Sea monster attack!

[kore_npc]

Who: The kidnappees, rescuers, and whoever wants to wait on the beach with towels. See here for an explanation.
When: Afternoon Day 102
Where: The beach
What: The device holding the sea monster at bay has been without power for two days, and now he's... lonely. Or angry. Angry and lonely. But now he's kidnapped some new friends!

The network has been spotty, cutting in and out for a couple days now, but luckily for everyone currently in the monster's grasp, Stane happens to be standing in the middle of a decent signal area.

"The sea monster is taking people! Hurry!"

Comments

[venatical]

Dean goes running after Jo, his focus on getting to Shiala; they can figure out how to take out the whole monster once they get her to safety. At least, that's his plan, but once he starts swimming out and trying to see under the water, he realizes just how long these tentacles are.

And then Dean's getting pulled underwater, one tentacle wrapped around his ankle.

He goes down splashing, but he whips out his knife and starts hacking.

[bluesrat]

Rat's opted for wading out, rather than swimming, long legs allowing him to get pretty far out by that method. When he sees Dean go down, he lunges in that direction, hacking away inexpertly at the tentacle in an attempt to free him. He's no expert with a knife, but the concept doesn't require much skill.

[lightgunhustler]

The splashing is more than enough to catch her attention, and Jo is quick to turn despite being mostly submerged, treading water as she reaches to draw her knife from the sheath at her belt.

"Dean!"

The blade might not be much in comparison to the size of the tentacles, let alone the kraken itself, but damn it, she'll work with what she's got. She dives beneath the surface, holding her breath but forcing her eyes open to get a look at where Dean has been pulled, moving forward and slashing at the offending appendage when it dares to come near her. She surfaces a moment later for air, but she's still close enough to strike, her jaw set as she plows forward, focused.

"Let go of him, ugly!"

[venatical]

With the three of them working, the sea monster gives up, tentacle letting him go quickly and retreating into the water to nurse its wounds. Dean comes back to the surface and coughs, shaking water out of his eyes, and he readjusts his grip on his knife, the better to swim with.

"Seriously, you gotta work on your smack talk," he tells Jo, then gives her a breathless smile and glances back at Rat before he waves them all on, swimming straight toward Shiala.

[bluesrat]

Rat puts out a hand to steady Dean, checking to make sure he's not badly injured while he catches his breath, but of course in a moment the younger man is off like a shot again.

Shaking his head and giving a few coughs, Rat lunges back into the fray, trying to work his way toward whatever he can reach of the tentacles that actually hold people. He slashes and stabs away with grim fervor, aware the knife is too small to do any severe damage but hoping to distract and harass the creature. The trouble with distracting a multi-tentacled monster is that it already has the kind of brain that can split attention however many directions it has arms. He's just one of many nuisances.

[purplishgreen]

Shiala has been near-unconscious, perhaps, but the dose of paralytic she received was perhaps small, and she's starting to come around now. She lifts her head, taking account of the situation, then begins to struggle.

I'm so sorry, you guys, somehow I missed this notif! :(

[lightgunhustler]

"I didn't exactly have a lot of time to think about it!"

Okay, yes, she really needed to work on her smack talk, but calling something ugly or a dick usually got the point across well enough. She wastes no time in taking off after him, giving Rat a worried glance when she hears him coughing -- but he seems to be keeping afloat just fine, and damn if he's not going at it with all he's got.

They finally close in on where Shiala's being held, and Jo is quick to plunge her knife straight into the tentacle that's holding her, hoping to at least surprise the creature enough to get it to release her or loosen its hold.

"Don't worry, we're getting you out of here!"

[venatical]

Dean glances back to check on Rat too, and when he sees Jo's reached Shiala, he slows up a bit too to make sure Rat's going to make it okay. It's not that he doubts his ability, but this is about teamwork, and who knows who might get dragged down by this thing next. He reaches out a hand, offering it to Rat, not sure if he'll need to take it.

[bluesrat]

The primary problem Rat is having is that he was trying to wade in, rather than swim. While he's ridiculously tall, and that means he's capable of wading in further, he's also built like a beanpole and the huge waves and flailing tentacles soon make him lose his footing. He's only a functional swimmer, rather than a skilled one, having not had much opportunity for practice.

When a bigger tentacle lashes his way, it seems, at least at first, like a good idea to grab hold and ride it, stabbing with one hand while keeping the other arm locked around it.

Distracting to the monster? Yes. Safe? No.

He's flung loose after a few good slices, and if the tentacle wasn't badly injured he wouldn't be able to get safely free, but he does manage to flail away without much harm, coughing and focusing on keeping his head above water. When a hand comes his way, he takes it, gladly.

[purplishgreen]

Shiala starts struggling in earnest, now; she's aware of a fight going on, elsewhere, and maybe that's enough to let her squirm her way free, enough of a distraction to the tentacles that hold he captive. She's not going to wait passively, that's for certain.

She gives a cry of triumph as she slips through the coils, lands in the water with a splash. For a moment she drifts under the water, disoriented and still hazy from whatever venom has affected her, but she recovers quickly and swims to the surface.

[lightgunhustler]

Jo is prepared to abandon her blade and leave it jammed into the monster's tentacle when she sees Shiala drop beneath the surface of the water, intending to dive under and grabs ahold of her if she can, but just before she takes the plunge, she sees Shiala come up for air and gives a nod of approval, reclaiming her knife and taking another stab.

"You okay?!" she calls out, hoping their damsel in distress didn't end up with a lungfull of water.

[venatical]

Dean reaches Shiala just in time for her to already have come back up to the surface, and Dean punches a tentacle out of the way as it draws nearer to them.

He wants to hear what Shiala has to say about how she's feeling, but that tentacle he punched comes back, angry, and swipes Dean. He goes under for a few seconds, but is able to come back up again, shaking water out of his eyes.

He doesn't realize he's been hit with the toxin yet, but he'll figure it out soon.

[bluesrat]

"We need... get away..." Rat pants, treading water briefly, then he clutches at the clothes or whatever else he can catch of whoever's nearest, giving a little tug and trying to swim in the direction that would best get them out of the thing's reach. It's distracted still, after all, since they're not the only ones out there attacking it.