[SD:DD] Into The Storm - Chapter 5

Samuel’s sword flourishes, knocking aside the lightning fast jab of the scorpion’s sting. A move that distracts the monsters from what turns out to be the real danger. The shield bash that shatters the lead claw. Though the quick kick to the face certainly didn’t feel too good either.

Gem laughs at this as they continue to fire off wind spears at the charging swarm. None quite as successful as that first, focus more on speed instead of charging up a shot. They can’t keep them all at a distance.

Though by the time the rest of the scorpions reach Samuel, he has finished the first with another shield bash to the face. A shame such an effective attack gets sealed for the rest of the fight, Samuel needing the shield to actually defend himself. Even then, it isn’t enough to hold all the scorpions at bay and soon Gem is in melee as well.

They do a decent job dodging about as they poke the scorpions with their actual spear. Gem sees no reason to use limited Mana when the range isn’t needed. Though maybe they should have.

There are three scorpions left on them when Gem makes their first mistake. Except unlike with Samuel, it isn’t met with the clang of sting denting metal. Rather, the soft thud of carapace on leather. All while the scorpion opposite their buckler is about to strike as well.

“Buckler, activate!” Gem shouts in a panic and their body is covered in turtle shell armor.

The sting clangs against shell and the shell shatters, remaining in place by magic alone. Now unable to move, Gem reacts without thought, stabbing forward. Their spear piercing the carapace of the middle scorpion, and a wind blade is fired off from within the monster. This does not go well for said monster.

Still, seconds are left before Gem can move again.

Except it is at this point that Samuel also kills another scorpion, which turns out to be too much for the monsters. The remaining scorpions take up a frenzied clicking and they scuttle back. A wave of chitin vanishing behind the dunes, much reduced. Though Gem continues to throw out three more wind spears to encourage their retreat.

The four stand there, weapons ready as they glance around, Gem even remembering to check the sky. Their opinion being simple, “That was too easy.”

Samuel nods, “We barely killed a third of them.”

June frowns, “If they weren’t monsters, I would say that was about the right point for them to retreat. They were, though, so it wouldn’t have been surprising for them to fight to the last.”

Emrys gestures towards a dune to the side, away from where they came from originally and the direction they vanished in. “We need to get a better view because I can think of one reason they might have retreated.”

June, “True, we know the monsters are riled up, but there’s a reason for that. Were they being chased?”

Gem dashes up the dune, “Give me a second!”

June shakes her head, but walks over to Samuel to check his armor. “I’m not seeing any deep dents. You got a little pummeled, but everything seems like what the system would count as cosmetic.”

Samuel sighs in relief, “Good, it should be fixed up soon. I’d hate to already need to pay for a repair.”

Emrys shrugs, “I’m more worried about Gem. Her shield effect looked like it blocked that shot, sure. Except there was the first strike and I know that effect doesn’t scale, being matched to the shields level.”

Gem is running back down the dune at this point and shouts in response, “It was close, but the sting didn’t penetrate! I won’t say it saved my life, but my shield certainly helped.”

Samuel, “Still say we should sell it along with some of our other stuff. Fight any white threats and the ability will fail you.”

Gem rolls their eyes, “You don’t have to be perfectly efficient with gear. Besides, better to have a piece than not. It isn’t like selling a piece of 5D gear would let us afford an upgrade. Besides, we spent most of our cash on the ritual pamphlets.”

Samuel throws his hands up, “You barely use the thing! I suspect you’d be better with both hands on your spear.”

Gem frowns, “Well, it’s only usable twice a day. What if I need it later?”

June fake coughs, “Excuse me, what did you see up there?”

Gem smacks her first into her palm, “Right! That was a thing. There is some sort of ruin off in the direction the scorps came from. Maybe something off in the direction of the dune I climbed as well? Can’t really make it out that way. All the sand in the air is obscuring things in that direction.”

Emrys, “Welp, I guess it isn’t too early to fight some undead.”

June shrugs, “I didn’t see any undead? But yeah, good odds on us finding some there.”

And it is a good thing they get their bearings and head towards those ruins. Soon after they reach the first standing bit of wall, a sandstorm rolls over the group.

Grit and dust blasting them as they rush towards whatever shelter that wall might provide.

Gem sticks their head out into the storm to look around, but pulls back disappointed. “I don’t know what I expected, trying to see through a sand storm.”

Emrys frowns, “Doesn’t that hurt? I was barely out there at all and my skin already feels rubbed raw. Then you go and stick your head out into the mess.”

Gem shrugs, “Hell if I know. Maybe you’re simply thin skinned?” And they smirk.

June shakes her head, “No, I’m pretty sure the rest of us all got a bit sandblasted. I’m going to guess that since this is a mundane wind storm, your wind resistance is doing its part.”

Gem gets a faraway look, “Oh, right, I do have that, don’t I? It just hasn’t come up, you know? Like, we were recently out at sea for months. Water resistance would have likely done more good. And of course Earth for all the forests we walk through.”

Samuel sighs, “Let’s all go take another look at our statuses before we get into anything else. It seems Some of us are forgetting our own stuff.”

The group splits up between the nearby walls for a little privacy, with Gem being sent off the furthest as the sandstorm has less of a hold over them. Then it is a simple matter to check through all their system acknowledge options.

{

Name: Gem Paroxysm

Species: ChaosKin (Chaos)

Level: 9

Stats

• Body: B

• Mana: S+

• Stamina: B-

Resistances

• Air: S

Skills

• Sense Mana lv6

• Lesser Mana Control lv7

• ☆ Wind Blade lv0

• Assay lv3

• Fishing lv5

Equipment

• AP: 2, GP: 63

• Backpack 1D

• Armored jacket 1D

• Armored cargo shorts 1D

• Ring of the Frog [3/3] 1D+

• Lazy Turtle Buckler [1/2] 5D+

• Scroll of Rest 5E

• Short Spear of the Piercing Winds 11B+

• Silverwhiskers family token

• Ritual Pamphlet for the spell “Sweet Air”

}

Not that there is much to remember. Gem shakes their head, the group really should look into a dungeon dive or similar to find some loot-based gear. Then again, they had seen this lack being called the consequence of choice. Seems that if they’d stayed in the starting area, newb gear would have been handed to them on a silver platter.

Gem frowns as they make their way back through the sandstorm. While they spent most of their time in-game, that didn’t mean they were disconnected from the never ending news cycle. They had seen what said gear could do. Gem shakes their head, no, it wouldn’t have been worth it.

Though as Gem finds the right wall, any thoughts of newb gear flies away as an argument greets them.

Samuel, —“ait for the storm to die down!”

Emrys, “But we don’t know how long that will be! These are ruins, there has to be something with an inside to explore.”

Samuel, “And get even more lost?”

Emrys, “We’d be lost, anyway. A storm like this is going to rearrange even a normal desert, let alone one known for actual illusions!”

June glances over as Gem arrives and shrugs at them, clearly not having much of an opinion on the matter. A sentiment that Gem mostly shares, except for one thing.

Gem rolls their eyes, “I’m bored with this already. Let’s just keep going from wall to wall. As long as the next and previous walls are still visible, at least we’ll have some sense of location.”

Emrys, “See! It isn’t so bad.”

Gem holds their hands up, “Woah there! Don’t drag me in. Sounded like you simply wanted to wander off into a sandstorm.”

June nods, “That was the idea.”

Emrys shrugs, “Po-tay-to, Po-tot-to.”

June shakes her head, “Very different things.” She turns to a smug-looking Samuel, “And don’t think you’re coming out of this smelling like roses! I agree that bunkering down is a good idea during a sandstorm. IF you have somewhere to bunker down. These walls? If the wind shifts even a little they won’t do a thing.”

Samuel snorts and then goes into a coughing fit. Seems snorting in the middle of a sandstorm isn’t the smartest idea if you don’t have your nose covered.

Once he gets himself under control, “The wind has been consistent.”

 Gem, “So far!”

June sighs, “And if the little chaos goblin is saying that, we probably should expect it.”

Gem crosses their arms, “I’m not small! If anything, I’m quite average.”

Emrys laughs, “You might not be physically small, but you certainly project goblin mode energy.”

Gem shrugs, “Well, I’ll just have to shake things up. Guess I’ll be tall now.”

Gem steps back and begins to do some basic stretches, shake their legs, and reach their arms towards the sky. “Ah! My body went snap, crackle, pop in the most satisfying way. I’ll have to remember that!”

Emrys frowns, “What did you do?”

Gem laughs and takes a step to stand next to Samuel, now matching his height. “So, Samuel, what are you? Five eleven? You were the tallest one in the group.”

Samuel doesn’t get a chance to answer as Emrys points at Gem in shock, “How? You were, like, at least four inches shorter than him! Now you match him exactly! That’s a bit more than a minor shapeshifting gimmick should give you.”

Gem shrugs, “I think the chaoskin don’t exactly have a set height. My bones can extend and shrink slightly, like, look at this!”

And Gem holds out their hand with their fingers spread out. Said fingers stretch in length. Not by much, in fact, less than the others would expect after Gem’s increase in height. However, it still looked super freaky.

Samuel coughs, “Ah, well, back to the question. I’m six foot even, in-game and irl.”

Gem nods, “A good height. I stopped caring about my irl height. I always play as different heights if possible. Though this time I didn’t have to. Rolling random also gave me a random height.”

June frowns, “Ah, just to note, it isn’t supposed to?”

Gem waves her concern off, “Not quite! The wording is specifically that the random option will not place you in a body you are uncomfortable with and unable to adjust to. And well, seems I’ve been doing just fine! Besides, if I felt off because of the height thing, I could simply match my height.”

Emrys, “Speaking of your height, why could you get so much taller, but your fingers hardly stretched?”

Gem shrugs, “Oh, I could make them longer, but I’d have to pull on them. Even as a shapeshifter, I don’t exactly have muscles in place to do it, or at least not quickly.

“Anyway! We’ve been gathering wool here long enough. The storm hasn’t weakened so we should probably follow my plan and work out way deeper into the ruins. If only because we might find a corner of a room that is still standing.”

June, “I have to agree with Gem’s plan. We really are in a dangerous situation, because I don’t know if any of you’ve noticed, but the wind has been shifting. If only slightly.”

Samuel sighs, “Fair enough. Besides, it is getting a little hard to hear you all.”

Gem sticks their tongue out and manages to make their ears stand up straight. “There! Now I’m the tallest!”

June squints at them, “I’m pretty certain you could have just stretched yourself taller.”

Gem shrugs, “Welp! Time to head out into the storm!” And heads out towards the farthest visible wall. Which is a lot closer than it was when they first hid behind the wall.

That's Neat, Moving On - Chapter 4

Smashing Pots - Chapter 6