Private Pormont Beware the Pumpkin-naut!

[Tick Tock]

Somewhere on the golden fields.

"I'm telling you it's real! The Pumpkinnaut!" The child ranted. Yet no soul across these farmlands would listen to him about it. So long had it dragged out, and while some truth lies on his connections between the recent accidents with the stock and some of the crops were mysteriously swallowed without leaving a trace, nothing seemed to aim to anything as monstrous as what he described it.

"It's as big as a tree, as strong as a giant, and can smash the whole village alone!" He cried wolf, and with pure distaste, day after day, until finally he grew tired and set an anonymous request, with promised rewards if anyone can slay down the beast.

Beware the Pumpkin-naut!
I'll reward you if you can get rid of this monster. Please, all of Pormont needs you to defeat it! You have to go to the epicenter of the golden fields.
I'll leave bait to bring out the pumpkin, and you have to slay it. Hurry, you got until midnight to smash that pumpkin head!​

---

Onyx gave a look at the request once again, the handwriting left much to be desired, and the overrall quality of the sheets was questionable. Why is she doing this? From all the requests out there, while this looked like the most interesting for sure, none could prove how real this pumpkin menace was. Fortunately, she didn't seem to be alone in this crazy endeavour, as someone else got caught by the interesting quest across the board on the vilage of Aleford.

"So you too wish to figure out what this is all about? Figures, I'm just as intrigued, but I have a hard time believing this is more than mere superstitions and fairy tales." But then, weren't they on a fairy tale? Terrasphere surely qualified as such.

Onyx turned fully so to meet gazes with @Ginevra Delaney, pushing her hands back into her pockets. "Well, no one else around here seems to want anything to do with it. What do you say if we get to the bottom of the matter? It could be... Fun." Debatable, even her own voice was skeptical about it, but never hurts to try.

​

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

Just what the actual hell is a Pumpkin-naut?

That had been the first question that Ginevra had wondered, seeing the request, clearly written in a child's handwriting. And yet, she couldn't help but be curious. She absolutely HAD to know what this all was about before she could just up and declare that it was all bullshit and move along, like most other people seemed to. She wasn't like the others, after all. A Pumpkin-naut sounded like the kind of underling a Queen of Darkness, such as herself, could appreciate.

And it seemed she wasn't the only person that had decided this was worth checking out, as a voice called to Ginevra and she turned to face the person that had spoken, before immediately grinning at the sight, thanking whatever lucky star she had been born under.

Another hot wolf woman! Score!

I do think it could be quite the fun time, especially when I'll be spending it with your lovely self~

She gave the stranger a confident grin, before sticking her hand out for @Onyx to shake.

My name is Ginevra Delaney, the White Shadow of the Dark Challenger. I'm looking forward to doing...whatever this will be, with you.

 

[Tick Tock]

.

Some kind of noble? That had to be the first thought that run through her mind once she got a clearer view. The woman sported a phantom's beauty clad in black & white, which ties perfectly so to the title and it's apparent contrast between the opposites shades aforementioned.

With a customer service smile, Onyx met Ginevra's hand with her own "You flatter me, miss." One firm handshake after, gloved hand keeping the ice-cold touch from reaching her new partner. "I'm Onyx, the pleasure is mine, Ginevra. As for what we are going to be doing? Most likely seek & destroy."

She set her eyes on the sky, to the shower of stars that coated this world, far different to theirs, light pollution would have usually deprived them from such a beautiful night clad in a layer of celestial bodies. But it also helped them out to discern the time.

Onyx frowned, opening her UI as she materialized a satchel from within her inventory and put the strap around her shoulder. "It's gonna be midnight soon, we should get moving." She urged.

Leaving the cozy little village and heading themselves over to the vast golden yellow fields they had to traverse in order to reach the rendezvous point according to the vague directions and drawings made by the child, which made it all the more questionable how he would reward them, if there was a reward at all.

In the meantime, Onyx had been quite busy with the many scrap components within her satchel as they both moved along.

"Catch." Finally she handed over what seemed like a small gadget, circular and devoid of any specifics beyond what seemed to be a metallic surface. As soon as Ginevra took hold of it however, magic would begin to surge from the edges and the flat center of it. Two white dots would surface, blinking every two seconds. "It's meant to track lifeforce in a certain radius. It utilizes my own to do so don't worry, but it should only focus on abundant sources. Us, other players, and if we are lucky this pumpkin-naught. If it's a problem we have to destroy, we will know if it's alive or not." She couldn't cover all the possibilities, but this was the only thing she could come up with at the heat of the moment.

"There is a chance this will be extremely dangerous. If you are hurt, call out for me. I'm not the best healer, but it's better than nothing."

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

Seeking and destroying definitely sounded fun and it was the main thing that she was good at. Specifically destroying and not so much seeking. Her new blood magic could supposedly sense the blood inside of living things but she both wasn't very good at it yet and didn't know if a Pumpkin-naught, whatever one was, even had any blood or was considered alive enough to count. Hopefully her partner here, Onyx, was better at seeking than she was. And if not, well, she'd still allow Onyx to take the lead, so that she had a nice view whilst they worked~

Right! I'm in your care then, Onyx. Please lead the way and take command. Just point me at whatever you want to die and I will kill it!

She gave the wolf girl a warm and pleasant smile, before she followed after Onyx as they left the village and crossed through fields of golden wheat, whilst Onyx tinkered with a few things in her satchel. It was hard enough that Ginevra was trying to get a good look at the woman's body, now she was going to have to try to peek into a satchel too?

That was when something was tossed over to her, the Black Knight fumbling a little in her catch, though she managed to keep a firm hold of it, looking at the disk that had been given to her as magic began to surge through it. Some kind of radar that Onyx had made? That was so fucking cool! Ginevra fought the urge to squeal, instead nodding.

This is absolutely badass. It's like a radar! And yeah, if I get hurt I'll let you know. I don't exactly have any method of healing myself or others, at the minute, so I'll be relying on you.

@Onyx

 

[Tick Tock]

130 / 130

...

Once her partner made her own observation about the little prototype, Onyx looked over her shoulder back at her with a cool smile. Appreciation was the last she expected, but she could certainly welcome the enthusiasm. "Precisely. still has some kinks to be sorted as I'm not precisely a on-field inventor, but I trust the tech enough." Her eyes then turned back to the front, hands pushing aside these golden blades of wheat. "I'll switch to supporting if things start to look dire. Just cover me and we'll be fine."

It caught her attention to see how tall these had grow, they were almost at shoulder height for her, and it was all so sudden too, like they just slipped through a mirror and entered a different world, one where Pormont's fields were menacing in size- By now, magic specks tingled across their surroundings, one could practically smell the scent of burnt flesh and... Applejuice?

There was little warning left as the very ground begun to shake around them, and a mound of dirt begun to speed through the floor. The radar begun to go haywire as many dots begun to show up, and many more mounds of dirt begun to stretch across the ground, as if there were sharks in the water, finally popping up to reveal-

A gang of eight pumpkins with faces carved for something like halloween came out from the surface, emanating a pale blue hue from within. Their green root-like bodies spread like vines, and their teeth were made out of stone. Most unsettling fact? Their mouths actually 'moved'.

They wiggled and wiggled, and at first they didn't seem hostile, not until their intentions became clear when these little creatures begun to surround the group...

"When I said it wasn't that good, this is what I meant..." She sighed off and got herself closer to Ginevra, back to back at this point. "Astaroth." She muttered the name under her breathe, and the floating, runic skull heeded her call and activated itself once enough life was supplied to it, coming out of her coat and scanning each enemy with sharp turns of it's head- all that remained really.
Play Sheet

4 / 4

Servants of the Pumpkin Lord
(Tier 2) Didn't halloween end a long time ago? Well, these eight pumpkins sure know how to rave. Watch out for the spiky vine arms!

LP 4

DC 30

Retal 20

Slippery Spook! These pumpkins are real fast and nimble thanks to their body structure. Everytime you attack the Pumpkin Servants, substract 10 from the final number. This stacks every cycle you attack them for a max of -30 debuff.

??? Attack with the right mastery and find out!

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

195 / 215

-20 HP from Retal

At first, Ginevra hadn't noticed the change in scenery, the way the field of wheat seemed to grow taller, instead continuing on her way without so much as a single care. There was the distinct scent of burnt flesh and something else that Ginevra couldn't identify, but that was the first clue that something was going wrong, or was different about their surroundings.

Then the radar seemed to indicate that they were surrounded by life force, until from the ground raised eight pumpkins, a blue hue emanating from them as they crawled towards the two women. Ginevra blinked, looking at them as they used green root-like appendages to crawl across the ground, equipping her greatsword from her inventory.

It's almost a shame to kill these things. They're super cool!

Even with that being said, her body began to release a miasma of Corrupted Dark Magic, spreading like a thick fog across the ground, before it surged like a horde of angry snakes, lashing out and tearing apart a few of the pumpkins before they had even moved.

And yet, she still felt a strange drain on both her health and energy.

Rolls

Heavy Attack
1d100 (79) + 15 + 0 + 10 + 20 = 124 -10 = 114
114 damage (-2 LP)
You cannot move this cycle
Dark Magic | Ginevra Delaney | 961C1

2 / 4

Servants of the Pumpkin Lord
(Tier 2) Didn't halloween end a long time ago? Well, these eight pumpkins sure know how to rave. Watch out for the spiky vine arms!

LP 4

DC 30

Retal 20

Slippery Spook! These pumpkins are real fast and nimble thanks to their body structure. Everytime you attack the Pumpkin Servants, substract 10 from the final number. This stacks every cycle you attack them for a max of -30 debuff.

??? Attack with the right mastery and find out!

Sheet
@Onyx

 

[Tick Tock]

105 / 130

-25 from retal

Overwhelmed in numbers but not in strength, Ginevra dispatched a great deal of them even as they kept crawling under the ground. Weak, fragile just like pumpkins, busting just like one as seeds and colourful fruit all flew around with the very miasma of corruption unleashed. Onyx covered her mouth just in case, her right hand sliding right into her coat to grasp her trusty magi-revolver, the gears spinning and adjusting the barrel back on place as she took aim and, in much cowboy-like fashion, fanned the hammer to send a spray of death to the ones closest to her partner.

"They are interesting, I agree to that. We should try and take one alive once we find the source of this mess." She couldn't deny her intrigue, and yet- Why did her stomach twist as if something just stabbed right through her? The magic that blew through these pumpkins, the fallen ones at least, faded all the way back into the ground, as if spirits of some kind decided to flee.

Despite her wish to chase after, they still had problems over here to deal with. One of them stretched it's viney arms and send a lash across her side, cutting through cloth and coat alike, giving Onyx the not so pleasant experience of true pain for the first time after turning off the pain limiters.

"Cover me." She shouted, just to give herself ample space to reload, sliding six bullets with haste onto the barrel before one swift smack put it on place, just in time to stretch her gun next to Ginevra's right side and pull the trigger to the one nasty fucker that tried to get a cheap hit on the White Shadow.

Play Sheet

Rolls

Heavy Attack
1d100 (9) + 15 + 0 + 20 = 44
44 damage
You cannot move this cycle
Ranged Weapons | Onyx | 961

1 / 4

Servants of the Pumpkin Lord
(Tier 2) Didn't halloween end a long time ago? Well, these pumpkins sure know how to rave. Watch out for the spiky vine arms!

LP 4

DC 30 (+5)

Retal 20 (+5)

Slippery Spook! These pumpkins are real fast and nimble thanks to their body structure. Everytime you attack the Pumpkin Servants, substract 10 from the final number. This stacks every cycle you attack them for a max of -30 debuff.

Reflective Darkness Oh no! Dark magic fills them with determination! For every attack done with dark magic, the Pumpkins gain +5 to their DC and +5 to their Retal DMG, and they deal +10 extra Retal DMG if attacked with dark magic in the next turn. However, killing this enemy with dark magic heals you for 15 HP!

@Ginevra Delaney