Magnus Vs. Kaonashi

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-The old ruleset applies: the rolls are 1 to 100 even rolls are a success, uneven rolls are a failure.
-Characters are allowed 1 free action, but must otherwise stick to their movepools.
-Instead of VIRTUE and VICE, the adventurers have WILLPOWER and the midara have STAMINA.
-Encounters that use characters from the OpenRPG may cause a re-appearance of said midara, depending on outcome.

Paralyzed Status- Character will be unable to move next turn and will be unable to dodge the next attack

Charmed Status- The next attack dealt by the midara does +1 Willpower damage

Bind Status- Character will be unable to move and continually suffer 2 Willpower damage each turn unless they roll a 50 or higher and escape

Downed Status- Character's next action is skipped, allowing their opponent to attempt a follow-up

Dazed Status- Character must roll two successes instead of one in order to hit


Even rolls higher than 85 are considered critical and allows the attacker to follow up with another move

Odd rolls lower than 14 are critical failures, allowing the opponent's next attack to be a guaranteed success

Kaonashi starts with 30 Stamina, and Magnus starts with 25 willpower (Due to Damnable Temptations! passive).
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Despite his rather intimidating height, Magnus had never considered himself much of a lookout.
His services had recently been acquired by a beyond anxious family of village folk, during what was intended to otherwise be a superficial jaunt through a hamlet not too different from his own modest hometown. Nostalgic.
He had been contracted to find, and hopefully recover, the families' son, who had recently gone missing into the woods, without a trace. Under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn't of accepted such a seemingly impossible search, but these people were desperate for any kind of clarity. 'No' wasn't an answer they could take. A hulking knight appearing as they gave up hope seemed like divine intervention to them.

He was beginning to give up hope, too. It was about time to call his search off.
His mental conflict was quickly cut short, however, as a weak, feminine voice called out behind him.
"F-..Face..?"

Magnus' heavy armor clanged noisily with every step he took through the woods, and any animals that came to investigate were quickly scared off by the sight of his hulking frame. Upon reflection, it was quite fortunate that he wasn't here to be stealthy. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" He called out, for what must've been the thousandth time that day. His trusty poleaxe was mounted on his back, allowing one hand to hold up his helmet's visor as he held the other next to his mouth in an attempt to amplify his shouts. "I'm from the village nearby! Please, your family's looking for you!"

As usual, his only answer was an echo of his own voice off the trees. He sighed, lowering his visor back over his face. As much as it pained him to think about, it was looking increasingly likely that he'd have to return to the village empty-handed. He'd looked everywhere, and the Sun's light was fading fast. If the boy wasn't found by nightfall, it was almost certain that he wouldn't be found at all.

It was then that he heard a voice call out from behind him.

Startled out of his thoughts, he quickly whirled around to face the source. For a moment, he was filled with hope that this might be the child he was looking for—the voice had been rather high-pitched, but perhaps the boy was simply younger than he'd thought. When he saw the strange creature before him, however, his heart sank. This was obviously not who he'd been sent out to find.

For a moment, he stood mask-to-mask with the creature, looking it up and down as he tried to figure out just what he was looking at. It looked like a woman, but its entire body was pitch-black, and Magnus swore that he could see through it. "H-hello? Who goes there...?" He asked cautiously. What was he supposed to say to a creature like this?

The figure simply stood there, her hanging clothes swaying slightly as she similarly examined Magnus, curiously looking him up and down. The eerie silence quickly returned with her wordless staring, the forest suddenly going quiet with the wind turning into only a whisper, as if not to disturb the reticence. The gaze seemed to hold for just a few moments too long, yet easily long enough to build on the already uncanny aura this stranger was emanating.

If he squinted, it was almost like she occasionally flickered, like some sort of dim candle flame.

Magnus’ question fell on deaf ears as the woman only responded with silence, her intent completely ambiguous behind the strange, emotionless ornate mask, before suddenly asking him a.. Question? He could only assume what she meant from the tone, the unfaltering expression, or lack thereof, of the mask providing no advice.

“..Face?” The mysterious figure repeated, seemingly more sure of her words this time she spoke, miming our the motions of removing her own mask as she gently placed her hands against it and pretended to remove it, going on to mimicking lifting something from her head, quickly returning to a standstill with a now slightly cocked head as she curiously awaited a response from what she presumed to be some sort of imposing iron golem.

Magnus felt a strange apprehension settle over him as he stared at the creature before him. It was the fear of the unknown, the unease at being in the presence of something that seemed so utterly alien. It...or, she, he supposed...almost looked transparent. Was this some kind of spirit? A soul that had yet to part ways with the world of the living?

His heart started to beat faster. He'd never seen anything like this before. What did she want?

He blinked, and hesitantly gestured toward his helmet. Was...was that what she wanted? From the movement she was making with her hands, and the fact that the only word she'd uttered was "face", he had a feeling she wanted him to show her his.

He placed his armored hand on his visor. Perhaps if he indulged her curiosity, she'd leave him alone? That way, he'd have more time to search for the village boy before night fell, and he'd be out of the way of this disturbing spirit. Yes, that seemed like the best course of action. He pulled his visor back, revealing most of his face to the strange woman while keeping his helmet on. Why she wanted to see his face, he had no idea, but if all went well, he'd be able to get back to investigating the boy's disappearance in no time.

He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach that he might already know why he disappeared...

The woman gave a brief excited gasp as he lifted up his visor, seemingly overcome by the anticipation. It was almost reassuring to hear some input other than the word ”face”, but it wasn’t much of a respite from the crushing silence.
For a few moments, she simply continued to stare, giving no indication of approval, or even acknowledgement beyond her gazing eyes. Standing like a statue, indecipherable behind her pale mask.

The silence was, once again, pierced, however, this time by the sound of a gentle yet enthused applause from the the stranger, who, seemingly in response, removed her own mask, Gently placing it onto the ground and looking back up at at Magnus.

Her long hair obscured her face, the only seemingly visible feature was a small, shy smile. It didn’t take much observation to realize that a smile was the only feature adorned her face. That is, if it could be called a face without.. Eyes. Something about her smile was unusually.. disarming. Vunerable, even. Far more approachable than her mask, yet still remaining foreign.

”..I-I.. I am Kaonashi!” The sentence was stifled out, with an unsure smile.
”..Hello!”

She paused, unsure of what to say next, seemingly searching for the words before instead cupping out her hands out to Magnus.
Inexplicably, and to much surprise, her palms began to pool with glistening pieces of gold, rising up into a small pile as the metal materialized from seemingly nowhere.

”..Do you.. Want it?”
She asked, holding it out toward Magnus with a small shake.

Magnus blinked uncertainly at the spirit-woman's applause. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting her reaction to be—maybe leaning in for a closer look, or giving a satisfied nod and heading off—but it certainly wasn't that. He had little time to be surprised at her strange reaction, however, before she took off her mask and revealed something even stranger to him:

She had no face.

Magnus' eyes widened, and he involuntarily took a step back, quickly pulling his visor back over his face. This spirit was already unnerving enough, but to see that she had no eyes to match his own was too much for him to hide his fear. Even her small voice and shy smile only perturbed him further, human features adorning an inhuman creature.

No...no. Now wasn't the time for him to panic. He'd stood face-to-face with far more threatening foes in the past, and though this spirit had no face for him to read, no visible intentions aside from a thin smile, he wasn't about to lose control of himself now. He was the Iron Glacier, damn it! What was he doing, being so terrified by a lone spirit?

He looked back to the spirit in question, and his face fell when he realized she wasn't happy with his visor hiding his face again. He decided to just do away with the helmet entirely, placing his hands on either side of it and sliding it off his head, setting it down near his feet to mirror Kaonashi's mask. Though he'd never think of doing this near a real opponent, it served two useful purposes here: one, appeasing the spirit in front of him, and two, assuring himself that there was nothing to be afraid of here. After all, if he could go so far as to take off his trusty helmet with no risk, then what was there for him to fear?

His brow furrowed in confusion at the sight of gold pieces pooling in Kaonashi's hands. "Tatae...?" He murmured, reaching out despite himself and taking one of the gold pieces, turning it over in his fingers. Where were these coming from? Was she creating them somehow, or were they being displaced from somewhere? If so, where were they being taken from? Were they being stolen from the coffers of some wealthy family, or did they belong to Kaonashi? If the latter, then where did she even...

Magnus decided to cut off that train of thought before it could derail any further. It was only giving him more questions than answers, anyway. He needed to get back on track, here—finding the lost boy was the entire reason he was even out here in the first place, after all. And now that she was proving somewhat amiable, maybe the spirit could even prove helpful in that regard?

"I humbly thank you for your..." He pursed his lips as he considered his words. "...generous gift, but I cannot bring myself to accept such a lavish offering," he said, gently placing the gold piece back on top of the others. "Please, it would be better if you kept it." Well, that, and I don't want to be found with a sack full of gold and no explanation for it, he thought dryly.

He placed his armored hand over his chestplate. "I am Magnus," he said, bowing his head. "I came to this forest to find a boy from the nearby village who disappeared in this place not long ago. I've been searching for him since the sun rose, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to find him yet." He looked up past the tops of the trees, and grimaced as he saw that the sun was starting to dip below the horizon. He looked back toward Kaonashi. "I know not how long you've been in this forest, but please, if you can help me find the boy, I'll be greatly in your debt."

Honestly, he had no idea if the spirit was going to listen to him, but it surely couldn't hurt to try. She did seem to be opening up a bit to him, after all, her general strangeness aside...

If the woman was offended by Magnus’ brief bout of fear in response to her face, she didn’t show it. Her smile briefly flickered into one of understanding, albeit seeming slightly disheartened, moreso as he slid his visor back over his face.
Her enthusiasm visibly returned as Magnus did away with his helmet, letting out a small, flattered hum of approval at its placement adjacent to her own mask.

The woman’s smile turned to one of excitement as Magnus turned over one of the small nuggets of gold, tilting her head, letting her long hair sway to the side.

“Ah.”
The smile quickly faded upon Magnus’ rejection, her expression being replaced by a a twinge of resigned disappointment, although she continued to intently listen to what Magnus had to say, silently standing, still holding out the offering in her palms, not bothering to do away with it, despite Magnus’ clear disinterest. She had never been good with rejection.
The spirit ruminated over his refusal, only visibly being pulled out of her train of thought at hearing the mention of a boy recently gone missing in the woods, gold spilling from her hands and onto the forest floor.

“I.. A-ah...”
She was clearly beyond perturbed by Magnus’ revelation, stuttering a fumbling her words for a few brief seconds, anxiously twiddling her thumbs at her waist momentarily, before finally speaking out after letting a few silent instants linger just long enough to return to the uncanny aura that had been shared between the two only a few minutes ago.