• Event • The Orange Crush

[Perdita Westcott]

Fire in the Dust....

News travelled in Rharne, of course - but it didn't travel so fast that Perdita had found out about the fire straight away. It was, in fact, the next morning that she heard about the fire in the Dust and how it had spread and was being fought by some people but still hadn't gone out.

She knew that Eli had grown up there. That the houses were so close together and made of such delicate material that things would be made such a lot worse. Perdita knew that there were people who were doing something magical - or so the woman in the Glass Market had said - but she didn't know how much of that was wild speculation or just the tendency of information to get exaggerated as it got told. But still, the night before as she'd stood there in the marketplace and heard what was happening, Perdita made some decisions and some purchases.

First, she went to the Institute Library. There, she took some time and did some researching in the card index there . She had, after all, no idea what she was looking for but she found it, eventually, under "Safety." There was a whole section on fires getting out of hand and what to do. Perdita spent some time reading, then she cross-checked the sources of information she had. After doing that, she made a list. The list was of the medical supplies that would be needed, because the rest she could

And then, she went back to the market. There, she bought I have deducted 20 WP from her ledger thick fabric , burlap sacks and bags, blankets and basic foodstuff 20 x ships biscuits bought with PB . Finally, she bought as many medical supplies as she could. Her reading had told her what to get, so she used her list and got as many of them as she could. Putting those into her Domain Bag, Perdita made her way home

Then, she spent the next few hours cutting the fabric into strips, wide enough and long enough to be wrapped around faces and arms. Half the sacks she cut open, so they would be able to be used as cloaks and the rest she kept as they were. When she had everything, she wrapped them up, put things in her Domain Bag and made her way to the Dust Quarter.

The young woman who made her way there that trial arrived in the early breaks of the morning while it was dark. She looked around, trying to gauge the best place to go. She was lucky and her eyes fell upon a very strange looking creature. Was that a gerbil? Perdita wasn't entirely sure, but she saw that he was helping people. There were too many others, too much going on and so she approached himWinstaaaaaaaan.

"Hello,"

she said. If Praetorum was there with him, or anyone else, she would include them in her greeting.

"I brought fabric to dip in water and use to cover mouths and flesh. Opened sacks to do the same and use as very wet coats or cloaks to wrap people in."

She then added and opened her Domain Bag to show him.

"And these medical supplies. I believe they're good for burns and smoke inhalation."

It was rare, but Perdita didn't blush when she spoke and she spoke more than usual.

"I have blankets and these. They'll do as food - they don't taste great but one will feed one person for three trials."

Then, she looked at him with a nervous smile. She was obviously wealthy, soft spoken and if her accent was anything to go by, quite a well-educated young woman. But what she asked, she asked without hesitation or doubt.

"How can I help? People should use these masks - this air is awful."

That said, she would do exactly that and soak a length of fabric for herself which she then wrapped around her mouth and nose.

OOC: Pigs, I'm not sure how much 20WP worth of stuff is - I leave that up to you.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Since Vivian was off duty, and had been rather reserved since returning from Rharne since the incident on the Zynyx, she hadn't heard about the fire breaking out in the Dust Quarter. Her semi-seclusion was largely down to her grieving over Faith's death, as the doctor had been a very close friend of hers, and Vivian had elected to take some time off after the Windshear raids to mourn. The next morning, however, there was some running around and noise even up in the Glass Quarter where Vivian lived, and that got her to look into things, by basically going up to the Lightning Cathedral and getting a report from the Thunder Priests on duty. It didn't take them long to bring her up to speed, and when she was caught up, she went outside and using Rising Lightning to jump up to the top of the cathedral.

From there, she was able to see where the fire was, so she called out her Warden Diri, Fins. Vivian and the little shark dog merged, linking Vivian directly with the Induk Lovalus. Once they were merged, Vivian used Ride the Lightning to get out over the city. The power could carry her 500 feet per bolt, and thanks to being Ilaren's Champion, she could use another bolt as soon as the one she was riding vanished. This let her get out above the burning area without having to go through the city, something that would enable her to move much faster than usual. Once she was over the fire, used Ride the Lightning lower herself until she was only about a hundred feet above the flames before using the reason she had merged with Lovalus.

Calling on the power of a Grand Warden of Lovalus, she summoned a mile wide, two foot deep Brightgleam Oasis above the city, keeping it in shape with Lovalus's help. Then she opened up a bunch of small holes along the bottom of the Oasis, essentially turning it into a massive raincloud above the fire. Once the rain was going, Vivian used Ride the Lightning to get safely down to ground level. There was another ability that she could use, and she did briefly consider it, but Lightning's Fall created a concussive impact when she landed, and she really wasn't inclined to add to the damage in the Dust Quarter. Once she was down on the ground level, she found one fo the knights who was helping with the relief efforts. "Aside from the fire, what's the situation down here and how best can I help?" she asked, her tone direct. Sure, she'd gotten information up at the cathedral, but she knew from experience that information at central headquarters was often a bit out of date just because of the time it took to get information there and sorted.

!	Message from: Pig Boy
	Hello, I don't believe the Lovalus powers of water manipulation or brightgleam oasis allow you to form a oasis cloud in mid-air, as a flying water saucer. Vivian trying to do this will have consequences in the next round, but they'll be seen with my next post. Everyone else who posts, isn't to respond to the flying water saucer until next round, if then. Thank you.

[Seira Shiryu]

16th Saun, 723

At first, Seira resisted the idea of taking rest breaks as the breaks went by. Every trill she wasn't working was a trill when the fire was getting worse. How many people would suffer, lose their homes, and die because people were resting instead of working? But as the breaks wore on, and trial turned to night, it became clear that this wasn't something that would be over quickly. It was obvious that while some people were resting, others were still working, so there was no time when the efforts to fight the fire ceased completely. Instead, the opposite was true. As time wore on and more people heard about the fire, more people arrived to help fight it. So after a while, Seira began taking much needed breaks just as the other workers were.

The lines of communication were open, and Seira learned that people were being evacuated away from the fire. That was a very good thing. So was the fact that the fire seemed to be getting put out slowly but surely. Seira felt a wave of relief rush through her. But it was a short lived one when she learned that the fire had spread to the south eastern perimeter. That was where the wall separating the Dust Quarter from the Earth Quarter was located. Seira's heart skipped a beat. One word drifted through her mind. Seri. She had sent Seri to go look for help. It was a good thing if Seri managed to find any, but it had mostly been meant to get her sister away from the danger. But if the wall fell, and the fire made its way into the Earth Quarter...what then? Would anyone be able to stop it if the fire gained access to that much more fuel? Or would it just keep burning until the entire city was in flames? If that wall fell...Seri would be in danger. And so would their mother if she was in Rharne. Everyone would be.

Seira quickly reminded herself that the wall was made out of stone, and not wood. Stone wouldn't catch on fire the way the wooden building of the Dust Quarter were. That thought allowed her to push her fear aside and get back to work.

Her first thought as she turned her mind to the task at hand was to go to the southeast and try to get the fire under control there since progress was being made here and if left on their own the smaller fires along the wall that she had heard about would only get bigger. And yet...if it was such a good idea to go the southeast and try to help out there...then why didn't she see anyone else making their way southeast? Because no one seemed to think that heading in that direction was a good idea given that she didn't see anyone heading that way.

Seira tried to think it through as she resumed working once more. The fire was receding here, but it wasn't out completely yet. Even if things were getting worse in the southeast of the perimeter, was it wise to split their forces like that? What if the wind changed or something, causing the fire to burn faster or hotter? Was something like that possible, or likely? Maybe it would be different if they had succeeded in putting out the fire in this area completely, but they hadn't.

Seira kept thinking as she picked up some more debris to haul out of the path of the fire. There was also the wall surrounding the Earth Quarter to consider. It was made mostly out of stone, and it wasn't going to burn easily. Or at all, hopefully. Would the smaller fires burn themselves out if trapped between the perimeter and a stone wall that they couldn't pass? Seira didn't know if it would work that way or not, but it seemed like a good theory to her. The fires could burn along the wall in either direction, and if they broke the perimeter, that would be bad, but Seira had no way of knowing how likely it was that that would happen.

Once Seira had hauled the debris she was carrying out of the fire's path, she hurried back for another load. Perhaps it was most telling that no one else seemed to be heading southeast to try and contain that side of the fire yet. Seira had heard that there was a small crowd of panicked people in danger of being trapped between the wall and the fire, and crushing themselves into the wall in their desperation to escape. But could one person stop a panicked crowd by themselves when they had no real idea what they were doing themselves? Seira didn't like it, but she thought that she would only put herself into danger while doing nothing to help the others if she tried. It would be better if she stayed right where she was; both safer, and more productive.

With that, Seira pushed her thoughts aside, and focused fully on the task at hand.

[Praetorum]

Stopping to catch his breath at the basecamp, Praetorum looked down at the little brick that Winston had just handed him, considering. Isonomia, the Order, and a lab…

“Thank you, Winston,” he said. “For placing your trust in me.”

Gathering his thoughts, Praetorum looked out across the sea of flames engulfing the dust quarter, and raised the holo com to his muzzle. “This is Praetorum of the Skydas Company. I’ve taken charge of the situation here as best I can, but your organized assistance will be invaluable. We’ve set up medical tents here, but it’s a stopgap measure—I need somewhere to send the injured, a central location for healers to work out of. Reach out to the Infirmary, the Thunder Priestesses, and any other groups of healing around the city, and set up a medical centre across the river from Willow Tree. The worst of the injured can be ferried across to the hospital, but I want a location on this side of the river so the river crossing doesn’t become a bottleneck. Warn the hospital they will soon have an influx of patients, and have them send a squadron of guards to help set up the medical center and keep the peace once it’s ready.”

“From the lab, I need something that will not just help smoke inhalation, but clear out the smoke from the air as much as possible. The way the wind’s blowing, it seems like the smoke is going to be heading towards Rharne, and we want to avoid that if we can.”

“Besides that, I need every hand I can get here. Any volunteers who cannot be put to more specific use, please send my way. I’ll be in contact.”

Stowing the holo com at his side, Prae turned his attention to the other resource Winston was offering him. As Winston suggested, Prae kept the class four rubies within the Order members who’d come to help, save for one he took himself. of the class twos, he distributed one to the defender of each of his search teams. As the smog required no particular ability to use the well itself, he wanted to keep these things in the hands of the people he trusted.

As time went on, the fire raged, and the people worked, and soon it was morning, and a new day. As reports came in, Praetorum took stock of the situation. This area was calming down and cooling down, but there was fire and chaos towards the south and east. They needed to deal with that, and now.

The firefighting team was spread evenly around the perimeter, but as it seemed the fire was stronger in the south east, Prae sent orders (with the horn Winston had given him) to redistribute the firefighters, so that instead of six well users on each side of the perimeter, the north and west had four each, and the south and east had eight. The ones on the north and west were told to prioritize keeping the fire from spreading any more, while the ones to the south and east were told to push the fire back away from the crush of people specifically.

Still, all that would be for naught if he could not get that crowd of people under control. Taking the Miragestone with thanks, Praetorum set off towards the most chaotic part of the disaster, taking with him a handful of volunteers who could help to set an example (a few of which Prae had equipped with glowstones.)

He went to the east first, since it was closer. Along the way, he left volunteers with glowstones shooting up beacons into the air, to act as a path back to base camp. The beacons these volunteers were using were distinguished from the beacons the search teams used by flashing—the search team beacons were solid, the directional beacons flickered on and off, all the better to catch a crowd’s attention. The volunteers knew to direct people back to the camp if they were approached.

By the time Prae reached the eastern perimeter, he had about half the volunteers still with him. Perfect.

Using the froststone he had, Prae cleared the area around him of smoke, and activated the miragestone, shooting a projection of himself into the air for all to see. “Don’t panic,” he roared, and heard his own voice echo in his ears as the stone projected his voice through the image. “We are working on containing the fire, but this disaster will be halted faster with your aid. Calm yourselves, and make your way to our base camp on the other side of the fire. There we can treat any injuries, and you can help us save your homes. To reach it, follow the path of flashing lights. The people there will tell you where you need to go.” Again, he activated Inspire and Radiant Mantle to make people calm and ready to listen,

He did the same down in the south, leaving another trail of beacon volunteers behind, and urged everyone to calm and to make their way to the basecamp. It was getting difficult to see in the smoke, but it was his hope that a mix of the flashing of lights and his booming voice would get people going in the right direction.

Returning back to base camp, Praetorum found that some other folk had stepped up to help. Winston had started a kitchen, someone was building shelters, and a woman had brought with her food, fabric, and a great deal of medical supplies.

Quickly, Prae assigned volunteers to help both with the kitchens and the shelters, as well as to distribute the supplies Perdita had brought. The damp fabric idea was a good one, and soon Prae had everyone going into the smoky areas wearing one, even those who carried froststones. “Could you take charge of a bucket line?” he asked Perdita. “We can dampen all the cloth you’ve brought with the what we have for now, but it’ll dry out quickly, so we’re going to need a steady supply of water for protection, for the medics, for drinking—having someone dedicated to making sure we have what we need would help.”

[Pig Boy]

The Sliming of Rharne

Rharne Districts day 3compressed.jpg

The fight against the fire and smoke for the rest of the second day was going swell. The concern for the potential arrival of spirits of flame or smoke were such a concern, that all other potential threats were more or less disregarded as irrelevant. However, across the city as the news began to spread of disaster, the information passed through hand to hand, and disinformation took root especially by those who had an interest in engaging in opportunistic crimes.

While slavery had been outlawed in Rharne, there were pockets where illegal slavery was maintained underground, literally and figuratively. These unscrupulous traffickers began moving in force as the news of disaster struck, seeing an opportunity to gather up the panicked individuals and also those who wished to help. Across the city, these charlatans drove their caged carriages throughout the streets, and began abducting people who wished to help, offering them a ride to the base camp of the relief effort. Others were offered a way out of the city, to safety, told that the fire had spread beyond the walls now, and that they could transport them to safety.

Under the cover of night, many people were abducted this way, including Seira's sister, and Perdita's mother. The former looking for safety, the latter looking for a way to the barricades of basecamp, to find her daughter and ensure she was safe. They were both transported to an underground holding cells, where many others were gathered for branding and movement out of Rharne. To be traded as slaves elsewhere in the world as part of the Shadow Quarter's human trafficking operations.

Meanwhile, as the day wore on the fires still raged in small pockets, divided from their fuel however they were deprived of a way to grow beyond the perimeter that had been expertly installed.

Dandelion's efforts to protect the basecamp went well, and no fire spread in that direction, plus the area was given a protective perimeter of its own, which would be useful with what happened early in the morning on Trial Three of the Fire.

Across the northwestern Dust Quarter, reports came in of problins sprouting out of the ground, causing mischief and attempting to demolish homes on a small scale, harass locals, and just gin up the sense of despair. These were creatures who thrived on negative emotions, but were indeed vulnerable to fire. However, as many of the fire fighters weren't interested in spreading fire, they had a special challenge in wrangling this menace.

Also, as Vivian summoned a spiritual gout of water above the epicenter of the fire, it poured down all at once upon the wreckage of the Painted Swine. That would've seemed to have been that, as the burning fires of the wreckage were instantly put out. However, something began bubbling from the ground. Apparently there were spoiled caches of stout beer held in bulk in the basement of the Painted Swine, and the fires which had perhaps potential for destroying the evidence of this negligence became the fuel for a collosal stout slime to grow from the soil. Fed by raw ephemera of the brightgleam oasis, and the fire, and the spoiled liquor, this slime grew to monumental proportions, and began whipping its tendrils, trying to gather more of the fires that were lingering on the outskirts of the periemeter to try and strengthen it, as its many mouths sought out people on the ground to chew on.

However, Praetorum's efforts to direct traffick were having a good effect, and much of the chaos that was going in every direction was instead redirected calmly toward Base camp, and those who wished to help were bolstered to the perimeter to defend against the rising dangers. The problins for whatever reasons appear frightened by the apparition of Praetorum and his ability to project courage and actively avoid where he is seen or heard.

Yet as trial three dawned on Rharne, there was the collossal slime and the problin menace looming over them. They would have to deal with these issues going forward, as now only small pockets of fire were lingering on the southeast of the perimeter.

The crush had been avoided, by a combination of the crowd control Praetorum was engaging in, and the efforts of all the others to fortify and supply the base camp with materials that were good for smoke and fire relief, provided by Perdita. The rations and supplies she'd provided would last them for no less than ten days.

[Winston]

Trial 2

Perdita appeared, like an order delivery service from the gods with supplies and a smile.

"Oh! Dis es fantastic! Tanks! Quick, Sninwa, cun yuh make shar dat dese supplied get intuh chest far de mobile clinic..."

He went about helping to distribute the supplies, informing Prae and sending things where their leader considered it best they be.

"Three TRIALS?!"

He exclaimed as she handed him the biscuits... He resisted the urge to study one any more then casually as they were added to the supplied of the Kitchen and distributed the the families being sent out from their burning homes.

"Yuh are an Angel, Tanks..."

He paused to see if she wud introduce herself.

"...Me name's Winstaan. Lets kick some fire-butt!"

Trial 3

It was trial three when Winston came back on shift. He had all but collapsed when he was eventually sent to rest, but now, chewing on some bread and helping to get the food kitchen back on track from his absence, reports were coming in from the city of Problins.

"Orrible little blighters them lot. Feed on negative emotion..."

The man said as they stirred the large pot of porridge.

"Wat?"

"Yeah, it's probably why they are avoiding Praetorum. He's a bastion of strength."

"Mun alive. We cud really duh widdout dat right naw. We nat gat time tuh goh chasin' around de city afta pests."

The man he was talking to shrugged in agreement, as if he were resigned to solving the problem he had in-front of him and being happy with that... It was not a bad outlook, to be fair, but they needed more.

He patted the man on the shoulder.

"Keep doin' wat yuh doin'... Yuh are an 'ero af Rharne."

And he left Chest.

Using their telepathic connection, he called out to Praetorum.

"De kitchen es running, breakfast es served an' me gonna deal wid de Prablins by spreadin' some joy."

He said, as he ran through the smoky streets. People were blowing the smoke aways from the main areas with Winstars, but outside the main thrums of activity, it was still chokie and so he covered his face with the wet cloth and took only the breaths he needed.

He asked around gathering an idea of where the Problins were cause the most hassle and set off for that location using Saiore's Gift of Cheer as he went. Everyone he came across was bolstered with a little cheer from Saiore and from him. Getting the firefighters to pick their favorite shanties and work songs, he got them singing, working a rythm into work and a little positivity into their efforts.

He focused on areas for now that didn't have Prae in it immediate vicinity, as they were mostly Problin free anyway. It was unlikely to dispel the creatures completely, but the less sorrow and despair there was, the few Problins would be causing issues and as the joy spread with him, the Problems scurried away with the look of discussed on their faces.


Bigger Problems

The tavern, something about a swine, was drenched, very thoroughly by a massive body of water that appeared out of nowhere. The streets had been flooded momentarily, but on the whole, this seemed like a good thing to most and winston encouraged a little celebration to help bolster his attempts to raise spirits.

The cheer however was accompanied by a very odd sound... A creaking and banging... It seemed like the building might be about to collapse in on itself when it did the exact opposite! Ooze and slime poured out of the wreckage, whipping and grabbing for anything in reach of the epicentre of the... THING!

One poor man was caught in the sloppy appendage and yanked up into the air with a scream!

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Exclaimed

Joe

as shouts from all around rose up.

The man was whipped about as more limbs and gunk continued to appear. Winston panicked and started waving his arms around and yelling.

"'AY! 'AY YOU! Drap DAT MAN! YUH BIG... YUH BIG SNAT-BALL!"

Without even thinking about it, the Serpents Hood power of Taithir kicked in and the giant thing's attention turned to the tiny ferret.

"Oh crap! RUN!"

This ferret could not fight, would not fight, but he could run, hide and... yes... He could HUNT. With that, he bent over, doubled-down on the Serpents Hood by slapping his but and screaming.

"Yuh mumma wus a Jelly-beeeaaan!"

And ran for his life! When hunting something much larger than yourself, you needed an ambush!

"Joe, fly up an' pick a path through de streets dat avoid peepal!"

He asked and Joe shoot up into the air to gain a birds eye view of this place that neither of them knew very well yet. Through the smoke and screams, Joe did his best to avoid the obvious pockets of population.

As he ran, he called out to Prae telepathically once more.

"Dere's a slim KING, THING commin'! HELP! Me es leadin' et away from de peepal! Set-up an AMBUSH an' let me know where tuh take et. Don't take LANG!"

He trusted that Prae would be fast and set about keeping himself alive and the thing distracted.

Using his agility and modest endurance, he ran, hid around corners to catch his breath before leaping back out and yelling if the creature lost interest.

As he went,

he used every trick in his book

, every favour and mark he had been granted to avoid harm and lead the THING toward the ambush with Joe's help and Prae's instruction. Were is not for the bravery given him from the mighty lizard, he was sure he'd have run in total panic, but right now, he ducked dodged and took the occasional splash of slime with a wince and a quick roll or dodge. He was going to have a few burns and bruises, but hopefully he'd make it to the ambush alive.

As he went and the time passed, his favours from the Immorals getting spent, he chomped down on an

Alchemical Chew to harden his skin

once more, to fortify himself and allow him to scramble and scurry with a little more abandone for minor injuries.

When it came time for the trap to be sprung, which he sourly hoped would happen, he used the confusion and surprise to get out of sight, hide and bolster the spirits of the ambushers with Honor's Shield.

Power in Affect

Serpents Hood: To Kite the slime.

Songforged have toughened skin.

Turtle's Skin (Minor) & Turtle Shell - To avoid serious harm.

Catch and Return - To keep it's interest and recover if he gets struck.

Enduring Scales - To avoid harm.

Honor's Shield: To empower the people in the ambush itself.

An Iron Skin Alchemical Chew to top up things.

Actions

Rested.

Got breakfast going.

Reduced the Problin problem by spreading joy.

Kited the Slime to avoid it hitting the populus.

Lead the slime to a location dictated by Prae for an ambush (the ambush itself needs others to make work, I'm just getting it there and buying time).

All template credit, love and admiration goes to Pyrre Ej'qy

[Dandelion]

17 Saun 723

Dan watched as a string of brisk orders broke up the milling crowd of volunteers into effective streams of people hurrying to help where they were most needed, and did his best to remember how it looked. Rosebay was only going to get bigger, and it stood to reason that he too would need to be able to direct volunteer-traffic some day. He ducked his head to the ithecal commander in silent thanks, and then turned to deal with the influx of people sent to help with the shelters.

Some of them he set to cutting the turf blocks with spades, some to stacking the blocks into walls, and some to roofing them with whatever was available, until there were enough shelters for everyone to catch some rest in, providing they took turns. He didn't want to strip away every stretch of grass near Rharne, after all.

He snatched some rest himself, and a meal, and woke to spreading rumours. One of his own, a Rosebay settler who could both sign and understand Common, caught him up on what had happened. The fire was contained and sinking, the tavern had turned from a fireball into a ball of slime, and now that the danger was gone, problins were popping up all over.

Dan remembered problins well enough to know that they looked like weeds when they were growing. Many of the plants he gathered for food - for example, nettles, burdock, and his namesake dandelions - were also weeds, so he had learned to tell the difference. "Maybe," he suggested, the tilt of his shoulders revealing that he was at least half joking, "the problins should be fed to the slime?"

He got a chuckle in response, and a matching, "Maybe."

Looking round more seriously, the cooking was all in hand, shelter was seen to, there were better healers than he was dealing with the hurt and injured - Dan knew enough to bandage a cut or a sprain, to clean up a graze and generally deal with the small hurts and illnesses of living rough, but something like this was beyond him, other than basic triage.

In the end, he tied a wet cloth over his nose and mouth, armed himself with a broom so that he could put out any stray patches of fire that he came across, and went out to help with the clean up. Showme, he told each person who called him over, putting the most useful of his few Common phrases into practice, and followed them to where he was needed. Sometimes that was hammering planks back into place, sometimes that was hauling materials or goods. As he worked, he hummed a long and silly, but popular, tavern ballad to keep the problins away, and heard others take up the tune better than his off-key rendition.

And when a problin shot up next to his foot anyway, Dan lashed out with the flat of the broom, as if it were a quarterstaff, and sent the creature flying head first into the nearest wall.

Actions

Sorted out the shelter helpers

Helped ward off problins with silly popular songs

Lent a hand to wherever his skills are needed in the clean up

"Signed words" Spoken words

[Praetorum]

It really was never ending problems, wasn’t it. Or in this case…

“What do you mean, problins?” Prae groaned, pressing a hand to his eyes.

“Meaning problins, boss,” Valbjorn said gruffly. “Only they don’t seem to like you much. Probably why you haven’t seen them so far—they seem to be staying away.”

Taking in a deep breath, Praetorum tipped his head back, thinking. “Use the glowstones to keep them away from the basecamp. Gather up volunteers in groups of three, plus one defender, to kill all the problins they can find, and gather their remains in a sack. Have a few people dig a few pits some distance from the basecamp, clear out anything flammable from the area, and make fires in those pits that the exterminating groups can empty their sacks into. Have a few armed people minding that fire at all times, alright? Make sure it doesn’t get out of control, make sure it doesn’t die out, and make sure the problin parts don't heal and escape. The last thing we want is problins on fire running around lighting everything up again.”

That would help clear out the existing problins, but it wouldn’t help with the issue of what was attracting them. Returning to base camp, Prae heard someone humming a ditty, which seemed like a good idea. So he sent up a call for a few people to sing and play music around the camp, to keep people’s spirits up. As he did so, Winston alerted him that he was doing the same using the kitchen, and Prae sent back a feeling of approval.

All in all, things seemed to be going smoothly. The problins were annoying, but they could be dealt with. The fire was dying out (aided by the firefighting teams still working in the south east), the people in the camp were for the most part, not panicking, and Ricky and Clarissa had told him through the echo scroll that they were close. To them, he had preemptively given the order to protect the base camp, help where they could, and make people feel reassured. Overall, things seemed like they were looking up.

That optimism lasted all of fifteen bits, before something just had to go ridiculously wrong.

“Of all the irresponsible—” he snarled, before shaking his head furiously. He could seethe about whoever had kept enough spoiled stout to make a slime this big later. Right now, he needed a trap, and fast.

He needed…

Striding into the basecamp, Prae raised his voice into a booming shout. “Anyone who used to live near here, I need to find a building with a large cellar or basement!”

His volume startled a few people, but it wasn’t long before he was quickly told a few options. Invisibly, Aurien shot off towards the buildings he’d been told about, scouting them out to see if any of them were big enough for what Prae was planning.

While his diri located the deepest cellar, Praetorum gathered up a handful of volunteers who were strong, had some knowledge of construction, and were confident in their ability to dismantle a building and floor without hurting themselves. He also gathered those among his defenders who were adept with blunt weapons, and every marked of Ilaren that he could find.

The volunteers gathered up their tools (nails, hammers, crowbars, poles and such alike), and Prae pulled out the holo-com, a plan forming in his mind. “We have a gigantic stout slime to deal with,” he said. “I need copper wire, and a lot of it.”

The wire was promptly transported to him via Chest, and Prae took a spool, and tossed it to his defenders. “Wrap your weapons in this.”

The rest he took with him as he led his volunteers and defenders and Valbjorn towards the building Aurien had chosen. Luckily, it was one that was already partially burned, which would make this slightly easier.

“Dismantle the building,” Prae ordered, “and weaken the floor. I want a cadouri to be able to run across it safely, but for that massive slime to fall through. Once that’s done, check that the basement doesn't have any alcohol in it, and then criss cross these wires along the inside of the basement, as high as you can manage. Use the nails to anchor them to the walls, and keep them taunt. I want this slime to slice itself up when it falls in here.”

With his orders given, Prae ran off to help Winston distract the slime.

Pulling out his

copperhead

, Prae summoned his glaive, and coated the weapon’s head with copper. As he approached the slime, Prae told Winston to shut off his Serpent’s Hood, and then activated it himself, drawing the slime’s attention towards him instead. When the slime grew closer, though, he called for Winston to switch it back on, and turned his off instead.

In this way, he and Winston would hopefully be able to keep the slime moving without either of them ever being in too much danger as it’s attention bounced between them. If the slime seemed like it was going to focus on one of them, though, Prae would attack it directly, only enough to keep them both safe.

All the while, he kept in telepathic contact with Valbjorn, who kept him updated on the progress of the trap. Once the trap was done, Prae gestured for Winston to follow his lead, and started running towards the trap, telling Valbjorn to tell everyone else to retreat and hide.

When he reached it, he would tell Winston to keep Serpent’s Hood up, and run across the weakened floor, while Prae would use Rising Lighting to leap clear over the trap.

Should all go according to plan, the slime would fall into a pit filled with copper wire. If it did not, Prae would circle around and attack it to force it backwards into the pit.

He was well versed enough in combat to ensure that every escape route for the slime save the weakened floor hiding the pit was blocked off.

But Prae knew better than to assume that would be enough. Calling his defenders and the Ilaren marked back to him, Prae ordered his defenders to use their copper wire wrapped weapons to defend themselves and the Ilaren marked, while the marked were told to use all the lightning at their disposal to shock the slime. Prae, bearing

a bracelet

that let him shoot lightning bolts, did so as well, his shield and copper weapon held at the ready to protect anyone from the slime trying to escape.

Spoiler

- Prae ordered for glowstones to be used to keep the camp clear of problins.
- Arranged for groups of 4 (3 volunteers + 1 defender) to kill the problins they can find and toss their remains into fires contained in pits and kept away from anything flammable.
- Inspired by Dandelion, got some volunteers to sing and play music around the camp
- Told his mercenaries (the ones who are approaching the city) to protect the basecamp and help where they can.
- Set up a trap by turning the basement of a burned building into a pit trap, crisscrossed with copper wires nailed to opposite walls and stretched across the room.
- Helped distract the slime with Winston to buy more time for the trap to be made.
- If the slime doesn’t fall in the pit first time Prae will attack it until it falls in. He is using his “Tactical Retreat” capstone to ensure the slime has no other escape route.
- Ordered the slime be blasted with as much lightning as possible when it’s in the pit.

[Perdita Westcott]

Fire in the Dust....

Now that she was closer, she could see that the cadouri was a ferret, not a gerbil. It was a good job, she thought, that he couldn't read her mind. That would be embarrassing and Immortals knew she blushed enough. Anyhow, there was no time to worry about that as she handed over her supplies and Winston told her she was an angel. She smiled at him as he gave his name and she spoke, softly,

"Perdita. Nice to meet you."

It wasn't long before the very large ithecal walked up. It was strange, Perdita thought. He was large and scaly and scary-looking. She expected herself to make noises which largely consisted of vowels and to more or less be rendered usless, but he was comforting. He was in charge and he gave the feeling of security, of knowing what he was doing and of being calm.

She appreciated that.

He asked her to take charge of a bucket line. The idea would have been something that she balked at previously, but now, here, she felt that maybe she could. If Praetorum believed in her, then maybe she could. So, she nodded her head and she made her way to do just that. Perdita was thorough and had excellent attention to detail. That both helped and slowed her down, but Perdita did her best to make sure the bucket line was there. She couldn't shout at people, she knew that, but she remembered something that she'd read. When people were in big boats, they used songs or drums to keep the people rowing in time. That she could do. So, she got the people in the line to sing. It was a simple song, "swish, swish, swish, we need to catch a fish - swing, swing, swing, the bird flies on the wing." She'd heard her mother sing it a hundred hundred times, and that, thankfully, seemed to work.

Perdita worked, and she didn't stop until she had to stop because she was just too tired. She rested when she had to, but she made sure that the bucket line was kept going in her absence. It seemed important to her, because it was her job.

And, of course, things seemed to be going quite well all things considered and so, within a moment, that all changed. She had never seen a problin, didn't know what they were but it was the slime borne of the massive water deluge that was the more important thing. It was vital that they kept the bucket lines going, of course, so Perdita passed on her bucket and the singing of the song that the rest of the line joined in with to the woman behind her and she ran forward.

Why she was running forward as that enormous thing started to form and Winston seemed to be trying to kill himself, Perdita didn't rightly know. She was afraid, absolutely, and she wanted to run away, but Perdita was not going to do that. She didn't know if she'd be much use, but she would do her best or die trying. And the one thing she wouldn't be was the helpless hapless victim who left others to risk themselves while she hid. No. She would help.

Somehow.

And so, she ran up as she heard Praetorum's massive shout and she listened to what he was saying. He wanted copper wire made into a ...

"I can help,"

Perdita said and she moved forward. Of all things, her knowledge of basketweaving was about to come in handy. She knew enough that she knew what to do in order to stop the copper from snapping. .

"Like this, here, weave it back on itself, see?"

She showed people what to do and she worked herself to make sure that the copper wire held where it needed to hold in order to do what Praetorum wanted. Perdita worked as quickly as she could, making sure that the copper wire was laid in such a way that it was strong enough to hold and not simply fall apart at the slime.

She worked as fast as she could and she hoped that it was fast enough. She couldn't fight, but she could do this and if doing this meant that Winston - or anyone else - was saved, then that was what she did.

And once she was sure that it was right, she got out from under there. She didn't want to get squashed but she also didn't leave until it was right and sorted. Fear gripped her but, somehow, she heard Praetorum's voice and she believed that she could.

That they could.

So, she did.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian let out a sigh as she touched down in the shadow quarter and made to speak to the local knights, then turned back to the center of the fire as a very large Stout Slime grew out of where she was relatively sure the Painted Swine was located. She gave that a rather non plussed look as it rose out of the rubble of the fire and grabbed a passing knight. "If the owner of the Painted Swine is still alive, make sure he's detained." she said, her tone calm. She was remarkably certain that the Brightgleam water alone was not going to produce a slime of that size, so they would need to speak to the owner about the dangerous levels of spoiled beer in his basement.

For now, she heard that someone else was taking command in the area, and since she was new to the effort and didn't want to disrupt the ongoing effort, she opted to act on her own for the time being, rather than take command. Jumping into the air with Rising Lighting, Vivian took stock of the situation and decided to focus on getting people away from the slime for the moment. That mostly entailed using Ride the Lightning to keep moving through the air and zapping either its tendrils or the area around the mouth whenever it went to grab someone. She did, however, notice there was an attempt to steer the monstrosity underway and did her best not to interfere with that, instead focused on keeping others from getting nommed by the oversized beer monster.

However, after a bit, she noticed Praetorum and his contingent working on setting a trap for the big slime. Copper channeled electricity very well and would let her and any other Ilaren Blessed channel lightning through the metal to more effectively fry the slime. She kept her effort to keep the slime from grabbing up any civilians, up to the point of dropping down to rescue the Cadouri leading the slime to the trap if she needed to. Once the slime fell in the trap, Vivian used Ride the Lightning to drop down next to Prae without risking injury to anyone around her. Using Elemental Manipulation, Vivian threw bolt after bolt of lightning into the slime. As the Champion of Ilaren, Vivian didn't really have much of a limit on how much lightning she could generate in a short amount of time, just that she could only have two bolts in the air at once.

As they worked at killing the slime, Vivian looked over at Prae. "Sorry I'm late. I've been kinda isolated the past few days. Care to bring me up to speed on what you've got going on down here?" she asked, her tone showing that she was actually rather enjoying the fight against the slime. She did like to fight, but she was still keeping focused on the goal of defeating the slime as soon as possible.