LucidRain

Visrii looked over to Solomon. Well, this new, more friendly version of Solomon was quite strange to him. But he suppressed suspicions; if he was going to trust someone, he'll have to commit to it, instead of thinking about their possible assassination attempts every 5 seconds. "Right, you had an old company with you?" He asked. "Were they as diverse as this one, or simply restricted on your own realm?"

Visrii looked nonchalantly at the bookflinger (Solomon, he vaguely recalled the name). Huh, so what was with the sudden light tone? Last time Visrii extended a hand to this guy, Solomon had rejected it spectacularly. But as this time, Solomon approached him first, perhaps second tries were to be. "With mild success. Neither of us have attacked each other yet, so I'll count it as a success." Visrii nodded towards the lighted hallway. "So we're gonna shuffle forward till we reach a trap or something?"

Visrii simply nodded. That is, IF we make it back in town. Visrii fell to walking slowly beside Alexandria. If there was anything that would jump out to eat them, he figured he'd be safer with a metal giant next to him.

"You're better off wearing armor instead of civilian clothes. The shadows aren't going to be getting any easier on you."

Visrii glanced back at the young man wearing a strange object over his head. He was the one who was pumping strange music in the air. He was also injured - cut in the shoulder, most likely by an encounter with the Heartless. Visrii tossed the man his restorative bandages he had gotten earlier in the town, and continued walking. Helping people without reward didn't sit right with him - but he promised to himself he'd try; so he would.

Visrii looked back at the remains of the rock. "Noted." The rock smashing was most likely Alexandria's doing. Visrii walked slowly forward, cautiously taking note of everything. Until he heard something. He nearly jumped at the voice, but he stayed calm. It was strange, like a person shouting at him inside his mind, though it sounded faint and far-off. Normal people would have been petrified at this, but Visrii knew what it meant. The voice was familiar too. A deep, rough voice. "Varris...Varris...!" It was someone calling them from the Beyond, a kind of dreamy veil that spanned over realms. He deadpanned outside, but inside he responded loudly. "Fu- Wyvis! What are you doing here!?" Wyvis was a Reaver guard from his own realm, having the ability to speak through the Beyond. Wyvis was perhaps the only person Visrii could trust, despite Visrii hating himself for doing so. He heard the voice coming louder and louder. "What the hell are YOU doing? Where the hell are you? I've been searching for you everywhere!" Visrii grit his teeth. Damn. That was hard to tell. "Look, I've got this mission, and it's in another realm. It's complicated." "I've got time." Visrii sighed. The tenacity of Wyvis was often frustrating. "Right, some asshole -" "Language." "Some prick-" "Language!" "Fine. SOMEONE needed help. So I was sucked into this realm, and the Sun knows where I am. Now I'm stuck with a bunch of strangers and now have to fight these 'Heartless' creatures." "...bunch of strangers? You, collaborating with other people? That's a first." Wyvis' voice sounded amused. "Shut up! I'm just travelling with them. I can't do much on my own, because I'm weaker here somehow." Visrii didn't hear anything, but he could tell the next question was quite tense. "How many times did you faint?" Visrii looked morosely down at his sickly looking arms. "Thrice." The voice was alarmed. "Thrice?!" He grimly nodded. "Thrice. In a day. It's getting worse." "And without medicine too! Shit, I need to find you." Visrii said, "NO! You stay right where you are! Don't you dare try coming over here!" "You can't survive on your own, Visrii! Tell me where you last came over, and keep me informed." Visrii gave up trying to dissuade Wyvis. If he said he'd find Visrii, he had his head stuck in the clouds for a fair while. "Cainwood. But don't try to come over, you've got that?" "Okay, fine. But try to collaborate with those folk, won't you?" "One's knocked me out." "Well, I don't know the situation, but right now, they're the best chance you've got at surviving. Stick with them, and try to make some friends for once, will you?" Visrii thought about telling Wyvis his recent troubles, but decided against it. Wyvis'll probably lecture him for an hour if he did. And Wyvis wasn't even older, too! "Noted." Visrii growled. And with that, Visrii felt the presence leaving. Swept away again, that Wyvis kid. He was quite strong headed when anyone was in danger, and trusted Visrii to ends of the earth. Both an admirable trait and a possibly fatal flaw. Trust, has Visrii knew so well, was a double edged sword. And Visrii had stamped it out of his sight - Wyvis, in polar opposite, had wielded it like a sword of justice. Visrii looked down again at his arms. He, realistically, was not going to live for a few more years. Perhaps 3 at best. But he'd have to live, at least for Wyvis. The contact with Wyvis didn't achieve much, but it gave him a brewing sense of determination, something he hadn't felt in years. Perhaps he wasn't a hero for everyone. Perhaps he wasn't a hero at all. But if he was a hero for at least the one person who cared about him in the world, then good for him. He'll live, keep his head high, and though he had rejected it long ago, he'll have to unsheath that cursed sword of Trust, if it meant that much for Wyvis. He'll win. ...and underneath his cloak, as faint as it is, the Visrii's necklace started to dimly glow.

Visrii was quite annoyed at this rude awakening. There had been something in his dream, but the shock had sizzled it away. "Right..." Visrii jumped off the book-flinger's platform and glanced down the dark stone hallway. He was tempted to scowl at the bookflinger, but since Alexandria was looming over him, he decided against it. "So, where are we?"

Visrii waked up with a startled cry. "What the f-" He looked up at Alexandria. "And what in the heavens did you do that for?!"

A new warrior appears!

Looking back, Visrii's fainted 3 times now. Seriously, he needs to get a grip, lol.

Visrii swiftly dodged the steel rain. Books. The shadow beast was getting crushed by books. "The damn book flinger..." Visrii growled under his breath, watching the shadow beast getting pummeled by the metal storm, "stealing my kill, huh?" His arms were tired and throbbing from the stretched out battle, but he had guts enough to charge an explosion. "Guess I'll make a show of its corpse, then." He breathed in (and ripped off a bird's head), out, and gripped his staff, his arm screaming in pain. 1...2...3...! With a stab to the ground, the sky roared with fury and lit up like a sea of gray fire. The metal books did the trick. All the lighting charge, boosted by the rain and focused by metal, the entire storm sent down a massive lightning unto the field. Visrii staggered at the force of the ensuing explosion (considering he was right next to it, he was pretty rattled), shielding his eyes. When the shock subsided, all that was left of the shadow beast was a smoking hot crater, quickly doused by the rain. Visrii sighed and laid out on the muddy ground immediately. He felt weak, his head spinning. Damn it...used too much...not as strong as I used to be here... I guess...I'll just lie here a bit. And he felt the rain pour on as he was thrown, again, into the darkness.

Visrii rushed towards the thick of the horde, which had been following the stupid book-flinger and that orc-monster-warrior-thing. Stalkers broke off the pack and attempted to claw at him. It was quite tricky predicting their movement patterns, but in the end they weren't intelligent - they were predictable. They always attacked once, teleported and attempted to jump on him again either from the side or the back. Once he knew the patterns, Visrii only needed to react quick enough. He fired off a bolt to catch a bird's attention. When it swooped, he landed a dagger in its cone-like face, causing it to tumble down into the thick of the Heartless. Screw you, and everyone in your general vicinity. Visrii then charged a lightning strike and focused it on the fallen bird, exploding its corpse whilst incinerating everything in the area. That caught the horde's attention. Suddenly, Visrii saw the mass of black surging toward him like a wave of tar waiting to swallow him whole. Visrii quickly backpedalled out of the claws of the leading Heartless and started to run toward the other side of the battle-field. That should keep enough Heartless off those idiots' back, and maybe they'll survive for a little longer. Visrii felt a claw slashing again at him from behind. But now he had to watch himself.

Visrii fruitlessly shot more lightning to get the girl's attention, then gave up. Right, fault one of this plan was to trust people into doing things. He looked around, noticing the pillars setting up barriers, keeping both the Heartless and the company inside. Huh, and there he was thinking the Heartless would be retreating right now. Visrii then entertained himself by killing the Heartless in different ways. Decapitation, strangling, backstabbing, electrocuting... pity they puffed into smoke afterwards. Of course, he paid for his arrogance. One of the larger creatures ('Stalkers', he decided to call them) took an opening in his bored takedowns to claw at his back, ripping parts of the brown cloak. Visrii retaliated with a fist to the face, followed with an attempt to grab - in an instant, the creature melted away into shadow. "Oh, you rip my favourite cloak and run away is that it-" he finished the sentence with a stab behind him, landing it right into the Stalker's stomach. It had tried to catch him off-guard, to its miserable failure. He whirled around and grabbed the Stalker's face, before sizzling it with fire and lightning. "That trick only works once, my friend." He growled as he threw away the Stalker's limp body.

Visrii saw the incident with contempt. Ugh, everyone getting distracted because some idiot decided to be downed by these midgets. "Hey! You, uh, Paladin! I need your help!" (OOC - He means Sachi, by the way.) He despised calling anyone for help, but right now, situation required him to. He fired off a lightning strike, sizzling a tanky looking Heartless next to the paladin, trying to ease off the attacks on the girl.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" He yelled impatiently, "I have a plan - just get that knight-girl's attention!" He pointed to a shield-wielding figure up ahead. She could tank enough damage, hopefully. Get the metal lady's attention - check. Now he needed the knight-girl's attention, and uh, the next step was sketchy.

Visrii caught his staff from the possessor and instantly ducked back as the giant metal lady scorched the area with discriminating menace. A lady always lives up to her size, right? He thought, watching the beast's sizzling remains. He continued to charge through the mass of black creatures, the swarming pestilence that continued to shroud the area like a plague of locusts. The objective, he remembered from the back of his mind as he electrocuted a midget over and over, was to pierce straight through this area and destroy a 'machine' or portal. He kicked the midget away and growled irritably. There was no way this swarm would end unless someone stopped to focus on the source itself. Glancing at the flying creatures, he judged if one of them could hold a flailing humanoid on their backs. Barely, but the human would have to be quite small. That meant not him, unfortunately. He'll have to find someone smaller, but could still take hits. And he'll need to find some high platform to 'hijack' the birds from. Finally, he'll need air support, someone who could defend the payload. His eyes found the knight-girl, the flying lizard and Alexandria. Ah, shit. "Hey you!" He shouted to the figure who Heartless attempted to attack with frenzy, "Over here!"

Visrii looked at his pitiful knife, then at the black creatures that swarmed him and the group. Well, shit. He analysed the situation quickly, as the others charged into battle with whatever weapons they had. 4 knives. And one needle. That was not nearly enough to kill anyone at range. Though the rain was great for lightning attacks. Everyone was soaked, and if he had a catalyst, he could fry everyone here at once. Ah! His staff! He spotted the engineer who possessed his halberd. Maybe he could knock out the guy out? He tossed the idea up, but declined - later, perhaps, not while everyone was looking. Very well. Stick to daggers He swiftly approached a humanoid creature closest to him and slashed at its glowing eyes. Screaming pitifully, it clutched its bleeding eyes and struggled - until Visrii contemptuously stepped on it. Okay, so these weren't a challenge at all! He thought to himself, annoyed with the lack of difficulty with his encounter. At least he could take out those bird looking things, then. He brought up his knives and stuck each of them on the flying creatures, whilst kneeing a flanking midget and stepping on him for good measure. The flying ones were tougher material, staggered but still savage. One of them attempted a dive-bomb, but he swiftly dodged and punched it out of the way. Whilst dodging the swipes from the ground, he charged up a magic attack, ignoring the pain building up in his arms. Of course, his attack would in no way be focused without his staff, but that didn't matter because of the daggers - they were made of iron and designed to conduct. With a swift crack! he ripped out his discharge, the entire area engulfed in webs lightning The lightning homed in on the daggers, electrocuting the flying enemies and all who were unfortunate enough to fly next to them. With a snort he watched as the Heartless collapsed around him, fizzling and smoking. His attack had cleared a large chunk of enemies, but there were plenty more left.

Agreed, changing passwords would be a nice feature, but the security implications could be large... Though it would be nice to change my long password into a simpler one.

Visrii looked suspiciously at the new arrivals, wary and scornful of the strangers. He wasn't even finished analysing the original group; now there were more and more strangers joining their group. This was both an advantage and a curse. As much as the group needed as much power to storm through the beastial threat that loomed over the town, more strangers meant more risk of decoherence, betrayal and implosion. And since he wasn't very good at fraternising, this situation was getting very uncomfortable for him. He remembered his original plan of gaining allies within this peculiar company, and though he couldn't help of analysing ways to murder everyone whom he met, he decided to eat the bitter herb and continue with his interactions. The giant lizard, then. he muttered as he swept through the street. That's probably something I'd rather keep on friendly tabs.

Huh, I thought (assumed) that we were delegated coin or just used coin we were carrying. That means 'stealing' isn't stealing :/ Not very fun. *Also* Changed flaw and perk. Mortal Condition - Every 3rd offensive ability he uses has 25% recoil. Watcher of Fire - (Same as Tenacious, but now with aesthetic changes. All lightning attacks become fire attacks)

Visrii wandered around the town, lost. Damn it, he was normally not this disorientated. Actually, he almost always knew where to go - it was really the only way he travelled well enough on his own. Right now, though, there were many thoughts congesting his mind. He was secretly annoyed at having to employ, heaven forbid, DIPLOMATICS. Unlike his previous encounters where he would be able to do the job, get the money and bugger off without having to say any word other than 'okay' and 'done', situations right now had changed. Unfamiliar territory and conditions meant he needed to work with other people, and it was something he both dreaded and hated. That last account with the giant metal lady was sketchy. He only acted friendly because he 1 - needed to know about, uhh JAMs and levers, and 2 - felt contrived to let her go after she moderated his most unsuccessful interaction with the librarian. He shook his head and put aside his impending worries a little. He needed to acquire supplies first, then. With practiced casualness, he stooped into shops, made sure the attendant was distracted, acquired what he needed, and walked back out. Eh, I'll pay later, he thought as he yawned, then again, it's hard to tell which ones are going to live the long enough to spend that money. [Added - Basic food supplies, flint and steel, sharpening stone.] He looked at his arm. The red patches were getting irritated every time he put pressure on it. It wasn't as severe as this - any more, and it might affect his performance in battle. He visited the tonics shop, a run down place that looked like Visrii could crumple it just by leaning on its sordid walls. "Hello..." a fading voice greeted him. Ironically, the tonics shop was run by a sickly looking woman of 50, as frail as the building. He nodded towards her direction, acknowledging her. "Bandages? Restorative." he asked curtly. "Yes, yes..." she said and painfully hobbled away. As he waited he could hear distant cries. Children. He growled under his breath. Who was guarding this place, then? The woman returned, barely holding the item in her shaking hands. "5 gold, please..." He reached for his coin pouch, hesitated, and placed the whole pouch upon the counter, the pouch sagging under the weight of the countless gold coins inside. "That's 5 here." Then he took the bandages, and without a word, spun around and left the shop, grim faced and dark. Damn it, he was being an idiot. He had JUST said to himself that he did not care. But he made no attempt to correct his error. This shop was not going to last another attack, but if his 'error' made these cursed souls that much happier, then so be it. [Added - Bandages. Lost - Coins]

Ah. Thank you for all your answers!

Is it just me, or did the status thread just update to 100%? Does it mean that E16's done beta testing? Or just the development and now its doing beta testing? If it is the former, does where's the link for the community release?