escordvi | there's nothing better than this, right?

Entry tags:

there's nothing better than this, right?

Who: Azul Ashengrotto and YOU

Status: Open

Where: The "shores" and general ocean area around Eltrut. (I'm so sorry to the sea turtle leviathan who has been exposed to this as I realized only now when making this player plot months ago)

What: Sea Witch of the Abyss player plot; forward dated closer to the end of January: Azul returns after spending the better part of the month in hiding... and has brought something back along with him to the surface.

Warnings: Tentacles, body horror-style description of blot and such due to magic corruption, emeto (but it's ink/blot), animalistic merfolk behavior + some mental instability on Azul's part, I will warn for anything else more specific if it comes up.

Today, the weather is as worst as it's ever been since the storm reports that were made back in December. Dark clouds, heavy rain, a rumble in the air of thunder... and eventually, that rumble seems to extend to the ground below, a sudden slight tremor under one's feet.

Because, close to the shores of Eltrut, where the waters have darkened the most since the recent ink-like sludge that's been found affecting the fish, something is happening. As if the sea is attempting to part and move out of the way of something large that is now approaching the surface. Reports will go out that anyone wishing to investigate can take a boat out or any other means of their choosing to try to find what it is, or at the very least be prepared in case it comes too close to Eltrut.

Eventually, something does indeed rise--a crown of silver-white hair that eventually reveals a dark figure hunched over, and then... tentacles. Eight large, massive tentacles that poke above the water and appear to be the source of the violent waves being formed. That ink-like sludge, or rather, blot, heavily coats the octomer that has now made themselves known. If it wasn't for the tentacles, and the head of the octomer above the water, one might think that this creature was just entirely made of this ink rather than an actual living entity. Some of it sloughs off and falls into the water, while other parts appear to have hardened and formed sharp spikey-like appendages sticking out of his upper back and arms. It almost seems like a miracle that they can even move under the weight of it.

Speaking of the head, that blot seems to have not yet quite completely consumed that one feature of this sea creature, as after a long moment, they roll their head back from their previously hunched over position. There's ink spilling down their face from the corners of their mouth and eyes, the latter of which has an almost glassy look to them as if not quite aware of his surroundings yet, but anyone who has ever seen or spoken to him before will still be able to recognize him immediately.

The missing Azul Ashengrotto, proprietor of the Mostro Lounge.

Azul's eyes are dazed as if he's barely woken up from a deep sleep, slow and heavy blinking, and shuddering from the weight of the blot as if trying to shake off a heavy coat that refuses to slide off his back. His mouth is closed, as if perhaps the blot is stuck like a heavy weight in his mouth too as he makes rumbling growls and noises. When he finally manages to open his mouth wider, and sure enough, a large amount of ink spills past his teeth and into the water below. Once the weight of ink has been dislodged, no longer clinging to his tongue and preventing his voice being heard, some of the dimness seems to fade from his gaze as a light of alertness seems to flicker back to life now. And then...

... He laughs.

He laughs, and laughs, and laughs, his tentacles writhing violently with the force of it, churning the blot-blackened water around him and sending harsh slaps of water spraying about. Any ships nearby rock dangerously as a result. A smile momentarily stretched so wide that it feels like his mouth and eyes are bleeding from the force of it. And even if he could think clearly right now, the sensation would make him want to laugh even harder in something almost like relief, because if he is bleeding, then it means that despite his efforts to hold back his overblot having failed, at least he is still alive, that he's still himself somewhere under the weight of blot dripping off of his person.

Despite his unsightly appearance, Azul Ashengrotto is still somewhere in the mass of hysteria, the noise that increases in intensity in the back of his mind, thousands of voices overlapping: lingering words of the people he had stolen from that had come attached to the powers that the rift tentacles had torn from and then shoved into the Phantom or Azul's own chest as a storage container for the time being. He had not been able to see anything while in the darkness of the ocean, but he did hear some things. The brief screams or choking of people when they were grabbed, the rage or sorrow from anyone that realized what was taken from them before the rift closed... before ultimately being silenced by the sea Azul had taken to hiding in.

But any disgust he has for himself for this act of thievery isn't enough to drown out the urge to take, and take, and take, until there's nothing left. Even though he thinks there isn't anything in this world that he even truly wants anymore: and if this world can't give him anything that he wants, if it cannot love him despite everything he has tried to do for this past year to appease it, then his only choice is to take it, and then sink it into the abyss where no light reaches. Or at the very least, allow itself to be used as a steppingstone in order to open the way back to the world he truly wants.

This thought, and his laughter, causes the water to suddenly churn again, harsher and harsher, a whirlpool with the force of an earthquake forming, until another even larger creature rises up from out of it. Something with the body of an octomer as well, except that its head has been replaced with what looks like a large jar of ink that's heavily cracked. Blot spills out between the cracks and down its body, into the water below, further staining Azul's hair where it towers large far and above even him despite Azul's own size right now. In its hands is a large, black trident, crackling with taboo magic.

The sky seems to darken further, rain and wind harsh, and when the trident raises to point toward the sky... lightning has finally arrived in threatening zigzags of light across the sky. And perhaps, for a very brief second, one might think they can see a slip of pitch darkness peeking out in a tiny pocket of the sky that the Phantom aims at with the prongs of the trident... is it trying to create a larger rift than the ones that had been showing up these past few weeks?

Either way, it should become clear to everyone immediately, no matter where you are witnessing this event, that this cannot continue.

[ooc: Welcome to the Overblot Boss Battle! There are two top levels below that will allow people to approach and fight off either The Phantom, or Azul himself! They are close enough to Eltrut that boats or flight can be used to quickly reach him, potions being provided for anyone who wants to try to go directly into the water at any point so that they can breathe underwater during the confrontation, or even attack from the shores/do whatever you can think of to compel Azul in particular into coming closer within range and dragged up onto the island proper if need be.

Anyone who also had any of their abilities taken by the Rift Tentacles this month will find that this is where they ended up, as both Azul and the Phantom may use anything from here that was volunteered while being confronted and will even try to continue stealing more from anyone they haven't yet that approaches. Players can choose to fight with a character having their own abilities/magic used against them as a result or punch the Phantom hard enough that the orbs of light containing people's powers are released and returned to their rightful owners. Even if no punching is done to the Phantom to make this happen, any and all powers/magic/abilities/etc that has been taken this past month will be returned instantly upon Azul and the Phantom's defeat. The blot that has been spilling into the water and affecting the sea life will also slowly disintegrate as well once Azul is defeated.

If you have any questions that are not answered here, in the toplevels below, or at the player plot post linked above, please let me know!!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The Phantom cannot speak and is roughly a kaiju-sized entity that ~~looks suspiciously like Ursula from the end of the Little Mermaid~~ has been formed from the magic toxicity blot that Azul has been generating for the past few weeks in this place, and is trying to create an even larger Rift of Tentacles to do... probably nothing good. Normally, the Phantom will primarily use the large trident in its hands, its tentacles, or some of Azul's magic. (As seen here) However, because of the Rift Tentacles stealing people's skills and abilities for it and Azul to absorb, the Phantom will have access to any of these skills that were volunteered for the player plot post that anyone is welcome to reference in their threads while trying to fight this thing. Also, the Phantom will not leave the area it is situated in due to its massive size unless Azul is suddenly moved too far away from it. Only then will the Phantom attempt to move in order to remain close to Azul so that it can continue to feed off of his magic and emotions.

I will not be declaring an overall winner in regard to who gets the "final blow" or the like in regard to the Phantom, as it will be more or less eventually considered defeated and will dissolve apart into nothingness upon Azul's defeat in his own toplevel below. However, people will still be needed to fight the Phantom to keep this thing from interfering too much in attempts to fight/calm Azul down and causing significant harm to Eltrut and its citizens with its attempts to open an even worse rift with the trident/summoning ferocious lightning and stormy weather--upon being attacked, it will stop doing these things in order to try to protect itself instead. Anyone who participates will be credited for the contribution in its demise.

Please feel free to go crazy, go stupid against this thing, basically. Consider this your chance for your character to fight a Kingdom Hearts style boss and brag about it later, no CR with Azul is necessary at all to participate. You can have threads teaming up with each other and by all means feel free to handwave what the Phantom is doing in your thread, you have my blessing. (However, if you need me to chime in as the Phantom at any time if it'll make things easier to move threads along, let me know) If you have any questions, hit me up on the player plot post linked above or shoot me a PM!]

Edited 2026-01-16 18:59 (UTC)

[Well. WELL. That's sure a monster-sized problem. Kaveh's not exactly pleased with this turn of events, but the...middling news is, being pelted with rain means even activating Mehrak means Kaveh is absolutely surrounded by bloom cores, which he is picking up and just chucking at the phantom as he tries to get past it towards Azul.

Given how much he is cussing, he's not exactly pleased with being delayed, so maybe help an architect out here? Or just stand clear of the explosives he's generating, he literally cannot help it.]

[It'd taken a bit, but Alhaitham eventually arrives at where Kaveh is. He doesn't exactly shout or make some kind of huge disturbance that announce his presence, but before the next round of Bloom Cores can go off Alhaitham jumps into the fray with his sword that crackles with Electro. He strikes the cores with it, using his blade to transmit the energy into them so that they turn into sprawling shots which go on to hone towards their closest obstacles.]

At least wait for me first instead of running off on your own. [Alhaitham hisses as he turns to his husband, looking none too pleased with the situation, as one should feel when one of the people Kaveh is so desperately trying to help turns out to be something bigger than a thorn at the side.

Why does he keep landing himself in these situations?!]

If I hold still with all of these, you're going to get hit with them--

[Kaveh growls a little bit, but he's clearly more agitated with the situation than he is with Alhaitham, and he is pretty sure that's obvious. He is giving those extraordinarily large tentacles a baleful look.]

This thing is in my way.

[Which probably means Alhaitham doesn't have long to come up with something before Kaveh gets...creative.]