The naga watched Paddy and the Guardian closely, but her attention was soon taken by Cerilaine and she turned the flashlight to the leopard before paddling carefully towards her. Her brow furrowed as she looked towards it-- a little piece of flint between her paws, and she reached out to take it.
It was oddly cold in her hand, as though she were holding a shard of ice. Uncomfortably so, even, but she kept a hold of it between her own fingers with the flashlight in the other. One hand was quietly extended towards Cerilaine to scoop her up in one arm again.
And then, ever-silent, she was swimming forward again, speeding up briefly to keep up with the group.
Whale winced at the influx of swearing from... somewhere. "Is everyone okay?" she broadcasted along the link, and hummed through the water for those farther away to hear. It seemed so, as they found the guardian and persuaded it without incident, even if the interaction came with more conversations she didn't understand. What blessing? she wondered, glancing at Blight. As far as Whale could tell, they'd done nothing except for talk. So what'd just happened?
Patty's strange mishmash of praise and insults made Whale wince again, sending a series of disapproving clicks his way. At least someone else was standing up to the seahorse, too. There's nothing cowardly about not fighting your allies. We're here to free Artio, not cause unnecessary harm to Farina's friends, she added.
But it wasn't just Patty's accusations of weakness that bothered her. The more he yelled and went around antagonizing people, the more Whale worried. She was beginning to see all too clearly the insanity that the Blacksmith had spoken of. It'll get us in trouble sooner or later... Either he would antagonize someone into fighting them, or he might lead them to their deaths as he deteriorated.
But there was nothing she could do to help that, apart from doing her very best to protect the group. They had not freed Artio, and Whale would not go back without her no matter the danger ahead. She suspected there were others who thought the same way, too. All we can do is stick together, and keep an eye out for each other.
when you forget to post for two rounds in a row :sunglasses:
The journey to the bottom was dark and quiet. Bubbling water and dappled sunlight fell away to pitch blackness and suffocating silence. Beast spent most of it in silence, observing the events around him atop Hestia's shell like some underwater mountain goat. His tentacles waved gently at the Guardian, taking in its monstrous form without fear, and turned to watch as it shot off into the deep.
That guy seems pretty nice, Beast passively noted, and then to Patty-- What's a coward? Well, if he was using it to describe them, it must've meant something good, right? Like strong, or big, or beast!
And once again they were off, this time upwards, and Beast's little hooves scrabbled not to drift away as Hestia swam. He maintained a constant attitude of "everything is fine" despite the possibly impending battle approaching. A tentacle clutched Forgrave's balls protectively while the other scratched his chin. What could he do to help? I know, I can make Oranges to help! You know, those big orange things?
And then nothing happened.
... Okay, maybe not oranges. But oranges shall help us... metaphorically!
Meanwhile Friend was having an absolute ball tooting around. The little herring-ish fish seemed more preoccupied with swimming in circles at high speeds and poking the sand to notice anything happening around him. "Friends, friends~" he sang, only briefly looking up at the guardian to say "Hemmo, big friend!"
The barracuda darted after Patrick as the beast swam back up, leading the group with him. "Baddle?" Friend mouthed, and pondered, and finally puffed out his non-existent chest. "No worry! Is Friend!! Friend find more friend for babble!"
And then he nyoomed off (complete with a audible "Nyoooom!") to the edges of the group, his massive eyes staring into the underwater void. Stick together? Don't leave each other's sight? Friend didn't know those words! All Friend knew was if he tooted away, just vaguely following the direction of "up", maybe he could find more friends and convince them to help with this "battle" thing! Yeah!
Man, what a great idea. Before he knew it he'd already swam away, one eye watching the group's baubles in the distance and the other on the murky depths. "Hemmoooo? More friend?? Need pre-par-a-shun for bibble! Baddle... battle! Need help for Battle! Any helps??"
Friend is looking around (specifically for more lessers) because he is friend
Hunter stared in awe as his flashlight lit up the coral reefs, the rainbow shimmering below completely taking his breath away. Though-- breathing was more of a hypothetical, with the water breathing charm braided into his hair. For a brief moment, everyone was spared his constant barrage of thoughts and chatter... heck, he almost missed the announcement of the second key.
He followed belatedly, his bones rattled by the deep voice that pierced through the ocean. There was a clamor of voices around him, and it was all Hunter could do to spot Asteri in the darkness and swim closer to the leopard, big dual hued eyes wide as they searched the darkness for the source.
Astio? Artio? Farina's magic? This was all beginning to be a bit too much. The massive, sleek eel of spines made Hunter's blood go cold, but... It seemed like they had succeeded, somehow? He spotted his father, Asteri reaching for the elf's outstretched hand, and drifted closer to his family. He placed his own hand on Attikias's shoulder, letting his flashlight dangle about his wrist, and gave his brother and father a toothy grin.
"We got this!" He promised. He held his spear aloft, and kicked along with his feet, the murmuring voices of everyone's thoughts drifting in and out of his own head. "Good job everyone. Let's save our friend!" Whoever Artio was, anyway... Um, Hunter only had a vague idea that this was some epic rescue mission, after all. He hadn't exactly gotten the full disclosure on the situation, mostly because at the first word of adventure he was off preparing like the eager child-at-heart he was.
The Orarian was, temporarily, blinded. But it could sense the jelly-creatures once Whale pointed them out; and the behemoth associated them with deliciousness. Now was not the time for hunt, but any other time, the creature might have gone after the lightstings without Whale's warning. As it was, the Orarian was not tempted in the slightest, both still recoiled from the magical backfire and Whale's warning. Instead, a single tendril remained gently wrapped about Whale's flipper as they continued through the great depths.
Here, the world was both familiar and foreign. As they drew closer to the City, the Orarian felt as though they came closer to the very heart of Fornax, a place the waves knew that it did not. It was perplexing. The Orarian was of Fornax, and yet the sights grew strange and warped.
The chatter was mostly ignored as it was primarily thoughts of the creatures of the other world-- of Land-- and the Orarian, like the Whale, mostly paid mind to Patrick. When the new voice came, Orarian's body was shook with it, tendrils curling in on themselves, recoiling. The voice was loud, deafening, and almost as deep as Orarian's own.
It was enough to make the Orarian dread this new depth. It stayed back with Whale, as the land-creatures parlayed with this spined creature of the depths. Once it was gone, off to find the Master (the one who had made the Ocean dark with anger, who had disturbed the Orarian's routine in the first place) to confirm the stories they brought, the massive tendriled leviathan relaxed once more, drifting along side Whale.
The thoughts shared through the depths whispered of fighting, of preparing, of defense. Was the plan to bring war to the Ocean? Wrath rippled through the behemoth, tendrils splaying out in a terrifying display, and warily, it lurked at Whale's side and expected the creatures of the other world to try and bring war to the waters once more. They would surely lose if they tried.
the orarian is sticking with whale and eyeing up the others as potential threats
As should've been expected, Madhukar's looking around for mushrooms (of all things! In THIS part of the ocean!) wasn't exactly helpful. Turned out to be a waste of energy actually, because not only did the guardian unveil itself in the dim light -- WOAH that's a look -- and yield, but also! There was yet another chamber in which a fight might occur!
If it were possible to sigh underwater, Madhukar would've. Instead, she would shove aside her exasperation and focus on the rational choice: panicking about preparing for an underwater fight. As she already knew, movement would be strange and her magic in particular wouldn't be too useful. Best to prepare to sit in the back as a healer then, right? Nothing to be bratty about... Honestly there should be more gratitude than anything else.
Thus, Madhukar would resign to this foreign role and prepare... to heal stuff.
Madhukar is preparing to be a resident healer! That involves getting Blessing of Pisces ready 'cause she already used her energy pouch :pensive:
Their words and... magic usage? It seemed to get through to the Guardian. There was some interesting banter that following -- a little bratty, lots of tossing around the word 'ugly' -- before they were allowed to continue forward. Upward? To potential battle? Huh. Well, if anyone needed assistance from Kaimana, she had her regenerative gel available. Hopefully she would have the energy to stay out of the way and let these perfectly capable partygoers handle it.
No idea what to do beyond "stay out of the way" and "have the gel ready" though. Maybe... wriggle? She would try that. Wriggling. It was a little tiring, but also a little awakening at the same time. Strange. Silly. Okay, okay, but now was the time to think about uhhh... mmmmmmm... Is this better than petting?
... Glaive.
....... Leviathan.
Ah, man, her heart was at it again...
Text. "Speech."Thoughts.
Kaimana is preparing to be on standby with regenerative gel.
Normally, they wouldn't stopped to admire the corals, maybe even taking a piece for themself. But as tired as they were, and since what they were looking for wasn't coral, they only paused a moment before turning to move on. Luckily, it appeared as though another gembound had found the key. Good- as much as Telesto liked the water, they didn't like being THIS deep. Especially with this many less-than-experiences gembound floundering around. It put them on edge. They kept glancing towards Electrum and Haven to make sure they were alright. Telesto was built for the water, but she was more than aware her parents were not. Why had they come, anyways?
The rumbling voice that went through the water- not a part of the link, but somehow listening in- sent chills down their spine, freezing like ice. The others swam forward, seeking to defuse the situation, and she just stared at where the voice had boomed out of the dark.
No fight came. Uneasy relief swept over them. Suddenly, any potential punishment for being where she shouldn't seemed insignificant in the face of looming violence.
They wouldn't 'say' anything- not when it'd echo through the heads of everyone else here. Telepathy, they decided, wasn't as private as they first would've thought. They'd gently brush against Electrum and Haven if allowed, but for the most part they'd just drift alongside their parents and the rest of the group. Their posture, however, wasn't one of a child cowering behind their parents. It was protective, almost. Electrum had just gotten Haven back- She had just gotten her mom back. And some sea-beast was gonna try to tear that away? Fat chance.
Telesto is sticking close to the group, specifically @Electrum and @Haven
Also! Bluebird wanted me to note that Electrum stuck with the group!
The object they'd uncovered certainly didn't look like the key the weird fish-thing had told them to find, but it was super cool looking! Brandle would poke at it curiously, tugging at one of the stringy-bits just for a (briefly startling) sound to reverberate through the water. Curiosity peaked, he'd pick it up- hugging it to his chest and grinning at Dragon before following him to wherever the next part of their quest was.
As were most things, the constant barrage of thoughts was incredibly distracting. It was hard to discern any particular thought from the tangle of dozens, however, and Brandle found that the only thing he gained from trying was a headache. So he tried his best to focus on keeping up with Dragon and the rest of the group- and listening to the guide, since they seemed important.
The booming voice (voice? how could they speak underwater?) made him jump, nearly dropping the harp as he scrambled through the water to hide behind his dad. The only thing keeping him from panicking completely was how calm and friendly the others were when speaking to them- so that meant they were a friend, right? They were going to help them, at least, so that was good! Brandle found himself releasing a breath he wasn't entirely aware he'd been holding- which was weird, since he didn't exactly inhale or exhale when underwater. Another mystery of the deep.
The thought of a potential battle was scary. Very scary. What could he even do to help, if they (hopefully didn't) end up fighting? Oh! I have these orbs, if anyone needs them! The ones in the light bag are good and the ones in the dark bag are bad! The colors also mean something- i think- This thought petered off into uncertainty as Brandle squinted into the half-open bag of potion orbs. It was difficult to discern any of the colors of the orbs within with how dim the surroundings were, but hopefully that wouldn't matter. As long as nobody ate a bad orb by accident, right?
( Brandle has offered up his pouches of orbs for anyone who'd like to stock up! Otherwise he is sticking close to Dragon and trying to stay out of conflict.)