- Spoiler:
- Job: Monster Hunt: The Rampant Rose
Rank: 100y
Player Requirements: 1 H-rank or the equivalent.
Job Requirements: 30,000 words if in a group, 15,000 words solo.
All members must be in the same guild. Non-guild members can tag along so long as they understand that the Reward goes to one guild only. Guildless character teams (Official or unofficial) may establish a Trophy Hall residence to store trophy rewards from Monster Hunt jobs.
Job Description:
Hunt the Rampant Rose. Location: Earthland - Seven.
A giant flower-like monster has appeared in Seven. It has torn through the forest and leveled three villages spreading seeds by burrowing them in the corpses. Attempts to clear the area have resulted in only more corpses for the Rampant Rose, leaving the ruined villages hazard zones under quarantine by Seven's Queensguard, and they have sent out the aid of someone to make sure the job gets done without risking more lives that would only end up fueling the Rampant Rose.
Your goal is to clear out all the Seed Spawn and defeat the Rampant Rose, taking it's head as a trophy.
To find the Rampant Rose, first clear the three ruined villages. Min 10 total posts are required as travel time to the first village and set up for accepting the job and meeting the Queensguard defending the quarantine perimeter.
Within the first village you must defeat 50 monsters to clear the village.
Min 5 posts travel time between villages and tracking/hunting for random stray Seed Spawn.
Defeat another 50 monsters to clear the village.
Min 5 posts travel time between villages and tracking/hunting for random stray Seed Spawn.
Last village, defeat 25 monsters and the next Boss roll reveals the Rampant Rose.
Note: All enemies take double damage from Heat-based sources, aka fire magic. All could-based sources, aka ice magic, will slow them down by 25% per rank (50% C, 75% B, ect) and reduce their damage outputs by 15% per.
Light magic will do the opposite, and speed them up while boosting damage instead of slowing and debuffing their damage even as it does double damage if the light magic utilizes heat to damage.
Weak Enemies:
Budding Seed Spawn x5.
These appear to be corpses with a flower bud enveloping the head. Vines and plant matter twist around the corpse and use it like a puppet to move.
The plant itself is in control, directing the dead body's movement and making them move with unnatural strength and agility.
The very durable plant matter soaks up damage, taking half damage from A-rank or less sources. Takes S-rank equivalent damage to destroy them, and only counting damage done to the bulb-head.
They will deliver A-rank equivalent melee attacks.
Normal Enemies:
Flowering Seed Spawn x1
These Seed Spawn have flowered, revealing white flower petals that fan out from around the center point... which is a head that has been somewhat shriveled and has had all skin stripped leaving a red center with a gaping flesh-covered skull dripping red along the white petals.
More plant matter covers the corpse a Flowered spawn has, taking no damage from B or less sources and half damage from S or A. They take the equivalent of 3 S-ranks worth of damage to destroy, counting only damage done to the head.
They deliver S-rank equivalent melee attacks.
The flower around their head emits a cloud of orange and white spores in a 5 meter area around them and leaving a trail of floating spores as they move. These spores are roughly the size of peas and float in the air in mass. When they come in contact with flesh they try to burrow under the skin, clinging on contact and dealing a total of 1% HP damage per post, stacking another % for every time you enter a cloud of spores. After 5 posts they are sufficiently embedded and thin vines force their way into your blood stream dealing an added 3% damage per post and reducing movement by 15% per post. Once the movement hits 100%, death occurs and the body will become a Budding Seed Spawn.
How the spores may be cleared from the body depends on the players effected and support they might get from allies. Best defenses are effects that make your body itself hazardous, such as a flame-body. Intangibility effects may also work. If all else fails, self-harm could be the way to go. Such as having an ally fire mage bathe you in flame to clear the seeds at the cost of some damage to yourself.
Strong Enemies:
Seed Hydra x6:
Actually a single monster, but treated as six individuals. Long orange plant stems burst from the ground with a few white petal-leaves around a "head" that has four orange hard claw-like "Teeth" around a hollow entrance to the stem, from which a dozen long orange "Tongue" vines emerge.
They emerge from a ball of corpses buried under the ground wrapped up in vines in a plant-matter "shell" All the "Heads" appear within 50 meters of this corpse-ball. All the heads can disappear to move the corpse-ball through the ground, burrowing, to reach a new destination within seconds.
The heads will keep sprouting in pairs whenever one head is severed or destroyed. Destroying a head takes 1 S-rank equivalent damage and it takes half damage from A or lower sources.
The "Tongues" actively attack incoming projectiles for S-rank equivalent damage, which can destroy projectiles before making contact unless it is an AoE.
The head itself can strike out to deal H-rank equivalent damage using it's "Claw-like 'teeth'" that is large enough to grip three people at once with the teeth alone. The Tongues will additionally aid in grabbing individuals, for a total strength or damage needed to break free from it's grab at H.5. If grabbed, the victim will take S-rank damage per post as the grip crushes and the teeth dig in, "Crawling" up your body as it pulls the body into it's hollow stem.
To destroy the Seed Hydra, you must destroy the Corpse Ball, which takes Hx2 equivalent damage to destroy and you must actually find and get to the Corpse Ball in the first place.
If not destroyed within 10 posts of it appearing, it will become a mini Rampant Rose, gaining all the Rampant Rose's abilities at half effectiveness.
Boss:
The Rampant Rose has a large central bulb 10 meters in diameter, which is a corpse-ball in a flowered shell. It moves using 2-meter thick vine green vine growths. It has a central "Mouth" that will instantly destroy anything it bites, including individuals.
It has heads like the Seed Hydra that emerge from the central flower and attempt to bring individuals that it grabs to the central mouth.
The vines will crush things they wrap around and are heavy, crawling about attempting to wall off escape of prey.
The central flowered corpse-ball requires the equivalent of 4 H-rank attacks to destroy. It regenerates S-rank damage per 3 total posts of all players.
From the central flowered corpse-ball appears spores, like the Flowered Seed Spawn. These spores appear within 35 meters of it and within 5 meters of the Hydra-Vines. These spores deal twice the HP damage.
Reward:
Rampant Rose Head: This item gets mounted in the Guild Hall/trophy hall. With a bit of tweaking, the plant matter was used to engineer Spore Pellets that are dispensed by the trophy. Consuming a spore pellet will reinforce the surface of one's body for +20% damage resistance for 5 posts.
Spore Pellets are semi-aware and get agitated if another Spore Pellet is in use or present, preventing a member from carrying more than 1 at a time.
175,000 jewels is paid to the guild itself or the members, but not both.
That Kid Is Never Coming Back • Private, Job
Guest- Guest
Guest- Guest
Astrid always made sure to never take vehicles or any sort of modes of transportation in general when traveling to the destinations of her jobs. Or for that fact, any kind of reason at all. Jobs, social gatherings, or maybe even just casual days out the only means of getting place to place was her very own two feet. Her own legs were the only things she could trust, lest she fall victim to the curse of motion sickness all dragon slayers were plagued with. It was unknown why of all the magic users in the world dragon slayers were the ones who had to suffer through this sickness. It didn't make sense either, really. Their magic had nothing to do with and had no reason to cause it. But yet like every dragon slayer before her, soon after obtaining the power the elf found herself getting woozy and light headed whenever she got on a train or ship. It was very inconvenient, in a old that relied on such things to get people from point a to point b. Of course there was always the option to just ignore the sickness, and go about with their life as they normally would had they not inherited it. But to do that was no easy task, and took way to long to overcome, if at all even possible. The slayer was saddened by this, when she found out she could no longer enjoy long rides to and from her places of interest. Astrid was one that found joy in leaving on a grand journey, taking in every sight and moment, to remember every smell and taste she came across. It was half of the beauty of being a mage, seeing all types of places and experiencing things you may otherwise have never gotten the chance to. For instance, the elf would never forget the journey she first took from her home village of Peace Village to the guild hall of Black Rose. Sitting in the rocky train cart, gazing out the big, clear window next to her. Leaning her head against the glass, staring at the massive orange orb of the evening sun hiding behind the snow caped mountains. It was a beautiful sight, not one she had ever seen before up until that point, and certainly one she was bound to never forget. However, now with the cursed motion sickness she was unable to ride on trains, unlike she used to always do back in the old days of her mage life. Well, she was still able to go on them. There was nothing stopping her from doing so. But the beauty of gazing out the window and enjoying the view was a lot harder when your head spun and the feeling of bile stung the back of your throat. Instead of a joy ride being on any moving vehicle was now her own personal hell on earth, to the point where the saint preferred to run the entire way to her destinations now rather than anything else. Through mountains, through snow, even through bad storms the slayer ran without a second thought. A few times, she even ran across large bodies of water to avoid being trapped on a ship. Granted, with her infamous running speed she was getting to places much faster than she was originally. Popping over to an entirely different country? Well, she could do that in an hour or two. Oh, taking a little trip half way across the world? She could do that in maybe a day or so, where it would have taken anyone else actual months. Running was a lot more convenient, in a lot of ways. But also in an equal amount of ways, it was a lot more less enjoyable... And a little exhausting. By the time she got to where she was heading usually she would have to take an hour or so to rest up before she was able to do anything about her purpose of being there in the first place.
So yes, the elf hated going on vehicles now. If her clients offered her a small fair to pay for her travel over she would usually decline. But sometimes elf was required to swallow her breakfast and brave the eternal suffering of her damned magic's fatal weakness. And those times?... Were when she had no idea where in the world she was going.
Thankfully for Astrid, the sea was rather calm today. The only disturbances breaking the water's silence were from the small waves created by the salty wind carried across the ocean's surface. Still, however, this did not calm the tangled, sick feeling deep within her stomach in the slightest.
The saint groaned loudly when another wave rocked the boat slightly, making her insides turn in disgust. She pressed the back of her hand against her cold, wet forehead, squeezing her crimson eye shut to try and fight back against the overwhelming want to vomit. This was a feeling she had not experienced in a while, and tried with all her might to never feel again. Yet despite her efforts, here she was once again, biting back her breakfast in a cold sweat.
For comfort she turned onto her side, facing the pale blue wall of the ship's sickbay. The silvernette's formed curled into a ball, hugging her stomach, hoping the light pressure would ease it slightly. Not wanting to deal with her constant groans of discomfort and concerned for her health the crew had advised her to sick out the ship's doctor, knowing it would be her best bet to talk to someone who had to deal with their patient's motion sickness on a daily basis. However... The only thing the doctor had bothered to give her was an ice pack and some sort of pill she wasn't even sure the name of. It was a little sketchy to say the least, but in a desperate attempt to calm her body down she had taken it anyway and was trying to sleep it off... Much to her dismay, without any real results. Of course, this cursed sickness never went away, no matter how hard she tried. Medicine, spells. Nothing was known to cure it, and yet she tried anyway, only for it to fail. The only things that had ever effected it, was Ita's time spells and Kaisto's air dragon slayer magic. But, neither of them were here at the moment, and could not help her. This, would have to be something she got over by herself.
She let out a small breath from her lips, staring at the half melted ice pack next to her pillow. To save the bed sheets from getting any wetter than they already were she removed one of the arms wrapped around he mid section to pick it up and plop it over to the side table next to the head of the bed. Once done she shuffled her arm under the fluffed pillow, digging her head into it and closing her eye, attempting to fall back asleep so she could just doze off for the rest of the journey there.
Hopefully in the end this mission would be worth the trouble they were making her go through. That, however, just wasn't how the world worked. Astrid of all people knew this all too well by now.
WC: 1,230/15,000
So yes, the elf hated going on vehicles now. If her clients offered her a small fair to pay for her travel over she would usually decline. But sometimes elf was required to swallow her breakfast and brave the eternal suffering of her damned magic's fatal weakness. And those times?... Were when she had no idea where in the world she was going.
Thankfully for Astrid, the sea was rather calm today. The only disturbances breaking the water's silence were from the small waves created by the salty wind carried across the ocean's surface. Still, however, this did not calm the tangled, sick feeling deep within her stomach in the slightest.
The saint groaned loudly when another wave rocked the boat slightly, making her insides turn in disgust. She pressed the back of her hand against her cold, wet forehead, squeezing her crimson eye shut to try and fight back against the overwhelming want to vomit. This was a feeling she had not experienced in a while, and tried with all her might to never feel again. Yet despite her efforts, here she was once again, biting back her breakfast in a cold sweat.
For comfort she turned onto her side, facing the pale blue wall of the ship's sickbay. The silvernette's formed curled into a ball, hugging her stomach, hoping the light pressure would ease it slightly. Not wanting to deal with her constant groans of discomfort and concerned for her health the crew had advised her to sick out the ship's doctor, knowing it would be her best bet to talk to someone who had to deal with their patient's motion sickness on a daily basis. However... The only thing the doctor had bothered to give her was an ice pack and some sort of pill she wasn't even sure the name of. It was a little sketchy to say the least, but in a desperate attempt to calm her body down she had taken it anyway and was trying to sleep it off... Much to her dismay, without any real results. Of course, this cursed sickness never went away, no matter how hard she tried. Medicine, spells. Nothing was known to cure it, and yet she tried anyway, only for it to fail. The only things that had ever effected it, was Ita's time spells and Kaisto's air dragon slayer magic. But, neither of them were here at the moment, and could not help her. This, would have to be something she got over by herself.
She let out a small breath from her lips, staring at the half melted ice pack next to her pillow. To save the bed sheets from getting any wetter than they already were she removed one of the arms wrapped around he mid section to pick it up and plop it over to the side table next to the head of the bed. Once done she shuffled her arm under the fluffed pillow, digging her head into it and closing her eye, attempting to fall back asleep so she could just doze off for the rest of the journey there.
Hopefully in the end this mission would be worth the trouble they were making her go through. That, however, just wasn't how the world worked. Astrid of all people knew this all too well by now.
WC: 1,230/15,000
Guest- Guest
The rest of the travel to Seven was not actually too bad. Though when one sleeps through the entire trip in what was nothing more than a drugged daydream and you couldn't even remember it in the slightest, it was never going to be as bad as it prehaps would have been otherwise. Thankfully, after almost upping everything she had eaten within the last twenty four hours all over the sickbay, the ship's doctor decided to finally take her sickness a bit more seriously and gave her something that would knock her out for the rest of the journey, for both her own and the ship's floor's sake... And whoever it would have been that was tasked to clean up that disaster had the doctor refused to do anything else to help her. Since there was no such medicine that could help ease the pain of a dragon slayer's motion sickness, simply making it so she was not conscious was the next best option. And mostly, it had worked. Sure, she wouldn't be able to operate a moving vehicle for the next couple of hours due to the side effect of drowsiness that it would leave it her system, but the elf didn't even have a diver's licence in the first place so it would be fine. Just hopefully everything in Seven was easy to get to on foot. She wasn't even sure if using her speed to get around while being on the sleepy side was a good idea right now.
A couple of hours later after the pill had kicked in, the ship finally docked at the southern port of Seven. Of course being out cold, the crew had to wait for her to finally wake up before they were able to kick her off the ship and depart onto their other means of business. Well actually, they had tried to wake Astrid up before the pill's effects had worn off... But those few crew sailors who had tried were currently in the sickbay themselves with one less arm, eye, or even in one poor man's case... Family jewel. It was a mistake to wake a sleeping beast, and Astrid was many things, but a sleeping beauty was not one of them. Thankfully for the poor crew of the magic council's ship after allowing her to rest for another hour or two the silvernette had awoken, rather chipper, completely unaware she was the result in nearly ten casualties that day.
After allowing herself to wake up a bit more, shaking off the sleepiness left behind by the medicine the slayer exited the boat through the lowered ramp leading out to the dock. Having just come from the dim lighting of the boat the elf had to shield her eyes from the sun's bright rays beaming down onto the earth, wincing back from its power before her vision got used to being outside once more. Once she was no longer blinded her crimson gaze swept across the port in front of her. Beings of all different shapes, sizes, and even species went back and forth, either passing by or carrying on with their business. A few old men with cat ears sat near the edge of the dock, casting their lines out into the water. A few stumbling orcs here and there very meticulously shuffled through the crowds, carrying large crates of various goods over their shoulders. At one point she was pretty sure she even saw a pure white unicorn gallop out from the ship next to them and disappear into the streets a little further down. Elves, faeries, humans, dwarfs, halflings, and even a few things she was not quite sure what they were passed by each other so casually... It was truly a sight to behold. For as diverse as Fiore was you didn't normally see this many types of different species congeal together like this. Fiore was more of a country that, while allowing all different kinds of beings, was mostly populated by magic users rather than the magic creatures themselves. But this place... Seven... It was truly a mix of everything one would hope to find in a fairy tale. It is said that all magical creatures originated from this very place, and just from this sight alone Astrid couldn't help but agree with that statement.
Just from standing here alone she could feel a bit of a tingle in the tips of her fingers, one not created by her own magic. A tingle, a feeling of belonging. Her ancestors walked these very same streets. Her father had always told her they originated from here, the Sylvari, the bloodline belonging to both her father and herself. If her father had not moved to Fiore in his youth most likely she would have been born here instead. In a lot of ways, this was basically like a second home to her. A home that seemed so familiar, yet she had never been here in her entire life.
A strange and sudden excitement stirred in the elven girl, clutching at the piece of blue fabric dangling off her chest plate. Though as much as she would love to casually stroll and look around this magnificent place of wonder and magic, she did have an appointment to keep. The reason why she was even here in the first place.
Right.
She was here for a job, not to sight see. She could do that later. But right now her duty must come first.
The slayer closed her eyes, patting her cheeks to wake herself up from her own thoughts. A look filled her expression, one of passion and fire as she clenched her fist with determination.
A group of Rune Knights journeying with her through this adventure was waiting near the castle's entrance, so they could meet the queen and get the full details from her. She shouldn't keep them waiting. With both of her parents being Rune Knights, she knew how strict they were about their times. Plus you know, it was the queen. And while she was here, she was basically an ambassador of Fiore. it was best to make a good first impression.
Pushing herself forward Astrid would travel onward towards the city itself, weaving in and out of the crowds around her, trying to go with the flow in order not to get pushed or stomped on accidentally by some of the larger residents... Or to not do the same to the smaller ones.
The only question now... Was where's the castle?
WC: 2,320/15,000
A couple of hours later after the pill had kicked in, the ship finally docked at the southern port of Seven. Of course being out cold, the crew had to wait for her to finally wake up before they were able to kick her off the ship and depart onto their other means of business. Well actually, they had tried to wake Astrid up before the pill's effects had worn off... But those few crew sailors who had tried were currently in the sickbay themselves with one less arm, eye, or even in one poor man's case... Family jewel. It was a mistake to wake a sleeping beast, and Astrid was many things, but a sleeping beauty was not one of them. Thankfully for the poor crew of the magic council's ship after allowing her to rest for another hour or two the silvernette had awoken, rather chipper, completely unaware she was the result in nearly ten casualties that day.
After allowing herself to wake up a bit more, shaking off the sleepiness left behind by the medicine the slayer exited the boat through the lowered ramp leading out to the dock. Having just come from the dim lighting of the boat the elf had to shield her eyes from the sun's bright rays beaming down onto the earth, wincing back from its power before her vision got used to being outside once more. Once she was no longer blinded her crimson gaze swept across the port in front of her. Beings of all different shapes, sizes, and even species went back and forth, either passing by or carrying on with their business. A few old men with cat ears sat near the edge of the dock, casting their lines out into the water. A few stumbling orcs here and there very meticulously shuffled through the crowds, carrying large crates of various goods over their shoulders. At one point she was pretty sure she even saw a pure white unicorn gallop out from the ship next to them and disappear into the streets a little further down. Elves, faeries, humans, dwarfs, halflings, and even a few things she was not quite sure what they were passed by each other so casually... It was truly a sight to behold. For as diverse as Fiore was you didn't normally see this many types of different species congeal together like this. Fiore was more of a country that, while allowing all different kinds of beings, was mostly populated by magic users rather than the magic creatures themselves. But this place... Seven... It was truly a mix of everything one would hope to find in a fairy tale. It is said that all magical creatures originated from this very place, and just from this sight alone Astrid couldn't help but agree with that statement.
Just from standing here alone she could feel a bit of a tingle in the tips of her fingers, one not created by her own magic. A tingle, a feeling of belonging. Her ancestors walked these very same streets. Her father had always told her they originated from here, the Sylvari, the bloodline belonging to both her father and herself. If her father had not moved to Fiore in his youth most likely she would have been born here instead. In a lot of ways, this was basically like a second home to her. A home that seemed so familiar, yet she had never been here in her entire life.
A strange and sudden excitement stirred in the elven girl, clutching at the piece of blue fabric dangling off her chest plate. Though as much as she would love to casually stroll and look around this magnificent place of wonder and magic, she did have an appointment to keep. The reason why she was even here in the first place.
Right.
She was here for a job, not to sight see. She could do that later. But right now her duty must come first.
The slayer closed her eyes, patting her cheeks to wake herself up from her own thoughts. A look filled her expression, one of passion and fire as she clenched her fist with determination.
A group of Rune Knights journeying with her through this adventure was waiting near the castle's entrance, so they could meet the queen and get the full details from her. She shouldn't keep them waiting. With both of her parents being Rune Knights, she knew how strict they were about their times. Plus you know, it was the queen. And while she was here, she was basically an ambassador of Fiore. it was best to make a good first impression.
Pushing herself forward Astrid would travel onward towards the city itself, weaving in and out of the crowds around her, trying to go with the flow in order not to get pushed or stomped on accidentally by some of the larger residents... Or to not do the same to the smaller ones.
The only question now... Was where's the castle?
WC: 2,320/15,000
Guest- Guest
If one was to compare Fiore and Seven only at surface level, there would hardly be any difference between the two countries. There was a government system, although rather than run by a council a queen was fully in charge of everything that happened here. There were laws, jobs, schools, stores, guilds, citizens, everything one might think of when they could imagine a normal modern country. However, there was something here that Fiore was missing. Fiore may be a place of wonder and magic, but in terms of actually allowing these things to run rampant Seven had Fiore beat a dozen times over. You see, while Fiore did allow magic, you would hardly ever see magic really ever be used without some sort of reason. It was a country mostly run by humans, beings that learned magic from these very creatures dozens up dozens of years ago. But here, everything around her was magical. From the very air itself to the many species that walked around there was this sense of the unknown, the sense of something more. It was a wondrous feeling, but also one of slight nerve. Perhaps her it was half elven nature. In a sense, Astrid belonged in both worlds. By default? It just meant she also truly didn't belong in either. Not elf enough for magic, not human enough for normalcy. It was a perpetual limbo to live in. However, thankfully no one was able to notice she was a half breed just by looking at her, which in Fiore had given her the upper hand in many cases. But here? It was unknown territory. Here? She was nothing special, she was normal. Even her saint status was left to be questioned. She had her fame, and her small amount of power in Fiore. But in this country, she might as well just be another elf wandering around the streets... Lost.
Which, she actually kind of was.
The town the ship had managed to drop her off in was known as Hala, a small port town just east of where the castle should be. In other words, they had dropped her off in the wrong place. The slayer was tempted to go back to the ship once again and ask to be dropped off on their way over, but by the time she had found out this information, the council's boat had already set sail for their next destination. A tough turn for the saint, but prehaps it was for the best. The medicine had worn off, and she wasn't exactly in the mood to sleep more. So instead, she figured the next best thing would be the travel over on her own two legs. She would end up running a little late, so she hoped the Rune Knights would forgive her, but it shouldn't end up being that long since it was merely the neighboring city. The problem, however, came with the realization that the language here... Was not Fioran. At least, not the written language. While the young slayer traversed the cobble stone streets, looking along the small, stony shops and signs it was fairly obvious that she was not going to find her way by any sort of map or landmarks. Instead of Fioran, ingrained deeply into these signs were what otherwise seemed to be strange figures and patterns. Some of which she could see were some sort of Elvish. But as an elf who had never learned Elvish properly, noticing this did not help much. While her father had taught her some phrases and lone words back in her youth, without any sort of proper tutoring in the ancient language, it was not going to do her any good.
Astrid's nervous gaze looked up from side to side, trying to find any sort of sign that may be in Fioran or prehaps even a bit of Elvish she could recognize, only to come up empty handed the longer she strolled through the streets.
Eventually, after about twenty minutes of trying to save face and not having to ask around, it looked like she had no choice. She was going to have to find someone who she could ask for directions.
Tired and beat, the silvernette let out a sigh as she plopped herself onto a wooden bench near an ice cream stand, leaning over with her face resting in her hands, lips pouting outward like a defeated child. Man, she was so full of excitement and wonder when she first stepped off that boat. She was so happy to be in a new place, a place she had heard so much about, yet had never been to before. But now she felt like she had gone into this a bit too blindly. Then again, she had never really been one for coming up with and making plans. She let out an audible hum, hearing the children next to her laugh and cheer as they ordered their ice cream. "Surely a castle cant be that hard to miss, but if i ask anyone here where it is they'll automatically know i'm a foreigner, and i don't want to seem like a complete dunderhead. I'm supposed to be one of the greatest wizards around. What kind of name am i giving Fiore if i can't even find my way around here by myself?" Sure, maybe she was making it a bit more deep and complicated than it needed to be, but the elf couldn't help but worry about what kind of image she was giving to others while here. In Fiore? It wasn't that bad, but now she was in a completely different country. A country that would judge not only her, but her home country's actions. She couldn't let them down like that. At least that's what she thought.
Amidst these thoughts a small brown dog approached her from the streets, taking a seat next to her from the side of the bench and staring out across the way, panting happily with a small smile tugged on the edges of its lips. The slayer glanced over, disturbed from her inner thoughts as something more cuter and way more worth her time same into the scene. She blinked once, mouth parted open slightly. A dog just running free, out here? In Fiore usually they had leash laws. People weren't allowed to to let their dogs run free. Perhaps it was different here? Yet again he didn't have a collar, so did it mean he was a stray? Whatever he was, it didn't matter. Just this animal's presence alone brought a sort of familiarity to the elf, which at this point was rather welcoming.
She smiled. "What's wrong, boy? Are you lost too?" She knew the dog couldn't answer back, but just asking someone or something else if they were also lost calmed her a bit.
The dogs panting ceased, and now instead of staring blankly across the street narrowed its eyes and looked out of the corner of its vision at Astrid. "Um, excuse me i'm a girl." An annoyed, girly voice came from next to her... From the dog itself. The slayer's mouth closed instantly, her one eye widening in surprise. Ah... This wasn't a normal dog. This was a sentient dog. Of course.
"Ah, my apologizes. Are you lost as well, ma'am?" She would correct herself, as if that would make it up to the magical creature that was very obviously annoyed by the mix up.
The canine let out a loud snort through her nose, her mouth opened in a silent chuckle that never came.
"No, i just paused to catch my breath after my daily jog. Lords... You elves, always acting like you know everything." With a huff from her mouth and a eye roll the dog stood back up on her two hind legs, like a human, as if to mock the girl for her mistakes. Without another word she would saunter off on her way down the street continuing on her way. Astrid watched her go, a solemn expression across her features now, now even more defeated by the scolding she had just received. She leaned back into the bench, watching the civilians go about their day more quietly than before.
It seems even here in a country of such unknown and endless magic there was still prejudice.
WC: 3,712/15,000
Which, she actually kind of was.
The town the ship had managed to drop her off in was known as Hala, a small port town just east of where the castle should be. In other words, they had dropped her off in the wrong place. The slayer was tempted to go back to the ship once again and ask to be dropped off on their way over, but by the time she had found out this information, the council's boat had already set sail for their next destination. A tough turn for the saint, but prehaps it was for the best. The medicine had worn off, and she wasn't exactly in the mood to sleep more. So instead, she figured the next best thing would be the travel over on her own two legs. She would end up running a little late, so she hoped the Rune Knights would forgive her, but it shouldn't end up being that long since it was merely the neighboring city. The problem, however, came with the realization that the language here... Was not Fioran. At least, not the written language. While the young slayer traversed the cobble stone streets, looking along the small, stony shops and signs it was fairly obvious that she was not going to find her way by any sort of map or landmarks. Instead of Fioran, ingrained deeply into these signs were what otherwise seemed to be strange figures and patterns. Some of which she could see were some sort of Elvish. But as an elf who had never learned Elvish properly, noticing this did not help much. While her father had taught her some phrases and lone words back in her youth, without any sort of proper tutoring in the ancient language, it was not going to do her any good.
Astrid's nervous gaze looked up from side to side, trying to find any sort of sign that may be in Fioran or prehaps even a bit of Elvish she could recognize, only to come up empty handed the longer she strolled through the streets.
Eventually, after about twenty minutes of trying to save face and not having to ask around, it looked like she had no choice. She was going to have to find someone who she could ask for directions.
Tired and beat, the silvernette let out a sigh as she plopped herself onto a wooden bench near an ice cream stand, leaning over with her face resting in her hands, lips pouting outward like a defeated child. Man, she was so full of excitement and wonder when she first stepped off that boat. She was so happy to be in a new place, a place she had heard so much about, yet had never been to before. But now she felt like she had gone into this a bit too blindly. Then again, she had never really been one for coming up with and making plans. She let out an audible hum, hearing the children next to her laugh and cheer as they ordered their ice cream. "Surely a castle cant be that hard to miss, but if i ask anyone here where it is they'll automatically know i'm a foreigner, and i don't want to seem like a complete dunderhead. I'm supposed to be one of the greatest wizards around. What kind of name am i giving Fiore if i can't even find my way around here by myself?" Sure, maybe she was making it a bit more deep and complicated than it needed to be, but the elf couldn't help but worry about what kind of image she was giving to others while here. In Fiore? It wasn't that bad, but now she was in a completely different country. A country that would judge not only her, but her home country's actions. She couldn't let them down like that. At least that's what she thought.
Amidst these thoughts a small brown dog approached her from the streets, taking a seat next to her from the side of the bench and staring out across the way, panting happily with a small smile tugged on the edges of its lips. The slayer glanced over, disturbed from her inner thoughts as something more cuter and way more worth her time same into the scene. She blinked once, mouth parted open slightly. A dog just running free, out here? In Fiore usually they had leash laws. People weren't allowed to to let their dogs run free. Perhaps it was different here? Yet again he didn't have a collar, so did it mean he was a stray? Whatever he was, it didn't matter. Just this animal's presence alone brought a sort of familiarity to the elf, which at this point was rather welcoming.
She smiled. "What's wrong, boy? Are you lost too?" She knew the dog couldn't answer back, but just asking someone or something else if they were also lost calmed her a bit.
The dogs panting ceased, and now instead of staring blankly across the street narrowed its eyes and looked out of the corner of its vision at Astrid. "Um, excuse me i'm a girl." An annoyed, girly voice came from next to her... From the dog itself. The slayer's mouth closed instantly, her one eye widening in surprise. Ah... This wasn't a normal dog. This was a sentient dog. Of course.
"Ah, my apologizes. Are you lost as well, ma'am?" She would correct herself, as if that would make it up to the magical creature that was very obviously annoyed by the mix up.
The canine let out a loud snort through her nose, her mouth opened in a silent chuckle that never came.
"No, i just paused to catch my breath after my daily jog. Lords... You elves, always acting like you know everything." With a huff from her mouth and a eye roll the dog stood back up on her two hind legs, like a human, as if to mock the girl for her mistakes. Without another word she would saunter off on her way down the street continuing on her way. Astrid watched her go, a solemn expression across her features now, now even more defeated by the scolding she had just received. She leaned back into the bench, watching the civilians go about their day more quietly than before.
It seems even here in a country of such unknown and endless magic there was still prejudice.
WC: 3,712/15,000
Guest- Guest
It was getting late. Astrid didn't even need a watch to know that soon enough it would be dusk. The orange sky that hung over the town's buildings and trees let her know this. It sat there, threatening her with darkness if she did not soon find the Rune Knights she should have met with by now. She certainly hoped they weren't worried about her, or worse, annoyed. Maybe they thought she had flaked out by now, and was doing the mission on their own, having grown tired of waiting. The elf hoped that wasn't the case. If she couldn't even do the mission she had come here to do then none of her many hours of searching about the town would have even been worth it. At this point, she just wanted to do what she came to do and go home. She wanted some sort of familiarity, any at all. She wanted Peace Village, she wanted her cozy home, she wanted Erika. This place was starting to strain her. While at first completely overjoyed with curiosity and wonder, that spark had slowly dwindled with the many hours she has spent trying to find her way around, lost and confused in this ever changing and never ending magical plane. But she could not leave without at least checking in and seeing why they had requested her in the first place. From what she was told by the magic council, it was something about a beast causing havoc. A best so great not even Seven's most renown knights or mages could return home from its challenge, and those who did, were scarred beyond repair. It was a fairly vague description. Astrid wasn't sure if it was supposed to make her more inclined to do it, or just more fearful. But she has faced many powerful and deadly opponents over her years of being a mage. She was sure facing one more wouldn't do any harm. Plus this time she had back up, it wasn't like she was going to do this alone. Though the thought that she would even need back up despite her being a saint... She wasn't sure if the magic council was being overly cautious, or if they were trying to hint at something they refused to tell her directly.
Either way... She needed to find this group and finally get started.
With the dark night sky inching more and more above her, edging the dark orange of the dusk air the slayer had finally figured prehaps it was about time to exit the city and hopefully just find her way there by herself, since she was not getting anywhere just standing around and looking for some sort of sign. As far as she knew, she only needed to head east, where the great city of Taras was located. The place, where the queen resided and the Rune Knights were waiting. She figured, as long as she just kept heading east she was sure to hit it eventually. A city designed to hold not only a castle but the royal family themselves would be pretty big. If she kept going it would be impossible to miss.
So the elf continued on the path, having exited Hala's streets only but two or three hours ago. At first while she traveled there were still signs of civilization scattered about the trail such as random houses and even a small village, for about an hour now Astrid had not seen anything of the sort. No cabins, no farm land, not even a rickety old well. It was just trees and bushes for miles. Even the smoothed down path of cut grass eventually started to grow a bit ragged and unkempt, like someone hadn't touched it in ages. Wherever she was, it hasn't been used in some time. A little unnerving, as who knew what kinds of creatures and wildlife were held in these woods. But at the same time, it was more peaceful than it had been in the port town. No one scolding her, no signs confusing her frazzled mind, no tension. The fresh, cool air that the saint breathed in. The sounds of birds chirping, frogs croaking, and cricketing singing. The dim light that cascaded over the area, not totally blinding but at the same time not completely dark. It was relaxing, especially to the elf who for the past couple of hours had done nothing but get sick and worry. It was what she needed, to get out of that suffocating places and return to the place she had spent the last couple of months in. The wilderness. Of course, the alien wilderness on Terasu couldn't even compare to the surrounding in Seven. They were two completely different places and climates. But in a lot of ways, they were so foreign to her that now they were starting to come familiar.
It was nice.
Another twenty minutes in and the dark gray sky above had for the most part overwhelmed the orangeness of the dusk air. It was getting darker, but not yet to the point where she would have trouble seeing... Or get scared. The threat of darkness was a great one to the elf, being somewhat afraid of it even. If she didn't get to her destination by nightfall who knows what might happen. Which is why when she recognized this the elf had quickened her pace quite a bit. She wasn't sure how much longer she had left until she hit Taras, but to any and all gods out there that would listen she hoped it wouldn't take much longer.
Amidst the approaching darkness in front of her, through some of the thick branches of the trees the the slayer able to spot a bit of shining light spilling out between the leaves. She perked up instantly, staring at the yellowish light. Was that the lights Taras she saw? It had to be, right? Though the trees were too tall to look behind to see if there was a town, she was sure the last spilling out from behind the trees had to be a streetlamp of some kind. It would make no sense for it to be anything else.
Hope filled the slayer, letting out a breath of relief. She wouldn't have to camp out in the darkness after all! She was saved. Quickening her place even more Astrid headed towards the light, shuffling her way through the tree branches with a newfound burst of stamina. Pushing the branches to the side the saint found her way through to the other side. Her wise crimson eye looked over the area, standing still to catch her breath after the short sprint, only for it to calm down more and more slowly once she was what she did. It was not a town, not at all. Actually, it was a hole in what looked to be a small raise in land. A sort of cliff. The light she had seen, was from a small lamp to the side of the large hole in its side, shining dimly by a single candle. A huff came from the slayer, disappointed. Seems this was not Taras after all, her excitement had been for nothing. With a bit of melancholy Astrid was about to turn around and find another way east, only to be stopped by a sudden yell from the side of the cliff.
"You there! Stop!" Having already turned around half way Astrid paused, turning to look to her side. From a pile of coal near the the side of the cliff a little dwarf covered in dust and smog residue approached her with an angry shout, carrying a silver pickax over his left shoulder. He stopped just before her, craning his neck upwards to look her dead in the eye. "What do yer think ya doin here, missy? The mines belong to da dwarfs. We ain't gonna let no elf take them away from us again."
Astrid could only blink, unsure of what he was even talking about. Take away the mines from them? She was here to do no such thing.
"Mister, i'm sorry for approaching onto your territory. I mean no harm, and i'm not here to take anything away from you. I'm just trying to find my way to Taras. Do you possibly know the way there by any chance?" She would ask as politely as she could, giving him a very apologetic expression. He seemed angry, and she wasn't about to fight a miner due to a misunderstanding. She just wanted to get to Taras and rest before it got any darker.
The dwarf stared at her, using his free hand to stroke his ginger, matted beard as he looked over her curiously, giving her an expression of disbelief at first before lightening slightly once he realized she was being serious. Then, he let out a mighty laugh, almost bending over backwards in the process.
"Haha! Oh lords, i thought you were pullin' me leg at first! An elfling that don't know how to get teh Taras? That's rich." Growing suddenly serious the laughing would stop, and the miner would heave over his pickax, shoving the end into Astrid's face. She would retracted it a bit, so it wouldn't end up actually hitting her in the face. "Even if it is funny, i ain't helpin' ya. You seem like yer not from 'round these parts, so i'll share with ya bit of info. Elves and dwarfs don't exactly get along, it's somethin' that goes back plenty o' years. Before your time, before mah time. You might of not been involved in any way with what happened, but as long as yer ears are pointed us folk won't help ya. Nothin' personal, it's just how it is. So you can leave now and never come back, or stay and leave with that other eye of your's bashed in." Retracting his pickax again to his side two other dwarfs would emerge from the dim light of the hole, both carrying their own pickaxes in hand. They would stop before Astrid, who took a step back a bit in order to feel a little less surrounded. She gritted her teeth together, looking over the three angered, short men who were looking at her menacingly. She could take them, all of them. She knew that without a doubt. They did not old any sort of magical presence at all, and those pickax were nothing compared to a sword or daggers. But if she acted on the small amount of annoyance she felt about their ignorance it could end up just diving their species further than they already apparently were. She clenched her fist, biting back the urge to punch them.
Suddenly, just when she was about to act upon her frustration a sudden wall of orange fire rose from the small amount of space separating the dwarfs from her. It rose to just a few inches above their heads, burning hot, like standing right next to blazing wildfire. Seeing as how it basically came out of nowhere both parties were surprised. Astrid took a step back, using an arm to protect herself against the harsh flames. Meanwhile the dwarfs jumped back, patting their beards wildly as they had caught on fire from being so close to it. After a moment, the wall of fire ceased, retracing back into the ground into nothing, leaving a dark scorch mark in its place. The dwarfs screamed in fear, still trying to put of their beard fires. Landing in front of Astrid where the fire had just been, was a girl.
Her narrowed, ruby gaze looked at the frantic dwarfs who finally managed to pat the fires outs. They let out a breath of relief, looking to the woman with spite. The red head lifted a sharpened, crimson sword from her side, pointing it towards them to keep a distance between the both of them and the shorter men. Even just being a bit behind her, Astrid could feel the warmth emanating from the woman's body, like she had a fire place inside her body or something. A fire mage, it seemed like. She must have been the one who made the fire. While Astrid was tense still, she could tell this woman didn't mean any harm to her. In fact, she was protecting her from the miners.
She glared back at the men, reaching behind her back to pull out a badge. One badge Astrid was very familiar. The badge of the Rune Knights.
"Unless you want to get locked up for aggravated assault i suggest you lower your axes and go back to work. This land is not owned by anyone but the queen, no matter what species you are, and i don't think she would be very happy if she found out you were threatening one of her kind instead of working."
The dwarfs would glare at her for a few more seconds, before turning back with grumbles, retreating back into the cave. One of them turned back for a moment, spitting on the ground in their direction before following his coworkers.
Both Astrid and the woman paused to watch them go back to work, the air of tension slowly subsiding. Astrid let out a breath through her nose. Thankfully that didn't go anywhere nasty.
The red head turned her body around to face the elf, looking over her with a bright gaze. Astrid found herself freezing under her gaze, looking to the side to avoid her gaze before meeting it. She was a bit intimidating. She reminded the slayer of her mother a bit, but instead of being freezing cold she was fiery and intense.
Finally, after a moment the silvernette forced a small smile, despite being a bit intimated by the woman.
"Thank you for that. For a minute there i wasn't sure what to do."
"Seven is not like Fiore. Things work differently here, you need to be more careful." The red head would let out a sigh, retracting her sword back to her side and putting her badge back. "You're just like your father, always getting into trouble..."
Astrid's eye widened at her statement. Her father? This girl knew her father? Well, it wasn't that surprising, he was also in the Rune Knights after all. But the fact that she said that so casually... She knew her father personally.
"You... You know my papa? Is he here?" she would ask. The woman rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Sadly. He was dispatched on the same mission you and i are apart of, along with two others. We arrived earlier today, only to grow worried when you didn't come on time. We split up to look for you. Ernest said you might have run into trouble, seems he was right. Not that he has any room to speak, i've had to save him a few times in the past because of his idiocy." She would look back to Astrid with a solemn expression, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You got the wrong genes. I'm so sorry." Astrid only gave her a confused look, not entirely sure what she should feel sorry about...
Once giving Astrid a long enough look the red haired mage let her go, turning around to look out across the cliff. "Well, enough standing around. We should get back to Taras. The queen has been waiting all day to give us our information, we shouldn't keep her waiting." Beginning to walk forward a couple of steps, the fire mage would pause once again, looking back at Astrid who was still somewhat frozen in place, staring at her. The fire knight gave her a confused look, a blush spreading across her cheeks, the tip of her hair catching on fire. "Are you going to follow, or just keep staring at me with that dumb look?" Astrid blinked, shaking her head to wake herself up after the events that just occurred.
"Y-Yeah, sorry." The elf would jog up next to the knight before the red head would start to move again herself, using a hand to lift her red scarf to cover her reddened face before moving forward with her.
"Idiot."
WC: 6,478/15,000
Either way... She needed to find this group and finally get started.
With the dark night sky inching more and more above her, edging the dark orange of the dusk air the slayer had finally figured prehaps it was about time to exit the city and hopefully just find her way there by herself, since she was not getting anywhere just standing around and looking for some sort of sign. As far as she knew, she only needed to head east, where the great city of Taras was located. The place, where the queen resided and the Rune Knights were waiting. She figured, as long as she just kept heading east she was sure to hit it eventually. A city designed to hold not only a castle but the royal family themselves would be pretty big. If she kept going it would be impossible to miss.
So the elf continued on the path, having exited Hala's streets only but two or three hours ago. At first while she traveled there were still signs of civilization scattered about the trail such as random houses and even a small village, for about an hour now Astrid had not seen anything of the sort. No cabins, no farm land, not even a rickety old well. It was just trees and bushes for miles. Even the smoothed down path of cut grass eventually started to grow a bit ragged and unkempt, like someone hadn't touched it in ages. Wherever she was, it hasn't been used in some time. A little unnerving, as who knew what kinds of creatures and wildlife were held in these woods. But at the same time, it was more peaceful than it had been in the port town. No one scolding her, no signs confusing her frazzled mind, no tension. The fresh, cool air that the saint breathed in. The sounds of birds chirping, frogs croaking, and cricketing singing. The dim light that cascaded over the area, not totally blinding but at the same time not completely dark. It was relaxing, especially to the elf who for the past couple of hours had done nothing but get sick and worry. It was what she needed, to get out of that suffocating places and return to the place she had spent the last couple of months in. The wilderness. Of course, the alien wilderness on Terasu couldn't even compare to the surrounding in Seven. They were two completely different places and climates. But in a lot of ways, they were so foreign to her that now they were starting to come familiar.
It was nice.
Another twenty minutes in and the dark gray sky above had for the most part overwhelmed the orangeness of the dusk air. It was getting darker, but not yet to the point where she would have trouble seeing... Or get scared. The threat of darkness was a great one to the elf, being somewhat afraid of it even. If she didn't get to her destination by nightfall who knows what might happen. Which is why when she recognized this the elf had quickened her pace quite a bit. She wasn't sure how much longer she had left until she hit Taras, but to any and all gods out there that would listen she hoped it wouldn't take much longer.
Amidst the approaching darkness in front of her, through some of the thick branches of the trees the the slayer able to spot a bit of shining light spilling out between the leaves. She perked up instantly, staring at the yellowish light. Was that the lights Taras she saw? It had to be, right? Though the trees were too tall to look behind to see if there was a town, she was sure the last spilling out from behind the trees had to be a streetlamp of some kind. It would make no sense for it to be anything else.
Hope filled the slayer, letting out a breath of relief. She wouldn't have to camp out in the darkness after all! She was saved. Quickening her place even more Astrid headed towards the light, shuffling her way through the tree branches with a newfound burst of stamina. Pushing the branches to the side the saint found her way through to the other side. Her wise crimson eye looked over the area, standing still to catch her breath after the short sprint, only for it to calm down more and more slowly once she was what she did. It was not a town, not at all. Actually, it was a hole in what looked to be a small raise in land. A sort of cliff. The light she had seen, was from a small lamp to the side of the large hole in its side, shining dimly by a single candle. A huff came from the slayer, disappointed. Seems this was not Taras after all, her excitement had been for nothing. With a bit of melancholy Astrid was about to turn around and find another way east, only to be stopped by a sudden yell from the side of the cliff.
"You there! Stop!" Having already turned around half way Astrid paused, turning to look to her side. From a pile of coal near the the side of the cliff a little dwarf covered in dust and smog residue approached her with an angry shout, carrying a silver pickax over his left shoulder. He stopped just before her, craning his neck upwards to look her dead in the eye. "What do yer think ya doin here, missy? The mines belong to da dwarfs. We ain't gonna let no elf take them away from us again."
Astrid could only blink, unsure of what he was even talking about. Take away the mines from them? She was here to do no such thing.
"Mister, i'm sorry for approaching onto your territory. I mean no harm, and i'm not here to take anything away from you. I'm just trying to find my way to Taras. Do you possibly know the way there by any chance?" She would ask as politely as she could, giving him a very apologetic expression. He seemed angry, and she wasn't about to fight a miner due to a misunderstanding. She just wanted to get to Taras and rest before it got any darker.
The dwarf stared at her, using his free hand to stroke his ginger, matted beard as he looked over her curiously, giving her an expression of disbelief at first before lightening slightly once he realized she was being serious. Then, he let out a mighty laugh, almost bending over backwards in the process.
"Haha! Oh lords, i thought you were pullin' me leg at first! An elfling that don't know how to get teh Taras? That's rich." Growing suddenly serious the laughing would stop, and the miner would heave over his pickax, shoving the end into Astrid's face. She would retracted it a bit, so it wouldn't end up actually hitting her in the face. "Even if it is funny, i ain't helpin' ya. You seem like yer not from 'round these parts, so i'll share with ya bit of info. Elves and dwarfs don't exactly get along, it's somethin' that goes back plenty o' years. Before your time, before mah time. You might of not been involved in any way with what happened, but as long as yer ears are pointed us folk won't help ya. Nothin' personal, it's just how it is. So you can leave now and never come back, or stay and leave with that other eye of your's bashed in." Retracting his pickax again to his side two other dwarfs would emerge from the dim light of the hole, both carrying their own pickaxes in hand. They would stop before Astrid, who took a step back a bit in order to feel a little less surrounded. She gritted her teeth together, looking over the three angered, short men who were looking at her menacingly. She could take them, all of them. She knew that without a doubt. They did not old any sort of magical presence at all, and those pickax were nothing compared to a sword or daggers. But if she acted on the small amount of annoyance she felt about their ignorance it could end up just diving their species further than they already apparently were. She clenched her fist, biting back the urge to punch them.
Suddenly, just when she was about to act upon her frustration a sudden wall of orange fire rose from the small amount of space separating the dwarfs from her. It rose to just a few inches above their heads, burning hot, like standing right next to blazing wildfire. Seeing as how it basically came out of nowhere both parties were surprised. Astrid took a step back, using an arm to protect herself against the harsh flames. Meanwhile the dwarfs jumped back, patting their beards wildly as they had caught on fire from being so close to it. After a moment, the wall of fire ceased, retracing back into the ground into nothing, leaving a dark scorch mark in its place. The dwarfs screamed in fear, still trying to put of their beard fires. Landing in front of Astrid where the fire had just been, was a girl.
- Fire Knight:
Her narrowed, ruby gaze looked at the frantic dwarfs who finally managed to pat the fires outs. They let out a breath of relief, looking to the woman with spite. The red head lifted a sharpened, crimson sword from her side, pointing it towards them to keep a distance between the both of them and the shorter men. Even just being a bit behind her, Astrid could feel the warmth emanating from the woman's body, like she had a fire place inside her body or something. A fire mage, it seemed like. She must have been the one who made the fire. While Astrid was tense still, she could tell this woman didn't mean any harm to her. In fact, she was protecting her from the miners.
She glared back at the men, reaching behind her back to pull out a badge. One badge Astrid was very familiar. The badge of the Rune Knights.
"Unless you want to get locked up for aggravated assault i suggest you lower your axes and go back to work. This land is not owned by anyone but the queen, no matter what species you are, and i don't think she would be very happy if she found out you were threatening one of her kind instead of working."
The dwarfs would glare at her for a few more seconds, before turning back with grumbles, retreating back into the cave. One of them turned back for a moment, spitting on the ground in their direction before following his coworkers.
Both Astrid and the woman paused to watch them go back to work, the air of tension slowly subsiding. Astrid let out a breath through her nose. Thankfully that didn't go anywhere nasty.
The red head turned her body around to face the elf, looking over her with a bright gaze. Astrid found herself freezing under her gaze, looking to the side to avoid her gaze before meeting it. She was a bit intimidating. She reminded the slayer of her mother a bit, but instead of being freezing cold she was fiery and intense.
Finally, after a moment the silvernette forced a small smile, despite being a bit intimated by the woman.
"Thank you for that. For a minute there i wasn't sure what to do."
"Seven is not like Fiore. Things work differently here, you need to be more careful." The red head would let out a sigh, retracting her sword back to her side and putting her badge back. "You're just like your father, always getting into trouble..."
Astrid's eye widened at her statement. Her father? This girl knew her father? Well, it wasn't that surprising, he was also in the Rune Knights after all. But the fact that she said that so casually... She knew her father personally.
"You... You know my papa? Is he here?" she would ask. The woman rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Sadly. He was dispatched on the same mission you and i are apart of, along with two others. We arrived earlier today, only to grow worried when you didn't come on time. We split up to look for you. Ernest said you might have run into trouble, seems he was right. Not that he has any room to speak, i've had to save him a few times in the past because of his idiocy." She would look back to Astrid with a solemn expression, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You got the wrong genes. I'm so sorry." Astrid only gave her a confused look, not entirely sure what she should feel sorry about...
Once giving Astrid a long enough look the red haired mage let her go, turning around to look out across the cliff. "Well, enough standing around. We should get back to Taras. The queen has been waiting all day to give us our information, we shouldn't keep her waiting." Beginning to walk forward a couple of steps, the fire mage would pause once again, looking back at Astrid who was still somewhat frozen in place, staring at her. The fire knight gave her a confused look, a blush spreading across her cheeks, the tip of her hair catching on fire. "Are you going to follow, or just keep staring at me with that dumb look?" Astrid blinked, shaking her head to wake herself up after the events that just occurred.
"Y-Yeah, sorry." The elf would jog up next to the knight before the red head would start to move again herself, using a hand to lift her red scarf to cover her reddened face before moving forward with her.
"Idiot."
WC: 6,478/15,000
Guest- Guest
The two women conversed as they made their way to Taras, at first introducing themselves and then a few spurts of small talk here and there to part the silence that would fall between them. Apparently, the fire knight's name was Olwen, and she worked in the same branch of the Rune Knights as her father. She was also some type of elemental, a being who was made completely up of a certain element, of course her's being fire. It came as a surprise to the elf, who had only ever fought against elementals who didn't seem to be sentient in the slightest. Olwen was completely sentient, able understand words and produce them back. She even seemed intelligent, though to what extent was unknown. Back when the slayer did a job with Kite, all the elementals on Kyoka wanted to do was fight. But Olwen was different. Perhaps there were different types of elementals she was unaware of, one more docile and attentive. Although, Olwen did have a thing of being a bit awkward. She never really turned around to face her the entire time they were talking, and she kept her face covered with her scarf, not letting the elf know more than the bare minimum of what she asked for. Plus she was always the one to start the conversation, rather than it being the red head. Maybe she was a bit socially inept still. She could understand that, with her specie's habit of isolation it would be hard keeping a conversation with someone. Perhaps she was still in the middle of trying to learn to be among others.
Still, even if she wasn't the most talkative type, just having a casual conversation with someone who at least looked a bit human and didn't instantly yell at her was refreshing, and the thing she needed right about now.
It wasn't long until they made it through the thick forests of Seven, and finally made it to the outskirts of Taras. The view from the edges alone, was enough to take the elven woman's breath away. Due to it being night by now vibrant orbs of light hung loosely all around these long, curved roots sprawled out along the sides of the stone buildings. The stone buildings themselves were rather clean and polished, detailed symbols and pictures of old inscribed deep into the smoothed surface. In the center of this all, laid a giant tree, the tree from which the roots originated from, standing a few dozen meters high, as high as the clouds themselves. In all honestly it made the city look very connected, as if they were all being kept in place by the overgrown plant. For a good solid minute the slayer had stood in awe of this town just a little before the stony bridge connecting the forests to the city, watching the twinkling lights as if they were greeting her in their own special way. But when Olwen started to become a little fussy with her the elf pushed herself forward, crossing the bridge and finally entering the city.
The city wasn't actually too big, rather it was only really just a little bigger than the town she had just come from. But she supposed if the royal family lived here it would be better to call it a city than a town. Still, the elf couldn't help but feel the difference between Taras and Hala. The people of Hala had been a little rough around the edges, but the Taras citizens were actually nicer. A few even gave her some waves and greetings as she passed through. They also seemed to be a little more well kept, where as the ones in the port town were more like something you would find in the rough and tough patches of Tanolia back in Fiore. The slums, if you would. But here seemed more peaceful, more quiet. The sounds of crickets were more like a lullaby compared to the shouts and yelling back in Hala, and the people here conversed more quietly among themselves. Overall, she was liking this place much better than the one before. Although, with the queen here and all she shouldn't be surprised. They were all people probably more well off than the ones in the neighboring town, if they could afford to live here. Their lives were much more pleasant, or at least better than those who had to work in mines and fish for minimum wage.
About half way through the city Olwen all of a sudden grabbed onto the elf's hands. While a little confused at first the elemental simply said it was just to be sure she didn't get lost again. She could understand why, she was already getting kind of lost in the beauty of the city, but still it was a little embarrassing for someone who looked a little younger than you are to be holding your hand and guiding you through the city. But, she wasn't about to fight with the same woman who just helped her out of a bad scuffle. So she let her guide her through until they came to the big oak tree in the center. Their destination, where the queen spent her time ruling over this country.
It was a smooth, rounded circle near the base of the tree. The buildings close by seemed to curve out of the way, in order not to touch the dark brown trunk and leave a wide enough gap to allow people to move freely. The orbs of light decorating the roots were also scattered along the bark here, twisting upwards in a spiral short of shape all the way up. Though with it being such a big tree it was kind of hard to even see the end of it. Even the top half of the leaves were hidden by the clouds.
The two stopped at the end of the alley which led to the grand tree, looking upon the two golden doors wedged into the bark, most likely the entrance inside. By either side stood an elvlish guard, each one wearing golden armor and carrying silver spears, staring blankly off in front of them.
Olwen let out a "tch", a click of her tongue. "They must have gone inside already, gave up waiting for me. Assholes. Weren't even worried i didn't come back." She let out an annoyed huffed, walking forward to the guards. Astrid followed suit closely behind. The guard's gazes lit to life as they approached them, staring at them like daggers. Upon getting closer the guard's lifted their spears towards the doors to stop them from going any further, making them stop in their tracks.
"Halt! What business do you have with the queen?" one of them spoke up, his voice commanding and deep.
"We're here about the plant monster problem. We were sent by Fiore's magic council to help. Our comrades are already inside conversing with the queen."
"Badge?" the other one rose an eyebrow. Olwen was taken aback, furrowing her red eyebrows.
"What? I was just here a few hours ago with my team. Do you not remember? Or need i show it each time i return?" Astrid would looked at the knight from the side of her vision, wishing she would just show them the badge like she did the miners and get it over with. But apparently, she wasn't happy with flashing it again for some reason.
"We just returned to our post an hour ago. The ones you showed your badge to were some other guards who had taken our place while the queen asked us to take a patrol around the city. Now badge, or else you don't get past." Olwen, although disgruntled, reached behind her coat.
"Geez, i couldn't tell. All you elves look the same to me." She paused for a moment, looking up to Astrid with a widened gaze, realizing who she had just said that in front of. "Uh, no offense."
Astrid merely shrugged it off.
"None taken." She didn't think they all looked the same. Except for maybe the ears and some of the features they all looked pretty different. But she wasn't going act like she got offended or anything, it really wasn't that big of a deal. Olwen, after enough shuffling around, found her badge and presented it to them. Upon seeing it the guards lifted their spears back and pushed open the giant gold doors. Olwen stepped into the tree, Astrid following behind. At least, until the guards crossed their spears again, stopping Astrid from going inside. She stopped in her tracks, pushed back slightly by the spears. She looked at the both of them, giving them a confused look.
"Badge?" They asked curiously. Badge? Her? She didn't need a badge. There was no such thing for wizard saints, at least she didn't think so. If there was she certainly didn't get one. Seeing this Olwen stopped, turning back around with an equally confused look.
"Hey what's the big deal? Let her through. She's with me."
"All Rune Knights must present their badge before they can pass through these doors."
"I'm not a Rune Knight though, i'm a Wizard Saint. I was also sent by the council to help." She didn't get why they were being so picky about this. Didn't the council tell them she was coming? They had been the ones to assign her in the first place. She couldn't understand why she would need something like a badge. Usually her title along was enough.
The guards held onto their spears more tightly. "No badge, no entry."
Olwen growled audibly while biting her lip, annoyed by all of these things stopping them from getting their jobs done.
"This is absurd!"
"Let her through." A sudden voice echoed from deeper within the room, feminine and booming. Olwen turned to look behind her, while Astrid had to lean her head to the side in order to look beyond the girl. A little away from them within the softly lit, carved interior of the tree, sat an elf upon a throne of wood and furs. A regal elf, with long, flowing orange hair and pale white skin. An elf with shining green orbs for eyes, and a headpiece of gold that slowly led to into two great deer antlers. She sat there away from them, with three others in front of her- most likely the rune knights who had gone in ahead of them.
"How nice it is for you to finally join us, Saint of Repentance."
WC: 8,326/15,000
Still, even if she wasn't the most talkative type, just having a casual conversation with someone who at least looked a bit human and didn't instantly yell at her was refreshing, and the thing she needed right about now.
It wasn't long until they made it through the thick forests of Seven, and finally made it to the outskirts of Taras. The view from the edges alone, was enough to take the elven woman's breath away. Due to it being night by now vibrant orbs of light hung loosely all around these long, curved roots sprawled out along the sides of the stone buildings. The stone buildings themselves were rather clean and polished, detailed symbols and pictures of old inscribed deep into the smoothed surface. In the center of this all, laid a giant tree, the tree from which the roots originated from, standing a few dozen meters high, as high as the clouds themselves. In all honestly it made the city look very connected, as if they were all being kept in place by the overgrown plant. For a good solid minute the slayer had stood in awe of this town just a little before the stony bridge connecting the forests to the city, watching the twinkling lights as if they were greeting her in their own special way. But when Olwen started to become a little fussy with her the elf pushed herself forward, crossing the bridge and finally entering the city.
The city wasn't actually too big, rather it was only really just a little bigger than the town she had just come from. But she supposed if the royal family lived here it would be better to call it a city than a town. Still, the elf couldn't help but feel the difference between Taras and Hala. The people of Hala had been a little rough around the edges, but the Taras citizens were actually nicer. A few even gave her some waves and greetings as she passed through. They also seemed to be a little more well kept, where as the ones in the port town were more like something you would find in the rough and tough patches of Tanolia back in Fiore. The slums, if you would. But here seemed more peaceful, more quiet. The sounds of crickets were more like a lullaby compared to the shouts and yelling back in Hala, and the people here conversed more quietly among themselves. Overall, she was liking this place much better than the one before. Although, with the queen here and all she shouldn't be surprised. They were all people probably more well off than the ones in the neighboring town, if they could afford to live here. Their lives were much more pleasant, or at least better than those who had to work in mines and fish for minimum wage.
About half way through the city Olwen all of a sudden grabbed onto the elf's hands. While a little confused at first the elemental simply said it was just to be sure she didn't get lost again. She could understand why, she was already getting kind of lost in the beauty of the city, but still it was a little embarrassing for someone who looked a little younger than you are to be holding your hand and guiding you through the city. But, she wasn't about to fight with the same woman who just helped her out of a bad scuffle. So she let her guide her through until they came to the big oak tree in the center. Their destination, where the queen spent her time ruling over this country.
It was a smooth, rounded circle near the base of the tree. The buildings close by seemed to curve out of the way, in order not to touch the dark brown trunk and leave a wide enough gap to allow people to move freely. The orbs of light decorating the roots were also scattered along the bark here, twisting upwards in a spiral short of shape all the way up. Though with it being such a big tree it was kind of hard to even see the end of it. Even the top half of the leaves were hidden by the clouds.
The two stopped at the end of the alley which led to the grand tree, looking upon the two golden doors wedged into the bark, most likely the entrance inside. By either side stood an elvlish guard, each one wearing golden armor and carrying silver spears, staring blankly off in front of them.
Olwen let out a "tch", a click of her tongue. "They must have gone inside already, gave up waiting for me. Assholes. Weren't even worried i didn't come back." She let out an annoyed huffed, walking forward to the guards. Astrid followed suit closely behind. The guard's gazes lit to life as they approached them, staring at them like daggers. Upon getting closer the guard's lifted their spears towards the doors to stop them from going any further, making them stop in their tracks.
"Halt! What business do you have with the queen?" one of them spoke up, his voice commanding and deep.
"We're here about the plant monster problem. We were sent by Fiore's magic council to help. Our comrades are already inside conversing with the queen."
"Badge?" the other one rose an eyebrow. Olwen was taken aback, furrowing her red eyebrows.
"What? I was just here a few hours ago with my team. Do you not remember? Or need i show it each time i return?" Astrid would looked at the knight from the side of her vision, wishing she would just show them the badge like she did the miners and get it over with. But apparently, she wasn't happy with flashing it again for some reason.
"We just returned to our post an hour ago. The ones you showed your badge to were some other guards who had taken our place while the queen asked us to take a patrol around the city. Now badge, or else you don't get past." Olwen, although disgruntled, reached behind her coat.
"Geez, i couldn't tell. All you elves look the same to me." She paused for a moment, looking up to Astrid with a widened gaze, realizing who she had just said that in front of. "Uh, no offense."
Astrid merely shrugged it off.
"None taken." She didn't think they all looked the same. Except for maybe the ears and some of the features they all looked pretty different. But she wasn't going act like she got offended or anything, it really wasn't that big of a deal. Olwen, after enough shuffling around, found her badge and presented it to them. Upon seeing it the guards lifted their spears back and pushed open the giant gold doors. Olwen stepped into the tree, Astrid following behind. At least, until the guards crossed their spears again, stopping Astrid from going inside. She stopped in her tracks, pushed back slightly by the spears. She looked at the both of them, giving them a confused look.
"Badge?" They asked curiously. Badge? Her? She didn't need a badge. There was no such thing for wizard saints, at least she didn't think so. If there was she certainly didn't get one. Seeing this Olwen stopped, turning back around with an equally confused look.
"Hey what's the big deal? Let her through. She's with me."
"All Rune Knights must present their badge before they can pass through these doors."
"I'm not a Rune Knight though, i'm a Wizard Saint. I was also sent by the council to help." She didn't get why they were being so picky about this. Didn't the council tell them she was coming? They had been the ones to assign her in the first place. She couldn't understand why she would need something like a badge. Usually her title along was enough.
The guards held onto their spears more tightly. "No badge, no entry."
Olwen growled audibly while biting her lip, annoyed by all of these things stopping them from getting their jobs done.
"This is absurd!"
"Let her through." A sudden voice echoed from deeper within the room, feminine and booming. Olwen turned to look behind her, while Astrid had to lean her head to the side in order to look beyond the girl. A little away from them within the softly lit, carved interior of the tree, sat an elf upon a throne of wood and furs. A regal elf, with long, flowing orange hair and pale white skin. An elf with shining green orbs for eyes, and a headpiece of gold that slowly led to into two great deer antlers. She sat there away from them, with three others in front of her- most likely the rune knights who had gone in ahead of them.
- Aranel:
"How nice it is for you to finally join us, Saint of Repentance."
WC: 8,326/15,000
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