Meep Manhunt!

[highseasmods]

Who: Anyone who expressed interest in going after Meep and received a letter from Scurvey Dog.
Where: Anygrav Moon
When: August 9th-22nd
What: The mission begins! Dog asked for help rescuing Meep and it's you lot who've responded. Try to bring him back in one piece, eh?
Warnings: Possible violence...?
Style: Any!
Status: Closed to those involved!

The island is covered by a familiar mist that rolls across the ground. Fortunately for you, it's not going to bring nightmares to life this time, but it definitely lends to the general feeling of unease that fills the place. That isn't helped by the fact that though the population here was never very large, it certainly must be even smaller now.

It's the dead, lifeless husks along the beach that make that much obvious.

There's no sign of battle, and all the bodies appear unmarked. It's as though they suddenly dropped right where they were standing, as if something completely and abruptly drained them of energy.

Watch your step as you make your way inland. Wouldn't it be a shame if the same thing happened to you?

Comments

[judgementscythe]

[Lorelai smashes against the wall, the extra weight from Lyrik swinging down faster than she had anticipated. Hitting it hurt but she was still able to lower Lyrik the short distance remaining before she let go and dropped herself.]

I think so? You ok after that landing?

[She takes bow off her back and immediately starts loosing arrows at the weird giant bugs around her. Trying to clear a path between where she and Lyrik had landed towards the others.]

[chasing_waterfalls]

[Lyrik stumbles once his feet meet the ground, but seeing all these insects and things so close by is enough incentive to try extra hard to put on the brakes.]

-yes, I think..!

[He'd be better without all these creepy crawlies! His hands pat at his belt for his sword, and then he has a better idea, grabbing for one of the canteens at his waist. Uncapping it, he upturns it, letting the water spill freely in front of him, but before it hits the ground, he sweeps his other arm out, causing it to wind in a loop of water, snapping at the ground to try and drive the things back.]

[serving_love]

[AND THEN THERE'S SANJI.

Sort of just hopping in midair and staring down below with a look that is weirdly close to horror.

His first instinct, of course, had been to grab for Lorelai when the ground started crumbling beneath them. But sadface, she hadn't actually needed his help. Hell, she'd even snatched Lyrik up before Sanji could reach for him next.

Sorry, marimo, much as he likes you, he wasn't up for fireman-carrying your ass around. Besides, he figured you'd be fiiiine.

The bigger problem, obviously, is the way the shitty ground down there seems to be fucking moving. He can't really make out much yet, but he can sort of hear them. Buzzing and clacking and as his eyes adjust there seems to be bodies and bodies of creepy crawly little goddamn NIGHTMARES with too many eyes and legs and they're ALL OVER THE FLOOR and alkjsdfhakjs.

So yeah.

He'll just Sky Walk in place for now.

And maybe belatedly clear his throat and call out to the others with a voice that is lightly off pitch and a little wonky.]

Ah—okay, roll call, make sure everyone's still here... LORELAI-CHAN, YOU SURE YOU'RE GOOD?

[...That's it. That's the end of the roll call.]

[yourotherleft]

[righting himself after that brush with crawlies]

Fine.

[and then squints up at Sanji, hovering up there like a big damn coward, and magnificently flips him off]

Get down here, you big baby!

[judgementscythe]

[Lorelai shouts back up to the jackass walking in the air while they are down here with all the bugs]

We'd be better if you crushed a few of these things you fucking jackass!

[She Unleashes another volley of arrows as they continue trying to move towards Zoro]

Zoro we're coming to you!

[chasing_waterfalls]

[....if their situation was reversed, Lyrik would have totally voiced the same thing, Sanji. Although it's nice to know that the other guys are all right. And he might be just a tiny bit embarrassed at being saved by Lorelai but he's not going to complain about it either.

He continues to lash the bugs back with his watery whip, watching their flank as he follows Lorelai to where Zoro is.]

[serving_love]

[Zoro's response, Sanji can handle. In fact, he turns his rage up to 11 and scowls ferociously down at him.]

WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A SHITTY BABY, YOU ASSHOLE?!

[...Lorelai's response, not so much.

Guh.

He's not a jackass. ;_; Arrows right through his heart, man.

And you want him to come down and get bug guts all over his shoes?

And risk having a goddamn spider crawl up his pants leg??

But no...of course he has to go down. Like hell he can just leave them all down there, what kind of shithead would that make him?? A LADY HAS REQUESTED HIS HELP, obviously he's gonna rush to her side.

Any second now.

...

Yep.

A shudder runs through his entire body, head to toe, before he manfully rolls his shoulders back and takes a deep breath.

Then fire suddenly licks up the side of his leg as he goes into a free fall.]

Alright, heads up, I'm dropping in! I'm coming to crush the goddamn fucking bugs for you, Lorelai-chwaaan~!!

[Which he will do by crunching right on top of several of them, sweeping that flaming leg out and around to fling more of them away, and then finally -- well, he just goes on a mad, sporadic, somewhat flaily stomping spree.

...So badass.]

AHHHHHH DIE DIE DIE!

[yourotherleft]

[he's all set to help with one hand on Shuusui's hilt, ready to draw, but then there's....that.

Wow.

Zoro straightens up and drops his hand away, deciding to just let all of this happen around him. He's good. As long as nothing else lands on the back of his neck. He may not have Sanji's phobia, but he does consider bugs to be gross little fuckers and wants no part of them.

So he leaves Sanji to his spree and cants his head toward Lorelai and Lyrik]

Good job, guys.

[judgementscythe]

[Lorelai is somewhat caught off guard by Sanji's sudden explosion of violence. Continuing to make her way forward she begins tearing her arrows out of the dead bugs they had struck. Any that were still intact she shoved back in her quiver, the rest she threw to the side.]

Shit. 5 arrows down.

[finally meeting up with Zoro in the where he is in the chamber she looks up at her whip dangling, still wrapped around the outcropping she swung them down from and lets out a frustrated sigh]

Shit.

[chasing_waterfalls]

Gah! Watch out, Mister Sanji!

[Lyrik watches as the man goes on a killing spree. He trails after Lorelai, snapping his watery whip at a few daring spiders. Once they reach Zoro, the kid offers a faint smile and a nod.]

Oh...

[serving_love]

[After all the spiders are GOOD AND DEAD -- or at least most of them, anyway -- Sanji walks over to meet the rest of the group, looking entirely too calm and composed for someone who was just losing their shit over a couple of bugs.

Though he does make the mistake of glancing down at his shoes once, which results in a grimace and him hurriedly scraping his foot against the ground to clean some spider legs off of it. Ugh.

He slows to a stop as he reaches the others, glancing upward toward where they'd originally been walking.]

Guess we gotta get back up.

[NO SWEAT.

...No, but really.]

[yourotherleft]

[follows everybody's gaze to the whip, the doors, etc.]

Is that the only way out? Damn. How're we gonna find that guy if we get lost?

[IRONY]

[judgementscythe]

[hmmm. Back the way they came or through the new paths in front of them? Ok! Might as well move ahead]

One of you assholes want to get my whip down for me? I'd rather not leave it behind if I need it again.

[chasing_waterfalls]

[Lyrik brings the water back into the canteen since he's not making immediate use of it. Better to keep as much of it on hand for if he does, given that so far as he knows, there's no other water source around.]

Maybe we can mark our way as we go, so we can retrace back to here and try another way if the one we do pick doesn't work out.

[He looks to the others, and then where Lorelai's whip is, fingering his chin.]

If they can't get it, maybe I can try to knock it loose with water.

[serving_love]

[Waves a hand.]

I got it.

[Kicks off the ground and hops his way back up to that outcropping so he can untangle Lorelai's whip. Once done, he sends a look back toward the path they came from before he drops down to the ground below again.]

Here, Lorelai-chan. Look, are we sure we don't wanna head back out and just take another shitty path? This one started off poorly, it can only get more fucked up from here.

[But mostly those tunnels in front of them are dark and he's absolutely sure they've got more spiders crawling around in them. That hallway that smelled like old cheese is looking pretty good now, right??

He holds an arm out toward Lorelai and drops a hand heavily on Zoro's shoulder as he looks between the three of them and then speaks in a deep, overly serious tone.]

Don't worry. I can carry you guys.

[yourotherleft]

[looks at him wryly] No, Lyrik is right. Now that we're down here, we may as well push forward. If that door up top was a trap, what's to say they aren't all traps?

[he steps back, his boot heel crunching on something crawly. Mm, centipedes. Gross.]

Suck it up, cook, none of us are gonna enjoy this.

[but the hand on his shoulder is enough to keep him from just starting off through one of the doors - and you should all know not to follow him if he does.]

[judgementscythe]

[Lorelai sees him start to move towards one of the doors and immediately jumps forward to pull him back with a snarl]

Slow down you idiot. We need to make sure we go the right way. Otherwise we'll end up in another fucking room like this.

[Places like this, there is no telling what could have happened behind them after that collapse, one trap sets off another and another. For all she knows there is only one right hall.

She yanks him around to look him right in the eye.]

From now on in this place you listen to me. You may fight better than I do but this kind of place is where I live.

[Lorelai has no chill...

She nocks an arrow into her bow and shoots it at the floor a bit down the hallway he was moving towards, causing jets of fire to explode out from the walls]

Idiot.

[chasing_waterfalls]

Ah-!

[Oh good, Lorelai's taking care of Zoro.]

Miss Lorelai is right! We need to be more careful about which way we go! This place is old on top of trapped, so there's no telling what we might trig- gah!

[He blinks and stares at the fire that bursts within the hallway.]

Wow! Good thinking, Miss Lorelai! Zoro could have been roasted alive!

[serving_love]

[Puffs out a breath, looking a little grumpy -- something that doesn't change when all that fire shoots out of the walls, though aside from that he doesn't react all that much.]

Sure, good, let's stay down here...

[Grumble mutter.

But then he turns a a brighter look on Lorelai.]

Your lead, then!

[yourotherleft]

[grumbles a bit, too, but for completely different reasons]

Fine, you do that.

[though he cocks a look at Sanji] You're really gonna let her go first, Mr. Prince?

[serving_love]

[Gives him the stink-eye a bit because HE KNOWS HE SHOULD but spiders but also Lorelai clearly knows better than the rest of them how to handle this place and he's not about to stop a lady from doing something she's good at.]

Lorelai-chan is the shitty temple master...

[Still, though, he does sweep into a bow in front of her, arm held across his stomach.]

But if she'd like me to be her human shield, I'm more than willing~!! Whatever makes it easier for you to work, Lorelai-chwaaan!

[Better, marmimo? 8|

...It strikes him as a little odd that he had to be provoked into that, but. Hmm.]

[judgementscythe]

[She looks at the remaining halls, doing the same thing with each of them. Seeing if any will react the same way. Both of which don't cause any reaction]

Hmmph. Lyrik, can you send a flood of water down the other halls and tell me if it hits anything that might be a trigger plate or deep cracks in the ground?

[chasing_waterfalls]

Ah...well I don't know about a flood, but I'll see what I can manage.

[He opens the several canteens he carries, upending one after the other as he carefully gathers the water into a floating ball before it can splatter on the ground. It's hardly flood-worthy, but he closes his eyes, letting the watery orb split between the halls, sliding fluidly along the ground.]

....there's...a couple of places cut into the ground in some areas down that way...

I'm not getting anything from the other tunnel, but I'm not really sure either.

[serving_love]

[Ooohh, always cool watching the kid work his magic! And Lorelai is really in her element here.]

We could probably handle some shitty chopped up floor, but the other tunnel sounds safer. Safe might be misleading, though.

[Glances at Lorelai.]

What do you think?

[judgementscythe]

Good work Lyrik, you found us an escape.

[She gives Lyrik a big smile and annoyingly ruffles his hair]

We take the hall that's free. Shitty chopped up floor usually means pitfalls or spikes which usually mean death. I like you idiots. I'd prefer to not have to tell the others that you got your dumb asses killed.

[She immediately slings her bow back on her shoulder before unsnapping the snaps holding the scythe to her back and swings it in front of her before starting her way down the hall.]