February Quest and Misc Catch-All | Open to All!

[forgeabettertomorrow]

🧙 WHO: Darin Altway and YOU!
⚔️️ WHAT: February Quests and Miscellaneous requests
🕒 WHEN: All February Long!
🗺️ WHERE: All Around
⚠️ WARNINGS: Maybe some light murder? Depends!

The Libryrinth

[One surefire way to get Darin to look into anything is to tempt him with some sort of puzzle. Truth be told, he'd come to this library a few times while it was open to see what he was able to research about Avalon and the nature of the magic here. But now, sneaking in after hours, the whole library had a different, much more ominous feel. Standing before the steps of the library, Darin awaits anyone brave enough to tackle the labyrinth with him.]

This shouldn't be so bad, right? It's just a library. What could even be hiding in there?


Pure of Heart

[The price tag on this one alone was more than worth the peril. A million gold? For a crystal? Whatever these things were, they had to be worth it; and to him, that million gold was going to go a long way to the construction of his forge. Hell, at this rate, he could have a house built! But, as is wont to happen, there's always a catch. He wasn't willing to accept the vial, but whoever was with him likely took it. With crystal in hand, he's making his way to this cottage that Morganna pointed out.]

I'm telling you, this is a bad idea. We got the crystals. Why should we be going to bother this old man?


Cupid's Arrow Beta Tester

[This job seemed entirely too easy. Darin had no idea what a 'cupid' was, but how hard could testing arrows be? After all, he had healing magic. Even if he took a bolt or an arrow to the shoulder, he could easily heal himself.]

[It'd still likely hurt like hell but...honestly, you don't work around weapons your entire life and expect to not get stabbed, shot, or smashed. So consider him early for target practice.]

So...do you need me to stand anywhere? How sharp are these arrows anyway?


Save a Beast, Kill a Man

[If there was one thing that Darin hated, it was bullies. This plea for help immediately made Darin want to do whatever he could to help this poor creature. After all, not all monsters were bad. But even though the situation made his blood boil, being a total jerkass wasn't a condition for murder in his book. But if all they had to do was obtain the pelt, then all he'd have to do was run interference while he had someone retrieve the pelt. Darin's had plenty of experience on fishing expeditions...he could easily distract this guy, keep him away from the kraken, and buy enough time for someone to make off with the pelt.]

Alright, so...do you have an idea on how to signal me once you've got the pelt? I can probably give this guy a decent runaround, but it won't last forever.


Sync or Swim

[The idea of synchronizing magic was definitely something appealing to Darin. After all, if magic could be synced up across varying schools, then all kinds of things could be in play. Knowing the different combinations would be critical, tactically, if a major disaster were to ever take place, and Darin did not like to be caught unawares. Which is why he's sitting patiently in this tent, waiting for a partner to give this magic a try.]

I wonder what types of combinations there are...or how many schools of magic can be combined...?

(OOC: I am up for succeeding or failing, including bodyswap! Hit me with your best!)


Wildcard

[OOC: Got something else you want to thread out? Go ahead and go for it, or ping me at bitterbearface]

Comments

sync or swim

[blue_ice]

[ When Kaiba ducks into the tent, the sound of gentle wind in a meadow accompanies him. Trepidation's written all over his face, but he relaxes a little when he recognizes Darin. ]

That's a few lessons ahead, isn't it? But all of our abilities are limited in scope, if sync is really the key to bigger feats.

I won't like it, but I'll go with it.

[ He takes a seat. ]

Have you been doing anything to prep in here?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin perks up as well, seeing Kaiba's familiar face.]

I've been going over the ritual instructions pretty carefully. But...

About what you said before, about our abilities being limited. Have you considered maybe that's what we're being led to believe?

[blue_ice]

[ He raises a brow as he sits, removing his coat and settling in. It's warm in here. ]

It's possible. It would be to their benefit to make sure we didn't become too powerful too quickly.

[ A thought. He'll file that aside for later. ]

Then this might be a good idea. We have to spend some time synchronizing before we cast the spell now , right?

Pure of Heart (Lucy); CW: mentioned past murder

[scarredhorns]

[The one million gold had also been very appealing to Lucy. She could move out of the hotel and into an apartment, or even a house! More room for her and her dogs. Unlike Darin, however, Lucy wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. She could only hope that Nyuu never found out, and she'd have to try to convince Darin not to tell her.

Lucy had both her blacked crystal and the vial in her purse. She speaks without looking at him, eyes straight ahead, looking for whenever the old man's cottage appeared in the distance.]

No one said this would be a good idea.

[Her voice is eerily calm and composed. This wouldn't be the first time she took an innocent life. The only difference was that she didn't have her original powers, but that wouldn't be a problem thanks to the poison.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Okay, but why do you think Morganna wouldn't tell us what was in the vial? Don't you think this is ridiculously suspicious?

[scarredhorns]

It's definitely suspicious, and she didn't need to tell me what's in the vial. I'm pretty sure it's poisonous.

[Her hainu familiar, Setsuko, is making high-pitched whining sounds in her throat. Her ears twitch nervously, but her tail is dead still.]

For all we know, the old man could only be pretending to be nice and innocent.

[Everyone had a dark side to themself, after all. Some had darker ones than others.]

Save a Beast, Kill a Man

[rutilance]

I can send my crow to you, [ says Ruby, nodding to the bird flying overhead, ] but I'll need you to keep the man occupied long enough for me to get away and hide. Are you sure you'll be able to keep him distracted well enough he won't notice me cutting the pelt off of his belt?

[ Ruby had been strangely insistent on helping in this case, arguing for her to be allowed to come despite her age and stature with the age old 'I'm coming whether you let me or not, and if you really want me to be safe then you'll work with me instead of forcing me to do it all on my own'.

The truth was that she couldn't help but feel for the woman. She was facing a future of being one of the Leader's wives once she reached adulthood, so this specific task had called out to a part of her that desperately wanted a way out, even if not for herself. ]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Hey...I used to be an expert salesperson. I know how to keep someone's attention for as long as I need to. This guy won't even realize how much time of his I'm about to waste.

Your crow...is that your familiar? [Darin looks up to follow Ruby's gaze.]

I think if you can get it to fly overhead and caw three times, I can take that as the signal.

[rutilance]

[ Okay. That won a smile from her. A well-earned one, too, considering she'd been fairly grim for most of this expedition. ]

The crow is a friend from my world. My familiar is away right now. [ "Things to do, many worlds to save", he'd said, right before jumping through a window to escape her wrath after coming in drenched in rainwater. ]

[ She held her arm out, and soon the crow came down to land. She stared at the bird for a moment, communing with the creature, then looked back to Darin. ] He understands. He's also prepared to help you distract him if need-be. Right now I can only communicate with him a few feet away though, so if you have anything particularly complicated you want him to do, you'll need me to translate.

Pure of heart

[heartlessswordsman]

[You bet your ass Zelgadis was willing to accept the vial. It maybe seems a bit shady, but it's far from the weirdest thing he's ever been asked to do for a job. He doesn't have a reason to assume the worst right off the bat, so fuck it, he'll do the thing.]

You don't have to come with me if you don't want to do it.

let's get this disaster train a-rollin'

[patchricide]

[It turns out networking works out quite well.]

[After their previous discussion about The Best Ways To Acquire Gold, Zelgadis had remained in the forefront of Allura's mind as a good contact to assist with taking on some quests, since she was determined to complete each one before the month was through. And wouldn't you know? He wasn't just available to help with one, but already had another member of the group, hopefully making up a well-balanced group for a questing party.]

[In fact, it was this so-called Master Blacksmith that he had mentioned during the conversation. A good resource to get acquainted with, in case they need new equipment for certain missions. Perhaps during this mission, they could even discuss the possibility of making a replacement arm for Shiro...]

[Sounds great, right? Like a good plan, right??]

[So Allura is waiting a short ways ahead of them, already with a heart crystal in hand — and when she sees Zelgadis approaching, she stands to wave.]

[And hesitates, when she notices the other person beside him.]

... ... ...

Oh, quiznak, tell me that there's more blue-haired humans here than I realized.

[Come on, Allura, your space elf eyes are better than that.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin, on the other hand, doesn't even bother staying civil.]

[He stops and shoots a hand out in front of Zel's chest, halting him in place. Then loudly declares.]

...Easy, Zel. You don't want to make a mistake here. I hear Aldentes' sight is based on movement. If we stay still she won't attack us or start shrieking.

[He's literally stopping cold, but he is whispering to his chimera companion.]

Please tell me this isn't the friend you wanted to bring with us...please do me that one kindness...

Pure of Heart

[thepattern]

[ Corwin was honestly surprised that the bridge even let him past. He's not about to question any other part of this particular quest. If he wants to get anywhere in this strange Avalon, he needs to get as many quests done as he can. ]

The crystals were only half of the deal. We don't finish the deal, we don't get the million gold. You want to start up shop with your own forge, don't you?

[ At least, that's what Corwin is assuming Darin is going to spend his million gold on. ]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Yeah but...at the expense of some old man? I mean, we don't even know what we're giving him. Doesn't that seem, I dunno, kinda assassin-y?

The Libryrinth

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata is in his civilian outfit (which really just means that he's wearing his winter cloak instead of his Shinsengumi jacket and coat), but he instantly goes into full cop mode overhearing that.]

Don't tell me you want to do that stupid quest! It's as you say: it's just a library. Someone's trying to set up morons who are dumb enough to break and enter, clearly.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Okay but everyone knows libraries are always hiding something! Especially one as old as this one! And have you met the librarian? There's obviously something hidden here! What if it's a way home? Or a way to help out the other frozen universes?

[That's when Darin gets a smug look on his face.]

...Wait, I get it. Because it's an old, creepy building, you're scared it's haunted or something, aren't you.

Look, you can admit it. I won't tell anyone you're too scared to go into the library at night.

[This coming from a man who is also DEATHLY TERRIFIED OF GHOSTS.]

Continued from above (to avoid pagestretching)!

[mayoninofukucho]

Huh?!

[When Darin suddenly bolts ahead, soundless but as fast as if he were being chased by debtors, Hijikata's heartbeat picks up in fear. Why did he run?! He shines his flashlight after him and oh shit oh God--

His scream dies in his throat, only coming out as a little whimper (thank goodness that smith bastard isn't around to hear that anymore). There's a goddamn living skeleton pulling itself up the shelf!!! Hijikata sees it start crawling towards him, and okay, no, no, he's out of this. He reacts impulsively and throws his flashlight at it with enough Shounen Jump force to snap its skull off its spine, along with a good bit more damage thanks to its horizontal position, and the scattered bones fall off both sides of the shelf. (It'll be okay. It'll piece itself back together.)

The bad news: this made some noise. The good news: he had the presence of mind to turn the flashlight off before throwing it.]

Darin... Darin..!!

[Darin. That bastard, he left him behind!! Hijikata summons a flame to help him see and sprints after the boy, recklessly running over the bookshelves and somehow managing to keep his teeth clenched and not roar out his name in white-hot fury. He'll make him commit seppuku with a hammer!!]

Cupid's Arrow Beta Tester

[faithfulson]

[ When he signed up for this nonsense -- if only because he still didn't feel right in his own head and wasn't sure about trying to do anything that involved fighting -- Luke expected they would just prick each other with the arrows to test them, and that would be it. He... really didn't anticipate actually being shot at, and he was seriously starting to have second thoughts. ]

[ Which totally wasn't why he was hovering close to Darin. He has no idea what you're talking about. ]

They're arrows. I'm pretty sure they're sharp enough.

oh boy oh boy

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Yeah, okay, granted but these are magical arrows aren't they? Do they have to be sharp to convey their effects? Can't you just get hit?

Save a Beast, Kill a Man.

[cameprepared]

[Claire was much, much the same. She absolutely abhorred bullies, and she liked bullies that took advantage of women even less. She didn't really know all that much about the whole situation, but she knew that the guy was probably trouble. And also, if he was hunting krakens he might be dangerous.

So, a teamup. With the young blacksmith guy from before. He seemed steady enough a hand to make this work out okay.]

...Yeah, actually. I was thinking that I could either send up a magic flare, or the Dog could just start howling. He's got quite a pair of pipes on 'em.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin considers the thought.]

...That's tough. A magic flare's a good sign but it's also one of those things that's hard to wave off as coincidental, you know? But howling...

[He rubs his chin.]

...How ominous can he sound? On a scale of 'dog wanting to be friends' to 'hellhound coming for your soul?'

Libryrinth

[takoyakitori]

[At his core, Tamaki is quite brave. But that doesn't mean he acts like it all the time, or comes across that way at all. He's always going to be timid.]

...a lot of things. You shouldn't underestimate it, just because it's a library. This place isn't always what it looks like at first.

[The whole story of the minotaur in the LAByrinth comes to mind here, for him.]

We need to take this seriously. You'll do that, right?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

You've heard more about it then? About what the librarian is hiding?

[Regardless, Darin's already scaled the steps to pick the lock on the front door.]

What makes you think I won't? I happen to take things like 'fun' and 'adventure' quite seriously.

(bangs my hands on the desk) CURSE CURSE CURSE CURSE C

[prismatically]

Theyyyy're pretty sharp, I think! So it shouldn't hurt too much.

[ This is a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, Stella's not stupid enough to try and fire a bow and arrow at him but she is brandishing those arrows in a decidedly unsafe way. Is this really the girl you want to trust with your (potential) (love) life, Darin?! ]

So maybe I could just stick you in the back of your hand and see how it goes? Oh wait, you need your hands for forging stuff, huh...

VIBRATES OUT OF THE VISUAL SPECTRUM

[forgeabettertomorrow]

You can just poke me in the ribs or something...I can heal so if anything goes wrong I can take care of it.

But maybe you can tell me something.

What the hell is a cupid and should I be worried about what these effects are supposed to be?