[attr="class","taliscroll"]

No matter what happened it always seemed like Rory had a way of showing up. Was Dantalion's fate inextricably linked to the unluckiest person in this Creator Forsaken world? He gave a soft sigh and reached up, closing his eyes and resting the tips of his clawed fingers onto them before giving a gentle shake of his head and looking over to Noelle. "He is surprisingly hard to be rid of, isn't he?" He said with a note of amusement in his voice before hopping down some rocks and closer to the actual beach. Noelle beat him to shouting to the sharkman and that was fine, less sin on his own soul.
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Once he was down on the beach he reached out to the side and folded his fingers in thin air and from a flurry of ghostlight and the scent of gravedirt a massive scythe landed in his hand. He tilted it back and rested the snaith against his shoulder, the blade clicked down and a long barrel extended from the top of the haft. Pale white-green smoke drifted from his right eye and a pair of crosshairs filled into his irises as the smoke drifted down and folded around his left forearm, forming a weapon mount there. "Rory! I guess you're joining the sharks with us, I'm afraid you don't get the choice now my friend." He called out, the smile on his face starting off warm but turning a bit wicked.
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"And if you're going to be joining the sharks then there's a lesson you need to learn." He dropped the scythe and pulled the trigger. A screaming bullet of spectral energy blasted out and slammed into the turtle's shell, skipping off with a screech. Almost immediately the turtle was startled and dived under the water. "It's sink or swim, Rory!" He called out with a sing-song tone before spinning the scythe around and clipping it onto his back. He then turned to Noelle and gave her a shrug. "I don't feel like getting wet just now. Rory needs to be more careful about where he ends up." He told her plainly before crossing his arms over his chest to see if he needed to actually stop Rory from getting eaten or not.

[attr="class","talitag"]
Noelle Rory Perkins

[attr="class","taliscroll"]

The tides of the battle around them calmed, combat and panic fading away to silence. Eyes containing wicked crosshairs snapped around the deck of the boat before Dantalion let out a soft breath and straightened up. With a twitch of his wrist, the lance halves snapped together and the weapon segmented, collapsing in on itself as he clipped it to his back, hilt sticking down by his right hip. With a snap of shrieking chains, the coils of Ruin also drew themselves into the handle, leaving only a group of snarling heads frozen in steel like some kind of macabre bouquet of flowers. Tali clipped it to his left hip before turning to look at the rest of the group, the supernatural light fading from his eyes.[break][break]
"Good job everyone. That was a hectic situation with not much battlefield to move around on but you all handled yourselves admirably." He told them with an easy confidence in his voice, he didn't even seem winded, though that was a careful mask, fighting like that was always tiring. "We've made it to the island and while I don't believe the island is safe, the market should be safe enough." He turned to look deeper into the island, pursing his lips before giving a shrug and moving forwards as the boat docked and he hopped off onto the pier.[break][break]
Killing monsters had always felt good to him since he had appeared in this warped Earth of theirs and that righteousness lent an easy focus to his movements. He turned back and held a hand out to both Noelle and Vanilla to assist them off the boat, as his mother had taught him was good and proper for someone to do. "It was a pleasure fighting with you Noelle, if you ever need assistance with anything do send me a message." He'd say after he'd helped the others off the boat, sending a system friend request over to her.

[attr="class","talitag"]
Rory Perkins Noelle vanilla

[attr="class","cromscroll"]

So close, so many threats and a last ditch effort from an ally. Even in such dire straits, Dantalion was loathe to accept such aid, his pragmatism only took him so far before what existed of his dignity finally came back in force. He grit his teeth and turned to fire another arrow at the Strix, clipping its side and spraying blood across the undergrowth before Rory's shield thankfully blocked the feathers that it fired in return. The Ogre was approaching rapidly but luckily they had finally reached the end.
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As Tali turned and forced his pain down, breaking into a sprint for the final few meters, a blue light washed over him and the other members of his makeshift team. The light was blinding but also soothing in a way and when it finally started to fade away they would find themselves in a clearing in a forest. The trees around them were a stark alabaster and every leaf was a soft ocean blue, making for quite a striking scene.
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Hovering in the air before the three of them was a victory declaration, telling them that they had survived their tutorial, completed the objectives and escaped their demise. It gave promise of supplies and that in a few minutes it would teleport them all to a safe location. With a grunt, Tali stumbled over to a tree and dropped down before gingerly easing himself so that his back was against the trunk. He clutched his weapon like a lifeline and grit his teeth, turning to spit to the side to try and avoid the waves of nausea running over him. "Good job you two, we survived, that's what is important here." He groaned before giving both of them a smile and a nod. "I'd likely be dead if not for you two so I owe you both a favour." He didn't like owing sinners such things... But it'd be better to have disposable help.

[attr="class","cromtag"]
Try Hard Rory Perkins

[attr="class","taliscroll"]

They were definitely turning the tide now, though Tali was slightly annoyed at himself for falling prey to such an easy pun, his uncle would have been disappointed. There were still quite a few enemies however but they were at least a bit more wary. He knew that the prison he had thrown at the big one was about to wear out and that meant he would have to deal with it quickly so that it couldn't terrorise the group. He did have something that he could use though he knew it was likely to cause havoc in his team but they were working fine at the moment.
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He grit his teeth and dashed forward to the giant crab forsaken as the bubble fell away. It gave a screech and raised its claws up in a threatening gesture, not that Dantalion really cared. "I hope all of you have been investing in your Will!" He roared out, adding a silent apology to the end as he summoned a large trumpet into his left hand, golden in colour though marred with patches of rust that looked more like blood. Taking a deep breath he blew through the trumpet, unleashing an angelic sounding note into the air that quickly turned discordant. He knew that these creatures were unlikely to have high WIL and judging by the flinch of the crab-beast, that definitely seemed the case.
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With their defenses now ruined he stepped in and slammed his lance straight into the crab's face, the twin points of the lance bursting out the back of its shell and spraying chips of chitin across the deck. He put his boot on the creature's chest and kicked it off his weapon before loading another shell into Fury and racking the slide. Looking at his weapon he realised that his archangel buff had ran out but that was fine, Noelle's buff alongside his own natural strength and the massive debuff his Trumpet caused would be more than enough to keep him going for now. "Their defenses are heavily lowered, cut them down now!" He roared out to his companions and moved up to put his back to Rory's, ready to defend him against anyone that took him up on his threat.[break][break]

----[break][break]

MAGI is currently B, utilising Trumpet of the Apocalypse to debuff PWR and DEF by 10% per rank WIL is lower. Considering these are level 10 at most, I don't imagine their WIL is huge so it's at least 20% if not 30 or 40%. Dealt another count of A damage to one, with the DEF drop, defo a kill.

[attr="class","talitag"]
Rory Perkins Noelle vanilla

[attr="class","taliscroll"]

Dantalion was glad that at least Noelle appeared to have her head firmly screwed on, Rory looked like a demon had personally come and shit in his boots while he was wearing them. He listened intently to what Noelle was saying about what she could do, little offensive power but good support it would seem. "If you can assist me with my power then, Noelle, we should be able to make quick work of anything that appears from the depths." He told her with a slight nod, readying himself for the boat beginning to move. What he wasn't expecting however was an additional party member.
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A familiar voice finally caused him to look away from the water and the smile on his face was actually genuine this time, the warmth reaching his eyes. "Vanilla, it's lovely to see you again. I hope you've been training with your weapons." He didn't sound too serious about it but if she hadn't then he would need to play a bit more defensively here to make sure she didn't die. At the very least he wanted to recruit her... Or at least give himself some kind of link to his humanity so that he didn't fall too far. "I believe we're all here for adventure in one form or another, courtesy of a strange key." He nodded and went back to watching the water as the boat started to move towards Ender Island.
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Of course, nothing like this would ever be kind. When the warning went up, Dantalion nodded and pulled the hood of his black cloak up and simply vanished from sight. He crouched near the edge of the boat and waited, gripping a rail as the boat rocked. Eventually three creatures climbed up from his side of the boat, one was massive and hulking, barnacles covering its fists like knuckledusters. Two others climbed up though these weren't quite so impressive specimens. Seeing the other enemies also entering the boat, Tali knew he had to cut down on the numbers a bit.
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Reaching out for his weapons, he stood up in the middle of the fishman group, unseen and held his hand out. With a flare of red light a massive lance dropped into his hand, black and red and split into two down the middle with the center instead containing a large what seemed like cannon or shotgun barrel. Crimson energy filled his right eye and then he took a deep breath and tapped into a new ability he had been granted. A wash of golden light ran over his lance, turning the black into purest white and four rings connected the two halves of the lance while a pump gauge appeared on the bottom.
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The enemies could see him now and the big one spun around to face him but that didn't matter, he had invoked Gabriel and now his wrath was upon these beasts. He stepped forward and rammed the lance into the big one's chest which caused it to take a step back before he pulled the trigger, blowing its upper half into chunks and spraying it across the boat. He then racked the slide, a gleaming white shell popping out the side of Fury, trailing holy smoke. He then turned and blasted the second one, ripping it apart with buckshot, though it took two shots and turned his shotgun on the weakest one. It tried to leap towards him but that only brought it closer to the barrel which turned it into more of a red smear than a monster. "Everyone, to me, a united front is stronger." He called out, starting to move closer to Vanilla anyway to try and pull her out of danger.[break][break]

----[break][break]

Summoned Fury which deals PWR rank basic damage and then MAGI-1 for initial shotgun blast. Next three blasts are due to activating Archangel's Blessing and using the full Pump Fire ability. There are enough enemies for the full 30% PWR+SPD buff, also +15% to all stats due to Healthy Amount. Three enemies destroyed, level 10 takes B+C damage straight to the everything, Level 8 takes Cx2, level 5 takes C.

[attr="class","talitag"]
Rory Perkins @noelle vanilla

[attr="class","taliscroll"]

It had been a mostly quiet day for Dantalion when he had received a rather strange key. He was used to having things fall into his inventory these days but it was still an amusing new fact of the world. He had simply been resting a small copse of trees, whittling away a piece of wood into the shape of a little tower. He put the piece into his pocket and put the knife away before pulling out the key and taking a look at it. Not much info was given by the system but it had to lead somewhere at least interesting and he had been resting for a few days so it was best to get moving, he didn't want to grow idle. As his mother had taught him 'idle hands are the devil's playthings', it'd be too easy to become lax.
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So with a moment of focus he let the key draw him away and drop him off somewhere else. Immediately he could smell salt on the air and hear the cawing of seagulls. There were good memories there, time spent at the sea, learning to fish and how to gut and cook them once they had been caught. His father had been skilled with a filleting knife, never a cut out of place. He turned and moved closer to the shore, eventually coming across a pier stretching out into the water with a boat moving in towards it. The mission was telling him to go to the island he could see in the far distance and that meant they would need a boat.
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Once he stepped onto the pier he noticed that there was someone already waiting there and it was actually a familiar figure, one that he had met before. Was he happy to see this sinner here? Someone who, from his shouting, was very much tainted by the sin of avarice? At the very least he knew that Rory was someone that was mostly dependable. Better than a psycho. "Rory, I'm glad you're in good health. I do hope you haven't been getting into too much trouble these days." He called out to the other man as he walked forward, giving a wave and a soft chuckle. The lies were easy, it didn't bother him all that much. "Looks like there's another boat coming in, do you think anyone else will show up?" He moved up to Rory and gave him a nod before turning to look out at the waters. They were rough and choppy, the sea more grey than blue, it was definitely going to be a rough journey.

[attr="class","talitag"]
Rory Perkins

[attr="class","cromscroll"]

Maybe salvation didn't have to come so late or at the end of a blade, perhaps there were those that could rise above the mire and join his endeavour. Or maybe Dantalion was just lonely now, one man against a world. He looked up and away for a few moments, mulling over every possible word, thinking of everything that could happen in this moment. He missed his family more than anything but he'd have to make do with what he had for now until he could find them again. He turned back to look at Vanilla and gave a soft chuckle at what she was saying. It was strange how things that annoyed you in the moment would be endearing in the future.
[break][break]
"It's too easy to take for granted what you had before. At the very least I was prepared to lose it all but it only slightly lessens the sting. I miss the sounds of my mother carving wood and watching my father meticulously clean and oil his firearms. Such simple things and gone so soon." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back, letting out a soft breath. "Emotions are human and it is never wrong to express them, to forget your humanity is to forget your place in the world. So don't apologise Vanilla, look up and forwards, do better next time." He nodded gently before her next question came out.
[break][break]
It was certainly a deeper one than she thought because Dantalion wasn't entirely sure he was all that strong, not compared to other members of the Bastion. Was he looking down on himself? Was his supposed lens of pragmatism actually tinted against him? He spent a few long moments in thought before responding. "Strength isn't something that can truly be taught. However it can be learned. I can teach you how to fight, I can teach you how to survive but I cannot teach you to overcome any fear in your heart, you must learn that yourself. You will never be rid of it, Fear keeps us safe, it lets us know when a fight can't be won, no human is without it. However it can be mastered and when you realise that you can fight, that sometimes you don't need to run from all your problems... Fear becomes a lot easier to deal with." Old teachings again, just like his mother had taught him years ago.
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"However in this world... I suggest picking up a weapon first. Even a simple one. The natural laws are different and regardless of your strength, you'll find it generally heavily weakened unless you are holding a weapon of some variety. Once you find one, let me know, no matter the type of weapon I can teach you to wield it..." He paused for a moment and turned to Vanilla, a slightly mischievous glint in his eye for just a moment, "...Though perhaps I would avoid two handed swords or axes, I'm afraid that it's surprisingly hard swinging around a weapon the height of yourself." He chuckled and stood up again, stretching his arms and back out. "Let's head home now, we can think about things and meet up again later, alright?"

[attr="class","cromtag"]
vanilla