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 Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:11 pm
Quote: Tree Status: Complete Kari found herself surrounded by light. See a flash in front of her, she walked forward to investigate. Her steps slowed as mist began to wind around her feet and music began to play in the distance. Tiny wisps bounced around, as if encouraging her forward. Since this seemed the only direction to go, she took their invitation. Eventually, the white surroundings gave way to a forest of silver trees. Was it winter here? They looked so barren, so desolate. But there was no snow, so that couldn't be the answer. Were they sick? Perhaps, but there was no definite proof. As she continued walking, she came upon a single tree that seemed to be larger than the rest. It too looked barren and sickly. Kari jumped at the sound of a voice echoing from the tree. As the tree continued to ramble on, Kari wondered why it was talking. Her attention wandered until her last sentence. "Help me fulfill my last desire"Trees had desires? "O... kay?" Kari replied hesitantly.
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Myoukin rolled 2 10-sided dice:
8, 4
Total: 12 (2-20)
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Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:11 pm
Kari's feet led her out of the forest and to a lake. The little orbs of light dance merrily on and around the surface, giving her the impression of dancers. More silvery trees line the lake. Stepping up to the edge, Kari noticed a faint murmur. Looking down, she pinpointed the source as the lake itself. Dipping a finger in to test the water proved to yield no negative effects, so she tilted her head so that once ear could be submerged. A feminine voice, smooth as silk, but with a twinge of sorrow, spoke out. "Heal my children, and when you do I will give you a gift of immeasurable value. That is my only wish and my only desire. Take these waters and carry them to my children." Heal... children? Looking around, her search came back empty, leaving her confused. Her confusion was answered by the lights, who moved in unison to hover around the sickly tree. Was that the child the voice referred to? Seeing no other option presenting itself, Kari dropped her hands into the water and allowed it to pool in her cupped hands. Lifting her hands slowly, she stood and briskly walked over to the sickly tree. Pouring the water on the tree, Kari backed up quickly as it started moving. She halted her retreat when a single acorn appeared on one of the branches. Before she could move, the acorn dropped off and the tree withered. She reached down to pick it up. What was she supposed to do with this? Size: 12 mm
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Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:31 pm
Taking the acorn back to the lake, Kari once again heard murmuring... but it sounded different this time. As she knelt down to hold her ear under the water to listen in, she felt an invisible force pull her forward. She panicked momentarily, only to find that she was able to breathe. Once her mind calmed, the voice once again rang out. "My children need time to grow, to move on from my Grief. Help them create their own Legacy and feed them each unique memories." Feed them memories? How would she do that? Her question was answered as bubbles began to form, swimming closer, she saw there were images within. Were those... memories? Curious, Kari reached out to the closest one.
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Myoukin rolled 1 10-sided dice:
8
Total: 8 (1-10)
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Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:40 pm
Potions, check. Food, check. Quick action slots filled, check. Designated healer, check. Designated tank, check. It looked like she and her party had everything ready to raid the final room of the dungeon.
Double-checking that she had enough health items and mana potions to survive the final boss as well as having all of her attack functions set to quick action slots for fast casting was critical, since she, the mage of the group, was the designated heavy hitter with weak defenses, things could easily take a turn for the worst if she ended up running out of health or mana at any time. Another group had been foolish enough to rush in without checking their supplies beforehand, with disastrous results. Her group wouldn't make the same mistake.
With confirmation from her party members that they too were ready, the healer cast buffs on the tank and Kari to increase their endurance and magic strength respectively right before they entered the boss room.
After a moment, the screen loaded to show the expansive boss room. As the tank ran forward to draw out the boss, Kari watched as the hulking enemy spawned. Most people went in with a party of at least ten players, but they had ran the dungeon with only three. Casting her first spells as the healer spammed her healing skill on the tank, Kari imagined how much fame would be garnered by being the first three-person party to beat the dungeon Glitter Mines on This is Halloween, the greatest online MMO ever created.
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Myoukin rolled 1 10-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-10)
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Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:41 pm
Something was off. Kari could tell... she just didn't know what. A high profile heiress had died late in the night, estimated by the coroner some time after 12 am when the butler had left after serving her tea, to before 4 am when he came back to find the door locked and no response from the only person who had the key to the room.
The police had responded to the worried butler's desperate phone call and broke down the door to fine the heiress, a crimson-covered knife in her limp hand and a bloody slash across her throat. It had been ruled as a suicide due to her being the only one with possible access to the room, but Kari couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it.
Looking down at the notes she'd jotted after taking statements from everyone present, she rubbed the back of her neck in confusion. The cause of death was clear, but there was no motive. She'd had everything going for her, so why kill herself?
Walking into the room once more, she eyed the area where her body had been found. It was already long gone, in the morgue, sitting in a freezer drawer awaiting the verdict of surviving relative on how to honor her. Kneeling down to inspect the area where she'd bled out, something caught her eye. It looked somewhat like a paw print. While the heiress did have a dog, it was much bigger than any dog's paw she'd ever come across...
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Myoukin rolled 1 10-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-10)
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Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:42 pm
Kari smelled something good. She'd always been a curious little treat with more energy than sense, and this smell was driving her insane with curiosity. She just had to find out what that delicious aroma was.
Weaving her way around the trees and through the bushes, she came across a clearing. The scent was strong here! Inching forward, the scent got stronger until it was nearly overwhelming.
It was coming from a strange bottle on a bed of leaves. Dashing up to it, she picked it up and inspected it. The smell was lovely, she could just sit there all day and...
She was jarred from her bliss as the ground fell out from under her. She squealed as she tumbled downward, finally landing with a thud. Picking herself up, she looked around. She was in a hole, leaves and twigs littering the area around her.
"Oh no," she moaned, dread slowly sinking in. She had heard about this... it was a trap. Which meant that it wouldn't be long until whatever set the trap came back. Leaping at the edges with all the energy she could muster, she found that the walls were too steep and bore no indents to use as paw holds.
Her ears perked up, fear rising within her. A sound. Footsteps... and they were getting closer...
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Myoukin rolled 1 10-sided dice:
9
Total: 9 (1-10)
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Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:44 pm
"Kari, you're up... knock 'em dead, literally," the guard barked in laughter, holding his side like he'd just told the funniest joke in history. Kari, for her part, just stared at the guard, waiting for him to open the gate that would lead her down the narrow hallway that led to the arena entrance. The guard's laughter eventually stopped once he realized he was the only one laughing. "Jeez, you'd think you were already dead with how much you reacted," he grumbled, finally opening the gate lazily. At this prompt Kari stood up. It was time.
As she expected, just like every other time, she was lead down the hallway... but this time was different from those other times. This was her ninety-ninth time coming down this hallway. With this victory, she would have the chance to buy her freedom. She wished she could be more excited about it, but the plethora of battles and death had made her heart-sore and apathetic. there were some things people shouldn't see... and she'd seen enough to last a lifetime.
"Good luck.. you'll need it," the guard said, opening the gate to the arena while gesturing at the rack of weapons for her to choose from. The only problem was that there were no weapons! Just an ordinary wooden shield. "Can't make this easy, huh?" Kari murmured to herself as she picked up the item for inspection. How like the elitist pigs, sitting up on their pedestals gorging themselves on fine food and laughing at the misery of others, to decide that giving her a weapon was too easy.
Oh well, she would give them the show they wanted...
Ignoring the guard, Kari stepped through the gate, hearing it lock into place behind her to prevent any escape. Her eyes fell upon her last opponent... her last victim...
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Myoukin rolled 1 10-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-10)
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Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:45 pm
"Please not Serpentarius, please not Serpentarius, oh please oh please oh please..." Kari mumbled to herself within the crowd of new students. She, like the others around her, had gotten the fated invitation to Pigfarts, the most prestigious wizarding school ever known to wizard-kind. She'd heard many rumors, but the one that stuck out was that about Serpentarius.
Kari had only heard bad things about this group, and was thus determined not to be part of it. Her anxiety grew as others were called up and sorted via the tome sitting on a slanted pedestal at the front of the room. How it could sort them simply by having them place their hand on the tome, no one knew... except maybe the headmaster.
"Kari-", the headmaster began to call, but she raced forward, not wanting her stupid last name to be called aloud. "Here!" she cried, cutting the headmaster off. They, for their part, stared at her for a second before shrugging their shoulders and gesturing toward the book.
Kari walked up to the tome, she stared at it... her apprehension was plain on her face. Reaching her hand up hesitantly, she placed her hand upon it with one thought screaming in her mind:
Not Serpentarius!
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Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:41 am
Feeling the last of the memories float away from her, she was left with a warm feeling in her chest. The voice of the lake said nothing, prompting Kari to rise to the surface. Quote: Obtained: Breaking the surface, she pulled herself to the edge of the water and wrung out her dress. She never had liked water, and right now she was soaked in it. In her attempts to dry her clothes, the seed dropped from her front pocket onto the ground. It bounced a ways away before coming to a stop. Before Kari could move to retrieve the errant seed, it started to grow. It had begun to actually look like a tree! But should it have grown so quickly?
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Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:56 am
The budding tree continued to grow. Kari had been expecting it to grow to the same size as the one that'd born the seed, but was surprised when it stopped just shy of her own height. "Not quite."So she had to do more? With a sigh of resignation, she turned back to the lake... only to find it was now different. She was met with the sight of a castle peaking through the mist in the distance, with a multitude of of small pools stemming from tiny waterfalls in the foreground. She stepped up to them, hearing the familiar voice speak once more. "Take some of this water, and my blessing. This is my last request. Show my children your world so they will grow each unique and different."Kari went down the line one by one, dipping her hand in each pool. After some deliberation, she stood once more in front of the warm pool. This one felt nice, and what better way to make a healthy tree than to make sure it was warm? Cupping her hands, she let the water sift into them before rising to deliver the water. Pouring the warm water on the small tree's roots, it shook slightly before growing once more. As it stopped, softly glowing wisps surrounding it like steam, Kari somehow knew that it was finally complete. "Are you satisfied with what I have become?"Kari smiled softly in response. Yes, she was indeed satisfied.
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Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:10 am
Kari stared at the kitten, laying under the makeshift roof of its current dwelling. How it'd ended up on the streets when it was so mild-mannered was beyond her. She'd been tempted to take it home, but knew full well what her mother's answer would be. They neither had the room or the money to feed another mouth, so the best Kari could offer was a makeshift shelter from the elements and some table scraps.
But that had all ended, with one cruel act. She dropped to her knees and picked up the tiny kitten's limp body, uncaring of the blood staining her hands. Judging from the kitten's state, Kari surmised that someone had come by while she'd been away and had begun picking on the kitten, resulting in its death.
Putting the kitten down once more, she summoned her staff, moved the pieces of the roof, and started digging. Once a nicely-sized hole was made, Kari picked up the still body and wrapped it in the cloth she'd brought from home to use as a blanket, now becoming a cloth casket. Placing the tightly wrapped bundle into the hole, she set out to refilling the hole.
It was the least she could do for failing to protect it...Quote: Obtained:
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