HOME | DD

Description
Finishing her sandwich, a thought occurred to Keiko. “Wait, shouldn’t you already know that?”, she asked

“What do you mean?” Alexandra replied, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“You know, now that I think about it, you should have already know about that when you first got to High Beacon. I’d assume they hand out pamphlets with need-to-know information on them at Goldscrap for important information on other Havens.” Lucas stated, giving Alexandra a curious look.

Blinking, Alexandra pondered the statement for a bit before realizing something, and scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

“...To be honest, I left it to my brother to get the necessary information on High Beacon; he’s the more well read-one between us. I’ve never been a fan of reading myself, and have always preferred to get the hands-on experience.”

After a moment of awkward silence, Keiko tried to break the ice.

“...So, If you don’t mind, North-san, can...can I ask you a few questions about Goldscrap?”

“Of course, go right ahead!” Alexandra quickly replied, eager to steer the conversation in another direction.

“Why did you and your brother decide to work for W.I.S.S., instead of one of the local Dens there? I’ve heard that there are hundreds, and I think W.I.S.S. might even have a branch base here” Keiko asked.

Smirking at the inquiry, Alexandra leaned back in her seat, and replied “First, seeing as how we are likely to be spending a fair amount of time together, just call me “Alex”. Second, I can tell you a great deal about the grandeur that is Goldscrap. As to why we didn’t choose amongst the numerous Dens back at home, including yours...call it wanderlust. Neither of us have spent that much time outside of our home Haven, mostly sticking to the Impact Arena to hone our skills, and doing the odd job here and there. The forest environment here has already been rather...interesting compared to the dryness of home.” she finished, her eyes casually sweeping the dining hall while tossing a few peanuts in her mouth.

“ Is...is Goldscrap really located in a crater?” Keiko asked, wondrous awe in her voice.

“Indeed! Come by some time; it’s a sight to behold.” Alex stated, swelling with pride.

“Oi! Miss North, correct?”

Looking towards in the direction of the voice, the three saw Fāng waving over to them from the other end of the room.

“Huh, looks like you’ve got your first assigned job already.” Lucas remarked. “Good luck with whatever it is.”

“Actually, she’s going to be going with you and Vicky, Lucas.” Fāng corrected him, briskly walking over to them.

Raising an eyebrow, Lucas asked “And this is happening because…?”

“We got a last minute message from them. A few Sky Barons were unexpectedly caught just outside the Haven walls, and they thought an extra pair of hands couldn’t hurt.”

“That so?” Lucas commented. Turning back to Alex, he smirked and said “Just follow Vicky and I as we do things; we’ll show you the ropes.”

….

Whistling, Lucas commented “So, You need a tank THIS big for a Grimfin, huh? Remind me never to go over to the oceanside cliffs for a swim, Vick.”

“Huh. I was just about to ask you the same!” Vicky replied, looking up at the behemoth of a shark in awe and apprehension.

She placed a hand on the grip of one of her swords, letting out an audible gulp in the process.

It had taken them most of the day to get to the High Beacon docks, situated at a lake about a mile or two further north than where Lucas and Keiko had gotten the drop on the Boogeyman. Like most of the Haven, with the exception being the main office, the lake was surrounded by coniferous trees.

Lake Solace.

It was only in the last 20 years that High Beacon had completely fenced in the lake, and while Incarnations of the waters within had made themselves known, they were fairly paltry in comparison to Incarnations that spawned by ocean-side Havens. The discovery of a thin underwater tunnel that led to the ocean had just been icing on the cake. Aside from a small cabin and storage shack that had been built where the wall met the southern part of the lake, there were a few docks here and there.

This included the large dock where Lucas and co. were at the moment, owned by the “Whitefield” shipping company. It could be reasonably divided into two, maybe three buildings, one of which was simply a very long, one story building that connected the two other buildings. Lucas was in the taller of said buildings, standing with Vicky near the north-eastern corner, trying to make out the Grimfin swimming in the enormous tank before them.

Turning his head around, Lucas addressed the client, a somewhat tan man wearing a dull yellow business suit.

“Sooo...I take it this is a pretty big shipment, huh, Mr. Cortez?” He casually asked, raising an eyebrow.

Fiddling with a toothpick in his mouth, Cortez flatly barked, “Cállate la boca, you’re not being paid to talk!”, a scowl appearing on his face

“...Ooookay, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, or something?” Lucas asked, taken aback and visibly leaning away from Cortez.

Scowling even further, Cortez was about to issue a biting rhetoric when he paused and muttered something under his breath, using a hand to ruffle up his own head a bit.

“Geh...Okay, sorry, I snapped at you, exterminator. I’ve been trying to stop smoking, and it’s made me a kind of temperamental. Just try to avoid talking to me, unless you have to, comprehende?”

“Yeah, sure. My mom’s a smoker, anyways. Good luck.” Lucas replied, nodding once in understanding before walking over to a random worker.

“Yo! The cages and stuff for the Incarnations...you guys bought the best, right?” Lucas asked.

Scoffing slightly, the worker replied “Yeah, and I’m willing to bet that the stuff’s got maybe a sixty-five percent chance, at best, of actually holding up. And I’ll grant that it’s only security we could actually afford. These ARE Incarnations, after all. Nothing’s ever certain with them. That’s why we hire you Exterminators; even with the best chains, having someone around who KILLS those things on a regular basis is basically mandatory….Huh. Looks like your partner found the Sky-”

“Luke, Luke! Get over here! I found the Sky Barons!!” Came Vicky’s shout of excitement, waving over to Lucas a small distance away.

Giving a thanks to the worker, Lucas jogged over to Vicky, waving to her in kind, getting to her in about five minutes.

Trying to get a good look at the Sky Baron, Lucas scowled as he failed to spot the Sky Barons within the tall aviarium in front of him, standing behind the railing that had been erected around it

“Vick, can ya point it out? The tree branches inside this thing are too intertwined to really see anything.” Lucas asked, turning his head to Vicky for help.

“Oh! Switch places with me! It’ll be way easier for you to see it from where I’m standing!.” Vicky exclaimed, ushering him to her spot as she stepped aside.

Narrowing his eyes in concentration, Lucas looked closer into the branches...and saw a barely visible pair of eyes, as yellow as sapphires, staring right back at him.

Nodding his head, Lucas said “Yeah, I see him.”

“Oi! You two! Get ready; R.I.S.K.H. was VERY specific about keeping those things alive, and it’s time for their meal.” Shouted a voice coming up from behind them. Moving out of the way, both Vicky and Lucas were surprised to see a dead cow being carted over to the bird’s cage by two employees.

One of them turned his head towards Lucas and said “We’re gonna need one of you close to each of us. We can see you’ve all basically got melee weapons, so can any of you do long range?”

“Yep! I’m not as good as Walt, but he gave me several net-bolas!” Vicky chirped, patting a two pouches on her side.

Lucas just shrugged and claimed “I aint too bad at long range; sword are just more my thing. Don’t worry, though; Sky Barons have nothing on me.”

Wordlessly, Alex tapped the butt of her spear on the ground. Instantaneously, at least three dozen fist-sized stones shot out of the ground and assaulted a nearby tree at high speeds.

“I think I’ve got it covered.” Alex stated, a small smirk gracing her lips.

Turning his head from the workers to his companions and back, Lucas grinned excitedly, and exclaimed “Alright then, time for the show to begin! Let’s get it on!”.

“Right!” Everyone else declared at once.

One of the employees, a long-faced fellow with pale, purple bangs going down to his collar bone, flexed his hands, and placed them on the metal bars, while the others got ready to push the cart. Everyone tensed themselves for what they were about to do.

“Hey, you all know how to deal with Sky Barons, right? Just wanna make sure we’re all on the same page.” Lucas asked, sword already in front of him.

“Wait, I thought you said once that you already knew how to deal with Sky Barons?” Vicky asked, giving Lucas a confused, and worried, look.

“I said I saw a Sky Baron once. I didn’t deal with it myself, and it was kinda far away. All I know is that they can scatter their feathers to create a distraction, and that they’re freakin’ huge birds. Anything else to note?”

“Well, they can also blend in with with their surroundings. You’re right on the mark when it comes to the distraction and size, though.”

“Okay, we’re all on the same page now, so get ready!” exclaimed the laborer who seemed to be in charge of pushing the cart. “Just remember, we’re dealing with two of these things, so keep an eye out for the other one! It might be blending in with its surroundings, so keep an eye out for anything that seems out of place! Now, on three!”

“One!” The other workers and the three Exterminators shouted, bracing themselves.

“Two!”

“Three!” they all shouted at once. The palms of the employee touching the bars glowed immediately, causing the metal bars to band and create a small opening. Immediately, the employees moving the cart pushed as hard as they could, quickly moving the cow into the Aviarium.

“NOW!” ordered the Recrafting worker. The laborers immediately retracted as fast they could from the temporary entrance, just as the bars began bending to their original shape. All was silent as everyone eyed the cage, waiting for activity for any signs that the Incarnation had escaped, the workers immediately getting as far away as was possible. After a few moments of silence, everyone started to relax, though Lucas and the group were still eyeing the containment area. Then, Vicky noticed something about the air near the cages edge.

“Okay, everyone keep away from the bars, I see the second one…!” she began, eyes widening in shock as she noticed something else. Evidently, one of the workers noticed as well.

“What the...get away from the cage, you idiot!” He shouted. The metal recrafter looked up in confusion, leaning against one of the bars of the cage for support as he recovered from the recrafting he had rapidly performed. He then screamed in panic and pain as something violently grabbed his arm.

The Sky Baron had indeed been camouflaged, hiding its presence as it slowly got closer and closer to the one consistently near the cage.

Measure it against a man, and it would stand up to his rib cage, with a beak as curved as it’s talons, scythe like they were. Its wings were the color of rusted metal, or perhaps a dried autumn leaf, with the most unkempt feathers you could imagine, the most unruly of which made up the crest atop its head. Up close, one could see the pitch black, miniscule dots that were its pupils within the sea of

It let out caws and shrieks that drove the others into panic as they hastily tried to free their coworker from its clutches. It was a mad flurry of feathers as it beat its wings against the cage, knocking out the few people that got too close to it. While Vicky and Alex immediately rushed up and made several jabs through the cage with their weapons, while Lucas prepared to severe the Sky Baron’s foot with his longsword, a thinner blade than the one he had used against the Boogeyman, only to be held back by some of the other workers.

“R.I.S.K.H. wants that thing alive and intact!” One of them exclaimed. His Recrafting coworker continued to scream in horror and agony as the Sky Baron ravaged his arm, looking to drag him through the bars into the caged enclosure.

“Oh, you gotta be-!” Lucas exclaimed, struggling to break free. Just then the Sky Baron, for lack of better term, expelled it’s feathers from its body in a massive burst, creating a fluttering cloud of them around it and it’s target .

“Back away, NOW!” Someone ordered.

Looking to the source of the voice, Lucas and the rest saw Alex bolt leap away from the enclosed avians before slamming the butt of her spear onto the ground. Realizing what she was about to do, everyone got out of the way as soon possible

“Be careful, that guy’s still in there!” Vicky exclaimed, giving a warning look to Alex.

“I am well aware of that, thank you!!” Alex replied with exasperation, before shouting “OI! Force yourself down as as best you can, Metal Recrafter!” Seconds before launching the stones, Alex adjusted her aim as best she could to release them at the upper portion of the cloud of feathers, to avoid the Sky Barons target as much as possible. She loosed them, and was immediately rewarded with the pained yell of a human, and an angry caw, followed by the Sky Baron once again coming into view as it flew away from the obscuring cloud, its feet bloody and with bits of cloth hanging from them...and clutching a few dismembered fingers.

The other workers immediately rushed into the now settling whirlwind of feathers, and dragged out the Recrafter. Said Recrafter was shaking violently as he held up his torn arm, staring in horror at the bony stumps where his middle finger and pinkie had been. This was, of course, ignoring the various long, shallow cuts that mared the upper right portion of his body. Also, evidently, Alex had been right to try and aim as she did, for a large chunk of his right ear had been torn off; Any lower, and one might have crushed his neck.

“Well, that went smoothly, all things considered. Hopefully, it’ll stay that way from here on out.” Lucas remarked, giving an approving nod to Alex.

“...Are you BLIND?!’” Exclaimed the Sky Baron’s former prey, looking at the Exterminators with a mix of incredulousness and indignation, thrusting his mangled hand out towards Lucas...and letting out a surprised cry of pain when this further strained his arm.

Giving the man a flat look, Lucas remarked “Yeah, sorry about your fingers and ear, but you’re honestly kinda lucky you didn’t get your freakin’ arm ripped off. Now hold still; I know a thing or two about patching people up, though you should probably head to a healer afterwards, just to be safe.”

“B-but…” the recrafter whimpered, looking around to his co-workers for support.

“Well, you did lean on the cage. Tired or not, that’s just ASKING for it.” One of them quipped. Looking around a bit more, the recrafter eventually bowed his head in resignation and let Lucas patch him up.

After that, work was relatively calm, aside from a brief scare with one of the Constrictors (The look on Alex’s face when the Incarnation had summarily crushed the small boulder she had tried to use to pin it down - in seconds - had immediately become contender for “most hilarious facial expression” Lucas had ever seen), with a relatively simple routine: Keep the Incarnations fed, make sure no one gets hurt, and try and ensure that any property damage is kept to a minimum while preparing said Incarnations for transport. Soon enough, the evening hours approached, and all the Incarnations were sent beyond the wall, to be transferred to R.I.S.K.H.

“Aaaand...Yes! Fifteen!”

Grinning, Lucas turned to Vicky with a challenging look, and remarked “Think you can beat that?”

Picking up a reasonably flat pebble, Vicky tossed it up into the air once, then gave a squinty-eyed glare back at Lucas, smirking slightly. Reeling her arm back, Vicky tensed up before throwing the stone as hard as she could towards the lake.

Standing by the company docks near Solace’s edge, Vicky and Lucas had decided to pass the time with a good-old-fashioned stone-skipping contest. They had been given a slight break from duty, as a fair number of workers had already left for the day, and Alex had opted to browse the lost and found until it was time to resume guarding the place. After that, they’d have about three more hours before they turned in for the day at the inn they had booked.

As some firm metal railing and wire had separated the docks from the lake, a necessary safety precaution against water-based Incarnations, they had been forced to settle for a nearby bank.

“Five, six, seven...c’mon, c’mon, c’mon!!!...YES!! Sixteen!” Vicky exclaimed, whopping into the air.

“Alright, alright, not bad. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Lucas mused, toying with a flat stone in his hand, and exchanging a few challenging looks with Vicky. Turning his eyes to the lake, Lucas reeled back and prepared to give the next try his best.

“Hey, Exterminator!”

His concentration broken, Lucas looked behind him and saw the Metal Recrafter from before jogging over to Vicky and himself, his previously mangled arm in a sling. Waving to him, Lucas remarked “Evening. I’m guessing your hand’s gonna be in that thing for about, oh, three weeks or so?”

Hanging his head in acknowledgment, the recrafter replied “Basically, yeah. I’m supposed to change the bandaged every few days, so, yeah, this sucks. Anyway, I thought I’d apologize for being less than appreciative when you guys all saved my hide from that Sky Baron, and...why do you have a pen out?”

“Uh, to sign your cast, what else?” Vicky replied, a pen already in hand, rolling her eyes at the seemingly obvious question.

“Eh, I wouldn’t question it; trust me, I learned to stop asking where she hides that stuff about a week after we first met.” Lucas advised before the Recrafter could even open his mouth. “And don’t worry about it; most folks would probably get a little hysterical if they lost a few fingers, plus a chunk of ear. Besides, Alex is the one who saved you a limb. Thank her.”

A bit surprised by the brush off, the recrafter sighed in relief. “Well, that’s good to hear. I already thanked...Alex, was it? So, yeah, already done. I even got something extra...Oh, for the love of - fine. Go ahead and sign it.”

Vicky had apparently been pointing towards her pen, an inquisitive, and rather expectant, look on her face. A few scribbles later, and a happy face, a ‘get well soon!’, and her name, were written on the bandages.

“Eh, good day to the both of you, I guess.” the Recrafter said, starting to back away from them.

“Yeah, take care.” Lucas replied, before a question appeared in his mind. “Hey, I’m kinda curious: Are those missing fingers gonna mess with your Recrafting or anything?”
Blinking, the Recrafter looked at his bandaged arm, and used his good arm to slap his forehead with a groan.

“Guh, just what I need! Now I have to worry about whether I can still morph the metal in addition to being worried that I might accidently give someone the bird!”

Taking a few seconds to recall that the man had, indeed, lost his pointer finger and pinkie to the Sky Baron, Lucas burst into intense giggling and snickering.

“Oh, wow! Ah-ha-ha...aah, I’d seriously PAY to see that! Hey, could you-?”

“No, I will not photograph someone reacting to my new way of pointing!”, the three-fingered man stated indignantly, giving Lucas an annoyed look, clenching his fist in front of him and shaking it with anger. About to vent more at the mere suggestion, he paused and squinted his eyes. Brushing past Vicky and Lucas, he tried to get a better view of what he was seeing out on the lake, placing his hand flat above his eyes. Just as Lucas was about to ask him what he was seeing, the man’s eyes suddenly widened.

“...! Oh, sh*t! We got an Incarnation coming in from the lake, headed straight for the docks!”

Snapping to attention, Lucas and Vicky whipped out their weapons and scanned the surface of the lake, rushing back to their charged location. They quickly locating a large, dark creature rapidly approaching the laborers still there, and a fin soon started emerging from the water. However, the fin seemed rather unusual. At first glance, it simply had a paler color than the surrounding water, but as Lucas got closer he saw that the fin was actually transparent, and seemed more wavy in shape than any fish fin he had ever seen…

“Oh, cr*p! Lucas! It’s the Tidal Slug!” Vicky exclaimed, recognizing the Incarnation’s fin. Said Incarnation lunged at the iron bars keeping it from it’s objective, aiming to slip through them.

Instead, it slammed into a shimmering barrier that appeared the instant it hit the metal defense, causing it to splash back into the lake water before anyone could get a good look at it.

“Oh, thank Aphyre!” Exclaimed the one of the workers, whipping their forehead in relief. Whipping his head in their direction, Lucas glared at them.

“The barrier’s not gonna stop, you idiot! It’s a Tidal Slug! Get as far away from the lake as you can, now!”

Giving Lucas a confused look, the worker asked “Why? The barriers the boss placed in front of the bars worked like a charm, so how can it....wait, what’s that soun-?”

Beneath his feet, under the docks, what was heard was the unmistakable sound of rushing water.

After that, it was the sound of a crashing water, smashing into plywood with the force of a hundred waterfalls.

From underneath their feet it burst, snapping the metal bars off their hinges, and shattering the two Recraft barriers along with them.

Scowling, Lucas stabbed his weapon into the ground, preventing him from being swept away, and took in the monstrosity before him.

Enormous. An enormous, slug-like blob composed entirely of water, or perhaps simply a watery substance. Though it the eyestalks of said creature, the pale red sphere located inside what could be loosely called a “head” seemed to be how it took in its surroundings, while two white, elongated blobs rested next to the sphere’s side. While able to adapt its body into a variety of shapes, it preferred the shape of it’s namesake, as most would quickly identify it as such upon first glance. The more well-read, however, would describe it, perhaps more accurately, as a slug-like cell. Able to extend its gelatinous form in virtually any direction, the moment it captured its target, it was dragged into the body itself. Not yet to be digested, but to be drowned within.

That is the Tidal Slug. The Incarnation of Hydrophobia.

The instant the Slug landed on the dock it sprung into action, surging towards the scattering laborers. If it was capable of sound, it had no interest in making it a known fact; Instead, all that was heard was the rapid rush of water, of an approaching flood, as it’s body crashed onto an unfortunate soul, imprisoning her in its form. It swiftly whirled around, it’s prisoner regrettably still conscious, and in obvious great pain (Either from broken bones, or organs damaged by the crashing water), even as she frantically tried to break the bodies surface. Lucas’ longsword cut it’s escape route short when it attempt to go back the way it came, a faint orange glow emitting from the blade’s edge.

‘Reeeeeally gonna have to thank Mill’s for this thing...’ Lucas thought, briefly glancing at the Recraft-Forged weapon, flashing a tiny smirk before redirecting his attention to the slug, and placing himself between it and the exit it had created.

Amongst the details he had actually retained when he skimmed through the report, he had noted the shipping company was located at a lake’s edge. Immediately, he had gone down to Millie to get a longsword with a Freezing effect, only for Millie to inform him that she had some else in mind. Official reports and rumors had been floating around for the past few months about disappearances alongside the lake and connecting river. Having gotten a few details from Fāng, and suspecting the culprit to be a Tidal Slug, Millie had gone over the weapons they kept and managed to find a thin, but workable shortsword with a Freezing Veil for Vicky to use. For Lucas, however, Millie had decided that a differently veiled weapon would be in order. Turning water to ice may impede aquatic Incarnations, but given that ice melted unless constantly exposed to freezing temperatures, it was at most a temporary solution. That wasn’t even taking into account the fact that ice wasn’t the hardest thing to break, even in large quantities - especially for an Incarnation.
HEAT, though...heat was a different matter. Heat the water to a certain point…

‘...it looks like the Slug’s had some experience with this sort of thing before, though. Begs the question of how long this thing’s been around; Gonna make this harder than I’d like.’ Lucas thought, observing the slugs body curving to avoid the heat coming off the steel. Despite its best effort, though, it hadn’t been able to completely stop in time, and a small portion of the slug had gotten close enough to the sword for the effects to occur.

...and it can instantly evaporate.

While not observable to any but the most skilled of eyes, the slug’s body had already shrunken by a miniscule amount, and the air between Exterminator and Incarnation had became more humid for a few moments. At the end of those few moments, the Slug let out a shudder of discomfort, ripples echoing from the right side of its body. Looking to the source of the ripples, Lucas grinned.

Vicky had stabbed the slugs mid-section using the Freezing shortsword, and was in the process of driving it in as far as she could, to separate the main red sphere from the captured worker. The instant the freezing reached mid-way through the Slug, and circled to the other end of the slug. Grabbing a chain to save the drowning women, she signaled some of the other dock-hands to give her a hand pulling their fellow employee out.

Quite simply put, under normal circumstances, Vicky was a bit faster than Lucas, but not as durable. Deciding to gamble a bit, Millie had entrusted the Freezing based weapon to Vicky, as she would likely be able to impede the Incarnations at a faster rate than Lucas would. For the killing blow, though, she determined that a two-handed sword with an instant evaporation Veil would be a good idea

“Alright, people, time to play’ keep away’ with the lake!” Lucas exclaimed, grinning, before he started making short slashes at the Slug.

Directly his assault at the red-ish sphere within the slugs body, he scowled in frustration when the thing simply moved out of range before the first cut even penetrated the body.

‘I’ve heard that it could move it’s little core, but I didn’t think it would be THAT fast. Okay, it’s MORE than a little savvy, I’ll give it that.’

As it was forced to start backing away, the long sword getting in a few cuts in the process, it tried escaping to its left, only to partially splash face first against a stone wall that broke through the wooden dock floor.

“Apologies for being a bit late. I was rather busy!” Alex explained, having just exited the warehouse, already in a battle-stance.

“No worries! Hey, if you could create a wall between the Slug and the lake, that’d be great!” Vicky cheerfully replied, leading the workers as they tried to pull their gravely injured friend from out of the Slug. Said individual had grabbed the chain and freed some of her torso, though, injured as she was, there was no telling how much longer she could hold on.

“You know, it’s at times like these that I’m glad most Incarnations can’t understand a word we say!” remarked one of the workers, as Alex began creating a long stretching wall along the lake. Not keen on having its prey escape, though, the slug quickly crouched down, it’s core practically touching the floor. Lucas immediately tensed up, getting ready to make a long vertical slash, starting from the top, anticipating that it might try to jump over him, and preparing for the posible that it might be trying to fake him out...only for the Slug to, instead, send out tentacles of water and smack everyone away from it, halting the stone wall’s emergence as Alex was swept off her feet. The action briefly shunk the slug to the point where the woman was only waist deep into it, only for the water to immediately retract and submerge her up to her jaw. Not wasting time, the Slug rushed towards edge of the edge of the lake.

Struggling to get to her feet, Vicky winced, and asked Lucas “Hey, they’ve got the underwater Recraft barrier active, right? For that channel under the lake?”

Managing to get back on his feet, Lucas prepared to give chase, and replied “Far as I know, yeah...wait, what’s it...oh, CR*P, IT’S GONNA USE THE RIVER!” Sure enough, the Slug had gone right past the end of Alex’s wall without stopping, heading towards a river’s mouth at the northwestern end of Lake Solace. Going on for a few miles within High Beacons borders, the river, commonly known as the Abel River, traveled a roughly straight route before taking a slight plunge downhill further northwest, and exited the walls of High Beacon just as it resumed its former flow. As Tidal Slugs were already remarkably quick Incarnations on land, it’s natural advantage in the water meant it would be leaving High Beacon in an alarmingly short amount of time unless stopped.