he had seen the man go in ahead of him. ten hadn't been trying to pry, not really, but the yellow streaks in the man's hair were hard to not pay attention to; and, he had been heading into the cavern alone; and, ten had, admittedly, been looking for a distraction to take him away from the hand-wringing, sweaty-palm anxiety that came with making big decisions such as whether or not to charge headfirst into danger and possible death.

so, when the invite came, he wasn't entirely surprised. the apprehension, however, hit him like a brick to the sternum. he wanted the pride of taking a bounty, but.

he pulled up the chat interface, keying in the message with just-barely shaking fingers.

utility. unpredictable rng moveset. ok?

if the man said yes, he would accept the invite. until then -- ten took a deep breath, lit his lamp, and took a hesitant step forward. if he said no, ten would turn back. he could turn back. he would probably turn back. the man would say no, and he would have to turn back.

just around the bend, something glowed dimly -- a lamp, set into the ground beside a squatting figure.

ten swallowed, the sound bouncing across the claustrophobic, narrow walls of the cavern, unnaturally loud. it was too late to turn back.

Rai // aaaah there's barely enough time till the completion deadline i hope you don't mind me jumping in ;;;

his message notification dinged, metaphorical gates slamming behind him. ten pulled it up:

don't care. attacker. passive-only mo--

a sudden shout reverberated across the cavern walls -- the only warning ten got before a flash of light emerged from the dark, flames glinting off metal. a dagger, mid-flight. it was an obviously haphazard throw, aimed nowhere near his vitals -- but it was still a knife aimed well enough to do some damage. there was no time to shut his display; with his vision still half-obscured by his screen, ten sidestepped. the dagger clanged against the wall behind him, clattering to the floor. ten winced; it was as if cavern soaked up sound and threw it back amplified tenfold. his ears rang.

he shut the message window and took a few steps forward, lamp held out. the shadows faded away. before him, stood the man he had passed at the entrance to the cavern, tensed for a fight. ten thumbed at the prayer beads looped around his neck, weapon at the ready -- even though they hadn't even seen hide nor hair of what they were actually supposed to fight yet.  

"we're off to a great start," ten said, swallowing back the quaver in his voice. no turning back, now. "do you greet everyone like that, or am i just special?"

Rai // alright! here goes nothing !!

another ding. ten pulled up the interface again, and accepted the resent party invite -- right before he saw another glint of light. seriously? the dagger was too close, there was no time to sidestep. he tugged on one end of the prayer beads, and sent it whipping outwards; it caught on the dagger mid-arc, batting it into the wall. the metallic ring of dagger against stone bounced around them, loud -- and only then did rai's words settle in his head. a wry smile played across ten's lips; he'd forgotten that damage from other players was restricted to pvp. the rules of all the games he'd played before this one had coalesced into a mess inside his head. not that he could play any of them anymore. not while he was still stuck here.

and, still, a knife in the shoulder didn't make for the best of introductions, even if it turned out to be merely ornamental. "neither does bathing yourself in mud, or so they say. i'm not too keen on that, either."

he trailed off at the sound of a distant thud. thud. thud. it was growing closer. too heavy to be an average player; and, at any rate, from the wrong direction. he joined rai in lifting up his torch; he could barely see anything past the shadows, the path ahead a swath of dark. he could hear something, though: two joined breaths, inhaling, exhaling, louder with every successive thud. their ruckus must have drawn something towards them; two breaths -- probably, the bounty. he ran his hand along his prayer beads again, checking for tangled, hoping the dark hid how his fingers trembled.

"oh, no, i just thought i'd introduce you to my fiancé. my fiancés," ten said dryly, sounding calmer than he felt. no tangles. everything in place. he'll be fine. they'll be fine. he took a deep breath. and and snapped the prayer beads outwards; it cracked like a whip, the sound like thunder in the cavern. something - things - roared in reply. not too far, now.

"let's hope your trigger-happiness proves useful. any plans?"

Rai

of course. of course, his first strategy was to charge headfirst into battle. ten didn't know what else he expected from a man who threw two knives at him at their first meeting.

"i hope we won't die," ten repeated, matching rai word-for-word, right down to his tone of voice. "what an inspiring way to start the battle. i'm overflowing with confidence."

the lizard and his rider were barrelling straight down towards them; it was still out of range of his beads, but close enough that there wasn't much time left to react, or -- in the claustrophobic space of the cavern -- much room to. keeping his eyes on the approaching duo, ten waved his hand, a deck of cards sliding out of his sleeve. 

"tricks, yes. guaranteed success rate, no." what stellar advertising; it was no wonder that guilds were all fighting for a piece of him. "i might give both of them a random status ailment when they get within range, or nothing at all. feeling lucky?"

his playstyle had been fun to experiment with, at first, but not every party member he encountered was pleased with the skillset he provided; skills that relied entirely on luck tended to get in the way of proper strategy, after all. 

but, rai did say that he didn't mind, at first; and he didn't seem like the sort to come up with detailed, drawn out strategies, either. the lizard was too close -- almost within range now. ten swallowed down his instinctive flight reaction, fingers spasming over the deck. he called, loud enough for rai to hear over the monster's thudding footsteps. "drawing! one, two -- " the lizard was almost within range, too close for comfort. he tugged at the top card of the deck. " -- three."

he dove to the side, just barely dodging the lizard's forward scramble. the card fell loose. he flipped it up, angling it such that rai could see it as well. 

PUpmxKaN

Rai  // if the roll is an even number, his draw was a success! i hope you dont mind how rng this is either aaaa ;;; if you'd like a more decisive action, lmk and i'll edit the post real quick! 

he made a mental note to thank rai later; he had acted fast, drawing the lizard's attention with his daggers while ten regathered his wits. and, then, between blinks, rai had darted forward -- what is he doing? that's way too close. -- to brush his right hand against the lizard, the rider's lance had stabbed forward into his shoulder -- and the lizard had stopped moving.

he tailed rai into the corner, half-skidding around the bend. "not yet. i'm locked out." bits of data swirled blinked around the deck in his hand, the cards in it shuffling automatically. "the draw succeeds if the card turns up upright. a fifty-fifty chance." just like their fifty-fifty chance of taking this bounty, he supposed. guilt settled low in his gut. the hit to rai's shoulder had looked bad. pain here was muted, sure, but pain was pain. 

"i'm going to tangle the rider and his lance with my beads. it might give you a window for a few safe hits until i can draw again." it was a gamble -- there was a chance it wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot. behind them, he heard echoing thunder of the lizard's footsteps; rai's quick thinking and the bend had put some distance between both duos, but it was catching up. he had to act fast.

ten ignored the sirens sounding in his head and changed direction, swerving back towards the lizard. the rider had its lance out, like it was jousting. perfect.

he ducked out of a swipe from the lizard, cringing as it clipped him in the side, and whipped the prayer beads in a wide arc. it hit his target with a rattle. bracing himself against the ground, he tugged. his feet slid forward, bringing him uncomfortably close to the lizard -- but the beads had wound around the lance and the rider's torso, shortening its range for as long as he could maintain his grip.

"now!"

Rai

the whiz of a knife by his ear made ten jump. it wouldn't hurt him even if it hit, he reminded himself -- but he couldn't hold back his instinctive flinch.

rai had darted forward, hand outstretched towards the lizard. ten blinked; his shoulder looked fine; and it had only been less than a minute. impressive passives, he thought to himself, unaware that he'd said it out loud as well.

"as opposed to sitting down for a tea party?" ten tugged hard, again, at the prayer beads. he could feel the rider straining to break free, but with his mount incapacitated, and his grip weakened, they would have the upper hand until the lizard broke free of its stun. but even then, it didn't look like it would last much longer -- it had been the recipient of relentless attacks from rai for the entire duration of the fight, and the focus fire had clearly taken its toll. ten winced in (misplaced) sympathy; he didn't envy it one bit.

"i'll hold down the rider for as long as possible. can you take the lizard out?" they could win this. he chanced a glance at the deck, stuffed halfway up his sleeve. pixels swirled on its surface -- and, then, stopped.

"drawing," ten called out, it took a bit of uncomfortable contorting, but he managed to turn the deck over, letting the first card flutter down, face-up, to the floor.

8NJvt87b

Rai

as the rider crashed to the floor, ten was very nearly pulled off his feet. stumbling a few steps forward, he let the line of beads grow slightly slack -- not enough for the rider to break free, but enough that he wouldn't go soaring halfway down the corridor.

"thank you for telling me that, there was no way i would have noticed," ten deadpanned. on the ground, the rider writhed, disoriented and desperate. "marriage in a dark, claustrophobic cavern, with flickering, dim lamplight? it's so romantic, i could just swoon."

the rider's struggling only managed to tangle the beads around itself further. the red string of fate? that would make this entire fight a shakespearan tragedy, really. very poetic. out of the corner of his eye, he watched the glint of rai's dagger soar up, then down, in a repetitive motion.

"thanks, by the way." rai had carried them through this, after all. if ten had been here alone, he'd probaby have been grinded into stew.

Rai