"Please sign up to complete this mission with me, there's something I've searched for my entire life. A shell that'll restore my voice. That's my dream. However, villagers reported that a group of bandits ran into the snowy mountains with this Voice Shell, only to be taken out by a mysterious, dangerous monster. It's unknown if it was just one monster or a multitude of them, but it's dangerous. I can't do this alone-- I need reliable, strong people to help me, okay? Please, I'm begging you.

Love, Micah."

Micah wished for people to read this notice, she added the details of where to meet, the village Amerata. The back of the village is where she wanted everyone to meet up and tackle the snowy mountains. The mountain wasn't steep, in fact, it was a very flat mountain. There were monsters on the mountain that no hiker or magician has survived, she wanted to gain the shell no matter what, even if it meant changing everything.

The meeting time was three days from now... Micah prayed for all three days, until it finally arrived...

(This is an open mission, please post saying you're going to join by Sunday!!)

(I'll join, let's do this! Don't forget to remake your character, though).

(ill join as well )

(I'd like to join, too!)

(I'll join too )

Agreed, I'll sign up for this mission... though I think you might want to post a limit to how many should come or something...

(This is a good amount, let's start, thanks for helping!!!)

The group had met up and Micah and co had become climbing up the mountain, as rumored, it was a very flat mountain, therefore it would seem as if they were actually walking straight forward instead of climbing up anything. It's similar to a flat hill. 'Thanks for coming,' she writes on her board, showing the rest. She was clothed warmly, easily impenetrable from the constant snow.

She smiles at the rest, they agreed to help her, making her smile happily on how kind some people could be. She took off ahead, she was excited to think about getting her voice back again. Then again, this had happened three times before, she noticed Bex was helping again... from the village before. He was a very strong warrior, at least that's how Micah saw him as. She didn't know the rest of the group, but she was happy they're also helping. Bex had white hair, which was rare from what Micah had experienced during her adventures, but he seemed solid build and definitely tough.

One was a mysterious girl she had never seen before, a blonde girl. She didn't seem like a very normal human being, but she seemed kind enough. She had a mini-skirt similar to Micah, maybe they had some fashion sense similarities? Either way, the most distinguishable thing would be the red charm worn as a necklace.

Next would be a guy, also blonde, who seemed like a pretty attractive man that would even swoon Micah. She smiled at him, but he was quickly followed by a girl with purple hair. A rare hair colour to see, but she seemed very pretty. More so than Micah... Making Micah slightly jealous.

Lastly was a guy, he seemed much more mysterious than the girl. Micah hadn't seen him either, but he did seem shady... Not in a bad way. "What're your names? I'm Micah, as you may know." She writes on the board.

Im up for it!!

Sure, you can join :)

Kitty smiled at the girl, "I'm Kitty."

"I think most people know me, I'm William Ryoko, just call me Will." He gives a thumbs up to the girl, he had seen her, Kitty and Bex before during the mission where they had to defend the shrine, now that was a tough mission. He doubted this mountain would hold more trials than those dark-illusion charms. He looked up at the never ending snow as it all slowly floated down hitting the ground similar to a plush cushion.

He followed Micah deeper and deeper through the mountains, an ominous aura of magic could be felt. It was more than likely the dangerous monsters of the area, but none of them were really in visual sight.

I walked quietly maintaining my distance from the bunch,hiding my hood,my curtain of secrets to be drawn away from my head.As usual the loss of skin had rendered me immune to the frigid chills of the snowy flat mountain,but the stinging freeze of ice now hit me directly on my maturing organs,notably the onion sized heart,and a slightly bigger stomach.Muscles and veins had developed on the contours of the skeleton,which too supplied frosty shocks throughout my body.Had it not been the demonic spirit,and the flaming ki I was using to keep myself warm,I would have certainly met my end in this harsh climate.

We made our way further ahead.I kept my eyes open for any reaction,any senses of nearby enemies.A mundane and morbid magical energy did surround the area,yet nothing in sight,was something hiding here,probably watching us from the corner of ours eyes?ready to reveal itself in a surprise attack?

No way of finding out....

Rose followed William closely, she knew most of the others; or at least, they knew Rose. She is the school singing idol, so she open up to almost all of them as they all seemed to attend the magic school. She looked at the man drenched in robes, covered completely. Something seemed strange, "Ah..." She was about to raise an inquiry to him, but shunned away, avoiding the question as it could be personal to the man.

It's sad, but her artifact can't track objects or items. Only people, so she felt like she was put in a useless position. The magic pressure on the area rose, but nothing was in sight. "Hey, you said something about a bandit or villain group getting defeated by these monsters, right? Maybe these monsters can hide their presence? We should see if we could find survivors, I mean, it'd be the best clue, especially when they might be able to tell us exactly WHICH monster took the voice shell, or where they may have lost it." Rose logically explains, raising a smart idea, or at least, she thought so.

Mortimer followed close behind the blue haired mute... Micah was what she wrote herself. He was wrapped tightly in his typical (yet thinly lined) trenchcoat. Although freezing he approached the leader of the group, getting slightly closer than would normally be comfortable. Despite the freezing cold he was still able to maintain a relaxed demeanor. "Hello" he said in a tired yet relaxed voice, smiling slightly. One got the impression that he didn't get enough sleep the night before despite his pleasant demeanor. He continued "My name is Mortimer... Mortimer C. Graves, at your service" inclining his head slightly.

"So... how exactly did you lose your voice, and more importantly, how did it come to be trapped in a physical objet?"

W kept walking on the flat mountain,our feet dug in the soft yet freezing cotton-like snow.I tried to gather the reason why I came for help.This certainly was nothing that would benefit me in anyway.I recalled he last time,a flashback,its contents still fresh,replayed in my mind.How I had failed to get my hands on the shell this mimed girl so eagerly desired.This time I hardened my resolve even further.
I would kill any and everything that would stand my way.This dreadful aura started emanating from me.The morbid feeling,the magic that surrounded the area got thicker as we climb more altitude.

I snapped out of my thoughts,as another guy asked Micah about her mimed state.I closed the distance between us,this was something even I wanted to know.

Micah was pretty touchy on being asked how she got her tears taken away, but these are people she had to trust, so she begins writing: 'I was cursed as a child, my parents were killed by a magician... The mage was extremely powerful and had an array of forbidden magic. One of which was used to get rid of my voice. The magic he used, I heard was an extended version of 'Silence Magic', the magic that cancels out voice. Now, the reason I'm after this Voice Shell is, it's supposed to cancel out silence magic with voice magic itself, it'll definitely get my voice back... That's what I'm praying for at least.' She writes in a matter of seconds, pretty fast.

For her entire life, she's practiced literature, something she wants to do in the future. She's wrote for her entire life to communicate with people, not being able to communicate very well, being too slow had broke her heart as people left her. So she practiced for her entire life and eventually, her writing excelled normal peoples talking speed.

As they continued onward Micah felt a 'click', the sudden rise of magical tension and aura stopped and instantly dropped again on a much higher level. The snow began to wise and a fissure in the snow happened, revealing a cave. 'What's this...?' She thought as it obviously grabbed the attention of surrounding monsters, as snow birds the size of houses and large bears chased after them, right after activating this 'switch'.

William listens to Micah’s story quite soft-heartedly. “Wow, so you’ve never spoken once for you entire life...” William sympathizes, adjusting his hat as the frigid snow threw it off balance. He was slightly surprised to see how fast she could write, it was double—no triple of what William could do himself. He was determined to help her, he took things like seeing, hearing and speaking for granted as most people around you are born with them, yet in the harsh reality; some people aren’t.

As a pathway downwards had been opened, William watched in stunning awe. “So this is where the bandits base is, who stole the shell before having it get taken away?” William inquires, taking the lead as he rushes rather excitingly, yet haphazardly down the ice-crafted stairs.

Kitty glanced down, the stairs seemed to go on for quite a long way. She followed Will down the icey tunnel cautiously, hands running along the cold walls, you never know what could be down there. "Shouldn't we be a bit more cautious?" Kitty asked. "For all we know, they could be hiding down there, waiting for us."

“That’s true, but so what? If they plan a sneak attack, we’d still win... most likely. Plus, the monsters defeated these guys, right? So if we lose to these guys; I guess that’d be shameful, as we shouldn’t be able to defeat the monsters, I guess.” William nods to himself, charging downwards with ecstatic energy. William was wearing his normal clothes in this coldie terrain, however his fire magic kept him warm, or at least as warm could be.

"Fine, but if you get killed it's not my problem!" she muttered to herself, too quiet for anyone else to hear.

I followed the group down to what seemed to be a dark tunnel,illuminated partially from the light outside.A long stairway ,descending even deeper could be made out,but as to where,was shrouded in pitch black darkness.
I raised the demonic hand in front of me,and ignited it with flames of ki.The blue flickers of light danced through the tunnel,sing the visibility to a bearable if not convenient level.

This was supposed to be the bandit base,very well,my patience was already growing dull.I gripped my sword tighter ,the sheer excitement to cut flesh no longer in control.

Rose too followed, agreeing quite annoyed, as Kitty was completely right. There may be dangers heading further on. The bandits may have been planning an attack. She could use Vicinity Sight, but that'd take awhile to set up. "Wait up!" She complains, running after Bex, Kitty and Will.

As they made their way deeper down the stairs, it seemed endless, however the bottom was darkened, dimming their eyesight. "M-maybe we should go back...?" She cautiously trembles, as moaning echos throughout the staircase. That was never a good sign.

As the last of the group members entered the cave Mortimer hung back slightly. If left unchecked the monsters around the area would simply follow them down into the cave. Mortimer turned around facing the mouth of the cave and the slathering beasts situated just outside of it. Using the darkness of the cave he began weaving it into a convex bubble which he placed at the mouth of the cave, wedging it in there to give anything following them pause. Perhaps if the cave started collapsing it might hold it up longer.

Turning back around, Mortimer attempted to catch up with the rest of the group. He had his own reasons for following these people. Yes it would be nice if the girl got her voice back, but after that well... he would be doing some rather interesting experiments on sound when he returned.

Micah wondered how they activated the stairway. Things didn't seem right, she didn't want to follow, but going alone in this mountain would be a suicide rush. As they made their way to the bottom, it was dark, however their eyes adjusted fast enough. It was morbid. The faint smelt of blood, as she lit up the room with a lantern she brought a long just in case they got trapped by the cold snow in some situations.

To much horror, it was as expected; the bandits cave that had been reported stealing the voice shell. Unexpectedly, however... they were all defeated and numerous tunnels were burrowed throughout the icy cavern walls. There were five separate paths. Looking around, Micah desperately wanted to see if there were any witnesses, people still or alive or even conscious for that matter.

Walking up to numerous bodies of the previous bandit, it would seem they've all died... to much sorrow. Meaning, there's only 5 paths that could even possibly give a hint. 'Let's name the tunnels 1 to 5 and then choose from there...?' Micah questions, hoping that's the best way.

The aftermath of battle was evidently scattered all over the place.Blood ,staled and frozen,scattered throughout the bandit base.One could study bodies to determine their enemies strength,weapons and method of killing.Although this proved pointless in this situation.Scars and cuts could be made out on some bodies,but they were butchered brutally,they're ribs protruding out of their chests,organs,both eaten up and squished,scattered throughout the ground,sticking to the snow.Even though it was cold,the smell of blood surrounded the base.Perhaps because there weren't enough openings to let out the foul disgusting stench.Not only the method of killing,but the barbaric treatment was worse.Most bodies were decapitated,and limbs of some lay on the ground,while others were missing.Broken,ruptured bones,and skin torn off.

5 conveniently dug holes,lay ahead,as if a prompt to split up to proceed further.Was out numbers too much for them?

"Ill go through the first one then" I said as I climbed the hole to the far right corner. There was no time for chitter-chatter or deciding the pattern.It was obvious something was waiting at the end,and there was only one way to find out.