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dndfuckhouse · 10 months ago

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session 59 & 60 - Strip The Car(cass) for Parts

SESSION 59 - 10/3

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> 🎵 The Dual-Bladed Duelist / Paper Mario The Origami King OST

We pick up again in the throes of battle, having dropped its magnetic field on Cimmorro’s command the dragon hovers twenty feet above the party in the air. Flapping its wings and bleeding heavily from its head, its white eyes gaze out amongst the swarm of people below it. They’ve managed to deal it a great deal of damage, but it seems to still have enough energy to fight back against the party’s onslaught. Its steely gaze considers the group of and its next actions.

Keva quickly moves to hide in a bush, before sending another blinding arrow in the dragon's direction. The shot blinds the dragon anew as it shakes it head to and fro in the air from the hit. Newly blinded it growls loudly through the open clearing. Rokka runs closer to the dragon afterwards, but lacking a way to actually reach it he drops his rage and simply keeps watch.

Following after, the dragon growls under its breath before rearing its head back in the air opening its jaws wide. After a few seconds they hear a ringing in the air before the party see a blast come flying from its mouth.

A chaotic beam of magnetic energy bursts forward striking Cimmorro, Psalm, Han, Rokka, Keva and Mars. They feel their blood wobble in their veins and their heads pound as their armour and metal fastenings clenches around their bodies. The first four take the damage at full blast, feeling a ringing rip through their ears, the latter two managing to dodge slightly out of range of the blast.

The dragon rears back shaking its head as if brushing off the ringing sound before letting out another loud roar into the air as it flies northwards, remaining in the air.

Shaking the sensation off, Han runs up and shoots another volley of arrows at the dragon's underside. It lets out another roar of pain as it beats its wings blowing Han off her feet wish a harsh crash to the ground.

Finally steeling himself, Finn transforms back to his normal form. Running to pick up his sword again he runs closer to the dragon, pointing his sword at it even though it is blind before loudly shouting at it with determination.

Finn: "mighty dragon! i lay another chance before you, i ask again, declare your name to us or become naught but a stain on our glorious history!" Cobalt Dragon: the dragon moves its head in the direction of finn's shouting and growls under its breath impatiently and for the first time you hear it speak in its deep gravelly base high above you "…bleating sheep" as it continues to flap its wings Finn: finn blinks in confusion at that name…he regains his footing quickly "bleating sheep, you have proven yourself a worthy opponent, albeit a strange judge of names and titles! now prepare to fall at the hands of the vengaboys!" Cobalt Dragon: the dragon eyes you confused (as much as it can blinded)

Finn shoots off an acid arrow spell that barely clips the dragon's wing, panicking his mind races on a way to injure the beast before he gets an idea. Quickly using an action surge he transforms into his bat form, and using the rest of his movement sets a course directly for the dragons face in an attempt to crawl up inside of it through its nostrils.

The dragon attempts to bat him out of the air on his way but its watery and blinded eyes allow Finn to slip past its defenses directly to its face. He immediately lodges himself inside one of its nostrils as it reacts with a series of confused grunts. His stubby litle bat legs kick back and forth as he tunnels himself deeper. The inside of the dragons nasal cavity is constricting and gooey, covered in dragon mucus but he feels he'll be able to crawl deeper inside from where he is, even as the dragon wags its head back and forth as if trying to dislodge him.

Watching him, and also being unable to do much from the ground, Mars gets an idea. Pulling out a length of rope he expertly aims, tossing it around the dragon's neck from the ground lassoing it.

Wrapping one end of it around his arm, he makes a running jump using it to climb up and swing onto the dragon's neck before quickly slashing at it with his sword, recalling Psalm's advice at striking at the throat. The dragon lets out a deep cry of pain as it gets assaulted inside and out, it seems to start flagging in the air slightly as it grinds its teeth.

Vinny stares at both Mars and Finn's displays with open mouthed shock and horror for a few seconds before he's released from his temporary stun and stumbles forwards to get closer to it as he reshuffles through his mental list of spells. He shoots off another fireball aiming for its belly underneath, the explosion rocks the beast as it lets out another roar of pain. Though in reaction the dragon rolls through the air as if trying to put it out, as soon as it does Vinny realises what hes done and screams.

Mars on its back however manages to pull the reins of the lasso close enough to him that he doesn't go flying off the creatures back once it begins spinning through the air.

Plum follows up, attempting to damage to dragon with a few acid arrows, though both end up going wide. A little frustrated they turn, letting off a heal in Psalm's direction.

Ghester: though as you deliver a heal to psalm you hear ghester in your mind pipe up "appreciate the assist" Plum: this was so worth it forget psalm

Cimmorro follows up, attempting to get the dragon to ground itself with another command spell, but it seems to resist his demands and shrug off the spell.

Similarly frustrated he casts spiritual weapon after, a giant dagger appear near the dragon floating in the air with a dull red glow to it.

From the ground Psalm lets off a couple of eldritch blasts at the dragon's side, the dragon twitches where it feels the blasts make contact with its underbelly, growling as its breaths become more laboured and more blood drips from its hide.

Ghester: you hear ghester speak in your head in response, giving a comforting "good work" Psalm: "Gee, thanks!" Ghester: he gives a little laugh but its more nervous than amused

Following after him Keva pulls a healing potion out of her pocket and opens it before running at Cimmorro, dumping the contents down his throat before he can protest.

Keva: hurriedly like "open up" before pouring it waterfall style Cimmorro: hes like "WHAT- AHBLKEUUEHLGHOEIHGOEHGU"

Afterwards she takes aim at the dragon letting off another arrow show, this one ends up accidentally striking Mars on the way however, grazing him before it sticks itself into the dragons side. Vinny lets off another scream as he sees the display. Rokka continues to keep his distance, downing a healing potion as he waits for an opportunity to step in.

Keva: NOOOOOO bruh Mars:

The dragon thrashes about in Mars' hold again as it rears its head back to let off another magnetic blast off. Letting out a bone chilling roar its jaw widens as the same ringing sensation fills the groups ears, a beam of energy blasting forth striking Han, Vinny, Rokka and Psalm. The first two manage to shrug off some of the damage by dodging out of the way, but Rokka and Psalm both take the hit at full blast and hit the dirt, unconscious.

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> 🎵 Blinded By Light / Final Fantasy 13 OST

After the dragon breathes its blast Finn finds himself jostled out of the nose not all that deep just yet. He manages to cling with his little bat hands on the outer rim of the dragons nostril for dear life, dangling as it whips about.

Psalm: psalm is dead 🫡 Rokka: rokka gets blasted and screams while clutching his ears from the ringing before passing out Han: han hearing psalm n rokka drop behind her

The dragon flaps its wings and moves eastward as it eyes the ground below and a deep bassy chuckle rings out under its breath.

Following after Han casts Ensnaring Strike at the dragons face, snapping its mouth and nostrils shut. Finn manages to grip with his little bat hands and reinsert himself into the dragons nostril and make his journey within as fast as possible beforehand.

The cavity is tight and damp and gooey and dark but with his tiny form he manages to make it through labouring as hard as he can. Behind him the entry point is squished tightly closed by Han's ensnaring strike gripping the dragons jaws and snout shut, nearly crushing him in his mad dash.

Han: finn, you hear han scream "keep that FUCKING TRAP SHUT"

Situated somewhere where the throat meets the mouth, Finn aims for the breathing hole and ends up picking right despite the kerfuffle. As he passes through the sticky pipe he reaches a section of the throat where the flesh wall glows a dull light blue, and feels flesh harder than that around it, throbbing harder than rest.

As he considers his next move, Han eyes the dragon from his perch, getting a sense that their non magical attacks are hitting for their full worth before striking at the neck again three times. Steadying himself easy enough he carves away, sprays of blood rushing out as the dragon lets out another roar of pain. It barrel rolls through the air again but he manages to grip tightly and keep his position.

Within the throat Finn feels the convulsions of the throat threaten to crush him as he it moves.

Back on the ground, Vinny rushes over towards the two downed men sweating, his eyes near bulging out of his skull. He skids to the ground and casts cure wounds on Rokka, laying his hands on his shoulder as the man blinks back to consciousness. He whips his head in Psalm's direction after, pondering his next move.

Plum follows up, throwing a healing word as well in Rokka's direction.

Vinny: your eyes blink bank to conciousness, a very anxious man staring at you Plum: healing word so im yelling at rokka incomprehensibly but its raising his constitution Rokka: Rokkas going to groggily blink at vinny and then plum like wtf is happening but is appreciative <-out of it

Plum scurries behind a bush as Cimmorro follows up, casting a cure wounds spell on Psalm.

Ghester: you hear ghester's voice in your head as a "our saviour returns!" Cimmorro: cimm's deadpan and tired like "please make yourself useful" before getting back up to do a quick prayer facing the dragon Psalm: Psalm just sighs and grumbles like, "I didn't even want to fight this thing." (Doesn't care that he's in earshot)

Psalm quickly moves to stand before setting off a couple more eldritch blasts in the dragon's direction, though one of them ends up going wide.

Keva follows after him, letting off arrow as the volley on the dragon continues. It flags in the air, blood flowing easily from its throat, head and back. Trying one last time to hit it Rokka recasts his rage before throwing one of his weapons at the dragon, though it also ends up going wide.

The dragon beginning to grow irritated with its riding visitor, turns its attention to Mars and strikes at him with its claws and the lasso around its neck. Despite the barrage of attacks and the blood whipping his face, Mars manages to keep conscious (at 1 hp) gripping the rope tightly in his hands with a deathgrip. The dragon lets out a frustrated growl as it doesn't feel him drop from its back and flaps its wings, soaring through the air again to try and shake him off.

Despite the acrobatic maneuvers and against all odds, Mars manages to keep his concentration on the dragons back and clings on with monstrous strength as blood falls into his one good eye.

Mars: ID LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY YOU SILLY LITTLE CUNT ILL PUT YOU IN TEH FUCKING GROUND <- mars rn on 1 hp

Han: han is gonna run up once again, making a SHOO SHOO SPREAD OUT motion to everyone on her right , while also trying to watch for mars after seeing him nearly fucking stumble off just now

Firing off another volley of arrows at its underside, Han sees the dragon dip in the air as it lets out a muffled roar of pain between clenched teeth, getting a feeling shes near close to downing the thing.

Finn lodged in the the throat transforms back into his elven form with a guttural scream as he attempts to tear the harder section of the flesh to shreds with his vampire bite.

Immediately he feels the tightness of the throat restrict and begin to crush his body, though his mass also crushes back and with his teeth he manage to tear a bite into the small blue flesh wall of the dragons throat. He feels like the attacks more effective than expected, as he bites down he feels the dragon groan and thrash about violently outside. He feels a liquid burst into his mouth that tastes utterly vile, cold and metallic and almost dulling on the senses, he'd vomit if he had the presence of mind to do so.

Outside however the others see the dragon thrash violently, its neck suddenly BULGING before it drops, falling to the ground, at zero hp and finally having lost energy and power as it careens like a meteor for the dirt.

Mars manage to maneuver himself on the top of the dragon that he keeps hold on its back, buffeting any damage he might have taken from it hitting the dirt with a loud crash. As it rolls he rolls with it before jumping off at the precipice of a loop and landing on his feet a little dizzy. Directly under where it lands, Han dodges out of the way as the body clips her, sliding through the dirt.

Mars: mars just stands there like a cat equally shocked it landed on its feet, too busy catching his breath n wiping his face bcs he cant fucking see Han: han gets smacked with a wing and she just kinda lets it take her to the ground with a oof, immediately raising a hand up and muffledly going "IM GOOD" Keva: i think keva just kinda uncrouches from where she's hiding and just stand there for a bit while still processing what the fuck just happened and the fact they won

The party all stand around delirious and victorious over the dragons corpse.

SESSION 60 - 17/3

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> 🎵 The Forgottten Village / Folklore OST

We pick up again fresh off the heels of victory over the cobalt dragon, its gargantuan corpse having slid through the mid and the grass after its crash landing back towards the ground. It lays motionless as blood oozes from its wounds, staining the dirt beneath it red and dark. The relative silence that follows is calming and surprising both to all who can hear it. Mars somehow remains standing after a miraculous dismount as it hits the dirt.

Glancing at the corpse, the dragon’s throat remains almost comically bulbous as Finn remains stuck within, slowly being crushed by the flesh walls surrounding him with the taste of most rancid bodily fluids filling his mouth. The group have a few moments to attempt to help before he’s dealt bludgeoning damage again.

Psalm: Psalm, still sitting, wonders aloud in no small amount of surprise "What happened to it?" Han: han scurries out from under the wing, yelling "HEADCOUNT! HAN PRESENT" Finn: still stuck in the throat, finn surprisingly feels no need to make an attempt to alert the others or escape. his eyes feel kind of heavy and the feeling of being crushed is not so unpleasant right now. the pain he feels is rather dull, probably due to his emotional state. the disgusting fluid still coating the inside of his mouth barely registers. he exerts the minimum amount of effort possible to unglove a hand and he reaches for the bare flesh hes entrapped in, and he gropes and feels and squeezes, almost as if to go along with bleating sheep into oblivion, almost as if siphoning the remaining warmth and life. until he regenerates in his coffin anyway. Han: "DID FINN FLY INTO ITS FUCKING MOUTH?" Psalm: "Surely that's not what killed it."

Vinny: as mars stand deliriously coated in both his own blood and the dragon’s, vinny nearly trips on his feet running towards you shouting slightly “gods, how a-are you alive!?” flicking a hand out as he finally reaches you. he feels himself regain hp as a spell thrown at him seemingly begins to stitch a few of his wounds back together. as it does vinny almost drops where he stands making a deliriously pained expression before shaking it off, his eyes remaining blurry after. mars notes dried blood on vinnys face and from his ears, no doubt damage from the dragon. Mars: "Cripes Vil what are you- Wait-" He was partially clutching his head nursing a headache and wiping blood off his face. Before anything else happens mars is gonna do a headcount and realise they're one freak short and looks around and notices the giant bulging neck. "Just- One moment." He's gonna start ripping the neck open or at least attempt to Vinny: vinny blinking blearily barely responds to you before you run over to the neck sword in hand Han: hans gonna run over and help mars (if he. fucking needs any) but she smacks him on the back first and goes "nice landing! what you do??"

As Mars gets to work with Han's help Plum and Cimmorro begin doling out healing spells to help buffer those that need it. Mars scans the neck and quickly ascertains a method of slicing it open, cutting into the flesh swiftly and carefully. The neck pops open like a balloon and blood and spews out, coating him once more alongside Han in the splash zone.

The crushing sensation on Finn quickly ceases as he slides out on a pool of blood from the throat laying face down, almost with a popping sensation as the neck flops over open behind him as he stays out on the grass. Though having lost his hat in the viscera his head explodes into smoke as it had previously under the rays of the sun, dealing him radiant damage as he begins to cook.

Keva: that's what snaps keva out of her moment of being stunned and makes her gag lol

Mars realizing the error of his actions takes off his cloak and quickly drops it over Finn's head, cutting off the reaction.

Mars: "Landing…? I just did what I had to do." HE'S WAITING FOR FINN TO STOP GRILLING LIKE A STEAK Finn: finn immediately feels the displeasure as the crushing sensation disappears. he doesnt want to see anyone, he doesnt want to talk to the vengaboys right now. how awful to be forced. he does little to resist sliding out but once his face begins melting, the visceral pain snaps him out of his depressed stupor "Y-YOU!!!!!" he screams, scrambling and flailing helplessly as he burns. as soon as the cloak is dropped on him he huffs and makes an effort to sit up, but he peaks out from under the cloak just enough to glare at mars as best as he can, which might as well just be his knees "YOU FUCKING IDIOT WHAT DID YOU THINK YOURE- UGH" he coughs and cradles his face in his hands, just wheezing and waiting for the pain to ebb away Han: han Genuinely has no fucking words rn Plum: plum is just watching that play out unimpressed Rokka: rokka is just gawking at the sight Mars: He doesn't even verbalise the 'You're welcome.', he just turns back to han and vinny a little dazed after finn's outburst. "Sorry, what were you two saying?" Han: wipes goo from her face "g…. good… reflexes……………"

Plum: i'm gonna go over and ask han if we can start cutting up the dragon Han: han takes a step back from whatever the fucking finn and mars are doing and cleans the viscera from her face "yea, im not that great at gutting, but if you can guide, i can try… what you need?" Plum: "well, i wouldn't say i'm great at gutting… but we gotta prove we killed this thing somehow. would the head be good?" the head is huge Han: han turns to look at mars "er well…. mars ! do you know what we need to bring for bounty?" loud enough over finns din

Keva: hearing plum's question, keva approaches the dragon where she can't see its guts spilling out bc gross and considers how she might take a small enough scale to give to orin as a… souvenir seems like a weird word, but he's the one who's always dreamed of adventure. she thinks it'd make him happy.

Keva moves to chip off a nice little handful of scales, about ten or so off the hide, taking a little bit of effort to pry them from the flesh as the drama continues away from her.

Not happy being ignored, Finn attempts to lunge at Mars legs to start a fist fight but the man easily side steps him while keeping his eyes on Vinny and Han. Vinny looks between the two of them after the attempt and scuttles over to stand between them.

Vinny: like keeping two children away from each "S-STOP!! finn you are both near death!" Finn: finn forgets for a moment that he respects vinny, he punches the ground out of frustration where he lay and then pulls the cloak more tightly over his head. for a moment he considers tossing it away since it belongs to that rotten mercenary. he would if it didn't mean certain Ultimate death for him. he sits up again and huffs, he sounds like hes on the verge of sobbing. he cant even shout at vinny that he wishes so bad mars was just dead, that it'd be good riddance. he sits like this for a good moment, its embarrassing and painful, but he seems to calm down the slightest bit, eventually reaching his gloved hand out to vinny, obviously wanting to be pulled up Vinny: vinny grinds his teeth in his mouth half expecting a tantrum and hes half a mind to start screaming again but as finn stops vinny feels like hes able to relax from maximum blood pressure and actually take a deep breath. as finn reaches a hand out vinny lets out a sigh and lifts him up still a little harried "dont…. do that! again..!" Mars: Still somewhat jumped up from the fight, Mars finally realises he's sidestepped Finn and is once again pulled back from Han and Vinny and turns back down to what he's actually contributed. He looks down on Finn with as much anger as he can muster at the moment and glares at him through the cloak "What by SUNE'S FUCKING WREATH is your GODS DAMNED problem." Plum: <-- JUMPING IN SURPRISE Han: han jumps too, immediately starts inching back closer, prepared to separate mars and finn if things escalate Rokka: rokka jumps at mars raising his voice slowly inching closer Cimmorro: cimm's just pleasantly surprised Psalm: Psalm also looking over like wtf is going on over there Keva: keva glances over mid-descaling, then turning back to her work, mumbles "about fucking time someone says it"

Finn: as finn gets pulled up by vinny hes still huffing and babbling incoherently, its barely audible but all that matters little when mars suddenly shouts at him. finn stiffens under the cloak and silently the tears his been holding back spill down his face. at least no one is going to see "m-my … my face…" but they hear. he croaks more than he speaks, and his shoulders sag, involuntarily shaking the way they do when people start crying and sobbing "its your… your fault i…" finns voice fades out, becoming so quiet only vinny would even hear what hes trying to say right now. he looks like a child trying its hardest to make itself small and hide away Cimmorro: cimm's gonna pull vinny a bit away LOL Plum: plum is looking between han, mars and finn awkwardly. then they whisper to han "can you go get mars to help us with the dragon…please" Han: han just shoots plum the most like ARE YOU SEEING THIS? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO LIKE ON GOD withered expression she can muster Plum: THEYRE LOOKING AT HER LIKE I DONT KNOW WHAT TO FUCKING DO EITHER Vinny: vinny nearly jumps at mars yelling like he nearly was about to five seconds ago though as cimm tries to pull him away he keeps his ground noticing finn crying and seems conflicted putting his hands out between finn and mars "okay okay, l-look its fine lets just all take a step back, okay?" trying to manouver mars a few feet away without touching him Han: han is gonna mime at vinny (hoping finn doesnt see) something that she hopes says CAN YOU PLEASE TAKE AWAY FINN AND BABYSIT HIM IM SO SORRY I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO ABOUT THAT Mars: He gets back his bearings and rubs his temple again. Whether finn learned his lesson or not is of no relevance to him. "If you're not going to help with dissecting this dragon then go find some nice shade to recover under." He backs off and turns around once more to vinny and han . "Right." He says with a tense clap of his hands. "Dragon. Dissection. Bounty delivery. There's no easy answer to this, we'd have to go back to Bakaldor to collect the bounty."

Psalm: Psalm calls over "If the theatrics are done with for the moment, would anyone be interested in helping me figure out what to do about these caves?" Plum: plum in their mind like thank god for psalm. "can't swim, i'm gonna help with cutting up the dragon." Psalm: Psalm just nods in their direction Rokka: rokka slowly steps away seeing as the others are handling it, "i-i'll help..!" and begins light jogging over Keva: keva softly scoffs in disappointment seeing people let finn off for being a bastard yet again, and simply pockets the scales before heading over to psalm. "i can't swim either, but if there's traps i'll see what i can do."

Cimmorro: "you're injured and you should sit down for a while. they're grown men and you don't need to coddle them" he shoots a stink eye at finn as he says coddle. he lets plum take care of the rest of vinny's injuries before assisting with dissection Vinny: he heaves a sigh happy mars is back on track so quickly and nods, still standing between the two of them as the talk goes on "yes…. we did good work" he nods feeling a little better as he notices himself healing, shooting a grateful smile at plum then at han his face kind of flattens, he nearly speaks up before cimm does and falters for a moment "w-well, i'd just rather all the healing not go to w-waste…" he glances at finn and feels weariness pull on his shoulders again Finn: finn sniffles, and he frowns quite a bit under the cloak but hes already lost so much during this exchange and before in the battle too. he wipes his snotty nose with the cloak and begins coughing as a cover for actually blowing his nose with the cloak (as sneakily as he can) "i-i dont need…coddling" his voice is still shaky, hes very audibly still crying a bit but he does his best to put on a front "ill - help with dissecting.. i just-" he tugs on vinnys arm "could i borrow your hat vinny?" Vinny: he blinks and easily enough pulls it off his head, placing it quickly over finns "y-yes? thats fine" he eyes finn suspiciously as if he somewhat doubts his ability to keep it together and if he should just walk off into a corner with him for everyones sake but hes also lost alot of blood recently so he lets him be after that Finn: finn takes the cloak away as the hat is placed over him "t-thank you" he stutters out and breathes deeply as if to reassure himself "ill return it… later" he then simply listens to what han and mars discuss about the gutting

The group split off between two, one immediately going to cut into the dragon's corpse and those investigating the pond it emerged from.

Psalm: "Right then." Psalm says acknowledging Rokka, he rustles through his belongings for some rope and begins tying it around himself

Psalm starts shedding his cloak, vest and boots, assuming he's going to go for a little swim soon.

Psalm: "With any luck there are no traps within what I'm assuming to be it's own lair, but when has luck ever served me…" Keva: "you don't think there'd be more traps the closer we get to its lair?" Psalm: "Well, fair point but a guy can dream cant he.." Rokka: rokka watches him prep "uh, what should I do, roomie?" Psalm: "Not that I've any plans to go far, but in the event something goes awry I need you to just pull me out of the water. I'll pull the rope if I need help, or just pull me out after… say two minutes." Rokka: rokka's anxiety creeping its way back in, now realizing the dangers caused from the dragon isn't over yet "r-roger!" he salutes Psalm: well Psalm's just going to investigate the nearest pool of water then, he points at Rokka and goes, "remember, two minutes, or if I start urgently pulling the rope." and with no further preamble he cautiously enters.

Looking out over the pond the dragon initially emerged from, Psalm eyes the displaced mud and dirt and water from when it burst. As he drops into it and look around he sees the start of a tunnel at the bottom of the pond, about the same size as the dragon, 20 feet by 20 feet (6 metres by 6 metres).

Presumably it leads further underground, water the entire time. He doesn't see any other creatures in the water.

Psalm: As much fun as going into a dragon's lair by himself underwater at below half health seems, he actually does not have a death wish. At the very least though, Psalm decides to investigate the entrance to the tunnel just a little

He swims over to the entrance and glances down, he sees it travel down a ways before it branches turning right into the earth out of sight.

Psalm: Psalms gonna give up for now and head back the way he came, pulling himself out of the water. "Well, as expected there's a tunnel down there. No means to investigate it currently though Keva: keva tsks a bit. "there's gotta be a way we can get to its hoarde. assuming it has one." she sighs as she picks up psalms cloak and dusts it off before holding it out to him "watch it all be stuff for building its traps" Psalm: Psalm takes it from her with a nod but doesnt put it on again just yet. "Better left down there if that's the case." Rokka: "does it seem super deeeeep" he pulls out the wand bc he remembered "would this be any help? I haven't used it and honestly still not quite sure how it even works" he shrugs Psalm: Psalm looks at the wand, frowning at it as if he can discern its use from doing so, which he cant, so he asks "What is it exactly? Its deeper than I think any of us would be to comfortable investigating without help from some kind of tool at the very least." Keva: "we'll have to head back to bakaldor to collect our reward anyway. maybe we can find something there." Rokka: he turns the wand around as if to examine it "i think cimmy said it can detect traps within 30ft of the user? like you point and when it WOOOSH and WUUUOOW'S you the trap. idk magic is confusing HAHAH"

Mars:"If you want to wait a while I can turn my bird into a fish, have her look around." Mars calls out mid skinning Psalm: Psalm turns to Mars and calls back, "That would be helpful, thanks!"

Psalm: to rokka "Oh perfect, no risk of dying immediately to some idiotic underwater trap then." then to keva "I suppose we can see what we get done with our own power first," he gestures at Mars, "and then if anything we try again? Although it would delay the trip quite a bit…" Rokka: "yeah!" he's gonna pass the wand over to psalm now

Back at the gutting crew, the team decide what they're going to be cutting up exactly.

Han: han stop miming as soon as mars turns to her n plum n plasters on a weak grin, shooting one last look at whatever is happening with finn "you have experience with dissecting this? we can just bring head, yes?" Mars: He breathes in a little before answering Han. "The head's plenty, the rest we can just keep, or let nature run its course with it over time." He looks back at just how big the dragon is. "Though people rarely do that, a lot of waste to just leave it be. Scales, claws, horns, innards, meat, you can use it if you know how to." Plum: "i really want to avoid wasting, but i don't know if it's worth bringing all this back in my bag." Han: han takes out 2 crowbars to hand out, and a dagger + light hammer for herself "its hide… thick right? we could try this?" she hits the hammer on the dagger pommel to simulate how she can get thru Plum: "that makes sense to me," though they wait for what cimmorro is going to say. in the meantime they pull a light hammer out of their bag. Finn: "should we.. split? or are we going to…" he doesn't finish but does walk into her view and mars Han: han spares finn bit of a worried glace, but gets on with her job "depends on what we want to take. i know dragon scale good for armour, if we can find someone who work with it. difficult material. bone good for weapon, trinket… meat is meat, good for eating" she ends with a bit of a laugh to her voice

Mars: "That ought to be enough." Mars looks back to finn and makes a mental note to get his cloak back later. "The dragon's large and there's enough of us, we might works faster if we split our tasks." Finn: "right" he remembers to hand mars his stupid ugly cloak back now and holds it out to him coldly Mars: Rips it back from him but does not put it on that shit is drenched. Finn: finn does NOT thank him and makes that a very big point by staring at mars as he takes the cloak. then he folds his arms and looks elsewhere Mars: IGNORING ALL THAT Plum: "can we get a fucking move on now…." plum says looking at finn and then at the group tiredly

As they chatter Cimmorro glances around the body of the dragon ascertaining where parts of its anatomy would be, tracing areas as he recalls them to be in other creatures. He points out what areas would be good to start if they wanted to skin the creature and where good entry points would be for getting to the innards. Han moves to start cutting the head from the neck.

Vinny chooses to remain nearby and do his best to not involve himself in Finn's social life unless another fist fight breaks out, he silently glances at the others figuring out where the organs of the dragon would be to try and regain his bearings from living through that fight in the first place.

Mars: at Vinny just staring at the dragon he finally walks up to him. "You know any good ways to use dragon parts?" He doesn't add aside from eating. Vinny: he leaves his blank state and looks over at mars "oh? hmm…" thinking again now that he's talking "the teeth are useful, the eyes are rare and some people use them in potions or brews… the scales are useful for weapons or armour, could have a good smith make something with them. they sell well to enchanters additionally" hes recalling all his merchant training now feeling his vigor return "oh! though the glands in the neck where they use their ahh… breath magic, the liquid from those are also useful, for potions or to sell" Mars: "Right, we can probably split up by different parts based on significance then." Mars is gonna start skinning it as far away from finn as possible

Listening to the two Plum agrees with all the things Vinny notes, but recalls an additional use for bits of dragon liver that crafts a particularly rare alcohol brew… they remember it being called Roaring Gut or some such.

Cimmorro: "do you think we would have to preserve it on the way back? i can halt its decomposition for a few days if so." at the convo about the dragon parts he wonders and listens if vinny would advice to preserve it for such use as well Mars: "You can if you want, but…" He thinks about where Han is chopping off and recalls the size of the caravan. "Carrying it back shouldn't add too much to our travel time, no more than a day I reckon." Cimmorro: "yeah should be, from where we are. i don't suppose a dragon's carcass decomposes that quick, hopefully?" Mars: "Shouldn't yeah, its just like any other creature." He's pretty sure of this.

Attempting to cut the the neck to remove the head, Han makes an awkward initial cut into the dragons neck, either her weapon isn't sharp enough or the angle was wrong. She only cut about halfway through the neck and struggles to get further. Cimmorro comes in to assist her after she pouts and makes a face at him.

After a bit of maneuvering and sweating and Cimmorro pointing out sections shes struggling with, she manages to cleanly separate the head from the neck after about ten minutes or so.

Han: 💪>_< Cimmorro: cimm cheers and claps when han gets it Plum: praises han

Mars meanwhile begins the process of skinning some of the hide near the rear of the dragon. Like a boy on a farm he easily begins the the process, cutting through a good section of the back easily enough and gathering about a bear skins amount for himself.

Finn, after chipping off a few glittering scales, attempts to also cut off some of the hide. Comparatively he struggles a little making cuts with his knife into the dragons hide to skin it, its alot more difficult than picking scales off. He cuts off a section about as big as his torso sweating and heaving by the end.

Finn: finn very quickly finds he doesnt care about getting more for the others, he takes a break after he accomplishes this humongous task and takes a moment leaning against the dragon heaving and sweating and catching his breath, very weakly clutching the part he cut off (its mostly on the floor but hes holding onto it) this will have to be enough for whatever

Seeing the head free now Plum moves to harvest the eyes, though on their first attempt they end up accidentally one with their small dagger.

Plum: they say, "can someone else do this" Cimmorro: since we're done with separating the head cimm will curiously skitter over to where plum is and just goes like "oh.." seeing the crushed eye Plum: "please just look away…" they say quietly…. Cimmorro: cimm makes a little face before answering, "i don't think there's salvaging that one, but there's still another" Finn: finn weakly perks up at this and sluggishly walks over, looking at the eye plum crushed. he doesnt say anything about it though, not really caring about the mishap anyway. "do you want to…" he heaves "try? or should i?" Plum: "i'm gonna call keva, keva can you come here……………………….." Finn: "guess its up to keva anyway" he responds dryly and looks expectantly at keva Cimmorro: "does she even want to," he snorts Keva: when keva makes it over there she reflexively makes a face and a "aeuhgh" sound at the crushed eyeball Plum: plum feels weirdly subdued by the fact that finn did not shame them over destroying a dragon's eye, something vinny just told them was rare, but they don't say anything either. Cimmorro: "i can try? never had to deal with a dragon's but-" Keva: keva picking up on the fact they want her to get the other eye and makes a face once again, but gets out a dagger anyway

With a speed that surprises even her, she pops the eye out with an easy flick in seconds, its about the size of her palm.

Keva: it's much lighter than she expected as if not solid all the way through… what are eyeballs made of anyway, she starts to wonder. her disgust winning out over her curiosity, she insistently holds out the mass of jelly out to plum to take Plum: plum takes the eyeball and is not as grossed out as they thought they'd be. for now they just lay it with wherever other parts are, not really wanting to put all these bloody things in their bag yet. "thanks," they say casually. Keva: "sure" said a little unenthused, keva only flciks off whatever bodily fluids are now on her hands and i guess waits for someone else to direct her Finn: "is there anything else you wanted?" finn asks casually Plum: "i'm going to see if vinny needs help getting that gland he mentioned, and then maybe i'll try (getting help) with the liver," they say also casually. maybe too casually now

Vinny: vinny watches mars cut his section of the hide giving him a good work once he sees him finish up Mars: He's rolling up his end of the dragon skin before calling back to Psalm "I'll be with you in a bit." Psalm: "No, I'll come help. Nothing to do for the moment now anyways." At the very least Psalm's gonna observe or something. He places his cloak and other clothes on top of his bag and heads over Mars: psalm and vinny just watching mars now its a good thing he's still to jumped up to be nervous n just gets back to skinning

Psalm: "Is there anything I can do to help?" Han: completing the head, hans gonna siddle up to mars, watching him work too "can i help you instead? you look like u know what you doing" ehe jpg Mars: he turns back to the sudden audience still at work skinning it with his sword. He points to the trio with the pommel of his blade "You three can help me skin the rest of this if you want to earn some extra dosh. Or… pluck out its teeth, I think they need help up in the head." Vinny: vinny glances between han and mars and thinks "maybe ill try searching around the throat for that gland…" Mars: for the love of god stay safe <- mars internally. Psalm: Psalm is unconvinced he has the strength required to pull teeth out so he decides to help Mars skin it…! "Alright Ghester, you're up." he says, summoning him. Ghester: you hear a laugh as hes summoned physically "feels good to stretch my legs" Psalm: "Maybe next time we wont fight something fifty feet in the air."

Han, Psalm and Mars get to work cutting out another section of hide the side of Han's torso, the group of them tiredly sweating by the end of it. Rokka in turn goes to the head and makes a few easy cuts followed by a pointed YANK to pull off a nice hefty dragons tooth for himself.

Mars: "…. Not sure how we're gonna store all this." He mentions offhandedly to han and psalm. Psalm: "Maybe we can decide what we'll have the most use for after we're done. If only so that this isnt a massive waste of effort." Psalm says, tired as all hell Mars: "We can't eat all this…" He mutters under his breath.

Rokka: rokkas going to show the teefies off to mars "i got the teeth! would this be enough?" he holds out the tooth Mars: "That's a good amount yeah, good work Rokka." Rokka: he beams at mars for the praise Mars: 🥺 mars rn

Han: han look around at the shit theyve collected for now "umm………….. we do not think it through…. maybe we can just give some away in bakaldor? seems like waste to let it sit here… well, not like other animals wont eat it" Mars: "Maybe we ought to just take as much as we need 💀" Psalm: "Im fine with wasting it if it means less work carrying it all back." Han: han pouts a lil "i want to try the dragon meat…." Mars: "We can try some…" And at psalm "Well we'd be doing the best we could with what we had, if we're that worried we can notify the guild back in Bakaldor, see if they want to send people to pick it off." He thinks a little on what Cimm was saying. "Cimm mentioned decomposing and given what he knows he can probably halt the decay a little." Han: "i wanna try some…!!!" eyes sparkling, shes ready to cut off a chunk, before getting a little more down to earth "ye, but , even if he stop the decompose, other creatures will gather, no? good to warn for" Mars: "Yeah that too. Lets just do as much as we can until Keva comes back then. We can go help out in the other parts."

Meanwhile Cimmorro observes the dragons hindquarters, noting it to be female and on the older side, given its size. Though as far as he can tell it hasn't recently given birth at all. He picks off a few scales as well for his own use as he informs the party of his finds.

Vinny in the meantime is joined by Plum as the two go digging around in the torn open throat. Keva decides her strength isnt needed and goes to walk off to pick up the caravan and bring it to where the group is alongside their cabal of animals.

Psalm: "Going alone? I could…um, keep an eye on you, so to speak." (he really needs to get around to explaining this shadow dog thing) Keva: keva squints at him once again but says "okay…?" wasn't he keeping an eye on amos…? Psalm: Psalm can more or less guess what she's thinking by her expression, so he says, "Amos hasn't moved from his spot (not really), but it'd be safer if you weren't completely on your own." Keva: "fine" she gives him a wave as an okay Psalm: Psalm has his dog possess Keva's shadow. Sorry for the bad vibes.

you get a vauge feeling of dread fall on you, like youre being watched. but nothing else

Keva: keva doesn't seem to outwardly react much but she certainly does feel the need to get a move on

Vinny: he winces a little as he notices the section youre looking for has already been torn open "hmm… well lets see what we can do…" after a few minutes of sticking your hands in the flesh in the throat and getting them coated in muck alongside vinny, holding bits open for him to pry deeper he manages to pull out a small vial and cork a section of the fluid still seeping from the wounded area "that's enough for something…?" he thinks idly to himself hands coated in goop and blood Finn: finn would kinda wanna go with keva (rare) to get the caravan, but he doesnt know thats what shes planning on doing so he goes along with vinny and plum. he wonders if he should keep quiet about having bitten into the gland but ultimately decides to admit it "my apologies……that would be my fault vinny" he avoids looking at him but its not as serious. hes excited for the innards and liver Vinny: vinny glances over from where hes crouched in the muck at finn standing behind them "oh? is that what you were doing in there…" he shakes his hands a little "well, for what its worth i dont think it enjoyed it…" and shrugs while glancing through the vial "itll have most likely have magnetic propeties… thats what im most curious about" Plum: "is that vial enough? you don't want more?" Finn: finn nods and tries awkwardly to help by holding the skin uselessly "it was the worst taste ever… i can vividly recall it now that the situations been dealt with" he grimaces at the phantom taste that washes over him "and i am not exaggerating… i can only be grateful i didnt have the mind to throw my own innards up" he curiously looks at vinny then "but i wonder if thats because of my vampirism. would it taste different to you?" its a dare more than anything Vinny: "w-we could try for more but we'd really have to dig in there…" he doesnt seem to mind but is apprehensive about forcing plum to stick their hands deeper, then to finn "thats not too surprising, i dont imagine magnetism tastes… hmm well good?" he thinks for a second longer before looking at finn again a little haggard "you bit it…?" Finn: "w-what else would i have done?" finn is surprised at the question and blinks sheepishly Plum: "eh, i don't see why not. this isn't going to get any less fucking gross, anyhow." they dig around for an extra empty bottle they might have. Vinny: he thinks and looks back at the throat "i... dont know i s-suppose i assumed the force from you simply crushed it" he pauses "its not good to ingest these things... you could get poisoned..." he wilts a little before watching plum shuffle around at plum he smiles a little "you can get the whole of the next one then" Plum: "aye aye," they say and dig around with the intention of collecting one or two or so bottles more im impartial unless you want us to limit how much magnetic dragon liquid we collect.

Plum manages to pry the throat open and assist Vinny in filling two more small bottles up with the magnetic liquid. he hands them both of to you as he starts wiping his hands a little to remove the blood speaking to Finn as he does.

Vinny: "well… let this be an anatomy less for you i hope? it is a sac full of the matter it uses for magic… bad to put inside you in any capacity" Finn: "clearly not my field of expertise" finn mutters and watches the two work…. "plum said they wanted the liver next so… are you in for that, vinny?" <- still sheepish because hes embarassed. kicks a pebble around Vinny: he blinks a little surprised finn's suggesting it before looking at plum "hmmm, i dont mind, it cant be all that different to a cow could it, well aside from the size…" he starts mumbling under his breath getting a little lost in thought as he gets curious Plum: plum pretends they're not starting to feel like they're third wheeling something unfortunate rn. they add to finn's statement: "i want to use something in the liver to make alcohol, if you don't mind helping me. or if we want the innards for anything else, really." Vinny: his eyes widen as he gets even more interested "really? you know of a brew that uses it? id be be curious to try it" he starts to grin at the thought as he rubs his chin Finn: "alcohol? from the liver?" finn isnt so stupid he doesnt know what a liver is for, but he cant really grasp the reverse-engineering here so he just tilts his head owlish-ly "i dont mind helping either way" he looks vaguely over the dragons body, wondering where exactly the liver would be Plum: "thanks, and yeah seems weird, but i'll try brewing anything once. why not." more at vinny they say "it's called the 'roaring gut', which i hope is not prophetic for what drinking it will do. but i'm good with poisons so i'm not too worried." Vinny: he nods happily "i can help you brew it if you like? if anything toxic occurs four eyes is better than two… and i've my own experience with things going awry with liquids" Plum: "oh, yeah, that'd be great," they say with a smile. then they grumble, "in case i fuck up something again," which is a half-joke about the eye but they're actually really annoyed they did that. Finn: alcohol isnt something finn really thinks about anymore since hes become unable to drink it so he just nods along with plums explanation. hes slightly surprised that plum is a brewer, but its not something hes bothered to learn until now anyway so its not too interesting either. he wonders briefly though if he would've enjoyed their drinks were he alive but discards the thought as quick as it came.

Mars moves to go sit down to cast his find familiar spell, borrowing a bit of gold from Han and Plum to do so, changing silva from bird to fish as the others get about to cutting open the dragon and its innards. Psalm goes to join him for a bit sitting beside him as he catches his breath and rests a little, while Rokka keeps his distance disliking the smell.

Han manages to carve out a good chunk of meat from around the stomach and intestines, she hands it to Cimmorro to examine for his own curiosity. Close to them, Finn and Plum go in slicing for the liver, they're both a little clumsy in their cutting and directing. Vinny helps course correct them both well enough that they manage to extract a usable enough section of meat for their own use.

Cimmorro: he gives han a grateful WOO YAYYY Han: han WOO YAYS back ^o^ then stares curiously "learn anything interesting?" Cimmorro: "seems like a full on carnivore. any herbage in it's digestive track was probably just caught on something it hunted," he just casually slips a hand into one of its intestines, trying to find anything interesting.

After a bit of fishing around Cimmorro pulls out what feels like a few pieces of a shattered arrow.

Cimmorro: he brings it up to show for han. "ooh! we're not the only people who's tried hunting it recently… but wasn't the bounty fairly new?" Han: han looks it over "why would they put bounty up if it wasn't bothering them, right"

Han looks over the arrow if anything about it sticks out to her but it seems inconspicuous beneath the digestion, a nice heavy arrow.

Han: han fiddles around with the arrow cimm gave her "meh, i thought it might have some sign of maker… see none tho. pity." drops it "any other interesting organ you want?" Cimmorro: he thinks for a moment while wiggling the stomach lining. "uhmmm. the heart!" Han: han pauses a moment as she considers the logistics "ye, sure"

Finn: finns smiling a little to himself, feeling a little relieved for the first time since his outburst, just because he was able to immerse himself in something. he looks to plum to see how satisfied they are with the liver Plum: that was harder than plum would've guessed. thank god for the little cimmorro in their head telling them what to do. and vinny also telling them what to do. "i think this should be good…? making alcohol out of meat is going to be interesting." Finn: "i never knew people could make alcohol from meat. whyd you want the liver for that specifically?" finn ponders which organs he wouldve chosen instead and settles on the brain Plum: "well, i've only heard of it. if i had to guess, there's probably something stored in here that i can use to ferment something else, rather than actually using the liver itself. or maybe i'm just completely wrong, and it actually is alcohol from a dragon's liver. i'll look it up more before i subject anyone to drinking it." they are talking a lot because this subject interests them, more than anything. they kind of trail off, wondering if they'll have time to visit the library again. "did you want anything else here? any useful innards?" Finn: finn listens patiently. Plum: they are looking at finn a bit warily, and also a bit surprised, while he listens. they thought he would've gotten bored, or something, considering most of the trip they seem content to talk with vinny. whatever, they're not going to question it.

Vinny: he glances inside the dragon again at the prompt "hmm… a few things but nothing id know how to use myself… and i dont exactly have ways to store much else at the moment. we can leave it be id say" he moves to stand up again making an 'oof' as he stretches his legs. he gives a glance at han and cimmorro messing with the stomach curiously. Plum: "okay, sure." and then more generally they say "when everyone is done carving this thing up i'll help sort out how we can bring it back to town." then they just kind of park themselves where they were standing, exhausted. Vinny: vinny gives plum a friendly pat on the back as they sit after wiping his hands a little more as he glances back at mention of a heart and walks over to han and cimmorro

As Plum settles down Vinny wanders off to see what Han and Cimmorro are doing. As they split off, Finn moves to take a bite out of some nearby flesh tender enough for it inside the dragon. As he sucks and drinks he notes the blood makes his teeth tingle, a faint echo of the magnetism feeling. It's not nearly as rancid as whatever you drank from the throat though, sure enough its still blood. It packs a punch though, after a few gulps he needs to rear back as if recovering from a strike to the head.

Finn: finn is disappointed this blood is pretty rancid too… he was hoping dragon blood would be the fanciest of all and that he could boast about it to his family when he returns home… what a let down! he lazily wipes his mouth with his sleeve, since hes covered in all kinds of fluid at this point anyway… the snufkin outfit he wasnt keen on ruining, but his other clothes were meant to be collateral anyway. ah he needs to replace his hat… he thinks about shopping for clothes in coralwash and sits down, watching the others carve

As Vinny, Han and Cimmorro get to work, over by the relaxation crew Psalm strikes up a conversation with the other idlers hanging around Mars.

Psalm: he asks, "So in the event there are traps, will your familiar be alright you think? I have a wand for disabling them but if she's scouting ahead of me I'm not sure it'll be all that useful." Rokka: rokka's gonna step in "actually i don't think it can disable the traps, just point u to it" Mars: "Well….." He thinks about how often silva and him gets in trouble actually and grimaces a little. "She'll bounce back from it, but if she goes poof in there you'd be on your own for a while." Psalm: "Oh, my mistake. Bit of a shame." He crosses his arms. "Well I can only hold my breath for so long anyways, so I suppose we'll just have her scout first and see if its even worth going down there." Mars: "Good point… It could take a while too, if the thing's lair is connected to all these ponds." He looks around at the other bodies of water in the area. Psalm: "Part of me hopes there's nothing actually worth all the trouble…" Mars: "It'd be a hassle to get fish it out if its deep in there." He mumbles "Well, actually." He recalled a bit during the fight after a while. "You seemed like you knew a thing or two about the dragon, what do you reckon we'd find in its lair? Aside from detritus and trap making tools."

At the question Psalm thinks to himself, he recalls that the items a dragon covets differs by its type, for a cobalt he'd guess it'd have a hoard of items it uses to craft its traps. From what theyve seen so far, a lot of metal bits and wood. He cant imagine it covets much aside from that, though maybe stranger items or contraptions also interest it.

Mars: "Let's hope it really is nothing worthwhile down there then 💀" Now that the task turned more slowpaced he's starting to realise how tired he is

Enjoying the benefits of a long rest in the interim, asides from Keva, the party heal up somewhat.

Keva: would be enjoying the peace and quiet if it weren't for the feeling of dread making her look over her shoulder constantly

Vinny: "you've got to be careful to not cut to deeply into the… was it the rightmost valve…" he continues speaking of the scant knowledge he recalls handing a dried out once for his store Han: 😗"how cooome" @ vinny Cimmorro: cimm mimics this Vinny: he thinks "it has something to do with how the flesh settles after… if you cut it too hard near the valve it pierces a certain section of the heart and it releases something that effects the rest of the organ" like pufferfish…

With Vinny's explanation and Cimmorro's expert medical experience they manage to cut precisely at the correct spots to keep the organ unsullied, its quite large, about the size of his head once extracted from the rest of the body.

Cimmorro: cimm's like "whoah what that's so cool…! what'd you use it for?" he just leaves the heart daintily resting on the ground or smth while he examines it Vinny: he responds after with a laugh "oh i didn't use it… i purchased it to sell at the store, it was rare stock so i could upcharge it.." evilgrin.png "i was curious to mess around with it myself but i knew i didn't have the experience at the time… and ruining it would have been …. very embarrassing" he glances down at it "usually parts of it are used to craft powerful potions, depending on the dragon type. potions to alter your physiology, temporarily or permanently… or something directly related to the element of magic" he thinks to himself "a magnet potion��"

As the heart is removed as the last bit of organ dissection, after Han collects a bit more meat for eating purposes, Keva makes her return to the clearing with the caravan. The horses and animals within safe and sound, Amos eagerly rejoining her earlier within the confines of her cloak. Mars spell also finally casts after the downtime period.

Keva: keva's also happy to have amos back (and also jasper) to help with the feelbads Mars: Silva Has Become Piranha Psalm: Psalm recalls his dog Keva: keva's shoulders noticeably loosen lol Psalm: Psalm watches with silent curiousity (and apology, although it's not like he understands exactly the circumstances)

Cimmorro: "ah, but does that mean you can mess with it now?" he looks up at him expectantly, like he's asking for a cool magic trick. "also… do all dragon hearts operate the same way (pufferfish) or it's just this particular type?" Han: han kinda mutters "alter your fizzy-wha?" Vinny: he stares at it and puts a hand to his chin as he thinks to himself "well…. maybe….?" he continues muttering under his breath a little "i might still mess up… maybe its better to just sell…but.. hmmm…." he remembers to answer questions and looks up again and coughs "ah all of them operate this way, though the properties given differ" and then to han he smiles "your body and uhh genetic makeup!" Cimmorro: he blinks at vinny as he goes thru his internal conflict. "do YOU want to mess with it?" Han: han blinks at this and scratches her chin "you mean… you can become …. dragon yourself?????" her eyes widen slightly in shock horror "do..do you know how to make that" Vinny: he stares for a moment then looks away "a little bit…" at han he looks over and his eyes widen "aha no no! -erm with the properties of the dragons magic" he thinks "though i suppose something like that also isnt im…possible?" he thinks to himself "much more difficult though to make" Cimmorro: "then i think you should," he says simply. "i'm curious to see what you can make out of it! plus i think we can get plenty enough of money from the reward and the other parts we've gotten." Han: han imagining vinny with dragon features and then has to shake herself out of the stupor a lil

Vinny: he looks at all the parts getting loaded by the party and strokes his chin" i suppose thats true enough…" he glances back at the heart "i'll think up what i'll need back in the city when we go drop the head off, i think ive got a few ideas" theres a sparkle in his eyes as he gazes at the heart Cimmorro: cimm laughs amused at the vigor coming back to him. "as long as you take me along with you." he starts to wrap the heart with some cloth before handing it to the others where they wanna load it Vinny: he smiles as he glances back at cimmorro "it'd be my pleasure! i know where the stores are now even…" he watches cimm wrap it up as the cogs behind his eyes continue to click

The group begin loading and cleaning the parts they wish to take back with them. Han, Keva and Rokka working togetehr almost make the matter of shuffling the head on top of the caravan trivial. They begin to tie the head down securely over the ration boxes affixed to the roof. It droops a little in the back but is certainly not going anywhere in its state.

Keva: keva watches alla that from the entrance to the caravan, having slunk down from the roof and eating a small dried snack and giving amos a bit to munch on too

As they do Psalm goes to join Mars now that his fish has purpose.

Mars: "Alright she's good to go now." He says as he places the finished reformed Silva in the pond he was about to enter. Psalm: "Great! We can send her ahead and if the coast is clear or there's anything worth checking out we can proceed from there."

Watching through Silva's eyes Mars swim down the tunnel, it’s width around her is a little staggering. Swimming on you he heads downwards through the water before turning right following along with the tunnel, running underneath the ground in pitch darkness. After fifteen or so seconds of swimming you see the tunnel branch ahead of you, one route going deeper below and another continuing along the path ahead of you.

Swimming dowards he continues deeper down the tunnel and feels it turn again, and then again twist back upwards as they continue follow through. The tunnel around her is unremarkable, just dirt mud and the occasional rock, after another ten seconds or so he spies the water's surface above her, opening up to something.

Making Silvas surface, Mars glances out of the water as a little fish. He sees the interior of a small cavern, part of it looks natural but sections of it also appear to have been carved out of the stone and dirt manually. The ceiling hangs high above her, he's guessing around 50 feet high, and the air feels stale and heavy.

Stalagtites of rock hang from the ceiling and drip liquid every now and again, he notes another pool of water on the other end of the place as well. He can a large pile of items further in but cant discern much from his fishvantage point.

Mars: to anyone watching "…. Well there's probably the lair, about a minute down, no traps, think you can hold your breath that long?" He asks psalm specifically. In the mean time he's gonna have silva swim the other way back and see what's on the other brancing path. Han: "is it very deep…? i can hold breathe for long, but my swim experience is lacking." Cimmorro: cimm overhears this and shouts at their direction while tending to vinny, "i have a necklace that can help you breathe in water but you'll have to attune to it? which takes quite a while-" Finn: finn pettily thinks to himself that he would be perfect for the job and that he would not help even if he were able, just because mars is the one asking, but that would probably piss everyone off so hes glad hes physically unable to help anyway

Psalm: "Only a minute? Shouldn't be an issue." Mars: "Not the deepest, but there's a couple of twists before it opens up to a cave… lair thing. If you're going down you wanna take the path that leads deeper down, not other one." Han: "do you want me to go with you?" 😗 Psalm: "Of course." Han: HEHE… I WILL NOT LET U DOWN PSALM -han internal monologue

As they chat Mars steers Silva out of there to explore the other path at the fork he didnt take. The path continues onward in a forward line before bending back upwards before you see the surface of a body of water again, peering out with fish eyes he sees the sky once more. Silva is back on the surface in the bed of a nearby lake.

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> 🎵 Pastoral Excursion / Tangledeep OST

Han and Psalm strip down, tie themselves to some rope and begin their swimming descent. The others wash up in the meantime, Cimmorro and Vinny break off for the same clear pond as Keva makes for one herself, after washing she goes to watch the pond, Plum joining her after their own quick clean.

Keva: once keva finishes her bit of jerky she washes up at a different clean pond than cimmvinny, and then joins the others at the edge of the murky one, when plum joins keva in watching the ropes she asks, "find anyhting interesting in the dragon?" Plum: plum thinks for a moment. "i'm gonna try making alcohol out of the liver, which hopefully won't be a fucking terrible idea. and vinny found a gland that has some magnetic sort of fluid in it. other than that, just the usual guts and all." Keva: keva makes a face of surprise "is alcohol usually made of guts?" she's not sure what she thought they were made of before, but that's not what she was expecting Plum: "it's made of plants, mostly…. like barley, or grapes. or honey, actually. so i don't think fermenting meat will make the alcohol, i'm thinking something in the liver will be what i use to ferment. and i'm hoping it won't taste like absolute shit." Keva: she snorts, "good luck, alcohol tastes like shit as it is" Plum: plum is incredulous. they almost gasp, "you think so??? you don't drink……………………..?" Keva: keva turns to them, brows raising a little at their surprise. "nah, not in a long while anyway. s'lost the appeal," she finishes with a half shrug. "you seem to like it tho. you been making it a long time?" Plum: "oh, i thought you were one of the types who just thinks it tastes like shit and that's it. i mean, eh, i don't judge. i would just hate to miss out, personally." they screw up their face for a moment. "my family runs a brewery. i used to help out. it's not all that hard, honestly. i think i could brew something in my sleep at this point."

Keva: "mm…" thinking on it, she's probably only had cheap ale before, so she imagines there's plenty she's 'missing out' on. but drinking still brings up a little too much for her, so she's fine with that. "yeah, i think i've had enough, at least for a good while. but maybe the others would enjoy whatever liver beer you end up making. would be nice after all of this." after a pause, she adds, "actually, does your family know how to make honey pine dew?" (inserting item desc from a shorewater resto for your sake gab "An imported halfling drink, served in small cups. Very pleasant and fresh taste, cheap in halfling towns, but expensive elsewhere") Plum: "yeah, well, i hope they enjoy it. vinny offered to help, so it can't go too badly. though anything after this would be better. i'm not hopeful, but i never want to do this again." plum is familiar with people swearing off drinking, so they don't say anything about what keva says or see it as particularly odd. "and they do. not my favourite or anything, but that one's nice, if you like sweets. which i do. why, interested? i could make something much more complex than that i'm sure." (i'm assuming i know it from the description+how much they like alcohol it seems very likely) Keva: (it's actually not alcoholic but it'd be funny if plum made a spiked version of it lOL) "would be a nice non-alcoholic option. there was a place selling it in shorewater, but it was 2 whole gold pieces" Plum: (oooh okay i get you now i was wondering why she was asking about it) "sure, i can make that for you if you want. i can make all sorts of things, and regular beverages are easier by far, and you wouldn't have to waste gold on it. if i'm making a drink for everyone i wouldn't enjoy leaving you out anyhow, although i guess i can't account for finn." they vaguely figure he can drink the dragon's blood or something. not sure if they saw him doing it in game or not earlier but, eh.

Keva: keva smiles a bit at plum's consideration. "thanks. i'll still pay for whatever things you need to make it. it's easy to get back home, but i guess at 2 gold it must be harder to make outside of where halflings live, and we're pretty far off from talankra." Plum: "if you want," they shrug. they really don't care either way. "if you ask me i think they're just upcharging it, but i'm no merchant. also talankra? that where you're from? that's closer to me than i'd have thought." Keva: she nods, "from the capital. this is my first time leaving it, actually." Plum: plum does not say out loud that that does not surprise them. "huh, i see. had something important to do, i'm guessing?" Keva: keva sighs a long sigh. "guess you could say that. helping orin find someone he owes a favor. and well, i owe the favor too, since she saved him." she hopes it doesn't turn out lady ireze is actually a massive shithead when she actually meets her herself. "where in talankra are you from?" Plum: "ohh, your brother, right?" plum says, and they're a bit surprised right now. they thought keva would have just said yes, or no, and left it at that. "i didn't think you'd be all the way out here on a favour. and i'm not from talankra, i'm from the green glades. nearby on the map i guess, but i don't know much about talankra." Keva: she simply shrugs and says, "he's my brother." the story is ofc, a little more complicated than that, but that what it boiled down to. there's little that orin would ask of her that she wouldn't do if she could. "don't know much about the green glades either." Plum: plum just shrugs. "honestly there's not much to know. it's a nice place, though. much rather be there, than here." Keva: with a snort keva leans forward and rubs her face with her hands (i've been imaiging her sitting down like some fisherman waiting for a bite), thinking of the dragon carcass not too far from them. "would rather be somewhere nice, too."

Plum: "maybe antessa will be nice," somehow they doubt it. "except i don't know a fucking thing about antessa." they look at the pond tiredly, wanting to just finish with this whole thing already. speaking of, "good job with the dragon by the way. you and han really walloped it. i think we'd all have died otherwise." Keva: "finn's from antessa, how nice could it be?" not even just a person from the place, but a noble with power. she has to wonder what the everyday people think of the barvotte family. "ah, well. thanks, i guess," feeling weary just thinking about it again. "it still walloped us back plenty. honestly surprised we all made it." Plum: "fair point," they grumble. "and quite honesly, i thought we were going to die. i don't know if the people who put a bounty on this thing knew it was that big, or if they're shortchanging or what. five thousand gold feels like nothing in comparison." Keva: "they called it a drake, didn't they? so they didn't even know it was a full-on dragon. we definitely should argue for more." Plum: "i'll let cimmorro or psalm handle that. they're better at talking, anyhow. although psalm might surprise me and not really give a damn otherwise, who knows. " Keva: "cimmorro only did this because he was worried about it getting closer to his home town, but i bet we could convince psalm. did you see him go down? i'd bet money he's already thinking of asking for more." Plum: "and he's the one who wanted to do this the least…" plum starts chuckling, even if him getting knocked out was hardly funny at the time. Keva: keva laughs a bit as well as she says, "exactly. he's our best bet at a raise."

Cimmorro: [looking at the dried blood around vinny's ears] cimm will just casually help wipe that off with a hand cloth or something since vinny's probably hasn't noticed it by now Vinny: hes surprised as he's prodded by cimm not expecting it before he feels the crusted bits of blood there "ah…" he rubs under his nose as if expecting the same going a little red Cimmorro: he just keeps cleaning him and not really commenting lmfao <- guy who feels bad he put him thru this Vinny: he submits to the scrubbing but the longer he does it the more embarassed he gets but its too late now vinny will die under the sponge

Cimmorro: after deciding the hand towel has served its use (it was only making more dirt smear from overuse), cimm continues to clean off rest of the stubborn spots around vinny's face and ears using his thumbs and palms. rubbing then rinsing, rubbing and rinsing again and again while turning and tilting vinny's head however he needs to reach dried blood and grime. he also takes advantage of the moment to check if he's still bleeding anywhere at all but is quickly relieved to see the result of plum's care from earlier. his diligent cleaning doesn't slow down as he asks, "are you still hurt anywhere?" his voice is quiet but not meek. seems like he has a lot in his mind. Vinny: though surprised at cimmorro's strange insistence on cleaning him up he submits to the treatment somewhat embarrassed after floundering a little, recalling previous bathhouse adventures his face faintly tinged red. he supposes he looked worse than he thought, he'd nearly lost his wits earlier during the fight, forgetting how drained he'd felt after running to mars. as his head's turned this way and that he keeps his eyes trained off of cimmorro out of politeness until he speaks to him, glancing at his face again "hm? ah, no well im still a little black and blue all over but nothing pressing i think..." Cimmorro: he nods. "nothing i can't check later in the caravan. i don't suppose you're keen on undressing yourself out here," he replies that with so much ease as if it was a perfectly normal thing to suggest. Vinny: he coughs a little surprised, before responding "y-yes, i'd rather keep my dignity in tact for the moment" Cimmorro: "as long as you're not pushing yourself, then i'll let you run off with your dignity," he jokes a bit as he turns vinny again to pick off filth stuck on the back of his hair. "thank you, by the way, for watching my back. but, i know what healing spell you used..." he takes a pause, not sure how to say what he means inoffensively. "it comes with a hefty price. i can't quite say i'm happy about you getting hurt on my behalf."

Vinny: he glances sidelong as he feels cimmorro continue prodding at his head wondering to what extent hes going to continue preening him, trying to not think about the sensation as he talks. he smiles a little at the sentiment expressed by his words "well... i wouldn't use it if i had something else at the time, it's not as if i enjoy the sudden panging pain" he pauses before continuing "but, a little pain can be bearable to keep the man keeping the rest of us alive conscious. I think the fight would have been twice as harrowing should you have fallen..." Cimmorro: cimm finds himself quiet for a little moment. he knows vinny has a point, there's quite a bit of pressure on his hands that he doesn't really care to make known to the others. so a part of him is touched that one way or another they've shown that they're ready to support him when shit hits the fan. but that doesn't change the fact that it doesn't feel great when they put themselves in danger for his sake. cimm huffs in a way that it blows his fringe out of his face. "I'm not as dainty as you think, i can take a few hits..." he pouts where vinny can see. "and find something else! like, I don't know- a potion? get one from my bag- keva nearly had an entire bottle pour up my nose!" Vinny: he laughs a little at the pouting "were all q-quite dainty in the face of a dragon i think!" he pauses to remember mars riding the thing like a horse as perhaps the exception before going on "if i were closer i would have just done what ive used on you before-" he motions with one of his hands tapping cimm on the cheek with his knuckles to remind him of a cure wounds spell he cast once "im not as confident in my throwing arm... i probably would have concussed you if i tossed a vial..." Cimmorro: he kinda just makes a face at the turn of events again. it was supposed to be a drake! how did this... ugh. his eyes wander tiredly to the dragon's corpse behind them and frowns. however he snaps out of his mental complaints when vinny starts tapping his cheek, to which he gives him a quick, incredulous glance before 'tch'ing and pulling his head away. he grumbles something as he furrows his brows, trying to not get flustered about the memory. after a while he blurts out "then stay right beside me! you keep running off like that night in the ship when i thought you'd tail behind then you ran off to goddess knows where and you came back a mess!"

Vinny: he looks a little amused at cimm's grumbling, finding it funny he's still affected by something he finds so benign. he blinks at the grand statement, quickly darting his eyes away as he hides his mouth with his hand "w-well i already explained the ship situation..." he seems to mentally stall for a second the faint red on his face fighting to re-emerge as he continues "but if it gives you a bit of peace of mind, t-then I will endeavour to stick a little closer in the time we've left together" Cimmorro: "yeah? you better," he huffs triumphantly. satisfied that he somehow managed to distract vinny from his own embarrassment, even if he doesn't fully understand how. but he feels like he won. that's what matters! "now stay still," he continues his previous cleaning session as he notices a stain by his ear. Vinny: despite his best attempts his face gets red again, especially once cimmorro goes back on the cleaning offensive "w-whatever makes you happy" surely he's making fun of him or teasing him again but his sentiment earlier seemed genuine, vinny's stomach ties itself in knots as he scrunches his eyes shut at the physical and mental onslaught until he notices a few others making their way over

Mars seeing the others watching the ropes, and still drenched in blood himself makes to go wash off where Cimmorro and Vinny are after dismissing Silva. Rokka similarly soiled follows after also appearing behind the two.

Rokka: rokka wondering why he's doing that for vinny and not vinny doing it himself but he's not gonna bother asking, still supports nonetheless and shoots him 2 thumbs up before submerging for 3 seconds Vinny: once mars and rokka wander over vinny starts to push cimmorro's hands away and coughs at the thumbs up "i-i can take care of the rest myself!" face still red Cimmorro: "?" he turns to look behind him to see rokka and mars and puts 2 and 2 together. why was he embarrassed. they already did this in front of them before

Mars: Having made a quick detour back to the caravan to pick up something that wasn't drenched in blood, Mars mindlessly trudges to whichever pond he has and realises Cimmorro and Vinny having a private conversation. Too tired to actually care however he continues on anyway, the pond's big enough. And actually seeing Vinny reminded him of how Vinny was saying something to him right after the dragon died. He tries not to stare as he debates whether to bring it up or not, brows furrowing. Maybe the moment's passed actually, and they'll pay him no mind. He nods as he passes by the two of them, sits down and starts the process of cleaning himself. Cimmorro: cimm greets mars with a slightly tired smile. pitying what fared he today. "the man of the hour. glad you can join us. what goes in the spelunking?" Vinny: washing his face on his own now still red, vinny angles his glasses on top of his head as he tries to distract himself from cimmorro sitting right next to him. he watches the coloured masses of mars and rokka trundle about in the water as he finishes, not taking any time as most of the work was already done, putting them back over his eyes as he listens to the conversation idly.

Mars: Admittedly he still felt somewhat stiff after his outburst especially now that clarity's returning to him bit by bit. Everyone was all business at the dissection, so casual conversation eludes him. Hearing Cimmorro talk to him casually is a bit of a relief to a tension he didn't realise he had. Instead of expressing all that he just tilts his head at what Cimmorro called him. "'Man of the hour?' What exactly did I do to deserve that." He says with a lighthearted scoff. "Cave diving's going well, no traps so far, I'm on standby in case anything happens." Cimmorro: "rodeoing a blasted dragon mean nothing to you? just a normal workday?" cimm shrugs and snorts before washing the fringe off his face and sweeping it to the side. Vinny: at that vinny turns his head in the twos direction and speaks up "im sorry by the way... for making it roll while you were still on it..." he looks genuinely stricken recalling the event Mars: "Well- No I mean, I don't do that often." He cleans his throat as he rolls up the sleeves of his undershirt. He'll deal with washing his clothes later. "Its not nothing its just... I just did what I had to do, bastard wouldn't come down." He grumbles out the last bit. He finally turns to the two though when Vinny apologizes. "Huh?????" He actually looks confused and waves a hand in a casual 'don't worry about it' gesture. "Geez Vil don't be, what the dragon decides to do isn't your fault... On that note, did you two make it out of that alright? I remember you were bleeding out your ears Vil, but I didn't see much of you Cimm." Vinny: he rubs the back of his head as he hangs it slightly "s-still i should have thought that through a little further" at the question he lifts his head again still feeling sheepish as he awnsers "well aching, but im doing a bit better thanks to plum" he turns his head slightly "and the ears are fine now at the least" Cimmorro: "i'm fine, vinny and keva helped keep me in check-- i hardly even noticed i was starting to wear and tear. trying to get that thing to come down was demanding too much of my focus." Mars: "Good, that's good. Its nice having reliable people." He nods seriously. "Dunno if anyone's mentioned it but uh... Good work guys. With the dragon. And... keeping people alive. Seriously Vil who could predict what a dragon would do, don't beat yourself up about it." He feels awkward being too obvious suddenly but he's also quickly running out of things to say.

Cimmorro: cimm can't help but let out a small snicker. "i'm glad i could make it to the awarding ceremony," he prods jokingly. "give me your cloak. i'll help you wash it," he reaches out a hand now that he's done cleaning himself up Vinny: "well i'll take that to heart, but know if you had gone flying i may have fainted..." he shakes his head of the mental image "good work to all, and i'm glad you're feeling a little more chipper at the very least" he glances at cimmorro continuing his washman routine Mars: "Har-har." He gets up and moves a bit closer. He's sort of used to Cimmorro washing more frequently than him so its no wonder his ratty cloak's a huge sore spot for him. "You can take the bottom edge, I'll take the top." then to vinny I think I'd manage somehow there's no need to faint over me..." He seems a bit more relaxed now at least. Vinny: he wags a finger half jokingly at mars "you werent the one staring up at you getting ragdolled around up there..." Mars: "The view's a lot less harrowing up there, you can join me up there next time." He jokes, AS IF HE'D GET UP THERE. That being said there was something about being that high up that was kind of exhilarating, he chalked it off to being on a dragon flying by the seat of his pants though. Cimmorro: he raises a hand to gesture to stop before he tugs the rest of the cloak from him. "you have enough to clean for yourself. leave this to me." and without another word he just starts rinsing off the excess blood from it in the pond before prestigiisitisigitigitiioning it once he wrings it back up to the surface.

Mars: His eye widened at that. "What." He blinks and then leans in a bit close to look at his cloak. "When'd you learn to do that???" He seems a bit intrigued. Cimmorro: he just wordlessly points at vinny Vinny: he strokes his chin as he gives a dry laugh "yes im sure its comparable to that of an airship, though i cant say its not an... interesting thought" he glances at the magical cloak wash as a thought starts in his mind Mars: "What riding a dragon?" He's still a little wow'd by the simple spell before turning back to Vinny. "Well, its probably an interesting thought- Did you teach him that?" If he recalls right that does make sense. Vinny: "they'd probably need to be a little more open to it..."he glances at cimmorro for a few seconds as if thinking then back at mars quickly with a cough, smiling a little at his awe "ah yes, he asked me to help teach him a few things, we were travelling over the sea so there wasnt much else for us to occupy ourselves with at the time" he pats cimmorro on the back genially "he's a quick study!" Mars: "Wow wasn't that... quite fast?" He recalled his own study taking him a while. "That's pretty impressive Cimm, 'grats.... Seems like a very much you spell to study." He notes quickly. Cimmorro: cimm's tail wags a little at the praises as he dries mars' cloak out with another cantrip. "it's really handy! saves a lot of time and would save me my precious silks," he laughs. "just hand me anything you need a quick tidying so you can focus on yourself." Mars: He looks down a little at his shirt and was about to start lifting before he uses his brain and catches himself. To say that everything got soaked in blood was an understatement. By the 2nd spray his only thoughts was what a pain this was gonna be to clean up or replace. But its not like he doesn't have a spare. "M... Maybe later when I can actually hand it off to you." He'll focus back to the rest of him for now and then speaks to Vinny. "I didn't peg you as a teacher for some reason."

Vinny: he watches cimm wag his tail as he glances back at mars "ah? well... you remember cole im sure? she's my ah... apprentice of sorts" he tilts his head in thought "i dont have much experience teaching frankly outside of attempting to with her, but i do enjoy explaining things to others. sometimes i really do end up just naturally rambling on though" Cimmorro: "why wait until later? i don't want that more stains in the caravan" Mars: "What its dried up-" He thinks about tracking mud and dried flaky blood on the caravan and relents. "Well fine here." He at least takes his overshirt off before going back to patting himself. He takes off his eyepatch to give it a rinse in the pond before seeing it somewhat dirtied and taps on it a little. ".... Actually sorry can you clean this one instead? Its a bit more... important, I guess. I worry I can't get all the nooks and crannies." Cimmorro: he does a 'gimme gimme' gesture with his hands while he takes both of his items and gets to work.

Mars: "Ah yes I do remember Cole..." He didn't think she was an apprentice for some reason. "Well magic's not the easiest subject to cover so that makes sense, tangents re bound to happen. I'm sure they're still enjoyable to listen to." Vinny: he nods like yes... yes thats exactly what happens... he then laughs again jokingly as he disrobes somewhat "maybe i can give you one the next time youre bored, right to sleep" Mars: "Hah, maybe you can do it tonight, lull everyone to sleep." He starts wiping his face with the damp cloth. "I wasn't that terrible of a student I'll stay up." hands them le over (to cimm) Vinny: "oh? how long ago did you study?" he glances at him curiously as if he can ascertain what hes learned just by eyeing him hard enough Mars: "Its a been a while ago." He plays off. Bit of an understatement. "I'm a little rusty admittedly, I just go off the old notes my teacher left me with." Cimmorro: cimm cleans them the same manner he did with mars' cloak, it doesn't take too long but he decides to hold onto them for until mars' ready to receive them with a relatively clean person. folding them neatly on his lap while he waits and listens to their conversation. cue jasper crawling up on the folded clothes pile and loafing on it

Vinny: "ahhh, that explains why i havn't really seen you use much of it" he strokes his chin "who was your teacher?" Mars: "Ah she's a bit of a recluse, dunno if you'd have heard of her." Wiping his head bit by bit's been going nowhere, so out of impatience he ducks and dunks his head in and gives it a good scrub. When he resurfaces he's feeling a bit more refreshed. He wipes off the excess before getting back to Vinny. "She goes by Medea." Vinny: watching him dunk vinny leans back a little to not be in the splash range, after the names given he hums to himself "can't say i have no, not surprising though of the types that like the hole up with themselves" he says the second part a little wistfully Cimmorro: cimm's like "yayyy there's the face we know and love ☺️" when mars rinses his face Mars: "Yeah she likes to keep it that way." He ruffles his hair a bit to get the excess water out. "She came to us, and never really the other way around, but she'd show up right as we'd need her." He's gotten used to her weirdness though. He just shakes his head at cimms comment with a slight pout. "Only slightly cleaner than before." Cimmorro: cimm laughs. "maybe you could use a full dip like rokka" Mars: He does look at Rokka a little. "Maybe when the three of you are done here." Vinny: something about mars' description makes vinny feel a tinge of something but he smiles before he can dwell on it "you could always wait for a real bath when we go back to the city?" Cimmorro: "? we don't own the pond" Mars: ".... It wouldn't have been the longest I've had to gone without a... Anyway. A bath in town is fine." A part of him considers maybe he should start getting used to a lack of privacy again. Cimmorro: "nuh uh. you're not getting in the caravan in that state especially you've gotten yourself wet again... it's lined with velvet!" he gets up and hands the clothes to vinny. "hold it for a sec." starts prestighorjgkekdkfignting mars while they talk Mars: he's also attacked with the (relatively minor) fussing and just goes ow hey watch it but doesnt actually stop him

Glancing at him, Mars determines that his coments about his teacher have probably got the man feeling a little nostalgic.

Mars: He rests a hand on his chin. ".... Well what about you, how was your own teacher...." Vinny: he almost suggests mars could drive out front before he sees cimmorro easily magic the man clean, idly wondering why he didnt do the same for him as opposed to the prolonged scrubbing session. trying to not get embarrassed again thinking about it, he looks at mars to awnser the question "ah..." he thinks for a moment to himself "i had one when i was just a child, they're the one who introduced me to magic. but it wasn't anything strict, more the whims of a family friend" he smiles dimly as he continues "the one who actually taught me proper was my teacher carlyn in shorewater" he glances aside again quietly Mars: fortunately presitigitnation was instantaneous all over him though fending off cimmorro in the first place was the real struggle. Eventually he gets caught in it and is clean before vinny's eyes. "Thank you. Cimmorro." He says through gritted teeth, embarrassed somehow. He clears his throat. That does save him time at least. "The uh... I guess we had similar situations, Medea was also my mother's friend. Its probably because I'm not native to Shorewater but I can't say i've heard of Carlyn." He pauses for a bit before smacking his head. Of course he's never heard of Carlyn. Cimmorro: cimm pats his head before going back to the laundry he passed to vinny and handing it back to mars Mars: -__- takes his clothes back n puts it on a little embarrassed Vinny: he laughs a little more lightheartedly at mars putting his foot in his mouth "he's somewhat of a big name but well, i just hope hes getting some decent rest after that whole debacle back in the city" he smiles at mars again "loved ones like to give us a spark, dont they" he idly mumbles that while handing the laundry back around....

The chatter continues as they wait to see the results of the two deep divers...

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Notes

Dragon Parts Harvested 🐲🍖

Dragon Head (sans Eyes and Tooth)

Dragon Eye

Dragon Tooth

Dragon Heart

3 Vials of Throat Gland Fluid

Sliced Sections of Liver

Bearskins worth of Dragon Hide

Finn's Torso worth of Dragon Hide

Han's Torso worth of Dragon Hide

Chunks of Meat (for cooking)

#recaps #weee

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