Masks 2

"You didn't give me a chance tae reply, ya yammerin' goat! How are ye still waitin?!" ZIP ZAP FWOOOOOOOOSH.

"I don't HAVE a better plan, I'm just pointin' it out! All I'm sayin' is, if I were her, I'd be lurin' us as far away from whatever precious power ring I've got that's keepin' this town goin'! Some sorta locus, aye?! I dinnae, it's a risk either way, I'm just POINTIN' OUT that if we die like this we're ALSO uppin' her brand recognition! By like, a lot!!! It's a concern, but I'm nae about tae fight about it, so keep yer horns on 'fore ye go rammin, ye auld nan!"

Maria expanded the air pocket, giving more room for the group to fight in! The group began moving towards the distant singing as the fishmen came in from every direction. They rapidly closed the distance in the bubble, engaging some people in melee as the others fired off ranged attacks from behind them.

Esen fired off her hookshot, impaling one of the fish before she began slicing them in half. Her hookshot was incredibly effective!

Nocturne drew his sword finally, fighting beside Jim as they slashed and hacked through fishmen. La Chat, similarly, sliced and weaved around the fishmen with her claws. The Demon fired off electricity into the fish as she hacked and slashed through them with her sword while Lady Light, hanging back due to her relative vulnerability, employed super strength and durability as she punched and threw back the fish.

Sam fired off his magnet musket, exploding fish with an expert four rounds per minute!

Theraea threw fishmen back with her telekinesis, barraging them with signs, trash cans, debris, and whatever else she could. Injury didn't seem to slow the Fishmen down for long, as their faith in their god rapidly put them back into the fight despite their injuries. The one or two she accidentally killed, however, were out of the fight for good.

Finn fired off her lightning and ice, killing a couple fishmen in the process!

Maria fired off her goddamn boomstick, putting down MORE fishmen as she exchanged banter with Finn.

Every time they killed a Fishman they reverted back into the corpse of a human, still marred by whatever wounds they'd inflicted on them. The last thing to change back was their eyes, with the darkness of the deep sea leaving them as their soul did.

Candy examined the song of the deep, seeing the soundwaves dancing along like a wrathful sea, before she attempted to mimic and replicate them. Channeling the Song of the Deep through her, her mind was suddenly filled with a searing pain. Sent to the floor and involuntarily screaming, her skull burned with fiery intensity beneath her bandana. She felt salty water enter her lungs as she felt the sensation of being beneath water, and then she heard an indescribable voice whispering into her brain. Gills began to grow along her neck, and her skin became clammy as she continued screaming. The burning on her head reached a final intensity before it finally ceased, and the voice abruptly went away. Her skin returned to normal as she fell to the ground, exhausted.

Nocturne, worried, sent La Chat to pull Candy to her feet as they moved along.

"Are you all right?!?" La Chat asked, her cool demeanor breaking immediately.

As this happened, the surge of Fishmen escalated, increasing in number all the while. They began to run into seaweed on the sea floor which grabbed at their legs and attempted to slow them down.

And on top of that, reinforcements began to come in: Smaller versions of the cathedral crab with entire cars for shells began lumbering towards them, and lampreys with heads that looked suspiciously like human hands began swimming through the water towards them before hitting the oxygen bubble. At this point they began crawling along the ground towards the heroes.

Ken uses his technopathy to tell the cars to pin down the minicrabs. Or shock them. Just stop the crab in anyway possible, please. There is FISH with HAND HEADS....

Ah, people collapsing as the team is working to move and, like, fight and stuff is very bad. Zil is quick to move her big, glowy hands to hover over Candy's form, brows knit with worry.

"I can- I can carry you if you need and we-" she looks up and around, then draws in a deep breath! Breathing fire here seems bad. Oxygen bubble, water all around...it's time to pull Tim off of her neck and plead with him, silently, to turn into some sorta cool glowing sword or...bow or something she can use. Anything she can swing at some of the douchebags making their way in.

"JIM, MOW THE LAWN!"

Sam tugs at the seaweed while frantically trying to line up his ceviche-making gauss shots for maximum targets hit.

He hoped Jim still remembered his lawn-mowing katana trick.

"Aaaa fuck! Fuck!"

Esen stops slashing and starts focusing on the car-crabs, trying to stab their fleshy insides through the car windows.

"Do we have a plan to get through these guys? They just keep coming!"

Cadence blinked blearily and let out a few coughs. Man. The worst headaches were nothing compared to THAT Stuff. She weakly put her hand in the air with a thumbs up.

“”Good news everyone...! I figured out what NOT to do, the more you know.” She let out another cough. “I’ll be okay, I just need some time to collect myself.” Cadence turned her head to Zil and nodded. “If it won’t slow you down, I wouldn’t mind a lift. Oh and maybe some Aleve.”

Nice. Zil doesn't have Aleve, but she is a huge strong alien. She'll just gently pick Cadence up and let her get comfortable on her shoulder or something. She can swing a sword with her other arm!

On the one hand, Theraea felt pretty bad about having killed some people, fish-cult-monster or otherwise. On one of the other hands, death wasn't even in the top ten worst fates that she could think of, and "eternal mind-slave to an eldritch god" was higher on the list, so... better to kill the ones they had to than to try for a nonviolent solution and get killed.

Theraea was certain that everyone else was as conflicted as her about this moral quandary!

As for the current situation, she had no idea what a lamprey with a hand for a head could even do, but it probably wasn't good. Fortunately, both lampreys and human hands were pretty lightweight, so Theraea took it upon herself to keep those things away. Maybe toss them into each other, or into cultists, or something to disrupt the endless hordes as much as possible.

Finn rushes forward, sword held aloft!! She's gonna stab the crawling creatures, tryin' her hardest not to think of them as civilians she's murdering so much as people who need to be spared an awful, awful fate. Having SUCCESSFULLY REPRESSED THAT GUILT and resolved to pick up a bottle of booze afterward to help cement that repression, she'll stab and swing and stab some more, and maybe try to do that weird thing with her sword again??? It seemed sorta effective, so perhaps this stumbled-upon spell interaction would be useful!

...

Maria wasn't a huge strong alien, but she did have an Aleve. She reached into her- BAM- her duffle. Sure it was filled with knives and guns and stuff, but it was still a mom bag. Snacks, basic medical supplies maybe, and pain relievers included. After a short- BAM- jangling, she pulled out a grimy unlabeled plastic bottle, and a bottle of water. "Just take one," She warned, shoving them into Cadence's hands and continuing her solution hunt. If she took one, she'd note that it was NOT an Aleve. Just some vaguely off-white compressed powder pill.

Yeah, Theraea wasn't too far from the truth, this really, really sucked. But they were in it now, and there would be time to cry for the dead when everyone else got saved. She tried to thrash the water around the edges of the bubble, to knock their harpoons astray and make it more difficult to just like, swim in.

"Uhh- if he can mow the lawn, we group up, focus down the path ahead, and haul ass? That's all I got, killing the city's not gonna cut it, gotta get to the root before everything has a chance to [i]really [/i]overwhelm us. We can't stop and fight this shit."

Cadence is comfy cozy on Zil right now and happily takes the questionable pill and downs it with water immediately. She hoped that was normal medicine!

“Thank you so much guys for helping me, sorry to slow you down during battle.” She says.

For right now she will watch Zils blind spots on her shoulder and stun any fish with normal Sonic energy if they get to close.

Cadence  began to froth at the mouth and slumped over on Zil’s shoulder-

Ken used his technopathy! Most of the cars had been disabled by the combination of water and being used as a crabshell, but he still managed to pin down a number of them! A few others got shocked, causing them immense pain.

Zil picked up Candy on her shoulder, then began chopping down fishmen with her other arm. Timilty enjoyed cleaving his way through enemies! Maria handed Candy some home-made asprin, which would in time handle the headsplitting headache she now suffered from! She even managed to stun a few fishmen, saving Zil from inconvenient injuries!

Esen, fighting like some demented chain-wielding maniac, began throwing her chains through carcrab windows. She killed a car crab this way, tearing out its insides (which looked disturbingly human) before unleashing a flurry of hookshot strikes on the attacking fishmen.

Jim, being prompted, began performing a moving breakdance along the floor slicing down the seaweed with his katana. Meanwhile, Sam used his musket on the bigger crabcars, blowing holes in their shells and killing them quickly.

Theraea began picking up as many hand lampreys as she could, throwing them back. They didn't attack the other cultists, and began swimming inward as soon as they were thrown away. Still, this slowed them down. One managed to slither up to Lady Light, flying up and attempting to latch itself onto her neck. Its circular mouth with many sharp teeth was visible on the palm of the hand, but it wasn't able to penetrate her skin. Crushing it in her hand, she threw it away and continued punching her way through enemies.

Finn, charging up her sword with lightning energy, began hacking and slashing her way through attacking fishmen. Many fell to her attacks, reverting back to their human forms with each death. The Demon fought beside her, slashing down fishmen with her sword as she occasionally blasted them with magic.

Maria's disruption of the barrier prevented the lampreys from swimming inside, and also stopped occasional harpoons!

Nocturne and La Chat continued cutting down fishmen as well, and Nocturne looked back as Maria spoke.

"Right, let's move!" he shouted, leading the way towards the singing with all due haste. As they went, giant pistol shrimp along the walls began firing down artillery with their snapping claws. Theraea and the Demon managed to deflect a number of these, and Lady Light even flew up to intercept one (using a lot of her energy in the process).

Up ahead, they could see the Rainwalk Botanical Gardens amidst the sea of coral and seaweed, its sign still lit up and visible. The coral had been shaped into antlers, or brains, or huge fingers, and the seaweed grew higher and higher as they went on.

The singing got louder as they approached it.

Sam shifted his attention to sniping pistol shrimp.

"WHY ARE THE CORAL TREES SHAPED LIKE FINGERS, THAT'S NOT EVEN VAGUELY FISHY"

He took a short moment to consider it as he reloaded the gauss musket, sliding in a musket ball and some iron dust.

"Actually, ya know, I guess some folks call 'em fish fingers," shoved the gel-tipped future ramrod down the barrel, "BUT ANTLERS? ANTLERS AIN'T FISHY!"

Finn watches in horror as this horrible redneck breakdances through seaweed while the rest of them commit dozens of warcrimes.

"I-- I think I hate Jim! Like... I mean, Demon, I've NE'ER really HATED anyone before in my life, but -- But I think I have tae kill Jim?!"

It can wait, though. For now, she examines her surroundings.

"...Creepy, ain't it?"

Hm.

Theraea tried and failed to comprehend what Jim was doing. Some things are unknowable, even to a Weaver.

Or maybe Jim was just an idiot.

"This would be kind of pretty if the whole situation wasn't just... horrible," Theraea said, looking around at the garden. She'd then turn her attention back to the artillery-shrimp - if Sam didn't shoot it dead before the next valley, she'd try to deflect its shells back into it. Or failing that, at least out of the way.

Ken tells his drone to buzz towards the garden and snip a coral sample for him to look at.

Ken, while trying to make the crabs less murderous with his gun, asks if people have any technology. Like anything with electronics.

Maria did not have anything other than the pager thing Emily Volts gave everyone. The next techiest thing she had was like, maybe a 20 year old gun.

Also? At least it was something they NEEDED right now, but god, fuck Jim.

Right, Maria was lookin... Well, not like much at all because of the whole helmet thing, but she was getting kinda tired. Water's heavy, and it takes a lot of attention to keep a space this big clear, centered, and repelling stuff. She didn't exactly have the mental capacity to snipe right now, which sucked, but what do you do?

If it looked like Jim wasn't gonna..... sigh.... cut it, she'd join him up front and start slashing sea weed so they could get where they were going a little faster. Otherwise, she was going to keep pushing forward with everyone else, keeping Jim clear so he could do his thing. And try not to get sick when a certain superhero got attacked.

Esen's breathing is fast and ragged after that fight. She stares at the coral garden and for a moment sways with the singing, then shakes her head clear.

"Yeah, it would be. Pretty. "

She looks back at the artillery shrimp and squeezes her eyes shut. Were they formerly human too? "I don't think I'm cut out for this," she mutters under her breath. Opening her eyes, she resolves to try and deflect shots out of the air with her tendril rather than attacking the shrimp. She's saving her will to fight horrible-beasts-that-might-be-made-of-people for the Siren.

Which seems to be coming up, she thinks.

Sam shifted his attention to sniping pistol shrimp.

"WHY ARE THE CORAL TREES SHAPED LIKE FINGERS, THAT'S NOT EVEN VAGUELY FISHY"

He took a short moment to consider it as he reloaded the gauss musket, sliding in a musket ball and some iron dust.

"Actually, ya know, I guess some folks call 'em fish fingers," shoved the gel-tipped future ramrod down the barrel, "BUT ANTLERS? ANTLERS AIN'T FISHY!"

Sam turned back and shot an artillery shrimp as he run and gunned!

"I don't think they care what's fishy, Sam!" replied Jim as he breakdance chopped his way with EXTREME speed through the seaweed.

Finn watches in horror as this horrible redneck breakdances through seaweed while the rest of them commit dozens of warcrimes.

"I-- I think I hate Jim! Like... I mean, Demon, I've NE'ER really HATED anyone before in my life, but -- But I think I have tae kill Jim?!"

It can wait, though. For now, she examines her surroundings.

"...Creepy, ain't it?"

"Definitely one of the creepier things I've seen," the Demon agreed, running along as she slashed and chopped. She threw out a burst of lightning into a group of fish, cutting through them with Finn as she went. "And that is the most idiotic way to cut anything I've ever seen in my life."

Hm.

Theraea tried and failed to comprehend what Jim was doing. Some things are unknowable, even to a Weaver.

Or maybe Jim was just an idiot.

"This would be kind of pretty if the whole situation wasn't just... horrible," Theraea said, looking around at the garden. She'd then turn her attention back to the artillery-shrimp - if Sam didn't shoot it dead before the next valley, she'd try to deflect its shells back into it. Or failing that, at least out of the way.

Theraea turned towards another artillery shrimp, launching its shells back to it. They didn't explode, but they sure seemed to annoy the damn thing.

Ken tells his drone to buzz towards the garden and snip a coral sample for him to look at.

Ken, while trying to make the crabs less murderous with his gun, asks if people have any technology. Like anything with electronics.

Ken's drone zoomed off, cutting off a sample and bringing it back to Ken! Unfortunately, the coral immediately began trying to spread onto Polybius, threatening to consume them! Polybius managed to get it off before returning to Ken.

Ken, meanwhile, fired on the crab cars with little effect. At least his technomancy was still disabling a lot of them.

Maria did not have anything other than the pager thing Emily Volts gave everyone. The next techiest thing she had was like, maybe a 20 year old gun.

Also? At least it was something they NEEDED right now, but god, fuck Jim.

Right, Maria was lookin... Well, not like much at all because of the whole helmet thing, but she was getting kinda tired. Water's heavy, and it takes a lot of attention to keep a space this big clear, centered, and repelling stuff. She didn't exactly have the mental capacity to snipe right now, which sucked, but what do you do?

If it looked like Jim wasn't gonna..... sigh.... cut it, she'd join him up front and start slashing sea weed so they could get where they were going a little faster. Otherwise, she was going to keep pushing forward with everyone else, keeping Jim clear so he could do his thing. And try not to get sick when a certain superhero got attacked.

Jim had it covered, fortunately! So Maria kept her focus on maintaining the oxygen bubble, and doing her best to repel the lampreys and harpoons. She was doing good work there, and only a few of each were still getting in.

Esen's breathing is fast and ragged after that fight. She stares at the coral garden and for a moment sways with the singing, then shakes her head clear.

"Yeah, it would be. Pretty. "

She looks back at the artillery shrimp and squeezes her eyes shut. Were they formerly human too? "I don't think I'm cut out for this," she mutters under her breath. Opening her eyes, she resolves to try and deflect shots out of the air with her tendril rather than attacking the shrimp. She's saving her will to fight horrible-beasts-that-might-be-made-of-people for the Siren.

Which seems to be coming up, she thinks.

And so the group rushed onward towards the entrance to the Botanical Gardens, heading through a vast expanse of seaweed and coral as they went. Jim was hacking through the seaweed as they went, keeping the path clear. On the path ahead towards the steps at the garden's entrance, they could see massive clamshells strewn about. They were singing along with the psionic singing coming from within the gardens, displaying large black pearls for all to see.

On the ground, the group could see a number of boneless, seemingly dead fishmen lying on the path ahead. The group was still being chased and harassed by the fishmen and lampreys, though the car crabs and artillery shrimp seem to have remained far behind them.

Beyond the clams and boneless fishmen, the group could see the garden entrance, and a giant set of steps beneath it. Beyond that? A huge temple-like structure, though the murky water made it unclear and hard to see.

"OH GODBLOB SOMETHIN' ATE THEIR BONES, THEY'RE ALL FLAT- unless..."

Horror dawned on Sam's face.

"THEY MIGHT BE JELLYFISH PEOPLE, LOOK OUT!"

... You know, despite how much stupid shit Sam was always saying, he was probably right. Maria would prep to like, disrupt their swimming if they started... blobbing toward them.... and simultaneously kinda hope the poor things were dead.......

Had to keep movin'.

Theraea prepared to telekinetically defend the team against whatever horrors might pop up on the approach to the temple. Never trust corpses with no bones.

All the while, she did her best to keep some catchy Citadel pop tune in her head to avoid paying too much attention to the Song of the Deep. That song's bad news.

Boneless people are concerning, but Zil is most worried about what did that to them. There are probably creatures that ate bones. Hell, she didn't know she was an alien until fairly recently. Anything was possible, right?

She keeps her sword ready, Candy still on her shoulder if she wants.

"Should...one of us, like. Walk forward? See if they get up or something, or should we just try to sneak on by?"