[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5r7OTIh.png[/img] [b][color=Aquamarine]wordcount:[/color][/b] 3646 (+5) (+10) [b][color=Aquamarine]Midna: level 6[/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aquamarine]///////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////////////////////// (11/60) [b][color=Aquamarine]Location:[/color][/b] Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc. [/center] [hider=Midna level up] Champion Moveset (Urbosa): Midna can draw on the spirit of the Grudo champion’s martial talent, a flowing melding of might and magic that gives the princess increased skill and versatility when it comes to melee combat. It also gives her proficiency with various melee weapons, most notably the Urbosa favored armaments, the ever-reliable combo of the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVqmP25SlGY]sword and shield[/url]. [/hider] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/kxxtOHI.png[/img] Level 7 Sectonia (holding 2 level up) - (10/70) - Level up! [b]Word Count:[/b] [/center] Listening to Jessy speak was like listening back to what she’d said when she’d been talking to Fox back on Vah Naboris. Well, almost. Midna had been more concerned about the dangers of freeing people who wouldn’t see reason even once cleared of the light than the risks of trying to free them in the first place, but still. She hadn't understood the danger and lethality of guns at the time, whereas now she was much too familiar. Still, she could still steal quite a bit of Fox’s thinking for this, and Mao gave her an excellent run into her own arguments. There was not just one blindness but two in play here after all. [color=Aquamarine]”I get where you're coming from Jessy. Trust me, I’ve argued from much the same position earlier. But as Moa can attest, we [i]know[/i] these people have a nobility that has been smothered by the light and by this... Number two’s influence. These people are victims who have been turned into enemies, and we are blessed with the ability to save them. I know what it's like not to have that chance, so we should do the best we can to grasp it.”[/color] She said, referring to the shadow beasts Zant had warped he people into and which she and Link had had to put down to free Hyrule from the encroaching Twilight. [color=Aquamarine]”and yeah, it's dangerous, and I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for them, but we managed to free everyone and not lose anyone in the first fight we had with them that we had before you and the Thieves arrived”[/color] She said rather pointedly as a result of her frustration getting a hold of her for a moment, before recognizing she was trying to shift blame and trying to be more constructive, while also simultaneously addressing Ciella's derision of their skills [color=Aquamarine]”Mainly by ambushing their ambush,”[/color] she explained, [color=Aquamarine]”Whee as this was walking right into a battlefield they control where they’ve clearly prepped for this exact situation based on the weapon’s hidden around the place and the emergency teleport items they had. We should try and be smarter as we go down deeper into their dungeon, force them to fight on our terms as much as we can”[/color] How they were going to be smarter was something they’d need to think about of course, because currently she didn't have many ideas. One thing they could do at least was get moving, and as they were Jessy approached to get some clarification as to why on earth they were doing all this in the first place. [color=Aquamarine]”Officially, we need to get the Grimleal to trust us so we can take a train with massive guns on it to use as transport. Unofficially we’re here for recruitment. Both from the rebels and, if we can, the Grimleal.”[/color] Though she wasn't so sure she wanted to work with Ciella any longer than she had too (though she also expected that she’d need to be freed to save the rebels from her ‘justice’) and so when it came to the Grimleal she was mostly hoping the other team would have luck with the other two lieutenants in terms of co-opting the cult/cities resources for their cause. There wasn't really time to get into the complexity of the politics, and Midna’s own opinions on how to handle the town after this, in a short whispered conversation. Everyone was getting their stuff together and in short order they were descending into the depths of the tower seeking the basement the Rebels had yelled about while under attack. Midna floated above Mao and beside Braum with her own smaller shield, which she was finding far more attunement with than she had now that they’d been through a few fights together, held up to extend the defensive front line just a bit more. She did not want to walk into another hail of gunfire like they had when entering the building. Fortunately, no such hail was forthcoming. Instead what they found was some kind of puzzle blocking their way in one direction, and a dead end forcing them through it in the other, which Midna went down into and called up to the others about. [color=Aquamarine]”Nothing here, just some tables and machines,”[/color] machines which she had no idea what they were for. As a result they got left behind when Midna took a bit of time to do some cover acquisition. After looting the room of its non-valuables, she came up and found the others already in or queuing up to get into the spinny maze. She took one look at that queue and then floated past it, over to the area that looked like it was an exit to the maze that led back to the entrance. Then she floated over the panels into the maze and found Mao being incredibly angry about being spun this way and that. [color=Aquamarine]”That bad, huh? Well here’s a tip, don't go back that way because that's the way in ”[/color] She said, pointing to the 4 feet worth of maze she’d flown over to get where he was before continuing on another few feet, looking to her left and finding the exit. [color=Aquamarine]”Oh and the end is over here, and the way to get here is at the very bottom of the maze”[/color] she said, after poking her head back into the maze to helpful informed him of this, while pointing down the corridor where she assumed you had to spin over two. [color=Aquamarine]”I’ll make sure no one is waiting/coming to make this even harder than it needs to be. Good luck!”[/color] she told him, before moving into the exit corridor and proceeding to plonk down two tables and four chairs in order to make a barricade facing the stairs, and then getting a potted plant and holding it ready in her shadow hand. Anyone who tried to come for them was in for a world of hurt. [hider=Midna’s ‘path’] [img]https://i.imgur.com/CR3ylst.png[/img] [/hider] [hr] Sectonia was ready to handle whatever this hedgehog was going to do, seeing as he was trying to take off some ‘rings’ around his wrists. She fired a Void Globule but was frozen in time as Shadow prepared to go all out. However he begrudgingly ran away, seemingly extremely offended to be her minion. [color=92278f]”Well then… Minions can serve one way or the other in this world.“[/color] Sectonia said darkly before turning to Necronomicon who was geeking about who they had just fought. [color=92278f]"Hm. I don’t know who that is, but he was strong. His attitude could use an adjustment though."[/color] Sectonia said, checking and verifying the pokemon she had under her crown was fine, giving Necronomicon a thumbs up, and descending with the persona, healing slowly thanks to her pipe and healing the others around her thanks to the same item, Laharl being even more beat up than herself with Midna tending to them. The others looked a bit down as the battle didn’t go nearly as well as the warehouse fight. As the others mentioned what had happened themselves, Sectonia said [color=92278f]"Good thing that black hedgehog that manipulated time… what did Necronomicon call him… Shadow? Wasn’t there to fight you all. He was quite troublesome, but that means he will also make a great minion."[/color] They didn’t have that much time though, so the group descended the stairs after their little chatter on what had just happened. Sectonia could only really listen ot the rest of the group as she wasn’t too aware what had gone on below her while she was fighting Shadow. As they descended the stairs, the group came upon tiles that, apparently according to Ciella, forced those who walked to move along the direction pointed out by the arrows. Sectonia was going to test this herself, but she didn’t need to as Mao, one of their new additions, decided to be the test dummy and what Sectonia saw…. Didn’t look flattering. He was overconfident for his age, that was apparently, but that overconfidence soon turned to queeziness as he was forced to spin and move by every tile he hit. [color=92278f]"Well that is… concerning."[/color] Sectonia said. However, her concerns were alleviated as Midna showed that those who didn’t touch the tiles, such as Sectonia due to their inherent flight, weren’t affected. Seeing this, Sectonia summoned a single fire Antillion, saying. [color=92278f]"Help the others figure this puzzle out by testing paths on your own. If you manage to return to me, guide the others along that path."[/color] Sectonia said before following Midna to assist in the whole ‘dealing with possible enemies at the end of the maze.’ thing. Although Sectonia didn’t have as easy of a time hiding like Midna did. Said princess got herself comfortable on one of the chairs making up part of her barricade and then, with little else to do, asked [color=Aquamarine]”So how’d the fight with the black and red... Thing… Person. Go? Did he teleport away before you could free him?”[/color] Sectonia, folding her cape wings to get the slimmest profile she could, staff in one hand, said. "it was a bit challenging. While he was fast, he also was a but tougher than I expected. However I did cause him to retreat. I did have a feeling though he wasn't going all out. " Sectonia said. She then sighed before continuing. " Bring stuck in time repeatedly was not very pleasant." [color=Aquamarine]”iIt really wasn't”[/color] Midna agreed "How did your fights go? I take it some of them also teleported away?" [color=Aquamarine]”The male gun wielder and the armored shouter got away. I think you saw what happened to the gun mage. That was my fault. Should have intervened rather than trying to sneak a heart in while Ciella, because she hit her much much harder than I expected.”[/color] Midna admitted, clearly not happy about that [color=Aquamarine]”She’s going to be an issue going forwards with the plan.”[/color] [color=Aquamarine]”As for the female gun wielder, the blue haired one, Joker did… something to her. Enveloped her in blue fire and then she was gone. He and Fox didn’t give me a straight answer when I asked about that either, other than implying that it was a form of recruitment, but clearly not the kind that is, well, liberating like the hearts we use are. That and they have some knowledge about a metaverse, or things called altered world events, which seems like it would be useful but hasn’t been shared with us, or me anyway”[/color] Midna had started checking behind her as well as forwards, clearly not wanting the thieves to catch her unawares while she was talking about them. [color=Aquamarine]”Plus when I tried to argue with them about freeing people they seemed almost... apathetic? Like the fact that it saves lives didn’t even register as a consideration. I don’t know. A lot about them really rubs me the wrong way, attitude and secrets both.”[/color] She concluded, and then glanced at Sectonia to gauge her reaction to all this. Sectonia listened to Midna talk, her reaction as difficult to read as ever. She did raise an eyebrow however at the talk of Joker's 'recruitment'. She did notice how stand offish the thieves had been as well. " I agree with that assessment" Sectonia said, her fire antilion having tried and failed at another path. " They seem to be in it for themselves. But they also act like kids overall so that is to be expected." Sectonia said. " Their power is useful from time to time though. The flying UFO one for example helped out with dealing with that Shadow person. " Unlike Midna Sectonia wasn't as concerned with the apathy about saving lives, after all she was in that mindset too with regards to enemies. But minions keeping secrets was dangerous. "But yes, Joker 'recruiting' someone with blue fire sounds quite dangerous if he refuses to talk about it. Even the thief who helped me let on more than she knew, even if accidentally. For example, she was fully aware of Shadow, while I had no clue. And the way she spoke about him was as if she had run into a celebrity. Now if they both came from the same world or not I do not know. " Sectonia said. [color=Aquamarine]”I guess they are just teenagers…”[/color] Midna said, mainly to herself, before asking for clarification, [color=Aquamarine]”But what makes you describe that as ‘letting it slip’?”[/color] [color=92278f]"If she knew about him beforehand, she didn’t really make much of a fuss about him until after the combat. If he was such a big deal, her before and after fighting him attitudes were quite different. "[/color] Sectonia said as she was asked to clarify, seeing that the others were still busy with that puzzle and paying them very little attention. [color=Aquamarine]”Another secret for the list then,”[/color] Midna said, before tapping the defensive table a few times thoughtfully, before glancing back at the queens hard to read face and bluntly asking [color=Aquamarine]”Your going to need to help me stop them doing the blue fire thing they did if we want to save these people... You are onboard with that right?”[/color] Sectonia thought about this for a moment before saying. [color=92278f]"If they refuse to explain what it is, then perhaps. But if they do, it’ll depend on exactly what it does. After all, limiting a loyal minion’s fighting capacity could lead to you losing said minion.”[/color] Sectonia said. [color=Aquamarine]”We’ll see if they fess up, but I’m not expecting them to do so till after this”[/color] Midna said before looking like she was weighing things up before deciding against something and instead asking [color=Aquamarine]”But I also meant more generally. Saving these people from the due influence they are under. I need to know I can count you in my corner on this.”[/color] [color=92278f]"Perhaps."[/color] Sectonia said as Midna asked her for help on being altruistic. However when Midna didn’t flinch or be reassured on this front, Sectonia continued. [color=92278f]"Killing or removing possible subjects doesn’t bode well for your kingdom. However, as you have no doubt seen, those under the influence of Galeem come in two types, the hostiles and the ‘friendlies’. One is willing to become your subject/minion even through the influence of that light ball, the other is up in the air and a risk."[/color] Sectonia tapped one of the office tables Midna was using as a barricade. [color=92278f]”Remember, Altruism only works if you are stronger than the person you are trying to ‘save’, at least in this case. As if you friend heart someone who was going even with you, or, dare I say, being a challenge or an uphill battle for you, there is a chance they can become a powerful minion. Or there is a chance you just put yourself and/or your minion put themselves in danger as the person they were just having a challenging fight with, was fully restored and could possibly just decide to finish said minion off instead of being loyal or friendly."[/color] She said, and to make her case clear. [color=92278f]"So in that case, would you want to risk yourselves and others on a ‘maybe’? I sure wouldn’t. Especially when the rules of this world give you a strong alternative with the “striker” system, forcing even a strong person who wouldn’t serve to become your minion anyway."[/color] [color=Aquamarine]”While I get that, trust me, I do, I made the exact same argument to Fox yesterday,”[/color] and she definitely did not enjoy having them come out of someone like Sectonia, who’s minionising way of thinking/speaking she wasn't challenging for the sake of diplomacy, but it did at least mean that all she really had to do was follow through and explain her own thinking as to why this was different [color=Aquamarine]”But today we [i]know[/i] that these people will be onboard if we free them. Mao’s said there's a second layer of influence affecting them for this number two without which some of them wouldn't be doing this. Plus, they’re fighting against a, well,”[/color] again she glanced back to check they weren’t going to be interrupted [color=Aquamarine]”,a wear their evil on their sleeve style cult. These are the kinds of people who fight against evil, or at least against authority. Show them the bigger evil and they’ll come around, I can guarantee it.”[/color] Midna had an interesting point, but it didn’t really shake Sectonia too much from her thoughts on the matter. But that mention of a second influence was something to ponder. After thinking, Sectonia said. [color=92278f]"I still won't risk it if we deal with someone like that Shadow, and that rebellion against authority might be a double edged sword should they refuse to be a minion which is also a risk. But perhaps that can be avoided should this second influence be neutralized. There was that one person you freed that did a complete 180, true."[/color] she conceded. [color=Aquamarine]”I mean they’re working fine under… well no, that's the number two’s influence at work isn't it. All I can say is if they want out after, then they can go. That’s fine with me.”[/color] Like Crow with Crow, she wasn't going to force anyone who didn't want to help to work with them. It was neither moral nor logical. [color=Aquamarine]”As for the risk, I can appreciate that. Definitely not wanting people to die for this. But we need to fight smarter this time round anyway, to improve our odds of both winning and freeing them. It's not like we can get stronger before-”[/color] Minda was saying before she snapped her fingers [color=Aquamarine]”No wait, I might have something that’ll help you out in your rematch”[/color] Midna swiped a hand over an open palm like she was doing a slight of hand trick and made the Omen mask appear in her hand, brought in from the twilight realm, and then held it out to the queen [color=Aquamarine]”Not sure if its your style, but it seems to work on projectile magic, which you use a lot of, if I remember right?”[/color] Sectonia looked at the mask. It did look imposing, although it wasn't her style. Before she dismissed it though, she took a look at the power it granted, and much like Midna said, it did drastically increase the power of magic, but also made it a bit unstable at the same time. [color=92278f]”Hmm….”[/color] Sectonia audibly said, thinking it over. [color=92278f]”Its certainly not my style, but I can feel the immense magic emanating from it. And while not my style, it's not hideous like that helmet I have.”[/color] Sectonia took the offered mask and began to examine it, to see if there was a way she could gain its power, without covering her own face. Due to its size, it wouldn’t fit over her face anyway, so she put it in her fluff like the Pipe of Insight as she began to think of how she could incorporate it into her ensemble. [color=92278f]”Even if it isn’t my style, this could prove useful in a rematch. Although with some alterations, I could make use of this at all times.”[/color] She said, thanking Midna for the gift. [color=92278f]”I have great control over my own magic, so that should counteract some of the instability this item causes.”[/color] Sectonia said, although softer and not to anyone in particular. Still loud enough for Midna to hear though. After thinking about it, Sectonia said. [color=92278f]”But thank you my loyal minion. Should you find any spirits you would like to crush for items, don’t hesitate to ask to use that ugly helmet. Even I have to admit it's very useful for what it does.”[/color] A brief look of exasperation crossed Midna’s face, but it quickly passed, her irritation once again in the name of diplomacy. She could stomach the queen’s delusion/quirk for just a little longer if it kept her on side for her mission. Instead she forced a smile and a friendly [color=Aquamarine]”Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.”[/color] and then resumed her watch on the way forwards, occasionally tossing her potted plant projectile up and down while the queen figured out her new fashion and power. Midna didn’t seem to like Sectonia’s offer, no doubt also agreeing on how hideous that helmet was, but accepting her offer anyway, before going back to looking out for enemies, tossing her potted plant projectiles idly. Sectonia used this idle time to also test out her new little toy, conjuring up some green Antillions to use as target practice. From what she could tell, yes, this mask did cause spell instability, causing her projectiles to become wildly unpredictable at long ranges, but the insane amount of damage they outputted when they hit something meant that if she hit something at close range where these projectiles didn’t deviate too much at all. And she tended to either send her Antillions to deal with something or engage it herself in close range, so this wasn’t too bad of a problem. All in all, that hedgehog would be in for a world of hurt should he engage the queen in fisticuffs again. Midna, who just assumed the ants were magic constructs, didn't bat an eye at what the queen was doing, other than to take note of what the mask had done. [color=Aquamarine]”Going to need to be careful those don't hit anyone”[/color] she noted As if on cue, one of Sectonia’s Void Globules boomeranged back at the Queen, passing through without issue. [color=92278f]”While I can’t seem to control the stability of how the magic flies, I can still control who it does and doesn’t harm.”[/color] Sectonia said [color=92278f]”Friendly Fire among queen and minions just wouldn’t do otherwise.”[/color] She said. [color=Aquamarine]”Now that’s some smart magic,”[/color] Minda complimented her, genuinely impressed, before resuming her watch. Hopefully their long chat had given the ground pounders time to work out how to get round. The idea that they could have helped by carrying people over the tiles apparently never crossed either royal's mind.