Literature Summer Reading || Kalon RPG Event

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This'll probably be easier on me if I put all of the writing in chronological order- especially since there are side quests, Lord

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Your Party: Arnav || Amosis || T.C. Salem

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[center][b]Prompt {}[/b]
[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3452399]Arnav[/url] || [url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3183658]Amosis[/url] || [url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3351123]T.C. Salem[/url][/center]

[quote][list]-Put Story Here-[/list][/quote]

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Prompt 1
Arnav || T.C. Salem||
Amosis ||

How do they feel about starting this journey? Inventory, Class, Etc?

The three are bickering about which way to go. Arnav and Amosis are assassins, and Salem is an undertaker.

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Previously....

Salem rubbed at his eyes as he tried to think over the bickering between Arnav and Amosis. He tried not to think about how they already argued over the map and directions. Earlier today. TEN TIMES.

"But I don't want to go into the lavalands! Do you seriously have a death wish, Amosis?!"

"Where's your sense of adventure, Arnav? Come on, it's the lavalands! How cool is that?"

"It's not! It's not cool at all! It's the lavalands!!"

Salem finally snapped. Both of you, just hush! Great stars, you just can't shut up, can you?!"

The two finally quieted down, thoroughly chastised. Salem let out an annoyed breath. "I don't even know why you two are debating over this-- I'm the leader, and I get to choose where we go. So, that's that."

The two look away when Salem turns his glare onto them. And yet, he still hears Arnav grumble, "Lavalands still suck, though."

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Present
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Salem sighed as he set his pouch down on the leaf litter surrounding the forest. He didn't bother to check for ants- the trio didn't seem to find hide nor hair of any ant hills on the way here. Or any normal type of bugs- this late in the evening, the forest was eerily silent. And Salem thought the villagers were weird. This whole kingdom seemed off, really-- must be the effects of the dark plague. The smallest creatures seemed to have already succumbed to it.

Yet, Salem couldn't stay solemn as he heard the scuffling behind him, and and low jeers that Arnav and Amosis exchanged with each step into the clearing. Salem sighed with exasperation and looked back at the two fresh-faced males. "Can't you two just quiet down for one moment?"

"But Arnav keeps saying my ideas suck! Lavalands isn't that bad!" The words spoken by Amosis were angry, but there was no mistaking the petulant note to them. Seriously, this is what they were whining about.

Salem looked to the heavens for guidance and turned away towards his pouch to hide his eye roll. "Arnav, Amosis' ideas don't suck," he deadpans. Salem was practically dripping sarcasm, and Amosis bristled in indignation.

"Yeah, well, Arnav didn't even pack the flint! If anyone's dumb around here, it's him!"

Salem froze in his motions at that, and slowly turned around. A look of horror was dawning on both Arnav and Amosis' faces, but Arnav's quickly morphed into rage as he elbowed Amosis. "I thought you said you wouldn't tell him!"

Salem could practically feel his eyes slit in anger. "Arnav... you had one job." Arnav's head snapped to attention, and Salem took in how Arnav clasped his gloved hands behind his back to hide his hands' tremor. He still hadn't shaken himself of the nervous tick.

"How do you expect us to steer clear of the plague without means to make a fire?" Salem growled. Arnav gulped, and the fear in his and Amosis' eyes made Salem look on with satisfaction. So, despite their joking, they actually realized the gravity of the situation.

Still, Salem wracked his brain for a swift solution. This was bad-- they definitely couldn't stay out here without a means of bright, heated light to chase away the darkness. His expression became pinched as he quickly, yet somehow still reluctantly, decided. There was a nearby village on the map-- looks like Salem would have to use some of the little money the trio had now. Hopefully the inn prices were reasonable.

"Well, don't get comfortable here, you two-- looks like we're gonna have to get a few nights in the village inn." Salem huffed, and expression became even more deadpan as he watched the two others light up at the prospect of warm food and a bed. They nearly barked out a cheer, but Salem cleanly put an end to that by stating, "You two seem oddly enthusiastic about this-- maybe you purposefully didn't pack the flint, hmm, Arnav?"

The two slowly quieted at that. Salem continued, "Maybe we should stay out here after all..." The two quickly shut up. "...That's what I thought."

Salem stretched before picking up his own pouch. "Come on. I remember seeing a sign on the nearby road a mile back-- let's get moving before it gets really dark." {559/150- Present part only}

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kalons featured; Arnav || T.C. Salem||
Amosis ||

The gremlin was huge.

Salem wasn’t sure why Hadain decided to spread false information, but the first gremlin the trio came across was really long, and had way too many teeth and limbs on it to be entirely natural. He took in the rest of his surroundings— and yeah, there were tinier ones, running around like strange little bugs (and looked like alien bugs, too), but come on. Was the big one like the mother or something?

Salem had to halt his train of thought to dodge the gremlin’s strike of its unnaturally long… neck. Or, at the very least the area between the grotesque head and first set of limbs.

“Watch your backs!” He called out to Amosis and Arnav, but the two assassins barely made a sound as they gleefully punted the little cretins around (with Salem’s spare gauntlets, no less— they better not dent them, the idiots) and made them start scrambling away from Hadain’s armory and the village. Salem watched the two from his peripheral, mind mostly trained on the surprisingly fast creature, but he had to strain not to roll his eyes at the two’s enthusiasm despite the constant annoyance of the gremlins. Serves them right for their ability to glow and attract the tiniest gremlins to them.

But, that meant that the biggest one was left to Salem. The blind one. And the only one with an acute sense of smell.

Salem cursed himself for buying that perfume. And it smells so good too... He grumbled as he finally got a solid hit on the gremlin and sent it reeling. He let out a barking laugh of satisfaction, but his stomach sank when the moray-lookin’ gremlin only shook off the attack and hissed at him. Hissed.


He groaned audibly and sidestepped another attack. The gremlin’s weren’t too dangerous, sure, but why was it so hard to scare the big one out of town? Killing was out of the question— the last few travelers that killed some of the street gremlins and left a huge mess got verbally lashed and kicked out of town by the locals. Salem didn’t want to piss anyone off. He is not wasting his money— he already bought a few nights at the inn for him and his trio, and he wasn’t about to get run out.

The gremlins though— they had to go. Ugly little…

His eyes briefly flicked over to Amosis and Arnav, and his fast mind was able to take in how much they’ve already done. It was impressive, at least— they seemed to have scattered most of the tinier ones. The creatures must’ve retreated into the woods by now.

Salem reached into his coat pocket to thumb at the tiny trinkets given by Hadain and his small spritz bottle of perfume. His mind flashed with an idea.

“Arnav, Amosis! Cover me!” Salem called, and he automatically leaped back as he watched the two take his place, as he instinctively knew the pair would. Mind focused on their job, they were still dutifully silent (years of training will do that to you, of course— Salem can count on his hand how many times the two have slipped up under his long leadership) but their eyes were filled with an unmistakable delight as they distracted the gremlin with alternating punches.

Salem was quick to spray his floral perfume all over the unused trinkets. Now thoroughly drenched in the pungent smell, he threw the trinkets hard and watched as the Moray gremlin mindlessly followed the long arc of the items and skittered out into the forest.

Salem sighed as he tried to catch his breath. He rested his hands on his knees as he stood, and nearly toppled over as Amosis slapped a hand on his back. Salem glared up at the gray male, but was only met with Amosis’ cheeky grin. “All in a day’s work!”

Salem looked over at Arnav as he, too, padded over. The dark blue male playfully pounded the gauntlets together and chirred, “Yup!”

Their enthusiasm was contagious, and Salem couldn’t help the small smile that softened his expression. Time and time again he was reminded of how young Arnav and Amosis were, how vital and simply determined they were. Salem hoped the two never changed.

“Oh wait, we missed one!” Arnav reached behind Salem and plucked something from the brown kalon’s tail. It was one of the tiny gremlins, attracted to his golden shine this whole time. Arnav neatly chucked the creature like a javelin out into the forest, and it’s little screech of indignation slowly grew distant as the trio watched it soar through the air. Salem deadpanned. This was gonna be a long trip, he could already tell.

Arnav and Amosis only snickered as they exchanged an enthusiastic fist bump at the throw. {802/500}

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Prompt {2}
Kalon Used: Arnav

--Arnav had to wake up to help Briceus 'cause Amosis and Salem, his other party members, were too lazy to do so and weren't getting up for anything; Arnav's a little bit more than pissed about having to catch the weasel since he broke more than one rum barrel in the process. Now Arnav's drenched in it-- Briceus is pretty sorry about angering a paying customer.

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Prompt {3}
Kalon Used: Arnav

Oh crap it's coming back for revenge, Arnav felt his heart sink with growing panic as he realized the gravity of his situation.

He mildly regretted underestimating the weasel-- in the doorway of the inn, the rage-filled animal looked almost adorable in its anger, but Arnav barely felt any remorse at the bruises he could see blossoming under the things sleek, short fur. (serves it right) ...But... The creatures behind it were more than a little bit concerning to see-- innocent woodland creatures seemingly warped into these light-sucking monstrosities. The weasel hissed at him.

That seemed to spur the dark, inky creatures into action-- they immediately jumped for Arnav, but he was quick to dodge (and briefly sputtered as his rum-dampened hair whipped back into his face), but swiftly cursed his lack of any weapons on him-- all of them were upstairs with Salem and Amosis. The two were probably blissfully asleep at this hour-- an earthquake couldn't wake them.

Time to go back to his roots then. Arnav gritted his teeth as he silently bared his claws, and he barely registered the screams, footfalls, and crashes behind him as Briceus, his beau, and the other residents fled for cover. Arnav wouldn't flee from the fight so easily. The monsters barely scared him, but his own anger flared anew as he thought about how these creatures had the gall to threaten (indirectly or not) his Amosis and his Salem. His family. And in the same place where they were the most vulnerable, the place where they rested?

Oh no.

These things were going to die. Screw the weasel.

(And this establishment, like honestly. Stars, what terrible service.)

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Prompt 4
Arnav || T.C. Salem||
Amosis ||

After the chaos that was last night in Briceus' inn (Arnav's hair still smelled a little bit like rum) Salem was eager to set off from the village, but not before he took Amosis and Arnav to Hadain's armory in an attempt to get their swords and assassin needles looked over. Gotta have their weapons sharp and ready, after all, especially after what they encountered last night. The chaos of what happened at the inn made Salem want to leave the village as soon as physically possible, so he was quick to get a refund for the other nights he paid for at the inn (He barely felt bad over Briceus' apology over their unfortunate run in with the dark beasts).

And admittedly, Salem also wanted to check over his spare gauntlets-- he was alright with Amosis and Arnav playing with them to take care of those gremlins, but they still dented his spare gauntlets in the process. Twits.

(Salem tried not to think about last night. About how he had to physically pry off those soul-sucking demons off of Arnav's quickly weakening body in the middle of the bar. What would have happened, had he not woken up in time?)

Salem's shoulders sagged in relief as he heard Hadain's tired, early morning greeting. That's when Salem saw it, innocently lying on one of the shelves behind Hadain's counter as the blacksmith checked over their weapons. It was a simple thing to trade for the cream-colored crystal-- Hadain must've mistaken it for a quartz, but it wasn't long after Salem and his party left the village that he noticed the gale-force power emanating from the stone.

They had found the wind crystal. {282}