Current
Now running: World of Light: The Tale of the Dark Itself
4 mos ago
Forever and ever, amen
8 mos ago
Calling out from Scatman's world
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like
10 mos ago
Called into action - by threats that seem harmonized
1 yr ago
Tomorrow comes
Bio
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 I just read your recent post, realizing that the Grineer were referenced. Has Clem showed up in the Spirit list yet? If not I'm tempted to have him be my final character. All he say's is "Clem" or "Grakata", lmao I love how WF has trickled its way into the RP.
Although there were ample reasons to be careful about barging straight into the lion’s share of the distorted gallery, the Phantom Thieves would not be dissuaded from their course, and they were glad for the extra assistance the two women elected to grant them. Primrose’s magical dances, as learned from prior experience, would continue to give them a vital edge in battle, and they’d already caught a glimpse of what the versatile Tool Gun could accomplish in the hands of an amateur. That Jesse would be capable of providing even greater utility, Joker did not doubt. In a brief but almost ceremonious series of motions the dancer equipped her new trinkets, including a mask that made her fit right at home among the Phantom Thieves and left the bare-faced FBC director as the odd woman out. Nevertheless, the entire group -masked and unmasked alike- made for the grand double doors at the far end of the courtyard. The vivid eyes of its swirling peacock feathers stared ruefully down as the intruders as they pushed their way inside.
The minute they stepped into the Museum of Vanity proper, their senses were assailed by the sheer quantity of gold, even in the entry hall. Whether light or dark, be it patterned in staggered squares on the wall or three-winged spiral on the floor, whatever the shade, it was one lustrous color. From countless hanging banners on the walls the goatee-wearing face of an old man stared out, smugly satisfied in his accomplishments. Neither Primrose nor Jesse recognized the Japanese symbols on the banners, but the Thieves evidently did. “Ugh,” Panther groaned. “The only talent that old coot ever had was ripping people off.”
“Stay on your guard, guys.” Mona warned. “We’ve come a long way since this palace but I’d bet you a boatload of sushi it won’t be just how we remembered it.”
Loosening his shoulder, Skull noted, “It’s gotta be in its own little world at least. So we’re free to cut loose, right?”
Joker nodded to both, and at a brisk run, moved forward into a lobby filled with multicolored couches arranged on diagonals among potted plants. Naturally it took only a few moments to run into security. Around the perimeter of the room a few tenebrous, masked guardsmen conducted a semi-professional patrol, pacing along specific routes. There was no sign of any ordinary guests, but on a couple of the couches an equally colorful batch of Tantroni, Suspicioni, and Contrarioni appeared to be in the midst of a heated argument, so the art adorning the walls went unappreciated. If this was anything like he remembered, Joker figured he wouldn’t see anything but Shadows inhabiting this place. On the left and right of the lobby slanted square doorways led in either direction, but a triple row of lasers blocked both.
After a moment's consideration, Joker veered toward the right. “If Madarame has a painter like Fox captive doing his work for him in here, it won’t be out in the open,” he declared. We need to get behind the scenes. Look for staff doors.” While most attention lay on the contentious oni in the middle of the room he led the way to the right. A guard reached the end of its path and turned to head his way, but the dextrous thief darted into cover. How exactly it would conceal him baffled common sense, but somehow he managed to practically disappear into the thin shadow cast by a potted plant, as far as the patrolman was concerned. Even when the guard passed within inches of his shadow it never seemed to notice, as if some supernatural force concealed Joker from its sight or it was just that laser-focused ahead, and it marched right along. Once clear Joker dashed out and made for a vent in the wall, which boasted a conveniently accommodating size. He crouched down and pulled on the grate, but rather than swing open it gave a terrific metallic sound. He winced, knowing it would draw attention. “Difference number one. Vents are sealed.” He glanced at Jesse’s new Tool Gun. “Unless…”
But moving to the next chamber would have to wait. Not only did the two guards come running when they heard the disturbance but the three oni did too. When the monsters ran up the guards melted into pools of shadow, only to reform into a Demon Nut that dragged itself across the flawless floor on muscular gray arms, and a hunting wolf spirit Makami that floated through the air. Together the five monsters faced the six interlopers, letting loose a variety of taunts as they prepared to give them a warm welcome.
In the relative dryness of the open seabase door Nadia forced herself to try and pick the lesser of the evils presented to her. Although absent for the conversation with the black-coated stranger on Inkwell Isle and only tangentially informed by a couple offhand remarks, mostly from Sakura, she got plenty of bad vibes from the Maw all on her own. As best she could tell it was a ship that behaved more like a submarine despite its nonsensical enormity, roundness, and construction. It rounded people up, if the ‘Guests’ that the rather too smooth-sounding Tyl Regor differentiated from the evidently pride-inducing ‘Tubemen’ could be called people, but for what purpose he did not let slip. In fact, his mention of tubes and laboratories made it sound as if he’d raised these waddling things like livestock, which maybe accounted for them being so identical? If Nadia didn’t know better, she would have called them clones. Either way he seemed happy to trade them away as part of some unknown arrangement, and any transaction that involved living beings made Nadia remarkably disinclined to trust either the taker or the purveyor.
That, however, led right back around to the original problem: however sketchy these options were, the team would need to at least confront one of them. Arms crossed and lips pursed, Nadia drummed her foot on the metal floor as her tail swished back and forth. By now she felt pretty confident that her team could handle most any foe thrown at them, but from within the hazardous confines of enemy territory deep below dangerous waters? What if another huge sea monster just decided to bash against the Maw or whatever pipes and structures might be down there? Nadia shivered as the cold wind blew across her wet skin, but not just because of the chill. She decided to listen to what the others had to say.
Leaving Shippy and the Abyssals here would be nice if it worked, but it struck Nadia as irresponsible. “We’re not just gonna leave ‘em here to rot, are we?” she asked. “Plus, is it really safe here? Given the size of this place it’s gotta have a ton of dudes, and even those drunks had weapons. Tyler Gore or whatever his name was could have a field day with ‘em.” It was then that Sakura let fly a few details she apparently knew about the Maw, which soured Nadia’s opinion on the dubious craft even further. “Human sacrifice?” she repeated, bewildered by the sheer laughability of it. No way. No way in hell. And even then she felt only a small portion of the hatred of it that Geralt seemed to. “Pass!”
Bella considered the options given to her, from the practical to the absurd. The very idea of staying put or going home made her unhappy, since that meant turning back on both her newfound friendships and conviction to sulk off somewhere in aimless inaction, all because she couldn’t walk. No. Determination manifested across her features. She wanted to stay and fight the good fight, whatever the risk. But how to achieve that? Kamek’s idea gave her mixed feelings. “Shrinking?” Her mind instantly wandered to who might carry her and how, and her face reddened. “Well. If there’s no other options, then...I’m okay with that. But I’d rather go under my own power.” Bella clenched her fists. “I don’t want to sit around or run away. I can’t just do nothing, knowing you all are out here risking your lives for the sake of everyone. So however I can, I’m coming with you. Even if I have to crawl across the ground, or have my tail drag me.” Her attached leviathan swung around across the surface of the deck with a heavy creaking, as if to show it was more than big and strong enough to get Bella wherever she needed to go.
“There may be another way,” Peach suggested. She held up the Abyssal spirit taken from link, as well as the unclaimed spirit of Chicago. “Both of these spirits could walk. The Abyssal interfered with Link’s ability to do so, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll affect you the same way, and it might be enough to bring you up to par.”
She steadied herself as Bella practically lunged for her. “Please, then! I’ll take them both. As long as I can stay!”
Peach glanced around for any opposition, but there wasn’t a lot of argument that could be made against the Seaplane Tender’s heartfelt plea. To Bella’s relief the princess nodded, saying, “Go ahead right after we wrap up discussion, then. No need to get off track with a lightshow.”
By that time the conversation had taken a violent turn as the party considered employing force, both against the sealab below and against the Maw that loomed so innocently nearby, swallowing the Guests that toddled up its plank one by one. Sakura dismissed negotiation with Tyl in favor of beating her way through the gauntlet of underwater strongholds, while Bowser had a mind to commandeer the Maw. Nadia weighed the possible conquests. “Well, if we’re gonna fight our way, I’d say we’ve got better odds with the lab than that munk of junk,” she declared, twitching an ear at the Maw. “Even if there’s more goons down there and it takes longer, chances are they’re in the same ballpark as those jokers on guard duty. Technology can do some pretty crazy crap, but I’d take a techy place over a magic ship any day of the week. That thing just feels cursed.” She couldn’t boast a sixth sense capable of picking up on such things, but trusted her guts that the Maw was just no good.
Then the idea came up of bypassing both the sealab and the Maw to cruise right over the ocean aboard the Atomos. As much as Nadia liked the idea of just nope-ing right out of this whole dilemma, she somehow doubted that such an approach held water. “That’d be too easy,” she grumbled. “I mean, I’d love it, but no way it’d be that easy. I bet we’d get a mile before some gale-force wind swats us down or sea monster grabs hold.” She rubbed her head with a nervous laugh. “Well, I’m not tryin’ to be paranoid or anything. If you think it’ll work, I’m not gonna just go off on my own. But things always seem to go wrong when people decide to waltz down easy street, right? Like karma, or something.”
Bowser’s proposed assault on the Maw aside, it seemed as though everyone wanted to avoid the hungry vessel at all costs. As far as Nadia was concerned, that made for a pretty clear preference, unless people really considered a skip aboard the Atomos as a karmically acceptable option. She wasn’t about to declare the matter settled, though. Instead she watched as the eager Bella took in the two spirits at once, and transformed in a swirl of light.
Notable spirit consumed & spirit absorbed: Chicago and Light Cruiser Tsu-Class Bella has gotten a bit leaner, with her complexion slightly off-white, but her bust is much larger. Her eyes are split between bright blue below and bright orange above, like a sunset over the sea. Her now platinum blonde hair is shorter, reaching only her shoulders and coiling into ringlets in the front, and atop it she wears a big black skull cap with large teeth on the front. She has a heavy, black metal collar complete with rivets as well. Her sundress has split into a two-piece skirt and halter top that exposes most of her midriff, both white with a few black stripes on one side and a black star on the other. The black metal integration of her tail extends up her spine all the way to her neck. Her shoes/leggings are now rubbery red thigh-highs with wedge heels, but her gloves are enormous gauntlets of mixed red and black with an attached cannon battery apiece. In terms of personality Bella can be colder and crueller, but is also generally more flirty. These spirits confer the Powers Arm Battery, which grants the use of arm cannons, and Land Rover, allowing terrestrial locomotion. They also confer the Weaknesses Cold Below, which amplifies Bella’s Abyssal monstrosity, and Construction Time, reducing the effectiveness of healing on her by 75%
Level 9 Tora (10/90) Level 8 Poppi (79/80) Location: Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon Cistern Red’s @TheDemonHound, Laharl’s @Dark Cloud Word Count: 4537
After leaving the Vizier and the queen’s court, Red continued to follow along with the rest of the group. Big Band continued to come along too which she wasn’t really opposed to. The detective was definitely an interesting man from the looks of it and, judging by his comment to Poppi, had a body and soul inside of him somewhere.
After reuniting with the other members of the group in the market and helping acquire some provisions, they finally meet with Validar’s Grimleal. They entered the temple and it certainly matched the same ominous aura that the vizier himself gave off. At this point it was pretty much set in stone that Validar and his group were not exactly good people, this all seemed very cultish and she’d seen enough of those to know how that goes. The lieutenants didn’t seem to really help with that notion either. A very sinister looking man, a guy that looked like he just crawled out of a grave and a rabbit lady that rivaled Band in size and rivaled Red herself in being ready to take action.
Now normally, Red would take this job regardless of her employers motives. As long as the money is good she doesn’t care what cause she fights for. But now, she was in a group. And she was planning on sticking with them so she decided she’d go with their decision, whatever that may be or whatever moral compass they followed. She didn’t have much to say in the talks especially after hearing how stingy they were with intel (a very big red flag from an employer) so she let Fox and the others take the lead. Which due to the morals of the group took a downward spiral and they ended up leaving and reconvening at the train station for more discussion on how to handle this fun new problem of theirs. Which seemed to be trying to get the resistance's side of the story after tracking them down, but doing some jobs for more coin in the meantime.
Red was gonna see about possibly tracking down the mimic or even the strange thief before Tora came up and asked if she’d like to help deal with the rat problem. “Eh, why not? Sounds like it’ll be some good practice till we get going.” Plus if she was going to travel here she might as well start learning about the other group members instead of just sticking to Midna like glue. What better way to learn about someone than fighting beside them?
'What better way to prove my superiority than fighting with some idiots.' Laharl thought to himself as he eavesdropped on their conversation, that job sounded like a walk in the park and although he was a prince he would do anything to prove he could handle anything even if he had to get his hands dirty. So he approached the crimson hooded mercenary and the Nopon, clearing his throat to get their attention. But since he hadn't announced his intentions earlier, or even cemented himself as part of the group, Tora and Poppi had already gone, and Red after them.
His mood immediately soured, it was one thing to be left behind once but more than once was annoying despite mostly being his fault. Laharl heaved an exasperated sigh as he watched Red disappear round a bend, but he wasn't going to simply let the three go do the job he wanted to do. No it wouldn't do at all to pass up his chance to prove himself capable to lead or at the very least deserve a bit more respect from the others.
So he set off in the direction he could see them heading as he quickly picked up his pace, following the group from behind at a short distance before finally making himself known halfway to the cistern. Laharl sounded exasperated, panting from trying to keep up with the group as they weaved their way through the streets of Al Mamoon. So after a few moments he shouted to get the group's attention "HEY! HEY! DAMN IT WAI-" he was suddenly cut off as his foot snagged his scarf and he tumbled onto the hard ground swearing and cursing his luck, most of his language was quite unpleasant to hear.
Tora and Poppi stopped in their tracks, turning to see the boy that accompanied the group from Parnasse. After sparing her Masterpon a glance Poppi jogged back toward the fallen demon. She came to a stop standing above Laharl and paused for just a moment. This moment marked the first time the two interacted, and Laharl's own ornery nature aside, he was reminded why now more than ever; in her third form Poppi unwittingly managed to cater exactly to several of his weaknesses. Of course, despite her hesitation at his anger she couldn't let a hurt child just lie there, and stooped to offer him her help. "You okay? Need hand?"
He had been about to open his mouth to say something, no doubt rude and derogatory but Laharl couldn't utter anything other than a panicked yelp as he scrambled away from the extremely attractive and heavily endowed robot "N-no don't touch me!" he sounded fearful of Poppi, and as Laharl got up slowly he never let his sights off her "I don't need a hand, I'm a demon!" he said as though it were enough to dissuade her from nearing him, and to those perceptive enough Laharl's body language was nervous and erratic.
Poppi blinked, confused. "Oh. Okay." Sighing inwardly, she could only conclude that she just wasn't equipped to deal with this kid. For the sake of future interaction she made a mental note that 'demons', whatever those might be, did not need hands, then left Laharl to his own devices. Tora shrugged as she returned to him, just fine with writing the ornery boy off, and the two went on their way.
Laharl brushed himself off, still shaken a bit but able to retain a bit of his composure enough to return to being a nuisance but not as much as before. He took a measure of precaution to stay away from Poppi and Tora, opting to take his place by the mercenary's side without a word between Red and the boy as they made their way to the cistern.
The walk into the cistern was otherwise mostly uneventful. Red walked a foot or two behind while the fur ball, evidently named Tora, and his robot companion, Poppi, talked about a few different things. Mostly it seemed to relate to the world they came from so she listened but didn’t add anything. Though she did start getting a bit closer when Poppi used her ice abilities to cool Tora down. She kept her skin completely covered at all times so while she was used to the heat she’d take any relief she could get. When Poppi noticed, she was only too happy to offer Red some diamond dust as well to mitigate the heat that the mercenary’s heavy garb worsened for her.
As Laharl walked with the mercenary he wondered exactly why Red was garbed so heavily, as it made little sense to wear such things in a place such as this. But he assumed she was likely hiding something under the folds of her crimson cloak, something she had to hide. Undoubtedly she was not human, but she would make a perfect demon if she were one.
Unlike the others the heat didn't seem to bother him, his upper body was bare to the elements and the warmth was a welcome sensation that reminded Laharl of the fiery planes in the Netherworld. He would do anything to feel the fires burning around him and to hear his vassalage grovel at his feet. Laharl sighed wistfully at the reminder of his current situation, it was unfortunate indeed that he was a mere boy to these people but soon enough they would see his true colors.
For now he would just listen to their conversation as it continued down into the sewers below, for now there was simply no point to say anything to the others as it seemed words wouldn't prove anything to anyone.
When they finally arrived she was happily surprised to see that it wasn’t some disgusting sewer like she had assumed it would be. And that it was actually kind of pleasant. “Couldn’t help but overhear you two talking about your homeworld on the way over here and I was curious. I heard you talking about Titans or something? And I was curious what the two of you are since I highly doubt either of you are humans.” Red asked the basic questions to the pair as they started looking around the sewer systems for the reported rat problem.
The trio made their way through the ancient cistern at a comfortable pace. With the ample lighting illuminating every corner they could see any potential threat coming from far off, unless something happened to appear from the water, so Tora happily took the extra travel time to tell his inquisitive new friend all about his home. “Yes yes, meh. Tora and Poppi from Alrest, a world that’s one big Cloud Sea. Everyone live on of enormous, super-gigantopon called Titans. They come in all shape and size, walking on four legs or two, or flying over or under cloud sea. Tora live on Titan called Gormott, in city of Torigoth. Until Rex-Rex recognize Tora potential and bring on amazing adventure, that is!” He struck a proud, dramatic pose to make sure Red caught on to how cool he was.
Poppi patted her Masterpon’s head. “Tora is Nopon, and Poppi is Artificial Blade created by Tora. Most Blades come from core crystals, but Poppi come from metal, circuits, and hard work of Masterpon.”
“Meh, meh. So many many days’ hard work...” Tora recollected in a hollow tone. He shuddered and shook his head. Poppi raised an eyebrow at him, and he hurried to stick on an addendum. “All worth it, of course! Tora is engineer and inventor, just like daddypon Tatazo and grampypon Soosoo, and Poppi is Tora’s pride and joy!”
“Aww~!” With a big smile Poppi reached down and scooped Tora up to give him a big squeeze before setting him back down again. For his part, her Masterpon looked rather ruffled and indignant. However much he liked Poppi, it seemed, he did not like being picked up.
The trio made their way across a small bridge and down a curved hallway away from the central cistern chamber, which Tora guessed went in a big loop. He couldn’t think of anything else to say about his own world without getting to extraneous detail, so he turned the question on Red. “What about you, meh?” he asked her. “Friend Red not look like human either. Looks cool but fierce and primal. Like Wulfric!” He remembered the monstrous blade Zeke awakened during the course of his group’s journey, before Galeem. Tora chuckled, his tone somewhat teasing. “Maybe Red big softie on inside like Wulfric too?”
“A sea of clouds huh?” Red could only imagine what that could look like. Endless rolling clouds with apparently giant creatures that acted as countries. “Man all of you guys are making me jealous. You guys and Midna both come from worlds that sound better than mine.”
Tora definitely seemed to be the confident type judging from his actions and speech. Very willing to brag, and if Poppi wasn’t here to counterbalance that she might’ve found him annoying. Though it seemed he had some reason to brag as he created Poppi who seemed to be fully sentient despite also being completely robotic. The only sentient machines they had back in her world had to have someone’s brain put in them. Or at least, that she had seen. Of course that ban on human-like machines made the possibility very unlikely. “So you’re a scientist or engineer of sorts? Definitely useful to have on a team, I'll give you that.”
Eventually the topic transferred over to her which she kind of expected. Though it caught her off guard that he was able to pick up on the fact that she wasn’t human so easily. With his technical skills and now this it seemed that weird speech pattern of his was not indicative of his intelligence and she felt a little bad for assuming so. “You’re right on the mark there. I’m not human, least not anymore.” She debated for a moment wondering if Tora and Poppi would react negatively to her history but figured it’s best to just rip that bandage off like when she told Midna. “I’m something called an Abnormality. Which is basically a really vague term used for a bunch of different monsters that they kept locked up in a facility deep underground. And I had the good fortune of being one of those monsters.” She gave a dry laugh in that last sentence to indicate her sarcasm. “And no, don’t think anyone in their right mind would consider me a softie. Though if you’re comparing this Wulfric guy to me he definitely sounds like someone I’d like to meet.”
Although not the best judge of emotion, Tora picked up on a little of Red’s surprise at him realizing she wasn’t human. Well, humans didn’t have yellow eyes or that sort of charred-looking skin, did they? They again, it occurred to him that she might just be the victim of some horrible accident, and felt a little bad. Luckily for him the mercenary didn’t dwell on it, but instead shed a little light on her world.
She spoke of a clandestine facility for the secure containment of monsters, and of a nebulous ‘they’. Sounded like classical horror or conspiracy material, and not what one expected to hear as someone’s backstory. Poppi looked mournful. “Poppi sorry Red went through that. Locked up in cell somewhere sound like no way to live.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Tora agreed. “Red not seem bad. Probably just misunderstood. People make judgments too quickly, meh.” He stopped, turned to the mercenary, and held one wing over his own chest. “Take Tora for instance. Lots of people look at me and think, aw, cute little Nopon. Funny little team mascot.”
Poppi poked him. “That inaccurate?”
Red couldn’t stop herself from laughing a bit. These two really were innocent if they assumed she was misunderstood after she admitted to what she was. Though she did give a very vague description and it probably was best not to burst their bubble on that. She liked being given the benefit of the doubt like this for a change.
Brushing at his companion’s prodding hand, Tora admitted, “Well, it not totally wrong. But point is, people not take seriously. Nobody look at Nopon and think can be hero. But here Tora is!” He raised a wing into the air, clenched in triumph.
Poppi raised her own fist half-heartedly. “...Hunting vermin?”
“Meeeh,” he sighed. “It just small part of hero journey. We almost to mountain, after all. Soon we have three bosses under belt!”
Crossing her arms, Poppi continued onward, and her Masterpon followed behind. It was about time they got down to business, after all. “Let’s not get ahead of selves. Tora not beat big baddypon if get eaten by rats,” she told him as she went.
“Rats?” Tora looked amused. “Tora beat up ratties any day of week!”
“Hey, every job is a job that needs doing.” Red interjected. “It may not sound particularly hero like but it’s still helping people. Plus we’re getting paid so all the better.” She spoke as she began poking around some of the tunnels. Who knew a supposed rat infestation would be so hard to track down.
They continued to circle around the loop, finding a number of tunnels that led off in different directions. All were too small to allow easy access, so going down any would be an arduous ordeal even without the water flowing the other way--water that Tora could not guarantee the cleanliness of. Instead he looked at the runoff for any traces of an infestation. He spent a while moving along, focused on the streams of liquid, until Poppi tapping on his shoulder made him look up. “Meh? What is it?” When he looked at her she said nothing, but pointed ahead, and when Tora peered that way he realized his searching had been in vain.
Up ahead a black, tarry substance had spread from one of the tunnels to stretch across the main corridor, coagulating into weblike masses and clumps dotted with vile-looking yellow crystals. Near it, verminous creatures writhed aimlessly, and a wriggling, crawling horror suffused by black corruption squirmed on the ground.
Tora blanched. “Meeeh!?” he gasped, disgusted. “What is that? It look infectious!” He pulled out his Variable Saber and turned it on. Its energy beam sprang to life with a vibrant bwowm. “Poppi, switch to fire core. We burn it right out.”
Seemingly in response, however, the corruption shifted. In the middle of the mess a glowing yellow eye opened wide, and it took only a moment to fix on the newcomers. The entire mass seemed to groan, and both the Shadow Vermin and the Crawler became alerted to the exterminators’ presence. Tora steeled himself, wishing it had just been rats all along, and moved in.
And then Tora and Poppi found some sort of strange corruption of sorts. Red smiled under her mask as she looked up and readied her weapons. “But this job just got a lot more interesting than a few rats.”
First things first, she noticed that the corruption on the wall seemed to have some sort of control or communication with the creatures around it so she decided to pour a few bullets into the eye that opened up amongst it. Of course that was no excuse to ignore the minions coming at them too. After being satisfied with the several bullets she fired off she ran after the biggest of them, the horror, and leaped up to bring her axe down on what she was hoping was the creature's head.
A guttural shriek rang out, not just from the eye but the whole mass, as Red's bullets plunged into the orb. A putrescent ocher ichor splashed across black corruption and stone floor alike as the eye squeezed shut. Rather than wait for Tora to take point, however, she threw herself past the rotund guardian to challenge the biggest and most hideous of the verminous spawn. Her axe slid into the crawler's big, rubbery, slimy fore-tentacle without much resistance and parted it from the hole, but if this abomination even had something that she could classify as a head, the fore-tentacle wasn't it.
Laharl had been silent the whole time as he had followed the group through the darkness of the sewer system, now however he couldn't contain himself "Uhahahaha!" the boy laughed loudly drawing attention to himself, a wicked grin dancing upon his expression "I've squashed dissenters more despicable than whatever you are!" Laharl assumed a fighting stance with his fists held forth before the swarm in front of him, then with a flash his fists ignited with the light of burning hellfire before the tide of vermin.
PWR LVL: +0%
Behind Red, Tora grit his teeth. This was just like back in Parnasse, with the damage-dealers plowing straight into the action before the tank could grab the enemy's attention. This time, however, there wasn't just a single notable foe he could jump in front of and block, but a number of small, potentially contagious monsters that now surrounded his companion. He couldn't spray fire willy-nilly either, lest he scorch Red herself, but he could quit bellyaching and get to work. Tora waddled after Red as quickly as he could with Poppi right behind to channel ether, sweeping aside the vermin with his flame-wreathed energy blade. Its concentrated burning power torched the little freaks in small swathes, allowing Red to worry about just the wretch in front of her.
Unafraid of the risk, Laharl threw himself at the mass of vermin with a sweeping motion of his fist burning several of the vermin caught in the trails of flame his punch delivered and dispatching the creatures that were struck by his blow. One by one each foe that fell to his attack fuelled his power, drawing strength from the defeated vermin. His flames grew brighter and his eyes burnt with determination.
PWR LVL: +100%
As Tora entered the fray and covered her from the tiny creatures coming up around her. She nodded in appreciation but wordlessly returned her focus to the battle at hand. No matter what impression Red gave off normally during a fight it was clear she always put in all of her effort.
Though she didn’t anticipate what that creature would pull out next.
The crawler in question had flailed its tentacles like heavy whips in an effort to drive Red back toward its kin so they could take her by surprise, but since Tora and Poppi had her back it made its next attack personally. The awful thing reared back into a snakelike position and pulled back its lower membrane, and what Tora saw made him gag. Its entire underside was a vomitous conglomerate of corruption and small, malformed humanoid bodies, scarcely larger than children, and mushed together like sardines. With empty sockets and twisted, yawning faces they stared at Red, limbs weakly waving, and then from the crawler's underside spewed a cloud of nausea-inducing poison.
Laharl seemed unfazed by the vermin biting him but he had to force himself backwards away from the cloud of noxious poison that suddenly spilled from underneath the crawler, he gritted his teeth annoyed by the sickening smell it created. Kicking a few vermin aside with a low growl the boy, clenched his fists tightly as he readied himself to dispatch more of the smaller vermin.
Fortunately his wounds were minor and he was quite resilient to the poison the smaller vermin inflicted on him, so he kept swinging and burning vermin to a crisp while the others dispatched the bigger threat however one still remained...
The crawler's grotesque appearance didn’t bother Red as much as it did her companion. She’d seen far worse creatures back home for this to bother her but that poison gas was gonna cause some problems if she didn’t get out of there. She laid a few rounds into the bottom of the raised-up monstrosity as she scrambled to back up, holding her other arm in front of her face to try and limit her contact as much as she could and hoped the effects were minor.
She backed up to Tora as much as she could. “If you’ve got any good ways of keeping its attention I can get around behind it where that gas will hopefully be unable to reach and I’ll lay into it hard.”
As the mercenary fell back, Tora went in. "That Tora specialty! Here goes!" With the Variable Saber outheld he span around the poison cloud, scorching more of the lesser vermin. Once in range he raked the despicable crawler with a series of fire strikes. He strafed around it to avoid counterattack as he swung, swung, paused, swung, swung, pause, until the foul odor of burnt flesh stung his nose. The crawler did not burst into flame and none of the damage he dealt appeared to be definitive, but he was doing his job. Red could take action unimpeded.
Perfect. Tora was providing just the opportunity that Red needed, plus he was surprisingly good in a fight too. With the distraction In place it wasn’t too hard for Red to get around to the back of the eldritch creature and hopefully avoid the noxious gas. And with this opportunity she practically leaped onto it and started slicing into it as hard as she could, tentacles be damned. If she could get it bleeding then all the better.
A furious barrage of hacks and chops carved chunks from the crawler, whittling it down piece by piece. Even if the freakish thing could have come straight out of a nightmare, it was still a creature of matter at the end of the day, and not an especially quick or durable one at that. The pieces continued to twitch and squirm long after Red parted them from the whole, but soon enough she'd dealt enough damage that the leftovers could inflict more harm. She got off light in comparison, with only a few lashed cuts and a minor poisoning, and Tora fared about the same albeit with a little extra poison in his system.
Still, Tora and Poppi remained alert. The small fry continued to attack, jumping at the intruders in their domain to try and pierce them with stabbing tendrils. With her mechanical reflexes and inorganic nature Poppi lent Tora a hand, and when the pair got enough meter, the Nopon passed the Variable Saber. "Burn away corruption!" Tora called, and Poppi went in. Wings extended from her back as she jetted around, transitioning between fiery slashes and shotgun blasts of concentrated heat. Her assault seared the black corruption, which shrieked and shrank back, until the main eye bulged wide from the pain.
'Now it's time to prove yourself.' Laharl watched the eye, it's pained look a delicious sight for him to take in 'I'll enjoy this so much.' he thought to himself with a malicious grin. Without a second thought he launched himself at the eye with a running start, his fist leaving a trail of flame as he struck the eye with a lethal blow.
The corruption howled as the boy's fist sunk into the eye, his combined heat and strength bursting it in a shower of murky yellow viscera. All around, the black slime scorched by Poppi's efforts retreated. It relinquished the stony ground, stained by its foul presence, foot by foot. A victory--or so it seemed. Tora noticed with furrowed brows that the corruption didn't seem to be dying, but instead retreating. A moment later the oozing darkness fully withdrew into a shelter that lay hidden until now, buried beneath the mass, and as the corruption filled it the heavy stone body began to rise. It heaved itself from the cistern walkway and into the canal with a tremendous splash. A bulky construct of carved stone, dissimilar to the slender metal guardians employed by the Grimleal and out of place with the style of Al Mamoon as a whole, the Corrupted Custodian still loomed over the pest controllers from the canal, corruption weeping from its eyes. Tora's own were wide open in surprise, and he barely rolled in time to avoid an overhead slam that cracked the ground. He slashed at it with the Variable Saber, but the blade of flame did about as much damage as it might to an actual boulder. "Tough customer! Need Poppi Alpha." He warned the others, but as Poppi changed to her defensive form in a whirlwind of ribbons and sparks the Custodian raised its arms to smash the others flat.
With a clear destination in mind Primrose and Panther made short work of the streets between them and the museum the lady thief now knew to be the one from her memory. Sure enough, as it drew near, she found herself staring up at those decadent blocks with the same contempt she felt back then. “Like that pyramid, this gallery -this Palace, really- was born from distorted cognition,” she explained to Primrose as they jogged closer. “This one belonged to a man with a legendary reputation as a painter and mentor, but we found out the truth: that he plagiarized the works of the young students he took in, stealing away their futures. So if we see an old man in a golden robe, don’t be afraid to beat him up!”
After finding the main gate stuck fast the pair came to a momentary standstill. On either side stood crowds of ordinary albeit panicked-looking people, those within eager to get out and those without eager to help, but no amount of manpower seemed able to dislodge the door. Rather than contend with the throng the two hung back by the wall, where a boost from Primrose’s handy Hippowdon got them up and over into the museum’s side garden. For the sake of mobility Panther changed into her Phantom Thief attire upon landing, then hurried toward and around the main building.
They reached the central courtyard just a few moments after Jesse returned Mona’s head to its rightful size, and thus arrived to see the masked feline jumping for joy. It set a jovial mood that instantly put Panther’s worries at ease as she glanced around everyone gathered. Mona, Joker, Skull, and Necronomicon all accounted for, though something was a little different about the alien spaceship she couldn’t quite put her finger on. The last person was a redhead, but as much as Panther missed Futaba, there was no mistaking this woman as both an adult and a stranger. She held a device that took Panther a moment to identify as a weird revolver, but if the others didn’t seem to mind, neither did she. “Hey guys!” she called as she jogged up, waving. “How’s it going?”
“Heya, Panth! Prim!” Skull greeted as the Thieves and their acquaintance turned to face the new arrivals, though for now Skull had eyes for Panther alone. “Whoa, I like the outfit. Makes you look like some kinda priestess.”
Panther laughed. “Oh, is that so? Well, if you’ve got any confessions, I’ll hear ‘em out!”
“H-huh? Now?!” All of a sudden Skull looked a little flustered. “Ain’t that something better said, uh, in private, or something?”
“What?”
“Save it. We’ve got a couple things to take care of, including a job to do,” Joker announced, getting his group’s attention. “First, just to get you two up to speed, we managed to catch this criminal-” He tilted his head at the old scientist, who gave a thin smile. “And apparently he’s worth a whopping thousand gold.”
Panther’s just dropped and her eyes shone. “You for real!? We’re rich!” She wiped the stars from her eyes and composed herself. “And I mean, that’s awesome. I think miss Midna mentioned that bounty, but I never thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell we’d find the guy.”
Thanking Panther with a smile, Joker continued. “Second, this is Jesse Faden, and she was just asking about, well, things.” He then addressed Jesse face-to-face. “And yeah, there’s something strange going on. The world has been engulfed by distortion, a spell placed over every soul. I won’t blame you if you don’t believe me, but that includes you, too. If you want to see the light, I’m afraid we’d have to beat the curse out of you. But that can come later.” He turned until he faced the second part of the Museum of Vanity, its much bigger, opulent, and distorted portion. “Before we do anything else, we Thieves need to search this place. I’ve got a strong suspicion one of our own is trapped here. You can take this man to the palace and hold onto the reward for us if you like, or join us inside while Necronomicon keeps hold of him.”
“So that’s why you came here,” Panther ruminated. “You’re trying to find Yu-, uh, I mean, Fox.” She nodded, eyes determined beneath her mask. “I’m in! If there’s even a chance he’s in there, I’ll gladly go through it again.”
Skull pounded his fists together. “Hell yeah! Let’s leave Madarame a few bruises while we’re at it!”
“Looks like it’s unanimous,” Mona announced as he regarded Jesse and Primrose in turn. “How about you two? Coming with, or heading out?”
When it came time to buckle down and solve the conundrum of the mimic, Sectonia used her newly-gotten knowledge of the area, her own unique abilities, and her royal wit to concoct a simple and effective strategy. It was a sound plan, and one that would have met with eventual but guaranteed success if not for one tiny problem she overlooked, which naturally revealed itself mere minutes into the mission.
As Sectonia lounged around at the outskirts of the operation, awaiting results an antlion returned to her with a long-eared merchant in tow. Even from this distance the irate look on his face was apparent. It took only a moment to spot and identify the big bug that must obviously be in charge of the rest, and the merchant hurried her way. “Hey, these are yours, right? What’s the big idea, sending these things barging into warehouses, hitting all the crates? They’re private property!” he warned her.
Provided the wasp queen promptly went ahead and explained what she was doing, the merchant raised an eyebrow. He took note of both her confusion and her unfamiliarity, taking her to be an outsider, so he crossed his arms and explained. “I guess you must be new in town? Well, ever since the so-called Resistance started pillaging, some Ruin Sentinels got sent over to guard the warehouses. Unauthorized entry provokes them, see? And if the intruder doesn’t leave, they attack. So unless you want your bugs smeared over the cobblestones, you better call them back!”
Trying to shake off the dread that crept over her when she thought of traveling deep underwater, Nadia refocused on her surroundings. Like her the others were trying to figure out this unfamiliar structure and consider the options that lay before them. Some, of course, found it tougher than others. By now Nadia knew she should already expect that, since Geralt came from a time totally devoid of modern technology, he couldn’t make heads or tails of the great shaft at the low point of the seabase. After Sakura tested the acoustic qualities of the pit in a rather endearingly childlike way, Nadia gave the Witcher a hand. “Oh, it’s just an elevator, I think. They’re handy devices that can move ya up and down inside buildings. Just stand on the platform, press a button, and down you go!” she told him. “Just make sure ya hold on, ‘cause this one seems pretty dang unsafe and if you fall off, well...you’re shafted!”
Back toward the main group, discussion briefly turned away from the path ahead to who the heroes might leave behind. From the team lunch Nadia knew that neither former Abyssal, or Link now for that matter, could move around that well on land. Logically speaking Peach could just take the Abyssal from Link, but that hardly solved the whole problem. Shippy, of course, couldn’t even leave the water, much less fit down that elevator shaft.
The same line of thinking occurred to Peach, who preceded Bowser back into the rain. She made for the living vessel, who currently struggled to stay close to the dock without striking it, and waved for the attention of her figurehead. “Hey! “Scuse me! Although we really appreciate all the help so far, there’s a chance we might be able to cross the Bottomless Sea by going beneath. Do you think you’d be able to make it back to Limsa on your own?”
Shippy considered the question seriously. “Maybe. I can avoid any danger I come across, but I would have trouble defending myself if it came to that.” After a brief pause she gave a suggestion of her own. “However, I think I can go underwater myself. I haven’t done it yet but I’m pretty sure I can, since I was given an Abyssal spirit. Although, since it’s only a little Abyssal in me it would be pretty slow, and my composition may not be suited to the water pressure.” Peach took the news into account, but did not expand her options. Monster-infested depths were not something to brave with a shoddy submarine.
Meanwhile, the Koopa King and his Hylian helper had approached the zonked-out guards with a mind to wheedle some information out of them. Nadia watched from the threshold of the seabase so as to put off getting drenched again, and could not help but snicker as Bowser went through an increasingly forceful gamut of methods to wake the two up. Finally, right after he resorted to light slaps, the pair jolted awake to freeze in alarm beneath his glare. With the authority of a man in charge Bowser berated them and their performance, then added a threat to report their misconduct to their supervisor. He spoke and acted with utmost genuineness, but when he relented to await their response, he was taken aback by what they said.
Both babbled their replies in totally unknown languages. The Grineer at least spoke in words, albeit alien ones, but the Scuttler just made indecipherable gurgling and honking noises. Neither seemed eager to try and reach for the small melee weapons, a cleaver and a club respectively, that lay at their feet, but what they told Bowser didn’t exactly help either.
After a few moments of this, a mechanical noise sounded out from behind Nadia, making her jump. She glanced over to where Jr and Sakura fiddled with the terminal’s less-than-perfectly labeled controls. “Nice, you got it working?” But the sudden activation came as much of a surprise to them, which put Nadia on alert. It looked like the confusion with the guards would need to be shelved for the time being. “Uh oh. Guys, someone’s comin’ up!”
She took a few steps back from the edge of the elevator and raised her claws in a fighting stance. Peach readied her weapon and got into position. When the lift arrived a few moments later, it leveled with the floor moaning under the combined weight of a bizarre load of passengers. Rather than jump into a fight, or even move forward at all, the group huddled together for safety, naked fear on their flabby faces. The tension ebbed from Nadia’s muscles as she straightened up. These things didn’t look like they could fight even if they wanted to. They were uniformly about five feet in height and almost as wide as they were tall, pitifully obese mockeries of people with sagging, sallow flesh. For more reasons than that, however, she did not feel comfortable calling them ‘human’. Though there were more than a dozen Nadia could only count three distinct varieties, two bald males and one female with a drab brown bun, and those of each variety were all uncannily identical to one another.
“What are you doing here? Who are you people?” Peach tried asking them, but the strange people only grunted and groaned. Like hogs. The elevator platform creaked beneath them.
A whooping noise went up from a device mountain on the wall and a screen lit up to show an unknown figure in molded sea-green armor that matched the styling of the structure. “Whatever is the matter?” he questioned in a deep, bassy voice. “We haven’t got all day, so get a move on, you...oh?” The yellow lenses in his helmet refocused on the Seekers in the hall. “Well, well, well. As if today wasn’t special enough already. Who might you be?”
Peach hesitated for a moment, but kept in mind everything the others had said. She needed to avoid every fight possible and reason with everyone who seemed at all reasonable. “I’m Princess Peach, and this is my crew,” she told the stranger, borrowing a nautical term. “Who are you? What is this place?”
“I am Tyl Regor, and this is my sealab. But my business here is my own. What do you want?”
“We’re trying to get across the Bottomless Sea to challenge its boss.” Peach Peach kept her tone as polite as she could as she asked, “Would it be possible for you to grant us safe passage beneath the waves?”
“Oho, are you now?” Tyl drawled, sounding amused. “Well, that may be difficult. I am but one of the four lords under the sea, and I hold sway only over my sealab. For now, anyway. We don’t exactly get along, you see. Regardless, the things in these waters are rather powerful, so much so that many could be called a boss, but the boss, hmm...would that I could say it was I, but perhaps you seek the eye of the storm.” His voice betrayed his intrigue. “I...suppose, if you are not here to sabotage my lab or trouble my wondrous Tubemen, it wouldn’t hurt to let you through. In return for a favor, that is.”
Peach put away her weapon. “And what might that be?”
“All in good time. For now, please let my, ah...Guests, pass in peace. I’ve got someone coming to pick them up. Right now, in fact!”
The sound of a horn, long and low, cut through the storm outside. With a glance at Peach and the others Nadia sprinted back up the hallway to stop on the threshold again and peer out across the landing platform through the mist and rain. For a moment she could see nothing but darkness, but a flash of lightning split the heavens, and it illuminated a dark pillar atop a mound--a lone smokestack atop a stony isle, bulling under its own power through the water as it drew ever closer. As baffled as she was intimidated by the impossible sight, Nadia tensed up and watched as the island began to rise. The island became the hat atop a much larger, hulking dome of haphazard metal plates even larger than the sealab’s tower, and Nadia realized it wasn’t an island, but a mammoth ship. As it approached, higher and higher out of the water, a gaping mouth swung open from its front. It came to rest against the sealab’s dock, and within the mouth a portal popped open. Yellow light flooded from within, followed shortly by a narrow bridge extending to the deck. The Guests, as Tyl Regor called them, waddled like herded sheep toward the bridge and made their way up, single file.
“Taken aback?” the sealab’s master chuckled. “It is indeed impressive, though not half as much as my Tubemen. I’ve no doubt that a luxurious stay aboard the Maw would be sweeter -and faster- than plumbing the depths, but my offer still stands. Find me in my atrium below if you’re interested. So long for now~” The screen blinked off, leaving Blue Team to watch the guests climb into the Maw and rethink their options.
Nadia gave a heavy sigh of resignation. “So our choices are, try to sail Shippy through the storm and drown, climb in this weird scary ship and drown, or work our way through four underwater bases and really, really drown. ‘Water’ we waitin’ for, eh?” She crossed her arms and shook her head.
My post for Laharl is done btw, also could someone tally the word count? I'll be working on a relatively short post for Frog tomorrow likely or if I have time, tonight.
I'm sorry to hear that you were unhappy. Ten RPs is too much for just about anyone I bet, so it's understandable. Out of all you could have chosen to stick with, I'm grateful you want to hold on to this one. Everyone needs a break now and again, although I just like being notified if that's the case.
Regarding what's happened, Laharl's been hanging out not doing anything since Yellow Team arrived in Al Mamoon. Everyone recently returned to the train station and talked about what to do next, with the options outlined, so you could have him listen in on that conversation and then go do something in the city. For Blue Team, the dangerous battle with the sea monsters came to an end and the heroes escaped, making their way through worsening weather to a seabase with a beacon. It would make sense if Frog got hurt during the battle by one of the eel tentacles and was indisposed until Blazermate healed him in Archmage's recent update.
From a safe enough distance to not disturb anything Panther watched Primrose’s performance with starry eyes. The grace with which the dancer carried herself, the effortlessness with which she seemed to attract attention, the smoothness of her angle...if she didn’t know what Primrose’s intentions were, the blonde was completely positive she would have been duped herself. When glanced at by the peddler she helped out by giving a cute little wave, but she dared not speak a word, lest she ruin the master at work.
Only a few short moments later, the show was over. Primrose drifted out of the smiling vendor’s grasp and back to her companion, with whom she became herself once more. Panther had to suppress the urge to bounce up and down in excitement until they got out of eyeshot. “Oh my gosh, that was amazing!” she bubbled, her fists held up and squeezed shut in exuberance. “Like, you didn’t even ask for ‘em, you just sorta steered the conversation along until he offered you some! And the way you went for your money, looking all sad...genius!” She slapped a palm to her head. “I’ve been so direct everytime I tried. Man, I must have looked soooo corny. I should’ve known not to trust those shows…”
After getting a little off track, she accepted the dumplings from Primrose with an apologetic smile of her own, as if she didn’t deserve it. “Thank you so much. Man, I feel bad making you teach me like this. I mean, it’s obvious you’ve got crazy experience. But me, I’ve never actually needed to do this sort of stuff and I probably won’t again. You’re probably wasting your time on me.” After staring at the dumpling for a moment she looked back at Primrose. “But I’m really glad you are. You’re like, the cool older sister I never had.” She took a chomp out of her dumpling and savored every bite. “Whah. That’sh...that flavor…” Rather than try to describe it, however, she just wolfed down the rest of it.
Once the two got back on track, Panther recalled the places of interest mentioned by Primrose’s momentary acquaintance: a fountain and a museum. Everything else existed either in the vicinity of the Bazaar or to the north, neither of which the other Phantom Thieves headed toward. If they’d gotten so caught up they hadn’t even tried to reconnect with her yet, Panther figured, they had to have found something important. Al Mamoon’s high buildings and busy streets made it difficult to get a good read on the sky, but Panther kept an eye to the south as she and Primrose explored. What sort of museum could possibly get her friends’ interest for so long…?
A chance look in the right place gave her the answer: a building made of tacky gold-colored blocks piled high, pimpled by sapphire-blue windows amid their swirls. Panther’s eyes went wide. “T-the museum. It’s...oh, what was it?” She snapped her fingers a few times, her gear turning as fast as it could. “Oh, Mada-! Madarame’s museum. The Museum of Vanity. They must have found Yusuke!” She coughed. “Ugh, um, I mean, Fox. Another friend of mine. He’s an artist. Come on!”
She raced through the streets as fast as her gown allowed, making at least one wrong turn. “Man, I know I saw it this way. Why...oh, crap. I totally forgot, I need my mask in order to radio them! Duh” She ducked into an alleyway as soon as the opportunity presented itself and momentarily transformed, donning her crimson catsuit and characteristic panther mask. “Hey, guys. You there?”
“Yeah,” the familiar voice of Joker replied after a second. “Where’ve you been? You missed all the fun.”
“Whuh?” Panther sputtered, a little panicked. “I was shop...you know, getting important supplies. What fun?”
A snicker reached her through the link. “Don’t worry, it’s good news. Especially if you need to get more supplies. Just come to the museum.”
The exchange ended, and with a resolute nod Panther changed back into her civilian attire in a flare of blue flame. “Okay then. Onward, I guess!”
Although it meant interspersing herself right into the middle of the banter of a group of strangers, Jesse couldn’t ignore the powerful artifact the Phantom Thieves handled so casually, and so took the first step to getting to know anyone. Whether out of genuine politeness or an urgent need for a distraction from Mona’s pestering, Joker turned her way the moment Jesse addressed him, and the others followed suit in giving her their attention so as to not steamroll her. Grateful for their time, the Thieves’ new acquaintance got right to the point.
She introduced herself not just as Jesse Faden but as just the person they were looking for, someone who could make sense of their new, uncooperative implement. More than that, however, she opened their eyes to just how grand a stroke of luck had befallen them. As it turned out the man they’d stumbled across and managed to apprehend was a wanted criminal, notorious enough to have earned himself an impressive-sounding bounty. Joker had yet to quantify the city’s currency in any way, but wherever one might find oneself, gold was nothing to sneeze at. All Jesse wanted in return was the Tool Gun, which he couldn’t even make use of.
It was a tantalizing proposition, and Joker didn’t take too long to consider it. When he glanced at the others the excitement in their eyes (upside down or not) told him all he needed about their opinions. Even if the Phantom Thieves stood for their own justice rather than the law, they could use the money it promised them, so he had a mind to take Jesse up on her offer. She gave off the authoritative air of someone trustworthy enough to not misuse the thing and capable enough to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, and besides, she’d caught a glimpse of what they were capable of. In the Metaverse, Joker and his crew were not just kids who could be taken lightly and pushed aside. As long as this woman understood that, he could make it work.
“Very well. The bounty reward, and helping Mona here get back to normal, in exchange for this gun. We’ll take the deal.” With the deftness of one used to handling handguns he spun the weapon around in his fingers, offering the Tool Gun to Jesse handle-first. Then he stepped back and, alongside Skull, watched in vigilant silence what the red-haired woman did with it.
Without a lot of ceremony she began some sort of ritual. Levitating between her hands the Tool Gun rattled and shone, more and more intense, until the fervor suddenly subsided. Joker blinked a couple times, wondering if he expected something more spectacular, and Skull scratched his head in mild boredom. Still, the brief ritual confirmed that this lady possessed supernatural power of her own, without explaining very much about its nature. Now bound to the FBC’s director, the Tool Gun fell into her eager palm. The tiny rectangular screen that faced her showed a loading wheel for a few more seconds, then popped up a selection menu. Everything about its early-2000’s design, from its standard text to sometimes sluggish response time, appeared so mundane and normal that it belied the gun’s true power, but having seen what it could do with her own eyes Jesse pored over each option listed before her.
You have Acquired: Tool Gun A strange, cobbled-together revolver, modified so drastically with various replacements and attachments that it cannot fire bullets. Instead it just zaps whatever it’s pointed at, but what the zap does depends on which function is selected. Five of fourteen are currently available. Selecting a function in the list on the left opens a box on the right with available options (various inputs and/or toggles) and controls. The Tool Gun does not require ammunition but does have 100 Charge that is depleted by 2 per action and recharged at a rate of 1 per minute. There’s an ‘undo’ button at the top right that will undo the changes made by the gun in reverse order, but it can only remember up to fourteen changes. The Tool Gun doesn’t deal damage and can break if treated poorly enough, which will release a cascade of randomly-selected functions over an area.
Weld - Adheres two targets as long as they’re touching. Once adhered, the targets are absolutely stuck together at the weld point, a circle 1.5 inches in diameter. The area of the targets around the weld point can, however, be damaged to ‘remove’ the welded location and free the rest
No-Collide - makes target intangible. Only works on discrete, non living objects. Objects with their collision removed are not affected by any physical force, including gravity
Inflator - resizes target. Options include scale (-200% to 200%) and range (toggle between Part and Whole)
Thruster - creates a thruster attached to the target. Options include strength, size, appearance (all assorted roughly cylindrical household objects like buckets and lampshades) and channel. Up to four channels can be made and each fired separately. If no channel is provided, the thruster will be on until it runs out of power
Balloon - creates a balloon attached to the target by a rope. Options include balloon size, lift, rope length, and color
Wheel
Elastic
Color
Material
Dynamite
Emitter
Poser
Duplicator
Remover
Joker crossed his arms as Jesse examined the thing. “What do you think? Can you help Mona?”
“You better!” the cat scowled, failing to look ferocious.
At that point a muffled sound caught Joker by surprise. “Excuse me,” he said as he turned away, speaking in the same way he did for Necronomicon before. “Yeah, where’ve you been? You missed all the fun.” He smirked as he glanced back at the others. “Don’t worry, it’s good news. Especially if you need to get more supplies. Just come to the museum.”
He lowered his hand and walked back over toward Jesse. “Panther, another one of us,” he explained. “Oh, and you can call me Joker. This is Skull, Mona, and Necronomicon.”
The ship gave a small wave despite her large size. “Y-you can also call me Alibaba. If you like.”
“Hey, could you scan to see if Fox is here?” Joker asked her, and the UFO got to work. The leader of the Thieves gave his attention back to Jesse, hoping to see his cat friend restored.
The rumble of thunder across the ocean put a stop to Nadia’s jokes, at least for a moment, and with a slightly shaky sigh she sat down against the live vessel’s railing. Now that a few team members from the Atomos joined the Shippy crew on board, the upper deck got a little crowded. Although Nadia didn’t mind being shoulder-to-shoulder with a few of her new friends, all the limbs and rigging arms swinging around made it easy to get batted overboard and into a rough sea that continued to get moodier by the minute. Good thing Bowser’s still on the airship. And that the airship’s still in once piece, Nadia mused, although she felt pretty confident that Geralt made up for it.
She tried to focus on replenishing her cannons alongside Rika, but the general mood and activity made concentration difficult. Where the brutal battle with the Abyssals and all the carnage therein left the heroes feeling hammered and hollow, this struggle seemed to fire some members of the group up. Nothing to get the blood pumping like a good old-fashioned scrap with some big, ugly beasts, Nadia guessed. In her world she seldom had the luxury of just letting loose, since most of the monsters looked a lot like people.
When Nadia looked more closely, however, she realized that she’d misread the situation. The animation she took to be hype in a few of her teammates turned out to frustration or even downright anger, and she couldn’t deny they were justified. Even if they escaped the fight with no casualties, most nearly got killed and they got nothing at all to show for it. No supplies, no information, no loot of any kind. They could have upgraded Shippy’s ability to weather a stormy sea with one of their spirits, Nadia lamented. The Seekers had a lot on their plate left to chew up and digest.
Rika took the floor with a question, although in Nadia’s eyes it demanded an obvious answer. “Oh, fur sure. Bet the whole place is teemin’ with ‘em,” she laughed, making light of the dangerous road ahead. Since she’d crossed fangs with not one but three nightmares of the deep in well shy of an hour in the Bottomless Sea, even more monstrosities seemed like a pretty sure thing. And even if fresh horrors didn’t reveal themselves every half hour or so, Nadia couldn’t imagine that they’d already dealt with the worst the dark waters had to offer.
Another matter, as Sakura and Ace contemplated, was that Friend Hearts were not a one-way ticket to a peaceful resolution. As counterintuitive as that might seem, Nadia couldn’t really call herself surprised. In the end it came across as more logical than anything. Her time in the World of Light had taught her that Galeem’s influence didn’t make people evil. It just made them oblivious and, for whatever reason, unable to stop fighting. Perhaps it formed some sort of insidious population control, thinning out the weak to leave the worthy, or the contentious to instill order. Then again, she more or less assumed Galeem to be so alien an entity that its reasoning, if it even possessed it, couldn’t possibly be fathomed by a conventional mind like hers. But whatever the meaning behind Galeem’s influence, Nadia could take an educated guess at what being freed meant. “If that big glowstick makes everyone act the way it wants, then getting rid of it just makes everyone act like themselves. So a monster’s still a monster.” She considered Ace’s line of reasoning about who to heart. “Well, humans can be plenty bad, too. Maybe they’ll be more rational about bad situations, though.”
She looked around to see what the others thought, pretty pleased with her hypothesis, until she happened to see Bella. Like the sky above her face was overcast, shadowed by doubt and worry. Nadia winced slightly, not having really spent enough time with the Water Princess to grasp her inner struggle.
Indeed, Bella could not hide her turmoil. All along she had been so sure that the Friend Hearts offered a transformative effect, capable of turning a monster into a person. But those leviathans hadn’t changed at all. Nadia’s words repeated themselves in her mind. A monster’s still a monster. Did that mean that she remained a monster still, just as capable of evil as the other Abyssals--just as she had been before? Was she truly any different? She shivered, anguish swimming in her eyes, as the cold sea breeze caressed her soaked skin.
Nadia wanted to smooth over what she’d unwittingly roughed up, but she couldn’t find the right words before Link let fly with a few of his. He helped to put into perspective just how risky the fight with the sea monsters had been for everyone. The whole lot of them, he reasoned, should be more careful about what fights they picked, and Nadia agreed with him. “You’re super right. Even with the spirits some of us got, we’re out of our element in claw-fully dangerous place. ‘Scuse the pun, force of habit.”
“We got lucky this time and it’s not gonna keep happening,” Peach remarked. “If that shark was just a few meters over in one direction, Shippy could have been sent flying, or just crunched up outright. The size of that thing...ugh.” She held her head. “We can’t commit to every fight. Any might be our last, so we need to step lightly. If you all can’t do that, we need to turn around and come back with people who can.“
While everyone else mulled over the ultimatum and what to do going forward, Peach made her way to Bella, wielding her empathy to beat at least one situation back into shape. “No need to be sad, Bella,” she told the morose Water Princess. “You’re not a monster. You didn’t do anything bad after being freed, right? So maybe you weren’t a monster to start with.” When Bella looked up, confused, Peach offered a reassuring smile. “Maybe you were just empty. A soldier with no will, made just to follow orders.” She picked up a little steam and extended her smile to Sakura, to whom Bella followed her gaze. “And maybe when you were freed, a certain pure heart filled that emptiness up. Miss Sakura must have given you a little bit of her kindness.”
After a moment of thinking, an unprecedented wave of relief and gratitude washed over Bella’s face. It made sense after all, and she didn’t know any better. Peach’s suggestion made for such a wonderful idea that Bella took it wholesale. “Oh...well, I don’t know what to say. Except, thank you.” She blinked away tiny tears. “Ah, look at me. Such a mess. Would that I had your confidence, mon cherie.”
“You’ll get there someday!” Peach told her. “We all started somewhere after all.”
With a sharp breath, Nadia put on a brave face and gave Bella an enthusiastic grin. “Yeah! Plus, you’re super cool in my book already. You really helped meowt back there, after all. Probably saved my life!”
“You all are t-too kind…” Bella told them, wiping at her moist eyes to quell their uprising. “I just hope I can be of some help here and there.”
Meanwhile, Peach finally responded to the Cadet. “Yes, we should,” she confirmed. “But we should wait until we’re in a safer location before we beat them up.”
Bella continued with her modest deflections, trying to escape the spotlight, until the conversation died down. The motion of the boat and the loud sounds of the stormy sea and sky did not lend themselves to chatter after all, and since the Megalodon appeared to remind the heroes that certain doom could shoot up from the deep any moment, most occupied themselves scanning the waters below and around Shippy. Nobody who turned their eyes outward across the sea could avoid noticing the beacon-emitting structure that grew closer and closer while the waves grew more and more temperamental. By the time Shippy drew near the big, dark shape on the water, the vessel every wave rose and lowered the vessel a good dozen feet, and the swaying was intense enough to make even iron stomachs waver. Despite her best efforts to stay positive, and her appreciation for Shippy herself, Nadia managed to convince herself that a ship of this size and build could not possibly cut the mustard on an ocean like this. And this was just the outer edge of the storm, for crying out loud! Even the Atomos struggled against conflicting winds, some sort of storm interference messing with its magitech engines.
She pinned her hopes on the yellow beacon and the huge structure it led to, like a rainbow to a pot of gold. Surely, she thought, a seabase of this size would have some sort of large vessel the Seekers could commandeer. A few more minutes of bobbing up and down the choppy waves later, the unknown structure emerged from the sea fog. The Blue Team had reached its target.
Nadia furrowed her brow, finding the shape of the seabase difficult to describe. It featured a roughly cylindrical center tower with large, asymmetrical wings on either side, all smooth and bulbous like the product of some amateur potter’s wheel. From the front of the main structure extended a wide bridge for a short distance, which terminated in a circular dock or landing pad. Waves rose, fell, and crashed around the place, alternatingly hiding and exposing portions beneath the water but always dousing the green metal decks with seaspray. How far down it extended Nadia couldn’t say, but the whole thing appeared to be fixed in position, which like the rocks before suggested some anchor far, far below. A steady rain fell over all, soaking them to the bone. All that said, Nadia didn’t care that much about the specifics. As long as she could set foot on a solid, unmoving surface, she was happy.
Shippy circled around the structure toward the dock, moving carefully to avoid being thrown against the metal platform by the unruly waves. No alarms marked the heroes’ arrival, and no movement could be seen aboard the platform. Nadia claimed her spot on Shippy’s prow, and when the boat got near enough, she bunched herself up and leaped onto the landing pad. Light-footed as ever she landed with only a slight sound, but her ears pricked up in alertness nonetheless. She raised her hand to tell the others to take care, then crept ahead on all fours. Past the barrels that populated the dock stood a crude tent, an awning of some polymer stretched over pipes to keep the rain off. Beneath its shelter lay two creatures, one humanoid in a drab wetsuit and the other a bizarre skull octopus, both sound asleep, and Nadia could see why. Between the two stood an aged keg of what could only be alcohol, judging by the foam on the metal cups that served in place of mugs. Shaking her head, Nadia stood to wipe water from her eyes and wave at the two vessels. “All clear!” she called. “They’re drunk as skunks.”
A few moments later and Peach had followed her onto the dock, her parasol coming in handy. She did not pause, but moved straight for the seabase’s entrance. In her mind too there seemed to be little doubt that Blue Team needed either some help across the water, or another angle entirely. When she approached the entrance, the door slid open to admit the princess and her team. Nadia hurried inside to get out of the rain, and found a long, wide hall with downward stairs. A few sealed doors lined the hall, but the way down lay at the end of the stairs at the far end. A huge elevator shaft -below sea level, as indicated by the high vertical window- stretched downward, with a single platform on the left side of the central pylon. Nadia crouched on the edge of the elevator shaft and ended up wishing she didn’t. It went down far enough to give her vertigo, deep below the surface of the ocean.
Nadia tucked back her wet hair and turned to see Peach standing in front of a terminal that projected a 3D map of the seabase. She moved closer to make sure she was seeing things right. “Wait a minute…that’s this thing?” She squinted at a tiny construct above a sprawling undersea complex. When Peach zoomed out, she revealed there were more complexes as well, with little lines connecting them. Also charted were massive chunks of stone that for all intents and purposes appeared to be floating in the infinite abyss. “Dang. This system must extend through the whole Bottomless Sea! But...you don’t think we should actually try going below it, do you?” She shivered. The idea of being trapped in a metal box deep underwater, surrounded by who knows what monsters and the crushing force of deep water, honestly terrified her.
“Seek his world first, then its details...a good idea.” Albedo murmured. He slid his sketchbook from his coat and flicked through the pages, eventually landing on a few hasty sketches. Unlike most of the alchemist’s drawings, and especially the ones modeled after things that interested him, they were scratchy and abstract, with no discernible beauty or meaning. Many incorporated circular patterns, some concentric, some lined with indecipherable runes around the whole diameter. A couple designs appeared to be endless, formed of single, contiguous lines in loops and crosses that could be drawn without ever raising one’s pencil from the paper. “These are only a few of his tattoos. I drew them mostly from memory after our experiments, hoping that they might provide some insight, but I never learned anything about them.”
He glanced over what he could see of the first tower, noting that a few of the corners bore ornaments and furnishings of different styles. Instruments and edifices of other beliefs, each given its own little place of respect as a part of the cultural whole. Out of many, one. “Rather than split up, let’s both visit each spot together. One of us might see what the other misses.” With a plan in mind, the two set off into the temple.
Given the monks currently occupying the central area, Albedo and Linkle began their search in the bottom-leftmost area. There in one corner they spotted a fearsome angelic effigy of woven twigs and wooden wings, with a crown of spiky branches jutting off at odd angles. No symbols particular to the effigy itself made themselves evident in its surroundings, and the idol itself did not appear well-loved or well-maintained. Maybe, Albedo hypothesized, this stood for some local practice or custom that nobody believed in but a few thought should be honored. “Creepy,” he observed and the pair moved on.
A bit farther up they came upon a small, simple altar without much decoration, in contrast to the template around it. Before the altar floated a mechanical monk, deep in silent meditation. Albedo kept an eye out as he stepped cautiously past, but found no symbols either on the machine or the altar that smacked of the tattoos he’d drawn. Still, his eyes lingered for a moment on the pleasantly symmetrical spheres that floated around Zenyatta in synchronous rhythm.
He passed by a cloth altar that did not spark any interest in him in order to examine a far more intricate arrangement. This shrine took the form of a few very small tables arrayed together with little statues, horns, a goblet, and even skulls dripped with the wax of the candles mountain in them. Albedo took special note of the colored cloth that hung beneath each of the skulls, and the symbols emblazoned therein. As interesting as the glyphs were, however, none of them matched. Yet something kept his gaze on the shrine a short while longer.
He ended up turning to Linkle. “Maybe on the other side,” he whispered. Rather than try to get around her and risk bumping into the shrine he bid her take the lead. “You go ahead first.”
With just a few exceptions, the team so talkative when it came time to deal with potential enemies took a taciturn turn, leaving Tora and Poppi a little bemused but Band nonplussed. What the others got up to was, after all, none of his business, so long as it didn’t interfere with his own investigation. What did surprise him was Fox declaring his intent to go it alone, taking the detective’s suggestion of sticking to smaller groups to the extreme. Primrose, meanwhile, took Panther up on her implicit request, and laid down an implication of her own that Band agreed with. In any unfamiliar city it just made sense to keep another pair of eyes around to watch one’s back, and in one in the grip of an active shadow war? A no brainer.
Midna offered the team a little help by listing off the Bounties she remembered seeing up in the palace, all of which stood a couple levels above the rather mundane tasks posted to the job board. She herself, however, assigned herself to the disturbance in the church. The princess of darkness would, it seemed, be tasked with bringing a mystery to light. Yoshitsune, Red, Sectonia, Tora, Poppi and Laharl said nothing for the time being. Band couldn’t help but agree with Primrose: this group could use some extra help communicating, and not just across long distances. Well, no matter. He had some business to take care of, and so stomped off in the same direction as Fox, and left those who remained to sort things out.
“Well!” Braum declared to break the silence, slapping his knees as he got to his feet. “I can think of no better use for these muscles than hauling fruit! Just leave that one to me.” He put a totally confident grin on display, reassuring everyone that they need not worry about the produce delivery.
For his part, Tora considered one of the Bounties that Midna recalled, which sounded easy enough to him. He hopped down from his chair. “Tora and Poppi can clear out cistern, meh!” he volunteered. “Icky nasties not stand chance against Tora and Poppi supreme team!” That said, however, he knew an opportunity when he saw one. The Nopon waddled over to tap Red’s shoulder. “Hey! Tora not know you very well, but this good chance fix that, and you seem good at fighting, too! Want join Tora and Poppi?”
Whether or not Red accepted, the pair got moving shortly. After consulting the train station’s map board to find water treatment, Tora walked there with a skip in his step. Compared to the sheer effort of braving the unknown for the sake of the Seeker’s mission, going down into some sewers to kill rats was a paradoxical breath of fresh air. Classic adventuring fare, Tora figured.
On the way there, Poppi attempted to glance up at the sun, but found it too strong for even her optical sensors. She blinked, turning her gaze back to the streets. Each one bustled with activity, full of a huge variety of unfamiliar faces. Who would have thought that such a normal city existed way out into such an inhospitable region? “How Masterpon handling desert heat?” she asked.
“Phew!” Tora wiped some sweat off his row. “Not fun, Tora tell you that! Hotter than Mor Ardain, and way more sandy. Tora more thankful for Poppi than ever.” He glanced her way. “Um, now that mention it can Poppi cool Tora off now, meh? Became really hottypon in train station, even in shade.”
Obligingly his companion showered him with a spray of diamond dust, and the Nopon sighed in relief and delight. “Ah, much better! Thank you Poppi!” She smiled and bowed her head, happy to help. As they got underway once more, her Masterpon returned the question. “How about Poppi? Hold up okay, meh?”
“Oh, it alright. Sand in joints annoying. Overall durability decreasing slightly faster than normal, and ether drain slightly higher to regulate temperature. But Poppi enjoy desert.” She tapped a finger against her chin. “Or maybe, it better to say Poppi fascinated by desert. It so incredibly vast. Bigger than any Titan. Looking out over miles and miles make Poppi feel very small.”
Tora nodded. “Meh, meh. That for sure. Tora smaller than Poppi, too, so it even worse. Although Tora care more about all the walking. Legs killing me! Good thing Tora build up resistance running around Titans all day with Rex.”
After a slight laugh the artificial remarked, “Poppi grateful Tora not give her tiny Nopon legs. If Masterpon want be carried, just let Poppi know~!”
Tora spotted the entrance to the waterworks and changed course for it as he shook his head. “No thanks, meh. Tora determined hold on to what little dignity Tora can.” With one wing he scratched his belly. “Well, in public, at least.”
The water facility turned out to be surprisingly well-lit and brightly decorated, with flower patterns across the walls and ceilings. A stairway led Tora and Poppi down into the cistern itself, which opened up into a grand central chamber. Only after oohing and aahing over the great stone head that loomed above them did Tora remember he was here to kill some rats or something. “Well! Tora couldn’t imagine more pleasant sewer system. Let’s go, Poppi!”
Glad for the dancer’s acceptance and company, Panther headed south from the train station in the footsteps of the other Phantom Thieves. Where they ended up she could not rightly say, but once she grew near enough she could reach them via radio contact. Just how their masks allowed them to communicate she didn’t know, but she sure wasn’t questioning it. With that in mind, all she and Primrose needed to do was wander around the southern section of Al Mamoon, and Panther certainly didn’t mind a little sightseeing, even if she felt like having lunch soon.
Bit by bit they worked their way through the streets, with no response to her occasional hails. Everywhere she turned there was something new and interesting, and her stomach led her where her eyes did not. Try as she might, however, poor Panther couldn’t wheedle so much as a single kebab from a bored-looking cart-minder with her feminine charms. Despite boasting more allure than ever before she met failure at every turn, as if everyone saw straight through her--which was not out of the question, as only a little observation was enough to convince Primrose that her new friend was a terrible actress. “Jeez, what do I have to do, Marin Karin?!” she pouted at length. “Whenever I see someone else do this, it seems like the easiest thing in the world. Just bat a few eyelashes and suddenly people are tripping all over you.”
She looked herself over, wondering if her new outfit was to blame, or if her snake tail was putting people off, but ended up glancing at Primrose. “Oh, uh. I mean the, like, royal ‘you’, but I guess you’ve got that stuff nailed down. You’ve been turning heads all day.” As she spoke Panther did her best to keep her envy out of her voice, since she bore Primrose no ill will whatsoever. “Sorry, it’s just a little frustrating to not know what’s wrong.”
Midna’s trail, and the city’s accommodating if relatively sparse shadows led her to the shuttered church without incident. Though not that large, the former place of worship sported both impressive domes and well-laid roofing tile, both in a bronze color that contrasted its stone brick. Even without a lot of familiarity with this architectural style Midna could tell this place was old. More pressing than its appearance, however, was whatever allegedly lay within, and that drove the Twilight Princess to look for an entrance.
The main door seemed thoroughly sealed, but the church had a number of windows. All those at street level had been nailed over with wooden boards by whichever city officials condemned the building, but those higher up had made such treatment impractical for several reasons. Toward the church’s top its openings were less windows and more missing sections of wall with interspersed pillars, and for someone who could float they offered an easy way inside.
The moment Midna entered, however, demonic runes closed over the openings, trapping her inside. Given her experience with Twilight Beasts it wasn’t the first time something like this happened, and it wouldn’t be the last. What it meant concerned her more: the presence of enemies that could be dispatched in order to dispel the barrier. That made things easy. And the freakish, gibbering noises she could hear down below made it even easier.
In the wide-open space of the church’s ground floor, a strange-looking sword rested, embedded, in the altar. It contrasted sharply with the style and decor of the place, suggesting that it did not belong, and since being jammed there it had attracted all the wrong attention. Three grotesque things contorted themselves before it, leaping and gyrating in a bizarre, disturbing dance of adulation. They were mockeries of flesh, bone, and eye too horrible to ever have been human, and the noises they made as they supplicated before the cursed blade were the stuff to keep the average man up at night.
Midna knew what she had to do, but she knew not if she had the strength to do it. If this seemed like more than she could handle, surely there existed another way out of the church that she need only find.
With Band trailing at a respectful distance and not at all trying to hide it from Fox, the detective followed the pilot as he made his way north through the city, then northwest. Maybe Fox thought he could figure things out on his own, but Band doubted his new acquaintance heard the whispers like he did, and with things the way they were Band didn’t plan on either of them going solo. This wasn’t necessarily the direction he would have chosen to start a sweep in, but Band was in no rush. These things took time, especially when done right, so he was in it for the long haul.
Fox’s happenstance wandering took him to a relatively open area among the buildings, its mosaic paths leading through carefully cultivated garden beds brimming with flowers. Marble fountainheads carved into fish and serpents spat streams of water in fanciful arcs for children to play in. As soon as he entered, Band slowed for a moment and set a timer in his head. He’d been here last night and taken the whole thing in, but not in a pragmatic sense like he wanted to now. There existed only a short period in which he could get the lay of the land without looking like he was searching for something, so he needed to read between the lines fast. In that department his long years of experience were an invaluable asset, and as his eyes swept over the scene they saw a great deal.
Judging by both the furnishings on the buildings and the architecture itself, the park lay between a residential district to the north and the business distinct to the east, with the train station and a few other public other utilities just on the other side of a row of hotels to the south. Temporary accommodations and transport went together like bread and butter after all, and so did work and rest in the lives of the average citizen. Foot traffic between the two distincts along the upper-right quadrant of the park far outweighed it in the rest, told as much in the wear on the tiles as by the people walking that route even now. His wasn’t the only eye savvy to that phenomenon, however, and the buildings lining that section of street outshone their peers elsewhere. And above them all was the establishment right in the corner, the Hound Pits.
With doors wide open to invite in anyone bracing themselves for the work day or relaxing after it, the comfortably laid-out bar had been buzzing even in the wee hours of the night when Band’s train rolled in, and it was buzzing now. Not too busy, not too calm. A waypoint in a threshold, a liminal space between worlds where anyone could find a few moments’ refuge. Band waltzed that way.
Rather than enter, however, he parked himself right outside. With one spindly mechanical arm he removed his hat, which he held upside down and dropped on the ground in front of him. From beneath his coat he produced a music stand that he sat down on, and the front parted to admit a saxophone. When he put it to his lips, the spell was cast: for however much he stood out normally, the big man had disappeared. Set up like this he was barely higher on the social ladder than a beggar; his very presence posed a question to each and every bystander as to whether they would avert their eyes and mind their own business, or stop to listen to his music with the unspoken expectation that they would toss a little something something into his hat. He played low but upbeat, a familiar and pleasant tune that perfectly complemented the sort of brief but vivacious meetings and meals of a working day lunch or drink. His jazzy, soulful notes wove through the air, across the park and into the bar. Band felt quite confident as he banked on nobody sallying forth from the Hound Pits to shoo him off, what with his playing skill. If anything the proprietors might be willing to tolerate him for the extra atmosphere he provided and the extra customers he attracted--the townsfolk might even think him a hired amenity of the bar itself. In only a few moments the biggest man around put himself off everyone’s radar, faded into the backdrop, a piece of the scenery. Out of sight, out of mind.
It was as good as an invisibility potion, and it allowed him to accomplish his real purpose. In this comfortably transitory, interim place, he could pick up all sorts of things both from inside the bar and out. Sound, after all, was his speciality. Even while playing Band could eavesdrop on a bevy of conversations, whether at rest or on the move, hunting for any suspicious trace that might point him in the right direction.
Joker turned his eyes on Jesse as she approached, offering her sympathies for Morgana’s condition. In the heat of the moment he didn’t identify her before, but now he recognized her as the woman he’d seen acting casual near the gates. A redhead, at least ten years older than him, seemingly capable. Judging by her involvement in the action and what seemed like an understanding with the guards, he guessed she was some sort of undercover security. Then again he might be overthinking things, since ‘unaffiliated bystander’ worked just as well. She didn’t seem to shy away from a fight or freak out when faced with strange things, which lent credence to the idea she possessed some degree of power and/or agency of her own, although she arrived too late to make much of a difference.
“We’re alright,” he told her. “Considering everything that gun seemed capable of, it could have been a lot worse.” The stranger went ahead and dispelled any need for conjectures by spelling out her own reason for being here. Having failed to apprehend such a dangerous and unpredictable individual before no doubt stung. At least she would be able to enjoy some good luck today. “Well, no need to wait for next time. Mission control?”
“Yes, what is it?” a girl’s voice came through some hidden communicator.
“There should be a UFO above the museum. Do you see it?”
“Ummm…” A brief moment passed before Joker’s contact got excited. “Oh, yes! I see some sort of golden...thing, covered with balloons and jets!”
Joker gave a slight smile. “There’s a man riding it. Disarm and apprehend him, please.”
“Sure thing! Going in now!”
“Great. Joker out.” The Phantom Thief ‘hung up’, then helped Skull lift up Mona. He waved at Jesse. “Where’d you come from? The courtyard?” Unfortunately for Jesse’s well-planned conversational tactics, she would need to wait for now. As the guards picked themselves up and unruffled their feathers the Phantom Thieves made tracks down the corridor Jesse entered through. They moved as if they knew the place, straight past the reflecting pool and out through the Japanese screens into the courtyard.
There the small group found an honest-to-God alien ship hovering above the hedges, its flashing lights dull in the daytime and the cthuloid ornament on top gently rotating. A number of large tentacles extruded from its bottom, one of which constricted the very hapless scientist who’d managed to give Jesse and the others the slip. His gun dangled in the fingers of the three hands that terminated one tentacle, and a crumpled Infinite Spring lay face-down in a planter dotted by shreds of balloon rubber. Although the contraption featured no eyes, it waved when the Thieves approached, both parties without even a shred of apprehension. “Hi, Joker! I managed to catch the guy. Totally blindsided him too. He shot me with this, I think?”
Necronomicon held out the tool gun with her hands for Joker to take. As he accepted it he noted that the formerly small tri-hands compared in size to his own, confirming what he’s hypothesized as he approached. “This gun changes things. He made you bigger, I think.”
“Bigger? Oh, no! Now everyone’s gonna look at me weird! I can’t stick out in crowds!?” The UFO wrapped herself in a couple of her tentacles as if to hide her face, mortified.
Joker kept his focus on the gun, trying to figure it out, as he replied without paying direct attention. “Don’t worry, Futaba. We’ll just fix it with this, and even if we couldn’t, we’d still like you.”
“Wha!?”
Skull’s increasingly confused look turned to annoyance. “Oh, for cryin’ out loud! Joker, it’s Necronomicon, not Futaba! And you: you’re a spaceship, remember? Nobody’s gonna care! Might even be better if you can fly more people around.”
“Will you dummies quit arguing and shrink my head already!?” Mona could only look so irate upside down.
Just a little embarrassed, Joker threw up a hand in resignation. “I’ve been trying! This thing just doesn’t want to listen.” For some reason, the Tool Gun wasn’t responding to him. Jesse, however, could somehow feel it even when it wasn’t in her hand, as if it longed for her touch.
“Maybe it’s got some kind of security measure?” Skull suggested. “Or maybe Necro squeezed it too hard.”
“Oh no!” the remarkably self-conscious spaceship repeated in dismay. “Am I gonna be stuck like this forever?”
“At least you can still move!” Mona cried, wiggling angrily. “Here, gimme that thing!” The bunch continued to argue, with the old man sneaking in some protests here and there, but it was the Tool Gun on Jesse’s mind.
An extremely dizzy Nadia remained all but senseless for a while, strewn across Shippy’s deck, but with the Life Gem’s help she began to recover, spurred on her way by the strange sensation of being touched in many places at once. “Mrow!” Her head yelled, jerking awake to find half her parts held tight in Rika’s arms. “That’s my, nyahaha…! That tickles! No petting! Lemme go, lemme…achoo! She sneezed her head right out of the Abyssal’s collection, alarming Rika and shifting the whole lot enough to send her bits back down to the deck in a heap. Muscle fibers shot out from her various separation points to reconnect them, and in the span of just a couple seconds Nadia pulled herself together enough to sit up and catch her falling head in her hand. With a grin she popped it back on, but the moment she tried to get up she plopped right back down. “Guh! I guess I’m...still dizzy. It’ll be a minute or two be-fur I’m...good to go.” She reclined against the ship’s mast to get her head fully on straight.
Her position turned out to be a front-row seat for what happened next. Nadia watched, spellbound, as a gigantic slab of weathered stone tumbled from the seastack’s peak. Even with Shippy well removed from its splash zone she couldn’t help but be a little intimidated by its titanic mass, and worried along with Sakura about what fate might befall the Cadet and Bowser, who as far as she knew were still up there with that horror. Link shared their concern, and unveiled his magic tablet once again for an even more ambitious save than the last. The feral’s eyes went wide when she realized just what he meant to do. Can he really do it? Saving the out-of-control Atomos was one (very good) thing, but this veritable mountaintop was a few whole orders of magnitude bigger and heavier. Yet Link was dauntless. He thrust the Sheikah Slate skyward from Shippy’s prow, sending forth the golden chains of stasis, and with a metallic note the slab stopped in its tracks.
Nadia let out her pent-up breath in a laugh. “Whoa...way to go, Link! A real catch of the day!” When the Atomos swooped near she spotted Bowser leap from the suspended mass to its deck, his own catch held tight in his claws. The sight of Scylla still in one piece took her by surprise, and though Geralt answered for Sakura she did not hesitate to voice her own dismay. “What!? She’s still alive!?” she yelled aloud for the sake of anyone who didn’t happen to see. “Why?” Whether from her high-flying stunt or the battle in general the feral still wasn’t thinking straight, so she couldn’t fathom King Koopa’s intentions for the tiny terror. It just didn’t make sense!
Up on the airship, Scylla rolled across the deck and came to a stop on her stomach. “Oww!” she cried, childlike, and when she rose onto her elbows her face was one of bafflement. In that brief moment she looked, for the first time, rather like a confused little girl. The illusion did not hold.
When she realized that somehow she’d been restored to pristine health, Scylla gave the Koopas a look that dripped venom, and cackled. “Hehe...heheheheheh!” From beneath her dress a flood of tentacles burst in a writhing mass, all at their original size. She rose as they piled beneath her, cackling while she raised her arms. The Atomos began to sink downward, overburdened by the combined weight of the horror’s heaped-up limbs. All seven eel heads formed up around her, bearing down on the Koopa’s like a ravenous pack of dogs. They lunged, only to stop short as an immense, flabby purple arm careened just over the Bowser’s head and slammed Scylla head-on. The flailing horror screamed as Tentalus clotheslined her right off the Atomos and into the time-stopped crag, which unfroze the next moment with the Cadet still atop it to hurtle into the ocean with a tremendous splash. He had little choice but to leap for Tentalus, but ample cause.
Not annihilating the Atomos in the process, of course, came as an unexpected and indeed unintentional miracle for its passengers. Any hasty conclusion that the much bigger leviathan was on the heroes’ side was crushed as purple tentacles, regardless of warnings, erupted from the sea. One batch appeared on either side of Shippy, and another around Geralt’s Ordnance Platform. The two that wrapped around his main cannon’s barrel wrenched the whole upper portion of the machine sideways and pushed around its sub-weapons, rendering everything but the Witcher himself harmless, provided he wasn’t thrown into the drink.
Nadia jumped to her feet, took a split second to steady herself, and charged. She raked the flabby meat of the nearest tentacle with her claws and found it way less tough than Scylla’s eels. Likewise Peach blew apart a couple with ease thanks to a Grenaduck and her boomshot, but a new problem quickly presented itself. The tentacles regenerated shockingly fast, with a new one rising to grab hold of the ship or its cannon batteries mere moments after the last sank beneath the water.
Luckily, if Tentalus meant to take down the Atomos it was already too late. Free of its nightmarish burden the airship got out of the behemoth’s range lickety-split, so Tentalus focused on the horror floundering at the base of the seastack instead. While its lower tentacles held tight the other threats it rounded on Scylla, its arm raised to pummel her once again. Its enormous orange eye was full of rage, but not so keen that it spotted something moving through the great behind it--something very, very big, and headed its way very, very fast. As Nadia hacked through another tentacle and leaned on the railing to catch her breath, she watched the severed stump slide down into the water, and froze when she saw something else rising up from the deep. “Sh-sh-sh-SHARK!” she screamed, and everything turned to chaos.
The Megalodon erupted from the ocean like some primeval god, so close that when it brushed against the inconsequential vessel the impact sent its passengers sprawling to the deck. It breached with enough force to send its entire mass up from the surface and toward more tempting prey than Shippy: Tentalus’ back. “Ace!” Nadia yowled. “JUMP!” A moment later the nightmare shark plowed into its target, its nested jaws carving through flesh like it was butter. Tentalus bellowed, its tentacles letting go of their holds to whip wildly, as the titanic shark’s weight drove it into and below the water. There came a splash soaked everyone to the bone, and the monsters were gone.
Peach coughed explosively, slapping Shippy’s wheel. “Go, go, go! Get the hell outta here!” Once Ace and Geralt had been collected the vessel lurched forward across the choppy sea at maximum speed, quickly leaving the seastack and its horrors behind.
A moment passed before Nadia even dared to breath again, let alone speak. She crawled over to where Blazermate’s dispenser still stood and wrapped her arms around it to take care of her fish bites and resupply her cannons. “Hoooooh…” she exhaled after she could feel the machine’s healing warmth. She gave a weary smile. “That was craaazy. Always a bigger fish, I guess. Gotta give that thing credit for helping, I guess. Sea plus.”
A hand appeared on the railing nearby and Bella hauled herself up onto the deck, her sundress utterly soaked and her expression utterly haunted. “Excusez-moi, I need to...lie down.” Nadia shakily let go of the dispenser to help pull, with Sakura’s strength from below a great help to shift Bella’s tail. Once done the feral steadied herself against the railing to give the others a chance at the dispenser, and looked out across the sea while thunder rolled overhead. Both the structure with the beacon and the storm were a lot closer. “Waves getting worse,” she observed, shifting her balance to stay upright as Shippy went up and down the swells. “Hope nobody’s seasick.”
You have acquired: Witchtree Branch - The branch of a large, well-tended witchtree, used as a sorcery catalyst. Witchtree staves are customary in the far north, and allow for faster casting than ordinary catalysts. Its skill is Steady Chant, which boosts the strength of sorceries for a very short period Birch Wood - It is easy to work with and produces smooth cuts. Furniture made using such wood is both beautiful and durable
With an ever-so-slightly amused look as he considered Linkle’s conjecture, Albedo led the way toward the narrow cliff path. “It is impressive, isn’t it? A completely different architectural style from any place of worship I’ve ever seen. The product of a totally different culture. Beautiful, perhaps even frightening in its austerity, with a less-is-more sort of attitude conveyed through the structure itself.” The alchemist paused momentarily as one boot sank into a drift, then yanked it out and dusted off his new coat. “I’m almost eager to see the inside.”
Unfortunately the moment of clarity during which the pair saw the monastery faded, and the chill wind brought curtains of snow. It made the mountainside road, already more treacherous and uneven than either would have liked, a dangerous prospect even with crude fences built into the stone here and there to provide some support. The required climbing and jumping meant that without some ingenuity the Skullgirl would be better off leaving her sled beneath an overhang for collection on the way back.
Even without it, however, she carried a potent burden as she made her way along the precipice. The wolfish wind bit into her with unrelenting fangs, chasing what little warmth remained from her husk. Ahead of her Albedo, aided by his flower constructs, faded into the tumultuous white. Certain death loomed only a few feet to the right, and with mortality so clarified it became tougher to keep the darkness from her mind. It numbed her and weighed her down, telling her that freedom from her suffering waited far, far below. Only in flashes could she make out a blurred figure ahead, but the indistinct shadow was not the outline of the boy she’d come to know. It loomed larger, taller, with a crown like the top half of a wagon wheel. It obstructed the path before her, telling her that inevitable confrontation lay somewhere ahead, yet however far she pushed on it continued to recede. Try and drown me out all you like, the howling wind seemed to whisper. I am here. I grow stronger. I am your destiny.
After what seemed like an age, the storm subsided, and Linkle caught up with Albedo at the monastery’s gates. Nobody answered a knock, and the frosted doors swung open without difficulty. The alchemist made his way across the snowy courtyard and to the doors of the first tower. These, however, opened wide on their own, and the two were admitted inside.
It was warmer inside than out, but not comfortable. Like the freshness of a clear fall day, it was just cool enough to bring out inner focus, while still being livable compared to the winter outside. That was far from the sharpest contrast, however. Despite its stark exterior the monastery’s inside featured a staggering multitude of color. Albedo’s eyes went wide at the amazing arrays of mosaic and tapestry, quilt and banner, mural, pillar, and painting. It was dreamlike in its beauty, its rich scarlets and crimsons the most impressive of all. Before the visitors stood two priests, one male and one female, both lightly armored and with enormous cross-shaped weapons stowed on their backs. The man, burly with strong brows, looked a little on the scary side, while the woman’s gaze was as dispassionate and chilly as the ice that hung over the doorway. They gave their visitors time to take in the sights, and the woman only spoke up when approached. “Welcome to the Cold Monastery,” she greeted the duo, her voice low, even, and soft. “Whether you are here for worship, enlightenment, or for a reprieve from winter’s clutches, you may stay here so long as you preserve its mindful tranquility.”
Albedo kept his voice at a whisper. “Thank you. We are here in search of knowledge. May we explore this place and ask around?”
The woman nodded. “The first three towers and their various shrines are open to you. Please do not disturb anyone engaged in worship or meditation, but those unoccupied by such pursuits may be able to help you.” Bowing their heads, the priests moved aside to let the visitors pass. Albedo stepped between them and right away spotted a number of monks kneeling at the far side of the main space, which explained the whisper. Still a little taken aback by the cultural rather than opulent splendor of the interior, he wondered where to go and ended up looking to his companion. Maybe Linkle would be better at navigating a temple than he.
Edge of the Blue - Creature Beach
When the members of the posse went at her, Sephiroth went on the defensive, using thrusts from her nodachi to make her opponents think twice about how badly they wanted to get close. She managed to stab into Karin’s shoulder, not too far from her heart, and then into Bacchus’ chest and a fishman’s throat in quick succession, but that was all her strategy managed to achieve, for its fatal flaws were then made evident. The lethality of thrusting attacks could heartily discourage one enemy at a time, but against a group of seven, and with such a ridiculously long blade, the others closed in far too quickly. Sephiroth’s attempt to charge up a Gigaflare came to an abrupt end when Birdie, whirling his chain like a vertical lasso, slung its metal length to grab her arm. A hearty yank pulled the much, much lighter woman off balance and canceled her spell. Then Karin, holding fast despite her bloody wound, dashed in.
The young lady’s face featured none of the smugness or elegance she put on display for Sakura the other day--only a cold grace, and lethal effectiveness. Sephiroth had, after all, made clear that this was a fight to the death. With righteous fists she delivered a one-two strike to the murderer’s diaphragm, then liver. Robbed of breath and paralyzed by the agony of a cattle prod to a vital organ, Sephiroth sagged to the sand.
Even as she faltered, however, Sephiroth was consumed by rage. It bubbled and roiled inside her, screaming even if her voice could not. How could she be brought to her knees by this trash...this rabble!? Her strength and defiance welled up inside her, overpowering the paralysis, and with a wordless scream she clasped her limp fingers around Masamune’s hilt. Rivulets of blood, the blood of humans, fishmen, a Pokemon, and even a god, spattered the thirsty sand as the blade flashed in the sunlight.
Then, as the last fishman burbled his last, Nanu’s Lycanroc bolstered his fading consciousness and unleashed his Counter. His stony claws ripped into Sephiroth’s arm with twice the force of her own desperate slash, shredding the flesh and muscle of her sword arm as he gouged the bone. Overloaded by a flood of stimulus and baffled by what just happened, the swordswoman could only watch as her foes closed in. Though ants to be crushed beneath her heel, she had fallen to the ground, and now they were swarming atop her, ready to eat her alive.
“I almost feel bad for this,” Shantae sighed. “But you asked for it.”
With the fight clearly over the posse might have stopped there, if it weren’t for the gleam in their eyes. There would be no mercy now.
“Gothitelle…” she dimly heard someone say as Bacchus raised his jug with both hands. “Heal pulse, now!”
Before Sephiroth could figure out what that meant, the jug mashed her face, breaking her nose and knocking out teeth. Karin and Birdie took over as Bacchus and the Lycanroc received their healing, pummeling her with the graciously unstoppable force of a waterfall and brutal, ungainly strikes, respectively. Once no longer bleeding out Bacchus belly-flopped in again, throwing Sephiroth into the air in a spray of sand, where the Gothitelle coalesced a crumplezone of psychic force amidst a flurry of fireballs from Shantae. The Lycanroc brought her down with a leaping slash.
Birdie saw his chance. “Now I’m gonna ‘ave my fun witcha!” He charged forward with a heavy headbutt, striking Sephiroth as she fell. She flew off to the side only to stop suddenly, the chains wound around her pulled tight. With a leer Birdie pulled her back toward him. As she slid under he leaped over and pulled her around again in a full loop to smash into the sand again in a brutal version of jump rose. After two revolutions, during one of which he did the splits mid-air, he pulled off a somersault to drum up some extra force and slammed Sephiroth face-first into the sand, burying her up to her middle. Then Shantae fell from the sky in the form of an elephant and crushed the murdered to smithereens.
When Shantae got up a moment later and turned back to normal, the group found only a pile of ashes in the sand, and three spirits sitting atop it: one of a long-haired man wielding the nodachi, one of a masked sorceress, and one of Scharnhorst. Nearby the fishman spirits floated, tragedies in and of themselves. As the other pursuers worked to steady their breathing and nurse their wounds, Nanu gathered the spirits into his Bag, and Shantae looked horrified. “Oh, gosh...oh, gosh! What in the world came over me?” She held her hands to her head. “Even for such an awful villain, that was too much…”
Holding her hand on her chest, Karin was only a little farther ahead in composing herself. “My word...we must have gotten a little carried away.” She kept her eyes off the ashes while the policeman did his work. “I can only guess...that the vile woman there...awakened something primal in us. Some kind of extreme fight-or-flight instinct.” She glanced at Bacchus, who was scratching his beard uncomfortably, and at Birdie, who seemed a little disquieted himself, but neither said anything.
Nanu looked grim as he withdrew his Pokemon. “My apologies, folks. Things can get pretty awful in this line of work, with lives on the line. If the peacekeepers of Limsa were any stronger, I would not have asked you to come.”
“No, no, it’s alright. I insisted I should be part of the team, anyway,” Shantae breathed. “If I’m really a hero, then it’s my duty to confront evildoers.” Her breathing steadied as she gazed off to where the sea met the sky. “I only wish that this felt a little more like justice.”
“Guess we oughta ‘ead on back to Limsa,” Birdie grumbled as he wiped bloody sand off his shoulder. “Tell ‘em we got the slag ‘n all.”
Shantae frowned. “I’ll go back to that place and give them the guards’ spirits. Tell them the bad news. Its the least we can do after we dragged them out here, only for that monster to cut them down.”
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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