Onward: Blue

[voidtreckermods]

Flood of Monsters

After another night of strange and troubling dreams, the Gry coves are awoken by two of their number hurrying in to report that heavy rain overnight has caused a tunnel to collapse. 

Luckily, the Gry all seem to be accounted for. Unluckily, it seems that water is not the only thing that got into the tunnels. It’s not long after that a scrabbling sounds along the entries into the home caverns, and soon after those smaller tunnels are invaded by monsters.

Long-limbed and sharp of claw, the monsters try to fight their way into the main caverns of the Gry.

Draw

Through the next few days and nights the monsters continue to attack. Again, though the first entrance point was the flooded tunnel it seems that the monsters have found their way in via a number of routes, and attacks come from all directions. Unlike the monsters in the Terran tunnels these do not attack opportunistically. Instead, they all converge on the main cavern.

In some ways this makes things easier. One location is a lot easier to defend, after all. If the monsters cannot get through to the cavern they will try to besiege it, trying to dig through the walls. Any that do get into the room try and fight their way through to the back wall with single-minded viciousness.

A Calling

Days pass. The fighting is less intense in the daytime once monsters have been cleared out, and more intense at night when fresh waves enter the tunnels. The dreams don’t stop, if people manage to fall asleep. If anything, the feeling of fear increases for those who are feeling it. 

The younger Gry seem most affected, and as the days progress it is not unusual to see one grabbing their spear or sword and storming to the back of the cavern. They are always stopped and calmed by an adult. But their arguments ring clear. 

The Burrower is in danger, they cry. It needs them to fight. It is their duty to descend to the Burrower’s realm and become one of their defenders.

Comments

Piccolo | OTA

[shutupnail]

I. Flood of Monsters

Piccolo was on his way to help with the collapsed tunnel when it suddenly became apparent that the water wasn't the only problem in that area. Something else had come in with the rain. Monsters.

"Oh, goody." His favorite pastime was here. Fighting monsters to the death.

At least he was ready. His first foray was a bust though as he punched and kicked his way through the numbers, sending them flying back the way they came. However, they simply got back up and kept on coming. "Okay..."

New tactic. Remembering some of the overheard conversations on the SCAs Piccolo switched to another strategy. It worked beautifully.

The Namekian sent out a number of ki blasts--he didn't bother aiming, it wasn't his intention to hit anything yet. Instead, he filled the area with a load of bright miniature suns of energy that lit up the area all around. It took a lot of energy and concentration to maintain the ki control needed for something like this but it was worth it. He watched the monsters hiss and cringe away from his energy.

And eventually, he would be prepared for the next step of the plan but for now he kept sending out a bunch of brightly glowing orbs of energy.

II. A Calling

Piccolo hears about the younger Gry wanting to head further down into the earth at some point during the time spent fending off monsters and preparing for the next attacks. As the fear increases so does the Namekian's curiosity. It seems like the only other option to figuring things out down here unless they all just wanted to wait for one of the other teams to fix this mess.

He didn't like the idea of waiting. And what if, like so many of the missions so far, this was important to figuring things out, too.

The Namekian headed towards the area where the youths kept going and started asking around. "What exactly is down there?" or "Does anyone else want to see what can be done down there?" were his two most common questions.

Eventually, he'd probably end up heading that way with the rest that decided it was worth a look.

III. Wildcard.

[[Feel free to encounter him at any other time during the fighting/the next couple of days, too. Or during a downtime during the day time. Anything else basically!]]

Wildcard Daytime

[only_one_wei]

"Those blasts of yours are something else," Wei Wuxian said, slumping to the ground near him. After a moment, he slowly struggled into the lotus position so he could focus on healing his tired muscles. "You look like you could keep going night and day."

[shutupnail]

"Hmm," was Piccolo's initial reaction to that statement. On the one hand, Wei Wuxian wasn't entirely off the mark. He could fight for a long time. However, even he would get tired eventually. Especially using such a tedious method to attack consistently. It certainly had it's advantage though to light up the caverns like that.

"Almost. Those attacks are advanced and take a lot of control. It's one thing to throw out a low-level ki blast, even a ton of them. But it's another to exert that amount of control on them and to maintain them for so long." He glanced at Wei Wuxian briefly. "But I'll do my best."

[only_one_wei]

"I can definitely see that," Wei Wuxian said. He used to be able to go for hours like that. Well, not exactly like that, but he got the job done.

"What else can you do with this power of yours?" he asked.

[shutupnail]

"That depends on the situation," Piccolo responded. He was quiet for a moment as he thought about what the other might want to hear, or just what was useful to list. "As a warrior most of my skills are physical and ki based. Strength, speed, ki beams and blasts of various methods and effectiveness. I have many different techniques surrounding the ability to control my ki. I assume that's what you're asking about."

[only_one_wei]

"Like I mentioned when we met previously, it reminds me a lot of our Golden Cores. Mine...well, it's new, so it isn't as strong as the one I had before. But, I do have my Golden Threads back, so I'm not totally useless." He sighed. "But it is showing me how much I still need to work on."

[ooc: in the previous meeting, Wei Wuxian was going to start training with Piccolo, did he?]

[shutupnail]

Piccolo nodded. "An interesting technique, and useful if deployed successfully. You could do a lot with them if you spend the time to learn various moves and strategies with them." He paused briefly then continued. "I'll show you more about what I can do and help you formulate more techniques of your own based on your style, if you like, once we're back on the train again."

[[ooc: Yes! I have already mentally starting counting Wei Wuxian as one of Piccolo's students. XD]]

[only_one_wei]

"That is an excellent training strategy," Wei Wuxian agreed. "I absolutely agree. Let's make a plan after the mission?"

[ooc: Excellent, Teacher! His attitude might occasionally remind Piccolo of Tidus, but he knows how to meditate and seems to take it seriously, at least when Wen Qing or Lan Zhan are not present.]

[shutupnail]

"Done deal," the Namekian replied with the slightest hint of a smile. If there was one thing that Piccolo liked enough to emote it was fighting and training as a warrior.

[[ooc: Oh, no! More Tidus-y students! lmao. No worries! He's less grumpy than he used to be though he's still somewhat strict. But he'll be happy to know Wei Wuxian can actually meditate properly, haha. XD ]]

Ready to Wrap?

[only_one_wei]

Wei Wuxian had been the fourth strongest in his generation, and it was frustrating to him how long it was taking for his mind, which had already been through all this, to whip his new body into shape. But if the previous owner had been stronger, he wouldn't have sacrificed himself to bring Wei Wuxian back to get his revenge, so it was a twisted path and he was just going to have to do his best to get back his strength.

He nodded back firmly.

[ooc: He will find WWX to be a very dedicated student, actually! Hopefully making progress every now and again to keep his spirits up ;) ]