[PQ+] keep it secret

Now, Cordelia was typically a lover of most creatures. Except most creatures weren't apparently made of lava and capable of burning your skin off your bones. Honey brown eyes widen as Ray attempts to reason with the thing. She takes a few steps back towards Deimos and draws her bow instead, notching an arrow into place should she need to attack, unwilling to take her eyes off of it. [say]"I don't know that you'll be able to convince it..."[/say] The Attuned mutters under her breath, but she glances back at Deimos quickly, knowing what the Sword was likely thinking.

Cordelia gives a slight shake of her head, attempting to dissuade him from attacking outright, wanting to give Ray at least a chance to make peace before the squidling ended up merely a lava smear on the cave wall.

---

Cordelia prepares an arrow and tells Deimos to wait silently.

Ah, and there it was. His eyes glanced upwards at the squidling, contemplating what Jack had said previously. Obviously a smaller proportion of what could be, and with an annoyed huff, he glanced at Ray and her attempts to…tame it?

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, he snorted in Cordelia’s direction. It’d be very easy for a series of water incantations to be marked directly at the creature, and then they could move on with their task. But he had other options, and probably warnings. [say]“It gets one chance,”[/say] he announced, though that was with him, and he wasn’t going to speak for any other participants.

So, tapping into his Attuned capabilities, he registered a distinct foreshadowing, a pulse, a predator’s distinction, towards the beast. Maybe it’d be able to understand, or valued its life. [say]Leave.[/say]

--

[say]Deimos tells the squidling to leave via Beast Speaker.

Beast Speaker | Can speak to rare creatures/companions/regular animals. Requires permission to "speak" on behalf of someone's companion. Regular animals speak in varying levels of coherence.[/say]

Sorry, what the fuck?

[say]"There's a lava squid in the way. Kill it?"[/say] he says helpfully, as if they might be blind or stupid. Or maybe Ray's hit her head real fucking hard, because Jack swears she might be trying to make friends with it. And when Cordelia does little more than ready and arrow and Deimos seemingly does nothing at all, the captain lets out a groan of frustration.

[say]"Just get rid of it,"[/say] he grumbles, and as if by magic (lol) a whipping gust of air sails down the cavern - read: secretly conjured by Jack - and aims to snuff the squidling out once and for all.

---

Jack gets frustrated and uses his air magic to sneakily attack the squidling.

Air manipulation: Can create and control the air. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered

So this is the weirdest standoff ever to come to pass. Probably.

Lava squidlings don't really say much, even to those who can speak to them, and so while I can't really be like [say]I live here...? to @Deimos, that's kind of the vibe he'll get. Just a bit of placid confusion.

Until, y'know, a blast of air nearly cools it to volcanic rock, and someone gets all up in its face and tries to tame it.

@Jack's magic hits it square on, and with a keening noise that the writer of this post isn't sure comes from cephalopods, but whatever we'll go for it, a magma like tentacle lashes out at @ray.

Luckily, though, it misses.

Your move, humans.

---

Lava Squidling:

HP: 91/132

Your randomly assigned post order is:

@Ray 76/76
@Cordelia 60/60
@Deimos 648/648
@Jack 108/108

[say]"One chance"[/say], Ray agrees. She's aware this likely won't work, and sure enough the squidling is unreceptive to her attempts. A magma tentacle is a clear rejection if she's ever seen one. She feels a bit of disappointment that now they'll have to kill this interesting creature. But Ray isn't one to dwell on such things, not when said creature is showing clear aggression.

Sighing heavily, the herbalist pulls out a dagger. [say]"Shame, really."[/say] With that, Ray uses her still partially shifted shangyang eyes to aim and throw the dagger at the creature's head. Well, what she judges to be he head at least. She wasn't sure if magma squidlings had the same anatomy as regular squids.



[say]Ray throws a dagger at the squidling's head, using her partially shifted shangyang eyes to aim. [/say]

She gets Jack's frustration and Deimos's eye roll is warranted too. However, he does give Ray a chance. They all do. It goes just about as poorly as one would expect. As soon as the squidling lashes out, Cordelia releases the arrow she'd readied, aiming for one of its eyes and by extension its head. She really does hate to see it this way, but they've got work to do. This thing is in the way. Sorry little Lava squid. You done gots to go.

With her first arrow loosed, Cordelia draws another and prepares that shot as well, but she knows that Deimos will likely finish it off before her arrow is necessary. He always was good at doing that kind of thing.

---

Cordelia shoots and prepares to fire again!

To no one’s surprise, it didn’t go well. There were a few grumbles and rumbles in the back of his mind, lectures perhaps reserved for a better time; it seemed Ray was going to learn from the experience.

Feeling like he’d either constantly sighing, rolling his eyes, or trying to understand the stupidity of others, the Sword watched as Cordelia notched her arrow and the herbalist threw a dagger. In some way, he did feel sorry for the squidling, since it was apparent the thing was confused by the meaning of everything, but actions had consequences and it was beginning to be a waste of time.

So he sent out a round of water incantations, intending to shoot and aim for the creature, presuming the elements would diminish it quickly and efficiently.

--

[say]Deimos tries to hit the squidling with his Mastered Water.

Water manipulation: Can create and control water. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered[/say]

That's more like it, honestly. And when the group decides it's had enough of the squidling's... whatever it's doing or saying (he doesn't have Beast Speaker and he doesn't actually give a fuck), Jack is content to let them. [say]"I reckon once we've got that outta the way, the last bolt hole should only be a few yards down that way,"[/say] he remarks, nodding down and past their obstacle.

Patting his pockets, he draws out a cigarette and some matches, striking one and placing the smoke between his lips to draw deeply on it. There's no need for him to get in the way of this, secretly or otherwise. Besides, he's got a funny feeling that the big guy is probably going to end things pretty promptly.

---

Jack lets everyone else fuck around and smokes a cigarette.

Weirdly, it's not overkill. (I know, right?) In fact, you succeed by a whole 1 point of damage! But narratively... well, it definitely looks like overkill. The squidling is hit in succession by a dagger, an arrow, and a blast of water that sends it squealing off into the darkness of the cave system.

Don't mistake it for fleeing, though - it's very dead, it's just the force of Deimos's water has flung it into the stratosphere or something.

With that taken care of, it's an easy trip into the final bolthole. The stones are warm, likely because of volcanic activity nearby, and it's dry and spacious. There's little left to do but to leave your supplies and get going!

---

You killed the squid and reached the final bolthole! Go ahead and leave a finishing post and then we're DONE!


Lava Squidling:

HP: 0/132

Your randomly assigned post order is:

Ray 76/76
Cordelia 60/60
Deimos 648/648
Jack 108/108

it's actually a little comical how fast the squidling goes down once they all commit to killing it. What's more concerning is that its corpse goes flying, but hey, that's life. Or... death.

Still, Ray tries to put it out of her mind as she gets to work. By this point in the day, she's tired and hungry. Working efficiently, she starts to unpack her med kits and begins to organize them in the bolthole. The herbalist tries to ensure that emergency aid is always in reach for those who may use this shelter. She certainly brought enough med kits to go around.

Once she's done, Ray turns back to her team. [say]"I think we've got it. If that's all, I'm going to go get dinner. You guys are welcome to join me." [/say]



[say]Ray unpacks and organizes the med stuff.[/say]

It's unfortunate that this place is much too small for her Luxere shift, otherwise she would have used it to help carry some of the heavier packs down, but as it is she is stuck in her human skin. The Attuned shifts the hold on her bag of kindling, adjusting it across her shoulders as she follows Ray down into the next area, setting it down once they were inside. Cordelia moves to stack the bundles against one of the far walls, making sure it's out of the way from any potential water that could get it wet.

She waits for @Deimos to deposit his own supplies, hands braced on her hips and foot tapping, a smile attempting to curl on her lips. [say]"Come on. Let's go get something to eat."[/say]"

---

Cordelia unloads her stuff and waits for Deimos to leave too.

The juvenile portions to him found the way the squidling flew very amusing – so he withheld a majority of the laughter, permitting a light snort to follow through. And a snicker given to Cordelia. At least it would be something else to add to the guild's journals.

With one less, wasted, ration, Deimos went forward and sectioned out the remaining proportions for the section. Leaving them organized with the rest of everyone else’s filaments, he stood back and surveyed the sanction for a moment, and then nodded, content and satisfied with the arrangements. His bag of holding now much less full, he slung it back over his shoulder, gestured for Cordelia and Ray to lead the way.

--

[say]Deimos puts the rest of his rations in and goes to head out![/say]

Deimos tries to hide his laughter. Jack does not. Indeed, the captain is still cackling about the way the squidling got yeeted into the cave systems as he heads into the last bolthole with the rest of the crew, plonking the manta crystal in an easy to reach place and letting out a satisfied sigh. [say]"Well, this was fun,"[/say] he says, breezing past both Ray and Cordelia though.

[say]"Nope,"[/say] he says to going out and getting dinner, Jack already waving a hand to say goodbye to the lot of them and heading through the network of caves and out again. It'll be unbearably hot before long (given that this PQ+ took place in Longheat, believe it the fuck not) and he has no desire to be out in it.

---

Jack out, and it's a wrap!

~FIN