[ORP] Nothing to Sneeze At (MINIBOSS PG 18!!)

[Baneful]

It was absolutely absurd chasing down some sort of rodent with so many robes and everything else to deal with.

Still, he kept shooting and finally the creature slowed.



HP: 4

 

[Baneful]

With the minipet finally reduced to a dim and sedated state, he retrieved it and brought it back, looking ruffled and distressed from the exertion, rearranging his robes before he got down to business.

Firstly he applied the mixture to the spectralia with careful claws, finding that the fur seemed to fall out and the skin turned oddly leathery. It was a little distressing to watch and when the creature squeaked in pain he made the mistake of prodding it with a claw, blood oozing out of the site in a rather horrifying way.

He pressed on and applied the pollen next, drying out the blood he'd just spilled, but it certainly didn't help the little thing at all, breathing desperately. He looked a little alarmed.

When it finally seemed to snap, using the last of its energy to bite him, he was a little less sympathetic to it, nursing his claws with a look of open irritation. But he didn't blame it, not really, it hadn't been its fault that it was captured and tortured and at least it had put up a fight in the end..

 

[Baneful]

Liang moved to the bowl with absolute trepidation, completely out of his depth when it came to brewing up strange things, very far from the realm of intricate craftsmanship and yet not so far that it could not be navigated with care and guidance, mercifully both of which he had here.

Adding his own creation to the mix, he held his breath and it melded very cautiously into the overall blend in the bowl.

CURRENT COMPOUND SCORE: 26  

[Eight]

CURRENT COMPOUND SCORE: 40

This was the kind of thing she lived for. Na'ima hummed quietly as she leaned over to peer into the concoction and get a better look at it. It could be almost ready..  

[chirigami]

CURRENT COMPOUND SCORE: 45

The one-sided glaring contest came to a halt as their current exercise started to proceed once more. His yellow eyes switched focus from Qarah to those who entered and what they entered with. It was actually a little exciting, to mix what they had created into something that needed 'safety gear.'

Not exactly one to be first, Waits lingered behind until finally one of the others stepped up. (He might have also zoned out a bit). Leaving his experiment to spew over its suffering on the floor, Waits carefully added in the contents of his own bowl. And with the knowledge that one of his abilities could also be of use and produce more damaging results for their concoction, the alchemist was more than happy to spare a little more of his FEAR.

[Tainted Fang]  

[Toshihiko Two]

CURRENT COMPOUND SCORE: 50

Xala dangled her thurible over the mixture, humming in tune with Na'ima as a gold, glittery smoke began to pour out of the middle. It swirled in a warm, inviting vortex, and for those who weren't covering their mouths, smelled like baking spices.

The whole concoction seemed soothed, happily blending the melded fears.

"If you want it to taste like chocolate," Xala offered generously, "Just say the word."  

[Eight]

Her humming stopped as the alchemist beside her offered up chocolate, instead chuckling and giving her an amused look. "Chocolate? I think the hunters may enjoy that too much."

Toshihiko Two

 

[chirigami]

"Which could prove useful," Waits muttered, eyeing the concoction, "the allure of chocolate into a trap."  

[Toshihiko Two]

"Wellllllll, it wouldn't smell or look like chocolate. Just...taste like it. For maybe..." Xala looked for a sundial.

"An hour."

chirigami

Eight

 

[medigel]

Onlooking sages and alchemists who helped mix nodded in approval as the process continued without a hitch--perhaps for once their first theory was correct? Although one horseman had to be pulled out of their haze as they leaned too close in, drawn by the strangely delightful scent of spices and now hacking up the third of a lung they possessed.

"It looks ready!" one announced to try and get the Elder's attention.

"Mm?" They turned, having been engrossed with one of the minipets whose skin was currently layering and peeling away like an onion, snarling weakly. "Ah! Excellent. Perhaps one last--"

They did not see the ooze lapping at their feet until it clutch one of their ankles. Blinking, they turned their head to see that several of the captured subjects had in fact gotten free while their attention had turned elsewhere. Either the minipets' strength had been underestimated, or each individual minipet was in fact destabilizing under the stress of capture and infection, screeching and whimpering and howling as their bodies began to liquify. (They possessed no cores, after all, and thus were weaker by nature.)

Blinking owlishly, the alchemist attempted to step away, but the ooze was growing stickier (stronger?) by the second as the creatures began to meld together or else, rabid by virtue of the pollen injection, blindly running into the strange substance in an attempt to rip it apart. Had they not been utterly fascinated by the process, the Elder might have given a cry of alarm.

Instead, as the minipets' transformation began to suck them in, it was a rather casual, "Oh my."

Several assistants cried out but dared not draw near, having seen the alchemist struggle. As more minipets were consumed, the collective goop began to stop spreading outwards and grew larger in mass, absorbing even some of the materials left at the horsemen's work stations: bits of remnant failed pollen attempts, crushed materials, anything small and vulnerable to the new toxicity the creation was gaining. Parts of the subsumed minipet could still be seen as if the collective was attempting to make sense of its new form--a limb there, eyes there, horns and teeth and fangs in all the wrong places meant to anchor itself more than anything else. Too late, the alchemist currently waist deep in its mass attempted to break its hold on them, but their weapon couldn't make a dent without more space between them; they might as well have been wielding a ping pong paddle.

"This is a little unexpected," they said, still curiously calm even as they winced in pain. "Do subdue this thing before--agh." Parts of their clothes began to slowly be eaten away by whatever jelly-like substance the minipet monstrosity was made of. Something darker swirled within the bulk of it: a slow vortex of collected pollen remnants and the pouch of numbing powder the Elder had carried on them.

With gurgled rumble, the compound creation turned its many eyes upon the rest and bared its teeth. Some may have recognized the look of clarity in that alien gaze: Whatever it was now, it--they--still remembered. And they were furious.

Quote:

BONUS STAGE: DEFEAT THE CREATURE!

WHAT HAS SCIENCE WROUGHT?!
(something roughly like this, apparently)
HP: 120
Autodamage: 8
Status Effect 1: All attacks made against it are at a -7! The creature is made of denser material than most, and it is constantly puffing out the pollen mixtures you have been creating.
Status Effect 2: If you miss, you are caught in the creature's goop and considered stuck (unable to attack, defend, or use a Fear) until someone quotes you and helps you out. Whoever aids you gets hit for 3 dmg instead of 8 as a flailing limb catches you.

Defeat the accidental creation before it reaches the basin and destroys all of your work! Fears have not refreshed. That means if you used any Fears on the successful minipet capture or during the mixing process, they're not available for this fight. Remember to immediately edit the Boss HP when you roll. Good luck!

THIS WILL LAST UNTIL WEDNESDAY EVENING ~9PM CST

show spoilerhide spoiler

lurks beneath

Yayoi

chirigami

Eight

Smerdle

Baneful

kuropeco

Enoh Love

Carhop Cavalier

hanging gallow

Prolixity

baby_gwing

Beejoux

and be blue

 

[Seussi]

Shaheen stared at the creature for a moment, caught somewhere between rampant excitement because chaos at last and horror because oh crap it might actually ruin everything, and she really didn't feel like waiting for everyone to do all the work for her again. Plus, there was the matter of their famine associate being, well, injested.

So, with some amount of disappointment, she summoned her short sword, took off upwards with a beat of wings, and swooped in for a half hearted slash.

It was so wonderful, why did they have to destroy it?

HP: 42
Damage: 10

Boss HP: 110  

[Eight]

Boss HP: 110

Welp. That was different. Na'ima backed off and watched the scene unfold, keeping her feelings on the whole matter hidden. It was..something else, really. A shame they hadn't predicted that. Well, they didn't have much choice but to kill it now, did they?

Unfortunately Na'ima, being a fine specimen of a Famine mare, was lighter than Shaheen. And so it was for that reason that when her weapon was thrown at the creature it got stuck, giving the thing a chance to easily pull her into it with a startled sound.

HP: 32
Damage done: none  

[medigel]

Thus did Na'ima find herself in a sticky situation.

 

[Toshihiko Two]

Xala watched with wide alarm as her fellow creatives got devoured by the monster they had created.

"Oh," she breathed, "Do you think they're being...crushed to death in there? Beneath all those bodies...," she squeaked, discreetly hiding behind Alva.

"You should save them," she suggested, withdrawing a embroidered slipper from the creeping ooze, "With your arrow thingies."

If he wasn't careful, maybe in the middle of all the crushing, the arrows would penetrate...pierce the sides exquisitely. Xala squeezed Alva's arm.

Defending: Alva
DEF: 5

Baneful

 

[Eight]

Na'ima was no longer having a good day.