Catherine (Tiffanian)

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Meda initially gave Catherine an odd look, perhaps because the archer was echoing what she had hinted at only in greater detail, but otherwise shrugged and accepted the human woman's opinion. I can accompany you to the armory to retrieve the weapon that you were loaned earlier, but nothing more. The ones in charge of the armory would never allow so many humans to be armed at once, even by the will of two priestesses. And, truth be told, I wouldn't wish to take so many armaments from my kin permanently. They may not approve of my love, but I still wish them to survive well even if it's without us here. With that we might be able to hunt the more dangerous surrounding area for artifacts and items we can scavenge left over from the shattering.

Truth be told, you'll need weapons a lot less with us around, Korene interjected. We're not as effective outside of the water, but down here we have a handy bag of tricks to pull from, especially those of us who are breaking the rules anyway. Either way, I'll wait here for now so your request raises less suspicion. Come back and get me if you decide to go scavenging, or just whenever you're ready to meet up with your other humans. I'd go looking for them now but I imagine they wouldn't trust me on my own word. Of course, while Korene might speak of it as if the choice was obvious, it was Catherine's decision as to whether or not she wanted to head to the armory or not and how she wanted to handle things given the new knowledge.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine listened quietly to the two sirens, nodding her approval. That sounds like a good enough plan. I can certainly respect your not wanting to deprive your home of things they might need. I'm interested to see what these tricks you're talking about are like she replied, inwardly chuckling a little bit at the last bit. She assumed Korene meant that they were capable of doing some form or fashion of magic while underwater, but she couldn't be sure of course. We'll definitely come get you and see if we can't scrounge up anything interesting before it's time to find the pixies and get going she finished up, nodding. She was really pleased with how this had worked out thus far, and barring any terrible setbacks between now and getting to the surface she would count her time at the bottom of the sea as a great success... though there was still likely a fair bit of trouble and danger between now and then.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

The two sirens nodded their assent to Catherine's general line of planning and then Korene would release her contact with the two. The more assertive of the two priestesses would anchor herself to the ocean floor using her snake-like lower body, content to wait by the cavern entrance while her lover and Catherine conducted their business. Meda would keep her hands on Catherine for a brief few moments extra. Grab onto me, she would direct the archer mentally before turning around, offering the archer an undersea equivalent of a piggyback ride.

And if Catherine accepted, she would find herself quickly whisked off toward the supply building she'd been shown on the tour. If she refused, for whatever reason, they'd find their way there but at a slower pace. Either way, upon approach Meda would ensure that Catherine wasn't directly attached to her, explaining that it was solely to avoid any suspicion. Her desire might be understandable, as the simple-looking home was guarded by no less than two red sirens and one of her golden sisters. Meda would move forward, leaving the human behind in order to join hands with her fellow priestess so that she could communicate her request. For her part, Catherine would be left in tense silence as the two held their conversation.

But whether she tried to do anything to include herself or not, after a few minutes Meda and her fellow priestess would relinquish each others' hands, and they swam into the building together. It wouldn't be more than a minute before Catherine's patron siren emerged with the speargun and a sneaky smile aimed toward the human. With that, they would take a short swim away from the sight of the guards at which point the archer would be left with the option to remount Meda and they would go swimming off again to reunite with Korene, their task handled simply and uneventfully.

Likewise, their trip back was uneventful, and once they arrived Meda would hand the speargun off to Catherine along with 5 spears for it, and then beckon Korene and her back into another huddle. Easier than I hoped! That leaves the salvage part of your plan. We have a few options for that. We can go to the nearby fields, they're the least dangerous and won't take much time to search but my kin has already thoroughly picked through them. We can venture a bit further out, which is a bit more dangerous and time consuming but isn't searched as often as the nearer fields. Finally, we can hunt through the ruins. They're far away, incredibly dangerous and it'll take us a while to get there and back, but if there are any great treasures left to scavenge in the immediate area, that's where they'll be.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine would cling to Meda's back when it was suggested to her, briefly waving goodbye to Korene after the latter let go of the two of them and punched her tail into the ground to keep herself in place, before her new companion swam off quickly towards the armory with her attached. She could get used to this, she thought, being carried around like this. It was much better than swimming around herself, for certain, even with the EGG's assistance in such things. Once they were almost to the destination Meda insisted that the human get off of her, something about it being suspicious if she were seen getting such a ride by the guards. That was fine enough, and Catherine certainly didn't want to do any talking herself. It would be better to fade as much into the background as possible, to appear to have no say in the matter.

The armory was well-guarded, with three sirens waiting just outside of it, one of them golden and two red. Meda swam towards them, reaching out to grab the golden one's hands and ask for the weapon. As Catherine watched the conversation she wondered how odd a thing it would have been to have lived under the sea one's whole life. For the sirens at least they could do this sort of thing and speak to one another telepathically, and there was a bit of a voice that came through, and tone was certainly apparent... but for others there was only sign language. Never verbally speaking or being spoken to, as if one were deaf... It was a difficult thing to really contemplate. She wondered how they, or at least the pixies, would adjust. The conversation took a couple of minutes, though it seemed to have been resolved in their favor as the two priestesses swam back into the supply hut together, coming out eventually with the speargun they had wanted.

Their task complete, the two swam away from the armory, with Catherine opting to cling to Meda's back again once they had broken line of sight with the guards. Did she give you much trouble? she asked, somewhat curious... It had taken a tiny bit longer than she would have expected for a simple request, though for all she knew it could have been a simple exchanging of pleasantries. They got back to where Korene was still waiting without any trouble, and the human took possession of what was to be her speargun, albeit only with five spears. She would have to be careful, sparing with her ammunition... The three of them huddled up together then, and Meda explained the options they had for scavenging. Catherine thought about it for a few moments, chewing on the inside of her cheek a little bit. The ruins sounded like fun... though just based on her previous foray out into the open ocean it would be dangerous enough just being out and about. There was a reason they weren't well explored, after all. I think it's likely best to stick relatively close she replied, I don't want to keep them waiting too long, and it would be best to keep from being dragged off by monsters. I don't think it's a tragedy if we don't find anything awesome, just looking for anything extra.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

No. No trouble at all. We just had a little chat concerning one of our younger kin in the warrior caste. It seems she's gathered enough driftwood to move from the caves, Meda replied absentmindedly, and that was as much as she would offer without further prodding.

The two would wordlessly, or perhaps more accurately without any opposing thoughts, agree with Catherine's opinion. Without a word of warning, Catherine found herself whisked off. This time it was Korene who would motion for the human to grab onto her before joining hands with Meda and swimming off. The EGG once more accelerated the passage of time and their journey, and assuming she didn't attempt to start any conversation with the two priestesses it would continue to accelerate time as they came to swim over a vast, almost featureless stretch of ocean floor in their search for anything that might give Catherine and her fellow humans an edge in their escape attempt.

Unfortunately, in addition to being relatively featureless with very little in the way of distinguishing factors so that the human might be able to tell where she had searched before from new territory, the so-called fields didn't have the benefit of the magic light stones to illuminate large sections of the ground from far above, and so the trio had to remain relatively close to the ocean floor in order to ensure they were actually able to see anything of interest. If it hadn't been for Korene and Meda's presence and guidance it would've been very likely that Catherine would've spent most of her time accidentally back tracking and searching in places she'd already looked over.

It would take what must have been an hour into the search before they finally discovered anything of interest and the EGG slowed back down to normal speed. The sirens would glide to a halt to inspect a group of half a dozen makeshift spears stuck in the floor of the ocean, which were seemingly abandoned. Odd, Korene would murmur through her connection to the other two women. I can't imagine any caste that would leave serviceable hunting weapons in the fields like this.

Spoiler

Catherine vs ???: 11 vs 7. Catherine succeeds.
Meda vs ???: 8 vs 20. Meda fails. Meda is entangled.
Korene: 8 vs 2. Korene succeeds.

The human would be the first to realize that the spears weren't the only thing along the ocean floor. She recognized an unusual stirring along the ocean floor as the trio approached to inspect it. It was lucky for her that she noticed, as it was only being on guard that allowed her to shift out of the way as no less than two dozen tentacles seemed to explode upward from the ocean floor, aiming to entangle the human and the two priestesses. With a little push from Korene, Catherine was cleared the trap, and Korene herself noticed the creatures and moved quickly enough to avoid being grabbed, but Meda wasn't prepared and ended up in the embrace of eight of the stretching tendrils.

The strange tentacles had started out transparent but slowly became white the longer they were away from the surface they'd been hiding against, and as they turned white Catherine was able to follow them back to their sources. Each cluster of eight tentacles led back to a main body that looked something like a gelatinous ball with eyes which had apparently been similarly camouflaged among the spears and remained low to the ocean floor. Separated from the priestesses, Catherine couldn't reliably issue orders or suggestions nor hear what Korene or Meda might contribute to strategy. It wouldn't be difficult to tell that Korene's main focus was on freeing her lover though, just by the way her eyes honed in on the tentacled beast holding Meda. That left Catherine to handle her own attacker more or less on her own.

Spoiler

Catherine
FP: 4/4
AP: 0/10
DS: 8
Spears: 5/5

Meda (Entangled)
FP: ??/??
AP: 0/10

Korene
FP: ??/??
AP: 0/10

Tentacle Beast 1
FP: ??/??
AP: ??/??

Tentacle Beast 2
FP: ??/??
AP: ??/??

Tentacle Beast 3
FP: ??/??
AP: ??/??

Spoiler

Destiny Strength: 8
Skills

Spoiler

Combat
Power Attack - Trade accuracy for power in any type of attack.
Guard - Focus on guarding in order to avoid powerful or normal attacks.

Traveling
Cautious Movement - Move slowly to avoid certain traps.
Spotter - Passively offers an increased chance to detect ambushes and traps.

???

Fate
[UNAVAILABLE] Summon: Roger (Costs 1 DS) - Summons Roger to rush to your aid as quickly as possible.
Adventurer's Resolve (Costs 1:1 DS:FP) - Heals yourself or an ally.
Adventurer's Swiftness (Costs 1:1 DS:Bonus) - Grants a bonus to escaping equal to the amount of DS spent. Lasts the duration of the encounter.

Settings
Achievements

Spoiler

Triumph - Defeat your first enemy in the EGG!
The Path to Adventure! - Clear the lower deck tutorial stage and prepare to begin your adventure.
Baby Steps... - Earn your first skill.
You've Got a Friend In Me - Gain your first companion summon.
Love is in the Air
Feel Like a Woman - Have your first intimate encounter in the EGG
Therapy Not Included
The Old Ball and Chain

Save
Load
Return
Exit

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Meda's short reply was enough to satisfy Catherine as to the contents of the earlier conversation. Just routine chitchat, it seemed. When prompted she would quickly wrap her arms around Korene, tagging along on the siren's back as she swam off to the debris field outside the underwater city. She had nothing in particular she wanted to talk about, not now at least, so the EGG sped their journey considerably, and even still while the three of them were searching the ocean floor. It was vast and almost entirely without landmarks, lit only very dimly by the sunlight filtering through the ocean and the far-off lights of the city. The human was glad she hadn't come alone, because she was certain she would have swam in circles until it was time to leave, given the way she was getting confused even with help. There didn't seem to be much of anything in the area they were searching either; perhaps it really had been picked over too much to find anything of use.

While it was difficult to say how long it was they searched given how the game was speeding up time for Catherine, she would have figured it for about an hour or so before it began to slow down again. It quickly became apparently why; they had stumbled across a number of what looked to be spears, although they weren't terribly well-fashioned. Six of them, perhaps with more in the loose silt around them, stuck into the ocean's bottom. Korene seemed surprised by their find, remarking that no one would leave something so valuable as a weapon laying around, much less so many of them. It was right about then that the human noticed something moving near the spears, something that seemed like it shouldn't be there... With a little bit of help from the red siren she managed to float herself sideways, just barely out of the way of a rather large group of tentacles burst up from the bottom! Meda wasn't so lucky, though, and was quickly wrapped by no less than eight of the strange things...

Whatever the creatures that attacked them were, they resembled octopi from the real world, albeit seemingly less solid-looking. They could apparently change their color to blend in with their surroundings, and while earlier they had been almost perfectly matched up with the ground around the spears they were beginning to default to a pale white now that the surprise was over. The tendrils were also very long, longer than a normal human holding their arms up was tall. With Meda being dragged towards one, Korene looked bound and determined to free her... and Catherine had a feeling she was about to see some of those tricks she had mentioned earlier. That left her with two of the creatures it seemed, though only one looked like it was focusing on her. And this was just why she had acquired the speargun... The thing was already loaded, so she took careful aim and pulled the trigger, aiming at the gelatinous ball that apparently made up its body. She didn't have all that much ammunition, so she couldn't afford too many misses here, and it would be better to miss low than high.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Spoiler

C: 1+1 vs 8.
K: 20 vs 16. Takes 3 AP but deals 3 damage, this destroys the tentacle creature ensnaring Meda.
M: 19 vs 2. Takes 3 AP as well but deals 3 damage, this destroys a second tentacle monster.

Tentacle vs C: 17 vs 4. Cathrine gets grabbed. Honestly though, there's no physical way that one remaining mook of this tier encounter roll (rolled literally all minimums) is going to win against 3 so I'm just going to say he gets pulverized in the next round. 4 DS, get.

Catherine's concern over missing would seemingly spoil her aim. The shot from her speargun fell well short of its target, and while this meant it would be easily retrievable after the battle it also meant that she made no headway in freeing Meda. Korene, on the other hand, fared much better. Catherine would get her first taste of the priestesses' underwater tricks as the more assertive of the two sirens brought her hands together in an underwater clap. An intense heat briefly radiated out from the siren before dissipating into the coldness of the deep sea, but more importantly a shockwave tore out from her and shredded through her target, leaving the tentacled beast in pieces.

That would free up Meda who would turn and perform the same attack against another of the creatures, dicing it and leaving a small pit in the sand beneath it in the process. Only one target would be left alive after the meeker priestess's barrage, apparently a very stubborn monster as it lashed out at the human with its tentacles and managed catch her wrists and ankles in the process. It would be only a momentary victory for the creature though, as within a few seconds both Medea and Korene turned their attentions on it and repeated their attacks. The ensuing blast left almost nothing of it left except the lengths of its long, spindly tentacles that had been above the crossfire, still dangling from the archer's limbs.

With that, Catherine would be able to retrieve her ammunition and take the abandoned spears from the ground at her own leisure, probably after prying the dismembered tentacles from herself. Meda and Korene made no quick effort to return to her side or even each others', instead fidgeting in the water and glancing at each other and apparently both battling back a slight blush. It would be at her own pace that Catherine would need to touch either of the duo and indicate whether she was happy enough with her finds so far and wanted to return home or wanted to continue searching.

Spoiler

Catherine
FP: 4/4
AP: 0/10
DS: 12
Spears: 5/5

Meda
FP: ??/??
AP: 4/10

Korene
FP: ??/??
AP: 4/10

Spoiler

Destiny Strength: 12
Skills

Spoiler

Combat
Power Attack - Trade accuracy for power in any type of attack.
Guard - Focus on guarding in order to avoid powerful or normal attacks.

Traveling
Cautious Movement - Move slowly to avoid certain traps.
Spotter - Passively offers an increased chance to detect ambushes and traps.

???

Fate
[UNAVAILABLE] Summon: Roger (Costs 1 DS) - Summons Roger to rush to your aid as quickly as possible.
Adventurer's Resolve (Costs 1:1 DS:FP) - Heals yourself or an ally.
Adventurer's Swiftness (Costs 1:1 DS:Bonus) - Grants a bonus to escaping equal to the amount of DS spent. Lasts the duration of the encounter.

Settings
Achievements

Spoiler

Triumph - Defeat your first enemy in the EGG!
The Path to Adventure! - Clear the lower deck tutorial stage and prepare to begin your adventure.
Baby Steps... - Earn your first skill.
You've Got a Friend In Me - Gain your first companion summon.
Love is in the Air
Feel Like a Woman - Have your first intimate encounter in the EGG
Therapy Not Included
The Old Ball and Chain

Save
Load
Return
Exit

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine's aim left quite a lot to be desired, her spear smacking into the silt of the ocean bottom far from the gelatinous orb she had targeted, though her failure quickly struck her as quite small once she saw what the two priestesses were capable of. Korene called upon some sort of magic the archer hadn't seen before, clapping her hands together and forming a powerful shockwave that slashed through the water, shredding the creature that held Meda in its grasp. The other siren did much the same to the tentacled ball that had attacked her lover, turning it into quite a few separate lumps of flesh. Of course, watching this play out wasn't the most advisable of actions, and the human quickly found herself under attack again. A tendril apiece wrapping around her wrists and ankles, though she didn't panic. She had seen enough to feel quite safe even in this position. Sure enough the two sirens dispatched the creature grappling her with ease, tearing it to pieces, only the ends of the tentacles remaining.

The battle over, Catherine slowly pulled the severed tentacles off of her, tossing them to the ground as she noticed something a little bit strange. Meda and Korene both stayed where they were in the water, blushing a little bit as their thick tails squirmed in the water. One of their kind on the ship had used magic against the human to arouse her... did using magic have a similar effect on them as well? Or were they just thinking of the implications if they had been wrapped up and caught by those creatures? That seemed somehow less plausible. In any case the archer would swim down to pick up both her little shooting spear and the spears they would use to arm the other humans, taking her time with it and then swimming over first to Meda, putting a hand gently on her shoulder. Are you going to be alright? I wouldn't mind searching for maybe a little bit longer, but I think we've made a pretty good find. Besides, you two look like you might need some time alone if we have to fight anything else~ she thought at the golden priestess teasingly, giving her and Korene both a goofy little grin after the last part even though the latter couldn't hear her.