[F06-SP] fragile <<DHA:6>>

[NIGHT 0]

so beast and man together waited for the quest initiators to clean themselves up. night trudged up first, in a basic shirt and pants, whilst voscira wore the same look she’d given the player at the use of the word ‘we’; the player wasn’t going to address that error again, however. they were much more occupied with the resting dragon trying to conserve her strength.

and izzalth chose not to move this time, instead responding to their approach with the opening of her eyes.

“ah. dragon hunter. you’ve made it here after all.”

and night folded her arms, having not expected the quest to have acknowledged her past deeds, nor voscira’s surprise at her insanity’s truths. “and there’s someone i had to slay on this floor too, right?”

“as much as i hate to agree… but for the safety of my child who should be escorted back in your travels later, perhaps it is for the best.”

[NIGHT 0]

night played with her fringe, feeling the water from earlier causing it to hug her skin. she hummed, in thought, just as day returned to her side cloakless, with a new attire of turtleneck and jeans on. voscira was made to decipher the answers for herself, instead.

“...child? so there are other dragons on this floor, much like yourself?”

“indeed.” izzalth but chuffed as a sigh. “my daughter, cyness. she’s presently at the waterfall of the sage for a pilgrimage, for safety and blessings. i suppose she only wanted to do so for my own sake, in fear of my health.”

“but there is much more to account for than just me.”

izzalth turned her head to rest her jaw on a slightly elevated rock, facing the stream. “there is nethag present, as well. i fear for cyness’ wellbeing, because of him. he wanders, stalks his prey, without mercy and care for those he hunts.”

[NIGHT 0]

voscira shoots a glare at night as izzalth speaks, recoiling enough to be held by day, who does so with a sly smile.

“though i am not accustomed to your ways, amazonian – there must have been some hunts with drastic outcomes, were there not? a party or two of eight to ten strong, only returning with half of the size, or with multiple grim injuries on survivors…”

instantly, the hunter knows what is being commented on. “the veningale? surely not. i figured it was always a force of nature, a turn of fate rather than a mythical beast… such as yourself.”

izzalth speaks after taking a sip to quench her thirst. “aye, and not all dragons are as calm-natured as myself. nethag is one of the descendants who seek bloodshed for fun and entertainment; a worse position to be in, even considering those who seek it as a means to an end.”

[NIGHT 0]

so voscira had to sit with this information for a moment, just as night began to speak again. “nethag. what’s he like?”

“another of my kin, with a penchant for toxins and hiding in the shadows.” she paused to consider her own choice of abode. “much like myself. though i am not quite in a state to be terrorizing the lands that others so live on.”

i should hope not, day mouths, before looking to voscira.

“even if i were… it makes little sense to disrupt the ways of life for creatures less hearty than myself in my regular state.”

night gestured to izzlath with her thumb leading a fist. “your regular state. explain that?”

“a terminal affliction,” the dragon gravely mentions. when she rests her head, her cheek is turned towards the stone face. “the blight of the forest. there is an herb that one could find to cure of its deathly hold, but with nethag around and my youngling not of age to train in self-defense that could stand up against him…”

[NIGHT 0]

“... well. i too have been unable to move enough to find the flower myself. and if this other dragon were to descend upon us, i am hardly fit to defend my family right now.”

night contemplated the situation, somewhat seething. under her breath, she could only complain, tapping her foot, “well if you don’t trust of nethag running around, why exactly is your daughter allowed to make the pilgrimage in the first place…?”

her volume was instead overpowered by an eager pipe from voscira. “i’ll go,” she said, taking a step forward, weapon in hand and at the ready. “i’ll see to it that your daughter’s safe from her trip, too. there must be a way to address the threat safely. and if we know enough about the veningale – that it is a beast to hunt down – we can challenge it face on. we can stop it before he gets to hurt anybody else.”

[NIGHT 0]

the player simply cut in with a, “we?” – enough to shut the amazonian up, if only for the time being. it was enough time for izzlath to contemplate the plan, turning her head to face night.

“hunter, won’t you lend her your strength? surely, if you have slain a great many dragons in your time, the residents of this floor would stand a chance with your expertise on their side.”

so night rolled her eyes, arms folded.

“... yeah. sure, i will.”

she hadn’t exactly planned to gatekeep her services, anyway. but she simply didn’t want to hear voscira questioning the presence of her other – and she needed to earn day’s trust once again, after having broken the expected order of their plans for their excursion. the player figured it was working already, though her secondary seemed quiet at her appeals thus far.

perhaps it was nothing for night to worry about, after all. but she wasn’t going to take chances now.

[NIGHT 0]

“very well. if the two of you are able to work together, perhaps nethag may be stopped once and for all.” izzlath raised her head again, her eye on the stream. she addressed them with a side glance. “but do be careful. nethag is viscous, and he will show either of you no mercy.”

night was already beginning to look through her inventory just as izzlath took her water break. and voscira seemed a little impatient, picking up her spear as she started to walk off. the dragon caught her before she left, however. “the herb you might find – it’s called the emerald bulb flower. it always appears to be ready to bloom – but it needs not petals to show that it is blossoming. shaped like a gourd, it is tinted with blues upon its peak.”

the amazonian was to have a better memory than night, who was taking this down. “alright. i’ll keep an eye out. please rest up, err, izzlath.”

[NIGHT 0]

izzlath dipped her head as she retreated into her cavern. meanwhile, as voscira was taking her leave, night grabbed her wrist, just as rudely as she’d left. “wait.”

she was promptly acquainted with the tip of the hunter’s spear, the woman reeling backwards from the sudden show of force. “no,” voscira began, but was just as abruptly interrupted with a swift, painless kick to her hand – a disengagement maneuver from day. spear flown out of it, the weapon rolled on the ground beside her, and voscira had to wonder, just then, if there was an external force that was shifting her fates around. because night, too, was looking elsewhere instead of her supernaturally-adjusted blade.

so it was night’s initiative, instead. her wrist pulled forward, the player but handed her several square crystals, her head dipped alongside it. “here. if we’re going to be working together, hold onto these. you should activate them if you need a boost of energy in the fight against nethag.”

---

passing to voscira: imugi's inspiration (5) | TIERLESS CRYSTAL | MASS HP RECOVERY

[NIGHT 0]

voscira took the crystals, but inspected them, suspect. and then examined night, just as suspect, too. but, without retort, she stormed off to collect her fallen equipment, frustrated as she did. “you know, it’s not courteous of you to grab someone off the middle of town and start talking to them about things that are difficult to believe. at least be gentler when you’re talking to somebody else.”

night shared a glance with day, the latter cupping the side of her neck bruised from earlier. and the player sighed. “okay. yeah. i’m… sorry, about that.”

“you should be,” came voscira’s stoic response, before she examined the grove for potential exits. gesturing to the way they came from, she beckoned to night. “well, let’s go find a flower before cyness.”

*

they were off quick, using the outcrops by the side of the slope to guide their ascent. and though they’d taken the run from earlier leading up to izzlath’s territory, they’d sidetracked from that position, headed straight for the waterfall of the sage.

---

ID215349 | ld3+10 = 13 | no. :(

[NIGHT 0]

voscira seemed to be comfortable taking the lead up to the waterfall, so night let her, because she was uneasy the entire walk towards it. when night’s hand reached out for day’s, it was in search of comfort and certainty – that her doppel wouldn’t start their transformation or regression back into the past. all the gemini could do was keep her distracted through absurd jests.

“so,” day started, prompting the player to focus at the sound of her voice, instead of being cooped up inside her head. “why is it that you went with voscira earlier? i figured this was a fight you could handle all on your own.”

through shaky breaths and a lean closer to her other, night’s voice was hushed. “between how i’m doing on this floor so far, and the poison, i have my doubts. … even now, i feel like i should be keeping my blindfold on.”

her thumb traced over the back of day’s hand. the construct hummed.

---

ID215350 | ld2+10 = 12 | weh...

[NIGHT 0]

the quick bump back she’d gotten from her other was supposed to be reassuring.

“well, you shouldn’t have worried.”

day was trying to catch night’s gaze from being cast upon the ground. the more her hand was gripped onto the doppelganger’s, the more night wondered if she did seem like a lost puppy. “i’ve got your back, remember? i can take care of this. and you. you should be believing in my capabilities more, night.”

night hated feeling like this, but the circumstances were honest and true. still, the play of her hand upon her companion’s was in frustration – not at her other’s words, but because she hadn’t exactly trusted cardinal above her own aid. “you’re still tied to me,” night quietly replied, sights falling to the floor. “and i’m still human.”

there was stillness thereafter, as day tried to find it in herself to protest, but couldn’t. crestfallen, the duo only stopped once voscira raised a hand to stop them, and turn to the side, eyes to a strange looking plant.

---

ID215351 | ld16+10 = 26 | oh yay! herb :)

[NIGHT 0]

voscira kneeled, fishing out a knife. meanwhile, night hadn’t moved, simply speaking under her breath. “it’s the flower we’re looking for.” part of it was an attempt at focusing on the present, but mindfulness had never really been her strongest suit.

and the hunter turned her head to face the player, as she made the fateful cut. “yes, it is. no thanks to you, by the way. it’s been me walking you around and finding the herb.” as she stood up, she tucked the flower away in a side satchel. “that, and you keep talking under your breath about something else.”

night wasn’t sure how to answer that accusation. she’d already been labeled ill once. it wasn’t a legitimate assessment – it just simply made little sense as to why quest npcs weren’t going to acknowledge day without a reason – and bringing up the availability of a figure they couldn’t perceive would likely ring further alarm bells, too.

[NIGHT 0]

so night looked to day, thumb still shifting on the back of her hand. and the construct bowed forward, slightly, returning the grip stronger. as faint as the rustling of brush they were surrounded by, when grazed by a weak breeze, she spoke in a hushed voice with a small smile. “do you trust me?”

the player only needed to nod, before feeling the bump of day’s shoulder behind her own. “then forget this for the time being. take the lead – leave the rest to me.”

their held hands were squeezed tight. then, night stepped forward with the shake of her head, trying to present herself better to voscira. her entity was still right behind her – she could tell from their gaze. instead, at her approach, the hunter merely seemed perturbed, folding her arms after having examined their surroundings. “there aren’t any more emerald bulb flowers nearby, just in case she needed more of them.”

[NIGHT 0]

“one should be enough,” night replied definitively, eying the quest log pulled open with two fingers.

voscira looked like she’d wanted to say more, sighing, thoughtful, before starting to walk ahead. “let’s go pick up cyness, then.”

“let’s.”

and night wanted to follow, but couldn’t help looking at her map and their positioning. voscira was beginning to wander far as the player put two and two together, outlining a shortcut near diagonal rather than the L-shaped path their guide was going to take. so she stopped the party with a raised hand, and a hesitant, “wait.”

this cue, the amazonian seemed to take much better. voscira paused, placing both hands on her hips as she turned to look. night couldn’t read her expression with her figure against the light – but the lack of retaliation had to count for something.

“do you want to take a faster route? … it’ll likely have predators as obstacles, however.”

[NIGHT 0]

“so long as it’s not nethag,” voscira had said, “i can handle the threat on my own. let’s go.”

they did, cutting through the foliage with several strikes of night’s blade. day had her own similar means, like an apparition in the way she followed them. they eventually came into a passing stretch – a river bank, where several monitor lizards were basking under the sunlight. and they eyed the party carefully, with toothy grins.

just as night was about to make a comment on having stumbled upon these creatures rather than the tree snakes she was expecting, voscira made a run for it towards them, spear brandished, hunter ready for a fight. that was fine – but night wasn’t, and it seemed as though day hadn’t been expecting the lunge into danger from cardinal’s pawns directly.

“a number of lizards is nothing to be frightened about. i’ll clear the path!”

the player chased after her, hand outstretched. “wait, you don’t even know which way we’re going yet?!”

Spoiler

"> POST ACTION: AOE-I

ID215533 | BD2+6 = 8 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #1
ID215534 | BD2+6 = 8 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #2
ID215535 | BD8+6 = 14 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #3
ID215536 | BD8+6 = 14 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #4

26 * 15 = 390 DMG
15+8-2-1 = 20 EN

vs Monitor Lizard #1 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #2 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #3 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #4 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192

NIGHT | HP: 1296/1296 | EN: 126/146 | DMG: 26 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 65 | BH+HB: 128 | LD: 10 | PROSP: 5 | QTY: 2 | AA | FS | DOTE: 3 | DoT: -18"

 

[NIGHT 0]

it was a little too late of a call out, but nonetheless, both outsiders went after the hunter in a hapless pursuit to keep her in check. if they weren’t careful, she would get injured beyond the means of the quest, and they would have to try it again with an awful memory. or, their advantage could quickly be erased if voscira messed up somewhere. and the only construct they both knew of not to make a mistake was day.

so the latter started routing a path to the waterfall, bounding along and weakening the lizards up ahead. meanwhile, night darted towards voscira to tug her away from charging into the fight recklessly, and at the very least, point out which direction they were to head towards. which was rough – without markers as landmarks for herself, she’d have to keep a constant eye on day, and so too did voscira not see her.

Spoiler

"> POST ACTION: AOE-I

ID215537 | BD10+6 = 16 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #5
ID215538 | BD7+6 = 13 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #6
ID215539 | BD9+6 = 15 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #7
ID215540 | BD10+6 = 16 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #8

26 * 15 = 390 DMG
15+8-2-1-4 = 16 EN

vs Monitor Lizard #5 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #6 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #7 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #8 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192

NIGHT | HP: 1296/1296 | EN: 110/146 | DMG: 26 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 65 | BH+HB: 128 | LD: 10 | PROSP: 5 | QTY: 2 | AA | FS | DOTE: 3 | DoT: -18"

 

[NIGHT 0]

night did the next best thing – stealing the amazonian’s kills.

“-- hey!!”

she hadn’t expected it to work; in truth, the most important part of the plan was making sure voscira was unharmed, at least until they got to fighting nethag. but the added bonus of being chased again by drawing voscira’s ire was beneficial to their wade through the lizards. through snapping bites underfoot, the player got to work culling the entities bit by bit, though each swing was exaggerated to night’s distaste with getting close to nature. similarly, voscira’s own jabs were getting wilder by the strike, trying to compare with the player ahead of her.

the numbers, however, didn’t add up in the amazonian’s favour.

each reptile was only able to let out a dissipating hiss as they vanished from scope. and the disruption to the entire (family? clan?) present meant the wanderers were to be attacked by a swarm, just the same as before.

Spoiler

"> POST ACTION: AOE-I

ID215541 | BD3+6 = 9 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #9
ID215542 | BD2+6 = 8 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #10
ID215543 | BD1+6 = 7 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #11
ID215544 | BD5+6 = 11 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #12

26 * 15 = 390 DMG
15+8-2-1-4 = 16 EN

vs Monitor Lizard #9 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #10 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #11 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #12 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192

NIGHT | HP: 1296/1296 | EN: 94/146 | DMG: 26 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 65 | BH+HB: 128 | LD: 10 | PROSP: 5 | QTY: 2 | AA | FS | DOTE: 3 | DoT: -18"

 

[NIGHT 0]

and night wondered if voscira had expected things to follow suit prior, getting caught up in the chase of lizards as the player signaled day’s direction. it wouldn’t be difficult to catch the blonde in midst of the green and chaos, would it?

“this way!”

if voscira had shouted back an affirmative, night didn’t hear it. instead, all she heard was a choir of shrills and growls, and for a moment, the player imagined nethag behind them – the squad of monitor lizards definitely sounded ferocious enough. getting her kicks wet wasn’t exactly her most favourite thing in the world – and it would definitely slow her down through the water – so where she believed she could skip the slipperiness of the banks, she was jumping from dry rock to dry rock, despite how little of them there were present.

it was no surprise then that she accidentally slammed her feet into a resting monitor lizard, too, by way of its colors blending into the environment.

Spoiler

"> POST ACTION: AOE-I

ID215545 | BD2+6 = 8 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #13
ID215546 | BD6+6 = 12 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #14
ID215547 | BD1+6 = 7 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #15
ID215548 | BD7+6 = 13 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #16

26 * 15 = 390 DMG
15+8-2-4 = 17 EN

vs Monitor Lizard #13 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #14 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #15 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #16 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192

NIGHT | HP: 1296/1296 | EN: 77/146 | DMG: 26 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 65 | BH+HB: 128 | LD: 10 | PROSP: 5 | QTY: 2 | AA | FS | DOTE: 3 | DoT: -18"

 

[NIGHT 0]

and though she’d slipped, nearly falling into the water, the wave of lizards coming for her meant that she was able to jump onto a solid horde instead, before skipping her way out of the chaos, dangerously so. it was in poor taste to gather so many creatures up in their rush towards somewhere, trying to be discreet – but what could night do, having seen voscira charge head first into the fray?

night last saw day at eye level, believing her hair to be her identifier, after noting her lack of cloak from the soak earlier. but a scan through the environment told her she wasn’t present as expected. only after a decent amount of time stalled at a clearing, trying to bat the might-be-dragons away did she catch the hurtling golden spark through the treetops – alongside the familiar blue cut across the exposed barks overhead. a more difficult method of tracking, but a method nonetheless.

Spoiler

"> POST ACTION: AOE-I

ID215549 | BD5+6 = 11 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #17
ID215550 | BD9+6 = 15 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #18
ID215551 | BD8+6 = 14 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #19
ID215552 | BD10+6 = 16 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #20

26 * 15 = 390 DMG
15+8-2-4 = 17 EN

vs Monitor Lizard #17 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #18 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #19 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #20 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192

NIGHT | HP: 1296/1296 | EN: 60/146 | DMG: 26 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 65 | BH+HB: 128 | LD: 10 | PROSP: 5 | QTY: 2 | AA | FS | DOTE: 3 | DoT: -18"

 

[NIGHT 0]

to the busied voscira, night hollered for her attention again. “we’re getting close now!” she was able to add, after reviewing their positioning on the map in a quick gesture. so too was their pursuitants thinning, and their true lead’s tracks easier to read when the crowd was less busy to deal with, so they cut through the moat sectioning off a different part of the jungle and dove back into the foliage to lose the uninspired stragglers, running towards their waypoint where visibility was much better for following directions.

it was only after they’d broken into the canopy shelter that voscira stilled, wide-eyed, patting the side of her clothes to verify the satchel with their herbs was still present. it wasn’t.

“hunter, i have to go back.”

“what?!”

when night turned around, she realized she didn’t have a say in the matter – voscira was already leaving them behind, spear at the ready as the monitor lizards turned their back on them, starting to head home.

Spoiler

"> POST ACTION: AOE-I

ID215553 | BD8+6 = 14 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #21
ID215554 | BD2+6 = 8 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #22
ID215555 | BD6+6 = 12 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #23
ID215556 | BD5+6 = 11 | -> vs Monitor Lizard #24

26 * 15 = 390 DMG
15+8-2-4 = 17 EN

vs Monitor Lizard #21 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #22 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #23 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192
vs Monitor Lizard #24 | HP: 0/390 | DMG: 192

NIGHT | HP: 1296/1296 | EN: 43/146 | DMG: 26 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 65 | BH+HB: 128 | LD: 10 | PROSP: 5 | QTY: 2 | AA | FS | DOTE: 3 | DoT: -18"