RP:Mosasaur Mandible Mishaps And Misadventures

Part of the The Day I Tried To Live Arc

Summary: After a bit of planning, a group comprised of Khitti, Brand, Meri, and Brand's first mate, Onyx, set out to get the leviathan fang that Khitti needs for her cure. Turns out, though, that Khitti's bad luck follows her as usual and that leviathan is not quite a fish. Can things possibly get any worse than just having to get a massive aquatic monster's tooth?! You bet Jurassican.

The Tranquility, The Rynvalian Sea

Whenever Brand and Meri decided that they’d healed enough after the ordeal with the mermaids (*coughs awkwardly* yeah, sorry guys), they’d be off on the Tranquility to the deeper parts of the Rynvalian sea. On the way, Khitti’d gather the three (yes three! Onyx was sent for as well, weirdly enough) and herd them into the situation room. There they’d find a map sprawled out across the table with three points marked on it, all very close to each other. While the two humans were on the mend, and simultaneously neglecting her own injuries as usual, the redhead had been doing a bit of research--a lot more than she’d done for the mermaids. She wasn’t as excited for this, her mood clearly somber, her tone rather serious.

“So. I did some research, talked to some people. Here is vhere zhere’s been leviathan sightings. Problem is zhat it’s come to reside inside a cavern--or at the very least, zhat’s vhere it makes its home.” She points at the the first of the three spots on the map, indicating the cavern itself before moving on to the next point, “Here is vhere it makes its escape into zhe ocean presumably. Zhere’s divers and vhat not going zhrough zhis area occasionally to scavenge ships. And here--” Khitti points to the last dot “--is vhere I need you to open up a spot large enough for us to get zhrough, Brand. Nothing major. Ve vant to try to do zhis as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, zhere’s going to be of a pressure change after zhe hole is opened, so maybe Meri can slow it down a bit vith her abilities?” Khitti would look to Meri for confirmation, and regardless of her answer, would continue on with her explanation. “I imagine zhis zhing is going to be huge. So, ve’re going to put it to sleep.”

With that said, Khitti finally turns to Onyx, who was probably not very pleased to be here, let alone having to listen to Khitti--and Khitti was none too happy to have them here either. “I need your help. You’ve clearly got skill vith a bow or else you vouldn’t have tried to shoot me vith it.” Yeah, she didn’t forget that, you stupid jerk. “And, if your sort of undead are anything like vampires, I imagine you’ve probably got a bit of strength, even in zhat form. I vant to pin it down, zhe two of us vould have to shoot rope across zhe top of it--something like hunters vould do vith bigger game. On top of zhat, ve’ll need to shoot a bit of poison into it too. Zhat mixed vith my ice arrows should slow it down enough to get vhat ve need vithout killing it. Now, you can either come villingly as I’m asking so nicely and put zhis stupid feud zhat I don’t even vant to be a part of to rest or since I’m zhe one paying you lot, I can ask Brand to order you to do it. It shouldn’t take us long, so someone else can be in charge for a bit. But, regardless, I -need- you.” After that was said and done, Khitti’d sigh and shake her head, “Anyone have any suggestions? Questions? Concerns?”

It honestly would not take -too- long for Meri to mend, thanks to a combination of things like Khitti'a assistance, Brand's ice cast, and her own accelerated healing abilities. She was not a healer, mind you, but that is neither here nor there. Sabrina understands. Meri is in fairly decent shape by the time that they are all three herded into the situation room. Brand and Khitti are both greeted with a nod while Onyx...Well Meri was still not very happy with that one after their last encounter so Onyx just gets this brief, unamused look. That look is not pinned upon Onyx for long for Khitti begins to speak of her plan and a bit of a smirky-look is shared with Brand. That does not last long either because she does not want Khitti to witness it! Somethingsomehtinghalf-bakedplansethingsomethingdowewanttonmakebetsonhowthisgoes?

The first third of what Khitti explains is no new news to Meri, they have already established that part of the reason she is here is her familiarity with the island. Khitti gets a shrug in response to Meri's part of the plan. Would she be able to stabilize pressure? It does stand to reason that it is something that falls within her own abilities. "Only one way to find out if I can do that or not." Meri had questions, numerous questions, but none of them are actually voiced because they are just hypotheticals of running mind. So what if we can't pin it down? What if the poison does not take? What if Brand picks the completely wrong spot to open up and they are greeted by a damn leviathan straight out the gate before Meri has the chance to even try and stabilize anything? Of course Meri fully acknowledged that there was not too much of a point in delving too deeply into the what-ifs. Even the best laid plans....

Onyx peers down their nose at the contents of the table, a vague frown lining their features. Go figure that they can make any action seem condescending, even one so simple as looking at a map. Quite the feat for a person short enough to fit in with the halflings.

Brand, too, seems skeptical. “I dunno, peach, there’s a lotta variables here. Do we know when it sleeps? Has anyone even poisoned a gorram leviathan before? Do we know how much to dose it with?” They’re called leviathans for a reason, Khitti. Because they’re frakkin’ huge.

“Your plan is faulty.” Leave it to Onyx to cut straight to the point. Brand clearly isn’t finished with his questions, but he falls silent as the ‘child’ speaks. Onyx’s beady eyes move from the map to pierce through whatever passes for Khitti’s soul. (Because, to Onyx’s mind, a necromancer clearly cannot possess a soul. One negates the possibility of the other.) “The leviathan, like most sea creatures, possesses the ability to detect minute changes in pressure, current, and the natural vibrations of other living things -- and even undead, if we’re moving. You’d never get close enough to poison it, much less tie it down, without it knowing you’re there and acting accordingly. As if we're a threat. Because as far as it knows, that's what we'd be.” Their gaze latches onto Meri now, blinking only sparingly and as if through conscious effort. “That’s not a comment on your capabilities or lack thereof. Just stating facts, miss. It isn’t possible. If you're lucky with this plan, the leviathan chews before it swallows and your death is a quick one.” Their eyes locked back onto Khitti. “If you're -lucky-. But… depending on what it is you need, I may have another solution.” Did that little bastard dare to look smug? Yep. They sure did.

Okay, this was not the sort of reaction Khitti was hoping for. Why is it that when she -actually- -really- does do her research there’s still always some sort naysaying? Well, to be fair, Onyx was expected--or maybe she was too hopeful that they’d drop their hatred of her (sorry Khitti)--so them, combined with Brand and Meri was a bit of a blow. But, really, of course Meri’s gonna be skeptical… and Brand -always- questions her plans (which isn’t that bad because he’s a bit more knowledgeable with stuff like this)...but Onyx.

Oh, Onyx. You’re not only the icing on the cake for all of the negativity, but you’re the entire cake too. An entire drama, hate, and vitriol-filled cake coated in a smugness and deceit frosting that was made of dirt and all things bad instead of sweet, glorious sugar. It took Khitti quite awhile to register the fact that she’d snapped the pencil she’d used to make the marks on the map in two. That rage of hers--the one that’d been present in the Shadow Plane when she killed Amarrah--was suddenly back again. She could only stare at Brand’s first mate in silence, that pencil snap heard by all but the vampiress as verdant eyes bore into the undead in front of her. Would Brand get mad if she killed one of his crew? It’s not like Onyx didn’t have it coming to them.

The change on Khitti’s countenance is obvious. She’d very clearly gone from a super serious business-like mood to ‘I’m legit going to rend you limb from limb in front of everyone and I don’t care who sees it’. It’s that smug look of the theirs that reminds Khitti all too much of that grin Amarrah had given her just before Khitti ripped her heart out and… gods’, she could be like Larewen and start a collection of hearts. Khitti did ever so much like that story about the girl and the White Rabbit and the Queen of Hearts. Once Onyx was finished with their spiel, it took a whole hell of a lot to come back from wanting to kill the little wretch, but Khitti managed -somehow-. “I need its fangs. Probably just one depending on how big they are.” The redhead was calm about this. -Too- calm. “Just know, zhat if ve go ahead vith your plan, Onyx, and it somehow manages to get zhem hurt or killed, I’m going to rip out your spine and turn you into a xylophone.” She was serious. -Dead- serious (lol). But, like, what better way for her to take that first full step into bard-dom than by making an instrument out of bones, amirite?

Of course Meri was skeptical, I mean she was just a human. At least her skepticism was kept mostly to herself, outside of that attempted shared look with Brand. It's not even that Meri meant the look meanly. It was a combination of 'oh Khitti' and 'you know your woman'. Both Khitti and Onyx are given ample room to speak before Meri chimes in. "I can't imagine that we know when the dang thing sleeps. It is different than casing Jimmy's place out for a little breaking and entering." As Onyx had charmingly pointed out, the leviathan was probably far more in tune with its environment than the Jimmy's of the world. It had to be. Survival of the fittest, that did not mean that Onyx's approach sat well with Meri. Nor Khitti, judging from the way that pencil is snapped. "You tell me about that time some plan you cooked up went one hundred percent as detailed, with no changes, additions or the need to think on the fly...And I will look you dead into the depths of your soul and tell you not to tell me no fisherman's tale."

Meri shrugs slightly as she continues on, it could turn into a long winded rant (moreso) but she tries to keep it to the point, leaving out a few colorful words just to keep things amiable. Ish. "That plan of Khitti's is not a perfect plan, no. It is a plan though, it could be worse. I think it could be tweaked. Like. It would be better if we did not use rope, because hell yes that is going to snap like...We can't catch yellowfin tuna with five pound fishing line." Some fisherman out there probably swears they have done this, probably. Mhm. Evidence please. "I don't know if I could control any pressure changes quickly enough to not draw attention. Maybe...but it would have to be executed perfectly and I have never done it before. And we don't have time for me to go out and have a trial and error session. Which means it would be alerted straight out the gate potentially. Probably. Knowing our luck. That is how it goes, right? Anyway. Let's hear this plan of yours and I suppose the lot of us can figure out what we would rather do. Our lives on the damn line too."

Brand saw that look of Meri’s earlier, but it’s far safer for him to pretend that he didn’t. Khitti has some weird-ass psychic abilities, man -- and not of the ‘Meri can move things with her mind’ variety. Khitti has more of a ‘spidey senses for when she’s being smack-talked’ thing going on, even when it’s not given voice. If he looks back at Meri, she’ll know. Somehow. So he’s very, very careful not to.

Onyx, on the other hand, seems to stare holes into everyone. The sparse blinking doesn’t help. The Captain is studiously observing an errant knot in the wooden table rather than taking sides in this matter, which earns him a longer stare than the rest. Hmph. Fine. Don’t need your backup anyway, you useless bosh’tet. “Leviathan teeth, then. And you want to do this without killing the creature?” A necromancer -cares- whether she kills the creature or not? Curious. Onyx will log that nugget away to muse over later. “Not the -best- reagent to require, but I’ve gathered it’s far from the worst on your list.”

Brand still seems very, very interested in that one spot on the table, perhaps even more so than before. He’s rubbing a finger across the nub of it and appears to be wholly tuned out of the conversation. Onyx rolls dark eyes before fixing them on Khitti. “You’re not wrong to note my skill in archery -- but what I excel at is something more akin to illusion magic. I suppose, to fetch a tooth, I could craft a lure so hard its teeth actually chip when it is bit down upon. I could trick it into --”

“Copies.” The word is Brand’s, and it cuts into what surely would have been some self-important monologue of All of the Ways Onyx is Better Than You at Everything. It seems he’s paying attention after all, and doesn’t want to hear the full lecture any more than anyone else. “If you’re an illusionist, it shouldn’t be hard to make copies of us or of at least yourself, yeah? Clones. Mirrors. Whatever-the-frak you call ‘em. We can go with Khitti’s plan, and if the thing wakes up you can distract it with copies so it eats the wrong thing. Distract it long enough to be frozen or put to sleep again or properly tied down.” There. Everyone gets a piece of their ego in on the gorram plan, right? Sheesh.

Onyx chews on the thought as if it’s a particularly bitter candy. “...I suppose.”

It’s really more that everything is always Khitti’s fault anyway? So, she’s just naturally used to the fact that everyone’s going to disagree with anything she’s done or came up with or said. It’s just -the way things are-. Even before Lithrydel, all the way across the ocean in Dhavislaav. You know, it’s like one of those laws of nature: ‘Whatever can go wrong will go wrong and it’s all Khitti’s fault’.

Khitti finally tore her attention away from Onyx and mulled over Meri’s good point. Rope wasn’t gonna work. Her line of sight was soon pulled back to the undead though with a smirk, “No. I’d rather it not be dead. It’s not its fault it just happened to be on zhe list.” See? Khitti really did care. Just, you know, not about you Onyx, you motherfrakking jerk. “And, Meri’s right. So, nix zhe rope. Ve could freeze it instead. Part of it. Can’t freeze it’s head, of course, or zhere’ll be no point to any of zhis. Brand’s better vith ice magic zhan I am, but I could shadowstep into zhe cavern and at least get it pinned down, zhen you guys come in, and Brand reinforces it.” Okay, it’s more like Brand was a billion times better at ice magic that she was, but she wasn’t gonna fawn over his skills in front of everyone.

The redhead sighed heavily, rubbing at her eyes frustratedly, “Maybe nix zhe poison too. Zhere’s no telling if ve can even pierce its scales.” The more they collectively picked at her glorious plan, the more it fell apart, and the more embarrassed she got for even voicing it. “Meri...how long can your magic--whatever it is--hold? Do you zhink you could force its jaws open? Even for a few minutes? I imagine the cavern might be large enough zhat you don’t need to be right up next to it, if zhis zhing sleeps in zhere. Ve could help force it open as much as ve need vith ice too.” There’s another moment of silence from the vampiress before she finished her thought, “And if you zhree stick together, Onyx could mask your presence--if they’re able to do zhat.” That would mean that Khitti’d be out in the open, as she meant to get that tooth herself. It’s entirely possible that she could get eaten. Wouldn’t Onyx just love that?

Well it's not that Meri was trying to smack-talk, at least not meanly. She'd probably say these things to Khitti's face too, as if the redhead was ever going to put these adventures behind her fully. 'do you remember that time you tried to feed me to the mermaids' and etc will probably always be comments Meri is going to make. The fact that she is willing to start teasing and giving Brand and Khitti crap just means that Meri likes you guys, aaawee. Maybe it was better when she was just that chick in the back of the warrior's meetings keeping all quiet and to herself? Suckers.

All of these plans and ideas were being thrown around, Khitti may feel embarassed and to some extent Meri did not blame her. Some critics in the room were harsher than others, jokes about half-baked plans aside. "Copies." Meri could see the use in those tricky illusions. That is really the only indication that she is on board with that much. "I'm game with this new plan of Khitti's." She was trying to give the woman some credit for her efforts, you see. "I would bring the poison anyway. Maybe we can't pierce the scales but...does it have to be applied that way? What if it was shot on the inside of its mouth just after we forced the jaws open? I would frankly feel more comfortable attempting it anyway." Especially since it sounded like Khitti meant to swim right up into its jaws. "I can promise that I can force the jaws open but how long I can keep them open. I am sorry there are just too many things for us to consider." Like one simple distraction could break the concentration of the psion and then those jaws would snap close so fast and in a rage.

"Even if we were able to successfully administer the poison not by shooting it's scales but with a shot in the mouth..." Her gaze travels to Brand now, the man in charge of reinforcing the ice. "...I think we should put a failsafe in there just in case." As much as they could. "An icy toothpick...toward the back of the jaws, one on each side..." A toothpick may not be the -best- word for what Meri wants, that does not sound sturdy at all. It was just the best description she could think of to provide -- plus they were talking about jaws and so toothpick was the first word that came to mind. "Not toward the front? I think the nearer to the hinge of the jaw and the muscles there we can get these...ice pillars...the harder it will be for the leviathan to use those muscles. Just in case something goes wrong and I can't keep the jaw open." At least Khitti will have a little bit of time to not get eaten? Or Meri may have a moment to regain concentration and her hold on the leviathan too?

Icy toothpicks and illusion crafting and fang pilfering, oh my. “Sounds like a plan,” says Brand, cutting in quickly enough that Onyx can’t create any further trouble. “I think we’ve worked out most of the obvious kinks, yeah? We wanna get to moseyin’ now while we’ve still got sunlight?” The Catalian raps his knuckles on the table before pushing away from it and taking a few steps toward the exit. Clearly, he’s raring to go, still thinking aloud as he moves. “We’ll give Dozla command while we’re gone. She oughta know how to manage things well enough to sit anchored for a spell.” Dozla is a dark-haired, dark-skinned woman best known among the crew for being a prankster with a hearty laugh, a heartier appetite, and a head full of stories. The stories get taller every time she tells them, but that hasn’t stopped her from befriending most of the crew -- even the superstitious ones generally distrustful of the womenfolk.

Onyx, of course, hates her; Onyx probably hates all things Fun. It makes them a good First Mate, someone to balance out Brand’s more… impulsive style of leadership, but it means their opinion of Dozla is about as high as their opinion of Khitti. And so it is that Onyx’s demeanor curdles even further. “Are you -certain- that’s wise?”

Brand whips around in the door frame, glinting eyes locked on Onyx’s displeased squint. “I’m certain, with both of us gone at once, she’ll rearrange the cutlery drawers n’ claim all the spoons turned into knives. I’d rather she didn’t have time for any further shenanigans -- wouldn’t you?” Onyx doesn’t appear to have an immediate retort to this, so Brand continues: “Besides, I need to train a backup mate in case you end up as fish chow.” And with that, he’s turned the corner, off to issue commands and get the Tranquility where it needs to go.

Once Brand was out of the room, Khitti would push past Onyx and exit behind the Catalian. Of course, she didn’t hesitate to make a rather unlady-like face at the undead, her tongue sticking out as she pulled down the bottom lid of her right eye. “Yeah, maybe you’ll end up as fish food, Onyx. Zhat vay I don’t have to put up vith your frakking attitude anymore.” Onyx will probably tattle to Brand later, but right now Khitti was gonna be as petty as the kid-that’s-not-a-kid. It was worth it.

Wave Crash Cave, Rynvale

Because this is a game and things are conveniently timed because it’s necessary that we don’t lose our minds completely, they’d arrive near the cavern not long after they finished with their little group discussion. Some vials of sleep-inducing poison were handed off to each member of the away team (here’s to hoping Onyx is wearing their red shirt) and thankfully, there’d still be that bloodlink between Khitti and Brand because once they were close enough, she’d be the first to jump off the side of the ship. “You might want to have zhem take zhe ship a bit away. Just in case if zhe leviathan decides to come out of zhe cavern. Ve can always shoot off a couple fireballs to get zheir attention vhen ve’re ready,” she’d say before heading over the side and into the ocean. Onward the Khat swam, the occasional shadowstep used to get her further ahead. It wouldn’t take her long to get there, and without waiting for the other three to catch up, she’d portal her way into the cavern. [Oh. It’s… um. It’s bigger than what I thought it’d be.] That’s what she said, Khitti. That’s what she said.

Unfortunately for Khitti, two things were quickly realized: 1. the leviathan was situated in such a way that its snout was no more than a few feet in front of her and 2. it wasn’t a fish--it was a motherfrakking dinosaur. A mosasaur, in fact. [Brand. It’s not a fish. It’s not a fish at all.] She actually sounded a little frightened. She’d relay her intentions to the Catalian over their link; how she was going to try to freeze its mouth until the captain, his first mate, and the psion got in the cavern and got to the small bit of dry land on the inside. Likely a miracle, the beast was asleep for the moment, but wouldn’t be for long as Khitti’s dark ice began to collect around its ridiculously long snout. Before Khitti could do anything to prevent it, the dinosaur awoke and began to struggle, bashing its huge form into the nearest wall and shaking this part of the island. On the outside, where Brand, Meri, and Onyx would be, bits of the cliff would break off and fall and a decidedly not good rumble would ripple through the ocean.

So last mission there was this thought from someone, Khitti probably, that she wished Meri had some sort of psychic link. It is good that no such thing was established because Meri would be very dismayed if she was looped in on present thoughts. Oh Khitti. Meri could do without any that's what she said moment's for this run. And yes, of course it is not a fish. She would not be pleased, not be pleased at all. Good thing Meri is oblivious as this plan is enacted. Meri would follow Khitti, giving her time to take care of her part of things -- as in the sneaking in and trying to freeze the beast into place while the other three followed made their entrance shortly after. Brand was given time to create the opening in the cave for them, should they even need it with the way that the beast's trashing about caused bits of the cliff to crumble. Hopefully they would not be crumbling any where near them but if they were this would be something that Meri would be able to assist with.

The trio make their way inside only to be greeted with the beast that they are faced with. Meri knew this thing was going to be huge, and she also knew it was not a fish, but still...now that it was right in front of her she could not help but give pause just a little bit. Not for long though, no one in the party could afford for any amount of inaction on the part of any person involved in this hunt. Meri knew that. Onyx had their role. Brand had his role. Khitti would be looking to jump to action on her role...yanking some teeth out...and to do that she was counting on Meri to get a pair of jaws open and most importantly, keep them open. As soon as all of the parts and pieces began to fall into place, Meri would do exactly as Khitti bid. The leviathan jaws would be opened. If...all of the parts and the pieces fell into place.

Getting in isn’t the hard part. Nor is masking the exact positions of those vulnerable humans -- not that there was much point. With the element of surprise already lost and the giant fish-dino-thing already thrashing around somewhat, Onyx does not see the point in wasting energy on stealth for themselves. Instead, they stand on the bit of land available to them in the cave, stick to the wall, and try to stay out of harm’s way as much as possible. This illusion work requires active concentration to maintain, which isn’t going to happen if Onyx is dodging falling rocks and dino tail every five seconds. Meanwhile, Brand and Meri are able to see each other, and Khitti can see both -- it’s only the leviathan’s perception being messed with.

Building those “ice toothpicks” isn’t the hard part, either. Between Khitti’s dark ice and Meri opening the jaw, Brand’s job is simple enough. As he’s done a thousand times before, the Catalian melds ice with stone, reinforcing the pillars propping the great thing’s mouth open. For good measure, these creations cast a dim glow, illuminating those many sharp teeth.

No. The hard part is waiting for the inevitable ‘catch’. Other than Mr. Dino not quite being a fish, and continuing to flail about as much as it’s able, this all seems to be going rather swimmingly (pardon the pun). But Brand’s skeptical. It’s not possible that they simply formulated a plan and then it actually worked, right? That’s never how it goes. [You better get in and get out fast,] is Brand’s advice to Khitti. It’s not like he’s worried about her or anything. Of course not! That’d be silly. It’s not like she’s particularly prone to close brushes with death or anything.

With everyone else doing what they’re supposed to, Khitti’s able to climb up into that ridiculously large mouth of the dino and looks around for the perfect tooth. No, not that one. Not that one either. And this one has a cavity! Sheesh, doesn’t this thing ever brush its teeth or see a dentist?! Are dinosaur dentists even a thing?

Then, amongst the rows of fangs, she finds a good one. The best one, even. It’s huge. Yuuuuge. The redhead peers down at it, thinking over the best possible way to pull it out. It’s not like she brought a comically large pair of pliers with her. She probably should have. Well! When all else fails… you kick it! So she did. There’s a few stomps with one foot given, Khitti’s booted appendage creating a few small cracks, but nothing much. It did, however, cause that not-a-fish beast to let out quite the roar. The howl of pain rattled the vampiress quite a bit, dazing her and leaving her ears ringing as she stumbled a little, trying to get her bearings again. This was probably not good.

And because life, uh, finds a way… to kick Khitti when she’s already down, the mosasaur summons up all of its strength and tried squirming again. You see, the thing about these types of reptiles is that they’re rather a bit like snakes; the main thing being that its jaw is double-hinged. This wasn’t exactly something that any of them would’ve thought of sadly and soon, it unhinged the lower portion of its mouth, and crunched down on the icy-earthy pillars and a Khitti. Once again, things were not going according to plan.

So there Khitti was in the mouth of DAMN LEVIATHAN and taking her sweet time. Did she want this tooth? No. Did she want that tooth? No. Khitit, we are not shopping for damn dresses, okay? PICK A TOOTH. Obviously Meri is not actually voicing any of these thoughts but her expression was making it obvious that she was starting to lose her patience. Hi Khitti. This was hard work over here, just trying to keep the mouth of a leviathan open. It's not like there are currently exerting ??? pounds of pressure in resistance of having it's jaw held open by some unseen force. Between her irritation and the howl of pain that that soon echos in the cavern, Meri's concentration -may- lapse just a little bit for just a little second (so sorry Brand, she is like taking her sweet time right now. She like wants to be snake food. She is making this impossible to avoid). This may or may not contribute to the beasts ability to unhinge it's jaw so that it can crush those ice pillars and exact revenge on Khitti.

Fortunately Meri does manage to regain that telekinetic hold on the seamonster's jaws but there is really little that she could do outside of trying to keep the jaws from -not shutting- despite the lack of support she wanted. Granted this was a highly important job, one that she would not forsake just to go run and jump into the mouth of a leviathan to help Khitti yank a tooth out. No. Meri would hold her ground but it was clear she was fighting a losing battle on keeping those jaws open on her own. It circles back to that bite force of those jaws that Meri was trying to keep open. Someone needed to do something to help Khitti because slowly but surely, inch by inch, the beasty was winning this battle against the psion. It will eat Khitti. It must eat Khitti. She put herself in the best position to make this happen. By just looking at her it would be hard to notice, she's a psion and not a mage so it may even be difficult to sense, but Meri was bordering on mental over-exertion. Hurry up, Khat! Or maybe do something crazy Brand. Or Onyx. Onyx do something crazy though? Did not strike Meri the sort, but maybe.

--

This is -really- not the time to be gazing on in horror, Brand. You ought to be doing something. Anything. Just… for frak’s sake, Brand, you’re not exactly helpless and this is far from the first time you’ve seen a comrade meet near certain doom. No? …

Brand.exe is not responding. The program may respond again if you wait. End process? Y / N

… In actuality, almost no time has passed at all before Onyx takes the reins that Brand has let momentarily slack. The illusion crafting that prevents the leviathan from seeing Brand and Meri dissipates, since the reason for stealth has been lost anyhow. In its stead, Onyx crafts a thick cloud of what appears to be oil or ink, situated right on top of the creature’s face. The dino is clearly irritated, not unlike a person trying desperately not to sneeze. A cry raises in a rumbling, deafening crescendo, shaking the walls of the cave until, with a few sharp staccatos, the leviathan… coughs. At least, there isn’t a better way to describe what happens when suddenly Khitti and a gush of polluted water are being spewed out from the creature’s mouth, completely bowling over the stunned Brand. Did she at least get the damn tooth out? Because he hit that wall pretty hard and miiiight be unconscious now. Lovely.

Onyx speaks in a language that doesn’t translate to anything known to Lithrydel, but by their tone it’s pretty clearly cursing. They’re probably lamenting the day they agreed to serve as First Mate to one so [long string of expletives] useless as Captain Brand is today. But hey, he can’t be the one to save Khitti’s ass -every- time.

Thanks to Onyx’s efforts, Khitti was spewed out into a heap on top of her poor boyfriend, covered in dinosaur snot and spit and hey! There’s a tooth! Well, rather, large chunks of a few different of them anyway. Seems chomping down on that fusion of rock and ice that Brand had made was not a good idea. But, dinosaurs are also not always very smart.

Recovered somewhat finally, she crawled off of Brand, grabbed one of the bits of fang, shoved it into her pocket, then set to trying to wake up the captain, “Brand. Hey. You gotta vake up, okay?” She pulled him forward a little, careful to not hurt him further, then summoned up a thin layer of ice along her hand, and placed it on the back of his hand. “Brand… please.” Khitti was certainly worried, and it was starting to show.

“Onyx.” The redhead turned to address the other undead as she continued to deal with the blonde next to her. “Please get Meri out of here. I can’t help zhem both right now. -Please-.” She’d maybe thank them later for saving her, if she found out it was indeed them that did the saving, or maybe not. Only time would tell if things went right back to normal between the two unliving beings.

Ew. Khitti got puked up by a dino. Or did she get snotted out? What were Brand and Khitti covered with right? Meri almost sits there in shock mulling over just what it is the two might be covered in right now because GROSS. Was it slimy? Sticky? Did it smell? Does snot smell? Oh right. They need to leave, good thinking Khitti. How Meri manages to avoid getting caught up in that yucky messy is no mystery, she backed the hell away from Brand and Khitti with a quickness. Which meant she was nice and conscious, making Onyx's job all the easier. The look Onyx gets when Khitti tells them to get her out of the cave is a death look because like hell will Onyx be allowed to pick Meri up so that she can be hauled out of the cave. No. Meri would show herself out this time, thank you, on her own two feet. No leg injuries this time to hinder her movements. If anyone is going to be carried out of this cave like a pretty pretty princess today it is going to be Brand. It is this thought that prompts Meri to leave rather than to stay. Khitti had the vampiric strength to be able to sweep Brand into her arms and carry him to safety, rescuing the dude in distress and saving him from what is basically a dragon. Go Khitti. Meri's gonna wait outside for this one, you've got this, boo.

For all his strengths, Brand is still only human. He’s out cold, for the moment, and meanwhile time is tick, tick, ticking away like a crocodile that’s swallowed a clock. But it’s not a crocodile giving chase to Sailors & Co., it’s a very angry leviathan with newly chipped teeth and a few intruders in its lair that are now very clearly visible. It slashes and smashes and it’s clear it does NOT want them to get away. Might want to make with the pretty-pretty-princess hauling, Khitti, or you might -actually- get eaten this time.

Onyx, for their part, has no intention of sticking around to be dino chow. Nor do they intend to carry Meri, even before that look got shot their way. Nope, now is the time to skedaddle. No illusion seems particularly likely to deter the leviathan now, and Khitti’s gotten what she came for. Back into the water and out of the cave Onyx goes, fast as those annoyingly short legs will carry them.

Khitti hadn’t meant for Onyx to carry Meri; she knew -that- definitely wasn’t going to fly. As both human and undead took off for the boat, the redhead would just shake her head at the two of them and sigh. She didn’t really have time to argue the fact that they both assumed wrong (that’s what -she- assumed was going on anyway with the way they’d left). So, she didn’t and instead slipped Brand’s mask over his face--can’t have him drowning while he’s unconscious, you know--and made a hasty escape with the blonde in her arms as the leviathan thrashed about, trying to keep her from leaving. It failed, of course.

Over the next several weeks, reports would crop up of the leviathan attacking innocent patrons of the ocean as they passed between the mainland and the island. It was pissed and it was out for blood. It’d get its revenge on several ships before most took care to avoid that part of the waters--at least until the dinosaur’s rage subsided anyway. Thankfully, the crew of the Tranquility knew not to talk to such incriminating evidence and no one managed to find out about the four that dared to enter the beast’s lair.

The leviathan, however, never forgot, and it never forgave them. (What? Dinosaur dentist bills were expensive, man. They don’t exactly have health insurance.)