[ why is it always vore... he stumbles, not having much time to stabilize himself, before kosmo is wriggling his way out. ]
I've got you buddy. [ catches his dear space wolf. how did he forget kosmo was here... well he's thankful he seems fine, all things considered. and it's now that the drumming in his head hits him like a mac truck. he moves his right hand up, only to hiss in pain at the reopening of his earlier injury. bad enough he already had a scar on that shoulder, now it's back and bigger than ever, extending down across his chest.
he has to shake his head, his one functioning eye buzzing, almost glitching. what the heck man. at least the shake makes it go away? for now. eh.]
I've still got mine, here. [ he reaches for his heal gun and points it at shoma, while steadying him. fires it twice for a moderate heal. ]
[ once everyone has settled themselves - healed what needs healing (only shoma, poor kid), io looks at temenos and gives a very tired look because he sure wishes that were the fucking case, father. ]
Considering the sounds, I think you know the answer already. [ wipes mouth, spits on ground. eugh. ]
Pretty sure we're as close as we can be to the end. Nowhere else to go. So... let's finish this.
[ personas self for one minor heal in the head a little too comfortably.
-
now. we are just gonna get this party started. it is time to press forward once the group is ready. as they move, they'll see the burrow itself is barely lit, these striations continuing to vaguely illuminate, but dimming the further inside, the pulsing continuing more and more.
at the end of it is... of course... a cavern, circular with what look to be strange fountains made from earth and stone around the place, oozing thick, dark liquid in spurts into their pools. the coppery scent on the air tells you that it's blood, as well. they are each flanked by torches within reaching distance. you can see signs that humans... have been here. have worked here. old footprints, old tools on the ground (picks, shovels, etc. ripe for the bludgeoning of things) but... that's not the most important part, of course.
in front of you… a monstrosity leers down with it's enormous, main head, cascading down it's bloated body are faces and limbs, fatted off the bodies it has eaten. there are steer horns here on the ground, cattle skulls, and the bones of people... including skulls. you can see it, the tortured faces of the girl and the man stuck on this bloated body, and what’s worse, the tortured faces of the workers you have seen - butchers and washing woman alike.
there’s a bulbous gathering of fibers to the leftmost arm, with a large series of bulging, bubbly muscles, another to the rightmost one, which is long and spindly with claw-like fingers. there's a third arm, dead center of it with black-tipped fingers, and then... there's its head, which you can more than easily bait downwards by being your delicious, annoying selves. it snarls down at you because how the literal fuck did you get out of the roots? how did you pull yourselves out of bliss?
sheer fucking spite, perhaps.
as it roars, the ceiling shivers, but doesn't threaten to break like the concrete. it's made of sterner stuff. for the moment, it looks like it's shocked, clicking its too-flat teeth, observing you as it stretches out its palms to brace itself, digging into the ground. in a voice of hundreds, no, thousands... 1,800 voices. ]
Merge with us. Return to us. We love you. Don't split off. You hurt without us just as much as I hurt, torn out of you… Return to our body, our body is our people…
Hey, don't you think you've overeaten a little here? Think it's about time for that stomachache to hit you...
[i'm like i don't know if this is actually an ability or just charles being inspirational but can he (checks notes) Impart Entire Front Row with Phys. Atk. Up 20% and raise Sword and Polearm damage by 20%
anyway. first thing actually is that he'll grab one of the torches and toss it at the monstrosity to see how effective that is at all. when in doubt, just set things on fire!!
but after that attempt, he is a swordsman first and foremost, so. using his speed, he will try and keep the monster distracted while avoiding what he can so that the more long range fighters can do their thing, hopefully. he's aiming largely for its arms with his sword with the intent of crippling it even a little, and for its head when he can. slash slash hack etc. i am GREAT at fight scenes, can you tell.]
this is the most normal thing we've experienced here so far! like, giant, horrifying monsters? absolutely fine. sometimes you're a jrpg. the only immediate reaction on temenos' face is like a brief furrow of his eyebrows and a frown as they come upon this....monstrosity, and he can't not run his mouth, so: ]
Hurt more.
[ anyway we've not classed into scholar here so we have no weaknesses but you know what we do have? hot, burning holy light and a well of mana that's still fairly decent in size. in a situation where he was less concerned about the amount he had left - a situation with castti here, perhaps - would call for a luminescence, but this is going to be about precision. so.
idk where everyone is targeting but being a distance caster means staying the fuck away from those arms and going for the big one to try and bring that head down some for the others with closer weapons: ]
Holy light, illuminate the darkness. [ and calls up the sacred flame, then drops a holy light spell on its head. ]
[ well. cool. this is absolutely not great, actually. keith's gun heals him enough to at least be able to breathe and walk and keep up with the rest, and he frowns deeply at the idea that they're close to the source.
and so he follows. he follows behind everyone else, fixated on the barely-illuminated walls of the burrow and pressing forward into the opening.
he doesn't have much time to take in the room itself, though it isn't hard to see the overall picture. this is a sacrificial hole after all, people and animals who've been worked to the bone only to be chosen to die (or failed to escape.) the fountain of blood doesn't help the picture, and he's letting himself sweep over the tools on the ground before the monster…you know. does as monsters do and makes itself known. HELLO. OH GOD THIS IS THE SHIT NIGHTMARES ARE MADE OF.
but it is, in fact, spite that has led them here and even when it roars its deafening cry he listens to the wailing of hundreds of voices.
yeah. yeah no. if he's not assimilating with the ship, like hell is he merging with this thing.
there's a brief glance at everyone else before he forces himself to move. if he stays still, that's it, it's over. at least this way he can try to do something. it's hard when he can't quite get his left eye to stay all the way open, and it's equally hard when the acidic burns itch and pull at his skin but it doesn't stop him from moving ahead for a pick to try and fling it like a throwing axe into the rightmost arm, an attempt to render it useless and pin down those claws while grabbing for his plasma pistol in an attempt to shoot one of its eyes. ]
[ ya know. he's seen all kinds of monsters, but this. this might be the monsters of all monsters. because WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!!???? ]
We're not returning shit!
[ adrenaline sure is an amazing thing, as he takes his knife in one hand and his plasma blade in the other. bum arm/shoulder? blood filled eye?? what about em!! it could be worse, surely. he pushes the pain, the burning and the itching down. away. just operating out of pure spite. any and all survival instincts kicking in.
he darts forward, kosmo beside him, and aims to deliver an onslaught of slashes. if he and charles can act as annoying flies that just won't get out of your face, that'll leave an opening for the other two. then hopefully lead to both melee fighters hitting harder. catch this thing off guard as best they can.
and ya know what's even more annoying. a space wolf that can blip all around the damn place. and it's not just keith, kosmo can and will assist charles as well. confuse the shit out of this thing!! ]
[ if you will not assimilate, if you will not become part of the whole, then you must die. like a virus, like a foreign pathogen, you must be expelled.
everyone's physical damage gets buffed as hell by charles. enjoy the surge of strength that suddenly fills you all. a great start. you'll notice with the combination of the fire from the torch being thrown and the holy light, the beast does not like that, though the torch is at least snuffable for it - the way it oozes over the top of it and it smothers the flame completely. annoying! however, the holy light is not something it can smother, and it shrieks and rises up to try and curl back.
the holy light burns its flesh - and the scent of charred rotting meat fills the room. this does stun it enough with the surprise of how it suddenly burst forth at the behest of that little twinky priest. the pick makes landfall in arm number 2, pinning it to the ground for the moment and as it's distracted shoma can hit one of its eyes...
though a face from its body just slides upwards towards its face..... and takes the place of the whole eye.
and it lashes out in turn for a tentacle attack, though some of the tentacles on shoma's side are swarming to remove the pick with a snarl. this thing is powerful, but it's meant to stay underground for a reason. things that hide... are both dangerous, but fragile. and you guys happen to have the power of god and anime on your sides. that and charles and keith are playing at being annoying flies, hitting its arms and keeping them all busy for the time being. it's a good tactic.
however. it launches tentacles everywhere with a tentacle attack, trying to grasp you by the limb or torso to draw you in to slam you to the ground, delivering some nasty bludgeoning damage and slamming you into the soft earthy, meaty ground... you can roll to avoid a tentacle bash (dc 15, add dex, shoma you have advantage because it's removing the pick from its paw.) ]
Edited (HELLO THE REST OF MY TEXT) 2024-04-11 01:26 (UTC)
well. 18+1 is a 19 so i guess he manages to dodge out of the way of getting tentacle bashed, and casts another holy light right in this thing's face. eat shit ]
[i don't remember dex bonuses i think it was like +3 with charles's dex? but either way i got a 9 so i don't think he passes
he is getting slammed to the ground! at least he's not falling into a hole this time. as he takes a moment to reorient himself, though, he fires a bolt of lightning in the monster's direction from the ground.]
[ first of all, gross! gross, gross, gross!!!! he is going to become a vegetarian after this, swear to god.
but the light's a good sign, and he's grateful for the way the fire and the holy light banish the creature for a few moments and the holy light burns its flesh. the pick drives into the arm to stall and he takes out an eye. granted, he immediately yells out in surprise when it's replaced by a whole face.
bad. badbadbad.
the tentacles lash out and with his nat 20 and also advantage i guess, jesus, he's able to dodge them. the immediate response is to shoot it again, aiming directly for the meat of the arm itself to try and render that useless. and he's darting ahead to grab a shovel to attempt cleaving down on another tentacle that's going for whoever's about to get their shit wrecked. he's fine? adrenaline's helping. this is the best he can do, and he's 100% not paying attention to the fact he only has one shot left of his plasma gun. but i am. ]
[ oh. bad. 5+4 is a 9, so he does not pass, even with his high dex. rip.
the tentacle wraps around him, picking him and and slamming him right back down. his grip on the plasma blade gets completely fcked, as his bad shoulder gets wacked. goodbye. his head already hurts, what's some more!! turns out you can concuss what's already concussed!! wow!!
with the fuzziness in his head, from the bashing, and the glitching of his vision... he sure does make an attempt to stab the tentacle with his marmora blade. LET GO BINCH!! ]
[ LET THERE BE MORE LIGHT! FUCK OFFFFF! and indeed the creature singes once more, releasing that foul, disgusting smell. the lightning strike hits the creature and with that combined, some of its tentacles slither downwards to dip into one of the strange, blood fountains, the red fluid snaking up its tentacles and starting to restore some of the area that has been kissed by the holy light.
it does let go of charles (WHY'S IT SPICY!?), but then moves with the arm 3 (black claw) to rake over the source of the holy light attack again! temenos (dc 16), it's hand is covered in black motes, and there's a sickliness from it that tells you without missing a beat that this is a diseased-looking limb... so diseased, it's festering.
it doesn't let go of keith just yet, even as he stabs with his knife, though it does shriek in annoyance. however shoma, your shovel finds purchase in one of the tentacles holding keith, which is actually pretty great. not before the slam that has keith getting a concussion sandwich, but at least the creature isn't going to be fucking picking him up for the time being as you sever enough tentacles for the gelatinous texture to sag and tear from his weight. you're free!
(there's a crashing sound and it seems like io is grabbing a pick from the ground and just. bashing into one of the restorative fountains on the other side after seeing that. fuck that noise.)
it takes a chance with its now freed arm 2 (sharp claws) and reaches for a razor sharp raking attack at shoma because of his nat 20 (dc 16).
and it sweeps with arm 1 (muscular arm) to snatch up one of your swordsmen now - charles and keith (dc 13 because it's big and slow). ]
[ every one of my tags is going to end up being (blasts you with holy light) but that is truly just what's happening here. spams the 6 SP holy light button.
alas, this time, temenos doesn't get to aim at the head. because the big gross flesh limb slashes at him and with a seven, he will not be dodging that! so while he's getting his shit rocked, he fires off the holy light spell directly at the hand instead so he can at least counter whatever awful disease he's about to get hit with. or maybe just explode the hand into a thousand pieces. that'd be nice. ]
[ okay well. sorry keith, he tried! he really did try but there was no stopping the tentacle slamming you into the ground. but it's fine. the tentacle's slayed and he has no idea what io is doing and he's not paying attention to anything else because there are claws swiping at him which is not promising! but he has a 14 so he's trying to dodge and fire off his last bullet at the hand, hoping to blow a hole through it to make it stop swiping. ]
[ you're going to feel it... all of you now. the steady hunger, the steady thirst, the steady ache of your tired bones. this place... it's so heavy, it's like the weight of the world is resting right here on its axis. ]
Take my kiss.
[ temenos blasts holy light beacon and gets a raging fever for his hard work, damn! this fever... is the kind that you feel acutely in your body, every crevice, every corner. there's a fire inside of you, and it's not the Flame by any means. it's eating you alive from within. arm 3 is looking much more dark, however, thanks to the blasting. it's fingers are twitching, burnt, because damn THEY DIDN'T ORDER EXTRA HOTS.
the good news is once again... the holy light spells are acting like shotgun slugs, and the beast can't heal forever... one of its wells is dry. one of its wells is destroyed. around the room? there are several poised and full and still ready.
arm 1 bodyslams both keith and charles in one giant fist, their bones colliding together and probably not helping with the pain as they are crushed together by the muscular hand, driving them into the ground. detritus flies up and falls, a mess of picks and shovels, splinters of thick bones - arm bones and leg bones like a rain of sharp projectiles.
one of these projectiles... sinks into charles' chest as it rains down, not dead center, but oh that fucking hurts doesn't it? keith stabs at the grasping appendage and the tentacles surging around it. it manages to let go but it forms a fist and tries to crush you, keith (dc 15, with gravity on its side, heavy and ponderous.)
the arm 2 aiming for shoma claws at him, raking fast from his face, down to his chest, raking downwards with sharpened bone cresting bone, trying to dig, spill blood. it's hungry, and the bone absorbs... what blood it takes, but then a rogue pick gets yeeted into the bony hand with a shout from io's direction because fuck that noise! shoma, your eye... your eye is really fucked up right now. more so than before.
it goes for another fountain, attempting to heal some more holy light damage. ugh. gotta chug the juice blood. ]
unpleasant! but fighting with side effects is again, not weird. the hunger and the thirst and the heaviness are not fun, nor is the heat, but. i have no idea if the fountains/wells are anywhere nearby, but two can probably play at the sp regain game? maybe? temenos is starting to run kind of low on sp.
sorry buddy he's really not interested in your std kissing disease. i guess if there's a fountain or well, kind of nearby, instead of casting this turn, temenos is hurrying towards it and the second he's close enough, swings his staff like a holy baseball bat at the closest and nearest of the fountains to, checks my octopath notes, unleash a staff attack on a single foe 2 times, and steal SP equivalent to 10% of the damage dealt.
i realize charles just got skewered but im a healer, but, etc ]
[hello why is this monster trying to noncon smooches on them? were tongue punches not enough?
charles lets out a hiss of pain when he feels a bone snap, though thankfully not his sword arm—but frankly it's soon forgotten after being slammed into the ground again!! why!!! and then, you know, a bone stabs him. fucking ow.]
Ugh—crap.
[maybe a somewhat underwhelming response to a bone sticking out of his chest but he is really trying to cope here. ow. ow. but since not recovering immediately went badly for him last time, charles lets adrenaline take over as he rises to his feet as fast as he can. hopefully keith can do the same help him DON'T GET CRUSHED KEITH
he kind of stares at this bone for a moment, blearily wondering if he should yank it out and then use his heal gun on himself so he doesn't bleed out, or just. leave it in as a later problem. maybe he will leave it in for now. maybe someone else will need the heal gun more? thinking is so hard in this moment?
but this bone is making the idea of fighting proper very hard right now so rather than jump back into the fray with his sword, he will do his best to simply go and grab another torch to throw at this monster before going to break a fountain.]
[ despite the effects on his body, giving up would absolutely be a worse option, he thinks. everything hurts and it's hard to focus. it's hard to track what everyone else in the room is doing with the lights and the bones and the sound of crackling and breaking.
granted, his new focus is this fucking claw that immediately swipes over his face and down his chest. if it's blood you want, it's blood you're getting apparently because OW??? the claw rakes over his eye completely in a downward swipe to render it essentially useless, thick lines bursting over it and his front as blood seeps outward and shoma tries to aim and fire off another bullet.
this is about the time he realizes he's out. shit. fuck. shit.
whatever!!! he still has a single eye, two legs, and spite so he's bolting, following the lead of the others and grabbing a spare shovel to start beating the shit out of a different fountain. no!! stop healing bitch!!! ]
[ keith really doesn't want to kiss this slimy nightmare monster. sorry, not sorry.
ya know. getting slammed to the ground hurts, but getting smashed into charles hurts even more, somehow. the sound of both their bones crunching is disgusting, good thing he has decent constitution.
back into the ground he goes. covered in all kinds of nasty now. his right arm is completely useless now, just dangling. and as he lay there, his other hand coming over to hold it. HERE THE MONSTER COMES WITH A METAL CHAIR (no).
even at disadvantage he got a 17 with a +4 to dex, so. i guess he's fine.
spite fills him and even charles' meta encouragement. his eyes flash yellow and his teeth look a little sharper than usual?? as he rolls out of the way and let's out a roar of some kind.
he's back up on his feet and just picks a stray pick and yeets it at it's eye. (i can roll for it if you want)
whatever tentacle is reaching for a fountain, he's running and stabbing it. trying to give the others some more time to destroy said fountains!! ]
[ just a little fever. as you take a crack at the fountain, absorbing some of the latent energy within this pool of viscous liquid. it does... feel like you've gained some kind of sp from this, and the ire of the creature once more. it's going to stab temenos into the ground like a cocktail weenie, two spear-like fingers stabbing sharply into his leg, digging into meat and muscle and bone with a shriek. arm 2's spindly fingers launch themselves downwards with a vengeance, attempting to cage him because he has stolen. but that churning, furious bloody energy brought from absorbing from the fountain... it's got meat.
keith rolls out of the way of the fist as it smashes down, quaking the earth beneath him as he just barely misses. his shoulder crunches and yeah. that's his arm just absolutely down for the count. glad he's an ambidexter. he yeets the pick and the creature snarls as it sinks into its face, embedded into its skull, but... not killing it. it's just there. terrifyingly dug in as ichory black blood dribbles down from the center, staining its teeth as its jaws open wide.
charles stop thinking, you get shot for a minor heal. there are just enough for the lot of you to take on. it won't exactly heal being pierced by a splintered bone, but it will... help a bit with some of the blood loss. running around with it still like this will. probably make it worse later. but for now? for now it's tolerable.
you all are just attacking these fountains, which is pretty excellent for you and not for it. arm 3 seems to be continuing to spasm, black motes leaving it as the fingers twitch like a spider on its back, it's still unhealed because the holy light really fucked its shit up. it's lying, a useless arm on the ground. the tentacles spasm and slap surging to steal in greedily for the liquid like starving beasts fighting for the watering hole. they squish and they wiggle against you, and as you try to beat these fountains into dust, it almost seems like it's maybe starting to panic.
it tries to sweep a shuddering arm 1 around those destroying the fountains... dc 14. it's trembling. ]
[ well. i rolled a 3 while shoma's busy trying to break the fountain and smash these tentacles that're surging ahead to keep them away, so goodbye i suppose.
also, this sudden black blood on its face and staining it's very flat teeth is horrifying, thanks. ]
however i uh. rolled a 5. so. that's probably not going to go well for him.
taking a turn off from holy light casting was unfortunately a catastrophically bad idea. with the second hand bearing down on him temenos summons up a bigger spell - luminescence, an AOE light spell. it's double the cost, but if they die before he can get to healing, whatever he has left isn't going to matter. maybe he can get both arms at once since they are both trying to squash him like a bug. ]
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I've got you buddy. [ catches his dear space wolf. how did he forget kosmo was here... well he's thankful he seems fine, all things considered. and it's now that the drumming in his head hits him like a mac truck. he moves his right hand up, only to hiss in pain at the reopening of his earlier injury. bad enough he already had a scar on that shoulder, now it's back and bigger than ever, extending down across his chest.
he has to shake his head, his one functioning eye buzzing, almost glitching. what the heck man. at least the shake makes it go away? for now. eh.]
I've still got mine, here. [ he reaches for his heal gun and points it at shoma, while steadying him. fires it twice for a moderate heal. ]
That's it for mine.
no subject
Considering the sounds, I think you know the answer already. [ wipes mouth, spits on ground. eugh. ]
Pretty sure we're as close as we can be to the end. Nowhere else to go. So... let's finish this.
[ personas self for one minor heal in the head a little too comfortably.
-
now. we are just gonna get this party started. it is time to press forward once the group is ready. as they move, they'll see the burrow itself is barely lit, these striations continuing to vaguely illuminate, but dimming the further inside, the pulsing continuing more and more.
at the end of it is... of course... a cavern, circular with what look to be strange fountains made from earth and stone around the place, oozing thick, dark liquid in spurts into their pools. the coppery scent on the air tells you that it's blood, as well. they are each flanked by torches within reaching distance. you can see signs that humans... have been here. have worked here. old footprints, old tools on the ground (picks, shovels, etc. ripe for the bludgeoning of things) but... that's not the most important part, of course.
in front of you… a monstrosity leers down with it's enormous, main head, cascading down it's bloated body are faces and limbs, fatted off the bodies it has eaten. there are steer horns here on the ground, cattle skulls, and the bones of people... including skulls. you can see it, the tortured faces of the girl and the man stuck on this bloated body, and what’s worse, the tortured faces of the workers you have seen - butchers and washing woman alike.
there’s a bulbous gathering of fibers to the leftmost arm, with a large series of bulging, bubbly muscles, another to the rightmost one, which is long and spindly with claw-like fingers. there's a third arm, dead center of it with black-tipped fingers, and then... there's its head, which you can more than easily bait downwards by being your delicious, annoying selves. it snarls down at you because how the literal fuck did you get out of the roots? how did you pull yourselves out of bliss?
sheer fucking spite, perhaps.as it roars, the ceiling shivers, but doesn't threaten to break like the concrete. it's made of sterner stuff. for the moment, it looks like it's shocked, clicking its too-flat teeth, observing you as it stretches out its palms to brace itself, digging into the ground. in a voice of hundreds, no, thousands... 1,800 voices. ]
Merge with us. Return to us. We love you. Don't split off. You hurt without us just as much as I hurt, torn out of you… Return to our body, our body is our people…
[ combat can begin. ]
no subject
Hey, don't you think you've overeaten a little here? Think it's about time for that stomachache to hit you...
[i'm like i don't know if this is actually an ability or just charles being inspirational but can he (checks notes) Impart Entire Front Row with Phys. Atk. Up 20% and raise Sword and Polearm damage by 20%
anyway. first thing actually is that he'll grab one of the torches and toss it at the monstrosity to see how effective that is at all. when in doubt, just set things on fire!!
but after that attempt, he is a swordsman first and foremost, so. using his speed, he will try and keep the monster distracted while avoiding what he can so that the more long range fighters can do their thing, hopefully. he's aiming largely for its arms with his sword with the intent of crippling it even a little, and for its head when he can. slash slash hack etc. i am GREAT at fight scenes, can you tell.]
no subject
this is the most normal thing we've experienced here so far! like, giant, horrifying monsters? absolutely fine. sometimes you're a jrpg. the only immediate reaction on temenos' face is like a brief furrow of his eyebrows and a frown as they come upon this....monstrosity, and he can't not run his mouth, so: ]
Hurt more.
[ anyway we've not classed into scholar here so we have no weaknesses but you know what we do have? hot, burning holy light and a well of mana that's still fairly decent in size. in a situation where he was less concerned about the amount he had left - a situation with castti here, perhaps - would call for a luminescence, but this is going to be about precision. so.
idk where everyone is targeting but being a distance caster means staying the fuck away from those arms and going for the big one to try and bring that head down some for the others with closer weapons: ]
Holy light, illuminate the darkness. [ and calls up the sacred flame, then drops a holy light spell on its head. ]
no subject
and so he follows. he follows behind everyone else, fixated on the barely-illuminated walls of the burrow and pressing forward into the opening.
he doesn't have much time to take in the room itself, though it isn't hard to see the overall picture. this is a sacrificial hole after all, people and animals who've been worked to the bone only to be chosen to die (or failed to escape.) the fountain of blood doesn't help the picture, and he's letting himself sweep over the tools on the ground before the monster…you know. does as monsters do and makes itself known. HELLO. OH GOD THIS IS THE SHIT NIGHTMARES ARE MADE OF.
but it is, in fact, spite that has led them here and even when it roars its deafening cry he listens to the wailing of hundreds of voices.
yeah. yeah no. if he's not assimilating with the ship, like hell is he merging with this thing.
there's a brief glance at everyone else before he forces himself to move. if he stays still, that's it, it's over. at least this way he can try to do something. it's hard when he can't quite get his left eye to stay all the way open, and it's equally hard when the acidic burns itch and pull at his skin but it doesn't stop him from moving ahead for a pick to try and fling it like a throwing axe into the rightmost arm, an attempt to render it useless and pin down those claws while grabbing for his plasma pistol in an attempt to shoot one of its eyes. ]
no subject
We're not returning shit!
[ adrenaline sure is an amazing thing, as he takes his knife in one hand and his plasma blade in the other. bum arm/shoulder? blood filled eye?? what about em!! it could be worse, surely. he pushes the pain, the burning and the itching down. away. just operating out of pure spite. any and all survival instincts kicking in.
he darts forward, kosmo beside him, and aims to deliver an onslaught of slashes. if he and charles can act as annoying flies that just won't get out of your face, that'll leave an opening for the other two. then hopefully lead to both melee fighters hitting harder. catch this thing off guard as best they can.
and ya know what's even more annoying. a space wolf that can blip all around the damn place. and it's not just keith, kosmo can and will assist charles as well. confuse the shit out of this thing!! ]
no subject
everyone's physical damage gets buffed as hell by charles. enjoy the surge of strength that suddenly fills you all. a great start. you'll notice with the combination of the fire from the torch being thrown and the holy light, the beast does not like that, though the torch is at least snuffable for it - the way it oozes over the top of it and it smothers the flame completely. annoying! however, the holy light is not something it can smother, and it shrieks and rises up to try and curl back.
the holy light burns its flesh - and the scent of charred rotting meat fills the room. this does stun it enough with the surprise of how it suddenly burst forth at the behest of that little twinky priest. the pick makes landfall in arm number 2, pinning it to the ground for the moment and as it's distracted shoma can hit one of its eyes...
though a face from its body just slides upwards towards its face..... and takes the place of the whole eye.
and it lashes out in turn for a tentacle attack, though some of the tentacles on shoma's side are swarming to remove the pick with a snarl. this thing is powerful, but it's meant to stay underground for a reason. things that hide... are both dangerous, but fragile. and you guys happen to have the power of god and anime on your sides. that and charles and keith are playing at being annoying flies, hitting its arms and keeping them all busy for the time being. it's a good tactic.
however. it launches tentacles everywhere with a tentacle attack, trying to grasp you by the limb or torso to draw you in to slam you to the ground, delivering some nasty bludgeoning damage and slamming you into the soft earthy, meaty ground... you can roll to avoid a tentacle bash (dc 15, add dex, shoma you have advantage because it's removing the pick from its paw.) ]
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well. 18+1 is a 19 so i guess he manages to dodge out of the way of getting tentacle bashed, and casts another holy light right in this thing's face. eat shit ]
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he is getting slammed to the ground! at least he's not falling into a hole this time. as he takes a moment to reorient himself, though, he fires a bolt of lightning in the monster's direction from the ground.]
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but the light's a good sign, and he's grateful for the way the fire and the holy light banish the creature for a few moments and the holy light burns its flesh. the pick drives into the arm to stall and he takes out an eye. granted, he immediately yells out in surprise when it's replaced by a whole face.
bad. badbadbad.
the tentacles lash out and with his nat 20 and also advantage i guess, jesus, he's able to dodge them. the immediate response is to shoot it again, aiming directly for the meat of the arm itself to try and render that useless. and he's darting ahead to grab a shovel to attempt cleaving down on another tentacle that's going for whoever's about to get their shit wrecked. he's fine? adrenaline's helping. this is the best he can do, and he's 100% not paying attention to the fact he only has one shot left of his plasma gun. but i am. ]
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the tentacle wraps around him, picking him and and slamming him right back down. his grip on the plasma blade gets completely fcked, as his bad shoulder gets wacked. goodbye. his head already hurts, what's some more!! turns out you can concuss what's already concussed!! wow!!
with the fuzziness in his head, from the bashing, and the glitching of his vision... he sure does make an attempt to stab the tentacle with his marmora blade. LET GO BINCH!! ]
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it does let go of charles (WHY'S IT SPICY!?), but then moves with the arm 3 (black claw) to rake over the source of the holy light attack again! temenos (dc 16), it's hand is covered in black motes, and there's a sickliness from it that tells you without missing a beat that this is a diseased-looking limb... so diseased, it's festering.
it doesn't let go of keith just yet, even as he stabs with his knife, though it does shriek in annoyance. however shoma, your shovel finds purchase in one of the tentacles holding keith, which is actually pretty great. not before the slam that has keith getting a concussion sandwich, but at least the creature isn't going to be fucking picking him up for the time being as you sever enough tentacles for the gelatinous texture to sag and tear from his weight. you're free!
(there's a crashing sound and it seems like io is grabbing a pick from the ground and just. bashing into one of the restorative fountains on the other side after seeing that. fuck that noise.)
it takes a chance with its now freed arm 2 (sharp claws) and reaches for a razor sharp raking attack at shoma because of his nat 20 (dc 16).
and it sweeps with arm 1 (muscular arm) to snatch up one of your swordsmen now - charles and keith (dc 13 because it's big and slow). ]
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alas, this time, temenos doesn't get to aim at the head. because the big gross flesh limb slashes at him and with a seven, he will not be dodging that! so while he's getting his shit rocked, he fires off the holy light spell directly at the hand instead so he can at least counter whatever awful disease he's about to get hit with. or maybe just explode the hand into a thousand pieces. that'd be nice. ]
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I GUESS CHARLES WAS UNFORTUNATELY STILL REGAINING HIS BEARINGS FROM BEING SLAMMED BECAUSE I ROLLED A 1
but if he's snatched he will at least try to stab this arm with his sword damn it]
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4+4 is 8 baby so... get rekt idiot.
he can feel his right arm just one bash away from snapping completely. there's a strangled noise he makes as he's rag dolled.
going to just try and slash at the tentacle again, with his knife. ]
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Take my kiss.
[ temenos blasts holy light beacon and gets a raging fever for his hard work, damn! this fever... is the kind that you feel acutely in your body, every crevice, every corner. there's a fire inside of you, and it's not the Flame by any means. it's eating you alive from within. arm 3 is looking much more dark, however, thanks to the blasting. it's fingers are twitching, burnt, because damn THEY DIDN'T ORDER EXTRA HOTS.
the good news is once again... the holy light spells are acting like shotgun slugs, and the beast can't heal forever... one of its wells is dry. one of its wells is destroyed. around the room? there are several poised and full and still ready.
arm 1 bodyslams both keith and charles in one giant fist, their bones colliding together and probably not helping with the pain as they are crushed together by the muscular hand, driving them into the ground. detritus flies up and falls, a mess of picks and shovels, splinters of thick bones - arm bones and leg bones like a rain of sharp projectiles.
one of these projectiles... sinks into charles' chest as it rains down, not dead center, but oh that fucking hurts doesn't it? keith stabs at the grasping appendage and the tentacles surging around it. it manages to let go but it forms a fist and tries to crush you, keith (dc 15, with gravity on its side, heavy and ponderous.)
the arm 2 aiming for shoma claws at him, raking fast from his face, down to his chest, raking downwards with sharpened bone cresting bone, trying to dig, spill blood. it's hungry, and the bone absorbs... what blood it takes, but then a rogue pick gets yeeted into the bony hand with a shout from io's direction because fuck that noise! shoma, your eye... your eye is really fucked up right now. more so than before.
it goes for another fountain, attempting to heal some more holy light damage. ugh. gotta chug the
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unpleasant! but fighting with side effects is again, not weird. the hunger and the thirst and the heaviness are not fun, nor is the heat, but. i have no idea if the fountains/wells are anywhere nearby, but two can probably play at the sp regain game? maybe? temenos is starting to run kind of low on sp.
sorry buddy he's really not interested in your std kissing disease. i guess if there's a fountain or well, kind of nearby, instead of casting this turn, temenos is hurrying towards it and the second he's close enough, swings his staff like a holy baseball bat at the closest and nearest of the fountains to, checks my octopath notes, unleash a staff attack on a single foe 2 times, and steal SP equivalent to 10% of the damage dealt.
i realize charles just got skewered but im a healer, but, etc ]
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charles lets out a hiss of pain when he feels a bone snap, though thankfully not his sword arm—but frankly it's soon forgotten after being slammed into the ground again!! why!!! and then, you know, a bone stabs him. fucking ow.]
Ugh—crap.
[maybe a somewhat underwhelming response to a bone sticking out of his chest but he is really trying to cope here. ow. ow. but since not recovering immediately went badly for him last time, charles lets adrenaline take over as he rises to his feet as fast as he can. hopefully keith can do the same help him DON'T GET CRUSHED KEITH
he kind of stares at this bone for a moment, blearily wondering if he should yank it out and then use his heal gun on himself so he doesn't bleed out, or just. leave it in as a later problem. maybe he will leave it in for now. maybe someone else will need the heal gun more? thinking is so hard in this moment?
but this bone is making the idea of fighting proper very hard right now so rather than jump back into the fray with his sword, he will do his best to simply go and grab another torch to throw at this monster before going to break a fountain.]
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granted, his new focus is this fucking claw that immediately swipes over his face and down his chest. if it's blood you want, it's blood you're getting apparently because OW??? the claw rakes over his eye completely in a downward swipe to render it essentially useless, thick lines bursting over it and his front as blood seeps outward and shoma tries to aim and fire off another bullet.
this is about the time he realizes he's out. shit. fuck. shit.
whatever!!! he still has a single eye, two legs, and spite so he's bolting, following the lead of the others and grabbing a spare shovel to start beating the shit out of a different fountain. no!! stop healing bitch!!! ]
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ya know. getting slammed to the ground hurts, but getting smashed into charles hurts even more, somehow. the sound of both their bones crunching is disgusting, good thing he has decent constitution.
back into the ground he goes. covered in all kinds of nasty now. his right arm is completely useless now, just dangling. and as he lay there, his other hand coming over to hold it. HERE THE MONSTER COMES WITH A METAL CHAIR (no).
even at disadvantage he got a 17 with a +4 to dex, so. i guess he's fine.
spite fills him and even charles' meta encouragement. his eyes flash yellow and his teeth look a little sharper than usual?? as he rolls out of the way and let's out a roar of some kind.
he's back up on his feet and just picks a stray pick and yeets it at it's eye. (i can roll for it if you want)
whatever tentacle is reaching for a fountain, he's running and stabbing it. trying to give the others some more time to destroy said fountains!! ]
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keith rolls out of the way of the fist as it smashes down, quaking the earth beneath him as he just barely misses. his shoulder crunches and yeah. that's his arm just absolutely down for the count. glad he's an ambidexter. he yeets the pick and the creature snarls as it sinks into its face, embedded into its skull, but... not killing it. it's just there. terrifyingly dug in as ichory black blood dribbles down from the center, staining its teeth as its jaws open wide.
charles stop thinking, you get shot for a minor heal. there are just enough for the lot of you to take on. it won't exactly heal being pierced by a splintered bone, but it will... help a bit with some of the blood loss. running around with it still like this will. probably make it worse later. but for now? for now it's tolerable.
you all are just attacking these fountains, which is pretty excellent for you and not for it. arm 3 seems to be continuing to spasm, black motes leaving it as the fingers twitch like a spider on its back, it's still unhealed because the holy light really fucked its shit up. it's lying, a useless arm on the ground. the tentacles spasm and slap surging to steal in greedily for the liquid like starving beasts fighting for the watering hole. they squish and they wiggle against you, and as you try to beat these fountains into dust, it almost seems like it's maybe starting to panic.
it tries to sweep a shuddering arm 1 around those destroying the fountains... dc 14. it's trembling. ]
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also, this sudden black blood on its face and staining it's very flat teeth is horrifying, thanks. ]
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however i uh. rolled a 5. so. that's probably not going to go well for him.
taking a turn off from holy light casting was unfortunately a catastrophically bad idea. with the second hand bearing down on him temenos summons up a bigger spell - luminescence, an AOE light spell. it's double the cost, but if they die before he can get to healing, whatever he has left isn't going to matter. maybe he can get both arms at once since they are both trying to squash him like a bug. ]
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EXEUNT: FROM THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH
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— MISSION COMPLETE (bidding farewell to a terminal patient)