"Ozpin, he is the epicenter of everything. Ever since his arrival these new biomes and habitats emerged out of nowhere and let us not forget the fact that because of his appearance we have lost an entire kingdom!" Ironwood said.
Beacon's headmaster sat on his seat, hands clasped together and deep in thought. His thoughts wandered back to yesterday. He hadn't had a good night's rest that night. His thoughts flooded by the actions of one being; his silent purple gaze etched deeply into his mind before answering his words with a sudden departure into the skies and disappearing from Ozpin's sight. After constructing the proper words and what to say to that being, the only answer he received was leaving.
"What could that mean? Did I miss a signal that he was obviously giving out? Did I disappoint him?"
But of course, understanding the inner machinations of a god is something that even an immortal like him would find difficult to understand. He closed his tired and baggy eyes, he took a deep breath before refocusing on the conversation (argument) that was happening in front of him.
"Oh, so we're blaming the big purple guy now, are we?" Qrow walked up to Ironwood.
"Aren't you forgetting something, Jimmy? Even after all the warnings that he'd given you still decided to go through with experiment! And where did that 'harmless' experiment lead us to?" Qrow glared at the Atlesian general.
Not willing to take the heat, Ironwood took one step forward, bumping chests with Qrow. "Had it not been for the being's existence, none of this would have happened in the first place."
"Both of you, stop!" Glynda shouted. "What's done is done. Vacuo has been destroyed and there is nothing else we can do about it. What we can do right now is figure out what our next move is. Bumping heads together is not going to solve any problems."
"Glynda is right," Ozpin began and garnered the attention of Qrow and Ironwood. "what's done is done. What we should be focusing on right now is Salem; the fall of a kingdom is something that will not go unnoticed by her. We should also assume that the relic that is being protected in Vacuo is also in her possession now."
"So, what plan do you propose?" Ironwood asked.
"An espionage." Ozpin began before looking at Qrow. "Infiltrate our purple acquaintance's floating continent and see what you can find out."
There was a hint of hesitance and doubt on Qrow's face but he agreed to do it nonetheless. Ozpin then turned his head towards Ironwood. "Prepare a squad of your best infiltrators, they'll join up with Qrow."
With that single order alone, another dispute happened once again between the two of them.
"Woah, woah, Oz. You know I work best alone."
"I'll get started, right away."
"This is not up for discussion. Qrow, as far as we all know, you are the closest contact we have of our godly acquaintance. With all of the powers that he has shown us, if you make a single mistake and anger him…" Ozpin paused, a guilty look on his face.
Qrow's face softened. He took a deep breath before speaking up again. "Fine, I'll group up with Jimmy's golden squad."
Ozpin's face eased up and a grateful look replaced his guilt. "Thank you. James, I expect your squad to be able to cover Qrow. The information that he will collect for this mission will be extremely vital to us. No matter what circumstance, Qrow must stay alive."
Ironwood nodded. "I understand. I will make sure his safety is the highest priority."
Qrow rolled his eyes. "Great. I have the backing of the entire Atlesian military. I wonder how your ships will fare against him this time around."
James' urge to punch the Qrow with his prosthetic arm grew tenfold. Men and women died under his command. Taking a deep breath, he toned down his anger. "We'll do our best to protect you, Qrow Branwen."
A sigh of relief escaped my mouth followed by me leaning backwards and hearing my spine popping after hours in Gollum posture. I have finally finished it! I stared at the screen and marveled at the moon base that I've been building for a while now. It took a me a few hours to build it and it didn't help that I had to go back down to deal with some stupid conversation with some dude in a green suit.
"How does this base look from above?" I muttered to myself.
Reverting to my Gollum position, I placed my hands on my keyboard and moved Sir BoinkGeminid. Flying high enough that I could get a good bird's eye view of the base, I watched over it with a wide smile on my face.
The moon base had six locations, each quite unique to the other. It was modelled like a pentagon; 1 location sat in the middle while 5 other locations surround the centre.
The north most point was the base's control room. This is where most of the cameras are set up and if there are intruders that are detected, the base control's A.I. will take over and it will activate all of the base's indoor and outdoor defenses.
Following the glass tunnel's path towards the north-eastern point is an entire habitat. I made sure to have multiple levels so that when I decide to take Amber here, I might receive a higher affection score from her.
Moving on to the south-eastern point is an entire training room. I don't really have much to say about this place, it's a training room so that Amber can train in space! This could also be a good place for her to practice against other bosses since I have a feeling that she might need more experience.
On to the south-western point. I made a MASSIVE swimming pool. Why not? Since my character is in space, why not make a space pool? I like space pool.
Finally, the north-western point, it a simple storage room.
While all these five locations are wonderful, the crème de la crème of my moon base if located in the middle. The sixth and final point is in the middle. All of the paths that connect to each of the other locations have a path that connects directly to the middle. Sitting proudly in the middle is a massive laser cannon. What I forgot to mention is that each location has a massive power generator capable of powering up the laser cannon.
If I wanted to, I could divert all power to the cannon and basically erase an entire continent. However, I could also use one power generator to shoot a less powerful, but still devastating, laser on to the surface of the planet.
"Yeah. This base is awesome." I say to myself as I gave the whole building one final look before nodding happily.
Taking my hands off my keyboard, I begin to think about what I should do next. It's been a while since I visited Vacuo. Ever since I built that small base after the Eater of Worlds destroyed Vacuo, a small thought popped up at the back of my head as I rebuilt that small base.
Can I move the Vacuo NPCs to my floating continent base?
I should be able to but I just need to figure out how. Eh, I'll just fly over to Vacuo and see if there is an option for me to move all of them to my main base.
Looking over my shoulder, I noticed that the clock said 3 AM. Sheesh, it's really hard to keep track of time when you're having so much fun. Alright, time to log off for tonight.
Night had fallen. Most of the people of Remnant would consider this time as a time for rest, a moment to relax and forget about the real worlds and let their minds slip into dreams. However, for a particular group of people, this was not the case. While night time can be synonymous with sleep, rest and dreams. It can also be synonymous for thieves, burglars and bandits. In the middle of the night, a thief has better chances of breaking and entering a house since the residents inside are sleeping. With lesser look outs and even lesser eye witnesses, the night is a criminal's best friend.
"Alright boss, this is the place." A scrawny man said.
Under the cloak of night, a group of bandits wearing a variety of clothes all congregated on one spot as they all looked up at a massive structure. According to Shay, the person who led them to this place, the massive structure had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Initially, plenty of the tribe doubted his words but after the world-changing events that's been happening recently, they were more inclined to believe his words.
Shoving past the small group of bandits stood the leader of the bandits. She had pale skin and her outfit consisted of a V neck black and red wrap style top with a black pleated skirt that has black shorts underneath, with series of beaded necklaces. She also wears a red obi sash around her waist alongside a red tasset wrapped around her waist that carries her weapon's sheath. Attached to it is a long black object that is either fur or feathers, with a red and white bandana material like hanging from behind her. Her forearms bear red armoured gauntlets that protrude outwards and black fingerless gloves. She wore black mid-thigh high boots, that had armour plating with red splatter patterns and black heels.
Former member of Team STRQ, Raven Branwen, stared up at the massive structure. Large dark green bricks stacked on top of one another giving all of them an impression that it used to be a dungeon. Dilapidated green-bricked stairs which lead to the main entrance, large pillars supported the main entrance of the structure with two massive wooden doors practically inviting any wary traveller inside of the dungeon. Newer members of her tribe looked on with greed in their eyes, eager to see and steal whatever valuables could be contained inside. On the other hand, the more experienced ones could sense a feeling of foreboding and treachery within the doors of the castle.
As for Raven, she had a mixed of both. After the world-altering events that have shaped their world recently, she's been more paranoid about what other horrors she didn't know about. Compared to the existence of Salem, a massive worm that could be seen from all parts of the Remnant is so much more terrifying because it did what the Queen of Grimm couldn't; destroy a kingdom.
There is no denying the fact that the world is changing and all she can is adapt and prepare to the changing times as soon as possible unless she wants her tribe to be removed from the face of Remnant. It is with that kind of mindset that made her decide that she must find out what is inside the dungeon. She assumed that whatever the dungeon is hiding, could give her tribe a better chance at surviving the changes.
Breathing deeply, she signalled her lieutenants to move out. She had 50 bandits accompanying her; 10 of her best lieutenants and 40 greenhorns, all of them have their Auras awakened and each of them had a unique semblance. One of her lieutenants, Vernal, walked beside her.
"What exactly are we looking for in here?" Vernal asked.
"Anything that might give us an edge. Weapons, technology, knowledge."
As they continued to walk, Vernal looked at the slowly closing dungeon and said, "I don't know about technology. It looks like the place is old. Weapons and knowledge maybe."
"Just look around. I have a hunch that there is something in here that may benefit the tribe." Raven insisted.
Vernal looked at her leader for a few more seconds before shrugging. As they got closer and closer to the stairs, a feeling of dread washes over the group of bandits, including Raven. Doubts slowly started popping up in the back of their minds, wondering if robbing a dungeon that came out from nowhere is a smart idea. Raven shook her doubts and continued on, this spurred the rest of her group and followed her.
As they reached the top of the stairs, the group was welcomed by a figure standing a few metres from them. It was an old man, he wore a torn and dirty velvet shirt and his pants didn't fare any better since they could all see holes on it. They watched as he moved to and from one spot to another, a hand on his face and softly muttering to himself. His face showed plenty of wrinkles and his eyes had crazed look on them but still maintaining a little bit of sanity.
This alone set Raven on the edge. What was an old man doing here? Does he protect the entrance of the dungeon? Why does he look like he's been through so much hell? So many more questions plagued her mind but there was only one way to figure out. Ignoring the dread that's been in the back of her mind, she slowly walked up towards the old man, and as she slowly closed the gap between them, she could hear his soft muttering.
"Curse. Lifted. Freedom. Curse. Die. Freedom."
Once they were roughly three metres apart, the old man's head snapped to her direction. Raven flinched, her left hand immediately held on to the sheath of her sword.
"Master, you have visitors." The old man muttered.
A moment of silence passed as both Raven and the old man stared at one another before Raven broke said silence with a question. "'Master'?"
"Yes master, they are strong. Perhaps they can lift the curse?" The old man said to himself which confused Raven.
"Listen to me when I am talking, old man!" Raven ordered, her voice becoming stern intimidating.
That seemed to have grabbed the old man's attention. Looking at Raven, the old man spoke. "I cannot let you enter until you lift my curse."
Raven's eyes narrowed. "Who are you to command us?"
"You will forfeit your life if you enter the dungeon without lifting my curse. Many have tried, all have perished." The old man said.
Raven scoffed. "Big talk from someone who could die with just a touch."
"I CANNOT DIE!" The old man snapped, making the group jump. "NOT UNLESS THE CURSE IF LIFTED!"
Raven looked at the old man with confusion before she was taken out of her staring when Vernal called her. "Boss let's just leave him be. It's just a crazy old man."
Raven took a deep breath in and exhaled out. She nodded and her group proceeded to walk past the old man. As they closed in on the doors, out of nowhere, the old man started speaking.
"No, no, NO, NO, NO!" All heads turned to the old man. "YOU CANNOT ENTER UNLESS YOU LIFT MY CURSE!"
Another wave of silence washes over the group as they all stared at the old man. One of Raven's lieutenants breathed out a sigh of irritation. With a snap of his arm, he took out his holstered pistol and shot the old man straight in the head.
"That ought to shut you u-"
When being shot in the head, it usually results with the victim's head being thrown back due to the bullet's impact before the victim collapses like a bag of potatoes. That what usually happens. Raven and her group of bandits watched with shock and horror as the old man's head get thrown back but rather than collapsing, the old man simply stood there. His head slowly and unsettlingly rights itself up, the hole where the bullet impacted could be seen clearly. Where blood was supposed to flow, black tar oozed out of the old man's head, a wide smile on his face.
After that, Raven and her group watched something truly horrifying. The old man grabbed his head with both hand and pulled, the sounds of flesh being torn made everyone wince in horror, and yet no blood could be seen, only black tar. The now headless old man held up his own head as if it were a trophy before letting go.
"What the fuck…" One of the lieutenants said.
The head floated.
It fucking floated.
But the old man wasn't done, apparently. His left hand grabbed his right arm and with one vicious pull, completely tore it off, black tar leaked out of the stump of where the right arm used to be. The left hand let go the right arm and similar to the right arm, it floated. Now repeating the process, the, now floating, right arm's hand grabbed the left arm and pulled. With both arms free, the body and legs melted into a black ooze.
To finally complete the transformation, the head and arms grew. The old man's skin and muscles could be heard being torn apart as if they were merely a skin. In a horrifying display of skin and flesh moulting, Raven and her bandit group bared witness to a horrifying monster. A massive floating skull the size of a three story house and floating arms bone arms, each long enough to cover a distance of a hundred metres. Inside the eye sockets had a bright blue flame which signified the eyes and these eyes snapped towards Raven and her group of bandits.
A chill crawled up everyone's spine when the monster roared.
"SKRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
The roar shook the dungeon's foundations and echoed far and wide.
Skeletron has awoken.
Raven… WHAT DID YOU DO!?
It really feels weird having a dedicated schedule for this story. I'm used to random sparks of inspiration. I still have plenty of inspirations for this story, I'm just combining my inspirations with a touch of discipline.
What do you guys think? What will be the fate of Raven's group? Will they die or will they succeed? Plenty of questions but so little time. The next chapter will be in the perspective of Amber but a couple of hours before Skeletron is awakened. Also, I'll put in more focus on Qrow's espionage mission in Sir BoinkGeminid's castle.
With that being said, I bid you all adieu.
Next chapter: 02/03/2023
Peace~