Current
Wash away the sorrow all the stains of time
3 mos ago
Fusing into the unknown
3 mos ago
Looks like from here it, it only gets better
2
likes
8 mos ago
Forgotten footfalls, engraved in ash
9 mos ago
Stalling falling blossoms in bloom
Bio
Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.
Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.
Hello again! The sheet's not bad at all, but I do have a couple small notes.
The personality section is a very high-level overview. Is there enough to go on there where other people could approximate how he'd act in certain situations? It's not critical to have a huge personality section, but the more you could say about how he behaves, the better. Characters with more/stronger personalities are easier and more compelling to play as, after all.
Since he has an infinite amount of poison darts and blinding darts regulated by mana and cooldown, those should definitely be individual powers, and mushrooms especially since they're pretty much pure magic. I would also recommend fleshing out the Weaknesses section. You say he's tiny, but spend more time in the weakness describing how capable he is than how his size hinders him. I assume Teemo's weaknesses might also include that he's physically weak (in that he doesn't possess much physical strength, instead relying on his kit of tricks) and doesn't have much defense or health.
“Not sure,” Giovanna told Midna. “Doesn’t happen much. But recognizing a fusion outright is practically impossible. My guess is they’d be checking for any big differences between the current you and the you in your gridPrint whenever you get inspected.”
Peach gave Benedict an encouraging nod when he mentioned the possibility of helping. “That’d be great. When it comes to saving the world, we need all the help we can get, and you’ve already shown us you’re a man of many talents. If there’s anything from your position in the government you can share that might help in our search, please let us know!”
With Jessica’s scoop on the layout of the city’s eight Sectors and N’s Other forecast in mind, the deliberations continued. Susie approached the subjects at hand with a unique perspective, one that blurred the line between offering concrete solutions and singing her Haltman Company’s praises. Casually, almost matter-of-factly, she mentioned that her own corporation, which supposedly harvested planets and possessed a solar system’s worth of resources, could not only out-compete the Shinra Electric Power Company but also take over the city from them, which sounded fanciful at best. She did present one intriguing possibility, though: that it was Shinra with a link to the Dystopiascape’s Guardian, rather than the Ever Crisis. Hopefully, Goldlewis mused, her theory would amount to nothing more than a shot-in-the-dark guess at a worst-case scenario.
“In addition to the mountain of paperwork it takes to open a brand-new company here,” Goldlewis told her, “You’d need to get vetted by the city council. Background checks, approvals, the works. Takes weeks. Just ain’t possible for an off-grid, not in the amount o’ time we got.” Susie’s true proposal, however, concerned DespoRHado Enforcement. She wanted to ally with them rather than Neuron or Psych-OSF as Goldlewis recommended. Midna and Raiden -one he assured the group he wouldn’t fly off the handle- both chimed in with their doubts, but the latter provided a little extra information he happened to be privy to. It was as Goldlewis feared; unlike Psych-OSF, which actively recruited any suitable candidates they could get their hands on, or Neuron, which promising police cadets could transfer to, DespoRHado was highly selective. Raiden would consider biting his tongue and helping them if push came to shove, but it sounded to Goldlewis like climbing into a pit of vipers.
Peach summarized the situation best, however. “If working with this company is a last resort, and going against them is very dangerous, it might be better to just leave them alone in the meantime.” She rested her head in her hand, thinking. “That, or we could try to follow their deployments. Collect rumors, get an idea of how they work from a distance, and trash some machines in the process. Hmm…”
The Others seemed to intrigue Blazermate, although she missed her guess about what they were. “They are not undead,” M replied. “As mentioned before, we know very little about them, other than their connection to the Extinction Belt in the atmosphere. The answer sort of took the wind out of Blazermate’s sails when it came to her interest in the Others, leaving her indifferent, but Raz kept his focus on the subject. In fact, it seemed that the names provided by Dr. N ignited something in him. “That’s good news!” M said. “It would appear that this group is a hidden treasure trove of prior connections.” He gave Blazermate another thorough look for good measure. “I don’t believe I’ve seen any robots like yourself among the Machines, but there are many variants, so keep an eye out.”
Midna latched on to Raz’s suggestion. She observed that the boy would probably be a perfect OSF candidate, but in the interest of not leaving him to fend for himself, the Twilight Princess proposed that the group take advantage of today’s Other forecast by joining the Scarlet Guardians on patrol. She did admit that the path to stardom might not be so clear-cut, but Goldlewis didn’t hate the idea one bit. He gave a sagacious nod and tapped a finger in her direction. “I reckon that might just be y’all’s best bet. When it comes down to it, helpin’ folks and savin’ lives is what’s important, and the Psych-OSF knows it. That’s why they value strength so dadgum much.”
Poppi crossed her arms, recalling information on the city. “It sounds like we should pay a visit to Sector 3 then. Suoh, right?”
“I hear ya, but gettin’ there’s the problem,” Goldlewis advised. “We got too many people to fit in both cars, ‘cause we need whoever they’re registered to along for the ride. Plus, it might attract too much attention.
“Why don’t we split up? Half to Suoh to meet the Scarlet Guardians, and half to Detroit to see what we can find out about DespoRHado and the Hermit,.” Peach suggested. She glanced at Sakura, her expression apologetic. “Sorry, but…maybe we could stop by Inkopolis some other time? I’m sure it’ll come up eventually, and when it does, we can try some sports together!”
Tora waved his wings. “Tora want see pinnacle of mechanical engineering in Midgar, meh!”
“Not to be a stick in the mud or anything, but wherever you’re all going, you’re out of luck when it comes to crossing plates or levels without a gridLink,” Giovanna mentioned. “Unless you plan to go on foot or sky-rails, you’ll need to get scanned no matter what vehicle you’re in.”
At that, Jessica gave a slight smile. “While you all were out getting dusty on Kunad, we weren’t just sitting on our asses here. We got in touch with our friend from Night City, and he started hacking up some blank gridLinks. Even now he’s hard at work making you into upstanding members of Midgar society with forged gridPrints.” She shuffled her papers smugly. “Speaking of, we’ll need to take official pictures of you all, and work on your histories. If an Agent shoots you a question about your workplace, we can’t have you blubbering out whatever comes to mind.”
“It’ll be about an hour judgin’ by his last update,” Goldlewis confirmed. “Then, we can set out. Me in my hummer with whoever’s headed to Suoh, and Giovanna can drive the rest down to Detroit. Y’all gotta get your own rides sooner or later to keep the feds from crackin’ down on us, but we can handle it for now.” Goldlewis stood, gesturing around the meeting room. “So, make yourselves comfortable. We got tea, coffee, biscuits…”
“The biscuits are for Rei.” Giovanna interjected.
“Uhh…” For the briefest of moments, a look of worry passed across the cryptid collector’s face. He swallowed. “R-right, heheh, just kiddin’. Movin’ on, we got spare clothes if ya need. Dress shirts, suits, an’ so forth. On the cheaper side ‘cause it’s standard issue but it’ll help ya blend in. Since this place used to be a police station, we even got a rec room, and a locker room complete with showers. Kinda barebones, but it makes for a fine hideout. Use whatever ya like.”
“Meh, meh. This all very complicated. Makes Tora glad am not leader.” Tora swiveled and hopped down from his chair. “Hooray for downtime!” he sang. “Over here Poppi, Tora want look at new parts. Been while since last diagnostic too, meh.” The two went off to find an unused office to tinker in, but not after Tora stopped by the counter to grab some snacks.
“Once everythin’s ready we’ll head out,” Goldlewis said. “We can both seat six. See ya in a li’l bit, folks.” He went to get some coffee himself, wearing a smile. He had, in fact, been kidding, but thought that making it seem like he ate a dog biscuit would be funny.
After Goldlewis led Peach -who’d exchanged her futuristic getup for one of the office’s spare sets of work clothes- and five others down to the garage, he roused the beast, and in short order the American’s massive and fittingly-named beige Patriot Mammoth Hummer roared out into the late afternoon sunlight. Formidable and impressive, it rumbled down the motorway in the direction of the Shinra Building at Midgar’s center, since the interplate highway tunnels in its facility would facilitate the quickest travel between sectors. Just traveling in this vehicle, more like a tank than a car, made Peach feel unstoppable, and with Goldlewis at the helm plus her new gridLink fitted snugly around her wrist the Princess hoped that she would be. The Sector 7 highways wound back and forth around buildings and districts, less confusing and grandiose than Kunad Highway’s routes but not by much, and the passengers got a good chance to scope out this section of the city.
Compared to some of the crowded skylines the Seekers saw on the way in, Sector 7 seemed pretty normal. Even the busiest parts, full of office buildings and apartment complexes interspersed by elevated railways, pipelines, and roads offered room to breathe. True to Jessica’s rundown, much of it seemed to be residential, and out of the thick of it lay numerous smaller boroughs. As Goldlewis steered his mighty machine down the highway, his passengers spotted a number of interesting vehicles as well. They saw an Apocalypse Sasquatch monster truck, a wooden train, hover cars, hovercraft, and a super stroller. Peach even glimpsed a rocket-propelled bathtub-mobile as it cruised by. She did not, however, see any overt signs of danger, or even unrest. It must be nice for the people to be able to go about their lives as if the Ever Crisis did not exist, the princess figured, but it might be hard to get to the bottom of things. As her team got closer, the colossal Shinra Building only towered higher, standing like a colossal engine above the rest of the city’s tallest landmarks.
About forty-five minutes and no fewer than five security checkpoints later, with plenty of tension but no sign of any problem with the new gridLinks, the hummer emerged from the final tunnel into Sector 3 upper, Suoh. To most of them it seemed stark, almost barren even, a jungle of glass, concrete, walkways, and multi-lane avenues full of empty spaces, full of people but missing something. To Raz, however, this place was a sensory overload. Visions covered every last building and available surface, like a million television screens everywhere he looked, and most of them were ads. Anything that didn’t need to be solid, from street signs to crossing guards, wasn’t. The boy’s eyes glittered with the light of countless psychic displays that only he could see.
A few minutes later Goldlewis parked his hummer in the lot of a complex full of trendy-looking stores and restaurants, unable to be dazzled by their brilliant Vision displays. “For folks like you,” he said to Raz. “It’s a whole ‘nother world compared to what folks like us see. Everythin’ from top to bottom ‘round here’s designed with psychics in mind, which means it ain’t easy if you’re a dud.” He snorted. “Hell of a word, ain’t it? But people prefer it over ‘mentally inept’.” He popped open the door and climbed out, then headed for the trunk. “Still, when it comes to killin’ Others, ya don’t need powers.” From the back of his hummer he withdrew the Area 51 High Security Coffin, which he slung over his shoulder like a knapsack. “A good arm and a little gumption are enough.”
Peach joined him, and the group headed out to the sidewalk. Pedestrians and cars crossed back and forth, but without the means to see the signs most of the newcomers would need to resort to either guesswork or the raised bridges to get across the streets. They could see the surveillance systems, though. Every fifty feet there seemed to be another cluster of black cameras pointed in various directions, dotted with harsh red lights that gave them a pointed stare. They stared down at the tasteful sidewalk tiles, hedges, trash cans, and bus stops, listening quietly to the citizens. Passers-by, many decked out in futuristic techwear, spoke about all sorts of subjects either with one another or alone, using Brain Talk. A number of them mentioned ‘Otherfall’ elsewhere in Suoh, worried about the repercussions there or the possibility of such an occurrence here. All the way down Main Street, a walled plaza with an open gate led toward a big, almost citadel-like structure topped by a enormous glass brain, its triangular panes all tinted red. Or perhaps, scarlet.
“We’re tourists from Sector 7,” Goldlewis said aloud to explain to the others, rather like a G-man. “Let’s wander around some and see what we find, hm?”
Fairly close by stood the most popular restaurant and place to meet on main street, Musubi’s, featuring peppy music and ever-changing Vision menus. On the right-hand side lay Vision Town, a cluttered and twisting market street open only to foot traffic full of small businesses all jostling for attention, including some outdoor food courts. Farther along lay Sumeragi Tomb, a mixture of Japanese shrine and mausoleum complex. On the left stood Anemoiapolis, a multiple-level pool complex-slash-escape room that danced with Visions of sea creatures, Paradise Lost sauna with its unique dark atmosphere, a department store for techwear apparel, and Aquarius Hydroponics Garden, a health center and natural grocer. Behind the parking lot lay a route to a multi-leveled courtyard surrounded by apartments that looked almost bleak without psychic sensitivity, although the citizens walking and playing with their dogs there lent it some extra life. And of course, in between there lay countless other boutiques and things squeezed into every last nook and cranny, like laundromats, workshops, and outlets from Hope Station, where Psych-OSF personnel and approved citizens could ride Maglev trains to traverse the city. With a lot to take in and explore, the Seekers set off.
Anyone who ventured up the steps of Sumeragi Tomb, though, might find something especially interesting. In the first shrine tear, with its structures surrounded by some of the only verdure to be found this deep in Suoh, stood a distinctive five-man team. A young man with a sword across his back and his brown-haired friend stood comparing fortune’s they’d just received from a stall, though neither looked especially pleased. Nearby two girls, one bespectacled and her companion pigtailed, stood complaining loudly about something or other, while a teen with a topknot attempted to make use of the shrine’s peace and quiet for meditation. All five wore black techwear with red accents, with thin orange cables looping around and through their garb.
Detroit
Sector 8 Lower Giovanna, Tora and Poppi, Raiden, Blazermate, Susie, Geralt, Benedict Word Count: 1024
While the others drove the length of Sector 7’s highways to reach the interplate tunnels, Giovanna steered her run-of-the-mill SeeD personal Carrier the opposite way. Tora sat on Poppi QT Pi’s lap, ostensibly to free up another seat for his teammate, although he seemed happy to lean against his companion throughout the ride. Their team made for the outer edge of the plate, where a station would allow them to ride a speedy Maglev train down the wall to the city’s lower section. The guards on duty didn’t give their gridPrints a second glance; clearly, the SOU’s contact knew his stuff. Giovanna parked her car in a secure area, and once squeezed aboard public transport, the Seekers hurtled one Sector over to the lower part of 8, known as Detroit. Their route was neither scenic nor comfortable, and in fact they needed to take a little extra care -or be a little extra menacing- to avoid any potential thieves who might take advantage of the situation.
As Giovanna explained on the drive there, pickpockets weren’t the only dangers the newcomers might face in public transportation; certain thieves employed devices called skimmers that could trigger monetary transfers from the accounts attached to hapless citizens’ gridLinks in close quarters. While such devices wouldn’t net any ill-gotten gains from accounts with falsified numbers, having strangers realize their bankruptcy would certainly do them no favors, so watchfulness was an absolute must. In sectors where digital technology reigned supreme, a skillful hacker could achieve just about anything. When Giovanna told him this Tora made a mental note to ask about that later, and resolved to keep a sharp eye out.
Thanks to the maglev’s blistering pace, it wasn’t long before the train slid to a stop in a terminal station. The heroes exited to find themselves well and truly in Detroit. Even in broad daylight the plate up above cast a heavy shadow over the undercity, exacerbated by the hazy atmosphere up above to douse the industrial expanse in perpetual twilight. Tora needed to look out toward the land beyond the city limits to remind himself it was still day, though what he saw brought him only cold comfort. Outside Midgar stretched miles and miles of desolation. Lesser cities’ remains stretched all the way to the Valley of Ruins between the Dystopiascape’s border mountains, and those blocky, overgrown highrises sagged together like aged tombstones in an unsettling manner. Out there lurked the Machines, and whatever diabolical engines gave rise to those unyielding mechanical hordes. He and his Artificial Blade stood there for a moment staring out into the distance, imagining an entire army of the red-eyed, soulless robots the twins exhibited in their slideshow. Tora reached out for Poppi’s hand to squeeze it, and she squeezed back. Together, they would show the world the difference between mass-produced junk and Noponic automata.
They caught up with Giovanna and the others a few moments later after they stopped at an overlook on the station’s right side. To his shock Tora looked out across a massive hollow basin that stretched hundreds upon hundreds of feet further down into the ground, lined on all sides by towering buildings. This orange-tinged urban pit, full of buildings laden with rust, stretched all the way to the greenish smog, tangled pipes, and dark, craggy towers of Sector 1’s Zaun, and it continued a good ways into Detroit as well. “Impressive, huh?” Giovanna asked, her tone nonchalant. “Well, that’s Zone 09, AKA Quarantine Valley, an autonomous exclusion zone. It’s been that way for longer than just about anyone remembers, but I got curious, so I looked it up. Twenty years ago, the biggest Chimera outbreak in Midgar’s history left the streets a corrupted waste, so people live on the rooftops. Its corruption levels are off the charts, and Redshift is rampant, but it’s contained, and so are the citizens. Nobody in or out, officially anyway. Between it and the Sector 7 Slums, though, they’ve got the Ever Crisis salvage industry cornered. So a lot of stuff gets by on the sly. Pretty good chance we’d find some Hermits down there, if you ask me.”
She crossed her arms and turned to her new allies to give them an overview of their own situation. “Well, we don’t have my car anymore, and unless you feel like hoofing it through one of the most dangerous undercities in Midgar we need a way around.” She pointed out some elevated metal rails that snaked between the buildings nearby. “Bingo, sky-lines. The monorails don’t run anymore, so we should be fine to hitch a ride. Of course, we’d need sky-hooks to do it. Maybe we could convince a local gang to give us some.”
Tora blinked, surprised, then smiled. “That awful nice of gang!”
“Figure of speech,” Giovanna snarked while Poppi reprimanded her Masterpon’s naivete with a poke in the forehead. “Though, the most important thing is figuring out where we’re going. Out to the ruins to fight Machines, or deeper into Detroit to check out the PMC. Let’s scope out the place, see what we can make of it for now. Just keep in mind, things are a lot looser down here than up top. Stay on your toes.”
Tora widened his eyes innocently. “But Tora not have toes!”
“Now you’re just trying to be annoying…” Poppi nudged him. “Masterpon.”
As the team turned away from Quarantine Valley toward the streets, the undercity confronted the team with a shiny veneer best exemplified by the brightly-lit Limb Clinic up ahead, but those streets belied a cramped, cringy underbelly, and the facade quickly gave way to dingy back allies, trash-ridden courts, and even a solid waste landfill where much of the Sector’s outmoded or unsalvageable trash came to rest.
You have acquired: Coin x2 Worm A sturdy little wriggler. It can be used as fish bait, or placed in a farm it will help till and hydrate the soil around it, increasing the growth of crops slightly Hopper A metal storage device that can collect things that fall into it (or pull items out of storage above it) and transfer them into whatever its lower output port is attached to
With the Duke of Flies well and truly slain and the boss gates open again, the rest of the Seekers could trail inside to rendezvous with the trio that mopped up the Basement. Sectonia, Omori, the Knight, and Therion all made it, a few fresh cuts, burns, and bruises on display but nothing to write home about. Nadia didn’t see the Adventurer, but then again she didn’t remember him jumping down through that chest to begin with; maybe after the incident with those giant flies he figured he’d be better off adventuring on his own. Considering the nature of the Seekers’ mission, Nadia couldn’t blame him. Better to have new acquaintances quit than bite off more than they could chew and end up…well, dead.
The heroes spent a few moments to collect themselves, which gave them a chance to catch their breath, commiserate and complain about the awful stuff this place confronted them with, and top off their health via Sectonia’s regeneration aura. Still, they couldn’t dilly-dally forever, and even if they’d rather not plumb the depths of this vulgar dungeon for even worse horrors, there didn’t seem to be any other ways out save an ascent back up through the entry tunnel into that pest-filled mine. Once she finished her stretches, Nadia sauntered up to the trapdoor. “I’ll take point again. I’ve flung myself into danger twice already, no point in mixin’ things up now.” She jumped, tucking her knees against her chest and clasping her arms around them. “Cannonball!”
Dark. Dank. Spotted by leaks and weeds. The Basement didn’t have a lot going for it, to be sure, but at the very least it had been conspicuously well-lit for how few actual light sources it featured. In comparison, the Caves seemed even less inviting. Nadia sidled out from beneath the hole to make way for the others, her ears perked up for any hint of what might lay beyond this room’s four exits. It smelled as if she’d exchanged the despicable odor of offal for the sickly-sweet reek of decay, which might not be a whole lot better, but given all the nastiness she’d experienced in here so far the feral would cherish every blessing she could get.
As the others made their way down, many being less light on her feet than Ms Fortune herself, Nadia took a sneak peek at the surrounding chambers. To the north lay a large room full of different kinds of maggots, many of them with freakishly human little faces, and some of them even sported one on each end. Just watching them wriggle and writhe around made Nadia’s stomach churn, and with a shiver she rotated to the next door. In there she counted six scarlet Boils sitting among the rocks, swollen to the point of throbbing, while three Mr. Mimes traipsed around with skinless heads tugging their bodies around via sinuous, elongated necks. “These things belong in a horror flick,” she hissed, gritting her teeth. Aside from the enemies though, she spotted a familiar sign above the door on the other side. Another shop! With a whole eleven cents burning a hole in her pocket, Nadia wanted to see what was inside.
She turned around to face the group just as the last of her allies entered, that being Sectonia, who being too big to fit through the shaft needed to warp through the tunnel from one floor to the next. “There’s a shop through here!” she called. “I’ll handle this.”
The curious cat stepped inside, and the door slammed shut. Though they lacked eyes to see with, the Mr. Maws whirled to face her and stumbled her way. Rather than wait for them to close in, Nadia made a beeline for one of them, racing on all fours past a couple boils toward a corner that had none. They belched out showers of blood tears at her, but by the time they fell she’d already left them behind, and in just a moment’s time she’d reached her first target. The Mr. Maw launched its head at her with unexpected speed. “Hey now!” she snapped, stopping short to block. “Don’t lose your head!” She jumped and slashed through the extended neck, then airdashed forward to come down with an axe kick on the body. It proved stronger than its counterparts in the Basement, however, and survived to start gushing blood from its neck. Worse still, an awful, raspy snarl from behind her made her ear twitch, and she whirled her head around to see the now-detached Maw floating toward her.
“Ooh, you spoil me.” She raised her arm to drive her elbow into the Maw, then thought better and flipped away from the Gusher she’d created to land on a rock, her brow furrowed. So if I cut the neck, they just become two enemies, she thought. Well, it’s not the only one. With a sweep of her arm she created a Copycat from her blood, which stepped forward to smack the Maw with a headbutt before carving it up. It then raced off to deal with the Boils, while Nadia remained in the Boil-free zone to deal with the bigger issues. She pulled out her chains and jumped, somersaulting through the air like a buzz saw to hack the Gusher apart. When she landed, she held the chains up and swung them in a circle around her not unlike Jesse’s new orbitals. Her anchors struck the Mr. Maws again and again, and even when they broke up into more enemies they just kept walking into Nadia’s blender. Soon enough they gave up the ghost, and the feral checked on her Copycat.
Her doppelganger had eliminated the Boils one by one, methodically pummeling them down into pulp so they couldn’t grow back. With her Copycat heavily damaged and contaminated by the Boils’ filthy blood, she didn’t want it back, so it eventually just melted down. Just one foe remained, and Nadia went after it. She baited a blood shower, then moved in to reduce the last Boil to a stain with a quick combo. A single coin dropped as the doors opened. “All worth it,” Nadia sighed as she collected her loot, then used the key from the big room in the Basement to proceed into the shop.
A stony corpse sat in there, stooped forward as if sleeping with a fire on either side of it. In front lay a heart for three cents, a yellow pill for three, and a glowing prism for fifteen. There also seemed to be a donation machine, but the feral didn’t so much as give it a second glance. “Ooh, some kind of gemstone?” she bubbled excitedly, squatting over the device. If this could light her way in the dark, she’d be set! Unfortunately, she was ‘light’ on cash as well. “Aw, nuts. Only twelve. Just you wait though,” she poked the corpse in its forehead. “I’ll be back when I get fifteen!” With that she turned back to see what the others had gotten up to.
A veritable horde of slavering, eight-legged arachnids descended upon the Seekers, masked by the mists, the grass, and the pitch-black silhouettes they loved to hide in. Just the noise by itself would have been the stuff of nightmares, but while this situation would have been curtains for any other hapless wayfarers, it turned out to not be quite as dire as it first seemed.
The Koopa Troop belted out firepower using a variety of elements, and to their barrage Rubick lent his magical strength. With Primrose’s Peacock Strut elevating their power even further, they laid into the spiders as they swarmed. The destruction of their webs by the gunk-slinging Juniors meant that the weavers could no longer descend through the open air, and with those lines not so easily restrung the heroes quickly cut down on the spiders’ means of approach. This in turn funneled them into more predictable routes. Brain-rattling sound waves and frigid, movement-impairing gusts impeded the crawlers’ advance, and the heroes could begin to secure their position. Once the walls of fire and trenches of paint around them fried the first couple dozen spiders into foul-smelling husks, the horde kept its distance around the Seekers’ dangerous perimeter, surrounding them on all sides but unable to advance. A handful of intrepid arachnids rappelled down from the trees above, but Kamek’s efforts meant that only a couple managed to plop down among the defenders. In short order, they managed to turn an overrun into a standoff, and all things considered the situation didn’t look too bad.
Then Rika shot at the giant spider. There came an odd flash of bright blue that turned to purple and then black, spread out like webbing from where the spider lay, and it disappeared. A brief moment passed, and then another, much brighter flash went off–directly above the Seekers’ encampment. One second later Silitha the Brood Mother slammed down into the Seekers, indiscriminately scattering them, their defenses, and many of her own children. “̴H̸y̶a̴h̵!̴”̸ she shrieked, her voice raspy and garbled. “̷H̶o̵l̸d̵ ̵s̷t̴i̸l̶l̵,̴ ̵l̷i̷t̴t̷l̷e̵ ̷o̸n̷e̵s̸!̴ ̴I̷’̶l̶l̴ ̷m̶a̸k̷e̷ ̵t̵h̷i̷s̶ ̶q̸u̶i̶c̸k̷!̵”̶ She teleported again off to the side, then lunged forward with a double-smash of her forelimbs aimed at Bowser.
Name: Goldlewis Dickinson Game Origin: Guilty Gear Strive Appearance:Goldlewis has light blond hair arranged in a quiff and a thick beard. Though he wears a pair of glasses with the left side blacked out with a lipstick mark, silver bolts and small text on it, both of his blue eyes are functional. He is a large, wide-set man. His outfit consists of a brown military-style jacket laden with badges on the arms and rolled-up sleeves, over a pale light-brown shirt with stars on the collar, a deer skull necklace, and a yellow tie. He wears brown cowboy-style chaps, gray trousers below them, as well as thick boots. His brown, fingerless gloves have horseshoes on the back of the hand. Personality: A reliable man whose presence is a pillar of support to the security and authority of his country, Goldlewis' sincere and good-natured traits have earned the trust of his friends, who know him to be both loyal and funny. He is also well-known for his excellent judgment and ability to lead, based on his extensive combat experience, which has garnered immense popularity. He also seems to be punctual and exacting, expecting the same from his subordinates, as well as quite fearsome when irritated. Although his hobby is searching for and collecting unidentified organisms, Goldlewis doesn't believe in aliens or ghosts, insisting that the coffin he carries around contains a cryptid, even as the entity's features point to it being an extraterrestrial Background: Little is known about his past. Born after his older brother, Goldlewis' career took on a different path. During the Crusades,[note 2] he joined the military to fight the Gear menace and met Colin Vernon, becoming close friends with him. Unlike Vernon, however, Goldlewis remained in the service after the war ended, and would become the first active-duty soldier to serve as the Secretary of Defense in U.S. history, taking the position during the presidency of Erica Bartholomew. Also becoming friends with her, he has become a "mainstay of the nation" remaining in his post after Vernon took over from Erica. Though the details are unknown, at some point he became estranged from his family due to hiding his "true feelings" from them, believing it was for the best.
Security Level - the UMA in Goldlewis' coffin is able to provide him with various items. It is unknown where UMA sources them, how or even if it makes them, but it can offer a seemingly infinite amount of identical and fully-functional items based on what it's given, from everyday objects to ammunition to sophisticated weapons. Its ability to do so, however, is determined by its Security Level. The Security Level rises over time, the time to do so by stages until it reaches Level 3. Providing something to Goldlewis resets the Security Level to 0, and the quality of the item depends on how high the Security Level is; the longer the UMA gets to prepare, the more ammunition its guns will have, the farther its grenades will fly, and so forth
Tension - reserve of magical energy that builds within Goldlewis as he fights. He gains it mostly by attacking, but he can also build a little continuously as long as he’s running toward an enemy, and if he follows after an enemy he’s sent flying a long way he gains Positive Bonus that builds a bunch quickly. However, if backed into a corner for too long or forced to retreat, Negative Penalty will quickly deplete his Tension. Goldlewis can use Tension for Faultless Defense, which negates the chip damage of most attacks while pushing melee attackers back a little bit, or for a Roman Cancel, which allows him to near-instantly reset to a neutral position to act or attack again much faster than he’d usually be able to. He can also move slightly in any direction while canceling
Overdrive- once possessed of at least fifty percent tension, Goldlewis can unleash one of two Overdrives. The first, Down With the System, is his only ‘invincible’ technique and is a coffin uppercut of tremendous power. If given a brief window to wind up, he can make it even stronger, at which point the UMA will add copter grenades to the mix to chase down and blow up whoever Goldlewis launched. His second Overdrive is Burn It Down, in which he uses his glasses’ laser sight to designate a target for orbital laser. The laser is thicker than a barrel and very bright, but doesn’t actually do that much damage; instead, it moves toward Goldlewis, drawing anyone caught up in it toward him as well. It cannot be used indoors
Wall of Light - After alerting the UMA Goldlewis can crack open his upheld coffin to release a flood of blue light, creating a semicircular barrier of interlaid hexagons that covers a large area, because in the future everything is hexes. The shield can withstand projectiles and magic up to and including concentrated gunfire, but enemies can pass through it. Using it slowly drains his Security Level, and it can only be used at maximum Security Level, so it can only be used in bursts
BURST - While in hitstun of any kind, which is to say being hit by anything. Goldlewis can unleash a short-range blast of pure vital energy with several important properties. It instantly stops his movement, it instantly recovers him to an upright position, and while it deals no damage, it also launches any foes struck by the wave a good distance away, even in the middle of their attacks. Goldlewis can also do this in neutral, at which point it becomes a Gold Burst, and if he hits an enemy with a Gold Burst his tension meter instantly fills. In return for all this, Burst takes a while to recharge, especially if it doesn’t hit an enemy. It also leaves him extremely vulnerable if he doesn’t hit an enemy, either by whiffing it or being predicted, since a Burst can be blocked
Heat - Allows Goldlewis to use his shotgauntlets with unlimited ammunition for cartridge-enhanced punching, in particular a couple of moves that engage a special mode. In this mode, he gets increased chip damage for 10 seconds and can use a special Heat Smash move or a very fast Heat Dash cancel, both of which end Heat early. He only gets Heat once per 'round'
Railcannon Fabrication - Provided with schematics by Goldlewis’ fusion with Jack-8, his UMA is now capable of constructing a railcannon with an internal energy source and a high-power thruster at the back. If Goldlewis is at low health, it can fire out a heavy laser that explodes on impact. If he’s in Heat, it can be used in the ‘Meteor Raid’ Heat Smash, in which it’s called down to blow up on a foe Goldlewis knocked down. If used for a Rage Art or Heat Smash a new one has to be fabricated, which takes so long that only one can be made per ‘round’ of combat. Otherwise, it can only be used to fly short distances, or fire small railgun slugs
Shield Charger - allows his coffin to charge up a shield pulse that applies a permanent shield to an ally within 60 meters. This has a 17 second recharge, but the shield it makes is strong, protecting 50% for an ally with average health, 25% for one with high health, and 75% for one with low health
Shield Burst - by slamming down his coffin, Goldlewis can apply a shield to all allies close to him, on a 26 second cooldown. This shield is relatively weak, protecting just 15% for an ally with average health, 7.5% for one with high health, and 30% for one with low health
Strengths:
Superhuman Strength - The physical power Goldlewis possesses is greater even than his incredible musculature might imply. He can lift, carry, and even swing very heavy objects, his punches and headbutts can contend with metal, and his might can guard crush even superhuman opponents
Fighter's Spirit - As someone who fought against Gears and other supernatural foes in his magic-powered world, Goldlewis enjoys a few small but handy benefits. He can jump and maneuver in the air better than a normal person, able to not just double jump, but also airdash either forward or backward once per airtime. While blocking, he also reduces even heavy blows to mere chip damage
Beloved Statesman - Though his days of warfare might be behind him, Goldlewis is ever the soldier, and seldom the politician. He's an astute, smart, and capable leader and fighter, able to rally people together and make the most of them
Boundary Break - empowers Goldlewis and his UMA to perform a special Dust attack. It's an overhead normally, but if it's charged and it hits an opponent, it launches his opponent much, much higher and farther than normal. After launching an opponent with Dust or through a wall, Goldlewis can perform a single super jump to pursue his launched enemy
Gamma Howl - grants access to Jack-8’s Gamma Howl power stance, which can be transitioned to from certain techniques, as well as the techniques specific to Gamma Howl, many of which have useful properties. Gamma Howl can soak a hit, and it becomes Gamma Charge if it does, strengthening the next move used from that stance
Weaknesses:
Lackluster Defense - ironically, the Secretary of Absolute Defense has it pretty bad when he's on the receiving end. His large size and the relative slowness and preciseness of his fastest attacks, together with his lack of meterless reversal or other 'get off me' technique, mean that he can be bullied, especially by nimble or long-ranged opponents. Offense is the best defense, after all
Rock Thrower - poor predictable Goldlewis, always picking rock. In a fight, his game plan is somewhat simple: run all over the opposition and beat them down with oppressive strength. Unlike other large fighters, he lacks either armor on his attacks or potent command grabs, leaving him with just basic mixups plus item use. This means he's susceptible to being counterpicked on paper
Mighty Glacier - putting aside his airdash and double jump, his overall mobility is pretty low. While the sight of Goldlewis running at you can be terrifying, he isn't that fast, he can't jump very high or climb, and he cannot move stealthily or subtly
Feeling Low - makes the frame data on his lows worse overall and gives him a weaker high-low mix game in general
Spirits:
UMA - The creature in the coffin. This entity is capable of providing various items that far surpass the current technological level, and is forced to obey every order and demand from Goldlewis as it seems he has grasped some sort of weakness from it. Seemingly having an indeterminate form, it can shapeshift an arm (or multiple arms) for attacking in conjunction with Goldlewis
Jack-8 - The host’s shoulders are a little broader, and he’s visibly lost some weight. His pompadour is a little higher and his hair a bit more blonde and shiny, while the lips on his glasses now glow bright red with a vertical line through them. His suit is now augmented by hefty black armor, most notable on the shoulders, knees, and forearms, the latter of which is integrated with his gloves to form a set of heavy gauntlets, which have cartridge firing mechanisms built in to empower his punches. They still have horseshoes on the knuckles, and his other pads also feature cow skull designs. His boots are black and much heavier. His personality is slightly more unhinged, and he’s more prone to yelling when fighting, as well as flexing
Hank - The host is a bit shorter, now standing at 6’8”. His proportions are more normalized, though he’s still definitely large. His suit’s color and pattern have changed to blue-green camo, and his shirt is now black, matching his heavy combat boots and armor pads. There are now double lights on each shoulder pad, which can be toggled on and off, and black pouches on his belt. His beard is longer, and his hair now has more of a gradient from dirty blonde near the roots to white at the tips. His glasses are now more like goggles, solid black with special optics that can be flipped down over the lenses, which have five vertical red lines of varying length, roughly shaped like lips. The host’s personality is a bit less humorous and more critical
Inventory:
Communication glyph (able to interface with Black Tech but not psych tech)
Laser pointer glasses
Stopwatch
Handkerchief
Area 51 High Security Coffin (with UMA inside)
Heavy minigun 'Skyfish'
Spiked rotor mine 'Thunderbird'
Airborne Railcannon 'Mothman'
Rubber chicken
Hand mirror
White flag
Origami paper
Name:Sandalphon Game Origin: Dragalia Lost Appearance: As a special kind of dragon known as an Archangel, Sandalphon is much larger than the the average human, standing at seven feet four inches tall and unusually pale of skin. Her hair is short and silver, with curved cowlicks. Her eyes are black, and her neon lime green pupils shaped like power symbols, though they can take other shapes to portray her emotions. Instead of blinking, her pupils flicker. There are gray bags under her eyes. She wears a sleeveless collared white undershirt beneath a white suit vest with black highlights, a black ribbon tie, and as a large white trench coat trimmed with gold, worn off her shoulders. Her white slacks taper down to become high-heeled thighboots. Her nails are lipstick are both gray in color. Her outfit has plenty of pale gold buckles and clasps, as well as five black belts, two each around her thighs. A bright yellow halo with two smaller adjacent halos, all clasped in gold, floats above her head.
Personality: Sandalphon is typically calm, polite, temperate, and professional. Extremely observant and astute, she possesses a high degree of mental acuity and is good at multitasking. As an Archangel, she does have a natural flair for the dramatic, and strives to uphold a certain ‘holy dignity’. Valuing efficiency and speed, she does not hesitate to offer constructive criticism, even to her enemies. She is largely unexpressive but can be comically serious. When it comes to the duties and well-being of her allies she takes her job extremely seriously, assuming full responsibility over operations she directs and the information she distributes. In fact, she’s a severe workaholic who gets very little sleep, and can oftentimes exhaust herself without realizing. She’s not bored, just tired. Perhaps due to this, she’s highly addicted to sugar and caffeine, consuming things such as honey and energy drinks far too much even accounting for her remarkable size.
Background: In the northern reached of the continent of Grastaea lay the grand and prosperous city of Grams, home of the Northern Ilian Church under the leadership of its Pope and Aqueous Auspex, Origa. Within that vast organization there existed no more capable servants of the church than the Apostles, the nation’s elite team of peacekeepers paired with powerful dragons known as Archangels. Time and again, the duos of Nevin and Ramiel, Basileus and Michael, Pinon and Gabriel, Faris and Uriel, Ryszarda and Raphel would take the field to keep their country safe, whether that meant repelling invaders or quelling monsters. None of it would’ve been possible, however, without the Apostles leaders: the legendary pairing of Regina and Sandalphon. Working alongside her sigil-bound human, Sandalphon would direct countless operations, quickly efficiently coordinating and communicating amongst her allies to ensure that the Apostles never knew defeat.
Her career would be sorely tested, however, by the progression of a vile conspiracy. After learning that Xenos the all-powerful Progenitor would eventually escape his eons of imprisonment to erase the concept of possibility, Origa became convinced by the demon Loki that only the revival of Satan, as a demonic being of pure chaos, would be able to stand against the Progenitor’s absolute order. And so she hatched a scheme, working with the power-hungry Graht and vengeful apostle Basileus, to free demons while searching for the Sacred Shard that sealed Satan away. Origa would eventually orchestrate the capture of the Apostles, including her sister Regina after she and Sandalphon began to investigate Basileus, the only ones who would be able to challenge the demon lord. While the apostles ultimately managed to escape and challenged a resurrected Satan alongside their pact-bound dragons, the Archangels were ultimately forced to sacrifice themselves just to slow Satan down enough for Prince Euden of Alberia to arrive with his army and finish the job. Only Sandalphon, among all the Archangels, survived the ordeal. In the aftermath of the conspiracy, she worked with Regina in the hopes of reviving the others until Galeem’s apocalypse.
In the World of Light, Sandalphon’s story began in the Dystopiascape, specifically Midgar’s Sector 01 Plate, Piltover, where she came to be alongside a number of Sankta within the Lateran Church, the primary organized religious establishment within the city. With a unique laid-back attitude and culture with an emphasis on desserts, the Lateran Church also formed the Sector’s (and perhaps the city’s) leading manufacturer of firearms, with all its members mandated to own a patron firearm. Though extremely capable serving as the communications director for the Apostolic Knights, Piltover’s primary defense force, Sandalphon always felt like something of an outcast among the Sankta, owing to her lack of the angelic race’s shared ‘empathy’ ability that allowed them to sense one another’s emotions. Sandalphon would eventually roam beyond Piltover, seeking to take a more proactive role in Midgar’s defense against the Ever Crisis. Distrustful of the Administration and lacking psychic potential, she ended up joining DespoRHado, where she assumed her previous role. A growing familiarity with the PMC’s dark side, however, drove her to try and reform the organization aware from indentured cyborg soldiers and toward sophisticated androids. She would continue this endeavor until armed conflict broke out between DespoRHado and Vandelay Technologies, seeing it -and the Seekers- as a way to dislodge the ineffective and inhumane systems currently in place.
Specialty: Support Sniper Level: 7 Experience: 7/70 Powers:
Angel of Information - Sandalphon is able to create two-dimensional magical projections that essentially form a comprehensive, multi-screen computer system for her personal use, visualizing the information cataloged in her head and fed to her by allies to create readouts, graphs, maps, and more. She can also create miraculous links to her allies, allowing her to project these screens to and communicate with them over long distance. Lastly, she can teleport to anyone linked to her in this manner to support them directly, and back to her original position afterward, albeit only once per mission per person
Angelic Praise - a skill that sends out holy ripples through the ethereal current to all allies within a few hundred feet, healing them all for 51% of their maximum health and healing them an additional 13% ever 3 seconds for the next 15 seconds. If in Coordination Protocol, grants boosts those allies’ strength based on her own. If in Concentration Protocol: Grants the user the "Rapid Analysis" effect, which can stack up to 3 times. This skill is charged through use of Sandalphon's weapon
Angelic Wings - a skill that forms four curved screens that quickly rotate around Sandalphon, building up a circular area of glowing blue lines around her, before the screens launch outward. This divine reconstruction heals all allies within a twenty-foot radius for 120% of their maximum health. If in Coordination Protocol, any such allies with status ailments will be cleansed and have their maximum health boosted by 20%. If in Concentration Protocol, Sandalphon's Shapeshift will be charged by 33%
Vault - allows the host to launch herself high into the air by firing her rifle during an upside-down flip. Vault has an eleven-second cooldown
Shapeshifting - After building up enough power through use of her skills, particularly Angelic Wings in Concentration Protocol, Sandalphon can transform into Heavenly Wings. While in this sixteen-foot-tall stronger form she foregoes long-distance support for close combat, and her skills change to reflect this. Angelic Praise is replaced by Celestial Skewer, which creates an eruption of divine water spears around her and can consume a Rapid Analysis stack to hear nearby allies for 42%. Angelic Wings is replaced by Celestial Castling, which creates a divine star above her that rains down seven rays of frostbite-inducing light. It can also inflict either poison, burn, paralysis, stormlash, flashburn, shadowblight, or scorchrend randomly. It can also consume a stack of Rapid Analysis to heal nearby allies for 42% and refresh Celestial Castling for use
Frost Lock - The power to cast an icy cluster that moves about as fast as a thrown softball. On hit, it detonates in a small area, freezing enemies and machines for 3 seconds. Larger targets take two usages of Frost Lock to be frozen. Large targets also take triple the amount of previous Frost Lock usages to be frozen again. This power has a cooldown of 12 seconds
Process Optimization - Sandalphon can draw out silvery razor wires which can be set or cast and then tightened. Doing slash damage with them increases her skill recharge speed by 30%
External Information Network - Every so often, Sandalphon can scan enemies within a certain area to get their vitals. When she scans enemies, her allies gain a small buff to evasion, elemental resist, and damage reduction for 30 seconds
Headquarter Support Request - Allows Sandalphon to manifest a laser targeting device that can be used to designate an area. After a brief delay, a cluster bomb will be dropped on the area that deals pretty good damage, and inflicts the following debuffs: attack down 10%, elemental resist down 30%, status resist down 30%, and damage taken up 10%, all for 20 seconds. This functions as a skill and must be recharged by attacking; it cannot be used while shapeshifted
At the start of trials, inflicts the "Locked Sigil" debuff on the host for 300 seconds, but grants them the "Preservation Protocol" effect. The user can change which Protocol is active (Preservation, Restoration, or Purification) by announcing its name. These Protocols activate when a Skill is used and provide a defense buff, a health burst, and a status cleanse respectively. These effects will target himself if an offensive skill is used, or the target if a support skill is used. Locked Sigil's remaining time will be reduced by six seconds each time the user uses a Skill and by 18 seconds each time the user removes an affliction from an ally. When the Locked Sigil effect wears off, the user will be granted the "Sigil Released" effect instead. Sigil Released grants the user all three Protocols at once, marked by the appearance of a halo above the host’s head. This covenant is currently established with Zenkichi Hasegawa
Strengths:
Mental Switch - Sandalphon is able to adapt to any situation on the fly, going from backline supporter to frontline fighter in just a moment of mental readjustment. While supporting her allies, she’s using Coordination Protocol, and when going on the offensive, she’s using Concentration Protocol. While this just represents her current mental state, her state of mind does automatically change some of her skills’ effects
Combat Coordinator - Sandalphon is able to perceive and keep track of much more than the typical person, including parsing multiple conversations at once, and has an excellent memory. It’s more difficult to escape her notice, effectively distract her, or take her by surprise, and she’d completely resistant to stuns
Heavensent - As an Archangel, Sandalphon can fall very slowly if she wants, and not take fall damage
Weaknesses:
Delicate - Sandalphon’s defense is very weak, her physical defense especially, so she takes a lot of damage from all sources when not in her angelic Heavenly Wings form
Windbane - Being Water-attuned, she takes extra damage from wind-aspected attacks
Dragonbane - Being a dragon, she takes extra damage from any attacks or weapons noted to be effective against them
Prehistoric Nemesis - All dinosaurs / special reptiles hate her with a burning passion to the point where they’ll attack her on sight
Firebane - Reduces her fire and burn resistance by 30%
Human After All - Reduces her ability to push herself to her bodily limits and work herself like a machine, making her much more easily physically and mentally overwhelmed
Spirits:
Vigilant - The host has gotten only two inches shorter (all exosuits being big enough to fit an adult man comfortably inside). Her white coat now has a hood, a synthetic feel and pattern to it, and three long flaps past the waist rather than a single curtain all the way around. She now has black gloves with light armor of a futuristic metal, which also now adorns the lower legs of her pants/heels, the latter of which now have metal talons on their fronts. There are glowing blue lines on her belts and the clasps are black metal instead of gold ornaments
Parvati and Leanne - the host has shrunk down to an average height of 6’2”. Her skin is very slightly darker, as if lightly tanned. Her hair is a little longer, shoulder length, tied into a short braid in the back, and though predominantly light gray has an auburn gradient toward the tips. The symbols in her eyes are much thicker, as if bolded, and are more of a sea green with a splash of pale red. Her office clothes fit much better; her slightly diaphanous white shirt has sleeves that are a little rolled up, about one-third of her midriff showing, and slacks that are more like capris, dark gray in color but still rather tight. Her shoes resemble high-heeled black boots with both buckles and laces. Her outfit is just silly with black belts everywhere: around her waist, the bottom of her shirt, her thighs, her biceps, atop her chest, and even as suspenders
Inventory:
Gunstaff - An integrated staff-rifle weapon that serves as both a firearm, when held like a rifle, and a casting catalyst when held upright. The modes can be switched between quickly by reorienting the gunstaff, but both modes take a second to spool up before use, the gun by having the staff-head spin up and the staff by glowing up. In rifle mode it fires fast-moving blue energy shots with both good damage and high recoil, best used as a precision weapon. In staff mode it can be planted to create a small Healing Field that heals allies inside it over time. Using the Gunstaff charges Sandalphon’s SP, allowing her to use skills, and she can stock up enough to use three skills
Eye of Sol - The sun took my sight; thus, the sun became my eyes. A futuristic sniper rifle that fires bullets with high stopping power. It has a magazine of 4 shots, high recoil, long range, and an excellent scope. Its adaptive range makes it well-rounded, reliable, and sturdy. Aiming down sights for 1 second grants 35% flinch reduction. Reload, range, and accuracy are increased when no targets are in close proximity
Aether Lance - a high-tech staff designed for use by the Skywave exosuit. Requiring no ammunition or power, it can be twirled to lob energy orbs that explode in an AoE with a 3-foot diameter on impact, doing minor damage to enemies and restoring a little health to allies
“Oh, you can see it?” Jessica took the question meant for Goldlewis, courtesy of Raz. “You must be psychically sensitive. I can’t myself, but I’ve heard that whatever’s up there is due to a number of defunct Vision projectors. Nothing to worry about.”
Once the SOU personnel said their part, Midna explained her abilities, including her incredible talent for storage. “That’s a very good card to have in our hand,” Jessica remarked. “I could easily see it becoming the cornerstone of a well-laid plan or two.” That opened the floor for the other Seekers to chime in with their own capabilities, including Tora and Poppi. While that amounted to far too much to keep comprehensive track of, the team’s new allies filed away relevant bits of information as it came to them.
Before the former conversation could resume, one of the newer members fixated on a name a twin mentioned earlier. Though it passed everyone else by, that name held special significance to Raiden, so he didn’t plan to sit idly by and let its invocation slide. The others noted his instant change in attitude, like a dog raising its hackles, and just like that the conversation’s shift toward a more genial tone dissolved away.
“Leaders of Desporhado…” Goldlewis leaned forward enough to put his elbows on the table and rest his chin in his hand. “They ain’t public-facin’ like Psych-OSF, so they mostly keep to themselves. Still, whenever big-time Machines show up and the grunts can’t handle it, it’s the same couple o’ elite units that head out to shut ‘em down, and the Crows never turn down a good story.”
M took it from there. “Desporhado withholds the names of its operatives, but the appellations given and popularized by the press work well enough. Khamsin, Mistral, Monsoon, Jetstream, and Sundowner. They’re all elusive, powerful, and like the Septentrions, fused.”
“Wait, fused?” Peach asked, surprised at the mention and almost panicked when Giovanna confirmed it. “As in spirit fusion? There are fusions in Midgar? And how!? We only know because of the Master of Masters!”
Giovanna smiled smugly. “Mhm. You’re looking at one, in fact. I didn’t always look like this, although me and the lady I ended up taking on did have a lot in common.” After flipping her braid, she let her tone grow more serious. “Sorry, but we don’t know where, when, or how the procedure originated, except that it began with the government. Its existence isn’t the best-kept secret, but it’s harshly criminalized. Only the police and military are exempt. It's for the strong, to make them even stronger.” She jokingly flexed her arm and smirked. “Even if it isn’t much of a secret to you guys, I’m still spilling the beans here, so don’t sell me out, ‘kay?”
By that time Raiden had presented his red-bladed sword. He offered a description too vague for those present, who lacked detailed information on the PMC, to identify as one of Desporhado’s seldom-glimpsed elites. After that, though, Raiden offered a little of what he knew alongside his express condemnation, but his thoughts did not seem to make any waves among those present.
“Looking at it from a different perspective,” Jessica observed. “Thanks to the Ever Crisis, Midgar is already embroiled in a constant and bitter war. If what you say is true, maybe Desporhado already has exactly what it wants.”
Raiden proceeded to put forward a suggestion, but what began as a proposition quickly turned into both an announcement and a threat. All eyes fell on Raiden; Giovanna in particular straightened up in her chair, her face stony, and beneath her Rei perked up in response. It was Goldlewis, however, that spoke first.
“Ya better watch your tone, son,” he told the cyborg, rising to his feet with his hands planted on the table. “Ya wouldn’t want anyone gettin’ cross with ya now, do ya? ‘Fore we go any further, lemme tell ya one thing. We’re all on the same team here, ‘cause we share the same goal. That means everyone’s wellbein’ is priority number one. It’d be a shame if any damn fools ran off an’ got ‘emselves killed, but the real problem is gettin’ caught. Just by sittin’ at this here table, ya already done seen an’ heard more than enough to put the lives of everyone here in jeopardy if ya went off alone an’ ran your mouth, or got caught by the G-men. That ain’t a chance I wanna take. So unless you plan on raisin’ hell, I reckon ya got another think comin’.”
Goldlewis took a deep breath and sat back down with a stormy look on his face. Once Raiden better understood the situation he now found himself in, the group discussion could continue. The Twilight Princess went on to share her thoughts on the new information she received. Doing so gave the others a chance to come to their own conclusions as well; even if massive pieces of the puzzle remained missing, a lot of new information was already in play. Her first proposition was to enlist the help of Avalanche, which had both its pros and its cons.
“Not the worst pick,” Giovanna conceded, her guard lowering again bit by bit. “Being in a tight spot nowadays, they’d have a tough time turning down whatever help they can get. Operations with them might stay under the radar enough to escape the government’s notice, too. But because they’re a small group, we might not get much from a partnership. Low risk isn’t worth lower reward.” She cracked a slight smile once she heard Geralt’s opinions on the Hermits. “Right you are. They say the Hermits have the black market cornered wherever they can be found.”
Next, Midna suggested enrollment in Neuron. Jessica adjusted her glasses as she thought about it. “That option crossed our minds as well, although Giovanna and Goldlewis are too well-known. You might be able to join them, however. No psionic abilities needed; Neuron officers are mostly just well-armed policemen. Those spotted fighting Chimeras are just the cream of the crop.”
“It’s worth noting that I did say ‘naked’ eye earlier,” N added. “Other methods of extrasensory perception are able to sense Chimeras too, to some degree. Those with Clairvoyance excel at it, for instance, but most psionics can get a bead on them. Neuron is simply specialized for it.” He nodded at Geralt. “That method of yours might be worth a try. And psychic power is by no means a requirement when it comes to fighting Others.”
Lastly, Midna put forth the idea of creating an official cohort of the Seekers’ own to rival those in Midgar. Goldlewis nodded. “It’s a good idea in theory. Goin’ legit. Strength is somethin’ everyone respects, and you can get real popular by playin’ the press. Buildin’ up renown an’ influence in Midgar, ‘specially by fightin’ the enemy, will do a lot for ya. Thing is…well, it’ll be tough as hell. Takes a whole mountain of time, patience, and money to even get through the bureaucracy it takes to get started, and if you ain’t official you’d be lucky if ya didn’t get branded as terrorists yourselves.” He shrugged, leaned back, and crossed his arms. “But hey, if ya still wanna go your own way, this here Sector ain’t a bad one to start in.”
“That remind me!” Tora piped up. “Sector this, Midgar that. Tora not understand. Where even are we right now? Tora need see big picture for moment!”
Jessica laughed through her nose. “Right, I suppose we glossed over that. Here.” She put up an interactable display of Midgar on the laptop. “I’ll give you all the short version. Midgar is divided into eight sectors. Each one includes both the plate, the upper section, and the lower section, the slums. That makes sixteen distinct city districts, each one with their own…flavor, let’s say.” She proceeded to skim through them one by one.
“Sector 1 is the most fantastical one. The only place in all of Midgar you’ll find magic and magitech. It’s the farthest from the Valley of Ruin and is a different beast compared to the rest of Midgar. Piltover up top is a center for invention and art, while Zaun down below is a polluted alchemical mess.”
“Sector 2 is the quirky one. Spacious but hard to traverse. Hekseville is the city’s aeronautics and space center, a haven for sophisticates and geniuses practically floating in the sky itself, while Lei Legona hangs beneath the plate, the squalid and dangerous Houseboat Fleet.”
“Sector 3 is the home of the brain. In most of Midgar the psycho-sensitive population is around forty to fifty percent, that jumps up to ninety-nine-point-nine percent in this sector. It’s also called Vision Town thanks to the psychic projections that completely blanket it; it’s a completely different world from what ‘duds’ like us see.” Jessica said that word with an ever-so-slight edge. “The Plate is called Suoh. The Otherlobe is there, and Suoh Tower, the source of Psynet. Beneath is Seiran. A waterbound array of skyscrapers all the way up to the plate, it’s seen as ‘holding up’ Suoh.”
“Sector 4 is computer central. Right next to the sector of psychotechnology is the sector of cybernetics and digital media. It’s regarded as the best Sector for the rich, even in Night City, which is the lower portion, but also the worst for the poor, even up above in Veles. Neuron has their hands full.”
“Sector 5 is wildly different. Its lower section, Paris is a colossal heap, ranging from the decrepit tunnels of Deep-Paris all the way up to the grasping towers of Neo-Paris, just below the plate. I forgot to mention it earlier, but that’s where the Errorists are. A radical group against psychic technology. The plate itself is the City of Glass, a beautiful but dangerous surveillance state.” Jessica glanced around. “I mean, there are camera clusters everywhere in the city, and they can all record sound, but it’s the worst in the City of Glass, where the rich and powerful lord over even other plates in their sparkling skyscrapers.”
“Ahem, anyway. Sector 6 is the major commercial district. On top you’ve got the Megafloat with its Golden Saucer, rising up from a gigantic network of markets and malls. Down below is Casino Night, home of gambling and the infamous Wall Market, where you can get or do just about whatever you want for the right price.”
“Sector 7 is where we are. It’s pretty normal, all things considered. More open skies, less weird stuff going on, about as quiet as Sector 2. The plate is simply the District, with lots of residential zoning, and underneath we just have the Slums, with many junkyards and salvage operations.”
“Finally, Sector 8 is a jam-packed urban sector. The plate, Inkopolis, is up there with Suoh in terms of trendiness and approachability. It’s the sports hub, and where most of the city’s nonhumans live. Down below is Detroit, a bustling industrial zone of metal and machines with Desporhado’s Bunker in the middle of it all.”
While Jessica gave her voice a rest, Giovanna answered the Witcher’s last question as best she could. “I’m afraid I don’t know anyone matching that description, but I’ll make sure Bridges knows to keep an eye out for your daughter, mister. They say anything can be found in Midgar, so…hopefully that applies to this Ciri, as well.”
By that time, Poppi had thought of her questions. “Excuse me. Can you tell us more about the Septentrions? Including their names, if you know them.” she asked.
“They are the seven most powerful members of Psych-OSF,” N replied. He glanced at Raz. “You said something earlier that I missed replying to, right? This might answer your question. While Chief Zanotto is in charge, the Septentrions are the public face of the organization, and for many, the Midgar war effort itself. Each commands a platoon of five that stand out over the rank-and-file psy-ops and p-types. Though they don’t all care about the limelight, they’re as much celebrities as they are soldiers, more popular and respected than most politicians, so we do know their names. Major General Karen Travers and Major General Fubuki Spring stand at the top, and the others are Colonel Sasha Nein, Colonel Camilla Vodello, Captain Seto Narukami, Captain Morceau Oleander, and Captain Kyoka Eden.”
No names rang a bell for Poppi, but she did not regret asking, and it sounded like Raz might know a thing or two. “You mentioned sky rails as means to get around,” she said to M. “Is that a form of train?”
“No, no.” If he weren’t such a stoic, the doctor might have chuckled at the misunderstanding. “They are literally metal rails that wind through the sky, connecting buildings and even plates. ‘Sky-line’ is probably the better term. People can use sky-hooks to ride them via magnetism, or grind along the top. They were intended for freight rather than people and are risky, but they’re also free and hard to monitor, barring the odd gang stirring up trouble. As such, they’re also rarer in higher-class areas.”
“What about other means of transportation?” Poppi added.
M put his hands in his pocket. “There are actual trains, as well as countless roads and a large highway network. The trains mostly run between the two levels, carrying workers back and forth. If you want to use public transportation, you’ll need these.” He held up a hand to reveal a sleek wristband. “GridLinks. The government likes people to stay where they belong, so traffic between plates -and especially between levels- is observed and tracked. ‘Links are just fancy IDs, although they include financial standing and a few other choice details. They’re easy to falsify, at least, if you know the right people. But it might be for the best if you got your own cars. The two cars we have in the parking garage next door won’t cut it, even if they weren’t registered to us.”
“And…” Poppi offered her third question. “Since you’re the experts in Midgar, what would you recommend we do?”
As she expected, it wasn’t something that Goldlewis and the others failed to consider. The Secretary of Absolute Defense replied after a moment. “Well, I think Ms. Midna and Raz both brought up good points. If the Guardian’s really here, as the lady in black implied, it ain’t much of a stretch to assume that it’s connected to the Ever Crisis. Might even be the ‘source’ she mentioned. That means in order to get to the bottom of it all without the Administration breathin’ down yer necks all the damn time, the best thing to do would be to join the fight, either with Neuron or the ‘OSF. Strut yer stuff and climb up the ranks, the more public the better. Get in close with the people on the front lines and see what y’all can hear, both about the Ever Crisis and the government. Maybe even turn ‘em to your side. All without stirrin’ up trouble and gettin’ targeted by the government.”
“Jeez, you make it sound easy,” Giovanna laughed. She then addressed the Seekers as well. “You came at a good time. We’re in an election cycle, and the vote’s in just a couple weeks. The big debate’s tomorrow night, and you won’t want to miss it. You’ll be able to get an idea of who’s running things around here, and who might be if the people lean their way.”
“Excuse me.” Quiet for most of the proceedings so far, Peach finally thought of something to ask. “You mentioned forecasting in order to predict Other attacks. What’s the weather like today?”
N pursued his lips as he crossed his arms. “Hmm. Last I checked…cloudy. Scattered showers possible over Sectors 2 and 3 into the evening. The Scarlet Guardians are on patrol.”
As additional notes about the Binding of Isaac floors: the rooms represent the enemies found in each room and their approximate amounts in relation to one another, but not their exact amount. So it isn't a single Mulligan in the room to the left; it's a group of Mulligans. Also, we're treating the enemies as scaled to an Isaac that's three feet tall. So Fatties are five feet tall, spiders and flies are as big as birds, and so on.
I'm trying out something new for the Binding of Isaac floors. Everyone in that group can take turns claiming a couple of the rooms on the current floor and take care of them in their own posts in the order they come, referring to the wiki page for details on the enemies. You can handle the rooms yourself, collab with another player in the group, or collab with me if you want. At the start things are definitely on the easier side, but the deeper we go the harder it'll get, and the more non-Isaac enemies we'll run into. Once you make your claims, I can send you info on anything special in those rooms as well as item rewards, as well as the reward in the item room for whoever finds a key. When we reach the miniboss we should definitely work together on that post, though it probably won't be that much longer than a normal room encounter.
My plan is to spend a week on each floor, and at the end of the month we'll fight the boss together. This format is supported by the fact that room doors close just a moment after anyone steps inside until the encounter is cleared, giving only one or two characters a chance to get inside before they do. Sound good?
Once it fully sank in that he wouldn’t be facing another life-or-death situation, at least for a little while, Tora could finally relax. No more peeping eyes or flashing cameras, no more decidedly unfriendly G-men on his back, no more far-flung enemy magic, and no deadly bullets. If another ambush had been in the cards, the best time to pull it off would have been while the cargobob remained airborne and the whole crew downed with just a few well-placed missiles, and this hideout seemed refreshingly boring. The Nopon could just sit himself down in a cushioned office chair that neither rattled nor shook, and instead of a chorus of growly engines, the whiny clatter of a subway train across the rails, or the headache-inducing thrum of helicopter rotors, he could enjoy the soft and cheerful music playing from a stereo in the background as the discussion got underway.
Naturally, Poppi appreciated the change as well, not least because it allowed her to replenish her spent ether at a leisurely pace without the need of overclocking, but she didn’t relax quite as much as her Masterpon. Just an hour had passed since her intrepid band of heroes set foot in the Dystopiascape, fresh from the frying pan and into the fire; so much had already happened that her memory banks were just about fried trying to categorize and collate it all. A dozen questions sprang to mind. Just who were these people who’d evidently taken great pains to help the Seekers? What were the G-men really, who did they work for, and why did they seem to be after her team? The advent of the Consuls had made it clear to her that the nature of her mission had changed. No longer were they simply on a classic quest to find and slay a few specific monsters. They now had an enemy, and anything at all on the road set before them could be due to the machinations of their new foes. So despite everything she wanted to know, Poppi kept quiet alongside Tora at the meeting table, sorting through her own thoughts so that when her turn came she wouldn’t just be asking any old questions, but the right ones.
Roxas took the Seekers’ new friends up on their offers first, recovered enough from his stunt with Benedict to burn with curiosity. Tora had completely forgotten that, six days ago, the Master of Masters used a keyblade in order to free a girl from Galeem without a friend heart. Of course, that sequence of events transpired mere minutes after he ‘came to’ himself, and pretty much everything that first day ended up being a blur. Well, everything except Cooking Mama’s dinner in Peach’s Castle. Tora wondered when he’d be able to pay that angelic lady another visit, but if that map in Alcamoth represented the continent with any degree of truth, the Mushroom Kingdom now lay half a World of Light away. Poppi, meanwhile, never saw that event to begin with. She just counted herself happy to see that Roxas would be okay.
After an uneasy moment of silence Giovanna spoke up to reply, scratching her head in a less-than-comfortable manner. “If one grabs you, you appear in some sort of dark room. Everything’s pitch black except one window, and you can see their shadows in front of it. Once you’re in there, they grill you with questions, whatever they want to know when they take you in. There’s this…heavy pressure in there. It hurts, and the longer you’re in there the more damage you take. If they can’t be sure you know anything they’ll turn you loose pretty fast, but if they know you do they’ll keep you in there as long as it takes for you to crack. So…you know. Don’t get caught.”
“Think of them as having an alert level,” Jessica advised. “The more suspicious stuff you do with them knowing, the higher it’ll be, and the more insistent they’ll be with the questioning. Get to full alert, and they’ll probably let you die before they let you go. So be careful if they’re around. There’s a flipside, though. If you get caught at low alert, you might learn more from their questions than they learn from you before they give up and spit you out. It’s a risky gamble, but if you’re out of clues, who knows.”
When Roxas asked his second question, Goldlewis snapped his fingers, suddenly pepped up. “Now that ya mention it, son, I have! On the way back from Al Mamoon, an uninvited guest showed up in our chopper. Spooked us somethin’ fierce, but she said she didn’t mean any harm, and I saw she had the same coat as that burger-lovin’ gal we met at dinner.” He glanced at Tora and Poppi for confirmation, and the two nodded. The sight of Ram snatched by Goldlewis from the shadows when she took the diners by surprise wasn’t something either would forget. “So I figured it didn’t hurt to at least hear her out,” the cryptid hunter continued, “This new lady said her name was, uh, Zato I think, which makes two Zatos I know of, funny enough. Said she’s been keepin’ an eye on Midgar tryin’ to figure out where the Guardian is, but she can’t go in ‘cause the feds can track her through Psynet.” He shrugged helplessly as if to say of course. “Knowin’ how far they’re goin’ to monitor folks, I reckon she’s tellin’ the truth, too. She said she’d be layin’ low in the forest outside the city, but in the meantime, we oughta ‘look for the source’. Hopefully that makes more sense for you folks than it does for me.”
Next, Geralt posed his question, and sure enough the quick-witted Witcher got straight to the heart of the matter. “Where to begin?” Dr. N began with a wry smile. “As the name implies, the Ever Crisis is the biggest ongoing problem the city faces. It’s a…strange war, to put it simply, that’s been raging as long as Midgar has been here. We have been under continuous siege from three distinct enemy ’kinds’.”
While he spoke, his twin hooked his laptop up to the meeting table’s projector, and once N turned on the screen on one wall it displayed an informational readout of the three different groups. “First are the Machines,” N told everyone. “These robots are manufactured en masse from hidden factories out in the Valley of Ruins and attack in droves. Though straightforward compared to the other factions, they possess the weaponry, numbers, and the intelligence to pose a serious threat. Over time they have continued to develop better ways of waging war, and the energy siphoned from living things by their beetle drones fuel their never-ending crusade.”
“Next are the Others.” The doctor drew everyone’s attention to a handful of unsettling creatures, alien in appearance despite being composite of familiar things. “Precious little is known about them, but they appear from the Extinction Belt in the sky.” Outside the window, the oily-looking atmosphere continued to fluctuate with subtle colors. “We can more or less predict when their attacks will come with weather forecasting, but they are extremely vicious monsters. They ravenously seek to devour human brains.”
N then pointed out a single humanoid enemy. “Last but not least: the Chimeras. They originate from the Astral Plane, another dimension outside our own. While not as numerous as the other two forces, they are the most dangerous. Ruptures can appear almost anywhere and at any time, and worse still, all Chimeras are invisible to the naked eye. Furthermore, their very presence seemingly infects their surroundings with Red Matter. This effect slowly worsens in living things, leading to the sickness known as Redshift. Which is a massive can of worms in and of itself.” His expression grave, N moved to exchange places with his brother. “That makes them the Ever Crisis’ greatest, and hardest to deal with, threat.”
Goldlewis stroked his whiskers, his brows furrowed. “Keep in mind, the enemies of all three kinds come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with different weapons and abilities. If you’re gonna be fightin’ ‘em, and ya probably will, you’re gonna have to be smart and flexible.”
“Fortunately, humanity has a few cards up its own sleeve in its fight for survival,” M began, nodding at Pit as he took the stage. “And not just a militia, no. Midgar has an army, divided into three parts to mirror the Ever Crisis itself.” When N put up a new display, it featured three different symbols, one much larger than the other two. “The biggest is Psych-OSF. Often called the Scarlet Guardians by the press. It’s a massive military organization of psionics who weaponize the human brain and fight with a variety of powers thanks to the SAS. Their Septentrions are as much celebrities as they are super-soldiers. They can take on all three kinds, but they work best against the Others.”
“Number two is Desporhado Enforcement. It is by far the most powerful private military company in Midgar, and is contracted with the government. Enlisting has been a last resort for many who have no other way to make ends meet, or nowhere else to go in society. It specializes in cyborg and android soldiers, spearheading the technological arms race against the Machines.”
“Last is Neuron. It’s the smallest of the three armies, and it mostly functions as an auxiliary police force to cover the ground that the Public Security Division can’t or won’t. Its officers are also held in better regard, but they still ultimately answer to the government and do cooperate with the General Affairs Division. Notably, thanks to some semi-recent clandestine developments, they’re also the best-equipped to take on Chimeras.”
After the conclusion of the twins’ high-level rundown of players in the Ever Crisis, Pit brought up a different organization. Jessica nodded. “Bridges, yes. We’re lucky to count them among our few allies. It’s ostensibly a delivery service that works for the government, a sort of federal express, but their lack of perceived importance also grants them enough autonomy to do what they really want: making connections.” She adjusted her glasses. “Although, the gentleman you mentioned, Deadman. He is a doctor who works for Bridges, not its leader. That duty falls to Die-Hardman.”
Blazermate’s question, however, took her and the twins by surprise. “Japan…?”
“It’s been like that,” Giovanna said bluntly. “Destroyed by Justice the day she declared war on humanity. Well, in my world, at least. If it’s not that, none of us have any idea.” She shrugged, then raised an eyebrow at the secondary question. “Like you? Dunno. There’s lots of stuff in Midgar. I guess if you’re looking for a type of robot, you might have better luck in Sector 4 Lower.” She glanced at Blazermate, nonplussed. “Are Medabots important for the mission or something?”
Jessica took it upon herself to reply to Susie. “There are more corporations in Midgar than any of us can count. But the Shinra Electric Power Company is practically synonymous with the government at this point.”
When Bede asked about Pokemon, Giovanna tried to answer. “Yeah, I don’t know any ‘Pokemon’, but I’m guessing they’re creatures of some kind. Are those important for finding the Guardian, too? Well, Midgar isn’t exactly a nature preserve. But I’m sure you can find all sorts of animals if you look hard enough, especially around the reservoir beneath Sectors 1 and 2.”
“One thing am wondering,” Tora piped up. “This city much bigger than any Tora ever see, or even imagine. Where it power come from, meh?”
“Midgar runs on Mako energy,” Jessica told him. “It’s extracted from the ground and refined in the city’s eight Mako reactors. They are the crux of Shinra Electric Power Company’s dominion, but there’s no alternative for a city of this scale.”
Then Karin greeted Goldlewis, and the conversation turned back from personal interests to the bigger picture. She asked a number of pertinent questions about the city’s governance, and the former Secretary of Defense did his best to answer. “Well, on the box it’s a democracy. People vote for president, and all eight plates have two councilors to represent ‘em. In practice, though, it boils down to corporatocracy, with Shinra and his board of directors on top. The climate is…well, I reckon ‘tense’ is undersellin’ it some. What with the Ever Crisis and all, things’re tumultuous even in the best of times. Between the General Affairs Division on the prowl, the police, the all-important military, and good old-fashioned info control, the Administration has all the power. Meanwhile, ordinary people are just tryin’ to make it through the day.”
He considered alternatives to the Administration. “Desporhado is its own thing, but without needin’ to be accountable to the public, they’re even shadier. There are countless other PMCs and groups of varyin’ legitimacy, all the way down to crime syndicates. So even if most people ain’t happy with how things are, even inside the government, ya gotta think real hard about who ya trust. Sure, there’s fringe groups, but even the ones that ain’t just terrorists got their own agenda. We’ve been reluctant to jump in bed with any of ‘em, and if it comes down to workin’ with one, we’d better watch our backs while we’re at it.” Goldlewis removed his glasses to rub his eyes with his palms. “‘Til we figure out who to trust, it’s just us and Bridges. And if the Shinra group decides you’re a threat, it won’t just be the Turks and their G-men after ya. Psych-OSF, Neuron, the works.”
“And when he says ‘just us and Bridges’ he means it,” Giovanna added. “When Vernon resigned, it wasn’t exactly a political schism. All he got were a couple old friends and loyal dogs.” She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, leaning back so far that her chair creaked beneath her. “There aren’t any other official factions or parties in the government. Just those loyal to the Administration, and those who aren’t. Luckily, there’s no shortage of places to hide in Midgar.”
Frowning, Jessica peered at Sakura. “That’s an extremely broad question. Fighting any of the three kinds would be doing everyone in Midgar a service, but I’m sure you figured that out already. I’m sure the Administration would appreciate it if you took down some insurrectionists for them, but of course the Administration isn’t squeaky-clean as well. But outside of fighting monsters, brute force won’t get you very far. Everything is complicated; if things were black and white, this region would probably be called the Utopiascape.”
Next, Midna asked more details about Midgar’s military. Having given an introduction to all three branches, M proceeded to delve a little deeper. “While the three branches are large, Psych-OSF in particular, internal security mostly falls to Neuron and the Turks -that is, the General Affairs Division- and naturally they can’t be everywhere at once. So, it shouldn’t be too difficult to move around undetected, especially if you travel by sky rail.”
“Y’all might not need to worry that much though,” Goldlewis told the group after the subject of disguises came up. “Capturin’ that Turk without gettin’ caught yourselves was a real stroke of luck. G-men are strong, but they ain’t the sharpest tools in the shed, and without concrete details or a commandin’ officer they won’t be any use when it comes to profilin’ ya. So for now, you’re home free. Might not even bat an eye if ya tried enlistin’ in one o’ the branches.”
“Speaking of.” Peach stood up and approached Benedict. “Sir. I’m sorry for the rough treatment earlier. We were all in a tight spot, and had to make quick decisions. We don’t know you nor your principles, but please know that our mission is for the sake of everyone, not just in Midgar, but all the worlds. We don’t mean to cause chaos or dismantle the government. Just to find a monster called the Guardian and destroy it, so that we’re one step closer to stopping Galeem, and ending its cruel dominion. You don’t have to help or even agree with us, but I hope you understand.”
In the silence that followed, M held up his finger. “Oh, and as for their bases of operation. The headquarters of Psych-OSF is the Otherlobe, in Sector 3 Plate, Suoh. Desporhado’s is the Bunker, in Sector 8 Lower, Detroit. Neuron’s headquarters is in Veles, the Plate for Sector 4. The first two use a military command structure, while Neuron has a typical police organization. The General Affairs Division is headquartered at the Shinra building in the very center of Midgar.”
When Midna asked about rebels, Jessica answered him. “Very well then. There are a number of covert rebel groups that the Administration calls ‘insurrectionist’. But their goals and ideals are all different, including whether or not they actually mean to overthrow the government, and facts are scarce. Here is what we know.”
The twins helped provide visuals for her rundown. “First is Avalanche, a group of well-armed eco-terrorists who despair the use of mako energy, claiming that it harms the planet. They’re condemned by the government for their violent methods, their lack of proposed alternatives, and the resurgence of nature around the city that supposedly disproves their claims. However, they seem determined to soldier on.”
“The Hermits. They’re a rebellious gang who steal and horde weapons and technology for unknown purposes, ostensibly to protect their homes and neighborhoods, although they do commit various crimes. They hide in the city slums where the police seldom visit.”
“The most dangerous group is Reunion. They are an extremist paramilitary organization whose personnel are all Redshifting. Their stated mission is to end all descrimination against and oppression of the infected, which includes overthrowing the Administration. Widely feared, they conduct sorties into the city but reside in the wilderness outside Midgar, attacking any soldiers or kinds they run into like wild animals.”
“And that’s just those few groups bold enough to give themselves names.” Jessica closed her laptop with a shake of her head. “There are many dissatisfied with the state of Midgar, even discounting the Ever Crisis, on both sides of the law. Dissidents in Seiran for instance. They’re understandably hard to find, and harder still to deal with.”
Goldlewis replaced his spectacles with a grunt. “All that said, with y’all here we might be able to make some real progress. Find folks who wanna set things right, give ‘em some hope and courage, and bring ‘em into the fold.”
At Midna’s final question, Goldlewis gave a dry chuckle. “Boy howdy, we could use that optimism of yours, missie. War with Midgar is Impossible. They got every advantage there is, from numbers to resources to powers. All we got is our wits and the fact they don’t know what we’re up to yet. Much as I hate to say it, we’re like bugs crawlin’ ‘round in the dark, and they got a whole army’s worth of boots to squash us.”
“Hah,” Giovanna laughed. “He sure doesn’t beat around the bush, huh? At the very least, he and I are pretty sweet fighters, if I do say so myself. One-on-one, we could give probably even give Septentrions a run for their money.” She wore a casual yet confident smile. “As for powers, I guess I’m just fast and skillful. Got some gadgets in this suit, and Rei here fights alongside me.” She stroked her wolf spirit’s ears, much to Rei’s delight.
“I can swing this coffin around pretty good.” Goldlewis nodded at his unconventional armament. “The cryptid I got in there helps me out, too. Got all sorts of doodads it gives me to use. Say howdy, U.M.A.” The coffin door slid open to give a brief peek at a cosmological abyss within. An almost gelatinous arm, much longer than a human’s, appeared from inside to deposit an origami flower on the table before withdrawing. Unfazed, Goldlewis then looked around at the group. “Feel free to tell us what y’all got cookin’ in the power department, too. We ain’t got SAS, but I’m sure it’ll help.”
“Hmm~” Nadia murmured as she pored over the map. “Decisions, decisions, huh?” She made sure that everyone else who wanted to got a chance to look at the map. Out of all the paths that branched off from the Ruins, though, she kept her eyes on a vertical route that lay directly underneath it. “Check this out,” she said, drawing the others' attention to it. “‘The Basement’. Based on the map, it looks like the way down is hidden beneath a treasure chest just down this way!” She turned her seafoam-green peepers down the lower eastward tunnel, where traces of wood began to crop up among the walls of purple stone and fossilized shell, then nudged Therion. “‘Course, us cat burglars purr-obably woulda popped open any chests we got our eyes on and found the secret passage anyway, but now we know for sure. If I were a bad guy wantin’ to keep my super-important masks outta the heroes’ hands, I’d hide the way in behind a trap door. It’d be in our best in-chests to check it out!”
Before anyone could commit to a decision, the Adventurer made his descent. So far the feral didn’t really know what to make of him; since meeting him on the way down he mostly kept to himself, and after the fall through the Chasm he didn’t seem like he was ‘all there’. While he appeared to be following along for now, did he even know about Galeem? Well, if he wanted exposition he could go find Kamek or somebody. Nadia had a job to do. Like her the Adventurer made no small amount of commotion on his way down, but unlike her he happened to bring a few ornery Gruzzer flies with him, and where he killed them made all the difference. Their deaths aroused the rancor of a much larger fly, who pushed through a crevasse from a neighboring chamber to buzz the newcomers’ way, ponderous and filled with ill intent.
As the Gruz Mother went on the offensive, slamming its fat body between the floor and the platforms above like a giant pinball, the Adventurer fought back. Still lacking personal storage space, Nadia stuffed the map into her hoodie pocket and hurried back the way she’d come. She watched the Adventurer land a couple good hits as she closed the distance, but the Gruz Mother’s brutally simple assault and a couple hazardous Gruzzers nearby left him at a disadvantage. Luckily, help came his way long before Nadia got in range to join the fight. Ganondorf suddenly appeared from above, having descended through the spacious crossroads cavity with such alacrity that not even Nadia noticed him coming, and once on the ground he dealt the foul family a savage sneak attack. The big bugs wheeled around to engage him, but Ganondorf held his ground and timed it right to cave the Gruz Mother’s face in with an explosive fistful of dark magic.
The Gruz Mother hit the ground with a tremendous PLOP, and as the sound echoed through the crossroads its flabby body sagged to the ground. Nadia came to a stop nearby, a little disappointed by the warlord’s decisive victory. Tearing into that overgrown pest would have been cathartic, but now it lay dead on the floor. Dead, and…quivering? The fly-related quip on the tip of Nadia’s tongue went unused as the sudden contortion of the Gruz Mother’s body made her realize that the fight wasn’t over just yet. After a moment the bloated insect’s belly burst open in a shower of viscous goo that rained down over the Adventurer and Ganondorf, allowing a bunch of newborn Gruzzers to escape, still shiny and wet from their dead mother’s womb..
“Ugh!” Nadia groaned, repulsed by the smell as much as the sight. Suddenly she didn’t really want to touch them anymore, even to kill them, but as the flies spread out she knew that she needed to do something. The feral spotted the remains of a wrought-iron fence that the Gruz Mother destroyed while slamming around and got an idea. She scampered over and seized two of the metal posts to brandish like swords, then ran around the room’s raised central dias to kill as many of the bugs as she could. She batted at them like piñatas, taking only a couple good whacks to crumple the oversized flies like soda cans, or pierced them straight through with her metal spikes and then hurled them off. Whether or not the others joined in the slaughter, the new generation did not last long. “Aaalrighty then!” Nadia dropped her gunked-up makeshift weapons with a double clang and dusted her hands. “Can’t unsee that, but we did the next best thing, huh?”
Sectonia, who unabashedly abstained from the fight, wasted no time asking Nadia to help her with her loot. She brought out a monstrous trunk for her to use, saying a number of things that left a sour taste in Nadia’s mouth. “I do not care to,” she told Sectonia, turning up her nose at the freaky Symbol of Avarice. Even from a purely practical standpoint she stood to gain little given her limited proficiencies and overall light equip load, but Nadia wasn’t one to ignore her feelings. “I like my life force right where it is, gracias. Fightin’ together once doesn’t make ya my boss, so why dontcha give your new ‘minions’ the ‘privilege’?” She cast a dubious look at the monsters that Sectonia enslaved, then turned to go. While not egotistical, Nadia Fortune liked being condescended to by snooty royals as much as the next girl–which was to say, not at all. It’d take more than an aristocratic ego and expectant self-declaration to make this feral acknowledge a leader, so Sectonia could hang out in the same sphere of influence as Bowser until she could actually follow in Peach’s footsteps.
“C’mon!” After checking her map, Nadia made her way eastward. The path took her through a series of mining caves festooned with wooden platforms and supports for her to sink her claws into. After a minute or two of jumping, climbing, and skirting around trash can-sized mites, she emerged into a larger mineral cave that still harbored a handful of calcified laborers using staffs to drill for ore among the different tiers. Open seeing them move Nadia shrank back into a hiding spot, but when she tossed a few pebbles near them to probe for a reaction they did not respond, so she consulted Cornifer’s map again. According to it, the chest that led to the Basement lay in the very center. A boxy shack about halfway up the room’s counter-clockwise slope looked promising. No problem. She stashed her map and took off on all fours, brazenly passing by the oblivious miners. Just a few meters away from the shack, however, she heard a weird noise from above, and looked up just in time to see a swarm of threads flying her way. “Whoa!” Nadia stopped short in a spray of dust and pebbles and flipped backward into a handspring to avoid the razor-sharp shower, but they curved midair to follow her. She landed on her feet and blasted upward as the threads hit the stone behind her, landing with another backflip on another shack opposite her goal.
That vantage point gave her a good look at her assailant, though she instantly regretted it ever meeting her eyes. The hideous pest stood taller than a man, and possessed bizarrely human limbs arranged in two rows beneath its stooped-over carapace, like a nightmarish centipede. It possessed beetle jaws and a conical head like a priest’s stole, as well as a polearm that appeared to be carved from shell or bone. As Nadia stared, appalled, the Kindred of Rot reeled back to unleash another volley of threads. They hurtled toward her, forcing her to block as she built up blood pressure for a pounce. The chip damage stung, but when the barrage finished Nadia burst forth. More threads flew at her, but she double-jumped to change her trajectory to come down with a Shock and Paw into Claws for Alarm combo. Upon landing she went for the pest’s spindly legs with a sweep, and when it connected she stabbed upward with her anchors into the falling fiend, propping it up. Its tiny arms thrashed around wildly, grabbing at and scratching her, but Nadia held on to her marbles long enough to deliver a drop kick that knocked the monster back. Taking a page from Massachusetts’ book, she then yanked on the chains to rip her anchors back out, tearing open the pest’s chest as it fell from the roof of the shack to the mines below. “Hah! Yes!”
Then the threads that she dodged before looped around to pierce straight through her back, out her front, and into the wood beneath her. “AGH!” she cried, doubling over in a spray of blood. She clamped her hands to her new wounds as her regeneration went to work, her teeth gritted. “My poor…hoodie.” She staggered to the edge of the shock and looked down. If the others were following her, maybe they could finish the freak off.
Instead, she saw another Kindred of Rot, disturbed by the fall of its wounded comrade. It looked up to see Nadia, and her ears fell flat. “Uh oh.” As more threads sailed her way she hightailed it off the roof and into the shack itself, where she found the chest she sought. “Well, Fortune favors the bold,” she said, throwing it open and jumping inside.
She fell for a moment through complete darkness, just long enough for her to think about the extent of her mistake, then landed in a rectangular room. It featured a dirt floor, clay walls, an assortment of rocks and jars, and three exits. And it smelled. Bad. One door seemed to be blocked by a door with a suspiciously key-shaped hole in it, but a quick look into the other two confirmed a handful of monsters in both, all grotesque in their own special ways. Nadia exhaled. “Hooh, okay. Just gotta fight our way through these guys, find a key, and get ourselves a mask. Pierce of cake.” And yet somehow, she believed herself even less this time.
The atmosphere of the quiet shade weighed heavily on Primrose as she took her first steps into its disquieting stillness, but at least she didn’t need to bear the burden alone. Rubick joined her from the tunnel, ready for trouble, and in here even the vivid green glow of his eyes gave way to stark white. Bowser’s noisy cohort appeared shortly after, delayed by Kamek’s lengthy explanation to Ganondorf before the two villains parted ways. Their presence helped to alleviate the fear and stress that gnawed at the two forerunners, like the unseen insects that the dancer imagined to be responsible for that continuous low roar of static. Six strong and secure in one another’s company, the Seekers began to extend their feelers through the mist, scouring the fog for whatever dangers it might hold.
Rika’s scout planes buzzed bravely across old bark, but before they could disappear into the haze they met trouble. Though neither they nor their operator could spot anything in their way, they kept clipping some sort of unseen obstacle, throwing them off until they either splatted flat as if against a surface or snapped to a sudden stop, bouncing back and forth like the plucked string of a violin. No matter where they flew, though, the vapors seemed to dance around them. Kamek’s wisps met with no such opposition, although their passage left subtle ripples of electricity behind them at seemingly random times. Primrose sent Makami to follow up, watching her ghostly hunting hound slither off into the gloom.
Up ahead roughly halfway between the two ends of the great forested cavern, lay a giant, dark building. Silhouetted against the fog above it, which seemed to grow thicker farther up from the ground, was a giant sign with letters larger than Bowser, identifying the structure as a hotel. By now, the ambient noise sounded noticeably louder, loud enough to mask the swish of grass around the newcomers’ feet. No enemies had appeared, but the Seekers found themselves more and more on edge, all the same. In their peripheral vision, the shadows seemed to move slightly, whether along the ground, in the underbrush, or up above. Scattered noises bid them look here or there, but anything not silhouetted against the mist was effectively invisible in the inky blackness. Still, those sounds were not so subtle that the heroes could dismiss them as figments of their imagination.
The noise grew louder, until finally a long, eerie howl sounded out from within the ancient glade. With their skin crawling, the Seekers found themselves drawn to the hotel in front of them, for a black shape was rising atop its roof. Nearly impossible to discern, it got bigger until the heroes could identity legs, many legs, then spiky hairs on those legs, until the protrusion of tree-like limbs made them all but sure that they were looking at a giant spider.
The surface of the trees began to move, and the sound of innumerable skittering legs became a cacophony. Swarms of spiders the size of dinner plates raced through the air, suspended on the spider webs veiled by the mist as they closed in on the intruders who wandered into their midst.
While Lucia struggled to follow the particulars of the conversion, Big Band listened carefully as Frisk introduced herself. As Ace rightfully pointed out, the presence of someone else freed from Galeem’s influence was no small matter. In this world, freedom didn’t just happen; every ounce of it came from somewhere. Unfortunately, the names Frisk did provide did not ring a bell for him, which served as a reminder that he still knew far too little about his fellow Seekers and their history in the World of Light so far. His new acquaintance did, however, drop a few intriguing details. A friend of hers -a female friend, at that- had gone missing several days prior following the escalation of some sort of curse. It sounded like the progression of that curse meant an involuntary turn to violence, as well. Band did not like the sound of that. Not one bit.
“Lucky runnin’ into ya like this, miss,” he told her. “Somethin’ tells me we got a lot to talk about when the show’s over. ‘Til then, though…” He stomped over to assist Sierra and Ace with the van. “Let’s make ourselves useful.”
In short order, everything had been unpacked and set up. Among the equipment were normal hoops, hoops that stood vertically atop floats, hoops that could be attached to surfaces, stand-up and attachable targets, a few different kinds of balls, bowling pins, a ramp, a miniature half-pipe, and a few other toys. Sierra then gathered the troops and gave them their instructions. “Okay, Ace, Frisk. I’d like you both to be the trainers, while I’m going to take the role of announcer and showrunner. My Spheals are trained to do tricks with all of these props, so all you need to do is take turns encouraging them and then rewarding them with a fish right after they finish. You can and will have to help move them from trick to trick, but when it’s time to perform don’t help them. It’s their time to shine. Make sure you take turns, both between yourselves and with each Spheal. Make sure you mix up what tricks they do, or at least do the same ones in a sort of sequence so there’s a flow to it.” Sierra laughed, looking embarrassed. “I know it’s a little hackneyed. If we had you around for longer we’d have more time to work out and rehearse a full routine.” She looked around the snowy square, noting the increase in citizens. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes ‘til the show starts, so I want you both to practice with them. Sync up, get to know one another, et cetera. Firm, but gentle, you know? Once you understand one another, you and the Spheals will be a well-oiled machine. Oh, and could you please put on these All Round Spheal Scarves?” She passed out the special apparel. “They show you’re a member of the team!”
Band nodded. “That gives Red, Lucia, and myself a few minutes to case the joint, so to speak. Take a look around the place for anywhere a couple bozos might be hidin’.” He narrowed his eyes at the Wonderful One. “There’s somethin’ we gotta show Lucia too, before anythin’s got a chance to get hairy.”
“Huh?” His fellow detective looked between her two new acquaintances, one very tall and one rather short, not imagining what they might have in store. “Suah, I’m all eahs. We need a quiet spot oah somethin’?”
“Mhm. Follow me,” Band told her.
Fifteen minutes later, the spectacular All Round Spheal Show was ready. In front of the fountain stood a big, eager crowd. People of all shapes and sizes had gathered both in the plaza itself and at the windows and balconies of the buildings that overlooked it. All the props were where they needed to be, the stars seemed happy with their new handlers, and both brand-new trainers had as good an idea of what they needed to do as they could get. Red and a blue-eyed, stony-faced Lucia stood to either side of the fountain corners to keep an eye on the crowd, while Band towered behind the audience, standing where he could see everyone. Finally, it was time to begin.
“Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the one, the only, All Round!” Sierra sang. She stood on the back of her own personal pokemon Avalugg, a living iceberg decked out in Spheal-themed regalia, and wielded a loudspeaker. “For this week’s ultimate performance, brought to you as always by the amazing Aether Foundation, we’re coming to you from Harmony Square! Bringing you the softest, squishiest, and silliest Spheals the world has to offer! Please welcome my assistants: the fabulous Frisk! And the awe-inspiring Ace!” She paused for a moment to give her helpers a chance to wave, bow or otherwise endear themselves to her audience. The city folk cheered them on, but everyone knew what they really wanted to see.
“And now,” Sierra continued, pumping her fist into the air. “Please join me in extending another warm Edinburgh welcome to the stars of the show. They’re flubbery! They’re chubbery! They’re happier than clams, cuter than buttons, and best of all, All Round! Iiiiiiiit’s Glenn, Dumpy, Happy, and Sadie!” The four Spheals appeared at the top of the fountain to thunderous applause and wild cheers, then slid down and splashed into the water. They shot to the surface like volleyballs held beneath the surface and popped into the air for a group pose, landed in the water, and began bobbing back and forth to the music playing over the van’s loudspeakers while they waited for directions.
Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.
Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.<br><br>Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.</div>
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