Blind Faith (Open to 2 Not in An Oncoming Storm)

From the depths of Finnek an old man was stumbling, his eyes overcome by white cataracts. A morning mist was bathing him, blowing through the blue tinted woods. He held out a cane before himself, tapping gently at the ground before him as he stepped, the rapid and sweeping nature with which he moved the staff suggested a fear of tripping on roots. He looked emaciated and poorly dressed, his skin scabbed in places and his mouth hung wide. The old man was wearing a heavy brown cloak and baggy trousers, a broad brimmed hat atop his head. He was approaching the entrance to the dust mine, staggering forward. As he met with the mine’s great gate, a metal wall which could be slid on the rare occasions it was open (both to the public and for extraction) he placed his knuckle to it; knocking on the cold metal. The storehouse opposite, which he had seemingly missed, was empty… it seemed as though the grounds were completely empty. He had somehow wandered by the metal fence with all its security cameras. The gate had been pushed open, it’s chains not unlocked but no longer present.

“Hello! I-Is anybody in there?! Hello, I think I’ve taken a wrong turn? Hello!? I’m blind you see! I don’t know where I am!” He was calling out to an empty cavern as though it were a cabin in the woods, knocking hard against the door… it didn’t look like the old man’s fist could take hitting it much longer; it was as though he couldn’t even tell the door was metal, rather than wood. The sun had risen, but was blocked out by clouds. Toward the other side of Bellmuse a storm was brewing. He continued to cry out, asking for help.

He was in the clearing before the mines, on the pathway which mine-tracks would be placed for dust to be collected from the mines. He began to push hard against the door, as if trying to open it, fumbling against it in a futile attempt to find a handle. The fog was slowly filtering into the enclosure; if someone didn’t act soon the old man might be forgotten.

Viridian had been on his morning patrols and had been assigned to Finnek. Even though he'd only recently arrived, the island being on high alert meant that he had to do his part rather than get settled in. That was fine by him honestly, considering the relative tameness of the island's populace would have had him a bit antsy if he'd had nothing to do anyhow. His tongue clicked off the side of his cheek as he maneuvered through the underbrush of Finnek, probably having a better time of it than most people that had eyesight would. However, he was distracted by shouting coming from the mine as he passed by and let his ears pop out of his hair so that he could hear better. He could make out the rattling of a door and hurried to see what was going on there.

When he made it to the gate, the reverb would pick up a humanoid figure pounding up against the door that lead to the caverns. This area was meant to be secure so this didn't make much sense for someone to be here.

"Hey! The hell are ya doin' out here?! This area is under restricted access, and you need to leave!"

The old man fell in surprise at the sound, iris-less eyes wide as he scanned left and right across the area. His hands pressed into the mud as he tried to rise, failing and staying flat on his backside. He looked up where he believed the sound had emanated from, a good twenty degrees right of Viridian's face. He blindly reached out with his muddy, scabbed, hand; not to grab but as though he were asking for help up. His hand was unbelievably boney, and examination of his face revealed it to be the same; he hardly had cheeks and his chin was especially prominent. The mist was rolling further and further in, not that either of the men could see it.

"Young man, young man are you there? Please don't shout at me, I'm blind you see; my ears are especially sensitive. Sudden sounds spook me more than they do you! Please be gentle with me! I've lost my way in this forest, I've been at the far flung north for many many years! I was monitoring sea lion populations when I went blind." The man seemed scared yet excited, his mouth hung wide and dry. He spoke in a hushed, panicked, shouting manner; perhaps only hushed due to the state of his mouth. "I've been wandering the forrest blind for months now I'm sure, I lost all my data when I was mauled by Grimm. I only survived because I passed out and with that my fear vanished. I was left to bleed, I've been eating only bark and grass!"

The man did smell quite awful, it was clear he hadn't spoken to anyone for many months; should Viridian attempt to cut him off he'd continue prattling on. Quite terrified, but a small smile on his face perhaps showed he was relieved to be around another person. Whether or not his hand was taken he'd continue to reach out, remaining on the ground.

Rika hadn’t been planning to do anything without Sakura…at least not originally. The two of them had decided to go to the mines in a few days to find this “treasure” but…Rika Titania was not a patient person. As such the pigtailed faunus had found herself going there on her own just out of boredom more so than any desire to go behind her best friend’s back. She would have likely been running around the inside of the island’s dust mines largely unsupervised already had the fog not distracted her. She couldn’t see much in any direction, with the mist, and thus she only stopped when she heard voices, deciding to go that way. While the pigtailed girl didn’t know who the two were, they were both guys it sounded like, and they came into view after she got close enough to see them through the fog.

There was also the door to the mine, she remembered from the major mission she’d done there. She managed to hear most of the old dude’s story, blinking at it. “Hey old man, you want me ta take ya back to town er somethin’, ya really aint sposed to be here.” The pigtailed faunus yelled out, not having understood much’a that junk about loud sounds. The fact she herself technically hadn’t gotten any permission to be here was forgotton, she just knew this old guy needed help, and apparently couldn’t see stuff and it would probably be better for him to get to Springwood, the guy probably had someone worrying about him after all.

Viridian could hear the person traipsing through the fog long before they even said anything and he deduced that it was a person fairly easily from the body type. The large deal of shouting, however was severely grating his poor ears, and he folded them back against his head to lessen the stinging. He walked over toward the man and grabbed him by the wrist to try to pull him up, gun in the opposite hand.

"Fine, I'll take ya back to Springwood on the condition that you please shut up!" The loudness and the commotion on his patrol was putting Viri in a bad mood, but he had a duty to help people, so he'd perform it to the letter. He didn't forget about the other either, speaking over his shoulder. "And you need to clear out of here. This space is restricted. Go home girl." He said as he tugged on the old man to stand him up.

"Gaaaaah!" The man grasped his ears and curled up int the foetal position, flinching again and shrinking further still; pulling his hands over his head. Being pulled so suddenly to didn't help his fearful state. He pushed up against the mine's large metal door, a loud crash sounded and the man's eyes went from wide to clenched; mouth hanging wide and a small amount of blood on his lip. It was nothing serious, investigation would show he'd simply bit his tongue in shock, but it further shook the man's nerves.

"I-If I'm not supposed to be here then where am I? Am I on some kind of military base? D-Did I somehow end up on the academy? P-Please, one of you, tell me what's happening! Tell me where I am." He wasn't resisting the boy's grasp particularly, but he wasn't returning the effort of pulling himself up. "I-I said not to shout, my hearing is all that I have. Let me know before you're going to move me, I have no idea what you're doing."

All the while the fog seemed to get denser and denser, drawing closer and closer in. Rika would soon struggle to see the exit of the mine herself, white wisps thicker than any fog she had experienced prior; let alone on Bellmuse where fog was a rarity.

Rika frowned at the cowboy dude’s attitude, not liking the way he was acting at all.  The pigtailed girl didn’t really get why he was acting like such a jerk, especially to some helpless old man. She frowned at the guy’s question, deciding to answer it first.  “You’re at the dust mine.” The cat faunus answered, trying to keep her voice down, since she knew now that it probably wouldn’t do to yell right now.

“Ya don’t gotta be a jerk about it.” The pigtailed girl responded, sticking out her tongue childishly when the weird cowboy dude told her to clear out, it was only then that she noticed the fog was getting worse, and her frown widened as she realized she’d never seen fog on the island in the first place. The pigtailed girl wasn’t an expert on weather or things like that, but she did realize quickly something important, verbalizing the though.

She had limited experience in fog in general, but it was weird for it to be this thick.  “jeez, can’t see nothin’ in this, weird.”

The old man's shouting was only making the situation worse as it only irritated Viri further. "Shut up, if loud noises are so damn bad, then stop making them. You're not the only one with loudness issues here. If you'll quit being an idiot, then maybe we can talk and get this sorted out."

This was really starting to piss him off. Viridian would keep trying to pull the man to his feet despite the situation. He just wanted to continue his patrol for real threats and these stupid civilians were getting in his way. It would be good to note that Viridian took no notice of the fog, blind as he was, but he could still hear that Rika hadn't gone anywhere. "You hard a' hearing? Get outta here so I can do my job and patrol the area for these stupid pirates. I just want to do my job and y'all are making it way harder than it needs to be." he called over his shoulder.

The old man grew a frown; "Well perhaps if you'd stop pulling me and treat me rightly, like this young woman is, then we wouldn't be having this argument. Perhaps if you were calm in dealing with this long lost, blind, elderly man we wouldn't be having these issues. I think I am bleeding, yet you have not even mentioned it; let alone seen to it." He finally embraced the pulling and raised himself up, though his strength was clearly rather limited. Rather than look in the boy's direction he looked roughly in the direction of the girl, despite the fog now making it difficult for her to see him; "You say there's a fog rolling in dear, are you quite alright? Is it really that thick you can't see? This could be quite the problem."

"And this is the dust mine? It's much larger than I remember... its been so so long since I was last in civilisation. It used to just be a little cave, I don't think there was a big door on it like that one." A small thunk sounded behind the old man, just as he began to walk in the girl's direction. "If it is so foggy just take my hand dearie, we don't want any of us getting any more lost do we? My name is Pew, what is yours?" But Rika likely wouldn't be there to take his grasp. This fog was now insane, she would find herself no longer able to see her own hand before her face. Nothing but whiteness surrounded her, while sound still penetrated the fog sight had become totally impossible.

Eight arms emerged from the mud behind the student, clambered her body; two hands grabbing his legs, two wrapping around their waist, one over each shoulder and a third grasped the her long braid. Their reaching complete, the hand's triple jointed arms began to sink back into the blue grass behind them at great speed; still clinging tightly to her with the hand clung to her braid fully submerging, hair still in hand. The force behind them was great, the force if she met with the ground would surge up her back; yet, if she had been grabbed, her mouth had not been covered, she could freely call for help to the pair.

Attack From Fog:

Rika smirked as the old man chastised the jerk, before frowning as the fog continued to get worse. She could still hear the old guy but couldn’t see anything at all at this point. It was kinda weird, and she found herself trying to find some kind of landmark in the fog despite herself. While she could still hear the old man, she couldn’t see the offered hand, and thus wasn’t able to take it.The cat faunus didn’t like this, the fog was annoying, and she felt weird about not being able to see anything, as though someone was watching them from out of sight, though she dismissed the thought immediately. After all nobody could see in this fog.


Then the hands came out of nowhere and Rika didn’t have any time to react before they were already grabbing her, pulling her down at the ground forcefully, with one even grabbing her by the braid.

“Let go’a me ya jerk!”


The pigtailed girl didn’t even have time to react before she was slammed to the ground, the impact causing a bit of pain as she was pinned as well. Her hair even seemed to have gotten pulled into the ground, jerk. The pigtailed girl tried to force her way out, but the rock limbs. She did mentally note the interesting attack idea, since it could come in handy at some point. The cat faunus struggled, trying to get out of the pin before remembering the dust in her bracer, and while her shoulders were being grabbed, her arms were still free.

She decided to activate a type she hadn’t used yet, directing the blast at the ground rather than trying to break up the hands individually. A directional explosion triggered, one that had it happened from mundane means might have injured the user at such close distance, but dust was weird like that, and her aura managed to repel any shrapnel that resulted in it. The explosion was probably loud enough to attract the attention of the two blind men even if the previous shouting didn’t, and Rika found herself climbing out of a crater of her own making. The rock hands gone or fallen to the ground.

The pigtailed faunus’s glowed for a moment, as the damage done from the sneak attack and subsequent explosion healed from her semblance. The attack had caught her by surprise, but now Rika was on guard.



HP 125/150 aura: 140/170

Actions: escaped pin and used semblance to heal.

"A-Are you alright dear? Is something the matter? Is everything alright? I didn't quite get your name." Pushing passed Viridian Pew began to wander in Rika's rough direction; though veering a little too much to the left such that he would never have made contact; despite the loudness of her shouting and the explosion. He reached out with his arm, waving his right from left to right before himself in an attempt to make contact with the young woman but never wold have been able. As he walked, just as he was tending back in the direction of the mine, there was a quite sudden and much louder thunk behind him. Pew let out an ear wrenching scream the sound of smacking radiating from Rika's far right.

Should she approach however she would find herself contacting something barbed, a great mass covered in spikes. It did bend slightly if she would push against it, her fingers could dig into what seemed to be holes or gaps however eventually fingers would meet with more spikes. They were long (though of highly varying length) and hard, unlike the mass she was pushing against, and seemed not to bend under touch; though with enough force the longer ones would snap. Regardless however she likely wouldn't have time to analyse this strange object as soon a bullet would come flying from the mass at the exact height and angle to strike her forehead. The gunner was either incredibly lucky or unaffected by the smog. This bullet was quite abnormal however, dust based it would explode with electricity. Had her forehead been directly against the bush, or as much as four inches from it, she would have felt the long metal shaft of a revolver pressing against her head. Meanwhile Pew was still moaning in distress somewhere on the other side of the mass. It measured three metres across and two wide.

Attacks Within Fog:

Rika brushed the dirt and debris off of herself as the old man stumbled around looking for her, she couldn’t see anything around here still, so figured staying still was probably the best move, since both of them stumbling around would only get both of them more lost than they already were. Then the old man screamed, and Rika tried going in that direction to see what it was going on, before colliding with some weird…thing. The cat faunus didn’t really know what it was, and leaned in trying in vain to see what, only to suddenly feel cold metal against her forehead. Had the pigtailed faunus not been attacked moments before, she probably wouldn’t have thought to react, but as it was she moved out of the way of the gun’s barrel, the bullet passing over her shoulder rather than striking her. While the sound from the gun, going off right next to her was a bit more on the painful side, the cat faunus had been tried to fight, and those instincts allowed her to react despite the disorientation from the loud noise going off in her ear.

She would reach up and grab the hand holding the gun, and assuming she got a grip one might have noticed a strange blue glow around her just before the pigtailed girl activated a thrust crystal, attempting to pull the gunner through the object before using her currently augmented strength to attempt a throw over her shoulder, falling into a stance she remembered that was best for such things and using the remaining momentum from her thrust crystal to fuel it as much as her own currently augmented strength.

HP:100/150 Aura: 130/170


Actions: Activated STR buff. One dust attack and one unarmed. Dust attack is 50 damage before defenses. Unarmed is 20 before def.

As the girl reached to grab for a hand, she would be met only with the metal barrel of the revolver; it had been poked through the spiky mass rather than the individual pushing their entire hand through what was a large bramble hedge; likely made with plant dust or some semblance as it hadn't been their prior. The gun however was easily torn from the individual's hand, as she would grab it and rush away she would find it had an abnormally large barrel; around twenty centimetres long, and (if she felt it rather than looking as the fog was still much too strong) she could notice that the revolver had only four bullet slots rather than the more traditional six; the handle was made from some kind of wood and had a roughness comparable to sandpaper. Of course... if she was so fixated on analysing the weapon she would be thoroughly unprepared for the next shot, it seemed the gunman had at least two pistols.

This shot was perhaps more predictable, while she wouldn't be able to see it she would certainly be able to hear it and maybe even feel it. A great ball of crackling flame would rush toward her from the direction of the constructed hedge, around the size of a rugby ball and heading toward her torso. It was incredibly loud, roaring as it rushed toward her. Under the cover of this sound the dangerous individual in the fog would move, however the old man Pew was no long speaking... perhaps more worrying than if he were. There would be a moment's silence in the wake of the fireball before, quite suddenly, a new shot would be fired in Rika's direction. Not a fireball or a lightning bolt, this time the bullet came quickly and almost silently; save for the hammer of the revolver. It was like a wooden stake shaped as a bullet, acting far more like a traditional bullet than the prior shots had been.

Attacks Within Fog:

Rika frowned as the gun came loose, a bit disappointed that her attempted attack failed, but smirking at having seemingly disarmed her opponent. She didn’t really pay all that much attention to the gun aside from a cursory look, as such things weren’t exactly within her own sphere of interest and as such, she was fortunately prepared for the shot that came, the light from the flame, as well as the sound and heat of the fire shot indicating her opponent was still armed, and Rika managed to get out of the way of the shot before it could impact her.  The fog was annoying, as she couldn’t see her opponent.

Of course, an idea came to the pigtailed girl’s mind, and she sent a wave of vine-like roots shooting out in the direction her opponent came from, which would spread out around five feet from where the bush had been, thorned vines shooting from them and spreading out, had he been anywhere near his previous spot, or still moving while it would likely have struck the man, but unknown to Rika this was unlikely.

The pigtailed girl changed from using her aura’s strength buff once again speeding up her own healing, All the while walking towards the bush cautiously. The second shot surprised the pigtailed girl, having come from a direction she hadn’t expect and catching her unaware, undoing what little respite she’d managed to gain.  Though Rika’s martial arts reflexes kicked in, and she made a motion to punch while channeling aura into a crystal, flame shooting out in the direction the stake had come from in a cone that would extend for at least a few meters if not farther. potentially striking her opponent and should the attack strike possibly burning him.


The pigtailed girl only realized after that there was a chance of the old man Pew being hurt by her attacks, before realizing that she hadn’t heard him at all recently, only causing the cat faunus to be somewhat more worried.


HP 85/150   Aura 100/170

Actions: Plant dust attack, 50 damage.   Semblance used for healing for 30 ap.  And then fire dust attack 50 damage. Roll for Burn if hit.

Of all the things the mind had never thought he'd have been doing, it was patrolling the forest around skylight woods. If anything the mind had considered it to be a pleasant walk in the woods, warding off some crazy hikers or helping someone reach back to one of the closer by towns. It was pretty peaceful, quiet... and then it wasn't. There were sounds that he was familiar with: the sound of dust, explosions, and gunfire -and they were coming from the mines... or at least around them. He froze for a few seconds, contemplating what was the right action. Naturally someone had to be in some form of danger, and if he was lucky he wasn't messing with the very unlikely affair of some backwoods folk. Soon Carmine had made his mind up, increasing his pace as he pulled the Azoth out from a fold in his typical flowing attire. Maybe it was instinct, or just something he had gleamed from his mother, but if there was any danger ahead, he might as well have been prepared to assist whomever it could be.

Each footstep had it's urgency stored and released with each continuous collision with the ground below him, his shortsword cutting down low hanging branches with each deliberate movement of his right arm. Carmine was going headfirst into danger, and he didn't know what to make of it. Soon enough the mind had arrived at the scene, with a rather thick fog covering the area. It was abnormal, as only some short time ago he had found the air to be as clear as ever before he heard the next gunshot. His head turned instinctively towards the sound before he ducked, preferring to be as cautious as ever before he readied his semblance, the field of energy coalescing before he spoke. "Hello? Show yourself!" He had called out rather loudly, swinging the Azoth in the direction of the sound as it sent the coalesced field energy towards the sound itself. The surge of 'aether' energy had seemed almost static in this seemingly excited, damaging form as it had surged towards the sound in something of an azure light, with a seeming cascade of flames following as Carmine had utilized the fire dust sown into his clothes, a hand motion being the prime activator of this dust based attack.

Stats: Carmine:

Action Phase: Carmine:

Stats update: Carmine:

While the girl's plant dust vines wouldn't even come close, the villain having already moved long before the attack was made, the cone of fire that she produced would reach out into the fog but naturally it was unclear to her whether she had hit anything; no real sound immanently emanated from the haze and it wasn't as though she could see anything being roasted. Carmine's semblance shot would cut into the flame, his flame shot following and mingling with it, but beneath the roar of flames it was unclear how many attacks had hit and if they had how much damage they had delt. After a few moments however, following the pause, there was a guttural cry.

"Ah! P-Please stop that burns that burns!" It was the sound of the old man Pew, accompanied by what sounded like the old man rolling backward and forward on the ground. Likely assumed to be an attempt to put out the flame or perhaps simply struggling in pain. Should anyone approach the rolling mass however, reach out and touch it through the fog and they would find not a person but a fusion of a giant coconut and cactus which, upon contact, would extend its spikes to pierce into an individual's hand. The rolling sound was also intended as cover, the opponent slipping away and Pew seemingly vanishing with them. It wouldn't be long before their position was highlighted again however, wherever the boy had moved in response to the attack (or even not at all) it was as though the opponent could see through the fog to the boy despite his damaged eyes let alone the fog. There would be another gunshot, another bolt of flame rushing from the barrel of a revolver. The shot was aimed at the man's chest, coming from his right side.

The rushing of footfalls would sound in the wake of the flame, growing quiet faster should Carmine take the hit rather than if it missed and set alight the grass. It would be less clear to Carmine, more clear to Rika given that she had been there prior, but the figure was running toward the mines... and with dust in hand, it may stand a chance at busting the door down.

Attacks Within The Fog:

Rika wasn’t sure if her attacks really did much at all, not being able to see was a pain and having to fight someone who apparently could was getting on her nerves. The pigtailed faunus didn’t like this stuff at all, and unfortunately one of the few dust types she didn’t happen to use was what she thought would probably be the most useful in this scenario. Rika heard the old guy’s voice and rushed to react only to stop as a thought occurred to her that something was off…

It was rare for the redhead to be cautious, but Rika remembered how Pew had disappeared just as the fight started, and how his voice had lured her into the first attack, she didn’t know what it really meant, but it seemed like the old man was being used as bait. “HEY OLD MAN, YA AROUND HERE?” She yelled out, waiting for an answer only for the sound of the rolling to stop, and another shot to resound through the area. This one notably not aimed at her, Rika still wasn’t sure what was going on, but this was weird, and it was obvious that someone was playing dirty, though whether the old man was involved didn’t occur to her, but Rika heard footsteps, and it took a moment to realize the direction was roughly towards where she remembered the door to the mine being.

Her semblance healed her as she moved to intercept, and there was a chance that, if Carmine were to follow the sound as well, the two would likely encounter each other, Regardless, Rika decided to take the initiative, activating a crystal and drawing he whip at the same time. She’d lash forward, charging the weapon with dust at the same time. Ice would begin to shoot out from the spot the pigtailed girl whipped, expanding forward and wide until it would reach the door. While it wasn’t enough to freeze, the ice would certainly shoot up around anyone in it’s path, slamming against any obstacle between it and the door and likely slowing her opponent down if nothing else. The from the door masses of ice would form, before shattering outward like a shotgun blast and sending shards towards anyone that might be standing in front of it. Rika herself made sure to take cover.

Had the pigtailed girl encountered Carmine in the fog, she would pull the other hunter downward with her as she ducked, and assuming the action was successful the two would remain uninjured by the shrapnel of the second attack.



HP 105/150 AP: 70/170


Actions: Semblance used for healing. Two dust attacks 50 damage before defenses.

At any point, the sounds of an old man caused a growing concern in the dust caster, in a way the exclamation was quite grim. Had he hurt a bystander? A poor old man who had lost his way? No matter what the concern had grown to the point where he had to investigate such a thing, if only to check on the condition of the person. It was a near immediate reaction for him to pace towards the sounds, unlucky enough to catch the bolt of flame as it had collided with his side, knocking him down for a few brief seconds as he seemed to mutter a few phrases under his breath, the field of energy seemingly surrounding him as the burning pain had seemed to grow dull, ultimately numbing out as he had slowly gotten up. His slow cautious pace now transformed to a dash towards another sound, one that sounded more ladylike -and one that seemed to wonder about the supposed owner of the other voice. Each step quickly stamped into the ground before he let loose a cascade of flame from where he remembered the last shot had came from, the flames themselves fanning out to reach and burn up whoever may have been the unknown threat.

It wasn't soon he had ran into the lady who went by Rika, one who he didn't really know in name or appearance, somewhat clumsily falling towards -in a way almost tackling given the momentum he had achieved- the faunus by accident as he managed to trip on a stone. "Oh good lor-" Was all he said before his possibly inevitable collision. Luck hadn't gifted him today it had appeared, and he had hoped that it wasn't going to be like this all day.

Stats:

Action Phase:

Stats Update: Carmine:

It would be unclear whether Carmine's attack made its mark, but Rika's attack would at the very least make impact. There would be the sound of ice crashing and crystallising onto the door before shattering outward, it would make quite a lot of noise (the metal door reverberating like a gong) and in its wake ice would spread far across the clearing. There would be a beat of silence, no sound from Pew or whatever opponent lay within the mist. The opponent had lost a gun, while it was unclear how many attacks they had taken it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume they had been hit once or twice, but how close this battle was to finishing couldn't be less clear.

There would be the sudden sounds to two shots being fired, less than a second between them, the first shot being formed of electric dust; racing toward the pigtailed girl's head specifically, the second  being formed of plant dust as a wooden bullet raced toward the human boy's throat. There was the sound of shuffling, movements were much slower than they were prior, something had moved to the left of the mine's entrance. The sound was coming from near the ground, but no voice called out... there was no scream for help but neither was there a curse under the figure's breath. They could shoot where the shots had come from or the new location, but in either case the risk of hitting Pew could be high.

From the silence there would come the sudden sound of earth crumpling and being torn up, it came around in a long and awkward direction, looping from the pair's left side, and upon arriving at their spot the ground would open into a great pit; potentially trapping the two within. The hole would have a two metre radius and be four metres deep.

Attacks Within The Fog:

Rika was sure she’d somehow hit the guy, there was some noise to indicate such, but before she could celebrate that much something ended up falling into her, or rather someone.  Rika didn’t know the person, though she could at least tell it was a guy, even with the weirdly long hair. Still they had fallen on top of her and considering the situation it was easy to assume him to be the one she was fighting, especially since he’d practically tackled her. Of course, though, Rika hadn’t completely dropped her guard, and managed to raise a defensive wall of earth against both shots, as the attacks would have come from the same direction. She still couldn’t really make out who the guy that had landed on top of her was the fact she couldn’t really see him only making such a thing harder to discern even had she known him, but Rika at least knew that they weren’t the one fighting her.

“Hey, can ya get off’a me now? Kinda got a bad guy to beat up.” The pigtailed girl would ask, and assuming Carmine were to oblige the cat faunus--Should he not, the pigtailed girl would have force simply attempted to push him off, not being the type to wait before acting--would get back up before slamming a fist against the wall she’d used to block the shots. The rock would shift forward, only to start moving not towards either of the potential locations of her opponent, but rather once again heading for the door itself.

Rika didn’t like fighting someone she couldn’t see, but it didn’t matter if she made it so that he couldn’t get what she had already discerned was probably what he was after.  The rock would smash against the door, a loud sound reverberating through the area as rock met steel, however the impact wasn’t nearly as forceful as one would expect, as the intent wasn’t truly to break through the door, but rather to reinforce it, as well as ceiling it shut.  The rock fusing with the metal to make the door outright inoperable as it also added another layer of material the pirate would need to get through to get into the mine.  "HA, what d'ya think 'bout that!" The pigtailed girl taunted, before suddenly finding herself falling.

The pit would catch Rika by surprise, being that she expected a head-on attack and not such an indirect one.  Rika finding the ground below her shifting and causing her to fall back onto her rear. The cat faunus would charge her whip with another crystal as she stood, grumbling all the while about stupid pirates and dirty tricks.  Her whip cracking through the air, making contact with the edge of the hole, and from that spot, roots would grow, spreading out towards the spot she’d heard near the entrance, rather than the one the first shots had been fired.  

The roots would seem inconsequential to most at first, simply expanding outward, though they would appear small enough and at grass level, rather than a larger attack, should they reach a person however, the roots would begin growing upwards, and rapidly increase, pulling tightly together and squeezing whoever may have managed to be caught. The plants would attempt to bind the person in question, squeezing tight enough that they could easily harm anyone caught in the attack. Though likely nonlethally.


HP 100/150  Aura 70/170

Actions:  Blocked the dust shots with an earth wall, reinforced the mine entrance/sealed the door to the mine with earth dust.

One dust based attack attempted, 50 damage before defenses.

With the luck that the mind had went through, Carmine had found that not much had seemed to go his way. First it was the dense fog, then it was this unknown gunman and caster seeming to attack him, and to wrap it all up, he was dirtying his clothes in the process. Does this fellow know how hard it is to clean this!? The last part may have been a little overexaggerated, but quite frankly he was sort of in the right... What else was there to tally on the board of terrible events so far? The tripping into a lady had seemed to be the most prominent, the mind finding himself dazed for several seconds before rolling off of the lady."Oh I'm so so sorry about that mi-" he stopped himself before remembering what he was in the middle of, with the erection of a stone wall that the lady made stopping projectiles. If anything he didn't expect so may casters to be within the same area as he readied his Azoth.

Of course readying his weapon didn't stop him from the telltale rumbling of the earth below him. Alas it was all too late as he fell into the pit with little to no time for reaction. If anything him readying himself for the impact via the bending of his knees had definitely dampened some of the impact, but it didn't stop him from falling back with a groan. It turned out that the bad luck had began to compound already. Carmine rolled to the side and soon got up, dusting himself off. From a look the lady seemed to have a plan, seemingly using that whip for... something... he didn't know exactly, but it was something. Soon the flecks of blue light had seemed to surround the gal, reinvigorating any aura there was while he spoke. "I don't suppose you have a way out of here, do you?" He asked Rika. "If you don't... do you have anymore of that earth dust with you?" What he implied was obvious if anything, and he had the feeling that she would know what he was inferring.

Carmine stats:

Action phase:

Carmine stats update:

As the youngsters fell into the pit, nothing but grey fog visible above them, they would hear a sound unlike any they had prior. It was a voice that Rika would recognise and Carmine, if he perused the docks often he might find this voice familiar but otherwise it would sound like a gruff and elderly yet full of life. I dinnae need eyes tae see a rat. Smellin' like stolen dust an' crude metal, how nostalgic." The voice was coming from far above the pair, it wasn't even on the direct surface but higher than that. They would hear the sound of rattling chains, whipping around something and coiling to ensnare.

"What, no I-

The fog would rise quite suddenly, not vanishing but making its way up to the point that, when hunched over, the two could see. Then, a moment later, with the sound of a smack and the rattle of chains the fog flew up and up and up until eventually it vanished. On the surface, if they looked to the dust mines (the doorway blocked with a layer of earthdust) it would be obvious what had happened. Billy "Bones" Creak, the man who ran Creak's Tavern and had been reported as being an ex-pirate was holding a giant sawfish-bone sword with a chain attached to it, the chain was wrapped around the high tip of the Dust-Mine entrance and on the other end of the chain (upside down and hanging by his bound feet) was Pew. The gun near his feet confirmed it, Pew had been tricking them the whole time.

The old man was clearly battered, burned in places and bashed in others, there was a new blemish forming on his face however... by their pose it was likely where Billy had punched him. "Oi, you kids can get out here. We've got some interigation to dae, are ye alright? Nothin' too hurt? I'll deal em it back if you want."

Rika had been ready to continue the fight when a familiar voice called out, it made sense that Creak would be here, Rika knew she wouldn’t have wanted to be out of a fight, and he WAS supposed to be guarding the thing she supposed. Still the pigtailed girl had to grin when she heard the familiar voice, a grin which widened further when the fog disappeared finally. Of course, when she climbed out of the hole to find that it was the old guy that was her opponent the whole time, Rika was more than a little annoyed.

“Guess the ol’ man was too scared ta fight us fair, jerk.” The faunus stated eloquently. “thank for gettin’ ridda the fog though, was beginnin’ ta get on my nerves...” Rika stated, grinning at Creak now that she could see. The lack of fog also let her get a look at the guy that had showed up mid-fight, whom wasn’t really all that familiar. The long-haired guy was kinda girly lookin’ and Rika didn’t get why anyone would wear clothes that long and impractical, it seemed like the guy’s outfit would just make him easy to fight against to the cat faunus, but maybe he was actually a skilled enough fighter to make up for it?

“Don’t think we’ve met, name’s Rika nice ta meetcha!” She introduced herself before Creak called out. “nah ya aint gotta do nothin’ like that ol’ man, figure I gave as good as I got.” Rika answered, looking at the battered pirate.