Wellspring Attack

[npc_kun]

Characters:NPC Nothing, NPC Charger, NPC Steve and OPEN
Date/Time: Friday, September 23rd, midnight
Location: Wellspring Island
Rating: PG-13 and up
Summary: The beginning of the end.

Questions and general plotting can be done on this post. You can also page the NPC muns on that page or on our mod contact post. Please remember to forward date

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※RESCUE TEAMS※

[npc_kun]

※OUTSKIRTS/BRIDGES※

[npc_kun]

※THE WOODS※ (where the majority of the monsters are)

[npc_kun]

Paladin and Hawk

[mythgravenblade]

There was something in the air these past--weeks? or was it months by now?--that discomfited Paladin, that made him tense and wary, made his sleep light and troubled. He was already awake, taking a drink of milk, when strange sounds from lower in the branches caught his attention--he was galvanized when a look out the window revealed a red-orange glow.

Fire. Fire. Again

Paladin and Hawk - after the Vimes and Krile thread, all the timey wimey balls in this log...

[crimson_seeker]

Hawk would have echoed Paladin's confusion. The Commander would see to Krile's safety, but clarity about the scope of the entire disaster--the woods ablaze, the bridges down, the healers attacked--still eluded him. For now, he'd do what he could about getting people out of Wellspring. Not for the first time, he wished--dearly, impossibly--that he had Fuu, had the damned dragon and its flight, still in his grasp.

As it was, his feet and wits and spear would have to do.

However, the first person he spotted was one he trusted to handle himself in a spot of trouble. The present trouble came in the form of flailing, green beasts that at first seemed to be ropy knots of vines given motion. One slithered along the ground, opening a gaping maw with a wet, stomach-turning sound.

"Paladin!" Hawk raised his voice, a sudden shock of alarm going through him as he realised the tree just above the his friend held another one. "Above you!"

(good news Esuna is a go!)

[mythgravenblade]

Thank all the gods there might have been for Hawk--his warning could not stop the creature already falling, but he could fling himself away, to a position to handle this hideous gurgling creature. He swiped at it with the sword, and when the...thing crowed in dismay, shorter tentacles flopping, he turned towards Hawk.

"Hawk!" His voice was loud and strained, to be heard over the tumult of noise surrounding them. "How fare you?" He didn't speak his gratitude--the night was busy, and he trusted Hawk would understand without him having to say so.

However, the plant-thing was not as impaired by a loss of some tentacles as Paladin had thought it would be--no sooner were the words out of his mouth than he was fending it off once more.

(woot! - I take it these are smaller Malboros, as per, say ffXII?)

[crimson_seeker]

Up ahead, the forest was ablaze, and hopefully the tremendous sound of the trees burning would be warning enough for anyone to get themselves to the nearest bridge, where they would at least have Watchmen to guide them on.

"I could be worse!" Hawk felt a brief spark of satisfaction as the creature shied away from Paladin's strike, however short-lived. "But there's--a dozen manners of creatures all over the island!" Rushing in towards the second monster, he flipped the spear in his grasp and, with a two-handed grip, drove the sharp spearhead down into the vine-covered lump that seemed to form its body

(So I figured, but I at least am not adverse to a huge one appearing if you like)

[mythgravenblade]

"What?" Paladin called out, almost in disbelief at what Hawk had to say. Dozens? How could that be? These did not appear like Crystala's monsters--so where could they have come from? It baffled him. Benign woods transformed into a burning deathtrap, flames and fangs and

Feel free to toss one in?

[crimson_seeker]

An eternity seemed to pass in that brief moment; then, just as Hawk wondered if he has lost his mind along with his senses and voice, something clean and cold flushed him from head to toe. The fog lifted from his eyes that focused again on the nighttime woods: the low, ambient light seemed bright as day after the absolute blackness of a moment ago. He found his feet, though he still had to lean on his spear, and the golden glow surrounding him seemed to wash away the fire in his veins

consider it tossed.

[mythgravenblade]

Paladin's relief at the magic working was a palpable thing, cooling his hot anxiety and slowing his speeding heart. He could see how it worked, how once again Hawk stood straight, with eyes that saw and ears that heard--

--heard the vine thing's approach, and before he himself could move, finally killed the foul thing. "Thank you," Paladin said, the relief in his voice sincere. How odd a creature that had been, and how firmly it withstood death. And yet, at the same time... "I think," Paladin began, slightly unsure. "I think I know these creatures.

"In no detail do I remember them," he cautioned, but then continued, "but they are familiar--meat-eating plants, who afflict their prey with maladies to weaken them." His brow furrowed then, staring intently at the monster's corpse as though it would reveal to him his lost memories. "But it is strange. For some reason, this seems..."

He cut himself off at a crashing in the forest, too close--and moving closer, until a small tree was snapped aside and it could show itself--

"...Small."

(And now I'm all AN AEON I NEED AN AEON here. XD hi ffx)

[crimson_seeker]

"Dragon's bones." Hawk knew of species of plants that lured small insects to sustain themselves, but these monsters were a far cry from such flora, if what Paladin said was true. And he had first-hand proof that the creatures could utterly cripple a person--had Paladin not been there, he would have been helpless to even fight back.

He shuddered, gripping his spear until his fingers ached with the force of his hold. "And do they hunt in packs? Might be an ugly thought, but at that size, a man feels like too large prey for a lonesome..."

Then the rest of Paladin's words and the cracking and rustling of branches lodged together in a fresh picture of the menace headed their way. The two little--yes, little ones had been somewhat less than Hawk's own height. The monstrosity that loomed out of the woods towered almost twice as tall as Paladin, and the smothering stench of rot preceded it as it dragged slimy tentacles along the dew-wet ground. Only now, Hawk realised that some of the tentacles actually ended in eyes, dark and staring,

negl my strategy/setup for Omega Ruins was organized around "what if Malboro 8((("

[mythgravenblade]

Paladin felt horror mounting as well--even according to his vague sense of deja-vu, this was large, too large, almost as large as some of the small houses in the Tree. And how disgusting it was--its rotten stench, its slime, those tentacles, the eyeballs, all of it utterly repugnant. Heaven's mercy, indeed.

But--surely it could be killed, and so he nodded sharply at Hawk and sprung away to the monstrous thing's right side. The way those tentacles were...well, aligned, the beast's broad back would be blind, and therefore vulnerable. And he was right about the blindness--its back was only an expanse of..."flesh"--but when he put his sword to it, he found simply hard, pithy "skin". If he had only thought to bring an axe instead of a sword...

Time for another plan. Particularly since the beast wasn't as poor at turning as its huge bulk might indicate.

First Strike. Never leave save sphere without it.

[crimson_seeker]

Paladin worked healing magic much like Krile. Did he also have spells suited for fighting, as well? Hawk was finding that his spear notched the smoother surface of the creature's back, but it was a thrusting weapon and would fare best if he could find a spot of thinner skin

reason #37434723424240 why Auron is a constant party fixture

[mythgravenblade]

The tentacles? Paladin was momentarily confused. Yes, the skin looked soft, easier to cut--his own slashing at the beast had done little to it--but then, the creature had tentacles the way centipedes had legs; he couldn't imagine an injury or even loss of some practically slowing it down. And when they operated on a sort of hideous timer--from now until they had to deal with him being hit by the fumes (he had to be lucky to dodge them every time, this plant thing only had to be lucky once)--he couldn't see much profit in that--

--until he heard it scream. Surreal, yes, to hear a plant shriek, but also, once he realized why, intensely gratifying. It felt pain, and if it felt pain, then... Paladin adjusted his grip on his sword and, once the devil-plant had spun to face the new offense, swung and severed a tentacle tip. Truly, a very dangerous game, but so long as it was confused and bleeding, their chances improved.

/makes shit up about Malboro physiology, oh FF monsters

[crimson_seeker]

The rasping, horrible clamour the monster let forth sent a spark of grim satisfaction through Hawk. Its tentacles thrashed back and forth, but the pain had distracted it for a precious moment.

He didn't intend to waste it. The creature's skin was resilient, almost gummy, but not quite smooth in texture. In matter of fact, his slapdash plan hinged on that. Abandoning his knife for what sort of thorn it could be in the creature's side, Hawk scrambled towards the tail. He plunged his spear into the thing's side and, using the haft as a point of leverage, leaped up onto the creature's back. His sandals slid on its skin, but he kept a precarious balance. The narrow spearhead detached from its flesh easily enough at his pull.

Now, all he had to do was to make it the few slippery steps on top of the beast. If it had any vital organs he could strike, his best chance seemed to be to do it where it could not reach him.

biology what is that

[mythgravenblade]

Because he didn't know what Hawk was planning, Paladin played the grim evasive game with the creature--slicing its tentacles, listening to it squall and hiss, doing his best to adjudge when the pain would cease to be a thing that muddled it and become a thing that galvanized it. It was chance that he looked up at just the right time to see Hawk move, to see him use the spear to leap a great height--and for the second time, he was struck by familiarity, by something so right and correct and yet different, that it gave him pause.

Unfortunately, pause was not something he could afford, and so he only barely ducked the spew of bile the creature directed at him. Thinking quickly, he darted close to it--closer than perhaps was wise--and taking his sword in both hands, thrust it down with all his might, pushing it though the upper third of a tentacle and into hard ground. Pinning it, even if just for a short while, would keep it from upsetting Hawk's balance, and he prayed the other would make good use of that.