The Deadland

Something had happened earlier, though Golbez wasn't clear on any of the details. Between whatever it had been, and the fact that apparently a little boy was missing, one might assume that his offer to teach magic to the less-capable "residents" of Asper would be put off for a more convenient time.

One would be wrong.

This was all the more reason to make sure everyone was capable of holding their own. Once the monsters had retreated for the night, he set up shop in the apartment next to his, using materials he'd looted from buildings around town; a whiteboard and some markers, and some notebooks and pencils for his "students".

The living room hardly made a proper classroom, and of all the people to have for a magic teacher Golbez was probably one of the worse choices. But they would have to take what they could get.


((OOC: For Lillet, Shion, and anyone else who's interested in studying FFIV-style magic. It will take quite some time for characters to achieve tangible results, but it's better than the alternative...

Tag in under the appropriate threads in the comments section.))

Regarding the matter of the holes that have mysteriously appeared around the city: Has anybody gone down into them? What have you found? A full-scale investigation is necessary, but we will need to assess the risks before we act.

And second: While many of us are capable of holding our own in a fight, I've noticed that many others are not. For those of you who are not proficient with weaponry, I can try teaching you the magic of my world. I cannot say how well you would be able to use it, being from other realities, but let me know if you are interested.

It is noon.

The TVs turn on to static, and the creatures start to attack.

Each monster when killed has a chance of dropping a random item, or a special item: Energy & 5 Fish Scales. Not every kill will drop something, but more likely than not it will drop at least some Energy.

[ ooc: Hi guys! We're testing out something new this week. Please comment in this post to fight the aggressive, Energy-dropping monsters out and about in Asper today! This in lieu of a whole new post for every person who wants to play out their character collecting items/Energy. Thank you. ]

When she arrives, the first thing she does is search for a place to hide.

There are monsters. She can hear them, and see them so faintly. They scrabble over things to get to her, but she manages to run, by some miracle. She ends up outside a house, and upon opening the door and not hearing anything she closes the door, locks it, and drags a nearby table over to help hold it shut. Things were chasing her, and very quickly she hears growls nearby.

She runs upstairs and hides herself inside one of the bedrooms, again dragging a piece of furniture in the way of the door. She doesn't know how she didn't drop it, but she's been holding onto the radio this entire time. Flicking the switch, she speaks.

[ radio ]

These creatures. They won't stop. What are they? They reek of death. [ She sounds almost panicked, but her voice returns to a monotone with her next words. ] I need help. I need a weapon. Take these beasts away, get rid of this death, please, quickly, I must... [ She trails off. There's the faint sounds of banging. ] Quickly.

The night's sleep had restored what the world had drained, and when Lillet woke up, she knew instinctively that she'd have enough mana to alchemise a little of what she needed to be useful. Since she already had the flask and materials assembled, it wasn't a case of drawing a Rune so much as inscribing a small symbol on the inside of the flask with one glowing fingernail, and then pressing her entire palm against the suddenly-warm glass to infuse it with enough mana to create life.

The substances swirled within the glass, chaotically at first, but soon enough eyes formed, a mouth, the cat skull grew and malformed and sprouted muscles and skin and fur, barely fitting into the flask, and the rest of the creature's body formed within the narrower neck and expanded into the air, claws wriggling a little until Lillet obliged and tugged them straight. By the time it blinked and stared through its flask at her, she was ready to lift it and set it upright.

"My creator!" It greeted her, cheerful voice muffled by the flask. "What do you command?"

"First things first: we're going on a walk," she said. "I have to introduce you to everyone!" And, after a short pause, she knelt down to inscribe something else on the flask.

Hello, the writing read, My name is Blende. If found, please return to Lillet Blan!.

With that, she collected it in her arms (it snuggled as well as it could), and left to knock on everyone's doors. They'd be up, right?

Hey! This is Sora Himoto. I don't know your name, but-- um, the person who told me about where witches come from? Are you listening? I wanted to talk to you. I thought of something important.

[The accent is distinctly Australian at the end of the line, though if you asked her what part she was from she'd not know. She sounds way more relaxed than anyone new should be--waking up in strange places is something she's probably too used to by now, and the alcohol she and Lightning had had helped too.]

I guess it's about time I used this damned thing...

If every day is gonna be like today was, I could get used ta livin' here. Better than what I was doing before, which was a whole lot of nothing. I would like to know if anyone knows where I could getta hold of a pole, and some blades, since I don't have my lance with me. This bat is alright for now, but I would really prefer to start working on something more familiar.

Oh. Right.

I'm Fang by the way. I hear you people need some help with pest control.

[ The hour of monsters dropping Energy has come and gone, and once Golbez is reasonably sure the swarm has died down, he turns on his radio, and tries to hide how completely exhausted he sounds. ]

Is everyone unharmed? And furthermore -- did everyone manage to gather the Energy those monsters dropped? I picked up several bottles if anyone is in need.

That morning, Lightning and Golbez were standing guard outside the front doors to the Mercy Street Apartments, making sure nothing dangerous tried to get in. No monsters would be getting past them.

Visitors might also have a hard time of it. But as long as you don't mean any harm, you'll be let through. Probably.

[radio]
[ if the child handed it to her, it's got to be useful, right? So after a few minutes of fleeing to find somewhere safe, she examines it and - a little doubtfully - presses the button. ]

H-hello? This is Lillet Blan, a student of the Silver Star. Oh, but that might not mean anything... um, I'm a magician, but without crystals I can't-- Oh n- [ aaand it cuts off as she has to relocate ]

What am I meant to do with a Laboratory, out here?

[action]
[ at any point in this weird broadcast, you can come across Lillet running from building to building, trying to find a safe place to draw a Laboratory Rune from the overly large tome she's cradling. And failing. ]

This was new. This wasn’t a part of any of the previously-established patterns that this session had already set out. He was surrounded by hives and communal hive stems. And there were still underlings around, but they were new types. And they didn’t have the usual jocular outfits. But whatever. They were trying to kill him so they were going to die.



He had no idea what new kind of mission he’d been sucked into, but he knew he’d rather be back on the horn pile with Feferi than here. And it was going to storm soon. Of course, he didn’t know that through any other means than the dark clouds overhead. Or so the people on this primitive communication device insisted. Humans were more used to living on land than trolls were.



He had his own matters to deal with. Like why his vision twofold and the voices were gone. Had all of his friends been slaughtered? Was this some place where people were incapable of dying? He had no idea, he couldn’t see a bloody thing. Well, he saw lots of bloody things, the monsters that had met with their untimely demise as he moved through the streets. But he couldn’t see what was coming, only what was right in front of him. And that was more monsters that needed killing. Bastards weren't even dropping any grist. "Fuck thish shit." He took off his sunglasses to blast a whole row of monsters away from him.