Group RP Luminous (The Actual Campaign Featuring Convoluted Magic)

As soon as the Luminous acquisition was over, it took Elio awhile to readjust himself to the bright sunshine outside. He wandered around the square once again only for the yelling from Vitality stand to catch his attention. Curiosity ensued, the boy came closer to the stand only to find Cira of all people launching a verbal onslaught on... was that Dr. Hui over there?

 

Wakeng twitched, slowly opening his eyes as a muted grey light hovered in front of him. "Well that was... an experience," he muttered drily as he pondered the strange vision he saw, not unlike those hyperrealistic 10-D virtual rides he tried once or twice. Wonder what that eerie noise was about, though, he thought, then remembered the guildmaster lady's last words which sounded more like a cryptic warning than anything.

Shrugging, Wakeng looked around and noticed that most of the initiates have already left, save for a few. Noticing some familiar faces he approached the closest one, which happened to be the soldier guy. "So... any clue what to do now?" he asked; though not getting a response, the man seemingly preoccupied with his thoughts. "Ah. Well then, let's just follow the crowd."

 

Immediately following Olympia's announcement, Ando was funneled into a hidden chamber within the Guild hall along with the rest of the new initiates. The dim light, circular arrangement, Olympia's specific choice of the word "rite" gave off occult vibes, but he closed his eyes as instructed and mentally braced himself for whatever was about to happen.

The experience that followed was... surreal. First an empty void, then a sea of stars and tendrils of light, then a singular amber-colored light approaching, then a haunting scream as it touched him. It ended as abruptly as it began, leaving Ando struggling to make sense of it all.

Gently floating over his right shoulder was a glowing amber sphere of light no larger than his fist - his Luminous. He swore he could feel it there, despite it being immaterial. What a strange sensation. As he reemerged onto the Guild square, he wondered about what would come next... but judging by Cira shouting nearby, something told him he wouldn't have to wait very long to find out.

 

What an impression this Master had been exuding. I mean, between getting super late to an important event and being less than enthusiastic about it, what was Dr. Hui thinking? No wonder his fellow Masters chewed him out all the time -- as Cira was trying to imply, at least.

And then Elio's presence caught the Bard Master's attention. All he could muster up was one "Yeah?" per question only for her to usher everyone to somewhere a little private-ish. It was there when Cira revealed that the mission from the other day had been sabotaged all along. The letter Ando had found at the bandits' campsite proved her point. Its recipient? The Xou.

Oh dear.

The Moguri boy shuddered while reading the letter. It was the Xou Gang that had wrecked his home village in the first place -- and the letter implied that it's just the beginning. And yes, the incident itself had successfully torn families and friends apart. Elio couldn't help but to remember his own family: father, mother, and little sister. Oh, sweet Celine...

 

On one hand, Robin was amused at the banter between Cira and Alfred. Judging from the way Cira reacted, it seemed like this wasn't the first time that Alfred was yelled at. If anything, he looked like he was used to it by now. Furthermore, Cira made a point that Alfred was chewed more than once.

Then Robin found himself in a corner with the others as Cira projected a Luminous to explain the situation. He silently listened to Cira read out words that made Robin wonder what he had waded into. Sabotaging? Smuggling? Ambush? Maybe an imminent attack? Whatever the case was, it looked like Cira had intercepted a plot against Yangto and the Jinguang Guild.

Moreover, Robin wondered who wrote this letter. First off, it was addressed to the bandits - or possibly mercenaries - as if they were just for-hire and nothing much more. That led Robin to surmise that the real enemy was the one who wrote this letter. Whoever it was, Elio looked like he had an idea who it might be. The look on Elio's face told Robin than he was suddenly worried - for whatever reason that may be. Even then, Robin stayed silent as he wasn't sure what more he could say at this time.

 

Sure enough, Cira had something to tell Ando and his companions. It was about the letter he'd recovered from the bandit camp not too long ago. Its translated contents were rather cryptic. He had a passing familiarity with the Xou Gang - they threatened travelers in the south, but he knew little else about them.

Cira then held up the scrap of metal, and Ando's breath caught in his throat.

He snatched the metal from her hands, as if he had to feel it to believe what he was seeing. Though warped and tarnished, the emblem emblazoned on it was unmistakable. If his companions had taken a good look at Ando's armor during their trip through the forest, they would've seen the very same emblem on his breastplate - or what little remained of it after his attempts to remove it.

"I know this symbol," he eventually said as he handed the scrap back to Cira. "And I'm almost certain I know who wrote that letter."

 

@ChocoChicken

Kanaru froze--the thought of accusing someone she knew in this world made her shudder.

"Well, do we have any possible suspects?" Hopefully the concept of 'innocent before proven guilty' still applied in this world.

 

"A warlord based in southern Juayang," Ando answered Cira. "The self-proclaimed 'Iron Wolf'... Okuda Shinobu." He took a breath to calm his nerves. "The emblem on that scrap of metal is evidence enough, but how the letter ended speaks of something only he would be ambitious enough to try."

What this "Project Sunburst" could be was a mystery. Whatever it was, it made the warlord confident enough to want to challenge Yangto itself, meaning it couldn't be good.

 

"Still, why does it have to be the Xou?" Elio muttered only to realize that most of his new teammates might not know about what he was even talking about. "Ah, right. The Xou Gang, one of the travelers' biggest threats in the south. Dunno why, but they were the ones wrecked my hometown," his voice was a bit shaky at the second sentence. But judging from the way Cira's and Ando's conversation was heading, there had to be a mastermind behind all this mess and the Bard Master was about to infiltrate a base... with the group as her assistants. Wait, what?

Elio gulped at the prospect of helping a Master out as his first official job. Sounded a bit much, but should be worth it with the Jinguang Competition still going strong. With that in mind and if it meant they could get the bottom of this case at least one baby step at a time, the Moguri boy accepted the job despite not entirely sure what it entailed.

 

Robin sweatdropped. What was this madness that he had stumbled into? From the sound of it, everyone was gearing to go to war! Or at least was doing some work one would imagine would occur in the secret service. He listened attentively to Cira's explanation about the guild having been possibly infiltrated, and now he was asked to scout out a base with only a short sword in hand and a fresh Luminous.

"So if my understanding is correct," Robin said, "you're out to dismantle the base. Are you taking any prisoners? And when are you attacking?"

On the other hand, in the back of Robin's mind, he wouldn't mind testing out his Luminous either. If he was heading out to the field, so be it. For now, at least they weren't headed to the presence of the warlord. Any sort of way to avoid the warpath would be appreciated. Maybe he could sniff out clues about a possible Luminous-smuggling ring while he was at it.

 

Sounds like a mission that really shouldn't be assigned to newbies, Wakeng thought, then internally shrugged. She did say the pay would be higher; and it's bad fortune to reject your first job offer, from one of your bosses no less. "Not that there's anything else we need to do now," he remarked. "And three days should give us enough time to learn how to not die."

 

@ChocoChicken

Kanaru nodded. "I'll do my best to assist in the investigation."

And maybe, we may yet find clues as to why we are here!

 

Robin looked up at Cira at the mention of his name, and he didn't even introduce himself to anyone yet! That lasted a moment though as he took comfort in that he wasn't participating in any raids yet. Even so it was a still a stealth mission from what he understood, and there was some time to prepare before the actual work. He at least had no one else to talk to about this secret, so Cira needn't worry about that either.

He bowed politely before Cira disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Afterwards, he took a long look at his surroundings and wondered what the future lay in wait. Robin felt this sense of longing that he hadn't felt since arriving in this world. He wanted someone familiar he could talk to. Then his thoughts went back to Robyn. How did she cope with this? Robin imagined it was much worse for her. With nothing more to do, he decided to find his other companions and see what they were up to. If there was time, he could try experimenting with how his Luminous worked.

 

@ChocoChicken

The Commission Board was not so much a board as it appeared to be hundreds of papers floating around. Okay...which one of all of these is Cira's request? Kanaru wondered. The various papers all looked identical to her.