epidemiology | EVENT ★ THE BOOM

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EVENT ★ THE BOOM

EVACUATION

Under Undyne’s supervision, recruits will be directed to begin evacuation procedures on the islands closest to Nalalona, where the volcano resides. Nalalona itself is unpopulated, so there’s no need to spend time searching for Nalawi here, but the closest islands may be in danger from errant debris following the forced eruption.

It’s up to you if you want to tell the Nalawi the details about what’s going on. The older, more religious may have a problem with the sacrilege of forcing an eruption, and may become belligerent and aggressive. The younger ones may agree with the idea and ask what they can do to help. You have two weeks until the bomb is ready to be launched, but don’t be fooled -- it’s not a lot of time to waste arguing with some stubborn deer.

Either way, the Nalawi should be moved southward, away from Nalalona. The southern islands are well beyond any danger, but getting there will be difficult without powers at full strength. Better hope you know how to sail a boat.

SCAVENGER HUNT: NALAWI EDITION

The following items will need to be scavenged by recruits in order to assemble the bomb:

METALS: Metal ore can be found and harvested along the more rugged terrain of Nalawi, but there's also the strange, more refined metal scraps and sheets in the depths of the water, remnants of an old war.
OBSIDIAN: Also known as volcanic glass, obsidian is easy to find and useful for makeshift weapons, should the recruits have any extra. Fragile, but sharp.
FISH HEARTS: The local fish use a strange chemical compound that helps oxygenate their blood, most highly concentrated within their hearts. The Nalawi also share this trait, but will not take kindly to people trying to kill them.
SEA URCHINS: Plentiful, but prickly. The toxins in their needles can cause severe fever and hallucinations, so handle with caution.
NALAWI WILDFLOWERS: Red flowers with black stems that need to be ground into a powder. Breathing in the pollen or the powder will induce strange allergies in any recruit, causing one of their senses to go haywire for fifteen minutes -- they might lose it completely, or perhaps they’ll find themselves seeing things that aren’t there or hearing their companions talk about them behind their back. Effects can continue into the second part of the event, if players wish.
COCONUTS: The coconuts on Nalawi look more or less the same as regular coconuts. However, the coconut water here is also highly flammable and volatile -- raittling or handling them indelicately may cause them to explode. On the bright side, they're extra delicious.
WOOD: Trees are made of it.

CONSTRUCTION

The blueprints provided by the ALASTAIR NPCs are detailed and well-drawn, with thorough enough instructions that even laymen could put it together with enough time and effort. However, local, monkey-like creatures will be drawn to the commotion and ingredients. Expect them to sneak around, pulling wires in their curiosity, knocking over coconuts, and otherwise causing trouble. What happens when fish hearts are mixed prematurely with wildflower powder? Let's hope no one finds out.

There is one difference between them and normal Earth monkeys -- the Nalawi monkeys have fins. They seem to be a strange cross between fish and monkey; try not to think too hard about how that happened.

The monkeys are largely nonaggressive, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t annoying. They’ve never seen anybody who looks like the recruits before, and will be understandably curious.

At best, they’ll crawl all over you while you attempt to combine highly reactive ingredients. At worst, they’ll be curious about what happens when they throw said ingredients at you. At the end of the day, they’re just cute, sociopathic little fish-monkey toddlers.

NOTE: When all the scavenger hunt ingredients are prepared properly as per instructions, they will create a stable compound with no ill side effects. Incorrect combinations and accidents may result in whatever problems that players would enjoy playing out.

DEMOLITION

With the bomb and catapult complete, the risky plan to restore the magical flow to the land can commence. Under Pearl's direction, the bomb will be launched from the base of the volcano, landing and detonating exactly as planned. The blast is so powerful it can be felt in the ground below, reverberating through the heart of the volcano.

The plug of ash and steam is burst, lava spewing forth in a violent eruption. The effects can be felt immediately -- the air turns muggy and hot, and characters that have lost their powers will feel them return in a rush. Some will find their powers uncontrollable and unpredictable, and will need to get out of range before they accidentally start shooting lightning bolts into the sky. In this state, powers are likely more of a hindrance than a boon. And those without powers will want to get out of the way, since things are about to get… interesting.

There's another resounding bang. A second explosion, clearly not linked to the first. Something blasts outward from the inside of the volcano, sending lava, ash, and rock spewing out for miles. It's difficult to see exactly what is escaping from the new opening in the side of Nalalona, but you'll find out soon enough.

Countless impish creatures made of flame crawl their way out of the hole. If you listen closely, you might hear them laughing. They’re actually quite intelligent and seem to understand what characters say. They’re hot to the touch and will burn any flesh that comes into contact with them, so all attacks will need to be at a range. A non-violent way to defeat them is to lure them into the water, although some are smarter than others and may start luring characters towards them, compelling them to follow like moths to a flame.

Anyone who lets their defenses down will find themselves more and more hypnotized until they’re following the fire imps back into the volcano; the only things that can break the spell over them are their fellow recruits, whether it’s through defeating the imp, knocking the victim out, showing them reason, or any other alternative.

There are also larger, more menacing fire golems that lumber forth. Despite their hulking size and molten rock pouring from their mouths, they're quite a bit faster than they look, and near unstoppable once they sense body heat. They will chase relentlessly, plowing or scorching through any obstacles to get to their prey.

Each one has a glowing, vulnerable core, but it's not easy to reach -- they're only exposed while attacking, or after its sharp, obsidian exoskeleton is shattered away from it. This can be done via rockslides, cleverness, or brute force, but be careful not to get slashed up too badly in the process. Golems will also not follow into bodies of water or approach active geysers.

The major threat, however, is lava. Contrary to popular media, it's not safe to stand around it in any capacity. It pours quickly down the side of the volcano in a wave towards the recruits. Characters will need to escape the lava's path as well as the creatures that have been set upon them, while helping any of their comrades who may need an extra hand.

AFTERMATH

Once the eruption ends and the lava cools, characters may investigate Nalalona itself. There is a temple nestled inside of it, where the second explosion occurred. It seems the shrine there has been converted into some sort of prison, wrought iron bars raised all along the sacred grounds to keep something penned in. Whatever was being kept there has been whisked away, though it must've been recent: there are signs of life such as freshly scuffed earth and maps with scrawled notes that don't seem to match any Nalawi handwriting. Each one has an area of westward, open ocean circled fervently. Strangely, there are no remnants of food or water to be found. Whoever was holed up in here simply didn’t need it.

everquest next concept

For characters capable of studying the volcano (or asking the ALASTAIR NPCs), the strange energy readings are now gone.

For magical or otherwise supernatural characters, the power surge will only last for the duration of this log. After that, players have one of two options.

POWER BURNOUT: After the sudden spike of powers, players may opt for characters to completely lose their abilities for the time being. For magical characters, this means they can retain non-human characteristics, but will be reduced to a physical, mortal form. This means they will no longer require magical energy or similar substances to survive, but will no longer have any supernatural abilities.

POWER REDUCTION: Similar to what's already happened, characters can continue to coast on nerfed abilities.

This will remain in play until otherwise noted, so please pick whatever option is most sustainable for you. Please note this is not optional: magical characters will be affected in one way or the other, and all powers (including AC Rewards) will need to be removed or severely toned down.

OOC INFO

The actions in this log will take two IC weeks. Gathering, construction, and evacuation will take up the bulk of this time.

REMINDER: we always take player plot suggestions! Please see the suggestion page here.

If you have a question about the Nalawi mission in general, please use the mission overview page to help keep questions in one location for easy player reference. The questions thread below should only be for questions that pertain to this specific log.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well, this is a little familiar. Turning the tables from a few weeks back, only instead of spooky-ass ghost deer, it's pain in the ass fire imps. And instead of hanging around the forest at night, it's the middle of a volcanic warzone. Way to one-up the stakes for him, bud.]

You just don't do these things halfway.

[Not that she seems to hear him. Much as one good turn deserves another—she hadn't abandoned Jason to his cut rate horror-movie fate, after all—Ramir is knee deep in lava and there's no way in hell Jason's getting close enough to shake her out of it and coming out of that in one piece. Instead, he sticks to higher ground. Draws a pistol and takes a few potshots at the increasingly aggravated imp from a more reasonable distance. Once it loops around to give him a good angle, he goes for the head.

(He's got a slightly questionable plan B in mind, if this doesn't pan out. But lets try the safer route, first.)

It hits, knocks the creature back into the lava flow, but it's hard to tell if Ramir seems to budge for it. And that thing must be hardier than it looks, because the imp crawls back up out of the lava and hisses in his direction for the interruption. He takes aim to try and shoot it down again before it can climb back onto her.]

[ There's a thick fog over all of Ramir's senses, impenetrable and bewildering, which thins just slightly after Jason's shot rings out. Suddenly she can see... lava? That's nearly as bewildering as the fog, though. Sure, there was the volcano, but she'd been toward the base of it, not anywhere near a lava flow...

There's a tiny sensation she hardly notices as the imp clutches at her foot, preparing to scale its Ramir-mountain again, this time with Ramir between it and the source of the attack.

That's weird. She drops her head to watch it dully, not sure what to make of this, or anything.

Huh. It's probably fine. She keeps still, wondering vaguely why the fog is beginning to thicken again. ]

[No dice. Of course. He hisses through his teeth when the imp darts out of his sights, scampering up the side of Mt. Ramir where he cant get an angle on it.]

Damn. Come on—

[Apparently the thing's smart enough to catch on to the attacker and use his perch as a shield. Well, joke's on you, imp. Weighing his options, Jason shifts his target. This time, aiming up and over at Ramir to try clipping her shoulder with a bullet instead. Even if it's falling on deaf ears—]

I'd like to take this opportunity to establish that I've exhausted all other options, first. [Well, y'know. Some of them. The point is, he tried, and he's almost entirely sure this won't bite him in the ass. ...Still—] Remind me to apologize if this doesn't work.

[On anyone else, it would be more than overkill. Anyone else wouldn't be shin deep in a lava flow in the first place. It shouldn't pierce, if what she'd claimed about her particular set of superpowers is right. (That he couldn't hurt her if he tried.) But even through body armor, getting shot feels like a solid slug. She ought to feel something. If they're lucky, the force of the impact might rattle her out of the trance.

Theoretically. She's knee deep in lava and still standing. She can probably take the hit. After taking the extra second to steady his aim, he pulls the trigger. Lets see what you're made of, Ramir.]

[ Ramir's shoulder jerks forward under the impact of the bullet, twisting her halfway around. There's also a bullet-sized tear in the cloth at her shoulder — and then another one an instant later, as the hit ricocheted off. The jerk also dislodges the imp from its climb, which tumbles back down into the lava with an unhappy shriek.

Ramir blinks as the fog pulls back further still, and finally starts to wonder why the fuck she's standing in lava. That's sort of out of the norm. She shakes her head and glances around, spotting Jason (with a gun? huh) and looking even more puzzled to see him. ]

Uh. Hi. [ She takes a step back toward solid ground, incidentally kicking the imp as it had started to near her again. She drops an instinctively guilty look down at it as it tumbles back. ] Oh, shit, oops.

[There we go. Sorry, Ramir's shirt, but sometimes sacrifices just have to be made. The ricochet goes wide of his crouch, which is good. She starts moving, which is better. It's been more than a month since their little wager, but he goes the extra mile and greets her in Italian.]

Good morning to you, too. So glad you could join us.

[On that note, don't apologize to the imp, Ramir. The imp is the enemy. He gestures toward her lava-immersed feet with his pistol, switching back to English for convenience. The imp is still down there somewhere, and she's way too far out.]

You might want to take care of that. I'm not looking forward to spending the bullets if you get all spacey again.

[ Aw, he's still doing Italian. That's so charming. It wipes away the last of the fog for her, and this time the imp gets a look of distinct annoyance when she glances down at it. ]

What? Oh, yeah. This little asshole. [ English again, following suit. She stoops and plucks the imp up by its fat little flaming neck, and wastes no more time. Ramir glances around just long enough to get her bearings, then flings it oceanwards. It shoots immediately out of sight over a ridge of Nalalona, but she's not too worried. With this kind of strength there's no way it won't make it there eventually.

Then, finally, she turns a wide smile on Jason as she starts her wading trek back to non-liquid land. ]

Aww, you saved me! What a hero.

[He has his moments. Jason pushes himself up to stand again while Ramir deals with her pyrotechnic pain in the ass...by reaching down into the lava and chucking it into the horizon at mach 5. Despite honestly knowing better than to be surprised by this turn of events, his brows still hike up toward his hairline at the demonstration. Nice arm.

That taken care of, he swings down from his higher ground to meet her halfway. This ends up falling short of actually halfway, because he stops a deliberate distance from the lava flow as she wades back at him, shaking ash out of his hair while he waits for her to meet him somewhere a little less likely to set him on fire. (The area seems free of imps, for now, but his weapon stays in hand until she's clear, just in case.) He exhales though his nose like a scoff, one corner of his mouth twisting up wryly, like she's said something kind of funny.]

I dunno, you almost had 'em at a stalemate already.

[This is only partly a joke. Apparent invulnerability or not, they'd be shit out of luck if the imp was clever enough to lead her into deeper "waters" or something. What's it like to suffocate on molten rock? Lets not find out.]

You're a high-risk damsel, you know that?

[Couldn't have picked somewhere a little more convenient to get hypnotized, huh?]

[ She's not too into considering what could have been, because the thought that it could have led her deeper has occurred to her, too. But that didn't happen, so it's not worth any concern. So, sure, a stalemate. She'll go with that. ]

Yeah, well, that's the price of this friendship.

[ She steps out of the lava, glances down at her feet — and sighs at the complete absence of boot or bottom-of-pants. Ugh. But okay, ignoring that too, instead she brightens into a hopeful smile as she hurries forward to meet up with Jason somewhere other than at the edge of a flow of lava. ]

Hey, does this mean I get to pull one of those heroes get kisses things? Or, wait— [ Her smile drops into a frown. ] Should I have done that with the ghosts? Fuck, I missed my chance!

[Whoops. Maybe ALASTAIR could stand to invest in some Ramir-proofing on the uniforms.

There's an odd, barely there beat while she chatters back at him. Quiet enough to fly under the radar, but jarring enough to rattle his guard for a second or two. This friendship, huh. Just like that. (Most unexpectedly, it's that he doesn't actually find he's entirely opposed to the concept, which shouldn't take him by surprise like it does. In his defense, he'd never actually had that many friends in the first place to compare. Especially now, with his once-bitten twice-shy trust meted out in far smaller and harder won ways.) Not that he didn't already like Ramir plenty, from what he's seen. But there's a difference. So it's progress, maybe, in its own stubborn way.

Circling back around to the banter comes far easier than examining the matter too closely. Her face falls as her missed opportunity dawns on her, and he cracks a crooked grin at her expense.]

That would have been the time, yeah.

[Would have put them one for one on the heroics. (So does that mean they cancel each other out or double the payout?) He stows his pistol at his side as she joins him on the cooler parts of the terrain. "Cooler" being very relative, here. Even from where he's standing, he can feel the radiant heat of the lava flow she'd just crawled out of. He takes a glove off to hold an experimental hand up in her general direction to test the temperature differential.]

That said, I think smoking hot's usually better incentive when it's not literal.

[Like macking on a hot tin roof. Please don't set him on fire, bud. He's packing some very combustible heat, over here.]

[ Oh, huh. Is she hot? She glances down at herself, notes all the smoldering going on in the still-intact clothes that were nearest to the lava, and has to concede, yeah, she's pretty hot. She experimentally puts a hand flat to her chest, shoulder, cheek, but it's hard to measure temperature when you're the same rate all over. She drops her hand with a shrug, then grins. ]

Yeah, I'm definitely hot. And look at that, it's not that often figurative and literal lines up so good!

[ She laughs, a little delighted with it. ]

Okay, you're off the hook. But sometime soon get yourself in trouble so I can rescue you, alright? I'm not gonna miss it again.

[Offending red-hot girls with superstrength is probably not the smartest thing in the world to risk, but luckily she takes it in the most flattering way possible. He drops his hand back down—established that yes, Ramir, you are pretty hot—and pulls his gloves back on properly to give his hands the extra armor against the elements. She's out of the lava flow, but they're still smack dab in the danger zone.]

I'll be sure to go looking for some. We'll keep a tab running.

[Looking for trouble, that is. Nothing new there, really. Looking for trouble is practically his MO. And he probably wouldn't have to look very far, right now. Sticking around with the eruption and the lava monsters is pretty enormous amounts of risky for anyone without a bunch of bullshit overdrive superpowers to back them up. Speaking of which—]

I take it you're running on all cylinders again.

[They hadn't discussed her powers fading in so many words, before the blast. But you don't have to be Batman to put two and two together when it's affecting the whole damn powered portion of the crew.]

[ His question has her beaming brightly. She hadn't talked much about her fading powers, really — everyone was in the same boat, and she honestly seemed to get off pretty light. She'd hardly even noticed. (Helped along by the fact that she's still not really sure of the limits of her powers.) ]

I'm running on more than all cylinders — like someone went and installed a hundred more when I wasn't looking. [ She lifts an arm to flex for emphasis, complete with a cheesy grin. She looks extraordinarily pleased with herself. ] I'm kinda amazing right now. If you see any of those big guys, lemme at 'em. I bet I could take on like five at once.

[ After all, what do they have? Heat? Maybe some long claws? She's impervious to both, so far as she knows. The little guys, on the other hand — well, she's happy to have Jason around to help with those ones. ]

[That's pretty cute, Ramir. Good to know, at least. They're lucky the whole crackpot plan worked, if this is what it was going to unleash on them for trying. Still makes you wonder how the volcano ties into the power nerfing, especially in regard to the crew. They're foreign here, but they seem to be playing along the same rules as the natives, for better and for worse. Not the time to try and figure it out, though.]

Pretty convenient timing for a level up. Makes you wonder where they're keeping the catch.

[A hundred more sounds a little too good to be true. Questioning providence can wait til they've got the time for it. He's not too proud to let the supers do what supers do when it comes to it. She's better equipped, and getting incinerated isn't big on his list of things to do any time soon. It's not a bad setup, really. If she can take point, he'll cover her. Easy.

He gestures widely out at the terrain. Ladies first.]

They're all yours, if you want 'em. I'm packed a little light for a monster mash.

[Not that he wouldn't do his damndest to make himself useful, but dealing with the golems has largely been a matter of getting real creative with the terrain, on his end. Where's a good rocket launcher or something when you need one.]

[ She drops her arm again to grind one fist into the other palm, still grinning. God, this is great. What a good day. ]

Gotcha covered. Just take care of the little short ones if we see any.

[ She starts forward to lead the way, looking maybe slightly less picaresque for her bare feet and tragically shortened pants. She keeps her eyes on the terrain around them, hoping to spot a golem as it comes into sight, but still addresses this back to Jason: ] So, you think there is a catch? Maybe we just fixed it.

[Don't look so excited, Ramir, he might think you're enjoying yourself. Anyway, maybe they did. The senior recruits (read: talking cats) that gave them the bomb plans seemed to think this would do it. And it's a nice idea. One mission down for the crew to put on their supposed tab, less to worry about for the more magically inclined of them. And a net gain for the natives, of course. Still feels too messy, if not precisely too easy. But then, it is, apparently, magic.

Still, he follows at a close distance and answers with the distracted dissatisfaction of the vexed detective type, eyes out in the distance in case of imps.]

Maybe. Still leaves us a lot of loose ends.

[But maybe it's just him. Growing up in Gotham teaches you not to put much stock in something until you can sell it. If something looks too good to be true, it's probably going to kick you in the teeth and make off with your wallet. Something shifts on the horizon, and he raps his knuckles against her shoulder to be sure she caught sight of it.]

Guess there's one way to find out.

[Incoming.]

[ Man, she wants to think they just took care of it, easy as that. Then Undyne and Pearl and the other weird non-humans can go back to fine, and everything's good. And maybe this power boost is permanent, that'd be pretty great. She's lost in contemplating how nice everything could be if things would just be nice enough to work out when the touch grabs her attention. She's pretty quick back to get back to a smile. ]

Nice. On it.

[ She strides forward to meet the thing — golem, it turns out to be, when it presses forward and crests the ridge — and to put a little distance between her and Jason. These guys have a tendency to drip if you stir them up a little, she'd like to keep him out of the splash zone. It snarls as the two of them come into sight and starts up one of its surprisingly quick charges.

Ramir drops into a ready crouch, ready to take it on and start ripping into it (she's already planning something cool involving maybe ripping off one of its arms for a start) but the thing rushes straight past her, apparently with Jason in mind instead. She blinks as visions of arm removal fade from her mind's eye, and realizes its target too late to do much about it other than twist around and break into a run to try and catch up. ]

What! Hey! Fuck you, I'm right here!

[Ramir, you had one job.

It's dumb bad luck that the golem goes right for the more flammable of the two of them right away. Which, you know, kind of figures. It's also a hell of a lot faster than it has much right to be, considering it's huge and made of rock. Jason's seen enough of these things to know that pulling a weapon on it would be a waste of bullets. There's no way he's got enough stopping power for a metric ton of animate volcanic rock.

So, dodging it is. He misses getting nailed by the first swipe of the thing's sharp claws by inches, but it's got range. So he risks ducking down between the golem's legs, instead. A particularly tricky bit of acrobatics, but it lands him on the back side of the monster, and thus out of slashing range for the handful of seconds it'll take for the golem to find him again.

It clips him on his way through and knocks him off balance and he rolls upright into a crouch as he recovers, clapping a hand against the damage to stop his shirt from smoldering while the golem tries to work out where he's gone.]

Now would be a good time to cash in on that knight in shining armor thing—

[Any time, bud. He's got it distracted and everything.]

[ Well, thank god he's competent. She's not going to risk him having to pull that off twice unharmed, though. She's still too many steps away (that thing moves unfairly fast, and super speed is not one of her talents), it has too much time to turn and find him again for another go.

So she makes noise as she runs. Whatever comes to mind, as loud as she can manage: ] Hey! You got a real nice ass! I love asses all goopy and covered in lava, what's your workout regime!

[ It had paused to begin looking around for the source of the yelling, which is time spent not looking for Jason, so she'll call this a win. She launches herself off the ground a few instants later, hitting the thing square in the chest in a tackle. The both of them go flying, and land with no small amount of skidding. Ramir can feel jacket bits being burned off by monster and rocks below alike. Great. Rest in pieces, jacket.

She's on it immediately, tearing off bits of armor to try and reach its core. Over her shoulder: ]

Sorry! I guess it just had a thing for you. Can't blame it.

[Atta girl. No time to appreciate a good taunt, because he's immediately up and running to get clear while she draws attention away from him. Jason spins on a heel to face the carnage once he's got a reasonable—if not safe—distance. Just in time to see her start literally punching pieces off of the golem.

Well, that he can appreciate.]

Oh yeah, I get that a lot.

[The trying-to-kill-him thing, mostly. Brief snafu aside, she seems to have things under control, now. Punching through in the right neighborhood, but just in case—]

Weakness is dead center, under all that. Can't miss it.

[ She nods; the core is almost in sight, it just keeps shifting around to keep it protected. The stupid thing is smart, she hates that. She catches one of its flying fists and traps the limb under her arm, for one less limb focused on murdering her while she tries to murder it. It's going... relatively well, all things considered. ]

Yeah, got it — I'll have this guy in a sec.

[ That's the prognosis, anyway, until they get another enthusiastic party. A second golem slinks over the crest of the ridge, drawn by the noise, with gleaming eyes shifting from Ramir and her task to Jason. Ramir hasn't quite noticed it yet, she's a little preoccupied. ]

[Ramir's too busy to notice their company. Jason's not. Well, wouldn't expect it to be too easy.]

You've got fifteen seconds before you've got company.

[He can run interference for a while—provided the golem doesn't ignore him and beeline right to Ramir in defense of its fellow man. Do rock monsters have a sense of camaraderie? Now's not a good time to find out. He's already circling around to position himself a little closer to Golem Numero Dos, though he won't make a move until they're on the same page. Last thing they need in these conditions is to work against each other.

The new golem hisses ominously and angrily in Ramir's direction, spouting a stream of sparks from its mouth. 12 seconds...11...]

Need me to keep him busy?

[ She darts a glance over, and the sight of their newcomer gets a sigh. Normally two would be totally fine, but this one here is being just totally unreasonable. ]

Yeah, it'd be nice — just thirty seconds, then I'll take him off your hands.

[ She picks up the pace. She's almost got that stupid core in reach, but every time she grabs for it the thing pins her down with two arms and jerks away. With a lip curled in irritation she grabs a firm hold of one of those arms and twists hard, wrenching it out of the socket — and then right off. Of course the thing bleeds lava, and of course it bleeds it right down onto her, but it's progress. The next time she goes for the core it doesn't have a way to fend her off, and finally she plunges an arm through its body and closes a hand around it, crushing the thing into pieces. The creature collapses over her, but she's quick to kick it off and struggle back to her feet. It's about 25 seconds in all, not bad. ]

Okay, gimme the next guy!

[That's all the go ahead he needs.]

Thirty it is.

[Jason kicks off in the direction that gives him the most room to maneuver, drawing a pistol to take a potshot at the interloper's head to piss it off and grab its attention. This usually works like a charm, but for good measure—]

Come on, big guy, let's not be rude! Give the lady a little space, you'll get your turn when she's good and ready.

[Offended by one or both of these gambits, the golem swings around and charges for him, and he shuts up to concentrate on not getting incinerated. He can hear the crunch of stone in the distance, though he doesn't risk a glance to see how Ramir's doing. Just going to have to hope she's as good as she says she is. Counting seconds in the back of his head, he ducks an increasingly accurate swipe of a claw, backsprings narrowly out of the way of a spatter of red-hot rock. Until—

Right on time, he gets the all clear. He risks a glance over a shoulder to check up on the situation on her end—severed arm cast to the side and golem numero uno gone limp in a puddle of molten gore. He shifts gears away from playing keep-away to lead the golem back in Ramir's direction. Incoming.]

[ She wishes she could have watched whatever Jason did to keep the thing busy, it was probably a good show. Oh well, maybe next time. Right now she's got another guy to take care off, and as it approaches she's already eying the plating on its chest, deciding which ones to rip away first. She charges in, ready to get started again, but somewhere in the back of her mind registers that this one feels... hotter.

She catches two of its arms and gets right to work removing one, but it's not quite so easy this time. It really takes some tugging, and for a while it doesn't seem like it'll come off. And the swipes from the remaining two arms really start to hurt, too. When she glances down and notices that claws have drawn a thin line of blood across one shoulder is when she feels the first stirring of unease. But, okay, plating. It's down to three arms, that's enough. She pins one of them against her own body and begins tearing off chunks —

— But she doesn't make it too far. There's just a slim opening in its armor when she has to jerk away from it, the ugly red sear of a burn along one forearm and eyes going wide in panic. She's freezing up. This feels way weaker than she was before, when everything was just draining, this feels like more. And the thing is pissed now, surging forward as she backs away. ]

Jason! [ There's a note of terror in her voice that she doesn't have time to dislike. Can she count on this guy? They've saved each other a couple times before, sure, what's that guarantee? Enough, she hopes. She clutches her burnt arm against her chest and has forgotten how to look away from it, to find an opening to dart away. ]

[His biggest mistake, he realizes at once, and too late, is assuming too far with too little to back it up. Falling back a little too hard, taking for granted that the confidence and the superpower set comes with a certain kind of experience backing it up. The kind that prepares you for contingencies, keeps you from choking in the face of things gone south in the worst way.

That's his bad, and he's already kicking himself for the carelessness of it when he catches the high note of fear in her voice, the way she freezes up. No time for that while their big guns are (clearly) gone and their big ugly problems are still (unfortunately) knuckledragging around. He's in a perfect position to ditch her and save his own skin, if he were feeling that kind of self-serving. Jason's not exactly the nicest guy in the world, but he's not that particular kind of dirtbag. So. Options.]

O-kay, new plan!

[Cutting in loudly, both to draw attention back to himself and to rattle her out of her shock if he can. He'd stopped out of the range of the fight when Ramir tagged in, so he starts edging back in as soon as he catches on that she's running into trouble. Weapon raised at the crack in the armor plating that she'd managed to reveal as he pulls the trigger in succession. The golem stops with a confused roar when he lands a bullseye at the weak spot. It hunches protectively over its core as it swings around looking for the source.

He doesn't let himself sound worried, but he makes a point of sounding urgent. Come on, Ramir, look alive if you want to stay that way.]

I think it's about time to mosey, don't you? [This is rhetorical, please mosey the hell out of here. He's a good shot, and it seems to hurt just enough to make him golem priority numero uno again, but it won't be enough to put the thing down for good. This is just stalling. There are still three whole arms to swipe at them with, so Jason's's better used to split the attention than to try and drag her out of the way. Which means she's going to have to get moving on her own.] You find us some higher ground and I'll catch up.

[Hopefully. The golem's already recovering to swing back his way, and standing his ground for even a fraction of the time while she splits is a whole lot riskier than playing cat and mouse. Thirty seconds is a pretty generous estimate.]

if this doesn't work for you just punch me

it's perfect, perfect in every way

the mary poppins of tags

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