NEUS Projects

EVENT

Hearsay speaks of a panicked, young girl seen escaping from masked men dressed in black in Alstalsia's wilderness. Said to have yellow eyes and white hair, travelers often claim that they witness her when they least expect it, and it is almost always in the middle of her escape. However, most of them seem to mind their own business and avoid getting involved in such things.

"I only want to keep my family safe. I feel sorry for that girl and whatever situation she might be in - but I'm not going to risk my head, I'm afraid."

"I wish I could have helped her... but those guys... they looked so strong."

"What if those guys are bandits? What if you can get all the treasure they've gathered, assuming they ARE bandits?"

"I know you want to be a hero, but you need to be smart too. Don't sink your feet in shady waters."

"D'htran Midarma, my friend. If you do feel interest in investigating the matter, either due to a sense of morality or curiosity, make sure you are ready to deal with whatever may come."

Anyone that looked further into the matter would hear that this frequently happens near some kind of settlement in the Alstalsia wilderness. It may be possible to check it out for whatever reason you may have... if you're ready for what might be there, that is.

[Image: CPFrDDR.png]

"... Be very, very careful indeed."

OOC INFORMATION

This is the first of the Black Falcon Sub-Event line. If you want to know more, click this thread.

The date for this event is Friday (November 6th) at 7PM EST. If you want to participate, you must sign-up by pinging me (Fern#5298) in the SL2 Discord's #events-discussion channel! I'll be adding people to the list in the order they pinged me. You will be transferred to a new server and channel relevant to the event you signed up for, once you're signed up.

MAX PLAYER SIGN-UPS: 8 (8/8 FILLED)

AFTERMATH

Those that dug deep into the rumors found themselves standing before a minor Black Falcon settlement in the middle of Alstalsia's land. After making an agreement on bulldozing throughout the terrorist organization's forces, they managed to overcome their adversaries and save prisoners that were trapped within the area. In the end of their journey, they managed to find the white haired girl with gold eyes mentioned in hearsay...

However, in the middle of the chaos, they learned about the existence of a purple mutation of 'grief parasites' named 'Dusk Zero' by the terrorist organization. It is said to be a powerful creation that greatly enhances the power of its host, at the cost of severely damaging its body and general lifespan. Its existence was confirmed as they encountered a pair of Reapers in armor empowered by the mutation itself, and battled for their lives.

In addition to that, it was revealed that there seems to be an odd split in the Black Falcon's ranks, due to the fact that a First Squad Guard they once held captive escaped with the assistance of one of their experiments, as well as the stolen power of Zero. They are currently still chasing after the escapee experiment and will, more than likely, not stop doing that any time soon.

A few of the prisoners claimed to witness eccentric behavior in some of their henchmen, such as pretending to obey orders and then perform another task. It had been mentioned that some of them had also seen certain figures wearing the symbol of a Black Hallowed Cross turned upside down.

Is there more to Black Falcon than meets the eye? What were those prisoners for, if anything? Does Zero have a greater purpose beyond serving as another tool to aid in destruction of the empire? Who were those 'Executioners' that harbored the power of the mutated Dusks? Is there another group working with them, or against them?

Many questions were born that day, and only time would truly answer them, for better or worse.

(Big thanks to Karidan, K Peculier and Miller for all the help, as well as helping facilitate this sub-event! If you, a participant, would like to post your character's thoughts on what happened, that's completely fine.)

A bit of a delayed response, but I think it was a fun event. Simple, yes, but a goal was given, and a goal was met. About what could be asked for for a small thing to help with setup and interest for the future, really!

IC 'thoughts' and cringe to follow.

Thoughts thunk by a bored woman recovering in a hospital bed
---

Well, looks like that's the last of 'em out like a light, and I'm sure as hell not sleeping. Between that face-crunch and the chaos of the fights, things are jumbled, so let's start from the top and get things down in order as usual. You'll probably have to be covering a lot of it, Coro.

I thought this would be fairly straight-forward, Deus' incompetent dregs at worst. Wasn't thrilled to be stuck babysitting a couple kids, but everyone has to start somewhere, and I figured I'd keep 'em safe. --No, it wasn't just boredom. Didn't think I'd be running into Cerin again, or that so many would end up around and looking into the little mess. From what it sounded like, a couple of 'em already had an idea of what would actually be going on, so I guess our times just aligned right for some scouting trips to run into each other.

Still, Falcons. Shit, you remember having to deal with those stupid parasites? At least you three are pretty perfect for it- Yeah, yeah, we've kept out of it so far. Anyway, being able to stick with Cerin was a real stroke of luck. Worked just as well together as back in that moors tournament. Actually, I think even better - But, yeah, you're right, getting ahead of myself. I'm not sure if he can be trusted, still. Probably, but he had to have joined out of some want of power or vengeance, right? There's some schism or other, as there always is, and we can't be sure that one side or the other won't match up to his original intent. 'Course, that'd require him still wanting whatever he wanted, and he was more than thorough in his slaughters against them... I barely remember most of what we went against; They were barely more than idiot fodder kept around for warm bodies and not talent. The place was clearly not that important.

Then there were the people they'd kidnapped. A tribe of reapers on top of normal people, testing for this 'Zero' shit... Yeah, I can't figure it out, either. My guess is still the fuse thing; Reapers got a finite fuse, so you can shorten it to make it all pop at once. Elves, Doriads, Fangers, too much fuse to shorten to make everything pop. Or maybe it's 'cause of the whole death thing? Not enough to say, huh? We're way out of the damn loop, and I thought I paid good attention. I'm going to have to track down Verne and shake some info out of him, since he got out..

--Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be retired, but are you all okay with doing actually nothing? ...That's what I thought. At least, we'll need to keep informed, it's almost embarrassing to get caught so out by this shit. And... Well, it ain't like those kids are going to stop, probably. Not when one of 'em has decided some old moron makes a good person to model after.

Speaking of... I was too distracted with my own shit to really watch too well; How'd she hold up? I heard the joking at first, but couldn't keep an eye on what exactly she was up to. Yeah, I know, if she had a more flashy style, she'd probably be Cazadore bait. She's got a real lack of self preservation when things are going her way. She seemed to panic a little when that monster got her with the scythe, but she still held it together better than I used to when I first started, and I wasn't dealing with this level of insane nonsense. Never seen anything quite like it, outside of martial artists.

Those reapers they called in at the end- Or that came in at the end? Whose side were they even on? Were they guarding that girl, or had they come to destroy the whole operation? This schism brings so much into question... They were a special type of monster. It's been years since I felt quite that much raw presence, reminded me of being twenty again, before I even met you guys. A raw fear of death does lose its impact when you've already actually died half a dozen times, but it was still impressive. What impressed me more was everyone not really hesitating. Cerin, I expected, some of the other grouped up squad were clearly experienced, but the kids pushed through with some real guts. They might have some real talent ahead of 'em.

The fight was a mess, though. If I'd known what we were gonna run into, I'd have brought a real weapon, or at least kept reserves enough to properly meld up and tear 'em open. Best I could do was catch hits and let you guys, Cerin, and Keira whittle 'em down. That stupid light-beam-bot really pulled it's weight- Yeah, it finished him off, right? That's what I was expecting before I caught that gauntlet with my nose... Oh, and good strategy as ever, Coro. We really kept 'em from pulling out annoying void shit. --Ah, shit, I bet nobody grabbed that guy I stabilized. So much for that source of information, huh? I think that's about all there was to get in order, so...

Let's wrap the meeting up. We agreed? Confirm things with Julien, poke around Alstalsia for information, and see what can be done? It'll be a pain waiting to heal up, but we can get started in a few weeks, pretty sure. ...Guess that about wraps it up. Another success, which means...

Which one of you wants to start out hangman? --And stick to Common this time, Coro, you fuckin' cheat.

Fern

Fern

Tanasinn