Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic Underground Roadway (Seiran Rebel Base Outskirts) Below City of glass entrance (plate maintenance tunnel) Vandelay Campus (Alleyway)
The conversation rolled back and forth between the group, and while they grasped at several threads there was little that was conclusive. They knew who had killed the person impersonating Lili’s father, and that they had stolen something of import, but no idea why or what it was that they had been espionage about, or where the culprit had run off to. They knew the name of some fresh faction, but not really what their aims and objectives where, other than control over the city (again).
If there was one place that might have answers however, it was apparently Arahabaki, the brain of the city not just in terms of control but also memory. Given that they needed to go past it anyway to get to the guardian, it was an obvious choice for their next destination. Her suggestion on how to get there hadn’t quite been to steal cars, but she admitted that that was more subtle to use the hatchbacks than using the open topped machines she had in storage. Then there was the matter of the suggestion about a portal.
”I can put one down there, yes, but this bunker you’ll be in is a bit of a ways away from any of the other openings I have at the moment” she agreed with a caveat after thinking about it, before filling them in about the 5 she had, which were all rather awkwardly clustered around Seiran and the City of glass, baring the S.O.U. Building, before shrugging and conceding that ”It all depends how urgent getting back down turns out to be” as to whether not being close to one would be a problem or not.
It wasn’t as if they where in any shape to actually hit the Guardian right now, tired and split up as they were, so unless they were forced to go back tonight, Minda was more than happy to wait till the time was right.
The time for getting down there the first time however was right right now, and so rather than burn any more time, once they were somewhat rested, not to mention watered and fed, which the princess made sure to do once she’d had her fill of conversation, they got going.
A short ride later, and then a bit of a walk, and they were at their first hurdle, namely the front door of the imposing monument to ego that was the Shinra building. The front was crawling with human soldiers, though interestingly those in light and dark hues did not seem to like each other very much. Midna wondered who they actually served for a moment, before putting that aside and focusing on getting past.
Fortunately for her, that wasn’t much of an issue. The roving searchlights were a risk, certainly, but as long as she was not in a shadow when they banished it she’d be fine, and could just skip right past them. Ironically whatever advanced tech was letting the troops themselves operate without personal light sources like flashlights removed any erratic light sources that could have thrown her off. So the predictable sweeps were the only issues she faced.
As a result of this relative ease of infiltration, the princess was more or less on hand to assist the others however she could, be it minor distractions via knocking on/tossing objects or simply providing information/a look out. Better to have your shadow check round a corner for a guard than risk being spotted doing it yourself after all.
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
Though there were a few close calls, both from the Caretaker’s own attacks and each other’s, the team made rather swift work of the first phase, popping shut the vents, and popping open the eyes. At this stage Jr’s tractor tank really shone, as he drifted his heavy vehicle around to the right side and then got to unload the triple cannon right into the big glowing weak spot.
Rather than try and keep up, Rika and Bowser ended up mainly radioing in which eye was open whenever one closed, giving the prince all the info he needed to bring the pain.
With how (relatively) painless the first phase had been it was somewhat unsurprising that things really started to ramp up from there. Swarms of bots were their first issue, but the Troop had faced these before, and knew how they worked. Between Rika’s electro swarms and Bowser’s fire breath the shredders didn’t stand a chance, while the patrol bots were a bit tougher due to their narrow bodies, and so Rika ended up using all of her rifle ammo as part of trying to pick them off.
The turrets should have been threatening, but being stationary targets made them incredibly vulnerable to Bowser’s slow moving but heavy hitting fireballs. Indeed the only reason why a turret wouldn't get destroyed by the great balls of fire would be because someone else blasted them before the slow moving shots arrived
Those were threats they could handle. The phase bombs? Not so much.
”Huh, what’s it doing now?” was Bowser’s first question. His second was ”Huh what’s that noise behind me?”. His third was demanding to know ”HOW IS THAT FAIR?!” after being exploded for the first time.
He wasn’t really in any state to ask any more questions after the second destination, which was why he was ever so glad when Jr pulled up next to him and radioed in for him to ”Grab on Pap!”. The king did so as best he could, magically reducing his own size as much as he could to reduce the load he’d put on it, before the metal attacker revved its tractor tires and rumbled away, keeping on the move well enough that the bombs weren't a threat any more.
Of course, Jr couldn't exactly line up a shot while zooming around, but Bowser could, the King launching fireballs, shells, and spike missiles from the back his new ride as they raced around the cavern double dash style, though his self inflicted size down greatly reduced the power of these attacks.
Rika meanwhile had a much more straightforward solution, and it was, as it often was since she got it, her ”grappling hook!” That was what the ship girl called out as she shot it at Overhard while stabbing her spear into the ground with her other hand to use as an anchor point.
Her hook clutched onto the dwarf, and promptly dragged him away from his impending detonation and towards the spear anchored ship girl. ”It’s ok, I have you” she told him reassuringly, only for a shadow to loom over them as she tried to help him up.
”Shields!” she cried out to summon up two strikers, her knight and cloyster, which together blocked the striking tentacle arm, giving her enough time to get Overhard moving. She didn’t stop there however, summoning her ”Ichor Queen!” and ordering it to ”Execute that thing!”
The titanic Vespikan queen obliged at once, heaving her equally massive cleaver over head and then slamming it down onto the ‘neck’ of the arm, namely right where the claw ended and the limb began.
While it did that, the engineer and ship girl booked it, expecting more bombs, only for Nadia to deal enough damage to the caretaker to end its second phase, and, as a result, the phase bomb barrage.
”Oh, is it over?” Rika asked, and then when that seemed to be the case, declaring ”Good. Those things were the worst!”
It was a statement she made just in time for things to get, well, worse. But then also better. First a swarm of metal (instead of the usual chitin) came their way, which would have been about the same kind of threat as the glyphids were it not for the minigun walkers among them.
Well, that and the fact that the bombs had scattered them all over, and left them unable to take a moment to resupply on resources, be it health for Bowser, or Sp and ammo for Rika.
Fortunately the latter problem was suddenly alleviated by the appearance of a second Metal attacker, this one piloted by a potted plant and a rabbit rather than infectious growths, who used some combination of plants to make things funky.
As the Wonder effect took place, Jr was one of the first to notice the effect that would solve the ammo issue, as the dials on his own metal attacker’s empty rocket supply suddenly display a single rocket in stock instead of none.
”Huh, just one? Weak but i’ll take it” he commented before thumbing the trigger and blasting a hotrod before it could blast someone in turn- only for the ammo counter to not go down. A moment later Jr shouted in everyone’s ear ”infinite ammo! We’ve got infinite ammo cheats! Let it fly, blast em all! at the same time as the metal attacker started vomiting rockets out the back which flew up and then crashed down into his foes indiscriminately, the prince simply holding the fire button down and letting the machine auto target his foes.
Rika also massively benefited from this. Having also spent all her strikers (she’d used the war cleric to heal Overhard), she’d been down to just her spear and gauntlets vs the very heavily armored targets, and it had not been going well. Now she simply held down the triggers, rifle blazing bullets at whatever distant targets she pleased while her grizco blaster splattered anything that got near, repeatedly going into all out assault mode and unleashing rapid fire triple shot doom without any fear of it running dry like it had in the last fight. She also got use of her rather situational torpedo bays, jumping over bore holes and dropping the explosive charges inside to collapse them with timed detonations.
Things got even better when happened to step on one of the flowers that had showered down, which caused her to regenerate SP, and let her start adding her rigging guns and electro swarms to the mix. However the person who really benefited from those flowers did so when Jr’s metal attacker ran over one of said plants.
”Do that again, if you could young master, I just got a mana boost!” Kamek told his jr chauffeur, and the prince had little problem obliging, power sliding over a few more as he rained down hell.
Soon enough the Mage was back in the game, and together all three riders (Bowser was still holding on) came up with a quick plan. The tank was suddenly enveloped in a shimmering shield that protected it from the bot swarms physical attacks, and then skidded to a halt as the hatch popped open, and Kamek wooshed out of it. Right after he did, Bowser leapt down off of the back and into view of his son, who cast ”Benediction!” on him to fully heal his dad in an instant.
The moment after he was cured of all wounds, the King slapped the hatch shut, and the tank sped away to continue its rocket rampage. Now fully healed and sporting fresh vines to boot, the King charged into the fray under his own power, re-enlarging himself as he rampaged forwards on all fours, firing off unlimited spike missiles from his back as he smashed into the robot ranks. With his new tusks he sent several of them flying right into that barrage, while his vine tendrils lashed out, zapping foes that did not get trampled or gored in is charge. Naturally they struck back, but with the way he tore through them, his new vampire charm kept restoring his hp, and causing fresh waves of vines to sprout from his back to boot.
Up above an energized Kamek called out ”here’s a little something I cooked up while you were fighting,” as he chanel his power, forming a magic circle just over his shoulder, which then unleashed a shower of cosmic rays. The multicolored beam spread out as they flew, striking a several meter wide area on the opposite side of the battlefield, engulfing a swarm of bots in its blast zone. Then the beam swept to the side, gradually wiping clean an area as it fried anything that failed to get out of the way.
Magical beams (Cia/Tigran Sorceress): Kamek can form floating magic circles that, after a brief charge, fire out an energy beam at a targeted location for a few seconds. He has two options for this.
The first is to create up to 4 small ones that only have a 10 meter range but can be individually targeted at their own foe/location. Should these dark purple streams cross they will cause an explosion at the point of overlap and then fizzle out. Deals dark magic damage.
The other is to form a single large magic circle and from it to unleash a cosmic spray: a wide multi-coloured beam of cosmic energies that deals an equal mix of physical, blight, frost, fire, light/holy and electric damage to anyone struck by part of the spray. The cosmic particles spread out as they fly, starting as a 1 meter beam that increases in diameter by an additional meter for every 5 traveled. The damage potential of the beam spreads out as the partials do.
Once firing, the beams can only be adjusted by making slow sweeping movements and they are, naturally, rather mana intensive to keep running.
It took a lot of mana to unleash that devastation, but all Kamek had to do once he was spent was swoop through the skies to catch falling flowers to regenerate his supplies. Doing so brought him close to one of the entrance holes still spilling out bots. To deal with that he formed 4 smaller circles, all of which fired out lasers that converged somewhere within the tunnel, causing an explosion at that point which collapsed it atop an unfortunate Smallfry.
While this all helped keep down the bot population, it wasn’t really doing anything to the caretaker itself. Fortunately, they did have a plan, and part of their splitting up and cutting down bots was met to cut through bots as well. Under Jr’s directions the troop spread out to the 4 corners of the cave, and then radioed in that they were ready.
Once they where, Bowser reached into his pocket, pulled out a C-Foam Tripmine and tossed it like a discus, masterfully aiming his throw so that it landed directly under the caretaker, at which point Rika sniped it with a rifle round, setting it off. The mine detonated, filling the area around, and above it with globules of freezing, weblike C-Foam that engulfed the caretaker and brought it to a complete stop.
”Take it down!” Jr commanded when the inverted pyramid paused, and on cue the 4 troop members each targeted a vent with as much firepower as they could muster.
The prince’s own metal attacker unleashed a hail of cannon fire, along with a stream of missiles that pounded his vent, while around him his Primid and Chef Bro strikers used super scopes and hurled pans to add to their prince’s firepower.
Kamek got close and created another cosmic spray, the close range meaning it hit a much narrower area, namely that of the vent, allowing all of its multi element damage to be pumped right into that smaller target.
Rika fired everything she had, rifle, spear base cannons and rigging guns all blasting, while behind her her Vespikan Queen striker charged and then unleashed a lightning bolt over her head at their chosen vent.
Finally, Bowser had preemptively used shell smash to increase his offensive capabilities at the cost of his defensive ones, and now unleashed all his power, fury spike torpedoes, explosive shells and a flash cannon beam laser all blasting out while Marie Korbel unleashed a bombardment of skulls.
If that didn't bring the hurt to the caretaker, nothing would. That said, it also took all of them away from bot killing at once, along with anyone else who also took advantage of the situation, and so the 4 of them had to immediately switch back to that rather than being able to follow up on their icy assisted strike.
Rayne’s technique might have worked out on the smallfry, but unfortunately for her, that wasn’t close to the upper limit of what the Raven Heralds had in their ranks. In hindsight it rather made sense, who would send their most dangerous forces to chase after children after all.
In a similar vein, they didn’t send anything specific after Ryne either, which made her rethink her approach more. People were in danger, and was she really contributing? Not really. Not enough.
Someone might die due to her holding back, she realized as Sanae came under fire from a hail of magic. Not only that, but could she really even do anything about the armored figures guarding the ones attacking her without using more power?
Almost certainly not.
Thus a decision she despised was made, even if it one she knew the other Witches had had to make in the past, and so moved to help once more, steeling herself against what she had to do. The short woman blinked forwards to join Saria in standing (or rather in her case floating) ahead of Sanae, pausing just long enough to tell her “I’m with you” before blinking forwards to engage the foes between them and the mage who might well be the Herald’s leader.
At first she raised a hand, which shook slightly, and formed a floating glyph that looked a bit like a two pronged arrowhead with a hollow circular base. She focused the power of the link, forming a sphere of amber magic about the size of a bowling ball in the center of the glyph, which was then immediately launched forwards at her foe.
She missed her first shot due to the shaking.
In response she grabbed the wrist of her firing hand, breathed, and then fired again, and again, and again.
The bolts she shot lacked both range and fire rate, but they hit decently hard, even if, despite her new conviction, she wasn’t aiming for what she thought would be kill shots and was instead shooting for limbs, hands, anything that she thought would more likely maim than kill. Nomatter what she hit however, every few shots would cause a blue orb to pop off of the impact site, after which it would float in the air, ready to be collected.
Mana.
The source of most of her actual power.
If her foes had considered her a lesser target till then, her next actions might well change that.
Having been hovering out of melee range and shooting, interspersed with blinks to evade spells, the Knight Witch now lived up to the first half of her title, chain blinking forwards suddenly, and putting herself between two of the shining armored warriors. A hand flicked, briefly holding a spell card made from the memory of a mighty machine, and then suddenly two bright blue semi translucent spiked wrecking balls large as she was hammered out from either side of her. They raced forwards, smashing aside anything in their path before halting at the end of two chains that attached them to her.
A breath after reaching the ends of their tethers the spectral weapons vanished, and the Knight Witch darted towards the closest patch of floating mana orbs she had driven the armored warrior away from, before immediately using that mana to use the card she had just drawn. Rather than have an immediate effect, it instead meant that when Rayne next turned her glyph on something, be it mage or warrior, the magic bullet that formed was a vivid purple, and when it was unleashed is split into three, giving the Witch Knight a powerful spread shot.
Which was going to make not taking a life harder, if she hadn’t already done so with the shots or spikeballs.
There are goblins on the river side. Asheel made them a cool painting cave, then went back to finding goblins.
“What! Why! How! Why do the other gods keep doing this!?” the exasperated Maintainer threw up her hands and demanded to know, further scaring the assortment of humanoid creatures she had come across in the desert. Those that were not already boiling in their thick fur scattered into the desert, fleeing the furious goddess and causing her to snap out of her rage when she saw the consequences of it.
“No wait, come back! I didn’t mean to scare you! Please don’t run, you'll get hurt! You’ll die out there” she called after them desperately, and though some slowed, others just kept running.
Then all of them started running again when the motherly figure and her great crystal orb were replaced by a wizened form sat astride a machine of blades and death, one which immediately started cackling at the Maintainer's misfortune.
“EHEHEHEHEHEHEHE It never ends! It never ends! This is your curse, you stagnant goat! You care too much, and look where’s got you! Endless labor!” The Breaker mocked the third that had been keeping her from taking control, only for her to lose it as well just as soon as she had gotten it, and for the Maker to take over again.
Still, she was in agreement with her oldest self , complaining that “This is so booooooring! It’s time for something new! The cave was cool, let's go do more stuff like that!” only for the Maintainer to snap back in control.
“No! Someone has to do this, and that person has to be me!” she insisted, but the others were still having none of it
“Come on now dearie, we’ve been at this for ages. I think we deserve a break ehehehehe” the Breaker joked, while the Maker agreed with by saying “Yeah, let it be someone else’s problem!”
“No no no we have to- I have to …” the Maintainer insisted, before slowing in her speech, thinking for a moment and then realizing that “we can make it something else’s task” which got a “huh?” From the Breaker but an “ooooooh!” from the Maker before she clapped her hands and declared “one self sustaining solution coming right up!”
A nameless figure stumbled through the desert, fleeing from the strange shifting thing that was screaming at itself. The figure had no idea what it was, or who it was, all it knew was it had to run, to flee. Then, in its haste, it tripped.
It went tumbling down a sand dune, sand making an absolute mess of its shimmering black feathers as it fell, before its pointed beak got stuck in the sand. It struggled, grasped the ground with all four sets of talons and then heaved with all its might, freeing itself from the sand.
It shook itself, trying to get the grains out of its feathers and nostrils to little avail, before wondering if maybe it should have listened to whatever that screaming pointy headed creature was. This desert thing was not nice.
Then it heard a rumbling, and turned to find the source, only to see a massive wall of chitin coming straight at it. Or rather rolling, though the distinction was rather lost as it cried out in alarm and started to try and run again.
It was fruitless however, as all legs pale in comparison to the all mighty wheel.
The roly-poly of a woodlouse the size of a van bore down on the poor bird beast person, but rather than squish him it opened up its curled up body just enough that the gap rolled over its target, rather than its body. It didn’t leave its target behind however, and instead lots of little legs pulled the bird-person up into the center of its body.
The rather dizzy bird person only barely felt the bug stop spinning, and then was carefully inserted into some kind of translucent cylinder that the bug was wrapped around. As it was dropped in, the bird landed atop a creature who had long red hair, rounded ears, a moderate stature and with skin pale as the sands down to the waist, at which point the rest of its body was that of a red and black banded snake.
The two screamed at each other, struggled and scrambled to either side of the cylinder, from which they stared at each other for a few moments, both panting hard. They hadn’t come out of the struggle evenly however, and the now bleeding from claw wounds snake person shied away from the bird when it tried to communicate. So instead the bird sighed and looked away, only to gasp at what it saw.
Through the glass like exterior of the cylinder it could see the desert flying by as the bug that had captured them rotated around the glass, somehow keeping them completely level as it used its own body as a wheel. They were climbing an embankment of some kind, and from up there the bird could see more of them. So many more. A few were chasing after other humanoid creatures, but most were simply blazing forth into the desert, looking as if they might fill the world with their bodies.
Then their own bug turned, racing down the embankment and careening towards a half dozen green figures. They barely even tried to run, and soon enough they too had been scooped up and deposited inside the cylinder. The bird waved at them too, but the green things seemed too exhausted, dehydrated, or both too much else but lay there in defeat.
That was until they stopped rolling again a little while later, and a stream of little soft globs rained down atop them, stirring the goblins into wakefulness. One reached out a shaking hand and promptly shoved the foreign object into its mouth, chewing it with grim determination. Then it paused. Then its eyes lit up. It chewed barely enough to soften the orb up, swallowed, and then eagerly grabbed for another one, and then a third, before finally pausing its feasting, and passing the fourth to a fellow green thing.
Curious, the bird, who had left the goblin pile well alone after one weakly hissed at it when he’d poked them, reached for one of the orbs itself, only to have their hand slapped by the green thing who had eaten. Very weakly slapped.
The bird was shocked rather than hurt. Sat there for a few more moments, thinking, and then tried again. A hand tried to slap it away once more, but the bird was bigger and stronger and still full of the energy it had been created with, so it simply ignored the feeble attempt at violence and took what it wanted.
That rather set the tone for the rest of the journey. Having found that it could, the full blooded bird folk with its larger size, feathered armor, and sharp beak and talons came to dominate the other occupants, snake person included. It hoarded the lion’s share of the food orbs, leaving only a few for the others. They in turn stuck together, the snake joining the goblin tribe mainly because they had to share space with each other as the bird took over ⅔ of the chamber so it could control the food supply.
Then, out of the blue, the journey ended.
Sand was replaced by wetlands and, at their heart, a shimmering river of crystal blue waters that gave life to all around it.
The giant rolling bug promptly dumped them out onto the ground here, proceeded to devour several trees, and then rolled off into the desert again. It was not the only one to do so. Even as the people started around in wonderment, they saw other giant bugs rolling in to drop off people.
A lot of people.
Then all of a sudden all eyes went to the bird for a moment, then back to the open space before the goblins and snake-folk all collectively ran (or slithered) away from it, wanting to be as far away from the bully as possible.
It watched them go with disinterest, and though in time it would come to desire that power again, for now it instead approached the banks, and stared down into the waters, finally seeing its own face.
A thin beak, dark eyes, pointed ears and radiant black and dark blue feathers stared back at it, and then the kingfisher heeded the call of the waters, diving into their cool embrace. On instinct it snatched its head forwards, catching something in its beak, and then rising up to the water’s surface, wiggling juvenile carp in its beak.
The act of fishing fed some hunger it had not known it had had, bringing about a satisfaction that beat even that of the one brought by the taste of swallowing its catch.
Life, it decided, was good, and surely it had all been made for the king fisher’s benefit. Thus bloomed to fruition a deep seated ego, and only woe for those upon whom it was inflicted could follow.
The Maintainer freaks out again, this time about how there are a whole load more people stuck out in the desert now. The Breaker and Maker break back out again from under her control, mocking her and demanding they do something new respectively. They argue, and eventually Asheel realizes that she is a god, and can just, you know, make things to do this desert rescue job for her.
So she does.
Thus the roly-polies are born, giant woodlice the size of vans or small busses that can defy physics and roll around a central biocrystal axel they are able to make. These roly-polies then roll out, capturing goblins and beast folk alike, depositing them in the axles, and then transporting them to the riverside.
One such bug captures a kingfisher, a snake, and a bunch of goblins. While being transported the kingfisher becomes a petty tyrant thanks to its full blood physique giving it all sorts of advantages. Then when they arrive all the others run off rather than be stuck under its rule any more. It doesn’t really care though, and instead goes fishing, fueling its inner fire in the process.
Then we leave it as it fully develops a superiority complex that will likely have predictable consequences for the increasingly overcrowded riverbanks.
6mp start
1 mp to create roly-polies (and 2 bonus mp provided by wheels and cycles): these potentially massive woodlouse bugs move around by rolling around bio-crystal axles of their own creation. The largest ones can transport people inside their hollow axles, and keep them fed using unfertilized eggs, while the smaller ones have the potential to act as self powering wheels for all sorts of contraptions if tamed. Initially tasked with saving people trapped in the desert, the following generations will be unguided, though still naturally dispositioned towards being helpful.
Asheel freaked out about sloth dying, made a triple form monowheel bike, zoomed about, found some goblins and then her Maintainer/Mother personality took the wheel to transport those goblins, and a load of other ones, to the new mega river that circles the world
It was quite the picturesque scene: goblins, recently saved from the desert, danced and played along the riverbanks they had been brought to, saved by its sweet hydration and lush plant life that covered its banks.
Admittedly it hadn’t all been sunshine and roses. Turns out drinking lots and then eating loads of random green things after having been close to dying of thirst had some ironic and unpleasant consequences on the digestive system. Plus they didn’t really know how to swim. Also the plants kept sassing them.
Still, for every group running headlong into tragedy there were ones who were having the time of their lives. Admittedly their lives had mostly consisted of gradually dying in a desert before that, and still, the river lands they had been dropped off in were beautiful. Clear blue waters filled with shimmering fish ran slowly but steadily by, flanked by wide zones of wetlands full of all sorts of pretty plants.
Those close to the central sea had it even better, because they could climb up the hills and cliffs surrounding the divot in the earth, and look down into it to see the seas, islands and, most glorious of all, the giant tree that defied all logic.
One particular group of goblins sat atop one of these picturesque cliffs, a pile of fruits, leaves, sticks, roots and other plant things resting on the bear rock which they were periodically munching on as they argued casually. Them and a Daffotale growing in a clod of mud that one of the goblins had adopted.
“Iz a big tree, just very far away. Bigger than anything else in world!” one goblin who considered themselves master of perspective insisted.
“Nonsense. Shangshi La has huge waterfalls I’ll have you know. They must be way bigger to be able to fill the river!” the Daffodate sat in another goblin’s lap insisted.
“Yeah, but you never saw em, did you? Meanwhile I saw a big big hill in the desert. Spent whole time there trying to walking around it! That must be bigger. You can see past that tree” a second goblin insisted, pointing vaguely at an island behind the tree.
“Desert make walking slow, bet could walk nice and fast down there” insisted a third, only for the first to needle them with “Wot, you can walk on water now?”
“Ya know what mean, dummy” they retorted, only for a fourth to derail the question by asking “Wonder what it tastes like” which got them all musing on that very important question.
“Trees blech. Hard. Plus you just scrape teeth on it and get nuffin” one posited at last which got several nods, only for another to retort “But the leafy things, maybe they good? Gotta be huuuuuge. Eat one all day”
“Then have to climb up all the way there. Fall and you go splat. I know, I seen it in desert” another said, which got several shudders, and a few confused looks from the ones lucky enough to have not witnessed a messy death yet.
“Splat how? How can goblin go splat?” one of those innocent ones asked, to which the one who had brought it up responded by demonstrating, which they did by picking up a mushy fruit and then tossing it off the cliff they were all hanging about on top of. The fruit fell down down down, and then promptly went splat down below.
“Like that. But with more red. Creepy kinda dark red, not like the flowers that are red. Bad red” she insisted, which caused one to point up and ask “dat red?” as he pointed up at the way the southern sky
“I… Yeah… Like dat…” the goblin agreed hesitantly, rather unnerved by what the sky was doing.
“Is dat bad? Did goblin go splat in sky?” the one who had asked about splatting asked again
“I dunno… but don’t like it” the splat explainer replied, before glancing at their flower companion and asking “is that place where water come from”
“I suppose. But That’s on the other side of the world though, and that certainly doesn’t look like water” the Daffotale replied, the plant tilting its flower to one side as it tried to figure out what was going on, before in straightened up all of a sudden was it realized “oh no wait is that getting closer!?”
That question rebooted the perspective argument up for a few moments before the rain was spotted hitting the south side of the crater, and by that point it was too late. The blood rain swept across the inhabited equator within moments, splattered down from on high causing the goblins to panic and flee in all directions. Some kept panicking till the rain ended, or worse, met their untimely end as a result of their panic. Some realized the rain didn’t hurt and stopped, and some of those happened to turn their maws up to the sky and drink it in, giving them their first taste for the stuff. Those that did so in the desert bought themselves more time to be rescued.
The goblins on the hill however, found their way to a cool cave they had found earlier, rushing inside and out of the bloody rain, each and every one soaked in red. The only one saved from this was the daffotale, who’s beautiful delicate form had been shielded by its bearer’s own body.
After they’d caught their breath, the brave among them then turned around to take a look at what they had been caught in, marvling in the awesome supernatural terror of it.
One of them leaned against the entrance of the cavern with one hand, and then happened to look at the spot after she pulled it away.
“Huh. Look. Hand on wall!” she called out, which freaked several out till they saw what she meant: namely that there was now a bloody handprint on the wall. Specifically “my hand!” the goblin marveled as she hovered it over the mark.
“Me try me try!” another insisted, before they slapped a hand against the wall, leaving more of a splotch than a hand, causing them to go “awww” in disappointment
“Maybe slow like” a third said as he more gently pressed a blood soaked hand to the wall, then pulled it back, revealing the first bit of intentional art the goblins had ever seen (made by mortal hands anyway).
This got several oos from the other goblins, except the first who insisted “me discover it, not him!” before slapping the wall a few times for emphasis. Then she had a look at the splats and made a few more, wiping her hand on her blood covered body and deliberately adding a few more splats before stepping back and revealing her “big tree!” made out of handprints.
That got even more ooo’s and then everyone wanted to have a go, resulting in a flurry of art that left the goblins so distracted that they didn’t even notice that the rain was gone till one of them ran out of blood and went to get more.
“Oh! It over!” the goblin called out to the others excitedly, before realizing that that meant “aw, no more blood for making wall shapes”
“Maybe pools?” Another suggested, which got them all excited again, goblins spilling out of the cave and then returning to it with fresh handfuls of blood, only for them all to get a proper look at what they had made in the light of day post blood rain.
A lot of it was just hands and nature, but several had made attempts to record other things, such as painting themselves or, in one big collaborative section, painting the goddess who had saved them, a goblin surrounded by a ring appearing before lots of smaller goblins.
“Oh, is that supposed to be me?” asked a voice from behind the goblins, causing them all to spin around and behold a figure wearing a wide brimmed pointed hat. Behind her were a collection of other goblins, their bodies still dusted with the sands of the desert, and behind that, parked on the river itself, the great crystal sphere that had brought them all here.
There was a little moment of stunned silence caused by the sudden appearance of the Maintainer in their midst lingered on for just enough time to get awkward, at which point one finally spoke up and confirmed that “yeah!” it was meant to be her, before the goblin asked, a little hesitantly “um, do you like it?”
“Oh I just love it my dears!” the goddess proclaimed with clear and genuine delight “such creativity, taking something that must have scared you so much and turning it into something beautiful,” before clarifying that “and I don’t just mean the part depicting me, naturally. It's all quite wonderful”
She swept into the cave to make a show of taking a proper look at everything, which left the goblins who had been huddled behind her exposed. They shied away from their fellows because they were, well, covered in blood while these goblins had clearly managed to avoid the storm inside.
Of all people it was the Daffotale who broke the silence with a call of “Hello hello! Welcome to the river-lands of the great Tuuni!” before it added apologetically “I swear it’s a lot nicer looking when its not drenched in blood”
Indeed, the lands were absolutely coated in it, and the river presently ran red, with all the blood that had fallen into it here and upstream.
“Not to worry, I’m sure that it will be cleaned up in no time” the Daffotale insisted.
“Yeah. Hope so. Blood is stinky, but there’s water and plant things to eat. Much better than desert” one of the blood covered goblins said, before offering to show the others about, and to get some grub in them.
Most eagerly agreed, but a few stayed behind, and asked about how they’d made the walls.
The remaining cave painters eagerly explained, but then lamented that “once blood is all gone, or dry, then no more painting”
“Maybe use own blood?” another suggested, which got mixed responses, along with one pointing out that “Not much space left either”
“Well, the blood will wear off in time unfortunately” the goddess told them as she stepped into their conversation “so there will be space then but ah, it would be a shame to lose it all. A real shame” before she gave a “hmmm” of a thought.
She held that thought for a moment, and then snapped her fingers as she had an “idea!” before she lightly tapped the cave wall. In an instant, it grew and grew, forming a great cathedral sized dome of stone, which then lit up as the walls began to softly glow.
The paintings that had been made were still there, but had been moved up to just above the height the goblins could reach, freeing up space below. If they looked closely at those paintings, they could see that they were slowly moving, rising up towards the ceiling. This caused one painting to bump into another due to the shape of the dome, causing both to disappear, much to the alarm of the painters, only for the Maintainer to quickly point out that they had re-appeared elsewhere on the dome.
“There we go, now there is space to paint more pictures, and the ones that have been made will cycle in and out of existence in such a way that everything gets a turn to reappear again and again and again” she told them getting many ooo’s and aaaahs of amazement from the goblins.
“Now then, as fun as this has been, I really should be off. There are still goblins to save out there, though i do hope all that blood has bought me some more time” she said before telling them “you all play nice now, and I look forwards to seeing what you end up filling this place with” and then stepping out the room in a flash, leaving the goblins to marvel at their gift for a few moments.
Then they all ran outside to get more blood to do even more painting.
Some goblins hang out on a hill overlooking the central seat. They chatter about this and that thanks to Asheel teaching them how to talk, only to be interrupted by the blood rain. They flee for the safety of a nearby cave, and within invent cave painting (using blood). One of the things they paint is the Maintainer rescuing them from the desert, which catches the goddess' eye as she is delivering more goblins to the area.
She appears, praises their work, and then does the goodly equivalent of pining it to the fridge by making a holy site dedicated to the preservation of the art, as well as providing space to add even more art to the site’s collection.
Then she runs off to go save more gobbos, of which there will be quite a few more still alive thanks to the blood rain providing both fluid and nutrients
1mp for Asheel to teach the goblins about gods, and how to communicate with them (and by extension, each other) 1mp for a cycle based holy site, the cave of painted memories: a large dome like chamber in the eastern cliffs surrounding the central sea. Lit bly glowing walls, the chamber will cause paintings to rise up from the painting spot at the base of its walls, and then swirl the artwork around its dome, paintings fading in and out of existence in such a way that all the art gets its time to shine. The holy site is maintained by the addition of new art, and will be lost to entropy as all things do should additions cease to be made to it.
While Fae could have been embarrassed about being the only one to take Sinmara up on her challenge, he simply decided not to be (one of the many advantages of shoving metal into your brain in his opinion) and returned the titanic woman’s pre-offered bump, before he then proceeded to idly file his nails using a tendril sourced laser as he waited for the others to board.
“I do hope this wasn't a preemptive demonstration of your inability to keep up, Marissa” he needled the woman dressed in a school uniform who clearly hadn’t yet overcome her childish fear of childishness, before more productively suggesting that “Perhaps you’d be willing disavow that first impression at some time during the trip? We really should use the time we have to get an actual understanding of each other’s capabilities, don’t you think?”
That could come later however, as the cyborg first decided to have a little look around the ship, taking it all in, and digitizing it all for later use. It simply wouldn’t do to get caught flat footed if they came under attack after all, and knowing where everything was on the vessel was a part of that. Plus it was simply interesting to get a close look at such a titanic war machine, and the man had to be shooed out of several sections he was not really meant to be in after he had strode confidently into them, casually bypassing any security in the process.
After being explicitly ordered to stay out of restricted areas, (and replying with an ever so casual “Well now, why didn’t you say so?”) the man instead sought to track down the most suitable area to create an impromptu combat arena (be it any actual training space the ship might have, or simply a palace where they were least likely to blow up the engine or the ammo stores) and then sent out holographic copies of himself to find the others and offer an invitation to his little impromptu fight club.
Said invitation would involve the doppelganger giving a theatrical bow, and requesting the come show him their “flesh and mettle”
While they did that, the doctor proceed to build himself a weapon, in this case was a Sea Wasp Personnel Disabler system, which looked a bit like a rectangular multi missile launcher if instead of 4 missiles it contained dozens of taser darts capable of being fired and then back reeled in, for use in any sparring matches.
He also constructed a number of holographic training dummies as well, should sparring matches not be of interest (or, worse, he get no interest at all)
Due to needing to make a fair few, these were wireframe humanoids rather than anything particularly life-like. The ones produced could be split into artful dodgers armed with rapiers, regular soldiers armed with rifles, and hovering mages who tossed illusory spells, though he was also open to taking requests. The dummies were not able to hit or be hit, even if he was capable of making those, and so they were more like mobile practice targets armed with laser tag weapons that would tell their opponent when they had been hit. Given that any ones he made capable of physical interaction wouldn’t last very long, that was more than acceptable.
All in all, he hoped this would prove a fun little distraction, as well as a way to learn a bit more about his comrade’s capabilities prior to them facing any real danger.
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth Accessible locations: Peach’s castle Limsa Lominscuttle Town Lumbridge Twilight Town Kosm’s Beach
It was a pretty casual trip back all things considered, as the practice dummy like monsters patrolling their fields were still about doing their thing, and presumably keeping the local bug population nice and low as a result. Plus this time there was no dwarven thievery to enrage them.
In contrast, it seemed like their area had been more straightforward than whatever weirdness was vaguely alluded to via puns by Miss Fortune regarding their team’s trip when they caught up, that was for sure.
”I got a tank!” was jr’s main input to explain what had happened to them, as if him having to pop open the hatch of it to tell them this didn’t make that obvious in and of itself. Although in his defense, the Kuebiko could be easily mistaken for a tractor, if not for the massive triple barrel gun on the front.
”His majesty also fought a giant pig, with my enlarging help, so I am afraid I will be sitting this next bout out from in here” Kamek, who was also in said tank, informed them in a very tired tone.
”I punched it right in the snout! That sure showed it who’s boss!” the King confirmed, ever so proud of this apparently.
”Also there was, uh, bugs and stuff I guess. And robots. But you probably had those too?” Rika concluded the summary of what they had been doing rather less bombastically ”Which we should probably handle the spirits of before we fight this triangle thing, right?”
That got some confirming nods from the rest of the troop, except for Bowser who decided that ”Seeing as the big pig was pretty tough, I think I’ll fuse with it. Get my own big tusks or more root powers or something” for which he borrowed the Snaktivator from Kamek to do, while Rike as usual borrowed the mimic shaped hat from their reisdent bug queen to do some crushing.
Notable spirit consumed: Kingtusk (mouth) The front of the host's face has elongated into more of a snout, with a flat, piglike nose. Two large, upward-curved tusks extend from the cheeks right at the corners of the mouth, an extremely tough blend of enamel-layered dentine and wood. Their points aren't that sharp but can cause huge damage when driven into a target with strength. The host's hair is also a little more rootlike in texture, and he has a better sense of smell. This spirit confers the power King's Charge, giving the host armor and a damage boost when charging on all fours. This charge can either trample over enemies or end with a powerful tusk flip that can launch even very heavy enemies overhead and behind the user, where they usually land on their backs. This spirit also confers the weakness Part Softness. The host takes much more damage than usual if hit in the head, and his tusks can actually break if hit enough by enemies. He must receive an amount of healing equal to or greater 50% or more of his max HP in order to reform a tusk.
Refined Metal x2 What kind of metal is this? It's not exactly clear. But what is clear is its abundant value. It's not just worth a lot of currency; it itself can be used as currency. It's ideal material for crafting, highest-quality, and can be used as a substitute for any one metal when making weapons, all of which are guaranteed to be high quality and high durability
Mack FL1-R 'Stinger' A small flying corebot that functions as an expedition assistant. Similar to Deep Rock's Bosco drone, it can help out by carrying things or providing light. Thanks to its core, it's self-sustaining, but its energy will be lost and eventually depleted if it takes damage. It has a small rifle in its rear, but low caliber rounds and low stability mean it can be little more than a distraction under normal circumstances. Most importantly, it can kind of be worn like a miner's cap
Machine Turret A high-impact slow firing weapon system that's best used on a stationary mount, but can be awkwardly carried by those of enough strength (that are also not too big to use it). It has a limited pool of ammunition of 150 rounds, but can be resupplied
Charm of the Vampire A charm that boosts the damage of bite attacks and confers a 30% heal for every 13 enemies killed. The person who equips it gains a little fang and a V-shaped hairline
C-Foam Tripmine x2 A very powerful tripmine that, when triggered, will spew globules of freezing, weblike C-Foam in an area of 5 to 7 meters. C-foam will entrap and immobilize any enemy caught in its radius, including bosses, for 5 to 7 seconds. It can be shot to detonate prematurely. It can also be used as a sealant in order to reinforce doors, walls, etc against attack Power Stone A huge, glittering crystal in the classic shape, the size of beach ball. They're very light, and if a bearer is hit too hard, it'll fly right out of the bearer's inventory and soar a distance away. If someone obtains three, that fighter can take on a unique super form for a limited time with a changed appearance and powered-up moves with unlimited usage, though when it runs out two will go flying in different directions while one is destroyed. This one is alien-blood green
”So. How do I look?” Bowser asked after the fusion, which caused the others to trade a few glances and for Kamek to offer that ”The tusks look, ah, very regal, sire. Like a second set of horns” while clearly avoiding talking about the obvious, namely that ”You've got a pig snout. It looks a little silly”
”What?!” the King balked, before booping his own snoot and then groaning as he confirmed what Rika had told him
”I’m sure the fusion will come in handy though, that great beast was quite devastating on the charge after all” Kamek quickly pointed out, before admitting ”Though perhaps not against such a large stationary target like that one” referring, of course, to the pyramid.
Somehow that was only the first half of the warping of Bowser’s face that went down, as he foolishly forgot the danger of pedestal items and proceeded to poke the bat floating on one. Admittedly, it could have been worse, because the resulting v shaped hairline and extra pointy tooth didn’t actually do much other than add a few strands to the front of the King’s locs, while the tooth mostly blended in with all the other sharp ones.
The other items consisted of some valuable looking metal, which got shrunken and stashed, along with the giant alien green diamond. Bowser held onto the mine, peering at some very small instructional text scribbled under much larger warning text, and while Rika attached the helmet bot on top of one of her gauntlet ‘heads’, intending to use it as a replacement for her destroyed scout plane.
They got use of the turret by physically strapping it onto Bower’s shell via metal bands made with Jr’s Ferromancy. Mounted atop one of his existing turrets, and with the trigger controlled by a vine, it would give him quite the boost in long ranged fire power. Given that the king wasn’t exactly the best marksman however, the main form of help it would be providing would be adding to the volume he could output.
With all that out of the way, they were ready to go, just in time for Overhard to give them a heads up as to what was going on.
”Alright, see you guys on the other side” Jr said as he hopped into the tractor tank, and snapped shut the hatch, before revving up the machine, raring and ready to go. Rika meanwhile finished filling her grizco blaster’s primer tank with her own saliva and slotted the cylinder onto it, while Bower just cracked his knuckles and got ready to throw down.
Just as explained, the caretaker’s first mode of defense was its big mechanical tentacles, which immediately started blasting at them. Rika and Jr both got moving, the ship girl using her shot slowing vision to evade fire while Jr backed up the metal attacker while spraying retaliatory fire back at their foe.
Bowser wasn’t nearly as evasive, and so he was very thankful for Primrose’s defense buff, and some overhealing provide vines Jr had provided before taking command of his tank. That and his little mecha mit shield let him withstand the initial barrage, but none of those were much help when the tentacle decided to slam forwards to try and skewer him with its four pronged tip.
Fortunately, he’d just had a bit of practice with something just like this, and so instead of being gored by the 4 prongs the king just barely managed to grab a pair of them in his claws.Monster and machin struggled against each other till the king got a good grip, and then pulled and pulled, till the mechanical limb was ripped from it’s socket, flailing on the ground for a few seconds till it went still.
”That the best you’ve got?!” the king, just a bit out of breath, taunted, just in time to find himself facing down giant walls of energy that someone had forgotten to mention where going to be an issue.
As the king scrambled to run out of the way of the blasts, and Jr had to do some of the best driving of his life to weave between them while avoiding running any one over, Rika handled them with far more ease.
This was mainly because she could go over them, the ship girl dodging the first, and then squeezing her feather fall rune to launch herself clear over the top of the seconds. The tiny wings on the back of her rigging gave her just enough thrust to help her buzz over the wave as it slipped under her, after which she took a leaf out of Miss Fortune’s book, and also went for a mount of the machine.
Her grappling hook shot out, attached, and then pulled her atop it, where she proceeded to scramble over to a different vent from the one the cat girl was clawing up. Once over there, she promptly gave it five barrels of fun, hammering 4 disruption gobs and several rapid fire blasts of electric goop into it, really gumming up the works, and debuffing the machine’s damage output by 20% for 30 seconds in the process.
Rather than simply flee with her glowing cotton tail between her legs when the shredders came however, she instead left them a parting gift, dumping out a shocker swarm from her hangers, and also summoning her cloister striker. The very tough shellfish didn’t have to worry too much about the cutting attacks of the shredder bots, particularly when it proceeded to summon a whirlpool around itself. The resulting swirling vortex spun the drones around, either tearing them apart, smashing them into the cloister’s shell, or leaving them soaked through and thus extra vulnerable to the electric swarm Rika had left behind.
As that dance of elements played out, the ship girl grappled too one of the tentacles, and used it to swing across the electrically charged platform below, only avoiding being blasted to bits by friendly fire due to her shot slowing sunglasses and her little wings giving her just enough extra air controle to weave between them.
”Rika!” came a panicked buzz in her ear as she landed, coming from one of the sources of that near friendly fire accident, which proceeded to tell her to ”Call in that you’re going to do that next time!”
Over in his tractor tank Jr got a sheepish ”Sorry” and ”will do” from Rika, before focusing back on the fight. The vehicle he was in certainty was fun, wheezing around at impressive speeds, turning practically on a dime, and laying out a whole heap of fire power, but the Prince was getting a bit frustrated at his lack of options.
Options that the blinking red ammo and fuel reserves constantly reminded him that they had been wasted by the ”Dumb plants!” that had infested it.
Still, when he did manage to stop power sliding across the dirt and got to line up a shot, the triple barrel cannons laid waste to anything in front of them. He just wished things would stop moving and stay in his line of fire.
Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic Underground Roadway (Seiran Rebel Base Outskirts) Below City of glass entrance (plate maintenance tunnel) Vandelay Campus (Alleyway)
”It really is all happening today isn’t it?” Was Midna’s first comment after the city wide announcement that the rebellion was going above ground, before pondering out loud ”I wonder if they’re just capitalizing on each other’s actions or if someone is egging things along? That Other shower wasn’t predicted after all, and the way they came in was strange, right? Almost like they were transported in by whatever those flying machines were?”
Looking at the others, Midna could see that she definitely wasn't the only one feeling it. As a veteran soldier Luka might be more well-adjusted to this sort of exertion, but Yuito and Hanabi were both breathing heavily from the battle through Suoh. When Midna addressed them, though, they couldn't help but consider the truth behind her words.
"That's right...Others come from the Extinction belt, but in pods, not in buses," Yuito mused, putting his fist to his chin.
Hanabi scratched her head, her eyes narrowed. "Those ones are called Battle Buses, I think? Pretty sure they're used in some sort of game show. A one hundred person survival island kind of thing, you know. But even if they can fit a hundred people apiece, there's no way all those Others could've fit on them."
"The timing is too convenient, too," Yuito added. "How could Karen know what was about to happen and use it to break into Arahabaki, if even Arahabaki couldn't see the Other rain coming?"
Midna did not have time to reflect on what in the world a survival island gameshow was, because her brain lept straight to ”I … oh goddesses I hope I am wrong, but if you can fit 100 people on there, then you can move them to a location, and then turn them all into Others when you get there. I know they had to shoot Peach individually, but what if there was a way that could do it en mass…” That was quite the terrible weapon, both in terms of effectiveness and sheer monstrousness.
Both of Midna's comrades looked horrified. "You don't really think that's what happened, do you?" Hanabi shuddered. "That's almost too horrible to consider."
Yuito furrowed his brow, disturbed, but also a little incredulous "Wait, you mean this was the work of the same people responsible for metamorphosis? Why would they use it to attack their own territory? Especially since that not only gave Karen the perfect chance to break into Arahabaki, but also led to the Grand Head's assassination?"
"That does sound pretty...I don't know, counterproductive? I mean, if it's their fault, that either means they're working with Karen in order to destroy themselves, or they're insanely stupid." Hanabi crossed her arms.
”Well … Unless Karen got his hands on how they did it. He’s definitely the one who benefited the most” Midna pointed out grimly, before musing ”though it could also be someone else stole it, or the regime is coming apart at the seams. Wasn’t there some conspiracy inside of it …. Konoe! Konoe controles Psych-OSF, Neuron, the G-men and he did have Vandelay till it got destroyed. It and Project Armstrong, which was a big part of his overall plan”
That was something of a save for Karen, which she extrapolated upon ”The guy just suffered a big loss, and he hates Shinra. So maybe Karen just took advantage of some hit Karen was making against Shinra? Or Konoe wanted them to make this move for some reason, maybe to make them Shinra’s problem as well as his? Or does he also want something down there? I’d be a good distraction” and while it was a bit of a stretch, after all he was in control of the organization at the heart of the Rebellion, it could have been part of some play of his. ”Either way, he has the means, and a potential motivation, so I wouldn’t put it all on Karen yet. Yet”
Since Midna was more or less spitballing, neither Yuito nor Hanabi tried addressing all her hypotheticals, though it was definitely food for thought. They didn't have all the answers either, after all. "Well, I hope it wasn't Karen," Hanabi said after a moment. "He's definitely benefiting from all this the most. If he's somehow responsible, that makes him almost as bad as the people he's rebelling against in the first place."
Yuito nodded. "At that point, we'd have to wonder if he really did want freedom for everyone, or if he had some other, more selfish agenda. With Arahabaki, almost anything's possible. Whoever controls it controls the information, even Midgar itself."
”That powerful huh?” Midna asked, before noting that ”And yet despite that it’s not even the thing that’s deepest down apparently. You have to wonder what Shinra has that they want to protect even harder. Other than the area guardian I mean, but they don’t know how important that is”
Luka had stayed quiet throughout this time, ruminating on all that he'd heard. At this point, though, his eyes went up slightly, and he cleared his throat in order to present a new possibility. "Maybe, but...if this 'guardian' is that important to the people behind the curtains, wouldn't it make sense to make it vitally important to the people actually defending it, too?"
”Thing is they can’t know what it’s for, as that'd involve knowing about Galeem, so I’d think it would be something that’s important for another reason as well?” she informed him, before thinking about it a bit more and postulating that ”Or one of the Consuls managed to convince them it's important? But I think we should prepare for it to be something that has consequences when it goes down”
The others nodded their agreement, though none felt especially confident. 'Be ready for anything' was a phrase everyone could agree with, but never truly put into practice. Whatever came of these new crises and discoveries, hopefully their strength and their bonds would be enough to see them through.
”Alright, I think I’m recovered enough to get moving again” she said, before asking the group in general ”Got anywhere else we need to be, or should we try and regroup? I can portal us to a few places if I make another one here” entirely willing to fill them in on where those where if they had a desire to move out. It wasn’t the only fast transportation option either, as she pointed out ”Or seeing as we’re fugitives now, there’s no laws stopping us from driving somewhere instead”
Asheel mucked about drawing on the Khodex, met some bugs, and then drew on the Khodex again to make reincarnation.
“Woooooooooooow did you see that! It was all like, woosh boooom, kablooie and then now there’s all this stuff!” The Maker excitedly summarized what had just happened, namely the birthing of the universe. Had she been capable of being humbled, she might have been by that supreme act of creation, but as it stood she was just fangirling over the start of the, as she’d put it “biggest and bestest cycle ever!”
“Yes yes, well now we have to do something with it” the Maintainer said, rather looking forwards to it, before noting “and there they all go to do just that I see” as the other gods blasted off this way and that to leave their mark
“Yes, but, hmmm, I think there’s someone missing?” The Breaker, who had an eye for such things, noted as she looked around and saw not a hint of the essence of “that lazy looking fellow, the one who arrived here first and then never did anything?”
“Oh yeah, huh, um” The Maker replied, before she almost immediately got distracted by a big tree getting made. Yet in doing so she got another glance at the codex, and upon it saw a rather pointed line that had been written there.
“The Sloth is dead!” the Maker cried out as she read it, prompting the Maintainer to echo her with a mix of questioning and panic “The Sloth is dead?!”
“Correct” The Breaker replied without any of the alarm of her other two thirds, as if she had known this all along.
“Ah, how can you be so calm! I get it now! We can die! Things can kill us!” The Maker freaked out “But I don’t wanna die, I have so much left to live for!”
“And worst thing is, it could be any one of them” the Maintainer aid, glancing paranoidly around
“Now now, Its fine, we wrote in reincarnation after all, so he’ll just be reborn” The Breaker pointed out, only for the maker to reply that “Not for gods! We weren't in the book, just all that life stuff, and bugs”
There was a brief stunned silence, and then they really started freaking out with the Maintainer yelling that “We need to protect ourselves” while the breaker demanded that “no we need to arm ourselves” only for the Maker to overrule them and shout that “we need to be able to escape!” before doing just that.
The Maker just started running, and as she ran she built around her, forming the familiar shape of a great wheel. Feet that had been hitting sand instead hit metal as she formed a divine transport powered by the person running inside of it, which caused her to blaze around the world at ungodly speeds.
It was a machine for someone with everything to lose, and yet also for one who did not know that was the case, one that would get her both into and out of danger
This went well till the Maintainer took over and declared “no no no, this is too much, where did you get the energy to do this from” before she warped the machine, wrapping it around herself and making it larger till she was embraced by it, sealed within a great crystal ball, and sat atop a lovely room sized platform scattered with pillows.
It was a machine for someone for whom there where others she was responsible for, and a way to protect protect both them, and to ensure she herself would still be around to do so herself.
“Ahhh, much better” she declared as she lounged, at which point the Breaker took over again and called them both “Cowards!” before reshaping the machine again, causing it to grow even smaller till it was only slightly larger than her. Then she split the wheel in two and made a central hub out of which slicing blades sprung, chopping and slashing as the machine sped forwards.
It was a machine for someone at the end of their tether who really did have nothing to lose, and so feared not death, because it was coming for her either way.
“Give death unto death!” the old goblin cried to the winds before cackling maniacally as she tore across the sands.
Then the Maker’s machine returned, then the Maintainer's, and back to the Breaker’s as they blazed around the world in cycle after cycle, till they were sure they were safe.
And then a bit more just for fun, during which the Maker actually christened their new ride, naming it quite simply the Super Cycle.
Then all of a sudden their joy ride came to an end as the Breaker slammed on the brakes and skidded to a halt somewhere in the middle of the vast desert that still made up most of the world.
She had stopped because she had found something very strange and yet very familiar. Several things, in fact, as the three in one came face to face with 20 more somewhat like her.
Goblins. Made and then cast across the world with no concern for the fact that most of it was still uninhabitable.
The goddess and the mortals stared at each other for a moment, her with curiosity, they with fear and amazement. And then hope.
They rushed to her side, or rather tried to, but mostly shambled due to how desiccated, begging for salvation from the blistering sun and barren land.
“Why should we? All things end” the Breaker replied dismissively, despite having been the one to stop to see them, and the Maker, in her way, agreed “and then you’ll live again! Somewhere nicer where there’s new life and stuff” but the Maintainer was having none of it
“These lives have just been made, it is not time for them to end just yet!” she declared, and then did something they had not done before, and refused to swap over. Instead she invited the goblins into her sphere-like ride and spirited them away to “this lovely river someone made all the way around the world. Lovely work I must say. There’s plenty of shade, water and things to eat there”
The words she spoke were truth, and soon enough the goblins had been delivered from the desert and to the promised land, where they first rejoiced, and then sang the goddess’ praises, something she found she rather enjoyed. She had also enjoyed their company, having learned a bit about their limited time alive, and of their birth. Of the sparkles in the sky that had fallen around them.
She put that and an observation she’d made while riding around the world, and so put a name on the god responsible for their plight, and recognised that there were so many more goblins out there that might need transporting to safety.
Investing the former could wait, because the first was a rather time sensitive issue. As a result, the Maintainer spent the next few days riding her orb like machine all across the desert, collecting and transporting goblin group after goblin group, and in doing so making a bit of a name for herself as she swelled the riverside populations, as well as their devotion to her.
Asheel finds out sloth died, and that someone wrote that down, suggesting murder. She kinda freaks out about this potential mortality, and ends up doing laps of the world in a new form shifting Monowheel artifact called the Super Cycle.
After she works out some of the stress via this racing around, she does it a bit more for fun, and then runs into some poor goblins out in the desert. Her Maintainer/Mother personality takes pity on them, declaring that their cycle is too new to end now, and proceeds to use her variant of the Super Cycle to transport them to Tuuni ‘s cool new rivers.
Then she goes back into the desert, and finds more and more goblins, and brings as many as she can find back to said river, massively increasing the goblin population along those new rivers. Said goblins also rather like the Maintainer/Mother now, given the whole saving them from death thing.
The Super Cycle: 4 mp cycle enhanced artifact vehicle that cycles between 3 modes to match Ashee’s three forms. 1 mp to make each form, and 1 mp to tie them all to Asheel’s own changes. All 3 are made from a mix of green crystals and a brass colored metal.
The maiden’s ride is an oversized hamster wheel, and 1 bonus mp is used to make it powered by the people running in it, with its speed based on those doing the running. Naturally with a god (or two) at the helm it is supremely speedy, but heroes and mortals can help as well, and the wheel ensures they do not get whipped away by the pace the fastest runner sets.
The Mother’s ride is a massive enclosed crystalline sphere that can roll in any direction, with the comfortable riding section, which has space for many people, safely tucked away inside of it. 1 bonus mp is used to make this form extra durable.
The Crone’s ride is made of two half spheres attached to a central hub, with the riding section on the back (though raised enough for the rider to be able to see over the wheels). It is the smallest of the forms, functionally only usable with a single rider. 1 bonus mp is used to add a variety of extra stabby blades to the ride, and another to make it incredibly nimble.
(Yes the first and final forms are just a skaven doom wheel and a doom flayer respectively, and the middle a big version of one of those jurassic park bubble cars)
4mp towards wheels
4mp to gain the dominion of wheels: wheels are a means of conveyance, used to facilitate ease of transportation. This gives her dominion over all wheels, wheel-like objects, and things with wheels. On top of carts, cars, and such, this can also include water wheels, grind stones, paddle wheels, cogwheels, pillbugs and other rolling creatures, pizza cutters, saw blades, fly wheels etc. etc. allowing for a fair bit of niche diversity.
“Well, now we know they’re just people, so could we at least try?” she requested, referring to the slaughter of the Raven Heralds. She saw the logic, obviously, and also understood that they more or less deserved it but it still sat badly in her stomach that they had died.
After that they learned a little more about how they had gotten there, or at least the events leading up to it. A possession, a spell, a summoning. Whoever this Lavielle was, she was, Rayne assumed, not that much like the Gaia of her own world, who had been very hands off to the point where she had barely been aware she had been dying.
Either way, there was little time to delve into that, and Sanae’s question of if anyone else could fly was as good a prompt as any to get moving.
“I can” the Knight Witch said, perhaps a bit redundantly, as she floated up after the green haired woman, which gave her the same good view of the black plume of smoke. She did not need to be told twice that that was bad, and as soon as Sanae moved so did Rayne.
Rather than simply soar through the air however, her speed at that wasn’t actually that fast, the Knight Witch instead vanished in a flash, and then appeared a few meters ahead of where she had been after a beam of energy crossed the intervening distance. Then with neary a pause she dashed again, and again, and again, and in doing so covered ground (or rather air) at an impressive pace.
It let her arrive at just about the same moment as Sanae unleashed her deluge upon the burning town. It was very hard to see anything through it from up on high for anyone but the woman in question. Fortunately Rayne wasn’t much of a long range fighter anyway, and so she immediately pivoted her dashing chain down into the rain, blinking into gaps between the bullets to avoid getting harmed, entirely unaware of both how this was unnecessary and how it would not have worked if it was.
It was only when she halted at the sight of yet more blood that she messed up, and one of the water bolts harmlessly whizzed through, which acted as a good way of removing her focus from said blood and putting it back onto the danger, and those who had caused it to be spilled.
Just in time for 3 to spot her, and for her to spot them in turn. Well them and one fellow who had fallen to the ground, physically unharmed and yet still down for the count. The rest meanwhile had raised shields above their heads like umbrellas against the falling maelstrom.
She hadn’t actually thought about how she was going to fight people using her lethal magic, but here was a solution looking her in the face. She dashed forwards through the rain even as the Heralds turned spears and axes towards her, blinking straight at them, then at the last second blinking up at a 45 degree angle to appear above them instead. Light glowed in her raised hand, and then in her grasp appeared Runedge, a heavy blade lent to her by fellow Knight Witch Sykra, which she then slammed down, splintering the shield only for her to banish the blade before it struck the warrior themselves.
They tried to hack at her with a hand ax in retaliation, only for her to dart up into the air, and for the magic bullets to splash down atop her now shield-less attacker. She then repeated this again, dashing next to a second and smashing their shield away as well.
The final one fled as their fellow got caught in the rain, seeking proper shelter (of which there was ironically little to be had due to their own actions), but Rayne pursued, dashing next to them and full body kicking him off his feet. The Herald fell, dropping their shield and weapon, in response to which Rayne formed an arrow-like glyph in front of their fist, which they pointed at both dropped items, and proceeded to shoot them with basketball sized magic bullets of her own. Intended to be used to vaporize magitech war golems in only a few shots, the comparatively primitive equipment stood no chance and was shredded by the pair of blasts.
It was good enough for her, especially as all three were now entirely exposed to the pain raining down from above, and so she moved on, darting forth and fully intending to keep using Sanae’s magic to her advantage for as long as possible.
wintersoldier
Snowdrops
LG
Lord Zee
Timemaster
Damycles
Izurich
Villamvihar
FunnierPrez
