[Prism Shard] Fishy Problems

The time had come again for Jack to resume his madness driven hunt for shiny things. Seeing how he had already collected one of such objects, he sort of felt compelled to a degree to put forth the extra measure and retrieve as many as possible at this point. It wouldn’t hurt to have more, right? Though he was still unsure of the true value of such items due to the previous one being entirely irrelevant to his magical forte, it didn’t change the sole fact that drove him to arrive at this seafood dance party. He wanted it. Badly.

Besides, even if he didn’t obtain the object, ideally the sea creatures would be dealt with right? The gargantuan crabs alone would suffice as a reward. Just thinking of their succulent meat and the sheer quantity of delicacy to be had already made the magician drool. Arriving at the now formerly flooded coastline, he’d survey the area while staring skeptically at the cult like ritual going on off in the distance. “Looks sort of fun. I wonder if they’d let me join in on their festivities.”

Sure it was a passing thought and a dangerous one at that, but the idea of comically dancing around with the monsters left a bit of a smile upon his face. As for now? He'd watch and keep a safe distance while messaging for others to arrive. Clearly he'd need some help on this endeavor.

 

Dempsey hates the beach almost as much as she liked treasure, and was off in a dead sprint toward the coastline as soon as the quest appeared in her log. Another shard had been placed in the world, and this time it WOULD be hers. She still had no idea what they were for though, and she'd have to ask around and figure that out someday. It had to be something good though, because these quests were always a pain in the ass, and always got rushed to capacity as soon as they were posted.

Being on an open beach and in broad daylight put her at a considerable disadvantage though, as she had almost no opportunity to take advantage of her stealth skills nor her acrobatics. She decided to wait for reinforcements to arrive instead of diving head first into a six on one melee. she stood at a distance and looked over the opponents; A collection of fish-men and a pair of giant crabs. she'd have to see who else showed up to determine which one she was most suited to engage, but she was apprehensive to just charge in unassisted. Who knew who would show up, and whether there would be a healer present. there were a lot of factors to take into account.

 

Alpha sighed once the quest had popped up at her screen, listing all the details of the quest up ahead. After the hours long scavenger hunt (and the subsequent result of her having not even gotten a single chocolate egg or anything), her enthusiasm for whatever these prisms shards were died down. Still, her primary motivations for crafting a double rainbow that would span across the game was still not deterred. Despite her attempts to resist the quest (and Terry's own attempts to pull her by the pant-leg out of there, not wanting to waste time looking for yet another shard) she couldn't help but stride on ahead. Fish people sounded fun anyways, maybe she'd see a mermaid! Like Ariel from the Little Mermaid or something. Of course, when she had tried to convince Terry using this route it didn't really work (either because the dingo didn't really care about the Little Mermaid, had an intense hatred for Disney, or never watched it, she will never know) so she had to convince him a different way: the offer of fish flesh and seafood in his plate tonight.

And, after that struggle of deciding whether or not to go and dragging Terry along with her, Alpha continued toward the sea and began searching for a hint of these fish-people. The quest bubble said that they were supposed to be prancing all over the place, so it shouldn't be that hard to find them. She searched around, eyes sharp and ready to find the slightest hint of fish-person (what did they even look like anyway?) when Terry gave out a shrill bark. Alpha's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Good boy, did you find anything?" and she looked around for clues.

 

Nezuel had spotted the Prism shard some time ago, one of the first to do so, or so it seemed, among the other players in the area. He had a feeling that if other players knew about this prisim shard it would be far more popular. Perhaps they were busy doing other things, lacked perception, or thought that the combat would be far more difficult than they had the skills for. Even he himself lacked the sheer power of Evocation magic, instead choosing the longer casting of a ritual via his primary magic of Malefimancy


Luckily for him, such an occasion as this allowed his magic to shine the most...or perhaps since it was dark magic absorb the most light?. Regardless, he would stay out of the presumed aggro tange of the enemy mobs and start to draw a perfect circle. A force of will closed the circle magically as he finished drawing it physical. Repeating this process three time, slowly and methodically, he would finish the pentagram by adding a five pointed star within the most inner circle of the three rings. Once the ritual site was complete he would begin to chant, letting the magic flow through him and into the circle, growing stronger as the ritual gained strength and lengthened in time. It would still be some time before the ritual was ready to be completed and the magic he had gathered to be used against his enemies...but he hypothosisedit would be some time before they had all gathered and ready to begin proper, plenty of time for him


Still, to use such magic in common sight. He hoped the others knew what he intended to do and wouldn't try to back stab him while he preformed the ritual...with his luck doing so would probably discharge it directly from the circle, causing a rather large explosion and his own death.

 

Something appears to be… fishy on the coastline of this blasted, crime-ridden island, considering the fact that while he strode along the coastline searching for a spot to relax on the sand, Rudiford saw fish… people, and giant crabs dancing around what appears to be another prism shard similar to the one he had failed to retrieve from the rumored Gnoll grass field last time. The sight had Rudiford do a double-take to make sure he wasn't high.

With his pride challenged, the red head looked around and noticed a few other, possibly players, gawking at the direction of the prism shard. He knew that he couldn’t take all those dangerous creatures on by himself, thus necessitating some kind of diplomatic approach.

“Hey,” he called out to a dark haired guy adorned in non-descriptive clothing. “I think I met you at the Gnoll grass field last time. You were with a blond mage weren’t you? I think I bumped into you guys in one of the patches, but it was too frantic to have a meet and greet. Do you want to form a temporary party for this?” he asked.

Noticing other people nearby, Rudiford raised his arm and waved them over as well. “Heeey! Are you guys here for the prism shard? Want to form a temporary party?” he called out to them, hoping they can negotiate with a sense of civility that’s rare to come by these days.

 

His attention was immediately drawn to the red haired male that had reached out to him. Nodding once out of acknowledgement, he’d tilt his head curiously before finally making the mental connection. The two of them had crossed paths briefly during Jack’s hysterical search for the previous shard! “Yeah! The blonde man was Astor. You know him?” Regardless of the answer, he’d let out a laugh while continuing to reminisce about their last encounter. “The guy was going nuts and spraying fire everywhere like a flamethrower!”

Not one to decline an amicable offer, he’d willingly nod once while sending out a party invite to the man. Seeing how the invite was immediately extended to the others, he’d quickly follow suit and begin sending out an entire wave of invites to the other players in their immediate surroundings. “Yeah, let’s rally up and figure out how we’re gonna cook those crabs. They look tasty as hell.”

On each individual’s interface, a notification would appear, prompting them to respond.

Jack Anders has invited you to a party!
Accept/Decline​

Now waiting for the other players to accept, he’d turn back to view at the fish men still fervently dancing. “Any ideas on how we handle this? Seems like a pain in the ass to kill all of them. The fishy guys don’t look too appetizing…”

 

Dempsey walked up to Jack while accepting the party invite with an off-handed gesture. It was apparent to all present that nobody whom was present was taking on all six of those things by themselves. She'd never met jack before worked with him personally, but she'd heard his name mentioned her and there as a decent healer. She sized Jack up for a brief moment, then chimed in;

"The quest description said their was a mage in there somewhere, and It would make things a whole lot easier if we dealt with that right off the bat, and we might be able to take the giant crabs out of the equation by kiting them and saving them for last.

Other than that, I don't know enough about what this group can do to formulate any real plan. I'm Melee DPS with stealth, but stealth isn't going to help us a lot here. I haven't quite worked out how to hide under a grain of sand yet. "

She brought her fingers to her temple and used detection mode, scanning the six enemies and trying to figure out what part she'll wind up playing in all of this. The fish-men seemed to be the cannon fodder of the enemy group, but there were three of them and it was very possible they had some sort of dangerous skill beyond simple melee attacks. the two crabs were obviously intended to be the tanks, leaving the lone magic user, who was (of course) in the rear of the formation closest to the crystal. As the rest of the group began to assemble, she offered a wave and a smile, having seen each of them at least in passing in the last few days.

Her attention returned to the task at hand, and the more she watched the fish people dance and postulate before the crystal shard, the more she became enthralled with the idea of killing the shit out of every last one of them and taking the treasure that she feels is rightfully hers.

 

Jack Anders has invited you to a party!
Accept/Decline

​

"Ooo," she marveled at the screen, checking out all possible vantage points of viewing it before turning to Terry, rubbing his soft ears. "You wanna join boy? Do you?" she cooed at the dingo as he simply nodded with a blissful expression. She wasn't sure if the dingo truly understood or if it was just a coincidental action, but Alpha took his response as an affirmative. Hastily, she clicked the 'Accept' button before the message could time-out and took a look around with her two fingers placed on her temple. Stranger lettering began scrambling in her vision, question marks forming in white lines until, finally, one peculiar set settled on two words:
​

Dempsey Fabijain
​

The name was familiar and had Alpha jumping with joy at the possibility of seeing her odd friend yet again. Terry grouchily grumbled, displeased that Alpha had stopped giving him little pets in favor of jumping maniacally around. The dingo rolled his eyes at the display before taking one of Alpha's sleeves in his maw and dragging her closer and closer to the name. Unfortunately, being dragged by the fabric of her clothes wasn't the best for her sense of balance and she stumbled and tripped along the way. "Ow, ow, ow, Terry," she moaned, attempting to cross her arms to show her displeasure as she was being pulled.

When Terry had released her, however, she immediately brushed off the dust on her clothes and fixed Terry with a level-glare (or, as close as she could make it) which failed to intimidate him. Terry completely ignored the gesture and blew her a raspberry (she didn't even know that dogs could do that!) and went back to scratching his ear with his paw.

Alpha groaned, wondering why Terry had dragged her hear when a voice made her forget about her predicament. It was familiar and Alpha was filled with a sense of nostalgia and glee. Understanding dawned on her and she gave Terry a rough pat, drawing happy barks and tail thumping from the pup. "Good job boy!" she praised as she made her way to Dempsey.

And there she was, alongside the man who had invited her into the party! Although the man's name felt familiar somehow (she just couldn't place it, but she was sure she'd heard the name before) she ignored him in favor of rushing over to hug Dempsey. "Demps!" she called, laughter filling the air. "I missed you! Are you here for the rainbow thing too?" she asked jovially.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Terry growling at some fishy figures. She shrugged, they probably had seafood or something that Terry had wanted to eat.

 

Rudiford was feeling rather uncomfortable that the only family face was a stranger he had bumped into some days ago. He wondered to himself if he could trust these people to do their job when risk his hide at the frontline, standing between them and the frontline, making sure the enemy’s attacks doesn’t go past him to the people behind him. He can do that, but if these people don’t know what they are doing, then he’ll be a goner. Drawing a deep breath into his system, the red-head hovered his hand over the accept button and joined Jack’s party, upon which he saw two other teammates name displayed at the corner of his eyes.

Jack Anders has invited you to a party!
Accept / Decline​

‘Okay,’ he thought to himself, ‘you can do this. Just believe in yourself. This is no different than Alfheim Online, only you can’t fly… Oh, and actually it’s kindda painful…’ He shuddered at the thought of being hit, but as long as he doesn’t get hit, it should be okay right?

“Hey, I’m going to aggro them now, okay?” he trailed off as soon as he saw two girls acquainting themselves with one another, locking him and the gloomy looking guy out of their conversation.

With his big sword drawn, Rudiford carefully approached the fishmen still enthralled in their dancing. Sucking in a big gulp of breath, he used a Battle Shout to pull their attention and to possibly put a speed debuff on the group of enemies.

“Slow down!!!” he shouted, activating his skill.

 

Nezuel watched as the group of adventurers gathered together, slowly forming some type of group. How difficult would it be, he wondered, to pull ahead of the enemy in front of them and prevail. Besides that, once the enemy was defeated what would be done about the prism. Obviously it couldn't be shared between the five of them. It could be rewarded to the MVP but was there any sort of rule in the game about killing someone and looting the corpse...would it be possible or permitted?

Jack Anders has invited you to a party!
Accept / Decline​

Nezuel's eyes opened as the pop up was displayed. Was there much of a point of being within a party for this? Was there some sort of healer nearby that could keep him alive should he be injured. Would any holy man really heal a user of the dark arts? Besides that...he was apprehensive of giving these people information about himself, most notably due to the party screen, his name. Still, it was either go big or go home, if things went really sour he would have to run and hide, practicing his art in whatever way he could. There were worse fates, such as mediocrity and death.


He accepted the invite even as he finished his ritual, dark smoke billowing from the circle, radiating out yet stopping suddenly at the third circle and coiling up. The dark mage focused his attention on the warrior that had drawn their attention first, noting that it was finally time to begin. His eyes moved back to the enemy in the back, the mage, obviously. It would be the best strategy to take care of it first. It was possible it was some kind of healer for the crabs and others of its kind...or perhaps some sort of damage dealer that could bypass our own tank's resistances. Gathering his will Nezuel would release it as he broke the pentagram with his foot, the coiled energy flowing from its confined prison through his arm and into a bolt of dark energy intent on dealing damage to the mage.

 

Alpha looked at the crabs with an expression that could only be described as the unlikely mixture of nausea, disgust, and hunger. Living close to the East Coast made eating gourmet crabs from Maryland and such an ease and, at times, a weekly delicacy that would certainly be unobtainable elsewhere. As of such, Alpha had tasted a variety of foods and the fishy scent that wafted from the crabs reminded her of the juicy, delicious crab-meat she'd have whenever her family would take her to one of those fancy restaurants down in the city. The tantalizing smell was not unnoticed as Terry began slobbering up even more than usual at the sight of his favorite dish: seafood delight.

She, however, hesitated and stiffened as the crabs approached. Despite their scrumptious smells, they looked so warped and mutated on the outside that she doubted their insides would be palatable. Eventually, however, it became too much and she closed her eyes and dashed off towards their meal in unison with Terry. "Let's go at the bottom, boy!" she suggested, using her newfound acrobatic abilities as a rogue in an attempt to disorientate one of the crabs. Terry took on the other one, careful to stay out of reach of the claws as he looked for an opening to get underneath. Back at home, Alpha remembered, the crabs back in the fish markets would have their bottoms cracked open and remove the outer shell for consumption. That's their weak spot, most likely.

Grabbing her claw, she glided down under and swiped at the crab's bottom layer, hoping to at least slice through the beast's exoskeleton. Maybe, after they defeated these creatures, they could eat their yummy meatflesh. Well, if they survived, she hoped.

(Alpha and Terry attempt to attack the crabs' underbelly)​

 

Seeing events unfold, Dempsey broke into a dead sprint, flanking the oncoming attackers and charged directly toward the fisherman mage. She knew she'd probably have to take one for the team and would bear the brunt of whatever spell it was casting, but she couldn't let it act with impunity, or the group would be decimated by it's spells. She'd hoped that Nezuels spell would have connected, as it would have bought her precious time she needed to close the distance, but at least he managed to hit something; she watched as the casters spell arced wide but still managed to clip one of the trident wielding fish-men. Not an ideal start, but she could still take solace in knowing that her group had drawn first blood.

She was not terribly well versed in how magic worked, but she assumed that the fish mage had already target Nezuel, (and if not him, there was a good chance he was aiming at someone else maybe?) and hoped for her own sake that if it wished to defend itself from her attack, it would have to start casting over again. Upon reaching the magic user, she didn't stop, and instead leapt into the air, intending to bring a flying superman punch style attack down on the spell caster with both katar

-------------------
Ran to the fish-man mage, and attempted to land a dual wielding attack on the fish man(time permitting)