Yankee

Expedition to Isekai

______________________________________________________________________

Masato woke up.

He didn't remember falling asleep. Hadn't planned on it either, but the day's events must have tired him out more than he'd thought. When his eyes opened late into the night he felt rather disoriented. That was Kanamori yelling, wasn't it? Laser bullshit? What...?

He sat up quickly, because even if he didn't know what she was talking about if she was shouting at all it had to mean there was trouble. He soon learned that "laser bullshit" had been literal. The blast of light sliced through the bus frame that Masato had been seated outside of, scattering the students inside. Someone cried out in pain, which kicked Masato in gear. He scrambled up and around to where everyone was gathering outside.

The story Maeda told earlier buzzed around his head. 338 causalities. They couldn't even go one night without fending off more monsters. He could see them, eyes adjusting easily to the dark of the Otherside. He could also see Inaba running off again, this time with Kanamori at her side. "...!" Don't he started to shout, only to bite the word off before it left his throat. Don't, it's dangerous, don't, you're splitting the group. But Inaba and Kanamori were both "changed." He'd seen Inaba recover from what would have been a fatal impact hours ago. If those fucking laser wolves were content to stay away and snipe them, someone should go put a stop to it.

Which left five of the changed students, including himself, to deal with the other problem.

Three more monsters emerged from the forest on the other side of the bus, cutting off their escape route. They were huge, way too huge to be able to sneak up on them as easily as they had. Yet here they were, and already on the attack. Masato was too late to do anything about Bansen getting struck, didn't even notice Ohta separating from the group as he made his own dive forward. He collided with the two girls the monster had been aiming for, all three of them tumbling out of the beast's path.

After recovering he wanted to tell Kondo and Takehara to run, but where the fuck would they even go? Realistically, escape wasn't an option. Even if was, it meant leaving their injured peers for dead. They had to kill these monsters, or else show them that the prey there were after was too much trouble than it was worth.

"Get the rest of those spears Inaba was making and stick together with everyone," he instructed the girls, his voice harsh. He didn't check to see if they followed his order, just turned back to the hulking monsters threatening them. He felt the furnace in his chest heating up, coals stoked by yet more danger having found them.

Could he do the same thing he'd done against the earlier wolf-bears? Catch its limbs, force it still enough for everyone to pierce its body and skewer it? Masato knew something had happened inside of him and he was stronger now than he was before, but was he strong enough to contend with monsters like this? They were at least twice as big as the wolf-bears from before. But what else could he do but try? There were two monsters up close, and of the students able to contend with them... He wasn't sure if Stewart was well enough yet, he didn't know where Kogen had ended up, Todokawa had taken a wound, and Hoshino...

"Hoshino!" Masato barked. He didn't know what his fellow councilman was planning with the phones, but it seemed like the other boy was panicking. "Focus! Keep these things away from the others."

And when the nearest elephant-wolf brought its massive paw down again in order to crush Masato this time, he caught it in both of his hands.

"Damn monsters," he growled. He tested his strength against the beast, intending to snap the bones in its foot. Seconds passed, he struggled, and his eyes widened as the realization that his half-baked plan was in danger of falling through. In the test of strength, he was losing.

World of Light

^{____________________________________________________}
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 168/80 ------ Level: 6 - Total EXP: 108/60
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Word Count: 1398 (+3 exp)
Location: The Under - City of Tears

At the cafe Primrose had her mug of coffee pressed to her lips, pleasantly pleased at the compliment Ms. Fortune had paid her. I do look good, don't I? she thought to herself as she sipped her drink. It was more on the bitter side, as she liked it. As they sat together Nadia brought up her thoughts on her own fusions, and Primrose considered them. She let the other woman talk about not losing sight of who they were, seriously thinking on the topic before she set her mug down and leaned in with her arms folded on the table in front of her. "I've thought about that, but really isn't this who we are, now?"

Her eyes dropped briefly to her drink, observing her murky reflection on the surface of what remained.

"The sum of our parts. Whether something we chose, like fusing, or something we didn't. I remember what I looked like before very well; I was shorter, smaller. Definitely didn't have these," she sat back and curled an arm to show off the muscle there, less pronounced than before she'd fused with Cornelia but still apparent that she had some strength. Inspecting herself was something she'd always had to do in Sunshade. Making sure she looked presentable, and desirable, had been a part of her job. "But even after changing I still feel like I'm me. Maybe it is the smoothing over as you put it, but..."

Primrose smiled. The nature of spirits, fusing, everything, was still mostly a mystery - maybe it was possible to lose yourself in them. But for now, it was just another change in her life. "Well, at risk of sounding like Professor Albright, who knows what their true self is anyway? Everyone changes as time goes on, and at least this kind of change was our decision, no?"

She didn't know Ms. Fortune's background, but she couldn't imagine that the Feral was looking for a philosophical discussion, and since Primrose wasn't either they let the topic pass into the actual power gained from such fusions. Nadia's earlier joke about coffee hadn't gotten a reaction from the dancer, but her second pun earned an amused giggle. "Right. Though I think that goes for a lot of us too."

It was certainly a feat juggling everything she could do now, but it only meant that she was more powerful and had more options. A good thing, in her opinion.

It was at that point that the Koopa Family got their orders and came to sit down with them, Queen Sectonia appearing shortly afterward. Primrose scooted over to give them all some space as chairs were pulled over. If many more joined them they'd have to drag another table into the mix too. Ms. Fortune laid her map on the table for everyone to see, showing the areas the group had been to. Primrose hadn't expected a magical map, that was incredibly useful. That map maker is undercharging, she thought, recalling how bare bones she'd found it earlier. Now it was a little more filled out. Her eyes trailed over it, tracing the vague path she and the Koopa Family had taken to arrive in the City of Tears. The 'Bough' must have been that massive tree they'd made their way down. Was it part of the Colorless Wood they'd found themselves in before? It was hard to pinpoint on the map.

"I wonder if little Barnabee has any insight on these areas," she mused aloud. He was a native to the Under, and his queendom was somewhere down here. "He mentioned needing help and was willing to wait until we all reunited. Now that we have, perhaps we should head that way next."

Rika explained the Crumble Cavern section of the map, ending with a bold statement about making money that saw Primrose covering her mouth with her palm to hide her deep amusement over it (and Kamek's concern about it too). A familiar feeling washed over Primrose as the group poured over the map and talked. She'd done this many times in Orsterra in inns and taverns. She could practically picture Tressa standing across from her, scoffing at Rika's words and trying to get her back on the path of an honest day's work or the professor marveling over a self-updating map and soaking in Kamek's explanations about the Koopa culture's royal hierarchy. Despite being filled with undead, the cafe's atmosphere made the scene a cozy one.

She finished her coffee while the Flame Clock was being discussed. It was after that conversation and before the start of the next that Therion found his way to the cafe, his business in the city done. His errand had been relatively quick, just picking up his commission order from Bis the smithy after some adjustments to make sure everything fit. He'd never had anything tailored to him before in his life, so needless to say it had taken a bit of time even after getting over the awkwardness of standing around in his beast form while the felynes strapped everything into place. When he'd shifted back into human form, the armor and weapon he'd paid for disappeared - but remained in place when he tested changing into a feline again. It worked out perfectly. He'd been heading back toward the Habbo Hotel when he came upon the Seekers squeezing into the cafe. As he'd thought, it was really hard to miss them.

The thief stayed under his umbrella until he was already halfway into the establishment, trying to stay as dry as possible. When he quietly joined the Seekers, slotted somewhere under the alien queen's wing, he studied the map laid out on the table.

"We know where we're heading yet?" he asked. Primrose shook her head.

"Not yet."

"Hm." He didn't really care which way they went, so long as they made progress. He was munching on a cookie that had mysteriously appeared in his hand, most likely pilfered from the plate already on the table, when something on the map caught his eye.

"This," he said, pointing to the MTT Resort. "I've seen it before. When we were riding on the cat trains, Jesse, Raz and I came to the Under. It took us to a different area than Dirtmouth and this resort was there."

Weird that it was connected to the Royal Waterways. Then again, there were paths he hadn't taken when he was down there. One of them must have led out to the area around the resort. Therion glanced at the other Seekers gathered. "The most dangerous things I've seen in the Waterways under the city are in one giant garbage dump, if we avoid that it might not be difficult to get to this resort. And the train station should be nearby. If you want to waste more time sleeping, you could stay the night there. Who knows, maybe if a bunch of rich people are staying there you could get rid of some of the Consul's stuff too."

Since it wasn't like sunlight would be a thing down here, Therion didn't see the reason in waiting until tomorrow. But if the rest of them wanted to spend another night in the city there wasn't much he could do about it besides try and find something to occupy his time. He'd said his piece.

Primrose didn't voice her support for any options, besides the initial reminder that they owed Barnabee a favor. She was about to point out that there were still several Seekers missing from the conversation that they should probably round up and at least let know what was going on when one such person appeared. The newly freed Ichiban wanted an explanation, but Primrose only gave him a look of pity.

"It's a lot. And doesn't even make much sense with context," Therion answered unhelpfully.

"What do you mean, 'from a game'?" Primrose asked Ichiban, wondering if he had some insight to share. Was he from the same world as the Consul? But he seemed to know Bowser as well, and the king hadn't mentioned anything like that. Though, it was more likely that the man was mistakenly attributing something from his own world to this patchwork one.

After his answer she blinked and looked at the others. "Would anyone like to do the honors of explaining things to him?"

They really needed a brochure.

What Are You Listening To?

World of Light

Word Count: 536 (+1 exp)
Level: 4 - Total EXP: 129/40
Location: Dystopiascape - Valley of Ruin

The helicopter made what otherwise would have been a long walk a short, awkward ride. Mr. U dropped them off just outside of Sector 07. The place was still standing, abuzz with activity in fact, which told Pit and the other two boys that the machine invasion had failed. Pit smiled when he saw it, glad that at least the mission had been successful despite the losses suffered. Hopefully one of those losses could be reversed; Tora was already working on it with fervor. Though the mood in the area was generally high, when they reunited with the Seekers in some kind of command center the lack of Poppi put a damper on things.

Susie broke the silence, asking what happened. There were more awkward moments where none of Poppi's would-be rescue squad spoke a word. Pit blinked, realizing that Tora wasn't going to say anything. It wasn't his story to tell, and their lack of results weighed on him - but not as much as they did on Roxas, and Tora especially. So it fell to the angel to explain. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before doing so.

"Um, well... We chased Poppi down. She was really serious about getting away, and she almost did, but we caught up to her! She wouldn't let us try to help, and..." he paused. At some point Zenkichi had slipped out of the room, but for the rest that remained he wanted to get them up to speed. He left out the sorrowful cries of his companions, the painful position they'd put Poppi in, the tears disguised by rain. He breathed and out in one deep sigh, his face taking on a resolute expression befitting his occupation as a soldier. "We lost her, in a lake. For now. We're going back to rescue her for real when Tora figures out a cure for her virus-thing."

They could all see the arm as proof that she was still out there waiting for them. Eventually they'd return to the lake and reunite. For now, Pit moved on from his brief explanation. His posture loosened up a little, and a smile ghosted his features.

"There was this giant clock-spidery thingy there with a bunch of those tiny flying machines, but we ditched them. Thanks for picking us up! And you guys managed to get rid of the rest of the robots right? That's awesome!"

Focus on the good news, and going forward. Pit did have to wonder about the other half of the machine army's attack though, all the way in the Detroit area. He crossed his arms and cocked his head. "Do we still have that walkie-talkie from Sakura? Can we check in on the others and what happened with the rest of the robots?"

Considering his "angel radio" had limitless range (when it was working), Pit had no frame of reference for how close together the walkie-talkies had to be to work. If the other Seekers, or Midgard citizens, needed some help they could go lend a hand. There was no telling when Tora would be finished with his work, so it wouldn't do to linger around the area if they were needed elsewhere.

World of Light

^{____________________________________________________}
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 165/80 ------ Level: 6 - Total EXP: 105/60
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● ---------------------------- 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●
Word Count: 1134 (+2 exp)
Location: The Under

Neither Primrose nor Therion followed Ms. Fortune out of the tower's window. Instead, they trudged back the way they'd come with most of the other Seekers. At some point Queen Sectonia was summoned away from them, which Primrose took to mean that the Consul was contained and now it was the alien queen's job to use her striker and get some answers. When the other half of their group emerged from the tower with the news that the Consul was dead, it was met with disappointment in varying shades.

"I suppose our plan was too optimistic," Primrose mused, her personal feelings on the matter complicated. They'd violently deposed a tyrant and menace, but said tyrant just so happened to be a child. And in doing so, they missed an opportunity to learn more about the Consuls - who they really were, their plans, their motives. Given how tired she was, she nearly missed the portion of coins pushed her way while she thought about P's fate. "Oh - thank you."

It was a hefty amount, certainly enough to draw Therion away from any thoughts he'd had on the matter. After getting his share the thief hovered around Sectonia whom Kamek had said was holding the stash, his feline ears flicking. "What else did you find?" he asked, but besides the money most everything else were large (well, currently shrunken) pieces one might expect to see in some rich person's manor. Luxury furniture, ornately framed paintings, and the like. Nothing he wanted to deal with once they were brought back to their normal size.

The Seekers hurried away from Gallo Tower as fast as their fatigued bodies could carry them, wanting for rest. Primrose and Therion were of the same mind when they split off from the group: they wouldn't be staying in the Habbo Hotel again. Primrose let the other Seekers know as much before they left to find other lodgings free from the consequences of P's actions. When they found a new motel they booked rooms next door to each other and tucked in for some much needed sleep.

It was a few hours later when Therion woke up. He'd never needed much shut eye, and more often than not didn't have opportunity to get a full night's rest. Even if it was perpetually dark underground save for the city's lights, his internal clock registered as "day," and so he roused himself up, stretched, and left the room.

I doubt we'll be back here anytime soon, he thought to himself. If we get the rest of those mask pieces tonight we'll be killing some monster then crawling out of these tunnels and going back to that base someone mentioned I guess.

He stood outside of the room Primrose was staying in and knocked on the door. He knew her to be an early riser, but that was under normal circumstances. Lately neither of their lives was anything close to normal. When he heard nothing from behind the door he knocked again. This time a shuffling sound reached his ears and a few moments later the door opened to reveal a dancer.

"Again?" Therion asked, unimpressed.

"What? I needed to get stronger."

For Primrose

Notable Spirit Consumed:
Cornelia Arnim (Cleobulus)
This fusion is in most ways a normalizing return-to-form, reigning in the effects of the others. Primrose is three inches shorter, down to 6'0". She's lost much of the muscle mass gained through her Amazon fusion and is down to merely 'toned'. However, her bust is larger still, large enough to be unwieldy. Her hair is shorter at about the middle of her back, it's no longer tied, and though still voluminous and wavy it is now a gradient of reddish-orange to blonde, with no trace of her original brown. Her cowl is much shorter, and the veil is gone, but her bejeweled hairband remains. Her garb has lost a lot of its metal, both in terms of armor and accessories, and has joined together into a long one-piece, double-side-slit burgundy dress with a deep v-neck and bare shoulders, but a sort of mantle all the way around from the chest around the arms to the back, which has black feathers. Her accessories are a uniform pale gold with no more scales, though the talon-rings remain. Her personality is a lot more vain and self-important, but she's no less thoughtful and kind. This spirit confers the Power Luna Λ, granting her access to potent Dark Magic. The moonlight that she can cast in outward blasts or explosive, tracking moons is not that strong, but it completely ignores magic defense / resistance. This spirit also confers the weakness Tomebreaker, which dramatically increases the accuracy and evasion of fistfighters and similar against the host.

Primrose flipped her hair and cowl over her shoulder, quite satisfied with the changes. She'd been honest with herself earlier in that Cornelia's barbs about her looks hadn't gotten to her, but now her appearance was a little closer to what she was used to. Her outfit was more cohesive as well, and she sensed the new addition to her magic repertoire. The latter was most important. If she hadn't fused with the pyromancer days ago she wouldn't have been able to stave off the poison and heal the Seekers, if she hadn't fused with the Rosaria or the Amazon it's possible she wouldn't have been able to recover after taking a direct hit from the Broodmother. The more abilities she had access to, the better.

"Whatever." Therion dismissed the changes and turned to walk down the hall while Primrose adjusted her dress, feather mantle covering most of her cleavage but creating a cheeky window of fabric instead. The dancer closed the door behind her as she moved to follow him.

"It's close enough to the time everyone will meet, but now that I'm not quite so tired I realize we never chose a meeting place." An understandable oversight, considering the exhausting battle they'd had. Most of the Seekers probably stayed at the Habbo Hotel, but there were a few unaccounted for still. Rubick and Omori hadn't gone with them to the tower, so it was possible they were out in the city completely ignorant to what had happened. Ichiban presumably had somewhere else to stay, so who knew where he'd retired to.

"Same lobby as this morning's as good a place to check as any."

"Mhm. Shall we?"

Therion shook his head. "Commissioned something earlier, so I'm gonna pick that up first." The duo had exited their motel and stood under the awning, a pair of umbrellas in each of their hands. Therion glanced in the direction he'd be heading before looking back at Primrose. "I'll meet you all there later. Or wherever."

Even in a city of monstrous folks, it probably wouldn't be hard to find the Seekers again. The Travelers went in opposite directions, simple gray umbrella heading to the smithy and black and white polka dot umbrella toward the Habbo Hotel.

When Primrose arrived it was a little too early to catch most of her companions in passing. She checked in with the clerk, who pointed her in the direction he'd seen one of their party go. She walked leisurely toward the city's center where a large fountain connected each district. It was a good place to stake out for people passing through, and Primrose wasn't disappointed to find one of the Seekers in a cafe by the water.

The dancer closed her umbrella and entered the establishment, taking a seat unbidden at the table Nadia occupied. She flashed the Feral a small smile in case she wasn't immediately recognizable as Primrose before flagging down waitstaff to order her own coffee.

"I didn't find anyone at the hotel, so I'm glad I found you here," she said. She was considering some light conversation topics when her drink arrived, so she sipped on that instead. Their world saving mission made it a little hard to get to know each other a personal level, beyond what each of them could offer in battle. There was also a part of Primrose that thought that in the end, it didn't matter. Either way the opportunity to chat would present itself eventually if not now, as Primrose noted the Koopa family passing by. "There they go," she noted, letting Nadia handle calling out to them.

Anime & Manga! Oh my! (Anime/Manga Thread)

I'm still watching the anime ever.

The Little Hamlet

@AzureKnight@Mae So should we go with what was discussed previously in the interest check? I think there's still time to make some adjustments, as long as its cool with you Mae and if Azure wants our chars to have a pre-existing relationship. If not then no worries

Expedition to Isekai

______________________________________________________________________

Really, Kondo? Even now? Masato did nothing but give her an impatient stare.

And when the group moved on he nodded in response to Ryuugasaki's words. That was indeed the kind of information he was hoping to get from her, anything that would give them as much of an advantage as they could get, no matter how small. Though, he supposed, this was technically canceling out a disadvantage instead. They'd brushed right by Maeda's comment about watch shifts, and Masato didn't argue the point. Maybe he'd get someone like Hoshino or even Kogen to take the shift after him and conveniently forget to wake them up.

The discussion about what to do going forward was also what Masato had wanted to hear. Unfortunately it looked like the group would have to move after all. Between Ryuugasaki's wisdom that more bear-wolves would show up to investigate eventually and Maeda's story about another Portal incident - one with more people than they had, competent adults, and a death toll - that much was clear to him. Masato's mouth was pressed into a thin line, his brows knitted together.

"...then we'll move," he decided. "We can follow the stream we found and see if it'll lead us to a lake or something."

So the first order of business in the morning, besides refueling themselves and making sure the injured were still alright, would be to make stretchers to move them. That shouldn't be too difficult. With the giant Stewart recovering they wouldn't have to worry about carrying him. Suzuki might be alright enough to be carried on someone's back. Best to split into teams again too. And though the bus was ruined, maybe they could use some parts of it? The strong pieces that survived the fire.

Oh, fuck, the driver. Was there anything left of his corpse? Should they bury it? Was it enough to have Takehara recite some sutra? Masato's eyes began to drift toward the bus but then snapped to Ichibangase, almost surprised to hear his voice. Right, medicine. But how could they go about getting that? Maybe some of the students were carrying aspirin with them, but besides that?

When Maeda leaned in, Masato scoffed at him. "I have no idea. Not everyone is a walking encyclopedia," he reminded the boy. Masato leaned away, glancing at the forest in the direction they'd set out in for water earlier. "But if someone describes them to me, I can tell you if we saw any. And I can go back and grab them tomorrow."

Size, color, number of leaves, the shape of them, whether they grew on the ground or reached up the trunks of trees... The student council president was fairly confident he'd be able to remember if they'd spotted them. Even if there weren't any kind of familiar herbs in the area, just having a basic plan for the next day made Masato feel better.

World of Light

Vs Consul P

Location: The Home of Tears - Gallo Tower
Bowser and Rika’s @DracoLunaris, Primrose and Therion’s @Yankee, Sectonia’s @Archmage MC,
Jesse’s @Zoey Boey, Ganondorf’s @Double, Ms Fortune's @Lugubrious
+4 EXP

”Uuuuurgh, again! Cheap. Trick. I’ve done. Urgh. Way cooler stuff with time travel anyway!” Bowser wretched as he took his second poisoning of the hour. The best he could do to deal with it was summon Heel the rabbid supporter to get the white furred medic to restore some of the health the poisoning had stolen away.

”I will…. Destroy you…” Sectonia said, giving consul P quite the death glare, both annoyed at how wasteful his use of time travel was, concerned that it even worked like that, but mostly incredibly angry at the pain she was feeling in her lower half, holding her ‘back’ for a bit as she acclimated to the pain.

”This won’t… hold me back… forever!” Ganondorf shouted in a guttural rage-filled voice. Despite the poison slowing him down, he was one of the few able to remain on his feet for the most part, thanks to his Triforce of Power. He took slow, agonizing steps forward, but they were too slow for him to be able to actually go on the attack. And he was, of course, mad as a hornet right now.

”You can… make food… hurt? You monster!” Rika cursed him, clutching her stomach with one hand … and at the same time freeing the other from its gauntlet so she could reach into a pocket and pull out a bottle of something green. She bit out the cork, and then downed the concoction. Her eyes screwed shut and her body scrunched up at the taste, but when she threw the bottle aside, the long ago acquired antidote had cured her of her poisoning.

”Give me that remote!” she cried, as she thwipped out her grappling hook to latch onto the bed and with thrusters blasting and her mount’s wings flapping charged it with chainsword bayonet whirring and ready to meet the glass. In her wake she left her new war cleric striker, who acted to further heal the effects of Bowser’s second dose of gut rot.

Jesse couldn’t help but be impressed by that Object of Power. The ramifications were overwhelming. But mostly, she was on one knee and trying to power her way through serious organ failure. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t working. “Help me out here..!” She gasped, and the alchemist appeared, throwing down a cool blue puddle of Healing Waters around Jesse.

Nadia quickly joined her in the restorative pool, much better than the average person would be after taking an incredibly dangerous dosage of poison thanks to her regeneration, but still pretty bad. “Little bastard,” she moaned through gritted teeth, shakily exhaling in relief as the alchemy worked its magic. She didn’t even want to begin to think about the logistics of time travel. Instead she focused on Jesse, who looked terrible. “You gonna be okay, Jess?”

“Good fucking question.” Jesse said, strained. It was times like these that would almost remind someone they were just an under qualified bureaucrat with a magic gun and a lot of childhood trauma. “I’m sure…somethin’ll come along…” She managed. The Healing Waters would dry out soon.

Sectonia wasn’t all that happy about having to gather up in the whaling pools, as she worried about some kind of area attack that would get all of them, but the relief from the ingested poison was nice.

"Unconscionable..." Primrose ground out, struggling through the pain. This Consul could travel through time? "Dangerous" was an understatement. And to use this kind of tactic...

Primrose snapped her hands open, Warmth gathering in one and a much unused pyromancy in the other. She used them both on herself, the Profuse Sweat a first and a little uncomfortable but helpful nonetheless. She had to get herself back into some semblance of health first in order to pull off Sealticge's Seduction.

The battle was wearing her out a little though. Even when she wasn't casting a spell, her dances used up both stamina and mana. Thankfully she had an ally that would be able to help.

"Primrose!"

She looked, finding her friend in the same situation as the rest of the Seekers. With most of the mecha-porkies handled, he'd slunk around the outskirts of the fight to find openings. Now despite the pained expression on his face he made his way over to Primrose, and she met him part of the way. Therion clapped a hand on the dancer's back, dumping his own mana into her pool so that she could complete her goal of widespread aid. With Sealticge's Seduction used on herself, Primrose once more dual cast Warmth and Profuse Sweat with the excess mana she now had. Warmth shored up any Seekers that already had a healing means of their own, and helped out those that didn't. Profuse Sweat gave all of them poison resistance - and boosted their resistance to bleeding to boot.

All of a sudden, Nadia found her life flooding back into her, her healing factor kick-started by the widespread succor of Primrose’s pyromancy. “You guys’re the best!” she beamed, rising to her feet.

Jesse inhaled gratefully, wiping some sweat from her brow and spitting some blood from her mouth. “I owe you one.” She called over to Primrose, pushing herself back to standing.

"Not at all," the dancer replied, sending a brief smile back to the other two women. She was glad that it had worked out for now. There was no telling if the Consul would try another similar trick, or worse.

"We need to crack that thing fast before he pulls something like that again," Therion said once he'd recovered, giving voice to Primrose's thoughts.

”Agreed. This little child needs some discipline.” Sectonai said, happy her minions had some ways of neutralizing this horrid effect.

Naturally, someone was already on it.

Meanwhile, Rika mounted a one-woman, all-out attack against the bedframe in an effort to breach P’s pod, but just because he’d joined in on the fun didn’t mean his bed was out of commission. The machine deployed its four spider legs to pierce into her and snatch her off the dragon’s back, using its arms to try and break the overgrown reptile’s neck as it did. “Here for a closer look?” P taunted, feigning indifference toward the fresh gashes in his protective glass. “Here, get an eyeful!” Using its spider-arms it reached out in an attempt to smack Rika against the casing face-first like an otter cracking a clam on its belly with a rock..

Rika’s charge wasn’t quite one woman however, thanks to the power of spirits. To each side she summoned a staward guardian: the Agarthan Knight on one, and the oversized Bivalve pokemon Cloyster on the other. Using shield and shell respectively they blocked the arms grabbing at the ship girl, while she sacrificed the drake beneath her to get more time to attack.

”How about you stop taking a look” she retorted confusingly before hammering the glass with her gauntlets with Brachydios strength, and leaving Brachydios slime coating it. Then as her steed and strikers all faded, she spat into the slime, priming it for detonation, before squeezing the Featherfall Rune she had been holding in her hand to launch herself up away from the now primed layer of explosive goop.

To add insult to injury, she fired her rigging cannons directly down at him, causing Newton's third law to launch her near weightless body even further into the air above him, where maneuvering thrusters and grappling hook would ensure she still had plenty of mobility.

What did P do?

Just shy of a dramatic explosion, the goop disappeared, as if it never existed. So did the Brachydios gauntlet-rifle. “Nyeh-nyeh!” P guffawed as Rika sailed away, her big moment completely and utterly undercut. “I stole your snot gun while you were sleeping and threw it in the dumpster! Time’s on MY side, dummy!” His gloating got cut short as the shells rocked the bedmech, though, and with a harrumph he got back to business. “Now where are my minions? Minions!” The bedmech turned its top pair of spider legs inward and tapped the top of its mech. Three pairs of Mecha-Porkies spawned in quick succession and started running around, just waiting to trip and explode on anyone who got near.

”I. What. How did I not notice!?!” Rika yelled back in confusion, before yelling ”also that’s not my snot gun! This is my snot gun!” before using her maneuvering thrusters to adjust her flight and then firing down at him with her grizco blaster, painting his glass with electrical goop instead.

“What the!?”

A few of those minions wouldn’t get very far. At some point while he was reeling - and then recovering - from the poison, Ganondorf took a moment to summon a fresh squad of Moblin Archers. They kept their distance and opened fire on the approaching Mecha-Porkies. Meanwhile, the King of Evil channeled his dark magic and summoned Phantom Ganon. His phantom-like doppelganger brandished his trident and flew through the air to perform an aerial charge at the bedmech.

That just left the man himself. He was fuming, looking like he was ready to erupt like a volcano at any minute. His hateful eyes now burned with rage and fury, and he charged forward at the same time as the Phantom had. Mid-way there he split off in order to allow for himself and his phantom to attack from two different directions. The Phantom made aerial drop attacks with the trident while the Gerudo himself once again went toe–to-toe with the bedmech, but this time with BOTH his swords in hand. With the gunk coating his casing P couldn’t see the action, but the self-controlled bedmech met Ganondorf head-on. This time it fought more defensively, poking with long-range attacks with plenty of blocking, even in the air. It backed up all the way to the top of the steps before beginning to stand its ground, starting with a thrown head.

While Rika and Ganondorf were tangling with the Consul, Therion got as close as he dared to the bedmech. Its defenses had been weakened once already, but the thief piled on the debuffs putting a damper on its attack power and further lowering its defense. He focused on getting in and then getting himself right back out of range, body tensed to evade as he backed up once his work was done. He dodged a leftover mecha-Porkie as he did, complaining to himself, more of those? I just got rid of them. He didn't mind going back on minion clearing duty, since a swift throwing knife could detonate them prematurely. While the battle went on, he took care of those that the Moblins' arrow volley had missed.

At the same time, Primrose had been looking for her chance to line up another spell. She didn't let herself wait too long, taking the first opportunity that presented itself to her. Taking aim at the Consul still within his protective glass chamber she let the Vengeful Spirit fly.

Again, seeing as everyone else was busy distracting the robot, Sectonia decided to try to get another big hit in. Little tiny hits seemed to do just that, little bits of damage. What they needed was a big hit. And a big hit she’d conjure. Giving those engaging Consul P a bit of Haste to help distract him, she got busy. Summoning a Chaos shield on herself to tank a hit that Consul P could potentially do to interrupt her, Sectonia began charging another Special Shatter.

With the bedmech in the middle of its duel with Ganondorf and weakened by Therion’s debuffs, the Vengeful Spirit hit it -and P- like a truck. Yelping, the boy thrashed around inside his pod, and the machine itself staggered, tottered toward one side of the dias at the top of the stairs. Nadia, having harbored thoughts very similar to Primrose’s and maneuvered around the opposite side, saw her chance. She flipped over and blasted her entire body diagonally upward in segments, extending Footloose to its maximum range. Her feet smashed into the bedmech’s upper head, twisting it sideways on its long neck and actually leaving a dent. With a grin the feral snapped up her legs and dropped on the machine with Flying Screen Door, spreading the web of cracks Rika put in the glass. Finally, her mini-combo ended with an explosive Purrge of Vengeance that knocked it right back the way it came, perfectly lining it up for a devastating cross slash from both of Ganondorf’s swords.

Sparking and cracked, the bedmech staggered and fell onto its back. Its limbs retracted, its spiked hands positioning themselves like wheels on the beds. Then it drove forward, right toward Ganondorf, seemingly asking for an extra hit. His attack, however, glanced off the bizarre machine’s Guard-point Dash, and the bedmech promptly warped behind him. After a quick double sucker punch to the man’s back - which ended up being intercepted by Phantom Ganon having swooped down and taken the blows instead - it rolled backward as fast as it could, putting some distance between itself and what had become a mob of enemies.

“You jerks!” he growled. “No fair!” Gritting his teeth, P did something. An aching pain suddenly manifested in the feet of every foot-having Seeker present, making grounded movement a bit more uncomfortable, though after the rat poison this honestly didn’t compare. “Hah! How’s that? I scattered plastic bricks around your beds!” He cackled as if he’d committed an act more evil than indiscriminate poisoning. The bedmech seemed to be in bad shape, but it raised its hands anyway to start firing more spikes.

The mech wouldn’t escape so easily however. Sectonia, not having any feet to even use and being immune to the plastic bricks and her Chaos Shield making the spikes heading her way more or less bounce off of her, had a greater charge up than last time. Sectonia cackled as she unleashed another Spacial Shatter, this one not only cracking reality around the mech, but leaving an aftermath of the area being completely drained of color with only faint outlines defining shapes in a white void. Eventually color would return to the area, but the damage had been done. The bedmech now looked even more dilapidated, one of its main arms hanging loosely by its side as it collapsed back into bed form to try and recuperate. Only its head remained out, and it thrashed around wildly with lasers blazing from its eyes in a bid to stop dead any Seekers headed its way.

And then came Phantom Ganon, crashing down from above with his trident. He was caught by lasers in the process, and so the remainder of his health was gone in the process, but that was at least one last attack he managed to get in before he was dismissed and vanished. As for Ganondorf himself, he had begun to run toward the mech - evidently just ignoring the pain in his feet out of sheer willpower and hatred for the little brat. But he paused when he noticed something happening somewhere behind him.

Behind the closer in seekers, some of the lasers and spikes that missed them hammered instead into a wall of bone behind which the light was distorting strangely. Then the wall lowered down, revealing that behind it was Bowser, his scaly feet immune to lego bricks, and Rika, who’s had been decidedly not, and between that and the loss of one of her anti gravity gauntlets, had been rendered unable to stand, and so was presently sitting on Bowser’s shoulder.

She was held there by one of the king’s arms laid over his lap, but was not a passive rider. Instead she was holding onto one of his horns with her gauntlet-less hand and leaning over so her head was above his, biting her lower lip and half closing one of her eyes as she did so.

”Adjust by a few degrees here aaaaaand-” she muttered to herself, lightly pulling at the horn to alter where the King’s clamped shut maw was pointing and then called out ”Fire!” once it was directed right where it needed to.

At the command, Bowser’s mouth snapped open, and a beam of pure white light light lanced out to pinpoint strike the distant head with a flash cannon strike without worrying about causing any friendly fire incidents as it blasted on through thank’s to Rika’s calibrations.

The King of Evil watched the beam strike at the bedmech, decidedly choosing to wait for that attack to run its course. Only then did he resume his advance and raised both blades into a readied downward stabbing motion, ”This… ends… NOW!” he shouted as he stabbed both the blades down with whatever was left of his seemingly limitless strength.

Beneath the weighty blades the glass shattered, and the next instant they sank into the mattress, piercing through the weakened bedframe and out of its back.

But not through P.

The Consul had vanished a moment before impact, teleporting a few dozen feet away. Outside his protective mech now, he stood on his own two feet, and though his helmet completely hid his face the boy was steaming mad. “You actually tried to kill me!” he screamed. “You can’t kill me! GO AWAY!”

Suddenly, the mattress blew apart and giant, oversized bedsprings slammed into Ganondorf’s torso, launching him straight up. He rocketed away with such force that he smashed through Gallo Tower’s ruby-red clock face, at which point gravity returned to normal, and the king began to fall.

He was joined in his decent a heartbeat or two later, when a second hole was punched in the glass, and for a Trowlon Striker to be hurled out of it after the plummeting king of evil.

”Get back here and carry your weight you lazy b-lister!” Bowser yelled after his tossed save, but didn’t stick around to see if it worked or not.

After its last hurrah the bedmech slumped down. Nadia slowed her approach and turned to face P, her box cutters in hand. “Give it up, little piggy,” she advised him. “Unless you wanna ‘meat’ your maker.”

“You can’t kill me,” he spat, balling his little fists. “Nobody can! You’re just teensy tiny little bugs. All of you! With your worthless little lives. I’M the one in charge! Master of time and space! I’m immortal! I’m unstoppable! I’m…” His eye began to glow red again, but this time purple energy welled up around his core as well, quickly swelling into an aura. “MOEBIUS!”

Consul P evaporated in a burst of light, and from the ether demonic being manifested. He was five times as tall as P had been, but still rotund in stature, with bulky, futuristic armor atop a dark skin-like mesh with glowing lines that flashed in rhythmic patterns. A ring, almost like a halo, encircled his neck, and in his chest whirled a radiant reactor highlighted by a lemniscate. The top half of his head appeared to be a crown, and the bottom half featured an O-shaped mouth, full of sharp teeth, flanked by boar tusks. “You know what I hate about all my toys?” he asked, raising sharp-clawed, oversized hands. His voice came through a heavy layer of inhuman distortion. “...They break too easy.”

Home is where the Hearth is [Closed]

@Mae Ultimately it comes down to you as the GM, and how many players you think you can handle since the cast is already very big. For me personally, I wouldn't mind it. I can also (with your permission) tweak Jada a little bit to better allow a character like Saya. For example, since she lives on a homestead it's possible her family keeps livestock - and she was expected to continue the family ranch until Brisk reopened the guild. Now that she got a job with the guild, she takes this chance to get closer to Boro and Saya in order to learn magic - making her more of a novice but also playing up the possibility of an apprenticeship when the country girl learns she might have some magical talent.