Calcifer

The rattling of darkened, weathered chains echoed across the lake’s surface. Black-dyed boots made soft landfall on a wooden dock, carrying a girl with a sinister-looking grin up the path to the sleepy valley. A pink bob and bright eyes clashed against her costume: black horns sprouting up from her skull, fingertips stained red to the second knuckle, and broken shackles on each wrist. Boots laced up to her knees and she was dressed in a cacophony of black leathers, cloth, and lace, with tattered red ribbons littering her like stuck-on decorations. Her eyes, normally altered purple, were change

”E-emergency! Two humans! Escaping!” The shouts of one dazed faerie faded quickly as the curves of the cave tunnel buried the sound. It flew off in a hurry, while the other two gradually picked themselves up off the floor from where’d they’d been tossed through the air. Calcifer, meanwhile, stared at Azhoda from where she’d taken up space in front of her in awe. The woman took command of the situation and acted quickly to turn things on its head that for a moment she simply stood there mouth agape. But when the other two faeries began groaning and grumbling curses under their breath, her

”Be quiet, meat-puppet!” A shrill voice snapped back. From a darkened edge of the cavern, wholly unclear whether they had been there the whole time or had just suddenly appeared, a trio of faeries flitted into view wearing sinister expressions. ”Oh! Hello!” Calcifer piped up immediately, shifting to the edge of her cage and wrapping her fingers around a couple of the stick-bars. She studied the appearance of the three faeries very briefly. ”Have you seen–” ”You may not ask me questions!!” The head of the trio shouted in a booming voice, zipping through the air to appear directly in f

”Hm?” Her fingers abandoned bag at her hip and her bright eyes met his tired ones. Though the smile remained stuck on her face, her expression dimmed a bit with Morningstar’s simple clarification. Her face might have paled a little, if she’d spent more than a second processing the implications of her blunder. Instead, she stiffly and swiftly moved on to his question. ”Oh! How rude of me!” She took a moment to clear her throat. The preparation of introductions was an excellent stage for correcting the unevenness of her voice. She stood up straight, holding one hand flat at her side while t

Phew. Calcifer nearly let out a huge sigh of relief to know that her cellmate was alive. Though it was unclear as to whether the girl yet realized that’s what they were: prisoners. Or maybe captives? The whole thing was rather unclear. Calcifer relaxed and pulled back so that she was no longer straining against the wooden bars, but she kept her place on her knees directly next to them. She gave the stranger–Azhoda–a moment to gain a semblance of her bearings. The pink girl’s eyes lit up and she gave a firm nod, ”A pleasure to meet you, Miss Azhoda.” She placed a hand over her chest, ”I am

”Ugh…” Calcifer let out a small groan as the world found her again. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, like waking up in the middle of a deep sleep. Her vision was blurry, her head felt fuzzy, and every limb was heavier than it should. ”Huh…? What…happened?” She muttered and mumbled in her stupor, as if getting words past her lips would help tether her to consciousness. The low light of the cavern was tinted with a blue hue. This must be the cavern that the faeries were talking about, but from in here it was impossible to tell what time of day it was, or how long she’d been asleep, or– ”The

With quite a bit of effort, Calcifer had managed to ferry the blonde stranger past the waves and onto the beach. It was surprisingly difficult to drag a whole person through the surf, and Calcifer’s build was anything but sturdy or muscular. Sheer determination did most of the heavy lifting. After another heave, her head was on a swivel to search for the closest person. She was about to drop her haul, mouth opened and taking in a deep gulp of air to fuel a shout for help, but before she could start screaming for someone trained in CPR, something smacked her leg with a wet, sandy ’slap!, a

What a wonderful day to revel in the sunlight and salted air! Calcifer stood at the crest of a hill overlooking the sprawling beach. Vibrant, flower-patterned shorts were hemmed just above her knees, and a thin aquamarine belt looped through them just below her waist. A white tank top wrapped comfortably around her torso, partially hidden beneath a sheer and baggy dusty-pink cover-up top that flowed gently in the breeze. A pair of large reflective sunglasses rested over the top of her bangs and a wide smile adorned her face. She took in the sights and sounds, soaking in the atmosphere alo

The little girl almost flinched at Ryo’s approach. But he wasn’t a big, screeching bat, or a giant spider, or an angry wolf. So she looked up at him with wide, scared eyes and her bottom lip quivered heavily before she could get any words out. Instead, her voice just sort of blubbered and she cried fresh tears at the prospect of being rescued. Koko reached out and grabbed at the sides of Ryo’s armor, throwing herself into his lap and wailing a bunch of incoherent thoughts and feelings. She would stay like that for as long as he would let her, small hands gripping tightly at whatever part of hi

”And so I said: ‘Nay! Stay away from that woman, or I’ll have your head!’ And I brandished my sword, ready for a fight. But then the beast squawked at me at ran for it! Can you believe that? Such a cowardly foe.” Calcifer had been prattling on and on for the better part of ten minutes, regaling her new companions with one of her many, many heroic tales. ”Squawked at you…?” One of the two faeries escorting her echoed with a confused, skeptical look. It shared a glance with its kin as they fluttered through the air on either side of the pink-haired player. ”Exactly! Rude and uncooperat

It wasn’t long before Calcifer grew antsy. Impatient. There was something about this stretch of inaction that itched at her, nagging her that she shouldn’t be standing around on the sidelines. Her grip on the handle of her sword flexed and the fingers of her free hand tapped against one another. She fidgeted while her eyes strained to keep sight of the bat that Ryo faced down, and then they darted about the rest of the cave: past Ryo’s shoulder, past the monster, the sides, the ceiling, anywhere that provided her some bit of feedback or engagement. She knew why she couldn’t go swinging at the

”Hm?” She felt the weight of Ryo’s gauntleted hand on her shoulder and looked over to him with a curious hum. She followed his hand, pointing up into the darkness. She squinted again, straining to make out the shapes of the uneven cavern ceiling. The something shifted. Something moved. Calcifer jolted when the giant bat descended on them. She renewed her grip on her weapon and held her sword aloft, separating from Ryo as he drew his own blade. She took a couple of steps back, sizing up the beast–it sure was massive for a bat. Its fangs alone spanned the length of your average bat, and its

”Of course!” Calcifer’s misunderstanding of Ryo asking whether or not she fully completed quest prompts was inevitable, so it was a good thing he clarified. The way he described it gave her pause. She squinted, tapped on her chin, and let out an audible hum. That blasted circle. She’d caught sight of it a handful of times, the annoying bugger. ”Well, most of the people who ask for help offer some kind of reward. A lot of times they get pretty insistent about it. But before you get the wrong idea! I always refuse any kind of gifts or anything the kind townsfolk try to give me.” She raised a han

Calcifer let Ryo lead the way with a heart full of trust and a head empty of directions. Keeping her holo-map open in front of her the entire time would have become a nuisance, anyway. As with any great adventuring team, the time for travel brought upon them the time for getting to know your travelling partner! And yet, guilt gripped firmly at her heart with the delivery of Ryo’s very first question. She clutched at her chest, lagging behind a few paces in the process. ”Samurai Ryo. I must be completely and absolutely honest with you…!” A look of dread was etched upon her features as she revea

As soon as the woman stammered out some promise of a reward, Calcifer stuck her arm straight out, palm open, at the quest-giver. “No need, kind madam. Seeing the smile returned to your face will be enough of a gift.” She dismissed whatever it was the NPC was planning to give them, but it seemed the frantic woman was done speaking either way. She simply stood there, hands clasped together, looking between the two players expectantly while they lingered in the area. Calcifer turned to her newfound comrade. “Ryo the samurai! Pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Calcifer, the soon-to-be