Cherry Heart: A Quest Based RP [Main Thread/IC/Starting/Currently Not Accepting/Co-hosted by Skaia]

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Err...yeah, let's go to the next room."

 

Still recovering from the surprise that Auburn pulled off to her earlier, Celica led Mina through the dark corridors until the two of them were met with a locked metal door. After making sure that it was really locked, Celica knocked on the door a few times, and waited for a bit before the door hinge suddenly broke and the door crashed into the floor with a loud thud after a light push. A flick from her hand lit up the environment like how she did in the earlier room, and the light revealed a large, dried up indoor pool of sort built on the room, and a strange, rusty-looking large machinery filling one of the side of the room. With this sight behind her, Celica turned around to see Mina.

 

"The old guild's headquarters actually span a lot more than the antiquated building above us now. These underground corridors and rooms were also part of it, as I have found out not long after I purchased the building. This underground network had actually existed long before the old guild itself, however. And like a lot of such places, there were a lot of things that we don't know about this place yet.

 

For example, did you feel the faint feeling of something watching or following you while we try to reach this room? Just like the slimes earlier, there were a lot of things that ended up calling this place their home. And unlike those slimes, some of them weren't exactly harmless.

 

Though, why did I bring you here? Well...to tell the truth I was going to bring the three of you to help me clean up some debris in another room as our last activity today, but since you're here, I think it is for the best that I go to this room first. It's basically an underground hot bathing pool, with the machine over there being the water heater, also it funnels the steam outside. While the plumbing still need to be fixed, the main concern here is for you to check on the machine and see if it's still working properly. I can go pick up the toolbox if necessary."

 

It was a long explanation, and talking that much tired Celica more than she expected it would be. After making sure that Mina understood what she said, Celica left the room for a few minutes before suddenly returning with a toolbox in her hand. The machine was clearly rusting, and the rust and spiderwebs and other things that were on it made it looked like it's impossible for it to work now. However, observing it more revealed a certain oddity. What powered up the machine? It didn't look like it operated by burning coal as it should be, after all.

 

While the two of them were focusing on the machine and the pool, a pair of eyes continued to watch over them from beyond the room's entrance.

 

---

 

Utilizing the slimes' volatility to magic, Fen was able to freeze them with relative ease and she and Auburn could continue working on clearing them from the room at a much faster speed than before. However, as the two of them finished with dealing with the slimes, out of nowhere, a lot of yellow ooze came forth out of the holes in the room at once, before gathering on one spot to reveal a particularly sizable slime monster. It was seemingly responding to the smaller slimes being frozen, and with its size, perhaps it wouldn't be capable of being disabled with ease by the ice magic. It was threatened, and it now decided to go on the offensive. Towards Auburn, it fired three electrically-charged slime-based projectiles which would shock and slow him down if they hit, and it fired several of its slimy tentacle extensions towards Fen in an attempt to disable her.

 

---

 

[spoiler=OOC]

Windy, if you have questions about Mina's part, it's best to talk about it in Skype with me, and for Skaia and Mitch, surprise battle time. It's not really too tough (and actually it would appear whether you freeze the slimes or not), but it does pose an actual threat in this situation.

 

I will now make my reply as necessary, and not strictly following usual posting round. Sorry for the delay, but let's get this back on track.

 

 

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse - Underground/Auburn

Auburn's marveling at Fen's display of magic was interrupted by the biggest slime he's seen in his admittingly rather sheltered life. He instinctively let out an uncharacteristic girl-like scream and stepped back, only to trip and fall down. By some unseen luck, he managed to avoid the projectiles aimed at him through this manner. Only then did he get a good look at it. "Where'd this thing come from?!"

 

His normal potions wouldn't work on it, he rationalized. Most of them didn't do anything to the smaller ones, they shouldn't have an effect on the larger one either. And it was large enough that he didn't think Fen's ice magic would work either. Of course, there was one more thing he hasn't tried yet, that he would be more than happy to demonstrate. His own magic. Or what passed for one.

 

He got up on his feet, and pulled out a sizable flask filled with a clear, volatile-seeming liquid. Thankfully it wasn't crushed by him falling down. He uncapped it and threw it at the slime, covering it all over with his liquid. Then he pointed his finger at it and concentrated very intensely. "Fire blast!"

 

Nothing came out. But then slowly, a small spark formed. It was barely noticeable, less so than a lit match, but it lightly touched the oil on the ground. And then the slime lit up in flames.

[Wind Rider]

After a rude scare from Auburn, Mina followed after Celica to a new room. Just like the other rooms, this one was very worn down and dark, but after Celica lit up more candles, Mina could clearly make out what seemed to be an old pool and an equally old machine in the corner of it.

 

"The old guild's headquarters actually span a lot more than the antiquated building above us now. These underground corridors and rooms were also part of it, as I have found out not long after I purchased the building. This underground network had actually existed long before the old guild itself, however. And like a lot of such places, there were a lot of things that we don't know about this place yet.

 

For example, did you feel the faint feeling of something watching or following you while we try to reach this room? Just like the slimes earlier, there were a lot of things that ended up calling this place their home. And unlike those slimes, some of them weren't exactly harmless.

 

Though, why did I bring you here? Well...to tell the truth I was going to bring the three of you to help me clean up some debris in another room as our last activity today, but since you're here, I think it is for the best that I go to this room first. It's basically an underground hot bathing pool, with the machine over there being the water heater, also it funnels the steam outside. While the plumbing still need to be fixed, the main concern here is for you to check on the machine and see if it's still working properly. I can go pick up the toolbox if necessary."

 

After Celica brought back the toolbox, Mina looked the old water heater over. "Hmm... I think I can get this thing up and running, and if not I can at least fix it up to where it can work." Mina said taking a few tools from the toolbox. Her ears twitched a bit before she turned to Celica for a second. "Hey... You ever get the feeling that we're being watched?"

[Alaina]

 

Fen had continued to make good progress in freezing the slimes and stuffing them into trash bags, finishing much faster than were they to just try and manhandle them regularly or wash them away. As they were beginning to finish up, Fen looked around as Auburn wondered aloud about something. As she turned around, her eyes widened at the sight of the giant yellow slime. Seeing the large pile of goo move around, she knew one thing was for certain. There was no way they were using this place as a food storage. 

 

As she came to this conclusion the creature seemed to be far more hostile then the smaller version of it, shooting parts of it out towards the duo. As the tendrils were launched towards the girl, she was a bit taken off guard, but managed to move out of the way of the attack. While the tendrils were poised to wrap around her, because of her movement, they had only managed to brush against her skin, causing a sharp stinging pain to go through the affected areas. Stumbling a bit from the shock, Fen then watched in expected awe as Auburn called out the name of his magic. There was a brief period of in which there was just suspense, Fen wondering what was going to happen. After the pause, a small spark seemed to touch the creature, causing it to burst into flames, surprising Fen a bit and causing her to back away from the scene just a bit more. 

 

As the creature was now on fire, it did not seem to show any signs that it would let up against the duo. Instead it repeated the attack from before, firing parts of its body off as projectiles towards the duo. Only this time they were on fire. Wanting to not be caught by it, Fen backed away once again, though a stray blob had struck her sleeve, causing a slight flame to go across it. Panicking a bit at the fire, the girl started to pat it down with a hand imbued with her magic, trying to pat it down. Meanwhile, the blobs that had been fired previously were starting to retract towards the larger blob, though were starting to evaporate as they got engulfed in fire. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Celica watched with quite the interest as Mina worked on the heater. With how Mina was dealing with it, perhaps its condition weren't as bad as expected. Though, soon she noticed that the cat-eared girl twitched, and she felt that something was amiss.

 

"Hey... You ever get the feeling that we're being watched?"

 

"...Now that you said it..." Celica turned around to look at the immediate surrounding, but she didn't manage to notice anything in the candle lit room. It would be odd to have a dangerous monster lurking on this top level of the underground maze, but even then, even something more minor would be quite concerning. As she watched over Mina while she continued to inspect the machine, Celica grabbed something from her pocket, holding it on her palm while the room became really quiet.

 

"Mina, keep your flashlight on you all the time. We won't know when we might need to-"

 

As she said that, something fell from above and slammed right onto Celica, knocking her unconscious. The creature would soon be clearly seen by Mina - it was an odd-looking bipedal lizard with dog-like features, a kobold. It wielded a club on one of its hands, and as soon as it noticed Mina, it hissed and prepared itself to attack her. It didn't seem like a really agile opponent, but being clubbed by something like that ought to hurt. Mina could attempt escape, although the door was located behind the kobold, she could try to fight it out, she could try checking what Celica held if she got the opportunity to do so, or she perhaps could pull off something else entirely.

 

The kobold soon charged towards Mina, aiming to swing its club towards Mina's face.

 

---

 

The flames on the slime slowly dissipated. The fired projectiles failed to return to it due to being burned to vapor before they could reach it. It seemed to be reluctant to use its tentacle-like extensions or "limbs" while it's on fire, for reason that was still unclear. Its size had been reduced somewhat. After a while of moving around and seemingly observing Auburn and Fen, it decided to split itself into two - by way of throwing half of its own body towards Auburn's direction. It wasn't exactly a surprise attack, which would allow Auburn to avoid the hit, but the slime half soon summoned two of its limbs while it was still near to bind Auburn's legs. It seemed that it aimed to pull Auburn to itself.

 

Meanwhile, the other slime started to charge up, preparing for some form of attack. It seemed to follow Fen's movements, but what it was planning on doing was still unclear.

 

---

[Alaina]

 

Despite the flames across its body and seemingly shrinking from the damage it had incurred, the slime still moved on its way towards the duo. Fen slowly backed away from it, not sure what a slime could actually do but not wanting to be struck by a flaming slime tendril. However, as the creature approached it split itself into two smaller slimes, both trained on bringing down a separate individual guild member. This split was kind of unsettling to watch, as it practically hurled the flaming half towards Auburn, which left Fen to deal with a different approaching slime. As it inched forward, seeming to prep something, Fen had to think of something to stop herself from getting hit by whatever it was planning on doing. Looking around, the girl saw a pile of wood, and rushed her way over to it. Picking up a scrap, with a slightly high pitched noise of exertion, the girl tossed the plank towards the slime, not really sure what she was hoping to accomplish with it.  

[Wind Rider]

"Mina, keep your flashlight on you all the time. We won't know when we might need to-" Mina was listening to Celica as she worked on the machine, but the sudden silence and the sound of a body hitting the floor drew her attention.

 

Moving away from the machine, Mina saw that Celica had been knocked clean out by a club wielding kobold of all things. "Celica!" Mina's call and her very presence alerted the kobold and it rushed right at her. Thankfully she was able to move out of the way before the club could hit her head. Jumping back away from the little fiend, Mina whipped out her rifle and aimed it right at the kobold's head.

 

"Stupid creature, this is no place for you. Get out of here!" Mina exclaimed as she pulled the trigger on her rifle. Instead of a normal pellet or bullet, the rifle fired a spark of electricity that could kill a little thing like a kobold just as easily as a bullet.

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse - Underground/Auburn

In the midst of the slime burning Auburn noticed which parts reformed and which did not. That gave him an idea. But then the slime split itself, one half of it aimed directly at him. "Ah!" He narrowly stepped back, avoiding it when its tendons stretched out and grabbed his legs. The suddenness of it shook him and made him trip again. In the corner of his eye he saw the slime's other half approaching Fen, and knew he had to get them both out of this somehow.

 

Somewhere in his head, his voice of reason was telling him not to do it but this was his time to prove himself. The slime continued pulling Auburn in and he did not have much time to consider what he was about to do. For whatever reason, he addressed the slime that should not be capable of conversation, "You think you've won, haven't you? Think again. You were so engrossed on trying to capture me you forgot one thing."

 

He brought out another vial of oil and smashed it, covering his legs and the slime in it. With his other hand he brought out his rifle, feeling unconfident that he'd be able to recreate even a small spark like he did earlier in time using magic. Again in the corner of his eye, he saw Fen retaliate against the other slime with a piece of wood. He'd have to help her first before he burns himself so he aimed one more oil vial at the other slime and threw it. "Get away from it!"

 

He shot the faraway slime once, and then shot the slime trying to eat him, the bullets igniting them both and himself on fire.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Mina's shot managed to hit the kobold right on its head, however it didn't seem like it was able to kill it in one shot. The kobold managed to let out an odd howl before lying paralyzed on the ground - still convulsing after having its brain fried from Mina's shot, but still perhaps capable of posing some danger if it somehow managed to wake up. Returning to examine the machine now seemed pretty tempting, but Celica was still helpless and the kobold might end up recovering from the shock. Mina could try ending the kobold for real, or she could use this opportunity to escape from the place, with or without Celica.

 

No matter which choices she picked however, soon Mina would hear a similar, faint howl from afar.

 

---

 

Fen throwing the piece of wood seemed to distract the slime enough to stop whatever it was planning to do. A surge of electricity was released around it as it was interrupted, stopping short of reaching Fen and Auburn. It was seemingly agitated now, and it latched itself tightly on the ground before it attempted to extend itself to directly strike at Fen-

 

At least, until Auburn threw a bottle of oil to it. It retracted a bit in response to the oil, but Auburn followed it by a shot from his rifle that ignited it on fire. As its body were being stretched at the time, it was structurally weak now, and the fire could easily eat through most of its body. In the meantime, the other slime handled being burned somewhat better. The fire clearly was slowly chipping on it, but it was slow and not that meaningful for the time being as the burning slime crept towards Auburn, still thinking on devouring him. Auburn would feel that his legs were numb due to the prolonged contact with the slime.

 

With the Auburn and the remaining slime half being set on fire, something must be done fast by him or Fen.

 

---

[Wind Rider]

Mina's shot rang true and the kobold fell to the ground, it was far from dead however, but it was incapacitated at the least. A low howl could be heard further in the tunnels sending a chill up Mina's spine. "Well... That doesn't sound good..." The machine would have to wait, Celica needed aid and there was no way Mina could hold off a pack of kobolds by herself.

 

Mina put her rifle on her back and ran over to Celica. "Celica... Celica, wake up... Crud..." She picked Celica up gently and ran out as quick as she could. "Hang on Celica, maybe Auburn could fix up a healing potion or something..." Mina mumbled to herself.

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse - Underground/Auburn

Auburn's world was on fire. Flames scorched him and then pain washed over. Yet the slime in front of him was still alive, and now he couldn't feel his legs anymore. He hoped it was only because it was burning, and that he still had legs but neither conclusion gave him much relief. The thing just wouldn't die, goddamnit. He was too pained to speak, and his thoughts were fragmented at best. He already forgot about Fen and the other slime, whatever happened to it. What could he do now, fire another shot? Use a bomb? He didn't want to die yet.

 

The best he could do was stick the rifle straight into the slime that now engulfed half of him and began shooting again and again, hacking its body away. If he survived this he'd probably be half dead and unconscious, but that didn't stop him.

[Alaina]

 

After her attack had managed to cause the slime to recoil, she looked back to see that Auburn was still...on fire. He was on fire. Her face went white with panic as the fact that Auburn was literally on fire and had a slime eating him started to sink into her. "AAAAAAHHHH!" As she shrieked, she had no idea what it was she was going to do to help the boy out. She started to look around the room for something to put him out, and could only find one thing to do so. Grabbing the sack they had shoved the slimes in, Fen dumped the frozen masses out, and started chilling both herself and the bag in order to keep burns to a minimum on her end. Looking at Auburn, she steadied herself, taking in breath after breath, getting ready to run. 

 

She had put out fires before. Nasty ones too. So this was just like that. Just like that. No difference whatsoever. All she had to do was run at the flaming boy and beat the flames down. Okay, this was nothing like she was used to. While she didn't want to do this, she was the only one around. The only one who could do anything about him. And so, with one last breath the girl closed her eyes and screamed once more as she charged at the boy. She felt a solid impact with him, trying to crash him away from the burning slime. And as she did, she let out an, "oow," from the impact. As she opened her eyes though, she saw the still flaming boy and attempted to snuff the flame out, haphazardly beating the fire with the chilled bag. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

The howling in the background continued as Mina continued to carry the unconscious Celica away from the machinery room towards where Auburn and Fen were. Faint sound of footsteps could also be heard, but it seemed that it's still decently far away from their position right now. The two would arrive on the room around ten minutes later, finding Auburn and Fen struggling with their own problem as they entered the place.

 

Auburn was frantically shooting at the slime as it crept on him. He managed to hack some of the burning creature apart, but what remained still stubbornly latched on him, preparing to unleash its digestive acid. At least until Fen went at it with her cooled bag, attempting to douse the fire. The slime, weak to extreme temperature and magic, ended up relenting in the end, letting the still burning Auburn go before it attempted to go away into the cracks on the wall in its weakened and smaller state. Auburn was still burning, but Fen's effort was definitely making a change.

 

As time passed, the sound of howling and something coming became clearer and clearer.

 

---

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse - Underground/Auburn

Although the slime retreated, he was still burning very well so Auburn frantically grabbed one of the slime bags Fen used to beat the fire away and began to extinguish himself, never minding the pain. Without anything else to interrupt him, he put himself out which was good. He was however, very badly burned and to remedy that he drank a healing potion he had on him. Because he didn't expect a monster encounter, he only brought a few vials with him and some were ruined by the slime or the fire earlier. He drank an entire vial, ignoring his coughing reflex, and crushed another one with his hand to spread over his body. He only had two vials left, one of which he handed to Fen in case she had any injuries on her. He sat there waiting for the healing to take effect.

 

The remaining slime escaped through the cracks so there was no way for him to catch up to it, not that he had energy for that anytime soon. However, just as his legs barely recovered enough to be able to move (and unfortunately potions didn't work on clothes so his were ruined badly), he noticed a sound gradually increase in volume, like something was approaching them. "Wait...do you... hear something?"

[Alaina]

 

Fen was terrified that Auburn was still on fire and despite her best efforts continued to burn. Thankfully, the boy had also seemed to go out of his way to start dousing the flames on himself. Soon enough, they had managed to snuff the flames out, and there wasn't a slime in sight, which brought comfort to the girl. However, this didn't change the fact that Auburn was horridly burned, though he didn't seem all that bothered by it. As he started to drink a potion to heal his wounds up, she briefly wondered if this was a regular thing with the alchemist, though as he offered her one she shook her head. "No, no. I'm fine. Really. You take it." After declining his potion, the girl then asked a rather obvious question, saying, "um...ar-are you alright?" Auburn then directed her attention towards a strange noise that was howling throughout the basement, which caused Fen's face to take a more nervous look to it. "U-um, m-maybe we should try and find the others now, r-right?"

[Wind Rider]

Mina managed to make it back to where Auburn and Fen were working and was surprised to see Auburn on fire, a shiver went down her spine as she noticed a slime retreating back into the holes in the wall. Auburn managed to put himself out and was already drinking a potion for his injuries. The howling in the tunnels continued and Fen was worried about regrouping with Mina and Celica.

 

"Don't worry, we're right here..." Mina spoke up as she carried Celica over to Fen and Auburn. "And I say we get the heck out of these tunnels, Celica is too vulnerable right now and those kobolds are not gonna be very happy after what I did to their friend..." she stated as she started making her way towards where they came from. "Come on, we can deal with these tunnels another time!"

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"A...augh..what happened?"

 

Celica slowly regained her consciousness after the sharp pain on her head. She found herself not being on the ground and on a bumpy ride of sort, and soon realized she was being carried. From the voice, by Mina. She took a sigh of relief, the girl managed to survive relatively unscathed it seemed.

 

"And I say we get the heck out of these tunnels, Celica is too vulnerable right now and those kobolds are not gonna be very happy after what I did to their friend...Come on, we can deal with these tunnels another time!"

 

What was she...oh, now Celica could remember. Right, she must had been ambushed by a kobold patrolling the outer skirts of the tunnel complex. That would mean the rest of the pack would soon come for them. While she knew herself that there would be no way the kobolds would be able to reach outside, she still had to make sure that at least the three wouldn't be too worried about the possibility.

 

"Mina, I think I can walk on my own now. Thank you for carrying me from there."

She recovered pretty fast all things considered, and now walking on her two feets again. She saw some yellow slimes slipping through the cracks on the wall, the burn marks on the floor, and the state of Auburn and Fen, Auburn especially although he seemed to have healed somewhat from the burns on him. Celica was going to raise a question but she didn't in the end, satisfying herself with what she could conclude from her observation and being somewhat proud that the two managed to deal with something like a thunder slime this early on their guild life.

 

"Yes, it's best if we leave immediately. Pardon me, this hasn't really been something I planned for. We'll talk about this more once we get out of this place."

 

The grumbling on the distance became louder, and it was sign for everyone to get the hell out of the tunnel. They all rushed to the entry point, and Celica found out that instead of a ladder there was a rope there instead, which didn't amuse her much. Nevertheless they ended up escaping with it anyway with Celica waiting for the rest of the group to get out first. Before the secretary left, she seemed to stare at the distance for a while before shaking her head and grabbing the rope to escape.

The grumbling seemed to have stopped after that - perhaps the kobolds were looking at the wrong rooms for now?

 

---

 

After closing the hole on the floor, Celica gathered the three guild members that were present there and decided to explain herself - starting with what she had explained to Mina regarding the nature of the tunnel and its function.

 

"Right...so the ancient tunnel here, it was used by the old guild for various purposes, but now at least the upper floors were inhabited by creatures such as those kobolds and the slimes, while who knew what lied at the lower levels. To tell the truth, this ancient underground complex is half the reason I bought this old building. I tink it had been mentioned that the old Cherry Heart collapsed because of mismanagement after the guild leader's disappearance, right?

 

I just happen to have the information from one of the surviving members of the old guild that the disappearance was tied to this underground complex. He found out about the way further down, and was never seen since, with rescue parties failing to even figure out how to find the way further down."

 

Celica took a breath, the strain from earlier was still clear on her expression.

 

"I thought Flo had cleaned up the upper floors I wanted to show you guys from those creatures on our first trip there, but perhaps I was a bit too quick to assume, heh. The trip today was still just to prepare those rooms to be used for the guild, but with those creatures still lurking...well, I'll get Flo to clean it again. We'll probably mount a proper expedition down there later.

 

But with that said...thank you all for cleaning up the guild, fixing things, and going through with all my mess. I owe you all a favor, really. Don't be afraid to ask any favor from me, really. Though if it has anything to do with money or buying anything, I can't really do that.

 

Also uh...please don't tell the others about the underground tunnels yet. I don't want guests and the guildmembers to be scared when their sleep about the monsters lurking down there."

 

---

[Alaina]

 

As Fen was urging her Alchemist guild mate to get going, it appeared rather unnecessary as Mina and Celica had come in. While Fen was initially relieved, her panic only rose as she saw that Celica was unconscious and Mina had been carrying her. "M-mina!? What ha-" she was cut off as Celica seemed to rouse herself awake, seemingly undeterred by what had happened. As she seemed to shake herself back up, the howling only got worse, which caused Fen to get a bit more jumpy and nod at Celica's suggestion to leave as soon as possible. Following the secretary out, the howling seemed to get quieter as they moved, until it was practically nonexistent, though Fen had not wanted to spend much longer down there anyway. 

 

Once outside, Celica started to explain what had happened. Fen was a bit dumbfounded at the fact that there was apparently a dungeon underneath their guild building. Not just that, but one that was apparently noted for having people disappear in it. Fen wasn't sure After stating that she owed the lot of them a favor, she then told them not to mention the dungeon downstairs as to not scare the others. Though, this did nothing to help her own peace of mind, nevertheless, Fen nodded, "um, alright. But, uh, we'll um, probably need to tell them eventually, since the three of us aren't the most uh...combative." After thinking about what she said for a moment, Fen seemed to grow a bit embarrassed and quickly back pedal, saying, "u-um, not like I thought working with you all was bad or anything or that saying that you were weak but uh...um...yeah..."

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse/Auburn

With his legs still badly burned, Auburn had to hug the wall as he followed the others out of the 'dungeon'. He wasn't going to do it again, burning himself up like that. He needed either a more effective way to handle close ranged combat or as a pharmacist, stay in the back. But to be fair he expected a repairing job and brought only a few of his combat potions. He would not have performed as poorly as he did today if only he had proper explosion potions or the like. Or maybe he was sulking over it, he wasn't quite sure himself and he didn't like that so he didn't voice it out loud.

 

The four got out, back to the guildhall. Auburn sat in the middle of the hall on the ground, not caring over how unsophisticated he seemed right then. After that short but dreadful fight downstairs Auburn felt very relieved to see sunlight again, which was a first for him. Back home in the sands, daylight wasn't something he cared to pay attention to. Celica began speaking, bringing his attention back. Then Fen interjected. Then he. "Ugh, I don't like it but it's inevitable. Miss Secretary there couldn't have known downstairs was that dangerous right off so we didn't have any front liners with us. Next time we'll just have to have larger groups when doing quests, even if seems boring and mundane." There wasn't much else to say on the topic.

 

"That said, you'll do any one thing I ask right?" He turned somewhat creepily towards the same secretary as earlier. "Until Miss Guildmaster comes back my legs are screwed up. Walking's a pain." He exaggerated facial pain as he waved his leg around. "And I wonder who's responsible for this? Hmm..."

 

"Of course, I'm not blaming you or anything, Miss Secretary, but you must understand my pain." Smug. "Oh, speaking of pain, I hear massages are a great way to relieve them. Why, I remember you and Miss Guildmaster talking about one a while earlier. Why don't you give me a massage?"

[Wind Rider]

Mina let out a sigh of relief as everyone managed to make it out of the tunnels, the howling that was behind them faded back into the depths of the tunnel. Celica managed to wake up before they left the tunnels and closed up the entrance behind them.

 

"I thought Flo had cleaned up the upper floors I wanted to show you guys from those creatures on our first trip there, but perhaps I was a bit too quick to assume, heh. The trip today was still just to prepare those rooms to be used for the guild, but with those creatures still lurking...well, I'll get Flo to clean it again. We'll probably mount a proper expedition down there later.

 

But with that said...thank you all for cleaning up the guild, fixing things, and going through with all my mess. I owe you all a favor, really. Don't be afraid to ask any favor from me, really. Though if it has anything to do with money or buying anything, I can't really do that.

 

Also uh...please don't tell the others about the underground tunnels yet. I don't want guests and the guildmembers to be scared when their sleep about the monsters lurking down there."

 

Mina sighed. "Well, we're gonna have to deal with those crazy lizards one day. Don't worry Celica, we have you covered." She said patting Celica's back.

 

"u-um, not like I thought working with you all was bad or anything or that saying that you were weak but uh...um...yeah..." Mina just chuckled. "It's ok, Fen. I hope we get to work with eachother in the future." she said with a smile. But that smile faded away when Auburn started talking.

 

"That said, you'll do any one thing I ask right?" He turned somewhat creepily towards the same secretary as earlier. "Until Miss Guildmaster comes back my legs are screwed up. Walking's a pain." He exaggerated facial pain as he waved his leg around. "And I wonder who's responsible for this? Hmm..." And Mina thought she couldn't hate this guy anymore.

 

"Of course, I'm not blaming you or anything, Miss Secretary, but you must understand my pain." Smug. "Oh, speaking of pain, I hear massages are a great way to relieve them. Why, I remember you and Miss Guildmaster talking about one a while earlier. Why don't you give me a massage?" Was he serious!?

 

"Excuse me? Miss Secretary here has a name, and secondly, who do you think you are!? Your in pain I understand that, but Celica had been knocked in the head by a kobold's club. You may have to deal with disgusting... Icky... Slimes... *ahem*... But we had to run away with the thought of a pack of kobolds attacking us from behind." she would've gotten a bit violent if it wasn't for the fact this was her first quest with the guild. "Ugh... I'm done here... If anyone needs me I'll be hanging around, doubt you will potion boy..." Mina headed out the room, she never thought the guild would accept such a stuck up know-it-all. She never wanted to work with him again.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"um, alright. But, uh, we'll um, probably need to tell them eventually, since the three of us aren't the most uh...combative."

 

"Indeed, that is what I have in mind. I will properly announce it to everyone once everything is prepared, but that time is not now."

 

"Ugh, I don't like it but it's inevitable. Miss Secretary there couldn't have known downstairs was that dangerous right off so we didn't have any front liners with us. Next time we'll just have to have larger groups when doing quests, even if seems boring and mundane."

 

"Ehe...sorry about that, once again. It's entirely my fault."

 

"Well, we're gonna have to deal with those crazy lizards one day. Don't worry Celica, we have you covered."

 

"Thanks, Mina. I will rely on you all for this."

 

Well, they took the revelation better than what Celica expected. She continued to give her tired smile at the three as she answered their reaction. So far so good, but then Auburn decided to speak about taking her offer earlier.

 

"Until Miss Guildmaster comes back my legs are screwed up. Walking's a pain. And I wonder who's responsible for this? Hmm..."

 

Ah, he's asking Celica to carry him around? On other days she would be willing to, but she had a lot of things to take care of today.

 

"Of course, I'm not blaming you or anything, Miss Secretary, but you must understand my pain. Oh, speaking of pain, I hear massages are a great way to relieve them. Why, I remember you and Miss Guildmaster talking about one a while earlier. Why don't you give me a massage?"

 

Hearing the mention of the massage she had earlier that morning, Celica's face reddened.

 

"T-that's-! Uh...I am not really skilled at doing massage, and the Guildmaster's massage is...well...uh...it's...not really the massage that you're looking for.

 

Y-yeah, it's best if I don't do that massage with you."

 

However, as awkwardly as Celica reacted to Auburn's request, the strong response ended up coming from someone else instead.

 

"Excuse me? Miss Secretary here has a name, and secondly, who do you think you are!? Your in pain I understand that, but Celica had been knocked in the head by a kobold's club. You may have to deal with disgusting... Icky... Slimes... *ahem*... But we had to run away with the thought of a pack of kobolds attacking us from behind. Ugh... I'm done here... If anyone needs me I'll be hanging around, doubt you will potion boy..." And after saying that, Mina left the rest of them. Celica sighed - conflict between guildmembers were not something she wished to have since the first day. She decided to talk to her once she addressed Auburn again.

 

"R-right, as much as I wished to, that is something I am unable to do right now. I have a lot of work left to do today, including finishing those beds, and ordering more materials to finish the rest of this building. Though say, I will cook you something great later, and you can rest on the bed in my room for tonight until the Guildmaster comes. How about it?"

 

After saying that and hearing Auburn's answer, she left her and Fen and ran towards Mina's direction, catching up to her after a while. She spent a bit of time catching her breath, and once that was done, she went to talk to her.

 

"Ah, Mina. Can we talk a bit?

 

I am really sorry for you having to deal with Auburn, but may I ask...uh...maybe, can I ask you to not take his attitude too personally? He's quite a handful, and I'd imagine he might cause similar events such as this in the future, but he's still one of us. I just would rather not see a conflict between the guildmembers right now. I guess, I can work to not get you and him in the same group moving forward. Does that work for you?"

 

---

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse/Auburn

"Eh...I'll take what I can get. I don't really care about your bed but the food I shall accept."  Auburn said to no one in particular as Celica already left the room. That went more sourly than he expected. That was just a gentle request for a massage, wasn't it? The engineer girl sure had a short temper. Just when he was starting to become fond of her through their combined efforts at fixing the roof above...

 

And it was just a request for a massage wasn't it? It couldn't have been anything too weird that Celica couldn't have given him. Unless it was weird in that way or something. Either way, Auburn would never admit to thoughts along the lines of Miss Secretary being remotely attractive or anything like that, but he would not mind receiving a massage from her. Someday. Not that he was insistent. It was simply something that came to mind just then.

 

Left alone with Fen again, and too tired to walk out, he weakly lifted his palm, gesturing a greeting to her. It would not make the mood awkward but it also would not obligate either party to make talk if they did not want to. And he hoped not, right now he just wanted to lie his back down and rest for a long, long while.

[Wind Rider]

Mina was just about to head outside to get some fresh air, and maybe check what else was on the quest board, when Celica stopped her.

 

"Ah, Mina. Can we talk a bit?

 

I am really sorry for you having to deal with Auburn, but may I ask...uh...maybe, can I ask you to not take his attitude too personally? He's quite a handful, and I'd imagine he might cause similar events such as this in the future, but he's still one of us. I just would rather not see a conflict between the guildmembers right now. I guess, I can work to not get you and him in the same group moving forward. Does that work for you?"

 

Mina let out a quiet sigh. "Fine... That'll work. Mind you, I don't hate the guy, far from it in fact. His skills with alchemy are impressive. His attitude just rubs me the wrong way, I never was a fan of those stuck up, know-it-all types... Though I guess that's what a lot of people thought of my father..." Mina shook her head before addressing Celica again.

 

"I'm just gonna head out to get some fresh air, you can join me if you want. That tunnel was a bit too packed up for my tastes..."

[Alaina]

 

Celica seemed to want to prepare before she told the rest of the guild what lie underneath, which was fair, and thus Fen didn't feel the need to question it any further. It was then, though, that things started to get a bit out of hand. As Auburn seemed to start speaking about the injuries they had gotten and asked for a massage from Celica, Fen couldn't help but feel a bit flush at the brazenness of the boy's question towards their secretary. Celica, then seemed to be rather taken aback by it as well, and Mina was none too excited about it. As Mina started to go off on Auburn, Fen looked a bit distressed as she tried to stammer out a few words to defuse the situation but to ultimately no avail. When all was said and done, it was just Auburn and Fen alone in the same room again, though with much less fire and slime this time. As Auburn gave a small little wave to her, she responded in kind, the awkwardness she was feeling being quite visible. As the girl seemed ready to say something she instead just said, "I- uh. Um. I'll just go see if Celica needs um, any help with dinner. Um." Unsure of what to do next, the girl clumsily bowed, not really knowing how to announce her exist, and awkwardly shuffled out of the room.

 

When she found Celica she merely said, "um, Ce-Celica, are you feeling alright. From before, I mean, when you were knocked-, uh, yeah." After the secretary answer, Fen seemed to twiddle her fingers about before saying, "um, if you wanted I could uh, help you make dinner for everyone. If you'd be fine with that." The girl felt a bit bad for everyone else in the party for having apparently gone through much more than she had and had felt somewhat guilty and restless to help out in the only immediate way she could think of. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

"I'm just gonna head out to get some fresh air, you can join me if you want. That tunnel was a bit too packed up for my tastes..."

 

"In that case I'll stay inside, there are a few things left that I need to deal with first." Celica looked over the cat beastkin as she left the entrance of the guild building. What the girl said earlier brightened her mood - she was glad that the conflict was not as bad as she thought. As she was still thinking about it, Fen appeared from the dormitory hall.

 

"um, Ce-Celica, are you feeling alright. From before, I mean, when you were knocked-, uh, yeah." 

 

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. I think there's a bump there and it occasionally still feel painful and dizzying, but I think I'm good now."

 

"um, if you wanted I could uh, help you make dinner for everyone. If you'd be fine with that."

 

"Ah, that'd be great! In that case, I'll see you on the kitchen in around 3 hours. Before that though, I need to go somewhere first, so see you later and don't break the building further!" Waving her hand at Fen, Celica then went to her office room to grab something before leaving through the front door.

 

The rest of the day was quite uneventful. Celica had Auburn stay in her bedroom while the others went to the market to get things to cook for their dinner. In the meantime, Celica also had apparently gotten a few other people to finish the bedding on the dormitory hall while also cleaning up any trace of the hole leading towards the labyrinth, though by the time the group returned from the market, those construction workers apparently had left. After contacting Yggdrasil to confirm the predicted return time of the other guildmembers, Celica and Fen with Mina's help worked together to make a dinner for everyone and also the guests staying in the other hallway. The secretary then spent quite a while making her promised dish for Auburn, and since she managed to find a spare time, she ended up giving a massage to the boy alchemist. She's not really good at it, and Celica doubted that Auburn felt any better after that session. She spent the rest of the night working on the accounting papers regarding the guild's income and expenses and watching over Auburn to see if he could sleep well.

 

---

 

 

It was midday on the second day of Cherry Heart's revival, and Celica gathered everyone before the guild's quest board for a daily briefing. Flo was away for the time being, so the blue-haired secretary had to step in as her replacement for now. However...it was clear that she wasn't really ready for it. She spent quite some time staring awkwardly at the group before her as her face reddened in embarrassment, and her attempts to speak so far had just been awkward noises as words refused to form on her mouth. It took her a while before she could actually compose herself before her audience.

 

"E-err...since the Guildmaster is away for the moment, I-I will be the one addressing you for now, y-yes, that'd be the case.

 

Um...thank you for your hard work yesterday, we really appreciated how you all finished your quests with triumphant success! Right now the guild has accumulated 12 Guild Points and the 120 Korona and miscellaneous rewards from the quests had been accounted for in the guild's treasury. I was worried with how we tackled two D-rank quests immediately on our first day, but with our success, we would only need 8 more points for a rank up! At this rate, for sure we'll make the name Cherry Heart be renowned all across Arbolia!

 

...Uhm, pardon me for getting carried away. A-anyway, moving on. Yesterday, some of us managed to find a complex of underground labyrinth right under our feet. It pose no danger to us right now, but sooner or later it perhaps would be best if we mount an expedition to make sure that it's safe. No rush though, It would be best if we go there when we're really prepared, my hunch said.

 

Now, with that all said, time to pick your quests for today!"

 

The secretary seemed to only be able to overcome her shyness with her excitement. Either way, another day finally started for Cherry Heart with new quests being available on the board, and that'd mean another adventure awaited everyone.

 

---

 

[spoiler=OOC]

Mostly for Restoration Crew, the rest could check the OOC thread instead.

 

All of you can add anything for what happens during the rest of the day and night, though for Auburn Celica would insist that he should stay on her room until morning. For Mitch, if you want to have Auburn converse with Celica or have some info regarding her room, you can ask me directly.

 

Also Celica's Favor listed in quest reward really is a reward that can be cashed in anytime it's possible to do so.

 

 

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