Quest 9: To The Void Hunter?

As they set off, leaving the village behind plunging forward into the forest once more, in search of the ‘void hunter’ that would help them navigate the void which should be where the void beast that took Suieol should be. As the group walk through the forest in their usual aimless slightly random way that had become almost second nature by this point, they continue weaving through the trees and pushing aside bushes as they move on through the denser and denser forest and undergrowth moving slowly as each member keeping their eyes out for any void beasts that might be on the prowl. But as time drags on and nothing interesting seems to be happening, Lexa starts a conversation to pass the time.

“I’ve been thinking…”
“You? That’s dangerous.”
“Shut it Arano, anyway I’ve been thinking about the fact we don’t have a group name to use in this world. We’ve always just introduced ourselves individually, which feels super awkward. So, would it not be a good idea, especially if we’re gonna be wandering the world to have an identifiable group name?”
“Huh, I guess it would. What do you think leader?”
“Oh? I agree with that. We could just use the studio name, right?”
“I didn’t think about that…”
“That’s why you thinking is dangerous.”
“Sure, sure. But the studio name would work for our party as well.”
“Great then it’s settled, we’ll introduce ourselves as Shin’ya.”

With the name for their party finally set as Shin’ya its members continue to move forward through the brush and tree trunks on their way to the corrupted edge of the forest that is home to the void. As they walk on something seems to be skittering around but only being caught in the peripherals of the party. Not knowing what might be causing the brush to move the party pick up their pace, attempting to get to a more open area before whatever is moving around them tries to attack them. Reaching a small clearing in the forest the group turn to face the way they had just come, and not too far behind them was a void beast much smaller than the one that attacked the village but that made it no less dangerous. Sensing the danger Ilev cast a defensive buff on himself as the only two real offensive options Aromi and Lexa attempted to prepare some form of spell to either attack or just scare the beast away avoiding combat all together. The beast lowered its head and produced a low growl before dashing towards the group, Lexa and Aromi both attempted to fire off some sort of magic, both failing causing the group to scatter around the clearing out of the way of the wolf-like beast’s charge. Respite was short lived as it too possessed the strange movement of the village beast and changed its direction on a dime losing none of the momentum that it had built up, if this game of stamina were to keep up the party would be on the worse end as you can only dodge for so long before crashing into another person or running out of energy. As the beast turned to charge Arano head on he didn’t move but instead began winding up for a punch, as the beast approached, he kicked up a cloud of dirt in front of him and then using the momentum from the kick to plant himself and deliver a blow to the beast as it appeared through the dust cloud. The punch knocked the beast back a small amount leaving it stunned for a small moment before it shook itself off and prepared to go after Arano for a second time, undeterred by the surprise attack he had just landed. As it began to charge at Arano again it glitched and appeared once again directly in front of Arano’s face, not giving him any time to react to the immanent threat, as we all braced for the attack bright flashes of light appeared across the body of the beast and it simply fell to the ground and disintegrated. However now standing in the center of the clearing was another person or at least what looked like a person.

“Hey there. I don’t suppose you’re the void hunter, are you?”

The figure turns to look at Arano, it makes no noise instead it gestures for everyone to follow it as it starts walking deeper into the forest. Knowing that this might end up being the only lead on the void hunter they get, everyone hurriedly follows the figure as it starts walking off. Everyone also perplexed that the figure is dressed like it too came from another world, as it had a distinct cyberpunk aesthetic to its state of dress, but it was mixed with that of what could only be described as the modern media’s depiction of a ninja. But no one dares speak in case they offend it, and it decides to disappear as mysteriously as it had appeared, that and no one believes that they would get an answer from the figure no one sure on whether or not the suspected void hunter could even speak. After a while of silent walking a small shabby structure appeared amongst the trees, the figure made way and pointed towards the structure in a way that conveyed a simple instruction of enter, inside the group all sit on the far side of a table that takes up the majority of the internal floor space with the figure sitting opposite them all. Once everyone has sat the figure removes their helmet and places it on the table in front of them, then speaks.

“You asked earlier if I was the Void Hunter, lucky for you I am. Now you look like you’re not from around here, and I mean really not from around here. So where are you all from?”
“First we are members of the Shin’ya guild, and we’re all from another world. In that world, this one is just our creation and nothing much more than that.”
“Nice to meet you all, I assume you have names?”
“Yeah we do, I’m Arano.”
“I am Ami.”
“The pleasure is ours, you saved us after all, my name is Aromi.”
“Hi, I’m Lekly.”
“Yo, I’m Lexa.”
“And I am the leader, Ilev.”
“Once more it is nice to meet you all. You know me as the Void Hunter, but my name is Isla, what brings you this deep into the forest?”
“One of our friends was taken by a void beast, so we need information on travelling inside the void and on how to kill the beasts that live within.”