[Hider=Kunad Highway Results]
[b]Participants:[/b] Midna, Geralt, Pit, Blazermate and Susie, Sakura and Karin, Raz, Bede, Roxas, Benedict, Tora, Poppi
[b]Encounter Reward:[/b] +6 EXP
[b]Bonus for Impact:[/b] Midna, Pit, Blazermate, Karin, Raz, Roxas
[b]Bonus Reward:[/b] +5 EXP[/hider]

[center][h3]S.O.U. Hideout[/h3]
Level 11 Tora (95/110) Level 11 Poppi (95/110)
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Geralt’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Pit’s [@Yankee], Blazermate and Susie’s [@Archmage MC], Sakura and Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Raz’s [@TruthHurts22], Bede’s [@Crimson Flame], Roxas’ [@Double], Benedict’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 3455[/center]

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbkavzQ6d24&t=2s&ab_channel=%E4%B8%B9%E4%B8%B9[/youtube][/center]

Once it fully sank in that he wouldn’t be facing another life-or-death situation, at least for a little while, Tora could finally relax. No more peeping eyes or flashing cameras, no more decidedly unfriendly G-men on his back, no more far-flung enemy magic, and no deadly bullets. If another ambush had been in the cards, the best time to pull it off would have been while the cargobob remained airborne and the whole crew downed with just a few well-placed missiles, and this hideout seemed refreshingly boring. The Nopon could just sit himself down in a cushioned office chair that neither rattled nor shook, and instead of a chorus of growly engines, the whiny clatter of a subway train across the rails, or the headache-inducing thrum of helicopter rotors, he could enjoy the soft and cheerful music playing from a stereo in the background as the discussion got underway.

Naturally, Poppi appreciated the change as well, not least because it allowed her to replenish her spent ether at a leisurely pace without the need of overclocking, but she didn’t relax quite as much as her Masterpon. Just an hour had passed since her intrepid band of heroes set foot in the Dystopiascape, fresh from the frying pan and into the fire; so much had already happened that her memory banks were just about fried trying to categorize and collate it all. A dozen questions sprang to mind. Just who were these people who’d evidently taken great pains to help the Seekers? What [i]were[/i] the G-men really, who did they work for, and why did they seem to be after her team? The advent of the Consuls had made it clear to her that the nature of her mission had changed. No longer were they simply on a classic quest to find and slay a few specific monsters. They now had an enemy, and anything at all on the road set before them could be due to the machinations of their new foes. So despite everything she wanted to know, Poppi kept quiet alongside Tora at the meeting table, sorting through her own thoughts so that when her turn came she wouldn’t just be asking any old questions, but the right ones.

Roxas took the Seekers’ new friends up on their offers first, recovered enough from his stunt with Benedict to burn with curiosity. Tora had completely forgotten that, six days ago, the Master of Masters used a keyblade in order to free a girl from Galeem without a friend heart. Of course, that sequence of events transpired mere minutes after he ‘came to’ himself, and pretty much everything that first day ended up being a blur. Well, everything except Cooking Mama’s dinner in Peach’s Castle. Tora wondered when he’d be able to pay that angelic lady another visit, but if that map in Alcamoth represented the continent with any degree of truth, the Mushroom Kingdom now lay half a World of Light away. Poppi, meanwhile, never saw that event to begin with. She just counted herself happy to see that Roxas would be okay.

After an uneasy moment of silence Giovanna spoke up to reply, scratching her head in a less-than-comfortable manner. “If one grabs you, you appear in some sort of dark room. Everything’s pitch black except one window, and you can see their shadows in front of it. Once you’re in there, they grill you with questions, whatever they want to know when they take you in. There’s this…heavy pressure in there. It hurts, and the longer you’re in there the more damage you take. If they can’t be sure you know anything they’ll turn you loose pretty fast, but if they know you do they’ll keep you in there as long as it takes for you to crack. So…you know. Don’t get caught.”

“Think of them as having an alert level,” Jessica advised. “The more suspicious stuff you do with them knowing, the higher it’ll be, and the more insistent they’ll be with the questioning. Get to full alert, and they’ll probably let you die before they let you go. So be careful if they’re around. There’s a flipside, though. If you get caught at low alert, you might learn more from their questions than they learn from you before they give up and spit you out. It’s a risky gamble, but if you’re out of clues, who knows.”

When Roxas asked his second question, Goldlewis snapped his fingers, suddenly pepped up. “Now that ya mention it, son, I have! On the way back from Al Mamoon, an uninvited guest showed up in our chopper. Spooked us somethin’ fierce, but she said she didn’t mean any harm, and I saw she had the same coat as that burger-lovin’ gal we met at dinner.” He glanced at Tora and Poppi for confirmation, and the two nodded. The sight of [url=https://i.imgur.com/0BZquXJ.jpg]Ram snatched by Goldlewis[/url] from the shadows when she took the diners by surprise wasn’t something either would forget. “So I figured it didn’t hurt to at least hear her out,” the cryptid hunter continued, “This new lady said her name was, uh, Zato I think, which makes two Zatos I know of, funny enough. Said she’s been keepin’ an eye on Midgar tryin’ to figure out where the Guardian is, but she can’t go in ‘cause the feds can track her through Psynet.” He shrugged helplessly as if to say [i]of course[/i]. “Knowin’ how far they’re goin’ to monitor folks, I reckon she’s tellin’ the truth, too. She said she’d be layin’ low in the forest outside the city, but in the meantime, we oughta ‘look for the source’. Hopefully that makes more sense for you folks than it does for me.”

Next, Geralt posed his question, and sure enough the quick-witted Witcher got straight to the heart of the matter. “Where to begin?” Dr. N began with a wry smile. “As the name implies, the Ever Crisis is the biggest ongoing problem the city faces. It’s a…strange war, to put it simply, that’s been raging as long as Midgar has been here. We have been under continuous siege from three distinct enemy ’kinds’.”

While he spoke, his twin hooked his laptop up to the meeting table’s projector, and once N turned on the screen on one wall it displayed an informational readout of the three different groups. “First are the [url=https://i.imgur.com/rAOPbP8.png]Machines[/url],” N told everyone. “These robots are manufactured en masse from hidden factories out in the Valley of Ruins and attack in droves. Though straightforward compared to the other factions, they possess the weaponry, numbers, and the intelligence to pose a serious threat. Over time they have continued to develop better ways of waging war, and the energy siphoned from living things by their beetle drones fuel their never-ending crusade.”

“Next are the Others.” The doctor drew everyone’s attention to a handful of [url=https://i.imgur.com/uPXAeBv.jpg]unsettling creatures[/url], alien in appearance despite being composite of familiar things. “Precious little is known about them, but they appear from the Extinction Belt in the sky.” Outside the window, the oily-looking atmosphere continued to fluctuate with subtle colors. “We can more or less predict when their attacks will come with weather forecasting, but they are extremely vicious monsters. They ravenously seek to devour human brains.”

N then pointed out a single [url=https://i.imgur.com/0dQY0yK.png]humanoid enemy[/url]. “Last but not least: the Chimeras. They originate from the Astral Plane, another dimension outside our own. While not as numerous as the other two forces, they are the most dangerous. Ruptures can appear almost anywhere and at any time, and worse still, all Chimeras are invisible to the naked eye. Furthermore, their very presence seemingly infects their surroundings with Red Matter. This effect slowly worsens in living things, leading to the sickness known as Redshift. Which is a massive can of worms in and of itself.” His expression grave, N moved to exchange places with his brother. “That makes them the Ever Crisis’ greatest, and hardest to deal with, threat.”

Goldlewis stroked his whiskers, his brows furrowed. “Keep in mind, the enemies of all three kinds come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with different weapons and abilities. If you’re gonna be fightin’ ‘em, and ya probably will, you’re gonna have to be smart and flexible.”

“Fortunately, humanity has a few cards up its own sleeve in its fight for survival,” M began, nodding at Pit as he took the stage. “And not just a militia, no. Midgar has an army, divided into three parts to mirror the Ever Crisis itself.” When N put up a new display, it featured three different symbols, one much larger than the other two. “The biggest is [url=https://i.imgur.com/MjA4c7k.png]Psych-OSF[/url]. Often called the Scarlet Guardians by the press. It’s a massive military organization of psionics who weaponize the human brain and fight with a variety of powers thanks to the SAS. Their Septentrions are as much celebrities as they are super-soldiers. They can take on all three kinds, but they work best against the Others.”

“Number two is [url=https://i.imgur.com/0CyT3Rd.png]Desporhado Enforcement[/url]. It is by far the most powerful private military company in Midgar, and is contracted with the government. Enlisting has been a last resort for many who have no other way to make ends meet, or nowhere else to go in society. It specializes in cyborg and android soldiers, spearheading the technological arms race against the Machines.”

“Last is [url=https://i.imgur.com/qO5fqTI.png]Neuron[/url]. It’s the smallest of the three armies, and it mostly functions as an auxiliary police force to cover the ground that the Public Security Division can’t or won’t. Its officers are also held in better regard, but they still ultimately answer to the government and do cooperate with the General Affairs Division. Notably, thanks to some semi-recent clandestine developments, they’re also the best-equipped to take on Chimeras.”

After the conclusion of the twins’ high-level rundown of players in the Ever Crisis, Pit brought up a different organization. Jessica nodded. “Bridges, yes. We’re lucky to count them among our few allies. It’s ostensibly a delivery service that works for the government, a sort of federal express, but their lack of perceived importance also grants them enough autonomy to do what they really want: making connections.” She adjusted her glasses. “Although, the gentleman you mentioned, Deadman. He is a doctor who works for Bridges, not its leader. That duty falls to Die-Hardman.”

Blazermate’s question, however, took her and the twins by surprise. “Japan…?”

“It’s been like that,” Giovanna said bluntly. “Destroyed by Justice the day she declared war on humanity. Well, in my world, at least. If it’s not that, none of us have any idea.” She shrugged, then raised an eyebrow at the secondary question. “Like you? Dunno. There’s lots of stuff in Midgar. I guess if you’re looking for a type of robot, you might have better luck in Sector 4 Lower.” She glanced at Blazermate, nonplussed. “Are Medabots important for the mission or something?”

Jessica took it upon herself to reply to Susie. “There are more corporations in Midgar than any of us can count. But the Shinra Electric Power Company is practically synonymous with the government at this point.”

When Bede asked about Pokemon, Giovanna tried to answer. “Yeah, I don’t know any ‘Pokemon’, but I’m guessing they’re creatures of some kind.  Are those important for finding the Guardian, too? Well, Midgar isn’t exactly a nature preserve. But I’m sure you can find all sorts of animals if you look hard enough, especially around the reservoir beneath Sectors 1 and 2.” 

“One thing am wondering,” Tora piped up. “This city much bigger than any Tora ever see, or even imagine. Where it power come from, meh?”

“Midgar runs on Mako energy,” Jessica told him. “It’s extracted from the ground and refined in the city’s eight Mako reactors. They are the crux of Shinra Electric Power Company’s dominion, but there’s no alternative for a city of this scale.”

Then Karin greeted Goldlewis, and the conversation turned back from personal interests to the bigger picture. She asked a number of pertinent questions about the city’s governance, and the former Secretary of Defense did his best to answer. “Well, on the box it’s a democracy. People vote for president, and all eight plates have two councilors to represent ‘em. In practice, though, it boils down to corporatocracy, with Shinra and his board of directors on top. The climate is…well, I reckon ‘tense’ is undersellin’ it some. What with the Ever Crisis and all, things’re tumultuous even in the best of times. Between the General Affairs Division on the prowl, the police, the all-important military, and good old-fashioned info control, the Administration has all the power. Meanwhile, ordinary people are just tryin’ to make it through the day.”

He considered alternatives to the Administration. “Desporhado is its own thing, but without needin’ to be accountable to the public, they’re even shadier. There are countless other PMCs and groups of varyin’ legitimacy, all the way down to crime syndicates. So even if most people ain’t happy with how things are, even inside the government, ya gotta think real hard about who ya trust. Sure, there’s fringe groups, but even the ones that ain’t just terrorists got their own agenda. We’ve been reluctant to jump in bed with any of ‘em, and if it comes down to workin’ with one, we’d better watch our backs while we’re at it.” Goldlewis removed his glasses to rub his eyes with his palms. “‘Til we figure out who to trust, it’s just us and Bridges. And if the Shinra group decides you’re a threat, it won’t just be the Turks and their G-men after ya. Psych-OSF, Neuron, the works.”

“And when he says ‘just us and Bridges’ he means it,” Giovanna added. “When Vernon resigned, it wasn’t exactly a political schism. All he got were a couple old friends and loyal dogs.” She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, leaning back so far that her chair creaked beneath her. “There aren’t any other official factions or parties in the government. Just those loyal to the Administration, and those who aren’t. Luckily, there’s no shortage of places to hide in Midgar.”

Frowning, Jessica peered at Sakura. “That’s an extremely broad question. Fighting any of the three kinds would be doing everyone in Midgar a service, but I’m sure you figured that out already. I’m sure the Administration would appreciate it if you took down some insurrectionists for them, but of course the Administration isn’t squeaky-clean as well. But outside of fighting monsters, brute force won’t get you very far. Everything is complicated; if things were black and white, this region would probably be called the Utopiascape.”

Next, Midna asked more details about Midgar’s military. Having given an introduction to all three branches, M proceeded to delve a little deeper. “While the three branches are large, Psych-OSF in particular, internal security mostly falls to Neuron and the Turks -that is, the General Affairs Division- and naturally they can’t be everywhere at once. So, it shouldn’t be too difficult to move around undetected, especially if you travel by sky rail.”

“Y’all might not need to worry that much though,” Goldlewis told the group after the subject of disguises came up. “Capturin’ that Turk without gettin’ caught yourselves was a real stroke of luck. G-men are strong, but they ain’t the sharpest tools in the shed, and without concrete details or a commandin’ officer they won’t be any use when it comes to profilin’ ya. So for now, you’re home free. Might not even bat an eye if ya tried enlistin’ in one o’ the branches.”

“Speaking of.” Peach stood up and approached Benedict. “Sir. I’m sorry for the rough treatment earlier. We were all in a tight spot, and had to make quick decisions. We don’t know you nor your principles, but please know that our mission is for the sake of everyone, not just in Midgar, but all the worlds. We don’t mean to cause chaos or dismantle the government. Just to find a monster called the Guardian and destroy it, so that we’re one step closer to stopping Galeem, and ending its cruel dominion. You don’t have to help or even agree with us, but I hope you understand.”

In the silence that followed, M held up his finger. “Oh, and as for their bases of operation. The headquarters of Psych-OSF is the Otherlobe, in Sector 3 Plate, Suoh. Desporhado’s is the Bunker, in Sector 8 Lower, Detroit. Neuron’s headquarters is in Veles, the Plate for Sector 4. The first two use a military command structure, while Neuron has a typical police organization. The General Affairs Division is headquartered at the Shinra building in the very center of Midgar.”

When Midna asked about rebels, Jessica answered him. “Very well then. There are a number of covert rebel groups that the Administration calls ‘insurrectionist’. But their goals and ideals are all different, including whether or not they actually mean to overthrow the government, and facts are scarce. Here is what we know.”

The twins helped provide visuals for her rundown. “First is [url=https://i.imgur.com/YscL7qq.png]Avalanche[/url], a group of well-armed eco-terrorists who despair the use of mako energy, claiming that it harms the planet. They’re condemned by the government for their violent methods, their lack of proposed alternatives, and the resurgence of nature around the city that supposedly disproves their claims. However, they seem determined to soldier on.”

“The [url=https://i.imgur.com/PU3qxY5.png]Hermits[/url]. They’re a rebellious gang who steal and horde weapons and technology for unknown purposes, ostensibly to protect their homes and neighborhoods, although they do commit various crimes. They hide in the city slums where the police seldom visit.”

“The most dangerous group is [url=https://i.imgur.com/gMclpdH.png]Reunion[/url]. They are an extremist paramilitary organization whose personnel are all Redshifting. Their stated mission is to end all descrimination against and oppression of the infected, which includes overthrowing the Administration. Widely feared, they conduct sorties into the city but reside in the wilderness outside Midgar, attacking any soldiers or kinds they run into like wild animals.”

“And that’s just those few groups bold enough to give themselves names.” Jessica closed her laptop with a shake of her head. “There are many dissatisfied with the state of Midgar, even discounting the Ever Crisis, on both sides of the law. Dissidents in Seiran for instance. They’re understandably hard to find, and harder still to deal with.”

Goldlewis replaced his spectacles with a grunt. “All that said, with y’all here we might be able to make some real progress. Find folks who wanna set things right, give ‘em some hope and courage, and bring ‘em into the fold.”

At Midna’s final question, Goldlewis gave a dry chuckle. “Boy howdy, we could use that optimism of yours, missie. War with Midgar is Impossible. They got every advantage there is, from numbers to resources to powers. All we got is our wits and the fact they don’t know what we’re up to yet. Much as I hate to say it, we’re like bugs crawlin’ ‘round in the dark, and they got a whole army’s worth of boots to squash us.”

“Hah,” Giovanna laughed. “He sure doesn’t beat around the bush, huh? At the very least, he and I are pretty sweet fighters, if I do say so myself. One-on-one, we could give probably even give Septentrions a run for their money.” She wore a casual yet confident smile. “As for powers, I guess I’m just fast and skillful. Got some gadgets in this suit, and Rei here fights alongside me.” She stroked her wolf spirit’s ears, much to Rei’s delight.

“I can swing this coffin around pretty good.” Goldlewis nodded at his unconventional armament. “The cryptid I got in there helps me out, too. Got all sorts of doodads it gives me to use. Say howdy, U.M.A.” The coffin door slid open to give a brief peek at a cosmological abyss within. An almost gelatinous arm, much longer than a human’s, appeared from inside to deposit an origami flower on the table before withdrawing. Unfazed, Goldlewis then looked around at the group. “Feel free to tell us what y’all got cookin’ in the power department, too. We ain’t got SAS, but I’m sure it’ll help.”

[center][h3]The Ruins[/h3]
Level 10 Nadia (60/100)
Therion’s [@Yankee], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Omori’s [@Majoras End], Adventurer’s [@Isaac], Ganondorf’s [@Double]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1769[/center]

“Hmm~” Nadia murmured as she pored over the map. “Decisions, decisions, huh?” She made sure that everyone else who wanted to got a chance to look at the map. Out of all the paths that branched off from the Ruins, though, she kept her eyes on a vertical route that lay directly underneath it. “Check this out,” she said, drawing the others' attention to it. “‘The Basement’. Based on the map, it looks like the way down is hidden beneath a treasure chest just down this way!” She turned her seafoam-green peepers down the lower eastward tunnel, where traces of wood began to crop up among the walls of purple stone and fossilized shell, then nudged Therion. “‘Course, us cat burglars purr-obably woulda popped open any chests we got our eyes on and found the secret passage anyway, but now we know for sure. If I were a bad guy wantin’ to keep my super-important masks outta the heroes’ hands, I’d hide the way in behind a trap door. It’d be in our best in-chests to check it out!”

Before anyone could commit to a decision, the Adventurer made his descent. So far the feral didn’t really know what to make of him; since meeting him on the way down he mostly kept to himself, and after the fall through the Chasm he didn’t seem like he was ‘all there’. While he appeared to be following along for now, did he even know about Galeem? Well, if he wanted exposition he could go find Kamek or somebody. Nadia had a job to do. Like her the Adventurer made no small amount of commotion on his way down, but unlike her he happened to bring a few ornery Gruzzer flies with him, and where he killed them made all the difference. Their deaths aroused the rancor of a much larger fly, who pushed through a crevasse from a neighboring chamber to buzz the newcomers’ way, ponderous and filled with ill intent.

As the Gruz Mother went on the offensive, slamming its fat body between the floor and the platforms above like a giant pinball, the Adventurer fought back. Still lacking personal storage space, Nadia stuffed the map into her hoodie pocket and hurried back the way she’d come. She watched the Adventurer land a couple good hits as she closed the distance, but the Gruz Mother’s brutally simple assault and a couple hazardous Gruzzers nearby left him at a disadvantage. Luckily, help came his way long before Nadia got in range to join the fight. Ganondorf suddenly appeared from above, having descended through the spacious crossroads cavity with such alacrity that not even Nadia noticed him coming, and once on the ground he dealt the foul family a savage sneak attack. The big bugs wheeled around to engage him, but Ganondorf held his ground and timed it right to cave the Gruz Mother’s face in with an explosive fistful of dark magic.

The Gruz Mother hit the ground with a tremendous [i]PLOP[/i], and as the sound echoed through the crossroads its flabby body sagged to the ground. Nadia came to a stop nearby, a little disappointed by the warlord’s decisive victory. Tearing into that overgrown pest would have been cathartic, but now it lay dead on the floor. Dead, and…quivering? The fly-related quip on the tip of Nadia’s tongue went unused as the sudden contortion of the Gruz Mother’s body made her realize that the fight wasn’t over just yet. After a moment the bloated insect’s belly burst open in a shower of viscous goo that rained down over the Adventurer and Ganondorf, allowing a bunch of newborn Gruzzers to escape, still shiny and wet from their dead mother’s womb..

“Ugh!” Nadia groaned, repulsed by the smell as much as the sight. Suddenly she didn’t really want to touch them anymore, even to kill them, but as the flies spread out she knew that she needed to do something. The feral spotted the remains of a wrought-iron fence that the Gruz Mother destroyed while slamming around and got an idea. She scampered over and seized two of the metal posts to brandish like swords, then ran around the room’s raised central dias to kill as many of the bugs as she could. She batted at them like piñatas, taking only a couple good whacks to crumple the oversized flies like soda cans, or pierced them straight through with her metal spikes and then hurled them off. Whether or not the others joined in the slaughter, the new generation did not last long. “Aaalrighty then!” Nadia dropped her gunked-up makeshift weapons with a double [i]clang[/i] and dusted her hands. “Can’t unsee that, but we did the next best thing, huh?”

Sectonia, who unabashedly abstained from the fight, wasted no time asking Nadia to help her with her loot. She brought out a monstrous trunk for her to use, saying a number of things that left a sour taste in Nadia’s mouth. “I do not care to,” she told Sectonia, turning up her nose at the freaky Symbol of Avarice. Even from a purely practical standpoint she stood to gain little given her limited proficiencies and overall light equip load, but Nadia wasn’t one to ignore her feelings. “I like my life force right where it is, gracias. Fightin’ together once doesn’t make ya my boss, so why dontcha give your new ‘minions’ the ‘privilege’?” She cast a dubious look at the monsters that Sectonia enslaved, then turned to go. While not egotistical, Nadia Fortune liked being condescended to by snooty royals as much as the next girl–which was to say, not at all. It’d take more than an aristocratic ego and expectant self-declaration to make this feral acknowledge a leader, so Sectonia could hang out in the same sphere of influence as Bowser until she could actually follow in Peach’s footsteps.

“C’mon!” After checking her map, Nadia made her way eastward. The path took her through a series of mining caves festooned with wooden platforms and supports for her to sink her claws into. After a minute or two of jumping, climbing, and skirting around trash can-sized mites, she emerged into a [url=https://i.imgur.com/LdAY8BP.png]larger mineral cave[/url] that still harbored a handful of calcified laborers using staffs to drill for ore among the different tiers. Open seeing them move Nadia shrank back into a hiding spot, but when she tossed a few pebbles near them to probe for a reaction they did not respond, so she consulted Cornifer’s map again. According to it, the chest that led to the Basement lay in the very center. A boxy shack about halfway up the room’s counter-clockwise slope looked promising. [i]No problem.[/i] She stashed her map and took off on all fours, brazenly passing by the oblivious miners. Just a few meters away from the shack, however, she heard a weird noise from above, and looked up just in time to see a swarm of threads flying her way. “Whoa!” Nadia stopped short in a spray of dust and pebbles and flipped backward into a handspring to avoid the razor-sharp shower, but they curved midair to follow her. She landed on her feet and blasted upward as the threads hit the stone behind her, landing with another backflip on another shack opposite her goal.

That vantage point gave her a good look at her assailant, though she instantly regretted it ever meeting her eyes. The [url=https://i.imgur.com/lZRPJqh.png]hideous pest[/url] stood taller than a man, and possessed bizarrely human limbs arranged in two rows beneath its stooped-over carapace, like a nightmarish centipede. It possessed beetle jaws and a conical head like a priest’s stole, as well as a polearm that appeared to be carved from shell or bone. As Nadia stared, appalled, the Kindred of Rot reeled back to unleash another volley of threads. They hurtled toward her, forcing her to block as she built up blood pressure for a pounce. The chip damage stung, but when the barrage finished Nadia burst forth. More threads flew at her, but she double-jumped to change her trajectory to come down with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/6v8mJKU.png]Shock and Paw[/url] into [url=https://i.imgur.com/3PWIfKn.png]Claws for Alarm[/url] combo. Upon landing she went for the pest’s spindly legs with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/OV3ibAS.png]sweep[/url], and when it connected she stabbed upward with her anchors into the falling fiend, propping it up. Its tiny arms thrashed around wildly, grabbing at and scratching her, but Nadia held on to her marbles long enough to deliver a drop kick that knocked the monster back. Taking a page from Massachusetts’ book, she then yanked on the chains to rip her anchors back out, tearing open the pest’s chest as it fell from the roof of the shack to the mines below. “Hah! Yes!”

Then the threads that she dodged before looped around to pierce straight through her back, out her front, and into the wood beneath her. “AGH!” she cried, doubling over in a spray of blood. She clamped her hands to her new wounds as her regeneration went to work, her teeth gritted. “My poor…hoodie.” She staggered to the edge of the shock and looked down. If the others were following her, maybe they could finish the freak off.

Instead, she saw another Kindred of Rot, disturbed by the fall of its wounded comrade. It looked up to see Nadia, and her ears fell flat. “Uh oh.” As more threads sailed her way she hightailed it off the roof and into the shack itself, where she found the chest she sought. “Well, Fortune favors the bold,” she said, throwing it open and jumping inside.

She fell for a moment through complete darkness, just long enough for her to think about the extent of her mistake, then landed in a [url=https://i.imgur.com/nyIyWpw.png]rectangular room[/url]. It featured a dirt floor, clay walls, an assortment of rocks and jars, and three exits. And it smelled. Bad. One door seemed to be blocked by a door with a suspiciously key-shaped hole in it, but a quick look into the other two confirmed a handful of monsters in both, all grotesque in their own special ways. Nadia exhaled. “Hooh, okay. Just gotta fight our way through these guys, find a key, and get ourselves a mask. Pierce of cake.” And yet somehow, she believed herself even less this time.

[center][url=https://bindingofisaacrebirth.fandom.com/wiki/Basement][b][u]Basement[/u][/b][/url]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/xqMN27I.png[/img]
[i]Search and destroy[/i][/center]

[center][h3]The Colorless Wood[/h3]
Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Primrose’s [@Yankee], Rubick’s [@Scarifar][/center]

The atmosphere of the quiet shade weighed heavily on Primrose as she took her first steps into its disquieting stillness, but at least she didn’t need to bear the burden alone. Rubick joined her from the tunnel, ready for trouble, and in here even the vivid green glow of his eyes gave way to stark white. Bowser’s noisy cohort appeared shortly after, delayed by Kamek’s lengthy explanation to Ganondorf before the two villains parted ways. Their presence helped to alleviate the fear and stress that gnawed at the two forerunners, like the unseen insects that the dancer imagined to be responsible for that continuous low roar of static. Six strong and secure in one another’s company, the Seekers began to extend their feelers through the mist, scouring the fog for whatever dangers it might hold.

Rika’s scout planes buzzed bravely across old bark, but before they could disappear into the haze they met trouble. Though neither they nor their operator could spot anything in their way, they kept clipping some sort of unseen obstacle, throwing them off until they either splatted flat as if against a surface or snapped to a sudden stop, bouncing back and forth like the plucked string of a violin. No matter where they flew, though, the vapors seemed to dance around them. Kamek’s wisps met with no such opposition, although their passage left subtle ripples of electricity behind them at seemingly random times. Primrose sent Makami to follow up, watching her ghostly hunting hound slither off into the gloom.

Up ahead roughly halfway between the two ends of the great forested cavern, lay a giant, dark building. Silhouetted against the fog above it, which seemed to grow thicker farther up from the ground, was a giant sign with letters larger than Bowser, identifying the structure as a hotel. By now, the ambient noise sounded noticeably louder, loud enough to mask the swish of grass around the newcomers’ feet. No enemies had appeared, but the Seekers found themselves more and more on edge, all the same. In their peripheral vision, the shadows seemed to move slightly, whether along the ground, in the underbrush, or up above. Scattered noises bid them look here or there, but anything not silhouetted against the mist was effectively invisible in the inky blackness. Still, those sounds were not so subtle that the heroes could dismiss them as figments of their imagination.

The noise grew louder, until finally a long, eerie howl sounded out from within the ancient glade. With their skin crawling, the Seekers found themselves drawn to the hotel in front of them, for a black shape was rising atop its roof. Nearly impossible to discern, it got bigger until the heroes could identity legs, [i]many[/i] legs, then spiky hairs on those legs, until the protrusion of tree-like limbs made them all but sure that they were looking at a giant [url=https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dd5bdb691f7a69aece23a086d3a3c11e.jpg]spider[/url].

[i]”...Ŵ̶͔͕h̵̡͕̓ę̴̞̏ṙ̸͍ę̴͚̅ ̷̡̹̉̊i̸̙̹̐͝s̶͔̒ ̵̛̠̖̄ẗ̸͎͕h̶̪̄ĕ̷̤̪ ̸̟́q̴̣͒͘u̸̯͛͠e̴̹̓ȩ̵̩̔̚n̶̻͂…”[/i]

The surface of the trees began to move, and the sound of innumerable skittering legs became a cacophony. Swarms of spiders the size of dinner plates raced through the air, suspended on the spider webs veiled by the mist as they closed in on the intruders who wandered into their midst.

[center][h3]Edinburgh MagicaPolis[/h3]
Level 8 Big Band (35/80)
Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee], Frisk’s [@Majoras End], Red’s [@TruthHurts22]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 952[/center]

While Lucia struggled to follow the particulars of the conversion, Big Band listened carefully as Frisk introduced herself. As Ace rightfully pointed out, the presence of someone else freed from Galeem’s influence was no small matter. In this world, freedom didn’t just happen; every ounce of it came from [i]somewhere[/i]. Unfortunately, the names Frisk did provide did not ring a bell for him, which served as a reminder that he still knew far too little about his fellow Seekers and their history in the World of Light so far. His new acquaintance did, however, drop a few intriguing details. A friend of hers -a [i]female[/i] friend, at that- had gone missing several days prior following the escalation of some sort of curse. It sounded like the progression of that curse meant an involuntary turn to violence, as well. Band did not like the sound of that. Not one bit.

“Lucky runnin’ into ya like this, miss,” he told her. “Somethin’ tells me we got a lot to talk about when the show’s over. ‘Til then, though…” He stomped over to assist Sierra and Ace with the van. “Let’s make ourselves useful.”

In short order, everything had been unpacked and set up. Among the equipment were normal hoops, hoops that stood vertically atop floats, hoops that could be attached to surfaces, stand-up and attachable targets, a few different kinds of balls, bowling pins, a ramp, a miniature half-pipe, and a few other toys. Sierra then gathered the troops and gave them their instructions. “Okay, Ace, Frisk. I’d like you both to be the trainers, while I’m going to take the role of announcer and showrunner. My Spheals are trained to do tricks with all of these props, so all you need to do is take turns encouraging them and then rewarding them with a fish right after they finish. You can and will have to help move them from trick to trick, but when it’s time to perform don’t help them. It’s [i]their[/i] time to shine. Make sure you take turns, both between yourselves and with each Spheal. Make sure you mix up what tricks they do, or at least do the same ones in a sort of sequence so there’s a flow to it.” Sierra laughed, looking embarrassed. “I know it’s a little hackneyed. If we had you around for longer we’d have more time to work out and rehearse a full routine.” She looked around the snowy square, noting the increase in citizens. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes ‘til the show starts, so I want you both to practice with them. Sync up, get to know one another, et cetera. Firm, but gentle, you know? Once you understand one another, you and the Spheals will be a well-oiled machine. Oh, and could you please put on these All Round Spheal Scarves?” She passed out the special apparel. “They show you’re a member of the team!”

Band nodded. “That gives Red, Lucia, and myself a few minutes to case the joint, so to speak. Take a look around the place for anywhere a couple bozos might be hidin’.” He narrowed his eyes at the Wonderful One. “There’s somethin’ we gotta show Lucia too, before anythin’s got a chance to get hairy.”

“Huh?” His fellow detective looked between her two new acquaintances, one very tall and one rather short, not imagining what they might have in store. “Suah, I’m all eahs. We need a quiet spot oah somethin’?”

“Mhm. Follow me,” Band told her.

[hr]

Fifteen minutes later, the spectacular All Round Spheal Show was ready. In front of the fountain stood a big, eager crowd. People of all shapes and sizes had gathered both in the plaza itself and at the windows and balconies of the buildings that overlooked it. All the props were where they needed to be, the stars seemed happy with their new handlers, and both brand-new trainers had as good an idea of what they needed to do as they could get. Red and a blue-eyed, stony-faced Lucia stood to either side of the fountain corners to keep an eye on the crowd, while Band towered behind the audience, standing where he could see everyone. Finally, it was time to begin.

“Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the one, the only, All Round!” Sierra sang. She stood on the back of her own personal pokemon [url=https://i.imgur.com/8jIUXf0.png]Avalugg[/url], a living iceberg decked out in Spheal-themed regalia, and wielded a loudspeaker. “For this week’s ultimate performance, brought to you as always by the amazing Aether Foundation, we’re coming to you from Harmony Square! Bringing you the softest, squishiest, and silliest Spheals the world has to offer! Please welcome my assistants: the fabulous Frisk! And the awe-inspiring Ace!” She paused for a moment to give her helpers a chance to wave, bow or otherwise endear themselves to her audience. The city folk cheered them on, but everyone knew what they really wanted to see.

“And now,” Sierra continued, pumping her fist into the air. “Please join me in extending another warm Edinburgh welcome to the stars of the show. They’re flubbery! They’re chubbery! They’re happier than clams, cuter than buttons, and best of all, All Round! Iiiiiiiit’s Glenn, Dumpy, Happy, and Sadie!” The four Spheals appeared at the top of the fountain to thunderous applause and wild cheers, then slid down and splashed into the water. They shot to the surface like volleyballs held beneath the surface and popped into the air for a group pose, landed in the water, and began bobbing back and forth to the music playing over the van’s loudspeakers while they waited for directions.