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Post by Sombra Bosque on Mar 29, 2023 12:18:00 GMT -5
HERD MENTALITYType: Escort (PvE) (Repeatable) Level: 1 Description: You are needed to wrangle a group of Menos Grande that have been running amuck in the Living World. - Herd the Menos through the Garganta.
- Try to prevent any further destruction.
- Don’t let any die.
A nice, lazy morning had graced the countryside this day. Light cloud coverage overhead gave rise to childish games. The mild sunlight turned a brisk wind into a cool breeze that swept over the fields and between homes. The sounds of the night before were all but forgotten, reduced to the stuff of rumor and hearsay. In their wake, the terror and fright had been brushed off like any other nightmare, something to forget in the safety of the light of day. Sombra breathed a small huff as she roused from her sleep. In the shade of a tree atop a small hill, she could see far and wide in most directions. The wind brought to her the scents of everything else beyond her sight. Here, she felt safe enough for a respite after the night's battle. The wounds on her side had healed over, and not even a scar or gap in her fur was left to speak of. Her twin tails rubbed against the tree as she stood and stretched, working the kinks out of newly grown muscle tissue while she blinked. A few feet away, a discarded sword lay in the grass. She gave the weapon a brief glance, for just long enough that the hunger reared its ugly head again. The girl who had used that sword had been a good meal, but time had made short work of any reprieve, as always. She opened her jaw wide, stretching in a long yawn while she turned her senses outward. She had hunted this territory for a few days now, so it may be time to return to Hueco Mundo for a snack. That's what she was telling herself, anyway, before a peculiar scent had reached her on the wind. The Hollow's yellow eyes turned off into the distance, towards a metal bridge spanning the width of a sizeable river. A low growl built in her throat as she sized up what it was she was sensing, and her ears flattened behind her mask. Whatever this was, it wasn't something she could remember sensing before. It called to her... tugged at her... It made her hunger. Atop the tallest support of the bridge, the lone man dressed in white surveyed the area. The last crumbs of the small disc fell from his fingers as he rubbed them together, and his eyes narrowed underneath the brim of his wide hat. The bait had been cast, and already, there was a disturbance. However, then another... And yet another. In seconds, a tremor ran through the air and up his spine, and space itself seemed to tear from ground to the nearest reaches of the sky. "Oh shit," he muttered as realization hit him. A large, white hand emerged from the tear, and with a swift yank upon the fabric of the world, the mighty wretch made itself known. Hungry eyes glared menacingly from behind the blank white mask as a body cloaked in black stepped forth. Then another. And another. And still another. As the tension built, one by one, dozens of the figures spilled out from the tear to trample upon the undisturbed fields. They searched blindly for that which had called to them, yet could find nothing familiar. Sombra's fur bristled down the back of her neck to the tips of her tails as the gargantuan creatures each opened their mouths in turn, and the air became as a drum for their voices to play upon. As though compelled by the call of her betters, she raised her head and loosed the air in her lungs in a long and haunting howl, one which rolled down her hill and joined the cacophony of the Gillian mob. |
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Player
Continuing to slaughter, kill, take. Life is to constantly sin. Life is evil itself.
nezuel
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Post by nezuel on Mar 29, 2023 21:40:49 GMT -5
It'd been a while since the arrancar known as Nezuel had been attracted to quincy bait, a while since he'd been tempted to follow that sweet scent to its source. He was reminded of a certain red haired quincy and to be honest he wasn't sure if that memory helped him flee the compulsion or embrace it. He'd taken a moment to make sure the more insidious parts of the hollow effecting item were gone from his mind before he made his decision...he was curious and a little hungty, what was the worst that could happen?
After the sky had ripped open and the multitude of massive souls that the gillians were marched out a smaller, more eloquent garganta opened in the air above the towering colossi. Out from it stepped yet another white clad figure, this one giving off an aura closer to the gillians than, he suspected, the man who had destroyed the bait to call them here. He had to wonder if he had any idea how big of prey he'd find in his net....but given that the gillians far below seemed to be moving without anyone trying to stop them...he doubted it.
Perhaps he could correct his faulty views a little.
With the sound of a sonic boom the arrancar appeared next to the man in white, opposite of him on another support of the bridge. He snapped his fingers and a box of clear blue kido wrapped itself around the two of them, cutting the two of them off from the world for but a moment. Thost skyscrapers tended to shoot off their ceros at the first thing they saw without thinking and it was rather annoying to dodge them.
He tilted his head as he regarded the man. "Is there a reason you've decided to try and destroy this place?" A smile slowly grew on his face. "Or did you fuck up?"
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Mar 30, 2023 0:09:05 GMT -5
An avid fan of shopping at the local convenience store, Lazarus was about to make his way to just such a location when he stopped in his tracks, the ominous wave of hollow reiatsu washing over the area as he more so heard than witnessed the sky crack and tear open. turning to witness the multitude of gillian wander out of said tear in the sky his shoulders sank a bit, knowing he'd have to deal with this before he would have a chance to try the new flavor of chips that got released the day before last.
"I'll never get paid enough to deal with this shit man..."
Spoken more to himself than anyone else around, the Quincy with crimson hair would vault upward, taking to the sky with a small reishi platform of his own to get a better vantage point. Focusing reishi into his eyes he'd get a better visual from this distance, witnessing not one Arrancar but two, and one of them he recognized even from this distance. What alarmed him most was the Quincy standing beside the Arrancar he knew, and given the sudden arrival of all these hollows it spelled out the obvious, hollow bait. Lazarus would start making his way over with a groan, the platform under his feet carrying him swiftly to get into the fray that much quicker.
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Post by Sombra Bosque on Mar 30, 2023 13:33:31 GMT -5
"Uh... W-Wh-What?" The man stammered as his world had changed much too suddenly. His eyes swiveled this way and that with frantic abandon, simultaneously searching for a way out of the box and to check that none of the monsters outside had a way in. Well, there was still the one who had trapped him, of course... "I, uh... I d-didn't know... it'd b-be so po-potent." He couldn't look at the creature bearing down on him, wearing the face of a boy. Fear had run its course.
A loud crash against the box corrected that quickly enough, as the nearest gargantuan had stomped on the blue barrier. The Gillian were beginning to focus on this now, though it was unclear if they recognized the power and its owner for what they were, or if simple hunger were their only driving force. It might have been a bit of both.
Meanwhile, Sombra had followed the compulsions taking hold in her mind and joined the fray about the same time as a second mortal arrived; this one bearing red hair. Her yellow gaze peered out from behind her mask, a low growl exuding from her throat as the canid monster stood tensed and ready. However, instinct was fighting against the compulsion. This mortal... was strong. This mortal was a threat.
"L-L-Leave..." Her voice was strained, both clear and monstrously distorted at once. The continuing call of the Menos was impossible to ignore, but she was pushing herself near to her limit mentally to remain herself. As deeply as the voices of the giants resonated, the fear of succumbing was greater. For now.
"Th-There!" The fearful man stammered with his eyes locked on the figure of the Hollow standing just outside the blue wall between him and absolute hell. "That! That one! It... It's why I'm here." His hand shook as he pointed to the large, wolf-like creature; his bangle jingling lightly from his wrist while he did.
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Player
Continuing to slaughter, kill, take. Life is to constantly sin. Life is evil itself.
nezuel
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Post by nezuel on Mar 31, 2023 9:46:25 GMT -5
Fate always seemed to converge in the oddest of ways. The gillian descending on him, Lazarus showing up, and a hollow that could talk. In order: Hollows stomping on his box didn't really bother him as he was applying constant reishi to it, reinforcing it against their attacks. Maybe if two or three of them attacked at the same time something bad might happen but most hollows weren't that coordinated. Lazarus was a large worry but the boy's luck wasn't in question, he lacked it and any fight between the two of them would end in the hollow's victory. Then there was the most curious, an actual sentient hollow. So many of their kind were mindless, driven only by their hunger. Yet here there was a non-menos who could talk...which showed promise. Much like Milo and he this was an outlier, one that had to be nurtered and protected. The quincy wanted them...so he had to get rid of the quincy.
"Hey Laz, long time no see." he'd say with a wave, stopping his supply to the cage of kido, causing the next set of tracks to remain on the structure. "Looking for another kiss?" he'd smile, his goal simply making the knowledge the other quincy knew incriminating to Lazarus...so he could do this. He turned to the other quincy and smiled. "You want that one?" he moved, hand bunching his clothing as the sound of static filled the area. He appeared in front of the wolf hollow and...let go, causing the man to fall to the ground infront of them. "Then have them."
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Mar 31, 2023 21:02:59 GMT -5
Lazarus would survey the area, taking a rough head count of the gillian roaming about the world, thankfully they appeared to be distracted by the Arrancar for the time being. His attention would turn to the unique looking hollow that spoke to him, amber hues scanning over it, taking in any details that might be relevant in the moment before locking eyes with the hollow.
"Sadly I'd be neck deep in paperwork if I did, but don't worry I have no intentions of killing any of you. Just keep out of the way of the big guys and you should be fine, now if you'll excuse me..."
Now his focus would be on Nezuel, a raised brow as he witnessed another of his kind in the Arrancars clutches, looking very much overwhelmed by everything going on. He'd put two and two together and assume it was hollow bait related stupidity, opting to wave back and watch as Nezuel deposited his captive directly in front of the non-gillian hollow.
"I can work on getting rid of the hollow baits effect in the area, though it does require a good chunk of my focus, so if you could keep the behemoths from crushing me that'd be great, otherwise this could get messy."
If he could get rid of the hollow bait and its effect on the area then it'd do well to keep more hollows from coming into the realm, it would also work to dissuade the gillian from staying here. Lazarus didn't bother to wait for a response, getting to work immediately as reishi pooled in his palms, eyes narrowing as he concentrated on getting the right mixture of reishi and reiryoku.
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Post by Sombra Bosque on Apr 2, 2023 15:29:34 GMT -5
To see a mortal who neither was frightened of or attacked her on sight, that was a new experience. Whatever the reason, however, the red-haired man was leaving her be, and that was good enough for now. Besides, the maskless Hollow had just dropped the other stranger in front of her, whose eyes were wide with that familiar fear.
"W-Wait..." The Quincy stuttered in confusion. The Arrancar had given him clearance to kill this Hollow, and the other -who was clearly a Quincy, as well- didn't seem to care for this turn of events at all. He may have been thinking of what kind of ruse was being pulled here, if not for the large beast standing over him at the moment. It stared at him from soulless yellow eyes.
Sombra, however, was of fewer minds by this point. The call of her betters and the gnawing of her own provoked hunger took that from her. As the red head did something that disturbed the air around them, she tensed. The man trembling in front of her did the same, and in a split second, a light blue dagger had appeared in his hand before he'd swung it at her. She reeled back, then dove forward atop the man as his weapon caught naught but a few strands of fur. Her paw came down on his shoulder and chest, earning a scream from the would-be hunter as even his clothes discolored and darkened underneath her corrosive touch.
Perhaps provoked by the Quincy or having finally reached a decision of their own, the nearest of the Gillian had stopped to focus their attention entirely on the smaller creatures. Two were of their own, but the others most certainly were not. One had attacked, and the other was preparing something. Anger rose behind their emotionless visages, and one by one, the gargantuan opened their mouths. A red light poured over the field and bridge, reflecting off the river below for the several seconds before the deathly power of the herd would be seen.
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Player
Continuing to slaughter, kill, take. Life is to constantly sin. Life is evil itself.
nezuel
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Post by nezuel on Apr 3, 2023 19:45:54 GMT -5
"That looks nasty~" Nezuel would say as the hollow's paw connected with their would be victim. The loss of flesh on the target would no doubt be excruciatingly painful but he didn't really care, they'd brought this on themselves and they had to pay the consequences. The only thing that crossed his mind at the sight was the possibility of reversing the effect with healing kido. He was curious if he could pump enough reishi into the poor lad to counteract the corrosive substance but...honestly he didn't care enough to find out. Doing so with some success would only prolong the pain they suffered, and while Nezuel didn't care about the person who caused this little fiasco, that didn't mean he wanted them to suffer needlessly cruelly.
"Enjoy the meal," He'd say to the hollow as he moved over to Lazarus as the red glow from the Gillians began to permeate the night air. Turning his back on a hungy kin of his wasn't the greatest idea but for some reason it reminded him more of a puppy rather than anything else. The gillians around him didn't really factor in as any sort of threat so how could they? He put his arms around Lazzy in a cute little hug as the quincy boy started to gather the hollow bait around them. "Thanks for the meal~" he'd say with a smile as he plucked a little bit of the quincy bait from the air in front of him, giving the quincy a quick kiss on the cheek before flying up and away.
He chewed on the sweet bait as he studied the ceros forming around them, aimed at them. With a wave of his hand the reishi they were using to formed simply...vanished. Their ability to absorb reishi from the area around them was already weakened by Laz and Nezuel had reached inside of them and cut off the power supply. Unfortunately he couldn't do much about the ceros that were already forming...but without the ability to control or stabilize the massive balls of reishi there was only one possible answer, they'd explode.
"Oh...right...we're not supposed to kill any of them." he'd worry, waiting for the smoke to clear. Maybe wounding them horribly was ok?
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Apr 4, 2023 7:48:50 GMT -5
Lazarus continued his work despite the minor distractions, so focused on what he was doing that he barely registered Nezuel coming up to him and placing the kiss on his cheek. All he gave was a slight nod in acknowledgement while he worked, now shaping the reishi and reiryoku into a small mesh like construct between his palms. He'd then go about expanding it so that he could move through the air with it, slowly collecting the bait particles around them, neutralizing the hollow bait as it entered the would be net.
He sensed the danger looming overhead, but thankfully at his request Nezuel already gotten to work taking care of it, the large explosions above did leave him a bit concerned, but it was something he'd have to deal with in a little bit. Lazarus had more or less signed off on letting this Quincy get attacked or even killed by the unique hollow attacking them, but being one of the few Quincy who hated their own kind, it would more or less explain itself as he didn't react to the cries of pain. If one was to look down at him it would appear as if he were doing some sort of expressive dance, stepping this way and that, swirling his hands in a pattern nobody would understand outside of 'guess that's part of it'. What he made look relatively easy was actually in fact quite difficult, he was basically creating an reishi net that would force the particles back together while simultaneously corroding them to a point where they start to fall apart into harmless particles.
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Post by Sombra Bosque on Apr 8, 2023 9:48:59 GMT -5
The nameless foe continued to scream as she pressed down with her weight on his chest. Mortals were always so... so very fragile. It was a curious thing that this one would think to call out to not just her, but to the Menos themselves that didn't normally leave their forest. Her large, yellow eyes peered hungrily from underneath her otherwise stoic mask, and her ears perked themselves up to better enjoy the sounds he made for these last few seconds.
Up above, the gargantuan -all at once- lost their ability to control their immense sea of power. A few of the red orbs simply flickered out of being, some to the confusion of the creature behind them, but many had already been too far gone to harmlessly dissipate. One explosion after another wracked the herd, earning the group a further deafening cry as the Gillian recoiled in pain and fear.
Meanwhile, Sombra had had her fill of terrorizing the stranger. With a swipe of her large paw that crushed his shoulder and several ribs in the process, she sent his soul tumbling out of the broken and burnt sack of flesh that had once been his body. The soul rolled across the ground for a moment, nearly falling off the side of the bridge in the process if not for her catching his chain to stop him. Confusion and fear shown with abandon on his face as she pulled at the chain to drag him near.
"Wait! Wait!" He screamed. His eyes were glued to the red-haired man who was busy undoing the damage that he'd been responsible for. "Hel-" His voice stopped, and his eyes went blank as her large jaw closed around him. With a single, sickening crunch that sent blood dribbling down her chin and into her fur, Sombra had snuffed out his life and fed her own all at once. Once she was done savoring the many flavors of her meal, she tilted her head back to swallow, and turned her eyes between the two men and the herd towering over even herself.
The Gillian, meanwhile, had all focused their attention on Nezuel standing above them. Some were horribly burnt, and others had chips broken off their masks, but none seemed to be irreparably harmed -as far as Hollow go. Their intelligence may have been that of simple beasts, but if there was one thing a beast could understand, it was strength. Simply put, he was strong.
On the ground, Sombra stood and took several tentative steps away from the red-haired man who her soul screamed at her to avoid. Her two tails swept in wide semi-circles behind her turning body, and her attention came to rest on the man floating up above. Her head was a little more clear with every passing moment, she found. Now that the gargantuan had stopped their call, she supposed that was the reason. So, with this newfound clarity, she squat down before leaping high onto the tallest peak of the bridge, just enough that she felt she could speak with the stranger.
"How do we make them leave?" Like all those of her kind, her voice was a monstrous thing. Unlike before, however, she spoke with much more clarity and confidence without the need to fight for her own sense of self. After she'd asked, she turned her head to gesture towards the herd. This was a quiet, peaceful place, after all. She didn't want it ruined by them so quickly.
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Player
Continuing to slaughter, kill, take. Life is to constantly sin. Life is evil itself.
nezuel
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Post by nezuel on Apr 16, 2023 9:09:40 GMT -5
Nez's eyes moved from the gillians and the quincy to look over at the young hollow. "How...interesting" he'd say simply, seeing it crush the vessel in front of it before consuming the soul. Perhaps because it was a quincy that it thought it needed to do that...the arrancar had never actually eaten a human as far as he could remember but...would they need to remove the soul first to do so or would consuming the flesh do likewise? Perhaps he'd be able to ask the hollow, but then again what hollow wouldn't fear the power of a being at least one tier above them?
"Hey Lazzy!" he'd say, turning suddenly to look at the other man left standing in this situation. He was still grabbing the quincy bait and for an instance the arrancar thought it might be a bad idea to distract him but...this was an opportunity to earn a little goodwill, or tease him. Both outcomes were perfectly suited for him so why not? "I haven't looked into quincy mating rituals yet but I'm pretty sure stopping hollows from rampaging in the mortal world is somewhere in there...so is this a date?" He smiled as he started to gather reishi around him, massive amounts still in the area due to the ceros that had exploded and flooded the area.
He looked at the hollow, remembering again that it could talk. "When we can't kill something to make it leave...we give them no other option." he raised his hand, pointer finger outstretched as he started to draw something in the air. From above his finger would draw an impromptu maze, really just a two-sided wall, with the gillians in the middle. "I don't really know how long this kido can hold them but...can you make a garganta at one end, maybe they'll just..walk through?"
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Post by Lazarus Jeager on Apr 16, 2023 22:10:18 GMT -5
It gave him a brief bit of respite to know that the other hollow here with intelligence wasn't going after him in the same way it had the Quincy that caused this mess, whether that was from the difference in power or just simple lack of interest would be something to learn after he was done with his task. He'd simply give the hollow a passing glance as it made it's way towards Nezuel, who at this time was making a remark about the situation and what it might be considered. The crimson haired male would roll his eyes, but a chuckle would escape him as he moved about the area, more and more of the bait being neutralized as he did so, calling back out to the Arrancar.
"We'll see if this counts after you've done your part, focus on the behemoths for the time being."
Given the amount that he'd already neutralized and what he felt was still around in the area, Lazarus estimated it wouldn't be much longer until this side of the work was done, what he considered the easy part. From his experience it was a lot harder to get the monolith like Gillian to leave that he was led to believe, having to deal with them twice in the past, his overall mentality on them was that they needed to be herded like cows or sheep. From his place below he could see that Nezuel had erected some form of wall to block their path, though he wasn't sure how well they'd take to being blocked off.
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Post by Sombra Bosque on Apr 22, 2023 9:38:44 GMT -5
Her large, yellow eyes watched the barrier that the man had erected quietly, and thoughtfully. It was an interesting thing to witness; someone being able to bend the Gillian to their will so simply as this. First, he had stopped their Cero, and now, he blocked their advance any further out into the world. She supposed, now was her turn to play a part in keeping this place peaceful and intact.
Wordlessly, Sombra leapt down from her vantage point to the bridge below, then again to an invisible platform just above the river through which several of the gargantuan waded haphazardly. Though the herd was great in size, it took her only a few seconds to reach the other end of the barrier, where her jaw closed down around the fabric of reality and pulled. She had never done something like this before, but like most things, it as easy when she simply followed her instincts and allowed her power to flow as it should.
As she continued her pace along a new path closing off the only means of escape from within the barrier, the air itself tore in two from between her teeth. The view of green fields and blue skies gave way to naught but the stark black of the space between worlds, as like a curtain being drawn, she opened the garganta wide enough for even the Gillian to march through. At the other side of the barrier, Sombra held still the veil and watched the herd in silence.
It took time, but eventually, one by one, the gargantuan began to follow this new path laid before them. The first took its tentative steps towards this phenomena, then the second walked confidently into the void. The third and fourth then followed after, and like water flowing along the path of least resistance, the herd slowly returned to their home.
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