Catherine (Tiffanian)

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Oh, Catherine! Meda responded through the quickly-formed telepathic link. Oh, I'm, um, waiting for someone at the moment. For priestess duties! Uh, maybe you could explain while I wait and I'll see what I can do to help you out? The siren's golden cheeks were lit up like scarlet beacons. Beyond that, she was even more fidgety and nervous than usual. Still, she was listening to the archer at least. It was more than could be said of what most of Catherine's previous encounters offered her.

(I think it actually gave me heartburn to make such a short post. D: )

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Despite Catherine not trying to sneak up on her, Meda still seemed quite surprised to see her. She also seemed quite flustered as well. As she explained that she was meeting someone (part of her duty as a priestess, she was quick to point out) she began to blush bright red, fidgeting nervously much more than she had before, even when the human was propositioning her. It was damn cute, and Catherine had to try hard to avoid mentally giggling. She really wanted to end up in the siren’s bed at some point in her stay down here, if at all possible. Well, I managed to find some people to teach me some simple sign language. With that I got a group of little small people to help me find my man in exchange for, ah… spending some time with the lot of them. So we found Roger, but he was still with a group of the black ones, and they were still… using their privileges with him. So the little people traded, me and one of them temporarily for him, who they’re keeping for me. One of them had some time with me, and now she has me running errands. Picking some of that red coral you told me about earlier for her. Any special way I ought to do it or help you can offer me? she explained through her mental link, hoping the priestess could do something to make this seem less dangerous.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Oh. Oh my. You've been busy! The golden priestess replied through the mental link. Before she could go any further, a second of the golden sirens arrived, swimming overhead before circling the duo and diving downward toward the ocean floor. The newcomer was curvier than the other priestess, with something approximating an hourglass figure (as close as was possible for a creature with a human upper-body attached to a snake tail). She anchored herself by Meda and Catherine, in doing so revealing that she was also a bit taller and her tail a bit longer than the other siren.

The newcomer gave a short, friendly wave and a smile toward Meda and Catherine, which the former responded to with a furious blush and the mental equivalent of stammering over her link to the human. Um, this is one of my sisters. N-not actual sister! Caste sister! She's the person I was waiting on. For priestess duties. I have an idea of something that will help you out. I-if you could keep this a secret – um, the priestess duties – then that would be good! Just let me go and get it, I'll be back really quickly! Without much warning, Meda went swimming off into the distance, leaving Catherine with the other priestess.

For her part, the other siren just nodded at the archer. Of course, nothing would stop the human from attempting to communicate with her, either via signs or via the link that Meda had claimed that all priestesses could perform, if the archer wanted to do so while she waited. But regardless of whether or not Catherine decided to try to communicate with the woman, Meda would be back in minutes clutching what the human would recognize from the real world as a speargun, with one spear loaded and three extras in the siren's hand. The golden priestess readily handed the weapon over to the human, before touching the human's arm in order to explain. This is an old weapon from the days before the shattering. It should allow you to defend yourself against the creatures who linger around the red coral. You have a finite amount of ammo though, so use it wisely. Stay out of the caves and away from any holes near there, many creatures lurk in wait for anybody foolish enough to wander near them. If you are caught by any of those beings... it will be bad.

Following the gift of the speargun and her brief words of warning, the priestess waited for any reply Catherine might have.

(My master plan to give Catherine a speargun is completed! Gahaha!

... It, uh, works like a normal bow in terms of bonuses, but does +1 damage and has 4 ammo, which can be retrieved after battles with a 5% chance of being impossible to recover.)

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

"Yes, very busy" Catherine replied with a slight grin. Her attention was distracted from Meda soon after that, though, by the arrival of another of the sirens, circling overhead for a while before swimming down to them and anchoring herself to the seafloor in much the same way her fellow sea creature had. She was quite pretty, curvier than Meda, and also longer and taller as well; all in all quite a nice specimen. She waved and smiled at the two of them in a rather friendly way, a gesture the human returned, though her presence seemed to fluster her fellow priestess quite a bit… Meda was blushing brightly, and she began to stutter in her mental communication with Catherine, which was strange and quite amusing to the human. The siren told her that she had something that would help in the quest for red coral, but then said that she should keep the “priestess duties” a secret.

The human’s grin became much wider then, almost predatory, as the golden siren swam off quickly away. "Priestess duties my butt" she thought, swimming over to the newcomer and slowly, gently placing a hand on her arm. "Just testing to make sure it works the same way for everyone. I’ve only ever spoken with Meda before" Catherine spoke mentally, still grinning. "So, what’s your name? I’m Catherine, very new here." After introductions were done with she would ask, with a tinge of mischief in her voice, so, what are the two of you meeting up for, if you don’t mind my asking? The archer wondered if this new siren’s story would line up with Meda’s.

Whatever the case, Meda returned in mere minutes, holding what looked like a speargun. At least, Catherine thought that was what it was. It looked like something you saw on Shark Week. There was one spear loaded, and there were three extras in the priestess’ other hand. She explained that it was an old weapon, from before this “shattering” thing she had spoken of earlier. She also warned to stay away from caves and holes in the seafloor, which made sense. Catherine took the things handed to her and gave the siren a light hug around the arm, saying thank you, this will be a great help I’m sure. Do you know where I might find you when I’m done? I’ll want to return this. If I go to the nightcrawlers with a weapon they would probably be quite displeased with me. When all was said and done, though, she would say her goodbyes to both of the golden women with a smile and begin the swim towards where the red coral grew.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

All priestesses have this ability, yes, the new golden siren answered, her mind's voice having an imperious quality to it. I am Korene. It's a pleasure to meet you, Catherine, though these are unfortunate conditions. The question as to why she was there seemed to catch the curvy priestess off guard, though, and her head swiveled from side to side as if searching for the answer. Sister Meda and I are here to inspect the caverns. The pixies can be troublesome if not reprimanded occasionally. While it wasn't exactly conflicting with what Meda had suggested, the way the siren eyed the human after her answer suggested that she was searching for something in Catherine's expression.

When the other priestess returned with the speargun, Korene allowed Catherine to break contact in order to go to Meda. Think nothing of it! And if you're back quickly enough then simply wait outside the caverns and you'll probably find us when we return. If not then you can return the artifact to the warriors at the supply depot I showed you when you arrived. Oh, you should probably take this too, she produced a pouch with a shoulder sling for the archer to use in her journey. With a slight blush, she added; Just, uh, remember that it would be best if you didn't tell anybody about these priestess duties... They're top secret! And try to be safe. Good luck! Korene and Meda waved their farewells until Catherine was nearly out of sight, then the two clasped each others hands and proceeded into the cavern.

The EGG seemed to speed the trip up and made it easier for the inexperienced swimmer, as it felt like it took no more than a few minutes to reach her apparent target and took very little navigation on her part. In no time at all she was floating over her apparent target. Algae and coral and various other ocean flora dotted the jagged floor. There were also several schools fish, which looked more fantastic than she had ever seen or read about outside of the EGG, present. A huge chasm ran as far as she could see. There were underwater cavern entrances in abundance as well.

There were also quite a few different sources of the red coral she came for to pick from. It dotted the area, and she would be able to collect enough to appease the nightcrawler given enough time, though she would have to guess at how much to bring back since it hadn't specified and each extra that she wanted to collect would mean more time spent and more risk to being attacked by something. The caverns might yield a faster method of collecting red coral, but might be dangerous, beyond that one had a light over it that looked similar to the kind that lit up the city. There was also a huge abundance of the coral situated on top of a rocky mass on one edge of the chasm, and deeper in the chasm might have been a proverbial gold mine. Checking the caverns or chasm both would have gone against Meda's advice, but much she wanted to collect, how much time she was willing to spend on it, and how she wanted to go about it were ultimately decisions for the archer.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

”Oh, good” Catherine replied mentally to the siren’s response, her face softening into a smile over the mischievous grin she had been wearing. The golden woman had quite the mental voice, a tone that spoke of a pride that probably befit her caste without being quite as overbearing and hostile as the sort that oozed from the nightcrawlers. She had a name to match as well. ”Oooh, that’s a nice name. It seems to fit you, too. It’s good to meet with you as well.” Her next question seemed to surprise Korene, the siren looking around as if stalling for an answer. Finally she decided on saying that they were there to inspect the cave systems, and to “reprimand” the pixies. ”Pixies? The small ones?” the human asked, her free hand moving beside her hips to indicate the height of the small humanoids. ”They’re friendly folk. A little too friendly, maybe. I’ve spent a lot of time with them since coming here, haha.” A little frown crept across her face then, though, and she continued ”there’s worse in the caves though. Much more troublesome for me, at least.” She shook her head though, shaking the thought of the nightcrawlers out before smiling once more, asking ”do you do lots of work with Meda?”

When Meda had returned and given Catherine the speargun she gave the human two options for getting rid of the weapon once she was done; she could either wait for the two sirens at this same cavern entrance, or go to the supply depot they had passed in her tour and drop it off there if she took longer to gather the red coral. The priestess also produced an old sack with a shoulder-strap, the cloth battered and waterlogged, but it would serve its purpose wonderfully. ”Ah, thank you. I was actually sort of worried about how I would carry all this coral” the archer replied, slinging the strap over her shoulder. The golden siren reiterated again that what she was doing was a secret, and that Catherine definitely shouldn’t tell anyone that it was happening. ” Well, before you go, could you give me the boon again? I’m a little nervous about being out for too long. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Have lots of fun with your ‘duties’ together” she replied with another grin. When all was said and done, she pulled away and winked at the priestess, waving her goodbyes. She turned to swim off well before the two sirens began to hold hands and move into the system of caverns, which was probably a good thing for Meda, because the human would probably have teased her mercilessly for it later if she had seen it.

Like many of the other boring bits that would be strung throughout any day to day experience, the EGG sped up Catherine’s trip to the part of the ocean floor where the red coral grew. It also made it much easier on her, allowing the relatively inexperienced swimmer to get to her destination with only a minimum of effort and sweat in what felt like mere minutes. The ocean floor was covered in various bits of algae and coral, but that wasn’t where her eyes went. There was a tremendous ravine stretched out before her, going farther than the eye could see and quite deep too. Above it were a few large schools of the most colorful, exotic fish she had ever seen or heard of before, and she took a moment to enjoy watching them swim about. This game really was incredible. In any case, there were a number of outcroppings of red coral she could see. It was all over the ocean floor, but in relatively small quantities, and it would probably take a while to collect enough that she would feel comfortable heading back if she chose only to use that source. There were a ton of caverns, and they probably had a lot, but Meda had warned her against going near any of those. Although… one of them was bathed in light much like the kind that lit the city, which was definitely intriguing. There was also a very large amount of the coral sitting on the edge of the chasm, which would probably be much quicker and easier to gather than the other sources, but was also probably dangerous… Ultimately she decided to stay away from the more dangerous areas, picking the red coral where she could until either her bag was filled or she judged that she needed to start heading back to the city, lest she be stranded without the boon, though she definitely wouldn’t try to cut that close.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine's search initially went well enough, and she managed to gather two of the items she was searching for within the first hour which went by at an accelerated speed thanks to the EGG. Although it was nowhere near the amount that seemed to be available in the chasm, if she were to judge by what glimpses she could see. Still, it had done a nice job of filling up her sack a bit and, according to Meda, was much safer than the alternative options. Plus, it had only felt like five minutes had passed to the human.

Ironically, the feature that helped to prevent her from growing bored of the tedious task was the same one that alerted her to when something was about to go wrong. Time slowed a few moments after she had harvested a third coral and stored it in her pack, and upon a cursory look around she would notice two creatures worming their way toward her across the ocean floor and leaving a trail in it as they came. They looked like black slugs, as long as the span from her fingertips to elbow and a bit thicker than her arm. The way they moved left no questions about their intent, they were after the archer.

Spoiler

Catherine
FP: 4/4
AP: 0/10
DS: 6

Worm 1
FP: ??/??
AP: ??/??

Worm 2
FP: ??/??
AP: ??/??

Spoiler

Destiny Strength: 6
Skills

Spoiler

Combat
Power Attack - Trade accuracy for power in any type of attack.
Guard - Focus on guarding in order to avoid powerful or normal attacks.

Traveling
Cautious Movement - Move slowly to avoid certain traps.
Spotter - Passively offers an increased chance to detect ambushes and traps.

???

Fate
[UNAVAILABLE] Summon: Roger (Costs 1 DS) - Summons Roger to rush to your aid as quickly as possible.
Adventurer's Resolve (Costs 1:1 DS:FP) - Heals yourself or an ally.

Settings
Achievements

Spoiler

Triumph - Defeat your first enemy in the EGG!
The Path to Adventure! - Clear the lower deck tutorial stage and prepare to begin your adventure.
Baby Steps... - Earn your first skill.
You've Got a Friend In Me - Gain your first companion summon.
Love is in the Air
Feel Like a Woman - Have your first intimate encounter in the EGG
Therapy Not Included
The Old Ball and Chain

Save
Load
Return
Exit

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Happily enough for Catherine the red coral wasn’t terribly hard to find in her chosen section of the ocean floor, just spread out and few and far between. The pieces she picked up were pretty big too, so it shouldn’t take too terribly long to fill up her sack this way either. Time sped up, as it had during every boring portion of her EGG game, and so what was probably about an hour of real time felt a lot more like five minutes or so to her. When time slowed down again, of course, she knew something was up. She had just put her third piece of coral into the bag when it happened, and she scanned the ocean above her and then the sea floor to see what might be approaching her.

The apparent threat was down below, though it didn’t look like much of a threat to Catherine. Two black slug-like creatures were oozing across the ocean floor towards her, leaving a disgusting-looking trail of black slime behind them. They were about as long as her forearm, and maybe a slight bit thicker, but not by much. They were certainly moving towards her, though, she tested it by swimming a little ways away in a different direction to see if they would follow her. How could they even see her? Still, she shouldered her speargun and aimed it carefully, waiting to see if they could swim up to reach her before shooting at them. She would need to be very careful if they were dangerous, because her ammo was quite limited, and her targets were small.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Rolls

Spoiler

Round 1
Catherine attacks Slug #1: 15 vs 1 (Atk vs Def)

Catherine defends against Slug #2: 11 vs 9 (Def vs Atk)

Round 2
Catherine attacks Slug #2: 14 vs 4 (Atk vs Def)

Despite lacking any visible system of doing so, the slugs were clearly capable of tracking her. Moreover, the closer they got to her, the faster they moved. Eventually, when they reached the point where their path along the ocean floor would no longer bring them closer to Catherine, they began to swim to her, though it looked less like swimming and more the slugs had started to spasm and undulate through the water. That gave her all the reason she needed to shoot.

She took aim at the first one and fired. The spear accelerated through the water easily and impaled the first slug, carrying it all the way back down and impaling it to the ocean floor. By that time the second one had come within several feet of her, and jerked wildly to accelerate itself toward her. She turned out of the way just in time to watch the slimy black thing come within a few inches of her nose as it passed her. The archer hurried to reload her speargun, another series of motions that was aided by the EGG, as it righted itself and flung itself through the water at her again. After smoothly dodging the slug a second time, she took aim and fired again, hitting the second attacker and impaling it beside its brother. Her victory was confirmed by a sudden alert that she had earned two destiny points.

Afterward, she was free to retrieve her used spears and continue collecting coral in any manner she wished, or to simply return to the nightcrawlers and deliver what she already had if she liked.

Spoiler

Destiny Strength: 8
Skills

Spoiler

Combat
Power Attack - Trade accuracy for power in any type of attack.
Guard - Focus on guarding in order to avoid powerful or normal attacks.

Traveling
Cautious Movement - Move slowly to avoid certain traps.
Spotter - Passively offers an increased chance to detect ambushes and traps.

???

Fate
[UNAVAILABLE] Summon: Roger (Costs 1 DS) - Summons Roger to rush to your aid as quickly as possible.
Adventurer's Resolve (Costs 1:1 DS:FP) - Heals yourself or an ally.

Settings
Achievements

Spoiler

Triumph - Defeat your first enemy in the EGG!
The Path to Adventure! - Clear the lower deck tutorial stage and prepare to begin your adventure.
Baby Steps... - Earn your first skill.
You've Got a Friend In Me - Gain your first companion summon.
Love is in the Air
Feel Like a Woman - Have your first intimate encounter in the EGG
Therapy Not Included
The Old Ball and Chain

Save
Load
Return
Exit

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

The slugs did indeed follow Catherine, no matter which way she turned. They were even speeding up as they got closer, which was worrisome. The last straw was when they rose up off the ocean floor, making their way towards her. She couldn’t really comprehend their method of propulsion, the way they spazzed out and wobbled through the water, but she didn’t need to to know that they needed to be taken out. She aimed carefully with her speargun, knowing she didn’t have much ammo, and fired at the one that was closest. The spear flew through the water with power, piercing through the slug and forcing it back to the sea floor, nailing it down to the rocky bottom. The second was nearly upon her, though, its bizarre jerking and twitching bringing it closer much faster than she had expected… She barely managed to shift to the side as it shot past her, the slimy thing passing within mere inches of her face. All the while she was reloading her weapon, though her motions weren’t frantic and flailing like might have been expected of her. Instead the EGG helped to smooth her attempt just as she had known it would, which encouraged her to stay calm. She could do this.

The archer had the speargun loaded and ready by the time the seaslug had stopped its momentum and turned to her, so she was able to concentrate on dodging its next attack. She wanted to let it past her mostly because she didn’t want to fire one of her few spears up into the open ocean, where it might be impossible for her to find it again. Sure enough Catherine was able to glide almost effortlessly through the water to avoid its next attack, and she took careful aim once more, leading it by a short ways before firing her bolt. As with the first, it quickly impaled the slug against the ocean floor, and by the popup telling her she had earned some Destiny Points it had killed the creature. She breathed a sigh of relief, swimming down to pull her spears from her vanquished foes and continue on with her task. She wanted to collect at least a couple more pieces of the red coral before she went back to the nightcrawler; she didn’t want to come up short, after all. She would carry on with her same cautiousness though, not doing anything too awful risky.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine was able to retrieve her spears and then continue collecting coral without issue for some time, though it was hard to tell how much time it was due to the EGG's time skip functionality. She managed quite a haul though, collecting a total of fourteen more coral before the game slowed down again. A few monstrous looking creatures passed her by as she reoriented herself to the normalized flow of time, including a massive lobster and a fish that looked to be about whale size with a light hanging in front of its mouth, but none paid her much attention. Nothing smaller came for her either, and it was safe to assume that enough time had passed that it becoming dangerous for her to be away from the sirens and their water-breathing boon. So, since nothing was immediately attacking her, the human was free to attempt to return, her bag now filled with seventeen of the magical corals.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it all the way back before she did herself in a fight with another creature. She had begun her return to deliver the red coral, passing well away from the fields she had harvested it in, before it set upon her. The archer happened to look up just in time to spot a jellyfish, noticeably larger than her in size, descending upon her. She managed to get out of the way just before a tentacle swiped through the water she had been in just moments before, which brought her facing her assailant.

Spoiler

Catherine
FP: 4/4
AP: 0/10
DS: 8

Tentacle Rape Waiting to Happen
FP: ??/??
AP: ??/??

Spoiler

Destiny Strength: 8
Skills

Spoiler

Combat
Power Attack - Trade accuracy for power in any type of attack.
Guard - Focus on guarding in order to avoid powerful or normal attacks.

Traveling
Cautious Movement - Move slowly to avoid certain traps.
Spotter - Passively offers an increased chance to detect ambushes and traps.

???

Fate
[UNAVAILABLE] Summon: Roger (Costs 1 DS) - Summons Roger to rush to your aid as quickly as possible.
Adventurer's Resolve (Costs 1:1 DS:FP) - Heals yourself or an ally.

Settings
Achievements

Spoiler

Triumph - Defeat your first enemy in the EGG!
The Path to Adventure! - Clear the lower deck tutorial stage and prepare to begin your adventure.
Baby Steps... - Earn your first skill.
You've Got a Friend In Me - Gain your first companion summon.
Love is in the Air
Feel Like a Woman - Have your first intimate encounter in the EGG
Therapy Not Included
The Old Ball and Chain

Save
Load
Return
Exit

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine didn’t have any trouble tugging her spears out of the ground, and thankfully the slugs really were dead; she poked them with a nearby rock a few times just to make sure they didn’t move when so provoked. After that she resumed picking coral off the ocean floor, swimming around at a brisk pace as her eyes darted to and fro, looking for flashes of red and potential danger. She had no idea how long she was at it thanks to the fast-forwarding the EGG did for her, and before she knew it she had her bag fairly well full of the red coral. Time slowed down once she had picked fourteen more pieces of it, and she looked around to see what was wrong. There was nothing apparent, even though there were rather large creatures about. A simply huge lobster was nearby, and then to another side of her was a fish the size of a whale, with some sort of light hanging out in front of its mouth. This game never ceased to amaze her with its scenery, though she didn’t have very long to watch it. The archer realized that it was probably time to head back, lest her boon wear off and she drown at the bottom of the sea.

She was unmolested for a decent stretch of her swim back, but Catherine finally ran into trouble about halfway back to the city. There was a rather huge jellyfish floating down towards her, she saw it just in the nick of time, because she surely hadn’t heard anything. One of its many tentacles lashed out at her, and she just barely managed to get out of the way before it connected. This worried the human; did it have stingers like a jellyfish in the real world would? Would it be able to disable her with only a few hits, like such toxins would? Whatever the case, she didn’t have time to screw around with this thing. Running out of air because she got into a fight was the last thing she wanted to do, so she tried to take evasive maneuvers and swim around it as fast as possible, towards the city and the relative “safety” it offered.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Spoiler

Setting escape rule as such: fleeing from an encounter requires a 1d20 check against a DC based on the monster's FP. Also may require more depending on the intended difficulty level of ye monster. And Catherine gets a new skill that allows her to use Destiny in order to better flee.

Escape Check: 4. Fail.

Attack (Jellyfish vs Catherine): 11 vs 14. Nope.

Escape Check: 7. Fail.

Attack (Jellyfish vs Catherine): 15 vs 16. Nothin'.

Escape Check: 18. Success!

The archer was correct in her assumption, it most definitely could and was trying to sting her into helplessness. Her efforts to escape around it were much impeded by its numerous appendages, attempting to attack and ensnare her. She dodged out of the way of a first, and then a second, and then nearly ran smack into a third as she tried to swim past her attacker. A fourth went for her ankle when she finally got past it, but enclosed around nothing as Catherine slipped by untouched, out of its reach and on her way back to safety.

It pursued her for quite a while, almost back to the civilization of her captors. As the long chase drug on, it was even joined by two of its fellows and the EGG's assistance in propelling the archer away from them might have been all that kept them from capturing her. Luckily, all three turned away and gave up the chase once the ramshackle city came into view, leaving the archer to return with her spoils from the field. Nothing had changed to indicate how long she had been gone. Without visibility of the sun and with only the magic lights to guide them, there really was no natural way to track the passage of time. But whatever the hour was, Catherine was able to revisit the entrance to the cavern that she had initially left without issue.

She found herself with a choice to make upon her return to the mouth of the cave proper, however. She could seek out the creature who had sent her on the errand first and deliver her coral, or she might search for another, like Meda and her friend, first. It was up to the archer to choose, though it had probably been so long that she wouldn't find the golden women during their supposed inspections.

Spoiler

Destiny Strength: 8
Skills

Spoiler

Combat
Power Attack - Trade accuracy for power in any type of attack.
Guard - Focus on guarding in order to avoid powerful or normal attacks.

Traveling
Cautious Movement - Move slowly to avoid certain traps.
Spotter - Passively offers an increased chance to detect ambushes and traps.

???

Fate
[UNAVAILABLE] Summon: Roger (Costs 1 DS) - Summons Roger to rush to your aid as quickly as possible.
Adventurer's Resolve (Costs 1:1 DS:FP) - Heals yourself or an ally.
Adventurer's Swiftness (Costs 1:1 DS:Bonus) - Grants a bonus to escaping equal to the amount of DS spent. Lasts the duration of the encounter.

Settings
Achievements

Spoiler

Triumph - Defeat your first enemy in the EGG!
The Path to Adventure! - Clear the lower deck tutorial stage and prepare to begin your adventure.
Baby Steps... - Earn your first skill.
You've Got a Friend In Me - Gain your first companion summon.
Love is in the Air
Feel Like a Woman - Have your first intimate encounter in the EGG
Therapy Not Included
The Old Ball and Chain

Save
Load
Return
Exit

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine watched the giant jellyfish carefully, unsure if its tentacles would work like those of jellyfish in the real world. If they did, even a single brush against them might pump enough toxins into her body to incapacitate her, so she would have to be quite careful. Its size made it nearly impossible to skirt around it, too. She ducked and weaved, dodging the first two tendrils that took a swipe at her with surprising ease, twirling through the water with a grace she certainly didn’t really possess… but then almost swam straight into one of the tentacles when she thought she was past them all, her heart skipping a beat as she saw it approaching. The human just barely ducked out of the way and spotted open ocean in front of her, so she began to swim forward as fast as she possibly could. It just barely saved her from having her ankle grabbed by one of the tendrils, mere inches between her and the jellyfish’s attack, but now she was free.

Not that Catherine would be able to rest on her laurels now that she was past the giant creature. A quick look over her shoulder told her that it was pursuing her still, so she kept up swimming towards the city as fast as she could. Without the EGG’s assistance she almost certainly would have been dead in the water by now; she wasn’t exactly a marvel of conditioning, so the likelihood that she would have had the strength and stamina to carry on on her own was slim. Two more of the jellyfish began to follow her along the way, though they didn’t seem capable of gaining on her. Finally she spotted the city and picked up her pace, almost there… though another quick look behind her indicated that the jellyfish had turned away and had no intent of following her further. The archer breathed a sigh of relief, slowing down to a more reasonable pace and swimming on her way. She had no idea how long she had been gone thanks to the EGG speeding things up, so she decided just to swim by the storehouse and return the speargun before heading into the caves. While there she would attempt to ask for the boon from the guard, just to ensure she didn’t run out of time while in the middle of the caves alone. After all, she didn’t know how much longer she had left on her original one.

That accomplished, Catherine swam to the entrance of the cave she had parted from, finding it without much trouble at all. While she wasn’t sure how long it had been, she was quite certain it was too late to wait on Meda and Korene. It would probably be prudent not to keep the nightcrawler waiting too much longer either, so she began to swim back the way she had come, assuming she could remember properly. Of course, she would keep an eye out for the two priestesses, curious to see if what they were actually doing lined up with what they had said they were doing…

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

The archer had no difficulty in returning the speargun, but the guard proved unable to comprehend the signs that the human had been taught. Still, it only took a few simple improvised motions with her hands to garner an expression of understanding from the red siren who had been standing guard. The red woman shrugged and grabbed Catherine by the forearms before pulling her in to kiss her. That wasn't to say there was any passion in it, it was more like bestowing the boon was a simple, everyday task for her. Once they parted, she motioned the human archer to move on.

Once she returned to the caverns, it was simply a matter of finding the nightcrawler. It only took remembering the creature's initial advice on exiting the cave and reversing it in order to find her way back. She wasn't fortunate enough to find the priestesses in the middle of whatever their supposed inspections had entailed, either because it had been too long or they were in another part of the maze-like place that she didn't pass through. Any disappointment she might have held at not finding the women might be overlooked after what she did end up finding, though.

She returned to discover the three crawlers and the pixie, but not quite in the state she had left them. At least two of the crawlers were unconscious, their bodies simply floating wherever the water would take them, the diminutive woman's stomach was inflated like a balloon, who offered Catherine a sheepish smile and a shrug as she spotted the archer, and the woman who'd sent her on her errand appeared to be too exhausted to swim or do much of anything else. The last conscious nightcrawler managed to turn herself enough to give the human a weary look following her entrance, and with obvious effort managed to sign. "Have coral?"

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

The guard didn’t make a fuss at Catherine when she returned the speargun, thankfully. She still wasn’t sure how the creatures would feel on the whole about an armed human in their midst. The red siren couldn’t understand her sign language, but it was a simple pantomime to get her to understand that the archer needed the boon. It was all business from there, the woman tugging her in closer by an arm and kissing her quickly and firmly, no romance or passion involved in it at all. Which made sense, given the purpose of the gesture. There wasn’t enough time in the day to make granting the boon to the humans into a big event. Catherine didn’t need prompting to move on once it was finished, not wanting to keep the nightcrawlers waiting much longer, both for her sake and for the sake of the little woman she had left behind with them.

While it was a rather slow way of getting back, reversing the nightcrawler’s simple instructions was sure to work, the human didn’t deviate from that plan. Thankfully nothing bothered her on her way, and really she didn’t even see anything worth noting between the cave’s entrance and the room she had come from. Unfortunately that meant that she didn’t run into Meda or her priestess partner… she hoped she caught up with them again at some point. When she finally got back she found a somewhat amusing scene. Two of the nightcrawlers seemed to have fucked themselves into unconsciousness, floating limply in the water, while the pixie was there, still alert, but with a simply enormous belly. She smiled at Catherine, and the human smiled back, waving a little bit… The black creature that had sent her on her little fetch quest to begin with was still awake, although it seemed too tired to do much of anything. That was excellent, as it was almost certain there would be no more problems for her from them… It signed its question, asking if she had the coral, and she didn’t respond. Instead she simply began to empty her bag of the red stuff, putting it piece by piece on the cave floor near the nightcrawler, though she would try her best to keep one piece in the bag for herself for a watch. When it was laid out on the floor she pointed towards the pixie and then herself, and then butchered the sign for “leave” on purpose with a questioning look on her face.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine's ruse worked, and the exhausted nightcrawler didn't even notice the coral that she had held back. At her request, the nightcrawler cast her a weary look. "Take that thing with you." It signed, before waving its hand in a dismissive motion. The bloated pixie, at her own dismissal, somehow managed to swim to the human's side, though the sight of a diminutive woman with a belly bigger than a beach ball trying to paddle through the ocean with any amount of grace was nothing short of comical in nature. With that, they were free to leave the cave, as the creature that had tormented the human's lover fell into unconsciousness herself.

"That was fun," the short woman signed before they had even gone anywhere. "We should do that again! But you should stick around next time, because I wanted more and they couldn't keep up." Evidently she still wanted more, because halfway through her signing the diminutive woman's expression quickly became one of distraction and when the archer followed the impish little creature's eyes, she found that they were centered on the curvy human's chest. And without warning, she wrapped her arms around the archer and buried her face in-between Catherine's breasts. To make matters worse, the woman seemed ready to keep her head buried there for as long as she could get away with, even though they were still in the chamber with the unconscious nightcrawlers.

"So much fun," she signed when she was either pushed away or finally pulled back from Catherine's cleavage. "We should have some more!" The pregnant little creature bluntly propositioned her. Of course, the archer did have other responsibilities, and the woman wasn't demanding anything. She could pursue other plans instead of acquiescing with the horny pixie.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

Catherine smiled at the nightcrawler as she handed over the red coral, glad that the creature had seemingly made this easy on her by fucking itself nearly senseless. Oddly enough it told her to take the pixie with her, but it called the little woman a “thing,” and really emphasized doing it. That was a little bit strange. For her part the little woman swam over to her despite that enormous gut she had to cart around, which was quite the funny sight. The archer put a hand to her lips, hiding her silent giggling. The final nightcrawler fell unconscious then, leaving the two of them more or less alone. The pixie leader began to sign at the human then, telling her that she had had a lot of fun, and that the nightcrawlers hadn’t been able to keep up with her desires. That… sort of explained the black creature’s reaction a little bit.

This little pixie was apparently a beast in bed, and now her attention was turned once more to Catherine, her eyes fixed on the woman’s ample chest. With hardly any warning she lunged forward, burying her face between the archer’s breasts. She blushed, pushing the little leader off of her fairly quickly. Sure, the nightcrawlers were all exhausted and asleep now, but they couldn’t stick around long. “Not now” she signed back, “later. Find others, then fun.” She wasn’t necessarily opposed, after all, she just wanted to find Roger and the other pixies again first, to reunite with him and to return the little woman to her group safely. “You lead, I’m not sure of the way” she signed if she got no serious protests, hoping the pixie would be able to lead them right to the chamber where the others were. She wasn’t sure she knew the way herself anymore.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

"Fine," the pixie signed with a pout. "I think I know where they are." After only a minor delay, in which it seemed very suspiciously like the inflated creature was hoping that the archer would abruptly change her mind and they could jump each others' bones, the diminutive woman began to swim. Given her guide's gravid belly, it wasn't very difficult for Catherine to follow.

The two ventured through a series of twists and turns that eventually took them to the entrance to a familiar cavern, the one where the human had first met the pixies, at which point she was signaled to wait there. The little woman swam forth, disappearing for a few brief moments, before returning by herself. "He's not with the others, I think he went to our hiding spot." And with that, she began to lead the archer elsewhere.

Several more twists and turns brought them to the hiding spot, though Catherine would have missed the entrance if it hadn't been for the pixie. There was a small crevice in the wall, which would be quite a squeeze for the curvy human to get through given her size, and only slightly less so for her guide despite the woman's distended tummy. With only a slight amount of shoving and pulling, they would make it through, leading to a surprisingly spacious area. Well, it had probably been spacious at one point.

Currently, the chamber was packed with odds and ends ranging from pearls to pieces of rubbish. There were a few waterlogged books and even something resembling an ancient newsletter -- which, with what little the archer could make out, covered the sinking of several ships as they crossed the ocean. Bottles, both with and without ships, and pieces of driftwood littered the area. There was a carved lion, which must have been the figurehead of a ship, that had somehow been stashed in the pixie's hideaway. Perhaps more importantly than all the garbage to Catherine, the male pixie and Roger were there amidst the odd collection.

The sailor was unconscious, though the pixie was at full strength. As soon as he spotted the two entering, he moved forward to communicate with the female in their own race's signs, which the little woman translated to the archer after the fact. "My underlings got a little excited when he was brought back, so he had to be hidden here. The human struggled and there were some issues, so he had to be calmed down. He should be fine."

"You can use this hideout whenever you need to. Nobody else knows about it, make sure it stays that way and you'll be safe here."

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: Catherine (Tiffanian)

“Okay” Catherine signed back, waiting somewhat impatiently for the pixie to lead her onward. She didn’t know how long most of the nightcrawlers had been sleeping, and she didn’t want to be around when they woke up. Finally the little woman began to swim, if you could really call it that… it was more like waddling through the water as huge as her gut was, and it was actually kind of funny to watch. The human had no trouble keeping up with the little woman as they swam this way and that, twisting and turning through the myriad caverns and passages. Eventually she found herself in a big open cavern that she recognized… it was where she had met these little humanoids to begin with, where they had all fucked her silly. The small woman signed at her, telling her to stay put, and then swam deeper into the caverns for a while, returning fairly quickly. Apparently Roger wasn’t with the others, and she mentioned some sort of hiding spot before starting to swim off. Hiding spot… That was interesting. It would probably be good to know where something like that was.

The path to this alleged hiding spot weaved around through a few more narrow cavern paths before the pixie stopped, and it took Catherine a little while of looking to figure out why they had stopped. There was a small crevice there in the cave wall, innocuous enough that she never would have thought it an entrance to anything of consequence. She grumbled a little as she tried to squeeze in through it, having a mildly difficult time. This passage was clearly not meant for a girl with hips like hers, or breasts quite so large… Finally, though, she came out into an area that seemed like it would be pretty wide open, if not for an amazing amount of garbage that filled the cavern. The archer ran a hand through her long hair, looking around the room at all of it. Some of it was undoubtedly valuable, but some of it was just chunks of wood and refuse. There were books that no doubt couldn’t be read anymore seeing as how water damaged they were, ships in bottles, even large carved lion that had probably adorned the front of a ship once upon a time. She felt like she was in an episode of Hoarders, as if anything the pixies thought could be remotely valuable was brought here and dumped and forgotten.

Of course, the male leader of the pixies was in the middle of all this junk, with Roger floating unconscious beside him. That was what Catherine had been looking for, and she swam towards them slowly, wondering what had happened to knock the other human out… The little man began to sign at her, but in the language of the pixies, so the woman had to translate. Apparently the pixies had gotten a little bit overexcited when they had seen Roger, so he had been brought to this hiding place. He had also apparently struggled, so it seemed as if they had knocked him out himself to calm him down. The little man also told her that she could use the hideout whenever she needed to, and that she would be safe inside of it as long as she didn’t let anyone who shouldn’t know it was there. “Thank you” she signed back, “I’ll do my best to keep it secret. Do you know where I can find other humans nearby? It’d probably be best if we found someone a little better at teaching sign than I am for him.” She thought it was important that she be there for Roger to see when he woke up, given that he had apparently been freaking out earlier, so she would stay beside him until he awakened.