Day 2: Monster Arrival

[wizardseason]

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.

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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?

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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.

Comments

[spookyroomba]

"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?"

[fauntofwisdom]

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."

[roaryrory]

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.

[eutychia]

"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."

[sustainer]

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.

[disguiseself]

[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?

[spookyroomba]

"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."

[fauntofwisdom]

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."

[roaryrory]

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?"

[eutychia]

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."

[sustainer]

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."

[disguiseself]

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.

[spookyroomba]

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.

[fauntofwisdom]

"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.

[wizardseason]

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.

[roaryrory]

Listening to the current plan gives Rory an idea. "Oh! I could help move it, probably!" she exclaims, glad she's regained her breath so she can explain. "Earlier Haizea and I were testing my powers, and I could shake some trees with my voice? You'd all probably need to shut your ears, but, let me know if that would work!"

She's itching to do damage to the monster, but she did arrive late - not her place to Leeroy Jenkins this up now. For now she's content with waiting for orders and watching Joanna do her thing.

[eutychia]

"Whatever works." Luka says. "It's always good to have a plan B if the current method isn't working, right?"

"Maybe we should find cover. It's covered in spikes and if this somehow goes haywire I'm not exactly looking to get impaled."

[sustainer]

He's watching Joanna honestly, waiting to hear the verdict on her power. They'll need a different plan entirely if it doesn't work, after all. He only barely hears Luka's concern honestly, but it makes him return his attention to the circle.

"I could try to put my shield around it. I don't think the spikes will be able to get out to us that way."

[disguiseself]

[Olivia carefully follows Joanna outside, both in case she needs help and because she's curious about how powers work. Her slit eyes watch as the monster's movement seem to stop, and just as she's about to say "I think it's working", it starts faintly glowing. With a quick glance at Joanna's focused expression, she gets all the confirmation she needs.] You did it!

Guys, she did it! We don't know how much time we have so, let's go! [She exclaims to the others before she takes off towards the monster. It's easy to be brave when your target can't fight back! She prepares to take a swing with the hammer, calling out Iv's name as she lifts it. In a matter of seconds, either because she gently pushed everyone else out of the way or because she simply poofed next to her, Iv is helping her raise the weapon, and the two swing it together with all their might.]

[Olivia and Iv hit the monster with a giant hammer!]

[spookyroomba]

"FOR...uh...Well, here goes nothing~"

Web is quick to heft up the harpoon, just like Garret taught them. Pawing at the ground, head lowered, they charge forward and...throw the harpoon once they're close enough. They're more than grateful for the monster being in stasis, since a still target is much easier to aim at. Whether they get the bulls-eye/pupil of their target or not, they're still going for it, and as long as it connects at all, that's good enough!

[Web threw a harpoon at one of the monster's eyes!]

[fauntofwisdom]

With someone else confirming the power's success, Joanna shuffles out of the doorway so the others can move more easily in and out. She ducks down beside the train, crouching down with the shield covering as much of her torso and head as possible, and watches closely.

The monster looks stiff, no longer swaying slightly as it had been. But she never noticed a flickering glow like this before, not with the basketballs or the coffee mug. And the slight pulse to the light seems to be quickening as she watches.

"It took, it very much did take, but I think the monster is fighting it," Joanna calls for those heading out. "We might not have more than a moment before it releases!"

[roaryrory]

Yes! This is what she was waiting for! Rory quickly joins the monster killing squad and asks for a massive sword to stab into the thing. She uses a war cry to wound it even deeper than she ordinarily could. If the same roar will help with moving it once it’s released, even better, but she can’t be sure with her current skill with her powers.

[Knight powered sword stabby stab into monster’s body]

[sustainer]

He brightens as Joanna says it's working, but he has to pause a moment in the car. Everyone else had their weapons already prepared, but he'd been so worried about getting Luka here that he didn't think about it until just now.

He'll join the crew outside after a few moments though, taking Olivia's idea for a big hammer. Not as big as hers is, seeing how he doesn't have a minotaur to help him, but he lines the head up all the same at the tip of one spike and swings.

[Gyre drives one of the spike's back into the monster's body]

[wizardseason]

[ Things suck for the monster. It only realizes it's in stasis when it sees Olivia and Iv step out to wield a hammer. It thinks about counterattacking, but it can't move. So it gets to watch as they wind up like a baseball player and swing at it. The impact is uh... pretty nightmarish. There's the sound of the crunch and the feeling of an impact, but the monster just doesn't move? Then, when the hammer pulls away, there's a harpoon sailing through the air to smash into its eye?? Oh god? THAT'S IT'S EYE?? It only has two of those! It's utterly shaken by the impact, but it doesn't actually move again! What the heck! ]

[ And then there's this nightmare girl letting out a war cry?? The monster is, honestly, horrified by Rory's approach? It would go wide-eyed if it could react but it can't! And then she stabs it, too, with a SWORD?! Ow??? Except it's in stasis so it doesn't get to ow?? What! The! Heck! ]

[ And then there's that last guy!? He comes out with a hammer too, but he doesn't go for an eyeball? He goes for a spike?? It doesn't have time to retract the spike to dodge it, instead Gyre just hits it like a home run?? ]

[ Which was to say that after four direct knight attacks, the flickering yellow of the stasis finally goes away and the attacks hit. Two huge gashes open up on the front of the monster, followed by an absolute shower of neon green monster blood as its body goes ragdolling in the opposite direction. It's spinning in midair, sending monster blood sailing in every direction as it flies off. Then, in midair, it ends up ripping apart into multiple pieces as the momentum of the attacks causes the injuries it sustained to get even worse and... well, it wasn't designed to be sent flying like this. ]

[ In a horrible splash-explosion of blood, the monster pops in midair. Victory fanfare. One down! ]

[disguiseself]

[Olivia watches in amazement as the monster just suddenly... stops being alive. She freezes up for a moment when she's splashed with neon green, eyes fully dilated in surprise. She manages to shake it off with a laugh, just as she shakes off some of the blood and her fake appearance.

Not worrying about having to hide her appearance from any hidden cameras any longer with all the green on her person, Olivia, with her normal dark, half-shaved head and her paint-covered face, turns around and beams at Iv, reaching up to double high-five her. High-ten!] That was way easier than I expected!

[She makes her way back to Joanna, happily offering high-fives to her fellow Knights along the way and then giving a last one to the lady herself.] That was incredible! You saved the day, honestly.