Guild Wars III Roleplay (Rated T)

[Kiddo]

<<Tower of Doom>>

Kiddo paused for breath. She was getting tired and getting wounded. The berserker fury staved off fear quite well but it did not allow for an effective defense. The others wouldn't see the wounds. Her ninja garb hid blood. She pivoted, sliced a nightmare beast in two, and made a deliberate advance towards the empty room in front of her. There were windows... scattered furniture... like chairs...

She dashed, leapt over a beast materializing out of the ground, and with a whoop snatched up the nearest chair and threw it at a window. The glass shattered and for a moment Kiddo laughed and the darkness seemed to retreat. Then she froze solid.

"GUYS!" she yelled, "Ignore the beasts! Blow some holes in the wall or something, then GET IN HERE NOW!"

Because if she wasn't mistaken, the Underdeep's version of the Fenris wolf was advancing on the horizon.

[Zylaa]

((Tower!))

How many deals with the devil in one incarnation or another was it possible to make in two days? This was Zylaa's thought as Hunty made the deal with Kassandra. Of course, it was better than the alternative. And plus, Zylaa liked the implications of this current world-saving plan. Lots and lots of fire.

"Since we're already conveniently up here, might as well go see who else is here and whether they're willing to assist us in blowing the Underdeep up. Don't do anything stupid, don't let any of those Underdeep-infested buggers fool you, and most importantly, do. Not. Die. That's an order. Are we quite clear here? Good. Let's move out. Anyone with better ears and senses than me, where the lifeforms at?"

"Well if it isn't the pirates."

"There's one, Captain!" Zylaa said helpfully. She hoped her winning smile would stop Hunty from yet again contemplating injuring her. Her ears perked up at the very faint sound of a crash. "Someone else is in a general that-way direction," she said, pointing her finger towards the noise. "Sounds like a struggle, anyway, so there has to be someone good. I'm not sure how to get there. Draco..." she stopped and looked at him, her head tilted to one side in contemplation. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?" And can we trust you? was the unspoken addition.

[Ian Wolf-Park]

Strife's Tower

"GUYS! Ignore the beasts! Blow some holes in the wall or something, then GET IN HERE NOW!"
the ninja cried out. Lupehunter knew that he had to back her up.

He summoned his staff in his left hand and began firing fireballs into the building with it while throwing balls of light towards the shadow creatures with his right hand. He did not see his handiwork as he was heading towards the ninja, but the various explosions told him that it was working.

"Okay, time for some damage control," he muttered to himself.

He reached the ninja and place a shield around her. Then he aimed his staff towards one of the windows and fired off another fireball. It slammed into the window, obliterating the frame and the glass. Yet the darkness kept on advancing.

"Tch, when will guys ever quit?" he muttered as he set up another circle of light.

[Draco]

<<Dunwich Strife Hall>>

"Simple. I came from my mother and father. One day they decided they wanted a child, so they got together and..." He stops, stares at the weasel girl for a few seconds, "Oh, you meant here here. Got it. A long story short missing many details, Gil's steam powered flying machine. There should be several others here. Unless the nightmare creatures got to them..."

He turns his head to stare off in the direction he knows the group to be in for a moment. "As for why I am here. Seems like there was a party going on, and I didn't want to be left with the left overs."

----

Elsewhere Gil and Toshiro rush into the room following Kiddo. Once in Toshiro throws multiple kunai at the windows, shattering a couple of them. The two of them position themselves behind others.

----

The nightmare creatures around Draco and the pirates remain hidden in the shadows. Refusing to move or even make a noise. The majority sit in the shadows in a almost perfect line.

In another part of the building, they continue to swarm Kiddo's group.971

[The Horsemen]

Four horses cantered across the sky.

They weren't in a hurry. Apocalypses are finite by definition and for the Four Horsemen, it's the final curtain call, after which they need to find something else to do, so they didn't even attempt to get it over and done with quickly. Besides, this was Famine's first Apocalypse so she constantly spun around in the saddle, squealing happily and pointing at the more interesting places.

"As far as Apocalypses go, this one's really pretty lame," War said somewhat apologetically. "Your first one could've been a little more interesting. Remember that big one back then, Death? Black sun, skies splitting in two, the gods fighting each other in everlasting winter, snakes and dragons, the world burning, the tortured cries of all souls of the underworld penetrating the mortal coil..."

YES, AND THEY MOSTLY SAID, 'FETCH MORE BEER, MAN, WE DON'T HAVE ALL ETERNITY HERE', Death said matter-of-factly. UNDERWORLDS WERE MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD BACK THEN.

"There are like, still battles out there," Famine said, nodding towards the east where Tabloid Town lied thousands of miles away. "It's not totally over yet."

"May as well be," Pestilence said, stretching himself. He was feeling a little sore; neither he nor his horse had been out on this road for a while, so his clydesdale bay had settled in a fairly uncomfortable jerky heavy gallop that treated the rider like a sack of potatoes. "A handful of humans, most of whom don't even have magic. And it doesn't matter how the battle ends, this world is still over."

There was a moment of silence, filled with the howling of the wind and a number of sulky undertones.

"I was thinking of expanding, you know," Pestilence said into the silence. "Did I tell you that? The wife had just come up with a new cake recipe, we thought we could sell it in the city during holidays or something..."

"It's not for us to decide," War said heavily.

"Still stinks."

Cataclop, cataclop, cataclop.

"Tabloid Town was totally rad," Famine signed. "There was this awesome shop near Rodeo Ride. The cashiers always complimented my looks."

I THINK I WENT THERE ONCE, Death said grimly. THEY SAID, HOW DID IT GO AGAIN... 'OHMAHGAWSH, WHAT'S YOUR DIET?'

Cataclop, cataclop, cataclop, cataclop.

"Why," War asked suspiciously, "did you go to a posh clothes store in Rodeo Ride?"

I NEEDED A NEW ROBE AND THAT WAS THE CLOSEST STORE AT THE TIME. Death sounded rather dismissive now. His small Arabian horse picked up some vibe from its master and cranked the pace up a bit.

War snorted. "All that store sells is pink glittery stuff with Princess written on it. I'd pay good money to see you in that."

Cataclop, cataclop, cataclop, cataclop.
        ^{BRRROOO-     OOOooo-OOMMMRR}

"How exactly," Pestilence said, raising an eyebrow, "do you know what they sell?"

Death's scythe cut through the warm morning air with a fierce 'tzing', commanding silence. The other three, having noticed something as well, obliged at once. Four pairs of hands pulled at the reins to bring their horses to a halt ten miles above the ground in the middle of bright blue emptiness, and they all turned to stare in the direction their Horseman senses had instinctively pointed at.

"You don't mean-" Famine began with disbelief in her eyes. And then they saw it down below.

They were currently above an ocean that glistened like black glass. The entire planet now looked more or less like this, only lumpier in the mountains and pointier in the forests, but as the Horsemen watched, they saw an approaching streak of clear blue water. It was maybe three miles wide, a thin bright belt of furiously rushing water between two sides of black glossy stone. And there was a tiny little figure dragging that belt along right above the surface, kicking up two wide stretches of churned water as it flew.

The four watched as the figure detached itself from the waterbelt and flew up as the roaring GRRROOOooooooOOORGNNN got louder. The horses flattened their ears and began to prance. They were nearly impossible to faze but their owners had grown to hate this particular sound so much over the years that the feeling had transferred over to them.

TMC's bike came level with the horses and spluttered to an abrupt halt. He was wearing shades, as usual, but the two sides crossed glances nevertheless.

"Riding out, I see," he said.

"It's what we do," War said. The air was heavy with careful, curious politeness.

The biker nodded curtly and seemed to glance at the dials of his bike. "Yeah. A'right then. Personally I always thought that you guys wouldn't give up this easily, but I suppose you got rules to follow."

RULES ARE IMPORTANT, Death said in a hollow voice.

"Didn't stop you when you killed me," TMC retorted. It was a valid point, but the reaper's hand gripped the scythe nevertheless.

YOU BROKE THE RULES, he said. AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

"Ah," said the biker, lifting his finger. "Don't gimme that. I seem to be counting one, two, three, four horses before me, am I right? And one, two, three, four horsemen in the saddles. They wrote me out of the picture. I'm no longer a Horseman. Hey there, Pestilence, how you been? So anything I do cannot possibly break any rules of the Horsemen, therefore it's my own business if I," he nodded at the streak of blue water, "choose to help save the world."

The Horsemen looked down at the streak. From ground level, it was probably pretty impressive work of cleansing, but from their viewpoint some ten miles up, it looked sadly thin and unimportant compared to the rest of the glossy black world. But being the Horsemen, they knew the importance of the individual well. One man could push the ball rolling, one man could stop it. The only thing that varied was the number of individuals involved.

"Why?" Pestilence asked. "I mean, you never really were the type-"

TMC shrugged and smiled for a moment - and this time it really was more of a smile, not his usual snarky jeer. "Don't feel like explaining myself. Care to help?"

The Horsemen exchanged glances. They were clearly hesitant.

"They can't fire all four of us," Pestilence said darkly.

"I'd like to see them try," War snarled. "We're older than them, for crying out loud."

Famine grinned. "I'm so in."

IT WON'T HELP, Death said, like a shower of cold water. CLEARING THE EXCESS UNDERDEEP WOULDN'T SOLVE THE INITIAL PROBLEM.

"Mm, yes, that," TMC said coolly. "Take a look at the Tabloid Town area."

The four riders seemed puzzled, then pulled out their fieldwork tools. A moment later they swore in unison.

"Anthropomorphization?" Pestilence cried, using the word like some complex ancient curse. "It's become that ambitious?"

"You hang around humans enough and you become human," TMC said a little nastily. "You guys should know. Most of the Underdeep is concentrated in that area, which is why I've cleared stuff up a bit down here. If the humans defeat it, it won't be able to use the rest of the planet as backup that way."

"You'll take ages doing it alone," said War.

"Well, I just close the excess entrances. They're not meant to exist anyway. Cut it off from its power sources and the rest isn't urgent any more." They couldn't see behind the shades, but TMC's eyes most definitely had a cheery little twinkle in them. "I suppose you couldn't shut some on the way while you do your riding-out thing?"

"I suppose we totally could," Famine said with a small giggle. "It's like, disorderly anyway."

"I think we should head to Tabloid Town," Pestilence said thoughtfully. "Would be interesting to watch."

"I'll get there eventually, I suppose," TMC figured. "They say that all roads lead to Tabloid Town and I don't even need roads ro ride. Catch you later, Horsemen."

The bike roared to life and dived down again, leaving the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse looking after him.

"Never thought I'd see the day," War said earnestly.

"Eh, he's still a right son of a donkey," Pestilence said, shuffling around in the saddle that was getting more uncomfortable by the minute, "but he's got a point. Closing excess openings is just good sense and won't go against any rules. I uh. Sort of closed a number of them back there when we rode over them."

"Like, me too," Famine admitted sheepishly. "Thought, like, what difference does it make?"

"Same," War rumbled. The three turned to look at Death, whose empty sockets looked back at them with not a hint of any emotion.

I DARESAY THIS GOES AGAINST THE INTENT OF THE RULES, he said.

Famine's face broke into a wide grin. "Knew it. I totally knew it. Death, you're totally a softie, you know that? Even if you act like all tough."

"Well, let's head to Tabloid Town," War said, grinning as well. "I think I'm needed there, actually."

The Horsemen of the Apocalypse rode on, leaving the shimmering blue ribbon of water behind them. Far below them, entrances to the Underdeep closed one after another.

[Gelquie]

Gelquie stared at the multitude of creatures in front of her, the fear inside of her increasing. She wasn't sure how much farther they could go fighting these... things. And they were trapped up here, too, with them. She gulped and repeated to herself that she had support now, even if temporarily, and that it wouldn't be wise to run away from that.

Instead, she focused on the creatures. She couldn't well back herself against a wall, considering how they were crawling with the spider-things. Instead, she kicked whatever thing came too close to her as she turned her dagger in her hand. To the untrained eye, it didn't seem like she was doing much more than that, but she was focusing on creating tiny illusions of random barriers in front of the creatures, herding them as much as possible, whether towards Kiddo's blades or away from them, as needed.

"GUYS! Ignore the beasts! Blow some holes in the wall or something, then GET IN HERE NOW!" was eventually yelled out, and everyone started rushing into the room, though the mage paused to let off some fireballs and light before running in. It seemed to do well enough, as there weren't many left.

Gelquie wasted no time; she rushed on by, allowing all of her wall illusions to vanish, but at the same time creating the illusions of silent rats to scurry around, and she hoped that they would grab the creature's attention. Especially after she joined the others and when she saw what was coming on the horizon. Then she really hoped that it was working.

"What... what is that?" Gelquie couldn't help but ask before dashing to the side of the hole and peering out at the darkness. "It-- What are we supposed to do against it? _{Or all of this, in general.}"

[Kiddo]

<<Tower of Doom>>

"We make a last stand," Kiddo said calmly. "That's what we do. Get those doors shut and blocked. I need a few minutes to think."

She peered out through the broken windows. There. Some people... fighting. She squinted. Hard to make out. She pulled a scope from her pack and glanced through. Oh. Hell. Was that... that couldn't be Ikkin!? Kiddo shuddered and decided a last stand could wait. It was a long, long ways but, well, she excelled at the crossbow. It had surprised her when she first picked it up, how natural shooting was. And even though she didn't have any super powers or anything above the average ninja, she could shoot. And she was GOOD.

"Guys," she said, calmly fitting a scope onto her crossbow and loading a bolt, "I only have vague memories of things, but I think I see someone I know and I think I see someone who might have just killed her. I'm shooting him in the back unless someone stops me in the next second. Then we can figure out how to make a last stand."

And she raised the crossbow, set herself into stance, and stared through the scope. Her breathing slowed. One breath in, and out - and when her lungs were empty and her body still, she fired the crossbow directly at Strife's back.

[Jina]

Strife Tower
Jina was quite happy that they were going to be burning the Underdeep. It was almost like somebody had been stabbing her in the leg repeatedly, and all of a sudden she found out it was Christmas, and all her presents were big bottles of rum, and she had the opportunity to spill some of the rum over the person that had been stabbing her and light it on fire.

Of course, they wouldn't be able to burn things yet, which was a shame, really. Still, at least they had something to do.

Jina followed Zylaa over to Draco, and Zylaa started questioning him. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Seems like there was a party going on, and I didn't want to be left with the left overs."

"Party? Well if it is, it isn't a very fun party. Don't know why you'd want any of it, really. But hey, if you're here to help, we're quite happy to let you."

Also Strife Tower
Owen had been unable to make a hole in the roof before it flew through a hole - the top of which scraped his suit, he'd kill them if there was exposed steel - and landed. But that was alright, the hatches had opened and people were piling out, so it'd be much easier to break into. He just had to hope that the pilot had stayed on board.

He waited until people had finished coming out of the ship before he started to make his way to the edge. Then, however, he heard some of the conversation going on below him.

"So don't look at me, girl, I have no idea vhy ve came up here."

He stopped. Did this mean people were going to get back on?

"Fate brought us back together," came the voice of a-

Woah. Now that's what I call gorgeous.

Owen continued to stare at this beautiful woman before realising he should really be listening to what was going on.

"So what you're saying is that we need to get out there and burn that sucker."

Kassandra said yes, and went outside to point something out to everyone. Owen turned around to look out the hole at what she was pointing at. It didn't take long to spot. Clouds gathering ominously on the horizon. How fun.

"Mkay. Since we're already conveniently up here, might as well go see who else is here and whether they're willing to assist us in blowing the Underdeep up. Don't do anything stupid, don't let any of those Underdeep-infested buggers fool you, and most importantly, do. Not. Die. That's an order. Are we quite clear here? Good. Let's move out. Anyone with better ears and senses than me, where the lifeforms at?"

Owen decided that now would be a good time to get down. Some of the group went over to talk to someone who had just arrived, and he rolled over to the edge and dropped down. He stood up, and smiled.

"Hey guys. I heard you were looking for people, so here I am. My name is Owen, I like long walks on the beach, etcetera etcetera. Oh, and..." he turned to look at Kassandra. "I know we have all this fire and burning and killing of evil things to do, but once we're finished... You, me, pizza. You'll have to show me somewhere good because I've never been to this part of the world before."

The Air
Sandra circled over the town, until Halin spotted something bright on the ground. He pointed it out to the rest of the group, and asked what they thought.

"Looks like fire," said Patri.

The fire went out, and it allowed them to see two people, and some sort of bird.

"Alright," said Halin. "I guess we should investigate. Be ready in ase there's fighting."

Sandra turned towards the people on the ground, and dove down as fast as she could.[rand=965430261064904763413434435410787433597060391818004031291209799781]

[Strife]

((Streets of Tabloid Town))

During his staredown with Sev, Strife caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye. Another bird-like creature was diving down towards his position. He wasn't sure what this bird's intentions were, but if there was a chance that it could distract the phoenix, he'd take it.

Before he could do anything else, Strife sensed something lodge itself into the back of his armor. Kiddo's crossbow bolt had hit him square in the back, though it failed to penetrate the armor itself. Nonetheless, this was enough to thrust him into decisive action.

In an eyeblink, a trail of silhouettes snaked around Sev, approaching the position of the other bird as it came closer and closer to ground level. Strife raised his arms, pulled out two large, flat pieces of stone from the ground, and used his psionic energy to hurl them into the sky. Once each piece of stone was positioned between the bird, he willed them to come together in an attempt to crush her.

Strife then performed another teleport-dash a short distance backwards so that he had a clear view of both birds, preparing to move again at the slightest sign of attack. There was still no sign of the sniper that had shot him.

[Kiddo]

<<Tower>>

Kiddo was oblivious to those around her. She merely assumed they were taking care of things, whatever it might be, to keep the shadow beasts at bay. It was a very narrow-minded perspective she had locked herself into, but it what was allowed her to shoot.

"Fancy dodge," she muttered, "Back to the basics. When in doubt, shoot them in the face. No one fails to notice an arrow in the face."

She reloaded and took aim and fired.

[Huntress]

((Tabloid Town, although come to think of it, I'm not sure why we still bother with the location tags. Back when they were actually needed, about half the posters used them, and now that they're not really needed, everyone's in the habit. Mrm. Useful habit to have around for the next GWs, though. Anyway.))

It was frankly a bit of a shame that the Tabloid Town bay - which we should really name, come to think of it, any suggestions? - was frozen solid, because this was exactly the kind of scene usually characterized by rushing waves and ships bobbing up and down helplessly. But now it was just a dead, silent world, with a jungle of stone ships pointing at the sky.

Something ominous was closing in. Something dark. And the one small spark of life in the harbor - no, not life. Self-awareness, at best. But it still had a sense of self-preservation, and sensed in the depths of its dark primal core of existence that it needed to get away from the incoming threat, and fast.

It stirred.

***

"There's one, Captain!"

"Remind me to promote you sometime," Hunty said, fighting back a grin. She turned to look at Draco. "Well, you're free to join us. It's not really much of a party and I'm afraid we're all out of peanuts, but we intend to bring out the fireworks soon and that always pleases the crowd."

"I do not like zees crowd," Zagora remarked. She was staring sharply at the nightmare crowd at the edge of her amulet's forcefield, and partly also at Draco who was standing outside that field. "Zey act too independently." Up until now, she'd been leaning against the Juggler's side, but now straightened herself and took a few seemingly aimless steps towards the ninja.

Kassandra had watched the whole scene from the sidelines, still standing next to the doorway leading outside, when some kid dropped down from the back of the spaceship, approached her and asked her out. This was approximately the two thousandth time this had happened to the Sue, so she just looked at the guy's cheery smile and honest ears somewhat calculatively, as if determining whether she happened to feel like it or not. Then she shrugged.

"Maybe," she said. Really, why not? She'd have to eat sometime after these battles, after all.

"Where," Hunty asked, staring sharply at Owen, "did you come from?"

"Huuunty," Bloody Mary said on her shoulder, staring blankly outside.

"Either way, we should probably go find everyone else in this place. Flying up here should count for something, after all - what?"

The meepit pointed. Kassandra turned around to look in that direction, outside the doorway she was standing by, and blinked. "What in gods' green earth is that?"

Hunty stepped to the doorway, looked out, stared in disbelief for a moment and then burst out laughing.

The petrified city lied before them, a jagged black jungle before the smooth black plain of water, all glittering under the unfittingly blue sky. Dark clouds were still gathering on the horizon but a far more prominent cloud was gliding across the stone rooftops towards the city hall. It was a pool of grey-black mist, stretched out across the city on either side like huge wings, and in the middle of that mistpool sat a black ship, sharp wide yards curving upwards like a layered pagoda, all sails hoisted and full of wind.

"Who's sailing her?" Bloody Mary asked, sitting up on Hunty's shoulder as the White Weewoo's mistwings smashed through the air with a low 'whoomph'. "We evacuated everyone and she won't move on her own."

"I think something did drive her to move," Hunty said thoughtfully, biting her lip as the brigantine jerked downwards in the air while its wings moved up for the next strike. The ship's demon-shell wasn't made for flying so while it'd somehow managed to figure out how to go airborne, it always flew like an overweight and slightly sickly goose. "The Underdeep's moving in. She just reacted to it." She whistled sharply. "Hey, girl!"

The brigantine of the pirates wasn't alive in the strict sense of the word. It was, however, a ship, and ships establish a kind of connection with their crew even if they haven't been exposed to high class demon magic. So while the Weewoo couldn't really hear the whistle or the call, it knew that they'd been directed at it. A shadow moved across the city hall square down below as the ship turned slightly and then descended, wrapping the mistwings into a thick cushion beneath the keel and leaning it against the rooftops at the same time. In the end it lodged itself between two turrets in the roofs and remained sitting there like an oversized eagle.

"That's my girl," Hunty said cheerfully. "Mkay, I know for a fact that we have gunpowder and rum in the hold, and-"

"-she only flies maybe two miles at a time," Bloody Mary said grimly. The Weewoo couldn't stay airborne particularly long.

"I'll take what I can get," said the captain, stepped outside and craned her neck to look at the city hall tower. "Ahoy, up there! What's with the solo shooting? We've a party down here and you'll miss the pointy paper hats if you don't feel like joining us!"

[Draco]

<<The Titles to say where we are are just habit now - The Tower Hall of Strife and Death>>

Draco notices the voodoo lady Zagora stepping towards him. He holds his ground for a moment, something deep inside him demanding to run. He takes another glance at the nightmare creatures, all of them either melting into the shadows or scurrying away. The few who didn't make it were disintegrate by a invisible force.

"If that happens to them, what will happen to me? Blow up, giving me possession of my body back? The blowing up part doesn't sound good."

Holding a hand out, he points to some of the nightmare creatures.

"You guys might want to be careful with those things. Their mean little freaks of nature. They ooze right out of the shadows, cause nightmares, bite, scratch... And apparently blow up when she... Starts to... Walk..."

Placing one foot back, Draco is about to make a exit of the area, but is to late. A force that felt like he was being punched, shocked, and drowned all at the same time hit him. He staggers backwards for a moment, and stands up again, stepping back faster this time.

"I'm going to go see the others. They're up to something, I might as well tell them you're all here. One of them is a little crazy, and may attack you if she didn't know you were here. I'll send a message to you if something important comes up."

He turns around and begins to run. Once, he hopes, he's out of ear shot he curses to himself.

"What was that thing?!"

"Uhh... Your voice..."

"What about it?"

"It's a little warped. Like your thoughts."

"Grrrr." He clears his throat a few times, "That better?"

---

<<Inside Draco's Head - A very fun place.>>

Draco stands in the darkness, staring out the windows to the outside world.

"Yep, now I don't sound like a psycho."

The familiar red outline of a face appears in the sky.

"Whatever... Either way I think I'll need to do something about that group, and most importantly that lady. Maybe if I get her down to Strife, he could be weak enough for me to take out. Kukukuku."

"Remember you are supposed to work with him!"

"I am. Working with him until I can kill him!"

"If you stand in the way of our goal, we will put a stop to you."

"Does that mean I get my body back?"

"Of course. If you want to be a lifeless corpse."

"...."

----

<<Back in reality>>

"We'll see about that..."

One of the nightmare creatures follows him along a wall, clicking and moaning.

"Tearing a room apart? What are they up to. Try to separate the group, or at least separate the one you think is the weakest."

The creature clicks and moans some more.

"I know you find it hard to judge weakness. Just make sure the one who hurts you the least, is by itself! I'll deal with that one first."

He continues his run, some of the fingers of his left hand wiggle around uncontrollably, but go unnoticed.

---

<<In the Sniping Room>>

As the windows continue to break, light slowly floods portions of the room. Any creature caught in it, burns and turns into nothingness.

Gill slashes at a creature, knocking it into the light.

"This plan seems to be working, but the light doesn't fill the room. They can still attack us!"

Several of the creatures begin to huddle up on the ceiling, watching the group. Watching for the weakest.

---
<<Now for a update that has long been forgotten! Mage Manor>>

Leena sits in the Nameless Ship, floating above the now frozen area.

"The land is petrified now, isn't it."

A man standing next to her nods his head slowly.

She sighs, "Follow the path that Mr. Maxwell took. No point floating here for no reason."

The ship raises into the sky, and begins to fly out across the bay.

"What's that dark cloud? Try your best to steer clear of it..."

[Gelquie]

((In the battered room. I also like these as reminders after long posts in different places.))

Gelquie held back the urge to groan as she frantically looked around the room for anything to block the doorways with. She didn't mind that the rest of the group seemed to know what they were doing. It gave her a sense of relief that less stupid things were likely to happen as a result. But she was tired of not knowing what was going on.

"A last stand against what? Nighttime?" Gelquie asked, visibly irritated. She was about to go on before she stopped herself. She could tell from her voice that she was just about to go too far. "Okay, I'm sorry, but I have no clue what's going on. All I've heard is something about an Underdeep, but that doesn't explain the stuff covering the planet or the battles that seem to be happening. So a brief explanation would be nice."

Gelquie then shook her head and ran towards the part of the ground filled with debris before stacking them up in front of the doorway. As she did this, though, more Underdeep monsters seemed to appear from nowhere, and they began to surround them. The light did its work very effectively in that it destroyed every beast it touched, but more just kept on coming.

She worked frantically with anyone who helped in creating the barrier. At the same time, she removed her rat illusion outside and created the illusion of medium-sized, brightly colored orbs, which moved quickly around the creatures. Gelquie hoped that it was effective in holding them off, but wasn't sure how long it would be before the numbers of the creatures would become too many.

"...I say brief because I know we don't have time for long stories. Just give me the gist in a few words!"

[Draco]

<<Strife Building, Hallway, Somewhere>>

Draco rushes down the hallway, his coat flapping around wildly. He stops in front of a double doorway, and kicks them open. He steps inside. Examining the room, it seemed he was in a meeting room of some sort, a long table lined with chairs. In each chair, a person sits, apparently arguing. Walking around them, he pokes them a few times.

He reaches into his pockets and pulls out two pieces of paper. He tosses them on the ground and two copies of himself appear. They were perfect copies, except for the fact one of them was only a foot tall... And floating in the air...

"...What the?"

He rubs his forehead for a moment.

"Ok... I got it. I must have to much energy split between to many things... Nightmare creatures, and two shikigami."

He stares at the little one.

"You're just freaky..." He claps his hands together and rubs them. "Ok you, normal size one, go say hello to Kiddo and the others. You, chibi me, go tell the pirates things. And keep your distance from that creepy lady."

The two nod their heads and melt into shadows.

"I better draw in some energy."

---

Near the pirates, the number of nightmare creatures dramatically decreases.

---

In Kiddo's room, the creatures continue their attack.

"...I say brief because I know we don't have time for long stories. Just give me the gist in a few words!"

Gil is about to answer the mages words, but is quickly interrupted.

"I can answer your question. Kukukuhehewahahahaa!"

The Draco shikigami comes out of the floor from Gelquie's shadow. Even more creatures are swarming on the ceiling.971

[Ian Wolf-Park]

Strife's Tower
Lupehunter held his staff like a sniper rifle and began firing balls of light into the crowds of shadow creatures, although he occasionally sent out a circle of light whenever there were too many of them. It seemed like more and more of those were appearing whenever one was destroyed.

"I can answer your question. Kukukuhehewahahahaa!" a voice creepily replied. Lupehunter groaned as things could not get any worse. It was bad enough that they were surrounded, but to have Draco appear again did not help. Fortunately, his back was turned towards him, so Lupehunter had the slight advantage.

He aimed his towards staff towards Draco, waiting for the right time to fire. As soon as he found it, he released a fire arrow. It struck Draco exactly where he wanted it, straight in the chest. Then he waited for the effect to appear.