Scene #3653: A Whole Lot of Nope

Owner	Pose
Steve	It had been a while since Steve mentioned sometimes finding 'nests' of spiders. As he had further described, via the public frequencies, these aren't ordinary spiders, either, but man-eating, man-sized, venomous, wall-scaling beasts. As it had just so happened, while he had been excavating a fresh tunnel a few days prior, he had heard the signature scratching and breathy shrieking of a spider. One such sound alone is no cause for note, as the Flat Earth's underground is full of chasms and caverns where they live, but the sound soon became several of the same kind. There was little doubt in Steve's mind: It was one of those very dens that would give any arachnophobe permanent night terrors. Accordingly, he had put out an open job posting, via flyers stapled or pinned up by a cute girl with devil wings, and devil wings on her head, should anyone have caught a glimpse. Anyone with an interest in spider slaying is entirely welcome, and it includes directions, which while admittedly not in common terms -- seems Steve makes up his own, for a lot of multiversal landmarks -- should be easy enough to follow. The more disorienting part likely comes in that, once out of the jump gate and onto the Flat Earth itself, there is a sign posted, and a rectangular portal not resembling the usual multiversal gate fare. The creepy sounds emanating from it are not at all inviting, but the sign nonetheless states 'This Way!' Those brave enough to enter would find a narrow but navigable corridor, lined with what seems like cobblestone, on the other side. It is extremely featureless and functional. Its main purpose seems to be to reach the other obsidian portal on the other side. Just ignore the gutteral, stomach-upset and wheezing kind of sounds, coming from somewhere distant beyond the stone, for the time being. Or don't, but don't expect Steve to come rescue you! In any case, the other gate finally leads to the job site, a segment of another long tunnel chiseled through the rock, and Steve is waiting there against another cobblestone wall. This one looks a bit more aged than the tunnel before, as it has grown moss upon it, and is definitely out of place against the native stone. And yes, that is a lot of scratching and shrill hissing on the other side of it, but it is thankfully contained for now. The miner is without his wizardly robes for today; this is the heroes' show, after all. He's just contentedly sipping from a tea cup that the devils gave him as another of their peace offerings, its refinement looking terribly out of place against his scruffy exterior.
Taylita	Bravery is no problem for a saiyan warrior monk. And even though she had some trouble finding this place thanks to the goofy directions, Taylita flies through the warp gate in her usual style. A rocket-like sound fills the air as the energy from her blue aura pushes her along and leaves a trail of blue behind her. It looks rather like she is on fire. She lands at the nether gate, then hmms. "So, this is the place, huh?" she says before she slips through the gate and the following gate without hesitation, though she is pretty curious about all the racket made by the mysterious creatures outside the passage. She blinks when she arrives to find Steve sipping tea. She raises an eyebrow, then folds her arms over her chest. "So, are you the one that needs some spiders squished?"
Alexis Maaka	The muscle car Steve might recognize from that golem affair pulls up just short of the portal, the engine going to a stop as its driver steps out. Alexis Maaka exits, retrieving a few things from the trunk as she fastens her coat. Pulling out a Vepr-12 shotgun, she loads a drum of shells before she begins stuffing spare box magazines in her coat's pockets, then chambers the automatic shotgun. She'll also grab an M4 for her passenger, slapping a quad-stack magazine home for Kotone to pick up. Heading over to Steve, the cyborg shoots him a nod and wave. "Hey mate, take it we're in for a bug hunt then?" She seems rather casual regarding this, even as Taylite flies in. "Oh. You, from the Ancients' job." She definitely recognizes the Saiyan alright, this might be quicker than expected.
Yari Takane	Yari arrives, signs and maps and eventually a rather disorientating trip through a portal. She very much likes the Warpgates better. Soon enough, she's at Steve's little abode, dressed in her dark kimono and offering a salute to those gathering. "Ensign Takane, reporting, Mister Steve, Ma'am." Alexis in particular gets a nod out of those here. The ninja adjusts her umbrella a bit for good drawing reach. "Do we have any particular concerns about these spiders? Numbers, types of venom, antidotes?" Straight to business today for Yari. Though much of it is for her fellows' benefit.
Dorian Pavus	Truth be told, Dorian's eye twitched when he first read the flyers. 'Man-eating, man-sized, venomous, wall-scaling spiders' tended to not be how he liked spending his days. But hey. It was a job. So he's headed to Flat Earth, to see what can be done about these nasty beasties. No, that rectangular portal isn't at all inviting. But, since the sign appears to be pointing that way, Dorian takes a breath and goes through. And the ghastly sounds coming from all around in the corridor that follows gets a frown. Hopefully that's not some other world's Fade. Thankfully the corridor opens out into a less-wheezy area. Dorian relaxes a bit, and then heads to where the others seem to be gathering at. He offers the assembled crowd a confident smirk. "Not to worry, I'm here now," he assures everyone.
Princess Peach	Peach must have been feeling very adventurous when she found one of those fliers. But, in the end, she thought, Luigi had exterminated ghosts before, how bad could giant man eating spiders be right? As flawed as that logic likely is, the mushroom princess eventually arrives at the gate, after getting lost a few times along the way. At the very least she might be able to help with healing any spider bites. She'll certainly stand out among the others, dressed in the usual, bright pink dress, white gloves, sapphire jewelry, crown. It looks like she's more ready for a royal ball. Yari she recognizes so she gives the Au Ra a wave before smiling at Steve. "Nice tea cup." She says with a smile.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is in the passenger seat of said car looking to bein good spirits reallya s she moves to get out and get her own gear out, it's a SMG of some sort, also she's got a pair of what seem to be holsterd pair of weapons. She's also wearing a stealth suit which is fairly form fitting but doesn't fall into the relm of being indecent. "Hey Steve, heard you had a bug problem and needed a hand."
Steve	"Heh, yeah, I'm the one, and this is the place," he remarks to first to Taylita, sitting his tea cup on a matching saucer. He only has third-party knowledge of what a Saiyan is, or what they can do, but after a while of Unification it's also kind of hard to not hear at least some stories. Should be enlightening, perhaps literally! The same could have been an answer to Alexis Maaka, as well, appearing just a little bit later. He gives a glance toward that moss patch-covered wall, which by this point is visibly vibrating from the enthusiasm of whatever is on the other side of it. The sounds indicate a lot of whatevers. "Nice to see you again, Maaka," he grins. "I know this is in good hands." His grin broadens at Peach's comment, raising the cup momentarily in her direction, and Dorian and Kotone receive nods in kind, as well, "Well, with confidence like that, how can we lose, right? And good to see ya again, Kotone. Yeah...I'll smash open this wall in a moment. But first." Yari gets right to business, as well, and she asks some fair questions. They aren't ones he's used to thinking about, though, judging by how long he seems to take to consider it, switching the saucer to one hand as he lightly scratches his beard stubble with the other, "There's probably at least a dozen of `em. They'll be all over. But, going by what I know of these kinds of places, there'll be a 'spawner' that keeps spitting them out. Smash that, and you'll take care of the problem more permanent-like." On the topic of an antidote, he gives another caught-off-guard kind of look, then he has a practically visible light bulb moment. "Oh, you mean milk. Right, one sec." He dismisses his tea cup to wherever his equipment goes when unneeded, and withdraws what looks like two pails full of fresh, un-pasteurized milk. "This stuff. If the beasties poison you, just drop this and soak in it a moment." Yeah, welcome to Flat Earth. After whomever wants to be the Keeper of the Buckets takes them, or doesn't, it's time to get down to business. He brings his pickaxe up into his hands, and with a few hefty swings, a one by two, vertically oriented hole is broken into the cobblestone wall. ...Steve collects the mossy cobblestone, that has uses. Regardless, beyond is what appears to be a dark chamber, lined with similar stone. And many, many sets of large, glowing red eyes, which all appear to be fighting to get closest to the hole. Their wide bodies cannot seem to fit through, however, and the torch light from outside illuminates their hairy bodies scampering along the wall. "This is your show, now. Good luck!"
Yari Takane	Yari gives a salute and a smile briefly to peach, and to Kotone. Then, she nods to the mention of the spawner. Yari doesn't take a pale, though. She salutes, and nods to the others. "Let's go then. Wish us luck, Sir." She'll fall into formation, likely in the back. Her being on point would be a bad idea. She looks to Taylita and Alexis for this.
Princess Peach	"At least a dozen? And a spawner that more can come from. Oh my..." Peach swallows hard, trying to stay calm. "I'll take the buckets I guess, unless someone else has has a good reason I shouldn't." She offers as she walks over and grabs the buckets with both hands. She then follows the others into the chamber, looking around nervously, her eyes widening as she spots a spider in the flickering light. "I guess we don't have to worry about searching for them..." She muses dryly.
Taylita	Taylita is surprised when Kotone and Alexis arrive. "Heh. You guys will take any kind of job, huh?" she asks them, then smirks lightly. "Good to see you again, Kotone. Even after that last job." she says. The saiyan watches and listens as Steve and Yari discuss tactics and antidotes. Then, Steve breaks open the passage and Taylita's eyes widen a bit at all the eyes she sees. She grins after that and lowers down into a fighting stance. "Well, I expected big spiders, but not this big!" she says, actually sounding a bit excited rather than scared or concerned. Being a saiyan, Taylita is eager to get into the fray. But, she holds off on just dashing in like she usually would. When one is working with a team, one should make a plan. "Alright, so the princess has the pails." she says, then looks at Kotone and Alexis. "You guys do mostly ranged stuff? I wasn't paying much attention during the last job. And what about you, Mr..." She looks at Dorian questioningly. "I'm a mid to close range fighter, so if I'm going to have ranged attackers at my back I'd like to know."
Alexis Maaka	"Damn right we will. That's why we do what we do." Alexis grins to Taylita a little before others arrive. Two cyborgs, a space monkey girl, a princess, a girl in a kimono, and a wizard show up for spider hunting? Why not? Alexis gives Kotone a little grin, then eyes Peach with a bit of apprehension. "You sure you're gonna be fine in there? This isn't exactly a royal ball we're going into." Shrugging, Maaka listens to the briefing. "Guess we better act fast before they overwhelm us, then." SPiders don't frighten Alexis, but being stuck down there when she runs low on ammo, and she probably will end up like that, does worry her if they waste too much time. "Kotone and I are mostly gun types, yeah." She answers Taylita. "But if nothing else, you got your ki attacks for artillery right?" She moves into the chamber, shotgun raised while she takes point duty.
Dorian Pavus	The mention of milk as antidote gets a raised brow from Dorian. But then, this isn't his world. So he merely tilts his head. "As long as it works," he replies. "Rotting from the inside sounds like a sort of death I'd rather avoid." And as the group enters the chamber with the spiders in it, Dorian aims a barrier at the group, trying to cast it over as many people in the group as possible. Himself included, yes. It only lasts a short time, but it'll be useful if something leaps out at them.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa says "We should be fine so long as we keep together, Steve." She seems in good spirits and after what happened last night she, very well wanted a change of pase. She'd have to be careful however. She checks her weapons one last time and was ready to follow. "I see, humm you know I got an idea, Steve." Kotone does have her matter maniplator attached to her hip, and she's eyring it wondering about these spawners and it. She does seem more than a little stunned at how to deal with the posion but it was good to know. With that she makes ready to head down. She does notice Princess Peach and Taylita who both get a grin and greetings. "I do take a lot of work, I have to pay my upkeep somehow, don't I? As for that ya, I can do melee. I'm not that well trained up close I'm a brawler to be honest."
Steve	IF anything leaps at them. That's quite a hopeful outlook. The very moment that Maaka steps inside to form the front line, the spiders that had been crawling and skittering along the walls key in. They don't so much see her, as her shadow, with her form backlit as she steps in the 'door', by the torches outside. A few of them do 'crouch' for a moment, as though they are about to pounce, and then they hesitate. Is that an almost confused sounding chittering coming from the ones at the forefront? They know well enough that cold things aren't as tasty as warm things. Instead, for now they actively begin trying to swarm around her, still trying to squeeze through that crack in the wall, leaping against the shielding that Dorian provides to others squeezing in. The interior is completely dark. That doesn't seem to hinder the spiders any, and their initially confused approach to Maaka might give a hint as to why. Despite that, their unblinking eyes, burning that hateful red, makes it reasonably easy to track them, if possibly a little disorienting. Any others that make it into the room are pounced upon; there is no strategy on their end, as they have only predator animal intelligence to work with. Despite this, it might be easy to be caught off guard, as several that had lingered on the ceiling also join in, dropping down and attempting to latch on, with a snapping of their sharp mandibles. And that hair, ugh, all that bristly, HAIR. This chamber still has one more terrible feature, however. Scattered around the corners and interior, sticky webs that impede movement, and are strong enough to resist the instinctual swiping of a hand. It is not a nice place. "Oh, it works," Steve reaffirms, seemingly content to let the ones being paid handle it, while he returns to a bit of spot mining of a nearby iron ore seam. "Milk gets rid of a lot of things that ail ya. And, if you want to try it, Kotone, but if your gizmo explodes, I'm not the one that's paying for it."
Taylita	Taylita blinks as Maaka rushes passed her and into the room. "Hey! That's my job!" she says before leaping through as well and aiming a fist right at one of those sets of eyes, followed by a kick to another set of eyes. She just keeps throwing punches and kicks as spiders come after her. She tries to push deeper, looking for this spawner thing. But, even a saiyan can only take on so many spiders at once. Four, maybe five, before she starts taking hits and getting doses of poison. "Ngk!" Taylita gasps as she is bitten. She smashes that spider's head, then keeps pushing forward, trusting in her strength and training to keep her going.
Dorian Pavus	AUGH POUNCING SPIDERS! "Venhedis kaffan vas!" Dorian swears. And suddenly there is fire. Between the three serpent heads at the end of the staff Dorian carries, a ball of fire ignites. And then suddenly he's shooting gouts of fire from his hands at anything that pounces on him. On the bright side (no pun intended), this is producing enough light to see by. On the other hand, there is a very real possibility of friendly fire here. He's TRYING to avoid hitting anyone else though.
Princess Peach	Peach looks to Alexis and gives a nod. "I'll be fine... I can fight, and I can also heal, further helping anyone who gets bitten." As far as how her skills are, she's certainly more close range for the most part. As the spiders descend upon them, she gently sets the buckets down and summons her white and pink parasol, which appears in a puff of pink mist. She proceeds to defend the buckets of milk, swinging and stabbing the parasol as a weapon, and if the spiders try to go in for a bite, opening it and using it as a sort of shield. "Does anyone else think it's a problem that there are more of them than there are of us, and they can see better in here?"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is in chipper spirits it's just spiders. "Strange it's just a food where I'm from. Fair enough Steve, I wouldn't think of charing you for something I want to do." She heads on in trying to get down into the dark, she doesn't seem bothered by the dark at all as she switches vision modes herself. This allows her to navigate well enough though the place as she gets ready to move in and fires off a shot or two at the spiders when they pounce her. She's got no want to end up getting bit, she'll bet htier venom would eat through her mechanical body!
Alexis Maaka	"Yegh." Alexis groans in disgust before her shotgun blasts one of the leaping spiders in mid-air. Double Aught Buck will tear the hairy bastards apart at this range. She moves to Taylita's defense when she gets bit, blasting away at spiders to pick up the Saiyan's slack. "And I'm poison resistant, why do you think I'm up front?" She's sharp but not entirely speaking from a grouchy place. That said, she's in no hurry to get bit, so she keeps her distance while her shotgun keeps blasting spiders. A flamethrower would've done much better in these quarters, Alexis has to admit.
Yari Takane	SUDDENLY SPIDERS! Thankfully, Yari is a ninja, and she knows to look up. Thus she gets a split second to duck into a roll away from the falling hairy beast! Those front legs scrape along her shoulders but thankfully mandibles don't get into anything that might cause poison. Yet. The night is still young. Drawing her umbrella blade in one motion, she slashes at the creature, trying to cut it's various legs off, leaping and ducking around the thing. Time to find out if spiders or lizards are more maneuverable!
Steve	The spiders are numerous, but ultimately they're up against several Elites. They're not quite pushovers, but ultimately not that challenging, one-on-one. Sinking their scissor-like mouth parts into Taylita, briefly overwhelming her with their numbers, the ones immediately attacking her are nonetheless thinned out just as quickly with her punches and kicks. Maybe, in fact, a little bit too strong in some cases, their bodies all but shattering. Curiously, in their wake, however; some materials avail themselves. Not only is some of their stored silken STRING, from their spinning glands, left behind, but as Steve had mentioned to a few here, their EYES seem particularly prone to dropping out of their settings. This is something that several had expressed interest in, but for everyone else, feel free to be grossed out, as their burning red light fades from faltering bioluminescence. Others that are swarming get spot cooked by fire from Dorian's staff: As he is warming up, that briefly attracts even more of them, in fact, the heat signature from the staff's business end catching their attention, like a red laser spot might to a gang of cats. Just as they're mid-pounce, they're caught up in the heat wave, and give pained screeching. Some are burnt to a crisp immediately, though unfortunately, any 'item drops' they might have produced are similarly immolated into uselessness. Others on the edge of the strike zone are 'merely' set on fire, and either continue on trying to reach him and the others, or give pained shrieks as they try to retreat further into the nest. This briefly illuminates things further back, revealing that beyond even this chamber, there is another immediately adjacent. That might be worth checking out, you know, once the spiders aren't everywhere. So many spiders, everywhere. Even aiming for Peach! How did so many cram into this space? They lunge with their poisonous jaws, but some deft parasol handling would keep them away, as they are unaccustomed to dealing with such a dual-use piece of equipment. In fact, as it opens as a shield, they briefly almost seem more interested in chewing on it than Peach. Kotone's shots deal with those, however, likely before they can even attempt to do any real damage to it. Their bodies shatter much like the ones that fell before Taylita's fury. More STRING and EYES. Yay?
Steve	The spiders now jumping at Yari -- rare to meet something that can jump as well as her, right? -- again have no real tactical intelligence behind their movements. It is all about the swarm. Though it is likely difficult to dodge or block absolutely everything, they are in the end, overgrown spiders. A few have legs severed for their efforts, but missing a few seems to not bother them overmuch. The one that she was focusing on, however, suffers a bit more serious injury; its body is sliced, which causes it to shriek in pain, before splitting apart at the freshly opened seam. More harrowing, the ones that had been mostly ignoring Maaka now longer do, once they are actively being fired upon. Monster truces only last until another fires a shot! They attempt to flank and surround her, including a few of the ones that are now, and still, on fire from Dorian's magic. They attempt to scrape and scratch with their legs and bite with their jaws. Nonetheless, between all the Elites' attacks, their numbers seem to be thinning. ...that is, before something smoldering in the shadows, beyond a thick curtain of those webs, seems to reach a crescendo. It did not seem to be one of the burning spiders, but as this happens, another fresh wave of spiders crawls unimpeded through those cobwebs. Is that location of the 'spawner' Steve mentioned?
Kotone Yamakawa	There are a huge number of spiders, but there's a lot more firepower than the spiders have to normally deal with at once here. Kotone is firing off shots as she attempts to keep out of mele with the monsters. There are sure a lot of spiders down here, how do they live down here? How do they get enough to eat? Saldy she would likely not get answers to that right now. For now she does her bes to cover peach with fire, tough there is something odd there seem to be anotehr source of fire down here, that is not the monsters being on fire? Curious that gets Her attention and she starts pushing for strange thing. Steve mentioned a spawner and she thinks a bit more on it. "I got an idea! Don't break that thing I have A way to handle it!" Kotone's going to have to get past the webs, but she should be strong enoug to cut through them with a combat knife, for the moment she tries a few shots with her SMG to see what effect it might have.
Taylita	Despite being bitten, Taylita keeps pushing forward until she hits those webs. She was warned, but really how bad can webs be? She grabs one and tugs on it firmly to try and tear it away. "That thing down there! Is that the spawner?" she asks urgently as she tries to shake that web off her hand. Which doesn't work of course. She mmphs then tries to wipe it on the wall, which just sticks her hand to the wall until she pries it free. "This stuff is really sticky! Don't touch it!" she says, then she charges up some ki and starts firing explosive bolts into the webbing and the incoming spiders. It is not quite a Vegeta machine-gun attack, but a couple dozen ki bolts start punching and exploding against those webs, creating quite the light show and a lot of noise.
Princess Peach	"Thanks for keeping them off me." Peach says to Kotone with an appreciate tone. For now though she switches to trying her best to carry both buckets with one hand while continuing to wield her parasol in her other hand. They slowed her down and made her balance a bit awkward, but she didn't mind being away from the front lines in this situation. As a new wave of spiders come towards them, she braces herself for more. "It seems to be where they're coming from, so I'd say it's the best guess we have at the moment." She comments on the likelihood of that being the spawner.
Yari Takane	Hint: spiders are annoying. They prove very tenacious and numerous, making up for their lack of dealing with intelligent prey. Indeed, even Yari is having trouble, speedy leaps often meeting with fangs or slices or other general pain. Her kimono is soon slashed and shredded, and that poison feels /awful/. No time to get cured yet. She'll have to endure as she feels it coursing through her veins. "...I wonder if this is what it's like fighting me." She muses aloud as she draws another kunai from her tail, chucking it at one particularly tenacious spider. KABOOM! It detonates with the explosive tag. Hopefully people around her don't mind spider guts on their clothing.
Alexis Maaka	"What are you crazy? Let's just blow the damn thing!" Alexis isn't sure what Kotone has in mind, and is convinced it's not going to end well. She stomps on a spider before it gets too close, then begins to check her drum for shells. Only four left. She lets loose, aiming for one of the big spiders and its buddies with buckshot before she changes to one of the box magazines now. Her coat should be enough armor to avoid bites, and her skin is pretty thick itself, that said she feels a few slashes from the spiders' legs and bites from fangs. Ow, ow, this is getting annoying.
Dorian Pavus	Fortunately for anyone hoping to get more drops, once the initial panic of the zergrush of spiders passes, Dorian stops randomly throwing fire at things. Now he starts throwing electricity! Thankfully this is more focused, and shouldn't do as much damage to the possible drops. Because he's noticed that these things don't seem to die like normal spiders. They leave behind leavings that could be harvested. And then suddenly Yari's exploding spiders. Dorian's hand is out, directing a bolt of lightning at a spider. He's unable to raise a hand to shield himself from the resultant spider guts flung through the air. The inevitable happens. Splat. Right in the side of the face. This, unfortunately, means one half of his mustache suffers the fate of being splattered with spider guts. That's going to take forever to get out, isn't it? Dorian sputters, and takes a moment to wipe his face, complaining, "Vishante kaffas...! Could you please '''warn''' next time?" Yes, he's a little sore about that. He's a little vain, and spider guts probably don't do wonders for the complexion. He isn't bothered with the spawner yet, he's concerned about getting the stuff off his face. his poor mustache.
Steve	It's slow going for Kotone. The webs are even more thickly grown here, and they don't seem to respond to gun fire; they sort of resonate a bit, but otherwise projectiles seem to pass right through them. The combat knife, as long as she tries that next, is seemingly a lot more effective in removing them (it's close enough to a sword), but she still has to deal with the spiders along the way, miring things further. Nonetheless, as several others had also guessed, this seems to be the place. Beyond the thinning webs, the other chamber reveals itself, similarly lined with moss-covered cobblestone. There in the center, a cage-like 'box', which in the dim light she can still see contains a miniature spider, spinning with increasing speed. The nature of the 'fire' also reveals itself as small moat of flame, wreathing the object. They increase in intensity, and... Kotone's curiosity is repaid as another batch of spiders is produced. There remains no doubt this is the spawner now. But more curiously, one of the spiders spawns a little strangely. There is something on its back, perched as though riding it like a horseman, and staring at her with empty eye sockets. The skeleton wastes no further time, its mount withdrawing slightly as it draws back its bow, and begins loosing arrows with frightening accuracy. Seems the undead in this world can see well in the dark, also. That's one thing Steve failed to mention, huh -- spider jockeys. The others swarm along the floor and walls, trying to reach the rest of the party as reinforcements for their fallen brethren. Much like Kotone's SMG rounds before it, and despite what one might guess, the ki blasts also pass relatively unhindered through the webs. While this is unfortunate from the standpoint of clearing them, it does mean that Taylita has relatively clean shots at the spiders that are now climbing along the wall at her. Another curiosity also makes itself known, the sheer force of errant blasts, as they strike walls, actually knock several, distressingly-perfect-cubic meter, blocks of the cobblestone free. There does not seem to be any danger of a cave-in, but that's definitely interesting! Outside, Steve takes a break from his mining to poke his head in. He whistles appreciatively at the chaos going on within, but he notices Peach's predicament the most. "You guys get poisoned yet," he wonders? Then he addresses the princess directly, looking at her while gesturing at one of the pits Taylita's blasts had caused, this one in the floor of the chamber. "Dump one of your buckets in there. Anyone can take a quick dip and the poison should wear off quick." With all the fireballs, bullets, pellets and umbrellas going around, though, he seems satisfied with what he saw, and draws his head back out. The spiders don't stop lunging at Peach, but with the others picking up most of their aggression, it definitely keeps the heat off.
Steve	Maybe the spiders attack Yari so tenaciously because they sense that cross-world, cross-species, cross-sentience comradery, and rivalry? Or perhaps they are just that hungry to continue to chase difficult prey. Whatever the case, they don't seem dissuaded as their injuries and casualties mount to her counterslices. In fact, with the fresh reinforcements, they seem newly emboldened. The kunai struck one does not seem to immediately register the strike, and continues scrambling forward, before bursting open as a result. Yuck, gross! Oddly, the explosiond does not seem to damage its monster parts as much as fire does. The ones still swarming immediately around Maaka continue to be a mixture of confused about a cold thing attacking them, and angry about it. Enough angry ones remain a threat, and much like with Peach's parasol earlier, they almost seem to take offense at the coat absorbing the brunt of their nastiness, giving up on biting and clawing Maaka directly and instead attacking that. Though, that desperate clambering still results in nickels and dimes of injuries, here and there. Don't you just love swarming monsters? At least they are making it easy on her shotgun blasts, since being up close makes for the best effectiveness, and several pop open with devestating efficiency. Sorry about the bug guts, Dorian. But that's part of the job, too. At least they don't seem to have acidic blood or some other similarly nasty surprise, it's just disgusting, instead. The spiders don't appear to have any particular elemental strengths or weaknesses, save maybe poison immunity, though electrical attacks seem quite effective, all the same. Perhaps it's magic in general that the spiders don't care for. The ones hit by jolts seem to freeze in place for a moment, perhaps having their nervous system paralyzed as a result, before they fall off the ceilings and walls they're climbing on. The lightning seems a bit more drop friendly; some of the STRING and EYES still get fused into useless lumps, but a lot more survives than from fire.
Yari Takane	Yari is a soldier at heart, and thus, she just frowns over at Dorian! "Fine Mister Pavus. Operations are often messy. You shouldn't wear anything to one you aren't prepared to dryclean or burn." Practical advice, you ninja jerk Yari. And wipes up a bit of guts from her own face. "Nnngh...I'll need a dip soon." Offers Yari to STeve as the poison does its work. She's wobbling with every leap and cut, as she tries to avoid getting too gooped with guts or otherwise getting more poisoned. She's bleeding, breathing heavily. Ugh. She takes a page out of Dorian's book, and switches elements. Handseals! A wave of water spills out of her mouth as she tries to drown some spiders to death!
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa says "I'm going to use my Manipulator on it! If it doesn't work we can blow it!" Kotone clearly has a plan here, is she doing science? Yes she is. Dorian's magic is a very welcome for keeping the spiders off her while she goes. Hopefully Alexis gets where Kotone is going with this idea. She preses on trying to get through the webs. Given her shots didn't work she's going to atake to use her combat knife to hack her way through. She keeps pressing on ahead trying to rech the goal. She's at the box, with her knife being a one handed weapon she goes for the matter manipulator at her hip, drawing it like a pistol. Then comes the freaking Spider Jockey she starts to boot up the tool in her hand's systems and she's going to try to recliam the spawner while she attempts to avoid the spider Jockey which might be easier said than done. Still she's going to make her best shot at it. "Not yet and you never told us Skeltons cold ride the spiders!!!"
Princess Peach	Peach nods at Steve's suggestion and dumps one of the buckets into one of the pits blown into the floor, creating a small pool of milk inside the cave. Now with only one bucket to carry, she can move more quickly, and continues fighting off the spiders that get near her. As more close in, she gets more aggressive, bashing some with her parasol, and kicking others. She aims both her parasol and the point of her high heels at their eyes, attempting to blind them before finishing them off with further beatings. So far it seems Peach has gone relativly unscathed, though her parasol has certainly seen better days. That starts to change though as one of the spiders bites her leg while she kicks another, while yet another comes at her from behind, though it seems rather confused as it tries biting into the skirt of her dress. "Hey, get your fangs off my skirt!" She yells as she turns to bash spider's head in, and finally takes a chance to soak her bite wound in the pool of milk, hoping a moment's reprieve will be enough.
Taylita	Huh. So -that's- why everyone she fights carries blades. For cutting spider webs! Well, Taylita realizes it isn't that specific, but a blade would be really helpful here. Luckily, Kotone has a blade in hand, which means Taylita can focus on firing her ki blasts at the spiders since they don't seem to even hit the webs. She does blink in surprise at the cube-shaped pieces of wall, but she has more important things to worry about. It seems like things are well in hand, so Taylita lets Maaka and Kotone go first since one seems resistant to spiders and the other has the knife. Taylita takes up a guard position near Peach. She throws powerful punches and kicks, which might splatter more spider guts over the others, and whenever she can she keeps firing ki blasts passed the other two warrior women. Taylita is starting to look a bit pale from the poison, and is panting from the combat and the burning in her veins. "What's a Maniulator?!" Taylita calls out as she keeps firing and punching. Then, that Spider Jockey spawns. Taylita blinks at the sight of a skeleton riding a spider. With Kotone handling the spawner itself, Taylita charges in while firing shots at the Jockey. Unfortunately...there are still a lot of webs in the way. All it takes is her hair brushing one and she is caught. Her momentum swings her upward, and she ends up buried in webbing against the ceiling. Taylita struggles against the webbing, but of course this just makes it worse. She grunts and huffs and growls, and finally lets out something close to a roar! Her blue aura flares around her as she pulls with all her might, trying to curl her arms and legs and body to tear free. Still, the webs hold fast. Until there is a slight rumbling and with a crash many of those cubic pieces pop free of the ceiling, still attatched to Taylita by those stubborn webs. She doesn't seem to care. She rushes in and starts using those dangling blocks as flails, smashing spiders with them! She fights her way toward the jockey, and when she gets close enough she swings one of those blocks of stone at his head!
Dorian Pavus	Thank the Maker for small favors, yes. While Dorian's acting like the most horrible thing EVER has just happened to him, he does inwardly realize that things could have been worse. Like, yes, their blood could have been acidic, or poisonous itself. That would have been a disaster. 'Skeletal' isn't a good look for anybody. But there's more spiders coming, and Dorian realizes that the others need some protection from the spiders. The group's pretty scattered, so Dorian turns his attention to casting Barrier spells on those present, including himself. Yari's words get a frown in return. "Don't judge until you've had to wring bits of something's entrails out of your mustache. It's quite difficult." He also might be kidding, even if the words are serious.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis raises a brow mid reload. "...oh you gotta be kidding." She shakes her head, before chambering the new magazine for her Vepr. The shotgun lets off a booming report as it blasts away at spiders before she punts one like a soccer ball. Her stock smashes into the head of another spider, before suddenly Alexis whirls to spot the jockey. "What the hell?" She feels an arrow sail so close to her that it actually scrapes across her head, drawing blood from her temple as she moves to evade the shot. "Motherfuck-" Now it's on. Alexis capitalizes on the barrier she's got now, using that to weather further arrows as she takes a shot at the skeleton before she primes and tosses a frag in the jockey's direction. "Buckle up, bonehead!"
Steve	There are several ponderous moments where it seems like it won't work. The Matter Manipulator that is. The spawner makes noises like one might expect from striking it with a pickaxe, perhaps trying to resolve technology into a form of physics this world can 'understand'. It does not seem to be physically breaking from this effort, however. Finally, though, a final sound; a satisfying pop quite like when those blocks came loose from Taylita's blasts, earlier. It is then dematerialized and drawn into the matter manipulator itself, confirmed to be stored inside, though its exact nature difficult for the non-native technology to discern. In that briefest of moments, it would have been easy to miss, but that small, spinning spider inside turned into a spinning pig, instead. Retrieved: 1 x Monster Spawner (Pig). As Kotone retreats with her prize, the jockey and what remains of the spiders still mindlessly try to kill, and eat in some cases, all of the invaders. Without fresh reinforcements from the spawner, however, their numbers are not only dwindling, but actually staying that way! Yari's water conjuration, for example: The spiders caught in it don't drown from it immediately, but several wash up against a wall, where pressure keeps them held fast. It is there where their soaked and inundated bodies are no longer able to absorb fresh air, and despite their struggles, they eventually become still. Several others, their attacks losing their pack intelligence and becoming more disorganized as a result, get smited by Peach for the indignities suffered upon her parasol and dress. That doesn't stop them from trying to come after her, however, and one particularly dogged one even manages to grab a bite, before it also succumbs to a beating. True to Steve's word, though, the burning sensation of the poison entering her body would immediately see relief when exposed to a dip in the milk, eventually subsiding completely. That doesn't heal the injury, but the toxin seems completely nullified. Dorian's shielding spell further confounds the efforts of what regular spiders still remain to make any progress, and as they all but bounce off in their rapidly thinning numbers, they are increasingly easier to take out. After Taylita breaks herself free and Maaka reloads, they both make noticeable headway through the remnants, that spider-riding skeleton being essentially all that is left, except a few half-dead spiders that still cling to life. This is apparently the moment for personal challenge, now that a somewhat humanoid enemy has appeared. Unfortunately, that extra attention is not great for it.
Steve	The skeleton's bones rattle from the shotgun blast, but a funny thing about skeletons is that they're mostly empty air. A few cracks appear on its bones from that much, but it doesn't seem that injured. The skeletal rider, perhaps on instinct, actually reaches up a boney hand to catch the grenade. It looks confused for a moment, before that arm gets blown off from the proximity, and several of its bones are pitted. Its mount is not so immediately fortunate; the spider not being nearly so, well, aerodynamic. It gives a shriek and bucks the skeleton off, before collapsing into a bloody mess. The skeleton gets thrown off right as the spider was navigating some webs. Now it's the monsters' turn to suffer the sticky annoyance, it seems. With its one remaining arm, it tries to level a shot at the rampaging Taylita, but being held fast by the webs, its skull, and most of the rest of it, are completely crushed. Not only does its BOW drop, but three ARROWs, and some BONEs and BONE MEAL...because there was that much damage. With this, the chambers are quiet. Except some far more distant sounds, muffled by the dense stone, and sounding far more passive. Further examination of the room the spawner had been in would also reveal the presence of two wooden boxes, lidded crates not unlike stereotypical treasure chests. It's about then that Steve notices the quiet, and belatedly responds to Kotone, almost sounding jealous, "Oh wow, there was a jockey? Those things are rare! Oh yeah, good job, everybody. Looks like you had your work cut out for you."
Yari Takane	At the end of it all, Yari peers about, panting, and generally being nice and bloody. She just staggers over to that milk and plunges right in. Then out she goes, cured, and cleaner...if soaked. That milk is now likely filled with spider guts and au'ra blood. Eww. "...That actually worked." She notes, peering at Steve with renewed respect. She had been a bit skeptical about milk curing poison. Then she gives the others and the man a salute. She's already going over to the spiders that are in one piece (mostly). A kunai comes out, and she's plucking out eyeballs with expert precision. It's like she's done this before. "Take the rest. I have my prize here." She is going to rip out every spider's eye she can find. Meticulous, this ninja.
Taylita	Taylita laughs triumphantly after smashing the skeleton to dust and bones and arrows, and takes the bow as a souvenir. But, her main prize? She starts rounding up spider legs, using the webbing around her as binding to hold them together and stick them to her back. She pats Kotone and Alexis on the shoulder. "Good fighting with you again." she says before she heads for the exit. She gives a nod of appreciation toward Dorian and Yari, then remembers to dip herself in milk before she goes. "Thanks for the assist, guys." she says, then smirks to Peach. "And thanks for the milk bath. That stuff really works!"
Princess Peach	Peach waves as Yari gathers her prize and heads off. She then turns to Taylita and nods at her thanks. "You're very welcome." She then looks from her around to the others. "Anyone else get bitten? If you like I can also heal your bite wounds. I'd be happy to."
Alexis Maaka	Alexis throws Taylita a salute before she tilts her head at the pig. "I'll be damned, you figured it out." She muses to Kotone, before kicking the chest open. Her matter manipulator will accept some of the ingots, both iron and gold alike. They'll come in handy for the colony assembly later, but otherwise she doesn't bother with the rest of the loot.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is very glad she's working in a group here or she'd not be able to do this stunt. She gets the spawner and it's now in the storage unit of her MM unit. She falls back but iut's not needed as much as she'd thought. Given everyone else is just laying into the spiders nd everything else. She takes a moment to make sure nothing is left standing and will go to take a single gold ingot and leave the rest for everyone else. "It has been good working with you, and this should do me for loot. I wonder if I can do anything with this spawner. Oh Steve! I think I managed to recover the spawner intact!" She looks to Peach and grins. "You have proven you are quite the lady you know that?" Makka gets that dumb old grin that Kotone gets when she's got mad inventingin ideas going through her head, just what could she be doing with that spawner. "I got plans for this spawner..."
Dorian Pavus	Well, that seems to be everything. Once the spawner is done for and the spiders are taken care of, Dorian breathes a sigh of relief. He takes stock of injuries, though he's not really able to do much to assist. Taylita gets a nod in return. "You're quite welcome," he replies. As for the loot? He might take a gold ingot. Maybe the emerald if nobody wants it. Only because he does need to make a living, since he's not exactly getting 'donations' from his family anymore. He will also probably pause a moment or two, to get the bigger bits of spider guts out of his mustache. The whole thing is going to be a job for later, but there's no sense leaving it to be a horrible task.
Princess Peach	With no one rushing to her for healing, she brushes herself off and stows away her parasol. "Well, if we're done here, I guess I'll be heading back to my kingdom. Be safe everyone." She says before turning to Kotone and grinning a bit at her remark. "I guess I'm more than meets the eye." She reaches into the chest on her way out and grabs the golden horse armor, having an idea of someone who might be able to find a use for it. "Ooof, wishing I brought Yoshi to help me carry this. I'm going to need another deep massage after this." She complains as she hefts the heavy piece on her back and waddles away.