Absentmindedly, Isphea crosses her arms.
". . ."
Isphea glances skyward. The ever changing sky of cradle never ceased to interest her- This planet was never the same.
"How many do you two think will come?"
The last grains of the hourglass fell to the bottom.
". . . Looks like the Wolver's done cooking."
-=_=-=_=-=_=-=_=-=_=-=_=-=_=-=_=-=_=-=_=-=_=-
Shea's legs burned. She couldn't afford the time to look back, Nor stop running. The reapers of the swarm were upon her.
It seemed like an eternity of pain before she could no longer hear the slithering of darkness and tentacles.
Maybe she could finally rest... Instead, She got the signal.
She looked herself over. Ragged clothes, And just as messy- Her dark brown hair.
The sword was badly battered. What chance did she have?

Shea sighed, and slowly trudged toward the very distant camp.

"How many does that make? A thousand and one?"

Keep idly asks himself, lobbing off the head of yet another phantom. His dark sword pulsed with shadow energy, it didn't matter that the phantoms resisted the power, repeatedly whacking them with it produced good enough results.

"Krrrrrr," purred the Maskeraith battle sprite floating just behind him.

"Oh please don't start Escha dear, I know I should've crafted the Avenger, EVERYONE told me I should've crafted the Avenger,

"....Well, it doesn't matter now. With Haven down, nothing really matters anymore...."

Keep slumps to the ground, lying face-up, staring blankly at the Graveyard's ever changing star constallations.

"....This must be karmic retribution isn't it Escha?"

"...Krrr,"

"Oh don't be like that. The only reason I joined the exploration team to Cradle was to get out of the Moral Wars y'know. I was just running away,

"....From one catastrophe to the next. Because that's what I do best ain't it? Running away like the coward I am?"

"Krrrrrrrrr,"

A long sigh caught in Keep's throat. Before he could finish the exhale, a ring on his communication module interrupts him.

"...Huh. Would you look at that."

A slight, sardonic chuckle escapes Keep's mouth.

"It's not exactly over yet. So how's about it Escha dear? Keep trudging on to Moorcraft in hopes of finding a kind of safe 'haven' at the risk of having a zombie eat our eyeballs, or...."

"Krr."

"...Typical Escha. I knew you'd say that."

Keep stretches out a hand to stroke his floating partner,

"Now c'mon dear, let's save someone else's life. For once."
===
"Burn baby BURN!" Caite yelled as she watched another swarm-infected monster get set ablaze by her pyrotechnical traps.

At the moment, Caite stood atop a tower of precariously perched boxes, her upper-body leaned out a window, with a Magnus in her hands. It was by pure luck that she stumbled upon a warehouse for Haven's rations. The place was perfect for building a safehouse of sorts.

Of course, she knew that this place wouldn't last forever. Months perhaps, if she was optimistic. But as days went by, she knew that the swarm's assaults continued to grow more intense. She had to leave, soon.

But where would she go? Try her luck in the Clockworks? Living like some kind of wildswoman?

As she continued to ponder about her troubles, a ring suddenly came from her communications module.

She smiles her trademark wicked smile at the message.

Crona couldn't help but laugh at the two idiots in front of him. After a long, LONG laughing session he faced them with utmost glee in his eyes. It took a sec for the giggles to subside but in time they did and then he spoke.

"Wait really? You never heard of us? Who do you think you are? I can assume you're new here, probably a knight fresh out of training. Caina is a group of nine knights that now rule the clockworks. Before heaven fell we were just a small group of psychopaths, and now our name strikes fear into knights and vanguards alike! If you enter our turf then we kill you simple as that. I am their leader Crona, you would be wise to remember that name. Anymore questions before i kill you?"

Crona unsheathed his Triglav and pointed it at them.

Airiety started to explore the clockworks for some items, she was looking to craft something that could help against the swarm even though she had a few scars from previous battles. It was amazing that she hadn't been corrupted yet but, she was also confused as to why. A purr snapped her back to reality.

"Oh! S-Shay! Don't scare my like that"

"Purr..." Her pet was a Black Kat, she found it injured and helped look after it even though it kept eating any books she was reading.

She sighed and shook her head before continuing to explore, dealing with a few Dreadnaughts. She barely beat them but got badly injured in the process. Once Airiety collected the materials dropped from the Dreadnaughts, she quickly went to the lift to go back to the nearest safety platform which was floor 4. Her black kat pet was following her the entire time, shame it was quite lazy.

Airiety placed the materials away safety before healing up and then looked at her pet "Listen, I know you aren't powerful against undeads but, you need to attack anyways. I could have been killed there!" Her black kat just purred and didn't listen. Airiety sat down, trying to rest, she was close to making the weapon she wanted and would help her a lot.

((Sorry if its poor but, I am just new, that's all))

Crona rose from the rubble. He shook his legs and dusted off his jacket.

"Give them a damn good introduction and what do they do, run away and then exploded me. Oh well they will soon learn that making an enemy of Caina is the last thing they want to do." Crona then looked over and saw Shea get onto the elevator. We sneaked over to a nearby rock and waited for the elevator to go up a little. Once it did he grabbed on to the bottom.

Once the elevator got to the next strata Crona broke a hole in the corner of the floor and climbed out he walked past Shea giving her a head nod as he passed by.

"The two who blew me up and then ran away. Show yourselves, I wana give you something"

Crona began to look for them

((HAZZA! Someones posting again))

Crona jerked his head forward and the shot grazed some of his helmet and a little skin, from the back of his head blood slowly started to come out. He looked angrily in the direction of the shot and unsheathed his Triglav. He then made a big arcing slash in the direction of the shot and a freezing wind came forth. ((NOT MAGIC, just being a badass)) Everything that the wind touched was covered with frost and some trees even died.

"Who just shot me? Come out so I can end you. Or are you too afraid after what I just did, surely if you wanted to kill me that bad you would have known what im capable of. Or are you just a dreamer who thinks that with one lucky shot I would just die."

Beck watched through his binoculars, on a rooftop. The swarm knights stumbled around haven as their owners learned how to use the new bodies. Thanks to a hood and spell from a friend, his 'scent' was masked and he looked like any other swam/Apocrean knight. Beck got up and descended the staircase, into the ramshackle apartment. He opened the door and immediately noticed the quiet beeping. Quickly, he drew his Valiance and moved forward, the beeping came from the communications module he had found awhile ago. He pushed the button and listened.

After it ended he thought for a bit, it was quite lonely here. He pulled his hood tighter over his head and went to his closet. Inside he paused, before taking out the hat. A Nameless hat, he pulled back his hood and settled the hat on his head. For good measure, he kept the Apocrean mask on and set out towards the coordinates.

((@Keepscaite you're at the right place but I just want to warn you that Crona is right above you and if things go the way I plan (HUE HUE HUE) then things should be getting quite loud... quite loud indeed. that is all my children.))

Crona was still looking for the hunter. He was checking behind every tree and every rock but saw no sign of him and then he saw the bait, and he fell for it. Crona slow walked over to the bait but before he could reach it he heard a familiar voice.

"Yo Crona where are ya heading off to?" Crona turned his head and saw Phlegethon, number eight of Caina. (They are ranked by power, with the person at number nine the most powerful in Caina as well as their leader. In this case Crona is number nine in Caina)

"Phlegethon what are you doing here so far away from your strata of the clockworks."

"I would love to say the same to you."

"Im the leader I go where I please."

Phlegethon fell silent and slowly made his way over to Crona, his Fang of Vog in his hand.

"Look... Crona... its been fun and all but I think that we of Cania find it our best judgment to... well... let you go."

Phlegethon then struck with his sword but Crona blocked it. The energy coming from the two swords clashing was almost palpable. (Love that word)

Crona took a few steps back and swung his sword a few times at nothing. The two charged at each other and this time when their swords clashed the ground beneath them shook and broke, fragments of the earth went flying about and for a moment it seemed like there swords were about to rip a hole in time its self! Yet the two stood there unfazed. Then... Crona spoke.

"Look Phlegethon, we have been friends for a long time now and i'm willing to let you off the hook for this if you want me out of Caina then so be it. Just let me get Gen and ill be on my way."

"Oh no, no, no you can't have Gen back. She belongs to Caina now and theres no way we can let you take her."

Crona's eyes widened with anger, nay, wrath. He tightened his grip on his sword took a step forward and shoved Phlegethon's sword to the side before delivering a right hook to his face. The punch fractured some of his helmet and probably broke a bone or two. The punch sent Phlegethon flying backwards and into the ground.

"Run before I fucking kill you." Crona said slowly closing in on Phlegethon. Phlegethon couldn't say anything in response, the only thing he could do was activate his emergency teleporter and warp away.

Crona then looked back in the direction of the hunter.

"Yo person who shot me, come out. You and me are going to be teaming for a bit."

Beck took one last look at the overrun Haven before hopping off of the south wall. He took a step forward than stopped.

"Nice to see you again old friend."

Out of the shadows stepped a knight dressed similar to Beck, he wore a Snarbolax coat. Instead of the Hat he wore the Dread Skeleton Helm.

"I could never get past that sight."

"If it wasn't me, Syber, you'd be invisible. But I'd recognize that skull anywhere."

Syber chuckled and crossed his arms, "Why the hat? Even more so, why the mask?"

Beck took the mask off, "Didn't want to attract any extra attention, although it seems that didn't work."

"I heard the call too, thought I'd come to back you up."

He ignored the snort from Beck and pulled his hood up, and put his own mask on. Beck pulled up his own hood and they disappeared into the woods, heading towards the hopeful sign of other life.

My character's are a little stuck at the moment :p

Gotta wait for Zhaver to carry on a bit before I can do anything.

Lyn fumbled head over heels running. How any of this happened she had no idea. One second she stepped on the elevator, next minute she was surrounded by phantoms. Sprinting through the graveyard singing her Nightblade futilely, she smacked zombie after zombie with her sword. Sarah did her best to hold enemies off, but her Ray of Light wasn't very strong.
"$#!%!!!!!" screamed Lyn. A phantom had cut her off, his sword thoroughly through her stomach. Lyn pulled out a pyrotech alchemer and fired, a wretched scream filled the air as the Phantom burned away. Lyn limped onward finding herself at another elevator and collapsed onto it. Her blood dripped through the grates as it descended. It jolted to a stop in a wolver den. Lyn saw the glow of a fire and thought she saw some escape pods. Sarah flitted down and let out a cry of pure hate, sadness, and futility that pierced the sky. Lyn saw two figures stand, and then only black.

A lone survivor steps off the elevator onto the dull earth of the Wolver Den. He wore a black coat with orange trim that hung near his knees, as well as black pants with silver shin guards and boots. The man's arms were notably armored, the left hand clawed with extra plating. A hood was pulled over his head, concealing his eyes in shadows but leaving strands of blood red hanging over his face.

Unlike most others he had passed through, this one was barren, as though someone had cleared the place out before he arrived. Something else of note was that there was someone, a girl likely no more than a Knight based on her armor, passed out near the lift. She was bleeding. The man, who went by the name of Grell, rushed to her side, but slowed down when he spotted the Seraphynx (who is hopefully attempting to heal Lyn and not just floating there like a retard).

(Also, you took control of my character...please don't do that.)

"Hey, by the way. What are you going to do once a few people come along?" He leaned on a pod and looked at the twins.

(Let's say we just arrived at the camp place)

Grell helped Lyn over to where she said the camp was. "Say... you never told me your name...."

Upon arriving at the camp, he settled Lyn down at one of the pods. "We, uh, heard your call for survivors. Not really a great idea, considering the... well, organization who claimed ownership over areas of the Clockworks." He paused. "I'm Grell."

By nothing short of a miracle, the twins had somehow managed to get away from the abandoned campsite. With that out of the way, they continued their journey to meet with the other survivors.

(Fast forward a bit. A lot, actually.)

Currently, they were trudging up a hill. And just as they were topping the hill, Keep saw something.

"Is that... a campfire?"

Hearing what her brother said, Caite doubles her effort to climb the hill, she shoves her brother out of the way, very nearly causing him to topple down the hill.

"W-Watch it-!"

"CIVILIZATIOOOOOOON! HERE I COOOOOOOOOOME!"

(Please stop controlling my character, he wouldn't say 'what the heck was that' somehow i dont think others would either.I don't appreciate that. Only control your character and don't assume what the others will do.)

Syber crossed his arms. With all the people arriving it was going to be easier to disappear. He decided to go duck inside a pod to take a nap.

(I'm not going to be able to post till tommarrow afternoon.)

A page is flipped. A pen is taken out, then tapped inquisitively upon the ghostly-knight's Phantom helm. The mask in front is lifted, allowing easier sight for the weary ghost. But the dead knight hadn't opened the helm for that purpose. His eyes had been hurting a lot lately. Well, "hurting" as in being slightly uncomfortable to leave to the dusty air of the graveyards; and so the phantom decided it was best to learn how to walk with his eyes closed.
"... Ɨ'₥ ałł øưŧ øf ɨđɇaȿ... Ɨ nɇɇđ ȿø₥ɇ nɇw ₥aŧɇɍɨałȿ."
The specter's voice is wispy, calm and low yet fading in the wind. He closes the small book, its cover and back are made of a dark leather.
The Phantom, formerly known as Strom, walks through the graveyard. His graveyard. Or, what would be known as his if there was some sort of name plaque put up somewhere.
While mulling over the idea of making said name plaque, Strom steps on a small puddle, and stops instantly.

Puddles? In a graveyard? Preposterous. These places have "mist", but that's actually just dust and residue left off when mindless undead decide that the underground-dirt is too uncomfortable (especially when a knight steps over them, squishing them. That must be very uncomfortable). The fact that there was a puddle here meant...
Inspection.
Strom stepped back from the puddle. It wasn't water, so at least the Graveyard wasn't gaining rain as another of its cheerful add-ons. Clearly the tombstones and wandering Kats were all that this place needed to keep it as the envy of all other dead denizens. Rather, the small puddle was blood.
Well, that wasn't entirely irregular.
Seeing as the amount of undead in the area had dropped significantly, Strom simply assumed more knights had come down to plunder loot. The amount of looters had dropped significantly as of late, however, but Strom didn't really mind. But it did leave him with a lot less to write about.
Strom sighs to himself and heads towards the elevator. The trail of blood lead there, but there was no knight to be found.
"Ŧħɇɏ ₥ưȿŧ ħavɇ łɇfŧ, ŧħɇn... ₱ɨŧɏ. Ŧħɇɏ'đ ₥aҟɇ a ǥɍɇaŧ ȿưƀɉɇȼŧ føɍ ₥ɏ nɇwɇȿŧ ƀøøҟ."
It was well known by monsters that they couldn't take elevators. Only Knights and Swarm-creatures had any hope of crossing levels in the Clockworks.

Thank goodness Strom wasn't a regular monster.
He heads over to the elevator, hovering his hand over the "descent" button, then opens one of his eyes. Ripples of magenta energy ripple off of his heavily armored arms and legs, sparking from a glowing core on his chest. A dark mist builds within the space within his helm, flowing out and vanishing into small squares. His opened eye ripples, as if it's affected by static.
"Ɨŧ'ȿ ƀɇɇn a wħɨłɇ ȿɨnȼɇ Ɨ'vɇ łɇfŧ... Ƀưŧ Ɨ ħavɇ nø ȼħøɨȼɇ."
Strom swipes his pen on a bit of blood on the elevator and opens his book.

"Łɇŧ'ȿ fɨnđ ȿø₥ɇ ₥øɍɇ ₥aŧɇɍɨałȿ."
The elevator descends.

@Keepscaite
I was originally thinking it would be Lyn's trail, seeing as she had a more, er... Graphic sort of description when it came to bleeding. But it doesn't really matter.
From the looks of it, the trail Keep went through (starting at the graveyard) went something like Graveyard -> Scarab-containing area -> Old-Campsite level / 7th circle of Caina -> New Campsite with unknown time-markers between each area.
Lyn seemingly went down one elevator (from the graveyard), and was then within sight of the new campfire. Or at least two individuals were within sight (but it ended up just being Grell, who then had to follow her directions to the campfire.).

I don't really mind which one Strom has to take, but seeing as there won't be much of a challenge being faced in the foreseeable future, what with Zhaver presumably being gone 'till Winter Break, it may be a good idea to have Strom head almost directly over to the new campsite to provide... Some sort of urgency. I guess.
On the other hand, Seeing as I can't accurately gauge the capabilities of the... 7 people at the campsite? Yeah? 7? I think there are more on the way, especially the Hunter who's presumably on the same stratum. But anyways, yeah. Don't know what you're all capable of, except for Lyn who's presumably injured and starving; and because I don't know that, I don't plan on throwing my character into what could quite possibly be a point of no return.
I'll wait a bit and see what happens, then decide which elevator Strom's coming from. Who knows, I might just find some other baddies to join his hunt for "Materials" along the way.
Uhuhuhuhuhuhuhu...

((I believe the Caina are the main antagonists. If anything, Strom would be a secondary antagonist, an enemy to the protagonists that is not of utmost importance and not overly powerful to be unbeatable, but is very capable of putting up a good fight.

EDIT: @Keepscaite
Ah, right. Forgot about that. Then the Caina are the secondary antagonists. Strom likely being a secondary or tertiary antagonist still stands. An obstacle at least.))

Sarah noticed Lyn was asleep, so she decided to go for a flutter. Sarah went about a mile when she came to a strange white glowing tower. She poked it with her hand and a small pale gold spiked sphere came out of it. She smelled it, it smelled heavenly, Sarah gobbled it down in one scarf. Suddenly, she felt different. She had a metal halo above her and a gem adorning her forehead. Her tail was also at least twice as fluffy! Sarah rushed back to camp to show Lyn.
Lyn awoke just after Sarah left. It had been a little while, and she felt as though she was nearly better. She was hungry but she put that aside when she smelled herself.
"Whoo! I smell worse than a Gorgo stuck in a poison depth!" She said to herself in the pod. Everyone else was asleep so she opened her pod and crept out. She didn't want to wake anyone or be followed, so she quietly rushed down to a freshwater hot spring surrounded by bushes that she'd found. After taking off her armor she slipped into the pool. It felt good to wash up, she began scrubbing away at all the muck and grime, her black hair shining in the sunlight, her pale skin finally getting some sunlight for that matter. She finished washing up and looked to the shore where her armor was. In it's place was an armor plated dress and winger helm with a halo.
"A freakin' dress!!!! That's it! Not funny guys! Which one of you freaks stole my clothes! I am not wearing a dress!!!! Show yourselves!!!" She shouted.
She waited for about half an hour and gave up she looked around to make sure no one was watching and slipped into the new dress and helm. They were a little heavier than her old stuff but still lightweight and quite comfortable. She picked up her nightblade, but something was off. Her nightblade had the appearance of an acheron, but it was white with gold highlights, a blue handle, and a blue sheath. It had a heavenly glow to it.
"I think I'll call it Swarmbane," Lyn said to herself as she walked back to camp to see who wanted to see her in a f*cking dress, half expecting and hoping it to be Grell.

((I've literally been sitting here trying to understand why a jump so far into the future was considered with them being in the same place. If you could please edit your post out, thank you. Time-skips shouldn't be done by any player whenever they feel like it. It should be done by the GM, and only when xe has discussed it with the players, so as to avoid utter confusion.))