Hello World I'm 'da Bidnis [Mission/Quest/Whatever?]

[j]

It was a fine, but slightly crisp early afternoon when I'd decided to vacate the inn I'd occupied for one night. They fed me thoroughly, and bid me farewell in my journey. My determined steps crunched lightly in the faintly frozen dirt path I'd designated as my direction. Wind noisily made its way through the mountainous gaps, but the wind chill mattered not. Perhaps it was the sun that left a marginally warm sensation in the bones as the altitude gently rose. The cloak I wore flipped insignificantly, but remained closed at the top. It covered the casual clothing I wore. Purple trousers, flat shoes, and a short white dress. Paths meandered in either direction every couple hundred meters, but there was an odd mountain ahead that caught my attention.

Wasn't the mountain especially alone in the center of a valley? Where did this valley with no river come from? Why was this the only mountain covered in snow anywhere within several miles? I readjusted my slipping red spectacles, and pushed onward with a malicious grin. There's something here!

neko bo beko

[neko bo beko]

Impeccably out of place, the lonely mountain dusted by a snow storm indigenous to only it sits patiently at the end of the wandering lamb's initially aimless journey. What started out as a spontaneous roam to procrastinate her tedious work was becoming a spectacular development in her chronicle, a turning point in her future antiquity. Or perhaps it was only a temporary detour leading her quietly towards an individualistic evolution. 

As the young matron pushed onward, each step bringing her closer and closer to her unsolicited destination, a soft rippling began beneath traveling feet a hundred meters from the edge of the base of the mountain's northface. It was as though the very core of the earth was beginning to vibrate to bid her riddance, but it was not a polite warning. Shifting plates beneath the earth's crust created a trembling which was monstrously unnatural, emanating a  hideous dissonance to her presence. And yet it was no more than a whimper of a threat. As suddenly as they came, the tremors desisted. Still maintaining a foreboding atmosphere, the closer she got to the mountain, the denser the air grew and the quieter the world became save for the crunch of snow under her weight and the persistent wind at her back. It would seem as though she were almost entirely alone, yet there were fresh prints in the light snow at the foot of the mountain, sparse but varying, suggesting it was not entirely deserted but long past its bustling activity. For some reason, the mountain seemed looming, menacing and impassable. There was definitely something here!

[j]

As if to affirm my curiosity, the earth beneath my feet began to pulse a quake of rhythmic warning. This odd prominence surely hid some magnificent object or creature from my purpose. As I spent the next several hours trecking around the base of the mountain, I found myself mostly staring upwards, searching for a possible entrance. I'd been pacing for quite a while before I noticed other footprints. Perhaps there was somebody else nearby? As I walked, I increased my search to more include my current elevation. Surely a local would know what's happening.

That didn't matter though, because whether or not I found such an informative and helpful individual, the result would be the same. I'd conquer this mountain and whatever was causing this tremor. Although wind continued to brush past, it was difficult to notice amidst the intense pressure. There's definitely something here!!!

neko bo beko

[neko bo beko]

Despite knowing definitely and for sure that something was here!, she seemed so narrowly out of discovery’s reach. Spending so much time lurking around the bottom of the mountain, eyes glued pointedly peakward, left her wandering in circles, slowly accumulating a fine layer of snow on her shoulders and frost in her hair. Yet there was a warmth laid under her feet, as if the lands were alive. There was the faintest rise and fall, as if the Earth respired slowly. 

From afar, an old man watches as the strange young woman investigates the mountain’s tip from the mountain’s bottom, worried she may try something vacuous. His chest twists up apprehensively, a dispassionate expression masking his nervous anticipation. This woman seemed so strangely of her own plane that he was almost certain she wasn’t actually coming towards him, but he was proven wrong. He tried to be as polite as he possibly could for someone who’d been out tending a fish vend in near-nowhere, cold and numb in the fingertips and tired of tourists looking to fuss with the legends.

“What’s happening?” He repeats gruffly, a distinct accent thick in his burly voice. “Nothin’ happenin’ here. Nothin’s happened for a long time, and we’d like to keep’et like that. Mountain slumbers, so keep your voice down. You feel those foreshocks? Whole mountain will come undone if yer actin' up, so…” He brought a fat finger up, pursing his cracking purple lips against the extended digit, and spat a violent, “SHH.”

[j]

Enough with this 'there's something here!' nonsense...

I'd realized I was getting ahead of myself in excitement. After calmly taking a few deep breaths, I brushed some of the frozen powder off the shoulders of my cloak, and continued to trudge onwards. My feet crunched in a slight layer of snow that hadn't grown since I arrived. My unabated impetus compelled me forward, but after a while it seemed as though I may never see such an entrance. Then, as if to confirm my suspicion, my own footsteps appeared in the snow. The mountain wasn't especially tall, possessing a peak barely within sight. I'd observed the entire surface of the mountain.

As the earth around me throbbed gently, I considered for several moments, just what it was that I could be missing. Was this a natural phenomenon, and nothing more? Surely this sort of unnatural weather and seismic activity couldn't be explained by science. But just when expectations dwindled, a voice reached out. Not the wonderful voice of a savior, bur rather a dirty old man spoke.

An odd fellow spoke of the peak as a living breathing creature. A slumbering being that ought to remain as such. He explained the 'foreshocks' as proof that such an embodiment is meant to be left alone. As his exposition came to a close, exclaimed by a large shushing, my excitement plummeted.

"Oi old man. You're tellin' me there's no treasure in there?"

I finally spoke, pointing towards the mountain behind me.

neko bo beko

[neko bo beko]

Despite how the innate otherness which had guided her along this journey so far felt profoundly advantageous, a devastating new possibility was pacing the conclusion. Apparently, it was incredibly and entirely feasible that reward and glamour were not at the end of her expedition as she'd previously managed to convince herself. If this turned out to be the case, it would be an astonishing let down. Oldman fisherman wasn't cutting her any slack either.

Taken aback by the flippant attitude, the old man stiffens, his face reddening under already chapped cheeks. His beady eyes widen, his chest inflates. “Old man!? You little brat! There’s nothing here!” Jabbing his finger at the young traveler, the undeniably old man continued in a hushed yell. If they were any closer, globs of yellow spittle might sprinkle her face. “You tryna stir up sum? We don’t need it. Now piss off, willya?”

Surprisingly offended, the old man seemed to be hiding something as obviously as the mountain itself was. An underlying distrust ferments in the icy winds sweeping around the single area. He was responding as though his home was being threatened.

[j]

I didn't care. The old man spoke of 'stirrin up sum' as if that mattered in the slightest. His empty threats, laced with spittle rapidly drove my patience to its limit. A pair of sclerae, located behind a pair of red frames slowly clouded over, fading to black until they were completely covered. Eyes glowed a fierce red as if to meet the elderly man's disdain. But, instead I chose to turn away from him, disregarding his existence entirely.

Facing towards the thrumming peak, my wit was rapidly reaching its end. For this whimsical journey of flight and fancy, I had nothing to show. Not one piece of gold or gem or ryo. No frighteningly rare jutsu through which I'd surpass my mere mortal coils. NOTHING! What an insanely inane waste of time and energy...

I walked forward, stomping resentfully towards the mountain. Upon reaching a mostly vertical surface I reached out and touched the base of the peak, and quietly spoke,

"There's no reason for you to even be here..."

My hand lay upon the mountain for a few moments of silence before I provided a more accurate representation of my vexation,

"YOU'RE NOTHING TO ME!!!"

And with one final yell, I struck the mountain as hard as I could.

neko bo beko

[neko bo beko]

Destiny was a cruel mistress, intending no slack for this predicamented quest, dropping its unfathomable weight upon poor Francelia and her plight. Her grandeur quest for greatness, for loot, for powerful opposition, was being threatened by the prospect of deluded faux pas. If the old man was right, so too was the deceived woman in her reaction.

Although he was dirty and stinky and seemingly off his rocker, the old man was no fool. Keen to the rage emanating off her, seeing it boil under her skin, he recognized a tantrum following suit. Her eyes, trained on the mountain now, were haunting. Deep in his gut, he knew what she was going to do before she began to do it. As her heinous stomping forward towards the beast’s slumber began, the old man lurched into action. Throwing himself onto her, into her, his arms around her, he’d do anything to stop her. “No!” His voice was still a whisper of a shout. It grew louder with each step closer she took. “No! Stop! Stop!” Against the skin of her neck he sobbed, tugging in vain. She was too strong. He tried desperately to peel her from her path. “You’ll wake it up! You’ll wake it up!!” His voice was reaching incomprehensible wailing, words oozing distressingly into psychotic screeching. He was terrified.

THWACK ! ! !

It was too late. The punch had been landed. A solid one at that. A tremor erupts directly under her fist, splintering outwards in a spiderweb crack lacing the size of her indenting knuckles. Shooting upward, threads of fracture etch from her point of contact. In intervals the single and protruding, haphazard cracking shatters the sound barrier each time it splinters upwards. It was a slow but steady manifestation of her breaking anger, not yet meeting the peak.

The old man screamed continuously, gutturally, unafraid of waking anything now. It was too late.

It was already awake.

[j]

Wailing defiantly, the decrepit protector strained fearfully; resisting destiny with every ounce of his feeble being. Futilely he yowled, issuing piercing pleas to desist. "You'll wake it up!" he warned again and again. With a dull shrug and a firm swipe, I cast the aging grump aside. In vain, he reached out; perhaps in a last ditch effort before losing consciousness. After one final yell, I struck the mountain with all of my might.

The mountain shook mightily and shattered apart, much in the way that you could expect a mountain to... implode? After a few moments of consideration while waiting for the dust to clear, I reached a conclusion that one punch surely shouldn't destroy an entire mountain. There was something much more sinister at work here. Then... a large boulder budged slightly. Another huge rock moved. Finally, one final heave resulted in absurd quantities of rubble being simply pushed away. What rose from what until recently was a small mountain was something I could have never imagined.

A titanic black spider loomed overhead, roaring into the sky. Resting at its full height, it stood even higher than the mountain it came from. It could have been at least a hundred meters high at the peak of its abdomen. Its bellowing reverberated for several seconds before it finally settled down. The deafening cacophony quieted down and slowly changed to a low, barely recognizable laugh. It was perhaps, the first moment in my memory that I felt fear, and most likely regret as well. The spider eventually lowered its head in my direction.

All of its eyes, each larger than myself seemingly regarded my frame with some care. I waited for what seemed like an eternity. My smirk, which before embodied much of my mettle, now seemed to ooze with trepidation. Regret. Perhaps even some disdain for my previously unfound confidence. Was I such a fool? I suppose that didn't matter now, but what does an individual do in such a situation? After some time, the spider spoke,

"I hunger..."

neko bo beko

[neko bo beko]

"I hunger..."

Dropping to his knees, the old man's psychotic screeching finally comes to an end. Even when the aggressively vexed woman had swiped at him and jerked his elbow out of place, he had not stopped screaming all the same. But now that the endbringer loomed overhead, casting the darkest shadow over their small world and plunging them into foretold doom, he was choking on words that dared not seep through chattering yellow teeth.

Finally, his voice bubbles up past a stressed throat. "You woke it up," he starts muttering. The spider staring down into their very cores, all of its beady eyes are drawn suddenly to the old man as he starts chanting at it. "It's here! It's here!" He seemed to be entranced, his voice an unintelligible flux of different tones and emotions, his whole body stiffening until it begins to tremble. Convulsing, his throat tore open with one last booming declaration. "The Black Spider of Calamity!"

His legs, even though they began to move, would not carry him very far. Craning down, bending its long tenting legs slightly, takes the man's torso with a single pinch of its fangs into its mouth, drawing back its large body to choke it down, scarfing it down with its head thrown back, the spider silenced him. Blood rains down from the spider's meal as some more spews from the twitching insides of the lower half a few feet next to Francelia. The insides that remain throb, the organs pulsing as if a heartbeat still pushes blood through the severed veins that pool out dead blood. A coil of his colon sputters at the end where it'd been torn off, the muscle and fat of his body pooling with traces of blood until they become drenched. Pockets of yellow gush through the soaking red, until finally the legs buckle and give out. Before the half corpse hits the ground, the spider's head has dived down to scoop up the last of its meal. The bones crunch audibly next to the vexed puncher before it's risen again to swallow.

With blood dripping from its chin, the spider looks down on the one who had awoken it.

[j]

It mattered naught that I'd been presented with an insurmountable obstacle in my path towards obtaining everything. My capacity for eliminating enormous dark spiders at this point was less than none. In fact, I'd never even seen one, let alone possessed knowledge of their existence. My fearless gaze rose to meet the many eyes of the arachnid. A feeling of helplessness enveloped my being. But just then, the spider roared again,

"I HUNGEERRRR!"

The crotchety old man from before was consumed in his entirety, and surely this creature wasn't satisfied yet. I clenched a futile fist, jumping into the air towards the spider that stood in my way. With another hefty swing of my meager mitt, I punched the spider directly between its giant glowing eyes.

But my expectations deceived me. I'd grown overconfident in my strength after breaking the mountain with my first punch. The spider didn't even move a bit, in fact, I swear I heard a short snort escape its substantial maw. While I reeled in shock, falling away from the spider's face slightly, The spider opened its mouth wide and crunched down on my elevated body.

While standing on the inside of the spider's mouth, I swiftly began punching. I'd make my way out in the same way I released this spider from its seal. While the first punch didn't cause any pain to the intended recipient, I punched much harder this time. A series of punches continued to beat on the inside of the creature's face, hoping to cause any sort of reaction.

"Cease your struggling, mortal. Your plight is hopeless."

The spider growled.

tags

[Hoarfrost Imp]

Poor Franny.

The punched landing we solid enough to wake a mountain for sure but it wasn't the mountain she'd toppled,just the crummy mans of sleep for an old primordial force of nature wrapped in the inkiest of blacks. With each punch she'd feel the reverberations through her arms and wiggling through her limbs like struck jelly, quaking the water weight of her body overall with little effect to her actual well being.

However instead of the mightiest of battles it was short and simple. That mountainous head tipped back and the spider made an effortless task out of swallowing the little spitfire down like an accidental crumb. The insides weren't wet but cold enough to FEEL wet; Sliding down quickly at a free fall. The walls of the throat were stale and metallic in a way, alive and throbbing but as Franny divebombs towards what should be a painfully lengthy digestion with the blood and waste of the severed mountain man's remains slicking the way instead she emptied out into... nothingness.

Solid mesh beneath her feet but an ever expanding sprawl of black in every direction. Well every direction but forward. Forward there was an immaculate table of white, illuminate in shine and at it's side sat a figure as black as the world Fran has found herself gobbled into. From the second she'd landed it'd ceased it's jobless sitting and the thing that resembled a head turned to stare in her direction. All black. Featureless. An aimless look that had to be felt more than seen but it was definitely staring.

"Oh. Wonderful." The whole tone in general didn't sound nearly as cheerful as their original creation may have intended. Long vowels and exasperation riddled every breath. "More noise. More fuss. More mess." In it's hand? A teacup but when set down it's chime of porcelain against metal was so ridiculously loud. Almost comically so. "I made this spider" it gestures around with inky black fingers hard to perceive against the black background "to keep away the adventurous. So you, lovely little lady, you are either stupid or you want something stupid. Which one are you here disturbing my peaceful wake-ness with?"

[j]

A smile. The sort of grin that could shake a man's soul. Not out of attraction, or even lust, but fear.

I'd done well to disguise my true intentions many times in the past, but I made no such efforts at this moment. Avarice fell upon my countenance much in the way of a child presented with a fantastic toy. Perhaps even more-so. I wasn't surprised in the slightest that such a place as this existed. This is exactly the sort of event I'd searched many years for. In silence I'd waited for the figure of darkness to finish their monologue, and upon its query, I responded.

"Everything. Anything and everything is what I desire. This spider, this land, you, everybody. I'll take it all and I'll have it all. Unfortunately, it seems I possess neither the skill, nor power to attain such ownership."

My answer came with nary a moment of hesitation. The figure's lips hadn't even closed before I produced my speech. It seemed nearly as if I'd prepared this sort of rant many times before. I paced slightly in my oration, gesturing excitedly with my hands. And upon completing my short reply, I presented the figure with a question of my own.

"Do you stranger, perhaps, have any suggestions?"

tags

[Hoarfrost Imp]

The sound of those black eyes in equally vacant black looking sockets rolled so hard it was audible like metal dragging against metal, through the whole of it. This? Of all conquests of change and power, this? Approaching in a loping kind of stride the thing that was the void sauntered up in this kind of awkward gait with arms and legs too long for that skinny blunt torso when up close enough to see. The light, where ever that source was coming from, illuminated exactly as it was meant to. Only what the thing wanted her to see.

A mouth that was never in the same place at once. Eyes so black it was hard to distinguish a blink and the rank smell of rust brought on by metal wet with blood and the elements.

"Gaining everything leaves you without purpose. Is it really gaining everything if you lose something in the process?" Cold, cold, cold steel touched tender skin to erotically, a lovers graze, a drag of jagged shavings to pluck gently at the skin right below the stomach and lingering, twisting, prodding with curiosity. "Why go through all that trouble to be left feeling empty when I can do that for you right now? Just hollow you out and make you my new vessel."

The way it smiled distorted everything about what should have been it's head. Ever shifting wires grinding and twisting into grotesque gaping holes of dissected smiles opening all about it's obsidian features. "You look like the lonely type. I'm sure no one will come bothering me for a long, long time."

In the real truth Franny needed to stay alive to be ideal. Killing her would be problematic; She didn't need to know that though. She just needed to feel that squicky sensation of flesh that had once been hole now rubbing against it's split halves when it went reaching into her core with it's wiry fingers.

[j]

The previously insatiable grin that occupied my face faltered slightly. But this mere stepping-stone in my journey towards glory wouldn't stop me — couldn't stop me. I stared the smiling figure dead in its... eyes. Determined to finish what I started, I endured the strange figure groping my torso. its intentions were surely evil, but I didn't mind. its head no longer resembled a human, but it'd have my consent.

My grin returned upon the offer to be physically possessed. I smiled wickedly, daring the figure to do as it wished. This was where I'd abandon my humanity and ascend to splendor. I'll climb greatness mountain and grab the tits at the top of the peak!

"Then do it..."

I whispered harshly in its face.

tags

[j]

With my eyes closed, I braced myself for the coming wave of extraordinary agony. And just when I began to think the pain might never arrive, it happened. The most extreme piercing anguish I'd ever felt in my life. I'd been beaten, whipped, stabbed, and burned before; but nothing amounted to the pain I felt at this moment. In fact the suffering was of such magnitude that I couldn't open my eyes to localize the injury. The figure cackled maniacally as if completing its eternal objective.

I roared out, spasming slightly as my body reacted against my will. But just when my grip on consciousness began to slip, it ceased. The pain disappeared entirely, and a breath of relief escaped my lips. I began to relax. It was all over. Nothing remained that could stand in my way. My aspirations couldn't be stopped.

Just then, the figure's head popped back into view. The smile hadn't left its aggravating face, and honestly I'd figured it'd be gone by now. Wasn't this thing giving me power?

"I see you're confused..." The thing said. Then after a few moments it continued. "You don't get the power. I do. Only a fool would trust an individual they'd never met, and now your body's m-"

If there was any brief trace of panic upon my countenance, it surely faded quicker than it formed. Instead of allowing the figure to continue its deliverance of glory, I halted it with my own hands. I grabbed the creature by its neck, or equivalent structure. I squeezed as hard as I could for several moments.

The black thing squirmed for several seconds; attempting to vocalize some sort of complaint I'm sure, before dissolving away, along with this strange place I'd arrived in. I attempted to sit down to regain my composure, but something was wrong. Different. Odd perhaps. When I sat, my body stopped, as if some unnatural protrusion blocked my flump.

Buying some augments. Here's the list: (AP=Augmentation Points)

SPOILER: Click to show

Unnatural Eyes: 0AP | 4,000ryo.
Unnatural Hair: 0AP | 4,000ryo.
Acidic Saliva: 1AP | 9,000ryo.
Expanded Lungs: 1AP | 9,000ryo.
Fangs: 1AP | 9,000ryo.
Shock Absorber: 1AP | 9,000ryo.
Sleepless: 1AP | 9,000ryo.
Adrenaline Jolt: 3AP | 17,000ryo.
Darkvision: 3AP | 17,000ryo.
Enhanced Metabolism: 2AP | 17,000ryo.
Filtered Lungs: 2AP | 17,000ryo.
Heat Drain: 3AP | 17,000ryo.
Living Furnace: 3AP | 17,000ryo.
Pervasive Hearing: 3AP | 17,000ryo.
Exoskeleton: 5AP | 26,000ryo.
Elementalthrower: 4AP | 26,000ryo.
Fire Handler: 4AP | 26,000ryo.
Thunder Fist: 4AP | 26,000ryo.
Lethargy:-2AP | 2,000ryo.
Nightmares:-4AP | 2,000ryo.
Thin Skin:-5AP | 2,000ryo.
Material Alergy to King's Leaf:-5AP | 2,000ryo.
Combat Fear:-4AP | 2,000ryo.
Achilles Heel in Popliteal Fossa: -2AP | 2,000ryo.
Achilles Heel in Right Scapula: -2AP | 2,000ryo.
Achilles Heel in Cuboid Joint: -2AP | 2,000ryo.
Achilles Heel in Right Navicular Joint: -2AP | 2,000ryo.
Achilles Heel in C2 Axis Vertebrae: -2AP | 2,000ryo.
Achilles Heel in C7 Cervical Vertebrae: -2AP | 2,000ryo.
Achilles Heel in I5 Lumbar Vertebrae: -2AP | 2,000ryo.

Total ryo cost is: 300,000ryo. New ryo total in bio is 7,887,898.

tags

[Christoff]

Transaction Approved
8,187,898-300,000=7,887,898

[Hoarfrost Imp]

A wild fever dream. All the posh and pompous boasting and the heroic heart was just a weak glimmer in the face of It. Him? No, It. This empty inky black wasn't for show either. Once invited it flooded in. The inside of this massive black spider was alive and not it was alive in her. The incision was small but this ocean of obsidian rushed into that tiny slit of an opening and patches of the world outside began to show around her. The spider was coming undone, the facade broken and being fed into her.

The issue being? Not NEARLY enough room. The girl definitely awoke different but perhaps not in the way she was hoping.

"Hi, gorgeous" The echo if its words in her head went on and on like an echo chamber ringing off itself. "Oho, you cat-fished me didn't you, sneaky little harlot? For such a slutty invitation you are tight in here. All these... redundant things annoyances." Like a serpent in the belly of the fallen prince himself the whole mass of wires convulsed inside her, squeezing down on her organs, pinching things off, coiling around the visceral branches that connected to her kidneys and winding around the ugly soft mounds of bladder and and lungs but the heart was left untouched, avoided in a perfect circle.

Everything compromised, the kind of debilitation that could cause was just maddening to think about. "Mind if I make room?" maybe it was the sensation of metal sliding across the actual bone of her spinal vertebrate that put ones teeth on edge- so loud in the ears but a silent torture to the world outside. Taking a knot of her lower intestine it formed a bulge in her abdomen and pushed till it just sort of broke open like a cyst to spill her guts like an ill-kept secret.

[j]

There was a small incision. The tiniest of perforations appeared, and the invasion began. Previously clear vision faded white, and I fell to my knees, agonizing over the new pain I felt. Endless inky black substance occupied my system violently, only halting when it seemed there was no more space to trespass.

My eyes rolled back, and it seemed as if I wasn't conscious while the figure asked if it was okay to make more room. Only a muted gurgle emerged from my orifice. The request was probably rhetorical anyways. Slowly and tortuously, organs were detached and removed. One after another, I watched each of my crucial entrails make their way out of the incision and onto the floor.

The only organ that remained untouched was my heart. I couldn't imagine myself surviving this, honestly. Pain so all-encompassing that nothing else seemed to exist. In mere moments I forgot what it felt like to not be consumed by agony. Any noise I had begun making upon the influx ceased finally.

Eventually, bones were removed as well. Precious vertebrae ejected one after another. Tendrils worked their way down and up, removing sinew and bone that fell onto the floor in front of me, one after another. After several minutes of systematic surgery, the show was finally over. I rapidly fell unconscious upon completion. Perhaps I'd survive. Perhaps not.

- scrap ded

tags

[Cadoc]

Scrap death accepted