NPF Avatars Miniquest: The Promise of Free Food!

[Flarecobra]

I slithered in, carrying a container under my arm. "Hey, Toasty! Haven't seen you in forever. How are you?" I said, moving near the Prinny. I gave him a gentle pat on the head and a smile. I knew of his...explosive...tendancies in that form, and how he hates it when people throw him to deal damage to enemies. "You know, am I the only one actually looking forward to a forumite gathering where we could just leave our weapons at home for a change?"

[Loyal]

Loyal made a half-hearted attempt to hide the Lightbinder's hilt, though the scabbard was still plainly visible. Figuring the futility of it, he shrugged and replied, "Honestly I'm surprised you of all people didn't bring a weapon. After all, we're going to Hell."

Loyal formed a ball of Holy energy in his hand, and let it dissapate. "...Why are we going to Hell for this again?"

[FF fanboy]

Fanboy looked up from the corner he was sulking in, someone asked why they were going, it was oh so simple "We are going because we were asked to do so."
He said this with just a hint of depression in his voice, he then lowered his head,and began sulking again.

[Astral Harmony]

And then Armored Bishoujo phased in, looking a little frustrated. "Sorry, sorry, everyone. I was trying to warp straight to hell but wasn't having much luck. I've never been able to cross dimensions like that without having to use a ship capable of subspace travel and I couldn't wire one of the warp devices because that stupid paperclip with the eyeballs kept pissing me off and...urgh, hold on, lemme calm myself down."

But she was glad to have at least gotten down to where everyone else was. She was worried for the past half hour that she had already missed it by now. She didn't bring much in the way of gadgets or mecha, and her BUTTSECKS cosplay transformation gauntlets and boots, while currently being worn, were a little on the fritz, so she turned them off. They were randomly tossing her into cosplays she created for the gadgetry, a symptom she called the Ben 10 Effect.

[IHateMakingNames]

"A picnic in hell? That's stupid," IHMN said to himself, "but I am bored, so eh. Now how do you get to hell?"

IHMN didn't bother to read the rest of the message, so he didn't know about the meeting and guiding to hell. He had his own idea. All it took was a good, sturdy wall, like the one next to him. Then he started to bash his head against it.

And then he was in Hell.

"Bah, no one is here yet." He again started thinking out loud. "Then again, I may just not be in the right part of hell. God damnit, guess I'll go wander around. Got nothing better to do."

[Arhra]

"Rhiya!" the shout of greeting came to Rhiya from where she sat.

Arhra III stood perched on the very top of a nearby hell-pine (much like a normal pine tree except less flammable), grinning down at Rhiya. She was casually dressed, wearing just a white singlet and black shorts. Then again, Hell was hot.

"Why are you up there?"

"Sorry, force of habit." Arhra III replied, vaulting lightly to the ground. "They keep making me do that sort of thing in that training course I'm doing. Except there's more knives involved. Anyway, I was able to get most of today off, so I came a little early. I hope you don't mind."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the hell-portal-hole-mouth. What looked like a flock of starving crows, eyes crminson red, descended, swirling in the air and condensing into the figure of Arhra II. She was extravagently dressed, bejewelled and wearing an intricate black dress. An opaline jewel with a deep crack in its middle was at her throat and she wore something vaguely like a dark crown.

"Hmm, it worked." Arhra II said tonelessly, flexing her pale fingers experimentally.

A left over crow cawed moronically. Arhra II's eyebrow knitted slightly in annoyance. She pointed at it and it exploded into a cloud of fluttering darkness.

"Still not right." she murmured, taking it back into herself.

Perhaps there was some substance to the other Arhras' belief she'd gone bad.

Arhra then saw AB and Toastburner and smiled a surprisingly genuine smile. "Hello there! I haven't seen you for quite a while!"

Perhaps the other Arhras were crazy in the face!

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

[OOC: Arhra, we're not in hell yet, or at the gate of it either, so to speak. This is just NPF main forum entrance.]

"Hmm, looks like I've waited long enough," Rhiya smiled as she stopped lounging about. Standing up and moving to a place she knows will allow everybody to give her their full attention, Rhiya waved at them all. Behind her, Ch'arla dragged the picnic basket to the others.
"Heya all! Hope you didn't need to tumble out of bed too early for this. Well, since you're all here, why don't we meet the others at the Shores of Hell?"

Something wasn't quite right in the way she said it. Maybe it was the fact that the flecks of red in her eyes suddenly widened and took over the entire irises, turning her eyes completely hellishly red. Maybe it was the fact that she'd raised her arms and it looked like bad things was about to happen. Sparks were flying from her entire body. Weird, black sparks.

Before anybody could react, the sparks coalesced until it became a dark, glowing black mass, before spearing out towards every single one of them. They experienced a brief moment of agonizing pain that was beyond anything they'd ever imagined before...

And then they were in hell.

For the people that had collapsed from the suddenness of it all, Rhiya was there helping them up, consolidating them with the fact that the hardest part was over.

"Sorry about that. The other way was to fight through a horde of hell's gatekeepers, and they're such a bother."

Rhiya looked about her, gauging where they'd been sent to. It was hard because they were actually standing on a white beach which seemed to stretch on forever. The waves lapping the bone-white sand (upon closer inspection, they were indeed made from bone) were blood red.

"Ah, I sense other people are around too. I'll send them a messenger before we'll head off," Rhiya plucked a feather from the folds of her wings and dipped it in the bloodied water. It writhed before exploding into more feathers, then rose into the air in the form of a black, skeletal raven.

"That should do it. Alright guys, let's go! The others shouldn't be too far behind us once the message gets to them."

~~

"AAAW! AAAW!" IHMN looked about him, then realised it was the mangy-looking crow that was yelling at him hoarsely.

"AAAW! Rhiya's lookin' for you, AAAAW! Follow me!" It shook a rattly little bone off the tip of a wing before drifting off slowly, waiting for IHMN.

The tiny bone grew into another raven that flew off to find other NPFers yet to join with the main crowd.

~~

"Alright, we have to go... in this direction!" Rhiya pointed dramatically before pouncing off, leaving the others to follow up behind her once everybody had caught up. Ch'arla brought up the rear, dragging that oversized picnic basket of theirs.

They hadn't gone far though before Rhiya paused and looked about her. Hell's environment had changed significantly (since NPFers weren't really under the constraints of Hell, despite them being heavy sinners) to a sort of petrified forestry of black, gnarled trees with smouldering leaves. The smell of soot and burnt wood filled the air. Rhiya swore just as the air filled with the noise of guttural chatter.

"Damnit! It's those things! Everybody take cover. They make a mess of EVERYTHING," she said as she darted to the back of the crowd and snatched Ch'arla and the basket. She took to the skies, her large black wings brushing past the sooty trees.

Suddenly, small, batwinged critters darted up and swarmed around her. With a surprised squawk, Rhiya was pulled back to the ground, significantly blacker than before.

~~

Name: Sootfeet Imps
Race: Demonic elementals.
Appearance: Sootfeet imps look like tiny white imps with extremely blackened feet. They have small wings that allow them to move around with great agility. Wherever they go they leave a trail of extremely black soot behind them. It even contaminates the air.
Difficulty: Squash (Irritating, weak buggers. They're just out there to do mischief. There's a large number of them, but not big enough to constantly come. After a few waves it'll be over.)
Notes: If a sootfeet Imp gets you, you know you're never going to get those little black footprints out of your best blouse in the wash for a LONG time.

[Flarecobra]

I frowned and reared up a bit on my tail. "Man...we can't ever get a moment's peace, can we?" I said, picking up Toastburner and setting him on my shoulders. "Bombs away Toasty!" I said, hoping he'd get the idea and start chucking bombs or something at the little demons.

[Arcanum]

Arc watched the imps swarm about for a moment, his curiosity getting the better of him. However that all ended when a pair of them grabbed his coat's sleeve, leaving their perma-stain soot marks all over it. He instantly flicked his arm, loosening the grip of the imps, then lashed out with his hands and gripped them by their necks.

"Nobody ruins my coat and gets away with it," he said, his glasses glinting pure white despite the lack of any prominent lighting.

The imps squeeked then began writing in pain as Arc's hands (and the imps he held) were engulfed by dark purple flames. After waiting long enough for them to be burnt to a crisp, Arc let go of the imps but kept the flames burning around his hands.

"Kill 'em all!" he yelled with an edge of histeria in his voice. He then began to leap around at the imps like a madman; swatting, punching, or grabbing any of them foolish enough to fly within his reach.

[Toastburner B]

'Bombs away" was perhaps the last thing Toastburner wanted to here at the moment.

Given his usual luck with his prinny form, it is easy to understand why.

So, for a few precious seconds, Toastburner did nothing, braced for the inevitable launch and explosion, before he realized that he wasn't the bomb Flare was referring too. "Oh, right, dood!" he exclaimed, and then began to throw his bombs as quick as his little flippers could pull them out of his pouch...which was pretty quick after a few years of practice.