Rilly slices up some attacking hands with her ribbons

—Rilly—
YATTAH!

Cliff, Rilly and Helen take point against the hands. Behind them, the others retreat, Eladea calling from afar.

—Eladea—
Hold them back-- I'll go check on the Goddess!

—Helen—
You heard the lady!

  Cliff Mason
Get behind me, I'll take the lead!

Coral, Zabelle and Yuno hide out behind a fallen palm tree.

Coral
* Well, shit. That went about as bad as a volleyball game can go.

—Zabelle—
My hat... O, my hat...

Coral
* I was hoping to introduce some levity around here.
* Gonna be hard to turn it around now...

—Rilly—
Don't worry, Coral! We've got this in the bag, I'm sure!

  Cliff Mason
It's gotta run out of arms if we keep killing them. Keep the heat on!

Yuno interrupts!

—Yuno—
N-- no!! That's not right!

  Cliff Mason
Don't worry, girl, I've got a hell of a lot of experience fighting ugly bastards like this.
This is basically a standard Tuesday for me.

—Yuno—
I know this monster! It's-- it attacked us when we were escaping that labyrinth with Nix!
It, Nix told us, you can never put it down for good, because it regenerates from any injury!

  Cliff Mason
It what?

A pair of hands manage to grab Helen! One gets her legs, the other grabs her hammer arm, stopping her from striking.

—Helen—
Ngah-- damn it!! Get-- off!!

—Zabelle—
My hat... and now Helen...
This sucks...

Coral
* We really need to do something about this.

  Cliff Mason
It's alright, it's alright, I'll...
Look! The hands, they're acting in tandem... these aren't disconnected entities, they must all be connected to a central organism.

—Yuno—
Um... Nix never mentioned anything like that, but... um, they were all coming out of the same pit...

  Cliff Mason
Exactly. So I just need to follow these arms to the core, and then... we strike!

Coral
* Strike how? She just said it regenerates from all injury, you just gonna shoot it harder?

  Cliff Mason
I'll figure something out! I always do.
You need to get back home, kiddo. Where it's safe.

Coral
* Haha, what? I've dealt with ghosts wayyy scarier than this, mate.
* If you can't beat this "central organism" you're gonna have to talk to it-- and that's where I'll come in!

  Cliff Mason
No! This creature is dangerous! You're going back, and that's final!

Coral
* Excuse me? Or what?
* You gonna shoot me?

  Cliff Mason
W-what? No, no, I-- I would never--

Coral
* Great! Then I'm going!

  Cliff Mason
Jasper--

Coral
* (Coral!)

  Cliff Mason
Look, you need to take this seriously! There's some situations you can't just-- talk your way out of!
There's people out there-- things out there-- that just don't listen to reason!

Coral
* Aw, Cliff...
* Nobody listens to reason.

Coral looks back with a twinkle in her eye.

Coral
* That's why we appeal to emotion.

Coral
* Let's get going, girls and Cliff!
* One last push!!!