Fire Emblem on Forums: Tiny Steps (IC)

[Powder Miner]

Slowly, entirely panickedly, Stardust's hands raised, one pointing and one holding her magic tablet... and then...

 

Stardust attacks Seeker-of-a-Dignified-Death!

Spoiler

Seeker-of-a-Dignified-Death is filled with Resolve!

 

Hit: 87-17=70!

Hit roll: 91, miss!

 

Seeker-of-a-Dignified-Death is filled with Resolve!

Stardust is in grass!

 

Hit: 92-15-15=62!

Hit roll: 75, miss!

 

...managed to miss entirely, her bolt of light passing an inch to Seeker's left and flying all the way into a far-away, entirely empty patch of grass. This was met with a triumphant "Aha!" from Seeker, who reeled up a hatchet in his hand and threw it hard at Stardust... only to watch it hit a blade of grass and be entirely fouled up, rolling up the top half of the blade of grass before falling down onto the ground.

"..."

 

TURN 9 ~ ENEMY PHASE

 

"I would have preferred to go out against the one with the bird, but I suppose this will suffice."

 

Moving up slightly to enter the grass, Seeker went on the offensive against Stardust, swinging with his hatchet in both hands.

Seeker-of-a-Dignified-Death attacks Stardust!

Spoiler

Seeker-of-a-Dignified-Death is filled with Resolve!

Stardust is in grass!

 

Hit: 92-15-15=62!

Hit roll: 43, hit!

Crit: 8-3=5!

Crit roll: 27, no crit.

Damage: 11-1=10!

 

Stardust counterattacks!

Seeker-of-a-Dignified-Death is in grass!

Seeker-of-a-Dignified-Death is filled with resolve!

 

Hit: 87-17-15=55!

Hit roll: 15, hit!

Crit: 6-1=5!

Crit roll: 23, no crit.

Damage: 9-0=9!

 

This last piece of the fight against the Marauders was a brutal one. The downward swing hit Stardust right in her shoulder, cleaving deeply, but though she was brought to one knee by the savage attack (and was quite probably screaming her head off, given that it was Stardust), it turned out that even she was still capable of fighting. Her body moved on her own, her uninjured arm jerking upwards, pointing, magic forming in her mind, and -- there was a bright flash of light for a moment, and when Stardust was able to open her eyes again, she would see that her attacker was quite dead. Finally, it was over.

 

Map Notes

Spoiler

Map Objective: Rout the enemy!

 

Grass tiles (including the ones with the dead grass, those are just there for visual variance) take the place of Forest tiles! Dirt tiles are just normal tiles. The grey overlay there is Stardust's Charisma range.

Final Status

Spoiler

Players:

Ebon Knight: 18/18, Eq. Wooden Lance (Iron Lance)

Lotus: 3/17, Eq. Wooden Longbow (Iron Longbow)

Pinecone: 0/23, Eq. Wooden Javelin (Iron Javelin). Downed 2/3

Stardust: 3/16, Eq. Lightning,

Sting: 0/19, Eq. Wooden Rapier (Iron Rapier), Downed 2/3

Recruit Bend: 17/17, Eq. Charming Flute

 

Enemies:

Marauder A: 0/18, Eq. Plastic Sliver (Slim Sword)

Marauder B: -2/18, Eq. Plastic Sliver (Slim Sword)

Marauder C: -5/18, Eq. Plastic Sliver (Slim Sword)

Marauder D: -6/18, Eq. Plastic Sliver (Slim Sword)

 

Raider A: -5/20, Eq. Wooden Axe (Iron Axe)

Raider B: -5/20, Eq. Wooden Axe (Iron Axe)

 

Pillager A: -6/16, Eq. Plastic Bow (Training Bow)

Pillager B: 0/16, Eq. Plastic Bow (Training Bow)

Pillager C: -3/16, Eq. Plastic Bow (Training Bow)

 

Looter A: -4/16, Eq. Wooden Dagger (Iron Dagger)

Looter B: -2/16, Eq. Wooden Dagger (Iron Dagger)

Looter C: 0/16, Eq. Wooden Dagger (Iron Dagger)

 

"Elite" Plunderer A: 0/21, Eq. Plastic Lance (Slim Lance)

"Elite" Plunderer B: 0/21, Eq. Plastic Lance (Slim Lance)

 

Shinywings: -3/22, Eq. Thunder,

Seeker-of-a-Dignified-Death: -4/26, Eq. Plastic Hatchet (Hatchet), Resolve Active!

EXP: 83/100

 

---

 

Immediately, Recruit Bend was running, bringing his flute to his lips, and trying his damnedest to skitter around and deal with wounds and injuries.

"Fuck, alright, okay, here, we just need to-"

Tweeeeeeeeet. A bit of life was restored to Sting, and Bend hauled the mosquito carefully to her feet, the light girl not being terribly difficult to bring up. Then he moved to Pinecone, tweeeeeeeet, and...

"Oh shit, he's so heavy, hrrnngggggggg..."

...pulled rather futilely upwards on the now-again-conscious bee, but he was at least trying his best.

[RedMageCole]

Pinecone had given into the new feeling of pain, but was brought back up thanks to Bend attempting to try and get him back up. Pinecone stood up on his own to alleviate the pressure that Bend was attempting to put on to lift this very heavy bee.

 

"...I do not deserve your kindness. Regardless, thank you." Pinecone turned to the group, a somber expression filling his face. "...I failed all of you in this battle. I promise that it won't happen again... Please do not think any less of me. I assure you all that I have nothing but everyone's best interests at heart..." Despite all he had done in that fight, he was definitely beating himself up.

[Powder Miner]

Somewhat awkwardly, Bend patted Pinecone on one armored shoulder, producing a light clacking sound.

"It's, uh, don't worry about it. It's... you kinda were totally fine for most of it? You're not expected to be invincible."

He patted Pinecone's shoulder once again, and then visibly winced as he moved towards Stardust, pulling out a bandage and placing some of his vulnerary herbs onto it. This was probably not going to be pleasant.

[Aurorix]

Time seemed to move at increased speed for the last moments of the battle. The tiny bee's peripheral vision blurred out and only the things she made direct eye contact with even processed through her mind. Suddenly something crashed down onto her shoulder but surprisingly no pain followed. The next second she looked down and the man with the axe was lying on the ground with a singed chest. Placing her free arm on where the pain was located she was surprised to feel something warm and wet. Turning her head to the side a wave of dread thumped through her body as the color of red was all over her shoulder and hand. Collapsing onto the ground the world around her began to clear up and time resumed to it normal pace. With the clearing of her senses also came along the sharp inferno of pain the gash of her shoulder was emanating. She didn't notice anything or anyone else that may approach her. Her lower jaw violently shook before...

 

"A-... aaa-... hhnnngg...."

 

"AAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH!!! AH-AH-ARRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!" She could not stop the echoing cries of pain, nor stop the rapids of tears shooting down her cheeks. Even Bend's foot steps in the mud with whatever armor clanks he had were drowned out from her hysteria. 

[Powder Miner]

When Stardust began absolutely screaming and wailing at the top of her lungs, Bend couldn't say that he had really been caught by surprise, because the moment he saw her get hit (and it was actually bad, too) he knew that things were about to get really ugly. But that didn't mean it was pleasant by any means, because she sure was loud. ...he did feel for her, too. Even as obnoxious as she was, Stardust really was a kid, and it was pretty screwed up that this whole bloody fight had happened. Even he had only been in something this bloody once before, and it hadn't been fighting bugs then. Sighing, Bend came up to her, grabbing the hand of her wounded arm for a moment to make her stop flailing.

"Please try to hold still for just a moment..."

 

His other hand put the herb-paste-soaked bandage to her shoulder firmly, and then he darted the hand that had been holding hers in place to wrap up the bandage as quickly as he could. It was quite the sloppy bandage as a result, tied loosely and somewhat ajar (Bend winced), but nonetheless, it did start to do its job, her wound slowly closing thanks to the medicine.

[Aurorix]

The bee didn't notice the Ant's presence until he placed his hand on hers to which she opened her eyes once more and looked at him through tear soaked vision,

 

"I... *sniff*  he... *hic* it-it hurts..." There was clear mental and physical exhaustion in her voice with a bit of scratchiness in it as well. This ordeal would take its tole on anyone let alone someone in the equivalent of their mid-teens. The bard actually find little resistance from her end as she had barely any energy to weep let alone flail about. She was surprised when the flute boy placed medicine on her wound and the pain slowly diminished in potency, yet some would still remain but it was manageable to deal with.  "*sniff* W-why...?" Was all Stardust could muster starring at the man who just patched her up.

[Powder Miner]

"Yeah.... sometimes things do really hurt. It's a shame you had to get caught up in all of that."

Bend sighed, and fussed with the bandage a little, trying to tighten it a bit before resigning himself to the fact that his handiwork was kind of just shit. The question she let out at him drew his attention, though.

"Why... what?"

She was probably asking why she'd been attacked, or why he'd healed her. He wasn't sure which.

[Aurorix]

The girl began to calm down little by little and the liquids flows down her face began to ease up,  "Why would you take the time to help me? *sniff* Aren't you annoyed with me or something? So why would you bother?"  

[Powder Miner]

"Well... kind of, yeah. You weren't exactly light on me through all that, huh?"

 

Bend let that sit for just a moment as he pulled out his flute, and with a little toot helped the wound finish up its healing and further diminished the pain.

 

"But, y'know... you're just a kid. Being pushy isn't worth getting hurt like that at all. You're... what, 5, 6? I'm not just going to let you sit there and suffer just because you were a bit annoying. That'd be incredibly callous."

 

Here, Bend let out a small sigh.

"Plus, I know what it's like to be the person that everyone else just sits around and lets be miserable. I'm not gonna inflict that on someone else."

[Aurorix]

The bee stares at him in disbelief for a bit. He's done something even her own brother never once has done for her. Though, I suppose that's not a real high bar top. She looks down at the ground beneath her,  "Well... t-thank you... I appreciate it..." She doesn't say much more than that before using whatever clean parts of her arm were left to wipe off her face. She noted that last part he said but now is not the best time to be digging into that. Besides, She doubts she'll see any more of him once they get to their destination and she becomes a scholar. Best to not get too attached.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Lotus sighed deeply to herself as it all came to an end. She could feel the weariness setting in, after all she'd been working herself quite hard to pick up the slack of the green ones. Despite the lack of experience they all had managed to survive even if they were bloodied and beaten. It'd serve as a lesson hopefully, that battle was no picnic. Perhaps Lotus hadn't fought such a battle herself before, but she'd fought plenty of wild beasts and much more dangerous quarry her whole life. She was a huntress after all.

 

The Petite Mantis woman went about tendeding to her wounds, it had seemed Bend was tending to the fallen for now. She'd check his work later, but trusted it enough to hold up for now while she made certain that her own were tended to. She wasn't looking utterly dire, least not when compared to the others... so it wouldn't be difficult. She sat, getting out a small barb she used to sew wounds. Lotus had gotten quite adept at such, leaving in the woods alone for several years tends to require it. She wondered wordlessly about afterwards checking the wounds of each of her comrades to see if they were holding up.

 

She found room for improvement on each and every one but... for a foundation the Recurit had done more than adequately. Lotus adjusted everything she could, with a gentle touch befitting that old name of hers. It was possible her presence went unnoticed as she refitted Bend's dressings to be more comfortable for the wounded. She then set to find Ebon, knowing full well the old timer was probably nursing some wound he was hiding. He did it more than she cared for... but she understood. After all, Lotus could hold the needle without wavering, she was always as still as she wished to be. So... Lotus could understand leaving it to her.

[ctsun]

For the second time that day, Sting had to pick herself back up after being laid out onto the ground. She was even starting to get used to all this. Getting knocked down and standing back up again. It was starting to become a little concerning, actually.

 

There was a brief moment as the mosquito girl leaned against Bend as he helped her to steady herself back to her feet...along with a bit of a stumble when the recruit moved to help the bees instead.

 

"Awawawa~!", Sting cried out, her arms waving wildly from side to side as she hurriedly sought to re-balance herself before finally opting to lean on her wooden rapier instead. "Did we win?", she asked, her head bowed slightly in exhaustion as she slowly caught her breath back before finally glancing around herself.

"Yay! We won!", she cheered, bouncing lightly to her feet as the day's battle hadn't taken place at all. She made a point of not looking at the corpses lying all around the the party. Who knew what they were after and they were aiming for? She certainly didn't know. It probably wasn't very interesting, what with all that talk about dying for honour or something. Can't be very fun or interesting, anyway. She'd far rather live for her goals and do something awesome, like stabbing a cat or something. Besides, getting hurt hurt~ She'd rather avoid that if she could.

[Powder Miner]

The blood and bustle of the battle against the death-seeking Marauders had forced an early halt to the day's travel -- there's no sense in trying to spend the day walking when you're a collection of heavily wounded and bleeding newbies who had mostly just experienced their first battles. Thankfully, the termites of Built Upon Ruins had the hospitality to put the delegation up in their hive (possessed of a frantic industriousness, but too small to manage quite the levels of size and bustle as the Redoubt), in part as thanks for essentially protecting them from the first Marauder raid in years. They provided food, much-needed healing, and lodging for the night... but a hurried day of travel had followed, covering the remaining distance to the Scholars' University a day later than scheduled.

 

Fire Emblem on Forums: Tiny Steps

Chapter 1: Scholeric Encounters'

 

Spoiler

 

The Scholars' University makes for an interesting contrast to the Redoubt. Its grass is essentially untended, even moreso than that of Built Upon Ruins, growing higher than the height of two bugs on top of each other, but for a road cut into it leading to the entrance of the University, visitors left to travel the same way in and out -- at least it was a wide enough pathway to allow animal traffic. Arriving at the gate to the Scholars' University and peeking in to see its contents revealed another large difference between the two main political centers of the Scholars' Redoubt: while the Redoubt, like most bug cities, had been a sprawling jumble of dwellings built on and dug into the floors and walls of the rooms of the household, huts and burrows and ladders and hanging dwellings and all manner of living spaces... the first room of the Scholars' University was surprisingly-well organized, with few dwellings in sight and instead only a number of neatly divided spaces, barriers of papers or plastic or cloth cordoning off fairly sized chunks of the room, with neat pathways allowing for easy travel.

 

But that wasn't to say that the Scholars' University was more ordered than the Redoubt, by any means. For all the chaos of its arrangement, the Redoubt had had a certain level of functional order imposed by necessity -- the military center of the region and alliance that birthed it couldn't exactly be choked up by foot traffic. But, right now, one of the major intersections of paths in the room here at the University was thronged with crowds of scholars and scholars' assistants waiting impatiently or excitedly at the scene of an ongoing argument, one loud enough to faintly carry over to the Council delegation standing at the door.

"You NEVER cease to amaze me with the SCALE of your buffoonery, you moron! Who do you think you are trying to steal my portion of the room!"

"This is a perk of seniority, buddy, my experiments are in urgent need of space and you just happen to be next to me! Don't you have any respect for my pursuit of knowledge?"

 

At the gate itself stood a much more reserved individual, albeit one who seemed just about as irate as the two loudly arguing, judging by the way that he kept sending death glares back in this direction: a bug in green and brown robes, with big bright green antenna sticking out of their head: an aphid, by the looks of it.

"It's amazing how I never have the space to perform even a single task without this sort of stupid distraction."

"Seniority? You have been here for a grand total of one week longer than I have, you imbecile! That is not a source of serious seniority!"

"Those are the rules! You have to do it!"

"Wait... hey, get out of the way, you two, are those..."

 

"From the looks of it, you seem like exactly the kind of motley bunch the Council has been sending us -- and, if so, you're the last of these delegations not accounted for. You're late. But you look like shit, so I'm guessing you got caught up in something extraordinary, in which case... whatever we'll work with it."

"No it isn't the rules, you're quite literally just making this up now, aren't you? Did you even check with Aphid Steady about this?"

"W-well I--"

A head of yellow hair could be seen bobbing up and down in the crowd of bugs, trying to jump up to get a better look.

"IT'S THEM! Move move move move get OUT of the WAY this is IMPORTANT--"

 

Detecting that the situation behind him had changed, the aphid turned to just watch the ensuing madness, hands on his temples. And that madness...

"Wh--"

"H-hold on a moment, what do you think-- uahh!"

"SOGGY, MOVE THEM!"

 

The two scholars arguing, a middle-aged pair of men wearing purple and red clothing, stumbled out of the way as a figure in wooden armor slammed into them, with a short hornet with yellow hair and a blue cloak having propelled herself bodily into him to use him as an impromptu battering ram (not that she could have moved him more than a step or two if he'd tried to push back). At that point, she began running headlong in the direction of the University's front door and the party standing there, a grin on her face. Five different bugs (two spiders, one of which was the one she'd used as a ram, two red ants, and a moth) were left to scatteredly follow after her.

"Finally, finally, finally! Oh, I've been waiting for this for so long! I am SO glad you all have finally arrived! I've been preparing for this journey for forever!!! Now, we can--"

 

The aphid opened his mouth to interrupt, but the hornet kept barreling through his unformed protest, the two black-and-yellow insect legs jutting from her ribs gesticulating wildly with her excited speech.

"I suppose, before I get carried away, that I should explain! I'm the last scholar waiting for the delegation sent by the Redoubt to help me with my project -- and this is the most important project of the year, have no doubt! That makes you all," here she gestured at Pinecone, Stardust, Lotus, Ebon Knight, Sting, and Bend, "the most important delegation! These five," here she gestured at the poor bugs left to follow her piecemeal, "are my assistants and associates, except for the guy of the two ants, who I think was meant to be part of your delegation!"

 

She clapped, now, and changed tone just a little.

"We should all get introduced to each other -- we're all going to be working together, after all. I'm Brilliant Deduction, Scholar of this University, and specialist in Outside cultures, traveling, and Human Artifacts! This," here she produced a small bug-shaped speck of blue and red from seemingly nowhere, "is Curiosity! Now why don't you all tell each other who you are?"

"Hi!"

 

Secluded-from-Illumination, Soggyshanks, Faithful Diligence, Mercy Harefoot, and Life-Recorder are in!

[kj1225]

The aforementioned male ant raises a hand in greeting, having easily caught up even after having to avoid the results of the very eager hornet pushing her way through to meet the final group. He figured that this was his group at least, it'd make sense given how banged up they were combined with how late they were. He makes a quick note of each of the faces there before speaking. 

"Greetings. I'm Mercy Harefoot. I suppose I was to have joined up with your group on the way here but... That didn't happen obviously. I hope your journey wasn't too troublesome without me to provide medical aid." He smiled nervously, his foot tapping a bit due to his nerves over possibly causing trouble unintentionally.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Lotus quietly took all of the sights and sounds of yet another one of these so called centers of civilization. Lotus was... never quite fond of them. They were always so stifling, so much oppressive noise, energy, and most importantly... stench. She always wondered when the next time she could be on the trail was, always wanting to get back to the wilderness where tranquillity awaited, still sparkling water. They were a means to an end as usual, a place for her and Ebon to find their work and then move on. She felt a kindred spirit with his crow at times like this... which was... quite odd given she'd tried to eat him several times. Nothing like emphasizing with something you once deemed food.

 

The loudness of more potienal greenhorns, the exact bustling excitement of the first gaggle of Scholar bugs. Aaaall over again. Lotus nearly felt her skin crawl, not out of disgust but of worry. She had enough trouble keeping up with a handful... how would she manage with this many high energy bugs around? Whatever confidence she had certainly wavered. She hadn't spoken much since that battlefield even to those she was traveling with. 

 

"L-Lotus." The small mantis choked out. She preferred to introduce herself this time, but it was quite a difficult task she found. Lotus wasn't used to being personable, and she never had to be when she lived out in the woods alone. Further, Ebon was often a man of few words and little good for practice. She shivered a little, like a frail leaf in the wind before becoming stiff and still as stagnant water. Lotus's nerves were overwhelming her, and as a result she literally froze up. An occurance Ebon was all to familiar with. 

[Trash]

The moth was a lanky brown figure, her body language clearly uncomfortable even as a mask hid most of her face. She edged behind Brilliant Deduction, like a child trying to hide behind their parent's leg. It didn't really work, because her huge anntennae alone added another head of height over the hornet.

"S-Secluded-F-from-Illumination. T-that's me. Um. Nice to m-meet you...?"

Her words trailed off into a questioning tone.

[ElfCollaborator]

Trailing behind the rest of the group is a red ant girl, huddled in yellow and blue fabric, singing something to herself. Her eyes seem to be studying what others recognise to be one of the magical pictograms that, when used by someone with the proper knowledge, caused gouts of flame to appear. She....appears to be singing to herself, and seems to be entirely blind to the rest of the group.

 "Red is for fire, green is for wind, yellow is for blasting thunder~"

She slowly comes to a stop upon realising that the person in front of her, probably Mercy, has also stopped, and that the group has started talking, even the moth girl. This has the appropriate effect of having the girl's eyes snap up from the pictogram, eyes wide as anything, then back at the pictogram, then back at the group. She immediately drops the pictogram to her side, brushes her hair aside and does everything possible to make herself look like she hadn't been singing to herself over a pictogram for the last few minutes.

"O-oh! Um.....you....didn't hear any of that, right? Right? Good! Let's forget I did that, okay?"

"Faithful Diligence, at your service! It's nice to meet all of you!"

_{"I'm pretty sure they heard that.....how embarassing...."}

[RedMageCole]

As if Pinecone completely didn't go through the entire ordeal yesterday, dealing with pain for the first time and damage to his armor, he continued his cheerful and uplifted expression overall. Even when he was berated by the bug with green antennae he did not respond with anything less than a diligent smile. During introductions, he looked to everyone with a smile.

 

"Greetings to you all— Brilliant Deduction, Curiosity, Mercy Harefoot, Secluded from Illumination, Faithful Diligence..." Pinecone read off everyone's names as if he were reading from a script, full names and all. "I am Pinecone, soldier bee of Sunflower Hive! If there is anything I can do to aid you, I will do it with only my greatest of efforts!" With that, Pinecone also obediently turned to the one who mainly spoke... not turning to Mercy; he didn't want to recount yesterday's events. "I actually heard everything starting from 'red is for fire', but I will do my utmost to forget it!"

 

Despite his stature and smile continuing to be the same, watchful as ever, Pinecone could be faintly heard humming 'red is for fire, green is for wind, yellow is for blasting thunder'. Over and over. It didn't even look like he was aware of it himself.

[Aurorix]

The tiny bee girl was clammed up and distant for the rest of the journey to Scholars' University. However, once inside the city her whole demeanor change to one of awe. She was able to look past the trauma of the days prior just to bask in her dreams. Pretty much ignoring everyone else's introductions her eyes immediately locked on to the most prominent individual here. She ran up to the blue cloaked hornet with much enthusiasm in her demeanor,  "Yes, Hello Brilliant Deduction! I am Stardust, a bee hailing from the Sunflower Hive! I must say the Scholars' University was everything of which I dreamed about! Really quite a nice establishment for research! Thus, I would like to request to become a member! I have very important goals that I must see fulfilled and I will do anything to become a scholar at this place!" With starry eyes and a big happy smile, she starred directly into the hornet.

[Trash]

S-f-I regarded the enthusiastic bee with dismay from her hiding place behind the hornet. 

"N-now there's t-two of them? Oh n-no..." 

[Unlurking Sentinel]

The female spider swiftly followed right behind Brilliant Deduction, keeping up with her while carrying several pieces of torn-off paper in her hand at once in her right hand, and what looked to be a rather heavy bag in her left.

"Life-Recorder. Aspiring scholar, and assistant to Brilliant Deduction for two-hundred and sixty-eight days and counting. Pleased to me-

It was then that she noticed the small bee's frantic begging, begging to become a recognized scholar.

"Settle down, Stardust. A city isn't built in a day. It takes many moons, summers even, to become recognized as a scholar, and asking nicely will do you no good."

"Believe me, I know."

[Powder Miner]

Bend shrugged a little awkwardly at Harefoot, electing to ignore a great deal of the energy and chaos around them.

"So, it's not your fault or anything, but boy did some shit go down at there. We actually ran into --get this-- Marauders of all things on the way there, and the fight was... well, it was pretty bad, man. Hopefully things'll be a bit smoother with everyone else around to help out if shit goes down again when we're doing whatever we're doing for the scholar."

"Oh, and I'm Recruit Bend, by the way."

 

As for Brilliant Deduction, she reached... not actually all that far down (Brilliant Deduction was anything but small) and gave Stardust a pat on the head, evidently finding her adorable.

"Sorry, ahaha, but that's not really a decision I can make! Life-Recorder is right, it's a pretty long-term process. It took me years to get in as a proper scholar, and it took me accomplishing something big enough to get a new name!"

"But you should be able to make a good bit of progress with what we're going to be doing, anyway! It'll be a pretty large and very important expedition, if I do say so myself, ehehe, and I'm sure it'll revolutionize our understanding of a lot of things, so you should have your foot in the door for being a scholar when we get back! In fact, I'm sure that Life-Recorder, Diligence, and Secluded-from-Illumination will become full scholars! It'll be a very big deal."

[Yours Truly]

The slightly imposing looking spider in wooden armor lets out a slight grunt as he pulls away from the scholars he had bowled over, slowly closing rank with Deducation while his many eyes sizes up the newcomers. They seemed like an eccletic bunch, but it wouldn't be the first he had to work with, and they didn't seem incompetent as a whole at the very least, if they managed to survive a Marauder attack.

"The name's Soggyshanks, I'm a mercenary looking to make a name for himself around these parts. You can think of me as Brilliant Deduction's assistant if you want, just the kind that gets his hands a little dirtier than  Life does,"
He turned to Recruit Bend a little, his unblinking eyes sizing the ant up and down before he continued with,

"Good to know that I won't be working with rank amateurs this time, and that none of you are too injured to continue."

[kj1225]

Mercy frowns at the update from Bend. He really should have been there to help... Still, he couldn't do anything about it now.

"I'm terribly sorry to hear that. I thought that you had been taking a different route I suppose, or maybe I didn't account for the slow down of there being multiple people... That said, if there's any injuries or problems left I can help with, I'll do my best to assist. It's my own fault for not being there after all."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Lotus's full body relaxed as she came out of her hunting stance. It was her typical reaction to being over simulated ad typically ended poorly for any that tried to touch her to pull her out of it. Often the person would end up as a pin cushion if she was still holding her bow or suddenly finding themselves staring up at the tiny mantis warrior. Lotus stomped her foot once her geta making a cacophonous clack as a result. It was her method of breaking out of the freeze once she had the mind to do so. Frankly she was unsure it actually did anything but feeling that through her body made her feel as if it did. The small mantis looked towards Shanks shaking her head as to indicate he was incorrect. 

"Only I and Ebon can claim that... Rest are green, that battle was the first they'd seen... Lucky they are still breathing." her sentences came out terse and matter of fact. It was clear she wasn't comfortable speaking in this manner. After all they were punctuated with pauses, the words being difficult to find. The Mantis woman froze up and tensed each time, returning to an unnatural stillness. "We are mercenaries as well... hired to keep them from harm evidently. " 

 

She turned to the supposed medic that was to travel with them, her address to the other bug having concluded. "It's okay... mistakes happen. The worst have mostly been cared for..." her manner of speaking here was strange. It was reassuring, but the stilted nature and choice of words made it feel slightly off. She looked around, before pointing towards Sting, Pinecone and Stardust. "They fell. Bend used what we had available. I checked the dressings... were sufficient... but you should probably check in case." the she brushed aside her cloak to show wound she'd been hiding, it had been on her side, an awkward place for Lotus to treat herself. It was hardly life threatening but probably would effect her abilities as an archer moving forward. "I... may need assistance as well."