[PQ] Going for broke

// You're the one thing that keeps the blue up in my sky //

Hat, sunglasses, and dark colored eyes aren't enough barriers to fight the blinding quality of the Sea of Dreams, and as such Colt doesn't attempt the argument with the sun and the land. She waits to gather everyone until the sun has already flashed green into the sea, and that bruised twilight settles like somethin akin to peace over a land ravaged by light and heat. "Visibility might be shit this time of day, but better than going blind squintin'," she assures the gathered, glancing over her shoulder as she steps out of the tent they'd holed up in for the day. 

Lifting up a lantern, just one of few, plenty for everyone to take, she shifts around the makeshift camp to the horse tied nearby. She removes the cloth carefully placed around it's eyes, and with immediate relief the animal lifts and then shakes its head, the motion soon rolling down its entire body, ending in a lick and a chew. "There, you're alright," she murmurs, patting the animal's neck and giving a few scratches under the mane. "We're going to clear all the rubble out from this section of beach. The Sea of Dreams meets the Spillwave Sea, and there's a small cove that'll serve the ships well." She speaks as she fastens the small wagon to the horse, allowing them to pile up their 'treasures' here and easily shift them away, although there's nothing really easy about walking or wagoning through sand.

---

PQ picking up debris near ocean to better the land (prep for ship port build), clamic fight

Colt

// Loving you is standing in the sun //

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed

The Sea of Dreams was barren, but in a different way than the desert. In the scant light of twilight, Liam could see that it stretched flat for miles, the muted colors of the sky reflected in the white salt flats below. He stood by Colt, watching as she got her horse settled. Picking up debris around the area wasn't fun or glorious, but fortunately he'd never been one to seek out either. It would be hard work, and that was fine by him.

"Pick up debris, clear the area. Got it." He'd seen the plans for the port, and the area that Colt had chosen would serve them well. With that in mind, Liam made sure there were no further instructions and then began to range out from the group, gathering rubble and tossing 'treasures' onto the wagon bed for disposal.

---

Liam starts gathering rubble!

Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary; they can only do harm

Liam

Sweet like honey, karma is a cat
Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me

The Sea of Dreams was arguably not the best place to build a port, but maybe the challenge was what made Noe so excited to get started. She'd done her research before arriving, knew to expect the dazzling white sand that kicked up in the slightest breeze, knew that this area would be the best fit for building something that could withstand the test of time. They'd have to be intentional about how they worked with the ever-shifting sand, but so did Torchline's port, which had been built onto the sandy beach. In fact, that was where Noe had come from, studying the construction of the docks and the buildings to ensure she'd be of the most help in Hak Etme when the time came.

But first, they had to prepare the area - a feat that was sure to take time and energy, which, fortunately, Noe had in abundance.

She arrived to find Colt and a man she knew only from fighting mud monsters in the Greatwood preparing to get to work. Shooting a smile towards the both of them, Noe listened to the instructions provided and nodded. Cleaning up the shoreline would be sure to make building easier. "Got it," she echoed, and then moved to get started, gathering rubble and stacking it onto the wagon.

---

Noe arrives and starts gathering rubble.

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that

Noe

// You're the one thing that keeps the blue up in my sky //

Letting the horse plod along at its own pace, pausing it once in a while so they can rummage through the current area without straining the beast, Colt is pleased to see that her help is so amenable to the task. Everyone has been very forgiving of the terrible labor at hand, but then she had never trained to paint an unrealistic picture of the work needed to truly tame this place. Still, she half expected people to show up, flip her off, and run far away. Life, in general, is lazy. It's not an inherently bad trait, the root of it being energy conservation and efficiency, but with a mind as sharp as a person's, that means one can get really creative at dodging work. Gods know she did not want to be out here amid lantern light fighting driftwood and ocean waste.

"With the way the cove is shaped, the ocean current collects shipwreck debris here frequently." Old netting, bits of sail, broken portions of wood and whatnot all dot the cove. The tide pushes them up towards the border of the Sea of Dreams, and some seabirds and even a rogue person or two wander past, tugging items along as if the rubbish might have some secret value to the individual. Hungry birds peck experimentally at smaller pieces, often chased away by other birds who deem it a prize for them to steal, before finally releasing the trash around the sloping wastes of the desert. Occasionally, they do swallow it, and sometimes perish from their mistake. The natives don't face the same mortality, but they have collected little pockets of crates and barrels and odds and ends that Colt would deem a worthy burn pile, but for them is some shelter from the sun and a shabby-looking attempt at a dock looped together.

Liam and Noe deposit debris into the wagon alongside Colt, and the repetitive stooping, gathering, and delivering of random things barely even known when grabbed until the sand starts to yield from them and they clatter onto the wagon is a tiring and faintly disgusting ordeal. "Also, I've heard that clamics are common around here, so be careful of any shells you find, or you might get more than you bargained for," Colt warns, reaching down to unearth a rusted bit of metal sticking out of the sand.

---

Keep picking up debris to clear the cove. Clamic foreshadowing!

Colt

// Loving you is standing in the sun //

You are interrupted by a sharp, high-pitched screech, accompanied by a dazzling fork of lightning that leaves its image burning behind your eyes for a long time afterwards.

You swear the afterburn looks almost like a face, the mouth stretched wide in an agonised scream. If you blink too quickly in the wake of it, the face starts to look like someone you might know.

---

You have encountered one of the Scream Rain SE serendipities! You may use this to complete requirement 1. of the seasonal event. Please note: this serendipity CANNOT be used for levelling purposes.

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed

They worked. Even in the dim twilight, heat lingered, and Liam was glad for the lack of sun as he bent to pull piece after piece of debris from the sand. This would have been hellish during the day, and despite working by lantern light and by what little glow the stars above provided, he had to admit that it wasn't as bad as it could be.

Noting the shape of the cove, he hummed thoughtfully. "Are we planning to do anything once the port's built to keep out the trash?" he asked. It would be a shame to have a nice, shiny new port that stank to high heaven because bits and pieces of who-knew-what washed up beneath their docks.

Bending to grab at some bit of metal stuck in the sand, Liam jumped when a wailing shriek sounded overhead, their immediate vicinity lit by a fork of angry lightning that left the imprint of a face in its wake. Shaking his head to clear the afterimage, and taking a moment to glare up at the sky as though it would do any good, Liam quickly got back to work. With Colt's warning, he was doubly careful of anything he pulled up, periodically drawing his sword to poke at a particularly large or strangely shaped shell to ensure it wouldn't bite him before disposing of it upon the wagon.

---

Liam keeps cleaning up!

Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary; they can only do harm

Liam

Sweet like honey, karma is a cat
Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me

The man's question was a good one, and Noe glanced to Colt for the answer, pausing in her rubbish-gathering. "It's gonna be hard to keep anything out at sea," she mused. "When any non-magical barriers would also prevent ships from docking." Or at least, that's what she would imagine. Maybe it would be more prudent to simply arrange for periodic cleanup days, or pay some residents for port upkeep. That's what she would do, anyway.

In any case, she continued on with the backbreaking labor, only flinching once, when the scream rain sounded overhead. The flare of lightning burned her eyes, and she blinked hard several times in order to refocus on the task at hand, trying to ignore the afterimage that looked like a face to her retinas.

As for clamics, Noe had to hope that they wouldn't run into any trouble. She wasn't exactly a fighter, nor did she have any magical items to help her out in a pinch. Moving to Hak Etme, maybe that was something she should try to procure - but then, hindsight was always clearer, and there was nothing she could do about that for now.

---

Noe cleans!

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that

Noe

// You're the one thing that keeps the blue up in my sky //

Colt is forced to tug heavily on the piece of metal she found jutting out, scraping at the base where the sand buries it with the back of a boot heel to try and excavate it further. She pauses her wrestling for a moment least she throw out her damn back, leaning over the top of it with a frown. "I've no idea," she confesses to Liam, lifting up her head to offer him a grim smile. "But, I think I've got some time to figure it out, and this trash is the piling up for who knows how long. Don't think many people have bothered to clean it." Not that the natives didn't want clean beaches, but well they could just avoid it, or pillage it, or consider it part of the normal ebb and flow of this land same as any creeping vine from Suvahasi or dust cloud from the Sea of Dreams. The people here are few and scattered, and it seems they're not so interested in changing the land as just not being destroyed by it, though so far they haven't been hostile to her attempts.

She nods along with Noe's assertion. "Good point. Just off the top of my head, I'm thinking we could put up some buoys and lines, leaving enough room for ships to come and go but catch more of the debris out yonder. Then yeah, maybe have some crew set up for dock walking." Bodies aren't necessarily easy or cheap, but people would need jobs, and the harbor shouldn't be devoid of any guard or protection she'd assume. Colt doesn't really know what a port needs, or a region, to be honest. Perhaps, given her attempt to bring experienced leaders into the fold had flopped so spectacularly, she should brush up on some reading material before she shoves her foot in her mouth any further. Leading a ranch certainly came with far fewer repercussions.

Leaning back into the metal jut with new vigor, the screaming peal of lightning briefly casts the area in a wash of eerie light. It's brighter than their bobbing lanterns, giving her vision greater distance, and it's there that she sees the clamic opening its mouth, tongue and teeth pointed towards Noe. "WATCH OUT!" Colt yells out suddenly, already moving to swing her bow off her back and reaching for an arrow and firing at it.

---

Oh no! A Clamic is about to lunge at Noe, it's quite close! Deal with the Clamic.

Clamic: 250 HP
Colt: 144 HP
Liam: 80 HP
Noe: 32 HP

The Wildwatch: Hunter’s Presence: Rolls with advantage against regular creatures (anything marked with a difficulty of Normal or below).

The Pencil Sharpener | An earthen quiver that sharpens any arrow placed inside.
Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered | Cost: Action

Colt

// Loving you is standing in the sun //

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed

The girl he didn't know commented, and he glanced at her with a new appreciation. She'd looked too young to be out here doing this, with no real weaponry on her that he could see. But what she said made sense, and he wondered if this was Noe, the engineer that Colt had spoken of before.

With a tentative plan set, Liam nodded and continued to scour the beach, sword drawn and ready to test any shells that they happen to come across. But he couldn't poke at everything in the sand, and at the flash of lightning and Colt's shout, he whirled to see a clamic in motion towards Noe.

Swearing, the ex-soldier leapt into action, running towards the girl in an effort to shield her from the clamic. His blade arced up and down in a strong overhead strike made stronger by the magic of the sword. If he was lucky, he could shatter part of the shell to reveal some of the presumably softer interior. Maybe that would make the clamic easier to take down.

---

Liam tries to get between Noe and the clamic and hit it with his sword!

Oakblade | When sheathed, this longsword feels as light as a feather, but upon being unsheathed, it instantly adjusts its weight to the wearer’s intent, allowing for devastatingly heavy strikes.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Basic | Cost: Action

Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary; they can only do harm

Liam

Sweet like honey, karma is a cat
Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me

Noe's point was well-taken, and she shot Colt a grin. Despite her youth and inexperience, she did sometimes know what she was talking about, and she was grateful to the (former?) rancher for giving her the chance to prove herself out here.

Unfortunately, the scream rain brought a clamic with it, and Noe's smile fell from her face as she shrieked and stumbled back, away from the creature's gnashing teeth. The man she didn't know came running, and Noe scrambled out of the way of the sword he swung in a high arc, aiming to put some distance between her and the nasty beast. Stooping as she ran, she picked up a few rocks and began to try and hurl them at the clamic, hoping that perhaps she could distract it enough that it wouldn't hurt any of the others - but also not wanting to draw too much attention to herself, given that she was more or less defenseless out here.

A mistake she would remedy as soon as possible, assuming she lived through this encounter.

---

Noe runs away from the clamic and tries to throw rocks at it as a distraction!

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that

Noe

// You're the one thing that keeps the blue up in my sky //

Colt's arrow whizzes over, puncturing the opening mouth and solidly keeping the lower jaw sunken into the sand with the sharp arrow tip and momentum. How long, remains to be seen. Fortunately this occurs before Liam jumps in front, although in his haste he stumbles a bit, his blade missing quite spectacularly and the ensuing stumble putting him right in the furious Clamic's bite range. It can't lunge, and it's snaking tongue isn't the culprit, but rather Liam misses into the Clamic's top teeth, the sharp row slicing up his arm quite significantly. Noe, fortunately, manages to get away with all the commotion, and the rock she lobs back clatters onto the top of its shell.

"Stay out of range!" Colt calls, already running over towards Liam with a series of 'fuck fuck fuck' whispered under her breath. She forgets her lantern in her haste, squinting through the gloom to make him out, and she reaches with her ringed hand to yank him more than 10 feet away, her healing ring glowing faintly as its magic moves into him.

---

Colt's arrow pins the bottom jaw of the clamic down so it's damage potential is halved. Liam crit missed so was attacked at half damage from the Clamic. Noe got away successfully and hit the Clamic with a rock.

Continue to deal with the Clamic.
Colt heals Liam with her ring, 1/1 use for the thread, for 20 HP

Clamic: 201.5 HP
Colt: 144 HP
Liam: 62.5 HP
Noe: 32 HP

The Wildwatch: Hunter’s Presence: Rolls with advantage against regular creatures (anything marked with a difficulty of Normal or below).

Healing Ring | A ring capable of delivering healing via touch. Uses type 2/3 stats
Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic | Cost: Action

Colt

// Loving you is standing in the sun //

LIAM

It's not that we don't talk

An arrow whizzed past, slamming into the clamic, but the advantage did little good. Liam stumbled rather spectacularly as he attempted to shield the girl from the creature, slicing his arm open on razor-sharp teeth in the process. Gritting his teeth against the sudden burst of pain, he made to withdraw, aided in his hasty retreat by Colt's grasp on his arm. Flesh knit together under the touch of her healing ring, and though it wasn't enough to restore him to full health, it was enough to keep him from bleeding out in the sand, for which he was grateful.

Quickly re-evaluating the situation at hand, Liam continued his retreat. Taking a page from the girl's book, he stooped to grab a rock and sent it sailing towards the clamic, knowing that it wasn't enough damage, but hoping to distract it long enough for Colt to get in a hit anyway.

---

Liam retreats out of range and throws a rock at the clamic (soz Colt).

It's just no one really listens and honesty fades

Sweet like honey, karma is a cat
Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me

Noe's escape was guaranteed by the ensuing commotion, in which the unnamed man took a hit that Noe felt certain should have been hers. She winced as she watched the blood course down his arm, but was rewarded when her rock clattered against the clamic's shell. Fortunately, Colt was quick to swoop in and pull the man away, and Noe quickly returned her attention to her own predicament. Here she was, absolutely useless, in the middle of a fight that could quickly turn lethal - again.

But she could mentally kick herself later. For now, she kept moving, making a wide semi-circle that would hopefully keep her out of the clamic's range. Picking up another rock, she chunked it at the beast. While it wouldn't do much damage if it hit, at least it was something to do. It was better than nothing.

---

Noe stays out of range and throws another rock at the clamic!

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that

Noe

// You're the one thing that keeps the blue up in my sky //

Liam will find the adrenaline spike from his valiant rush to aid and the subsequent injury have left his aim shaky, and the less familiar tool of the rock thumps uselessly into the sand nearby, missing the clamic. Noe's shot lands more steadily, pinging off the top of the shell and bouncing away with mild harm. Meanwhile, the clamic twists and pulls, trying to dislodge the arrow pinning it down in the sand, although it's not successful yet and in a rage its tongue sweeps out, trying to strike Colt.

She has back away with Liam though, but remains close enough to provide a target should need arise. She's not about to let her builder and engineer come to harm for clearing a beach, and she's quietly fuming that she thought it safe enough for them to do this in the dark. "They don't really travel and they can't reach far," Colt says breathlessly to Liam, glancing over to Noe as well. A continued warning that no one get brave enough to run in, least of all while the beast is immobilized further. Her arrow is straining in the force of its jaw though.

Colt nocks another and sends it into its gaping maw.

---

Liam gets out of range but misses. Noe hits with a rock, the Clamic tries to get its jaw unstuck.

Continue to deal with the Clamic.

Clamic: 193.5 HP
Colt: 144 HP
Liam: 62.5 HP
Noe: 32 HP

The Wildwatch: Hunter’s Presence: Rolls with advantage against regular creatures (anything marked with a difficulty of Normal or below).

The Pencil Sharpener | An earthen quiver that sharpens any arrow placed inside.
Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered | Cost: Action

Colt

// Loving you is standing in the sun //