[KQ] stonewall

WESSEX out of the night that covers me Finally! One tentacle rendered temporarily ineffectual, so it was time to go for the final big guy. Remi, however, has ignored her question, so she can only assume that she either wasn’t loud enough or he was too busy. So she tries again. Louder, this time. Her frustration is showing. “REMI! IF WE CAN’T GET THIS FUCKER SOON I’M GONNA NEED TO BITE YOU SO WE CAN DOUBLE BLAST IT.” Wessex is the only one who can’t be healed by Isla. She can’t keep jumping around and dodging the tentacles up close and personal while they’re back behind the earthen shield. Eventually the Ascended will miscalculate, and she’d rather not have a giant rock crush her beyond all repair. After letting Remi’s rocks fall, she steadies herself, takes an uneeded deep-breath moment, and dives in to try and take care of the last remaining full-health tentacle, bloodied claws eager to get wet again. ------------- Wessex yells at Remi again. Goes for Tentacle 4 with her claws. Again. black as the pit from pole to pole i thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul

DEIMOS Delivered from the blasts The torch light beams worked their way along the cavern, but in the end, he was right back on the frontlines, healed, aches and pains no longer prolonged or strung out; until he was hit again. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise – he’d become the tentacles favored target, easy to reach either due to his massive size or current calamity. The Reaper grimaced and groaned again as another reached for him, and the same stinging nettles scraped down the length of his right arm and side. He could hear screaming in the distance, something about getting under rocks, but if he was already behind a shield and it wasn’t benefitting him any, he didn’t want to be the rocks’ sudden favorite either (hadn’t they already blasted him before?). Without Isla, without Remi, he would have easily been a goner, dying again in an unknown tomb, away from the things he cherished the most. “I am sorry,” he whispered, one hand reaching toward Isla while the other still held the torches, intending to keep them burning brightly over the dais of battle. The apology was for both unicorn and Remi – who were fighting their own twists and turns, with Deimos being an ineffectual, inept barrage of disappointment. “Now,” he nodded and hung his head, requiring mending and assuaging again, clenching his jaw, yearning to burrow deep down into the cavern floor so he wouldn’t be useless again – out of the way for those who could do something. Once more, the warrior’s veins pulsed with its deadly energy, and the magic was sent out across the abyss, desperate, wild, untamed, and savage. -- Deimos asks to be healed again because he’s a pathetic mess, while still holding the torches. He then tries to use his life drain magic on Tentacle 3. the last of a line of lasts

The tentacles grow bored. And with their boredom they grow frustrated.

Yes, the little dragon manages to sink its teeth into them again. Yes, Deimos succeeds in sucking the life out one of them, causing it to wither and retreat into the wall - but not before it whips out at him first. Yes, the unicorn managed - again - to heal the big warrior's wounds. Yes, it's chaotic.

But this is just silly, truly.

With the irritation of a creature too large to smash through the wall to feast upon their sweet innards, the tentacles thrash and flex and buck against the stone, causing yet more of it to come away and smack down onto the cavern floor. They whip out, too, catching any who might be in their path.

---

Pim attacked Tentacle 1 and HIT.
Wessex attacked Tentacle 4 and MISSED.
Deimos attacked Tentacle 3 and HIT.

Tentacle 1 attacked Remi and HIT.
Tentacle 3 attacked Deimos and HIT (and then died)
Tentacle 4 attacked Wessex and HIT.

The cavern rumbles uncertainly, and more rocks fall to the ground!

Remi and Phoebe DODGE
Wessex and Deimos are HIT by the falling rocks.

Ending HP and post order:

Phoebe: 42
Remi: 247.5
Wessex: 28
Deimos: 28.5

Tentacle HP:

1. 10
4. 50

You have 48 hours.

Coding base by Sky!

Phoebe

I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?

Sweet, sweet success!

As the cavern rumbles about them ominously, Phoebe manages to see little Pim, the valient little soul he is, chomp down on the tentacle. It's still moving, but just barely. The little dragon, high on its success, prepared to jump at its opponent again...but someone else had other plans. "Pim! Stop, come back! Get back here now!" Phoebe shouted at him, worry in her voice. He got his chomp and that was all she wanted to risk. He was so small compared to what they were fighting, that he survived this long was certainly all the luck they had.

Begrudgingly, Pim returned, scurrying back under yhe rock shelter Remi had constructed, growling ferociously at the tentacles. "I think one good hit will take that one out! Phoebe said to the others, pointing to tentacle one, and going so far as to lift one of Remi's arms to point at it, so he would know which direction it was.

---

Phoebe calls Pim back under the safety of the shelter. She points out that Tentacle 1 is wounded and tries to direct attacks at it.

there’s a light that you give me when I’m in shadow

Wessex's request is chilling. Though many of his memories of what ascended bites feel like have been taken (the majority of those having been with Sam), he does still remember. Isla had bitten him multiple times, and later, Sam had again. He knew what it felt like, but he also knew what it did. Selfishness was not a large facet of the alchemist's personality, and so despite the immediate and cold prickling of fear, he immediately agreed having finally heard Wessex' voice among the fray. "If you think it will help—" He called back, muscles clenching slightly.

Distracted (though being blind, it likely had little to do with his response to Wessex), a slippery but taught SNAP suddenly flashed against Remi's shoulder. Wincing and scooting back into the hovel he'd created, the alchemist gasp with pain, his hand immediately covering the area that was already starting to welt.

The feeling of Phoebe next to him suddenly (as well as Pim) was temporarily disorienting. But with her hand guiding him, Remi nodded. Frustrated by the lack of clarity as to what was happening, Remi reached for the boulders above the creature meaning to haul them to the ground on top of it, hopefully silencing the tentacles for good.

---

Remi aims for tentacle 1, but tries to do splash damage to the other.

there’s a feeling within me, an everglow

Coding base by Sky!

WESSEX out of the night that covers me If there were any way to kill this thing without drinking from someone in the group, she would have taken that route. But idiocy is expecting a different thing to happen when you keep trying the same shit over and over again. And their attacks just aren’t working well enough.So she’ll make the appropriate apologies and amends after they get out of the cave. After missing the fucking tentacle, Wessex tries to get back to Remi, having been given permission to bite him. But as she turns to go, the thing smacks her in the side and sends her reeling, slightly disoriented, into the wall and straight under the next batch of tumbling rocks. She’s hit then, too, and curses loudly. “Fuck!” It’s enough to send her stumbling towards the group, eager for some shelter behind the earthen shield from the flailing storm. Remi’s already fired off his attack when Wessex reaches for him. “Going for your arm. Sorry,” she says, before taking the far less intimate part of him and sinking her fangs into his skin. She drinks briefly, just long enough to feel the surge of power and the beginnings of ecstasy, before dropping his arm and looking around at the cave for the boulders of Remi’s other attacks. Raising them up, she flings them towards the biggest part of the remaining tentacle, hoping to crush it at its base. ----------------- Wessex goes to hide behind the earthen shield, then bites Remi and uses his mastered earth magic to hurl boulders at Tentacle 4. black as the pit from pole to pole i thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul

DEIMOS Delivered from the blasts Enough, enough, enough, his body wanted to scream, wanted to claw, wanted to seethe, because nothing seemed effective, nothing seemed to work, nothing seemed to cooperate except falling rocks and blistering, scathing assaults. Thank the gods for Isla, otherwise he’d be well into the dirt, broken apart by the grizzly nature of the cavern; the series of circumstances blending and folding over into alternative tactics. They can’t keep going like this – it’s conducting naught but frustration and further agony. The tentacle snagged at him again, and he growled, rumbled, threatened with what little strength he had left: rocks bolstering along his right leg, crashing down, down, down. Wessex was hit. Remi was hit. Between the groans, the hissing, the rage, the pain, they were still alive. He was determined they weren’t all going to die in here, lost and succumbed to squirming arms and collapsing boulders. Torch still in hand, he used the other to create three more daggers, glowing weapons one right after the other. “Phoebe!” He yelled, sliding the knife across the floor to where she lurked and waited, hoping she’d be able to utilize it (slice it apart he wanted to cry, but didn’t know if the girl had it in her; bloodlust and a thirst for violence), and the same to Wessex. He passed it into Remi’s hands, and even though the poor man was blind, he might’ve been able to hurtle it, sense the rampaging stingers. Then he took the one he’d concocted and created earlier, reaching, reaching, reaching forward towards the nearest tentacle, desperation scattering him in his rage, in his torment, in the aches and pains newly healed and escalated once more; yearning to stab and obliterate, wielding deadly throngs into the furnished blade. -- Deimos creates daggers for his teammates. He then tries to stab tentacle four with his own crafted blade (infused with some death magic). the last of a line of lasts

They're weakening, and it is almost as though the creature who owns the tentacles can feel it.

Still thrashing the remaining two appendages, each hit directed at it - however well intended - will fall short of the mark. Luckily enough, its writhing about means that the tentacles are also rather uncoordinated.

Only one manages to strike, whipping at Remi, but it slaps harmlessly against his earthen shield.

---

Remi, Wessex and Deimos all unfortunately MISS their attacks.

Tentacle 1 HITS Remi, but it is soaked by his shield.
Tentacle 4 MISSES.

Ending HP and post order:

Phoebe: 42
Remi: 247.5
Wessex: 28
Deimos: 28.5

Tentacle HP:

1. 10
4. 50

You have 48 hours.

Coding base by Sky!

Phoebe

I've been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we're going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is all a dream
Or could we start again, please?

Phoebe looked on in dismay as every single strike missed. Guilt bubbled up in her gut, realizing that a baby dragon had done more than her. It was sad. Truly sad. But Deimos called out to her and slid a blade towards her. She grabbed it in her hands, face with the sudden reality that they might not make it out of this. She had to act.

"Stay under the cover, Deimos!" she said, knowing he had his unfair share of beatings. Then, pulling on every bit of courage, knowing even Frey would have told her to act than wait, she rushed forward, doing her best to stab one of the tentacles. In her desperation she called out, "Frey! Someone! Please help us!!" praying with all her might that the deity (or literally anyone really with some power) would come help them.

---

Phoebe tries to do a stabby on tentacle 1 and also tries to channel a god!

there’s a light that you give me when I’m in shadow

Though he cannot see the ascended approach, she voices her arrival just before taking his arm into her hands. Tensing and shuttering in a breath before she bites, Remi feels his entire body dissolve into the chaotic word of ascended bliss. His free hand reaches out for her, blood singing an orgasmic song in his ears as it quickly detours south. It is merciful that she is quick, but even so Remi drops to his knees, lips parted in a shaky pant as he tries to steady his mind back into the fray of battle, and not into the dark and warm places that it (and his body) wish to suddenly be.

Hearing the sound of daggers, Remi takes a page from Deimos' book (with gentle guidance and suggestion from Isla), and creates 10 sharpened pieces of steel. They have no hilt and are not meant to be held, for each side of them is razor sharp. Instead gripping them with his telekinesis, Remi hurtles them outwards, aiming for the place where Phoebe had just hold him to hit.

"DUCK—" He calls towards his companions, having little aim save for Phoebe's previous guidance and Isla's brief snapshots of what she can see.

---

Throws sharpened spears of steel towards the creature, aiming mostly for 4, with potential splash damage given poor aim.

there’s a feeling within me, an everglow

Coding base by Sky!

WESSEX out of the night that covers me To her credit, Wessex tries to catch Remi as he falls, but even though her mind drifts towards the pleasure, she’s still keenly focused elsewhere. Focused enough to yank herself away, attack, and watch them fail again. “Fuck!” she yells loudly as everything misses the mark, quelling the impulse and desire to literally hurl herself at them and beat them into submission If those fuckers would only hold still - which sparks an idea in the warrior’s mind. A net. “Sorry, Rem. Just once more, I promise,” she says just to him - both by way of apology and to let him know that she’s going to dive down his magical rabbit hole again. Then on to Deimos, if this doesn’t work. This time, reaching out to fully support the alchemist, she reaches for the same arm and sinks her teeth. Should the man drop, she’ll try and catch him, if she has the wherewithal. Once the blood and the power surges through her, she lets go and tries to gingerly set him down before turning back to the fray. And… there’s the girl. In the way. Wessex snarls and bellows “MOVE TO THE WALL!” whilst creating a decent sized heavy net in the above them. For good measure, she tells it to fry the oversized squid and then hurls it at the tentacles, where if it should land, will hopefully electrocute the thing upon contact. Tired, she hopes at least a couple of things land. They’ve got to be the most useless group in all of Caido, at this point. But hey, at least they’re all still alive. ------------------- Wessex drinks from Remi again and uses his creation magic to make an electrocuting net that she hurls towards Tentacle 4 - but hoping to catch tentacle 1 as well. black as the pit from pole to pole i thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul

DEIMOS Delivered from the blasts There was no end – just onslaught after onslaught, rebellion after rebellion, mixed signals, but little to no triumph. Nothing they did mattered in this turn-around: missed, missed, missed, off into the ether, sliding back into the folds of darkness; and he growled, didn’t bother smothering the frustration this time. At the very least, he wasn’t hit either (a damned miracle), but there was no advance, no forward motion, the same semblance as before. They tried and it didn’t matter. They launched and it didn’t matter. They sieged and it didn’t matter. So it was either give up or continue – and he’d never been a beast to surrender. It wasn’t in his nature to yield, to submit, or to concede, made of too much ice and fire and brimstone; cooled embers, chilling ravines, the rapacious, voracious edges of a beast who’d yet to learn how to keep his head down. He could hear Wessex rampaging along, yelling, Remi calling for them to duck, Phoebe praying to her gods for assistance, instructing him to stay under cover. So what we he supposed to do: meander closer to the shadows and tuck himself away? Hide and duck? Was that what he’d been doing along, fervently tucked in Isla’s shadow, fighting to stay alive, to ensure they could keep going? Lords – this chaotic mess was a contradiction, grinding and howling against him. It wailed, decadently insistent, at him to do something, commit, instigate, savage, bleed more and more nefarious arts into the fray, to assist in the finale. He waited while the others proceeded with their attacks, striving to stay out range, out of the way, so friendly fire wasn’t an imminent threat, before advancing again. The warrior intended to stick his dagger into the tentacle’s flesh again, wanted it to writhe, to shudder, to die, and as an added bonus, sent the torch’s flames towards its skin as well. -- Deimos stays out of the way while the others launch their attacks, then tries to use his dagger and the torches at tentacle four. the last of a line of lasts

Frey... or someone. Indeed.

Phoebe's call would not go unanswered, but whilst it would not be the nature god to come to her aid, it would be one of their kindred. Indeed, as the midwife's voice went echoing out into a darkness punctuated by the flickering of torches, the rocks seemed to shift and move of their own accord.

The creature that burst forth was an earth spirit, its eyes aglow like coals, its large and rocky fists making short work of the tentacle she directed it towards. It all but smashed the appendage back into the wall, and something shrill and angry could be heard keening some way behind it.

Meanwhile, sharpened spears of steel and a sparking net made short work of the final, remaining tentacle, and it would retreat before Deimos had a chance to stab it too, his blade and fire clanking against the stone.

At that moment the whole structure seemed to heave and buck, like the creature embedded in the wall was moving, slithering away to fight another day. And oh but that left the cavern to topple down upon their heads... at least, it would have. It would have were it not for the earth spirit, and Remi's magical shield.

Taking the battering from the cave-in and still keeping a way out clear would leave the alchemist exhausted and the earth spirit spent - it grumbled an acknowledgement to Phoebe before sinking back into the wall from which it had sprung. Ahead, the way is now miraculously clear, a tunnel opening into... into...

Well. The voices calling for help now are clear as a bell, and as the group descends towards them, they find the victims.

Delah and her warriors, battered and bruised, the warrior chief herself looking as if one of her legs may be broken.

Rory and Amalia, bruised but otherwise able to walk.

Jigano, who is favouring his left arm against another likely break, and...

Are. Are labouring for breath, still half crushed by the stone, needing urgent medical attention.

What happened here? What will happen from here? The decision lays in the hands of the rescuers.

---

CONGRATULATIONS! You have succeeded in rescuing those caught in the rockslide!

It is highly recommended that you reply one last time to describe your efforts in getting the group out of there. Those who were trapped - thanks for keeping the secret! ;D You may also reply to react and so on.

FOR TIMEY WIMEY PURPOSES, I'LL PUT THIS HERE:

The Mini Event about the Fae took place BEFORE the KQ. (Hence why you could post there).

The notice regarding Zariah's leadership took place AFTER the KQ. You may now start threads, react to it as you like and so on and so forth!

Coding base by Sky!

DEIMOS Delivered from the blasts The finale was an all-encompassing barrage of movement, motion, and enigmas: the aches and pains he bore naught compared to the onslaught of earth spirits crashing and smashing, summoned by Phoebe (and how; because no gods had ever listened to him), made him utterly useless along the magnitude of its might. He was just one more witness as it lay waste to the tentacles, jaw slightly agape in wonder, transfixed by the power undulating, destruction and mayhem clattering all around their heads, beneath Remi’s woven shield, beneath the breaking boughs and careening walls. So he did the only thing he could do – limping and sliding over to Remi’s side, encouraging the alchemist’s shoulder to linger across his own, bearing his weight, carrying him along the floor, out into the sun, another “Thank you,” prospered on his tongue, for too many things, for too many moments, for too many shards and damage collected in their wake. He cannot accurately express the acknowledgments as they spiraled around his exhausted brain – but their tattered wares and misshapen group have done it, haven’t died, haven’t been desecrate in the dust. His eyes go to Isla too, proffering another hand of support, and then they shifted into the void, towards the screams and hollowed, niches, outlined halls and walls. The tunnel widened and opened, an aperture of light and sun that he lifted his face towards – then shifted vehemently along the outlines of those before them. They were an assemblage of familiar faces (and his heart throbbed, ached, at the sight of some: Amalia, Rory, Jigano, blistered and torn), some not, a crushed merchant on the ground, Delah and a number of Fae clustered into broken armaments. “Our friends are injured,” he murmured to Remi, presuming he still couldn’t see – roaming closer and closer, knowing full well who he wanted to go to first, but who required the most attention? “Phoebe,” he echoed and growled, a beast of action when he couldn’t be in that damned cave, “Go to that one,” and he pointed towards Are – a stranger gasping for breath – while he rumbled towards Delah, his eyes searching for Amalia (she could walk, she could walk, she was fine), nodding and imploring she somehow assist too…a mess amidst more rubble and ruin. the last of a line of lasts