as you are.”
—-
[World of Gluttony]
Thorne can both see and speak through the icy butterflies here now.
There is light coming from the moon shining through gaps in the forest cover. However, this is no regular moonlight. This moon creates its own light instead of merely reflecting sunlight. Thus, its light feels supernatural to Roshine.
One of the feline demons lifts its head. “Meluseek, nya? Lady Melusine would kill you for butchering her name like that... I wish she were here... maybe if I acted cute, she’d give me food, nya...”
The red-skinned goblin glares at the cat. “Shut up, we’re all hungry here. If I weren’t so drained, I’d have eaten these humans already.”
The second cat, when Crystia gets near, outright attempts to bite her. It only succeeds in chomping her shoe meekly.
"rings? What rings and who are these people who have those rings... No most importantly... Did you know all of that by yourself or with the others?" with all the flooded questions that it might confuse that man because of how Thorne is confused of what's going on, he realized it would be too much for that man, as he got more nervous.
"Nevermind... just tell me more info about those rings..."
As the 8 icy butterflies found the others, the 4 people, each of these 2 icy butterflies (one with a blue aura and one normal icy butterfly), each normal icy butterflies went to each ones shoulder while the shiny ones are flying around each one.
As the icy butterfly around thorne whispered about it, the other icy butterfly is in the front of thorne to send them his voice.
"alright, let's try it then" thorne nods to the butterfly.
"hello? Can you hear me?" thorne clears his throat to make sure they can hear his voice, they can hear the voice everywhere, it is like a reverb voice, but they can feel it felt like it came through this butterfly on their shoulder.
"Oh yeah, that's her name. Yeah I already had a nice talk with Melusine. They seemed nice.
So like, you guys started going to the human world because you're hungry right? So if I could somehow solve that problem you'd have no reason to and kinda just stay here peacefully?"
Crystia doesn't pay the other cat much attention, simply moving her foot out of its way and calmly walking around it as she asks the demons a few questions. Maybe we won't have to fight anything after all.
Jhin looks at the combatants and starts to count. 4 on his side and 3 on the other side. If this got ugly Jhin would be very disappointed. The scene was almost perfect. Almost.
Roshine would immediately brush the butterfly off him, not even bothering to respond to any whispers.
"Gee, filthy insects...
Man, I'd sound like an asshole if that was directed at a person. Maybe I should try it sometimes..."
He'd turn to Akia unsure how to react at first.
"Uhm...filthy insect? No, nevermind. Too much work to try and insult someone. Yeah, the fire might help. Better than me sitting around doing nothing."
Bits of moonlight too. With enough of that he might be able to pull something else off. Though the unnatural nature of this light makes him somewhat uncomfortable.
[Museum]
“All I know is the demon that attacked me was wearing those rings. Maybe that’s how she got through that painting, with those weird rings... ugh. My head hurts now. What a hell of a day...” The man frowns and stares at the paintings.
—-
[World of Gluttony]
“I... that’s not a bad deal, human. You might be able to solve our dilemma, nya,” the first cat purrs.
The goblin pounds the ground with his fist. “I wish I could beat that damn Horkos myself, but... you better get ‘im good for me. That bastard’s been eating the entire world out of house and home. Hiding far down there in that fancy dining room... it’s like he’s mocking us!”
The other cat resigns itself to chewing on the floor vines sadly.
"Awesome, so I've just gotta go down there, get Horkos to stop eating everyone's houses, and everything will be good. You won't regret trusting me!"
with that, Crystia runs past the three starving demons towards the big door and its guard dogs. Crystia gives these new demons a friendly wave before saying
"Hello, I'm Crystia Langston, I'm here to talk to Horkos and get him to stop being such a jerk. Do you guys know where I can find him?"
Jhin can't really tell what's going on from his position but he can tell they are in no danger. Boring. He nearly fires his sniper but he holds back, patience. Know when to act. So instead he whistles a tune, keeping a keen eye out.
The dog-like guards look at each other than shrug.
“LOWEST FLOOR OF WORLD OF GLUTTONY. ME DO NOT KNOW WHY PUNY HUMAN IS TRYING.”
“ME THINK HUMAN IS FUNNY. ME NOT CARE. HUMAN WANT TO GO TO FAST WAY? GIVE SOME LIFE.” This guard is drooling...
"um... I know this would seem look like an insect to you, sir, but, they are actually souls made of ice!" thorne shouted at the guy who said they were insects, they seemed to be rude but Thorne assumed that this guy is just being mistaken anyway.
"anyway, I'm glad this voice of mine is reaching to you all, so guess this spell worked then" he sighed of relief that they can know "but anyhow, we can't let our guard down, right now, I am hearing what the butterflies are seeing and hearing right now, so I can't determine whats going on yet, so pardon me if I had any mistakes"
"I am also hearing what happened at the third floor earlier, but I can't come here because something happened at the second floor too, I just came here to ensure what's going on..." he would also be thinking that he really should've come here to follow them, but he can't stress over about the purple orb because it might take people's lives too... It zoned thorne away from what is going on.
As Thorne stopped talking... The man seemed to be down, he got nervous for what he would say to the man first.
"uh... Many things have happened, things would never make sense but... Please do not worry!" but he also realized something he said about 'she', at this point, thorne shouldn't ask about that because there's no time.
"I'd like to ask other things, but you have to relax for now" thorne told the man about it.
"I'll be headed to the second floor and watch the orb before it acts anything" thorne said that to the people at world of gluttony and the man too, thorne then continued telling the people at world of gluttony this "if you touch the icy butterfly with the blue lights you'll return to where I am, basically at the second floor of the museum, I reccomend using it only at emergencies, I am still not capable at learning how to attack with my butterflies yet, but this is what I can do, I'm still in touch with what's going on though" then thorne told goodbye to that man to go back to the second floor while his two butterflies are still there.
Akia would laugh a bit at Roshine's words, his attempt at being insulting merely serving to amuse her after that admission of it being too much work. What a weird guy, but that's fine.
"Hah, I'll keep that in mind in the future then. And geez, it's too much work to even be a jerk huh? That's kind of impressive in a way. But I guess talking... Seems to have worked?"
Or it's some kind of trap these things are springing on them, that could be the case too. She'd watch from behind the younger girl while preparing to strike though. Nothing says these new beasts will be as willing to chat with them as the previous ones were, after all.
"Uh, thanks I guess."
Roshine really didn't know how to react beyond that. This was the first time anyone actually commented on his disposition so casually. He was more used to being lectured.
"I won't deny that I'm getting a little impatient with this talking thing. Don't see much of a point in leaving Blasphemers be...actually I guess the fact that they can even talk normally might mean they're closer to cultists. Doesn't change much though, might even mean they're more dangerous."
Jhin takes a canister out of his pockets and throws it into the air repeatedly before catching it again, as much as he would like to respond to the odd butterflies giving away his position would be.. Disadvantageous. So he waits. That drooling guard though. Oooh, how beautiful it would be if his head popped like a balloon
"Oh, yeah that's an easy question. I'm gonna fix everything because I'm a hero and that's what heroes do."
Crystia doesn't seem to notice her companions' impatience, nor does she really care. The girl gleefully answers
"Totally, yeah. If ya can get me there faster that'll be great for everyone, I'll just get Horkos to play nice and we'll all have a wonderful time!"
[Museum]
The orb is the same as it’s been on the second floor. This tear in reality doesn’t grow - rather, it can’t grow despite any physical or magical force. Something is keeping it from expanding. It looks safe, but doesn’t hurt to watch it.
—-
[World of Gluttony]
The guard grins and takes a few steps forward, then lunges to bite at Crystia’s shoulder. Its teeth don’t sink in too deep, but Crystia can feel some of her energy being drained away. The guard lets go and steps back to its post. It bangs on the door with its club to open it.
“HUMANS MAY GO. ENJOY YOUR STAY.”
The two guards stand at attention once more. They don’t make any other move to attack.
"H.. Hey, ow."
It wasn't deep, but the sudden bite still hurt, causing Crystia to reflexively step back. The girl's attention is caught by something before she starts yelling at her scarf
"Whaddya mean I shoulda expected that? You shoulda warned me! No, I don't plan on getting bitten!"
Crystia breathes out a huff of air before taking note of the now open door.
"Yeah yeah, I shouldn't waste too much time here. Lets just go."
at this point, Crystia's already forgotten she had companions other than Bastet, heading in the now open door without waiting for anyone.
An addition that the narrator should have considered: a description of what lies beyond the doors.
Stone mixes with fauna in this odd little town. The three visible shops here have drooping ivy for doors yet each sells weapons, armor, or assorted goods. An area to the right surrounded by pink flowers leads to a spring that gives off a comforting aura. At the far end of this place is yet another set of stairs, winding down into the depths of this realm.
"Oh, wow. That's pretty cool. Too bad I don't really have money."
Crystia comments on the presence of the shops. Not that she would consider replacing Bastet at any of the places anyways. What does catch her interest though, is the spring to her right. Crystia runs over to look at the spring and generally stop to smell the roses.
"then... Nothing dangerous with it for now" when thorne watches the orb, even when he touches it, nothing going to trigger anything, so everything is safe for now.
As the 2 butterflies also follow crystia ahead since she was with the group, it seemed like the butterflies told thorne about a town with shops that seems to buy armors, thorne became surprised.
"wait...there is a town within this place then?" thorne shouted with surprises that it can be heard from crystia too, "I really can't see anything but when you tell me that... This is beyond imagination, but..."
"I shouldn't become that surprised then..." he said all of that with the two butterflies still flying around crystia.
"Right..."
He was somewhat hiding it but there was a hint of anger in his eyes and tone. He'd glare at the guard in a way unusual for him. For a moment, if one were to observe him long enough they'd detect some murderous intent.
Finally though, he held himself back, simply following Crystia. Of course, he couldn't help but speak.
"Next time they ask for something like I'll handle it."
That's all he would say on the matter, returning to his more uncaring demeanor.
From there he's go to investigate the weapon shop. If these were cultists then they might have weapons of interest stowed away somewhere.
Jhin watches the bite happen, but it seems to be intentional as nobody else is attacking. So he waits for the door to open before catching up with the others, running towards the assorted goods store to see if there was anything of value. After all his weapons were already perfect and armour would just get in the way.
The spring Crystia approaches has a gentle turquoise glow. A woman in a clear hooded robe floats cross-legged in its center. Her voice alone makes all worries go away. “This is a Spring of Healing. Is there anything ailing you?”
A shopkeeper, less demonic than other residents but still with something off about him, sits behind the counter of the weapons shop. Ammo sits in the case in front of him, while four varieties of guns hang on the walls.
A similar shopkeeper is in the store Jhin enters. Medicines for wounds, paralysis, and poison are on display, as well as gems with a magical aura.
Most of the equipment Jhin looks over is useless to him, but the gems pique his interest, he strides over to them and picks them up before inspecting them, looking around for the tender to inquire about them
My aren't you shining beauties. Say. These aren't normal are they? Are they runes of some sort?
"Oh uh.. Thanks. Mr..."
There's a brief pause as Crystia tries to remember Roshine's name. But she soon realizes she's never actually heard, so they just shrug it off with a wave
"Healing man. I'll try to remember you!"
before moving on to the spring. That's when she hears Thorne's voice coming from somewhere around her, though she's not really sure where. The girl jumps a bit, rapidly turning around to ask
"Ah, he? Who's there. I'm warning you I know..."
The girl pauses, listening intently to.. Something, whatever it was seem quite informative
"Using these insects to spy on me, how underhanded. you'll never get Bastet!"
"err... Uh... OK?" thorne isn't sure what this girl is saying until he gets what she meant a bit, the butterflies from the museum are telling thorne that she is at the spring right now.
"wait---, you are at the hot spring?! Then if so, pardon me, I'll take those butterflies right away, really--- truly sorry---" and so the butterflies left the hot springs waiting for crystia to finish right away, thorne thought if this the right choice to leave her away for now until she finishes relaxing.
"by her majesty..." thorne sighs about how much he messed up about crystia.
On the other hands, the butterflies are still flying around the others around town, especially to jihin, what interests him is those gems, the butterfly flew around the gems that he is interested.
"um... Excuse me, what does those gems do?" the butterfly flew away from jihin as Thornes voice can be even heared from the shopkeeper.
As Thorne continues to hear those butterflies perspectives, thorne feels like he has nothing to do at the 2nd floor anymore, and he decided to go up to the 3rd floor and see how's that man now since he wasn't feeling anywhere good.
"I really should go check him around if he is okay..." thorne felt guilty if this man is okay or not, so he went upstairs to look to that man.
[World of Gluttony]
A quick update on this end wouldn't hurt for clarification.
The shopkeeper points at the gems. "These? Mazio, Maragi, and Mabufu Stones. Use one of 'em and you'll be using lightning, fire, or ice magic without breakin' a sweat. One use only though."
Jhin eyes the butterflies, tolerating their presence as he listens along. They belong to that person that shot ice right? Jhin didn't feel any passion towards them, so he'll focus on other things for now like those gems. Maybe adding some elements to his theatrics could be interesting..
I've never heard of them. Could be a fragment of a world rune... I'll take one of each. What do you take? Ionian? Noxian? Straight gold? I've got plenty to burn.
Jhin then procures a small bag of wealth with coins from seemingly made up regions. If inspected they would be made of solid golds and silvers though
As Thorne reaching to the 3rd floor, he listens to the shopkeeper's stuff, the gem ghat has an element magic, and here's the ice one... In their world, gems are being used as a exam gift for anyone who implies to improve their ice magic at the academy, this one could make his butterflies make their own ice too with this.
"wait, this is really important then, how much price do you sell it--- wait" thorne stopped for a moment, thinking that this world may have a different way to buy things...
"what if they sell it at a different price then..." thorne sighs... he has some Japanese money, but he never thought about it if it is being used at this world.
As Thorne reached to the 3rd floor, he went to talk tothat man again "sorry, I had to check the orb if anything is happening, looks like it is the same as ever... So I think we're safe for now" Thorne's conversation with that man is being heard at the shop without Thorne's awareness.
"so, have you relaxed your mind?" thorne asked the man to ensure his ease, so he could ask about who is 'she' that he talked from earlier.
"Wow, these are some real relics here. Relics of the past that is...
Don't you have any proper weapons? Guns haven't been useful in my time for centuries."
He didn't expect to much out of what he assumed to be a cultist shop.
"Better yet, you know where I can buy a lamp or something? That's be more useful to me than bullets."
With her previous ordeal over, Crystia finishes her walk to the spring. The girl lets out a sigh sitting down by the waters only to be met by a spirit. The girl looks back up, her eyes lively before going on a bit
"Uh well.. I don't understand why everyone wants to bite me and there are all these really rude demons I'm supposed to be fighting or whatever, but they never really make it easy. Y'know?"
[Museum]
The man’s been looking at the World of Pride painting. He waves to Thorne.
“I’m feeling better. A bit fuzzy in the head, but better. Do you need anything? I don’t know if I can help much, but I did forget to mention something. That demon - Melusine I think - the others fought off came outta this painting specifically.”
—-
[World of Gluttony]
The spirit faintly smiles at Crystia and spreads out her arms. “Demons can be reasoned with, but they are dangerous creatures even in conversation. These waters can heal what injuries you may have suffered, so please feel free to use them. There is no cost to this since you are new to the Expanse.” As the spirit said, any wound the spring’s water makes contact with will close up. Even torn clothing will fuse back together.
The weapons dealer sneers at Roshine. “What, does this look like a furniture store? I ain’t got no lights so scram if you’re gonna be like that.”
“I usually take Macca, but perhaps I can exchange these for something, so this will do.” The stones aren’t terribly expensive, so Jhin has some leftover cash after receiving the stones.
"you are looking at that painting, huh..." thorne walks to this man who looked at at the painting before he waved at thorne.
"this 'she', you meant was melusine..." thorne understood this man's story a little more clear now, melusine, the demon who attacked those people and came out of this painting spefecily.
"I wonder... What does 'world of pride' meant then..." he meant about what does the painting look like and why it is world of pride, he wonders about it the more he looks at that painting.
As one of Thorne's butterfly gather on his academic cap, thorne took a notice of it as it flew away from the cap.
"you take macca?" thorne turned away to the butterfly, the man may seem to thonre is talking with the butterflies, but Thorne is actually talking to the shop keeper on the other world.
"oh? You bought them already?" the butterfly flew to jihin, "wait, so which gems arrtitube did you buy then?"
Akia would also have wandered into the weapons shop, though she hasn't used any proper weapons in a while it... Might be worth doing. Relying on one's Epithet too much can get tiring, and it's frankly better to use something in melee besides heavy unbalanced bottles anyway.
"Huh, I guess I'll get a weapon of some kind if you'll take... Oh wait, Macca. I got some of that!"
Why exactly the merc has been paid in Macca of all things at some point, is probably a question better left unasked. But she's not lying, there's a decent enough amount of it she'd pull out from a pocket with a grin. Enough to get a decent weapon, though likely not much more. Clearly she isn't paid in it often.
"I'm comfortable with things like clubs or even hammers, mostly. Blunt crushing weapons in short."
Macca... This truly is a different world... No matter. You can hold onto the rest. An artist is nothing but lavish.
Jhin then pockets most of the gems, all except one which he examines it's shininess, putting it back with the others as he speaks with the butterflies.
I got all of them. A small price to pay. I'm sure I'll get another payment soon, people do love my performances. Especially my benefactors.
Jhin then returns to the middle of the huts and awaits his companions, it won't be long now...
"Oh. Alright then, cool. Thanks!"
Crystia was a big injured from her fight with Melusine and getting bitten earlier, so she gladly takes the chance to dip into the spring and heal up, not really minding how wet her clothes might get.
After getting out, the girl is vaguely reminded of why they were here and figures the spring spirit was as good an ask as any.
"By the way, have you heard of those Horkos dude who's supposedly eating everything? I'm supposed to find him and beat him up or something like that."
"Scram, huh? Honestly, if I cared more I'd end you blasphemous life here for disrespecting a decedent of Barachiel.
But I don't really care and you're not worth the effort."
With that said Roshine would leave the shop as long as their was no interruption. He felt it best to move on from this place.
[Museum]
This painting, upon closer inspection, is not merely an image of a cavern. Old ruins, tall and majestic, mingle with the stone walls of the caves and mountains. These ruins stand tall despite their crumbling walls and ivy-covered surfaces. Despite having nothing left, they pretend as if nothing happened to the ones who built them. This, therefore, is their world, a World of Pride wanting to live out the great old days.
---
[World of Gluttony]
The spirit touches the water with a finger. Water ripples outwards in hypnotizing rings. "Indeed, I have heard of him. He is the ruler of the World of Gluttony. He has gained his power from everything he has consumed. They say his appetite rivals that of an entire army. Unfortunately, even this spring cannot heal the hunger his gluttony has brought upon everyone else."
The weapons dealer is glad to see Roshine leave, and returns to a more amicable attitude when an aspiring customer enters. "Sure, lemme see what I have. I usually stick with guns, but I keep some blunt weapons around for the Kobolds that have some Macca to spare." He sets a metal club on the table. It's similar to a metal bat, but it's just thick enough to not sacrifice too much speed for power.
Jhin and Roshine meet up at the center of this town.
"Oh, cool. So that means basically everyone knows him right? I kinda just need directions to his palace so I can punch him in the snout."
Crystia excitedly strikes at the air to demonstrate her point while giving the spirit her signature plucky grin.
The butterflies themselves are still following every people who are at the world of gluttony except for the butterfly who are still awaiting for crystia at the hotspring's door once she gets out, but Thorne right now is busy talking to that man.
"sir... I wonder... Did the painting remind you of something?" thorne asked him as this painting really is telling how those people still pretend as if the ones who built them as if they are treating them as gods,
The ones who don't exist anymore, this is what is thorne is seeing from the meaning of this painting.
(edited by Thorne-yuriev)
Jhin does a little spin as Roshine approaches, while spinning he takes his cane and plants it into the floor before leaning on it, smiling at them.
Welcome back. I assume your done shopping? I've been meaning to ask, how does your magic work? The only thing I can really compare it to is Darkin blood magic, and even then you can do much more. I pride myself as a scholar in my part time so would you indulge me?
The woman would grin and place her Macca upon the counter, assuming it's enough then she'd gladly take the weapon. It's not perfect, but far better balanced and effective for close range than her bottles will ever be. Getting by on an Epithet alone is fine for small-time jobs, but not constant heavy battle.
"Done deal, that'll work better than what I had on hand."
After the sale is finished she'd simply walk back out and glance over towards the artist and Roshine. That second one is a dour type to say the least, but useful... If you can get him to do anything that is. Meanwhile Jhin is merely strange, but fairly personable all told. And willing to help in his weird ways.
The simple fact is she's gonna have to and work with this lot somehow, but for now she'd simply observe the pair with a smile and wave towards them, new weapon absently held in hand if she'd been able to afford it.
"How does it work?"
For a moment he seemed hesitant to respond, perhaps because of the effort he might have to go to with such an explanation. Though, given the others had yet to return he didn't see anything better to do.
"To put it simply, I'm a Bishop. You might already be able to tell but we're not like normal humans. Especially not my type.
I suppose it'd just be easier to tell you about a vessel. Basically, it's like an extra organ? It's like a glass ball I think? We're told that it's also where our angel resides. Every Bishop has one though they're probably not exactly what comes to mind with the phrase angel.
It's more like our faith is made into energy and then centered inside of our vessel or something like that. I'm not really good at explaining this but my powers specifically are a inherited thing from house Barachiel. Most followers of Barachiel can't do nearly as much or require more specific sources to use for their power."
[Museum]
The man thinks for a moment, staring at the painting. “I’m no art expert, but it has the same feeling as looking at ancient ruins. Think like old tombs, pyramids, and the like. What do you think is beyond this painting? Besides more demons obviously.”
—-
[World of Gluttony]
The spirit, though usually calm and collected, smiles at Crystia’s attitude. “He is at the bottom floor of this world, usually in his personal dining hall. It and the kitchen are some of the fanciest places in this world. I trust you will have no trouble finding it.”
Three of the group are gathered. Once Crystia returns, they’ll be ready to move onwards. The way forward is very straightforward: a staircase winding down two floors, ending in a hallway. The narrator wishes you luck when you set out.
"Hmmm... To be frank, I am no art expert too..." he shurgs "but when I think about this painting.... It is as if those people, even if thaose ruins are destroyed, people think that those thing and its creation is what made them go on like this...and become stronger, I think this is what did they mean by 'world of pride' I think?" Thorne's explation didn't really explain it fully.
coming to think about it, what is thorne standing around for, of course, it is to help those people and make sure they return them, but ever since he fought those Poltergeist earlier, he started to feel as if he felt as if those things had feelings too, he is unsure of why though, this poltergeist last words about never wanting to disappear... What did it mean for...? But Thorne all he had to do is to let that aside again, his worries will make him cause more worries again, he could become a stepping stone to his brother if he starts to doubt himself.
ooc:before I continue, which hallway did they mean for?
(edited by Hundred-S)
Jhin nods at Akia's arrival as he listens intently to Roshine. Perhaps these angels were like the ascended from Targon, Roshine did seem to have abnormal amounts of pride.
Mm, I understand to an extent. And you require light to do your show? If it comes down to it I'll see if I can't make any. But don't count on it.
Jhin then scoffs at Akias weapon choice, muttering something about it being brutish before continuing
At any rate I suppose we are just waiting on our little protagonist before we move on yes?
"Oh alright, cool. So its like, still pretty far then huh? No sweat!"
Crystia leaps into the air, pumping herself up before running off. She kinda loses track of the fact she was in a group, instead taking sight of the staircase leading downwards
"Ya ready Bastet? Lets get moving!"
before running off, slowing down a bit on the stairs to avoid tripping over her own scarf. Not that it would ever let her do that.
[Museum->World of Gluttony]
“I kinda get what you’re saying. I guess this is what art does to us. Makes us think. As for my name, I’m Hiro Matsushita. Nice to get to know you, Thorne. I’ll let you know if anything happens.”
He waves goodbye as Thorne enters the World of Gluttony...
Once in the World of Gluttony, Thorne takes the stairs down to the vine-covered first floor. He can see a path off to the left, a path to the right, and a path straight ahead. The path straight ahead has an open door that Thorne knows will lead him to his companions. He can see Jhin, Akia, and Roshine as he gets closer.
As for those three, they note that Crystia is taking a while to get back.
—-
[World of Gluttony B3F]
In this hall, it seems like there’s a dead end up ahead, but observing the wall reveals places where the vines are less dense - two on the left and one of the right, kind of like doorways. There’s also a spot near the end of the hall where the vines are a brown color. It’s like someone tied them to the floor, obscuring any green, but why?
Jhin takes a deep breath as he messes with his costume, brushing off dust here and there. Wiping the muzzle of his gun with a cloth, readjusting his mask. The usual.
Sigh. Where is that girl? I'm a very important man with important things to do.
"Maybe one of these rude cultists...uh, attacked her. Though not enough noise for that.
So, we going to wait here for her or continue onward? Those are really the only options we have here. I'm fine with either but don't expect me to take the lead. I don't want the responsibility of having to be reliable."
That said Roshine almost seemed to comfortable just standing in place idly while he let everyone else make any important decisions.
"Yeah yeah, I'll be careful. I mean, heroes don't really creep around in the shadows anyways. I'll face anything head-on."
Crystia speaks aloud as she continues walking forward. It looked a lot like a dead end, but that'd just be stupid, wouldn't it? The first thing Crystia notices is the weird brown stuff near the back wall, so she runs over to investigate.
"Hey, Bastet, think you can analyze this stuff? It doesn't really look natural. Yeah, I guess I wouldn't know what's natural in the demon world would I?"
if nothing else has happened yet, Crystia's scarf begins to analyze the strange brown material, looking for something it might be comparable to in the human world.
Akia would just sigh and take the lead, her metal bat held forward while walking on. There doesn't seem to be any point in waiting on the girl right now, from her guess something has probably happened. And someone else has joined them too, she'd wave to Thorne curiously while setting out.
"Yo, guess you've ended up here too huh? Well butterfly guy, if you wanna come along I'm not stopping you. Anyways, if I had to take a guess I figure something went down out there, so I'm all for just getting moving and seeing if we can't catch up with Crystia right now..."
Assuming nobody objected to that idea the merc would shrug slightly while she somehow ends up at the front of their little group for now, the artist seems too strange to want to call any shots. Roshine too lazy... Yup, it's her. That doesn't please Akia, but she'll live with it.
"ah, there they are" with no hesitation, thorne decided to follow those people, he felt he has seen these people earlier this morning, he decided to follow them.
As soon as akia waved to him, thorne was surprised that this woman is here too.
"wait, so it was you then from this morning" thorne was surely not enough surprised too see this woman, he knows the butterflies are there, and those people too... But someone's missing.
"wait... There was another person, is she taking too long there?" thorne remembered crystia who was at the hot springs and had to make the butterflies leave so no misunderstanding could happen... By her majesty... Did something happen?
As Thorne panicky checking his open tome, and his butterflies that was flying near him, the butterflies that was at the springs door entered the springs.... And there was no one here... Did something happen...?
[World of Gluttony B2F]
Indeed, the butterfly finds nothing in the springs except for the feminine spirit floating just above the water. There is only one entrance to the springs, so she couldn't have gone anywhere except the main town area. Where she is, that is the question. The butterflies don't see anything in the open shop doorways either.
---
[World of Gluttony B3F]
The brown material appears to be dried vines similar to those making up the floor. These vines aren't here naturally though. Bastet notices some knots have been tied to connect these brown vines to the floor vines, as if covering up a hole.
This is bad... this is really bad... by her majesty, where could this girl be??: this is what Thorne is thinking as he is panicking for not finding her... as he knew this... he screwed this one up...
with the butterflies looking around the town, thorne decided to make them inside the springs and ask that spirit...
"pardon me... was the girl with you here left? did she say anything before leaving?" the butterflies flew to the feminine spirit asking this to her.
[World of Gluttony B2F]
The spirit bows when Thorne arrives. “Welcome. This is - ah, so you do not need my services? That girl was vocal about meeting the ruler of this realm, Horkos. She is likely already descending to the lower floors to fight him. I do hope she doesn’t plan to face him on her own.”
"Haha! I'm a genius!"
Crystia exclaims to no one in particular before looking down at the vines. She can't exactly cut it with her hands, but her scarf seems to know what she's thinking. In just a moment Bastet has hardened their edge to a razor-sharp point, and slashes through these brown rope things, in hopes of revealing the hole.
"Nice one Bastet."
Roshine didn't care too much about most things. If the girl died then it was her fault for getting involved in such a dangerous incident. The death of a unprepared bishop was expected, it was no different for the people here.
He'd follow Akia without saying anything though it was clear he didn't walk with any real purpose.
With Akia taking the lead, it’s only a simple trip down the winding staircase to find Crystia on B3F (the narrator has called the town level B2F rather than B1F, my apologies). The girl stands at the end of a vine-covered hall. As said before, there are two gaps in the wall to the left and one gap to the right.
Bastet makes quick work of the dried vines, revealing a hole down to the next floor. Hushed voices reach Crystia’s ears.
“Just finished tying that-“
“Told you a trap like that would fail-“
“Shut up or they’ll-“
They sound really annoyed.
(edited by Hundred-S)
“Aha! Looks like I’ve found you evildoers!”
Crystia exclaims before leaping down the hole, ignoring her scarf’s warnings.
“Prepare to face judgement at the hands of Crystia Langston, the greatest hero in the world!”
Akia curses as she sees the girl rushing down some crazy hole, what is this stupid kid even thinking? If she were a sane person she'd just stay out of it but... Maybe she can be of some use without actually going down there.
"Right, I'm just gonna try and fire from up here if there's an ambush down there or something."
The Inscribed isn't quite as foolhardy as her younger... Ally? Whatever the hell she's calling Crystia, she'd just sigh quite a lot while looking down the hole from above and preparing to begin sniping at whatever might be attacking down there.
If she saw anything that seemed hostile, it would find itself beset upon by a set of mid-sized icy spikes rushing down from above and aiming to impale them. Just made of fairly watered-down beer though, even with magic trying to freeze high proof booze is tough. And so she doubts it'll have any impact in terms of getting them drunk.
Ooc: so we are right now in b2f while crystia is on b3f?
Roshine would stand in place as he took a deep breath. He seemed to enter a trance like state as the air around him was sucked in through his palms. For now this seemed to be the stance he'd take, beginning to glow with a dark green light that began to focus in his back.
"I'll catch up in a moment. I need to focus right now."
Suit yourself Roshine. I'll follow in your footsteps Akia.
Jhin then sets up his sniper and then closes his eyes. Awaiting the perfect moment. In his head flowers bloom as a violin hits a high note. And voices from all over sing a soft note. Calling for him. Jhin.
Your final show. Begins...
Thorne saw crystia going ahead, thorne tried shout "wait, hold up!" but crystia went ahead, and thorne sighs because how she acts alone.
"she went up ahead then" as Thorne notices the salamanders, thorne tried to charge up his small ice spikes first, and so his icy wings started to grow, but before he realized that, the salamder are surrendering.
As Thorne sees akia's ice rain, he can't help but to become impressed because seems like she can use ice too, he looked at akia as and jihin as they defeat the orc with no problem at all.
Thorne was impressed to actually witness of how teamwork could work, and also to his surprise, akia's ice magic, her power really matches the teachers magic.
"what in the world is going on?" with his confusion, thorne wondered why did the salamanders act so weird, with his ice spike still on hold before throwing it, he keeps it as he was wondering what is going on.
(edited by Thorne-yuriev)
"Haha! I knew there would be troublemakers here!"
Crystia once again shouts, probably loudly enough for her annoyed companions to hear, before striking a pose, spreading her feet out, shoulder-length apart, and throwing up a peace sign
While Crystia is busy flexing Bastet actually does something, more specifically, the scarf extends past Crystia's arm to intercept the incoming lightning, absorbing the energy into its highly flexible weaving, and condensing it before reaching to discharge the attack into the ground.
"don't let 'em get away Bastet!"
for once it seems the scarf agrees with Crystia, reaching out to wind itself around one of the Salamanders' legs before trying to drag it back out into the open.
After absorbing enough of the air around him Roshine would open his eyes once more as the flow stopped. The light would almost completely be concentrated in his back now as he stepped towards the hole.
Dark green colored wings made out of light stretched from his back as he slowly drifted down to the lower level.
The woman just sighs at her 'ally's' antics, casually keeping her aim ready and able to fire at any moment.
"Looks to me as though some of those monsters down there are scared kid, anyway seems the foolhardy girl down there is still alive at least so that's... Something."
For the moment she's really just observing from above, not seeing any reason to suddenly jump down there or the like while things look in control enough to be managed.
"And thanks Jhin, not bad at all... Heh, shooting from up above like this kind of suits me actually. It's nice to have someone else risking her life by being in place to get attacked for once!"
That said though, it'd be nice to try and ask their enemy some questions perhaps. If Crystia managed to grab onto it and didn't just kill the thing on the spot, that would be Akia's call to go down there herself.
There’s not much the salamander can do besides claw at the ground as it’s dragged by Bastet. It’s too stunned by pain and confusion to actually attack right now. Captured by the scarf, it eyes the humans warily. Sparks fly out from its lashing tail but it’s willing to talk.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, HUMANS? ME INNOCENT. ME JUST WANTED TO CATCH SNACK.”
Roshine easily descends through the hole. Thorne, Akia, and Jhin can easily follow; its a roughly ten-foot drop with stray vines to slide down.
"Then, if they run away, they understand we have to go through right now" after listening to akia, he melts his ice spike, his icy wings are still at the same size, he actually after that made sure that the icy butterflies aren't melted too, after seeing they didn't melt, he relived that the butterflies weren't gone, his tome is still open, which it isn't closed yet.
Now all that left is to head to the hole to where the girl is exactly, he had no time to stand around, with roshine going first, the 2 icy butterflies are still with him, each 2 icy butterflies are still flying around jihin and akia, 2 butterflies from crystia are still flying aroubd thorne with his icy butterfly flying around.
"let's go, we don't have time to sulk around!" thorne went ahead followed roshine through the hole
"Oh.. Uh... I honestly didn't think I'd get this far."
well the fight's over, but Crystia didn't actually have any ideas what to do with the creature. Since she has the time, Crystia finally decides to look around at her surroundings. Much to her surprise, the girl finds Roshine and probably Thorne standing with her
"Huh? Oh, its you again. How long have ya been standing there?"
the girl asks Roshine, while her scarf Bastet keeps a tight hold on the demon
"I don't really have any ideas from here, but uh... I caught one, if ya wanna question it."
Akia has slid down on the vines and has a grin on her face while looking towards the beast, question it huh... She can work with that.
"Just wanted to eat, hmm? That's fine, it's nothing personal I helped kill your friends over or anything. You attacked because you were hungry, we fought back because we didn't want the girl you went for dead. Simple right~?"
She'd pause for a second, maybe... Could it be that simple? Probably not, but worth trying anyways right?
"Tell you what though, I'll help you get snacks if you'll help us out too. I've always wanted a fire using minion, what do ya say! Oh and you'll get to live, that's a plus."
She'd offer the demon a slight smile while absently forming spikes of ice in the air around her, it's pretty clear what refusal means. And if the thing makes any sudden moves it'd end up attack by Akia in short order.
The salamander’s eyes dart around the room. The ice above it is an excellent negotiation tool but its pride won’t let it accept the deal without some of its own input.
“ME CAN... TRY THAT BUT FIRST ME WANT SMALL PAYMENT. ME WANT SOME LIFE.”
It glances back up at the spikes.
“M-ME CAN HEAL YOU AFTER THOUGH.”
For those not involved in negotiation, they may want to examine the room. It’s square with openings in the walls on each side. The south wall’s entrance contains the other salamander, but the other three openings are a mystery.
The young woman would pause for a second, some of her life force eh... That's a fair enough deal, she supposes.
"Sure, sounds like a deal to me! Wouldn't be right to just give nothing in return~ And oh, do you have a name or anything? I go by Akia, personally."
It's too bad she doesn't have any pokeballs or something, pokeballs for weird talking monsters sounds useful right about now. But Akia will simply have to make due by letting it come along, assuming the being doesn't instantly try to betray them after being given some of her life force. She'd quickly begin glancing around and looking at the openings which don't currently contain another salamander.
The salamander leans forward and bites Akia’s hand. Like with Crystia and the Kobold, Akia feels some of her life force drain away.
“ME AM BRUTE IHIKA. ME HELP YOU. DIA.”
A warm light surrounds Akia, reinvigorating her and closing the wound on her hand. After that, Ihika waits for any orders or for his new master to move. This demon appears compliant. However, take care of him. Without a COMP to be tethered to, his death cannot be reversed if he meets his end.
The doorways are too covered with foliage to see much. A faint breeze comes from the eastern door.
"oh uh.. Weren't we supposed to let the healy dude take care of offers like that?"
Crystia shows a surprising ability to remember things as Bastet loosens its hold on Ihika. They couldn't help much if they were stuck on the ground after all. Either way sacrifincg their life or whatever seems to have been an effective method of negotiation so far.
"Anyways. I'll just follow you this time. Go on, I believe in you."
"Whatever. I'd suggest you don't put too much faith into Cultists though. It seems whatever holds them to their rationality binds them towards servitude too. Never know what exactly they were designed for...
Tch...At this rate I might get pissed enough to actually try. That just annoys me more, damn cultists..."
The winged bishop would go off towards the new eastern door murmuring something about lousy cultists.
Jhin sighs a little as he jumps down, hoping to not dirty his pristine clothes. Not like he could use one of those washing machines to clean it. Once hes down he gives everyone a proverbial pat on the back for their catch.
Nice catch every one. It's structure is interesting... I wonder what I can do with it in mind for my next work. For now though mystery awaits.
Jhin then shuffles over to the east door and brushes apart the vines and steps inside behind Roshine.
As quite a few folks have chosen this entrance, allow me to reveal it.
Within is a bookworm’s dream: stacks of books in a small yet cozy room. The smell of old pages permeates the air. Gusts of green wind send books flying around, pages turning, allowing a trio of birds to read and learn and wisen. These birds have the appearance of a brown ibis with a red hat that has long straps on each side. A voice calls from the upper floor.
Voice: “Have you found it yet?”
The birds reply without taking their eyes off the pages.
Searching Bird: “This takes time.”
Inquisitive Bird: “Perhaps we could use a human as a host?”
Sagely Bird: “Yes, a human to sacrifice for new life, yet humans are not common in the Expanse.”
They’re too busy reading to notice their visitors. You can leave and try another entrance if you wish.
"A human to sacrifice? How unlucky that you were discovered by an angel first then."
Roshine would release a portion of the air he had converted to light before, trying to take control of the flow of the books floating in the air.
He'd maintain his wings of light as he looked down at the bird's on the lower floor
"Care to explain what you're all doing here and why your talking about human sacrifices? Be quick about it. Otherwise I'll reduce you all to ash here. I'm getting tired of dealing with you damn cultists."
As he spoke he'd begin attempting to absorb any light available in the room. Whatever light he could find would be drawn to Roshine's body, allowing it to illuminate further as the rest of the room became dimmer.
Akia nods to Ihika, seems helpful enough. For now at least, and despite Roshine grumbling about it the woman is willing to go ahead and give their new ally a bit of trust. For the moment anyway.
She too would overhear what happens at the entrance and just groan slightly a human sacrifice... How dreadful. She speaks in a whisper to the rest of the group.
"So, who's in favor of killing the apparently human murder planning bastards over there? I don't exactly wanna get ambushed by them later, nor do I want them to get someone else if we just let em go... Anyone object to dealing with it?"
How she's ended up asking questions like these, the Inscribed has no clue at all. But she'll make it work out. One way or another...
And then Roshine acted, well she wanted an ambush but this is fine too, he can take the spotlight and if they become violent the beasts would be quickly met with a barrage of blades made of pure-grain alcohol, very potent stuff. Even more so when replacing much of one's bloodstream from slicing into the body, but she isn't sure they'll really get drunk even so. It should however hurt the beasts if she manages to hit.
Curiously if any of the attacks came close to one of her allies, it would just stop existing moments before harming them. A waste of power, but better than causing friendly fire.
(edited by Akia-Sato)
"Oh cool, more fighting. Yeah, that's good. I mean heroes destroy evildoers so."
Crystia's talking to herself as much as anyone else as she runs in after Roshine, ready for a fight. Bastet coils defensively around its user as it tries analyzing the monsters in front of them. Not that it has any elemental attacks anyways, more looking for joints and other weak points to strike
Jhin takes to Akia's idea very favorably. Taking out numerous lotus traps and filling the entrance with them. Jhin then runs over to the other end of the room and pulls out one of those fire crystals he bought and channels it onto the stacks of books before running a quick retreat. Careful not to set off any of the traps he placed
Watch your step now! I wouldn't want this to be your last dance.
Roshine absorbs the light of the candles flickering among the books, making his own wings of light the main glow illuminating the room. The wind’s flow wavers both from his interference and the birds weakening their spell.
Searching Bird: “Humans? What a twist of fate!”
Inquisitive Bird: “What does it matter to you? Killing humans is trivial. Won’t hurt if you let it happen.”
Sagely Bird: “To help our client, we must experiment. A life for a life. To arms!”
The trio open their wings and caw. Though the blades hit hard and the books go up in flames, this only angers them more. Even a drunken demon is dangerous.
Searching Bird: “Don’t leave my sight!”
Inquisitive Bird: “What do you humans look like on the inside?”
Sagely Bird: “Burning our research materials? Burn with it!”
The first bird sends out a green pulse that makes everyone’s limbs feel as if they had been infused with lead. The other two stoke the winds anew. They combine the powers of their wind spells and unleash it in a burst of cutting winds and fiery pages out at the humans. Though this gives them some burns from stray flames, they pay it no mind.
Bastet notes that these birds are vulnerable to bullets, but also ice and wind. Akia’s attack was close enough to ice to hit the second weakness. Their swift movements and holy energy make physical attacks and light not very effective.
Roshine seemed to be somewhat knocked back by the wind but it didn't do much more than cut up his arms. The strange effect of pulse would be more alarming to him. But at the end of the day he simply deemed it as some kind of curse. He could break it down later.
The fiery pages would seem to be...ineffective against him. Even more than that the flames actually seemed to become cold upon making contact with his skin. The heat itself was being absorbed as a form of pure energy making it easy to transmute into light.
"Those candles weren't much but direct flames...You'll pay a price for cutting up my arms you bird-brained cultists."
Suddenly, the Bishop seemed more serious than before staring down what he now saw as his enemies.
"Typically, the whole fighting thing is my least favorite duty. But like hell am I going to let a group of murderers kill innocent people for their own enjoyment.
The flames of hell are too cold for you. Let me show you fire that burns more fiercely than hell itself."
Roshine would slowly bring his arms up, pointing them forward. For a moment the flames and fire had caused a bright hue of red to surround him but now all that red light was being focused into his hands.
For a moment that light at his palms could be compared to two small suns before finally that light was released.
Two waves of fire would begin to swirl out in front of him. Even he seemed to simply stop controlling it meaning he couldn't control which of the birds was hit.
They'd strike out to deal a severe amount of fire damage at random twice.
Roshine would only have a moderate dark green light after this.
"Oh.. Hey, anyone else feel heavy? How about you Bastet?"
The scarf doesn't actually answer her. Instead, it unravels itself, changing shape to form something of a net before hardening. Naturally the winds can get through the holes in the net, but it cuts out a significant amount of the power that'd be aimed at Crystia, Jhin, and Akia, all of whom are behind the girl.
"Oh, wow they're pretty strong. Don't like bullets though. Right, you do like bullets don't you musician man? Yeah, Bastet says its a good idea to do what you've been doing then."
Crystia's actual turn is juts spent blocking. Bastet's net will retract itself once the two under Crystia's guard are ready for their counterattack. They seems satisfied being the shield in a shield and spear strategy
Jhin tries his best to dance through the damage, but his recently metal legs slow him down quite a bit. Luckily most of the damage is absorbed by Crystia. Even so, his few cuts bleed quite bad. Fragile even by Human standards.
Nngh. You are the actors and I'm the choreographer. So dance for me my pretties!
Jhin draws his gun and fires away at the searching bird. Muttering a one as he pops open a canister from his belt. Poping it towards the wall as it ricochets off of it. Bouncing atop of each of the birds dealing a small amount of damage once before detonating on Sagely Bird. Exploding into a could of purple shrapnel and dust. However the explosion does seem localized and hurts nobody else oddly enough.
The drunk has a strangely calm look on her face, rage showing not in curses or spite but the cold and brutal efficiency with which she aids in dispatching these beasts. Being slowed down is an annoying thing for her, but thanks to Bastest she isn't hurt too badly despite calmly focusing her magic upon simply murdering the targets.
"Geez, you monsters are smarter than I'd have expected... Which is fine, we're a lot less helpless than you thought. It evens out."
She doesn't waste any time, conjuring up a small blue glowing vial of liquor that's... Clearly far more powerful than what she's been using up to this point. In fact upon nearing the trio it would simply explode, showering the three beasts in a horribly rain of large shards of magical ice which would deal heavy damage to the entire group. Though this does seem to leave the Inscribed panting with effort as she observes their foes.
Roshine’s flames incinerate the Inquisitive and Sagely Birds, with Akia and Jhin’s attacks finishing them off. The Searching Bird would have attempted to counterattack, but a spike of ice hits its open beak and makes it gag and fall over, dazed. With the storm of magic over, Ihika steps in and nudges the bird with his foot. It twitches but is unable to attack anymore.
A few stray flames cling to the books and vines. Whatever the birds were reading, it’s too charred to be of any use. This room has no path to a lower floor either. Unless you want to mess with this poor bird or try anything else, this room is of no use.
Hmm. Perhaps I was a little... Overly inspired. Regardless all that's left is to check another door no? If you want to try to interrogate that thing be my guest. Otherwise I'll take my leave.
Jhin then dances his way out of this room and tries the next one. Who knows what he will find!
“Haha, you’re not fooling me that easily!
This is exactly the kinda room where you find a secret passage!”
Rather than consult anyone, or have Bastet try to run a scan of the room, Crystia starts throwing books off the shelf, looking for one that either hides or is a secret switch.
Roshine wouldn't even hesitate in trying to locate the voice from before. With no clear path there he'd simply try to raise his voice.
"Your cultists friends have been taken care of. Why don't you come down here and save us the trouble. I'd rather not have to go out of my way to find you. That'd be way too much work, got it?"
The young woman just conjures up a layer of frost around her club, frozen booze is probably enough to make it count as ice. Hopefully, and even if not being smashed over the head would likely hurt the thing enough to be a threat anyways.
"So birdy, this can go two ways! Either I kill you fast and just get it over with, better for all involved. That happens if you tell us what you know about this place and its layout, and who else we might find here... Orrrr, we can do it the messy way, and I'll drag it out! Your choice, but I don't think you have a third option here!"
Truth be told, torture is pointless, overly cruel, and liable to just get her told whatever the thing thinks she wants to hear. Even if it isn't true, if it comes to that she'd just finish the creature off, but the threat... The threat has its uses, even if she won't actually do it.
Jhin waltzes off to the northern room. Pulling aside vines reveals a staircase leading downwards. Unlike the other sets of stairs, vines gradually give way to brilliant white stone and golden railings. It’s like descending into a slice of heaven. The faint aroma of spices and cooked meat wafts upwards.
—-
Meanwhile, in the former “mini-library,” Crystia’s digging reveals no secret passages. She finds a cool-looking crystal ball but that’s about it.
The fallen bird spits out the ice that had been clogging its mouth. “Hu... man... such bold words for something so squishy... Lord Horkos will avenge me...”
The ceiling’s vines rustle. Whatever was up there definitely heard Roshine. Rather than bursting through, the being simply phases through the ceiling and hovers near the fallen bird. It has the appearance of a stereotypical white bedsheet-covered ghost, but it sports a pair of tiny wings and has a calming aura Roshine would recognize as holy. “Cultists sound scary. I’m glad they’re dealt with... huh? Why’s Bennu hurt? Did the cultists attack them?” The ghost tilts its head.
(edited by Hundred-S)
"Oh no that was probably us. Ya see all these jerks kept trying to eat us so I taught 'em a lesson."
Crystia replies while digging through the library. After a little bit she finds a neat orb.
"Oooh, wow. This is pretty heavy. I wonder how hard you could make it.
Yeah yeah, we shouldn't just throw magic around willy-nilly. I'm just gonna... You don't have a pocket do you?
Alright, fine. I'll just carry it myself."
after a brief exchange with her scarf, Crystia turns around to the others with a stupid grin on her face
"Ok, there are no secret passages here. Yet. We'll have to make one later."
Roshine would be shocked by what suddenly emerged. There was certainly nothing this...direct...in the Eatern Orthodoxy. Wait...He had heard of this before.
"I...uh...
You know what. Nevermind.
What even are you? I-"
Wait, he had heard of this before. That's right, he remembered now. The land he had been sent to, Japan as it's natives would call it. It was the land that would eventually be renamed to Izanagi's Cradle. It was a distant place and as such it never was brought up too much in his education but word still traveled. People would tell stories about how the people there rather then receiving power from their god only received the power of binding.
They would make contracts with holy and sacred spirits in order to perform on the level of bishops of other nations. That's right, on top of blasphemers and cultists they also had entities they refereed to as devils or that's at least what he had heard from rumors. Is that what was actually going on here? Sacred spirits and demons.
"Are you some sort of sacred spirit from the land of Izanagi? I guess that doesn't matter. At very least you seem less malevolent than those...devils? You are aware they were going to start sacrificing humans, right?"
Well now. This is much more up my stage.
Jhin, quickly steps down the stairs eager to find out what is beyond the golden staircase. Gun in hand, you better believe he's here to make a scene.
[B5F]
Jhin descends into what feels like an entirely different world. To his left is a main room with plush red couches and a grand piano in the center. To his right is the source of the smell: two doorways that appear to lead to a dining room and kitchen respectively. Creatures in chef outfits frantically run in and out of the kitchen. They don’t even notice Jhin as they dash by, muttering about orders lagging behind.
—-
[B4F]
“No, I am from the Expanse. I am the Divine Holy Ghost. I asked the Bennu for help finding a human body to live in, but that didn’t work out... I guess humans don’t want to die... It’d be really inconvenient for you... And I don’t think I can kill you, and I’ve never seen how becoming a Guardian works... You’d probably take control when you revive anyway. It was a foolish wish.”
The Holy Ghost’s face looks like it’s melting... no, it’s just drooping. It starts floating back upwards sadly.
Jhins eyes dart around and immediately widen at seeing the piano. Finally some class in this place. He deftly weaves in between chefs and makes his way towards the piano before settling down and rolling his fingers across the keys to get a feel for them before starting up an orchestral tune.
"Oh well, good luck mister ghost man. We've gotta find another way down."
Crystia looks at her newfound crystal ball for a bit, before shrugging and leaving the library, going straight across the hall towards the other entryway.
Akia just sighs slightly while watching the bird die, how annoying. It didn't say anything useful at all before croaking.
"Ugh, gotta love the loonies who die without even saying anything useful right? I wasn't actually gonna torture the thing, never liked that stuff... But geez, it could at least have had the decency to fear me a little bit."
As for the holy ghost over there, she'd just tilt her head a little bit while staring over at it, what a strange creature but she'll just... Let Roshine deal with it. Instead moving on and following after the artist with his move into the area past that staircase. Upon spotting him starting to play music in the midst of all these creatures, she'd simply sigh and try to stay out of sight. Preparing for a fight when they decide to take offense to his performance.
[B4F]
Crystia finds a set of stairs leading upwards in this western room. She can hear voices upstairs. They’re too quiet to hear clearly but they sound happy. Just some casual chatter.
Crystia and Roshine can hear a piano’s music coming from the northern room.
—-
[B5F]
Even demons can appreciate the fine arts. A few of the wandering demons around here have already taken seats on the couches or are lingering nearby to listen to Jhin’s performance. One of the chefs is entranced by the tune but is quickly dragged away by his coworker.
Rushed Chef: “Come on, Master Horkos will be mad if his meal isn’t ready!”
Distracted Chef: “Isn’t this the fifth one today? I feel sick just watching him eat...”
They pay no mind to Akia and run to the kitchen.
Jhin picks up on the Chef's comment before finishing his performance. Once he's done playing he would walk up to his audience before spinning and throwing rose petals into the air. Doing a gracious bow before slipping away to follow the distracted Chef
Now what do we have here...
"Another casual conversation? Here? NOw that sounds suspicious!"
with a confident grin and heavy sphere in her hands, Crystia starts running up the stairs, but as burdened as she is it doesn't take the girl long to slow down.
"Ok wow.. there are a lot of these huh Bastet?
Oh of course you think its easy."
Akia just grins a little bit and goes after the mad artist, leaving him totally alone seems... Risky to say the least, and with any luck Crystia and Roshine have stuck with each other. It'd be a major pain if they got any more split up than they already are at this point. But she can't do much besides keep alongside the man and keep her eyes open while waiting for something to inevitably go wrong.
Roshine would spread what remained of his dark green wings of light. He'd attempt to just simple fly over the stairs to reach the next floor.
"This is becoming a real pain. Spirits and cultists? Just what kind of place is this expanse. Maybe it's like some kind of underworld. Well this experience really is starting to feel like hell."
[B5F]
A round of applause follows the shower of petals. Jhin exits this “stage” in style and follows the hurried chefs with Akia tagging along. Their destination is a noisy kitchen full of overwhelming smells and gleaming silver appliances. The amount of food being prepared is comparable to that a restaurant crowd needs. Occasionally, one of the chefs peeks through a side door. Should the duo check that door, they’d see a luxurious dining room with an array of nearly empty plates. Towering at the table is a beast that’s a yellow and regal mix of dragon and pig. Its clawed feet are tucked under its body while its hands wield a fork and knife to shovel food into its tusked mouth.
Roshine descends and notices Akia and Jhin slipping into the rightmost door of this hall.
—-
[B3F]
Crystia can finally make out what’s being said just as the voices’ owners come into view: a little girl with a misty cloud for a lower body and a horse with the horns of a ram.
Girl: “Are you busy now, Mr. Horsie? Can you finally play with me?”
The horse snorts and paws at the ground.
Horned Horse: “Sorry, lassie, but I got to get back to my post. Tell ya what, I’ll get ya something nice the next time I can extort some clueless young’un.”
Girl: “Like that scarf?”
The girl points at Bastet. The horse is startled by Crystia’s sudden appearance, but lowers his head and glares.
Horned Horse: “Yeah... Maybe I can get ya that present now, lassie.”
“I’ll have you know Extortion’s a crime dummy!”
Crystia boldly declares as she gets off the top step, Bastet curling defensively around its user
“And if you’re trying to get Bastet that must mean you’re with Apophis! We won’t show any mercy to his evil goons, Bastet!”
For once Bastet and Crystia seem to be on the same page, with Crystia running towards the strange horse, stopping a few feet short so Bastet can fashion its end into a pointed tip, harden it into a spear, and thrust into the horse.
Noticing Akia join him, Jhin nudges her a little, and picks up numerous forks in each hand before entering the door with the beast by throwing the doors open with a flourish of his arms for a dramatic entrance. Covering his mask with knives in each of his fingers. Flashing them to make sure attention is on him before he begins to speak
Greetings! I. Am the famous performer. Khada Jhin. I have traveled the lands in search of a patron to my arts. May I ask for your name?
[B3F]
Horned Horse: “Apo-what?”
That’s all the horse gets out before he’s promptly stabbed by Bastet. It snorts and rears up to stomp the ground. The moment its hooves hit the floor, a green whirlwind will roar towards Crystia.
The ghostly girl decides to aid “Mr. Horsie” by sending out a red pulse of light. Crystia and Bastet can feel their offensive power weaken. Bastet can tell it’s a spell similar to the agility-lowering spell the birds used.
—-
[B5F]
The pig demon slams down his utensils and glares down at this human that dared intrude upon his meal, but Jhin’s stylish introduction is enough to pacify him for now. He starts sawing at a steak with his knife as he speaks.
“I am Horkos, ruler of this world. A traveling performer you say? Ohoho! I could use some entertainment down here!”
Horkos’s voice is deep and booming. Even Roshine can hear it coming from one of the doorways.
Roshine would sigh before walking up to the room, trying not to make any noise. He would simply peer in, trying to determine if he even should bother with whatever was going on.
"you can't fool me!"
Bastet moves to anchor Crystia to the ground, doing little to actually help the girl weather the storm as their offense is weakened. Despite receiving several cuts, Crystia seems as cheerful as ever, running straight for the horse.
"If you know Bastet you have to be working for her evil counterpart. And evil must be vanquished!"
Bastet lashes out to wind around one of the horse's legs and rapidly tighten and harden itself in an attempt to crush its leg, hoping to both do damage and hurt the demon's agility
Meanwhile, Crystia lifts the heavy crystal ball she'd been carrying around and slam it down on the demon as a makeshift weapon.
While we await our artist, a small update couldn’t hurt.
The thing about horses is that breaking legs is very very bad for them. Especially when coupled with a crystal ball to the head. The horned horse tips to the side and hits the ground hard. Crystia hears a giggle from behind.
Girl: “Ooh, you wanna play rough! Let’s play tag then!”
The girl reaches out to Crystia. Though her hand would pass right through, its mere touch would leave a chill like frostbite on the very soul.