Lethal Reword 5: True Mirage

"..I get drafted for a transdimensional world-saving quest and of course it has to be the one without any gundams.." Adra sighed. There went that dream.

"I'll go with whichever of you happens to be most closely linked to what I am right now and what sort of abilities I have-which I'd like to know. I don't see any instruction manuals.." Going by the bands on her arms, though, that was probably going to be Anubis. And that..didn't exactly bode well for her current situation.
 
Apollo snickers at Ordo. "We can send you back to the nothing of a dead planet instead of having you gain power directly from a deity, if that's what you'd prefer. Though I admire your choice. Artemis will definitely kick something up." He pointed one of the three moons, which glowed brighter.

Thor grins, "She's tha one with the massive-"

"No, that would be Aphrodite." Apollo cuts him off.

Thor's shoulders slump with a sigh.

Tyr smiles at Sanar, "A follower of the Peacemaker, eh? Good to see another Asgardian devotee in the mix." He nods, pointing out the constellation of a bearded man, which had begun to glow brighter.

The group of gods look to each other for a moment at Adra's statement. They stood there for a few moments before the jackal-headed god rose up, closing the distance in three strides. His calm expression changed to a very small smile, and he places his hand upon her head in a comforting manner, before walking back to his original spot.

-------------------

Loki grins. "Works for me. Now get out there and stand with the rest of them for a moment." Pushing Heldred's chest and knocking him out of the bushes, clear over to Ordo's feet.
 
Having listened quietly to the conversation, Dossan lost himself in thought about his patron, where as everyone else quickly chose a deity seemingly off the top of their heads. "Well," Dossan thought to himself. "There doesn't appear to be a represenative from a Draconic or Arabic pantheons, which meant that all forms of Bahamut were out of the question. At the same time, there seems to be no representative from a Japanese pantheon, which means no Susano-o either. Well, luckily for me the Egyptian pantheon exists, which means that my choice is simply." Raising his hand, or branch, or whatever, Dossan declared in a very tree-like voice, "I choose for my patron, Thoth, Egyptian god of knowledge, magic, and science. He's quite the accomplished apothecary, too, as I recall."
 
"Now I got moon powers. Awesome! ... But hey, why don't I get to see her? Shouldn't she take her champion and wander off onto the edge of the tree-line for, er, a little one-to-one? You know. So she can tell me how to use my fancy new powers and all of that. I mean, I get the swords, and the bow, that makes sense. So am I what, a "Fighter"? Bah! That's so boring."

Taking in another breath to continue whatever it is he was going to continue rambling on about, Ordo was cut short when a fellow from the bushes came tumbling out unceremoniously, shuffling backwards. Ordo took the opportunity to leap backwards and yalp like a girl, holding his hands up in some kind of defensive stance.

It's not that he was scared so much as simply startled, but one has to remember the current state of affairs: fantasy world Godwar bullshit is ensuing. Anything could happen!

Just as Ordo was calming down from the sudden appearance of the bush-man who had stumbled at him, he heard a very... Entish voice. Like from that one Lord of the Rings movie, but a bit more clearer, and easier to understand.

"Am I... ... am I hearing a... a tree?" Ordo asked slowly, but calmly, as he turned around to face the voice, his hands still up in a defensive fighting stance of comedic effectiveness.

He was about to flip out, when suddenly he said in a flat voice, "You know what? Given what's happened so far, that's not so bad."
 
Sanar Looked at the god with and easy smile before looking up at the symbol of her chosen god in the heavens and drawing her longsword raised it in silent salute. Her choice had not been as hasty as it first appeared, she remembered spending long hours in her former life studying the gods of the Germanic people who rose up during the decay of the roman empire. Justice through piece, meditation, and compromise rather than force, it fir her own moral grounding but she knew there would likely be little opportunity to negotiate with the enemy shown to them.
 
Loki grins. "Works for me. Now get out there and stand with the rest of them for a moment." Pushing Heldred's chest and knocking him out of the bushes, clear over to Ordo's feet.

Heldred's expression quickly shifted into a grin upon hearing this, then just as quickly shifted back into alarm. "Wuh- wh- whoa! Wai-"

Heldred was getting a first hand lesson in godly strength, and he wasn't finding it lacking. He had just enough time to let out a surprised "angh" sound effect before striking the sand at Ordo's feet, staring up at the stars with "why" written all over his face. It wasn't long before he regained his composure and leaped to his feet, bumping into Ordo for good measure on the way up and rotating his head slowly to take in the faces of his new companions.

"Right. Hello, how do you do." He spoke busily and cleared his throat from embarrassment as he brushed himself off. "I was just ah, napping in that bush. I just woke up in it."
 
Adra's breath caught in her lungs again as the death god, of all people, gave her a pat on the head. She relaxed after a second, he wasn't going to do anything to her. I guess this means he's my patron. So somehow I'm most closely tied to the god of the dead...wonder what that means.

She was still sitting there thinking on it all when the tree behind her talked.

Adra then took the most natural course of action and jumped practically out of her skin, turning to stare at the tree and getting up to her feet in seconds flat.
 
"GAH, talking tree!" The snake-man exclaimed, his torso falling backward onto the ground, though his massive length of lower body stayed right were it was, wings crumpling with him with a 'fwoomph' of feathers. It was followed slightly afterwards by, "GAH, talking human!"

"...Wait, that last one made sense."

Apollo sighs at the lot of this. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer the god of drama?"

"Which one of tha Olympians wouldn't that be?" Tyr asks with an eyebrow raised.

"Point taken... rather explosive wake-up, though." Apollo states towards Heldred with a shrug. "In any case, talking to each of you on how your new powers work... isn't really what gods do. This sort of thing is normally found out on your own along the journey... and as you restore our power more and more, we'll give you greater powers in return."

"That, and some of us really couldn't make it. Being gods and all, we do have other things to do. Responsibilities, portfolios, followers..."

"Parties," Thor adds.

"Part-... no, Thor. Not parties."

"Mebbe not yeh Olympians... 'cept Dionysus..." He thinks about it for a moment, "Eh. Aneh pantheon wit' o' God o' Booze is an ahret 'un fer me, eh?"

Apollo begins to protest, "It's far more complicated than... ugh, fine." Apollo shakes his head, in which Tyr doesn't bother hiding his smile.

"If you have any questions regarding your mission, feel free to ask. We'll be sending you to a small village in dire need of assistance first. Something small to get you used to how the world works. We've found that your world works on... slightly different levels."
 
"Point taken... rather explosive wake-up, though." Apollo states towards Heldred with a shrug.

Heldred's expression was completely deadpan. "I'm a light sleeper."

He listened intently as the gods went back and forth with each other. They were decidedly fun in their own right, he thought, but he had a feeling that his own patron was a hand above. If not a little unpredictable, which was fine to him as well. He idly plucked stray twigs and leaves from his hair.

"If you have any questions regarding your mission, feel free to ask. We'll be sending you to a small village in dire need of assistance first. Something small to get you used to how the world works. We've found that your world works on... slightly different levels."

Heldred frowned slightly. "Well yes, I have two... what's their 'dire need', and what makes you think that they're not going to flip their tables when they see this bunch marching on their humble beginnings?"
 
Ordo stared at the man who had just bounded out from the bush not moments before. He squinted even. He could have sworn he knew him, but his mind was still... hazy. While he retained large portions of his personality, and he had the raw knowledge he had, his over-all memories were, for some reason, still coming in rather hazy. Maybe it was just over acclimating to the new surrounding; maybe this 'new world' wanted him to keep his mind firmly planted on the present and absorb all the magical mysticism mumbo-jumbo so he'd be at the top of his game. His mind firmly planted within the levels of realism and physics wasn't very conducive to a world where 'Lightning Bolt!' was yelled with the utmost seriousness.

And lightning bolts usually fell after that, too. From the sky. And hurt people.

So he let his mind settle on: I think I know that fucker and he moved on.

"I'm with, uh... this guy here: what are we going to be doing, and why won't they be shooting bows and arrows at us at first sight? I mean, maybe me and... this guy," he motioned to Heldred, "and those two chicks over there might get in just fine. But, uh... We have a giant snake-man and a moving TREE with us. They might think we're here to plunder and burn, on top of whatever else they're dealing with.

And I've seen movies! Those freakin' peasants are a suspicious lot. They'll probably kill us in our sleep..."
 
Behind the semicircle of champions, someone stirred. Slowly, a large Norseman pushed himself first to all fours, then to his feet without ever letting go of the warhammer he was holding like a sledge.

I feel, he thought, like I was hit by a train. At least my vest stopped whatever-it-was. Hokay. Inventory time. Dull headache. Understandable, probably not a concussion. I can still remember my name. It's /Chris//Eyvindr/. Er. /Eyvindr Hallbjornsen, warrior of...//Senior Airman Christopher Br.../
His thoughts trailed off and he looked down at himself.
/Chris doesn't own any armor//Eyvindr does./
He gave his head a shake to focus himself, grimacing slightly. It didn't help his headache any. All right. /Yes, I do...//I don't think I remember having this much in the way of muscles/ ARGH! This twin-think thing is going to drive me insane! If I'm not already... All right...focus on being Eyvindr for the moment...

"All right," he said to the backs of the folks arrayed in front of him, shifting his grip on the warhammer. "I owe somebody a nine-pound kiss. Who?"
 
"I'm with, uh... this guy here: what are we going to be doing, and why won't they be shooting bows and arrows at us at first sight? I mean, maybe me and... this guy," he motioned to Heldred,

"Jame- er, Heldred."

"and those two chicks over there might get in just fine. But, uh... We have a giant snake-man and a moving TREE with us. They might think we're here to plunder and burn, on top of whatever else they're dealing with."

Heldred fixed Ordo with a withering stare. "You were wholeheartedly meant to be included in that." He paused, glancing down at his armored body with a sigh. "And myself, in fact."

"All right," he said to the backs of the folks arrayed in front of him, shifting his grip on the warhammer. "I owe somebody a nine-pound kiss. Who?"

He spun to face the new voice and couldn't control his urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "This isn't helping. No! No, nevermind. I don't care anymore. I want to see what happens when we roll up with a party of hoodlums, a snakeman, a tree and a viking."
 
"wow, you wake up right after the 'splainin is done....shit luck for you," Sven says to the other recovering viking. "name's Sven by the way, apparently I'm a champion f Tyr against a whole shit storm of pissed off gods, demons and a some cheap knockoff of Christianity."
 
"Doesn't seem to be any demons involved at all, actually." Cobalt commented, scratching his chin.

"Also, we have no problem with the major religion of your previous world." Apollo stated, "One is an entirely other entity than your Holy Spirit."

"As for the dire need of the place we're sending you to... I would say it would be 'substantial'." Apollo nods with a wry grin.

Thor raises an eyebrow, "Tha's a fancy word ta say 'Gobbins'."

After a moment of silence, Apollo sighs, "You know, the point was to be vague to increase dramatic tension and make it so they don't rely on divine power at all times. We do have other responsibilities, or else we wouldn't have mortal champions."

"...Roight."

"As for why you won't be attacked on sight..." Apollo shrugged, "No idea. I'm sure you'll think of something. Or some serendipitous events will lead to your safety. None of us here are omnipotent, after all."

Cobalt thinks about it, "Oh! Right... the pantheon deal. Having multiple gods with their own responsibilities in the world makes it so one omnipotent, omnipresent god would be impossible, but makes it so those in the pantheon have a more focused set of responsibilities, allowing them far more free time for acting on a personal level."

After that, he blinks in confusion. "...Za?"

Apollo grins, "Ahhh, a minstrel's insight. You must have been a tale-teller in your world, or a philosopher."

Cobalt looks nervous. "...I guess those are ways to describe 'lazy dungeon master', yeah."

"...Dungeon Master?"

"Hard to explain."
 
"that's why it's a cheap knockoff, on the whole the Christians were usually pretty well mannered, except for that whole Spanish Inquisition thing, that was a dick move"

He laughed at gods sense of melodrama being shattered, but still the situation was bad. War was one thing, but massacring innocents for the sake of some god, histry was filled with it, doesn't mean he likes it
 
Crossing his arms in a matter-of-fact manner, Dossan looks at Sven and says, "I wasn't expecting yo to bring up the Spanish Inquisition. You must have missed the History class where they discussed the Crusades. Especially the Children's Crusade." Turning now to the deities, Dossan continued. "Now, about this village with a Gobo infestation. If you'd be so kind as to point us on our way, we'd be glad to rid it of it's unwanted guests."
 
"There's always fighting involved, isn't there?!"

Ordo slid over to where he had awoke with surprising speed and grace, and began to quickly don his equipment. He threw on the light mithril chain shirt over his small shirt, and left his arms bare; it was (temperaturally speaking) cooler, and much more comfortable. He grabbed each weapon in turn and examined them with sparkling eyes, deep in awe over the craftsmanship put into either of his swords.

The rapier, swept hilt hand-made of intricate inlay and design with carefully tied leather cord wrapped tightly around the hilt, the fat heavy pommel a burnished silver with an interesting tusked skull-design. The katana was just as fancy, the blade gleaming brightly under the purple-hued light. It was incredibly light with perfect balance, and had a natural hamon of erratic design that trailed along the length of the blade, the hilt wrapped lovingly with a deep, almost burgundy red silk.

Oh yeah, his goddess loved him.

He slid the rapier into the frog-loop dangling at his left hip from his belt, and then shoved the katana through the belt itself; it was more intuitive that way. He took the dagger (which was a simple bit of sharpened steel; it was mostly a utility tool) and slid it along his right-hip, and finally, threw the heavy red cloak about his shoulders.

He took a step before he had nearly forgot his last bit of equipment. The bow wasn't as masterfully crafted as his swords, but it was a striking weapon non-the-less. It was a recurve bow nearly six-foot in length, made of composite wood and required a fair bit of strength to draw, he learned as he strung it up quicker than he had ever strung a bow before. He didn't dry fire (you never dry fire a bow), but he notched an arrow and 'felt' it. He nodded, hooked the quiver of some two-dozen or so of arrows to his belt and struck a pose.

He looked kind-of awesome.

"ALRIGHT! Ready to kill some shit! ... I think. We're ready, right? Will we... intrinsically know, how to... y'know, fight? I mean, I know how to use this thing, for the most part," Ordo gripped the katana sticking out of his belt with his left hand, "but, uh... I don't know any special fighting thingies. I don't... think I...."

His words trailed as his mind began to pull up... training. He knew things. He knew very, very special things with his sword.

He stepped back and stared at the gathered crowd for a second, taking notice of the newly arrived viking, Eyvindr. He then spoke directly to him.

"I know sword-fu."

There wasn't a hint of humour in his voice.
 
Adra didn't recieve any response from the tree...(man? Woman?)..thing, so she set to looking through her pack. Everything was either fairly easily recognizable or labeled, probably to prevent any nasty mishaps. Let's see what I got here...


Flasks of Acid...
Shurikens, and a leg-sheath thing for them..
She put the shurikens and their accompanying holder on her right leg, trying not to show too much of her (black) undergarments to anyone paying attention. She was new to being a woman, but that didn't mean she should go around sexing people up. Besides, sex with a guy would be...strange, at first. Shaking her head, Adra reminded herself to focus. The shuriken holder didn't look particularly stealthy, but it would be nice to avoid having to search her pack for them all the time.

Satisfied with her work, she went back to rummaging through her pack.
Potions of Inflict Light Wounds...wait...
No, that wouldn't make sense.
Wand of Inflict Light Wounds...
It's probably a coincidence.
Sunglasses...
Badass.
Journal...
Adra took the journal out of her pack, turning to the first page and beginning to read. Quickly she put it back in her pack, closed the pack, then slung it onto her back and stood up.
"Well, I'm ready to go. I think that we'll need to get used to ad-libbing." She bowed slightly to the jackal-headed god. "The explanation is appreciated. I plan to study it later."

Then she turned to Ordo, having heard his enthusiastic cry earlier.
"...Well, that sounds cool."

((Adra puts the shurikens on her person, giving a pantyshot to those watching. I figure that the shuriken holder is just the same as keeping it in clothes-no hiding bonuses, just out of the pack and at hand. She sees the first page of an explanation that Anubis left for her, and resolves to read the rest of it later.))
 
Sanar was still dripping with water and clumps of it fell in front of her face as she brushed it out. She noticed the white skinned on searching through her bag and watched. It was strange that everyone here was once human. And ......

She stared, "Niiiice." she said quietly, a little less than a whisper getting a pantyflash. But she had a good idea and Sanar opened her own bag and was greeted with the sight of studded leather. Sweet she said pulling the armor out and holding it up. Putting it doen the pulled out a quiver of arrows. She covered her wet shirt with he leather and strapped up the sides and hitched the quiver over her shoulder with her bow before closing her bag and pulling it on.
 
Well, everyone else was equipping. 'Might as well,' Heldred thought to himself. He took a quick glance at the others before striding over to where he had awoken. Some of what he had been given, he was already wearing. Over the simple padded garments he felt shifting against his skin was a rather elaborate suit of chainmail, dark gray in color. The greaves were fastened securely over his boots in a style he recognized as his own.

He came to the bush where he woke up and reached inside of it to drag a backpack out of the foliage, along with various other pieces of equipment that were strapped to it. The most noteworthy was a large metal heater shield strapped to the front of the backpack, finely crafted and emblazoned with the visage of a hind glaring outwards upon the front. A pair of gauntlets, bedroll and blanket were neatly strapped down at the top.

There was a short spear thrust through a harness at the small of his back. Hanging from the belt at his waist was a large mace of dark colored metal that ended in a heavy flange that was hollow at the core. He stood and loosed the weapon, curiously gripping the handle with a strange sense of familiarity. He held the weapon high for a moment, then flourished it in elaborate arcs that betrayed telltales of formal training buried deep within his mind. The hollow flange of the mace head created a haunting noise as it sailed through the air, causing a grin to split his face.

He quickly knelt to check the contents of the backpack before moving on, finding it filled with various useful survival items like a blanket, rations, torches, a lantern, and flint, with a separate pocket filled with potions. He paused as he found something that did not match, and lifted a small block of pure ivory into the twilight. "... Soap?"

Why did he have soap? Not that it wasn't good to keep clean, but...

He stowed the gear quickly, shaking his head. Then he reattached the mace to his belt and hoisted the backpack straps over his shoulders before wandering back to the main party. He stood nearby and addressed the tall deities gathered there.

"We're almost ready. But we still don't know where we're going, beyond that it's... a village, and that they have problems with ... little green things. So, which direction do we go?"


EDIT: (( Heldred runs through his equipment, gives some brief descriptions of 'special' items. Equips his gear and joins the others, then addresses the gods gathered there to find out where they are going. ))
 
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