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The Rim; Xandra Lucianna
Topic Started: Jun 30 2017, 03:53 PM (262 Views)
Flash
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Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.

Legacy of Akinzu: The Rim

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A wyvern's nest, carved deep into a large cliff face, leading directly towards the Ziggurat. A highly perilous route, perhaps great danger might yield great rewards?


The sun sheepishly peered over the horizon as it arose from its nightly slumber, gazing across the desert with fiery eyes. Immediately it began to bake the sand below the feet of a pair of intrepid travellers, who headed briskly towards one of Buster Filigree's many entryways to the Ziggurat. - "The Rim" he called it. Almost as though the god of war had taken his jagged blade to the landscape, and exposed its very marrow, the sheer red cliffs towered over the dunes like a wall of red stone.

Xandra's guide strode ahead as they approached the cliffs, and pointed down at the her papers - a copied section of Filigree's final works. It read:

"...I'm fairly certain that this entrance will lead roughly towards the third tier of the Ziggurat (the Great Hall as I've come to call it) and perhaps even the Barracks on the fourth. The entrance is undoubtedly the nest of a fairly large Wyvern. However I've studied the nest for a long while, and I haven't personally witness it emerge. However! I'm a firm believer that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence! There are plenty of tunnels around the Ziggurat, and frankly it'd be foolish to think that a wily Wyvern wouldn't make good use of them! Unfortunately this illness has me too weak to climb up and make a proper assessment. Though I'm sure that there are athletes among you, so I'm damned sure that it shouldn't be too much of an issue!"

Turning his hand in the direction of the dark opening that sat at around halfway towards the top, he grunted at the woman he accompanied and stared her down. "This one... is dangerous." He spent a short time fumbling for his words, before opening his mouth to speak again. "...is big ones that live here uh? Is like uh... how you say this... um..." He flapped his arms awkwardly, contorting his mouth into a grim snarl. "Drag'on! They are like Drag'on! But small, you know? But uh... is big to you." The man scratched his head, chuckling at his own inability to truly convey his thoughts. "You must climb."

Sure that Xandra understood as much as he would be able to convey, the man shrugged and turned back in the direction they came, leaving Xandra at the base of the cliff.
Edited by Flash, Jun 30 2017, 03:53 PM.
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Asylum
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Prone to Madness

The Day Before...

A certain excavation camp bustled noisily with activity outside Xandra’s tent as numerous hunters - professional and amateurs alike - prepared for their journeys into the lost Ziggurat's depths. Xandra Lucianna paid no mind to the noise, however; drowning it out with a robotic voice speaking to her through a pair of earbuds. It hadn’t been difficult for the huntress to acquire a digital copy of Buster Filigree’s writings on the Ziggurat through his foundation, which she now listened to via a text to speech app on her laptop while she surfed the web using a wifi connection that the foundation had also provided.

A Wyvern, the woman thought to herself as she came upon a particular section of Filigree’s writings in her quest to determine the most logical point of entry. A flying reptilian beast with the head and wings of a dragon. Typically depicted with a barbed tail… though I suppose it depends on the subspecies. She paused the app briefly to ponder the late hunter’s words. An entrance like this would undoubtedly be best suited for a Beast Hunter to tackle, but the possibility of being able to penetrate the lower levels of the Ziggurat through these caverns was also an alluring sentiment.

Rumors of supernatural activity deep within the halls of the Ziggurat had spread like wildfire across the treasure and archaeological hunting communities. Rumors that demanded investigation. She had no interest in exploring the upper tiers where comparatively few of these rumors seemed to arise from or in competing with treasure-seekers that might view her merely as competition getting between them and fabulous riches, so a path that bypassed these potential obstacles was ideal in her mind.

Although I haven’t faced this kind of monster before… it’s not like I don’t have time to prepare. “Take me to the Hunter’s Site,” Xandra spoke into the mic built into her headphones, and the laptop she was sitting in front of immediately opened a web browser.

“Enter License Number,” an automated voice told the woman through her headphones, which she proceeded to do. “Please Swipe License.” She complied, and a creaking sound filled her ears as a pair of tavern doors on the screen swung open and led her into a digital saloon.

”What can I help you with?” the bartender’s voice soon asked.

“Select Monster Hunting category,” Xandra spoke into the mic again, “search for Wyverns of the Suburb Desert.” A request for money in exchange for the information would soon appear, and Xandra would swipe her debit card without hesitation. Be it their physiology, mating habits, weak points, ecology… any information she could acquire from other hunters on this Wyvern she was likely to encounter could prove lifesaving.

-------
Later, Xandra followed her guide silently across the sands through the desert night. The sun had already begun to rise by the time they reached The Rim that Filligree had described in his writings. This disappointed Xandra, who had hoped to be within the tunnels by the time its scorching rays started to bake the earth. Whatever, the woman thought to herself, feeling sweat begin to drip down her cheek, can’t be helped. I’ll have to deal with it.

Xandra wore a long, brownish robe over her typical professional attire; consisting of brown ceremonial garb highly adorned with numerous bronze patterns and silver jewelry along with a helmet-like headdress that covered her eyes. She carried a similarly-colored backpack over her shoulders, full of equipment that might prove useful on this journey and with two external sleeves which snugly carried her spear and Hypnotic Umbrella respectively. Two small blades were strapped to her thighs for easy access, her Benz Knife on her left and her Ceremonial Dagger on her right.

After some time the guide came to a stop and began to warn her of the beast that lurked within the tunnels, but Xandra raised her hand to signal that she understood. “I’m aware,” she told him while beginning to walk towards the rock face. “I thank you for your assistance, sir.”

Xandra swiped her palm across the hot rock, feeling for a notch in the stone that she could grab onto. When she found one, she grasped it, and then began to feel for a higher one with her other hand. For minutes, she repeated the process to climb higher and higher.

As she ascended, Xandra used Sight Beyond Sight to search for signs of life within the cliff face around her. While she couldn’t make out the tunnels themselves without resorting to En, she hoped that there would be other creatures taking shelter from the sun within these tunnels besides the Wyvern. If she could just sense such a creature’s aura within a 30m radius of her, then it would clue her in on the location of a tunnel. She’d have to be careful about entering the tunnel of course. Even if it wasn’t a Wyvern, there were plenty of other deadly creatures that thrived in the shadows of the Suburb Desert.
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Flash
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Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.

The ascent was simple task for a seasoned Hunter. Though Xandra's apprehensions regarding the time of day were certainly warranted, the desert rock still managed to retain a sliver of cool air from the night before. Fortunately, this made her traversal of the cliffs a somewhat stress-free endeavour.

As the precautious hunter neared the grim threshold, the overwhelming stench of death and decay - intensified by the rising heat of the desert - would slam against her senses like a train. The foul aroma only grew in potency as she climbed, perhaps exacerbated by her reliance on her non-visual senses.

From the entrance, the lair appeared to be clear of any immediate threats. In fact, it seemed virtually devoid of any life - save for the masses of ravenous larvae that gorged on the decaying husks of fallen prey.

Inside, the cave was a dingy and squalid affair. Typical of a Suburbian Wyvern's home, the lair was evidently used by its voracious homeowner as a macabre portmanteau of a pantry, a slaughterhouse, and a sleeping area; the extremities of the cave were bestrewn with a plethora of viscera and gore, leaving a wide open space for the beast to sleep. Described as avatars of rapacity and omnivorousness made flesh, the powerful immune systems of the greedy beasts allowed them to feast upon large prey for weeks. Not unlike the remains of a putrid elephant carcass, now rendered nought more than a mass of blood and bone, that laid strewn across center of the cave. Lying amongst the mess were more fresh remains, including those of two unfortunate travellers - gutted and sprawled across the floor.

It would only take around a minute of being within the cave before a vastly more salient life-sign entered Xandra's range of sight. The presence appeared as an amorphous mass of smokey aura, that flowed behind the far wall. Though it bore no discernible shape, the smoke appeared to move with purpose. Occasionally it paused, almost as though it were in a moment of introspection, before drifting on again at its leisurely pace.

Presumably the only avenue of investigation was a large opening that sat behind one of the festering piles of meat and bone. However, as far as could be discerned, it headed mostly away from the entity.
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Xandra shuddered in disgust as a wave of stench from the above cavern slammed into her face. She immediately focused aura around her palms so as to tighten her grasp on the cliff rather than allow herself to fall. Swallowing her urge to vomit, the huntress lifted her hand again to continue climbing. She analyzed the contents of the cavern with her Sight Beyond Sight the moment it came within range and quickly ascertained that this was the (or at least an) entrance to the Wyvern's lair. The putrid smell of decomposing flesh and the notable lack of large life forms meant that this was the territory of some fearsome beast... one that any creature with a sense of self preservation would stay clear of. Or any human for that matter.

Finding no other entrance nearby, Xandra cautiously clambered into the mouth of the cavern. Finally out of the sun's direct gaze, she removed her robe and stuffed it into the empty satchel provided to her by the foundation which she had securely strapped onto her backpack. She immediately erased her presence with Zetsu as well, hoping to reduce the risk of alerting the beast to her presence if it happened to be at home. Doing her best to avoid smelling the miasma, Xandra began to make her way into the cavern while using her spear as a white cane to feel out her physical surroundings.

She couldn't identify the size or species of any of the rotting corpses sprawled across the floor around her, but the sheer number of maggots squirming within them told her that this place's resident was a voracious eater. She wondered if there were any fellow adventurers seeking an entrance to the Ziggurat among the pile. If so... let's not end up like them.

Her curiosity was piqued when smokey aura came within range of her Sight beyond the cavern wall. Could it be the Wyvern? she asked herself, but quickly concluded that it didn't feel to her like a beast. She would have liked to study it in more detail with the second or third state of her ability, only to determine that switching to those states would put it out of her range. Searching for a way to get closer proved unsuccessful, forcing her to give up the thought of further inquiry. She decided that it was for the best regardless; better to focus her attention on not being eaten by the dragon whose home she was intruding on. She felt the opening behind a pile of rotting flesh with her spear, and decided to move silently through it.
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Gon.Pro.Hunter
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A few of the larvae noticed Xandra’s entrance and proceeded to writhe towards her while the majority continued to gorge on remains. These were the largest gigi of the group with fully formed sets of teeth lining their rounded mouth openings. Without legs, their progress was slow and even when the Hunter made slow and careful movements with her spear, they weren’t able to get close enough to latch on. The sounds of hundreds of infantile mouths feeding on decay faded as Xandra entered the lair’s second opening.

A brief inspection would reveal a simple tunnel roughly nine feet in diameter; its floor being as rounded as the walls and ceiling. Silence was almost as thick as the darkness here, and Xandra would notice a gradual, downward slope as she traveled. Not long after her descent into the burrowed passageway, she would encounter what appeared to be the wyvern itself.

Perfectly still. Unblinking. The large scales and leathery wings seemed to be resting and no sign of life came from the tremendous form. It was merely a shedding, after all. A perfectly intact skin; newly discarded and filling the entire space made it necessary from Xandra to pass through it in order to continue forward. A faint trace of residual aura still lingered on the leavings, a sign that it was rather new. Xandra’s research had mentioned several times that Wyverns did not shed as their scales grow slowly over the course of its life, making this particular finding exceptionally unorthodox. Her data mentioned nothing about a species that shed full skins such as this one.

Further down away from the rare and oddly intact wyvern skin, Xandra would first feel the scuttling of dozens of legs. An army of cave beetles was approaching and their rabbit-sized bodies created a light tremor as they got closer; the sound of their feet indicating a number of three dozen. These were harmless creatures, only stopping to feed on the scum that lined the tunnel’s walls whenever they found it. Clicking, and light chirps accompanied the mindless bodies that swept over the Hunter without pausing. Xandra Luciana was a mere obstacle to be crawled over and around.

Back in the Wyvern’s lair stood an ominous figure; covered in a dark armor and holding a long barreled gun of some kind. Their presence had been cloaked since before the sun’s appearance, and even with a flawless Zetsu they have kept a distance from the ornate blind woman. Wexford watched the Hunter and followed, letting Xandra lead the way into the Ziggurat where his real target was.

Apex


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Asylum
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The huntress came to a stop upon reaching the beast's shed skin, immediately moving to raise her guard in alarm despite quickly realizing that something was off. She activated the second state of her Sight, coming to realize exactly what it was she was looking at. Odd, she thought, placing a hand on the skin and mentally comparing it to what she'd learned in her research. She was very sure that this wasn't something Wyverns were known to do. An undiscovered species? I don't like the sound of that. She was no Beast or Monster Hunter, going up against an unknown creature only meant more danger to her. Fortunately, however, it wasn't like she didn't have any clues to take advantage of.

Remaining in her Sight's second state, she proceeded to study the residual aura left behind on the skin for a few moments in hopes of getting a better understanding of its natural weaponry. She couldn't tell the size of its teeth of course, nor if it was venomous, but some information was better than no information. Lastly, she briefly entered the third state of her Sight Beyond Sight, using her ability to detect fresh trails of ambient aura in hopes of determining the direction the beast had moved after shedding its skin. If it had moved back towards its lair, then it had probably flown off to go hunting meaning she was safe for the time being. If it had gone forward down the tunnel in the direction she was heading... then she'd be wise to prepare herself for an encounter. She returned her Sight to its first state, deciding that the increased range would be more helpful in sensing the approach of any enemies.

Xandra winced upon noticing the approaching swarm of beetles, briefly jolting in disgust as they approaching and then scuttled over her before shaking her head to calm herself upon realizing that they were harmless. Just bugs, just bugs, she repeated inwardly, shuddering as the beetles passed her by. Remaining in zetsu, she returned to her serious demeanor and began to push on. Again, she used her spear as a seeing stick, softly tapping the walls to identify any branching paths.
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Gon.Pro.Hunter
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Long, thick limbs were the first distinct trait Xandra noticed when examining the shedding with her sharpened state. Smaller, thin wings would give an impression that this particular beast was more of a cave dweller than a sky hunter, but it was still a possibility. The wyvern’s snout was short and wide, and it’s belly enormous. Such a creature had never been seen before, except by those unfortunate enough to find it. Xandra’s sight beyond sight would show a more vibrant trail of residual aura continuing further into the tunnel in the same direction she had been traveling. Where the beetles had been coming from in one sizable swarm.

As the Huntress proceeded she would have to stoop as the tunnel’s ceiling got lower; its scum dripping onto her shoulders more frequently. The passageway was more narrow, the further she went and the walls were coated with a mucous-like film of sorts. Just as the unfavorable path’s incline became steeper, Xandra would sense hundreds if not thousands of tiny wriggling auras. These belonged to the cave worms. Similar to earthworms, these creatures had a sandpapery exterior that allowed them to work their way the denser rocky place. About a foot and a half in length, they moved with unnatural haste; scrambling and writhing over one another in what seemed like a frantic race. If they had voices, perhaps they might scream as they rushed past the blind Huntress in the slippery path. She could turn and attempt to outrun them, but they were already breaking through the walls around her as their numbers were impossible to determine. Upwards and out they all moved, not bothering to explore or harm Xandra as they encountered her.

The mucky conditions of the tunnel made it extremely slippery. That combined with the stampede of cave worms and the sharp incline made it very likely for Xandra Lucianna to fall. Her progress was carefully followed by the predator from earlier; Apex. Hunters were his exclusive prey now that he had surpassed all other game. Those who mastered themselves and yielded nen with formidable skill. It was difficult but Levi Wexford vowed to limit his hunting to once every three years in order to ensure his treasures were fully matured. This robust female was making herself useful as a trailblazer for him now in his pursuit of another. Perhaps one day she might find herself in his sights if she continued to improve.
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The creature's small wings confused Xandra, making her wonder how it could manage to bring prey as large as elephants to the cave entrance so high up off the ground. Perhaps with its powerful limbs it was able to scale the cliff with its huge feasts in tow, using its small wings as a method of keeping balanced. Still, she couldn't help but worry that there was something she was missing. Learning that the creature's aura trail led deeper into the tunnels concerned her, of course, but it wasn't enough to make her turn back. To investigate the rumors of paranormal activity within the depths of the Ziggurat, she had been prepared for a battle with the monstrous gatekeeper from the start.

Xandra brought her hand to the wall further down the tunnel, jerking it backwards upon feeling its slimy coating. She moved the fingers of the same hand, feeling the mucous-like substance still coating them. What is this? Excretions? She wondered if she had stumbled into the stomach of some huge creature, but decided that she would have sensed its aura if so.

Worms emerged from the walls soon after, and this time Xandra felt a heightened sense of alarm. The beetles from earlier had been stopping to eat scum off the walls as they swarmed past her, making her think that this was just their normal behavior, but this time it seemed clear that the worms were behaving unnaturally. It was almost like they were running from something. What would creatures this small which live in stone have to fear of a Wyvern, though? Was there something else she needed to be worried about? This wasn't enough to make her turn back just yet, however.

The stampede of worms combined with the slipperiness of the floor made Xandra decide to exit Zetsu, focusing aura around her feet to help strengthen her footing. She stepped forward, pushing through the worms while grasping the shaft of her spear tightly - as if expecting a beast to appear within range of her Sight at any moment.
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A snarl was heard shortly after Xandra Lucianna’s presence introduced itself in the dark tunnel. It’s echo suggested the owner was a reasonable distance of eighty meters or so, the deep tone belonged to something large. Something powerful. No movement was heard or felt however, and the hostile sound trailed off brokenly. The increasingly steep incline to the small path coupled with a thick slimy coating the entire surface made it nearly impossible not to fall; especially when the descent became a straight drop leading to a large and deep cavern.

More like a pit. It’s bottom a skittering mass of black. A surging pool of mindless spiders prematurely hatched from several egg sacks. All scrambling without a clear purpose, confused and hungry. The drop from Xandra’s gooey tunnel to this mass of infant arachnids was thirty feet, the depth of hatchlings was unclear. Another opening at the cavern’s bottom was blocked by the Wyvern. Bloated and grunting, it’s tongue hung from an agape mouth; filling the air with putrid breath. Serpentine eyes rolled as the creature twisted and snarled.

Above Xandra, Levi Wexford’s weapon slid from where he’d jammed it in the tunnel walls to prevent himself from slipping as the last of the fleeing cave worms burrowed out from where his hold was. Although the predator was able to slow his descent, Levi opted to close in on the female below out of pure interest. Danger was imminent, and it would do well to force the trailblazer into harm’s way to clear a path for himself.
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Despite her efforts to retain her foothold with aura, a rapid decline in the path she was walking combined with the slipperiness of the floor and the stampede of rushing worms caused Xandra to lose her footing and slide into a dark pit below. She presumed it be dark, at least. She sensed the aura of the unborn spiders before she'd even landed, feeling their countless legs scramble across her flesh milliseconds after their egg sacs had broken her fall. For a moment the huntress reeled in disgust, jumping to her feet and struggling to brush the crawling spiders off her skin, but quickly fell still as she sensed the Wyvern's presence. Her demeanor was instantly replaced with one of pure professionalism, relying on her ten to protect her from the fangs of the baby spiders as she focused intently on the beast before her.

The huntess' aura steadily intensified in preparation for battle. She tightened her grasp on her spear, flowing aura up its shaft towards its head, and flicked a spider off her free hand while moving it towards a pouch on her waist. She opened it to reveal a collection of small bells connected to thin string, grabbed a couple, then positioned herself into a combative stance while stepping slowly towards it. Her Sight Beyond Sight retracted into its second state the moment the beast was within range, a moment before she grasped her spear with both hands and whipped it in its direction in a wide horizontal arc.

Reaper's Sweep. A wave of displaced air would be launched forward by the technique, hopefully sending a wave of flying spiders into the dragon's face as a result. They were unlikely to do much to harm the beast, but her true goal was to obstruct the beast's line of sight with them. She instantly dashed to the side once she'd completed her swing, concentrating aura into one of the bells wrapped around her fingers. She had to observe the creature's response before she could solidify her strategy - if it continued to follow her movements despite the spiders obstructing its vision then that would imply that it relied on senses other than sight to track its prey in the darkness.
Edited by Asylum, Aug 23 2017, 08:53 PM.
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