Scene #500: A Bombastic Good Time

Owner	Pose
Faruja	If they're going to build a proper set of gun-wielding soldiery, then they're going to need powder. And the idea of relying upon outside sources simply flies in the face of sense and Faruja's own sensibilities. No, the Holy Church won't be chained down in it's mission. Time to get things locally. Thankfully, Bombs are relatively commonplace. Inquisitor Faruja Senra has officially taken some time off. A hunting trip into an abandoned mine just outside Gollund, right in the center of Ivalice is perfect. It's mid-day, and the weather is mild. Standing just before the large yawning entrance deep into the earth, surrounded by a sizeable mountainscape before those who've come with him, Faruja Senra is dressed in black slacks, a ruffled shirt, and a hat. Cane in hand, he might look like a nobleman on a hunt, rather than an Inquisitor. "May the Lord bless us this day, and may our hunt prove fruitful! Hath ye proper equipment, fair Dames?" Inquires the rat of the trio, particularly eyeing one whom he's only familiar with through one Lady Flowers!
Cecily	"As far as I think, dear," Cecily answers Faruja with a smile. She has, of all things, a cannon slung across her back. Though on a much smaller strap she's got a compact SMG hanging from a shoulder. "I'm to understand they're fire monsters of a sort?" she asks the 'noble'. "The ammunition I have contains capsules of a freezing chemical that should be of some help... to say nothing of the canisters in this..." she smiles, patting her cannon. Then she bows politely to Faruja, "I'm Cecily, dear. I'm just pleased I can be of help." Black slacks, tank top, bare feet, tails for days. Yep. It's a pretty fox.
Ainsley	Ainsley, the quiet one of the party, looks over at Cecily with something like curiosity. She doesn't stare or anything awkward like that, instead more concerned with her own pack, which is a satchel she has resting on her hip. The amount of leather belts seems appropriate for the world, though in this case they're holding up her journal, her bag, and her weapons. The longsword looks much more fitting on her now that she's taller, and she has gotten into the habit of resting one hand on the hilt, taking up a lazy sort of posture so that she didn't seem so tall or imposing. "I'm Ainsley," she greets to the woman with the fox tails. "I will be serving as a healer for the group today. As this is a fairly basic monster variety, it will be a form of practice for me. I have confidence that we will not require much in the way of magical healing." She flashes a smile at Cecily briefly. She hasn't actually gotten around to telling Faruja that her healing magic is freaking Blood Magic, instead letting him make whatever presumptions that keep him from devolving into a frothing hissyfit. The lizard girl smiles bashfully at Cecily, nervously shuffles her feet, and finds a place to stand near Faruja. Near enough that it almost seems as if she's being protective of him, like a bodyguard.
Faruja	Faruja returns Cecily's smile, finishing his inspection of the woman. Well armed, polite, and already thinking about the task ahead. It seems, thus far, Addie's confidence in the woman is well placed! Faruja offers a bow. "Inquisitor Faruja Senra, at thine service, Lady Cecily. 'Tis an honor! Quite so, a particularly agressive sort at that. On the whole, they art slow, and only moderately powerful. However, do be warned, when suitably endangered or agitated they oft explode in a violent, and forceful manner. Keep thine distance. Some, too, art known to be able to intuitively grasp magic. Rarely anything powerful, however." A glance to the cannon, and then the smg. "Perfect!" An ear perking, and noting a distinct shuffling, Faruja looks up at a familiar lizardess. "Lord willing, we shan't. Still, caution is best. Methinks the greater danger shall be in cave-ins. This mine hath been abandoned for nigh-on twenty years. Add in Bombs...well, ye see why 'tis abandoned. Still, I hath shovels, and Golem if it comes to it." Earth summons /do/ help with cave-ins, after all. Nope, no frothing. Indeed, Faruja might just be beaming a little more than usual towards Ainsley. The man respects the Certainly Not Heretical Blood Magic arts of healing. Turning towards the mine, onwards he leads, taking out a map. Strapped to his own shoulder is a rather large bag, currently empty. Probably for the bomb ash they're here to collect! His tail soon is clutching a lit torch, the male using all his limbs as they enter the dusty mine. Grey rock, darkness, and wooden beams that look rather ill-kept are all the scenery to behold. It's a steep incline downwards for a good one hundred feet or so, only the sounds of their walking keeping them company aside from any banter the others strike up. Then, they come to an intersection. Faruja consults the map, and turns right, rolling it up. "Straight onwards and downwards from here." Off in the deep distance, there's faint, red light, and what might be several pairs of eyes. It seems the path is leading downwards to a large cavern!
Cecily	"Ainsley?" the fox asks, then smiles and bows her head politely. "I'm Cecily. Pleased to meet you finally. I've heard your voice on the radio quite frequently." She cants her head to the side at the mention of magical healing, shrugging her shoulders lightly, "I'm afraid your skills won't work on me, but let's hope you haven't need of them in the first place." Then the vixen listens to the briefing about the bombs, nodding, her tails fanning out behind her. "You've the map, and I've got a ranged weapon. I can suppress it if there are concerns about cave-ins, also," she offers, smiling kindly to Faruja. When they start walking, she activates the tactical light on her firearm and unfolds the stock and foregrip, settling the weapon against her shoulder. "Especially if those things are going to be exploding enough on their own... this will certainly be interesting. Is Bomb Ash that potent an item? Better than typical gunpowder for, say, an artillery piece?"
Ainsley	Ainsley reciprocates the polite gesture, seeming pleased at Cecily's words, though it's not clear which part about it made her smile. That's because the smile soon fades for a mild disappointment when told her magic wouldn't work, as if she was hoping she would be able to use her magic on someone today, complete with a sad crease of her brow. It isn't accompanied by any complaints because she doesn't want to imply that she expects anyone will get hurt. The trip down into the mine doesn't result in her creating any light of her own. She doesn't seem to have any trouble navigating the tunnel and even seems plenty comfortable. The neutral look on her face makes her seem alert, staring ahead into the darkness. When "Bomb Ash" is mentioned, she turns her head to look at Cecily with curiosity in her brow, and then looked at Faruja as if expecting the answer to that or some kind of explanation of what the devil Bomb Ash is. This look is short-lived when they reach the greater expanse of a cavern, however. Ainsley's eyes fix on the moving eyes and other phenomena in the shadows. She frowns lightly but expects the other two to be aware of the potential threat so she doesn't make any loud noises.
Faruja	Faruja, as well, frowns lightly. Having their medic only workable on two thirds of their forces is less than desireable! Still, it could be worse. "As ye will, then." When they're into the straight downward walk, barely enough headroom for the tallest amongst the party, Faruja rolls up the map. His words turn to Cecily even as his gaze remains forward. "Nominally so. The greater issue is simply self sufficiency. The Ecclesiarchy and Templariate shan't accept anything less than a local source for a majority of our workings. Ivalice is a simple country, and the great forges of other worlds wouldst meet with great resistance. Therefore, we need something locally obtained. 'Tis also a base component for the ammunition for the non-magickal firearms that some of our Templar use. Somewhat difficult to obtain, however. I hath proposed a breeding program. 'Tis still rather controvertial and legally grey." A glance to Ainsley, and he smiles. "Ahh, but forgive me; Bomb Ash is the residue of a burnt out Bomb. They possess an inner core that stoaks their flames. When they die, or otherwise explode, these cores superheat and convert to explosive ash that hath quite a few applications when given to skilled chemists." But there's danger afoot. Faruja quiets down as he spies the bombs. A surge of magic, and an icey woman fades into being, the blue-skinned Shiva roughly the size of Ainsley. She gives a small nod to Faruja, and then, a wary glance to Ainsley. Otherwise? She does nothing much than act as the vanguard of the party. But it seems one of the Bombs has caught wind of the party! The fiery, round, floating thing makes an almost strangled roar, rushing towards the party as it floats along! This one merely charges, relatively small in size. Four more of equal size rush after it! The one in the back seems brighter than the others. With a gesture, Shiva bisects the first Bomb with a spike of magical ice, the Bomb bursting into flames and leaving residue on the ground. The others, however, remain undaunted! The brighter one does a flip in the air, and a wave of weak magic fire rushes at the party! Bomb: http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120722185839/finalfantasy/images/b/b2/FFX_bomb_render.png
Cecily	"So they're little more than sentient fireballs? Or are they constructs of a sort, since you say they have a core? Or are they strictly primal elementals?" Cecily asks softly, still asking questions even as the frigid damsel is summoned forth. She bows her head politely towards the image of Shiva, then brings her sidearm up. "Seems we won't have to go searching too far... get behind me if you need to, dear," she flashes her gaze towards Ainsley. Then the fox has to spend a moment, threading the suppressor onto her weapon as the vanguard of the elementals is rent by the summoned ice maiden. She barely has a chance to unload a short burst of surprisingly quiet rounds towards the oncoming group, impacts from the cryo-rounds bursting into sub-zero chemical reactions. The vixen has to turn abruptly, sweeping her tails at the oncoming burst of flame, emitting a quiet yelp as she's hit by the burst, shaking her tails to keep them from getting ignited.
Ainsley	The lizard woman seems all the more comforted in the presence of a kind fox(?) person and her dear rat priest. Ainsley has absolutely nothing to worry about but... well, the idea of a cave-in. So she nervously glances up as Faruja speaks, frowning at the stone roof and trying to remember if she read any books on geology or the process of reinforcing mineshafts. Her thoughts are cut off when Shiva is summoned. Wide blue eyes gaze at Shiva... and then she seems confused at the wary look. "Hmm." The roar gets her head to snap in that direction. She reaches to her belt and draws both of her daggers, then moves behind Cecily so that the fox can cover her. The lizard woman squints into the gloom, getting an idea of the threat coming at them. The weak fire gets repelled by the presence of Cecily's tails, scorching some cinders into Ainsley's robes but otherwise too dampened to hurt her. She scrunches her face, as if expecting a burn, but no such feeling comes. She points into the gloom with one finger and the darkness ripples around her, a red glow emitting from her hand. Figuring that the Bombs don't have any blood for her to take, she instead just tries to influence their lifeforce into her grasp, which results in an unsettling claw of red lightning snapping out at a Bomb and attempting to rip its lifeforce from its body. It is a very odd spell and something that doesn't even cast much light into the cave.
Faruja	Faruja's ears wiggle a bit. "Elementals, strictly. Rather low-powered ones. Our geomancers hath many theories upon their existance, though most suggest they art byproducts of the creature of the first fires given upon Ivalice." With Cecily tanking for his much taller girlfriend, Faruja does something a bit atypical. He puts himself in front of Shiva, taking the brunt of the fire blast. Throwing an arm up, his shirt is soon burning, and he all but rips it off. Showing a bit of singing, Shiva all but scowls at him. "I am /not/ wasting mana upon summoning ye many times over!" Retorts the rat to his Summon. The cryo-rounds pepper one of the Bombs, the freezing rounds causing the creature to scream, wobble, and fall to the ground. Lighting on fire, it's soon another pile of ash on the ground. Thus far, though the ceiling and wooden posts shake, they've yet to truly move. Good so far! That's /definitely/ rot though. One of them exploding will be a bad thing! The red-lightning claw tears into the Bomb, the brighter one hit square in the mouth. It goes still, then turns ashen, disintigrating into an entire pile of Bomb Ash! Faruja looks a bit taken aback by the spell, but before he can question it, the remaining Bomb uses his confusion to try to chomp on him! This time, Shiva intervenes, taking a chomp on the arm. Her icey body sizzles, and she gasps in pain, before raising her hand. A dagger of ice appears, and with a stab, the creature falls dead. Though the eyes and fire of other Bombs can be seen off in the large cavern, no more attack the party yet. Faruja's already kneeling to shovel some Bomb Ash into the bag. He'll offer shovels to the others, too! They'll get a good third of the large bag full!
Cecily	Thankfully it only was a small fire burst, even if Cecily's tails are synthetic, they'd still be annoying if they'd ignited. The fox frowns at the supports, looking up at them as well once the skirmish is over. "We should hurry, lest we haven't a way to get out..." She looks to her firearm, double-checking that the suppressor is secure. "At least this is quiet, but I have doubts that the cannon will be of help unless we're somewhere more.. sturdy..." she says quietly. Then she lets her SMG hang from her strap and takes a shovel, setting to work on gathering the ash while casting a wary eye to the smoldering embers of the other bombs in the darkness. "Should I police my brass, too?" she asks the rat. It seems that Ainsley's spellcasting is of no particular concern to the fox. In fact, she smiles up at the tall book-lizard, "Impressive display, dear. We'll be done here in no time."
Ainsley	Ainsley is filled with excess life force... and a half-decent chunk of dark mana contamination. She frowns at the sensation of her body growing a bit more accustomed to the dark, making her stomach churn. Her eyes glow in the dark after her spell. She is almost going to Faruja's side immediately after he is caught on fire, prepared to heal any burns he may have... but hesitates when handed a shovel. With her tail wiggling, she puts herself to work. The Bomb Ash gets spooned into the bag as quickly as she can manage... and then she looks over her shoulder at the remaining Bombs that skulk in the dark, frowning over at them. They might need more of this, so once they get the rest of the ash, she glances at the others, setting her shovel down in the dirt with a heavy 'thump.' She points her finger at one pair of glowing eyes that signify an explosive beast is waiting for them, and then casts the draining spell again, expecting to sap the lifeforce from the next beast and leave it as a large pile of ash like the last one she struck. If she has a way to gather more supplies and finish this mission more quickly, she's going to take full advantage of it.
Faruja	"Agreed." Says the rat to Cecily, swiftly shoveling away. Soon enough, their combined efforts have quite a bit of Bomb Ash! But there's still an entire cavern to go! "Stealth is entirely secondary, at this point, methinks. Swiftness and attention to the infirmity of our surroundings far more important." Mutters the rat, never quite the fan of stealth at any rate. Still, hefting the back, he moves with caution. The cavern itself is large, easily able to fit a small home within its depths. There's lots of light here, as a good dozen bombs float aimlessly about, pieces of animal bones, all burnt, scattered around the area. As the group enters? One of the bombs is hit by Ainsley's sudden attack, turning it to yet more piles of ash! The remaining Bombs turn around and begin to shake. Glowing, the creatures seem to merge into a massive, bulbous, vaguely humanoid shaped mass of floating fire and flesh. The creature lets out a bellow, raising its thick arms and a powerful orb of flame bursts into being, slamming into Shiva. The icey woman dissappears in a vast cloud of steam and decaying mana, Faruja dropping to a knee as his esper's magical shell is obliterated. Leaning on his cane, he clutches his chest, clearly feeling feedback from the strike despite being unharmed himself!
Cecily	The flash of red and the burst of what would probably be unsettling energy to others brings a smile to Cecily's lips. "Good shot," she says quickly under her breath, but it's a breath that's quickly cut off as the Bombs fuse. And the vixen frowns deeply. "Well this is interesting..." It's a lapse that makes her miss the sudden blast of flame that melts Shiva, and she looks to Faruja with concern. "Oh bloody hell, caution to the wind and stealth out the window indeed." She lets her smg hang from her shoulder, instead taking a knee and pulling the cannon from her back. She flips the sight up, racks a shell in with the bolt to prime it, and hits the safety. "That thing is roaring louder than this will, but we may need these shovels either way." True to her word, the report of the cannon is sharp, but less jarring than the bellowing ComBomb (Mombomb?). A canister shell the size of a fist bursts from the end of the barrel, trailing a blue-white residue that hangs in the air, leaving a chilled streamer behind it as it sails towards the beast. The resulting air-burst from the proximity of the heat creates a splash and a momentary contained blizzard as the frigid chemicals rain down.
Ainsley	Ainsley does a small fistpump of victory as one of the Bombs turns to so much valuable ash when she uses her very clearly vampiric magic on it, the lizard girl casually disregarding the later discomfort that will come with her reckless actions. She stops feeling quite so victorious when she sees the rest of the bombs accumulate into a large and terrifying beast of fire and wrath. Her eyes climb to look it in the face, even as it destroys the avatar of Shiva that Faruja had summoned for the fight. She frowns at the beast, though, and puffs out her chest in confidence. No, she is not going to back down just because it's bigger. If one Bomb can be killed with a single draining, she can do plenty of damage to the Mom Bomb! She holds out her hand at the beast, fingers outspread, and a torrent of red electricity whips at the beast and tries to wrap around it! Then she tries to use this connection to drain more life energy out of it!! Because it's best to do this, which the threat may, in fact, set her rat boyfriend on fire in the near future! And she might benefit from a bit of a salving, herself, once she thinks of it. Nothing tells her that it's a bad idea to perform a spell that is heavily draining to her. A hissing growl rumbles out of her, and her body surges with bloody red light. It takes quite a lot of effort to do this spell, apparently, lacking a lot of efficiency that expert mages might have with similar draining spells.
Faruja	"Heh...a touch more than I expected, admittedly." Gasps Faruja, the male using both hands upon his cane to slowly get himself up. The creature senses wounded prey, and makes a swing of a chubby arm at him, only to meet air as he teleports away several feet. The creature's lack of attention to a certain fox-tailed lady, however, costs it; the round tearing a hole straight into the Mombomb, and bursts within its being. The controlled blizzard encases it in swiftly melting ice, its agonized roar causing the entire chamber to shake. Then, it's right arm explodes, causing a shower of earth and rock towards the group at large! Faruja hunkers down, swatted and pelted by a few rocks, before a small wave of gravity stops a majority of them. Then, he starts to cast, the world around the group (with the possible exception of Cecily) seeming sluggish against their Haste-enhanced speed! It's enough for Faruja to toss a weak gravity spell at the creature, briefly crushing it in on itself, before it springs back with a strange 'sproing!' sound. "So long as the creature dies! Another explosion such as that, and we shall be digging ourselves out for an age!" The torrent of red lightning strikes the already wounded creature, the being shuddering, and its right arm suddenly turns to more ASh. It wobbles, very nearly toppling, shuddering in deep pain. Faruja looks to Ainsley, clearly concerned as she /glows/ red. "Ainsley! careful, mine dear!" He cautions. Then, th entire cavern seems to fill with burning flames, as the creature opens its mouth and spills forth a giant ray of pure fire magic that melts a deep gash into the rock-wall it hits!
Cecily	Cecily is roughly immobile as she's holding down the recoil and weight of the cannon. She turns her head to the side to shield her face from the barrage of rocks and lowers the barrel to keep anything from jamming the barrel, but she's still buffeted by the shower. Her bare arms get peppered with the heated shards, tearing into her flesh, leaving trails of silver before they start to seal up. "Quickly," she huffs, nodding in approval at the pair speeding up. She's certainly not as quick as a Haste spell, but she works the bolt and racks a new shell in, the blue-tinged casing still trailing some chemical fog. "Between the three of us, we've got it on the ropes..." she hisses through her teeth before firing again. Much the same as last time, the liquid nitrogen capsule shell bursts out from the cannon barrel, trailing vapor. The effect would be much the same, a chemical coolant explosion either in front of or inside of the massive MomBomb. The gout of flame has her -squeak- though, and she lurches forward, dropping prone and clutching her cannon, "Stay away from the supports, if she hits those..." she more or less speaks the obvious.
Ainsley	The effect upon the ComBomb is exhilirating. Ainsley wasn't aware how effective it would be to just drain life energy directly from certain foes, and the results allow her to continue the spell without hesitation. The red glow doesn't get stronger, merely an indication of her using the life mana to cast that particular spell. And then she hears a warning from Faruja, distracting her briefly from what she's doing. She blinks as she realizes she's getting ahead of herself-- And then she gets slammed by a wave of fire and lets out an awful cry. She backs up away from the painful, searing heat, throwing up her hands. As a result of her reflex, a wall of wind repels a good portion of the fire, keeping her from being completely cooked alive. After the wave of fire dissipated, though, she was letting off some trails of smoke and shivering from the pain of the attack. The lizard girl decides to retreat behind the efforts of her allies, and applies her glowing hands to herself. A surge of red light indicates she is healing her burns directly. She falls to a kneeling position as the pain subsides, her knees giving out under her and her breath shaking too much.
Faruja	The gout of flame catches Faruja neatly in the leg, the Burmecian cursing and biting his muzzle as fire tears at him. Growling under his breath, he teleports further away. Luckily, before the great MomBomb can do any more damage, Cecily comes to the rescue with her gun! This time, it hits the creature right in the mouth, the being literally eating the blizzard. It starts to puff up, the damage and anger swirling in it causing its massive inner core to heat! Faruja bites his tongue as he gazes upon Ainsley, similarly granted a good cooking thanks to the great creature! As she starts to heal herself, however, the rat goes on the offensive. Magic floods the room as the Burmecian incants, "Oh great Divine Serpent, drown the wicked in tides of righteous fury! Leviathan!" The great Esper Leviathan fills up a vast majority of the room as water suddenly begins to flood the area, the creature slapping its tail and causing a massive tidal wave to smash right into the beleaguered bomb! Strangely enough, despite easily covering the party up to their heads, neither Leviathan or its water seems to harm the group. Indeed, it's almost like a cool breeze rather than water. That's certainly air they're all still breathing! Then, just as swiftly, Leviathan and its flood fades away. The great MomBomb falls to the ground, disintigrating into an utterly massive pile of Bomb Ash. Despite the battle, the cavern seems to mostly be in one piece for now. Another summon spell, and there's a circle of cute, fluffy moogles ready to dance around Faruja and Ainsley in turn to help with their wounds. One of the moogles looks curiously at Cecily, offering her some Kupo Nuts and a blue flower. "Kupo!" "Is everyone alive?" Mutters the rat painfully, even as he's already dragging out his shovel. Oh Faram, why? Fire /hurts/. Faruja smells like burnt rodent.
Cecily	Cecily's not exactly unscathed herself. She may have hit the dirt, but her tails didn't quite make it so fast. They're smoking, little motes of fire dancing along the fur. She flicks them, trying to put them out, and groans. "...may have taken too hard of a dive... nobody's hurt?" she asks softly, "...too hurt?" she frowns, smelling the crispiness of her allies. The huge rush of 'water' seems to have been more of a surprise than anything, the vixen still stunned as she'd never seen summon magic like this before, even if she had spent time in Spira and owns a chocobo! Then she rolls onto her back, looking up at the face of a moogle offering her... food and a flower? "Kupo?" she asks softly in return, reaching out first for the flower, tucking it behind one fox ear, and then looking the nuts over. "...is the cavern okay?" she mumbles next.
Ainsley	Ainsley is startled out of her healing process by the rush of water-themed mana that blows over her form, smoothly brushing over the soft mana field she projects. The lizard girl blinks once or twice as the water slams into the giant fire elemental, and smiles at the epic sight. "Something to put in the journal," she raspily whispers, her throat more than a little dry from the repeated combustions in the air and being cooked by those combustions. She stood after the MomBomb fell, and approached Faruja. One hand rests on his shoulder... and a wave of warm, soothing energy would flow over him as she projects Life Mana into him, hoping to repair some of his burns and ease the agony of all those scorches. She glances over at Cecily, and smiles an apology over at her, regretful that her magic cannot help the odd metalloid creature. "We should gather the last of the ashes and leave, in case the cavern has been destabilized." After that dutiful remark, she leads by example, marching over to snatch up her shovel and begin moving to the huge pile of Bomb Ash so that they can stuff it in the bag.
Faruja	"...Pride and fur alike quite singed, but methinks it could hath been worse. Well. Ainsley, it seems ye shall be practicing thine healing after all." Ow. Seriously, burns suck. Faruja slowly gets up, soothing mana flowing over him and easing burn and agony alike. The rat lets out a deep sigh of relief. "My, my! Much better! Thank ye, Ainsley. We shall make a White Mage out of ye yet!" Responds the rat encouragingly, looking genuinely happy for her! A swift nod. "Quite." Faruja too grabs a shovel. Then, once they're done? Time to leave. "I say we all get cleaned up, drop /this/ off, and then visit that nice little tea shop. Whom is with me?" Smile!