Core Event: Day 259 [open]

[bastionpc]

Who: NPCs and you!
Open: Open
When: Day 259
Where: Starting in the Bastion, and continuing on the Skyway
What: A Core has been spotted! And....another Core? What is this?!
Format: action
Warnings: none

Starters are in the individual threads within the post. Important threads will be linked here.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Start of the event

Continuing on

important metaplot things

Boss fight!

Comments

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin doesn't so much as get cut free... it's more like he does his best impression of a chestburster. With the cuts, he's definitely got enough room to get out, and he doesn't do so calmly. The full force of another punch erupts from the site of the impromptu surgery, and he emerges forth with a vaguely displeased look on his face.]

I hate it when the tertiary plan is the one that works...

[Colin looks in the direction of the hissing lizards.]

All that work... They're not going to live long, I don't think... Ugh, I need a bath... I might be able to do something, but it may not work now.

[Yep, he sure is covered in saliva, blood, and a whole host of other things best left to the imagination.]

The core is safe, for the moment. Once we pull it out, we need to move. Meg, you're good to transport back to the Bastion?

[twinked_witch]

[Megaera nodded, as she slowly pulled her sword out of the creature's mouth and let it drop.]

... To play it safe, I'm going to have to drop the sword. Other than that, I should be good. The real problem is, even more than what you've described as usual, there's going to be no predicting the monsters once it's gone.

I have enough mana for one more spell, and then the teleport. Problem is, the stuff that'll last more than a few tens of seconds, I can only put on one person. Mage Armor on the point is probably the best bet - it's exactly what it sounds like.

Other than that... Take breath. Odds are, this is really going to suck.

[daughterofursa]

[Ew, Colin. Ew. Zuko wipes some splatter from her face.]

Maybe your plans shouldn't include "get eaten."

Megaera, if you can get the core out of here, then the worst should be behind us.

[She glances after the baby lizards, brow furrowing.]

...what do we do about them? They won't survive without their mother.

[ =( ]

[freedom_engineer]

The plan was to get her attention on me so you all could attack her with impunity, and that worked. I figured 60 percent, she'd hip check me and then try to savage me with her claws, 30 percent, she'd try to claw the everloving stuffing out of me, and 10 percent, she'd just bypass all that and try to eat me. Still, glad I planned for that last one...

[Yep, still wiping gore off. Yuck...]

Yeah, Meg... the creatures will all go after the core. If you get the core out of here, we'll be in the clear. Save your spell for yourself unless something goes wrong.

[Colin looks back at the babies.]

I can try to resume what I was doing earlier, I can usually make animals docile... I mean, it's worth a shot, right?

[notachickenhawk]

[Tobias withdraws a bit and lets out an annoyed breath.]

<Yeah, go for it. I could handle one of them if I was in my regular form, but acquiring animals doesn't work like this.>

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob's just staring at Colin because seriously, any plan where you expect a 100% chance of being mauled and/or eaten is pretty much the definition of a Bad Plan, regardless of whether or not it works.

But wait that thing had babies and are they discussing bringing them back with them?]

Um... If they were herbivores I'd say bring them back with us, but, uh... [He gestures at the giant lizard corpse.] They're obviously predators. I'd rather not just leave them to fend for themselves, but I uh, I don't think bringing them back will end well for anyone.

[freedom_engineer]

[Attempted mauling. He had a plan in place for every one of those scenarios. Seriously, you think he'd mess with the babies and not expect to get attacked? Tank basics, man. You DPS gotta do your jobs.]

Dogs evolved from carnivores too, don't forget that.

And don't forget... mama there ate a core. They won't grow as big as her. I'm not saying it's completely safe, but we did just slaughter their mom. Without her, they're going to grow up without guidance. If they survive at all, they'll be a threat to everything.

[twinked_witch]

[Megaera, for her part, was more focused on cutting the core out.]

Rules of nature, if you ask me. If I may, though? Once I grab this, we're probably going to get at least some monsters in the hopefully time between my grabbing it and my being in position to warp the hells out of here. Hopefully we won't have the entire Skyway bearing down on us... But we will have at least some.

[daughterofursa]

I don't want to have to kill these things. Either now, or when they grow up.

[They're just babies, okay. And what if they're the last of their kind? =(

She turns to Megaera. She didn't realize this spell of hers took some time.]

We'll keep them off your back until you're out of here.

[notduchess]

We already have some tamed monsters in the bastion. And if they do live to this size, and remain friendly, mounts.

[ Duke wants to keep a baby lizard. But keeping other monsters away? Sure, the knight can help with that. ]

Whenever you're ready to get going.

[freedom_engineer]

Wait.

You pull that core out now, and the babies are gonna go mad.

Let me try to calm their minds first. My dancing will, hopefully, at least give us that much. And if it doesn't... we'll know pretty much immediately.

[Colin doesn't wait for any statements or protests. That core comes out, those youngsters are going to have to die if they're not pacified. It's that simple. He once again moves into the steps of the Forest Suite, attempting to find the rhythm of the wild so that he can guide it, and keep the closest wild creatures calm. Will it be able to stand up to a core? Who knows. Will it let them bring them back to the Bastion? Well, there's definitely no harm in trying...]

[twinked_witch]

All right, let's see if it works. Gives me a minute to catch my breath.

To be clear, though the time delay I'm talking about isn't the cast for the teleport - that's just a couple of seconds. It's more that I have to get the core out of the beast and get any entrails and such off it until it, plus my clothes, weigh less than fifty pounds total - that's all I can teleport. That could take anywhere from a few seconds to a couple minutes.