[Quest] The Black City - Part III

THE BLACK CITY

The tangle of the last few seconds of fighting was fleeting, but violent: a thrashing of vibrant violet, tentacles twined around claws as if to try and tear them free, those very claws snapping and slicing wherever they could grip. And around both the massive combatants, a cloud billowed through the water: a cloud of blood, a cloud of disease, a cloud of the Kraken's desperate ink. The strikes of the Gembounds were its death toll: the blast of superheated bile melting a sizzling hole in it, Attikias's knive driven in and held, the claws and armored body of Khavur and of Galleon making their final marks. And in the background, Haven's screaming roar became a mere gurgle, a choking, airless cry of rage that seemed almost to speak for Farina herself.

At last, with an impossibly large heave of claws, the Kraken was shorn, torn, and its tentacles first loosened... and then drifted limply from Farina's form. "GOOD," she half-screamed, her voice rippling through the water and through their minds. Clicking claws kicked the body aside, and the Master scuttled forward, deeper into the dark.

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Lights burst through the darkness, illuminating the space in which the Gembounds had been fighting: a huge underwater room, nestled in the very top of the Black City beneath Fornax, its walls and rear floor covered in brightly-colored plants and corals. It looked like a reef, if void of life--and to one side, carefully-obscured (long kept hidden by Deep Dark) lay an Oilstone chrysalis gleaming in the shadows. From the door came Patrick and the Guardian, slinking in and past the Gembounds, examining this long-lost room.

Farina bustled about the back, her enormous bulk well-fitted to the huge size of this place. After a very long moment she'd plucked a large, old Tsavorite gemstone--gleaming brilliant green--from the corals at the back.

There was a long silence. A silence in which the Master turned, lifting the stone, stalk-eyes staring over it. A silence in which she clasped it close to her, and those eyes closed, and a soft few bubbles at last escaped her. A shiver ran through clattering legs, and Farina murmured something so quiet it was lost to the Gembounds' hearing--but it entered their thoughts.

"I missed you... my beloved. I promised--I promised-... I will see you soon."

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She might have stayed like that for hours, caressing the long-lost stone, had Patrick not begun to speak. "DO YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED, MASTER FARINA?" he asked, and for some reason his thoughts and gurgling seahorse voice were at absolute full volume.

Farina looked to them as if she'd forgotten they were there, and then turned away, lurching back into motion.

One shearing claw yanked at a lever near the back, and there was an ominous gurgling that filled the water. Water... that began to drain. Cool, fresh air took its place, though it wasn't clear from where. After a few moments, the water had, in part, receded; there were now, higher up, dry spaces along the coral-laced throne room of the Master.

"'GEMBOUNDS,' THEY CALL YOU-?" Farina's many toxic eyes ranged over the battle-scarred group, judging, evaluating. She was clattering back toward them, from air into the water, regarding them closely. "YOU DID WELL. BUT THERE'S ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT," she added, tapping one massive claw against the underside of her carapace, thoughtfully. "THAT WILL BE YOUR REWARD, THEN, IF YOU WISH IT. STEP FORWARD AND RECEIVE MY GIFT!" There was a dark hilarity in her words, as much a maddened threat as a promise--but Patrick gestured eagerly toward them all. "GO, GO! THIS IS A GREAT GIFT!" he assured them, hastily. Less enthusiastic, the Guardian looked on, key clutched in its grasp--useless now--and then it turned, swimming over to inspect the old Oilstone chrysalis.

Farina's mandibles moved, and a cloud of sickly green spread out before her.

The Kraken lay dead. The Black City was opened. All that was left was to grasp the promised reward.

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Click here for final HP:

HAVEN ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20	KHAVUR ▼ DISEASED 3/20	KAIMANA ▼ DISEASED 10/20
MADHUKAR ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20	ELECTRUM ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20	ESTHER ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20
CERILAINE ▼ DISEASED 10/20	BEDLAM ▼ DISEASED 10/20	HUNTER ▼ DISEASED 10/20
HESTIA ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20	GARNET-EPSILON ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20	TERROR ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20
DRAGON 20/20	DEEP DARK 5/20	CARJA ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20
FAHL ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20	ASCENT ▼ DISEASED 14/20	TELESTO ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20
ASTERI 4/20	ATTIKIAS ▼ DISEASED 12/20	WHALE ▼ CHRYSALIS 0/20
BRANDLE 20/20	V-LABRADORITE-ONE ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20	BLIGHT ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20
THE ORARIAN ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20	BEAST ▼ DISEASED 10/20	FRIEND ▼ KNOCKED OUT 0/20
GALLEON ▼ DISEASED 11/20

[ ACTION LOG ]

> ATTIKIAS inflicts 24 DAMAGE on THE KRAKEN with PHYSICAL COMBAT (increased by WEAK POINT.)
> DRAGON inflicts 18 DAMAGE on THE KRAKEN with BLASTMELT.
> GALLEON inflicts 12 DAMAGE on THE KRAKEN with BODY SLAM.
> KHAVUR inflicts 16 DAMAGE on THE KRAKEN with ATTACK FLURRY.

> FARINA inflicts 180 DAMAGE to THE KRAKEN.

> THE KRAKEN has been KILLED.

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The Quest: The Black City - Part III is now over. Participants may exit at their leisure.

• The Black City is now an available subzone of Fornax for Gembounds to visit. Farina can be found here, for now.

• A number of new aquatic Lesser Gembounds have now been released throughout the caves.

• A new spell - Festering Miasma - has been unlocked in the Magicka shop.

Festering Miasma
High Intensity Manipulation. Seed a small area with multiple strains of bacteria of the user's choice, potentially infecting anyone who passes through it. The bacteria will fade within a few minutes if unsuited to the substrate but in a suitable habitat, may thrive on their own.

The following two spells have also been unlocked; any Gembound with 3+ posts in the Black City - Part III may claim one of their choice in Update Me after exiting this thread!

Bioluminescence
Low Intensity Transformation. A chosen body part or parts glows with a soft hue of the user's choosing. Repeated use may discolor and fade the pigment of the affected areas. These lights can gently pulse with the user's heartbeat, if so desired.

Flash Flood
High Intensity Offensive. The user draws water from the ground and other sources into one area before releasing it in a massive, uncontrolled flood. Intense concentration is required for this spell, and failure may result in extreme dehydration.

•

Achievement - The Black City has been awarded to all characters with 3+ posts in any of the 3 Black City threads. (Post in Update Me if you finish with 3+ posts, and do not yet have the achievement.)

• Soh'ling, the Abyssal Sovereign, has been revealed! This character is up for raffle for those who have not previously won a Valkhound raffle on-site. For the Valkhound raffle and full list of revealed Lessers, please CLICK HERE!

• Mutations may be claimed by all characters with 3+ posts in this thread.
How to claim your mutation:
1. The character must be affected by Farina's "gift" of disease cloud, and will rapidly fall unconscious via illness, and return to their chrysalis.
2. The character must be exited from the thread, and have 3+ posts.
3. Any two features of any of the released new Lesser Gembounds may be claimed as mutation aspects. The mutations must still be passed by a GM for final approval.

Characters may then be assumed to have awoken two weeks after thread start (or later, if preferred) and can reclaim their Water Breathing items and ascend back to the surface of Fornax. (These items will be watched by the Guardian to ensure they're still available for the characters who wore them and are not stolen by others.) A note: the Water Breathing items will return to normal functionality after this thread: their effects will only last a few minutes at a time.