Phantom Colliseum Run

     When the party arrives at the makeshift dock on the maidensong isles, they find that it is bustling with activity currently. Several undead sailors are meandering the area, being directed by the lily of the depths, Fukasa Yuri. Currently she is having them work on reinforcing that dock to make it more sturdy, adding /two more logs/ and /three more planks of wood/. The construction is still pretty crap though. Yuri is not known for being an amazing builder, in spite of the rumors of her having been building homes for landers after the apocalypse.

     Still, it's better than it was, and it's still somewhat sturdy in spite of the poor construction, and a simple wall has been erected, along with several tents and a firepit in the center of the tents and walls. A few barrels of what is likely water and food has been gathered for said little crappy fort that was likely hastily upgraded over the course of a few days.

     Regardless, Fukasa Yuri is standing there, directing her undead sailors while she waits. Clearly, she is planning on something over the next few weeks. But for now, it's just quest time.

Twitch. Twitch.

Calm down Shiruba. These undead are under someone's control. Supposedly. They're just sailors doing sailor things, despite being rotten flesh and bones. Nothing to see here, just move on. You've got a mission to attend to.

Deep breath, calm breath. Deep breath again. A brief nod to Yuri. And then goes to distract herself by looking over the boat or something, since she has a better understanding of such wood constructed things now.

The opportunity to explore anywhere new always seems to draw Mikage out of whatever other task she might have on hand. In this case, the Maidensong Isles are someplace that she has yet to step foot, despite much of her other travels. The problem is... boat travel. Mikage has never been fond of such things, so she can be seen downing a potion and making a face at the taste of it. "Ugh, Cyrus, what the hell. These are starting to taste /worse/." She complains to herself.

Rama, her pet lynx, on the other hand... he seems entirely happy to go on this expedition. The cat's ears are perked, his nose twitching, and his little nub tail is waggling about in a display of excitement.

Mikage casts a wary look towards the undead, avoiding getting too close despite the fact that they seem to be under control. "Uh... interesting friends you have." She comments, as she tucks away the potion bottle.

The Were Fang follows Shiruba towards the boat, her hand nervously fidgeting with the pommel of her sword.

Soujiro Seta admittedly mistook the undead sailors as monsters at first. The monsters you fight, not the ones you direct to stock, prepare, and sail a ship. It involved keeping the undead off of Fukasa, realizing they weren't on Fukasa to begin with, and giving a quick 'sorry' for the removed limb. The samurai is nice to put it back on, though. Give that poor guy a hand, and all. Or maybe the removed arm is the literal 'deckhand' now for the ship. Mystery!

Souji is in his regular Edo period Kimono with the whole blue hair in a ponytail getting a healthy helping of the sea breeze. Enough relaxing, time to train! Jump on a rock, "Hey everyone," jump off a rock. "You signed up for this," jump on a rock, "as well?" Jump off a rock. The rock jumping continues until he is practicing with large boulders. To him, this is another Hunter's Guild request. He has yet to feel the wonderful fun that is the arena since the Apoc.

Kaydon had definitely never run this particular mission before. Still, he figured it was a good chance to test out his gunblade on more than just gnolls. He was certain it was ready for a conflict with the Palace Lands, but a few more test runs couldn't hurt.

At the moment Kaydon was fiddling with the mechanism on it. The undead weren't an issue. At least mostly because none of them were actually hostile. Kaydon fiddles with the screwdriver and the rotating mechanism on his weapon, "So the whole idea of this is we 're supposed to clear out monsters so we can bring the Colosseum back into our control right?"

Bet Tanaka is whistling a tune as he sets foot on the docks, striding across the pier with jaunty steps. The presence of dead things--namely sailors--is briefly concerning, but he does little more than awkwardly sway out of their path on the way past. None of them are trying to kill him, so he assumes they're cool.

The aman comes to a stop near the boat, feet teetering at the edge of the dock like he might go tumbling in. He catches his balance before he does. Two fingers rise, touching to his forehead and making a sloppy salute. "Yo." He addresses his new compatriots. "That's what I was told." The last part is a helpful(?) answer to Kaydon's question.

     Once people start to arrive, Yuri lifts her hand to wave off the undead, which start to retreat into the tents. Well. Shortly after one is as-salted like the salty dog it is by Seto. Its arm removed! ...And then given back to it! It almost looked like it was going to aggro for a moment, but then it's simply de-summoned by Yuri. "...Please check if the monsters are green before attacking them next time. My poor babies." Yuri says towards Seto with a small sigh. There was the soft glow of the undead being dismissed as they entered the tents one by one. "Hello Mikage. Honestly, I'm quite fond of them since they're my basic summoning spell." She says with a soft smile, slightly fond looking. Yes. Yes she's fond of undead summons. No, she doesn't care that it's weird. She was the one who had called a vampire 'darling' after all.

     "Yes, and also once we clear this run I plan to take the chance afterwards to start looking for the source of the heart of the monster nest." Yuri responds to Kaydon, brandishing her trident as she makes her way towards the smaller boat that they'll use to ride into the colosseum, since the larger boats can't fit around the reefs and shipwrecks around the atoll. "So this is a dungeon run and simultaneously a scouting mission, assuming the dungeon run goes well."

"But to hunt the Heart, we need to clear out the riffraff Sanguine using it for their own blood sport." Good, good, a discussion about the missions at hand to give Shiruba something else to focus on for a bit. "Though even with them evicted finding the Dungeon Heart will be a task. That's why she invited experienced scouts, I'm sure," she adds with a wink to Mikage as she settles into the boat.

Curtana seems to be one of the last to arrive, arriving near the docks at a jog that sets his platemail jangling. Thankfully for his own nerves, it seems he just missed seeing the undead, as he always gets a little jumpy around any beings that should be long departed. "My apologizes for being so late! My first time near here, and I got turned around."

The brown-haired Pooka comes to an halt at the edge of the dock before he proceeds at a much slower weight. He winces a little with each loud groan his passing does make on the shoddy construction, and he already sees several spots that could use further reinforcement. Maybe he should see about offering some assistance once they return. "Let us hope that it does, a location like this does deserve to be checked out..."

There is a brief hint of reluctance as Mikage takes her place on the boat. Followed by Rama settling right in front of her as if this were a fun adventure. "Why are you the one that likes boats?" She asks the lynx, who answers by means of a buttwiggle and a 'mow' of sound. Cats.

"Well, we'll do our best to help." She looks to Shiruba and that wink draws a soft laugh from her and a shake of our head. "Yeah."

There is a glance at the others, taking note of the unfamiliar faces and running a quick INSPECT to grab the names of those she hasn't met before. "I assume everyone has been in and around a dungeon before?" It's worth asking, since there are always some people who haven't stepped foot outiside a Root Town. "For those who don't know me, I'm Mikage. This fluffball here is Rama. Nice to meet you."

"Sounds challenging," Souji says in the tone that suggests that is a good thing. He stops training on the beach when things get closer to shipping out. It is important to warmup and stretch before rushing into a dungeon, after all. The young swordsman makes his way to the dock and takes the time to talk to everyone. Small things like greetings and taking interest to something specific about them. For Shiruba it is her bow. Kaydon his rather unique blade has him fascinated. Curtana gets a brief chat about construction. Tanaka the signature mark for WAGER on his coat. Fukasa the undead. But Mikage? Rama. Souji has always been a fan of the furry friends and goes as far as scritching Rama provided the body language permits it. "Nice to meet you Mikage. I'm Soujiro Seta, but my friends call me Souji. Lets have a good dungeon run together, everyone." And dungeon heart scouting. His smile makes it seem like he is happy so long as there is something going on and people are enjoying it.

One short hop propels Tanaka into the boat. This is, considering how boats work, not the optimal way of boarding a small vessel for anyone involved. He displays an apt sense of balance though, swaying only a moment before folding down comfortably into a seat.

Once situated he's happy to spare a pleasant word for Soujiro, and once he's finished he gives a broader greeting to the group: "I'm Tanaka. Nice to meet ya." New faces all around to him, even if he might recognize a name or two. "I'm lookin' forward to it."

Kaydon pulls his blade up after making one last adjustment and puts it back onto his back, where it locks into place, "Alright. Easy enough then lets go." He seems to get straight to the point, as he rises up and moves to join with the others, "I haven't done this one yet, no." He says in response to Mikage, "Seems like it's a good reason to do it though." Plus he's getting paid though, so no doubt that's always a bonus in his mind.

     "Correct, Shiruba! That is basically the long and short of it. Well, I was hoping for good scouts at least. I'm relatively stealthy and have some hunting skills, but it is, regrettably, something I cannot safely scout on my own." Which is also why she cast a /wide/ net to try to get a fairly decent party built from those interested in the colosseum itself. Yuri says, leaning lazily against the railing of the boat. And there was a bonus party member! Excellent.

     "That's fine, the phantom atoll and the surrounding area is very foggy so that's not that surprising, really. That's part of why I was doing some minor renovations while I was waiting." Wait how long was she waiting to do that much work? Had she arrived here last night or something? Look. She doesn't like to be late. At all. "Oh yeah, this area has a lot of fun history too. It was used for a couple PVP events before the apocalypse, the halloween event was amazing! If you never visited before, you definitely were missing out."

     Rama's reaction to the boat gets a playful little smirk from Yuri. "Well, it's because the darling little thing knows just how great boats are~. Don't you Rama?" She says sweetly. She really likes monsters and animals. "Oh, right. Introductions for those who don't know me, I'm Fukasa Yuri, the Lily of the Depths and member of the Crescent Moon guild of the Olympus Alliance." She dips into a downright theatrical bow towards those gathered. Her time as a Nero Idol showing through slightly it seems.

     "A bit, yeah. Especially where we're going to have to push through the currents. I recommend taking a deep breath or drinking a waterbreathing potion before we enter the water, just in case we get washed away in spite of having a strong group gathered." Yuri comments. Yes. Her party did get washed away before. No, she's not going to talk about it.

     Soon, the boat was underway with a Lander at the helm so that he can take his boat back to safety after dropping them off. Unless someone else wanted to talk the helm, that is. He would let them take over and he would happily go into the (small) covered area and relax. And take shelter while the Adventurers did their thing.

     As the boat gets underway, it's relatively peaceful for the first few minutes, though the heavy fog from around the Phantom Atoll begins to overtake them, with the boat having to be slowed down greatly so they can navigate the reef more easily. While it's been relatively mapped out by now, the fog makes it especially difficult to even spot the noted landmarks at times, and as has happened to many parties before, soon, the ghosts of sailors who have lost their lives to the reef are beginning to flicker into existence. They will either need to be soothed, or fought off! Yuri, herself, chooses the violence method, unleashing several blasts of water towards the ghosts to start to shoo them off the boat while others properly take care of them.

"I remember that. Those events were a lot of fun, hope we can do it again sometime," Souji tells Fukasa Yuri regarding the pre-Apoc PVP events. Souji was all about that kind of fun back when the sword saint had all of his levels. He still is, only this time he gets to do it /again/. Twice the fun.

More undead? You can't fool Souji twice! Really, you could, but he is rather insightful so he is probably going along with it for the sake of a good time with good friends. The samurai has recently been educated by Fukasa Yuri to treat the undead with more tact. It should not be all that different than dealing with animals. The young man is nothing if not an active listener when a friendly lady gives him something new to work with. The blue haired samurai goes as far as giving her a thumbs up, "Respect the undead." It wasn't something he considered too much before the world went topsy turvy, but this time around is about trying things in a different way. That may include /talking/ to ghosts to calm them down intead of cutting them in half.

"I bet you have a lot of good stories from out here," the friendly Samurai says, motioning a hand to an old timer ghost. Old timers love to talk. For a moment it looks as if the ghost is going to attack, but instead the two start talking. About sailing and the sea. Fishing. Souji even goes as far as to pour tea and, since the ghost can't feel those sensations, takes the time to describe what a well brewed cup of green tea tastes like. Who knew ghosts could so fun to hang out with?

When Soujiro approaches, Rama gives him a sniff of the hand before firmly headbutting right into the man's hand. Apparently, the lynx is friendly. "If you really want to be his friend, he takes treats as bribes." Mikage explains. He looks towards Fukasa, head tilting, and but his tailnub continues to wiggle. It's hard to tell if the feline understands anything she's saying.

Of course, that's when Rama begins to growl, but it isn't at Souji or Fukasa, it is at a ghostly figure that seems to emerge from the water towards them. The little lynx's fur stands on end and he starts to hiss. "Looks like trouble."

There is a glance towards Shiruba, "Time to put some of those navigation lessons to work?" She glances at Rama, "Keep the ghosts at bay while we try to keep the boat on course." She gets up to head towards the helm, while Rama continues to aid those who are trying to fight off the ghosts.

As it turns out having experienced explorers on the mission is helpful now too. As the boat comes upon the coral reef littered with shipwrecks Shiruba nods in agreement to Mikage, but while the ranger heads to the help the wolfen cait sith scoots up to the bow of their own boat so she can better see. "Starboard, 36 degrees. Then half that back to port," she calls out loudly to be heard over the fighting that's likely to be breaking out with the ghosts. "There's a large wreck ahead that's split down the middle, we should be able to pass between it to get to the coastline. It would take too much back and forth to get to the actual docking point, we best make land where we can find a clearing and go on foot from there." Good thing they hired a smaller boat that can nagivate these crowded, haunted waters.

It seems like this trip is going to involve at least two others that the Pooka knight has yet to meet, so he gives a bow towards the two before introducing himself. "Sorry about that, and it's nice to meet you Mikage, Tanaka and Fukasa. Oh, and of course you too, Rama. Here's hoping for the best!" Despite being notably late, the knight seems to be in a good mood.

Respect the undead? That is certainly something to keep in mind whenever you are dealing with those that have yet to pass on. Powerful magic caused the dead to rise up once more, and they are stronger than the average monster for it. It's best to bring them to rest with fire or pure light.

The fog rolls in deep, and the ghosts can be difficult to see due to the fog giving the spirits natural cover. Holding a palm out, Curtana chants under his breath and waves of gentle light flow outwards in slow movements. Any ghosts that would approach from his position seem to calm down and gain a measure of themselves again. "Will do, and i'll do my best to not rock the boat. Now please, calm yourselves." Seeing Soujiro actually pour some tea for his ghost guest does give Curtana an idea, and he pulls out a sealed clay mug of his own. "Please, why not join us for a cup of tea as we pass?"

Kaydon hmms a little bit as he leans againd the railing on the boat, as he considers a little bit when the group approaches the first challenge they're going to face. He has been considering a way to put other charged cartridges in his weapon, but for the moment he's going to keep using his fire ones.

But this isn't the right time for them. He pulls out, instead, a torch and his Damascus blade, using the light from the fire to fend off the ghosts, striking at them with the weapon when it gets too close to him.

Tanaka is enjoying the ride, right up until the fog starts to roll in. At which point he seems to be enjoying it even more, eyes lighting up at the shades begin to rise from the water. These, unlike the sailors back on the dock, are decidedly unfriendly.

He does not, however, decide to engage with them. Instead he bobs his way toward the front of the vessel, tumbling out of the way of an angry specter to poke his head out from behind Mikage and Shiruba while they instruct their lander pilot.

"Go right!" He calls, squinting into the fog. "Wait--no--other way--star--what she said!" Thankfully there are actual experienced navigators who drown him out.

     Seta's not wrong. Sure, Yuri chooses violence by default, but really, talking to one of the old timers is actually getting him to calm down very quickly, and in fact start to talk about all those stories he had. He used to be a sailor with the Fourland Dukedom who had been doing a cargo run for the kingdom, but the navigator got distracted by sirens in the fog and were lured into the reef. Their boat sank and the sirens from the maidensong isle made short work of them afterwards. Yuri Approves +1. "Yep! Very enjoyable." Yuri comments, as she continues to choose Violence with the ones that were harassing her. More bursts of water! +_+

    Mikage and Shiruba's efforts are exceeding helpful in avoiding the reefs while the rest of the party dealt with the ghosts, and Rama even distracted one of the younger ghosts, the ghost of a young woman who seemed to want nothing more than to hug and/or pet Rama. In response to Shiruba, the captain of the ship calls out, "Aye aye! 26 degrees starboard and heading for the coastline! You'll have to swim a little if we're landing where I think we are!"

     Meanwhile, Yuri responds to Curtana, "No need to apologize, like I said, getting lost is easy around here." Waves of soothing light seemingly are effective to help calm down the undead, as well as assist in navigation by lighting the area up slightly to allow for a slightly further visual range for the boat.

     Slash and burn! Really, at this point the more aggressive ghosts are being pushed back heavily, and the more mild-mannered ghosts have calmed down for the most part, and soon the party has fully driven off the ghosts, beyond those that are still hanging around to chat until they get out of the range of the area they inhabit, causing them to fade out with a small wave to the party.

     Which is good, because Tanaka's comments weren't helping much, the captain getting, very briefly confused and adjusting the heading -- before starting to right it again. Which meant that they ended up landing a bit further down the beach than they wanted to. Once they get out and onto the beach, Yuri starts to frown. "Oh. This NPC." She mutters under her breath. And soon, a wooden set of doors opens in the sand, and a disheveled man with dreadlocks comes out. "...Oh no. Not you again." He says after seeing Yuri. "...PARLEY! PARLEY!" He calls out as Yuri steps towards him, flinching. "I'll show you the way to the colosseum again if you get me a strong drink!" He doesn't look like he'd be particularly resistant to being punched into submission though. Which Yuri steps forward to start threatening him with.

What a fascinating fellow! Souji moves forward with his kimono robes. Samurai vs Pirate. This isn't a meme, is it? Add in Curtana and you have Knight vs Pirate vs Samurai. More ninjas required.

Soujiro Seta talks casually with the washed up pirate informant. He has a warm toned voice with a smile to match. Kind eyes that make one think its safe to be around him. However good talk can only get so far when part of a person's blood needs to be saturated with rum. Where has it gone? Souji doesn't know. He pulls up his inventory and takes out an umarked bottle. "Here, try this," he says innocently to Captain Dackren Ferrow. The bottle is handed over. It is either going to be some of the rum that him and Vertina were talking about earlier or it is hot sauce. Don't worry about it! It'll be fine.

Moment of truth? It was rum! Or rum adjacent. One of Vert's blends are sure to numb the onslaught of being, well, a pirate wanting to Parley with a group of Adventurers that ain't got time for that! "Good, right? Have you thought about opening up a little beachside bar here when we get the arena up and running," the young social butterfly keeps talking him up, probably while things get violent. He readies another drink, the Captain will need a second after the abuse.

Rama seems to continue to be 'puffed up' even after they escape from the Ghosts. The cat seems to generally dislike anything spooky, especially if it is trying to hug him. "Easy buddy. Just keep an eye out for trouble, okay?" Mikage asks, and the cat huffs in response.

There is a distinct look of relief on Mikage's features when they manage to make landfall after not too much longer on the water. The girl really does not care for boat travel. She seems far more comfortable on solid ground.

Her eyes are drawn towards Fukasa, then to the set of doors in the sand, watching with a curious expression as the strange man emerges. "I... think you'd be better off just showing us the way. Since I think most of us could over power you without having to really put in much effort." Mikage folds her arms over her chest, raising her eyebrows slightly in challenge.

She doesn't even move a hand towards a weapon. The Were Fang seems that confident. Rama, on the other hand, gets one sniff of the strange man and starts to growl, showing his teeth. The lynx is likely the more intimidating one.

Shiruba has only done this duty once before, but that is enough for her to express a bit of annoyance as well at the exile swaggering out. For a moment considers just bribing him with some of the spare gold she keeps for such matters, but it's unlikely the man would leave this spot to use it to just buy booze for himself. That, and others are going for the more direct approach already.

Some may of noticed that Shiruba doesn't have her falcon with her. Mostly because birds don't do all that well with cramped indoors or underwater. But she isn't alone, as becomes clear when a Bun-bun pokes his head up from the hood of her cloak to see what the commotion is about. Then climbs up on Shiruba's head. "Oh, you're awake Yojimbo. We're off the boat now so you ca--" She stops a moment as the bunny jumps down from her head, and hops towards the exile. "--What are you doing? Come back!"

But the little furball has noticed some seaweed clung around one of the man's feet, and went to investigate. Goes to nom up the plant, most likely biting the man's ankle in the process. And bun-bun have very, very strong bites. It's part of how they're able to eat almost anything.

"Hey you, come here!" Kaydon calls out as he points at the NPC calling out for Parley. Sure they can parley, though Kaydon isn't actually attacking the guy outright, instead opting to try to intimidate the guy with his mere presence.

It would seem, however, that the others have decided to just start wailing on him until they get the info they need. So since they're starting to fight, Kaydon rushes in to join in the beating. No sense in wasting a good fight, right?

"Nice work team." Tanaka offers to his fellow navigators, because he was definitely part of the effort. Just, not the good part.

Once they make it to the beach he abandons ship, treading up the beach until they reach the doors and the captain hiding inside. To Tanaka's credit he briefly pats himself down, confirming that he's out of rum, beer, and assorted liqueurs.

"Sorry, captain." He says amiably, prodding the man with the butt of his spear. "No parley from me." The prodding will continue until results are achieved.

Curtana lets out a small sigh of relief as they exit the worst of the fog, but...it seems they might still be slightly off course. The point where they reached seems to be quiet far from where they were planning on going up the beach. Nevertheless, it's time to disembark, so they might as well make the best of it.

Curtana raises an eyebrow at the bedraggled exile asking for a strong drink to be a guide. Certainly unexpected but something he's happy to see in what is supposed to be a spooky location. "Good sir, I don't exactly have any drink on hand, but that seems to be taken care of by my samurai friend here. Would you like if I return in the future with a keg of the drink all for yourself? To make up for having to delay the delivery, if that helps."

Hoping to go the more peaceful route, Curtana gives an offer that does seem to prove a benefit to both the party and the pirate, but before it could reach a final agreement...well, hell have no fury like Adventurers ready to move forward. Wincing, Curtana shakes his head. "...maybe I should bring the keg just for having to deal with us."

     When threatened with punching by Yuri, Captain Dackren Fearow recoils, only to calm down a little bit when Soujiro offers him a drink. Which he takes thankfully and downs far too quickly. Honestly, considering where he lives, he probably needs it. "A bar? Huh. Never thought of that." The pirate says, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. He recoils again with an 'Oh!' when there is suddenly a Rama growling at him, and he takes a few steps back. "What in the bloody blue hells is that?!" He says, looking at Rama. He probably lives a sheltered life on this island.

     And then there was a bun bun jumping towards him. And biting at his ankles. He starts to do an awkward dance, pulling away from the bun-bun when it tries to nip at him. "Agh, no, get this... thing .... away from me! What the bloody hell!" Soon he is starting to crawl up a nearby palmtree. "Call your beasties off of me!!! I don't want to be eaten!" Kaydon calling him over gets a bit of a look from the pirate. "I-I'll come over once these beasts are called off!" Yuri, meanwhile, just kind of ... sighs and covers her face. This was a lot of humiliation for the poor pirate, even for her. Meanwhile, the poor captain gets another proper parley! One which he even would love to take! "That's all well and good but GET THESE BEASTIES AWAY FROM ME that bunny was trying to /eat/ me what kind of vorpal monstrosity did you bring with you?! Get them away and I'll show you the path!" Which is to mean he'll unlock the door that's deep down in his cellar for them. Yep.

     Once said 'beasties' are gotten back under control (Not that they were /too/ out of control to begin with), Captain Dackren leads them down into that secret passageway, and then points on deeper in, where the tunnel that's attached to his tunnel starts to dip into the water. "You'll have to continue on your own, I'm not that great of swimmer and the currents get pretty nasty once you get into the colosseum itself."

A short swim/wade later, and they get to a large room which they have to quickly fight through some trash mobs before they arrive at some stairs going downward. Which Yuri comments, "I recognize this. You should drink waterbreathing potions now if you have it, because if we don't get past this we have a long swim back to the surface."

     And then Yuri is quickly under the water and swimming through the fresh water like, well, a fishwoman through water, almost seeming to glide gracefully through the water even if she has to slow down to fight against the strong riptide currents that threaten to drag the party away. Anyone that seems to be lagging behind she waits to do her best to help though. She's a monster, not a barbarian.

Have you ever seen a lynx swim? Let's just say, that big fluffy cats look a bit like drowned rats when they get wet. Not to mention, they do that cute doggy-paddle motion. While Mikage might be able to wade into the water, her companion is not so lucky, and begins to paddle circles around the group.

"More potions? Damnit Cyrus." She swipes through her inventory, pulling out a water-breathing potion and offering others out if they are needed, and then chugs it down. It. Tastes. Horrible.

She even has to pull Rama out of the drink, and try to force feed him some. That goes about as well as you can expect, with flailing of limbs and some unpleasant cat choking sounds. "Yeah, it sucks, but blame your best friend. Ask him to make a meat flavored one or something."

Rama looks at them all with the expression of a cat betrayed. "Come on, we're going under." And with that, she follows Yuri down into the water. The strong currents are enough to give them trouble, but Mikage pushes back against them, channeling her powerful control over the elements. It slows down the currents and allows them an easier time of matters.

"Hey now." Shiruba scooped the wayward bun-bun into her arms. "He's mostly harmless... unless there's other bun-bun on this island." All the same, it seems to have helped get the job 'negotiating' done. Though she keeps Yojimbo in her arms all the same, even as they're lead to the entrance they're looking for.

Right, the underwater passage. One of the very specific reasons she did not bring her falcon along. As for the bun-bun, she huddles him close in her arm, while using her other hand to enact a spell and surround herself and her companion with her defensive Air spell. To make sure she can extend the breath timer as long as possible. Then jumps in and starts swimming.

Yes, she's doggy paddling. What else did you expect her to do, the backstroke?

The strategy is sound. Implimenting it, on the other hand, turns out to not be entirely effective. The air meter still drops faster than she had hoped, and while she saves herself from drowning, by the time Shiruba comes out at the other end she sprawls out, panting heavily. "Need.. to concentrate more air.. next time..." She'll be good in a minute or two after catching her breath. Yojimbo just sits on her stomach, waiting. He's small and doesn't need as much air, he's only mildly phased by the experience.

That Dackren, he seems like a lot of fun. Souji makes it a point to give the man a wave when they reach the point where he can no longer come along. When it comes to water, Souji is a swimmer. Any time is a good time for training. Its high adventure, so why not backstroke your way onward. He gets a nice view of the ceiling that way. For as carefree as the young samurai appears, he is well prepared. A hand waves against an inventory and goes through his raid preparation equipment. Water breathing potions, check. One is pulled out, uncorked, and the thick dark blue liquid is downed. This one tasted like seaweed and fish scales. Bleh. Into the water! Splash!

In a party formation, Souji is right near the front. He knows that he doesn't know this particular dungeon as well as others, but is only a step and a breath behind charging to the fore should danger arise. The elements are the true danger! Strong arms and a strong swimmer, the samurai concentrates for a moment. Still breathing technique. Form 42. Fast swim buff! He cuts ahead, swimming against the currents in a way that gives a slipstream behind him for those that need help against the strong force that are the water's natural repulsive streams. The human is no Undine, but all that training pays off!

As poor Captain Dackren Fearow scales a palm tree to escape the 'terrifying beastie', Curtana turns his head in shame. Not his own shame, of course, but seeing what must be a relaxed pirate fearing for his life. Thankfully, they're able to get that 'parley' underway and are led to the secret passage in the cellar. Before they depart, he does make give the Captain a quick bow. "I'll come back over tomorrow with that keg of ale I promised you. And if you seriously want to think about opening that bar, i'm pretty good with a hammer and nails!" A knight helping a pirate sounds like a bar joke if he ever heard one, but who knows? Maybe they can get a good attraction out this way!

Wincing slightly, Curtana pulls out an homebrewed waterbreathing potion and chugs it quickly before the taste can linger. "Bleh, I really need to make it not taste like spinach." With that precation out of the way, he does offer waterbreathing potions to anyone who may need it before heading down the stairs with a worried look on his face.

He has every reason to be worried, as a knight can't swim very well in his heavy armor. Even the currents down here is strong enough to send him skidding against the ground, and he's almost about to lose his way. But that's the best thing about using a waterbreathing potion. You can still breathe. Inhaling smoothly, Curtana starts to channel the energy stored within, streaks of electric light flying all around him. Now that he's using Hamon, the water slides around him instead of pushing him back! Stomping forward, he starts to make headway against the current, a determined look on his face.

Kaydon is wearing a lot of armor, and has some quite heavy weapons on him. So he takes a water breathing potion anyway, just to be safe. Once it's activated, he dives in.

It's a struggle to swim with all of his gear, but he'd rather drown than leave any of it behind. But he was a Marine, and he had to swim with gear before, so he powers his way through it until the very end of the path.

Tanaka bids a cheerful farewell to the pirate once the Lander has been thoroughly terrified, wading into the sunken passages of the colosseum after.

When they arrive at the deepest part, where actual diving is needed, he greatfully accepts the potion that Curtana offers. A thanks can be vaguely made out in the coughing fit that follows.

Once preparations are finished he presses his palms together, assuming diving position and diving under. He's no fish, but he does admirably against the currents that tug and pull at the party, arms and feet working in frantic beats to prevent being carried away. Mikage's efforts do help, giving him at least a little bit of an easier time as he follows Fukasa's lead.

     Poor non-undines, needing to drink waterbreathing potions. Yuri is, thankfully, spared such needs due to her race. "Someone really needs to invent a way to make potions taste better without effecting their affects, yeah." Yuri comments once they're past the obstacle in the water. Poor Rama. She goes out of her way to use a Drown spell on Rama to further help calm the water for the little thing at least. Positive negatives!

     Doggy paddling and ... not very effective, and Yuri ends up grabbing onto the back of Shiruba's clothes to help drag her up a little faster to help her get back to the air sooner than later and remove that [drowning] status effect that had started to show up. "Take your time. At least you didn't drown."

     And then Soujiro proceeds to show some of the best swimming that Yuri has seen from any non-undine. Honestly it's impressive, and Yuri is watching him as she helps Shiruba along. Not that she'd admit as much if questioned. Okay actually she will once they're out of the water. "Pretty good swimming, you must have gone into the water dungeons a lot." She comments. Yep. That was 'pretty good'. Uh-huh.

    A knight helping a pirate who's washed up and basically stuck on an island is probably not that weird! Probably. "I'll think about it." Dackren replies. And then he skitters back up to the safety of his locked doors, because Sahuagin sometimes wander up this tunnel.

     Soon Curtana is back up and out of the water after stomping along a fairly precarious path of broken stairs that a couple of times he even has to jump across a few precarious gaps. Luckily, it's water, not air, so there's water physics that are somewhat helping out both Curtana and Kaydon's tromping along and/or swimming.

     And last but not least, Tanaka makes it up and along the water, and the party rejoins each other once more. "...Okay, I haven't been past this part so I don't have any more intel on the rest." Yuri says. Wait, but she's clearly been here befo-- oooh. Right. Yeah. They must have gotten swept away. "So let's move forward cautiously, unless someone else has been down this dungeon route."

     After a relatively peaceful walk, with only a few random encounters with mobs in the dungeon, the party gets to another swimming section. This one with bright fungus and glowing spheres of coral leading the way, along with several massive runes etched into the walls of the corridors, some of them glowing. Some effect in this area was making the normal air bar just... not exist. Soon, they come up to an open gate, and walk through it.

     To a giant dome that is decorated with more of those glowing spheres of coral and bright fungus, beautiful stonework etched along the sides of the room, with stands lining all of the walls of the underdome. Row after row after row... of Sahuagin. Cheering along a tournament that was going on. Once they realize the adventurer presence. The entire crowd goes silent and the fighting stops.

     A loud screech comes from the stands, as a larger Sahuagin points towards the group. Sahuagin that had been fighting in the tournament and several of the Sahuagin from the stands swarm towards the party. It's time for mass combat. A mix of cheers and jeers ring through the area, the sounds seeming to mix together into an almost theme for the fight with a melodic tone to it. Or maybe that's just in the party's heads? Either way, combat begins. And Yuri opens up with a lift of her trident, incanting audibly even underwater. "Come from the deepest depths, my darling minions. Swallow my foes and sew chaos in the ranks! DROWNING FIELDS!" Several large summoning circles appear under the sahuagin army, giant pufferfish bursting through the summoning circles to devour groups of Sahuagin and entrap them, leaving them easy targets for other party members, while reducing the immediate threat from the Sahuagin.

Stepping out of the water, Rama looks very, very unhappy. The feline makes sure to shake off, on everyone. Mikage gives a few shakes of her limbs, the cold from the water starting to sink in a bit, but she perseveres for now, continuing to follow Fukasa deeper into whatever might await them within the dungeon.

Her eyes widen ever so slightly at the sight of those glowing spheres of coral and fungus. The whole place has an almost magical look to it. It would be the sort of thing that would wow her into still observation... if it weren't for the massive number of Sahaugin. "Uh..."

Apparently, they are now the target of a number of very angry fish-men. Drawing out her sword, Mikage shifts her cloak around herself, seemingly all but vanishing into the shadowy reaches of the arena. Rama is left standing in the center, growling at one of the Sahaugin, who charges his way.

Then, out of what seems like an entirely other shadow, Mikage emerges, sliding the sword right through the enemy. "All that stealth practice certainly comes in handy. Let's go!" She continues to utilize close combat, slipping into the shadows only to strike unexpected blows time and again.

"Thanks," Shiruba manages to say to Yuri once she's caught enough breath back to do so. She gets onto her feet, chest heaving a couple more times just to fill back up with proper air, but she's good now.

Just in time for the Sahaugin blood sports she previously mentioned. And here she is, not able to get out her bow right away because she's got a Bun-Bun in her arms.

Oh wait, she has a Bun-Bun in her arms.

Shiruba raises him up over her head with both hands. "SIC 'EM!" and hurtles Yojimbo into the face of the nearest fishmonger! Much biting and scratching follows! One Bun-Bun may not be has massively destructive as a pack, but it's still enough to be quite vicious when properly applied.

Which gives Shiruba long enough to properly draw her weapon, start nocking arrows and picking off the other Sahuagin caught in Yuri's drowning trap.

"Tons of times," Souji says to Fukasa Yuri once they are out of the water. The more extreme the dungeon environment, the more of a challenge. The more of a challenge, the more Souji is into it. Pushing past the Horizon and having some good Tea. "The best of those are with good company at your side," he says with a smile that implies the Undine is good company. Great company even. Sparkle. Even when dripping wet.

Less sparkles as Souji has to wring out his hair long blue ponytail. Now that they are on more solid ground, the Samurai does a menu clean/dry. The notice about 'we are going into unknown' comes with an equipment update and he lets the cosmetics on his red samurai armor show over his cloth-like kimono look. It should make the next swimming sections more difficult. Souji is a good swimmer so no worries there!

"A battle dome," the Samurai makes notice of the arena. This must have been where those PvP battles were staged before the Apoc. It brings back some good memories. Gets his blood pumping. "Heh," Soujiro laughs, his eyes darkening a bit in a serious face. This. This right here is perfect. The first Sahaugin that charges towards him thinks that the vapid human isn't paying attention. The katanas are still in their sayas, undrawn. This is a mistake. The monster raises up for a downward strike to pin Souji to the ground. It never happens.

Shhhhnnnkkk. In a blurr of motion only traced by a white light of steel, Souji draws his blade from the says and cleaves forward in a way that would make a Final Fantasy Odin proud. Clean damage line. Explosion into fragments. In a graceful whirl the second katana comes out, causing another damage line as he wades forward into combat in a vanguard formation: an offensive style tanking form, very balanced. It pulls agro from those not caught in traps and still have mobility to harass the mid and back lines.

Walking forward is already hard enough with the powerful current pushing against him, but there's also pitfalls to navigate over! It's leaps of faith with several of the leaps he has to take, with the biggest one almost being too wide to cross. But with determination and a good amount of luck, Curtana thankfully pulls himself out into the open air on the other side. Pausing for a moment, Curtana unbuckles a section of his breastplate and stares at the flopping fish that came out. "How...no, i'm not going to ask." Taking mercy on the fish, he throws it back into the water before following after the rest of the Adventurers.

Battling in an arena is certainly a new experience, but the Pooka should have expected this outcome. Thankfully, battle is a field the knight excels at wonderfully! Except...there's already quite a few damage dealers in this party. With a slight change of plans, Curtana materalizes a large potion bottle full of crimson liquid and stays near the end of the group. Channeling a bit of air magic, he throws it towards others whenever he sees their health starting to go past the halfway mark. With the magical aid, the potions tend to shatters near those in need. This might seem like a waste of good potions at first, but the air magic Curtana had called forth is also turning the potions into vapor and spreads it outwards. The healing effect is weakened, but it's providing useful AOE health restoration. "Let me know if anyone needs more mana, I got some potions for that as well!"

If there was a good time to break out his new weapon and really put it to the test, now would be the time to do it. He reaches up and grabs the weapon off his back, dropping down into a combat stance. As soon as the first sahagain makes its move, Kaydon responds, cutting it off and slamming his blade into the creature, the weapon sending out a wave arte explosion through the blade.

His plan was to utterly destroy it with the strike, and hopefully send fear through their ranks. Regardless of how many of them scatter, he turns and strikes another one, working his way through all six charges in his weapon as he fights through them, then using the blade like normal once out of charges, until a chance to reload presents itself.

Tanaka's lips curl into a wide grin as the group strides their way into the colosseum proper, his eyes sweeping across the crowds of jeering Sahuagin. His hand rises to wave to the crowd of fish-men gamely, as if the sneers and growls were adoring applause.
"So this is the fun part, right?" His shoulders roll as he steps forward to meet the first wave of monsters.

If there really is a melody to the fight, Tanaka's moving to it. He bobs and weaves with the blades and claws of the charging monsters, bending backward here, side-stepping there, tumbling and rolling. Not all of it is exactly successful--a dozen red slashes of damage are scoured across his figure, but he trades blows with gusto: A spear thrust through a fish-man's arm, a foot planted in another's chest. It's all terribly sloppy, nowhere close to the calculated strikes or immaculate swordplay on display from the rest of the party.

Maybe that's the point. Maybe that's also why he's the one slamming down a good chunk of Curtana's healing potions.

     Poor Rama. This is not a fun dungeon for a Lynx, very wet, very unpleasant, and very salty for the poor thing. Not that the bunbun is much happier, mind you, but at least now that they're in the colosseum proper, it's a bit less cold, and in the underdome, the water is downright warm from the sheer amount of Sahuagin in it!

     A stealthy Mikage starts to tear through the Sahuagin, slipping in and out of combat seemingly at will and using that to do many sneak attacks, helping to further thin the angry fishmen. At this point, it almost felt like a raid as the waves continue to come. As they come, Mikage darts in and out of them, softening and killing them and making it easier for the rest of the party!

     Shiruba had just gotten a borderline-flirty wink from Yuri in response to that 'Thanks', before they continued on to the Sahuagin Blood Sports! And soon there was an angry bun-bun biting and scratching at the Sahuagin, causing distractions and damage to any that come near, while Shiruba starts picking off Sahuagin caught in the drowning trap and thinning their numbers, the pufferfish not seeming to mind the arrows going through their thin flesh. Probably just used to it at this point.

     Luckily for Souji, the next swimming segment was actually more of an 'underwater walking segment' ending in a battle dome, which also made for easier fighting for the party, and many more options for movement and attacks due to the ability to swim. Lots of tactical options for both the party /and/ the sahuagin. Like the one that had come from above to try to pin Soujiro, only to be sliced in half, exploding into red pixels. And many similar Sahuagin come to similar ends once they fall victim to the tanking stance!

     When Curtana pulls out the potions and spreads them into the air through vapors and water, Yuri darts right into it and takes one of those Mana potions. "Useful!" She calls out, drinking one to unleash a second round of Drowning Fields into the battlefield once it comes off cooldown. Seems it was a pretty high-mana-usage spell. Or she's trying to conserve her mana for something? Also why was there a Salamander and a sand-swimmer beetle hanging out in air bubbles at the fringe of the battlefield?

     Kaydon breaks out his new weapon, drawing it and entering a combat stance. And soon? Well. Soon he was like a wave of destruction cutting through the water, even if fire was normally not considered to be super effective underwater, the bursts of sudden heat causes the area around the blade's edge to boil and cause extreme damage to the Sahuagin, and even once it's out of charges the blade is still an effective weapon.

     Bobbing, weaving, striking and moving through the charging monsters. His strikes hit, though not necessarily as hard as he'd like. Still, Tanaka is making a dent in his own way by being a distraction for others to take down even if his attacks aren't the most effective at times. Luckily there's regular healing potions available as he nearly draws more attention than the tanks!

     As the last of the Sahuagin in the battle falls into red pixels, utter silence falls over the battlefield, the Sahuagin remaining in the stands not joining the battle. A grinding of gears breaks the silence suddenly, as a gate on the other side of the colosseum starts to slowly grind open. As it grinds open, the Sahuagin start to beat their spears on the ground in unison, a rhythmic strike as something starts to bash against the gate as it opens, tentacles and eyes slipping through and peering through the grate until with a massive, reverberating BOOM, the gate opens the rest of the way, and the massive monster breaks through into the battlefield. Over its head, it only has the name: 'The Champion.'

     The massive octopus-like humanoid creature begins to approach, a massive coral spear held in one arm and a massive shell shield held on the other. It makes no sound, though there is a pulsing noise as the human-like body held within seems to pulse along with the visible blue veins of the creature. And it charges the party, spear at the ready. There was no war cry. There was no anger. Simply combat.

     Combat that is opened by Yuri pointing her spear towards The Champion. "Intense Magma, The Strength of Earth, And water from the deepest depths." Yuri swirls her spear as the salamander hanging at the edge of the battlefield opens its mouth, starting to unleash a stream of magma while the sand-digger beetle unleashes a stream of rocks into the magma stream which begins to gather around the champion. Finally, once a proper molten stone is in place, an absolutely massive pufferfish bursts from the ground beneath The Champion, consuming it and starting to compress the molten mass around it. "BLISTERING DEPTHS!" And thus, the Boss Battle begins.

A Sahaugin explodes into pixels before Mikage, her sword held out as she tries to catch her breath, looking around for the next target. Yet, in that silence, her eyes dart around, Rama racing back to her side, clearly still on edge. The aggression timer hasn't fallen off, which emans they are still very much in danger.

The rhythmic pounding of the spears and the grinding of gears hsa her eyes drawn to one of the grates, taking a step back and holding her sword before her in a defensive posture. The monster that greets them is certainly something unusual. She hasn't seen an octupus-like humanoid since the last time she talked to Oogata-san, but he certainly is nothing like this 'Champion'.

"Well, this sword isn't going to do it for something that high level." She slips the blade into its scabbard and pulls out a mechanical looking rod from her back, channeling a bit of magic into a blue crystal set in the cylinder. It clicks and extends into a bow, a string pulling up from the side and snapping tight. This is her Elemental Machine weapon, Dawnbreaker.

"I'll bring the storm from a distance." She informs the others, then begins to draw out arrow after arrow, channeling powerful storm magics into each shot, while Rama works with any melee combatants to keep distance between The Champion and the ranged DPS.

A spear and a shield. That's one way to make use of multiple arms. "I was expecting something more like a kraken than an octopod, but that's still pretty distinct," Shiruba admits when the Champion takes the field in the wake of many fishfiends having failed to survive the Adventurer interuptions. "Yojimbo, you better get back here for this one."

As her animal companion is scrambling back to hide behind her legs Shiruba squints a bit, and draws one of her special arrows from her quiver. This one has the sheen of metal, being made of a highly conductive alloy derived from the lighting rods used to imprison a different dungeon's boss. She nocks it into Thundersnow Howl, and as she pulls back on it both jewels in the arms light up with the glow of a lightning flash. Arcs of ionization crackle along the lines as she draws it entirely back, holding the arrow to build up the charge in it even as she's taking aim. Waiting until the arrow is fully charged, to the point that it's glow is taking a reddish hue from the intensity, before she lets loose with the shot.

*THUNK* Right into the shield.

Which is exactly where Shiruba aimed it for.

Because its in that moment that the Champion thinks he's blocked her attack that Vermillion Harpoon discharges from the arrow, sending powerful shockwaves of electricity, each one as intense as a lightning strike, coursing through the shield and the monster holding it in rapid succession!

Potions goes flying and even some are snagged from the Pooka's hands before he can toss them, but he's perfectly fine with that. They're being put to good use! As Tanaka comes back for another potion, Curtana flashes him a quick smile. "You usually don't see many spear users in the Adventurer's ranks! Keep it up out there!"

Curtana relaxes at first as the final Sahuagin shatters, thinking that this is the end of the battles. "Whew, that went pretty well-eh?...oh. Bugger." The large gates open, the Sahuagin beat their spears, and their Champion makes it's appearence onto this field of battle. And going beyond just normal size, it has a spear as if to call out Curtana for his comment earlier, and a massive shield. Eyes narrowing slightly, Curtana puts away the last of his potions. Even if it's a massive creature, a shield user has taken the field. To the knight, this is a worthy challenge, fit for a legendary battle.

There's no unique weapon pulled out as Curtana charges to close the distance. He doesn't even draw the plain, battered longsword from it's sheath on his left side. No, the crazy Pooka is rushing headlong into battle without any weapon, just the simple steel kite shield on his left arm!

Then again, sometimes a shield is all you need.

The Champion thrusts its' spear forward to pin Curtana down to the arena's floor, but with a spin in place, the spear is knocked aside by the defensive tool. Another thrust, and it's deflected once more by another sweeping shield swing, with Curtana making himself into an annoying target. This battle of spear and shield continues until the knight is close enough to leap into the octopod's face afer he parried yet another thrust. Just as the Champion realizes that he managed to get past all of it's defenses-

BONG!!

A resounding thud echoes outwards as Curtana delivers a final swing squarely in the flesh near the humanish body held within.

It would seem that the group has managed to defeat enough of the sahuagain, because they've managed to summon the champion. Kaydon frowns a bit, wishing he had saved at least one of his charges for this guy. But he has something else in store for him.

The battle begins, with the group dropping attacks into the boss, but Kaydon waits. He knows the kind of damage at range that this group can lay down in a hurry, so he waits. And then once the strikes have rained down, once Shiruba and Mikage have rained literal lightning down onto the champion, does Kaydon launch himself forward.

He moves faster than someone his size probably should. He takes advantage of the creature stabbing at Curtana to hop onto that spear, running up the length of it and leaping onto the champion's head, slamming his right fist an unarmored spot, and then the blade within slams outwards, delivering both his full powered strike and the pierce from the blade in one powerful blow.

Tanaka's a little worse for the wear after the waves of fish monsters are cleared, but he's having a great time regardless. The smile on his face makes this evident, and it only grows wider at the appearance of the massive octopus-monster that serves as the colosseum's champion.

His evasive movements function better against the single larger foe, the size of the creature making it easier to avoid its blows before tearing into it with his spear. Each scour of the blade across its tentacles stacks another debuff atop it, putting out a steady DPS to add to the already impressive stack of damage being piled on the boss.

Souji graciously takes some of the healing potions offered by Curtana inbetween the combat waves. For someone who wields swords in two hands, the sword saint has adapted fancy drinks for raid-potion drinking. It comes down to his use of iai striking, a blade flick off of the pixelated blood, sheathing, drinking, and using the sheathed katana to jab one of the fishmen in the neck with the pommel. Draw and slice, like one of those samurai movies where the swordsman is surrounded by bandits. Now that phase is over and the big guy is here.

His health topped off during the Combat starts off with a bang and it is hot! The blue eyed samurai turns to face the champion who engages in pure combat. Souji enjoys this. Boss monsters, Raid monsters. Yes. Both of his katanas are out when the ranged storm of pain is unleashed. The back line in this party is much stronk. The Vengeance Samurai leans into the melee of the fight, keeping the agro off of the DPS with deep, clean slices along the creatures' torso, legs, and arms. He is able to evade many blows, but does not sweat it when he needs to step into one and some damage. That is what front line tanks do. He alternates out main to off tanking with Curtana when his health needs time to come back up. He is off-tanking when there is a phase shift in the attack pattern as that spear comes up. It looks like he is going to harpoon the back lines with a throw. There are three lovely ladies back there, unacceptable.

Soujiro does not deflect the spear with a shield. He does so with two katanas. As the spear leaves the Champion's grip, the samurai cross slashes upwards, creating metal scissors that catch the blade in a fury of sparks as he jumps upwards with it. All that rock jumping? It paid off, causing the spear-turned-javelin to sail overhead of Fukasa, Mikage, and Shiruba. While up in the air, Souji look down at the champion with 'how dare you' fire in his eyes. Blades turn, and two massive gashes come down on the champion during the sword saint's descent. Hero pose landing.

     A long, drawn-out combat begins. Though The Champion has a single health bar, each of the attacks against him seem to only cut off slivers of its HP, a percent of a percent each strike. Massive aoe attacks are unleashed on the party even as tsunami arrows tear into its translucent flesh, leaving cracks on the surface of its form as if the arrows were striking glass. Each attack retaliated against with a near-invisible blast of water. Luckily those retaliations are predictable and don't do a huge amount of damage compared to direct attacks from those large tentacles or the line attacks from the coral spear.

     As arrows rip into its body the health is starting to tick down steadily as others engage the boss, a harpoon shot into the Champion's shield causes heavy damage to the boss as the air element weakness is taken advantage of, and it even ends up having to discard its shield to stop that electrical assault, retaliating against Shiruba with a charging attack and attempt to engulf her in its tentacles, the beak of the octopod attempting to simply eat her. Luckily, it isn't successful in that attempt as...

     BONG!! A shield strikes the boss. Hard. Knocking it away from Shiruba as it proves to be a lot lighter than one would expect from such a large form, its beak hitting the ground instead of Shiruba when struck, and the combat ensues with Curtana. Thrust. Thrust. Parry. Thrust!

     Between the shield bash and the thorough distraction by Curtana, the Champion is left open for Kaydon's sudden charge, hopping on the spear and leaping to the Champion's head! Finding an unarmored spot is actually easy, as that is basically all of the champion, and the sudden blade digging deep into the flesh and causing a massive gash along the top of the creature's head, health chunking down quickly.

     And then Tanaka comes in, dashing in and making evasive maneuvers as he gets in close to begin striking at those tentacles and stacking debuffs onto that creature, and the reason it only has one health bar is revealed: Each of the tentacles actually has its own health bar when struck. Luckily defeating them is optional, though they seem to have relatively small health pools as Tanaka attacks them, managing to knock a couple of them out of the battle and reducing its attack options! When defeated, the tentacles take a chunk off of the boss's health as well!

     The Sword saint descends upon the battlefield and his efficient movements and blade strikes draw much of the boss's aggro, strike, strike, deflect, block. The name 'sword saint' is fitting, something easy to tell when watching the smoothe movements of his combat techniques. And, finally, after a brief mechanic interaction of him blocking the spear (If this weren't as real, there would probably be a button mash proc right about now!) and sliding along the blade until the sword saint cuts through, the final strike, a pair of red X's cutting through the monster's form, and its health drops down to ... 10%!

     Wait. Only 10%? Enraged Sahuagin begin to swarm down on the weakened party once more, moving in to finish off both the Champion and the Party! The Champion's name shifts from red to white as it suddenly converts into a neutral mob, and unleashes a MASSIVE shockwave of water, sending the Sahuagin flying away from the party and the Champion, and opens an opportunity for the party to leave the underdome as it bows gracefully towards them. Their retreat followed by a gate closing behind them, and some sort of... something adding a little more weight to their pockets.

     <CONGRATULATIONS!>
    <Loot Gained: Champion's Token.>

     Once the party has a brief rest to allow them to recover from the boss battle and restore their health to at least reasonably acceptable levels, Yuri starts to lead the party in pressing on to search for the center of the Monster's Nest, where they can hopefully at least maybe get eyes on the core if they can, or at least an idea of where it is. "...Alright, we should probably try to avoid combat if we get close to the nest's core. ...I don't think any of us are in shape for another prolonged combat like that." Yuri comments. "And frankly, I'm not looking forward to finding out what happens if I die while my church is under control of the Palace Landers either, so. I say we retreat the moment that combat hits us particularly hard or minibosses start showing up."

For the most part, Kaydon knows he'll be better off at keeping the rest of the party safe while they do the research. He does take some time to heal up and reload his gunblade's chambers, "How far down do you think it goes?" He wonders, to nobody in particular. That is the info they're here to gather after all.

Mikage leans a little over her knees to catch her breath, looking over towards Fukasa. Rama, on the other hand, just tries to shake himself off again, though it does little other than make him look more bedraggled for their unusual adventure.

"It's probably best for anyone from Fourland Dukedom to stay out of harm's way as much as possible. We'll take things from here." With a look over to Shiruba, Mikage nods once. "You didn't bring the best scouts around for nothing, right?"

She swipes through her inventory, pulling out various bits of cartography tools, and then nods to the Cait Sith. "Let's do this. Between the two of us, tracking and mapping should be easy enough."

Rama yowls. "Yes. You can help, too." His tailnub wiggles. "Use that nose of yours, see what you can find." She murmurs, channeling a bit of her remaining mana into the feline.

Wow. Never seen a Boss turn on it's allies like that before. Guess they really made an impression. Other than physical attack ones. Not going to complain, since the Champion and the Sahugain being occupied with each other gives them a chance to catch their breath and venture deeper into the ruins.

And this is the other reason Shiruba brought her bun-bun instead of the falcon. The rabbit can get into small spaces better. Shiruba lets Yojimbo back out, and points him at some rubble blocking a passage that would take them too long to dig out. The bun scampers off as directed, wiggling through a small gap between some of the ruins. As he's off Shiruba takes a small blue whistle out of her inventory, though she doesn't toot on it. Or need to, as the Relic's effect works just by focusing on it. A moment to sync, and she's observing through the senses of her bun-bun as he's doing recon for her.

"Exactly," Shiruba replies to Mikage with a grin. She's still fully aware of herself too, pulling up her own mapmaking accessories. "And this is one of the reasons I brought Yojimbo instead of Windburn." She starts making rough sketchings of where her animal companion is investigating. After they're done she and Mikage can compare notes and collaborate a more thorough mapping of what they learn.

The battle against the Arena's Champion is a hectic and frantic one, with everyone giving it their all! Perhaps everyone was warmed up dealing with the Sahuagin earlier, or they knew that everything was on the line with them so close to their prize. Finally, the battle seems to be in the final moments when the spectators charge in to take revenge on the party. The Champion sends the fishfolk flying back with a shockwave and opens a path. With a slight smile, Curtana bows at the waist towards his opponent before following after the others. A fight that both sides come out of is a wonderful one.

Handing out the last of his potions to everyone once they take a moment to rest, Curtana begins to keep an eye out. No need for them to get ambushed once they made it this far, after all. After a moment, he sends a friend request to Mikage, Tanaka and Fukasa. "Yeah, let me take some blows for everyone if we get in a fight. That's the main reason why I came here for, anyways." Well...maybe he might have a possible business chance in the future with a savvy pirate, but that's a bonus.

"Aww, he's a big softy." Says Tanaka, making a theatric bow in return to the coliseum's octo-champion before he makes his exit with the rest of the party.

After the incident on the boat (and realizing he has absolutely no idea where they are right now) he decides to let the actual scouts do the scouting. The man keeps an eye out for danger in the meantime, tapping his spear against his shoulder.

"I wonder~" He muses to Kaydon's ponderings. "Must be pretty far."

The downtime gives him a moment to navigate menus and accept Curtana's friend request. "Just don't hog all of 'em for yourself, yeah?" He requests, should a fight break out. Even though that is, technically, what a tank does.

     "Pretty deep. This area was designed to hold something like 10 or 15 fights at once in different battlefields? Lots of aquatic/sand arenas, and a few mixed ones for boat battles. I loved the full-water battle that was purely for doing cannon battles, usually summoners and ranged characters did well in those since they could work to keep enemies off the cannons and keep them from damaging the ships." Yuri grins as she describes the place to Kaydon further, clearly she'd spent a LOT of time there. Much of the descriptions were similar to what they'd already seen, pointing out places she remembered from before the apocalypse, before it had fallen into disrepair and sahuagin hands.

     "Eh, I mean, I'm not all that interested in staying entirely out of harm's way. I'd get too bored honestly." Yuri responds to Mikage, giving a bit of a chuckle. Look, she was basically given an event that was a bunch of PVP. She wasn't going to not take advantage of that.

     Rama and the Bun Bun scout into areas difficult to get to right now, while Yuri and those more combat-inclined keep any stray Sahuagin encounters away from them. "We can double up on that, Curtana. My hunting skill isn't as good as the others, I'm already kind of lost on what to do." She chuckles softly as she accepts that friend request, and not too long afterwards she's diving into one of the encounters with reckless abandon. Like a tidal wave washing over the battlefield. She wasn't the star of this show, but she damn well was going to make a bid at it.

     A big softy isn't really wrong. Being an octopus, he wasn't particularly hard, which honestly in some ways gave him a lot of defense since his flesh was thick but had give so tended to not take hits quite as hard. Mostly. There was a small sense that, perhaps, The Champion was not inherently friends with the Sahuagin, hence why it was kept trapped behind that grate. "I won't guarantee that I won't keep them to *myself* if you aren't fast enough, Tanaka~."

     After this, the party continued on, making their way carefully through the dungeon and fairly deep down into it to eventually find signs of the monster nest's core before they're forced to retreat. More assaults to cut down on some of the mobs in the dungeon will be necessary, it seems. Still, they had important intel.