Windsor Castle [Stryke/Kumori/Elkeid/Caerbannog/Renai]

[Murasaki]

Stryke
Kumori
Elkeid
@dindeen
Renai

Your adventure in the Windsor Castle Dungeon begins. You may RP the dungeon raid however you'd like, including whatever battles or puzzles you may wish to add as long as it is reasonable. When you are ready to fight the midboss (Recommended 2nd page or afterward), please reply to your dungeon run application to notify a GM.

[Stryke]

black clouds of tempest reigned over the skies of Windsor Greatswood, restless winds echoed their howls throughout the field and a thick rain proceeded to wet the ground. Of all the days to go out for your daily grind, this was by far the worst one. Even though it was midday, those black clouds wouldn't let the sunrays get through and with that thick rain it rendered difficult for a traveler to know which way he was going.
Unfortunately, Leo was out in that field of storms too and wandered about aimlessly trying to find the way back to London. The unlucky adventurer cursed himself for deciding to leave the inn that day, those black clouds he saw in the morning already gave him a hint that the weather wouldn't be nice to him if he went out of the city's gates, but of course he was too stubborn to listen to his own cautious thoughts, after all, the worst thing that could happen to him was to get a little wet while hunting, right?
"Terrible choice..."
He muttered to himself while trying to orient himself, the rain was so thick that he couldn't see a damned thing beyond a meter or two from himself. The rain poured down, hammering Leo's head with hard drops of water, the ground beneath his shoes was all muddy and made a splashy sound at each step he took, making his travel back home even more uncomfortable. If he could just find the main road it would be way easier for him to return home but all he could see around himself was rain and muddy fields of grass, he was so lost that for a moment he actually thought of committing suicide just to go back to the cathedral in the fastest time possible, mainly because even the mobs that were supposed to roam around in the field wisely decided to take shelter.
Leo kept his arms crossed around himself to maintain his body warmth, he was completely freezing out and the sagginess of his clothes and armor wasn't helping him in the slightest, suddenly the idea of killing himself in that moment didn't sound that crazy anymore. Suddenly as cream echoed through the field, Leo raised his head surprised and turned it in the direction of the source of that voice. Leo could hear it, it was a call for help, maybe someone was in danger. The swashbuckler lost no time and ran in the direction of the scream, his wet clothes and the mud at his feet slowed him down greatly, he tried his best to keep a constant pace to get to the source in the fastest time but he could hardly tell where he was going, he didn't hear anything else after the first scream and with his vision so lowered he didn't know if he was going in the right way.
After a few seconds Leo heard another voice, this one sounded more menacing than the last one,
"Give us everything you have it in your carriage and nothing bad will happen, old man"
The voice was near, Leo must have been closer to them than he thought. A few seconds later, in fact, Leo stopped as he found himself on the main road to London and saw two bandits assaulting a man with a carriage , interestingly they were all people of the land. Leo smirked and sheathed out his trusty swords, the 2 bandits were just on level 7, a single strike would be sufficient to almost kill them. He stretched his body forward and focused his mind the skill <Fold Step>, a moment later he propelled himself forward at high speed to the first bandit. Once only a few inches separated the swashbuckler from the bandit, Leo crossed his swords behind his chest and then stretched them out in the opposite direction. The blades connected and slashed the bandit's stomach, who had the most surprised expression on his face, the thick rain only enabled him to see Leo when it was too late to dodge the incoming blow.
The bandit's blood began to drip on the road, his HP bar quickly descended and only stopped at the 10% mark,
"What the hell?"
The other bandit yelled as he heard his partner screaming in pain. He turned his head around but that second was fatal for him, Leo already covered the little distance that separated the two men and pierced his sword on the bandit's side. Leo removed the sword form the bandit's gusts and took a few steps backwards, so did the bandit. He placed his hand on his injury and promptly yelled at his partner,
"He's got reinforces! Let's get out of here!"
The other bandit followed his order and soon after the two bandits disappeared in the rain, leaving behind only a trail of blood. Leo cracked his neck and placed his windsor aqua swords back into their sheath, he turned around and looked at the old man with carriage.
"You picked a wrong time to travel around, old man"
He said to him, the old man quickly came near him and with a sudden move he shook with both hands Leo's own hand,
"Oh thank you, adventurer, If you weren't there who knew what would have happened "
Leo looked at him nervously, he wasn't used on being thanked like that,
"Stay right where you are, I have to repay you in some way"
The old man said and then he quickly let Leo's hand go to fumble around the stuff on his carriage.
"Look, I don't want anyth--"
He tried to say, but the lander quickly preceded him and put a light bag on his hands,
"Open it once you're in place a little less rainy, okay? I was going to sell it to other adventurers but you can have it"
He concluded , then he saluted Leo and in all hurry left him alone to proceed on his travel. Leo stared for a moment the man quickly fading away in the rain and then down on the bag he gave him, just what was inside it? Leo stored the bag in his inventory and turned the other way, fortunately the old man traveled on the main road, so Leo just had to go the opposite way to reach London in no time.
------
"So, What are you waiting for? Open it"
The lady innkeeper looked at the bag with her eyes sparkling with curiousness, in all honesty Leo wanted to get a bath and a clothes change before investigating the bag, he was still wet head to toe but he knew that the lander wouldn't let him go till he opened the damn bag, he made a bad mistake in telling her about it in the first place.
"Alright, alright..."
Leo sighed as he opened the bag on the lander's desk, his hand investigated the inside and only found one object, from the consistency it felt like a scroll or something. It was indeed a scroll, Leo placed it on the desk and opened it, revealing a map of a place called windsor castle depths



"Windsor Castle? Isn't it that old castle next to the greatwood?"
Leo asked the lander, to his surprise she seemed a bit concerned,
"Forget about that place...that old castle brings nothing but bad luck and I don't want anything to do with it"
She said and then went away to do her work in another room. Leo chuckled and then he too left the hall for his room, he indeed knew from other adventurers that the building in windsor was supposed to be a raid dungeon but he never tried to complete it himself. The old man's map only showed the basic shape of the dungeon, it didn't tell anything on what was inside the castle and thus was almost useless, but for Leo it was the sign he needed to finally attempt a dungeon run.
The day after was a good day, no clouds in sight fortunately, Leo stood behind the gates of the castle and gave one last inspecting look at his map. Earlier that day he left a post in the city's board in which he invited whoever was interested to do a dungeon run of the castle, the meeting place would be behind the castle gates. Leo closed the scroll and placed it in his pockets, who knew what he could find inside that castle? Dungeons in mmorpgs were an incredible resource for strong weapons, armor and materials, he could only imagine what his reward would be.

WC: 1437

[Renai]

He was compelled into action. By some otherworldly force known as the "Threads inactive for over a week can be cancelled" rule that floated through the universe, teasing Renai and smacking him upside the head when he wasn't looking, Renai was compelled into action. Or would have been, had his compatriot not been taking care of it as well. At any rate, he stood before the castle now, initially interested because it was a castle. There had been a post in town about doing a raid through here and Renai was certainly interested. His interest was less in regards to what secrets the castle held and more that he wanted to clean it. It was dirty. It was filthy. Renai could feel the hairs on the back of his neck bristle and stand on edge when he thought of all the filth and grime that was accumulating inside the castle. Having managed a mansion once before, in a setting that could only be described as manga-like, Renai knew how to handle large buildings. It wasn't like he'd get the chance until the dungeon was all cleared out though, so he was standing patiently at the entrance to the castle, doors opened slightly as if to greet him.

How cliche. Renai's expression was one of slight concern as to whether he'd be able to reign himself in and a vague curiosity as to what they'd face in there. It'd probably turn out alright, provided everyone had a somewhat reasonable armor combo or stronger weapons. Renai didn't have any upgraded anything at this point, admittedly, but he wasn't a damage dealer or a defender. Whether he had level 1 armor or level 10, getting hit once was the end for him. His job was to disable and defend, and that was exactly what he was going to do. Not as well as a tank, certainly, but well enough to be considered the 'healer' of the party. This whole thing seemed like a better and better idea the more he thought about it. Yeah. 'Better'. Ugh. Hopefully his party would have his back. Whatever his misgivings might have been, however, someone else was showing their face. Renai had been here first on the basis that he was lazy and had nothing better to do than go straight here. Well, now that he was thinking about it, had this other guy been here first?

The Enchanter honestly couldn't tell anymore, but the face was vaguely familiar. From another group outing? Whether the Swashbuckler or Enchanter showed up first, the duo were both standing nearby each other and, at this point, Renai took the moment to dip his head in a small bow to the Swashbuckler.

[Kumori]

Kumori HP: 100% MP: 100%

"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."

“Kyuu! Wake up!,” he said as he knocked on the door of her room in the Guild House. Every single day, when Ryuu wanted to be productive and further their reputation as a guild, Kyuu was always sleeping. “Kyuu Schwarz, OPEN THIS DOOR!” he said, but to no avail, if someone didn’t drag her out of her cave, she’d be in there all day. Fortunately, Ryuu had rights to open said doors without anyone’s permission, so he simply used his menu command (read console command) and the door opened. Ryuu pulled the covers off and then pulled Kyuu out. Hrairoo, Kyuu’s pet rabbit, jumped up and then watched Ryuu as if sighing and face-palming if it could. It was an everyday occurrence, so the rabbit just stared and followed after Kyuu. He tried to make her stand, but when he allowed her legs to take the weight, it was obvious they were not firmly planted. She fell to the floor, yawned, and went back to sleep. Ryuu raised his hand to his palm and shook his head at this. She even managed to hold on to her pillow and Kuromi. It puzzled him how she was so adept at this, but time was wasting. “Change your clothes, or I’m dragging you outside in your pajamas,” he said trying not to fume at Kyuu for being lazy right now. After she clicked a few buttons and her normal armor/clothes were on, she went back to sleep. Again, Ryuu’s hand went to his face, but time was ticking. They were both going to help Stryke and a few other people to raid Windsor Castle. He dragged her on the floor and grabbed her pillow. After a few moments of fighting with a sleepy Kyuu, he won and threw the pillow into the cave and continued dragging her with her eyes shut closed and her legs dragging against the floor.

After a few feet of dragging, Kyuu finally stood by herself and started walking lazily, towed by Ryuu’s hand. Her eyes were still closed and she perfected the art of sleep walking as well. After a few minutes of walking, they made it to Windsor. After getting there, Kyuu following lazily behind, he noticed two others that were present. Stryke who had invited him to do this dungeon with him and Renai who was an enchanter who Ryuu had made the mistake of calling him a Melee DPS were both present to do the same he assumed. He let go of Kyuu’s hand and nodded towards Renai. “Mata oai shimashitane,” he said to him. After the proper responses were made, Ryuu then waved towards Stryke. “Hey… thanks for inviting us…” he said to him with a smile. As difficult as this dungeon may be, it was imperative that they needed to work together as a team. Once everyone was here, a strategy should be formed, but that could wait for now. Ryuu would wait for the rest of the party and then he would flick Kyuu’s forehead to get her to wake up.

OOC NOTES: 510 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Deleted]

Equipped: Charcoal Yoroi with Pitch-black Yukata | Windsor Antiqua Nagamaki (2H) - :: - Wants: Sleep

It was just another one of those days when Kyuu wanted to sleep in and Ryuu, for some weird reason, would try to wake her up. Sometimes it was for hunting or doing quests or something else that the girl did not care about. But Ryuu’s reason at that moment seemed to be more urgent. He mentioned Stryke and Windsor. Were they going to hunt boars? Again? Boars again?!

“ Noooo... want sleep... “ the samurai complained as she clung tightly to her pillow and to Kuromi.

The assassin somehow got her out of the cave and that woke her up somewhat. When sunlight shone through the window and landed on her face, Kyuu was initially annoyed and almost woke up. She just put on her armor and then went back to sleep though. When she opened her eyes again, she was already walking on the streets with Hrairoo close to her feet. She held out a hand towards the rabbit and it immediately jumped up, ran on her arm and perched upon the samurai’s head.

Kyuu sleep-walked all the way to Windsor Castle Grounds. By the time that the assassin and the samurai reached that place; she had dreamt many a great dream. Hrairoo was still solidly perched upon the girl’s head for the rabbit too had gotten used to its tamer’s sleepiness. Though there were days that the girl went out to train and hunt, every time that she went back to the guild house meant that she actually wanted to rest. Ryuu just did not understand that.

“ Yorodesu~! “ Caerbannog yelled so suddenly; she reacted when Kumori spoke in that language to Renai and thought that they were meeting new people, so she said ‘nice to meet you’.

Noticeably, the girl’s eyes were closed tightly but she managed to find her way over to Kumori. She buried her face against his back and Hrairoo scampered up the cloak, found a higher perch and subsequently claimed the assassin’s head as its new home.

“ Nemui desu... “ the girl grumbled as she grabbed the cloak and put all of her weight against the assassin’s back.

She had no idea where they were or that there were other people present. Caerbannog just wanted to sleep.

OOC Notes: Sleep-tanking. Yes.
Word Count: 377	Tags: @dindeen Stryke Renai Elkeid

HP	100%
MP	100%
Exp	0

[Elkeid]

"Mm! Muuum~."

Something was slapping her in the face, and she hoped for the sake of that kid's little, unbroken fingers that it was not another sausage. Elkeid blindly smacked the offending object away from her face and rolled over. She tugged the blanket over her head, wanting nothing more than to fall back asleep. The kid, however, was not the kind to take "no" for an answer. Before she knew it, the center of her bed was assaulted by a bouncing and shrieking figure.

"MUM MUM GET UP OUT OF BED RISE AND SHINE! I'LL TICKLE YOU IF YOU DON'T-"

Elkeid gritted her teeth as a pair of small feet landed roughly on the back of one knee. She pulled her other knee towards her chest, and drove it into the boy's gut. The shrieking was replaced with a low groan and deep wheezing, followed by a hard thump as his body hit the floor. It was unlikely that she would be able to sleep now; brats like that always complained when things didn't go their way, and now he had a stomach "wound" to bitch cry about.

That did not stop her from sticking her head under her pillow, though. Her night had been a long and crazy one since she ran into that kid a few days ago, and she had been unable to get rid of him. The boy...werecat…boycat was apparently ten years old and unattended. Elk didn't know the age requirements for this game, but she had to question the kind of parent(s) that would allow their little boy to get sucked into a game where everything (including the plants) was out for blood. He was understandably frightened of the world, but also rather...stupid. Stupid, careless, and sometimes possessing something called "bravery."

The kid also had a knack for getting himself in trouble, and probably would have died ten plus times, had Elk not been around at the time. He stepped on the roots of Nepent Snatchers, teased Brier Weasels, threw rocks at Lesser Soil Golems, and chased Hornet Soldiers with a butterfly net. The kid was too ignorant to properly level or fight, so beating up the monsters fell onto the woman's shoulders. On top of that, he insisted on calling her "mum," claiming that she resembled his mother and was around the same age. Even worse were the people that played along with it, or genuinely thought she was the kid's mother.

From the floor, a low meow sounded. Elkeid wanted to become with the mattress and disappear. 'This kid is going to be the death of me.' The mewling grew and grew, until the little werecat was wailing. Elk rolled out of bed, wrapping the blanket around her tall figure. Her usually neatly combed brown hair was an angry snarl around her head. Without opening her eyes, she walked over to where the boy was crouched, and cuffed him across the ears. "What. Do. You. Want?"

"I-I j-just wanted to show you this really cool castle-"

"No."

"But -"

"No."

"- the treasure-"

"Shaddup."

The boy attached himself to her leg and continued to whimper. Elkeid lifted her leg and shook it, but he only clung tighter and tighter. "But mum-"

"Elkeid."

"But mama Elkeid-" Short of violence, nothing could get the kid to shut up. Elkeid just decided to ignore his excitable chattering by closing her aching eyes. If she couldn't read his yammering little lips, she did not have to sweat the small details. "- And a castle! I'm prolly too weak to go, but you're really strong! You can beat up anything!" Throughout the early morning chores and breakfast, the kid - Sorrel - would not shut the hell up. "- I'd like a piece of treasure, too, like a really cool sword with dragons and skulls and and and-" Drinking early in the morning was unlike her, but Elk needed a few drinks to deal with Sorrel. "I'll show you, see - there's the signboard! This guy named wonk wonk wonk wonk…"

"Stryke, eh? What's he up to-"

"That's the ad I was telling you about before! He-" Even with his mouth covered up, Sorrel's lips flapped on and on. He was likely asking a series of questions right about now, none of which Elk was in the mood to answer. She didn't know much about the man, but he had crafted her a pipe a while ago, and now he was looking for volunteers for some "dungeon." Dungeons sounded nasty, and were sure to be filled with all kinds of nasty little bugs and shitty interior design.

"Do you know where this dungeon is?" She removed her hand so that the boy could answer, and after his little "yes," she covered his mouth again to stop the floodgates. Sorrel gestured wildly with his hands, pointing to first himself, Elkeid, and then somewhere down the road. The kid may be a walking catastrophe, but he at least had a good sense of direction. "You can take me there, but you're not to set foot in the castle, all right? I'll…" What was that thing parents liked to threaten their children with? "I'll neeping bury you." Grounding, burying, same diff. Sorrel, who seemed ready to correct her, nodded and strode off, but not without first seizing her by the hand. Was punting a young werecat considered child or animal abuse?

Sorrel's desire to show Elkeid to the castle overrode his urge to stop and play with anything or anyone they encountered along the way. Elkeid ignored the changing landscape and the players that stopped to coo at how "cute" she and the tiny werecat were together. She had long given up on convincing strangers that they weren't related.

Elk, who was virtually sleeping while walking, felt a sharp tug on her hand. "Wake up, mum! We're heeeeere~!" Elkeid grumbled as she opened her eyes into thin slits. They were standing behind a tall gate, which was outclassed by the massive castle in the background. She regarded it and the figures near the gate for a few moments, and then closed her eyes and turned around.

"I'm going back to sleep."

Little claws dug into her sides as Sorrel attempted to tickle her. "Muuum." It was all in vain, of course. The little werecat was too short to reach her ticklish spots. She flicked him on the head as she fumbled in her pocket for a pair of commandeered sunglasses, and placed them on her face. This was partly to hide her blood streaked eyes from the people she would be partying with.

She squatted down to the kid's size, and patted him on the head. "Don't worry. I'll get you your bicycle."

"Sword."

"Sword. Whatever." She kept forgetting this was a game. "If I catch you inside this castle, I will bury you, understand?" Sorrel nodded and moved to hug the bars like a prisoner. Elkeid blinked behind her stolen sunglasses as she spared the three people with Stryke a few curious glances. The shortest member of the party was slumped against the second shortest person, and Renai was Renai. "Stryke. Camellia. Other people." The way she addressed slash greeted them was short and to the point. She had no interest in small talk; putting up with Sorrel was more than enough for today.

coded by benetnasch of ET

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
1225

Muse:
Bette Davis Eyes

Notes:
Ye.

Tags:
@dindeen, Kumori, Renai & Stryke

[Renai]

Again came the feeling of having to do something. Something about a week or something dumb like that. Whatever. The players arrived on the stage in short order, Kumori and Caerbannog appearing before Elkeid. The entire group (sans Elkeid) was a known group from that one time with the golems in Sarum, but Renai still wasn't over how Kumori was. The assassin completed the necessary formalities, to which Renai responded in kind, tipping his head down formally and muttering a response. It occurred to Renai then that Kumori and Caer hadn't shown up, they had been invited. Did that mean that Renai was an outsider in this situation? Was he just intruding and putting his foot in the door? His expression flattened momentarily before he turned to greet Caerbannog as well. Although her name might have been confusing, her personality wasn't. She was clearly out of it, probably tired from something or another, and being dragged along on this adventure. He had no doubt of her skills after essentially being her disabler the last time, but still, she looked a little tired.

Renai would have fished through his inventory to see if he still had some konpeito or some other sugary object in his pockets, since he didn't have any tea, but it seemed another duo was making their appearance. Elkeid had someone who was leading her along, some shrimp about half a Scoria in size. Er... a meter tall. Elkeid looked like she was going to turn around, until the kid calling her 'mum' kept pestering her. She finally seemed to resolve herself to enter the dungeon, which made their fifth member Elkeid. The downsized Sarum Golems group (plus Elkeid who he had faced Golems with before), as Renai had come to think of them, had assembled. Although Elkeid called him Camellia...

Renai's face went crimson as he smoothly closed his eyes to hide the orbs that waxed yellow. The thing about having a gardener for a parent was that she tended to teach you about various flower meanings. It wasn't like Renai had any special interest in botany, but after spending so much time around his parents in his early life, he knew well what those flowers meant. She hadn't specified a color, but they were all pretty unreasonable. Was he being teased? He was definitely being teased. There were enough meanings to be innocent enough, stuff about 'perfection' and 'grace' and maybe she was making a jab at his attitude, but there were enough that... The Enchanter's face returned to its normal hue within a few seconds, expression flattening. If they were all here, it was time to get to business. "If that is all of us, I'd like to suggest a formation. Caer and Elkeid in the front, Stryke and Kumori in the middle can freely move wherever they want, and I'll could guard the flank. What might your thoughts be? Any additional information you'd like to offer?"

The suggestion was honestly a pretty crappy one. It was focused more on keeping people happy rather than the actual longevity of the party itself. Elkeid was the kind of person who attempted to suplex a stone golem, so keeping her in the back was unreasonable. Keeping Caerbannog in the back wasn't any good either, she had the aggro generation and she seemed best in the front line. Neither of them had a place in the rear guard. Asking the DPS players to stay in one place was equally unreasonable. They were put in the middle so they could go wherever they wanted, give them the fluidity needed of assassins and swashbucklers. Again, Stryke seemed like the wild type. He had said himself, 'sticking to a plan in the face of a major change is asking for death'. Something like that. Basically, giving him freedom of movement to adjust was the best thing to do and he was free-spirited enough that he'd probably make good use of it. Meanwhile, asking Kumori to be more than a few feet away from his precious imouto-san was equally asking for trouble. Sure, he could take the back line, but monsters weren't going to appear out of places they had already visited. Renai knew very well how to keep people off their back.

And that was why he was rear guard. Certainly, he lacked spells like Magic Light or Keen Edge, but in the back ranks, he'd easily be able to keep anything off their tails long enough for someone to aid him. And if that wasn't the case, he could just seal up the entire area with an array of walls even a golem would have trouble dealing with. He could keep the back ranks clear was what he was saying. He'd prefer to be in the back ranks without having to deal with other people as well, honestly. To summarize, Elkeid was vanguard, Caer took aggro and zone control, Stryke and Kumori did whatever they wanted, and Renai prevented sneak attacks. Until the midboss or boss, they'd be fine. Unless someone had an objection, Renai would motion to the castle itself, wondering just how long he'd be able to stay in the back ranks and not run forward. That was a secret secondary reason. If he let his compulsions overtake him, he'd end up the accidental tank as he tried to clean everything. Standing around talking forever was pointless and he'd follow whatever suggestion, but putting himself in the middle was just a bad plan and putting only Elkeid in the front was a bad plan, so he had done what he could. Though he didn't bother explaining it at all.

[Tags: Elkeid @dindeen Kumori Stryke ]

[Elkeid]

Boy, it was a tough crowd today, though maybe that had something to do with the callous way she greeted the group. Renai's face had turned a bit red at being called Camellia, but if he was upset about it he did not show it beyond that. Instead, the Enchanter took the reins over from their supposed leader, and issued out a few suggestions for party formation. "Sounds good enough to me," Elk said as she took a few steps forward, hooking one thumb under the sleepy Samurai's arm.

It was funny how the two tanks were both sleepy and being redirected to the front, now that she thought about it. Elkeid paused a moment to look down at her free hand, and then brought it to her face to deliver a stinging blow to her cheek. 'Ouch…' Coffee was always option, but for those times when it was not readily available, a sharp slap would do the deed. She winced a little as she rubbed her cheek, and glanced over to the girl she now held by the bicep. Elk wasn't so crass as to slap an unsuspecting and unfamiliar victim, of course. She gently shook the girl's arm and gave it a gentle tug, in an attempt to pull her away from her standing "bed". "Come now, sleep time is over."

Could Caer resist? Absolutely. Would Elk let go until she was pried away from Kumori? Maybe. Perhaps. No…? She would sling Caerbannog over her shoulder and carry her like a sack of potatoes if need be. The girl was a lot shorter and smaller than the Monk, too, so it was feasible. The only annoyance would be the dead weight, but she could probably fight with one arm and her feet, if needed. Zoom Attack was a really nice attack to have. 'It would be even nicer to have someone who doesn't need an axe to the face to wake up.'

Elkeid spared the massive castle one more look before continuing forward. If anyone had a better idea of formation than Renai, now was the time to mention it. Once they were deep inside and the enemies appeared, last minute decisions were more likely to cause harm than they were to help. She honestly didn't even know where the hell to start either, and would explore whatever unless someone spoke up. Sorrel's soft cheers faded as she pushed aside the slightly ajar doors to the entrance of the castle. Fully opening them seemed out of the question, but squeezing through the gaps was easy enough for slimmer figures.

coded by benetnasch of ET

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
431

Muse:
6 Underground

Notes:
Just to move things further along.

Tags:
@dindeen, Kumori, Renai & Stryke

[Deleted]

Equipped: Charcoal Yoroi with Pitch-black Yukata | Windsor Antiqua Nagamaki (2H)

While Hrairoo pondered as to whether it should nibble on Kumori’s hair or not, Caerbannog had already drifted back to sleep. Oddly enough she dreamt a dream similar to one that she had before; that she was back home in Germany in her cozy little bed, surrounded by her mountain of plushies and covered by her warm blanket. The dream was strangely so vivid that when she opened her eyes slightly, she could make out the familiar bookcases and cabinets full of videogames. Another curious thing was that her eyes were blurry. With her real life visual acuity at 20/50, her eyesight really was nowhere near normal. She closed her eyes again until she felt that dreaded shaking... it was probably Ryuu, she thought. Only he had the guts to try and wake her up, for not even the girl’s own father bothered her when she was sleeping.

“ Go away, Ryuu... “ the girl muttered, half-awake.

Soon she did open her eyes completely and found herself on the shoulder of an unfamiliar person. Kumori, whom she remembered to be the culprit behind the Windsor adventure thing, was a short distance away with her frenmic rabbit perched atop the assassin’s head. The samurai did consider flailing out of the stranger’s hands but she was worried that it might seem rude. So instead, she gently tapped the woman’s back.

“ I walk on my own please, “ Caerbannog muttered with an apologetic tone that she tried to pull off as politely as she could.

Once her own two feet were on solid ground again, the samurai quickly ran over to Kumori, punched him on the gut and demanded an explanation as they walked on. Despite all that, Caerbannog was still sleepy and indeed it was all Ryuu’s fault. She noted the presence of Renai though who was one of their enchanters for a Sarum party. The other person in the group was Stryke who seemed as messy-haired as ever, and lastly there was the dark-haired woman who was strong enough to carry the samurai around. Caerbannog stared at her for a while, not quite sure how to react to that person’s presence. To say that she had an oppressive aura was an understatement, for the samurai felt very much oppressed already due to their early encounter. Being carried around by a stranger into an unknown castle that could possibly be full of traps and death was not exactly a great thing to wake up to. But it was too early to form a bad opinion of the woman, and Caerbannog was nothing short of dense and rather innocent when it came to judging people. She simply was cautious of the stranger’s presence and acknowledged her immense physical strength- carrying around a sack of potatoes wasn’t exactly a normal feat after all.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 469	Tags: @dindeen Stryke Renai Elkeid

HP	100%
MP	100%
Exp	0

[Kumori]

	Kumori HP: 100% MP: 100%	"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."
Equipment: Windsor Antiqua Armor-Lv5 Windsor Antiqua Dagger-Lv5	Skills:	Alternate: Windsor Antiqua Throwing Knives-Lv5

With the entrance of another woman named Elkeid who was led along by a werecat that was much shorter than he. He scratched his head and also noticed that Elkeid was sleep walking, much like how Kyuu was doing earlier. As they came closer, the werecat tugged at her to wake her up. Their interaction was quite hilarious, however from a first-person view, Ryuu was surprised of what was happening. Mother? Is she a mother? he wondered. Bury him? he asked himself. Wasn’t that child abuse? This woman wasn’t really friendly, and she had put on sunglasses for who knows what reason.

Renai was the sensible one as he told them of his proposal for positions. Ryuu nodded in approval, knowing that Stryke was not one for formations, but at least it’d keep them in a somewhat organized manner. Ryuu liked it because it allowed him some freedom, and allowed him to do what was necessary. “I guess you’ll be the Field Monitor this time,” he said to Renai. After everyone agreed, or at least those able to agree, had spoken, the monk walked close to him and hooked her thumb under Kyuu’s arm. Ryuu looked up at her, confused at what she was trying to do. “Sleep time was over” she said, trying to wake Kyuu up. Ryuu shrugged, but her next action sort of alarmed him. She picked her up and placed her on her shoulder. “Uh.. wa-… guh… oh well,” he said, waving his hand as if giving up. There wasn’t much he could’ve done to stop her from taking her, and at least they were both in the front lines. This meant that they’d be in their positions already. Before long, though, Kyuu woke up, was let down, and then ran and punched Kumori in the gut. “Oof,” he said. She really needs to stop hanging out with Jojo, he thought as he rubbed his stomach. “Well, she was going to the front where you’re supposed to be… I figure mind as well have her take the load off of me… you can still tank while you sleep,” he smirked and stuck out his tongue at Kyuu. Oh, he was probably going to get another punch in the gut, but the tease was too much to pass up. Ryuu would try to block or dodge any oncoming hits from Kyuu and then pointed towards the front. “You gotta go your position, I’ll keep Hrairoo safe,” he assured her.

OOC NOTES:
Word Count: 412 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Renai]

Something something keeping the thread moving whatever. Renai nodded lightly and stepped to the side so the rest of the party could pass in front of him, seeing as no one had any objections. Stryke was strangely silent, but Renai let the man be and instead kept a watch on his own Wolf Hair features. Unlike some of the players that wore their racial features like a badge, Renai preferred to keep them hidden at all times as best as he could manage. Even so much as having his eyes change colors was a disgrace to him, so he did his absolute best to not let those features slip through. It was evidence he was screwing up, that he wasn't keeping calm, and that he was ultimately letting people down. Stepping to the back of the party and glancing backwards over his shoulder, he made sure nothing was creeping up on them from the outside before stepping in.

It seemed like Caer had trouble waking up, but Renai's ears were not so strong as to pick up what she had muttered. He heard something, but it was too muffled for him to know what it was unless he had some sort of hint or heard it repeated or something. What he wasn't expecting was for Caer to gutpunch Kumori. His hands came up to fold themselves across his chest as he glanced at the duo, wondering exactly what was up with that. Was it friendly violence? As for Elkeid's potato sack adventure, Renai already knew the girl was a beast. She had suplexed a golem, after all. Normal people didn't even consider doing something like that.

Once everyone was inside, Renai quietly wondered why he hadn't picked up the Magic Light skill. It was certainly bright... enough...? He would have liked a bit more light, but it was whatever. What spanned out around them all was a long hallway, with a whole lot of locked and closed doors on the sides. Renai jiggled one to see if it would open, but they were all completely locked, so... It was strange, but perhaps the castle itself was directing them? Speaking of directing them, because Caerbannog and Elkeid were in the front, they were going to be the ones making decisions on where to go. By the looks of it though, there really was only one path to take. They reached a T in the hallway with three doors spread across (much like the map that Stryke had on him), but the only door that was even open was the one on the right. There were probably monsters in there. Renai was keeping an eye on the rear, but his focus was more on the following:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Renai's Internal Crisis}EVERYTHING WAS SO neepING DIRTY OH MY GOD. DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO CLEAN. SO MUCH RUST. SO MUCH DUST. AAAAUGH. I'M HAVING A HEART ATTACK HERE LOOKING AT ALL THIS BULLSHIT I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL COME IN HERE AND CLEAN EVERYTHING UP AND MURDER EVERYONE WHO THINKS THIS IS A 'GOOD JOB'. THIS IS NOT A GOOD JOB. THIS IS A TRAVESTY. WHERE IS MY MOP, I WILL WIPE THE FLOOR WITH YOUR FACES FOR DOING SUCH A TERRIBLE JOB. AAAAAAAAUGH. LOOK AT THAT. THOSE PAINTINGS ARE SO POORLY CARED FOR. ALL THIS NONSENSE. AUGH. AAUGH. AAAAAAUGH. IS THAT MOLD. IS THAT MOLD?! THERE'S MOLD. THERE'S MOLD IN YOUR DUNGEON, I'M GOING TO WRECK WHOEVER THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD BLOODY JOB. neep ALL OF YOU.

Renai's face was fairly neutral, but his eyes had gone from their orangey-blue hue straight into a sharp and unforgiving yellow. The Wolf Hair closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing his features to return to 'normal' as he calmed himself down. He couldn't stop his right hand from twitching and searching out for the mop and rag he didn't have.

[Elkeid]

Elkeid wrinkled her nose in distaste at the state of the once grand castle they had stepped into. Calling this place a "wreck" would be the understatement of the year. 'The design looks pretty bad, too.' This castle was obviously designed by a male with little to no fashion sense. She would have commented more on the décor, but...well, it's hard to comment on something that has been trashed beyond belief or neglected for decades.

The doors to the rooms that lined this hallway were all locked, too. Elk knew from having tried a few knobs, and hearing the others rattle a few as well. 'How absolutely droll.' At that moment, something flickered in the corner of her vision. It was up too high to be Caerbannog, and the others were a little far back to have caused it. Elkeid frowned as she examined the ruined portrait of an elder gentleman. The man's eyes were settled on her own, and it did not feel like a coincidence; it was as if he was deliberately glaring at her. Maybe it was just her imagination, but when she looked away and squinted at the painting with her peripheral vision, the painting's eyes were now trained on Kumori.

Unless she was still sleepy and imagining things, the painting was alive. Elkeid did the only sensible thing: she punched the painting, square in the face. There was a low groan of pain from the painting, which was smeared with red paint when she pulled her fist back. The man in the painting remained passive for another moment or so, and then clasped his hands to his face and disappeared from the canvas. The faint sounds of sobbing echoed down the hall, followed by a low murmuring from the other paintings in the area. The painting's actions confused Elk, who had expected a more violent reaction.

The woman shrugged and continued down to the hall, where an intersection lied. There were three options, but the door on the right seemed to be their best bet. "This way," she said to the Samurai at her side. If the others wanted, they could try fiddling with the other options, though that seemed as feasible an option as opening the locked doors in the previous hall. Elk shoved the toe of her shoe into the cracked doorway and pulled it back. The first thing the Monk should have noticed was the fact that they were in a library, but her eyes instead settled on the tall and bulky figure in front of her. The head of a black furred goat rested atop that beefy neck.

The goat caught the fist intended for its face with one hand, and seized the woman's other hand. Elk blinked in surprise as the goat forced her to waltz into the room. Never mind the fact that this was going to give her nightmares later, but this goat man had a strength that rivalled her own. There was some rude screeching and yelling from the peanut gallery - the small score of...why were those goblins dressed like maids and butlers? One of them tried to smack her with a dirty mop, and was sent crashing into the ground with a solid kick. Ok, those guys were the pushovers. 'And I immediately attract the strong one.' At least it wasn't Caerbannog, who was lighter and smaller.

Leaving the fate of the goblins in the hands of her able teammates, Elkeid attempted to free herself from the goat's grasp. She shoved her knee into its groin as hard as possible, but the goat only winced and held on tighter. Elk shoved against the hands holding hers, and planted her head and right shoulder into the goat's chest. It was like trying to move a wall. This evidently wasn't the kind of monster you wanted to fight hand to hand with. Or whatever the hell was doing now.

It was eyeing her like a prime rib.

Elkeid couldn't help but squeak as the goat lowered its head to sniff at the side of her head. Hot, musty breath disturbed strands of hair and fogged up her sunglasses, the latter of which she was almost glad for. No one wants to look directly into the mouth of a bloodthirsty goat. No one likes having their hair eaten, either - especially Elk. "Omnomnom…" Her long hair was probably what saved her from having the goat chomp directly into her neck - not that having it nuzzle was any better. Prying her hands away from the goat's was risky, but grabbing it by the horns made her life easier – for now.

coded by benetnasch of ET

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
772

Muse:
Careless Whisper sax loop

Notes:
3 Butlers, 2 maids, 1 Goat-kun.

Tags:
@dindeen, Kumori, Renai & Stryke

[Deleted]

Equipped: Charcoal Yoroi with Pitch-black Yukata | Windsor Antiqua Nagamaki (2H)

Kumori was off his rocker. Did he forget how much of a tantrum the girl would throw whenever she was woken up on a bad day? At first it would start off with a complaint or headbutts and gutpunches, one of which he experienced just then. And what would come after that? Only one of two things: the samurai would actually wake up somehow, usually with the aid of sweets or cola, and do what she was supposed to do; OR- she would wreck balls and faces.

M*therf*cking dungeon. Whose idea was it anyway? Kumori’s. Who dragged her to that place? Kumori did. But Hrairoo was on his head so the assassin was safe. ONLY while Roo was on his head. Oh hey the monk punched a painting. Wrecking time? Nope. Not yet. The group walked on while Renai nearly lost his wits in the sidelines. The color of his eyes flickered but his fellow wolf-hair, the samurai, let her eyes become completely golden. The other wolf features, such as the ears that pointed forward and the tail thing, were also out. Those were the only telltale signs that the samurai was pissed off though. Her eyes looked straight forward as if she was scanning what was ahead of them while she followed the monk’s every move. Except for the painting punching. The samurai then-

:CRASH:

- whoops. Bumped on a table. Dropped a vase. Caerbannog stared down at the vase. It was the vase’s fault, yea. She wanted to sleep some more. Bad vase, bad. The samurai’s expression remained the same though. When her fellow tank led them to the right, the samurai did not hesitate. Once the door was open, she noticed that the room was a library. That meant there were books in that place; shelves upon shelves of the things that she wanted to read in the real world. A good reading session would be nice, yes. That or a bonfire. Books were also good for bonfires. They could roast marshmallows in that room.

Oh hey, a goat.

Before Caerbannog could say hi to the goat, Elkeid tried to wreck its face. Surprisingly, the farm-animal-headed-thing was able to grab the woman’s hand and dragged her across the dance floor library. One of the creatures strewn about the room tried to attack the monk. Clearly, it failed. The mop-wielding goblin instead fell over and lost its trusty weapon. The samurai casually walked towards the fallen beast thingy and held a hand out to it. The goblin was hesitant but slowly, slowly it reached for the girl’s hand. Suddenly, the creature lunged forward and tried to grab the adventurer’s nagamaki. The perv. Trying to touch a girl’s assets eh?

The samurai grabbed the creature by its collar and shoved it into an incoming maid goblin. No, not shoved. Maybe something like... pushed with all her might. I forgot Caer’s level in this thread so whatever. She was still probably stronger than the goblins. The wolf-hair then walked over to now TWO fallen goblins, one more than before. She remembered that one which tried to have a go at her sword; it is now christened with the name ‘Bat’. Caerbannog grabbed both of the creature’s legs and swung it at a shelf. BAM! Knocked out! Bats are not wieldy when they are conscious so she had to do that.

Bat was, thankfully, a butler so Caerbannog did not have an unwelcome view of balls from goblin traps. No, she did not need that. She just wanted Bat. With her new weapon equipped and unconscious, the samurai looked at the fallen maid which so rudely interrupted her earlier non-conversation with Bat. Hits: One, two, three. Dead. Okay, that was done. Bat seemed to be worse for wear, but an incoming butler who was screaming like Xena the Warrior Princess as it wielded its polearm-mop was soon sent flying across the room courtesy of Bat. The other would have to take care of that one, and of the other two (?) lurking behind the shelves.

Caerbannog had just noticed the horned dog that was breathing down the monk’s neck. It looked like FFXIV’s Behemoth on steroids; that in itself was a hyperbole because FFXIV-Behemoth is already on steroids. High on elixir, I suppose. So anyway, the samurai did not like that. Elkeid was clearly not liking the touchy-feely business either unless holding Behegoat’s horns as if she wanted to break them off with her bare hands meant that she was returning his affection. Bat was still functional and it twitched a bit even, so the wolf-hair thought that hey- oh look, a table. Because library. The girl tossed Bat aside, rudely, and picked up a table with both hands. She then swung it from the side on which the goat on steroids was snogging the monk. The woman could probably break away fast enough to avoid the desk, and the creature’s head was probably hard enough to protect her somewhat from harm too. Nemui desu.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 825	Tags: @dindeen Stryke Renai Elkeid Kumori

HP	100%
MP	100%
Exp	0

[Kumori]

100% 100%

Equipment: Cuirass of Shadows | Windsor Antiqua Dagger * 2 Skills: Quick Draw | Deadly Dance Tags:

: Word Count : 0718 OOC Notes: Quick Slot: Windsor Antiqua Throwing Knives

So it seemed that they were finally getting this party started as the tanks took the lead into the castle. For whatever reason, Stryke had become unresponsive. Was he experiencing lag? Ryuu was tempted to go up to him and flick his nose to wake him up, but he decided against it, unsure of what kind of behavior he’d unleash. If he had provoked him enough, it was possible that he’d get his throat ripped out, much like he did to Kyuu earlier. Well… Mr. Lag-a-lot wasn’t moving much, so Ryuu just followed the tanks and Renai into the castle. As he looked around, he noticed the dirty, dusty, rusty, dusk, musty, disgusting, annoying, and whatever terrible adjectives you could think of, castle ever. Did I mention dank? No I don’t think I did. It was dank. The cold humidity of the castle only added to the icy cold demeanor of fear and terror as they walked. After approaching towards one of the paintings, he realized that the painting was staring at him. Ryuu moved to the left and then moved to the right. He scratched his head, not completely sure of what to make of it, but before he could do much more to figure out why the painting was staring at him, the monk had thrust her fist into the tapestry. A red smear appeared where she had punched. What? The? Heck? he thought as he saw that. He wanted to go examine the end of Elkeid’s hand, but then the after a few moments and a groan later, the man clasped his hands onto his face and turned around and ran crying. Harry Potter? What the heck did he just walk into? Did they just walk into a fusion of every single horror universe? “I swear… if there’s a Frankenstein in this castle, I’ve seen it all,” he said aloud to no particular person. As he ventured forward, Elkeid had entered a room. He didn’t hear cries for help or anything, but he did notice that they were beginning to engage in combat. Ryuu ran forward, hopefully along with Renai to help them. It seemed that at the point they had arrived, the samurai had disposed of all the small goblins dressed as maids and butlers. He noticed they were using cleaning tools as weapons. He really had seen it all now. Fantasia with a mix of Lord of the Rings. He’s seen it all. But, in order to make sure that his tanks were not fighting alone, Ryuu had drawn his weapons to engage the goat thing. What was this from, Jason of the Argonauts? Ryuu decided that it was probably best to stop trying to figure out the origin of all of these creatures, because it’d do him no good. Kyuu threw the table at the goat, which he expected to draw some enmity from it. As soon as the giant Goat thing decided to turn towards the samurai or simply kept trying to nom on Elkeid, Ryuu would dash forward with as much speed as his lowered dexterity could muster. With the activation of [Quick Draw] He was right next to the huge goat thing that was assailing one of the tanks. Ryuu wouldn’t be a very good gentleman if he continued to allow that to happen, no, he’d have to make sure to yell “BE QUIET!” in a gentlemanly voice while a blue cone of waves shouted out towards the goat. Wait… wrong game. He was a gentleman, and to be a gentleman, he hit those who hit women… and in this case, because they were tanks… well he couldn’t really take hits for them either. His evasion as high, but his HP was low, and while his HP was low… he could probably take a third of what the tanks could take. Probably less. Well, with this moving along, and this huge goat thing possibly going to attempt to pulverize them (and overpowering their monk) he wasn’t completely sure how they were going to be able to get out of this castle alive, with only one DPS fighter, though he figured that Elkeid could probably provide some back up in terms of DPS. So, in order to do more damage, he used [Deadly Dance] and hoped he’d do decent damage. Code by DinDeen. Original Art by Tistelmark. :DeviantArt:

[Renai]

WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

SPOILER: Click to show

{And just like that, Renai's internal crisis suddenly became external for everyone to see.} Paintings and other unimportant stuff were clearly way less important than Renai's current crisis, which was namely these goblin 'maids' and 'butlers'. His mother would have all their heads for sure, considering how completely inelegant goblin maids were. Fairy maids were understandable, perhaps, but these were not fairy maids and butlers. They were goblins and they were cheering at a deathmatch instead of cleaning. Renai, being the housekeeper from birth that he was, had maybe five seconds before he spotted at least twenty different problems with the single room he walked into. And these maids and butlers were sitting on their asses. Renai snarled inelegantly, orange eyes turning a vicious shade of yellow. His Wolf Hair traits were predominantly apparent now, winter ears and tail showing themselves.

He didn't get a chance to smack that one maid around and bring justice about for the sake of his mother, but he was going to wreck the rest of these goblins. The tally was Bat, a butler, two more butlers, and a single maid. One of the butlers, Xena the Really Terrible Housekeeper, had dropped his mop. What a travesty. Renai cleared the room in two strong jumps, slamming his foot into the goblin's stomach. "Oh come on now, look at all this dirt. You're really ruining the reputation of maids and butlers everywhere, you know? Time for some spring cleaning." Renai's voice was calm and he was smiling, but like the mother he had learned this from, his presence was oppressive. Renai was pissed. He did have a promise to fulfill, after all. Stabbing the polearm into the goblin's mouth and suffocating the creature, he proceeded to quite literally wipe the floor with the creature.

It was so much cleaner now, especially since all the dirt was on the goblin's suit. A shitty butler deserved a crappy outfit, after all. Wipe wipe wipe. Renai whistled before rotating and beginning to wipe the walls with the goblin, repeatedly smashing the goblin's head into the wall until red painted over some cracks. "It's a maid's job to do repairs too, okay? Isn't this such a nice red color?" And then the goblin was dead. It was lucky for Renai that the mop was not an object that spawned with the goblin butler, but was instead pilfered, as it remained even when the goblin shattered. Oh look three more. Moonlit yellow turned towards Bat, turning a rather confused look towards him. "You scratched the floor. Maids need to be careful. Maybe you need some private lessons? I'll teach you personally." And by teaching the goblin personally, Renai meant grabbing the goblin's throat and slamming it into the floor. "See, it's a scratch. You see, right?" Bang. Bang. Bang.

Bat did see, but Bat was also dead. "It's such a shame. I don't have mother's knives or mom's swords and hedge-clippers or I could give you two a demonstration. Slacking off on the job is really unacceptable you know. My parents would be so ashamed to have people like you working under them. What a shame. What a shame it is." Renai's steps thumped heavy on the floor, but not heavier than the sound of a table probably smashing against something. It seemed Caerbannog had gone for Goat-kun. Oh, Renai would have words for that creature as well. His mop had been set down carefully as he approached the butler-maid duo that were left behind. Astral Hypno was activated as his hand flicked out, followed by an exclamation of shame and distress. "Oh my, oh my, sleeping on the job?! How unbecoming! How INELEGANT. I wonder if you're elegant at all." The maid fell asleep instantly, leaving a goblin to rush towards Renai. Nope. The Enchanter's hand came up to catch the goblin's, followed by a rapid spam of Inversion. Every time the goblin made a 180, Renai cast it again, spinning the goblin around over and over again until it looked like the creature really was dancing, spinning in Renai's hands. Smiling the smile of an instructor whose student had just done something right, Renai sighed. "Instruction over." He had loosely held the goblin's hand before, but now he clamped it strongly, watching it twist as it tried to keep up with the rest of the goblin's body. It couldn't and twisted before snapping. "You're getting everything dirty. You guys aren't careful at all. Really, I'm going to have to clean up this whole place myself and teach all of you about how to be proper maids. I mean, if you cheer when your goat-chama fights, it's not like you have a problem with some tough love, right?"

He turned to the goblin maid who had just woken up and advanced on her, considering whether or not to jack her outfit. It wasn't like Renai was a crossdresser, but he did like the aprons and he was very comfortable in butler and manly maid outfits, seeing as he had been wearing them since he was young. It was basically a maid outfit, except the focus was on the apron. That and he let the younger maids do his hair sometimes. It was good practice for the actual ojousamas and such, but this goblin was no ojousama. Renai smiled and then shoved his foot into the goblin's face, sighing. "Oh maid-chan, if only you had done a better job cleaning." The goblin put up a valiant effort, scratching at Renai's feet and trying to knock him down, but he couldn't be bothered to care. It was just more unsightly and inelegant behavior from an untrained maid. Well, at least they were loyal to the castle.

Having eliminated every single goblin that was left behind, Renai's smiling face turned towards goat-kun. Oh goat-kun. "You look strong. I'm sure you're a much better servant than these other ones, right? Oh, but you shouldn't fight back against the guests, you know? Where's the tea?" No tea. What a shame. What a shaaaaame. Astral Hypno was cast as Renai, eyes gleaming murder, signaled for the rest to stop their assault. "Kumori-san, won't you please take care and carefully make your one action that'll teach Goat-kun just how elegant it's possible to be?" In other words, Astral Hypno basically let Kumori just walk right up behind the goat and slice it's neck out. Elegantly, of course.

Once Goat-kun vanished though, Renai looked around the room and went for the mop he had set down, enjoying the look of his new temporary weapon. Right up until he realized what he had done. All the wolf features vanished instantly as his shoulders slouched and curled inward, hands clutching the mop as he turned around slowly to glance at his party members. shitshitshitshitshitshit And of course he was still pissed off at how freaking dirty this whole castle was.[/div]

[Elkeid]

Being put up against an apparently strong and bulky opponent was the kind of challenge Elk had longed for, but this one made her realize that she had bit off more than she could chew. With the soft cap to twenty in place, she and the goat servant were more or less on equal footing, and this thing was clearly made to counter close combat fighters. Keeping this thing distracted for someone else to deal blows to, or sniping from a distance would be a better strategy to employ in the future. But maybe, if she could just get it to drop its arms and face the other way… It was smaller than a golem, albeit feistier, but also seemed easier to suplex. Of course, she never got a chance to even try it, for a huge piece of wood was flying towards her and the goat. 'Better the goat than me,' she thought as she released the goat man's horns and pulled back to avoid the flung table.

The goat, which had had a good grip on her shoulders before things started to go south for it, was forced to stumble and bend forward by its own momentum, caused when Elk stopped resisting. The goat servant was basically clobbered over the head by the table, and unable to move from the daze it was in, found itself caught off guard by Kumori's attack. The combined assault of the table and Kumori was enough to snuff out the goat servant's life, but not before the creature could give off a loud "baaaa". For a moment there, it seemed as if the goat had dozed off there. Either it had narcolepsy, or…

She had been a little too preoccupied to notice before, but now that she was free from the goat servant's clutches, Elkeid could see that Renai was the cause of the goat's lull. What interested her more about the Enchanter was the wolf-like characteristics he was now showing. That was unexpected, to say the least. It was always difficult to tell a wolf-hair apart from a human, until their bestial side was made apparent. 'I wonder if he likes being petted.'

Elkeid chose a rather decrepit looking bookshelf to lean against and catch her breath. Now that the fight was over, her adrenaline rush was subsiding. Her arms and shoulders were starting to feel sore from grappling with the goat. Fighting something ten times more muscular than you was no fun, even if "lol vidja gaem logic" was there to help you accomplish what you normally couldn't do. She rolled her shoulders around as she took in the room for the first time.

It was a large library, and would have been deemed as quite impressive in its golden days. The walls of the library were lined with shelves that stretched to the high ceiling, and were covered with dusty and crumbling tomes, most of which had fallen onto the ground in piles where the shelves had taken damage. The remaining tables and chairs were in various states of disrepair, though one bore a few lit candle sticks and a broken tea set. A solitary wig hung from the rungs of one of the two ladders in the room.

"Maybe there's a clue in here somewhere…" Unless their only purpose in this room was to clear out the monsters, that is. Elkeid certainly hoped not. That would have been too...easy? And wasn't it more likely that they needed to find a key or something to unlock the other rooms. A library, known as a bastion of knowledge, was usually a good start.

coded by benetnasch of ET

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
603

Muse:
Elevatorstruck

Notes:
Fwoop.

Tags:
@dindeen, Kumori, Renai & Stryke

[Deleted]

Equipped: Charcoal Yoroi with Pitch-black Yukata | Windsor Antiqua Nagamaki (2H)

Sexual harassment was not nice. Whether it be in the real world or in Elder Tale, from a creepy stalker or from Goat-kun; it was NOT nice. That Goat-kun deserved every bit of pain; or at least that was what Sleepy-Caer thought. She turned around and would have noticed Renai’s wolf hair features if not for the lack of goblin in the room. Where did they run off too? Were they not supposed to clean up after their boss? The samurai frowned at the sight of such a place in disarray. Who flipped that table there? Why was it down on the floor? For shame!

Oniichan was busy doing his own things and taking care of Hrairoo who’d woken up to nibble the assassin’s hair once again, and so he probably would be unable to help with Caerbannog’s way of searching for clues. That’s right, the pretty lady who’d just been harassed by the oversized farm animal made a comment that reminded the samurai of their purpose for being there. And what was that purpose exactly? Why, to redecorate of course. In the real world, every time Kyuu lost something and could not find it, she would throw a tantrum and redecorate her room. Most of the time it would result to finding what she actually wanted to find, along with even more discoveries that she never thought she’d find.

Redecorating an already messed-up castle was not the most difficult thing to do. Caerbannog merely put her foot up against a bookshelf which stood by its lonesome self near the middle of the room and she kicked the shelf down. Three other shelves behind it fell down... clues would be shiny or have pointers to indicate that they were clues, right? That’s how it was in other MMORPGs, so that’s how the woozy samurai thought it would be in Elder Tale as well. One row down, a few more to go. Caerbannog walked up to a bookshelf that leaned against the wall. Clearly she could not kick that down, so instead the wolf-hair walked over to its right side, placed her two hands in the gap between the wall and the shelf, and pulled the bookcase down. Periodicals, ancient texts, books- they all fell down with a crash. The samurai did recall that Renai seemed to go ballistic at the sight of an unkempt place, so as Caerbannog walked across the room towards yet another bookcase, she looked up at the enchanter.

“ Let’s redecorate, “ the samurai said right before she kicked another bookshelf down.

A small, sturdy bluish crystal bottle with a clear liquid within fell from one of the shelves and rolled over to Renai’s feet. It would have been just another crystal bottle, one of the many antiques in the place, if not for the single crimson key which bathed in that liquid. Etched on the bottle, barely readable yet noticeable as grooves upon its otherwise smooth make, were the words “I want to sleep” and “Silver. Gold. Switch.” It was either by luck or by fate that they had an enchanter in the group which would be able to do both things indicated on the bottle.

Janus Key

Conscious, self-aware, sentient. The Janus Key was locked up in the Shiny Crystal Bottle because it was so loud. It would not stop talking so the Dungeon Boss fashioned a bottle within which to keep it. The liquid inside is not harmful to adventurers, but it does drown out all the talking that the key does. Within the liquid, the Janus Key appears to be crimson however, once the liquid is completely removed from the key's sexy body, it would turn to a beautiful Silver color and could unlock any doors which needed such a key. As the Shiny Crystal Bottle indicated, the key could also be inverted to the color Gold. Over time, The Shiny Crystal Bottle had also grown sentient and thus etched out a message upon itself, that it merely wants to sleep. Putting the bottle to sleep means that its magic would be suppressed, its lid would pop open and the Janus Key would be able to bother people in the castle again. The one draw back to using the key would be the complete drainage of the magical liquid from its body; that means that any and all magic which originally kept the key mum would be gone. The Janus Key is rather lecherous too and strangely enough refers to itself as a third person.

" Janus Key just wants some company <3 "

As for other clues, maybe that monster book with massive fangs and creepy crawly feet, something that fell off one of the bookshelves, would reveal some information about the other mobs within the castle depths. It could reveal the identity of the owner of the place as well, that elusive dungeon boss who probably needed a stern talking-to from the housekeeper regarding etiquette and cleanliness. Caerbannog did not notice any of those things though. She still had many shelves to redecorate.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 835	Tags: @dindeen Stryke Renai Elkeid Kumori

HP	100%
MP	100%
Exp	0

[Kumori]

100% 100%

Equipment: Cuirass of Shadows | Windsor Antiqua Dagger * 2 Skills: Tags:

: Word Count : 0446 OOC Notes: Quick Slot: Windsor Antiqua Throwing Knives

It would be good to remember to always be clean when he was Renai. His rampage was something that he would never have thought was possible from someone of his mannerisms. He guessed that if you really go against something that one stands for, it becomes quite a mess. Renai had gone into a rampage of epic proportion. He even had the commentary to go along with it. The disdain for the lack of skill for all these maids and butlers was quite real, and quite amazing. He never knew someone cared so much about cleaning, but then again, just like any craft one was good at, they protected it with their own view of perfection. Any artist would get mad at the disgracing of one’s own field of art. Just as a violinist will get mad at another violinist’s terrible habits, why should a butler not be mad at another housekeeper? Finally, Renai had put his attention upon the main enemy in this room. Renai had casted Astral Hypno, which forced the enemy to fall asleep. This had allowed Ryuu’s attack to critical because of the flat-footedness of the enemy, and thus end the life of it. He heard a “baa” as it fell and Ryuu sheathed his weapon soon after. “Well, that was quite interesting…” as he looked around them, wondering if they were all thinking the same thing about Renai and his usually calm demeanor had turned into a mad horse. Well, they were in a library, and the group had finally settled down. It was true… Ryuu forgot why they were here also, seeing how their party leader had gotten major lag from reality and was not here to guide them to whatever they were supposed to do. So what were they going to do? They were going to destroy everything and look for shiny objects that glowed to indicate its importance. WOO! That is exactly what Kyuu did. At times like these, even facepalms weren’t necessary as he couldn’t really think of anything else to do other than attack it. Well… with Kyuu’s quick hands and really long katana… everything, and I mean everything was destroyed until a crystal bottle rolled to Renai’s feet and had an interesting description about it when brought up in the game menu. “Soooo… any ideas?” he asked, “and where exactly are we supposed to go?” he asked. He just remembered that the map was in the possession of their Major Lag party leader. Guess it was time to destroy more things. “Well, Renai, hopefully we can destroy the place, since they fail to upkeep it anyways…” he said to him, “That is unless you mind.”] Code by DinDeen. Original Art by Tistelmark. :DeviantArt:

[Renai]

Renai nearly choked at Kumori's first comment, his face turning pale as he quickly scooted off to go investigate by himself. He needed a moment to calm himself down and resume being the elegant housekeeper that his parents had tried to make him into. He had been doing so well at keeping his calm, right up until things started crashing to the floor around him, shelves flying places and bookcases coming down around him. Renai was the type to search methodically and carefully, from one place to another, searching inch by inch and working under the assumption that if something needed to be found, it would not be moving around to hide from them. @dindeen's approach was far more expedient and far more nerve-wracking. Renai felt his grip on the mop tighten and his knuckles start to turn white as he turned around slowly, a wobbling expression on his face. He just didn't know what to do at this point and everything was already getting messed up everywhere.

It was nice of Kumori to think of him and ask his opinion on redecorating, but Caerbannog had already begun her rampage, so what was he going to do? Collecting himself and heaving a soft sigh, the housekeeper turned to the tracker and smiled lightly. "It's fine. I'll build it up from the ground later. Repair and maintenance is what I'm used to." As if to prove his point, Renai gently put his hand behind a bookshelf and, a moment later, shoved it forward. It might have been difficult for the paper-thin Enchanter class, but he augmented his strength with the wolf hair racial bonus. The golden-eyed youth toppled the shelf, smiling slightly with just a hint of stress on his face, then stuffing those wolf hair features back down into the depths. That was that. Oh wait, what was this thing?

Kneeling down to pick up the bottle that had rolled towards him, Renai turned it around in his hands. A key, was it? That was interesting. The key wanted to sleep or the bottle wanted to sleep, or maybe some rat lurking around? Renai turned the bottle around in his hands gently as he moved with his mop to investigate a bit more, but eventually decided that enough was enough. He wasn't finding anything of value, so it was time to investigate the bottle. Hailing Kumori, he held the bottle up to the assassin and turned it around slowly. "I... I think the key wants to sleep." It had not even occurred to Renai that the bottle itself might want to sleep instead and that the key was the real problem here. Viewing it via a game interface seemed too easy and the housekeeper skipped right over it as he took a deep breath and cast the spell. Astral Hypno. He had intended to target the key itself, but the Shiny Crystal Bottle so wanted to sleep. It so very much wanted to sleep that it just sucked all that magic right up and fell asleep. As the liquid drained out, the next thing Renai heard was a very, very loud scream.

"HEY JANUS WANTS TO KNOW JANUS NEEDS TO KNOW WHO'S THAT DOLL WITH THE BIG BR-"

The mobster accent was almost unbearable by itself, but Renai immediately knew where that was going before it even finished. The key was clearly referring to Elkeid with that comment, but Renai would not let the key finish. His hands clasped around the key to try and muffle the sound, then slowly opened again. "Janus couldn't breathe, you big palooka! Janus don't want to be held by some dude, no matter how girly his hair is or how much he's interested in being a housewife! Where da ladies at! JANUS WANTS TO KNOW WHERE DA LADIES AT!"

Oh dear god, what in the hells had he just unleashed on the world. Not only was it lecherous, it was sexist too. Renai shot Kumori a look that basically expressed the emotion "what the neep" fairly accurately. It was clear the key was the source now that it was out in Renai's hands and badmouthing the housekeeper and the long-haired assassin. Renai cringed and tried to cast Astral Hypno on the silver key, only to have it glow slightly and then shake in Renai's hands, almost as if it was mad. "Rah rah fight the power! You can't stop Janus! Janus never sleeps! Party all night!"

Goddammit.

[Elkeid]

While Elk's method of searching the room was a simple and neat one, Caerbannog's was akin to that of a raging bull in a china shop. The dusty tome the Monk rescued from the suddenly knocked over shelf quaked a bit in her hands. Sure, the place was old and in desperate need of repair, but that did not mean they should tear the place apart like a wild group of looters. Of course, her only concern lied in the likelihood of them missing an important clue by burying it under rubble. Elkeid stepped out of the Samurai's way and thumbed through her book, which turned out to be as useful as nipples on a breastplate. She tossed the book aside, just in time to turn and see Renai pick up a strange bottle from the floor. What was even stranger was the contents of the bottle, however.

Elk's head was slightly tilted to the right as she observed the Enchanter. The key wanted to sleep? It was an inanimate object - 'But in a video game, anything is possible.' A sentient key couldn't be that odd, then, but Elkeid still had her doubts…

Which were dashed the moment the liquid in the bottle was drained. An unmistakably loud and masculine voice sounded from the tiny confines of the bottle. She had not expected that at all, and in her confusion missed the key's initial statement, which was probably for the best (not like she had an easy time of understanding disembodied voices, anyway). That did not mean that the occasional word or phrase could not be processed, though. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she squinted at the key that Renai was trying so hard to silence. This key - Janus - had the same tone of the stereotypical and sleazy construction workers that made catcalls at passing females.

She made a rule to ignore guys like this, unless they were incapable of keeping their hands to themselves or came too close for comfort. Blue collar workers tended to be stationary, so pursuit was no issue there. It was the guys in bars or clubs that you needed to be wary of, and Elk had met her fair share of guys who could not take no for an answer or grinded against anything that strayed within their path. Luckily for her, Janus was only a key, and someone's idea of a joke. She considered commandeering the key, but it was probably best left in the hands of someone who could understand it with ease...and could control it.

Curious, Elkeid wandered closer to Renai, and lightly poked the chattering and shaking key with one finger. It ceased talking almost instantly, and gently rumbled when stroked. "Aha. It just needs a woman's touch-"

"Janus doesn't want to just be touched, baby. Janus wants to - DID I SAY YOU COULD STOP?" The key was complaining over Elk's sudden lack on contact. It began shaking again, this time with added vigor. "YOU'VE GOT JANUS ALL RILED UP, DOLL! TAKE OFF THAT NECKLACE AND LET JANUS RIDE ON THOSE HEAVENLY PEAKS! LET GO OF JANUS, CREAM PUFF! Janus ain't no fairy! Cream Puff and Ponyboy can go get lost. Leave the taming of the wild women in Janus' hands, ehehehe~."

Decidedly unimpressed with the key, Elkeid gave it a hard flick. "Loquacious and obnoxious men are not what I consider attractive."

"And women who do not know how to use their mouths - ow ow ow not so hard, baby!" Elk had resumed her poking, but in a way that would eventually bend the key if she wasn't careful.

"Maybe we should drown it in water so it doesn't alert the rest of the castle." Her curiosity sated, Elkeid stepped back and turned her back. If she had to guess, that key would be able to open whatever awaited them in the other corridor. It would have been nice if they had any idea of where they were going or what they were doing, but since their alleged leader seemed to have vanished, they would just have to wing it.

"Janus hates to see you go, but Janus loves to watch you leave!" Being sexually harassed by a key was a new one.

coded by benetnasch of ET

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
710

Muse:
Shut Me Up

Notes:
That was actually kind of embarrassing to write.

Tags:
@dindeen, Kumori, Renai & Stryke