King of Pirates (Job, Solo)

“Damn moron. I will kill him if I ever get to Ace of Spades,” Aliarey grumbled angrily to herself as she normally did. There was no one else around to hear her whine as she often traveled alone and that was how she preferred such things. The reason for traveling was for no job this time, however. A person that was once a close friend during childhood had sent her a message through the mail and asked to see her. Why the fool had picked the town near a desert was beyond her. Talonia or Magnolia would have been a lot more convenient and familiar. Her frustration levels had been high ever since leaving the comforts of normal civilization.

Sweat dripped down the side of her face as she stomped her way through the sand. It was hot and her choice of attire did not help matters. Aliarey had outfitted herself in her normal job leather armor, thinking it best to wear that rather than one of her everyday short dresses. Bad idea. Maybe saving up for some sort of ice weapon would have to be in order. Still why did she find herself traveling to the town in the first place if she barely considered the person a friend at all anymore? The woman stopped her steps as her mind considered that thought. What was she doing? She had left all of the people in her life for a reason so what was she doing trying to get back in touch with one of them?

She pondered for a moment more before reaching up and wiping her forehead with the back of her gloved hand. Whatever. She had already gotten that far and there was no point in turning around. If she so chose not to meet her old friend then she could stay hidden within town and depart the next morning. The sky would soon turn dark as the approach of nightfall grew closer.

An hour more of walking Aliarey would do silently, with not even a murmur of outspoken thought leaving her lips. However, fate would once more have some twisted change in store for her. How she hated the random desires of change. The sky was darkening and the wind had picked up, raising the sand around her into the air. Change had decided it was its time to act and redecorate the calm desert into a swirling sandstorm. It was gentle at first and the young woman hardly gave it any thought. She was no expert on weather patterns, let alone those that happen within a desert, and as such she could not have predicted what the gentle breeze around her would soon become.

The soothing light breeze turned into a violent chaotic mess, raising and throwing sand particles all around. Her blue eyes squinted as she tried to see through the thick mass of swirling sand. It proved to be difficult and many times the sand filled air would sting her eyes, causing her to close them to recover and start over. Aliarey tried to curse the storm, but only a fit of coughs came out as sand swirled into her mouth. Dammit. Fed up and with a lack of desire to be buried alive in the sand, Aliarey decided to summon her magical eye visor. The storm could not stop her from using her magic and in no way was she going to die in such a stupid way.

A flash of white light appeared in front of her eyes, leaving a clear glass covering in front of them as the light faded. Sight issues were now somewhat avoided. Her eyes could now open fully without the sand hitting them, but it was still difficult to see through the storm. The vision sensor within the visor zoomed in as she looked around. There had to be shelter somewhere! Not there. No. Not that way either. Ugh! Just as she was about to just charge in a random direction, she saw what looked to be a cave off in the distance. That would have to do. Aliarey ran for the cave and even that proved to be quite a task due to the wind and sand wanting to push her in another direction. She had to go slower than she would of liked but eventually she had reached the entrance to the cave. Shelter had been found, even if it was a dark and quite creepy one.

Her eyes stared outside the cave as she wondered just how long it would take for the storm to die down. The area was unfamiliar and she was quite uncomfortable being alone in a cave. Her form turned to look within the inner cave, which seemed to be one long dark tunnel. No telling what was in there and what would want to come out. Waiting right where she was seemed like the most optimal and safe plan but she was a curious creature and just had to switch to the night vision mode within her visor. The cave tunnel went underground and while trying to zoom in her sight had picked up on some markings along the wall. Interesting. Curiosity won the inner argument within herself and she soon found herself walking further into the cave.

She traveled deeper into the cave for quite some time. The air started to feel cold, unlike that of the dry and hot air that was swirling outside. Before long she had come into a wide space with a warm glowing fire. More markings could be found on the walls but she could not read or interpret what they said or represented. It was all alien to her. There were some belongings on the ground that looked ancient and rusted. Someone had been to the cave before long ago, but that was not the most intriguing thing she noticed. Modern day belonging were also within the wide room. A couple of backpacks, some strongboxes, and even some journals were scattered about. Someone besides her had to of also gone through the cave tunnel. That explained the random fire burning. Maybe they were friendly folk and could spare some water or something.

Deciding to perhaps wait for the strangers to return, Aliarey grabbed one of the journals and made herself comfy. No one ever said she couldn’t be nosey. It’s their fault for forgetting to write “do not read” on them. She grinned as she became pleased with her sneaky sense of logic and opened the book within her hands. Blue eyes scanned the pages in quick fashion. Boring, boring, blah, blah. Then her eyes widened. “You’re kidding me! That really happened?!” The journal was comprised of notes belonging to a bandit organization that located and looted famous tombs throughout all of Earthland. They just so happened to have found the tomb of Gold Rodger; he who was legendary within the tale of how he had robbed the Gods. It was a child’s story! Some random cave out in the desert couldn’t possibly actually be the tomb of one of the greatest thieves in all of Fiore legend!

Aliarey slammed the book shut and stood up. If what was said in the book was true then there would be some form of treasure further in the cave. Treasure hunting wasn’t what she was used to, and she was no tomb raider, but that day she would make an exception. It was time to beat some bandits in a treasure race.

(Word Count: 1249)

The member 'Lumindis' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Bleh, get to add hounds to my next roll.

The member 'Lumindis' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

(*eyetwitch at roll* well time for a filler post)

Aliarey walked through the cave system in a rather quick pace. Considering it was a tomb, one of legend even, it was quite uneventful and quiet. Not even the bandits had gotten in her way as of yet. How odd. She had expected maybe some ghosts, creepy monsters on guard, maybe some traps, but to have nothing at all? Well real life was certainly more boring than stories and video games. How disappointing. She wanted action! Adventure! Well at least it was a straight shoot to the treasure. Easy was always good too.

The way through was lit up with several sets of torches along the walls, making the need for her night vision visor non-existent. Easy payout once again! That is until she came across a huge room with a center platform and five other bridges extending from it and towards other tunnels. Ah, some difficulty had finally arrived. Her light footsteps echoed as they carried her across the sixth bridge that led her out of her current tunnel’s exit and onto the center platform. She paused and took a breath, waiting for anything that might jump out or maybe for something to activate due to her presence. All was quiet and still. “Tch, I really need to stop expecting something to actually happen,” Aliarey told herself in an annoyed tone as she rubbed the back of her neck and flipped her long ponytail. Expecting something to happen just made her worry about what may happen. It was a feeling she considered to be awful even if she felt relief at nothing happening.

Folding her arms over her chest, Aliarey blinked her eyes and stared at bridges extending to different parts of the cave system. “I guess I’m supposed to choose one?” If it worked this way the chances of her getting seriously lost was quite high. A creeping sense of fear ran through her. Getting lost wasn’t exactly an issue but never getting out? That would very well kill her in the end. Unfortunately, turning back was not an option yet. It was a risk that had to be taken if she wanted that treasure, and it had better be really shiny and worth it.

A leather covered finger pointed at each bridge as the woman sung the eeny, meeny, miny, moe song. It was silly and a song for those well below her age but she lacked patience for several coin flips as well as a dice. Picking which bridge to cross was important and could not just be decided on a whim, after all! Her song came to an end, her finger landing on the bridge extending to a tunnel towards her right side. That was the one to take! Without much hesitation Aliarey allowed her body to move towards the bridge and cross it. Once more her actions went unnoticed as she was still alone and all still remained quiet. Her shoulder shrugged as if to say “oh well.” If things were going to remain this easy she would have to wonder just how the hell no one ever found the tomb’s treasure before.

Down the new cave tunnel the tall blonde walked. It looked much the same as the last one aside from the torches being bigger and brighter. It eventually opened up into a wider room filled with water and a massive iron door across from where she was. A metal door in a cave? That had to mean something. Maybe. She actually wasn’t one hundred percent sure how common doors were in treasure tombs but since it was her first door encounter it had to be a mark of importance. The issue? Getting to the door.

Her bridge ended shortly after exiting the tunnel, meaning it did not extend all the way to the metal door that was blocking her next destination. Far below her was a small lake of water with a depth she was not sure on nor was it a detail she wanted to find out by jumping in. Aliarey looked around but there was only one solution to her dilemma that she could see. Large square pillars were around the room and if she could reach them there was a good chance she could make it to the other side. They were pretty far but she had an idea and all she had to do was be careful.

A flash of white light surrounded her boots, replacing them with her pair of Rocket Boots. Going from pillar to pillar would be a cinch. Aliarey backed up before taking a few quick steps forward and leaping off of her bridge and towards the closest pillar. A small burst of flames surged out of the bottom soles of each boot and propelled her forward. The first pillar was reach easily. She performed the same action for the next pillar in the way. Almost overshot it but for the most part easily handled. The third pillar was farther than she thought it had been and it ended up with her nearly missing and falling into the water. Her hands reached out and quickly grabbed the edge during her descent. A few moments were spent desperately attempting to pull herself up, which she thankfully managed to pull off. Now all she had to do was reach the door’s platform. With one final rocket boot jump Aliarey found herself standing in front of the massive doors. The rocket boots then vanished in a flash of light, returning to their storage dimension and leaving her normal boots in their place. Now all that was left to do was open the set of iron doors.

Aliarey placed both of her gloved hands on the doors and pushed. They remained closed. Again she pushed to no avail. They simply refused to move and would not budge. “Oh, come on! If I have to go back and get a key I am going to be pissed!” She kicked at the door in frustration but of course that did absolutely nothing to solve her actual problem. Just what was she supposed to do? Solve some long and complicated puzzle that you would find in a video game? She wasn’t smart enough for that! Hands on hips, Aliarey sighed and shook her head. Now would have been the perfect time to run into one of those bandits and get some information out of them.

All right, she just needed to calm down and think. The way to open the door had to be in the same room. Probably anyway. Her body leaned against the set of doors as her mind tried to think about her options, which in reality there weren’t all that many. Luckily or unluckily, everything would be solved for her. A loud cranking sound echoed loudly through the room and the doors slowly opened inward, causing Aliarey to lose her balance due to having been leaning on them. She landed on her stomach, having turned during her fall. “Seriously? What the hell?” Her eyes would look up and glance around the room.

The room was large, but not as large as the one she had just left. It was brightly lit and in the center contained a stone coffin. Had she really found the coffin of Gold Rodger? That was not the only thing she noticed though. There was an armored man with a polearm in front of the coffin and it appeared he had begun to open it. It had to be one of the bandits. How the heck did he make it through the door? Before she could stand up and confront the bandit though loud growls were coming from the room behind her. The doors had not opened for her but rather for the hound guardians of the tomb. Someone had messed with the coffin within the tomb and it was their job to deal with all trespassers.

(Word Count: 1316
Total: 2565)

The angered growls echoing throughout the room behind her made the hair at the back of her neck stand up. Those were not the growls of some annoyed puppy or from even a normal beast from above ground. Not from any she had previously encountered anyway. Her survival instincts told her the creatures making those sounds were not at all kind and were quite dangerous. A horrible feeling went through her gut; the feeling she normally got when her senses went into a panic. It was a good time to run rather than deal with what was coming.

Her eyes left the lone bandit as she turned her head towards the door she had just fell through. Nothing was there yet but quick flashes of flame were in the distance. The sounds were getting closer as well. Aliarey quickly and clumsily got onto her feet and ran in the direction of the coffin where the bandit was. Common sense told her that the reason those beasts were coming was because of the fact the coffin had been touched. After all, she had made it all the way there without running into anything whatsoever just by not touching anything. Granted, there wasn‘t exactly anything worth touching either but treasure also generally associated themselves with traps and this clearly was one of them. “Hey! Shut that damn thing back!” Aliarey demanded of the armored one angrily. Unfortunately taking such demands was not within that bandit’s character. He was used to being the one giving the orders, not taking them, let alone from some strange girl that threatened his claim to the treasure.

The bandit’s attention left the coffin and quickly shifted to the woman running towards him. What she had told him went through one ear and out the other as he quickly shifted his polearm and pointed it at her threateningly. “It seems my subordinates have failed to take out the competition. I suggest you leave now before I deal with you myself.” His eyes stared at Aliarey coldly. One chance. That was all he was going to give the girl that so stupidly made her presence known and gave orders to him.

Aliarey skidded to a stop when she found the pointed end of the bandit’s weapon aimed at her. Was that guy serious? Did he not hear the clear sounds of doom heading right to their location?! Oh like hell was she leaving the room back the way she came. Being something’s lunch was not on her agenda for the day. She looked back at the opened set of doors, seeing the flashes of flame getting closer. At least whatever they belonged to was taking their time getting there. She turned to the bandit once more and pointed in the direction of the large doors. “Do you see that? Do you even hear what’s coming? Leave Mr. Dead Guy here alone and shut it back before those things get in here!” The woman would stomp her foot down angrily for added emphasis during her quick chat with the bandit, but it seemed the man would just take her for a fool, ignoring her urgent warnings once again.

“I warned you.” The bandit leader pulled his polearm back, twirled it within his hands, and then proceeded to swing it quickly at Aliarey. The wide eyed re-quip mage took notice of the bandit’s change of movement and jumped back as he attacked. There wasn’t any time for this! She had been hoping to have a momentary truce with the guy so she wouldn’t have to deal with him and with whatever enemies were coming at the same time. Things seemed to never go the way she wanted them. It just figured she would be dealing with a man that had little brain function in such a situation as the current one. The only solution was to try and get the bandit out of the way so she could close the coffin herself and therefore get the doors closed. That would buy time to get an escape plan to avoid the creatures coming.

Gritting her teeth at being in such a rather annoying dilemma, Aliarey re-quipped into her Ember Revolvers. The pair of fire pistols appeared within her hands in a flash of light and were then used to send quick small fireball-like projectiles at the bandit. The shots hit his torso area and he stumbled backwards, more from surprise than from being hurt. His armor had protected him to some degree. He composed himself quickly and lunged straight forward with his polearm. Aliarey sidestepped the attack and took a shot at his head as he was turning and swinging his weapon to perform a counter attack. The bandit grunted and dropped his weapon as his hands went to cover his face. That bought some time.

With the bandit pre-occupied, Aliarey lowered her weapons and moved quickly to the open coffin. She barely even looked inside as she was too concerned with getting the thing shut. Temporarily placing her set of revolvers on the ground, she placed her hands on the stone lid and began to push it back into place. It was heavy, even with her strength, and slow moving. She likely could of called upon her hidden physical strength to make things go faster, but the bandit leader had fully recovered from the attack he had been struck with moments before. He approached the coffin as Aliarey was busy pushing the lid closed and gave her a swift kick, sending her back and away from her goal. She found herself glaring up at the bandit from her landing spot on the ground as he took a firmer hold of his polearm. He planned to kill her with his next attack seeing as she was completely unarmed, or so he thought. Aliarey had a strong link with her weapons and it would take very strong magic to keep her from ever being armed while she still had mana left. Judging from her experience so far, the bandit lacked any of the sort. The Ember Revolvers she had left on the ground near the stone casket returned to her, allowing her to take hold of them and aim at the bandit as he started his attack. Both attacks would stop short, however, as both parties were interrupted by a stream of fire that entered the room, barely missing them.

The two ignored each other and turned to look at the new arrivals. Two large canine-like creatures entered the tomb. Their red flame covered fur flared wildly and the heat generated from them was difficult to bear. Their eyes were also comprised of flame and glared angrily and hungrily at the two humans. So much for the locking out mean and wild creatures out plan.

(Word Count: 1132
Total so Far: 3697)

Post below completes the 1500 C Rank solo WC requirement as well as the Job Requirement for clearing out the tomb for Original Turn In

Aliarey's eyes narrowed as she observed the creatures entering the room. Dogs made of flame. Great. That likely made her current pair of weapons completely useless. There was also the fact she herself was certainly not fire proof. Several curses regarding the bandit went through her mind. "This is why I hate dealing with morons," she growled as she kicked at the distracted bandit. He would have to be used as bait to make her own escape. The bandit's focus came back towards the woman as soon as he was kicked and he made a swing with his weapon as she scrambled away. He missed his opportunity and had to leave her be for the moment.

The hounds of hell approached, their claws scratching and scorching the ground they walked upon. Low growls emitted from their throats as they glared at the bandit. The two canine creatures then looked at each other and silently communicated with one another. One remained to confront the bandit leader while the other swerved slowly away from the male human and to where it saw the female run off to.

Aliarey hid behind a tall pillar near one of the back corners of the room. She had taken a peak around the edge of her hiding spot and saw one of the hounds coming in her direction. “Damn,” she cursed quietly, adding the scenario to a rather long list of unfortunate events to happen that day. The power of ice and water was not in her arsenal and those would have been the best sort of attack to use against a creature of fire. The large creature approached the pillar slowly and peered around the corner, seeing nothing for Aliarey had moved so she was now on a different side of the pillar. Such a trick would likely not work for much longer. The hell hounds didn’t have to use their eyes alone, after all, their sense of smell was quite advanced and the hound knew the girl was still there.

Aliarey once again avoided the hound by moving onto a different side of the pillar. A hand went to the holster along her right hip and gripped the pistol within. She moved once more as she brought the weapon out and prepared to take fire as she peered around the corner, expecting the hound to be within her sights. Confusion spread along her face when there was no hound to shoot. Her eyes glanced around, seeing no traces of the beast. It wasn’t until she turned around that the creature showed itself, having silently moved to be behind her. Its jaws opened, allowing steaming globs of drool to drip onto the ground. She quickly took a shot at the beast’s face, but it seemed to only inflict minor injuries. The hound appeared un-phased by the attack, only growing angry rather than feeling any sort of pain. It lunged forward as the gun mage took off running once more and gave chase to its prey.

“Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!” She frantically ran back to the center of the room where the bandit and the other hound were fighting. Not much attention could be spent on how that particular battle was going for she was much too busy running for her own life. Why did it have to be fire?! She had plenty of ways to deal with creatures made of ice and water but nearly all of her spells were weapons containing variations of explosives and flame. Judging from her earlier gunshot the hounds were practically immune to her attacks. She had to figure something else out and figure it out quick before she became nothing but a burnt carcass.

The hound following her started to get annoyed by its rather quick moving prey and came to a stop as it opened its jaws and shot out a massive breath of flame from its mouth and towards its target. Aliarey could feel the increase of temperature as the flames approached and as a reaction she proceeded to jump over the coffin, kneel low to the ground, and take cover on the opposite side. It was a rather close call and even though she managed to take cover some of the flames had still impacted her, burning through her armor and leaving a scorching pain to course through the now burned skin underneath.  There had better be no scars when she made it out of that place.

The sounds of continued battle filled her ears from her cover spot as she assumed the bandit leader was still going strong. She peaked up for a moment to get a look. Her hound had now joined the other as it seemed to be having difficulties taking care of the polearm wielder. The hound was injured in several places from where the weapon had struck it and its bright red blood dripped into steaming puddles on the ground. The bandit leader himself also appeared to be slightly injured and had a limp in his movements. The hell hound had apparently also done some damage to him and now that the second had joined in he would be in quite some trouble. Good. They were all properly distracted and weakened. Now maybe she could make an escape.

Before she decided on an escape route though Aliarey had to take a peak within the partially closed coffin. She came all this way so may as well take something before getting the hell out of that place. Blue eyes scanned the contents of the coffin before her. A skeleton lied inside the center, looking to have been dead for many years. Around its form were many rusted relics and cobwebs. Nothing in particular stood out as something that was a must have, that is until her eyes landed on a stone orb near the skeleton’s shoulder. She didn’t know why but the item got her attention. It must have had some importance that would be explained later on.

Besides that she took note of the clothes the skeleton wore. They still looked new and complete rather than being deteriorated pieces of rags. They were similar in design to that of a pirate, which did make a lot of sense given whose clothes they were. Normally robbing the clothes off of someone’s dead body would have been something she would of frowned upon, but she would have to make an exception. A sort of higher power could be felt from the clothing which was probably what protected it from time and decay. It was definitely worth taking for that alone. While the three enemies were fighting amongst themselves she stripped the skeleton of the armor, took hold of the stone orb, and placed them in a backpack that was conveniently placed within the coffin.

Placing the straps of the backpack around her shoulders, Aliarey nodded to herself, satisfied with her loot and prepared to leave. She stared at the still open doorway and tried to think of a way past the fight so she could get through. A plan formed in her mind that made her grin mischievously. It was dangerous, reckless even, and she would have to be quick about it or she would find herself in another predicament. The solution to all of her problems? Cause a cave in. She had explosives at her disposal and so creating such a thing would be quite simple.

Within seconds a grenade type weapon appeared within her hands. She took aim at three different walls and shot at them, releasing a spider shaped bomb in each direction. The walking bombs of doom skittered across the floor, going unnoticed by both hound and bandit. That is, until they started to go boom once they impacted a solid surface. The room started to shake from the explosions, its foundation weakening and starting to crumble. All that was left was to activate her weapon’s effect to cause a trail of explosions as she moved. The bandit leader gave pause as the room began to fall apart around him. He paused for far too long however and a large section of stone fell from the ceiling and landed on him. Aliarey did not bother to check if he was still alive or not. Her only concern was for her own life and well being. She ran past the two hell hounds, her steps leaving mini explosions as she moved. A pillar’s base came apart and made the structure lean, eventually falling and landing on one of the hell hounds. The last hell hound jumped forward as the gun mage headed for the open doors but it would only succeed in pushing her further away as the rest of the room crumbled on the flame canine.

Aliarey flew through the sets of doors as the room collapsed, landing on the ground with several thuds until the momentum dissipated. Several aches and pains ran through her body and she had to lie there for a moment. Unfortunately, the cave system would not allow her to rest for long. A roaring echo ran through the cave as it started to shake and crumble much like the main room of the tomb. Well apparently she had started a chain reaction. That or the tomb was set up to crumble in on itself whenever the treasure was found as a glorified trap. She slowly stood up and began to walk, wincing as the pain shot through her body from her movements. Her mouth would open wide as the pillars she used to jump her way to the tomb crumbled and fell apart, leaving her with no exit. Crap. Now how was she supposed to get out of there? It was then the shaking of the cave system caused her to lose her balance and fall into the cave lake below. She didn’t even have time to fully realize her situation as a falling rock fell and hit her on the head, knocking her unconscious. For once luck would be on her side. Instead of drowning and being forever lost to the world, the current of the lake took her and she would be dropped into a connecting oasis outside the cave.

A short time later the locals would find her beached and unconscious. She was taken to an inn within the town of Ace of Spades where her visiting childhood friend would greet her the moment she woke up. “Next time lets just use ilac chat,” she told him weakly and with a hint of bitterness in her voice. Visiting a friend was not worth the hassle she had to go through to get there.

(Word Count: 1773
Total: 5470)