Howling Cliffs

"Kiran, let's help this girl up. Actually, fuck, how do we get out of here?"

Tai sighs. He could try making some noise for the others above ground, but that was just as likely to attract monsters as it was them.


"Whatever, let's just get her up for now then figure out what the fuck to do."

Morgan

"Hmm so we don't even know if he would listen to us?". "We still have time to figure something out right,". "Is there a safe place we can go to talk about a plan where this Mercia person can't find us?".

"It would probably be best if we had everyone's help and ideas here and think of something,".

"Actually what is this Mercia person like,". "I only heard bits and pieces about her,". "Was she always like this?". "What are her powers and abilities?".

Levi

You poke the sand.  The sand pokes you back.  Not really.  It continues to be sand.  Tom takes a seat beside you.  "Everything OK?"


Morgan

"Oh, yeah!  We need to talk about that.  Everyone!" Somnis yells.  "Make sure you be careful where you're talking about stuff, OK?  Mercia's obviously watching some places like the mall and school.  Mercia says she's omnificent... omnitotent...  omnipotent!  She says that, but it's a lie, OK?  Don't talk about it in public and it should be fine!"

"I never knew Mercia before she just showed up and started demanding my soul," Phenandran says.

"Neither did I," Tia adds.  "I don't know what abilities she might have.  But if she has multiple souls like she said..."

Somnis shrugs.  "I dunno."

You look through the other NPCs.  None of them have anything useful to add.


Dewey

You also exist.  Just in case you forgot.


Tai

"Don't worry, I got this," Kiran says.  He walks over, grabs the webbing, and starts hauling Arcadia up.  "You can start cutting up the monster corpses or something.  ...Ew, this web stuff is kinda gross."


Arcadia

You feel yourself being pulled up!  Up is good!  But you don't feel fully comfortable until they finally swing you up and over the edge.  Well... maybe you still aren't fully comfortable, considering you're still tied up.


Tai, Arcadia

Natsumi and Leia have been awfully quiet.  Fortunately, there's still no sign of more monsters.  Though it feels like there's a pretty important question no one's asked yet...

Not that Kiran is going to ask it.  "We'll just hold this stuff until we hook up with those two later."


Leia

"Rolling?  Shouldn't we stay in one place?  If we run into a monster like this..."  Natsumi looks around.  "Oh!  A portal!  OK, let's go.  Don't worry, I'm not shy or anything.  Do what you need to do."

The two of you roll and squirm and crawl until you manage to reach the portal.  The other side slopes upwards slightly, and you're not getting up that.  You fall through the portal.

Move to Beach thread.

"...Not really." Levi stares at the sand a bit. "...I'm tired. Maybe we should go home."

"Fuck that. Natty was a platform, but her and Arcadia almost died and didn't fight at all. We should split it three ways between you, Leia, and me, and give both of them what's left. I'll share with Natty if it'll shut you up."

Tai sighs. Kiran could really be a pain sometimes.

"Now let's shut up and find a damn way out. I don't care about skipping school but I do want to get some damn sleep."

Tai looks around, feeling the wall of the cave.

Tai

You can see well enough to see there's three paths splitting off from here.  One's opposite the hidden tunnel Leia and Natsumi fell through.  You don't really have a better point of reference, everything else looks identical in here.  The others are about evenly spaced along the rest of the chamber wall.


Tai, Arcadia

"Wow, OK.  First of all, rude," Kiran says.  "Second of all, Mr. I-think-I-do-everything-anyway - love the name, by the way - how about we get Natsumi and Leia in here before we bother discussing this stuff?  And by we I mean you.  You go get those two while I untie Arcadia, OK?"


Arcadia

Kiran gets to work untying you.  He starts with pulling the string from your face, then your arms, then moves to your back.  "I'll, uh... y'know.  I'm not cleaning those sorts spots for you, understand?  Once your back's done I'll get started on your legs, so focus on your... y'know."

He can jump oooor he can jump.