Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

"Hmm..." Adran was stroking a non-existent beard again. "Depending on the size of the bubble," he started, "I might be able to join it with a floating disk, that should take the strain off the bubble..." He shook his head, "Wait, that won't work, even with Erina I don't have the mana to move a Floating Disk across the den..."

"I think maybe," Jerry started, "We might be able to- damn why didn't I press the Folding Boat issue?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa shook her head. “If I had some magic artifact I could leech off of, I’d be less concerned about the bubble running out. I don’t think I brought any with me though.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Oh, that's it?", Jerry fished the crystal out of her cloak and tossed it to the fairy, "Take it, I don't want it."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Oof!” Niudisa let out a grunt as she caught the crystal with pretty much her whole body, taking a moment to stabilize as she held onto it. “Ah... Alright, this could work.”

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Good, that settles that," Jerry stood up and put her mirror away, "Come on, we've got to catch up with Beri and Poli." She didn't wait for the others and just started running, tailbones clicking as the vertebrae hung limp, dragging on the floor. Veo, of course chased after her because that was risky, Emfa followed Veo, and Adran watched them blitz by.

"Whoa."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Someone's in a rush." Niudisa fluttered after them with the crystal in hand. Emil, Erina, Asta, and Fia had to follow after them to avoid getting left behind.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The group managed to get to the water's edge with Beri and Poli before too long. Emera was nowhere to be seen, but under the circumstances, the snarky demon would best be elsewhere anyway, not that Joanne would like that if she were present.

"Scaredy cat," Adran chuckled at Beri hiding from the water.

 

[Fangs9090]

Poli looked at the others as they arrived. "I take it everything went well?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Yep," Jerry nodded, "The turtle's happy with her treasure, she's letting us through as long as she can see us."

"The fairy's gonna make a bubble-thing to handle our breathing issue with the water," Emfa added.

 

[Fangs9090]

"Oh, a bubble-thing. That's good."

Niudisa fluttered over towards the water. "How many of you actually remember my name?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"We know your name," Jerry replied.

"If you've been paying attention," Adran pointed out, "Half of the party doesn't use names. Joanne calls me 'Elf', or 'Warlock', Jerry, 'Thief', and Shuffle 'Creature'. We end up calling you 'Fairy'." He shrugged.

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa glanced back. "Yet I've heard no one call Veo or Emfa 'cow.'"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"That's because 'cow' is an insult, fairy," Emfa replied, "We're lightspring minotaurs." from the way she said it, being called a cow as an individual was the equivalent of derogatorily calling a lady 'Woman', or 'Bitch'.

 

[Fangs9090]

"Mm. Anyway, gather up under me and pack together as tight as you can. Anyone who can ride on someone else, do it."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry scooped up Poli and shrank Asta down to kitten size, piking him up in turn. Emfa grabbed the leopard since there wans't much space under Niudisa and Adran couldn't carry his cat. Adran polymorphed into a mouse and scurried up Erina's legs to sit on her shoulder. Everyone packed as closely together as they could, taking up as little space as possible.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia and Emil hitched a ride on Erina backside, while Erina mostly just stood in the middle. Once everyone was packed in, Niudisa fluttered down and landed on Erina’s head before drawing out the magic of the crystal and casting her spell. There was some slight distortion as the field expanded from her, but the effect otherwise couldn’t be seen. “Alright, get moving. We don’t want to waste any time.”

Being the center now, Erina headed on. As they reached the water, the spell effect could more easily be seen as it pushed the water away from them.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"huh," Jerry muttered as the water just.... pushed away. She'd expected more of a bubble, like the shields. But they water parted around them and they had air to breathe, so this seawalk was okay, then.

Joanne, Shuffle, and the thralls were exactly where they'd been left, trying not to anger the dragon turtle, who was curled around her nest to guard her eggs from anyone else trying to steal them.

 

[Fangs9090]

As they went deeper, the water came back over and behind them, revealing the full shape of the bubble around them. It moved along with Niudisa as the center, and she rested on Erina, so anyone who strayed too far from them would end up wet.

Shuffle was keeping an eye on the turtle, but she seemed to notice the rest of the group approaching as she turned to look.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The turtle stuck her head in the water, growling at the bubble as they met up with their remainder and began looking for the exit. The exit in question was a tunnel that sloped downward, more water leading out deeper into the ruins, stone cavern melting back into brick and mortar deeper into the twisting slope.

Oddly, the tunnel did eventually end, the water coming to a stop, as they came out of a cistern. A large circular room with a pool of water in the middle. From how dry and stuffy it was when they came in, this area had seen little activity and no water in some time.

 

[Fangs9090]

Once the issue of being underwater was passed, Niudisa removed her bubble, letting out a breath as the water flowed back in around the groups legs. "Well, that went well."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry hissed involuntarily as saltwater hit raw nerve, shooting out of the water like a ballista shot holding the partially fleshed-in tail in her hands, getting some looks and giving a middle finger in return. Veo and Emfa helped some of the others out of the pool. Adran, still polymorphed into a mouse, jumped off of Erina and dispelled his polymorph, offering the lady a hand.

 

[Fangs9090]

Erina smiled and accepted Adran's help as Emil and Fia flew off her back, both landing on drier land. Asta and Poli followed after Jerry. Poli wasn't really sure if they were supposed to be acting as clothes at the moment. Shuffle swam up to the edge of the pool, looking back the way they came. "I hope that egg will be alright..."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry scooped up the mimic and the chimera, not really saying anything to one side or the other of Poli's status as clothing, but considering the pattern up to this point, some clothes would definitely eb appreciated.

"As much as that mother was ready to kill us for you touching it," Emfa shrugged and put the leopard down. "I doubt it's suffered any harm."

"The eggs are pretty water proof," Adran added, "The egg won't have suffered any harm from being submerged."

"Where's Emera?"

 

[Fangs9090]

“But it still went through a lot, getting carried back and forth. Shaking it up won’t do anything, right?” Shuffle looked at the others. They seemed to know about eggs.

Niudisa glanced around, but she wasn’t too concerned about what Emera was doing.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Joanne volunteered information on the front of the egg's durability. "Dragon turtles guard their eggs with a ferocity found nowhere else in nature, but not because it is fragile." She shook her head, "Dragon turtle eggshells are valuable on many markets, often the beginnings of a hatchling's hoard. They care for the wealth of the hatchling more than its wellbeing at this stage, they are simply too resistant to damage for most things to harm them."