Turn 3: Arc 1-2
The air beside Ling Qi rippled, and her Singing Mist Blade shot out with an eerie wail. Ling Qi had not made much use of her flying sword outside of spars yet, but now seemed like a good enough time to start. As the blade darted like a buzzing fly toward the beasts mishappen head and sang its discordant song, Ling Qi flooded her meridians with wood aligned qi and activated her Deepwood Vitality technique, spreading its aegis across both herself and Li Suyin.
She grimaced as she felt her technique fail to dissipate the heavy chains of qi dragging at her friends limbs, but they were both fortified against attack now. Her sword was doing its job, making the beast flinch and snap by darting around its head like a bothersome fly, so she moved forward with the next part of her plan. There was no time to talk and make plans, but she trusted Li Suyin to follow up to the best of her abilities.
Ling Qi darted forward, passing Li Suyin's twin guardians as she closed in on the beast. In the accelerated perception that came with combat, they seemed to be moving in slow motion. A moment later, the beast loomed above her, malformed and ominous, she ducked under its swiping arm, her limbs shimmering and fading in and out of the cave's darkness. When stood directly in front of the beast, she brought her flute to her lips and played the Springs End Aria.
The beast flinched back at the spread of the unnatural cold, frost spreading across its chitin and freezing solid the sand beneath her feet. Eleven glowing eyes fixed on her, and gaping jaws opened wide, metal threaded chitin gleaming in the pale light cast by her friend's eye patch.
Then Ling Qi heard something flying through the air, and a puff as a tiny clay sphere shattered on the massive beast's upraised forearm. The scent of fresh air reached Ling Qi's nose, along with a mild breeze that sent her hair fluttering. The beast however, seemed to find it much more distressing, letting out an earsplitting shriek as it pawed at its face and gnashed its jaws. Ling Qi held back a grimace as it released another burst of heavy earth qi, but it washed off of her without effect this time, and avoiding the boulder that fell from above took a mere sidestep.
Capitalizing and maximizing the creatures distraction, she sent her flying sword spiralling on a direct course for one of the things glowing eyes, and as it swatted at the blade, drawing a shower of sparks where the edge met chitin, she bent her legs and leaped, carrying herself up until she was level with the beasts maw. Only then did she launch into the second part of the technique Zeqing had taught her. The melody of the Hoarfrost Caress howled from her flute like a wild blizzard, and the gore, slime and saliva in the creature's mouth froze solid instantly. Chitin split, fangs shattered and one of the beast's eyes frosted over and exploded violently, showering her in frozen chunks of ocular fluid.
How it howled in response to that! A swinging fist the size of her torso crashed into Ling Qi's side… and flew through, unobstructed, trailing black mist as Ling Qi fell back to earth, not wanting to waste qi on flying. However, the beast was not just flailing wildly, even as she fell, her eyes widened slightly as the beast hunkered down, curling in on itself. She had only an instant to see its chitinous flesh writhing, dull spikes on its carapace sharpening and growing in fast motion before they fired in a first, hundreds of organic arrows firing outward in a moment. She twisted through the deadly rain, avoiding most and letting others flow through her, but several struck regardless, shoulder, abdomen and thigh were hit, but the faint viridian light playing over her skin only rippled and shattered, deflecting the last of the projectiles.
Ling Qi's ears caught no cry of pain from behind her either, only the staccato sound of impact on metal and the feeling of her Deepwood Vitality fading. Her friends condition was confirmed when a skeletal crow zoomed past overhead and exploded violently in midair above the beasts head, releasing a misty rain of rust colored liquid. A little washed over Ling Qi, but it seemed benign, at least to her. The beast on the other hand, once again thrashed, some of the gleaming metals in its shell turning dingy and corroded, forming cracks in its carapace.
Then Ling Qi's flying sword sang again, trailing sparks as it skated across the creatures carapace, and Ling Qi felt its hunger take hold. Through her connection to the weapon she felt it begin to hungrily siphon away the beast's qi, venting it into the cavern around them in a miasma of dark grey mist. As the beast raised its head, brackish frozen blood flowing in slushy chunks from its jaws, Ling Qi struck again. The winds of winter howled, and another two of the beast's eyes exploded, a fracture forming even in one of its great snapping jaws.
The cavern shook at its shriek, and dust rained from the ceiling as the pain maddened beast lashed out with spike encrusted limbs, shattering rock and sending up plumes of sand as it swung furiously at the tiny figure darting around in front of it. The song of her sword pounded it relentlessly, and another clay vessel of fresh air shattered, darkening another eye as the 'venom' seeped in through broken chitin.
The next timed the blizzard sang, the beast gurgled, it's shriek choked off as its wavering aura broke, and blood and saliva froze solid in its throat. The beast spasmed, a pulse of heavy qi erupting again and making the cavern rumble ominously. At last though, it shuddered and fell still.
Ling Qi stood ready for another few moments after the creatures last twitch subsided. Only after a swift kick to one of its remaining eyes failed to bring a reaction did she allow herself to turn around. "Everything alright up there?" She called.
"Y-yes," Li Suyin called back from the edge of the pit, her voice muffled. Ling Qi looked with bemusement upon her friends solution to the issue of being dragged down, She stood in a veritable cage of bone, metal and silk, formed by her guardians. The one with the shield stood below, shield spiked into the ground, the simple slab of metal had expanded, twin plates of steel bursting from its sides to form a curved barrier. The other one stood behind, the hooked ornament at the base of its gaundao now stuck firmly into the ceiling at the end of a chain. It clasped the extended weapon in one hand, while the other seemed to be holding the first guardians collar, but a second look showed that the gauntlet and armor had fused into a single piece. Metal flowed as she watched, the two guardians detaching from one another as Li Suyin peeked out from behind them.
"I take it that's new," Ling Qi said dryly, gesturing to the dead beast.
"Nothing like that has come up here before, no," Li Suyin replied with a frown, making her way down the slope carefully as her guardians disentangled themselves. "It could just be bad luck, but…"
"You did have a way out with you before, right?" Ling Qi asked worriedly. While Li Suyin had weathered the peripheral of the fight fine and even helped distract the creature, she didn't think her friend could have handled it on her own.
"I have an escape talisman," Li Suyin replied absently, examining the creature. "You would think a predator like this would leave more signs, considering how destructive it is," she mused absently.
"Unless this isn't it's normal hunting grounds," Ling Qi replied with a frown.
"Well, we can determine that later," Li Suyin replied deliberately, reaching into her bags to retrieve a leather surgical mask and a pair of goggles. "I need to harvest this! A core this potent will be a great boon for my work."
Ling Qi sighed, and resigned herself to tanding guard while her friend butchered hundreds of kilograms worth of beetle monster. She was glad Suyin was happy, but should she really be this blase about the threat to her life. What had happened to the wilting girl who hated fighting and blood?
"Do you think we should follow it's trail?" Li Suyin asked, crouching near the beasts oozing maw. "I had scouted out a path to the third level already, but if this leads back to a nest… There could be so much more to find."
Ling Qi raised an eyebrow. "You want to tangle with a bunch of these?" She asked incredulously.
Li Suyin shook her head, even as she flicked her wrist, drawing a carving knife the length of her forearm from storage. "There isn't enough nutrition in this region to support multiple adults of this size, perhaps a mated pair at most, the upper caverns would be stripped bare if there were more. We might find juveniles, or even eggs though! A sample of the carapace still in development could advance…"
Ling Qi watched her friend sank the knife into a crack in the creatures carapace, and the formations on it's blade glowed, even as a spurt of blood stained Suyin's facemask. She listened absently to Li Suyin discuss the improvements she could make to her constructs.
What a change, that she was the one feeling a little timid.
[] Dissuade Li Suyin from following the trail. Surely she already had plans in the region she had already scouted out. Who even knows how far the beasts trail descends.
[] Go along with it. Suyin can protect herself, and you… You're not weak, this isn't like the dream. Who are you to deny Suyin her own bout of good fortune.
She grimaced as she felt her technique fail to dissipate the heavy chains of qi dragging at her friends limbs, but they were both fortified against attack now. Her sword was doing its job, making the beast flinch and snap by darting around its head like a bothersome fly, so she moved forward with the next part of her plan. There was no time to talk and make plans, but she trusted Li Suyin to follow up to the best of her abilities.
Ling Qi darted forward, passing Li Suyin's twin guardians as she closed in on the beast. In the accelerated perception that came with combat, they seemed to be moving in slow motion. A moment later, the beast loomed above her, malformed and ominous, she ducked under its swiping arm, her limbs shimmering and fading in and out of the cave's darkness. When stood directly in front of the beast, she brought her flute to her lips and played the Springs End Aria.
The beast flinched back at the spread of the unnatural cold, frost spreading across its chitin and freezing solid the sand beneath her feet. Eleven glowing eyes fixed on her, and gaping jaws opened wide, metal threaded chitin gleaming in the pale light cast by her friend's eye patch.
Then Ling Qi heard something flying through the air, and a puff as a tiny clay sphere shattered on the massive beast's upraised forearm. The scent of fresh air reached Ling Qi's nose, along with a mild breeze that sent her hair fluttering. The beast however, seemed to find it much more distressing, letting out an earsplitting shriek as it pawed at its face and gnashed its jaws. Ling Qi held back a grimace as it released another burst of heavy earth qi, but it washed off of her without effect this time, and avoiding the boulder that fell from above took a mere sidestep.
Capitalizing and maximizing the creatures distraction, she sent her flying sword spiralling on a direct course for one of the things glowing eyes, and as it swatted at the blade, drawing a shower of sparks where the edge met chitin, she bent her legs and leaped, carrying herself up until she was level with the beasts maw. Only then did she launch into the second part of the technique Zeqing had taught her. The melody of the Hoarfrost Caress howled from her flute like a wild blizzard, and the gore, slime and saliva in the creature's mouth froze solid instantly. Chitin split, fangs shattered and one of the beast's eyes frosted over and exploded violently, showering her in frozen chunks of ocular fluid.
How it howled in response to that! A swinging fist the size of her torso crashed into Ling Qi's side… and flew through, unobstructed, trailing black mist as Ling Qi fell back to earth, not wanting to waste qi on flying. However, the beast was not just flailing wildly, even as she fell, her eyes widened slightly as the beast hunkered down, curling in on itself. She had only an instant to see its chitinous flesh writhing, dull spikes on its carapace sharpening and growing in fast motion before they fired in a first, hundreds of organic arrows firing outward in a moment. She twisted through the deadly rain, avoiding most and letting others flow through her, but several struck regardless, shoulder, abdomen and thigh were hit, but the faint viridian light playing over her skin only rippled and shattered, deflecting the last of the projectiles.
Ling Qi's ears caught no cry of pain from behind her either, only the staccato sound of impact on metal and the feeling of her Deepwood Vitality fading. Her friends condition was confirmed when a skeletal crow zoomed past overhead and exploded violently in midair above the beasts head, releasing a misty rain of rust colored liquid. A little washed over Ling Qi, but it seemed benign, at least to her. The beast on the other hand, once again thrashed, some of the gleaming metals in its shell turning dingy and corroded, forming cracks in its carapace.
Then Ling Qi's flying sword sang again, trailing sparks as it skated across the creatures carapace, and Ling Qi felt its hunger take hold. Through her connection to the weapon she felt it begin to hungrily siphon away the beast's qi, venting it into the cavern around them in a miasma of dark grey mist. As the beast raised its head, brackish frozen blood flowing in slushy chunks from its jaws, Ling Qi struck again. The winds of winter howled, and another two of the beast's eyes exploded, a fracture forming even in one of its great snapping jaws.
The cavern shook at its shriek, and dust rained from the ceiling as the pain maddened beast lashed out with spike encrusted limbs, shattering rock and sending up plumes of sand as it swung furiously at the tiny figure darting around in front of it. The song of her sword pounded it relentlessly, and another clay vessel of fresh air shattered, darkening another eye as the 'venom' seeped in through broken chitin.
The next timed the blizzard sang, the beast gurgled, it's shriek choked off as its wavering aura broke, and blood and saliva froze solid in its throat. The beast spasmed, a pulse of heavy qi erupting again and making the cavern rumble ominously. At last though, it shuddered and fell still.
Ling Qi stood ready for another few moments after the creatures last twitch subsided. Only after a swift kick to one of its remaining eyes failed to bring a reaction did she allow herself to turn around. "Everything alright up there?" She called.
"Y-yes," Li Suyin called back from the edge of the pit, her voice muffled. Ling Qi looked with bemusement upon her friends solution to the issue of being dragged down, She stood in a veritable cage of bone, metal and silk, formed by her guardians. The one with the shield stood below, shield spiked into the ground, the simple slab of metal had expanded, twin plates of steel bursting from its sides to form a curved barrier. The other one stood behind, the hooked ornament at the base of its gaundao now stuck firmly into the ceiling at the end of a chain. It clasped the extended weapon in one hand, while the other seemed to be holding the first guardians collar, but a second look showed that the gauntlet and armor had fused into a single piece. Metal flowed as she watched, the two guardians detaching from one another as Li Suyin peeked out from behind them.
"I take it that's new," Ling Qi said dryly, gesturing to the dead beast.
"Nothing like that has come up here before, no," Li Suyin replied with a frown, making her way down the slope carefully as her guardians disentangled themselves. "It could just be bad luck, but…"
"You did have a way out with you before, right?" Ling Qi asked worriedly. While Li Suyin had weathered the peripheral of the fight fine and even helped distract the creature, she didn't think her friend could have handled it on her own.
"I have an escape talisman," Li Suyin replied absently, examining the creature. "You would think a predator like this would leave more signs, considering how destructive it is," she mused absently.
"Unless this isn't it's normal hunting grounds," Ling Qi replied with a frown.
"Well, we can determine that later," Li Suyin replied deliberately, reaching into her bags to retrieve a leather surgical mask and a pair of goggles. "I need to harvest this! A core this potent will be a great boon for my work."
Ling Qi sighed, and resigned herself to tanding guard while her friend butchered hundreds of kilograms worth of beetle monster. She was glad Suyin was happy, but should she really be this blase about the threat to her life. What had happened to the wilting girl who hated fighting and blood?
"Do you think we should follow it's trail?" Li Suyin asked, crouching near the beasts oozing maw. "I had scouted out a path to the third level already, but if this leads back to a nest… There could be so much more to find."
Ling Qi raised an eyebrow. "You want to tangle with a bunch of these?" She asked incredulously.
Li Suyin shook her head, even as she flicked her wrist, drawing a carving knife the length of her forearm from storage. "There isn't enough nutrition in this region to support multiple adults of this size, perhaps a mated pair at most, the upper caverns would be stripped bare if there were more. We might find juveniles, or even eggs though! A sample of the carapace still in development could advance…"
Ling Qi watched her friend sank the knife into a crack in the creatures carapace, and the formations on it's blade glowed, even as a spurt of blood stained Suyin's facemask. She listened absently to Li Suyin discuss the improvements she could make to her constructs.
What a change, that she was the one feeling a little timid.
[] Dissuade Li Suyin from following the trail. Surely she already had plans in the region she had already scouted out. Who even knows how far the beasts trail descends.
[] Go along with it. Suyin can protect herself, and you… You're not weak, this isn't like the dream. Who are you to deny Suyin her own bout of good fortune.
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