Spider Tag

    Down in the mine of Spinner's End , right before it becomes Spinner Deep, is a cavern filled with large white rocks, each rock a nice oval shape and about the size of an American football. These rocks all seem to line a rather GIANT hole that leads very far down into the mine, maybe even past the section known as Spinner Deep. Sitting amongst the white rocks is a strange boney legged necromancer, named Setsuna. With him is a bag, and in this bag are more bags, and in those bags are small enchantment crystals. "Not much longer."

Vertina leans over just enough to stare down the hole, tail flicking behind her to keep her balance. "So just why are we doing this with spiders again?"

Shepiders? Spiders. Stupid freaking spiders. All Arashi was doing was making her way back home for the tournament only to hear about some thing to do with spiders. She figured it might be FIGHTING spiders, so, good warm up? .. doesn't look like it. "Good question.." in regards to Vertina's inquiry.

Schneider shows up at the beginning of Spinner's Deep, though he's not there to run the duty. Which is bad, he -should- run the duty. But today is not that day. He arrives, nods to Setsuna, and echoes Vertina when he asks, "So what are we here for, exactly?"

SpritesHero is hunched over, having parked his booty atop one of those oval, white rocks. A second is held in his hands, where it is repeatedly heaved into the air and caught. Hey. Make a ball the size and rough shape of an American football, and it should be of no surprise whatsoever that the token American will take a shine to it.

"Because spiders have a number of different evolutionary permutations among the mobs of the game," a certain Good Doctor says from over Vertina's shoulder. "Because of that, there are few monsters or beasts that are better subjects for researching that sort of thing. Slimes are there too, but their evolutionary process is a little unique. Relatively speaking."

Today's medicine is an enormous stock of antivenoms. Hopefully he's brought enough...

    Okay, Fuka actually thought this was a general quest from the Hunters Guild. She directs a glare at Uta, but can't actually put any heat into it. "These are awfully big if they're eggs. They're not eggs, right? Because if they're eggs, there was this movie I saw once when I was WAY TOO YOUNG TO WATCH HORROR MOVIES and let me tell you, it did not turn out well!"

    Hearing the Doctor's explanation though, she shrugs. "Oh, okay. Spiders. Not nearly as bad." Fuka claims. Remember this moment. It will be instructive for later.

    Merek walks along with the party, and will take the time to adjust the equipment which he wears. The man adjusts the strap which he wears about the waist and along front, which keeps his alchemical gear. The man nods a little bit along to the people, "Alright, well I will assist with any way that I can," he then pulls the hood up while the beltcape takes a moment to adjust about him.

Uta stands at the ready, white caduceus-themed staff clutched in her hand as she scans the area for any approaching monsters. "That is as the Doctor explained. We're more or less pulling a Darwin here, with less paradise islands and more giant spider-infested dungeons." She sighs and casts a forlorn gaze at the Doctor. "Gotta give it to Darwin, tho', the guy was better at aesthetics than we are." And then, a mumble, "I guess that all that experience he gathered paid off."

Uta blinks at Fuka. "...you're scared of eggs? That... that is one odd phobia." She leans forward ever so slightly. "...how about... chickens?"

    "I could go for paradise islands right now." mutters Fuka. Then does a doubletake at Uta. "I'm not scared of eggs!" she insists indignantly. "And who are you calling a chicken? I'm scared of nothing!"

    Again, remember this moment.

    "I just don't like the idea of really nasty monsters coming OUT of the eggs. Monsters that jump at you and latch on to your face and do..." she makes vaguely obscene gestures with her hands, ones that should probably be pixellated. "... with their tentacles!"

"I only understood about a third of what the Doc said, but it's more training and that's good enough for me," Vertina replies, stepping back from the edge for a moment. "Just tell me when you need something punched, or kicked... or guess wrestled still since Syx isn't here."

"Please do not allow strange insects to insert their ovipositors in any orifice," the doctor says, "It is dreadfully unhygenic."

Woooo thunk. Wooooo thunk. The egg goes up and down, up and down, before landing one final time in his hands with a thunk. Robert offers up a squint. "The doctor says we're studying spiders because we're trying to make mutant spiders," he summarizes at last. "The doctor also asks that we not commit any indecent, carnal acts with these creatures as we do not know what diseases they may carry."

    Seeing as Arashi is here for the same reason as kicklizard, it results in the warhorse finding a near by spot to wait at. Probably against the cave wall. "Same. If something needs taken care of, I think we're here for it." Not to say ANYONE here can't defend themselves, just that the pair are more specialized in doing things that make violence stop. Forcefully.

Schneider peers at Uta's reference to pulling a Darwin. "More like pulling a /Darwin Award/," he remarks. "This is a dungeon, or just next to one. There's things in there that will kill you dead. WIth or without eggs having anything to do with it." Not that he sounds worried - rather, he sounds excited, like it's a challenge coming up. He apparently watched the same movies as Fukaziroh, but rather than worried, he looks like he can't wait for it.

He looks between Uta and Fukaziroh, then over to Robert. Those," he says of the football he's juggling, "Are spider eggs, are they not?" He doesn't know. It just seems like they would be, given the situation. He nods gravely at Doc's advice.

    Setsuna stands up off the ground as people are showing up, more then he had even expected. " Thank you all for coming. As Prophylaxis touched on, this is the beginning of a month long science experiment where we are investigating monster evolutions. Do monsters actually evolve? Do they just spawn in there current state and never change? Does this mean that special monsters we see out in the world all stared as something simpler and have gone through some weird circumstances to become those special monsters. So long story short, today we are going to tag the spiders. "

     Setsuna pauses, taking a moment he tosses out the small bags that were in his bigger bag. Inside are enchantment crystals with one very sharp point on the bottom. " Inside these bags are small enchantment crystals, we are going to very carefully put the crystals in the spiders. " Looking around though, it doesn't seem like there are any spiders about, also the rock that Robert is tossing up in the air over and over is starting to crack. " We want to tag as many spiders as possible today so we can get a big enough sample. " More of the rocks are starting to crack. In fact every white rock around them is starting to crack. " So why did we come here today? Well today is hatching day?"

     As if on cue all the rocks begin to break apart and spiders, still the size of a football or volley ball no with their legs spread out. Start to run about, except for the egg that Robert was throwing. That spider lands on his face and very much looks like a scene from that one horror movie that may or may not being referenced.

OOC:
Physical/Ranged/Magical rolls of 7
One person has to manage a handle monster, pharmacy or alchemy roll of 8+

    Merek will take a few things from the strap which he wears, while he begins to mix a few chemicals. Then he throws that into the spiders, which will begin to make them sleepy while he takes the time to walk through and nods to the party, "That will assist a little," he offers, taking the time to take a cool cup of tea from his inventory to take a sip from it.

Vertina catchs the bag Setsuna tosses, taking out one of the crystals. "Oh good, you at least put it in a format I can use." Crystals are just Earth that's extra fancy, after all. She flicks it between her fingers a few times, then throws it with the same precision as one would a kunai to embed in one of the spiders. See, she can do more than just kick things.

    And the 'rocks' start to hatch. And Sprite has one land on their -face-. Yup. That was sort of expected. "Heh.." Alas, work calls. Arashi's quick to take a few steps, kneel at one of the hatchlings, and then stab the crystal into a, hopefully, non-lethal spot.

Schneider peers at the spiders as they break out of their eggs. He takes a crystal and will levitate it with a faint glow of magic around it, then insert it into one of the spiderlings' abdomens where, hopefully, it won't kill the little pest, so we can learn what Setsuna wants to learn. He's standing well back from them as he does this, mind, he's not getting too close. He's got the big boom ready, though, in case things get out of control.

SpritesHero was, no doubt, about to offer up some other snarky comment. It does rather seem to be in his job description, at this point.

However, there's a sudden cracking noise from the thing in his hands. Out comes a fuzzy spider, who immediately hops onto his face to hug him. Daddy!

Sprites has no paternal instincts. At least not today. But he does have two other instincts. The first derives from following orders: rather than scream like a little girl, he keeps his mouth firmly shut, thus fulfilling Prophylaxis's instructions to 'not allow strange insects to insert their ovipositors in any orifice'. The second derives from self preservation: his hand abruptly whips upwards, pimp-handing the spider off his face and sending it hurtling through the air. True, he hasn't actually done anything he's supposed to. No crystal were involved. But he's at least contributed to the ambiance by adding a flying menace into the works.

"Acknowledged as Syx's understudy," Uta chuckles at Vertina. And looks in mild confusion at Fuka'scomplaint. "Oh, no, I was wondering if you had a phobia of- nevermind."

She nods slowly, in agreement with Prophylaxis. "I agree with the Doctor. No matter how much you wish to figure out whether the ovopositors have been menu-crafted or properly crafted, do not perform the taste test on them. Also, they probably count as ingredients, so the results of the taste test would be inconclusive."

Uta turns to Prophylaxis, "Wait, mutant spiders?!" She turns to Setsuna. "I Thought we were merely collecting data to better understand monster development, migration, and-" She turns to Prophylaxis again, "You're planning to make mutant spiders?!" She stomps towards him, indignant. "How dare you hatch such a twisted, wicked plan, and leave me out of it? I want in on the mutant monster fun! It-"

Setsuna speech interrupts Uta's rambling, and she listens in silence. "...Oh, that sounds more like the way I remember. Yes."

As she notices the eggs hatching, Uta wastes no time. One swift turn of her staff, she catches the bag of crystals with the tip. Air current flow around, it. A flick of the staff, the bag is opened. Two, three swift movements in the air that'd make Zorro proud get a few crystals out of the bag, and a final swipe with the top of the staff catches the bag to bring it back to Uta, while a powerful air current of the very same swipe deflects the few that had been extracted and were still falling in mid-air to work as a fusillade of darts -- sending each of them for a different hatching egg.

    Fukaziroh boggles at Doc, slightly indignant or possibly creeped out. "I won't let anyone or anything stick their anythings in my anywhere." she agrees. "Unless they're really hot." she adds in a stage whisper. Shrugging, she acquires an elemental tag crystal.

    When the spiders begin to hatch, she sighs. "Yeah, I saw this coming." she says, rolling her eyes. Sprites' predicament gets her attention. "Oi, don't commit any indecent carnal acts!" she cackles madly at the poor guy. Then she puffs on her crystal, animating it with wind mana, sending it streaking out and into a spiderling. Possibly through it. She doesn't know how tough they are, and at this point it's a target-rich environment. There's plenty of time to refine her technique should she accidentally commit too much power to the task.

Robert translates. The doctor simply nods. He says nothing more of the matter, letting his absolute judgment hang in the air like a murderer at the gallows.

But then the spiders begin to burst from their eggs, just as promised. Who knew rocks could actually be eggs in disguise? Perhaps these are not the only ones. Perhaps the planet itself is but a gigantic egg, disguised as a planet?

Nah, no way that could work out.

The doctor idly places a pale, white ampule into a slot in his gauntlet. A thin, milky substance flows through crystaline channels in the apparatus, eventually traveling to a panel at its palm. He extends his hand toward the spawning spiders and releases a plume of sweet-smelling vapor at the hatchlings. Soon, the creatures will be fast asleep and perfectly poised for crystal implantation.

"Please do not commit carnal acts with strange spiders who you do not know," The doctor adds, spritzing another egg cluster with sleeping gas, "Even if they /are/ hot. One night stands are always a risk, but doing so with a spider adds the distinct chance of becoming an egg carrier."

    Spiders, large spiders, ? they are everywhere and now well everything is moving. The walls, the floor , the ceiling, yep this is one of those moments you will probably never forget. "Oh before I forget, no fire. These things are horribly weak to fire, even the egg shells will go up in smoke now that they have hatched. " If anyone looks at the internals of the egg shell, you'd be able to see the small lines meaning that this egg is actually made of thread.

     Overall it is all starting well, the spiders are being calmed by the works of Prophylaxis and Merek. The others all manage to get a crystal into at least a spider and the spiders go about there day, after rubbing there poor abdomen where they got their owie. Some even put a webbing bandage on it. All except one spider, this is the flying spider taught to fly by Robert, this spider ends up landing on the back of Arashi's head, and she can feel it's legs getting tangled in her hair.

     Unfortunately the group of adventurers are not the only one who know about hatching day. The monsters in fact call it another term , they call it an all you can eat buffet. From the shadows frogs , lizard and even over bugs are starting to come out of the cracks and starting to devour the spiders. Due to the sleeping gas they are also a little woozy so they are rather easy pickings.. " We need someone to protect the spiders , and someone to take care of the threats! Maybe something to soothe the predators "

     Song|Monster Handling|Cooking - Soothe the predators vs 8
Elemental concepts vs 9 to kill predators
Evasion|Shield to protect the spiders vs 8
Physical|Ranged|Magical - Keep tagging the untagged spiders vs 7

    Merek lifts up both hands of his when he's finished with the tea, then he begins to draw the magic circle to form fire magic. When he's worked with the casting, he will swing the fireballs along into the creatures that are coming for the spiders. The man dances with the flames while he takes the time to defend the spiders. Of course, he will aim for the edges of the combat field, so that none of them will strike the spiders while he works.

    Well, that happened. Just after Arashi gets her crystal planted, another spider comes calling and decides to try and nest in her mane. Or maybe it is just having trouble doing -anything- cause it is a newborn and was unceremoneously LAUNCHED into the air by a callous and cruel hand. ... One or the other. Well. Much as the warhorse is doing her best to not FULLY FREAK OUT because EVERYTHING IS MOVING, she slowly reaches up, trying to gently tug the poor creature from her head, before setting it down so that IT MAY ENACT ITS HORRILBE REVENGE. Or just scurry into the swarm. ... But revenge would be more fun, wouldn't it?

And cue the other monsters sensing a free meal. "Oh sure, -after- he says not to set things on fire!" The Salamander sighs, and kippups back as she scrapes up some dirt and rock from the ground. Bending it into a speherical shape but NOT SETTING IT ON FIRE this time as she kicks it a swarm of encrouching hungry monsters. Who scatter before they actually get hit. Though it did break up their formation some, there's that? ".. I forgot that doesn't cover as much space when it's not ignited," Vertina muses mostly to herself.

Schneider actually listens to being told not to use fire, and he's confused. "But what else is there?" he wonders. But he's a sorcerer for a reason, and since others are taking care of the attackers, he will keep tagging the spiders. The more spiders get tagged, he quicker we can get out of here.

He holds a crystal in one hand, draws it to his cheek like it's the nock of an arrow, his other hand forward as if holding a bow. The faint tracery of one is occasionally visible. He releases the crystal and it flies like an arrow into another spider.

SpritesHero is unrelated to any mane-nesting spiders, and has nothing whatsoever, in any way, shape, or form, to do with callous or cruel hands. Oh no, he is the epitomy of class and elegance as he slides a shard of crystal in his hand to send it zipping, quick as you like, at a nearby untagged spider.

Or at least it might be untagged. It might not be. He's rather lost track at this point, possibly in part due to the way he's whistling. To help the work along, mind, and not to assuage any guilt at having backhanded a baby into someone's hair.

While the crystal-throw does make contact with its target, it does not accomplish the desired end of actuall entering the target. Instead, it wedges at an unfortunate angle in the spider's carapace. What will it do? Who knows?

    "These are hatchlings, Proph!" Fuka scolds. His statement is ew on *so many* levels. She can admire that much wrongness in one sentence, that's for sure, but she can't let him think she *approves* of such statements! It's HER job to be the outrageous one after all.

    Fuka considers the upcoming issues carefully. Admittedly she's also a bit distracted, what with Uta shrieking and Doc issuing wrongness and all the bloodthirsty monsters and the order not to use fire. Speaking of fire, she points. "Fire!" she shrieks, as Merek casts one of her favourite spells. She considers doing likewise. Like, seriously considers it. But no, she should behave. It's no fun breaking the rules on a technicality SECOND after all. So... lightning? No, better plan. A group protection spell she's actually fairly decent at! She casts stoneskin on the spiders. Sadly there's so many and she can only protect a few with rock-hard carapaces... so some of the enchanted spiderlings might end up getting eaten unless others can defend them or drive off attackers.

Don't use fire, Setsuna says. Guess what someone /immediately/ does?

THAT'S RIGHT, USE FIRE.

AND IT WASN'T EVEN A SCALE MEMBER THIS TIME.

"Please refrain from setting the entire cavern ablaze," Prophylaxis says, groggily. The air around him begins to shift and turn, heat and warmth being sucked out of the world as if being gulped down by a thirsty leviathan. The doctor taps his staff against the ground, a wave of frost racing radially from the point of impact and dousing whatever flames might have reached the eggs and spiders... And continuing onward, rushing toward the incoming predators to rapidly drain their internal body heat.

He's betting that these lizards and amphibians are cold blooded, it seems. If they are, then they'll soon be easy pickings for the rest of the party-- if they haven't frozen solid already.

Beat.

"Especially refrain from doing anything carnal with hatchlings of any stripe," Prophylaxis adds, gravely. "I will personally deal with anyone who harbors such terrible ideas. Human test subjects are so hard to come by."

He's probably kidding.

Probably.

Uta croons the most soothing lullaby, an angelic voice bound to calm even the most troubled soul; and even if monsters have no soul, the song is still-

Aaaaaaaand everything is a giant conflagration. The monsters start to freak out.

Uta sighs, and as any showspriggan knows at this point, the show must go on. Read your audience and react to the circumstance.

So, soon, "We didn't start the fire" segues into "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!", with a voice so powerful the air ripples with her vocal blasts.

"Why are you two even having THAT kind of conversation?" Vertina retorts over your shoulder. "I thought monster 'fun times' was a Bard thing?"

Uta flushes deep red and snaps back at Vertina, "HEY! /I/'m a bard!"

SpritesHero is trying his best to not look supremely guilty at this point as he half-heartedly flicks crystals at spiders. "Some of those vampires wear belly-dancer outfits," he supplies, helpfully. "It doesn't have to just be a Bard thing."

    "I am shocked and appalled you would even think such a thing, Proph!" says Fuka, grinning fiercely enough that it's probably clear to everyone she's neither shocked nor appalled. "Uta is sweet and innocent and would never EVER do such a thing!"

    As the spiders are attacked many things happen all at once, fire is one of those things, Setsuna does his best to help shield the monsters along with Fukaziroh and Arashi. Around them as spiders are continuing to be tagged, predators burn, then they freeze and then they shatter. All in one fell swoop. It was quite impressive and totally looked like something practiced over and over in such a way that never could it just happen.

    The young spiderlings are super happy now for the free meals just falling around them as they begin to devour the dead monsters, swarming each fallen monster happy for the food. They are completely and totally distracted like this. However as everything looks like it will be easy going from here, voices can be heard. Around the corner comes adventurers , yep adventurers here to take care of low the level spiders before they become problems. The leader looks about at the party and then they other spiders, "Hey look guys we got some newbs here that can't even manage to kill some baby spiders, lets show them how it is done. "

Negotiation/Etiquette/Law - Talk the adventurers out of killing the spiders. Vs 7
hysical/Ranged/Magic - Keep tagging vs 6
Evasion/Shield - Protect the spiders from jumpy adventurer arrows. Vs 8

    Merek looks to the people coming in, "I wasn't thinking about it, and used fire. I apologize," he will offer, then he takes a look along when the adventurers come by. "Alright, we're doing magical experiments with the spiders. It would be kind of you if you permitted us to do all of that. Though, if you don't. I suppose that the Mage's Tower wouldn't mind explaining to the Hunter's Guild why you need you rank lowered."

Newbs? NEWBS?! Lucky for these adventurers, Arashi isn't here to fight. That's in a few days. Otherwise they'd be in a world of trouble. Instead the warhorse fends off some arrows with Starshadow with relative ease. "YOu may want to look up the tournament finalists from last year.." Grrrrr.

Vertina swings her attention around at the new voices with such force that her ponytail practical whipcracks behind the motion of her head. "We're not--" She stops herself abruptly as she catchs a glimps of something split-seconds ahead. The new arrivals are about to fire (smart, not getting close to possibly poisonous enemies).

She slams a foot into the ground, quickly changing to a defensive stance. Flashes the hand motion triggers almost too fast to be seen.

Then there's multiples of the Salamander Godhand, who almost as if one (they are, being mirror images mimicing the original) slap many of the arrows and projectiles out of the air.

"--You're the noobs bumbling into a scientific expendition, knucklehead!" she finally snaps back afterwards.

As the adventurers arrive and speak about killing spiders, Schneider bellows, "Halt!" And he says it in such a stern way that the adventurers stop despite themselves. It's very Judge Dredd. "You may not kill these spiders," he says. "They are not for you. Go on and run Spinners, there are plenty of monsters there for you. These spiders are part of a special experiment. And if you ruin it, it will go very poorly for you." Because with no spiders, Schneider will be free to light off Helloween, and -that- would be bad.

Quality can always be made up for with quantity. Right? Right. Controlled administration? Nah. Dose concerns? Later! All that matters is emptying his bag of crystals into them thar spiders.

Which he does, courtesy of (somehow) launching the durned things off a spinning wheel of water that goes scything through the air before slamming into the far wall. At any rate, all that matters is there are lots of crystals, lots of spiders, and now lots of crystals in lots of spiders.

Probably. Possibly a couple crystals in a couple adventurers too.

"Oh, oh, I got this. Let's see..."

She flicks her menu open and skims through her techniques. "...hmm... no... no... Hm. 'Dark Wave. Saps the user's strength... yes. Yes, that'll do."

She closes her menu, and with her eyes closes, head tilted downwards, staff held vertical in front of her, she intones an ominous chant. Tendrils of darkness twist on her staff, focus on the gem, and seep all aorund, adding a tense feeling to the atmosphere...

"Sooooo....", Uta finally announces, in a plasticky cheerful tone, the kind of cheerful tone which sends shivers down your spine. "As we have arrived here first, and have applied manual labor to the area, we have leagally homesteaded it. Now-" She extracts a scroll, flicks it while holding onto one end, and the other rolls all over the floor, past the newbie adventurers, on and on.

"By crossing into the area currently occupied by the Spider Tagging Team (henceforth referred to as The Taggers), you low-level Adventurers (henceforth referred to as The Interlopers) accept and agree to be legally bound by all the terms and conditions set forth in this End User License Agreement."

The scroll is still rolling two or three cave down. The immense document is written in tight, thick legalese.

"You can also reach the end of the scroll and check the box that says 'accept'."

"Please also refrain from purchasing lingerie from vampires. I am fairly confident the only monetary institution they frequent is the blood bank," Prophylaxis continues to drone on, because he is apparently the party's PSA generator for the day. Which, you know, is totally in his wheelhouse as a medical professional. "Similar prohibitions exist for other monsters, including but not limited to making use of slime saunas, cyclops optomotrists, and acquiring dental services provided by the Cavity Man."

Who is the Cavity Man?

Do not ask questions you do not wish to know the answer to.

But then! There are more adventurers! Prophylaxis casts them a withering look and gestures, conjuring a wall of ice between them and the spider party. There's still a porthole for negotiations to take place, of course, but that spell should get his message across better than any admonishment. The others are handling that, anyway.

"Who's the Cavity Man, the Tooth Fairy's Ex?", Vertina quips after Prophylaxis' long list of things not to do.

    Fukaziroh eyes the adventurers. Not having any great interest in PVP she considers negotiating, but it seems others have that well in hand. Doing quite well too, by the looks of it. She'd much rather continue her current amusing banter with friends, so she scoops up a few more enchantment crystals and sets in to work replacing some of the tagged spiders that had gotten killed with new ones, driving enchantment crystals into them using her excellent precision and speed.

    Ah, oops. Damn. Also her rather spectacular strength score, used to wield a great axe, may not be the best tool for delicate surgery. She splats one spider, possibly turns a second into a cannibalist's dream as it's injured enough to be likely prey. And spiders aren't known for their pickiness when it comes to food sources.

    Yeah, best look the other way. Oh look a distraction. "Proph, who said anything about purchasing it?! Though it's probably a bad idea to acquire such things used, too. So, what do you have to say about purchasing massage services from Ettins? Or hold music from Sirens?"

Uta sighs at Vertina, "She must have caught him cheating on her with the Sugarplum Fairy." She then turns to Fuka, "Whatever you do, don't book seaside vacations from Kelpies."

    The adventurers don't know what to make of all this but as the wall of ice grows around them and they are faced with the party's lack of enjoyment at being called a noob or being interrupted. As the scroll rolls pass them they blink and look at Uta and the leader looks back and his people launch their arrows but they never find their mark. In fact in the end as the wall of ice solidifies and cuts off the adventurers from the Taggers.

Setsuna just stands there watching and feeling like someone out there is intentionally trying to keep this from successfully happening. Either way as he remembers his goal he tosses out more of the tagging crystals into a couple more spiderlings. The spiderlings though are quiet happy and now that they have ate and are beginning to walk around the cave when suddenly they all look up and begin to scatter and scurry into cracks and holes and even down the giant hole in the center.

     Moments later the entire cavern begins to shake and rocks begin to fall, something is causing an earth quake and not only is the cave dropping stalactites down upon the party. With the spiders scattering the party only has a few more moments to tag them before they disappear. Hurry hurry.

Earth or Construction- Will stop the cave in that is about to happen vs 9
Anything non fire - Be creative and tag those spiders vs 9

Schneider knows where this is going. Rocks fall, everyone dies. This is enough of a trope that he's pretty much just resigned to it and waiting for it to happen. He's a bit annoyed at gettng dragged out to this, now, if this is how it's going to end, and he grumbles, "This is kind of a stupid project plan, you know...." And then a rock cracks him on the head, and he staggers.

So... nore more spiders? Cool! Cave in? Not so cool. It causes Arashi to frown a bit. "No, no, none of that," she insists before angrily putting her hoof down. Literally. And with a spell backing it up. "Stop." The cave will listen if it knows what's good for it. Hmph!

"As long as you're not providing them with any monetary or material assistance, then you are free to raid their wardrobe for whatever items of iniquity that your black heart desires," Prophylaxis says, striking the earth again with his staff. Rocks begin to fall from on high, only to be arrested by surging pillars of stone. The doctor's expression strains somewhat as his mana pool passes below the half-way mark. He stabs an mp potion into his shoulder to counteract the drain, then turns and conjures another earth pillar to reinforce the first.

"Do not ask about the Cavity Man," the doctor says, "Or the Cavity Man will come asking for you."

Vertina steps to the side as a chunk of cave cracks apart. "Seriously? Now? What divine force did you piss off THIS time that doesn't want you to succeed, Setsuna?"

Sass aside, Vertina is here to help her Alliance mates out. Time to put that trademark friendly earthbending to good use.

She has the same general idea as Arashi, but is a lot more obviously physical about it. Where the Dire Shire stomps, the Salamander turns and grabs one of the larger cracks in the wall, a hand on either side dug into the material, and forcefully pushes it back shut to seal it up again and restore the stability in the subterranian infrastructure.

As the spiders scatter, Uta launches into a bouncy J-Pop tune; at each beat, a circle in a different color pops into existence in a different spot of the cave. She eventually hits chorus, which goes "SE-WER CALL!", marked by her slamming her staff on the ground. In response, slimes bounce out of every one of the circles, scattered all over the place, and begin to corral the spiders back in. Uta leaps towards one of the slimes, which bounces her towards the next slime, which bounces her towards the /next/ slimes, and so on, as a sort of Spriggan Pinball. During each leap, she passes by one or more spiders, which she tags in passing.

    Seeing that the cave is starting to collapse, Fuka considers her remaining Earth spells. She shrugs. Can't really come up with an effective use at holding up the ceiling. So, time to work on something a bit different. "Don't go away yet!" she cries out, swinging one hand in a broad arc and putting out bubbles of solidified air. It might act as a shield for a time as well as a snare. Spiders enbubbled will find it remarkably difficult to dive into small cracks in the ground and the like, making it much easier to impale them with crystals. Fortunately, she's able to do this gently enough that it doesn't literally decimate the remaining spiders still aboveground.

    Meanwhile, while she's busy impaling spiderlings, Fuka's cackling merrily at Proph's dour words. "I'll have you know my heart is pure and filled with light." she insists. "My mind's another matter entirely!"

    Merek looks to the cave-in that's about to block exit and take care of the spiders, then he lifts up both hands while he begins to speak, "Earth!" then he draws a pillar which begins to take the time to connect, bridging the floor with the ceiling and working to keep the place from wrapping into itself while he works that magic.

SpritesHero does not look particularly convinced by Prophylaxis's argument, even as he continues dispensing crystals, albeit with a gentler touch.

Sorta. Thorned tendrils of darkness jabbing crystals into monsters isn't exactly a day at the fair. But it's presumably nicer, or at least more controlled, than his previous method of distribution.

"I dunno, Boss," he quibbles with a frown, neatly side-stepping two rocks which crush nearby tagged spiders. Ahwell. Easy come, easy go. "I'm not sure it's really appropriate to go around mugging things of their undergarments, rather than offering up full value as part of an open, transparent transaction."

    Fuka turns to stare dubiously at Bob, a spiderling managing to slip away from her, burst its bubble, and skitter into a crack in the wall. "Do you normally go about wearing lingerie? OFFICER! OFFICER!"

"People, may I remind you that there are /minors/ here?", Uta scolds, pointing at the baby spiders she keeps on tagging. "Won't anybody think of the children?"

     Rocks fall and yet no one dies , thanks to the quick work of every. Pillars and counter earth moves all quell the moving earth and while it appears the spiders have escaped safely and the majority have been tagged. Setsuna looks over at Vertina, " I mean not everything we do can be easy. In fact I think this all should have been expected as par for the course. However its over now and we can all know we did a good day of spider tagging. Yep smooth sailing from here. " With that said a giant spider leg reaches out of the hole in the ground and pulls Setsuna into the hole. Then another spider leg, and another and it appears that a rather giant spider is trying to get out of the hole. House sized, someone should probably do something about this, like use fire to deter it.

Fire - As high as you can get it.
Anything else combat wise you may want to do instead to a giant spider leg.- High Values needed

    "Oiiiiii, are we still not supposed to use fire?" asks Fukaziroh. She pauses, hand cupped to ear for a moment. She shrugs, straightens, and points. "FIYAAAAAHBAHL!"

    Merek will lift up a hand, while he begins to create a flame wall that will be used to protect Setsuna from anymore hands of the spider which might try to come at the man, taking the time to work and maneuver with the magic.

"Restrictions on fire usage have been lifted, but please try to not hit Setsuna," Prophylaxis answers. To wit, the doctor begins weaving such a spell of his own. This one, though, does not attack the enormous spider directly. Instead, he invokes the spirits of elemental flame, calling them to dwell within the weapons and magic of the others in the party. The team benefits from a powerful FIRE DAMAGE enchantment for a short time as a result, their weapons smoldering like a log in a campfire.

    Well, the cave DID in fact listen to Arashi's stomp. No more cave in. Huzzah. However when Setsuna gets kidnapped by a giant freaking spider leg... "Huh. I guess Mom's mad about people bothering her brood.. that could be a problem," she notes before deciding that, yeah, they should probably try to help rescue the one in need of rescuing. It's why she vanishes from sight, only to come careening downward with Starshadow ahead of her. "Time for a stabbin."

Well, he's alive, anyhow, and as Schneider picks himself up out of the rubble, he sees a giant spider grabbing Setsuna. Well, they're vulnerable to fire, he said so ....

"Kaizard, aruzard, kisk! Hansay Glossik!" The words even sound like omenous gibberish, and he continues, "Unleash total destruction! Sage of Hades use the seven keys to open the gates of Hell!" That definitely sounds bad, and he shouts in conclusion, "HALLOWEEN!"

And then it really hits the fan. A huge blast of fire slams into the spider, and the resulting fireball billows through the cavern overhead as sheets of flame infused with hellfure wash over the spider.

SpritesHero gives Fuka a lofty glance, gazing down his nose at her. Way, way down. His hand lifts, the air darkens around him. Frost forms on his clothing, crystalline facets glittering in the reflected glow of the resulting firestorm. The air thickens, turning heavily oppressive. His voice deepens. Positively sepulchral. "Lacy," he intones, with Shakespearian majesty. "Black."

His hand flick, sending the cloud of darkness flittering off towards the spider leg, and the air lightens at last.

When she notices Setsuna being grabbed, Uta's expression twists into a mask of rage. Eyes bulging, she screams, swings her staff, and hits the spider's leg right at the joint-

And the leg strikes a homerun, sending Uta to fly and slam against the opposite wall of rock, all across the blazing inferno of the others' fire techniques.

Her HP knocked down in the danger area, and with a status effect of << On Fire >>, she slides down the rock to rest prone on the rocky floor.

"...Right..." she mumbles to herself. "...I forgot I was trying to destroy its leg, not test its reflexes..."

At first, Vertina just slaps a palm over her face. "When will you people learn to NOT say things like that until it is -entirely- over and we're back in the tavern celebrating? Sheesh..."

Then it's back to business as usual for the Scale Emblem. She pulls the hand away from her face, clenching it into a fist as it erupts into a glorious blaze brighter than any fire has any right to be. "Time to end this in a proper blaze of glory!" She takes a few dashing steps, then leaps into the air as she cocks back the ignited fist, so she can use the momentum of her leap to put additional force into the blow that's coming.

"RAGNAROK'S WISDOM"

She made a quick judgement by where the legs are coming out of holes to aim her decent, so her flaming fist slams down into the rock over what should be the spider's actual body, plumes of fire shooting up like glorious fireworks as the shockwave of fire slams downward through the earth to bring the entire conflaguration down on top of the spider below.

    Fire, fire everywhere. Today science was proven, that if the rocks are hot enough they can burn. They also learn that if a spider is big enough then each leg gets it's own hp bar. In the end they even learn that even if spiders are weak to fire when just the leg is bright red in the inspect window, you can only imagine how strong the full body is. Nope at the end of the day they drive after the spider legs and all is calm. Then another sound can be heard , " Guys! A little help?" Looking over the edge you would see Setsuna clinging to the wall and slowly sliding down. He could use some help, or everyone else could go home. The tagging is over, after all.

    Merek walks along and will assist Setsuna with getting up from the place. "Alright, well. That was quite an adventure, I admit."

Vertina can't reach that far, so instead she digs her feet in and drops her tail down for Setsuna to grab onto and help pull him out. "It was, Merek, it was. Let's go home and drinks to celebrate... SCIENCE I guess?"

    Fukaziroh got to banter and explode things. It was a good time indeed. "I sure hope those little monsters grow up into something useful or at least interesting. It'd be a shame if this was all just an exercise in foolish ... OH! Science!"

    All done? Spiders tagged? Momma retreated? Setsuna tended to? Perfect. All good. "Well, at least we did get to fight a few things and run off some idiot actual-newbs," Arashi growls before finding a cave surface to lean on. "But seriously, guys, when someone says 'No fire', Don't use fire spells." Sigh.

"...People... uh...", Uta whimpers, as the flames keep consuming her and dock her HP bar further down in the red. "...little extinguishing help?", followed by a more subdued, "...wait, don't. You'll probably try to extinguish the flames with fireball... NEVER MIND."

    "Hey I asked and he didn't object!" Fukaziroh complains aggressively. "Or did you mean that first one? Yeah, that was completely uncalled for." she grins.

SpritesHero scratches his head a few times, watching the rescue-Setsuna operation. He'd help. Really he would. But at this point, it's not at all obvious how one -would- help. He does keep random, odd spells around, but nowhere is there a 'Reinforce Tail' utility card.

That he's aware of, anyhow.

And so he turns towards Uta, snapping his fingers to summon a deluge of water from on high. It may be a bit excessive. Overly enthusiastic, even. But it should probably get the job done.

Schneider looks around for Setsuna, doesn't see him. He must have gone, already. Everyone else hanging out over there? No chance, not with giant spiders around. He'll head out. He echoes Vertina about going home and getting drinks. "Hell yeah." And he will head out.

What kind of monstrous beast is so large that its individual limbs count as combat encounters on their own? Perhaps this is why they've yet to proceed any deeper into the spider caverns.

Leaving the discussion of Robert's favorite articles of clothing behind, the doctor makes his way to the edge of that enormous hole in the ground. He whips his arm to one side, snaking a tendril out of his gauntlet. Normally, such a thing would be used to inject poison into an enemy, but today...

Prophylaxis snakes that tendril down towards Setsuna.

...Where he can make good use of its secondary function as a /very/ sturdy cord of metal cable. "Grab hold," he calls down, "I'll pull you up."

    Setsuna will absolutely take the helping tail and holds on tightly, really digging his nails in. He has no intention of letting go...did he use his teeth? Yeah he uses his teeth to. Even then he slips and is forwtunately able to groab on to the tendril to and between both is able to be plled up. Fortunately Setsuna gets up to the ground and the first thing he does is kisses it. " I so did not like that. " Looking about he then looks back at the hole. " We should probably leave." Standing up slowl he makes sure he is steady before looking at Vertina, "Did I hear you mentioned drinks ? The first one to mentions them covers the tab right?" He doesn't wait for an answer is going to the nearest place to start Vertina a tab.

Vertina has been through worse fighting Floor Bosses, she can withstand some scratching and biting (and probably casting a few Light heals on it later). Enough that actually laughs afterwards as the group gets ready to leave. "Tabs, shmabs. I own the tavern, remember?! First round of victory drinks is on the house."

    "Okay I like her." Fukaziroh chirps. Meanwhile she heads over to poor firewatered Uta. "She's had too much to drink already I think. Uh, hold on Uta, I have a healing spell around here somewhere."

"WATER. Why does it always have to be WATER?!", Uta sputters. But at least she's no longer on fire. "...A drink would be good." Whether it's because of HP docking or other reasons, her stomach growls. "...and some food too..."

She turns to Fuka with an exhausted expression of pain, "Thanks, Fuka..."

SpritesHero will have to simply settle for being confused. And not particularly charmingly either. His head cants to the side, his hands go to his waist. He surveys Uta with a frown and furrowed brow. "What would you have preferred it to have been instead?" he queries. "For future reference. I mean, I guess I could pack you in dirt, but..."