Seaside 5: Kinda like One Piece without the anime

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Beach Party- D&D]

Melvin looks like he's about to respond to Wilfred when Ithuriel surprises them both with her sudden outburst. Unfortunately, that happens to be a problem for one of them, as Dobber's jump from Ithuriel's shout makes him explode into his hippo shape, destroying the stool he was sitting on and dropping him onto the sand by his bottom. At least his trunks were change-proof after all. Now that Dobbers mentioned it, Dibbles might notice that his partner has gotten a bit more like the other apprentice they met at the mansion.
"Ugh. No, I have a few rooms in a mansion that belongs to my master. Who is quietly living mostly unknown in a ritzy neighborhood. I work for Intersection because it's the right thing to do." Melvin is trying his best to act like nothing happened and he has not suddenly switched into being an extremely large werehippo in swim-trunks.

[Beach Party - D&D]

Ithuriel seamlessly shifts into being a big ol' rhino-lady within moments of Dobber's transformation, acting as if nothing noteworthy had happened.

She does, however, give Wilfred a nudge.

"Eh, wha-?"

"You too!" She hisses.

"But I cannae jes-"

"Make yourself sneeze? Yes you can! Pull a nosehair out or something!"

Anyway...

"Right. Sorry. Same reason I do it, really. I shouldn't assume otherwise of other people. But, uh, hey, I'd happily stop by your place sometime too and-"

"HAAACHOOO!!" Hey look, Wilfred has transformed too!

[Earl of Purple]

Marlick Bay

Well, that's interesting. Not very surprising, however; Sekhmet is now the relics. He's not going to warn them, though. That might be seen as a threat, and then he'd be her first target. And Benedict didn't reach his age by being anyone's first target.

He takes the threat seriously, however, and doesn't laugh. Either Anchor or Zophiel might notice that. "There's nothing here. The spirals everywhere else aren't here. That's interesting." Benedict will move to stand in the middle of the circle of spiral-less stone.

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

Selekhael does what any good cat would do and tentatively paws at the weird thing she's trying to decide whether or not she's going to have to slap.

Poking the circle doesn't cause anything unusual to happen.

Stepping into the middle of it doesn't cause anything to happen, either.

Though the feeling of twisting that permeates the whole cave is replaced with the sensation of a downward tug.

Fascinating.

Regardless, two suggestions so far.

Split up and explore two by two?

Or stick together and take the middle path next?

Whatever our heroes decide to do, they best decide quickly. More conch horns have joined those they already heard, as sound which is drawing steadily closer.

[bc56]

Selekhael glares at Anchor. How dare she laugh at her? It was a serious threat! "We should, uh, split up." That would hopefully get her away from the woman that is probably planning to kill her with that fancy spear. Of course, she could just try to get out of here. She's faster than all these humans with their weak grasp of time. She could be outside before they realize she's gone. This option is looking more and more tempting. Her life is in danger as long as she still stays here.

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bay]

Hmmm...what would actually be the safest route? While Anchor is correct that sticking together should be safer, splitting up will minimize the rate reinforcements will have time to prepare. Not to mention, Zophiel wants to ensure Selekhael is separated from his daughter, just in case the lion is as awful as she could be. Not to mention, if they only go down one route, the remainder could pincer attack them from behind and block off any escape routes.

All those reasons together is why Zophiel decides: "To keep us from being surrounded, you two go on the middle path," he instructs Anchor and Benedict. "Us two -" Selekhael and Zophiel "- will go up. Keep an escape route clear so that if it looks too dangerous for just you two, retreat and meet up with us."

"Come on," he tells the lion as he hurries up the wet stairs.

It seems the area is, once again, too narrow for him to use his swords so he instead focuses on some paladin magic. Thinking of what he wished he had in an earlier fight, spiked gauntlets form around his hands, so that they'll act fairly similar to brass knuckles. They're made out of blackness interwoven with gold. They ended up this way, of course, because of what he did to the magic seal.
Selekhael, with her obviously-superiour grasp of time, will probably definitely notice a very unique characteristic of them: parts of the gauntlets appear to be consuming time, and other parts of it are producing it. As a result, time itself is turbulently swirling around the paladin, and even in his wake behind him as he runs up the stairs, leaving some pockets where time appears to pass slower and other pockets where it passes faster.

Running up the stairs (and assuming the lion went along with him rather than fled), he asks, "So you do have the memories of that girl, right? I wanted to apologize to her for leaving her alone in that chapel while the rest of us went down."

[Recaiden]

The worst part about Zophiel's explanation is that it makes a lot of tactical sense. Getting surrounded in this place would be awful. And they really might not have enough time to deal with whatever it is if they went one layer at a time.

"Fine. Be careful up there."
And Anchor heads into the middle passage, spear at the ready. Her shadow will wait for Benedict and then bring up the rear.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Convergence]

Sadly, Awen either broke or forgot her communication device to talk back to the other Vigil people to update them on what's going on.
...
Considering how far she fell and how she fought that other demon, it's probably broken.

She falls behind the others, presumably. Apparently what she did was just a huge waste again, proving that the others are just her-but-better.
At least she knows which one to take out! Probably. The one that's sitting is most likely the one in charge, or is the one flying the place, or. . .is on a toilet? or something, so taking out that one in particular is probably their best bet.

Sadly, Awen hasn't really ever considered what sorts of spells she can use to target somebody who she can magically see but are several rooms away. So...because of how urgent the situation is, she doesn't have any time to try to figure out something. No, seems like she'll just have to follow behind the others.

The magical breeze that Awen created is making the air here tolerable but as soon as she follows, she'll get to the unbearable part. Even the breeze can't make that better. Luckily, Awen does have a single spell that could cool off large areas - but it's one that causes collateral damage. . .but
in an environment this hot
the collateral damage should be minimal.

Carving out a pattern of blood in her forearm, Awen casts an icy burst spell down the hallway as far as she can see. It'll coat all the surfaces in that area with completely normal and nonmagical ice - making it a nightmare to cross, but fortunately in this heat it'll start melting in seconds.
She hopes that'll cool down the hallway enough to make it bearable, at least, while the ice insulates further heat from getting in, then melts, and then the water acts as a heat sink.
Considering how much heat this whole ship has, it probably won't last for long, however. Maybe just long enough to get through the hallway, she hopes.

[Moonwell Convergence]

Geneva sits up, tries floating, kind of skids face-first across whatever she was left on, and then decides that maybe moving via force of will isn't a great idea when you can't focus on anything at the moment.

She makes a small, unhappy animals noise as she sits up, random flashes and sparks of light and color popping around her head. Her psychkinetic abilities are firing randomly, resulting in the visual manifestation of the stars she's seeing right now.

~Did we explode...?~ comes a hesitant, wide broadcast question into the mind of anyone and everyone nearby.

If Geneva were thinking straight she would have already drawn the conclusion that they haven't exploded, but she isn't so she didn't.

Moonwell Convergence

Saint Lazarus picks a door, nods, and takes a few steps back, getting ready to charge right at it. Just before she does so, she finally seems to regain enough of her faculties to notice the two VIGIL members here with her. Oh right, this is supposed to be part of some big important mission, isn't it? We're doing important hero work here, not just eating every demon-scented creature in the vicinity. Also, Awen seems to think a different door is our priority target right now, so we should probably defer to whatever spellcraft gave her that idea and shift our focus to that one instead.

"On three?" she suggests, offering to count them down so they can all charge at the demons in unison and clear the room in one big bloody breach. You know, like the Imperial soldiers used to do in the TV shows, before Vyrn and his army faded out of public consciousness and were replaced by less morally ambiguous police forces. If everyone else is down for it, she'll lift up her shoulder and get ready to turn herself into a battering ram, so that while she's still recovering from knocking the door down, the shapeshifter and witch can go spells blazing and bears charging before the demons have time to react.

Operation SeaSlug

This wasn't going to work. The dragon was keeping up far far too easily. It was too big, too powerful, and was probably just toying with them. Titania had to do something...

The glint of Will's pistol gets her attention and a plan forms in her head even as she ducks under a branch and slides around a tree to keep running. "Leopold, if you can use magic offensively, get it ready. Will, steady your aim. I'm going to give you two a clear shot to try and hit the dragon's eyes. I don't know if it will work, but if we're very very lucky, maybe we can blind it." After explaining the plan, she heads for a tall and thick tree. Instead of evading, she plants her taloned feet into the tree and runs up the trunk. She keeps herself planted using her powerful legs and talons, and when she gets up towards the top, she leaps above the canopy. "Now!" They were only going to have a few moments for a clear shot when she reaches the apex of her jump and they hang in the air for a brief second.

[Operation Sea Slug]

Will screams and opens fire with the pistol. His aim has never been great, but having a mechanical arm means it's a lot steadier than it would otherwise be.
And if that fails well, the full auto setting helps make up for a lot.

Moonwell - Taking Catmmando

Normally "meowister" would give her pause, but Blanche is far too focused on the task at hand to remark on it. "Move to avoid it but prepare to fire if it doesn't look like we're gonna pull it off. I don't know how well the three can get off the ship if we down it - but between Anika's bird form and Awen's broom, they should have some capacity to do so," she states firmly. She shrugs off the hand on her shoulder, not appreciating the physical contact, and stepping forward to get a closer look of the ship.

[Operation Sea Slug]

Unfortunately, poor Leopold isn't able to cast any spells. The best he can do is casting "rock" which has the material component of a rock. Something which he's still intending to do it seems as he starts to dig up one that happens to be nearby.

"You're only making yourself look pathetic." The dragon comments as its now flying right above them. It's shadow even darker than the one created by the canopy overhead. It does indeed seem to be playing with them at this point.

"Please be reasonable before I lose my patien-" It then starts but is cut off when Will starts firing his gun at it.
"YOU DARE?!" The skeletal wyrm roars as it opens its mouth as to breath flames.
Yet its once again interrupted as Titania is suddenly there right in its face with its orb-like eyes staring hatefully at her.

Whatever she's planning to do, she have to act quickly.

Moonwell Convergence

"Um..." Anika seems hesitant at first. Not for her own health, she had charged into plenty of more dangerous places before, but for Laz. She was pretty sure the knight had just eaten some of that demon and was unsure if she'd be able to just charge into that heat room.

But then Awen comes along and without even saying even a word the gorgon(???) casts what the druid assumes to be cone of cold at the corridor.
As predicted the ice created by Awen's magic will quickly start to melt but still cools down the corridor enough for even the most heat sensitive of the party members to move through the corridor without any problems.

Once that happens Anika would be foolish to interrupt the tempo they now got going! "On three." She agrees with a nod and the next moment she disappears in a green glowing cloud and reappears as a giant bear. The corridors in here were seemingly made for pit fiends so she had no trouble moving through them even in her bear form.

If Awen goes along with this plan as well, Laz can do the countdown while Awen did mage-stuff (or so Anika assumed she would be doing).
Once they've started the charge it occurs to Anika that Laz could have mounted her but maybe she did better solo? The option will always be there even as both the ghoul and the bear's combined efforts slams the door open.

The room on the other side is like all the rooms they've been in so far made completely out of the black metal the ship seems to have been formed of. The only exceptions being the two furnaces at the right and left corner of it. These engines are made of a clear crystalline material which seems to be filled with what appears to be water with ice floating around within it. Somehow this seems to shield off the rest of the room from the massive amount of heat the two furnaces must produce as otherwise it would likely have been a lot warmer in here considering that all those tubes they encountered earlier leads here.

In the middle of the room is a raised platform with metal seat on top of it. Around the seat are floating bubbles of some water-like substance. But the colors within them seem to form pictures of the sea around the ship, the interior of the ship itself and perhaps more importantly the VIGIL-ship which seems to quickly grow larger within these bubble-screens.
Next to the seat is a square-shaped box of some sort which seems to almost have carved out of the ships floor.
In the seat, turned away from them, is another fiend which seems to be focusing intently on the screens surrounding it.

Another fiend stands between them and the seat but its Before it the floor itself seems to have raised up to form little over one meter tall barrier from which only the upper half of the demon can be seen. It's holding what appears to be a rifle in contrast to the melee weaponry they've seen them carrying so far.

As they enter it starts firing. The weapon only sputters for a moment, until small flames start to escape which then grows into a full burst of flame which will bathe most of the door entrance in fire.

Moonwell - Taking Catmmando

The foxfolk gives her a one-eyed look as she shrugs off the hand but doesn't seem to want to argue and simply shrugs and turns to his comrades. "'ayay, time to get working then lads. We're sitting ducks out here, get this ship moving!"

They seem to have some trouble with the engines however as they seem to have been partly damaged from the first time the obelisk ship rammed into them. Eventually they do engage but they're going to have a difficult time avoiding the approaching ship.

It does look like the foxfolk was right as it seems to have picked up even more speed now. If she waits much longer even if they do fire on it, the ship might still make impact with them considering what its momentum must be at this point. Maybe they could at least try to slow it down?

Several of the crew members moves to assist Geneva as she gets up. Most of them momentarily distracted when she mentally announces herself to them.
"Pinky's back!"
"Yeah, I just heard her voice in my head!"
"You alright?"

But their efforts are put down by the fireheaded dwarf. "Hey, give he'r some space, people'. We're not out of this yet." She gestures at the moon well and then at the incoming ship. "You blew up tho'se bast-tards with their own' bom. But they're sore losers' so now they coming to ram us."

[Deathkeeper]

[Beach Party- D&D]

Melvin seems somewhat reassured. He pulls up another stool (this one larger and sturdier) and gingerly sits down on it. It holds with only a single squeak of protest. The place didn't explode and other than the stool nothing bad has happened despite the three of them doubling the average waistband size of the party by themselves.
"Well, it's my place, too. Sort of. He's not going to object to you visiting as long as I don't shirk my responsibilities. But he might try to recruit you for some lessons if he sees you big. I think having apprentices has actually been making him more social." He's still fidgeting, though his hands have moved behind his back now that he's changed.

[Earl of Purple]

Marlick Bay

Benedict tags along after Anchor, eyeing up her odd shadow and wondering if he could possibly abduct it to study. He decides not, at least not without knowing more about it and how to interact with it. He suspects it could possibly interact with him if it wanted to, but... shadows are hard things to trap. And he doesn't know how this one works to make plans about it.

"I doubt the tiefling is recoverable from the mess the relics made of her. She seems unaware of that, however. We might be able to recover them... If we kill her. It, I suppose. She's not really in there any more." Probably, anyway. And Benedict wouldn't really care if she was.

[Rebonack]

[Moonwell - Catpun]

~O-okay. That's good,~ Geneva replies, narrowing her mental voice down to the dwarf addressing her. ~My substitute must have gotten caught in the blast... Psychic feed back from this is never fun.~

Getting stunned for a round or two sucks, yeah.

She goes her best to focus on the incoming ship. Wow that thing sure is big.

~I... The others were going to try to board, right? Are they still there?~

Geneva is weighing options.

Does she... Does she really want to use that? Probably not. Not with friends and allies still on that ship.

It doesn't look like it has any obvious means of propulsion, either. Or steering. That makes blasting the props or rudders harder.

Stupid purely magical means of locomotion! Geneva thinks as she shakily rises into the air through sheer force of will.

~Do we have a plan?~

Hopefully it involves not getting rammed.


[Marlick Bay]

Eeeeeehy!

What's this?

We're splitting the party?

What fun!

So that means we've got-

Zoph and Sele

Up the stairs they go.

They had best be careful, though. There's ample soap-stone mixed in with the greenish basalt here and it is incredibly slick thanks to the stream rushing down the stairs. Black, rubbery looking growths dot our heroes' ascent and should either of them step on the substance they'll discover that it's is virtually frictionless. Falling here would be... a problem. The slick growths and rushing water means that losing one's footing carries a very real chance of sliding back down the stairs.

A painful process indeed, judging from the mussels and barnacles encrusting the stone.

Giant anemones line the walls, groping at our heroes.

They, of course, carry paralytic toxin in their tentacles and would be more than happy to haul any passing morsels into their mouths.

Watch your step...

Benedict and Anchor

Down the hall they walk, statues leering at them all the while.

They're awful things. Squat, horrid blasphemies with otherwise natural features that are jumbled together in a fashion that absolutely should not exist. Awful sea life with just a hint of humanity. An awful feeling of being watched looms over the pair as they walk through the stark white sand that thickly lines the passage. Things, unseen, burrow below the sand. Small. Finger sized. Dangerous? No doubt. Sand that, unfortunately, proves to be something of an obstacle. The sand quickly builds the further they go, eventually filling the tunnel to a height where it would be necessary to crawl on one's belly to get through.

That could be a problem.

Especially if those diggers prove to be hostile. That'll make avoiding them far more difficult.

[bc56]

Selekhael shakes her head. Is she disappointed? How good is Zophiel at reading cats' expressions? [COLOR="#0000FF"]"Of course I have her memories. I am her."[/COLOR] She gives a wide, feline smile. "But it's okay. I forgive you." She shivers with something which might be pleasure. Forgiveness is part of who she is. She flicks her tail at a group of anemones, shredding them through time. "Have you ever worn glasses? I used to be like having glasses off. But then when I gathered the relics, I became clear, like putting glasses on. I didn't actually change." Does Zophiel take issue with that analogy?

[Recaiden]

Don't believe her lies, Zophiel!

Anyway, down here with the statues, Anchor walks forward very carefully.
"No, she's probably gone for good. I mean, I don't think simply killing it will be enough to separate the relics out again, either."
"But that's a problem for later."

The problem for right now is the sand blocking the tunnel.

Anchor's shadow slips over it, flat as can be. There must be some gap for the sound to get through, right?

[5a Violista]

Up

As Zophiel has previously encountered the horrors of the soap-stone and discovered that it made him largely ineffective in combat, he understandably pays attention to it and slows down a bit, as soon as he feels the lack of friction the first time his foot touches one.
Normally, he'd use the wall as support going up, but there's the anemones there and...

Oh.
Wait.
He's wearing gauntlets.
Paralytic toxin tentacles can't penetrate these gauntlets.
Upon realizing this, Zophiel starts grabbing the tentacles and starts using them as support climbing up the same way you'd use tree roots and branches while climbing a really steep mountain. Sorry, mouths, those of you who escape Sekhmet's attacks have the misfortune of Zophiel preparing for something else and it happens to stop your main method of eating. Guess you''ll just have to slowly starve.

Zophiel has much more experience with wild cats than...intelligent cats. Wild cats usually only show hunger, fear, and other similar emotions. Not really disappointment in that way.

Yeah, he gets the analogy. It makes sense. He still disagrees: "But the fact is, you did change," the paladin insists. He raises one gauntlet to his eye - on the side that he's not grabbing tentacles - and then lowers it. The whites of his eyes are black, and his iris is gold. He glances at Selekhael with that eye to confirm what he felt before: "You don't have the same spirit. Not a trace of it is left. From here, you feel more like a..." what's the best word for what she looks like out of the paladins' black-and-gold eye? "twin sister or daughter or clone."
And
as it turns out
Zophiel, due to his own circumstance, has done a lot of thinking about if someone has the same body but a different spirit, are they the same person. At this point in time, however, Zophiel has not told anybody about it yet. It's not until after the Marlick Bay plot ends and he meets up with Anchor's father again that he finally reveals why he has done a lot of thinking about this. And, out of respect for continuity, the reasons will remain conspicuously absent from the text.

He hasn't stopped ascending the stairs.
"..."
"But if you want me to treat you as the same, I can do that. But I'm still going to watch you carefully until you can prove you're not going to hurt my daughter."

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

Zoph and Sele

Two things about the awful giant anemones.

One?

They are completely ambivalent to the talk of deep existential questions. They don't care if people really are who they believe themselves to be.

Two?

They don't like getting used as climbing aids or being rent across time. Can't do much about that, however.

It would appear as though nothing here on the stairs is immediately threatening!

That's probably good. It means Zophiel and Selekhael can have their important bonding chat. They could even talk about how the ending of both of their names sounds the same! That would be fun right?

[bc56]

Androcles and the Lion

"What are you talking about?" Selekhael actually laughs at Zoph's silly statement. "Of course I'm the same. Who else would I be?" Of course, she doesn't really look the same. But she's already thought of that. "See? I'll, uh, show you." She seems to fold in on herself. Suddenly, she looks different. She's recognizable as the girl from before, the one Zophiel apologized to. But she's a bit different. First and foremost, all her inhuman traits are gone. Her skin is fair, her hair raven-dark, but not quite black. Her eyes are a piercing blue. Someone very perceptive might note that she's a tiny bit taller and curvier than before, but not very much. "See? I'm exactly..." Her voice trails off. A shocked expression crosses her very human face. Her hands go to feel her forehead and the base of her spine. "I don't believe it. I... I'm human!" Shock gives way to excitement. "I need a mirror!"

[5a Violista]

Zophiel and Selekhael

Wow, that is weird, how they both happen to have the same ending to their names.
Maybe they're distant relatives, or something.
'cause that's how names work.


Zophiel sighs: she didn't really listen. Oh, well. Nothing he can do about that.
It seems like the relics or whatever power they come from or whatever origin she has is preventing her from comprehending souls or whatever. In that case, there's no point in trying to explain it further.

"How someone looks has nothin-" He starts to correct that misconception, before stopping. He can hear her shock and her excitement, and stops ascending the stairs.
He turns.
"Yeah, you are," he confirms: "...Unfortunately, I don't have a mirror." Didn't think to bring one. And he doesn't really have any reflective surfaces, either.
But!
An idea comes to mind: "At the top, there'll be the source of this water, right? Once we take care of the danger, use its surface to see."

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

Zoph and Sele

Oh but how Selekhael looks has PLENTY to do with why she suddenly seems so different to Zoph.

Her fiendish taint has been purged by the celestial blessing she has been endowed with. The horns, the red skin, the tail, even the hellfire magic.

All gone.

Maybe Sekhmet is telling the truth? Maybe that IS really her and she only seems so different because hell no longer has its talons in her?

And there might be a source of water up there. But it would have to be still enough to get a good look at one's reflection in. And bright enough to get a good look at one's reflection in. Considering how dim the cave is that seems unlikely. But it's a hope, isn't it? With each step the sound of the conch horn growns steadily louder. Probably best not to dilly-dally too much.

Even IF Selekhael is pretty pumped about being human again. That's no reason not to forget why they're REALLY down here.

To stop the Saint from doing awful things to the little seaside town.

[bc56]

Selekhael has come to a similar conclusion as the narration. "See? If my spirit is different, it's because the curse on me was lifted. The, uh, demon that was in me is gone." While trying to make a figurative statement, Selekhael has somehow managed to say something literally true without knowing. Of course, it doesn't explain why she can suddenly turn into an angelic, winged, coral lion. Or why she can manipulate time and entropy, among other things.

[5a Violista]

Zophi and Selekha

Putting it that way, Zophiel would agree with the narration too.
However, that's only because the narration evaded the point by stating something factually true but tangential or unrelated to what Zophiel was getting at. In other words, ignoratio elenchi. Missing the point. In order to convince the paladin, the narrator would have to know more about Zophiel and his backstory to get at why he thinks as he does.


Because it's so dim, Zophiel doesn't bother to fix his (left) eye back to normal.

Feeling that this won't go anywhere - neither of them will convince the other; and besides, even if one does convince the other, it won't change the situation they're in - he changes the topic to something useful and relevant. "So. Tactics," he says, to determine the direction of the conversation.
"I go in first and draw them to me. Judging on what you did downstairs, it looks like you can hold your own, so, if possible, avoid being noticed and circle around. Destroy the altar or whatever as soon as you have the opportunity." That's his plan. "Any suggestions?"

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

Zoph and Sele

Well, it was worth a try Selekhael. Maybe Zoph believes that someone not being possessed by a demon anymore makes them a different person? That probably isn't it. Probably best to just move on and show him that you aren't some sort of awful threat that's going to eat his daughter.

Helping take down the Saint would probably help in that regard.

Who knows, you might get something cool out of it!

After chatting a bit about tactics, our heroes will be reaching the top of the stairs.

Sure enough, there's a source of water. But it isn't anything terrible helpful. A stream of seawater is pouring in through a crack in the ceiling and trickling across the soapstone floor. Little pools have formed here and there, but these are more traditional tidepools full of kelp and bits of sand and broken shells rather than the awful brine pools from further down. They've got little fish in them! And hermit crabs and stuff! It's all actually kind of pleasant. A second, larger crack up in the ceiling is letting in enough sunlight to keep the kelp happy. One could probably get down into this upper part of the chamber from above with a good set of climbing gear even when the tide isn't at its lowest.

There's more than just wide-eyed gobies and hermit crabs down there, though.

There's also another altar. And that awful conch horn sound appears to be coming from it? Strange. Would have guessed this place would have been swarming with fish people or something.

Oh, wait. There's someone else here.

"Ah, so the little fiendling was an imbecilic. How exciting."

It's that weird elf again.

What's it doing down here?

Sitting on a rock overlooking a heap of dead fish people, apparently.

Wonder what his deal is?

[bc56]

"You." The disgust and malice in Selekhael's voice are barely restrained. This elf is a jerk. It keeps calling her an idiot. And she's sure there's something fundamentally wrong with it, like something that shouldn't exist. Her whole body is tense, preparing to unleash her powers upon it if it shows the slightest sign of hostility.

[UncleWolf]

Operation Sea Slug

Well, that could have gone better. That could have much better. She was hoping that her two pieces of carry-on could blind the dragon, but now it was right behind her midair where she had incredibly little power to maneuver. If it had chosen to just snap its jaws instead of trying to breath a weapon, the three of them would have been dead. Whatever you are, demon core thing, some help would be much appreciated about now if you don't want to fall into clutches of this beast. She thinks, hoping the entity wasn't hibernating. Still, the one thing she could do is twist her torso around, sweep her arms in front of her and cut loose. Muscles and organs in her chest and arms contract, fluids are pumped and with a single powerful burst she lets out a boiling hot gout of caustic chemicals aimed for the dragon's eyes. Whether or not it works, Titania and her passengers will begin their descent rapidly back towards the canopy.

[Deathkeeper]

[Operation Sea Slug]

Will groans, even though with the wind and the dragon screaming past their ears no one can hear it. He shoves his empty pistol into its holster and wraps the fingers of his left hand around what would be his right bicep if it wasn't a piece of cold, humming metal. His right hand unfolds slightly away from the lens at the center of his palm, and as he squeezes gout after gout of crackling plasma flies at the dragon's face beside Titania's (frankly rather gross) biological weapon.
You know, if I wasn't seconds from death this would be really rad.

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bay]

Up

On the one hand, that elf-that-totally-gives-off-fairy-vibes is here.
On the other hand, dead fish people.

Fairies can be pretty bad. Not for the reason Selekhael thinks, but even so, Zophiel would much rather just fight a bunch of fish-people.

"Don't get distracted, stick to the plan," Zophiel whispers to Selekhael. And then, just in case she forgot, he reminds her:"Altar." Being able to restrain herself would go a long ways towards proving herself to Zophiel.

Sticking to the plan, where Zophiel goes out first and distracts them, the paladin approaches the elf. "I see you came here too," he says, in a much more pleasant voice than Selekhael's. He keeps his gauntleted hands down, because technically they are weapons. "And took care of those creatures here. Have you already got what you came here for?"

[Lord Magtok]

Moonwell Convergence

Another fiend stands between them and the seat but its Before it the floor itself seems to have raised up to form little over one meter tall barrier from which only the upper half of the demon can be seen. It's holding what appears to be a rifle in contrast to the melee weaponry they've seen them carrying so far.

As they enter it starts firing. The weapon only sputters for a moment, until small flames start to escape which then grows into a full burst of flame which will bathe most of the door entrance in fire.

Saint Lazarus does what she does best. She charges forward, heedless of the danger being melted by some horrible demonic flamethrower will do to her, focusing on trying to tank as much of the blow as possible so her squishier teammates don't get burned to death. From there, it's just a matter of closing the distance, running straight ahead and hoping that she can find the demon just by going off of her memory of the room from the moment before her eyes were set on fire. That cover the fiend is hiding behind is inconvenient, but not insurmountable. If she just times this exactly right, she can jump into the air, sail over the cover, and crash right into the demon before it can do any further harm to her teammates.

[5a Violista]

[Moonwell Convergence]

If I remember correctly, Awen is still under the effects of the spell she cast on herself earlier, the one that makes pain and fear feel like positive emotions.

As such, a flamethrower doesn't really scare her. In fact, it'll probably just make her laugh with pleasure if she gets actually burnt by it (rather than just being uncomfortably close to the heat). So she will hardly even try to avoid it. Here's hoping Saint Lazarus manages to block enough of the fire to not make things awkward for Awen again.

Awen has an idea - to make that demon fall asleep and then possess and control it - but it'll take several moments to set up, so Awen's actually a little afraid that the other two will manage to disable it before she can even start.
For example, to start, she has to get far enough away from Anika so that her spell won't affect her.

Regardless of what happens with the flames (she doesn't mind if she gets burned, don't worry), Awen flies a little to the side in the room, to put some space between herself and Anika.

Once at a safe distance, Awen cuts four gashes into her forearm with her fingernails.
Notably, it doesn't smell like blood at all, so I suppose that's good for Laz. Instead, her blood strongly smells of roses and really concentrated floral perfume. And those who break social distancing with her will grow drowsy and fall asleep...more strongly affecting those who have a stronger sense of scent. Would recommend the bear stays away from her.
That's not the key part, though: with her blood-soaked floral fingers, she traces some shapes in the air - and the blood sticks in the air. Then, after grabbing the shapes out of the air, Awen raises her hand, ready to blow a kiss.

...
Actually, she thinks.
It might be better to try to do this to the seated demon, not the flamethrower demon. Especially since she doesn't want to risk accidentally hitting Anika, since making her fall asleep would turn this situation awful really quick. (The flames could, of course, cause an updraft that could mess up the targeting.)

So, she moves a bit more to get a good line-of-site with the seated demon, and finishes blowing the kiss at that seated fiend.
A light breeze of air brings a strong concentrated amount of that sleep-scent to the seated demon.

Actually, she's not even sure these demons can fall asleep.
Awen bites her lip in anticipation, crosses her fingers, and prays that this works.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell - Calicommand

"Be ready to brace if we can't make it!" Blanche advises, keeping an eye on Geneva. She doesn't move to help her up, partly because she's not sure how a mew stands when it's not floating about - but she'll be there if the woman gets knocked out and starts sliding off the deck again.

"I think the three of them have ways to fly themselves off the ship if they need to, so we don't necessarily have to worry about sink- er, no, that's not the right word. What was the proper term again? "-er, grounding it. We don't know where they are inside exactly, so we can't focus fire on parts they aren't in, but the hull of that thing's durable - it'd probably take a lot of focused fire to breach it and wreck the internals."

[Earl of Purple]

Marlick Bay Benedict & Anchor

Benedict is rather interested in the statues. Maybe if they were smaller he'd take one with him, but... Little impractical right now.

Benedict stops as the tunnel is blocked, and stoops down to dig in the sand a little. He's hoping to attract one of the diggers, so he can hoick it out of the sand and get a better look at it. He's pulled a functional bronze tumi out of his robes, and is holding it ready to kill the digger as it emerges if needed.

"A pity. Those relics could have been greatly useful for me, or you. A potent powersource to use in rituals." Benedict feels sorrier for their loss to him than the perceived death of Sekhmet.

[Rebonack]

[Moonwell - Calicommand]

Well.

Judging from how Geneva is standing there she just kind of... stands on her giant feet. Either flat footed (which look silly) or up on her tip-toes like a jerboa or a kangaroo rat.

The thing that makes it extra hilarious is that it is pretty clear that Geneva isn't actually accustomed to walking in her natural form. She just floats everywhere. And if the situation weren't as dire as it is it would probably be pretty entertaining watching her totter around ineffectually.

~How the heck am I supposed to even move with these giant feet!? It's like walking with oversized clown-shoes.~

Poor, poor Geneva.

~I don't think I'm going to be much help right now, I'm afraid. I need another minute or two to regain my equilibrium. We could at least try to contact them.~

Which is exactly what Geneva does!

Now.

Who, if anyone, remembered to wear their VIGIL communicator? Because if anyone did-

"This is Geneva hailing the boarding party. What's your status?"

-their wrist communicator should start talking to them.


[Marlick Bay]

Benedict and Anchor

The sand isn't COMPLETELY blocking the tunnel. There's about fifteen feet of shimmying required to make it to the other side where about half a dozen grotesque fish people armed with a collection of nautically themed weapons are milling around another altar. Getting through would be pretty easy, but the fish people are waiting at the exit with landing hooks at the ready to supply a sound thrashing.

Benedict, meanwhile, kicks out digger!

It's a giant sand flea.

The creature is quite quick and very hoppy. It'll spring straight at the man's face and try to bite him!

How rude.

Zoph and Sele

"Oh no, not at all," the elf replies with a dramatic sigh. "I'm here to stop you, actually. Watching the saint have her way with this village and you stupid mortals has been delightfully entertaining. Really, I would be quite sad to see the story end here. So I may just have to end your stories instead. It's nothing personal, of course. You're just a bit too boring to hold my interest."

Then the elf grips the sword in the scabbard at its side and draws it.

The sword is big.

Impossibly big.

Like a side-sword that's longer than the elf is tall. There's no way it should have been able to fit in the scabbard. It should be absurdly awkward. And yet the elf wields it like a bladed whip, flexing and flashing one moment and perfectly straight the next. The mercurial weapon is likely very dangerous. And considering the way those fish people are eviscerated? Probably don't want the elf to do the same to them.

"You could just turn around and leave," the elf suggests. "But you won't. That wouldn't make for a good story, either."

[bc56]

Selekhael responds by releasing the power she's been preparing. The elf is pretty mean, and definitely not a real person. She jumps, twisting back into her leonine shape and at the same time tries to jump back, to instants ago, before the elf was done talking, and to run him through with her coral claws as soon as she appears.
Should she be screwing with causality like this? Maybe not.
But a better question might be "When did she suddenly become competent in a fight?" Earlier, she was in tears because someone else had killed someone while she watched. Now she's killing with barely a second thought.