DracoLunaris

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 278 (+1)
Bowser: Level 5 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////// (35/50)
Bowser Jr: Level 4 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////// (5/40)
Location: Morgensloft Field (Hamlet), the Land of Adventure

The king paused before the door after being helpful informed that he was too large to fit inside by the establishment’s bearded piggy inkeep.

YEAH I KNOW Bowser responded mere moments before he got himself embarrassingly stuck in the doorframe. With a snap of his clawed fingers the king began to shrink down to a much more reasonable size, leaking rapidly dissipating purple mist as he did before stepping inside after the others.

Inside they found the woman the mayor had described. Armed with a crossbow and a great bird of prey she was everything they needed. Fate had smiled on them in a way it never seemed to when they where the baddies, jr noted.

The king didn't pick this up and instead got down to business.

From his jacket pockets he plucked the quest card for the “food for the hungry” and the hunter gathering checklist they'd gotten for it and set them down together on the able together. He also took out the “ore or nothing” card and then he placed a handful of gems, half the ones he himself had collected, on the table next to them. The other half remained in his pocket for further bargaining purposes.

”MEAT. WE’RE GOING BACK TO TOWN PAST THE WOODS, YOU HUNT, WE HAUL. YOU GET PAID. WE ALL GET REWARDS AND PRESTIGE AND MOVE ON TO BIGGER THINGS.” he explained bluntly.

”We're so good at fighting that stuff dies too fast to let us get the juicy bits afterwards. Instead it gets blown to bits!.” Jr added helpful while his shoulder mounted fake rodent eyed the massive avian predator with unease.

”INTERESTED? Bowser asked in conclusion.

wordcount: 534 (+1)
Kamek: Level 3 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (24/30)
Location: Charnal Lane, Dead Zone

Thing where going well. The Team got in close and personal with the tree, scoring heavy blows on its weak point, while the wizard and sentry made mincemeat of the tree’s minions. It was looking like this might be a wash, the Ent’s attacks slow, it’s seedlings ineffective, until Donnie tried to set it on fire with a burning bottle. The attack, which seemed like it would be highly effective, was instead smothered by gas, which made it an apt metaphor for the way the fight turned as the Ent unleashed its second phase. It might be a big dumb looking hunk of wood, Kamek thought, but the tree certainly knew its stuff when it came to being a big bad boss.

In response to being stabbed a lot the Ent unleashed a barrage of artillery fire from its body. One of these shots struck Nero point blank, blasting him off of where he was viciously stabbing at their foe, harming and, more concerningly, paralyzing him. The boss also began to spawn more dangerous minions in the form of rot warts. The fact that the wooden Bob-ombs were a greater threat than their knife wielding allies was aptly demonstrated by ratchet being too close to a detonation and found himself smothered in the same paralyzing gas that had taken Nero out of the fight in one hit.

Fortunately both avoided death. Ratchet shrugging off his paralysis at just the last second while Nero was first cured of the paralysis by Donni and, a few moments later, of his possession by Galeem by Gene. A good call/catch by Gene, Kamek thought, as it solved the issue of the team’s local expert being under the influence of their ultimate foe. Still, the poison gas was no joke and from his elevated elevated perch on his broom, mostly safe from harm as long as he stayed out of arm's reach of the Ent, Kamek concluded that should more of their team go down at the same time it could be devastating.

Others where dealing with the rot warts when they could but where mainly focusing on targeting the ent’s weak spot. Rather than get in the way of the more aggressive team mates as they lined up to take a swing at the tree’s weak spot Kamek stuck to a more supporting role. The wizard began to swoop to and fro above the battlefield while using his wand to launch fireballs and magical blasts at the rot warts (edit) while mixing in the odd minigun burst(edit), picking them off from above not having to worry about the smaller minions getting in the way of his shots as he did it. This would have the combined advantage, in Kamek’s opinion, of preventing his allies from having to watch their backs too hard as they dealt with the great threat and stopped the spread of the paralyzing gas across the battlefield as he aimed to detonate the bombs as soon after they emerged as possible.

While Kamek blasted away the hunchbacked jockey that the wizard had inadvertently saved, and which had miraculously avoided being squished or mobbed by minions, began its accent of the Ent, leaping and clambering up one of its legs with ape like agility.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. III. Finished in Record Time™!

Ignition-Initiation

The small monkey sized Armonia launched itself onto the Curator, scrambling over the passive construct as it hovered through the checkpoint built at the base of the stairway entering the Vault of Souls. The little Armonia did little to hinter the floating custodian but its melodic screeching did draw the attention of Auk-Ra-Shatara. The reborn Aroiox had been leaning against the banister that safeguarded vault travelers from the great pit at the vault’s center, which had grown ever deeper as the years passed. Though light now flooded the dungeon the depths of the central shaft where still mostly lost to the black other than a barely noticeable red glow far far below.

“Ah, little watcher-sniffer.” the bird like mortal cawed upon hearing the construct’s racket. “Have you found-discovered another lost soul?”

On stone talons Auk-Ra briskly caught up with the Curator and inspected its haul of crystals that had alarmed their watchdog. Among many pristine specimens one stood out. A wretched purple bile flowed through it like oil, cracking and rotting the crystal wherever it went. Auk-Ra tutted a few times at the sight and then grasped the stone, whistling softly as he did to both call of the soul decay detecting Armonia and to authorize the removal of the crystal form the Curator’s possession.

“Let’s get you heal-fixed my friend” he told the crystal before walking up the stairs leading to a large structure that had been built into the ceiling of the vault. Hanging suspended as it was the inverted bunker was out of the way of regular traffic and safe from the endless flow of heat that billowed up from the depths. Yet it still had great sighlines for almost the entire of the vault and allowed for easy access to all its levels via a spiral staircase penetrating down into the depths.

Inside dozens of undead busied themselves with the last of a construction had been ongoing for nearly all of the past decade. The new lighting had been an early introduction, as had the addition of garrison posts and checkpoints to help facilitate the eradication of Orvus’s soul decaying bugs. For the past seven years a great works of metal, the same that lined the wings of the soul collecting Alma and vaults of the mighty whale armor Bruna, had been added to the bare stone of the vault. A spider web of the unnatural metal spiderweb out into the halls of the vault before all coalescing back in the central vault. It spiraled down to the lowest shelves and also up, higher and higher through a tunnel that had been bored skywards through the roof of the shaft. At the center of the chamber a central core, a blue whale sized cylinder of luft stone covered in hundreds of Soul Gems and veins of metal, now hung motionless in the open air seemingly unaffected by the aircurents racing through the vast cavity.

Auk-Ra paid none of this any mind, as he was by now used to it all, and exchanged only simple pleasantries with his comrades as they fiddled with various alters or called out instructions to Armonia automatons.

He had a soul to save.

The crystal was set upon an altar, the first of many that had been built all across the vault. It was a simple thing, a flat raised bowl of stone with songs of verse carved into it and then painted with pigment made from one of Azura's feathers, causing the Verses to glow softly. A small depressions the center sat above a large jar stored beneath the raised stone. With practiced ease Auk-Ra popped the soul crystal into position, adjusted it a few times to get it just right, and then softly sang a few notes to activate the altar.

The soul was surrounded by gently flowing verse of a myriad of colors which caused it to rise in the air as the magic took its hold. The hungering corruption that had been merely slowed by its pray’s untimely death was drawn out and gathered in a glass jar set into the alter. Drop by drop the soul decay incarnate drained into the almost full jar while the crystal gained its rightful luster for the first time. The damage that had been done already began to slowly repair itself cracks sealing shut. What was lost would never be returned. Memories striped away by the vile blight, cornerstones of personality forever shifted or warped. But the crystal was whole once more and, should it awaken one day, it would be able to try and make sense of the gaps and making new memories safe from the decay.

With a clink the crystal dropped back down onto the altar. Auk-Ra collected the crystal, turned it over a few times to ensure the process had worked correctly, and then tallied down the date on a tablet set near the altar. Dozens of such tablets had already been filled and stored up above in floating archives. Fortunately, the rate of corrupted gems arriving had slowed dramatically after an initial burst of right after the day the moon had shed its destructive payloads.

The corrupted and decaying still came in in dribs and drabs, but with their project so close to completion the goddesses had been loath to step away for even a second to investigate the source of the decay.

As Auk-Ra descended part way down the stairs to return the crystal to the hands of the curators he spotted a small group of Armonia clad dead entering the vault and heading straight for the bunker. Among them where Ossian Bem, who like Auk-Ra had been one of the first to rise. She had been teaching the dead her otherworldly knowledge and ideas and had risen to prominence among them as a result while Auk-Ra had remained simply one among the many risen dead. He didn't really mind. The voidsoul was presently enwrapped in quiet decision with the avatar Cerule. The memory of Azura’s former self had The Watcher, a strange Void soul that none of the dead really understood or interacted with much, draped itself across her shoulders.

They began to ascend just as a curator came to retrieve the crystal, leaving Auk free to greet them after his charge was sent on its way.

“They’re not restrictions, but rather agreements of procedure to ensure that...” Ossian was saying as they approached the Aroiox.

“Hello-hay there. Are we almost ready-prepared for the big event?” he asked, interrupting the present line of conversation as he joined the party's ascent.

“Ah. Shatara. Good to see you again.” Ossian replied, a touch of irritation in her words that she quickly erased as she informed him that “That we are. Seven years of work are moments away from coming to fruition.”

“Infact I’m quite sure that when we step in they’ll tell us that...“ Cerule began, before cutting herself short as they entered the bunker propper. Their entrance garnered a far greater response than Auk’s own had, bringing the work going on inside to a momentary halt.

“Ah! Cerule. Ossian. And company! welcome!” said a former Servant as he stepped away from an alter displaying knot of glowing verse that looked like the trunk and roots of a tree “We’re just moments away from being ready, we’re simply awaiting Alfarn’s return. He should be here any”

The Servant was interrupted by another arrival, this one coming in from a doorway that opened out onto the central shaft. As the Armonia, a Nebulite known as Alfarn, stepped through the doorway a two pairs of fin like glossier wings folded down behind their back. These were attached to a limpet like creature which adhered itself to their stone back. Behind them in the central chamber numerous curators and other Armonia bourn by the same type of wings as the new arrival or crawling along the ceiling where in the process of vacating the open space between the vaults corridors, carrying various stone tools and freshly mined rubble with them as they left.

“Ah, there they are” the former Servant concluded.

“We’ve finished the last installation” the Nebulite informed them as the rest of his motel construction team entered the bunker behind him. “I hope we didn't keep you waiting, there were a few issues linking up the two spiral structures perfectly. We uh, had to get Azura to rotate the upper section by about a thumb.”

“Don’t worry, we’re both right on time.“ Cerule informed them with more than a hint of smugness at her own near perfect timing. Auk-Ra was impressed, as where most of the other except for the feline watcher who muttered something in the Avatar’s ear and eliciting a wordless tone of annoyance from the Avatar.

“And don’t worry about the minor error.“ she continued “I’m sure my dear Azura though nothing of making the correction“

Alfarn nodded in appreciation and joined his colleagues.

“Now, I’m not one for speeches, I’m sure Azura has me covered up topside, so how about instead we let actions speak louder than words and activate this marval we’ve built together.“

There was enthusiastic agreement among the crowd, to which Auk-Ra added “yes-yes. Let’s get moving-going!”

“Then my dear Ossian, if you’d care to do the honours“ Cerule said. The Void soul nodded and, as Auk-Ra and the others watched, the avatar tore open her own stone chest, into which Ossian plunged her hand and tore out the goddesses soul. The body she had worn slumped to the ground as the general carried Cerule’s soul crystal to a great altar set on a raised dais at the front of the bunker, overlooking the central chamber. The Watcher discarded its perch on the abandoned body and followed after its charge to watch the proceedings. The altar was shaped like a ship’s wheel, though none but Ossian would recognise this shape. Crystal was placed into a crevice at the center of the wheel filled with strange metals. For a few moments nothing happened as Ossian stepped back. Then the Alter flared to life, verse streaming up out of the crystal in and into its spokes. As it did so too did the Vault of Souls.

A steam of Verse burst forth from every corridor in the vault, following along the surface of the metal veins that had been installed by Arrmonia automatons. The streams power, glowing with every color of the rainbow, flowed out into the open air between the catwalks, pooling and swirling into a pure white mass around the central core of the vault before the very eyes of the amazed onlookers. They had known this would happen, but to see it in action was something else entirely.

The white energy pulsed and thrummed as if it was the heartbeat of a great beast before it suddenly burst upwards, flowing into the tunnel in the ceiling, guided by the spiral of metal lining its surface as it accented.

High above in the Blue Azura was indeed in the mists of making a speech to the vast majority of the revived mortals that inhabited her domain. They were gathered in the stands of the Lightning Dome while azrua stood before them with her back to the sky bastion.

”Each and everyone of you has contributed to this project in ways great and small. Over three long years together we charted our course and drew up our plans. For seven long years we have worked to plan and perfect the construction. The vault of souls fully realised as more than just a resting place, but as as beating heart of the knowledge and power of the people of Galbar. Now, today, our toils come to fruition as we take the next step in our journey to surpass death itself!”

With exquisite and dramatic timing the energy from the depths of the vault arrived just as she finished her proclamation, leaping skywards up out of the tunnel bored all the way through the north pole mountain, through the center of the sky bastion and up into the blue.

The great beam of power lanced up until it reached the warped space found at the top of the sky, up where distances shrunk. From below it seemed to spread across the sky as it accented until it reached the point where all horizontal direction was one and the same and it engulfed the entirety of the vault of heaven. Across Galbar the daytime sky suddenly went white for the briefest of moments before the test was completed and the energy beam sputtered out, returning the sky to its usual hue.

Sitting together watching this where Garna’Tenth and Kabarna. The former, who had only arrived a few days ago and was as a result not caught up with the plan asked with awe “What on Galbar was that supposed to be”

“Power.” Kabarna replied “Power accessible from everywhere in the Blue that we will used to rewrite the laws of death itself.”

Down below Cerule’s soul was extracted from the alter via which she had sparked the ignition of the vault and was placed back in her body. As she awoke and was helped to rise once more by Ossian the assembled undead where staring in quiet awe both at her and at the energy still coalesced around the central chamber.

“Did it work-function?” Auk-Ra finally asked

Cerule glanced up at a seemingly specific point in the ceiling for a few moments before nodding. “Yeah. The power went up and out. The warped space interacted with the energy just as you said it would Watcher. Zero point energy. Amazing really.”

“A few simple tweaks and it could do so much more.” informed her

“We’re trying to solve problems, not cause more. Breaching the Void will do exactly that. Plus, ‘a few simple tweaks’ is a massive understatement.”

The cat that contained a tiny fragment of an eldritch horror simply shrugged before it leapt atop her shoulders once more and went back to silently observing the proceedings.

“And the other purpose of the vault?” asked one of the other undead whom Auk-Ra recognised as an archivist.

”Right right.” Cerule responded before stepping up to the wheel shaped alter, that remained active even after her soul had been removed from it, and gripped two of its spokes with her hands.

”Vault?”

After a moment of silence the ball of power surrounding the core pulsed and rippled as it spoke back ”Listening. What is your query?”

The avatar was silent for a few moments before stepping away from the wheel and glancing at the small assembly ”Well, what do we want to know? The wisdom of a whole world is at our fingertips.”

There was muttering and discussion at this. While the archivist went searching for their notes on what to ask Auk-Ra glanced at the tablet he had added too, and the jar of corruption below the decay curing alter. Both where almost full and yet represented but a fraction of the harm the decay had inflicted upon the dead.

The Aroiox stepped up to the wheel, grasped it, and asked the Vault of Souls to “Tell-speak about soul blight-decay.”

There was a pause during which Auk-Ra felt the vault gently prodding at his soul till he offered up a more complete understanding of soul deacy before querying the untold number of lifetimes it had at its disposal for souls who could and would provide answers to the questions.

Images began to form, displayed in thin flat projections hovering in thin air in the same way the Alma did. It showed the wave of decay that had spread out from the gateway to Veradax before suddenly stopping, only to begin again for but a short time while the moon wept. It showed the reapers advancing towards the Pigmy’s city thought he eyes of a Jotunder who was killed moments later by a meteorite fall. Through the eyes of a Selke it saw the fate of those beset by reapers. They aslo saw the cruel slavery and butchery wrought by the Ihokhurs and through the eyes of an Ihokhetlani their creation.

And finally through the eyes of Nebulite they saw the source of all this destruction. A god who had made himself into simple farmer and a family man who showed not a hint of having committed these atrocities to those who called him creator.

“I don't understand-comprehend. Why do all of this-that.”

“My parents told me he abandoned us and that was why they went to live in that wretched city.” Alfarn noted “After seeing what he was doing, maybe that was for the best. Better to suffer there than have my soul tore apart when he got bored of us.”

“The next phase of the plan doesn't need us to be here” Ossian said carfuly, glancing breinfly at Cerule for confirmation before continuing “We need to go out there. Build ‘Monuments’ to facilitate the rebirth of all those stored here. And we need those monuments to be safe, which they won't be with all of those monsters of Orvus roaming around out there.”

Cerule nodded in approval while Auk-Ra wondered where she was going with this.

“We’ve built, we’ve trained, learned and strategized. It's time we set out to put all that work to use.” The the otherworldly General said with firm conviction. There were nods from many around the chamber, just as there would be up above when she made the pitch again. Many had wanted this for years, and now it finally felt like the right time. The dead would march forth and as they had pledged to Azura inorder to be awakened they would make the world a better place, no matter who or what stood in their way.

summary

Auk-Ra-Shatara, a different kind of undead Aroiox who was one of the original 7 to be awoken by Azura, discovers a corrupted soulcrystal being brought into the vault of souls after it is detected by a specialized type of Armonia. He then takes it up into a new building in the vault to be purified. The vault has also had a number of new additions, including a load of metal like the stuff used to hold soul crystals on Alma wings and a new floating core at its center made of soul gems, Luft stone and more metal.

After the crystal is cured of its decay he goes down to give it back to a curator only to run into Cerul and Ossian who have arrived to activate the vault of souls. They talk for a bit and then get on with the task. Cerule trusts Ossian to rip out her soul and shove it temporarily into the vault’s new control alter. Then she kick starts the vault with 10 mp. Power flows into the core from the soul crystals and then shoots up into the sky where it will be used to ‘power’ Azura’s new afterlife/death system that it starts getting built.

Cerule is unplugged and then activates the second function of the vault, which pools the wisdom and knowledge of the dead into an easily queryable interface. Auk-Ra asks this database about soul decay and it tells them all about Orvas’s words and deeds as seen through the eyes of dead people. This does not paint him in a good light. Ossian more or less declares a jihad against all the awful shit Orvas has put into the world. Cerule approves.

The Windweavers

Start: 12 Prestige
1 for post, 1 for starring role, 1 for following a quest (abraxas end times)
End: 15 Prestige

mp summary

Start: 13 FP 12 MP

0 mp (discounted by soul crystal) monuments that cure soul decay in crystals placed upon them.
0 mp (discounted by soul crystals) to mutate some Armonia and create a variant able to identify soul decay in soul crystals
0 mp (discounted by Tonnikala) lift limpets. A type of flying snail that adheres itself to an object and can extend wings to move that object. Normally a chunk of Luftstone, but can also move an Armonias body through/into the sky.
0 fp (discounted by Tonnikala) taught the undead using lift limpets as a method of slow flight.

10 MP. Holy site for soul crystal port: the Vault of Souls. Able to retrieve the memoirs of the (willing) dead and display/convey them to users of the vault. This makes it a useful information gathering tool, though one with a bit of delay and plenty of bias and gaps. Also it will narratively act as a power-source for the future rebirth system Azura wants to implement but that power doesn't actually do anything on its own. Other than change the color of the sky I guess.

End: 13 FP 2 MP
Portfolio progress:

Birds: (9/10)
The Verse: (6/10)
Rebirth: (7/10)

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,298 (+3)
Bowser: Level 5 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////// (34/50)
Bowser Jr: Level 4 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////// (4/40)
Kamek: Level 3 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (23/30)
Location: Morgensloft Field (Hamlet), the Land of Adventure & Charnal Lane, Dead Zone

”I’ll be right back.”

Kamek announced while pre flight preparations where ongoing before vanishing a burst of smoke and appearing above a well reaped field. He glanced around a few times before spotting the tracks of a cart drawn by reptilian footsteps that must have belonged to his king leading towards a strange village full of narrow houses. The wizard sighed to himself as he noted the royal family had ignored him once again and wandered off before turning his broom towards the village and heading after them.

”Yeah, uh hu. Cool. Got it” jr said, nodding along as he struggled to grasp the particulars of the mayor's fancy talking. While most of it was useful, it was the last part about a terrifying beast caught his attention however.

”Think that's it papa?” he asked, referring to the theory of each area having one boss each.

The king didn't know and was frustrated by that fact as he replied ”It’s different from the plains one. So that makes two it might be already. Gah. How many big monsters are there out here? how are we supposed to know which is the right one!”

Jr shrugged. The pair then continued to listen to the pig and hamster’s conversation and learned about another quest, though this one would likely not earn them any prestige with the guild, and of a huntress who might be able to aid them.

Most of the group seemed eager to move on, stating that they had better get a move on with their task of hunting down Galeem’s lieutenants. Not that they knew where any more where, but hunting down green things for pig money wasn’t likely to help in solving that issue.

”HARD PASS. LUGGING THIS THING AROUND IS GOING TO BE A PAIN.” Bowser complained after they had bade the mayor goodbye, while jr pointed that ”There might be good stuff in town though?”

”If they do maybe we’ll come back. First though we're gonna check out this hunter lady. Maybe we can get her to do the rest of the work for us.” he said before glancing at the centurion ”YOU SAID YOU COULD HUNT RIGHT? IF THIS LADY DOESN'T HELP WE’LL JUST GO BACK AND BUY YOU SOMETHING TO HUNT WITH IF NOTHING ELSE WORKS. FASTER WE TURN ALL OF THIS INTO CASH THE BETTER ANYWAY.” the king concluded as he jostled the cart laden with gems and ores.

As they headed towards the inn there came a call of ”There you are sire!” from the sky as Kamek reappeared. ”my deepest apologies for taking so long, your army in the Dead Zone is meeting stiff resistance. They have little to spare and I’ve already offered to assist them for a little while longer as I do believe they are heading in the right direction when it comes to finding one of our targets.”

”Yeah that place is a mess. Its the tree right? Pretty obvious over there where to go.” Jr noted before grumbling ”So I guess it's good they're making progress while we still have no idea where to go… wait your heading back?”

Kamek nodded before asking ”If that's alright with you sire?”

Bowser nodded in turn before informing his advisor that ”We’re heading back to town soon. Getting rid of all this stuff. Meet us there.”

”As you say. Here. take these with you for the chef” Kamek replied, adding the small number of slime balls they'd gotten out of the nuclear creeper incident to the cart’s load. ”And also all of this. You might find a use for them in town.” he added, before depositing most of his other non essential items into the cart such as medical herbs and the foul smelling breakfast, which was carefully isolated from anything remotely edible in its own sack.

”Right. Oh and take this to help or trade or something.” Bowser said, before retrieving the half empty minigun that he didn't have any use for anyway. With a thanks the drifted closer and grabbed the weapons handle. He then hoisted the gun with surprising strength for a few moments before it shrunk down to a more carry-able size and was left hanging off of his broomstick.

”Also these.” Jr added, following his father's example by tossing the cartoonish black wick lit bomb and the strange crystal grenade he’d gotten from the dead zone to Kamek. The Magikoopa fumbled briefly with the two explosives before they too were shrunk down and placed in pockets.

”Thank you both. Be safe. I’ll see you both for dinner at the latest.” Kamek thanked and then promised his royal masters before disappearing once more back to the Dead Zone.

A few moments after he vanished Bowser facepalmed. ”GAH. Should have got him to shrink the cart.” he admonished himself before sighing and shaking the thought free of his mind. While they'd been talking with their wise underling the pair had fallen behind and so arrived at the inn last. Bowser set down the cart and, after thinking for a few moments, first grabbed a few gems of varying qualities form it and then summoned his minions. Mallet, Sledge and Heel all appeared before him and where ordered to ”GUARD THE CART”

Jr also dismounted his clown car and entered the bar. He first sent out and then attempted to get Mimikyu to guard his cart alongside his father’s minions, but instead the fake mouse snuck its way onto his shoulder the moment he turned to enter the Inn.

”Sigh. Fine you can come.” he told it, before he entered after his father.

---

Kamek reappeared just as everyone was finally finishing with their preparations. The demonic tree, perhaps a lesser kin of the vast eldritch location devouring the city Kamek though, had politely waited for them all to get ready. Kamek took the opportunity to summon his illusory copies and then he too was then ready to go.

When the teams self proclaimed not leader decided it was time to go and taunted the tree. In response the tree moaned dreadful, as if displeased at being stirred to life. But stir to life it did, as did a number of squat rag covered minions, that might have been its seeds, armed with crude weapons and far to many teeth.

Kamek, not wanting to be anywhere near the swarming little buggers, ascended upwards and then leaned forwards to grab the minigun. The weapon hugged the front of his broom, the shaft of which was slipped between its horizontal handle. The gun had then been shrunk, causing its handle to grip the broom and preventing it from putting the broom into a nosedive. This essentially turned the broom into a miniature A-10 warthog.

He tumbed the trigger, causing him and his four duplicates to let out a burst of miniature minigun rounds which peppered the minions charging their position. The weakened rounds did minimal damage individually, but the sheer quantity being hosed down at the minions still stung, gradually shredding some and giving others pause.

Then the Ent made its third move, stomping the ground hard to produce a massive omni-directional shock-wave, similar to the ones Bowser could produce after jumping. Some of the others flew over it as Kamek well could, but instead he bobbed down closer to the team.

”I can give a boost!” he called out, doppelgangers vanishing as he offered the real broom as a handhold to grant some upwards momentum. He hung there for a few moments and then, whether or not he had a passenger, rose up and over the shockwave.

(edit) all the other members of the team showed themselves to be entirely capable of jumping the shockwave on their own and so Kamek instead inadvertently saved one of Blazermate infected. the hunchbacked thing grappled onto the broom and road it to safety either by accident or design before hurling itself onward towards the ent like a deranged monkey that wanted to clime the most dangerous of trees. (edit)

As he ascended Blazermate called out that the roots had some strange things in them which was both helpful and unhelpful in equal measures.

”Strange things in the roots?” he asked, hoping for clarity.

Conflicts of Eae't (Dark Fantasy Nation RP)

Summary of Nordheim and the carrion woods:

Not a sheet

Deep. dark. Impenetrable. The carrion woods are a massive forest that smother the north. It is a dark oppressive place where the dead find no rest, but are instead animated by the forest as vengeful spirits, monsters of flesh and vine, root and bone, who drown those who disturb the forest in a tide of undeath. Legends say that the forest is home to a nature goddess, ancient as the trees themselves. Once both she and the forest where beauties to behold, emerald jewels of the continent, admired and respected by all. Yet the elves could not stand by and leave such a beauty unclaimed and so aimed to take it for themselves. With axes they tore down her trees to decorate their homes with its splendorous wood. With bow and arrow they hunted its beasts for their furs and scales.

Worse still, they built a great tower in her depths, to steal away her power. Enraged at this final, personal slight the goddess unleashed her fury upon the elves, killing most and binding the rest to her will, transforming them into the ashen skinned Drow. The forest came alive and using plant puppeted corpses tor asunder who subsequently attempted to enter, be they Muhakim or Muha. Tides of dead things began to emerge to asail the living sweeping north into elvish lands or south into the tribe lands until the day Muha fell.

When the last great civilisation fell the woods grew quiet. Elven kind had brought itself low and so nature could rest once more. For a thousand years the woods have slumbered, but even now only a fool would take an axe to its trees, for to do so would be to rouse the woods ire once more.

Nordheim meanwhile is a former dwarven colony found on a small peninsula jutting out into a bay. It is controlled by a democratically elected high council itself lead by two similarly elected Jarls. The region was settled by the dwarves raiders in the wake of the elven empire’s fall Nordheim became a fortified port city out of which further raids and conquests where wagged. As of present day the dwarves now control swathes of coast that are now dotted with smaller dwarven communities. The dwarves practice a form of ancestor worship/magic, where the spirits of the dead are bound to artifacts and can be summoned to aid the living in times of need.

The thing that links these two regions are its natives. Centaur, satyr and harpy tribes called the region home before the dwarves arrival but where unable to oust the stunty sailors upon their arrival. The initial bouts of dwarven conquest are now far in the past, and though bad blood still lingers the natives and colonists have formed a peaceful working relationship as their two cultures have mingled over the decades and their economies co dependent. The generally the dwarves dominate the coast, while the beastfolk dwell further inland.

They suffered mightily at the hands off the carrion woods in days gone past, but their own history says that the carrion woods where not quieted by the fall of the elves, but by a druidic hero who braved the depths of the woods, using strength, cunning and wit to win over its drow protectors and brought peace to the goddess’s blackened heart.

Since that day many of the beastfolk now worship the forest god rather than fear it, and some even live with the drow within its twisted depths. The worship is a harsh one, occasionally requiring sacrifice, yet it has kept the woods at peace for centuries. Only now do the woods stir once more, slowly wakening, angry and hungry, though none can say for sure why this is the case.

World of Light

And together typed 3,879 words (+3)
@Archmage MC's Blazermate (21/50), @ProPro's Jak, Daxter (23/20) , & Ratchet (25/50), @Dawnrider's Banjo and Kazooie (16/30), @Simple Unicycle's Gene (21/30), @Genon's Donovan Lee (30/30), @Lugubrious’s Nero and Nico and [@DracoLunars]’s Kamek (19/30)
Location: Charnel Lane, Dead Zone

With a few minutes to spare, Nero headed down the stairs and back to the van. He figured Nico wouldn’t mind him throwing open the door and stepping inside. A quick bathroom break turned up a suspicious smell emanating from the shower, but they could worry about that later. He seated himself on a couch and produced the Blue Rose, which he examined closely. Unlike Dante’s Ebony and Ivory, his revolver shot real bullets in addition to bolts of demonic energy, so it needed a little cleaning now and again. A few moments’ practiced work rid the firearm of soot, burn, and blood, and as Nero was wrapping up he called to his partner in crime. “Hey! Need an open shop here.”

“Yeah, yeah. Keep yer panties on.” Having extracted herself from her lounging position in the driver’s seat, the woman made her way to the workshop bar in the back. A few taps on the jukebox and an evocating song started to play, and Nico opened her store. Weapons and projects of all sorts in various states of completion either were either hung up or confined in cages to keep from flying about when the going got tough. Notably, a revolving rack displayed a fair few prosthetic arms, and Nero devoted his attention to them first.

“Gerbera, Helter Skelter, Buster Arm,” he ordered, reaching for the first as Nico plucked it from the rack.

She yanked it out of his grasp. “Ah-ah, you know the drill. Cash first.” With a weighty exhale Nero held out a hand, and above the palm welled a cluster of crystallized demon blood. The gleaming crimson stuff floated just above his skin, allowing onlookers to get a good view of the many faces leering out from within. Nico snatched it, and Nero took the arm.

He glanced down at the magazine on his waist. “Don’t you have some sort of upgrade for this thing yet?” he asked, only for the weaponsmith to lay down an extender loop right in front of him. “Well,” he chuckled. “Would you look at that.”

Nico was all smiles. “Ain’t I a genius? Toldja I could read yer mind.”

“Yeah?” The look on Nero’s face was incredulous. “Can you tell what moves I want?”

With a smirk, Nico directed him at the lion-headed goddess statue sitting on the end of her counter. “Don’t wanna hog all the limelight. Ask her.” Nero approached and laid his hand on it, transferring demon blood within. Technique mastery flowed into him in return. Somehow, Nico seemed to know what was going on. “Ooh, Payline and Hard Way? Hate t’be whatever sucker thinks he’s outta your range.”

While they had nothing better to do than take Nero’s good advice to recuperate and recollect themselves for the endeavors ahead, Banjo and Kazooie decided to relax and poke around inside the mobile home, which sported a deceptively spacious interior not betrayed from an outside perspective of the vehicle. Despite that, it was due to become crowded in there soon as the others gathered within, so they spent their grace period to gander (and, depending on what was included, grab at) the various extraneous materials due to be experimented with that Nico had accumulated. Call it explorer’s instinct (or just plain nosiness), but they couldn’t help going over whatever wasn’t tied down, hidden, or out of their reach. Sadly, should they want any of it, Nico’s exchange with Nero--her own friend--was a shamelessly transactional one, and they were skint broke. They were unlikely to gain favor from her this time around.

After Nero was done making his offer to the idol, the bear and bird became curious and decided to observe it a little closer themselves. It would certainly prove expedient (to an extent) if they could unlock their latent abilities (again) through means other than the passage of time. They couldn’t always afford to wait, after all.

With their preparatory options exhausted, they were left with naught but time to kill before they made their next move, so they both found themselves a seat (or a mounted coat rack, in Kazooie’s case) to kick back in away from the couch, which they left for the unconscious Jak. Shortly into their idling period, Banjo found himself slowly, rhythmically, instinctively swaying, head bobbing, and foot tapping to the mood music emanating from the jukebox. A terrible shame it was that him and Kazooie made the untoward mistake of not packing their instruments while under Galeem’s influence; they would almost certainly be playing along, otherwise.

As for Donnie, he was taking the time to think about all of this. When it came to Nero, there was obvious demonic influence at play. It wasn’t readily apparent from looking at him, but using obviously-demonic crystals as some kind of currency, and then feeding them into a demonic statue to gain...knowledge, maybe? That definitely confirmed it.

Not that he was against those who wielded the demonic, despite being a demon hunter himself as of late. He had known many warlocks on his adventures, and he had learned firsthand that just because you wielded a dangerous power didn’t make you evil. Not to mention that when fighting demons, having someone specialized in dealing with them was a godsend. Especially when warlocks could just enslave and bind any demonic enemies that proved particularly bothersome.

And of course, there was also Kamek near the window, who was suggesting backup as an option.

“I would normally say that’s a great idea, but I’m not actually the leader of this party. That’s Nero, the white-haired guy in the back. And when I brought it up, he said we had too many people, not too few, and we were getting in each other’s way. He’s the expert on our quarry, so”--he turned around--”hey, Nero! I need to talk to you real quick!”

The demon hunter glanced his way. “Yeah?”

Meanwhile Jak’s injuries were healed up nicely thanks to Blazermate’s high tech beam. He awoke quickly and with a start, lurching forward from his seat in the van, hands outstretched. He let out a growl, quickly flashing into his dark form for only a brief second, but upon seeing his best buddy Daxter waving his arms to signal everything was ok, his instinctive transformation subsided. The two stood off to the side so Daxter could fill Jak in on what had happened without bothering the others. Blazermate was a bit too preoccupied with her new part and was fiddling around with it to realize that Jak had up and left, being fully healed.

Ratchet was pretty intrigued with the weapons Nico had put on display. Unfortunately he didn’t have any of those red orbs Nero used to pay, but maybe she took other kinds of currency? The lombax sidled up near Nico, looking over the armaments.

”In the galaxy I come from we pay with bolts.” He held out a handful of bolts and lugnuts to show off to Nico. ”Any chance you’ll take these for a new gun or a weapon upgrade?”

The weaponsmith looked over his offering. “Hmm…” A fairly meager payment considering that she normally traded in the crystallized essence of hellspawn, but she liked the cut of the weird little cat thing’s jib. And if she didn’t need spare parts, she could always melt them down for material. “Eh, alright. That’ll fetch ya one second-hand Coyote-B.” From under the counter she produced a shotgun, which she pushed toward Ratchet with a pleased smile. “Ain’t as strong as Dante’s Coyote-A, havin’ no supernatural power, but she’s a feisty varmint and no mistake. Whether it’s a wall or a demon, she’ll bite right through.”

A shotgun that could power through walls definitely sounded appealing to Ratchet, but it still didn’t have the same punch as what he was used to carrying. Better than nothing and at least gave some variety to his arsenal. ”Sounds like a deal, weaponsmith!” Ratchet slapped down the bolts and took hold of the Coyote-B shotgun, doing a jaunty little animation with the weapon to both show it off, and also get a feel for its size and weight. A second later it disappeared into his hyperspace storage to be called upon at will.

Back at the van window, Donnie said to Nero while gesturing to the Magikoopa, “Well, this is Kamek, he’s the one who supersized Gene. He’s thinking...well I’ll just let him summarize.”

Kamek was in the middle of sorting out the various items he had acquired from the zombie sprites. Herbs and potions where being stored in various pockets in the wizard’s robes for later use while the wooden boards and spoiled milk where left on the trolley until a use could be found for them. He paused as the man Donnie had called Nero.

”This is your leader? And you’ve not.. Never mind” Kamek said to Donnie as he inspected the eyes of the white haired youth before shaking his head and moving on from his concerns to the point. Nero’s bemused, slightly indignant look went ignored.

”There’s a safe town on the other side of that teleporter” he explained simply ”A place to recuperate, get supplies, maybe safely spend the night if you can't reach your target before fatigue begins to take its toll, and if you want less people around, well, there's your solution.”

”The suggestion of leaving aside, if you’re getting in each other's way I’d suggest working on increasing your coordination, teamwork and tactics before insisting on taking on this chaotic world alone. One hero is a threat on their own but a well oiled team of heroes can be a force of cataclysmic proportions.” he added.

Nero shook his head. “Or lambs to the slaughter. Look, I know you get it by now. I don’t want anyone dead, but I’m not your leader, or your babysitter. Just the most qualified. You’ve used up a couple years’ worth of luck not getting infected or killed already. We’re only gonna be fighting stronger, faster, smarter, more diseased stuff from here on in. You all should leave the tree to me and take a load off in this village.” He crossed his arms. “Provided you don’t carry any sickness there with you, that is. Anyone here could be carrying zombie-itis already.”

“Oh, uh, about that,” Donnie piped up. His hands flashed with magic energy for a brief moment. “We’re fine on that front. Ever since the worlds collided, I lost a lot of my power, and with that, I lost spells as well. And I’ve been [i[ever-so-slowly[/i] getting them back. The one I just cast on myself is one that I got back after the fight with those two demons, it’s called Detox. It’s a basic disease cure spell and it also works on poisons. Requires very little energy or Mana, I can do it as many times as you want. I don’t think it did anything, since I’m clean, but we should once-over everyone here just to make sure. I’ll need their consent though. You guys want to try it first?”

Nero raised his eyebrows. “Huh.” He shared a glance with Nico, then shrugged in concession. “Well, it couldn’t hurt.”

The light flashed twice, and Nero and Nico could feel the magic running through their bodies for a brief instant, scanning for harmful chemicals and microbes and simply deleting them in a purifying wave. Any pre-existing conditions or diseases they might have had--like, say, the respiratory diseases that Nico was probably on her way to getting--were gone in an instant.

“That’s the two of you,” Donnie said. He called out to the rest of the van, “Hey! I just got my cure-disease spell back, get over here and get any zombie viruses cured just in case!”

”Ah good, I’m glad I'm not the only one missing a great deal of their repertoire.” Kamek said as he began to methodically hammer the bones he had gotten from the zombies into the ground using the blunt end of the spiked tentacle without any explanation.

”As for the leadership position, I believe that your disinterest might be for the best. If none of the rest of you haven't stepped up to fill the role then perhaps you could vote on it. Or continue to ignore the issue entirely.” Kamek shrugged and stopped trying to force the issue.

”If your going to go around curing everyone, then I might as well give everyone a boost while I am here before you fight this tree. A lesser version of my enlarging spell that I can grant the entire group.” he added, before offering the buff to anyone and everyone who came to get their diseases cured. Those touched by the spell would increase in size by 50% with no loss to agility, though the effect would only last until they took a damaging blow.

While everyone was getting their diseases cured and their buff from Magikoopa, Blazermate continued to fiddle with her new part. This spirit manifested more like she was used to, replacing her arm instead of combining with her totally like the Engineer spirit had done. Although the arm she was given wasn’t very cute, in fact the maw shield was a bit off settling, at least she still looked better than most heavy platform medabots. Figuring out how to move it properly and everything, she began testing all that it could do as she walked back to the rest of the group. First she noticed it could let out a scream, which when pointed at one of the shambling undead, seemed to make the undead do an action depending on how it screamed. Blazermate wasn’t too familiar with this ability yet, so she made wandering undead throw themselves into the void, jump up and down, run into each other, or attack each other. ”Cool! I don’t think there has ever been a medabot that commands others like this.”

Having tested the screaming that this arm could do to control the nearby undead, Blazermate decided to move up to one of the mindless undead who had stopped moving due to one of her scream commands and wanted to test what else this thing could do. She noticed that the teeth on the maw of her arm dripped some strange liquid, and when she injected it into the undead by biting it with her arm, it transformed, turning into a weird lopsided muscular figure that looked at her waiting for her next command. Since she didn’t really know how to command it, she just pointed at another undead away from the group and the Charger barreled towards it, slamming into it and running off into the distance with its quarry. Her last test wasn’t nearly as interesting, as she tested the barbed tongue on her arm and it only seemed to be a weapon, nothing really unique unlike the drool and scream.

Having tested her arm thoroughly, she finally joined up with the group. She was sure a few of them saw her playing around with her new upgrade, especially since the screaming made a fair bit of noise. ”Hey, thanks for waiting for me to test out my new part.” Blazermate said as she ran up to the group. She looked at what Nero, Nico, and Ratchet were doing, and shrugged when she saw the weapons. ”Sadly I don’t think I can use any of those. Need one arm to heal, and this thing I’m not used to yet” Blazermate said, moving her new arm.

Donnie and Magikoopa were a bit off to the side, casting their magic on everyone and playing with their loot. Blazermate noticed that whoever she scanned that was covered in zombie fluids seemed to be diseased by something, which went away when Donnie used his magic on them. ”Uh fellas, I think all you guys covered in zombie stuff might need to see Donnie. I don’t know what my sensors are picking up, but a lot of you have this weird disease thing on you like Gene did.” Blazermate said, making sure everyone was healthy before they moved on.

Perking up at hearing his name, Gene nodded at Blazermate's words. "Yeah, that fat guy that barfed on me infected me with some sort of disease. Thanks to what Donnie found on the big buff zombie, I'm all good. Thank god he's got that spell of his now, traveling through a place like this will catch us a bunch of nasty diseases. Not having a way to counteract that is a death sentence."

A few realistic words from the melee fighter won an approving nod from Nero. “Yeah. Now that we’ve got a cleanser, though...things are looking better. I mean, you all could still become hero pancakes any second, but at least we won’t have to deal with the whole turning thing.” He narrowed his eyes as he looked Gene over. “So, no weapons, huh? Just that arm of yours. Can’t say I’ve found a lot of fistfighters able to take on demons.” While he said nothing explicitly, something in his tone implied that he wanted to know more.

"What can I say? I'm just that awesome." Gene shrugged, giving Nero his usual goofy grin. With a chuckle, he shook his head and continued, "But nah, this right here is the God Hand. In my world, this badass guy faced off against demons. God, or a god, or several gods, or something... Well, they powered up his arms so that they both carried the power of a god in them."

Feeling a filibuster coming on if he kept on like he was going, Gene shook his head. "But uh, I'm not one for long-winded explanations and I don't know much anyway. Long story short the guy's arms were preserved and, eventually, they were passed down onto me when I lost one. There was another guy with the other God Hand but I whooped his ass and took his. Though, when I came to this world, I only had the right arm."

Nero considered that for a moment. He’d met more than a few people mistaking demons for deities -the Savior came to mind- and exchanging their humanity for power. Then again, with the confluence of worlds, maybe things were different where Gene came from. Besides, goofiness aside, he seemed alright. Something else occurred to him. “Saw some interesting moves back there. What was that one where you got down and grovelled..?”

Gene's normal grin shifted to a more sheepish one. Scratching the back of his head, he chuckled nervously. "Uhhh... I have access to a special power where I can use a powerful move, but it's a bit of a gambit. What you saw back there was my... 'Grovel' move. Only good thing about it is that after I use it, the bad guys'll take it easier on me."

”Don’t worry Gene. As long as you don’t die, I can heal ya..” Blazermate said, pointing to the now revived Jak.

While Nero didn’t quite know what effect that might have on mindless undead, the mention of moves from Gene plus his thoughts on that God Hand of his gave him an idea. “Interesting. Hey, I wanna have you try something. See that statuette on Nico’s bar there?” He pointed at the lion-headed goddess. “Try touching that and closing your eyes.”

Quirking an eyebrow in curiosity, Gene got up from his seat and walked over to the statue. He looked at it for a moment, wondering what power was in the statue, before touching it and closing his eyes as Nero suggested. Then, as if before his eyes, he could picture the melee techniques he had, as well as the various moves for his Roulette Wheel.

He felt like a kid in a candy store. They were all available for him! ... Then he noticed the looming price tag over them. As if knowing how much demon blood he had, he quickly deduced that he'd be able to get a few standard attacks alongside a Roulette Wheel move. Good enough for him.

But, just because it was good enough didn’t mean Gene wasn’t a bit annoyed. Groaning at his lack of options, Gene quickly purchased the God Stomp - a Roulette move that allowed him to knock enemies to the floor and stomp on them for a while - along with a few standard techniques. The four that he purchased, that would replace his current combo, were Elbow Spin 1 (a quick two elbow hit attack), Chin Music (a fast one two punch), Right Hook 1 (what it says on the tin), and Mach Speed Jab 1 (five quick jabs in succession).

Buying the moves and quickly "assigning" them, Gene noted that he was out of demon blood. Hopefully, he'd be able to get more. Removing his hand from the statue, Gene backed up and tried out his new combo. It felt good, and much stronger than the basic attacks he had been using. "Whoo! That's the stuff!"

“...Hang on, that works on anyone? Let me try!” Donnie said with the eagerness of a much younger person. Yes, this was demonic, but, as noted earlier in his internal monologue, if he was going to complain about people using the demonic for good he might as well have every warlock in the land executed.

When Gene finished, he put his hand to the statue and closed his eyes…

Nothing happened.

“Dammit. Nothing,” Donnie said, walking away in a huff. He then realized something.

”I don’t know what you were trying Donnie, looks like a statue to me.” Blazermate said, shrugging.

Donnie tried to look a bit more dignified. “Don’t you know anything about magic, Blazer? Clearly that statue did something for Nero and Gene. It just doesn’t work on me for some reason.”

"Huh... It worked just fine for us," Banjo interjected, trying to add a layer of perspective plausibility to the discussion. Though, they might not find his overly simplistic commentary to be all that helpful.

He cleared his throat. “A-anyway…” he reached into his Luggage. “I’ve got some gifts for you guys.” He pulled out a bunch of glass bottles of a red liquid and set them on a nearby table in the back. “These are Healing Potions. They’re drinks imbued with an enchantment so that they’ll cause a regenerative effect when you drink them. They taste like medicine--because they are--but they work. I want each of you to take one. If you get injured against the monster up ahead and can get yourself out of harm’s way for a moment, just drink it and it’ll heal most of your injuries. I only have a limited supply and can’t make more, so don’t waste them. They also can only be safely drunk once every minute or two, so I’m only giving you one each because battles don’t last very long.”
He looked at Blazer. “Uh, in your case, just ignore that.”

Nero waved the gift off. “Thanks, but I can heal with green orbs from enemies.”

“Eh, suit yourself.”

That seemed to settle something for the demon hunter. “Alright then. We’ve spent enough time in here already.” He stood and headed for the door. It was about time to get started.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 437 (+1)
Bowser: Level 5 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////// (31/50)
Bowser Jr: Level 4 EXP: //////////////////////////////////////// (1/40)
Location: Morgensloft Field (Hamlet), the Land of Adventure
Directly interacting with: @Stekkmen @Lugubrious

Jr Leveled Up: New power: Life from the slime

the goop from the magic paintbrush now passively spawns Swoopin' Stus, simple creatures that resemble transparent flapjack octopuses with a ball of goop within their bodies. They attack Jr’s enemies by jumping at them and exploding into a splatter off goop. They also spatter into goop when killed. In battle can attack enemies and spread Jr’s graffiti to capture more ground and thus create more surface area that spawns more Stus. Stu’s won't explode unprovoked, preventing them from becoming a self replicating nightmare. That and a massive vulnerability to water.

It was a short trip from the field to the town, but already Bowser was getting as sense that rolling this cart around was going to be a pain. Especially if they tried to go back through the forest. Upon closer inspection the town turned out to consist of houses with the same dimensions as outhouse. How the pig people, who the Koopas found entirely normal seeing as almost everything in his world was anthropomorphic, did anything other than sleep standing upright inside their dinky cabins was a mystery. As was where they had gotten such finely tailor outfits living out in the middle of nowhere. They were a damn sight fancier than their closest neighbours the Lumbrigians, that was for sure.

After they entered the town without much fuss, drawing mainly wary glances from the townsfolk and attentive gazes of the porky guards. As was more or less the exact same reception they had received in the other two neutral settlements they had been in the royals paid it little mind. They did however draw the direct attention of thee pig people who had been having a discussion of some import in front of the fanciest building in town before they arrived. After a few moments of deliberation they hurried over and bowed before the party in greeting. King grinned in response to the pigs showing him proper respect. The presumed leader of the trio introduced himself as the Mayor of the compact little town and asked what they needed.

”I’M KING BOWSER, THIS IS MY SON BOWSER JR AND THESES OTHER PEOPLE ARE MY MINIONS.” Bowser said, introducing the party to the mayor. There was a brief pause as the king mulled over what he wanted with the town now that he’d seen it, but ultimately he came back to his initial reason for coming over here, ”SO... WHERE CAN A GUY GET A DRINK IN THIS PLACE?”

Jr, who had landed his clown car once they had hit the town’s outskirts, had some actually useful questions. Still a little hung up on the fact that the wheat they had found not being wild, and having realised that it meant either that the scouting info they had gotten was terrible or they were lost asked:

“So what's the deal with this place? What's in it? Whats around it? How long you been here? Got any hunting gear we can use or quests for the Adventurers Guild?”

The rest of the bombardment of questions was mostly based on stuff he though the guild might want to know that they could possibly be paid for.

”YEAH, THAT STUFF TOO.” Bowser said, supporting his son’s more useful lines of enquiry.

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 335 (+1)
Bowser: Level 5 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////// (30/50)
Bowser Jr: Level 3 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (30/30)
Location: Morgensloft Field, the Land of Adventure
Directly interacting with: @Stekkmen @Lugubrious

The chatter coming from Tora that resulted from his question was enough to keep the kings mind off the indignity of the peasant work he was performing, at least for a few moments. Bowser snorted in amusement at Tora’s backhanded compliment for Poppi but unfortunately it bought something of an end to the speaking as they got on with their task. With great, brutal and inpatient cleaves Bowser messily mowed his way through the field while jr continued to explore the nearby buildings, though the boy found little of note in the quaint farmstead and, true to his word about not going far, did not venture further afield to the spire like houses found beyond the idyllic plot of land they had found.

The young koopa returned to the fold at about the same time as the Centurion showed up out of the blue and eagerly joined in with the gathering of the fallen wheat.

“OH HAY. ITS YOU. YOU DON'T HAPPEN TO KNOW HOW TO HUNT DO YA? OR KILL STUFF WITH ‘ACCURACY’? CHEF LADY SAID KILLING WITH PRECISION IS THE BEST WAY TO GET LOADS OF MEAT” Bowser asked as they loaded the last of their collective efforts into a cart. There was some grumbling about not being a donkey from the king before he grasped the two poles that would be attached to either side of the horse as if they were the handles of a wheelbarrow.

“Kamek not back yet?” Jr asked upon rejoining them. Upon receiving the shakes of some heads he continued “Then we should check out this village till he gets back! Take a break before trying to hunt stuff again?”

Bowser nodded before wiping his brow free of sweat that had built up while reaping “Yeah sure. I could use a drink.” farm labor was sweaty work he had discovered and so he hoped there might be a bar or well of some kind in the town.

“LEAD THE WAY POPPI.” he instructed before lifting up the handles of the cart full of ore, gems, plants and stolen farming equipment and beginning to push it towards the spiky town. It wouldn't do to have any dirty thieving rats sneak in and take their stuff while they were investigating the town after all.

---

wordcount: 636 ( +1)
Kamek: Level 3 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (17/30)
Location: Charnel Lane, Dead Zone

Kamek hovered over the battlefield. A risky position to hold if the enemies his allies were facing had any inclination to strike at him, but fortunately his doppelganger trick wasn’t actually needed this time as the brutes where either to stupid or to busy to bother attacking the small floating target above them. This let him focus on other things, like listening in on the conversation between their monk and bleach haired punk this team had tagged along with. From what he was seeing in the brief time he had been here Kamek was inclined to agree with them. This squad seemed like they had bitten off a bit more than they could chew. It was certainly a far more actively hostile place than the land of adventure was.

There you had to go looking for trouble, here it seemed like the opposite was true as from up in the air all Kamek could see was more and more broken down concrete infested with undead creatures stretching out in every direction.

Still, the team was handling it admirably enough. As the wizard watched Gene used his increased to size to unleashed a massive shock-wave before the pair he had been listening into worked together to finish the fight, blades and bullets carving into the suffering before the driver of the van they had righted used her vehicle to finish the job.

With the primary threats dealt with Kamek released his enchantment, causing Gene to shrink back down, and then helped clean up the regular undead with a series of magical blasts from his wand before landing by the group. The wizard and his doppelgangers all quickly scooped up a bunch of regular zombie souls, there was plenty to go around, and started crushing them, fishing for something, anything, that might be useful for hunting massive boar/cow monsters back in the Land of Adventure.

”What you were saying earlier, about being ‘out gunned’ as you said it?” Kamek spoke to Donnie as he flew alongside one of the vans windows, he and his clones crushing sprites as they went, ”If you do feel like throwing in the towel then there’s a nice little village on the other side of that teleporter. If you don't then I can't promise much help from our side That group has split up to do a series of quests for this adventurers guild in the town. Roaming the land, solving problems and hunting dangerous beasts for prestige with the Guild.”

”That last part is what I came here for, we were having a bit of difficulty hunting the beasts in the proper manner to harvest their meats, as it required precise and unwasteful killing of the beasts which is not something my royal lieges are particularly apt at unfortunately. They’re a touch all or nothing. I was going to ask if you had tools or people to spare that would be more appropriate to the task but, well, you look like you need help a lot more than we do. Lives on the line rather than the prospect of dinner.” The old Koopa continued rambling

He finished crushing the 20 zombie sprites and then asked, ”So I should ask, do you think you need my help? Because nobody else is available, unless you want to try and recruit some adventurous from the guild through the teleporter, though I’m not sure how easy it would be to convince them to come here. What I do know is that if you hold fast till nightfall, or just call it a day till tomorrow, and we’ll have resources from questing and the other team back together to lend you a hand if you want it.”

”I’ll stick around a little longer at least, see what you all want to do.” The wizard finished before he and his clones, arms laden with sprite created items, hovered over to the trolley and deposited their loot. Four out of the five then poofed out of existence, leaving only the real wizard to inspect his ill gotten gains.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. III. Finished in Record Time™!

The pod of orcas jostled for position as they raced through the air, butting into each other as they tried to get ahead of the pack. On their backs rode undead, their souls frozen in crystal and then entombed in the stone bodies of Armonia animated by a deep red flowing Verse. The undead where armed with long staves that whistled as they were woven through the air, directing gusts of wind at one another in an attempt to dislodge eachother or fended off the snapping teeth of other’s mounts. With the dead rode small green Armonia, just as much a target of aggression as their mortal allies, armed with weapons that where a cross between violins and crossbows. The Armonia stood poised to obey instructions, but otherwise where passively indifferent to the action happening around them.

The whales and their riders soared in between rows of floating columns that guided them towards a large floating gong held aloft by one of the pillars. Most of the skirmishing between the riders ceased as they drew near, and the air was filled with song instead of the sounds of battle. This caused the green Armonia to notch special arrows into their bows before letting them fly at the gong. Each bolt that struck true caused a specific note to echo forth, lighting up a glowing marker about the gong to indicate a successful hit.

Some attempted to interfere with their opponents shots, gust of wind sweating bolts of course. On particularly aggressive former elf instead dead bade his mount ram a rival of theirs who had drawn close to the side of the track to get a better shot.

The unfortunate orca was pushed too close to a pillar, clipping it with their side. A cry of pain and stream of blood followed as blubber scraped against the coarse stone. The rider, left unbalanced by the blow, was unhorse by a stave strike from another rider and sent tumbling from his mount. The Armonia fell more slowly than could have been expected from a being made of stone, but still took significant damage when it came crashing down on stone floor below.

“Oh no. Leilani and Mila have taken quite the hit there! I think... Yes. yes, the medical team is coming out onto the field. I’m afraid this race might well be over for those too” boomed a voice across the stadium as a pair of undead and a Beluga whale rushed out from the side lines to aid the injured pair. The undead went to the side of their wounded comrade, his stone body cracked and shattered in several places, revealing the Verse flowing beneath their silicone skin, while the Beluga drifted up to the wounded whale. As stone and song where used to crudely repair the undead's masterwork body healing energy pulsed from the whale which had been told to exclusively drink water bathed in the lustrous garden’s glow.

As the pair were seen to the race continued uninterrupted. The racers had all passed the target where the crash had occurred after each had eventual scored a hit and where now swerving through a slalom of stone pillars as they headed for the far end of the arena.

That arena was the Lightning Dome, named in honor of Ashalla’s victory in her race with Cerule, which was a large sausage bodied stadium floating freely in the Blue’s clear skies. The sloped sides of its inside walls held a myriad of seats all looking down at a flat expanse of stone above which the race was taking place. Those seats were rather sparsely populated at the moment by only an odd hundred onlookers scattered across the stands that had been built with far larger future populations in mind. Here and there Alma where perched, their image projection capabilities providing close up shots of the action.

While racing was the most popular and first ever event that had taken place within the Dome it was far from the only one. Since it had been built it had become host to a myriad of other activities from mock battles to lectures on a myriad of topics, Armonia dueling tournaments, concerts and half a dozen other newly invented and rapidly evolving sports.

“Highly elaborate games were not what I expected after hearing a goddess’s pitch about making a better world after I died.” Garna’Tenth said loudly to her guide as she sat up in the stands watching the spectacle. Going from dying in the mud at the hands of Nebulite slave drivers to waking up in the clouds, meeting an old flame and then being asked if they’d like to go to watch the race together had been a rather surreal experience so far for the old Jotunder.

“Yeah I can get that. But this is pretty new.” Kabarna, who had died before the Jotunder had even started doing last names, said back, half shouting to be heard over the intermittent cheering from the crowd and the words of the race’s commentator who was having their voice copied and amplified by dozens of Gemstone Gardners flocked around him. The colorful birds were everywhere now that Azura had finally. Finally. Reached out to her first creations and brought them back into the fold. “And there's a lot more to all this, but I thought you might want to start out with something fun for our first meeting in a decade.”

“Decades.”

“For you. Only been 10 years since I died. Guess you could say I slept for most of the rest of it.”

“Then you slept through alot.” Garna’Tenth left out how unpleasant what Kabarna had slept through was.

“Yeah. You can tell me about it when we go meet one of the Chroniclers”

“Cronicilers?”

“Some of the dead decided they should try” Kabarna began to explain before being drowned out by the enthusiastic cheering of some nearby spectators as the injured rider and orca re-entered the race with a vengeance, aiming primarily to take down the elven rider who had knocked them out with a series of powerful wind blasts fired across the center of the field while their orca pushed themselves to their limit to try and catch the rest of the racers.

Garna gently punched the distracted Kabarna on the shoulder and then jerked a thumb up to the back of the stadium. “Could we talk elsewhere. I still have so many questions”

The other giant took one last glance back at the race before nodding and rising to lead the way. With long strides the pair ascended the stands and eventually arrived atop the stadium’s outer wall. There they approached a large double banister sized to keep both giants and smaller people from falling off the structure into the open air. Beyond, stretching out below them, was Glabar as seen through the Blue, fuzzy and slightly warped to allow a round world to sit a the bottom of a flat realm.

Above it floated a number of temples, most drifting freely but a few bound to a spire like mountain that stand its way up from the world below by cords of Luftstone and Verse. Atop that mountain sat the sky bastion where Garna had been given her new unlife, slowly rotating around its peak, while around it and the temples strange fish like creatures swam through the sky. With them where the colorful Gemstone Gardeners. Garna had freaked out upon seeing them and it had taken a while to calm her down and convince her that Squals would not be coming to vaporise her at any moment.

The pair leaned against the banister, far enough away from the sporting event that they didn't have to shout to hear each other anymore.

“So. Like I was saying. Some of the dead decided they should try and record everything they can into something they’re calling the people’s history. Technology, culture, stories, music, and all kinds of other stuff. Pooling the wisdom of the dead into one place. Most of its really dry, but every now and then they find out something incredibly useful from the questions they bombarded the newbies with.” Kabarna explained “But they store everything. There rooms and rooms filled with stone slates in the Sky Bastion covered in this stuff called ‘writing’ which is words carved into stone.”

“Carved into stone?” Garna said disbelievingly.

“There’s pictures and these lines that the pictures are written between. So say the sound or word that corresponds to the picture, and how high or low you say it based on where it is between the lines and that lets you ‘read’ the words to say to yourself what the person who wrote them said in their own head as they carved the words... It just sort of works. These bodies” Kabarna smacked her chest with a palm, “kinda figure it out on their own like they do with speaking with the verse.”

Garna looked sceptical.

“You’ll get it when you see it. Trust me.” Kabarna insisted.

“Sure… so what do you do? Your not one of these Chronicles are you?”

Kabarna laughed at the suggestion “No. No definitely not. I’m a Guardian. A warrior. Same as I ever was. Though now we’re all protecting and building instead being killed by monsters at the whims of the gods while trying to destroy stuff.“

Garna nodded, but before she could ask about what exactly all of this was building towards somthign sreaked though the Blue in the distance. A burning tail plummeting towards Galbar. The pair watched curiosity until it exited the blue and struck the icy ground of Kalgun’s northern shore. The impact looked insignificant from up on high, tons of snow, dirt and stone being hurled skywards by the impact looking like a stone splashing in the river.

“Is that normal?” the newly dead Garna asked as the first meteorite was soon followed by others as the very beginning of Abraxes’ bombardment began to hit the planet.

“No...” Kabarna replied, stone fingers scraping thoughtfully against her chin

“Whatever it is it’s beautiful.”

The pair watched the falling fires together for a few more moments before Kabarna remembered a tale Azura had told them when asked about Orvus, one of a close call with an ancient impact. At the sight of something flashing into existence high above them she turned sharply away from the other giant and strode towards the stands calling out “CERULE!”

“What?“ came the response followed by an “Oh shit!” and the rapid pounding of feet that brought an avian undead dashed into view. Before Garna could ask what was going on the new arrival leaped up onto the banister of the balcony and then out into the open air, whistling loudly as she plummeted down towards the world below.

“What? Who was that and what’s happening”

“That’s Cerule. She’s a god. Or an avatar of a god. Same thing really” Kabarna explained as she returned.

Garna was unsure how to take the news that the first god she had actually seen was someone who’d been hooting and hollering a few rows away along with the other dead. There was little time to digest this however as the Avatar returned moments later, racing skywards while standing atop the head of an immense sky serpent to confront the incoming bombardment.

“Don't just stand there gawking! All hands on deck!“ she yelled indiscriminately to anyone and everyone who might be able to help. As she did divine inspiration suddenly flashed into the minds of the onlookers.

As the first meteorite hurtling towards the north pole drew closer the avatar cupped her hands together at one of her hips, spacing them as if to hold an invisible ball. Into this space wind gathered, drawn both from her surroundings and from blasta and torrents shot towards her by the freshly inspired undead who wove a tapestry of sound at the behest of the conductors. Air condensed ever desner between her palms until moments before impact she motioned to hurl the sphere at the approaching rock.

As the Avatar screamed wordlessly in defiance a shockwave burset from her hands and a torrent of air intense enough that its passage could be seen blasted out from her now outstretched hands, a beam of force that hammered into the descending rock. Shattering into a dozen pieces. Yet even these could do grievous harm to the scattered temples

Then a second pair off attacks came, one a half dozen of soul gems shot like bullets from the massive avian Azura and a flurry of laser augmented wind blasts from Luis’s mighty stone armor Bruna, that shattered the sub rocks into splinters. Finally a shield dome of air engulfed the moon facing part of the north pole as the Colossi of winds were activated for the first time in ten years, scattering the fragments to either side of the inhabited floating temples and precious vault.

Yet it was only the first of many stones to be thrown and so the people of the north pole came together and held the line against the descending death till eventually, suddenly, it came to an end.

---

With blind eyes we see
Something that is not meant to be

You stand alone, oh shepherds of souls
Prevented from pursuing other goals

Yet galbar is threatened from the sky
And without you its people will surely die

Orvas’s act leave me enraged
safety locks are disengaged

Bring light to this universe
May darkness fear your verse

Where mortals gathered, the Alma flocked. Where the Alma flocked, death often followed. They took no sides. Monsters stalked the dark of the night and mortal kind mustered to slaughter on another for wealth, land, revenge and a hundred other reasons. The Alma did not intervene and simply collected the dead.

On the dragon’s foot the forces of the Giant whose world would ignite the world prepared marched forth from his mountain kingdom and the Alma gathered like carrion birds around them. To the north strange demons advance upon the kingdom of apes and so for death and liberty the giant’s would march south.

Then the sky began falling and the Alma answered. The colorful stalkers gathered together on hills, cliffs and mountains and unleashed great pillars of light that screamed skywards in defiance of the desolate moonfall.

Across the world, wherever mortals gathered in great numbers and where undefended by the gods, the Alma did what they could, draining their reserves of energy to try and fend off what they could. Where tye perished from over exerting themselves, failing and being obliterated by what they tried to stop or being picked off by power hungry mortals, they left treasure troves of soul crystals to be claimed by the quick, be they curoise or conniving.

summary

The dead have a civilization of sorts up in the blue now. Garna-tenth, recently resurrected, gets taken to see an orca race by Kabarna whom she knew before the giant was killed near the end of the Sartravarian war. She learns that the dead have been recording/learning everything they can from each other, writing it and storing it all future reference.

Then the meteor shower happens and Cerule, Azura, Luis and the dead all team up to skeet shoot some rocks.

All across the world Alma get to use their laser ability to also shoot rocks. Some die due to falling rocks or exhaustion leaving them vulnerable.

Quest. Acquire Soul crystals. Either learn to harness their power or stop others from doing so until they can be retrieved.

The Windweavers

Start: 10 Prestige
Spent: 1 Prestige spent to aid the gods in shooting down space rocks
Earned: 3 Prestige (minor role, major role, quest)
End: 12 Prestige

mp summary

Start: 13 FP 7MP

Lightning dome 1 fp
Epistemology 1 fp
History 1 fp
Archiving 1fp
Writing in the verse 1 fp
SPORTS 1 fp
Verse based construction 1 fp
Verse based writing 1 fp

Wind magic tool crafting 0
Tonnikala riding/teamwork/taming 0
Mass wind bending 0

End: 5 FP 7MP

Portfolio progress:

Birds (9/10)
The Verse (6/10)
Resurrection? (7/10)

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 1,192 ( +2)
Bowser: Level 5 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////// (29/50)
Bowser Jr: Level 3 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (29/30)
Kamek: Level 3 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (16/30)
Location: Morgensloft Field, the Land of Adventure
Directly interacting with: @Stekkmen @Simple Unicycle @Lugubrious

“Is this one?”

”No”

*poof*

“How about this?”

”No”

*poof*

“this?”

”No!”

*poof*

“this?”

The bored looking Magikoopa perked up at the sight of this latest in a long line of minions queuing to have their findings examined ”yes!” he shouted before grabbing the bundle of rhubarb from the Goomba

*poof* went the striker, it’s task completed.

Into the sack of plant it went, which was getting rather full of what they needed thanks to the Koopa troop casting a wide if agriculturally illiterate net as the minions performing periodic sweeps of the forest as they traveled through it.

By the time the troop met up with Torra and Poppi the forest team had collectively gathered most of the plants they’d need from there and were heading to the mentioned location of the wheat they needed. As they exited out of the forest they found a lot more than they bargained for.

”Didn’t she say it was ‘wild’ wheat? Because this sure don’t look wild to me.” Jr said as they took in the golden sea surrounding the idyllic farmhouse and picturesque windmill.

”If it means more noodles for us I'm not complaining” Bowser declared before stomping forwarded and, with a sash of his mecha mitt, cleaving through the neck of the farming staple with its glowing blades. Both severed heads and broken stems immediately caught fire as if the still unsated weapon was spitefully spitting upon the very idea of being used as a gardening implement.

”NO WAIT STOP GAH!” Bowser yelled at the fire before violently stomping the crap out of it. The two smaller Koopas simply flew after Tora and Poppi as they descended into the golden forest.

Upon arriving on the other side the pair landed and dismounted from their respective mounts to investigate the dead rat with the others. Jr poked it a few times with the end of his paintbrush but the body remained lifeless as before.

”That seems like the most logical explanation.” Kamek said in response to Poppi’s theory of it being a relic from before the cataclysmic merger of worlds ”The skeleton mounted on the large truck still existed after all so perhaps Galeem simply took the deceased bodies as part of the landscape. As for the ashes, perhaps it was the work of the scouts who Mina mentioned finding these fields?”

There was a heavy thump as Bowser joined them, having leaped across the field in fits and bounds in an attempt to reduce the damage to their soon to be acquired harvest.

”Huh. Dead body.” Bowser commented as he joined them. There were a few moments of silence before Kamek changed the subject.

”So. Seeing as we are going to be here for a while I was thinking I could pop back to town and use the teleporter to see if i can get us a hunter from the other team? Or at least a hunting weapon. We don't exactly know where the rest of ours is at the moment, and they seem rather disinterested in” he suggested.

Bowser made a contemplative noise before nodding.

”Excellent. I shall return post haste” the wizard said before taping his broom to the earth and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

”Remember to watch out for the!” jr began to warn the old wizard about the state of the dead zone before he vanished. ”dang.”

”He’ll be fine. Come on let’s get to it.” Bowser ruffled his son’s hair and then headed for the tool shed. Inside where a variety of farming implements, the correct ones for the task at hand being pointed out by the robot.

By this point bowser had at least partially gotten over the embarrassment and indignity of being a plant gatherer and so the king took up a great scythe. Before getting to work he began to increased both his own and its size to get the job done as fast as possible.

Jr meanwhile, left in the shed after the others stepped out to get to work, had other ideas. ”I can put up with the whole foraging thing but farming? Really? A boy of my talents? Not on your life.” he complained to Mimikyu after summoning the Pokemon from its pokeball. ”So we’re going to go exploring and find all the wheat without having to do any work.. It’s a farm, they gotta have some cut down and store somewhere,”

The undead mouse impersonator did not understand exactly what the boy was on about but got swept up in his enthusiasm regardless and cheerful followed along after him as he wandered off.

”Jr!” came the call from a now rather large Bowser wielding an equally large scythe. ”Don’t wander off on your own!”

”I’m not. I got Mimikyu and my minions! Sides I’m just going to check out the windmill! Its like 5 meters away” the boy pointed up at the tall bladed structure near where the farming was going on before continuing on his way.

The king himself sighed before snapping his fingers and summoning Sledge and Mallet. ”Go keep an eye on Jr” he ordered them. As the pair scrambled off to escort the prince Bowser turned to his fellow reapers and attempted to make idle conversation.

”So… Who’s Pyra?”

---

”Hello, I was wondering if... Oh bugger”

After informing a passing Centurion of the location of the farming party Kamek materialized far away in the middle of a warzone just like Jr had.

In the Dead Zone the zombie hordes were closing in around the hero’s vehicles at the command of some hulking four armed brutes. There was shouting and screaming and a friendly skeleton and it was all too much for Kamek to take in all at once.

The old wizard immediately mounted his broom and took off skywards to get a better view of the battlefield. As he flew up he chanted ”One, two, three, which is the real me!” before a large burst of smoke engulfed him. When it dissipated there were now 5 Kameks instead of the one, and non where in the same place as the mage had been when he cast the spell.

With height and illusions gained he felt safe to take in the situation, and what he saw was quite the mess. Everyone looked to be in quite the pickle and so the mage had to make a quick decision of who to help. The van was being swarmed but had a lot of people guarding it. Jak was hurt and vulnerable yet had Ratchet leaping to his aid. Gene meanwhile was out on his own and surviving only thanks to a power that was rapidly fading before Kamek’s eyes. He needed the most help and was simultaneously in the best position to capitalize on that help and turn it into a victory.

With a spin of their wands all 5 Kameks unleaded a blast of colored shapes at one of the suffering before casting his enlarge spell on Gene, rapidly growing him till he stood as tall as the hulking brute bearing down on him.

”Whoa there you monstrous guys, pick on someone your own size!”

World of Light

The Koopa Troop

wordcount: 3,110 (+3)
Bowser: Level 5 EXP:////////////////////////////////////////////////// (27/50)
Bowser Jr: Level 3 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (27/30)
Kamek: Level 3 EXP: ////////////////////////////// (14/30)
Level 5 Tora - (11/50) EXP and Level 4 Poppi - (10/40) EXP
Location: Land of Adventure: Canyon Forest

The female Baurun nosed around the forest with the rest of the herd. Occasionally it used its tusks to dig up plump root vegetables but mostly it was gorging itself on herbs, berries and other easily accessible nutritious plants. Out the corner of its eye the boar like creature spotted something red and shiny moving. Its eyes darted to the movement only to find an apple now laying in the grass some way away from the other swine. The delicious, and normally inaccessible treat. The Baurun nonchalantly wandered over in the direction of the fruit so as to avoid alerting the others of the existence of its prize. Once there it carefully edged closer to the fruit, jaws opening wide to grasp it when suddenly.

*boom*

The pig startled at the distant explosion, flinching away from the fruit just in time to avoid having its skull pierced by a long energy claw that came spearing its way out of a neary bush. The extended finger remained pointing at the Baurun for half a second before it squealed and hurriedly backed off.

”oh come on!” Yelled bowser jr as his head popped out of the bush, which was followed moments later by Kamek and Bowser’s heads. ”Stupid stupid explotions!” he continued, but any additional complaints were drowned out by the rapidly increasing sound of hooves pounding dirt floor.

”I recommend we flee” Kamek suggested, before taking his own advice and turning tail. The two royals were hot on his heels as the Baurun herd rallied to defend its attacked member, becoming first a trickle and then a torrent of muscle and fur that stampeded after the turtles invading their home.

”Useless minions, left us with the hard job,” The rather small Bowser breathlessly bemoaned as he rapidly fell behind his two flying relatives as broom and clown car they weaved through the dense trees before escaping out into the open air.
”Almost. There” he grunted to himself before the horned Baurun smacked into his back. Armored shell and forward momentum kept him in once piece, but the king was nonetheless ejected from the forest rather than escaping it.

The king tumbled out of the woods flailing wildly before a clawed hand stabbed into the ground, arresting his rolling exit and he began to grow rapidly, dark magic and enlarge spell gripping his body now that he was free of the cramped forest. He quickly enlarged to a size where he dwarfed both the Baurun and trees alike before roaring angrily at their pursuers. The buff swine seemed unimpressed. This was, afterall, the third time they’d chased the koopas out of their home and they would not be leaving the safety of the forest any time soon. After a bit of snorting and hoof stamping they returned to the woods while the king struggled to control his temper.

”Remember to refrain from using your fire Sire. we’ll need the plants un incinerated after we handle the Baurun. So the last thing we want is a forest fire.” Kamek reminded his king from where he hovered. Once the swine left he lowered his wand and released the spell he had caste upon Bowser.

”I know” Bowser growled as he shrunk back down.

”and we can’t just demolish them all because we need undamaged sprites”

”I know!”

”Gah! we’ve been at this for ages” jr complained from his clown car, leaning back in frustration with his nose to the sky. ”and whoever keeps blowing stuff up ruined every plan you had” He paused for a moment to think before declaring: ”So I’m gonna go deal with that instead of wasting any more time!”

The prince pushed himself upright, grabbed the controls of his car and turned it up and away, flying towards the canyon.

”Young master it’s only been 5 minuits! Have more patience, we’ll think of a winning plan soon enough” Kamek called after him before sighed and pinching the bridge of his nose.

”Come on.” Bowser grunted, before stomping off after his son inorder to make sure he didn't get hurt by whatever kept blowing up.

Up and ahead jr had flown down into the ravine, following a rough path down its side a ways underground. After a minute or two, he discovered what he was looking for. He had not only found out what was making the explosions, but he had found two of their minions(Tora & Poppi), one of whom was being followed by a strange cubic four legged green creature with a very tall torso. Seeing an opportunity, and missing the fact that Tora was leading the creeper rather than being chased, jr pressed down the control stick of his clown copter and swooped in to the rescue.

As he approached he flicked one of many switches on its control console, causing a single arm to extend out one side of the car. Rather than the usual boxing gloves or more dangerous power tools this arm instead had the Synapse living rifle mounted on it. Or, perhaps more accurately, growing on it.

”Take this!” jr cried as they tumbed a trigger on the control stick, causing a series of wires running along the arm to pull the flesh trigger of the gun without having to handle the disgusting thing. A beam of lightning shot out, streaming wildy through the air as Jr struggled to aim his new lopsided weapon setup. Rather than being properly focused on it’s target the continuous electrical beam slashed across the creeper several times before it ran out of energy and needed to recharge. As the meat gun was pulled back into the clown car it became clear that rather than being harmed the monster seemed to have had absorb the energy, being engulfed in an ominous Blue aura.

”Uhhhh. I meant to do that!” Jr insisted as he hovered there unhelpful.

Though somewhat surprised to be joined by an unexpected ally at this juncture, Tora and Poppi appreciated his help, right up until it became clear his efforts hindered rather than helping. At first Tora thought that Junior was merely mucking up his work, unaware of his strategy, but when the creeper lit up with crackling electric power, it became clear that the Koopa’d done something much worse. “Uh oh meh,” the Nopon said, raising his shield and hunkering down behind it. Poppi responded by going full throttle, glowing gold as power surged into her Masterpon’s defense, and just in time.

KOOOM!

The charged creeper detonated with a deafening blast, throwing Tora and Poppi back like a football and a bowling pin. Their defenses mitigated the damage done to them, but the surrounding environment wasn’t so lucky. So enormous was the creeper’s explosion that, when the dust cleared, a circular cavern a couple dozen feet in diameter had been carved into the surrounding stone. Now looking more than a little worse for wear, Tora glanced around blearily. “Urk. Is Poppi okay?”

Pulling herself out from under him, the artificial blade nodded. She looked less than pleased, as though she’d seen this exact event coming from a mile away. When she turned to glare daggers at Bowser Jr, however, she found herself distracted by the wealth of ores and gems lying about on the ground, including a few her team had yet to encounter.

Tora noticed her silence and followed her gaze. Poppi noticed and turned away, but it was too late. With a look of vindictive glee on his face, the Nopon scurried over and scooped up a green crystal in his wing. He held it up to the light filtering through from the ravine and watched it glow a beautiful emerald. “Meeeh, so pretty-pretty,” he said, grinning as he started to dust himself off. “Tora call that job well done.” A thumbs-up went Junior’s way. “Littlepon very big genius!”

”Heck yeah I am!” jr replied proudly as he hovered down to the crater to inspect the riches revealed.

”Young master are you alright!” Kemek called as he caught up with the prince.

”Yeah yeah I’m fine.” Jr waved kamek off while another picked up one of the crystals.

”Turns out all the explosions where the marshmallow blowing himself to dig stuff up.” he explained as he examined his prize

Jr looked at the green glowing stone thoughtfully, then began tossing it up and down as he looked at the crater, then at another of the green monsters lurking in the distance and then finally at Kamek. A grin split his lips while he rubbed his hands together.

While the prince had been scheming his father arrived, stomping across the canyon floor to join the group. The king took a moment to take in the scene before flicking a hand towards Tora and Poppi. Heel the Rabbid materialised on his shoulder, rna down his arm and then hopped down to scrub away their very mild injuries with a few bursts of healing energy from its backpack.

”What’s going on here?” the king asked as his minion worked its magic.

”I’ve got a way to rake in the ore and gems fast as lightning!” Jr announced triumphantly.

---

Whatever alien thoughts a creature that existed only to explode where interrupted as the creeper was splattered with ink. With a hiss it turned to face its attacker, finding a floating vehicle with two arms sticking out the side. One had a super soaker filled with a black liquid while the other was engulfed in an organism that suddenly blasted it with lightning.

Whether it was pleased about the fact that it became supercharged by the attack or was even aware of the charge was unknown. Nor was it clear if the face jr pulled while sticking his tongue out at it registered at all but it began to chase after him regardless.

The living mining explosive successfully supercharged and baited jr turned his car towards the nearby cliff face. Atop it, hiding behind a pile of rocks, hid the rest of the party. As the sound of jr’s heli car came closer bowser and kamek’s heads popped out behind their barricade.

”Hit it!” the king commanded and the mage obayed

”cats eye and rotten fungus, this spell will make you humongous!” Kamek waved his want in a circle and then sent a blast of magic down into the canyon towards the creeper. After a couple of heartbeats it struck the creature.

For a moment nothing happened. Then the creeper began to grow. And grow. And grow.

The determined stroll became a series of thumping stomps as it continued its way through the new tunnel towards them.

Tora and Poppi’s eyes grew wide. Having collected the last of their ores and crystals, they fled as fast as they could. Poppi took off once she had enough headroom, flying out of the hollowed-out zone to hover in the open space of the ravine. She extended a hand, and Tora jumped to take it before the two boosted upward to a safe distance.

”Goombart! Now!” jr yelled as he joined the party, landing his flying cart behind the rocky formation and joining them to keep an eye on the proceedings.

At his command a lone goomba scurried out from where he had been hiding in an earlier created hole. “Hay! Hay! I’m walking here! Look at me! Hay” the unlucky goomba striker shouted at the titanic walking bomb as he changed its side and tackled it’s now massive leg.

“Hay you lanky Bobom wanna be you wanna go!” the goomba yelled as he picked himself up before seeing the creeper looking right at him.

“Hiss” went the creeper, its green flesh pulsing white

“Ho boy”

Once, twice, thrice, went the flashes, growing faster and brighter each time. Yet the fuse was also burned down more slowly and far more ominously than a normal sized creeper would have done so. While the prince and mage watched the impending detonation with manic yes bowser grabbed them both, pulled them down behind the rock and wrapped his arms around their protesting forms, placing his shell and the rock between them and the creeper as the flashes became a blinding strobe light.

KABOOM!!!!

The ear-shattering noise heralded the arrival of a cataclysmic explosion. Tons and tons of stone turned to dust, filling the tunnels, the ravine, and finally shooting out into the forest itself. It took a good while for the dust to begin to settle, and when it did, a hundred-foot diameter sphere had been hollowed from the rock. Water, stained gray, pooled in the bottom, collecting the resources displaced by the blast. Not only metals and gems, but a few spirits gathered together there, accidental byproducts of the devastation. There were bats, underground goombas, slimes, more slimes, and a strange creature. As the air continued to clear, Tora and Poppi returned, Poppi’s jets causing some billowing as she arrived. Her sack of materials was at the ready, and she went to work. Tora, however, waved the others over first. “Meh meh meh! As exciting as that was, Tora not think we should try again. Is more than enough goody-goodies anyway.” With that he joined her, hurriedly stuffing stuff into his sack. The koopas went down with them. While the others picked through the rubble for loot Jr summoned his squads of koopa troopas and goombas to hurriedly gather up as much of the goods as possible for him, the minions dump them into the clown car's interior while the boy himself absorbed the blue goomba sprites to add them to his army. Some worrying rumbles continued well after the blast’s shockwave would have died, and the Nopon suspected that what remained of the ceiling might not be holding up for much longer.

His suspicions proved correct when the ceiling began to shed. At first, only little pieces fell down, but soon chunks began to rain as well. Tora looked up, only to get bopped on the head. “Ouch, meh! Time to go!” He flung his sack over his back, turned tail, and rushed back toward the way leading up. Poppi and the koopas followed behind with goods in tow.

They made it with only a few moments to spare. Enormous slabs of rock and dirt smashed into the ground behind them as they ascended, leaving the cave-in behind. Noise filled the air, and tremors the earth, until an entire section of the forest itself collapsed into the ground, trees and all. Granted, plenty of forest remained, but the manmade disaster still rattled the heroes through and through. Panting, Tora wiped dust from his eyes and brushed it from his feathers. “Meeeeeh. Tora not think simple mining job get so big or dangerous.”

Poppi eyed the koopas and their accompanying sorcerer. “We are thankful for help, but help so dangerous that Poppi cannot condone. Please be less reckless.” Still, she bore a weary smile. “Did smith ladies also send to mine?”

”No way that was amazing!” jr replied as he began sorting through the assorted loot his minions had gathered. An unfortunate amount of the items where regular stones but there were still plenty of goodies.

”It was perhaps a touch excessive.” Kamek admitted sheepishly as he dusted off his robes. None of the koopa troop were concerned about the unnatural disaster they had wrought in the slightest, but the cave in had been a bit too close of a call for Kamke’s tastes. A small bag of sprites gathered from the crater hung from the front of his broom which he picked through as he explained that ”We were mostly passing by during another quest. We’re doing some work for the guild in town, trying to get in their good books so we can use their knowledge and contacts to track down the area boss. To do so we and the rest of the team are doing quests to climb their ranking system and reaping some quest rewards in the process.”

The mage picked the quest cards out of a pocket and showed them to pair.

”we need to do two of these before they condone us going after the ‘Terror of the plains’ quest. The saurian it mentions might be a guardian of Galeem, or it might just be a strong miniboss. Either way it’s a good way to gain influence in the area while powering up in the process.”

”We came here to the forest to do part of the ‘Food for the hungry’ Quest. There's quite the extensive grocery list involved that people are handling into various parts of as they come across them.” kamek explained as he began crushing the cave slime sprites, fishing for the slime gelatin item on the list. ”but we came over here to investigate the explosions. Then helped out seeing as the ladies left their quest with the guild.”

”AND BECAUSE NEEDING TO USE ’PRECISION’ TO TAKE DOWN THE BEASTS IS A PAIN IN THE BUTT” Bowser complained while the hammer bro’s picked through the massive fistfuls of materials he had brought up out of the crater. ”I’M NOT BUILT FOR PRECISION! I’M BUILT FOR CAUSING DEVASTATION!”

”That too. The boar and bull like baurun have been proving quite the tricky opponents to take down properly” Kamek explained.

The news left Tora and Poppi thoughtful. “So to hunt, need precision?” Tora confirmed.

Frowning, Poppi said, “Not our strength, either. In fact, of all of former friends, masterpon and Poppi probably least precise. Primary output is blunt force, after all. If only friends Morag or Zeke were here…”

A sigh escaped Tora. From time to time his friends escaped his mind, but he never really forgot. Rex and Pyra, Nia and Dromarch, Morag and Brighid, Zeke and Pandoria...how much longer would it be before the lot of them reunited? The urge to resume his search struck him, but he had a duty to uphold. Since Bowser’s group helped with his quest, he needed to return the favor. He put his mind to the task, reviewing the grocery list handed to him, and after a moment of consideration said, “Would be best to use lance or arrows. Or firearms.” A glance at Kamek’s bag prompted a third idea. “Maybe break spirits until we get one. But no, meh. Precision take skill too. Better to get plants and eggs and things, then find someone with right skills to tackle beasts.”

Everyone concurred, and split up to scrounge the forest for less-mobile goods. Even with the cave-in, the ravine provided a good chance to drum up cave commodities like mushrooms, and the field of wild wheat waited to the forest’s south whenever the crew moved on.

loot

Troop crushed 5 cave slimes, 2 metal slimes, 1 cave crawler and 1 creeper sprites and aquired:
Slime Ball x6
Gooey, bouncy, sticky, edible? Is there anything slime isn't good for?

Bottled Experience
A glowing tincture of distilled knowledge, muscle memory, and familiarity. It tastes like aged blood, sweat, and tears, but if it grants 3 EXP, does that really matter?

Cave Crawler Skin
A sturdy, water-resistant hide that can be prepared with salt and tanned it make high-quality material

Bomb
Heavy, but can be rolled around a little. The fuse lights itself once it's dropped, and it will only blow up when the fuse runs out, not on contact. Good for blowing up rocks and opening sealed doors