Party List

Evie Lucian (Cassandra Bailey)

[Soul] : [Radiance]

11,000 / 11,000

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Aleister Demian (Jasmine Burch)

[War] : [Ebon]

11,000 / 11,000

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Fiona Woods (Evan Woods)

[Plate] : [Aegis]

11,000 / 11,000

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Hibiscus Jade (Marissa Harper)

[Arrow] : [Seeker]

11,000 / 11,000

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Mellody Softsong (Ashton Burch)

[Muse] : [Revel]

11,000 / 11,000

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Caoimhe Phadraig (Kieran Moor)

[Slayer] : [Tyrant]

11,000 / 11,000

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Firo Strix (Blake Walker)

[Mage] : [Invoker]

11,000 / 11,000

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Nyx Alaion (Zoe Fox)

[Shroud] : [Knife]

11,000 / 11,000

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Cassandra

Thankfully for Cassandra and Zoe, the teasing didn't last all that long. Once they had both said their piece and took turns to embarrass one another, they received the more or less expected heckling as the group made their way to [Gorias] to continue the raid storyline.

After having more than a week-long break, it seemed some changes had been made. Cass had always made it a point to change Evie's outfit regularly, so she was now wearing a sleek blue, skin-tight outfit that called to mind mermaids. The design had apparently been based on an in-game water god of some kind, with spikey fins around the shoulders and the like. It was a neat outfit, though not as cute as her standard fair.

Mellody and Caoimhe similarly changed outfits often, and had both returned with new choices as well. Mellody's outfits were always cute outfits that wouldn't look out of place on some kind of idol. Frilly dresses were common for her, as were sleeker, more girl-crush type looks. This time, she was in something a little more in between, with a cute top with frills around the cut off sleeves, and a simple skirt.

Caoimhe's outfits were usually all over the place, jumping between some of the girliest outfits available to big, chunky armor that looked hilarious on her small stature. This time, Caoimhe was dressed in a fairly standard look for her [Path], with her chest piece being a mix of leather and ring mail, with rough pants and a chain mail skirt. The look was a good one, though.

Everyone else generally kept the same vibe as always, even if they changed their individual pieces of gear. Zoe always kept Nyx in all black leathers, usually with a hood or cloak of some kind. Bicky always looked like a Tolkien-style fantasy elf with a bit of a nature theme and greens and browns. Firo always wore very comfy looking robes, and sometimes featured a big wizard hat or glasses. And then there was Aleister with the vampiric Elizabethan noble look.

Cass smiled at their completely mismatched group. "I wonder if we should try to coordinate during the PvP event?"

"Coordinate?"

"Yeah. Outfits." Cass explained. "We're so disjointed right now, I think it'd be cool to settle on a group theme or color or something."

"As long as we don't need to actually all wear a uniform, I'm not against it." Bisky said as she lead the way toward their next objective - toward the [Dagda's] house to speak with him

"I think either matching color schemes or a theme could be enough. Our current styles are split pretty down the middle with half fantasy, half…not." Firo said. "Fantasy is the easiest, given the sheer volume of potential options in the game, but trying to make more current outfits could be fun."

"I'd love to see Firo dressed like a professor of magic or something." Bisky said. "You've worn glasses before, and I'm pretty sure there are a couple tops that are blazer-like."

"There are enough options for it that we could all dress for school." Zoe said. "A couple teachers, mostly students, maybe an athletic outfit or two."

"Oh god, please no." Caoimhe said. "I get enough school at work, thanks."

"Don't college kids and professors avoid the whole high school look?" Aleister asked.

"The professor's look is a stereotype for a reason." Caoimhe said. "Admittedly, it's mostly because of a dress code, but you'd be surprised how many students dress like elementary and high school ones. I imagine it's ones coming from private schools with uniforms, though. They're too used to it."

"I've never noticed." Firo said.

"Maybe it's my own bias, then. Or where I live. But there's lots of young men showing up in button-downs and slacks in neutral, uniform-like colors. For young women, a nicer white top with a clean, neutral colored skirt is a little less common, but certainly not rare."

Bisky snickered. "Caoimhe, I think you might be stretching the term 'uniform' a little far if you're saying a blouse and a skirt immediately means they're in a school uniform."

"Not to mention, guys don't exactly have a lot of options for nice clothing." Fiona added. "A nice button-down and slacks are standard, but they're also basically the only option, unless you want to go with a polo and pants, but that's an image all unto itself."

"Rich kids."

"Bingo."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

There was some scattered laughter as the group walked up to the door of the [Dagda's] estate.

"Everyone ready?"

"Yup, let's get a move on. We're losing daylight here." Mellody said.

"Daylight? Bro, my blinds and curtains are shut tight. I don't want that shit in here." Firo joked.

"What're you, a vampire?"

"Nope, that'd be Aleister."

"Right, you're just a gremlin."

"That sounds about right." Firo agreed.

"Ha." The not-laugh accompanied the group as the made their way through the halls to the large, plant-filled room that they had originally met the [Dagda] in. He was still there, waiting for them, with the quest marker over his head.

When Bisky triggered the cutscene, Cass heard her friends mute in the chat channel and she followed suit.

"Welcome back," the [Dagda] said, turning from a pool of water that had collected in a basin within a tree trunk. "I've been keeping an eye on things; you don't need to inform me of what is happening."

On Cass's screen, Evie was front and center for her party as the leader, and she nodded.

"[Scathach] was correct. The [Unseelie Court] being involved on the [Fomorians'] side does, indeed, make this a measure more difficult."

After he spoke, Cass was given a few dialogue options, mostly centered on gathering more information. She went with "How are things looking for our scouts right now?"

"[Scathach] and her daughter are faring fine. Thanks to you and their new ability to fly, they are having an easy time keeping an eye on the retreating enemy. And it does seem like a true retreat, not an [Unseelie] trick."

"With the [Unseelie Court's] involvement, what is our next move?" was her next pick.

"I believe [Scathach] already suggested it to you, but you'll need to talk with [Áine] again. She must be informed, and it's likely she'll want to build her own defenses in the [Other World]."

Next was a new option after her last question, "What makes the [Unseelie Court] so dangerous?"

The [Dagda] chuckled. "Exactly what makes the [Seelie Court] so dangerous. Powerful magic. Dangerous illusions. Brutal trickery. Viciously intelligent." He paused, then added, "With the extra addition of being vengeful, destructive, and blood thirsty. At least with the [Seelie Court] you can expect trickery and pranks, but they're not nearly as likely to kill you."

"Great." Cass said out loud. "Sounds like more fights like Áine's are in our future."

"Do we have a way to contact [Áine]? Or should we just show up on her doorstep?"

"I can contact her, yes, assuming she isn't simply listening in to the conversation right now. It's something she would do."

Cassandra took a look over some of the other questions, but not a lot of them seemed particularly poignant or interesting, so her eyes fell on the new option that had appeared at the top of her list.

"[Áine]? You are listening, aren't you?"

The [Fae Queen's] laughter resounded in her ears through the headset then. "Yes, yes, I'm here. In spirit, anyway."

"You heard the situation, then?"

"I did. Please find your way here at your earliest convenience. And by that I mean immediately. We need assistance."

Her voice cut off abruptly after that, and the camera swung to the [Dagda's] face as his eyes widened despite having an otherwise placid expression.

"[Áine] doesn't usually make straightforward requests like that, let alone leave without a parting shot. I suspect the [Unseelie Court] is retreating here, but attacking there. It's not like they need to worry about us sending reinforcements, I suppose."

"We'll go. Obviously."

"Good. I don't know if you'll truly make a difference, but I'm beginning to suspect that if either we or the [Seelie Court] falls, things will be more dire than they already are. I wish you luck."

That ended the cutscene, leaving Evie standing in the verdant room with her party members, some still in the cutscene, some not. She idly jumped up and down, which got Zoe, Aleister, and Mellody hopping too. When the others exited their own cutscenes, they all joined in with the periodic hopping, until the whole group was doing it. At that point, everyone unmuted themselves.

"I guess we're off to see my queen?" Fiona laughed.

"Seems that way." Bisky said. "Firo, you got the port?"

"If we're ready to go now, yeah, I can open it up."

"Do it."

Cass watched quietly as Firo got to work digging through his list of possible teleport points trying to find the one that led us to [Áine's] castle courtyard.

"We don't have any idea what to expect when we get there, do we?"

"Nope."

"Is everyone still blind?" Zoe asked, and a chorus of yes's responded.

"All I've been spoiled on is that the fight is difficult." Firo said. "But I already shared that."

"True, you did." Caoimhe said.

"I wonder if we're gonna be drawn into a fight as soon as we port over there?" Aleister muttered.

"I don't think the game has ever just dropped into a fight like that, have they?" Mellody asked.

"Bro, literally the first raid fight dumped us on the docks and were like, "Go. Be free."" Fiona chuckled.

"Sure, but that was hardly being dumped into a fight. We were dumped into an instance. I think there's an important distinction." Mellody clarified.

"I'll be sure to tell the devs to make sure next time there's no walk between entering the instance and the fight." Caoimhe said, the eye-roll clear in his voice.

"Are y'all ready, or what?" Firo said, still waiting beside the [Fae Circle] that he had completed.

The pointless conversation died down after that as the party shuffled through the portal and into a loading screen as the game moved them to the [Other World].

"Gah, it's so dark in here. Nice portal, Firo." Caoimhe joked.

"Payback for you people wasting so much time." Firo said flatly.

A dumb joke popped into Cass' head and she grinned as she said, "Hey! Who's grabbing my butt?"

Without missing a beat, Zoe spoke up. "I mean…I can stop if you want me to."

Cass did her best to hold her laughter back as she aimed for a slightly more seductive voice as she responded, "No, keep going. I like it."

By that point, the entire team had loaded into the courtyard where Firo's [Fae Circle] was set to.

"Captain," Caoimhe said, affecting a gruff, soldier-like voice. "They're exhibiting signs of PDA."

"Copy that. Form up and stare at them until they stop." Bisky responded.

At her order, everyone set up their characters in the game to surround Evie and Nyx, staring inward at them. Alesiter had even gone as far as alternating between the /point and /laugh emotes, which had everyone following suit soon after.

"Nyx, quick, we need to escape!" Cass affected a panicked sound to her voice, ready to try to figure out how to make a daring escape from the situation.

Nyx, instead, just vanished from beside her in a puff of smoke. "I believe in you!" Zoe's voice faded out perfectly, like she was turning down in her in-chat volume, or perhaps pulling her mic away from her face.

"Ma'am, one of them got away!" Mellody said quickly.

"I'll track her down!" Firo said, quickly leaving the circle to chase after Nyx, who had run toward their quest marker inside the castle while invisible.

"Apprehend the other. We'll take her in for judgement." Bisky said, and Caoimhe, Fiona, Mellody and Aleister all moved in closer.

"What is this nonsense?" Cass asked through her laughter. "I can't joke with my girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend is confirmed, Ma'am."

"Copy. Take her in - partners aren't allowed." Bisky responded.

"Aren't half of you married?" Cass whined as she dutifully followed the procession around her walking toward their destination.

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