All Becomes Grey [IN CHARACTER THREAD] [ROLEPLAY] [POSSIBLE MATURE CONTENT]

[Eruantien]

[Lexia's Farm | Time XX:XX]

Sylvia ignored the man, flipping through her book until she came to a page with unknown scrawlings. Goblin perhaps? The next two pages contained similar markings, so she'd guess so. Craning her neck, she mouthed a silent prayer for the 3, wishing them peace. This wouldn't be the first time a part of the departed was found in her book. Her understanding of precisely how it worked was marginal at best, but the least she could do was see them off with a proper prayer.

Wandering over to the ashes of the third goblin, Fiona fashioned a shovel head out of light at the end of her sceptre. In a moment, she had buried the remains underground, and all that was visible was a bit of upturned dirt. She gave a slight nod to the east, and murmured, "Thanks for the compost." Fiona returned the sceptre to her side, and made her way to Lexia. After she had assured herself that there were no major injuries, Fiona finally turned to the fat man. "I don't have a clue who you are, but at least you should have some sense of decency. These," and here she gestured to the dirt that held the remains, "these creatures disturbed us much earlier than usual. Best hope your army can wait for my morning meal." Fiona turned on her heel and shambled into the treehouse, muttering as she left, "So hungry..."

The man grumbled. Then frowned. Then grumbled again. Finally, he handed out 3 wyrm meat sandwiches, which he had obviously intended to eat himself. "You'll get a proper meal when you get there, but we have to go. You can eat as we walk."

Lexia ignored the man for now, grabbing a few clumps of moss from her tree. She went to each goblin grave in turn, put a clump of moss on it, then blessed the moss so it would grow faster. The moss quickly took hold and within a few minutes enveloped the mounds. The moss would help with decomposition, and would also help to spread the nutrients around rather than keeping them in that one clump. Lexia then went to the man as Fiona stormed away and said, "Sorry about her. She's not exactly a morning person." She glanced over at Sylvia, doing her usual post-battle ritual.. "I'll go fetch Fiona, We'll leave as soon as Sylvia's done with her prayers." The man offered her a wyrm sandwich, which Lexia declined. "Sorry, I don't eat meat. I'll get an apple from my tree on the way."

After a short minute or two, Sylvia walked over to the portly stranger, keeping a fair distance of about 4 meters. "D-did you just say the front lines," asked Sylvia timidly, her soft voice difficult to hear over the distance? "I'd be honored..." Sylvia's eyes constantly dodged the man's gaze, as if meeting them would physically harm her. Instead her eyes fell on the sandwhich being offered, "um...no thank you. I-I'm not very hungry," she lied, more for the sake of keeping her distance than anything.

Inside the treehouse, Fiona was sitting on a small footstool, carved directly from the tree's body, absentmindedly munching on a soft bun. The front lines... where are they in front of? Pssht, anyway, who has a meeting at this unearthly hour? She sighed. I know, I know, it's for the town. Ooh, I wonder if they have any cool weapons... She finished her meager meal, surprised that she hadn't actually been too hungry after all. I guess it's for the best, Fiona thought, gazing out a framed window toward the sunrise.

The man seemed quite happy to keep the sandwiches, and he wolfed down the ones he had left, but then he seemed to remember something, and started waving his arms around frantically. "We're really, really late!" he shouted.

Lexia walked up to her tree, putting a hand on its bark. She asked it for a few apples. The tree obliged, with the help of Lexia's magik. She took the apples inside, and tossed one to Fiona. "For energy. I have a feeling today's gonna get even busier than it already has been. Now come on. The silly man seems to be in a bit of a hurry."

Catching the apple gratefully and biting down, Fiona gazed back and Lexia, considering her for a few moments. Then she sighed again. Yielding to Lexia's advice, Fiona rose and followed her back outside, where the pudgy man was hopping from one foot to the next in impatience. "Well... ready to go, I guess." Fiona twirled her scepter, and stuck it under one arm. "Lead the way."

Sylvia watched as Lexia went off to grab Fiona. She came far more willingly than expected, Sylvia had imagined Fiona needing to be forcefully dragged, but maybe she just didn't have the energy this early? As they returned, Lexia extended her arm, holding an apple, which Sylvia happily grabbed. "Thank you," Sylvia said, digging into the apple with surprising speed. "I'm ready, I guess."

The man hurried off with them, him running, and the rest having to jog occasionally. Eventually, they reached a large building, containing various people, many of whom seemed to be new recruits. One of the men in the room, who owned a sword that the three young women instantly recognised as a weapon grown with magik, addressed the fat man that they had been brought there by. "Thank you very much for bringing them here, despite being late, I must thank you for doing me such a favour. Now I hope you'll understand, but this meeting is only for fighters on the front lines."
"Of course." The fat man said, bowing respectfully and exiting. The man gestured for the three women to take their seats.

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

<5:32>
<Front Line Base: Home>

Once everyone had taken their seats, a shadow flew along the floor, and formed into a human being, in less than a single second. The man had dark brown hair, and dark reddish-brown eyes. Below his nose, his entire face was covered by a cloak of crawler skin, that fell down his back, in a kind of cape. If anyone was to look carefully, they would notice slightly green and purple scars, slightly protruding from the mask of skin and fur he wore. He wore a leather top, with a dark leather strap running over his right shoulder, and down to his left side. This strap held on a large bow, and a quiver full of arrows. Both the bow and the arrows glowed slightly purple. He wore shorts, for maximum movement, and sandals on his feet. Few people actually knew his real name, but he was famous in the town. In fact, he was one of the two people that essentially ran it. He was known simply by one of two names. The Spider Hunter, or The Shadow Hunter. He spoke in a deep voice, muffled by the crawler skin, but he spoke loudly to counteract it. "I mustn't waste time here, so I'll be quick. I personally take it upon myself to welcome every new recruit. Welcome to the front lines. Your life here starts anew." He noticed a slight smirk from Scivoloso. "Yes, even the criminals. Of course we send you on the most dangerous missions, someone has to do them, and you haven't exactly proven your worth, but 7 in 10 criminals survive to grow in rank. Also, you are not to be treated as criminals by your fellow fighters while on the front lines. If they do, then they must join you. It is criminal to sabotage even the lowest rank of the military, by treating them badly on the job. Your first raid will be in two groups, a goblin camp, and an ork camp. On this mission, the lowest ranked people here will be given a mission of the rank above them. If you are to show an excellent performance in this mission, you can be instantly promoted. If not, you will then receive the more dangerous missions. We will have two groups today, one attacking a goblin camp, and one attacking an ork camp. Violet and Palavalo, you shall lead the groups that you originally intended to bring here, along with Linessa, against the ork camp." Violet looked like she was going to protest, but then she thought better of it. Palavalo, the red-haired man sighed, but nodded. "Seicho and Calhoun, you will be leading the groups you originally intended to bring here against the goblin camp." Seicho, the strong-looking nature mage nodded, and Calhoun simply looked bored. "Your captains shall receive a map." The man picked up four scrolls, and dropped into the floor as a shadow. Four hands of darkness placed the scrolls next to the captains, and then he was already back. "Now, there's food in the dining hall." He said, waving at a door to his left. "You may eat." He sunk into the floor again, and flew away, under the front door. The captains, obviously used to this, stood and led their groups to a large hall. Along each side were large tables. The people raiding the goblin camp were led to one, and the people raiding the ork camp led to the other. "You must get to know each other, to be ready for the battle ahead. To know each other's strengths and weaknesses, to fight as a team." announced Seicho. He then sat back down. The food was simple. Laid out on the table were slices of bread, cheese, meat, lettuce and tomato, for people to make something that their dietary requirements allowed them to eat. There was also a large bowl of fruit on each table.

 

[RJS]

Cait barely paid attention throughout the speech. It didn't matter. They would take her somewhere, and she would kill. A little pet monster to choke them from their homes. Everything beyond that was unnecessary. She didn't even listen as to where they were going - she had no doubt that if she were going the wrong way she would be dragged otherwise. And so it was, with the wind woman ordering them over to a table. She sat, grabbed some bread and meat, and sat staring into space as she ate. She failed to acknowledge those sat with her, and proceeded to ignore the call for sociability.

 

[Eruantien]

Chuck went in front of the group as he was hungry, once he got in the room, Chuck looked at the table and picked two slices of bread, one of meat, one of cheese and two of tomatoes and quickly made himself a sandwich. While eating it, he looked at the other people.

Sylvia kept her distance as she followed everyone inside. Unfortunately for her, the seat next to her sister was taken as a result. Her eyes gazed longingly at the seat next to Fiona, before finally forcing herself to sit elsewhere. Awkwardly, she claimed a spot next to a well built man enjoying a sandwich. Her giant tome was placed on her lap as she focused on making herself a sandwich of her own, hoping no one would try speaking to her.

As Chuck made himself another sandwich he observed the cute girl with a giant tome claiming a spot next to him. Sylvia noticed his eyes on her from the corner of her own vision and a great feeling of discomfort spread over her face. She was already as far away as the seat would allow, and tried to increase the apparent distance by looking away as she started on her first sandwich. Chuck saw that the girl looked away, and thought that maybe he'd bothered her.

"Sorry, if I bothered you," he told the cute girl. Sylvia finished swallowing the bite of her sandwich before halfway looking in his direction to answer. "No. I mean, um...you're fine," she replied timidly, before taking another bite."Ok?" Chuck answered while being confused. Chuck then continued eating while still being slightly confused.

"You look cute by the way," he told the girl."What is your name? Mine is Chuck." Sylvia barely managed to keep herself from gagging on the sandwich, letting out a noticable, internal cough. Taking a moment to properly swallow the bite, she turned back to Chuck with a unusually red face and stared at him for an awkwardly long moment before speaking. "Sylvia, I-I'm Sylvia," she stuttered out in response.

"Mind if I call you Sylvi?" Chuck asked."If you want to..." Sylvia almost whispered in response.

SLAM. The table shook as Fiona's plate crashed down onto it. Squeezing herself in between her twin and the man beside her, Fiona reached out to steady the dangerously rattling fruit bowl. She glared at 'Chuck', and shunted an elbow into his side roughly. "Move over," Fiona said to him, in a tone that was cool, yet allowed for no argument. She hoisted herself onto the bench, in the middle of Sylvia and Chuck. Then, Fiona peered up at Chuck again, and said firmly to him, "Learn your manners... don't bother people who haven't yet had their breakfast." She glared at him once more, then turned to her sister brightly. "Here, Sylvi, I brought you some grapefruit!" She passed the globe of red fruit over to her sister, and then fell upon her own monstrous creation: a breakfast sandwich to rival those of legend. Sylvia took the succulent orb and began to eat it contentedly.

Although Chuck didn't like it, he moved over. Then he continued eating, while being slightly annoyed by what happened. He went through worse things, this was nothing.

Fiona gave a small sigh. There were scary people in the world, it was true, and it was her sworn duty to protect her sister. Still... anybody who'd been recruited by the fat man and his associates was unlikely to be a threat, at least if they could behave themselves. But, this was the first time the Asphodels had left Lexia's treehouse for a number of weeks, and Fiona needed to ensure that she'd stick by Sylvi in case any real trouble arose. Fiona stifled a yawn as she again bit into her sandwich. She looked up, and glanced around the crowded room, wondering where Lexia had disappeared to.

Lexia had slipped out after the speech, and ran back home. There were a few things she forgot there. First, she needed to get some moss from her tree to give her a mental link back to it, as well as to use for in-field burials, like she had done for the gobbles that had attacked the farm that morning. She also went inside and got Arkus, her rat, and ran back to the hall, where she burst in, giant rat in tow. She went straight to Fiona and Sylvia and sat down across from Fiona, Arkus hopping straight on Lexia's lap. "Sorry I'm late. Forgot to bring the old furball." She grabbed a fruit from a nearby bowl and handed it to Arkus, who happily gobbled it up.

When Chuck saw the green haired girl's entrance he wondered why she was running, but when he saw the giant rat, he got disgusted. "Can you put the rat somewhere where it's harder to see?" he asked her.

"Can you put your face somewhere where it's harder to see?" She responded. "My face went through worse things then your rat." Chuck responded."You're probably right. I spoil him rotten." "Then you can probably put him on the floor until I finish eating," Chuck said while holding his 5th sandwich in his left hand.

Lexia grabbed a small clump of moss from her chestplate and flicked it onto Chuck's sandwich. The moss quickly spread and overtook it entirely within a minute. "Oh, it looks like you've finished." Chuck channeled his anger in his hand and burned the sandwich. "If you don't want your freakin' rat to be next, you'll put it on the floor!" He angrily responded to what the green haird girl did. Lexia seemed entirely unphased by his attempt at intimidation. She just sat there stroking Arkus. "Where's a dagger when you need one," Chuck said making sure the girl would've heard what he said.

Sylvia watched the back-and-forth display from the edge of her seat, occasionally taking a bite from the grapefruit, peel and all. Juicy and sweet. Basically the opposite of the conversation that was occurring in front of her. Before she knew it, they had already begun to make threats of violence. Without looking overly concerned, she placed the fruit down and grabbed the book from her lap, flipping through until she found the page she was looking for. The book made a small flash, signifying that she was ready to cast the appropriate spell if things got out of hand. That having been done, Sylvia returned to eating her grapefruit.

With the corner of his eye Chuck noticed a flash of light, it came from Sylvi's book. "Sylvi, what was that?" He said while making himself yet another sandwich. "My book,"S ylvia replied bluntly, still watching that side of the table for any sort of hostilities. "Nice book you got there," Chuck said after taking a bite from his sandwich. "...thank you," Sylvia responded, taking a bite of her own out of the fruit, which was nearly gone at this point.

Fiona's eyes glinted, but she didn't say a word. Honestly, what is this dude's problem? She was thankful for Lexia's presence, at least, even though Chuck didn't seem to have been put off from his advances. Fiona scooted forward on her seat to try and block Chuck's view of Sylvi. Her mind was slightly disturbed, and the words of Seicho the nature mage returned to her: "You must get to know each other, to be ready for the battle ahead. To know each other's strengths and weaknesses, to fight as a team."
Pffft. I really hope they put some consideration into this 'group'. We'd be able to take any dirty old goblins any day, without the bustling of this nincompoop over here. Fiona sighed through her mouth, filled with lettuce. She swallowed, and without turning her head, asked Chuck, "Tell us, what sorts of magic do you use?"

"I use fire magic," Chuck answered. Fiona recalled the charred, mossy remains of Chuck's previous sandwich. "I see," she intoned blankly after a moment. "But how do you use it? Like, do you have any special attacks or useful spells that you think we should know about?" "When I get angry in a fight, I can channel my anger around my fist to create a flame that is damaging for my enemies. I also can create a shield of fire around someone, and can create a fire around someone to temporarily destroy their armor." After saying this Chuck took a bite of his sandwich. "What magic do you use?" He asked. Without responding at first, Fiona retrieved her scepter, which had been resting on her lap. She held it up, and ignited it into a blazing dagger made of pure light. Using the blade to cut another grapefruit down the middle, Fiona explained, "I wield light magic. It has many uses..."

"I see..." Chuck responded "Very interesting." Fiona fell silent again as she tucked in to her fruit. She kept looking around the other adventurers present, but didn't really find any of them particularly interesting. There were several heated discussions going on at a few tables, but nothing seemed to be out of order. One of the other leaders, Scio-something-oreo, had joined a nearby table and seemed to be talking with another group. Fiona briefly considered trying to get his attention, before she thought better of it. He looks a bit grim. I'll just wait for that Seicho dude to come back. I want to find out more details of the mission, but I'm not leaving the girls yet.

Chuck looked at the green-haired girl. "And you rat-lover? What magic do you use?" He asked her. For the second time that morning, the table shook; Fiona had slammed her sceptre onto it and pulled herself up to stand on the bench, towering over Chuck's head. In an instant, the dagger's blade coming from Fiona's sceptre had changed into a many-pointed mace, although she was holding it offside. "Nobody speaks to Lexia like that!" Fiona shouted at Chuck. "Apologize," she stated with an ugly look on her face, and gripped the mace menacingly.

"I'll apologize when she'll put that disgusting rat down!" He shouted at the girl. There was a blaze of light, and Fiona now held a large, steel-blue scythe over her shoulder. Through gritted teeth, Fiona shot back, "Disgusting?! You're disgusting!! Creeping on girls, throwing insults out of nowhere, and generally being a jerk!" "I'm a jerk because you make me be one!"

At that moment, Lexia summoned two vines from the fruit she was holding and used them as an extra long pair of arms. She used these to push Chuck and Fiona away from each other. "That's enough." she said. "Fiona, he may be a jerk, but he's a jerk we have to work with. As for you, I'll have you know that Arkus here is quite clean. I take him to a holy mage every month to make sure he has no diseases and bathe him at least once a week. This is the cleanest giant rat you will ever see. And to answer your previous question, I'm a nature mage. I summon vines and brambles of thorns, and I can talk to and bless plants and I can charm hostile creatures into fighting for me." She retracted the vines and handed the now utterly destroyed apple to Arkus. "Now I hope you two can play nice or else I don't think we'll last too long in the field."

When Chuck heard the words "holy magic", his anger grew as he remembered of that day. The day he tried to revive his mother with a holy magic spell, and the result was his mother's corpse burning. "Holy mage? That holy magic they use did more bad things to me, than good things." Chuck angrily said.

Fiona's balance had been upset, and she had landed on her rear onto the floor. She listened, seething, the scythe still upon her shoulder. Lexi's turn to handle things...

"Okay, I'll bite. How exactly has holy magic wronged you so much that merely a passing mention of a holy mage sets you off?" "After seeing my dad die, I decided to learn how to use holy magic to not feel as helpless as I did seeing him die. Four years later I find my mother dead, her blood splashed everywhere and her throat torn out. I tried to use a spell that was supposed to revive someone. It burned her corpse," Chuck angrily answered.

Sylvia clung to her book as the clear hatred of holy magic was made apparent. There was once a time where she might've cried, but she had grown since then, and reigned it into a 'hurt' expression. "Holy magic isn't something to experiment with," she spoke from experience, uncharacteristically firm in this statement. "It can do so much good, but only if you use it carefully," she trailed off again. Realising everyone was looking at her, she averted her own gaze to the table.

"If only the asshat that taught me holy magic told me that!" Chuck shouted. Sylvia continued looking down as she spoke apologetically, "I'm sorry for your loss...at least now you know, right?" "And how is knowing this helpful to me?" Sylvia replied, "so you won't make that mistake again." "It's not a mistake, it's a sin. A sin that flows in the blood of every holy mage since the idea of reviving someone using holy magic appeared. And it's not like I can use holy magic anymore, since that day I've been unable to cast holy magic spells!" Chuck shouted in response.

Sylvia merely sat and took the insult; there was a lot about this situation that reminded her of her father. Holy magic is weak. Holy magic is evil. Honestly she was used to these kinds of accusations, and her mind had grown numb to them by now. "If you're that insistent, then I won't heal you." She spoke softly, a far cry away from tears, but still clearly a bit upset, or maybe disappointed.

"So," Chuck said while looking at Calhoun, "where is the closest thing no one cares if I burn it?"

"Right there." Calhoun says through a mouthful of meat, pointing at Chuck.

Chuck sat there, motionless, staring at Calhoun. He decided to finish eating his sandwich, and after that he made himself another sandwich while continuing staring at Calhoun.

Sylvia stared wide-eyed at her captain, astonished at the behavior. There was a part of her that was disgusted with it, but there was equally powerful part of her that appreciated the justice that was just delivered. Even so, the tense atmosphere was making her really uncomfortable. "I-I hope we can be a good team," she spouted her peace offering to the table in general, only making the situation even more awkward.

Calhoun started saying, "Ugh, there's no need for team-" But he was interrupted by Seicho slamming his fist down onto the table. His so far peaceful face had been replaced by one of anger. "Yes there is. So stop arguing and being dicks, and get the hell along."
"Hear, hear." mumbled the quiet dark-skinned boy through his sandwich.

 

[Someone Else 37]

Nahiri sat done some distant from Cait as it didn't seem like she wanted to talk. She wondered how the others of her group were while she made her sandwich, the name Linessa did ring a bell but she was unsure who Linessa was. Perhaps she did some smithing for her in the past?

Linessa listened through the Spider Hunter's introduction, taking mental notes along the way. The front lines? Raiding an orc camp? Great... Linessa had never fancied herself as much of a front-lines sort of person; she'd much rather hang back, clear away obstacles, push incoming projectiles off-course, and so on. But, she was here and in no position to complain about it, so best just do what was asked.

Linessa fixed a sandwich, then sat down next to Nahiri, recognizing her as the blacksmith's apprentice. "Hello", she said, and took a bite of the sandwich.

"Hey" Nahiri answered. "You must be Linessa?" Nahiri definitely recognized her but again failed to remember from what exactly.

"I am indeed," answered Linessa. "Say, what sort of magic do you use? I know you work with the smith, but you never really seemed like the fire-mage type to me."

Nahiri seemed indeed right by thinking she knows Linessa from somwhere, or at the very least Linessa knows her. "I'm indeed not a fire-mage, I wield lightning magic." Nahiri grabbed one of her Hedrons before continuing "Though I use it to charge these machines rather then throwing it blindly at people." Though the Hedrons weren't fully done in Nahiri's eyes she had to admit she was proud of creating them and as such didn't mind talking about it especially now that having Linessa know about them could help them later on

"That makes sense, I guess. I don't know about blindly throwing magic, but I do throw these." Linessa pulls a damp shuriken out of her pouch and holds it up. "I'm a wind mage. I've found that I can use my magic to propel these pretty efficiently. It works well- they don't weigh much and have a lot of surface area for the air to grab onto. You and your father do a pretty good job of making them."

Dubhan held himself much in the same way Cait, paying little attention as he awaited to be sent to killing some more orks, it'd be just like every other time he'd done so, save for having to deal with more "allies", most likely getting in his way.
He didn't eat quite in the same way as others. grabbing a piece of bread in his right hand, he held it and it gradually withered before him, becoming little more than dust. He did the same several times, and stopped when he felt that he had had enough. He did not converse, did not look around the room, simply waited, staring at the wall as he had done for so long, once.

"Thank you" Nahiri happily replied with to the compliment. "So, you use your magic to effect the speed and direction of them? That is an intresting way to use your magik, probably an effective one as well. I always like it when people use their magic in intresting ways, and though the idea of using wind to throw things isn't that special I will admit that the fact that you went ahead and searched for a projectile optimal for this purpose gives a nice touch to the idea, especially as not many use shurikens. I am intrested to see what you can do with them."

"Well, I suspect you'll see that first hand soon enough." Linessa returned the shuriken to its pouch, stacking it neatly among the others. She made a mental note to air them out sometime- don't want them to rust, after all- and returned to eating her sandwich.

"So." Scivoloso said to Dubhan through a mouthful of his sandwich. "What made you kill your dad?"

"I displeased him by becoming an earth mage, not a holy mage like he wanted. For this, he locked me in his church's cellar until I "saw the light". The pitch black darkness and the weakness that overcame me withered my soul until all was gone from it, and all I knew was blackness. My darkened soul was found there by magik equally dark, until it was all of me. I carved a sigil in the door, similar to my hand, and when next he opened it, I used it to rend his life energy from his body, and absorbed it entirely, walking from the cellar whole again, leaving him dead.
"But that is not why I am a criminal, no. If you were to go to that village, where all there loved their god Arawn and loved my father as their spiritual leader, you would find only the bones of the village, slain. That is why I have been thrown in, with you, the ones expected to die first.
"Did that answer your question?"
Throughout the entirety of Dubhan's monologue. He drew no emotion from this story, no anguish, no anger. To him, it was resolved, by the death of those he killed. He stared unblinkingly, unsettlingly so, into Scivoloso's eyes, waiting for his answer.

Scivoloso looked at him for a few seconds, then leaned back. "Huh. Well, takes more to piss you off than me I suppose." Scivoloso resumed eating his sandwich.

A whole village... dead... Nahiri thought by herself as she tried to wrap her head around what she just heard. Of course she felt bad for Dubhan for what happened to him but still...

She then heard Scivoloso's reaction, does she even want to know what he had done? Nahiri put her food down, she was done eating, her hunger spoiled by what she just learned.

Linessa continued chewing on her sandwich for a bit, while the hooded man's story sunk in. He destroyed his entire village? Granted, locking one's own son in the cellar to die, just for using the wrong kind of magic, was unthinkable to her, but... It doesn't really matter at this point, she supposed. What's done is done, and he's now serving his punishment simply by being here, drafted into Pert's militia and sent on this mission.

Linessa finished her sandwich, then looked up at Dubhan and Scivoloso and broke the silence, posing an open question to them both: "So, what sort of magic do you use?"

Dubhan looked up at Linessa, answering plainly with "Dark."

"Water, but I don't use it like those other shit mages. I use it like shadow magik." Scivoloso replied, sneering as he mentioned other water mages.

"How do you use it then?" Linessa asked in response.

"I can turn into a liquid, I can trap people in water, and I can attack people with water. I got unlucky with my magik, so I turned it into shadow magik." Scivoloso said.

Linessa nodded. A bit of an unusual way to use water magic, sure, but if it works, it works.

She then turned to the only recruit at the table who had yet to speak. "What about you? What magic do you use?"

Cait blinked as she turned to face the one who had spoken to her. The blue haired mage was looking expectantly at her. Magic? There was only one way to describe her spells. "Death. My magic slowly chokes the life out of those in the vicinity, before I dominate their souls to use as I will." A slow, sinister smile crept onto her face at the thought of slowly squeezing the life out of a whole community of orks, made more disconcerting by the blank unblinking stare with which she fixed the mage. "It is magic well suited to the genocide we will perpetrate." She turned away, finishing her meal before staring vacantly into space once more.

Linessa wasn't entirely sure how to respond to the woman's description. That sort of magic was nothing she had ever used or even been in contact with to any great extent. The way she said it, seeming to enjoy the thought of doing such horrible things, further put Linessa off. Best not get on this one's nerves. Or in her way, for that matter.

Linessa replied only with a slightly overwhelmed "Okay..." before putting the death mage's thoughts of genocide out of her mind for the moment and turning to ask the other two captains at the table the same question: "What about you? What is your magic?"

"Wind." said Violet simply.
"I trap and blind others with light, and my eyes are enhanced by light." Palavalo stated.

Linessa nodded and said "I see," apparently content with the captains' responses. She then fell silent, trying to memorize what the others had said about their magic.

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

<6:12>
<Food Hall>

"Alright that's enough, I'm bored." Calhoun announced, standing up. "We're going to the front lines now. If you wanted to say goodbye to your family, too fucking bad, we're going now. We'll go together, with both squadrons working together before we split up. Any resistance encountered will be absolutely crushed while we are together, but later we may need to be more cautious. However, no casualties are expected on this mission, it should be an easy purge. Now, let's go." The black teenager stood up so quickly that he almost knocked over his chair backwards. Seicho rose soon after, and waved forward his and Calhoun's team. "Let's go." Violet and Palavalo rose a few seconds later. "Come on, let's get this over with." said Palavalo.

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

<Food Hall>
Everyone stood up to follow their respective captains. Calhoun seemed to be the only captain who was really looking forward to what was to come, and Siunaus followed dutifully behind him. The other captains were close behind, but they didn't seem enthusiastic at all. Scivoloso seemed slightly more excited than before now that he was actually going on a mission. They stepped outside and began to walk.
<The Forest Entrance>
A young looking ork was walking around outside the edge of the forest. Upon spotting the group, the ork's eyes widened, and it began to run away. "We cannot allow him to warn the others!" said Seicho.
"Everyone, watch carefully, and don't intervene. We'll show you how we do things here." Palavalo said lazily. Wind began to circle around Violet, and she waved her hand, the young ork flying up into the air towards everyone. "Look away!" shouted Palavalo, as he summoned a ball of light, sending it flying up into the air. The following light was so bright that even though everyone looked away, they could still see the light shining around them intensely. The ork squealed and flailed its arms, covering its eyes. Calhoun flicked his arm up, sending a large fireball flying towards the ork, exploding, burning its skin. Finally, Seicho smashed his sword into the falling ork incredibly hard, shattering his sword and splitting the ork into two pieces as it slammed into the ground. Seicho sheathed his sword, and it began to rapidly grow back into shape. He bowed at the dead ork in respect, then waved his hand, moss quickly disguising its dead body. He wiped a mixture of blood and a little sweat off of his head, then turned to the group. "Okay, this is where we split up. We'll give you a few minutes to make sure you're fully ready for the fight ahead." The captains began to pull out their maps, reviewing the journey ahead.

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

Spoiler

Name: Violet
Age: ???
Magiks: Wind
Appearance (picture or description):
Personality: Hates dark magik, bitchy.
Backstory: ???
Equipment: None
Stats (4? total):

Health: ???
Armour: ???
Agility: ???
Strength: ???
Accuracy: 4
Magical skill: ???
Magical defence: ???

Magical abilities (3 total):

Wind slam: Magik attack. If enemy targeted has not yet taken their turn, their turn is moved to last in the turn order. Damage is dealt only at the start of the attacked character's turn. 1 turn cooldown.

Whirlwind barrier: ???

???

Name: Seicho
Age: ???
Magiks: Nature
Appearance (picture or description):
Personality: Usually calm, dedicated to his work, honours dead enemies.
Backstory: Perhaps some reason to take his job so seriously?
Equipment: A sword grown out of wood.
Stats (13? total):

Health: ???
Armour: ???
Agility: ???
Strength: 8
Accuracy: 5
Magical skill: ???
Magical defence: ???

Magical abilities (3 total):

Havrocos Cauteros: ???

???

Shattering blade: Make an attack with 1.5 times strength. Strength is halved for the next turn. 2 turn cooldown.

Name: Palavalo
Age: ???
Magiks: Light
Appearance (picture or description):
Personality: Laid back, uncaring about working with murderers, a little lazy.
Backstory: ???
Equipment:
Stats (10? total):

Health: ???
Armour: ???
Agility: ???
Strength: ???
Accuracy: 10
Magical skill: ???
Magical defence: ???

Magical abilities (3 total):

???

Burning light: Everyone on the enemy team misses their turn if they are hit with this attack. 1 turn cooldown.

???

 

[Someone Else 37]

Linessa was largely disgusted by the captains' display. Sure, the orkling could not be allowed to warn the others and jeopardize their future mission, that much was obvious; and intellectually, she could appreciate how well the captains worked together, combining their abilities for maximum effect... but did they really need to make such a spectacle out of it? Any one of them could have incapacitated the ork with no trouble, if not slain it outright. If Linessa was going to be subjected to as much overkill for the duration of her time in the militia, she was not looking forward to it. It was possible, she supposed, that the captains had performed this display just this once, as it was the first time they'd run into an enemy with the new recruits... but even then, the ease with which they'd done it bothered her.

Linessa kept quiet and followed Violet and Palavalo as they led the way toward... wherever they were going, the prospects of her future weighing heavily on her mind.

 

[Eruantien]

Showoffs. Fiona shook her head in consternation, but she was mildly impressed in spite of her misgivings. This Pavlov person seemed to be skilled in light magic; Fiona wondered if, perhaps, he'd be willing to show her a few techniques sometime. She glanced around to satisfy herself that Chuck was nowhere near her sister at present, then meandered towards the map-wielding leaders. Fiona approached Calhoun (He's our captain, right..? I got a bit mixed up in the scuffling...) and tentatively posed a question to him. "Where are we headed?" She gestured widely at the forest's boughs in front of them. The cicadas would be out soon... but another, more worrying thought had crossed Fiona's mind - the captains' display of magic was likely to have attracted the attention of hostile monsters, and Fiona knew all too well the possible outcomes of a battle.

 

[RJS]

Cait wandered along, seeming more like a piece of debris caught in the current than a conscious, alert human. She drifted with the group as they approached the forest, head tilted slightly to the left and eyes vacant. She felt a slight tremor from the ground and channelled a little magik to confirm it. The war had been here many a time, and beneath their feet countless bodies lay, resonating with the eerie cadence of her own power. She would have no shortage of puppets this day.

The first she knew of the ork was when a bright flash filled the sky as she still stared out the ground. Raising her head, she saw a smouldering corpse crash down to earth. The familiar little trickle of warmth spread into her chest even as moss grew over the body. A pointless gesture. Wasteful and meaningless. She heard the instruction, and her head slowly turned to face the woman who had dragged her here in the first place. A faint hint of a smirk began to cross her face as she spoke.

"I trust you will have no issue with my methods after bringing me all this way. After all, since we are going to turn homes into abattoirs, it might as well be done properly."

 

[the_j485]

Dubhan marched along with the others, a steady pace as he kept his head forwards and paid little heed to anything more than the mission. He could sense this was a dark place, like Cait, though he didn't know why as she did.
The show put on by their commanders did little to impress Dubhan - he already had a rough idea what they were capable of, and it was only one lone ork.
He made his way closer to those he'd been grouped with, and listened as Cait evidently was just trying to needle Violet by reminding her of her use of dark magik on corpses. Perhaps the woman disapproved of it, he speculated silently, little else filling his mind save for expectation of the battles ahead.

 

[Lumaceon]

Sylvia followed the group at the largest distance possible that could still be considered "in the group." She infinitely preferred to watch and listen rather than speak or have attention on her. Luckily, all eyes were on the commanders as they made a show of their battle prowess. After it was over, she found herself harboring a newfound respect for Seicho, as he gave proper respect to his foe and made a hasty sort of 'burial'.

Truthfully, aside from Seicho, Sylvia enjoyed the silent company the two dark mages from the other group. Quiet, kept to themselves, yet they appeared to have a fair amount of experience in combat. That was appreciable, even if the lot of them looked like they were carrying the world on their shoulders. Still, trusting a dark mage is a good way to get backstabbed; best keep a distance from them. Sylvia gripped her book tightly, ready for whatever might lie ahead.

 

[RealKC]

Chuck moved along with the group.

The captains' attack on the ork impressed him a little, they were pretty good at working as a team, however that was only one ork, and he had killed more. Maybe if Calhoun didn't angered him earlier, he would've complimented them, not that it would've been a serious compliment, it would've probably been a joke-compliment. Chuck decided to go and look for Seicho and follow, Calhoun was too much of a jerk in his mind and he didn't really like being close to that light mage that liked playing with light scythes.

 

[lenscas]

After seeing the performance of the captains Nahiri had the feeling that she was more needed back home then here for this mission as the captains seemed more then capable of killing and then she didn't even think about Dubhan who supposedly killed an entire village. A cold shiver ran over Nahiri's spine as that thought came up.

Meanwhile, she couldn't directly help except for charging the Hedron's which weren't finished anyway and then there is Darien who now that she is gone is fighting against that voice alone. It was always an dificult fight for him but now with her here and going into battle Nahiri doesn't even want to think about how difficult it must be for Darien.

 

[goreae]

Lexia stopped by the makeshift grave and gave the moss a quick blessing before rejoining the group. The ruthless might of these mages left her rather overwhelmed. The way violet was able to knock the ork off its feet with a wave of a hand, how the relatively uninterested palavalo was still able to create a light that seemed bright enough to still be burning in her vision despite looking away and covering her eyes, Calhoun doing seemingly fatal damage with a single move, and the raw power of Seicho's blow. But out of everything, she was most overwhelmed with the sheer brutal force of these mages. No hesitation, no mercy, no remorse. They killed that ork, that person, as if they had been squashing an ant. And as far as Lexia knew, all he ever did was be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had a feeling it was going to get worse before it got better.

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

<6:33>
<The Forest Entrance>

"That way." Calhoun said, pointing forwards and to the left, with an annoyed expression on his face. "Pay closer attention, the less you pay attention, the more likely you are to die. This is a warzone sweetie, bad grades in my classes isn't the punishment for not paying attention here."

Meanwhile Violet was replying to Cait. "Yes, I have a problem with your methods. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not the biggest fan of your fucking shitty type of magik, and to be honest, I'm not sure you can do anything properly."

"Alright, time is up everyone. Now there's one very important thing for you all to remember. We live in a world of savagery. There is no time to mourn for their dead. I doubt you will learn that yet, but as the fights go on, and friends die around you, you'll realise that. Let's get this over with." Calhoun's eyes lit up in anticipation, whereas the rest of the captains' eyes seemed to glaze over, even Violet's. The groups split up and headed into the forest.

The Goblin Camp

Reaching the edge of the camp the group found themselves hidden behind a group of short tipis. A strange wailing song of clicks was echoing through the trees. Calhoun began to summon a fireball, grinning, but Seicho cut him off with a hand gesture. He whispered, "We must find the best angle to attack from. Any goblins left alive could be a threat in the future." Calhoun looked disappointed but nodded. Siunaus was clearly pleased. As they snuck around the outside, the party could see where the noise was coming from. Many of the goblins were gathered around a fire, and one was singing a sad wailing song. In the middle of the fire burned an image of three young goblins carrying blow pipes and knives.

The Ork Camp

Violet and Palavalo led the group to outside the camp. There were the usual sounds you'd expect from an ork camp, but also the strange... laughing? No, sobbing of three ork women. Between the sobbing and crying, three names could be made out: Bonesnappa, Headbasha and Skullkracka. Palavalo signalled with two fingers towards the women, and mouthed, "Ready?"

 

[RJS]

Cait's face twitched as Violet replied, a flicker of what may even have been anger passing across her face. "You think I chose this? I never wanted this. I wanted-" Her words cut off as a lancing pain seared through her head, from her left temple to the base of her skull. Unlike the sensations she usually felt, this one was vivid, burning. Her neck itched and her throat seemed to dry. It took a moment to recompose herself, before she shot another look at Violet. "Whatever. Save your judgement for when you've seen me at work." Staggering slightly, she turned and stalked away, following Palavalo. The slight twinge of excitement that she had felt on seeing the death of the ork had already soured.

As they neared the ork camp, the sound of sobbing drifted on the breeze. To Cait it seemingly echoed, reverberating with the tears of a young woman lying on a wooden floor, a knife in her hand. Who was she? Why did she- Another flash of pain, and the image faded. The sound of ork wailing was left to carry on its own, a name or two drifting in. As she recognised the names, a faint smirk crossed her face. Now this was enough to blot out the sour taste in her mouth from earlier. Without even pausing for Palavalo's signal, she walked straight into the middle, a low chuckle slipping from her mouth, accentuating the sobs and howls of grief as she slowly moved towards them.

"It is with a complete absence of sorrow that we bid these three moronic cretins farewell." Cait called out in mocking parody of the traditional funeral words. "Truly, they died as they lived: pointlessly, stupidly, and painfully. Not that they themselves had a painful life, rather their existence had that effect on all who were unfortunate enough to know them. And know now that they find themselves in a better place - for the rest of us, since we no longer have to share this world with their boundless imbecility, their outstanding hideousness and their quite frankly singular stench. If they are missed, it is with every arrow that has been fired their way. And for those of you stupid enough to love such barely-sentient troglodytes - rest assured you will follow in their paths soon enough." With her mock liturgy finished, she sent a pulse of power deep into the ground, seeking the rotten flesh and ancient bones of the dead.

 

[Eruantien]

Still muttering with indignation at the way Calhoun had 'answered' her honest question before, Fiona began to climb one of the many trees that surrounded the goblins' clearing. She gave a quick glance backward over her shoulder toward Sylvi as she climbed; she seemed a bit uncomfortable, but still in a good overall state of mind. Fiona waved to her, then continued scaling the tree. Arriving at its upper branches, Fiona carefully maneuvered among the tree's leaves and boughs, careful to make no noise as she crept closer to the clearing from above.

From her new vantage point, Fiona could see the clearing much better. It didn't appear that there were any obvious points of escape from within, nor anything to indicate that this was nothing more than a simple goblin camp. In the distance, Fiona thought she could make out weapons lying on the ground. She quickly made her way back down the tree's trunk and caught up to the others, rejoining them as they continued to circle the clearing. She paced up to Seicho and told him, "I didn't see a lot of weapons. Have you a plan for engagement yet?"

 

[LivingAngryCheese]

Ork camp


"Oo fucka!" One of the ork women screamed. "No tork bout aa boyz ike dat! Ged em!" There were murmurs and some sounds of running heard nearby.

"You fucking idiot. And you would wonder why I hate people like you!" Violet moaned. Palavalo just sighed. Wind began to spin around Violet, and she flicked her hand, an ork flying into the air. The ork screeched as she flew away. Palavalo thrust his hand forward, then lifted it as if carrying a heavy weight. Tendrils of light flew out of the ground, grabbing the next poor ork woman. The tendrils wrapped around her, pulling her and stretching her. Her eyes bulged out. She tried to scream, but the tendrils entered her mouth and started choking her, and trying to rip her jaw out. Her fingers and toes were ripped off first in a small spray of blood. Next were her eyes, ripped out of their sockets, in a violent display of gore. Then, whole limbs were torn off whole, the meat and muscle tearing, blood and gore flying everywhere. By the time five seconds had passed, there was nothing left of her but slabs of meat. Palavalo lowered his hand, and the tendrils retreated into the ground. The blues of his eyes were gone, all that was left was a burning, white light. The next ork woman was petrified, backing away from the group, her face a mask of terror.