Seaside 5: Kinda like One Piece without the anime

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bay]

Clearly, Zophiel should have just gotten some anti-paralyze equipment. If only he had known that was going to be a common status effect here. Much more useful than worm repellent, in the long run.

Out of the corner of his eye, or maybe using some other sense, Zophiel notices that worm slithering towards Sekhmet. He also notices the horrors going after Benedict and Anchor, but those two can clearly defend themselves. However, the kid is so out of it that it looks like she's going to get eaten.

As it happens, Zophiel also might get eaten, but at least he can defend himself. It's pretty clear what action would be more important.

So, against the paralysis worm attacking him, Zophiel does a single attack - if it works, it works; if it fails, it fails. There's not enough time to do more than that if he's going to stop Sekhmet's worm. So, using the threads to puppet the sword, he...shoots the massive sword forward at incredible speed, hoping it goes through the paralysis-worm's mouth and its momentum shoots the worm backwards and/or makes its guts fall out. The threads let go of the sword.

Without as much looking to whether that worked or not, he turns towards Sekhmet. With his one good hand, the one with threads dangling off, he winds up and swings his arm like he's throwing a grappling hook, at the worm that's going after Sekhmet. "Hey, kid! Snap out of it!"
If the threads hit that worm, they'll wrap around that worm. The paladin* will then reel it towards him.



[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.

[Recaiden]

Yuck! What was in that thing?

Well there's no time to worry about that.
Lobsters are closing in.

Anchor turns the spear sideways and holds it in both hands to fend off the crustacean-man, so its claws can only find the weapon's shaft.

Anchor's shadow rises up along the wall, becoming vast and ominous, as if the light that cast it was falling. It's lifting up the other spear, Anchor's spear, and twists to throw it lobsterwards.
The weapon practically leaps into the solid world of it own accord. Perhaps it's jealous of this memory-artifact being used in its stead, and needs to prove how good it is at lobstering.

[Earl of Purple]

Marlick Bay

Benedict screams as he's attacked, caught by surprise following the focus he'd put on stopping Sekhmet earlier. The jaws close around his arm and the robes flare as they try to protect him- it works, but unless he dislodges it, it'll stop doing so. He tugs free his sword, and slashes desperately at the eel. He's not waiting for the memories of the duellist whose femur provided the hilt to take over, just attacking immediately and inelegantly to get the monster to stop and leave him alone.

[Rebonack]

[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.


[Marlick Bay]

Oh hey Zoph speared a worm. Normally swords don't make great harpoons but when you can use threads of darkness to tie things up after spearing them then they're probably at least mostly okay. So now Zoph has a badly injured and very angry worm-person being pulled over to him. The sword in its face is preventing those jaws from really being used to great effect but that doesn't stop it from flailing its body wildly. A body which is, as Zoph has become quite familiar, covered in toxic spines. Probably best not to get dosed again.

As for lobsters, Anchor is probably relieved that the claws of the awful lobster person are insufficiently snippy to snip through the shaft of the artifact spear. That would be a pretty ignoble way to lose the thing. Speaking of pears, there's one sticking out of lobster lad now! He doesn't seem very happy about that, what with trying to pull the spear out while staggering backwards from the impact. Man, it's really crammed in there. He'll probably be distracted for a bit as a result.

When the jaws clamp down on Benedict's arm, a second set of jaws zip out and try taking a chunk out of said arm. Hopefully the eel person doesn't succeed at taking a huge bite out of Benedict's arm since that would probably hurt quite a bit.

And finally?

The relic appears.

But only briefly.

How would one even describe a fragment of space itself? How could space be a physical thing to begin with? What would it look like? How would it even be capable of looking? Those are all pretty weird questions and for the brief moment when it appears the relic gives an overwhelming sense of expanse.

Doesn't stay there for long, though.

Sekhmet just gobbled it up.

And then got absolutely enveloped in a gleaming chrysalis made of something like gold.

Huh!

Weird.

That probably isn't important or significant.

[bc56]

Sekhmet vanishes within a golden chrysalis. Nothing bad is happening, honestly. Maybe someone glimpses a faint outline of her form in spectral fire flying out of the chrysalis and collapsing in on itself in a silent scream. I'm sure it's nothing important. It doesn't matter anyway, because the chrysalis begins to quickly disappear, exactly in the reverse of how it appeared. Where it was, in a pile of ashes, stands... Sekhmet? No. Something else. It's like a lioness, or an elegant, branching coral, with a number of wheels and wings. Then it speaks, in a voice like Sekhmet's, but not quite. "Ugh! How did I fall for that?Those relics were never going to help me." She pads out of the ashes, and turns to bow before them, paying no heed to to the battle around her. "I forgive you. You could not have known."

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bay]

Well, it's been raining for most of the day and Zophiel hasn't really had a moment to rest.
And because Marlick Bay takes place before running into Cleo again, the paladin is still using ink that isn't completely waterproof.

Since the last time Zophiel was struck by a paralysis thing, the blood and mud and rainwater has mixed with the seal and made it start to deteriorate. Not significantly, mind you: it still has one or two days left in it. But, in this particular case, it's enough.

'[Don't] get dosed again'? Ha! The paladin laughs in the face of the narration's recommendation. See, because of the weakened seal his body has already begun to purge the paralysis toxins from it. At the very least, it's enough it's enough to grip a sword (and throw it, too).
And, as it happens, Zophiel has one more sword.
Now, honestly, it seems like Benedict's in the greatest danger right now. Since he has no idea what that chrysalis enveloping Sekhmet is.

So, with his foot and ignoring the fact that he's going to get another dose of toxins, he stomps down on the worm-person that he has been dragging.
And with his still-partially-paralyzed hand, he draws his other sword, and (not yet caring about finishing off the worm; priority takes priority, after all) winds up and hurls the sword - tip first - at the eel's center-of-mass. Hopefully it strikes in time to help Benedict.

And then.
This not-quite-like-and-probably-completely-different-from-Sekhmet that just appeared from the chrysalis.
"Hey, kid! You alright?"
I still think Zophiel hasn't learned Sekhmet's name yet.

[Deathkeeper]

[Beach Party- Too Many Richards]

"Yeah, it's...a whole thing. I'd stay away from her. We deal with her because it's a whole...history going on with us. I don't think anyone else really has that leeway."
That's probably true. Nick and Geneva just have life-changing clones and copies and memory wipes instead of waking up as hutts or sphinxes or something like what she did to Jace's house.

Meanwhile!

"Super not cool!" Nick Jr insists.
"You shouldn't joke about chaos magic stuff! Especially since it would have meant bad stuff was gonna happen to me too." Nick was sure they were gonna blow up or something. And that would have been awful.

[Recaiden]

She suspected that the magic artifact was pretty tough. Able to hold up to an overgrown lobster, anyway. Good to have that confirmed.
While the lobster-man is using his claws to remove the jealous spear, Anchor is pointing the memory spear at him again, shifting her stance to get her feet under her properly, stepping forward to keep up with him, and jabbing the weapon at his chest.

Then she feels something horrible happen, sees a spectral fire out of the corner of her eye, and hears something start to go wrong...
"Zophiel, that's not her! She's gone." Dead or just vanished through time or something stranger, she can't tell. But that coral-lion isn't the poor dumb relic-seeking girl.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Beach Party- D&D

"Well..." Melvin squirms.
"I may have accepted an apprenticeship from a local very large wizard. Whose magic actually is stored in the body and so it uh. Well.
It means I'm better at it the bigger I am. So I uh. Actually need to change to use it. So uh. Lately I only get to look like myself when I make plans beforehand."
You would think he'd be used to it if he's been spending most of his days hulked out. But apparently he hasn't.

[Beach Party - D&D]

Careful, Ithuriel. This revelation requires a diplomatic response. "...huh. I had no idea magic could work that way. I just rely on- uh, I just cheat." That's the simple way of putting it, honestly. Cheating. Getting someone else to do the hard work of turning you into an innately magical being, and then using your power with only a vague idea of the how and the why.

"Tae be honest, I had nae idea about it either. It's nae something that any mage ken in th' force afore we met his new master. But since he started, his magic's came on in leaps and boonds!" Dibbles, fortunately, is not the sort to get jealous. He has no regrets about turning down the chance himself, and is delighted Dobbers is doing better for it.

[Deathkeeper]

Beach Party- D&D

Melvin fiddles with his napkin.
"Well, I know it's not the best thing for someone who doesn't like changing. But...the perks are worth it. I mean, Wilfred saw that mansion. I couldn't afford something a quarter that big with forty year's salary. So uh. Yeah. It can be a little...disheartening at times, but I am learning things. And I'm kind of...rich now 'cause of how he does apprenticeships. You could still visit sometime, Wilfred." It would probably make him feel better.

[Earl of Purple]

Marlick Bay

The jaws clamping on Benedict's arm haven't penetrated his robes, so the smaller jaw inside can't take a chunk of flesh- but do bite a hole in the robes, so unless his next swing at the thing's neck hits, he will probably be losing a chunk of flesh next time. So he's swinging at the eel-monster's neck with his sword, trying to decapitate it. Just like he did last time, but he seems to have missed, so he's trying again and moving to get a better angle.

The rest of the party are totally ignored right now, Benedict wants to keep his arm. Which is a pity; what happened to Sekhmet was fascinating and he'll be annoyed he missed it.

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

Well.

That was certainly a development, wasn't it?

Now that there's an ophan on the scene the rest of the horrors react by immediately disengaging from the people they were attacking (heedless of the danger to themselves, even!) and charge the newly minted empyrean instead. Which... Might seem like kind of a weird thing at first. Aren't they all on the same side?

Haha.

No, no my silly hypothetical inquirer.

They are not.

The eel guy gets a nasty gash on his neck as he releases Benedict and dives for The Empyrean Formerly Known As Sekhmet, trying to clamp onto one of her... limbs? with his nasty double jaws. It happens to have run off just in time to avoid Zoph's sword-throw. It doesn't look like it was terribly intentional, though.

Lobster guy is jabbed with the artifact and the shadow spear kind of explodes outta him. It's gross. That wound looks like it'll be lethal in the near future. But that doesn't stop him from charging toward the ophan and trying to grab her in his horrible crushing claws!

As for the worm guy? Well, he's flailing way more violently than before trying to get away from Zoph to attack that new person but thus far is having little success.


[Beach Party! Too Many Richards]

"She means well. Umm... Maybe," Geneva says a bit hesitantly. "Or at least I would like to imagine she means well. Something with that kind of power running around being malicious isn't comforting to think about."

Not even a little bit!

But on more positive news!

"So! Models! You make models. And... umm..."

Geneva is trying desperately to steer the conversation back toward normal things. Maybe some help is in order?

Meanwhile!

"Golly, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, honest," Navvy sulks.

[bc56]

Oh no. That's a lot of angry monsters. But the creature formerly known as Sekhmet is powerful. She rears up on her hind paws, firing beams of entropic power from her wingtips to rot away the lobster horror. She slashes at the eel now attached to her foreleg with coral claws extending from her leonine paw. She somehow still finds time to be annoyed at Anchor. "Yes I am! Uh, really! I'm right here! Uh, not gone!" This probably seems pretty unconvincing. She seems pretty tied up with all the horrors. If Anchor wants to stab her, she definitely has the chance she needs.

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bay]

Honestly, when it comes down to it, when comparing the veracity of a sunglasses-wearing wizard and a coral lion, it's pretty obvious which is more trustworthy.
After all, lion does sound like an awful lot like 'lying'.
And the other is his daughter.
Really, if you think about it, this is all Zophiel's fault. Back at that mansion, this all started because Zophiel was too preoccupied getting that Saint-stopping spear to pay attention to that girl when she did something stupid that started this whole chain of events.

The paladin doesn't have either of his swords near him, and he can already feel the paralysis starting to go up through his leg. Sure, it'll get purged from his system, but not soon enough. Debating whether it'd be best to try to finish the worm off quickly or try to kick it away from him, Zophiel ultimately decides finishing it off quickly is probably the best option, given the circumstances.
With his foot on it to keep it from fleeing, he bends down. He grabs it by the mouth with both hands, and pulls, to pull the worm apart starting with its mouth, using his anger at this situation to fuel his adrenaline.

Really, the only good thing about this situation is that it's clear these awful sea-monster-people aren't on the same side as the lying-or-misguided not-Sekhmet. So there's no immediate need to come into conflict with the lion. In order to try to figure out what actually happened, Zophiel asks an out-of-the-blue question: "So you're Neshiyahel? Or what?" Since a Saint of Forgetfulness would be capable of making itself forget who it is and have different memories.

[Earl of Purple]

Marlick Bay

Now he's no longer being bitten, Benedict grimaces as he looks at his wound. He'll back away slightly from the rest, and draw a green shape over the injury. The magic glows as it gets to work on healing him- but it's slow, as he's being quite careful not to accidentally remove his youth, since the healing works against dark magic. And stealing somebody's youth to escape the effects of old age is most certainly dark magic.

If any of the monsters come back, he'll stop what he's doing and blast them with the exploding needles, but until then he's happy letting them weaken themselves in conflict with each other.

[Recaiden]

Well, this is awful. If only Sekhmet had listened to her in the house. If only Anchor had tried harder to keep the relics away from the girl.
But now it's looking too late.
There's only one thing to do, and that's lunge forward and drive the memory spear through the back of the eel to finish it off.
"Don't try to lie to us, monster! You've got one chance."

Anchor's shadow slips over to catch the dark spear where it was blasted out of the lobster. They'll need it later. Or maybe soon.

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

Well!

This all seems really tense.

Not for the lobster, though.

He just got mulched while screaming in wordless, incoherent rage. For whatever reason he REALLY didn't seem like this winged lion.

Not for the worm, either.

She just got her head ripped in half.

Certainly not for the eel, he just got speared and mauled to bits!

So.

We've just got our heroes left here, a ruined altar, that weird tumor rock, several brine pools, and what appears to be a large heap of ashes. Yep! Pretty tense! Will our heroes stab the perfectly normal winged kitty? Or will they overcome their distrust and work together? Stay tuned to fined out!

Or stay tuned for that ominous conch horn that's being blown in the distance. Sounds like its coming from one of the other tunnels that our heroes didn't explore. Maybe blowing up the altar alerted someone to their presence?

[bc56]

"No! I'm still me! I'm just, uh, me-er than before! Selekhael! Not Neshiyahel!" Fear flickers in Selekhael's feline eyes. Her muscles are tensed, ready to flee, or to pounce. It's hard to tell which. Coral rings orbit her head and limbs, speeding up or slowing down erratically. "Please, you have to believe me!" Do those desperate cries sound like a monster to you, Anchor? It might be a trick, after all. You saw how easily she rotted the lobster to nothingness.

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bay]

Selekhael.
That's got to be what her name was before, right? Otherwise, she wouldn't be saying she's the same if she's claiming a different name. Obviously. No idea if she was lying or not.
He glances at Anchor to read what she thinks.

He hears the conch horn.
They likely have to take care of this later, and this Selekhael appears to be antagonistic to them: "I'd rather go up and meet them before they have a chance to gather or lay traps." Or block off every escape route. Or break some dam and flood them. That would be the worst.

As soon as the paralysis starts to wear off again, he goes to grab one of his swords, and then the other.
Now, having seen what this Selekhael did to that lobster with those beams, Zophiel is actually pretty confident he could survive that. In fact, all he has to do is weaken the seal on his back a little more, and he's sure it'll probably just inconvenience him, at most. Which is why he points at the coral-lion. "Until we trust you, you cannot leave my side. And if you hurt anyone else, you will regret it." To be honest, he's not entirely sure if that's just someone who thinks she's that girl from before, or if she killed that girl and poorly tried to replace her, or what. No idea. But, given the urgency of the situation, trusting the lion and only Zophiel being the one in danger in case of a potential betrayal is the best choice.


Unless someone has a better plan of staying here and laying their own traps, Zophiel goes to the stairs, to go back up.
If someone does have a plan, however, he'll stay here in preparation for the enemy to descend.

[Lord Magtok]

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.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Beach Party- D&D

Melvin fiddles with his napkin.
"Well, I know it's not the best thing for someone who doesn't like changing. But...the perks are worth it. I mean, Wilfred saw that mansion. I couldn't afford something a quarter that big with forty year's salary. So uh. Yeah. It can be a little...disheartening at times, but I am learning things. And I'm kind of...rich now 'cause of how he does apprenticeships. You could still visit sometime, Wilfred." It would probably make him feel better.

[Beach Party - D&D]

Well.

That earns Melvin a spit-take from Ithuriel. Halfway through taking a drink, it abruptly ends up on the sand behind her at the mention of a mansion.

"Is, ah, next wednesday good then?" Wilfred hesitantly asks, "I finish a wee bit early tha'-"

"YOU HAVE A MANSION?!"

Ithuriel, you own a demiplane. Isn't that a bit of an overreaction?

"So, what, you're some kind of celebrity super mage now? Why are you still lugging books around for Intersection?!"

[Deathkeeper]

[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.

[Recaiden]

"You admit you're not really Sekhmet." It would not be a good idea to contradict her on this point.
Anchor thinks that this is definitely a monster. Not clear whether it's lying or wrong.

She lifts the spear away from the lion. Her life has been spared.
"Good enough. You do everything Zophiel says. I mean, we do need to deal with that signal."
Brushing away some of the brine and shell that got on her among all those explosions, Anchor heads back towards the crossroads.

Her shadow retains a close and suspicious watch on Selekhael('s shadows).

[UncleWolf]

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.

[Deathkeeper]

[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.

[Earl of Purple]

Marlick Bay

Benedict sheathes his sword and reaches for a piece of lobster. "Yes, something else is causing the beacon. It looks like those relics are unavailable for me to study, which is a great shame. I could have learnt a lot from them." Or gone mad and eaten his own face. "Possessing all the relics seems to have mutated her, but in a more stable fashion than these others. Her mind might be intact under that, or at least be convinced it is intact." Benedict was busy and didn't notice the immolation thing. He does start to sketch a lens with which he can examine Selekhael as they go, however; he tags along last because he wants to see the most of what was Sekhmet from as many angles as possible.

[Rebonack]

[Marlick Bay]

Threats and weapon brandishing probably aren't the best way to make friends with someone, guys.

But maybe making friends isn't the goal?

Which would be a shame. Making more friends is always great!

So. Let's see to that lens spell first, shall we? Selekhael should show up on it exactly as the relics Sekhmet was collection did. That is to say, not at all. No mystic forces animate Selekhael. No hellfire burns in her breast. No magical power courses through those strange, drifting wheels of coral. She simply is. A brute-fact of the cosmos itself. Considering what Sekhmet had done with the relics before, ripping a hole in the fabric of space itself and casting away some furniture into a shadow out of time, there's a strong possibility that Selekhael could accomplish similar feats if she decreed it.

The others hadn't seen that little trick, had they? It was just Sekhmet and Benedict. Maybe the conjurer should warn his fellows that this entity is hideously dangerous and antagonizing her might not be a great plan?

Regardless!

Selekhael's shadow should be a completely mundane shadow. No existence in the shadow plane what-so-ever. Merely a spot where less light is reaching a patch of stone. Just like the empty shadows cast by that baleful light underwater. This just means she's boring and shouldn't be taken as threatening at all.

So!

Back up the stairs.

As our heroes walk the sound of the conch horn grows steadily louder. Upon reaching the upper landing they'll discover that a huge circle has been etched into the stone floor that certainly wasn't there before. Perhaps more unusual is what the interior of the circle lacks.

Spirals.

Those infectious spirals coating every surface, warping every pool, twisting the path of every drop of water, are absolutely lacking inside the circle.

It's about twelve feet across and dug several inches into the stone. Inside there is only smooth, wholesome damp rock.

Maybe destroying that altar did something?

Regardless of what the answer might be, the conch horns continue to sound from BOTH unexplored tunnels.

Where to next?

[bc56]

"No, I am Sekhmet. I've, uh, metamorphosed." Selekhael's seems confused. "Oh, you mean my new name? You, uh, wouldn't call a butterfly 'caterpillar,' would you?" Selekhael falls in beside Zophiel, but she definitely doesn't seem happy. "Cross me, and I'll, uh, fill your body so full of tumours you can't move." If it weren't for the unconfident pauses, that might be a serious threat. But do the others believe she's capable of carrying it out?

In the upper room, Selekhael reaches out to the area without spirals with a paw, gently trying to touch it. Is it hazardous? Or perhaps it is beyond Neshiyahel's control now? Hopefully no one tries to stop her.

[5a Violista]

[Marlick Bay]

It's true: making threats is an awful way to make friends.
However, the goal isn't to be friendly: it's to make sure nobody else dies - and that probably includes Selekhael - and to determine whether or not Selekhael was a pawn used to kill Sekhmet and/or is deceiving them, or if it was an unfortunate accident and the lion can be trusted. In a life-or-death situation, knowing whether you can trust someone is much more important than making them like you. And, given the situation, the danger, and the uncertainty, if being disliked is the best way to achieve that goal then it's the best way to achieve that goal.
The first step to ensure everyone present will live, of course, is making sure Anchor isn't the one in danger of being attacked by Selekhael, because if that happened...Zophiel no longer has the regrets that would keep him from throwing everything he has at the lion even if it was at the cost of himself.
Guess you can thank Neshiyahel for that.

And, now that they're no longer in combat and Zophiel has time to analyze it, the simple irrefutable fact is: Selekhael doesn't have Sekhmet's soul.
They're not the same person, no matter what the lion thinks. Thus saith Zophiel.

. . .
The ineffectual threat is kind-of endearing, though. Instead of responding to it, the paladin does his best to not laugh. After all, laughing at an earnest threat would be kind-of rude.
The threat does remind him, though: before they get in danger, he should probably completely disrupt that magic seal. Sure, it basically means practically erasing a quarter of his being, but the situation is dire enough that that's an acceptable loss. He reaches to his back to finish it off. After doing that, the black spirals on his skin vanish and there's no longer blackness spiderwebbing across him.

So,
they make it to the crossroads. The circle doesn't really appear to matter on its own.
Up the wet stairs?
Or across, past the statues?
"We should split up in groups of two, right?" he suggests.

[Recaiden]

Anchor is not as reserved as the paladin. She just starts laughing at the weird, hesitant threat.
It would probably be better to explain to Selekhael that Sekhmet died, and she's just a horrible lobster-fascimile...or something like that.
Or just attack her immediately.
But it's just so absurd and poorly delivered that all she can do is laugh and laugh.

At least until Zophiel comes up with that risky idea.
"We should stay together. I mean, that's safer. Right through the middle path, past those statues."