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+---- Thread: [PQ] Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face (/showthread.php?tid=11569)
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Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Maea - 06-21-2025
Despite keeping her voice low as the group halted just past the entrance to Frey's Breath, the echo spread like soft murmurs, repeating her words back like a mocking choir. [say]"The thing is, two shadow serpents isn't nirmal around here. I don't know if they're breeding or if something else is lurking that pushed them down here, but I want to have a look around, just to be sure."[/say]
Maea had said as much before, when setting up this excursion, but it didn't hurt to remind everyone why they were here. The hot springs were tempting even in the middle of Longheat, and for her own part Maea couldn't help but glance over the surface in search of that elusive lily - but all that could wait until after they had made a round through the cavernous space to get rid of pests.
Armed with her usual chakram and decked out in the customary black velvet gown, she looked cool and perfectly at ease despite the damp heat permeating the air. Only the pale curls showed any sign of affliction, more defined than usual and seemingly impossible to tame as strands already had beguntoescape her simple braid.
This is a PQ to root out void creatures around Frey's Breath to keep visitors safe. 4 rounds, 3 spots.
1. Maea
2. Kaisel
3. --
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Kaisel - 06-22-2025
Koa's desert adventure has reinvigorated Kaisel's determination to do what he can against the void. Much as he'd love to march back to Stormbreak and rip it out from under the Family, he recognizes he needs to be a little more realistic with what can be managed. So finding flowers is top of his list, a task anyone can do—a task anyone can lose their mind doing too. He's not the most patient sort, so when he hears talk of actually fighting the void, he's all in.
[say]"I've got a snaking suspicion you're right,"[/say] Kaisel says with a rough grin as he perches on a rock near Maea, flipping his leviathan chakram in his hand with the energy of anticipation competing with stillness and waiting. He shifts the pack on his back as he leans forward, its straps taut on his shoulders. He's dressed for summer still, in just a t-shirt, light blue with a bright, smiling sun on the front, and some basic black shorts that are loose cut. He does have his boots on though, not about to run around the wilds in flip flops.
Kaisel has a pack of basic supplies like water, food, bandages etc. He has his leviathan chakram on him.
Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Upgraded
Leviathan Chakram | An unbreakable chakram created from the scale of a leviathan by the Voice. With razor-sharp edges, this discus will always return to the hand of whoever throws it, and will always do so without injuring the hands of the thrower.
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Soren - 06-28-2025
He wasn’t here for glory, he wasn’t here because he was good.
His gaze drifted toward the steaming water, where the void warped the edges. Something useful might crawl out tonight—something sharp, something strange, something worth laying at Dygra’s feet. If he brought her something that bled shadows or whispered in tongues, maybe she’d answer him. Maybe she’d look his way for more than a breath. The first time he met, the goddess had been totally consuming and invigorating. As many times as he could get that feeling again, he would.
He rolled his shoulders. Soren just smiled faintly and stepped forward, listening to the other ancient he met only as he learned of her expedition. If a gift was waiting in the dark, he’d find it—and if not, he’d carve one out of whatever came too close.
Soren has nothing but his shift.
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Maea - 06-28-2025
Kaisel's quip earned him a quick smile from Maea, more entertained by the pun than she cared to admit. Checking to make sure both of the young men were ready, she unhitched a chakram from her own belt and nodded resolutely. [say]"Alright, let's go. Kaisel, you take point. Soren, you keep an eye out for trouble on our flanks. I'll watch our backs. Speak up if you see anything or need help."[/say]
Summoning a ball of fire, she split it in two and sent one off to hover near Kaisel, while the other hovered above her own head. The ruddy light burned steadily, shrinking the shadows of the cavern as the trio set off on the patrol. Best case would be to find nothing untoward, but she somehow doubted that would be the case. Even so, as she fell in at the end of the line, Maea made sure to keep her eyes open for anything - there were more dangers than the Void within the Climb.
Round 1: Search for signs of unusual activity around the hot springs!
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Kaisel - 06-29-2025
His eyes widen a bit as Maea tosses him lead. He's never been given anything but the half-shitty, or fully-shitty, tasks that usually involve being tucked safely in the middle of a group, like a baby buffalo the herd is afraid the lions will eat. Maea might as well have just crowned him with a shining tiara and made him king of the climb for the way this feels.
A bright grin quickly eats up all the surprised wonder, and he nods towards her as he jumps down from his perch on the rock. He glances at the fire that she sends his way, grateful for the light, though the heat adds another layer to the ones already set upon him from the season and the springs. Sweat beads quickly, but it doesn't erase the light-footed jaunt he feels as he walks along the caverns, eyes peeled for lilies and serpents.
Something shimmers oddly, reflecting back from the light, and Kaisel points his chakram towards it so the rest can see. [say]"Looks like a loose scale over there,"[/say] he comments as he steps carefully towards it, the dark object glittering in a way different from the stones.
Kaisel sees a stray scale
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Soren - 06-30-2025
Maea spoke, and Soren let his head tilt some as his avian shift stretched within him. A smirk indicated the dry amusement flickering through him—funny how they called it a “flank” when there were barely enough of them to form a line, let alone hold one. Steam curled thick through the cave, ghosting over Soren’s shoulders as he took the "flank" regardless.
It didn't take long for them to notice something amiss, and Soren stopped.
As Kaisel spoke, the young ancient shifted his weight, eyes narrowing as he followed the line of Kaisel’s chakram. The scale glinted with a wet, metallic sheen, catching the steamlight in a way stone never did.
[say]“Careful,”[/say] he said quietly, stepping just behind. [say]“Things that shimmer in places like this usually want you to notice.”[/say]
Soren says be careful
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Maea - 07-05-2025
Halting to let Kaisel examine the scale, Maea hummed in agreement with Soren and kept her own eyes peeled to the shadows, just in case this was a trap laid by a cunning creature. Fortunately this did not seem to be the case, this time around - but as Kaisel approached the scale he would find others scattered about the area. Just a stone's throw away from where he stood, pieces of a snake skin lay scattered before a crevice in the cavern wall, deep and dark.
It was Soren that heard the dull, sibilant hiss first. A warning sound, soon followed by a deeply unsettling feeling - unease, as though something about that crack - and whatever was hiding within - was off, and not of this world.
[say]"I think we found it,"[/say] Maea cautioned the others somewhat redundantly. [say]"Be careful, but see if we can get it to come out."[/say]
Round 2: Get the snake to come out of its hiding spot!
Shadow Serpent (Uncommon): Once a Rock Slider, the Shadow Serpent now moves with an eerie grace, its scales tainted by void energy. It lurks in the shadows, ambushing prey with a venom that induces hallucinations and despair.
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Kaisel - 07-05-2025
It sounds like he should be careful. He glances over his shoulder at the pair of them, nodding as his steps pick their way around rocks that seem to wet or too loose. All the while the glittering scale calls to him, and soon enough, others join in on the glinting. [say]"Looks like what we came for,"[/say] he remarks upon closer inspection, crouching down to tap the edge of his chakram on the loose scale and flip it over.
He glances up from his find towards the others that shine, and the fold of discarded skin, pulling a face at that because, ew. He wipes his arm over his forehead where the sweat threatens to drip into his eyes, preparing for a soon to be battle. [say]"Heeeeeere snakey snakey,"[/say] he calls into the gloom as he rises back to his feet, [say]"pspspspspsps."[/say] A normal snake might flee from a voice, preferring to avoid conflict, but the void fuckers are too angry to be sensible, drawn in by the promise of something, anything, they can bite.
Kaisel calls out to the snake
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Soren - 07-25-2025
As the trio pressed on with their venture, Soren's muscles tensed. The accepted was called for the snake and it made Soren's tail twitch with uncertain anticipation. He could feel it—something watching, something coiled just beyond their vision.
Soren was no stranger to void creatures, having spent most of the Family's time here living in Stormbreak. And while he didn't know the dragoon outside of meeting him today, he seemed ready to be bait. So Soren made a suggestion: [say]“Kaisel,”[/say] the young ancient murmured, [say]“move again—slow. Let it think you’re unaware.”[/say]
Then he waited—breath held—watching for that slithering shimmer in the dark where stone met water and something far worse hid just beneath.
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Maea - 07-26-2025
Watching with bated breath how the young men baited the serpent to come out of its shelter, Maea fought a battle against the urge to step up and help them. Not because it was necessary - they were doing great - but because she felt less than useful simply hovering behind them, waiting to see whhat would happen.
As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait long. A sibilant hiss responded to Kaisel's beckons, and as the dragoon showed his back to the crevice, the serpent struck. Attempting to sink its void-poisoned fangs into his calf, it launched a heavy body out into the open - foot upon foot of dense muscle and scale -poised to coil around its presumed victim, but also leaving itself open to attack.
[say]"It's coming out - good call, Soren! Take it out!"[/say] Drawing upon the fire she'd summoned for light, Maea lashed the shadow serpent with crackling fireballs and did her best to keep her eyes on the others at the same time. Between the three of them this should be easy enough; as long as no one got hurt.
Maea attacks the serpent with fire
Scorch (Ancient): Can generate and manipulate flames within a 30ft radius, pulling heat from the environment or their own body.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
-----
Round 3: The snake is attacking Kaisel! Time to fight.
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Kaisel - 07-26-2025
Admittedly Kaisel has not had as much practice against beasts as men, all of his training usually aimed against a sparring partner or a dummy. He's assisted with a few creatures that needed dispatching, but usually in the back, lucky to get in a jab at all. So here, in the front, guided by fire and voice and the shimmer of something evil in the gloom of the cave, he finds himself in the thick of it all.
Just as he's nodding to Soren's suggestion, his steps starting to slow, the creature comes out. Maea's warning and call for action are as sharp as the thing's teeth that flash towards him, and in response, Kaisel jerks back with a swear. It's too close for comfort, the quick viper almost grabbing him, but Kaisel has it locked in now. [say]"Fucker,"[/say] he breaths, and chucks his chakram towards it's head, returning fire the best he can, mindful of his foot placement as he starts to step a bit further away from the reach of its coils, not so sure he could dodge it again.
Kaisel throws his chakram at the snake
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Soren - 07-30-2025
Without Dygra's touch, and the shift that came with it, Soren wasn't sure he'd ever have the knowledge of what to do next.
But as the creature whipped itself from its hiding spot, Soren lurched into the animalistic part of his soul unelashed by their Mother.
A savage, bright call left his beak as he shifted and surged forward. He was a flurry of wings and talons as he descended towards the serpent. He scratched and tore for everything he was worth, heart racing as the ticking of his bloodlust surged beneath him--
but he at least knew he couldn't eat this thing, lest it poison him.
Soren shifts and attacks!
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Maea - 07-31-2025
The serpents fangs missed their mark, and Kaisel was swift in his retribution. With a high pitched hum of wind over steel his chakram flew and slicked cleanly into the snake's thick side. It recoiled with a nasty hiss, and was about to launch at him again when Soren joined the fray. Resplendent in his feathered form, his talons left raw lines of savaged flesh across the tough hide - and better yet, he managed to blind one of the serpent's eyes.
Staying back to aid as she could from a distance, Maea abandoned her fire and instead raised a chakram to her own flesh. Carving into the limb, she traded staggering pain for the darkest of magic and directed it all at the snake and its detestable Void-defiled presence.
[say]"It's working!"[/say] she called to the boys, her voice coarse with power and pain, [say]"keep at it, take it down!"[/say]
Maea used mastered bloodbane to weaken the shadow serpent.
Bloodbane (Ancient): Can injure themselves for mastered damage to weaken others at a 1.5x their mastered level with a range of 30ft.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
------------
Last round! Kill the snake!
RE: Snake you're a snake I can see it in your face - Kaisel - 08-01-2025
A satisfied grunt leaves him as he manages to not only evade, but wound. The success isn't one built for triumph though, even as the chakram returns to his hand with the foul blood of the thing dripping off one of its edges, not when the beast is still moving and coming straight for him. His eyes never leave the curl of muscle and hate that builds the viper, but it's keeping pace with his retreat, he and it locked on one another like they mean to attain mutual destruction. Soren is right there with him though, wings blocking out his view of the python right as it lurches for him again. Kaisel leaps back with a scoff towards the snake, one that quickly morphs to a cheer as the Ancient lifts away with a prize left behind. The ruined eye of the viper gushes and Kaisel celebrates with an exhaled laugh, [say]"nice one Soren!"[/say]
He uses that moment to fling his chakram again, Maea's supportive yell echoing his own drive as he aims to behead the void abomination. He can't spare a look her way, but her easy tone suggests she's alright, so Kaisel focuses on watching those venemous teeth before him as he dashes to the side. Much easier than constantly backing it up, this isn't the dance floor after all, he doesn't need to be throwin' ass out here. His hand is ready to feel the return of the chakram, and he hopes the danger noodle is still tracking him, giving Soren the chance to come in from behind.
Kaisel throws his chakram again