The First Step | Request

Mission Name: Dark Souls Saga | Act 1: Undead Asylum Part 1
Mission Type: Scouting Mission
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Primary Goal: Explore the recently discovered archipelago and determine if there are any strategic advantages to be there.
Act Goal: Make it out of the Undead Asylum
Mission Goal: Light the first Bonfire
Description: After a rather incredible series of severe weather had plagued the Southern Islands of Water Country, a new archipelago appeared causing some concern and excitement among the nobility in the Daimyo’s court. Not wishing to risk his noble samurai as an expeditionary force, the Daimyo has instead issued this as a request to his loyal shinobi forces to discover any and all information about the archipelago.

In this first part of Act 1, the team is tasked with landing on the first island and locating the undead asylum. Upon discovery, the ground beneath will collapse leaving the group stranded within the Asylum itself. Locating an exit and beginning the cycle is the only way to escape the horrors within. Enemies are spread throughout the first halls of the asylum and only seem to want the explorers dead.

Undead Enemies x 6:

Payment: 30,000
Requirements: Can be completed with a group of Chuunin or as a standard Jounin+Genin Squad. Jounin may take this solo.

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The dark clouds overhead signaled the end of their journey as Kiyoko stood at the front end of the ship as it traveled closer to the enigmatic islands that had seemingly rose up out of the ocean over the course of a few weeks according to the report. While the storms that surrounded the island weren't necessarily anomalous themselves, the islands that had appeared had apparently not been charted on any map before, even going so far as before the Country of Water had even been founded. Such a fact astounded the many of the cartographers and historians of the court as they had wished to explore the island to discover its secrets, but without the ability to reach the island due to the harsh weather, they could only sit and wait as the request was sent out to the nearby village of Kirigakure to have them check it out. It had taken awhile for someone to actually take the mission, the thought of traveling to some uncharted island wasn't necessarily the most interesting thing that most people could think of, but also the thought of being stranded there because of the weather put even more people off.

Kiyoko herself almost didn't take the mission, but due to the fact that she needed the money after her month long hiatus meant that she had to do something to get back into shape. She was accompanied by a few other shinobi to the island as the Mizukage hadn't wanted to send just one ninja to the island and thus there were several groups who were involved in the scouting mission. She had one or two ninja with her in her group but she wasn't necessarily familiar with any of them aside from the young genin that she had been assigned. The younger ninja had been placed with her due to them being around for the chuunin exams and assuming the mission didn't take up the entire month, it was agreed that the mission would be good training for them as they wouldn't be in the village itself.

Ikomiki would peer out wistfully into the distance. Being on a ship wasn’t something she enjoyed. It was a necessary part of travel around this archipelago, and even if she hated it she could see the necessity of it. It wasn’t as if she was going to swim, after all. Ikomiki had signed up for this mission before learning it involved boat travel, but it was far too late to back out now. There was some strange shinobi from Kirigakure involved with this as well, apparently a Jounin from Kirigakure. Ikomiki had no opinions on it. She was just doing this for pay, the same reason that she assumed the other person was. There was nothing to say. As long as they could both do their jobs well, it would go fine.

The storms were a tad worrying though. She did hate the rain. If there was one thing that would make this even more unpleasant would be doing all this work while soaking wet. What a pain. Her ears would fold flat to her head just thinking about it. It was natural that cats didn’t like getting wet, but that seemed to be impossible in a country like this. Unfortunately she hadn’t bought an umbrella or anything along those lines, so she would just have to deal with it. Once the boat docked, or whatever it was going to do, Ikomiki would wait for instructions from the Jounin that was accompanying her.

The trip would continue without issue up until the ship reached the edge of the storm. The roiling waves tried their hardest to toss the ship and it's precious cargo underneath, but with due diligence from the captain and the few sailors aboard, none of them save for a few unlucky souls were tossed overboard. Throughout the chaos various orders were shouted out over the howling winds and striking rain. The ninja scattering as their presences were no longer needed. Many rushed towards the lower decks where they would be shielded from the rain, but as she did a rather large wave had made its presence known to the inhabitants of the ship just before it washed overboard taking several of the ninja and sailors with it. Caught unawares, Kiyoko herself was one of many thrown over the ships railing, tossed and rolled beneath the waves and carried further towards the island along with the others, it was only by grace of a miracle that she could survive. But as the inky black of the waves seemed to drag her deeper, a light began to shine and the water began to calm before all would finally go dark.

She would awaken sometime later on top of a stone structure, dazed and confused on how she got there. Her clothing was still drenched from the water, and after coughing up a few lungfuls of water, she surmised that whoever or whatever had brought her up here, had dragged her there literally from the depths. Ever grateful however, she would sit quietly if only for a moment to catch her breath.

Ikomiki would cough, struggling for air. She had just woken up, and now that she has she was doing her best to steady herself and get her lungs working again. Inevitably she would cough, hacking up the seawater that had gotten into her mouth and throat. Everything inside her burned. Her lungs, throat, and stomach. After being thrown overboard she had nearly drowned in that storm. Ikomiki was a cat after all, she wasn’t exactly the best swimmer. At some point when struggling for air among the waves she had fallen unconscious. This normally would have just been the end of someone’s life, but apparently the heavens above had smiled down on Ikomiki.

She awoke on some sort of stone structure, set out to dry in the sun like a wet piece of laundry. Quickly she would scramble to her hands and knees, although it would take her a moment to catch her breath still and not vomit. It would only take a moment for her to notice another though. A tall girl with hair as red as fire. Ikomiki would stare at her hazily, wondering for a moment if she was just a hallucination.

“Hello?”

The sound of a young girl calling out to her caused her to turn in the persons direction. Seeing the young genin she was tasked with, she let out a ragged sigh of relief, a bit of water drooling from her mouth as she hacked up a few more droplets from her lungs. Slumping forward, she would wave the young girl over while gathering her bearings and looking about the structure to see if she could see any identifying traits. It was actually incredible that they were apparently so far from the coast that she could see. Another thing of note was the missing storm, or rather the lack of indication that there had ever been a storm in the first place. Aside from the water coming from her and genin, the stone structure appeared to be bone dry. That was strange, either they were transported to a whole new area, or the storm was confined just to the coast line, which was far more plausible since it could be accomplished with a jutsu or seal. Frowning at the thought that either of those two could be the reason for the harsh weather preventing explorers, she'd finally rise to her feet to get a better vantage. They'd have to figure out where they were if they were going to have any chance of getting out of there.

The fact that the redhead had turned and reacted to what she said seemed to imply that Ikomiki wasn’t just hallucinating her. This was real. Unfortunately. Slowly the wet catgirl would scramble to her feet, and in a very animalistic manner she would begin to shake herself off as soon as she was steady on her feet. It wouldn’t do the best job of getting her dry but it would be a start. Her tail and ears and hair were all still soaked, unfortunately. It would likely take a while for her to dry off completely without any sort of towel or fire for comfort. She could only hope she didn’t catch a cold.

Ikomiki would slowly scramble over to the redhead, seeking safety in numbers. As she was someone that Ikomiki recognized from the boat, she figured that this lady would be hopefully someone she could rely on for safety. When she got closer, enough so that she was grouped together with Kiko, she would turn her attention out towards her surroundings. If the island they were on could be scouted out, perhaps there would be a sign of civilization somewhere.

The landscape surrounding the stone feature they were on was effectively barren. Dead trees and a sickly fog seemed to smother the land like a heavy quilt causing Kiyoko to not necessarily want to trek through any of it. The dying landscape left a rather bleak impression on the young woman causing her to take a short step back as she quickly glanced in another direction to confirm what she was seeing. Stark mountains rose suddenly from the landscape to her left and a steep valley sunk deep below the fog to her right. Behind her lay more of the structure, and as she stepped across the foundation, she was able to see that there was actually an entry point into the structure.

The small hatch seemed innocent enough. It was a standard issue wooden hatch, square by standard definitions and sat at 2.5 meters by 2.5 meters. It at least looked to open to something seeing as it sat within it's frame. Where that something lead to was to be seen, but the possiblity was tempting for someone who was seemingly trapped in the middle of nowhere. She'd tell the genin to sit tight before walking over to the hatch, unsure of what lay before her.

It seemed that Ikomiki was dealing with the silent type. That was fine. She preferred it this way, in all honesty. Words weren’t necessary. Iko would follow her lead though, deferring leadership to the Jounin. The landscape around them was unfortunate, as it seemed just at a glance that a steady supply of food would be difficult to find. The dying landscape would be something she would avoid under any other circumstance, but it seemed that she didn’t have much of a choice right now with how it surrounded them on this island.

Ikomiki would follow Kiyoko as she left to approach the strange structure. Here Kiyoko would finally five some instructions, to simply sit tight while she figured out what was going on with the latch. Ikomiki was more than happy to oblige the request. The less work that she had to do the better, it allowed for conserving energy which may not be able to be easily replaced. She would watch carefully though as Kiyoko approached the latch, more than a little curious as to what could be inside.

The hatch itself lacked any anomalous properties. Poking around and lifting it up revealed what seemed to be a normal shaft that lead into what could only be assumed to be a darkened cavern. The fact she couldn't ascertain what was actually in the cavern is the only thing that kept her from jumping dick first into what was likely to be a trap, however eventually they would need to check it out as while she hadn't felt the pain if hunger or the parchness of thirst, she felt that staying up here on this structure was surely going to be the death of them. Finally turning to the young lady she'd give her a sort of unsteady smile before gesturing down.

"Only one way out it seems. Stick to me and try not to wander and hopefully we make it out of here alive". She'd finish her statement by pulling out a single kunai before gripping the small blade by the hilt. Taking in a deep breath she would plunge into the darkness, unaware of the horrors that last before her.

It didn’t seem like the hatch was trapped, or anything like that. No bombs went off, no kunai flew out, and no trip wires broke. Ikomiki didn’t know why she was expecting something like that to happen, but it was a relief when it didn’t. The fact that there was a structure here meant there was some sort of human civilization that at some point existed here, but the fact that everything as far as the eye could see was dead made her doubtful that anyone still lived in this area. There was no reason to rig traps around a graveyard either.

Ikomiki would nod at Kiyoko’s statement. Sticking together was the safest bet. Once Kiyoko plunged into the darkness Ikomiki would follow behind her, plunging into the darkness. While she wouldn’t pull out a weapon, she would always have her claws with her, prepared to tear apart anything which looked at her funny.

The fall felt longer than it actually was, as if time stretched the further down they went. Windows into the past, present and future seemingly flew by as Kiyoko prepared herself for a landing that almost seemed like it was never come, but after seemingly hours of falling, she would land in a power stance, crouched with her off hand to the ground balancing herself and her knife hand up and at the ready for any sign of danger. Fortunately for her, there seemed to be nothing around waiting for them, at least not immediately. After doing a full scan of the dark room to allow her eyes to adjust to the distinct lack of lighting, she moved aside to begin fully scoping out the room, hoping to find some clues as to how to escape their new predicament.

Whenever the young woman would land as well, she'd tell her to stay put, if only because the room was so dark that wouldn't be certain she'd be able to find the young woman if she wandered off too far. The darkness surrounding them felt threatening, as if there were indeed something out there that she couldn't immediately see, but until she could ascertain what it was, she would be extremely cautious.

Ikomiki would collapse to the ground after what was far too long. How far had she fell? How long had it been? Jumping down into that darkness she hadn’t expected it to be anything more than perhaps jump down a single floor or two, but it seemed almost as if she had dove down a mineshaft or into a well. Panic would set in, but that same panic would eventually dull as she continued to fall and fall and fall, with no end in sight to the falling. It became like a joke that went on for far too long, and by the end of it Ikomiki could only say that she was annoyed with what was happening. If she was going to die, then just let it happen. Drawing it out removed everything from it. Eventually though it seemed as though her time would come.

The sound of Kiyoko hitting the ground would come, and then Ikomiki would tense herself. Ikomiki would hit the ground, immediately turning that momentum into a roll forward to deaden the blow. She would stand to her feet an instant later, and in the darkness she would attempt to analyze her surroundings. Unfortunately it was difficult to see anything, and upon realizing this Ikomiki would droop her shoulders. There was again nothing that she could do.

“Very well.” She would agree to stay put, sighing softly at the command. It seemed like they were in a big mess now.

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[Suspended and Ended]