Mintaka had almost not heard the call from Loreley, as she had been trapped in the bottles around her. She had almost felt lost before she found the group battling the enemies. She could not find her husband right away but she found the young senshi, surprised to see her there.
"Loreley." She came over, brushing a hand over the young girl's head before looking up at the enemy. The cracked skin was a sure tell sign that she was coming to a conclusion and they were not.
"I don't know how much I can help either...." She felt weakened after the woman's attack, but Mintaka wasn't one to give up, looking at the group that was with them. She only recognized Loreley, so red eyes drew over her. "Stick close to me."
Once the water had gone down again it seemed like things would settle back into the battle they'd been locked into before the bottles had shattered, but that was when Genbu noticed he didn't see Seiryuu flitting around anymore. "Seiry?" He turned in place, cursing his short stature for the limited field of view it provided. He couldn't see around...
That was a body. Not just any body, but a very familiar one with a green and gold fuku and silvery hair. "Sei...Seiryuu!"
He scrambled over to her, mind flashing back to the point where the cemetery bottle had been smashed, and panic settling into the pit of his stomach. "It's not real." She was going to turn to dust, and then she'd be back. That's how it worked here. Why wasn't she turning to dust?? "Seiry!"
He wasn't paying attention to where he was stepping, didn't even notice when he brushed up against a bottle, and only realized it when he was surrounded by the swirl of mist. When it cleared, the body of his...her friend was a lot smaller, and when Genbu reached for it her hands were scaled claws. "Jesus, now what?" She was mammoth, corded with muscle, and her head felt heavy.
Everything was so ******** up.
Eyes hot, heart hurting, the now dino Genbu turned towards the glass b***h that was keeping them here and roared, thunderously. Body bent forward enough to rest the tips of her foreclaws against the ground.
And then she was offer, charging their target with complete abandon. Kicking up an attack potion on the way.
The hair had to go. Really it did. Even as (he) tried to launch another potential attack at the glass lady did Meissa find (himself) tripping over the length of hair that had grown from (his) head. This resulted in once more landing flat on (his) rump by accident.
DMG Total: 57
Inventory: 1 Health Potion (restores 10 HP) 1 Attack Potion (does 50 HP Damage) 1 Super Health Potion (obtained from 'scavenging') 1 Attack Potion (( does 50 HP damage))(from Malaise) 2 Super Health Potions (restores 25hp) (last post and this post)
1: The Bottle Sea: You're struck by a torrent of salt water---which, you know, hurts, but also doesn't mix well with any lacerations you might have
The fact that Encke kissed him was not surprising, nor unwelcome, but at the same time Basiluzzo felt himself compelled to break the kiss after a moment much too brief. "We're in the middle of something," he gently chided, glancing warily at what they were up against and trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.
That being said, Basiluzzo had leaned into the kiss, and he wasn't exactly hurrying to back away now that he'd broken it.
Pay no attention to the flush of colour on his cheeks.
"Maybe later though, once we get out of this, mm?"
Everyone's attacks were starting to add up, he was pretty sure. She was cracking, literally, and oh now there were those bottles again. Basiluzzo parted from Encke enough to retrieve the glaive from where it'd fallen, already looking to see if it'd be possible for him to get in there and do some more damage. He hadn't liked the bottles much the first time, and he was pretty sure he wouldn't like them this time, either. And when the wave of salt water slammed into him and he felt the salt in each and every one of the cuts that he'd sustained from the glass, words that were not kind left his lips again. It took his breath away and knocked him down.
He lost track of Encke in all the water.
Instead, he felt himself buffeted and scraped against the ground, felt the pain of the salt in all of those cuts, realized he had not nearly enough air to last him, and began to struggle.
The struggle ate his air and made it worse, and Basiluzzo realised then that he'd stopped feeling the scrapes behind the buzzing in his ears and extremities that told him he didn't have enough oxygen. He had been starting to feel tired as it was, and this... was worse.
A lot worse.
Bad enough that it took everything he had to remember, as the last of his strength drained out of him under the water, that he had bottles of his own. He scrambled for them as his vision blurred and darkened and he was pretty sure the difficulty breathing had nothing to do with the water, now, and more everything to do with fighting the pressure to just... not. Not breathe, not struggle. The water had been cold at first, but he didn't feel it now. It wasn't warm, but it was... comfortable.
Very comfortable.
Too comfortable.
He didn't check which ones he grabbed with which hand, and maybe if his mind was not a foggy or fuzzy with the gentle invitation to--
No. Both were open, the bottles he had in each hand. One of them, he slammed back, drinking it down without regard for its contents, while he staggered to one knee--when had he ended up on the ground?--and threw the other bottle as hard as he could against their adversary. It shattered with an impressive burst that was visible even through his entirely-too-heavy eyelids. At the same time, the liquid running down his throat offered a warmth that was far more comfortable than the nothing that had been patiently waiting for him to stop fighting it. The warmth beat back that spectre, and Basiluzzo was, after a moment, able to lurch to his feet.
He didn't feel anywhere near one hundred percent, but he felt... better. Better considering how much he refused to entertain the whispers around the edge of his mind that told him how close he'd just come to going down and staying there.
Encke! Adrenaline slammed through his system as he whirled to find him, enough adrenaline that he stopped feeling the salt in the injuries still left on his body. Where was Encke?!
SALTWATER OR BUST holy crap the dice listened to me "You're right, Eurydike, I don't want to know what you do with that mouth---"
Still was cut short as the creature unleashed another devastating around of attacks, and she hissed as she was struck by a stream of saltwater. Right into the cuts she did get too. She wasn't sure they'd be able to take more of this---
The corrupt assessed the motley crew that assembled. Eurydike, Nembus (who looked like a rather agitated peacock, before she stormed off), the menshi (now mammoth?) and---oh. Oh no. Still's eyes widened as one of the girls Eurydike had teamed up with fell. With no hesitation she closed the distance between herself and Seiryuu, pulling out the single HP potion she received from completing the Bottle Sea trial.
She used it on the girl, pulling her up into her arms so that she was propped up as comfortable as she could be against the corrupt.
Encke felt Basiluzzo return the kiss initially and moved to wrap his fingers up in Basiluzzo's hair, definitely completely and utterly distracted by the sensation of the other leaning into him, not resisting him--
But then he pulled back and gave what was probably an obvious chide.
Encke pulled back, though not away, and took a moment to observe their surroundings. Right. There was still a battle, whether his Basiluzzo looked entirely like something he wanted to get very close to or not. Not that he didn't want to get close to him normally. Oh, he did. He definitely did. But there was something to be said about taking advantage of fortuitous situations. "Mm, that better be a promise--"
The sudden sound of shattering distracted Encke, and he turned his attention away from the strong but curvaceous figure of Basiluzzo for a moment to take a closer look at what was happening above them. A rain of bottles. More bottles. And glass.
Lots of glass.
Encke tried to dodge it, but it came at no prevail. He screamed for Basiluzzo to duck, if possible, but when he turned to find Basiluzzo, he saw Basiluzzo get hit with what looked like a stream of water--
And then nothing.
He saw nothing.
It was dark. He couldn't see anything. He couldn't feel anything. He couldn't hear anything. It was just him. He was alone. Where was his Arra-- Basiluzzo? Where was he? What had happened to his sight? What had happened to him? Where had he gone? Was Basiluzzo okay? Had he gone under the water? Had he drowned? Had Encke drowned? Had Encke died? Had Basiluzzo died? Why couldn't he see? Why couldn't he even see his hands? Why couldn't he find anyone? Why couldn't he reach anyone where was he was Basiluzzo okay was--
Encke was bodily shuddering by the time the brief shadows passed, even though they had felt like hours. Visibly shaken, Encke wrapped his arms tightly around himself, attempting to fight back the chills and the physical cold he felt throughout his body. He was cold. He was alone. Where was Basiluzzo? Where was--
Encke saw a bottle fly through the air and followed its source, letting out a shaky sigh of relief.
Basi.
"Basi!" Encke jogged over, trying to ignore the fact that his teeth were chattering. For good measure, he followed his love's lead, fishing one of the attack potions out of his belt and chucking it. "<********> this place."
He just wanted to go home and eat s'mores. And other things. Not this.
Amasis
DMG: 50 Encke DMG Total: 54
HP: 20/55
note to self: 1d12 + 2 dmg
Inventory Attack Potion - 50 DMG Attack Potion - 50 DMG Super Potion - 25 HP
They were starting to win... or at least Etoile thought there were starting to win. Well, it looked like everyone's attacks were starting to have some effect, judging by the cracks starting to appear on the bottle lady. But then there were bottles again- the bottles she had seen people go into to do the trials- and then more of the bottles were breaking, which sent more shards falling down.
A sudden surge of salt water nearly swept Etoile off her feet, as even a fifteen foot tall Mauvian wasn't able to withstand such a thing, the salt stinging against the cuts she had already received from the shattered glass from before. She somehow managed to stand her ground, though, even if it was just barely, and looked around to see if maybe Bernard and Lepus were here and alright as well. --
More goodies were also raining down, though, so Etoile rushed to grab another one. It was another attack potion, which was great- one for her, one for Lepus. Spotting the chibi senshi in the distance, Etoile attempted to close the gap between them, so she could give her one of the potions--
-- Except before she could reach the chibi senshi, Etoile was hit with another of the strange effects of the bottle realm, and suddenly found herself shrinking. Rather than turn back into a normal-sized Mauvian, though, she was suddenly... a mermaid? A mercat? It was almost like the time she had turned into a human in that dream she had with the rats and the fairy queens, but she had a fish tail... and cat ears.
(She didn't even like fish.)
Seeing as she no longer had legs to walk on, Etoile realized reuniting with her bonded senshi wouldn't be an option. Although she had wanted to give one of her attack potions to Lepus, Etoile decided instead it was a better idea to toss it at the monster instead.
Sweetite Inventory: Attack potion (50 DMG to target)
HP: 25/35 (-20 auto damage/energy onslaught, +25 from Zircon's health potion)
Sweetite the Flamingo was seemingly very proud of herself for the damage she managed to do the the Big Bad (even if her wobbly, gangly form had to depend on a potion for assistance but that didn't matter). The giant pirate mancat praised her actions just as another large bird, one who could actually fly, swooped down and started threatening the cheerful pirate with talk of plucking out eyeballs and other nasty little ideas.
The voice was familiar, immediately bristling up feathers in a startled moment.
"General Zircon?!"
She was confused and thrilled at being rejoined with her superior, who quickly took to her fledgling and offered the girl a health potion, which the tired flamingo gratefully imbibed. Which was perfect timing, thankfully, as a whirlwind gushed from out of nowhere and swept the flamingo up within it.
Sweetite let out a giant, alarmed squawk at being picked up by the powerful breeze, feathers flapping as hard and as quickly as they could manage to keep herself suspended in the air, much like her General was doing in her bird form.
Alas, not all birds were meant to fly and Sweetite was certainly one of them. Tumbling down as gracelessly as she looked, the flamingo senshi came crashing down onto the ground, braying out a pitiful honk after finally landing on the ground with a heavy, feathery thud.
Sweetite Inventory: Health potion (+25 health to target) Attack potion (50 DMG to target)
HP: 25/35
Once again, bottles seemed to rain down from the sky and this time, Sweetite intentionally went after them, once she'd refound her footing on wobbly, thin bird legs. Hopping around, her open beak chased after the glass until she managed to snag what appeared to be a health potion and inadvertently drank another (because catching things with beaks was hard enough, okay).
A shudder and a shake later and pink feathers disappeared completely, bringing a sigh of relief to the self-conscious woman. Her view continued to grow smaller and smaller, however, wide eyes watching as the world around her grew massively larger.
It wasn't until she was a foot off from the ground that she started to shrink, little black paws scratching at the ground as she tried to figure out what on earth she'd been turned into now. A twitch of a small black nose and a wag of what appeared to be a very bushy tail had her sighing, both frustrated and relieved. At least she was a feline -- she could deal with that over being a bird any day.
It was a shame, though, that Sweetite had no mirror to glance at because she hadn't been turned into a cat at all. She'd been turned into a skunk, thanks to the random potion she'd drank.
Sweetite the Skunk Inventory: Health potion (+25 health to target) Attack potion (50 DMG to target)
HP: 20/35 (-5 auto damage for attacking)
Fast little paws scurried forward and she swiped with all of her might at the terrible Big Bad that had thrown them all into the situation. She didn't stay long, however, fearing the worst if she continued. She'd taken damage already from getting too close, so Sweetite determined she'd leave it to someone else to contend with finishing off the wicked evil.
Beady eyes saw the flash of red coat and the skunk scampered over to the somewhat familiar looking lieutenant that she'd seen before, the one who'd barked orders at her and the one that had refused to leave his grave. While Zircon was still up high in the sky, the least Sweetite could do would be to look for protection from the strapping young.... merman?
"You look like a regular fish out of water," she couldn't help but comment, small paws reaching out to try to investigate the scales of the young man's new tail. "At least I got claws."
Lacerta was enjoying being a giant lizard. The only issue at hand was watching where "he" placed his legs. A lizard of this size could easily squish someone. Reversing direction Lacerta whipped "his" tail at the glass bottle that the figure was sitting in and felt the glass ripple under the blow. Not good enough for the girl turned boy turned giant lizard. Maybe those attack potions would do better damage. Lacerta could use "his" tail to swat the potion towards the bottle and the figure resting inside. A forked tongue shot out tasting the air.
Inventory: 1 Health Potion (restores 10 HP) 2 Super Health Potion (restores 25 HP) 3 Attack Potion (does 50 HP Damage) 1 Mega Attack Potion (Does 100 hp damage)
More and more cracks started to appear on the bottle monster, which, to Lepus, could only mean they were getting closer to defeating her. The way she was trying to insist that they wouldn't be escaping, the way she summoned the trial bottles from before... all of these seemed to indicate that they were making progress, if not making the woman angry, if all else. Of course, the lack of respawns meant they would have to be careful, as some people had already fallen, but Lepus remained confident that they could win this.
Not that she had a plan or anything, beyond continuing to punch the bottle that housed their captor. Not that she ever had a solid plan in place, really.
Suddenly, the bottles burst, releasing malicious energy within. Lepus was struck by pitch blackness, unable to see anything around her at first, and the remaining chill left an ache that hurt about as much as the cuts she had received from the broken glass did.
Thankfully, the darkness didn't last long, but the chill continued to linger for just a bit longer.
[ Chibi Super Lepus ] HP: 45/45 (using newfound health potion to restore 25 hp)
Items were raining down from the sky again.
Previously, Lepus hadn't bothered to go after them before. She didn't think she needed them, since she was certain she could hold her own without them, but maybe it was a good idea to grab something now. Plus, there was a certain curiosity about some of the strange effects the bottles contained, after seeing what it did to other people.
(Maybe she'd get the power to grow super tall and summon demons. Or at least grow super tall so she could just stomp on any bad guys.)
Impulsively, Lepus made a grab at the first thing within reach, which turned out to be a health potion, which sounded like a good thing to use at the moment, all things considered. Ghosts were cool, zombies were also cool, but Lepus didn't think she wanted to become one at this point in time, so she uncorked the bottle and downed its contents without a second thought.
Of course, while she was doing that, she didn't notice the contents of another bottle spill onto her, and found herself with a completely unexpected result- she suddenly had a fish tail, a mermaid apparently.
