Crusade

[Shay Cormac]

Almost immediately as the Templar crossed into the portal of the Dunes through the Nexus, the man felt an uncomfortable thin layer of sweat forming beneath his padded gambeson. Of course, the man and woman in front and behind him respectively were doing much better, their clothes slightly more accustomed to the terrible heat of the desert skies, but Shay had more reasons than just the weather to feel anxious and worried. 

Looking down, he could hear the extremely loud revving of the strange automatic carriage the so-called Emperor of Mankind was riding in, Erik Vrell of New Babylon sitting in the uncomfortable back-seat. It certainly looked more reasonable than the sight of a priest, a privateer and a mage sitting on a single horse however. The intricate machinery reminded Shay of his first trip to the great city of Coruscant, and the memories of the strange place seemed to calm his nerves of the coming storm. 

On the horizon, the Templar could see the train tracks that led him to Nippur so many months ago. At this point, the man questioned if it even had been months, or days, or weeks, or maybe longer than any measurement of time that would be considered reasonable in this situation. Still, as much as he wanted to dwell over how long it's been, the cuirassier directed the man in charge where him and his new allies were headed.

"Anderson, follow the tracks," Shay shouted, hoping his message reached through as he continued, "It'll lead us directly to Nippur!"

The priest nodded in response. At that moment, Shay knew the men (and woman) he was riding with were dedicated to his cause, and the reasons for this seemed to confuse Shay slightly. Of course, this was a more personal endeavor for the man, but he had to wonder the lusts each of these Primes had, excluding Erik. Honestly, their motivations were about as unclear as what might have happened to the city itself. A small part of Shay hoped the city was still standing with the few guards still alive at their posts, but... With no leadership, and even less pay, the Templar affirmed the hard truth that there was no way Nippur was at any point considered a civil city now. 

Looking down, a solemn sigh escaped the man's lips, masked by the stamping of hooves and roaring of engines beside him. Still, as the Templar looked back, Marisa looked at his ever so slightly troubled face, she couldn't help but share a troubled look herself.

Concern?  Perhaps not, but something was bothering the man, and that alone let the girl know this wasn't going to be easy. Her curiosity piqued, and her lips moved. 

"Hey, Cormac!" 

The privateer in question jumped in slight surprise, Anderson in front eavesdropping with as little hints as he could possibly drop regarding such. 

"Ma'am?" Shay seemed timid to respond, despite how uppity the mage talked. 

"Where we heading off to, anyways?" Marisa forced a smile, trying to ignore the fact that she wasn't even aware of the name of this grand city that was being hyped so much. Or, well... if she was told, she'd have definitely forgotten by now. 

Shay didn't even bother with a sigh. The man admittedly didn't know where to begin, so he started with himself instead.

"Nippur. I went there expecting to find purpose. A tyrannical king, malnourished citizens, bandits looming at every corner; it was almost too easy. Of course it was."

Marisa's mouth had suddenly left itself open ever so slightly. At this speeds, she might have caught some sand in her throat with how mesmerizingly vague the Templar's descriptions were, but thankfully she was safe to listen.

"Everybody seemed safe, and I had found purpose doing a job for that king with a single girl and a few... loosely loyal followers. Gilgamesh. He had an ego, but he kept his men and women safe."

"Ohh?~ Which one of them were you crushing over, ze?" Marisa teased at the man, honestly not caring too much about how much pain this seemed to cause him.

Still... The Templar had enough energy in him to give a chuckle. He continued, not intending to entice a reaction like that from the mage again. "Things seemed alright, up until the point we were raided multiple times. By the mere second time, everything crumbled."

Marisa Kirisame gulped at the description. Crumbled was a strong word, and she'd soon find out the man used it for good reason. 

"A faction of Primes invaded us. I only realized later they went by LAW. Lords of the Arid Wastes. Wiped out almost all the forces we had, and all of my allies vanished. Gilgamesh included. All of them were gone."

"Oh, shucks. Yeah, I can see how that's a bit suckish..." Marisa had to admit, it didn't sound too bad if you ignored the tone of voice Shay had spoke in at that moment. The slight pauses in his voice was enough to tell the woman that whatever had happened clearly scarred the Templar in front of her, if not traumatized.

No, if Shay could reassure her, it didn't traumatize him. It only further jaded his experience having any notion of allies, or "family." 

In the time the two conversated, Anderson and the founder of the Imperium rode onto a lone dune of the desert beneath them. On the horizon, they spotted what seemed to be ruins. The priest's steed and the gilded vehicle nearby stopped, halting with great anxiousness. 

All of the Primes looked over to Shay. The look in his eyes answered them their questions.


Nippur was near. It was time to liberate.

[Roger Smith]

Long decades of multitasking had instilled a remarkable ability to multitask into the towering holy man. Though his attention was focused ahead, on guiding the horse along the tracks that had been pointed out to him, his ears were alert and listening intently to the tale that the Templar behind him had to say. It certainly did seem that the man had seen his fair share of hardship since his arrival in the Omniverse, judging by the story's events. So much hardship had befallen this city he had taken up residence in, and it seemed to have struck Cormac particularly hard.

It was not an alien concept to him; Alexander Anderson was not at all a stranger to such difficulty in life. It was just one reason of many he had so tightly embraced his faith. But...that was a matter for another time. His own demons didn't need to be dredged up now, not when there was a job waiting to be done. No, not just a job; much more than that. A duty to be done.

Following the tracks, and up to the peak of a sand dune. It stood seemingly alone from its fellows, rising up head and shoulders above the dusty sandscape around them all. And at the peak, they halted; a sharp tug of the reins in his own hands, and a grinding of tires and grumbling of engine as the nigh-fossilized Emperor brought his vehicle to a halt beside.

The vision of the ruins, shimmering in the desert haze of the horizon, reflected in his glasses as he observed it. He chanced a look back, craning his neck over his shoulder to peer at the man who had orchestrated this task, and as if in unison every other pair of eyes there crept about to stare at the armored man. The look that burned in those eyes spoke a clear message; one that brought a grin to the paladin's face. The message needed no interpretation or translation; it didn't even need to be voiced. They were here. The city of Nippur drew close.

It was time.

With an all-too-delighted smile plastered on his face, Anderson swung his attention back forward, and spurred his steed into motion again. He didn't spare any words yet. None of his usual inspiring speech, none of his usual proclamations of victory before they had even begun. Not yet; that could wait until they drew closer.

The dust and sand of his thundering start had scarcely begun to swirl in the air before the engine of the skeletal ruler's gilded conveyance roared and the tires ground and squealed in the sand, rushing to catch up with the charger in the lead.

[Marisa Kirisame]

As she looked at the ruins her memories of almost being forced to go to the outside world. She was uncharacteristically quiet as the horse drew closer to the ruins. They were in some ways really amazing due to the architecture  and how it's still standing. "it's fine that was in the past . . . there wont be a ship ready to take you to the outside world en mass forces due to knowing magic." She muttered it under her breath as a sort of oath to give her strength.


She shook her head clearing her thoughts. She calmed down quite quick afterwords knowing that the people weren’t going to show their faces.


She sighed as she pulled out a photo of her and a few others as taken by Aya. She could see Suika drunk as always clinging onto Reimu, Marisa was smiling as Mima had her arms over the apprentices shoulders. Yukari, Ran and Chen Yakumo all were to the side looking as elegant as ever. Kasen and Okina were a fair bit away as the two looked annoyed at best at the tengu’s request. I miss you guys was what Marisa could say quietly, sure she was a eccentric and a thief but she was still someone everyone back home liked. She then put the picture back in her apron pocket for safekeeping.


She tapped her chin as she looked at the ruins they were heading too and had a fairly scary thought of them not doing any planning for this. “Uhh . . . what is our plan of action since i don’t remember seeing any of us doing any planning. We might as well also tell about our abilities and skills while we are at it.” She took off her witch hat before rubbing the top of her head.


“Well i guess i can say my stuff first. I can fly as per the norm in gensokyo and use magic.” She left out the parts about being a thief and generally stealing the others moves.

[Erik Vrell]

Erik groaned as he leaned over the side of the strange golden vehicle. Why hadn't he just ridden his horse? The animal galloped a few metres behind the group, almost taunting the psychic with its freedom. Erik let out another groan as the car went over a small bump in the sand. He could ride a horse, a cart, and even a boat fine. Why did this vehicle in particular send waves of nausea over him? “Hey, you,” the ‘emperor’ called back to Erik from the front seat. “If you're going to hurl don't get any on the upholstery. That shit’s expensive, you know.” Erik gave a weak affirmative as Shay called out to the pair from the overloaded horse. “We’re almost at the city.” The Templar called. Erik thanked the old gods that the trip was almost at an end. He couldn't wait to plant his feet in the sand and get to work.

The horse and the car both came to a halt outside of Nippur, although it was barely recognisable as the bustling city it once was. Erik opened the car door and practically fell out of the vehicle, landing on his hands and knees and trying to keep himself from being sick. The psychic took a few deeps breaths before picking himself up, already feeling better now that he was on solid ground. Erik shakily walked over to the others, who were apparently talking about their respective abilities. Erik wasn't exactly in any shape to explain his powers, so decided to just cross that bridge when he needed to. The psychic grabbed his horse’s reins and motioned for the group to follow him. He started leading them through the city to the city hall. 

“Where is everyone?” Marisa wondered out loud. 

“In their homes.” Erik replied. “They're not exactly going to come out when strange people are wandering through the city.”

 The group continued to talk amongst themselves while Erik contacted Shay directly through telepathy. The Templar resisted Erik’s mental touch for a moment, before he realised who it was and let the psychic make contact. 

“Where are we going?” Shay enquired, obviously unsure of Erik’s intentions. 

“I set a room in the city hall up for planning.” Erik replied, sensing Shay’s curiosity immediately. “Victor and I attempted to meet and restore order, but he never arrived…” The Templar and the psychic shared a moment of silence as they both came to the same somber conclusion. That was another ally who had simply vanished. Reduced to mere memories.

“Have…” The Templar started, before pausing to consider his words. Erik perked up at the double take. “Have you heard anything about Agnes?” Shay thought quietly. Erik didn't answer directly, not having the heart to outright deny it, but instead passed on the notion of a negative, the telepathic equivalent of shaking his head. A wave of sadness, and loss sprang from the Templar and swept over Erik, threatening to wash him away. Erik struggled against the overpowering despair of the Templar, and it gradually subsided. There was more silence between them, before Erik, still enveloped in the remainders of the emotional wave, broke the mental silence.

“These… People. Can we trust them?” Erik asked, glancing briefly at the strange trio among the Babylonians. The question seemed to rouse Shay from his trance, and he struggled to articulate an answer for a few moment. 

“Right now, they are helping us. That's all we can be sure of.” He answered finally, obviously no more satisfied with the answer than Erik was. 

The group came to the city hall at last, concerningly unguarded and Shay opened the doors, letting the group inside. The main hall, once a beautiful testament to Gilgamesh’s efforts, was now a dusty, crumbling ruin. A single skeleton lay off to the side of the hall, laying in a dried pool of blood. It was garbed in stitched together bandit clothes, and clutched a rusted knife in its lifeless hands. It's skull was bent unnaturally, and it seemed to stare accusingly at the group. Shay’s eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Erik raised his hand. 

“Oh, that was me. Sorry.” The psychic said, his deadpan face detracting slightly from the apology. Truth be told, Erik had forgotten about the bandit he had killed before leaving Nippur and berated himself for leaving a body behind. 

“I'll dispose of this, the room at the end of the left hall has been repurposed into a meeting room, so I'll meet you in there.” 

The group turned and went down the hall, the emperor’s throne barely fitting through, while Erik commanded Jorunn to stay and approached the skeleton. It's empty eye sockets seemed to be glaring at him, letting him know that this was his fault. Erik shrugged as he lifted the body over his shoulder and carried it out the door. 

‘If you're going to come into a hall and attack somebody you should expect resistance.’ Erik thought to himself. The psychic dropped the skeleton on the sand outside and tried his best to dig a hole. 

“Here lies the bandit who tried to slit my throat.” Erik murmured dryly to himself as he dumped the bones into the ‘grave.’ “He died as he lived, half mad and dehydrated.” And with that, Erik covered the grave over once more with his telepathy. He returned to the meeting room he had set up when he tried to meet with Victor.

 “Ok.” He said, addressing the group. “Who has a plan?”

I tried to leave some space for you guys, so feel free to write in what you talked about from the vehicles to the meeting room. I wouldn't want to waste a bunch of material just because Erik is quiet.

[The Emperor of Mankind]

The Emperor looked at the group he had in front of him, and went through possible battle scenarios and strategies in his head. The witch, Marisa, seemed to be strong and quick but had a fragile build. Shay and Anderson looked to be mostly built for glorious melee combat, bless their chaos tainted souls, Erik… for what he lacked in manners and a functioning stomach he had seemed to have psyker potential. A plan began forming in The Emperor’s head that could work, provided everyone fucking sticks to the script for once.
“Well I have the start of one, I’m assuming that you are fast and can fly on that broomstick, Marisa.”

“Yes, MUCH faster than you can move by how long it took us to get into here.”

“Ok, wow calm down there. Anyway, you will need to get above the city and form a perimeter, making sure that no one gets past us and sneaks into buildings that we have already cleared. We’ll also need to form teams of two, one will get the attention of whoever is in the building and get them to come out, the other will stay on the other side and gank them if whoever is in the building is hostile seeing as they will most likely face the original person.”

He stopped, seeing if anyone had any objections or questions so far. It seemed like they did not.

“You will all need to somehow mark buildings that you have already visited, the two teams will split up and start out on the edges, meeting in the middle where the leader of the bandits that are probably here will most likely be because life ran out of imagination when the god of war was named Khorne. The groups are going to be Anderson and Shay, then Erik and I. Any questions?”

No one had any questions and if they did they decided not to speak up at that moment. They got ready and began to walk outside, knowing that they were most likely all going to go against the plan one way or another.

Same as Erik's thread, if you want to talk while in the vehicles or while heading out of the planning room. I only chose Erik because I can probably write him better than I can write anyone else.

[Shay Cormac]

The suggestion to break up into groups was an interesting one to the Templar, and he could see some merit to it. In reality, Shay Cormac hadn't the slightest clue how the city itself looked from the inside ever since he had last left. The passage of time might have not had such an affect on Nippur as he originally anticipated. On the flipside of that equation, Shay couldn't shake the feeling it might have been worse on the simple basis of how the city itself looked from the outside. 

Either way, now would be the time to find out, and the man found it somewhat fitting that he was conveniently split up by the hulking man in gilded armor to pair with the priest who had offered him a ride in the first place. In hindsight, it was rather... strange how quickly Shay found himself with people to fight by his side once again. Unfortunately for the privateer now coated in steel, this wasn't the time to ponder as to why. 

Looking over, Shay watched as dust fell in the dim lights of the room the Primes found themselves in, barely any space left to spare for anybody present. The tranquility and silence of the moment, paying no mind to the Emperor's gilded plates clashing against one another, had forced Shay to lose himself in the moment. If he could have referenced what he was thinking a mere moment ago when he mentally noted to not take any time to himself to think, he would have. Instead, the Templar felt a knot building up in his stomach as he mentally prepared for the battles soon to come. 

What happened? The man pondered, seeming to visibly mouth the words that he heard in his head, repeating themselves over and over. 

Another moment passed, Shay himself completely disregarding everything in front him, mouth agape as if he were mesmerized by something. It was at that point he felt a man's gloved hand touch upon his shoulder. Looking over to him, Shay was pulled back into reality upon his vision being graced with the sight of his new partner, Alexander Anderson. As much as the privateer wanted to go over what 'new'  implied in his head, he went back to his original plan; keep professional. 

Shivering slightly, the Templar watched as the priest moved his lips out of it's usual creaking smile to speak.

"Ya gonna be alright there, lad?"

Even with the ever-present slightly creepy smile still plastered on the man's face, Shay nodded hesitantly, seemingly genuinely. At least, as genuine as he could be at the moment. 

"Of course," he almost instinctively replied. Another short pause, Shay turning to leave quickly thereafter. Almost as if Anderson thought the exact same thing he did, the priest followed knowing the two had one end goal in mind; to end this.

One way or another, anyways. 

Not looking back, Shay instead turned to his shoulder to find the man of God by his side. The Templar still found himself at front, quickly navigating himself out of the hall the Primes had resided in, almost as if he memorized it's layout by heart. Alexander seemed to note this with his very perceptional attention span, but he could admit it was sort of obvious seeing how hasty the Templar was in his footsteps. In that case, the priest inquired about what was to happen with the duo.

"Might I ask, mister Cormac, since ye know this place inside and out, what'll be your approach to this quest we've gladly partaken in?" 

'Gladly'  was an interesting word to use, but Shay tilted his head to think about it. Perhaps he was a bit relieved to finally find himself getting this over with. Starting anew. Shaking his armored head afterwards, the privateer replied. 

"These buildings are some of the easiest things you'd find yourself climbing. We take the high ground, weed out our targets, then..."

"Aye," Anderson finished, a widening grin on his cheeks, "we reign the will of God himself! I haven't found myself in the midst of a stealth scenario in a long while."  

Shortly after the two men finished their planning, the Primes found themselves outside in the searing heat once again. As they walked out, feeling more grains of sand sink into their boots, Shay blocked his eyes at the blinding sun in front of him seeming to set itself upon the horizon, falling over the edge of the world in about an hour or so.

The Templar stopped in his tracks, hearing the wind breeze through his helmet and past his ears. 

Looming over the scene, the aforementioned buildings were almost in arm's reach at this point. Slowly, the two men shared a glance and a nod at one another, beginning a determined jogging pace towards the outskirts of the city. Both of the warriors were certain they'd get through this reaping pile of old ruins before dayfall.

[Marisa Kirisame]

As Marisa took a count of her items she soon exited the place in search of a tavern. The heat blazing down on her akin to her hakero. She looked at the slowly sinking sun and realized that she needed to pick up the pace. She started to move at a brisk pace as a result not caring for the sand that would get in her shoes. Unlike the others plans she actually was going to get information first and then strike later. She soon found a tavern that wasn’t entirely destroyed and entered to find that it was bustling with activity.

She could feel a few stares but headed for the bar table before sitting on a stool. She pulled out a bag of coins before setting them down. The bartender looked at the bag before looking at the small adult. “Aren’t you a little young to be drinking, miss?” She shook her head as she smirked.

“Well i’ll take a beer something fairly strong please.” She fished out what probably was too much for the alcohol she was purchasing. She slid it to the man who grabbed it and grabbed a tankard and filled it with some moderately strong alcohol before setting it down on the table.

She took a drink of the beer letting it loosen her lips just a smidgen. “Now can you help me get some information?” She asked cautiously knowing full well the whole thing could go down in flames. “Just some major factions and the sort is all i really need.”

She placed the entire bag on the bar. The owner raised a single eyebrow clearly interested. “I seem to remember something that may help you.” they continued to clean a tankard. “You got the old loyalists they aren’t many but they are some of the more outspoken groups; But they are disorganized and typically fight each other for control of certain parts of the city.”

She took another drink as she pulled her book out and started to write this information down. The barkeep continued to talk in a gruff voice. “Then you have a few groups like the merchant guild and some bandit groups that have a bit more control. Finally you have the Gold cross, some empire based group wanting to help the less fortunate or some bull like that.”

Marisa nodded as she slid the entire bag over before finishing her drink and exiting. Now that she at least had some information she could start hunting and weeding out actual targets unlike the others. She soon took to the skies continuing to watch the inhabitants for information or generally learning the cities layout.

[Erik Vrell]

Erik trudged through the silent streets of Nippur, his eyes searching for any movement. Truth be told, he didn't really know what he was doing. Weeding out bandits wouldn't be the easiest job in the world if they had the sense to disguise themselves. Although he wanted to focus on his job, his concentration was split between searching for movement and the giant skeleton on the floating throne behind him. “So…” Erik said, breaking the tense quiet and turning to face the Emperor. “What are you, exactly?” The skeleton was silent for a moment, before his robotic voice resounded from… Somewhere.

“I told you, I'm the Emperor of mankind.” He replied. Erik assumed the response was meant to be exasperated, but couldn't really tell. 

“Surely you can't be the emperor of all of humanity. Your empire must cross two, possibly three continents at the very most, no?” 

“The Imperium contains billions of planets across the galaxy.” The Emperor said, barely attempting to conceal his bragging. Erik’s eyes widened in shock at the Emperor’s remark.

“Bill… Billions of planets!? You must be jesting!” 

“Nope.”

Erik struggled to comprehend what he was being told. Countless planets all under the control of one massive empire? It was unfathomable, beyond the realm of even mortal dreams. 

“Are you of divine heritage, then?” Erik asked, unable to see how anyone less than a god could spread their influence so far.

“NO! I am not a god.” The ferocity of his exclamation, obvious even through his text-to-speech device, caused Erik to recoil in shock. The psychic muttered an apology and started to make his way through the city once more.

“You’re a cultist, right?” The Emperor asked, hovering after Erik. 

“I prefer the term high prie-” 

“Priest, cultist, same thing. You really shouldn't follow gods, you know.” 

Erik stopped abruptly and whirled around to face the Emperor. “And why is that?” His face remained deadpan but irritation burned visibly in his eyes.

“Religion causes all kinds of bad shit. War, murder, the chaos gods. It's just better to forget all that and serve the Imperium instead. I could teach you to become a psyker, you know.” 

Erik paused for a moment, processing what the Emperor was telling him and formulating a response with as few expletives as possible. Before he could open his mouth, however, a group of men rounded the corner and rushed towards them, glaring at the pair with crazed expressions, rusted blades in hand. Erik’s eyes flashed with violet light as psi flowed from his sleeves and condensed into a bow in his hands. He drew the string back and an arrow formed in his grip before he released it, striking the closest bandit in between the eyes with a dull ‘thud’. Another bandit fell to a shot to the heart before they were too close for Erik’s bow to be of any use. He dropped the radiant weapon and drew Mageslayer, narrowly managing to bat a blood-stained scimitar to the side before removing its wielder’s arm. The bandit wailed and stumbled forward before Erik lopped his head from his body. A fourth bandit leapt towards Erik, attempting to use his momentum to crash through the psychic’s guard. Erik took a step back, managing to avoid the rusty dagger before blocking the following strike. The bandit struck with animalistic ferocity, refusing to give Erik any quarter. 

Before the duel could last for more than a few seconds, however, a whistling sound made Erik freeze as a bucket shot past his head. The bandit, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. The bucket smashed into his head, knocking him unconscious. Breathing hard, Erik looked around for the source of the makeshift projectile. Suddenly, he remembered that the Emperor was behind him. 

“Did… Did you do that?” Erik asked between laboured panting. 

“Yeah, you're welcome.” 

The psychic glared at the Emperor. “Don't you have any abilities or powers you could have used? You’re a living skeleton on a floating throne, surely you must have something other than a bucket.” 

“No, not yet anyway. You don't need to be such an ass about it, either.” 

Erik sighed and inspected the bandit lying in front of him. He was still breathing, so Erik guessed that he was just unconscious. 

“Let's take him back with us, we might be able to get some information out of him.” Erik hefted the man onto his back, grimly noticing that his outfit had blood on it, despite the fact that he wasn't bleeding. 

“We shouldn't go back yet,” The Emperor replied. “There's probably still some bandits around.” 

Erik nodded in agreement. “You're right. Let's try to stay out of trouble, though, maybe see if we can talk to some townspeople. I'd hate for him to wake up when we’re in the middle of a fight.”

[The Emperor of Mankind]

The Emperor slowed down as he realised something, slowly remembering something he had forgotten to tell the group before they split up. He slowly lowered into the sand, Erik heard the noise of the golden throne softly hitting the sand and turned around, having to run back a bit.

“Oh fuck, I just realised I didn’t actually say all of the plan.”

“Which bit? It had better not be important.”

“Well obviously telling everyone to use non lethal force is important but I didn’t get to say my joke that I was planning. It’s a travesty, Erik. I don’t think you understand.”

Erik shook his head and continued towards a house which was in good repair compared to the others although travelling slower than normal now that he was walking behind The Emperor.

The house was still a good kilometre or so away so Erik decided to continue the conversation before The Emperor did.

“What is a psyker anyway?”

“Similar to what you might call a magician, wizard sorcerer or equivalent, psykers use their soul to tap into the warp and use it. The warp is basically what you get if you get the worst part of every sentient being ever and put it into a place, I could get into the gods in there, how psykers sometimes blow themselves up and summon a daemon price and so on but you’ll probably figure that out if you try.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

They continued in silence until they reached the house. Erik knocked on the door, after putting the unconscious body behind The Emperor, and a woman came out, a child behind her.

“It’s you, we thought Gilgamesh and the rest of you were gone for good but you’re back. Please help us, the bandits are stealing most of the food we can make here, using the buildings that still completely work and are only letting us drink strict amounts of water. It’s possible to live but it’s still painful. At least I can be happy for the local barkeep, the bandits treat him better than us as long as they can wake up dizzy.”
Erik nodded, making a mental note of what she said. The Emperor spoke next to fill in the small amount of silence that followed.
“So who is this Gilgamesh anyway?”
The woman walked back a few steps but it was hard to tell if it was because of the heat or what he said.

“How could you not know? You’re retaking his city, after all, he lead us from a small town into a landmark. After he disappeared without a trace everything just… fell apart.”

“In hindsight, not knowing who I was crusading for was a really bad move on my part but that’s in the past now. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure the bandits are taken down one way or another.”
Erik gave a nod of agreement and after putting the unconscious bandit back on his back, the pair moved away from the house, the woman still smiling.
“So where do we go next other than the middle?”

“I’ve got a few more areas I still need to check but we should be able to directly deal with the bandits soon enough.”

[Marisa Kirisame]

I'm jumping back in this thread since my Gilgamesh meeting has finished and i'm kicking off my quest now

As Marisa left the throne room she shook her head taking the series of events that had just conspired between her and Gilgamesh. She hated how he thought she would be tantalized by the mere notion of limitless riches or power. She would not let anyone tantalize her with the impression that they could sway her. Gilgamesh would have to see her as an equal before she would give him any semi-balance of trust and loyalty. Mima was a special case due to how important she was to her all things considering. Now she wouldn't say that she 

"Marisa you alright you're just looking out into the distance," Alice said with a bit of concern in her voice.

The pint-sized witch nodded as she continued to walk to the Hospital to get her orders from someone there. "I'm just thinking about the visit with Gilgamesh; honestly I don't care if he doesn't give me the land or if he sees me as an actual human being or not. I will not let someone dictate my life, and I think that is a right everyone has." Alice could see that Marisa was brutally honest with her words and drank it in.

Marisa reached the hospital and entered softly as the ordinary magician walked to one of the nurses before speaking with intent. "I'm here on request from your king to help the hospital out with defending it and other things ... So what can I help with most right now?" The nurse nodded slowly as she thought about what the small Witch could help with most.

A soft and gentle voice came from the tall woman a few seconds later. "Well we definitely need more hands helping bring people back that need medical help; OH! you will also need to change your outfit from those garbs to something cleaner. and maybe in a child's size?" The nurse gestured to the blonde trickster's clothes at which Marisa didn't respond to except for a forced alright from her lips.

"Wait here for a couple seconds please." The medical professional then walked away and Marisa frowned a bit ticked off. Clearly, a bit ticked off at hearing her height observed by clearly taller people. She thought about the deal she was making and wondered if it was worth the potential gain vs the potential loss.

She tapped her upper cheek as she had really boxed herself in. She was going to do the task but she wasn't going to be like Sakuya who was the dog of Remilia Scarlet and listened and followed all her wills and whims to the best of her ability. Sure she may help Gilgamesh when it came down to it, but she would choose her own path and stick to it faithfully even if that meant fighting insurmountable odds.

A few minutes later the nurse came back with a fresh outfit and handed it to the conjurer who took the outfit and walked to a deserted area in the medical facility to look at the outfit in question. To her surprise, it wasn't that bad all things considering with it being a couple inches under her knees after giving it a quick measurement. She switched the black outfit out sighing as she slipped into the nurse's outfit before putting her witches hat back on. She soon had placed the clothing in a freshly summoned sack before heading out to where Alice was waiting.

Alice snorted at the sight she saw and Marisa's face burned in the embarrassment of being seen like this. She sighed as she took her hat off and stuffed it in her sack hoping she looked somewhat normal. From Alice's perspective she looked relatively normal when she didn't have her normal outfit on. Marisa then started walking to the exit hoping to just get this embarrassing thing over with. She didn't know if Gilgamesh had decided to mess with her or not . . . somehow. A few minutes later the two had left and had begun the job Marisa had been assigned.

Word count is 673 according to wordcounter.net

[Marisa Kirisame]

The pint-sized magician walked around the city she had realized she didn’t actually have a plan for this. She shook her head clearing the doubting thoughts before continuing down one of the many ruined roads in the once great city. Soon she could feel gazes burn into her most likely trying to figure out how easy it would be to overpower her without getting there “king” to murder them.

It was a few more minutes before she exited that area of the city who was clearly against the king who had failed them and the city in general; with the lack of actual government and protection allowing bandits and the sorts to come in and essentially have their way with the city. Marisa felt sorry for the people who had to deal with so much hardship.

She had stopped and begun to look around to see where she should head next before something tugged at her skirt and she looked down to see it was a small boy in a few rags. 

“Miss, could you help my sister, please? I- we don’t have any money but she is really sick.” the boy sounded really worried and his face showed no visible signs of other reasons.

Marisa nodded after a few seconds of contemplating the chances this could be a trap. Sure it could be but Alice was there also and Marisa wasn’t exactly a slouch in a fight either. So the three pushed forward to find this sick child.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached what could at best be considered a hut and at worst well she decided to not go that far. "This is the place?" Marisa looked at the brown haired child before getting nodded at and him entering. She walked forward before pushing the cloth that was the door to the side and entered. She could hear some coughing and started to walk to the noise.

She could see a small female covering herself with thin rags. Marisa walked over before touching the forehead of the child and seeing it was burning hot; before looking over to Alice before speaking. " I need you to keep watch on the child while I do what I can." Alice nodded as she took over the checking of the girl as Marisa walked to a corner and started to summon a couple things.

She was humming a tune as she felt the damp cloth touch her skin before the child entered her vision clearly interested in what she was doing. The witch sighed as she started to talk to him. "So can I ask where your parents are?" her voice calm and even as she started to walk over to the patient and putting one of the rags on her forehead.

She sighed as she hoped it was just medical and not magical in nature because Nippur clearly didn't have the resources of ways to deal with magical ailments. She heard the boy talk in a quiet and moderately defensive voice. "O-oh um w-we don't know where they went . . . one day there were in their room and the next they were gone with most of the stuff in the house." 

Marisa nodded in understanding as she pulled a small book out with a pentagram on the leathery front cover. She opened up the grimoire to a seemingly random page to the child before moving her finger down to the middle of the page. Once she seemingly read the part she was interested in she turned back to the older girl. If Marisa had to give a rough age estimate of her it was about 10 maybe 11 years old. Both witches could definitely see that the girl was pretty or would be if she wasn't malnourished among other problems.

Marisa started to take off the rags acting as blankets before continuing to check her for magical ailments. Time slowly passed as the love sign magician eliminated possible curses, ailments, and poisons. This wasn't anything the pint-sized witch had dealt with or was even in any of the books on her body and it was getting her annoyed due to the random symptoms the child had.

Marisa at a desk that Alice had summoned for discussion and the such had a growing pile of books around her. Alice touched the fellow witches shoulder before speaking calmly. "Marisa . . . we should take her to the Hospital. It isn't looking magical in nature and if Eirin was here I would say bring her to the Lunarian but the doctor isn't here meaning the medical building is our best bet.

The puppeteer's words had the human magician look at her comrade before slowly nodding. "It's probably best we do that." Marisa got up from her chair before walking to the girl before almost picking her up. "wait . . . alice you think your dolls can carry the girl?" Alice sighed at the question clearly a bit ticked off.

"What do you take me for Mari? My dolls are perfectly capable of doing this." Marisa pulled out a large sturdy piece of canvas before putting it under the patient and giving Alice the thumbs up.

Alice walked forward moving her fingers around and her dolls sprung to life and stood up before looking around getting adjusted to the surroundings. "Pick up the canvas and fly slowly as to not drop the child." As the seven colored puppeteer spoke these words the dolls started to walk to a corner to the canvas and grabbing it before floating just high enough to get airborne with the load. Marisa motioned to the young brother to follow as she left for the hospital with Alice and the older sister.

Word count for this post is 959 (as said by wordcounter.net) and the total progress is 1632/5000

[Marisa Kirisame]

As Marisa reached the Hospital she spread the people entering to either get medical care or just visit sick loved ones or friends. She looked around and saw one of the nurses nearby and started to jog over to her. "Hey uh, we have a person that needs medical care like fairly soon." She pointed to the makeshift stretcher and the contents inside for the head nurse to look inside of to see if it was an actual case or not.

"Alright, we will take it from here miss . . . what's your name by the way?" The nurse asked as a couple of women started to grab two of the corners and letting the dolls go back to an inanimate form in a sack Alice carried.  The boy tried to follow his sister but was blocked by a few nurses for his own good. 

Marisa looked at the head nurse with a solemn look and spoke with a bit of sorrow in her voice. "I'm Marisa Kirisame and this is Alice Matrgatroid. But is a hospital really what the people need at this moment?" She walked over to the young boy before putting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure she will be fine. we just have to put faith in that the doctors and nurses will fix her right up."

The brown haired boy looked at the witch with tears ready to pour down his face. "B-but she is the only family I have left! What if she dies?!" The boy was starting to become a bit hysterical and Marisa could somewhat relate so she sighed and hugged him in a show of random kindness that most people were very rarely shown. Sure she was a kleptomaniac and was a pyromaniac to a certain degree but she still had a network of friends and Mima who was close enough to her to be considered a big sister or mother.

"Well . . . I don't know what to say but I think you are a strong person and will be fine." She just was quiet as she let the child cry into her. "Well if you need someone to just talk to I can be of use most of the time. But for now how about you come with me and Alice to go help others? I'm sure that is what your sister would want." Marisa whispered into the child's ear with a  smile before turning to Alice. "Alice, could you get me a few books on alchemy and medical care since I'll be heading back out."

The seven colored puppeteer nodded as she turned and walked to a seat and started to entertain the children waiting to get medical care with a story about knights and dragons. Next thing Marisa saw was that the child was staring at the play but more at the fingers controlling the dolls getting a raised eyebrow out of Marisa. She then tapped his shoulder before starting to walk out of the building to help get others to the medical facility.

"So uh miss why did you decide to help? I get the feeling you aren't like the other nurses . . ." The boy trailed off clearly troubled. Marisa sighed as she walked with her hands behind her head intertwined clearly laid back about all of this. Why did I
go through all this trouble to help a backwater city? Marisa thought about this question and couldn't come up with an answer she was truly happy with.

"Well . . . that is a good question to ask and to be perfectly honest I don't know. I guess I can chalk it up to wanting something to do, or maybe it's because unlike Gilgamesh and the others I've met in Nippur they all just want to reclaim their former glory and try to show they did something to help the city. I . . . actually, like the last one, I think it is the reason I stick around and help the city's inhabitants." Marisa remarked as she walked up to a door and knocked with the child letting the answer sink in.

When the door opened she was met with an older woman who was built like an ox. She was at least six feet tall and looked like she could break someones arm if she so wished. This caused Marisa to sweat with a bit of fear before getting the courage to speak. "U-um i'm with the hospital and looking for people who might be sick as to help them." She spoke with no underlying tones that suggested otherwise as to not anger this monster of a human.

Gruffly the woman spoke. "Come on in then please." She moved to the side of the entrance before motioning into her quaint abode and not much longer after the two entered quietly taking a look of the surroundings and could see that it wasn't much but it still was living conditions one could live with. "Now if you could follow me miss." The lady closed the door before walking down a hall into another room.

Marisa soon followed suit with the boy behind her; they entered the room to see a man that was laying on a bed with flys flying around his body and pockets of skin showing bone. Marisa's face slightly paled at the sight of the person as she walked forward after telling the child to stay back. recalling on times when she went to Eirin for checkups and stuff she started to ask questions. "Can you tell me some of the symptoms he has and when it started?"

The woman started to speak with a her voice cracking. "W-well he went out into the dunes to head to the town with no name for some supplies and to sell some goods; but when he came back he had a pretty nasty bite. But he told me it was nothing and would heal in a few days; since he is pretty quick to jump back from accidents and wounds i trusted him. Then a few days after he collapsed on the floor and i decided to move him to the bed from there. His condition continuously got worse from cold sweats, to new pockets of skin rotting away, even screaming at random times and flailing about."

Marisa nodded as she started to move to the person and sighing as she pulled the thin covers away to see what she was dealing with. She being that close could see maggots actively moving around in each of the pockets causing her to almost lose her lunch. She quickly steeled stomach and will as she picked up the patient and turned to the large female. "I'm going to take your husband to the hospital if you want. I would suggest that as his condition needs medical care." She spoke with a slight grunt as the man was really heavy.

The woman contemplated if she should allow her husband to go to the hospital or not. Marisa sighed as she was literally stuck holding a man who she didn't want anything to do with. She closed her eyes and thought about the land she would get for putting up with this and then finally got an answer from the woman. "Y-yes you can take him to the hospital." Marisa internally sighed as she nodded and spoke with new found vigor. "Alright i'll be leaving now, sorry for intruding on your property." Marisa then exited the house with the child in tow as she headed to the hospital to drop off the next patient.

A few minutes pass and she once again reaches the hospital and enters. "Hey uh i got another one." She called out to the nurses moving around tending to random patients and the such; obviously overwhelmed by the numbers of people showing up. As Marisa handed off the man she looked around for Alice to find she had gone off somewhere. The pint-sized witch soon walked over to the head nurse who was barking orders before getting her attention then talking to her exhaustion somewhat showing in her voice.. "So uh whats your name by the way? since i didn't get it." 

The head nurse turned her head to the magician after telling another order to a nurse who had finished her current set of tasks. "Oh . . . my name? its Mary Emmott if you really needed to know." Mary sighed as she grabbed a manila folder from a cabinet and opening it before pulling out the contents of it and reading through them before putting the papers and folder back in there proper place. "Don't you have better things to be doing Marisa than standing around here like i don't know . . . maybe actually helping? There seems to be a lack of hands in the actual hospital and they could use your help." The head nurse said this so matter of factly that Marisa burned from anger.

Grudgingly Marisa spoke with a forced smile. "Alright i'll get right on that Mary." Marisa then walked to the medical hall to start treating patients with what little medical knowledge she had.

word count is 1515 according to word counter and the total amount is 3147/5000

[Marisa Kirisame]

As Marisa worked in the medical hall she saw the effects that just years of disuse had on its citizens truly, and she didn't know exactly how she felt about all of this. Sure she didn't exactly like how Gilgamesh acted with how she hadn't heard that he has done anything other than making a hospital for the people. As she tied some bandages to stop the bleeding of a patient she muttered as she felt for these people. They worked hard to make there lives what they wanted to be and she could approve of that with her heart and soul. Though she had many bad things to say about the Godking she had to admit he did have his good points. She had a feeling he cared about his people and would go to great lengths for them even if they weren't morally correct.

She was soon cleaning out a wound when a voice came out from behind her causing her to turn to the disruption. "Marisa I have the books you wanted." She sighed as Alice had a stack of books that came up to her nose. Marisa quickly smiled as she was glad Alice spent the time and energy gathering the books she had requested.

"Thank you, Alice, it was really nice that you took the time and effort to get these books." Marisa went back to cleaning out the gunk in the wound silently thanking the nurses for deciding that hey maybe giving her an outfit she can dirty would be a good idea. Because as she worked on patients her outfit became stained with blood, mucus, and all sorts of other disgusting bodily fluids that one can make. Not long after a female who she was told had a terminal disease had asked for some water and Marisa obliged by summoning a cup of water and heading to the bed of the patient.

"I-is that my water?" the lady weakly asked as she made an effort to move her arm to the cup; but it was just out of reach. Marisa carefully handed the cup to the woman before asking a question quietly as to not wake any sleeping patients. "Do you need anything else, ma'am?" 

The lady nodded slightly as she spoke in a hushed, raspy voice. "Yes, I just need someone here to talk to and ... keep me company." Marisa obliged by grabbing a nearby chair and pulling it up to the side of the bed; looking down at her hands as she didn't really have anything to ask the lady.

"S-so what's your name miss?" the lady tried breaking the ice with a simple question and it worked to a fair degree. Marisa smirked as she looked up and spoke clearly.

"My name is Marisa Kirisame, and your's is?" Marisa intertwined her fingers as she rubbed her chin as the two spoke about random things for a good while letting Marisa relax a bit. When Marisa looked at the nearby clock she saw she should probably head and continue to tend to other patients. "Well, it was nice meeting you, ma'am. Hopefully, I'll see you around later." She got up before touching the shoulder of the lady and giving it a friendly squeeze before heading off to do her job.

She found that a nurse was having trouble tieing some bandages together and getting quite annoyed so she walked over. "Mind if I help?" Marisa asked with a calm and friendly voice to the nurse who gave a huffy approval. And with that Marisa took a look at the wound to find that the bandages were too small for the wound and as such, she started to summon somewhat larger cloth bandages to fit the wound's requirements.

Once she tied the cloth's together she looked at the nurse who frowned at Marisa being able to tie the bandages together. Marisa then went back to cleaning and bandaging other patients wounds should they need it. She would soon be wiping her forehead with a dry rag as the hospital was quite muggy and hot. "it's too hot . . ." The pint-sized witch silently whined as she was exhausted, dirty, and sweaty.

She soon walked over to Alice who gave her a bottle of water to which Marisa started to down quickly like she never had water before speaking raggedly after finishing the water. "Oh, that is good." She muttered in exhaustion about how she needed a break after that in an octave low enough that only she heard it.

The magician of love sign exited the hospital and walked to a fairly quiet corner nearby and summoned a fairly basic meal of rice, fish, and some mushrooms to go on the side. After thanking for the food she dug in taking her time as she enjoyed the meal. She remembered how Mima would cook somewhat similar meals when she was still growing and smiled. Mima while she had her faults, she was still a pretty good parent and a really good teacher when it comes to teaching magic.

Marisa finished up her meal and desummoned the utensils and container before getting up and stretching. Not a minute after she was hit upside the head by Mary who looked mighty angry at the moment. "Why aren't you working Marisa? This is no time to be slacking off!" The head nurse began digging into Marisa who's level of crap she could take was quickly reaching maximum capacity at all the talking about how she wasn't doing her job.

The head nurse finally stopped due to a need to catch her breath giving Marisa a chance to talk. "Look, I'm not working yes, but I have been working for hours at this point without taking a break and I needed to eat something anything. So please just chill; I understand you are stressed and you need more people working in the hospital but I am still human and I can get back to work now." Marisa said this with a somewhat calm voice though it was laced with a slight hint of anger and venom which was not caught by the head nurse.

Marisa headed back inside seeing the kids and Alice surprisingly handing out puppets of various sizes and shapes to the kids. As she walked up to Alice the seven colored puppeteer looked up after giving a doll in the likeness to a knight and talked. "How are you doing Mari? the day is almost over so we can go rest outside the city or whatever." Alice spoke in a slightly hushed voice as a group of five men walked into the hospital.

Marisa looked at each of them with a  fairly annoyed look before speaking with a fairly balanced tone. "Hello yes, what medical problems do you have? but I'm sorry visiting hours are over." The men slightly chuckled as they heard this nurse talk to them.

"no, no I think we are here for the supplies this place has. So this can go one of two ways little girl. You hand over the supplies or you will get hurt." The person in the front spoke with an aura of confidence and charisma while he flashed a smile that was to die for.

Marisa thought for a few seconds before speaking slowly and clearly with the nurses coming to leave and finding that these men were in the way. She knew a fight was inevitable so she said the one thing that could appease them. "How many spell cards?" Marisa spoke and that elicited a few eyebrows being raised from most people in the room.

The head bandit chuckled as he spoke once again like her question was a jest. "I have no idea what you're talking about but it sounds stupid." and with that, he dashed forward swinging a scimitar in an arc that would end most people if they failed to dodge or block. Marisa's eyes widened as she back peddled seeing the sword create a good sized mark in the ground.

Orbs flew out of Marisa's as they started to fire upon the bandit leader. She barked an order to Alice. "Deal with the others, and keep casualties to a minimum." Alice nodded knowing lives were at stake here and as such jump-started her dolls and joined in the fight.

As the fight dragged on Marisa let seemingly bad wounds form on her body as she had to fight protecting nurses and the patients and couldn't just go on the offensive. Soon she had knocked out the bandit and was breathing heavily and with that, the others ran seeing there leader fall. Marisa sighed as she formed a rope and started to tie him up. Once she had properly tied the bandit up she started to exit only to get stopped by the head nurse once more. "Here you might need this Marisa; you were a great help and we would like your help if you have the time." Marisa was handed a letter with a seal of the hospital.

Marisa nodded before heading out of the hospital and back out into Nippur.

word count is 1522 and total word count is 4669/5000 i am ready for checking to see if my quest is done.