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John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt (Richard Lee)

"Do you know...the muffin man?"

0 · 573 views · located in Babylon

a character in “Conquest of Babylon Online”, as played by minibear

Description

John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt



Image
Nickname:
The Unwelcome Guest, The Irritating Murderer, Lord of Pie

Race:
Demon
Age:
23
Gender:
Male

Appearance:
John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt is six foot one inch and between 190 and 200 pounds. A strange, animate mask of white cloth and large ears covers his face, hiding his actual features and contributing to his strange voice. He is clad in the black cloth Night Terror armor with large white gloves and a dull red cape. Around his waist is is trusty Belt of Items, he keeps his bow slung across his back, and twin daggers on either side of his waist. Uncharacteristic of demons, his voice is actually relatively high pitched and friendly sounding fitting more with his personality than a deep and menacing voice would. His wings, which he doesn't usually walk around with activated, are formed of black energy with a faint purple tinge and are blade shaped as though they were meant for swift, deadly cuts.


Richard Lee



Image
Nickname:
What was your name again?

Age:
23

Gender:
Male

Appearance:
Weighing in at 5 foot 9 and 150 pounds, Richard is the very definition of scrawny. He keeps his brown hair cut short enough that it doesn't get into his eyes while he is gaming. In regards to clothing, Richard doesn't care too much for fashion. Instead he buys what clothes look cool to him and feel comfortable and proceeds to wear them until they are worn out at which point he will go get more. That said, his parents give him clothes for his birthday and Christmas so his wardrobe does get a mild update twice a year. Lastly, the amount of time he spends indoors playing video games makes him rather pale.


Personality
Outside of video games, Richard doesn't have a lot to say. He is introverted and doesn't put forth much effort in getting to know people around him. Despite his introversion, he can be coaxed into conversations involving video games. Whatever it may seem from the outside, Richard doesn't mind people in general. His not talking to them is not rooted in any inherent dislike of people or feelings of inadequacy. Rather, he simply has nothing to say to them. His only interests lie in video games. He loves playing through a good story and having the chance for his choices to impact the game.

Immersed as he is in the game world now, his behavior has taken a more erratic turn. Now he is extremely extroverted, goofy, and seemingly oblivious to the terror that the threat of death should inspire in everyone in the game world. Part of it is the mask he wears, but with the stress of the game to consider, psychosis may play a roll in his attitude as well.

Background
In all likelihood, Richard was probably more excited to hear about Conquest of Babylon than anything else in his life up to that point. The timing was perfect as he had just graduated college and had been planning to take a few months off before getting a job as he had actually managed to make and save a good deal of money writing code for various computer programs. He didn't really have any close friends and he was distant from his family, both thanks to his highly introverted nature. In absence of friends, family, and any serious commitments, Richard was able to sink himself into the game as soon as it came out. Only a day or two later, he concluded it was the best game he had ever played. Preferring single-player action to multi, Richard wasn't heavily involved in a guild, only joining a large one in order to easily find someone to play the multiplayer-exclusive content with. Despite being the best player in the guild, he didn't have any aspirations to assume a leadership role and wasn't all that active in it anyway. He had named his character John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt mostly as a joke since he usually didn't play games as seriously the first time through.

When Kenpachi Ramasama reset the player levels and equipment and revealed the true purpose of the game, not that anyone was calling it a game anymore, Richard was as surprised as everyone else. At first he didn't believe it, though after numerous logout attempts failed he was forced to admit there might be some truth to what the...thing had said. He became far more careful after that, staying far away from humans and angels. He didn't know if or how the game could kill them in real life as punishment for dying in game, but he didn't want to test it. All he knew for certain was that he couldn't log out, and that players who died weren't respawning so he decided to take Kenpachi at his word and act like death in the game meant death in real life. His first course of action was to link up with members of his guild with the expectation of having safety in numbers.

The reality of the guild was rather different from his expectation. What had been a well-established and powerful guild before had fallen to infighting soon after Kenpachi's revelation. With the stat and equipment reset and doubts as to the truth of the matter in everyone's minds, many players had revolted and sought to increase both their level and standing within the guild by killing off higher ranked members while everyone was still at low levels. The guild gathering quickly descended into an all out free for all, with former allies killing each other left and right. Richard knew he would likely be killed if he allowed himself to get caught up in the killing storm, however he recognized this as a valuable opportunity to gain a good deal of experience that could potentially set him ahead of the level-curve. With a grim mindset, Richard wielded his bow and retreated to the outskirts of the fray. Rather than firing into the confusion of bodies, the demonic archer waited patiently for the wounded to disengage from the fight and attempt to flee. It was these that Richard picked off, shamelessly feeding off the work other players had done whittling down guild members' HP. At this point, it was all about survival. If he didn't kill these people off for the experience gain then someone else would, and then that someone could very well kill Richard. Besides, these people had already shown they would make for poor allies in the new reality of the game world. If not for his focus on survival, Richard would have been surprised at how little it bothered him to kill his former teammates, even if he hadn't really cared about the guild much to begin with. That night he leveled up to the point where his wings returned, paid for with the blood of those who were once his teammates.

As time wore on in the game, Richard found the going easier on his own or in small teams. The bigger groups somehow seemed to get dragged down into infighting too much. Another observation he made that bothered him was the way even the players who had been especially skilled before they were locked in were dying off to lower level players or monsters that shouldn't have given them so much trouble. After awhile, it occurred to him that they were dying because they weren't playing the game, they were trying to survive. The problem was that people, himself included, were living in fear and focused on survival. That wasn't what the game was built for; the game was built for playing, he realized. With this revelation, a grin spread under the mask Richard wore. Perhaps it was the stress of the situation. Perhaps it was his introverted personality. Perhaps he had underlying psychotic potential. Perhaps it was a lot of things, but in the end, something in Richard snapped. Something that had been inhibiting him on a fundamental level from engaging in the game and doing what he needed to survive.. From that point on, he did not know fear, he was no longer trapped, he was no longer even Richard. Kenpachi wanted them to play the game, the game he had gotten so good at weeks ago, and play he would. For now he was John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt, and if this was going to be the last game he ever played, he was going to make the most out of it.

Since his revelation, John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt has become a bit of an oddity. If there is one person who doesn't appear to take the situation seriously, it's him. Rather than being fearful, angry, or some other negative emotion, he will generally be happy, oblivious, carefree, or even downright whimsical.



Equipment



Bow of Denial:
What looks to be a simple, poorly crafted, wooden bow is actually the Bow of Denial, a powerful dark weapon crafted by an insane weapon-maker. The maker, for reasons unknown, was famous for disbelieving everything around him. His denial of reality was so strong that he was actually able to accomplish feats deemed impossible because he so vehemently refused to believe the challenge even existed in the first place. This denial carried over to the bow he crafted, imbuing it with a paradoxical consciousness. When the string is drawn back without notching an arrow, the bow refuses to accept that there is no arrow and crafts its own arrow of darkness. Furthermore, the bow itself refuses to acknowledge the existence of all armor types, and the arrows it fires ignore all armor. Oddly enough, those the arrows strike can't help but notice a distinct taste of cranberries in their mouth.

John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt convinced the weapon-maker to give him the bow through the use of clever word play. He did so by convincing the nutty man that he was real, while the weapon-maker himself was not. The lunatic gave him the bow in thanks before he abruptly ceased to exist.

The Debilitator:
The first in a set of daggers that JJJ-S won in a contest of skill with another player. A being that suffers an injury from this weapon will take a penalty to movement and attack speed. Repeated hits do not increase the total time of reduced speed, however they do reset the timer on the effect. The contest was the shell game. Three shells lay on the table, and a single pebble lay underneath but one of the shells. The man moved the shells back and forth with considerable speed, pushing the shells around and around, even sliding the pebble from under one shell to hide it beneath another. John picked the correct shell and thus won The Debilitator.

The Dumbfounder:
The second in a set of daggers that JJJ-S won in a contest of skill with another player. A being that suffers an injury from this weapon will be rendered mute for a short time. Repeated hits do not increase the total time of silencing, however they do reset the timer on the effect. Not content to watch The Debilitator walk away from him, the man challenged John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt to play again, this time betting The Dumbfounder in an effort to win back his other blade. The contest began again, the con-man moving shells around at a furious speed. This time, however, he stealthily removed the pebble from the table in the middle of the game, resorting to cheating to get his blade back. Unfortunately for the would-be cheat, he was not fast enough to fool JJJ-S, who saw through the ruse immediately. JJJ-S dropped a piano of magical energy on the man, crushing him instantly, before taking the remaining dagger and taking his leave of the foolish con-man.

Night Terror Armor Set:
Mask of Seeing: Allows JJJ-S to notice the weak points his bow refuses to acknowledge, providing an increase in critical hit chance.
Cloak of Lies: Active Invisibility or Camouflage, grants invisibility or disguises the user as another object or being of comparable size. No upkeep until JJJ-S attacks or is attacked at which point the cloak begins to drain mana from JJJ-S at a moderate rate.
Night Terror Bodysuit: Provides a moderate bonus to physical attack damage, creates a spell shield that shields JJJ-S from one spell, recharges every 60 seconds he is not struck by an enemy attack.
Night Terror Bracers: Provide a moderate bonus to attack speed and hit rate.
Boots of Creeping: JJJ-S' footsteps make no noise while wearing these.
Set Bonus: JJJ-S can identify status ailments affecting foes, attacks deal additional damage to foes with status ailments.

The Necklace of Astoundingly Deep Perception:
This valuable necklace immensely deepens the perceptive powers of the wearer and vibrates slightly and heats up in the presence of enemies, hostile magic, and booby traps. It has a side-effect of causing the wearer to have deep moments of introspection from time to time. JJJ-S came across this useful necklace in the middle of a complex web of booby traps. He first watched a boastful adventurer nimbly make his way through the traps to get the necklace. Fairly impressed, JJJ-S congratulated the man upon his exiting the boob traps before promptly shooting him in the back with the Bow of Denial and taking the necklace for himself.

Potions:
JJJ-S has acquired a potion of significant mana restoration as well as one of significant health regeneration

The World's Smallest Violin:
From this instrument which JJJ-S plays between his thumb and index-finger issue the most haunting and tragic of melodies. Humans, angels, demons, and unaligned monsters alike have been known to weep at the melodies that issue forth from this, the smallest of violins. JJJ-S uses this instrument to accentuate the feelings of loss and hardship felt by those around him. However he also enjoys using it to rub salt on the wound, so to speak, and irritate other players. (Non-Combat item)



Magic Abilities




Thin Air:
Using magic the user conjures a random item out of thin air, not being able to control it but dropping it from above them in a dramatic fashion. The magically created item drops to the ground, smashing down on whatever is beneath and staying for several minutes before finally dissipating as if it were never there at all, though the aftermath proves its existence.


"What's this? What's this?" - 4 word chant.

Jack in the Box:
This spell creates an invisible Jack in the Box in a specified location, being impossible to see unless someone has the ability to detect invisible items. When an enemy approaches it becomes visible, fearing nearby enemies and shooting magical beams from its mouth at the closest target, dealing high magical damage. The fear only lasts several seconds, as does the damage, and the Jack in the Box vanishes. It can also be destroyed before it vanishes by anyone who has the chance to hit it before the time runs up, being quite weak to attacks.

"It’s my Jack in a Box, my Jack in a Box yeah!" - 12 word chant. (fear makes an enemy unable to cast/attack and they move randomly for a few seconds)

Blank Stare:
A utility move of JJJ-S’ that he uses to travel short to medium distances instantly. He stares off at a location or area with a blank expression on his face for several moments, his head tilted slightly to the side before finally he disappears, reappearing mere seconds later in the chosen location.

"What oh what could be over there?" - 7 word chant.

Pie:
The user throws a magical pie into the face of his opponent, or places one in wait for an enemy. Upon impact or JJJ-S’ desire it detonates, dealing magical damage of his choice, JJJ-S claiming that he can change the damage because he can change the flavor of pie, leading to different types of damage.
Cherry: Fire Damage/Can cause burn status ailment. Blueberry: Ice Damage/Can Freeze a target with a direct hit or cause slow in a small area around impact. Apple: Poison, no initial damage but high over time damage. Peach: Concussive Explosion/Can cause a stun effect. Blackberry: Dark damage, no status effect

"Would you care for a pie?" - 6 word chant.

Here's Johnny:
A number of perfect duplicates spring out from JJJ-S with distracting flourishes while the original turns invisible until he makes an attack, is successfully attacked, or cancels the spell. The illusory duplicates run around the area for the duration of the spell singing the John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt song in perfect harmony as loud as they can and replicating each time they take damage. Because of the dual effects and potential scope of this spell, it imposes a fair drain on JJJ-S' mana and will cancel either at his behest, or when he runs out of mana.

"Whenever I go out, the people always shout, 'There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt!'" - 13 word chant.




Skills




Rain of Arrows:
JJJ-S begins rapidly firing arrows at a target or area, making a pincushion of a specific target or giving a suppressive fire effect to a certain area. This ability can do large amounts of damage to a single target or it can limit the movements and ability of enemies in an area.

A Pain in the Ass:
The pinnacle of JJJ-S’ ranged abilities. A single arrow that JJJ-S charges up before firing, its damage and speed increasing the longer he holds it before firing. The arrow deals tremendous damage and is almost impossible to dodge as well as being able to be fired from incredible distances. Also, for some unexplainable reason it always hits the target right in their ass.

Flesh Wound:
Flesh Wound is a painful cut to the right part of an enemy that doesn’t aim to kill but instead to maim. Targets hit by this gain an instance of the 'bleed' status ailment.

Another One Bites the Dust:
The pinnacle of JJJ-S’ melee techniques. He moves in quickly, using his stealthy nature to come up behind an enemy, rapidly slicing at every weak point he lays his eyes upon in an attempt to leave and enemy in a bloody mess. While the effect is generally more effective on less armored targets it can also be devastating to highly armored targets and becomes more powerful the longer a fight goes on as he sees additional weak points. Also, the lower a targets health the more damage it can do. While not an instakill move it does have the potential to deal such massive amounts of damage that it could blindside its target. This would be when a target has been engaged with JJJ-S in combat for an extended duration and has already taken a high amount of damage, JJJ-S’ lack of defense being made up for entirely with this.



Passives/Techniques




Back for More:
JJJ-S does additional damage when attack an opponent from behind, dealing 150% damage from all sources if he manages to catch someone from behind.

Shady Intentions:
JJJ-S is nearly impossible to read, his true personality and desires hidden behind literal and figurative masks. This allows his movements to be difficult to read giving him a higher than average evasion rate and making his attacks more difficult to avoid. In addition figuring out whether he is lying or not is next to impossible.

Oddly Inspirational:
While it doesn’t make sense JJJ-S’ rather carefree and aloof nature inspires those fighting alongside him, keeping their spirits up and sending them into battle without hesitation. All those fighting with JJJ-S are granted a small passive movement speed and a moderate attack speed buff.

Gift of Gab:
While often only annoying his gift for speech allows him to barter more efficiently and be quite persuasive. In regular conversations if can lead to random results but he also receives a 10% discount when purchasing items from stores.

Strange Stances:
JJJ-S has a number of peculiar stances for fighting. The purpose and function of such stances are constantly in question, but they appear to be no more than matters of aesthetic.

Demonic Strengths:
Boosted physical strength and offensive magic power as well as an additional boost to dark-based magic.

Light Hurts:
Weak to light-based magic

The Michael Jordan of Violinists:
JJJ-S rocks the house with his violin skills. He has achieved total mastery of this musical instrument and can play violins of any shape and size. He is to violins what Michael Jordan is to basketball.

I am the Pie:
Never has a more talented pie-maker walked the lands. Not all of his pies are lethal, only some of them. The rest are actually quite delicious. So delicious in fact that he has earned the title 'Lord of Pie'.





So begins...

John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt (Richard Lee)'s Story

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Character Portrait: John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt (Richard Lee) Character Portrait: Azrieal Kain (Takashima Jin)
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Azrieal Kain

Ever since the game had taken it's twisted turn things had seemed to go well for Azrieal, that meaning he was still alive. On top of that he had managed to get his hands on a rather impressive set of gear and had maintained a high level. Proof of his success was currently scattered about around him, bodies of nearly ten angels who had been stupid enough to wander onto Demon controlled land. Hell, if he hadn't finished them off someone else would have because nothing was as easy to spot as light in the land of the dark. Yes, they had been begging for death and Azrieal had delivered it to them, though not without help. He had a partner, someone strong enough to rely on and oddly trustworthy despite his strange personality. Not that the man wasn't annoying but he got the job done and that was all Azrieal cared about. The Devil of Vengeance stayed on guard for a moment, listening to and observing his surroundings, wanting to ensure he had eliminated all of the pesky angels. When nobody came to avenge the fallen pests and seeing as he found no signs of further life he dropped his guard. The Demon looked down at his blade, the black metal shimmering as the blood from fallen foes seeped into it, feeding the gluttonous object, Azreal's own health unscathed after such an easy fight, his blade returning the favor for the meal.

With a smirk he put the sword away, his hand going up to his mouth and a sharp whistle echoing seconds later. He was informing JJJ-S that it was all over, that it was safe to come out. He had considered not doing so, leaving the man waiting and retaining some of the peace that he found when alone, but knowing The Unwelcome Guest he would have popped in to check up on things rather quickly and all the more disruptive. With his sword put away and his companion signaled Azrieal looked towards the mouth of the cave he was currently standing in front of, inside was a quest item, a player quest, a mid-level character requesting an uncommon sword from inside but being too cowardly to get it themselves. He generally disliked cowards but the mission was easy enough and the pay was substantial, though he was suspicious of the higher than average compensation for such a simple mission now that he had found angels. He took a deep breath, sighing as he looked down at his now glowing ring, the ghastly blue hue alerting him to something more than an uncommon item, something on the rare side. He hadn't noticed it earlier but if it was deep inside the cave still that would make sense and combat distracted him beforehand.

Azrieal didn't like the idea that somebody sent him into an ambush, or at the very least lied to him about the true value of what was inside the cave, it wasn't something he would accept in the real world and even less when the game had the stakes of his life. He did however like the idea of what could await him inside, a smirk on his face, anything that caused his ring to react was going to be worth the trip, even if it was simply valuable and not of use, and even if he had to fight something strong and claim whatever he could from its body. Of course it could have been a monster, ten angels would make more sense for fighting a strong creature than searching for an item, though the numbers could have been due to the location, either way there was promise beyond his original expectation. Still he was curious enough to continue on even with the risk of things going south, turning down when there could be a reward wasn't his style, besides if he were to go back and question the quest giver without all the information it would get him nowhere. If he was right and the offer on the mission had been above average because the angels, or the increased difficulty, were already known to the one who requested help he would have to show his displeasure of that fact. For the moment he just began speaking, assuming his partner was already behind him, an often occurrence with JJJ-S that often made Azrieal feel a bit ridiculous, especially when he was incorrect and in the middle of a crowded area.

"It seems our temporary employer sent us into a more interesting situation than he led us to believe J." Azrieal's hand reached up and ran through his hair, there was no point in staying outside when the good were inside, or best guess it was inside. He had one thing to do first, he had to search the bodies of the dead. "You look at those, I will search these." Azrieal went to the right and began searching through the corpses. As he had suspected there was little of value, a few low quality potions and some assorted armor and weaponry that didn't come close to being worth the inventory space. He did find a few coins, a decent ring that he could sell or trade, but nothing really desirable or special. With a sigh he stood up and turned back to JJJ-S, "Nothing good over here, looks like we are going to have to go inside to get anything out of this trip." He didn't wait for JJJ-S to respond and instead moved towards the mouth of the cave, going inside and trusting JJJ-S would be following in his footsteps as usual, doing his best to block out whatever his erratic companion decided to say.

Once inside the cave he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, the cave had been designated for people of a lower level than himself and it was unlikely there would be much of anything to challenge him unless his ring was reacting to a creature as opposed to an object. There was no reason to assume things would be easy though, arrogance was always his state of mind but stupidity was not and he quickly used his ring to enthrall several of the lesser creatures keeping their distance and sent them forward as advanced scouts. He didn't move forward, he stopped, allowing his controlled minions to search the dark depths, waiting patiently for new on what lay ahead. He wasn't thinking about that though, whatever lay ahead would be revealed shortly enough, the current thought going through his head was what JJJ-S would decide to pester him with during the wait. He never talked about anything Azrieal wouldn't mind talking about, always something random, for once Azrieal would like silence or some conversation that helped their survival like which guilds they should be looking into joining and what other missions they could take down to earn a bit more cash.

Setting

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Character Portrait: John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt (Richard Lee) Character Portrait: Azrieal Kain (Takashima Jin)
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Lord of Pie


As the whistle came, John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt dropped down from his perch and skipped merrily towards Azrieal and the decimated angel group, his animate mask grinning happily. It was another good day to be a part of their two man team. The angels were dying, the treasure was making Azrieal's ring thing glow, and there was never a shortage of people or creatures for JJJ-S to shoot. It wasn't that he enjoyed killing people or angels, though he didn't feel particularly conflicted about their deaths. What he did feel was the warmth of the higher experience point gains killing players yielded as opposed to monsters of comparable levels. The experience and the twin prospects of action and adventure set his spirits soaring. In fact... "Oh I believe I can fly!" His skip turned into a graceful ballerina leap, complete with the front to back split and arms splayed out with his legs. Mid leap, he activated his dark energy wings, the razor edges materializing from his back and allowing him to take flight and glide over to corpses and his teammate. "I believe I can touch the sky!" "It seems our temporary employer sent us into a more interesting situation than he led us to believe J. You look at those, I will search these." Flaring his wings, JJJ-S swept himself straight up into the air they vanished and he dropped nimbly among the bodies. "Searching bodies every night and day!" The looting took almost no time thanks to his necklace-enhanced perception. That their employer may have lied to them about their mission didn't really bother JJJ-S. He was just having fun now.

"Dropping fools for way low pay! I believe I am bored! Let's go already these guys didn't have jack!" After finding nothing, JJJ-S abruptly dropped the melody and planted his foot on one of the angels as he pointed the way forward heroically. However, he dropped his pose and slumped forward when he realized that Azrieal had already continued forward into the cave. He sighed audibly. His traveling buddy had gotten much less interesting since he started ignoring him. Still, it was possible to get a reaction out of him and in the end the difficulty made it all the more worthwhile. JJJ-S set off in a run to catch up with his partner. "Azrieal! Azrieal! Hey! Hey Azrieal! Wait for meeee!" Sprinting to catch up with the other demon, he slowed down as he got closer, finally catching him when he ensnared the lesser dungeon creatures and sent them forward to scout for him. Instead of stopping though, JJJ-S abruptly sped up and passed him, slapping him on the back as he passed. "Tag! Your it!" Cried JJJ-S over his shoulder as he ran further ahead into the cave after the summons. When Azrieal caught up to him, he would be at a fork in the path, scratching his head in confusion as he pondered which way to go. Of course he knew which way to go, his necklace helped him follow the creatures Azrieal was using. That said, he wasn't so foolish as to charge too far ahead of his battle buddy when they had already encountered one group of angels in the area.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt (Richard Lee) Character Portrait: Azrieal Kain (Takashima Jin)
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Azrieal Kain

JJJ-S had proven to be capable but rather annoying, his rendition of 'I Believe I Can Fly' not being nearly as pleasant as he seemed to think it was and his general actions always being puzzling. Azrieal had already ignored that bit though and now that he was in the cave he could focus on what was ahead, or so he had thought. Yet JJJ-S was going to do what he always did and make things more complicated, make even the most serious or calm situations into something much more strange and confusing. This time it was screaming and sprinting, "Azrieal! Azrieal! Hey! Hey Azrieal! Wait for meeee!" The Demon sighed, he was trying not to engage in the ridiculousness that was 'The Pie Lord' a title JJJ-S had given himself and a name that explained a good deal about the Demon's personality. He really was a person of random nature, though there could be a method to the madness Azrieal had yet to find. He doubted it but still, one could hope. "Tag! Your it!" "Of course..." He muttered, taking yet another deep breath and trying to calm his frustration. Much like a child his partner was only encouraged with a reaction, if he acknowledged the man and got angry or tried to chastise him it would become worse, that was guaranteed. So instead he let himself calm down, keeping his irritation under wraps and allowing the guy to move ahead a ways, hoping he would tire himself out or find another thing to entertain his short attention span.

After a brief moment of inner meditation, which consisted of little more than Azrieal thinking about what could be in the cave and potentially worth the trouble, he moved forward. What he had hoped would happen had, JJJ-S had found something else in something as simple as a split in the road and while it wouldn't stop the guy, Azrieal knowing enough to know he was more capable than that, it had given him a reason to stop springing and shouting about for nothing. "Come on, to the right." He spoke calmly, not giving in to the previous provocation and ready to endure the next attempts that would surely come his way. There was something more important and that was the prize at the end of the cave, whatever the ring alluded to. Of course he had hoped his scouts would have some answers, the whole purpose of using them to get to the bottom of the mystery before he ventured forth, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen. Before he could get the information from them the connection was severed which meant one of two things, they had managed to break the control he had over them, which had definitely not happened, or they had been killed. The second option was more reasonable, and really the only possible reason. A smirk crossed his otherwise emotionless expression, he was pleased to know something was ahead and if it was high enough to quickly kill the enthralled creatures then it was surely worth his time, even if still not quite his level. Then again if it was that would be all the better, the higher its level the greater the gear, and as far as he was concerned the loss of minions meant it was a creature, not a random treasure or new location but a monster and one not common to the area.

He did stop for a brief moment though and turned to JJJ-S, "The scouts are gone, be ready, something fun awaits us ahead." He knew the idea of some fun would keep JJJ-S in line and he moved quickly after that, not wanting to give the man time to change his attitude and begin acting ridiculous once more, though chances were that was going to happen anyways. He just had to hope he could figure out what awaited them before his partner decided to go rushing in dancing and singing. Of course as he moved through the cave, using the information gathered before he lost his scouts, he began to hear something abnormal in the distance, a growl of sorts that was still not loud enough for him to make out. He was only getting more eager to see what was ahead and moving quicker the closer he got. Eventually the growling sound was more audible and he realized it wasn't growling at all but the breathing of an incredibly large creature, one he soon got a view of as he turned the last corner before entering a large cavern. It was a humongous beast, hairy horned, a beast twisted by darkness with vicious fangs and claws covered in the gore of the lesser creatures unfortunate enough to cross its path. Bright glowing yellow eyes stared back at him and as he looked at it he could tell it wasn't quiet his level, though one thing was clear, it was a rare spawn. Rare spawns were highly sought after, not because of gear, it could be good but it wasn't nearly as exceptional as the real bosses. No they were sought after for rare ingredients, things specific traders wanted or items that could be used to increase the effectiveness of certain items. Even if Azrieal couldn't use it directed he could get some good coin for the drop, and possibly an extra item or two if he were lucky to fetch some additional coin. "J, let's take this ugly thing out and claim what those angels were after." He liked the idea all the more when he considered the idea that angels probably wanted the item and that they had been there for that reason. So he drew his sword and got ready, running towards the beast to strike at it directly, wanting to test it before going full force and trusting JJJ-S would take care of things from afar.

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Character Portrait: John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt (Richard Lee) Character Portrait: Azrieal Kain (Takashima Jin)
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Lord of Pie


While he was waiting for Azrieal, JJJ-S amused himself by stretching in an exaggerated manner and looking around with an air of obvious boredom. It was a ruse of course. After all, he hadn't always been partners with with Azrieal, indeed he had been a loner for quite awhile before he had partnered up with the man. In that time he had become quite adept at surviving. In his travels, he had found that the best way to do this was to feign ignorance or injury to better lower the guard of those who might seek to take advantage of him or do him harm. Many people had taken him for a common fool or harmless lunatic, and more than a few of those people had come to learn the truth of his deception the hard way. Even now as he stretched and acted bored he was surveying his surroundings and planing how he could use the terrain to his advantage when engaging enemy players or hostile creatures.

After a moment he was interrupted by Azrieal catching up to him. "Come on, to the right." "Right you are my main man! Right you are!" With that he valiantly pointed the way forward and marched off in an exaggerated manner. Sure there were probably better or at least equally effective ways of dealing with people that didn't involve acting like a fool, but John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt didn't really care. He found that his way of doing things was far more fun, engaging, and generally interesting than the ways other people subscribed to.

And off he went, merrily skipping down the pathway, confident in he would detect anything threatening before it posed any sort of risk to him. It helped that he knew there wasn't anything of overtly high level in here, though he kept a special eye out for angels, and of course his necklace of astoundingly deep perception contributed as well. As Azrieal was learning of the minions' demise, so too was JJJ-S as his necklace helped him hear the sound of bones crunching in a set of rather large jaws. He winced comically at the sound. "The scouts are gone, be ready, something fun awaits us ahead." JJJ-S nodded sagely at this and adopted an exaggerated, stereotypical British accent. "I dare say so my good chap. Fun and a fair bit of mangy fur and foul breath. I am sure some creature most dreadful lurks ahead and I do believe we must prepare for battle."

Now keeping an even pace with Azrieal as they walked toward whatever monster awaited them, JJJ-S snapped his neck and entered a subtle, though effective state of battle-readiness. He grasped his rickety-looking bow, and that was about it actually. His natural stealth and equipment bonuses accounted for the rest of his preparation. Of course, when he rounded the final corner and saw the giant mound of fur, fangs, and evil that was waiting for them. "Oh ew! What a gross, ugly, abomination of all that is good and right with the world. Your very appearance is an affront to everything I stand for! On behalf of all people who cry out for justice, I say, 'Hello!'" There really wasn't much of a point to JJJ-S' strange, out of place speech other than for his own benefit. He found it immensely satisfying, but now it was time to actually start fighting this thing.

JJJ-S stared blankly off to the side in the general direction of an elevated ledge. "What oh what could be over there?" With that he vanished, reappearing almost instantly at the ledge. He turned to face the giant monster that was roughly a hundred yards away. He waved to Azrieal and shouted, "Hey Azrieal! I'll get his attention, if you want to do your thing that would be absolutely lovely!" With that, he bent down and whispered, "It's my jack in a box, my jack in a box yeah!" This planted a jack in the box trap at his feet as a measure of security before he turned back to the creature and hoisted his bow to engage it. He then proceeded to fire a rain of dark arrows at the monster, more interested in irritating it and distracting it than anything else so that Azrieal could do what he needed to do.

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Character Portrait: John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt (Richard Lee) Character Portrait: Azrieal Kain (Takashima Jin)
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Azrieal Kain

Azrieal had learned a few things about his partner since they had decided to team up but most of it had to be vetted. In fact almost everything that JJJ-S said or did needed to be sifted through to see the truth. One of the most interesting things he had found out was that the act put on by JJJ-S was not all he was. Sure he was a quirky individual and perhaps he was as insane and as ridiculous as he would like people to believe, but underneath that was a calculated thinker and someone that should never be underestimated. It was the same with his skill, he was quite impressive and while nobody would believe it at first, or even after some time, he had figured out how dangerous the man really was. It was an advantage though, since Azrieal had knowledge of how JJJ-S truly was he could work with him, expect the man to do well in situations and the enemies would never see it coming. He was always underestimated, it was the last mistake many people ever made. That was good when put alongside Azrieal's more intimidating and dangerous reputation. Of course he had something similar to JJJ-S working for himself. That was that few people were aware of what he looked like, only a few of the top demon players were aware, those who had requisitioned his services or seen him in action. Other factions generally stayed unaware, perhaps a few key players became privy but most would have no clue who he was until they put it together by observing his techniques, at which point it was generally too late and only served to cause panic.

"I dare say so my good chap. Fun and a fair bit of mangy fur and foul breath. I am sure some creature most dreadful lurks ahead and I do believe we must prepare for battle." His knowledge of what lie beneath was enough to allow Azrieal to ignore the man's rather annoying act and focus on what he had said. It wasn't that he wasn't already aware of the smell or what most likely awaited them further ahead but JJJ-S' knowledge of that fact was proof of his true ability, and it confirmed exactly what Azrieal believed. Of course laying eyes on the damn thing was all he needed and as he rushed towards it he only got more of a nose full of its disgusting stench. "Hey Azrieal! I'll get his attention, if you want to do your thing that would be absolutely lovely!" Even before JJJ-S yelled out to him he had heard some chanting, the casting of spells. He had already been aware that his partner was ready for action and the rain of arrows moments later made him even more sure of it. The distraction worked perfectly as well, the beast roared in displeasure as arrows began to pincushion him, the creatures size making it an easy target for a peppering of arrows. Even better JJJ-S' special bow made each of those arrows pierce its thick skin like a knife through butter.

That distraction gave Azrieal the perfect opportunity to strike a powerful blow, moving up to the creature and flanking it, moving as his maximum speed to ensure a strike before the creature could defend itself. "No one escapes." His words came out quick and he marked the target, its weak points revealed and his chance to land a devastating blow increasing. He launched several strikes at it, basic attacks to test its defenses and watching carefully as the health bar reacted to each strike. Barely one-percent of its health decreased per hit and that was with JJJ-S' fire raining down the entire time. It was as expected however, a rare spawn was not an easy monster to take down and the fight was supposed to be drawn out. A drawn out fight was where both him and his partner thrived however and a smirk crossed his face as he began launching rend on his opponent, the bleed damage would soon stack and any foe without a solid heal would fall beneath his blade. The rain of arrows was not enough to distract the beast from such an attack, the over-time damage being more dangerous than a hail of arrows that didn't seem to do more than piss it off and shave a small bit of damage. That was the point really, he was meant to bring the attention to himself after getting in close, that would allow JJJ-S to concentrate on pure damage as the fight went on. With that as his goal he got himself ready, watching as the creature turned upon him and let out a furious roar, a defense debuff hitting him and it seemed it would last for some time.

Then came several attacks, nothing major but swipes and bites, auto attacks but the damage count, barely enough to start moving his health bar downward as he healed himself with his passive. Of course the beast was not so simple minded or weak that it could only swipe and slash at him, eventually it launched a larger attack, one that would have been much harder than the others. Luckily Azrieal had a plan for a large attack and right before it hit he activated his armor, instantly being covered in the heavier suit, the damage from the larger attack being greatly diminished and he also took advantage of the situation to do a larger offensive of his own, not landing a rend, as extra damage didn't help his bleed effect, but instead launched a Hell Hound Strike, eviscerating the beasts front right leg, the slow creature unable to avoid even a single one. The damage was a small chunk, about seven percent, and then as soon as it was over the armor receded and his sword returned to normal, a smirk on his face as the beast gave him a hateful look. Extra damage to it and less to Azrieal, it was worth the bit of mana it cost to suit up for several seconds.