[X] Plan Bait and Switch
-[X] Hawk base action
—[X] You know what you're doing now! Get their attention! Stab one and leg it to make an opportunity for the others!
-[X] Zagusha base action
—[X] That's not what you meant! Make Rempant go save the little idiot before he gets himself eaten!
-[X] Rempant base action
—[X] The little idiot is gonna get himself killed! I'm so proud I'm gonna stab the other one, make 'em symmetrical!
-[X] Rigel easy action
—[X] Trip one of the beasties to give Montaak an easy shot at it.
-[X] Montaak hard action
—[X] Oh look, Hawk is leading them right toward you and your feet are the size of the table for two. Stomp them into the mud!
Gotta have Hawk first so he gets the bonus from Zagusha. I really want him to actually contribute to this fight and this is the best chance he'll get. After that normal actions from the other two because we gotta kill these things sometime, and the old one-two from Rigel and Montaak because I love big stompy hard actions. They make things fun.
I'll leave votes run until tomorrow afternoon (10/17). So far we have a unanimous vote but I'd like to see if there are other suggestions.
Honestly, I'm pretty hyped about this battle so far. It's been fun writing about it.
Vote time's up, time to get rolling.
With 2 votes, this has been the plan people are rooting for :
Character
Roll
Total Successes
Result
Hawk
5/10/3/3/1/10/9/4/2
5 (CR = 5)
Success!
Zagusha
4/1/7/5/1/5/1/1/5
1 (CR = 5)
Failure. Takes Damage.
Rempant
6/6/10/10/8/3/6/2/9
9 (CR = 5)
Success!
Rigel
7/1/10/9/6/2/7/2
6 (CR = 3)
Success! Provides +2 to next in line.
Montaak
9/6/8/9/3/5/5/1/10/10/2/3/2
8 (CR = 7)
Success! Double Damage to Opponent. Bonus triggered.
So, while I was checking how many dice I had to roll per character I realized I gave Montaak 2 dice extra for free last round. *However*, even if I remove the last 2 dice, the result would just take it down to 10 so there's not much gained or loss there.
I'll be careful next time, I promise =w =;
We are almost at the end of the fight! Good job, team!
You have until this Friday to select your bonus.
I'll try to have your post by Monday of next week.
See you then!
Woo! Go Hawk, I knew you could do it! Our boy is contributing!
[X] Increase Song Bonus by 1 stage for each member of the team.
This feels extremely appropriate to me. It's +1 die to everyone in the group any time this song is playing except Zagusha, who's already at the max bonus.
I'm not sure how the song system is gonna work or how much we'll get to use it, but I like the idea that everyone's got fond memories of the fight this song was playing and that makes them like it more.
Well, everyone except Zagusha, who's about to get her face used as a step so the beasties can jump on Hawk. She really likes the song, but her memories are a little less sanguine of the fight itself.
Success! Double Damage to Opponent. Bonus triggered.
Starting next turn, the Song Bonus for "Don't Stop me Now" will increase by 1. If member is already Maxed out, it will remain at +2.
I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars on a collision course
I am a satellite. I'm out of control. . .
I took a deep breath, pushing my fears and worries to the back.
I could still feel swirling there, bringing tingles down my spine which I managed to get a hold of.
We got a plan, at least the beginnings of it.
We needed to split the creatures away from each other.
I clenched my fists, all of them. Perhaps it was because I was focused on the heat of the battle or the simple fact that I was mere moments from being mauled by a beast earlier but I had almost forgotten about the tool Rempant had made for me.
I felt how tightly my hand was holding the handle, digging some of my claws into my palm. I took another deep breath and allowed it to relax - not enough to let go but to dissipate whatever leftover fear gripped it so dearly.
"I think I have a plan." I glanced at Zagusha, fighting over the nervousness that I had barely taken control of. She cocked her head with an intrigued look. "We have only been attacking one at a time, almost taking turns. Rempant hit one but then Montaak hit later…" I paused, realizing I was basically vomiting words. Actions speak louder anyway.
I started running.
I will admit, it was surprising to see her catch up to me: her stride was longer and she was definitely in better shape than I was. Nonetheless I pushed myself as best as I could to keep up.
The creatures, though free from each other's weight, were still visibly struggling. I felt a scream building in my chest as I ran, and I pushed the panic I still felt into it. The sound that came out of my mouth sounded more like a warcry than I'd expected, and I could see the moment it got the beasts' attention. I almost turned back, but I was too deep now! I had to see it through!
I focused on one of the beasts, the one I wanted to follow me. We had to separate them, that was the whole point, and one seemed more ready to move than the other. All of its legs were working, whereas the other seemed to be having trouble getting one to set properly. That one was bracing itself for our charge, while the other, my target, had stepped a little away from the other for space to move and looked ready to countercharge.
The two of us had its attention. Now I just had to get it looking at me personally. There was a roaring in my ears, the music, the announcer, the sound of my own voice, the pounding of my heart, it was all the same. I pushed myself for a last burst of speed.
Zagusha raised her weapon and it flinched, remembering what a plasma bolt had done to it before, and I took the chance for what it was. I crouched, setting my feet just so, and slid across the slick mud under the beast's nose. As I did, I raised the claw over my head and triggered it.
The sight of deadly, glowing blue blood spilling into the mud would never be more satisfying.
The moment went as quickly as it came, and I hit the edge of the mud. The sudden friction might have knocked me tail-over-teakettle but I'd been climbing rain-slick trees since I was born. I skipped into a sprint and ran straight for Rempant and felt a warmth bloom in my heart at the look of pride I saw just before his face returned to the battle-drunk grin I'd seen there in the fight so far.
A screech of metal cut through the wall of sound, snapping me out of my moment. I didn't stop running, but I chanced a glance over my shoulder up at the ceiling. Almost in slow-motion I saw a massive chunk swing downward, still attached and not falling but opening a massive hole over the arena. A deluge of water that must have been pooling up there fell and washed over Zagusha where she'd been lining up a shot on the immobile beast. She was still standing as the water spilled over the mud around her, but I could already see her skin turning from its usual red-purple spectrum to a darker bloody hue.
Then I was past Rempant, and I was treated to the sight of the beast following me getting hoisted over his head and bodyslammed. I turned to see if I could help Zagusha, on the off chance I could get back to her before the beast with the broken leg could get to her, but I didn't need to worry. Rigel strutted right past her, arms wide without a care in the world, and in the moment where the beast was deciding which of them to eat first…
It turns out Montaak can jump.
In defiance of any sensible natural law, Montaak, who must surely weigh as much as a family hovertransport, was high in the air and descending rapidly. Both feet slammed down on the second beast's back with a terrific, terrible CRACK! and a spray of blue from the creature's rupturing skin. It was still moving, but surely killing it now wouldn't take much more. Right?
"HAS SCIENCE GONE TOO FAR!?" the announcer yelled above us, "HAS SCIENCE TEAM MADE A WEAPON TOO STRONG TO DEFEAT? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT MONTAAK HAS BECOME THE APEX SCIENCE HAS SOUGHT?"
There was a quiet cackle coming from the announcer's booth, an amused one followed by a tap on the microphone.
"It would be premature to call him such but. . ." Tilenk mused, pausing to chuckle a bit more. "It is a good start, wouldn't you agree?"
FINAL ROUND! LET'S GO!
I mean, look at the stats. Can you blame me?
Current Foe HP - 3/12 Current Foe CR - 12
Current Party's Stats
Member
HP
Current Song Bonus
Status
Hawk
6/6
+2
N/A
Rigel
7/8
+1
N/A
Montaak
9/10
+2
N/A
Rempant
8/8
+2
N/A
Zagusha
6/7
+2
N/A
Tilenk
N/A
-1
N/A
With that in mind, let's end it with a bang!
Maybe not a literal one though: these creatures can explode quite badly. . .
"So, where were you?"
IRL caught up to me and I couldn't really update. I really had things ready to post as soon as I was ready but that took longer than expected.
On the plus side, the things that kept me busy are done for the year so I should be able to update more frequently. So that's cool!
Also also . . . I got married : D
So yeah! It turns out that even if you prep a lot of things and have things ready to go for that as well things may still be worked on and it can cause a whole swirl things to happen. But I am happy to declare that it was quite a wonderful moment.
Is going about it online a bit risky? Maybe? But that's just how happy it makes me.
Wishing you the best in your pursue of big projects and/or relationships like this.
And now, we will resume our space adventure.
Thanks so much for your patience and support!
Now that winter recess is on the horizon, it should be easier for me to keep things to speedy updates.
See you : D
If it helps for inspiration, we are basically at this point on the song (If the Link at the time doesn't work, then it's min 2:20 )
I think given the status of our foes, I might dare to suggest to go wild and finish with a bang.
[X] CLIMATIC FINISH!!
-[X] Rigel base action
—[X] The fight is almost the done so time to HYPE UP the crowd
-[X] Montaak baseaction
--[X] Throw the wounded beast towards the one still standing
-[X] Zagusha easy action
--[X] DUCK HAWK DUCK
-[X] Hawk normal action
--[X] The beast is almost down so this strike should finish it, wait what's that shadow rushing towards me?
-[X] Rempant base action
—[X] Elbow drop the resulting corpse pile
I see what you're going for GAWR, but I think maybe we just need to throw as many attacks as we can at them at this point. It might hurt us a little, but with the song bonus to everyone the whole team has at least even odds of hurting the enemy on a normal attack. I say we pile on as much statistical advantage as we can here.
[X] Plan: Pile it on!
-[X] Rigel base action
--[X] You haven't hurt them in a bit. The crowd needs to see your prowess! Kill the slow one with the power of friendship and this pointy stick you found!
-[X] Zagusha base action
--[X] Shrug it off and take the shot you were going to take before! Kill the slow one before it can cause any more trouble!
-[X] Montaak base action
--[X] Your standing on its back and it's probably pretty broken. Twist the proverbial knife (and your literal foot) and break it in half!
-[X] Hawk base action
--[X] It's down, but not dead. It'll be at its most dangerous right now covered in blood and desperate, so go in carefully to snip something important
-[X] Rempant base action
--[X] The kid contributed and nobody's dead. Today is a good day. Make sure it stays that way by helping kill one if somebody else slips up.
I see what you're going for GAWR, but I think maybe we just need to throw as many attacks as we can at them at this point. It might hurt us a little, but with the song bonus to everyone the whole team has at least even odds of hurting the enemy on a normal attack. I say we pile on as much statistical advantage as we can here.
We are not many (for now) but I appreciate your contributions dearly : )
You are also more than welcome to show off this Quest to other people that may be interested in reading/joining along : P
And now, for the votes.
With 2 votes, this is plan for this round:
Character
Roll
Total Successes
Result
Rigel*
10/3/2/9/1/3/6/1/8
5 (CR=6)
Failure. Takes 1 Damage
Zagusha
3/3/3/9/6/4/5/10/5
4 (CR=6)
Failure. Takes 1 Damage
Montaak
7/6/4/9/6/10/8/9/3/6/2/5
9 (CR=6)
Success.
Hawk
4/4/10/1/2/8/10/4
5 (CR=6)
Failure. Takes 1 Damage
Rempant
2/8/1/3/5/10/8/1/4/6
5 (CR=6)
Failure. Takes 1 Damage
*The last die on his pool was a fluke because I pressed "Throw another die" instead of "Throw die". Minor difference with a big effect.
.... maybe I shouldn't have called this one theFinal Round.
Because things like these can happen.
Note to self: Never call a round "The Final Round" without rolling for it first.
...ow
"WE'RE ALMOST DONE!" Rigel's voice was somehow clear despite the volume of the music, and despite never slowing down as he danced around the wild swipes of the wounded beast. It had a profound gash through its right foreleg, hindering its movement by a lot.
Despite its injury, it was still trying to drag itself around with its remaining legs. It was clearly outmatched by our alien leader though, as he circled and jeered and taunted it.
The crowd was definitely loving the show.
"THERE HE GOES, THAT MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!" Exclaimed the announcer, possibly referring to Rigel who, in the tune of the music, was quickly approaching the remaining creature with arms open as if ready to embrace. Or was it a gesture towards the crowd? Hard to tell, honestly. Whatever his intent was, it sure provoked a positive reaction. "A YEAR AND A HALF AND AGAINST ALL ODDS, HE KEEPS DANCING AND FIGHTING!"
I glanced at Zagusha, to see if she'd be okay.
To my relief, the damage on her skin hadn't been severe but she had remained hunched with her arms at the level of her face.
As she lowered them down, our gaze met.
She must have read my mind, because before I could move she shook her head and lifted her blaster.
I nodded.
I turned to the battlefield once more.
Rigel, ever the showman, had changed strategy again in the few seconds I'd looked away, carefully approaching the beast while holding his overcoat with both hands. Whenever the creature moved or lunged at him, he would doge to the side allowing the piece of clothing to flap dramatically in the wind of its passing. The audience reacted with 'oohs' and 'ahhs' every time the, at this point, barely clothed alien gracefully escaped another blow. He did this a couple of times before he gave a twirl and distanced himself from the tired creature.
Meanwhile Montaak was busy wrangling the second more lively beast who tried its best to escape the giant's tight grip to no avail. With a loud roar, the kirlean picked up his foe, lifting it over his head, and slammed it onto his knee hard. There was an audible crunch, causing the crowd - and myself - to flinch.
A tap on my shoulder, of what I soon realized came from Rempant, brought me back to focus.
He rose an eyeridge and tilted his head upwards once quietly inquiring me about tagging along for the next attack.
I pumped my firsts, all 4 of them and as soon as he began running, so did I.
The end was near.
The thrill and excitement was thick in the air.
The crowd's noises felt louder, merging with the positive vibes from the song that kept playing.
Despite my own feelings of fulfillment for not only being able to contribute and remain alive while doing so, I was ready to be done with this whole thing.
"On my signal, aim at the head." Rempant commanded. "If you feel like you can't make it, aim for a back leg." I felt the hand that held the claw tighten in anticipation. "I'll take care of the rest."
The ex-soldier sped up and pulled ahead of me.
It still baffled me how he was capable of running at the speeds he was with a mess of a fake leg but, hey, if it worked it worked.
Inspired, I pushed myself harder to the point where I noticed I was past him by a small margin.
In the distance, I could see Montaak holding the weakened creature between his hands, squeezing hard. It tried hard to bite down on him but his grip wasn't allowing much of that.
Then, in a moment where if you blinked you'd miss it, the creature started to ooze out of his hands, its body collapsed and began to glow a toxic blue..
Montaak's eyes widened in shock, throwing the gelatinous being into the ground in a panic. His eyes darted quickly around his hands and arms, and in his moment of distraction the beast darted across the arena toward Rigel–no, at the other beast! Its body, now shaped like some sort of longworm slammed itself into its kin, creating a blinding flash of blue light.
We barely had enough time to react.
There was a tight grip that I felt on my main left arm and a tug that pulled me backwards.
The crowd, previously in good spirits and cheering, quieted down. A contrast against the music which continued to play despite the events.
Then came the strange sensation of cool thick liquid pelting parts of my right arms before I landed on the ground, face first.
I grunted as I shifted my body weight, reaching with my main right hand to brush my eyes. It was then when I noticed two things: one, the claw that I held was no longer in there, possibly being knocked out when I fell down. And two. . .
I froze.
There were patches on my forearm of what I undeniably recognized as azurr.
Azurr is a remarkable substance.
Discovered in tightly secured vaults left in the ancient cities during the Era of Exploration, it was through its understanding and harnessing that our species as a whole was capable of reaching advancements at an incredible speed.
A gel like, bluish glowing goo energy dense enough to power cities and spaceships alike.
Just as we knew of its great benefits, we knew of its terrifying properties: if not properly refined, a single drop was certain to be fatal.
The obvious assumption is that azurr is highly toxic, but the reality was far more frightening: it begins breaking you down until you too become goo.
And it wasn't just you, and that was the secret to its usefulness: it would continue to break things in its vicinity until it was either contained or it ate everything it could.
A chill went down my spine.
Part of me wasn't sure if it was because of the azurr that had landed on my arm but I wasn't going to wait to figure that one out.
Swiftly as I could, I began to look around for my claw while doing my best to keep panic from setting in.
If I could just remove the splotches, I should be fine, right? It'll be painful, sure, but better than becoming a pile of goo.
As numbness began to settle in the areas the azurr had landed, my search became more frantic. Without any pause or consideration, once I had the weapon in my hand I stabbed it into my arm and scraped.
A sharp, agonized scream escaped my mouth, and I grit my teeth as I kept cutting, chucking the pieces of flesh to the side and repeating the process on my other arm. I might have bitten my tongue while I was at it.
Not too far off, an angry roar briefly distracted me from my own pain: Rempant, who had landed not too far from me and was most likely the one who pulled me to safety, had ripped off the rudimentary armor he'd been wearing and pulled the prosthetic from its base at his shoulder. With a disgusted sound he threw it harshly away.
My eyes widened: more than half of the arm had been covered by the goo and was rapidly degrading. I guess it worked better in inorganics.
He looked pissed.
"WHAT AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY THAT WAS, WASN'T IT?" Beamed the announcer. Somehow it made my arm ache even more. "I DID SAY WE'D HAVE EXPLOSIONS! BUT WOW! WHAT WAS THAT? Does our resident scientist have an explanation handy for our audience?"
There was an audible shuffle heard from the booth followed by frantic tapping. Tilenk cleared his throat.
"Consciousness, intellect, does not come naturally to Azurr. It is known to assume motile forms to expand its reach ever outward, but these are always fleeting things." He paused. There was a brief moment where tapping could be heard once more before he resumed. "The beasts below were struggling to hold their shape when they entered the arena, and the repeated wounding and regenerating have driven the Azurr that makes them to the edge of its ability to remember the shape. This will be the end, I think, as one cannibalizes the other to last just a little longer. Long enough, do you think?"
As if on cue, an ear splitting shrill rattled the arena.
The sound drilled through my ears and coursed through my spine, causing me to hunch and shudder. Looking up at Rempant, I noticed he reacted pretty similarly though he had closed one of his eyes and was baring his fangs growling at the enemy in front.
The beast, much larger now, snarled. It had two large fangs that dripped with Azurr, like a horror holo parody of a spider.
It was having trouble remaining solid, bits of its body sloughing off in chunks that would ooze and puddle on the ground before being reabsorbed.
The creature stomped one of its front legs and a fountain of azurr sprayed out. Then it stomped again and with each step forward, more of it covered the arena.
Even a portion of the crowd were already starting to panic, some of them loudly pleading to either stop the match or have others make way to escape. The rest remained just as engaged as they were before, some perhaps even more than before as they stomped their feet and clamored for more chaos.
How were we even going to deal with this thing? This monster?
"What do we…?" I asked nobody in particular. It was basically my thoughts slipping through my mouth, hoping some sort of answer could come. I glanced at Rempant whose earlier rage had turned eerily calm, as he watched. He then chuckled, shaking his head once before sighing. A placid smile formed on his mouth. It was almost as if he had made up his mind and. . . No, wait. "Rempa-?"
We had a fraction of a second before we had to move again.
A thin jet of azurr shot from the monster's maw forcing us to split apart.
The stream was so strong it managed to reach the other end of the arena. Zagusha fortunately wasn't in its path but it was close enough to make her move. It was clear she was having trouble as she shuffled away, circling the creature.
Not content with its failed move the creature gave a step forward, shooting another jet at Rempant. He managed to dodge it but it melted away his outward serenity.
With increased annoyance the creature took another step, turning towards me and shooting a stream.
Instead of receiving a full blast of the goo that would undoubtedly end my life, Montaak had landed in front of me in the nick of time, blocking the shot in its entirety.
With mouth agape I saw how the giant calmly gazed down at himself, took some of the goo off his chest, ran it between his fingers and nodded.
Even the creature had to take a pause to try to, with its feral instincts, determine why its attack had not even damaged him.
"Are you alright?" Montaak asked. He shifted his body enough to be able to look at me while keeping his right hand raised upwards, still toying with the goo that slipped off his hands like soap. His scales had gained a remarkable blue glow that was concerningly familiar. Montaak himself didn't seem concerned, though, and contrary to expectation was definitely solid. His blue eyes shone far brighter than any street light I had ever seen, even in the more opulent areas of the capital. Or rather, one of them shone blue: his left had a strong purple tint that felt like it belonged elsewhere. Hadn't I seen him do that, even if briefly?
"I think…? Um," I nodded. "Yeah, thanks. And you?" That was perhaps not the best of questions but there wasn't really anything more I could think of asking.
Montaak nodded back.
"Better, once I'm done with this."
Turning to face his opponent once more, he clenched his fists and jumped upwards like before landing onto the monster with both fists plummeting onto its head.
It let out another ear piercing shrill which was met with Montaak's own screams as he began to deliver a merciless barrage of punches.
Azurr began to splatter all over the place, none of it coming close to us but pooling thickly in the middle of the arena. Hysterically, I wondered how they were going to make this place usable for the next fight.
The beast tried to escape by becoming goo-like once more but the giant denied it, ignoring how impossible it was to hold a liquid with bare claws.
It was as if some sort of primal instincts had awakened in him, telling him how to overcome his opponent, denying it any opportunity to get away.
With a loud beastly snarl of his own, his skin glowing ever brighter, Montaak grabbed the collected remains of the creature and began to drink it.
Was this really the same Kirlean from last night, so calm and so quiet that even at his size would pass unnoticed in the background?
Whatever he was replaced with had a feral expression, overtaken by this need to consume. To replicate.
Fear grew in my stomach, churning my insides.
Did we just replace one foe for another? Was there any end to this?
"Bro! Chill!" Came the bafflingly casual voice of Rigel, whom I only just noticed had gone missing for most of this development. It certainly shook me out of my feelings of dread and despair.
He was, to my surprise, pretty much unscarred from the whole thing. I was sure he was even closer to the creature than we were when they decided to just do the twelve-limbed tree-climb and fuse into an even more horrifying monster. He was almost nude at this point, with a pair of briefs and a piece of cloth - which I was sure came from his overcoat- wrapped tightly around his left forearm. His missing forearm. What?
"We're done already, jeez. Way to over hype it." The alien shouted from his place. He was by one of the edges of the arena, 10 meters away from the closest puddle of azurr. "We didn't even get to pose at the end. Nice way to ruin a perfectly prepped routine."
Montaak snarled, turning towards him in a combative stance. His eyes, both blue again, had a look that could kill.
Rigel shook his head, waving downwards at him with his only remaining hand.
"Remember what you told me before," the alien reassured him. "Breathe."
The giant obeyed, closing his eyes and taking the moment to breathe slowly.
The puddles around him began to pulse in tune with the same rhythm, shifting from a vicious glow to a softer and even warmer hue. Had I not known better, I might even consider the liquid a sad case of wasted blue shine.
I could go for a drink or two. Maybe a whole bottle would soothe me after all this.
My thoughts were interrupted once more by the crackling sound of a microphone.
"IS HE. . .?!" Asked the announcer, over excited and surprised as he had been during the entire match. "WHAT IS HE DOING MY GOOD TILENK? IT LOOKS LIKE AZURR NOT ONLY DOESN'T HARM HIM BUT . . . IT'S HEALING HIM?"
Did he say heal?
Sure enough, the pacified goo had not only started to retreat toward Montaak but was actually climbing up his body, reaching areas previously bruised and leaving them practically unscathed.
It was honestly amazing to watch.
"Azurr has many properties with many benefits and potential. It appears that Montaak here has discovered, nay, created a method in which he can direct both the azurr in his body and in his surroundings. Truly remarkable."
Once the last bit of azurr on the churned, muddy floor was gone, Montaak opened his eyes once more. His body went back to his regular non-glowy blue tone and there was a serene look on his face.
The crowd exploded in excitement.
Finally, it was over.
For real this time.
I told myself before that I would need a bottle but, really, I think I was ready to raid my previous workplace. That, and demand some sort of monetary compensation for all of this. Bastard should have also gotten a similar treatment, I swear.
There was a tap on my shoulder, the familiar touch of Rempant. He had gone to retrieve Zagusha.
Despite her condition, she seemed to be in good spirits flashing me a smile once I got to greet her.
The ex-soldier himself was in a pretty good mood too, nodding at me once with an expression that conveyed both that I had done a good job and he was proud of my accomplishments. It really made me feel a bit awkward, but in a good way.
I hoped he didn't know I was for the most part screaming internally . . .and externally that one time but at least it didn't come too panicked, I think.
Red smoke began to fume upwards from the gate we had initially emerged from. A tall and meticulously groomed terran, which I assumed had to be a hybrid given his auxiliary hands and scale pattern, entered the arena. He was holding the microphone with his right auxiliary, waving at the ever ecstatic public who had been witness to a match of a lifetime.
Walking calmly behind him by a leg stride or two was Tilenk. A pair of holo-screens, one for each side, were following along. The scholar's face was placid and indifferent to his surroundings, ever focused on his notes.
"Sirs and gentlelasses," The announcer boomed through the stadium's speakers. "From Kai'gaigh to those watching via stream, may I present to you the undisputed winners of today's match. THE MISFITS!!!!"
He gestured towards us with a hand.
In contrast to his sunny demeanor, his clean and prim clothes, we were a complete mess.
But it was nice to not only see but hear how our efforts were well received and enjoyed by everyone.
Maybe not enough to be part of another battle any time soon but, yeah. Much appreciated.
"We would like to extend our thanks to each and every one of you for being part of this once in a lifetime event! We would also like to extend our gratitude for our honored guests and patrons who have not only provided the resources through which we can provide matches of this kind but valuable assets from which they can better our troops and thus our society as a whole. For it is known that the goal of our race is to reach the pinnacle of evolution and who better to guide us than our glorious leaders at High Command, who oversee our future and beyond."
The crowd cheered. It was maybe out of routine that they did because it didn't sound as enthusiastic as it was before. Still, it was loud enough.
Rigel smiled.
It was a toothy almost predatory grin that caught me off guard.
He approached the announcer, twirling behind him until he was close enough to swipe the microphone out of his hands, raising it up to the air at the audience.
They cheered in response, waving their hands to call attention.
"If I may, my most esteemed audience and honored guests, I would like to give y'all a final performance." He paused dramatically, raising the microphone to the air once more to capture the crowd's response before placing it close to his mouth once more. "It's something I had been reserving for an occasion like this. I hope you enjoy it."
The announcer, who wasn't exactly happy at the sudden change of plans, reached out to grab the recording device from the alien but the latter waved it at him with a smirk, walking with long strides to an edge of the arena where neither azurr, rain or anything in particular had disturbed it. There was, however, a large ker'nag plate welded onto the divider wall serving as some sort of patch. Most likely a hurried repair from a match long ago.
Rigel crouched down in front of the patched wall and began to dig a hole in the dirt.
Music began to fill the stadium once more but to everyone's surprise - my own included - instead of a pre-recorded song, Rigel himself began to sing. In Kirlean no less:
I've paid my dues Time after time
I've done my sentence But committed no crime
He rose dramatically from his spot, facing the audience once more who quickly overcame the surprise and now was loudly clamoring, possibly excited to finally be able to understand what these melodies were saying.
And bad mistakes I've made a few
I've had my share of sand
Kicked in my face But I've come through!
Rigel raised his left arm to the air and began to wave it side to side.
As he started to chant 'We are the champions', people began to follow along raising their own arms to the air.
There was definitely a feeling of catharsis that I got from the song, a reward long delayed but finally in our grasp.
'No time for losers' the song continued, for we were indeed the champions.
The alien paused his singing, letting the cheers flood the stadium as he approached us. His smile was radiant. It made me feel a bit giddy. He resumed singing once more, circling us so he could walk between Montaak and Rempant who received him with a degree of amusement or slight embarrassment.
I've taken my bows And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune
And everything that goes with it I thank you all
He patted the pair's back as best as he could, earning cheers and ovations before moving forward once more, this time in the direction of the VIP area.
His endearing smile quickly shifted to a smirk of defiance.
But it's been no bed of roses No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before
The hyu'man race And I ain't gonna lose
I flinched.
There was a lot that happened in that brief paragraph that I tried my best to analyze.
First, there was the obvious stance of defiance towards the Elites in the crowd - which very likely included members of High Command. That was already baffling but him raising the middle finger at them was definitely intended as a direct insult.
Second, hyu'man? Was that what he was? He said a race so that must be it, but where was it even from? Are they all this. . .strange? Enduring?
The gesture and posing ended as quickly as it started and he returned back to repeat the chorus to the audience, who were happily singing along and waving their arms.
No doubt they loved it and, while probably not as brave or foolish as Rigel was insulting our leaders right to their face, they sure had enjoyed every second of it.
Heck, Rempant was sporting practically the same toothy defiant grin our leader had sported while glaring at the Elites.
Zagusha had a smaller smirk but she definitely looked amused.
And Montaak, well . . .
His glance was focused at the VIP section of the arena but it was more pensive. Sure, he had a hint of defiance just like everyone in the team but it was more akin to a stare you give somebody when you've proven them wrong.
I guess it makes sense given what Science team had turned him into, but it felt less vindictive. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
By the time Rigel began to repeat the chorus once more, he walked back at us tilting his head to the side to invite us to participate.
Our team shared glances with one another, and I could see their expressions turn reluctant. I felt my own go that way, too. Our local Maestre rolled his eyes and continued waving his arms while standing in front of us, in an obvious attempt to force us to follow along as the audience focused on us.
"Ah, what the heck." Rempant exclaimed, swiveling his body side to side following along, careful not to move Zagusha too much. Montaak sheepishly began to wave his hands side to side, content with the group activity but not too much with the attention he was forced into.
I decided to throw my hands upwards like the hundreds of people in their seats and follow along.
With a loud elongated 'wooooooooorld' coming from his mouth, Rigel finished his song, letting the music play out until it ended. Cheers, flashes from personal cameras and paraphernalia from the event began to rain down.
The alien from a previously hard to pronounce race, clapped as best as he could tapping on the bottom of the stump where his forearm used to be attached.
"THANK YOU!!!" He exclaimed. "SEE YOU NEXT TIME!"
With applauses taking over as background noise, he bowed down
And with that, we exited the arena at last.
"By the Sky Demons, what a night!" Were the first words that escaped my mouth once we returned back to our quarters.
My scraped arms were still pulsing slightly from pain but were fortunately treated by Tilenk, aided by a bug looking alien with large red eyes, a pair of antennae, and violet flesh.
We survived.
We did it. We really did fight two azurr beasts and defeated them.
This was a story I'd be telling my brothers for sure. My ma? That might be a bit too much for her.
Or rather, I didn't want her to go on a worried tirade on how dangerous it was of me to go there.
It was, but it's not like I had much of a choice.
Rempant chuckled. "That it was, kid. That it was. Not a bad result for a rookie."
I bowed my head sheepishly, shifting my tail a bit. "I did what I could." I shrugged.
He nodded. There was a deep and annoyed sigh coming out of his nostrils, followed by a groan.
"I had just fixed that one. I'll see what parts I got to work with in my stash." Rempant muttered, holding the stump around his right shoulder with his left hand and moving to his…room? Cell? His section of this place that didn't have a bed for some reason.
Another groan caught my attention, this one coming from Zagusha who had sat down on the sofa, holding a green container that I recognized as being a popular brand of cooling gel used for acid rain burns. You were supposed to apply it on the afflicted area and let it harden, creating a protective layer while it healed. I wasn't sure if a single tub of that would suffice but maybe that's all they gave her.
Montaak had already made his way into his own section of the cells, carefully squeezing into an entrance that was slightly too narrow and short for him to enter, forcing him to almost crawl.
That was three accounted for, four including myself.
Where was. . .?
"Hey, Rempant?" I peeked into his cell. He was rummaging through the drawers of a smaller tool chest, looking for something. From the contents thrown on the floor he may have been looking for a replacement shirt, which was an odd thing to keep in a tool chest. "Do you know where Rigel is?"
"Not really." He replied, pausing and then muttering a quiet curse. Something about damned shears. "Last time I saw him, he and Zagusha were following Tilenk to the infirmary. If he hasn't returned, he's probably with the Patron. Wouldn't be surprised if he dragged Rigel to his office after that little stunt of his."
Since Rempant didn't seem keen to say more, I settled on the end of the couch opposite Zagusha. It wasn't quite time for sleep, but I definitely didn't feel up for doing much more tonight. Not after that.
THAT'S A WRAP!
KAI'GAIGH DEATH MATCH BATTLE - COMPLETE!
Final Results
Character
Total HP remaining
Successes | Failures
EXP Earned
Notes
Hawk
5/6
1 | 2
+5 EXP prowess
-
Rigel
6/8
2 | 2
+6 EXP prowess
-
Montaak
10/10*
3 | 1
+7 EXP prowess
Azurr Bulk depleted.
Bonus EXP earned
Rempant
8/8 **
3 | 1
+5 EXP prowess
Prowess rolls -3 until next fix
Zagusha
5/7
2 | 2
+6 EXP prowess
-
Tilenk
N/A
N/A
N/A
-
*Healed via Azurr Bulk
**No damage taken via 'Dying is for Others'
New Data unlocked:
Montaak - Azurr Bulk
Add +n bonus on Prowess when using Azurr based attacks. Each turn it will increase the value of n by +2 , which caps at +10 if unused. May be distributed (i.e. 2 Azurr attacks with a +1 bonus if n = 2). Players may opt to use the bulk to heal Montaak once per battle. When Bulk is used it must be used in its entirety and it will reset the bonus down to 0 until next turn.
Rempant - Cybernetics
Rempant's cybernetics affect his mobility and directly adjusts his prowess stat.
Traits Unlocked:
Montaak - Azurr immunity
Azurr based attacks have a -10 effectiveness against his prowess. Completely unaffected by Azurr poisoning.
Rempant - Dying is for others
Rampant may choose to sacrifice his cybernetics to avoid all damage done in a turn. Doing so will reduce his Prowess rolls by 3 (Prw - 3) per piece lost until he regains them. All cybernetic stat bonuses granted by the lost pieces are lost.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, that was a bunch of text.
Now, usually, I wouldn't go 'screw it, we'll just finish this outright' but there were two things that lead me to go that way:
1) I'll admit I was a bit salty that we didn't get the rolls needed to finish. Like, seriously everyone failed and by 1?!
2) The Failure gave me the perfect opportunity showcase in Quest how the regular and special traits of the characters work. Granted, I've only uncovered for two of them so far but the idea is that when I figure out when to prompt it I will explain it and have you take a choice.
Like always, this information will be attached in the character sheets.
As per usual, I would like to thank all of you who have followed the quest so far. I truly appreciate it.
The battle is over at last, finally.
Time for a well deserved rest, though I still have some questions and things boggling my mind.
Sadly, I think I only have it in me to check in with two people. Should I:
[ ] Talk to Rempant about getting some pointers. We are supposed to do missions later on and we'll probably have some battles too. Should I ask him to train me properly?
[ ] Check on Zagusha and see how she's doing. The acid rain did a number on her, and besides that I didn't really know what she'd be contributing to the team. Maybe get to know her better?
[ ] Talk to Montaak about. . . well, I mean, he ate an azurr beast. What the heck! He seems back to normal so a conversation shouldn't be too bad, right?
[ ] Look for Rigel. Maybe ask him how music works with him? Where did he get it from? Where is he really from? What's a hyu'man?
[ ] Head back to the infirmary to get more bandages from Tilenk. Zagusha will probably need another tub of goo and, oh hey who's that person in there?
[X] Check on Zagusha and see how she's doing. The acid rain did a number on her, and besides that I didn't really know what she'd be contributing to the team. Maybe get to know her better?
[X] Talk to Montaak about. . . well, I mean, he ate an azurr beast. What the heck! He seems back to normal so a conversation shouldn't be too bad, right?
Ok, I've added to the post the full EXP gained from battle. I had to go back and calculate those while I wasn't at work : P
On the other hand I saw a rule that contradicted another and decided to remove it. It is the following:
The EXP needed to raise a stat is equal to twice the current rating of the trait. Thus, raising a trait from 5 to 6 would require 10 EXP. The Prowess EXP gained from a battle is based on overall victory or defeat, assigned once at the end of the fight to all characters involved.
Since usually Prowess is the only thing used for battles, then counting the proper EXP earned towards the stat would be difficult. So now the rules read as follows.
The EXP needed to raise a stat is equal to twice the current rating of the trait. Thus, raising a trait from 5 to 6 would require 10 EXP.
I have also added a handy-dandy table to track the EXP earned. The Playlist has been updated to reflect the most recent addition and the Lore Post has been updated on regards to Azurr and its nasty (but fascinating) properties.
The next post will be the Epilogue for this hefty prologue and from there, we begin our journey.
I hope these past posts have been useful onto what to expect ahead and you stick around because it's going to get exciting.
Thank you and Happy Hannukah to those who observe it.
I like Zagusha so far, and we didn't social her before the fight, so I vote that. Tilenk too, he sounds fun and is probably our path to better gear so best get started on that early.
Rempant is my favorite, but we socialed him before the fight. We can go get to know the others first. Montaak for the same reason. His social might be interesting, but we've met him. We can chat later.
[X] Check on Zagusha and see how she's doing. The acid rain did a number on her, and besides that I didn't really know what she'd be contributing to the team. Maybe get to know her better?
[X] Head back to the infirmary to get more bandages from Tilenk. Zagusha will probably need another tub of goo and, oh hey who's that person in there?
Ok, so, this is me not being a tie breaker but suggesting something: let's mix and match.
- Both of you want to pick Zagusha to talk to so let's do that.
- I agree that we need buffs and that we haven't talked too much with Tilenk so, I'm leaning to get to talk with Tilenk with the idea of 'revealing' his special stat and thus the buffs that can be beneficial for the group. Given Tilenk's involvement in the project that made Montaak what he is, it'll also be a bit of a 'talk by proxy'.
How does that sound?
Unless there is a 3rd vote which I would be very pleased to hear.
[X] Talk to Rempant about getting some pointers. We are supposed to do missions later on and we'll probably have some battles too. Should I ask him to train me properly?
[X] Check on Zagusha and see how she's doing. The acid rain did a number on her, and besides that I didn't really know what she'd be contributing to the team. Maybe get to know her better?
Well, clearly everyone wants to talk to Zagusha.
There is no doubt on that.
However, there is still the issue about the 2nd person to have a conversation with.
Just to clear out things: everyone in the Misfits have interesting things to say or to offer and you can always engage with them later so if you decide not to go with one right now, you'll get another chance.
That being said, I do need to know who's the 2nd one going to be. I'll extend voting until Sunday 9pm PST (2023/12/17).
Please discuss who you'd like to be the 2nd pick.
[X] Talk to Rempant about getting some pointers. We are supposed to do missions later on and we'll probably have some battles too. Should I ask him to train me properly?
[X] Check on Zagusha and see how she's doing. The acid rain did a number on her, and besides that I didn't really know what she'd be contributing to the team. Maybe get to know her better?
It's fine, Gawr. We've been given the opportunity to work it out ourselves. If we don't, QM will probably just tie break.
So I said why I wanted to talk to Tilenk, we haven't done that yet and he's likely our best option for getting better gear overall and that fight showed we probably need that. I get the feeling this fight was introducing a concept (Azurr) and an opponent (Azurr beasts) that we're gonna fight again and they're scary.
Still, I'm not married to that vote specifically. Anyone else want to share why you want to talk to your second person in particular?
Ok, time's up.
Given that there wasn't much shifting around and no more votes, I'll go with my original plan which is mix and matching the two votes into one.
So we'll have this:
- Talk to Zagusha (because everyone wants to )
- Check things out with Tilenk
- Talk to Montaak.
Honestly, for writing purposes this dynamic works to a T.
After the next proper post, Chapter 1 will start properly.
I do want to say that each chapter (should there not be a battle or significan event) will be composed of 5 actions/posts which you can use to level up Hawk and friends' stats and social links (-insert Persona songs there-).
That being said, Social Links will not be a trackable stat. I feel like doing so will make it more of a limit than a useful indicator and may even hinder interactions between the Misfits. Kind of how I ended up not being able to court Naoto in Persona 4 because I missed my cues and now I regret it. . .
And yes, this means romance can happen. I would like you to wait a bit on that though because Kirlean relationships are a whole packet I'd rather reveal in Quest.
See you in the next post. As always, thanks for the support and be sure to tell people about this quest~
Greetings questers! Happy New Year!
It's been a while, hasn't it?
Well, turns out that having a week off isn't enough when you do art commissions = w=; So I got stuck not doing the post as I had intended.
Many apologies for that.
While I work on that, I would like to provide you a gift/compensation brought to you by my Editor.
Initially I requested his services as a proof reader since English isn't my first language. I feel confident on my grasp of it but there's definitively some hiccups here and there due to strange wire-crossings in my bilingual mind that may sound odd to the regular English speaker. So, I got him to check on those.
Then eventually he got to be my Editor, helping me flesh out some things where I just couldn't find words or struggled spurting out the scene in my head with words.
Lately, he's been streaming Phoenix Point on Twitch and as he was naming his troops I suggested using the Misfits' names for one of his teams. It is through this that he got inspired and got to write some stuff of his own.
So without further due, here's an Omake:
Cavern Crawl(ies) Written by: Mr. Pigeon
Based on the characters and Quest by: Da Mangaka
It was too dark in here. All of us agreed on that one.
We'd been sent on a capture mission by Science Team. Or, I guess, High Command had been told to secure some samples for Science Team, and they gave the job to us because they want us to walk into a cave and never come back. Apparently this cave was full of critters that had some kind of interesting property, but the critters were birthed in large numbers by these weird fleshy mushroom tree things. Science Team didn't care about having those things alive, and cared a lot about having the cave not have an endless stream of things trying to kill them, so our job was to come in here and kill the mushroom trees and optionally kill everything else we came across on the way.
That's why we were on some planet none of us had ever heard of, surrounded by weird fungus and barnacles (this cave was never underwater though?) and moss that doesn't glow. Moss is supposed to glow!
That's why it was too dark. There's no glowing moss here. I know I'm just some dumb kid from the trees, but even I know moss is supposed to glow. It's not natural.
Rigel didn't seem to mind though. He was just swaggering through the darkness with a shoulder-mounted floodlight, an environmental suit, and the largest weapon any of us had ever used. That was a funny thing about this mission, actually: apparently Science Team really wanted these samples, so they gave us gear to make it happen. We had these neat little sticks with pointy bits on the end that they promised would lock up the nervous system of whatever we stuck them in, and they gave us these little pistols that shot darts they promised would do the same. That was for the live captures we could grab for a bonus.
That's not all they gave us, though. They had a selection of slightly-better-than-military-issue Particle Projection Rifles that most of us were using, a light beam rifle that Tilenk wouldn't shut up about on the way into the cave (not that I didn't appreciate him teaching me things, but I really don't need to know the internal politicking that was keeping this thing from going into production), and this absurd rotary cannon that used magnets to accelerate solid metal slugs. Despite being the smallest of us, Rigel was carrying it like it was perfectly normal and I wasn't sure how to handle it.
"This'll be great, team! In and out and we'll be home by dinner!" Rigel said as he strolled along. "We'll–oh, hey there's an egg. Also a beastie. I'm gonna go bait this egg, somebody else deal with this dumb thing!" Before any of us could answer, our alien leader darted down a side tunnel just as one of the locals crawled around the corner and into our lights.
It was a lanky thing, not at all like the crabs we had back home. It didn't have a carapace, but instead had slick, oily, yellow-green skin and limbs that wiggled bonelessly to drag it along the ground. A pair of bony spikes tipped each tendril, and mandibles tapped together in its eyeless face. An undignified noise escaped my mouth as one of those tentacles reached toward Rempant, but there was a sudden flicker of directed light from behind me. There was a hiss as Tilenk's weapon vented heat that was slightly louder than the sound of the creature's limb turning to ash, and then the much more familiar bark of Rempant's PPR knocked it into the wall. It didn't get back up.
"I do not like this place," Zagusha said, disdainfully looking at the corpse and voicing what I was trying not to. Before I could agree, though, Rigel popped back out of the side-passage he'd gone down.
"Good news, the eggs hatch when you annoy them! Bad news, there's a worm following me that'll explode into poison gas if you let it!" Rigel said as he casually leaned against a rock. "I know that because there were actually two eggs! Also I forgot to grab a taser. Can somebody zap it for me? We can bring home a live one!"
With a scoff my mother would definitely call unladylike, Zagusha drew her pistol and shot it at something I couldn't quite see. I leaned around the corner and saw a green segmented worm writhing on the ground. "Eww," I said, and apparently Zagusha agreed with me because she shot it again. It stopped moving, fortunately.
Then Rigel's weapon spun up and there was an uncomfortable buzzing, popping sound followed by several wet 'plops.' "Try not to get distracted," he said as he examined a second horrid fleshy thing that he'd just cut in half with tiny bits of metal.
"Excellent," Tilenk said from behind us, "A live specimen might-agh!" I whipped around to look what happened and saw Tilenk was dragging a bony spike out of a dent in his armor. "Excuse me a moment, one of the more complex specimens appears to want to come home with us as well."
Before I could help him though, Rigel piped up. "Hey, I think I see another egg. Let's try an' get it to open before we get there, then we can zap it on its way in! Hawk, you're up!"
Now, I didn't really want to brag or anything, but I'd been practicing with guns recently and I kinda wanted to put it to use. Tilenk would probably be fine. He'd be fine, right? I shouldered my PPR, sighted on the egg Rigel's shoulder lamp was illuminating down the hall, and squeezed out a single shot. It struck the egg dead on, and I couldn't help a fist-pump. Rempant slapped me on the shoulder, and Zagusha made an approving noise. Tilenk also made a noise, but I wasn't sure why. He wasn't even around to see the shot!
As promised, after a moment of anticipation the egg exploded open and a fleshy, skittering bug creature leapt out. It twisted around, little legs clattering on the stone as it seemed to survey the passage, and then it paused. I raised my rifle again, just in case, and I heard a hiss of metal on metal as I'm pretty sure Rempant drew the stun rod.
Tension mounted as the little bug thing waited, then ratcheted up again as it turned its weird, eyeless head our direction. I aimed a little ahead of it, having seen how it moved and ready to lead my shot. Rigel started humming something. The little thing let out a tiny screeching sound, and then exploded into motion!
…immediately disappearing down a dark passage to its side, instead of coming toward us. All of us watched down the hallway, expecting it to come back out again. After a long moment, I glanced over at the rest of the team. "This place sucks," Rigel said, then shrugged.
"Whatever," he said after a few seconds longer, then started leading the way down a different passage. "It'll jump out and eat one of us before too much longer, we can catch it then."
Rempant, PPR ready and warily sticking close to the barnacle-covered rocks that would give him cover, followed Rigel. "I could really do without the 'getting eaten' part," I heard Rempant say, "Keep an eye on that direction, Hawk. You know what to do." It made me feel really good that he trusted me to cover his back, and I adjusted my own shoulder light to make sure I didn't miss anything approaching. Keeping an eye on every shadow, I slowly walked to the side to stay close to everyone else.
"That first try was a bit of a bust," Zagusha said, "but I see another egg there. Shall we try again? We're a bit closer so it may actually come our way instead of running off." The others made sounds of assent and I heard a PPR firing again.
In the long pause between disturbing the egg and its hatching, I couldn't help but voice a thought. "Tilenk is sure taking awhile. I wonder if he's doing okay?"
"I'm sure he's fine. He's a big boy," Rigel said. "We just gotta–woah fuck that's really fast!" There was another burst of PPR fire and the whine of Rigel's rotary cannon spinning up, followed by the crumpling sound of its slugs hitting stone. "Is it dead? Oh, wow, yeah that's really dead. This thing is awesome! I take everything back, this is my favorite mission we've ever done."
Rempant grunted. "Sure, I'm having a great time walking through dark tunnels and–contact!" His voice was urgent enough that I turned away from the passage I was watching, and it was just in time to see Rempant fire a burst of PPR into the largest slug-monster we'd seen so far. It was clearly much stronger than the ones we'd seen before, parts of its body having grown a solid carapace over its weird, fleshy, oily skin. The orange glowing particles of the rifle scored awful burns in its skin, but too many skittered off hard plates. It was still alive, and one of its arms whipped forward with the crack of a sonic boom. Rempant staggered back, one arm clutching at the side of his chest and the long bone spike suddenly sticking out of it.
There was an icy feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I heard Rigel's cannon spinning up again. We couldn't wait for that, though. More orange skittered across the creature's plates as Zagusha fired a burst from her own PPR, and I was moving. Montaak was bringing up the rear, too far back to get there in the low tunnels, but he took my place in the other passage. There was a crunch of stone as his fist impacted something, and I was moving. Rempant dropped his rifle, one hand leading as he went for close combat, and I was moving. The creature's other squishy, fleshy arm raised, a bony spike extending from inside and I was moving.
My PPR slammed into the pit of its raised arm and I held the trigger down, my relatively miniscule weight bearing it down to the ground. Its body twitched as the hot projectiles reflected from the plates but on the inside this time, and by the time we slammed into the stone floor it was dead. I crouched atop its body, ears straining to catch anything else approaching.
Rempant's arm came down on my shoulder and hauled me back up and I looked back at the group. "Good kill," the old soldier said, and warmth bloomed in my chest again. We all pulled back to the junction since the chamber there was large enough for Montaak to move around.
"The little one came back," our largest teammate said, scraping bug juices off onto a nearby stone. "I took care of it." Rempant grunted and walked past him toward the tunnel we entered from, already assessing his wound.
"Thanks Montaak," I said, then looked past him. "Oh hey, Tilenk's back!"
The old scientist was walking out of the darkness, clearly trying to look dignified despite having taken his helmet off and nursing a painful-looking bruise. Seeing our attention on him, he went ahead and answered our unasked question. "The local did not, in fact, want to come with us. After much discussion, I decided to accede to its demands. It will be staying here quite permanently."
He approached Rempant, who was dragging the bone spike out of his chest, and drew a container of med-gel from his belt. Then, instead of applying it to the soldier bleeding from the chest right next to him, he spread the goo on his own eye with a relieved sigh.
"Really!?" Zagusha said a little too loudly, echoing a little in the cave as she stomped up to Tilenk. "Give me that!" she swiped the container and started applying it to Rempant's wound.
"Ooh, very sorry Rempant. That looks serious," Tilenk observed, nonplussed. I guess that fit, Zagusha was usually annoyed at him for one reason or another. Rempant just grunted in response, but before things could continue I heard something down the passage past Montaak.
Fortunately, Montaak did too and whipped around. One of his fists caught a creature, another bony adult one, and knocked it back down the hall. It moved quick though and disappeared back into the darkness before we could finish putting it down. Montaak sighed. "I do not like this place. We should finish quickly and leave."
"Y'know buddy, when you're right you're right!" Rigel said, slapping the top of his cannon. "This way! I've got a good feelin' about it!" He started leading the way down the passage past Montaak. He only made it a few steps before he ducked the swipe of yet another creature hiding behind a rock, letting out a "woah!" before slamming the tip of his rotary cannon into its chest and crushing the beast against the wall beside him. There was movement down the hall past him though, and on instinct I fired. Another buzz from Rigel's cannon caused the upper body of the creature he'd pinned to fall apart, and the one Montaak wounded slumped over from its hiding place. Another kill for me.
Rigel straightened and walked right back past Montaak. "Never mind, that direction is the worst one. I got a good feelin' about this one though!" Zagusha let out an incredulous noise, and Rempant laughed as he slathered more goo on his wound. It was already looking much better as the fluid-suspended nanomachines worked their magic. It would harden into an armored plug shortly, and would likely fall out of the repaired flesh on its own by tomorrow night if I didn't miss my mark.
Fortunately there weren't any surprises in this passage, and very quickly we reached another intersection. Rigel's floodlight illuminated a chamber on either side, and in the middle of each were the things we were here to kill.
As described by Science Team, they were these weird fleshy mushroom trees about twice Montaak's height. The cap undulated as we watched, pulsing and moving to a beat we couldn't hear. There were a few eggs around it, and apparently if we didn't kill it quick the mushroom would make them all hatch at once.
"Getting close is inadvisable," Tilenk said, sighting down his rifle at the mushroom head. "According to our briefing simply shooting it enough should render it dead. I think perhaps we should take a moment to break the eggs closest to us so that we can get within effective range of your Particle Projectors–"
"Nah, I got a way better plan," Rigel interrupted, then hefted his rotary cannon. With a whine it spun up and the buzzing hiss of its high velocity slugs sent a chill down my spine. The side of the mushroom cap seemed to disintegrate and ichor splashed out of it onto the floor, and Rigel started giggling even as he struggled to keep the weapon on target despite his stable stance and two-handed grip. After only a few seconds the stream of metal stopped and Rigel looked to the rest of us. "There, problem solved!"
Indeed, the problem did seem to be solved as the thing was already shriveling and blackening. "Mm," Montaak grunted, reaching down and grabbing the cannon with one hand. Almost casually he raised it to point into the other chamber. There was another hissing buzz and the second tree-shroom fell to the ground with an echoing thump as if an ax had been taken to it. "There. Time to go, I think."
Rigel began to complain about his gun being taken away, but the rest of us let out a sigh as we walked back toward the cave entrance. Honestly, it was probably for the best that we didn't see anything threatening on the way back. What an awful place.
Even so…I couldn't help but feel like it was a job well done. And…you know, as much as that cave sucked, it was probably still a better way to spend an afternoon that serving 'shines at a cheap bar in the city.
I smiled to myself as we walked out of the cave and back toward the drop ship that would take us home and just let myself bask in the sound of the team around me.
That's all for now. I will try to have the post done by Friday. This Friday.
We got a new year and a literal new chapter to begin.
As always, thanks for supporting and tagging along this quest.
And thanks to my Editor for this story.
