Oswald and August shared a look. Whatever byplay two engaged in went right over Nine's head. Everything ended with the Director having given Nine a meaningful look alongside a promised gift should the mercenary succeed in the ordeal. And as was expected, the red eyed lancer snapped a salute before heading onwards to prepare.
Three days since, Nine wondered if he had been far too hasty in picking this assignment. Between his recent achievements, including the subjugation of an Elite Rotbeast, and the swell of power within his lance, Nine's confidence was far from unfounded. Mere entry unto the island had garnered the attention of the local wildlife. The welcoming ceremony even included gouts of flame that interfered with their landing strategy.
In that they didn't land so much as they crashed against whatever passed as canopy.
Decisions were reached as Nine lay there, draped against the casualties of his impromptu landing pad. No greater truth existed beyond the fact that he, truly, did choose this assignment with far too much haste. It was a silver lining that he found himself relatively uninjured. Negligible scrapes here and there, along with mashed rations courtesy of this forsaken island.
Calming himself down took more effort than extricating himself from his cozied bed space. Nine eventually settled down enough to parse his situation. A stocked medical kit, a blessing in itself. Rations enough for a day, two if he took things slow. Not only separated from the team, Nine had also lost sight of wherever else the others might have landed. And all around him were these unfamiliar...trees? Plants?
Long green stalks of wood that lanced towards the skies, with leaves that bloomed the further up one went. They bent without issue when Nine tried to experiment, and snapped back up when he pulled Promise back. It looked like nothing he had ever seen before, but he felt relief when they weren't so clumped up as to blot out the sun. Scorching as the sun might have been, it was infinitely preferable than having to navigate blindly.
Nine muted his footfalls, employing what little knowledge he had regarding the exploration of this type of environment. Sharpened senses allowed smoother transitions. Smoother transitions allowed faster responses. And faster responses allowed one to weave around the sudden wood stalk that speared the space he had recently occupied. The incident was followed by similar events all around him.
Several of these elongated plant-things moved in conjunction with one another. Almost as if they were linked to the same thing. Red eyes snapped upwards as Promise tilted in his hand. And above him, above even the stalks that surrounded him, was a bulbous object encased in amber carapace. Massive in every sense of the word, and with its encompassing scale came the haughty ignorance projected to all things a hundredth of its size.
And though it lacked the overwhelming atmosphere one incurred from glancing at the Rotbeast, Nine could wholeheartedly say that the monster above held strength far greater than the Elite Rotspawn. Its presence was oppressive enough to mute even the thundering echoes within Promise. The unidentified beast's procession took infinitely long minutes to pass, and another eternity past that before the mercenary could pull himself out of his stupor.
Just what kind of hell scape did Nine volunteer himself for?
-----
[9] Mindless Onslaught had won, and we are not off to a great start. Several rolls got botched from the get go, leaving Nine in a situation far from idyllic. One can only hope that the others fared just as well. Nine is currently operating with -17% effectiveness, courtesy of his 1.7 Apostle Credit debt.
What does Nine focus on accomplishing?
[ ] Survival:
- Food and Shelter first and foremost.
- Personal Safety above all else.
- Though Nine has some workable supplies with him still, one can't be assured that it'll last him more than one encounter.
- May be done at a later time, but will have diminishing chances of success the longer it is put off.
[] Dominance:
- Nine will aim to hunt down targets to feed into his own strength.
- High probabilities of 2pick fights, with equal chances for either a 1 or 3 pick fight to occur.
- Nine is on a timer, and he knows this. Things will only get that much worse once night falls, as they always do.
- The Benefactor applauds such foolhardy decision making. Gain 0.5 Apostle Credits and 5% Combat Efficiency for the first encounter.
[ ] Companionship:
- If two arms aren't enough to solve a problem, then just get more!
- Nine will focus on tracking down his wayward teammates. He might not know where they are exactly, but a general direction is better than nothing.
- Much like Survival, Nine will do his best to avoid direct conflict and focus on joining up with as many of his allies as he can.
And applicable to whichever vote ends up winning: discussion, planning, and ideas on how to proceed will generally increase probabilities of favourable outcomes.
