Day 3: Monster Arrival

[wizardseason]

Morning-Afternoon: 11:00am - Evening

[ IRL Timeframe: May 8th - May 22nd May 29th, 2019 ]

It's monster time.

Wherever your hero is when 11am rolls around, they're in for a change. At 11am on the dot everyone will start growing more and more transparent until, at 11:15am, they pass out momentarily. When they wake, they'll find that they aren't where they were before. More importantly, they'll find that the world is not as they left it. When they look around, or on their phones, they'll see that the date is 01 AW and the specific day is one day after the Wizard was defeated, the first time, by the first set of knights. The newspapers all around the city reflect a dramatic change in the world, though several characters may remember the change if they were alive for it.

While the island is still devoid of its inhabitants, the characters will find that they are now able to locate each other. They can text freely, they can team up, but even if they do they'll feel an inexplicable pull towards those they woke up with. More importantly, they'll each feel a pull towards another presence.

All six teams of heroes will feel a presence following them, an unmistakably menacing feeling that, if they stay still, gets closer and closer with each passing moment.

Third Morning Event: All Cities: The Past.

---

The Weather

• Alive, but with what?
• 64°F / 18°C
• There is only wind, the air crackles with electricity.

---

Prompts:

• 11:00am Bamborough: The heroes have been shaken up, at 11am on the dot everyone will start growing more and more transparent until, at 11:15am, they pass out momentarily. When they wake, they'll find that they aren't where they were before. Haizea and Olivia will wake on the edge of the fountain in Bamborough's resort hotel lobby. If they're unlucky, a hand, a foot, or their entire body may end up tumbling into the water of the fountain. Down by the water, Joanna and Web will wake up on their backs in the sand with the ocean water lapping at their feet and legs. If they stay laying there for too long, they'll end up underwater. How did Web make it from Far Haven to Bamborough this quickly?


• 11:00am Craydon: The heroes have been shaken up, at 11am on the dot everyone will start growing more and more transparent until, at 11:15am, they pass out momentarily. When they wake, they'll find that they aren't where they were before. Gail and Seth wake up in hanging hammocks in one of Craydon's fancier cabins, with a small assortment of fruits, veggies, and little bite-sized sandwiches laid out on a platter in the middle of the cabin. How anyone got Gail into a hammock is anyone's guess, but somehow he's going to have to make it down. Fortunately there's a little ladder on the wall, maybe that will help? Gyre, Rory, and Luka, meanwhile, wake up on the floor of the cog train as it's making the last leg of its trip up into Craydon's central train station. If they stay laying on the floor for too long, the train will take them all the way back to the base of the mountain. How did Luka make it from Far Haven to Craydon this quickly?


• 11:00am Far Haven: The heroes have been shaken up, at 11am on the dot everyone will start growing more and more transparent until, at 11:15am, they pass out momentarily. When they wake, they'll find that they aren't where they were before. Zafika and Matilda wake up in the elevator of one of the tallest buildings in town. The soft 'ding' of the elevator stopping at every single floor on its way down to the lobby is a gentle wake-up call for them both. The elevator is set to stop at every floor all the way down, and it's at about floor 15 when they start waking up. If they wait too long, it'll go all the way back up to floor 56. Terrence and Garrot, meanwhile, wake up on the roof of the local theatre. The sounds of still-airing movies are audible beneath them and the constant thrum of the air systems around them will bring them back to consciousness pretty quickly. Not to mention the unrelenting wind blowing from the storm. How did Garrot make it from Bamborough to Far Haven this quickly?


• 12:00noon, The Monster [Phase 1], Bamborough, Craydon, Far Haven: The third monster is here? If your characters stay put, they'll feel a menacing presence getting closer and closer but they won't see anything. If they stay long enough, something invisible will start shoving them. A shove here, a push there, the attacks will come from multiple directions and will persist until your character falls over. Whatever's happening, something's here and it's insistent. How are the heroes supposed to fight something they can't see?


• 1:00pm, The Monster [Phase 2]: For most of the heroes, the hour between noon and 1pm is spent being filled with more questions and no answers. Why were there invisible monsters shoving them around? Any heroes that tried to attack them just swished through empty air. Why couldn't they be hurt?
  
  There isn't an answer to that question, because the real third monster arrives just in time to distract the heroes. At 1pm on the dot, every hero's monster pull will aggressively alert them to an approaching presence. In the same way that someone hears a plane approaching from the engines, it's a feeling that practically advertises the arrival of something horrible.
  
  All six groups of heroes will be treated to a monster that is easily the stuff of nightmares. Imagine a child with yellow skin, but no face, no hair, no details of any kind. Except for eyes, three eyes (two humanoid, one forehead) this time. Just very clearly the shape of a child. The legs are entirely humanoid, but the arm is a mass of arms, all in varying lengths and with such weight that the body is leaned over and using that arm mass as another leg.
  
  Also every child is split in half from the head down, meaning each half-child has one leg, a half body, half neck, half head, one and a half eyes, and a mass of arms. The teams of Haizea, Olivia, Gail, Seth, Zafika, and Matilda will all be treated to the left-half children. The teams of Joanna, Web, Gyre, Rory, Luka, Terrence, and Garrot will be treated to the right-half children.
  
  These monsters will arrive slowly lumbering down the street, one and a half eyes scanning around them as they approach. The air around the monsters steams as if the ground were on fire, the monsters' image rippling in the rapidly rising air.
  
  The Princess will discover that he has an advantage in this scenario. He can feel that there's something more to this, that there's something in the ground that he can control. If he tries to focus on it, he'll find that he can set the ground ablaze simply by focusing on it. The range isn't overly far, though, no more than thirty feet. He'll have to plan carefully if he wants to heat things up!
  
  
• ?:00pm, The Monster [Phase 3]: Unknown. Will be revealed if triggered or no later than May 22nd.

---

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.

Important: If your character makes an attack against the monster (or stays still for longer than 3 in-game minutes), write [Character does ____] at the end of your tag and send a ping on Discord to get a reply to the action.

Comments

12:00noon, The Monster [Phase 1], Bamborough, Craydon, Far Haven

[wizardseason]

The third monster is here? If your characters stay put, they'll feel a menacing presence getting closer and closer but they won't see anything. If they stay long enough, something invisible will start shoving them. A shove here, a push there, the attacks will come from multiple directions and will persist until your character falls over. Whatever's happening, something's here and it's insistent. How are the heroes supposed to fight something they can't see?

1:00pm, The Monster [Phase 2], Bamborough, Craydon, Far Haven

[wizardseason]

For most of the heroes, the hour between noon and 1pm is spent being filled with more questions and no answers. Why were there invisible monsters shoving them around? Any heroes that tried to attack them just swished through empty air. Why couldn't they be hurt?

There isn't an answer to that question, because the real third monster arrives just in time to distract the heroes. At 1pm on the dot, every hero's monster pull will aggressively alert them to an approaching presence. In the same way that someone hears a plane approaching from the engines, it's a feeling that practically advertises the arrival of something horrible.

All six groups of heroes will be treated to a monster that is easily the stuff of nightmares. Imagine a child with yellow skin, but no face, no hair, no details of any kind. Except for eyes, three eyes (two humanoid, one forehead) this time. Just very clearly the shape of a child. The legs are entirely humanoid, but the arm is a mass of arms, all in varying lengths and with such weight that the body is leaned over and using that arm mass as another leg.

Also every child is split in half from the head down, meaning each half-child has one leg, a half body, half neck, half head, one and a half eyes, and a mass of arms. The teams of Haizea, Olivia, Gail, Seth, Zafika, and Matilda will all be treated to the left-half children. The teams of Joanna, Web, Gyre, Rory, Luka, Terrence, and Garrot will be treated to the right-half children.

These monsters will arrive slowly lumbering down the street, one and a half eyes scanning around them as they approach. The air around the monsters steams as if the ground were on fire, the monsters' image rippling in the rapidly rising air.

The Princess will discover that he has an advantage in this scenario. He can feel that there's something more to this, that there's something in the ground that he can control. If he tries to focus on it, he'll find that he can set the ground ablaze simply by focusing on it. The range isn't overly far, though, no more than thirty feet. He'll have to plan carefully if he wants to heat things up!

Garrot + Terrence

[fop_lop]

The two (somehow) simultaneously most and least responsible knights have scarcely made it out of the theater they awoke in when... Uh, that happens. Though they haven't seen that there are multiple children, the half-and-half motif is pretty clear. Upon seeing the creature, the first thought that pops into Terrence's mind is a memory with Haizea from his first day on Harsen Island. They'd made a casual bet on the outcome of a volleyball game between some island natives. Having never been formally introduced to the players, the knights simply referred to the teams as 'Lefties' and 'Right-Os.'

Somewhat morbidly, he can't help but mentally refer to the newest monster as a 'Right-O.' Even more fitting that he'd lost when betting on them.

"Storming straight into the fray doesn't seem the best solution this time, somehow," he confers with Garrot. That steam looks almost as unpleasant as the creature itself, though admittedly the horrific visage is reason enough for Terrence to keep some distance.

[daddykong]

"Of course we can't run in." He groans, holding out a hand into the air. "When we run in, it either runs away, is covered in spikes, or it's... that!" And then Garrot forgets he was about to get a weapon so that he can instead gesture emphatically at their grotesque foe.

"It's gross. And there's that steam." Garrot, dejected at the lack of viable close-quarters opponents, slumps his shoulders for a moment, sighing. A moment later, he seems to have gotten most of the griping out of his system, and he's got a hand outstretched again.

"Xaljim, gimme a spear, a little longer than usual." And so it appears, about six inches longer than a Garrot-sized standard. They know it's slow, it's warm, and it's... cut in half. So he looks to Terrence, just uncertain enough to betray that he's totally winging it.

"Do we wanna get a fire extinguisher or just like smash a fire hydrant?" He snorts. "Maybe that'll cool it off."

[fop_lop]

Terrence is a little flustered that he hadn't even considered finding a way to counteract the creature's heat, just to avoid it. It can be easy to forget when they're joking around and acting childish, but Garrot really is as clever as he is reliable.

"If you can locate one close by and lure this... Thing to it, that sounds logical. But, actually," Terrence seems to realize something and retrieves his sword from the inside of his jacket before handing it off to his companion. "Sucecq, lend the doctor a shield while I look for an extinguisher inside!"

Part of him just doesn't want to be near the day's monster any more than is necessary, but it actually does sound like a reasonable plan. To be honest, the doctor is probably in less danger without the rabbit knight around, the Terrence reasons - he only has to look after himself that way, and both between his own physical prowess and knight power he could likely get more martial mileage out of a second weapon than the CEO himself could possibly muster.

This is a public building that services entire crowds of people, and one that seems to have still been in use very recently... Surely there's some kind of portable extinguisher in here..?

[daddykong]

Garrot doesn't want to be mean, of course, but things are safer if Terrence isn't near the monster. They don't know what it can do after all! Of course, he'd rather have the Rabbit Knight nearby in case something goes wrong, so... the doctor doesn't win no matter what happens.

But then Terrence is gone, and Garrot's got a shield in hand instead! Gotta make do with what you got. But that thing's steaming hot, it's really slow, and he doesn't actually want to get close. At all. Especially if that shield and spear start heating up, too. Instead, he passes the shield to the same hand as the spear- he's not exactly holding them both well- and he picks up a rock from the nearby flowerbed.

"Hey ugly, what the fuck are you doin' here?!" And then he throws the rock right at the monster's head. At least then it'll be easier for Terrence to put it on ice... if they even can put it on ice. Garrot's absolutely still winging it.

[ Garrot throws a rock at the monster's half-head. ]

[wizardseason]

Conveniently for everyone, Terrence finds a full-size fire extinguisher! It's got a weird latch holding it to the wall but it's easy enough to figure out.

Meanwhile Garrot has a shield and a spear but he isn't likely to shout "Sparta!" at anyone, instead he's doing the smart thing which isn't getting closer to the monster. The monster, however, isn't about to leave him thinking he has any kind of safety. It starts advancing on him, the heat radiating off of it getting more intense with each lumbering step it takes.

It makes no attempt to dodge the rock, barely even flinching as the rock plunks off of its half-face. While that didn't do any damage, the monster is firmly and entirely focused on following Garrot and trying to get close enough to boil him.

Boiled doctor sounded pretty classy, the monster would have to top him with caviar before digging in.

[fop_lop]

Yes! Just what they needed - neither knight's powerset is precisely suited to dealing with threats at range, at least in a vacuum.

While Garrot is no doubt filled with delicious doctormeats, Terrence isn't going to let the monster find out! Uncharacteristically, the rabbit knight doesn't burst back onto the scene bombastically with their secret weapon! Instead, he snakes around to an employee-only side entrance that opens into the nearby alleyway. While lugging around the newly-liberated extinguisher is a bit awkward, he's not that weak.

Stealth isn't exactly his forte any more than fighting... But with the creature so distracted by Garrot, it's not too tricky for Terrence to quietly exit the alleyway back into the street and flank it. Remaining silent, he hefts the red cylinder up a bit to get his partner's attention before offering a conspiratorial nod. After getting as close as the knight is willing to, Terrence sets up at a slight angle and lets the foam fly! The offset is so that he's not directly opposite Garrot and thus won't accidentally spray him in the face if the creature falls and/or moves. Er. Should he be aiming at the base like with an actual fire..? Bah, who knows, just cover it!

[Terrence unloads the fire extinguisher on the monster from behind.]

Rory, Gyre + Luka

[roaryrory]

The trio runs through several cars, getting shoved less and less as they gain distance to the monster. Even with that relief, Rory is still extremely on edge. She makes sure to hold on tight to Luka's hand and guide him through the aisle and the doors - which she thinks should absolutely open faster given the situation!

They find themselves in the restaurant car. That glass of water Rory requested earlier is the last thing on her mind by now, however. Despite knowing it most likely won't do anything, she shoves some chairs on the aisle in the trio's wake in an attempt to slow down the monster. Little does she know the real threat is not behind them, but about to burst in from a window in front of them instead. Shards of glass fly in every direction as the grotesque bundle of arms emerges.

Rory instinctively takes a step back and assumes a wide stance in front of the Princess. Her eyes widen and her brain has difficulty comprehending this monster for a second. "Is this some kind of a sick joke?!"

[eutychia]

Luka braces himself at the sound of shattering glass, gripping onto a nearby train seat and ducking down in an attempt to dodge any debris.

"What the hell was that?! Another monster?!" he asks, frantic. "Are you okay, Rory?"

Luka begins feeling around on the floor for anything that might work as a weapon should it come down to that. He wasn't a Knight, but three against two was better odds. He grits his teeth in frustration as nothing useful seems to be around him. He doubted the errant butter knife or broken dishware would be particularly effective in this scenario but begins tossing things in the direction of the crash regardless.

"This is a terrible time for the Protector to be ghosting me." Luka groans.

[Luka throws dishes and silverware in the direction of the half-child monster.]

[wizardseason]

Everything about this situation has gone from bad, to worse, to a literal nightmare. When the monster crashes through the wall of the train, it lands in the center aisle at a horrible angle. Its body is tilted, off balance, and it takes it a moment to get its footing again. What doesn't take a moment to happen, though, is that the air in the train car begins to hurt. It's worse than a hot summer day, it's like someone turned the oven on while they're all in it. The air ripples, thick with heat that's rising from the monster's presence. It turns its body, locking its eyes on Luka specifically.

The dishes and silverware impact the monster's body, most of them clattering to the floor to make a mess of the area around it, but a few of the metal utensils get stuck in the arms and begin to melt there. Looks like the monster's body is hot, too! A few moments later, the monster's body is rising up back to its full height. It's nearly seven feet tall, the hulking mass of its arms stretching out nearly six feet down to where they're pressed into the floor. It's likely to attack the heroes if they stay put!

"You have to run." The Protector's voice comes insistently in the back of Luka's mind. Looks like he's here after all.

Worse than that, if the heroes do choose to run back and away from the monster they'll end up passing the Wizard in the next train car. She's sitting in a window seat just a few rows past the door to the car. Not really an ideal spot for some chit-chat when there's a monster aboard!

[sustainer]

Gyre does! not! feel good about any of this. He continued circling around them as they ran before just taking the lead and getting a little ways ahead. Better to check for traps in front then be stuck behind them if an actual fight came.

And an actual fight does come. The window shatters inwards and the glass shards explode against the shield he instinctually throws up between them. He pauses a moment there, looking up, up, at the monster before the actually painful heat of the air strikes him. He hisses softly, and uh turns. This is not the place to be anymore.

"Yeah, another monster. This way is not an option anymore," he says quickly, turning on his heels to go back the way they came. Rory's been on top of Luka, so he'll leave him to her, climbing over the seats so he can start clearing the chairs out of their way so they can hopefully retreat into the previous car. A monster that pushes a little doesn't seem anywhere near as bad as one that makes just breathing the steaming air hurt.

"Let's go."

[roaryrory]

Rory would have thought she could handle heat, given her home country, but this was more than a bit too much. Her eyes water and she grits her teeth as she turns around. "We need to get off this train," she heaves. It would be the worst way to go if they succumbed to the heat before the monster could even touch them. Or before they could fight back, at all.

She's now regretting pushing all those chairs in the shove-monster's way. That one seems quite juvenile in comparison to this new threat, and having to deal with her own obstacles is not what she needed on top of that. She breathes a sigh of relief when they reach the previous car and the air finally doesn't hurt... at least until the monster enters. She doesn't even notice the Wizard yet, too preoccupied with making sure her two companions are alright.

[eutychia]

Luka wastes no time retreating with his companions. He barely has time to process that the Protector spoke up again as he stumbles back through the train car, avoiding obstacles as best he can and fleeing the oppressively hot air against his back.

"Can we jump out? Does it look safe outside?" he asks. "I'd rather not die in a fucked up monster sandwich today. Gyre, you can shield us right? Do you think it would break any damage from the fall if it came down to jumping?"

Bamborough Group Fun

[fauntofwisdom]

The sense of worry about being separated continued to hang over Joanna. Sticking close by Web and keeping track of the others' texts helped, but there was still a sense of something missing. She eventually pushed them to meet up with the others in Bamborough, at least - and confirm whether they could find the others in this still empty city.

Along the way to meeting up, trying to wait for each other at major landmarks, they found that staying still invited shoves from some invisible force. Trying to brush it aside or push back felt like pushing through air, and the classic solution to invisible creatures - tossing a powder - had no effect, as if it was just immaterial force nudging them.

But they've only started investigating that question, when another feeling changes - this time a sense of arrival. Joanna spots a horrifying figure shuffling from one the street. Unlike the eyeball with legs, or the astonishing urchin-like shapes... These look child-like, but hardly in any position to be moving around.

"F-Fius, are these the monsters?" She wonders, one hand over mouth and the other grasping at the air at her side, ready to hold a weapon - just as soon as she can think of one to request.

[spookyroomba]

"Hooooo boy," Web mutters as they look at the weird new monsters. They'd been invisibly pushed along to see this. Really? At least they hadn't been alone in being pushed, which was...honestly no comfort at the moment; it was fighty time now.

Or possibly time to do the bleating and fainting thing. Or just throw up from the sheer wrongness of this. They weren't sure. It could be all of the above!

"Those...those are just wrong," they mumble, looking over at their silly rooster. They'd ask Aq, but Joanna beat them to it - it'd be redundant.

[disguiseself]

[Luckily for her, Olivia had received no invisible pushes! Haizea and her had been constantly on the move, trying to either get to the princess or find the other Knights in the city.

She lets out a sigh of relief when she spots Joanna and Web, glad to see familiar faces - or any faces at all, really. Empty cities can get spooky after a while! She starts running up to them when her eyes land on the horrible monster. This sure has been a day.]

Oh my fucking— what the fuck is that!?

[tropicalstorm]

Haizea had been ready to greet Joanna and- hm, she doesn't think she's properly met that knight yet, but the absolutely horrifying monster completely distracts her from any social niceties.

"NOPE!" she exclaims viscerally and thrusts an arm out towards the monster, stirring up a strong gust of wind aimed right at it in an almost instinctual attempt to get that thing AWAY. Probably she should have discussed strategy with the other knights first before attacking, but the sight of this mangled, eldritch CHILD is so abhorrent to her that her better judgement is limited.

[Haizea sends a strong gust of wind towards the monster to push it far away]

[wizardseason]

Fius' answer comes immediately while Aqrisqi nods in agreement. "It's the monster alright. It's horrible!"

For Olivia, the answer is pretty clear: It's the monster. Also all four knights unlock the achievement "It's the monster!" which is worth an staggering, astonishing 1 achievement point.

Haizea, meanwhile, makes a good decision with the wind! The monster stumbles backwards in the sudden wind. It backs off three steps before lurching forward and slamming two arms into the ground to hold itself steady.

And then it starts reaching out towards the knights. Its arms start extending towards them, stretching through the wind slowly to try to attack.

Oh, and there's a second half monster lumbering up behind the one anchored in the ground. When it approaches the first from behind, their heated auras seem to blob together and little wisps of fire start appearing in the overlap. Better not get scorched, knights!

[fauntofwisdom]

The great thing about the wizard isn't facing the monster, it's showing everyone online that they did.

But with the knights stuck in a frozen time in the past, and the world's apparent population down to 13 + monsters, who is there to show? Clearly, they need to fight, beat the monsters, and return to the future.

Absolutely none of that nonsense crosses Joanna's mind, as the monster's arms start writhing and spreading out towards them. She's too busy counting arms, panicking, trying to figure out how the arms are making fire - and noticing the sound and motion of another monster lumbering toward them from the same direction.

"There's another... The other half, I think!"

She starts to try to reach with her stasis power, to stop the new monster from advancing like she froze yesterday's... but that doesn't make sense. Those arms are too many, and too different, as if it's stolen the arms from a dozen people. Hardly seems something her powers would consider 'one object.'

Instead, she asks Fius for a full metallic bowling ball - brightly colored if he can manage it - and freezes that in the air. If she hits it a few times, and aims it right, it should smash that monster back, right?

Zafika + Matilda

[zafika]

Zafika freezes the moment they feel the new, aggressive pull towards something that's approaching, and the said something makes their stomach turn. They quickly grab Matilda by the wrist, and pull her along as they dodge behind a nearby building's corner. THe shoving by an invisible creature had just been annoying, this however? They on't like this, not one bit. "Stay quiet, something's coming-" they whisper, and peek to the streets with their blindfold now lowered.

And, well. That sure is some form of body horror right there. They suddenly feel glad for having pulled Matilda to the alleyway, they don't want her to see this just yet. They eye at the monster for a good moment, and seeing the air around the monster steaming is, not good. They're more a close combat fighter, but maybe they can be quick about their attacks...

They duck back behind the corner and turn to Matilda, glancing at her face quickly. "Alright, the monster's here... an it seems like getting close to it is going to be hard though, the air around it is steaming."

Re: Zafika + Matilda

[scandeled]

It’s probably for the best Zafika pulls Matilda along out of the way, for all that she’s been trying to put on a brave face, she’s been doing a rather poor job. If she catches Zafika looking, she’s been trying to keep a warm smile, has been trying to keep her voice upbeat and perky and her steps confident. But it’s hard, when she’s being pushed around by invisible bullies, and the sense of unease in her stomach keeps swelling.

She stays quiet when asked, though, and when Zafika returns, she’s only pouting a little, trying to elbow an enemy that isn’t there. “Steaming? Should monsters do that?” She asks, her voice catching a little. She has a feeling the answers no. “What’s our—“ She elbows thin air again. “—plan?”

[zafika]

"Honestly, should the monsters do anything that they do? They don't exactly follow any rules or laws..." Zafika whispers, still annoyed by that giant sea urchin monster. Stupid thing with its stupid fucking extending leg spikes...

"Either way, there's a five feet radius around it where the air is steaming, if we can use weapons with a longer reach than five feet, we should be able to damage it. It seems slow too, so the faster we can attack it, the better." they explain, and... glance down at Matilda's heels. Those are going to be a problem. Thank goodness she can teleport. "Use your energy for teleporting yourself back and forth, I can manage on my own."

"Muraj, I need a glaive, around eight feet long, blade 30 or so inches long." As they make their request they grab their dagger, and whoop, there it goes, changing into a glaive. It's heavier than what they're used to, but hopefully they'll adapt quickly. "Can you have your companion give you something like this? Don't worry, they're not as heavy as you'd think."

[scandeled]

"You have a point..." Matilda agrees, but she's still pouting. The giant sea urchin may have been ridiculous, but a cartwheel is a lot easier to deal with than steam. She tries to feel brave as she tugs the bow she'd been wearing around her neck loose- nodding along at the instructions as she ties her hair up.

"Cif-- I need-- one of those, please?" Her voice is upbeat but steeped in uncertainty at the same time. Oh, dear, it's not as heavy as she thought, but it's awkward, and she fumbles around a little bit as she tries to balance the thing and pull her goggles back down. She's still nervous, but seeing everything bathed in rose makes her feel more at ease instantly, and she adjusts her grip. "Right. I'll just hop back and forth. Let me know if you need me to get you out, too."

[zafika]

Zafika watches Matilda fumble around for a bit, but once she seems to have her bearings a little, they take a step towards the street again. "I'll keep that in mind.. but for now, focus on keeping yourself safe, okay?" They glance back at her one more time, before they run out of the alley and take a sharp turn right towards the monster.

They're heading straight towards it head first, but before they get to the steam-zone, they veer to the monster's right side and... run past it. But the moment they're behind it, they do a quick 180 turn, using that to add some more force to the slash of their glaive. Time to test if this thing can stay upright without its leg.

[Zafika attacks the monster with a slash aimed to the back of it's knee to cripple it further.]