Without a ranged Weapon, Morimoto cautiously makes his way over the slickened surface of the arena.
But he falls, unable to navigate the grease successfully.
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"Ha! Yeah, not such a big shot now that yer big slimy sweaty meat shield is not swiftly ASSuming room temperature, huh ya big trog!" Wraith knows that if you're not yelling insults during a fight, you're just not taking it seriously.
"It's okay, little guy. I still care about ya! In fact I care so much I care enough to send my very best," she finishes as she sends a high-grain sniper bullet into his softer parts.
"That didn't make any sense, but okay," Bravo comments as he keeps his eyes trained on the imp.
Seeing how injurred the imp appeared, Soundbyte felt to try clipping it with telekinesis rather then excess more cleansing beams of starlight. His ethereal form lifted a hand, grasping for the loose stone of the arena, before flinging it upwards.
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"That didn't make any sense, but okay," Bravo comments as he keeps his eyes trained on the imp.
"See, I was making fun of him," Wraith answers in a chirpy tone. "The only thing keeping him from dying out here was his big dumb friend with the doing the smashy-smashy. But now he's dead, and I was pointing that out.
And then I was being ironic saying I cared about him, talking like I was sending a dozen bottles of Andorian brandy or something, but I'm actually shooting him.
Sorry, was I bein' too high falutin'? Yeah, I get that a lot."
"It's just that you called him a 'big trog,' which made me think you were talking about the big dumb friend. I got confused."
"Got it. Thanks, Wraith," Bravo replies with a brief salute.
The imp shrieks, "No, no, no! This is not how it should be!" The crowd of devils jeers at the party as the imp flitters towards them. If it can't defeat them, the least it can do is make it's defeat as unpleasant as possible. It raises a hand and blasts a wave of powerful heat at Mori, Roskar, and Soundbyte.
Morimoto is surprised the heat has such an effect on him, and he is made extremely uncomfortable. Again he attempts to trudge through the grease.
Bravo fires off another pair of shots at the imp.
Roskar looks up to the Imp, his golden hued scales slowly returning back to their red color. He pulls out his pistol and fires off a shot at the creature, as his scales slowly start turning a nebula black.
[Ooo]Was halfway through tolling mybdice when the tablet died, seems I never got back to toasing those dics.[/ooc]
The fire rolls across his form, though it seems being ethereal has netted him some small boost in speed. As he gathers another chunk of debris, he adjusts his wisp in order in a way that hinders his defense more then attack.
Only Soundbyte and Alanna are able to connect with the imp, but thanks to Alanna's precision sniper rifle, the imp drops out of the sky, splashing into the water below.
The crowd jeers even louder and the announcer's voice is entirely full of disappointment as he says, "Well, ah, that didn't quite go as expected. So give it up to the mortal petitioners, I guess."
There are few cheers for the party, but they've faced the first challenge that the infernal embassy will throw at them. That counts for something, right?
The SRO took a glance around them, taking notice how the announcer didn't declare a clear victory. There was more at play here.
Reveling in the jeers of the hellspawn in the arena, Morimoto wipes off black blood from the devil he obliterated and returns to the team.
"We are formidable," he says succinctly.
Bravo looks at the others, a confused and concerned look on his face.
"I don't get it. On the one hand, they sent just two devils against five well-equipped and formidable Starfinders, so how could they be surprised at the outcome? All the infernal power in Hell's nothin' if you're outnumbered and outgunned. But on the other hand, this was much easier than I expected it'd be. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but anyone else feel like something's up?"
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Wraith raises her hands up to the sky and looks out to the crowd, shouting and smiling as if she just single-handedly won the Urban Brawl Championship. "YES! Yeeeeeees! We came, we saw, we shot it in the face with guns!" she yells to a crowd that is, at least, clearly present.
Pointing out to a lone cheering figure she yells, "No, _you_ rock, and you know that!" which is quickly followed by a double-point and the yelled lyrics, "We alone are fighting for metal that is true!
We own the right to live the fight we're here for all of YOU!!"
It's clear that this is going to go on for as long as its allowed.
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Bravo raises an eyebrow at Wraith's...enthusiasm, but keeps his mouth shut.
A panel slides open on the opposite side of the arena, approximately where the devils had been standing, and a metallic elevator arises from it.
Skundrobastan, the devil the party had treated with before, steps out, slowly clapping, "Well done, Starfinders. Those two were rather pedestrian in their strength, weren't they? Any case, that is form 18-A-9134 out of the way. If you'll follow me, we can move on to the next round of paperwork. Give no mind to the crowd, they're used to seeing the poor sods that think they can tangle with us and not face any consequences." He gestures to the elevator and continues, "Now, if you'll accompany me?"
Bravo follows Skundrobastan along with the rest of the crew.
"Oh we're doing rounds, huh? Suppose I should have expected Hell'd figure out a way to make bureaucratic negotiation into a bloodsport."
I *knew* this was too easy, he thinks to himself.
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"Yes! Thank you!" Wraith calls to the crowd, her voice showing only a touch of hoarseness from constant yelling. "Make sure to follow me on Motiv8, drIve, and WaveCount!
Wait, how the butt does that complete a form?" Alanna wonders outloud as she follows Bravo out. "Forms are usually a -lot- more boring than that."
"Metaphor, I suspect. Don't know much about metaphysical skor, but I do know planar types go in real big for symbolic gestures and ritual."
The SRO nods in confirmation to Bravo, his form slowly turning back to the mechanical as he walks.
Heh, I might take this type of paperwork back to my home system. I'm sure I could convince folk to apply it back home. The vesk says, only half in jest, as he pats out a small flame on his cloak.
Lead the way.
Those smarter and more keen on matters of paperwork have shown no real worry, so why should he?
"That was quite an impressive trick, Soundbyte," Bravo comments to the SRO.
Soundbyte nods again, this time touching the dawnflower emblem on his forehead."/A pathway to many abilities some would consider... Unnatural."
The party heads into the elevator. Confusingly, the elevator goes upwards despite there having been nothing but infernal sky above them.
Skundrobastan tries to make some idle chatter during the surprisingly long elevator ride, but upon realizing that that the mortals don’t necessarily have a favorite sin to torture mortals for he quiets down.
The doors slide back open to reveal a massive cavern filled with an oppressively hot, muggy jungle, bioluminescent fungi covering the walls shedding light onto it. The plants are like nothing the party’s seen before, not unless they’ve seen plants that could be best described as angry. And the sounds. Gods, the sounds. Only a few charted death worlds could rival the cacophony for sheer monstrousness. Far in the distance rises a metal tower, which Skundrobastan gestures to.
”The next contract you’ve to sign is stores in Scriptorium Tower 7291-AKJ-666! Now, due to an unfortunate and entirely accidental clause in the construction contract, only the devils that grew this jungle can traverse it. They, rather unfortunately, have moved on to other projects. That gives you the honor of doing it yourself! There should be secure rest areas throughout the cavern if you find yourself in need of one. Any questions about the task? I’ll be happy to answer them as much as I can.
"Will we be reporting back to you after we locate said contract, or is this where we part ways for good?" Bravo asks.
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"Oh, lust, definitely," Alanna chirps to the devil's question. "Oh, wait, you said 'for' not 'with'. Sorry." She stays quiet for the rest of the elevator ride while she checks and re-loads her weapons.
"Um, what is in this jungle? Lifeforms? And how far is it that it needs rest areas? And what are these rest areas like? And how long will it take to traverse this? Also, aren't we also breaking that construction clause be traversing it? Or are we immune to contracts somehow?
'Cause that would be awesome."
This deal just keeps getting worse all the time." Soundbyte quoted from some long forgotten televid. Always with the strange monstrous plants and monsterous aberrations, this group.
Skundrobastan shakes his head at Bravo as he chuckles dryly, ”You can’t get out of proper protocol that easily! There are three more major forms to fill out, along with 15 addendums, agreements, bargains, and minor pacts. Now, I suppose I should have clarified. Embassy staff cannot traverse the jungle, but unaffiliated mortals freely can. Now, the jungle was intended to be a recreational area for staff, but it’s flora and fauna have since run wild. I’m unsure precisely what lives there at this point. It shouldn’t take more than a day to traverse through the jungle, and there should be a transit skiff in the tower to bring you back. Rest areas look like metal gazebos, with a button on one of the supports that can raise walls around you.”
Bravo nods.
"I figured, I was just wondering if we were being handed off to a different devil for each leg of this process or if you were gonna be our 'designated devil' for the whole thing. Clearly the latter's the case then?"
If so, definitely not mentioning 'Cousin Vindy' until we're done with this guy, he thinks to himself.
Skundrobastan smiles widely. His teeth are sharp, and disturbingly numerous, "I am your 'designated devil' as you say. You will return here with the completed forms in hand and we shall move on."
"Well, what are we waiting for? /Let's roll out#" The SRO intoned, tabbing his staff to the ground.
Hah, survival, in a hot, dense jungle? Well, I'll feel quite at home. Well, I prefer desert biomes a little more, since the wind is nice. But, jungles are a close second. Roskar says, eager to be on their way.
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"At least they're not asking you to wear a pretty dress!" she says laughingly at Soundbyte, as something that would make a deal get worse.
"We can't just borrow a skiff to get us to the tower and back?" Alanna asks, rhetorically as they head into the heart of darkness.
The absurdity of this task was confounding to Morimoto. He had been hoping to test himself again in the Arena, but no, the infernal creatures which had arranged these trials seemed to delight in removing satisfaction from the transaction.
"Yes, let us move quickly through this viper's nest."
The party sets into the jungle. It's more intimidating on the inside by a long shot. Hooting and hollering of infernal fauna is made all the worse by bugs that seem intent on stealing as much blood as they can from the party. Not even Soundbyte is immune, as a few small, biomechanical leeches try to attach themselves to the priest's plating.
The group wanders into a clearing, and for a moment, things go still.
Several sets of glowing eyes are watching the party from the foliage.
Morimoto did not have a lot experience navigating foreign environments, but he was no fool. He readied his curve blade.
"Prepare yourselves. We will not travel unaccosted for long." He points the blade at the various sets of glowing eyes in the undergrowth.
Bravo is too focused on making sure the group stays on target and doesn't get lost in this literally hellish wilderness.
Of course, given this is part of Hell, his orienteering skills are of little use, as the jungle seems to shift and change each time he looks around. He breathes a sigh of relief when they enter the clearing and he has another chance to gain his bearings...until Morimoto points out they're being watched. He nods grimly and readies his gun.
So it would seem.. though I doubt they are aware of how much of a punch this snack may pack. Perhaps they are edible?
He thinks outloud as he does what he always did during survival training. Pick a direction, and walk in a straight line.