[center][h3]Midgar - Quarantine Valley[/h3]
Level 5 Goldlewis (129/50) Level 4 Sandalphon (41/40)
Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Blazermate, Roland, and Susie’s [@Archmage MC], Geralt and Zenkichi’s [@Multi_Media_Man]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1827[/center]

Faced with a massive, treacherous landscape of rusty rooftops, riddled with countless hazards, unknowns, and enemies laying in wait, Goldlewis wouldn’t have known where to begin if not for a certain fortunate coincidence. While the Seekers might not have any bloodhounds on hand, if a strange turn of events they found themselves with someone who smelled like one, and in several respects. Once Geralt received the lost bag of their missing VIP, Irons, and took a deep whiff, he not only picked up the scent but also began to blaze a trail. “Well, I’ll be darned,” Goldlewis remarked, impressed. Just how many tricks did these people have up their sleeves? Ready to roll out, the veteran hoisted his coffin and began to follow his guide. “Lead the way, sir.”

With Sandalphon and Hal watching over their progress from on high, the Seekers set out. There was a lot of ground to cover, so they elected to split up to take different routes through the area and pursue different points of interest. This decision was made when the team drew near a large section of rooftop patrolled by a huge, menacing robot, smack dab in the middle of their intended route. Though badly corroded by prolonged exposure to the elements without maintenance and covered in damage accrued by many battles, the bipedal Unmanned Gear known as the Tyrant was fearsome to behold. Modeled after the Tyrannosaurus Rex of old, it blended its inspiration’s primeval savagery with the dispassionate cruelty of modern heavy weapons. Iron’s scent trail led around it, and most of the Seekers chose to give it a wide berth too, but not all of them. Supported by Roland, the gynoid duo of Blazermate and Susie decided to take the metal monster head-on. As they fought, azure energy bolts from Sandalphon’s rifle streaked through the sky above the others, hammering the Tyrant from afar to help pile on the damage. Their skirmish meant no healing for the rest of the team until the Tyrant fight concluded, but Goldlewis did not object. Even if the trio just wanted to do it for the rewards, their work would help make Quarantine Valley a safer place for everyone.

Yet, these rooftops were more dangerous than even he could have realized. When Zenkichi took the low road, delving into a dark area suspended between a couple buildings, his conscientious attempt to help out young Aurele got him a lot more trouble than he bargained for. None of the others saw what happened down there, and Zenkichi wasn’t inclined to regale them with the details, but in the end he secured a route for Aurele to escape Ny’agai Street and head back toward Sector V, unaware that he’d never see his friends again.

[center][hider=For Zenkichi]Items obtained:
[b]Verut Spirit[/b]
[i]Spirit of a young boy who loved to play[/i]
[b]Lovi Spirit[/b]
[i]Spirit of a young girl who loved to play[/i]
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/LF8onbD.png]Lady Ny’agai[/url][/b]
[i]Spirit of a ghostly entity with the form of a pale, fancily-dressed woman whose curses could transfigure unlucky people into her servant ‘children’[/i]
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/K5JNtxY.png]Cecile[/url][/b]
[i]Spirit of a former knight who broke under the weight of the horrors of war, becoming a reclusive sharpshooter in exile with an unhealthy addiction to manachew[/i]
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/amI5G51.png]Devinder Crousley[/url][/b]
[i]Spirit of an internet-famous paranormal investigator, amateur cryptozoologist, and aspiring inventor who, despite his weapons and gadgets, looked into one mystery too many[/i]
[b]Vest of the Dead[/b]
[i]A Protector that takes the form of an old-fashioned suit vest. It provides a surprising amount of defense but has no secondary bonuses[/i]
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/AtmsuQO.png]Can of Sham[/url][/b]
[i]A can of high quality Shamway ham, the number 1 maker of meat-like products. The lunch of champions. The recipe is top secret and better left undisclosed. Provides a little health when eaten. Can be used to make much tastier, heartier Sham Chowder[/i]
[b]Ammo Box[/b]
[i]A rusted metal tin that can be set down and opened to fully resupply long guns and handguns (no more than one apiece) for up to three people[/i][/hider][/center]

Once the detective called Sandalphon to request her oversight, she fixed her attention on Aurele to make absolutely sure that he got home safely. Her gunstaff might not have a scope, but her eyes were sharp, and as she watched the teary-eyed boy go she precisely calculated the path he’d take based on his movements. Twice he ran into danger, once when an aberration dragged itself out of a patched-up lean-to and once when a bright red crate Aurele ran by turned out to be a [url=https://i.imgur.com/GLlhG4P.png]mimic[/url] in disguise. The first monster Sandalphon nailed with a headshot before it even rose from the ground, but when she shot at the transforming mimic she missed twice. It was able to fully get up and run after Aurele, its spiked tentacles swinging. As it closed the distance, Sandalphon took aim, narrowing her eyes as her pupils turned into neon green reticles. With projectiles that had travel time, this wasn’t easy. She led her shot, and as the mimic ran down Aurele on the bridge back to Sector V, her third shot slammed into its head and knocked it over the railing to plunge down to the corrupted streets far below. Sandalphon’s pupils became stress marks as she watched the boy disappear to safety, then turned to resume her overwatch. [i]33% shot placement is unacceptable,[/i] she admonished herself. [i]I need an upgrade.[/i]

Not long after that, Geralt’s nose led him and Goldlewis to their destination. Both were duly warned about the red matter signature present at that location, and upon arriving they found the broken vial spattered with trace amounts of Blue Evolve. Barely did they get the chance to identify it, though, then they were attacked by an invisible foe that struck with the deadly pierce of a lance and the crushing might of a heavy shield. Geralt made the spur-of-the-moment decision to dose himself with Blue Evolve then and there, and though such a small amount barely allowed him to see or strike the chimera, it made a crucial difference. After taking a few hits and being utterly unable to fight back, Goldlewis followed suit. Was this unwise? Probably. Was it hygienic? Definitely not. But the veteran was used to doing whatever it took to survive. Once he quaffed the drops in the very bottom of the cracked vial, he could see the demonic-looking outline of his enemy, taller than the average human but shorter than either Geralt or himself. The Laius attacked with brutal simplicity and lackluster speed. Its attacks were almost too easy to dodge or block against now that he could see them, and it wasn’t enough of an adroit defender with its shield to protect itself all that well, either. [i]A little Blue Evolve really does make all the difference.[/i] Though they both dealt drastically reduced damage against the monster thanks to their low dosage, the pair’s combination of might and magic killed the thing after a few moments, leaving its spirit -as unsettlingly red and glitchy as those found on the highway that first night- for Geralt to collect. The Witcher called it in, reporting what the scouting party had found.

“Understood,” Sandalphon replied. From her perch she’d seen the fight -or more accurately, two thirds of it- go down, unable to help. Even if Hal’s scans could somehow give the sniper a bead on the chimera, there was no guarantee it would stay put long enough for her shot to hit. Or that her allies wouldn’t accidentally get in the way. Not that her shots could hit a chimera anyway. She wasn’t frustrated, per se; the situation was just nonoptimal. But now that Goldlewis and Geralt had inoculated themselves with Blue Evolve, they were the team’s best bet against any more chimeras they ran into. Sandalphon quickly brought everyone else up to date. “Goldlewis and Geralt followed Iron’s trail to a dead end, where they found traces of Blue Evolve that they used to fight and kill a chimera.”

Hal’s drone was en route to their location. Upon arriving at the rooftop, he re-scanned the area. “I’m picking up less red matter than before. But it’s not completely gone…” When he probed closer to the source, a localized crimson lightning flash went off in front of him, and a glitchy, bloody wound ripped open in reality itself. “And there it is. A gate to the Astral Plane. And bad news: Iron’s scent trail leads right into it.”

“Just like with Wind Chimes,” Goldlewis reasoned. He glanced at Geralt. “We can get in, grab her, and get out. ‘Specially now we got a chance in hell of fightin’ ‘em.”

“A gate has opened in their vicinity,” Sandalphon reported to Blazermate, Susie, Roland, Zenkichi, and Karin. “It sounds like they’re going to proceed inside to retrieve the VIP. Please proceed to the location and stand by to provide assistance if necessary.” The gate stuck out like a sore thumb, so the others would be able to find it (not to mention fly or grapple to it) easily. While they might not be able to fight chimeras, they could feasibly help out in other ways.

The two big men geared up to take the plunge, and Hal’s drone went to join them. As he sighed, his drone performed an agitated flip. “Welp, here we go.” Together, the three leaped in.

This time, the transition between dimensions wasn’t as fast, and when they arrived it wasn’t an arena Goldlewis found himself in. Instead he found himself in the middle of a ton of geometric formations like an angular mountain range or city buildings, all black obsidian streaked with narrow golden swirls and cluttered with outcrops of red crystal. Being here was just as uncomfortable and unnerving as Goldlewis remembered, and worse, instead of a path ahead there lay just a couple disjointed slabs and islands, separated by empty space over the infinite abyss.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/bRAR1mX.png[/img][/center]

“I’m picking up a biosignal. It might be Iron!” Hal reported. ”The signal’s still strong. Let’s find her before that changes!”

Goldlewis whistled. Just the thought of falling forever, or until he aberrated, made the hairs on his neck stand up. “Halo? We’re gonna need folks with more mobility.”

Back in the World of Light, Sandalphon heard him loud and clear. “Roger. All units, proceed into the Astral Plane with utmost caution.”

Once inside, Susie, Blazermate, and Karin could put their flight and grappling to good use. They found strange geometric loci of red matter that seemed to function as switches when a group of them were struck simultaneously, which started platforms moving back and forth over the void that the others could use. The path forward was treacherous, sometimes featuring other sliding blocks that could knock people off ledges or red matter singularities that steadily fired corruption clusters down corridors or across bridges. Still, after a few twists, turns, and downward slopes, the team reaches a more open area.

Almost immediately, a burst of dark energy went off atop the soon-to-be battleground, and from within appeared a handful of strange figures. Two were [url=https://i.imgur.com/28o5pKE.png]bladed Voidrangers[/url], two wielded [url=https://i.imgur.com/babG6li.png]cannon-wielding Eliminators[/url], and behind them the one that walked behind them on hooves like a horse’s, arms crossed, was a [url=https://i.imgur.com/n8FRcee.png]Trampler[/url]. These beings were inorganic and alien, but not really demonic in appearance, and not even a little bit red. “What the heck are those?” Hal exclaimed as the others readied their weapons. “Whatever they are, they’re not chimeras, that’s for sure!”

As if in response to him, or perhaps the intrusion, a keening cry rang out through the area. From above swooped three winged [url=https://i.imgur.com/wq5G8Jg.png]creatures[/url] with bodies of pale purple-white, bladed legs, and fleshy pastel-green ‘feathers’, seemingly feminine in shape. Hal’s drone shrank back. “But those are! WIG-C-76E8F-01, ‘Aello’. It looks like we’ve wandered into some kind of turf war!”

“And Iron’s on the other side,” Goldlewis grunted. It’d naturally fall to him and Geralt to eliminate the chimeras, but as he’d learned in the fight against the Laius, his weapons weren’t effective against these things. Only his body. Flying enemies would be tough if he couldn’t shoot them. He cracked his knuckles, then his neck. “Well, we’ve got plenty of targets. Let’s take ‘em out!”

[center][h3]Suoh - Other Onslaught[/h3]
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Sakura’s [@Zoey Boey], Pit’s [@Yankee], Roxas’ [@Double], Luka[/center]

The moment the action began, the fighting was furious and nonstop. Though together the Seekers and the Psych-OSF soldiers made for a formidable united front, these Others had a serious numbers advantage, so the heroes’ saving grace was that their foes were neither coherent nor organized. Rather than taking the monsters all on at once, they could fight and exterminate them a handful at a time, though that didn’t mean that any encounter couldn’t be their last if they weren’t careful.

Luka knew the danger, but he couldn’t afford to be slow and methodical with the lives of so many innocent civilians on the line. A gang of four Kitchen Rummies were working their way down the sidewalk, burning everything in their path that they couldn’t whack to pieces with their hooked steel pipes. The young man gripped his Weight Hammer tight and teleported into the fray, covering dozens of yards in a single bound. He appeared and swung in a full circle, building up centripetal force, then snapped the jet-colored mannequin’s curled brass leg out from under it. He transitioned his momentum into an overhead smash directly into the monster’s core lattice, breaking it in half. Two of the other Others tottered his way while the third stuck the burner it had for a head through the window it had just shattered. Without hesitation Luka teleported past the pair. Appearing behind the Kitchen Rummy, he dropped his hammer, grabbed its legs, and pulled. The Other fell forward against the building, landing on its knees, and the instant he could do so Luka grabbed its body and took it down with a German suplex. Its burner slammed into the head of his hammer and smashed to pieces. As it slumped down its fellows encroached, so Luka grabbed his weapon and sent the fallen Rummy flying toward them with a baseball swing. They went down in a pile, tangled up long enough for him to finish the job with a few well-placed hammer swings.

Next he turned his attention toward a pair of Saws Paws breaking through a makeshift barricade, teleporting past a handful of Pools to reach them. His target heard him coming and ducked backward out of the way, making Luka overswing, and as he tried to recover the other Saws Paws leaped at him with its blade-wielding legs extended. It landed a couple slashes on his shoulder and back, then tried to floor him with a hefty whack from its giant Rafflesia bloom. It was delayed just enough for Luka to dodge away, then dodge again as the first charged him. He rushed after it, dragging his hammer along the ground, then launched it with an upward swing as it turned. It flipped over onto its flower, and with a revolving blow Luka sent it spinning away. By that time the other Saws Paws reached him, slashing again and again. Luka blocked until his wily opponent used its tail to coil around the hammer’s head and yank it out of the soldier’s grasp. Surprised, Luka threw himself out of the way of its follow-up leap, but as the Saws Paws faced him again his weapon lay out of reach. Tapping into Yuito’s Psychokinesis, however, Luka retrieved his hammer in time to parry the Other’s pounce and leave it reeling. He paused just long enough to aim, then cannoned his hammer head-first with Psychokinesis, plowing into the Saws Paws and crushing it against the side of a building. Even before its ashes hit the ground, Luka was off to the next batch of targets, his hammer floating back into his little hands.

Meanwhile, Yuito had engaged a flock of Pendus, throwing objects and jumping off bits of the scenery to get their attention. Scummy Pendus were nothing to write home about, falling to his remote-controlled swordblade like wheat to the scythe. The Plateau Pendus were a little trickier, their electric shots and divebombs demanding patience and perception in the midst of a chaotic battle, but Yuito could manage. Dodging bolts from two of them, he used his Psychokinesis to interpose a hefty metal bench into its path, stunning it on impact. As the bench fell he surged forward to pull off a three-hit triangle slash, severing the monster’s wings and then the neck. The two other Plateaus prepared to shoot again, but Yuito focused on the storefront behind them. When he reached out with his power, the glass window shattered, and its deadly shards hurtled forward to pierce the Others’ bodies. From there he used the bench again and sideswiped the pair hard enough to break the bench, killing one Other but stunning the other. When a bulb popped out of its chest, Yuito performed a Brain Crush, simply yanking the bulb out of the monster’s body with his Psychokinesis to kill it. The moment he sheathed his sword, however, another Plateau hit him from behind, first clubbing his head and then grabbing him beneath the arms to lift him into the air. He grunted in pain and anger as he rose, the ground receding beneath him. Unable to use his arms, he drew his sword with Psychokinesis and embedded it into the Plateau’s head. A quick kick to the blade’s handle broke its neck, forcing it to release him, and as he spun away Yuito dispatched his foe with a distant crescent slash. Its halves reached the ground before he did.

His Pendu troubles weren’t over, however. When he ran at the next one, a specimen with dragonfly wings and red arms, it darted away at an incredible speed, leaving afterimages in its wake. [i]Just like Arashi,[/i] Yuito noted, narrowing his eyes. This Other has Hypervelocity: a Bandeau Pendu. He wouldn’t be able to lay a finger on it normally, but luckily Yuito had the counter. “Luka, I need this.” Using his friend’s Teleportation, the young man closed the distance, then appeared above the Other. After a quick one-two with his sword he dealt the Bandeau Pendu a sort of drop kick, throwing it to the street. Its Hypervelocity wouldn’t work for a moment, and a moment was all he needed. Once he landed, Yuito yanked a sidewalk advert from the ground and sent it spinning into the Other, knocking it flat. His projectile broke in half, but he hammered his foe with the halves anyway, prompting another bulb that a Brain Crush quickly took care of.

Yuito, Hanabi, and Luka ended up converging on a small horde of lesser Others, including Pools and Paws, and together they dispatched them quickly. “Nice going, guys!” the girl exclaimed before refocusing on a new threat. “Might wanna stick together for that one, though.” It was a half-equine, half-metal monstrosity with scaled fruit and pruned branches: the [url=https://i.imgur.com/RgBeFMd.png]Juttie Chinery[/url]. As it charged, the three soldiers went to work. Both Luka and Yuito empowered their melee attacks with Hanabi’s fire, dealing enough damage with hit-and-run attacks to send the Chinery into a berserk rage, at which point Luka and Hanabi switched to long range with Yuito’s Psychokinesis to pound it with random objects. Luka ended the barrage by throwing his Weight Hammer at the Chinery’s head, then catching it as it bounced off for an impressive overhead slam. The monster roared in pain and lifted its arm to grab him, only for Hanabi to use her Prometheus Torch to vault over him and pour salt on the wound with a flaming heel drop. In blind rage the Other lunged at them, but the two dodged to either side, and as the Chinery looked up it witnessed a bus careening toward him under the power of the psychic riding on top of it. The withering impact sent the Other onto its back with a shriek, and from the base of its spine popped its bulb. Yuito used his Psychokinesis to wrap its own tail around the bulb and pulled the tail tight to sever it, killing the rest.

The battle raged on, the heroes steadily accruing fatigue and wounds and the number of Others steadily dwindled. Fighting all the way down the avenue to Main Street would be brutal, but it looked like they wouldn’t have too. Another force seemed to be fighting down the avenue from the other direction, slaughtering Others as its members advanced. Things finally came to a head when the two sides met in the center of the avenue, the local population of others pincered and squashed beneath them. All that remained was the Dispen Perry, but as the Seekers watched, the other team tore it apart. While four troopers -Pvts Yamaguchi Wolfe, Kasumi Tucker, Tanabe Row, and Kotome Aguilar- fired on it with a compound bow, a grenade launcher, a sawblade launcher, and throwing knives respectively, three duos pounded it with their psychic abilities. Clad in sleek yet theatrical red and black that masked their physical changes, the P-types obeyed their commands to the letter, [url=https://i.imgur.com/f7tBSLq.png]Sabrina[/url] with the mind-bending might of her [url=https://assets.pokemon.com/assets/cms2/img/pokedex/full/065.png]Alakazam[/url] fusion and [url=https://i.imgur.com/srWBH0G.png]Will[/url] with the precognitive mastery of his [url=https://assets.pokemon.com/assets/cms2/img/pokedex/full/178.png]Xatu[/url] fusion. The PSI prodigies [url=https://i.imgur.com/sMAY9Jb.png]Ninten[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/I2KL3B5.png]Lucas[/url] worked together, the more courageous boy covering for the more timid one while he dished out damage with PK Thunder and Freeze. Lastly, [url=https://i.imgur.com/M8qCE5B.png]Morris Martinez[/url] used his psychic trampolines to evade and knock around the monster, allowing [url=https://i.imgur.com/6W6sD1Z.png]Gisu[/url] to strike it with her weaponized hoverboard. Despite its strength and hydrokinesis, the Dispen Perry was quickly overwhelmed, the killing blow struck by Gisu when her board sliced through the monster’s exposed bulb.

“That’s not my squad,” Yuito muttered. He had a bad feeling about this–one that his friends all shared.

As the Major Other died, the ten psychics formed up facing the four Seekers and their three friends. “Well, well, well, look who it is,” Morris taunted them from his trademark weaponized chair atop his Levitation ball. “The fugitives. We’ve got orders to haul you back to base, so I’m afraid this is the end of the line.”

Gisu glared at Hanabi. “What are you doing? You should be fighting alongside us. Your platoon! Instead you’re with these traitors?”

Hanabi could only fidget, her hands behind her back. “I-I know how this looks. But listen, we’ve been set up! We found out a bunch of horrible stuff that dangerous people don’t want the public to know. Knowing this, I can’t go on like normal, and I can’t surrender. If you’d just…”

“Save it for the judge, traitor” Will interjected, unfurling the wings that had been acting like a robe. “Whatever your reasons, you’re coming with us.”

“I’ve informed Commanders Sasha and Camilla. We’re clear to proceed, and authorized to use lethal force if necessary,” Sabrina added flatly. Her face remained stoic as spoons began to levitate around her. “Do not resist.”

Luka took a deep breath. [i]Red-on-red[/i]. Nothing more needed to be said. He and the others had already come so far; they couldn’t afford to back down now. 

[center][h3]The Under - Hollow Bough[/h3]
Level 12 Nadia (86/120)
The Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Artorias’ [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 3180[/center]

In less than two hours, the Seekers’ misadventure in the Crypt of the NecroDancer had already come to a close, with their unexpected detour meeting an unexpected end. For the most part, Nadia felt pretty relieved that she didn’t actually end up having to stake her life on the dance routine she’d thrown together with Primrose. If she’d been up against any actual professional performers, the feral knew she’d be toast. Whether or not she had a knack for the art, success was the result of practice, practice, and more practice, for which there was no substitution. Whether dancing, fighting, or thieving, the story was the same. Still…she did feel a little let down. Some part of her really wanted to strut her stuff out there–to see what she was capable of. Oh well. Maybe another day, without the shadow of impending doom hanging over her head, another opportunity to dance her heart out would come her way. For now, she and her teammates needed to get a move on, out of this tomb and on to greener pastures. Next stop: Hollow Bough.

Before they could leave this soniferous sepulcher, however, the others brought up something that had almost slipped Nadia’s mind: the three who hadn’t entered the Crypt. “Oh yeah, yeah! We oughta let ‘em know they’re free to enter!” With the NecroDancer deposed and his dominion dismantled it stood to reason that those three could get in to rejoin those who signed the Snatcher’s contract. Normally there wouldn’t be a chance in hell of communicating this properly, but thanks to the miracle of her linkpearl, Nadia was able to ring up her contact of choice among the trio who abstained. “Heya Jesse!” she greeted her fellow mallrat in a chipper tone. “We’ve just about wrapped up here. The NecroDancer just sang his swan song, though between you and me, he REALLY couldn’t carry a tomb, heehee. Ah, anyway, the Crypt should be open now, so hurry and catch up to us!”

The FBC director offered an alternative. “Actually, we kind of found another way. ‘Big Dorf’ recognized it, and said it’s a kind of shrine that should lead us to the surface. There’s loot, too. You guys go ahead for now, we’ll catch up if this turns out to be a dead end.”


Her news about an alternate route took Nadia by surprise. Still, it didn’t come as a shock that Jesse would manage to find and forge her own path. Whether their separate ways would link up again was anyone’s guess, but they’d been lucky so far, and anything was possible. “Alrighty then, if you say so. Good luck out there!” For a moment the catgirl paused, the faintest hint of the worry she felt breaking through her sunny disposition. Then she went ahead and cut off the link. Precisely because anything was possible, everything was uncertain. Nadia didn’t want to say goodbye to any more friends. But she had to trust in Jesse and the others, and that she’d see them again just the same as she’d see Geralt, Sakura, Ace, and all the rest.

With that settled, she and the others navigated through the remainder of the Crypt. Between all its rooms, staircases, and hallways, it was something of a labyrinthine dungeon, but once they reached the central Nexus it was a clear shot to the exit. On the way they passed by multitudes of skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and other ghoulies also clearing out. Those who possessed sufficient humanity and/or sentience could depart through either the back door, which led to the Kingdom’s Edge and, as Bowser helpfully explained, the Home of Tears via Pizza Tower, or they could leave through the front and explore Hollow Bough alongside their saviors. Plenty of undead had no intention of leaving, however. Whether they found new meaning or purpose in the Crypt or simply lacked the wherewithal to leave, they’d remain here, partying, chilling, and dancing. Not for eternity, but until the worlds were saved. As she looked around, Nadia gave a wistful smile at the lost souls. If you had nowhere else to go, this wasn’t an awful place to be.

As she lingered, a ghost suddenly popped up from the floor in front of her, taking her by surprise. “Whoa!” Nadia sharpened her claws on instinct, ready to fight, only to find the [url=https://i.imgur.com/Ry8KFuN.png]specter[/url] bowing in front of her playfully, wagging its ghostly tail. Though a little unnerving with those big, glowing eyes, its cute appearance disarmed the tension, and Nadia cracked a smile so she could laugh at herself. “Aww, you little stinker. C’mere!” When she held open her arms, the Polterpup jumped right into them, his tail whipping from side to side as he licked her face with a big, pink tongue. “Ah, ack, [i]ptoo[/i], ugh!” Nadia couldn’t have guessed what touching a ghost would feel like, but as it turned out, he both looked [i]and[/i] felt like a giant, soft marshmallow. Giggling helplessly, she craned her neck from side to side to try and escape the Polterpup’s licks.

Tingyun tittered as she watched the scene unfold. “Looks like you’ve got quite a handful, Ms. Fortune.”

“Nah, I’m a dog person. Love ‘em to bits, ‘specially small ones. Crazy, right?” Nadia crouched down and set the dog on the ground. “Who’s your owner, chucho?” When she looked around though, she didn’t see anyone searching for a lost pet. The Polterpup just rolled over, begging to have his tummy rubbed, and naturally the catgirl had to honor his request. As much as he delighted her, the implication of his existence also made her a little sad. “Poor little guy. Probably got loved to death.”

After thinking for a moment, Tingyun tilted her head. “This place is full of lost souls, but perhaps he’s found somewhere to belong. Or more specifically, someone to belong to.”

“You think?” Nadia raised her eyebrows, then looked down at Polterpup. “Well, I [i]am[/i] incredibly lovable. Guess that makes us two peas in a pod, eh Chucho?” She smiled and held out a hand. “Whaddya say, pal? Wanna be paw-tners?” To her delight, the Polterpup put up its little ghostly paw to shake, and they were agreed. “Wow, that’s a way better deal than I got from that other ghost. C’mon, Chucho!” Her new friend jumped on her shoulder, his back half hanging down on her back, and Nadia joined those headed toward the mausoleum’s front entrance.

[hr]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/vRBqxmz.png[/img][/center]

Stepping out of the dark, relatively cramped stone chambers of the Crypt and into Hollow Bough made for quite the drastic change. The Seekers had entered an enormous, sprawling cave system of tunnels, overgrown grottos, and vast galleries not of stone, but of petrified wood. Branches and roots of immense size curled and twisted through the musty air alongside the trunks, and almost everywhere they looked they could see familiar, spiky, blood-red tendril. Evidently the source of the Creeper Vines, this region also featured their bloated, stationary cousins with horn-like spikes and retractable white spines large enough to be wielded as weapons. Nadia wished that she could say that this underground biome possessed the sort of peaceful silence you might expect in a forest (apart from the shuffle and clatter of feet from the handfuls undead setting out on their journeys) but unfortunately that was not the case. In addition to ominous creaking and crackling, the place hummed with the angry wingbeat of Deeptora wasps, loudest around their horrid-looking papery [url=https://i.imgur.com/oXkaU6G.png]nests[/url] that smoldered an vivid orange from within. Smiling wryly, Nadia zipped up her jacket right away. With the changes to her outfit much less of her skin was showing than usual, so hopefully those wasps’ stingers couldn’t pierce clothing. If only she still had a hood. 

Tingyun winced at the sound of wasps as well, sneaking an envious glance in the feral’s direction. “Well benefactors, here we are,” she began, mustering up her courage and walking a few steps across the wooden ground. “It’s something of a hostile environment I’ll admit, and woefully easy to get lost in.”

“Hm? You said you know where we’re goin’, right?” Nadia double-checked.

“Of course! I certainly wouldn’t be much of a guide otherwise.” She knelt down and picked up what looked like a discarded [url=https://i.imgur.com/GGVqJjw.png]piece of junk[/url], a tinted plastic cylinder partially encased in steel rings. “These spent flares mark the route we took to get down here. Unless things have changed, they should also serve to lead the way back.”

The Seekers set off, but the following the breadcrumb trail of flares was a little tougher than they bargained for. For one, the flares had been tossed haphazardly, leaving them stuck in random places sometimes, and never on a slope they could slide or bounce down. Additionally, unlike most of the underground areas the heroes had visited so far, it was actually very dark in Hollow Bough. Some things shone or gleamed a little, but this wasn’t a smorgasbord of bioluminescence like the Azure Weald beneath Carcass Isle. Nadia could see pretty well in low light, but not total darkness, and most of the others were worse off, so everyone needed to work together to light the way. “Really wishin’ I didn’t get rid of that night light right about now,” she grumbled. At the very least, Tingyun proved quite useful in this regard. After producing her fans, she could wave them to create swathes of bright golden electricity to briefly illuminate their surroundings. Bowser might be surprised to find that he could use his fire breath in such a flammable-looking environment, but it looked like it’d take a lot more fire than he had to ignite the Hollow Bough.

Working together, the Seekers forged onward, their path alternating between tight, winding tunnels and enormous hollows. All over they found thorny weeds and lichens both round and tubular, brown and green and red. When she stepped into one of the dry thorn tumbleweeds, Nadia quickly kicked it off. Overhead hung branches of bough cones the size of beach balls, which would detach from their withered sprigs at the slightest provocation. Thorn Pots were large plants that resembled meaty crimson flowers with clusters of yellow thorns in the middle that would discharge if the plant sustained damage. Likewise, the yellow, five-segmented, bulbous Goo Sacks would burst into a sticky ochre paste once ruptured. Larval Corpse Feeders extended from the walls in certain places, but they shrunk away whenever someone approached with only a dry scraping noise to betray their presence. The [url=https://static.miraheze.org/rainworldwiki/c/c5/Worm_grass_consume3.gif]worm grass[/url], meanwhile, was much, much more dangerous. After seeing a careless Crypt zombie get reduced to a skeleton in seconds, Nadia didn’t even want to get close to the worm grass, let alone fight it. Luckily, even if the worm grass traced her movement in a creepy way, their patches were pretty easy to jump over.

Their passage through the Hollow Bough hardly went uncontested. Within minutes of entering the Seekers encountered their primary threat: the Glyphid swarm. These eight-legged, eyeless alien arachnids came in many varieties, from the standard [url=https://i.imgur.com/qJba7Ek.png]grunts[/url] to the armored [url=https://i.imgur.com/UUNa4Nc.png]guards[/url] with shieldlike forelegs to the vicious [url=https://i.imgur.com/WWsUDmm.png]slicers[/url] with bladed limbs. After equipping her boxcutters, Nadia happily went to town on any disgusting bugs that came at her, slicing them limb from loathsome limb in spurts of green fluid. At first the guards gave her a little trouble, but when crossing one up with a jump-in attack the feral discovered that their abdomens were weak. This trend help true even when the first of several much larger and better-protected [url=https://i.imgur.com/TaOfAAO.png]Praetorians[/url] appeared; the acid-breathing green juggernauts had vulnerable, brightly glowing behinds that could be used against them. Nadia quickly found her favorite strategy: Charge through them as a bolt of lightning, then mess up their weak spots with the free two-hit crit from Battery. The real problem turned out to be the red-shelled [url=https://i.imgur.com/h9hWqda.png]spitters[/url], hiding up in the dark to rain down bolts of much stronger yellow acid on anyone who dared stand still for too long. Those spits did a shocking amount of damage if a couple connected, and Nadia quickly learned to watch the walls and ceilings.

 Tingun turned out to be a huge help. By chiming her little bell, she could grant a single ally an appreciable attack buff for thirty seconds, and doing so empowered her own fan strikes with some of that ally’s strength. Once sufficiently energized, she could also perform a dance to boost an ally’s speed and give them a bunch of meter for super attacks. Jolted by her lightning, a glyphid Praetorian could do little but shriek in frustration as Tingyun finished it off. “Hmhmhm. Nothing like a fan for cooling you off when you get too heated,” she giggled.

She had to get a little more serious when a couple abnormalities showed up. In one cavern the group ran into a pair of [url=https://i.imgur.com/1sQ7tyK.png]Brother Long Legs[/url], each an ink-black bundle of flesh and mouths only visible in the gloom thanks to their amber x-patterns. They used their incredibly long tentacles to both move around and grab prey, which at one point included Tingyun. “B-benefactors!” she yelped, trying to maintain her composure. “I could use some of your benefice right now!”

“I gotcha!” Nadia propelled herself into the air and used jets of blood to turn herself into an enormous flying sawblade. Her boxcutters sliced through the offending tentacle and Tingyun dropped to the ground, gracefully slowing her fall with her fans.

“...You’re too good to me~” She replied jokingly after getting her breath back.

Nadia just grinned and rejoined the fight. “Think nothin’ of it!”

After dealing with the Brother Long Legs and a couple freakish [url=https://static.miraheze.org/rainworldwiki/2/22/Centiwing_spinning_header.gif]Centiwings[/url], things quieted down for a little while as the Seekers resumed travel. At least until they heard echoed voices arguing up ahead. Some were reedy, and some were bassy, but all were grouchy. When the team exited the next tunnel they stepped into potentially the largest hollow yet, though this one seemed to be by design. In the middle stood a huge mechanical dias like a vault buried in the ground, and on top of it was an enormous bubble shield protecting an [url=https://i.imgur.com/icQWadw.png]inverted machine pyramid[/url]. The voices belonged to a quartet of dwarves next to what might’ve been the shield’s projector, with three of the four in a heated debate.

“...We’ve barely got any nitra left after that Nemesis nearly buried us, you arsewipe!” The one in blue was saying. “If we split up now, we’re just askin’ to be killed!”

“We’ll just mine more nitra then, you blockhead. We ain’t pansies, we can each take a generator on our own! The longer we faff about, the more glyphids are comin’ to crawl up our arses!” the one in yellow disagreed.

The one in red objected. “What about Molly then? She can’t be in both places at once. How’re we gonna cash in our nitra if the mule’s not around to collect it?”

Chucho barked at all the excitement and scampered down toward the dwarves, and Nadia jogged after him, amused. “Hey, boys!” she called, greeting them with a wave. As she approached, she realized they really were dwarves; each stood about a head shorter than herself. “Whatever happened to ‘mining’ your manners? What’s all this about?”

Together the four looked her way, curious looks on the faces of those with their faces showing. Though gruff, they seemed friendly enough; after all, despite being incredibly well armed, none even reached for their weapons. The dwarf in blue seemed to speak for them. “Hey. We were just talkin’ about whether to split up and take out the generators for the Caretaker’s shield here, or tackle ‘em one at a time.”

“We can handle the generators no problem. As long as we meet back up for the Caretaker, we’re fine,” the one in yellow interjected.

After picking up Chucho to hold against her chest, Nadia raised an eyebrow. “Caretaker?”

“That big ol’ hunk o’ metal,” the one in red explained, jabbing a finger at the machine inside the energy shield. “It’s the biggest deal ‘round here. We’re plannin’ to wipe it out and pop open its vault for a crack at the goodies inside.” He pointed out two thick power cables leading out from the vault into two neighboring cave systems. “But to do that, we gotta find and hack both power generators, then get back here and take out the backup batteries to start the fireworks.”

Nadia tilted her head. “Kinda sounds like another boss.” She glanced at the others to see what they thought. “Maybe we can lend a hand. Won’t be a problem splittin’ up if we tag along with you?”

As the leader tugged his whiskers, considering it, the masked driller crossed his arms. “Wot’s the catch? You lookin’ to split the payout?”

“Well, naturally,” Nadia replied with a teasing grin.

“I’m sure we can work out something fair afterwards,” Tingyun reasoned. “You dwarves usually delve down here in digging machines, correct? I happened to come down with an earlier crew. Giving us passage upward would be reward enough.”

Before any other dwarf could interject, the leader agreed. “Roight then, you’re on. We can use the help, things’ve been rougher out here than normal. Wouldn’t be a stretch to call it Hazard 5 at this point in fact. You can call me [url=https://i.imgur.com/IAtLa7T.png]Stetson[/url]. These are [url=https://i.imgur.com/LT6OLhG.png]Cyclops[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/Hwa0Fqg.png]Paintbrush[/url], and [url=https://i.imgur.com/qJj1yIK.png]Overhard[/url]. We’ll go half n’ half, take out the generators, then…”

He went quiet. The sounds of shifting earth, scrabbling legs, and beating wings reached the Seekers, and Stetson sucked in his breath. “Swarm! It’s a big one!”

“You sound just like bloody Mission Control,” Cyclops groused as he pulled out his CRSPR flamethrower. Overhard started building a pair of turrets immediately, and without a word Paintbrush flicked off the safety on his heavy multi-rocket launcher. “Never thought I’d miss the boot-lickin’ bastard, but here we are.”

Shouldering his yellow launcher, Stetson launched a flare into the ceiling of the cavern, bathing it in light. It illuminated a horde of glyphids, mactera, and insectoid monsters even more reprehensible. “Contact! Lock and load!”