Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.
Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.
@Lugubrious You posted right in front of me fucc XD I can edit mine tomorrow, I'm a bit tired rn so my post might look dodgy towards the end, as I almost fell asleep while sitting up numerous times >_>
Crud, sorry about that! Talk about bad luck. Don't worry about it, I should have waited. In the mean time though, you might consider taking out the content of the post to refill it once the additions are made.
Revelations, realizations, twists, and reveals--I hope you all enjoy my latest update.
And with that, welcome to the party at last, @CAWs For Alarm! I'm sorry it took so long to get you in. If there's anything I can do to help -questions to answer or details to provide- please don't hesitate to let me know.
Level 3 – (5/20) EXP Location: Peach's Castle - Bridge Word Count: 409 (Only Tora portions counted)
A few moments passed in stunned quiet as the heroes looked on, which the King's ego gladly took as affirmation of his terrifying presence. Some of them, Linkle in particular, seemed eager to find whatever they could to distract them from the blazing behemoth before them. What happened to the puny thing that fell out of the mobile home didn't concern him; he only cared so long as the unidentified flying object in his airspace made for good sport. One by one, however, the interlopers began to rouse themselves. Their individual chatter, directed at one another, surely constituted nothing important, but Megadragonbowser did end up fixing his attention on his more ordinary counterpart. As odd as having two Bowsers might be, the King seemed to understand immediately, and when the smaller of the pair voiced a bewildered question, his superior cracked an ugly smile.
”NO, IDIOT. I'M YOU...THOUGH IT'S NOT SURPRISING YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE ME. YOU WOULDN'T KNOW VICTORY IF IT NAILED YOU IN THE FACE!”. Megadragonbowser pointed a claw at him, laughing in thunderous derision. ”HAHAHAHAH! THAT'S WHAT I AM, AFTER ALL! ALL YOUR LIFE YOU'VE PRETENDED AT BEING A KING, A VILLAIN. A FATHER.” With a snort, the King lowered his arms. ”AND NOW A HUSBAND? YOU DIDN'T EARN THAT RING OR THAT CROWN. ONLY THE MOCKERY AND PITY OF EVERYONE YOU KNOW! IN THE OLD WORLD, OUR VERY NAME STANDS FOR ENDLESS, POINTLESS FAILURE.”
A great thump rang out as he beat his fist against his chest. ”BUT HERE...I AM THE KING! I RULE THIS PLACE WITH AN IRON CLAW, WITH SUBJECTS SO LOYAL THEY FIGHT TO THE DEATH FOR MY AMUSEMENT! A LOVING SON, AN OBEDIENT WIFE, EVERYTHING I WANT...MINE! AND MY OLD RIVALS? ETERNAL SUFFERING IN MY DUNGEONS. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A REMINDER OF OUR SHAME.”
Looking very pleased with himself, Megadragonbowser crossed his arms before turning his attention to the Courier, staggering out in a crazed stupor. His words were honey in the King's ears, and received immediate reinforcement in the form of additional fighters supposedly offered to him as tribute. As the King watched, Bastion and the savage Lakelurk materialized behind 6, provoked by his offering to exist once again, even as transient Strikers.
New Striker Gained: Bastion An Omnic built as a mindless battle-drone but somehow possessed of sentience and feeling. Curious, inquisitive, and usually cheerful, Bastion still suffers from a PTSD-like affliction, prompted by certain warlike stimulus to flicker to the soulless killing machine he used to be. As a Striker, he can manifest to lay down covering fire on the move in Configuration:Recon or shift to Configuration:Sentry to lay down a brief but devastating barrage of chaingun fire. If not used for enough time, he can also manifest in Configuration:Tank to unleash explosive shells on the move
and: Lakelurk A territorial and highly aggressive mutant snapping turtle. It is nothing more than an animal, but can still be commanded in battle as a Striker. Its vicious claws can rip into unarmored flesh in a series of rushing slashes or after a pounce. It is more maneuverable in water, which is also where it can belt out a sonic pulse to stun enemies
However, Megadragonbowser was no fool, and a perceptive monster to boot. He recognized in an instant the third 'ally' the Courier awoke, and gnashed his teeth. ”HOW DID HE GET OUT...? he murmured, though even a whisper from the giant shook the air. While 6 made a convincing performance, the newly-awakened Mario did not beat about the bush, instead cracking his knuckles before starting to move forward. His voice Megadragonbowser heard quite keenly. Yet, this came only as confirmation to what the King suspected from the first.
That said, he decided to play along a little longer. A young woman engaged in a thrilling dance, weaving eye-catching magic as she span and swung around. After a few moments of this Megadragonbowser raised his hand. ”ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT. I DO LIKE THE DANCE, AND I'M ALWAYS DOWN FOR SOME MORE PAWNS, BUT I FEEL LIKE THAT WALKING BLUNDER THERE GAVE YOU THE WRONG IMPRESSION OF ME.” He chuckled, then tapped a claw against his temple. ”I'M NOT STUPID. I SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING, BUT EVEN BETTER, I SEE THOSE EYES OF YOURS. WINDOWS TO THE SOUL, THEY SAY...AND YOURS ARE DARK. SO IF YOU DON'T MIND, LET'S CUT THE ACT AND GET TO THE PART WHERE I MAKE YOU INTO PASTE!”
Orange energy surged through MDB's body as he reared back, preparing to unleash a mighty roar. Before he could, however, the air shimmered, and from the disturbance appeared something new, appearing for all intents and purposes to be floating, limbless, gloved hand.
The bizarre entity floated beside the King, making him jump. ”...WHADDYA YOU WANT?” he snarled. In reply, the entity closed into a fist, upended itself, and spread its fingers again. In its palm was an ordinary toad, sporting the usual sunset-colored eyes, but clearly agitated. He ran down one of the entity's fingers and leaned over to say something to Megadragonbowser, who listened with an annoyed look. ”HUH. OKAY.”. He relaxed, straightening his posture, and addressed the heroes once again. ”SOUNDS LIKE I HAVE SOME PESTS RUNNING AROUND IN MY CASTLE. ONCE I'M DONE EXTERMINATING, MEET ME IN THE THRONE ROOM. IN THE MEAN TIME, MY BUDDY HERE'S GONNA ENTERTAIN YOU.” With a sneer, he turned around and pushed through the castle doors. Still panicking, the toad jumped down off the hand and ran after him, leaving just the entity behind.
While bearing none of the outward aggression or grandeur of Megadragonbowser, the snow-white entity harbored its own, more subtle menace. It gave a nonchalant wave. After that, a strange sort of voice could be heard, coming not from someone's lungs but from manipulated vibrations of the air itself. ”Seekers of restoration, you have demonstrated strength. But you do not yet understand the scope of your mission. It will leave you hollow. It will take all you have to give, and then more. And in the end, you will give your lives.” The entity snapped its fingers, and around it seven objects appeared in flashes of colored light. They floated down onto the bridge and tapped, gently, against the stone. ”It is never too late to give in. The light waits patiently for your embrace; you need only turn away. In this paradise, you can live with your friends and families once more. But if you continue, your hearts will be broken before you even reach that King. Behold.”
One after another, the objects popped in bursts of color and shattering sound. In their place appeared seven figures: a diminutive robot, different from those that came before; a pistol-toting man in blue; a young man in caster's clothes with squinted eyes; a somewhat unremarkable dude in a cap; a shirtless maniac with a grenade launcher; a scrappy-looking teenager flanked by a scary machine; and...
“Poppi!” Tora almost fell forward in shock, his dark eyes wide and his mouth agape. Among the red-eyed arrivals stood someone he recognized, a machine with a human face. He expected -and in fact hoped more than anything- to see her again, but not so soon, and to witness her under Galeem's influence left the Nopon shaken. When he looked into her eyes, even at this distance, he could see no trace of his dearest creation and companion.
The entity remained as dispassionate as always. Another snap of his fingers, and an unnerving red-and-black aura surrounded the seven. ”These spirits will not attack unless you do, but they will not move from this spot. If they do fight, they will do so with three times their usual resilience and power. If you do not embrace the light, you will die here, or be forced to kill them. This is the first toll to pay.”
Falling silent, the entity allowed its words to sink into the heroes and be struggled with.
Not far away, Ratchet echoed Tora's despair, perhaps even worse. The Lombax understood the situation, the choice that lay before him, and found himself unable to make it. How could he take the life of his partner and best friend? Compared to that, letting Clank kill him seemed like the better option. But his choice wasn't the one that mattered here, and the others couldn't be trusted. Sure, his party pulled out a couple wins against mindless enemies, but this...? Even if Clank could be freed, what guarantee was there that the others would do so? Images of Zer0 gunning Clank down, or the fat guy blasting him apart with his shotgun, or Bowser crushing his little body underfoot flew through Ratchet's head. The group's survival meant Clank's death.
But Ratchet couldn't accept that.
Nearby, the Master of Masters remained distracted, prevented from pondering the dire situation thanks to the goings-on with Roadhog and Hat Kid. The cloaked man placed himself between the Australian and the girl, saying, “Hey, lighten up, would ya. That was you half an hour ago. I'll just free her the same way I did you.” His hidden face turned toward the entity and its summons, with their dangerous aura. “...If I get the chance.” So split was his focus that he didn't notice what was going on with Ratchet until a golden gleam surrounded him. When it faded, the Lombax's eyes shone with the same off-putting luster as his friend's. The Master of Masters practically toppled over in surprise. “It's that easy!?” he cried. He watched, speechless, as Ratchet ran forward toward the seven guardians. One of them, the short robot, leaped into his arms, and the two shared a hug while the others looked on, deadpan.
Remembering Tora's dismay, the Master of Masters cast a wary look his way. The Nopon looked downright distraught; one could tell just be looking at him how tempted he was. An overwhelming urge to do something filled the Master, but for all his wisdom he didn't know what he needed to do. After a few seconds he drummed something up; no matter how tempting the bondage, these people needed to be free. He spun around and pointed his keyblade at Hat Kid, who shook in fear at the weapon's jagged edge. The Master of Masters, however, shook just as badly. He was tired and confused, and while he knew that the girl should be friend, he hesitated. “I have to do it,” he whispered, his voice startlingly unsure. “Even if I disappear again...I have to.” Taking a deep breath, he prepared to strike at her bound heart.
Before he could, a bright pink heart flew over in an arc and splashed against Hat Kid. In in instant, the influence of Galeem melted away, like snow in springtime. When she blinked in surprise, her eyes were bright and blue, no longer the scared red of a cornered animal. The Master of Masters looked toward the source and found Tora, breathing heavily, but still one hundred percent himself. “Hah! Tora have strong heart, can same thing that drunky druggipon did.” Forcing a smile, the Nopon turned back toward the entity and its minions, and cried, “There is answer, stupid hand. You give hard choice, but being hero means making hard choice. Even if seem impossible, Rex-Rex would find way to save friends, not give up for fake paradise.” He pointed a wing finger at his Blade. “Just a little longer, Poppi! Masterpon coming to save you.”
Whatever conclusions the others came to, either before or after Tora, the entity appeared unmoved. Without another word it snapped its hand and disappeared in a flicker, leaving the heroes with their dilemma—fourteen versus eight times three.
A great first post from @Dawnrider. That just leaves @Stekkmen, @Star Lord, @Old Amsterdam, @Stern Algorithm, and @Delta44. A post is not required, of course, but if you haven't said anything yet and aren't planning to this time, please do let me know so I don't wait needlessly.
While Arthur would have had no qualms about stepping up to the plate if Mieke's anxiety got the better of her to tell her tale, the girl piped up with what happened to her without any prompting. The sudden, more active shift in personality spoke of a strengthened resolve, maybe as a result of her acceptance of her Stand, which made the mustached man glad. Of course, it also meant that he lacked any material to cover for his completely uneventful excursion. Once Mieke finished, he gave a helpless shrug. "Soorry, boss man. Neither Hogan nor I found anything of interest while traveling around. No signs, no users, no nothin'. Better luck next time, hmm?"
Having spoken his piece, he took another glance at the stranger. Bugsy did not strike an imposing figure, though that meant little in the world of Stands. The fact that he came along quietly, with neither resistance nor coercion, did much to alleviate Arthur's initial worry about a supernatural epidemic turning ordinary people into crazed killers. Then again, it could just be luck; it would not do to let his guard down on future assignments. Arthur looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers, imagining the brilliantly silver skin of his Stand appearing over it. Aside from its rather frivolous use during lunch, he hadn't used Space Oddity's ability in quite a while. Maybe that was for the better; an ability like his, with potential limited only by his imagination and quick thinking, could be absolutely terrifying or frustratingly useless. That said, he did look forward to his next chance to give it a whirl.
Man that post took a long while. I will be making a profile for Mario soon. His first power that he'll start off with will be Fireballs.
Btw, Lug, can you remind me again how XP distribution revolves around collabs? Im guessing anyone involved gets the same amount of EXP depending on how long the post is?
Geez that's a lot of text! And that first part just over the cutoff, too. I guess the breakdown would be 3 for Bowser and Mario from the collab, 1 extra for Mario for the followup, and 3 more for Geno because of the prelude.
The two of you might consider a less-is-more approach starting sometime soon, going for quality (things like using the active voice, no typos, and fixing grammatical mistakes) over quantity. Conciseness is a valuable trait.
so, now that I've levelled up, I get to pick a new power? I'm not sure what kind of power level it should be at.
Right now my working idea is that he can use a special ability called Phalanx to give an overshield to everyone in the same battle as him, giving them more durability. I'm not sure by how much. In the game, Phalanx doubles teammates health across the entire map for like thirty seconds. So, if you time it right, you can save a teammate by giving them an extra 100 health or something. But timing isn't really possible here, lol.
So I'm thinking it's an ability that gives everyone like, a shield worth 50% of their health for the rest of their battle? Or maybe it allows them to take like, a big hit for free? Or I can only target specific person has more health? I'm not really sure. But the base idea is that somehow, I would like to give my teammates some extra protection against damage.
You do get a new Power, or a new Strength. Trouble is, I wouldn't use numerical values because there aren't any values to begin with. In this case, Phalanx could be adapted to something that makes more sense for the character. Maybe this: when in defensive formation with the Centurion, allies gain an overshield that prevents injury until it itself is depleted by incoming damage, the shield able to take a couple middling blows or a single solid one. Since it would be a flat amount and not scale with the target's vitality, it would be best on squishier allies.
Quick question: since Blazermate merged with the spirit of the Engineer does that give her any insight into why he and the robot rodeo were fighting with the rabbids?
Nope. No form of fusion involves inheriting memories.
Hm, I had expected Bowser to call the boss to be an impostor or something rather than getting reflective.
oh shoot, was I supposed to be handling their duration? I guess I'll be paying for that by not having them around for most of this boss battle then. or was that a warning that you'd be poofing them?
There's no numbers to crunch, you should just be having them out for shorter bursts at a time. Do it more than way and you can still use them in the near future.
@Lugubrious I just realized, how does Blazermate breath now?
With her respiratory system! Her lungs aren't very large, but they're there, with the oxygen they process keeping that engine of hers in top shape. Air could easily move through a vent behind that facemask.
Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.
Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Current GM of World of Light. When it comes to writing, there's nothing I love more than imagination, engagement, and commitment. I'm always open to talk, suggestion, criticism, and collaboration. While I try to be as obliging, helpful, and courteous as possible, I have very little sympathy for ghosts, and anyone who'd like to string me along. Straightforwardness is all I ask for.<br><br>Looking for more personal details? I'm just some dude from the American south; software development is my job but games, writing, and trying to help others enjoy life are my passions. Been RPing for over a decade, starting waaaay back with humble beginnings on the Spore forum, so I know a thing or two, though I won't pretend to be an expert. If you're down for some fun, let's make something spectacular together.</div>
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