Nari-Lanreth

She’d just begun to step off, right as the question slipped from NIGHT’s lips, causing Nari to stumble in her single step movement, catching herself on the glaive. Her face reddening deeply as she glanced away from the girl. She hadn’t expected it to be so abrupt, nor had she expected NIGHT to bring it up. She wasn’t ready, hadn’t considered the words she wanted to say, and yet now – here they were. “Yes. No. Yes…but also no…” The words fumbled, almost as much as her step had fumbled. She couldn’t bring herself to look at NIGHT, staring at a patch of grass off to her right, her face a mix

Nari felt her steps falter for a moment as Bismuth asked about the situation between herself and NIGHT. She had known the question was likely to come, but was hoping that this far into the conversation, she had maybe avoided it. Her face flushed slightly at the thought of the entire encounter, and her mind raced as she felt herself tightening her grip on the glaive. “It…uh…happened. It’s…Hey, that breakfast was pretty good. I wouldn’t mind coming back for more.” It was the worst distraction she could possibly have dropped, but she didn’t care at the moment. Her face burning, she quickened

The young girl called out to Nari, her greeting one of an almost casual nature. Nari pushed off the half-wall that she had been leaning against, tucking the glaive into the crook of her elbow as she did so, and attempting what she hoped was a welcoming smile. Her eyes roamed everywhere but NIGHT’s face, and she felt her pulse quicken for a moment. “I uh…I’m glad you came.” Her face flushing lightly, Nari forced herself to continue speaking, focusing on the question that NIGHT had presented. “I…I heard a rumour that a village around here had some trouble. Something about a…Monkey King?...

The notification startled her from her thoughts, bringing her back to the present. With a trembling hand, she opened the message, a single, partial word standing out against the dialogue box. Nari quickly typed back, hitting the send button before she could think twice. Her heart was in her throat, and a sudden fear had gripped her. She tried to take a deep breath, instead nearly hyperventilating as the air was sucked in and pushed out in repeatedly quick, jerky spasms. She gripped the glaive’s shaft tightly – to the point where she wondered if it would break in her palm. She

Nari cursed herself, losing track of how many times this had been. She had cursed herself after sending the message. Cursed herself after rolling into the bed – ‘lunging into the bed’ – and even after she had finally managed to peel herself from the covers. Then, just for good measure, she had cursed herself for hiding in the bed to begin with – as if it would somehow save her from the reply. Not that she had expected a reply. She had spent the following day preparing herself. She kept telling herself it was for the mission, for the quest. But she knew the truth – as, so she assumed, did

Nari’s hand hovered over the dialogue box, the words shimmering in the air. Her heart beat, feeling as if it would burst out of her chest. The message – typed almost an hour ago – still unsent. She hadn’t left her bedroom in almost two days, trying to dredge up the courage just to type the message. That had taken her until early this morning – nearly four hours ago. The last hour had pertained to her sitting and staring at it, reading it over and over again, trying to figure out if the words were right. She wasn’t sure if the message was too little, too much, too vague, or not vague en

Thread Summary Nari-Lanreth | 4,047 EXP| 1,000 EXP [Quest] + 3,047 EXP [Thread Progression] | 400 col | Cerberus Soul (T1 Unique Consumable) Adds 12 Burn damage for two turns to a weapon on a Natural BD roll of 8-10 for the duration of the thread. Does not stack with the Burn Enhancement. | Unlocks <<Gatekeeper of Fire>> Quest

The head exploded in another shower of shards, drifting through the air for a moment before disappearing into the ground – leaving no trace behind. Nari managed to catch the attack of the remaining head coming her way, ducking beneath it and rolling backwards out of its reach. The beast seemed more reluctant to charge after her as the second head was destroyed – as if it somehow felt its impending doom coming closer and closer. Silent, face devoid of any emotion, Nari set herself for another strike, waiting as the creature seemed to pause in its advance – as if uncertain of its chances.

Her glaive lashed out, catching both heads and forcing them backwards – where they held in place, the stun effect giving Nari a chance to recuperate slightly. Her health bar dropped further as the flames did their damage, before disappearing – something that she was thankful for. It had already become uncomfortable how much health she’d lost already. She gave herself a moment to collect her breath, before pulling the shield back up, resting the glaive’s shaft along the top portion of it. She waited, trying to gauge exactly when the stun would wear off, the slight twitch giving it away. Se

The dual heads slammed into her, breaking past her meagre defences as she attempted to wildly swing her weapon towards them. She felt the heat sore through her body as the flames erupted on her, causing far more damage than the simple bite had. Nari felt herself stifle a scream, holding back as she pulled herself out of the grasp of the heads. Curses erupting from her, she stepped away from the beast, trying to calm herself. ‘Losing control now won’t help, you need to re-centre yourself. Get control.’ The beast seemed to wait a moment, as if taunting her. Nari pushed against the emotions

The assault caused Nari to pull her attack, forcing her behind her shield as the heads tried to gain an advantage on her. She felt herself being pushed back, and quickly shifted to the side, forcing a sudden dance around the attacks that the creature tried to barrage her with. Although she was unable to get her own strikes out in return, she held her own, the beast unable to land anything of consequence against her. Eventually, it pulled away, giving her the breathing room she needed to resettle herself. Deciding that she had enough with being a punching bag, Nari went on the offensive,

The head exploded as the glaive slammed into it, the thorns within lashing out and piercing it from numerous angles, causing a shimmer of shards to float through the air before disappearing. The other two heads pulled back, howling in unison at the pain and loss it must have been feeling. Nari ducked behind her shield, waiting for the strikes she knew was coming. But, as nothing slammed into her shield, she pulled herself out from behind it, seeing the creature glaring at her dangerously. It appeared to be waiting for just such a moment, and launched itself towards her suddenly, both hea

The soft shake of its fur was the first indication Nari had of the beast’s awakening. A single head shifted into view, sniffing at the air. As Nari watched, she noticed something off about the position of the neck. Suddenly a second head lifted, and a third. Slowly, as if with exaggerated carefulness, it turned to face the woman, the flaming eyes bearing down on her. Nari held her ground, waiting as it climbed to its feet. Waiting as it turned to face her, the three heads begin to growl in an uneven tone. Waiting, as it took one careful step towards her. She was ready when its leap toward

Nari felt herself blush at the man’s words. She was sure there were others, more powerful than herself…but still, it felt good hearing the words. Smiling at the man, she began with her meal – pausing almost immediately as she took the first taste of the soup. “Is…is that Miso?! I haven’t had Miso in forever!” In an almost fervour, she devoured the remains of it, staring sadly at the empty bowl after she had finished. ‘I’m coming back here a lot.’ Aloud, she tried to steer the conversation towards Nemo’s garden, focusing on the task at hand – as much as possible, while thinking about

Nari felt herself hesitate as the possibilities ran through her mind. The inaction began to drive an itch into her, and Nari found herself crossing the area, her feet moving as if under a will of their own. She stopped at the edge of the closest river of magma, gauging the distance. Taking a few steps back, she rushed the distance, leaping at the last second and drifting through the air. Rolling as she hit the other side, she brought herself into a standing position, waiting to see what the creature would do. Her immediately presence seemed to go unnoticed, and Nari wondered for a moment

The pathway led on for a few minutes further, before opening into a large cavernous area. In its centre ran three rivers of magma, the fiery red flow casting a glow bright enough to light the area. A small centre island laid off in the distance, surrounded on all sides by the flowing rivers – just wide enough that Nari figured she could leap across and safely land on the other side. Laying on the platform was a hunched dog-like creature, slightly larger than the hounds she had previously encountered on her stroll through the area. Nari paused at the entry to the cavern, considering her o

A single jab of the glaive was all it took for the hound to explode into thousands of shards. The fight over before it had even begun, Nari felt a tinge of disappointment. Sure, she had grown stronger over the past while, but she hadn’t expected this to be so easy. The fight had barely taken any effort at all, and as she glanced about – she realised it was truly over. Sighing to herself, she hoisted the glaive back into the crook of her arm, taking one last look at the spot the hound had stood on before exploding. ‘Is this how it is for all the front liners? Is that why they’re so… ‘

The soft red glow of the magma rivers threw a dance of shifting light across the cave tunnel that Nari had been following. The growl – directly ahead of her – had formed into more than just an audible sound; the shape of the hound slowly pulling itself from the shadows at the length of her vision. Nari gave a slight tilt of her head towards the creature, before pulling herself into her combat stand. Shield held before her, the glaive lowered and level, Nari waited for the beast to approach, ready to intercept its intended strike should it attempt to attack her. Moments passed as the

Her eyes snapped open as she heard the sounds of clattering rocks. She wasn’t sure how long she had been out for – she’d actually managed to fall asleep, something that came as a surprise to her. Eyes darting around, she looked for any signs of the hounds, or other threats in the area. Nothing strode out of the dark towards her, and after a few moments of heightened searching, she let herself relax slightly. Staring at the ground before her, she wondered at her ability to suddenly fall asleep in what could have been a very dangerous area. The realisation of it caused a shiver to run thro

Once she felt more rest, Nari climbed to her feet again – the heat still pressing in on her from all sides, still wearing away at her. Heaving herself onwards, she began following the cavern deeper – wondering all the time if she’d find something more difficult within. Her first encounter with the creatures had been…well, Nari had to admit, easy. She wasn’t sure if that was a sign of her own skill and strength increasing, or…if the quest itself was truly that simple. She decided she’d prefer the former, and simply accepted it at that. Her foot steps echoing through the cave, she wondered

Silence fell upon the cave as Nari watched the second beast explode into shards, the light dimming slightly as the flames from its body disappeared. Breathing heavily, she cursed the heat of this area again, feeling the oppression of it against her lungs. She wondered if removing her armour would be a good idea – and then immediately decided against it, determining that if she did get into another fight, she’d need it. ‘And this is the hounds’ den, best to remain prepared. Never know when more of them will show up…although, they do seem easy to spot, at least.’ She shifted her gaze aroun

A single growl shifting into a bark was the only warning that Nari had of the wolf’s sudden intent to launch itself towards her. Shifting to her left, she slammed the blade of her glaive forward, the soft violet light of the sword art barely registering against the light erupting from the flames on the wolf itself. Her glaive slammed into the beast, forcing it off to the side and down to the ground where it remained, unable to move for the moment, before suddenly erupting into a thousand shards. The second creature – which had leapt forward mere seconds after the first appeared to trip o

Shakily pulling herself to her feet, fighting back tears that threatened to rush down her face, Nari leaned on her glaive, using the weapon as a support. Slowly, carefully, she hobbled her way back up the pathway that she had been following, making her way back towards the mountain’s base, her mind empty of thought beyond the fact that she had failed. Her feet followed the path, her mind dissociated from the world around her. As such, it was with sudden surprise that Nari noticed she was no longer in the open air. Glancing around, she found herself in a cavern, the outside visible a few

The heat barring down on her cause Nari’s mood to plummet – her emotions almost mirrored by the fox on her shoulder that seemed to suffer as much, if not more, than Nari herself was. Dragging her feet along, forcing herself along the path – less of a path, in itself, and more just a winding piece of unmelted rock beside the flowing motes of lava – Nari cursed the floor for what she felt was the thousandth time. ‘This whole venture better be worth it. I swear, if I nearly melt to death for something as worthless as a few EXP points, or a pat on the back, I’m going to be livid.’ The dreary

The climb down the mountain had been as enthralling as the climb up – which is to say, not in the least. The winding path led her back to the base, the daylight slowly beginning to dwindle as the early evening started it’s arrival. Glancing around, Nari spotted a relatively shelter alcove along the edge of the mountain’s base. Deciding she had no better place to stay – she had, of course, left the village behind – she moved to the alcove, settling in as comfortably as she could. The heat and exhaustion of the climb taking over her, it wasn’t long before Nari found herself drifting off, tr