Eggception (thetwo)

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Spoiler

Lantern and Flashlight get! Also, I'm sure you have +1 with the ax, I don't know that I gave you a +2 yet. I'll go back and check but for now I'm just giving you +1 to ax-attacks.

"Dogs, spiders, slimes, and tentacle creatures. Those are what I'd expect to run into down here. The good news is, none of those typically try to enslave you if they happen to run into you, at least on the surface or away from their home. Of course there's no guarantee, if they're in a position where they can keep you indefinitely then they may just do that, but generally speaking most of them will let you go, spiders being the biggest potential exception, especially if you walk into a spider nest."

The pair of women were currently walking down a basement corridor of the EGG building, Mary holding a dim lantern and Aura with a flashlight that Charlie had remembered to give them. There wasn't much in the way of lighting, making for a somewhat spooky atmosphere, but given that they were still under Charlie's security blanket, they knew there was nothing here that could get them. Mary had decided to try to give Aura a bit more information on what they could expect in the sewers while they could still talk without fear of ambush.

"That's all of the major stuff I can think of off the top of my head. There's tons of things down there, but those are the staples of the sewers. And I haven't exactly spent a lot of time down there myself. I guess the biggest danger is that a lot of those things make their nests, or dens, or whatever you want to call their homes down there. That means you're definitely on their turf, and it's a lot easier for them to... bring you home and keep you." On that glum note they reached the door.

HERE WE ARE. ONCE YOU MAKE IT OUT THE DOOR GO LEFT, LEFT AT THE FORK, STRAIGHT AT THE NEXT SPLIT, AND THEN THE STATION WILL BE ON YOUR RIGHT. THE STATION USED TO DRAW ENERGY FROM THE PHYSICAL MOVEMENT OF SEWAGE AS WELL AS FROM THE METHANE GAS COMING FROM THE SEWAGE. OF COURSE NOW THERE'S NO SEWAGE SO IT'S A BIT OF A HASSLE TO HAVE THE STATION OUT THERE, BUT AT LEAST SINCE THE SEWAGE HAS HAD SO LONG TO DECAY, THE SMELL IS GONE, RIGHT? The door unlocked and slid open.

True to his word, there was no ghastly stench, it was more like a damp cave than anything else. There was almost no light in this part of the system except for where light trickled in from storm drains and cracks in the ceiling. Generally not enough to see by until they flipped on their lantern and flashlight. Immediately out of the door the tunnel went right or left, Mary led the way to the left and allowed Aura to draw even with her, their steps echoing faintly in the long, dark tunnels. When they reached the first intersection, a fourway, Mary pointed the way left. They had only gone a few steps when a schlucking sound stopped them in their tracks. In front of them was a large, round blob of blue slime, roughly four feet tall, but nearly as round. It was probably fairly heavy. From the way it started bouncing towards them, an odd sight to say the least, it definitely knew where they were, somehow.

Aura: HP: 6/6 AP: 0/10
Mary: HP: 5/5 AP: 0/10

Enemies:
Blue Slime: HP: 5/5

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Aura nodded. At least with two of them capture would be a little more difficult, and there would always be the chance that one would get away and be able to free the other. The fact that "you might only be kept in a dark hole underground to breed monsters for a little while" was a bright point was... depressing.

Still, they had a job to do. And in there way was... the blue thing. Aura had to suppose it was the 'slime' her friend had mentioned, though somehow she had imagined it as smaller. And she still wasn't entirely sure what a blob of bluish gel expected to do with a woman.

Which wasn't the same as saying that it didn't know what it was expected to do with a woman. So rather than walk up to the thing, Aura tried pointing her flashlight at it, keeping her distance. If it could 'see' them, maybe it could also be blinded by light. And in the meantime... time to ask an expert. "Mary? Can we just walk past it? Or kill it somehow? Or what?"

Spoiler

I shine my light on it!

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Aura caught Mary looking at the slime, a blush on her face, for a second before she snapped herself out of it. "Heh, sorry. Slimes are the best lays out there, guess I have a bit of history with them, but that's a story for later." She sat her lantern down, and held her small sledgehammer in two hands, her lantern doing a good job of lighting the area. The slime was still a good 20 feet off. The direct flashlight beam seemed to do nothing to the blob, it likely tracked them through different means.

Rolls:

Spoiler

Slime bounce attack: 8 vs Aura 14 Miss, Mary 11 Miss
Mary attacks slime: 8 vs 11 Miss

Aura gave a low laugh. "Good thought, but they aren't affected by light. As near as I can tell, they have extremely good hearing...somehow. Anyway, if we were on open streets or a building with lots of rooms and hallways we could, but here it's open, and the sound of us running would just draw something else, plus I think it could probably follow us if it isn't that far to the station. We'll just have to beat it down, but be careful, they can-" As she finished the slime blob rippled strangely and suddenly bounced much harder, covering the remaining fifteen feet in a single bound and landing right between them as both girls managed to get out of the way. "-bounce really well!" She swung at it with her hammer but it sunk beneath the blow. Aura had a moment to strike before it did something else.

Aura: HP: 6/6 AP: 0/10
Mary: HP: 5/5 AP: 0/10

Enemies:
Blue Slime: HP:5/5

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

"What, you, um... with one of... right, later." Aura cursed as she barely got out of the way of the slime. Its leap changed things somewhat. They probably wouldn't be able to go around it. Or even really run away... one landed leap and they'd at the very least have the wind knocked out of them, and it would be harder to dodge with her back turned.

But she still wasn't entirely clear on how you killed something like this. Mary had tried her hammer, though, so the redhead decided that her axe was probably worth a try. There wasn't really any room for tactics - no legs, arms, head, or groin to aim for. Just a big blob. Which moved surprisingly well for something that was entirely blind. She took a swing, aiming at the center so that it might be harder to dodge, and tried to follow up with a second and third swing in quick succession.

Spoiler

Attack, feel free to continue to do so at least 2-3 times or until something changes.

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

"Just beat it down until it can't reconstitute itself anymore!" Mary called out to Aura.

Rolls:

Spoiler

Aura vs Slime 11 vs 14 miss
Slime vs Mary 20 vs 7 crit hit grappled, +2 AP
Mary vs Slime 19 vs 14 hit

Aura vs Slime 11 vs 18 Miss
Slime vs Mary 19 vs 9 hit +2 AP
Mary vs Slime 14 vs 9 hit

If Aura was confused as to what Mary meant by reconstitute, she wouldn't be for long. Mary landed a blow with the sledgehammer, knocking a chunk out of the slime to plop onto the ground. Then before Aura's eyes the piece that Mary had knocked out crawled back to the slime, melding back into its body as the wound was filled back in with slime, showing no evidence of the prior attack. In retaliation, it swiftly bounced into Aura, bowling her to the ground and landing midway up her legs as it changed shape from being tall to stretching out lengthwise more and losing height in an effort to quickly cover Mary.

This change in height caused Aura to miss on her first swing as the slime covered her friend up to her mid thighs. Mary hit off part of it and tried to fight her way to her feet, but the slime seemed to be incredibly thick, sticky, and viscous as Mary appeared to have a very difficult time standing up. She was already slowing down, seemingly drained by her struggle against the slime. Another of Aura's attacks missed, she had to be careful not to hit her friend now. As she looked on, she noticed that Mary not only appeared more tired, but at least part of the flush on her cheeks wasn't from being winded and looked suspiciously like a flush of arousal.

"I think I forgot to mention, their entire body...is an aphrodisiac..."Mary huffed.

Stats:
Aura: HP: 6/6 AP: 0/10
Mary: HP: 2/5 AP: 4/10 Grappled 2, on the floor but fighting

Enemies:
Blue Slime: HP: 3/5

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Well, that at least answered some of Aura's unasked questions. Between the obvious effects of the aphrodisiac and the way it had enveloped Mary's lower body... well, her minds could fill in the blanks now. Why they wanted to do that still wasn't clear, and she had to hope it stayed that way.

The way the slime seemed to regenerate was disheartening, but Mary still seemed to think it could be killed. And she wasn't going to abandon her friend to this. Aura knew well enough one could 'like' something without actually wanting it to happen, after all. So she made another series of quick swipes at the thing with her axe. She'd just have to hope they destroyed the damn thing before... well, before it finished engulfing Mary, for starters.

Spoiler

Another could attacks, still nothing special.

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Rolls:

Spoiler

Aura vs Slime 20 vs 11 crit hit
Slime vs Mary 15 vs 13 +1 grapple Aphrodisiac: +1 AP
Mary vs Slime 9 vs 16 Miss

Aura vs Slime 6 vs 6 defender wins miss
Slime vs Mary 20 vs 7 crit hit Mary engulfed Aphrodisiac +2 AP
Mary vs Slime 9 vs 16 doesn't escape

Aura vs Slime 11 vs 13 miss
Slime inflicts AP damage on Mary 2,2
Mary Orgasms and is stunned

Aura vs Slime 4 vs 4 miss
Slime shifts attack to Aura 7 vs 6 Aura is grappled +2 AP

Aura vs Slime 6 vs 16 Miss
Slime vs Aura 4 vs 8 grapple does not advance +1 AP

Aura vs Slime 17 vs 13 Slime dies

Aura managed to turn things around when she landed a particularly solid hit on the slime, shearing off a large portion of its body. She noticed it was moving a rather slowly and had a more difficult time reconstituting itself than it had earlier, suggesting it was running out of energy. Unfortunately the success was short-lived

Things rapidly went from bad to worse for the two girls. The slime timed its surge well with Mary's resistance and managed to completely finish engulfing her in one go. While this was extremely alarming, Aura noticed Mary was still somehow able to breathe, so at least they had that going for them. Unfortunately for Mary, her clothes were about shredded, though it looked like she didn't mind. After some half-hearted struggling on her part and a few ineffective strikes from Aura, she noticed Mary's pussy gaping open unnaturally in the near-transparent fluid, suggesting some sort of penetration. it wasn't long until she orgasmed and was suspended limply in the fluid.

Up until this point Aura had had difficulty striking the slime for fear of accidentally maiming her new friend. Fortunately or not, it softly deposited her on the ground beneath it and leaped from her to Aura, snagging her lower leg in the process. As she felt the warmth of arousal moving up her leg, along with her pant-leg beginning to dissolve, a few frantic chops put an end to the slime as it degenerated into a harmless puddle of ooze, though a quick test determined it did retain it's aphrodisiac and clothing-dissolving properties.

Mary lay off to the side, remnants of ooze still clinging to her, her clothing in tatters and doing a remarkably poor job of keeping her decent. "Ohhh mannnn...just sweeps you off your feet doesn't it?" It seemed like it might take a minute for the lust in her body to cool off.

OOC:

Spoiler

I don't remember if I established rules for various stages of being grappled, maybe I did with nets earlier I'll have to go back and check... Anyway, I arbitrarily decided that at 5 successful grapples the only option left for the person being grappled would be to try to escape, and I gave you a -1 penalty to attacks after Mary was engulfed in order to account for Aura having to avoid injuring her friend. I'll try to make a more concrete set of rules for this eventuality in the future. I may just bastardize the DG rules, I'm not sure yet. Also tentatively having a 2 turn stun for orgasming in combat, at least while you have a party member with you.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Aura prodded the defeated body of her foe, and felt another shiver of arousal run through her body. She turned to Mary, blushing slightly at the implication that her friend had enjoyed herself. "Is it dead? Or is it going to come back together if we're still here in a few minutes?"

If it was safe to stay, it would probably be best to rest for a minute. Aura's own nipples were erect, and the heat between her legs from even her brief exposure to the thing was threatening to become a damp patch instead. And given the state of her friend's clothes, she didn't have to guess that Mary would be worse off even after the orgasm.

On the other hand... most of the things down in the sewer would love to find a pair weakened women, and their arousal would make that easier.

After a moment's consideration, Aura decided that they would be just as vulnerable wandering around as they would be sitting still. So unless Mary suggested it would be dangerous, the redhead would find a spot clear of slime and sit down next to Mary until they had calmed down a bit.

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Spoiler

Party recovers fully

"Yea...he's dead." Mary panted and slowly staggered to her feet and brushed off some of the slime before slumping against the wall. She leaned against Aura when she joined her, breathing heavily and recovering her energy. While they rested she decided to tell her a little bit more about her history with slimes.

"Well you noticed their body is one giant blob of aphrodisiac, so that's a plus. And you didn't get a feel for this, but once they...engulf you..." The very mention of engulfing caused Mary to shiver with arousal. "They engulf you and their insides start vibrating. It's the most erotic, full body massage you'll ever have. The warm slime sliding all over your body, caressing you, vibrating against your skin, it even vibrates inside of you, all of your sensitive holes...oh, erm..." While Mary had been talking, her voice had taken on a certain dreamy quality as her hands had gently rubbed herself, one hand slipping down towards her feminine delta before she caught herself. "So...yea...it's in all three holes, but you can still breath somehow. Plus if you stop struggling, they'll actually spare your clothes, and they let you go when they're done. Biggest bonus though? Those guys won't even knock you up! Seriously, it's the best of both worlds!" She laughed and added, "This one time, I found one in a nice little hideaway. Stayed there for a couple of days letting it fuck me. Best. Time. Ever." Seeming completely serious she continued, "It turns out those guys get a ton of energy from female sex fluids, helps them grow way bigger. At some point though, they change. After a couple of days of fucking, it had gotten pretty big. Then it shifted into a human form. It was still blue slime, but instead of a blob it was in the shape of a girl with a red core. Those ladies as it turns out are able to impregnate you. During a night of impassioned love-making under the stars, she shot the core into me. The next day she explained that in a few days she would generate another one. In the meantime the one in me would develop into a baby slime. It didn't take longer than a day for the baby slime to develop, giving birth to it certainly wasn't hard, it was actually rather pleasurable. In fact, having a ball of aphrodisiac sit in my womb and squelch out of my vagina turned me into quite the little horndog. I almost had her knock me up again, I was so horny!" Mary giggled as she thought back on it before wrapping up her tale. "We parted ways not long after that, I was part of a group at the time and I had to get back to them. Doubt they would have looked too kindly on a slime girl. Still one of my fondest memories..."

Sighing, Mary leaned her head on Aura's shoulder. "Guess you could say I'm a bit lovestruck?" She laughed and slowly stood up. "Or I have a serious slime fetish, either way I hope you're not too freaked out. We can still be partners, or friends, right?" She extended a hand to Aura to help her up, it was time to continue on. Of course, all Mary wore at this point were the tattered remains of her clothes that clung to her without actually covering anything, but there was nothing that could be done about that but keep an eye out for more clothes along the way.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

It was a lot to take in. Aura briefly considered the idea that they might be able to hide from some worse danger in a slime - something that would let them go and not even knock them up. But no. It had spat Mary out after it 'finished', leaving her horny and not really able to continue fighting. All their pursuer would have to do would be to wait a minute or two.

The bigger worry, though, was more abstract. Was that what she had to look forward to? Finding something that would fuck her, even knock her up, without hurting or enslaving her? Finding something that would keep her womb full so she wouldn't be so tempting to everything with a dick, and maybe protect her? That didn't sound so great, but between Mary's slime and Beth's... tentacle thing... it seemed to be a fairly popular option.

And then there was the other worry, which was that Mary simply wouldn't really be fighting against another slime. She seemed to enjoy it enough, and had apparently done so even more in the past... but no, her clothing was all torn up. She'd fought back, and it wouldn't do to accuse her friend and only real ally of something like that. "Yea, I understand. It made you happy and it didn't hurt anyone..." Aura accepted the hand up, trying not to stare at her friend's exposed assets, and took a step in the direction that the slime had blocked.

She was also curious about this 'group' - how Mary had ended up with them, why she wasn't any longer, if it had been all women or if there had been men who weren't slavers - but that could wait until later. They did have a job to do.

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

"Thanks," Mary smiled a little shyly, perhaps equal parts from Aura's embarrassed stares and at her acceptance of her past actions with the slime, "a lot of people don't understand how important that is. At least to me."

They set out along the way, having gone left at the first intersection, it wasn't long until they reached the second. This one only had one path going off to the right, while their path continued straight. Unfortunately, this intersection was occupied as well. Four of the heavily corrupted, zombie-like human men with a tentacle coming out of their torso or stomach stood idly in the intersection.

They didn't see the two girls, so their course was open as to how they could deal with them. They could sneak around them, the tunnel was wide enough, or they could launch some sort of sneak attack. Or something else if they wanted.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Aura swallowed. Unlike the slime, these would know exactly what to do with a pair of young women. If there had just been one it would have been easy. A hammer and an axe would make short work of it. Two would be more difficult. The men would be stronger, and if they got the upper hand they might well keep it. Ambush would be best. But with four... it wouldn't be very good to fight at all.

The redhead motioned for her friend to keep quiet and low. They would try to sneak past. Leaving four enemies behind them wasn't great... but it wasn't as if they would be able to search all the side passages anyway. Enemies behind was inevitable.

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Rolls:

Spoiler

Aura stealth: 16 vs 9, 11, 7, 6 All Pass
Mary Stealth: 20 vs 6, 21, 6, 9 Pass, Fail, Pass, Pass
Mary is spotted!

The duo crept past the four zombie-men with enough stealth to make ninjas proud. There was not one misstep, no knocked over rocks or debris, or anything else to alert the enemy. Unfortunately, you can do everything right and sometimes it still isn't enough. As they cleared the group, one of the heavily corrupted men happened to turn and look right at Mary. After a moment of silence it began to stumble after them, grumbling unintelligibly.

Whether by luck or shadow or something else, when the rest of the men turned to see what the bumbling one was going on about they were unable to see Aura or Mary and turned back to idly loitering, though the one did slowly trundle after them. Mary gestured sharply and led them further along their path, kiting the one follower along until they rounded a bend in the system, effectively isolating him from his cohorts.

Now facing a lone corrupted male, the odds were much more in their favor. The only issue was that fighting him may still cause enough of a racket to draw his friends towards them. There was always another option, however. He was currently sporting a raging hard on, given how motivated these things were by sex, there was a fair chance he would leave them alone if they pleasured him sufficiently, an option that while disgusting would likely prove far quieter than fighting him. Ultimately it was up to Aura how they would proceed.

Class 1 Corrupted Male: HP: 5/5

Spoiler

I just couldn't make you fight four guys after a natural 20, that would have been mean even if it is Hard Mode

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Aura stared at the corrupted thing, ashamed that she was even considering... that. It didn't necessarily have to be sex, exactly. A blowjob might do. Or even a handjob, if they were lucky. It might keep him quiet long enough for them to escape instead of just running back to get his friends. Or it might make him moan until they came anyway.

No. With a slight sigh of relief, aura hefted her axe, glancing at Mary to make sure she understood. If they wanted to take the one out without alerting the others, they'd have to do it as quickly as possible. They would both attack at the same time, and keep going until their foe stopped moving.

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Rolls:

Spoiler

Aura vs C1 10 vs 18 Miss
Mary vs C1 5 vs 10 Miss
C1 vs Aura 5 vs 13 Miss
Tentacle: No attack

Aura vs C1 9 vs 6 Hit
Mary vs C1 6 vs 4 Hit
C1 vs Aura 14 vs 4 Hit
Tentacle: Attack 18 vs 10 Hit +1 AP

Aura vs C1 8 vs 13 Miss
Mary vs C1 7 vs 15 Hit
C1 vs Aura 10 vs 21 Crit Counter Deadsies

The fight against the corrupted tentacle-man was fast and a little more evenly matched than Aura might have expected. The man seemed to have little regard for the attacks against it and waded through them to knock Aura painfully against a wall, and its tentacle lashed out and hit her thigh, clothing-dissolving aphrodisiac eating a nice hole where it hit and causing her to warm up a little bit, but it was certainly not as effective as the blue slime had been and she was able to fight through it fairly effectively.

Moments later, Mary clocked it on the head with her hammer, dazing it, and Aura sidestepped when it lunged for her in a sloppy manner. Off balance, the thing fell to the ground where Aura swiftly dispatched it.

"Whew...good decision not trying to take four at a time...they're slow and dumb, but they know how to take a beating. That would have been bad. You feeling alright? You got a little banged up there." Mary insisted on a short rest to allow Aura's head to clear up from where the monster had hit her into the wall before continuing on.

Not more than a few minutes later they found saw the station they were looking for, ahead on the right. It wasn't too large, two floors with maybe three rooms to a floor and a couple of windows. It was completely dark. The only entrance was a door at ground level.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

After a brief rest, Aura stood back up and continued with Mary to the station. She shifted her pants irritably, the hole and the cool air hitting her inner thigh feeling odd. She would have to get used to it, the supply of new clothes couldn't possibly keep up with all the cloth-eating goo she seemed to be encountering. Certainly not if she tossed clothes for a single hole. Maybe Charlie could fix it...

The redhead realized she was putting things off. "Well, there it is. I suppose we go in through the door?" If Mary agreed, she'd go. But memories of the office building, where each room seemed to hold a new threat, kept it from being eagerly. And of course with only one entrance, if anything realized they were inside... well, there was no food or water. They'd leave eventually. And then there was the possibility of traps at such an obvious attraction. And the rooms might make perfect 'homes' for the sorts of things that would want to drag women home. The dangers of the sewers would be amplified.

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Slowly edging the door open, they looked inside and saw lots of spider webs. Not just cobwebs though, thick webbing. Mary swore quietly and clicked her lantern off. Using her hands she gestured to Aura to hide her light. "They'll be drawn to it, but if you shine it in their eyes it'll blind them." It was whispered urgently.They were entering the lair of beasts. The last time she had been in such a lair, the beehive, things had not gone well for her.

Looking inside, there were two rooms on the ground floor, both on the left and a staircase going up the right. The first door was closed and the second was open. She could see a lot of webbing, but nothing else without getting closer. There was a sign by the stairs but she couldn't read it in the low light.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

"We'll check the open door, then go upstairs." It wasn't a terrible plan. Anything behind the closed door would almost certainly stay behind the door until she or Mary opened it, which meant one less possible danger while exploring. They could open it when the rest of the building was secured - or at least explored - if there was still a reason to.

Aura, flashlight off, crept through the darkness, avoiding the webs as best she could, towards the open door. She couldn't help remembering the wasp nest. It was obvious, extrapolating from that, what they would do with her if they found her. They'd hold her down or sting her with an aphrodisiac until she couldn't get away, then they'd start filling her belly with eggs. They'd tie her to a web in the darkness, and fuck her whenever her stomach was flat. Maybe even if it wasn't full enough. Maybe all the time. They'd take Mary the same way. It was stupid to come in here, there were hundreds of them, and they were going to fuck her over and...

She cut that line of thought off. But not before, she realized, her body had started to prepare itself for an imanent intrusion. There was a distinctly damp spot on her panties that she dearly hoped Mary wouldn't notice. And that the spiders wouldn't smell, as she also remembered the wasps tracking her by scent when she'd fled...

Time enough to think about that later, if she had to. Now, the open door.

 

[sturm]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

If Mary noticed Aura's arousal, she didn't say anything about it, rather she silently followed her into the building. And approached the open door with her. There was a lot of webbing inside, it was impossible to keep it from catching on them some, but it didn't impede there movement any.

Rolls:

Spoiler

Perception: 14
Sees 3 large black spiders

Reaching the door, Aura looked into the room and didn't notice much at first. However her eyes adjusted to the dim light enough to notice some things. First off, there was extremely heavy webbing covering the walls of the room. Second, the white webbing served as enough of a backdrop that she could see three, semi-indistinct black shapes in the room, hanging from the ceiling. They were roughly knee height but easily four feet long, perhaps more. Though she couldn't get a very detailed look because of the light, she knew these had to be the spiders.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Eggception (thetwo)

Well. Three of them, and bigger than Aura had imagined. Still, the solution to this particular problem seemed obvious. These might not be the only three spiders in the place, or even the only three spiders in the room. But there didn't seem to be anything else of particular use in there, so...

Aura reached out, and moved to close the door as quietly as she could. If that worked, it would be time to head upstairs. If not, then this probably wasn't going to end well.