CSI KIRKWALL: A Bad Case of Crabs || closed

[staysail]

WHO: Korrin, Darras - and then their new friends Tessa, Alex, and Alistair
WHAT: an assignment for the Naval Presence project turns into ye olde CSI, and then turns into ye olde crab brawl, and then (if we're lucky) becomes a delicious crab dinner
WHEN: vaguely during Harvestmere - Firstfall
WHERE: Lowtown and then the Wounded Coast
NOTES: mission is split into two parts, one for investigation and one for fighting a crab on the shores and in the surf. otherwise nothing else except I think this monster is... a little crabby.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Alex's plan is enough to get an amused snort from Korrin, even as her gaze doesn't stray from the water. "...yeah, that would go over well. I can feel my kadan's glare all the way from the Gallows." Cool, yes, but so not worth it in the end.

The barrier won't last for too long for anyone else, so she stands ready to renew it as soon that cooldown time subsides. Her eyes narrow as she observes the shadow's movements, ready to rush it should the creature approach. 'Small' is still relative, and she's learned not to underestimate such creatures, whatever the size. "I can manage the immobilizing. Lightning works well for that sort of thing, just make sure you're not standing too close after you knock it over. Any of you."

[zombra]

"We could charge admission to come see it," Tessa suggests as an alternate plan. Then again, how much is it going to fight them if they try to capture it? "On the other hand, it's been ages since I ate crab."

She follows closer to Darras to get a closer look at the shadow. "Believe me; I've been electrocuted by a mage already." Stupid Venatori on their stupid ship. "I don't want a repeat. But I'll give it a good whack with my ax. Just tell me when."

[periastron]

"Woah woah woah, hold up. Lightning while we're all in water?"

She sounds alarmed. She is alarmed. "Uh, no. That's a terrible idea. Water conducts electricity and Shelly McCrabber over there might be immobilised, but the rest of us would probably be a bit fucked, too." Sure, they don't have horror movies here, but please.

[staysail]

Darras shoots Tessa a sidelong look at her remark. And perhaps he'd ask for more details--or perhaps he'd weigh in on the trouble they'd have with lightning on the water--or talk about how much he loves eating crab--but none of those conversations come to be, because the quite small shadow that is eating the chicken neck suddenly twists beneath the water and is gone, fleeing out toward the shoreline.

Darras swears under his breath and shoves his knife back in at his belt. "Seems like all we've managed is to give it a free meal. Come on, we'll have to follow it--"

The bones of the shipwreck are out there, visible now that the tide is properly out. It's a distance, and they've got water to wade through, they can't move so quickly as the crab did.

As they're approaching, they'll notice: that little shadow is still there, huddled up beside the wrecked mast of the ship. But there's a bigger shadow, lurking just beyond the shipwreck. One that's bigger than the ship would have been in life. One that stirs the water now as it rises, seething. Two eye stalks that blink, balefully.

"Shit," Darras says.

[gatheringstorm]

"I've done that before, it's a limited range--" And then the shadow moves away, refocusing her attention away from the debate. As long as Korrin isn't treading water -and she'll be the very last one for that- she blurs forward on waves of magic, hoping to get its attention and keep it on herself. Thanks to that little push, she spots the sizable shadow beyond relatively quickly and shakes her head.

"Now that looks more like something that would scare the shit out of sailors and fishermen." As it rises, she renews the barrier around everyone, and gets into a battle stance with staff and spirit blade at the ready. As soon as it makes a move on anyone, she strikes.

[zombra]

"Pfft, you expect science to follow rules in a world of magic?" Tessa asks. This is a place where a mage can wave their hand and there's a blue, glowy bubble around all of them that apparently doesn't let stuff through to hurt them. She expects Korrin knows what she's talking about.

And then she finally sees the big shadow too, eyes revealing themselves and focusing on their little group. Tessa looks at the bag of chicken necks, then tosses it as far away from herself as she can. That just makes her bait holding bait. Gripping her hand ax tight, she swallows nervously. What was she supposed to do again? Knock it down? Yeah, good freaking luck there.

"Okay, so... maybe electrocute it first, then we hit hit?"

[periastron]

“Or, maybe we can just float over it and hope for the best!” Brightly, before Alex snaps her fingers, “oh wait, we can’t, because this world still has gravity and other laws of science. Maybe you can just assume germ theory is bullshit, too.”

Concern for your health and the health of others is such a miserable trait, and all.

Alex unslings some rope from her shoulder, working fast to tie it into a lasso. “We get the ropes around its legs, bring it down. Tie up the pincers so it can’t crush us, go to down.” A glance to the others, and she exhales. “I guess I’ll get on that.” She’s a brawler, and fists are going to do shit against a giant armoured crab. Alex starts wading, and then dived below the surface - shallow as it is - so she can try to get closer to the crab without it seeing what she’s doing as she starts looping the first bit of rope around one of its legs.

[staysail]

Beneath the water, the full size of the crab becomes clearer. Water distorts anything that's below its surface, shrinking and exaggerating sizes, blurring the lines. What looked big from a perspective above the surface is massive below the surface. Like how they say you can see only the tip of an iceberg, or a rock, or what shows of a reef when the tide is low. Jointed legs the size of small tree-trunks; a broad round abdomen and shell as large as a cart. The pincers would stand as tall as a full-grown man, jagged-edged and dangerous.

As Alex ducks beneath the water, the crab shrinks back, stirring up the water. Its eye stalks retract, pulling in. One of those great claws swipes out at her. The other is hauled above the surface of the water, snapping madly.

Darras, in Korrin's renewed barrier, swears and grabs firmer hold of his knife. The claw doesn't get near to him. It butts up against the barrier, furious.

"Behind it, beneath, where it's soft--that's where we hit it, to stop it from bloody moving--it's an old trick, unless it can be electrocuted without frying Alex--"