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22 Before

PARADIGM was contacted by a mysterious woman known as Karin. She requested people visit a castle in Germany, known as Brennenburg Castle. After a brief meeting with the woman, the team learned they were to find out what is exactly going on in the castle, recover some mysterious Orbs that Karin wishes to have, and possibly rescue the previous excavation team, though they have been missing for months now. Upon entering the castle, the group noticed a mysterious tarnish on the walls of the keep. Upon Luca touching part of it, the tarnish sprung to life, turning into a weird type of 'meat on the wall' that began to grow and spread, closing off their exit behind them. Upon trying to look around the castle, Yoshino saw some disturbing things.

Venturing further into the castle, they came upon a big room with stairs leading down into a Refinery. When they attempted to pass through the doorway, Letty was almost snatched up by a giant spider. The team fought off two of the giant abominations before moving to work their way further in. Not long after, they encountered what looked like a giant tunnel in the wall that was too nicely dug out. They climbed through it, intending to carefully tread through, but due to Tonic's clumsiness, they ended up falling and sliding down the tunnel until landing in a prison block, in water up to their waist. Everyone tried throwing some form of attack at it, including Letty, Luca and David, but something seemed to be wrong. Upon discovering some mysterious otherwordly monster that could not be killed, Tonic began throwing maces into the ground, trying to attack the thing uselessly. Midway through her attack, Vaelgir blessed her with increased strength and she... broke the floor. The water drained into a giant chamber below as most of the floor they were trying to stand on disappeared into the darkness. Hien found them a doorway to pass through, using his ninja skills. Through team effort they continued along to continue their adventure.

Nearing the end of the prison block, they ran into a man, who seemed to be telling them to leave, but attacked them before they could do anything. David, Aku and Luca quickly reduced this troubled man into a pile of meat on the floor. Next they ran into another man, looking like the one they faced previously, fighting off some sort of other deformed man. The dueling duo did not notice the group simply pass them by as the group continued and discovered a set of spiraling stairs, continuing down. At the bottom of the stairs, they found a headless body strung up against a wall. The body still seemed to be alive, despite looking withered and rotted and.. missing a head. After Lucas failed attempts of communicating with it, they went into the next room.. the chamber that was below the prison block. The watery beast stalked the group as they made their way trhough the chamber.

The group reached a final door, which was blocked by some magical barrier. After another fight, in which some of the monsters they saw before re-appeared, along with a newer, bigger one, the team had another fight on their hands. The big monster went to choke Yoshino, but Vaelgir slammed it off balanced as Luca ran it through. Still moving, David and Luca proceeded to de-face the beast, but that did not slow it down, as it went to drop onto all four legs, like some sort of four legged beast, and tried to bear down on the team. David hopped on its back, stabbing into it repeatedly as Aku lit it on fire. After struggling for a few moments, it collapsed in a heap. Luca threw the body out into the water, where the lurking beast consumed it hungrily. Luca commented he wanted a steak.

The last door unsealed, a voice reaching through to the group. They called themselves the Tuurngait, claiming they will not fight with the group as they are clearly outmatched. They explained they were an ancient civilization once and were attempting to use the magical orbs to leave this world, but the power of the orbs were not for them to use. The magic orb has a guardian known as the shadow, as well as various guardians of the castle, which impeeded the Tuurngait from leaving, and spelled their doom, as they laid their hands upon the orbs. Pleading with the group to leave, they handed over a diary to Luca, and used an oversized worm to dig an escape tunnel for the group that lead all the way back up to the surface. The team left, with the diary, back up to the surface, where they explained to Karin what had transpired. Not looking satisfied with the outcome at all, Karin left the team, but did forward full pay for their services. The castle also caved in as they left, the Tuurngait apparently wishing for no one to ever come back.

Also.... Hien and Yoshino recorded some footage and took some pictures, but something showed up in all of their recorded evidence of the castle that they did not anticipate.

22 After

Agents, contacted by a woman calling herself Karin, were requested to investigate castle Brennenburg in Germany. After briefly meeting with her, agents found out they were to try to discover the unusual ongoings in the castle, retrieve some magical orbs, and find out if they can discover what happened to the last team of people to go inside. Upon entering the castle, the group found themselves trapped inside due to a mysterious growing wall of flesh that was previously thought to be inert, but came active after Luca touched it. Yoshino saw some disturbing things as they began to explore.

Venturing into the castle, they ran into some giant spiders that tried to eat Letty. After a quick trade of blows, the spiders quickly fell. Further into the castle, they discovered a dug out tunnel and decided to descend through it. Tonic slipped and ended up sending everyone tumbling through the tunnel until they landed in a long prison-like corridor full of water. Upon discovering a monster that could not be seen or physically attacked in the water, the team clung to the walls of the hallway, trying various attacks but failing. Vaelgir buffed Tonic in the middle of her attacks, which caused the floor to collapse and drain the water out. Hien lead the team to safety on the same floor.

After running into a weird man, and consequently dealing with him, the team continued on. They also ran into another man that was similar to the first, in a fight with some monster. They snuck by the group, Vaelgir's ability to sneak surprising even Luca. Upon getting to the second to last group, they found a weird headless man that was still alive somehow on a wall, but decided to continue further into the castle.

When Agents reached the final room, they were ambushed by some new monsters, including a big one. After David and Luca punished the beast and threw its dead corpse into the water (to be devoured by the previously fought water monster), they found the Tuurngait, an ancient alien civilization. They told the group that the magical orbs were cursed, and that they tried to use them to escape from Earth, but failed. After persuading everyone to leave, they had an exit revealed (in the form of another giant dug out tunnel, turns out a worm dug them), agents left the castle as it began to collapse in on itself.

After explaining things to an unsatisfied Karin, agents returned to the Inn. Hien and Yoshino were horrified later on to discover the pictures and videos they tried to record contained something unexpected.

23 Before

The agents arrived to an underground subway station in Tokyo, named Shin Ichigaya Station. As soon as the agents stepped out above ground, they see rain and the area was giving off major supernatural vibes. When the raindrops hit the agents, they felt an unusual sensation, which left them with a feeling of their strength being bolstered. ALSO because of the raindrops, time and space slowed down for them to see random images inside the raindrops. Images included a sacred wooden arch stained with fresh blood, images of horrific monsters wiping out humanity, and then finally a shadow silhouette of a tall man with what appears to be a wheel behind him. Izumi saw additional images, a man with a sword fighting a man wielding flames.

After that, the PARADIGM agents were greeted by a soldier, believing they were civilians and asked them to leave the area. They were spotted by one of the NSPA officers (National Safety Protection Agency) who actually commissioned for the mission (Chief Officer Chikanaga), who briefs the agents that they are a special taskforce deployed by the Prime Minister of Japan for the current situation. NSPA agents explain that over the past few days, there have been sightings of demonic Beasts appearing all over Tokyo, wreaking havoc to the city and the death counts of the populations is skyrocketing. Conventional weapons seem to have no effect on the Beasts. Bringing the heavy guns like Apache helicopters and Type 90 tanks seem to deter them for now but the Beasts are exhibiting a regenerative skill which makes them extremely hard to kill.

The Agents' duty is to help restore peace to the area so that NSPA soldiers can establish a stronghold to fight the Beasts. Agents rode out in style within multiple Komatsu LAV's (light armored vehicles). They were to rendezvous with allies who are fighting alongside the NSPA. In the middle of the convoy, the group got ambushed by one of the 88 Beasts and its Kappa minions. The Beast was Shokohone. Because of the ambushed Hien and Faustlin were tossed into a shell-shocked like state, with Faustlin suffering temporary deafness. A battle ensues with the Kappas. The agents demonstrated extraordinary ability in eliminating the Kappas, and turning a few them into blood fountains. Through Aku and Kamen's flames, they found the minion's weak point, in which other agents adjusted their tactics to incendiary methods. Dark and Izumi formed a supportive high flying team, with Izumi pewpewing out ki-blasts from above. The surviving drivers/NSPA officers see that PARADIGM agents have a profound effect in fighting the 88 Beasts, which gave them HOPE.

The only thing left was their minion's leader. The skeletal beast pounded its chest like a Spartan psyching itself for a fight. Luckily Zack was able to hear the message being sent to the agents, "Death to all Akahani, Bathe the world in Blood. I am Shokohone, Bringer of Death and your End." The agents battled against Shokohone, finding the Beast is much resistance to fire than its weaker minions. Faustlin and Jackal concentrated on shooting the creature's head and eyes from afar while the melee'ers fought up close while dodging gigantic laser beams from Shokohone. The agents discovered Shokohone's weakness was in his belly and concentrated their efforts there until the armor gave way to expose it. The agents received backup in the form Ryosuke, preventing Shokohone from targeting the soldier LAV drivers by earth manipulating the boulder to its hands/wrists. In the end, Shokohone would rip its own arms off to free itself from the boulder, in which time mysteriously slows down for everybody except Faustlin and Jackal, allowing them to quickly acquire their target at Shokohone's exposed belly to fire off several rounds. Shokohone's body gets ripped in half by the shots and Aku/Kamen incinerated the remaining pieces to permanently kill it.

After the long battle, the agents traveled to the rendezvous point by foot. There, they met up with the Shiranami Five, the allies that Chief Officer Chikanaga spoke of. The next goal was to assist the Shiranami Five in capturing a giant 88 Beast in the area. Divined two-prong spears were provided by the Shiranami Five that would weaken the demonic strength of that giant, fat 88 Beast. The agents are informed that the Beast is named Noro, a giant slow-moving Beast. The plan was to unload all the spears into the Beast's body until its strength was significantly weakened to the point where Jyuzo, the Kegai no Tami known as the 'the Controller' can meld with it and take control.

The agents and the Shiranami Five head out together to look for the Beast, which doesn't take too long but not without some really gaseous exchange with Noro. They find the Beast not as aggressive as the other one, and quickly subdued it to the point where Jyuzo can control it with his powers. For some unknown reason, Izumi felt compelled to approach the captured Beast to take a closer look at it. Which caused Noro to look at Izumi all cross-eyed-like then yelling "MIZU, MIZU, MIZU NO TAMI" all up in Izumi's face. This event triggered the Shiranami Five to turn on the agents, Jyuzo controlling Noro to slap Kamen away from Izumi and Kikunosuke springing into hold his blade hand to Izumi's neck and pull her away from the agents. Belle makes an entrance trying to stop Izumi's capture but is met with a swift kick to the nards by Kikunosuke. Hinomoto springs the details about using Noro for their own personal research and naming their boss as well, Lord Higa. Rihei bound Izumi up in his tentacles and goes to make a hasty escape while Hinomoto covers him with a wall of flames to stop any pursuing agents.

Hinomoto commands Jyuzo to head back to base with the captured Noro, while the rest of the Shiranami Five stall the agents. Lots of fighting ensues between the PARADIGM agents and the Shiranami Five, the loyal Goddess of Punk fighting the Earth Shaper, who eggs Kikunosuke on with hand jokes. Belle went head to head with the hulk-strength Rikimaru and won, showing his resolve and determination to defeat anyone with brute strength. It was flames vs. flames as Kamen squared off with Hinomoto in a deadly fight, each trading blows before Kamen stabbed a kunai to Hinomoto's chest in the end. During the fight, Hinomoto sees Rihei returned back to the area, just barely outside of the wall of flames. Rihei told he was instructed to come back by Higa himself. As soon as Rihei speaks, Lord Higa and Lady Kaede make their arrival, exerting tremendous pressure to the air which ceased all fighting. Higa questioned why Hinomoto was having such difficulty in dispatching the agents, which Hinomoto replied with not properly anticipating their strengths. The agents tried to react but then they discovered something dangerous filled the air, which turns out to be Higa's Fire Seed technique. Ability only the Chief of the Fire clan can attain, which piqued Kamen's interest in trying to master the same ability for his own use.

Before Rihei was able to leave the area, a new person arrives, freeing Izumi with his katana and trying to cut down Higa before stopping completely, realizing he is caught in the Fire Seeds as well. Higa calls him by name as Ishigami Kamuro. During the conversation, Kamen coordinates with Ryosuke to have him sink all the Agents below ground (including Izumi and the new person) to safely escape the fire seeds in the air. Izumi takes this chance to unleash her Leviathan technique, sending out a massive serpent that spews out a devastating amount of water at Higa and his cohorts. Lady Kaede intercepts with her wind to safely shield their group against the water. The PARADIGM agents took this moment to plan an escape out of this place, since things weren't looking in their favor: Izumi was totally drained of her strength, other agents were injured, they were outnumbered, and in enemy territory also. Yet they found a new ally in the man known as Kamuro. Before the agents could enact their plan, Higa surprises them with blowing a hole all the way down to the underground tunnel with his flames. Higa tells the agents that he will allow them victory today but next time, he promises to spill Izumi's blood. Kamen, Ryosuke, and Belle try to retaliate but are stopped by the appearance of an all too familiar portal with Ain stand at the entrance. Higa and his group takes the portal to head back to their base, but not before Ain and Belle exchange some words about their next encounter.

After the enemy left, Kamuro requests Ryosuke to return everyone back to surface, where they would meet up with Kamuro's companions, Beniguma and Lancelot (her dog). Instead of staying in this world, Kamuro and Beniguma would follow the PARADIGM agents back to their version TARDIS, where Celeste was waiting. Due to the events that just transpired, Celeste offered a unique opportunity for Kamuro and Beniguma to be recruited as agents of PARADIGM, which Kamuro accepted promptly since this meant being near Izumi in order to watch over her safety. The group finally teleports back to the Inn for so much needed healing and resting.

23 After

Agents arrived at Shin Ichiyaga Station, an underground subway station in Tokyo. Upon leaving the station, the group experienced many supernatural sensations, including visions. One vision included a sacred wooden arc, stained with fresh blood and monsters wiping out everything and everyone. Izumi saw more visions, including a man with a sword in a fight with a man wielding flames.

Interrupting their time to reflect upon the visions, a soldier approached the agents, believing they were civilians. After a small altercation, an officer that knew of PARADIGM told the soldier to leave. The officer identified himself as one of the NSPA (National Safety Protection Agency), identifying himself as Chief Officer Chikanaga. He explains to the group that monsters have rampaging the streets of Tokyo. With their level of technology failign to deal with the monsters, Chikanaga pleaded with the agents to try instead.

After getting directions of where to go, the agents rode in two light armored vehicles to their destination. Being ambushed by a beast known as Shokohone, as well as a group of Kappas, the LAVs were overturned and the agents had to flee the vehicles. Daichi took a moment to make sure the drivers of the cars were fine as the rest of the group went to engage the Kappas. Finding ki blasts and fire effective on the Kappas, the group made quick work of the minions, and turned their attention to Shokohone.

The big beast had various attacks at its disposal as well as tough armor. Shooting a giant beam at the group, Dark flew in to pick up Izumi to save her from trouble, thus beginning a series of arial assaults on Shokohane. Jackal and Faustlin proceeded to snipe the armor of the beast while Zack and Aku attempted some melee, with the addition of Aku's black flame. After sudden surprising backup from Ryosuke, the armor became penetrated enough for an all out combined attack from Ryosuke, Izumi and Aku, devastating Shokohane. Kamen proceeded to use his flame on the remains of Shokohane with help from Aku, making sure nothing was left.

The agents continued to the rendezvous point they were originally intending to find, meeting up with a group calling themselves the Shiranami Five (Jyuzo, Hinomoto, Rihei, Kikunosuke & Rikimaru), supposed allies of Chieve Officer Chikanaga. Being asked to help capture a giant beast the Shiranami Five were trying to apprehend, the agents set forthe in fighting one known as Noro. The group quickly subdued the beast after a combined attack, but not all was at it would seem. The downed beast seemed to suddenly entrance Izumi, and when she approached it, Kamen tried to pull her back, but was repelled by a sudden attack from Noro at the request of Jyuzo of the Shiranami Five.

The group suddenly showed it's true intentions on taking Izumi, turning on the agents and starting to suddenly fight out of the blue. Rihei tied Izumi up with some weird tentacles that seemed to immediately start sapping her strength. Belle showed up out of nowhere to try to take Izumi back, but Rihei was still able to retreat, taking Izumi with. Daichi, Faustlin and Jackal tried to persue Rihei, but flames from Hinomoto blocked their path. When it seemed Rihei had gotten away, he returned with Izumi. A man known as Higa arrived shortly after, along with a woman known as Lady Kaede.

Trapping the agents with an attack known as Fire Seeds, agents were unable to move on the battlegroup, feeling trapped. Out of nowhere, a man known as Kamuro Ishigami showed up, cutting Izumi free from Rihei and landing next to Higa in a challenging manner. Once it seemed things would turn badly for the agents, Ryosuke suddenly sucked everyone underground as Izumi summoned Leviathan to wash the battlefield with waves of water. Higa blocked the attack, but instead of pressing his advantage, told the agents he would retreat and try again another day. A man known as Ain showed up to escort Higa and Lady Kaede from the battlefield.

With the threat gone, Kamuro said he would protect Izumi from Higa and the Shiranami Five. Accompanied by Kamuro, a girl known as Beniguma and her pet dog Lancelot, the agents went to return to the TARDIS to return to the Inn. Celeste was waiting at the TARDIS, taking a moment to make Kamuro join PARADIGM as an agent if he planned to return with the team. Kamuro accepted the terms and joined. Daichi carried Izumi back to her room to let her have much needed rest.