RWBY: Welcome to Lodestar (A Fate Core System RP) - Game Thread

[EmperorZuma]

What sounded like an explosion echoed down the valley, quickly getting Schwarz's attention. As he looked to the direction of the plume of dust that came up, he decided it would be best to take cover and see what emerged.

After waiting just a few minutes, the answer came in the form of another potential applicant, a relatively large figure with a face that was worse for wear. For a moment, Schwarz considered revealing himself, but the boy's appearance, combined with the cacophonous entrance he made, caused Schwarz to think twice. Upon reconsidering the issue, Schwarz decided that it would probably be best for him to keep his distance, at least until he could be sure the walking lump wasn't going to be a hindrance.

However, as the newcomer walked further down the valley, Schwarz had an idea. Surely, he was built to take a load of punishment, if that landing was any indication. With that in mind, Schwarz decided it would be best to shadow him, to use him as a shield against any Grimm that might be waiting to ambush people coming down the valley.

Acting with surprising subtlety, even to himself, Schwarz followed a short distance behind the other prospective student, leaving no indication that he was even there.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

At the ceremony, Chesshie drifted in out, barely paying attention to what the professor was saying... until there came a mention of a launch? The next thing she knew, the back of the ship was opening, and suddenly it was clear

Are they serious?! She thought, panicked. I didn't sign up for this! The next thing she knew, she was lying through the air, heading downwards at an alarming rate!

As she fell, Chesshie began to panic even more, and in desperation, reached out with her Semblance...

The next thing she knew, she was standing on a stark white rock in the middle of the Ivory Wastes, having apparently reformed herself on the relatively safe cliff.

"Well, that was something," she said to no one in particular. "...And now I'm talking to myself. Great."

Glancing around, she could see that there seemed to be a rough cliff slide that could be climbed down. "Better get going, it's not like I have anything else to do..."

Spoiler: Roll

Semblance Roll= 3]

Spoiler: OOC

Yeah, sorry about my lack of action, vacation and all. I'll be trying to post as much as I can, though, Don't want everyone else to get ahead!

 

[Drummodino]

When Matt and Elva returned to the dining hall they were quickly swept in different directions, some wiry old geezer dragging Elva reluctantly away. He left her in the middle of the crowd, the hall was packed to capacity now and she didn't recognize anyone around her. Feeling a little nervous, she distracted herself by trying to guess the animal type of a faunus boy in front of her. Settling on squirrel, she turned her attention to the stage as a man who introduced himself as Headmaster of Lodestar Academy addressed the crowd of hunter and huntresses-to-be.

[hr]

"...Follow the Lodestar and thrive."

Elva nodded fiercely as she turned to face the gaping opening in the side of the ship. It had hardly been the most motivating of speeches, yet she was determined to get through this and show them what she was made of. She was fighting for herself and for her brother - nothing was going to get in her way. As students rocketed off into the open sky she crouched down, readying herself. Finally the professor snapped her fingers and they were catapulted out, wind rushing through Elva's hair and roaring in her ears.

"WAAAHHOOOO!!"

Elva whooped with delight as she fell, delighting in the feeling of freedom as she fell towards the wastes below. This was what being a huntress was all about! Sparks crackled up and down her body as she activated Labrys, locking it into axe configuration. As the ground rushed up to meet her she activated the boosters, sending her spinning like a top and slowing her descent. She still hit the ground hard though, energy exploding out from her harmlessly. Feeling slightly dizzy, she shook her head to clear it.

"Piece of cake! Alright time to find Matt, or anyone really, and head... that way," Elva thought, pulling out her scroll and checking the compass. "I'd really rather not wander around here by myself..."

Hearing a yell from above her, she looked up.

"Oh there's someone, excellent! Wait... he's going awfully fast!

The white-haired girl watched with a mix of horror and fascination as a young man hurtled out of the sky screaming, wincing as he smashed into the ground about fifty meters away from her location.

"Woah... Somehow I don't think he's coming along. Hopefully I'll find someone else to team up with..." she thought, taking off in a steady jog northward.

 

[Terratina.]

Jet stood there with arms crossed as Lodestar Hunter Academy Headmaster Blanc Barca gave his speech. The Owl Faunas found himself solemnly nodding along to it. Fight or die, sink or swim... Other academies would have just concerned themselves with churning out more and more Hunters and Huntresses to combat the ever-growing threat of the Creatures of Grimm. But not Lodestar - quality over quantity. The academy's sentiment resonated with Jet; he was going to like it here, Faunas-hating scumbags or no Faunas-hating scumbags. No more hiding in fear. However, the teenager was getting ahead of himself, the order from Professor Francis barely registered until the screams from some scared students shook him of that daydream.

'Get it together, feather-brain.' Jet quickly chided himself as Professor Francis walked over to his group.

Jet took one deep breath as he awaited the snap of her fingers and being flung into the sky. He was about to take the first step towards fulfilling his dream; mere seconds away from it, in fact. Fight or die, sink or swim, fall or fly... He wouldn't falter no matter what he would have to do to prove his worth. To think a little while ago the same determination was used against humans during his time with the White Fang, to the point where it turned into zealotry. However, that had faltered, blown to bits like those anti-Faunus establishments and the unfortunates who had been too near to them. But it had been reborn in the desire to be a Hunter, the desire to help regardless of species, and as he was launched into the sky, he continued to carry that resolution in his heart.

Spoiler: Time To Fly

The first thing that came into the Owl Faunus's mind was the irony that he couldn't fly. Still, flight would be somewhat of an unfair advantage in the situation away. As Jet flew, he took in his surroundings: endless sky above and the Wastes below, one black blob stuck out of all the pale yellow. Jet knew what to do. He pressed a button and the Dirge transformed into a trident, the tripod of the sniper rifle slid up the barrel and then turn ninety degrees when it reached the end of it. The rest of the sniper rifle folded inwards, creating a decent shaft for the trident while the trigger also turned ninety degrees, ensuring the rifle-trident could be fired with ease. Bringing his arms - and the trident - in, Jet directed himself towards the black blob. He had to admit that the feeling of the wind rushing past was simply exhilarating, and the prospect of taking an Ursa Minor out made it even more so.

Though Jet simply couldn't enjoy it forever. It was time.

With both arms, he brought the trident above his head and lunged.

The trident made short work of the Creature of Grimm and with a backflip, Jet pulled it out and landed on the dusty floor.

He wasted no time in moving on.

 

[Arcanist]

As Matt continued on his way through the valley, he couldn't shake the strange feeling that something was watching him. He'd dismissed it at first as nerves, but the sensation continued to nag at him, soon coming to encompass most of his conscious mind.

He paused for a moment. Something was very, very off. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he'd learned by now to trust his instincts in these matters. He almost motioned to speak, to call out if anyone was there, but his voice caught in his throat as he realized what had him on edge.

The valley was silent. Completely, utterly silent. No sounds of baying, roaring, stomping, or any of the other violent actions Grimm were famous for. Not a peep of combat in the distance. No sounds of gunfire, Dust casting, or anything else of the sort.

Matt narrowed his eyes, wheeling his head about. This place was supposed to be a warzone by now. The only Grimm he'd encountered so far was the Ursa Minor he killed in his landing - at the very least, he should see some Nevermore chicks flying about to inspect the carcass. But the skies were clear, just like the valley below.

He squinted and scanned the valley again, just to be sure. The glare the sand cast back from the morning sun was dazzling - blinding, even - but he could make out enough to confirm that it was still... wait.

Straining his eyes further, he noticed that the wind was unusually heavy in the valley below, kicking sand up meters high and tossing it about in a great storm. But between tiny veils of dancing grit, he picked out tiny flashes of black and red starting to burrow its way out of the ground.

'Oh shit.'

The wind suddenly cuts out, and the storm of sand suddenly drops in the valley below.

Matt's blood freezes in his veins.

Before him is the single largest horde of Grimm he's ever seen, emerging from the stone and sand. Hundreds, at least. Maybe even thousands.

'Never underestimate the low cunning of the Creatures of Grimm. Though they seem simple beasts, they are much more - predators.' The words of his instructor from Sanctuary rang in his ears as he chided himself for thinking for even a moment it would be this easy.

Then a great number of the horde turned their head his way, baring their fangs.

'Oh SHIT.'

The cover provided by the cliff wall was no longer sufficient - not even close. Matt started off in a sprint towards the canyons to the north, keeping his head low. He vaguely noticed another detachment of Grimm bolt off and head to an outcropping of rock behind him, but if they'd found some other target or if they were merely trying to loop around and cut him off he couldn't tell.

Right now, his first priority was escape. There was no way he could possibly fight all of these monsters alone.

Spoiler: OOC

A similar situation is forming with everyone in the party - the Great Grimm Horde is upon you, one way or another.

I'd recommend the buddy system.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Chesshie carefully made her way down the cliffs - using her Semblance every so often to help her descent - until her feet touched the ground. From there, it was a long walk to the Academy, and would have been considered boring... if not for the Grimm lingering around.

Case in point, the Death Stalker that emerged from the wastes, intending to make Chesshie its' next meal. The Faunus girl got into a fighting pose, while pulling out her weapon and letting it take it's full size and shape.

"Alright", she said, "Let's get started."

The giant scorpion attacked with its' stinger tail, but she dodged it nimbly. "Hah, missed me, ugly!"

Spoiler: Roll:

-4 + 3 athletics skill + 2 Invoke = +1
Will edit if I have to.

 

[Drummodino]

Running across a wide plateau, Elva scanned her surroundings as she dodged and jumped over fissures and boulders. Students had stopped falling from the sky now and the wastes were deathly quiet, the only sounds Elva could hear were her own breath and footsteps.

"Where are all these Grimm? I thought this place was supposed to be teeming with them... Guess I got lucky!"

Jumping off the plateau's edge, Elva rolled to break her fall. Large rock formations dotted the area, severely limiting her line of sight. As she rounded one of the largest mounds, she skidded to a halt as a loud roar reverberated through the area. As she looked around cautiously an Ursa bounded around a corner, lunging for her throat!

Spoiler: OOC

Athletics roll = 5 (won with style)

It was too slow for Elva though. Throwing herself backwards she twisted in the air, dodging the swiping claws and landing gracefully, Labrys at the ready. The Ursa, having overextended it's reach, fell flat on it's face.

"Haha, did you see that ugly? Now prepare to face..."

The rest of Elva's taunt died in her throat as a whole pack of the beasts rounded the corner, roaring and charging for her! Fear flashed through her and she suddenly wished very much that her brother was with her.

 

[Arcanist]

Matt's thoughts raced as he desperately sprinted along the cliffside wall. The horde of Grimm was starting to gain on him, including a group breaking off to circle around his front - if things continued at this pace, he'd be completely hemmed in.

He grits his teeth in frustration. As much as he tries to will them to move faster, his legs stubbornly refuse the order, sending back only a sensation of weight and stiffness. 'I hate weighing 800 pounds.'

He glances out to his front, terror and panic starting to well up in his stomach. The horde was on the verge of finishing its hemming maneuver. He didn't have much time left - much longer and they'll be upon him, with no way out. His eyes come to rest on another group of Deathstalkers burrowing out from underneath the waste sands. A thought strikes him - there had to be a system of burrows and tunnels underground to support such movement.

His current course was a dead end - time to try something reckless.

Matt forces himself to a halt, sliding briefly across the desert sands. He brings his hands together, Irdenkrieg palmed against his right, and takes in a deep breath. His conciousness comes to rest on a gentle thrum of Aura - the spirit of Remnant itself, welling up at his feet.

Pulsing. Churning. Waiting for release.

He brings Irdenkrieg into the ground, digging its tip roughly a foot into the alabaster stone. Matt closes his eyes - his focus has to be perfect for this to work.

'I am as the mountain.' He's dimly aware of roaring and baying at the edge of his conciousness, but he forces the sensation from his mind's eye.

'Hewn of stone and forged of metal.' Something akin to an electric shock rushes through his body as Aura channels through Irdenkrieg and into his arms. His focus nearly falters at the sensation, but he presses on, raising his right leg.

'Only by my will shall I be broken.' The current of Aura concentrates into his raised leg, causing it to grow numb.

'Let the world quake and crack in my wake.' The held breath is released, and the leg rockets downwards.

A deafening crash can be heard as Matt's leg makes contact with the alabaster stone, accompanied by a lurch as he realizes his body is no longer on steady ground. His eyes fly open, startled at the sudden commotion. They widen further as they focus and he fully comprehends the breadth of his handiwork.

A massive fissure extends from Matt down half the length of the valley, throwing up a tremendous wall of stone in its wake - cleanly cutting off the contingent of Grimm intent on encircling him. In all directions from his position, the ground is broken and churned, as though a massive bomb had gone off where he now stands, tossing about debris and making the terrain loose and unsteady. Further off in the distance, he can see cracks beginning to form in the rock - telltale signs of collapsed tunnels deep underground.

The Grimm, for their part, appear rather startled at this sudden shuffling of their native terrain. Matt takes their confusion as an indication he should make a hasty but measured exit, yanking Irdenkrieg from its sheathe of stone and continuing his sprint north toward the canyon pass.

 

[EmperorZuma]

As Schwarz continued to shadow the applicant that crashed down earlier, he started to notice that the floor of the valley was acting very strangely. Soon, it became clear what was going on, but by then it was too late to act preemptively. The Grimm Horde emerged and began to divide itself, part of it heading for the person Schwarz was following, and another towards Schwarz himself! "You've got to be kidding...!"

Since the entire point of following the stranger was moot, Schwarz broke out in a run to escape his pursuers, a number of Grimm that even Schwarz doubted he could take. Fortunately, at about the same time, the filthy student struck his weapon into the earth, causing it to quake.

As the ground started to churn, Schwarz saw his opportunity and jumped on top of a sturdy rock. Forcing it down, Schwarz rode the stone over the shifting earth, jumping to another stone and continuing the process until he had "surfed" over the area that the stranger brought down. He had also caught up to the stranger, now just some steps behind. Up ahead, the plateaus that formed the valley came together to form a narrow pass, a perfect opportunity to keep the horde at bay.

"Hey!" Schwarz shouted ahead at the young man, deciding to skip over the awkward fact that he was following him. "You wanna try that again?" In case the other prospective student hadn't noticed it yet, Schwarz pointed to the pass ahead.

 

[Redryhno]

The Grimm horde appeared as Di had situated herself North toward Lodestar and had been walking for a short time. The first thing she heard was the tell-tale grunt and the charging of hooves on stone from behind her. Turning, she barely had time to jump into the air before two of the Grimm dashed past where she had been standing. Landing on the edge of a rock, she was forced to roll before jumping back to her feet. Activating her Icarians, she readied for the next charge of the Boarbatusks, and charge they did.

Short, sharp breaths, and the Faunus girl struck out with all her might at the tusks of one of the beasts, causing it to overbalance and fall onto it's side, though the inertia of the blow took her with it, she regained enough of her stability to strike out with both Icarians into its fleshy underside. Rolling over the body of the dead Grimm, she got to her feet and threw her arms back behind herself, swinging them back out at the now turning Grimm, both changing their shapes as they flew out at the Boarbatusk,spinning end over end, the White Dust edges glowing, slicing through one tusk before returning to Diamond.

Both returning, Di quickly caught both in unison before immediately blocking the tusks of the Grimm with the weapons, being thrown to the side, cutting her brow open on a rock before regaining her footing and blocking another attack from the beast, saving herself from being thrown again and smashed the Grimm with a backhand of her gauntlet and tripping the Boarbatusk onto it's side, giving herself another opportunity to quickly end another Grimm life.

Allowing herself a few seconds rest against the body of the Grimm, she gasped a few breaths before jumping to her feet, finding North again, and began jogging towards Lodestar again, doing her best to avoid the Grimm groups, she knew she couldn't fight them all, she was still in the process of being accepted into this school after all.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

(( Amber ))​

Not long after Amber started her sprint across the white sands of the Ivory Wastes did she see a large dust cloud making it's way in her direction, and it only seemed to get bigger. She slowed, but didn't stop, pulling off her headphones and slipping them back into her vest after folding them. Being a desert, sandstorms weren't unheard of, but something seemed off about that dust cloud. She could see specks of black, white, and some red. Something was making that dust cloud.

When the sand abruptly seemed to drop, she realized why. A massive horde of Grimm were stampeding her way, and she could pick out a large variety of the beasts. She nearly stopped to gape, but instead flicked her wrists to extend her whips.

"What kind of sadistic initiation is this?" she asked herself quietly.

However, when three of the beasts closed in on her ahead of the others, a pair of Beowolves and an Ursa, she ground to a halt. As soon as one of the Beowolves lunged forward, she spun, lashing out a whip to grab it in midair before making it slam into the other two.

The result was one stunned Ursa and a pair of dead Beowolves that lay limply on the white sands. With a grin, she pulled her whip from around her former flail and leaped up on top of the Ursa. Within a few moments, her whips were lodged into the Ursa's mouth while she held on to both ends, and she gave the side of the evil bear a savage kick.

"Come on, wake up! It's time for me to get to school." she said, before urging it to move, calling out, "HI-YO BLACKIE, AWAY!"

The Ursa, not quite knowing what to do, simply barreled north, with the Faunus girl on it's back whooping and grinning madly. After all, it was her first day at Lodestar: May as well arrive in style.

 

[EmperorZuma]

The stranger responded quickly the Schwarz's direction, simply saying "Take the left side!" before running off to the right, to take down that side of the pass.

Schwarz, however, saw no sense in it. "If I wanted to spend the effort I would just bring the whole thing down myself!". Upon that thought, Schwarz considered his situation. Simply running through the pass wasn't an option, as the bottleneck would do little to slow the Grimm and the problem they were facing now would just persist. Leaving the rugged strange to just bring down half the canyon would not buy enough time. Finally, combining their strengths to bring down the whole of the pass left too much up to chance. Sure, the brute was probably strong enough, but if he wasn't, then they'd be just as screw; and even if he succeeded, he might lack the proper finesse to keep the pass from just coming down right on top of them.

So, Schwarz made a choice: he would bring the whole thing down himself.

Closing the gap between himself and the pass, Schwarz gauged his target. The walls were high, and had no doubt weathered centuries of erosion from the harsh desert climate. If he was going to do it, he was going to need to give it his all. To that end, he flicked his wrist on the handle of Blooming Anemone, causing the chamber to cycle and connect to a new Dust Crystal, a pristine one of the highest quality, if Schwarz could not use this to bring the pass down, then his failure would be absolute.

Coming up on the pass, Schwarz gave a quick signal to the stranger, beckoning him to abandon his plan and come through the pass. "Can't have him smash the pass wide open again just to avoid being killed..."

Finally, as he moved through the entrance to the pass, Schwarz held his sword against the rocks as he ran, channeling the power of the Dust into the ground. The power forced pillars of stone to form and thrust themselves into the crags above, pushing against them and forming fractures in the walls of the pass. Then, following up, Schwarz gave a final slash against the ground behind of them, forcing a deep gash to form. The earthen gash then spread upward, making the largest cracks within the walls.

In no time at all, gravity did the rest. Large pieces of the canyon wall broke away and fell down into entrance, sealing it shut. Fortunately, both Schwarz and his "compatriot" had made it to the other side.

 

[hiei82]

Jade​

Jade continued to sneak her way through the many crags toward Lodestar. She'd seen the massive arm of Grimm but they'd not seen her yet. As such, she planned to slip through their ranks through stealth and avoid the problem in it's entirety. However, her plans changed when she heard a voice on the other side of a pillar. "Haha, did you see that ugly? Now prepare to face..." the voice said before falling silent.

Curious, Jade climbed over the rock between them and glanced out at what was going on. She saw another woman - short and in a blue combat-skirt. Beyond her was the small army of Grimm and next to her was an Ursa Minor flat on it's face. The small army of Grimm were clearly aware of the girl's presence. Jade pulled out her bow and an explosive arrow and readied a shot into the army before stopping herself; she'd run out of arrows and dust long before she could defeat an army.

Still, she couldn't leave the girl to face an army by herself either. Without other obvious option, Jade took the second route and altered her aim to a nearby boulder. If she could get the shot right, she could drop the rock in a bottleneck and hopefully head off the Grimm before they arrived.

As Jade pulled back the cord of her bow, she realized the perfect shot would be next to impossible, in part because of just where the girl stood. Still, between a near impossible shot and a slaughter, she'd chance the near-impossible. As soon as she loosed the arrow, she knew it was off course. Reacting on instinct, she jumped down toward Elva, wrapped an arm around her, and pulled her around the corner. At the same moment, the explosive arrow detonated, bringing down a large amount of rubble between the pair of women and the horde.

As the ground shook from the explosion, Jade felt a sharp pain her her ankle from a small rock slamming into it at incredible force and speed. "Damn it! If it wasn't for this little-" Jade screamed in her head as the pair rolled into the newly formed cover. Once the ground had stopped shaking and the pain had reduced from a sharp unbearable to a slightly dulled unbearable, Jade spoke up. "What in the hell were you thinking, just standing there staring at the Horde! Do you have a deathwish!"

Spoiler: OOC

Notice check for +2 to Combat: success at serious cost - Injury
Acrobatics to pull Elva and herself into cover: success at serious cost - Angry with Elva

 

[Drummodino]

Elva stared as the horde barreled towards her, a terrifying sight to behold. She gripped her axe tighter and prepared to fight, only to be interrupted by appearance of another girl. Loosing an arrow from her bow, she jumped down and grabbed Elva with the canyon exploding behind them. With the Grimm blocked off by debris, it seemed she had bought them a moment of respite.

"What in the hell were you thinking, just standing there staring at the Horde! Do you have a deathwish!"

Elva looked at the girl in surprise. She was taller than Elva with darker skin, and was grimacing in pain. Elva realized that she'd taken a blow to the ankle, it looked rather painful.

"Sorry, I was just stunned is all! Here, let me help you with that," the shorter girl said, looking around for something to splint the ankle with. Finding a suitably sized bone, she cut a strip from her cape with Labrys and attempted to bind it to the girl's ankle.

"Let's see now, how did Matt do this before? Oh yea, that's right..."

Spoiler: OOC

Crafts roll = 0 + 2 (invoked Sibling Bond for one Fate Point) = 2 (won)

Finishing her handiwork, Elva looked on it pleased. Hopefully that would prevent any long term damage from occurring.

"How's that?" she asked, smiling at the other girl. "Thanks for the help back there by the way, I would probably have been Ursa lunch if you hadn't showed up. Oh, and my name's Elva, nice to meet you!"

Spoiler: OOC

Rapport roll (bolstering Jade's mood) = 4 (won)

 

[hiei82]

"Sorry, I was just stunned is all! Here, let me help you with that," the girl said in reply. Jade could only shake her head; being stunned in battle was a major weakness. Already she was regretting saving the girl from the blast.

Of course, this feeling began to settle as the other girl set to work wrapping up her ankle. Watching her work, Jade could see she at least had some idea of what she was doing. "At least she isn't entirely hopeless." Jade was forced to admit. Before long, the girl finished. "How's that?" she asked, smiling at Jade. "Thanks for the help back there by the way, I would probably have been Ursa lunch if you hadn't showed up. Oh, and my name's Elva, nice to meet you!"

Jade opened her mouth, intent on telling her she really WOULD have died, but caught herself at the last moment. Elva was really just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She wasn't perfect, but then she was still a student of Grimm hunting so some inexperience was to be expected. Jade huffed for a moment and stood up carefully; testing the brace as she went.

It seemed to be holding and Jade could feel her movement wasn't too restricted. She still felt some dull pain, but that wasn't so bad. "Seems good... thanks." she offered before continuing on. For some reason, the name seemed familiar but Jade couldn't place it. "I'm Jade." she added, reluctantly holding out her hand. "and I think we should find a way around that horde now." she offered with a sigh.

"Two armed people are better than one." she forced herself to admit.

 

[Terratina.]

As the morning neared the afternoon, the heat grew in intensity. It was too hot, too bright and too sandy but Jet trudged on; to give up would be to give up on his dream, after all. After a few steps, the Owl Faunus stopped and lifted a hand up to his brow, trying to see past the heat and into that maelstrom of sand. Specks of black and red could be seen with all of that mess of brown and yellow. The rumbling simply confirmed that it wasn't just any ordinary sandstorm.

That, right there, was the biggest horde of Grimm Jet had ever seen.

He had to act fast, they would be upon soon. Jet looked around, what shadows there had been were being swiftly swallowed up by the sun, not enough room for some teenager to pop into. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. However, Jet remained calm and thought back to his White Fang training, "Use the environment to your advantage." Shadows were out, and the flat wastes that lay before the Owl Faunus offered no cover. Jet took a deep breath.

An idea hit him, 'This is either going to go well, or not at all.'

He ran not away the Great Grimm Horde but towards it. Spotting a few Ursa Minors, he leapt, using the momentum from the running start. Jet landed on one, grabbed its fur and attempted to stand up. No doubt the Ursa Minor wasn't enjoying any of Jet's meddling. But, as soon as he found his balance, the Owl Faunus was soon on the back of another and then another and then another, finding the whole thing to be relatively simple once one got used to it. Still, he couldn't hop between Creatures of Grimm forever.

'There!' Jet internally exclaimed as he spotted a way out...

 

[CrazyGirl17]

As the Deathstalker prepared to strike, Chesshie made her move.

She managed to slip behind the giant scorpion as it tried to strike her again, and struck a blow against its head with her mallet. As the creature staggered, Chesshie smirked in triumph. "How'd you like that, huh?!"

But her assumed victory was short-lived when she heard what sounded like thunder on the horizon. Peering into the distance, she could see a duststorm cloud approaching... that seemed to be caused by an enormous cloud of Grimm.

A bead of sweat ran down the side of her face. "Oh you have got to be kidding me..."

Spoiler: Rolls

-1 + -1 + 0 + 1= -1 + 4 (Burglary, changing burglary for stealth)
0 + 1 + -1 + 0 + 2(Combat) = 2

 

[Texas Joker 52]

(( Amber ))​

As Amber continued to ride past pockets of the larger Grimm horde, she occasionally checked on her Scroll to make sure she was still going the right way, kicking the sides of the Ursa she rode whenever it started to go off-course. Really, having a riding animal for at least part of it made the initiation a little easier, so she certainly wasn't going to complain too much about her current ride having a mind of it's own about where to go.

She was perfectly content to simply ride the entire way to Lodestar on her own until she heard an explosion to her right, and glanced over. A trail of smoke and dust rose from a series of crags and outcroppings of rock that had a group of Grimm pressing forward. Turning the Ursa around, she kicked it once to make it go faster, hoping to get to whoever was there in time before the Beowolves, Ursae, and who knew what else caught them.

With a leap, the Ursa she rode on bounded into a gap between some of the higher rock walls and landed in front of a pair of girls, one of which she recognized.

"Hey girls. Need a ride to school?" she asked smoothly as she leaned forward above the evil bears head and smiled.

The Ursa, on the other hand, started to snarl, only stopping when Amber slapped it's muzzle. She then offered that same hand to help the new girl up.

"Come on, lets get out of here. We don't want to be late on our first day, do we?" she pointed out.

 

[Terratina.]

...The Owl Faunus had chosen his course of action. As the Great Grimm Horde continued onwards, somewhere sensible to jump and land to came into sight. Jet neared the front of the horde and then leapt off, sinking the Dirge into its target: a cliff face. He stopped to gather his breath then climbed it only to find some Faunus trying to bring down a Death Stalker of all things as he peeked above the cliff's edge - what in the hell was she thinking? The instructions were clear, "get to Lodestar", not go on a hunt!

Jet shook his head in disapproval, 'Extra credit isn't worth squat when you're dead.'

At least she was doing a brilliant job of distracting the Creature of Grimm, making it easier for the Owl Faunus to slip away from them like a fleeting shadow before the Sun's rays - as cowardly as that may be. However, simply slipping away somehow felt wrong, especially when it lead to abandoning a fellow Faunus. And so, Jet turned back to the dueling pair. The more selfish part of Jet told him it was a stupid choice, but he'd be damned before achieving a victory supported by corpses of innocents.

 

[Drummodino]

"Seems good... thanks."

The girl stood up and tested Elva's handiwork, thankfully it held together well. She held a hand out towards Elva.

"I'm Jade, and I think we should find a way around that horde now."

"I agree. I can't let my brother beat me to the school," said Elva, shaking Jade's hand and grinning. "Now... which way would be easiest do you think?" she asked, looking around their rocky surroundings. "I don't see any particularly appealing paths to be honest."

As she studied the little area they were stuck in, she jumped back in alarm as an unexpected Ursa jumped over a nearby wall. She almost swung her axe at it, restraining herself just in time as she noticed it was being ridden by another student!

"Hey girls. Need a ride to school?"

It was the goat-faunus from the cafeteria, the one who'd headbutted the racist bully! She was controlling the beast with some crazy looking whips, impressively keeping it under control.

"Perfect timing!" Elva exclaimed as she poked the beast's nose, quickly pulling her hand back as it snapped at her. "Hehe, this one is fiery."

Transforming Labrys into its light machine gun mode, she jumped up onto the bear and posed in what she hoped was a dramatic fashion.

"Onward to Lodestar! Come on Jade, let's go!"