It's About Time, part 2.5: Journey to Tartarus

[no_vampires_plz]

As the three humans, one Hyrulian, one unicorn, and one demon-dog press forward, the character of the woods around them changes. The undergrowth gets denser, the canopy above lets in less light, and the flora in general is much more... exotic than what one usually sees in the woods by the lake.

"Now, I know that the pathway to Tartarus starts somewhere in this general area," says Twilight. "But I don't know of its exact location. It's not something that ponies really want to advertise."

Comments

[basic_powers]

"Are the sides the same width?"

There's a good chance Cerberus could probably crawl or squeeze through if the ceiling continues to get lower.

[fiss84]

"Should we fly ahead and see if it gets smaller?"

[no_vampires_plz]

"It looks like--"

Twilight stops short.

There's no question of why. Everyone's looking up, and everyone else just saw the ceiling move.

Something is crawling along the ceiling of the tunnel. Something so impossibly massive that, were it not moving, it could be (and indeed was) mistaken for the ceiling itself.

[gorgonfondness]

Mia looks up in awe, remaining silent as she watches the gigantic creature move.

She wonders if she should ask Twilight if they should keep quiet and still but decides actually doing so would be counterproductive.

[sky_child]

Link lets out a quiet sound of surprise, his face soon adopting a look of wariness, determination.

(This would also be the part where he automatically pulls out his sword, if he were not too busy carrying a bag of dog food.)

[basic_powers]

"Hgnnnngk."

Moon Shadow is just going to be turning -on- the tazer gauntlet and trying to turtle his helmet between his shoulders.

"What in the great name of the moon and the stars is THAT."

[fiss84]

"That's not fair," 84 whispers as while she's strong and invulnerable, she has no idea how to fight something that large. Barely aware she's doing it though, she looks for eyes or a face, anything that might be a place she could hit and have it matter.

[no_vampires_plz]

"A night-crawler..." Twilight breathes.

The creature shifts its weight, and drops down into the cave in front of the party. It looks like a gigantic millipede with a pitch-black carapace supported by millions of tiny wriggling legs. It rears up in front of them, its mandibles writhing hungrily.

[gorgonfondness]

"Any weaknesses?" Mia asks, muttering to her bag for any available antidotes to get to the top just in case.

[no_vampires_plz]

"I..." Twilght bites her lip. "I don't know."

[sky_child]

Well, if she doesn't know, and if he's the only one here with a sword...

"Someone take this," he says, holding out the bag of food.

[basic_powers]

"84, drop me near Link and grab the jerky, please."

Technically, he has swords, but neither of them have a cutting edge. He can however, provide Link with some support if need be.

[fiss84]

84 does as she's asked while watching the monster. Those pincers are scarey.

[no_vampires_plz]

"Magic won't work on it," Twilight murmurs, backing away and trying to look as small as possible. "They eat magic."

Which means that that the two magic users and their bag of starlights are going to seem mighty tempting.

[gorgonfondness]

Mia instinctively puts a protective arm in front of Twilight, though she joins her in backing up and trying to look small. All the while, she does her best to fight her other instinct, the one telling her now would be a good time for some sort of spell.

"Don't worry," she mumbles, trying to be reassuring. "Our friends are strong."

And it's not like Mia hasn't been a distraction before if it came to that.

[no_vampires_plz]

The night-crawler has no eyes, at least none that are readily visible, but it's clearly focusing its attention on Mia and Twilight. Drool drips from its mandibles as it prepares to strike...

[sky_child]

Sword and shield in hand, Link dashes towards the night-crawler's side. He hadn't seen any obvious weak points near the monster's head, but it's legs...

It can't do much if it has no legs, can it?

In a fast, circular sweep, Link slashes several of the monster's legs at once.

[no_vampires_plz]

The night-crawler shrieks and writhes in pain, knocking its head against the roof of the cavern.

[basic_powers]

Does he even have to tell 84 to guard Twilight and Mia?

No? He's just going to follow Link's lead then and start tazering one of the legs, then, even if the Nightcrawler is bigger than the elephant the tazer was designed for.

[no_vampires_plz]

Unfortunately, electricity is close enough in nature to magic, at least in this universe, to have no ill effects on the night-crawler. On the contrary, the creature sucks the tazer's power greedily into its maw.

[fiss84]

Oh that's not good, 84 thinks fighting panic. Okay, can't freak out, too many people depending on me.

She can't leave Mia and Twilight as then there'd be no one to protect them. If she had something to throw...she darts to the cave wall nearest to them and slams a fist into it to tear off a chunk.

"In coming," she yells as she throws high and away from Link and Moon Shadow.

[no_vampires_plz]

The night-crawler doesn't even seem to notice the rock hitting its carapace. It lunges hungrily at Moon Shadow, trying to get more of the delicious power he fed it with.

[basic_powers]

It's the adrenal glands that trigger the run, not the brain, sadly, their response time wasn't much better.

"!!! MOTHER PU-"

He's...not going to get to finish that line of profanity, the helmet has fully sealed to his head and someone would have to be very close to hear the speakers on his costume through the mandibles currently holding onto him.

Something new to replace the horror of the dragon's mouth incident.

[sky_child]

Yeah, that's not good.

Link could slash away more of the legs, but there's a chance the monster could squeeze its mandibles shut from the resulting pain. And that would be even more not good.

Quickly, he assesses the monster's body, the area by the mandibles--then dashes quickly towards the head, swinging his sword towards the area where the beast's body met with the mandibles.

[no_vampires_plz]

He does not, as one might hope, cut the creature's mandibles off in one blow. However, his sword has found a weak spot in the night-crawler's armor. Moon Shadow falls to the floor, along with a torrent of blue-black blood gushing from the newly-made wound.