Howling Cliffs

Acadia

"Oh, Kiran's back in the human world. To get back, just hop through the portal," Somnis explains. It flashes and someone pops through.


Morgan

You pop through the portal just long enough to get a glimpse around. "I told you to wait," Somnis says as she grabs you and spins you around before shoving you back in.

Move to Beach Thread.


Acadia

"See? Easy. But be careful - the portals close at sunset here, which is dawn in the human world," Somnis says with a confident nod. "You're free to go back if you don't want to help us save Laura. But if you really want to give Kiran a piece of your mind, you should wait for him to come through the portal and blast him. With this." She hands you a small, white key. "Just squeeze it tight and it'll respond to your will. I can feel your soul's resonance... So wait until Kiran gets his armor on first unless you no exaggeration wanna kill him. And honestly I'm not gonna stop you, considering how he's been acting the last few days."

Arcadia

You hold the key and feel it starting to warm up.  A burst of stars start raining down around you.  Your hair turns white and green and curls up.  Your clothes flash and disappear, replaced with a black leotard.  Golden lace flies out of the outfit, curling into large ribbons on the waist.  White gloves appear on your hands, along with a pair of small staves.  Green high heels form around your feet, with black socks crawling out and up your legs, decorative symbols of card suits knitted in.  More golden lace wraps around your face to form a makeshift mask.


Levi

You get a glimpse of that new girl in her otherworld form.  Neat.  Somnis takes your arm in an ambush.  "Hey!  ...Huh?  Are you alone?  You don't have a team yet?  Come back when you do-o-o-o!"  Somnis swings you around and slings you back through the portal.

Move to Beach thread.

Everyone

You head inside the portal to find a beautiful, pristine beach set against a blood-red sea, the sun just now rising.  It's smaller than the beach you came from, largely because it's cut off by a giant cliff.  Different strata of rock are clearly visible, filled with different crystals and ores.  It's really beautiful, glinting in the sunlight...

Somnis looks at the groups that have gathered.  "Alright, we need to gather some Fish Eyes and some other materials...  For you newbies, monsters sometimes drop useful things when they die.  If you collect five matching items, you can use them to create a new set of armor or a new weapon.  When doing so, you can insert up to three other items to modify the item.  Plus your Soul Key will do some modifications of its own - so, y'know, don't expect anyone to get the same results even with the same items.  Our goal is to make fire-resistant armor for everyone.  If you have any questions when making items, come to me!  Um...  OK!  The enemies we're looking for should be in the shallows.  So just wade in when you're ready..."


Morgan, Levi

Somnis pops out her soul key and transforms.  She simply disappears into thin air.  She re-appears behind you, emerging dressed in a black, skintight suit lined with knives with a black cape and a mask over her eyes.

Tom's face disappears into a motorcycle helmet and he wears a simple, black-leather jacket and carries a chain.

Somnis looks at Tia.  "Alright, see if you can transform."

Tia nods.  You notice she's wearing the same outfit she came into the human world with.  Nothing but her circlet, a skirt, and a tube top.  "By the power of my Guardian'ssss Ssssoul..." she whispers.  She flashes in blue flame, then collapses to her knees.  She shakes her head.  "No good..."

"That's more or less what I expected," Somnis admits.  She tosses Tia a Soul Key.  "Here, this should still work."

"'K."  She holds up the key.  Once again she's bathed in blue flames.  She emerges dressed in a traditional toga and sandals, wearing a Greek theater mask and her circlet.  She holds her hand out and a glowing-blue spear materializes from thin air.  Her tongue flicks out through a slit in her mask.  She nods approvingly.  "Let's go spear some fishies!" she says.


Tai, Leia

You walk through the portal and Natsumi and Buttons transform immediately.

Buttons flashes white, reappearing with a brown cloak that hides his face in perpetual shadow.  A white-glowing lantern hangs from his shoulder.  A shovel is slung across his shoulders.

Natsumi bursts into blue flame, emerging in blue pants and a white overshirt with huge sleeves.  She's carrying a staff with white papers hanging off it and wearing a Japanese-style mask that you think's probably supposed to be a deer, judging from the antlers.

"Alice gave you a key, right?  She explained how to use it?  Just grab the thing."  Buttons asks.  He continues under his breath.  "You should know all about that sort of thing..."

"The fuck was that last part?" Mattea demands.

"Nothing!" Buttons assures her.

"...Oh, right.  You and Alice...  Tch.  Whatever.  But another crack like that and I'm gonna shove that shovel so far up your ass I'll be able to use you as a scarecrow."

Mattea holds up her key.  A gust of wind swirls around her.  A golden necklace appears around her shoulders, and dress starts to unroll to cover her.  It's a stunning, lime-green ballgown, sleeveless, backless, with a wide, flowing skirt and tall, matching heels.  A feathered ball mask flips down onto her nose, and her hair coils into a french braid.  She produces a fan and snaps it open.  "Huh...  This feels... pretty cool."

"...I don't like slaughtering monsters, but... we don't have much choice," Natsumi says.  She slips a key out of her pocket.  "Here, Leia.  I brought a soul key for you, as well."


Dewey, Arcadia

Fox, Katie, and Kiran walk through the portal last, with Dewey in tow.

Katie stoops down on all fours.  Her muscles begin to bulge and fur sprouts from her skin.  Her swimsuit explodes as she stands up, throwing her head back to howl as a 7ft tall werewolf, eyes glowing yellow and saliva dripping from her fangs.  She flexes her claws, stretches her shoulders, wags her tail, then sits down and scratches her head.  With her foot.  It... really helps tone down the intimidation factor.

Fox sinks into the ground, re-emerging dressed similar to Somnis, but with a larger cape and without the mask.  Instead, a black shawl is wrapped around the lower half of his face.  A giant scythe is slung over his back.

Kiran takes out his key.  When he finishes transforming, he's dressed in a black leotard with a pale-blue skirt.  Matching sequins form a flame-like pattern over his heart.  He's got a black top hat with a blue band and a black half-mask over his eyes.   A black cape with feather-like shoulder pads spring up from his shoulder, and he's clutching a black rod, a classic magic wand.

Kiran swaggers over to Arcadia, looks her up and down, and grins.  "Looks like we're going to be on the same team."

"I guess I should have an overdramatic transformation too..."

Levi activates his key, causing a geyser of water to shoot out from underneath him, spiraling in a whirlpool pattern as he walks out, wearing his circlet, boots, and gauntlets. He then remembers...he doesn't have a shirt in this world. Fuck.

He begins to freak out inside before remembering monsters are attracted to emotions. Wait. Monsters are attracted to emotions!

"T-Tom! Take your sh-shirt off...!" When he inevitably tries to interrupt, Levi shouts, "J-JUST D-DO IT!"

If you want.

Arcadia whacks Kiran over the head with one of her staffs. "Like I want to be, asshole! You invite me to a lame-ass beach party, just to chuck me through a portal! Don't think we're gonna be friends just cuz..." Arcadia trails off as she starts noticing Kiran's... cool outfit. "That getup... N-Never mind! So, we're all a team, huh?" Arcadia says, giggling a bit to herself.