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test drive meme ⚔️️ 23 | FINAL
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ARRIVAL
The re-arrival of characters who were previously not here does not occur in the Bay this month. Instead, re-arrivals can appear at any time or place on the map as long as there is water. The Lady of the Lake is busy dealing with the situation in Atlantis (see the QuestBoard), so her magic isn’t very directed right now. Want to show up in the Red Spring? In someone’s shower? Stuck in the well the minotaur pissed in? Go for it! It’s time to get wet and wild. In fact, you could even show up underwater…
DARLING, IT’S BETTER
After the success at Dinas Emrys, the people of the cursed underwater town return to Camelot’s shores to offer a unique opportunity - to visit the town itself. It has only been seen in the distance before and this is the first time in many years that they have opened their gates to strangers, but all the hard work that the otherworlders have been putting in to fix the Calamity had not gone unnoticed even by them.
A few of the merfolk arrive at Camelot and ask people to put up notices for them. The following day they will be waiting for anyone who wants to make the trip down to the town, which they reveal is called Apkallun, and they will utilise the crown used to get everyone to Dinas Emrys to transform them into merfolk.
Merperson (fish bottom) - Merpeople’s singing voices are able to put people and creatures into a trance.
Cecaelia (octopus bottom) - Cecaelia can normally grant vengeance wishes, but per previous events, wish magic is not currently functioning as it should- so their primary features are the ability to ink and use their tentacles as additional controllable appendages.
Naga (serpent or eel bottom) - Naga have advanced strength and can extend their nails as claws.
The trip to the town is fairly uneventful, unless someone decides to wander off and gets stuck in some kelp or kidnapped by mischievous nymphs hiding along the route. Once there, it’s clear that the arrival of outsiders has been much anticipated by the town. They have put on a grand welcoming for their visitors and although many of the townspeople seem nervous to make eye contact with the strangers the atmosphere is not an unwelcoming one. Everyone is told that they may tour the town at their leisure and move about as they wish, and there is plenty to see.
OUTSKIRTS
It isn’t advised to linger around the areas outside the town, where the light of the lanterns quickly fades out through the water and leaves anyone straying wandering about in a murky darkness. For those more intrepid explorers, though, quick investigation of a noticeboard near the centre of the town will reveal a faded ‘dead or alive’ poster for something called The Wispmera, with a reward of twenty lavender pearls. Enquiring about it will draw laughs and puzzled looks from the townspeople, who will inform the enquirer that no one has ever gone after the creature in all the time the notice has been up. Further pressing will reveal, as they grow quiet and avert their gazes, that this beast will swiftly snatch up children who stray too far outside of the town unaccompanied.
However, all is not as it seems…
Hunting down the creature is no easy task and the descriptions of it are vague. It’s described as a barely-mer shaped thing that haunts the area around half a mile outside of town, occasionally drawing close only to be chased off by the town guard. Some people describe it as glowing, or having a massive head, and of being able to paralyse people from several metres away.
Even reaching the area where the creature is usually seen is fraught with dangers, including carnivorous fish and strong water currents, but persistent hunters will eventually come across the ‘beast’. It has the appearance of a huge jellyfish with poison tendrils wafting delicately though the water around it, but a moment of inspection will allow one to note that this creature also has a mer’s tail, and is simply sitting on a rock in the dark. If one can sneak up on it, it would be easy to kill. This first option would be the easy route to getting the reward and no one in town would fail to be grateful. The second, more risky option would be to engage it in combat, however those tendrils are able to paralyse a person within minutes should they hit. Anyone who is stunned by the creature will find themselves on the edge of the town after they black out, as if someone carefully brought them there.
There is a third option, however. Approaching the creature with no weapons will startle it, but it will not attack. This beast is far from the terrible child-stealing monster that those in the town would paint it as. In fact it has never stolen any children at all! All this poor thing desires is to be left alone, having never done any harm to anybody, and all of the stories about it have simply been passed down over time by frightened people who did not know what they were seeing out in the dark. If the hunter agrees to not kill the creature it will give them five pale blue-coloured pearls in thanks, but this will forgo the reward from the town. Unfortunately, no one is going to believe that you saw the creature at all.
DOWNTOWN
In downtown, around something that looks like it used to be a fountain, a bustling market has been set up with various stands and stalls selling local produce and items. Even the native townsfolk seem to be excited about this as it isn’t a regular occurrence and was thrown together in quite the rush after it was announced that strangers from the land would be coming to visit.
The stalls are offering food and drink, as well as handmade wares. The food is mostly fish-based, but some care has been taken to make choices available for those people who don’t eat fish (though that selection is somewhat limited). Locally made items are made mostly of shells, stones and driftwood as well as glass, and the stall-runners will eagerly push things into people’s hands if they show the slightest interest.
There is one large stall supplying most of the drinks on offer. Rather than being in glasses or bottles, they come in small magical bubbles that you pop into your mouth and break with your teeth and boast a variety of interesting and ‘enlightening’ effects.
- BLUE - a cool flavour almost like plain water, but uniquely fresh. Consuming it will cause the person’s skin to glow faintly for several hours.
- RED - tart with a faintly spicy kick. Drinking this will make you hiccup multi-coloured bubbles when you try to speak and lasts for around ten minutes.
- PURPLE - unexpectedly citrus-flavoured. This one causes the water being ‘exhaled’ from the gills as the person breathes to be dyed several different colours and will last for half an hour.
- ORANGE - tastes like honey and ginger. This one will cause the drinker to speak in rhyming couplets for around an hour.
- GREEN - tastes very much like absinthe. Also acts very much like absinthe. This will just get you very drunk very fast. Good luck.
UPTOWN
Part of the town is clearly far more… ‘polished’ than the rest. The homes are fronted with shining opals and nacre, and although the people there seem friendly enough there is a certain aloofness to them that isn’t found in the bustling marketplace or the streets around it.
But no matter, that isn’t why people have been directed there. The reason for any outsider to be shown the way to this area (unless they found their own way there) is to attend a concert being put on at the theatre in honour of their esteemed guests. There is a buzz about this show, with the performer clearly being someone of some note, and though there are no posters or pictures on the front of the building everyone is urged that they ‘wouldn’t want to miss it’.
The lights go up, and the performer is an ethereal oceanid of exceptional beauty who has been living in the town since she was brought to Avalon as an outsider herself many years ago. Though she doesn’t sing in a language anyone would be able to comprehend the emotion that she sings with could be enough to drive those in the audience to tears. Indeed, several people are seen to be leaving before the show is even finished and once it is over the entire room erupts into raucous applause.
Those otherworlders who attended the performance will be able to see beauty in everything and may find their emotions to be somewhat off-balance, making them more prone to outbursts and also to blurting out the truth to those around them. This effect should wear off after a few days, but any dreams that they have in the meantime will feature the oceanid’s singing in the background.
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THE RING OF DISP(HELL)
Part 1: Hot in Herre
As the otherworlders passed the test of nobility, the dragons reveal the location of the ring: it is hidden deep in a volcano. They are able to provide a map, but not much information about what can be expected once people get there.
The volcano itself is not one that the otherworlders would be entirely unfamiliar with, but it is not one that many would have had reason to approach before: the northernmost Ash Mountain, a volcano with plume-hidden bluffs nestled between Mab’s Cavern and the Perilous Desert. Though the Elphame traders are not around to offer much in the way of gear or protection this time around the dragons themselves offer to teach people a special spell (Spell: Dragonscale) which they say will protect from the heat and fumes that will need to be dealt with to reach the ring.
It’s recommended to give this spell some practice due to how valuable it will be when going up towards the volcano’s summit and for the trials beyond, but be warned that overuse can cause stiff joints, inability to regulate body temperature, and chronic burping that makes it feel like you just ate a dozen ghost peppers.
There will be plenty of time to gather supplies and kit, though some of the more unscrupulous merchants in Avalon are taking advantage of the rush as well as the lack of traders from Elphame, and are raising their prices. Some of the gear being sold may not quite be up to the task, either…
Part 2: Feeling Magmanimous
Arriving at the volcano is a trial in itself. The dragons will take those willing to go most of the way, but will drop them near the foot of the mountain to let them make their way up on foot. Their reasoning for this, they say, is to ensure that everyone is able to acclimate to the environment on their way up… but it might just be that they have better things to be doing.
With everyone loaded up it doesn’t take long for things to start becoming difficult. The heat rises swiftly around the travelers and there is very little movement in the air to offset it. Foul-smelling gasses rise up from vents and deep, narrow chasms along the edges of what appears to be a lightly-trodden path, if one could say it is a path at all, between slow-moving lava flows. What vegetation there is at the base of the volcano quickly gives way to the occasional tuft of dry grass and sickly-looking tree that has dared try to grow in this location. There is the constant, unsettling sensation of being watched despite the land around them appearing utterly bereft of any fauna.
Going too near to the edge of the path, woefully under-marked as it is, will put all but the most sure-footed in danger of slipping on the loose, shale-like ground beyond and sliding off down towards one of the oozing rivers of molten rock snaking their way down the side of the volcano. ‘Dragonscale’ won’t be enough to keep anyone from injury if they hit it, so watch out for each other!
A half day’s journey is what it takes to reach a mark on the map which seems to show the entrance to a large tunnel system, and though the entrance itself will be a tight squeeze for some it opens up initially into a spacious cavern that is somehow several degrees cooler than outside.
No doubt a few people will want to make up a camp and get some rest here. That’s probably a good idea. Beyond the cavern itself are several dark tunnels, shown on the map as Labrinth y Brenin, and some preparation is advised before heading into those passageways…
Part 3: Turnkey Toasted
When everyone is prepared, the final and most vital part of the expedition can begin. It is advised to take some kind of light source into the tunnels, as once the glow of the base camp is left behind the darkness is almost absolute. It quickly becomes hot and stuffy as progress is made through the winding passages and anyone who decides to lean on one of the walls to take a breather will quickly realize why - the tunnel walls are warm, almost hot, as if molten rock flows not too far behind them.
Occasionally the tunnel opens into small open spaces, like pockets in the mountain, where lava flows slowly in lazy rivers below the path as it precariously bridges over and edges around it. It might be tempting to linger in these spaces, where the pressing sensation of several hundred feet of rock above and around you is not so keen, but lingering for too long will have an unpleasant side-effect.
The fumes rising from the lava in these small caverns can cause powerful hallucinations, driving people to see their worst fears - real or perceived. It will be up to those who remain unaffected to make sure that their companions make it to safer ground, where the effects will wear off after a few minutes. Until then, it will be up to friends and strangers alike to make sure that those who are under the influence of the toxic gasses don’t cause harm to themselves or others.
Finally, hopefully without too much incident, the final cavern is arrived at. This is a large space, refreshingly cool despite several waterfalls of molten rock rolling slowly down the walls, and the ceiling glitters with geode clusters. In the centre of the cavern is a transparent, locked box inside which a simple ring can be seen. Underneath the box is an inscription.
You cannot prove, but you always know:
The apple falls, the wasp stings, a friend comes, the keys turn.
But what does this mean? The number of lava-falls in the cavern match the number of required keys to open the box, but surely the instructions can’t mean what they seem to?
Close examination of the falls will reveal the faint glint of gold behind them - the pieces are indeed behind the molten rock. Though it seems impossible, those who put their hands through the lava with faith that they will not be harmed will find that rather than burning, they only feel a pleasant warmth as the lava-fall parts around their hand and arm and allows them to pluck the key piece from behind it. Without faith… well, why would you stick your hand in lava if you really think your hand will melt off?
Once all the pieces are gathered by the faithful (and brave), the box can be opened and the simple ring is no longer quite so simple-looking. It can be taken without further trial, and the only task that remains is to make it back to base camp without accidentally falling off a bridge.
With the final item retrieved those who ventured out are free to return to Camelot, where they will need to hand the ring over to Merlin so the final preparations can be made to end the Calamity once and for all.
• This is the final "test drive meme," to welcome returning characters and wrap up the journey to get Lancelot's Ring of Dispell. |
Toshirou Hijikata | Gintama (Primatica CRAU) | Current Charater
[Hijikata didn't really want to visit Apkallun. The lake people were outstandingly kind to the outworlders, having saved and sheltered them last year and aided them in getting to Dinas Emrys this year, but after spending days on end with an octopus bottom twice he's kind of had enough! However the dangers of the lake eventually compel him to accompany the trek, even if he doesn't cut a very knightly figure with his lamp-equipped helmet and "fashionable" waterproof backpack to carry provisions and some magical items in.
Once in the underwater town it's only by chance that he notices the worn 'wanted' poster. After gathering more information on the Wispmera he quickly resolves to find it. He can't let a child-snatching monster terrorise these shy but gentle people! So he sets out, equipped with his swords (the belt they're tied to is the only part of his uniform he's still wearing in his current form, kept in place above his grey-greenish tentacles thanks to his lower body's girth) and his elemental- and death magic (who's to say that the mysterious creature isn't a ghost of some kind?).
Luckily he found a companion to go with him while the other guests enjoy the marketplace and the lake people's hospitality, because the area beyond the town's outskirts turns out to be dangerous. Hijikata ends up having to use his water magic to redirect a strong underwater current that would have swept him away otherwise, and on one or two occasions only his lightning magic is convincing enough to scare large fish with uncomfortably sharp teeth away.
It's after several hours of searching that the two adventurers finally spot an entity that matches the townsfolk's vague descriptions. They take cover in a kelp forest and observe the presumed enemy.]
It has a mermaid tail... or is that someone else's who's being digested by it?
[Creepy!! He has half a mind to take advantage of the creature not having noticed them yet and take it out by surprise. Attacking in an ambush isn't his normal modus operandi, but is it really worth the risk when this thing can paralyse people with its long tendrils? He doesn't want to end up as its next meal!]
2) The Ring of Disp(Hell) (Turnkey Tosted)
[Honestly, Hijikata didn't expect them to make such fast strides in their efforts to avert the calamity, but it seems that after the odyssey of finding the Fisher King and weakening Excalibur with his curse the trust between Camelot and Elphame solidified to the point where King Arthur and Queen Elphame (specifically the latter) felt able to lay all their cards on the table. They made great progress throughout summer, procuring the ouroboros' eggs and the phoenix' heart... so now only that mystical ring is left. Whatever the plan is for the items, he has no idea, but he feels the confidence all around him, and it has infected him too.
He practises the Dragonscale spell with restraint before the expedition, and while it makes him feel oddly heavy he also feels like his skin could withstand any kind of extreme temperature like this. On the day of the flight he's ready - even the supply shortage didn't affect him, given that he already had everything he needed and stuffed it into his Inventory-Slots-enhanced camping backpack. His latest encounters with dragons reduced his animosity to the point where he's content to ride on the red dragon's back along with his fellow adventurers.
The ascent of the volcano proves difficult and challenging, and Hijikata missteps more than once despite all care, having to save himself with his wind magic at last second. At least he's not the only one, and he ends up grabbing a couple of people before they can fall. Once they all reach the cavern a long rest is desperately needed.
When the adventurers are ready to proceed into the tunnels of the Labrinth y Brenin he hands out torches and magical fire - not an ideal light source in the already hot volcano, but unless the light mages are able to provide for everyone it'll have to do. As they pass a gap in the dark tunnels that lets them view the slow streams of lava far below he turns to wait for someone who paused before reentering the narrow passage.]
Are you coming? You don't want to fall in there.
3) Quests
A ⦿ Holy Mayo War
[No one could have been more delighted to see a mayonnaise stall open on the marketplace than Hijikata! He eagerly chats with the vendor, overlooking her puzzled face at his mention of mayonnaise fairies, and is more than ready to pay the high price for several jars... until the vendor invites him to first sample the different varieties she created. A moment later his yelling can be heard across the market.]
You!! What do you-- hic-- think you're doing?! This isn't-- hic-- mayonnaise!! It tastes like-- hic-- shit!! Are you trying to make a mockery of-- hic-- us mayonnaise lovers?! Huh?!
[This sure escalated quickly. He's shaking the fae by the collar and has already drawn his sword too... he may or may not be demanding seppuku as the only suitable punishment.]
B ⦿ Knight at the Museum
[Of course chaotic evil doesn't sleep, not even now that they're getting so close to being able to avert the calamity! Hijikata is pretty pissed off that some mages have nothing better to do than turn armours at the museum into mauling machines, so naturally he turns up there at dusk. Seeing another outworlder nearby he skips the pleasantries.]
I take it you're here for the knights too? What's your game plan? I'm not a siphoner, so...
[He pats the hilts of the swords at his belt (one long, two short). He clearly intends to brute-force his way through this.]
C ⦿ Shining Armor
[Malous in the heart of the foggy marshes isn't exactly Hijikata's favourite place on Avalon. The creatures that live in these swamps are so dangerous and creepy!! At the same time the mushroom fae that also dwell there greatly aided everyone in finding the missing Fisher King, and as usual he simply can't let the matter rest, so he sets out... admittedly without much of a concept of how to deal with the armour. His primary plan is to engage it in combat, be it by sword or by magic, blow it apart and seal each piece in a container before it can put itself back together. It's a pleasant surprise to run into a fellow quester all the way out here.]
You've got to be here for the armour as well. What's an armour doing in the marshes, anyway? It should've sunk at the first misstep!
[Well, Hijikata, maybe it was just careful! And with no body inside it doesn't make for an attractive prey for the creatures in the dark water.]
D ⦿ The Lost City
[Hijikata has a certain fondness for the Lady of the Lake, not least because she retrieved his sword for him when he lost it in the lake well over a year ago (never mind that she also put a spell on it... one of these days the first words spoken after someone is struck by the blade will be something weird, and then he'll realise). As such he tackles her ask of escorting the Atlanteans while they gather supplies outside of Atlantis, even though he has to enlist an alchemist friend's services first to attain the Potion of Underwater Breathing.
It's goddamn weird to be underwater in his normal human form (this time he's wearing the wetsuit he bought along with the mining-helmet-like thing that provides some light underwater), but at least he's not the only land-dweller who took on the job! As the Atlanteans harvest clams he and his fellow quester watch out for merrows.]
I've been underwater way too many times this year. Do you actually enjoy this?
[Otherwise why would anyone else have picked up this quest... unless they also want to please the Lady of the Lake, or are maybe interested in the mysteries of Atlantis?]
E ⦿ Jerry Jello (OOC: He's not actually doing the quest, but if anyone wants to meet teenage Hijikata, here's your chance!)
[Despite Hijikata's bitching about his many aquatic adventures he went ahead and commissioned another Potion of Underwater Breathing for the purpose of visiting the town of Bucca off the east coast of Avalon. Well over a year ago he helped exterminate a bunch of man-eating nudibranchs that endangered the town's peaceful eel naga population, and with the outworlders' return home appearing within reach now he wants to check up on those lake people one more time.
The people of Bucca are happy to see him again, and he spends several hours telling them about everything that happened (they got word of the big events, of course, but they're eager to hear the dramatic details first-hand from one of the brave foreigners!). He pretty much stays until shortly before the potion's effect wears off, and they see him off with many kind words. He's actually quite emotional as he swims back up to the surface... good thing he's in the water! He doesn't think much of the tiny glowing jellyfish swarm he passes by (he's in his wetsuit after all!), but one of them brushes against his face... and that's all it takes.
The day after anyone who knows him may be confused to see him in town looking much younger - 10 years, give or take -, wearing his uniform as usual (at least he didn't shrink out of it), long hair tied up in a ponytail. He looks pretty nonchalant about what happened, raising a hand in greeting.]
Before you ask, apparently a yellow jellyfish aged me down. It could've been worse; there are some really shitty effects you can catch from differently coloured ones.
F ⦿ The Forest Grove
[So the ruins of Celliwig have, at long last, been reclaimed by the dark mages of the fallen Splendoured Court... that old name probably doesn't apply anymore now, with the appearance of the place changed from bright structures of glass and crystal to that black diamond fortress towering over the ongoing rebuilding efforts. Hijikata is quiet for once, impressed by how profound the difference is. Untypically for him, he came here not to fight any light mages opposed to the changes, but rather to try and reason with them. He's not great at diplomacy, but the partial responsibility he feels for what happened almost a year ago sits deep. Seeing a fellow outworlder here is a relief.]
Of all the things that might've happened to this place I didn't see this coming. So their big talk about balance was pretty hypocritical in the end, huh?
[They went through so many trials to prove that they united light and darkness in them, only to now realise that Celliwig itself was tipped in favour of the light back then... but this is just the nature of people, isn't it?]
G ⦿ Wildcard
[OOC: Please feel free to rope him into any other quests, light web or dark web, if you need a partner or victim (he's a weredog, in case anyone is doing the Howl in Pain quest, but he won't go down easily... unless you trick him somehow)! Also feel free to PM me or hit up my plotting post.]
C!
[Speaking of which... He remembers drinking with him.... annnd the Mayo-fairy siren (that sure was a fucking thing...) But he doesn't remember how to salute.]
[It's unimportant. Probably. Maybe.]
I assume it's using hot ghost air to support itself on water like a hot air balloon, and enough surface tension to walk on mud like water shoes.
[It's surreal how Hijikata is 3 centuries ahead of Nobunaga, but Nobunaga is an obsessive information sponge about anything new and advanced technologically, the esoteric, the impossible, unheard of, and hot air balloons and water shoes did sort of exist in his time. They're just immensely impractical for every day use so almost no one uses them.]
It's good to see you're still ... [A vague hand gesture summing up the other man.]
You. [Is... that really a compliment???]
[No, but he means it as one, he's happy.]
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It's good to see that you're still you too, Demon King.
[His happiness probably swings in his tone of voice. He remembers it all so well, too - they only met a few times, and well over a year ago, but every talk or adventure they had was so memorable! He really understood back then how Nobunaga became such an influential and well-remembered person. This man has charisma! And very strange and unusual ideas, and an insatiable curiosity about everything.]
You came back, and right away you came out here into the marshes all alone? That's so typical.
[Is that a compliment??? Honestly, he says it with fondness. Nobunaga's zest for adventure (or, depending on who's judging, recklessness) is just part of what makes him who he is.]
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Well, not right away. [A small mischievous twinkle.] I had quite some catching up to do with Kitsuno. New lover of hers or not. [Is that known to anyone else? HE'S ABOUT TO FIND OUT.]
I'm not sure my technomancy will be of any use. [He's less tetchy about magic right now, on account of the back and forth, and as stubborn as he is (infinitely stubborn, the most stubborn to ever live!) he's still going to prioritize using any tool at his disposal rather than tradition (just think of it like guns over swords. No problem!)]
My memories of everything here are still hazy. Last time, I remembered things like I never left. This time it feels like a decade. Still, I came out to see if it would work. [GRIN.]
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Despite having thoughts about all that he opts to forego any commentary. Honestly, he's horrible at dealing with romance. It's so complicated! It seems a lot easier to simply focus on the quest.]
You've got technomancy and healing, if I remember right - or did your magic types get scrambled up when you came back? Also what do you know about Malous?
[Because if he hasn't been here before (which seems exceedingly likely) and nobody filled him in on the dangers of the area... oh boy, does Hijikata have a warning-filled infodump for him.]
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That would explain a lot.
[IT MIGHT BE LIGHT MAGIC Actually.
My brain...WHATEVER. MAGIC. He remembers healing. And using sweets mostly to channel it.]Malou... nope, nothing. [Oh yeah, that does remind him of drunk Hijitaka in the forest. Magic bush bears and such. Good times. And dragging Zuko into nonsense and shenanigans. STOP DROP AND ROLL. He remembers that.]
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Mer-Town Monster Hunting
As they watched the creature from their cover, he frowned a bit in thought about the question.]
I honestly have no idea. It's not like anyone could give us a real clear description of it.
Welcome back!! ♡
Yeah... but now that I see it the tidbits we got kind of add up. It glows, it has a huge "head", and it has long enough tendrils to harm people from afar.
[They continue to observe the creature for another minute, without it doing anything in particular. At least from the way it occasionally moves its tail, at one moment turning it to the other side while shifting its weight, makes Hijikata conclude that this is indeed one body, an odd merperson-jellyfish hybrid.]
...
It's just sitting there. If we want to take it by surprise we've got to use a long-range attack. I always worry about using lightning underwater - it's effective, but can backfire really easily. If you've got no better idea I'll see if I can make the lake floor swallow it up, keep it down with water pressure, and finish it with my sword.
Yee! Thank you! :D
Keith stayed there, studying it, frowning in thought as they watched it. He almost startled a bit when Hijikata spoke up again.]
Mm. No. I wouldn't want to use lightning underwater, either. Not while we're in it. [The plan wasn't necessarily a bad one, either.] What about ice? Push it down towards the bottom with the water pressure, then capture it in the lake bed and hold it there with a combination of the earth and ice. Though, one of us should probably be the magic user to hold it down, and the other should be the one to go in and finish it off. Doing both is risky if you lose concentration on your magic.
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[To be fair, Keith probably hasn't either... but Hijikata doesn't use ice magic very much in general, usually leaving that to his squire when they're fighting together. He's not bad at it, but certainly not as good as Shoto. What's more, while he understands that Keith has plenty of battle experience under his belt he generally prefers to take responsibility for the kill over delegating it to younger comrades-in-arms.
The creature is still staying put, apparently resting... though the next moment it plucks off a string of kelp growing next to the rock it's sitting on and starts weaving or folding it, however with no sense of urgency. It's probably either just playing around or doing some kind of handicraft... or something more sinister, like making an item it can infuse with damaging magic. Who knows?]
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I haven't done it underwater, either, but I'd actually gotten pretty good at ice magic in general before... whatever happened. [He'd disappeared... gotten stuck back in the time freeze... whatever...] So, yeah.
I'll do it.
[He'd need a somewhat better vantage point. Keith tended to operate on sight, so he wanted a spot where he could clearly see his target.]
I'm gonna head over that way to see if I can get a better view. [He nodded towards his left.] Give me about... [Mental calculating...] three minutes.
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CW: Murder 💀 (He'll realise that they kind of screwed up afterwards via death magic!)
Oops!
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want to end it here?
Yes! Cheers for seeing this one through post-endgame! ♡
Hooray!
D
There aren't any places like this to swim back home, so this is brand new to me! [ Hard to go deep water diving in the middle of a modern metropolitan city. The closest she got before was an aquarium, which hardly seems a fair comparison. ] It's amazing to see what lives beneath the surface.
[ Ah, that child-like optimism and cheer, even in the middle of an escort protection quest. ]
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Well, yeah, it is impressive what creatures live down here... the number of different civilisations really surprised me.
[There's Atlantis, Apkallun, Bucca... and that's without counting the nomadic lake people (such as the merrows they're watching out for)! Come to think, he should check how prepared Mamori is for the possibility of combat - or rather, what her expectations for it are. Does she usually win enemies over through the power of friendship? It's hard to imagine anything else from this cute innocent girl! But she does wear her armour on missions and has demonstrated considerable bravery; she clearly understands the severity... still, he simply can't envision her gutting anyone like he would! If he mauls the enemies is he going to traumatise her?! He decides to start with the basics.]
What do you know about merrows?
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She tilts her head quizzically... which may go unseen given their helmets, but it's fine. ] I don't know very much about them... just that they're dangerous. [ Which is obvious. Why else would they be here, protecting others from them? ]
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Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it. The Lady of the Lake told me they eat human souls, and I've got reason to believe that they eat the bodies too. A book I read at the Archivist's holds a historical anecdote of that happening, anyway.
[Who really knows, though? Someone might well just have made that up.]
No one said anything about them using magic, but I'd brace for water magic anyway, just in case.
[He really, really hopes they don't use death magic... he knows that they can devour just part of a soul, too (after which it will luckily recover and regenerate); how does that work if not through something akin to an exorcism? But no book or person could give him a conclusive answer to that question.]
B
He's answering question with question, next.]
Isn't it faster just to cut them apart?
[This seems somehow still practical.]
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We're on the same page, as usual. Let's let ourselves in, hm?
[It's been only lately during the summer months that Hijikata gained halfway decent control of metal magic, but it certainly comes in handy now. He summons a small amount of iron - he practiced this as a priority, given how many fae creatures dislike this metal - infused with fire magic to keep it soft and pliable. Pushing it into the small backdoor's keyhole, letting it assume the right form after some twisting and adjusting, cooling and hardening it, and then turning it in the lock, it all goes so smoothly that he's a little surprised himself. He opens the door and lets Shoto and himself in.]
We just need to follow the clanking... if they're even wearing armour. I'd be surprised if there were still any night guards on the job after what happened to that one poor bastard.
[Everything is quiet at first, but as they move out of the storage area and into the museum proper they encounter the first animated mannequin sooner than expected. It's bent over something in the 'Extinct Fauna of Avalon' section... on closer inspection it's one of the giant bats of Lestari. This specimen was likely brought here and taxidermied for exhibition, and now the mannequin is pulling all the stuffing out of its opened stomach.]
I'll take this one.
[He sweeps in, Muramasha drawn, and casually beheads the mannequin that barely managed to turn around in time, then grabs both its wrists and cuts its hands off too, and finally slices through its (luckily armourless) torso. The pieces clatter to the ground (though the lower body only falls after a kick from Hijikata) and aimlessly squirm around there, all without much noise.]
One down, eleven to go. I think we'd best put their grabby little hands in a big vase or something, just to be on the safe side.
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Whuh—
["What can't you do" he wants to say. As he drifts behind cautious, his mildly curious apprehension trades its slot for pure wonder, taken aback at first. He's never seen a real museum before; and if matters weren't so pressing, he might be wandering almost wide-eyed, sort of noiselessly poking about at every detailed old exhibit, but— this is the worst timing, isn't it? An added urgency to their mission now. A flurry of movement follows next, and eyes are following Hijikata, watching the mannequin slit to pieces with nearly a too-clean efficiency. The elder swordsman's much quicker, and equally sudden realization's striking him hot as lit matches; that this is the strength he'll need to mimic echoing loudly in his thoughts instead. His always-awe's ever present, and though he's taking steps backwards, not quite certain where those legs can move, his jumping heart lifts emboldened.]
I- [He's on it!] I'll go find one.
[Now where's a vase big enough?
Off he goes, with only minutes allowed to pass before he's sprinting across the halls instead, his searching eyes catching shadows. A creaking, swinging diorama hangs suspended in the air this time, a suit of armor on a wing mount, its weight in full dropping down on him, ice like spear-tips erupting in aerial-Heaven Piercing Ice Wall. The boy's raised spikes with just fingers, twin momentums in violent meeting, in shattering mess of severed limbs and armored parts raining down on him, pieces splitting from golden ragdoll noisily bouncing along the marble's top. Bloodless, though no less shocking while nerves collect themselves.
He's picking up doll hands. Furious.]
What did you think you were gonna do there?
[As if this scolding means anything. But what a waste of its perfect armor! Whoever's responsible needs the beating... But still he does spot the vase, though, and boy has fairly expensive bisque before he's rushing to Hijikata—one pair rattling about inside it when Shoto hands it off shyly,]
I think it might be 10 now...
1/2
When Shoto runs off so readily he smiles after him. Ever so helpful. While the boy is gone he investigates the "crime scene", trying to figure out if the mannequin was using any tools - after all he doubts that they gored the unfortunate night guard with their bare fake hands -, and finds a historical knife, likely taken from elsewhere in the museum, next to the stuffed bat. Apparently the mannequin just started using its hands once it had cut it open. He attemps to understand why it even went for this exhibit... weren't they said to only take apart things that move? But after a few moments he realises that the mannequin must have caught its own moving reflection in the glass pane the information about the bat is written on and gotten curious.
When he hears the noise in the distance he immediately turns and goes sprinting towards it, but Shoto meets him halfway with the vase in his hands. He cracks a smile - there's no disbelief on his face, just pride.]
We're making good headway, aren't we?
[He accepts the vase, pleased with its contents, and carries it back to where they left the first mannequin. Its parts are still wiggling across the ground, and he collect the hands and puts them with the others (having to shake one off rather fiercely when it grabs on to his own hand).]
Without these they'll have a way harder time using any dangerous items.
2/2
Hijikata simply engages in combat, partly because the attack came so fiercely and decisively, partly because he knows that his usual elemental attacks won't hurt or slow down the mannequins (fire magic would destroy them, but they'd probably keep fighting while burning, and that might cause more harm than good in the worst case). He can stand his ground, but damn, they aren't half as bad as he thought after the first one went down like a log! He's going to need a moment to come up with a solid counteroffensive here - unless Shoto is incensed enough to take the lead on that.]
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Hell Spider!!
[Bringing crossing arms down this time; fire fine as any laser's cut, his own maneuvers less chaotic, far more delicate than his father's threads. A near-entirely different precision leaving a "doll" in split pieces, shelled extremities all detached within its superheated matrix.
The way he's promised he'd be flames again; now he also thinks of Hades, an oath to never lose his will to light; to glow himself for Hijikata's sake. He isn't fooling around in slightest here, determined he'll absolutely ruin anything close to approaching the other, all the youth's indignant fury raised in his rushed surge of water, ice extinguishing flames like wicks inside a small, rising tidal crest. And yet the boy is barely scheming, his overwhelming will to guard a quickly rising gauge for months by now.
He is not about to let these emptied armor dolls trouble him. In passing time between first and second, the former wriggling about too much to stay, he's darting quick before it frees itself, rushing in follow-up to Flashfreeze, ribboning flames around his fist and slamming his palm against his ice instead, heating his skin beyond its normal glow. His Heatwave's magma's blowing limbs apart, explosions same as burst crystals, sharp ice splintering into glass in shards.
Forgetting himself a while longer. Dropping his palms to wet floor now, wide eyes following Hijikata, ice sprouting across his hands should he be needed to intervene at all.]
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CW: Torture Exhibition / Mannequin Body Horror
A
Like right now, as she swings at the back of Hijikata's head to bonk him with Engetsuka, the nodachi still in its sheathe of course; didn't want to cut the dude down, just stop him.]
No messing with the people who make your food. Not like that anyway. And YOU--[She points and glares at the shop-owner.] I told you to place warning labels till we get the recipe right, damn it! How many times does it make it!? How hard is it to get some paper and a marker!?
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You can't really-- hic-- call this "food"! It's crap!! This shit-- hic-- really needs warning labels! What the hell did you-- hic-- put into it?!
[That last part, of course, was directed at the fae, who is sweating bullets at this point as she stammers something about butter, vinegar and milk, and also about not having been able to leave the booth alone to fetch materials for label-making. Hijikata snorts like an angry bull, not even having listened to the second half. How can anyone sell such a gross concoction as mayonnaise?!]
You're a fraud!! Dis-- hic-- dismantle this stall at once before I-- hic-- slap a fine on you!
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You. Not helping. Didn't you even read the quest board? She needs help, not people constantly yelling at her!
[Just as the fae was about to sigh, Homura shot her a glare and threw a marker. With a sigh, the fae did eventually begin to write on each of the bottles. Her heated gaze turned back to Hijikata.]
Look, I already got my hands full making the damn thing and playing bouncer. So chug a bottle of water or three, come to the back of the store, and give me a hand, or your ass will be set on fire. You seem to be an expert, so this should be the easiest thing in the world.
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[Okay, so she just 1) bonked him again (when he's pretty sure that he holds the higher rank, or at least seniority!), 2) castigated him for not knowing that this mockery of a mayonnaise stall is involved in an active quest (why is it other people's responsibility to teach the vendor how to make her product?!), and 3) ordered him around when, again, doing that is his job!!. He's about to blow a fuse...
But then she calls him an expert on mayonnaise. Which he is!! No one cares about mayonnaise more than him on this goddamn island! Finally a sliver of recognition from this irreverent girl! His eyebrow is twitching really badly as he responds, and his voice sounds a little shrill and thin, but it's truly remarkable that he's keeping it together (no, seriously).]
I'll help, alright. But-- hic-- you better learn some respect, you-- hic-- shitty brat! Not only am I a knight of-- hic-- a knight of the round table, I was also-- hic-- one of the select few to-- hic-- win a golden ticket to the Mayorin-- hic-- mayonnaise factory in Edo!
[Never mind that 1) winning something is based on luck, not skill (and he... really pushed his luck by forcing all of his subordinates to eat mayonnaise for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for far longer than was good for them), and 2) the experience actually ended up being so traumatic that he blocked it from his memory...]
Watch it or-- hic-- your ass will be toast!
[He summons a fireball in his palm to demonstrate that the playing field is even here.]
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