ASTHENOA

[capemods]

WHO: The imPorts trapped in a video game.
WHERE: The virtual world of Asthenoa.
WHEN: 10AM August 26th to 11PM August 31st.
WARNINGS: Violence and fighting. Alert me of anything else for updates.
SUMMARY: A comedy of errors: imPorts are trapped in a Vulcanus-made video game.
FORMAT: As you like it.



Asthenoa is a land set on lush rolling hills under a bright blue sky eternally streaked with clouds. The only celestial variance comes during the nightly setting, where an eternally yellow full moon partially hides behind those clouds. The people of Asthenoa may be human, or elven, or dwarven, or they may have animalistic features, but none of that is of great social concern. Asthenoa has always been this way. The heart of the land is a medieval town set upon one of the highest hills, and the middle of that town sits a majestic stone castle. The busiest part of the town is the center, which hosts the marketplace. There you can buy necessities, or meet the blacksmith and other artisans at their working studios. Beyond the artisanal studios are the taverns and the inns.

Beyond the cheerier inns is a place called The Shriveled Shrike. If you head to the second floor and knock on the third room door thrice and rub your knee against the handle once, it will magically open and expose to you a staircase. People of the Rogue class know this inherently.

The staircase is five flights long. It leads to a black market in a mile long, mile wide underground bunker, where gambling and other darker magicks are indulged. You might meet a necromancer or three. You might run into trouble.

If you were to step out beyond the town, you would have to cross a moat via the drawbridge. It’s always closed up at nighttime, you can only pass during the day.

Beyond the moat (where serpents might swim) is a hilly pasture. Beyond the pasture is an enchanted forest. Strange things happen in these gnarled woods – this is where mystical creatures lurk. Acres of dark wood house sparkling lights and floating orbs and very unusual flora. The fauna includes many mythical beings, including centaurs and fairies and griffins. There could be even more hidden within secret caves or pools of darkening water.

You feel the need to venture past this alluring wood. You feel it deeply.

Comments

[wisecracked]

[Kenzi looks thrown of guard for a moment before she backs up a bit. Wax that seems to harden near instantly? How is she supposed to fight that with just her dagger if the sword isn't much use.]

This is when, like, a magic user would come in handy.

[promised_victory]

Indeed. We will have to proceed with caution. [Such as backing away from the wax men reaching for her now that her sword is more a bludgeon. On the plus side, it seems its arm is now gone.

There's just three others who are still whole.]

Throw something at one of their heads, Miss Kenzi! [She's busy keeping herself between them and her. Maybe if they manage to remove the wax acting as a head they'll stop.]

[wisecracked]

[Kenzi cringes a bit at being called Miss but there's no time to argue about it. She quickly looks around for something other than her dagger to throw. Luckily there's large rocks around, hopefully one of them will do the trick.

Moving quickly she ducks down to grab one and throws it at the nearest wax man's head. It connects and knocks the head clean off. The waxy head hits the ground with the rock half buried in it.]

[promised_victory]

[Apparently that does enough of a trick. The beheaded wax man stumbles, then falls to the ground. Saber grins and holds her sword before her as the others approach.]

If there's more, throw them! I shall hold them off until then!

[wisecracked]

[Kenzi had her doubts but seeing as it works she quickly turns to find more rocks to throw. Most around aren't as big as the one she'd thrown before but she gathers them up anyway and starts chucking them in the wax mens' direction.]

Any luck getting the wax off?

I am so sorry for how long this is taking.

[promised_victory]

Not yet!

[She's busy holding them off. A broadsword is not meant to be a club, which is what it's slowly turning into the more the blade gets covered with wax. At least her blows are disabling them and the rocks Kenzi throws are sloughing off more of the stuff.

It isn't long before they manage to get two more down and Saber draws back to try and drag some of the hardened wax from her blade to lighten the weight.]

s'ok

[wisecracked]

[Kenzi lets out a frustrated whine but keeps grabbing up every rock she can find to hurl at the waxmen. Unfortunately she doesn't notice the one diving for her legs. It connects with her left leg, instantly rooting it to the ground with hardened wax and nearly sending Kenzi face first into the stone ground.]

Crap! [At least it meant another waxman down but it also meant Kenzi couldn't get to anymore rocks until she was free.]

[promised_victory]

[Saber does something stupid as the last one comes for her and manages to punch it. This leaves one arm covered in wax, but that means the last one is down.

Saber turns, arm weighed down with wax, but approaches Kenzi. The wax men are gone for now, thankfully.]

Are you all right? Did they harm you at all?

[Make sure she's okay first. then Kenzi will get her praise because Saber is impressed.]

[wisecracked]

[Kenzi continues to struggle with the wax up until Saber walks over and asks if she's all right.]

Yeah, I'm fine. [She deftly pulls out her dagger and starts trying to cut away at the wax around her leg. Only it's not cutting through so well so she stops and looks up at Saber before cringing.] What about you? You're practically covered in this stuff.

[promised_victory]

I can still move, though. [She kneels down and starts helping Kenzi get the wax off her leg with her good arm. Saber promised to protect her so of course Kenzi has priority over herself.]

You did very well. Your aim was excellent despite being troubled by the situation.

[wisecracked]

[Kenzi starts using the pummel of her dagger on the wax instead of the blade and finds it does a bit better at chipping away at the wax.]

I've had practice. [Although her aim seems a lot better here for some reason. Normally she's a little off her mark due to her less than stellar eyesight.]

[promised_victory]

Well, you did very well. The most important things in these sort of situations is managing to think with a cool head despite how much you are also panicking.

[And she's still helping to scrape the wax off.]

[wisecracked]

It was that or end up a wax statue and I'd rather not. It's so hard to get out hair. [She gives a little laugh as she still chips away at the wax. At least it's starting to thin out, she should be able to move soon.

That was how Kenzi did things, though. She'd panic but keep on going, sometimes she'd get in a lucky hit and everything would end well.]