Complete Private Pormont Only This And Nothing More

[Ansaldo]

It appeared that Rosario had been lucky to not only log into the game later than many of the other new Travelers, many of whom had been caught up in the Red Fever event, but he was also lucky in that he had been so consumed by work as of lake, he hadn't had the opportunity to log back in, and thereby missing the entirety of whatever it was that had happened at the border of Vintergard and Camp Hope. The start of a war is what it sounded like. A bold move, to launch a full assault on an encampment. Bolder still to fail at it. Either the Magia were ill-prepared, or they had other plans. And given their mechanical nature, Rosario would've been willing to bet on the latter.

In any case, none of it really mattered to Rosario or Ansaldo. Sure, the real life death toll could be high, but everyone playing this 'game' new what they'd signed up for. You reap what you sow and all. Or in the case of these goddamn crows, you cawed really fucking loudly until someone leaves behind food for you.

Ansaldo looked up at the black feather covered windmill with disdain, the flapping wings and chattering beaks creating endless noises. At least the pigeons in Chicago had been quiet enough. That aside though, the crows posed an entirely different problem. How in God's name was he going to get inside with all of them about like that? The man's hands retreated to his pockets as he stared up at the bird infested monolith. What to do, what to do...

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

Never thought that she would be back in Vikform so soon; the harvest problem she solved with Luthien was just around a week ago. It seemed that another problem had arisen; the one abandoned windmill in the corner of the village was frequented by an overwhelming number of ravens one day up until now.

She didn't remember this being a thing when she visited here. So whatever caused this probably wasn't here up until around a week ago, else the elder would've told her of this.

"What a sickening sight, huh?"

An otherwordly-armored woman with long straight locks suddenly appeared behind the man unannounced, while examining a piece of paper with diagrams written all over it. "It's as if the windmill itself was a massive corpse, the ravens endlessly flock there." Her eyes wandered all over the complete darkness that was the building in front of them, before putting the intel document away to look at the guy.

She showed him her platinum tag hanging from her neck as she introduced herself, "Moonsong, here on behalf of the Guild." The way the woman spoke exuded an authoritative presence and a lot of experience. "What are you doing here, if I may ask?" The brunette questioned the stranger.

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

"What a sickening sight, huh?" a voice suddenly said from beside Ansaldo, drawing his attention to the speaker. A short, blue-haired woman, examining a piece of paper in her hands. Heavily armored too. Probably not the kind of person someone with his low stats wanted to mess with. Yet. "It's as if the windmill itself was a massive corpse, the ravens endlessly flock there," she continued.
"That's a rather grim way of looking at it," the man replied, looking back at the tall, raven covered windmill.

The woman introduced herself as a member of the Adventurer's Guild before asking the man what he was doing here. Ansaldo turned and offered a hand politely in greeting. "Same thing as you, I'm betting. To investigate what's drawing all these ravens here." The man shook her hand with a firm grip, all while never giving her his own name.

Once again, his attention was drawn to the massive, cawing structure. "So, you Guilders have any theories yet?" the man asked after a moment.

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

"That's a rather grim way of looking at it,"

"It's like the standard in this world. Things have been really shitty around here recently." Moonsong deadpanned. Shitty would be an understatement; killer assimilating robots, eldritch god tree, you name it.

The blue eyes scanned from his hair down to his boots, and judging by the lack of faction-identifying equipment the man had with him, this guy was probably quite fresh into the game.

The man politely offered a hand, so of course the blue-haired girl took it, shaking his hand firmly. What's weird was that the man didn't even introduce himself, making the handshake rather awkward. Well, it's not like she's gonna force the man to give his name.

"So, you Guilders have any theories yet?"

"Not yet." She decided to move closer to the black windmill to examine it further. "You're gonna follow along or what, mister...?"

The more they walked toward the abandoned windmill, the more they realize that the number of ravens concentrated there was way more than they predicted. Maybe thousands, all gazing at them with their blood red, hungry eyes.

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

"The standard, huh..." Ansaldo repeated. The man had to admit, things had seemed different in Terrasphere since the last time he'd logged in. People seemed tenser, like there was some threat looming over their shoulders. Rumors of strange occurrences all around the kingdom had begun to crop up where none had before. Something was different. "Sounds like I've been missing out," the man said in a mildly interested tone.

The woman began to move towards the bird infested first, pausing to bid the mystery man to come along. "You can call me Ansaldo," the man said with a subdued grin as he began to walk alongside her.

Ravenous, red eyes stared down at them as they approached, the fluttering of wings whipping all around them, several of the dark-feathered birds flying circles above the intruders' heads. "I don't suppose you have any ideas of how to get in, do you?" the man asked the Adventurer. The number of ravens made it impossible to find the door behind the perched birds, let alone clearing them out of the way.

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

"Sounds like I've been missing out," he said curiously. The woman turned around, shrugging at him while walking backward. "I mean, good for you. It was almost like hell here, people died left and right." Like Kenji, but she's not going to mention that.

Especially after she had finally accepted the fact that he might've gone forever, having searched far and wide for the person known in this world known as Quinn and yielded nothing.

"You can call me Ansaldo," He introduced himself, as Moonsong quickly joked. "Eh, too long. I'm just gonna call you Aldo."

Finally stopping a distance away from the raven infestation, Ansaldo asked a very good question on how they would get in. She could technically blast all the ravens away from the windmill, but the massive flock will definitely shred them into pieces quickly if the songstress does that kind of thing. "Probably gently," she brought her hands to the front, before slowly making a separating, clawing gesture.

A gravity field appeared on the surface of the windmill, slowly and carefully moving away the ravens flocking on that part to the side. It exposed the front wall of the building enough for them to try and find the door, which looked like a normal wooden door. "Alright, after you." She signaled the male to go open the door while she hold the flock from blocking it back with her magic, her arms still spread wide.

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

"Landers or Travelers?" Ansaldo asked when Moonsong mentioned that there had been many casualties. At the end of the day, it didn't matter too much to the man, one way or another. Being factionless, none of the deaths would mean anything to him. They weren't part of his 'family' so to speak. But Travelers, at the very least, could respawn, for a limited time. Landers could not. Their strength shifted with each death, but by how much was dependent on that factor.

"Aldo it is," the man said, smiling again as he followed behind the smaller woman. She raised her hands in front of her, and began to pull them apart, fingers curled as she were prying open a stuck door. At first, it didn't seem as if the motion was doing anything, but as Ansaldo watched the birds that covered the rough area where the door should be, the man was surprised to see that the curtain of black feathers was slowly being parted. "Impressive," the man said.

"Alright, after you."

"And you, how will you get in?" he asked as he began to approach the wooden door. "Should I hold it open for you?"

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

"Landers or Travelers?"

"Both." She turned at the man, her grim and serious expression indicating that this was nothing to joke about. "Permanently, here and in the real world."

The man approached the wooden door, inspecting it.

"Should I hold it open for you?"

"Yeah, basic chivalry and all that." Moonsong let that out with a strain, slowly moving forwards while holding the ravens in their current position. They didn't seem to like it, as suddenly all of them fixed their crimson glowing gaze on the songstress. "Alright, quick."

Arriving at the front of the door, both her arms are now parted, with the ravens fighting back against her force push. Whatever method Ansaldo used to open the wooden door, she quickly rushed inside while he was holding it open before quickly slamming the door shut.

"That was close," The blue-haired girl exhaled, before turning around to examine the inside of the windmill. It was a normal, wooden interior of your usual windmill. But there was certainly something wrong with this place. "See if you can find something here, Aldo."

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

"Both," Moonsong answered the man gravely. "Permanently, here and in the real world."
"A tragic loss," Ansaldo replied, equally grim, though his mind was still clinging on to the logistics. Both player and NPC dead. Assumedly, at least. Who was truly to say if those players were dead to the real world, or just this one.

Ansaldo opened up the door of the windmill and quickly stepped inside, the incessant cawing of ravens hounding him, even as he stood to the side and kept the door open with one hand. "Come on, hurry." The woman rushed through the small opening, and the door slammed shut behind her, the loud bang echoing ominously through empty stone carcass.

"That was close," the woman said, before ordering him to look around. Ansaldo couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle of amusement. That was different. "Yes ma'am," the man said with a wry smile, stepping further into the building, his eyes scaling up to it's top, tracing the lines of ladders and scaffolding that seemed to climb upwards endlessly.

"Say," the man beckoned the woman come towards him. "Is it just me, or is this building bigger on the inside?"

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

Moonsong traced the wooden floor, finding it peculiar that there was not a speck of dust. Even weirder? One single black raven feather on the ground. She picked it up, noting that there was nothing special or magical about this one feather.

"Is it just me, or is this building bigger on the inside?"

"Huh," She looked above where Ansaldo have previously glanced towards. "Good observation."
They couldn't see the ceiling of this place, it's higher than most apartment buildings, and the lack of lighting up there didn't help either. There's this cold aura coming from above, sending her shivering as the songstress stared too long.

The raven feather most likely fell from above, so there might be something up there.

"Looks like we have no choice other than to go up." The woman sighed, a hint that she probably doesn't like heights. She could in theory just jump from one to another scaffolding with gravity-assisted jumps to traverse up quicker but it'll dry her up quickly. "Come, follow me." She took the ladder first, climbing up to the first scaffolding.

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

"Looks like we have no choice other than to go up," the woman said before sighing, an expression of disappointment that Ansaldo sympathized with. "That is a lot of steps..." the man muttered, his eyes flitting across the dizzying array of ladders as they climbed high into the murky darkness above.

"Come, follow me," Moonsong said, hardly waiting before beginning to ascend the first of many rickety ladders. Ansaldo waited until she neared the top before starting follow her up, just in case the ladders were not as sturdy as they seemed and a rung broke underfoot.

What was at play here? A great amount of ravens were attracted to the windmill. Some sort of magic made the inside large than it appeared on the outside. "A witch?" The man voiced his conclusion as a question addressed to Moonsong. "Do you think a witch might be responsible for whatever is going on here?"

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

She waited until Ansaldo have climbed the ladder before continuing to the next. Going up was more of a boring task rather than an exhausting one.

"That is a lot of steps..."

"Yeah, trust me, I'm not a fan of those either."

Even in the real world, Dayeon was not particularly fond of heights; It's not that she got acrophobia or something, but whenever there's a risk of falling she would not rather take it.

"Do you think a witch might be responsible for whatever is going on here?"

"Plausible theory. Either a powerful magic user, or a magical beast. Or both, even."

The blue-haired songstress grunted, having climbed yet another ladder. It felt like they were trapped in a perpetual cycle of climbing up before her eyes caught a glimpse of the long way below, sending shivers down her whole body. At least if they were going this high up, then there's gotta be an end to this. Turning on her investigation mode to see better through the lack of lighting, she noticed something.

"We're making progress, Aldo. Only a few platforms left."

Beyond the last scaffolding was something akin to a stone doorway, where faint reddish light leaked from the darkness.

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

"Plausible theory. Either a powerful magic user, or a magical beast. Or both, even."
"I see." Right. This was Terrasphere after all. Endless possibilities, or at least close to it. The only thing that Ansaldo had yet to see was an automatic firearm of some sort. But, there was still plenty of time, it seemed. Whatever it was that was responsible for the strange goings-on in the windmill, its full potential would remain a mystery until they met it. At which point, Ansaldo could only hope that Moonsong was strong enough to defeat it with his help. The man held no illusions when it came to his own power level at the moment, which was woefully lacking.

The man paused after having mantled yet another ladder, standing at the top of their umpteenth platform, waiting for Moonsong to resume their progress. Ansaldo was fairly in shape in real life, and though he wasn't as well-built in game, he still had the appearance of someone who kept in shape, but all this climbing had begun to take it's toll. His shoulders were beginning to burn, as were his thighs. The man peered out over the edge of the platform to assess how far up they'd gone, having long since lost count of how many ladders they'd climbed. The floor seemed a mile away from up here, and his heart instinctively leapt to his throat as he looked down into what would've been the death of anyone unfortunate enough to fall.

"We're making progress, Aldo. Only a few platforms left," the woman said, drawing the man's eyes to her as she began the ascent once more.
"Right," Ansaldo replied, giving the long fall once last glance before moving towards the ladder himself. "Let's not waste anymore time."

Finally at the summit of their climb, the pair stood before door. For some reason, this surprised Ansaldo. He'd always thought a windmill would've forgone such constructions of privacy, save the for the one at the entrance. "So...should we knock?" the man asked Moonsong. The red light was foreboding, but perhaps whatever lay beyond the threshold wouldn't be as hostile as they presumed. But then again, if it was, they'd be giving up the element of surprise.

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

Finally having climbed up the last scaffolding, Moonsong just noticed that the man behind him was quite fatigued with how much they have traversed vertically while she felt literally nothing, realizing that this was yet another side effect of that enhancement Yugam did; her physical prowess had been increased even more than twofold.

Well, maybe this was the right time to test the powers, after all.

"So...should we knock?" He asked her about how they should proceed.

"You serious?" Her eyebrows furrowed, hands motioning to the whole windmill interior. "After the infinite number of ravens with red eyes threatening to eat us alive outside?"

Clapping together her palms, a gravity sphere expanded between her hands as she hummed softly, which the songstress aimed towards the door. Flying towards it at quite a speed, the sphere quickly created a massive explosive push that destroyed the door upon contact. Many ravens flew out of the ruined doorway, flying through them and down the windmill.

The red light coming from the room flashed bright once, as a loud screech followed afterward. Moonsong took a defensive magical stance, ready for whatever was coming out of it. "Careful, it's coming!" She warned Ansaldo.

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

"You serious? After the infinite number of ravens with red eyes threatening to eat us alive outside?"
Ansaldo shrugged in response. "Why not?" Sometimes the unexpected course of action was the best action. And no one ever expected intruders to just knock on the front door. And intruders they were.

Still, the man wasn't going to stop the lady from blasting down the door.

As soon as the wooden planks burst into splinter, countless black winged birds streamed out, peppering them with beak and claw as they rushed passed. Ansaldo lifted his arms in from of himself, shielding his face from the seemingly endless avian onslaught. A bright flash of red lit up, shining from behind the cloud of black feathers as they finally trickled and fled down the windmill.

"Careful, it's coming!"

Bright blue light filled the air before Ansaldo, shaping itself into a long staff with a bladed tip. The man grasped the polearm and took up a defensive stance as he waited for whatever 'it' was.

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

A shadowy figure flew at a magnificent speed between them, creating a shockwave that split both of the Starcalleds, sending them back. Another wave of ravens, seemingly endless came out from the doorway, covering the ceiling and the whole interior of the windmill, making everything pitch black.

"Careful not to fall down!" Lune warned the man to not get blown off or fall down amidst the darkness.

Under the cloak of the darkness that the ravens provided, five glowing blood-red eyes were their only source of light. The rubies glared, before they blurred, the owner striking Moonsong from the dark. She was only able to evade it at the last second as her Hyper Sense picked the creature up.

"Show yourself!"

Her eyes glowed with the light of the stars, casting a bright astral light in front of the woman, revealing the humanoid figure that attacked the pair. Its black feather was as dark as the night, as sharp as thousand blades. It looked at them with killing intent, ready to attack once more.

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

A shadow sped between the pair, the gust of wind so powerful, Ansaldo had to drop to a knee to avoid being blown off his feet as he skidded backwards slightly. The flurry of wings and cacophony of raven's calls filled their ears as another massive unkindness of ravens flooded into the rooms, attaching themselves to anything that would give them purchase.

"Careful not to fall down!"
"You don't say!?" Ansaldo called back through gritted teeth he dissolved the polearm in his hands and instead switching to a pair of daggers. More maneuverability in the small space.

The man tried to look around, but the oppressive darkness would not allow for the Starcalled to see even their own hands. Until a single red orb began to glow. It seemed to stare at them before four more red orbs opened up. They shot forward, the call of Lune the only indicator that whatever they was, they was very unfriendly.

Bright light began to shine like the beams of headlights from Lune's eyes, revealing the monstrosity they face in all it's unholy glory.

"Alright then." The dagger in Ansaldo's left hand shot forward as the man threw it at their foe, a new one materializing as the man dashed forward, slashing violently, as quickly as he could.

@Lune

 

[Lune]

Surprised by Ansaldo's surprise dagger throw, the dark raven quickly deflected the weapon with its claws before engaging the man in close-quarter combat.

It seemed like the creature was not a great fighter in actuality, with it having difficulties defending Ansaldo's head-on attacks, its arms bleeding with each consecutive cut the man delivered. It quickly retreated backward, before releasing an ear-piercing shriek that would definitely disorient both of the adventurers. With a swipe of its left hand, a swam of ravens was commanded to attack Lune.

The blue-haired woman tried to fend off the swarm, enabling the mysterious monstrosity to rush back into the shadow to hide as her attention was spared elsewhere. Another glint of its red eyes appeared before the ravenous monster dashed yet again, this time it managed to leave a gash on Lune's back, although not deep.

"Tch," She quickly dispersed the ravens with another gravity blast before turning her head, bathing the creature with her starry light once again. Upon being spotted yet again, it roared at her. "It's slow outside of the shadows! Go and finish it, Aldo!"

She shouted, bestowing upon the man a surge of power with a simple high-pitched note of Harmonic Magic, turning all of his manifested weapons blood red.

@Ansaldo

 

[Ansaldo]

The sound of metal striking the creature's claw rang through air before Ansaldo and the monster engaged each other. Flurries of sparks and rained down around the two combatants, the Raven apparently not as strong of a melee fighter as the new player. Perfect. The man pressed forward, unleashing attack after attack with dizzying speed, forcing the creature to disengage.

The feathered beast swept forward with it's sharp claw, and the Ansaldo raised his arms in defense. Instead of meeting one large oversize claw, Ansaldo's blades met only night-black feathers as a flurry of ravens rushed by, completely obscuring the man's vision, save for a brief flash of red.

Lune's hiss of pain was completely drowned out by the sounds of hundreds of flapping wings. Light filled the room again as the ravens were forced to disperse by another display of Lune's magic.

"It's slow outside of the shadows! Go and finish it, Aldo!"

Right, the light. Another burst of blue light accompanied the sound of breaking glass as Ansaldo's daggers shattered, the shards shifting from electric blue to blood red as they reformed into a bow in Ansaldo's hands. Red light shone brightly from the tip of his arrow as he drew back the string.

Complete silence.

The arrow lanced through the air, seeming to suppress all sound as hurtled right towards the Raven's chest. Thunder cracked as the light bloomed on contact, blinding everyone who had it in sight.

@Lune

 

[Lune]

The arrow struck true, making its mark in the core of their enemy. As the thunderblast roared, it left a devastating hole in the creature's chest, causing it to kneel to the ground in defeat, all of its eyes closing as the body slumped lifelessly. All of the countless ravens around them covering the surface of the interior suddenly dissipated into nothing.

"We did it," Lune's voice came from behind as she patted the man from behind. If he were to turn, Ansaldo would be greeted with a bloody-faced woman whose clothes were tattered badly, as a result of the swarm onslaught.

The woman approached the creature's kneeling body cautiously, eyeing it warily as she approached. She needed to be sure it was truly dead before she dared to touch it. As she drew closer, she could see that the body was all that remained of the creature - there was no sign of the ravens that had surrounded it just moments before.

And the woman's own wounds were a testament to the fact that they had not been an illusion.

Lune reached out and confirmed that the creature was indeed dead. "Huh," She inspected the middle, big eye that was still open, before suddenly pulling the glowing red ruby out of the socket easily as if it was a flash drive.

@Ansaldo