melodiesofeternity | Event || Mysterious Fathoms Below

Event || Mysterious Fathoms Below

Who: All characters who signed up
When: June 23rd-25th
Where: Ka'Pandol, the underwater city
What: While the outworlders and their guides are touring the new arena at Ka'Pandol, the city begins to flood. It is up to them to activate the ancient drainage system beneath the city before the Blitzball Association is forced to cancel the upcoming tournament.

The Zora guide, Pharce, is leading the group from the Curti Center through the center of town, waxing poetical about the legend of the First Zora, when the sirens begin to wail. At first, the residents of Ka'Pandol wave it off as a drill, but the sirens do not stop, and as they walk, the visitor shoes are beginning to get soaked through with sea water that is slowly rising.

"Come along, quickly, all of you!" the guide calls, leading the group to the Bureau of Tourism near the city center. As they walk, the group will see the aquatic residents quickly deploying bubble helmets around their 'exotic' pets -dogs, cats, parrots, squirrels- heads, just in case City Management takes their time righting whatever issue the dome is having.

"Inside, please. Safety first is our motto, so let's get you outfitted," Pharce says, waiving them inside. Each person is given one of the patented Ka'Pandol Bubble Helm, which will allow them to breath comfortably for several hours. Those that cannot swim are issued an emergency life vest as well.

The water had reached knee-level now. An emergency evacuation message broadcasts from loudspeakers.

"Well, yes, you could...but where's the fun in that?"

Pharce waves at the Hypello gift shop owner, and the two bow their heads in discussion for a moment. When they part, Pharce pats the Hypello (whose nametag declares him 'Shtan') on the back.

"My good friend will lend us some of his wares, if you will join me in saving the city. We wouldn't want this little mishap to delay the big game, after all."

Those that agree to hold off on fleeing the city will be split into groups and given instructions on where to go in order to help the sinking city of Ka'Pandol.

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[This crab was either more clever than he let on, or Kanji hadn't made the best decision. Jury's out and claiming both. The claw is a hammer of its own, slamming into his body and carrying him along at a speed he couldn't compensate from by swimming. Poor Naoto got taken for a bit of a ride herself.

But he hardly felt the impact against the wall, even if it dented the armor and made a sound even to those whose ears were muffled beneath the water. All he could hear was the blood rushing in his ears as the edges of red in his vision thickened. The sound he gave then, that roar, nothing about it was human...

Now he was mad. Food should know better than to fight back.]

[She's more startled than anything being dragged so abruptly, but it's not breaking her concentration or aim that easily. Where the new cracks were forming, her harpoon's back on target.]

[She pulls the trigger, letting the next harpoon fly, completely unperturbed by Kanji's roar. Her focus is remaining on the crap for now.]

[The roar punches through his thoughts like a hammer. Shiro spins his spear and studies the crab. The ice and leap has done a lot of good.]

Hey! Fire more ice at its legs and shoulder! We can weaken and disable it faster that way. Saint cross lit it up inside before to make it easier to target the weakest spots.

Think you can do that again? We could possibly slow down its attacks by freezing that claw too.

Alright! now we-- eh?

[Did he need to get his armor checked or something? For a big flashy spell, that Major Arcana seemed to do a whole lot of nothing-- and it sure didn't feel anything like that boost Naoto seemed to get from--

well, on second thought maybe it'd be best not to be in Naoto's shoes right now. Or at least not her impromptu slingshot. He'd just have to let the confusing letdown slip from his mind for the moment; after all, this thing wasn't dead yet. Nor was it any less dangerous. And Shiro's idea was starting to sound like the best remedy to both.] Right--!

[It wasn't every day he had the weak points of his enemies conveniently lit up for him-- it definitely made figuring out where to plant those [•Ice Bullets] a lot easier, and soon he was firing off another few shots he'd lined up at the crab's claw. Hearing those sharp bursts underwater was getting pretty satisfying. But hearing a sudden click from his Gunblade a few squeezes in was quite the opposite. Dangit-- he really needed to get a feel for how many he had left.]

Furballs...!

[He'd hoped six shots would have been more than enough to kill anything that moves. Red popped out the chamber and let the casings fall to the stone with a tinkling clatter while he hurriedly slipped in another half dozen ice bullets, giving a nod to Cornelia as he did so.]

You heard 'im-- your turn!

[Spins around at Kanji's roar, expecting to see another twisted creature, another enemy entering the fray. Though Cornelia is uncertain what to make of Kanji, Naoto's confident focus on the battle is enough to convince her to turn back as Shiro starts speaking.]

Then we have a plan.

[Upon Red's prompting, she fires a round of Ice Bullets into the surviving arm. It's an odd position for her to be in, following instead of leading, but she's aware enough that she's at a disadvantage in terms of both skill and understanding of the different classes that she welcomes the others taking command.]

[She'll have to apologize to Red later, but for now? Throwing one of her cards through the water doesn't seem like it's going to help much, and all she wants to do is help everyone hit as hard as they can after her last mistake. Azusa doesn't reach for her cards this time—she focuses her magic on Naoto again.]

Everyone, please keep giving it your all—! You're doing amazing!

[Before her boost from Major Arcana can fade, she casts Time Dilation to keep its effects present.]

On it!

[Terra comes to a halt in the water and focuses on his magic. Saint Cross is a spell he learned relatively recently, but it feels good to have some magic back, even if it's not quite what he's used to.]

[It is a solid strategy the party has put together. Using the radiant light from Terra's Saint Cross, the ranged party members can target their attacks on the crab's weak spots. The residual ice from the magitek bullets freeze the joints of the claw, preventing the crab from pinching with it.

The crab uses his claw like a club to swipe at the unlucky Red. It's really not his day. Because his claw is frozen, the impact shatters the ice and deepens the cracks in the Big Meaty Claw.]

[Which was fortuitous timing, a shattering not unlike glass that caught the attention of an easily-distracted berserker.

He lunged back into the fray, arced high, before coming down with the business end of that warhammer against said Big Meaty Claw, sparks a-fly with another Smite of Rage.]

[They want her to shift focus to the joint, then she would shift her focus to the joint. And with Azusa's Time Dilation in effect, the next harpoon she had loaded up should do a good amount of piercing damage where they want.]

[Breathe... focus... and she fired.]

Augh, this reload time...!

[One, two, three, four, five, six! There-- with the gunblade reloaded he could finally snap the chamber shut and return his attention to the battle at hand before that crab started attacking the group agai--

whunk.

It would have been easier to keep his footing were he not both distracted AND underwater; but the world stopped spinning after only a brief tumble backwards, and brought himself to a steadied halt with a jam of his blade into the stone below. Shame on him for getting blindsided right as he'd finished reloading... but compared to the blow he took at the Goldsaucian Gauntlet, this was something he could grit his teeth through. At least it wasn't also bruising his pride.]

--I'm good! I'm good.

[Besides, now those weak spots in the crab's claw were all the more prominent- and even if he wasn't too eager to fire off more of those bullets right away, he still had his [•Magitek Laser] to blast back with- and hopefully those widened cracks in the armor would mean they'd have a bit more of an impact when they struck.]

... taken harder hits from Blitzballs. [He put his grin back on once he'd nudged the bone back between his teeth.]

[She doesn't have to do much strategizing to pick her next move. Azusa is still behind the melee fighters and Naoto, watching the action as quickly as she can follow. When Red is sent stumbling back, he's not far from Azusa at all. With a wave of one of her cards, she casts Benefic on him, a medium strength healing spell she wished she didn't have to use...but only because she doesn't like to see people get hurt.

But that's why she's here, too. Just in case.]

Wolf-kun, please be more careful. You've got a game coming up after this, don't you~?

[She pats him on the shoulder.]

Good job! Keep it up, we're slowing it down! [His spear is still coated in the thick red light of his charged Spirit Surge he'd cast earlier that swirls around the weapon as he braces himself, watching the fight to see where they need to focus their attention. Everyone is focusing on the claw, good.

He sprints forward towards the giant crab and Jumps, adjusting his spear as he comes down with intent to hammer into the claw joint.]

Edited 2018-06-30 04:22 (UTC)

[Swims around to the opposite side of the claw, carefully looking over the cracked armour surrounding the joint for any significantly crack-weakened points. Almost as soon as she identifies one, she's firing her Magitek Laser into it at such an angle that the beam might be able to penetrate the vulnerable gap between flesh and armour.]

[Saint Cross seems to be working, so Terra gives it another go, focusing his magic particularly on the claw. Without that, taking the rest to pieces should be much less dangerous. If only it would stop targeting other people!]

Hey! Over here!

[With all of their attacks focused on the weak points of the crab's remaining claw, the Big Meaty Claw is turned into a Big Ball of Crab Meat. The claw breaks off at the joint, and anyone who feels ok about eating pieces of a giant, knife-wielding creature they fought can harvest Ingredient: Crab Meat at the battle's end.

The crab, now sans claws, is nonetheless not going to allow a paladin to taunt it. It skuttles over and body slams Terra.]

[Of course he'll take some crab meat once this is over. But the issue was getting this crab out of the picture first.

He turned the hammer in his hands, brandishing the opposing hook pick. He swung high and sought a crack on its upper shell, every bit of muscle taut to heave and pull. If he could just open up a small part, get at those tasty vitals...!]

[That's the last limb down, but that crab can still throw around its weight. Troubling - she needed another opening to be made before she could attack next, but that's fine. It just meant she had time to reload and prepare to Aim the next shot once the cracks were further opened.]

[Swims out of the way of the falling limb, then takes position in front of the crab. After taking another short moment to study the webwork of cracks across its shell, she identifies what she believes to be another vulnerable point near to where Kanji landed his weapon and fires another Magitek Laser directly between the crack, angling the beam along the flesh and towards the point where the crack begins to form, working to widen it further.]

[His armor helped to soften the blow a little bit, but whatever pain remained of the crab's attack was soon lifted right out of him by Azusa's spell. Red flashed a grin and gave a nod her way, working his best to ignore that scant lingering embarrassment from the blow.]

Right... thanks, Azusa!

[Reloaded, redoubled, and with their enemy thoroughly declawed, it was just a matter of swimming forward and finishing the job-- and with its carapace already cracking under Kanji and Cornelia's attacks, it was time to start trying to plant those shots where they'd finish the job. With a full chamber at the ready, he'd leave the close range strikes to the experts... and- once Terra had drawn the thing's attention just right- he'd let loose with another quick burst of of [•Ice Bullets] from the Gunblade.

If he was lucky, the brawlers would have left the gaps in its armor big enough to send those bullets straight in to the guts.]

Let’s work on the legs! It can’t hit someone if it can’t move! Then we’ll finish it off. Unless you think we can finish this now. [Shiro calls out as he completes his jump. He leaps off his target and swims away to twist in the water and right himself. He can see the web of cracks spreading through out with the help of the saint cross.

He’ll have to remember this when he is soaking up the hits for the team. He adjusts his spear, twisting it as he pulls in power in a Spirit Surge. The familiar red light swirls around his spear. And suffuses the weapon with power. He braces himself again, rolling his shoulders back as he prepares for his next attack.]

Edited 2018-07-02 17:25 (UTC)

Oof! [Even having lost its weapons, that's a lot of body for a body-slam, and Terra can't brace nearly as well as he's used to underwater; he floats backward at the impact and has to catch himself on the wall behind him. Recovering himself, he returns to the fray, swimming forward and swinging his blade in a hard forward slash, targeting all the legs on one side with Shock Break]

That's right, come at me!

[The Giant Crab (without Knife) is missing both claws and has large cracks in its carapace. The attacks to its back chip away further at the armor, revealing soft, vulnerable flesh beneath.

Terra's Shock Break severs the limbs on that side of the crab. The monster looks, literally, like it is on its last legs.

The crab tries to crawl toward the party for another bodily attack, but ends up flipping over and flailing its remaining feet in the air.

There is a click from the door beside the crab. The party can decide if they wish to finish the creature off or move on. There's already some crab meat up for grabs, but they might shellfishly want even more.]

[Azusa is idling, watching carefully. Poor Mr. Cancer doesn't look like he's doing so well. She doesn't want to feel too confident, but she wouldn't mind getting out of this battle without a scratch on her. She might be willing to fight, but...

But then she hears the click and looks in its direction. With everyone else focused on the big crab...]

Ah...everyone, please keep Mr. Cancer down for me!

[She's making a swim for the door!]

[The path Azusa reveals beyond the door leads straight for a long stretch. When the group traverses it, they will finally reach another chamber with a lever. When pulled, the lever will drain the water from the North path. Above the Oubliette, the water level in the city has been lowered!

When the lever is pulled, one more thing happens- a final door opens, to a gigantic open chamber. There are serpentine carvings in the wall and flecks of blue embedded in the stone of the floor. The glowing letter "E" appears in the floor.

The West group is already here. When more groups arrive in the central chamber, Phase 2 will be unlocked. Until then, the North group can mingle here, decide whether to pull the lever, etc.]

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mech_and_mutt - 2018-07-11 17:35 (UTC) - Expand

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spaceforged - 2018-07-12 05:42 (UTC) - Expand

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