middleofsomewhere | Final: Purple

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Final: Purple

It has been a long and exhausting trek through the underwater caverns, even in the rare times they surfaced onto sandbanks they are attacked by creatures from the sea.

But eventually they arrive, one last water filled tunnel and a short climb they arrive in an large dry cave. In the centre there is a marble plinth. On the ground nearby there is a shell bowl, intact luckily but toppled off to the side.

Fighting

More pressing however are the two shark head beasts and uncountable number of crabs in the cavern. It seems, no matter how exhausted the voidtreckers are their fight is not yet over.

Preparing the chamber

Though the chamber doesn't have all that much in it, what there is is in a mess. There has been a concerted effort to wreck the place. Ripped tapestries cover the walls and there are candles, some smashed, some just toppled. The place smells strongly of a mix of different smells as if oils had been poured out, indeed there are empty and smashed bottles around.

At some point during this fight their SCA's glow and through them they may hear some familiar voices. It seems there is more to do than just fight crabs and indeed clearing this mess might not be able to wait until the battle is over!

Clear the chamber and set things to rights! Whilst also fighting off an army of crabs!

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I. Fighting

There were too many of these creatures to ignore for long. Reno liked violence anyway. He was a Turk. Turks did things that nobody else had the stomach for and that typically involved lots of violence. So he was down for all the fighting.

He continued to use his electricity attacks despite the danger to sparks in the room full of oil and dripping water. Although he did try to reign it in whenever he got close to other people. He was more considerate around the younger members than other fighters.

II. Cleaning Up

After it seemed apparent that it was important to get this ritual started thanks to the new SCA comm system, Reno tried to help get that started, too. Usually it was Tseng that handed out orders but Reno prided himself on being the second top Turk so it was time to live up to those expectations. He rounded up the spiritual leaders they brought with them and got them to start on cleaning up the ritual area. While they did that, he helped keep the crabs off their backs.

"Whatever you guys normally do here, now's the time to do it! Everyone else," he turned towards whatever fellow Voidtreckers were closest, "keep them safe!"

"It cannot be done like this." The man nearby him was fighting off crabs in between clearing up what he could.

He was elderly but was using his staff as an efficient weapon, knocking crabs back from where they tried to attack.

Well at least the old guy could handle a few crabs. Reno helped the guy out once for free with a dropkick to a nearby crab as he turned to face the geezer.

"What does that mean! What do we have to do to get this party started?"

"We cannot..." He turned to bat another crab out of the way, stick sweeping it away and sending it scuttling. "...conduct a ceremony in a desecrated temple."

"Tch!"

Reno took out his frustration on the next crab to scuttle by, beating it with his baton until its shell cracked and it finally lay still. He took a deep breath and let it out.

"That's why we're trying to clean it up. Right?" He turned to face the old man. His expression was harsh. "Right?"

"Exactly, young man. That's why we are clearing it up. So it can be sanctified once more."

Another crab lunged for him and he raised his staff to block it.

Reno let out a big sigh a relief; it sounded more like a teen's exasperated huff. If he had to deal with these old men for more than the next hour's worth of clean up--killing crabs included--he was going to re-desanctify this shitty chamber himself.

"Right! So get to it! You guys do as much as you can while we get rid of these intruders and we'll help finish the clean up as soon as we can so you can finish the...rest of it. Got it!? Good!"

Not waiting for another boring conversation rejoinder this time, old geezer! He gets back to busting crabs with his baton and kicking them out of the inner space so they won't be entirely in the way.

"I'll help out! Just keep them off me, goggles!"

It was odd for Tangle to skip out on a fight and take the more peaceful route, but it soon became apparent why. Her tail swung out, gathering a large number of the artifacts in one fell swoop.

"Okay, priest guys! Tell me where to put a bunch of this stuff! I'll keep your temple things safe until it gets where it needs to be!"

The man only frowned at Reno's attitude but the lemur gets a more kindly smile, even as the man turns to hit another crab.

"The bowl needs to return to it's place on the plinth, if we can clear the area around it and move everything there that might... be enough."

"On it, fluffdoll!" Reno called back to the upright lemur. It was still weird working with 'monsters' but the Turk was doing his best to pretend he didn't notice. If he just thought of them as talking summons it kinda worked out for him. This one was kinda cute in a furry mascot kind of way anyway.

The Turk took the business of keeping them safe seriously despite his otherwise flippant attitude. He was quick to knock back crabs before they could get too close to the plinth now that they knew it was the most important spot. It made sense, it looked important, and the guys on Orange Team had said something about that, too.

Reno arched his electricity towards a group of incoming crabs and then dashed towards them while they were stunned. He knocked them all off their feet and started whacking on them relentlessly before they could get back up.

"Fluffdoll?" Tangle boggles at her nickname, but she has a job to do, so she can't afford to focus on it for very long.

Taking advantage of the gap Reno created, Tangle surged forward. She made it all the way to the plinth, and made sure to put down the treasures she snatched up down gently before going for the bowl.

"I just put it up here, right?!" she called out, raising the object to place it on the plinth.

"Yes, that is perfect, child." The compliment is called over a shoulder as the man bashes another crab.

They both get a nod of approval, for their efforts.

Whoohoo, a nod of approval. Reno was too busy to care at the moment though. He was keeping half an eye on Tangle to make certain she was getting by okay and the other half on the fight he was engaged in. Thankfully crabs--even mutant sized ones--weren't really all that smart. Fighting them wasn't too hard. It was more their numbers they had to worry about.

Reno dodged nimbly away from a set of pincers and attacked it with an underhanded motion that sent it flipping end over end. Then he laid in on the softer underbelly of the monster while it was vulnerable.

"Then here... we... go!"

With several pauses for emphasis, Tangle placed the bowl atop the plinth. "And now... for this!"

With a wide sweep of her tail, she cleared the altar of all the junk and refuse, using it like a humongous broom... and dropping a large amount of it on the crabs Reno happens to be fighting.

“Fucking hell bugger shit fuck fuck!”

Joscelin isn’t doing particularly well against the crabs. They’re massive, almost as big as he is, and there’s only so much that an exhausted and not particularly athletic ten year old can do against such creatures. Any time he manages to tip one onto its back, five more seem to take its place.

He barely manages to avoid an enormous claw and stumbles backwards, tripping over some of the detritus in the cave and landing painfully on his bottom. .

“Fuck!”

"Joss!"

Romeo is not much bigger than him, nor does he have the borderlines that would normally work for ranged fighting or a shield to give him and others a break. But at least he has always been this tiny and weak.

He darts through the crabs to try and get to Joss' side and wacks another crab with his spear. He's exhausted but he knows if they stop the crabs will pincer them to pieces!

Seeing the two small boys struggling, Trowa fought his way toward them. He had a spear in one hand and one of his knives in the other. He ran his knife through the upper shell of one that was about to lunge for Romeo, twisting the blade to pull it back out again. "Do you need better weapons or cover?" The boys looked exhausted, but he wasn't about to judge. And he could spare a knife for each if needed.

Reno wasn't far off when he heard the frustrated cries of the boy, but he was dealing with a particularly large crab at the time and could only spare a glance that way at first. He was relieved, therefore, when he finally took down his monster and turned back to the boy to find others had gathered around to help him.

The Turk almost didn't bother after that but then he realized all three of them were just kids. The older one looked more sturdy, sure, but Reno was probably close to twice his age and--damnit, he had that responsible feeling creeping up on him again. Well, at least Tseng wasn't around to berate him for it.

Reno dashed in with a controlled burst of lightning that crackled around the group and stunned any surrounding crabs that were starting to crawl back up towards the still group of boys. Hopefully he didn't sting any of the kids either. He was used to it but if there were any puddles nearby it made it a little harder to control his electricity when he flung it around like that.

"Yo! You guys done standing around chatting?" he said as he went to pick up the smaller boy on the ground. "Time to move it before they get back up!"

“Fuck off!” Joss shouts at Reno. How are they chatting?

He does, however, allow himself to be lifted out of the water and away from the giant crabs trying to kill him.

“Romeo, get out of there!”

Romeo was glad when Reno grabbed Joss! Because he hadn't been able to get to him at all and he had been so scared! As much as he tries to keep his spirits up he couldn't stop thinking about the last time, when Joss had been killed. He had promised to protect him and he wasn't going to let any of these bad crabs get him!

"Come on sir!" He called to the other man who had jumped in to help them and then jumped after Reno and Joss. The biggest jump he could, which being a shinki was quite big indeed!

Trowa had to say he was impressed by the boy’s jump. He followed the tall man, avoiding the puddles to keep from getting shocked by mistake. He saw a crab heading for the one who had jumped and did a jumping flip of his own, grabbing the crab by the claw and forcing it onto its back. He’d had to drop the spear for it, but that was fine. As soon as the crab was on its back, he cut the thing free, leaving the crab defenseless and unable to right itself. “Try to flip them on their backs and sever the big claw. They can’t get back up that way, so they’re helpless.”

"Whoa! Chill, yo." Reno flicked the kid's ear. Then he grabbed the kid by the waist and got clear of the crabs. He sent Joscelin down next to Romeo once they were all clear.

"Nice work," he told Trowa. Reno was impressed by the older kid's fighting sense. He got the impression the teenager had seen combat before and had experience with a little more than a simple street fight. But the Turk didn't have time to wonder what that was all about.

"All right. You," he pointed at Trowa, "stay here and keep these two safe. You two," he pointed at Romeo and Joscelin. He hesitated the briefest of seconds. "You two get to work on cleaning this mess up, you hear? We need to help the island leaders get this place prepared for their ceremony or ritual or whatever it is they have to do. I'm counting on you guys to get it done, all right?"

Reno wasn't the best at talking to kids but he tried to emulate what he knew and used speech tactics to try and encourage them to listen. He only hoped it worked on the bratty one because Reno knew that kind of attitude--it wasn't far off from his own. If he was lucky he'd get some lip but a reluctant acceptance and the kids would be safe here near the plinth where they could work while the others kept them safe from the crabs.

Joscelin’s pride won’t permit him to thank the vulgar redhead, but he’s grateful to have been saved from the pincers and deposited in a relatively safe spot next to Romeo. Cleaning sounds something far better suited to their skillsets than battling mutant crustaceans, and the faster they can put the chamber back in order, the faster the old folks will perform their ritual and they can get the hell out of there.

Joss nods at both Reno and Trowa. From the defiant set of the boy’s chin it’s fairly obvious that he won’t give them much more acknowledgment than that.

“Fine. We’ll tidy up for you. Just keep the monsters away from us.”

"Thank you for saving Joss sir!" Romeo at least has no misplaced pride when it comes to being grateful and he is really glad that someone was able to help Joss when he wasn't.

He's not good at helping Joss at all, he checks over his friend, to check he hasn't been hurt. "Thank you too sir." He nodded at Trowa, glad he had gotten out of all those crabs!

At the instructions he nodded firmly, "Yes sir! We will make it very clean!"

A ritual sounded very important after all!

Trowa nodded at the order, turning his back to the smaller boys. "Nothing will get past me." His voice was flat and serious, fully intending to make sure he was telling the truth. He had knives at the ready, and was willing to die if he had to.

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Final: Purple

Reno | OTA -- fighting and cleaning up

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