"-Groooooooaaaaaannnnn!-" whined an armless zombie.
"Oh, shut up!" Using the undead monster she is holding by its legs as a makeshift weapon, Mari swats away the horde of monsters around her. "It's your fault for being so damn fragile! I thought you undead monsters were supposed to be tough to kill!" She yelled to no one in particular, emphasizing her point by crushing another zombie with her rotting weapon.
-Snap!-
"-Tch- Couldn't even last a few hits." Clicking her tongue, Mari eyed what was left of her makeshift undead weapon, which flew through a few dozen other zombies before smashing into a tombstone. Tossing what was left of the monster's leg in her hand away, Mari charged forward towards the closest zombie. Kicking the zombie to the ground, she placed her leg on its chest before reaching down and grabbing both of its arms. With one brutal motion, she ripped both arms off its torso and threw them at two other zombies closing in, killing them as their heads exploded upon impact. Mari then reached down again and ripped off its jaw before throwing it away, killing another zombie. With her new weapon prepared and docile, Mari grabbed the newly armless zombie by its legs and gave it a few experimental swings.
"You'd better last longer than the last three or I'll," Mari paused and thought about it. "Well, you'll be dead if that happens, and at that point, there isn't much worse I can do to you." She shrugged. "Well, in that case, I'd better make best use of you before you go breaking down on me." With her new weapon in hand, Mari charged forward into the fray where the monsters are at their densest. Her weapon eventually snapped in two after she managed to clear out the majority of the horde, leaving only a few stragglers too far away for Mari to bother chasing down. "-Tch- useless thing." She tossed the zombie's lower half away. "It wasn't even that fun to use. I should have just used my fist." She grumbled to herself before letting out a sigh. "Ma is right, I shouldn't have neglected learning proper weapon care."
Mari may love to fight, but she doesn't care much for the little chores that come after, like properly maintaining your weapon. It's the main reason she never picked up a sword, because she found having to clean and maintain it too annoying. She thought that if she used a simpler weapon like her knuckle duster, then she wouldn't have to worry about all that annoying stuff. Sadly, that wasn't the case, a fact that Mari recently realized when she noticed rust and small cracks on her knuckle duster this morning. This is forcing her to find creative ways of killing monsters that don't involve her main weapon, so she can save them for when she eventually encounters a difficult fight.
"It's not fair, Pa doesn't have to deal with all this. Ma does all the tedious work for him." She harvested the monster corpses around her before storing the loot in her bag. "Hopefully, there is a weapon I can use in here." Cleaning the blood and gore off her hands on the cleanest piece of cloth she could find, Mari trudged through what was left of the corpses and continued forward—eventually, stopping in front of a large metal gate. It took a few hours, but Mari finally reached the base of the hill where the manor sat. Well, not exactly, she actually reached the base an hour earlier, but found a metal fence encompassing it. She originally tried breaking through it, but found that none of her attacks could even scratch it. Next, she tried jumping over the fence, but ended up colliding with an invisible barrier. With few other options, Mari started walking around it to see if she could find an entrance. Mari knew she had the right idea when more and more monsters started swarming her as she followed the fence around the hill.
Gripping onto the gate, Mari slowly pushed it open until it was wide enough for her to walk through. As soon as she entered, the metal gate immediately slammed shut behind her. Looking back, Mari shrugged before she started her journey up the hill towards the manor.
-Living Islands-
"You sure this will shoot me back out?" Exploring the desert, Jack eventually found a large oasis that he thinks is the center of the island. The oasis was lush with plant life, separated from the rest of the desert by a wall of trees. He wasn't the only one, either; several other students were also resting at the oasis when he found it. He tried to team up with some of them, but sadly, they were either already in a team and didn't want to make it bigger or wanted to do the test alone. Jack was a bit saddened by this but figured there wasn't any point in dwelling on the issue. Taking turns keeping watch for monsters with the other students, Jack used this opportunity to stock up on water and rest for the night in relative safety. The following morning, Jack was preparing to exit the oasis and start his journey back to the island's edge when another student stopped him.
"Yup! A few friends and I used it to quickly get to the shore so we could catch some fish before using another one to get back without having to go through the desert again." Alion, the student who stopped Jack, apparently found out that the island they are on contains several underground rivers that flow to and from the ocean. He also learned that a decent amount of the underground rivers connect to the lake next to them. "Though be warned, the rivers down there are pretty powerful, so once you get sucked up by one, there is no stopping or going back until you reach the ocean. On the bright side, you get spit out relatively close to the shore, so there isn't much risk of you getting dumped far into the ocean."
"How did you even find this out?" Alion awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, it's a somewhat embarrassing story. You see, my friends and I were exploring the shore when I heard what I thought was rushing water. Wondering how there can be rushing water in what is clearly a desert, I suggested we look for the source of the sound. Well, one friend said I was stupid and that the sound clearly must be coming from the ocean that we were next to. Let's just say we had our disagreements, and an argument broke out between us. To make a long story short, our party ended up splitting up, one half staying at the shore while my group went to investigate around the area where I thought I heard the sound coming from."
'Man, this guy can talk.' Jack munched on the peanut butter sandwich he had recently made as he listened to Aloin continue his story.
"So there we were, searching the area for any signs of rushing water for a solid hour. Of course, as you might be able to guess, after sixty minutes of finding nothing under the scorching sun, some of the people in my group started getting annoyed with our lack of progress and voiced their concerns that we were wasting our time. So the people in our group voted to reunite with the others. I, for one, wanted to continue searching, but understood where they are coming from. So I suggested we reunite with the others after another ten minutes of searching, which they agreed to."
'Would I have made it far by now if I didn't stop when he called out to me?' Jack mentally pondered before shaking his head, an action that Alion was too busy to notice. 'No, for me to accomplish that, I would have to be running the whole time, and that's not even taking into account the monsters I potentially would encounter.'
"So there I was, having bought myself another ten minutes, on the ground with my ear against the sand, trying to see if I could maybe feel the vibration that might be created by rushing water. Time was ticking, and I was desperate to prove I wasn't just hearing things. So I put all my focus on finding the rushing water I'm sure I heard. I think I ended up with a face full of sand a few times due to the wind, but it's hard to remember because I was zoning out a lot at that point. Hmm, now that I think about it, I might have tried swimming in the sand because I thought it might help me get into the right mindset." Alion paused for a sec. "Hmm, maybe I did because I was having a stroke then." He shook his head. "I'm getting off topic. Where was I?"
"You had ten minutes to find the rushing water."
"Ah, yes, thank you. So there I was in the sand, desperately looking for any signs of the rushing water, determined to prove I was right. Minutes went by, and just as time was about to run out, I heard it."
'Has this guy taken a breath at all since he started talking? If not, that's kinda impressive.' Jack thought to himself, his mind starting to wander once more. 'Wait, would I need to hold my breath for as long as this guy can talk? If so, I don't think I'll survive using the underground rivers if they do exist.'
"Then I fell in!" Alion shouted, knocking Jack out of his thoughts. "Before I knew the currents were sweeping me away, my friend's voices quickly grew distant. I don't know how I didn't drown despite my head being underwater for a good chunk of the time I was being swept away. I'm chalking it up to some magic in the water or something. So after what felt like an eternity, which I later learned was actually a few minutes, I found myself in a large body of water. Looking around, I noticed how bright it was, and when I swam up towards the light, I emerged inside this oasis. The-"
"Ok, wait." Jack interrupted. "I think I get the gist of your story; you don't have to continue."
"If you say so. But are you sure? This is where the story starts getting good."
"No thanks," Jack awkwardly chuckled. "I am sure it's exciting, but I'll pass on it for now. All I want to know right now is what I need to do to get back to the shore quickly."
"Eh, your loss." Alion shrugged before turning towards the large lake next to them. Jack let out a quiet sigh of relief when Alion wasn't looking. "I don't understand how it works, but on this island, you can breathe perfectly fine while underwater. Let me emphasize that point again; this only happens when you're on this island. Meaning that you have to be careful not to drown once you are spat back into the ocean. I'm saying this because yesterday, a student was almost kicked out of the test because they forgot this fact." Jack nodded.
"Got it, water breathing only on this island."
"The lake," Alion motioned to the large body of water in front of him, "is connected to a dozen underground rivers flowing to and from the ocean, located near the bottom. You can tell which is which by the direction of the water flow. Be careful, the flow of water is quite strong, so if you get close to one, you're very likely to get sucked inside. So, before you approach any river mouths, make sure you're facing the correct direction you want to go. Trust me, it can be very disorienting finding yourself on one side of the island when you expected to be on a different side."
"Make sense. Anything else I should know?"
"Hmm," Alion hummed while tapping on his chin. "Not really."
"Ok. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it."
"No problem. I'm happy to help!" Waving Alion goodbye, Jack secured his bag and approached the edge of the large lake. Crouching down, Jack took in a deep breath before ducking his head under the water. Opening one eye, he looked around and opened the other when he saw nothing of note. Bracing himself, Jack opened his mouth and relaxed his body.
"Brlb?" Despite the water rushing into his mouth, none of it seemed to go down his throat. Pulling his head out of the water. Jack shook the water off himself. "That was an experience. Well, I guess Alion was right." Standing, Jack took a calming breath before jumping into the lake, tensing his body to help sink to the bottom. Upon reaching the lake floor, Jack opened his mouth and took a deep breath. "Brlb blb." He attempted to speak, but remembered that breathing underwater doesn't mean he can talk. 'The water is turning into something that's allowing me to breathe.' Jack thought out loud. 'This is something I'm sure Crystal or Sera would have loved to study.' Chuckling to himself, Jack looked around for any openings and spotted several large holes with water clearly rushing through them. 'Ah, those must be the river mouths.'
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Reorienting himself, Jack then made his way to the opening that was closest to the direction he wanted to go. Finding one in the general direction that had water flowing into it, Jack slowly made his way towards it. 'This is actually quite fun!' Testing his body under the water, Jack performed a cartwheel, followed by jumping off the ground and performing a somersault in the water before landing. He continued playing around with the lower gravity until he began to feel the pull of the water. Bracing himself, Jack took a deep breath before lunging towards the opening, allowing his body to get swept away by the currents.
What followed was a blur of motion as Jack desperately tried to control his body in an attempt to avoid smashing into the walls despite the powerful water currents flinging him around. Things got dicey when Jack suddenly lost the ability to breathe, his lungs quickly filling with water. Despite knowing this would happen, Jack still struggled to reorient himself. Working on instinct, Jack swam forward, and before he knew it, he was gasping for air as he broke through the water's surface. Moving on autopilot, Jack eventually found himself back on land, on his knees as he coughed out the water in his lungs.
"Maybe, -huff- I'll take -huff- a small break before heading to the next island." Jack managed to mutter out loud before collapsing onto the sand.
-Breathing Mountain-
"Ms.Fairborn!" Elizabeth let out a tired sigh upon hearing what the young woman had called her. "Group C have found some clean water in tunnel three!" While exploring different parts of the mountain through the interconnected caves, Elizabeth encountered several groups of students. It started simple enough. Elizabeth would wander through an area, encounter some students and either help them deal with monsters or exchange some helpful information with them. Sometimes the students would ask if they could tag along with her, and seeing no reason to refuse, Elizabeth would agree. However, before she knew it, Elizabeth had become the leader of a large party of thirty other students.
"Elison, I thought I told you to call me Elizabeth instead of Ms.Fairborn," Elizabeth told the short teen vibrating with barely contained energy as she continued chiselling patterns onto the cavern wall.
"Gasp!" Elison replied with exaggerated movements.
"Did you just say gasp?"
"But Ms.Fairborn!" Elison continued, completely ignoring Elizabeth's question. "How can a mere mortal such as I call a goddess such as you in such a disreputable manner!" Elizabeth let out another tired sigh. When she was told that Elison could be a bit over the top, she wasn't expecting it to be like this.
"Very well." Elizabeth sighed again, deciding that it wasn't worth the effort to continue correcting the girl. "What were you saying earlier?"
"Oh! As I was saying, Group C have found some clean water in tunnel three!" Elison pointed down a tunnel. Currently, the duo, along with several other students, are set up in a large cavern they have recently found. It was a spacious cavern with several tunnels that led to the three distinct biomes found on the mountain. So far, the only issue they have encountered has been the frequent monsters that would wander in and that they would have to kill before they could cause too much damage. Luckily, the group hasn't encountered anything too difficult to kill or scare away. "Group B hasn't returned yet, but the warning stones are still intact, so they should be fine."
Warning stones are simple artifacts created by the few students in the group who knew how to enchant. They were made from rocks picked up from the ground and are enchanted to pair with each other. When one rock in a pair breaks, the other breaks as well. Warning stones are used as simple, disposable communication devices. When a party of students leave the cavern, they will bring one pair of the warning stones and leave the other behind. If a warning stone back at the cavern breaks, it means that the party carrying its pair are in trouble and requires assistance.
"Group A just came back with various fruits, veggies and meat from the forest layer. They should be storing them in the ice pit right now." Elizabeth nodded along as she listened to Elison's report.
"What about Group D? Have they made any progress recently?"
"Eh," For the first time in the last couple of hours, Elizabeth witnessed Elison lose some of her barely contained energy. "So far, they haven't made any progress in finding any monster that could be classified as a Boss." Elizabeth nodded before backing away from the cavern wall. Seeing her, Elison backed up as well. "You finished the enchantments, Ms.Fairborn?" She asked, her voice regaining some of her lost excitement.
"Yes," She nodded. "The others should have done their portion by now as well. So we need to gather the other Enchanter students so we can activate it."
"I'll do that right now!" Before Elizabeth can reply, Elison is already dashing off to get the other students. Shaking her head with a chuckle, Elizabeth walked up to the cavern wall again and worked on refining the enchanments while she waited for Elison to gather the Enchanter students. "I got them!" Turning around, Elizabeth saw Elison along with four other students.
"Thank you, Elison," Elizabeth thanked the short student before turning towards the others. "Have you four finished the enhancements on your side of the cavern?"
"Yup!/ Yes./ -Nod- / Y-yes, Ms.Fairborn!"
"Are they all connected?" Another wave of confirmation. "Good, then we can proceed to activate the barrier." Elizabeth, along with the other four Enchanters, placed their hand on the cavern wall and then, with a brief pause, simultaneously pushed a pulse of Mana into the carvings. It wasn't long before the enchantments hummed to life as a soft glow flowed through them, tinting the entire cavern in a blushish light. "Looks like everything is working. The barrier should keep the weaker monsters at bay and warn us if any stronger ones are approaching."
"Uh, Ms.Fairborn?"
"Yes, Nathaniel?"
"Was it really necessary to also carve the enchanments into the ceiling as well? The barrier would have included the ceiling, regardless of whether we carved the enchanments onto it or not. Wouldn't we have finished a lot sooner if we had only focused on carving it onto the walls?" Elizabeth nodded at the young man.
"A good question. Though before I answer, do any of you know the answer to the question?" She asked the other students in the group. They looked at each other before shaking their heads.
"No, I don't recall our instructor teaching us anything that might answer Nate's question." Replied the male student next to Nathaniel. "Nor do I recall reading anything close in the required material."
"That's understandable." Elizabeth nodded. "The answer is in the later chapters of our textbook. The reason we carved the enchantments onto both the cavern ceiling and the walls is to strengthen the barrier against monsters that can dig through the walls to attack us from above. Most barriers are designed to focus most of their strength on the sides, leaving the top potentially vulnerable. By carving the enchanments onto the ceiling, we are reinforcing the top of the barrier from potential attacks from above."
"Wait, I thought we created a hemisphere barrier." A female student asked.
"We did," Answered another.
"Then shouldn't we already be protected from any potential attacks from above?"
"It will protect us against weaker magical and physical attacks," Elizabeth answered. "As I said earlier, most of the barrier's power is directed to the sides. Meaning even though the barrier can protect against some attacks from above, there is still a risk of it shattering upon being hit by a strong enough force. Say, for example, a heavy monster digging through the cavern ceiling and falling onto it."
"Ah! I see, so to prevent that from happening, we needed to reinforce the top of the barrier." The student paused. "Wait, then why aren't we taught to do that with all barriers?"
"To save time," Answered a male student. "I say carving the enchanments onto the ceiling took up the majority of our time. I doubt we will always have that much time to burn in every scenario, especially in certain Rifts." Elizabeth nodded at his answer.
"That is one reason; the other has to do with Mana consumption. Most barriers are designed to focus their power in specific areas, to reduce the amount of Mana they use. Reducing Mana consumption is especially important when it comes to larger barriers like the one we created, due to how Mana-hungry they are."
"And that isn't an issue we have to worry about because the stone in this mountain is chock-full of Mana! Allowing us to reinforce the barrier without the risk of it running out of Mana!"
"Exactly," Elizabeth said with a pleased smile.
"Then shouldn't we also carve the enchanments onto the ground as well?" Asked Nate, while looking at the ground below his feet with suspicion. "To better protect ourselves from monsters wanting to ambush us from underneath us?"
"That won't be necessary," Answered Elizabeth. "The barrier we used was designed with scenarios like that in mind. We run the risk of the barrier overloading if we adjust or add anything to that portion of the enhancements."
"Ah, that makes sense." Nate nodded.
Inspecting the engravings one last time, Elizabeth nodded, pleased that everything seemed to be working as it should. "Everything looks to be in working order. Let's meet up with the others to decide our next course of action. Elison?"
"Ah! Ye-Yawn- Yes, Ms.Fairborne?!" Elison startled awake after being lulled to sleep by all the technical talk the other students were having, which she couldn't understand or find interesting.
"Tell the others to recall the teams from their missions. With the barrier set up, we have a lot more options available to us. So we should reorganize our list of priorities."
"Yes, ma'am!" Elison gave a salute before dashing away.
"Ma'am?" Elizabeth turned to Nate. "Why can't she simply use my name? Do I really seem like a ma'am or Ms.Fairborne to you?" The only answer she was given was a simple shrug.
-Red Dust Metal Rust Desert-
"So are you and that Jack guy dating?" Wendy asked as she picked her teeth clean with a toothpick she had made out of a monster's bone. Crystal spat out the water she was drinking at the sudden question.
The duo is currently resting inside a sandstone pyramid, which they started exploring the day prior and spent the night in. After several more hours exploring the large structure after waking up the following day, the duo had managed to acquire some decent loot, including various precious metals, jewelry and what Crystal thinks is an unknown artifact. Deciding they had found everything the pyramid had to offer, the duo started making their way back up to the entrance. Upon reaching the entrance after two hours of walking, they figured they might as well rest up and eat some lunch before venturing back into the desert.
"W-what?" Crystal managed to say after coughing up the water in her lungs.
"You know, are you and Jack an item?"
"W-what?! N-no, we are just friends!" Crystal shouted, her face growing flushed.
"Hmm, you and Sera?" Crystal shook her head. "Sera and Jack?"
"No," She paused. "I don't think so, and I'm sure they would have told me if they were."
"Yeah, Jack can be a bit loose-lipped at times." Wendy agreed.
"Hey! He's not that bad!" Wendy shot her a look which caused Crystal to cringe a bit. "Ok, he can be like that at times, but at least he never means to cause any harm." Wendy nodded in agreement.
"Then are you three in a..."Wendy trailed off, her face scrunching as she racked her mind on the word she was looking for. "What do you call a relationship that involves three people? A love triangle?" She shook her head. "No, that doesn't sound right. A throuple? A triad?" Crystal's previously flushed face grew redder.
"No, no, no, no," Crystal reaptly muttered while shaking her head. "The last two are technically correct, and we three aren't any of those. We're just friends."
"Really?" Crystal nodded."Damn," Wendy muttered under her breath. "And here I thought I would be able to hear some juicy gossip."
"Is that why you asked me that question?"
"Yup," She nodded. "When we have nothing else to do, my gal pals and I usually hang around exchanging any juicy gossip we recently heard with each other. Sadly, I haven't run into any of them, and I'm starting to think they're in a different Rift than this one. So I figured I might as well gossip with you instead."
"I... see. Well, I'm sorry to say, but there really isn't anything going on between the three of us. We're just close friends." Wendy sat silently for a moment, thinking something over.
"Then how about Marigold and the guy she likes to hang around with. You know the plain-looking one."
"Plain-looking? You mean Alex?" Wendy snapped her fingers and pointed at Crystal.
"Yeah! That guy! So are they dating or something?"
"No, I don't think," Crystal paused and gave the question some more thought. "You know I'm not sure what they are."
"Really? Don't you guys tend to hang out with each other?"
"Yeah, but Alex isn't the type of guy to talk about himself that much. As for Mari, despite her tendency to speak her mind even in inappropriate times, she isn't one to talk about these kinds of things without being prompted." Crystal paused for a moment. "Well, a few months back, Jack did ask if the two were an item."
"Really?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "He asked Mari when the four of us were heading to Alex's house to pick him up for some training."
"What prompted him to ask that?"
"He thought the two had a thing for each other, so he was worried that we were getting in the way by joining them."
"How did Marigold reply?" At this point, Wendy was fully invested in this discussion.
"She laughed it off before questioning where he got that idea from and stating the two of them were just two friends with a love of fighting."
"Really?" Asked Wendy, skepticism clear in her voice. "They're always together when I spot them, and you're telling me there isn't anything going on between them." Crystal chuckled.
"Jack said something similar, and Mari replied by saying they just like to train together. She also said that Alex is a durable, sparing partner, along with having a fun fight style."
"Do you think that's all there is?" Crystal shrugged.
"Can't say for sure. They do seem close, but the two of them don't really seem that interested in taking their relationship any further."
"Aw, that's too bad. I thought I finally got myself some new gossip, and the two do seem like they would make a good couple." Crystal just nodded along, thankful that Wendy had moved on from her and her friends' relationships.
"Come on," Crystal got up off the sandstone ground. "We should probably get going before it gets too hot out. Let's aim to get back to the village before noon."
"Sounds like a good plan as I've ever heard one." Wendy agreed as she got up as well. The duo quickly downed a Chill potion each before venturing back into the desert, their bags full of recently acquired loot.
REALMS Printable Premade Character Sheets
Character #111
Sera(phina) Gracefield
Realm of Origin: Aetheria --- Current Realm: _______
Player Name: ___________
Party Members:
Current Chapter [ ]
Health:[ ] --- Stamina:[ ] --- Mana:[ ] --- Trait Limit: [ / ]
Traits: Master Alchemist[Rank 1/2/3](3/6/9), Poison Resistance(2), Disarming Disposition(6), Fast Brewer(3), Kind Soul(3), Weak Physique, Entomophobia,
2
Additional Information:
Player Name: ___________ | Age:___ | Height:___ | Weight:___ | Eyes:___ | Skin:___ | Hair:___ |
]
- Hates bugs and avoids brewing any potions that use their parts.
- Hates normal and monstrous bugs equally.
- Great memory, but only for alchemical information.
- Wants to be stronger.
- Applied to Starage, not expecting to get in, was surprised when she did.
- She was not prepared for the physical exams.
- Tip: Choose one specialization. Either fully commit to being supportive or combative; attempting both at once leads to a weaker build.
3
Alchemist,______________________________________
Known Spells/Techniques: