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8 yrs ago
dissertation done. can actually post again. yay.
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Amelia’s worldly adventures, part 1
A beastly meeting


The light at the end of the tunnel. After a much longer crawl Amelia finally saw it. On her hands and knees she squeezed through the rooted tunnel until she finally managed to squeeze herself through some part-hidden, part-forgotten, part-uncared for hole that she guessed was made by a badger or some other burrowing creature.

She emerged into a small crevasse that hosted the abandoned den, as well as a dozen or so meters of poorly vegetated dirt stick between two cliff faces on either side, and, strangely, at each end, some kind of wall. The furthest of these walls did seem to have some kind of gate, but it was closed, trapping her in here.

“Why did you lead me into… this place?” Amelia asked out loud, seemingly to nobody. As right now only she could see her Godmother. The fairy only gave an undignified ‘hmpf’. She wouldn’t be much help right now, Amelia realized. So she started looking up the cliffsides. Maybe she could crawl up them?

As she was contemplating this strange set up someone had clearly made for a purpose, what the walls were meant to keep in stirred as a trio of hulking bull sized shapes stirred in the shadows of the cliff face where they had been avoiding the beating heat of the tropical midday sun.

One had a round body sporting 10 legs, all from different animals, out of the top of which a formless black neck ending in featureless head hosting only a triple segmented mouth. The next was a big cat with three quadruple eyed raven’s heads and a dozen bladed tendrils instead of a tail. The last was a green shelled beetle with clawed reptilian limbs and shredded eagle wings that flicked out from under their thorax protection when it stretched after rising.

The mix and match creatures were horrible, but they did share one thing in common, and that was a faintly glowing rune on their foreheads, one of a ring with a smaller ring with a dot in the center at its base, that looked a bit like a simplified depiction of Galbar’s waterways, and rings of other much more jagged runes surrounding their necks.

Having unfurled themselves, the outer beasts, for surely that must be what they were, began to stalk towards her with hunger in their eyes and saliva on their jaws.

Amelia froze where she stood. The three monsters started to stalk - each in their unique way - towards the mortal. “Amelia, my little bulb.” The Godmother said, veiling her worry. “You should move.” Amelia didn’t move. “Dear?” Her Godmother asked again. “Move.” Amelia did not move. “Move you foolish child!” The Godmother rammed Amelia, just in time as the cat-like beast lunged for her.

The elf - knocked out of whatever paralysing fear held her - fell to the ground. On her forearms she crawled away. “Roll left!” Her Godmother yelled. She did. Three bladed tails stabbed the ground where she was a moment ago. Above her was now a massive mass of black. An unnatural amount of legs moved around her. A clawed, lizard-like arm grasped at her. She crawled away, through the leg of a cow and a tall bird. Grasping claws grabbed her and lifted her for a second, before sending her to the wall.

Amelia fell badly on her left shoulder. The pang of pain felt familiar. For a second she was in that forest again. With the spindly legged beast that killed her parents. The memory and the pain conjured tears.

“Kill it!” Her Godmother yelled. “Kill them!”

She couldn’t. Killing was wrong. It was one of the worst things one could do. A shadow moved over her. She tried to roll away but two strong, cat-like legs pinned her down by the shoulders. It snarled at her with its three eyes. It’s tails moving over from above to go in for the kill.

“Please, oh Allianthé please don’t let me-” She stopped. The desperate prayer was too familiar. Last she said it, her entire family died. This couldn’t be what she had to do.

The beast drew blood as it slashed her arm. Amelia screamed out in pain. That was enough. The cat growled at her. She punched it hard. Pain jolted through her right hand as her skin split. The beast recoiled but quickly turned back, ready to bite her to death. It wasn’t fast enough.

Amelia had already finished waving her wand. The piece of yew, so unimaginatively crafted, was covered with iridescent veins. “Kill.” She whispered at the cat-beast, which stopped moving for a moment. Then it turned around. The two other beasts were behind it, ready to kill their prey if the cat-beast wouldn’t. Not that they would be given much of a chance. It lunged at the many-legged beast. It was a devastating ambush as it started tearing and cutting away.

It gave a shrieking scream that sounded far too close to a mortal’s cry for comfort as it tried to scramble back, but the cat-like beast just kept slashing and clawing, hacking at limbs. It fully served at least two before the now less multi legged thing fought back, arcing its neck down and biting into one of its attacker’s three heads, cruising it in a single bite. It was only one, however, and so the battle continued, blood spilling everywhere.

Unfortunately, the command to kill was very different to one like, say, protect me, and so the beetle creature was free to, once it was over its confusion, turn its attention back to Amelia instead. As it stalked closer however, there came a shout from one of the walls of “Would you things keep it down” as the white furry face of an opossum topped with a black pointy hat popped over the top.

Said shout was followed by one of “By the Wheel!”when the figure noticed Amelia, followed by a shout of “Over here, quickly!” directed specifically at her he vanished as quickly as he appeared, after which the gate in the wall started to swing open.

Once the gate was open enough to squeeze his goblin sized body though the fullbood opossum-kin slipped through the gap, pausing only to grab and pull his wide brimmed pointy hat from where it had gotten stuck, before hurting forwards. The rest of his garb was similarly witchy, a black coat/robe of some sort, one that sported many pockets. Out of one of these he pulled a small wooden slab on which a number of runes softly glowed, ones that matched the ones on the beast’s neck. He hurried forwards, and once close enough pressed a finger to one of these.

In response, some of the runes on the beetle monster glowed bright, causing it to hiss and stumble in its chase, tumbling to the ground where it began writhing in pain. He hurried past her and it, and pointed the slab at the pair who were rearing each other apart, causing them, too, to collapse in pain as well.

“Oh dear oh dear oh dear, what have you done to each other?” he asked the heavily damaged pair, clearly upset by their injuries, before turning on Amelia and demanding to know “You! Who are you? How did you get in here? Didn’t you see the warning signs?” before gesturing up at the tops of the cliff face where a number of signposts who’s text could not be seen due to it pointing outwards, before pointing at the pair of wounded beasts and demanding to know “and what did you do to them?”

“I-I…” Amelia stood frozen on the ground. All color drained from her face as the carnage finally stopped. Had she ordered one of these things to fight? To kill!? The realization set in. Did she carry responsibility? “I didn’t know…I never saw- In the Veil, I never saw the signs.” She muttered as she tried to take a step back from the halted fighting. “It’s not my fault.” She kept muttering as she took another step back. “I just- I just made it think something.” She made it think that it should kill the other beast. Oh goddess, she had glamoured it into killing.

Then her eyes turned towards the angry opossum-beastman. She could stay frozen and helpless or she could stop being a victim of outer beasts and circumstances. Slowly, with shaky and uncertain hands she raised her ‘wand’ at the opossum man. “I-I’m very sorry for what happened. I really am but… but I’m not going to die myself over this. My life will not end here.” She spoke of death and life with the finality unmistakingly from Arbor. Where it was known as a fact that death was unavoidable end.

“Wow wow wow there missy, there’s no need for that. No one is going to die themselves or anyone else over this, long as you don’t do… whatever you can do with that stick” the pintsized possum-man replied, pointing the rune inscribed controller back at her in a somewhat unconvincing attempt at thereating her back with it “So put it down, and let’s go talk this through over a little something to eat? I have some dried wheel fruit and jerky somewhere in my office for when I get snacky. We could work out a deal, keep this between us, not escalate this to the authorities, that kind of thing? If you really can do magic with just that twig, well now, that would be something else, and I would oh so love to learn all about it”

Amelia lowered her wand as a small smile crept over her lips. “I really am sorry.” She said, sounding a lot more apologetic and a lot less fearful for her life. A few moments later she was looking at the strange wheelfruit, finding no immediate or obvious way to start eating it. The jerky she didn’t touch.

“Sir.” Amelia said as she fidgeted with the wheelfruit. “Where am I actually?”

“Wheels turn. You really aren't from around here are you? How far much of the world did you skip over to have never-” he shook his head, pausing his query and instead answered the unspoken question first as they stepped through the gate, holding up his own little wheelfruit and saying “like this” before squeezing the center between two fingers, causing the disk shaped fruit to spit along the center. Then he simply lifted the top of the hard fruit off, exposing a half circle of dried fruit flesh.

He then put a finger on this flesh and gave it a spin, causing the edible part of the fruit to rotate around the core of the plant. “Nibble your way round the outside as many turns as you like, and then simply pop the other half on like so” he said as he demonstrated, neatly re-packaging his snack before her eyes.

As he had been giving this demonstration, they’ed headed along a little rising road, past a few building side on the other side of the wall, leaving the gate in the hands of a goblin fellow who was mostly just waiting for a box with a strange bug in it to reel the gate back shut. Once they reached the top of the crevasse, little research post and penned beasts behind them, signs warning of them on their right, they could look forwards and see where they were.

To the west, off in the distance, was the unmistakable signifier of the direction of her home, the great tree towering above all. Home itself however was not visible, for the walls of the edge of the crater that was the land of origin blocked that view. Slicing through those walls to the north was a great river, one greater than all others except its equally vast twin on the other side of the world.

That gave her something of an indicator as to where she was, but as to what this place was called, and what gave it its name, well, that sat on the banks of the river. Houses and buildings by the score straddled both sides, and an island in the center, while a great bridge crossed it and linked all three semi separate settlements together.

Hence the name

“Welcome, my dear, to Tricity!” the possum exclaimed, clearly quite proud of the place, despite the side of it they were on having seen better days. Reconstruction work to the half of the city devastated by the outer beast invasion was still ongoing. Part of this might be due to the rather large array of new buildings that had sprung up around what seemed to be a permanently raging stormcloud sat only a little bit to their east. Indeed, this little compounded was almost certainly part of whatever that new settlement within a settlement was.

A little hint as to what it was for came when the possum realized he’d failed to introduce himself, and proceed to tip his hat to her and do just that, saying “Oh, and I am witch Higglesworth, a pleasure to meet you”

The elven girl was wide-eyed staring out from the crater’s edge. Her mouth was agape. She had seen many things when she traveled with her parents but this, this was something else. A city that could rival Arbor. Perhaps do more than rival Arbor. If not for the twin great Trees, Arbor would most certainly be eclipsed. “It’s so big.” She said, “So mixed!” She added, while pointing at the myriad of species she saw working the fields and the water. “There’s so many beastmen here!” Her eyes darted over the great city. Parts of it were clearly older and perhaps grander, but she adored all sides.

“Oh, it’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Higglesworth.” She said then to the opposom-man beside her, while keeping the thought that ‘Witch’ was a very strange first name to herself. “I am Amelia from Arbor.” She quickly returned the greetings. After which she took a few more moments to marvel at the great split city before her. But her mind was already going to other thoughts. “Say… Mr. Higglesworth. Those outer beasts, how did you manage to control them? I mean I know you used runes. We got some in Arbor too but none of the rune mages there know how to use them to control outer beasts.”

“Ah well that-” the witch dithered for a moment on where to explain, before deciding “ah well, it's only fair if we are going to trade” and then launching into an explanation with the dictation of someone giving a lecture.

“So, for one, while they do look it, those are not quite outer beasts, even though they are derived from them. You see in the dark days when they first appeared, our fair city was assailed by a great horde of them. Yet by the power of gods, heroes and mortals, we endured, and were left afterwards with a rather large pile of rotting flesh. So we gathered it all up, and piled it all into a pool of R’kava, one that is now causing that mighty storm cloud over there” he explained, pointing over at it.

“This caused it to grow and grow, giving us a wonderfully large supply of the stuff, which is very handy for rune craft as it turns out. But it also turned it into something called, according to the old Octari, a spawning pool, which is a pool of R’kava that can change creatures into other ones, or even spit out whole new ones. Well, having fed the pool so many outer beasts, along with actual beasts and the dead, we ended up with, well, those” he turned away from the city to look down at the ‘not quite outer beasts’ who a small team of witches and soldiers where currently corralling/medication depending on their current state, before giving them a name.

“Chimeras, we call them, and though they do look like the outer beasts, or demons, there is one key internal difference: They have souls and not stolen ones either. Born as they are from a natural process of this world, they are part of the cycle of reincarnation, rather than strange soulless things that must have come from somewhere beyond it” he revealed, though not how he knew, before actually answering her question which was “well, how you control any beast really, a suitable combination of carrot and stick. These are somewhat early days however, hence the unfortunate incident when you arrived in their pen”

“The stick itself is a curse rune, one of pain, which came from a runestone that formed in the corpse of the greater outer beasts who attempted to assail the land of origin and was felled by the efforts of three gods, and then gifted to us by Asheel, forever may she turn, along with another from which we learned more of the basics” he concluded “all of which has caused quite the magical revolution around these parts. It almost makes up for the collapse of our tin mines.”

The elven girl hung on every word that Higglesworth spoke. It was a fascinating tale to hear. One of ingenuity but also necessity. With her mind she tried to remember the rune. Not that she wanted to hurt anyone with it, but to direct an absolute form of pain at something seemed very powerful. If she could bring some of that knowledge back to Arbor, Irrithae - when she returned - would be very proud of her! Even better, perhaps she could come to an accord to share some information back and forth. After all, Arbor had its own trump cards. As if to conform, she felt a mental nod of confidence coming from her hidden fairy godmother.

But then she was hit by a profound sense of sadness as she realized what the pool of R’kava was. A mass grave of both people and outer beast. “We - I mean Arbor - never really came to your aid, huh?” She said almost absent mindedly. Why did she feel a slight pang of guilt over that? What could they do? Killing was forbidden. It was a curse offered only to the Deathguard. Still, something should've been done.

“Mr. Higglesworth, does Tricity think that the outer beasts will be back? I mean like before, like a great invading wave?”

The man seemed a little confused by her first question, clearly having not expected such aid at all, before sighing sadly in response to her second and admitting that “Yes. Or something else, even worse. What has happened once will happen again, so turns the wheel after all”

“That said, we now know dangers lurk out there, and though this new age may be one of terrors, it also the age of magic” he said, seeming to be quoting someone as he did so “so next time, next time we will be prepared to stand against the darkness with all the myriad of powers our world has to offer. With magic and machinery, we will endure!”

“So says the soul speaker anyway” he added, confirming that the words were not his own, before adding his own perspective which was “as for me, while survival is nice and all, frankly I just find all the recent discoveries about the supernatural to be quite fascinating. Your own very much included”

“It is fascinating.” Amelia returned genuinely. “I’ve only learned a little bit myself. Most of what I could do was with Arcana and well, I’m warned that it’ll make me go bad.” Only now was that reality really sinking in. That some day she might become some horrific monster. A few others had made the same sacrifice as well. Her eyes turned towards the big pool of R’Kava. It looked ugly and it spawned monsters but back at home, the ever coruscating Wellspring did that as well. It just took a while. With that Amelia started to see some similarities between the two civilizations.

“You’ve been nice to me Mr. Higglesworth.” Amelia said as she turned back to her new oppossom friend. “And I know you like magic, so I’ll let you in on some more.” She pulled out her wand again. “There are creatures living in this world called ‘fairies’. They can do all sorts of cool things! Like lying away the darkness.” She slowed down a little again. “That’s also how I did what I did.” She said, her words laced with a deep sense of guilt. Not just for her oppossom friend. Clearly he was taking care of those creatures. She also felt sin towards the creatures. One died at her hand. “It’s called glamour, and you can learn it too!” Her excitement returned quickly though. “All you need to do is find a fairy and let them teach you how to make a wand! They’re tricky though. And-” She stopped, as if listening to words that the witch could hear. She nodded in understanding at nothing, nodded again, and then even said: “Okay.” Then she turned back to the opposom. “My godmother says she’s not the right fairy for you but I’m sure that you’ll find someone!”

“I also have a question for you, Mr. Higglesworth.” Her tone got a bit more serious now. As serious as the young elf could present her self at least. “But first I have to tell you a few things. I lost my parents not too long ago. But then someone took me in. Her name’s Irrithae. She’s Allianthé’s Prophetess. She’s away now on some important business deep below the earth but she’ll be back. And when she is, she’s probably going to rule Arbor. So if it was possible, I’d like to go speak to your ‘soul speaker’. Maybe we can agree that if Tricity ever faces the dangers from those big beasts, Arbor can come to help?”

“Well spin me round and call me a rolly polly, that’s a lot to take in” he admitted, “a new kind of magic, and people we’ve never heard of? I suppose not a lot of them must not have died yet. Lucky them”

“As for the soul speaker, well, he’s not exactly our leader. Maybe our spiritual leader? One of them anyway, and he does have quite the influential seat on the council, so if you want an audience with them, he’s not a bad way to get it” the witch told her, before thinking for a moment and then realizing “wait, hmmm, isn’t he visiting this side of the city today?” before tilting his hat a bit to block out the sun some more as he peered down at the city, before spotting a blue and orange banner fluttering above one of the buildings.

“Yes right there” he confirmed, pointing it out and calling the distance “just a shot trip by buggy”

He, naturally, offered to give her a ride there, and so, bouncing down a gravel road on the back of a bug powered go kart, began Amelia’s adventures in Tricity.







wordcount: 921 (2+)
Midna: level 9 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (74/100)
Location: Arahabaki
Warp Charges: 1


Midna and her wolves slashed and clawed at the hand they had captive with vicious abandon, till they heard a crack in the very foundations of the bridge. It prompted Midna to command her beasts that it was ”Time to get away” as she herself moved to pull away from the chained hand, only for her wrist to be tugged and then held as the chain wrapped around their captor went taught.

She had all of a moment to give a little ”ah” of understanding of the double edged sword of her plan before it cut her, the titan putting all his force into wrenching free of the bindings, vaporizing the chain and the part of the bridge it was bound to in one titanic hail.

Disconnected from the chain, Midna’s Legion returned to its core as its mistress and fellow minion hurtled through the air towards the reactor wall. Midna reached out and grabbed said core as she flew, before opening a portal to the twilight realm that caught her minion and gave it a softer landing in the source of her sands. She could do little in the everpresent glow of mako to prevent herself from smashing into the far wall however, and so promptly did so. The air was knocked out of her lungs, and her back bruised to the nines, but at least she did not get crushed by the bridge segment as it smashed into the wall beside her.

Instead she just had to worry about both falling and the resulting hail of debris, but the latter turned out to be a solution to the former as she narrowly managed to catch a her sized chunk coming her way in her shadow hand, and then proceed to use it as a flotation device preventing her from plummeting down into the abyss below. She only got to cling to it for a few moments to catch her breath however, before she was forced to hurl herself off of it and to another bridge splinter to avoid being laser beamed. Then again to another. And another.

It was, then, something of a relief to end that song and dance by being sucked into their foe, at least after the futile screaming plunge into the vacuum had come to an end, and Sandalphon got an idea of where they were and what they could do.

”Alright” Minda replied, before pausing to block one of the purple lances with her shadow hand, and then continuing ”I’ve already ripped out one heart today, what’s one more?”

That was easier said than done however, especially because when she tried to open a portal to summon minion reinforcements, she couldn't find a link back to her own realm, just as she had failed to do so in the Astral Plane.

”Looks like you are replacing the other thing for now” she told the Legion core she was still holding in her hand, before re-linking her astral chain to it, and summoning the beast legion being beneath her. Mounting it as she so often did her wolfos.

She did this in near perfect sync with the core summoning its own reinforcements.

”Alright, let’s clear them out!” she declared upon taking in the masses, as she prepared to do what she did best: taking out the chaff.

Astride her beast legion she charged forwards, lance in hand, skewering one of the wireframes upon its tip, before pulling it closer with a yank and ripping its faceless head apart with two dragon claw swipes. It shattered into sprues, freeing her legion up to pounce on the next, knocking it down to give her a free stab right through the skull.

Those two loners were something of an exception to their duplicates’ fighting style however, as several more of the wireframes massed up and came at her as a gang, fists at the ready. So out came the shadow hand, and down went powerful ground pounds and slaps, sending wireframes flying or pulping them against the strange white ground.

Just as she had finished making wireframe pancakes, wires of purple circuitry forming on the ground below her, stretching out from the core, helpful reminded her of its existence. Not wanting to stand on whatever that was for any longer than needed, the princess spurred her astral beast to leap back, the legion doing so just in time to prevent them from being skewered by massive spikes spearing up from the ground.

”Awww, you want my attention?” she asked the core with faux sweetness as she turned on it, before raising up her shadow hand and starting to form a twilight volleybomb ”Then you’ve got it!”

She’d observed the squads of wireframes forming protective shield walls in front of it, but this held no concern for her as she let her volleybomb fly, spiking it down directly into them. The meters wide orb smoothly phased through shield, wireframe and then half way into the ground before detonating, scattering the defending wireframes and exposing the core.

She slashed a wide angle energy blast towards it using her lance, and then pivoted to charge another group of wireframes, crashing right into the center of them before winding a dark energy field and having her beast legion leap between their stunned forms, executing them en-mass with precision throat bites.

With her keeping the enemy minion population culled nice and low, she hoped others who where better at taking down singular foes would be able to focus 100% on heart ripping duty.

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 2,354 (+3)
Bowser: Level 14 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (144/140)
Bowser Jr: Level 13 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (162/130)
Kamek: Level 12 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (141/120)
Rika: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (125/80)

& Level 11 Sectonia (holding 5 level up) - (77/110)

Location: The Under - Dirtmouth


Dawn rose above the underground, peeking in through the windows of tomb like buildings that made up dirtmouth, a sight unseen to the ‘heroes’ for several days.

In response, each and every koopa rolled over in bed to shield their eyes from its unwanted glare. That left Rika to rise with the dawn out of some built in military discipline, stretch, yawn, sigh, look to her left to see that the others where indeed still a sleep, and to then, as she had several times at this point, follow their example and lay back down to try and get a little bit of extra shut eye.

In the much cleaner and tinder home across from them. Sectonia had tidied up the place as best as her minions could, but there was only so much you could do to the outside of these abandoned houses in a single night even if your minions were magic. Emerging from her seized ‘house’, Sectonia floated around a bit, looking around to see if any of the others were up. Now was the time to head on over to defeat the guardian of this area or so she thought. So she thought that a few would be up early to do some preparations or something.

The sight of her moving caught the eye of Rika, her internal clock refusing to let her get that extra bit of shut eye, and so she used it as an excuse to give up and go say hello. As a result, a few moments later the door to the hut swung open, revealing the ship girl, and, behind her, the sight of a few tents that the Troop had set up inside of said room as a way to avoid cleaning up like Sectonia had. It also revealed a strange floating shape sat in the wreckage of a safe just sort of sitting on the ground of the home.

”Hi, hello! You’re awake” she noted rather redundantly, informing the queen that ”The others aren't, they’re having something called a ‘lie in’ which is kinda boring to be honest”

”No it isn’t, is nice, gimmy 10 more minutes” Jr groaning countered her, to which she just shrugged with a look on her face that clearly showed she didn’t get it.

Seeing Rika greet her, Sectonia lazily drifted over. ”Ah, I see… I suppose they do tend to take quite a bit of the beating when it comes to the fighting, don’t they?” Sectonia said, musing at how the boys hadn’t gotten up yet. ”Still, considering we will be fighting another powerful spirit, it would be best to get prepared. I doubt their ‘lie in’ is beauty rest.” Sectonia said, letting out a classy lady “oh ho ho” laugh afterwards.

”Is ‘beauty sleep’ another expression” Rika asked, uncomprehendingly tilting her head to one side ”Because I don’t see how sleeping makes you beautiful? People mostly look kinda silly while napping”

”If you don’t sleep enough you end up with bags under your eyes and such” Kamek informed her, before grumbling ”Like I’m going to it seems” as he gave up on getting some more rest. Jr too for that matter, the prince standing and popping Mimi, who he had been using like a soft toy, on his shoulder. Bowser, the heaviest sleeper in more ways than one, apparently was managing to ignore sun and sound just fine. Sectonia wasn’t surprised at that revelation.

”What was that about powerful spirits anyway? Can we at least have breakfast first?” Jr asked as he wandered over.

”Don’t you have some pizzas left over from yesterday?” Sectonia asked, implying that was what she ate this morning.

”Snrk- wuzzat? Pizza?” came a grunt as talk of food was, rather unsurprisingly, the thing to actually wake the king of the Koopas.

”Yes yes, we’ll eat, but it may be wise to try and find food again rather than going through our rations” Kamek attempted to say, but it was far to late, as boxes where already open, and opening slices already in mouths, by the time he had finished.

The mage sighed, accepted that it would be more trouble than it was worth to try and stop this now, and instead moved on to Jr’s other question, namely about the spirit ”At any rate, to answer your earlier question your young master, we still have one more mask fragment to track down”

”Wait we do?” jr replied with his mouth full, while his two pokemon kept munching away at their own slices (and his grapple worm a bit of batnip), before asking ”I mean I haven't been keeping track but it felt like we were done, right?”

”It did seem to be the end of the line, which only means it will be tricker to work out where under the world the last one is tucked away. We will need to scour every nook and cranny!” he declared, which got a chorus of groans from the rest of the troop who had apparently been on the same wavelength as the young boy.

Sectonia groaned too, but more internally as she had more class than that. ”Hmph, I thought we had them all too. I was intending to double check though, I suppose it was a good thing I did…” Sectonia said, not hiding her irritation of having to go down and explore the rest of the underground. She really didn’t want to have to go through that ‘dungeon’ again…

”I suppose we should take inventory of what we have either way. Perhaps someone ‘misplaced’ the last one.” Sectonia said, squinting her eyes.

”I’m quite certain. There was that great spider we encountered, Asgor simply gave us his, you found one in that repulsive gauntlet, then it was that unnerving pizza fellow, the impostor bee queen, the Necrodancer, the Caretaker, and then finally Robin Good fellow. Eight in all” Kamek listed off, and at which point Jr wondered ”Wait so did Porky not have one?” and to which he got a shake of the head.

”Strangely not … though now I worry who might have the last one. It seems entirely within F’s character to simply be holding onto the last one himself” Kamek rationalized with a sight

”Well I want to beat the snot out of that annoying runt anyway, so works fine by me” Bowser said, now speaking coherently thanks to food, before remembering ”Oh and speaking of inventory, I got that weird blob thing out of the safe from the prison” he jerked a thumb over his shoulder to point out the strange formless, seething mass to point it out before asking ”Any idea what it is?”

Being the residential magic examiner, even though she was only guessing most of the time based on vague hints, Sectonia looked over the strange blobby mass. It took her a bit to guess at what it did as she looked at it for quite awhile. ”From what little I can gather… its some kind of… primordial mass of some sort? It has no shape… Perhaps it copies whatever item it comes into contact with?” Sectonia said, never having seen an item like this before. She doubted it could duplicate anything, as such an item would lead to some… new conquest plans if she could have two of some ancient artifact… But wait, if it could duplicate anything…

”Why not see if this can duplicate a mask shard?” Sectonia and Kamek said at the same time. For Sectonia, it would be quite the relief to not have to go underground if this worked, although it would also be a bit of a waste of such a powerful item if it could actually copy anything and work…But there would be no way of knowing until it was too late.

”That’d mean we just need to jump down that pit again and we’re done here? Sign me up” Jr remarked, to which his papa and sister both nodded agreement.

”It would make things easier, I suppose” Kamek admitted.

”Well if it works and F had the last piece, it would ruin his plans and that sounds lovely.” Sectonia said.

”Then let's get to it.” Bowser asserted, casually picking up the item duplicating material and then commanding ”Kamek, get us a mask fragment and let’s finish this already”

”Ah, it's not that simple. I don’t exactly have them all on me, nor do I quite recall which ones we do have. It would be quite a problem to make a copy of a fragment we do have after all. Having 4 top lefts won’t exactly help us after all” Kamek reminded them

”Perhaps if we assemble the mask we have, and fit the goop into the last missing piece?” Sectonia offered.

”Hmmm. That might well work” Kamek agreed, before assessing that ”Either way, we need to get all the mask pieces in one place, which means getting everyone in one place”

”Well, with that plan set, perhaps we should do some pre fight preparations. Maybe see what items we can get from what spirits we have.” Sectonia said. She was also thinking about meddling with the respec orb a bit, hm….

”Oh, oh, we got a bunch of spirits from the prison didn’t we? I almost forgot about those” Jr asked, which got a nod from Kamek, and then a groan from Rika because it meant she was on hat duty again.



The resulting pile of things was rather unpleasantly alive, though it became less so as the fish rapidly expired. After being a little disturbed, Bowser shrugged and said ”Bonus snack I guess”, before promptly starting to roast the the fish

”Hmm… The souls seem like they are interesting. But the other items… they really are unpleasant.” Sectonia said, agreeing with the troop. Seeing Bowser roast the now dead fish with his fire breath was mildly amusing though.

”Why is everything alive down here as it were? Is this all part of the guardian’s plan for this area or something?” Sectonia questioned looking at the other treasures.

”Given it is locked in a sealed box, and possibly in a dream if we need a catcher to attack it, I’m not sure if it has a plan. The strange thing that was the Guardian of the endless blue certainly didn’t I’m sure, nor that big dragon” Kamek noted, intentionally leaving his king’s doppelganger out of that list even though he mostly still fit it.

”This one’s also made of rocks, so it's less gross than the other stuff at least” Jr said, poking the strange centipede with the butt of his paintbrush a few times before picking it up, resulting in it grappling his wrist.

There was a brief moment of panic before everyone realized that the stone centipede was just sort of chilling there, and was entirely willing to be removed to boot.

”Still pretty weird” Jr concluded.

Sectonia absently nodded with the young koopa, agreeing this place was just weird in general. They had found a few interesting trinkets, but only a couple that were useful and not outright disgusting. Well either way, Sectonia decided to grab a handful of spirits to see exactly what they could do. From what she could understand, they were both a currency item, and could grant some bits of power if she had enough? Although she wasn’t sure if that would lead to any… physical changes or not.

The troop ended up pocketing the rest of the items, savory or not, before having some toadies pack up all their camping equipment. With that, they were all set to go, and the first thing on the agenda was getting all the mask fragments together. Fortunately, while the team was all over, and the fragments with them, the handy dandy link pearls meant solving that issue would be easy as pie, with Kamek radioing out and checking in with everyone, and requesting they meet up back at the stagstation, seeing as he knew they all knew where that was, and informing them about their plan to use the item replicating mass to fill in the missing piece of the mask based puzzle.

He also mentioned the items they had just gotten, just in case someone really wanted a rock centipede or a strange healing heart.

wordcount: 1,579 (3+)
Midna: level 9 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (72/100)
Location: Arahabaki
Warp Charges: 1


In contrast to many of the others, Midna was not slowed down by the horde of clones and their legions, because unlike everyone else here, she could see what she was fighting crystal clear thanks to her most recent fusion. She was also used to fighting against armies. Evasive foes, big singular targets, and situations where she had to worry about hitting friendlies or breaking stuff caused her challenges.

A room packed full of foes however? She made quite the dent into their numbers. Her shadow hand rose and fell with nary half a second between swipes, slapping legions out of the sky, and crushing mortal bodies beneath. With her own legion at her side, she was also hard to chain down, as the beast clawed and rammed those trying to do so, giving the four armed princess time to either join her strike to her own legion, or seek and destroy the clone at the other end of the chain, dealing with two problems at once.

Still, her own prowess at this new dimension of warfare turned out to be nothing compared to that of a trained expert at taking down foes like these, as Hayato (not that she knew who he was) appeared at just the right moment and the proceed to lay waste to swaths of their foes in some super powered form.

”Goddesses, you have got to teach me how to do that some time, whoever you are” she called over to him. There would not be any time for lessons however, as Y forced the remaining closes to ritually sacrifice themselves to him, before seemingly feeding off their lifeforce to achieve what he claimed was a form of godhood.

Midna was not impressed by this assertion of divinity, which seemed to be a hearteningly common trend.

”You won’t be the first half formed god I’ve dealt with either, and you won’t be the last either, but you might well be the uglies” Midna shouted up the three headed wanna be god even as she spurred her steed into action, and tugging on her astral chain to get her beast legion to follow suit.

In tandem, the pair of wolves raced along the corridor, onto what was left of the bridge and then, upon reaching the place where it was broken, leapt into the mist of mako.

The green energy, supposedly the life blood of the world itself (and given that the Consul had fueled his ascension with the lifeblood of the clones as well as with mako, she was inclined to believe this claim of Avalanche) ripplied around beasts both of twilight and astral realms as they sailed above the bottomless pit below to land upon broken fragments of the bridge that where now floating in the air around their titanic foe.

Part of the frontrunners of the pack as they were, the trio drew the attention of the titanic floating foe, causing one of the secondary heads turning towards them, and to unleash three beams from each of its eyes that forced them to weave to and fro to avoid being blasted. Midna, astried her Wolfos, retaliated, raising up her stolen Gun-lance, pushed lightning into it to charge its own magical mechanism, and then started pinging bolts of energy back at her foe, though it was more annoying levels of harm rather than anything with suitable punch for a monster that size.

She was trying to get closer, and so she focused on that for the most part rather than trying to charge up any bigger attacks, leaving the sniping to the likes of Sandalphon. Unfortunately doing so brought her into the titan’s reach far before she was in reach of it. A mighty hand smashed down, missing the trio by a hair, but setting the platform they were on tilting rapidly to the side, bright rapidly beginning to transition from floor to wall.

”No no no, come on come on come on move it thing!” she demanded of her wolfos as it first stumbled and then began scrabbling, claws and paws not able to find grip on the increasingly vertical surface, all too far from the next spot to leap. Rather than drop into oblivion, or rather waste energy getting her Flygon to catch them, Midna grabbed and gripped her wolfos with three hands and her legs grappling it as best she could, before then reached out her shadow hand, grasping the edge of the broken floating bridge segment, and physically hauling herself and her minion over the edge as the edge became the top, and then placing them both down on the underside of it.

”Move move keep going we’ve lost time” she urged her steed, before taunting it by saying ”You don’t want to get replaced by the new thing do you?”

Said thing, unburdened by the lack of a rider, had indeed made better progress, yet though it had managed to leap to safety before being tipped into the void, it had not managed to get much further than that, the tight leash between them preventing it from going more than a dozen meters ahead. Given how tightly together they’d been so far, the relatively restrictive distance was new information to her, though it did explain why the clones had not simply hung back and sent their mostly untouchable minions forth en masse while avoiding any risk of harm themselves.

”Huh, maybe I should replace you when it comes to riding around, seeing as you can run around more than that thing” she noted, but now was hardly the time to change steeds. This was going to be a problem however, as her plan had been to try and bind the titan as the clones had bound them, but it seemed that for that task the chain was too short, and their foe just too large.

”Ok, new plan, lets get all the way past him” she decided, and then spurred her steed onwards. Sticking together because they had too, the pair of beasts raced on, leaping from platform to platform, going past the foe entirely, until they landed behind him, on the other half of the broken bridge.

The way forward to the goal now lay ahead of them, but rather than push on she turned back and stayed in the fight. She knew for sure that she wasn’t going to be able to take the guardian down alone after all, and she was hardly going to leave her friends and allies to face this monster without her either.

Instead she charged more electricity into her lance, and then whipped it out in a slash, sending a man-sized crescent of energy towards their foe, hitting him in the back. Her volley bomb would have been a lot better against the massive foe, but ironically she could not hit him with it, due to him not touching the ground anywhere. So instead she harassed his rear with the lance, and her Charr Pirate Musket which despite her lack of training she didn’t really have any issue hitting him with due to his size.

Unfortunately, the size also meant she wasn’t doing much, and there were no vulnerable eyes back here, so she resorted to some bigger firepower. Or dragon power.

Out from a portal came Vibrava, increased to venerable size, flying forwards, claws out, glowing a royal purple before it raked both down their foes back. That got its attention alright. Or a third of it anyway, as the consul half turned so one of his heads could see her and then try to laser beam her.

Her beasts pounced too and fro to avoid fire, while Minda focused herself instead on recharging her lance and then, at just the right time, sending out another slicing wave.

”You're going to have to try harder than that!!” she taunted him, at which point he raised up one of his hands, splayed out the fingers, and used them to fire beams instead. That certainly stopped her firing back as her wolfos’s mad scampering threw off any attempt at hitting back with using manual dexterity.

So she used her mind instead, opening twilight portals, and willing a stream of sand to blow forth from the twilight realm and to wrap around the head that had her in her sights, and making it so that it didn’t anymore. Now it was he who had trouble aiming, and so he resorted to what simply did not require it: slamming his hand down onto the still intact side of the bridge she was on. Yet this had been exactly what the princess had wanted. Her beasts leapt back, avoiding the blow, only for her to leap off of her steed in-order grab the wrist of the titan with her shadow hand. She then proceeded to swing round it, drawing the astral chain connecting her to the Beast Legion all the way around said wrist, binding the hand to the bridge as a result, and in a very awkward pose to boot, restricting his movements somewhat.

It also gave her beasts free rain to start mauling the hand’s wrist, as well as creating a somewhat risky ramp all the way up to the false god’s heads. Not that she could take it, being the other half of the binding and all, and so instead she joined in in trying to do as much damage to the hand as possible before it got loose in hopes of crippling one of their foe’s ways of attacking, four dragon claws racking at the purple ‘flesh’ while her shadow hand smashed into its forearm again and again.

??? — Unknown Town


“This world isn’t mine either. You have a working sky for one” Rayne confirmed, before also confirming that “and no, I wasn’t asked” before adding “If I was I would have asked the goddess to wait a few seconds before I could replace our own one. I’m… not sure how my world is doing without someone keeping the cycle of life and death going…”

She looked visibly worried for a few moments, biting her lip, eyes turned down, shoulders drawn in, before shaking her head and saying “I guess all we can do is wait, and hope that Lavielle is easier to get in touch with than Gaia is. Or was” forcing herself not to give into her fears. The way the others started talking about their own worlds and places they had in them helped her focus less on hers, at the very least.

Lewa it seemed came from one hosting many different mechanical peoples like himself, ones into which a great spirit had breathed life into, which was pretty familiar, but also not an aspect she wanted to focus on as a result. Instead she focused her mind on trying to imagine a whole world filled with nothing but living machines. Or not machines. Golems? The lack of a specific alternate term was going to mean this kept being confusing for a while, she suspected.

Whatever the case, Rayne thought “that sounds incredible” before thinking for a moment and saying “oh, but, to maybe clear something up, some machines can do things on their own, be alive, sort of. We have machines called golems back in my world, and though they aren't people, they can move and act on their own. Fight, mostly. So that might be where the confusion is coming from. Maybe it would be helpful to know what you call yourself and your siblings? Collectively I mean, like how those matoran you mentioned are, well, matoran, and I’m a halfling and most of the people here are humans… huh, practically everyone else actually” which to her was odd, given how many other people there had been back home, all mingled together.

Where back home. Where. She mentally corrected and insisted to herself.

As for the masked man who introduced himself as Joker, she responded to him by saying “We have cards,” she briefly held up a hand of three translucent blue ones as she said that “but I haven't heard of a joker one before. Nice to meet you all the same” before adding “And, ah, you too Arsene” when he summoned his large spectral companion behind him.

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,662 (+3)
Bowser: Level 14 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (141/140)
Bowser Jr: Level 13 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (159/130)
Kamek: Level 12 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (138/120)
Rika: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (122/80)
Location: The Under - Mercy Dreams


While they were waiting for the rest of the team to group up, Kamek found himself inexplicably drawn to the book that Robin Goodfellow had been using and reading from. The same one that seemed to have driven him mad from revelation. He had had trepidation about that before, but for some reason the potential cursed nature of the tome held less of a concern for the mage after his fusion.

As it turned out, there had been nothing to fear. It was true, the book did, when he looked it up, contain himself, but it was hardly a complete summary of his life, more of an entry in a bestiary. Indeed it contained nothing about his illustrious career in villainy pre his king’s delivery via stork for example, something he definitely had.

Having suffered zero sanity damage, he then proceeded to flick through it for other entries of note, such as said king, and then attempted to look up Mario, only to find he was not present. Indeed, the book seemed to only contain people and things they had encountered in the prison, which was interesting and odd. As was the way that an entry for a ‘Raziel’ appeared when Therion rejoined the group, sporting a new look, one very reminiscent of the features of the individual in the entry.

He headed over to meet the man, relaying the information about the book to him, and then others via pearl, as well as hearing the thief’s analysis of what they could do about the safe. Namely that without a key, brute force was their only bet.

”Shoulda gone for muscle in the first place” Bowser told his advisor, before he promptly kinetic strike module the safe across the room. This did not open it, but it did dent it a bit, which prompted the king to insist ”See, a bit more of that and we’ll have what’s inside!”

”yes, well, if whatever is inside is not utterly destroyed as well” Kamek muttered irreverently, before sighing and leaving his king to it.

As for the other of the human pair’s question that she asked once she arrived, namely about being ready to leave, Jr’s reply to that was ”Yup! I am one hundred percent ready to blow this joint, coz I am beat”

Indeed that really did go for all of them, except maybe Rika who still had energy from somewhere. Possibly the same source as the lollipop she stuck in her mouth once she learned that they were done fighting and getting a ride out of the dungeon. Specifically they were headed up to dirtmouth for a rest, and though the town wasn't exactly the greatest place to camp down for the night, it was, probably, safe. More so than places unknown or actively turned against them by a consul, so up there they went.

The stag beetle transportation was somewhat unorthodox, but only somewhat, and though a bit bumpy it did the job. Said jostling also helped Bowser, who spent most of the journey biting the safe to try and gnaw it open, resulting in it having a bunch of dents and holes in it by the time they arrived.

Up top they were finally freed from the cold stagnant dark and into the cold fresh dark of the night time air at the surface. So only a moderate improvement. Entirely neutral actually given that the past sundown state of the surface was an indicator of how late it was, one which reminded the Troop that they had not actually eaten dinner yet, and so rather than bunk down at once, they set out in search of somewhere to buy a meal.

Unfortunately, though the town was not entirely abandoned due to the miners, said miners where not exactly the most picky of eaters, and so the best they could find was a stall operating out of the back of a chuck wagon operated by one Bang Ersandmash

“Bilimy, don’t you look famished in a half, chewing on a chunk of metal of all things” the man said as soon as he saw Bowser, who was still gnawing on the safe that did not look anything like a safe any more, before launching into a sales pitch “well then step right up, you've come to just the right place for some top quality nosh. I’ve got coronation chicken sandwiches if you want sumin light, or a classic fish n’ chips or a steak and kidney pie if you want sumin more filling. Though for a big guy like you, I could whip up a full breakfast for dinner. bacon, fried egg, sausage, mushrooms, baked beans, toast, hash brown, grilled tomatoes, the works!”

”Deal” Bowser replied at once upon hearing that list

”Sir, we don’t even know the price yet” Kamek began to point out, but his king would have none of it

”I heard bacon and that’s enough for me. So fry it all up chef guy, and give it to me stat. Give me two even” he said to the man, before adding ”and make us some of the other stuff too while you're at it. Pair of pies, two helpings of chips, and … nah skip the sandwiches but the hot stuff, give us the lot”

“Blimy, what an appetite. Don’t you worry, I’ll av your supper done in a jiffy” Bang replied with delight, turning on ovens, stove tops and fryers galore to service the king’s ravenous hunger, only to be interrupted by Kamek asking ”One moment, what do you have on your menu that’s vegetarian?”

The man looked affronted at the very notion, asking “You what? Does it look like I’m serving rabbit food here?”

Kamek breathed in. Breathed out. Then rather than take this floated up in the air so he could look down upon the chef, then leaned so his beak was near to pecking the man’s nose and ”I am the one with the money, so find me something on that little menu of yours, or we’ll have a problem” while mana flowed loosely around him, causing him to radiate directionless, formless power.

“Aright alright, lay off it. It ain’t the time for you, but I can do you a cream tea, with scones and the like” Bang replied, holding up his hands, not wanting to get in a fight. At least not with otherwise paying customers.

”Very good” the Mage replied, as he floated back down and retook a more typical demure posture, yet also looking very smug.

At least up until Rika, having seen all this go down along with the other two (more taken aback) troop members, piped up with ”ooh, ooh, I wanna try” before pointing the barrel of her gauntlet embedded rifle at Bang and demeaning he ”Gimmy all your sweet stuff!”

”Ah, no, young mistress there are limits please do not directly threaten the man” Kamek told her, floating up again and using his want to gently lower the gun for her, before offering Bang a sincere if rather ironic apology ”I’m sorry, I seem to have set a poor example. Please do continue, and also let me pay right away so there are no more misunderstandings”

“I… right. That’ll be … 300 gold?” Bang replied carefully, which got him a look to which he responded “what you think it's easy getting bacon and fish up here? I gotta make a living come on” resulting in a sigh and a shrug from Kamek, before he forked over the gold

“Pleasure doin business with you” Bang said as he raked in the gold, before getting back to his cooking.

Soon enough the troop had been served their exotic meals, which for the most part were greasy and fatty, but at the very least filling, and after a hard day of violence and terror, that was more than enough. Probably not worth 300 gold mind, but it was enough. Kamek, soothed by sorely missed tea, was in no mind to complain however, and so they left without incident, finding their way back to the area the team had decided to squat in.

Having just eaten they weren't quite ready to pack it in for the night, but they also were not in a state to do anything productive either. Jr attempted more repairs on his clown car, but dirtmouth wasn’t exactly somewhere with a bevy of spare parts on hand, and his mind was much too tired anyway. So instead he and Rika ended up playing with some of the games that had been looted from Porky and not gifted to the orphans.

Kamek had less issue getting to sleep, so ironically it was Bowser who was the productive one, waking Kamek back up again with a loud crash as he delivered a flurry of blows, kicks, and tusk goarings to the safe which finally gave up the ghost and snapped open, revealing its contents: a formless, seething mass that defied identification.

Not that the king didn’t try, fail, and then try and pass off the question as to what it was to his advisor ”Kamek, what is that thing?”

”I have no idea. And working out what it is can wait till morning. Goodnight sire” was the mage’s sleepy grumpy reply, before he promptly rolled over and went back to sleep.

”Huh” Bowser replied, before thinking a bit, and then instead of going to get some sleep, went over and joined his kids for some late night gaming.

They lasted about 30 min before they too were all out like lights.

wordcount: 1,438 (3+) (+6) (+6)
Midna: level 9 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (69/100)
Location: Arahabaki
Warp Charges: 1


”We met Armstrong of all people, and he’d just assassinated president Shinra” Midna informed the team once they’d all regrouped, and were filling each other in on what had gone down apart, holding up the spirit of the old man ”So the city’s lost its head as well as most of its armies now” which was a pretty dire state of affairs.

She could only hope that their sources were right, and that the robots were going to be coming straight for the heart where they were rather than spreading out to sack the city in general. If they did, well, Armstrong would be getting his wish. It would be a slaughter of unimaginable proportions. Hopefully her crushing of the president’s spirit after filling people in on his fate didn’t end up being predictive symbolism in any way.



They set off as soon as everyone was filled in and fighting fit again, as there was no time to waste, particularly because of the prediction that there’d be at least one Consul standing in their way to slow them down. Not to mention the master hand, assuming he showed up right before this Guardian as well, which Midna brought up as a possibility ”Last time it more or less introduced a natural hazard, one that almost froze us all to death, but it seemed like showing up and interfering was a thing it had done before, and we should probably expect it to either meddle in some way, or be a sign that something really nasty is already up ahead”

After they descended deeper, bypassing what was meant to be an impassable door thanks to Karen’s help, both predictions of opposition unfortunately came to light at the same time.

At least the hand seemed to be polite enough to wait where it was initially, while the Consul sprung his trap all around them, the strange pods snapping open and revealing humanoid figures.

”Your first mistake was sending pawns to capture a princess” Minda shouted at the Consul even as she reacted to the pods opening by slamming her bo staff (already pre-filled with lightning) into the occupant before they could even finish rising. Electricity flared, wrecking the machine who’s own dying surge added to her own, and then the clone was down before it could even act.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for many of the rest who, as Midna stepped back from the one she had prevented from entering the fight, began to summon reinforcements of their own, namely hazy red shapes. Presumably these were similar to the ones they’d seen Nuron use before, though them being red rather than blue was initially a bit concerning.

”Don’t like the looks of whatever those are, but at least my skin isn’t crawling in their presence” she observed however, which meant she probably wasn’t being redshifted, which was something.

Most of the shapes floated by their summoners, but others shifted under them to act like steeds, while yet more seeming to engulf them like armor. One of the latter proceeded to use strength granted by her legion armor to rip the pod she’d just emerged from the wall to hurl at the princess, at which was as good a signal as any for the carnage to begin.

Princess grabbed the improvised projectile out of the air and smashed it down infront of her as a shield to block an incoming blur, only for whatever that was to cleave right through the pod. She stabbed her staff half blind towards it through the gap it had made, and yet her weapon went right through the legion like it was a ghost.

”What the? That’s not fair!” She barked in confusion as she stepped back, before shifting gears to the targets she could hit, raised the shotgun she had in her other pair of arms, and attempted to blast one of the unarmored clones. Yet when she did this, another shape swooped into the way, this one surrounded by a shimmering barrier that absorbed the shot.

Worse still, the foe that had sliced through the pod took this time to circle round her swiftly, wrapping some kind of invisible chain round Midna’s feet, trapping her in place. Then it promptly sliced at her, cutting a gash in her back.

Seeing a sitting duck, another clone came riding in on the back of a legion, looking mostly like she was floating air, forcing Midna back on the defense again. She blocked the clone’s x-batton swing with her staff, only for whatever her foe was riding to claw the shotgun out of her hands before she could use it. In response, Minda crescent moon slashed her Sharpened Volcano Fragment into reality, the obsidian fire ax sweeping through steed striking rider instead, and engulfing her in flames.

The clone bailed off of the side of her steed and onto the ground where she tried to roll around to try and put the fire out, but Midna caught her with a staff strike before she could recover, lightning slamming down into the lightly armored figure along with the strike. Then she kicked her shotgun to portal it home, as she started summoning strikers. The first were her chillfos, that finished the job on the downed clone, skewering her with their frozen and ending her life, which caused the shape that had been about to pounce on Minda to shrivel up into a much smaller and seemingly inert state.

Roadblock came out next, taunting the legion that had chained and slashed her, causing it to wail on its shield instead of trying to strike down Midna. Then she summoned up her initiates who began trading fire with clones using long ranged legions to try and pick off Roadblock from behind.

Finally skywave fired a pulse of energy that healed Midna, and then struck a pair of advancing clones, blinding them and preventing their advance. All of this gave Midna the moment she needed to reach forwards, grab the spirit of the dispatched clone, and press it into her chest.



The split second plan she’d made worked perfectly, as the princess’s sight suddenly filled with a second set of combatants, specifically 5 different kinds of red hued beings that seemed to be chimaras wrapped in armor with ‘neuron’ and ‘police’ branding stenciled on them. Unfortunately the side effect this new boon came with was greater than usual, as all of her strikers suddenly dematerialised before their time as a result of their spirits spilled from her body and onto the floor.

”Goddesses, stop taking things from me!” she complained, but there wasn’t much time to mourn the loss of power, as the legion that had been distracted by the now gone forever Roadblock now came for her instead.

”Please work” she prayed as she raised her bo staff, blocking the strike of the sword legion, and then swiping the fire ax under her guard to clip its leg, this time connecting. The legion burned, backing away in confusion that it was now targetable, at which point a grinning behind her mask Midna commanded ”Sick him!” as a follow up to attack

Her wolfos burst into reality, only to look very confused, unsure of what target it should be attacking, for it was still blind to what she could see. What was not blind was the beast legion of the clone she had slain to gain the sight, which emerged from its core at her command and pounced on the sword legion right before it could move to strike the confused wolfos.

”What? Yes! Now it's an even fight” Midna cheered before promptly smashed a shadow fist into the sword legion, sending it careening across the room to crash into one of the pods. Unfortunately, she was very wrong about the fight now being even, as that demonstration of her new found ability to fight back against legions promptly put a massive target on her back, half a dozen sets of eyes turning to focus on her specifically.

”Alright then, come on then pawns” she taunted as she tossed her ax into a portal, one that conveniently ate up her dropped strikers (which she could always use for something esle after all), and then launching Erendira‘s Gun-lance into one of her free hands as she used the other to grasp and mount her wolfos ”come fight fight me on an even playing field!”

Seval obliged, chagrin forwards with x-battons raised and various legions at their command, to which Midna responded by counter charging, guiding her wolfos with her hand while her new beast legion raced alongside her.
The Tricity Quest

The Caves Of Memory

Lost Souls In The Dark - Part Two


The roar of battle echoed down in the dark.

Far beneath the eastern rim of the land of origins, in Tricity’s demon infested mines, Heroes fought to reclaim what had been stolen. Not just the riches of the earth, but the very souls of the miners who had once extracted that harvest.

They also fought for their lives.

Having discovered the terrible truth after being baited by false cries made by enslaved souls, Jaxx, hero of ages, and his allies Seam the duel wielding avine and Lilly the betentacled goblin, had sought to slaughter more of those terrible beasts. Yet they were in enemy territory, and though the bodies were piled high around them, yet more beasts still came.

“Running low on bolts” Lilly called out as she fumbled one of her few remaining shots into her crossbow, and then immediately spent it to take out the singular pulsating eye of some half seen horror bearing down on them. Its screeches briefly drowned out any talk till Seam gutted it with his knife, after which he added “and I’m low on everything, my limbs are burning here” through labored breaths.

One, two, three, four and with a dodge to the side, six. Jaxx's movements started out fast, dropping smaller demons one by one. No fear in his eyes, only burning determination to kill every single of them.

Yet determination meant nothing against overwhelming numbers. Numerous cuts and bruises started to appear on the hero's body and even Heropentia started to look like it'll break soon.

Jaxx's metal arm was covered in guts and what not from where he used it to deliver a blow to a demon.

Sweating heavily, he echoed the words of the others. “Keep those bolts only for kill shots! Seam, breathe, keep close to me. If they separate us, we're dead. ” he shouted, approaching Seam as much as he could.

Both offered affirmations, Seam pulling back towards him, Lilly switching to focusing on housing her tendrils to fight despite the burn injuries they had suffered. Even with that, it was clear that the two jr heroes were getting close to the ends of their ropes, unable to keep up with Jaxx’s stamina and experience.

While Jaxx was clearly better at fighting than the other two, he too started to slow down and if the assault would continue for a few more minutes, they’d certainly be overwhelmed.

Back down. Step-by-step. We can’t take them. Better to return later with more people, we definitely didn’t expect this here. ” he said between labored breaths as he cut another demon that got too close.

With a roar, he jumped towards the demon and lifted it up with his sword before throwing it at one that was approaching Seam from the side.

MOVE!

The two did not need to be told twice. Seam leapt back and flapped his wings while doing so to pivot around and start moving, while Lilly switched from channeling a goblin warrior past life to that of a miner it could guide her footing. The man who had lived his whole life in this tunnel had no worry of getting lost in the winding branching network they had come through, and so sped them right towards the way they had come in, only to notice something strange.

Cracks and seams in the wall, loose rubble, the tell tale glint of dust in the air. He remembered these from a failed strike breaking attempt. He’d made those same cracks during it. For a brief moment, the goblin thought they could use this, and then as they approached, a shape in the dark moved, a quiet crack resounded through the tunnels, and another terrible truth revealed itself.

“Seam, watch out!” Lilly’s voice shouted at the speedy avian, before she lept, grabbed him, and hurled him back right as the trap the outer beats had concocted with stolen knowledge came crashing down. Right on top of her. There was a brief sight of green fresh rupturing and red blood spraying before the torch she had been carrying was crushed, along with her body, and the lights went out.

“L-lilly!” Seam cried in anguish, reaching futility towards where she had even as the tunnel continued to collapse towards him.

Or so it would’ve happened, if not for Jaxx’s new gift. Time slowed. The rocks seemed to move in slow motion, Lily’s face in pain…and then he came. In a flash, for everyone else, and in a sprint for him, Jaxx ran towards Lily and just at the last moment pulled her from under the massive rock…only for the time slow ability to end and for the group to fall downwards into the darkness.

They all reached the bottom with a loud THUD. Moments passed, with Seam waking up first. What he saw made his feathers stand up. Glittering seams of tin ore reflected the light of their torch, casting a silvery light upon the vile shapes of demons. Many demons. Luck was on the group’s side this time, as the demons didn’t expect them to survive the fall, nor that they’d reach the nests.

Our heroes were surely done for and then it happened.

CELESTIAL EMPOWERMENT!


As it was written in the Khodex of Creation at the end of every heroic arc, for a continuous 24-hour period, the cosmic forces align to infuse the hero or heroes participating in the arc with unparalleled abilities and insights. During this time, not only are heroes enhanced, but all challenges and adversaries they face are similarly amplified. The 24-hour window becomes a crucible of intensified heroism, where heroes must confront formidable challenges on an unprecedented scale, reinforcing the significance of heroes in the fabric of the universe.

Raw, divine power coursed through Seam, Lily and Jaxx. Their injuries healed instantaneously, fatigue gone as if it was never there, their very senses seemed to be turned up to 1000. Minuscule movements of the creatures could be seen with clarity and the darkness of the cave seemed to fade.

Confusion, either from still being alive or from the empowerment itself might have squandered the first moments they had, had their senses not picked up something very important: there were shapes other than Demons in the cave. Pinned to the ground were 3 bodies, a pair of goblins and a hulking aardvark beast blood who they had last seen running off after a phantom cry for help, all three who had been in even more dire straits then. Rejuvenated as well, they found strength to fight back with tooth and claw, but it would not be enough.

The sight of others in trouble was more than enough to prevent any thoughts of how, or why, and instead pushed the heroes towards one simple act: they rushed in.

As the power coursed through his veins, Jaxx stood up and gave a grin to Lily and Seam before slowing down time to an almost halt, such was his power under the empowerment.

In a blur, he cut through the demons who didn't have time to understand that they died. All that they saw and the others, was a flash, an after image of Jaxx cutting demons one by one.

With a few more sword swipes, the demons pinning the goblins were dead, a frozen confusion on their faces. Stopping the effect, Jaxx didn't realize how much distance he actually traveled.

Oooh, I like this. Come on, demons of incompetence! Charge me! I wanna bathe in your blood! ” shouted Jaxx as he pointed Heropentia at the incoming demons, on his face a massive grin. It was obvious to anyone that he enjoyed this.

The first one to die after his proclamation was not by his hands, but by Seam’s, as the avian plunged down from heights his flightless wings should not have carried him, directly on top of the beast still attempting to salvage the aardvark-kin. Blades plunged into its back, weakening enough that his fellow beastman could haul it off of himself, and join his two goblin companions on their feet.

It also left Lilly on her lonesome, or at least, so it seemed. Yet as beasts tore towards her, their own flesh seemed to betray them, convulsing, rupturing. Or rather, their stolen souls fought for freedom, empowered by Lilly’s grasp on the cycle, talent and divine blood both.

Yet even as some of the souls rebelled, others were wielded, the formerly mostly animalistic beasts coordinating, those attacking pulling away from Lilly to preserve their stolen souls, while others where now wise enough to not give Jaxx what he wanted, and instead attempted to hurl rocks and stones at him. Given their size and often multiple limbs, this resulted in quite the hail that the other heroes scrambled to avoid, Seam launching himself up, while the hulking aardvark-kin put himself between the shower and his goblin companions.

With a roar at Seam in thanks, Jaxx waited for the demons to charge yet they were smarter than Jaxx gave them credit. ‘Alas, it wasn’t the first time Jaxx dealt with ranged attackers. Not quite as big as these were or vicious but enough to give him an idea.

Using his metal arm to shield a part of his body and Heropentia to block anything that came towards his head, Jaxx made himself as small of a target he could and charged the demons which started to focus on him now that he was getting closer. A few stones hit their mark, striking Jaxx in his fleshy arm and one on the stomach which already started to bruise a bit but ‘thus he reached the demons.

One tried to run but was cut down almost straight away and the others, now with an enemy in melee range and not wanting to strike their own allies, stopped their ranged assault, focusing more on defense than attacking. It didn’t stop, of course, the few on the sides that were still far enough from Jaxx to continue their stone throwing towards the group but it was way weaker than before.

It dropped off further when Seam swooped down onto another Beast, slashing with both blades before leaping off to strike at another. Others ended up on the receiving end of ranged attacks meanwhile, Lilly perfectly placing her last remaining blots into vitals of beasts, each one laced with her venom thanks to a bout of inspiration from one of her oldest lives, while the two other goblins darted out from their protector’s cover when the hail slowed to grab their own stones to toss.

The group did more than well defeating the demons and it was obvious as bodies were laid on the ground everywhere. Noticing the thinning numbers, under the rules of the empowerment, the evil side was about to get their own boost. Suddenly the demons seemed to pull away and retreat, giving the group a much needed break from the fighting.

RUN you bastards! RUN!” shouted Jaxx as he cut another demon that lagged a bit behind.
And so the bastards ran…for a bit. Stopping at a reasonable distance from the group, the demons started circling one of them, a bigger specimen onto which they proceeded to vomit some kind of eldritch slime before they pounced upon it. Flesh started to meld together and the screams started. Ethereal screams came from every soul caught by the demons as they got absorbed into one singular being. One tightly bounded mass of souls in one massive creature.

The mass of flesh had faces all over its dark and slimy body and over 30 limbs each ending in razor sharp blades. An almost constant scream came from within it. It no longer had legs but instead it dragged itself using the long sharp limbs. Underneath it, one could clearly see faces of goblins, beastkin and everything else they’ve caught, in anguish and pain. Standing at about 10 meters tall, the demon barely had space in the cave.

With a roar that would send chills in the spines of everyone around, it started dragging slowly to the group as a few of the limbs sprang out to impale or otherwise eviscerate the group.

The weaponless rescued trio fell back from this, while Jaxx’s charged forwards into the fray. Seam leapt up onto one of the limbs attempting to impale him, talons digging into flesh as he ran up it, while Lilly ducked and weaved, and then struck out with her own barrage of limbs, venom tipped tendrils spearing into multiple enemy limbs around her.

While Lily's tendrils necrotising the demon's limbs would've elicited some sort of reply from the usual demons, this one didn't seem to care as it simply severed its own limbs to stop the spread and then grew replacements

As Seam climbed up, it seemed that the faces he'd step on tried to bite him as smaller limbs grew from the spaces in between them like spikes.

Jaxx’s charge didn't seem to do much to the demon either, as each limb would regrow or change directions mid-air whenever he'd dodge. Using his time slow, Jaxx ran around the demon and tried cutting it apart piece by piece but somehow the demon, while affected by the time slow, wasn't as slow as the others were and it still managed to protect itself even as it spilled dark liquid from its body.

Even the return of the other three heroes did little to dent it, the goblins with their war hammers and shields, and the aardvark-kin with a two handed maul fairing little better than the cutting and stabbing heroes where.

Eventually the demon roared once more and hundreds of small spikes appeared all over its body, making Jaxx retreat.

Does anyone have a plan? This thing doesn't seem to care that we're cutting it apart. ” shouted Jaxx to the others.

“Kinda a one trick roller here!” Seam called out in reply as he landed next to them Jaxx, having backed up upon seeing the senior hero’s own retreat.

“Maybe if a get load of venom into iz body? But am out of bolts, an not fast enough to get close!” Lilly called back before she lept to the side to avoid being skewered.

We might as well try. Put venom on Heropentia, coat it in it. I can get close enough, just keep it busy. ” said Jaxx as he dodged again and got close to Lily, who promptly dragged her tendril fangs over it, giving it a slick sheen of deadly neurotoxin.

Jaxx activated the time slow again, this time feeling less powerful than before, with the demon’s limbs still moving fast enough to cause Jaxx to dodge or cut them as he ran towards it. Circling the demon, he started slashing it and on one occasion stabbed it deep in one of the faces..and THAT pissed it off.

In comparison to the limbs, the face didn’t regenerate like. Massive spikes appeared once more as the demon roared in pain before moving its bladed limbs like a chainsaw, at a speed that seemed too fast even for the time slow.

Jumping backwards, but not before getting a fresh new cut on his chest, Jaxx pulled Lily away at the last minute before she was cut down.

The chainsaw of limbs and blades swept after them, only for the aardvark's maul to crash into it with excessive force, disrupting the unnatural formation enough that they could get away. Several limbs twisted off out of the collapsing arrangement of blades, but Seam was there in a flash, thrusting and parrying to protect the big guy from a death by a thousand cuts

“Thank ya” Lilly gasped as she steadied her feet after the time sped pull, before looking over the damage he’d done and saying “Now we just gotta do summon with dat”

The other two goblin ladies were already on it, it seemed, having together grabbed one of the demon’s severed blades and then working together in perfect harmony to hurl it like a javelin at their foe, spearing an envenomed face with the beast’s own weaponry.

The demon parried the javelin almost immediately, yet it still managed to hit one of the faces which caused it to roar in pain once more. Again, multiple limbs appeared out of it, hurling themselves towards the group…exactly the same way as the javelins were thrown, the demon was learning.

Aaadvark, on me. Let's keep it busy! Seam, collect all the bladed limbs we cut off, cut them to size, give them to Lily. Lily, target the faces. Shoot them all!” shouted Jaxx, before running in the path of the javelins and defecting them with Heropentia, earning him yet another cut. Big a target as he was, the Aaadvark took more, yet stubbornly refused to fall as he followed the legend’s lead.

The rest had a difficult plan to put into motion while under fire, but they made it work, mostly thanks to the twins and their shields which offered just enough protection for them to whistle and envenom the improvised crossbow bolts before returning them back to sender.

It took a bit to get going, but once it did Jaxx and the aardvark had the covering fire they needed to get in close, with claws spearing into their foe, crippling arms or whole sections of its body. Yet Lilly only had so much venom, and though the amalgamated beast was crippled by the time she was spent, it still raged on.

Jaxx followed up with his own assault, cutting limbs and faces. Deflecting the now poorly coordinated limbs, Jaxx prepared himself to leap and stab the last remaining face. Yet just as he was about to leap to deliver the final blow, the ground shook. The walls shook. The ceiling shook.

Everything shook. Stones began to fall, the entrance to the cavern they were in collapsed, and then so too did the floor as a distant god casually remodeled the underground.

“What the f-”

And then the ground fell away beneath them, and down they went through the darkness. The concept of time seemed to disappear as they kept falling but that didn’t stop the demon from trying to skewer them, even blind as it was but with its strength almost all drained up, Seam, using his wings, flapped them once or twice and with a shout stabbed the demon…killing it. Once and for all. A massive scream of pain followed as the creature died and the souls, now free from their torment, illuminated the surroundings for a few moments, enough for the group to see the river below them, before disappearing.

Everyone! Brace for impact! Hug the demon, it’ll soften the blow!” shouted Jaxx and he plunged Heropentia deep in the demon’s body, a hand extended towards Lily for her to hold on.

She reached out a hand, and then when that fell short, a tendril, and was pulled close. Behind, Seam swopped to and fro, grabbing both of the other goblins and then swooping them all to the beast, talons digging into it til they got a grip alongside the aardvark.

A few more moments passed and with a loud BOOM, the demon’s body crashed into the water, splashing gore, slime being expelled in every direction…and then our heroes fell unconscious from the shockwave.

About half an hour later, the group slowly started waking up. Standing upon the demon’s body, it was obvious they were being carried downstream, where was anyone’s guess. Yet in the distance, they could see lights. Very bright lights and a blue ceiling above, hundreds of meters above.

Everyone alright? Alive and hopefully well? ” said Jaxx with a rough voice.

He got a groaning chorus of confirmations, at least for the alive part. The wellness was debatable, given both bruises from the fall and injuries from the battle. Lilly immediately set about helping with those, digging out a thankfully still intact container of R’kava along with the metal paint brush she’d used to attach Jaxx’s new arm, which she used to stem the worst of the bleeding they were suffering.

Seam meanwhile asked the obvious question, namely: “Where in Galbar are we?”

Looking around, Jaxx didn’t recognise anything. In fact, for once, this was a whole new experience for him. Jaxx had never been underground before. A few caves and small tunnels but never in the actual underground part of Galbar.

I have no clue but if there’s something that I can tell you for sure, Seam…is that innocents are that way. ” he replied to Seam as he pointed in the direction they were drifting in, towards the lights and whatever else was there.

What came after was a very, very slow drift downstream. Hours, maybe even days passed as they drifted and drifted. Going off the demon proved to be a very bad idea as some very long worm-fish made themselves at home chomping bits off the demon and they didn’t seem the type to discriminate in what they call lunch.

Eventually arriving in what seemed a massive river, the group would notice the structures now that they were closer but still far in the distance. Sadly, slowly, but surely, Jaxx’s mind was shattering. The ringing, first a small afterthought became like a church bell going on and on. First it stopped Jaxx from sleeping and as it continued, it seemed that he was on edge at every moment. Everything set him off, even the smallest grumble would have him twitch and pull Heropentia out.

WE NEED TO GET OFF THIS PLACE! ” he roared in obvious pain.

His twitchyness was causing everyone to give him a wide berth as was possible on the dwindling mass of flesh, while Lilly was privately attempting concoct some kind of sedative combining venom and R’kava as one final attempt to stave off what the Mother had told her was to be Jaxx’s fate should he be unable to answer the call for too long.

Luckily, someone heard them. Far in the distance, the group could see shapes on the water. Very fast moving shapes…and then, they all had a feeling like they were being watched. A bright yellow light soon enveloped them and the demon’s corpse and poof they were gone.

With another poof they appeared on the shore of the sea they would later find out was named the Obsidian Sea. The lights in the distance they once saw were now closer and before them a massive city stood. Voices in many languages could be heard from afar and a group of what seemed to be shining goblins was running towards them, all clad in armor with 4 gemstones engraved in them.

Behind the goblins guards, the group could clearly see many-many more goblins walking around dressed up in what seemed to be leather from different beasts or even clothes made out of diamond. Many buildings could be seen rising up into the “sky” and some even seemed to go down, clearly towards different levels of the cave.

While behind our group, large shark-like creatures with wings were gliding just above the water. On top of these creatures, a goblin stood on what seemed to be a saddle. Smaller buildings and towers could be seen surrounding the shoreline.

“Who. Where. What?” Lilly stammered, while Seam just cried out “land!” as he fell to his knees, too relieved to be on solid ground again to worry about those questions. It fell to them, the aardvark (who’s name Jaxx’s trio had learned was Desmond only after fighting a life of battle alongside him, Pim and Pam) to give a wave and a call of “Hello there!” to the approaching goblins.

All that Jaxx did was fall on his knees, Heropentia at his side for a few seconds before he started walking towards the goblins. His face blank, as if he wasn’t in control of his own body anymore. He just knew he needed to walk forward. The goblins quickly surrounded the group, pointing large pikes towards them and shouting different variations of “Stop and don’t move” in different languages.

Not that it stopped Jaxx, he kept walking and walking…until a pike poked him in the chest. Only for him to slow time down and in a blur appear behind the goblins, still walking forward…then he stopped.

In fact, all the goblins stopped. Lily, Pim and Pam. In their minds they heard a female voice, beautiful and calm telling them to “Stop. Contain the others. Come.” In a flash, Jaxx had Heropentia in his hands and pointed at Desmond’s neck, two words coming out of his mouth as if forced “Don’t. Move.

“Wha- uh huh?” Desmond replied, incredibly confused, and even more so when his two companions flanked him from either side, hammers raised and ready to take out the towering beastman’s knees if need be “you two? What is this”

Seam for one was in no position to offer answers, as the other beast man did have the time to rise before he was ensnared by lilly’s tendrils, his own knife pressed to his throat preventing him from uttering even a word.

The voice came again, only heard by the goblins of the group “My name is Maxima. I rule here. Trespassers. Come to me by my order. Listen to my command. ” said the voice and suddenly they knew where to go.

Not that the guards were going to let them go anywhere else.





??? — Town Outskirts


“Sorry but I have to do better than that. There was no way I wasn’t going to help you help people out after all” Rayne replied, aware that he was joking as much from the lack of any newfound connection as from being able to read him. Or, well, there was a tiny link she realized as she touched her fragile network in-order to take to the air again. It was thin as string, caused by an underlying kindness in the man of metal’s words. That warmed her heart, and so too did his careful lifting up of the unconscious Elaine.

“Thank you both, I wouldn’t have been much use if I’d come to do this alone” she said to both healer and transporter of their rescuee, reflecting again on the irony that a power gained from helping primarily allowed her to do harm.

There was at least one thing she could do, and that was help keep the rain off. Having to admit that she too, was a little lost (“I’m used to navigating caves, not the surface, ours isn’t safe any more”) she had no objection to lending Remilia her hat so she could go have a peak above the canopy. While that was occurring, she pulled out the shield she had ‘borrowed’ from a raven herald and used it to create an improvised rain shield for the baby and at least some of its mother, while getting wet herself.

Seeing as she was already drenched, this hardly mattered to her, which was why she offered to let Remilia either keep using the hat, or if she did get it back, she popped it on Elaine so she could increase the area she was protecting from the rain.

“So, um, lady Remilia, I take it you missed the start of this where we kinda worked out what was going on, ish?” Rayne said to the little lady as they traveled, as much to make conversation as to fill her in “The rest of us arrived in a temple of some kind, where two children were being attacked by the Raven Heralds, the same people who attacked the village we’re going to. One of them said that a goddess spoke to them, one called Lavielle, who summoned us here to save them”

“I’m not sure where here is, but it isn’t my world, that’s for sure. I knew everyone that was still alive in mine, I was Linked to them all, and no one here, and none of you, are from there. So this must be somewhere else” she then explained, heading off what was probably one of the more immediate questions she expected would come up.

That was, unfortunately, all she really had, and so they’d need to wait till they got back to town to see if anyone else had learned anything. Fortunately enough, their trip back was uneventful, and so soon enough they were back at the lodge, where, after reuniting Elaine and her child with a tearful husband, it seemed like there might indeed be more that had been learned, and Rayne for one was all pointy ears with regard to whatever it might be.

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 2,597 (+3) (+23) (+15)
Bowser: Level 14 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (138/140)
Bowser Jr: Level 13 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (156/130)
Kamek: Level 12 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (135/120)
Rika: Level 8 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (119/80)
Location: The Under - Mercy Dreams


The troop groaned awake, collectively tried to get up, and then collectively collapsed back down to the floor out of a dire need for rest. Fortunately, as it turned out they were almost done. Silver keys would surely unlock the way to what they had missed, and they had a ride home to boot.

”Who even puts a train station in a creepy jail anyway?” Jr asked upon hearing this news

”Galeem, for badness knows what reason” Kamek replied, before making a pained sound as he tried to correct the crick in his back sleeping wrong had left him with

”Oh. Huh. Well thanks then Galeem, for your weird level design” jr said to the ceiling, before waiting for a few moments, sighing, sitting up, and asking ”Ok who needs healing?”

Rika raised a hand and reapplied with a ”Me” before adding ”Oh also I need to melt down that weird armor” and then rolling over to yell at Sectonia ”can I borrow that item melty thing?” followed by a ”Thanks,” when she agreed, and then finally a groan when she had to get up and go get it rather than having the queen deliver it to her.

Given that there were 4 items in the Prisoner in Deep Confinement set however, the cooldown on smelting items meant the process ended up taking quite a while, which was fine by her, as it let her keep her brother company while he patched everyone up.

It also left her time to poke at the still forms of the warframes with the tip of her spear in between smeltings.

”Huh. They aren't moving. Is this like a pre-Galeem bodies thing again?” she asked, poking away at the one with the wings on its hips.

”Dunno. I mean they were moving before. Maybe he was puppeting them or something? It's not like they came with us when everything got put to sleep” Jr said in between healing casts.

”Shame. They were pretty strong and tough, and pretty neat looking too. Would have been good spirits” she thought, preparing to give up and blinking her spear onto her back.

”Seeing as their robots, I guess we could scrap them for parts” Jr replied, before looking again and wondering ”Or are they humans in armor? If it is, you could just take it off and use it. Same with their weapons either way”

”Wait, you can just do that?” Rika asked, to which the prince nodded, ”Huh. Neat”

Before she could attempt to go about that however, there was a sickening crunch as Ganondorf snapped the neck of Oberon, prompting a wince from Jr, and a nonplussed comment of ”Huh. Guess it was alive after all” from Rika before she proceeded to immediate yet another poor role model and executed Titania with her own gauntlet powered neck snap.

While that had been occurring, Bowser and Kamek had re-entered the central chamber of the prison. Kamek had first had to poke his master awake seeing as his response to waking had been to roll over and go right back to sleep, which might have been concerning was this not something that occurred every morning.

There would be no more sleeping now however, because prisoners were awake now too, and making quite the ruckus.

”Urgh, lay off it would you!” Bowser yelled up at them, to little avail, before grumbling and finishing strapping his kinetic strike module to his first.

”I do not believe they are going to do so, your oversleepyness” Kamek replied as he mentally wished for some earplugs for both the prisoners and the kings yelling at them.

Bowser just groaned again, and then together they started making their way up, Bowser walking, Kamek floating. While doing so they had to move past the cells full of prisoners banging and yelling, which they tried to ignore.

Bowser cracked first, wondering out loud ”You know, maybe they aren't crazy now that ol what’s his face is dead?”

”I’m not so sure that logic tracks” Kamek replied, attempting to dissuade his king from this line of action, but to no avail. The king had already taken one the ring of copper keys from Kamek’s pockets, and promptly unlocked a random cell, revealing a short turtle of all things.

"Finally! Good job my Schwarzen Guard” the turtle said to Bowser with an air of authority, while at the same time looking at him with somewhat unfocused eyes

”Hey see, it worked” Bowser said to Kamek, before turning to the turtle and telling him ”I’m not a guard though, you’re free to go thanks to me, Bowser, the Koopa King!” only to be cut off by the person they had just freed sharply to that introduction indignation “King? King!? I’m the turtle in charge of the Turtle Terrorists! Me! Devan Shell, not some king … which must mean … must mean … That you’re a filthy traitor!”

”Wow hey now wait a second, what kinda gratitude is this?” Bowser demanded to know, only for the turtle to pull out a plasma gun from his shell which he proceed to blast the king in the gut with a cry of “die mutineer!”

The king ”oof”ed and grabbed his scorched shell in surprise, but the attack was hardly enough to really hurt him. Kamek’s response however could very much hurt their foe, as the mage unleashed the spell he had already begun conjuring as soon as the accusation had been called out, blasting Devan with a close range cosmic spray, bombarding him with a spectrum of elemental damage.

Surprisingly the little turtle took the bombardment with the toughness of a penultimate boss, before turning his gun on the mage who had caused him such pain. Unfortunately for him, doing so turned it away from the Koopa king, who lunged a hand forwards, snatching the turtle terrorist up in his claw, before he promptly spun him around and hurled him down into the central shaft. Devan plummeted down the central shaft and hit the ground with a crunch, body mangled, only for it to start warping further as he transformed into a decidedly more
demonic form.

Devil Devan took to the air, reinvigorated, mad, and spitting fire. The moderately sized fireball blazed up towards where Bowser and Kamek were leaning over the railing to see if he’d been dealt with or not.

Bowser promptly spat one back, bigger and better which demolished the opposing fireball before careening into the demon turtle.

”That all you got?!” Bowser demanded to know, and, for once, his ego didn’t result didn’t result in an immediate dose of irony, as it more or less was all the demon had. Well, that and an absurd amount of durability, which was something of a problem for the two elder Koopas, who had been at this all day, while Daven had just woken up from a lengthy nap.

Still, as the demon ascended towards them, he was still met with the last vestiges of the pair’s stamina, Bowser hucking flames, while Kamek, once again out of mana, had to rely on strikers, resulting in Devil Daven receiving a high caliber sniper round to the head as he got close, and then getting a Tonberry hurled at him by a cooperative Bowser.

This second attempt at delivering the incredibly slow but destructive striker also failed, as it just sorta bounced off of their foe due to not having the reaction times to deliver an aerial stab sadly, and so the the winged fire breather arrived back at the floor he had been hurled off of in one piece.

He then experienced a moment of deja vu as Bowser grabbed him by the snout, and promptly spun him around again and threw him into a wall this time, before commanding Marie Korbel to ”Rattle him!”. This prompted the striker of the former skullgirl to appear, look briefly confused, and then to call up a bunch of skeletal mobsters with tommy guns to blast the demon, their bones rattling from the recoil.

”Yeah, how do you-” Bowser had to pause to catch his breath, before finishing his taunt ”- like that?” only to groan thirdly as the Daven once again survived, and took back to the air to keep on spitting fire.

Just then there was a little click, followed by the sound of something being reeled in, and then Rika appeared over the banister behind them. She immediately began to ask
”Hey, Kamek can I borrow-” before being interrupted by having to lean out of the way of a fireball, and then calling ”-borrow the snaktivator?” over her shoulder as she rushed the demon.

A gauntlet smashed him back into the wall, before she rammed two hull blades, a chainsaw bayonet, and four disturbing globules into him all at once. Then she kicked off of him as her gauntlet came back online, grabbed her spear in both hands, and then stabbed the demon repeatedly with it alongside her strikers, which delivered chops and icey spike blows till the demon fell.

In the aftermath, she gave a little ”Phew” stored her weapon, and then explained ”Ganondorf showed me how to get a spirit out of those flippy warrior people” before showing them the spirit of Titania.

”Ah, well, I see” Kamek replied steadily, before offering her the requested item.

”Thanks!”



”Oh wow, I feel lighter, let me just” Rika said after the flash of light, promptly hopping into the air, and then hopping again. She declared this ”neat!” she before promptly leaping off of the banister and calling down ”Jr! Watch this” before she began to combine wall runs, air glides, and feather falls to climb all the way up the central chamber without touching a floor, and then descend all the way back down to where her brother was down on the bottom floor in no time at all.

”Ah, youth” the mage commented jealousy, before glancing at the turtle Rika had just finished off for them and enquiring ”Would you mind If i took it?” to which Bowser had no objections.



”Taller, but still me, and I can feel a dark power deep within, ready to be unleashed when I most need it. Marvelous” the mage commented, before enquiring ”Shall we continue?”

Bowser, again, agreed, and so they headed up together, an uneventful climb which eventually brought them before the door that was sealed by a silver lock, the one located by the warden's office which they had failed to enter earlier. Aware now that nothing had changed about the state of the prisoner’s mental states, they followed Jr’s prior advice properly this time, putting an army of dry bones between them and the door, and having a Toady open it up for them so they’d be clear of whatever, if anything, came bursting out of there. The two meanwhile were further back, with Kamek matching his king in size thanks to his using of the small amount of mana he’d recharged since the last fight switching him into his new devil form.

The cell, at least, was unlike the others. Before, those outfitted with bronze locks seemed more intentioned for keeping intruders out than the prisoners in, pacified as they were by unnatural yet blissful dreams. Following the death of Robin, that state of affairs had been turned on its head, with the denizens here awakened and driven mad by the revelation that their realities had been nothing more than dreams. The entire jail now resounded with their anguish, be it tormented cries or uproarious banging on cell doors. Not this particular cell, though. Instead, a discreet ethereal light issued from under it, along with a quiet humming and the intermittent scrape of a knife against wood. It didn’t sound like the sort of noise a human voice could make, but it sounded peaceable nonetheless, unchanged by the shift within Mercy Dreams.

When a toady inserted its key into the lock, the sound of humming and whittling stopped. A voice issued from within, strange but still intelligible. “Please, wait-” Then the door swung open, and a chill swept down the Koopas’ shelled spines. The cell was full of carved statues, at least a dozen of them, all very similar to the ones they, Nadia, and Therion had recovered elsewhere in the prison. No two were quite alike, however, and only through their gestalt could the true shape of Robin Goodfellow be gleaned. Against the back wall leaned a strange staff, wrought black metal affixed with ceremonial beads and shining with the light of a crescent moon inside its head. But there was nobody there.

”Huh, did you hear something just now?” Bowser asked, but his aged advisor simply shook his head in response. ”Weird.” the king concluded, before dismissing it as just another sourceless piece of ambiance. After all, no one had responded when he’d tried to ram the door down earlier, so the cell being empty wasn’t exactly unexpected.

”Ah, but look, might that be what we are here for?” Kamek asked rhetorically, as he pointed out the staff which certainly had something of a dreamcatcher look about it. Add to that the magical half moon at its center, and it was 100% something of value, and so the mage had his minion collect it.

Both had had quite enough of Robin Goodfellow to give the collage of statues more than a raised eyebrow and a quick dismissal, so that got to stay where it was. After having acquired what they came for, and writing everyone left here as a lost cause, there was little interest in letting anything keep them around.

Unfortunately, people had wandered here and there post bossfight, and so once they returned to the room by the stagstation, they had to park their tails and wait for everyone to regroup. Kamek reported about their acquisition of the dreamcatcher, and then also inquired if anyone had found the code to the safe they had found in the warden’s office, unaware that they had just ended the flimsy existence of the person who knew it. As such he also inquired if anyone had any tricks that might let them bypass the lock entirely.
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