Fated Leviathan Battle and Aftermath - Player Plot

[terriblepurpose]

Who: Open; please reach out to me if interested in jumping in if you haven't had a chance yet, but want to be
What: Fated Leviathan Player Plot Conclusion
When: Forward dated to February 25th
Where: The Farther Shores

Content Warnings: Body horror, thalassophobia, violence, gore, death, prophecy



Welcome to the battle and aftermath log post for the Fated Leviathan player plot. This is the conclusion of the plot.

For the battle finale planning comment specifically, go here.

If you'd like to catch up on or reference the base camp post, head here.

For the in character group chat on DeerNet, head this way.


PLEASE READ GUIDELINES FOR THIS POST::

- For the enjoyable experience of all participants, please place content warnings in the comment titles or contents when called for.

- Please place your starters for threads under the appropriate phase of the battle they start in for organizational purposes. (Example: if you are posting a prompt where your character is fighting the Leviathan at sea, please post it under 2.2 At Sea | Frontlines. If you end up threading through to the Landfall segment in-game, there's no need to move it, but marking the transition in comment titles would be appreciated.)

- If you have any questions about the Leviathan, refer to either the plotting post above or contact me via my information below.

- Using the Battle Report comments to summarize your character's actions during each phase is not required, but is encouraged.


If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, Beth, via terriblepurpose or by DMing this journal!

Comments

[vibing]

Doing my best, Commander!

[ Yuri yells back to him, keeping his balance as best he can while trying to avoid those big claws trying to snap at his legs. He manages to hack one off, and uses it to bash the other. Even as awful as that was, as much as the fear rushed through him, he's thrilled and ecstatic for this fight, having the time of his life as he battles this giant crab ten stories above the beach.

He has the other claw pinned by the time Flynn reaches him, leaving it open for Flynn to cut off ]

Took you long enough.

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn wastes no time doing exactly that, severing the claw with one neat swipe, sending it flying off to the sea below. The Leviathan bellows from a hundred mouths, and Flynn just grins, rushing with adrenaline. The other parts of the battle are keeping it more than occupied. Just below them, a massive mouth begins to emerge, all teeth and a yawning void. Flynn's mind is still half on the monster, plotting their next move: they're over here more or less alone, one tiny force against this whole thing, and they need to make as big a deal out of their presence as they can. He turns, eying another eel-head thrashing around. ]

We need to keep it distracted and confused. Aim for that—

[ He points up with his sword ]

—I'll be right behind you.

[vibing]

[ That eel is pretty gross, all slimy, slick skin, and Yuri doesn't even think about not doing what Flynn's saying. He is good at this, at leading. Yuri doesn't like following orders, but when it's Flynn, it's not so bad, probably because he trusts him. He trusts that Flynn knows what he's doing. And in this case? Yeah, that head is the next obvious target.

Yuri lurches off the crabs, running up the side of the beast to slash at its neck. It gurgles horrible and Yuri brings his sword down through its head, his breath coming fast, heart pounding, adrenalin surging through him. This is so fun, is the thing. It's so fun, and he gets to do this with Flynn, and that means something ]

[thinkfirst]

[ Another head emerges beside Yuri—an awful thing Flynn's never seen before and makes a horrible sound. Rather than warn him, Flynn just summons up all the mana he can manage, rushes through the incantation for — ]

There! Holy Lance!

[ —which sends light slamming into the thing like a massive blade, splitting it in half and lodging with a flare into the ever-changing flesh of the beast below it, making it thrash like the ripple of seaweed.

Mission accomplished, though. It didn't hit Yuri, though another shark-thing ripples into existence and lunges at him while Flynn whirls to slice through a writhing tentacle. ]

Yuri! Watch out!

[vibing]

[ Yuri twists, having dispatched the eel, and spared a moment to appreciate Flynn's technique. He really is good at this, a force of nature in his own right.

The shark manages to catch his jacket, ripping the arm and tearing it off of him, but its teeth only took a small chunk out of Yuri's shoulder. He grunts in pain before whirling to slam the hilt of his sword down on its head. ]

Thanks.

[ He smacks the thing with a kick before summoning mana of his own to hit it with another Tiger Blade. The shark is taken out pretty easily, and he laughs, but it's a little less thrilled this time, marred by pain ]

[thinkfirst]

[ Yuri can't fight like that.

He could, probably, but he won't be at his best, and Flynn needs him at his best. He's just starting the incantation for First Aid, the light flaring unsteady under his feet—the ground is not the ground, after all, but a shifting awful mass of sea-life, dead and alive, rotting and salted and bloody—when the beast screams, and lurches to one side from some massive attack. Flynn lets out a startled noise, looks up, and promptly takes a tentacle to the side, strong enough to knock him back. Another follows in its wake, jabbing like a spear into the breastplate of his armor, and Flynn lets out a pained yell and grabs for an outcropping of coral that disappears as his fingers close around it. The ground disappears beneath his feet, and he's falling all over again, down into the mouth of a yawning shark suddenly gaping wider and more toothy than before. The Leviathan and the wind scream around them. ]

cw: character death, getting eaten by a shark

[vibing]

[ Yuri's about to turn around to gloat at Flynn, to say something pithy about how many more monsters he's taken out, but by the time he does, Flynn is hit. He's hit once, then twice, and he's falling and Yuri doesn't even think about it, he doesn't even think before he's popping out of existence and then back into it just in time to kick Flynn out of the way, both feet connecting with his armor (stupid armor, it's so heavy). Pain sears up his legs, but he manages to send Flynn into another innocuous jellyfish to catch his fall. The momentum sends Yuri straight into the jaw of the shark. There's a moment of relief, that Flynn is safe, that he got there, got Flynn out of the way, before the panic sets in.

He doesn't have time to teleport to save himself, doesn't have time for anything except to stare at Flynn, meeting his eyes for a brief moment, his own wide, mouth parted in what would be a cry of Flynn's name if he had the time. Fear and a strange sort of acceptance roll through him. Yes, he's afraid, afraid of the pain, afraid of death, but it's worth it. It's worth it for Flynn to survive, for Flynn to fight another way.

The jaws snap shut around him. Teeth pierce through his body, and the pain is instant and brief, fear spiking for one awful moment before it's gone. The shark shakes him, Yuri's body lolling like a ragdoll, before tossing his body so he falls back into its mouth, swallowing him whole. His sword gets caught in its teeth and it shakes its head hard, the sword flying and piercing the Leviathan in the side. ]

[thinkfirst]

[ It is nothing like Yuri's fall from Zaude, in the end.

Flynn lived in the teeth of those warnings for weeks, trying everything he could reasonably think of short of banning Yuri from this fight (which wouldn't have worked anyway, because Yuri is Yuri, and he can never leave well enough alone) to make sure that the salt-soaked terror of those dreams didn't come true. Death doesn't count here, but Flynn has been through that, has felt himself fade from the world, and he wouldn't wish it on Yuri for anything. Yuri needs to live, and that is that. Non-negotiable, a point of truth so strong that Flynn orients himself around it.

Except.

Maybe they'd gotten cocky. Maybe there was a part of him sure that Yuri escaped certain death so many times over that it couldn't touch him now, maybe he'd thought that by grabbing Yuri's hand just a few minutes earlier, all those predictions were null and void, that they'd managed to do what Yuri always does best and kick fate right in the face, choose something else.

Or maybe Flynn's dreams were just dreams, and this is another fate entirely. He slams into the jellyfish with a force that knocks the wind from him, twists with a wild kind of fear that isn't entirely his, watches Yuri fall and yells his name but it happens so fast. In that way, it is just like Zaude: pain runs lightning-hot along Flynn's skin from a tentacle he doesn't see, and his limbs seize up, his voice freezes in his throat, and he watches helpless and mute as Yuri is there and then a moment later is gone. He meets Yuri's eyes, and then teeth close around him and blood explodes glittering and Flynn yells with a voice not his own, stuck to the jellyfish and full of terror.

He should be stuck there. The venom is a paralyzing one, meant to stun fish and hold them there for a slow death, but Flynn is a force of nature on a good day: this is a very, very bad day, and so he wrenches himself free through sheer force of will and dives for the shark just as Yuri's sword goes flying. He can't feel anything, he can't feel Yuri, but Flynn smashes his sword into the shark's nose anyway, surrounded by an unholy aura driving him on harder and faster than he could ever be on his own. His sword connects, and the air around him lights up, and magic and sword slam into the creature at once, battering it until its jaws open and its head is severed, but—

but Yuri is gone. ]