Nari-Lanreth

Another shift, another change. Except this time it wasn’t the visual, but instead the physical. Nari’s feet suddenly sliding beneath her, she felt herself thrown off balance – off the ground, entirely. As she tumbled backwards, barely able to keep her shield up and her spear away from herself, she saw NIGHT’s blade flash through the air. ‘Come on then, you spineless coward. Come face us.’ A triple attempt to right herself, without success. Nari knew her options were limited – but there was one thing she could ensure. “Face Morríghan’s wrath, you spineless coward. Come feel the breadt

Lost in the music, Nari almost didn’t notice the call to her. A nervousness had crept up through her spine, landing itself in that corner of her mind that she worked so hard to leave behind. A soft sigh, and suddenly she felt the world around her pushed away. Her vision closed, as she shut her eyes in order to close out everything around her. She knew that if she could just focus inwardly, it would help things to settle better. “A 'níon mhín ó, sin anall na fir shúirí, A mháithairin mhín ó, cuir na roithléan go dtí mé!” The words slipped from her tongue with ease, coming to her mind

A sudden shift on the air, and where once there was some creature - some necroptotic being that Nari could only describe as lich like, wearing a crown and a skeletal smile – now stood two figures, similar in appearance to NIGHT and herself. It was enough to cause her hand to pause, as she stared at the mirror image of her partner. “NIGHT…?” Her voice carrying the same confusion her mind felt, she took a hesitant step towards the alter image, the partner at her side forgotten for the briefest of moments. “What’re you…come on, we need to defeat this thing.” She spun to her side, raisin

‘A stage two? Ominous, even from him.’ Nari pushed the thought aside, knowing that if there truly was anything to worry about, that Koga likely would’ve told her. Likely. He did just admit that he’d be castrated, if he did let her die, and even with all his bravado the man didn’t seem like someone who took pleasure in losing…well, acquaintances. “Oh, alright. We just…watch them get obliterated, then find the quest in the remains? That sounds…Cardinal-ish. Too bad we can’t just leap in and finish her off here, and skip the entire quest though. That would make it really easy.” She wasn’t su

A brief smile as the other made the jest about her partner, before she stuck her tongue out in response. “What if I was planning on heading out on my own? Worried about my safety, are we?” Even with the jesting, a smile touched her face - even if there was another reasoning for it, she liked the idea that he cared about her surviving. It somehow felt...invigorating, after everything. She doubted that Koga was invested in her survival without some other purpose – not that she figured he was nefarious by any means, simply that he wouldn’t care if it weren’t for a specific reason. “I’ve

“What’s the matter?” NIGHT’s sudden question, then the turn. Nari’s eyes cut towards the other, befuddled by the confusion on her partner’s face. “Is everything-“ Her question cut off as she realised they stood at the entrance once more. Her confusion towards NIGHT’s reaction falling away, as the confusion at their current situation took over. She was sure they hadn’t been here a second ago, and yet she couldn’t deny their current surroundings. “Something’s off here.” The whispered words as she pulled back her spear into a readied position, the tip quivering in the air. Her shield ar

Eyes going wide for a moment as she realised they really were going down the path of a performance, Nari gazed at NIGHT – the one who seemed to be suddenly pushing the idea. Silently, she mouthed some rather choice words at the girl, with promises of retaliation later. “Uh…I don’t really know anything that goes with ukulele, but I think I could maybe adapt if you have some ideas? Usually my songs or more…well, a bit over the place. Definitely a focus on traditional Gaelic, but there’s some…pop songs…and stuff as well.” Her eyes shifted to NIGHT as she spoke, ears going red as she knew thi

She felt the hand on her back, and almost immediately gave a few extra coughs – just to keep the touch there a little longer. But as the hand receded, leaving an almost empty feeling, Nari responded to the spoken question. “Immolation Potion. Supposedly makes me more hurty to those who decided to hit me. Which, let’s be honest, I’m super cute so it already hurts them emotionally. This just makes it ouchy on the inside, and outside.” The mentioned doors caught her attention when Nari realised that her attempt to remain the focus was no longer working. Glancing them over, she eyed the

Nodding, her eyes followed the path of her partner. The place was a labyrinth – there was no doubt about that, and as she glanced over it, she felt like the basement would be the best place. That, or an obscure closet hidden in the most unobvious, yet oh so obvious location in the exact centre of the entire of the dungeon itself. “Basement, closet, crypt. Something obvious like that. I doubt we’d just stumble across it in the centre of a nice, wide open, well lit cavern. Wouldn’t be dramatic enough.” Her eyes rolled involuntarily at the idea, knowing that for someone like the creator of t

Taking a moment to pull up one of her more important potions, Nari downed the liquid as quickly as she could. The taste was horrid, especially compared to the better meals they’d been eating lately – but she knew it would be worthwhile, and as she watched her health bar shift and grow – well, that was enough to convince her to suffer through the disgust. “I won’t let you underestimate it. You just focus on beating it, I’ll make sure we stay alive. Got it?” The flick against the ear on the vest caught her attention, and she turned her eyes upwards as the hand passed over and away. “Hey. I

Her eyes barely shifted over the menu directed at her, quickly taking in the information on it before nodding in response. The quest itself seemed simple enough – defeat the big bad man before he could defeat you. But something about the way NIGHT was going about it, and the general feel of the quest itself sounded far more than face value provided. “Yeah, but do you think it’s going to give us an actual challenge? Lately things have seemed to be a bit…well, easy. I don’t want to go in underestimating a deadly encounter – that would definitely be a last mistake.” She glanced over the menu

As the last burst into shards, Nari pushed down the hallway towards the door that the NPC had been guarding. Surprisingly, she found not a closed doorway – but an open archway. Curled in the corner, staring at her as she approached, was an older man with similar features to Ali. “Cassim, I assume?” She held out a hand as she remained in the doorway, waiting for the NPC to rise. “Your brother, Ali sent me to fetch you. If you’ll come along, we can get you back to him.” She took a single step into the room, and almost immediately the NPC began coming to life. She listened as he thanked

Barely even an effort as she thrust the spear into the targets back, watching as the health bar on her opponent drained, and the body seemed to twitch into a frozen stance – the muscles locking up on it. She stepped to the side, watching for any sign of the stun effect wearing off, lining up her next strike carefully. Almost with a careless ease, she thrust her spear forward into the target. Combat had become so monotonous lately, and Nari felt as if she was slowly losing out on something – something that had been there once before. She found herself wondering once again how she had

Drawing her shield up in front of her, she decided to wait for the figure to notice her. It didn’t take long, and then it was moving down the hallway towards her – shrieking as it did so, in some weird display of a tribalistic like charge. Nari set herself, letting the first strike of the figure rush over her head as she rolled out of the way, before bounding up behind the opponent and setting herself once more. A slight glimmer as she remembered her early days of fighting – realising just how much had changed since those days. Tucking away the thought, she thrust forward with her spear,

Knowing that she couldn’t simply remain leaning against the wall forever, Nari pushed herself back into movement – forcing her feet to carry her further down the hallway. She hadn’t managed to search much of the complex yet, but she was fairly certain that she’d find some sort of dungeon, keep or otherwise containment room somewhere in the facility. She only hoped that this would be one of those quests where the person she was sent to retrieve was still alive. She found herself winding through a maze of corridors, stairs and long hallways in her attempt to find something that would contai

Sighing a breath of relief as the last one exploded, she listened for the sound of more approaching opponents. As the moments passed, she slowly came to realise that the silence was real, and that no further opponents were coming her way. Taking the reprieve to relax a bit, she leaned back against the wall – her mind immediately going back to the conundrum that had begun during the fight itself. “They’re not real, just artificial creations. They may mimic emotions, but they can’t really feel them…” She glanced down at the fox at her feet, suddenly unsure. She’d felt so much emotional conn

All but one exploded into shards as her strike swept through them, the single survivor frozen in place as it was forced to watch its companions disappear. Nari wondered if the things could even feel compassion towards one another – they were just computer generated things after all. Yet she’d seen the NPCs in the villages show emotions, to a degree. As well as some of the quest based NPCs she’d encountered. “Well, just how human are you, then?” She found herself muttering the question aloud, even as she set herself up to deliver the final strike. It shocked her to realise that she was sta

If there hadn’t been the danger of actual death, she’d almost swear she was bored. Although the bandits swarmed around her, Nari barely felt concerned – their attacks were barely scrapping her armour, leaving little more than dent marks across her body as they tried to overwhelm her defences and healing – neither of which was having any success for her would be assailants. Still, she knew that she had to take the situation seriously, otherwise she’d be in real danger. Swinging around, she broke free from the swarming bodies. Putting a small amount of distance between herself and the bandi

Two of her strikes managed to connect with her opponents – two of the new opponents, of all possibilities. She felt herself silently cursing the original combatant who suddenly seemed determined not to be defeated here, managing to dodge the majority of her strikes against it. In return, it slammed its own spear in against her, managing to cause her health bar to dip a single digit, before recovering entirely. The newcomers proved less deadly – two freezing in place as the stun affect washed over them, the third barely managing to swing its sword in the tight corridor. She had just consid

Ducking behind a single sweep strike of the closest, Nari drove her spear forwards, spinning it as it impaled the first, and managing to catch two of the three others. The final – seeing the attack coming towards it – managed to jump out of the reach of her weapon. Thinking that it had found an opening, the figure dove back in, swinging its spear towards Nari in a counter attack – only to have it clatter harmlessly off her shield and down towards the ground. “Help! Help the intruder is here!” The man – from the vocals, Nari could tell it was meant to be male – began crying out. Glancing b

It was almost too simple, as each of the figures frozen in place – the paralysis and stun effects taking over control of their bodies as soon as the spear slashed across them. Nari watched as the frost from the tip of her weapon licked out against each of her opponents, coating them in the growing ice that would burn through their fabric coverings and deplete their health even more. She stepped back, letting the group slowly begin to move again, seemingly twitching and rising from their statuesque poses. Already she’d nearly ended each of them, tearing through their feeble protection with

The clatter of sandals on stone caught her attention, pulling her back to the present as she realised that her pursuers had likely caught up with her. She’d figured that her ability to avoid them would only last so long, but she was surprised with just how quickly that time had passed. Knowing that she couldn’t possibly outrun whatever was chasing her – and not wanting to, regardless – she stepped out into the main corridor of the hallway she was in, lowering her spear and setting her shield against her knee in preparation for the assault that would quickly greet her. Her breath came slow

She continued her way into the keep, avoiding the main causeways as she went in order to avoid as much detection as she could. She found herself mostly hitting dead ends, closets, and other storage rooms of little to no value. Her progress was pitiful at best, as she found herself trailing back to where she had originally entered the keep. “Well, it looks like I’m not going to be able to sneak my way past the guards now…oh well.” She glanced at the main gate – still open, now unguarded. She was surprised that the reinforcements hadn’t rushed to this location. Or perhaps they had come here

The shards shimmered across the air before her as her opponent exploded. Moving quickly, she slipped into the keep and around a corner before more of the guards could arrive, deciding that she wanted to rest and recover a bit before taking on her next bout of combat. The first fight had been easy enough, but she wasn’t about to push her luck – she knew there would likely be more found within, and she needed to be ready for them. ‘Homebound? What’s that about?’ She thought back to the feeling in the tail end of the fight, the desire to return home. It was with slow realisation that she had