Ivory Lotus

"Hmmmm." Ivory vocalized thoughtfully at the question that Randal had posed. It was possible that these were just throw away bosses with no real story but that wasn't as fun as the alternative. She placed a finger in her lip on her lips, thinking. "What if they are brothers and warriors from an ancient civilization of minotaur people, who sacrificed themselves in order to save their people, but as a result are cursed to wander this labyrinth fighting players for all eternity!" She exclaimed, presenting her idea with visible excitement despite the fact that there was nothing to back up her wild claim. That didnt matter to her, it was way more fun to be creative and wild than stick to realism. She could even picture the drama of the story. She smiled as they continued down the path, heading into the western part of the maze. Maybe some day the brothers would break free of the curse that forced them to fight, and they could all live in peace.

4/5

Ivory wanted to celebrate, but she felt like she needed to respect the death of another creature. Its death had been necessary, but she felt a little saddened anyway. She glanced over at Randal. He was very strong, she had seen him fight before, but she was still very impressed. Hakai on the other hand... Well, she hadnt accomplished anything. She supposed that the girl was putting up a strong facade because she was weak; It was probably a defense mechanism of some kind, to scare off potential player killers or something. She felt a little bad for her.

"Nice one Randa! I guess we turn around and go the other way or something now?" She asked. This time doing the quest had gone way smoother than the last time. Last time they had had a full party and some guy named Freyd, but he hadnt been helpful at all honestly and she had been less than impressed. He had acted so cool and then hed only done 1 point of damage. Some people just didnt live up to the hype. "Onwards!" She declared dramatically, raising her hand in the air and pointing in the complete wrong direction.

1/5

Ivory smiled happily at Randal complimenting her, not really caring that Hakai said she didn't like her. If Ivory believed her she would have been devastated, but she knew that everyone liked her. It was just hard for some people to admit. "I like you too Randal, you keep things exciting, and even though you can be a little weird I feel comfortable hanging out with you." She responded looking down a little shyly. The moment was broken a moment later as she pitched forward, falling forward and barely catching herself with her hands. Upon further inspection she had tripped on a depression in the ground that they walked on, a large, hoof shaped footprint. She struggled back to her feet, looking around carefully. That probably meant the minotaur was close.

The light seemed to dim, the semi-cheerful air of the group evaporating as a loud inhuman howl was heard from just a bit further on in the maze, and then a loud thudding sound that shook the ground they stood on with each one. The beast rounded the corner at full steam, howling once more. It was clad in full plate armor and wielding a massive sword and shield. The minotaur stared at them for a moment, its hoof pawing at the ground as it prepared to charge at them. "Excuse me sir, we don't have to fight! No one has to fight, we can all just live and let live, right?" She called out to the creature, although it only seemed to take it as an insult, its focus now on her.

5/5

Action Used: Howl +2 Hate -2 EN

Randal: HP 480/480 | Energy 66/66 | Damage 18 (+2 SA) | MIT 20 | ACC 3 | EVA 4 | LD 6 | H: 0

Ivory Lotus:   | Health: 465/465 | EN:58/60 | Mitigation: 68 | 2 ACC | 1 Prosperity | H: 2

Hakai: HP: 680/680 | EN: 102 | MIT: 78 |  DMG: 23 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 3 | Bleed: 2 | Paralyze: 1 | H: 0

<<Kantaras, the Eastern Hoya Minotaur>> HP: 150/150 | DMG: 45 | ACC: 1

Cooldowns:

Ivory had no idea that Randal felt strongly about talking about loved ones, or she wouldnt have brought it up. And she still had no idea, as she wasnt known to be the most observant person in the world and she completely glossed over the fact in her mind that Randal had moved away from them because of the topic. She just thought he wanted some alone time. 

"Thats a dumb idea Hakai, people are great, and its better to love them and then lose them than never love them at all." She frowned, looking like she was thinking very hard. "I think that's a famous quote from something or other..." She frowned for a moment before shaking her head. It wasn't important. "Anyway, people are social by nature, some just more than others. It must be lonely living like that, i'm glad you got out and are hanging out with us now." She smiled at Hakai as they finally entered the labyrinth. She looked over to Randal. "I really like you, and Randal does too, right Randal?" She called out to him.

2/5

Ivory hummed to herself happily. Despite first impressions Hakai seemed like a friendly enough person, and she certainly looked reliable. The woman was very straight to the point and didn't seem one to waste time, but those were admirable qualities, ones that Ivory tended to lack. Her eyes widened in surprise at Randals response to the question Hakai had asked. "Randal! Why are you rolling around in the dirt? And without me at that!" Being completely oblivious to how that might sound. She had no idea why he would be doing that, but it sounded like fun. She turned to Hakai as they added the NPC to their party and started to make their way to the Labyrinth, smiling excitedly at the other woman. "So Hakai, do you have a boyfriend yet? There are a lot of smart strong and cute guys around, someone tall and cute like you probably has to fight them all off, huh? Even though you look a little rough around the edges." The ditz of a woman started to ramble at the new addition to their party. 

Ivory turned around, staring at the woman who was nonchalantly smoking after apparently shoving a faune over. Ivory would have been very distraught after whatever had happened, but the woman just seemed to not care like she caused commotion regularly and this was a common occurrence. "She doesnt seem like the kind of person you want around influencing you..." She whispered as Randal used her as a human shield despite the fact that they were in a safe zone. She had to wonder what sort of woman this was for Randal to be acting so weird. She looked up at the slightly taller woman as they arrived, a little intimidated by her presence, but always happy to make friends. "Nice to meet you. I like your hair, it looks very cute." She commented, figuring that starting with a compliment would be the best way to start getting on her good side.

Ivory decided to keep it to herself that she had already done this quest, although that might be given away later by the fact that she was literally wearing one of the quest necklaces right now. She was happy to help a friend, and she didnt want him to feel awkward about inviting her on a quest that she had literally just finished doing. her lips turned up in a friendly smile, glad that at least someone wanted her to hang out with them. "I would love to come, although there's only so much I can do to help." She responded to him, shifting on her feet uncomfortably at the thought of killing another minotaur. She didnt like helping to hurt other things, although she understood that it was an unfortunate necessity of the game that they found themselves in. She jumped as she heard a loud shouting from behind her, squeaking and hugging herself in surprise. What on earth was going on behind her?

Ivory hummed to herself, tossing the Hoya of the West that she had just received up in the air. Her head hurt a little and she wondered if there was a bruise. Generally speaking headbutting a minotaur in the crotch was not the best form of attack, but she had tripped. Luckily her newest friends had finished it off for her. She hated that they had had to fight the creature, but it hadn't seemed capable of reason. Luckily she knew the secret strategy to beating it, and if she ever had to do the quest again she would definitely be pulling that trick out again.

Speaking of friends... She glanced around in confusion, noting that they had all disappeared on her. She never ceased to be surprised when that kind of thing happened, and it happened a lot. She slipped the necklace around her neck, noticing Randal out of the corner of her eye seeming to be asking people to join him for something or other. The snow haired healer wandered over to him, smiling like a bit of a ditz, which was typical. "Hey Randal, what are you doing around here?" She asked, having come up behind him and now looking at him with her head cocked to the side curiously.

Quest Complete!

Ivory:
 

Randal:
 

It appeared as though the gryphon respected her standing up and being more active in her taming attempt as it started to meander towards her. Slowly, with the occasional stutter, but it finally ended up at her feet, the tiny creature looking up at her expectantly. not wanting to ruin this chance, she slowly pulled the familiar food out and gently lowered it down to the gryphon. The creatures beak snapped, and for a second Ivory thought she might have lost a finger. However, it seemed that the gryphon was just extremely excited and had devoured the food all at once. Making a strange purring sound it started to nuzzle her leg, flapping its wings playfully. She gently reached down to pick the creature up, holding it in her arms carefully as it purred and nuzzled her. Turning around she noticed Randal being sneaky behind her. She waved to him and made her way over to explain that she needed to return the familiar food and then thanked him for his help.

They made their way back the the entrance to Nimbus, Ivory finding the traveling gypsy where she had first encountered her. She returned the familiar food, and was thanked by the gypsy which then led into a long and slightly awkward pause. Ivory had no idea why she was being stared at like that and didn't know how to interpret it, being oblivious as she was, she just assumed the gypsy was marveling at her beauty. After a moment the gypsy nodded and started to walk away, the quest completion notification popping up on Ivory's HUD.

It wasn't going great, and Ivory was running out of things that she could possibly do. Just like she had been thinking a moment earlier it came down to patience, but it really seemed like the gryphon wasn't respecting her sit there and wait approach. Seeming to rapidly lose interest it started to back up slowly. Seeing this Ivory stood back up slowly, trying not to appear threatening and motioning for it to come closer while waving the familiar food in front of her. This was rapidly looking like another case of very bad luck and despite the fact that this situation might discourage another person Ivory tended to keep a positive attitude. She wasn't going to be upset if the gryphon left and she never found it again. Every day, every meeting, every outing was a new chance to find friends. Patience was key and she happened to have a lot of it. 

It seemed as though the mythical creature was still quite scared, but maybe its curiosity would get the best of it? She needed to make it realize that she didn't mean it any harm, so she sat down in the dirt with her hands open so that it could see that she wasn't holding a weapon or anything that might hurt it. The gryphon didn't move, and neither did she, staying as still as she could and then slowly moving to motion the gryphon closer to her. It looked like patience would be the key here, and even then it might not be enough. But she was will to sit there until the gryphon realized that she didnt mean it any harm and come closer. She wasnt going to give up just because it was going to take a while. She smiled kindly to the creature, motioning for it to come to her very slowly once more.

Ivory took the familiar food out of her inventory trying to slowly reach out to offer it to the gryphon. She the food slipped out of her shaky nervous fingers and disintegrated into little pieces after it hit the ground. She frowned. Whoops. The gryphon, a little startled by the dropped item backed up nervously, letting out a tiny growl. Ivory backed up a step, noticing a notification on her HUD for a friend request. Wondering who that could be from she opened her menu up, seeing that it was from Randal. She wasnt particularly surprised at who it was from, seeing as he was the only person she had really interacted with recently. She clicked the blue accept button, adding him to the surprisingly short list of people on her friends list. She didn't really use the feature all that much in the first place, she preferred the old fashioned way of remembering people.

Ivory smiled up at Randal, her head still propped up on her hand. Luckily it seemed that Randal had already gotten them rooms so she could just go straight to sleep. she shrugged after reading the note that had been delivered to them. She cared, but she couldn't bring up the mental energy at that moment to really care. She'd worry about in in the morning when they actually decided if they were gong to do anything about it. Trudging her way to her room, she entered, shut the door and then plopped facedown on the bed, unequipping her vambraces and sinking very quickly into a deep sleep.

The next morning she woke up fairly early, and after brushing her hair and making herself presentable she made her way out of the town a ways, messaging Randal where she was so that he could meet her there whenever he got up. She wanted to see the sunrise and just enjoy the peaceful morning, which was why she was up so early. When she got tired she really felt it, but she had never really needed much sleep. Glancing up she saw a pair of eyes glimmering in the shadows a ways away, staring at her. With slow tentative steps she made her way towards it, trying not to scare whatever it was. Upon drawing closer, she could see that it was the tiny gryphon from earlier, inspecting her cautiously from slightly behind a rock.

Familiar found!

The woman groaned as she was shaken, groggily blinking her eyes and slowly sitting up, propping herself up on the bar counter with her hand. Her other rand rubbed sleepily at her heavy eyes. "What is it?" She asked slowly after a few moments, visibly resisting the urge to yawn. noticing the sound of the flute a few moments later she raised an eyebrow questioningly. She had no reason to think there was any connection to the flute from before and this, but it did make her think about what had transpired earlier. "Did you finish dropping that guy off?" She managed before waving the bartender over and ordering a glass of water while attempting to wake up and sober up by sheer force of will. She had been having this wonderful dream about tiramisu and a whole bunch of friends and just hanging out and chatting about whatever. She didn't like to think about tiramisu, it just made her mouth water at the thought.

ID# 189185 | Battle: 8-1 = 7 Hit! |

Damage: 1

The healer raised her finger to her chin thoughtfully. She had wanted to scare the minotaur with her shout, and it looked like it had worked! The great beast was simply too scared to do anything, not even attacking yet. She knew that she could be intimidating, but was still very impressed with herself. She should try it again, maybe she would scare the one horned monstrosity into running away and then they wouldn't have to hurt it. She didn't like hurting things, even the enemies in this game.

She moved to raise her hands again, planning to dramatically flourish and cast another support spell of some kind. However, her foot had somehow stepped on the edge of her cloak during her earlier theatrics, and upon trying to raise her hands she instead tripped, stumbling forward and hurtling towards the minotaur cartwheeling her arms in an attempt to catch her balance screaming the whole time, finally smashing head first into the creatures muscular abdomen before flopping face first onto the ground not moving.

Ivory would be found sitting at the bar chatting with the bartender. For being around the time one might expect a lot of people to be at a bar it was strangely empty, with just a few people sitting at tables minding there own business and only one other at the bar with her, although at the other end. Her cheeks were a little flushed, and the glass in front of her was empty. She had obviously been here for a bit and luckily the bartender seemed happy to entertain her and take what little col she had. "Life is w-what you make of it man. You don't have to be stuck here wiping down tables and pouring drinks for scrubs." She hiccupped, a high pitched, almost cute hiccup. 

"Just get out there and follow your dreams, fate will guide you to who and where you need to be." She leaned over the bar, resting her elbow on the table and her head on her hand, giving the bartender a dazzling, although slightly dazed, smile, seeming completely unaware that it was an NPC who probably couldn't care less but was programmed to humor her.

Ivory ran her fingers through her hair unhappily before they set off back to the town. The day had been going really well and then just as quickly it wasn't. She had certainly not intended to get caught up in some weird animal abuse conspiracy thing. They got back to the down with the time approaching sunset and she breathed a sigh of relief as they arrived. She really just wanted to relax at this point. "I saw an inn near the entrance, its called the Obsidian Shield or something like that. Its hard to miss and they have a little tavern and bar too. Lets meet up there and just relax I guess. Its been a long day and I don't really want to deal with these NPCs longer than I have to." She stuck her tongue out at the unconscious NPC. "Anyway, I still need to find that familiar tomorrow, I don't know if you plan to accompany me still or what. I know you probably have stuff going on."

Ivory climbed up with the help of Randal and almost immediately wished that she hadn't. She didn't really want to dwell on the awful things that had been done here. She did her best to ignore the cages and devices, finding it strange that there werent any animals in the cages currently. The place was empty except for them and the NPC. She made her way over to the markings that Randal was pointing at, kneeling down to inspect them. "I mean, they look like claw marks, and gryphon's do have claws. The spacing seems a little strange though, almost too close to each other. I dont know what else would make a mark like that though." She responded, still trying to ignore everything else that was around them. She was obviously very uncomfortable about where they were and would rather be pretty much anywhere else. She didnt voice this however, as it seemed like there was more going on here than they originally thought and they needed all the leads they could get to stop this.

Ivory frowned at the NPC. "I believe that even in the worst situations there is room for forgiveness and a second chance." She spoke up. "However, actions have consequences, and forgiveness has nothing to do with those consequences." She tapped the toe of her boot on the floor, thinking. It was important to stick true to your believes and morals even more so in an emotional situation. "I think we try to get him back to the town and turn him in to the authorities. As horrible as he is, if he means what he says we should at least give him the chance." She finally said, after a few moments of pensive silence.

The healer wandered up beside Randal, peering up at the cavernous entrance in front of them. Her shaky hand reached out to grip his for a moment, just wanting to feel some reassurance that there was someone else there. "Do you think there's anything up there?"

Ivory smiled to herself as they continued further into the maze. Astreya seemed to be a little confused, but that was okay. You couldn't be lost if you didn't have a destination. She wasn't going to try to explain it to her though. She would basically just be repeating herself at that point. She twirled a strand of her hair in her fingers as she looked all around them at the walls of the maze, the floor, and the overgrown ceiling. This place had a strange sort of beauty despite the air of unease that seemed to hang over the party and grew stronger the longer they continued on.

Ivory couldn't help but let out a little squeak at the appearance of the minotaur. The creature was way way scarier than she had expected. She was comforted momentarily as Freyd leapt at it with an incredible amount of confidence in himself. The comfort was dashed aside as the minotaur smacked the leader of their party out of the air and into the wall. The ensuing laughter from Freyd only caused her more worry. The poor man was obviously so injured that he had gone into shock. She couldnt allow herself to be distracted however, this was a dangerous battle for sure. Her eyes flicked to the side for a moment, catching a glimpse of color.

"is a that a flower growing on that vine?"

She shook her head. Right, they were fighting...

The young woman raised her hands into the air dramatically, her gold and purple embroidered cloak flapping around her dramatically. "Behold my power!" She shouted. "EXPLOSION!!!" What happened next was definitely not an explosion, nor was it all that visibly impressive. Her hands glowed a dark blue as an aura of the same color faintly appeared around each member of their party. 

Ivory frowned at the NPC, resisting the urge to smack him upside the head. What they had done was so cruel and stupid it made her incredibly angry. She could feel her cheeks heating up with frustration. "How could you do something so cruel. Imagine if your child was taken from you and held hostage while you were forced to work just to keep them safe." Came the heated words a few moments later from the obviously upset young woman. She looked almost close to tears at the story the NPC had told, picturing the pain of the parent and child kept apart by the greed of a few people. She took the flute out of her pocket, dropping it onto the ground before stomping on it and crushing it to pieces on the ground. She sniffled having successfully held off the tears. "I'm sure they gryphon and its parent will be fine now, but what do we do about these NPCs?" She asked Randal, looking for his advice.

Ivory ignored the NPC, whether or not he was right it was no reason to harm such a small helpless animal just out of worry that it might come back to hurt them in the future. She rushed out of the cave ahead of the NPC to make sure that he wasnt able to capture the poor creature again, leaving Randal alone in the cave with the other creature for a moment. 

LD requirement lowered to 3...

She couldn't see the young gryphon however, it appeared to have rushed out into the wilderness, potentially getting itself lost in the process. They would probably have to search for it to return it to its parents at some point, but for now it didnt seem like there was much point in chasing the small animal when Randal was still dealing with whatever the creature inside the cave was. The NPC seemed to have calmed down for the moment, so she rushed back into the cave to see fi she could help Randal somehow.

Ivory nodded. "I think that probably gives us the best chance for this to all work out." She responded, agreeing with the plan that Randal had proposed. She didn't really see any other way for this to possibly work out, and even then the chances were kind of slim that they would all get out of this without injury. She started to count off on her fingers, down from three to one, before rushing out and over to the NPC. She could only hope that Randal was doing his part as she was more focused on communicating with the NPC. "I'll heal you and then my friend and I will protect you, just hand over the animal." She explained quickly. The NPC was very surprised by their appearance, his grip loosening on what Ivory could now see was a very young white gryphon. Before the NPC could respond she batted the knife away from the animal, snatching the creature from his hands and placing it on the ground, ushering it towards the creature in the cave before starting to heal the NPC regardless. "W-what are you two donig here?" The NPC asked, obviously confused about their appearance and intervention.

Following the trail and noting the inhuman footprints, Ivory started to grow a little bit worried about what they were heading into. She had a feeling that whatever the situation was, it was going to be very messy and not very much fun for anyone. Following Randal into the cave, they peered around the corner almost in unison, Ivory barely managing to hold back a little gasp of surprise at what they saw. The NPC was holding a small creature at knifepoint, seeming to be threatening something further into the cave. She had no idea what to do, unsure of who was in the right or wrong in this situation. What she did know is that she didn't want anyone to get hurt and that the NPC needed some medical attention. She quietly leaned towards Randal. "What do we do?" She whispered quietly. It seemed inevitable that someone was going to get very hurt, the beast, the smaller creature, or the NPC, if they didnt do something about it. She wanted to make sure that they had some sort of plan before they just barged in there.