3223/The Landviathan

The Landviathan
Date of Scene:	17 October 2015
Location:	Brimsteel Frontier
Synopsis:	What better way to spend an October weeknight than destroying a cosmic horror deep beneath the surface world?
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, Rebecca Chambers, 385, 673, Corona Arclite, 750, 770, 774

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Corona Arclite has posed:
We don't need to go through the several turns of traveling down into the caverns below Heatstroke Valley via minecart train yet again, so let's just leave this to the cutscene and exposition. So just imagine the panoramic view winding through shadowy tunnels along rattling rails and occasionally ducking the passing of bats while it's going on.

As for the exposition part, along the way Corona explains that once she found someone who could translate part of the book she had snagged from one of the mole cultists last time, they figured out why the monster of the depths doesn't leave the volcanic cavern it was in. The cavern sits smack in the middle of a major fault line as it is. Trigger a big enough earthquake, combined with the open space already present in the region from the mines, and you would have a surface breaking disaster on your hands.

One can only image the molemen were trying to awaken the beast to do just that, for whatever crackpot reason this 'Cavern King' has for hating the topside so much. But this scene isn't about him this time.

When that is all said and the carts come to a stop, Corona is one of the first to hope out. Everyone else is instructed to head into the cavern where the Landviathan was seen before, but then Corona scampers off down a side tunnel to retrieve whatever 'secret weapon' it is she hid down here after finishing it.

It could be a few minutes for her to come back, so you might as well head inside.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    When their fearless leader heads down some side passage, Target peers, then calls out, "Oi, don't be forever C'rona, ya hear?!" This deep down, the call echoes a couple times, causing the kobold to blink, shrug, and not really seem to worried that he may have ruined any element of surprise. "Well'n, lets go see what we gotta get ta handlin. I reckon I ain't gonna like it, that's fer sure," he muses, basically to no one in particular, before heading further into the mine. Pistols today? No. Shotgun with -bright red- shells being loaded in one after another after another after another af- .. how many shells does that thing hold anyway?

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Slamming the Impact Drivers together, Rebound charges them up and looks at the rest of the gathered crew, "Alright guys. This time we're definitely going to get us some. And I'm going to punch that stupid king guy right in his stupid face." She wanted to last time but the opporitunity never presented itself. This time, things are going to be different.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Checking to make sure she brought plenty of clips with her, Rebecca loads one of them into her assault rifle before checking to make sure the safety is disengaged, and then she looks to the others and says, "We don't know what we're going up against, so everyone stay on high alert!" She activates the flashlight on her rifle and then looks down the passage they're supposed to head down.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Stopping monsters and saving lives is very literally part of Yuna's job description ... not the idol singer job, of course, but as the Savior of Light. So when Cornoa puts out the request for help dealing with an underground monster, Yuna's happy to offer her assistance.

And she didn't come alone.

Yuna's already in her Light Suit when she joins the others at the mine entrance; besides the almost-ever-present Elner, she's also accompanied by three figures that bear feminine curves in the design of their armor - but their resemblance to human girls stops there. Erina, Jiina, and Marina are in their fully-armored combat guises this trip, and could easily be taken for some kind of golem by those more accustomed to magic than technology.

Rather than pulling out a weapon, Yuna intones, "Shugoseiheki!" as she exits her cart; the invocation is answered by a large kite shield materializing on her left arm. And that's what Yuna keeps handy as she heads into the tunnel with the others; she seems to be more inclined to play party-tank than DPS this outing. Of course, that might change as things continue ...

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "What IS the plan? That monster is... well... almost best left alone!" There's a very strong chance that she'll end up losing her Morph in this event... but if that happens, Rory's sure the others will be in a much worse situation. It's a rather hopeless feeling. She's as nervous as an AGI can get.

    Which happens to be a LOT MORE NERVOUS than one would expect, going by her expression. This time she's brought actual WEAPONRY instead of the foam trickery. Lasers and mini-missiles and who knows what else strapped to hardpoints on her skin-tight suit...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has come with what heavy weapons she had such he has the rocket launcher she got ages back and some other heavy gear. She's also brought her scout drones for what good they could do and she she looksed to the otehrs as she arrived she looked to be on edge and she was also clad in the stealth suit it might give her an edge in this fight. She's also brought explosives from XCOM with her as well.

"Problem is it has worshipers you think the entire cult is gone? Do you think others won't try for it? Look up the data on Kingsmouth I have. Something like this needs to be handled before it gets out of control..."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian has actually kept mostly quiet for most of the trip, oddly enough. He's prone to bouts of narcisissm, you see. But today he's been in thought while they went to their destination. It's only when everyone starts piling out that he seems to wake up. "Oh. Are we here?" It's a rhetorical question, and asked with a bit of a distracted air.

    He gets out with the others, and rather unnecessarily straightens his hair. Not to worry, he's completely back now. Whatever he was thinking about, he seems to have brought his attention back to the present. He is all too willing to stay behind Yuna with that shield. And in fact, he adds his own bit of help, casting a Barrier over as many people as he can. Never know when something's going to jump out and take you off-guard, right?

Corona Arclite has posed:
Unlike the abandoned mines leading to it the great cavern has better illumination.... Granted most of it is from the glow of magma. The cavern is basically a giant magma lake underground, while what appears to be crystallized flows in the walls provide some additional light. The top of rocky plateaus provide walking surface just above the molten rock, the sections connected by old metal grate walkways. Presumably the molemen constructed them to get to the beast they were trying to revive, but no one really knows for sure.

There is one new thing here though. A metal cube -- some may reconized it as one of Corona's automatronic units -- sits on a rocky platform. Be it by timer or some means of detecting the group approaching the device activates and unfolds into a clockpunk music device, which starts playing a recreation of the chant that was interrupted by the first group down here.

o/~ There's an ancient legend, of terror you should learn.
A tectonic monster, not a squid and not a wyrm.
It isn't quite a creature; it isn't quite machine.
And you won't know what hit you 'til you hear the cosmos scream!

Down below the mantle, it's waiting in the dark
From the boiling nether it will tear your world apart
It's tentacles are massive, it's teeth are made of steel
You may call it myth but I assure you that it's real!

When the quakes come rolling in, and sulfur clouds the sky
Then the surface dwellers know the Landviathan is nigh!
When it digs into your world, it'll never let it go--
Soon you'll join a thousand souls, it's crushed, in the depths below! o/~

Rumbling and rocks grinding can be heard from the depths of the cavern as the mechanized chant plays, then finally give way to magma sloshing around in waves as the Landviathan surges up from the molten deep once more. Serpentine body of metal plates looms up over the platform, mouthing opening to show those circular rows of sawblade teeth as it makes an unearthly screech. Four stalks in a X formation turn glowing orb-like eyes towards the intruders while multiple more metallic tentacles wirth free of it's body, most of them tipped in wicked claws or what almost look like drill cones of some sort.

o/~ A body made of metal, but with a living brain
Scholars who have studied it have all then gone insane
But ancient worlds have vanished; they're gone without a word
Perhaps the stories that the molemen chant aren't that absurrrr--

And it comes to a screeching halt as the monster spears the device with one tentacle and throws it into its mouth, metal wrenching and grinding in its teeth as it turns its attention towards the party next....

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Lava, magma, molten rock, slag, whatever you want to call it, coming upon a lake of the stuff causes a kobold, who has seen a lot around Brimsteel, to pause and just stare out at it. "Welp. That's ominous," he says first before things start to go... bad. The very sight of such a titanic monster rising up from the depths like another famous kaiju actually causes the kobold to look more like a deer in the headlights of a car than a well known ranger from Loadstar.

        *Ka-Chack*

And now that look is gone. Blink? Probably missed it. "Oh -hells- no.." is the first thing Target says as he actions a weapon that, in some part his mind, he wonders if it'll even be effective. "TIME TO GO TA WORK, FOLKS!" and that said he's off like a shot to -.. somewhere? He needs a better vantage point before he starts unloading what he's got on the beast.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    WHY did it respond to a chant played by a machine? This goes against all the theories established about why cults work for such beings... but oh well. More data to pore over later! Rory's less concerned about that than survival... for her friends.

    Which is why Landviathan's over
    --------------------> here

    And she's
    <-------------- there...

    Yup, she's just taking cover behind a smartly upraised outcropping.

    Two of her Saucers are tossed skywards like frisbees, hovering high, HIGH in the Great Cavern and hopefully out of easy reach of the massive creature. Well, it probably will have very little reason to care about them what with EVERYONE ELSE going ballistic!

    And Rory's happy with that situation.

    Because she's intent on studying this thing and locating any weaknesses in its tactics or huge body!

    "Good luck, everyone!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
Meanwhile, in the other tunnel...

The rock pattern camoflage tarp is yanked away and Corona climbs up into whatever had been hidden beneath. A turn of a crank and pulling a few levers rumbles a steam engine to life. Gas headlamps flicker on, almost like eyes in the darkness. A mechanical growl of a machine unseen by anyone else.

With everything in order Corona grins a bit as she pulls her goggles up over her eyes and then regrips the control sticks. "Time t' find out iffen those weeks of blood and sweat paid off."

A rumble, a grind... and then the tunnel goes dark and silent again? Wait, where did Corona go with that... whatever it is she just fired up??

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian looks at the device playing the chant, or song. He raises an eyebrow. "It's certainly not a very confidence-inspiring ditty," he observes in response to Sparktail's words. And of course, he soon sees, it's not meant to be. "Ah. Of course. That Which Should Not Be. What else did I expect? Cults and their horrors from beyond..."

    It's true that Dorian is not exactly what one would call a 'typical squishy mage'. His line has been breeding strength into it for generations. But, he's still human, and that thing is a metal lava squid monster. None of those things are anything that should be in close physical contact with a human or similar being.

    That in mind, Dorian is staying back away from the monster. Though that doesn't mean he's going to be useless. Only a little bit above it. Fire is not something he figures is going to be much use here. But ice will, for a couple reasons. The monster's made of metal, and is probably hot from being in the lava. Abruptly cooling it in small, focused points might weaken the metal hide of the thing in those spots.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    As soon as the shaking begins and the noises are heard, Rebecca's senses go on high alert. "What the hell?" She asks to no one in particular, mostly just an expression of confusion rather than an actual question. It's not until things get a bit more clear to her as to what it was that just happened. When Rebecca gets a good look at what the summoning brought out, her eyes go wide as saucers. "What the hell is THAT?!" She asks, wondering just how trivial Umbrella's creations are going to become the more she sticks around in the Multiverse. Although pondering that can wait for another time, because right now there are far more important priorities to be given thought to.

    Looking around quickly, Rebecca looks for a spot to take cover behind. Choosing a nearby rock formation (or something like that,) Rebecca takes cover and peers out just enough to get a better look at what this enemy truly is without sticking her neck out too much. After all, you can't be too careful.

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Well that's not really good. That's a lot of monster, and Rebound isn't sure if she can fight something like that. But then again, when has that ever stopped her before? She hops up into position, and then leaps up into the air. She's going to try to get at it from above. Scanning for a hold she can grab onto, she digs the Impact Drivers into a rock face to grab a hold.

    She waits, any moment that thing will pass below her. When it does, she will push off of the wall and fly towards it. It should be a simple matter of landing on it and trying to punch her way inside from between two armored plates. No biggie, right?

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is well as ready as she can be at this point she isn't thinking about the song much it's got to make her wonder why are they chaining this thing that will eat it. IT sounds almost like some sort of cybernetic thing the hell fire set up isn't lost on Kotone at all either She doesn't like it. She's over here with the others and she launches her drones at this point they pan out and Kotone will open up a network with Rory and anyone else who is able to patch into that the little drones would also be of use or so she hopes. She's mot moving to attack ye tbut she's getting ready with that missile launcher however.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Hiding sounds like a *REALLY* good idea to Yuna right about now; only the act of grounding her kite shield - driving its bottom point into the rock, anchoring it against incoming attacks - helps her to stymie the desire to go and find something even more solid to hide behind, like Rory has already done. "Okay, guys, I'm open to suggestions ..."

She pauses. "Guys?" Then she looks over her shoulder.

... nobody's behind her to keep protecting? It would've been nice to know THAT sooner. Yuna un-grounds her shield, dismissing it, and *bolts* for something more like decent cover while she's evaluating the terrain, and her options. Obviously, Marine Form is worse than useless here; the only liquid in sight is lava and Marina can't help her deal with that. Flight Form may be more useful, Powered Form would offer both heavier offense AND heavier defense. And then there's the other reason why the *whole* Matrix of Light is here ... but the cavern seems a little too confined to bust out a giant robot in addition to the Landviathan.

"Jiina!!" Yuna shouts - possibly closer to a terrified shriek than a magical girl should be caught sounding. "Let's combine; Erina, Marina, stand by for support fire!"

In response, the green-and-white armored figure flies after Yuna, her body going translucent along the way; Jiina of the Earth overlaps with Yuna, phasing over her, and then disappears completely, replaced by a 'wireframe' that surrounds Yuna's form.

In the next seconds, a large, powered exo-suit has assembled itself, interlocking with the basic Light Suit, and Yuna re-conjures her shield - along with the Matrix Divider, since both of HER hands are now free for it, with the Wall of the Guardian Star being worn on one of the larger exo-arms that supplement Yuna's own.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Some people turn to run. Or seem to be fleeing, from the creature's perspective. Being the abomination it is, the Landviathan is probably accustomed to this happening. In fact, from how it sees it everyone seems to be running, or trying to climb away. It doesn't seem to realize that it's being scanned, or that the 'running away' is just to get into better position. Such concepts of strategy are not something it's mentality was crafted to acknowledge.

Rory and Kotone's drones would have a hell of a time figuring out if the monstrousity is a beast, a machine, or something else entirely between the two. But they do start picking up bits and pieces of information, which Rory is already helpfully relaying to the others.

A couple of tentacles spear into the platform to haul itself farther over, giving Rebound an ample position to jump on it's... back? and start pounding away. The armor isn't going to give easily, though in conjucture with Dorian putting it's heat forged form through a frosting over is having a slow, lingering effect on it. It seems to be focusing mainly on Yuna as she goes through her transformation. It opens it's mouth in a snarl, even with the 'roo pounding away it rears up, looking for all intent ready to lunge down and snatch the magical girl up before her armor can finish forming.

Except -that- is when a different, more mechanical and engine-like roar can be heard, just as the rock wall opposite the monster shatters apart! What comes barreling through the newly made opening is some kind of heavy duty steam-driven industrial truck... Except this one has a large spinning drill on the front of it. It bombasts into the cavern with enough speed it actually bounces a bit as it hits th rock platform, and then slams that roaring drill into the beast's underside, knocking it away from gobbling Yuna up.

From the cab Corona turns and grins as she flash a quick salute to Yuna. "Told ya I had a secret weapon made!"

The Landviathan slams against the opposite wall from the impact, but quickly rights itself. But as it slithers through the lava back towards the adventurers there's obvious cracks in the armor forming, and even chunks breaking away, as the cold for Dorian's magic really let that drill mess it up! It might break off easier now!

With an unearthly screech the Landviathan lashes out it's tentacles at pretty much everyone. A few even bend backwards to try and swat at Rebound. But she might be able to take advantage of that.

A couple grab onto Corona's new ride... But in return she pulls a lever and a crane-like arm rises up from the truck bed, turns around and slams a large claw into the beast to grapple right back with it!

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Running, bounding, clawing up a wall, there was a lot of areas that Target could get through thanks to both his size and agility that was, hopefully, keeping it out of sight and out of mind of the creature. Once high up along one wall of the chamber, Target sends his plan out to everyone that can hear! Of course, he also has a shout out for his fellow Loadstar native, "WOOOOO That riled it up C'rona! Oi, folks, I have a whole sling of high explosive shotgun shells plus a few grenades I brought along! Lets find an opening and I'll stuff it full of all the stuff I brought!"

    All that being said, Target actually aims his weapon, since the HE shells are more like slugs than buckshot, and starts taking potshots at the cracks he can see in the armor. If one starts to open up a bit more than the others, he'll focus on it. He liked the plan. Blow it up from the inside? Simple enough for him!

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Superheated metal tentacles are not a good thing! Particularly when they're aimed at him! Getting out of the way is priority, so Dorian does just that and gets out of the way. He ends up having to dive and duck into an alcove to avoid a superheated tentacle hitting him in the back. And it sets the end of his cloak on fire anyway.

    Dorian needs a moment or two to put this out, otherwise more than just the lava's going to be burning. "Pity. That was my best cloak, too," he mutters. He peeks out of the alcove when he can, to try to gauge when the creature's distracted again... and then here comes Corona through a wall, in a giant... mechanical something. He pauses. Blinks. But she's got the monster's attention!

    So Dorian comes out of the alcove again, and then starts casting ice at the monster again. He's seen the cracks in the metal, and he's trying to make them as large as he can.

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Incoming tentacles. That's not good. Rebound has been on the internet long enough to know where that's going, and it's definitely nowhere good. She rolls back and flips over, evading the tentacle that's coming for her, and then she punches one of them eas it swoops in. The second one gets grabbed by her in midair. She looks at it, squirming in the vice-like grip of the Impact Driver and gets an idea.

    These things can penetrate solid stone, right? Well they might be able to pierce more than that. She wrestles with it for a few moments, before she turns around and drives it down towards the beast's own metal plates, trying to slam it through the armor and give herself something softer to punch away at.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Fortunately, Rebecca remembered to bring a new type of ammunition with her instead of the usual ammunition that she uses in general. This one is armor piercing, and fortunately, thanks to Jill Valentine teaching her how to use the Reloading Tool (see RE3 Nemesis for more information on that,) she's been able to produce extra clips for her rifle. And it's a good thing too, since it looks like she's gonna need all the ammunition she can get for this freak!

     "All right, enough messing around! It's time to see what these things can really do!" She pulls back a little while opening fire on the enemy, hoping that the rounds will do some good.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Rory steps out from her corner only slightly, angling her mini missile launcher and firing off a cluster with a peal of roaring incendiaries! They've been programmed and tasked, and now their onboard AIs use her telemetry data from the Saucers. They circle the creature several times, waiting for the opportune moment... then try to RAM themselves down its throat! All of this happens at hyper speeds that only machines could manage, with their impossible digital reflexes.

    "Well done Corona!" Rory calls out, cheering for the insane gambit and its complete success!

    She hopes that some of that armor can be salvaged later for study...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa likes Rory's plan it's a good one all thingsa considered and she's going to get ready for the shot she's almost wishing she had an Eagle eye implant but well? That wouldn't work here not without a local sat network to patch into which renders it moot. She would also maqke sure her strone's feeds are feeding it back to Rory and anyone else who can go over it. She's sees her friends and comrades going in she lines up the shot with the rocket launcher and now waits but she's alo ready to start running she sees the tentacle oh god she hates the fact things with tentacles like that /exist/ she really hates that so darn much.

She's going to take a moment the distration has been made by Corona and hte other and she fires off a rocket trying to send it down the thing's maw. Rory was right this was almost like a game a twisted game though given this was real...

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"All things considered, Yuna, I think El-Line might be your best option here ..."

Even between Yuna's racing across the cavern on Powered Form's hoverthrusters, nearly getting eaten by the Landviathan, and getting smacked to safety in the nick of time by Corona's 'secret weapon,' the little robo-faerie Elner is able to slip into conversational range of Yuna while she's re-collecting herself after that wild ride. "I ... think you might ... have a point," the somewhat-beleaguered Savior of Light replies, allowing the combination to cancel. Jiina reforms next to her as Erina and Marina fly over to join them, and after transmitting her gratitude to Corona, Yuna finally manages to catch enough of her breath to shout:

            "LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT *UP*!!! EL-LINE!!"

A pillar of light erupts around Yuna and the Matrix of Light, coming to a stop again at the cavern's ceiling; when it fades again, the sleek, gleaming form of the Matrix Figure, El-Line, hovers above where Yuna had been crouching seconds earlier. Within its cockpit, Yuna is still struggling to collect herself, but she remarks wryly, "At least this'll be a lot harder for that Landviathan to swallow whole, right?"

/And you won't have to worry as much about falling into the lava, either,/ Elner comments from the side monitor which displays its image.

"Also good," Yuna says, managing a grin before she calls out. "LIGHTNING SHOOT!!!"

As she shouts the attack call, Yuna aims El-Line's hands at the Leviathan - and two crackling bolts of coherent, concussive light erupt from the Matrix Figure's palms, aimed straight at the Landviathan while avoiding Yuna's now-smaller allies (like Rebound) who may be fighting the subterranean beast up close.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Whoever (or whatever) created the Landviathan clearly did not actually consider the possibility of a small but diversely skilled individuals rallying together. While monsterous it was basically a giant rock eating quake causing mouth and stomach with a bit of kraken thrown into the mix. It doesn't have the level of mental capacity to actually contend with planning and strategizing on the part of it's intended meal.

Also ice wasn't likely planned on, due to the extreme temperatures of Brimsteel's volcanic environment.

The freezing magic applied to metal that has been absorbing heat in magma for ages is destructive to it; as indestructible as it once seemed the armor body was not made to handle both extremes in temperature. Plus it's underside just took a drill to the gut to help loosen it up. The cracking and weakening warping make it all the easier for armor-piercing and HE rounds to tear into it, and it's not long before Rebecca and Target are blasting chunks of the armor right off!

Though it's not a pleasant sight either, as the THING underneath the metal plates is some twisted wirthing mass of.. its like bits of clockwork and metal wedged together with pulsating growths of flesh and muscle. No wonder the drones are having a tough time deciding if it's animal or mechanical!

A chunk of armor actually comes off in the crane-claw as the beast rears back in pain from having one of it's own claw-topped tentacles shoved into it's body. As Rebound expected it tears into it's own armor pretty damn effectively.

The roar doesn't do it any good though, as it gets a mouthful of missle and rockets while it's maw is open wide, briefly drowning out it's unholy wail in the explosive blasts. Shrapnel that might of been some of those teeth are imbedded in the cavern walls, and even afterward there's still smoke hissing from the creature's mouth. To add insult to injury a giant magical robot is summoned into the fight, and the bolts of light blast several of the tentacles off of the monster.

Pain, however, is not something it is immune to, just unfamiliar with. Something in it's limited brain seems to realize it's in danger. The Landviathan digs into the platforms with what tentacles it has left, and rears up out of the lava with what one assumes is it's tail. Except the end of it opens up like a second smaller, toothy maw. At least, we hope that's a second, grossly placed mouth.

It doesn't help matters that it starts spewing out blasts of shearing hot lava from the orafice. Considering the thing eats rocks and minerals, the fact that it is hot lava doesn't really discredit it from possibly being... well.. y'know.. it's equivilent to...

Let's just leave it at being really gross alien anatomy and move on.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Even as Corona is backing her contraption up from the monster flailing about it gets splashed in a few splays of lava. The molten hot rock burns a bit, but like most machines made for Brimsteel it can take the heat pretty well. The damage less so, which is going to need some repairs.

"An' Ah thought bird poop was a pain in the ass," the foxgirl complains. "F'k awl, that thin's even uglier on the inside!"

All the same, as the machine rolls to a stop Corona pulls a different control, and a gatling-like weapon unfolds from one side of the vehicle. It spins up and starts firing.. what appears to be globs of some sort of rapid drying cement. Which she aims at the eye-stalks, trying to blind the thing while the other's rip into it.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Shell after shell after shell is sent firing off toward the massive monster. Target wouldn't deny that seeing chunks of armor and ... whatever else... being blown off the thing from the rounds was satisfying, not ever. Still, with the blasts ripping an opening in the massive creature, the chance to toss in all the explosives that Target had brought along was getting more and more viable. "Eh, now'er never!"

    A dozen or so of the HE-shells are loaded into the kobold's weapon before he slings it against his back and takes off like a shot along the ledges in the cavern, just trying to get a little close. The first maw was already blown apart by all manner of kabooms, so may as well aim for the second! the strap with all of Target's HE rounds, plus a couple grenades for good measure, are tugged off his chest before the VEX system he uses shifts into a pair of mechanical wings. From the new vantage point he has, the kobold makes a dive, tosses the whole thing, and then with a smirk, tosses a single PURPLE shell in, "FER GOOD MEASURE!" And then he gets the hell away from the damn thing!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"SHUGOSEIHEKI!!!" Yuna yels as she sees lava getting spat at everybody; she can't do anything to protect the melee fighters, but the rematerializing Wall of the Guardian Star - now scaled up to suit El-Line's 21-meter height - provides excellent protection not just for her, but for those allies whom she can interpose herself and the shield in front of. She may not be able to shelter everybody, but she does her best for those she CAN help.

Of course, Target racing in THAT close means she can't protect the kobold nearly as much as she wants to ... but she can fire off a few more blasts of the somewhat-misnamed Lightning Shoot, helping to keep Landviathan's attention off of Target, and hopefully off of everyone else too. She has the benefit of powers which are at least partly oriented towards protecting her physically, so she's happy to play party tank to the hilt ...

And the fact that she's now seated in the cockpit of her very own super robot does wonders for making this encounter less terrifying than it started out as.

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Suddenly Rebound gets an idea. She holds onto the tentacle as the beast begins to flail and freak out below her, obviously not used to getting injured. She swings the pointed end of the tentacle around and slashes the tentacle a bit lower, so she can sever the sharp part and have a tentacle flail of sorts. It's gross and gooey but effective.

    She begins to slash and lash at the armor, trying what she can to dig into it and create a weak point for all the others. This thing might be on it's last legs, so to speak. And she knows taking it down will benefit the whole of Brimsteel.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Lava? Being spit at Rebecca? OK, so having acid and things like that spit at you is bad enough, but lava?! Even Rebecca's tactical shield would never be able to do any good against that. Which is why she's utilizing the next best thing for a situation like that, which is using her feet! She runs out of the way as best as she can, unfortunately dropping her assault rifle in the process, but that will have to wait until once she's clear of that beyond scalding hot molten lava hitting her!

    When she finally gets a chance, she grabs her rifle and moves back a little more, opening fire again... until the clip abruptly runs out. She swears loudly as she loads another clip and opens fire again.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Suddenly the thing is spitting lava at them?! Or coming out of the other end, which is kind of disgusting, honestly. But it's still lava, and that's a bad thing. Fortunately Yuna's got a shield up, which Dorian utilizes by getting behind it as well as he can. "My thanks!" he comments to Yuna as he takes cover.

    From there he sets to work trying to minimize the environmental damage to the rest of the group. As the lava splatters across the ground, Dorian tries to freeze it in place with small, focused shots of ice magic. This is definitely a lot of practice he's getting in with his ice magic today...

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Rory's hiding behind her rock outcropping, having predicted EXACTLY THIS SORT OF SCENARIO. Well, maybe not lava-excrementing tails, but WAVES OF LAVA! She'd planned on THAT!

    Which is why she picked an outcropping that is raised off the gound, where the lava won't rise to unless it's a LOT of it. She hunkers down, protected both by the rock and Yuna's barrier!

    But that's not perfect. Lava splashes about and TINY DROPLETS hit Rory's legs, quickly searing through even the meta material and damaging her synthflesh and the delicate - if powerful - mechanical workings of her various joints. Worse, it KEEPS BURNING!

    It's a good thing she can't feel pain and perceives this only as WARNING LIGHTS flashing on her AR HUD, but that's still enough to get her frowning as a few more splashes get her arms and one hits a thigh... "This will need significant repairs...!"

    Were she HUMAN, she would have gone up in flames. Flesh will boil at the temperatures of lava. As it is, all kinds of unsavory fumes are being released from the melting and slow burning of synthetic components that were already designed to withstand the extremes of space...

Corona Arclite has posed:
Yuna may not be able to guard everyone, but she certainly puts it to prime use for the people she can that probably are the most that needed it. Staring down molten lava-poop death so Dorian can keep flinging ice spells and Rebecca has enough time to reload and resume firing is certainly a good thing.

Laser flashs disorient it, and then Corona gunks up it's eyes completely. Between that and the kobold's small size (not that we'll say that to his face) Target has enough of an opening in not being spotted to throw his explosives at the tail-mouth, along with a little extra surprise.

Pulsarium plasma was -definately- not on the creator's list of potential weapons, and when it sets off the other explosions to boot? There's a BIG explosive fireball cutting off the lava spews.. because there's no tail left to shoot it.

Using a broken tentacle as a flail is a good idea, and with a few extra blows Rebound smashes loose the larger ring around where the thing's neck would be if it had one. Which happens to be the portion of it's 'armor' that most of the tentacles are connected to, and it breaks off, crashing to the rocky ground below.

Now literally disarmed as well as more hurt than it even has a concept of, the Landviathan tries to retreat into the magma lake.

"OH NO YA DON'T!" With the peeling of metal ridged wheels Corona whips her vehicle around, swinging the claw-crane to grab onto the Landviathan again, this time getting a screech as the clamps dig into the digusting flesh beneath and slamming it into the ground. "Not gettin' away that easily!" Volcanic ash and grit are kicked up as vehicle fights against monster, but Corona is doing her best to keep the thing out and exposed. Eventually with a pained roar the Landvianthan just rips itself out of the grip, leaving a vulgar lump of flesh and metal dangling from the claw as, without the resistance, the vehicle careens away from it before finally skidding to a stop.

But as it rears up erratically, a big lump of almost tumorous looking, glowing flesh and clicking gears can be seen in what was once part of the 'head'. Is that it's brain?! Or maybe a heart. Maybe it's both, cuz alien cosmic horror and all that.

What matter is that it looks -vulnerable-.

"Quick!, Corona shouts, even as she's leaning out of the cab of her vehicle, holding on with one hand as she uses the other to aim the SMG she picked up from Kotone's world and fire off several blasts at that exposed organ with it. "Finish it b'fore it crawls back into the magma!"

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    After blowing up the Landviathan's- .. .... ........ After blowing that part of the creature up, Target goes soaring off toward the others, mostly toward Corona, tapping the massive machine on the shoulder as he goes soaring by. "TAG OUT!" He's done his civic duty for the day and crashes down somewhere behind Yuna and El-Line with a THUD, Crash, roll, skid, stop. Rolling? Standing. Frantically stripping off the VEX? Looks like he actually did get a tiny bit of lava on the back of it but, well, isn't that enough? "AAHA AHAHA HOT HOT HOT HOT!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has fired her shot for all the good it might do she's not even sure if it's scored a hit until the last moment as it does glup down the bad candy for it. She is now faind back a bit as she's not sure the thing is dead or not she does watch the thing exploding she's not evne sure she's going to try to fire off another missile if she can she'll take aim and fire off another missile but the lava? Well that's going to make Kotone put her head down and try to get some cover from it.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Alien cosmic horror indeed! The thing still isn't dead. But it's hurt, and visibly so. That weird heart-brain thing looks like a sensitive target to hit. Fire is right out, even Dorian knows that. And his ice spells aren't really that powerful as far as pure stopping power goes. But he does have a fallback plan.

    He steps out from behind Yuna's shield just long enough to get a mental bead on that heartbrain thing. The eyes of the serpent heads on his staff glow, and he brings his hands together in front of him, as if he were about to clap them together. He doesn't, though, hands stopping short of touching. His arms are tilted up, his hands are flat, and his fingers pointed forward.

    At the heartbrain.

    And as he does this, the eyes in the serpent-headed staff flare momentarily with purple-white power. A bolt of lightning explodes, aimed at the location that the weird clockwork organ occupies.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    There's nothing else to be said other than that it's time to open fire as best as she can. Rebecca fires as best as she can at the enemy's core, until the lava comes out again, and she's forced to take cover again. Hopefully that gunfire can do the trick, since she only got a little off before she was forced to take cover.

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Once she's carved herself a nice hole into the armor, Rebound tosses the tentacle away, and then pulls backwards with her fist. The full charge of the Impact Drivers is channeled into the heartbrain thing. Whatever the hell it is.

    She doesn't care. She throws the full concussive blast into it, and then quickly jumps back off of the creature, trying to get into somewhere she can clearly land safely. They'll probably be able finish this thing off soon.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Isn't it incredible how terrifying this thing was last time... and how easily it's going down this time? Rory had considered this monster BEYOND dangerous, and yet...

    Through lots of cunning and calm analysis, even this great beast is proving to be not all that. Just avoid the tentacles and the lava!

    It would be much, much easier if she wasn't best suited for just hiding and providing information for the others.

    However, she didn't come armed just to look the part.

    She brought a GUIDED MICRO-MISSILE LAUNCHER and took cover for a reason!

    She simply points the weapon almost straight up... and HOLDS DOWN THE TRIGGER.

    There is no point in withholding ordinance here. NO point at all.

    Yes, she fires ALL her missiles in a great stream, as fast as the weapon can launch them. A few dozen fly into the cavernous reaches above, only to turn in midair and angle on wild and fierce collision courses!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Horrifying alien monstrosities are never fun to fight, unless you have the safe separation of a TV screen in front of you and a gamepad in your hands. Yuna doesn't have those, just a cockpit viewscreen and the controls that come with it - but with the Landviathan very visibly vulnerable (at long last), she moves to capitalize nonetheless.

"LIGHTNING SWOOOOOOOOOOOORD!!!!" Yuna calls out, materializing El-Line's principle melee weapon; the massive blade takes physical shape, a few stray arcs of radiant power crawling along its blade. She gives her allies time to make their moves and to get clear where necessary ...

And then she executes her own attack, *STABBING* as deep as her blade can reach, possibly impaling the Landviathan all the way through if it's small enough. On top of the physical stab, though, a blast of holy radiance erupts from the length of the blade, exacerbating the wound with the energy-burns you'd expect - not quite heat, not quite electricity, yet something which encompasses them both.

Corona Arclite has posed:
It might not be literally Cthulu, but it is a cosmic horror and Rebound slamming her Driver augmented punch into it's brain-heart-tumorthing certainly counts as pushing it towards that final out.

It's probably a wise move that she jumped off afterwards. After she's fired off her shots at that weak spot Corona kicks the lever for the crane operation, swinging around the boom to give Rebound something to grab onto and get out of harm's way.

Because there is a whole lot of harm coming for the Landviathan. Missles, MORE MISSILES, Lightning.. And then Lightning SWORDS as Yuna does her magical girl dirty to plunge a super robot blade through the pulsating mass.

There's not much of the beast left, and what collapses to the ground as is, is already crumbling and rotting away. Eeew. There's just a lot of eeew in general with this thing. Well, was.

Though, some of the armor plates and broken tentacles are still lying around. Looks like what was blasted off the monstrousity and not in contact when it died didn't dissolve with it.

Once it's clearly and certainly dead and gone, Corona gives a whoop as she pulls her hat off with one hand and waves it while firing off a few victory shots with her gun in the other. "Yeeeah! Now that's how ya deal with unwanted cosmic company!"

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian breathes a sigh of relief when the thing finally falls over. Yes, there's lots of ew, but all the ew is a sign that the thing is dead and won't be harassing anyone (least of all them) anymore. So they did good. "Even if it was at the cost of my cloak," he mutters. Though he looks to those assembled. "Do you suppose there's any chance some of this could be safely sold?" He does have to pay for replacing his cloak, after all. "Or is this simply too tainted with Old God nonsense? Or possibly the ignorance of those who built it. We can't have THAT getting into the Muliverse."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"That was cosmic?" Yuna wonders as she dismisses the Lightning Sword. "I thought it was ... y'know. Subterranean. We're deep underground here, how would something like that get this deep if it came from space?"

/You're almost certainly happier without knowing,/ Elner replies mildly from the side monitor.

Yuna just goes very, very quiet as she steers the El-Line back over relatively solid ground, and she may be exercising more caution than it takes before she dismisses the Matrix Figure.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    Meanwhile, over yonder... Target is frantically trying to figure out how to get this little 'dab' of lava off of his Vex. A nearby slab of stone is grabbed and swatted at it and, finally, the whole thing can cool off. When he looks up to see that the Landviathan is rotting away, it's mostly due to Corona's hootin' and hollarin' from over other yonder. Blink. "Oh, HEY! When didja all do that?! Good stuff folks!" He's happy, don't mistake his irritation about his Vex being irritation about not helping with the killing blow! He did enough 'damage' to that thing's other 'mouth' anyway. "Now les' hope the smart folk can figger out what the heck that darn thing was!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Whatevah it was, it wasn't -natural- that's fer darn tootin'," Corona replies to Yuna with a mild shrug. She tucks the gun away as she slides back into the cab proper and hits a few switchs. The crane folds back down into the truck bed, leaving enough room for anyone that just wants a ride out instead of walking back to the surface.

"Ah dunno iffen we want any normal folk tuchin' that stuff 'til we're sure," she replies to Dorian. "Pro'ly should get a union hazmat team or somethin' down here to check it out, first."

Rebound (750) has posed:
"Not a bad idea." Rebound says as she moves up next to Corona finally, standing next to the cab, holding onto a hand hold, "Tell them to bring an extra big ziploc bag."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Getting a ride to the surface sounds REALLY good to Yuna; she climbs into the truck bed without even asking. Erina, Jiina, and Marina will only ride there if there's ample space to spare - but then, they CAN simply fly up the tunnel instead of having to walk. And Elner is so small that the robo-faerie doesn't take up any 'passenger' space; if that's an issue, it'll just stay close to Yuna and share the space she takes up.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian too will need a ride back up to the surface. It's rather hot down here, and he doesn't relish the thought of being stuck down here. Besides that, he's not Union, so he really has no reason to stick around. He's not sure he really even wants to be there when the Union show up. They're very 'good guy', and he's not exactly from the most lily-white place in Thedas.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Rory is pretty quiet on the ride out. She's grabbed a few hunks of the creature's metal hide and a sample of flesh that survived the lava wave, but the latter is sealed in a small container.

    "At least.. it's... gone. Nothing good could come of that creature, I suppose... is everyone alright...?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa lowers her wapon and she leans back for a moment on a intact rock she looks for a moment at Dorian

"I'd consider this place tainted and be safe I seen what taint can do horrible things like cancer on reality...and...wait did we just?" The cyborg's mouth hangs open in shock at what they did did they just kill some cosmic horror?