[Campaign]Summer BBQ

[Neko Koneko]

[Campaign]Summer BBQ
Requirements: None
Post Length: MAX 1,000 Characters per post
Alignment: Any
Level: Any
Cost: 0 GP

Rewards:
1000 GP + ??? bonus GP for creativity/character development/humour
1000 EXP + ??? bonus EXP for creativity/character development/humour
*Note: you'll only get a reward if you've posted at least 3 times in the Summer campaign*

Outline of Mission: Since the weather outside is good, the sun is bright and the atmosphere is pleasant, the local authorities of Hazelia has organised the biggest BBQ in Raelian history. Asides from the huge barbeque, there'll be lots of entertainment, like an outdoor swimming pool and other outdoor activities (up to your imagination what those'll be ;) ). Come and join the fun!

[ChristopherArmalite]

[Huh...didn't see this :mellow:
Incidentally, despite the weather being good in Rael (which I consider to be a matter of opinion, I like the rain thank you very much :3), it's actually raining over here]

After disappearing for a long time because of reasons unknown, Leon and Judas were found in a hotel room.
"Ugh, it's sooo hot!" Leon whined while licking a grape popsicle.
"You never were really good with the heat, were you? I remember you going out and playing outside in a storm back in the old days." Judas sighed
"Yeah, I like the rain...I wish it'd rain here...ugh..."
"Well, whatever, you can stay here if you want but I'm heading out for a bit, there's apparently going to be a huge party soon. I want to head out to the pool too..."

"Huh? But I thought you didn't like swimming that much?"
"Well, I don't dislike it. Besides, I'm not there to swim"
Leon sighed
"So basically you're there for"
"swimsuits" Judas flashed a thumbs up and a goofy grin.
Leon sighed once again.

"Fine, if you're going out, wait for me. If I'm going to die in this heat, I might as well die outside"
Leon entered the bathroom, changing his usual black clothing to a more summer-y light blue shirt and pants and left the hotel room with his brother, sighing once again at his dreaded nemesis, the heat.

[Mazeppa]

When Jacques was attacked in the large woods outside of Helios (See here (http://forums.ichigos.com/showthread.php?t=14641)), he returned home and healed from his wounds. With hope currently lost to getting to Bieritin, he felt he needed to hang out a little bit and join in the BBQ Festival across the way in Hazelia.

After his short ferry ride and walk to the city, he was happy to see a bunch of happy people eating, swimming and talking. Jacques was here for thinking time, not particularly to get into anything. That's not going to happen though..

"Hey! Youuu!"

A blonde girl came running at Jacques.

"Heeeeyy!!! She came right up to Jacques and grabbed his arm.

Jacques, currently wondering why this girl was yelling and screaming at him [not to mention he noticed she was quiiite a cutie] asked,

"Can I help you?"

"Wellll... maybe in a wayyy... just come over here and meet my friends!" She smiled largely and winked.

Just as any other guy who's getting attention from a nice looking girl would do, he would love to be invited with an entourage of beautiful, young women, therefore, he agreed to go...

But, are they really that beautiful?

[meim]

Palme held his extremely long barbecue skewer, he personally made, like a sword. He head towards the buckets of marshmellow gleefully. Then, he skewered about 40 marshmellows.

" I shall break the record for eating marshmellow!"He exclaimed.

Then, he pushed some people aside and started barbecuing his mega marshmellow creation. While waiting for his marshmellows to be done, he watched with some amusement as a bearded man with a silly smile was being dragged by a buxomly blonde woman.

[Neko Koneko]

"I wanna go swimming!"

"I don't. I want to eat meat. Lots of it."

"But I even brought my new swimsuit!"

Nariël looked at the two small pieces of fabric that were supposed to be a bikini.

"How the hell is that a swimsuit?"

Nariël looked around and suddenly spotted something that might persuade her sister not to go swimming after all.

"Look who's there sitting at the edge of the swimming pool eyeing all the girls who get out of the water?"

She pointed at Judas and Celes instantly put the two pieces of fabric away.

"Let's go eat. Hey, is that Leon over there?"

The two walked up to the barbecue where Leon was being miserable in the hot, sunny weather. Nariël, who was dressed in similar dark robes, settled down next to him. While Celes went out to collect meat, Nariël and Leon sat next to eachother complaining about how hot it was and what a nasty pervert Judas was, who was by the way still looking at girls in the swimming pool. Across the street a stranger was being dragged aroud by a blonde woman, and next to the barbecue was a young boy with at least 40 marshmellows on a long skewer, looking anxious for them to be ready.

[Spoonpuppet]

Lacha was out of breath by the time she reached the event. As usual, she had woken up late and was worried she would miss the occasion. She was very curious about what a "BBQ" would be like, and took a moment to take in all the sights, sounds and smells around her. Food was cooking over a large grill with several people surrounding it and holding their own skewers over the fire. Children and adults relaxed and played by the pool while others played games on the grass.

It was at this moment that Lacha was very aware that several strands of her hair were utterly out of place due to not having enough time to look at herself properly in the mirror, and she made a hurried attempt to organise her locks a bit better.

The food area looked a bit crowded, so she made her way towards the pool. She was definitely most comfortable when with water. As she walked, she wondered what "BBQ" stood for.

[ChristopherArmalite]

[Oh god, there's going to be a heat wave coming here shortly...expect Leon's whining about the heat to become more realistic in the near future XD]

"Can't we find some shade?" Leon sighed while sprawled out under a shaded area
"We ARE in the shade..." Nariël replied
"Aren't there any darker places?"
"You sound like a little kid, whining about the heat like that"
"I AM a kid!"
"You're 18..."
"Compared to you, I'm still a kid"
"We're only 5 years apart you know!" Nariël growled

Leon smiled. While it was possibly the heat driving him into insanity and poking at Nariël like that, he felt that after a sudden disappearance, it was good to be back with familiar faces and conversations such as these reminded him of the good memories back then.

"Must be nice, you two sound like siblings with the way you're bickering like that" Celes popped in, now back from her foraging mission.
"If not that, then lovers!" The little Nariël puppet climbed up on Celes' shoulder, snickering.
Nariël protested while Leon said nothing, probably too embarrassed to say anything.

Meanwhile, over at the pool, Judas set his sights on someone he hasn't seen before.
"My, my, who might she be?" His usual grin appeared on his face. He already effortlessly managed to charm a few of the women in the pool (except for the ones with their own ability to think ) and perhaps this lovely lady feels a bit lonely.
Judas, with unfounded confidence, approached the silvery-white wavy haired beauty.
"Why, hello there...you seem a little lost and I haven't seen you before. Are you new around these places?" Judas initiated a conversation, turning on his charms...while his Levian goddess stood in front of him with a deadpan expression, not saying a word.
"What's wrong, are you a shy type? You seem like one...y'know, my brother has a thing for those kinds of girls..." He chuckled.
Still, the mystery woman said nothing.

Over at the barbecue, Leon's ears twitched.
"Is that guy talking about me again?" He sat up, searching for his brother.
"What? Your brother's over there...looks like he's making someone uncomfortable again"
Leon sighed. While he usually left Judas to his own devices, he just couldn't help but looking at Judas' latest target...who seemed to be a mix of confusion, curiosity and trouble. With another sigh, he stood up and walked towards Judas.
"Hey Celes, look! Leon's going to play "knight in shining armor"" She laughed
"It's not like that!" He yelled out "Honestly, that guy should really learn how to hold back...making me walk all the way over to the pool in this heat..."

Appearing behind the Levian, Leon approached Judas
"I'm really sorry about this, miss...he's a bit...strange. Oh, I'm Leon, by the way" Leon turned to the woman, flashing one of the nicest smiles possible, so nice that flowers might bloom if not for the Summer heat. Nariël, looking from the sidelines noticed something interesting.
"Ohoho, looks like we have another one of [i]him in the making!"

[Well...I over did it. But all for the sake of keeping it moving? Now Spoony, what'll you do? :P]

[Spoonpuppet]

[Thanks, Chris :P]

Lacha was slightly taken aback by the sudden conversation from the two young men. She learnt that the more polite one was named Leon, and methodically stored the information in her mind.

"Nice to meet you, Leon. And you are..?" She turned to his friend.
"Judas!" He grinned, then leant a little closer. "But you can call me Judie."
"Judie..." she repeated, storing that information as well. There was a moment of awkward silence. Lacha thought these were moments one had to try to fill.
"Oh, I think a pet chicken we used to have in my home village was called Judie." She nodded. Judas raised an eyebrow in confusion and Leon gave a cough. Meanwhile a lady with wild, dark blue hair laughed heartily in the shade of a tree.
"Oh.. really..?" Judas replied while trying to keep the charm going.
"I think so. It was a long time ago since we ate it."
Leon turned away with muffled laughter.
Thinking this topic of conversation was going nowhere, Judas decided to talk about something else.
"So," he began, "I guess you're new here. Want me to show you around?"
There was another moment of silence while Lacha had a think, until she looked at him with an expression of realisation.
"Oh! I see now. You must be the BBQ!"

[Yup, I'm gonna call you "Judie", from now on.]

[Neko Koneko]

Judas didn't say anything. Neither did Leon. They just looked at the girl for a moment, not really knowing how to respond. Nariël on the other hand, had a very good idea of how to respond, as she was rolling on the ground laughing.

"Judas a barbecue, now that is just funny!"

Judas, being a professional, quickly regained his posture.

"No... I am not a barbecue, I'm..."

"...a pervert. I suggest you stay the hell away from him. Why don't you join us and I'll explain to you what a barbecue is."

Leon invited the girl to sit with them in the shadow of the tree. She seemed reluctant.

"I actually came for the swimming pool..."

"Trust me, you don't want to go swimming with that lech around." Leon replied, gesturing in Judas' direction.

The girl seemed to take it in for a moment, then she seemed to conclude that whatever a lech was, it must be a bad thing and she decided to follow Leon to join him, Nariël and Celes, who had just gotten back from one of the large grills with a large bucket of grilled meat. As they sat down to eat the meat, Nariël noticed that the guy she saw walking with the blonde girl earlier was still with her, although he didn't look too happy. He seemed like he was in a very awkward position or something, as if he'd rather get away from where he currently was. Then again, Nariël couldn't be sure from this distance.

[Spoonpuppet]

Lacha and Leon went over to the other two women sitting in the shade of the tree who were clearly enjoying themselves devouring their way through a bucket of meat.

"Rishooweetyoo" said Celes, who was too busy tearing some grilled meat off a bone with her teeth.

Nariël gulped down her food before scolding her sister. "She meant to say that her name's Celes and I'm Nariël."

"Don't worry, it's safe to sit down here with these two," said Leon jokingly, while Celes pulled a face.

Lacha and Leon sat on the grass and watched over the event, with people bustling about. Lacha tried to remember the new names - Leon, Nariël, Celes and Judie who was apparently a "lech".

" So that's basically what a barbecue is, just an excuse to cook and eat loads of meat." He laughed to himself while Celes gave an "mfph" of approval.

"Yeah, and they cook it over there," said Celes, pointing over to one of the grills.

Lacha noticed the flames in the cooking area and gasped.

"It's.. it's on fire!" And almost automatically she reached into her bag to grab her staff in order to cast a spell to douse the flames.

[Neko Koneko]

"Well, naturally, it's to..."

A torrent of water came over the barbecue and everyone in its near vincity.

"...roast the meat."

"You mean... it was supposed to burn?"

Nariël didn't say anything as instead of the barbecue, her eyes now burnt. Her wet hair stuck to her face, as did her wet clothes to her body. It wasn't any different for all the others that had been unfortunate enough to be near the waterfall that Lacha had created a few moments ago.

"My, that was refreshing..."

"That's one way of putting it."

Leon produced a careful laugh, which he cut short when Nariël practically stabbed him to death with a cold stare that seemed to have the sole purpose of piercing through his heart itself.

"I'll... go get some meat from one of the other grills."

"Screw this, I'm going to get some dry clothes.

And with that, Nariël walked off towards the inn, leaving the rest behind standing in a large pool of water.

"Erm... sorry?"

"WET T-SHIRT CONTEST!"

[meim]

" WET T-SHIRT CONTEST!"

Palme turned to see who yelled and saw a familiar pervert. With his mouth half-filled with mashmellow, Palme started warning, " Pervy man alert. Pervy man alert." He ran over pointing at Judas annoyingly. A few of the ladies that were drenched quickly walked away from Judas.

" Don't go.. don't."Judas wanted to chased after them.

Lacha did quite know how to react to the scene while Leon shook his head. Palme used his barbecue stick and jabbed Judas side. Judas turned to him. " Women hate you." Palme said very evilly and directly.

[Spoonpuppet]

Lacha felt her face turning red from embarassment.

"Don't worry about it," said Leon, trying to break the awkward silence. "They'll get it fixed up in no time."

Lacha thought she had better leave the food department alone for a while and returned to the poolside. Here she saw Judas sulking before he noticed her.

"Hey, you don't... hate me, do you?" he muttered.

"Of course not, Judie," answered Lacha. "You're a nice person."

She slipped off her boots and left them at the poolside; she found it easier to swim with bare feet. After the incident just now, a moment in the water would do her some good. Judas, seeing she was about to enter the pool, asked, "Aren't you going to wear a swimsuit?"

"No, it's not necessary." And she dived gracefully into the water without making even the smallest splash.

[random_tangent]

"Come on Vi, let's go swimming!"

Kyrian tugged her daughter along by the hand, smiling. The small child followed along as she normally did, calmly - she'd not quite inherited her mother's excitable nature.

"Unca Judie an' Unca Leon!" suddenly Violetta wasn't hanging on to Kyrian's hand, but had pulled free and run towards the pool at great speed. There was a huge SPLAAAAASHHHH as Judas was hit by a flying cannonball (or 4-year-old, in Vi's case, there really was not much difference) and sent flying into the pool.

Kyrian doubled over in laughter as Judas resurfaced, looking like a drowned rat, with Vi clutching onto his neck, giggling merrily.

"Hi everyone!" she laughed as she drew closer, taking in the drowned appearance of those hanging around the barbecue.

[Neko Koneko]

In the meantime, Nariël had returned with dry clothes. She was now wearing a long black skirt and a purple top. She looked at Judas who was floating in the pool and smirked.

"See you finally got your feet wet?"

Judas was still trying to get Vi off his back, when suddenly people started screaming. The next moment, the sound of an explosion shattered nearby windows and the local bookshop burst out in flames. A dark shadow moved over the square, and the sound of the explosion was followed by a large roar. Everybody looked into the air to see a large dragon fly towards the church tower, and landed on top of it, sending stone gargoyles and other parts of the tower falling towards the ground.

"Oh my, that's a big one..."

"I guess this barbecue party just got turned up a notch.."

[Abstract]

"How exactly do I get there?" She really didn't have much trouble asking for directions, really she just wanted to go swimming. With what money she had left she had bought herself a one-time use swimsuit. This was apparent to anyone, as she had no natural tan and her skin was already turning pink.

"Oh it's easy; just follow this road here until you pass a large church, then make a--"

The man's voice was cut off by a large explosion, and both him and Plune flinched in reaction. Several screams were heard nearby, and then another explosion. Plune looked up to see what was causing all of the havoc. It was now clear to her what church the man was instructing her to pass.

"Oh come on! I've been in Fohrenfeit for a day and there's a dragon!"

The man's face was by now completely drained of blood. He gaped at the top of the church without even yelling or screaming.

"Sir. Sir! Are you OK?!" Plune shook the man on the shoulders.

No response.

"Alright-y then. Hold my stuff for me please!"

Without another word between the two of them, Plune through her bag of towels and stolen beach toys to the man, which hit him in the face. (Not that he noticed, as he was still staring at the dragon.) She then took off to see if she could help anyone who was hurt in the explosions.

[Taemond]

Kolis awoke to the sound of people screaming; not a nice thing when you haven't had much sleep. Kolis stumbled out of bed, strapped his mask onto his face and walked out into the dining area of the inn.

"Innkeep! What's with all this..." . Kolis barely had time to finish his sentence when a large stone gargoyle came crashing through the roof of the inn.

"What in Infernia's name is going on in this town?"

Kolis stumbled outside and saw people everywhere, tables were getting overturned, people were screaming, running and in a mass panic. Kolis then heard a ferocious roar. He turned and saw a giant monstrosity upon the church tower.

"Curses! A dragon, here. Just when things were finally working my way....." Kolis then cut open the air with his knife, and began to draw darkness from the cut, readying and molding into a spell to be fired at the dragon...

[ChristopherArmalite]

Ugh, why now of all days?" Leon complained. "I don't even have my weapons here...I guess the best I can do is get everyone out of here"
Leon, who didn't carry weapons nor had the use of his abilities [maybe it's because I didn't finish my profile yet :P], could only round up the party-goers and bring them somewhere safe, or atleast .

"Hey, get out of the pool and bring Vi with you. Round up people and take them somewhere safe if they haven't already"
"I know I know" Judas replied
"Oh, and don't just round up women again...alright?" Leon joked
While Judas got out of the pool and gathered people, Leon went around and looked for people as well.

Meanwhile, the battle seemed to have started as explosions erupted in the dragon's general direction.

[meim]

Palme stared at the dragon on the top of the church tower. He had never seen such a creature, it was doing nothing much. The dragon looked down at the people who were running away from it. An weird man with a mask covering his whole face was preparing the dragon. Palme wondered if the man could even see through his mask.

" Are you hurt?"An elven lady asked him.

" No. Thank you."Palme replied cheerily. He was thinking about how after the dragon was killed, he might be able to snag some dragon hide to make a dragon puppet. The lady went away to tend some other people.

Palme went into the second floor of the building near the church and took out his slingshot. He aimed at the dragon's left eye and fired. The dragon noticed but it could only closed his eyes to minimise the attack. The hot metal ball struck the less armoured eyelid and left an ugly burn mark. The dragon roared tossing its head and its movement made the roof of the church crumble a little more.

" I will blind you surely next time!"

[Saber-Ryu]

"Gyaaaaahahahahahah!!! Now this is what I call as a BARBEQUE PARTY!!!" Vorel laughed hard. Seeing people running from the top of a house. She moved her eye to the dragon which is the real source of the panic.
"Stupid lizard, I thank you for this enjoyment! I'll pay you later!" as she bowed towards the roaring dragon on top of the churches tower. Vorel jumped down and stepped on the townsfolks heads as she make her way taking the leftover of the barbecue, which there are still so many of it, and take out a huge bag and put the barbecues inside it.

"There are still sooo many left! Gwahahahaha, now let's obtain more and more and more and moooore!!!" Vorel laughed again, she again jump to the houses roof and walk on it.

"Oh, one more thing..." Vorel summoned a shining wall, "BOM..." she take her staff up, swung it "BAAAARD!!!" and the shining wall exploded, sending missiles that hit the people under the houses.

Vorel laughed violently.

[aah... feels good, man...]

[Neko Koneko]

Suddenly, it started raining like mad. Vorel slipped on the wet surface of the rooftops and fell down into a puddle of mud.

"Ah... what the hell?"

As Vorel stood up she realised it wasn't actually mud she had fallen into, but something else that the dragon had left there not so long ago.

"Eeeew..."

"You smell."

"Eeew!"

"It burns my nose!"

Vorel swore under her breath as she left the scene. The dragon, being annoyed by the water falling from the sky, chose to do the same thing and left the village. It seemed like summer was over, and autumn had just arrived.

[Gonna reward people shortly, depending on the contents of your posts]

[Neko Koneko]

Alright, keeping in mind that only the people who posted 3 times or more get rewards, here's the final score:

(Name - Posts - Reward)
ChristopherArmalite - 3 - 1200 EXP/GP
Meim - 3 - 1300 EXP/GP
Neko Koneko - 5 - 1200 EXP/GP
Spoonpuppet - 4 - 1200 EXP/GP

Everyone gets 200 GP/EXP bonus, Meim gets an additional bonus because I just really loved the way Palme attacked the dragon (and his reaction to the attack failing)

Saber-Ryu, this is good for you :P If you got rewarded in this mission I'd also have shifted your alignment to Depraved. Lucky you.