[center][h3]Primrose & Panther[/h3] [@Yankee][/center] From a safe enough distance to not disturb anything Panther watched Primrose’s performance with starry eyes. The grace with which the dancer carried herself, the effortlessness with which she seemed to attract attention, the smoothness of her angle...if she didn’t know what Primrose’s intentions were, the blonde was completely positive she would have been duped herself. When glanced at by the peddler she helped out by giving a cute little wave, but she dared not speak a word, lest she ruin the master at work. Only a few short moments later, the show was over. Primrose drifted out of the smiling vendor’s grasp and back to her companion, with whom she became herself once more. Panther had to suppress the urge to bounce up and down in excitement until they got out of eyeshot. “Oh my gosh, that was amazing!” she bubbled, her fists held up and squeezed shut in exuberance. “Like, you didn’t even ask for ‘em, you just sorta steered the conversation along until he offered you some! And the way you went for your money, looking all sad...genius!” She slapped a palm to her head. “I’ve been so direct everytime I tried. Man, I must have looked soooo corny. I should’ve known not to trust those shows…” After getting a little off track, she accepted the dumplings from Primrose with an apologetic smile of her own, as if she didn’t deserve it. “Thank you so much. Man, I feel bad making you teach me like this. I mean, it’s obvious you’ve got crazy experience. But me, I’ve never actually needed to do this sort of stuff and I probably won’t again. You’re probably wasting your time on me.” After staring at the dumpling for a moment she looked back at Primrose. “But I’m really glad you are. You’re like, the cool older sister I never had.” She took a chomp out of her dumpling and savored every bite. “Whah. That’sh...that flavor…” Rather than try to describe it, however, she just wolfed down the rest of it. Once the two got back on track, Panther recalled the places of interest mentioned by Primrose’s momentary acquaintance: a fountain and a museum. Everything else existed either in the vicinity of the Bazaar or to the north, neither of which the other Phantom Thieves headed toward. If they’d gotten so caught up they hadn’t even tried to reconnect with her yet, Panther figured, they had to have found something important. Al Mamoon’s high buildings and busy streets made it difficult to get a good read on the sky, but Panther kept an eye to the south as she and Primrose explored. What sort of museum could possibly get her friends’ interest for so long…? A chance look in the right place gave her the answer: a building made of tacky gold-colored blocks piled high, pimpled by sapphire-blue windows amid their swirls. Panther’s eyes went wide. “T-the museum. It’s...oh, what was it?” She snapped her fingers a few times, her gear turning as fast as it could. “Oh, Mada-! Madarame’s museum. The Museum of Vanity. They must have found Yusuke!” She coughed. “Ugh, um, I mean, Fox. Another friend of mine. He’s an artist. Come on!” She raced through the streets as fast as her gown allowed, making at least one wrong turn. “Man, I know I saw it this way. Why...oh, crap. I totally forgot, I need my mask in order to radio them! Duh” She ducked into an alleyway as soon as the opportunity presented itself and momentarily transformed, donning her crimson catsuit and characteristic panther mask. “Hey, guys. You there?” “Yeah,” the familiar voice of Joker replied after a second. “Where’ve you been? You missed all the fun.” “Whuh?” Panther sputtered, a little panicked. “I was shop...you know, getting important supplies. What fun?” A snicker reached her through the link. “Don’t worry, it’s good news. Especially if you need to get more supplies. Just come to the museum.” The exchange ended, and with a resolute nod Panther changed back into her civilian attire in a flare of blue flame. “Okay then. Onward, I guess!” [center][h3]Al Mamoon - Palatial Gallery[/h3] [@Zoey Boey][/center] Although it meant interspersing herself right into the middle of the banter of a group of strangers, Jesse couldn’t ignore the powerful artifact the Phantom Thieves handled so casually, and so took the first step to getting to know anyone. Whether out of genuine politeness or an urgent need for a distraction from Mona’s pestering, Joker turned her way the moment Jesse addressed him, and the others followed suit in giving her their attention so as to not steamroll her. Grateful for their time, the Thieves’ new acquaintance got right to the point. She introduced herself not just as Jesse Faden but as just the person they were looking for, someone who could make sense of their new, uncooperative implement. More than that, however, she opened their eyes to just how grand a stroke of luck had befallen them. As it turned out the man they’d stumbled across and managed to apprehend was a wanted criminal, notorious enough to have earned himself an impressive-sounding bounty. Joker had yet to quantify the city’s currency in any way, but wherever one might find oneself, gold was nothing to sneeze at. All Jesse wanted in return was the Tool Gun, which he couldn’t even make use of. It was a tantalizing proposition, and Joker didn’t take too long to consider it. When he glanced at the others the excitement in their eyes (upside down or not) told him all he needed about their opinions. Even if the Phantom Thieves stood for their own justice rather than the law, they could use the money it promised them, so he had a mind to take Jesse up on her offer. She gave off the authoritative air of someone trustworthy enough to not misuse the thing and capable enough to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, and besides, she’d caught a glimpse of what they were capable of. In the Metaverse, Joker and his crew were not just kids who could be taken lightly and pushed aside. As long as this woman understood that, he could make it work. “Very well. The bounty reward, and helping Mona here get back to normal, in exchange for this gun. We’ll take the deal.” With the deftness of one used to handling handguns he spun the weapon around in his fingers, offering the Tool Gun to Jesse handle-first. Then he stepped back and, alongside Skull, watched in vigilant silence what the red-haired woman did with it. Without a lot of ceremony she began some sort of ritual. Levitating between her hands the Tool Gun rattled and shone, more and more intense, until the fervor suddenly subsided. Joker blinked a couple times, wondering if he expected something more spectacular, and Skull scratched his head in mild boredom. Still, the brief ritual confirmed that this lady possessed supernatural power of her own, without explaining very much about its nature. Now bound to the FBC’s director, the Tool Gun fell into her eager palm. The tiny rectangular screen that faced her showed a loading wheel for a few more seconds, then popped up a selection menu. Everything about its early-2000’s design, from its standard text to sometimes sluggish response time, appeared so mundane and normal that it belied the gun’s true power, but having seen what it could do with her own eyes Jesse pored over each option listed before her. [center][hider=For Jesse]You have Acquired: [b][url=https://www.vhv.rs/dpng/d/494-4946988_transparent-garrys-mod-png-gmod-tool-gun-png.png]Tool Gun[/url][/b] A strange, cobbled-together revolver, modified so drastically with various replacements and attachments that it cannot fire bullets. Instead it just zaps whatever it’s pointed at, but what the zap does depends on which function is selected. Five of fourteen are currently available. Selecting a function in the list on the left opens a box on the right with available options (various inputs and/or toggles) and controls. The Tool Gun does not require ammunition but does have 100 Charge that is depleted by 2 per action and recharged at a rate of 1 per minute. There’s an ‘undo’ button at the top right that will undo the changes made by the gun in reverse order, but it can only remember up to fourteen changes. The Tool Gun doesn’t deal damage and can break if treated poorly enough, which will release a cascade of randomly-selected functions over an area. [hider=Functions][list][*]Weld - Adheres two targets as long as they’re touching. Once adhered, the targets are absolutely stuck together at the weld point, a circle 1.5 inches in diameter. The area of the targets around the weld point can, however, be damaged to ‘remove’ the welded location and free the rest [*]No-Collide - makes target intangible. Only works on discrete, non living objects. Objects with their collision removed are not affected by any physical force, including gravity [*]Inflator - resizes target. Options include scale (-200% to 200%) and range (toggle between Part and Whole) [*]Thruster - creates a thruster attached to the target. Options include strength, size, appearance (all assorted roughly cylindrical household objects like buckets and lampshades) and channel. Up to four channels can be made and each fired separately. If no channel is provided, the thruster will be on until it runs out of power [*]Balloon - creates a balloon attached to the target by a rope. Options include balloon size, lift, rope length, and color [*][s][b]Wheel[/b][/s] [*][s][b]Elastic[/b][/s] [*][s][b]Color[/b][/s] [*][s][b]Material[/b][/s] [*][s][b]Dynamite[/b][/s] [*][s][b]Emitter[/b][/s] [*][s][b]Poser[/b][/s] [*][s][b]Duplicator[/b][/s] [*][s][b]Remover[/b][/s] [/list][/hider][/hider][/center] Joker crossed his arms as Jesse examined the thing. “What do you think? Can you help Mona?” “You better!” the cat scowled, failing to look ferocious. At that point a muffled sound caught Joker by surprise. “Excuse me,” he said as he turned away, speaking in the same way he did for Necronomicon before. “Yeah, where’ve you been? You missed all the fun.” He smirked as he glanced back at the others. “Don’t worry, it’s good news. Especially if you need to get more supplies. Just come to the museum.” He lowered his hand and walked back over toward Jesse. “Panther, another one of us,” he explained. “Oh, and you can call me Joker. This is Skull, Mona, and Necronomicon.” The ship gave a small wave despite her large size. “Y-you can also call me Alibaba. If you like.” “Hey, could you scan to see if Fox is here?” Joker asked her, and the UFO got to work. The leader of the Thieves gave his attention back to Jesse, hoping to see his cat friend restored. [center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3] [b]Level 4[/b] Nadia (30/40) [b]Location:[/b] Bottomless Sea Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Frog's [@Dark Cloud], Mirage’s [@Potemking], Mr. L’s [@ModeGone] [b]Word Count:[/b] 2168[/center] The rumble of thunder across the ocean put a stop to Nadia’s jokes, at least for a moment, and with a slightly shaky sigh she sat down against the live vessel’s railing. Now that a few team members from the Atomos joined the Shippy crew on board, the upper deck got a little crowded. Although Nadia didn’t mind being shoulder-to-shoulder with a few of her new friends, all the limbs and rigging arms swinging around made it easy to get batted overboard and into a rough sea that continued to get moodier by the minute. [i]Good thing Bowser’s still on the airship. And that the airship’s still in once piece[/i], Nadia mused, although she felt pretty confident that Geralt made up for it. She tried to focus on replenishing her cannons alongside Rika, but the general mood and activity made concentration difficult. Where the brutal battle with the Abyssals and all the carnage therein left the heroes feeling hammered and hollow, this struggle seemed to fire some members of the group up. Nothing to get the blood pumping like a good old-fashioned scrap with some big, ugly beasts, Nadia guessed. In her world she seldom had the luxury of just letting loose, since most of the monsters looked a lot like people. When Nadia looked more closely, however, she realized that she’d misread the situation. The animation she took to be hype in a few of her teammates turned out to frustration or even downright anger, and she couldn’t deny they were justified. Even if they escaped the fight with no casualties, most nearly got killed and they got nothing at all to show for it. No supplies, no information, no loot of any kind. They could have upgraded Shippy’s ability to weather a stormy sea with one of their spirits, Nadia lamented. The Seekers had a lot on their plate left to chew up and digest. Rika took the floor with a question, although in Nadia’s eyes it demanded an obvious answer. “Oh, fur sure. Bet the whole place is teemin’ with ‘em,” she laughed, making light of the dangerous road ahead. Since she’d crossed fangs with not one but [i]three[/i] nightmares of the deep in well shy of an hour in the Bottomless Sea, even more monstrosities seemed like a pretty sure thing. And even if fresh horrors didn’t reveal themselves every half hour or so, Nadia couldn’t imagine that they’d already dealt with the worst the dark waters had to offer. Another matter, as Sakura and Ace contemplated, was that Friend Hearts were not a one-way ticket to a peaceful resolution. As counterintuitive as that might seem, Nadia couldn’t really call herself surprised. In the end it came across as more logical than anything. Her time in the World of Light had taught her that Galeem’s influence didn’t make people evil. It just made them oblivious and, for whatever reason, unable to stop fighting. Perhaps it formed some sort of insidious population control, thinning out the weak to leave the worthy, or the contentious to instill order. Then again, she more or less assumed Galeem to be so alien an entity that its reasoning, if it even possessed it, couldn’t possibly be fathomed by a conventional mind like hers. But whatever the meaning behind Galeem’s influence, Nadia could take an educated guess at what being freed meant. “If that big glowstick makes everyone act the way it wants, then getting rid of it just makes everyone act like themselves. So a monster’s still a monster.” She considered Ace’s line of reasoning about who to heart. “Well, humans can be plenty bad, too. Maybe they’ll be more rational about bad situations, though.” She looked around to see what the others thought, pretty pleased with her hypothesis, until she happened to see Bella. Like the sky above her face was overcast, shadowed by doubt and worry. Nadia winced slightly, not having really spent enough time with the Water Princess to grasp her inner struggle. Indeed, Bella could not hide her turmoil. All along she had been so sure that the Friend Hearts offered a transformative effect, capable of turning a monster into a person. But those leviathans hadn’t changed at all. Nadia’s words repeated themselves in her mind. [i]A monster’s still a monster.[/i] Did that mean that she remained a monster still, just as capable of evil as the other Abyssals--just as she had been before? Was she truly any different? She shivered, anguish swimming in her eyes, as the cold sea breeze caressed her soaked skin. Nadia wanted to smooth over what she’d unwittingly roughed up, but she couldn’t find the right words before Link let fly with a few of his. He helped to put into perspective just how risky the fight with the sea monsters had been for everyone. The whole lot of them, he reasoned, should be more careful about what fights they picked, and Nadia agreed with him. “You’re super right. Even with the spirits some of us got, we’re out of our element in claw-fully dangerous place. ‘Scuse the pun, force of habit.” “We got lucky this time and it’s not gonna keep happening,” Peach remarked. “If that shark was just a few meters over in one direction, Shippy could have been sent flying, or just crunched up outright. The [i]size[/i] of that thing...ugh.” She held her head. “We can’t commit to every fight. Any might be our last, so we need to step lightly. If you all can’t do that, we need to turn around and come back with people who can.“ While everyone else mulled over the ultimatum and what to do going forward, Peach made her way to Bella, wielding her empathy to beat at least one situation back into shape. “No need to be sad, Bella,” she told the morose Water Princess. “You’re not a monster. You didn’t do anything bad after being freed, right? So maybe you weren’t a monster to start with.” When Bella looked up, confused, Peach offered a reassuring smile. “Maybe you were just empty. A soldier with no will, made just to follow orders.” She picked up a little steam and extended her smile to Sakura, to whom Bella followed her gaze. “And maybe when you were freed, a certain pure heart filled that emptiness up. Miss Sakura must have given you a little bit of her kindness.” After a moment of thinking, an unprecedented wave of relief and gratitude washed over Bella’s face. It made sense after all, and she didn’t know any better. Peach’s suggestion made for such a wonderful idea that Bella took it wholesale. “Oh...well, I don’t know what to say. Except, thank you.” She blinked away tiny tears. “Ah, look at me. Such a mess. Would that I had your confidence, mon cherie.” “You’ll get there someday!” Peach told her. “We all started somewhere after all.” With a sharp breath, Nadia put on a brave face and gave Bella an enthusiastic grin. “Yeah! Plus, you’re super cool in my book already. You really helped meowt back there, after all. Probably saved my life!” “You all are t-too kind…” Bella told them, wiping at her moist eyes to quell their uprising. “I just hope I can be of some help here and there.” Meanwhile, Peach finally responded to the Cadet. “Yes, we should,” she confirmed. “But we should wait until we’re in a safer location before we beat them up.” Bella continued with her modest deflections, trying to escape the spotlight, until the conversation died down. The motion of the boat and the loud sounds of the stormy sea and sky did not lend themselves to chatter after all, and since the Megalodon appeared to remind the heroes that certain doom could shoot up from the deep any moment, most occupied themselves scanning the waters below and around Shippy. Nobody who turned their eyes outward across the sea could avoid noticing the beacon-emitting structure that grew closer and closer while the waves grew more and more temperamental. By the time Shippy drew near the big, dark shape on the water, the vessel every wave rose and lowered the vessel a good dozen feet, and the swaying was intense enough to make even iron stomachs waver. Despite her best efforts to stay positive, and her appreciation for Shippy herself, Nadia managed to convince herself that a ship of this size and build could not possibly cut the mustard on an ocean like this. And this was just the outer edge of the storm, for crying out loud! Even the Atomos struggled against conflicting winds, some sort of storm interference messing with its magitech engines. She pinned her hopes on the yellow beacon and the huge structure it led to, like a rainbow to a pot of gold. Surely, she thought, a seabase of this size would have some sort of large vessel the Seekers could commandeer. A few more minutes of bobbing up and down the choppy waves later, the unknown structure emerged from the sea fog. The Blue Team had reached its target. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qZLfYKr.jpg[/img][/center] Nadia furrowed her brow, finding the shape of the seabase difficult to describe. It featured a roughly cylindrical center tower with large, asymmetrical wings on either side, all smooth and bulbous like the product of some amateur potter’s wheel. From the front of the main structure extended a wide bridge for a short distance, which terminated in a circular dock or landing pad. Waves rose, fell, and crashed around the place, alternatingly hiding and exposing portions beneath the water but always dousing the green metal decks with seaspray. How far down it extended Nadia couldn’t say, but the whole thing appeared to be fixed in position, which like the rocks before suggested some anchor far, far below. A steady rain fell over all, soaking them to the bone. All that said, Nadia didn’t care that much about the specifics. As long as she could set foot on a solid, unmoving surface, she was happy. Shippy circled around the structure toward the dock, moving carefully to avoid being thrown against the metal platform by the unruly waves. No alarms marked the heroes’ arrival, and no movement could be seen aboard the platform. Nadia claimed her spot on Shippy’s prow, and when the boat got near enough, she bunched herself up and leaped onto the landing pad. Light-footed as ever she landed with only a slight sound, but her ears pricked up in alertness nonetheless. She raised her hand to tell the others to take care, then crept ahead on all fours. Past the barrels that populated the dock stood a crude tent, an awning of some polymer stretched over pipes to keep the rain off. Beneath its shelter lay two creatures, one [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/warframe/images/8/89/ButcherDE.png]humanoid[/url] in a drab wetsuit and the other a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kidicarus/images/5/52/Skuttlerart.png]bizarre skull octopus[/url], both sound asleep, and Nadia could see why. Between the two stood an [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/elderscrolls/images/1/1c/Black_briar_mead_keg.png]aged keg[/url] of what could only be alcohol, judging by the foam on the metal cups that served in place of mugs. Shaking her head, Nadia stood to wipe water from her eyes and wave at the two vessels. “All clear!” she called. “They’re drunk as skunks.” A few moments later and Peach had followed her onto the dock, her parasol coming in handy. She did not pause, but moved straight for the seabase’s entrance. In her mind too there seemed to be little doubt that Blue Team needed either some help across the water, or another angle entirely. When she approached the entrance, the door slid open to admit the princess and her team. Nadia hurried inside to get out of the rain, and found a long, wide hall with downward stairs. A few sealed doors lined the hall, but the way down lay at the end of the stairs at the far end. A huge elevator shaft -below sea level, as indicated by the high vertical window- stretched downward, with a single platform on the left side of the central pylon. Nadia crouched on the edge of the elevator shaft and ended up wishing she didn’t. It went down far enough to give her vertigo, deep below the surface of the ocean. Nadia tucked back her wet hair and turned to see Peach standing in front of a [url=https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/030/365/636/large/ethan-evans-automap-1-1.jpg?1600371039]terminal[/url] that projected a 3D map of the seabase. She moved closer to make sure she was seeing things right. “Wait a minute…[i]that’s[/i] this thing?” She squinted at a tiny construct above a sprawling undersea complex. When Peach zoomed out, she revealed there were more complexes as well, with little lines connecting them. Also charted were massive chunks of stone that for all intents and purposes appeared to be floating in the infinite abyss. “Dang. This system must extend through the whole Bottomless Sea! But...you don’t think we should actually try going below it, do you?” She shivered. The idea of being trapped in a metal box deep underwater, surrounded by who knows what monsters and the crushing force of deep water, honestly terrified her. [center][h3]Cold Monastery[/h3] [@Gentlemanvaultboy][/center] “Seek his world first, then its details...a good idea.” Albedo murmured. He slid his sketchbook from his coat and flicked through the pages, eventually landing on a few hasty sketches. Unlike most of the alchemist’s drawings, and especially the ones modeled after things that interested him, they were scratchy and abstract, with no discernible beauty or meaning. Many incorporated circular patterns, some concentric, some lined with indecipherable runes around the whole diameter. A couple designs appeared to be endless, formed of single, contiguous lines in loops and crosses that could be drawn without ever raising one’s pencil from the paper. “These are only a few of his tattoos. I drew them mostly from memory after our experiments, hoping that they might provide some insight, but I never learned anything about them.” He glanced over what he could see of the first tower, noting that a few of the corners bore ornaments and furnishings of different styles. Instruments and edifices of other beliefs, each given its own little place of respect as a part of the cultural whole. [i]Out of many, one.[/i] “Rather than split up, let’s both visit each spot together. One of us might see what the other misses.” With a plan in mind, the two set off into the temple. Given the monks currently occupying the central area, Albedo and Linkle began their search in the bottom-leftmost area. There in one corner they spotted a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/outlast/images/5/52/HereticTemple.png]fearsome angelic effigy[/url] of woven twigs and wooden wings, with a crown of spiky branches jutting off at odd angles. No symbols particular to the effigy itself made themselves evident in its surroundings, and the idol itself did not appear well-loved or well-maintained. Maybe, Albedo hypothesized, this stood for some local practice or custom that nobody believed in but a few thought should be honored. “Creepy,” he observed and the pair moved on. A bit farther up they came upon a small, simple altar without much decoration, in contrast to the template around it. Before the altar floated a [url=https://www.vhv.rs/dpng/d/420-4207372_thumb-image-overwatch-zenyatta-hd-png-download.png]mechanical monk[/url], deep in silent meditation. Albedo kept an eye out as he stepped cautiously past, but found no symbols either on the machine or the altar that smacked of the tattoos he’d drawn. Still, his eyes lingered for a moment on the pleasantly symmetrical spheres that floated around Zenyatta in synchronous rhythm. He passed by a [url=https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/images/thumb/6/61/Cloth_altar_%28Saradomin%29_built.png/280px-Cloth_altar_%28Saradomin%29_built.png?f9fc1]cloth altar[/url] that did not spark any interest in him in order to examine a far more intricate arrangement. This [url=https://www.gamesasylum.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Home-Sweet-Home-3.png]shrine[/url] took the form of a few very small tables arrayed together with little statues, horns, a goblet, and even skulls dripped with the wax of the candles mountain in them. Albedo took special note of the colored cloth that hung beneath each of the skulls, and the symbols emblazoned therein. As interesting as the glyphs were, however, none of them matched. Yet something kept his gaze on the shrine a short while longer. He ended up turning to Linkle. “Maybe on the other side,” he whispered. Rather than try to get around her and risk bumping into the shrine he bid her take the lead. “You go ahead first.”