Private/Closed Starting From the Bottom (RP)

[Psymallard]

Welcome to Altar Magic Academy, a lesser known magic school. It's the day of the final exams, and each student takes turns fighting their professor, and the professor grades them based on students' performances.

Sean Long was the most senselessly eager for his turn that he obviously volunteered first. He drew his blade and shield to dash in the center of the small circle in the yard that marked the vague area where the battle should take place. He had been failing the class all year for some reason he couldn't grasp, but this final exam, he would blow it out of the water. He was sure of it. He raised his sword at the professor. "Let's do this!" He challenged. Sean charged at his teacher, but then he was on the floor, gasping for air. "Pathetic" the professor muttered as the knight was kicked away from the arena.

Sean walked into the Artist Registration Office, and rung the bell. A slender redhead jogged to the desk. "Academy certificate?" She asked, but Sean had none. With a fake smile, he explained, "No, actually. You see, the schools are a little under my level and..." He looked up at her to see that she wasn't buying it. "I just need a Canvas. Please." The woman sighed, reached under the desk, and brought out a paper with a ton of writing on it. "Name and class please." Sean gave her the information, and she wrote it down. The lady handed it over and told him, "You will start in rank G, meaning you will not be paid or rewarded with anything but rank points for completing missions." The knight's smile faltered, and he took the paper. "Thanks, goodbye!" He walked out, headed home. On the way, he heard the laughs and cheers of his classmates who graduated. Suddenly a downpour of smelly liquid splashed onto his head. Looking up, he saw the valedictorian, Alec Arn, emptying his pint of beer over a balcony. Sean looked back down and made sure his Canvas wasn't wet, then continued on through the night.

 

[SproutGang]

Canari steadied his breathing. Soon he would face his professor, one versus one. He hadn't been doing too well in combat training lately, so this was his last chance to prove himself. I've studied and trained for hours, and this is what it's led up to, he thought. His name called, Canari stepped towards his professor. "I'm ready, sir," he said as he unsheathed his rapier and prepared for combat. Just stay calm, he thought. Don't let him take control. But as much as he tried to resist, eventually the stress of battle would get to him.

Bruised and knocked over, Kaine chuckled to himself. "I've seen enough," the professor stated, sheathing his sword. "Aw, no fight left in you?" Kaine mocked. "Seems to me like you've been outlasted." He stood up, sheathing his weapon as well. The professor, unfazed, continued. "You have a sharp tongue. If only I could say the same for your skills. Your paranoid defense in one form and wild offense in another are both lackluster, and your lack of control over your alternate personality is a liability at best. Someone as unstable as you has no place as an Artist. Canari Luka, you have failed your final exam." Kaine's face turned from a cocky smirk to an expression of rage. "You... you don't know anything. You couldn't see skill if it stabbed you straight through your chest. And if you weren't careful, it might just have!" With a huff, he stormed off, muttering to himself about how idiotic this whole academy was.

Wandering around the school grounds, Kaine's face began to morph and his skin changed from a light purple to a more typical beige. Canari had returned, and disappointment had struck him immediately. He had failed, and the professor's scathing judgement didn't help. Head held low, he made his way over to the Artist Registration Office. At the very least, he could become a G-rank Artist. Entering the building and ringing the small bell near the desk, a tall black-haired lady would approach. "Excuse me ma'am, I'd like a canvas, please," Canari requested. The woman asked if he had a certificate from a magic academy, which caused him to lower his head in shame. "N-no." The lady sighed, and rummaged through a pile of papers behind the desk. After going through the procedure with the lady, Canari had received his canvas. "You'll be G-rank, so you'll receive no monetary compensation for your missions," she explained. Canari nodded and left the office, sulking. He had truly hit rock bottom. But it wasn't all bad, because he could only go up from here! Or, at least that's what he told himself as he stumbled home, exhausted both physically and mentally.

 

[Killerbunny the god]

Erik was up next in his final exam. He threw a smoke bomb on the ground in order to hide himself. But by the time he had thrown it, his teacher had already kicked him across the room and he hit the wall hard. He hit his head and almost had a concussion. The dizziness that followed would've been enough for him to be killed in battle.
"You're too slow. A good strategy, but you're too slow. You fail" the teacher said. Erik looked down in shame and walked out. But he wouldn't let this failure be the end of his career. He would be an Artist no matter how he started.

He entered the Artist Registration Office and got himself a G-rank Canvas and an explanation for what it meant. "Seems like I'll have to get money another way then. Or I can live in the woods and hunt my food" he thought to himself. Sighing, he left the building and began to make his way home.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Gwydion heard his name get called and stepped towards the professor. He was a little worried about this due to him not having a great relationship with his professor, this meant his personal defenses would be pretty shoddy so he would have to work especially hard to avoid being hit. He got the signal to begin and pulled out his Revolvers and began firing, he got cocky with his shooting ability and his professor moved towards him with incredible speed and punched Gwydion in the chest, it was an ordinary punch but in his current state it felt like he had been hit with a steel girder and he doubled over. The instructor, "with that Sketch of yours you become a liability unless you have a strong relationship with your allies. You are also too confident in your abilities with those guns of yours. You fail". Gwydion sighed and stood up wincing as he walked out.

He made his way to the Artist Registration and walked over to the woman at the desk. He cleared his throat "um hello, I would like to get Canvas please" he was asked about a certificate and was informed he would have to be a G-Rank, "well you got to start somewhere" he thought to himself as he walked away from the desk.

 

[DevVoid]

Up next was Zion. The skeletal necromancer had walked forward, taking his crystal ball to his side. Zion cast Dark Barrier first, all seemed to go well.. for the first few seconds. Zion was too aggressive. Right after casting Dark Barrier, he ran in for a hit with his crystal ball. All the professor had to do was simply side-step and knock Zion on the ground to disassemble him.

" Your arts have potential, but you act too aggressively. A good magician, no matter the magic they approach, knows to bide their time and strike when an opportunity rises. Your sketch should've taught you that. You failed the exam. Dismissed. " The professor spoke as Zion re-assembled himself, each bone moving itself back in place. Gritting his teeth, his eyes shifting into a red tone from anger, Zion walked to the school grounds, leaving the Professor behind.

Zion wandered right into the Artist Registration Office and, without skipping a beat, he said bluntly: " A canvas, please. No, I don't have a certificate. " Filling out the paperwork presented, Zion took his Canvas and walked out the Art Registration Office, only stopping by the door to let the woman explain him about what it meant to be a G-Rank. Zion rolled the canvas up and stuffed it inside one of the inner pockets of his cloak and closed it up, putting the hood over his skull. Now he just looked like some kind of otherworldy entity; a figure with a black cloak with no visible details underneath except for two red eyes, stemming from Zion's anger. He wandered the streets, looking for some kind of abandoned building to camp out in.

 

[Thomas the trainer]

Medio approached the school, he was no student there but had been told to go there by his teacher as it would help him find out who he is, he wore a heavy cloak concealing his whole body and walked up to the profesor he reached into his cloak to unveil not a weapon but a glowing emblem the profesor immediately relaxed "I see you're the one please go towards that direction." The professor explained motioning towards an office.
"Thank you." Medio told him quietly heading into the direction he was directed towards in, "Hey a canvas please here's my certificate." Medio told the people nervously they gave him something to write with but it was too small for his large hands Medio carefully finished the paperwork and turned around and saw a line outside of the building. He felt incredibly flustered and guilty for holding up others. He got his canvas and left the office apologising to those he passed. A woman explained what a G rank towards him was. Medio had knowere to stay and walked out to the street found a alley and folded up his cloth to make a pillow revealing his body a family walked path and the kid screamed and promptly ran away, Medio was about to tell her it was okay but the family had already left, Medio laid down excited and nervous for what would come.

 

[Psymallard]

The next day, Sean was reenergized, ready to climb the ranks and become the best. He head to the town White Board, and started looking at tasks. Let's start easy as a warm-up. His eyes scoured the board. How about rescuing cattle from a goblin base? He reached up and grabbed the paper with the quest written on it, when another hand contested him.

 

[SproutGang]

Canari, calming down from yesterday's failure, headed into town. No matter how far down he may have fallen, sulking gets him nowhere. He'd seen the White Board in town, maybe he'd be able to find a simple quest to get his rank up. When he reached it, several others were already looking for quests of their own. Looking over the board, a specific one caught his eye.

Rescuing cattle? Sounds simple enough, Canari thought, reaching for the paper. However, another hand reached quicker, and snatched the paper before he even had a chance. Startled, Canari jumped back and turned to face the man that the hand was attached to, who unbeknownst to him was Sean. "Oh, sorry," he blurted instinctively. Refocusing himself, he put on his best smile. "...Were you planning to take this quest as well?" He asked politely.

 

[Psymallard]

Sean looked over at a pointy-eared Artist, who also seemed to be intrested in the quest. Sean responded with a giant smile, "Yeah! I think it'll be a good workout." The knight's face showed that an idea had popped into his head. "What if we team up? Easy jobs like this would be boring without a friend!" Sean reached out to Canari, instigating a handshake.
@SproutGang

 

[Killerbunny the god]

Erik walked the town streets to find himself a job. Preferably one that got him paid but he wouldn't be greedy. He could get food in the forest. He walked over to a white board where a bunch of quests were sought after. Two people next to him were talking about teaming up, which he wasn't interested in. Especially not if he wanted to get paid. He saw one that seemed simple enough, but it could prove to be a challenge. Nevertheless, he thought he could do it. He picked the paper where it said that a mountain troll threatened and took food from a farmer. The farmer wanted the troll gone so Erik decided to try it out. Mountain trolls may be big, but he was fast and had good stamina. He could run circles around it and cut it's legs. Maybe even use his swords to climb it's back. He took the quest and walked off. Even if he didn't get paid, it would give him a good reputation if he could pull it off.

 

[SproutGang]

Relieved at Sean's enthusiasm, Canari smiled back. "I'd be glad to! Plus, you never know what we might face. I'll need your help if things go bad." He shook his new adventuring partner's hand, which brought to his attention how he didn't know the first thing about him. "Oh, since we're partners on this mission, what should I call you?"
@Psymallard

 

[Psymallard]

"Me? I'm Sean the knight, and I'm headed for the top," he boasted, gesturing to himself, "I've got the power, but all I need is a little experience to shoot straight up to S rank! What about you? What's your name?"
@SproutGang

 

[Thomas the trainer]

Medio woke up tired and put his cloak back on and began to walk towards the town he needed a job but would prefer to do it with others, as his blade would be more effective with others at his side, he saw two people discussing taking a task and wished to talk with them but they were busy and he felt nervous and opted to wait for them to finish talking, and try and join in, he wasn't to nervous about them saying how he looked as most travelers were fine with how he looked, but would not like to disrupt them and leave a bad impression.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Gwydion woke up and got ready for the day, before making his way into town. Once in town he walked to the White Board, assuming that many people would be there and he looked for people to join, he needed to find people he could easily befriend, so that his defence wouldn't be damaged. He saw two people talking with a third watching the conversation and decided to try his luck, he walked over and introduced himself "hello, sorry for interrupting, my name is Gwydion, I was wondering if I could accompany you on a quest if you are going on one that is" he said with a hopeful expression.
@SproutGang @Psymallard @Thomas the trainer

 

[SproutGang]

"Well, it's nice that you're confident," Canari chuckled, before introducing himself. "My name is Canari, I'm a spellsword. It's a pleasure to meet you." While he was talking with the optimistic human, someone else approached them. Turning around to face them, he locked eyes with a particularly tall half-lycan. Startled, he recoiled in surprise, before calming himself down. "Um, sure! We could always use an extra hand. Oh, that's only if you're okay with it, Sean." While he smiled at Gwyidon, he could swear he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Some kind of humanoid bug-creature... but he decided to ignore it. His eyes were probably playing tricks on him anyways.
@Psymallard @Shadow_Pup @Thomas the trainer

 

[Psymallard]

A third person had joined the discussion. "The more the merrier!" Sean smiled. "You know, we should go for a more challenging job if we're going to team up like this." He slammed a tack back on the paper and into the board. Stroking his chin, he swept his eyes over all the papers. Sean snatched one off the board, showing it to the others. "Here! We can rid a village of a swarm of Yarn Serpents! I heard about these things, they are reaaally long and skinny, and when they swarm there are so many that they look like yarn balls!"
@SproutGang @Shadow_Pup @Thomas the trainer

 

[SproutGang]

Yarn Serpents? Canari remembered reading about them once. They're one of the only serpents who live and hunt in swarms. They're also one of the weakest kinds of serpent, so for a village to be overrun by them... there might be something else at play. Canari had a feeling that this mission might be a bit more difficult than Sean expects.

Nevertheless, he had to stick with him. Doing a mission on his own seems much too dangerous, especially considering Kaine's likely interference. Canari looked over the paper inquisitively, wondering if the three of them could take on the swarm.
@Psymallard @Shadow_Pup @Thomas the trainer

 

[DevVoid]

Zion woke up from his slumber under a tree, having found no fitting home. Not like he needed the sleep anyway, but there had to be something to do to pass the time...

As Zion walked to the White Board to get himself a quest, he saw a group of people in the distance already standing at the White Board. Walking closer, he overheard them talking about ridding a village of yarn serpents.. maybe he can help. Having his hood up and his neutral white eyes glow out from the darkness of his cloak, he approached the group, his crystal ball safely lodged in his ribcage.

" I hear you are doing quests.. I would like to lend my assistance.. " Zion spoke up, just hoping his sketch and deep, distorted demon voice wouldn't scare these people off. He could use them for his claim to fame, so this'll be really helpful.
@Psymallard @SproutGang @Shadow_Pup

 

[Void_Nugget]

Gwydion nodded politely, "I think this will really help all of us better ourselves so this should be fun" he said in a friendly manner, he needed this guys to not hate him so that his sketch would screw him over. He rested his hand gently on his holsters and looked around idlily for a bit before turning to the new face, "Hi there I'm Gwydion, I'm a half-lycan, what's your name" he said with a big toothy grin that flashed his sharp canines. He knew that as long as one of these guys liked him then he could stick with that one and keep his defences boosted, if he got separated he would be completely screwed.
@SproutGang @Psymallard @DevVoid

 

[SproutGang]

While Gwydion was chumming it up with the stranger, Canari was much less trusting. Something about him felt off. Maybe it was his deep, demonic voice. Maybe it was because he was obscuring himself with a large cloak. Maybe it was because, as Canari approached him, he began to hear strange whispers and chants coming from nowhere, which caused him to immediately step back. Wordless, Canari observed the stranger closely, looking back to Sean skeptically.

 

[Thomas the trainer]

Medio stoop up keeping his head to the ground and approached the two men he was initially watching, "Ummmm hey so i was wondering, could i maybe possibly join you?" Medio quietly asked the two keeping his head down. 4 people that would be enough to make most combatants easy but really needed some more allies for future mission, and from what his master had told him that almost all difficult missions would require multiple people.
@SproutGang @Psymallard

 

[Killerbunny the god]

Erik had taken a while to read through the paper he had taken to check for the adress and potential dangers along the way. But before Erik would walk away towards the Farmer's house, he heard about Yarn Serpents behind him. He turned around slowly and looked in the direction of where the now bigger group were. They were talking about helping a village get rid of these creatures. Erik's own Arts might be able to be of assistance. So as the Rogue he was, he sneaked into the shadows, put up the paper about the mountain troll on the board again and appeared behind the one that presented the idea.
"Yarn Serpents? You're crazy. I'm in" he said with a crooked smile.

 

[Psymallard]

Many more approached and wanted in, including a demonic skeleton. Sean just put a thumbs up, almost overwhelmed, and not really trying to reject anyone. "Well, let's go then!" He broke away from the crowd and looked at the location. It was at Nilerul Village, a coastal village about 25 miles east, and 9 hours worth of walking. Of course, Sean didn't know that, so he turned back around. "Uh... Does anyone know where this is?" He showed the paper back to the group.
@SproutGang @Thomas the trainer @Killerbunny the god @Shadow_Pup @DevVoid

 

[SproutGang]

A couple more people offered to join the mission, one being the bug Canari saw earlier. With his bashful behaviour, he was significantly less threatening than Canari thought he would be. With six people, the mission seemed much more possible. Upon Sean's questioning, he piped up.

"Ah, Nilerul Village! My mother used to live there," Canari answered. "It's on the east coast. It's pretty far away though, it'll take us..." he paused to think. "About, 9 hours? At least, by foot." Although he was upset to hear that the town was attacked, he couldn't deny he was excited to visit there for the first time in years.
@Psymallard @Thomas the trainer @Killerbunny the god @Shadow_Pup @DevVoid

 

[DevVoid]

Zion looked to Gwydion, his white glowing dots looking through the darkness that his cloak veils his image in. Raising his hands out of the robe, Zion revealed them to be skeletal. Then, pulling back his hood, he revealed his skull for a head, with the white eyes peering like lights out of the seemingly-endless shadows of his eye sockets. " Zion.. Zion Xylvhok.. " Zion introduced, nodding his head as a greeting. Then he turned back to the group. " ..Do not mind the.. voices and.. sounds.. they are a part of my sketch.. " Zion explained, speaking eerily in his demonic voice with breaths inbetween, similiar to a certain interdimensional man with a briefcase and a business suit. " They are.. to deter.. attackers.. "

Zion went silent and thought about where the village was, until Canari began talking about it. " Nine... hours.. we must take a carriage.. pool gold together for a ride, perhaps. Walking will be.. too long.. " Zion went and pitched in. Nine hours is a lot of time wasted, after all. Valuable time that could be spent completing other quests.
@Psymallard @Thomas the trainer @Killerbunny the god @SproutGang @Shadow_Pup

 

[Void_Nugget]

Gwydion nodded "a carriage would definitely be a good idea, we would get there a lot faster and be able to help sooner" he said with a grin. This would good, no one here showed any hate towards him so no matter who he was with he would probably be able to resist basic projectiles and most melee weapons, the only things that would damage him would be high caliber weapons or things like cannons as well as some strong materials so some claws or swords might hurt him.
@Psymallard @Thomas the trainer @Killerbunny the god @SproutGang @DevVoid

 

[Psymallard]

"Who needs a carriage? I think if we run the distance, we'll end up there in no time. Plus it's cheaper, and we get exercise." Sean smirked and began jogging in place, then doing some stretches he saw a professional track runner perform. He mostly just didn't want to spend food money on a mode of transport. "Who's with me?" He asked overconfidently.
@Shadow_Pup @SproutGang @DevVoid @Thomas the trainer @Killerbunny the god

 

[SproutGang]

"I think a carriage would be a better idea," Canari stated. Although he didn't have much money, a walk that long seemed quite dreadful. "Besides, we need to save our energy for the serpents. We'd be exhausted if we walked all the way." He checked his coin purse, which he had stored in his rucksack. "Agh, I don't have enough gold. Well, I do, but I need some for food. Could anyone pitch in? I could cover about half the funds for the trip on my own." Canari looked expectantly towards the rest of the group.
@Shadow_Pup @Psymallard @DevVoid @Thomas the trainer @Killerbunny the god