Sojaveña Wilds Twilight Quarry

[Sinderella]

Bellatrix's whisper wasn't lost on her. Of course she knew what Owen could do; he'd decimated that wagon group. And of course she needed to be careful. But at the same time, high risk equaled high reward. And when Owen didn't immediately move to strike upon her invitation, she felt she'd gotten her answer.

"Why are you here?" he asked. "I can feel your fear..."

"Just passing through," she said, adjusting her grip on the gun, which was still pointed at the floatzel despite the fact it had begun to step back. That just gave her more room to meet Owen's stare with an unwavering glare of her own. "Not sure what fear you're alluding too. I'm perfectly comfortable."

And of course then Life Dew didn't work. Why would it work? That would be too convenient. If Radiance healing moves solved all their problems, they likely wouldn't be standing in a pit of despair right now, facing down an uncanny valley floatzel and a charmeleon with a hard-on for murder.

Or at least, that's what she'd initially thought. Owen seemed to become dazed after the light had dissipated around him, and she felt a shift in the atmosphere of the dungeon.

Had it worked?

Her barrel slowly started to switch targets. Either it worked, or something really bad was about to happen. Her finger twitched against the trigger.

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix watched Grace with interest, eyeing the effect that her Life Dew had on Owen and the dungeon. She knew that Dungeons were alive to some degree here and if it reacted to Radiant moves, why not try to channel more? She took a deep breath, filling her blade with light before slashing the air with a power that sent stars careening across the surrounding area, aiming to strike any nearby shadows and the surrounding walls.

Bellatrix RADIANT Focused...

Bellatrix used RADIANT Swift!

She waited to see what would happen next, eyeing Owen like a staraptor watching its prey.

 

[Namohysip]

"Ghh--" Owen staggered back from the second Life Dew. It was like tossing a flame against a cloth submerged in water, but it was warmed, if only slightly.

Grace would feel many, many eyes on her. She was certainly designated as the primary threat from just that act. Owen, however, remained staggered. He looked like he wanted to say something. But it sounded... feral and twisted, like his ability to speak had been suppressed.

But for Odette, through some strange reason... felt as if she could understand what was said. It was faint, maybe just a feeling, but she knew: "Help me."

And then the dark blotches began their advance. They had a good twenty seconds to act, but right now, those blots of darkness were advancing mostly out of curiosity... if they could feel that emotion. Floatzel seemed confused, unsure if he was to attack or stay put.

While Odette was still processing what she might have heard, Bellatrix made her preemptive strike. Radiant stars cut through Floatzel and incoming Shadows to great effect--like a hot knife through butter, Floatzel screeched and spurted black ichor from his wounds. He melted into a puddle and fled into a crack in the wall. Several other blobs did the same when struck, but more further away still advanced--and faster, this time.

Bellatrix bought the team an extra ten seconds before they'd be overwhelmed in their current position. There seemed to be a few openings--one deeper in, one to their left, and one if they climbed directly up and away.

But the Void Shadows were no longer docile.

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix twirled her sword, satisfied with her handiwork, but wasted no time in taking the opportunity to retreat, looking upwards to take the high ground. "How fast can you run?" she asked over their communications. "If you cannot keep up, use your Escape Orb now."

With no time to put it back in her scabbard, Bellatrix held her sword between her teeth and began to scale the steep edges of the quarry, sending Radiance down any cracks that risked bubbling over with Shadows. She briefly looked down to see if the shadows had reached the rock-wall yet and how good of climbers they were and it was there when she saw...

A shadow that had taken a more defined shape during its advance. Twin claws dragged across the rocky ground punctuated by the clicking of mandibles, terrible hunger filling its eyes. It was none other than...

Well, it seems that I was able to find your drapion after all, Koa. Shame that it isn't a very good time to do anything about it.

She refocused and continued climbing, not stopping until she reached the top.

 

[Magyk]

Grace felt the eyes on her.

Radiance stifled her fears and anything that might have given her pause. Radiant Grace was in the zone.

And just in case Bellatrix's internal communication wasn't enough...

"Follow Zoroark!" commanded Grace as she flew after Bellatrix. Grace sucked in a breath, focusing away more Radiance in case she needed to help her team mates. She rattled off a few moves in her head that might help her in the situation. If she could channel any of them through her Metronome...

Thankfully, she didn't need to climb, so that allowed for her to hang by the wall. This way she could assist any stragglers, or fend off any void shadows.

 

[RJr3:2]

"Follow?"

Aige watched as Bellatrix clambered upwards while the others started to follow. "Right then." She looked over at Grace. "Sorry to impose, do you have anything I can use to get up?"

She looked around at the advancing shadows. "Let me know if it would be better to just use an orb now. Though, I'd be happy to stick around and see what happens. For the sake of getting something as much out of this expedition as we can."

 

[Sinderella]

Fuck. She knew it. She knew that second Life Dew was going to be a bad idea. The air in the dungeon shifted, and Odette felt her urge to run surge within her.

"Mother fu--"

"Help me."

WHAT.

Odette stalled. She heard Bellatrix yell, she heard Aige and Grace talking, and yet all she could focus on were the words she swore she heard out of Owen.

Help him? Help him what?

Her stunned haze felt like an eternity, but when she blinked her senses back to a more functional state, she realized mere seconds had passed. And that nobody had reacted to those words.

"Did...did nobody hear that?"

Shadows were advancing now, with the floatzel melting away like a rotting popsicle on a hot day. Bellatrix was scaling the wall, with Grace following behind, and Aige was way to calm about the situation at hand. And Mhynt still hadn't moved.

"Did nobody hear that? Help you what?"

She felt cold. She felt Shadows clawing up her back and burrowing down into her nerves, fueling the anger bubbling in the pit of her soul. More tangible Shadows were racing toward them now, and she knew, even as her brain worked frantically to restart itself, that she was going to have mere seconds to act. And yet, that didn't stop her from grabbing Mhynt by the forearm and shaking her with a violent tug. She didn’t know the grovyle very well, but they were about to get really acquainted.

"Hey! What the fuck was that?" she yelled, her voice picking up volume with each passing word. "You know that fucker better than anyone else here. What the fuck was that? Help him what?"

Mhynt was fucking catatonic though. Nothing she was saying was getting through. Her head throbbed, her chest tightened, and it was suddenly very hard to breathe. She shook the grovyle again, harder this time.

"Wake the fuck up and tell me what the hell is going on here!"

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt gasped, finally coming to her senses and realizing that the Shadows were closing in. "Help?" she said as if she, too, hadn't heard a thing from Owen. Only strange chirps that always happened when he went feral. An old language he knew... Perhaps Betel struggled to translate it? Could Betel translate anything in here properly? Mhynt didn't know a thing.

Owen had staggered back while the others were scrambling to get away. One step, then another, until his back pressed against the wall.

"We--can't stay here," Mhynt said, half-dazed. "I don't know what you mean... I don't... What did Owen say? I didn't understand him..."

The Charmeleon crouched, claws digging into his skull as if a sudden migraine had struck him. His words, if he'd said anything at all, were unintelligible now. Just screams and cries, wordless and primal. The skies above him darkened and random bolts of lightning struck the dirt, scorching it completely black. One narrowly hit Odette, but missed by inches. The impact would have been devastating, had it been a direct hit...

Mhynt hissed and reached for Aige, realizing that she would have the most trouble leaving. "Let's go," Mhynt said, working on autopilot. Owen was already unstable. They got the intelligence they needed. Some, at least. They knew the nature of the lair, and maybe they could find ways to counter it. But they were out of their league taking on the horde directly.

"No...!" Owen said, finally intelligible again. "Chase them down...! Take them... TAKE THEM...!"

It didn't sound like Owen's words, even if it used his voice. Owen sobbed between each phrase. But he wasn't in control anymore.

He lunged for Mhynt just as she vanished with Aige to the upper level. His head snapped to Odette, though she was closer to the way up. If she ran fast enough...

 

[Magyk]

Grace had waited by the wall, watching for anyone that needed help before she ascended herself. Her gaze snapped to Odette as well, and her Radiant glow brightened.

SAVE THEM. SAVE THEM. SAVE THEM.

"Cease, Shadowed Ones!" she commanded, holding both her paws out. Instead of her healing light, a flash of pink spread out in a fan towards Owen and the Shadows chasing Odette. It shone bright, strengthened by the accompanying Radiance that came with it.

Grace used Radiant Dazzling Gleam!

Her body was glowing stongly this time-- it was a wonder she hadn't just exploded yet. Surely she couldn't keep maintaining it forever...?

SAVE THEM. SAVE THEM. SAVE THEM.

Even if it kills you.

 

[Sinderella]

Mhynt hadn't heard it either. What the fuck? What the fuck?

Was she going insane? Had the Shadows gone to her head? The thought only made that cold feeling within her intensify.

She did say she wouldn't hesitate if she were attacked first. Her barrel trained on a blob of miasmatic energy nearest to her and finally let a bullet fly. Then another. Aiming for whatever was getting too close.

A shrill gasp fell out of her as the dark bolt whizzed passed her. Her lungs felt shriveled, and the air felt thick, but that was just jarring enough to get her moving, and to get her head back on straight.

You have to calm down. Now.

It was easier thought than done. A Shadow horde was coming her way, apparently she could understand the rambling nonsense of that charmeleon, and said charmeleon suddenly looked dead set on coming for her next. That was cue enough. She raced after the rest of the group, channeling her Acrobatics movements into forcing herself further up the wall. Come on. Come on.

The cold Shadowy feeling started to recede, pushed away by an onslaught of liquid warmth. Only when she felt it start to pool in her fingers, did she quickly line up another shot.

Shoot Owen. Shoot. Owen. He's out of fucking control. He'll kill someone again. He wants to kill you.

But he'd wanted to be shot. That didn't bode well. And now she couldn't get his pained cry out of her head...

Grunting in frustration, she fired at his feet, aiming for the Shadows surrounding him, before retreating.

 

[Inkedust]

"Worry about that later!" Bellatrix called to Odette. "Save yourself first!" Once she reached the upper level, Bellatrix slashed the air to send down another wave of Radiant stars down towards the hordes of Shadows below. She made sure to keep an eye on herself to ensure that the power would remain under her control as to not be eroded away by the dungeon's atmosphere.

Bellatrix used RADIANT Swift

Her gaze then fell onto the togetic. "Watch yourself. You'll make yourself vulnerable calling high quantities of Radiance in a place like this!

Bellatrix Called Grace!

 

[Namohysip]

Aige was heavy. "Just--run the rest of the way, please," Mhynt grunted, setting her down after the Teleport completed. She spun around just in time to see the Radiant energy push back several Void Shadows, outright defeating some of them. They dissolved into miasma... yet, they still seemed to be alive.

These things were immortal.

But now that they were at the upper level, it would just be a moderate sprint to get out of there. Owen was stunned by something, still clutching his skull and roaring as another volley of black thunderbolts rained down in the surrounding area, scorching everything in its path... including the Void Shadows, who were exploded by the bolts. Owen didn't care who he hit--it was a total berserk state. It didn't seem like further Radiance was doing anything. It was like something else was in the way.

The Wayfarers gained 10 Shadow...

 

[Goat]

Astrid used RADIANT Powder Snow!

Astrid only got one of them off before the void shadows overtook whatever progress she’d made, and then some. No chance she could even make a dent.

"Hoo-oshit, time to—" And she was off, striding across the terrain in step with the others. Her heart hammered, her vision tunneled, and adrenaline made her limbs feel like jelly. Radiance and Shadows competed for a space where only one or the other had existed before, and it mixed into something new… something alien. Like a bad cocktail. The Radiance she could try to control, but the Sha—

Pain. One misplaced paw and she’d stumbled face-first into the dirt, reflexes all out of whack. The rumble of the pursuing void shadows didn’t stop.

Vwoom. And then she had distance, one of two Escape Orbs dissolving on the ground as she launched into a sprint again and cursed under her breath.

"You can do it!" she roared at Bellatrix's cue. "Keep it together!"

Astrid Called Grace!

 

[Sinderella]

The sense of warmth was quickly drowned out again. Despite realizing she’d likely dodged the worst of it, it wasn’t enough to stop the scorching chill of anger from building up within her again.

Now Owen was in a complete frenzy, hitting everything and anything. Her hand trembled against the building need to fire a bullet at his head, but was blocked by the sound of his plea and the sob in his voice.

She didn’t know enough about the situation to make a definitive call, and that only served as spilling fuel on her flaming confusion.

“Dammit,” she seethed through heavy breaths. “Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit…”

No. She had to keep it together. They weren’t out of the woods yet, and losing it now would ensure that feat would likely be near impossible.

Odette focused.

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix made no attempt to hang around, immediately bolting towards their escape, she had her Escape Orbs at the ready to be used the moment the Shadows grew too close for comfort. This was as far as they could go it seemed so at this point, she only had one command for the Wayfarer group: "Run."

 

[RJr3:2]

Aige bowed slightly as Mhynt set her down. She was about to thank her, but stopped short as the others erupted in a flurry of activity.

Heeding Bellatrix's order, Aige dashed towards the exit. It wasn't lost on her that she was the only one who needed help- directly marking her as the weak link.

"What a joke," she grumbled to herself as she ran.

Damn it.

 

[Namohysip]

With fleeing at the top of their priorities, the Wayfarers blasted stray Shadows that tried to get in their way, but the bulk of the crowd wound up being behind them like an endless tidal wave of black blobs. Owen led the charge, but other Void Shadows seemed to retain some of their former selves and chased after them at much greater speeds.

But just as it felt like the walls were going to close in on them, and even with the help of some of their spare Escape Orbs...

They'd made it out. The oppressive atmosphere vanished--the sun greeted them. The desert winds reminded them that even after they left that hellish realm, the harsh environment of the outside world would still torment them.

Mhynt fell to her knees once the adrenaline wore off. She said nothing... but she didn't seem frightened. Only... stunned. Trying to process what happened.

 

[Goat]

Sand flew into Astrid's eyes, irritating them and filling her with relief. Sweet, sweet relief. A seamless change.

"What the hell," was all she could say. Like an old computer struggling to boot up, she gathered her bearings one little movement, one deep breath, one drop of fading adrenaline at a time. She whirled around to take stock—Odette, Grace, Bellatrix, Aige. Mhynt…

"Let's, let's…" she started. With a shaky paw, she burrowed through her bag and withdrew a canteen that she promptly offered Mhynt. "Hey. Just drink, alright? You're gonna be okay."

She glanced back at the anomaly.

"He's gonna be okay."

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix looked back at the way they had just came with narrowed eyes. "We will need to find a way to draw him out somehow if we wish to fight or save him. There is no conceivable chance of us winning a battle in that dungeon, especially given that they may be expecting us if we try to return."

She glanced at Mhynt before turning to Odette. "You heard him say something right before we were forced to flee, correct? What was it you heard?"

 

[Sinderella]

Odette fell to her knees, panting heavily as she tried to savor the feeling of the sunlight washing over her, and the desert sand between her fingers. For the first time in her life, she was happy to be sitting in borderline unbearable heat. It beat wherever the fuck they just were by thousands of miles.

But even while she caught her breath, and while she focused on ridding herself of the feeling of Shadow, and Radiance, she could not get the sound of Owen’s cry out of her head, and by proxy, the anger that came with it.

Springing up with a sudden burst of energy she didn’t seem to have before, she whipped around to face the others, eyes wide, teeth clenched, and fingers curled with the a sense of frenzied urgency.

“So is everyone here gonna look me in my fucking eyes and tell me they didn’t hear that?” she asked, words coming out so fast, it was almost like she’d fired them from her gun. “Nobody caught what he said before he went fucking ballistic? Am I going fucking zubatshit here? Do I have a Shadow parasite in my fucking brain that’s making me hear shit others can’t?”

She seemed to realize she probably looked like a lunatic, and stopped to take a breath. She rubbed her face aggressively on her exhale, groaning for an added emphasis on just how wired she’d become. Her eyes cut to Bellatrix as she dragged her palms down over her cheeks.

“He said,” she began slowly, “help me. It wasn’t anything like the way he’d been talking before, it was…different. Quiet. Pained. I almost didn’t fucking hear it, but I swear on my life I know he said it. I know it. I just don’t…”

She started shaking her head. “I don’t understand how nobody else caught it.”