The Messenger [Closed/Event]

[Scoria]

"..." Scoria had no words. No words for the nonsense that had just occurred. Scoria had been walking through the newly opened up sections of the underground rail line (hadn't there been plans to do this before? So many things were suddenly opening up and kind of overrunning other plans), moving along with a convoy of Landers on the request of a certain individual. In absolute honesty, he had been transporting some pies from Kings' to a few of the workers and had ended up caught back here with what looked to be about four Landers and two people he didn't know. Probably Adventurers. How they had gotten here, he didn't know, but they were back here with him. So what exactly had happened? The unthinkable, of course. A FIELD BOSS reared its ugly head in front of them and ran straight through the path. The group was lucky the worm hadn't noticed them (or perhaps had something else drawing its attention), but it had run off and didn't sound like it was coming back. Which was good, really. No one wanted dead Landers or dead Adventurers and no one wanted to deal with a field boss. Scoria had used the teacher system to drop his level down to 1 Druid just so no one would get any smart ideas about using him or his levels. He was just a regular and plain old newb. He had even avoided summoning Alraune just so she wouldn't ruin this particular farce.

And of course, while not getting eaten was fantastic and great, the problem was this. Orthodox Olgoi had gone ahead and completely decimated the return path. There were other tunnels to take, of course, but Scoria was no pathfinder. His perpetual glare was full force at this point, staring down the various tunnels and quietly wondering whether his maps would be any good here. After having switched from Scribe to Alchemist, there had been some jarring moments. This was definitely one of them. It'd be very easy for the Adventurers to use Call of Home and get out of here and Scoria would not be surprised if those other two decided to do just that, but he couldn't exactly leave these pies behind. And the people too. He supposed human lives were also important. For the moment though, with their regular exit path blocked off and the Olgoi scurrying off somewhere else, it was probably time to figure out what everyone wanted to do. Scoria's glaring volcanic eyes turned to the rest of the group as he took a deep breath then let out a sigh. Celebrity Concubine was smoothly activated as the glaring Druid addressed the group, the full pressure of his Courtesan status floating down upon the Landers. "If everyone is still alive, shall we find a way out of here?" If those other Adventurers or any of the Landers had anything to say, now was the time, but the Landers seemed pretty quiet and docile for now. Probably scared out of their wits. Scoria might offer them some pie once they were all out of here.

Druid

Reynard Emmerich

[Emmerich]

When news started to travel throughout Londinium of a recently discovered underground pathway within St. Pancras Station, as well as exploration teams were being formed for further discovery, Emmerich knew he had to get in on this action. How could he pass up an opportunity to venture into the unknown for treasure and adventure. So, on the day where Landers and Adventurers alike gathered outside the St. Pancras Station, he wasn't there. On the morning of the exploration he was still asleep in his room at the inn; He foolishly forgotten to set up his alarm clock the night before. But eventually he did, however, manage wake up and get there, an hour late, long after the exploration teams had been assigned. But this didn't deter the guardian from his desire to have his adventure. He decided to enter the underground tunnels alone.

For the past half hour, Emmerich wondered through tunnel to tuneel with his subclass ability, <Battle Perception> toggled on. Though it's been quiet for some time, and the only things he has seen were the lanterns attached to the walls of the tunnels by the workers, he knew he mustn't let down his guard. While he did relished fighting monsters, this wasn't going to be easy like it was back in Windsor Greatwood, this here an entirely different place, and here he was alone. While he continued on walking, he could see up ahead that there was an incoming fork in the path, just like the others he had went through before. Two tunnels were laid out in front of him. "Alright, alright, let's see." he mumbled to himself, as he peered into each one.

They both looked the same, they had the same lanterns nailed to the walls inside. But one had a quite odd element to it. "Is... that baked goods?" he said, sniffing the air around the left tunnel. The smell reminded the guardian that he hadn't eaten breakfast due to rushing out in a hurry. It swayed him enough to decide to enter that tunnel. As he walked through it, he noticed the scent getting stronger with each step. Far into the distance he could see people. They carried what looked like packages. "They seemed to be on some delivery, but what for?" he asked himself in his head. Curious of their intentions, the guardian quickly approached them. But as he neared him there was a horrible shriek that filled the tunnel they were in, and it began to rumble violently. Emmerich struggled to dodge the falling rocks and debris from above. Suddenly a name in yellow appeared ahead of him and the group, <Orthodox Olgoi> Level 35 He looked at what was beyond their path from behind them and saw a giant worm coming straight for them. When they all saw the creature, the guardian, along with the group that was there, did what they could to avoid being in the worm's path.

The guardian pressed his large armored frame against the wall of the tunnel as much as his body would allow. The worm past through without any trouble, except for the path behind them was now blocked off. Once the coast was clear of that worm monster, Emmerich lifted himself off the wall he had earlier clung onto. "Ahh!" he grunted as he stretched out his arms and legs. He had been stuck in a cramped pose for a while. That was quite a long worm. He looked to the group that was with him. They seemed to be alright, none of them have any injuries. He checked their status to make sure. "So these guys are all landers?" he thought to himself as he checked each person present. He could see that four out of the six were landers, as for the others, they were adventurers. He turned to the Druid who seemed to be the leader of this party. While Emmerich though it was too early to leave this place as he only been out here for an hour or so, he still wanted to try and help these people. He sighed and walked up front. "I'll help, I can warn you about incoming monsters and I can make them aggro me instead of going after you guys, I'm a guardian and a pathfinder after all." he said to the druid smiling down at him confidently.

---

Word Count: 728
Tags: Scoria 

[Reynard]

(OOC: I’m guessing we were supposed to be the two adventures already at the start. So I got rid of the extra one. :D Oh and since our AP claims were approve we can roleplay this at lvl 11 instead of 1)

They day had started out simple, really. Like all things new and interesting, Reynard had heard some place was being newly explored. He had always wanted to be a pioneer in MMO’s, wanting to be one of the first ones to test and updates to the game. It wasn’t always easy to get a full party of people he knew so most of the times it would with a PUG (public group) party, or in this current case, solo style. The word on the street had been that the place underneath the street was now open. In the old world Reynard would remember it to be the Underground where he would commute through on a weekly basis. Currently it was an unexplored dungeon-like area underneath the city.

What was odd about it though was that even if it was just a few miles underneath the city, it wasn’t counted in the safe-zone allowing monsters and combat. Currently he had somehow joined an escort party trying to use the underground as a new travel point. He was with two other adventurers guarding a group of landers delivering pies of all things. This particular path was apparently already mapped out beforehand so they just needing guarding against any stray monsters. They had said only low level ones would ever appear in this path so being low level was fine enough for them as long as they were adventurers. Just to be safe two other adventurers had joined in what was to be an easy and straightforward mission.

Of course, things never stay simple as the whole tunnel started shaking. Even with his <Battle Perception> on, Reynard did not see the worm appear until it was right in front of them. Thankfully the high level boss monster was just passing through so it ignored them. Bad news though was that it caused the parts of the path to fall apart with debris raining all over the place. Reynard had gone to ensure the Landers didn’t get hurt much as he had more defense than they probably had. By the time the worm had passed and the rumbling had stopped, the path before them had been rearranged making whatever travel plans useless now.

"If everyone is still alive, shall we find a way out of here?"

Taking a quick head count of everyone, Reynard realized they were missing one more person: the other adventurer.

“All the landers are accounted before, but we lost one of our comrades.”

Lost, missing a member and no idea where to travel, things were looking pretty bad. At least things couldn’t get any worse.

"I'll help, I can warn you about incoming monsters and I can make them aggro me instead of going after you guys, I'm a guardian and a pathfinder after all."

Reynard mentally groaned as he spotted the person approaching who had said that. It was the last person he expected to see way down here in this kind of situation. But beggars couldn’t be choosers and they needed all the help they could get. Not showing any recognition of the person who had just arrived, Reynard summoned a <Magic Light> to illuminate the area.

“I am also a Pathfinder and can help search for a way out. Please give me a moment.”

Kneeling down, Reynard placed a finger on the ground and activated his <Positioning Ping> getting a certain fuzzy map of the area. A basic layout of the area appeared in his mind showing where they could pass . It also showed that their previous entrance was no more. Only way but forward. Reynard stood back up and spoke to the group.

“Where we came from is blocked and the only way is forward. I cannot spot any monster nor the other who came with us. It would be safer from now on to party up to keep track of each other.”

It wasn’t the ideal party but pragmatism before his feelings.

“Maybe the guardian can lead the way.”

[attr="class","reynardstats2"]

HP 100%	MP 100%
Left Hand: Starter Wand	Right Hand: Starter Katana
Armor: Starter Plate Mail	Status: None

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[Scoria]

(Yeah, Scoria + 2 adventurers (Emmerich and Reynard) so there shouldn't be any extra adventurers? )

Scoria squinted at Reynard's comment. They had lost someone? Scoria took a headcount again and didn't notice anybody, but maybe he had just missed them. Strange. Maybe he was slipping. He glanced around at the various Landers, noting that it was one rather fierce looking shortstack lady and three rather grizzly and rugged looking men who looked rather intimidated and kept glancing at the lady as if waiting for her to give instructions. She was glaring at Scoria, however, so Scoria glared right back. Scoria vs. Landers, Round I've lost count because this is an everyday occurrence, go. Anyway it looked like there was some old dude who stood at 6'4'' - why was everyone so tall, really? - and Reynard was of average height. Whatever average meant. Probably shorter than Scoria at 180 cm though? Maybe. Anyway, what luck, two pathfinders. How... coincidental. Scoria smelled a conspiracy.

But more than a conspiracy, he smelled a jerk who was using his height to look down on him. A natural thing when you were 6'4'', but Scoria didn't like it and turned his perpetual glare on Emmerich instead. Glare glare glare. Well, he wasn't going to set up a party if no one else was proactive, but if either Emmerich or Reynard checked his level, they'd see it was a big red 1, indicating that he was using the Teacher System and dropping his level. If they looked. If they didn't, oh well. Scoria just glared anyway and then looked over at Reynard, who was using some... Scoria didn't know what that was. One glance backwards told him exactly what Reynard just had, however, that the path backwards seemed to be blocked off. Lovely. Well, Scoria wanted to deliver these pies, but off the safe route... Landers first. Landers and cargo, that was. Then he could go deliver the pies alone. Scoria's glaring gaze turned towards the darkness, his volcanic eyes seemingly glowing red as he let out a slow breath. Goddamn. This was frustrating. He had to work with these people, huh? Scoria's glare deepened as he turned towards the lady of the Landers. "What's your name?" "Catherine." "How quaint. Catherine, stay behind me. No matter what. The rest of you bastards too, you hear?" Scoria glared at the Landers, his Allure skill quietly doing its work. It wasn't noticeable as it had no visual or audible cue, but it was working nonetheless. Catherine looked like she wanted to pick a fight with Scoria, but she backed off. Good.

Well, that was the Landers taken care of. Scoria shoved his hands in his pockets and glared at Emmerich. He seemed to be the nominated vanguard on this little adventure, so hurry up and move forward, little solider boy. And do your best not to die. Although the druid was not openly scowling or snarling, his ever-present glare seemed deeper than normal. Not that either of these adventurers would know that. Like he said before though, if either of them sent him a party invite, he might accept it. Maybe. But he wasn't sending out invites. And of course, his single viewable main class level was a big, fat, red 'One'. But anyway they should probably be posturing less and going more. It was mostly up to Emmerich to get the party started as the vanguard, however. Scoria had his hands a little full keeping an eye on four Landers.

Druid

[ Reynard Emmerich ]

[Emmerich]

Emmerich turned around when he heard a familiar voice among their group. With his attention elsewhere, he was oblivious to the glare of a certain height-envious druid. "Ah! So you're here too?" he said, when he caught sight of Reynard. He moseyed on over to the young man and playfully rubbed the boy's scalp. The metal that made up his gauntlets clanked, as he vigorously ran them over the young man's head. "How are you doing, little buddy? Have you gotten used to your ears and tail yet?" jokingly he said, smiling down at Reynard. He hadn't seen or heard of the guy in awhile, so some affectionate, yet rough, gestures were long overdue. He eventually stopped when he reminded himself of their current situation.

His eyes looked over at the druid and motioned his hands over his form. By 'clicking' at his general direction, Emmerich was able to see his information. He could see a bright red 1 for his level info. "Seems like he's using the teacher system, but why?" he asked himself in his mind. But no matter, he let the question fade from his thoughts and motioned his finger and clicked the 'invite to party' option from the list of other options regarding Scoria. There was a chime a that played after he sent it off. He then did the same with Reynard and landers who were with them. He invited the landers mostly to keep a look out on their health so it'd be easier to prevent them from dying. With that settled, Emmerich walked to the front of the group. When he got to the front, he held up his spear, pointing it forward and then looked over at the party "Everybody ready?" he said, ready to go into the deep dark abyss.

---

(OOC: Aww sweet, my character's new weapons have been approved.)
Word Count: 299
Tags: Reynard Scoria

[Reynard]

And the part he was dreading had now come to pass. The guardian had managed to recognize him and proceeded to great him like a long lost friend, which they really weren’t. Not enemies either but not close that Reynard would allow some hair ruffling. Reynard raised his hand before Emmerich to block the human from touching his head. Physical contact was not allowed from him right now. Neither did he vocally answer him but copied scoria in giving the best glare he could. It wasn’t as impressive so he doubt the guardian would pick up on it.

The silver lining though was at least the guardian could take care leading the group. Accepting the invite, Reynard opened the party screen to check the status of everyone. It was the first time he had People of the Land in his party but it allowed him to keep track of their health instead of constantly looking at them. Emmerich, it seemed, had manage to level up as well making their levels quite close. The surprise was Scoria who registered at level one. He opened up the druids available status screen to get a better look at him.

A short while later, Emmerich asked if everyone was ready to go and with nothing he wanted to vocally say, Reynard just gave a nod. To help with their journey in the dark tunnel, the pathfinder activated two skills: <Cardinal Rose> and <Magic Light>. A soft glow filled the tunnel as an orb of light appeared beside Reynard. It would give better lighting as they went further inside the tunnel and help he others spot any ambushes or anything of note. Also, a compass appeared in Reynard’s vision, mostly to help navigate so they could at least try going in the general direction of their supposed destination.

“Based on what I saw, there will be a turn up ahead which we may need to watch out for.”

[Scoria]

Oh, a party invite. For real? Fine. Scoria jabbed his finger at the accept button and joined up, noting with a quiet scoff that both players were level 11. Good. They weren't going to rely on him or anything. Scoria noted the existence of Landers in the party, a first for him as well, but shrugged it off with no more than a small raise of his eyebrow. Alright then. The unfortunate part of this whole situation was that their leader, Emmerich, wasn't really moving forward. Chatting and sitting around was great and all, but the Landers were getting antsy. Obviously Scoria was ready and he signaled as much with a short harumph before rolling his shoulders and glancing back at Catherine and co. Still doing okay? Still doing okay. Good.

Well, it wasa probably as good a time as any to figure out what these guys were and how they functioned. Emmerich was obviously a guardian, Reynard had given that much up before the party even opened, and with a quick glance at Reynard's profile, it was easily determined that he was a healer. It reminded Scoria a little of the combination of Caerbannog, Nisha, Narihama, and himself that had occurred some time ago. Too many tanks, some healing... And yet somehow they still did more than enough damage. Well, the rage of the tank was clear. Scoria himself didn't have much to say, but he did watch Reynard put up the magical light orb thing and indicate there was something to watch out for a ways forward. Scoria wasn't leading the group, so he didn't go ahead and investigate it himself. Instead, he picked up one of the Lander's rucksacks and hoisted it onto his own back, choosing to use Allure on the man and try and coerce him. "Keep your buddies safe." Yeah, that was all. Scoria was remarkably blunt and not much of a team player, but then again, there wasn't much of a team and not much for him to do anyway. His favorite skill, Glacial Freeze, was a nightmare in these pits. And he really didn't want to use any high level skills, so he just kinda followed behind Emmerich and kept talking to the Landers. Just in case, he checked his maps, but they just didn't give enough information to properly tell which way was what and what to do. Blast.

Druid

Reynard Emmerich

[Emmerich]

Emmerich kept his focus on the path in front of them as they navigated through the tunnel. Unlike like the tunnels he walked through earlier, this one lacked lanterns on the side of it's wall. Could it be that not even the workers had discovered this tunnel? Or was it because they were too afraid to venture down it? The former one seems to make more sense, seeing as how they almost ended up as giant worm droppings. He tried to not let it get to his head, he had a job to do damn it. The worm is gone, right now he had to focus. At least they have Reynard lighting the way. Despite being behind him, Reynard's magic light gave him a couple meters of visibility ahead. Should his pathfinder abilities fail to detect in coming hoards, they could count on Reynard. Not like it would happen, as he was determined to not let any creature get to the Landers and his fellow Adventurers. He didn't mind that the guy blocked off his attempt at an affectionate gesture. Guess he wasn't in the mood, oh well. He could try another time. 

Eventually they came to the turn in their path, just as Reynard had said. Emmerich held out his arm to signal the group to stop, when he saw something from the corner of the path ahead. It was hard to make out, but he could see some letters and numbers in the distance. Feeling cautious, he turned pressed and toggled on his guardian ability: <Cool Defense>. After he turned on the skill, a faint blue aura soon enveloped his body. He readied his spear and advanced forward, leaving the party behind as to not put them in harms way. As he moved toward the shadows he could see a name and level of a monster ahead: <Goblin> Level: 10. It was just by the edge of the light. Soon there was a low growl and shining yellow eyes stared at him from the darkness. And then more began to appear. As they joined together, the louder their animistic growls were. When there were five pairs of eyes staring at the guardian, they leaped out of the dark and into the light. They were ready to attack, and he was ready as well. He swung his spear back and got into a stance. A blue light emitted from the blade of his spear. With a swift horizontal swing, he sliced into three of them with his <Aura Saber>. Taking off a chuck of their health. But he wasn't done with his onslaught. Immediately afterwards, he lifted up his spear over his own body, his spear blade shined for a moment as he used <Hammer Beat> and crashed it down upon them in a vertical swing. The loud sound of metallic crashing filled the tunnel as the spear made contact with the goblin's bodies.

His skills had hit all of the Goblins. He hit three across and three down. Only one of them got caught by his attacks twice. With no other offensive skills to use, he had to rely on normal attacks until they were usable again. He targeted the most weakened Goblin. With a quick thrust of his spear, he jabbed it's blade into the Goblin, killing it. As he did, the four remaining Goblins came at him with their crudely made swords. To them, he smirked. "That's right focus on me!" he shouted as he exchanged blows with the earth dwelling creatures. He wildly swung his spear, it's blade cleaving into their bodies, while they kept running at him like lemmings. At one point, he skewers one of them on the end of his blade and flings it off. It's body slammed into the tunnel wall. It was still alive however. Despite their attacks, his armor held up pretty well. Don't worry, he'll leave some for the rest, if they're willing to join in. 

---

Emmerich
Guardian Level: 11
HP: [|||||||||||||||||---] 83%  MP: [||||||||||||||||----] 78% 
Status: Defense Boost
Skills Used : Cool Defense, Aura Saber and Hammer Beat.

---

Word Count: 658
Tags: Scoria Reynard

[Reynard]

It was really different traveling through an abandoned tunnel in person. Games may be able to capture the eeriness thanks to good lighting and some ominous background music, but being there and feeling the humidity and stale wind just could not be simulated through a monitor. The anticipation of something just waiting to come out was still there and even with his <Battle Perception> on, Reynard had no doubt something would still be able to surprise them in this cramped room. At least the tank was leading the way so someone could take the first hit and survive. As long as it wasn’t like the worm that landscaped this tunnel a while back.

As for the other party member, he had not said one word to the two; only speaking to the landers. At least he seemed concerned about them so someone could take responsibility for their wellbeing. That would leave Reynard free to do what role needed filling.

As they approached the turn, their tank had signaled them to stop. Seeing as all the adventurers in this party were seasoned players, everyone knew that corners were always potential enemy encounter areas. Drawing his weapons, Reynard moved with the guardian so that his light could illuminate the area around the corner. No sooner that they had turned, a goblin spotted their team and attacked the human in front. Reynard had to hold himself back from instinctively joining in right away as he had to wait for the guardian to generate enough agro first. If he casted anything to soon then he would have to tank this group of monsters, which while possible but difficult, was something he did not want to do.

Once the guardian had done his combo, the cleric casted a Reactive Heal with his wand to help recover HP during the guardians next hit. It wouldn’t restore his current lost HP but would help mitigate the next attack. As a frontline fighter despite having a healer class, Reynard rushed forward with his sword in his right hand. Focusing on one of the already weakened goblin, the fox tail slashed his katana, diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, at the one slammed against the wall. Even with his weaker damage, the goblin’s HP dropped to zero and disappeared in a scene of pixels and gold. That left 3 more goblins to deal with.

Reynard picked one of the goblins not targeted by Emmerich. Not using any Skills, Reynard gave a vertical slash at the goblin removing a chuck of its HP. Compared to the guardian it was weak but it would decrease the encounter time of this particular group. It survived the attack, which allowed the goblin to still continue damaging the guardian. The cleric stayed at the guardians left, picking of whatever shots he could to damage the goblins. He would have to leave majority of the healing to the Druid. Hopefully it would be enough even at the level the druid was at.

HP: 100% MP:97%

[Scoria]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Had Scoria been able to exist past the fourth wall and read the posts above this one, he would have probably broken out of character and died laughing at the thought that someone was 'leaving the healing to him'. A cleric, no less. Haaaaaaa. Haaaaa. As if. Also, he was level 1 and they were level 11 so what were they expecting, really? Scoria just took a moment to try and decide which of his skills would be his singular 'level 1' skill that he would use throughout the duration of this adventure. All the Tier II skills were out, obviously, so... Glacial Freeze, Call Storm, and every healing spell were clearly out. Tongue of Nature was passive (the goblins, for anyone curious, weren't even actually saying anything, they were just making 'screeeeeeee' noises, much like a human might let out a shout to embolden themselves), so... Spear Break. That was a solid skill to use. Yes. Well, the important point here was making sure the Landers weren't harmed, but seeing as Reynard and Emmerich were taking all the aggro... Scoria glanced back at Catherine and gave her a quiet harumph, with a muttered Allure'd "Watch yourself..."

And then Scoria got to work. The thing about perilous caverns and dangerous zones and corners that people were watching out for was that there were these lovely, lovely things known as pitfalls. Easy to avoid if you know where they were, which the group naturally did thanks to the two Pathfinders and the Magic Light, but well... There was no helping it if you were to 'accidentally' fall down one of those things. Scoria took a few steps forward and took careful aim at the strongest goblin, opting not to use any weapon except his fists. It was very crude and in fact, quite rude, but all Scoria had to do was position himself, take a step forward, and then put his fists together and slam them straight into a goblin. Spear Break. The poor goblin had no choice but to be shoved backwards towards the pit, but Scoria was a measly level 1 and Spear Break couldn't possibly shove the goblin back all the way. Nope. The goblin merely skidded backwards close to the pit and lifted its head up, complaining in its native tongue about being shoved around by some upstart. Unfortunately for the sassy goblin, when it raised its head, it was treated to the bottom of Scoria's foot, which slammed straight into its face and sent it careening down a pitfall. One goblin down. Do do doo. Scoria shuffled back towards the Landers and went back to guarding after that, scoping out his next opportunity to abuse Spear Break.

Druid

Emmerich Reynard

[Emmerich]

"Thanks for the assist, buddy!" Emmerich said, laughing hardy laughter as he swung the bladed end of his spear at the two remaining goblins. They nervous looks as he was unfazed by their blows. Sure he was taking damage, but it wasn't much thanks to <Cool Defense> negating some of it. And Reynard's healing certainly helped as well. While he kept pressure on the goblins, he noticed in the corner of his eye, that his offensive skills were out of cooldown. He grinned down at the goblins, which made them sweat bullets. "Move a bit, Reynard." he said, as he swung his spear back on his right side. It's tip then emitted a blue light. Then he strike the goblins with his <Aura Saber>; The blade of the spear cleaved into their bodies in a wide arc. They screamed out in pain in their gibberish language as they fell on the ground and died. Within moments, they exploded into colorful orbs of light and floated upwards and sank through the earth above them. Small piles of gold had been left where the goblins were slain.

"That'd will do it." he said, as he lifted his spear and held it over his shoulders. Emmerich looked over to his comrades. "You guys did good work here!" he said, as he smiled warmly at both of them. Every good party leader should praise their party members every now and then. It builds up trust and morale among their team. And together they can become strong enough to take on any challenge that comes their way. Emmerch hoped, no, he believed that they can do it as well. They were adventures after all, not just as a title but actual adventurers. And as adventures, they had the strength complete this mission. After he praised the others on their work in battle, he resumed his position on the front lines. "OK, Scoria go back and tell the others we've stopped the threat. We'll have to move soon or those things will respawn." he said to the druid, before turning back at the darkness in front of him. He held out his spear and waited for the landers to catch up with them. When they did, he would continue on.

---

Word Count: 374
Tags: Scoria Reynard

[Reynard]

The fight was going well despite not having a plan beforehand. Then again, if you used to play MMO’s for a long time you would know how to function into a passable team. Unless you are plain terrible then you are just as bad for your team as a monster. Thankfully this was not the case with this team as the goblins fell one by one; sometimes literally. Although for the last monsters, Reynard had to move out of the way of Emmerich’s attack. Despite Reynard’s initial annoyance with the tank, he could not fault the guardian’s capabilities in doing his job. The druid too, despite not healing, did help in dispatching the monsters. When the last goblin exploded into pixels and gold, Reynard made a downward flicking motion with his sword and sheathed back as well as putting away his wand.

Scanning the area yielded no other monsters near them so it meant the battle was over. Emmerich had the suggestion on checking on the Landers, which Reynard gave a once over to them. It looked like they weren’t affected much by the goblins attack. Fitting, since they didn’t let any of the monsters near the group. Although they were giving the 3 adventurers looks that were a mixture of awe, fear and caution. Was it the first time they saw adventurers in action? Reynard left the more in-depth examination of the group to the two as they were more sociable. At least Emmerich was, Scoria not so much but they seemed to listen to the druid easily.

Instead, Reynard knelt down again and placed a finger on the ground. Once more activating his <Positioning Ping> which revealed… a straight path. The rest of the way was fairly straight-forward with no discernable detours. At least it meant no left-or-right decisions yet. However, there was a noticeable large pocket along the path. It didn’t look like it lead anywhere else but things might be hiding there. Treasure at best or Monsters at worst.

“The path is straightforward but there is a pocket up ahead which may contain more monsters. We should tread carefully.”

Once the party was ready to move, Reynard would resume his position behind the tank and help watch out for ambushes. The journey forward would be boring as there would be no monsters to harm them. Just some holes on the ground to watch out for. The tunnel would lead them to the pocket which was in fact an old subway station. The place was destroyed befitting the post-apocalyptic look of the world. It was a good place to rest for the Landers even if the adventurers could still go forward.

If they looked around, the party would find the only way left was following the tracks. They could hear wind coming from the tunnel so maybe it was a way out? But the part would only know these things once they got there.

[Scoria]

Huh. Looked like Emmerich could hold his own in a fight. Good. Reynard seemed competent as well, which was nice. Scoria's glare didn't subside, but he was a little relieved that they weren't completely incompetent. He had made a good choice in hiding his level. Scoria somewhat despised the thing Emmerich did next, however. The Guardian had the balls to give Scoria an order. Volcanic orbs glared at Emmerich, a sharp and nasty look in Scoria's eyes before he let out a huff and flipped Emmerich the bird before turning around to 'check' on Catherine and her gang. The whole thing sounded incredibly condescending to him, considering the fact that these were real people with real feelings, but whatever. The game still made a distinction, so what was he going to do.

Catherine supposedly thought the same thing as Scoria walked up and glared at him, which he met with his usual glare. Fantastic. He glanced at the iron pipe in her hand - where had she picked that up? - and glanced up at her, locking eyes as he raised an eyebrow. Was she really intending to fight the monsters herself? Landers had the unfortunate reality of being slow to gain strength. To them, Adventurers were pretty much hacking cheaty characters. Scoria scoffed under his breath and spoke, having already confirmed everyone was generally alive. It wasn't like they were new to monsters or fighting, but perhaps they were new to the tactics this particular trio of Adventurers employed. Allure toggled on, naturally. "We're moving forward." "Don't order me around." "Uh-huh. Let's go." "neep you." Well, this had to happen eventually. She kicked him in the shin and flipped him the bird. Okay. He kind of glared at Catherine as she glared back, then kicked him again. Woooow. So mature. What was she, twelve? "Don't interfere." Scoria spoke to the crowd of Landers, but also at Emmerich and Reynard. If Catherine had a problem with him, she could take it out on him. Fine. He had ordered her around. She got a freebie. He watched his health drop slightly with each kick, until she was finally tired and gave up. "I hate you." "Join the club."

He could have used Knot of Leverage, but he had yet to find himself a good enough reason to do it. That skill was... something else and he didn't like throwing it around for no reason. Not lately, anyway. At any rate, the group was heading off, so off they went. Scoria repositioned his stack of supplies and pies before walking along behind Reynard and Emmerich, keeping an eye on the Landers. They seemed fine enough. All except Catherine, anyway, who was still glaring at him like it was nobody's business. They kept walking along the path, avoiding pitfalls and such, until they reached the pocket that Reynard had mentioned. It looked as though it was a good place to rest, as Reynard had thought, provided they didn't get ambushed. That would be nice, of course, but... While the Landers all seemed to be okay with taking a small break, Catherine refused to put her stuff down and kept glaring at Scoria. Great. What now? "Can I help you? Or do you intend to just stand there while your company rests their legs?" "I knew I recognized your face..." Scoria's glare sharpened momentarily. "I refuse to rest next to a murderer, targeting us common folk." Welp. That was lovely. The iron pipe was clenched tightly in Catherine's hand and the rest of the Landers eyed Scoria warily, to which he responded by shrugging and glaring at them. "Emmerich, Reynard, whenever you want to leave again." Yup, he was just going to ignore it. The Adventurers weren't going to get an explanation. Neither were the Landers. Having a reputation among the thugs and those of the slums was one thing, Scoria mused silently, but... Well, no one makes enemies like Gaston. Scoria. Like Scoria.

Druid

Reynard Emmerich

[Emmerich]

Ah yes, this adventure was going quite swimmingly well. They were able to fight off the threat without any harm done to the landers. Emmerich felt his pride and confidence swell in size, as he walked through the tunnel with the party trailing close behind. The guardian felt that he could ease up for a bit when Reynard stated that the tunnel they were in was a straight line, meaning, they did have to worry about anything coming from the side. But however, that insight didn't help him with getting past these holes all that easily; Being so large and bulky, Emmerich had to shimmy around the holes, in quite the awkward poses. While embarrassed, he attempted to keep his cool exterior, even when there were chuckles from the group of landers, and possibly from his fellow adventures. He simply his kept his eyes out in front.

When they eventually made it to the end of the tunnel, before them were the ruins of a subway line in a wide pocketed area. Emmerich looked over to the others and saw that some were taking the time to rest. 'Well it seems to be a good time as any to take a breather.' he thought, while he glanced at the party with curious fascination in his eyes. This could also be a good time to get to know the others while they were in here. With that in mind his eyes locked onto Reynard and shot a smile at him. He walked over and playfully slaps the young man's shoulder, the metal of his gauntlets creaking as he did. "You did well out there, little buddy. You've gotten a lot stronger than the last time I saw ya!" he said, chucking and smiling ear to ear. "So how you're doin', guy?"

---

Word Count: 300
tags: Reynard Scoria

[Reynard]

The subway station was run down and looked like part of a level just waiting to be overrun by zombies. Thankfully they weren’t in that kind of game… yet. Upon reaching the area, the landers they were with had settled at a corner opting to take a rest, except for one of them who seemed to have a problem with the druid in the party. Which was strange that she would be having problems now as the druid was part of the group at the start of the journey unlike the guardian. Scoria seemed to return the feelings as he glared at the girl to shut her up. Then again a glare seemed to be his default look so Reynard couldn’t really tell.

“We shall go once the group has rested a bit. That okay ma’am?”

Reynard addressed the girl holding the pipe. She seemed ready to hit someone with it. The foxtail tried his best to look non-threatening least she decided to start a fight she couldn’t win. In the end she didn’t do anything, even reply to his statement. She just gave him a look that said “whatever” but left the adventurers to join the rest of the landers. Before Reynard could ask what her problem was with Scoria, a strong slap on his shoulder almost sent him on the floor. Grunting in annoyance at the sudden contact, Reynard turned to last adventurer of the group.

“I am fine. I see you have not changed much since we last met each other. I have to ask, what were you doing down here?”

When the pleasantries were out of the way, Reynard would explore the station while the rest waited. There were a couple of worn out benches he could sit on for a while. Displays lined the walls but whatever they contained had long eroded over time. Which was a pity as one of those could have displayed an old subway map they could have used. The possible path going out was cave-in meaning they would still be stuck underground until they found another exit.

Not being able to do anything else, Reynard took a sit on one of the benches, taking great care to fold his tail before sitting down. It would be a pain to accidentally sit on it… again.

“It looks like we can follow the tracks somewhere else. We might be able to reach another station that way, one that has a way out not caved-in.”

It was only his opinion and if anyone had any other ideas they could give their input. Either way it would be up to the leader of this party, Emmerich, to decide when they could go. Responsibilities of being party leader and all which Reynard was fine with not having to shoulder at the moment.

[Scoria]

Scoria let out a grunt. Oh good, Reynard was trying to play the peacemaker. That was fine and dandy and all, but Scoria couldn't bring himself to care much. So someone thought he was a bad guy. Woopdedoo. Big surprise. Well, there was one thing he was going to do... Scoria quietly pulled up the interface for the Teacher System, a small box that more or less displayed which level you wanted to drop or increase your level to, then quickly slid it underneath his blazer behind his back. Interfaces naturally moved relative to their owner, so he wasn't going to be leaving that pane behind, but it'd be good to have it up and preset just in case one of the Landers got a funny idea about leaving him behind. It seemed like Reynard and Emmerich were chummy. They smelled like fish too. Scoria wrinkled his nose slightly and let out a small scoff, glancing around and not bothering to do one thing or another. Catherine was still eyeing him warily, and had Scoria been just a bit more obnoxious, he might have made some remark about whether or not she was interested in him.

Fortunately for everyone, that wasn't exactly Scoria's style. What was Scoria's style was to be a manipulative bastard. Pulling up the party interface, Scoria glared pointedly at Catherine and then hit the 'leave' button, his name blipping out of the party immediately. He had already decided he wasn't going to use any party heal skills anyway, so there wasn't any point to being in a party. He never bothered with parties normally anyway, so... That was that. "There." Scoria personally felt like they had had long enough of a break, so he clenched and unclenched his fists slowly before standing up and staring at the train line. Scoria had no objections to the plan Reynard suggested, but he was quietly wondering if the other two intended to just sit there shooting the breeze in an unsafe zone. Anyway. "...Hrm." Scoria squinted into the darkness of the train line, but it didn't seem like anything was there. Well, maybe it was alright to sit around and wait for a little bit. The Druid in question just stared straight into the darkness, waiting for his party mates and the Landers to decide to go. Basically just Emmerich though.

Druid

Emmerich Reynard

[Emmerich]

"For the exploration of course!" He said, with enthusiastic energy in his baritone voice, "So.. you and frown-face over there," he said, as his head tilted over in Scoria's direction, "..are bodyguards for these Landers?" He did felt that the question was a bit silly only after he had asked it. He already knew that it was common for the people of this world to request help from adventurers such as themselves, as bodyguards. Though Emmerich himself has never done bodyguard duty before, with Landers in his presence. He had heard they weren't immortal like the adventures were and the thought of it made him a bit unease. But regardless, he had a duty to defend those who couldn't fight and mustn't let himself fall into worry. At least battle helped him distract himself from his negative thoughts. During battle he felt only thrill of fighting.

After they were done with their conversation, he decided to follow Reynard and inspect the ruined station with him. He felt like it made sense, since they both had the pathfinder subclass. However, Reynard's pathfinding abilities were much better than his own, so he wasn't sure how he could help. He sighed, letting the cleric go on search the station on his own. He was feeling a bit antsy. He wanted something to do, just anything to keep him stimulated. Then from behind him a voice spoke out, "Hey! You there big fella!" Emmerich was taken aback by the sudden sound of the voice. When he regained his composure, he turned around and saw an mustached elderly man with grayed hair standing in front of him. "Oh, hello there sir!" He said, smiling down at the elderly gentleman and gave him a gentle wave of his hand as he returned he old man's greeting. "You adventures are quite the dependable folk, she out of gratitude, I got some food to share with you all." His eyes widen as the man said 'food', he had just remembered that he hadn't eaten this morning and was happy to hear the man's offer. "Thank you! I appreciate your kind gesture. And I'm sure the others will as well." He chuckled.

"I'm glad to hear that." The elderly man released his satchel from his side, and pulled out of it an apple. "I know it's not much, but here." He gentle places the red fruit in Emmerich's hands. He gave a nod and wondered off. "Thanks again." said the guardian before digging his teeth into the apple. Unlike some of the food he has eaten, this apple tasted as it should, sweet. He didn't know why some foods lacked flavor, but he did know that foods that were normally ingredients tasted fine, like the apple in his hands. By the time he was done gorging on the fruit, he heard Reynard suggestion. "Sounds good to me. Hrmph." He let out a little burp, just barely covering his mouth in time for it. He would soon join Scoria on the tracks which lead out of the station.

---

Word Count: 508
Tags: Scoria Reynard

[Reynard]

ooc: posting to be able to move the thread if you guys want to. If nothing is posted in 2 days i'll edit to continue the encounter

Seriously, he didn’t know why, but for some reason Emmerich kept on exasperating Reynard. It wasn’t because he was joyful or even gross, as his last action displayed, sometimes. He had met more people who had extreme cases of those traits and he could still tolerate or like them. Scoria was worse with his broody and uncaring attitude and Reynard had no problem so far. There was just a combination of some traits that tested his patience. He felt a bit guilty as he knew that Emmerich wasn’t doing it on purpose but he couldn’t help it. Maybe things would change along this trip?

It seemed it was up to Reynard to get them moving again as their tank was busy enjoying his meal. Well, technically the cleric could function as a quasi-tank to lead them if the guardian didn’t want to. It would leave majority of the healing to druid… who had just left the party.u

Seriously? Why did he do that.

Were the baffled thoughts of the foxtail. He took back what he thought before: Scoria just went up the annoyance list. Annoyed, Reynard didn’t want to wait to know why Scoria bothered to leave. He wasn’t the party leader anyway so he couldn’t invite him in again even if he wanted. After informing the landers that they were continuing on their quest, Reynard approached the tunnel where Scoria was waiting.

“Well… I do not know why you left but I assume since you are still here you will still travel with us.”

He turned to the group of Landers assembled at the entrance now plus Emmerich if he was done with his food.

“We can only move forward now despite the danger. The silver-lining here is that not all parts of the tunnels are completely underground. We may be able to find an opening soon.”

If his memory was still semi-accurate, parts of the rails emerged from tunnels and into the outer portions of the city. Of course they could be caved-in as well but the wind coming from the tunnel boosted the chances there was an opening somewhere. Making sure his compass and perception was on, Reynard started walking inside the tunnel leading the way. Thanks to absence of monsters for now, Reynard was starting to take in the surroundings of the tunnel. The original goal of this trip was to start exploring the tunnel and find out what was underneath. Monster were a given, as every place in this world had them. It was only now did the foxtail realize that this place was still being lit despite being underground. Something lining the walls was emitting enough light to make the place visible. Upon closer inspection, Reynard saw that the walls were lined with lamp like objects similar to the underground lights that used to work. The magical glow was definitely new as he could this lamps weren't being powered by electricity anymore. He had seen some power lines cut yet the lights were still working perfectly. He would have to check that out later.


Thanks to the narrowness of the tunnel, the whole group's walking could be heard every time they took a step. It was then noticeable when their steps started getting muted. Clicking his tongue, Reynard checked his wasn't going deaf and payed attention the ground they were walking on. He was so focused on the side of the tunnel, he missed when their path stopped becoming gravel and rocks and started becoming a mossy carpet. This was something as plants meant two things: water and sunlight and sunlight meant a way out. Reynard wondered what was coming up next.

[attr="class","reynardstats2"]

HP 100%	MP 100%
Left Hand: Starter Wand	Right Hand: Starter Katana
Armor: Starter Plate Mail	Status: None

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[Reynard]

ooc: so with no reply i'm ending this thread. 

As the group trudge on top of the vegetation, Reynard noticed how silent the party had been. Granted He wasn’t the most talkative of people while working but it was surprising even the happy-go-lucky Emmerich had stopped speaking. Scoria didn’t look like someone who would be talking anytime soon and the landers were too wary of the adventurers to casual converse while on the journey. Reynard let out a sigh; the sooner they got out of these tunnels, the better.

Lucky enough, their trek was taking them somewhere outdoor as they could now see the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel”. Reynard motioned to the party and the group collectively picked up the pace to get out of the tunnel. As they exited the tunnel, they were greeted to the sight of an old train junction complete with a stranded train at the tracks. Thankfully, junctions were built outside as the cost of changing tracks underground would be too much. This meant they could get the landers to their destination ASAP. Reynard turned around to check on the group exiting the underground. A few were covering their eyes as they were still adjusting to the sudden brightness of the outdoor. Tallying the headcount, no one was missing, well aside from the one person at the start but he was an adventurer so they would get back to town in the worst case scenario. The remaining adventurers could now focus on completing this quest.

Checking his compass, Reynard found the direction of their delivery area and pointed to the group where to go. As they were leaving the junction, Reynard’s gaze caught site of the subway car overgrown with moss at the outside. There was something about that car which piqued his interest and he promised to come back later. Once outside, the landers were familiar enough with the surroundings to know the way to the delivery area. The group was more relaxed now as their surrounding were brighter and more familiar. Except for the one lander that was still eyeing Scoria. Reynard shuddered at the thought of still being stuck in the cramp tunnel underground. Tempers might have boiled over and a fight could have started between the adventurers and landers. That was something Reynard did not want to mediate

It was a shame with their path being partially caved in as soon as they entered. They had tried using the underground as a faster way to deliver but the path they took was useless now as it was no longer passable. They would have to try again sometime, probably with a better set of adventurers than they currently had. Once they reached the delivery area, the adventurer’s quest was done and would out of the lander’s hair so to speak.

“So… I suppose this is goodbye. Take care.”

With that the strange but short underground journey had come to an end. Reynard should probably get back to the guild soon. There was some sort of event he had to attend to.

-EXIT-