Search Results

NEOPH

Neoph could feel that hidden rage in the depths of his heart begin to boil. Every muscle in Neoph's body tensed up. "With all due..." He said through gritted teeth only to be interrupted by Hunter. Perhaps that was a good thing, as the sudden distraction served well to soothe Neoph's anger. Hunter was always confusing to him. He struck Neoph as the type of person he would rather avoid, but still, there was something about him that actually made Neoph like him. "Very well then. We'll do the teams your way." Neoph turned to the rest of those gathered. "You heard him. Form up."

-----------------------------------

In the Forest North of Roland's Ford...

(Forgot to add the boss information. Will do so from this post forward.)
The creature shrieked after receiving a heavy blow from Kala. It turned to her and let out another roar, lunging at her with surprising quickness and lashing out with both of its left swords, catching her on the side and delivering two sizable gashes.

Spoiler: Information

Defeat the Mute!

Mute HP: ???/???
Kala HP: 21/21

Battle:
Kala attacks the Mute for 5 damage.
The Mute attacks Kala for 2 damage.

Kala HP (end of turn): 19

NEOPH

Neoph nodded in response to Aedion, just now noticing the presence of the other newcomer. There had been just so much on his mind lately he was surprised he even remembered his own name. "Indeed. We'll split into two teams. Team one will be on recon. That will be me, Zeal, and Stefano, plus one more if they decide to join." His eyes flicked over to Ana. "The rest of you will be team two. Your job will be to gather clues regarding the massacre of the city guard unit. Begin by questioning the only surviving witness. He is resting in the guard barracks in Durlag. I will be appointing a leader for your team, and this leader will be Aedion. He has more than proven himself so far. This is a top priority, everyone. Represent us well. Team two dismissed. Team one, wait here for further instruction."

--------------------------------------------------------

????

A cloaked figure watched Kala take down her enemies from atop a branch of a tall tree. He smirked. She was strong. This was good. He clutched a small collection of papers in his hand. Soon, he would make his move, but first... a small test of her abilities. He flexed his right hand, showing a small amount of concentration. Then, he gestured in Kala's direction. As Kala challenged the remaining enemies, she saw them easily dispatched by an odd shape in the dark. At first, she couldn't recognize it in the darkness. Then, as the overcast sky began to clear, the heart-shaped moon in the sky cast a pale light on this new challenger. It looked sort of like a marionette made from assorted twisted body parts. Its face was covered by bandages, its head hanging upside down. It had four arms, two on each side, and six legs, three on each side. It stood sort of like a spider-human hybrid, the symbol associated with the Nobodies on its back. It paused for a moment. Up in the trees, the figure gave his order. "Attack." He whispered. At that, the figure twitched and bent over, releasing a guttural, horrific cry as it drew four sharp shortswords, each measuring about thirty inches in length. It straightened up once more, turning its head ever so slightly to the side as if it was studying Kala. It would become clear then; it was waiting on her to make the first move.

Neoph cringed. He was kind of irked that no one seemed to take him seriously. Why would they, though? He was a leader in name only. It would have been far better for him to leave. Let someone better than him take the mantle of leader. What kind of leader in their right mind would just rush into danger without a plan? He'd be putting everyone's lives at risk. Some leader you are, Neoph. "Right. We need a plan." He paused. What kind of plan though? He thought back to his soldier days. He recalled that every time they entered unknown territory, they would always do a reconnaissance mission beforehand. Doing his best to sound like a leader, he laid out his plan. "The smart thing would be to do a little recon. Get a feel for the island and see what exactly we're dealing with. This will be a stealth mission. We'll begin our reconnaissance at the place where our target was last seen." He looked at Aedion after that. "Your father need not worry. No one is dying on my watch."

Neoph pointed at Lance. "And, as Lance suggested, we'll question the survivor so we can get some more information out of him. The initial report was a little muddled, likely due to the fact he just saw his comrades get butchered. We'll see what we can get now that the memory has had some time to sit." Neoph straightened his collar. It seemed he was doing a good job of at least sounding like a leader. "And Hunter. I will need to see you after the meeting." With a wave of his hand, he continued. "Now, of course, this plan will evolve into an eventual search-and-destroy, but for now, that's what we have. I will take your thoughts now, as that is all I have to add for the moment."

Sorry for the delay, everyone. I've been moving between houses for the past week. I'll have a post up either tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for being patient.

That evening...

Time passed and dusk fell on Roland's Ford. At the town hall, the weekly meeting was about to begin. Everyone was waiting in the front room when Neoph walked through the door with Ana. "Good evening, everyone." Neoph walked to the back of the room so he could be in clear view of everyone. "First, this is Ana. She'll be sitting in with us today." He turned to her and smiled. "Just find a spot to stand. Anywhere's fine." He turned back to the group. "First of all, I know you all expect me to hand out assignments for the week, but something has been brought to my attention. This will require a joint effort on all of our parts, it seems." Neoph cleared his throat. "A very dangerous criminal has taken refuge at King's Island, a little spit of land just off the coast. The concentration of Nobodies is at its highest here, so its safe to say that this criminal has something to do with the increased activity lately. A detachment of the guard was sent to investigate and... all but one was killed."

Neoph sighed. "So, I do believe that taking this man down should be our top priority. He poses the most immediate danger to the village." He paused. "So, any questions?"

We'll be moving to the meeting on Saturday, so whatever you guys want to do, you have until Saturday to do it. After the meeting, the plot will really get moving. ^^

"I don't have a home."

"Oh." Neoph fidgeted a little bit. "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry." He got her a drink anyway and sat down at the table, offering the cup to her. "Explore, eh? If you don't mind me saying so, you aren't really in a condition to explore by yourself." He paused for a second. "Um, listen. If you're..." He scratched the back of his head. "If you're interested, I have a little group that protects this town. Not gonna lie, the pay isn't very good. 100 Munny a week. But you can save the money so that you can have more options when you recover. Just an idea. I mean, I can escort you to Durlag if you want. But... I can't really recommend you going off on your own without having at least a week of recovery."

Neoph was outside, still thinking on the way things were going when Ana called for him to come in. He stood back up and opened the door, heading back inside and closing it. "Heh. It's really coming down out there." He must not have heard her say thank you. "Rains pretty often this time of year." He sat on his bed. "So, um..." He wasn't really sure how to ask this. The last time he asked for something out of her, it didn't go so well. "So, what are you going to do now? I mean, you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like, but..." He paused and coughed nervously. "You're eventually going to have to do something, right? Do you plan on going back home? Err... wherever home is." He kept his smile and got up from his seat to head over to another bucket of water from an area one might call the kitchen. "Can I get you a drink?" Neoph took a small wooden cup off a shelf and filled it with water from the bucket, taking a generous few gulps.

Hey there! Long time, no talk. ^^

((Don't worry about it, Glen. I'll just push the meeting back til you return since it's kinda important. ><))

Neoph cringed. Being shut down like that kind of hurt his feelings. With a deep sigh, he stiffened up. Quit being so sensitive... He thought to himself. Stiff upper lip. Just like father said. In truth, Neoph was always the sensitive type. As far back as he could remember, he'd cry over the littlest thing. His father, a scientist named Desmond Rampart, would always tell him "Stiff upper lip, son. Don't let them get the better of you." Neoph didn't care if they got the better of him though. That was just how he was. He was sad. His feelings were hurt, so he cried. Nothing wrong with that, right? The neighborhood kids thought so. Neoph the Cry-Baby, they called him. He hadn't cried in years though. Not since his friend Alvin taught him to turn sorrow into rage. But that was a time of his life he'd rather forget. Angry Neoph was dead and gone; and he preferred it to stay that way. He preferred to not keep that part of him alive even in memory.

Ana's voice snapped him out of his trance. "Oh, uh..." He looked around. The house was only one room. "Right. I'll just... i'll step outside. Um... just call me when you're done." With a small, shy wave, he stepped out of the house and sat on his front porch under his awning. That was one of the features to the house. A good thing he had it too, for it began to rain. Neoph was usually happy, but the atmosphere of the village today, the stress of his job, and the problems the world was facing very quickly began to wear on him. "You can't take care of everyone, Neoph." That was one of the last things Alvin said to him before he went off to war and never returned. Neoph protested that at the time, but now he was beginning to think that Alvin was right. He tried his hardest. He really did. But things only seemed to be getting worse. How long before the darkness descended on them? Neoph had seen what happened in places far-off. Places that probably no longer existed.

Children screaming, houses burning. He used to think he was a warrior of justice. He'd destroy evil men and never even realize that he was propagating the very thing he was trying to destroy. It was ironic. He'd destroy the sinners, yet he himself would spread the sin. That was why he was here, in Roland's Ford. That was why he put it under his protection. This was his penance. He would atone for his crimes if it killed him.

"One, two, three, four, SWEEP!" Darias struck the training dummy with his staff four times in quick succession, following it up with a sweep at what would be the dummy's legs if it wasn't just a burlap sack filled with hay attached to a wooden post. Darias had been training his melee skills all day. He knew that there would come a time when his magic failed him. When that time came, we wanted to be sure he was ready. But he was already so tired. Shaking the weariness out of his muscles, he took a deep breath. "Alright. Once more. You can do this." With a grunt, he renewed his assault on his burlap foe. "One, two, three four, sweep! One, two, three!" He repeated the move he did last time, but added on two quick jabs and a sweeping blow to the dummy's head. "Hm." Darias nodded to himself. That was enough for today. With a sigh, Darias turned and began his post-training run. He was rather proud of himself had come far in the short time he had been practicing. Then again, he worked harder than anyone. At least, that was what he thought.

The cold of Winterfell helped with that somewhat. You had to be tough to deal with the cold. Though he spent most of his life in a castle where it was nice and warm (or at least as warm as possible), it still didn't take him long to get used to the cold. Maybe it was just in his blood. Not to say he liked the cold. On the contrary, he despised it. While he was used to it, it still bit him to the bone like a hungry dire wolf. He didn't know the outside world would be this uncomfortable. The only thing that kept him from going back to his room and burying his nose in a book by the fire was the potential to find answers to the questions he had that he couldn't find in a book. Namely, answers about his mother. He was always curious about her, even when he was a lad. What boy wouldn't look at all these kids with a father and a mother and wonder about his own? Why was he different? His father would always brush aside any questions with "I'll tell you when you're older." It still didn't change once he did get older. Now, the popular excuse was "Now is not the time."

Do not be mistaken, Darias loved his father. He was always supportive in everything else. All he had to do when he wanted to be a Summoner was to tell his father and he instantly began looking for the best trainer money could buy. Of course, that could have just been that Darias had not show any concrete interests up until that point. It had always frustrated his father. Thinking about the moment he told his father that he wanted to be a Summoner got him thinking about his trainer; Harold Eistad, a Hume from the Westerlands. He was a tough teacher, but Darias learned a lot from him. If he ended up in his neighborhood, he would have to look him up. The icy cold wind stung his face as he continued on his run. It felt like it was going to be a good day.

Neoph and Ana arrived in Roland's Ford a few hours before the meeting. "Here we are. Come on, let's go to my place." Neoph led Ana to a small house near a large building, which Neoph pointed out was the town hall. The house was clearly nicer than most of the other houses (or shacks as some might call them). He was in good with the mayor, and so he was allowed to purchase the home for a largely discounted price. Neoph entered the home and helped Ana inside. He grabbed a book of matches off the table and took one, striking it against the table. He lit a few candles so they could have some more light. "Stupid clouds..." Neoph mumbled. His house only had one window. Normally, that was enough to light the house during the day, but on overcast days like this, it might as well be night. Once Neoph lit the candles, he put the match out and set the spent remains on the table.

He went and got a bucket of water by his fireplace along with a sponge off a shelf above his bed and set it in the bucket. He brought the items to Ana. "We should probably clean your wounds first. Don't want them getting infected." He sat in silence for a second. Eventually, it was awkward enough to where he had to say something. "So, um... what exactly happened to you?"

NEOPH
The purpose of emphasizing the "anything" in what Ana said was completely lost on Neoph. He was still somewhat of an innocent. Having grown up away from "normal" society and becoming a soldier in his younger years... he didn't really have much time or opportunity to develop the "dirtier" parts of his mind. "Don't worry about paying me. I don't do this for coin. I get enough of it, but i'll never abandon someone in need just because they can't pay me." This girl was indeed tough. Just as he suspected. Maybe she'd be cut out for his band? He wouldn't ask her now though. They had to get her somewhere she could rest and be medically tended to. "Alright. We should get going. Follow me." Neoph began walking towards Roland's Ford, careful to keep pace with his new friend.

---------------------------------------------
????
Hunter's intrusion didn't seem to bother the man. In fact, it seemed to amuse him, as the smile on his face suggested. He turned to Hunter and tipped his hat. "Ah, one of Neoph's group if i'm not mistaken." The smile widened. He was beginning to look a little creepy. "Careful who you speak to like that, boy. You might not get someone quite as merciful next time." The words were threatening, but the man's tone came off as him just giving advice. He began to part, but stopped next to Kala. "Should you ever feel the need to pursue a higher calling, you can find me there." He pointed in the distance to the Dark Peaks, a mountain range turned black by the ever-corrupting darkness. It was a dangerous place. How could someone live there? "Good day miss." With that, he walked behind one of the nearby shacks that made up the village.