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[AzyWng]

IP

The android did a quick check of her weapons, then continued along with the rest of the group.

[Chevaleresse]

The walk down the beach was fairly uneventful. Some of the local wildlife, some sort of saurians with bony heads and unfriendly demeanor, started to take umbrage at their presence, but the appearance of a twelve foot tall entity that smelled of dragons was enough to send them shrinking back - not to mention the rest of the party. The terrain turned somewhat rough, and they ended up cutting through a small copse before coming to the sturdy wooden gates. Overhead, a quartet of armored men and women carrying various oversized weapons flew past, apparently having used a sort of grappling hook to latch onto the waiting talons of a pterosaur for transportation. The hunters seemed to be too busy laughing amongst themselves to notice, but their mounts(?) seemed somewhat alarmed by the party before they moved on.

A noise akin to the bustle of a city came from behind the gate. From this close, the upper portions of the area were visible; a few people were moving up and down towards a natural terrace occupied by a stove, and a large smithy was visible a bit further away. Further still was something that looked like a ship someone had simply tossed atop the peak overlooking the port - and none too gently. The rest of the scenery would have to wait, however; a distraction presented itself in the form of. . . cats? Several creatures that seemed to more or less be common house cats, if house cats were somewhat larger and capable of using clothing and tools, were gesturing and meowing at them, before several of them ran off to one side. There was the sound of some struggling from the felines, before a loud "thunk" and a cry of pain heralded the gates swinging open. Within, two older men were looking out at them curiously.


One, the shorter of the two, wore a look of guarded concern. He had a military bent to his looks and demeanor, with short-cropped white hair and skin tanned by long years in the sun. The second was openly eager to meet the newcomers; he wore a broad grin that seemed to mesh perfectly with his long, wild hair and massive frame (standing at least a foot taller than his companion.) The practical one was the first to speak. "Well, you're a strange looking bunch. What brings you here to the New World?" His eyes lingered on Brynn for a moment, squinting at her slightly as if he should recognize her but did not.


"And do you have anything to do with all the crazy monsters running around lately?" The big man raised a bushy eyebrow. "I've been around the block a few times, but I don't think I've ever seen any gear that looks as fancy as yours, not even in ancient ruins or the Second Fleet Master's workshop." Despite the question, he didn't sound accusatory; in fact, he sounded eager for the answer, whatever it was.

[Devastator]

Newton

Hmm, these people fight a lot of monsters, but they keep animals too.

..They also probably overlooked me.  I don't have any fancy gear, I left the fancy stuff back inside the castle.  All I have is my feathers, and those don't look very special.

I'd better make sure they know I'm with the group, so I can get fed.

Newton will land in front of the pair, face them, and give a proper Caw before bowing with some sort of wing-flourish.

Following that, it'll take off and fly inside the camp, letting the big people deal with any follow-up questions.  First place to look for is wherever the big flying creatures are held.

Hopefully wherever that is will be safe from those huge, weird-looking cats.

[kj1225]

Kraken gave a bit of a wave to the two men before speaking up. "Well, we didn't exactly get a memo but the guess that we're related to the strange monsters is probably correct. Specifically we hunt things called trespassers that come from outside worlds.... _{That sounds dumb now that I say it to someone not involved...} Uh, anyway! Yeah we're not from this world so it doesn't surprise me that you haven't seen gear like ours. So yeah, can we come in and discuss this further? We can trade information and then be out of your hair if you want us gone quickly." Kraken smiles awkwardly at the two as he finishes his spiel, wishing they had badges or something to look more legitimate.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Mira

For her part, the Dark One simply stood where she was, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Kraken's transparency, and instead focused on sizing the two men up... All while ignoring the felines that continued to run around in the background. They were certainly fit, and although the larger one seemed far more flippant, the shorter one had an air of experience and tact. If that was truly the case, then they would have a much easier time taking on whatever 'monsters' were causing them trouble, so long as they had proper intel.

[StormLord]

Cell pulls up his arm as Kraken finishes his bit and types something in.
"Smooth."
There is a pause with loud clicking as he furiously types more.
"But true, we hunt interde-intrda-inte- other worldly monsters."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Brynn
The half-dragon didn't have much to add to the introduction, instead spending most of her attention smiling and waving back at the felines. She'd only just joined a few minutes ago, after all. Besides, the little rascals were oddly cute... and her already existing fondness towards their kind didn't exactly help her distracted state.

My, what curious creatures this world holds, even down to the house cats. Why it's as if they've become tiny people!

[AzyWng]

IP

The android seemed... genuinely happy at the man's curiosity, drawing her pistol and pointing it towards the ground, holding it at an angle where the man could still clearly see it. "My own weapons are manufactured by Kaida Robotics, a..."

IP shook her head, remembering how things had gone the last time she had brought up Kaida. "Never mind. I am Instructor Prototype, or IP for short. I'd like to know more about what you meant when you said 'crazy monsters'. Where are these monsters, exactly? As my colleague said, we need to hunt those down."

[DragonRage]

"To my knowledge, we don't have anything to do with whatever monsters are plaguing you.  It would be difficult in the extreme to have, seeing as we only arrived a few hours ago," Captain Saejik informs the locals, standing ramrod-straight with his Stormtroopers trying not to look like they want to be between him and the newcomers...  And doing a rather poor job of it.  "However, we may be able to assist you with your monster issue, if you can fill us in on the situation."

[Opera House Smee]

Venus

As he had initially surmised, the people of this realm were, in fact, intertwined with the wild; while no different from the standard animal-human relationship whereby the latter had animals as pets or food, the diversity of scale of the creatures seemed to be on a far larger caliber.

Gallant as the tales of championing a foul beast may be, Venus felt a frown rise on his face on where the conversation was heading -- pest control, though it appeared to be something more foreign and recent, and depending on what the monster was, there was some artistic merit to the job, if only because of the idea that he would be introduced to blood of a different color.

And after all, he had to admit that while a lot of his recent work did involve the beautification of lesser creatures, it was motivation enough to make each experience unique, even if the work itself was the same.

"Pests, I take it?" Venus asked following the Captain's proposal to assist, the last of the scowl of his masked face waning with the remark. "Or are we dealing with something on a larger scale?"

[Chevaleresse]

The shorter man gave a nod to Newton as if the bird were a soldier saluting his officer before heading off on a mission, seemingly unfazed by the raven's unusual behavior. On flying through the base, he discovers that they seem to more or less roost where they please until a hunter whistles for one, but the ship marooned atop the peak has an area full of hay apparently laid out for them. He also finds that the deck seems to be some sort of hub, holding a table, counters that hunters seemed to be acquiring contracts from, and a large gong where the wheel would normally be.

At the rest of the talk, the man shook his head. "I never thought there would be more problems after the kinds of things we've dug up and dealt with recently. If what you're saying is true - and I believe you, this isn't the first time we've had hunters from another world chasing monsters here - then this might be bigger than I thought. Here, let's go over there to discuss." He gestured to a wide table with a few scattered seats around it on the edge of the harbor, the platform it occupied apparently built from parts of another stranded ship (as many things here seemed to be.) "By the way, welcome to Astera. This here's the Admiral, and I'm the Commander of this whole expedition."

"I'm in charge, but the Commander here has a lot more patience for paperwork than I do." The Admiral gestured at the serious-looking man with a smile. "Besides, I've still got exploring to do, and monsters to toss around. I'd waste away here trying to wrangle hunters constantly." Both men started to walk, the Admiral making a beckoning gesture before he continued. "We haven't seen anything that doesn't look like it belongs - except for Bazelgeuse, naturally - but the apex monsters all over the continent are going wild over something. Don't know what, yet, but it sounds like it might be something you guys would want to handle." 

"Here." They reached their destination after circling around a marketplace, makeshift shops on the wooden dock sheltered by a large awning. An enormous tree wound up and past the cliff on the far side of it, and a structure rivaling the small mountain in height criscrossed with walkways overlooked the meeting area. The Commander gestured to the map taking up the majority of the table space. "We've spotted unusual activity in all nearby regions - so luckily, anywhere you look might hold information. We have camps in the Ancient Forest, the Rotten Vale, the Coral Highlands, and the Wildspire Waste that we can drop you off in, if you decide to help. Unfortunately, we don't have much information on what's causing this all, but we can at least provide you information on the monsters and ecosystems you might encounter.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Mira

"... So the only course now is investigating these 'Apex Monsters'? Fine. What's the status on the Ancient Forest?" Mira spoke up, the first time since meeting Brynn, folding her arms as she took in the map. This was all going rather smoothly, thankfully, but the fact that they barely had anything to go off of was rather... Annoying. Still, considering the huge jungle they had on Astera's doorstep, that seemed like the most logical place to begin their search.

[DragonRage]

"I see.  This forest is unlikely to have the open spaces and lack of ground cover needed to get the best results out of Imperial tactical doctrine," Saejik analyzes, "So I believe my efforts would be better spent assisting a team elsewhere.  A place commonly known as the 'rotten vale' likely has substantial airborne contaminants, if I am correct?  And desert deployments are... unpleasant.  You fight the terrain as much as the enemy.  So I believe the best place to start our search would be the 'Coral Highlands'.  However coral has managed to grow in highlands instead of the sea, I expect it should be the easiest area for us to fight in and allow us to gain the most intelligence for the least risk."

[Devastator]

Newton

After observing the area, the beached boats, the elevated hillsides, the harbour..  Newton gets an idea.  There's a party trick he hasn't shown off yet, one that should be applicable to this area.

Newton will fly over to the water, and fits as much water as he can into his inventory.  He does this by landing near to the shore, and spreading his wings, allowing water to drain into his Featherspace, until he's full up.  After that, time to look for children, either individual children or groups of them.

Any bonus meal opportunities from stranded fish or such are to be taken.

[Chevaleresse]

The commander nodded. "The Vale is covered in a miasma we now know to be the result of the elder dragon, Vaal Hazak, that makes its home at the bottom. It can be protected against with the right materials, but I wouldn't send you there without preparation." He turned to Mira. "The Ancient Forest, as you've probably figured out, is right on our doorstep. Something seems to have disturbed the local Anjanath population in particular, but we haven't found a trace of what did it yet. We suspect elder dragon activity, though, so be careful."

Newton was able to locate a small gaggle of children on the natural terrace above, kicking a hide ball back and forth a short distance away from an open-air kitchen tended to by a fair number of the cat creatures that seemed to be everywhere. An especially large and grizzled specimen with a headband and a blade as large as he was seemed to be overseeing the others, and taking the primary role in preparing the enormous dishes the place seemed to serve.