Oblivion Phantasy ~ A Decaying Flux 【RP Thread】

Hendrix began to move his legs again, but it hurt him to move too much. He moved closer to his allies so he could try to help them, but fell onto one of his knees. "It hurts, but we still have to fight." He muttered to himself as he tried to keep his balance. He watched as the two in front of him engaged the enemy again. "It looks like those two are having some fun, better not disturb them."

[Hendrix moved to E5]
[Hendrix waits...]

 

As the final Funneler twitched in its fading moments of life, Kaya saw its kin escaping through the sand - its natural habitat - out of the corner of her eye. Aloud, she cursed, “Damn! We were so close, and yet so far away…” Stumbling upon a nest of the bloody Funnelers had not been on the agenda for the operation, but it gave the ragtag bundle a chance to hone their combat skills. Taking a moment to rest her Mana cycle and calculate the damage done to the team, she exhaled. It had been a long day, and they were just getting started. Remembering what she had tasked the spiritual Nicoro with, she called to him. “Nicoro, did you find anything of note?”

Without waiting for a response, she turned to Hiiro and smiled. His unpredictable rage made him a useful, if deadly asset to this team, and the excursion. She healed him first, allowing the almost-liquid tendrils of light to seek the injuries of the Karateka. His rugged form had been mauled by the Funnelers, though he had remained largely unscathed. Kaya asked him, “How you feeling, kiddo?” She waited for a moment, before turning to her other allies.

Still listening for Hiiro’s response to her earlier question, the Illusionist cast her attention to Hendrix; he had fought valiantly against a single Funneler, and had been largely ignored by the rest of the team in this first battle. Though his dramatics towards the end cast a shadow of doubt over her opinion of him, she healed his wounds without question. With a curt nod, Kaya turned away from him, and over to Taroh, who seemed to be cowering over in the corner. She scoffed when she saw his frail body left with few injuries, though she simply waved her staff and directed the wispy Light Mana over to the boy.

Kaya’s final task was to simply wait for her Mana cycle to replenish itself. Shutting her eyes, she waited for her companions to mention anything noteworthy, and possibly for a time to respond to their questions…

 

Nicoro darted out form the crevice he was searching. "I found some type of passage" he called out with the excitement of a small dog. He would have rushed to show his allies his findings, be he decided he needed to spare his energy so that Taroh may summon up the courage to get out of the fetal position in the corner.

Taroh shakily got up and stumbled towards Kaya. "Thank you ma'am" he muttered in a polite tone as he continued along the path so that he may be reunited with Nicoro. Nicoro then took the time to speak, "I'm not sure where it leads quite yet, but I bet there's something cool." "It's probably just filled with Sand Funneler droppings" Taroh replied. Nicoro frowned at the negativity of his caster and waited for the reactions of others.

 

After the getting healed by Kaya, Hendrix stood back up, but remained silent. Though he had killed one of the funnlers, he had shown how weak he was at the end of the battle. He put his weapon away and walked near to where Nicoro was. "Never would have guessed that there was a secret passage here." Hendrix said as he looked at it. "If the Sand Funneler came out of it there must be more of them in there. We should rest for now before venturing into it." He looked back at the small group behind as they rested.

 

"I'm doing alright, I suppose," Hiiro said, not noticing how bad some of his wounds were until he had looked at them, "that acid was the worst. Those burns hurt more now than they did back there." Looking over to Hendrix, he chuckled slightly. His actions at the end of the battle were rather humorous for Hiiro. He hadn't quite expected a weapons master of all people to act like that.

"Hey kid, I must say you gave me a laugh," Hiiro said to Hendrix, "I just hope you don't act like that all the time."

Hiiro flinched as the light from Kaya's healing spell stung his wounds, the healing taking greater effect than it would in the midst of battle. Hiiro could feel the bits of skin healing together again from where the Funnelers' acidic saliva seeped through his gi. "Well, I guess we should get moving soon," he said as his healing finished, wincing slightly, "we can't waste too much time here."

 

It was about time he had caught up. Determining that things weren't going as smoothly as planned, so the Aria of Order decided that there was need of reinforcements for the Operation Flash. Among one of the recruits chosen to go and assist was himself, Krie Nordston. It had been a long time since Krie had given up the farmer's life in the coldest areas anyone could imagine. He prided himself on taking care of winterland vegetation like a professional; it was important to those who lived in those regions, but he soon became interested in hunting. First, it started out as just animals, and he was able to sell skins and meat to people, but that wasn't enough. He enjoyed killing. Seeing a wanted poster in the town, he went out and hunted the outlaw, chalking up his first human kill. And it had been thrilling too. So much, that he took this as his main profession--a slayer. To slay one...then another...then a hundred...then a thousand. Yes, there'd be no end to the killing, all under the guise of helping people--eliminating the bad people in the world. They were people that others didn't want around, so might as well remove them. Permanently.

Regardless, his killing techniques were quite valued, so the Order was happy to have him along, and to send him in as backup. He was sure there were some others coming, but he left them in the dust. Or not. The guy had a one track mind and right now it was on the track to reach the main group. It didn't take long for Krie to catch sight of the weary group; they must have just escaped some sort of skirmish. He stayed at the periphery of the area, silent. Watching. One of the other reinforcements HAD made it, and he used the distraction to sneak up on a rather thuggish looking gentleman wearing some pretty faded clothes--a fitting look for him. Krie got really close to him, coming up from behind.

The man would be able to hear the deep breathing...and feel the warmth on his neck. "The man with the wolf is not your only reinforcement...," he whispered into the guy's ear and awaited his response.

 

It seemed a little overkill to send more troops to simple mission, but she didn't complain. Any excuse she could get to try out her latest equipment was good enough for her. She had been meddling with the large lance the entire trip, cleaning out the chambers and testing the trigger. It was a beautiful piece of machinery.

Kirin Foxley came out with the other two reinforcements, a little happier than she probably should be given the situation. Her rendezvous consisted of a group of four that had obviously seen battle... and very recently. "Kirin Foxley. Ready and able." It seemed like something a reinforcement would say...

 

Hearing a new voice talking into his ear, Hendrix jumped up from surprise and drew his dagger at the newcomer. Seeing that he was an ally, he silently put away his weapon and walked toward the main group while looking weirdly at his "ally".

"So the order decided that we needed reinforcements?" He thought out loud with a puzzled look. "I never thought that we would need this much people for a mission like this." Though he already started to talk, he found it that it was a little rude to not introduce himself. "The name is Hendrix Sherks and I will let Kaya explain to you what happened before you guys showed up."

 

“The name is Hendrix Sherks and I will let Kaya explain to you what happened before you guys showed up.”

Kaya had turned from her healing duties to see the new arrivals to the group. They would be welcome, of course, but she was much more confused by Hendrix’s delegation of the explanation of the past events upon her. Giving him a skeptical look, she decided to introduce herself, finally, to the new arrivals. “I am Kaya Escala. It is a...” she paused briefly, not knowing what to make of the late arrivals. She surveyed them briefly; a wolf and his master, a tall man with a strange behaviour, and a girl who seemed overly happy to be in such a dank chasm. Nonetheless, she continued on, “...a pleasure to meet you.”

As her companion, the melodramatic Sherks, had tossed the duty of explanation of their present state to her, Kaya wasted no time in getting the account out of the way. She instantly launched into a flurry of words, weaving the tale of the encounter with the Sand Funnelers, and ending decisively with the finding of the passageway, which she was much intrigued about, despite the disinterest of Taroh.

“You see, we came here, as you know, as tasked by the Aria. We were to begin Operation Flash as normal, and it was all going smoothly until we entered the Pass here. The bloody Funnelers were all over us in instants, coming from every which way. We did very little to aggravate them in the first place... Though I digress. It was a bitter encounter, with us escaping with a few minor scrapes and burns. We got lucky, and also happened to stumble upon the little cave here, which I would be more than interested in investigating, if you all are willing to take a few minutes out of our schedule.”

Her piece having been said, she turned herself back towards the dully-lit chamber which Nicoro had stumbled upon…

 

"Krie Nordston," Krie introduced himself, stepping forward. "But you can just call me Brutal Krie." He sounded rather sure of himself with the statement, but not once did a smirk cross his face. "You heard the man, eh? We best get a move on. Your problems have been dealt with and now you have some extra help. Let's make the most of it," he suggested. If they were supposed to be the only hope for this, than showing up late certainly wouldn't make things easier nor would it place any minds at ease. They had a large burden on their shoulders now. Krie himself wasn't so sure about the decision to join, but the opportunity to put his killing prowess to good use was too great to pass up. What was it that he really got himself involved in?

Shrugging to himself and turning his back on the group, literally of course, he thought about their own reasons. Hehe, best not to pry, he thought, waiting for things to progress. With the setback the group had just faced, Krie couldn't help but wonder if there would be more along the way. Time was of the essence. "They'd best stay out of the way if they know what's good for them, hehehe," he mumbled inaudibly to himself.

 

As the Transmitter hummed its message, Kaya knew that the collection of individuals before her were now at a crossroads. Which way were they to go? Follow instructions from the Commander himself and take the route that was secure for their planned goal in the esteemed Operation Flash? Or follow this new pathway, discovering what could only be unknown, judging from its appearance in the walls? It was a decision that ought to be handled in the way of a democratic vote; she did not want to force her beliefs upon a group of people whom she had just met.

“Well, I’m assuming that since you all heard the man, you will know that we are at a fork in the road,” Kaya began, unsure of just how willing this group was to explore, “We can continue on with Operation Flash as planned, or we can search this hole in the wall, possibly providing recon for those back at base.” Her eyes glimmered with a trace of adventurousness, as she cast a quick glance to the newly-discovered passageway.

“What do you lot want to do?”

 

"I'd say we take the smaller path," Hiiro said as the stinging subsided, "for all we know it could be a quicker path in."

Hiiro looked at the new arrivals, recognizing them from seeing them around the base, but nothing further than that. One of them, introducing himself as "Brutal Krie," was tall, with unruly long hair and rather uncaring blue eyes. Hiiro took an immediate dislike to him, for both his looks and his apparent personality.

Another, a young, tall man who came with a white wolf, seemed to be far more reserved, and more than able to control the seemingly wild animal accompanying him.

The third was a girl clothed in full cloth armour who carried a myriad of weapons. She seemed to be optimistic, from her concise introduction.

"I'm Hiiro Shota, by the way," the rugged karateka introduced himself to the newcomers.

 

She didn't like all this idle talk. You get to know people by either fighting with them or fighting WITH them. Quickly surveying the two paths, the answer came to her pretty easily. "We should totally do the hole thing. We're less likely to fight something on the planned path." Her desire for combat was high. Kirin pulled her hood off, letting her shoulder-length silver hair spill out. It was kind of messy, as she didn't care much about her looks as she did her weapons... which she was now tinkering with.

She sat down, leaving the gunlance to rest next to her, to allow the others to chit-chat and began to sharpen the longsword she had on her back a moment ago. The blade was plenty sharp, it was just her way of relaxing her nerves. I could use something smaller... maybe a pair of short swords...

 

Krie moved over next to the rather carefree girl with the weapons. "Seems as though our commanding officers didn't think too well on this path of infiltration," he said briskly. "If you think this'll be quicker, then down the rabbit hole we go." The only bad thing about the plan was that they had NO IDEA what was through that path. Sure, things COULD be easier, but thing could just as easily be more difficult than ever...and it might screw up the entire operation. Ooh, but it's times like these where risks are always welcome, eh heh heh, he thought smoothly and a slight trace of a rather maniacal grin began to creep upon his visage, but he stifled the urge to either complete it or laugh. So he went back to his rather uncaring expression and rolled his shoulders as if they were stiff or something, waiting for some action.

 

Nicoro's face glew with joy knowing that all his teammates wanted to go in the passage he found. Fairly certain that that is the path the team would take, he grabbed Taroh and hoisted him onto his back. "We're going in the seekrut hole man!" Nicoro exclaimed with excitement. "There isn't going to be anything IN the 'seekrut hole', Nicoro. Put me down." But Nicoro didn't listen, and rushed over to the entrance of the passage, waiting for his allies to join with him. "Come on guys I bet there's cool stuff in here."

Spoiler

I find this a really awkward situation to post for. Can't tell you why that is.