4152/Surf Warriors: Stage 2

Surf Warriors: Stage 2
Date of Scene:	26 May 2016
Location:	Great Ocean - Southern Loop
Synopsis:	A curse on the ocean! A sea full of traps and tidal waves. Can you protect the mysterious girl?
Cast of Characters:	Deelel, 151, 165, 778, 942, 984, 992

---

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Cut to the ocean: a slick of toxic-green sparkles are mixed in with the water, sparkling unpleasantly. But Tanya- seen from the back, with Ren's hand on her shoulder- steps towards the shore, holding her greenstone pendant out like a lantern. The sparking aura fades away around it- but only a little.

    A couple hours and a little talking later:

    "...they say that ancient islanders used canoes to spread out and colonise all of the lands of Polynesia. Even Tiki spirits would take them out, to go from their magical lands into the human world."

    "...I was adopted into the Pohaku family," Tanya says. "But I made this canoe by myself anyway. I guess there's no better time to use it than now."

    But as soon as she sets the boat into the water and begins to paddle a few paces forward, her eyes fixed on the island of Kaho'olawe, a strange thing happens.

    The canoe and her pendant begin to sparkle silver and white, the cursed aura around the water parts... and the boat begins to move ... then faster... and faster still!

    Those positive sparks of power stay on the ocean, and on a whim, Ren grabs a surfboard and follows after her. As soon as he's a little distance out, he picks up speed, and---!

    Maybe you ought to follow him...!


    [ansi(hw,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwq0byqPWn4
    Schumacher Fly - Dynamite Headdy (Remix)
    Waterflame - 1994 an 2012)]

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
If you grab one of the surfboards scattered on the beach and take a chance to follow Ren and Tanya, here's what you'll find out.

    Immediately, your surfboard begins to accelerate to a fair old clip- easily more than 35 miles an hour within a few seconds.

    No matter what you do, when you decide to stand up and surf the ocean, the board underneath your feet remains as sturdy and easy to balance on as solid ground.

    Furthermore, it's attracted to you- if you shudder, trip, or even leap entirely off the board and into the air, it'll track your movements, and will be there for you to land on when you drop, like a magnetic attraction.

It's easy to get the hang of. And just as well- it looks like there's going to be danger up ahead...

    Welina!
    M�kaukau?

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko's here and ready to... Surf?

     Yep, she's surfing today. Not that she knows how to surf, but it couldn't possibly be that hard, right? She's got good balance and agility! She's also prepared for a dip in the water, of course, so she's dressed in much of the same outfit she was in the last time she was in Maukau: A tank top, shorts, and a swimsuit underneath for modesty.

     She's also brought her naginata with her this time. The martial artist is prepared for combat today, and she even has it tied to her waist by a long rope just in case! With everything ready, it's time to get in the water. No hesitation. No surrender!

     Of course, when the surfboard starts picking up speed on its own, Kazuko practically latches onto the thing to keep herself from falling off. "Gyah! Why's this... What's with this thing?" She just speeds along, trying desparately not to fall off the thing that's... Actually keeping her from falling off, anyway. She'll find out for herself sooner or later.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
The masked woman takes a surfboard and follows, reacting to the increased pace by kneeling on one knee and drawing her bow. The stray branch on the bow grabs an arrow and holds it near the string, but its wielder makes no moves to pull the bowstring back to fire yet. There's no targets.

Instead, the left hand, which holds her bow, is also used to make a few quick movements, and the red gem embedded in Sigrun's glove emits a series of runes and lines in a complex figure. Magic courses through them until they are released in the form of six little blue balls that fly in all directions, until they are all exactly sixty meters away from her, where they start rotating slowly, a wide cone of subtle light emanating.

And in front of Sigrun, six lines force open apparent tears in the fabric of the universe, creating viewports that reveal to her what the blue balls are seeing.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley wasn't really here for the initial battle with weird ocean monsters, but she's sure here now! And she's dressed in a black one-piece swimsuit that has some modesty, with a fake flower tied into the feathers on her head and a couple of flowery wrist bands on! Tropical weather is ideal for her, so when she grabs a surf board and everyone starts moving, she is less startled and more invigorated by the speed and the magic.

    Ainsley's tail waggles in the wind and she tries to catch waves so she can do AWESOME JUMPS. Because she so rarely gets a chance to do anything this weird and mystical and sporty, she may as well take full advantage of it. She embraced it surprisingly quickly. "Heehee~" And she's giggling loudly. Yeah that looks a little odd for how serious this is actually supposed to be.

Kyle Katarn (778) has posed:
    SURFING TIME!

    Kyle's got his lightsaber clipped to his belt, and is wearing the same clothes as before; Swim trunks, red Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned to show off MANLY CHEST and sporting white floral patterns. He's also shaved to a thick, 80's styled mustache and sporting some epic aviator sunglasses. If one's gonna surf, he'll do it in STYLE, yo.

    He is really not familiar with surfing, but the Force does help with keeping him balanced. This is definitely something that'd look much cooler were he twenty years younger, though. For now, he looks ridgoddamndiculous dressed like DIX MAGNUM, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR OF HAWAII, as his alias implies.

    "Wh-whooooa! This better not tip over!" He call to Ren, hoping to the FOrce he can try not to look like a goof in front of everyone today.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is here why not humans have a thing about the water that's as strong as most Basics and ISO's fear of it. Seriously the seas on the grid can be scary as hell places sometimes given that's where horrible monsters called grig bugs tend to spawn hower here she is, she's ready for the beach in a biikinio made of the material her suit normally is. It also has no seams, how /did/ Deelel get it on? Seriously how did she. She seems to fill it out well, but she wasn't even here for antics no she'd just been taking a bloody day off. When she had taken to the surf board what could possibly go wrong? Why the end of Deelel having a nice day off, that's what happening as she attemps to balance on te board.

"Users....do this...."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "I'd like to thank you all for coming out here today...." Ren says, trying his best to retain his composure in the face of a very unusual situation. However, it takes him a couple of moments to realise what's going on before he is making mild hops up and down off the board and finding out how this all works. What do you know, magic wins again!

    "Alright, Tanya! Cut us a path through to that island!" "-aye-aye!"

    Kazuko's come armed, and it might be necessary- you're going to have to protect Tanya's canoe. That's right, it's an escort mission too. And protect her from what? Well, Sigrun- who Ren finds time to give a wave and a 'hello, glad you could join us, never met you before but I think I recognize you from the radio?', as if we weren't hurtling across the water on magical boards- will be able to notice that there's more than a few things ahead of them. Metagaos' minions don't want anyone getting close to their spawning grounds.

    "This is pretty fun!" Ren shouts to Deelel, because there are some waves forming for Ainsley, Ren and even Kyle to hang ten on even if this is probably some evil curse trying to antagonize them. You're going to have to do better than that! "It's like training wheels for your surfboard."

    Unfortunatey, this isn't going to be smooth sailing- for starters, you'll start to notice floating clumps of nasty weed with angry red eyes staring out from their middles as you get further. They're not moving, but they seem as if they'd definitely entangle you and pull you down if you touched them! So, it's a test of skill!

Kyle Katarn (778) has posed:
    Kyle makes a leap on the next wave to come his way, grabbing onto his surfboard with one hand while raising his other hand. Focusing, he keeps himself stable using the Force, and does a pirouette in mid-air. WOO! He flops back onto the water again, and he draws his lightsaber to slash down at one of the angry clumps. No entanglement for you, Seaweed!

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Even with Ainsley, Kyle, and Ren doing weird jumps with the boards, Kazuko doesn't quite notice the magical following thing just yet. As such, she's... Still practically hugging her own board for dear life. At least they mentioned the training wheels. It's only then that she notices that hopping actually keeps the board following her, and she seems to be getting mroe confident in standing on the thing! "Whoa... Hey, this is kinda cool! This isn't so hard..."

     And then there's clumps of angry-eyed seaweed coming for them. Smart person that she is, Kazuko's first instinct is to try RUNNING at a wave on her surfboard to build up speed (somehow), then whipping her naginata downwards at the seaweed before landing gracefully on her face.

     Surfing is hard.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley can cheat by flying. She doesn't do this, though, and instead she just uses her ability to fly to grab the surfboard and launch off of a wave to leap over several of the seaweed monsters at once, and give a wave down at them as they pass under her. She hopes they glare indignantly as she passes by them, because she's sure not easy to catch off-guard! She takes full advantage of all of the waves the ocean throws at her to have the maximum amount of fun, treating the angry seaweed as part of an obstacle course and not a threat that will drag her beneath the ocean and drown her if she's not careful.
    She doesn't do a lot to help out Tanya, though, because she isn't a combative Elite. She leaves the protection duties to the ones that can actually fight! At least until she finds her opportunity to do something. She isn't in a rush to ruin her fun vacation moment.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun keeps a close eye on her reconnaisance magic, and whispers something into the aether, her voice carrying to the others in the group. "Be careful, there is more than meets the eye. I'm sensing swimming carnivorous plants, spikd objects and more. Keep your eyes open and your reflexes steady."

This focus on the broader scheme doesn't stop her from reflexively moving away from the clumps, though at one point she's almost too late, going uncomfortably close to it.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is on magical boards she had no ide they were full oa magic but she's having fun for the moment, however she sees something out there, they are waiting nad Deelels' attemping to control sometrhing that has no /real/ control system. Users are pretty much eldrichly long lived and insane by basic standards in some ways. Then it hits her maybe that's why they do stuff like that they get /bored/ they don't have inate functions like Deelel and others like her do. However for now she just barely gets past the seaweed.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Now you're getting the hang of it!

    Although, thinking about it, is it cheating a little to use the force to help you with your cool balancing tricks? In any case, one supposes this IS the edge you're looking for. In a place like Hawaii, after all, it's impossible not to have fun, despite the danger!

    I mean, when you think about it- perhaps even when Deelel thinks about it- it's all about conquering nature in a way, isn't it? Proving your bravery and desire to push forward by braving the waves and pushing ahead into new lands. In fact, even with monsters ahead of you, showing that you're willing to have fun is just plain old grit and defiance against these things. It's fine to want to conquer nature when it's as grotesue as Metagaos.

    Thankfully the magic is willing to work with you however you want, and somehow running on the surfboard helps you get a fractional little bit more speed if you choose to do it (although that's a very edge case, lbr). Is there a Tiki Spirit watching and counting up points for this? If it is, Kazuko might have to impress them a little more with fighting than boarding tricks! Thankfully she and Kyle can do that pretty well to begin with, scooping seaweed clumps out of the water and slicing them in two. It's all about sharp edges and acceleration!

    Ainsley catches some serious air as she vaults over some of the creatures, who are absolutely indignant enough to try and turn into seabound spinballs to chase behind her- and they're snapping at Deelel's heels, too. Thankfully, they've got Ren to watch their back- at least to begin with- as he puts on the brakes and sweeps the leg to try punting them like beachballs.

    "Please protect us..." Tanya says, continuing to push forward right at the start.

    "Hey, you protect us and we'll protect you!" Ren calls out to her.

    "N-no, I didn't mean me-"

    The poor girl could really use a little reassurance. She might also need a bit of protection, because swarms of snapping, ugly fish-like things are leaping in and out of the water. Or are they more lizardlike? They've got rough green skin and snouts full of teeth. If they try and grab on, make sure to blast them before they clamp down on you- or her!- or your allies!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "You were talking to the spirits, right?"

    Ainsley says this while leaping off of a wave and using the surf board's underside to land on a group of fish that is launching out of the water at her, in the midst of her attempts to dodge super rude spin-dashing seaweed monsters. She lands on the water after this and just rears back to slug another, larger fish bare-fisted in the nose to knock it off course. It bloodies her hand but she barely flinches from the impact and turns back to look at Tanya.

    "I'm sure they're listening!" she encourages Tanya, "Rely on us, too, alright? We should work together, just as the spirits do their part!"

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Even with a magic surfboard to keep her out of the water completely, Kazuko's still reeling a bit from that rough landing and getting some seawater in her face for her trouble. She sputters a bit before hopping back onto her feet, an indignant grunt escaping her as she grasps her naginata firmly once again.

     "Okay... I think I got it now! We just need to go off the big waves to go faster!"

     Wait. How's that logic even work? It probably doesn't. Still, it's probably a little more impressive, right? Right. "Keep up, everyone! We've got fishsticks to make!"

     Spotting said fish creatures up ahead, the brunette guides her surfboard via more running to another wave and uses that time in the air to plan her next attack. She could slash down at it, but she'd risk slashing Tanya in the process. She could kick them, but then they could grab her and start chowing down on her instead.

     Or she could try landing the surfboard right on them. That's always fun. In fact, that's what she's going to try to do, followed up by rapid swipes at the lizardfishes' faces!

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun starts to make snaking movements, to put herself at the back of the group, further away from the enemies in sight, and finally nocks her arrow and pulls it back, putting force as magic surrounds the arrow. It's a careful process, but when she lets go, the arrow flies fast. It's only barely subsonic, and yet agile enough that it curves in the air, aiming to impale as many of the fish as Sigrun could feasibly manage with one such shot.

Kyle Katarn (778) has posed:
    Blech. Seawater's not exactly a pleasant thing to get in your face, and Kyle has a lot of it splashing him. If not for those shades, he'd be kind of blind for a moment or two. In a fight, that can make all the difference between life and death.

    He issues a grabbing motion to some of the fish before it reaches him, his lightsaber slashing to cut them both in half. However, another manages to get his leg, and Kyle lets out a howl of pain before he slashes at the other fish to cut it right off. Thankfully he's deft enough to not slice his own foot off in the process, even if it's a close call.

    Better hope sharks don't pick up the scent soon.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Tanya glances at Ainsley; out of the corner of her eye granted, inbetween moments of looking at the ocean to evade the dangers approaching them granted- but she does so nevertheless, and as her face clears a little of the tension that was all over it before, it's clear that's just what she needed to hear.

    "Right! T-this is all so new to me... but I've got you guys to stand by me!"

    She nods, and sweeps her paddle, continuing to cut through the cursed waters.

    Kazuko comes down with a crash on a school of plantlizardfish, sending a shockwave through the water that causes them to bounce out of the air with stars in their eyes. And pretty soon after that they've got a blade in their eyes too, getting chopped up into guacamole!

    With Sigrun's keen eye, Ainsley and Tanya don't need to worry either while they talk. She's able to snipe anything that gets close to them, and even the speed of her arrows creates rippling vacuum that knock them off course!

    But even though it's clear skies, Metagaos' minions can still whip up storms of rage...

    If you wanted big waves, you've got them. The ocean keeps kicking up into bigger an bigger waves, some with angry faces formed out of the gross green sparkles as they rush towards you. As if that wasn't bad enough either, long spike-covered spikes shoot out randomly from the water troughs-

    And there's one big huge wall of spikes jetting up ahead, coming up fast-!

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is just having one of those days though as she sufs along there's something right at her heels and she's not able to get fast enough to keep fully away from them. She keeps pushing ahead though she's not sure about the girl that's ahead. She does sometimts take time to get how users thinks, but she's far better than many bsics would be at eventually. Stlll she'll get it in time

T "... Just how many of thoe things are there?!"

Deelel calls out she was just out to /have a day off/ not get caught up in this.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is kept safe! Yay! The hope-filled, odd lizard woman squints through the angry waves as water splashes up into her face, her tail whipping side to side to avoid getting bitten by any leaping fish. She makes sure to time her jump to avoid getting impaled on a wall of spikes, but she can't do much to help Tanya when it comes to a physical challenge like this.
    So she shoots a worried glance aside at Tanya in the midst of her enormous leap, blinking away the seawater.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
WOOOOOOO, SURFING! Well... even if the thing didn't have some enchantments, Karal Rei Lin would've had little trouble maintaining balance on the board. Very little. For now she's been riding alongside the canoe, keeping a careful eye out for anything strange.

    ... Darned good thing she was focusing solely on that, too.

    Because creatures arise and so, she readies herself for battle, a hand near her sword.

    Then... SPIKES jut through the waves and her blood runs cold. "They were WAITING for us."

    There's little to do here but DEAL. Lin wastes no time thinking or pondering, she ACTS.

    A gale cuts across the waves as she vanishes, casting two very long waves in her wake to her left and right from the sheer SPEED. The flash of sunlight on steel sears across entire wall once, twice... forming an 'x' pattern and then finally... another final slice STRAIGHT DOWN in front of Tanya's canoe path. Lin's briefly visible, a glimpse all anyone gets - and that largely of her hair and back. She flickers out of sight briefly again and reappears doing backflips across the water only to SLAM back down onto her surfboard, panting.

    Cue most of that spiky plant wall just toppling into so much floating yuck.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
"Hehe... That's right. We can take however many of these things they throw at us!"

     Who's they? Who knows. All Kazuko knows is that Tanya's probably their ticket to fixing this whole mess, so her focus is making sure the girl gets through safe and sound! Plantlizardfish get stomped on, cut up, and the martial artist is getting more comfortable with running around on her surfboard by the second!

     This is not going to develop any good habits when she tries surfing for real one day.

     As those spikes appear, she channels ki into her naginata and begins spinning it in front of her rapidly. "This won't scare us off! I got your back!" A yellow aura surround her blade as she continues spinning the weapon faster and faster while moving in front of Tanya and whoever else is sticking behind her, almost as if she's creating a ki shield in front of her to deflect those spikes! Apparently, the martial artist is trying to deflect whatever's left of the wall that Karal's slashes don't take care of. Sure, she's still getting quite a few of them lodged in her arms and legs as she does that, but at least the canoe's probably safe! Maybe.

Kyle Katarn (778) has posed:
    Quickly making a bandage for his shin with help of a sleeve and some bacta clipped to his belt, Kyle calls out, "How much further are we?" to Ren. Somehow he's heard over the roar of crushing waves, but that's irrelevant.

    The faces throwing spikes at the group are met with a firm Force push, Kyle's strength sending telekinetic attacks at the beings while he deflects the projectiles. "We got this, don't worry!" He calls to Tanya confidently, knocking a spike out of the air with a casual wave of his lightsaber. He's getting the hand of this surfing thing, as he makes a SICK FLIP out of an errant wave while he moves in to slash at one of the Face thngs.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun raises her hand, and suddenly runes spiral out and form a protective energy shield, it's shattered by the incoming spike, but the spike's momentum is almost gone, and what's left fails to dig meaningfully through her clothes, only barely drawing blood.

Seeing the wall coming in, Sigrun then draws another arrow. With orange fletching, and a thin layer of some kind of brown substance layered around the shaft. Magic is put into the arrow, and she fires it straight at the wall. Upon contact, the brown substance is used as fuel for magical fires, which get scattered well beyond the immediate impact.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Karal Rei Lin: not one to show off, even in a group of friends who are also all showing off.
    Or perhaps she was just biding her time so that she can do something really awesome?!

    It's like that little guy at the back of the fight. He's just standing there doing nothing, and you just know when he does something it's gonna be good. Now, she's not little or a guy, but the principle stands- trap or no trap, when Karal rushes forward with her cross slash the wall EXPLODES into four huge clumps of spikerods. Which are on fire.

    Ainsley will see, if she's got her eyes trained on Tanya, something impressive- even as the wall rose up in front of her, she kept trailblazing, trusting in the others to do what they had to. Even as the huge pieces rain through the air, she only flinches a bit-

    And then the flames from Sigrun's fire arrow causes the remaining parts to hiss and EXPLODE! The rain of flaming pieces are Kazuko's to deal with, as her spinning blade shields Tanya from everything remaining!

    Wonderful teamwork! Great combo! 3X Score MULTIPLIER!

    While that was going on, everyone else was busy too!

    "We're almost there!" Ren shouts to Kyle, shadowing close to Deelel and giving her a reassuring look because it seems she doesn't quite have her sea legs just yet. "Just another mile and a half to go!"

        And here's the welcoming committee.

    One, two, three- more than that many dozens of big, pale green octopus-type things are popping up out of the water in front, with shiny hard heads and nozzle-shaped mouths.

    And all of them start opening fire with solid bullets from their mouths, forcing everyone to run a gauntlet! Don't tempt fate!

Well, speaking of which...

Remember when someone was worried about sharks? Well, cue the Jaws theme, because there's a couple fins poking above the water, too---

        But--

    These guys are swimming WITH your current, not against it! And when those sharks jump out of the water, they definitely are going to be tearing their teeth into some vegetarian food today! Hey, they're on your side!

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
Kazuko lets out an excited cheer when that wall of plantspikes is summarily obliterated, wincing afterwards upon being reminded that she still has tiny stab wounds from the (thankfully burnt away) spikes that had hit her on the way down. Still, that sort of pain is nothing compared to what her allies and sister have undoubtedly faced before, so she won't complain about that now.

     Plus, there's bigger things to worry about. Namely, octor-uh. Rock shooters! "More things to hit away? Okay, then... Just stick behind us, Tanya. We'll get you through!"

     Brave words, even if Kazuko's mostly there to act as a meatshield. Willing more of her ki into the naginata as she begins spinning it again, the martial artist lets out a steady kiai as she pools even more nergy into it this time. It might even be hard to see past where her blade is spinning at this point since she's putting her all into deflecting these bullets.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
This time, Sigrun isn't holding back. The next arrow is aimed carefully, magical winds gather around them, and then when the arrow flies, it speeds up. By the time it's halfway towards the octopus-like enemy she's aimed at, it breaks the sound barrier, kicking up a shockwave (fortunately not too close to anyone) and still speeding up.

Of course she's receiving return fire, and her focus on the offense makes her shield come in a little late. It's still materializing when that rock crashes into it, and she takes a direct hit to the face. Her mask doesn't take any damage, but the cracking noise suggests something broke.

Kyle Katarn (778) has posed:
    Sharks!? Oh shit!

    Wait. Kyle double-takes, glancing over to the sharks only to see they're not attacking the group, but the plant monsters instead! "Huh! Since when did we have Jaws on our side?" he asks aloud, before he begins to rush the gauntlet head-on.

    Lightsabers don't seem to do well with anything that isn't energy, though Kyle does have a backup to that. He focuses one last time, raising his hand out to stop the projectiles heading towards everyone in mid-flight, flicking them aside harmlessly after every handful. "Now would be a good time to clear our path, guys!" He suggests.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley calls out to Tanya, "That's it! Confidence is the first step to kicking ass!" She does a fistpump in her direction, as they pass the blasted, burning spike wall!

    The next obstacle is a little more complicated. However, they have the help of the sharks on their side! She looks suitably surprised, but their presence only means that her hope that the Tiki Spirits would do their part in this was well-placed! But they could just be intelligent sharks that spotted them along the way and decided to help.

    Ainsley makes no big leaps in logic here, not when she's trying to avoid getting hit! She gets hit square in the gut by one of the rocks and nearly gets bowled off of her surf board, but manages to stay upright. Then she breathes in a big breath and bellows out a noise like through a super-sized megaphone, trying to emit an awful screeching noise in the vicinity of these creatures, in the hopes it will disrupt them! Not really a damaging ability, but she knows how to target it so the rest of the party aren't getting disrupted in the process.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has got the hang of things now as she calls out to Ren.

"This is actually fun...wait what the heck are those things?! Grid bugs?!"

Okay this could be worrysome for Deelel still she's tstring to have fun and that's when she leaps into the air off her board pulls her disc off her back and tosses it, it's un powered however so it won't do that much intjury but she may be trying to ping pong off the sharks and anything else tht might get in the way.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
"Nothing we can't manage so far!" Karal Rei Lin crows triumphantly. The sharks appearing get her to swerve off towards her port side and give them space, but for now...

    For now...

    For now she swerves left and right, dipping and ducking and using her scabbard and blade to parry any of the shots that get too close to her vitals or head. Sparks fly from the impact, her sword wobbles DANGEROUSLY like it's going to break... but manages to get through without so much as a chip on the blade. That thing IS made of steel, right...?

    Sure, her arms and legs take a few hits, leaving bruises and gouges that bleed slightly and STING in the salty waves...

    But Karal Rei Lin endures. She rides up to the octopus-creatures after biding her time... and SLICES. Left, right, left again! Disciplined, mostly efficient motions, certainyl well practiced...

    She's running this gauntlet her way.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Tanya actually lets out a whoop of excitement at that explosive conclusion to the spike wall. This is probably the most high-adrenaline experience she's had in her life.

    "Does this sort of thing happen to you every day?" she asks Ainsley over the roaring of seafoam.
    It's the final rush!

    Even Ren gets in on the action here, bravely pushing forward to the front line, but he's mostly going to be punching whatever gets close.

    Are any of those creatures in a line? That might be their downfall as one super-strong arrow is the first attack to strike the enemy lines, moving nonstop and skewering one octopus after another. It'll only stop when it hits the shore, at which point the monsters will all disintegrate one after another.

    Tanya is more than well protected, which is just as well as she's steering right into the rut Sigrun carved for her. Any stone bullet that gets near her is going to be blocked handily by Kazuko, and anything that gets close to any of her allies is the responsibility of Kyle, who might even be able to bounce them back and return-to-sender.

Might that be a little difficult? Well, that's where Deelel and Ainsley comes in. Her disc isn't strong enough to destroy anything with one hit, but it can certainly dizzy the creatures and crack their hard heads- just like the sonic scream can, in fact. Put them together and they're going to be able to stun-lock a lot of the fae monsters- and a second blow here or there will definitely take one down. And if nobody's there... well, you have a handy shark friend to gobble down a dizzy octopus.

    With Ren and Rei Lin as close to one another as surfboards will allow, or occasionally far away, the rest is theirs to deal with. Moving non stop they can lash out and crush whatever gets close- or rush from side to side in sidewinder patterns to make sure no one escapes.

    All too soon the danger is behind you, and you've reached the shores of Kaho'olawe.

    The land beyond the shore is sickly and overgrown, a steaming jungle. There are few trees remaining on the shoreline, but many of them have carvings here and there...

    And the biggest tree of all has a face on it.

    

    Getting out of her canoe, Tanya walks gently over to it- and she probably jumps even more than anything she jumped at before when the tree's carvings shift and the eyes and face look right at her! "Eeek!"

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
It's a good thing they've finally gotten through that gauntlet of baddies and bullshit, because by the time Kazuko gets to the shoreline on her surfboard? She looks about ready to collapse right onto it. She doesn't, of course, but it's only through sheer willpower that she doesn't just lie down and take a nap. Some stab wounds from the spike wall here, several bruises from the rocks there, and there's still a big red mark on her face from when she had faceplanted onto her surfboard at the start.

     At least she looks about as chipper as before. "We're here! Alright, now what do we-gyah!" And energetic, apparently, as she catches sight of that giant tree head staring towards their escort target. It isn't attacking yet, though, so she approaches the tree and..

     Stares right back at it. "Uhm... Hi there? Are you friendly?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "Nope! I'm just a freakishly overconfident wizard!" Ainsley replies with a great big smile, "Actually, I might be a little crazy! This should be absolutely terrifying but I'm just not feeling it at all!"

    Ainsley is nothing if not painfully self-aware! She does a little thumbs-up at Tanya, though, and adds, "But you're doing great! I can tell!"

    The battle is done and everyone comes in for a landing on the beach. She pauses for a second to bury the surf board in the sand by the nose in a good spot to see it later. She steps up to give the tree a curious look with Tanya. In contrast to Tanya's squeak of surprise, Ainsley stares a little dumbly, with a friendly smile on her face. "Hi," she greets, while her muscles tense in case it tries to attack her. "Are you an evil plant monster, too? I hope not."

    "I'm Ainsley," she says, raising a hand in greeting.

Kyle Katarn (778) has posed:
    Kyle LEAPS off the board after the bullshit that was the gauntlet they just got past. He makes a sick dismount, flipping through the air and landing on the beach. His lightsaber switches off finally, and he clips it to his belt while limping towards the others.

    "Okay...so that happened." He looks around, as if thinking 'what next?' before he eyes the tree with a face. He'd wonder if it even can talk, but judging by all the crazy shit that's going on, this tree probably WILL speak to them.

    Lord knows what it'll say though.

Sigrun Stem (992) has posed:
Sigrun just steps off calmly, walking forwards to stand with the others. She hasn't dismissed her surveillance spell yet, so the little magic balls keep looking around. She does take off her mask, revealing that she has a broken nose, and that it's bleeding. She still doesn't say a word, but she gets a handkerchief out of a pocket and starts depping up the blood to prevent it from getting elsewhere.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
What a RUSH! Lin's hollering happily by the time the group washes ashore. She stumbles off the board, panting and doubled over with hands on her knees. "Hahahahaa... that was too much! See? Nothin' we couldn't handl-- ... heeeello...?"

    Her eyes, too, spot the nearby tree. Right about when Tanya screaches. A tree with a FACE?

    Apparently unconcerned with the fact that she's been wounded (for whatever reason, her plethora of minor injuries don't seem to be bleeding for more than ten seconds...)... she walks up to the tree...

    "Hail... tree spirit? Despite that mess on the water we come without ill intent." Her tone qucikly loses the rough and wild, though she's obviously doing her best to sound more polite. Even so... most people would probably treat such a being with an amount of deference.

    Her manners are of a cordial equal of sorts.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has her disc off line for a reason right? She doesn't want to kill these things to be honest so she's just using it unpowered like she would in a friendly game of disc wars. Though it'snot too friendly for these guys Deelel on the other hand is able to land on the surfboard again she'll keep going for the thing that seem hostile and now she's laughing.

"That was quite the right....but what's this?"

Deelel hops off her board on to the shore and seems to be quite interested about what they have found.

"I'm Deelel."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Greetings, heroes.
    I am Tangaroa, god of the oceans and the wild.
        Here in this striken land,
        I appear before you as a solitary tree.
        My mystic powers have started to fall;
        From this island, corrupt and wicked life crawls."

    "Oh my gosh," Tanya says. "He's really real." She clutches her greenstone pendant. "I didn't think he was real..."

    She looks at Ainsley and Kyle, and giggles somewhat helplessly. Whispers, her voice cracking, "This is actually kinda really cool..."

Ren throws the peace sign, which is probably what he does when he greets a lot of gods. To Tangaroa's credit, the sand next to the tree clumps and rises in the shape of a similar hand gesture, so that's nice.

    A lot of people are injured, though, and the Tiki Spirit acknowledges it as he looks over everyone with an air of concern. Therefore, some healthy-looking fruit grows on the tree, even though, you know, it's not known for trees like this to grow various different kinds of fruit in a few seconds. If you stretch up to grab one- hey, Tangaroa's not going to lower his branches down for you, you gotta grab it yourself- you'll find they have a healing effect on bruises, bites, cuts and bleeding, or even fatigue.

        "I can see you've conquered the ocean curse-
        But what's further on is so much worse.
        I need your help to root them out...
        But right now I just don't have the clout.
        The path between islands is now clear;
        I can transport you back and forth without fear."

    Ren scratches his chin. "We can prepare ourselves, and hunt down the being all of this sprouts from in a few days' time?"

        "Come back soon but be ready for a fight.
        'Fast travel' is all I can do with my remaining might."

Kyle Katarn (778) has posed:
    Kyle looks at Tanya briefly. "Who?" He whispers. It's rude to talk when talking trees are talking.

Kazuko Kawakami (942) has posed:
A talking tree. Kazuko's meeting a talking tree. She looks over at Tanya blankly, then at her companions before turning back to Tangaroa. "Uhm... Hi. I'm Kazuko. So... we're gonna fight the real bad guys, huh?"

     She's sounding excited again. "Perfect. I'll show everyone what I can really do then!" It'd probably sound more impressive if she wasn't trying to grab one of those rapidly growing fruits at the same time, but... Well, what's etiquette when there's a tree talking in rhymes after you just beat up a bunch of ocean monsters on magical surfboards?

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "Ooh! Tangaroa, the god of the sea!"

    Ainsley claps her hands a couple of times like a giddy schoolgirl, and turns to smile at the others as if she's expecting them to be excited, too, but then her face reddens when she remembers she's the only huge historical nerd in the group. She coils her tail around one of her legs, and clasps her hands in front of her, smiling at the talking tree. "Thank you very much," she says to him, "We won't dilly-dally too long, I promise."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel Says "Greetings Tangaros."

She bows slightly before them as she listens wonering for a moment at the warning the god is giving them also given this deity is being quite how to put it straight with them? Deelel's liking them already. She listens for a moment and nods.

"We shall make ready then for what we must do next."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
        "That is I, although diminished right now.
        I'm sure you can help me out somehow."

    "(He's one of the biggest and strongest Tiki Spirits in all the Polynesian seas,)" Tanya tells Kyle. "The temple here hasn't been visited by outsiders for hundreds of years..."

    "The real bad guy must be there," Ren says. "Well, time to dust our knuckles and stock up on some potions, surf warriors, because we're going to the Temple of Tangaroa!"

    Dramatic pointing! Woo! Title drop!

    "Surf warriors?"
    "I... I don't know, it sounded cooler in my head."