Into the Dark

[+ElephantEarwax he/him]

On 10/4/2019 at 0:31 AM, Sorana said:

She inclined her head in agreement and then started to walk over to the elevator. "Yes, let's head over there. The first ones are already down below."

Karin was already gone. Althea continued to try to keep track of everybody, but realized that here with the other ACE employees around it was hard to keep an eye on everybody. She walked carefully over the uneven ground, tried to make sure that she didn't trip, or hurt her ankle. Nothing she couldn't deal with, but still something she'd prefer to avoid. If only to continue to appear strong. It would be hillarious if she stared this journey with brown mudstreaks in her hair. Now that the time was close when she would actually descend into the caverns she felt the knot of anxiety in her stomach. The last times she had been below the surface had ended with pain and destruction, with someone ripping into her mind and breaking it apart. Given that,it was easy for this journey to end up better. As long as nobody controlled again, it would be a lot better. She looked at the elevator waiting for them and stayed outside, waited for Adren to catch up.

Following Althea, a hummed melody to his friends. Trying to remember where he had heard it.

.

.

.

Climbing on the elevator watching as the walls of the cavern grew dimmer as natural light faded,

"Is it dark in caves?"

"Yes and these are caverns here, similar to the ones that the 40 thieves lived in. Giant caves with any number of objects."

"Are there thieves in these caves?"

"Althea, do you think we'll find thieves in these caves? The cleaver is concerned." Adren asked with a joking tone.

[AonEne he/him]

Myriad was awed by the sights before her when she stepped out of the elevator; it was like entering a whole new world, which she supposed was true as of a few weeks ago. But things down here shimmered, whether it was the glow lighting up the lapping pool, smaller glows darting inside, or the way their lights played on the wall. She found herself suddenly wishing she had gone on more hiking trips with her family - there’d been that one where they went to a cave; she couldn’t remember its name, but it had had ice in it and her mother had been beyond excited. 

Too late for that now. She’d contented herself with a book then, and she would never be able to go spelunking with them anymore. She wondered if they had gone on any adventures since her death. They must have; this was years later, after all, so it was only probable that sometime within those years her mother and father had dove into a cave, or stretched to the bottom of a sea, or trekked all over a more urban environment. Who knew - by now, maybe they even had a little kid to bring along on some of those tours. 

The thought hurt. If they’d had another child, then Myriad had a brother or sister, and she would never know them. Not unless she went back to Earth somehow and creepily stalked her family some more, which sounded unappealing. 

I used to like this stuff, her mind whispered. Learning through doing, not just through words on a page or screen. But that lifestyle left me way before I got hit by a car. What happened to it? 

She began to drift aimlessly toward the camp area, but was startled by a rough voice nearby talking about parasites. It was the ghost-killing guy, now talking about smelling guts and there being a parasite around here, and Myriad decided it would be much safer to go in the direction opposite of the huge man with an equally huge axe who almost certainly wanted her dead. She about-faced abruptly and walked toward the ridge holding in the lake water instead. 

Quote

I know you meant what was discussed in the PM, but I’m sorry, it was just too perfect. She’s a ghost, she’s a parasite, she’s a girl who is now avoiding Bulveye like the plague. (In other words maybe l can get her in the same group as him at one point and she can just be hilariously skittish, wouldn’t that be fun ) 

( @Grey Knight just cause I talked about you) 

Edited October 8, 2019 by AonEne
Decided to @

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, ElephantEarwax said:

"Althea, do you think we'll find thieves in these caves? The cleaver is concerned." Adren asked with a joking tone.

Althea took off her sunglasses once they were descending into the dark and the bright sunlight had vanished. "Maybe." She replied and looked at the cleaver. "Given who you define as thief, we are the thieves. We stroll into territory not our own, and I doubt that everybody down there will play nice. So yes, there will be thieves and murderers."

With a shrug she added, "But if you have to be afraid of them, that's a different story."

She stepped out of the elevator and carefully hid her surprise at the cave in front of her. It was beautiful, stunning. She wondered how they had never found it so far. Between TUBA's tunnels and the DA, someone had hidden these caverns, and had hidden them well.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

18 hours ago, TrailRunnin said:

"You're calling on us quicker than I thought, Director. Are we heading into the caves already?"

Deb kept her expression cool and unruffled, doing her best not to reveal her own unease. As far as she could tell, Rig was fine. She looked sideways at Bulveye, wondering - not for the first time - if he was perhaps a little cracked. Still, it was prudent to be cautious.

"Not quite yet, Mister Lekal," Deb said. "I don't wish to alarm you, but there is a chance that you could have come into contact with something dangerous during your time down here. By your best estimation, how long would you say you spent down here before we arrived? What did you eat or drink?"

She looked over to Bulveye again, silently willing him to explain himself. The soldier was still holding his axe as though a battle would break out at any moment. Deb suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, instead pressing her lips into an impatient line. This was not what she needed to be doing right now.

@Grey Knight

--

Corette stood a few feet away, close enough to hear, but far enough to be out of immediate reach of Bulveye's axe. She flicked clear blue eyes from one face to the next, trying to get a read on the situation. The giant soldier looked wary, almost angry, as he eyed Rig. Director Stancel, by contrast, seemed impatient, glancing dubiously towards the soldier and maintaining only enough Steel to keep on the massive fellow's eye level. Rig put on a good show of appearing at ease, but his smile was a bit too tight.

Would be a shame to lose him so early, Corette thought, tapping one finger against her lips. Rig was interesting, which was more than enough reason to keep him around in Corette's book.

Corette folded her arms and looked him over. He'd put his ridiculous suit coat on over his coveralls, and the rather heavy dusting of glowing fungus only added to his strange appearance. House Lekal was a noble family, she knew that much from hearsay, and she had to admit there was a certain casual confidence about him that bordered on arrogance. That was certainly a trait she associated with nobility, though Rig looked like he could largely back it up. Yes, he could do quite nicely.

[TrailRunnin he/him]

Rig raised an eyebrow, adopting a questioning look. "A few days I would guess, but without the sun it's a little hard to judge time down here. I've mostly eaten the fish in the pond there in the center," he explained, gesturing towards the centerpiece of the room. "You people are the most dangerous thing I've encountered yet, so far as I know." Stancel didn't seem to frustrated with him, which was good. In fact, as she spoke she shot a number of tight-lipped glances at the armoured man.

He thought back to his first few hours in the caves. He had heard some strange sounds from the pool at first, but had chalked it up to some sort of strange hallucination. Isolation could do things like that to a man, even one like Rig. And it had been silent lately, not even bubbling periodically as it had at first. 

@ZincAboutIt

[Grey Knight]

6 hours ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Deb kept her expression cool and unruffled, doing her best not to reveal her own unease. As far as she could tell, Rig was fine. She looked sideways at Bulveye, wondering - not for the first time - if he was perhaps a little cracked. Still, it was prudent to be cautious.

"Not quite yet, Mister Lekal," Deb said. "I don't wish to alarm you, but there is a chance that you could have come into contact with something dangerous during your time down here. By your best estimation, how long would you say you spent down here before we arrived? What did you eat or drink?"

She looked over to Bulveye again, silently willing him to explain himself. The soldier was still holding his axe as though a battle would break out at any moment. Deb suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, instead pressing her lips into an impatient line. This was not what she needed to be doing right now.

@Grey Knight

6 hours ago, TrailRunnin said:

Rig raised an eyebrow, adopting a questioning look. "A few days I would guess, but without the sun it's a little hard to judge time down here. I've mostly eaten the fish in the pond there in the center," he explained, gesturing towards the centerpiece of the room. "You people are the most dangerous thing I've encountered yet, so far as I know." Stancel didn't seem to frustrated with him, which was good. In fact, as she spoke she shot a number of tight-lipped glances at the armoured man.

He thought back to his first few hours in the caves. He had heard some strange sounds from the pool at first, but had chalked it up to some sort of strange hallucination. Isolation could do things like that to a man, even one like Rig. And it had been silent lately, not even bubbling periodically as it had at first. 

@ZincAboutIt

The boy smelled... fine. Barely a hint of the awful stench that had hit Bulveye just seconds before. The only thing special was a hint of floral water on him, and even that was weeks old. The fop probably bathed in the stuff. 

Which meant that the parasite wasn't on Rig. Bulveye looked toward the pool, mind racing. He might be old, but even a pup couldn't have missed a scent that strong. So the danger had to have come from something else, something that the boy had once possessed.

The clothes. The boy had been wearing a suit and trousers before he'd changed. What had he done with them? They weren't by the pool anymore.

They weren't by the pool anymore.

"The boy's clothes," Bulveye said. "The finery he had on before. They're gone. If that smell was coming from them..."

@ZincAboutIt @TrailRunnin 

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

As Bulveye and the Director spoke to Rig, Corette felt herself begin to calm. Everything seemed fine; the giant soldier had loosened the grip on his axe, and the Director appeared more impatient with the man than with Rig. It seemed as though all would work out. And even if it didn’t, well, Corette didn’t really care one way or another. In fact, she couldn’t really find it within herself to care about much of anything, not even the familiar thumping sound that began echoing from behind her. What was that noise? It beat outwards, sure and languid and steady. So relaxing. Corette gave a contented sigh, looking over at Rig and smiling lazily.

”The boy’s clothes,” Bulveye interjected, breaking some of Corette’s relaxation, “they’re gone.”

Corette looked at him, blinking. She’d have been irritated, if she hadn't felt so calm. The soldier really needed to relax. Couldn’t he hear that beat? So gentle.

Both the Director and Buiveye were looking towards the pool now, behind Corette. Dimly, she was aware of how uncharacteristic her disinterest was. But, she couldn’t bring herself to worry. Still, she turned, listening to that rolling, soothing thrum-thrum-thrum. Water bubbled and gurgled in the pool, only adding to the effect. She gave Rig another lazy grin. 

Something clicked, and then a very meager flicker of fear danced down her spine. It was brief - so small she almost missed it. But she held onto that fear, tugging it down, down, down until she finally realized where she’d recognized that rhythm. 

Not just soothing. A Soothing. She whirled, staring at the glowing pool, which had started bubbling as though someone were boiling it for tea. Corette turned back to Rig, then the soldier and Director.

”Someone is burning Brass,” she said, voice low. Her eyes slid back towards the pool. “Or something.” 

@Grey Knight @TrailRunnin

[Rushu42 she/her]

Sarah, leaning on her staff, gazed at the softly glowing pool of water. A group of people was speaking in hushed voices behind her, but Sarah didn't feel the slightest curiosity toward what they were saying. In fact, she felt remarkably little. The apprehension and excitement she had felt upon entering the cave had vanished, as had the gentle haze of confusion that still lingered from her arrival in the Alleyverse. The feeling reminded her of something. Well, it didn't seem to be important. She began aimlessly twirling her staff in her hands as the surface of the water began to tremble, pockets of air bursting and waves lapping at the previously dry stone. Sarah smiled as a luminescent, horrible thing erputed from the water and began thrashing toward her. It was such a nice day.

@anyone in the cavern

Edited October 9, 2019 by Rushu42

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Nekorb gasped in horror and took a step back. He might not feel whatever this... Soothing... was, but he could certainly see whatever this was. And it did not look pretty.

[TrailRunnin he/him]

Rig looked down at himelf, remembering that they had made him put on the garish coveralls. Maybe he should change back into the suit pants--they were much more befitting of him. He turned lazily, searching for the pile of clothing he had left by the pool, wondering vaguely whether or not the director would let him get away with a little uniform deviation. Surely she would; everyone but the bigger soldier was acting nice and relaxed now, and the situation seemed truly defused. Corette smiled at him and he grinned back, eyes still questing about the room for his missing pants. 

For the first time in days, Rig felt safe. Calm, secure, warm...these caves were pretty nice, now that he thought about it. He began wandering towards the edge of the pool, his mind barely registering Corette as she straightened and whirled towards the director, saying something about brass. Rig strolled in a leisurely fashion, glancing about under each tent he passed for the missing clothes. While he found plenty of equipment, tools, and supplies, there was no sign of his fine suit, but he knew it would turn up sooner or later. He trusted everything would be alright. 

Soon he reached the edge of the line of low tents and entered the open space around the pool. There were a few attendees sitting on the edge, dangling their bare feet haphazardly in the water. It looked like fun; maybe he would join them soon. For now, he wanted out of the hideous coveralls. Where was that suit? Perhaps it was hiding in a shadow somewhere.

From the corner of his eye he spotted the director waving to him, calling something. Corette appeared to be yelling something too, but he was a bit far from them. He would get back to them in a moment-for now, where in the rusting ruin had that suit gone? He walked in a circle about the pool to no avail, and eventually approached the pair sitting by the small pool. 

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but would you happen to have seen a very fine suit around here? It might have been glowing a bit, an--"

Rig's tongue became caught in his mouth as a monstrosity rose up behind the duo. He froze, his words dying on his lips, and his neck craned slowly upwards to regard the thing that had come out of the lake. 

It was like nothing Rig had ever dreamt of. He had thought mistwraiths were something strange; fleshy creatures of little rhyme or reason. But this...it was on an entirely different level. It had no distinct form, but seemed vaguely serpentine. It's skin looked like something akin to boiled flesh, still wet with rivulets of water running down its back. Scaly-looking ridges adorned it's sides, scraping rock free of the sides of the pool as it rose upwards from the depths. 

It continued to rise, approaching the lofty ceiling of the cavern and twisting about the stalactite which hung over the pool. It had to be at least twenty times as long as Rig was tall, and as wide as two of the new motorcars in Elendel side by side. The pair and Rig stayed where they were, staring at the creature as it lowered the meaty front end of its body towards them. It had no eyes, at least none that Rig could see, but it opened what he was pretty rusting sure was a mouth. Thousands of teeth lined the edges of the gaping hole on the front of it's body, looking like the needles of a grandmother returned from the grave with a vengeance. Everything froze for a moment, the entire cavern stopping as every person spotted the monster at the center of them all. In that moment a tiny part of Rig's brain told him it might be a good idea to step backwards right around now. He raised a foot to do just that.

The creature lunged. Neither of the other men even screamed as that horrible mouth closed around them; in fact, they died looking mildly confused at worst. Rig felt an overpowering urge to just lay for a moment; it would all be okay. He tapped a massive amount of heat and refused to store any as the air around him heated, beginning to burn him. The sensation shocked him out of his stupor, and he jumped away just as the thing lunged once more, this time for him. He yanked his pistol from his pocket, fighting against the urge to simply stand their and trust that everything was fine. 

Raising the weapon, he fired once, twice, three times into the wet flesh of the beast, but the bullets seemed inconsequential when compared to something so large. It drew back to the stalactite and reared it's head once more, and Rig sensed he wouldn't be able to jump away a second time. He fired again, this time into the wall of the pool, and flared steel, whistling himself away from the center of the cavern in an arc just as it smashed its head into the spot he had just been. He landed roughly next to Corette, his mistjacket flaring out around him, glowing with the fungus still on the tassels. He turned towards the director and the soldier, whose axe seemed much friendlier now than it had a few minutes earlier. 

"That's quite the parasite, director. Any ideas?"

@ZincAboutIt

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Nekorb paled even further and backed hastily away from the horrible lizard-worm-shark thing.

"A parasite?" he asked, in a faint voice. "You think that that... is a parasite?"

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Deb watched with surprising calm as the monstrous worm rose out of the water to swallow Jenkins and Vedigen. Well, that's unfortunate, she thought, though she wasn't particularly worried. She looked over to Corette, who had said something. What had she said? Something about Brass?

Brass... 

Rig's sudden gunshot startled her just enough for her to realize what was happening, and she immediately began burning her Steel. Deb jammed a hand into her pocket, then pulled out a small folded beret. The interior glinted with aluminum lining - one of the few things she'd kept from her time in the Wings. She pulled it onto her head, and immediately felt the artificial calm wiped away. Instead, panic hit her like an icy wave, and she flinched a bit before regaining her composure.

"It's Soothing us!" She called to the camp, which was still in total disarray, most of the ACE employees and recruits still under the thrall of the creature's Brass burn. Harmony, it was strong. Deb looked to Bulveye, then his massive axe. "I suggest you begin using that," she said, then pulled a bag of slender, sharpened shards of metal from her pack: her throwing knives.

Deb backed up against a cavern wall, bracing herself. Then, she took the first of the knives into her hand, holding it between her fingers, and took aim at the creature's open mouth. With a flare of her Steel, she pushed. The knife ripped through the side of the monster's mouth, and Deb thought she saw several needle-thin teeth clatter onto the cavern floor. It screeched, the sound filling the cavern with enough force to shake the ceiling. Deb gritter her teeth against the pain, then took aim again. Her old training took hold. There was no time for fear, not anymore. 

Rig landed beside her, quipping something, the tassels of his coat flaring in a glowing whirl. "Try and force it back into the water!" She shouted at him. "If we can cause it to retreat, there's an Elsecaller who could Soulcast the pool into stone."

She'd already given the order when she remembered that Rig would have no idea what an Elsecaller was. It didn't matter. She launched another silvery blade into the worm, gritting her teeth against another ear-splitting shriek. 

"Get everyone away from the pool!" she shouted into the crowd, hoping that there were others who could shake the Soothing. Deb looked down and counted her blades, then took aim again.

@TrailRunnin

Quote

Be back later! Have fun!

 

[Rushu42 she/her]

Sarah looked on, mildly intriuged, as the massive worm shot past her, barely missing the gentleman from Scadrial. A wave of heat crashed into her, and several gunshots resounded throughout the air. Although she still felt little more than faint alarm, the noise startled get, and she instinctively burned her bendalloy. The familiar shimmer of a speed bubble separated her from the rest of the world, and she now had a very clear view of the scaly, spined monster moving in slow motion. With the Soothing pulses now slowed to the point where they had barely any effect, mental clarity returned. As did fear. Heartbeat racing, Sarah frantically considered the predicament. She could try to fight the thing, but the moment her speed bubble went down she'd be back under the Soothing. Could she make a bubble big enough to contain the monster? Maybe. It would be risky, and would certainly run her out of metal. Instead, she looked over at where the Director, the massive soldier, and a few others still stood, grouped together. If she could get them in a bubble, they'd probably be able to work out a plan. Taking a deep breath, Sarah extinguished her metal. Instantly her fear vanished, but a single burning thought remained present in her mind: get to Director Stancel. The urgency had fled, and all she really wanted to do was take a nice stroll, but Sarah still dashed across the cave, ducking as Rig shot past on a coin. She slid to a stop in the middle of the group, and instantly turned on her metal, enveloping them all in a pocket desperate from tone. "What," she panted, "in Harmony's name is that?"

@ZincAboutIt

@TrailRunnin

@Grey Knight

@Anyone else in that immediate vicinity

Quote

Edit: Kind of Ninja'd: ignore or rework as much of this post as necessary to fit the logistics of the battle scene.

 

Edited October 9, 2019 by Rushu42

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Soothing? thought Nekorb. That's Investiture... right?

[TrailRunnin he/him]

Rig looked around at the slight distortion around the group. This was something he recognized--bendalloy. He supposed the newest girl in the group was the slider, then. Outside of their small bubble, he could see Stancel firing off knives into the serpents mouth. He felt a pang of jealousy for a moment, watching as one of the blades shredded teeth with deadly accuracy, the needles falling in a slow cascade to the floor. She was good. 

"Stancel said something about making it retreat. Does anyone have any ideas?" He turned, looking at the group standing near him. The big man--Rig thought he had heard Stancel call him Bulveye--had shaken off the soothing in the bubble and seemed ready to go. Similarly, the slider girl looked shaken, but her eyes were filled with determination. This expedition is going to be interesting, he thought. 

"Bulveye, do you think you could distract it?"

@Rushu42 @Grey Knight @ZincAboutIt

[I think I am here. he/him]

1 hour ago, TrailRunnin said:

looking like the needles of a grandmother returned from the grave with a vengeance.

Quote

I love this simile  

Something emerged from the pool. A glowing, serpentine creature - no, it was more like a worm. Wes watched passively as it surged forward, ate a few people. Some people were yelling, for some reason? Wes thought the ridges and movements of the creature oddly mesmerising, to be honest. Perfectly, peaceful, just like the rest of this cavern.

“It’s Soothing us!” Someone yelled, a woman and Wes frowned. The worm was Soothing him? But that didn’t make sense. How could an animal Sooth him? And yet, when he observed his own feelings, he found he was strangely calm. He’d been stressed with a lot of things lately. The Ghostbloods. The caves. Whatever was lurking in the caves.

It seemed he’d gotten his answer, but he wasn’t feeling scared or worried, though... that creature had killed people. And as it splashed and moved with a grossly erratic pace, the slow, creeping terror began to set in, like a paining sensation coming back to life as the anaesthesia faded off. Wes slowly felt his eyes widen, his mind fighting off the foreign force invading it.

“Oh, storms!” He screamed as he ran backwards, towards where everyone else was, realising how wrongly he’d been perceiving the whole situation. If the worm had focused his attention on him, he’d have been gone. And - oh, rusts, - those men really were dead. Already, and some people had been eaten. Growing pale, Wes wrapped his cloak around himself and watched the creature he attacked by some of the braver ACE employees.

[+ElephantEarwax he/him]

22 hours ago, Sorana said:

Althea took off her sunglasses once they were descending into the dark and the bright sunlight had vanished. "Maybe." She replied and looked at the cleaver. "Given who you define as thief, we are the thieves. We stroll into territory not our own, and I doubt that everybody down there will play nice. So yes, there will be thieves and murderers."

With a shrug she added, "But if you have to be afraid of them, that's a different story."

She stepped out of the elevator and carefully hid her surprise at the cave in front of her. It was beautiful, stunning. She wondered how they had never found it so far. Between TUBA's tunnels and the DA, someone had hidden these caverns, and had hidden them well.

"Thanks" Adren smiled. "You two heard her, we're thieves and murders down here."

"Perfect" Jethro moaned. "Now I'll have to do the dirty work"

"Maybe, but hopefully not"

"Hopefully yes"

"No" he said. Switching pace Adren asks Althea, "Would you like to be able to hear my friends?"

[+Sorana she/her]

41 minutes ago, ElephantEarwax said:

"No" he said. Switching pace Adren asks Althea, "Would you like to be able to hear my friends?"

Althea looked over to the side of the cavern when a huge worm had appeared, it's scales still dripping water. She heard people scream, yell to each other, but she only watched for the moment. Hear his friends? It sounded like a good offer, maybe first step towards trust. If she was able to hear what they said, then she might be able to learn about them. It was good, she hadn't talked to an artifact in a while, usually the prefered if people and voices in general stayed out of her mind, left it alone. But his idea was good - the Underling screamed and ran away, the other members of this expedition were already fighting. It jolted her out of her thoughts, made her focus on something else.

"Yes, but we'll have to talk about that later." She replied calmly to Adren and hastened over, placed herself in front of the Underling. Stupid boy, getting into danger like that. Wasn't he an engineer? He had no place in the first row, in front of a monster. He would learn, or he would die soon. Calmly she looked at the worm and a part of her froze when she realized what the others had screamed. Soothing. She questioned herself, the way she had reacted to Adren's idea, how she had taken her time getting to the Underling - the soothing was so different from rioting and at the same time so similar. Her hands started to shake slightly when a memory surged, when it branded against the soothing, easily broke it apart. Desperation rolled over her when she remembered when she recalled the way he had ripped her apart, the loss the helplessness. How her mind had been used against her, how it had been nothing more but a ball in his hands. She bit her teeth together and forced herself to inhale. Fear clenched down her heart, but something else joined it, a samiliar storm, a power beyond her memories and herfear. It had worked in the last war as well. The stormlight helped. It was her weapon, her home. She knwe she had been using too much during the last months, had shooed her memories away whenever they surged - knew that she needed time to work through it. Time and not a luminious worm soothing her. One time, she only wanted one sinlge time where nobody tried to influence her thoughts, to trick her mind, or to steal her memories. One single time. Her face stayed a cold mask while she felt like hiding, like running away and it took years and years of maintaining her mask to keep it now. Only her hands. Her hands would tell a different story. Althea inhaled again, forced herself to remember the Underling behind her, the running ACE employees in front of her. She had come here for a reason, and for one reason alone. Follow her oath, analyze a situation and act.

Althea stared at the worm, at its huge form and she gently reached out for the spren of the air touching its hide. Partially it was still covered by water, but water was the wrong essence to work with right now. Air was the right one. Air was difficult, it liked to be free, to fly around, and to trap it in solid form needed a good bribe and good arguments. Good thing that she had enough stormligh to give some to the spren and the arguments came to her easily. She'd always loved to soulcast. The familiar banter with the spren added to the comforting feeling of the stormlight, until she felt like she could think again, could look past the fear in her mind. It took nothing but a gently push of her mind and a part of the air changed to acid, slowly eating through the hide of the worm.

@TrailRunnin @ZincAboutIt @Rushu42 @Grey Knight @I think I am here.

Quote

Mostly fyi, as she interacts with the worm.

 

[AonEne he/him]

Myriad was pretty sure she should be panicking, but sitting against the wall and humming music from Earth while observing the fight just felt more right, somehow. 

Quote

What this situation needed was the Pokémon Center theme. Doo doo doo do do do doo do (do do do do do do-do)! 

 

[Rushu42 she/her]

6 hours ago, TrailRunnin said:

Rig looked around at the slight distortion around the group. This was something he recognized--bendalloy. He supposed the newest girl in the group was the slider, then. Outside of their small bubble, he could see Stancel firing off knives into the serpents mouth. He felt a pang of jealousy for a moment, watching as one of the blades shredded teeth with deadly accuracy, the needles falling in a slow cascade to the floor. She was good. 

"Stancel said something about making it retreat. Does anyone have any ideas?" He turned, looking at the group standing near him. The big man--Rig thought he had heard Stancel call him Bulveye--had shaken off the soothing in the bubble and seemed ready to go. Similarly, the slider girl looked shaken, but her eyes were filled with determination. This expedition is going to be interesting, he thought. 

"Bulveye, do you think you could distract it?"

@Rushu42 @Grey Knight @ZincAboutIt

Sarah glanced around. "I might be able to trap it in a speed bubble for a little while. It will could buy you some time." 

@Grey Knight

@ZincAboutIt

@TrailRunnin

[kenod]

Karin watched calmly as the worm rose out of the pool, looking at it as it ate two other expedition members. Ignoring the shouts about soothing or the people who appeared to be shooting at it she walked closer to it, dropping her backpack along the way. No need to take that into gunfire after all, HR would kill her if they found out about it, if she was lucky at least.

"Hmm, you're a big one," she muttered as she walked up next to it. "Where did you find all the food? You can't be surviving on just fish, can you?" She touched it's skin, feeling slime come of it onto her fingers. "How calm I am is curious too," she continued, "soothing, someone said? Maybe a way to catch prey without them fleeing?" It took a moment for that to sink in. "Ah," she said when she realized it, and her expression became one of abject terror. "Oh no," was all she had time to say before the thing's mouth came down around her and swallowed her whole.

[I think I am here. he/him]

Wes watched from behind the woman who stepped in front of him, glad she was there to defend him, she definitely seemed more powerful than Wes. And taller. And more confident. And... pale in complexion. Blinking Wes looked up again and it was none other than the Righthand in front of him, combating the beast by soulcasting the air into some corrosive substance.

The Righthand! Well, ever since the Triarchy there really was no ‘Leader’ and therefore no ‘Righthand’ either, but old habits died hard.

All was going well, or what ‘well’ meant when one was fighting against a giant cave worm, all until Wes saw a familiar figure move towards the worm. The lady who’d given him the pen, hadn’t joked to him and told him stories about the DA. In one swift motion she was swallowed whole and Wes’ hands went to his mouth, tried to stifle any screams of horror that would annoy the Righthand.

She was dead. All it had taken was a moment.

“Miss?” Wes said quietly, tapping the Righthand on the shoulder.

“I have... a couple bendalloyminds. I don’t know if they’d be useful, but, they might be, do you think so?” His voice broke halfway through the sentence due to nervousness, and he winced.

[+Sorana she/her]

4 hours ago, I think I am here. said:

“I have... a couple bendalloyminds. I don’t know if they’d be useful, but, they might be, do you think so?” His voice broke halfway through the sentence due to nervousness, and he winced.

Althea looked at the boy and considered his idea. Bendalloy. Interesting. She inclined her head in agreement. The Underling was smart. To use a Bendalloymind in that situation, it could solve all of this, although it depended on the type of metalmind he was talking about.

"It can work." She told him and turned back to the worm. It had swallowed Karin - not neccessarily a death sentence for the woman. Althea remembered her words about her studies, and then there was Aylitha. That they two looked like sisters a possible coincidence, but with the DA there rarely were conincidences. She suspected that they would know soon.

"What is your plan?" She asked the Underling, curious to see if he was able to put his fear aside and concentrate on the situation. If he was it would add some points to his usefulness. She disliked the fear in his voice, the way he stuttered. It reminded her of different times, and it also reminded her that some of their higher ranking members did a bad job when it came to developping and teaching newer members. They needed bright minds, no fear filled idiots.

@I think I am here.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

16 hours ago, Rushu42 said:

She slid to a stop in the middle of the group, and instantly turned on her metal, enveloping them all in a pocket desperate from tone. "What," she panted, "in Harmony's name is that?"

 

16 hours ago, TrailRunnin said:

"Stancel said something about making it retreat. Does anyone have any ideas?"

Corette felt her stomach lurch when Sarah rushed over and threw up a speed bubble. In a moment, all the gentle calm that had clouded her mind fled, and she gazed in horrified fascination at the glowing worm that rose slowly before them. She could feel the bright, quick rat-tat-tat of Sarah's bendalloy beating around them like a snare drum, joining the rest of the signatures that had erupted in the cavern at the worm's appearance. 

She looked around, counting herself, Sarah, Rig and the soldier. The Director stood just outside the bubble, a small knife leaving her fingers in a slow, straight progression of silvery light. Her face was determined, and there was no trace of calm. Must be aluminum in that hat, Corette thought, looking at the beret jammed haphazardly onto Stancel's head. Good, they needed someone who was immune to this thing. Corette had started fighting the Soothing the moment she realized what was happening, but it was like trying to think through syrup. Every fiber of her being had simply wanted to sit down, take a rest, and wait. She knew that as soon as Sarah dropped her bubble, she'd be back to slogging through that tide of apathy.

Corette clutched her upper left arm, feeling the hard curve of one of her cadmium bracers, and grimaced. She hoped this thing's Soothings couldn't get much stronger, otherwise some of them might be in bigger trouble. With a shake of the head, she pushed those thoughts away. She would be fine, and everyone else was not her problem.

Sarah and Rig spoke almost at once, and Corette looked back at the worm. Slowed down as it was, she was able to observe it more closely. It didn't seem to have any eyes, nor any orifice but a mouth, but it lunged with deadly accuracy. 

"How is it hunting us?" She said, mind whirring. "It has no eyes, no nose either that I can see. How does it know where we are?"

Rusts why couldn't she have been born a Tineye? She squinted at the thing, stepping to the edge of the speed bubble, and caught a glimpse of a small folded slit about one foot back from its round, bristling maw. Gills? Maybe. But no, she thought she saw those a little further down its body. 

Ears, then. She couldn't be sure, but she guessed it was hunting them by sound, listening for waves in the air, disturbances around them. From its accuracy, the thing must be able to detect minute changes. A footstep, a scuffle, even a breath.

A breath... 

An idea began forming in her mind - an insane idea. A terrible idea. Something could easily go wrong here - any dozen somethings. She shoved those worries down, focusing on the adrenaline coursing through her, the thrill of danger, of the unknown. A quick check of her metalminds showed a wealth of breath - hours stored up, hours during which she wouldn't need to breathe at all. She grinned, looking from Rig to Bulveye.

"I think it's tracking us by sound," she said to them, already slipping her feet out of her boots. Corette knew she had to be as quiet as possible, and that meant bare feet. She pulled off her socks, then shucked off her pack and unzipped her coveralls. The cold air of the cavern rose the hairs on her body, now bare aside from a thin undershirt and shorts. She pulled a long, thin dagger from the sheath strapped to her right calf.

"If you can distract the thing, I might be able to sneak up on it," she said, motioning to her cadmium torque and the two bracers on her upper arms. "Cadmium," she told them. "I don't need to breathe, and if it can't hear me, I can get close. See that little slit behind its mouth? I think that's an ear. And if it's ear is there, then its brain might be there. Try and get it to lower its head, as low as you can."

She twirled the dagger around a finger; it was so thin and sharp it was almost just the blade of an awl - ten inches of clean, polished metal. The point flashed in the low, blueish light, and her eyes were just as cold. "Can you get me an opening?"

[Rushu42 she/her]

1 hour ago, ZincAboutIt said:

 

Corette felt her stomach lurch when Sarah rushed over and threw up a speed bubble. In a moment, all the gentle calm that had clouded her mind fled, and she gazed in horrified fascination at the glowing worm that rose slowly before them. She could feel the bright, quick rat-tat-tat of Sarah's bendalloy beating around them like a snare drum, joining the rest of the signatures that had erupted in the cavern at the worm's appearance. 

She looked around, counting herself, Sarah, Rig and the soldier. The Director stood just outside the bubble, a small knife leaving her fingers in a slow, straight progression of silvery light. Her face was determined, and there was no trace of calm. Must be aluminum in that hat, Corette thought, looking at the beret jammed haphazardly onto Stancel's head. Good, they needed someone who was immune to this thing. Corette had started fighting the Soothing the moment she realized what was happening, but it was like trying to think through syrup. Every fiber of her being had simply wanted to sit down, take a rest, and wait. She knew that as soon as Sarah dropped her bubble, she'd be back to slogging through that tide of apathy.

Corette clutched her upper left arm, feeling the hard curve of one of her cadmium bracers, and grimaced. She hoped this thing's Soothings couldn't get much stronger, otherwise some of them might be in bigger trouble. With a shake of the head, she pushed those thoughts away. She would be fine, and everyone else was not her problem.

Sarah and Rig spoke almost at once, and Corette looked back at the worm. Slowed down as it was, she was able to observe it more closely. It didn't seem to have any eyes, nor any orifice but a mouth, but it lunged with deadly accuracy. 

"How is it hunting us?" She said, mind whirring. "It has no eyes, no nose either that I can see. How does it know where we are?"

Rusts why couldn't she have been born a Tineye? She squinted at the thing, stepping to the edge of the speed bubble, and caught a glimpse of a small folded slit about one foot back from its round, bristling maw. Gills? Maybe. But no, she thought she saw those a little further down its body. 

Ears, then. She couldn't be sure, but she guessed it was hunting them by sound, listening for waves in the air, disturbances around them. From its accuracy, the thing must be able to detect minute changes. A footstep, a scuffle, even a breath.

A breath... 

An idea began forming in her mind - an insane idea. A terrible idea. Something could easily go wrong here - any dozen somethings. She shoved those worries down, focusing on the adrenaline coursing through her, the thrill of danger, of the unknown. A quick check of her metalminds showed a wealth of breath - hours stored up, hours during which she wouldn't need to breathe at all. She grinned, looking from Rig to Bulveye.

"I think it's tracking us by sound," she said to them, already slipping her feet out of her boots. Corette knew she had to be as quiet as possible, and that meant bare feet. She pulled off her socks, then shucked off her pack and unzipped her coveralls. The cold air of the cavern rose the hairs on her body, now bare aside from a thin undershirt and shorts. She pulled a long, thin dagger from the sheath strapped to her right calf.

"If you can distract the thing, I might be able to sneak up on it," she said, motioning to her cadmium torque and the two bracers on her upper arms. "Cadmium," she told them. "I don't need to breathe, and if it can't hear me, I can get close. See that little slit behind its mouth? I think that's an ear. And if it's ear is there, then its brain might be there. Try and get it to lower its head, as low as you can."

She twirled the dagger around a finger; it was so thin and sharp it was almost just the blade of an awl - ten inches of clean, polished metal. The point flashed in the low, blueish light, and her eyes were just as cold. "Can you get me an opening?"

"I think so," said Sarah. "I'm pretty fast." She glanced at the massive worm, moving in slow motion toward someone in orange overalls. "Do you think it'll work? Will you be okay?"

@ZincAboutIt @TrailRunnin @Grey Knight