A Conjuror's journey

[PieceThruWar]

Overcome by the pain of losing her leg on top of everything else, Cattleya blacked out. When she came back to awareness, her leg was back and she was flying through the air away from the giant crab. She didn't even have time to wonder when it had come back to the surface because it wasn't a moment later when her back slammed into the cliff face hard enough to knock the breath out of her.

Painfully inhaling, the werebear choked on her own blood. She could feel jagged bone stabbing into her lungs as she struggled to breath, her entire body ached, and the seemingly bottomless well of stamina she normally felt in that form felt far more shallow than she remembered. Tiredly watching the monster scuttle closer as blood trickled from her snout, she knew she couldn't afford to just sit there. Forcing in a deep breath, she rocked forward and coughed out as much as she could before turning back to the stone wall.

Human-like fingers and bear-like claws dug into rock as Cattleya struggled to scale the precipice. Half-way up, she risked a look down and saw that her foe was somehow even slower than her at climbing. Still, it could be slower, so she used her feet to dislodge what stones she could and send them spiraling downward.

Not wasting a moment as she reached the top, the werebear loped across grassy earth to gain some distance. Collapsing in a heap some couple hundred feet or so from the edge, she hacked up a quickly coagulating mass of ichor. Even with how inordinately exhausted she felt, she took some comfort in the fact that most of the pain had faded.

A clicking sound announced the beast's imminent arrival and while she intended to gain some more distance, her body lurched forward with a growl. Despite her wishes, she advanced on the crab, slavering as a wave of hunger hit her. How long had it been since she'd eaten? Too long, if the gnawing feeling in her gut was any judge.

Color draining from the edges of her vision, she stopped fighting and charged the crustacean. She hadn't felt do empty since her first transformation, but like that time, the cure was obvious. Nobody in her family was very fond of seafood, but she couldn't care less at the moment as she dove between closing pincers and snapped her jaws shut on one of the middle legs on the right side.

The thin, bony limb splintered and collapsed beneath her teeth. Placing both arms on the crab's underside, she twisted her head down and away, pulling her prize free. Crunching carapace and muscular meat beneath provided no relief for her stomach. Its taste was awfully and the black flesh turned to ash in her mouth, sending her further into hunger induced rage.

Grabbing the next leg in her hands and didn't even bother pulling it off before biting down. As it snapped in half at the the joint and proved just as disgusting as the first, a blur of white entered her vision. Dodging out of the way at the last second caused the claw aimed for her to crash into the front leg and the beast crumpled under its own weight, crushing both remaining legs on that side as well as the shell on the arm.

Cattleya looked on in rage as the beast's meaty claw began to evaporate. The knowledge that this fight wouldn't even provide her with a meal was infuriating. Taking wounds in pursuit of prey was one thing, but to be so heavily injured for no reward? The guttural roar in her mind was answered with an agreeing one escaping her lips as she went on the offensive once more.

Circling around out of reach to avoid being snapped up in the remaining pincer or bludgeoned with the smoking forelimb, she grabbed the rearmost leg on its left side. Rather than pry the limb off, she braced it on her shoulder and tugged with all her might. The sound of scrapping dirt barely reached her ears over the pumping of blood as she taxed her muscles for all they were worth.

One pull.

Two.

Three and then a fourth.

With each step, she pressed on, grabbing the next leg when the first couldn't take the strain. Every foot traveled was a monumental effort until at last, she reached her goal. Grabbing the remaining three legs together in a bundle that bent the creature's joints unnaturally, she took a deep, bracing breath. Putting all her anger and frustration into one last maneuver, Cattleya planted her feet and swung.

Flying in an arc around the werebear, the giant crab was launched out into the open air, legs tearing off when the mass of its body proved too much for them to anchor. The beast didn't make a noise as it tumbled off the cliff, just staring at her with its one remaining eye. Just before it reached the bottom, she thought she saw a pale face in the glassen orb, but there was no way to know for sure, as steel and crustacean alike shattered into quickly sinking fragments.

Flopping down on her belly, Cattleya couldn't say which she wanted more: food or sleep. Luckily for her, the answer presented itself with the sound of whistling.

"Not how I would've done it, but can't argue with the results." A vaguely familiar voice came from behind her. Turning red eyes, Cattleya saw a copper haired biped that tickled at her memories. Maybe she'd eaten others of its kind before? It was making non-aggressive noises and walking closer so it was either suicidal, stupid, or both. "Anyway, I guess this confirms your story of not being a Grimm... whatever you really are."

Status: Starving, Exhausted, Uninjured, Slipping control..
Magicka: (2500/3000)

Choose:
[] Eat the idiotic thing, a free meal is a free meal.

[] Eating him, though appealing, feels like it might be a mistake. Go to sleep instead.

[] You were doing something important, but you can't remember more than the fact that God told you to do it. Maybe transforming back will help, you can eat him once you find out how urgent the task is.

[] Write in.

----------------------------------
A/N: I just want you guys to know, the easy solution was to lure it up against the cliff and use Crumble to drop a hundred tons of stone on it.

 

[PieceThruWar]

As much as she wanted to eat the stupid creature, there was something she was supposed to be doing. If only she could remember what it was. Between her hunger, exhaustion, and a foggy head, all she could remember was that God had sent her on a hunt. The thought that the tiny being approaching her might be her intended prey was laughable, so what could be the real target?

Letting out a low growl of irritation at the creature's attempt to touch her and her own inability to recall what was so important, Cattleya pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the pile of items with her sent on them. Whatever was going on, she wouldn't find answers as she was.

The discomfort of her fur receding, muscles shrinking, and bones realigning was worth it when her muddled thoughts became clearer. She was hunting a pair of fake gods for her Lord, Hircine. Why had that been so hard to remember? Why were her memories of the last few minutes a haze? Other than a vague feeling of victory, she wasn't sure what had happened to the giant crab.

Everything ached as she reached down for the bundle of clothes at her feet and her stomach was growling incessantly. Wasn't she going to eat something a minute ago?

"Erm... I'm still here." A voice said from behind her, making her grab her wand and spin around. Peter was standing a few feet away, looking delicious... or rather, embarrassed.

Breathing a sigh of relief that it was just an him that saw her in the nude, she lowered her wand and resumed getting dressed. Ignoring him for now, she settled for just pants and boots in favor of filling her empty belly. Tearing open her pack, the pinkette stuffed her face with half of the dried fish from the market. It would be absolutely mortifying if somebody was around to see, but that was the benefit of being in the wilderness; no people to witness when you ignore etiquette.

"Are you even hearing a thing I'm saying? We need to leave, NOW!" The rude little faunus shouted at her. Dragging her attention from her food to raise a brow toward him, she wasn't so crude as to speak with her mouth full even toward an animal, he threw up his hands and started to gather the rest of her things. "Hydra, dangerous, move!"

Before she protest, or even swallow in preparation to do so, the copper haired faunus caught her arm in an iron grip and dragged her toward the mountains. Just as they made it into the dense brush, a trio of roars came from below the cliff.

------------------

After a long day of worried searching and asking around for signs of her wayward employer, Patypata Perse reluctantly returned to the lodge for the night. Pushing her way through the door, a gasp reached her ears as Will whispered something to one of an identical pair of raven haired women at the bar, earning him a coquettish grin.

Upon noticing her entrance, the... unusual host's smile fell, replaced with a carefully neutral expression. "Oh, you're back. Room for two again?"

"No... I-I'm sorry for what my friend said this morning, she's kind of socially oblivious."

"You don't have to apologize for her, sweetie." He sighed, gesturing for her to take a seat. "You look worn out, did the two of you have a fight?"

Biting her lip, Paty shook her head. "Not really. She left me behind... I wasn't supposed to follow her here and I can't really defend myself, so it's not like I don't understand, but-"

"But you're worried." One of the women sitting nearby finished for her.

"Yeah."

Slapping her on the back, the black haired woman laughed, "Well don't let it get to ya, next thing you know, you'll start blaming yourself and that's no way to live. Besides, I'm sure she's doing just fine, right sis?"

"Mhmm!" The second agreed, not pulling her lips away from a quickly draining pitcher. Slamming it down for a refill once it was empty, she looked to the upset sheep-girl and added warmly, "Sometimes you just gotta have faith. Cattleya's a big girl, she can take care of herself."

Flabbergasted, Paty stared at the two of them and wondered aloud, "I never said her name, how do you know who I was talking about?"

"Sandra-""Guinevere-" The twins introduced themselves in sequence, finishing together with matching smiles, "Consider us friends of a friend."

--------------------------------

Sitting alone in a magically created earthen dome, abandoned by the copper haired faunus who'd insulted her intelligence before leaving, Cattleya looked down at the book she'd purchased from Blake's mother. The Grimm Menace, it was called. According to both Kali and the rude faunus, as well as the book itself, the author was a world renowned professional Huntsman. With such high praise, this 'Peter Port' certainly sounded like a trustworthy source of information.

Too exhausted to continue her journey even if it wasn't growing dark, Cattleya settled in to do some reading before going to sleep. Flipping the book open to the section on coastal threats, she skimmed halfway down the summary page for the beast she'd encountered earlier that day.

'Karkinos: Crabs, the beach-goer's foe! All jokes aside, the Karkinos is no laughing matter. When most people see the tiny white-shelled creatures on the shoreline, they either see an ordinary crab or a Grimm so weak that it seems harmless. Well, I tell you now, that that's not the case. While small, young Karkinos have been known to overwhelm unsuspecting travelers through sheer numbers. Adolescents of the species grow as large as a house and their armor only grows stronger with age. At this stage, the crustaceans tend to wait on the sea floor until alerted to the presence of humans or faunus by their lesser brethren. If that wasn't enough, the lack of means to hunt them below the waves occasionally leads to individuals that rival an Atlesian battleship. Worse still, the creatures seem to have some sort of symbiotic relationship with Hydra-type Grimm much like the partnership between Manticore and Sphinx, as the serpents are never far behind the arrival of the larger examples of the Karkinos. Despite all this, some Huntsmen are known to seek them out for their eyes, the organs being extremely durable and worth quite a lot of Lien for the fact that they do not dissipate like most Grimm Tissues. Continued on page 87.'

Realizing that the source of the roaring she'd heard was probably a Hydra, she quickly found it as well.

'Hydra: Native to the shallow waters around Anima, the Hydra is believed to be an aquatic evolution of the King Taijitu. Sporting three or more heads depending on age, this creature of Grimm uses its size and multitude of snake-like heads to destroy anything within reach by attacking from several angles at once. Every third head is unarmored and would seem to present a weak point, but as any veteran Huntsman such as I will tell you, this beast is wily. Knowing its vulnerability, the Hydra will offer up its unarmored heads as bait to lure the unwary within range of its others. Many young Huntsmen and Huntresses have fallen for this ruse and it is for this reason, as well as the other more obvious ones of course, that any mission to slay a hydra should be undertaken with a team. Continued on Page 139.'

That... It was probably for the best that she hadn't fallen asleep on the cliff. With how tired she was, she probably would have died. Reading through the chapter devoted to the beast proved useless though, being a series of anecdotes about the author's experiences fighting Hydras. Sure it explained how he'd killed them, but she wasn't a Huntress and couldn't do the things he did.

Unable to keep her eyes open much longer, she put the book aside and tried not to think about the screaming monsters that were probably lurking just up the mountain. She would need her sleep or else the next day was going to be even more dangerous than it already looked to be.

Status: Healthy
Magicka: (3000/3000)

Choose:
[] Continue along the shoreline.

[] Cut across the mountains

-[] Fly.
-[] Create a Golem to ride.​

[] Write in.

 

[PieceThruWar]

Awakening to the sound of scratching just before dawn, Cattleya found her earthen refuge under siege by a dozen tiny Karkinos. The little monsters had apparently spent all night grinding themselves to dust against magically hardened dirt. Through sheer numbers, they'd managed to wear a small portion of the dome down until it was barely thicker than paper.

Not feeling particularly fond of the things after yesterday, she picked the nearest one up in one hand and stuck her wand to the nearest crab before reciting a short chant. Her Water Whip formed inside the tiny monster, rending it and the others behind it in half. If the survivors cared for their losses, they didn't show it, more coming from the direction of the cliffs every second.

Tossing the remains aside, the pinkette eyed the trail of crustaceans with disdain. If she didn't know that Grimm weren't real animals, it would be heartbreaking for so many potential pets to want her dead, but she did know better and the feeling was mutual. Never before had she come to loath something that looked so much like one of her pets. Then again, she'd also never been savagely attacked by a pet and hopefully she never would.

Well, if it was to be war, she wouldn't hold back.

Weathered basalt twisted and writhed in accordance to her will. Three rough fingers rose up and gripped the ground, followed by another set as two thick arms lifted the golem's body skyward. Fifteen feet of man-shaped stone towered above the brush around her and the pinkette flew up onto it's headless shoulders. A flex of willpower as she finished the chant, she carved a hollow into the top of its body. Standing inside the hole left just enough of her upper body sticking out to allow her to see and cast while giving her a spot to duck into if needed.

Unsurprisingly, the tiny Karkinos stood no chance against her creation, their pulverized bodies leaving a trail to mark her path down the coast.

----------------------------

Rolling over with a groan, Patypata didn't think she'd ever had such a terrible morning. Her head felt like an army of tiny people were trying to dig their way out of her skull and her mouth tasted like vomit. The beeping of an alarm clock wasn't making things any better either!

Blindly groping for the snooze button, her hand wrapped around something warm and soft. Realizing belatedly that she hadn't brought an alarm clock with her when she'd chased after her wayward boss, the sheep-faunus cracked her eyes open just enough to regret it before snapping them shut again. For one, it made her headache worse as sunlight stabbed her retinas. That alone would have been enough, but no, she'd definitely seen somebody in her bed.

Why was somebody in her bed?!

She vaguely recalled caving to those twins insistence that she drink with them. It was stupid of her to do so, she never was good at handling alcohol. She should have stood her ground or at least left when they wouldn't drop it, but they'd been too persuasive. Just one drink turned into three and before she knew it, the three of them were skipping down the street, singing, and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

All of that was just fine and dandy, but it didn't really explain what had led to her present situation. Not one bit of the sparse details she remembered could shed light on the fact that she was in bed with somebody who felt distinctly feminine and gods, she was still groping the woman!

Pulling her hand away as if it burned, the action bringing the fact that she was naked to the forefront of her thoughts. She was naked and in an unfamiliar room! There as only one thing that could mean, no matter how much she didn't want to think about it. She didn't do things like that! Miranda was the one that was confident and pushy and slept around, Paty was the quiet one who just wanted to not be stared at when she walked down the street and had to politely listen to her sister talk about her flings in excruciating detail.

The movement also made her fall onto the floor with a painful thump, the bed being much smaller than she'd thought.

"Ugh... I'm up, I'm up." The woman she'd drunkenly molested grumbled, causing the mattress to creak as she sat up.

A yawn and more creaking followed as Paty pushed her pain aside in an effort to cover herself up. Where were her clothes?! Grabbing desperately at the sheet that was already hanging off the bed in a taunting monument to things she didn't want to think about, she wrapped it around herself and pulled her knees to her chest. This was not at all what she'd had in mind when she followed Cattleya onto the ship.

When all the sounds of movement stopped, she knew that she'd been seen. Waiting in horrible silence, she had to look up in confusion when a slapping sound reached her ears and the woman sighed, "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Sitting with her head in her hands, the woman on the bed was that angry wolf-faunus from the other day. Her neck sported a hand shaped bruise, her body was covered in scars, and... and Paty now knew where her underwear was at least. Just as she was beginning to wonder if things could get any worse, two little boys burst through the door as the White Fang lieutenant was reaching up to free her canine ears from the leg holes.

"I guess I should offer you breakfast." The Wolf-faunus grunted, throwing on a pair of pants before leading her kids out of the room.

-----------------------------

Eating some jerky, Cattleya was having a much better time than the day before. Her creation was trudging along without much trouble and there was no sign of those screaming monsters to darken her mood. She'd even run into another giant Karkinos that had wandered up the cliff, only slightly smaller than the first, but this one met a swift end thanks to her golem grabbing its arms and caving in its shell with a stomp that dislocated the limbs.

Now she had a pair of head sized dark orbs that had been the creature's eyes. If they were as valuable as her book implied, the money earned could help with building that ship Cynric and the others thought was so important. She didn't see what was so interesting about the glass eyes though, they were kind of creepy with how they made her feel like they were still watching her.

Regardless, she was making good time and the end of the mountain range was coming up fast on her right.

Status: Healthy
Magicka: (2350/3000)

Choose:
[] Modify the golem

-[] Increase the golem's size. Costs 1500 Magicka.
-[] Transmute the golem. Costs 500 Magicka.​

[] Save your magicka for fighting and producing water as needed.

[] Abandon the golem and fly instead, the faster you get through the desert the better.

[] Write in.

 

[PieceThruWar]

"I told you to use a fucking spoon, you retard." The wolf faunus, Asena, growled at one of her sons when he tried to drink his cereal.

Paty wanted to speak up in the four year old's defense, but couldn't muster the courage. Asena was intimidating enough when she was just what seemed to be her normal grumpy self, she didn't want to actually anger the woman. At least the kid seemed happy enough to do as told, right? The other boy was cheerfully munching on some toast while reaching her faunus ears.

That was one thing that had been surprising, the children of a White Fang lieutenant being human. Oh sure, they were technically half faunus... as much as such a thing really existed. Ordinarily the child of a faunus and a human would be faunus, not that it was completely unheard of for it to be the other way around. It was unusual though and the resulting offspring tended not to show signs of being anything other than another human, so half faunus was more of a courtesy term.

Judging by the fact that Paty had woken up next to their anti-human mother and there was no sign of their father, she could easily guess what had happened. That knowledge certainly didn't make it any less awkward to be eating breakfast with the small family.

"Didn't take you for the wild type." Asena spoke suddenly, crumpling up one of the dozen news papers on the messy table and pegging the touchy boy between the eyes with it. "What's a frightened little lamb like you doing breaking into a 'terrorist' base?"

"I did what?!"

Laughing far too loudly for something so serious, the mother explained, "Relax, I'm the only one that saw you... somehow. Anyways, last thing I expected while drowning myself in liqueur was for the cause of my problems to come barging into the officer's lounge and start popping corks."

Gods, why did I go there of all places? How did I even find the place?!

"Tried to catch you." Asena continued around a mouthful of food. "I was pretty wasted though... So were you if you really can't remember the shit we did." Paty buried her burning cheeks in her hands, so she shrugged. "Whatever, can't say I'm too mad at you anymore. It's your friend that's the real reason I got in trouble with Sienna. The bitch why you were drinking too? Upset at being left behind?"

"No... yes... kinda of?"

"Yeah, that's not confusing as shit or anything."

Glaring at the woman, Paty demanded, "Do you have to use that kind of language in front of your own kids?" When the wolf faunus just stared back, she shrunk in her seat. "Sorry... I... How did you know she left me behind?"

"You mean besides the fact you're here with me instead of her?" Asena asked rhetorically. "Jup saw her nearly die killing a giant Karkinos yesterday, about an eight hour hike from here. Didn't feel safe following her into the wastes, even with his Semblance, so he came to let us know she was telling the truth about not being an Ursa. Not that it makes much of a difference since she's gonna get herself killed out there."

-------------------------------------

A little after noon, Cattleya decided to take a break.

It wasn't that she was tired, but if this desert was as dangerous as Kali made it out to be, she could stand to be more prepared. While she could make her golem bigger like when she'd run into those magic worshiping cultists near ruined Boston, she didn't want to tire herself out and be forced to postpone the rest of her journey. Alchemy being something she had far more practice with, turning the basalt colossus into steel was a much easier solution and far less taxing on her reserves.

Earth magic to turn the stone to iron, Flame magic to make the metal willing to breathe in the Wind that came next until it became steel. The whole process was rather quick, just a twelve word chant to bring the triangle spell into being and a flourish of her wand to put it into action. The elderly Doctor Shen had at first insisted that there must be a flaw with the resulting metal when she used the spell to make steel for him, something about it having more mass than it started with or being too fast to occur. In the end he'd accepted it and moved on after a few tests, but it was still odd that he'd had doubts about something so simple when he hadn't taken issue with Cynric's summonings.

Shaking off the ponderings, the pinkette remounted her golem and made to journey inward from the coast, the mountains no longer an obstacle.

Status: Healthy
Magicka: (1900/3000)

Last Minute Preparations:
[] Just get it over with and adapt as needed.

[] Switch to Cynric POV and let her figure it out!

[] Write in.

 

[PieceThruWar]

"Not gonna lie, I'm actually feeling a little insecure here." The yellow and brown one, Yang, complained. "I mean, come on! Weiss is a famous musician and heiress of the biggest company in the world, Louise is a magical duchess or something, both my baby sister and my ghost of a mom have super-powered eyeballs, Vicky was literally a super hero before coming here, Hinata's a ninja princess, Jaune's part of a family of historical heroes of Vale, and Pyrrha is a world class prize fighter... even if she is a nutjob. Now you're a princess too?! That's not even fair. All I've got is my hotness and amazing personality!"

The Skein spider listened in wonder at its new understanding and followed its charge through the mortal-made tunnels. Since being blessed with the Spinner's full presence in it's vessel, it had been gifted with much insight. The noises that the mortals always make started to have meaning, their odd creations such as the book started to have clear purpose, and the sound it had associated with commands had been revealed for what it truly was.

A name.

'Tsun' was its name, not a title or call for its attention, but a unique word of identity granted to it by the Spinner.

Blake, the feline it had been protecting for the Spinner, exhaled deeply. "I'm not a princess, Yang. Just the Chieftain's daughter. It's really not as big of a deal as you think it is."

"Not a big deal?! Blakey, I thought you were the last ordinary one in the group besides me, but nooo~. How could you do this to me?"

"Stop being such a melodramatic child." The colorless one, Weiss, said before rounding on Blake. "And you, didn't we just have a discussion on how lying is harmful to the group?"

"It's not like I was hiding it from you guys, it just never came up. Ghira Belladonna being Chieftain of Menagerie is pretty common knowledge. If I was trying to keep it a secret, wouldn't I at least use a fake name?"

"I suppose you have a point."

Rolling her eyes, Blake continued, "Besides, shouldn't you of all people have had some idea who I was? At least after finding out that I'm a faunus?"

"Belladonna could be a common name, I didn't want to assume just because you're both cats."

"Just because I have cat ears, that doesn't make me a cat!"

While it understood the meaning of about half of their words, Tsun was lost as to the context or meaning of the full conversation. What it did know was that Blake was getting agitated and the last utterance from the colorless one made her ears flatten backwards. Luckily, it knew what to do in such situations thanks to its Goddess' previous instruction.

Reaching out out, Tsun gently placed a hand on her head and rubbed at the spot between her ears. The female's head pressed back for a brief moment before she pulled away and blood rushed to her face.

"What the heck was that?" Ruby asked, petrifying gaze locked on Blake and Tsun.

Not giving Blake time to answer, Yang stepped closer to the two. "Not a cat, huh? Don't worry, I'll take her place next time you wanna do some petting, Tsun."

"Ugh, you shameless harlot."

Yes, the Skein spider known as Tsun had no idea what was going on or why the yellow and brown female was clinging to its vessel once more, but it was sure things had improved.

----------------------------------------------

A/N: Don't have time for a chapter tonight, so have this thing.

 

[PieceThruWar]

Crossing into the desert wasn't an immediate thing. There was no line or clear border, the brush and basalt simply faded into baked earth the further inland she went.

Cattleya had never been to a desert before, but she was quickly learning to hate it. Oh sure, it wasn't too bad at first, just a little too warm for comfort. The wind picked up during her second hour in and brought cutting razors instead of cool relief. Even leisurely riding on her golem felt like too much effort and the metal was starting to grow hot. By hour three she was out of water and her sweat was evaporating within moments. She'd also been forced off of her golem because it had started to burn her skin.

It at least served as a good shade to keep the sun off of her as well as blocking the sporadic blasts of glass laden wind.

As for the glass, that was everywhere around her. Large shards like shattered window panes rose from the ground at random intervals like transparent pikes to impale the careless wanderer. She had already seen several desiccated corpses to confirm their lethality. Even though her golem made short work of what was in the path, it made for unsteady footing.

Refilling her canteen and dousing herself in cold water with a spell, the pinkette was considering transmuting some dirt into a crude sled when the ground underneath her shook. It was subtle at first, only the humming of glassen blades vibrating in the air, but it rapidly grew to an easily felt rumble and she leapt into the air in time to avoid a golden stinger punching up from underground.

Faster than she would imagine, the tail retracted before a scorpion as big as a horse clawed its way to the surface. She didn't hesitate to have her golem stomp on it, but six more emerged in the time it took for the first to be squished. Ten smaller scorpions followed, ranging in size from barely smaller than her hand to a golden retriever.

Status: Healthy
Magicka: (1880/3000)

Choose:
[] Stay in the air and-

-[] fight alongside your golem.
-[] Try to find information on these things in your book.
-[] Ignore them. Since they can't reach you, just keep traveling.​

[] Blast the Golem with Water Wall to cool it down enough to mount, then seal yourself inside.

[] Land and fight-

-[] Use Water Whip and Water Wall to keep them at bay.
-[] Transform.​

[] Write in.

 

[PieceThruWar]

Fighting these things on the ground was undoubtedly a bad idea. Staying in the air would see her either beset by the elements or increase the odds of attracting unwanted attention from more distant monsters. That meant the only option was to lower herself back onto the golem.

Considering that it was still burning hot, she would need to make some changes if she didn't want to injure herself.

Standing on top of the steel creation, Cattleya wrapped her coat around her face to keep the sharp grit out and began to chant. Water Wall was a pretty long chant and the fastest she could get it out without mangling the words was thirty seconds. At the same time, her inability to multitask while controlling a golem meant that the construct remained immobile while she worked.

A searing pain lanced through her thigh just as she finished, one of the dog-sized scorpions having managed to climb up the golem and sting her. The pinkette let out a piercing scream at the sudden pain, both from the sting itself and the torrent of water ripping the beast's weapon from her leg as it was smashed back down into the ground.

Steam rose up all around her, drenching her clothes and turning the golem's surface slick. Long dry dirt greedily sucked up the liquid, turning to mud as the Grimm scrabbled for purchase amidst the sudden flood. None of that really registered to Cattleya, her mind caught up on the weeping puncture wound in her thigh.

The enchantment on her shirt meant that she didn't need to worry about the monster's poison, but it hurt! Being injured in bear form did nothing to prepare her for the agony she was in at that moment. The glowing barb had pushed through her flesh as if it wasn't even there, nicking the bone and ruining muscle. The only reason she hadn't fell off was because of her Levitation enchanted boots.

Tearing up from the pain, she commanded her golem to crush as many of the small to medium sized scorpions as it could while she tried to staunch the blood flow. With not many options and not wanting to destroy any of her clothes that might save her life, she ended up tying her shirt around her wound. It wasn't great, but it would have to do.

Most of the Grimm that remained below the next she looked were the larger ones. If any of the smaller scorpions survived, they were either fleeing or so coated in mud that they were invisible to her eyes. Rather than wait to find out, she quickly set to Transmuting her nook on the golem. As far as she knew, clay wouldn't get nearly as hot as metal, so that was what she changed it to. Just a few inches to protect from the heat was all she needed and after that, she filled the entire space with water.

By that time, the horse sized scorpions were making a combined effort to topple her golem. Two partially climbing the legs in order to reach the hip joints with their pincers while the other four struck at the upper body with their stingers, denting metal with each blow.

A swift kick obliterated one of the monsters attacking the hips, the other scuttling out of the way when its partner died, and a sting was intercepted by a three fingered hand that proceeded to fling the beast over its shoulder and down onto a large shard of glass. The remaining four gained their distance and began to circle, but Cattleya didn't have time for that. Whether from the pain, shock, or blood loss, she was starting to feel woozy.

Dropping into the water, she froze the Grimm to the sodden ground before sealing the chamber with clay and steel.

Trusting her golem to withstand their attacks for a while once they freed themselves, the pink haired mage sat in the dark and began to imbue the water with healing magic. Nowhere near as powerful or fast as the spells Louise had come to learn, their people's ancestral healing magics would use the water to replace the missing or damaged flesh and would keep her from bleeding to death while it worked. It was a water spell, but technically it was also earth based due to using transmutation, the water magic guiding the earth magic which in turn encouraged the water to become part of the caster.

But really, the best part of the line-tier spell was that it soothed the pain.

-------------------------------

When Cattleya finally finished repairing the worst of the damage and came back to her surroundings, it was to the sound of the beasts hammering at her golem. Her leg was a bruised mess that would be horrendous to walk on and the deep ache meant she hadn't fixed the scraped bone as good as it could have been, but she wasn't in any danger of dying from it anymore. The majority of the water int the chamber was gone as well, either from going into her wound or being wicked out by the desert heat upon the metal construct.

Willing a slit to form in the wall, she saw that night had fallen and another dozen Grimm had gathered. Humorously, the four from earlier hadn't managed to free themselves from the magical ice and had become platforms for their fellows to attack higher points on the golem. A flash of movement at the edge of the view slit caused her to close it immediately, a tiny tail with a glowing sting dropping into the water at her feet as it was cut off by the sheering metal.

The pinkette wasted no time forcing the dangerous appendage through the bottom of the chamber before having the golem take a knee. If the scorpions were crawling all over her creation, then there was only one sensible thing to do.

Slamming the construct down onto the ground, earning a crunching of bone that was hopefully one of the bigger monsters being flattened, she ordered the golem to roll. The sound of shells cracking and ichor sticking to the exterior was oddly satisfying.

The muted roar and following explosion that rocked the golem were much less so.

Status: Heavy bruising, immobile leg.
Magicka: (1780/3000)

[] Stand the golem back up and open another view slit to see what's attacking now.

[] Don't expose yourself. Wait for it to attack and then counter in the direction of impact.

[] Just keep rolling, rolling, rolling.

[] Write in.

 

[PieceThruWar]

Not wanting to peek out and see what was imitating her younger sister, Cattleya didn't bother stopping the golem's roll.

More explosions rocked her path, jostling her and being generally annoying. Still, she could hear the occasional crunch of the Grimm that were too slow to evade her approach, so it wasn't as if they were the only ones getting hits in. One particularly large collision nearly stopped her, but she used the spin to slam one of the golem's arms into whatever it was. All in all, things were going well... until they weren't.

One moment she was moving at a rapid pace and the next she was slamming against the walls of her chamber as the golem dropped into a pit. The fall was short and the soft clay probably saved her from the worst of the drop, but she'd obviously been guided into the pit intentionally. The creatures were apparently smarter than she'd given them credit for.

Regaining her bearings, as much as such was possible in absolute darkness, Cattleya could hear the triumphant roars of at least three of the beasts nearby. In bursts of three, more explosions wracked the golem, knocking it around as she attempted to have it stand. She tried to brace with its hands, but another series of blasts to the threw it onto its back and dim light began to leak through a crack in the shell that was probably way worse on the outside.

The winged shadow that passed over the crack at least gave her some idea as to how they'd kept pace with her.

Status: Heavy bruising, immobile leg
Magicka: (1780/3000)

Choose:
[] Transform and charge out while they're least expecting it.

[] Curl the golem into a ball and make a new one to fight them while you watch and direct through the crack.

[] If they're intelligent, maybe they'll accept a surrender?

[] Write in.

-----------------------------

A/N:

Try to catch a rolling metal death trap, suckers!

Click to shrink...

"Challenge accepted" ~ Sphinx Grimm.

 

[PieceThruWar]

Things were not turning out as well as Cattleya had expected or hoped. She could hardly even call what she was doing fighting, not with how utterly overwhelmed she was at that moment. Every movement toward climbing to her feet, her golem's at least, was punished by another blast to knock her back down while the sliding, clicking noise of those damnable bugs' legs in sand grew louder with each new arrival at the crater.

Well, if what she was doing wasn't working then maybe she needed to rethink what options she had.

Thrown back to the dirt, this time the golem pulled its legs in and wrapped its arms about the knees. Ignoring the answering blasts, she pushed her Will out and into the surrounding earth. With the speed of cold honey, dirt seeped upward from all around, set back by rhythmic explosions that lit up the night, but unrelenting in its climb. Oddly, the blasts died off quickly, replaced by what sounded like a single scorpion rushing in and engaging her in melee.

Compacted rock and dirt, the dome wasn't really affected by the blows as more and more material piled on until she couldn't hear it anymore. Not that she was just sitting quietly, rather the pinkette had taken to pulling small clumps of earth against the golem. Repairing the damage done to her creation was easy enough with the excess of material to draw from once the dome was in place, the dirt flowing into each crack and crater for her Alchemy to change. That was only undoing the work of the Grimm though, not really fixing the problem.

What she really needed was a way to fight back. Something that would let her ground-bound golem reach an enemy that could simply fly out of reach. Water Whip was out of the question since she wouldn't be able to direct the golem at the same time, so that just left her with the golem itself. The flying beasts were intelligent though, so anything she made to throw would be obvious and they would just keep their distance. She needed some way to arm...

That was it! Why not just 'throw' the golem's arm? It was unusual, certainly, but that just meant it would be unexpected.

Of course, she would need to solve the issue of being unable to stand. A shield perhaps? It wouldn't need to last long, just enough time for her to brace for the next blasts. To that end, she added more mass to the left arm, thickening and spreading it into a large dished circle along the forearm. More dirt pulled in on the golem's torso to create a layer of plate armor that wasn't a part of the golem itself to avoid wasting magic bringing it into the more responsive control spell. In the middle of building up armor, she added a series of tiny slits that would hopefully let her see without letting any scorpions in. While she was at it, she thickened the construct's lower legs and added a pair of broad, clawed feet. For good measure, she extended the fingers and added claws to them as well.

By the time she was finished with her modifications, the dome was reduced to a thin shell that wouldn't stop a single blow if the Grimm hadn't retreated to a safe distance to see what she would do.

Rising, the golem broke through the shell and was immediately bombarded by five exploding fireballs that illuminated the entire area to reveal what she assumed to be the Sphinx Grimm Kali had mentioned. Thrown backward, she barely managed to catch herself and pivot on her back foot, bringing the golem down into a kneel facing her shield arm toward her attackers. More explosions rocked her, but this time she got her shield in place between the majority of the blasts.

Releasing control in that position, she brought more dirt up in rough pillars around her. They didn't last long, but they did their job, intercepting enough fireballs to allow her to get up. Planting one foot in front of the other, she deflected another blast and grabbed the ruined remains of a pillar.

Using the pillar to throw the golem forward, she walked through the hail of fireballs with her shield up. Each step added to her momentum until her construct had broken into a full sprint, clawed feet digging in to loose dirt that would have otherwise sent it sliding back down. The first Sphinx pounced as she reached the rim of the crater only to get backhanded with her shield hard enough to crush its armored head and send it tumbling downward.

If they were affected in any way by seeing their fellow sprawled in the dirt, they didn't show it other than to spread out from the loose mob they'd been in. As she charged the next nearest one, a giant scorpions moved to intercept. Cattleya simply batted a stinger aside and stepped on the beast's face to propel herself into the air, catching her target by the snake that was its tail just as it made to fly away.

Dragging it down, she grabbed its head with the other hand and slammed it into the ground. Seeing this, the other three didn't waste any time taking to the air as the veritable horde of scorpions surged in from all around the crater.

The first few died easily, but she was soon surrounded by bodies as the giant bugs pinched and stabbed at her golem. They were just chipping at her armor, the stuff already littered with cracks and holes, but they would eventually tear it to pieces. Two of them were even bigger than the golem she'd made before and that thing was twice the size of her current one. On top of that, the flying Grimm hadn't left, taking turns swooping closer to hit her with a fireball.

Using her shield to bash one of the biggest scorpions in the face only created a crack in the bone armor, but it gave her room to punch her other fist skyward as a Sphinx was diving in. Letting one of the fingers' break off from the hand mid thrust, her target was caught completely unaware as the clawed digit tore off one of its wings. The surprised beast slammed into the raised tail of the giant scorpion and ended up impaled on the tail. Cattleya didn't waste a second reaching up to grab the weighed down appendage, slamming it through the owner's face.

Stepping over the entwined corpses, she was about to go after another Sphinx when the remaining giant scorpion grabbed her shield arm in its pincers and pulled her back down. The thing then proceeded to repeatedly stab at her hiding place in the golem's torso. Each hit pushed through a foot of steel and she didn't really have any choice but to abandon the arm as she rolled out of its grasp.

The maneuver seemed to confuse the scorpion, giving her enough time to get out from under it and back to her feet, using its body as a shield from the much more cautious flying Grimm.

Gaining some distance from the scorpion that had taken her shield, incidentally crushing many smaller ones beneath her golem's feet, she took aim for an airborne target. Unfortunately, when she shot a finger at it, the results were much less impressive than the first one. The Sphinx didn't even need to dodge, in fact it actually stopped to stare as the digit went wildly off course and tumbled uselessly in the glass strewn dirt.

Seeming to practically scoff at her dismal attempt, the creature spat a fireball directly into the view slit she was using, causing the pinkette to reel back in shock and pain. It didn't do much actual damage, most of the blast blocked by the golem, but even a moment of exposure to such heat is unpleasant and she spent several seconds blinking away tears.

The scorpion used her distraction to catch up, its glowing stinger embedding in the back of the golem and lifting her into the air. Not penetrating far enough to reach the person inside, but still far enough to get stuck in her golem's steel flesh, the beast began to shake and flail her about in an effort to free itself. Cattleya was helpless as it sloshed her around in the water, slamming her head repeatedly against the soft clay walls. When it finally did manage to get her off, she was sent rolling through several glassen spears.

The Grimm didn't give her any time to recover as she was immediately hit with a pair of explosions and a near miss sent a cloud of dirt into her chamber. Punching out blindly, she sent the remaining fingers of her golem's hand skyward before sending the hand itself. None of them hit and several smaller scorpions were already upon her, clanging pointlessly off of metal. She smashed them easily and launched as much of her golem as she dared at the flying Grimm, but she quickly reached the elbow with nothing to show for it.

Two Sphinxes were still circling the area, bombarding her from out of reach. An angry scorpion that was bigger than her golem kept trying to impale her. The golem she'd created and put so much effort into was covered in gouges and had no arms. It seemed there was only one thing left to do.

Burning clouds of dirt and glass rose into the air as she sprinted away, dodging her pursuers' fireballs as best she could.

Status: Heavy bruising, immobile leg, lightly cooked, dry eyes.
Magicka: (1350/3000)

Choose:
[] Hunker down in another dome and reform the golem's arms to try again.

[] Keep sprinting toward the center of the desert and your goal.

[] Write in.

---------------------------------------
A/N: Mixed results on your rolls, even getting another pair of Sphinxes while she was modifying the golem.

If there's one thing I don't like about these last few chapters, it's the many repetitions of golem so closely together.

 

[PieceThruWar]

"Keep me updated on your investigation, Specialist. Penny will be working to find whatever hole they exploited and plug it, so feel free to contact her if you need any assistance." Ironwood finished, compacting his scroll the moment the call ended.

Winter was one of the best. Her tireless dedication, no nonsense demeanor, finely honed skill, and Semblance combined to make the woman quite formidable at anything she put her mind to. If anyone could find the ones behind the recent theft of the Atlesian knight they'd brought for a public showcase, then it would be her. Meanwhile, he had to deal with a problem he'd been putting off for a while now.

One could only delay a meeting with Ozpin for so long, previous engagements or no.

He still was having trouble wrapping his head around everything those young huntresses in training had revealed. Oh, he knew about the entire reincarnation and magic situation. Ozpin, or Ozma rather, had informed him years ago when he'd taken over for Atlas' previous headmaster. Salem's existence wasn't the issue either, since he was part of Oz's group dedicated to fighting against her. Though he did wonder if there was more to her than his secretive friend let on, he knew better than to try getting Oz to talk about things he didn't want to share.

"What were you thinking, Oz?" James asked, sparing a polite nod toward Glynda and disregarding Branwen's sloven self as he strode into the office.

Raising a brow, the wizard leaned forward with interwoven fingers. "I'm afraid I'll need you to be more specific, as you've said before, I do have a tendency toward doing things others don't agree with. Good to see you too, bye the way."

No, the real concern was the fact that Ozpin had decided in his infinite wisdom that sharing this information with a group of students was a in any way a good idea. Never mind that several of them were apparently aliens, their explanation for their sudden appearance within CCT databases being confirmed by Glynda, but they'd immediately spread the information among their peers.

Saying as much just earned him an exasperated sigh, as if he was the one being needlessly obtuse. "I felt it was necessary. Mr. Tyne was being incredibly obstinate about leaving his apprentice and with the resurrection of Summer-"

"Allegedly" Branwen spat.

"- It is only a matter of time before the enemy learns of him and the people he brought with him."

"That I can understand." Ironwood conceeded, turning on Qrow for his interruption. "I might not have known Summer very well, but having spoken to the... spirit, I'm of the opinion that she at least believes she's who she says she is."

Feet propped up on Ozpin's desk, Branwen shook his flask at James. "Oh, so Jimmy Irondick says she believes? Well, I guess that's that then. I'll just call up Tai and tell him we were being paranoid. After all, it's not like people don't come back from the dead all the time. I mean, nobody would use someone's family against them or anything."

As he spoke, the man's voice grew in volume until he was standing in front of James and almost yelling. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Glynda began, "Qrow, please. If you would just talk to her-"

But the Hunstman, and James used the term loosely, just brushed her off. "I was the one that found her. I was the one who burnt her body because she was too mutilated to bring home. I had to tell my best friend that our teammate, his wife, died on a mission I encouraged her to go on. I had to watch Ruby grow up thinking she could go find her 'missing' mom because I was too weak to tell the truth. I... That thing isn't Summer. It can't be."

"Where are you going?"

"To get a drink."

As the elevator doors closed, Ozpin sighed, "Marvelous. At least he opened up instead of just drowning himself in booze again."

"You mean 'before' drowning himself in booze." Glynda countered, her expression pinched in that way that made most people think she was angry. In truth, James knew it really meant that feeling misplaced sympathy for the drunk.

Oh, he didn't begrudge Branwen for his losses, but it was unbecoming of a Huntsman to live in such a state. They were supposed to be a symbol of hope to the masses. Ambling down the street smelling like a brewery and spouting abuse at everyone instead of controlling his grief when in public threatened to undermine everything they worked toward.

Turning back to the more important matters, James asked, "Did you have to tell a group of children about Salem?"

"They are Huntresses in training, with all that entails. Besides, I thought you wanted more transparency."

"Yes, I've been advocating for Salem's existence to be made public for years now, but this wasn't what I meant." Ironwood exclaimed. "Controlled release of such knowledge could reduce the damage caused by people panicking and they would come out stronger for having a clear and understandable opponent rather than an unending tide of beasts. Randomly telling teenagers that mankind has been under siege by an ageless witch that commands the Grimm was the opposite of controlled! It's a miracle that they've taken it as well as they did and kept it to their small relatively group."

"What would you have had me do, James? On top of Summer's current state, both her and her daughter have Silver Eyes. The threat to them for that alone merits an explanation, especially with what happened to Summer, and any danger will apply to Miss Rose's team. With her sister in trouble, do you think Miss Xiao-Long would stand by and do nothing? Of course not, which means her team would be pulled into the conflict as well."

"Fine, I take it Tyne will be joining this little cabal of ours?"

"I never extended the invitation, believe it or not." Ozpin admitted with a frown.

Of course not, why would he have thought otherwise. Tell numerous secrets that could destabilize society to a relative unknown, but don't bring him into the fold. There's no way that could backfire when the man tried to deal with the threat he'd been presented with. It was this sort of thing that always had him and Oz at odds with each other. At times James could only assume that millennia of living had broken something in Oz, some basic facet of humanity that determined how to respond to dangerous things.

Ironwood rubbed at his forehead, feeling a migraine coming on. "I'm almost afraid to ask why."

---------------------------------------------

Having spent the time since waking up using zombie kwama to continue construction on the ship, you're reaching the point where the propulsion system can start being added. The basic structure is halfway complete, needing only the internals to be installed by Moira and Shen's people, and any enchantments you plan to add will need to wait until the entire structure is complete. With the craft sealed from Transliminal connections of any kind, the best way for you to contribute to the vessel until Shen finishes the elerium drive system might just be to find those things that aren't actually part of the ship itself.

Not having access to Conjuration whilst aboard the ship means that daedra are out of the question and, while possible, undead would be best used to supplement security or do rote tasks. Recruiting for positions aboard the ship is something you can do while having Kiba practice making properly preserved zombies. The first place to hire from would obviously be those already under your employ and their kin, but Louise's group is also in a good position to make recommendations. Security aboard the craft can be a mix of those selected by Espinoza, undead such as Summer, and whatever Raymond cooks up.

A large section just below the rings that will house the propulsion system has already been set aside to house various smaller craft, so somebody will need to acquire those. While Raymond could probably make some and you plan to collect interesting vehicles from other worlds when convenient, Remnant has a selection that you would be remiss in your duties if you didn't at least browse. Besides, you have neither the time or resources to devote to constructing your own vehicles when the ship still isn't done.

Lastly, you should probably make a visit to the Agriculture district to find out how Vale feeds its populace with such a small area devoted toward food production. If you are to use this ship to traverse the waters of Oblivion, there is no reason to rely on locally grown food or rush to produce your own when the ship is large enough to house sections devoted to crops. Having a stock of potions would be easier with a steady supply of ingredients as well. Of course, keeping plants means you will need people to tend to them, as undead tend to create diseases even when regularly cleaned.

On the topic of crops, you haven't seen your own magical soil tiller. Asking around had been fruitless, none of the faunus in your employ had seen Cattleya in days. Just what would posses the young woman to run off on her own? Set on finding out, you return to your room at Kwama Korps and summon her back.

When the flames clear, you see her in a state of general disarray. Her hair is damp and sticking to her face, her clothes are torn in several places, murky liquid dripping off of her as if she just walked out of a lake, her body is covered in bruises, and the only thing covering her chest is her coat due to her shirt being wrapped around what looks like a puncture wound in her thigh.

"Wha- Cynric?!" She asks in surprise, looking around for whatever it was she had been fighting. She is visibly still caught up in the feeling of battle, her mind struggling to catch up with the sudden shift. "I-I... What?

Looking her up and down, you cross your arms and ask, "Would you care to explain where you ran off to?"

"Menagerie?"

You sleep for a week and the girl decides to go to the other side of the planet. Why are you not surprised. Maybe you should check on Louise to see if she's killed Ozpin and declared war on Atlas. "Dare I ask why?"

"I didn't have a choice, Lord Hircine commanded it. Send me back, I still need to find the tower!" The pinkette babbles, her eyes wild.

"Breathe, child! Look at yourself, you are a mess." You tell her harshly, pointing to the growing puddle of what you guess to be bloody water. "Hircine will not care how long you take to complete whatever task he set for you."

"A-are you sure?"

Nodding, you guide her to sit on your bed. You will switch it out with her own later. "Time means nothing to a Daedric Prince."

"Oh..." Is all she says, her eyes drooping shut. She soon falls asleep, worn out from whatever ordeal she had been through.

---------------------------------------

"I said I'm sorry, why do I have to do this?!" Cattleya whines, not stopping the writing you'd been making her do all morning while you worked on budgeting, correspondence with your agents, and other such desk-work.

Looking up from where you'd been using an X-com datapad to decrypt the messages sent to your scroll, you reply, "To give you something to remember the next time you think about running off without telling anyone. What would I tell Louise if you had died out there?"

Satisfied with the shamed silence such simple manipulation created, you return to the scroll, the screen expanded and held on a wire-frame mount on your desk.

Spoiler: Scroll

Trobror

Damned thing doesn't leave much of a trail, so I hacked into police database and surveillance cameras. People keep going missing lately and VPD has everyone they can get the on streets to reassure civilians. Lots of people, so I'm guessing the lizard's up to something other than eating them. Looks like it's hiding somewhere in the industrial district, maybe the drainage pipes.

Shino Aburame

Followed BB's directions to WF warehouse. Empty. No Dust. No Lizard. No WF. Days old food waste. Crumpled WF recruitment flyers and propaganda. Discarded crate. Large. Logo indicates Atlas tech.'

Status: Healthy
Magicka: (500/650)

Spend the day:
[] Interviewing faunus to crew the ship.

[] Visiting the Agriculture district.

[] Contact the Council of Vale to find out what paperwork is needed for a business to own a Bullhead.

[] Write in.