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Oliver had heard about the strange water golems since returning to the island. Mostly just repeated cautions from the other life division hunters who knew he often visited the beach, but today was the first time he would get a chance to seek one out.

He eyed the clouds overhead as he waited outside the labs for the trainee who would be accompanying him. It still felt weird to be put in charge of others. Deep down Oliver still felt like that timid crybaby who just wanted to play video games, even though over the years he had acquired skills, determination, and perhaps even a little bit of confidence.

Oliver looked up as the man approached. Rhys, yes, that tall guy was definitely his help for the day. There was something definitely unsettling about being assigned to watch over a trainee who looked like they could easily kick his butt in the training field... It didn't help that he was an emotional tuning fork, and easily picked up on the other man's unpleasant mood.

"O-Oliver Keeley," he stammered his introduction, already off to a shaky start. He scratched the bridge of his nose nervously, where a long scar cut through the freckles. "We'll be, uh, doing some testing. Have you done much work with the Life division?"

He shifted a narrow bag that was slung over his shoulder much like a quiver of arrows, and began walking down the path towards towns, and the beach.

Oliver smiled, his posture becoming less tense as he realized he didn't have to expect the worst case scenario here. It hadn't even occurred to him that this assignment was preferable to some other duties, rather than being counted among the bothersome tasks on the island.

He shifted the 'quiver' again so he could reach the items inside, and pulled out what looked like a short, blunted spear. Unlike most runic devices that were available, this one had the look of something assembled to be disassembled and reworked over and over again. Duct tape held some of the wires in place around lengths of black tubing, and unlabelled indicator lights sat in a dim resting state at one end.

"The techs wanted me to have a look at these," Oliver replied, handing the device to Rhys before pulling out a second. "Hopefully we'll be able to get some samples of those water golems in the process, if the collection spears do their job. I've been told they aren't exploding anymore, but they haven't had a solid field test yet..."

"It's not so bad, the only tech I've had actually explode on me was the coffee maker," Oliver said, his tone casual as though the hazards were a matter of course. Perhaps the rumours about the Life division were true, if an intermediate could speak so casually about explosions yet still startle at the firm touch of a hand on his shoulder. At least he didn't seem upset, just somewhat jumpy.

He hid the momentary discomposure with a stammered explanation of the patchwork device. "S-so these have a switch on the side here, you uh, have to be really careful once you've turned it on b-because the collection end will be active. It's got a sensor on the top, you just jam it into something, and it will collect a piece."

Oliver demonstrated, sliding the switch near the handle of the device, and then he bumped it firmly against the dirt and gravel underfoot. There was a pneumatic thump and a snap, and when he lifted the device it left a small circular depression where the material had been collected. He promptly flicked the safety back on.

"Everything gets collected in individually sealed vials, there's another switch at the bottom that opens the storage shaft." When Oliver flicked that switch, the bottom of the handle swung open and a tiny vial dropped into his waiting hand. It was full of gravel. He glanced up to see if Rhys was getting all the information, a hopeful expression in his pale eyes.

"The live ones are the problem, so that's what we've got to collect from," Oliver said with a nod. "We'll stick to smaller ones, and try not to get noticed if we see anything too big. If we end up in over our heads, you get to safety and get backup."

He motioned for Rhys to follow him, and began heading outside the walls and towards the beach. Already the smaller man was moving with a bit more confidence, slipping into a role he was more familiar with. "Each spear has six vials loaded, if it jams or does something unexpected you should take note of the situation so the techs can work on it, but staying safe is still your first priority. We'll try to grab a sample, and then destroy the golem."

Suddenly Oliver's weapon was in hand, a giant axe that looked to be built from the skull and bones of some ancient creature. It certainly made up for the freckled young man's lack of presence.

At Rhys' unexpected curse, Oliver froze in an instant and was immediately on guard as he scanned the area for danger. Nothing, just the two of them on the damp, misty path. Belatedly the Lifer realized it was probably his axe. Jökul rumbled a low laugh in his head.

"Ah, s-sorry," he said sheepishly, turning a bit pink in the cheeks before returning to the unfinished question. "D-don't worry about unjamming it, we'll just swap it out with another after the golem is put down. The techs can get more information from it that way." He shifted the bag on his shoulder with a meek smile, it still had a few more prototypes in there to work with.

They hadn't gotten much farther before the gentle rainy weather sounds were broken by a strange squelching noise nearby. Oliver paused once again, alert and focused as he scanned their misty surroundings, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

When the creature finally came into sight, emerging from the shrubs nearby, it didn't appear to notice the two hunters on the path. It very loosely resembled a slug of some kind, with a multitude of stalks on the front of it instead of a single pair of eyes. The source of the squelching became apparent as it began to cross the path. Instead of simply gliding in the way natural slugs moved, this one was 'walking', putting down new pseudopodia and inching forward onto them, and the squelch came each time a new foot took the golem's weight.

The moment those watery stalks swivelled in their direction, Oliver gestured at Rhys to follow and lunged towards the golem, the sample spear in one hand, axe in the other. With a soft whump the blunt end of the spear made contact with the slug thing and it's surface rippled as a sample was taken.


HP: 48/50
DMG: Sample Success! (4)
Charge: 0/3

Golem HP: 10/10

The water golem sloshed as it staggered from the two small strikes, sending more 'feet' down to the ground to stabilize itself. The eye stalks on top were joined by many more tendrils emerging from all over the creature, which lashed out at the hunters in a barrage of small strikes.

"So far so good," Oliver said under his breath, and then brought the large axe downwards in a one-handed sweep. To his surprise, the strange creature rapidly sloshed to one side, avoiding the axe strike entirely. Either it was faster than he anticipated, or Oliver was out of practice after months of catching creatures rather than fighting them.


HP: 46/50
DMG: 0
Charge: 0/3

Golem HP: 10/10