Stories from RaiRO - This is a prologue

[Great Cartoonist]

Prontera, the busiest place in Rune-Midgard.
The lone figure smiled to himself as he walked to the top of a hill near the southern gates. It would be a profitable day, he hoped, as he adjusted his dirtied (yet still stylish) hat and made his way towards the entrance. Keeping the inhabitants of the land safe from foul beasts is one thing, but even a mighty swordsman or a crafty mage can get exhausted. There would be as much demand for his kind as there is for the other champions of Rune-Midgard.
He felt a slight tingle down his back as he thought this. Then he noticed that the tingle was actually his back starting to give. He wasted no time in hurrying through the welcoming arch of Prontera's gates.

"Blah blah blah Kafra. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."
That was what he heard as he approached the nearby Kafra employee. He told her to just give him the cart labeled "Entrepeneur", no questions asked, and forked over 800z. He quickly unloaded into the cart an assortment of items that he relieved* from the various critters he came across during his travels.
His back started to feel a little better.

Prontera Square was, as expected, busy.
That is to say, there was around 5-15 people littered about in the middle of the road, either standing or sitting.
The lone man grinned as he tugged his cart towards the curb and prepared his usual routine. He figured he would start with something easy, so he put up 3 types of potions for sale. The merchant was hoping that he could get rid of the blue potions that he carried around for a very long time, since he felt that he had no use for them. The only thing the blue potions did was give him a very annoying headache.
He started to feel pain from the wounds he had received earlier in the Sograt desert, so he grabbed a fistful of red herbs and ate them. They were bitter and almost made him throw up, but he swallowed them with great effort. His pain died down quite a bit afterwards. Then he took a candy cane and ate it to offset the bitterness of the herbs.
Now he was ready.

*forcibly removed from their cold, dead paws/appendages/whatever.

[Flarecobra]

There was a slight tingle, as a quintent of girls came out from behind a building, and the leader, a redheaded girl with the armor of a Knight, colored a midnight-blue* walksed out, an Isis following her, though looking a bit bummed that she now had to wear a top, but followed the Knight faithfully. Alongside was a pair of blue-haired girls, a mage in blue, and an acolyte with white robes and dark blue gloves on. "Hey, noticed you in pain, hope you don't mind." the Acolyte said. "So, how's things? Got anything good?" the Knight said, taking a seat near him. "And got any blue pots? We just got though clearing out the third level of the Pyramid near Morroc, and we're kinda out, and our merch can't make any. Narby, a green-haired and clad merchent girl stuck her tounge out at them as she was setting up shop across the street, selling off gear that they had gotten.

[Great Cartoonist]

"Oh, hey," the merchant said to the astoundingly beautiful girls. "Nah, I'm fine, I get this pain all the time."
He looked at the Knight. She looked like she was in control of her world, and the Isis that was following her added to that effect.
"I go by the name Entrepeneur. That's not my real name though," he added, "it's just what I like to be addressed by.
"I think you'll find that my blue potions are the best I've made," he (semi-)lied, since he didn't really make them; he just asked an old man in Alberta to process a few blue herbs into liquid form. But hey, he thought, a guy's gotta make a living somehow.
"So, you wanna buy something?"

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

"Tammy! You've come back!"
Tammy heard a voice coming out from behind the trees, and hopped towards the shaded area, stopping for a moment to pick up a stray Safety Helm. There she met a group of porings, who eyed her excitedly.
"We thought you were..." one of them started to say, but couldn't quite spit out the last word.
"No," Tammy said, "not really. But from what I've been through, I too would have thought I had. It was wonderful! Being fed liquefied apples every day!"
The other porings gasped in awe and huddled closer around Tammy. Near Geffen's gates a Martin got angry because he couldn't find his lucky hat.
"So why did you leave him?" a poring asked.
"Oh, I didn't leave him," Tammy explained, "he left me. He said that the whole pet/master thing didn't appeal to him as much as it used to, and told me that I would be better off in the field where he found me. So here I am."
Another poring bounced closer. "But what about--"
Just then a freak rift in the fabric of space-time opened up over Tammy out of spite for the laws of RaiRO and sucked her in before closing within a nothingth of a second.

[Flarecobra]

"Like I said, we're looking for blue potions and herbs. Basically SP-restortve stuff." Misty said, shrugging. "How much are they?"

Flare, meanwhile, was off in the shade, relaxing with Rina, sharing some lizards between them. "I swear, those two...." Kimiko said, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Then again, they are of the same kind...."

[Great Cartoonist]

Tammy saw the world around her vanish in an instant, the entire universe returning to black nothingness. She was transported at an unknown speed though time and space, feeling nothing but a small tingle in her body.
Suddenly, the universe coalesced into being again, and she saw...

A landscape of destruction and death flashed before her eyes. Men were jumping out of transport ships, storming the beaches and moving in erratic patterns in a futile attempt to dodge the hailstorm of bullets coming from the machine gun nests in the large stone towers that seemed to almost...
The world faded from her sight again, bringing about a blur of colors that drifted here and there, and eventually merged back into...
She watched in horror as large groups of zombies emerged from every department store, descending upon a lone figure armed with only a PVC pipe, a camera, a skateboard, and a...
The world faded again.
She witnessed the total existence failure of one of the most miraculous starships ever to be built in the galaxy. She didn't know at all that there wasn't any ground to stand on, nor did she realize that there was a total absence of breathable air, but that didn't seem to bother her. On closer inspection, her ability to not be bothered nor harmed by this fact was probably caused by the influence of an extended...
Fade.
Cages hung from the ceiling appeared to be carrying strange, white, furry creatures, who were all quivering in fear as they watched a man with an odd, blue headdress...
Fade.
A squadron of men wielding what appeared to be futuristic guns were unloading a stream of fire into a horde of strange alien beings coming out from ruined buildings...
Fade.
She watched as the odd device in the center of the room began to undergo a resonance cascade...
Fade.
A stream of light shot from the top of the very strange tower that seemed to be made out of garbage, carving up the land like a box cutter through...
Fade.

She wondered whether or not God had a sense of humor, and if He/She/It made the multiverse as one huge joke to His/Her/Its creation.

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

"Ah, those potions. Normally merchants will sell them for 3500z, but for you, I'll make it... 3000z."
The man who wished to be known as Entrepeneur expressed a normal, friendly smile as he said this. Finally being able to sell those almost two dozen blue potions would be one less thing to worry about, and he would get a fair amount of zeny from this sale. He didn't really care about the lost zeny from the discount, as long as he could get more customers to buy his stuff. After all, that's what being a successful merchant is all about, isn't it?

[Flarecobra]

"Ouch...little hard on the purse.." Both of the magic-users winced. Myris sighed and quickly ran across the street and handed them some zeny, then went back to her store. "You owe me!" she called out to them over her shoulder. "6 each please." Misty said, giving enough for 12 blue potions total.

[Great Cartoonist]

"Thanks very much," Entrepeneur said as he handed over the potions. "And take care. We'll meet again sometime."
He didn't expect anyone to buy all his potions. However, he also didn't expect anyone to buy his potions at all, so it wasn't a total loss.
He started to feel hungry. He took a carrot from his pocket and cut off the skin with the sharp ends of his sword mace. Then he dipped it in a jar of honey and ate it.

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

Doll felt a small tingle in her arm. To her, that meant that her master was up to something again, so she prepared for anything to happen.
Except for a rift in space-time to appear over her head and drop a mass of thick, solidish liquid on her head.
An insignificant person walking by watched what happened in surprise and consequently knocked over a marble kurosen bust.

[h4x.m4g3]

The three brothers walked down the Prontera's West Road to the meeting with the fourth, Merchant, when a thick, solidish liquid materialized in the air, startling Thief and causing him to back slide into a marble Kurosen bust. Realizing his deed in vanished in a puff of smoke. "Sorry mates, its a reflex ya know."

The one in the grey duster began to chuckle to himself. "Come on, lets get out of here." De Gun began to walk down the road towards the central fountain, not waiting for the other two to follow.

"Come on." The voice came from behind the Mr. Smiley, that adorned the figure in the black cloak. He cast sight revealing, the crimson clad assassin before following gray garbed gunslinger.

"Yeah, yeah." The assassin muttered as he followed the other two dusting off his coat as he walked.

[Great Cartoonist]

Doll lifted her roughly 3-foot tall body off the floor. She looked around. What happened to NPF? Why was there a bustling city where it should be? Has she been teleported to a different place? Did GC have anything to do with this?
(Those who are reading this in confusion should also read this (http://forum.nuklearpower.com/showthread.php?t=6113), and be even more confused. (http://forum.nuklearpower.com/showpost.php?p=389922&postcount=1000))
She looked at the broken Kurosen bust. Why was that ornament teleported along with her? Would it have served some purpose?
She decided to stop asking questions that she knew she wouldn't get any immediate answers to, and decided to ask the first person she would give any real notice to where she was. She fixed her ice blue hair. Then she realized that she was still wearing the weird liquid on her hair and pink outfit. She tried to rub it off, not expecting the liquid to not enjoy it.
"Hey! Stop that!"
She gave an "EEP!" in surprise, and lost her balance and almost hit the ground when she started levitating in reflex.

It would have relieved her to know that the Kurosen bust would have absolutely no impact on the story whatsoever.

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

Entrepeneur gave absolutely no attention to Prontera's western road as he continued to gnaw at the honey-dipped carrot. His carrot eventually ran out and he started to look for other ways to alleviate his boredom.
He turned to Myris.
"So, how's things?"

[Flarecobra]

Misty and Kimiko wandered off to look over some of the other stores, while Mryis shrugged and said "Eh. Can't complain. They give me gear they want sold, they cover my ass in a fight. Though it can be a little annoying not knowing what Flare and Rina are saying when they talk to each other in hisses. Though I'm surprised how much she's opened up....though she still doesn't talk that much in English...."

[h4x.m4g3]

A little man in a green tunic, with green hair tied back began hobbling up the street towards the brothers three, this man was of course the fourth and merchant of the group. Unlike the other merchants in town, he carried no cart, and had no signs for shops. "Guys, I'm over here!" he said waving to the group of 3.

"Hey, De Merch we got a big haul today." De Gun said as he greeted the youngest of the four. "De Mage thought of this-" however his words were caught short by the cry of "NOOGIE!!!" emitted by De Thief as he appeared suddenly behind De Merch and commited the action of which he cried on the only brother younger than he.

De Mage was glad he was wearing a mask, for though it reflected the expression it hid, no one knew it. "Break it up you two." De Mage said between bouts of laughter, as the eldest it was always his job to be the responsible one.

"Knock it off!" De Gun exclaimed in frustration as the two continued, for all to see. "You're making me look bad."

The two stood up dusting off eachother, as De Merch snuck in one more blow to the back of De Thief's head. "So what was your big ideal this time De Mage?"

"Cookies and cake." De Mage said as he drew the bag of sweets for De Merch to see. "The shopkeeper's can't get enough of them."

[PyrosNine]

A small glow of light appeared on the city's dusty streets, blowing away the dust and making a clean circle where it's light shown. Within a few moments, a fuzzy figure appeared in the light, and slowly grew into focus. It was a red figure, wearing long red robes with a white trim and and long flowing red hair. When the fuzzy figure grew to crystal clarity, the figure stepped upon the ground with sandaled feet, and the light was no more. Asheth had logged on.

Quickly checking equipment, items, and determining where she was in an instant, Asheth noted what she needed to buy. Pulling a bow from her bag and placing it on her head, and pulling out a gem studded staff from the folds of her robes, she sighed. She'd not been here for at least a month. They were all probably leagues beyond her now...and who weren't were probably fresh and new....

But today was a new day. She'd catch up, even if it took her weeks of determined training, and once she'd made it she'd keep on going. Look out thunderboy, here comes Asheth!

First things first though...she needed make the job leap. And there was only one place to do so.

Asheth stepped out of the clean circle of ground and onto the normal, dirty street. It would take some walking, but growing stronger was about doing things the hard way.

But first, to take care of temptation.

The Warp Girl stood by the Kafra Corp employee, unsuspecting. "Hello, where would you like to go today?"

*FLASH!*

"OH! MY FLESH IS ON FIRE!"

Ancient Seriyasten proverb #3: If it tempts, remove it immediately and without remorse.*

Asheth walked away from the seen of the crime casually, whiping some dirt from her eye with her pinky. "Well, that takes care of that. Off to see the wizards! Or better yet, become one!"


*Unless it's a human...but you probably already set him/her on fire so I guess there's no point in saying so.

[Great Cartoonist]

"Yeah, it's pretty much the same routine with me," Entrepeneur replied. "I go out, bash a few heads, take stuff, sell stuff, get money, use money to buy new things to bash heads with. I'm not that rich by today's standards," he said as he fingered a small shining scale in his pocket, "but I'm getting there. Right now I want to provide a service to the people who come in search of supplies and suitable clothing.
"I hate my name. Well, not my real name. The name that I've been given by the merchant community; the one everyone knows me by. I could strangle myself for not correcting that stupid typo. That one little "r" that I left out.
"Oh well," he said before he paused to take a breath, "I guess stuff happens."

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

"Who... WHAT are you?"
Doll was looking at the small lump of liquid staring back at her.
"Oh, I'm a poring. What, you've never seen one before? We're practically everywhere around these parts."
"No, I'm not really from around here. Or, more specifically, this world," Doll replied.
"Oh. Well, that makes sense, considering I've never seen a creature like you before. I'm Tammy. What's your name?"
"My name is Doll. I'm... well, it's hard to explain what I am. I'm kind of a magical spirit of some sort inhabiting a plush toy. There's a guy whom I always follow, his name is GC. He's the one who gave me my name. Do you know him?"
"No, never known a guy with that name. Where is he?"
"Y'know, I'm not sure myself. Never seen him in a few days." Doll looked at the statue in the center of the square. "Where am I anyway?"
"You're in Prontera. It's one of the busiest cities in the land."
Tammy looked at the various people around the square, eying their valuables.
"Want to take a look around?" she asked.
"Alright, sure. Maybe I can ask some people and learn more about this place."

[Flarecobra]

The three girls and Isis heard the screams, and took off in the direction. Once there, they saw a mage burning a Kafra employee. Kimiko quickly set to work healing the Kafra while Flare and Misty went for the Mage, Flare launching a Spear Boomerang at her, while Misty preparred a Lev. 7 Frost Driver attack.

[Great Cartoonist]

Doll looked around Prontera Square for someone to talk to, somebody whom she felt she would get a straight answer from. She was in luck: there were four sane girls in the square.
She looked at the obvious leader of the four, Flare, who seemed to be preoccupied with something. As were the other three girls (although it's not very clear if Myris was in fact busy).
"Perhaps it's best if I wait," she murmured to herself.

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

Entrepeneur, having finished spouting useless rhetoric to Myris, turned to face the square once again. There was a poring in front of him.
"Hello," the poring said. "How's business?"
"Same as usual," Entrepeneur said, not skipping a beat. He didn't find it unusual to have a wild poring come up to him and start a conversation that didn't end with one of them dead. He didn't care, really.
"I'm Tammy," she said. "I'd really like to know where you get all your neat trinkets and such."
"Um, well I usually swing a heavy blunt object onto something again and again until I win a prize. In some cases I don't use a blunt object."
He brandished a very threatening Main Gauche. "Sometimes I use a pointy thing." He sheathed his knife.
Tammy, frozen white, sighed with relief.
"Hmm..." Entrepeneur pondered. "Y'know, I could use some more potions to sell. Don't think I have enough here." He packed up and stood to face Prontera's southern road.
"Can I come with you? I might be a great help," Tammy said hopefully.
"Sure. If you really want to."
"Oh yes. Yes I do."

[h4x.m4g3]

"Cookies... you want me to- HOLY SHNITZERDOODLE!" De Merch was cut off in mid-sentence as a shield flew inches from his face.

"Ya know for a guy who spends all his time in Prontera, you'd think you'd be used to that." De Thief chimed in.

De Merch- "That thing was 2 inches from my face! I could've been severely injured!"

"So do you think we should help out?" De Gun asked De Mage.

"Who though, perhaps we should just wait and watch." De Mage replied.

"Awww, that's your answer to everything! I'm gonna go have some fu-" De Thief's words were cut off mid sentence as he was encased in a block of ice.

De Gun- "Nice one, didn't let him take a single step this time."

De Merch- "Ha, ha, ha! Look who's at Mr. Big and Bad, encased in a block of -"

De Gun- "A two fer today, eh?"

De Mage- "Well I had to be fair."

[PyrosNine]

Asheth ducked spear boomerang and instinctively cast a firewall between her and whomever was attacking.

"Oh come on now, can't any one let me remove temptation in peace?"

Asheth's vision of the attackers was diminished by her firewall, but she could at least tell one of them was casting an Ice spell.

Well, in this case one had to fight ice with fire (Due to natural laws stating that in a fight with fire and fire, Fire would win.)

Asheth readied up a level 7 Fire bolt, giving it everything she could to speed it up before the other magic user.

[Flarecobra]

The Ice spell shot off first, due to it being a speedy spell to use, and smiled as Asheth was frozen mid-cast, which allowed Misty to attack with her Lev. 4 Lightening Bolt. The Ice shattered right before she finished casting, but she still got the shot off, the 4 wind bolts striking in rapid succesion.

Flare meanwhile skirted the firewall, and got ready for an attack in case the Lightining Bolt spell failed to kill her.
(Common skill among magic users, though what I used was the low-level version. Be glad she isn't a Wizard with Jupitar Thunder.)

[PyrosNine]

Asheth's bow crackled and sizzled from the lightning bolt attack, which was indeed faster than her Firebolt by a great many means, but it could also be said it lacked the punch of her Firebolt.

Her bow took most of the damage, having found one on a doomed ship that had both a nice chunk of magic defense and even a lightning ward, though frankly she was never hit much with lightning anyway making it utterly useless against everything else, including the spooty undead pirates she'd found it from.

She was a bit miffed about the freezing's effect on her hair though, making a mental note to see if Geffen had a nice Salon.

One thing Misty had probably not taken into consideration was that Asheth was unfazed and quite ready with her other spells. She had on her a quick, and deadly spell gained through days of practice and hordes of undead. The one spell she had mastered fully (Firebolt itself was only on 9) It was capable of attacking lightning fast, with little prep time. The only downside was that she couldn't do it too many times, as it ate away her SP like nothing else. But, when faced with a suprise attack such as this, she was more than willing to let them have it.

Even though it seemed the attacker was now literally running straight into a volley of flames, Asheth took no chances. She pulled out the big guns and readied up: "Soul Strike!"

Charging up her own spirit, the unending resolve she carried and the will to carry it out, she unleashed it upon her foes: "TEN!"

She shot out 5 deadly orbs of her spirit in rapid succession, which shot through the firewall at the enemy mage.

[Flarecobra]

(Hold it. If you get frozen while casting, you'd have to re-cast the spell, as it was inttrupted. That's how it works ingame.)

[PyrosNine]

(What? In Rai Ro I got frozen by some witch thing, and it kept going. The spell even went off while I was still frozen. The only thing I've noticed to interfere with my spells was being hit.)

[Flarecobra]

(That's Stop. By frozen, I ment you were encased by ice.)

[PyrosNine]

(I was frozen, as it was an ice witch, and I was particularly shocked about being frozen anyway. I only survived because the firebolt spell went on. Then again, it was kinda buggy back then, so it may have simply been one of those glitches. Never mind, I'll just use Soul Strike Ten Twice, which is just as deadly and would probably fit that timeline. On another note, I'm working on getting RaiRo back.)

Asheth used Soul Strike Ten twice, one on Flare, the other on Misty.

[Flarecobra]

Flare took the hits, then struck again with Spear boomerang as she came in, Misty going down from the strikes. As soon as Flare was in striking range, she used Perice, and struck twice agenst the mage, while Kimiko came over and gave a quick lev.8 Heal on me, then an Agi-up.

[Great Cartoonist]

Entrepeneur started to leave Prontera, but suddenly stopped.
"Oh yeah... forgot something."
He turned back and entered a local shop. Meanwhile, Tammy was wondering where Doll went. She found her waiting on the curb observing the chaos that was happening between Asheth and the three other girls.
"Hey Doll, you wanna stick with me? I found a sap--er, merchant who's going to help you get started in this world."
Doll was reluctant to leave, but eventually decided that she would get better results if she went with Tammy.
"Well, okay Tammy. Where is this merchant?"
"He's in a shop, doing something. We're going to have to wait for him on the streets."
"Okay. Tell me when he's done; I'm going to do something as well."
Doll called to the female knight, who was at this moment in the heat of battle.
"Hey, uh, warrior woman? By any chance would you give me your name so that we can talk sometime later?"
She hoped that it wouldn't be a futile attempt.

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

"Um, does anyone know what happened to Tammy?"
One of the porings broke the 15-minute silence among the group. They found the overall situation rather odd, particularly because of the fact that they had not relieved themselves over the hour and they were starting to get edgy.
The rift in space-time came back to dump the remains of a broken Kurosen bust on the entire group, just because it was bored out of its mind.

[PyrosNine]

Asheth took the hit as was expected, and immediately swooned to her knees. "Ow! Not the face! I need it for things!"

However, not one to give into defeat, she reached into her robes, pulled out a large cooked piece of meat and ate it quickly in a move that not only restored her strength, but probably distracted all who were watching. (Anyone else get the folly from the premise that I can, in the middle of a fight, eat like a hundred things of food and quaff a carp-load of potions? In RaiRo, one can survive anything assuming they have a hotkey and a large supply of health items!)

Asheth was a bit miffed now, reaching further into her now less sticky robes to pull out a scroll. "Let's see how you like being frozen! Scroll of Frost Diver, Level 4!" The scroll glowed and vanished, and a weak frost diver spell was released from where it once was. It was a one use scroll, and a much weaker spell than the one she'd been hit with, but if it froze her just long enough for Asheth to get some cover, things could be done.

She directed the spell at Flare.

[Flarecobra]

Flare grinned and managed to get off a Spear Stab right before taking the hit, knocking the other Mage back agenst a building. She took quite a bit of damage, due to her armor being fire-property, however Kimiko was already healing her. Then Kimiko gave her several buffs, incresing her agility, attack speed, and defenses.

(In case your curious, Vit build knight, and my skills typically do between 900 for Spear Stab, to over 1500 for Pierce.)

[Great Cartoonist]

The merchant finally stepped out, having finished overstating the value of his fine goods to the local items dealer.
"Well, if you wanna come, now'd be the time for doing so."
Tammy leaped forward. "Okay Doll, we're off."
Doll sighed and followed the two towards the gates of Prontera.

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

A PecoPeco walking through the Sograt desert felt a medium-sized tingle. Good, it thought, as that meant that the poison was finally losing its effect. It had been administered violently by a prejudiced Thief who went on a rampage through the desert, killing Pickys and PecoPecos without any consideration for their feelings.
This PecoPeco, though not a champion of justice, was a very vengeful sort of flightless avian (as were all PecoPecos), delivering a well-placed Sonic Blow in retaliation for killing its fourth cousin thrice-removed.
Now that it was free of the poison (and that creep of a Thief), it decided to head towards the south fields to find a good earthworm to snack on, where it was inconveniently bludgeoned with an equally inconveniently-placed sword mace.

[PyrosNine]

(Sorry. Got sent on a whirlwind trip to Fayetteville to see old peoples. Back now. And I smell of age.)

Asheth raised up her hand. "Okay, okay! I give up! Stop trying to harm me in a completely unreasonable and unprovoked manner!"

Standing up straight, she pulled out another potion and quaffed it, catching her breath. "Can't you see I"m just a helpless fire mage girl, lost in the cruel world? A world which is also kinda Norse without having too many beards...."

[Flarecobra]

"Who seems to like torch innocents." Flare said, keeping her lance at the ready, while Kimiko administered a Ygg leaf to Misty, who slowly got up. "Geez, if I feel like freezing stuff, I'd just go for Pecos...." She said, shaking her head. She then chuckled. "The people of Morroc liked the flash-freezed birds. Kept them good for eating for a while."

[PyrosNine]

"Indeed." Asheth agreed, attempting to become part of the background and no longer something worth ganging up on with hurt.

Speaking of which, she pulled out another Turkey Styled Peco Peco leg and chomped down on it, filling up her health. With that done, she started inching away from the trio...

[Great Cartoonist]

He wiped his sword mace and casually harvested the beak. Doll looked at him.
"Ugh... that's so gross..."
"Well, it gives me the monies," the merchant replied.
Tammy was far off in the distance, trying to catch up to the two. She was rather bloated, making it awkward for her to run, but eventually she came up to the pair.
"Alright, goopball, cough up everything you got," Entrepeneur said.
"No," She replied confidently.
"Well then," he said before bringing his elbow down her dead-on, causing her to eject various feathers, needles, shells, and bottles.
"Ow, that hurt!"
"It'll hurt even more if you don't give me the last one you're hiding from me."
"What last one? I've got nothing left!"
"Goopball..."
He raised his mace like a baseball bat. He was aiming at Tammy.
"Okay, okay, jeez," she said and spit out a rather nice-looking safety helmet.
"Thank you." He took off his hat and put on the helmet.
Doll glared at him. "Was it necessary to threaten her like that?"
"No."
"So you like to torture other creatures for fun, is that it?"
"Nope, it's totally not like that at all."
He turned around and casually swung his mace onto his shoulder, which caused the wrong end to land quite crudely into Doll's head.
"Also, I can be sarcastic at times."

[Fifthfiend]

And twas then that mighty Sir Fifth von Fifthington, noble Knight and Guardian of the Empire didst approach at speed, mounted 'pon his noble steed, Birdo, King of Pecos.

"OUTTA THE WAY, JERK-SAUCE!" he didst proclaim as he sped past, on his way to another grand adventure.

[PyrosNine]

As Asheth was ran over not unlike that one neighbor's pet dog that ran out in the road and while you were driving, and you subconsciously had a "slip" of the wheel stemming from the dog yapping in the wee hours of the morn.

"OMGWTFBBQ, WEAK-SAUCE!" She complained as she died, a horrible, horrible and tragic death.

[Great Cartoonist]

Payon forest.
Finally, a place that's not quite as hot.
Walking (with some difficulty) through nature's growths, Entrepeneur headed towards Payon, the archer village. He didn't want to learn how to fire a bow, of course. He just wanted to have a word with the person who made fruit juices. Business reasons.
In his wake, the two smaller figures of Doll and Tammy hurried after him. For a person who's lugging -- what, 120 pounds of goods in his cart? -- he can sure walk fast.
Along the way, he turned a corner and almost crashed into a wizard heading the opposite direction.
"Sorry about that, friend," Entrepeneur said.
The wizard said nothing. He nodded his head and walked away.
"Probably a mute," he [Entrepeneur] said to himself.

[Castarr4]

Can anyone join in?

Edit: Sorry, noted.

[Great Cartoonist]

(Yes, but this is the kind of thread (http://forum.nuklearpower.com/showthread.php?t=17177) for asking that sort of question.)

[Fifthfiend]

It quickly became apparent from what Sir Fifthington had been running -

An innumerable horde of bloodthirsty Fifth-clones!

All of Prontera did tremble...

for the War of FifthPerium had begun!

[PyrosNine]

But then when all hope was lost, PyrosNine, Asheth, and every other member of his insanity logged on, matching Fifth's army, and then some.

Then, with a mighty kick of Asheth's really sharp heel, Fifth was knocked down to a Fourth!

[Great Cartoonist]

A wizard passed through the southern gates of Prontera.
Saying nothing, he slipped by the chaos at Prontera Square and continued towards the local pub.
He took a seat and let his mind wander. As he did so, he felt a rather uncomfortable tingle within his soul.
He wondered why.

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

Payon cave was a scary place.
Not just because of the atmosphere, but because the dead that the residents of Payon threw in the cave were transformed into the mindless undead: rotting corpses of the deceased that have been animated by supernatural forces. Some do the bidding of a higher power; some live in eternal torment and want nothing more than to share their pain in the most socially unacceptable way possible; others have no soul and have only one thing in mind: to devour the flesh of the living.
The Munak and Bongun clones apparently fit into the second category.
Entrepeneur discovered this some time ago as he was collecting alcohol from the mushrooms that grew in the cave. A Munak happened upon him while his back was turned.
With a short "Ow" he fell onto his knees, dropping a handful of spores he carried in his arm.
He grabbed his sword mace and turned to attack just as the Munak hit him again.
"Okay, hitting people while they're down, that's not very sportsmanlike."
He backed off and ran further into the cave with the Munak in pursuit.
"But, then again, I don't play sports."
He didn't go very far, though, as a Bongun crossed his path.
"I shall kill you without suffering."
The Bongun turned and lunged at Entrepeneur just as he ducked on reflex, knocking off his hat. The Bongun was about to take another lunge when he stopped suddenly. Entrepeneur stood upright, analyzed the situation, and discovered the reason.
The Munak caught up with him.
"My love... it has been an eternity..."
"Love... meh," Entrepeneur commented. "I don't plan on seeking love. It makes death much more regrettable."
The Munak and Bongun looked at him.
"Shall we kill him together?"
"Yes... together, as it should have been."
"Or, you could just torture me with your mushy-gushy love and I'll commit suicide. That'd be easier for you, right?"
"...no. We won't kill him. It just doesn't seem right. After all, he brought us together."
"Um, excuse me, but you're CLONES. The odds of you two meeting up together is... hmmm... pretty good actually."
"Ah well. One can dream, can't she?"
"Or he. Well, here. If it makes you two feel any better about LEAVING ME ALONE then I've got a Witherless Rose for you. Take it and may your love last until the end of time, and all that other stuff." He produced a rose from his cart.
"Ah. Well... thank you, mortal. We'd better be off then."

After that, Entrepeneur made a promise to himself to stay the hell away from that cave.
Entrepeneur shook himself for bringing up that memory and asked for another round of non-alcoholic beverage at the pub while Tammy and Doll shared a glass of fresh-squeezed apple juice.

[Finli]

The normally peaceful snowfields of Lutie returned to silence with a howl trailing off into a whimper. For the past ten minutes prior, the fields echoes with howls, growls, gusty winds, yaps, and gunfire. A great deal of gunfire. Fanning away some smoke from his face, Finli o Tego lowered his facemask, popping a candycane he found into his mouth.
Setting his bulky Gatling Gun down gently into the snow, where it hissed softly as it cooled down, he limped, one pantleg notably scratched up and covered in large ice crystals, over to the pile of ice shards that were the remains of the Garm. His trenchcoat fanning out around him, he crouched down in the snow, sunlight reflecting off his purple glasses as he poked around in the ice for his loot. Withdrawing a long fang, a blue crystal, and a grey ore, he slid them into his pockets, standing back up with a grunt and returning to claim his gun. Slinging his gun over his shoulder, he spat out his candy, pulling his mask up over his mouth and nose, and pulled out a large purple butterfly wing. Tossing it over his head, he vanished in a brief column of light.

----------

A brief puff of arid desert wind accompanied the aged merchant to Prontera as he appeared by the teleportation agent, tipping his hat in thanks to her. Wheeling his cart behind him, the man, unique in appearance with an immaculate black tuxedo, long white moustache, greying ponytail under his stylish brown hat, and ornately decorated monocle, made his way to a shady corner of Prontera Square and sat down, his cart in front of him. Opening it up, he withdrew an array of items, closed his cart's lid, and arranged the items on top of his cart and on the ground beside it: Small baskets of Oridecon and Elunium ores, bottles of potions, some shields, and a metallic blue-bladed dress sword. When his wares were displayed to his satisfaction, Jafal Auros tilted his hat lower over his eyes, leaned back, and waited.

----------

After the charging knight ran by a small sidestreet, grumbling was heard. The grumbling came from a silver-haired man in black clergy robes, rubbing his eye and walking onto the main street, looking around irritatedly. The large pink ribbon on the back of his head would seem like it would raise comments, but the priest's gruff demeanor, eyepatch over one eye, and large well-worn mace hanging next to two Crucifixes on his belt would usually negate any comments.

"I find a quiet part of town to rest my eye, and someone goes galloping past and shouting. Who did that?"

Looking around, Pere Callahan spied Asheth's prone body, and headed towards her and the others near her, not looking happy at all.

"What in blazes is going on here?

[SquirrelWizard]

If you wanted to track Verax when he is in the Sograt Desert, you need not do much more than look at the horizon, and follow the dust cloud his cart kicks up. Verax was running fast, inhumanly fast at this point. His dress was more of a merchant's rather than an alchemist, but he had various bottles and bits of drying herbs hanging off of his belt. Clamped firmly on his head was a set of pilot's goggles that prevented the sand from blinding him as he zoomed past. Riding behind him in his cart, and thus making the whole scene look like some bizarre rendition of a chariot, was Fleur. Fleur wasn't human, in fact, its best to describe her as Humanoid and leave it at that. For starters she only reached up to Verax's knee, and her head ended in a sprig of leaves. Her colorings were those often attributed to dryads, and other fey, and it was because of her that Verax could run so fast.

Fleur was a homunculus, a being crafted by alchemy. She was unusually strong for her size, and she had two abilities. The first was she could use a condensed red potion to heal wounds far beyond the potion's ability, the second is the ability to cause herself, and others, to move at a much accelerated rate.

Meanwhile, near the outskirts of Morroc, three thieves were working on setting up an ambush. Morroc was well known for its seedier element, and these three were no different. They were waiting for Moe to spot a potential "customer" so they could ambush him. They weren't expecting Verax, or more safe to say, they weren't expecting him so soon. Verax caught the glimpse of two people streaking by, coupled with the gleam of knives, but didn't stop.

Larry and Curly were still talking about the plan, and how to refine it when Verax... hit. They reached for their daggers, but while no actual physical contact was made, they found the gust of wind behind Verax more than enough to scatter them like ten pins. Moe came running down from the top of the dune he was on, "Guys why didn't you stop him!"

[Great Cartoonist]

Travel tip for the newbie adventurers of Rune-Midgard:
Alberta is incredibly boring.

The fact that a merchant, a poring, and an animated plush doll from another dimension walked into Alberta this day did nothing to change the above statement.

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

The wizard felt his mind lift and his spirit float through time and space. He could not feel his body anymore, only a chilling, quiet emptiness that surrounded him. He looked back at where his body would be, but it was gone. There was only black nothingness now.
But somewhere in the distance, a faint speck beckoned to him, like a lone star in the night sky trying with all its might to shine through a cloud cover. He willed his shapeless form towards it, trying to find-
A sudden jab to his elbow jarred him back to the interior of Prontera's local bar.

[EDIT] This RP is totally dead. To find out what happens next, please sign up for RaiRO and find the story forum.