Day 2: Monster Arrival

Afternoon: 12:00noon - Evening

[ IRL Timeframe: April 1st - April 14th, 2019 ]

Unfortunately for the heroes, only one of them has an easy time when the monsters arrive. In the history of the wizard fights, it was rare but not unheard of for multiple monsters to arrive. Years 12, 22, and 30 had featured three of a monster but only one was real. Year 9 had featured the tenth monster as ten individuals that all came together into one. And, most strangely, years 4, 13, 26, and 37 had featured a monster that had an active and an inactive body.

This year, the second monster appears in two places.

The first arrives in Craydon, its massive body just a ball of metallic spikes with two bright orange eyes in the middle. It looks like a massive urchin, its body easily close to ten feet across where it's sitting on the train tracks ahead of the train arriving. Its spikes stick out easily another ten feet in every direction, making it a gigantic terrifying ball. The party train's arrival to its 12:25pm destination ends with the conductor locking up the brakes to bring the train to a stop. This sucks!

The second arrives in Bamborough, its massive body easily sixty feet up in the air suspended atop dozens of small, thin metallic spikes for legs. Its two orange eyes scan down at the world below, its spherical body covered in smaller spike nubs on all other sides. The eyes aren't fixed in place, either, and they're scanning the oceanfront as it moves around. It's definitely looking for something and it's visible for miles. Good luck, everyone!

Monster Fight Opportunity: Craydon: Luka, Gyre, Web, Olivia, Joanna.
Monster Fight Opportunity: Bamborough: Haizea, Seth, Garrot, Gail, Zafika, Terrence, Matilda.

The Weather
Windy.
61°F / 16°C
The trees are rustling, leaves flowing through the air.

Prompts:

12:25pm Train Arrival: The party train comes to its final destination in Craydon at 12:25pm. The reason that it's a final destination is due to the monster on the tracks. Oh god, it's right there? Oh god, oh GOD??? When the train comes to a screeching halt, all the non-heroes quickly scamper out of the train to flee for safety. Good luck, heroes!

12:30pm, Ramen, Far Haven: Social Media is abuzz that the Wizard has left the power plant and has gone to one of the chain ramen restaurants in Far Haven. The restaurant is known for its decent ramen, but everyone knows it can't compare to the local shops around the island. This is the "I just want to eat" ramen restaurant. But more importantly, this one has some sports bar qualities and has TVs up on the walls to watch. The Wizard is here, seated close to one of the TVs, and she's watching the events unfolding in Craydon and Bamborough. How is she doing that? Who's recording?

12:30pm, The Bamborough Monster: Out on the waterfront boardwalk, the monster is lumbering its way along the wooden walkways seemingly in search of something. The few shops that were open are closing up as quickly as possible, the last thing they need is their already minimal business ruined by a visit from this monster. Please, someone come help.

??:??pm: Unknown What happens next?

Procedure:

Reply to the appropriate toplevel comments for events below. Indicate if a post is a private conversation with "Private" in the subject otherwise all threads should be open to interaction with others. Plan OOCly how you'd like to toss everyone around.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

In hindsight, shutting down the train by sticking a monster on the tracks is an effective way for the wizard to disrupt the knights from organizing properly. At least they still have phones to coordinate.

It had seemed to Joanna like a good idea to go for a ride in the rear observation car, enjoy the view and maybe take a nap before the monster was spotted... But waking to the sound of alarmed voices, and discovering how easily the monster could be spotted by poking her head out the window, she's left with regrets.

Without any familiar faces in the departing crowd for her to join, Joanna stays ducked down in the rear car, racking her brain for ideas. She's not sure how best to attack a monster so massive, especially when she's still trying to figure out the workings of her power... Ramming it with the train somehow might be their only bet, but that would also damage the train.

For now, she calls on Fius to ask for a weapon. Less a weapon and more a shield, something large and metallic, yet light enough for her to carry with her hands or telekinesis. Hopefully something to protect her spikes from shooting out at her torso will help her survive until help arrives.

When Gyre and Luka finally arrive at the train station, Luka can only think about how badly he needs to work on his cardio. He's feeling winded, and certainly glad he decided not to wear the platform boots this morning. But soon the overwhelming pull of the monster's presence and the reality of the situation rights his train of thought.

"Can you see it, Gyre?" he asks. "What does it look like?"

"Yeah... fuck," he breathes out as they come to a stop beside the train. He can hear Luka breathing harder behind him, and he's quite tense as he answers, "It's huge. A big... just a ball it looks like. It's covered in spikes, like huge spikes. They're longer then a person."

But it... also isn't moving at all. Tension fades out of him, and while he doesn't let go of Luka, his hand certainly relaxes a lot. "It's not doing anything. It's got big eyes again. I could maybe take those out, or..." Wait.

"I think we have time to look for the others. Let's go find them," he says quickly, and he's going to take the two of them into the first open door of the train, searching for Olivia and Joanna.

[It shouldn't take Gyre and Luka too long to find the car Olivia is in. Gyre would probably spot the large Minotaur first, and then the tough-looking old soldier that the creature is talking to. Except the soldier has a Tiefling's tail that swings widely as she sees them enter, a relieved smile spreading over her face.] Boys!

Iv and I were trying to come up with a plan— this is Iv, by the way, she's chill— but uh, I won't lie, I don't have much yet other than trying to break the spikes off. [She speaks as she approaches them, dragging a hammer similar to the Wizard's behind her.] We waiting on anyone else? Please say yes. This ball is bigger than the last one.

"I'M LATE AGAIN~"

That is the sound of an arriving Web, having jumped from roof to...okay, no, Web isn't a parkour master. But they were able to climb over most of the walls in their way, and made with the usual 'scuze me, pardon me, coming through!!' when they had to barrel through crowds.

Thankfully, they do not have any incongruous items stuck to their horns, as they do not have horns. But there might be a little glitter in their fluff somewhere.

Panting slightly, they manage to wave to their fellow knights awkwardly. "H...hey! Is this the right place?"

As the number of voices ahead increases, and the knowledge that she's not alone here sinks in a little more, Joanna picks up the pace moving through the train cars. She comes up through the gangway, holding a shield before her and peeking over its top edge at all of them.

"As right a place as any, with the monster sitting just over there, as still as it is," she says, before making a did I just jinx myself doubletake and glancing out the window to confirm the monster's still there.

Yep, big spiky ball, resting on the train tracks, wiggling slightly in... the wind, or its own power. It's still there.

"...Being in the train gives us a little extra cover, I think, but we need a way to hurt it. And, maybe move it, so that we don't damage the tracks! I'm not sure how difficult they'd find repairs to be."

Luka's relieved to discover a few things: that his Knights are not in immediate danger, and that the monster seems to be biding it's time. He pauses at the mention of a new person, Iv, but attempts to introduce himself anyway before getting back to business. It was only polite, after all.

"So it has eyes. We try shooting them again. Or... if we can break off a spike, it might expose a weak spot we can get at, no?"

Well this is a motley bunch isn't it. Gyre takes a moment as everyone arrives to scan over each one, taking them in, considering. The fucking minotaur seems like a useful addition at the very least.

"The spikes are metal, but... if we can figure out how to remove a few," he pauses a moment, looking Iv over curiously, "maybe Iv, here, can roll it off the tracks." Minotaurs are strong, right?

Iv's response comes immediately, looking at Gyre as incredulously as she can.

"You need to remove more than a few, I'm not a pincushion!" she gives a puff of her nostrils before looking at Olivia and then to the rest of the team. "But I'll do my best."

[Olivia gives her companion a loopsided smile before addressing the rest of the group.] Right, that's why I asked for this hammer.

I figured that if with enough force we could break the spikes, then— oh fuck, or hammer them in? [She seems to have surprised herself with her own sudden thought.] That would be so fucked up.

... And we would probably need the big hairy Knight to even get close to doing that, huh? Nevermind. Anyway, I'm assuming the monster has fleshy bits underneath... all that, so. Break spikes, push it off the tracks, stab, stab, squish? I dunno.

Edited 2019-04-12 01:06 (UTC)

"Aq - that's my birdbrain here - gave me a harpoon. On a chain," Web points out from their glorious height of five foot even. There's a slow grin as they realize that this could probably be very useful right now.

"Not much chain, but if I can get a good hit in...it's gotta be better than nothing, right?"

Joanna blinks at Iv's chiming in, taking a moment to study her - because that face isn't familiar and she can't remember a minotaur among the knights. A centaur, yes, and two fauns, but not so much other hooved folks. Maybe... Maybe this is one of the locals, not chosen by a companion, but choosing for themselves to help where they can. That would really be something wonderful.

"'Enough force...'" Joanna echoes, getting herself back to the topic on hand. The monster. Finding a way to damage it, with their new weapons and powers.

"We have... We should have more than nothing. I think I can help, my power - I experimented with it this morning, at the gym. It... It pauses things, so they don't move, no matter how hard we pushed or hit them, but when I released it, they went... flying." She opens one hand wide, fingers splayed to suggest: in all directions. "I wouldn't want to risk losing one of your weapons, if I can avoid it, but it might help pushing it over."

While the conversation is going on in the train, Rory finally arrives at the scene, looking and feeling like she just got out of a very wild rollercoaster. She stumbles off Sefaq's back near the train, where she's possibly visible from the windows to the others. A quick dazed look around reveals that she can't see any of them, but she sure can see the monster, and, wow, it is even bigger than it looked on the telly. Welp.

Before she even catches her breath again, she digs up her phone once more and calls Luka. "I'm here," is all she manages to say.

"Oh, Rory! We're in the train car. Can you see us?" Luka says, waving one arm around, trying to be seen. "We're figuring out our plan of attack since the thing doesn't seem to be moving -- for now."

He glances at Luka as he answers the phone, his face brightening a little at the mention of Rory. Another person can't hurt, right?

"Okay. It sounds like your power," he points at Joanna, "will get it off the track at least. Maybe if we pick a good direction to send it, we can kill it with the momentum?" He doesn't know whether to send it into a wall and maybe damage the wall, or into the forest and tear a bunch of trees up though, and honestly he doesn't want to get too far before Rory gets here as well.

[Olivia nods enthusiastically as Joanna and Gyre talk.] That sounds like it could work! If we all hit it at the same time it would— well, actually, we probably don't want to send it too far away in case it survives.

[Her tail taps the floor almost rhythmically as she thinks, scratching the back of her head.] Okay, so, what if you put him in time-out and then we all hit it from its sides? Maybe we can, uh, squish it? Make it pop?

"Well, I'm fine with whatever you all decide," Web mumbles, casually leaning on the harpoon Aq gave 'em. One hand goes up to pet the chicken on their shoulder. They are not the brains of the operation, and that's fine.

"Though I would like to be able to help, if I can."

Joanna tilts her head in a quick, apologetic shrug. "It... When we tested it, itdidn't work on animals, or people, so it might not work on the monster itself." Though if it did, that would shed light some sorta philosophical questions about the monsters' personhood.

"But," she jumps to reassure, "if those spikes are an outer shell, if we break some of those spikes off... I'm sure those would work to knock it away. Not unlike pool cues."

After some frantic looking around - being asked if you can see something tends to cause that - Rory does indeed spot Luka's arm waving in the train car window. Good, Knights and Princess located! She gives him an affirmative, and then makes her way to the door.

"Sorry for the wait, guys," she sighs when she steps through. It's mostly a sigh of relief that she made it in time, though. "What did I miss?"

Luka turns in the direction of Rory's voice. "Rory! You made it safe!" he says, his voice sounding genuinely relieved. He beckons her over with a gesture of his hand.

"We're thinking of ways to push this thing off the tracks, so as not to damage them I guess. And then kill it. Web's got a harpoon thing, and Joanna's power might be the thing to get it moving."

He gestures towards Olivia, nodding quickly. "We should knock it off the tracks before we try to pop it, but... if the power works on the monster, then that seems like our best plan to me?"

He nods to Web, offering them this easy smile. "We can all hit it together. You'll be able to help." He takes a deep breath after that, glancing out towards the monster for a moment.

"We should try your power, Joanna, before we make any other plans, I think."

So the lady— uh, Joanna?, freezes the monster and we get it off the tracks, then once we know we won't break anything important we hit it with everything we got. Or, if the stasis thing doesn't work, then the harpoon will definitely come in handy. Iv could help us pull it quickly in that case... [She repeats the plan to make sure everyone is on the same page, especially considering Rory just came in.] Either way, breaking the spikes is a must. We don't know if this one has powers like the last one so, maybe we could try blinding it, too?

Either way, sounds like we have a plan. Of sorts.

They nod and smile gratefully at Gyre. They were feeling a bit down about flopping so hard the other day...oh, speaking of flopping! "Hi Rory hiii," they wave to their fellow floppy-ears.

They're back to business soon enough, though. "Harpoon could help with the eyes, too. Two birds with one stone, as they say - I'll try to land it in an eye, we pull it off the tracks that way, maybe?"

This is more speaking than they normally do, so they have to clear their throat after spitballing so much. Still, it's an idea.

"Right, that sounds reasonable," Joanna says, with a nod at Gyre. "I'll need to see it, to set the power off, I think, so I'll just..." She tucks the shield in closer to her, reducing the space she takes up as she moves through the group to the door.

It's the one Rory's just entered in, and she nods a brief smile to the familar woman before she leans out the opening, and stares down the monster. The idea of the monster's spikes changing in length, shooting out at them like a cloud of needles, is haunting. She pulls the shield up to cover her face below her eyes, leaning out just enough to see, and tries focusing her power of stasis on the monster.

The Craydon monster has been honestly quite content to sit on the tracks and mind its own business. It has a lot on its mind to think about and it really doesn't want to be bothered. It doesn't even realize the knights are up to no good, and it doesn't even react when the stasis takes effect. The tell, though, is that its spikes are no longer swaying in the air above it. Its entire form has gone eerily still, not even an inch of movement in any part of its body.

Also because this is definitely a video game and not real life, there's a slight yellow glow now radiating out from the second monster's body as a confirmation that it's currently in stasis. That's probably going to start flashing soon to show it's running out.

What none of the knights are aware of, though, is the Wizard casually reclined on a nearby rooftop. She has one index finger extended and aimed at Joanna, a smirk on her face as she watches what they're trying to do with their plan. If they weren't distracted by the monster in front of them, they might've had a chance of spotting her, but instead they'll get to see that they missed her later in the evening when social media loses its collective mind about it.

The Weather

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