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Fantasy Hunter's Moon: The Sin & Sentence [IC] [CLOSED]

Gwen looked behind herself as she came upon the entrance. From the looks of it, the naive oni and the... uh... whatever the wannabe assassin was, were coming along her path. Perhaps not who she'd have picked, but it's company. The skittering offset the elf, who held her torch aloft and in front of her as far as she could. Even if there was a ball of light following her, too.

...That is, at least, until she saw the grotesque melding of man and bug, staring at her with not two, three, or even four eyes, but eight. With a shrill screech, Gwen nearly tripped over herself, tossing her torch right at the bugman's head, and scampering behind her two compatriots to fumble for her rifle. She desperately hopes that there's not holes that they can come out of in the caves, too...
 
"Possibly. Likely. Wouldn't rule it out of the question."

Kassidy spoke up, as she pistol whipped any of the creatures that came near her before planting a shot into their heads. "They're the cultists Xager was talkin' 'bout. If ya hang around Zalmakul a bit too long...ya start mutatin' into one of these things." she stated. "Watch those teeth o' theirs. They can bite ya and paralyze ya. They can also spit sticky shit at ya...which burns...so yeah."

The group continued on through their respective tunnels, fighting off the cultists that came at them. The stream of cultists seemed almost endless, as every turn they came to in their tunnels, more appeared. Just how many demons were down here, anyway? Eventually, the left tunnel and middle tunnel connected, Seriphine and the others meeting Henderson's group once again. The left tunnel must have been an alternate route in the event the main one was blocked at the entrance. The upper tunnel kept going, however, curving about several times and traveling upwards.

As Henderson and Seriphine's group continued down the main tunnel, they eventually came to a large, dark cavern. Cobwebs and what appeared to be wrapped up corpses lay scattered everywhere, and you couldn't step anywhere without stepping on old webbing. There were large bulbous sacs scattered about as well. "...Eggs..." muttered Kassidy, looking to the others. They'd need to move quietly and carefully through the cavern towards what they thought was an opening on the other side.

Meanwhile, Gwen, Takato, and Wesley came to an end of their tunnel, which opened up into a MASSIVE cavern. They wouldn't need the torch or Takato's glowing orb anymore, as several wide lava flows were visible below which lit up the cavern. Far below, a few hundred yards down, more cultists were moving about. Dragging what appeared to be bodies and tossing them into a large pile. There were several spider webs scattered about here as well, with large egg sacs perched just so. Zalmakul appeared to be above, from what Takato could tell, but the darkness above them didn't offer for a good view of the large creature.
 
"Right." Henderson spoke with a calmer tone. "If the eggs are here, that means whatever laid them is also here." He began to move carefully and slowly towards the opening. "Looks like she would be big and I'd rather we are together for her."
 
The group of Takato, Gwen and Wesley fought off the cultists making their way, with Takato maintaining the frontline, keeping the cultists at bay, whilst Gwen and Wesley finished them off, assuming he didn't beat them hard enough. At one point, a cultist tried to bite at him, but due to biting his bandaged arm, it hardly did anything to him. The spit coming from their mouth, however, was another story, causing greater damage to the wrist portion of his artificial arm than anticipated. He could see the 'dark mist' keeping the arm's shape slowly leaking.

As they got closer to the other end of the cavern, Takato noted that more light was shining from that end than from his orb, so he put it away as they made their way through. At the other end was a massive cavern, with several wide lava flows visible below lighting it up. As he tried to grab more bandage from within his attire, he peered down to the source of the light, seeing many more cultists, dragging bodies about. Likely a feast for Zalmakul. Whilst keeping an eye on their surroundings, he approached the spider webs and the egg sacs - the aura he felt earlier, those more akin to Zalmakul... they had to be these sacs!

Speaking of, he noted Zalmakul's aura closer than ever, appearing to be right above them. However, the light of the lava didn't reach high enough to break the darkness covering the creature. Whatever it was, it appeared to be some sort of giant spider. As he tried to patch the damage, he approached the other two.

"...Zalmakul appears to be right above. Keep on guard," he told them simply.
 
Seriphine looked at the eggs with utter disgust. Then again she was covered in bug-blood, slime and cobwebs up to her knees.
"What if the others were not as lucky as we were? We need to find them- and quickly."

While the disfigured cultists had offered little in the way of resistance to Seriphine, Loque and Vincent she suspected that the subject of their devotion was far more challenging.

Especially when considering the fact that Tariun thought that there was a need for a large artillery piece.
 
While Seriphine simply looks at the eggs with nauseating disgust, Loque takes it a step further. Scorching hot flame forms from her hands and she hurls fistfuls of it towards every clump of eggs there was around her. If they're here to kill Zalmakul and shift the blame elsewhere, then there cannot be any witnesses to what they're doing, even if they've still not formed eyes to see them with.

Though as she burns the nest to the ground, she hesitates for a moment only to grab one of the smaller sacs, toast it with her fire magic, and consume it out of curiosity. This may be the only chance she'll ever have to be able to taste anything close to Zalmakul before they kill it.
 
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The fires set by Loque quickly spread, engulfing the egg sacks and most of the room with it. This provided the needed light to see across to the other side of the room, and the group saw that there was indeed a large opening on the other side leading to a tunnel. The tunnel seemed to widen as it went on, so perhaps that was where Zalmakul was? As the fire burned the egg sacks, some burst due to being cooked. Their contents destroyed. The webbing quickly burned as well, beneath the group's feet, which forced them to rush to the other side of the room into the opening.

And that's when they heard the loud, terrible screech of Zalmakul. It echoed throughout the volcano's caverns, forcing Takato, Gwen, and Wesley to stumble where they were on the upper ledge. Zalmakul had sensed her children were being destroyed. The trio looked up to see a massive spider like creature descend from the roof of the cavern using a thick web strand, lowering down to where the pile of bodies lay. The cultists scrambled to get out of the way, but two were crushed beneath one of Zalmakul's legs.

The other cultists managed to flee into the tunnel, but were quickly cut down by the group rushing up into the main cavern. And as they reached the opening, they found themselves looking up at the massive creature.
 
When Zalmakul appeared inside the main cavern Seriphine looked at it with a deep frown. Its legs were long and thin. It's face resembled a insect- only scaled up a hundred times. She glanced at her blades. From here they'd be next to useless.

"Henderson," said Seriphine, looking at the muscular man. "I have a favor to ask of you."

She raised her left blade and pointed it upwards towards Zalmakul. "Throw me upwards. I shall strike its body directly."
 
Henderson turned his attention towards the others who started to destroy the eggs. Bloody unbelievable! He was annoyed really. The he smelled it. The creature had a specific odor hidden by all the fumes, but as it got closer it became more apparent. He looked up and noticed the ugly beast. it really was a giant spider. The mutant sighed. He hated spiders. Disgusting creatures.

Throw me upwards. I shall strike its body directly.
The brute looked at the elf a bit confused, but he obliged. He lowered his paw for her.

"Get on." He motioned with his hand. She was remarkably light for someone her size. Must be an elven thing. Made the throw easier. Henderson aimed and judged just how much strength he needed to put it. "On three. One, two, three!"
 
Inari grimaced as the monster lowered itself down before them. Truly, she was no fan of insects, least of all something so large and ungainly. She preferred slaying things that at least resembled a person, and bled like one, too. A gigantic spider was not an easy foe, either. Eight legs and what looked like four mandibles, two of which being rather long. Not an easy creature to fight at all.

"We should hack legs," she commented. "Like tree cutting. Make spider not move."
 
Sagath's Territory - Zalmakul's Island - Volcano Battle
Zalmakul (Spider Demon, Super Boss, 500 HP (50 HP for each limb, 50 for body, 50 for head))

Zalmakul
Trait #1: Spider's Web - Can entrap up to three foes in sticky webs. Enemies cannot attack for three turns. Allies can help to free them, however, which costs a turn.
Trait #2: Acidic Venom - Can spit thick, corrosive venom at foes. Causes 3 DMG for three turns.
Trait #3: Massive - Due to its large size and strength, Zalmakul is able to inflict high physical damage. Each physical hit does 5 DMG.

---

Sagath's Territory - Zalmakul's Island - Volcano Battle (Surprise Attack)
Henderson attempts to throw Seriphine. D6 used. Chance Roll = 5. Chance Successful.
Seriphine = 8. Does 3 DMG to Zalmakul's body. Zalmakul Total HP = 497, Body HP = 47.


---------
Henderson launched Seriphine into the air, throwing her rather awkwardly at the giant spider demon's exposed underbelly. And as soon as she arrived, she drove her blades into it. It didn't seem to phase Zalmakul all that much, however, as she fell back off the creature and landed on pile of corpses beneath. Time to get out of the way!

Vincent cut a look towards Inari. "...Good idea, actually. We take out the eyes first, then target the joints in the legs. Try to throw it off balance and steer it into the lava over there." he responded. He then called out to the others. "HIT IT IN THE EYES." he shouted, before raising his rifle and firing off shots at the creature's head. Mentally, he wished that the field gun hadn't been taken out. A few shots from it would have put this thing down for good.
 
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"HIT IT IN THE EYES."
Carefully, very carefully Loque aims her rifle for a precise shot at one of Zalmakul's many eyes. With enough luck, they'll blind it before it can spray its webbing all over them. Though the other part of the plan regarding steering it into the lava concerns her a little. She hopes to at least take a nice bite out of the spider just to get a leg up on Thorgran.
 
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Aside from her now badly wounded pride, Gwen was, for the most part, uninjured. A few tattered seams on her cloak, and bruises to her arm, but she'd otherwise be fine. Once they'd finally come up to the semi-lit alcove above the chamber, a somewhat shaky elf looked down over the ledge, seeing corpses piled up like the winds of plague had passed over the island. She expected the tunnel to be more... spiralled. But it seemed the rafters above were only accessible through that tunnel. Gwen then looked up...

...and scampered in a fright back to the relative safety of the dark tunnelway. Only her head peeked out from it, muttering to herself.
"Je déteste ça; je déteste cet endroit; je déteste ces choses--" Whilst the princess felt herself moderately comfortable when dealing with most demons and lowlifes, there was something about bugs that disquieted her very core. Combine that with a body the size of a carriage, and legs that'd stretch from end to end of a castle's keep, and it wasn't a good recipe for keeping one calm. "--How did they expect to get that thing into here and fire it up at that?" Whilst there was an obvious exasperation in the elf's voice, her voice was still in a hushed sort of whisper, not wanting to provoke the ire of the spider. Thankfully, she wouldn't need to worry about it when it let out an unnatural wail, stumbling Gwenaelle enough for her to fall backwards over herself.

Petrified as she was... she did feel a bit better now that the thing was down the equivalent of a sheer cliff face, looking between her other two compatriots. "...I'll... stay up here. And you two... go down there."
 
Senya quickly met up with the rest, barely having enough time to witness the giant Zakmakul. She raised her head and heard Vincent make a suggestion they should aim for the head first. She agreed, casting a large fireball directed at one of the eyes while hoping they were quick enough to dodge its attacks.
 
Were he a newcomer to Adonia, Gwen's reaction would've been peculiar to Takato, though now he had gotten used to it. Unlike in Adonia, in northern Redonia, spiders were symbolically seen as auspicious - the first character has the same pronunciation as the character for happy, leading to the visual metaphor of spiders dropping down being happiness dropping from the sky. A charm consisting of a spider and a foot would symbolize contentment, for their characters together shared the same pronunciation as the character for contentment. They can sometimes also be considered part of the five poisons, a group of five poisonous animals, whom symbolically counteract pernicious influences, for poison is to be combated with poison. He didn't know how to calm her though, even if he understood Adonian displeasure of spiders, so instead, he kept his watch whilst Wesley watched over her.

Takato looked around the area further, thinking about the aura right above them, and the sacs. He wondered whether something should be done about the sacs, but before he could push that thought out of his head, suddenly, a loud, terrible screech echoed through the caverns, causing him stumble, though he managed to keep his balance. The three watched as the spider-like beast descended down those few hundred yards to the bodies they had noted earlier. Takato rushed over to look down at the beast, when he noted that the others were down there and had already begun engaging it, barely hearing their yelling.

Hearing Gwen's comment, he turned to face her, nodding: "Alright, but do be careful. Shout if you're in need of assistance," he told her, as he looked over to Wesley. He checked himself over before speaking, making sure he had the talismans around his feet.

"Grab hold," he said, as he put his hand forward, "we're descending," as he hopped in place and started floating. As the two descended down, Takato prepared his attack, aiming his qi projectiles at the spider's eyes.
 
"Can't exactly hit eyes with just these...Unless" Henderson looked around and saw what he was looking for. A stalagmite was poking out of the ground. He managed to tare off just a large enough part and hurled the pointy end towards the spider's eye.
 
As she landed relatively gracefully on the pile of corpses below Seriphine grinned and looked up at Zalmakul. The unorthodox tactic had worked out well enough but as Henderson moved in to engage the creature at melee Seriphine followed suit, hoping that perhaps they could repeat the aerial attack later on.

Moving on the nearest leg Seriphine delivered a flurry of attacks at the gigantic spider.
 
There was no way she was going to be able to get up there and hit the eyes with her sword, unfortunately. It would be up to her sawed off. The slug rounds should work nicely - if she could land the shot. Inari pulled the gun away from the small of her back and leveled it with a single hand, aiming carefully, before firing both barrels in quick succession at the creature's eyes.
 
Sagath's Territory - Zalmakul's Island - Volcano Battle - TURN 1
Loque = 7. Does 3 + 3 DMG (6, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's Head. Zalmakul's Head HP = 41, Zalmakul Total HP = 491
Gwen = 3 + 5 (8, Falcon's Eyes, Spiteful Survivalist.) Does 3 + 3 DMG (6, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's Head. Zalmakul's Head HP = 35, Zalmakul Total HP = 485.
Senya = 9. Does 3 + 4 DMG (7, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar, Dragon Knight) to Zalmakul's Head. Zalmakul's Head HP = 26, Zalmakul Total HP = 478.
Takato = 8. Does 3 + 3 DMG (6, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's Head. Zalmakul's Head HP = 20, Zalmakul Total HP = 472.
Henderson = 10. CH Roll = 8. Does 6 + 3 DMG (9, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's Head. Zalmakul's Head HP = 11, Zalmakul Total HP = 463.
Seriphine = 4. Misses Zalmakul's 1st Leg.
Inari = 10. CH Roll = 9. Does 6 + 3 DMG (9, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's Head. Zalmakul's Head HP = 2, Zalmakul Total HP = 454.
Kassidy = 10. CH Roll = 5. Does 5 + 8 DMG (13, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar, Double Tap) to Zalmakul's Head. Zalmakul's Head has been severely damaged! Chance to hit has been reduced by 3! Zalmakul's Total HP = 441.

Vincent = 5 + 3 (8, The Huntsman.) Does 3 + 3 DMG (6, Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's Body. Zalmakul's Body HP = 41, Zalmakul Total HP = 435.

Sagath's Territory - Zalmakul's Island - Volcano Battle - TURN 1 (ENEMY)
Zalmakul attempts to entrap some of the group. D6 used. Chance Roll = 6. Chance Successful. Traps Henderson, Seriphine, and Kassidy in sticky webbing! Henderson, Seriphine, and Kassidy are stuck for three turns unless freed!

---
The group opened up on Zalmakul's head, as the spider move to attack them. With its eyes as the target, they fired off shots or hurled anything they could in an attempt to blind the creature. And they would prove successful. Loque, Gwen, Inari, and Kassidy would score direct shots at the creature's eyes and their general area, damaging several of them, with Henderson, Senya, and Takato's attacks destroying the damaged eyes. Vincent would fire off several shots across the creature's body as the eyes were destroyed, and Seriphine would move in to attack one of the legs. She found herself missing the attack, as the leg moved out of the way.

As the creature screeched in pain, now mostly blinded, it stumbled a bit before launching a thick gooey webbing at them using its spinneret. Henderson, Seriphine, and Kassidy were each struck by the webbing, which locked them into place. As they struggled to get free, Zalmakul moved to try and attack them. Vincent, taking noted of their trapped allies and the now mostly blinded creature, called out again. "Lets free them quickly! Then target the leg joints!"
 
Immediately Loque drops her rifle and sets her teeth upon the webbing holding Kassidy. With her sharp teeth, she chews and tears away at it, but as precisely as she can as well. She’d rather not take a nice chunk out of Kassidy too.
 
Even after being trained to fear nothing as a Ninja, Wesley couldn't help to be grossed out by this huge freak of nature of a spider, "eugh... darn spiders.. and I thought the ones from the forest are bad..." Wesley unsheated his sword, while also grabbing the reserve revolver from his hip. "Takato, We have to get them out of that web before that beast's mouth finds them first!"
 
"I'll keep pressing the attack. Just handle the ones who are trapped!" Senya yelled across the area, using a series of fireballs aimed at one of Zakmakul's leg joints.
 
Having descended fully, and Wesley having let go, Takato watched as they damaged the spider's head heavily. Looking over at Wesley, and overhearing Senya, Takato nodded, rushing over to Henderson, whilst leaving Seriphine to the ninja.

As he rushed over to Henderson, the others could see his artificial arm unraveling, revealing the 'dark mist' underneath. The arm-like shape of the dark mist contorted, as Takato tried to turn up the density of the mist in tandem with the miniscule horn-derived projectiles he kept within, forming it into the shape of a piandao, which would resemble a cimeter to the Adonians present. Trying to find the sharpest edges on the projectiles, but in such a way to avoid hurting Henderson, Takato tried to slice off the webbing and free the big guy.
 
After failing her attack and managing to get stuck by Zalmakul's sticky webbing Seriphine was anything but happy. She watched as some of her companions rushed to assist the others. She also took note that the shifty-looking masked man was considering coming her way. No man let alone half-man that I do not know shall ever touch me. Not even in a situation like this.

"No need to aid me, focus your efforts on the battle!" She said with a very annoyed expression on her face.

Am I being too stubborn perhaps? Seriphine pondered the question for a while before slowly shaking her head. No, no I'm not.
 
Sagath's Territory - Zalmakul's Island - Volcano Battle - TURN 2
Loque attempts to free Kassidy! Takes 1 Turn!
Wesley = 6. Does 3 + 3 DMG (6, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's 1st Leg. Zalmakul's 1st Leg HP = 44, Zalmakul Total HP = 429.
Senya = 9. Does 3 + 4 DMG (7, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar, Dragon Knight) to Zalmakul's 1st Leg. Zalmakul's 1st Leg HP = 37, Zalmakul Total HP = 422.
Takato attempts to free Henderson! Takes 1 Turn!
Inari = 6. Does 3 + 3 DMG (6, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's 1st Leg. Zalmakul's 1st Leg HP = 31, Zalmakul Total HP = 416.
Gwen = 10. CH Roll = 9. Does 6 + 3 DMG (9, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's 1st Leg. Zalmakul's 1st Leg HP = 22, Zalmakul Total HP = 407.

Vincent = 7 + 3 (10, The Huntsman.) CH Roll = 5. Does 5 + 3 DMG (8, Vincent's Abyssal Scholar) to Zalmakul's 1st Leg. Zalmakul's 1st Leg HP = 14, Zalmakul Total HP = 399

Sagath's Territory - Zalmakul's Island - Volcano Battle - TURN 2 (ENEMY)
Zalmakul spits venom at Wesley (Acidic Venom.) D6 used. Chance Roll = 5. Chance Successful. Wesley has been hit with venom! Does 3 DMG for 3 turns to Wesley. Wesley HP = 12.

---
As Loque and Takato attempted to free Henderson and Kassidy, the others kept up their assault on Zalmakul. This time, aiming for the creature's legs. Shots connected with the nearest leg's knee-like joint, bullets hammering into it as well as Senya's fireball. By the time they had to reload, the leg was barely hanging on, spattered in bullet holes, burns, and what appeared to be blood from the creature. It screeched once more, before spitting a thick, dull green liquid at Wesley. The moment it hit Wesley, it began to eat through his clothes and exposed flesh. The spider's venom was acidic!

It wasn't long afterwards that Loque freed Kassidy. Around the same time, Henderson was freed by Takato. Vincent then moved to free Seriphine. "Keep up the pressure! If we can take out four of its legs, we can knock it into the lava flow!" he called out, rushing over to where Seriphine was. Knife out and ready to cut away at the webbing. Kassidy, once free, took aim with her pistols and opened fire on the next leg in line.
 

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