[ORP] The Hole

[Astoria]

He had been all excited to see this mysterious hole but had arrived after all the excitement it would seem. And there was something not quite normal at its opening.

Marsh typically liked all things marsh life- but this was something else altogether. And having walked up as it tried to eat whispers did not give a good feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Racing up from the side he reared back and gave a blow at it with his front hooves. He felt a connected and danced away quickly as he wasn’t sure of how fast this thing could react.
Marsh:40
Attack:8
Enemy Life: 81

[Scaramouche Fandango]

This hole was weird. Good for disposing of unwanted things but also just plain weird, what with the way it changed kin and things tossed in. It was obviously magic- extremely magic. Simple Gifts shook her head at the chaos around her- maybe they shouldn't be messing with this hole. Now things were coming out of it that simply should not be, and who knew what else was down there.

"Well that ain't right," she muttered. "Those two halves don't go together." She attempted to kick the thing. It probably needed to go back in the hole.

Simple Gifts HP: 40/50
Electric Treel HP: 74

[lolternative]

Air watched as more kin joined the fray, brows furrowed in worry. Sure, she'd had her fair share of danger - but it was usually traversing the narrow ledge of a rocky cliff side, jumping into caiman-infested waters or wandering a cave system completely in the dark with one eye still partially blind and healing, and a terrible sense of direction.

She rarely, if ever, willingly jumped into battle. But it was quite exciting, the more she watched - everyone was working together to take this thing down and although she wasn't sure it was the right thing - it apparently was the thing that was going to be done. So she sucked in a breath and charged, legs kicking frantically.

The creature packed a punch and she felt a jolt go through her like she'd never felt before - it stung but also kind of surged her on.
Air HP: 40
Damage Done: 3
Treel HP: 71

[phoe]

No Escape HP: 90
Attack: 10 (x2 for legendary)
Enemy HP: 51

No Escape frowned at Will, and then at the hole, whose edges blurred with a bubbling of tar. To No Escape, it smelled like a carcass left to rot in the sun: sweet on the edges, but then a disgusting visceral stench that stuck to the roof of her mouth and inside of her nose.

She shook her head to clear it, and that's when the thing, the treel, the abomination, made it up out of the hole. Instantly she was on it with a decisive strike of her front hooves.

[phoe]

Beetleshell was not a fighter. She was a researcher, keen to observe and document. Like her insects, violence sent her finding shelter away from the scene. Preservation was paramount. She couldn't continue her studies if she was injured or incapacitated, and who would take care of her insects?

Her wasp, on her back, buzzed angrily at the treel and at the strange scent wafting out of the hole, its abdomen rising to present the stinger. She didn't even notice it posturing, her gaze fixed in equal parts fascination and terror as she slipped out of the way, sticking close to the poor zikwa who the whole had spat out.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Simple Gifts HP: 30/50
Electric Treel HP: 42

Simple Gifts took no joy in hurting the... whatever it was. It just needed to go back in the hole. Would this make the strange stag mad? Possibly. Would this make the hole mad? Also a distinct possibility. As it crackled like lightning, she winced as the energy surged around her hooves. She was strong, she could take it- and better her and the others trying to drive it back than it hurting somebody a bit more fragile.

She looked to the mare who'd done such a decisive blow. "That was a solid hit. It's looking a bit... weaker now, don't you think? I kinda feel bad for it, but it needs to go back in the hole."

[phoe]

There was no joy in this entire experience. Maybe there had been once, at the discovery of something new, but it had proven tainted irreparably by the Other. The other kin, Will, with the shadow tentacles, seemed pleased by this -- she had a feeling he had aligned himself willingly with the other. His decision wasn't her problem right now; this treel was. Her hooves were still tingling from its electric shock as she looked grimly to Simple Gifts. "I don't think it's going to go willingly," she remarked. "But it has no place here. It has to go back."

No Escape HP: 80
Attack: 12 (6 x2 for legendary)
Enemy HP: 30

[Muffinsbaby]

Though she was loathe to touch it again based on the nasty feeling it gave her, she still thrilled in the fight as others joined in.

She did hesitate a moment, though, at the mare's words, and frowned. Her ears twitched as she thought it over and began to feel kinship with this creature. Who are they to decide that bit doesn't belong. Plenty of violent things roamed the Swamp, and they were welcomed by the blessed Motherfather. Even her, though welcomed was not a word she'd describe herself with.

Before further confusing herself with existentialism, she chose to rely on what she DID know: violence. She lunged toward the creature deciding to bite. Maybe the shock would lock her jaw and make it hurt more?

Unlife HP: 30
Attack: 4
Enemy HP: 26

[Scaramouche Fandango]

"Careful!" Simple Gifts said, alarmed that somebody would choose to put their mouth on the poor unfortunate hybrid. "It's like lightning, or something. It'll hurt you as much as you hurt it, if not more. And there's so many, uh. Squishy bits on your head, like your eyeballs. Lightning shouldn't go in your eyes. You ok there, miss?"

She shook her head, ears ringing. "I think I can maybe hit this thing one more time, but after that, I'm gonna have to sit out." She looked to the mare again. "Even if it doesn't go willingly I think between the lot of us, it's going to go. Gotta wonder though, what brought it here in the first place? What is this hole? I've never seen anything like it. You're one of the Motherfather's chosen- have you ever seen such a phenomenon?" She struck out at the creature with her hooves again. It was looking pretty pathetic at this point.

Simple Gifts HP: 20/50
Electric Treel HP: 20

[Muffinsbaby]

Once she could, she staggered back. She shook her head and blinked those squishy bits rapidly to clear the stars now clouding her vision. She heard someone ask if she was okay, but couldn't see who. Spitting out oily flesh, she replied, "It hurts the same, hoof or teeth, might as well use what you can."

She gave a gory, feral grin toward the voice and took up a defensive stance until her vision cleared and she could tell where the creature was.

[LOLLI qAq]

For a split second Totem thought she could smell cake again. Well, cake that wasn't her.
And then Some Thing came out of the hole. She couldn't see it, but it smelled wrong and she definitely heard it try to eat someone.

Nope.

No, thanks.

She side-stepped away from the hole and the sudden fight. This was for someone else. Literally anyone else.
But Good Dog had other ideas. He let out a howl and then Totem felt him take off past her.

She chased after him blindly and lashed out at anything that smelled bad in the hopes it was the hole monster. Again, not because she wanted to fight it ... but she couldn't let her dog attack or eat something it shouldn't.

Totem: 40
Treel: 13

[phoe]

"There are two sides to the Swamp," No Escape said, pausing for a moment to catch her breath and explain. "The normal swamp as we know it, with the Motherfather overseeing. And then there is -- the Other, the space between the obelisks, where nothing obeys any laws and nothing makes sense. Anything you can think of can happen, but it's -- twisted. Not right. Like this thing," she said, striking the treel again and wincing as its body squelched uncomfortably under her hooves. The shock was worse this time, like its blood was also charged.

Simple Gifts HP: 70/100
Attack: 1 (+1 for legendary)
Electric Treel HP: 18

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Simple Gifts HP: 10/50
Electric Treel: 5

Simple Gifts shook her head. "Yeah, but your eyes. You only get two of those!" Which, uh, might have been insensitive to the acha who'd been in the hole, come to think of it, but there was no time to think about that too hard, the hole creature was charging. Literally, it seemed to be charging. She kicked at it again, hoping to hit it hard.

"So this hole... leads to the same place you go when you travel between? I've never actually been near one of the obelisks myself, mind. I've just heard about them. I know there's a lot that's not exactly... understandable in the swamp. Like what spectral animals are, for instance. But if this is what's between- how are the obelisks safe? What else is down there, or... out there?" She winced hard as lightning spiraled invisibly up her leg. "I don't think I can do this anymore. Somebody else needs to finish it."

[LOLLI qAq]

Totem struggled to hear the conversation over the fight, but she kind of shook her head. The obelisks meant freedom. Without them she'd still be stuck to her mother's anxious side; never knowing about the world beyond their tribe. But always wondering and longing.

"I've never had any problems with traveling in the obelisks," Totem called out, "and it's not like I don't particularly look like fair game."

She knew that, in fact, she definitely looked like an easy mark.

Off to her side she heard Good Dog yelp, but the kind of yelp that meant he also had something in his mouth.

"Good Dog, you let that go!"

She tried her best to shove between her wolf and the creature with her shoulder.

The squishy sound that followed felt ... Bad. But Good Dog let go, and the hole creator had stopped moving.

... "Is. Is it dead?"

She wasn't sure what she was going to do if the answer was yes.

Totem: 30
Treel: 0, I think now

[Dizzy_Kat]

Those who wanted to change the world? Speed felt his heart race. He wanted the world to be a kinder place. More like home in the caves where regardless of interpersonal struggles, everyone worked together toward the good of all. Up here, that wasn't always the case and at times it hurt to see small things explode into irreparable rifts.

At the thought of home a pang of homesickness hit him. He could smell it. Soft damn earth, the musky scent of his favorite mushrooms and the tang of the waters, so different from that on the surface. Then Chaos.

"Wait!!" Speed Racer cried as something that smelled too much like home crawled out of the earth and kin started attacking it. "STOP!" He shouted again before charging forward and trying to bodily block the attacks on the creature. He couldn't see. He didn't know who or what he might have hit, but real, visceral fear of every kin around him surged. He could even hear Totem's voice in the mix, replying to some conversation he was too panicked to hear.

Literally anyone can be body checked by Speed Racer if they want or it can remain unknown