Urist
You head off to the south and to the top of a high hill, which overlooks an impressive ruined cityscape across a river. Several would-be skyscrapers lie across streets and parking lots like immense fallen logs, and about midway between you and the river is an enormous ruined stone structure almost like a castle. There are so many potential hiding spots that you're not sure where to start looking, but you'd best pick one soon: It's gotten dark, and judging by the watch you were given, ten minutes have already passed since you started searching.
Kyle and Red
The two of you run off towards the west, and almost immediately spot a figure off in the distance. Not sure whether it's Yukkuri or a monster, you advance carefully towards it, but after a few minutes you realize that it's something else entirely. It's a large wagon with the body of a huge silvery bat-like monster strapped to it, being pulled by a pair of oxen and escorted by a squad of six slayers. They're all talking amongst themselves cheerfully, and they don't even notice you as you pass by. The next few minutes of searching are uneventful after this, and looking down at the watch you were given, you can see that ten minutes have passed.
Sofia and Harvey
The two of you head to the east, which is quite hilly, with one large knoll overshadowing the rest. It's tall enough that it would make a great vantage point, and you both head towards it as quickly as you can, hoping to get there before night sets in so that you can have the best possible view of the surrounding area. When you arrive slightly out of breath at the base of it, you check the watches. Nine minutes. Maybe you can afford to take a tiny brea- FWOOSH! As you pocket your watches, a ring of flame nearly ten feet tall roars up around the hill, trapping you inside and nearly catching Harvey's clothes on fire. It's hard to hear over the roar of the blaze, but you're pretty sure that you can make out some sort of beastly bellow coming from the top of the hill.
Yukkuri
Thinking quickly, you roll to the left the moment the weight on you starts to shift, freeing yourself from the thing on top of you and grabbing your blade as you scramble to your feet and face your assailant, only to find that there's nothing there. Thinking that perhaps your attacker may be flying to avoid your detection, you look upwards, scanning the skies for signs of threat. Unfortunately, it only dawns on you that the danger might be hiding below you as a razor-sharp thorn emerges from the ground and impales your foot. It hurts like hell, but without missing a beat you thrust your blade into the ground and are rewarded with a shriek of pain as the thorn vanishes just as quickly as it appeared. Knowing where to look now, you spot a shifting patch of dirt and stab again, but you must not have hit anything too sensitive this time, because a sticky black vine twice as thick as your arm bursts forth from the ground and swats you across the hilltop, cracking a couple of your ribs. Miraculously, you manage to land on your feet and counterattack before the vine can retract into the ground, and with one mighty swing you sever it, spraying mana-infused blood everywhere and causing whatever the vine was attached to to shriek mightily. After about a minute, the ground begins to stir yet again, but as you run towards the disturbance, a massive yellow squash-like gourd the size of an eighteen wheeler emerges from the ground like a submarine, causing you to stop in your tracks. Vines covered in sticky black slime like the one that you severed lift the vegetable up like legs, and with a loud cracking sound, the gourd splits open to form a massive set of jaws which could swallow an elephant whole, the insides of which glow red-orange with fire. Speaking of which, a flaming ring seems to have sprung up around the hill, cutting off all means of escape. And finally, to make matters worse, your blade doesn't seem to be reacting well to the mana it's being exposed to. Most of the edge has been worn down, and there are several small pits in the metal, as well as a large crack near the hilt.
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Topic: Manaburn: An Apocalyptic Monster-Hunting RPG: Back at the base (Read 9883 times)