Onward: Purple

[voidtreckermods]

The second night of their trek is interrupted by the shaking of the ground. It only lasts a few moments and all the tunnels hold, but it is enough to be a frightening experience.

And it seems to have agitated the monsters. A wave of crabs attack not long after the shaking has stopped, emerging from the rocks around them.

They are close to one of the sandbanks and as they emerge, for a moment out of the caves they will find darkened skies and choppy seas. There is a feeling of a storm approaching. It is cooler then it has been.

But that is the least of their problems. As they cross the sandbank, wading in the water a giant squid attacks. Tentacles reaching out of the sea, to wrap around limbs and pull the voidtreckers and those they are escorting off the sandbank and into the ocean depths.

The tentacles at least seem to withdraw if damaged enough, hopefully they can be fought off before anyone drowns.

Comments

[utulien_aure]

The crabs come and go and the tentacles come and go, and little by little Fingon finds himself losing patience with this.

(It's not long, in the grand scheme of things. As elves go, the Finweans are a most impatient lot.)

There's only a moment's warning as he turns from the last tentacle he attack- a funny glint in his eye, as his gaze follows it into the water. Then he jumps, and the rest of him follows it into the water to see what he can of the monster underneath.

He'll be up. Eventually.

In the unlikely event he isn't killed horribly.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel saw Fingon take that jump and his head slumps down for a moment. Why did it have to be Finweans? runs briefly through his mind.

He plucks one of his spears from the sandbar they'd landed in earlier, runs forward, and dives into the water after his King's brother.

[utulien_aure]

Life is dull without (a lot of) risk. Besides, what's the worst that could happen. He dies? Again?

Anyway, part of him is happier than he's been in ages as he swims deeper, narrowly dodging a few determined tentacles. Now where is the body....

Then there's a sound behind him and, cursing, he turns slightly to see who followed him in. Not enough to see Glorfindel, but enough to register the light that seems to follow him around these days.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel wasn't there to stop Fingon. He was just there to try to keep him from dying. Again. He was sworn to protect those of Turgon's line. And that, in his book, included both ways and sideways these days.

He shone brighter, under the water, to be a beacon to draw the squid's attention. Come get the shiny thing, he seemed to taunt.

[utulien_aure]

Fingon is going to find that infinitely exasperating, Glorfindel should realize. How has his little brother managed to set a babysitter on him from beyond the bounds of Ea?

His knife flashes out an an oncoming tentacle, going deep into the monster's flesh. It thrashes in pain, making it hard to dodge.

Wait until Feanor finds out it includes him too....

[laurefindil]

The giant squid sent tentacles after Glorfindel as well. While able to move freely, thanks to the SCA and the scuba kit, it was still a little awkward and Glorfindel was not as fast as normal. While he sliced one tentacle, another wrapped around his leg and a third around his arm. Glorfindel found this quite frustrating. But, the only other one in the water was Fingon, who he didn't need to impress.

He started glowing even brighter, the water near him raising in temperature.

oh dear. maybe have nerdanel tell him.

[utulien_aure]

Please don't melt the suit, Glorfindel. Whatever it's made of, you don't want the liquid version on your skin.

Jerking the knife out the tentacle he hit, Fingon turns to hack at the ones around Glorfindel. Or, at least, that's the plan. It might take a minute, because another one lashes out and sends him spinning away.

Maybe we'll just keep it our little secret for now

[laurefindil]

The suit conducted the heat from his skin beautifully, but Glorfindel wasn't sure how much heat it could take. Last time he'd tried this, his armor had survived, but the cloak over it had not.

First the one wrapped around his leg peeled back, it having more contact with him. He swung his sword again at the partially severed tentacle, then started on the one now starting to recoil from his leg. The one around his wrist and lower arm, however, tightened its grip.

good idea

[utulien_aure]

Alright, he has his wind back and turns back toward the tentacles. Fingon pulls forward, aiming for the one around Glorfindel's wrist.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel trusted Fingon, so seeing him coming, he left the tentacle on his wrist to him. He concentrated on the one he was already fighting, swinging his sword at it again, to keep it from reclaiming his leg. He eased up on the heat, so Fingon wouldn't get scalded as he approached.

[utulien_aure]

Good thing Glorfindel trusts him; if he were going to flinch a way, this would be a lot harder.

Good thing Fingon can be trusted, because this is a sharp knife worryingly close to Glorfindel's arm. But he knows what he's doing and the knife cuts down sharp and sure.

The beast roars.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel gave Fingon a nod of thanks and pressed their advantage by faking going toward the giant squid to distract it again.