[PP-F3] A delayed visit [Azazel]

[Life 0]

Life tried not to look over at Zaz, he needed to keep focused, if she needed him then she would call. Though he couldn't help but take a peek, his eyes widened at the sight of her health. She had already lost one third of it to that creature, his stomach began to churn but he noticed the creature was below 50 percent. The fearsome Ceto took advantage of his gawking and swooped in for a deadly strike, its bladed spear head pieced his chest and he looked over at the thing bewildered by the sudden speed of the thing. Life coughed up some blood and grabbed hold of its spear but it was to late, and the creature retracted the blade out from his body. "You... bastard... that was a cheap shot" "Think i care boy?" Life grit his teeth and pushed forward past the pain speeding towards the serpent. It's sick and twisted grin taunted him to fight and it would get what it teased for. He stepped on the ice hard causing it to crack open beneath his feet. The serpent creature charged at him as well taking on his challenge. It was a split moment that time seemed to slow down. The things spear had already reached striking distance of Life, but he was going to have none of that. He dropped his body weight and rapidly spun beneath its shaft narrowly dodging what would have been the second blow, he pushed off the ice with his palm and feet, soaring upwards while cutting diagonally up the creatures torso. Red particles flew off its body as its health bar chunked, the creature turned and looked at him with eyes of fury. "You little..."

 

ID: 18118 BD: 7 MD: 9 

 

~Attack success! 7 damage

~Enemy attack success! 4(6+1-3). 2 Thorns

 

PARTY:

Life: 61/65

Azazel: 19/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 34/50  

Lesser Ceto: 8/15  

[Azrael 0]

18142

BD: 4

MD: 7

 

Anna’s chest continued to heave. She struggled to breathe though she knew that her lungs were perfectly fine. Her life bar was down a third, but the Ceto’s down to half. “You can do this…†she said to herself. She had to do this. There were no other options but success. The woman moved toward the serpentine witch once again; Zaz lunged for the beat thrusting her blade out, but she was much faster than Anna now that the lady was rather wounded. The snakelike being circled Azazel quickly and slashed at the woman’s back. Anna fell forward on her hands and knees, and her rapier was knocked loose from her hands; her blade slid across the ice just out of reach. Things were looking rather badly for her at the moment, but she wouldn’t give up until she was dead. It would not be easy to kill her; she had nearly died before and she knew she could endure more than this.

 

 

PARTY:

Life: 61/65

Azazel: 17/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 34/50  

Lesser Ceto: 8/15  

[Life 0]

Life smirked, it was definitely getting pissed now. He didn't want to waste any time with dealing with the thing and sprinted straight for it digging his heals into the ice and pushing off, it caused him to be a lot slower than usual but it was necessary if he wanted any control over where he was going. The serpent creature lifted its spear and shoved it into the ice with a force that caused pillars and shards of ice to fly at him at ridiculous speeds. Life tried his best to dodge them and most of them were way off target. He continued to charge at the creature, a look of disbelief sprawled across its face as it witnessed the boy get past every shard by the skin of his teeth. He couldn't slow down at all now or change his course, the speed at which he travelled at this point allowed for no other movement but lifting his arms. He did just that, he made his last step and lifted his knees to his chest holding out his blade to the side which cut the side of the fearsome Ceto. The serpent creature couldn't recover fast enough from its attack to move an staggered at the boys blow. Life landed and spun across the icy surface until he slowed down to a stop and turned back again sprinting for another attack. 

 

ID: 18149 BD: 7 MD: 6-3+1=4

 

PARTY:

Life: 61/65

Azazel: 17/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 27/50  

Lesser Ceto: 8/15  

[Azrael 0]

Azazel tried to grab for her weapon but it kept sliding further out of her reach. She scrambled after it as quickly as she could; the she serpent was right on her tail slithering her way over for the next attack. Azazel crawled on her hands and knees after her blade. Her rapier stopped moving and Zaz dived for it, wrapping her fingers around the hilt and none too soon. As soon as she grabbed a hold of her weapon, the female Ceto had launched herself at Azazel . Zaz turned and put her rapier out in front of her; the white haired serpent-witch fell upon Anna’s blade. She used both her feet to push the thing off of herself and propel herself back along the ice avoiding any current attack. Azazel hurried to her feet and readied herself into attack position waiting for the creature to come at her once more; once it did, she’d be ready for it. 

 

18197

BD: 7 (+1 ws dmg)

MD: 2

 

 

 

PARTY:

Life: 61/65

Azazel: 17/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 27/50  

Lesser Ceto: 6/15  

[Life 0]

Life darted again like a bullet towards the fearsome Ceto but it wasn't going to let another attack just creep in again. It raised it's spear and slammed it down onto the ice causing another rupture of shards to fly towards him but this time pushing the spear in further causing the ground to crack open. Life's eyes widened and leaned back on his feet trying to slow down but was already travelling to fast to do anything, the serpent creature chuckled as it watched Life squirm and roll around attempting to dodge the shards which flew at him. He started to slow down but it was much to late, half his body was already dipped in the water. He held on with both arms unable to pull himself up as the cold travelled up through his body. "I-Its-s s-s-soo-oo c-c-col-ld" 

 

ID: 18282

 

PARTY:

Life: 61/65

Azazel: 17/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 27/50  

Lesser Ceto: 6/15  

 

[Azrael 0]

18453

BD: 9 (+1 crit +1 ws dmg)

MD: 8

 

 

The snake woman slid across the ice, but she used her massive claws to stop herself and then propelled herself right back at Anna. She came streaking for the woman hot and fast. The seawitch was angry; with only about a third of her life left the thing was only going to get more aggressive from here on out.  She followed the woman’s serpentine movements readying herself for the attack. The thing feint left but then came around to Anna’s right.

 

The woman clashed with the Ceto and stabbed the censored in the chest; the force of the witch’s movement plus Azazel’s own attack drove the weapon in deep. She struggled to pull her weapon from the mob; they were far too close to each other for Anna’s liking. The Ceto slashed Zaz’s pretty face  cutting across her right cheek and then without any effort; she pulled back from the sword and slithered off. There was next to nothing left of the Ceto’s health. If Azazel could crit on her next attack she new that the monster would be good as dead.

 

 

PARTY:

Life: 61/65

Azazel: 15/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 27/50  

Lesser Ceto: 3/15  

[Life 0]

Life battle healing kicked in as he struggled to pull himself up, the serpent eye'd him like a hungry fiend and hissed in excitement. The fearsome ceto impaled life with it's spear and pulled him out from the waters. Life's eyes widened as he felt the cold steel piercing through his body and was lifted into the sky. The serpent creature then brought him down back into the ice effectively crushing him. Life grit his teeth and tried to push himself up against pressure of the fiends spear. The creature kept it on delighted to see him struggling against it's power but life wasn't going to let it have it's way. He pushed as hard as he could, yowling and pushed the creatures spear back as much as he possibly could. He looked down at the floor watching as red pixels flew from his body. "N-Now.." Life dropped down quickly causing the ceto to lose his spears grip as the sudden change of pressure lightened. Life was free from it's oppression and rolled to the side before it stuck it's spear into his back again and lashed out with his katana slicing across the creatures abdomen. 

 

 

ID: 18580 MD: 10 BD: 3+2+1=6 CD: 12

 

~Battle healing +2hp

~Fearsome Ceto perfect critical! 8 damage

~Successful attack! 7 damage

 

PARTY:

Life: 55/65

Azazel: 15/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 18/50  

Lesser Ceto: 3/15  

[Azrael 0]

18627

BD: 7 (+1 ws dmg)

MD: 9 (+1 crit)

 

Anna found herself once again being stalked by the sea witch as the creature whipped about and sped toward her ready to mow her down.  She was much faster than before and something looked off about the thing that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, and there was just no time to, she prepared herself to strike once the witch was in close. The Ceto propelled herself forward and then slid across the ice to Anna; she moved to strike but found herself caught before she knew it.

 

The Ceto had wrapped her tail about Zaz’s chest and began to squeeze the life from her. She struggled as the crushing sensation made her health points fall rather quickly. The woman managed to free her weapon arm and stabbed it into the tail of the beast causing the mob to drop her; Anna fell onto the ice with a hard thud. She looked up to find that her attack was not enough to kill the beast; only a tiny sliver of its health remained.

 

“You’ve got to be censored kidding me,†she cursed as she tried to pull herself up before the thing struck again. 

 

 

PARTY:

Life: 55/65

Azazel: 12/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 18/50  

Lesser Ceto: 1/15  

[Life 0]

The creature recoiled at the touch of his blade and he used that moment to pick himself up from the ice, his arm-guards allowed for an easy grip on the ice. The fearsome ceto was nothing but an animal now, it opened its jaws and its eyes glowed red, a drum piercing hiss came from its being, its gills flared out in intimidation. This was what Life was hoping for. The creature darted towards him effectively gliding across the slippery surface with its jaws open wide. Life smirked and readied himself holding his left arm out. Naturally the serpent took the bait and bit down on his arm, Life winced in pain but it was nothing like the ceto was about to face. He pulled his arm down dragging the serpents head with it and with his right arm raised his katana and impaled it into the serpents neck, it's health bar dropped immensely and was within execution range. The ceto continued to bite down as they wrestled for body control. "You're a stubborn one aren't you"  Life kept his breathe steady, it was going to be over soon.

 

ID: 18657 BD: 10

 

PARTY:

Life: 49/65

Azazel: 12/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 7/50  

Lesser Ceto: 1/15  

[Azrael 0]

18728

BD: 8 (+1 ws dmg)

MD: 9 (+1 crit)

 

Anna could not regain her footing as the Ceto went in for another attack. She kept slipping and fell back onto the ice. The sea witch was on her in a matter of seconds and thrust Anna back down into the ground, driving her claws deep into the woman’s sides. It clamped her wide mouth full of razor sharp teeth down upon Zaz’s right shoulder cutting into her flesh with ease. Azazel let out a terrible scream as she flailed about, writhing in pain.  She raised her arm and bashed the hilt of her rapier into the Ceto’s temple. The creature released its bite upon Anna’s shoulder to give a death howl before disintegrating into red pixels and melting away.  Zaz lay there watching the pixels dissipate into nothingness, not moving from the spot she laid and panted.  Her should and her sides throbbed in pain as she struggled to catch her breath; it was then that Azazel decided she was going to need a minute before she even bothered trying to get up.

 

 

PARTY:

Life: 49/65

Azazel: 9/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 7/50  

Lesser Ceto: 0/15  DEAD

[Life 0]

Life wrestled with the serpent but it wasn't going to win against him. It didn't give up however, it kept going at him until it's end where Life pivoted his blade down and sliced of its head. The fearsome Ceto burst into a cloud of particles and Life fell to his knees breathing heavily. "That was... not was i was expecting to run into here.." He shuddered and got to his feet brushing himself off and slid his katana back into his sheath and looked over at Azazel and was glad to see she had taken care of her enemy "Great job on the little one, are you feeling alright?" Life tilted his head looking at her curiously wondering why she was laying on the floor. 

 

ID: 19043 BD: 9 CD: 11

 

PARTY:

Life: 51/65

Azazel: 9/27

 

ENEMY:

Fearsome Ceto: 0/50  DEAD

Lesser Ceto: 0/15  DEAD

Edit: Loot from this post is 250 col +1 material.

[Azrael 0]

Anna lay there still taking slow deep breaths. She was a mess; her clothing was ripped and she had more than a few wounds, particularly to her neck and chest. Her head rolled to the side, just in time to catch Life finishing off his opponent. Zaz sighed in relief; if he’d not been able to finish it, then they’d have both been done for.

 

Zaz sat up slowly; a bit woozy from all the damage she took and inspected herself. Her bodice and top her nearly in shreds. If the witch had laid another attack to the material she’d have been far more exposed than she would’ve liked; for now however, she was safe. She stood and slowly walked over to her companion with a soft smile across her lips. Things hurt and badly, but they were both alive and well and that was all that truly mattered.

 

“Let’s go find this damn stone thing.†She said,†Is it much further?â€

 

 

10/27

[Life 0]

It had been a while since Life had an opponent that tough and he felt exhilarated by it, he loved it, but on the surface he seemed just as still as any calm waters. He had his mind back on his objective, he was just about to ask himself how much longer it would take until they reached the place marked on the map but surely enough Azazel asked him the same thing. He looked back towards her tilting his head while doing so "It shouldn't be to long now at all. Once we get to the other side of this thing of course" Life faced the objective and started to walk again. It didn't take long for them to finish crossing the icy terrain and the soft music of the elf began to die down. When they reached the end Life looked puzzled at the wall which seemed like a dead end but soon realised that there was a cleft in the rocky wall which lead into the unknown abyss of the cave. A vacuumed wind blew past his face, messing up his hair as he stepped into the darkness. "Stay close.." Life took the lead and peered carefully into their maze-like surroundings, he turned a corner and to his surprise it was a dead end but a dead end with treasure. "Well it looks like today isn't as bad as i thought it was going to be" He joked half heartedly. 

 

ID: 19547 LD: 20 Craft: 12

 

54/65

[Azrael 0]

Anna was glad to find that what they were looking for wasn’t much further. She wasn’t sure exactly how much more of this censored she could take. She followed behind Life as they traversed the ice, leaving that creepy music and that stupid lake behind. Finally they reached the end where it looked as if the cave ended, but as Life soon found, there was an opening in the face of the wall that lead only further down. The woman frowned as she realized that they would have to go further underground. Life told her to stay close and immediately she grabbed onto the sleeve of his kimono so she wouldn’t lose him. She followed along behind him holding onto the soft material until he stopped. Anna looked to see why and they were at a dead end… one that contained a treasure chest. She looked at the box and then at the boy she clung to.

 

 â€œI….. mmm not opening that.†She told him and then laughed. If it was a trap, they would be screwed in such close quarters.

[Life 0]

Life grinned at her and poked fun "Chicken" He walked over to the treasure chest and didn't bother checking for traps, he bent down and opened it slowly. The trap triggered and a mace swung down from the dark sky of the cave and hit him on his head. He staggered forward and gave off a yelp, it didn't do much damage but he was startled badly. He grabbed the loot and turned back around rather embarrassed "You didn't hear that.." Life huffed and weaved his fingers through his hair turning another corner to see if he could find a way through the maze, the objective was somewhere in here "We're close, it's somewhere in this maze... never been a fan of puzzles" Life frowned and turned yet another corner, he was starting to get fed up with wasting so much time, his muscles began to tense in frustration as they reached another dead end. 

 

ID: 19767 LD: 13

~Partial success, 60 col -1 hp

 

54/65

[Azrael 0]

"Chicken?" Anna smiled as Life teased her. However, she was rather serious about this. Her life was only at half and if something happened and it was bad enough, it'd finish her off rather easily. The cocky young man strolled over to the box and without a thought began to open the lid. As he did a trap was triggered and before she knew what happened, Life's head was struck by a mace.  

 

"You didn't hear that.." He said as he grabbed the loot. 

 

The young man turned to move away as he fixed his hair but Anna caught him by the wrist and pulled him back over to her and grabbed his face by the cheeks pulling it down toward her so she could inspect his injury. She pushed his hair back and checked his forehead and was surprised to find that there was barely a mark to be seen. She kissed the  pink mark and then covered it back up with his bangs. "There," the woman said as she let Life go and he began to move toward what looked like another opening. She followed along behind him again until they found themselves in another dead end.  

 

"We've missed something..." Azazel said as she frowned. There was something odd about the predicament they were in but she was unsure as to what might be the problem.  

 

 

12/27 

[Life 0]

Life's face had heated up after Azazel planted a small kiss on his forehead, it wasn't necessary but she did so anyway and he didn't know how to respond so he just acted as if nothing had happened. The dead end taunted Life where he stood and he was sure there was no other route left to take. He checked the quest indicator, the target location was just on the other side of the wall, just out of reach... just out of reach... A soft whimper escaped his mouth as he contemplated his options, his hands rusting through his hair. He looked at the walls and noticed there were markings riddled across its face, but what did they mean? What did they mean!? Life yelled in frustration and used his katana to slash across the walls surface multiple times in a diagonal fashion leaving a giant red 'X'. He hacked away at the wall with all his might and collapsed in distraught. His chest heaved heavily as he tried to catch his breathe and suddenly... The markings lit up in a vibrant blood red. Life looked up at the spectacle wide and teary eye'd, it was nothing like he had ever seen and then... darkness. The whole maze went pitch black except for the blood red light. The walls sunk into the floor revealing not a memorial stone, but a runic monolith which hummed with a dark power and gave off a dim red light, very similar to that of the wall markings. White spirits circled it and moaned in agony, what was it that he had he triggered? Life stood wearily and stared at the monstrous wonder in awe.

 

55/65

[Azrael 0]

It’d seemed that Life was also at a loss. He looked at his indicator and then at the wall in front of them. Anna turned toward the wall and looked. She saw some marks upon the wall but didn’t understand what they could mean. Out of frustration Life began to attack the wall. Azazel went to stop him but the markings began to glow red and then everything went dark. Zaz immediately grabbed onto one of Life’s sleeves as the walls began to drop away revealing a huge stone in the darkness that glowed a blood red color. Anna didn’t like this at all. She moved closer toward Life and clenched his kimono sleeve tightly. She had a terrible feeling about what was going to happen next.

 

“I don’t like this…†she said quietly.

 

 

13/27

[Life 0]

The monolith continued to resonate it's light, such things he had only ever read about in novels but here it was in front of him, his own legend to behold. Life walked over to it wearily, not sure what to expect, not hearing Azazel's words; there was only one thought in his mind 'Alkor'. The monolith began to give off pulsations, blowing bits of dust and debris off the ground keeping the result of this adventure hidden to the very last moment it seemed. Life took slow steps and sheathed his katana, reaching out to the stone. His fingers slowly hovered over its surface, his heart and head was pounding and beads of sweat rolled down the side of his temple. "Where are you..." 

It seemed like hours had past when Life placed his palm softly over the stone, and suddenly there was silence. Not a thing moved, not a sound to be heard. A cooling sensation came over Life as the monoliths red light gradually shifted blue. Without another moments notice a burst of wind knocked him back away from the stone and angelic voices harped from the darkness. "Could it be?" A smile broke out on Life's face as an image began to materialize from the monolith in front of him. It had to be 'him', right? Life's memory didn't serve him well, and many things were still a mystery to him, such as why exactly Mari wanted him dead, why his guild had been disbanded and why he could faintly recall a haunting image of a lady in red, but the wounds of the hydra fight still rung to this day. "Is that you.. Alkor?"

The world trembled for a moment, then sighed. Brilliant light cascaded from the ceiling and roiled from cracks in the floor, pouring together to form a translucent form. When his eyes opened, they burned gold. Wide, filled with surprise more than terror, the hooded man gasped to fill his lungs with virtual air. "The tank," he rasped, "where... was... the tank?" Alkor wobbled and fell to the dirt with both hands grasping for some semblance of reality. It was gone, forever. "Grandmom," he muttered, "damn it, I remember flames, then darkness..." He glanced up, saw Life, and it registered with him. "I died," he spoke in a hollow voice, "I died. How am I here?"

Life stared, dumbfounded and still unable to believe that Alkor stood in front of him. He swallowed hard and nodded at him. “Yeah... you did... I came here to this thing because I heard it could... well... do this..” Life tilted his head, scanning the figure of the man in front of him, his eye’s were just as bright and gold as he was the day he departed. Life didn’t want to lose his chance while he had it, he would do what he came to do “I wanted to..” He began to choke up as tears welled up in his eyes. Even after all this time, he still wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He shook his head, taking a long pause and then looked back over towards him “I wanted to say a proper goodbye...”

Alkor... Thom stood in quiet contemplation, his body a mere shadow of the life he once lived. His mind reeled from thoughts of his failure, of the grandmother he would never see again. Strangely, it felt so numb. "I guess that's what it means to be dead," he mused quietly. 

Life spoke and told him he came to say goodbye, and Alkor managed a soft smile. "Not goodbye," he corrected. "Just, see you later. We all go. It didn't have to be like this, but it was. And when you cross over, in this world or the other one, I'll see you again. That's what I'm banking on, anyway. That I'll see grandmom again."

He adjusted the sheathe of his blade awkwardly, trying to find words to dispel Life's visible slump. "My name was Thom," he said. "I lived and cared for my grandmother, and I sought a disconnect from reality in this world. I never dreamed that I'd find any of this."

He sighed. "Tell her... tell Amari I said I'm sorry. I failed everyone. Not just everyone. I left her alone in this hell."

He became strangely quiet. "It feels like everyone is abandoning her. I'm no better."

He turned his gaze skyward for the last time. It looked so beautiful, yet none of it was real. This would be the last thing his consciousness ever truly processed. He wanted to make it count.

"I had a friend, back home. His name was Tobias. We lived..." he told Life where he came from, and what he did. "When you make it out, find him. Tell him that he did right by me, even if I didn't do right by anyone."

With a small step, Alkor placed an ethereal hand on Life's shoulder. "And don't you go blaming yourself. I made a miscalculation. I died. We've all erred. Everyone in this world. It's no fault of anyone else that we're human. Cling to that fault. Hold fast and never let it go. That's how you'll conquer this evil world."

Alkor took a long step back and closed his eyes. "I can't remain here long. I don't want to get lost in the trap of wanting to come back when I know I can't."

The tears that welled in Life's eyes slowly began to roll down his cheek as Thom spoke. He had no idea that Alkor had such a sad past. All he could do was nod, at the end of it. It wasn't goodbye, no. He would see him again.. when it was his time to pass. "I swear Alkor... on my grave. I will beat this game!... And ill tell him" He paused as Alkor told him he couldn't remain here long and he swallowed hard, simply nodding again as the spectre had placed his ethereal hand on his shoulder. He couldn't let his death get to him anymore.. He wouldn't want it for him. "Ok...Thom... Thank you... For everything.. I'll make sure Mari knows. And I'll tell Tobias for you. When it's my turn and i see you again... I'll tell you all about it" He bit the bottom of his lip as Alkor smiled at him, fading away into nothingness. 

[Life 0]

Complete

Each player gets +1 Sp

Azreal forfeits Col to life

Life gets 3 materials and 1450 Col, -2 health potions