[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6W7bqko.png[/img]
[h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Troop[/color][/h2]
[b][color=FD0000]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1875 (+3)  (+15)
[b][color=FD0000]Bowser: Level 13 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=FD0000]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (216/130)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 13 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]////////////////////////////// (104/130)
[b][color=DeepSkyBlue]Kamek: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DeepSkyBlue]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (83/130)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 8 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aqua]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]////////////////////////// (67/90)
[b][color=FD0000]Location:[/color][/b] The Under - Mercy Dreams, the Prison of Hope
[hider=warp locations]
[s]
Central hub: Smash City Alcamoth
Accessible locations:
Peach’s castle
Limsa Lominscuttle Town
Lumbridge
Twilight Town
Kosm’s Beach
[/s]
[/hider]
[/center]

After doing their coordinated strike vs the Caretaker, the troop regrouped, Jr and Bowser road killing bots while Kamek and Rika went overhead. Then they held up in a defensive position from which to shell the bots, and finally, once the eye opened up, gave it hell whenever it dared look their way. 

With that and all the other’s contributions, it was only a matter of time till the inverted pyramid fell, and they had their victory. Well, after being exploded anyway. Fortunately Jr was there to patch them up, the prince parking his tank, popping up the cockpit, and joining the others in the bloody dirt to stretch his legs for a bit as he healed everyone up. 

While he did that, and Kamek had another rest, Bowser and Rika did the rather standard post battle spirit crushing, which had some interesting results.

[hider=For the Troop]Items obtained:
[b]Magnetic Field Generator[/b]
[i]These modular generators use superconducting magnets and vast amounts of electricity to produce an easily expandable and powerful magnetic field[/i]
[b]Adaptive Control Unit[/b]
[i]An actuator hub capable of articulating attached machine parts with a high degree of reliability and accuracy[/i]
[b]Assembly Director System[/b]
[i]An extremely fast and precise computing system that can be programmed for the effective management of all sorts of networks[/i]
[b]Smart Plating[/b]
[i]A composite and computerized inner plating that allows for custom construction of machine and vehicular frameworks, such as supporting electronics on one side and powered armor on the other[/i]
[b]Phazyonite[/b] x180
[i]This spiky purple mineral can be exchanged to various shops for cosmetic items in place of currency[/i]
[b]Vigorwasp[/b]
[i]A bug that collects and tightly compacts nutrients into an orb of pure goodness that it then carries back to its nest to feed its colony. If someone steals and consumes this orb, it provides a full heal[/i][/hider]
 
[color=FD0000]”Weird. It just straight up made a bug. A tasty looking bug”[/color] Bowser noted, rather confused by the appearance of the [url=https://i.imgur.com/RbqyCEM.png]vigorwasp[/url] that lazily hoovered up from Rika’s hand. The ship girl, equally confused and curious, promptly poked it, causing it to disappear and heal all the damage the mimic shaped hat had done to her while she had been crushing the various small robots and specimen sprites.

[color=Aqua]”Huh. Ok then?”[/color] the shipgirl said as she took off the hat, mostly bemused but a little thankful that she wasn’t going to have to wait for Jr to come round again and heal her

The rest of the items consisted of a pile of crystals which were immediately stashed, and a bunch of metal computer things that neither of them had any idea what they were really for. Jr, once queried, was less stumped but after some speculating and poking ultimately marked the components down as something worth selling rather than using, and had Kamek shrink them down for transportation. 

With that settled, and someone hopefully making use of the caretaker’s spirit (and if they didn’t the troop would transport it), it was time to set off. That, apparently, was going to be easier said than done, because not only was the dwarf’s exit strategy noisy as heck, but it also had a time limit on it as well.

[color=FD0000]”Yeeeesh. You guys should do something about your boss, they sound like a picnic's worth of jerk sandwiches when it comes to minion treatment”[/color] Bowser complained, wondering what kind of idiot would just leave valuable minions who could actually get the job done behind like that.

Either way, it wasn’t like they could unionize down here, so for the time being they had to put up with these shoddy business practices. 

Things did not exactly start out great, with the machine that was going to lead them to their extraction point climbing its way right up a wall. Fortunately Kamek and Rika didn't have any kind of problem with this, floating and grappling respectively, while Bowser attached his super bell in order to cat climb on up and finally, while he had a rough start, also Jr managed to to take the same rout as Kanna after the platform was put up.

After that Jr pushed on ahead along with the plantpot, with the prince only unable to turn this into a race because he had no idea where they were going, and had to keep the pace set by the 4 legged Molly. 

As for the rest, well, now that the wonder effect was over they were back to where they had been before. Kamek was once again rather low on mana, Rika simply spent when it came to ammo, and Bowser was left burning through his remaining stamina to haul his heavy body through the tunnels. Still, they were at this point old hands at dealing with the threats they were facing, and so no bug nor bot could stand in their way. 

The only new threat was turned to paste as well, with jr unloading his metal attacker’s cannon into it before the rest of the Troop even managed to see the thing. Then soon after they were at the goal, a towering metal machine with a big ol drill at the base. It was sat next to a foggy area which the troop recognized as the place where they had first met Barnaby. There was little time to reminisce about their fallen comrade however, as there was the larger issue of: [color=FD0000]”Wait I need to get in there?!”[/color] 

Indeed, there was a particular lack of space in the riding compartment, which along with Bowser’s own bulk problem, also prompted Jr to ask [color=SpringGreen]”Wait… how am I gonna fit the tank in there?”[/color]

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Not to worry young master, I have a little potion left in the bottle, so to speak”[/color] Kamek replied, before requesting [color=DeepSkyBlue]”so if you step out and give me a moment”[/color] and then once the prince had done so casting his spell, shrinking down the fearsome war machine down to the size of a toy tractor, which positively delighted the prince.

With that solved, and with Bowser stripping himself of all his extra size (and making sure to point his spikes at the wall rather than at anyone else (and ensuring his son was doing the same)) they all just barely managed to squeeze inside.  

Then they were off. Until they weren't. Rather than rest and a drink on the space rig the dwarves were off to, the seekers ended up getting off early and exploring a very unpleasant looking place.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Galeem really did just pick all the nicest places to build it’s new world out of, didn't it?”[/color] Kamek complained. At least with Rika and her tail lamp they didn’t have to rely just on just the candles, though it did make the Troop rather stand out among the seekers. 

This got them a nice initial introduction to the threats of the area, namely a desiccated old man riding on a floating chair and armed with a long spear who floated up to say hello. Using his spear. Which he thrust at a now foot slogging again Jr.

The prince yelped in alarm, but managed to bring up his rune covered right arm with which he formed a crude shield to catch the spear thrust just in time. In response Rika, currently wearing her ammoless gauntlets on her back (she had not had the space in their cramped ride necessary to refill them with bullets or spit respectively), cleanly stepped around the side of her brother’s guard and thrust her own spear forwards in retaliation. The thin point neatly pierced through the bishop’s eye, and into his brain.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”The nicest places”[/color] Kamek reiterated his criticism as the area as the foe disintegrated, before suggesting [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Things look clearer up here, shall we go have a look over there before going down to wherever that thing came from?”[/color] as he pointed over at the warden’s office on the far side of the upper floor, a suggestion which he found general agreement for.

Upon entering it, they found that the room was in disarray, as if violently ransacked apart by a larger-than-normal creature via primarily blunt force, including the desk, where the damaged remains of a book lay. The book's cover has been scratched at, and leaving the only legible part of its title as 'Midsummer'

There was also a safe locked by a 4 digit combination lock, a set of oxidized bronze keys hanging from the wall and two potted [url=https://i.imgur.com/4Ng6N94.png]whispering roots[/url], one of them seemingly growing out of the floor due to its pot being broken in several places. When one of Kamek’s wisps (that they were using for extra light) floated close to one of those plants, it started to glow and hum ever so softly. 

That wasn’t the only strange and mystical thing about the room, for a few dreamlike motes were also wafting through the air, looking in appearance like ethereal glowing dreamcatchers, and they seemed to be especially concentrated around the book, even more so than the plants which had similar styling. Kamek, naturally, was curious as to why, and proceed to flip the book open, only to find, after a bit of skim reading, that it seemed to be a novelization of a very long, somewhat comedic play about a marriage set in ancient times, including multiple subplots spanning several sets of lovers.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”How strange”[/color] the mage said to himself, unsure as to why this book was of interest to whatever minor magical force was wafting around the room. He proceed to close it after making that assessment, just in time for Jr to wander over to show him a 6 inch tall statue carved out of whispering root that he had found on the floor, one depicting a figure with a satyr-like body and a horse’s head. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Hmmm, I think that is from the book? Odd. Perhaps the warden of this place carved it after reading this?”[/color] Kamek noted, to which the prince simply shrugged and declared that [color=SpringGreen]”Well it's mine now”[/color] before stashing it in his duffle bag. 

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”That. Very well”[/color] Kamek sighed, it was no as if there was anyone around to complain that wasn’t going to try and kill them anyway, or so he assumed. After pocketing the book because he also could, and doing a quick test to see if he could get the trees to do anything more (he could not) they left the room, taking both the keys and the entire safe with them (again because they could).

Outside the two koopas found Bowser and Rika standing next to a cell door that had an air of significance about it. Soft light coming out from under there, orange-pink, similar to the motes around the whispering roots, and the sound of muttering (not uncommon in this palace as it would turn out) along with the intermittent (and more unusual) sound of something scraping on wood. 

The king had clearly tried to punch the door open, giving he was nursing bruised knuckles, and he and Rika seemed to be in the midst of debating whether to use a torpedo to try and blast their way in when Kamek and Jr arrived to stop them.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Let’s not draw any more attention to ourselves, shall we?l”[/color] he suggested, before Jr let them know that [color=SpringGreen]”Besides, we have keys!”[/color]

Unfortunately, the keys they had found were bronze, not silver, and so they failed to open the singularly silver lock on the door they had found themselves before, resulting in the prince complaining [color=SpringGreen]”Yeah, of course it couldn’t be that easy!”[/color] and giving the door a useless kick.

[color=DeepSkyBlue]”Now now, these ones must open something”[/color] Kamek reassured him, before pointing out [color=DeepSkyBlue]”Plus there was a spot for another set of keys in the room, so maybe they are somewhere else in the facility”[/color] 

[color=Aqua]”We should probably radio in and let people know about that, and stuff you found, then? Right?”[/color] Rika suggested, which the others agreed was wise.

They returned to the center of the chamber where they could see down the various levels, and while doing so Kamek took on the duty of informing people about the missing silver keys, the door that required them, the safe they needed a code for, and, lastly, about the bronze keys they had found. 

Should any of the other heroes have waited for them to check out the office, the mage would supply them one of the keys then and there. Otherwise the mage was willing and able to coordinate sending a toady, his propeller hatted mini-me magic minions, down a floor or two to deliver a key to anyone who had started their own descent. 

As a result of both their investigation of the top floor, and their subsequent organizing of key delivery, the troop would be quite a bit behind any front runners. No doubt those on ahead would have cleared several floors before they even got started.