[center][h3]Suoh[/h3]
[b]Sector 3 Upper[/b]
Level 2 Goldlewis (9/20)
Goldlewis, Peach, Raz’s [@Truthhurts22], Roxas’ [@Double], Bede’s [@Crimson Flame], Sakura and Karin’s [@Zoey Boey], Midna’s [@DracoLunaris]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2305[/center]

With a destination in mind and no small amount of competitive spirit to speed the short trip along, the splinter group moved fast. Only a couple minutes into the group conversation beside Anistar Gym, Midna, Sakura, and Karin all showed up in quick succession. Despite following up a fierce battle of their own with vicious Others by running an extended race, none of them even seemed out of breath. Were he a younger and more impulsive man Goldlewis might have felt jealous, but he knew that everyone had their own strengths, all worthy of respect. Besides, these were the people who’d managed to eliminate over a fourth of the Guardians that stood between the Seekers of Light and the Lord of Light. Goldlewis knew that he ought to count himself lucky if he could so much as keep up.

“Hello, girls!” Peach greeted them, smiling at Sakura. Considering the threat posed by the Others, the sight of them unharmed did them a lot of good. That meant out of everyone who engaged the unknown foe in battle, only Raz took serious injuries, but the orange-flavored jelly given to him had already helped patch his wounds up. “We’re just discussing where to go next. Hopefully no more of those things show up, they were a real handful, hm?

Not to Midna or her team, apparently. Peach and company had managed to save a few civilians, but an entire bunker’s worth? The thought of a shelter coming under attack hadn’t even occurred to the princess. Any pride she’d managed to take in her own small accomplishments during the scramble to defend Main Street quickly evaporated.

Luckily, Karin directed the conversation back toward more practical matters than aggrandizing or effacing. She brought up the Others’ distinctive Achilles’ heel, and though this didn’t constitute a revelation for the other fighters, Goldlewis gave a sagacious nod. Before he could chime in on the subject Midna went ahead and showed off something else she’d gleaned from the battle, that being a strange packet of coagulated intelligence. She called it ‘data’, a concept that would normally lack any sort of physical form, and yet here it was. It floated above her hand, shifting slightly like a cluster of pixels or perhaps television static brought into the real world. “...Huh,” the veteran murmured. How strange. If it was just information, what was it doing in physical space, instead of inside a computer somewhere? Maybe it existed as a result of Psynet, like a knot in the invisible ‘web’ that connected the minds of the city’s psionics? Well, Goldlewis wasn’t a techie, let alone a psych-techie, so he gave a shrug and moved on. “We oughta ask someone from Psych-OSF about it if we get a moment.”

He mentioned fighting alongside a couple Scarlet Guardians by the names of Kagero and Tsugumi who just happened to be in the area, as well as the fact that Kagero seemingly possessed the ‘psychic ability’ to turn invisible. How that worked Goldlewis didn’t care to speculate, since if Kagero was technically editing himself out of the minds of those perceiving him, the notion of all psychic abilities originating from mental manipulation was a scary one to consider. He couldn’t offer any guess as to Tsugumi’s power aside from supernatural aim, but he could mention the psychic television broadcast that happened, since without psionics on hand to interpret it, the new arrivals must have been even more in the dark than the veteran’s own detachment. As a Septentrion the name Karen Travers carried some weight for the Seekers, even if Goldlewis couldn’t assign a face to that name just yet. “By the way, that Luka feller said brother, and pronounced the name ‘Kah-ren’, so if we somehow meet the guy make sure ya don’t call the Major General ‘Karin’.” He couldn’t help but glance at the Seekers’ own Karin while speaking. “I only ever seen his name in writin’ myself, so…” After that, all that remained to be said concerned the brief encounter with Arashi Spring, who could move at lightning speed, and the teleporting Luka Travers. “He’s the possible ‘in’ we mentioned,” Goldlewis said. “Gave us his number to call if we need anythin’.”

Not much to go on, but as Pit pointed out, the Seekers found themselves at a severe disadvantage in a brainpunk city where everything worked with psionic ability in mind.

“Right…” Peach, who’d been mulling over all the details everyone presented, nodded slowly as she replied. “I’ve been thinking about that, actually. Whatever’s going on with the Others, and maybe Midgar in general, the Psych-OSF seems really important. A lot of major players. I have an idea, but I’ll need to run a quick errand first.” She glanced up at Goldlewis. “In the meantime, I think we should call this Luka and arrange a meeting if we can. We’re in the dark here and need every last morsel of info we can get.”

Goldlewis crossed his arms. “I hear ya, but I reckon there’s two problems with that. First off, we ain’t gonna get the right answers if we don’t ask the right questions. Second, I dunno how in tarnation I’m actually s’posed to call the li’l guy. My phone glyph don’t work with Black Tech.” Sensing some confusion, he furrowed his brow and explained. “There’s…well, in my world we ain’t got what you’d call normal technology anymore, or science for that matter. Just magic science and magitech. All it means though, is that we gotta find a Psynet terminal first.”

“Okay, we’ll keep our eyes out.” Peach put her hands on her hips, frowning. “That just leaves us back where we started, though. When I’m done with my errand, where can I find you all?”

At that, Goldlewis gestured to the nearby window of Anistar Gym. “Why not check in here for a spell? Bede moseyed on in by himself a couple minutes ago, and I noticed a couple of hours eyeballin’ it. Might as well, I figure.”

Without any real alternatives for the moment, the Seekers headed for the main doors, joining a couple people in workout clothes on their way inside. When the other alert began the gym-goers had dropped everything and evacuated to the nearest shelter like everyone else, but with the all-clear given they were right back on the grind. Upon stepping inside, it wasn’t hard to see why people would want to make the most of this place, for the Anistar Gym was a sight to behold.

Three huge floors of gym goodness stood in front of them, each two stories high for a total of six stories, although the building extended downward into the plate rather than upward into the sky, and the entrance brought the group into the top floor. The floors were color-coded, with the topmost being blue, the middle floor green, and the bottom floor purple, although for all of them a high vaulted ceiling made to look like a starlit night sky gave the whole place a space-age vibe. A great dome-shaped skylight overlooked an open circular atrium in the building’s center that spanned all three floors, and the five support pillars that circled it featured six-story rock walls for intrepid climbers.

In fact, everywhere the newcomers looked they could find all sorts of equipment. There were high-powered treadmills where psychics rolled along at a breakneck pace atop their levitation orbs. Next to the racks of weights were racks of spoons, ranging from table-size to dumbbell-size to spoons the size of a streetlamp. The giant sign that read ‘RERACK YOUR SPOONS’ in all caps didn’t seem very effective, though. Big foam blocks lay around for use with psychokinesis and transport powers, with a few people even sparring atop blocks someone else was levitating. There was an elaborate psi shooting gallery, and a reverse shooting gallery where machines launched balls to test defense powers and dodging. Along an entire wall stood a huge variety of punching bags, many of them fashioned after Others on a scale of hardness from easy, squishy Pool bags to tougher Rummy bags to hanging Pendu bags that moved on small tracks. Some of them even looked animatronic, like a Vase Paws bag currently giving a man an reactive workout routine where he had to recognize and dodge fast kicks or a big tail swipe. Goldlewis spotted a woman training with a game of life-size reverse whack-a-mole with Yawn bags that popped up from holes in the ground, dodging their attacks and countering with quick punches. And all that was just the first floor; according to the big sign by the door, the bottom floor featured a giant pool, and the middle offered a number of insulated rooms, whether for meditation or practice with the elements, such as pyrokinesis, electrokinesis, cryokinesis, aerokinesis, and hydrokinesis. Anistar Gym was fully loaded, a favorite training ground not just for civilians but Psych-OSF personnel too, despite whatever accommodations they must have at the Otherlobe. There was just one problem.

As the Seekers marveled at the place, Bede flounced up to them in a huff. “Some gym this is!” he fumed, his face the very picture of annoyance. “There’s not a single Pokemon in the whole place! I asked who the leader is, and they didn’t know what I was talking about. What a crock.” With his disappointed-looking Hatenna at his heels the boy stormed off toward the door.

On the way out, he nearly ran into a tall, well-built [url=https://i.imgur.com/abL2dYt.png]fellow[/url] with a jawline protector and a mop of dirty blonde hair. Before the two could collide, however, the man flattened himself against the doorway, allowing the much smaller Bede to push through. “Scuse me,” he murmured, but Bede ignored him and disappeared outside. Thinking nothing of it, the new arrival headed inside, walking past the Seekers with a mildly curious glance in their direction. Behind him followed a trio of rank-and-file OSF members, two [url=https://i.imgur.com/M8DDGaA.png]identical[/url] and the third a [url=https://i.imgur.com/OtRUdN7.png]little different[/url]. Now that the action was over with for now, they were removing their helmets and loosening their uniforms a little to get back to working out. The first two turned out to be brothers with shaved heads except for poofs of blonde hair on top, while the third was a girl with black hair, a widow’s peak, and an eyepatch. “Alright, let’s pick up where we left off,” the leader said, heading toward the right to an open area by the bags. 

Meanwhile, Goldlewis found what he was looking for. “There!” he said, pointing out a machine by the front desk. “That’s gotta be a Psynet terminal. Lemme see if I can make a call.” As he went over, the three grunts took up positions around the sturdy man with training weapons in hand -a pair of beatsticks for the twins and an axe for the girl. Their opponent stood in the middle, and when the sparring began he defended himself, using some sort of power to harden his body into a metallic texture. His attackers fought without holding back, but the defender held them off all by himself with only his gloves as weapons. After only a few moments of furious contention the three took a break to catch their breath, while their opponent merely wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Then the training continued.

After a few minutes, Peach showed up again. She and Goldlewis, fresh off the terminal with his new Psych-OSF contact, met up with the Seekers. The veteran went first. “Luka said he’s on assignment and can’t meet for a while, but he’d be happy to chat with us over a meal at Musubi’s at seven,” Goldlewis reported, glancing at his watch. “That’s about three and a half hours from now, so we got time to kill.”

“I found what I was looking for. You mentioned that your old friends invited you to join the Psych-OSF, Raz,” Peach said next. “What if you took them up on that offer?” From her pocket she produced and revealed two spirits, and from the images within the motes of prismatic light her compatriots could tell they belonged to Psych-OSF grunts. “Of course, I’m not asking that you go alone.”

Goldlewis stroked his whiskers, impressed. “Those ain’t the casualties Luka mentioned, are they?” When the princess nodded, he raised an eyebrow. “What d’ya need those for?”

Peach selected one of the spirits and lifted it up, looking closer at it. It belonged to a woman with short, light brown hair in a high bun, long sidelocks, amber eyes with two moles by the left, and a big smile. “In this place, being psychic is everything. These two must have been, and we can use that. We don’t need new powers, just sensitivity, so mental fusion would be enough. If three of us go together, we’ll be able to watch one another’s backs as we get intel from inside the OSF. We also won’t get in trouble for helping people”

After a quick look around to make sure no security cameras were listening, Goldlewis thought about it. “Hmm. Mighty bold’, but risky. Fusin’s illegal, if ya recall. You’ll need to do it outta sight, and you’ll need new IDs afterward.” He sighed. “That said, it might be our best shot at gettin’ inside the Psych-OSF. Raz mentioned a fast-track through Basic Brainin’, so if y’all breeze through together, ya might even reach Cadet by tonight.” For his part, however, Goldlewis didn’t feel comfortable with fusion just yet. That led into just one question, aside from what to do until dinner with Luka: who would be joining Peach and Raz on this daring mission to infiltrate Psych-OSF.

[center][h3]Detroit[/h3]
[b]Sector 8 Lower[/b]
Level 11 Tora (113/110) Level 12 Poppi (3/120)
Susie and Blazermate’s [@Archmage MC], Raiden’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX], Geralt’s [@Multi_Media_Man], Benedict’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2204[/center]

The dynamic duo’s descent from the top of the factory was breakneck even by sky-line standards. With only the tenuous magnetic grasp of the sky-hook’s furious rotation keeping them from freefall, they tore through the wind so fast it just about beat them senseless. Sure, Tora had fallen from a far greater height in the Sandswept Sky when hurled thousands of feet upward by an updraft from Hollow heights, but now he was being dragged along, forcibly whipped back and forth by the curvature of the sky-line. Tora found himself immensely grateful that he had Poppi clutching him tight in the ironclad assurance of mechanical strength. If he’d been obliged to hold onto a hook himself, the staggering and relentless g-force involved would have ripped the hook from his wing’s nerveless grip long ago and sent the Nopon spiraling into the cityscape. Still, it took everything he had not to scream his lungs out from a potent combination of heart-pounding exhilaration and sheer terror. After all, they were zooming into battle.

After what felt like ages but in reality encompassed just a handful of seconds, the sky-line swooped down to travel alongside a filthy canal adjacent to the construction zone, and following Giovanna’s example Poppi disengaged the sky-hook there. She tucked in, holding her bug-eyed Masterpon against her like a body pillow, and landed in a roll. “Oof, ow, ooh!” Tora cried as the two tumbled along, until finally his companion came to a stop on her back and unfolded. He slid off her and plopped onto his side, spirals in his eyes. “Meeeeeh,” he wheezed.

Up ahead, Giovanna quickly stood up straight from where she slid to a stop herself, a fair bit more unkempt than last time in the brewery. At some point during the frenetic descent, one of the two buttons keeping her shirt together had come undone, but luckily she’d managed to prevent disaster and put herself back together. “Best way to travel,” she deadpanned as she approached the group, tucking her shirt back in. After a quick self-diagnostic to confirm no real damage taken, Poppi stood as well. She helped Tora to his feet and started to dust him off, prompting him to return the favor, but her attention mostly lay on the construction zone across the canal.

“Might be for the best that line didn’t bring us any closer,” Giovanna reasoned aloud, crouching down behind a section of fence in case any of the gang members looked her way. While she originally imagined zipping in to start the brawl with an intense, daring takedown or two, closer inspection of these crooks convinced her that this scenario was fundamentally different from the run-in with the Hoodlum Dolls earlier. “Hold tight a second,” she told the rest of the team in a loud whisper. “These guys are much more heavily armed and armored. They’re on alert, too. We’re not catching them with their pants down this time. I see lots of guns, too.”

Tora narrowed his eyes. “Not want run in with balls to wall then, meh?”

“Exactly.” Giovanna took stock of the [url=https://preview.redd.it/3n0b4gbxlp271.jpg?auto=webp&s=1495ef6782e6715955d81976be2b614dc96b8304]area[/url]. Whatever this building might be she couldn’t quite tell, since it looked too small for either a warehouse or a factory, but its construction had seen some solid progress. The structure existed as a framework of burgundy metal with thick, possibly concrete filler within the major supports. It boasted no real walls, but plenty of hanging tarps, plywood boards, yellow shoots, port-a-potties, and metal panels obstructed sight lines, providing dubious cover for a shootout but plenty of places to hide. The stacks of material lying around would be better suited for defense, if it came to that. Plenty of construction equipment lay around the place too, from handheld tools to heavy-duty machinery. Of course, the workers left plenty of beer bottles and crumpled-up fast food bags around too, sometimes stashing them inside whatever they were constructing before the finishing touch. By this point all the humans had fled and the androids were destroyed, which left only the Misconducts scurrying around.

What bothered Giovanna was why they were here. What was their plan, and how long had they been planning it? If they meant to knock this project down, it should have logically happened before those supports came in. It would take a lot more than sticks of TNT to blow through all those. And why did they gun down the androids without setting their sights on the fleeing humans? Just because they thought they could get away with it, since they weren’t human? It didn’t add up. Something smelled fishy, and it sure wasn’t that scummy canal in front of her, rank as it was. “We can use the walkie-talkies Sakura gave us to communicate if need be,” she said, holding up her own for emphasis. Raiden and Susie had their own. “But let’s try the quiet way for a minute. It doesn’t look like they have designated lookouts, so we can move in if we’re careful. Subdue anyone you can without being noticed, but don’t do anything that’ll compromise us. Probably won’t last, but it’ll give us a leg up when it’s time to go loud.”

The team did some quick preparation. Poppi switched to her Dark core, which would allow her to create localized gravitational anomalies to push, pull, and crush foes. If Susie preferred that infusion in her business suit to Raiden’s, the machinist would be able to do the same. Her fusion with that volatile gunslinger appeared to be granting her new capabilities, as well.

[center][hider=For Poppi]New Power:
[b]High Noon[/b]
Poppi can enter into a state of badass gunslinger focus, increasing the damage dealt by her guns by 20%, which visually increases her shots’ size and brightness. While in the Noon state, a landed shot on an enemy will split the shot into four that spread out in a cross shape for a couple extra yards from the impact point, dealing 50% of the original shot’s damage to those caught in the splash. The Noon state lasts ten seconds and has a three minute cooldown[/hider][/center]

“Alright, let’s go already.” At Giovanna’s signal, the Seekers got underway. Most of the Misconducts were on ground level fiddling with explosives or ransacking terminated androids, which made getting close the hardest part. Poppi flung Tora across the canal before boosting over herself, and together the pair sprinted across open ground toward a crane. With the artificial blade and her keep optics leading the way they waited for an opening. When it came they climbed atop the treads, then the main cabin, then onto the crane arm itself, deftly maneuvering up the metallic incline until they could jump onto the second of the five floors.Tora rolled against a cylindrical red-and-white container and held still, listening for any sign of trouble, and Poppi crouched behind him. It occurred to her that she could have switched to a smaller and less conspicuous form, but QT Pi’s mobility would be an asset, and it looked like the two of them found a pretty good spot.

They found themselves at the bottom-most corner of the C-shaped building. Behind them softly flapped a hanging tarp, the gaps between it and the frame small enough that she could easily see to ground level, but it would be hard to make out anything in the dark from behind it. Straight ahead lay the central courtyard, full of Misconducts, including the heavily-armored man who looked like the leader. To the right, a drop to the first floor. She could see a white cloth and some discarded hard hats down there. A peek across the courtyard confirmed Giovanna on the opposite side of the fourth floor, hiding behind a pillar on the upper straight of the C, right beneath where the fifth floor began and shielded by plywood plus a blue container on one side. Within arm’s reach of her hiding spot a yellow cable was anchored, stretching across the courtyard to the center bend of the C on the first floor. Elsewhere, the other Seekers were getting into position, with the less stealthy ones taking fewer risks. Blazermate, for instance, would probably hide behind a vehicle outside of the construction site itself until go time, at which point she could fly in. Everyone needed to be mindful of relevant light sources that could cast telltale shadows over the Misconducts’ fields of view as they worked. Tora sidled around to the edge of the tarp to peek down. They could easily get the drop on some hapless hoodlum from here, but neither he nor his blade planned to kick things off by themselves. So they waited, not sure what they were waiting for, other than some kind of signal. Giovanna, the de-facto source of such a signal, waited too. If she didn’t want utter chaos, she needed a diversion, but the longer she waited the closer everyone got to the Misconducts finishing their setup and cleared out to start the fireworks.

After a tense minute, the growly chatter and barked orders from the first floor went quiet with urgent swiftness. Alerted to some sort of change, Poppi quickly scanned the area, and soon found out why. A lone G-man was approaching the construction site from the nearby street, and two more waited on the sidewalk, staring with their bright red eyes. Poppi pursed her lips. “Oh, boy.” The G-man continued to get closer until a pair of Misconducts went out with their weapons hidden to meet it before it could get close enough to see what their mates were and had been doing.

“You’re not construction workers,” the G-man stated, his voice hard. “You’re hockey players. You should be skating on ice and hitting pucks, not in a construction yard. What are you doing here?”

One of the Misconducts shrugged, holding his hands out to either side. “What, we can’t just hang around here? Tomorrow’s the, uh, big game, you know? We’re just getting together to, uh celebrate. And psych ourselves up! Just some harmless fun, man.”

The G-man did not so much as blink. “We saw construction workers leaving the premises. You’re obstructing their work. Disturbance of the peace and loitering are both punishable crimes.” Behind it, the other two G-men began to approach to support their outnumbered colleague.

“Huh? Ah, don’t you know it’s break time around here, man?” The second Misconduct, a lady, nudged him, and he held up placating hands. “Hey, hey, look. We’re sorry, alright? Won’t happen again. Just give us a few minutes to pack up, and we’ll be on our way. Promise!”

“Your story doesn’t check out,,” the G-man replied. “If you are hockey players trying to have fun, there are better places than someone else’s construction site. We will personally oversee your departure.” It went to step between two.

The man rolled his eyes. “Man…” Then the woman whipped out her shotgun and blasted the G-man in the chest. It staggered, falling to one knee, then lunged at the woman. They disappeared together in a flash of light and smoke. “Damn it!” the Misconduct growled, pulling out his pistol to open fire on the other G-men. His buddies back at the site joined in, peppering the agents with bullets as they ran for cover behind a stack of girders.

“Mayday, mayday!” One of the G-men said into its phone. “Hostile gunfire from suspects at my position. Requesting backup.” After a moment it continued, its voice still flat but a little more urgent. “What do you mean you’re busy cleaning up the Hoodlum Dolls? I am full of bullet holes…fine, I will put out a general distress beacon…”

At that point TNT Randy stepped up, a lit bundle of explosives in hand. “Fire in the hole!” he howled as he hurled the payload toward the G-men in cover. The TNT blew apart the stack of girders with a tremendous noise and sent both G-men flying, but as they dragged themselves to their feet they doffed their hats. The next moment they exploded in a blast of tar, assuming the form of two new monsters: a horrific [url=https://i.imgur.com/Lmrqfo1.png]bat-winged woman[/url] split in half, and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/58RxKKD.png]frenzied wolfman[/url]. Immediately Manananggal cast Zanma on the girders, releasing a blast of force that sent the whole lot of them flying through the air to crash into the Misconducts’ hiding spots, while Loup-garou raced forward.

“Now!” Giovanna yelled, using her walkie-talkie. She summoned Rei and jumped out from cover, using her sky-hook to grab onto the yellow cable. Even if it wasn’t metal, she could still hook onto it and slide down, then leap off the opposing wall and fly down with a divekick at TNT Randy himself. The big man, his left hand full of TNT and a lighter in his right, managed to block at the last second, then come around with a massive right hook. Giovanna airdashed backward out of the way, but Randy lit the TNT and tossed it toward her underhand. Gritting her teeth, she jumped up and blocked with Faultless Defense, negating the chip damage as she flew backward toward cover away from all the Misconducts ready to rip her limb from limb.

Before they could go after her, Poppi opened fire with her revolvers from the second floor. Empowered by High Noon, her dark-energy bullets erupted into brutal cross-shaped blasts of repulsive force on impact, demanding that the gang members run for cover while returning fire. Randy, however, just brought up his goalie shield. “Shit! Was this a setup!?” He hurled more TNT up at the two, but Tora managed to blow it up midair with a spread shot from the Variable Saber, and the dynamic duo retreated from a hail of gunfire from below, using their high ground as cover. The multifaceted battle was on.

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

Though the Seekers’ reception to Barnabee’s plea ended up being a lot more lukewarm than the buzzy brave would have liked, but between them Bowser, Rubick, and Primrose offered just enough of a hook for him to hang his hopes on. Though this turn of events took a little wind out of his sails, the Hive Knight wasn’t about to become crestfallen. “As much as it grieves me to put my most noble cause on hold, I shall hold out hope for your cooperation when the time is nigh.” He stood tall and saluted his new acquaintances. “In the meantime, should you present no objections, I should like to join you on your own quest. A rare offer, I confess, and perhaps out of line for the champion of Her Majesty the Queen, but I am honored to extend it in good faith to any who might be of aid in the future. Upon my blade’s gnashing teeth, I daresay you shall not find my skills wanting! For as long as it takes to see my mission though, my sword is yours. Dedicated to your ‘wellbeeing’, as it were! Huzzzzah!”

After flourishing his saw-toothed sword, Barnabee winked. “And as they say, one good turn deserves another, hohoho…”

The group retraced their steps back into the Ruins. As they neared the Temple of the Black Egg, Barnabee considered the mask fragment left over by Silitha, which Primrose pointed out to him. “Hmm…” he mused, scratching his fuzzy head. Then he snapped his spiky little fingers. “I am loath to speak with too much certainty on historical matters, for outside our fair Hive I am admittedly rather ill-informed, but this rather calls to mind a legendary artifact of yore. See its ivory-white luster? That perfect hollow? It can only be the mask of Lurien, the Watcher, said to have resided with the tallest spire above the Home of Tears and peered through the rain with an all-revealing lens.” He ran his hand along a jagged crack at one end of the curio. “Although, it is plainly sundered. It would take two more such fragments to restore it to its former glory.” He sniffed and handed the piece back to Primrose. “Although, even then it could not possibly compare to the splendor of my Queen, whose own glorious mask has no equal among either living or dead.”

A quick visit to the temple confirmed that the fragment fit perfectly into one of the three slots on the seal of the place’s titular black egg. Other than that, however, nothing happened upon its insertion. It didn’t take a genius to intuit that more fragments would be necessary in order to gain entrance to the Guardian trapped inside. How many more was anyone’s guess, but if the number of fragments adhered to the typical formula, ‘eight’ seemed like a solid guess.

With that confirmed, the next order of business was to reunite with the other group of Seekers. They recalled that Nadia mentioned a large vertical cavity deep inside the Ruins, as well as the possibility of a mapmaker at its bottom, and headed in that direction. There they found that huge vaulted chamber of gruzzers, cave crickets, and suspended platforms among wrought-iron supports. No sign of their friends could be seen, however, and given the size of the other contingent that meant they must have gone further in, which meant Bowser’s bunch needed to do the same. For those who could teleport, float, or fly, getting down would be easy, but not all of those among the few that braved the Webwood could count themselves so fortunate. Still, despite the treacherous descent and a couple up-close encounters with ornery insects, the team managed to reach the bottom.

On the central dias they found evidence of a struggle, including the spirits of fallen gruzzer flies on the cusp of fading away.  More worrying than that was the discovery of several different routes that all seemed to lead in different directions from this spot, leaving the team at an impasse. Luckily, some telltale humming and a trail of discarded paper led them over to Cornifer in his cozy corner of the crossroads, hard at work on his cartography. “Oh yes, they were just here a while ago,” he replied when asked about Nadia and the others. “The young lady with long ears, the one with striking red hair, the sturdy fellow in armor, and of course that rather grand wasp.” Having not really taken notice of Omori, Therion, or the Adventurer, he pointed the newcomers in the direction of a certain tunnel. There, the purple stone bricks and bluish chitin masonry of the Ruins gave way to packed dirt and the wooden supports of a mining shaft. “They went in that direction. Oh, but wouldn’t you like to purchase a map before you go? It is all too easy to lose your way down here, I find. To wander without aim is a fine predicament for a mapmaker such as myself, to be sure, but not so for ones who travel with purpose, hm…?”

As the team moved on, Barnabee set off with them at an eager stride. “Forsooth, the mapmaker speaks true. The tunnels and trails of this ancient kingdom twist and turn without end. Any fool who blindly travels its paths is destined to meet an untimely end. Tis well that I, the Hive Knight, have never…well, almost never, or at least, very rarely, gotten lost.” He cleared his throat with a buzzing sound. “...Onward, my new friends! Your comrades cannot have gotten far!”

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/0RJutZQ.png[/img][/center]

The dirty eastward tunnel confronted the troop with a number of branching paths of various sizes as they went along. Some featured strange totems or indecipherable signs, bug masks, or cracked crystal protruding from the stone. Scouting planes and wizard orbs sent down them turned up no sign of the other Seekers, and in a couple cases provoked new enemies, some of them vicious indeed. Regardless, most seemed to be dead ends, or loop back to the main path, so they stuck to what seemed to be the main route. Eventually, they came across a final split in the road. In one direction there seemed to be a lot of masks, either hung up on poles in an ominous manner or discarded amongst the clods of soil underfoot so thickly that walking that way would make them clatter and scrape incessantly. Within slumbered the [url=https://i.imgur.com/6JLrf5Z.png]Ancestral Mound[/url], home to dead spirits and the eccentric Snail Shaman. The other path quickly opened up into a massive dripstone cavern of packed earth, stone, stalagmite, and stalactite, spiky and treacherous even without the bus-sized [url=https://i.imgur.com/CsHU1tF.png]Goams[/url] that erupted suddenly and without warning from the earth, their spiky burr-coated shells nigh impenetrable. Nimble [url=https://i.imgur.com/BXBebEw.png]bugs[/url] deftly leaped through the cavern in search of foliage to nibble, staying well clear of the strange [url=https://i.imgur.com/0fMHd9s.png]clown insects[/url] that hung around the area in groups by noxious pools and sludgy streams of poisonous muck. At the sight of the newcomers, a wrinkly purple [url=https://i.imgur.com/Pe86hhp.png]Huuli Hoarder[/url] laden with gems took off screaming, scuttling along a nearby wall for a place to dig into and make its escape. On the far side of the huge cavern, part of the rock face gave way to a protruding wall of wood that stretched from floor to ceiling, with several hollow roots twisting out from it to rest like primordial serpents in beds of grimy stone. Could this be one of the trees that extended upward through the Webwood?

Barnabee paused at the cavern overlook, his eyes narrowed. “Hmm,” he began, raising his voice over the Hoarder’s irksome cries. “It seemed reasonably straight shot here, yet now a perilous land unfolds before us. We would do well to consult fresh eyewitnesses, should there be any likely folks around.”