[F18 - PP] <<Just for the Halibut>>

[Shield 0]

Quote

Passive [+1 EN] Battle Healing [+66 HP] Recovery - Craft: 11 [+6 EN] Parry [Cooldown: 0/1] Vengeful Riposte [Cooldown: 0/3]

Action: Parry - Vengeful Riposte [-5 EN]

[H:0] Shield - HP: 1329/1330 | EP: 124/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:0] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 20/20 | DMG: 10 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 412/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350] - ID# 102086 results: MOB: 9+1+2=12- Hit! [300/2-169=1 dmg, Riposte: 300/2-150=1 dmg]

Shield's eyes remained on the fish that was still latched onto his arm. He swung his sword around, wedging it between his armor and the thing's teeth so that the edge dug into the things gumless jaw. It was not much, but if it bit down harder, it would meet resistance as well as the bite of his sword. "Stay back!" he barked at Callie, not angrily, but with the tone of one very focused. "I need to get in a good Howl, but I need a second first!"

In all actuality, there was probably plenty of time for Calypso to attack and still Howl safely without risking her getting caught in the crossfire, but there had been more than one occasion when a miscalculation had caused an attack to slip by him. Now was not the time for mistakes.

He had prepared himself as best he could for the tightening of the Lurker's jaws, but his sword proved no deterrent. Its jaws closed harder around him, and even as the sword bit in between its disheveled teeth, its health remained nearly unchanged. However, the extra barrier was just enough of a wedge to keep its jaws from clamping down too much farther that Shield's hit points remained similarly untouched. However, with his healing skills, both his health and energy were returned to full almost immediately. It could be beaten. Even with such a direct application of force, its offense was not so daunting.

Directly in his ear, a gravelly voice bellowed, sending with it spittle and a wave of odor that Shield had hoped to forget. "Batten down th' hatches! Hoist th' mainstay! Swab th' poop deck!" The fisherman, now directly beside him, was shouting directly at the side of his head. Then, turning on his heel, he hopped excitedly to the far side of the dock right beside Callie, now hurling a number of equally irrelevant jargoned orders at her.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Shield

[Calypso 0]

Callie's legs were ready to carry her forward, despite the uneasiness resting in the pit of her stomach in the face of such a massive, hideous creature. Shield's orders, however, caused her muscles to tense and freeze up to keep her rooted in place. She frowned, but obeyed, renewing the grip on the handle of her claymore as she looked on. The time she spent hanging in the back-line gave her a moment to reason, letting her easily understand why her party member didn't want her in the fray. Her eyes flickered over to the health bar nestled below her own in the corner of her vision and widened for a brief moment when they registered the empty space at the right-most of Shield's indicator. His latent healing effects made it quick to jump back up, but in all the quests he'd carried her through and enemies he'd defended against thus far, none had threatened the tank with as much damage in such little time. He must have already realized how much damage the beast could potentially do to her frail avatar, and this game was one where simple mistakes could not always be so easily shrugged off.

Steeling herself for the possibility of waiting in the wings through the entirety of it, Callie simply watched and waited. Her attention wasn't drawn to the skipping seaman until the sound of his voice rasping too closely for comfort beside her caused her to flinch. She scowled, and nearly rolled her eyes at the NPC as he served more as a distraction than anything else. "Okay! If you're not going to help, then go wait somewhere else!" Her words were exasperated after enduring a long-winded string of manic orders. The fisherman began hobbling off, and when Callie quickly noticed he was hurrying down the length of the dock back towards Shield, she took a couple of hurried steps forward. Her right hand extended from the handle of her weapon and took a fistful of the back of the NPC's bright yellow raincoat to hold him in place. She had to fight against the man's exuberant motion, taking slower steps backwards to pull back against the path that he was insistent on taking.

[Shield 0]

Quote

Passive [+1 EN] Battle Healing [+66 HP] Recovery - Craft: 12 [+6 EN] Parry [Cooldown: 1/1 - Ready Next Turn] Vengeful Riposte [Cooldown: 1/3]

Action: Focused Howl [-8 EN]

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1249/1330 | EP: 123/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:0] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 20/20 | DMG: 10 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 325/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350] - ID# 102124 results: MOB: 7+1+2=10- Hit! [250-169=81 dmg, THN: 99 dmg]

At Calypso's protests and forced restraint, the fisherman began thrashing all the harder. "It be mutiny! Yeh'll be keel-hauled, lass!" bellowed the delusional old salt. "Toss 'er in the brig! Hang 'er from the main mast by 'er heels! Put 'er in the longboat till she's sober! Ear-lie in th' mornin'!" His struggles momentarily deteriorated into a rhythmic pulling and swaying, getting momentarily lost in the familiar sea shanty before again spotting the monstrous fish that haunted the end of the dock, facing of mano a mano with the hard-jawed man whose arm and sword were both down its gullet. "Feeeeeeeesh!" he cried, remembering anew his whole reason for leaving the shack in the first place.

Meanwhile, in the duel between Shield and The Lurker, the former had recovered enough to take a proper breath. He inhaled, packing his lungs with as much volume as possible before focusing his breath and unleashing it. "If you so much as take your eyes off of me, you hideous pile of guts and gills, I'll skewer you and roast you in a heartbeat!" he bluffed, pulling his sword free and slashing through the air at the thing's eye. It was a shameless bluff, but that didn't matter so long as it took him seriously. It did not flinch, but rather bit down harder on Shield's arm, and for once, his health dropped without being fully replenished. It was not much, but it was clearly visible. Still, in that time, Shield had just managed to shift the position of his arm so that now the thorniest part of his forearm was pointed up into the roof of the thing's mouth. It let out a guttural growl and released him, flicking its fin as it turned and took a short spin out in the water, preparing to make a fresh attack. Its dead eyes remained locked on Shield. That was all he  needed.

"Now, Callie!" he called out. "He's focused on me!"

Edited June 29, 2018 by Shield

[Calypso 0]

"Oh, honestly!" Callie griped back at the NPC's ridiculous behavior between her struggle to keep his interference to a minimum. She could see his half-glossed eyes widened and come back to life as his delirium faded--or perhaps grew even stronger--and his sights settled back on the prize of a beast in front of them again. Callie grunted through a clenched jaw as she reeled her arm back, dragging the old shack-dweller back another couple of paces in an attempt to position him farther back than herself. "We'll get your fish just like we promised, now please just stay put!" She believed her reasoning was in vain the moment the words left her mouth, assuming they would fall on deaf ears before the fisherman would surely beginning running about as soon as she released him.

Whether that would prove true or not, Callie's attention shifted back to the battle ahead of them at the sound of a splash. The sea monster had finally released Shield, but she could see it was swinging around in order to launch another attack from the water. Just a second later when her own name reached her ears, she sprung into action. "Got it!" She called from behind, breaking out into a run as she returned both of her hands to the hilt of her heavy claymore. She dropped the steel to her right side, dragging it through the air alongside her. Golden eyes followed the ripples in the water that trailed from the tattered fins that poked out from it while she crossed the length of the dock, and she managed to reach her destination just in time as the Lurker burst from the surface once again. It's maw hung open, ready to come down on Shield as if it was content to swallow the man whole. Slowing her momentum in a hurry, Callie's boot planted against the soggy wooden surface as she dragged her sword through the air at the Lurker's flank.

Rather than slicing through the monster's jaw, catching its glassy eye as Shield had, or even tearing through the edge of it's wide, toothy mouth, Callie's blade clashed with the bottom set of its jagged fangs, the sound ringing out with a visual spark that displayed the ineffectiveness of her attack. "Shoot!" She hissed under her breath, her attention now having to fall back to making sure she wouldn't put herself in a compromising position. "Looks like you're definitely on your own for this one," She called back to Shield, not necessarily announcing her withdrawal as she continued. "Even if I get a scratch on this thing, I'm sure that's all it'll be."

ID#: 102129 | BD: 2(+2)=4 - Miss!

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1249/1330 | EP: 123/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:0] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 18/20 | DMG: 9 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 325/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350]

[Shield 0]

Quote

Passive [+1 EN] Battle Healing [+66 HP] Recovery - Craft: 9 [+6 EN] Parry [Cooldown: 0/1] Vengeful Riposte [Cooldown: 2/3]

Action: Parry [-5 EN]

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1314/1330 | EP: 119/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:0] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 18/20 | DMG: 9 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 238/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350]

ID# 102132 results: MOB: 8+2+1=11 - Hit! 250/2-169=1 dmg, THN: 87 dmg]

"That's okay," he called out to Callie, bracing for the impact of the next attack. "You never know when a little bit of damage will be the difference between making the kill and having to swing again!"

He held his sword out, angling it across his body as an extra buffer. He wasn't ready yet for another counter attack. His cooldown timer was only half done. He cursed under his breath, watching as the behemoth closed the last of the distance. With a step to the side, he moved his body as far out of the path as possible. The Lurker crashed into his sword, propelling him the rest of the way to the side and catching his position on his back foot, only giving as much ground as he needed to avoid the hit.

It worked. The jagged horseshoes of toothy horror closed on the dock, leaving the fish to fight to extricate himself from the tangle of severed planks and the steadfast piling which his teeth had lodged themselves into. Shield's health only lost a mote of green, while it had gained far more than that between attacks. "Little decisions can make all the difference."

Over his shoulder, he heard fast approaching heavy footsteps and turned around just in time to see the fisherman launch himself onto the Lurker's face. "FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH!" The delusional seafarer grabbed onto the lure appendage, scrambling up onto the fish's back and waving his harpoon around triumphantly. "Let's be seein' yuz make a fool o' me again NOW!" He proceeded to batter the great angler fish in the head with the butt end of the harpoon, having absolutely no effect on the creature's health. Shield pressed his face into his palm.

"...except that. That will not make a difference."

Edited June 29, 2018 by Shield

[Calypso 0]

Taking his encouragement with a silent nod, Callie rolled her right shoulder to bring her claymore back into position. First squared in front of her, then falling to her right, she moved in for another horizontal slash. By her logic, it was the best approach to actually hit the monstrosity without running the risk of terribly displacing herself on a failure. The last thing she needed was to get herself caught too close to the beast, or colliding with the support beams of the dock. The worst case scenario she could imagine had her losing her balance right into the murky waters off the edge of the limited space of their battlefield. She grimaced at the thought.

One such figure who didn't seem any worried about proximity to the Lurker caused Callie to hold fast for a moment. She blinked, and although she really shouldn't have been, she was taken aback by the fisherman's gusto. She spotted Shield's gesture, burying his face into his hand, and resisted the urge to do the same. Instead, a light chuckle bubbled up and escaped her, "It's getting harder to take this seriously the longer he sticks around." She commented with a crooked smile, failing to contain another chortle as she watched the NPC flail his decorative weapon against the monster's face. "Do you think we fail the quest if he gets himself hurt?" She asked, and although the thought was sparked on a whim, she mulled it over more seriously once the words left her.

The back end of his harpoon smacked into the edge of one of the Lurker's glossy eyes, causing the monster to lurch slightly as it gave half an attempt to rid itself of the annoyance riding on its back. Callie took the moment of opportunity to dash forward, needing only to take three short strides before the swing of her steel would reach her target. She brought the blade across, her sword digging into the fish's cheek to decorate it with a thin red gash.

ID#: 102258  | BD: 6(+2)=8 - Hit!
(9 base) x (5 sword art) = (45 DMG) - (150 MIT) = 1 minimum DMG

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1314/1330 | EP: 119/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:1] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 14/20 | DMG: 9 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 237/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350]

[Shield 0]

Quote

Passive [+1 EN] Battle Healing [+66 HP] Recovery - Craft: 11 [+6 EN] Parry [Cooldown: 1/1 - Ready next turn!] Vengeful Riposte [Cooldown: 3/3 - Ready next turn!]

Action: Basic Attack > The Lurker - ID# 102320 results: Battle: 1 - Miss

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1249/1330 | EP: 124/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:1] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 14/20 | DMG: 9 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 150/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350]

 MOB: 8 [+2+1=11 0 Hit! 250-169=81 dmg, THN: 87 dmg]

"Well, I doubt it's that serious," Shield sighed at her hypothetical inquiry. "Regardless of whether he lives, the quest objectives will be complete. We just need to kill the fish-"

"FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH!" screeched the fisherman at the mentioning of the dreaded 'F' word, jabbing the Lurker's eye once again with the butt of his harppon.

"As I was saying... we just need to kill the f-" he paused, flicking his eyes towards the madman on the field boss. "...monster... and then go and talk to the..." his eyes turned back to the fisherman. The quest NPC. "Oh, fish frick." He strode forward towards the edge of the dock. The Lurker was beginning to buck, protesting as the butt end of the weapon continued battering it in the eye. Shield picked up his pace, breaking into a run and vaulting off of the nearest piling. He landed with an unpleasant squelching on the membranous skin of the monster fish. He would have stuck his tongue out in disgust, but if he were to slip, his face and tongue could go right into the creature's back, which was not a pleasant thought.

He hooked the back of the fisherman's slicker, lifting him up completely off of his fishy seat, and took a step. With a growl, he launched the crazy old coot through the air. "It be a water spout! If'n we don' secure the sails, they be goners!" He with the deck with a wet slap of plastic on wood, continuing to spout his drivel as he flailed on the deck. "This be it, mateys! It be Mickey Dolenz' locker fer me!"

"It's Davy Jones!" Shield shouted in exasperation. "That's not even the right member of The Monkees! Who the hell programmed you, you daft damp sponge!?"

The Lurker had had enough. It bucked its head and then its back gave a lurch. Shield was lifted up and then left suspended midair with nothing to stand on as the beast vanished into the water. Below him, jagged teeth took shape just under the surface, and a living cavern of razor sharp stalactites and stalagmites emerged to swallow Shield up. He made himself tall, catching the top jaw with his hands and the bottom with the heels of his boots. With shrieks of rage, the Lurker tried to consume him, clamping its jaws down, but Shield pushed back, keeping the jaws at bay. His health took another hit from fighting against the teeth, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw yellow turn bright red, and he knew they were coming up on the end. He freed up his sword hand and struck at the thing's insides, but eh knew it would do very little, which was the case.

"Just a little longer..." he strained, trying to look over to the dock. "Don't let that screwball near the water!"

Edited July 6, 2018 by Shield

[Calypso 0]

Once again finding humor in the daft NPC's outbursts, Callie pulled her hand away from her sword and pressed the backs of her knuckles against her mouth to suppress more laughter. After a bit of musing aloud, Shield seemed to realize the weight of the fisherman's life when it came to their task at hand. Whether NPCs respawned on their own in the event that they died, Callie didn't know. And after the lengthy quest and all the trouble the old seafarer had given them thus far, she didn't have any interest to test the theory and find out. Watching as Shield took the initiative to remove the fisherman from the Lurker's back, she cocked a brow and smiled again at their banter while she momentarily resigned herself to the role of spectator. 

Her eyes widened and the whimsy was quick to drain from the situation as she was reminded that the fight they were a part of was very much real combat with a sea monster that very much wanted to kill them. While Shield struggled against the Lurker's maw, she too caught sight of its dwindling health bar. His instruction reached her ears and Callie looked over just as the old salt had started to regain his bearings. With the harpoon he had been clenching suddenly missing, his bare hands slapped against the docks surface similar to an exaggerated character searching frantically for their glasses. "T' arms!" He shouted, scrambling around as if he couldn't decide whether he needed to retrieve his ineffective weapon or get to his feet first. He and Callie seemed to find the item at the same time, and the woman broke out into a run in order to beat him there. She carried her sword, dropping its sharpened edge to the side after she had passed the old man. The wood of the dock let out a solid 'thunk' as the tip of her claymore wedged itself in, and she shoved the weapon with enough force that it stayed put after she let it go. The steel created a small barrier that caused the fisherman to halt, and when Callie hurried to scoop up the harpoon herself he was already back to screaming of mutiny.

Callie's lips pursed, and for a second she stood unsure of what to do. The old fisherman, still ranting and raving about how she should be thrown in the brig, then thrown overboard for her betrayal, then moved forward to wrap his fingers around the hilt of her sword. He yanked and pulled, as if he were working to free Excalibur itself. Meanwhile, Callie's head whipped side to side as she tried to think of a solution. Desperate, and with no other ideas coming to mind, she pulled the harpoon that she held in both hands back, letting out a small grunt of effort as she threw the item off the side of the deck where it fell into the water with a flat splash.

"Aaiiieee! Th' broad's lost her marbles!" The man squawked as he witnessed her dispose of his prized possession. He abandoned the sword that stood in his way, and Callie only just barely managed to lunge forward to grab at the collar of his raincoat before he had thrown himself off the edge after his harpoon.

ID#: 102332 | BD: 2(+2)=4 - Miss!

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1249/1330 | EP: 124/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:1] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 13/20 | DMG: 9 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 150/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350]

[Shield 0]

Quote

Passive [+1 EN] Battle Healing [+66 HP] Recovery - Craft: 4 [+0 EN] Parry [Cooldown: 0/1] Vengeful Riposte [Cooldown: 0/3]

Action: Parry - Vengeful Riposte [-5 EN]

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1314/1330 | EP: 119/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:1] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 13/20 | DMG: 9 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 62/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350]

ID# 102333 results: MOB: 3 [+2+1=6 - Hit! Parry Proc! 250/2-169=1dmg, Riposte: 250/2-150=1 dmg, THN: 87 dmg]

The clamor on the docks were lost to him. There was too much happening in front of him, or rather all around him. The jaws continued to try to clamp down on him. "Fine... let's make this interesting..." He positioned the tip of his blade against the roof of the thing's mouth, slowly switching the pressure between his hands so that the point of his sword sank deep into the roof of its mouth up to the hilt. At which point, he released his other hand, moving it to the hilt of the sword so that the amount of force the fish bit with was the same force driving the blade upward.

The Lurker was unfazed, but it still made no further progress in engulfing Shield either. The tank took a moment to glance at the surrounding health bar. It was continuing to plummet, now within reach of zero. "Just a little more..." Shield grunted to himself, pushing out with both his hands and feet to maintain his position in the tug of war with the fishy field boss. "Everything alright out there?" he called out to Calypso. Clearly, the fish was occupied, but from what Shield saw, he could not rule out that the fisherman had found some other way to endanger himself.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Shield

[Calypso 0]

Callie had to put her full weight into lurching to reel the fisherman back to the center of the dock. "Me gun! How dare 'ya strip a sailor o' his arms! Ye' ain't gettin' these ones next, lass!" He continued to shout and cry more nonsense, propelling his arms in circles at his sides as he struggled against Callie's hold. "Ohh, pipe down!" She snapped back, clearly losing her patience with the unruly man. His flailing caused her to lose her balance, but not her grip, and the two slipped on the surface of the dock to crash beside one another.

"Urgh... Yeah!" She called back after a short groan, registering Shield's concern. She looked on at the proper battle, with the man still struggling against the Lurker's jaws while the seaman beside her seemed to be momentarily incapacitated. His cheek and knees pressed up against the damp wood, with his torso raised and his rear in the air. Callie had shifted to sit herself up, one hand still extended and grasping firmly onto the back of the raincoat's bright yellow collar while he mumbled a string of something she couldn't--and didn't care to--make out against the worn wooden planks. "I didn't expect this guy to be part of the fight." She remarked, sighing at the fact that her target had switched from the Lurker to the fisherman.

It didn't take long for the NPC in quest to come to, his grumblings growing louder, but no more coherent. Callie's lips pursed at the movement beneath her grip as he tried to push himself up, and she quickly worked to lean her weight to keep him in place. Registering the resistance, and quickly deciding that it was an enemy to him, he continued on with even more rambling. "Th' beast! It's got me! All hands, man overboard!" He spat, and his legs began stretching out and flailing behind him. Callie scowled, giving one more glance towards Shield and the Lurker. The sight was still an unsettling one, but numbers alone showed that her party member was incredibly close to victory. Besides the initial dent in his health bar, their opponent had proved more of a nuisance and the battle was more one of attrition than a threat to their lives. And so, trusting that it wouldn't be long before either Shield's sword or his armor whittled the last of the Lurker's health down to zero, Callie shoved her palm against the man in her custody between his shoulderblades and picked herself up to her knee. She twisted her body, and promptly sat herself down on the fisherman's back to effectively pin him against the dock. The toes of his boots beat and his palms slapped against the wood in protest, but he either didn't seem able or didn't know how to free himself from his position. "Save yerselves, lads! It's all over! We're headed to a watery grave, at last!" He still managed to bellow and shriek beneath her weight. Callie, meanwhile, gave a huff of exasperation as she extended her legs out in front of her, crossing one over the other at the ankle.

ID#: 102335 | BD: 2(+2)=4 - Miss!

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1249/1330 | EP: 124/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:1] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 13/20 | DMG: 9 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 150/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350]

[Shield 0]

Quote

Passive [+1 EN] Battle Healing [+66 HP] Recovery - Craft: 12 [+6 EN] Parry [Cooldown: 1/1 - Ready next turn!] Vengeful Riposte [Cooldown: 1/3]

[H:7] Shield - HP: 1249/1330 | EP: 124/124 | Dmg: 2 | Acc: 0 | Eva: -1 | Mit: 169 | BH: 66 | THN: 87 | REC: 6 | LD: 7
[H:1] Calypso - HP: 200/200 | EP: 13/20 | DMG: 9 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 1

<The Lurker> HP: 0/500 | MIT: 150 | ACC: 2 | EVA: -1 | DMG: 250 [9: 300,  10: 350]

 ID# 102338 results: MOB: 4 [+2+1=7 - Hit! 250-169=81 dmg, THN: 87 dmg]

Every once in a while, Shield would hear muffled sea banter over the straining of both himself and his slimy adversary. That told him enough to know that Calypso was at least still in the fight, if not in control of it. Regardless, he hopefully still had at least a little time. Exactly how much was a mystery to him still. Still, his footing was beginning to give out. He could feel the bottoms of his boots beginning to slip between the monstrous, slimy teeth. If that happened, he would go down and likely be swallowed. Though he doubted it would be game over for him, he neither wanted to find out that nor whether the programmers had designed in detail exactly what those innards would look like.

He had to take control of this before he lost what little he had left. "Fine," he grunted. "If my footing won't last, let's let something else give!" He released the tension of his arms, ducking his head down and forcing his thorned shoulder up into the soft roof of the fish's mouth. While the sword had done nothing, the thorns proved immediately a more valid strategy and more than enough to finish the job. With a shrill roar that echoed across the lake and surrounding hills, the animation for the fish seized up, and its body became engulfed in a bright light.

From the dock, Shield distinctly heard a familiar, grubby voice peal out over the dying din of combat. "Feeeeeeeeeeeeesh! It falls! Th' beast is givin' up the ghost, lads!" Beneath Calypso, the sailor began thrashing with renewed fervor, the occasional limb coming dangerously close to gouging out a golden eyeball. "A finer batch o' sail'rs this ol' salt has narry a-seen in all'n his years o' sailin'!" Shield sighed, content that despite his immeasurably pointless contributions, they would not have to deal with him much longer.

"Thank god."

With that, the Lurker's form gave way, shattering like glass and sending shards of light, and Shield, down into the water below.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Shield

[Calypso 0]

Callie had to lean a bit, or at least crane her neck, away from the sailor's limbs as they wriggled and waved through the air. Eventually, she managed to grasp hold of the cuff of his slippery yellow sleeve in both hands in order to hold his wrist closest to her in place against the dock. And though he continued to struggle and squirm and spout, she was glad to have finally subdued the crazed quest-giver. Her methods wouldn't prove useful for as long as she would have liked, however, for when she looked back up to the end of the pier as the shattering light caught her attention, the fact that something besides the Lurker was missing from the impromptu battlefield caused her a sudden surge of concern. The dock was empty now, save for herself and the blundering NPC beneath her, and it wasn't until her eyes darted up to the corner of her vision and landed on the familiar name of Shield sitting beside a full health bar that her sense of panic became fleeting.

She picked herself up, subsequently freeing the NPC, and hurried to the edge of the dock. Dropping to a knee, she peered out over the edge to look over the murky waters and sure enough found Shield's avatar among them. A breath of relief slipped through her lips. They finally finished the quest, and everyone was all right. For the most part. "You alright?" She called.

The fisherman must have taken a few seconds to register that he was no longer restrained, as he didn't come clambering to the end of the pier quite as quickly. But he did indeed hobble over to them just as soon as he had. His fingers curled over the side of the wood as he threw himself close to the floor, setting his sights on Shield before drawing in a deep breath of air. "Man overboard!!" He bellowed, his voice carrying out over the otherwise still waters. He turned to Calypso, and she winced at the volume in which he barked orders that she couldn't understand directly beside her. They were given only a moment's peace as he scrambled away, disappearing from view while the sound of his rain boots pounding against the dock grew fainter the farther he ran. A short silence hang, and then without warning a red-and-white blur whizzed through the air where he had been standing. A lifebuoy landed in the water with a flat splash several feet away from the man, without so much as a rope attached to guide it.

[Shield 0]

Shield brought his head above water and took in clean air, or as clean as it could be when it was digital and didn't actually exist. He nodded to Calypso in response to her concern. "I'm alright," he half coughed, beginning to assess where the easiest approach to the dock would be. "I just gotta figure out how to get out of here. I'd rather not swim all the way to shore, but..." There wasn't a ladder near him. However, before he could complete his assessment, an unexpected red and white intrusion splashed down, sending grimy droplets to spray up into his face. He looked up blankly at the fisherman, who almost immediately seemed to have noticed the problem.

"Th' rope!" he howled. "It be gone! I reck'n the feeeesh had-a summut t' do wit' this!" He turned to Calypso, flailing his arms. "He be drownin'!" the crazed NPC cried out, oblivious to Shield's calm but incredulous look. "There be no time t' get the rope now! One-uh us gotta go in after 'im!" Without even pausing to reconsider his course of action, he rolled up the sleeves of his slicker.

He then promptly turned to Calypso, grabbed and lifter her off of her feet with his grubby hands, and tossed her head first into the lake, directly through the rescue float which was too narrow to fit past her elbows where it stuck and held fast.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Shield

[Calypso 0]

"Honestly, if you don't stop screeching I'll sit on you agai--" Before Callie could complete her threat with a roll of her eyes, she was silenced by the sudden feeling of the fisherman's hands grasping firmly at either of her arms. With no time to protest, react, or even brace herself, Callie hit the water with a messy splash. The sudden weight pushed the lifebuoy no more than a foot and a half underwater before it bobbed back up to the surface. The woman now stuck inside of it had managed to rotate and orient herself with a couple of kicks before it did, allowing her to breath again as she now floated in the open water nearby Shield. Her bangs, normally pushed to the side, now clung to her skin from her cheek to her nose in a few wet tendrils, threatening to obscure half of her vision as she glared back up at the fisherman still panicking atop the dock. "Call th' lifeboats! Call th' Coast Guard! Call th' Navy Seals!" He rambled on to no one in particular at this point, continuing to escalate the severity of the situation as Shield and Calypso were clearly drowning before his eyes.

"Hey! Wait!" Callie called as she watched the NPC turn his back to them and scuttle away again. Her head dropped an inch or so in defeat as her expression soured. If they were lucky, they were left to their own devices while the fisherman was simply scurrying off to retreat to his cabin. She could only hope.

With a small sigh, Callie worked to turn herself around with a small twist of her torso and another kick of her feet beneath the water. She had been wedged firmly enough against the sides of the buoy that now tightly hugged her arms that she knew she wasn't going to be able to free herself while she was still in the water. Facing herself towards the middle of the lake, she gave a couple of lazy kicks to carry herself closer to one of the dock's support beams as well as closer to Shield. "Look, I know I said swimming would be cool and all..." She recalled pieces of their earlier conversation in a dissatisfied mumble. Picking her voice back up to a regular volume, "If something starts gnawing on my leg, I will freak out." She warned, the thought having already begun to unsettle her as her eyes remained on the cloudy lake water.

[Shield 0]

Shield had to fight to keep from laughing. There was nothing funny about being man-handled and thrown against one's will into a disgusting lake. Except maybe for all of it. He was left with his eyes entirely too wide and the lower half of his face screwed up with the effort of restraining the outburst. Even so, there were little restrained snorts escaping from his nostrils that he was having a very hard time controlling. With one of his hands, he helped tug Calypso along, focusing on the act of propelling them through the water in order to master the humor of the situation.

Without a proper ladder, Shield ended up having to help tug her all the way back to land, which he knew was a little further than he would want to have to swim with his arms pinned. Once properly ashore, he could employ both hands to assist her, tugging the ring up and off of her. "Well... at least the Lurker was already dead by the time that happened." He did not have a proper towel, but there were some swatches of cloth in his crafting materials. He summoned out a handful of the, handing one to Calypso. "It's not much, but it's something." He had to turn his head rather suddenly, clearing his throat to try to keep another outburst inside of him. Between the grimy water and the bits of algae that clung to her hair, the usually very composed woman looked much more akin to a drowned rat than he would have ever imagined possible, though he would never say so to her.

[Calypso 0]

It was a long and embarrassing swim, with Callie unable to do much more than kick through the dull waters while Shield helped them move in the right direction towards the shore. When the pair were finally back on land and she had full access to all of her limbs again, Callie sighed. "Thanks." She offered in a small voice for his help, pulling her drenched hair over her shoulder and leaning to one side as she went to squeeze the excess moisture from it. Moving to try and do the same with whatever pieces of her clothing had enough fabric that she could wring them out--which was hardly anything--she perked up from her task when Shield offered her a bit of cloth. "Oh, thank you," She repeated. Her free hand pushed the hair that clung to her face up and to the side, slicking it back while it was still coated with dirty lake water. She used the dry cloth to wipe the grimy moisture from her cheeks, nose, and forehead. When her eyes opened again and landed on Shield's face, she caught it. The slight and sudden contortion of his facial features before his head swiveled to one side.

She was finally catching on to how amused Shield was by the situation. She felt embarrassed, and outside of her comfort zone, and she didn't know how to react. Her now-dry cheeks flushed a bit without her permission and she followed suit in looking away from the man across from her. "Ehm, well. Shall we go pay that fisherman one last visit to finally finish this quest?" She forced the words out in her flustered state.

[Shield 0]

Shield nodded, not drawing further attention to her embarrassment. "This is going to be lot of fun, I'm sure. I have no idea whether his life goal being accomplished will make him more or less wild." He led the way, trudging up the shore in his still sodden state. His legs were heavy with liquid that had absorbed into his clothing, but it couldn't be helped. The shack was as eerily quiet as ever from the outside, but Shield did not let the perceived tranquility of the place.

He turned to Calypso and gave a nod, letting her know he was about to knock. He held out his hand to do so, but the door was immediately wrenched open, and something cold and slimy wrapped itself around his wrist. Before he was aware of what was happening, he was yanked inside of the shack and engulfed in the slimy-slickered embrace of a mirthful mariner. "Yeh've done it, me harty!" choked the old salt, his face streaming with tears as he blubbered his thanks and congratulations. "Th' bane o' me life be dead n' gone, n' I gots nobody but yee to thank fer it!" Shield leaned his head as far back as possible as the stocky fisherman wiped his tear-smeared face all over Shield's collar.

With his little moment of amusement at Callie's moment of being less than composed, he dare not look over to see how she was enjoying his current situation. Either way, he was sure he had earned it.

Edited July 9, 2018 by Shield

[Calypso 0]

Though she would have preferred never to see the salty old man's face for the rest of her life in Aincrad, this last visit was both unavoidable and gave her somewhere to direct their attention that was away from how soaked and disgusting they had both ended up. As they approached the quiet cabin, and without meaning to, Callie kept herself behind and to Shield's right, gladly letting him take the lead when it came to initiating conversation with the crazed NPC. She could only wonder about what kind of reaction they might get for a second or two. Would he gasp and holler about how they were ghosts of the sea, spirits come back to haunt him as they had surely died out on the lake? Or maybe after retreating to the cabin he'd have some sort of minor reset, and go back to his general unsettling behavior while they got through whatever painful and smelly dialogue he offered them to finish the quest.

The latter scenario ended up being the most accurate, and Callie gave a short start when Shield was sucked into the old shack's interior, her left hand moving to hold the door while she watched the fisherman's loud and messy display of gratitude. Her free hand picked up to hide her mouth, which was trying not to twist in too obvious an amused smile while she could see just how well Shield took to the NPC's affectionate thanks. She had to hold in a chuckle, giving her own throat a quick clear. She took half a step to the side, practically hiding half of herself behind the door that stood ajar in fear that she'd be attracting too much unwanted attention to herself by speaking up. "Ahh, right, so... Now that it's dead, we'll be on our way?" She eyed the fisherman carefully as he transferred the last of his salty tears from his cheeks to Shield's still-damp clothing.

[Shield 0]

The fisherman's attention snapped onto the new voice, and with a speed that seemed impossible for such a stout creature, he was already at the door and pulling Calypso into a one-armed embrace as well. With Shield in one arm and Callie in the other, he let out a whale of a wail and his tears were redoubled. Shield's cheek was mashed into Calypso's, causing him to let ouy a grunt of surprise and discomfort. "And t' think I be callin' ye a mutineer an' a trait'r!" The fisherman's guilt washed over him  and the tears started anew. he shook both of the pinned players from side to side as he swung his body to and fro in exuberant emotional display. "It be puttin' this ol' sail'r to shame fer sure!" His tears overwhelmed his eyes and nose, the latter of which he promptly blew right into Calypso's shoulder.

With that, he released them, snatching his fishing poles from their hands and replacing them with a single shining scale that had been pierced with masterful precision and made into a pendant on a clearly hand made silver chain of immeasurable craftsmanship placed into Calypso's unprepared hand. "Take it wit' ye, an' kno' tha' ye go wit' the thanks o' one gratef'l sail'r!" With that, both players were out on the ground outside of the cabin on their behinds, the door slammed in their face and all manner of pond scum and other contaminants from the fisherman now seeping into every pore of their being.

Slowly, Shield turned to Calypso. "You need a drink?"

[Calypso 0]

Callie blinked, struggling to process. As she feared, the sailor had latched onto her presence once it was announced, and before she even had time to breathe her sense of personal space had been ripped from her for longer than she would have liked. She struggled just slightly against his unwelcome hold, but just as he took her aback by lifting her up off the dock just a short while ago, the NPC held her in place with a startling strength, squeezing her arms against her sides.

Everything else happened just as fast, which was much too fast. She felt something being more shoved than placed in her palm, her balance taken from her yet again as they were shoved out the door, and finally the slamming sound that followed caused her to wince. Sitting on the ground outside of the fisherman's cabin aside Shield, Callie brought her hand up in front of her and stared at the item she'd been given for a few long seconds. All things considered, it was a beautiful item--the single, shimmering fish scale serving as a token to remember their 'adventure' by, if nothing else. In the silence that hung, she moved to store the pendant away in her inventory before Shield's voice filled the air. She looked over to meet his gaze, responding slowly at first with the sense of bewilderment that stuck to her, and relaxing slightly as the idea of a change in scenery and unwinding sounded more and more appealing.

"Yeah... Yeah, that sounds alright."

Thread Complete!

• Calypso: +6 SP, +4,100 col, +<<Gleaming Fish Scale>> [T2 Trinket] [+1 LD, +2 Prosperity]
• Shield: +6 SP, +4,100 col