❪ introlog #3 ❫ GUERRILLA FORCES.

[natha]

You have spent the last few days on Thesa Station, taking in the knowledge that your world is no more. Perhaps you've made some friends (or maybe an enemy or two). Either way, you aren't expected to spend all of your time on the Station. El Nysa needs you, after all, and you promised you'd help the planet thrive. Are you ready? Submit any AC eligible thread of participating in this log's prompts for Two (2) Wyver REP points HERE. JUMP INTO THE DEEP END     As soon as the Natha begin to observe that the new arrivals are beginning to wake, a message goes out to all refugees currently on El Nysa with an unfamiliar ping on their phone. Hi everyone. It's Sael. The people that were recovered from stasis recently are going to need your help getting to El Nysa. It's not the Teleporter this time, though. I highly recommend that you come back, or you'll miss out on some pretty important stuff. When everyone is gathered aboard Thesa Station, characters may notice that working access to the Teleporter has been blocked. Stepping inside and attempting to teleport back to El Nysa will yield absolutely nothing. Luckily, it isn't long before you're given instructions on how to proceed. Hello everyone. We're doing things a little differently this time around. Darma senses the presence of foreign forces; she says they're distant right now, but we know it won't be long before we'll need your help to protect El Nysa on the spacefront. Some of you have piloted spaceships or flightsuits before, haven't you? Please lend the others your help and expertise. You'll be flying down to El Nysa to get some practice maneuvering in zero gravity. I encourage you to come back and practice with other people; learning how to work with different personalities is important. We've prepared spaceships for you in the Hangar. For this type of spacecraft, it's important that you truly work together to achieve harmony with your co-pilot. It's the only way to ensure a smooth trip. True to his word, there are plenty of ships waiting to be boarded in the Hangar. Although more than two people can fit in a ship, there are only two main pilot seats. Anyone who's piloted any sort of ship, mecha, or even a car will be able to figure out the controls. But that's not the only thing to figure out. GET IT TOGETHER. When the ship glides out from the hangar opening, it soon becomes apparent that the stability of the ship is highly dependent on emotion sharing between the two pilots. It is imperative that both parties reach an emotional equilibrium: you must be calm, focused, almost zen in your demeanor. Any sign of distress, anger, or negative emotions will be felt by the ship. Not being able to help each other reach a calm and happy emotional state will result in wild movements, difficulty steering, or malfunctions in the electrical circuitry. JUST KIDDING. Were you and your partner able to find shared emotional compatibility and maneuver the ship? Good. Just when you've got a good smooth drift going, Sael's voice cheerfully resonates in your mind. Great! Good job! This is kinda boring now, though. Hey guys, think fast! You don't have more than two seconds after his voice fades out of your mind to notice that a wave of massive meteorites are flying directly towards your ship at breakneck speed. How well can you avoid getting hit while maintaining your cool? Thankfully, if you're not great at it, the ship comes equipped with protective barriers that prevent any structural damage from physical impacts. Think of them as training wheels; getting struck by a meteorite will still give you nasty whiplash and nausea, your ship will likely spin wildly until you can regain control, and it will probably be pretty painful. But you and the ship will be unharmed. When you've had enough of being beaten around by meteorites or having to deal with the insufferable personalities of others, the ship will naturally gravitate to land on a particular island in El Nysa. The island that you land on is outfitted with docks and one or two small shacks where a hunter or fisherman could spend their nights on a long hunting expedition, but they don't look like they've been used in a while. It's quickly obvious that this isn't the main city of Wyver, and you have two paths ahead to choose from: cross an old stone bridge to the mainland and continue on foot, or get into one of the available simple rowboats and row your way. The path on land is longer, but safer, while going by water is faster, but more treacherous. Better get going. LAND ON BARBAROUS COASTS     Though the water has been relatively calm on your journey, the rowing has proved to be tiresome for all your party member's arms. There is reprieve if you leave the open water, in a cavern where you can tie your boat to a rock and stretch your legs. If you want to go for a dip, there are naturally curved waterslides in the rock face and platforms of rock jutting out up high perfect for diving/jumping off of. The water is warm and there's dry land; this is the ideal place to rest for the night. But the giant skull that sits in the middle of the site may put a damper on the mood. WORKS OF ART. Upon closer inspection of the skull, you'll notice that the exterior is actually made up of artfully carved white rock. Those that investigate it will find two entrances: the mouth, which can be climbed into; and around the side, where the ear would be. Inside is a more spacious cave, riddled with tools that are dirty and rusty with disuse. In the center of the cave is what looks like a shallow pool, although it has long since run dry. Within the pool's dry crater sit... bones. Bones from all kinds of creatures litter the floor, and the walls are lined with intricate paintings portraying death, feast, and celebration, faded and cracked with time. The bones are real, and while there is no indication where they came from before winding up here and many of them are in pieces, several are whole enough to be identified as distinctly animal or human. If your party isn't put off enough by the decor to leave their only refuge for the evening, they may set up camp here (unless they want to sleep in their boats). There is dry wood to gather for a campfire, and it's certainly the perfect atmosphere for ghost stories. But as the night falls, the sound of water flowing outside slowly begins to become more distant. All at once, your companions are no longer themselves; their voices dull to a whisper, their language one you have never heard before. Your campfire sputters down to embers and the cavern is lit instead by a faint glow coming from the paintings on the walls. As you watch, several tall, robed figures carrying another limp, shrouded figure enter the cavern. They have tools in hand, and as two lay their motionless companion into the shallow pool of water, the others raise their blades. With a vibrant flash of blue from the paintings lit across the walls, you come back to yourself; the fire is full and crackling, the pool is dry. Nothing else will occur as the night goes on, but the experience leaves you with a sense of foreboding... and yearning. After a long night's rest, good or not, the journey ahead is not far at all. You can see the coastline, and Wyver's walls aren't far behind. However, it begs the question of why your rowboat was so heavily equipped. The back ends of your oars are carved to a sharp point, the net under your seats is too heavy duty for any normal fishing excursion, and you'd do well not to pull the strings wrapped around those canvas balls without throwing them first, unless you want a faceful of gunpowder and a noise like shotgun fire that will make your ears ring. FROM THE DEPTHS. At first, there were simply a few ripples in the water before the bow of your boat. Minutes pass where you continue to row freely, but dark, long shadows begin to appear out of the corner of your eye. Ripples turn into bumps under your feet, and if you weren't paying attention before, you certainly have to now. The head of a sea serpent breaches the water's surface, mouth wide and teeth sharp. You cannot possibly see all of the beast in the short span of time you have, but what you can see that it's possibly the length of three of your rowboats. You best not have wasted your supplies, because it wastes no time in snapping towards your head. ABOUT THE SERPENTS: The sea serpents attack by striking in high, arching swoops over the boat and back into the water. Their scales are softer and thinner than a dragon's, so they are susceptible to any weapon or magic that can pierce. Characters may use what has been made available in the boats and their own powers to take them down at medium difficulty, but if they delay for any reason, they will proceed to snap the boat in half and leave them to swim the rest of the way. The number of serpents that can be encounter are limited to 1 per boat outing! If a character brings back parts of the thing, it can be sold on the market. The prices are: 500 silver for a fully intact head 50 silver for one of the following: several teeth, scales, or blood 200 silver for all three at once (teeth, scales, blood) A QUIET PLACE     The jungles outside Wyver's city limits are sprawling and mysterious. Deep in the wilderness there is an innate eeriness, a quiet mysticism that permeates the lush foliage all around you. If you've wandered around Wyver's territories before, you might have some idea of what to expect, but if you're brand new to this world—well, best of luck. Here, inland from the water, the trees are dense enough to cast the jungle floor in darkness in some places, while others let the sunlight filter in to expose creatures great and small—among other things. In the thick of the jungle, history before that of the current Wyver can be found, if one knows where to look. NATURE VS. NATURE? Wyver's jungles are teeming with more species of plants and wildlife than even the natives can name. After that rough landing stirred up the island and nearby land, the jungle is uneasy. Even if the group fresh from the Station scatters, there's no easier way to become an obvious target for nature's curiosity than how you got here. Maybe you encounter a Cutpurse Willow, a tree known for wrapping its hanging vine-like branches around anything that brushes past underneath it. Loose items in your pockets? Glasses? A weapon over your shoulder? Much like a venus fly trap closes around its food, the viney branches of this tree coil around anything that comes in contact with its leaves. Once grabbed, the vines begin to rise back up into the canopy, and these trees are quite tall—better grab your things before you have to do some climbing! Who knows what other lost items you might find up there, though... Or maybe you'll find yourself somehow not encountering... anything. Instead, you'll start to wonder: did I pass by that tree already? Or have I seen that stream before? Somehow you've gotten turned around, and no matter what methods you take to mark your path, you always seem to wind up right back where you started. But there aren't any predators here; listen closely, and all you'll hear is the innocent trilling song of the Duldrums, creatures that have yet to be studied in detail due to their ability to lose trackers easily among the foliage. Oddly, these creatures respond to conversation and don't appear hostile... but where exactly were you going, again? Or, you run into something else entirely! The forest is the home for many creatures from many worlds; who knows what you may encounter? A HISTORY LESSON. Something these jungles are rich in is history. Throughout the area there are all kinds of relics of the past to find, from crumbled ruins to the bones of fallen dragons. It seems that both these things fell where they stood and have remained untouched since, preserved only as much as nature will allow. After a long day's trek through the jungle, this is as good a place as any to rest. What's out here? You might find yourself stopping to lean against the ribcage of a dragon, left standing as a memorial to the great beast that left it. The people of Wyver revere their dragons both living and dead, and while some of these bones seem to be moderately taken care of (plants cleared away, no animal nests resting on them, etc.), they are very purposefully not moved. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to change that. You may also come across building ruins from the people who would, generations later, settle in what is now Wyver. Rudimentary and mostly stone and old wood, these buildings were once homes and meeting places for the people. One notable ruin is mostly the floor of what was once an oblong room; look closely and you'll see runes and other symbols carved into the stones, weathered with time. If you draw them or otherwise bring this information to the natives of Wyver, they seem to not know what you're talking about—or they don't want to answer you at all. Wherever you stop to rest, there are very few predators in this area, so you should be safe to camp for a little while! WELCOME TO WYVER     After your trek, whichever way you went, you'll wind up in Wyver! Unlike when the first refugees arrived to Olympia's outpost, there isn't any fanfare this time; you're given a lukewarm welcome and left to your own devices. There are places to see and businesses to be aware of here in Wyver, but other than that, the city is yours to explore. FINAL OOC NOTE     An AC-eligible thread for 2 WYVER REP POINTS may be submitted from this log. SUBMIT THE THREAD HERE by DECEMBER 19th 11:59 PM EST. We will no longer be providing overflow posts. In an event where the post hits CAPTCHA, players are advised to move threads to an overflow post on their character journals or create their own catch-all post. These threads remain eligible for AC, AC Rewards, and REP. 1 SILVER = 1 US DOLLAR. QUICK NAV premise ● faq ● lore ● map ● npcs taken ● atp/emp ● application ● rep/acp calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] elnysa nysalogs nysaisles nysaooc elnyan

Comments

Krieg | Borderlands

[fuelthefire]

1. Works of Art
     DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!

[Dang that's a pretty baller giant skull! Someone or someones probably spent a long time and a lot of hard work crafting that sucker. Anyone can see the amount of artistry and dedication that went into its creation. Even if giant skulls - or heck, even normal-sized skulls - aren't your thing, it's undeniably an astounding feat of creative effort.

Krieg takes one look at the thing and immediately begins scaling it like a jungle gym.

If you're lucky (or...not lucky...) you might come across the skull at the exact moment the giant, shirtless man pops out of the skull's nose and shouts:]

DON'T PICK YOUR NOSE OR YOUR HEAD WILL CAVE IN!

2. From the Depths
     FROM HELL'S HEART, I STAB AT THEE!

Somebody delivered a FEAST!

[Krieg was out of his seat and straddling the narrow prow of the canoe - one foot on each side - the moment the serpent's head broke the surface of the water. His axe is at the ready, gripped in both hands as he balances where he stands, swaying gently in time with the motion of the canoe while he watches for the next appearance of the beast.]

Don't rock the boat!

[Seriously. He wants to get his murder on and he can't make that happen if he falls in.]

3. Wildcard
     CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

[HMU on Plurk at gundamkiwi if you wanna plot, or toss a random scenario at me and I'll roll with it! o7]

1 let's disrespect this beautiful piece of art together

[gh0stamidstthec0mbat]

[Zer0 was absolutely here to climb this giant skull too, and had actually begun to do so, but then Krieg happens. For a moment Zer0 is distracted, because who the fuck wouldn't be distracted by a huge, half naked man popping out of a giant skull's nose hole.]

...I don't think that's true.

when disrespecting beautiful art, always bring a friend

[fuelthefire]

Pffmnahahahaha!

[Why is he laughing? Who knows. It's Krieg. It's what he does. He grips the ridges of the giant skeletal nose hole with his hands and leans out to peer down at Zer0.]

You wanna prove it?

[gh0stamidstthec0mbat]

[Ew no???]

We're doing this now? / Fine, jam your finger up there, / And see what happens.

[Your head is not going to cave in you weird fuck.

...I mean it might, this is Krieg, after all.]

[fuelthefire]

[Krieg's head actually might, have you seen how big his fingers are

He laughs again, this time more appropriately at Zer0's snarky-ass response to his question.]

Maybe later! I want to see the rest of this skull, first!

[And so he hoists himself up out of the skull's nose pit, stretches his arms upward and pulls himself up to one of the thing's enormous eye sockets.]

You coming?

[gh0stamidstthec0mbat]

Hell yes.

[There's nothing here to kill, so really exploring is the only thing he can do at the moment. He starts scaling the side of the skull like a fucking like. Cat? Or spider. Spidercat. It's super graceful is what I'm saying, and he catches up to Krieg in no time.]

[fuelthefire]

[The eye hole, much like the nose hole, is just a hollowed-out opening in the sculpture. It doesn't actually go anywhere, but it seems like a good place to hide, or nap, or both...if you don't mind the puddle of rainwater collected in the center and the slippery, slimy algae growths spreading out from there.

Krieg minds them, because they cause his feet to slip right out from under him and he lands on his ass.]

Mnggargh! I wanna kill something!

[Mmm, healthy coping mechanism for frustration ahoy.]

1

[rhygret]

HOLYcrap, oh my--GOD, really?! Really?? You--suck! So much!

[ Rhys almost jumped out of his goddamn skin oh my god Krieg, his heart almost hurts from how hard it took off just now. He flails of course, goes ramrod still and gawking until he can recover enough to look a combination of stressed the fuck out and utterly exasperated and frustrated.

He actually has to double over and race himself on his knees for a moment there to collect himself. But he makes sure he has enough emotional resources to shoot Krieg this look and complain, naturally. That's important. ]

[fuelthefire]

PffnmanahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!

[The gut-busting laughter Krieg lets out is even louder than his initial warning about caved-in heads. His obnoxious mirth startles a nearby flock of birds, which take to the sky to find somewhere quieter to roost.

Which is wise of them, because he's laughing for a looooooong time.]

Pffff...mnnnn...nuhuhuhuhuhu...

[By the time he finally gets control of himself he's also doubled over, hanging over the edge of the giant skull's nose-hole by his waist and watching Rhys with one tear-filled eye.]

Eeeeeey, Noodles! Don't have a heart attack!

[Krieg, you're about 30 seconds too late for that warning, but...eh, whatever.]

[rhygret]

[ You know you've hit something close to rock bottom when the Psychos are the ones laughing at you. Rhys winds up scowling all over again and crossing his arms, waiting for Krieg to finish. Because...what else is he going to do, it's not like he fights people with his hands. ]

Say that before you jump out at someone!

[fuelthefire]

Didn't know you were out here!

[He's just hanging out of the skull's nose hole now, looking down at Rhys with his chin propped on one hand like this is the most normal way to talk to someone in the world.]

Why are you out here?

[This smelly swamp jungle looks even less like Noodles' jam than the giant forest holodeck where they first met.]

[rhygret]

[ Krieg looks like a giant, muscular, human-shaped booger. It's oddly fitting. ]

I'm...escorting some of the new arrivals. Because apparently we don't get to teleport now for whatever reason. Why?? Is that a thing I'm not allowed to do now?

[ "Handsome Jack thinks I work for him and dragged me along to show him around and this is literal torture someone save me." ]

[fuelthefire]

[If he knew how much he looks like a booger right now he would laugh.]

Maybe someone thought it was time to exercise your noodle legs.

[The psycho actually would save you from Handsome Jack if he knew you needed to be saved from him, Rhys. Alas, that he is kept in ignorance.]

2

[kissintime]

Holy SHIT!

[ why did she agree to this. why did she agree to help people get to el nysa, and why did she think getting on this boat with this man was a good idea?? ermes is just a bundle of bad life decisions and she accepted this long ago, but holy shit. ]

Dude, no, don't fight that thing! We gotta row away from here.

[fuelthefire]

[He only spares the briefest of glances at the canoe's other passenger. He can't take his gaze off the water for too long, because he doesn't want to miss his chance.]

No way! This is the best thing that's happened all week!

[How long have they been in the jungle traveling to Wyver? He has no idea. It hasn't actually been a week, but it sure as heck feels like it has. So. Close enough.

He catches sight of some more telltale ripples, and get's really excited when a fin briefly emerges, but the serpent disappears back under the water, and all of his hopes are - for the moment, dashed.]

[kissintime]

I kinda doubt that! [ she clutches onto the side of the boat, knowing the second whatever the fuck is below the surface rises up again, this lunatic is going to try and kill it. ] Listen, we gotta row ourselves faster. I can't do this on my own, so focus up.

[fuelthefire]

We can row when it's dead!

[And that's when the serpent decides to rear up, right next to the canoe. The wake of its movement rocks the boat, but that doesn't make much difference to Krieg, who simply laughs and swings his buzz axe in a wide arc that counterbalances the movement of the canoe and keeps him upright.]

Mnahahahahaha!

[He buries the serrated blade deep in the side of the creature's face with a dull thunk, and is rewarded with a heavy spattering of the thing's blood all up his right arm and front. The serpent shrieks and pulls away, dragging a long, jagged slice wound in its skin as it does so, before lurching back underwater with a violent splash.]

[kissintime]

WHY IS YOUR AXE A CHAINSAAAAAAAAAAW!!!!!

[ she screams, clutching on for dear life. fuck fuck fuck she doesn't wanna get in the water. she can swim but that's not what she's afraid of. she's afraid of more of those fuckers coming around and then what does she do?? and maybe if she wasn't so afraid for dear life, she would be easier able to admire how fucking metal that shit krieg did was because a chainsaw axe would be right up her alley, but not right now.

and then the creature lurches back in, blood seeping to the surface. ]

Did... Did you kill it? Is it dead? Is this nightmare over??

[fuelthefire]

[He hears his travelling buddy scream a question, but he doesn't really register what it is because he's busy buzz-axing the hell out of the serpent. Once it's disappeared underwater Krieg actually looks at Ermes, his visible eye narrowed as he does a cursory once-over for any obvious injuries.

Because why else would someone scream like that?

She seems to be okay, though - at least, she's not obviously bleeding from anywhere so she'll probably be fine for a bit longer while he keeps most of his attention on the water.]

Doubt it.

[Almost as soon as he says that there's a quiet splash as the serpent's long back briefly breaks though the surface before disappearing again - it seems as if it's not quite ready for another confrontation just yet, but it doesn't look like it's given up, either.]

2.....!!

[sunderings]

[ From escorting those who would have otherwise travelled alone by boat, to greeting his new-found companion's ...overly zealous demeanor with a smile and bow of head, Sion Astal seemed a man of infinite patience. Seemed, until the instant when the sea serpent chose to reveal itself, rearing its head but refraining from making a strike.

(A pity.)

Standing himself, he rises to assume an artful, but precarious balance: Krieg, at the prow of the boat, Sion, at the stern with a hand resting upon the gilded sword at his hip.

Here, his gentle smile deepens and splits with something akin to thrill for the challenge set before them: ] And if I should wish to join you in securing ourselves a meal?

[ What then? Would an invitation be extended? (Truly, every word spilled from Krieg's lips is a surprise.) ]

[fuelthefire]

[Krieg's gaze is locked on the serpent, his entire body tense and poised and ready for when the thing strikes. Because it's going to strike, right? It has to! It has that aggressive, relentless look to it.

He turns his head briefly when his boatmate speaks, tilting his blind side toward the man so as to keep his unimpeded eye on the prize.]

Sharing is caring!

[He'll never turn down a slaughter buddy. He's been fighting alongside his vault hunter pals for...well, he's not sure how long, exactly, but it's been a long time. Plenty long enough to know that teamwork makes the dream work, and so on and so forth.

And, as if it had been waiting specifically for Krieg to speak again, that's when the serpent chooses to strike, darting forward toward their shared canoe with its fang-lined mouth wide open.]

[sunderings]

Then I shall happily call you friend in this fight!

[ As the serpent rears for the second time, trailing seawater and salt-vapours as it surges forward, jaws yawning open to reveal a stinking gullet which surely intended to slurp and devour all not immediately devastated by the crushing blow of teeth, gnashing down.

But neither the boat, nor any party aboard, suffers any such mortal wound.

Instead: a shrieking, sibilant cry emanates from the beast, lanced through by Sion's rapier, the blade burrowed well and deep into the eye. Where the creature had moved to take the center of the canoe—to see it cleaved in half, its occupants turned to morsels easily snatched from the water's depths—Sion had taken advantage of the side, lunging with sword in hand not to deal damage (no, the blade he wields is much too thin; nothing at all like Krieg's axe), but to hold the serpent fast.

(If only for the breadth of an instant, before thrashing head and writhing tail prove too much for both Sion's inhuman strength and the make of the boat to withstand.) ]

Krieg!

[fuelthefire]

[He doesn't need the prompt. He may not be lightning fast or possess superhuman speed, but he is very good at what he does, and what he does is kill. All he needs is a clear shot, and his traveling companion has very helpfully provided that. His axe is already on its way down in a devastating two-handed blow when Sion calls his name. Obviously he's not familiar with this type of creature, never having seen one like it before, but it kind of looks like a thresher, minus the tentacles. He makes an educated guess based on that similarity, and the serrated blade of his weapon bites deeply into the area Krieg judges to be the base of the skull.]

Now go to SLEEP!

[The resulting spurt of fish blood from the wound is incredibly satisfying, as is the subsequent shriek the creature emits just before its entire body goes slack.

...Hopefully Sion's ready for the resulting dead weight.]

[sunderings]

[ The fight? Inconsequential, in the end—the creature had been but pale shadow of the horrors which Sion had once combated in the Other Realm—though it had been good to flex his sword arm again; to move to purpose after sitting at the head of an army for so, so very long.

His companion? Breathtaking, beyond compare, and riveting where contention with the sea-serpent hadn't been: Krieg is a beast of his own kind (humans, they are truly the most beautiful of creatures), forged of muscle memory learned from hunt and from battle, his foundations a chronicle of violence which Sion can only wonder at as the serpent, freshly felled with blood slicking the canoe, becomes dead weight, the great stretch and bulk of its body coiling back down, into the sea...!

And dragging Sion, in tow.

He might have ceded his grasp upon his blade (buried, yet, in the serpent's clouded eye) were it not the last relic of the world he'd once known, but the gilded sword yet holds meaning, and so...! There'd been no cry of surprise, no startled gasp as he'd entered the water, his blade serving as both shackle and chain, only a spash! and its resulting ripples, slowly fading into nothing.

Nothing, until a seal of green light emanates from the water's deep, and in its wake, an eruption of earthen spikes, each rising from the seafloor with a spray of salt-water and foam cresting through waves. The serpent's body? Held in elegant suspension between each lance of sediment and stone. And Sion himself...?

Perched neatly upon one of the spikes, having ascended from the sea like some glittering mermaid on account of the gold-touched aura which shrouds him. In hand? His sword, newly reclaimed, and upon his lips, a laugh and shake of his head: ]

I simply could not let your kill escape!

[fuelthefire]

[He sees Sion start to go overboard with their kill and is in no position to stop it with the massive creature between them, though he reaches out to try regardless. He totally whiffs it, of course, fist closing in on nothing but air where - ideally - a convenient piece of clothing ought to be. And then the other disappears under the water alongside the dead serpent without a sound louder than the splash they both make. Krieg waits for a moment then, to see if he'll swim back up - because surely a guy that competent with a sword can at least get his head back above water - and when a second or two ticks by and the only thing he can see on the water's surface are the displaced waves of their passing, he drops his axe and gets ready to go in after them.

...But then the water begins to glow, and he pauses again. And then everything is spikes, and there's the dead serpent with its stabbed-out eye neatly on display, and his shiny travelling companion sparkling away as cool and collected as if he hadn't just gone for a swim in a swamp river saturated with serpent blood. He might be more impressed by the sweet magic show if he didn't regularly run errands for a woman who could casually teleport an entire city with the power of her mind, but as it is he just blinks, and then squints, at Sion.

His kill? Krieg is flattered, but he also gives credit where it's due.]

Pfff! I didn't kill it by myself!