Lugubrious

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Dead Zone Hinterlands - Martira, Old Castle Town

Harry’s @Eviledd1984

“Ach, of course, we’ll get those right away.” Bardon looked around until he spotted one of the guards from his patrol who had yet to disperse, primarily due to the Recruitment Center’s resident beagle who’d made a beeline for him in search of attention. He was a young, clean-shaven man whose kettle helm hung down over his eyes, and though unremarkable at first blush, he seemed eager and pleasant enough if the dog’s favoritism was anything to go by. After a moment spent trying to catch the guardsman’s attention, Bardon cleared his throat. “Ahem!”

The young man perked up right away, a sheepish look on his face. “Oh! Right away, sir!” He patted the beagle’s head twice and then took off at a jog, though naturally his companion followed on his heels, floppy ears streaming behind her.

Suppressing a smile, Bardon refocused on Harry. “Beg your pardon. As for your other questions, er. I’m afraid wee ones have been goin’ missin’ for a while now, at least a month. We thought it was the Dead Zone monsters at first, so…we looked to our defenses from the outside, never guessin’ that it was someone sneakin’ in. We don’t know when Heismay started lurkin’ around, but we’ve seen him, aye. My second-in-command, Morris, saw the blackguard himself, skulkin’ around the lower districts in the dead of night. Just about caught him red-handed, too, but he slipped away, and he’s gotten more careful–none of my men have seen him since.” The knight balled his fist, his jaw clenched and his brow furrowed. “It’s a right sorry state of affairs.”

Just then, the Gatekeeper returned with a notepad, quill, and bottle of ink, which he promptly offered to Harry while the beagle snuffled at his shoes. “Here you are, sir! If you need anything else, let me know!” After tossing a scrap of jerky to distract the dog, he hoofed it in the other direction, eager to resume his customary post.

“Right then.” Bardon stood up from his table and extended his hand to shake Harry’s. “I should get goin’. I’ll let the boys know to make you comfortable ‘round town. If you’re lookin’ for somewhere to start, Morris might have some clues about Heismay. He’s off-duty in the mornin’, so I expect you’ll find him at the Friendly Arm. Can’t miss it, it’s the biggest inn around. Best place to catch up on the latest rumors, too. Could be a speck of truth in ‘em somewhere we missed. Best of luck to ye.”

With that, Bardon was off. When Harry stepped back out into the late morning sunlight, he no longer saw some sleepy backwater hamlet, but a dozen deviating pathways spiralling outward into a hidden web of secrets. A lot hung in the balance for how little he had to go on, but already he could see the pieces arranged on this board, and no problem worth solving was easy. The game was on.

In front of him lay the town plaza, with its central fountain dutifully splashing away. Most of the town’s established businesses inhabited buildings around this plaza or along the upward hillside road to the old keep, but a few itinerant merchants had planted stalls along the mossy cobblestones here. They kept a sharp eye out for both danger and potential customers; the general atmosphere here seemed to indicate that nobody could be too careful. The most well-to-do among them was a portly, bespectacled fellow who seemed be selling premium cooking ingredients, which had garnered the interest of a round, orange-furred creature and a young, red-haired lady in expensive-looking attire. Aside from the handful of vendors, though, this public space harbored only a scant few residents whiling away the time. Between here and the Friendly Arm, only a couple people stood out: a bard in a distinctive bear-skin cowl livening things up a little, a dapper man with long sky-blue hair beneath a black bowler hat taking in the scenery with strange, sapphire-bright eyes, and a random gunslinger seated in a corner who seemed to be crafting potions with herbs, mushrooms, and honey. If there were any children left around here, they were locked up tight indoors.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

The Qliphoth - the Final Hollow

Lvl 14 Ms Fortune (179/140) Lvl 9 Goldlewis (122/90) Lvl 7 Sandalphon (84/70) Lvl 4 Grimm (37/40)
Junior & Rika’s @DracoLunaris Blazermate & Roland’s @Archmage MC Geralt, Zenkichi & Edelgard’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN Pit, Primrose & Therion’s @Yankee Juri’s @Zoey Boey Roxas, Ganondorf, & Captain Falcon’s @Double
Word Count: 1882 (+3x2)

Though smaller and perhaps less imposing like this, the Gravemind’s new form was in almost all aspects a straight upgrade. Being able to move, and at not insignificant speeds, made it a harder target by default, and as Zenkichi quickly found out when he spent big on Agneyastra, it was much, much hardier than it looked. Those meteors made an impact on his target, but not nearly as much as they should have. In fact, the Gravemind’s new body -a hyper dense composite of all the strongest materials from its constituent biomass- reduced all incoming damage by a whopping seventy percent. It barely flinched from the detective’s Ragnell blasts, and his bullets only scratched it. With the Gravemind stomping around, blanketing large swathes of the arena with toxic smog as it swung its scythe to and fro, this would be a tedious war of attrition if he couldn’t figure out a better way to fight it.

Fortunately, that was what Sandalphon was for. When called, the archangel answered immediately, though she seemed to be raising her voice over background noise that sounded rather like her using her gunstaff. “It’s not just the heads themselves. I have identified one point of interest on each. Look for pink glowing light. Enough damage to one may eliminate one head entirely. Accomplishing this would take more focus and ammunition than you can spare, though. I recommend targeting a leg. With the weight distribution of its new form spread over only three legs, it will drop if it loses even one.”

Not everyone needed to sweat the details, however. For Grimm, the plan was the same as ever. As dangerous as the Consuls were, the Troupe Master was well aware of the team’s real objective, so despite their reduced effectiveness he continued his hit-and-run tactics. Grimm launched firebats from afar, warped in to ignite the Gravemind’s legs with claw slashes, and speared those limbs from below, covered by supporting fire from his Grimmchild. With his natural constitution and the regular heals from Fire Enthusiast, he did not recoil from the Gravemind’s toxic clouds; if anything, they made it harder for the Guardian to lash out at him.

Ganondorf needed no such tactics, though. After startling both enemy and ally alike with his intense, resounding bellow, he transformed into Ganon to turn the scramble against the Gravemind into a clash of the titans. The great beast poured his fury into an onslaught against the nearest head, the one with lateral tentacles and a boxy shape. Only with the help of its damage reduction could the Gravemind withstand his outrage. The pounding, slashing, maiming assault, followed by a cascade of Dark Breath, proved enough to destroy the targeted head, but after reeling the Gravemind struck back. Given plenty of time to take aim, the head to the left swung its massive scythe just beneath Ganon’s collarbone, hard enough to pierce deep into the monstrous warlord’s body. Then, with its target impaled and unable to move, the Gravemind used both its third head and the stump of its first to launch a bombardment of spore grenades that pummeled Ganon like a cluster bomb. Blazermate would find her impressive single-target healing pushed to its limits by such a vicious response. As the bombardment concluded, however, Grimm appeared on Ganon’s shoulder and threw open his cape to help out with a firebat salvo to the Gravemind’s stump. ”Hear its swan song,” he rasped as the undead voices wailed. ”The curtain calls. Fight on!”

On the other side of the arena, after their scramble to get past O’s attractions, Junior and Rika made an entrance by busting into the Command Center’s reinforced dome with a mighty swing from the crane ride’s submersible pod. With a tremendous crash, they fell through a shower of glass into the jungle enclosure of the Tyrannosaurus that Juri had escaped a few seconds prior, triggering the beast’s fight or flight instinct. While the kids might not escape the T-rez as easily as she did, Juri at least was free to hunt O down–a fact that did not go unnoticed by the incredulous Consul himself.

Back toward the hollow’s front, Consul D scowled at the sight of Roxas and his split keyblade toss. He curled his wings around to shield himself from both sides. The weapons bounced off, but after he’d taken so many light-infused shots from Pit already, the extra bursts jolted his wings enough that he couldn’t use them to take flight for a moment. “Insolent whelp!” He unleashed a tunnel of flame from within his cape. Once it destroyed the boy’s charge shot, he dragged the infernal torrent around to target the whole team, blasting Nadia on the way. What he did not notice, however, was the raw slab of meat that plopped down at his feet.

“Meat your match!” Nadia shouted with a wink.

When a huge tiger popped into being, D’s first thought was to back up. Instead he backed into the cubes placed by Roxas, and in that moment of stoppage the tiger’s claws mitt raked across his left forearm. “Damn you!” He sliced at the beast with his scythe, ducked around another slash, then opened its chest from hip to shoulder to banish the tiger from existence.

At that moment, though, another steak smacked him, and another tiger appeared. Nadia was spawning them as fast as she could, gleefully chortling as she burned through her limited ammo. “Watch out–these aren’t miss-steaks!” With D still losing ground, he couldn’t dispatch the feral’s tigers faster than she could summon them, so as the blood rain petered out and his other foes pushed in, he performed an evasive mist step backward.

He reappeared at the remains of his throne, his breathing labored. Though he managed to make his opponents pay for every inch, he could not deny the fact that the Seekers were gaining ground, much to his chagrin. The two hunters possessed both skill and power, the two boys wielded his weakness alongside their dual blades, and the two thieves imaginatively and mercilessly exploited every opportunity. Now that they were working together, bringing their varied abilities to bear two or three at a time, the six were proving to be troublesome. Not more than he could handle, he didn’t think, but perhaps more trouble than the Guardian was worth.

D looked around for a moment, alerted to the distinct lack of widespread chaos. While he could see plenty of stuff that O left behind, his fellow Consul’s disembodied eyes were nowhere to be seen. Had O already been defeated? Forced to retreat? Or to focus on saving himself? With how strong the Seekers must be to challenge him to this extent, D would not be surprised to learn that O had been beaten, that old fool. Meanwhile the Gravemind had lost or consolidated enough mass to go mobile. The Brother Moon descended from the skies above, which would almost certainly wipe the heroes out once it arrived, but while D could feel a terrible power -even by his standards- emanating from A, it did not seem like the Consul could escalate any further. Meanwhile, the Seekers still swarmed the place like gnats. Far too many remained at this point, given how many Consuls happened to be backing the Guardian up, himself amongst them!

“...Vermin!” D spat. Even if things weren’t going to plan, he would not relent so long as the Guardian lived. To that end, it was time for him to follow in A’s footsteps. “Consider yourselves honored,” he announced, the Moebius core in his chest spinning up. “Today, you will have the privilege of witnessing my true, perfect form!” In a surge of purple light D transformed, entering his twelve-foot tall Moebius form, his enormous wing-like arms spread wide as he leered down at the Seekers. “Grovel before me, and your deaths will be mercifully swift!”

Nadia looked up as she retrieved her daggers, then slipped them back into her belt with a sigh. Her burns and other wounds were regenerating well enough, and the feral knew she could keep fighting, but even she was starting to lose steam. “Sheesh. You bozos don’t know when to quit!”

For a moment Moebius A’s attention had remained on the majestic nightmare unfolding far above him, eyes wide as if in admiration of the cataclysmic horror soon to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting Seekers, if not the World of Light itself. Once he came under fire, however, he returned his focus to his enemies. It looked like a new batch of would-be heroes had subbed in for those left dazed and reeling from his stresscasting, lest they succumb to a breakdown like that tactician did. A smart move on Seekers’ part, but ultimately a futile one. These fools would fall like all the rest–one way or another. ”Ringing ears. Blurred vision. The end approaches!”

A soon realized, though, that his new challengers were every bit as tenacious as his last. Fresh from their respective fights, these courageous few hit the ground running, piling on a lot of damage in a short time. Though Midna, hit hard, few hit harder than her colossal thrall’s greatsword, which cleaved away a whole chunk of A’s vitality in one blow. Roland followed up with an even more spectacular feat that had to be seen to be believed. And while he might resist Primrose’s sorcery to begin with, every spell she landed made him more susceptible, and Luna pierced his defenses. Perhaps the loss of their comrades or the dreadful sight of that aberrant moon spurred them to new heights, forcing them to make the most of what little time they had left.

Of course, A struck back with a vengeance. He wielded his formidable Moebius body to unleash a slew of brutal attacks targeting the Seekers with the lowest resistances. Dissolution could leave foes stunned and blighted by the awful sensation of flesh-eating bacteria, while the wounds left by Puncture bled exorbitantly. He could even target the mind with Know This, ravaging the Seekers’ sanity instead of their bodies. All the same, his attackers did not relent, and as his own vitality continued to drain, A's anger rose. These imbeciles still did not understand what they were doing–and it was time to show them.

His eye and core gleamed with vivid crimson light as A spread his arms wide. “Moebius gave every one of you life!” he cried. “And Moebius can take it away! Come, unto your maker!”

Immediately, the whole battlefield seemed to shift around the Seekers. Their vision swam, heavily distorted, and the darkness closed in. When their surroundings finally resolved themselves, they seemed to be in a dark, dome-shaped room with walls of moving, amorphous flesh, lined with eyes and fangs. Those walls shifted and well, slowly closing in on the trapped heroes. Their will and ability to fight had deserted them, leaving them paralyzed by something akin to fear as they stood before a floating Moebius A, his hand extended downward as if to accept one of his enemies’.

”Choose.”

Nadia shrank away from the monstrous thing’s hand, her ears flattened and her teeth bared. What was happening? Why couldn’t she fight back? She willed her claws to sharpen, and her muscles to tense, but her body didn’t obey. Instead her heart pounded, and her nerves trembled. None of this made any sense! It sounded like A was forcing one of her teammates to offer themselves up. For what sinister purpose, she could only imagine, but it wasn’t hard to grasp the dreadful implication within A’s words. She knew only one thing: that she refused to play along. She couldn’t die here. She wouldn’t! Not after everything she’d lost to get this far. Not before everything she stood to gain! “Sorry, A-hole. I’ve got too much to live for to die here!” And with that, the buck was passed.

”I’m… Not coming back from that. The me that is here is the only one that will ever be me, and so you can’t have me back” Rika replied in turn. The girl’s entire being was entirely a product of the world of light, of this one life in it. She was only a step behind the lost numbers in that regard, because without the events of the past few weeks, she would be nothing but a nameless pawn of the abyssal fleet. There was little to no chance the coincidence that had freed her, created her, would ever happen if she was respawned, and so she declared ”and you’ll never make another me again!”

Roland got ready himself for this incoming attack. He was a survivor, he wouldn’t just give himself up to some monster, only the foolish do that. No matter the trial, no matter the opponent, he’d fight for his survival and this wasn’t any different. ”I don’t listen to lunatics. You're not the first, and you won't be the last.”

Edelgard bristled, her eyes blazing with fury. ”I have too much to do to falter here. The people of Adrestia still need their Empress, monster.”

Next up was Juri. ”Not it!” She said, teeth clenched.

Though Grimm’s eyes burned with scarlet flame, the gaze that fell on Moebius A was cold. ”If you are not my nightmare’s heart, my flames will not stoke you.”

Geralt simply sighed. “Not happening.”

Zenkichi, on the other hand, slumped his shoulders. It felt like the weight of the world was resting on him. But he took a deep breath, and stood to his full height. ”No. We stand together. We live together.”

Though unable to move, Primrose's eyes flashed with deadly anger. So this was what Sandalphon had warned them about, how A had overcome other parties of would be world saviors in the past. It was quite cruel - she could easily imagine the selfless people that would have given themselves over to him to save their friends.

But that wasn't her.

"You won't have me," she said. "I won't be stopped, not until I have my vengeance."

Therion did not have any grand reason for wanting to stay alive, and figured he didn't really need one. When A's gaze passed over him he tensed and only said, "I don't think so."

"As if any one of us is gonna give in to the likes of you!" Pit added, a defiant stare turned up at the Moebius.

”Yeah you're not going to get the team medic to agree to that. Or anyone.” Blazermate said, staring darts at A as she wanted to just ubersaw him to make her allies finish him faster.

At some point, the walls of this extra-dimensional meat-space had gotten too close to ignore. They shifted and changed in a most horrifically fascinating way, an endless churn of new winking eyes, new gnashing teeth, and new covetous claws. Those eldritch boundaries rose up beneath the Seekers, lifting them higher, descended toward them, and closed in around them. The walls quivered, like a dam about to burst. All the while A’s rictus grin of metal and bone seemed to grow wider and wider as the entity recorded the responses. ”Ahh! Moebius is strong within you! We are your trembling limbs, your chattering teeth, your muttered excuses, your averted eyes! By all means, then, stay! Abide with us, within our Endless Now!”

As the walls closed in, and the certainty that something terrible was going to happen began to set in, Jr glanced at his sister then and began to say something, only to be immediately cut off by the masked figure to his side.

”Come and take me then, as if it will help you!” Midna declared. Her expression was hidden, but her nails were pressed so hard into her hands she was drawing blood as she steeled herself for the end. But then, after all ”What’s one more death in this world?”

A stared at her for a moment, silent. The walls of this aberrant realm stilled, the gleeful hunger of Consul and cosmos alike quelled, as if the feast set before them had been replaced by a mere morsel. Then his chest shifted, and an amorphous tentacle extended. It stretched through the air, its barbed tip aglow with an awful crimson light, and sank into Midna’s chest. She jolted sharply, then relaxed. Her eyes slid closed, and as her body turned to light, her sigh echoed through the eldritch space. Then there was a flash, and everything had returned to how it had been before A cast his fell magic. That nightmare, at least, was over, but the Twilight Princess was gone.

The next second, though, the eighteen who remained experienced a surge of nauseating existential terror. Between the Brother Moon on its way, Midna’s all-too-sudden end, and the fact that all four foes stood stronger than ever, it was a lot to bear. For those subjected to arcane physical and psychological torment by A, however, it proved to be entirely too much to bear. The extra stress pushed Goldlewis, Ganondorf, Captain Falcon, and Therion over the edge, and their bodies rebelled like Edward’s had. Goldlewis sank to his knees with a hollow, guttural groan, clutching his chest in the throes of a heart attack. Pain, fatigue, lightheadedness, dizziness, nausea, cold sweat–it all hit the man like a freight train as he suffered a meltdown. For once in the veteran’s life his strength, honed by bearing countless heavy burdens, proved insufficient to shoulder the weight of what he’d experienced.

From the perspective of Moebius D, the Seekers had vanished for a moment, then reappeared none the worse for wear, only for half of his challengers to falter the next moment. With only Geralt, Roxas, and Pit still standing before his new form, his victory seemed all but certain. A nasty grin spread across his demonic face. “Ah, so even heroes can be made to kneel! A wise choice!” He lifted his scythe, enlarged to suit his bigger body. ”In that case, I shall make good on my word!”

A beam of bright blue light descended from the sky, its holy radiance brilliant enough to give the vampiric Consul pause. When it ended Sandalphon stood there in the glow of her three-ring halo, her face hard as she clutched her gunstaff with both hands. It was true that she’d lacked the skill charge to help out so far, but that was before she requested the aid of Sectonia’s Antlers to use as batteries. “Seekers of Light, do not despair! Stand strong, in Illia’s name!” she called out as she cast Angelic Wings. Circuits of light spread along the Qliphoth floor around her in intricate circular patterns as holy screens picked up speed, then spread outward. Her miraculous skill not only fully healed all nearby allies, but thanks to Coordination Protocol, boosted their maximum health by twenty percent if they had any status afflictions to purge. Then Sandalphon brought down her staff to leave behind a healing circle, and with every ounce of strength left in her hoarse voice cried, “Onward, to victory!”

“Gah!” D snarled, having shielded his eyes from the archangel’s light. He watched as Goldlewis, Falcon, and Therion got back up, then snorted. “Very well. Slow and painful it is!” He drew in magic power, then spread his limbs. “Destruction Ray!” From each and every claw -including those on his wings- flew a beam of purple dark magic that arced through the air. Unlike Dominus Hatred, these rays would seek their targets, and three sought out Sandalphon in particular. They shot down at her with blistering speed, but before the beams could make contact, the archangel disappeared once more.

Two cycles until the Brother Moon’s impact

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Dead Zone Hinterlands - Martira, Old Castle Town

Harry’s @Eviledd1984

Owed in large part to its age and origins, Martira was not the simplest town to navigate. Its core had been built to not to facilitate quick and easy travel, but to obstruct and frustrate invaders back when war had embroiled the Kingdom of Euchronia. During the times of relative peace that followed, the surviving soldiers beat their swords into plowshares and raised families in this borderland bastion. As a result, Martira had not undergone any urban planning, but had grown in an almost organic fashion around the old keep. The locals might know its irregularities like the backs of their hands, but newcomers were bound to experience their fare share of wandering.

As such, Harry had plenty of time to take in the sights, and he certainly found his fair share of interesting things to see, but what he did not find was an excess of hospitality. The townsfolk here were furtive, nervous, and standoffish. Learning about the calamitous Dead Zone in uncomfortably close proximity to Martira would explain some of this behavior, but not all of it, since most of the citizens seemed rather cagey about something specific to Harry himself, completely unrelated to the accursed territories nearby. As Harry saw more people and got a better idea of the populace, however, he might begin to figure things out. The vast majority of Martira’s townsfolk sported not-standard features of some stripe, such as strange ears, horns, animal tails, or straight-up inhuman physiology. Of particular prominence were the Roussainte, the tall long-eared ones, and the Clemar, with their distinctive horns. Each ‘tribe’ tended to be clannish and curt, if not downright exclusory, to the others, and for some reason or another that seemed to go double for Harry. Everywhere he went he found strange looks, wary glances, and narrowed eyes, and the word ‘Elda’ muttered under folks’ breath.

After about half an hour, and a couple inquiries at incorrect places, Harry finally found the guard captain at the Martira Guard Center. It was essentially a one-stop shop for recruitment, bounties, barracks, and everything that concerned the town’s defenses, and a Dead Zone patrol led by Bardon himself had just returned. While his squad dispersed in the general direction of Martira’s taverns, though, Bardon himself stuck around, offering the detective the perfect chance to meet him.

Bardon turned out to be a tall, broad-shouldered, middle-aged fellow whose long ears marked him as a Roussainte, to use the local terminology. Formidable, but not flashy, he sported an olive green overcoat tailored to be worn over high-quality plate mail, with a saber at his side and an arcane artifact known as a Magic Igniter around his neck. He had grayish hair just starting to thin, a chinstrap beard, and an exceptionally stern expression. Children seemed to quail at the sight of him, but he bore no hostility–only a frank and painfully serious nature. When he caught sight of a newcomer, his initial surprise quickly gave way to hope.

“G’mornin’ to ye,” Bardon greeted Harry with a strong Scottish accent. “There’s lots o’ folks ‘round here that need help, but if you came to me lookin’ for work, aye, there’s somethin’ I -the whole town really- need help with. I dinnae think it would come to this, but…loathe as we are to admit it to outsiders, we’re desperately in o’er our heads at this point. See, every week or so, some wee lad or lass goes missin’. Sometimes two or three at a time. At first we thought it was monsters from the Dead Zone, but it blew up almost two weeks ago and the situation hasn’t improved." Though he kept a stiff upper lip, Bardon seemed rather despondent about the whole matter, as if the burden of responsibility lay on his shoulders alone.

After a moment he cleared his throat and continued. "The only lead we’ve got left is Heismay, a disgraced knight who’s been livin’ near town. Problem is, he’s holed up in ol’ Curien Mansion up the hill. Place is a deathtrap, and we don’t have the soldiers to storm it. If you can solve this crisis, the bounty on Heismay’s head is yours. Lady Joanna put it up herself, so you can expect a handsome reward.” Bardon pursed his lips, his hand rested on his belt by the hilt of his sword. “If there’s anythin’ ye need, anythin’ at all, whatever assistance I can offer is yours.”

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

The Qliphoth - the Final Hollow

Lvl 14 Ms Fortune (167/140) Lvl 9 Goldlewis (116/90) Lvl 7 Sandalphon (78/70) Lvl 4 Grimm (31/40)
Midna, Junior, & Rika’s @DracoLunaris Blazermate & Roland’s @Archmage MC Geralt, Zenkichi & Edelgard’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN Ace Cadet, Pit, Primrose & Therion’s @Yankee Juri’s @Zoey Boey Roxas, Ganondorf, & Captain Falcon’s @Double
Word Count: 3002

Fighting Consul D was always going to be tricky, no matter how many people were up against him. More combatants meant less time any one hero needed to bear the brunt of his fury, but it also increased the risk of friendly fire incidents and generally getting in one another’s way. Confident that greater numbers meant nothing against his wide-ranging magics, D welcomed the Seekers’ five-on-one challenge with open arms and dramatic flair. When Geralt offered his rebuttal and stepped forward to lead the charge, the battle was on.

After the indignity of what happened to her before, Nadia was eager to pay D back, and with interest. This time, though, she knew to keep her head on straight and do this the smart way. Duels might be her specialty, but after all her time with the Seekers, Nadia could tag team with the best of them. She skirted around the edges of the battlefield, neither too close nor too far from the action, to irritate D with shots from her newly-recovered handguns until Geralt or Roland created an opportunity. Then she pounced, leaping into to apply extra pressure or land follow-up attacks for her friends. Her speed and aerial mobility could get her to D reliably, provided he wasn’t casting magic. Her team needed to be careful about being too passive or spending too much time on D’s minions, since the vampiric Consul tended to unleash his magic the moment he got any space.

Fireballs flew, flame pillars erupted, blood rained down, and meteors scorched the earth. Of course, he was no slouch in close quarters either. His challengers quickly found that his scythe was no joke. It could fend off the heavy blade of Geralt’s cleaver, and even turn away Roland’s expert sword strikes despite its ungainly heft. Their clashes, however, brought the Fixer to his Zenith, and as he gained Powder of Life, the sorcerer Consul scowled. “A ward…? How irritating.” He then snorted, his eyes narrowed. “But if that’s as high as you can rise, you’ll find I can fell you as many times as needed!” From his cape he conjured a verminous wave of black rats, and the fight continued.

If one thing could be considered constant about the battle against the Gravemind and its accompanying Consuls, it was the noise, amplified by the almost amphitheater-like shape of the arena within the Final Hollow. The roar of flames, the chorus of undead voices that railed and rebuked, the visceral sounds of organs and limbs as they were made and unmade, the thunderous report of various firearms, the furious clashes of instruments of destruction against shields, armor, and hateful flesh, the frenzied utterances of O’s animals and the metallic screeching of his machines, the voices of the heroes raised in effort, or callout–it all made for quite the din. Tensions were running high, and not just for those traumatized by A’s stresscasting. Any Seeker not hindered by severe tunnel vision could see that their numbers were starting to dwindle.

Through the chaotic clamor, however, there came a ray of hope. Bright blue sigils of holy light appeared by the heads of everyone within Sandalphon’s network, whether actively engaged in battle or momentarily standing back. The archangel’s familiar and welcome voice, deadpan as ever, helped to center and soothe them in the midst of their turmoil, as if even this utilitarian miracle possessed curative properties. “Attention, everyone. I’ll keep this brief. Sectonia and Edward are well, but unable to continue fighting. We have ascertained D’s weakness: light, incantations, and miracles. Pit has also flushed out O’s real body. The team fighting A is experiencing abnormal stress that cannot be allowed to escalate further. In light of this bulletin, please reallocate personnel with all haste. And call me if needed.”

With that, Sandalphon allowed her sigils to dissipate and returned to her silent vigil in the Avenger’s Comm Center, her unblinking eyes fixed on the light screen in front of her. Though Edward and Sectonia were ultimately fine, which she’d confirmed personally via External Information Network when they arrived, the fact that they’d invoked Palico Rescue in the first place was worrying. According to what Ace said, only one more person could expect such salvation. Then the Seekers would start sustaining casualties for real. Sandalphon drummed her fingers on her arm restlessly. Though part of her wanted to stay in the Final Hollow after Pit summoned her and do whatever she could to help, the archangel had managed to be rational about what she could and couldn’t do. Her own fatigue aside, her miracles and especially her shapeshifting needed time to build up via damage. All her expenditure during the Lilith fight meant that she’d bring almost nothing to the table if she did warp in. Better to do her real job and coordinate things from afar to get the Seekers functioning like a team.

After a sharp inward breath, Sandalphon lifted her mic to her lips and reached out again, this time targeting specific Seekers. “Blazermate: Goldlewis, Ganondorf, Falcon, and Ace need medical attention. Midna, Ace, Primrose, Ms Fortune, relieve those fighting A as soon as possible. Pit, your new target is D.” Though the young angel was no doubt eager to make up for his slip-up against O, he did not need to be any more emotionally charged, and his abilities would be better used against D. “Junior, Rika, your target is now in the structure behind you. Juri…” Sandalphon could see the martial artist already peeling away from the D fight to speed toward O’s new base. Whatever the archangel was going to say, she thought better of it. “Play well.”

Sandalphon switched off her mic, then breathed deep. Nineteen Seekers remained on the field. Grimm, Zenkichi, and Edelgard still opposed the Gravemind, while Roxas and Geralt would hold down the fort against D as the four against A rotated out. She suspected that Captain Falcon and Therion would naturally gravitate toward D alongside Pit, while Ganondorf and Goldlewis joined the others against the Gravemind. That left just Juri, Junior, and Rika to hunt down O, and Blazermate on general support. Sandalphon believed that this was a good breakdown, but against foes like these nothing was for certain.

Down in the thick of it, some things were easier said than done. For a few moments, the fight against D seemed to favor the five Seekers. They could attack in quick succession, and from a variety of angles. When tipped off about O, though, Juri up and left, and D quickly started to find his footing. He gave Geralt and Roxas a murderous stare, incensed by their taunts. “I am nobody’s prey. Wield light against me, and you’ll soon see the folly in your selfsure provocations.” D threw up his off hand to cast Dominus Hatred, and as his opponents’ eyes turned skyward to trace the green ray’s path, he made a move of his own.

He hurled his scythe at Roland as a blazing wheel that the Fixer clashed with, the air filled with the clangs of steel against steel. Roland won out and sent the scythe flipping into the air, only for D to teleport up, seize the scythe, then drop on him with a meteoric guillotine impact. When the Hateful Flesh soared in D sidestepped it, then hooked the cleaver with his scythe. He yanked the blade down into the ground, planted his foot on it to keep it in place, then severed its connective tendon. “Knife knowin’ ya!” Nadia arrived the next second, ready to sink Athame into D’s unprotected back, only to get jabbed in the gut by the butt of D’s scythe. The counterhit made her stumble, and D whirled around with a horizontal slice. Nadia hadn’t stopped believing, though, and she stopped the Consul short with her extended knee to finally land her Blue Monday counter. “Hah! Don’t ‘count’ me out!” She grabbed D, hoisted him off his feet, and threw him over her shoulder to the ground. When she went to elbow drop him, however, he transformed into mist and streamed away, meaning the feral’s elbow hit the ground instead. “Yowch!” Grimacing, Nadia got up just in time to crouch-block another wave of rats, which pushed the four Seekers back to neutral.

Beep, boop, beep. Sombra’s hacking skills made quick work of the antiquated firewall pre-installed in the doors at the base of O’s Command Center. With the lockdown lifted, Juri could waltz right inside, taking the chance to cast an impatient side-eye glance back at Junior and Rika as they hustled over from the ruined Polar Bear exhibit. As they rushed toward the Command Center, however, O himself stepped in to impede them. “Little brats!” His voice resounded from the pair of disembodied red eyes descending toward them. “My poor bears…don’t you know they’re endangered!?” Angry that they’d survived so long, and more than a little rattled by his own close shave, O got down to business. First, he created the Scorpions around them, trapping them inside a desert-themed arena where giant mechanical arachnids played the role of highly-overtuned bumper cards. Then he constructed a Drop in the Ocean ride on top of it, putting a pit of freezing water right in front of his Command Center. Once built, the crane immediately went haywire, swinging around its submersible pod like a wrecking ball. “I’ll just have to endanger you, too!”

With all that chaos outside, Juri could be forgiven for rolling her eyes, hacking into the elevator, and riding up to the top floor all on her lonesome. The moment she arrived, though, she found herself greeted by an unexpected sight inside the futuristic dome: a miniature tropical rainforest, surrounded by tall electric fences, with no sign of O anywhere. Instead she spotted an animal she hadn’t bargained for: a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a sixteen-foot monstrosity of cruel claws, massive fangs, olive-green scales, and primeval ferocity.

By now, the Gravemind was definitely suffering from all the Seekers’ attention. After Sectonia parted one of its tentacles, her allies picked up her mantle, starting with Zenkichi and Midna. The detective struck first to take a big bite out of one tentacle with One-shot Kill, leading to the deployment of Floodfested reinforcements. After the Twilight Princess turned the tables on an eximus-led Mutalist raid, she used the frosty Osprey and her Beast Legion to pull off a high-flying stunt with the Dead End Express. Thanks to the extra wind power, its absurd cutting ability was more than enough to sever the tentacle and leave the Gravemind at two. Ace wasn't quite as lucky when he went for a third and took some punishment in the Gravemind's grasp, but he'd still done a lot of damage. Add to that Primrose’s magic and Edelgard’s unrelenting offense, and the Guardian was hurting.

Once Primrose kindled his flame, Grimm took center stage. He first stretched the strands of his cape into the ground, adding insult to injury after the dancer’s splendid Moonlight Waltz with a bed of spikes from below. Of course, it was a fine line between the Qliphoth ended and the Gravemind began, so most of his spikes popped out of the flesh heap itself. After that, Grimm around between the mob of Floodfested being demolished by Zenkichi and leaped above the fray to put the Peacock Strut to good use. He hung in the air like a paper lantern, then belted out a torrent of scarlet fireballs that fell upon the Gravemind like rain.

The Guardian did not like all this one bit. Having realized that its current strategy wasn’t working very well, and having lost a great deal of biomass in the process, it set about making a change. A cacophony of rumbling and snapping resounded through the hollow as it retracted its remaining limbs and began to consolidate its bulk. Extraneous tissues were broken down and emitted as toxic gasses that shrouded the Gravemind’s body as it transformed. ”KILL ME? A RIDICULOUS NOTION. YOU MIGHT AS WELL TRY TO KILL THE EARTH, THE SKY, THE STARS. THE UNIVERSE IS, AND WE ARE!” It became stronger, denser, less a sprawling heap and more a reinforced pillar. Then the upper and lower parts of the Gravemind both violently split into three, and a ambulatory colossus was born. With three enormous heads, one wielding a gruesome infested scythe, the Gravemind declared itself anew. ”I AM A MONUMENT TO ALL YOUR SINS!” It reared up, then slammed two of its newly-formed legs against the ground to unleash a knockdown-inducing shockwave.

Those tremors helped drive Ace, pushed back by the toxic miasma, even further away. With Blazermate only able to heal one person at a time, and the rest of her prospective patients grouped up, the hunter had yet to be healed, which meant that he couldn’t risk racking up environmental damage. With all the magic flying around thanks to Consuls and Seekers alike, Ace was more than a little queasy, and not fully cognizant of his surroundings. The Gravemind’s transformation had disturbed the other fights nearby, the brawl against Consul D most of all. Still under attack by Roland, Roxas, Geralt, and Nadia, D used the distraction to veil himself in another bat tornado, then charge an unknown spell. By the time his opponents realized he was up to something, it was too late to stop him. “Demonic…” the Consul called, surrounded by dark magic. “Meggido!”

A huge explosion of collapsing stars amidst pitch-black magic went off at his position, big enough to threaten not just his opponents, but the Gravemind’s as well. Even if blocked it would still chip off a third of its victims’ life, but those unprepared for it -like Ace- had only one saving grace: Roland’s Powder of Life. In the wake of D’s destructive blast, Ace found himself partially restored, but only for a moment. Seeing the hunter separated from his allies, D rushed to make an example of him, and despite the health granted by Powder of Life Ace still happened to be below the Death Scythe’s threshold. With a single lunging slash, the monster hunter fell.

“ACE!” Nadia wailed, running forward with one arm extended. Instead of the ground, however, her companion plopped down on a cart manned by a crew of phantom palicos, much to D’s stunned bemusement. The felynes disappeared with their cargo the next moment, leaving Nadia with flattened ears and reddening cheeks. “Oh, uh, yeah. Right. Ahem…” After clearing her throat, she turned her nasty grin on D, her grip tight around the handle of Athame. Forget Sandalphon’s orders–Nadia wasn’t going anywhere now. “Alright, D-lister. You’ve officially raised my vamp-ire. Better say your purr-ayers, ‘cause this is gonna hurt a clawful lot!”

D spun his scythe in his hands and planted its butt in the ground. “Enough talk!” He warped forward, weapon raised for a scything blow. “Have at you!”

On the arena’s right side, A didn’t stay down for long. He saw how the fights were going against O and D, as well as the state of the Gravemind, and made his choice. Though vulnerable to attack for a few moments, his core quickly began to accelerate, glowing bright and brighter to the sound of a rapidly beating heart. Finally, the Consul’s body melted away in a burst of virulent purple light, and Moebius A came to be. It stood before them, easily twelve feet tall, a being somewhere between mechanical monstrosity and ancient abomination, an armored biped of demonic aspect adorned with bulbous black eyes, a spiky crown, and a heart-shaped protrusion on his back.

”Behold, the heart of this World of Light!” Moebius A proclaimed, its arms held wide in welcome embrace. ”Father and mother, alpha and omega! Moebius, incarnate! And you…” On one side of its face, a cluster of three black pearls bulged, while on the other a single red eye peered down. A glowing crimson lemniscate shone within it. ”You still don’t know what you’re up against. You are but figments, who flatter and delude yourselves. Can the nail go against the finger? The finger, against the hand? You are born of Moebius, same as I!” It lifted its arms up, claws turned toward the outside. The Gravemind obeyed, pulling its terrible puppet strings, and the demon tree infested by its flesh bent to its will. A dreadful crackling and groaning filled the Qliphoth as the ceiling far above the arena began to tear. When A drew his arms apart, as if ripping into some cosmic corpse, the canopy of the Qliphoth split apart. Fragments of twisted, fleshy wood rained down but not timefall, for the Qliphoth towered above over the clouds. Instead the Seekers could see the pale blue sky, and above that the moon, pitted and scarred in a fundamentally unwholesome manner.

”Behold, the body,” A pronounced, drawing its clawed hands downward. ”Of which the Gravemind is but the head. Behold, the infinite malignity of the stars!”

Far above the Qliphoth, the sky appeared to warp, distort, and darken. Horror gnawed at the frayed edges of the Seekers’ sanity as the day seemed to turn to night, and yet the moon still shone, aglow with some inner radiance. Then, in a scene conjured from feverish nightmare, the moon burst from its celestial eggshell, and slowly stretched out its execrable limbs to smite the battlefield below.

Three cycles until the Brother Moon’s impact

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Dead Zone Hinterlands - Martira, Old Castle Town

Harry’s @Eviledd1984

Far from the parasitized demon tree and its smorgasbord of horrors, where the Seekers of Light struggled against an amalgamate alien mass and three of the Endless Now’s despotic architects, a sleepy little town lay in among the foothills of the borderline mountain range. To the southwest lay arid, rocky scrublands, a lawless wilderness ruled by racers, biker gangs and motor-clans, a place of asphalt, gasoline, and sandworms. To the west Curien Mansion peered down, opulent and imperial, from its mountainous, pine-shrouded perch above the moor. And to the northwest lay the muddy, mossy wastes pounded by perpetual timefall, its solitary tower safeguarded by the wandering spirits of the damned.

For a long time the people of that lonesome hamlet had cowered in the shadow of the not-so-distant necropolis known as Redgraccoon City, home to unspeakable nightmares that could at any moment march forth in their thousands and bring doom to the old castle town. A good night’s sleep was a rare treasure in a town where disappearances were woefully commonplace, and just about anything could go bump in the night. That all changed, however, when one fateful night the necropolis disappeared in a blaze of ungodly light, reduced to the rainy, tar-covered crater that it is today.

In the weeks since then, some semblance of normalcy had crept back into the lives of the townsfolk–a testament to the residents’ tenacious will to live. Though muted in color, strings of pennants flutter in the wind over the varied market stalls and visiting merchant caravans of the town’s fountain plaza, ringed by ivy-walled townhouses, and aged stone fortifications. Most of Martira branched out from that hub, including Cattleracket Road, where children advertized their insects and seeds over the sounds of cows and sheep, and locals clamored for the honey of Dudbear beekeepers. Those in need of healing would need to disregard the worrisome rumors, make their way to Blind Well Alley, and choose between Iosefka’s Clinic or the Kissers of Wounds who dwelled in Order of the True Shrine Church. The town’s best-known establishments, meanwhile, could be found back at the plaza, like the ice cream parlor Dimwit & Duke’s, Sanza’s Map Emporium, and the Friendly Arm, the inn that cornered Martira’s market. Crossing the bridge over the neighboring ravine -where the daring could tempt fate by bungee jumping- would take one up the long, winding path up the mountainside, surrounded on both sides by humble homes and shops of all kinds, until one finally reached Indels Castle, where the governess of Martira, Lady Johanna, dwelt with her aides.

Not all was well in the wake of Redgraccoon City’s obliteration, though. The townsfolk still look over their shoulders, and the guards clutch tightly at their partizans as they patrol the worn-down ramparts. Though sandworms do threaten parties dispatched to the Paved Wilderness to collect the local delicacies -sandworm larvae and cheese from Cheese Land- it’s the disturbing continuation of disappearances that keep the people on edge. Children continue to disappear overnight, and the militia -led by the formidable and well-meaning but maladroit Roussainte, Bardon- seems powerless to stop it. All signs point to Heismay, the reclusive and disgraced former knight said to inhabit the abandoned Curien Mansion, but without enough men to mount expeditions to that cursed place, Bardon and Johanna have looked beyond Martira’s borders for anyone able to bring this crisis to an end.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

@Lugubrious

Okay where would be a good zone to place Harry while the others are fighting the Gravemind? He could for the time being get his bearings and try to figure out what is going on. And sure can you DM me the discord server link thanks.

@Eviledd1984

We'll talk about it! Until he's freed from Galeem, he'll be acting as he normally would and unable to register what's wrong with this reality. Since there's probably going to be a quick break after the fight before we start the next mission, we can spitball ideas about a neutral area that suits Harry that we can visit in the interim. Maybe solve a little mystery.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

@Lugubrious

The abilities are based on the thought cabinets (Perks) that you can get in the game. I just adapted and tweaked them a little. Okay I've switched the abilities to the skills and removed the spirits.

@Eviledd1984

Alright, looks good! Harry is accepted. Now we just need to spin up a little setting to start him in. I was thinking of one earlier today that I remember being solid, but I've since completely forgotten about it, I'll get back to you the moment I remember.

So, as I mentioned before, right now the entire crew is fighting the Dead Zone boss, the Gravemind. I'd say we're about 40% of the way through, maybe a little less, so it's going to be a good couple weeks before we move on. After that though, we'll probably split into 2 teams as usual and head toward different zones. It would be a good idea to put Harry in some sort of settlement that will be the first place a team stops in one of those zones. We can start the discussion in earnest about where we're headed after this opening act and that will help inform where you can start, if that makes sense. Would you like an invite to the Discord server to join in on the conversation?

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

@Lugubrious

Harrier "Harry" Du Bois

Name: Harrier "Harry" Du Bois. Also known as Raphaël Ambrosius Costeau, Firewalker, and Tequila Sunset.

Origin: Disco Elysium

Appearance:



Harry is a tall man with a greasy, unkempt mullet and mutton chops. His face is red and swollen from years of alcohol consumption. His jaw is somewhat crooked with a deep dimple on his chin. Harry’s arms are pretty muscular, but he has a relatively large beer gut. Along with long chicken legs. His hands are heavily discoloured, and his hands have deep cuts and gashes from various bar fights. His face seemed to be stuck into a permanent smile. Also known as "The Expression."

Harry wears a green sports jacket and matching green alligator shoes. A white dress shirt with a horrible multi-coloured looking necktie. Brown slacks with a belt keeping them from falling.

Personality: Harry is usually quite erratic and wild cards. His behaviour is generally quite violent and without reason. His deep imagination causes him to daydream a lot and imagine multiple voices speaking to him. Being a cop, Harry is very detail-oriented and persistent when solving a case. Being an emotional mess, saying and doing things that are harmful to the people around him.

Harry thinks of himself as a lady’s man and a superstar. Making lascivious and lewd comments towards women. And putting up a front of being a macho tough guy. His mood can change rather quickly, going from happy to deeply depressed. Harry is overall very friendly and outgoing to other people.

Background:

Harrier Du Bois was born in Revachol. During a snowstorm, he was born on the ground floor of Revachol's Old Military Hospital. As a child, he suffered a bout of partial infantile paralysis caused by polio. Though he would, for the most part, physically recover from this condition, it gave him a permanent twinge in his jaw that affected the pronunciation of certain words. In his adolescence, Harry was a member of a street gang comprised of eight delinquents from Faubourg and North Jamrock, calling themselves The Fifteenth Indotribe. Harry is the only one who still lives among all the former members.

Harry's twenties coincided with "the New," a time of excess and opulence. This led to a new music genre, disco, of which Harry became a fan. He became especially fond of the Revacholian Disco superstar Guillaume Le Million, whose stage persona and mannerisms he would try to emulate, leading to him adopting The Expression.

Before joining the RCM, Harry was a high school gym teacher. While the two waited at a bus stop, he met Dora Ingerlund, his future fiancée. She inspired him to join the Revachol Citizens Militia at 26. Over his 18 years of service, Harry solved 216 cases. During a recent case titled "THE UNSOLVABLE CASE.” Harry had a drunken outburst where he rendered a man unable to walk after beating him with his ledger, and sometime before this, he missed a shot aimed at a fleeing suspect, who he hit in the pelvis, and physically held a woman in his apartment against her will. He is also generally known, feared and even suspected to be one of La Puta Madre's peones by the public. Harry's erratic behaviour drove off many former members of Precinct 41, including Guillaume Bevy. Still, he was not disciplined due to his otherwise exceptional work and was even offered a promotion (which he declined) during this period.

Approximately six years later, Dora left Harry and moved to Mirova. Sometime later, Harry purchased the horrific necktie, which he gradually started to project a hyperactive and self-destructive personality. Forgetting his problems by drinking heavily and heavy drug use. Before his investigation into a hanging, he had gotten blackout drunk the night before. His heavy drinking had caused Harry to have temporary amnesia.

On the third day of the investigation, he and Kim were confronted by a group of mercenaries. Harry and Kim, a bright light started to envelop them. Harry panicked, but his body couldn’t do anything but stand and watch the light consume him. At first, he thought he was dead, but as the light disappeared, he noticed he was alive but was in a strange place that wasn’t Revachol.

Job: (Detective) Tank

Specialty: An intense hobo detective.

Inventory:

Chain cutters

Flashlight

Prybar

Yellow Plastic Bag

Commodore Red Wine Bottle

Smokes Astra (cigarettes)

Lv: 6

EXP: 3/60

Abilities:

Anti-Object Task Force- Harry’s strength is increased against inanimate objects. However, he does not gain this buff against living beings. When activated, he also can heal whenever he hits an inanimate object. And extra endurance against any incoming damage.

Cop of the Apocalypse- This ability allows Harry to gain further insight into the world around him. Gaining an almost ethereal sight of the world around him.

Coach Physical Instrument- Gives Harry enhanced endurance whenever he is shirtless.

Finger Pistols (9mm)- This ability lets Harry have a chance to charm enemies.

Hobocop- This allows Harry to find more items and money while searching loot containers or killing enemies.

Opioid Receptor Antagonist- This ability allows Harry to have no negative effects from consuming alcohol or drug items. It also doubles these items' effects.

Skills: N/A

Weaknesses: Alcoholic- Harry is an extreme case of an alcoholic. He needs to consume alcohol to help with the withdrawl effects.

Low Stamina- Harry does not have alot of stamina, so he can easily tire himself out when in combat.

Erratic- Harry is a wild card of sorts acting irrationally. Making it difficult to know what he will do next.

Spirits: Kiryu Kazama (Active)- When activated Kiryu will rush at the enemy and give them a barrage of punches.

Ryu (Active)- He will charge up and fire a fireball at the enemy.

Medic (Passive)- Will shoot some needles that will slowly heal Harry.

Rapport: N/A

Let me know if I need to change Harry's character sheet.

@Eviledd1984

In terms of abilities, are those all grounded in what he can do in-game? I don't know much about Disco Elysium but I know that the skill that gives him more insight into the city around him is called Whispers. Anything that's a passive or bonus is a Skill, Abilities are only actively usable powers. Your character cannot start with Spirits.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Sorry to ask, but what level would I be when I first start?

@Eviledd1984

That's actually up to you. You can start your chosen character with as many abilities and skills as you want, and your starting level is the total number of abilities and skills you pick. The trade-off for starting off with more is that it will take longer to level up so your kit will be less flexible.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

@Lugubrious

I'd probably go with a new character. Probably either Harry Dubois from Disco Elysium or The Postal Dude from Postal. I honestly might go with Harry. Would that be okay with you?

@Eviledd1984

Sure. Just so you know, we're currently in the middle of the Dead Zone boss battle and you probably couldn't join into that, but we could lay some groundwork to get you set up in our upcoming path. I (and anyone else with extra time on their hands) could puppet temporary characters in Harry's location once we decide it in order to star off your RP experience. Sort of like the Doom Slayer's group in the Dead Zone back in the day? Then once we're done with the boss battle we can pull you into the group proper.