It was a full moon Night on the outskirts of Zeinav, while the middle of the desert would be quite dark at this time, the moon managed to illuminate it all with a gentle glow. Apparently after opening some ruins in the name archeological studies, hordes of Unbandaged have gone out into the desert roaming the dunes in search of more people to tear apart, as they fill their own bodies with the gore of innocents... Gnarly business overall, so Arashi set out to try and stop at least some of the creatures. Deciding it'd be best to fly above the dunes, since sand isn't the best surface for walking, and this way he could hopefully spot them sooner.

So The lonely figure Scoured the desert looking for a trace of the groups of Unbandaged, given the size of Zeinav it could take a while, but he wouldn't give up until at least a group of them was disposed of, He searched while flying through the night skies, He was alone in this endeavor, He left Mizu taking care of Cookie at the house, so he didn't have to worry about protecting either of them, which would hopefully make this faster as well.

He hadn't found any Unbandaged or signs of them yet, but he saw a small sandstorm in the distance, which was just at the other side of a dune where he thought he saw someone walking... he began heading over to see who it was and whether that small moving cloud of sand could be the unbandaged

Javal was currently sprinting along headed towards the middle of the outskirts of Zeinav running around at his top speed thanks to him icing the bottoms of his sandals with his cold magic. He caused the sand around him to blow and split his path as he ran along.



He decided to take on this mission solo, leaving the rest of his company at the port to take some off time. He was going to deal with these wrapped-up spooky fellows by himself; it didn't seem too hard, especially after dealing with all the crazy threats that Charon had.



He had heard of this mission from some of the locals as the crew docked, and sightings of mummies in the desert. He sprinted towards the sightings as soon as he heard about it yelling for his crew to stay here as he ran off.



Javal stopped for a second as he almost tripped and fell into the sand under him he then looked around trying to observe his surroundings.



He then saw a small sandstorm brewing nearby he then thinks, “Hm, that looks like a good place to search for these guys”. And walks over there trying not to be tempted to eat the sand below him and struggling to walk through the tough desert environment.

---

Quest Name: Unwrapped

Participants: Two or more

Location: Zeinav Desert

Post Requirements: 6 post per person, 200 words per post

Reward: +1 Renown, +Dark Catalyst, +1 Zombie Ash

Description: Further exploration and excavation of the Zeinav desert has disturbed many once forgotten tombs, causing the spirits inside to become restless. Now an uncontrolled amount of Unbandaged have been seen roaming the desert, preying on travelers and merchants. Brave adventurers are being asked to dispose of these creatures, helping to cull the growing threat in the desert. Take down a roaming band of 6 unbandaged, making Charon safer and helping their spirits find rest.

As Arashi approached the lone Humanoid walking towards the small sandstorm, he noticed it was a familiar face, not only that but an extremely friendly one too! Before he managed to get in range, the sand storm stopped in it's tracks, and began heading towards Javal at top speed, So it was unbandaged... And they had spotted his friend.

Arashi picked up speed, trying to get to Javal before the Sandstorm did, but he was quite farther away from him than the Unbandaged, He tried to warn him "Javal! That storm, It's made by unbandaged! Be ready!" Arashi Yelled hoping to give him a heads-up in case he wasn't expecting that already, the floating sand surrounded Javal, and began to take form into Mummies, six Unbandaged formed out of the sand particles, gradually appearing around him, Arashi wouldn't be there fast enough... Unless..?

He blinked into the middle of the fray, the Creatures mid formation, he stood at the ready next to his friend, ready to take on the monsters that were terrorizing the desert. together.

As the creatures became whole again, the sandstorm immediately stopped, each sand particle belonging to one of the creatures, the desert was quiet again, the sea of stars and the full moon above them, illuminated the place, surrounded by Unbandaged both Javal and Arashi would have to take on 3 of them.

Javal looked across the desert as he used his right hand to cover his eyes from the sand blowing he then said, “Woah it appears that small sandstorm’s heading for me. Eh I could take it”, he said raising his fists, “You want some sand huh you can have it”, he yells charging forth sprinting towards the sandstorm.



He stops a bit as he hears a voice call out to him, “Huh who said that? Is that the sand speaking once more? Is this one of your strange tricks, sand?”.



His confusion quickly changed into focus as he heard the warning that unbandaged the storm he stopped in his tracks and took out his blade, Theseus.



He looked around at the six unbandaged people that surrounded him and said, “Well then mummy fiends you want to fight me and cause problems for other people, huh? Well I’m here to stop you and bring you fellows to justice”.



He then glances as he feels someone appear next to him seeing it’s his dear friend, Arashi, “Woah hello there friend Arashi didn’t see you there did you hear that voice in the sky, my friend?".

The unbandaged charged at the two adventurers and Javal jumped into combat charging at one that came at him slashing him across the abdomen.

Once the storm stopped, Javal greeted Arashi while getting ready mentioning if he heard the voice in the sky, Arashi who was back to back with Javal, Rolled his eyes and grinned, "Yeah, I wonder who that was..." he said sarcastically. While gripping the hilt of his blade and getting on Iai stance, ready to unsheathe his blade at a moments notice, focus coming back to him almost immediately, ready to cleave as many Unbandaged as necessary.

Arashi waited as Javal charged his side, the Unbandaged deciding to attack him first, In less than a second Arashi slashed at the closest unbandaged attacking arm¹, cutting it off, and then sliced it in half² while dashing past it in a burst of lightning³. It's torso fell to the floor clawing on the sand trying to get to Arashi, It's legs fell down motionless. He had passed by too quickly for the other two to be able to grab him, still they began going after him again, now Arashi was in an unsheathed ready stance, with one enemy cleaved and crawling towards him and two trying to charge him.

As they approached Arashi attacked the closest one, but before the sword could connect it turned itself into sand blowing past him, The third Unbandaged attempted to grapple him from the front while the second was beginning to form itself behind him, he stabbed at the one trying to grapple out of reflex, but this monsters didn't feel pain they didn't even have blood or organs of their own... it went right through the thrust, unflinching, and tried to grab his head. "No you won't!" Before the one behind him could finish taking form Arashi tensed up releasing a burst of wind pushing things away⁴ the sand particles dispersing and delaying the Unbandaged reforming, he jumped back letting go of his blade which remained stuck on the other monster...

"I guess these things won't go down so easily..."

---

1 & 2: Double strike Enchantment with Katana

3: Bullet Dash

4: Push/Pull Spell

Javal smiled as he saw his friend Arashi perform some crazy skilled motions and attacks, he then yelled out, “You take those three, I take these three alright?”, before shifting his focus to the group of three that surrounded him. The other three Unwrapped surrounding Arashi in a circle.



The group of undead tried to smother Javal in a circle of sand and cloth but the fellblood only smirked as they tried. He then touched the sand below him using it to shape a knuckle knife (^{1. Desert Blessing}) which he held in his right while his left held his katana. He then grasped both weapons tightly as the unwrapped kept their something assault up and spun his body around with his blades outstretched cutting all three unwrapped torsos off and causing them to fall to the sand floor.



“That’ll be enough of you fiends”, he exclaimed proudly standing up straight and walking over their corpses before suddenly the unwrapped bodies regenerated, returning to their original state.



“Damn it, what can we do Arashi?” he yells, “No matter what we do these guys just keep on keeping on like our attacks don’t do anything?”.



Suddenly an idea pops into the fellblood’s head, “If we can't cut through their sandy forms we’re gonna have to change their forms into something solid we can hit”.

As He looked around he noticed the first Unbandaged which had been crawling on the ground moments prior turning itself to sand and appearing again completely reformed as if it was never cut in half... "I think you're onto something there Javal... you know water magic... right?" Arashi made some more distance before a lightning bolt fell onto his hand his lightning spear taking shape... "If you can manage to turn them into wet sand, a good bit of lightning should be enough to turn them into glass"

Arashi readied up and slammed the spear against the ground "Let's see what you're made of! Other than sand.... I guess..." He yelled at the unbandaged trying to taunt them, and grabbed his spear with both hands, Impaling them wouldn't do much... but he could still use the long spear head for slashing, and the rest of it as a quarterstaff he had more weapons but he wanted to keep this one ready for the combo with Javal.

As the first bandaged approached, Arashi spun the Spear over his head and swung it diagonally downwards slicing the mummy's torso off (again) as it fell, Arashi sped through using a bullet dash, and swiped another Unbandaged's legs making them fall face first into the sand, then stabbed his spear down on it's head bursting it open, it wouldn't kill them just yet but it would buy some time. Lastly he lifted the spear again, and as the last Unbandaged charged he bumped it's chest with the butt of the spear shoving it back before lifting the spear over his head and swinging it down on the monster's head, the blade cutting through it almost all the way through, stopping at the lower abdomen, With a sigh he put his right hand farther up the spear's shaft and jumped forwards, letting his weight push down on the spear, and letting it get through the last bit as the three began reforming Arashi ran up to Javal, hoping for the Unbandaged to all be in the same place for the combo so that they may all be done with swiftly.

Javal swung his sword, slicing another unbandaged in half, sending it back into its sound only to see it reform once more before his eyes. This was getting bad the unbandaged were starting to surround the two and swipe at them. They were at an obvious disadvantage no matter what they were throwing at them they just reformed their bandages that held their mummified bodies just wrapping around them and returning them.



He glanced at Arashi as he asked him, “Yes friend Arashi I do indeed know water magic”, he then grinned as he listened to the other man’s plan.



“I can do that, this sounds like a genius plan. Can you just hold them off for a second?” he asked, placing his legs apart and his fists pulled back as he collected the water in the air into a ring that formed around him. He concentrated on sending that ring outwards pushing it towards his opponents and quickly as he pulled it towards him he pushed it outwards sending out a smashing wave (1) wetting all the Unbandaged who were trying to overwhelm the adventurers. He looks at Arashi’s skill and technique in amazement as he readies once more his concentration on his palm summoning a small bubble (2).



He then throws it at the bandaged creature nearest to him who tried swiping at him before seeing it bounce off them onto another and finally splashing on a third one next to Arashi.



Soon the Unbandaged are enraged at this and try to attack Javal as they rush his hands outstretched Javal smiles before yelling, “Alright Arashi show them how it’s done”.

---

1. Smashing Wave
2. Bouncing Bubble

As Javal managed to hit all of them with water magic Arashi had his work cut out for him. "Alright it's my turn now!" He grabbed his spear with one hand and Jumped high into the air, pulling the hand back and throwing the spear^[1] at the Unbandaged in the middle of the approaching pack, as it became a lightning bolt it pierced through the monster immediately crystallising it as it dispersed, broken a lot of small glass shards, a huge cloud of sand was lifted as the spear landed the strength and speed of the lightning bolt making a small explosion. Stopping in middair thanks to his flight spell, he continued by summoning 5 rods of pure lightning^[2] below each of the monsters he moved above the cloud and activated them causing lightning to shoot out of him and into the ground below, each lightning bolt falling on top of one of the remaining Unbandaged. it cursed through their bodies more evenly thanks to the water magic, and swiftly glassified them.

he remained in floating above the cloud waiting for it to settle, he wasn't exactly sure that it had worked yet... but as most of the lifted sand left with the breeze, there were 5 crumbling glass statues, and a bunch of glass shards in the middle around his spear. So it seemed to have worked!

He gave Javal a thumbs up as he began floating down to meet him and congratulate him for the amazing teamwork.

Javal couldn’t help but have his mouth wide as he looked at Arashi’s insane display of power and strength. They truly made an excellent team. It seemed the Unbandaged truly held no threat over them now that they were using their brains. He grinned as he watched thinking how cool it looked, “Maybe it’s time for me to learn some more magic like that if it’s that cool”, he thought to himself, holding his hand over his face so he wouldn’t get blasted by the bolts of lightning.



He then turned and began punching through the unbandaged statues breaking them down like he had done back during a past adventure. Soon enough after he was finished there were many shards of glass on the floor. He then jumped back from it and looked up at his friend as he floated down matching his thumbs up with one of his own. He grins as he jogs over to him stretching his arm out for a running high five after such an impressive victory.





“Great job friend Arashi you did awesome there. That footwork and magic was truly amazing to see. I was in awe. I was kind of worried at first when my katana wasn’t working but thanks to our work the problem is over and no more shall people be afraid of sand in the desert".



After some more talking Javal asks the other man earnestly, “So what’s the plan now for you friend? Any other cool adventurers? What’s going on in the Arashi life huh my friend?”.

As his thumbs up was reciprocated Arashi couldn't help but chuckle, they had done it! and as Javal approached him after he landed, coming in for a high-five, there was no way he was gonna leave his friend hanging he extended his hand as well to meet that of the Fellblood with a satisfying clap. After that he listened to his friend's comment about the fight "I agree, it was a bit disturbing to see them unaffected by our strikes at first... but they didn't stand a chance, after all we make a pretty good team! right?" he reminisced about their fight against the primordial god of earth, where Arashi actually lost his life for a moment trying to land a damaging strike... But once he was back up he realised that of course the god of rebirth had more than one life...

"After all, we tore a primordial god's wing apart with one of our team attacks!" he chuckled again, while it was a tiring, painful, and a little bit traumatic event, to die in the hands of an uncaring deity. Arashi does remember the whole ordeal with a bit of fondness, gratefulness, and pride. Fighting a being capable of destroying the world and coming out on top was inspiring and a good story to tell, he also has good memories of it due to the camaraderie and support, of everyone coming together to stop such a threat. The people there, and the way they all came together to protect their home, and each other... it was more than inspiring... it was the reason that showed life was worth fighting for, despite all odds, and against all enemies, even if those were the ones who granted it in the first place...

"Well as for plans... not that much I think I'll return home to the Isles for the time being, we'll see where the road takes me next though! You never know when something will need to be done." He smiled earnestly before turning the question back to his fellblood friend "How about you Javal? what do you have planned?"

Javal couldn’t help but smile truly happy that their teamwork had worked out so well, “Honestly I wonder how strong these undead were during their lifetime after all their undead bodies were so strong regenerating or not. I can’t help but agree with friend Arashi we make an incredible team so it’s no surprise that we were able to come out on top”.



Javal then chuckled in remembrance of their shared experience against Vulcadreus, “Yep, why I still can’t get the picture out of my head as we tore it apart. Although I would say that the self-sacrificial movie was a dangerous friend. Try not to do it again after all if it wasn’t for Lady Shitakibo’s incredible healing and revival abilities".


“Makes sense it is very important to rest and relax after such an arduous adventure, although adventures always manage to pop up when you least expect them. As for me, I’m not sure I have a couple of goals I must accomplish. Find out what happened to my former crew, search for my father, and get even stronger than I am now”.



After hearing Arashi’s response he changes the topic to strength, “So friend Arashi how strong have you become a friend? Still haven’t forgotten about that time we went toe to toe in swordsmanship a couple of months back”.

That was an interesting thought Javal had brought, indeed who were these... double corpses... In life? Were they determined warriors? or were they common people? Does the unbandaged curse make them into equally strong creatures despite of who they were in life? or does it interact with the strength they had in life? Either way Arashi looked away embarrassed as Javal reminded him of his 'plan' "well it was a bit of a desperate move... I... Didn't really plan ahead... I was frustrated that nothing seemed to work, I saw what seemed like a weakness, and I guess in retrospect even if I loathe to admit it... I was afraid... You know what they say a cornered beast is the most dangerous... I felt that way... Even if it was my last move, I had to try to take that thing down..."

He paused for a moment looking down ashamed, but then his eyes sparkled a bit and he looked up to the starry night sky of the desert, "I don't want the world to end... I have things I must protect, and most people deserve to have a happy life that isn't cut short... I won't let any so called deity, monster, do so if I can help it... Even if it costs me my life." He sighed after that "so yeah it might not have been the smartest move, and maybe I should have a plan B or any sort of plan before doing something like that... But I can't promise I won't do it again... I'll try to exhaust any and all options before doing so, but I rather go down like that than leave the world to burn even if means delaying my own end."

There's not much Arashi fears, including his death, but the death of the world? The death of hope? The death of... love..? Now that is something he is afraid of...

"Anyways, I think I have become stronger yes! I'm not one to leave training aside although I find myself kind of stumped... I'm not progressing as fast as I'd like... Either way I'm not gonna stop! Need to be ready the world has been getting increasingly chaotic I think we should be ready for anything I think Vulcadreaus was just the beginning."

Javal gets serious, his cheery light-hearted grin dropping into a sincere understanding smile, “I understand that friend Arashi we were all desperate, all doing our best to do anything we could. You’re right it seemed helpless, impossible, we fought against the god of rebirth. Those are incredibly stacked against our odds, however, I must ask you to please consider. Next time don’t feel the need to do some sort of final sacrificial technique, after all, no matter how big, bad, and scary creatures, monsters, or even gods we face, the only thing that matters is that everyone makes it back to share a big meal. Your dedication to justice and virtue are commendable and I respect that greatly you know that I do. All I ask is instead of putting your all into one final attack that’ll take you out. Why not get stronger? Here and now, so you’ll never have to resort to something as foolish as that again. Be strong enough to protect the people you love with everything you have inside. Become the strongest version of Arashi that you can even think of existing. Try to become that person”, Javal then sits down on the sand floor and looks up to the stars, “Want to know a secret Arashi? I don’t consider myself to be a very strong person, I’m not the strongest version of myself that I want to be. There are people and creatures far stronger than I am but I can’t let myself get bogged down by feelings like that. Like you, I have people I want to protect, things I care about, feelings I want to feel. I won’t let some god get in between me and my loved ones, I won’t die and neither will you, alright? We have to get strong enough so we can protect the people we love otherwise”, he grins, “Who else is supposed to eat good food with them”, he stands up.



He then holds his fist out waiting for the other man to bump it and exclaims, “Promise me Arashi Tento that you’ll get twice as strong the next time that we meet, don’t stop even if you're stumped keep moving forward. Because you’re right we’re gonna face threats even bigger than Vulcadreus and Ziev, and to successfully protect the people we care about we have to be powerful”.

Countless thoughts raced through Arashi's head as Javal spoke to him, it resonated within him... Javal was right, not only did he have to get stronger he had to get strong enough to face threats even bigger than Vulcadreaus, even if no mortal alone could hope to achieve such a level of power, he was not alone, no one was... And as such he had to find the strength within himself to find strength in others. He looked up at Javal's outstretched fist and with a nod met it with his own "You're right! I won't let myself be stopped by what seem like impossible odds, I'll get stronger and next time we'll be ready!" He smiled sincerely a huge weight lifting off his shoulders

"we should spar someday, after all we must test each other's progress and keep getting stronger!" Arashi can't help but chuckle lightly as the sorrow and doubt faded from his mind, Javal was a good man and a good friend, Arashi would do well to remember that and how they can inspire each other, pushing themselves to higher limits.