”IS ANYONE GOING TO DEAL WITH THAT?” Bowser asked, regarding the massive monster truck bearing down on their position ”HELLO? ANYONE?” The centurion, jr and poppy all grappled the truck in their own way, but none actually did anything that would alter its course.
The Rabbids, now healed of their ear pain, began to panic, running around like headless chickens while screaming their lungs out. They were joined in their concern by a rather more reserved ”Sire?” coming from the inside of the Bowser Mobile.
The situation was clear. It was stand here and be run over, flee like a coward and leave his minions loyal to die, or do something incredibly stupid. Boweser took the third option as naturally as he breathed.
”DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF!?” Bowser roared, before launching himself forward towards the brother’s grimm with an excellent jump. Mid flight he retracted his vulnerable body parts inside his shell, which became a spinning vertical disk that disdainfully plowed through the incoming mini-gun fire. The spinning disk of death was aimed to cleave into the right hand side of the car’s exposed steering axle in-order to smash it and force the monster truck to turn off course. The red hot claws of the mecah mit, which thirsted for it's first strike, poked out of one of the holes in the shell, adding a singular rapidly revolving fang to the massive projectile.
At the same time, back at the parked vehicles, Kamek shouted at anyone and everyone who would listen to ”Drive you idiots!” A pile of Rabbids obeyed as best they could, hurling themselves on the accelerator, causing the Browser mobile to roar away blindly. At the same time buckler Rabbid gunned the engine of the koopa king that was pulling the rabbids truck, doing their best to pull away from their now untenable defensive position.
”GAHAHAHA! THAT’S RIGHT, RUN YOU COWARDS!” Bowser shouted after the two retreating survivors after the team reduced their comrades to scrap metal.
”It’s already over?” Kamek asked as he poked his head over the side of the door just in time to spot the enemy reinforcements ”Oh. No. No it really isn't.” he said, before ducking back down into the car interior to continue buffing the centurion in relative safety.
Bowser meanwhile stepped out of the car upon seeing their new foes, his main focus on the massive monster truck.
”NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!” he cackled as he activated the Mecha-Mit, is massive orange claws coming online. However it was the comparatively small ice cream truck that proved to be an immediate threat rather than the massive monster truck. The comically inappropriate battle wagon launched some kind of glowing orange clown faced projectile at the king. In response he took a defensive posture and clenched his fist, switching the power claw into a small energy shield that he brought up to block the massive shot. He was saved from the repercussions of this inadequate defense by Linkle, who shot and arrow from her pixly bow at the balloon, causing it to detonate prematurely. The explosion washed over the koopa king and his small shield in a far less dangerous fashion than it would have otherwise, but it still hurt a fair bit.
After the blast was past Bowser shook his head to clear the ringing and then glanced behind him. Despite not being hit by the blast the rabbids, and the rabbit eared Linkle, had all been pretty badly by the noise of the blast.
”Heal!” he ordered, quieter than usual, summoning the rabbid medic to do just that. Bowser had no idea if the bunny could help with their plight, but he did know he was a bit banged up from the near miss of the blast. Heel, happy that they had missed having his own eardrums shattered, did his thing, bouncing around and mashing the button on their back mounted healer pack to first top off the king’s hp and then to provide light healing for the rabbids and Linkle in an attempt to reduce their head pain.
Bowser meanwhile summoned mallet and sledge so that, if another shot came, they could try to pull of the same trick Linkle had with their hammers. Then he stood guard in case they failed. He could not afford to lose the Bowser mobile, because losing it meant walking. Also he was a touch worried Kamek might get hurt. The old turtle seemed to be both deaf enough and insulated enough behind the car door that the explosion had not done much, but if it suffered a direct hit? That would end poorly.
Jr meanwhile moved to get in on the action. He had expended his koopa troop for the time being, and was very sure that the goombas would be pretty worthless here, so it was time to show the team how the royal heir handled business personally. Splattershot stored and Gadbrush in hand he moved to attack the enemy cars for above in his clown car, only to be met by a hail of gunfire.
”wow wow wow” Jr cried as he jerked the controls of the clown car too and fro in order make the small inverse helicopter move erratically to avoid the gunfire. It seemed one of the wastelanders in this group had considered mounting non fixed weapons that could actually directions other than forwards on their vehicle. Atop the titanic monster truck a man with his muscular arms bare was using a swivel turret mounted machine gun as an anti air weapon. Fortunately, it looked like he was having to crouch awkwardly to get the gun to point upwards, reducing his aim a bit as the weapon was clearly meant to shoot targets around the truck’s wheels rather than above it.
After a bit of quick thinking jr ascertained that his Splattershot and paintbrush’s ink would not out-range the gun even with his height advantage, and getting in close enough to use them could prove deadly. As a result, he turned to his latest acquisition to solve the problem. A hand darted down into the bomb bay of the cart and retrieved a Pokeball, which he then tossed into the air. Then he used the Gadbrush like a baseball bat to punt the ball at the turret operator.
”Go Mimikyu” he cried, urge to do so by the universes demand that he stay on brand, as the ball soared forth and bonked the man harmlessly on the head. After impacting it split open and spilled a white energy out and onto the roof of the car, before snapping shut and flying back to its owner.
With one hand rubbing his head the gang member looked down at what the projectile had divulged, his eyes meeting those of some kind of yellow rodent. A few cm below where the man was staring Mimikyu’s actual eyes darted too and fro as it tried to work out where it was. It had a rather pleasant time in the ball all things considered, and had also had time to repair its outfit while Jr drove. Now it was standing on a horrible steel roof surrounded by loud noises and toxic fumes. It was not a pleasant place to be, particularly for the fairy side of its typing. Then the man tried to stomp on it. This did not amuse the specter one bit. It scooted out the way of the man’s boot and then used copycat to retaliate. A wooden mannequin leg shot out from the dark void that seeped out of the bottom of the Pikachu disguise and it’s foot struck the man in the groin. This amused the specter a great deal.
Enraged and with his pride hurt the man swiveled the gun turret around and opened fire on the tiny nimble target. The manikin leg was discarded and riddled with lead as the little spook darted in and around the man’s legs as he tried to shoot it while also avoiding shooting himself in the foot. Anger and gunfire deafened him to the sound of an approaching propeller blade.
Just as it seemed like the brother had gotten the Mimikyu tired out and pinned down Jr leapt from his clown car, paintbrush in hand. With a slash her cut it down the length of the man's body before landing on the truck roof and elbow barging the man’s leg. He stumbled back, his torso streaked with an thick line of neon blue goop that burns like acid where it touched, causing the gun to be pulled up and away from Mimikyu. Before he could recover jr grabbed the front end of the gun and forced it skyward so the man couldn't try and shoot or deafen him with it.
The brother screamed with wordless anger and, after failing to wrench the gun from the prince hand or shoot him with it, punched the child in the face. Jr cried in pain and then jabbed the brush blindly at the man, one hand still clinging to the gun to avoid falling off. Ink stained the offender’s striking arm. The man shook it violently in an attempt to get the goop off while simultaneously kicking Jr’s shell ineffectively.
”Mimikyu help!” jr shouted. The ghost Pokemon tilted its false head in consideration as the man and boy struggled with one-another while trying to avoid falling off the car.
edit. and then Mimikyu clawed the guy's face off
Jr groped his way along the gun till he gripped the handle for support and possible future use. He now had a gun. A real ass gun. He was a boy with a god damned gun. ”Took you long enough.” he complained. “Kyu” responded the ghost noncommittally before petting the gun affectionately and then reeled the Synapse back into the mysterious shadow realm it had inside its disguise.
The pair then used the breathing room they had acquired to check how everyone else was doing.
Can Din buff Gogoat with the Spell of Spring? What would such a buff entail? Also, do I play Gogoat like a separate character with its own XP bar and such? Do you have 4 pokemon attacks that you wish to assign, or should I pick?
<Snipped quote by Stern Algorithm>
Spell of Spring, judging by its description, has no buffing properties, so no. Gogoat can be treated like an NPC, and kept track of via its pokeball in your sheet's equipment section, without EXP. You can pick your pokemon's attacks.
On the other hand gogoat can have the ability grass pelt which raises it's defence on grassy terrain, which the spell of spring could create.
Luis bathed in the freezing cold ocean waters separating the ice sheet around the north pole from north Kalgrun. It was a refreshing change after the seemingly endless trip though the sky pyres and the silent bleakness of the north pole.
On the shore icy insects and white furred mammals frolicked in the snow in between the trunks of blue leaved trees. Down in the waters of the northern ocean teemed with life. It was a joyous feeling to be surrounded by the living again, rather than the soon to be doomed souls of the dead.
While the seals, walruses and penguins where nice, who Luis was really here for where the whales. New species of them had appeared since the last time he had been at the north pole, along with the entire ecosystem they lived in, and Luis was more than happy to get to know them. Some had heard tales of him from other, older,species who still sung of the day when the great sky whale blessed the southern sea with his presence and so it has been easy to engage with them without his vast size scaring them all off.
He’d got to hear about their lives down here in the ocean while he had spoken of his journeys with Azura and all the things that had happened to him with someone who wasn't, well, Azura. It was enjoyable, but soon enough he felt the urge to return to her side. He could never quite shake the feeling that if he stayed away for too long she’d run off somewhere while he wasn't looking.
After biding his farewells Luis rose up and out of the sea, water cascading off his back, and then headed north, flying just above the frozen sea. Over the ice he flew till it grew so think that nothing could break through and surface from the ocean below. The life from Kalkun faded from view. He passed over the sculpture fields, where Winter-Spirits frolicked and competed in their yearly contest, erecting new statues in the images of distant places, people and things. Then even they were gone and only the craggy ice sheet remained. As he traveled further the world bellow dimmed and Heliopolis sank towards the southern horizon. Only once it was setting did the isle of Twilight came into view.
A ring of mountains, that Azura had once called the broken crown, stabbed up out of the ice below. They, along with the spire like north peak they surrounded, where the only notable change in elevation for kms around. Luis had seen them before but there had been additions since he left. Atop the closest tall peak to his approach a faint light suddenly intensified, as if a distant spotlight had locked onto him. The echo of trumpets echoed from the peak, a low ominous almost alien tone, as the Titan of Winds raised the alarm. Down below on the slopes of the peak thousands of smaller lights lit up as Gusts and Armonia began to also awaken or emerge from hiding.
Luis reached out with his mind and, using his god given power over soul crystal constructs, turned off this new alarm system. As quickly as they had awoken the forces of the titan slept once more, while the roaming eye of the massive construct itself turned back to watching the ice beyond. Then he flew across the mountain range and pass over the valley below. In the valley itself was his armor, still being unloaded, a process now guarded by a number of awake Armonia who patrolled the crevasse and entrance to the vault and no doubt also stood watch within the vault itself.
The Whale then turned his nose skyward, soaring up alongside the heaven piercing mountain the vault was built under. As he climbed light slowly returned, his accent bringing both Heliopolis and the Luminous Garden into view. At the top of the mountain sat the sky bastion, a fortress made of two wheels, one inside the other, that rotated around the mountain peak. It was functionally still on Galbar, as the two celestial lights in the sky where both still visible from here. The world below till cured away from them at its distant horizon rather than being rendered as an infinitely repeating map, but travel any higher, or even move out horizontally from the north peak, and he would enter the Blue proper.
Out there Luis spotted new creatures that had not been there when he left either. Here too Azura had been busy. Off in the distance a massive serpent like leviathan slithered through the sky, chasing after a herd of tusked manta rays, while nearby a long necked creature stabbed its head in and out of a shoal of sky slugs, snapping one or two up each time it struck.
Luis took a few moments to watch this rather limited ecosystem at work before the familiar voice of Azura asked “So. What do you think?”
The whale's gaze slowly rolled back to the sky bastion, where one of the doors had opened to reveal the avian goddess. She had been distracted from her experimentation on the red Armonia by Luis’s triggering of the alarm system and after checking the cause and seeing that it was him and not an army of death she had decided to take a break.
”They’re very different. What prompted this?” Luis asked. She’d never made an ecosystem before.
“I felt inspiration calling me and with the tyrant's slaughter thwarted I felt like I could indulge it a little. Plus they’ll be useful if anyone tries to come in though the Blue.” she explained
”and you were inspired to make... flying fish?” Luis asked doubtfully
“Muses work in mysterious ways Luis. Besides, you are basically a flying fish. Or fish shaped mammal anyway. Don’t judge.” Azura responded, her tone playful rather than offended.
“Is that one straight up just a tuna? Did you go down to the ocean and steal some while I was away?” he began upon spotting the quite literal flying fish, before realizing something “Can you do that with other species?”
“I didn’t, but I suppose I could? A healthy ecosystem needs variety after all and that would be a simple way to add it. Did you have something specific in mind with that question?” Azura asked
“Whales.” Luis responded with unprecedented speed.
“Whales? Oh. ohhh. Yes I can do that, it’s the least I can do in fact!” Azura responded before taking wing “I’ll be right back!” she called before blasting off down to the world below before Luis could get another word in.
Luis had some time to poke around while she was gone and he found her latest project, the red Armonia, with its back peeled open with various half finished magical contraptions built inside it that looks like the framework for holding soul crystals that Bruna and the Alma had. His best guess was that it was something like the Curators or Bruna, though why she was working on it when he had already seen them function down on the island below he could not say.
When Azura returned it was at the head of a huge shoal of Tonnikala. There were whales of all kinds, from Blue whales to Orcas, Beluga whales and Narwhals. Along with them where numinous pray species: Dozens of kinds of fish, small and large, where herded through the sky, as was where a number of kinds of squids, octopuses, turtles, seals, shrimp and krill. Along with all these, and almost invisible to the naked eye, where clouds of algae and plankton, the basis for most aquatic food chains, that had been modified to absorb water and nutrients from clouds and the Blue’s ubiquitous light.
The mass of Tonnikala soared up into the Blue and then burst out in every direction, flooding the sky with life far exceeding the limited specimens that Azura had originally introduced.
“So. What do you think?” Azura asked once more after landing atop the bastion next to Luis.
“It’s wonderful.” Luis responded. The land below was still desolate and cold, but, at last for Luis, up here didn't seem so lonely anymore.
Start: 8 fp 5 mp
1 mp discounted by Tonnikala to make a minor ecosystem up in the Blue around the north pole. It will spread out as time goes on but will be mostly focused around mountain peaks where the Blue and Galbar meet.
Several 0 mp expenditures to mutate a bunch of species for that ecosystem.
End 8 fp 4 mp
Portfolio progress:
Birds (9/10) (+3 from Alma retroactively because I was not aware you could count enhanced things towards other ports until now) Bards (2/10)
wordcount: 1,007 (2+) Bowser: Level 4 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////// (31/40) Bowser Jr: Level 2 EXP: ////////////////////// (11/20) Kamek: Level 2 EXP: //////////////////// (1/20) (New level up power for Kamek: Self teleportation) Location: Peach’s Castle
It was a pleasant ride for Bowser, safe from the dust behind his windshield. Kamek, while also safe, did not enjoy the rather bumpy ride one bit, his old bones being shaken up something fierce by it, but it was at least preferable to driving in an exposed kart or riding a broomstick for several hours. Jr had the worst of it, buzzing along in the open topped clown car, bunny hood pulled down over his head to try and keep out the dust, while its cloak section flapping in the wind behind him. He’d overtaken the Bowser Mobile relatively early on, and anyone not wanting to eat the car’s dust would be advised to do the same. He ended up more or less leading the pack by virtue of being the second to move out and his intimate familiarity with his little car’s capabilities.
Along with them was the Rabbids’ scrappy supply truck, its trailer pulled along by Koopa King kart that was driven by the Buckler. Its cargo was a shed load of basic bunny brawlers who ‘entertained’ the convoy by singing various poor interpretations of music appropriate for road trips, along with some basic supplies like rations from Peach’s castles’ kitchen, more fuel for the karts and spare parts from the junkyard. It would make a half decent bus for anyone who didn’t want to drive themselves if they didn’t mind the traveling companions they’d need to share it with to much.
Together they all rolled on forwards while up above them the sun slowly crept its way upwards towards the peak of mid day. Most hoped they’d get to this inn/shop place before noon, because the country roads they were traveling did not seem like a good place to stop for a picnic. Unfortunately there was a bit of a speed bump in the way of that, namely the hostile vehicles Kamek had spotted earlier.
Upon sighting their expected foes Bowser sped up, getting the Bowser Mobile to the front of the convoy before jerking the steering wheel of his car to the side and performing handbrake turn. The Bowser Mobile skidded to a stop in front of the rest of the team, its side presented to the attacking vehicles in order to form a barrier the team could take cover behind. It also presented the rear mounted sentry with an angle to let loose its devastating firepower. Bowser himself stepped one foot up onto the door of the car and let out a deafening roar that briefly drowned out the enemies' terrible music.
Jr meanwhile took to the skies via clown car propeller, taking him up and above the fire arcs of the vehicle's fixed guns. Kamek stayed in the car, his body still shaken by the ride. He’d do what he could from there.
With their initial defensive position set up, the koopa troop set to work making approaching it as hard as possible.
Bowser let loose a slow but steady fwump fwump fwump of fireballs aimed at their opponents approach vector. The slow speed of the projectiles meant they were easily dodge-able, but their size meant that getting hit by even one would likely be devastating and they left burning patches on the ground wherever they struck.
Jr meanwhile summoned his koopa army, causing a few dozen of the turtle troopers to spawn beneath his floating command car. ”Koopa corp, shell blitz attack!” he ordered, resulting in the koopas briefly running towards the vehicles in a counter charge before they withdrew their vulnerable parts into their shells and began skimming along the surface of the terrain. This green shell onslaught would have been a terrifying barrage for any Mario karter and would, hopefully, be at least somewhat disruptive to their enemies proper cars.
Jr himself meanwhile got out his splatter shot and began spraying it in the general direction of the cars. The ink shooter’s shots fell well short of their target initially, but the black puddles each shot left on the ground would make a dangerous oil slick like slipping hazard for any car that crossed it.
Odds where the royal’s attacks wouldn’t inflict much if any actual damage, but the sheer volume of hazards they had created would make their attacker’s approach a treacherous one if they stuck together, and make aiming at anything in particular very difficult as they swerved to avoid the entry hazards. Hopefully disrupting this suppressing fire would make shooting back a damn sight less dangerous for people actually capable of hitting stuff. Some of Rabbids did just that, hopping off of their parked lorry, which would probably fall apart if it took any damage, and onto the Bowser Mobile. There they used its door and driver as heavy cover while occasionally popping up to take pot shots at the oncoming vehicles with their blasters.
Anyone brave enough to sally out from behind the Bowser mobile to fight them meanwhile could semi safely flank round the royal’s cone of fire to strike their foes from the side or could get the jump on any who turned away from the initial charge.
Kamek meanwhile looked out over the left hand side door at the rest of the team while using Bowser’s body as cover to avoid being shot in the back of the head.
”Lets see here” he muttered to himself ”which one of you makes the best...” his eyes fell on the Centurion ”Hehe yes, you’ll do.” he said before pointing his wand at the man ”up and at em big guy!” he cried, as magical energy burst from the want and empowered the ancient warrior, increasing his size several times over till he was as large as the Koopa King himself.
His magic cast, the magi-koopa slid back down into the car’s interior to continue channeling the spell in relative safety.
They had done it. At long last, the raid of the syk pyres was completed and the Alma were free to collect the souls of the dead. Now there were but two matters remaining before it became time to address the consequences of this.
The first was unloading the vast haul of Soul Crystals they had liberated from the sky pyres. A rather arduous process, as the secluded entrance to the vault of souls did not have the most convenient loading bay for such a massive influx of souls. The great armor of Luis drifted empty above the entrance, to and from which a stream of alma and gusts flew. Up on its back the armor’s own curators began the long process of extracting the souls from the many armored tombs and then carried them outside to be collected and carried down to the vault’s own curators, who then took them down into the vault.
Acseal had also descended into the vault to see for herself the place where souls would be stored, while Luis had flown off to engage in some well earned R&R, which involved a bit of swimming and some exploration of the ecosystem Kalmar had created on and around the north of Kalgrun. The great whale was not entirely free from his responsibility however, as he ended up having to explain the broadcast to a bunch of orcas and narwhals he ended up hanging out with.
“What is fire and burning” was a pretty common one that took an awful long time to explain to the ocean dwellers.
This left Azura by herself as she planned how to protect the north. Defence wise she had already erected the walls of her fortress. A circular ring of mountains surrounded the massive vertical peak that sata above the vault, and atop this peak was the sky bastion, which acted both as a fortified keep and, hopefully, as a decoy for the vault. However, the walls sat unmanned and the gates of the castle unguarded. In that state they did not serve their purpose at all, as Ashala had so perfectly demonstrated all those years ago.
The Alma, empowered now with laser weaponry, where a good first step but they had a task that required them to go out into the world and would not make for an effective permanent garrison. She also had the Titan of Winds, but it alone could not guard the entire length of the wall. She decided to start simply. The titan was an awesome beast, and it atmospheric control was a perfect tool for protecting a set location, so why not make more? Three shards of luft stone she plucked from the titan’s great form, and from these shards she grew three copies of the massive construct, capable of working in unison with their progenitor to command all the air in and around the tiny island.
“I together dub you the four winds,” She told them “may you stand firm against the forces of death and may your power sweep away all who dare come to the place with evil in their hearts!”
”It shall be so.” replied the 4 titans in perfect unison.
“Now sentinels, to your posts!” Azura commanded. As she instructed the titans moved apart, each drifting towards a tall mountain peak situated 90 degrees apart on the circular mountain. They touched down upon the mountain tops, crossed the massive cressend staff across their chests, and begin their watch. Their singular bright glowing eyes gazed out across the icy expanse that separated the twilight isle from the rest of the world, searching for intruders. To aid them Azura created a retinue of gusts to support each titan. These swarms of wind elementals would lay dormant, their solid stone parts piled atop their gemstone cores, until their Titan awoke their winds once more and called them to muster.
With watchers set atop the walls Azura ascended to the sky bastion. Like the sky pyres her own sphere was wrapped its way around galbar and had many entrances that lay open and unguarded. Should her emaines, whoever they might end up being, find their way inside the Blue they would have the ability to simply bypass the titan guarded walls. Taking some inspiration from the dragons found on the Foot she created sky serpents, massive beasts that where something of a cross between a snake and a mosasaurus, who drifted through the blue in the same way that Sky slugs and Luis did, borne aloft by on bones of luft-stone. With their jaws filed with serrated teeth they would tear apart those who invaded her skies. She also wanted to make it so they could also be summoned down from the blue to aid her wherever she or her companions might need aid. In-order to facilitate this she taught them a simplified form of the verse, the music she used to create, so that they could be commanded by it, either by her, Luis or the Alma. Perhaps, she thought, she could also teach this technique to others, like Asceal, or her children or even mortals?
She nodded to herself, and decided that that was a good plan. The Alma needed to be carefully controlled so that they stayed on mission, but the weapons and tools she made now? They could serve a wider purpose, to be shared with others to let them make her strength their own. Letting her delegate while also avoid hoarding all the divine power to herself.
The walls where manned, the skies patrolled. Azura felt a certain amount of relief over take her, that at long last there was no more that urgently needed to be done. Certainly there where tasks hse need to attend to, Karthos’s system needed a replacement and there were no doubt many other problems she could aid in solving if she went looking for them. But she decided she could afford to take a break after all she had been through, if only for a moment. As she watched the great sky serpents and the fluttering sky slugs an itch that she had been suppressing since she found out about the sky pyres forced itself to be noticed and demanded scratching. She wanted to create again, to craft and mold things into being to fulfil a purpose not directly related to solving the soul problem.
Energised, she tried making something for fun, spinning and weaving her power as she pulled pull inspiration from her muse, to create the perfect representation of her newly found creative freedom.
Power, magic, and music flowed together, creating a perfect symphony so beautiful it could make the most jaded listener cry until finally it made. It made!
A floating Tuna. no feather wings or frills or decorations of any kind. Just a tuna that gave zero shits about gravity.
“Glub” said the tuna, before swimming off into the Blue to go hunt sky slugs.
“Well then... That was silly. Let’s try again!”
And try again she did, to greater success. She made long necked fish-hunters, tusked manta rays that grazed upon the Blue’s now flourishing rain soaked greenery, a vicious little carrion eating trilobite and horse sized shark dragons that lurked in temples and around mountains. Then she stopped, not wanting to get quite so carried away with this. It had been an enjoyable creative outburst, but perhaps it would be best to use her power more productively. The last thing she did was dubb the Class of flying creatures ‘Tonnikala’, before descending back down to the twilight isle.
There Azura returned to the vault, checking that unleading was still going smoothly. They where, but it made her realise that there was one place left unguarded and that was the vault itself, along with the surrounding landscape. Aerial dominance might be incredibly useful, but she could perhaps do with some foot soldiers as well.
Taking into account what she had set into motion with the Tonnikala she decided that maybe she could make something that anyone could use if properly taught. And so she sang into being songs, and bound to the songs ideas, ideas of how to form Luftstone from air, to craft it into constructs and fill them with music. She knew that these creatures might be used against mortals who fought for her foes or simply wandered too close to the vault, and so she gave them the power to be able to affect their foe’s emotions to cause sadness, fear and terror with their touch or songs in order to drive away mortals without causing them harm.
To balance these negative emotions she taught them to invigorate their allies in order to lift their spirits and bring them hope and instill courage, determination and focus.
The first she made was a small one, a humanoid that was about half the height of a Selke. Most of its form was made of a blue light, the verse made into a semi solid mass that was given vague form by a heavier, semi metallic, black luft stone that, while its mass did not feel gravity as much as it should, was still pulling the creation down to the ground. Tendrils of blue verse formed its hand and legs, which were tipped with long claws. It’s face was a solid helmet/mask with holes that formed the impression of an eye hole. A long wispy tail of the verse flowed out from behind the helmet, fluttering in a non-existent breeze.
It stood before her in animated idleness, moving its body to the beat of an unheard song. She formed a small target dummy for it to practice on. The creature leapt at it, slashing at it and leaving deep gorge marks with its claws. Then it backed off, pointed its spread out fingers at the target and made them extend, wrapping the now tentacle like digits around the dummy and sending a pulse of emotional energy into it. Then it backed off and became idle again.
“Hmmm.” a gust of wind pushed the construct, causing it to stumble and its light to flicker erratically for a few moments “hmmm. Not very sturdy are you?”
She tried again, and this time formed an equally small one with a green body. It’s limbs were made of stone rather than light, and it held a small flute it its hands. This one danced around the dummy, playing an invigorating tune, before using the flute like a Blowgun to shoot a compressed wind shot at it that struck with the force of a punch. This one was also not particularly sturdy, though it was better than the last.
Purple next. It formed a body shaped like a suit of armor with only a few gaps visible where it’s verse was visible. It marched up to the dummy and struck it with sword it had inplace of a hand. It had a great deal of difficulty attempting to disable it nonlethal, eventually using its shield to pin it against a wall. It was much sturdier, but the cracks proved to be a vulnerability and it was slow to respond and less creative than the others.
Each construct was harder to form, and required a more complex song to form, to the point where Azura now had to use several of the green ones to assist in producing the finale. It was almost human in body structure, though it still had a mask in place of a face. Red Verse flowed out from behind it’s head and nowhere else. Unfortunately it seemed to be almost deaf and had difficulty performing complex actions until azura laid them out in detail. It performed exquisitely then, acting with the grace of a ballerina and speed of a martial artist as it used CQC to take down the dummy, but Azura had to sing loudly at it the whole time while spelling every action out in detail.
“ok. I think that is enough. A fully enclosed one would take far too much effort and be useless anyway.” Azura said finally. The first three all had their merits, the fourth she’d need to think about. Regardless, had what she needed
She then proceeded to make 5 armies of the blue, green and purple constructs. Some were ordered into the vault as guardians, where they would stay to subdue those who entered without permission and to raise the alarm and shoot to kill if this did not work. Others were sent to the walls, where the Titans could command them with their music playing bodies.
This left azura alone again, save for the red one.
“hmmm. I think I have an idea of what to do with you.” she told it, before plucking it from the earth and soaring back up to the sky bastion.
Start: 8 fp, 5 mp
3 more titans 3 fp
3 fp for big fish
5 discounted to 0 remarkable Tonnikala species
2 fp for bodies
Portfolio progress:
Birds (6/10) Bards (2/10)
end: 0 fp, 0 mp
Start: 8 fp, 5 mp
New term: the Verse. The command music that Azura uses to design, program and control her various non intelligent creations. Some creations can echo or enhance it, others sing it and yet more are powered by it. The nature of the verse is such that, should they be taught, others could weave the verse, to command azura’s constructs and, possibly, create replicas of the cretions themselves if they know the right songs and have a magical powersource.
3 Titans of wind for one (wind discounted) 1 fp each. Identical in structure to the original they lack its wind empowerment and thus cannot function in a vacuum. The prime Titan will be known as Boreas, while the other three are Zephyrus, Notus and Eurus, named after the north, west, south and east winds respectively. Together they have mastery over airflow on and around the twilight isles, which can make approaching it very difficult indeed.
3 fp Sky serpents: Massive flying sea serpents that are most at home in the Blue. They eat griffins, large mammals, dinosaurs, sharks and other large Tonnikala. Azura has made sure they don’t hunt anything an Alma might want to save, having them using the verse to call of the great beasts and teach them what creatures are not considered prey. They patrol the Blue, descending out of it on occasion to hunt or fight. They can grow quite a bit larger that the largest dragon, but have no special abilities other than being able to fly.
Tonnikala Port: Tonnikala is a catch all term for flying sea-creatures made by Azura, be it mutated/blessed sea creatures or custom made oceanic themed sky-life. All Tonnikala have skeletons that are permeated with Luft-Stone that allow them to defy gravity. When one dies its body may eventually sink/be blown down to galbar, where mortals might scavenge their remains for their magical bones for use in construction, magic or alchemy. All Tonnikala know the Verse, and can be communicated with using it. The intelligent can be conversed with while the animalistic can be controlled if a singer know the right songs and even summoned if they have enough magical power. Tonnikala’s flying power is sourced from the blue, and if they spend too much time outside it this power gradually weakens. This stops them competing with Galbar’s creatures too hard, and means that summoned Tonnikala must eventually either return to the Blue or have their flying capabilities significantly diminished.
0 fp: flying tuna: They tuna. They fly. They eat sky slugs. A lot of other things eat them.
0 fp Niseag: long necked fish hunters, come in greater and lesser variants. Relatively well armored, they make good summons if your foe has only short ranged weaponry.
0 fp: Manotogs aka flying hogs: The establishment of connections between galbar leading up into the blue has let rain come to the infinite sky. This has allowed planlife to grow sustainably and allows larger herbivores, like these great tusked beasts, to make a home in up there. Can grow as large as elephants.
0 fp: Hammer-drakes Adapted to live inside sky temples or around the mountains poking about the blue. They aren't the best fliers but they are effective pack and abush hunters when working in and around their chosen habitat. Relatively quick over both land and in water, they can be used as all terrain mounts by singers skilled enough to tame these savage beasts. Their odd heads give them 360 degree vertical vision and are the core of their electromagnetic sensory equipment.
0fp scrappers: A rat sized carrion eaters that wiggles its way through the sky. It is propelled by dozens of feathery fins that it uses in-order to find the drifting bodies of dead Tonnikala. Then it strips them clean of flesh before they are blown down to Galbar.
Shells of a dense metallic Luft stone filed with physical, viscous fluid like, Verse. They are made to fight, but can be turned to other tasks if conducted correctly to do so. They have the innate bardic ability to manipulate emotion via touch or sound, although the strength of this power is inversely proportional to how tough they are. To kill one you must disrupt its verse, which can be done by damaging the glowing parts of their body as if it were fresh. They have no organs, and therefore no weak points inside their flesh, but a wound that would be large enough to cause a creature of the same size to rapidly bleed out will kill one instantly, as will multiple wounds equaling the damage of that greater wound.
Despite being made of bulky material they are affected by gravity less than is to be expected, and thus can perform impressive feats of agility. They are no stronger than a creature of equal size. Armor is equivalent to metal. Intelligence is very low. Endurance is high.
They can be created by mortals with the power of mana, soul crystal energy or any other suitable magic supply. Requires that they be musically performed into existence, with bigger and more durable constructs needing more complex songs, sometimes involving multiple instruments/singers.
Armonia can be commanded by complex music and songs. If multiple individuals are attempting to control a construct it will obey the best performed command. To avoid interference (either intentional interference by more skilled performers or accidental interference by other performers on the same side playing in close proximity), they may also be keyed to only obey a voice accompanied by a specific instrument’s accompaniment. A master could play or sing a song to effectively puppet the construct, getting it to perform a complex task as they describe it, but it is more common to simply give basic commands (Defend this place, go here, play this song, attack this foe and so on). As constructs they are very dumb they are generaly only fit for a relitivly specific perpose, be it fighting, playing, manual labor etc.
Divided into 4 subtypes, broadly categorized by how exposed their internal verse is. Lowering exposure increase durability but also increases magic cost and song complexity while also and reducing their ability to use the verse and makes them even less autonomous. There can be overlap between subtypes (turquoise, yellow, and pink) as they are not hard and fast categories.
Quaver (blue aura): Verse is actively spilling out of their framework. Use the verse that powers their bodies as weapons, via tentacles, claws or other methods. These attacks often have an emotional component.
Crotchet (green auras): Verse is exposed but contained within the framework. They focus primarily on composing music to generate various effects, such as emotional manipulation, wind based ranged weaponry or the aiding in constructing more of themselves.
Minim (purple aura): Verse is mostly covered by framework, with only some cracks where it is exposed. consisting predominantly of armor, they rely on brute strength and physical weaponry
Breve (red aura): Verse is entirely contained by their framework, with no cracks and with at most one primary exposure point. Made specifically for the souls of dead mortals to inhabit they are of the highest quality and are also the most resilient. Poor musical ability but the power of the user’s soul crystal offsets this disadvantage significantly.
Location: Peach's Castle, Out Front wordcount: 1,506 (+3) Bowser Jr: Level 2 EXP: ////////////////////// (9/20)
”Only two!?” Jr said in dismay before stomping his feet angrily. When this mini tantrum failed to produce any more pokeballs he snatched the 2 balls he was getting out of Stone’s hand, telling him: ”Gah, fine whatever.” before turning away and marching back to his kart.
”hmmm. Now which Pokemon to catch and make my new minion?” he asked himself, before hopping into his clown car. The horrid Synapse bio-gun undulate in response to his return, much to jr’s dismay. ”ew. Gross. Quit wiggling!” he told it.
In response the tentacles of the gun drooped a little as if it was upset. Jr did not care. ”The whole spiked throne of weapons thing was cool, but if your going to be like that, then you’re all going down in the bomb box.” he said, before proceeding to shove the larger armaments down into the car’s storage compartment.
Over at the Bowser Mobile Kamek had returned from his minor skyward scouting expedition and was quite adamant that there should be no racing. It helped that no one else seemed to be interested in the prospect.
”Sure,” he was saying ”the road going ahead looks pretty smooth going. No obvious course hazards as far as I could see. But there were a large number of vehicles patrolling about the place. They did look like they were made of junk but they still might be dangerous and their drivers are likely as deranged as the Rabbids back there if their building style is any indicator. The road splits some way away after that, north goes to the ‘dead zone’, while the south goes to the ‘land of adventure’. There's some sort of building at the intersection, maybe it’s an out of the way inn or a shop?”
”Then we’ll trash these goons and then take a pit-stop at this shop place. See if there's anything good to loot in there. Money, something for lunch, that kind of thing” he responded before informing the rest of the team ”THERE’S SOME OF GALEEM’S GOONS ROVING ABOUT IN CARS ON THE ROAD UP AHEAD. WE’LL DEAL WITH THEM AND THEN MEET UP AT A SHOP LOOKING BUILDING THAT’S AT A FORK IN THE ROAD”
Jr hovered above the convoy to get a bird’s eye view of all the Pokemon scurrying about. There where so many and Jr barely recognised any of them despite the fact that Pokeballs with captured Pokemon in them were a staple of smash. There were bunnies, bugs, goats and more, but most of them looked pretty scrawny to jr.
”It’s just like my luck in smash.” he complained, on elbow leaning on the lip of the car, face in hand, fingers tapping disappointingly at his cheek as he stared down at a fish flopping about by the side of the moat ”Other people get Zapdoses, Mews and Giratina but all I get is Goldeens.” the fish bounced and flailed around for a few more seconds before it finally rolled back into the water. ”I bet they cheat to get the good stuff.”
Then he saw it, a glimpse of a yellow mouse sized Pokemon with long narrow ears in one of the castle windows. ”Wait. Was that pikachu?” Jr perked up instantly at this brief sighting, a nasty grin on his lips as he thought of getting revenge for every KO the lightning rodent had inflicted upon him by shoving the speedy rodent in a tiny ball.
”Dad! I’m going to go beat up and capture pikachu in the castle!” he yelled at his father who yelled back ”Show him who’s boss son!” while Kammek, who had taken a seat in the bowser mobile’s spacious glove compartment, called after him ”Don’t take too long, we’re bound to set off sooner or later once this lot get their act together”
”Yeah yeah don’t worry I’ll be quick” Jr responded, brushing of Kamek’s comment as he parked the flying clown car next to the library window. He briefly ducked his head down to peruse his arsenal for appropriate Pokemon hunting equipment.
”To big. To week. To gross.” he said as he dismissed the paint brush, splatter shot and synapse. ”Ah ha! Perfect” he said, coming up with the Necro Smasher. ”Just the thing for whacking a mouse!” he declared as he gave a few practice swings, before he forced open the library window and hopped into the room beyond, that turned out to be the library. With most of everyone gathered outside in anticipation of the hero’s departure the library had been left dark and abandoned for the moment. Baring Henry anyway, but jr had no time for the sorcerer, who had their nose buried in a book like the massive nerd he was.
Jr crept in between the shelves of the library, mallet in one hand, Pokeball in the other, looking under tables and behind piles of books for their quarry until they felt a tap on their right shoulder.
Jr glanced to his right. No one there. ”Huh?”
A tap on the left. An angry gance. Still no one there. ”Hay. That's not funny!” Jr complained right before they were tapped on their right shoulder again. This time they glanced left instead and swung their hammer at the first thing they saw, a pair of black tipped yellow ears. ”Ha ha! Got... you…?” Jr began to claim victory before his words turned to confusion as a semi transparent Pokemon that looked like a handmade Pikachu plushy phased up through the hammer head and then landed itself atop it.
”Huh?”
The Mimiku used Copycat (a move that let a Pokemon use the last move that was used in the battle, even if the last move was by the user) causing it to produce a comically over-sized mallet (compared to 20 cm tall spook at least) out under its disguise that it held in one of it’s long shadowy clawed limb. It then proceeded to chase jr back to the window while giggling and bopping him on the head with it.
”Ow, stop. Quit it!” jr yelled as he ran, before vaulting out the window and into the clown car. He emerged a few moments later with the Synapse primed and ready for ghost busting. ”Take this!” he shouted as he pushed what passed for a trigger on the bio gun. A beam of electricity shot out of the front and struck the Mimiiku, but it’s disguise served it as a decoy, absorbing the damage. The neck of the disguise snapped, causing the head to droop limply backwards.
”Take that!” Jr shouted, thinking he had won.
”you're actually kinda useful, even if you're disgusting” he told the bio gun, which wiggled about in what might have been happiness ”Ew, no I take it back, quit doing that!” The gun sagged back into a state of being sad and rejected.
He was unable to berate the sad gun any further however, as he was then hit by the (physically) unharmed Mimiku’s retaliatory strike, knocking him back down into the clown car. It was livid that its disguise had been damaged, and had used copycat again, this time to blast a beam of lightning from the fake Pikachu tail that it held in its other tendril.
Rather than follow up on it’s first attack however, the Pikachu wannabe ended up gazing at its tail stick with astonished glee. It had used an electrical attack, just like the real thing! Its anger was forgotten right up until the point that it was hit with a blast of ink from the splattershot. It stood there, stunned for a few moments before it shook itself as clean as it could and then used copycat again, only to find it could shoot ink now, instead of lightning. The Mimiku was dismayed by this turn of events and launched itself into the Clown car to rectify the situation.
”hay no get out of here!” Jr yelled at it while trying to grab the untouchable specter. He received only scratches in return for his effort as the Mimiku madly scrambled around the interior of the car in search of the Synapse. A few rambunctious moments later the clown car touched down on the grassy lawn outside, having been knocked off course from it’s stationary hover by the window by the brawl happening inside it. The victories Mimiku hopped out of it, its long claw wrapped around the stolen living lightning gun. It began happily bouncing back and forth while firing the equally happy infested weapon skywards and letting off its own shots with copycat, until a Pokeball, that jr had finally remembered he had, bonked into it, popped open and pulled both it and the Synapse inside.
The ball wiggled back and forth a few times until it made the pinging sound denoting a successful capture. The frazzled Jr more or less fell out of his car and then walked over to pick up the Pokeball.
The flock gathered high above the ocean to the west of the dragons foot, a giant colorful sphere of feathers, stone and metal. At its heart floated Luis, armor clad and with the great soul crystal horn of Bruna stamping skywards. Atop this horn stood/floated the Titan of Winds, bearing Azura as she conducted its power. Above them in the Blue Alma fiddled with the controls of a dozen wandering temples, turning their great turbines to a purpose, driving extra air down into Galbar’s atmosphere and towards the flock. Yet rather than push them down or spread out the air was instead wrapped around them, embracing the airforce in a cocoon of dense warm air that would form a barrier between them and the vacuum above.
Once it had finally formed the air bubble took on the shape of an egg of swirling swirling air aimed towards the heavens. It lowered itself down to just above the ocean’s waves while Azura formed a great wind tunnel that reached down from the stratosphere until it gripped the shell of the Titans protective zone, causing it and its race up and away till it burst out of Galbar and into the space beyond.
Their course plotted Azura dismounted the titan and flew down to join Asceal upon Luis’ back. Next to them was the great horn of soul crystal that powered and controlled his armor, and behind them where innumerable armored bunkers/vaults that would house the souls they were going to save. Bustling around these making last minute integrity checks where the curators, small floating drones of luft stone and soul crystal, who would be managing the massive influx of souls.
”Will your children be alright staying on Shengshi’s ship after we argued with him like that?“ Azura asked.
“I don’t see why they wouldn’t be,” Asceal pursed her lips and frowned, “His feelings towards souls are more than disheartening, but he’s never been anything less than hospitable. My children will be fine. Besides, Shengshi might not see eye to eye with us, but he’s hardly an enemy. Leaving him to fend off Sartravius alone does nothing but hurt us.”
Azura’s talons tapped thoughtfully against the stone they stood on ”I’ll trust you judgment in that. He did not leave me with the best first impression, something I suspect was the opposite of his intention given the pageantry on display. We have all the power in the world and he uses it to make mortal slaves.“ she shuddered, ”Suffice to say, I suspect the issue of souls will be the first of many topics we disagree on.“
“I’m not certain they are slaves,” Asceal paused to run a hand through her hair, “I had a similar concern when I first met Shengshi and his avatar, but since then I’ve come to understand there is… Nuance there. I won’t pretend to understand the convoluted hierarchy Shengshi enforces, but he hasn’t tormented his people. They seemed happy enough,” Asceal hesitated and added bitterly, “At least, before Sartarvius’s creations butchered them.”
”Happy being servants? I don’t think I could ever understand how someone would live such a life. Unless they were made to like it which is… both better and worse in a way.“ she tapped her talons a few more times before concluding that ”I can't say I like the idea, but at least they aren't suffering right now I suppose I can look past it for the time being.“
”At any rate, we should probably turn our attention to more pressing matters.“ Azura said as they flew ever closer to their destination. ”Such as preparation for the confrontation that lies ahead.“
Asceal nodded and gaze her gaze out to the flock. With every moment Luis and his innumerable comrades soared higher and higher, past the lower celestial spheres, past the orbits of Veradax, Heliopolis and The Lustrous Garden. They rose until they pierced the veil of the Sky of Pyres. The air shield Azura had surrounded her flock with blasted the ash and fumes away to create a bubble of safety in the infernal realm.
Around them flowed a torrent of souls. From all the branches on the tree of life and some beyond they came, their spirits dragged first up into the heavens and then to their doom in the distant fires. Among the trees, the fish, the mushrooms, the microbes and the deer where those deemed worthy to be saved, those creatures that possess the capability for wisdom and intelligence.
The Alma immediately set to work, diving into the parts of the stream of souls to snatch those souls deemed worthy of saving. Mostly this meant the mortals of Galbar, but they also picked out beasts like whales and the gemstone gardeners and vitally, the last few remaining void souls. It rapidly became apparent that some of the souls being saved where far larger than the Alma could carry. Whale souls and some void souls like the one belonging to the watcher dwarfed the Alma themselves and so Azura quickly made a support construct to assist. These where small human sized version of the titan of wind, made of a disjointed luftstone bound together by a living wind and controlled by a soul gem heart. From their hands the shot sky blue beams of energy and air that wrapped around the greater crystals and allowing teams of them to lift and carry what the Alma had saved. They could also make smaller versions of the Titan’s windshield, allowing them to take Alma out of the central bubble, to roam ahead and snatch up souls that would be lost to the flames before the main force arrived.
Down below on Galbar Alma swarmed the Vortex of souls, cutting of the flow so that no new spirit would arrive after their passing. This invasion was merely a temporary solution however. Soon they would need to get the message out to all those below so that they themselves could decide to be saved, rather than being snatched up without warning.
Asceal stood beside Azura as she worked, scanning the murky ash filled realm, her eyes filled with trepidation. After the first few waves of Alma had returned the luminous Goddess spoke, her words laden with anxiety, “He should have noticed us by now.”
”He didn't show up last time I was here, but I was more or less in and out then. This sphere is enormous, so perhaps he is simply taking time to arrive, or hasn't noticed us yet? But we are going to be here a while.“ they had to navigate the entire vault of the heavens after all ”So I feel like it is only a matter of time.“
Time passed and passed and passed and yet no one came to challenge them. Where the pair had once stood ready to launch themselves into the fray they now sat and waited, still watchful for trouble and yet almost certain that none would appear.
”Maybe he isn't here? Is he is down on Galbar doing goodness knows what. Pr did he really never exeted anyone to confront or oppose him in this? Except, now that I think about it, our own spheres are just as vulnerable as this one. Or mine is at least. Aelius seems looks to be the only person wise enough to set up an alarm system and even then he has decided to stay within his realm to guard it, so vital is Heliopolis to life.“ Azura shuddered at the thought of trapping herself as he had, and yet to protect their slowly accumulating precious cargo it now seemed like an inevitability.
“Maybe,” Asceal scowled and took a deep breath, “But we have a job to do here, even if he’s set out to strike at our spheres. Any damage he inflicts there can be repaired. We’re here for people, and they aren’t so easily replaced.”
”That’s true now. It won’t be once we are done. The vault becomes a prime target for retaliation. The Alma too, once I get the word to the people of what is going on up here.“ Azura said, the long tense hours and days waiting in the smoking sky having given plenty of time for her to worry about the future.
“The vault will needed defenses and defenders then. As many of them as we can make,” Asceal glanced at an Alma returning a soul crystal, “And your Alma will have to be able to defend themselves. I could offer them some power to aid in that, if you’d permit it. I’m not the most suited to it, but I have some experience in equipping my children for conflict.”
”Indeed. I’ve started work on the defenses, but dedicated defenders are still something I need to make.“ Azura responded, ”The Alma will need all the help they can get in performing their most vital task, so anything you can give would be of great help. I’ll see to it that I pay you back for that aid in the future.“
Beside Azura the Goddess of Light nodded and beckoned to a nearby Alma, who seemed to grasp her meaning and fly towards her. Asceal smiled at the bird, “I have a gift for you, little one.”
She reached out and rested a hand on the Alma’s beak, and though it looked at her inquisitively it didn’t shy away. A small light emanated from the Goddess’s touch and when she let do there was a peculiar shrine to the Alma’s feathers that hadn’t been there before. Before Azura, or even the Alma itself, could inquire into what she’d done the Goddess explained, “Something to keep you safe, little one. If you focus you can call on my light now, but be careful. It isn’t something to use on those you don’t want to hurt. Now go, share this with your siblings. All it takes is a touch.”
The bird squawked appreciatively in response and then took wing to join the others. There the light spread to those close to it, and then those close to them. Asceal’s light blossomed, radiating from the initially receiver and lighting up the sky pyres with innumerable softly glowing stars of salvation that opposed the raging fires of destruction that called it home.
”Beautiful“ Azura said as she watched.
”And quite deadly I believe think.” added the as until now silent Luis as the massive horn of crystal the pair sat next to started to glow with the same faint light. ”Hopefully we won’t have to use your gift in anger before we get a chance to test it somewhere, but it should add to the existing defences rather nicely.”
”How are you holding up Luis?“ Azura asked, guilty at having not addressed their titanic Chauffeur since they took off.
”It’s strange, being able to see things with the Alma that I can't see with my own eyes. To me it seems as if we are simply floating in empty space, but when I look through their eyes… when i see the dead flow past and through me… Seeing this makes me feel like shouldn’t show the mortals down below this horror. It would be cruel, even if it might be necessary to help them understand why the Alma need to take their souls.” Luis explained, struggling with the horrible truth he both could and could not see.
”Hopefully if all goes we’ll never need to return.“ Azura assured him first, before addressing his point ”I still think its the best and fastest way to get people on our side. Without showing them, all they have are our word.“
She turned to Asceal to fill her in ”I should probably explain. The Alma can transmit sound and images between another, and can show what they see in the manner Luis used earlier down on the ship. I intend to use this capability to inform the mortals of the world that their souls are in danger, to show them this abominable place, so that instead of taking them after death as we are now, they are instead given willingly.“
“They have to know,” Asceal frowned, “Even if it’s an unpleasant truth. I would be careful though. Once you have the Alma show this place to the world the other gods might take exception. I don’t imagine ones like Shengshi or Ashalla will act against us, but who knows about the others.”
The radiant Goddess glanced at the vaults around them, “Make sure the vault is secure before you show the world Azura. Reinforce it personally. I’ll see about providing my own defenders.”
”I won’t show the vault till it is prepared. Coming here has shown me just how vulnerable it is at the moment. Ashalla already knows, she stumbled across it unfortunately so I swore her to secrecy. But this, this needs to be shown before we leave or it’ll never be seen at all.“ Azura explained
”We could leave an Alma here with one of these minor wind elementals you have made, though it would only give you a day or two till it starts to suffer from exhaustion or dehydration. And there is also the problem of getting it back down.” Luis suggested
“It’s your choice, in the end. I can only hope Ashalla is the only one of our siblings who knows the vault’s location.” Asceal paused and bit her lip, “They should know, but telling them now might put your work in danger.”
”As far as I am aware she is. We can leave it till the last second. The important part of the vault will be with us now, and I will not leave their side until the defences are in place, so they can’t go under our noses to attack the mortal’s souls. The Alma can avoid telling the gods as well, only mortals. Even if they tell their creators they will not know where the Vault is located, at least not yet.“
”Also I don’t think any of us want to come back here. Ever.” Luis added.
”and the sooner we tell, the sooner my conscience is cleared of keeping them in the dark.“ Azura finished.
Asceal only nodded, her eyes returning the ugly scenery. She’d have to watch it for a long, long time, as the flock slowly moved its way across the entirety of the sky pyres, plucking every last worthy soul from their imminent second death and storing them safely within the vast halls of Bruna’s stony sanctums.
They came from the sky, from the forests, oceans and the mountain, out of the trees and from behind rocks as if they had simply been hiding there, waiting for this day to come. Some had seen them before and had admired their beauty from a distance before they vanished from sight. What had once been considered timid or skittish now showed itself to be bold and fearless.
To the servants of Shengshi they came, avoiding their master’s prying eyes. They came to the Selka, be they in their villages or frolicking beneath the waves. They showed themselves once again to Ihokhetani, who knew what they were already and yet and had only recently learned why they were important. With the Kostral slaves in their pit they engaged with a merry chase, always staying one step ahead. They dodged and deflected the flames of the fire giants in the graves of forests. They welcomed the Cyclops's to Galbar. A few got very very lost and very very confused in the infinite maze trying to find the Aroiox. They perched atop the bones of the Dragonborn’s progenitors to bring them the news. They revealed themselves to the gardeners, wargs and whales, those beasts who had wisdom and intelligence enough to be conscious of themselves but who would never build civilisations on their own. They came to the lonely species of one, to Karamir, Atmav, Arya, Laurien, and more. They came to the home of the first mortal, who’s kind had ever so recently grown to reach double digits.
They found the wise, the strong, the united, to the leaders, thinkers, priests and shamans. They came to the exiles whom no one would tell, and to the gathering places of communities so all could see what fate awaited all living things.
The birds spoke first, they warned that what they were about to show would be disturbing and possibly not fit for the eyes of the sensitive or for children and yet that it was also vital that someone watched. Then they projected images, perfect ones, of two goddesses stood atop the back of a great whale against the backdrop of the Pyres.
“Good people of Galbar I bring you grave news and the tools to claim your freedom. Each and everyone of you has an immortal soul, the essence of your being that contains your mind and memories. This soul is the very core of your being, more vital to your existence than the the flesh or stone which you inhabit. Even if you perish you will live on though this soul, and yet Katharsos, the tyrant of death, has decreed that your souls, once severed from flesh should be put to the flame and turned into the ash that form new souls. Untold billions have already been put to the flame. The souls for the void who came here with those you know as gods were the first to be incinerated. If Katharsos continues where to continue his genocide unopposed all who were born from their remains will also be sent to his infernal stars. ”
The Alma’s vision zoomed in on a star to watch as the soul of a griffin was sucked into its fire and its shrieks joined the endless quire of the damned.
“Yet all is not lost. I, Azura, have created the Alma, constructs of flesh, metal, stone and soul, who’s power you may use to save your soul from destruction. Each and every-one has the ability to crystallize the souls of the dead into a solid form that resists the pull of the tyrant Katharsos.” The goddess levitated a soul crystal and the Alma’s vision locked onto it, giving those watching a closer look at their alternate fate “To become crystallized is to sleep a dreamless sleep, one from which you will be awoken when the time is right and the means are perfected. Till their rebirth soul crystals will be kept at secret locations, hidden from the tyrant's grasp and protected from any who might seek to steal them away.
To do this however the Alma require your consent. To take your souls without permission would be a grave abuse of power and a violation of your autonomy. One I have sadly already committed to save those here at the pyres. It is a sin that weighs heavy on my heart so I ask you, I beg you, please people of Galbar, when your time comes let the Alma help you. Please use them to save yourselves! For only by your own wills can you set yourselves free!”
With that transmissions winked out. The word was out. Now the Alma’s true work could begin.
Acseal and Azura can go into space so they do On the way up they discuss Shengshi’s servants. Azura is not happy about it, says they are slaves, but Asceal insists that they are happy. Azura lets it go for now as they arrive in the Sky pyres. Alma begin to scoop up souls. Azura makes minor wind elementals to help them move beyond the safety of the Titan of winds and to help them load larger crystals onto Luis. The pair expect a hostile response, but non materializes. They wait some more until it becomes clear that nothing is happening. Azura worries about what Katharsos might be doing and comes to realise how vulnerable the vault is without her present. Asceal insists that she not worry. What is important is the souls they are collecting and they should finish that task before worrying about anything else. Asceal blesses the alma with LASERS to help them avoid being murdered later. Bruna copies this ability and then Luis notes that dang, its real spooky up here. The three then discuss when and whether to tell the mortals about the sky pyres. In the end they decide to do so right before they leave.
After all the souls are gathered bird tv happens and azura talks about the Alma and the Sky pyres a whole bunch.
Mortals everywhere have been told of their terrible fate and what they can do to avoid it.
The goddesses go home. Their work is both done and has only just begun.
Minor wind elementals, Gust Elementals or Gusts: remarkable un-intelligent creature discounted by wind to 0 mp, 0 mp blessing of soul crystal levitation. Capable of flight and have decent wind magic. Can generate tractor-beams that only affect soul crystals. Assist Alma and the Titan of wind in their duties.
Asceal spends 2 light empowered fp on Alma LASERS. Ability copied by Bruna for free.
Izurich
Drifting Pollen
Rezod92
Lexisheeps
xxjessicaxx
Timemaster
Eviledd1984
pkken
VitaVitaAR
