DracoLunaris

Crucible of Gods - A New Divine RP

hello yes I am in. having a central plot will defiantly help this style of game I think

The Friestan Incident, a Fantasy Sci-Fi Fusion RP

Q-T Brackman

”Cool. I mean. Thanks captain” QT replied to being able to speak for herself. Not that she had expected to be denied, but it was best to check these things. Keep the command structure in order and all that.

While the captain talked the bot messaged away in the background and, between her, Neilsy and the now unneeded cavalry’s leader Riley, they set a less breakneck pace for their arrival while also orchestrating a way to get a reliable translator box signal as they traveled. This they achieved by first hooking up the box to every signal device they had in the convoy, and then spreading its component vehicles out a fair bit, to try and ensure that there’d always be someone with a direct unobstructed line to her.

This meant that she was able to feed some of the other languages being used into it for it to process away. While it was at that, she got around to answering the questions she had been asked about herself, as well as several others of the alchemist while she was at it.

”So, let me explain about myself. I am a Brackman type artificial intelligence, or Brackman AI for short. I was made the Brackman Foundation, an organization made up of other Brackman AI. They are basically my family, or my clan” she explained, simplifying the relationship a bit but ultimately speaking the truth.

”and yes, those are indeed artificially muscle fibers. These ones aren't actually that advanced even, compared to some of the stuff we can make, but they’re the most resilient kind, which is something I prioritized when commissioning my body. Space is the last palace you want to suffer a breakdown after all” she said, echoing an idiom of an astro-engineer she’d worked with at the start of her career.

”Oh um, as for what was meant by ‘wares’, I should clarify that we’re not here to sell anything. We’re explorers, and you, this, everything is, well it's historic I’ll say that much. And uh, yeah there does seem to be some usual similarities between your people and ours but, ah, maybe you could wait till we’re in a more sanitary environment? Also for some of our biologists to be about so they can, ah, also take part in the study. I’m sure they are gonna flip no matter what the result is” she said, taking it upon herself to try and ward off the idea that there would be any buying of off world tech or any impromptu blood donations, while also not lying about the biologists. There was no way they weren't going to request the same thing at some point, though possibly with a lot more tact.

She had to admit, she was also fairly curious. Was it convergent evolution that had made humans on two worlds, or was there going to be yet more madness with them turning out to be genetically identical, she wondered.

While she was speaking she passively fed every other conversation going on to the signal net hooked up to the translator, and while she didn't get enough from the muscled fellow or the fairy (who was added to the pile of impossibilities even as she gave him a smile, wave and a ”nice to meet you”, because nothing that small should be able to have the brainpower for personhood), one of the adventurers who QT came to realize was not a fan of steampunk as she had unthinkingly assumed but was instead an artificial being chasing the human form (something the AI community considered a bit tasteless, though mostly in the sense that it was a presently outdated fashion sense), unintentionally provided plenty of data for the translation machine. Which led to some unintentional listening in on what had meant to be private on QT’s part.

”They, ah, seem to be a bit hung up on your age captain. Or at least An- the lady with black hair and gears is anyway” she explained, implicitly informing her that the translator was wiring away in the process, before offering to hook up the data link she had with it to whatever device the captain desired. Same went for the soldiers. Best get everyone hooked up with all they got translated as soon as possible, in her opinion, and if she had to do some onsite IT support to get it running, the bot was more than happy to do so.

Pokémon: Feudal Legends

_{mentions:@LostDestiny}

---

Sanzoku gave a little commiserative expression and a side nod of her head in response to the fortune teller’s speaking her thoughts on the morning’s incident out loud, and left it at that. She could have said something about that just being how the world was, or try to sooth her sadness, but she guessed that the younger woman would rather not dwell on it and so let the moment slide past.

Instead she took the letter and had her houndour burn it too, professionally not sneaking a peak at it to double check that it was indeed the same, and then dusting her hands of the ashes, careful not to jostle her crook of arm held mon.

That was more or less the end of the affair. Humaru wanted to close up shop, and while the sell-sword would have been more than happy to waste the day getting to know the fortune teller she was going to be working with, she did have a few things to do today before they met up again. That didn't mean she wasn't going to linger just a bit

”Seems like we will” she replied in response to her talking about them meeting up again, before offering ”and I have a little time, so I’d be more than happy to do a bit of your heavy lifting before I go, if you want to close up quick”

She leaned casually on the stall’s counter as she said that, only to be startled back upright by Himaru’s sudden jump back. The surprise wasn’t enough to go for her weapon, this time, but it was just enough of a start for it to jostle Marrow in her arm. The mon gave a little yip of complaint to which Sanzoku gave him a little comforting pet in reply.

”She just gave me a little fright is all dear, nothing to worry about” she said down to him, meaning that by the time she looked up again and Himaru made her excuse the woman wasn’t in a position to naysay it. Haunter could have just moved away in the time she had spent reassuring her own pokemon after all.

The event was still a little eyebrow raising truth be told, but after a moment she shrugged and put it behind her.

”Ah you’re fine you're fine. To be expected with that spooky fellow about I suppose” she told her, waving off the embarrassment, before taking the dismissal and desire to be alone without any begrudgement, biding her farewell with a ”Take care Humaru, and I’ll see you later” before heading out.

It was about time she got her business for the day underway anyway.

World of Light

wordcount: 938 (+6) ( -5)
Midna: level 7 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (49/70)
Location: Sandswept Sky - all the way down the mountain and back to the train

”Yeah I know that!” Midna replied to Tora’s insistence that she leave the machinery to the professionals, having 100% not been close to trying to womanhandle the giant gun around once it was clear she had no idea how to get the damn thing running. Letting the furball take over immediately got dividends when the machine started talking to them and, conveniently, seemingly recognizing the kind of thing the big worm thing was: an Akrid. Specifically a category G one, though whatever that meant the princess could only guess.

”Do you think the G stands for giant, or that there’s 6 smaller types?” she asked as the last of the gang came onboard and they set off, having missed the swarm of smaller ones that had assailed the bellringers that were probably A class.

It then went on to insist they begin operating procedures, and unhelpfully not letting them know what those procedures were. Other than that one of them was called the ‘thermal charging procedure’ which it informed them would increase the firing speed but gave no hint as to how it would be done. Fortunately Tora had everything sussed out. Use the left and right control ‘stations’ for turning, some repair ‘panels’ for, presumably, repairing and a big slot they needed to mash the equally big shells into. Midna decided right there and then that she was not going to use this very moment to learn how to control machines and instead put herself on a task that she was suited for, despite it being a rather unregal one.

”I can go grab a bunch of these ‘shells’, shove them into the twilight realm, and then bring them all up here in one go” Midna called out her role, namely ammo caddy, right before the thing they needed to kill informed them that it was done laying around and was now storming after them at a frightful speed, presumably because Sectonia and Razputin’s unfortunately mostly harmless shots had gotten its attention.

”Better chasing after us than plowing through the town” she said, though with the way it was gaining on them that was something of a cold comfort. Baiting it away only worked if they could catch it in the jaws of a trap before it crunched that trap to pieces alongside the cheese after all, and with them being the cheese? Well it was time to get going.

Not content with just tearing up the track after them, the titan spat out a swarm of flying things which came racing towards them, fearlessly diving through the hail of incoming fire to assail them.

”I could use an escort! Fast!” Midna shouted as she moved to race down to the ammo wagon on wolfos back, shadowhand lashing out to slap down the first of the wave of flying creeps coming her way.

The princess made it down to the ammo store in one piece, though how fast and how injury free that arrival was depended on the quality of her escort, should she get one at all. She darted inside the armory that she had not been able to get into before the others arrived and activated the automated systems, and found what she was looking for. Probably. The big heavy pointy things bristling in their racks certainly looked like they’d fit inside the slot of the gun up top.

While technically it would be more efficient to grab everything in here to haul it up top all at once, time was off the essence because they needed a shot fired as soon as possible so that they didn't become worm food. So the princess raced through the armory room one door to the other, tapping the closest shells as she passed with a hand and vanishing a half dozen into the twilight realm (mostly cobalt, but one roar and wrath also got caught up in her lightning raid) before dashing out an opposite door and racing up and around the other side of the train from the one she’d descended. Her masterfully dexterous wolfos made quick work of the accent and so, in only a handful of moments, she was back up top.

”Delivery for Tora and company” she announced, before sweeping her hand out in front of herself and portaling up her six pack of deadly shells, all standing point up, ripe and ready to be used to ”blast that Akrid into soup!” or so she hoped.

The Friestan Incident, a Fantasy Sci-Fi Fusion RP

Q-T Brackman

Q-T was as confused by this bizarre turn of logic regarding honorable death as the captain was. She was quite sure she did not like the fact that this world involved such brutal arrangements however, as it did not bode well for the prospects of peace.

She didn't have much time to contemplate that however, because she was swiftly put upon by the captain to figure out when the translator would get here.

”Sorry captain, ground force is still a bit a ways away but I’m trying to-” she was apologizing when she suddenly got a return ping from her frantic unidirectional signaling and her expression brightened ”Ah ha. I’ve got a signal from the vanguard captain! Just give me a few moments more and I can set something up”

N: You read? Everything ok?

Q: All clear. We’re safe. Just need the translator here

Q: Or hooked up to this signal, that’d be better

N: I’ll signal the rest of the cavalry that we aren't needed then, and try to find somewhere where we can get a signal. Also glad to not be rushing. This place is a nightmare to ride around in.

N: Also glad you're safe!

Q: thanks Neilsy : )

The shoddy data link signal improved over a few seconds from something that could take their text to something that could take a full data upload, something Q-T immediately rammed the entire recording of her translation down the throat of.

”I’ve started feeding data to the translator, we should start getting results soon” She happily informed the captain as the upload hummed away, before adding ”do you have any orders for the cavalry now that I’ve got them on the line?”

Fortunately, the locals seemed to be meeting them halfway anyway by using the dialect the captain already understood, though it was clearly not their own primary one, so the urgency of the initial standoff wasn't quite there anymore. Although things did get a bit more of a personal bent as she started getting examined by several of the adventurers, and getting talked about rather than too which was a bit rude. Then again she hadn’t made any indication that they knew the language of communication. So she decided to enlighten them to that fact.

”Hello. I am Q-T Brackman, a person,” It felt a bit weird to add that, but it was probably best to make it clear right off the bat in her opinion rather than worry about any confusion or biases they might have regarding her artificial nature ”I can answer questions regarding me… if that is permissible captain?” she said in near perfect medieval Indonesian/Pataliputran.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 959 (+2)
Bowser: Level 10 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (211/100)
Bowser Jr: Level 9 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (181/90)
Kamek: Level 10 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(107/100)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Kanzuki Beach
Feat: Rika

”Hey. Sandcastles are cool!” Jr retorted to Blazermate’s derision of the overdone practice of making them on the beach ”But, uh, we could do other stuff? Like vollyball? Or diving for seashells? Or swimming races?”

”Sounds good son. Food first though, then fun, yeah?” the ever hungry Bowser suggested

”Yeah for sure” the boy agreed, and then soon enough they got to the front of the queue and began raiding the buffet in earnest.

Bowser ended up piling up an unholy amount of various meats onto a very, very large plate, the stack wobbling precariously and alarmingly as it grew and grew and yet despite that never collapsing. The king might lack grace a lot of the time, but he would never let such a bounty fall. That would be a travesty. He topped it off with a healthy helping of hot sauces, turning the stack into the fiery fair worthy of the koopa king. He also got himself some root beer as a side.

Jr also indulged his carnivorism, though he stayed well clear of anything spicy, which Bowser’s going for such things had made rather easy. The boy loaded himself down with a hot dog, burger and several pastries, from jam donuts to cinnamon buns, while Kamek and Mimi both added fruits onto his plate much to the boy’s chagrin. He got his revenge by nabbing some kind of energy drink that would leave him buzzing for most of the rest of the day.

The mage herself meanwhile stayed well clear of the meat, sticking to the smaller ensemble of delights that were suitable for a herbivore/vegetarian. She went with a simple buttered croissant and a bean-burger alongside a fruit salad for dessert. It was a little bit more than what she would normally go for considering how recently they had had breakfast, but after yesterday’s fast she had space to do a two part feast. She finishes it off by getting herself some iced-tea to go along with her meal.

Rika, presented with all the various foods, was overwhelmed with choice while having almost no basis for how to overcome it. Most of everything here was new and neat to her and so she ended up with a haphazard collection of shellfish, sausages, starfruit, scones and soda cans. She got some dubious looks from the two royals for her choices, and a sheepish one from Kamek who had forgotten she might need help, but in the end the novelty of well prepared food overruled any concerns regarding her own developing pallet, so she ended up enjoying herself either way.

The troop found their own little spot by the seaside, and while there was some talk, it was mostly of the small kind, or focused on Rika asking what the things the others were eating were, followed by her trying it out. Baring one bout of screaming and crying caused by her trying some of Bowser’s hot sauce slathered chicken, the whole thing was a quiet and comfy affair.

“Wow I am feeling kinda heavy. Not sure if I should eat any more” Rika said once she was quite full, despite still having a fair amount on her plate. Taking tasters of everyone else's stuff would do that to a woman.

”I’ll take that off your hands then” Bowser offered, and then, after he got a nod of accent, picked up her oddly assorted plate and put it next to his own. He picked up one of the oysters and fiddled with it in his mighty mit, ”Urgh how do you open these-” he asked before one of his shell mounted tentacles slipped out, nabbed the shellfish and proceeded to crack it open in one of the beak cannon’s jaws. ”Huh. That works” he said, before plopping the little moral into his mouth and frowning at how tiny it was compared to him. He’d need more than just one at a time to make eating them worth it.

”Yeah I’m full too” Jr agreed with Rika as his dad started going through the oysters at an industrialized pace, tentacles and beaks working away to crack each and every remaining shellfish, ”So wanna do something else now? We could go swimming?”

”You should wait a bit before doing that. You shouldn't go swimming after you just ate. It’s dangerous” Kamek interrupted to inform the prince

”how?”

”... It just is, you see” Kamek said, having simply passed on the wisdom of her elders.

That might have turned into a minor altercation if there hadn't been talk of organizing some volleyball coming from Ace and Nadia just a few moments later.

”Hey yeah that sounds fun!” Jr immediately agreed to join in, before glancing to the others ”You coming?”

”ah I’m much too old for such things I am afraid” Kamek replied, despite the fact that she was more spry thanks to her fusions. Her mind had yet to really internalize the amount of youth she had regained. Besides, she’d prefer to take things easy and digest rather than launch into activity right away even if she was fresh as a spring chicken.

”Maybe in a bit. I’m gonna go get seconds first” was Bowser’s reply to Jr’s question, the king’s appetite unsated despite him having demolished Rika’s leftovers, leaving just Rika herself to answer the question.

“Sure!” she agreed without thought, always up for new experiences, before asking “What’s volleyball?” to find out what she was getting into as she pushed herself to her feet and moved to follow after the prince to the game.

”Ah it's easy to pick up too so don’t worry” He insisted, which was probably for the best considering the amount of people here who had never heard of the quintessential beach sport.

Pokémon: Feudal Legends

@LostDestiny

---

”So just go with my gut huh?” Sanzoku said as she was presented with the face down deck of cards. She looked thoughtful for a half second and then gave a short laugh and said ”Well now, that won't be a problem. Lets go wiiiiith you, you, you, you, you aaaaand you” while quickly plucking card after card from the pile and popping them down as instructed. The woman wasn't one for half measures, so she wasn't going to naysay or second guess Humaru’s work. Also it was free, so, no need to worry about getting her money’s worth.

Safe to say then, that the sell-sword was entirely onboard with the reading in the moment, which left her perfectly primed to be taken aback by the first one being about a defeat. A very literal reading of that was certainly accurate, considering the defeat, and death, that had broken her former mercenary company.

Flowing from that into the talk of changing her way of thinking in response to that defeat, the physical representation of which was idly resting in her arm, and she swiftly went from being open to this to actually believing there was real power here. Considering there was an ice slinging coffee salesman somewhere behind her, that wasn't exactly an absurd proposition now was it.

”I can see why you're so popular” she murmured, before looking a touch sheepish at interrupting and apologizing ”Sorry. Keep going”

The woman furrowed her brow and pursed her lips in thought as she listened to the remaining four cards. A focus on openness and relationships certainly was an interesting through-line, though she had to smile at the last point a little. She had to balance the scales when it came to paying Himaru back for this free reading after all. It wasn't the only scale that needed re-balancing in the short term either however, which made her assume that had been a true reading. William owed her, or said he owed her, after all and she had a possession of his to return as well but she did wonder what else it might imply in the longer term.

”Well now, you’ve certainly given me a lot to think about” she said to Himaru. Then she looked down at the cards again and mulled about whether she should heed the advice about being open, really opener rather than just cheerfully affable, even with this partial stranger, when a pair of folded letters drifted down and landed neatly on the devil card, on her, or rather now their, the path ahead.

Sanzoku blinked in confusion about that for a moment, and then started when she realized they hadn't come from Mimaru a heartbeat later. She stepped back, hand on her Kanabō’s and looking up to try and find the source of the dropped letters, just barely catching sight of the pink body of a Gligar gliding its way over a rooftop. Once out of sight, the pokemon landed in the arms of one of a pair of unremarkable commoners, who’s marks had both conveniently been in the exact same location.

Any worry from the unseen pair that Sanzoku might go running after their messenger mon was dispelled when the sell-sword glanced back at the letters and noticed a tiny drawing of the symbol of the shogun on the letter, along with her name on one, and Himaru on the other. That certainly gave her pause.

”What in the world?” she murmured, picking up the letter addressed to her and giving it a quick read, her eyes widening with surprise initially before her expression turned to a hard grin. Her little intervention just kept on handing her boons, or so it seemed. It wasn't every day the shogun came looking to hire you after all. Though after the reading she did have to wonder about how she was going to tip the scales back. Considering the lateness of her intervention in the battle, this all hardly seemed fair.

”Marrow, burn this for me would you sweetie?” she told her Houndor, who after giving her a little look of confusion did as he was told and lit the letter with a lick of flame, quickly reducing it to embers. She stepped back and let the glowing ashes fall, before stomping on them for good measure, all to ensure she didn’t cause any accidents with Himaru’s stall.

Speaking of Himaru, she wondered what the other woman was feeling about this turn of her own fate. She resisted making a joke about if she could have predicted this and instead held out her hand and said ”If that one says the same as mine, then I can do the same for yours as well” offering to burn the fortune teller’s own note once she was finished reading.

World of Light

wordcount: 938 (+6) ( -5)
Midna: level 7 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (49/70)
Location: Sandswept Sky - all the way down the mountain and back to the train

”That should be far enough” Midna said to herself, and in a sense also to the soaring titan, after a harrowingly rough and blind ride away from the bell. She cut off the sand flowing from the twilight realm that was veiling the world around them and brought back the clear blue skies of the Sandswept Sky, revealing them to be slowly sinking down towards the cloudlayer and the cold winds below, and that they were not alone.

”I’ve still got this Sec!” she yelled at the bee queen who had followed after them, even as the titan also caught sight of her and began to perform a slow arch in an ineffectual attempt to collide with the comparatively insect sized insect woman.

”Oh no you don’t!” Midna shouted at it, as she slapped her chest with an open palm and drew out a friend-heart. She didn't even have to throw it, the wind catching it the moment it formed and dashing the pink bundle of power into the titan’s forehead a heartbeat later.

”Ok, now comes the hard part” she said as she banished her blade and held up her hands and told it ”See, not armed, not going to hurt you anymore. We just needed to rough you up a bit so we could free you see? Now you should be all healed up. Good as new and remembering wherever you were from.” Not entirely sure if her words where being understood, the princes lowered herself down and along the colossus’ horn and awkwardly pet it on the head while insisting ”no need to fight or anything, we’re friends now”

She was about to tell it that it could simply leave when, below, the great bell rang out a single note that shook heaven and earth. ”Guess they went and rang it huh? Wait what?” Midna asked in confusion as the bell somehow kept ringing, over and over and over again, which as Midna tried to picture the physics of the situation, did not seem like it would be a safe thing to be in the middle of.

”I was going to say goodbye and leave you be, but I think my friends need help. So could you help me out, just this once?” Midna asked as she gazed into the nameless colossus’ eye, searching for understanding.

When the titan came swooping to the rescue, it came bearing Midna sat into the slightly saddle shaped grove in its neck, the princess gripping its neck ridge and directing it as best she could as they swooped down through the swarm of bat things and thunderous noise of the clanging bell, that was shaking everything apart. She hoped the old guy had gotten clear or got grabbed by someone as she waved with her shadowhand for them to come aboard her new friend, the princess looking just a tiny bit smug about being right about the sky snake’s true disposition while coming to their rescue.

There were only a few seconds available to get aboard the swooping beast, but the heroes were no slouches and so all were aboard before it soared back up into the sky. Once up there they could look down below, and see the true boss revealed. At first it was unclear what the giant thing they had dislodged from the mountain using the ringing of the bell actually was, but as they dived after it it revealed itself to be… Another giant worm.

”Huh. You really made a good decoy for that thing huh? No offense.” she told the peaceful sky wyrm as they burst through the bottom of the cloud layer before adding ”If this isn’t some kind of double decoy anyway” as the others immediately decided it had to die. Midna at first couldn’t tell much about it other than it was big but once she’d gotten a better look at it, the giant maw sporting thing certainly seemed like it would be dangerous by nature, contrasting it with the entirely harmless looking and acting sky titan, which would have been reason enough to take it down if the uniquely blood red fire in its eyes didn’t apparently mark it as a guardian that was.

Midna was however entirely in agreement with not using their sky worm to fight the dirt worm ”Don’t worry, I won't put you in anymore danger, just drop us off and you can go back to soaring through the skies and looking majestic while doing it like before” she told it, while using a shadowhand to wave down at the inhabitants of Tostarena Town to make sure said town wouldn't be a danger either. Last thing they needed was to spook someone down there into shooting at them.

They swooped down low as they could safely go and then, after giving the colossus one last pet on the noggin, the princess tossed herself off of the titan, using her levitation to slow and control her fall till she hit the sand. Then a moment later she was riding through the town, racing on the back of her wolfos while removing her X-Naut uniform to prevent herself from being knocked out by heat stroke while wearing them.

They blitzed through the crowd of onlookers and then into the shade of the town, at which point the princess simply vanished from sight as she dissolved into the shadows and blinked from one to another to reach the train.

The princess hopped out of the shadows of the machine they were going to use to stop the threat they had technically unleashed, and then once aboard and staring at the railway gun realized that ”I have no idea how this thing works!” before wracking her brains and deducing that Well it’s a big gun so it needs equally big bullets right? Do we even have those?” before going looking for said big shots. If that failed, well, she had the ammo synthesizer which might, might, produce a single shot. That would be better than nothing, but certainly not a solution, as would leave them all pulling a Razputin style plinking strategy for most of the fight.

Either way, by the time the others had arrived, the princess would have found out if this plan was a dead end or not, and if it wasn't, she’d have shells on (shadow)hand to load under the guidance of an actual firearm’s expert.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1350(+3) (+4) (+30)
Bowser: Level 10 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (209/100)
Bowser Jr: Level 9 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (179/90)
Kamek: Level 10 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(105/100)
Location: Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Kanzuki Beach
Feat: Rika

Rika rolled over in her bed as the morning sun peeked in through the window, grunted as the cords connecting her to her gauntlets to her back restricted her movement enough to stop her completing the roll, and then rolled back and just subconsciously put up with the morning sun while she doze back off to sleep.

Then in what felt like a moment later to the ship girl but was actually a lot longer than that there came a rapping on the door, followed by it opening and the most awful voice she had ever heard in her life rasping “Rise and shine! Breakfasts in twenty, so get washed and then come get it while it’s hot” to try and rouse them from slumber, and succeed all too well.

”Ah get lost Toad!” came a grumbled roar followed by a pillow being hurled at the poor servant ”what kinda time do you call this anyway?”

There was some more non vocal grumbling from the other two koopas who had, along with Rita herself, shifted a bunch of beds all onto the one room last night after meeting back up in Limsa Lominscuttle Town. After the horrors of the maw and the dread of the island, there had been an almost unspoken desire for closeness in the name of security and peace of mind, even here, in Preach’s idyllic castle. Then again, it had been under attack the previous day, but they’d still gotten some grief for their unexplained furniture rearrangement.

“I’d call it a nice lie in, and if the princess can be up at this hour, you lot can manage it too you know. Least if you don’t wanna waste all the chef’s hard work prepping a late breakfast for everyone” the toad, a surprisingly durable race to whom a king powered pillow throw was nothing, told them before closing the door and getting on with his day.

The call of breakfast was enough to get them all out of bed, the mass exertion of the previous day demanding fuel via tummy rumbling doing so better than any alarm clock. Covers being thrown aside revealed Rika dressed in a hastily borrowed nightgown of Peach’s while the Koopas were all down to their shells. Even Jr’s bib was gone as all of their clothes had been banished to the laundry room by the toads the moment they entered the castle last night. Only Mimi had retained her outfit due to a rabbid refusal to have it removed, the now rather ragged looking hidden horror finding her place on Jr’s shoulder almost as they all moved to get the day started.

This lighter outfitting looked a little strange on all of them on Rika, but none more than Kamek, who free from her robes had her new gangly humanesque form on near full display. Catching both Rika and Jr looking, the mage sighed and said ”I know I know. But I have a solution to this awkwardness I’ll be trying later” she before waving a hand to jar containing the Tonberry spirit (along with a few others front he weald) sitting on a bedside table, before chiding them both ”And stop staring, it is quite rude”

The jar was left behind in the room along with a whole host of items that they could not carry due to the lack of garbs. Everything from gold, wands, shears and a busted up clown car were piled up in the room to be retrieved once they had a way to carry it all.

After a brief detour to the showers to wash off the grim of last nights soggy adventure (during which a few toads debated whether the bedding they troop had slept in without showering was salvageable or should be burned) and once all cleaned up, they eagerly headed for breakfast, which turned out to consist of a near limitless pile of pancakes, something that got absolutely no complaint from anyone.

While they were at it, it being shoveling pancakes slathered with condiments into their gobs at varying rates of ravenous fervor, those making their stay at Peach’s castle got their own letter of invite, which was read to them by Toadsworth after he managed to get their attention.

“... Best regards, Kanzuki Karin.” the old toad concluded before adding “well isn’t that nice of her. I can imagine you’ll all enjoy a bit of time off, given the utter state I’m old you were in this morning?”

There were nods of agreement from the Koopas but Rika had concerns “Don’t we have other stuff to do? There’s still loads of bosses after all. And whatever happened to the fleet now that the Sun Princess is dead. Or what about the maw? Oh and those poor freed, uh, abyssal minions, what are we going to do with those? And-” she ceased her rapidly becoming rambling sentence when Bowser patted her on the shoulder lightly.

”That stuff’s important, yeah, but after something as intense last night it’s good to take some time off. Trust me, all our problems’ll still be there after we’re done with a bit of R&R, but we’ll be refreshed and better suited to socking em real good in the face because after a little break” the king assured her with what might not have been the best general advice, but which they most certainly needed as of right now.

---

After breakfast wrapped up, they did have to take care of a few last second chores. Jr painted some warp graffiti back to the Carcass Isle and then Bowser hauled their airship back to smash city first, which coincidentally opened up a permanent link to that misbegotten place should anyone want to go there via the main paint based teleport network. Then after that they linked up with Rika and Kamek who had gone cloths shopping, the ship girl so she could stop borrowing peach’s cloths (and who wound up getting near the exact same outfit she had gotten the last time she went shopping in the city, namely a knee length red skirt and black jacket studded with brass buttons) and Kamek because she missed her robes (and managed to find something similar in the form of the hooded robes of a white mage).

With those affairs settled the troop strolled leisurely through the city, enjoying the sun, sea air, bustling clouds and complete lack of any nautical abominations assailing them while talking a lot about nothing of import.

Despite their casual pace, the troop actually managed to amble their way to the beach front property in decent time, likely thanks to the Toad’s wakeup call. The place they eventually reached was a fancy one which drew an impressed whistle from the king as they approached it.

”Nice place” he said, before sniffing the air and then salivating a little at the scent waiting through it ”mmm is that the barbecue I’m smelling? Because that smells goooood” he said despite their (late) breakfast having only been a little while ago.

Kamek made a lightly disparaging comment about them having just eaten while Jr hurried ahead, knowing full well that his dad would probably take a while loading up on the meats, and wanting to get some for himself before that delay to the queue for food set in. In doing so he ended up behind Nadia in line.

”Hi Miss Fortune! Cool Eyepatch” he said to her, before peeking around to take a look at what was on offer, while the rest of the troop rolled on in behind him and gave the catgirl their own greetings “Hello there” ”good afternoon” ”Hey, how’s it going?” before their host gave them her own welcome.

”Thank you for the invitation to your lovely, we are most grateful for it.” Kamek replied to this, before adding an ”Aren't we?” directed at the rest of the troop which got a round of not nearly polite agreements from the rest of them, the most egregious of which was Jr’s conditional ”If the food’s as good as it smells then yeah, definitely”

World of Light

wordcount: 931 (+2)
Midna: level 7 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (48/70)
Location: Sandswept Sky - Graveyard of the Peaks

”Thank you” the princess breathed a sigh of relief as she managed to get through to the others either directly with her words or indirectly via the thrives' ever useful long range communication system which was used to call Ciella off.

In short order after that, they abandoned their attack on the sky titan and rejoined the others on the ground, where they were dithering about whether or not they should ring the mega bell. She entirely got why they hadn’t gone right ahead and done it. Who knew what kind of thing desecrating the holy site of what seemed to be a cruel and spiteful religion might do?

”Have you considered checking down there” she pointed down below them ”in the bell itself?” she asked ”Because if I were going to hide a guardian somewhere, I’d do it in a deep dark pit like that” as that was functionally what it was. Who knew what was lurking down there? A hidden monster? An either dungeon? It could be anything, because the dark deaths concealed all, even to the princess of twilight.

Any further debate on the topic was interrupted, because Midna had forgotten one of the fundamental facts of this world. When a fight started, there was no ending it till someone bit the dust. While the sky leviathan had been content to soar around before they had provoked it, and it hadn’t had any way of attacking them while they were on it, it was still an absolute titan of a thing, which meant that now that it was roused and not trying to throw anyone off, it was spurred to attack with the only thing it had that could do damage. Its immense bulk.

The serpent came diving in with a vengeance, driving alongside it a mass of air while using its titanic horn as a battering ram to try and smash some of them to pulp. Utterly terrifying and dangerous to be on the receiving end of, yet still when you got down to it, an animal’s way of fighting. Like they had attacked a giant flying deer. Or at least that was Midna’s interpretation made as much to save face as it was logic, made while she was flipping end over end over the yawning void of the bell.

”Oh right, the stupid galeeming curse!” Midna complained after she realized what was happening while recovering from her fall with levitation. She’d been so focused on calling everyone off that she hadn't even considered how the false sun’s influence would force the thing to fight them till the bitter end now that they had attacked it. More stupid mistakes she had to make up for.

”Give it, and me, one last chance. I’ll try and draw it away from here and then free it” Midna shouted to the others, holding her longer knife‘s blade to her palm to charge it with lighting and re-summoning her Vibrava to act as her wings once more ”and if that doesn't work I’ll kill it myself!”

Then she darted into the shade of one of the bridges and a breath later appeared atop the titan once again via a shadow warp. This time she was prepared for the wind that had blown her off last time, and so her shadowhand immediately lashed out and pulled her close to its fur, which she gripped with both hands and clawed feed, while she held the charged knife in between her pointed teeth.

She began to scurry up its length, dragon claws sinking into fur, shadow hand grabbing ahead and pulling her forwards, levitation cheating physics and her Vibrava’s wings buzzing, She wasn't heading for the remaining weak spot, any of the already stabbed ones, or even the bags of gas keeping it afloat. No, she headed straight for the head and its horn.

What she needed to do was to get it to follow her. If she could get it out of range of the rest of the team before freeing it, then if it was a neutral animal, she hoped its survival instincts would make it stay far away from them rather than go back to try and kill them out of vengeance.

To that end when she reached the end of its fur she whipped her shadow hand out to grasp the crest above it’s head and then kept going. Claws clinging to stone chitin as she hung onto it and got her next hold with her shadow hand, till she got in front of its eyes and pulled her way up its horn so that she was dangling by her the bright orange limb ahead of its four malignant eyes like a lure.

She gripped the handle of her sword and pulled it from her mouth. Then she stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled shrilly while blasting lightning from the blade past one of the four red glowing eyes to get its attention.

”Galeem wants you to kill? So come on! Come and get me!” she yelled, blasting a few more times before opening two vast twilight portals on either side of her, from which the sands of an otherworldly desert began flowing, sweeping to either side of the titan and onto the air, blocking its peripheral vision.

”It’s just you and me! So chase me! Fight me! Try and destroy me as Galeem compels you to do!” she demanded, while dangling herself to one side of it in an attempt to steer the titan by getting it to follow her. If this didn't work, she’d have to try and actually fly ahead of it, and she wasn’t sure if she could manage that.

Either way, if she could, and it lived, she’d try and steer the titan away from the great bell, where the others were, keeping its focus on her by binding it to all else and provoking it with lighting blasts and yelling. Then, once out of sight, she’d free it. Apologize, if she could, for the misunderstanding, and then leave it to wander once again.

That was the plan anyway. Goddesses only knew if it was going to work.