Spiral Giant [Ocfos]

[cliffracer]

The crystals aren't heavy at all on their own, the fact that they levitate makes them very manageable. Zythia more or less just underarm carries it easily.
"Since that hex the Kats put on you was interrupted, I'd consider that a stroke of luck."
"Yeah. I bet if they had their way, they'd've made you way weaker so you were a pushover for their... lewd pranks."
"It'll mean you can still contend with Trojans head to head despite your size. By the way, according to HQ, they've uprooted what's left of your gate and have it back at our labs. Once we finish up, we can go see their findings in person."

Zythia can see the next floor coming up below. The ambiance is getting darker as some kind of haunted-mansion-turned-fortified-keep rises out of the shady mist pooling underneath them.

[Ocfos]

"Sounds good. I'd like to have access to a forge of some kind, since I do know how to handle one. Might be something useful I could make, such as metal fists to punch things with." She chuckles, "Or armor that won't have to get torn off every single time I fight something up close."

[cliffracer]

"Oh! Our barrack has both an auto-foundry for blueprints and a manual forge for manual smithing and tinkering."
"Suitable for making swords, guns, bombs, armor, and shields. Damned expensive, too, finding a forge that can handle the strange materials we find in the Clockworks wasn't easy."
"We ended up having to make it modular on our own, just so we can upgrade and fix it. Manual forges are way out of style since the Strangers just come up with blueprints faster than we could."

The elevator's nearly at its next stop. It's gotten very dark, and there's a presence to the air bound to make jumpier sorts very nervous.

[Ocfos]

"I doubt whoever these 'Strangers' are, they expected someone like me to pop up-- Or what kind of enemies are around here..."

She looks around at the darkness, trying to flick on her helmet's nightvision. "I'm not liking how dark this place is."

[cliffracer]

"Nobody does."
"This is one of the wings of Candlestick Keep that the Clockworks has cycling around. If you thought Spookats were bad..."
"Their sharpest and meanest ones live in the dark here. Grimalkin..."
"Invulnerable to even our most modern weapons, and they'll do nothing but hunt you down. Massive things. The only thing that repel them are the candles around this place- much of what we do down here is going to be cover-to-cover."

The elevator thunks in to place in a candle-lit lobby. Like Zoe mentioned, she decides to go for some kind of plated spandex suit with a first-aid tank of some kind on the back. Saph changes what kind of poncho she's wearing in to one that has an overall owl motif- it seems convenient enough that it probably wouldn't get destroyed by horny monsters, at least.
"Go ahead and see if anything I have fits you, Zy. I thiiink some of my less-hard armors should fit those buns."

[Ocfos]

Zythia looks around the armory for something similar to what Zoe took, but a little more plated on the front.

"So what do those Grimalkin things do when they catch you, either way? Bite at you, I assume?" She asks, as she tries to squeeze herself into such an outfit.

[cliffracer]

These 'vitasuits' seem to be in abundance. Funnily enough, Zoe took the chestplate OFF of the one she's wearing. The spandex still fits Zythia and ironically makes her look like a knight by hiding her skin tone completely, but the chestplate is too small to stop her chest from spilling out over it some. It'll stay on and protect her, but it'll probably pop off if pried on.
"Correct."
"They're nothing but cruel monsters! They'll hunt you down and bite you in two if you let 'em."
"...Unless these strange floors got to them, too."
Zoe gives a slightly-unnerved hum as the two of them move to the group switch.

[Ocfos]

"Probably did, but the question is how they change them..." Zythia shudders a little, finding a small buckler that looks twisted a bit, and puts it onto her suit.

"I wonder if I can carry two of those big swords at once, since you had two of them..."

She tries to, while still having the shield on her forearm.

[cliffracer]

At this size, dual-wielding the formidable Troika ends up being much harder than expected. The blade is only a little shy of being her entire height now, meaning she may have to modify her fighting style to use one properly. Using two might end up being too much arm strain.
"My guess is... giant creepy catgirl that'll... I dunno. Try and squish you with her tits? Maybe take you somewhere you can't escape so she can play with you forever?"
"Zoe, you're asking too many questions I want the answers to of one of the hardest-to-deal-with threats in the Clockworks."
"We can experiment! Right?? We just need a game plan!"

[Ocfos]

"Not sure how I'd feel about that, but at the same time I figure if they get close enough you can just slash right into them."

She mumbles as she finds out she can't wield two, simply taking the yellow one.

"Cover to cover sounds alright, though."

[cliffracer]

"I HOPE swords work on them if they're more kidnappy now!"
"Yes... Like I said, our weapons do absolutely nothing to the Grimalkin. They either pass through or bounce off with the attempt leaving you open to get bitten."
"Giant indestructible tits... ...I wanna see one now."
"I'll take up the rear since I've got the less restrictive armor. When you're ready."
She steps aside so Zythia can take the lead once she's stepped on to the plate.

[Ocfos]

"I can't wait to be able to make myself more combat-worthy once we finish this floor..." She chuckles, stomping on the button as she starts to lead the trio.

"Zoe, don't get yourself abducted, and I'll let you have fun once I'm back to normal." She offers, as a way to prevent what she suspects is inevitable.

[cliffracer]

"I'm not gonna get abducted... At least this is the last floor we need to do."
The gate snaps open, creakier than the ones on the floors above. The candle from the lobby covers where they're standing, but there'll be a decent run over to the next one. In the next candle's protection Zythia can make out some strange-looking floor tiles, but she can't tell what the strangeness is due to yet. All she can see is that they need to get to it to progress.
Zoe and Saph are waiting for Zythia's lead, though Zoe's staring at Zythia's chest right now.

[Ocfos]

"Zoe, you'll light the candles we come across then? We'll keep you covered." She asks, nodding to the two.

"Let's go, I'll see if I can't handle the grimalkin things if we have a run-in with them."

[cliffracer]

"Got it!"
"Right. I'll make sure the way's being cleared of obstacles while I'm at it."
The gate opens up for the three, allowing them to venture in to the darkness. The moment Zythia steps out of the candlelight, she gets the immediate feeling that something is watching her, and it's a feeling that's intensifying steadily. Based on the worried looks in the other knights' eyes, the feeling is mutual. Still, they manage to get fairly close to the first candle before...
Zythia hears a grim noise behind her.

[Ocfos]

Nearing the first candle, and seeing the two knights look worried, Zythia turns to look at the noise. She's keeping her nightvision on, just in case it helps with the strange fog in some way.


She at least assumes it would help spot trouble.

[cliffracer]

Zythia makes eye contact with the 'trouble'. It's a huge dark-colored spookat, glowing a malicious purple from within and a bit more ragged-looking than her kin. Her jagged mouth hangs open and a long tongue extends from it, the huge ghost seeming to take slow breaths that almost seem like she's panting. Just like Zoe guessed, a big ghost has huge tits, but her back half is obscured thanks to the all-fours posture she seems to be taking.
Just looking at it, Zythia knows this thing is a predator. Any other day it'd be hunting out of malice or hunger, but she's giving off such an aura of unbridled lust that her intentions are clear without looking for body language. The other two aren't saying anything, seeming glad to hurry along and try to get the candle lit and the way ahead cleared up.

[Ocfos]

Zythia decides to try something no knight has probably tried before; Standing her ground in an aggressive position, and barking loudly at the Grimalkin, while the two others light the candle.

She wonders if this can possibly scare it away, or at least that's her dare at this point.

[cliffracer]

The grimalkin stares down at her... and starts floating towards her, as if ignoring her attempts at intimidation. As she nears she starts to raise her arms as her gaze feels like it's boring straight through Zythia. When the arms raise enough to lift her tits too, Zythia gets a glimpse down at the ghost's crotch region- she's absolutely 'equipped' with something to make a Trojan feel inadequate. It's starting to look very clear what happens to a knight that gets caught.
"Gah! I can't find any embers!! Zythia, we've gotta try and light this thing manually, just hold out for us, okay?"
"There's only ever one grimalkin, so I'll scout ahead to see if there's any embers ahead of us!"
Saph runs on ahead, confident at least that Zoe's safe trying to make sparks off her shield.

[Ocfos]

Zythia tries to punch the Grimalkin on the dickhead to smack it away, if only to tell it to "back off". "Hey gigatit, we'll leave soon enough. Shoo!" She shouts at it.