[F29-PP-PT] Alis Fati <<Feeding Your Enemy>>

[ERROR 1]

An eerie looking place where droning winds lapped against hollowed and empty docks. Not inviting, not lively. Absent and dead, left to rot for eternity in its own juxtaposition. Where other floors had endless life that could live indefinitely, this floor was a tomb that stood barren although it could support life. Its creator choosing to leave it abandoned and ramshackle, gone with nothing but the winds to howl. The waves of water as they licked greedily at the wooden heels of the docks, causing them to groan in denial and disagreement as whatever ware they'd take would just be reversed become next morning light. Endless suffering, turmoil and despair that would return to the start with fresh dew on sun kissed grass. In such a place, stood a mysterious gypsy. One that had time and time again unnerved players with her presence, her demeanor and her unspoken demands. Stirring in her space as she'd sort through her belongings, a cart sat upon a beaten yet abandoned road all its own. Her purpose unknown to her, her reasoning beyond comprehension. And yet she continued, waiting for something that lines of code would dictate.

As she'd turn clutching a sack, a cold chill runs down her back and she screams. There staring back at her without even the smallest of feature, a word or a breath unbothered by the action. A figure in black robe, to which its footsteps had left not but a sound. "Can I... help you?" Where normally she was the one to cause a trouble of faith, it was her that was shaken. That figure looms without word, a lift of its gloved opaque black hands toward her cart. "You can't just." She murmurs out but her threat or warning seems to find no purchase. "Take that..." From her cart a small sack, one she had given away before. Her battle is chosen, allowing that sack of food to be claimed. Surely she was wrong, surely this was a player. But even still it creeped the NPC the fuck out.

WC: 343

Quest Objective | Talk to the Traveling Gypsy and obtain the Familiar Food from her.

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<<Assist System Engaged: ERROR>>
Level: 11
Paragon: 0
Tier: 2
True Tier: 2

Final EXP reward: +0%

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Active:
Guild Rank 5: +5% Final EXP/Col Rewards
Menagerie III | +1 LD/CD when Finding a Familiar

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Consumed:
Huginn & Muninn [179797l] -> Skips Finding Phase of Feeding Your Enemy

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Brought for Mari:
Huginn & Muninn [175566g]

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PT:
Taken | Discerning [8] (-80 SP), Keen Sight [7] (-35 SP)

Remaining SP: 70

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ERROR | HP: 220/220 | EN: 40/40 | DMG: 1 | CD 8 | LD 14

Spoiler

Name: ERROR, ???
True Tier: 2
Level: 11
Paragon Level: 0
HP: 220/220
EN: 40/40

Stats:
Damage: 1

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - 
Armor/Trinket: 
  - 
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - 

Combat Mastery:
  - 

Combat Shift:
  - 

Familiar Skill:
  - 

Custom Skill:
  - 

Skills:

Extra Skills:

Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:

Mods:

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:

Housing Buffs:

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:

 

[Mari 1]

Quest Objective | Talk to the Traveling Fortune Teller and obtain the Familiar Food from her.

A fortune teller with a cart bumped into her; she looked....terrified. "Huh?" Mari recognized her - a quest giver...traveling the floors to hand out familiar food but Mari already - Oh... That's right. Kohaku died during her fight with Addex. Mari didn't really consider getting another familiar. She really had no need to. "Oh... I'm not..." Mari tried to deny the NPC, she wasn't here to find a familiar. What kind of familiar would even be on a floor like this?  

"Here, please! Take it." She seemed rushed, afraid. 

That was odd.

Mari took the food in her hands. "I told you I'm-"

"There is a deep darkness here." She said through chattered teeth as she pulled her shawl further around her shoulders. "And something here calls your name. Mari."

If Mari hadn't done this whole dance before she'd be unnerved that the NPC knew her name, but they met before, and Cardinal dictated that she remember. "Calls me..." Mari mumbled as she took the small sack of Familiar food. "Aight."

Mari would take the food for now, she turned to shift away from the NPC. The woman would need to peruse a different dock, with different rotting ships for her bounty of Alcohol.

What could she mean?

A pause in her footsteps as Mari saw a cloaked figure in the distance, an orange crystal floating above their head. Another player...

Mari stilled for a moment, wondering if she should continue forward. Then - decided to approach. Her creaked against the rotted wood. As she passed the cloaked figure, she would offer them a cold gaze. She wouldn't mess with them, if they left her alone - but she would not give them an inch.

Never again would she allow herself to do that.

 

WC: 290

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<<Assist System Engaged: ERROR>>
Level: 11
Paragon: 0
Tier: 2
True Tier: 16

Final EXP reward: +5%

Active:
Guild Rank 2: +2% Final EXP/Col Rewards

 

CONSUMED
Huginn & Muninn [175566g] -> Skips Finding Phase of Feeding Your Enemy

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PT System Activated:
185 SP TOTAL

► Keen Sight | 5
Cost: 25 SP
Passive
Effect: +2 LD to Searching, Gathering, Detection, and Loot Checks (total: +10 LD)

► Discerning | 9
Cost: 90 SP
Passive
Effect: +1 CD to Crafting, Gathering, and Loot Checks (total +9)

► Searching | 5 
Cost: 30 SP
+5 LD to Rank

► Polearm | 5 
Gain +7 with Whip type weapons

► Heavy Armour | 5 
Gain +7 with Whip type weapons

175/185 SP Used

Mari | HP: 250/250 | EN: 50/50 | DMG: 15 | MIT:99 | ACC:4 | AA  | FL.AURA: 4 | BRN: 28 | ENV-O: 16 | PARA-V | LD:15 | CD: 9                                                                                                                       

Edited 3 hours ago by Mari

[ERROR 1]

As the board walk creeks the looming figure pivots without a sound. As if their body held no weight, their skin unbothered by the cold. It follows in a slow turn, as if a head beneath that cowl watches on as Mari walks. Another slow pivot in a tilt, ERROR appears to watch the NPC retreat having had more then its fill. The hood turns back and faintly the slight glimmer of yellow beneath that cowl gives back something unnatural. Hands slowly drift down from crossed sleeves, showing the matte black shapes of hands. ERROR offers but a single slow reveal of its appendage as it points to the dock beneath Mari's feet. With that action, it seems utterly unperturbed like most players would be, turning its back on the woman with its hood leading the charge. Like a ghost it ascends the boardwalks up toward one of the many capsized and ever abandoned trade vessels that line the docks. The very same that players had frequented in their attempts to complete <<On the House>>. But they were not looking for booze, or the ability to get drunk. Instead it sought another fixture of that quest, one that most would without a second thought overlook. The bag of food apparates in a swell of black that flickers in a sickly blue of the system. It is dropped, and they jam their hand through the bag. A spray of data sees it dispersed like mist, and what remains? A single white feather.

They lean a hand towards the hood, allowing the feather to pass harmlessly beneath. As if it were consumed, the thing vanishes into the void beneath that cowl. No words, no reasoning. Only is. A lift of its hand above its frame, a crow from the mast rushes down and finds itself perched upon their finger. A light rake of its feathers beneath its bill, moved to ERROR's shoulder. Its eyes open to reveal a set of four, two sets in that same sickly hue as the hooded figure confirming their bond.

Quest Objective | Successfully tame a Familiar.

Post Action | Taming Roll, 256865, CD: 11 + 9 = 20 [Success]

WC: 343

[Mari 1]

Quest Objective | Successfully tame a Familiar.
 Post Action | Taming Roll, ID: 256866 LD: 12 + 15= 27 SUCCESS

Tiny tendrils of amber, a contrast that did not match the dark floor began to peak their way through the boards. "What the fu-" Mari barely managed to dodge them as one shot out at her, trying to wrap itself around her ankle. That player had seen this? How? Another came up from under the boardwalk and attached itself to her ankle, throwing Mari off kilter - she fell to the floor with a thud. It continued, oozing up and out from under the planks as it bubbled. And Mari couldn't help but find a distinct relation to Juiblex in its actions. But this...this wasn't Juiblex. 

Mari --> Raidou: F29 - Like Juiblex. XX, ZZ Y - 

It was all she managed to send before the creature expanded. Tendrils like fire burned her as they exploded on her body like veins - searching for something to cling to. Quickly engulfing the woman. Mari pulled out her weapon and tried to strike it down, but cutting it did little. As its tendrils reached her face Mari shifted her gaze up. Where was that player? They saw this? They knew? THEY KNEW? Wild blue eyes landed on the cloaked figure. Their arm outstretched, with a single crow perched on it. Multiple pairs of yellowed eyes stared silently at Mari. Watching.

Shit...

They would see? They would see... This wasn't good.

Mari attempted to tear the creature off of her face. "Get the Fuck off me!" It did not listen. Did not relent. Just like Juiblex, it would trickle into her throat - suffocating like globs of glass. And again, Mari found herself struggling to breath. Her body fell limp and collapsed on the boardwalk. Mari couldn't call for help. Not now. She forced her eyes shut and attempted to calm her erratic breathing. A twitch of her fingers as she struggled to pull the familiar food from the satchel she had carried. The food spilled all over the floor and the creature simply scooped it up, engulfing it entirely.

Her eyes blurred as it leaked into them; trying to overtake her. A single screen flashed up in front of her. << Familiar Successfully tamed: Malcanthet>>

Tamed?

Familiar???

It was....hers?

Mari didn't have time to try and figure things out, as it still seemed to hunger - that same overwhelming sense of pain took over her body as she felt her consciousness fade. Blacking out. Her body lay motionless, aside from some twitching - unlike her time with Juiblex there wasn't an overwhelming desire to dissect and tear everything apart. She felt hear heartbeat hard and fast against her chest. 

Her body seized, contorted as it rose from the ground supported by snapping strings coming off of Malchanthet. She jerked violently as her limbs lengthened. Her spine arching and popping as she rose. Now standing several feet tall, she towered over the field. Now looking down at the cloaked figure, and his little pet.  Her form blackened, as though burned - elongated fingers dragged across the planks, searing them and ripping them in half as she took two steps toward the figure. A jaw that broke in half as she smiled down at the player. How did they know where she hid? A wide predatory smile was donned as her jaw split open. Eyes blinked, burning pyres of golden beneath a burnt husk.

How Exciting?
 

WC: 552

Edited 2 hours ago by Mari

[ERROR 1]

Nearly shapeless and writhing, an amber pool of sputtering splattering fixed upon gags and strain against the coils and tendrils of the creature held fast against that frame. All the while the pair of figures stared on without care or adverting their eyes. They simply took the place of an audience, waiting for the display to come to a close. Which eventually against all demands or pleads, fight the act comes to a close. A lift of their finger sees the bird take flight, and it only travels a few feet before it travels straight up disappearing out of sight. For when it would be beckoned to again. ERROR glides down the gangplank toward the dock, effortlessly it transitions to where it begins to flatten out. The clouds above them stir by quickly, and with a stroke of thunder and a flash of lightning it begins to pour down rain hard. Those droplets break across the wooden structure like tears far too large to be shed, casting a heavy beat of a drum that picks up pace.

ERROR drifts within a foot of the player that had found that which they sought, where the Gypsy had unknowingly led them. A coincidence on a coincidence, made these events line up in such a way that Mari was where she needed to be at just the right time. Such was the way of the game, how some would grow beyond their wildest imaginations. The hood leans down but briefly and back, as if taking a bow. Its arms slide up to its hard to read chest, as the silhouettes of hands seek the ends of opposed sleeves as they cross. A singular empty bag roars across the newly brewing storm, being caught on the wind. It collides with the Gypsy's face hard enough to knock her from her feet. With that, the quest was over and as ERROR passes out of sight they would no longer be found. All that remained was Mari and her new skin, having been led to it purely by chance.

Quest Objective | Return the remaining Familiar Food to the Traveling Gypsy.

WC: 343 {This one was intentional}

[Mari 1]

Post Action: Return food to Fortune Teller


Mari watched as the player skittered off, and she almost followed - almost. She could have reached out and grasped hold of his cape, picking him up like a newborn kitten but she held back. Her heartbeat hard and fast against her chest - and she struggled to keep her composure. Her shoulders rose and fell with erratic breathing. Mari threw her head back and cried out, an inhuman roar that shook the crumbling buildings and docks around her as she tore into her chest, ripping the creature clean off of her. The woman fell to her hands and knees with a thud. Breathing heavily, sweat dripping off her face.

"The fuck are you?" She hissed at the creature. It simply bobbed up and down in front of her, a happy little smile on its face, as though it didn't just attempt to assimilate with her, or whatever the hell it did.

Thankfully she had been somewhat prepared - she had experienced it before; and if she were being honest Juiblex was far, far harder to control than this creature was. Mari groaned as she pressed her head to the rotting planks. 

"I don't need this right now.."

The creak of an approaching cart caused Mari to pull her head up. It was the fortune teller. "You!" She hissed, feeling anger well up inside of her. She had half a mind to cut the woman down where she stood, but instead. Mari drew in a deep breath and threw the empty bag at the womans feet.

"Take yer fuckin' feed. It's empty though."

And with that Mari allowed herself to collapse right there on the boardwalk. Too tired to move.

WC: 277

[ERROR 1]

Thread Closure:
ERROR | [Word Count: 2163/5 = 432.6] * [True Tier: 2] * [Group Factor: 1]* [Final Exp Modifier: 1.05] = 908 EXP, 1*Mon
Mari | [Word Count: 2163/5 = 432.6] * [True Tier: 16] * [Group Factor: 1]* [Final Exp Modifier: 1.02] = 7060 EXP, Laurel Wreath: 1059 col, 1*Mon

Quest Rewards:
300 Experience Points
ERROR | 300 x 1.05 = 315 EXP
Mari | 300 x 1.02 = 306 EXP
ERROR | Badb
Mari | Malcanthet
Unlocks the <<Training Your Friend>> Quest

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Final Rewards:
ERROR:
315 + 908 = 1223 EXP
1*Mon
Badb (Familiar)

Mari:
306 + 7060 = 7366 EXP
1*Mon
Malcanthet (Familiar)