[META] The Cutting Bitterness of the Empress (Ellipses)

[Taki-di]

Nictor Sabbat
HP: 18/20
Damage: 0
In Training: Endurance 1/1
Trinkets/Artifacts/Items: Military Grade Weapon (2d6 + 1)
Adept Artifact Defense A (style A -3 damage taken, 4x per battle) 4/4
Novice Support Trinket, Style A (Heals another troll by half their maximum hp, 1x per battle) 1/1

Advancements: 3
Minibosses Defeated: 0

Quote:

5 - You keep walking down the corridor. Nothing here.

The crew may have a more welcoming and laid back vibe, something that offset Nictor’s wild eyed tension and made him feel like he was definitely over reacting despite knowing this was definitely the amount of panic this called for. This was life or death, monsters made of trolls, dead sinking silence in the void. The panic was called for. Maybe.

He shouldn’t be here.

Every ship was a stark contrast of acceptable behavior and what was not and Nictor was a prime example of what not to be in space.

Like how he managed to fake himself out when he got to far ahead of one of the others and ended up startling and nearly face planting in response trying to get away from the perceived threat. Ah yes. There was a reason he typically stuck to the back of the group.

"S-sorry!, S-s-s----orry," Nictor choked out, voice thin and strained, dragging himself upright and grimacing, trying not to make eye contact with Eilidh, who'd he'd somehow thought was something out to get him for a split second.
 

[Hobo Pixi]

Eilidh Ròsach
HP: 18/20
Attack: 1D6; Damage: 1d6
Power: Novice support style A (1/1)
Training Discipline (1d6+1)
Advancement: 4

Eilidh watched the zombies all parish. At least they weren't any of those ugly boss creatures that randomly appeared. Those sucked so bad! They hit hard and made it so her party needing healing... which means more chances to kiss... which means a higher likability to be caught and dragged off to the military.  

[Micillia]

Static Charge
HP: 18;
Attack: 1D6 + 1;
Power novice Agility B, Declare and use x2 attacks in your bonus attack post.
YTMA training Academics, Novice Strength

Static let out a sigh of relief. It was an empty area. No zombies, no mutant lusus, no wild hamsters. Great. There was one little bundle of something... it might have something in it. Static motioned for the yellowblood to check it out as he kept watch of the guy's back, making sure there was not going to be any surprise attacks. "Find anything?"  

[leon_a_darkangel]

HP: 18/20
DMG: +1 Military Weapon
Power: Adept Defensive - Style B: Nullify the damage from the last hit - 2/2
Artifact: Offensive - Style A 1d6+1: Auto hit w/ pierce - 2/2
Badges: Master Covert Ops, Master Leadership, Training Endurance

Moving down a hallway, they found nothing thankfully in terms of danger. "Nictor...it will be okay." He called out, hearing the stammer in his voice and nervous demeanor. Plus they were in the clear right now. The relief to not have to deal with any of the daywalkers was fine by him. His daggers were ready should he need them of course. Stryke may not have known these trolls very well, but he would do what he could to keep an eye on them.

Being encouraged to go investigate, he agreed with a nod. Scampering in the room ready to defend himself, Stryke glanced at what appeared to be an open door. Of all things to come across. What could be inside?

Upon entering the open door, he found a rather curious item. The surprise was evident on the older trolls face. It appeared to be a ship log of some kind..? Excitement made the yellowblood scan the item trying to get a feel for what exactly it meant.

Advances: 4
Results: 12 - Ship Log no. 2  

[Taki-di]

Nictor Sabbat
HP: 18/20
Damage: 0
In Training: Endurance 1/1
Trinkets/Artifacts/Items: Military Grade Weapon (2d6 + 1)
Adept Artifact Defense A (style A -3 damage taken, 4x per battle) 4/4
Novice Support Trinket, Style A (Heals another troll by half their maximum hp, 1x per battle) 1/1

Advancements: 4
Minibosses Defeated: 0

Quote:

3 - You advance through the ship ...

Nictor stared blankly ahead. Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t think. He couldn’t afford to space out right now, couldn’t afford to consider or look too deeply at what they’d just read, it was too much. Not right now. Not here when things weren’t safe. It was like cotton spread between him and the information they learned, things he knew were there but literally couldn’t parse right now.

It felt like his throat had closed up he felt off balance. He needed to be paying attention to his motions, keeping himself upright better, it was just, a little hard to focus right now.

Not that that did anything to alleviate his tension, to soothe the ache along his spine or in the tightly bound wounds on his arm and stomach and thigh. Oh boy hs muscles weren’t quite happy about that, but the bursts of adrenaline and him startling at small noises was certainly making for a good distraction so that was great. Awesome, yes. Think about that. Think about the patterns of their footfalls, strain for a hint of something other, anything but what his brain couldn’t even fathom processing right now.
 

[Hobo Pixi]

Eilidh Ròsach
HP: 18/20
Attack: 1D6; Damage: 1d6
Power: Novice support style A (1/1)
Training Discipline (1d6+1)

Eilidh followed her crew around, looking for more rooms... more information. So far there weren't any alarms or traps that actually disarmed. Other than the Zombies... this ship wasn't as bad. Thank Gog. Eilidh looked around, trying to find anything of use. She hoped this ship wouldn't hold anything completely monstrous this time.  

[Micillia]

Static Charge
HP: 18;
Attack: 1D6 + 1;
Power novice Agility B, Declare and use x2 attacks in your bonus attack post.
YTMA training Academics, Novice Strength

6 zombies
"Eerg..." Static counted the zombies. Okay, its not that bad, what was it, 6? Yeah, not too bad! The blueblood looked back at his team. Most of them were ready... most... Static looked at the yellowblood in the back. The blueblood did not feel like a leader, but, well, the yellowblood looked like he could use a word. The blueblood filed it away for later. Once, well you know, they wern't in a death trap.  

[leon_a_darkangel]

HP: 17/20
DMG: 5 DMG
Power: Adept Defensive - Style B: Nullify the damage from the last hit - 2/2
Artifact: Offensive - Style A 1d6+1: Auto hit w/ pierce - 2/2
Badges: Master Covert Ops, Master Leadership, Training Endurance

Stryke did not have the time for the undead. They had a mission to achieve, and he needed to obtain as much information as he could within a short amount of time. He also had other trolls to look into and find..he needed to make sure his people were safe. For now, that meant doing his part during this event. The more they obtained information-wise, the better it would spell for the Initiative.

Clearing a few zombies out seemed like the best course of action for now.

One by one, Stryke began to work his way through the hoard. He was not afraid, Byakko's training kept him grounded firmly in reality as Stryke knocked over five of the husk-like corpses that had once been living breathing trolls.

Advances: 5
Zombie Count: 1 left  

[Taki-di]

Nictor Sabbat
HP: 17/20
Damage: 0
In Training: Endurance 1/1
Trinkets/Artifacts/Items: Military Grade Weapon (2d6 + 1)
Adept Artifact Defense A (style A -3 damage taken, 4x per battle) 4/4
Novice Support Trinket, Style A (Heals another troll by half their maximum hp, 1x per battle) 1/1

Advancements: 5
Minibosses Defeated: 0

Quote:

Zombies: 1-4-5=0

In the shuffling, in the movement, as Stryke took out five of the zombies with a quick efficiency that made Nictor quail on the inside, one got missed. One got missed and as Nictor moved to keep pace with the group, to not get cut off, well, he managed to get just that.

This was an exceptionally bad moment for this to happen given the strung out mess Nictor was right now. A state of high panic. And a threat had just put itself between him and relative safety and he didn't have to think, didn’t have to fumble and wait for the fight or flight to kick in, he was already riding that high.

It just took the slightest stumble of of the undead towards him and he grabbed his bo staff, a high pitched wheeze emitting from him as he extended it and swung.

Off with their head.

Oh.

It didn’t really sink in, he was already scuttling forward to catch up, to get away from the danger, his brain deciding it was better to remain as it was than come down any and think about what he just did because there was already a distant horror wanted to throw his bo staff and let the zombies take him.
 

[Hobo Pixi]

Eilidh Ròsach
HP: 17/20
Attack: 1D6; Damage: 1d6
Power: Novice support style A (1/1)
Training Discipline (1d6+1)
Advancement 6

Well, more zombies but then again.. at this point that was pretty usual. That didn't mean that Eilidh liked seeing these disgusting, vile piles of rotted flesh that they have come to known as zombies. With those dealt with, Eilidh moved to look around more. She would likely find more zombies rather than anything useful.  

[Micillia]

Static Charge
HP: 17;
Attack: 1D6 + 1;
Power novice Agility B, Declare and use x2 attacks in your bonus attack post.
YTMA training Academics, Novice Strength

Okay, hallway again. Static tried to make the air a little lighter. "So.." The blueblood started, "How has everyone been...?" Now really wasn't the time for small talk, but, well Static was nervous. Might as well be nervous about social ques instead of zombies, right?  

[leon_a_darkangel]

HP: 17/20
DMG: +1 Military Grade Weapon
Power: Adept Defensive - Style B: Nullify the damage from the last hit - 2/2
Artifact: Offensive - Style A 1d6+1: Auto hit w/ pierce - 2/2
Badges: Master Covert Ops, Master Leadership, Training Endurance

Stryke turned to face Static as he asked how they were doing. He debated very seriously on whether or not engaging in small talk even sounded appealing. Licking his lips slightly he nodded then as he tipped his hat up just enough to get a clear look at Static. "Fine...so far anyway." Just as he opened his mouth to say more, he could hear the sound of shuffling.

Sighing his attention turned to the six zombies making their way towards them. Normally he had more patience then this, but the undead littered across the ship certainly wasn't appealing by any means. "We have company." He called out.

Advances: 6
Zombie Count: 6 Zombies Total  

[Micillia]

Static Charge
HP: 16;
Attack: 1D6 + 1;
Power novice Agility B, Declare and use x2 attacks in your bonus attack post.
YTMA training Academics, Novice Strength

3 zombies left, yep, he could do this! And probably all in a leaderly fashion too. The blueblood nodded to himself, thinking of the trolls he loved and how he wanted to go back to them. If he.. if he could rise in rank enough... Maybe Mahmud would hang out with him, or something. Maybe he could become a troll the brownblood could be proud of.  

[Taki-di]

Nictor Sabbat
HP: 16/20
Damage: 0
In Training: Endurance 1/1
Trinkets/Artifacts/Items: Military Grade Weapon (2d6 + 1)
Adept Artifact Defense A (style A -3 damage taken, 4x per battle) 4/4
Novice Support Trinket, Style A (Heals another troll by half their maximum hp, 1x per battle) 1/1

Advancements: 6
Minibosses Defeated: 0

Quote:

Zombies: 3

Nictor couldn’t put his bo staff away like he normally would. He tried but it seemed it just wasn't happening. The less time handling the weapon the better. He felt something inside him ache and retreat at the violence.

Oh. Yeah. That was uh, all of him. Yup.

This wasn’t him. This wasn’t something he wanted or wished for or imagined he’s wind up roped into but here he was and he wanted to pry his fingers loose of the bo staff but they were curled too tight. He felt the tendons thrum like strings stretched too tight but he just couldn’t let go.

So of course more zombies approached but even if he’d wiped out th-that. That uh.

Wiped out. Him. He did that.

No, no, not now, not now.

He both struggled to understand what he’d done and fought it down, trying to smother out the thought because he needed to be able to get through this, to get back to ground, back to Beehemoth and Kolako, back home to his blankets and welcoming couch and curl up and block out the world it would never be okay what had happened. The fuzzing in his brain was too much he couldn’t even if he couldn't think why right now, he just couldn’t. Stumbling, he backed up, Viciously jabbing one away when it got too close, but he got out of arm’s reach before he was forced to strike again.
 

[Hobo Pixi]

Eilidh Ròsach
HP: 16/20
Attack: 1D6; Damage: 1d6
Power: Novice support style A (1/1)
Training Discipline (1d6+1)

The party hadn't killed all the zombies yet? It looked like it was her turn then. She gripped her weapon, running up to some of them and attempting to hit them. This was not something she could have seen herself doing...ever. She was too passive and too kind to be up in space, killing zombies and bit ugly boss creatures.... what were her friends thinking?