Serious Plots 7: Why so srs?

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik circles the crab, looking for any irregularities in its armor.

[Murkus]

[Riverside Ruins]

Eschelle shudders, but she does not answer Jim. She has none for him. Perhaps she does not wish to consider it.

The lads can finagle with the corpse or the enchantments upon it if they wish, but the narrow passage ahead beckons.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik remarkably sees no weak point. Even the obvious ones such as the joints or where the plates connect, on further inspection, show even greater reinforcement.

"O Kay, dis is getting ridikuelos Mon. Doo sumtin already. Joo ain't gonna find mah weakness dooin nuttin!" crossing his claws, the Crab lets out a huge sigh of impatience.

Suddenly from Armonia's sword, a beam moving at lightspeed shoots out at Tethrik. Dozens of images flash through Tethrik's mind. And just as quickly as they appeared, they vanish. Both Armonia and the Crab seemed surprised and confused about what just happened.

If Tethrik focuses enough, he will recollect seeing a clock, a hammer, a bolt of lightning, an ice cube, a hot spring, and a bard performing.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"What was that?" Tethrik can't seem to get the images of the hammer and clock out of his head, but the rest of them have faded away.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

"What was what?" Armonia asks, puzzled by what just happened.

The Crab just sighs and taps his leg impatiently

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"It was probably nothing. Let's try something." Tethrik shoots a burst of fire at the crab's eye.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik's flame hits the Crab clear on the eye, seemingly catching it on fire. Once it dies down and the smoke clears though, the eye appears perfectly fine without even a scorch marks.

The Crab closes both of its eyes and covers them with its claws, then slowly shakes its head. "so let me get dis straight. Joo spend all dis time tinkin and examanin, jour friend even hits joo wid a devanation spell, and joo tink mah weakness id FIYAH? Joo tink a WATAH gahdian's WEAKNESS id FIYAH?!?!?! I should crush joo too RIGHT now for bein so STOOPID. In any case, joo got nine tries left. I mean, really? REALLY?"

Seeing the Crab tantrum like that, a smile slowly grows on Armonia's face as an idea pops in his head

[Morty]

[Riverside Ruins]

"I don't think I could tell you that without really pickin' it apart," Michalson says. "And even then this dazzle might just be beyond me. I say we leave the poor sod and keep moving."

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik turns to Armonia. "You have an idea? Then use it."

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Armonia looks at Tethrik, then his face goes completely blank. "No." Armonia raises his sword, twirling it dramatically before resting it on his shoulders. "Why should I? I'm starting to get bored of this....I see no reason for me to go on, do you?" Mischeif dances across Armonia's eyes but his face remains stoic and serious

The Crab just stares at Armonia. One could see a look of disbelief at what Armonia said if one can read the intricacies of a crab's facial expressions. "Joo got to be kiddin me."

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik turns his back on the crab, so Armonia can see his face but the crab can't. He winks. "Now that you mention it, I am awfully worn out after the last two fights. I think I have some food in here somewhere. Tethrik sits down, slouching against the chamber wall as he rummages in his belt pouch.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Ey Mon! Now isn't da time too..." "GODS it took you this long to mention this? I'm starving over here." Armonia quickly jogs over and plops next to Tethrik as the Crab stares slackjawed at the two. "JOUR IN DA MIDDLE OF A CHALLENGE! DIS ID NO TIME TO BE DIVIN INTO DE SNACKFOODS!" the crab yells, stamping two of its legs, which shakes the cavern.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik takes a doggy bag out of his pouch. "Let's see. I've got some leftover steak, some demon meat, raw of course, and a flask of blood. Oh! And some sandwiches. There's tuna fish, ham and cheese, and some sort of slime on a bagel." He takes a second bag out which clearly could not have fit in the pouch with the first.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

"OOOH! I'll take that tuna fish if you don't mind." Armonia pulls out his wallet and hands Tethrik a gold coin "Fair's fair, after all, I didn't bring my own." Tethrik may notice that the wallet is nothing but a small, very worn, coin sack. Given the size of the gold coin Armonia always seems to use(about half an inch diameter), it looks as though it could barely fit 3.

The Crab's blue markings seem to turn a shade darker towards the red of his shell. Bubbles begin to froth at its mouth. It is very visibly angry at the two comparatively small meat sacks ignoring it and having a picnic.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik takes the coin, although he has no need for it, and puts it in his pouch. He hands Armonia the tuna sandwich and takes out an unidentifiable chunk of meat from the doggy bag. He tears into it greedily.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

" what id happenin....dis idn't da time......will joo just..." the Crab is getting visibly twitchy as its anger rises.

"SWEET! thanks Tethrik." Armonia follows Tethrik's example and takes a huge bite out of the sandwich. Still facing away from the Crab, Armonia's eyes go wide looking at Tethrik, then motions his eyes toward the Crab, then back to Tethrik. While he keeping a relaxed posture, Tethrik may notice Armonia's body tensing, as though he is anticipating something to happen.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik also tenses, planting his feet firmly on the ground while continuing to eat.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

"AAAAAAAAGH! DAT BE IT MON!" The Crab raises its claws into the air. "JOO DON'T WANTA TAKE DIS SERIOUSLY! I MAKE JOO TAKE DIS SERIOUSLY!" The crab slams his claws down on Armonia and Tethrik, putting all of his incredible strength into it.

Armonia, prepared, deftly dodges to the left of the Crab, his sword poised and ready to fight.

If Tethrik manages to dodge, the Claw will strike the floor, causing the room to shake fiercer than any time before, potentially knocking Tethrik and Armonia prone.

If Tethrik doesn't manage to dodge, he will be surprised to find that he isn't crushed to death, but instead soaked in harmless, luke warm water as soon as the claw connects. In this event, the crab will be surprised and terrified that his arm has melted into water.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

The claw comes down on Tethrik, who unfortunately was positioned to dodge toward the crab. It hits him, and he is drenched. He spits water out of his mouth and is surprised. "Huh. Was that your weakness?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

"W-what....NO! DIS WASN'T SUPPOSE TO BE MAH WEAKNESS, WHAT ID HAPPENIN?!?!" the Crab reels backward as his body slowly dissolves into water.

"You broke the conditions of your challenge." Armonia says, a wide grin on his face as he brushes himself off. "What joo mean? JOUR DA ONES WHO BROKE DA CONDITIONS!" "No we didn't, the challenge was to find your weakness, we got 10 tries then you would try to crush us. We only used 2 tries, 3 tries if you count that weird blast my sword did. You never set a time limit on how long we had between tries."
Armonia smugly leans against the wall as he watches the crab melt, water splashing in his face. "In the end, it doesn't matter what your real weakness is, what matters is you broke the rules, so we win.

"AAAAAAAAAAGH! DAMN JOOOOOOOOO!" as the last of the crab melts, the water begins to come together, forming a new stone tablet where the statue once stood, leaving the cave black with bright points scattered across the walls and ceiling.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Never underestimate the power of quibble, eh?" Tethrik grins. "I didn't think that would work. Now on to the last challenge."

[Deathkeeper]

[Riverside Ruins]

Jim shakes his head.
"Yeah, well. Let's get going." he says, giving the machine a good strong poke in the head, just in case it's still in there, before moving on.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Armonia nods his head then walks over to the stone tablet. There, he rearranges the stones so they have access to the Fish room. "We'll have to go through a tunnel, and through the Scorpion room again, but we definitely have access to the last room." Armonia tells Tethrik as the sound of rushing water starts to die down. When the last stone settles in place, a tunnel melts open to the left. What is most different though is the frigid cold air that erupts from the tunnel, sending goosebumps and chills up Armonia's back.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Tethrik's not a huge fan of cold.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Yep! This is definitely the way, you want to see?" Armonia gestures the the stone tablet.

Spoiler

Show

Key:
R= line hits right side
L= line hits left side
U= line hits top side
D= line hits bottom side
F= fish room
C= crab room
S= scorpion room
O= Empty room
Blue text= moveable piece
Black text = immovable piece

{DL} { } {DL}

{SDR}{FLR}{UD}

{UR} {CUL} {OUD}

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"So it is. Let's go." Tethrik sets off down the frigid tunnel.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Armonia and Tethrik traverse down the frigid path. Soon after they enter, it begins to softly snow on top of them. It's cold, so cold. Armonia rubs his hands together, blowing into them to keep warm, his steamy breath wafting through his knuckles. A gently crunch can be heard underfoot as the snow starts to build up on the ground.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik plods onward, hoping to get out of the snow soon.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik and Armonia push onward, even as the snow picks up some, quickly raising the level they're trudging through to 6 inches. After a few minutes, a soft squeaky purr can be heard in the distance.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Ugh. Get me out of this mess." Tethrik complains.