[隠] Kusagakure || → Village Hidden in the Grass

[Pad Chief]

The first thing that Camael noticed about Krog was his tentacles coming from beneath his cloak. His initial thought was the same as that of Alana. Perhaps this was another one of them having emerged from a crystal cocoon too however it was odd that this one could talk. He'd judged the first monster to not be a threat on account of its lower intelligence. This one wore a mask and a cloak and it spoke. Furthermore if the pair had wanted him dead they could've easily done it while he was incapacitated. They were clearly physically proximate enough to do so.

"You. Girl. Do you just trust everyone who tells you they're nice?" Camael began to step back towards the tree in the centre of the clearing but also put both hands on his swords prepared to unsheathe them if there was a need to do so. Camael wanted to obtain the advantage by being in the centre of the clearing so he had plenty of escape routes. If the need be he could simply flee into the forest and with night close to falling he could at least protect himself and escape. Tentacles in the place of feet could only mean that creature was slower than he was.

"Don't come any closer." Camael locked eyes on Krog and ensured that Krog could at least see the hilts of the twin blades. Camael was used to fighting ninjas and not monsters and he could tell even those skills had dulled considerably. He began to plan. Perhaps the right move was to fight the creature head on but he could not guarantee the actions of his allies. Perhaps the monsters would collude and strike him and the girl down. Perhaps this creature was a weakling though Camael didn't want to underestimate his opponent.  

[Dopy Grimes]

Neryem

time and timor

Pad Chief

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

tab Krog would wave back excitedly to Xi. She was a truly fascinating creature and he wanted her. But there would be obstacles in his way. Just as he was about to approach Xi the male decided to become a knight and threaten him. "I swear I...I'm just like you all!" He shouted waving his tentacles around. And just as he was defending himself something odd happened. The grass would grow incredibly tall and thick separating everyone from each other.


Camael would find his sword rather useless against the leaves. He could move but running would prove hazardous and difficult. He'd also go nowhere at the end of the day. An endless world of grass. In this world of grass his only company would be a mocking voice whispering in his ears. "Why did you survive, Camael?" The voice asked. It was a soft feminine voice simply oozing with mal intent. "Everyone else died in the lab except for you...Do you there is a higher purpose to your existence? Haha..." The voice continued. "Wouldn't it be sad if you were to die here in this endless grass before finding the one who made you? Or even worse. What if you survive only to discover he is already dead? Hahaha..."


Alana would have a different fate. She would be in a spacious patch of tall grass. It was almost as if someone had trimmed it in a circle around her.
She had ample room to walk around and or maybe even...Dance! Yes maybe if she danced something would happen. Probably not however but it never hurt to try now did it Alana?


Now Xi would find herself together with Krog in the tall grass. They had also been granted ample space to walk around in. Krog kept pacing back and fourth nervously. It seemed as if this wasn't his doing. "Oh dear oh dear. What's happening?" He suddenly stopped as if in realization that Xi was together with him. "Fuwaah!" (Friend!) He announced cheerfully. "Fuuuwah fuu uuuwah waaaaah uuufuuuuuuuuuwah!" (Did you see the way that man wanted to hurt me?! I bet he's the one that is doing this with the grass! We can't trust these people. I hear they eat people like me and you. They fry us!)

 

[ghostfinch]

e-rank / 5'5 / 130 lbs / 100/100 / 100/100


Alana gave a nasty look to the man with a sword, offended at the implication that she was an idiot. She was going to defend herself dutifully but he had already begun sizing up Krog, and Alana didn't want to get between that man's blades and any perceived threat. He may think her stupidly trusting, but she still had a sense of self-preservation.

Once Krog's tentacles wiggled wildly and he attempted to defend himself, Alana jumped into a diplomatic position, spreading her hands out in a placating manner. "Okay, okay, let's take a step back now and have a nice, deep breath, and - AH!" She shrieked as the grass around her grew suddenly. "W-what's going on?!"

She spun in a circle, noting the grass wall. She had some space between herself and the grass wall but... she felt herself growing paranoid over the purpose of the space. Anything could be hiding in it, ready to stab her. The dagger tucked into her belt at the left hip felt like it was burning into her skin, but she didn't want to brandish it. Threats wouldn't help her. She had a feeling threats got her into this mess, though she didn't have a way to test that theory yet.

She left her hands up in a placating manner, though she couldn't help thinking about using her dagger to protect herself. Anything could be in the grass, watching her. "I don't know what's going on... But I'm not your enemy." She wasn't sure if anyone could hear her, but if they could, they'd have heard her earlier screams.


Neryem


Pad Chief

 

[MashaRum]

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Xiaowan certainly was curious about the strange tentacled frog thing that had appeared before them. He was like her, except that she was a taller thing and he was...a frog. Curious as to his origins, her mind wandered along simply as she would stand besides Alana. Could she change her form like that? It would be cool if she could! The creature brought hands to her chin and would begin to rub while thinking to herself. A lot of the words and questions were to her before Alana's would pierce through her hazy mind. She asked her about the crystal glasses and such, whether or not they were imprisoned. Like always, all Xi would reply with was utter nonsense. "(｡•́︿•̀｡)xxAhhhh dunnuhhh. Fyuuuuuuu..." A tentacle was raised on her as she brought it down idly. "♒((⇀‸↼))♒xxFwaba mina piwan?" She focused, now making somewhat of actual words as she pointed to the crystal glass on the ground. After a moment or so, she then moved to the frog thing... "（´-`）.｡oOxxFwaaaaaguuuh? Dunnaaaaah awooo jingyuuuu." After her brief speech, she looked towards her companion with a smiled, as if it was proud of itself.

Her gaze fell back on the man and then the frog thing before the grass began to grow rapidly from underneath them. "(・_・ヾxxUwaaaaaaaaaah?" She spoke aloud before her vision was obscured completely by the grass, losing sight of her two friends...Well, friend and weird person. A quick look around her environment would show that the frog and her were trapped together, with the guest busy pacing around as Xi would watch him curiously. Was he the one doing this? Or was the grass here always this weird? Poking it for a moment, she looked back as he began to speak again. That man in question was pretty scary, though the bit of information that got her attention was that part about eating her. "（｀〇Д〇）xxFuwaaaaaaaa?! (Fry?!)" She replied back, her tentacles flailing around in a panic. The girl she was talking to was so nice too. Was this all a trick because of them! She was just a poor woman searching for that one person in her dreams! Xi didn't want to be fried! Now she would be scared, pushing her back against the wall of grass and covering her face. "(ノдヽ)xxUuuuf fuu waaaah uwaaaaah fuwaaaah! (I don't want to be fried!)"




show spoilerhide spoiler
time and timor


Pad Chief


Lanfaer

 

[Pad Chief]

Well this was rather awkward.

Had he made a mistake? No. The creature was clearly aggressive and would've looked for the opportunity to separate them anyway. Clearly it had judged Camael a threat and decided to keep him away from potential allies. Perhaps so it could kill them one by one or perhaps so it could turn the girl and thing against him. So it was intelligent enough to formulate a strategy. That could be used against it.

The question remained however. How to escape? Camael ruffled through his backpack. A backpack he had not realized he had or ever owned until a few moments ago. Where had all this equipment come from? He quickly took an inventory scanning through the items he could see drawing it all in and making a quick count. Flint and tinder would be perfect for this job. The other thing which caught his attention was the shovel. The shovel would definitely be useful. He presumed he would not be able to dig under the roots in time to escape. There was also likely not enough time to set a trap.

He felt a voice in his mind while he was thinking about the shovel and interrupting his train of thought. "Stupid beast" Camael half muttered and half thought to himself. Though perhaps if it could read his mind then he could also taunt it back. Better yet. Perhaps he could force it to attack him. The mind reading had been at a surface level and while it did touch on some of Camael's worries it seemed to be slightly lacking with regards to the full picture. There was a small risk it would come storming through the grass and cut him down but at least then it would not be able to divide them.

Camael began with his plan. Admittedly it could fail very easily and he'd realised two ways in which it could result in death but he did not like being a prisoner.

First he removed his hood so his face could be seen. All creatures seemed to recognise Camael as a creature that should not be. It was natural instinct to violently attack him. If Krog could see him even though he might not immediately attack him he would find his presence hard to ignore or extremely irritating. It would be a conscious effort to not give in to his anger and begin an assault. The alternative available to Krog was to simply stop observing Camael. That was, of course, if he was the observer and not something else. Camael had noted that Krog's voice was not the same as the one invading his brain.

Next using his shovel he began to dig a small hole just about deep enough for him to stand in and not be in contact with any of the grass. Although it would get hot and still likely burn Camael he was less likely to catch on fire.

Finally, using the first of his flint and tinder, he started a fire and carefully attempted to ignite the grass before running back to his trench. An endless world of grass just meant an endless blaze.

time and timor

Neryem

malavaes

 

[Dopy Grimes]

Neryem

time and timor

Pad Chief

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||

tab Alana banana. She was all alone trapped in a green world of grass. Highly durable grass as a matter of fact. Before they had grown to enormous proportion they were durable enough to not bend under someone's weight. Now they were almost indestructible. In her green prison the girl would have few options to choose in order to escape. She had the chance to dance but the moment was gone now and she would never know what might have come if she had simply danced. Word is there was a free 500 exp bonus in it for Alana. Oh well. Moving on to the other ch- Oh? Something had joined Alana. A floating ball of light. It's movements were odd and it seemed disoriented but nevertheless it flew towards the girl and booped her on the nose. If Alana paid attention she'd notice how where ever the light passed it revealed something. The grass faded away once the light touched it. The being of light anxiously bobbed up and down near the edge of the grass where normally the girl wouldn't be able to get through. It looked like it wanted to show her something. It slowly made its way through the grass leaving behind a passable trail for the girl to follow. Would she stay in her green prison or follow her "green light"? 25 exp if Alana understands the reference.

Who was Camael? Obviously a tactical mastermind and genius the likes of which the lands have never seen or will. His awakening will most definitely shake the lands once he attains his full power. If at his lowest point he can be a deducing genius there are no limits to his power. The boy not only deduced the nature of Krog while trusting in the others who he also does not know but managed to perfectly deduce the plan Krog had so carefully planned out. Or maybe the plan was far too simple. It was Krog after all. Either way the boy was going to be a problem. Krog knew this. The flint would fail yet the boy would perceive his attempt to set the grass ablaze as a success. Unfortunately the fire would circle around his location as if a tornado of fire was forming around him. The whisper would mock once again. "A monster such as yourself doesn't deserve to be on this plane of existence. You deserve to end up like the rest haha..." From his trench several arms would latch onto Camael's body and pull him down. He might struggle but with each strain the pain he'd feel as his body was dragged down into the planes of the Land of the Dead would only increase. And in his final moments in the world of the living he'd hear Krog's voice echo in his mind. "You should've played ball mate." Camael would awaken in the Youngest Plane in the Land of the Dead.

Back in Xi and Krog land the two were both panicking in their own odd language. "fuuuuuugagauuuwawabab!" Krog yelled. (We won't be fried don't worry! I can protect you. With these!) Krog would show Xi his tentacles with a very proud yet ridiculous expression on his face. But he had no face so just imagine him looking stupid. Like a child feeling proud for being able to lift a gallon of milk. "Fuuwah wuuufufuwa." He continued. He was implying that he'd been awake for a while and every human he'd met tried to attack him it was truly terrifying. "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" He said she shouldn't trust people that weren't like her. Humans only love themselves. Anything different they friiiie. While Krog was filling the child's mind with poison a ball of light would pop out of the tall grass and hover over the two. Krog immediately turned to look at the flying object and could he scowl he would have. "AAAAAH!" Krog shouted as he attempted to shove Xi into the grass and away from the light. (He wants to burn our souls!) Krog shouted as the grass mysteriously parted for him to walk through.

 

[ghostfinch]

e-rank / 5'5 / 130 lbs / 100/100 / 100/100


Alana frowned as nothing seemed to react her reassurance that she wasn't a threat. She looked around her prison, hoping for inspiration for a plan of sorts. The prayer she didn't make was answered, however, as a ball of light approached and seemed to make contact with her nose, though she wasn't sure if she actually felt it or just imagined a sensation. When the light didn't move in a familiar pattern, she figured it wasn't just a reflection of sorts or some fuzz derived from an eye problem.

It could be a creature! She wasn't familiar with the bugs in this area. Or this world... she couldn't say for sure that she was even where she 'used' to be according to her memories. "H-Hello?" She reached out for the light but it moved towards the grass, away from her. She considered that a 'point' in the mental score of likelihood for sentience of this light thing. The grass yielded to its presence. Interesting.

The grass may react poorly to heat. It could also be light in general, considering that the sun was setting and perhaps the grass grew at nighttime. Though the grass' growth was spontaneous, there were plenty of strange things about this area - wispy fruit, anyone? - and she couldn't exactly put sudden night grass past the point of reason. "Thank you for moving the grass... I hope you can sort-of understand me and I'm not like, talking to a figment of my imagination. That would be strange. Well, about as strange as this grass. And you. If you're a 'you' and not a thing. You know what I mean. (It knows what I mean?)" She shook her head to evade her train of thought - she was gonna give herself a headache if she kept trying to figure out her environment without more facts and observations.

She took a leap of faith, following the great gatsby light to wherever it wanted to go. It parted the grass to reveal a chaotic scene where Xi was being harassed by a rather frantic Krog. "Uh... are you two...er, okay?" She raised a brow at them, though when she saw how Krog's eyes were glued to the light, she pointed to it nonchalantly. "This thing won't hurt you," she explained slowly, looking at it to see if it would respond to her mention; she still wasn't entirely sure if it was sentient or not.


Neryem

 

[MashaRum]

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X Xi was pretty skeptical about being defensed by a being that was more or less some frog with tentacles, but it was worth a shot to place her trust in him , especially if her so called friends had wanted to eat her. "(,,꒪꒫꒪,,)xxU-Uwh phlubaaah neeegh...(O-Okay. Be careful...)" She said while being busy curling up in the corner. He continued on while flailing about that all humans were evil and that they would hurt her. But the two from before seemed so much nicer! Xiaowan would just continue murmuring to herself and squirming around. Suddenly, a flying object would appear. Before Xi would try and eat it, Krug pushed her into the grass and would begin to ran around, frightened. Who would she run into now?




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time and timor


Pad Chief


Lanfaer

 

[Barry_VII]

Destiny awaitsxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As dusk settled over the panicked scene the glowing lights that floated nearby the group seemed to swell and their brightness increased ten fold. As soon as it had started however the light would vanish and once the two could see clearly they would realize they were now.....alone. Dusk was now night as stars slowly came to life in the sky, and if they listened close enough they could hear the sound of voices nearby. They weren't hushed voices however but instead rather jovial and relaxed. If they cut through the grass in almost any direction they would find themselves now on the outskirts of a large city that was bustling with life, regular people going about their lives as if nothing strange had occurred previously. Vendors were selling their street wares, people came in and out of local bars, it was all very normal. Those that even would possibly see Xia wouldn't recoil in horror or anything of the sort. It was as normal as a village could be outside of its abrupt appearance.

Neryem

time and timor

 

[ghostfinch]

e-rank / 5'5 / 130 lbs / 100/100 / 100/100


Alana flinched as the lights grew brighter - she sucked in a breath between her teeth as she waited for the illumination to relax. Apprehension was clear on her face as she stood back up properly, looking around but finding the world around them to be even darker (was that just the stark contrast after the lights or had that much time passed already?) and much different. The grass had returned to its previous size, and Krog was missing as well.

She'd been thinking maybe he was behind all of this, which was only reinforced with the correlation between all the new developments and himself disappearing altogether. "Hey," she whispered to the tentacle woman, inching closer but looking frightened enough to be an unlikely threat. "You think all that noise is over?" She looked around once more - oh s**t.

"He's gone!" The sworded man they had woken up beside was no where to be seen. Had... had that Krog taken him? She balled her hands into fists, feeling a deep anxiety over the entire situation. "I-I think we need to keep moving. There's nothing for us here..." She took one last look at the glass-crystal that had been at the original clearing, but decided against taking a piece of it. She didn't want to remember whatever had been there with them in the beginning as much as she wanted to survive the night.


Neryem

 

[Barry_VII]

Exp Reward >

time and timor - 150
Neryem - 150
Pad Chief - 150

As I wasn't a part of the last encounter I won't pry to much into it and give a baseline 150 exp as it was a seemingly life threatening encounter. Going forward I will be much more detailed with exp hand outs.

time and timor

neryem

pad chief

 

[MashaRum]

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The brightness was getting too much now! Xi shielded her eyes, or at least the ones on her head. Everything that seemed to be affecting her was now gone, including the grass. Across from her was one of the people from before, though instead of hugging her and smother her with worry, Xiao would trembled and begin to back away with a scared expression in her many eyes. "(ノдヽ)xxNyuuuuh. Fwaba nah hyaaaa!..." She trembled, her tentacles doing the same as she approached her. One eye was darting around their surroundings while noticing the lack of another person. What had happened to that creepy guy? Had he managed to get himself taken away as well? Xiao soon peeked up at the woman and cautiously approached before hearing some nearby voices. A town was over past the clearing! The people looked happy despite where the town seemed to be located at. Some weren't even worried about her appearance. Xiao would stare amazed before grabbing her companion and turning her to face the odd sight, pointing at it with her tentacle.




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time and timor


Pad Chief


Lanfaer

 

[ghostfinch]

e-rank / 5'5 / 130 lbs / 100/100 / 100/100


Alana felt a pang of sympathy as she noticed the tentacled woman trembling, though she had no idea what to say to comfort her. She barely knew the stranger, but she was also the only companion Alana had, as the sword-wielding man from before was gone as well.

Alana let herself be turned around by the other, noticing the bustling city with wide eyes. "H-how?" Her jaw dropped as her brain had to restart. They'd all suddenly woken up in a dark field not even an hour ago and now they were standing on the edge of a normal city. "Does this place look familiar to you?" Alana searched the tentacle woman's face as she waited for a response.

She felt odd standing just outside the city - they should go in and ask questions, where they are and what those wispy fruits were and if any of them were familiar with a creature named Krog and.... if they knew who they were. Alana felt nervous, standing on the edge of answers that could help her remember her past.

She looked timid, like her legs would give out if she tried to move them. She wasn't completely sure she was ready to find out what she wanted to know - what if she wasn't ready for the truth? She stayed as close to the tentacled woman as she could.


Neryem

 

[ghostfinch]

e-rank / 5'5 / 130 lbs / 100/100 / 100/100


Alana's attempts to stay beside the tentacled woman were in vain. The crowded city grew even more so and she found herself swept into the current. She struggled to fight against it and walk in the opposite direction of the group that was pushing her forward; by the time she managed to escape and reach a patch of the street where no one else was, she was far away from where she'd once been with the tentacled woman.

It felt so strange to feel simultaneously found and lost.

She walked up to the nearest person, pleading. "Please, do you know where we are?"


Odoeb

 

[Barry_VII]

Whispers from beyond...

The citizen that had been walking stopped when asked the question, a look of obvious concern for the girl that was young in a city like this. "You are in Kusagakure girl. Are you lost?" the villager responded in turn. Even though it was night time it would also be quite obvious that there were many people out, which might have added to all of the strangeness.

time and timor