MULTI_MEDIA_MAN

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Open Ocean

Lvl 6 (31/60) -> Lvl 6 (33/60)

Word Count: 795 words

@Zoey Boey

Geralt ignored Junior's demanding tone, but nonetheless moved to the cargo bay to oversee the new arrival of the Shipgirls and Sakura. His face was cold and stony, having resorted to the 'Resting Witcher Face' Yen sometimes said he used when dealing with something he had little patience for. Needless to say, it was his default expression when not around his friends. "I see you made some friends," Geralt deadpanned as welcome. "Mind introducing us?" Was it terribly petty of him to do this? Yes. But he was unwilling to directly imply that Sakura's plan would fail, or blow up in her face, or get them all killed, unless asked. Especially not to the girl himself. Just the look on her face was such a mixture of emotions that he couldn't bring himself to add the anxiety and nervousness of being unable to trust an ally to the mix. Yet.

He'd managed to hear a few pieces of the conversation, but most importantly, the Abyssal Shipgirl's request that her wounds be tended last, in favor of Sakura and her former adversary's. Her manners were at least better than those of Sectonia, but that bar was so low it was almost insulting to count as a point in her favor.

Pulling himself away and trusting Kamek and the other Shipgirl to not die for the moment it would take for him to be ready to fight, Geralt focused on the now-exhausted Sakura. He knew exactly how she was feeling. As the adrenaline cleared from her mind with immediate danger gone, her muscles would tighten and grow sore, her stomach would tighten, and her breath would shake. Kamek's healing would take care of the worst of it all, he was sure, but the physiological symptoms of fatigue would still run their course, even if on an accelerated pace.

Sakura's words...hurt. Not in any pointed, directed-at-him way, but they reminded him of the silent moments after a job where he reflected on innocent lives lost, foolish lives taken before their time.

And then she asked him about...rice? What in the hells was rice?! And apparently it came in different colors, too! White rice. Was there black rice, brown rice, green rice? Rice. "No, I've never had...rice." The idea that he looked like somebody who came out of a fantastical version of her past was...also odd. More odd than rice, at least.

Now that he thought about it, he did seem to be the one of most technologically lost members of the group. Link and Linkle were about on par, but other than those two, he couldn't quite think of anybody who was as out of place in that respect. "Well, now that you mention that, the rest of you all seem to have some pretty impressive gear, if not on you, than at least where you're from. Isabelle and I did some singing at a bar, and the words came up on the screen in time to the music. It's been...an effort, to keep up."

And Sakura returned to her rice tangent, mentioning how much she liked it, as well as another local specialty from her homeland. "That's a nicer name than what we use, at least. Just call it, 'The Continent.' It's the only real land mass in the world, though, so it fits at least. Plenty of Kingdoms, but...well, Witchers tend not to stick around one place for long. Our kind of work tends to dry up in our presence, on account of the whole monster slaying thing." He sighed, shaking his head. "Always just tell people I'm from Rivia. Worked out in the end, got a Knighthood and the title 'Of Rivia.'" Letting out a little chuckle, he continued. "Really, my home is...was...Kaer Morhen. A castle hidden in the Blue Mountains, where the Wolf School of Witchers sat."

Geralt found himself thinking of Vesemir and Lambert and Eskel, and sighed again. "Ain't much left, now, though that's for the best. Witchers are a thing of the past even back home. Men're taking the world into their own hands, got little use for us anymore." Wanting to avoid the political and social conversation that was about to brew, he changed the subject. "Actually got paid with a box of toffee candy once, though, if we're gonna keep talkin' about food. Would've throttled the who-...the jackass...if it wasn't so damned good." Laughing as he recalled the story, Geralt continued. "Shoulda gone back and gotten the recipe, Yen or I coulda made it for Ciri when we were done with that Wild Hunt business."

And of course it went back to another melancholic topic. "Any other local specialties I should try? Never one to reject a good meal idea. Or a good meal. Especially if it's free."

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Open Ocean

Lvl 6 (30/60) -> Lvl 6 (31/60)

Word Count: 537 words

Ranger was...not as gentle depositing Geralt on the Atomos as he would've liked, but it was faster than swimming. He could see the result of his somewhat-desperate attack on the Abyssal Princess as he was bodily dragged away by the Shipgirl, and he was satisfied with at least providing a bit of a distraction. He could see a spray of blood from Sakura's...new ears??? (This Spirit nonsense always had some strange results.) He could see Sakura's elbow drive the air from her opponent's lungs.

And he saw Seaplane Tender slam a bomb directly into Sakura's gut, the explosion throwing smoke and debris into the air and blocking his line of sight. Enhanced as his vision might be, he couldn't see through smoke. His grip on the rail of the ship left him white-knuckled as he watched and waited for some sign of Sakura's fate. His eyes narrowed to vertical slits, blocking out as much of the light reflecting off the ocean as possible while he searched for movement. It was a few seconds before he saw a form rise in the smoke, and after another moment enough cleared that he could see Sakura, shakily rising to her feet on the water.

A breath he didn't know he was holding exploded from his mouth, and he almost let himself lean against the railing in relief. The sight of Seaplane Tender, still alive and floating atop the water, stopped him. He cursed silently to himself. These things just refused to go down! And knowing Sakura, she didn't have it in her to finish off a wounded opponent like that. She'd wait until it got yet another chance to hit her while her guard was down.

This girl... Geralt thought. Well, if you're gonna try and save her like this is some fairy story, now's the time to do it. Sakura, meanwhile, had her hands on her temples and was trying to get back up, haven fallen over to presumably hack up half her lung.

The Abyssal hadn't moved at all in that time. It was agonizing to watch, knowing he could only watch from afar. This wasn't even like letting Ciri talk to the Lodge of Sorceresses or fight the Crones. He could at least know that the Lodge wouldn't flay her alive, and he was a little busy killing Imlerith to worry much about the girl with Phenomenal Cosmic Power fighting a few overweight alchemists.

But this? He was forced to watch as the battle played out-

And Sakura just gave the Abyssal Princess a Friend Heart.

The death of him.

He turned, cursing under his breath, and remembered that Kamek was still there, watching the fight, as well as assisting with his little copies.

"She's insane." He spat, walking past and back into the vehicle proper, with Bowser Jr inside. "She gave the evil, murderous Abyssal monster Shipgirl a fucking Heart, kid. Galeem or not...I don't know. I don't trust it. I can't keep watching." Left unsaid was that he couldn't watch another friend be killed. Worse still that it wasn't long since he'd put his own friend, Dijkstra, down for his power play at ruling Redania.

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Open Ocean

Lvl 6 (29/60) -> Lvl 6 (30/60)

Word Count: 332 words

Oh, this girl was gonna be the fuckin' death of him. First, she shows her lack of experience with fighting to the death. Alright, fine, not everybody kills monsters for a living. Second, she runs off at the first sign of danger. Well, she had that Spirit she fused with, gave her a better shot. Not too crazy.

And then she went and tried to let the damn thing go. He didn't know what it was like where she came from, but he felt that the whole "they will fight you until they're dead, and even then they'll keep trying" part of this fucked-up, mix-and-match universe was pretty clear. Unless she was gonna pop out one of those freaky hearts and convince it with the power of friendship, her options were to kill the damn thing, or run away. No standing around talking, no convincing it the fight was over. Even if it were possible, strictly speaking, Geralt had fought too many damned fools who couldn't see when they'd been beat. He'd killed too many people who could've just...stopped.

This wasn't that kind of case, though. This was more akin to a rampaging Fiend that was too angry to stay down when half its lifeblood was on the floor. He shook his head, pulling out that strange weapon he'd gotten from crushing those Spirits. Surfacing, he took aim at the Water Princess and fired three times, only just then realizing that Ranger was coming to retrieve him. "Oh this is just rich. I swim all this way only to get manhandled back. Love it." His grumblings aside, Geralt didn't fight the Shipgirl coming to retrieve him. His part in all this was done. "Just put me down on the ship, and go back for her if she hasn't gotten her fool self killed by that point." The concern underlying his voice would be lost on the stranger, but it was there all the same.

Damn heroes. Damn, stupid heroes.

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Open Ocean

Lvl 6 (28/60) -> Lvl 6 (29/60)

Word Count: 426 words

Geralt pushed through the water, collecting Spirits as he went. Anything he could grab without slowing himself down too much, he did. The disparity in power between himself and the others, especially when it came to long-ranged encounters, was beginning to grow. Hopefully his newest acquisitions would help bridge that gap, but Geralt wasn't one to rest on his laurels, or to wait and see if things would work themselves out.

They rarely ever did, anyway. Take, for example, this underwater current dragging the Spirits out to the Bottomless Sea. Sure, he now had an explanation for just how the Abyssal Fleet seemed to be endless, but it would just be a war of attrition for the Lominscuttle Fleet to stop the flow of Spirits and prevent themselves from being slaughtered while doing so. The Abyssals had the advantage of their lack of care for their individual minions- a hundred to kill a single Shipgirl would be a worthy price, since most if not all of them would just float back if not grabbed. And trawling the depths for Spirits would make whomever was doing it a prime target, after all.

However, one thing did seem to work out for him: one of the Spirits that drifted close to him was from one of the Ship girls. He snatched that Spirit up without any delay, knowing that the Spirits of these...sailors...would be much stronger than anything else he'd find here.

Tempted as he was to absorb it then and there, his experience with the Enderman spirit gave him pause. There would be downsides associated with absorbing the essence of another into himself, and in the middle of a fight like this, it might be unwise to do so without some knowledge of what those downsides would be.

Stashing away the Shpigirl's Spirit in a pouch with the others, Geralt stopped when he saw the...creature...in front of him, guiding the Spirits through the currents. He watched the thing dance through the current, almost mesmerized for a moment, before turning away from it and swimming on a more roundabout course towards the fight between Sakura and the Pale Shipgirl monster. He did not want to fight that thing too, especially not underwater. What he grabbed would have to be enough- they had their evidence, anyway. The Abyssal Fleet was recovering the Spirits of their dead, and presumably reviving them. He wouldn't be surprised if they were turning the Shipgirls into the stronger members of their army, as well.

He hoped that wasn't the case, for their sake.

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Limsa Lominscuttle Town

Lvl 6 (28/60) -> Lvl 6 (29/60)

Word Count: 248 words

Geralt looked down at his newly-acquired items and assistants. Some kind of weapon not unlike the plasma pistol he was gifted by Tora, what appeared to be ammunition for the aforementioned weapon, and some...other thing. There was some kind of apparatus that appeared to be intended for fitting about the shoulder. "Well, not bad..." He murmured. He'd have to see how the Imps fared in combat, but he was satisfied with how things had come about. Quickly pulling out his bottle of Cat (Grants vision in darkness, as well as immunity to hypnotic effects for roughly an hour), Geralt took a quick swallow of the potion, feeling his eyes dilate and his mind sharpen. Whatever that hooded figure had done, Geralt figured he wouldn't have to worry about if it came down to a fight. Useful potion, Cat was.

Quickly getting his new gear in place, Geralt made his way out of the Atomos, taking a deep breath. Sakura had the Spirit of the ship girl with her when she jumped, and was closer to start off. He had only his body, and a cloak that made breathing underwater trivial. His sight would still be impacted by the water, though he had experience with free swimming and looking around in water.

He dove from the ship roughly horizontally, cutting through the surface of the water like a missile, and quickly settled into a rhythm, keeping a lookout for other Spirits he could grab along the way to Sakura.

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Limsa Lominscuttle Town

Lvl 6 (27/60) -> Lvl 6 (28/60)

Word Count: 146 words

"Worth a shot." Geralt nodded, grabbing the Spirits from Kamek's Toadies and throwing the hood from Junior over his shoulder. His fist closed around the Spirits of the Torpedo-looking Abyssals, as well as that of the artillery platform. In his other hand, the three-in-one Spirit of the Imps resided, and Geralt smirked.

"I need your help. My friend is out there, fighting for her life and ours. And I'm not sure I can do a damned thing about it without you. Can't promise it'll always be smooth sailing, but I'll give ya plenty of chances to fight. It's sort of my job." He chuckled a bit. "Won't drive you like a slave, just call on you for a hand here and there." Letting out a soft breath, he nodded. "How about it?"

Oh, he prayed this would work. Not that he expected that to help much.

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Limsa Lominscuttle Town

Lvl 6 (26/60) -> Lvl 6 (27/60)

Word Count: 305 words

Geralt kept his seat as Sakura went to the open bay doors, firing blasts of, well, fire, from her hands while shouting some spell name. He wondered for a moment if he might be able to sculpt the flames of Igni in such a manner, but the sheer rapidity with which she was throwing out her spell made Geralt reconsider her potential as a fighter. His words of encouragement were genuine, but they fell somewhat flat when he was shown just how powerful she could be.

Shaking his head, Geralt made the Sign of Quen, hoping to keep himself safe just in case something got through and hit him. With Junior beginning a retreat, his job was done. Now they had a bit more information. They also had a better idea of the scale of the enemy. The Abyssal Fleet didn't rely solely on its numbers, especially seeing what that 'Princess' had been capable of.

"I'm going down there. I'm gonna help them escape."

Geralt's heart dropped, and he struggled with the restraints on his seat, shooting up as the rear doors closed and Sakura was lost to the sea, by her own choice. Spirit or not, she didn't stand a chance against that monster. He stared at the rear bay door, his face set in stone. "Dammit, kid..." Sighing as he turned back to the seats, he shook his head. "What do we got?"

He didn't want to leave her, but there was no way they could rush back in without a plan. "All I have is this thing," Geralt said as he pulled out his plasma pistol. "I'm not even sure how much it has left in it...or how that part really works, but all of my Signs are useless after a few meters, and I don't fancy climbing onto that thing."

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Limsa Lominscuttle Town

Lvl 6 (25/60) -> Lvl 6 (26/60)

Word Count: 663 words

Geralt's face tensed at Sakura's response to his curse. Having dealt with Yennefer for a few decades, he knew what the best response was as a matter of instinct: apologize, deflect, move on. Placate the angry woman, change the topic, never mention it again. Unless it was funny, of course.

"Ah. I'm sorry, I'm not used to dealing with...decent folk." Oh, that was an understatement. "I'll watch my mouth, don't worry."

Step one, complete. Step two-

“What’s a whoreson anyway?”

Ignore them. Just ignore them and look for a new topic to work with.

“Hey. So. What’s a whore?”

This kid was gonna be the death of him. Not only was he worried the big guy would rip his head off for explaining brothels to the kid, that would risk getting right back into the conversation of exactly why he'd referred to the ship's previous owners as cheap whoresons in the first place.

"That...is something you and your father will have to discuss. In about..." Giving a show of looking Junior up and down, Geralt shrugged. "However long it takes until you're an adult, I guess. Either way, it's a father's place to explain it to his son, not mine." Desperate to escape the conversation, he looked out the window and frowned.

Good distraction, that fight in front of them. Good distraction indeed. Watching the battle carefully, Geralt leaned forward in his seat and narrowed his eyes. "There!" Pointing his finger at where the Imps' spirit had fallen, he frowned. "They leave spirits...? Hmm, guess we should watch what happens to it. See if it disappears like normal, or if it goes anywhere. The girl I talked to had no idea what I was talking about, so it might just be that they can't tell in the middle of the fight, and don't stick around to collect them afterwards..." Geralt's musings were cut short by Kamek's egress from the ship to assist in the fight. Having no flight or aquatic mobility to speak of, and frankly, not even here to fight, Geralt sat in the relative safety of the Atomos, watching and learning about their enemy.

He took the opportunity to better watch Kamek's abilities, as well. Being told of an ally's capabilities was one thing. Seeing them in combat at your side was another. Being able to watch and scrutinize from a safe place was the last piece of the puzzle.

The duplicates provided quite a boost to Kamek's abilities, both in allowing him (or at least some facet of his abilities) to be in more than one place at any given time. Even with each clone limited to one type of magic (as far as Geralt could tell), it was a force multiplier to be reckoned with. Healing somebody's injuries, shielding them from harm, and simultaneously destroying their attacker was like if Geralt could use multiple signs at once, use Quen on others, and give them a dose of Swallow without killing them.

Suffice to say, he was glad the magikoopa was on their side.

The gunfire, and Junior's evasive maneuvers, did little to deter him from watching Kamek's fighting, at least for the first part. Once hell started breaking loose inside the Atomos and the kid summoned his little minions, Geralt found his focus wavering among all the commotion. He elected to keep his position within the vehicle, not trusting his little weapon to turn the tide, and also not trusting the kid's piloting skills to not throw him from the vehicle.

Not that he'd tell the runt, that was. He didn't need to bother with the whining and all that. He was here to observe and learn about their enemy, as well as make ideas about how to keep their infinite numbers from respawning. His place on the battlefield was on solid ground, not in the air, and certainly not on the water.

And he'd managed step three rather well, he thought- even he'd forgotten about the 'whoreson' argument.

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Limsa Lominscuttle Town

Lvl 6 (24/60) -> Lvl 6 (25/60)

Word Count: 701 words

Geralt hummed at the revelation 'Minneapolis' gave him. The members of the Abyssal Fleet disintegrated into dust when killed, leaving nothing behind. Curious, but not necessarily the key to unlocking their weakness. However, the fact that their strength correlated with their forms did at least give a relatively simple way to identify threats. The ones that looked alive and like these 'ship girls' were the more dangerous of the lot. What exactly was meant by 'Demons, Princesses, and Fortresses' he couldn't tell immediately, but he had the feeling he'd be getting the chance down the road. Geralt gave Minneapolis a curt nod. "Thanks for the information. Gonna see what I can do with it."

He left her with that, quickly jogging his way back to the others while ruminating on what he'd learned. When Morkvarg had been transformed by his curse, eating anything turned it into foul-tasting ash. The two could be unrelated, but Geralt had a feeling that at the very least, these creatures violating that basic law of this amalgamation of worlds meant something was interfering with the natural order, be it a curse or some sort of resurrection spell. The only problem was that he still had no clue what was causing it. If even the deadliest of foes that these folks had slain dissolved like the weaklings, it meant that whatever anchored their presence was likely held in a rear guard. Internally cursing, Geralt shook away the frustration as he approached the rest of their team. He noticed Peach addressing Sakura, and gave the two ladies a moment to speak before relaying his findings.

"Well, I've got good news and bad. I've learned a bit about our enemy, but not much that leads me to a particular conclusion. Could be cursed to resurrect until they destroy this place, could be some sorcerer bringing them back. But I also learned about their general hierarchy of strength. Weaker ones just look like machines. The stronger they get, the more they look like those ship girls. And the tough ones...well, the one I asked called them 'Demons, Princesses, and Fortresses.' Not exactly confidence inspiring, and add onto that that they've all got cannons, guns, and most of them have some sort of weapon for closing in and tearing apart ships? Well, we've got our work cut out for us."

His melancholy explanation done, Geralt looked at the ship they'd acquired. He certainly wasn't the best judge of airships, coming from a world where they didn't exist in any capacity, but he...wasn't impressed. It looked boxy, slow, and painfully under-armed. He hoped he was missing something.

"I'll be going along as well. As much as I'd love to have a hoard of coin to mess around with, I'd be better served learning as much about these monsters as I can. Always better to see it for yourself than to get a second-hand report." Shaking his head, he climbed into the vehicle. "Just hope the kid's as good as he says..." He mumbled under his breath.

The inside was actually, somehow, less awe-inspiring than the outside. It looked like the previous owners had stripped the thing bare of any personal belongings, leaving only a bed and some built-in passenger chairs for the new owners. "Cheap whoresons..." Geralt complained, shaking his head. "No respect for the elderly." Whether he was referring to himself or Kamek was anybody's guess.

Strapping in per the mage's advice, Geralt found himself very glad for having done so as Junior activated the ship, causing it to rise, and Geralt's stomach to plummet. Had the people of whatever world this abomination found a method of travel worse than portals?

No, Geralt concluded after a moment. Once he was able to settle, his conviction that portals were, in fact, the worst method of travel remained intact. The view as they flew around was actually quite amazing, and though Geralt wouldn't quite admit it, Bowser Jr had taken to the machine's controls extremely well for a first-timer. He could only assume the sheer amount of time he spent in his own little contraption added to that expertise. "Well, I guess it's time to see what we're up against."

World of Light

Geralt of Rivia

Edge of the Blue- Limsa Lominscuttle Town

Lvl 5 (73/50) -> Lvl 6 (24/60)

Word Count: Not Enough words

New power! Aard- Aard produces a roughly cone-shaped blast of concentrated telekinetic energy, capable of forcing even hearty wyverns to stumble. It's also been known to knock barriers aside, blow open locked doors (Or sometimes knock them right off the hinges!), and knock grown men clean off their feet.

Creatively applied, Aard can also produce a smaller and somewhat less powerful circular blast of force around Geralt, typically only strong enough to force men to stumble or risk losing their footing, rather than knocking them down outright.

@Lugubrious

Geralt nodded to Peach as she gave her advice on where to find somebody he could get answers out of. If the boss was gone, asking the grunts would have to do. Her suggestion of the infirmary was a good one, meant that whoever he got was likely to have at least fought a few of their mysterious enemies, even if they didn't give as good as they got. As of now, anything he could use would be worth the time it took.

Looking around, Geralt grimaced. Some of these...shipgirls...had it rough. Blood-soaked bandages covered a few wounds, though he imagined those were either already mostly healed, or lower priority. Assuming magic was more common with all these worlds mixed up, he'd be shocked if there wasn't at least one or two healers handling this. Homing in on a shipgirl who wasn't horrifically injured, Geralt nodded in greeting.

"Hey there. Name's Geralt. I'm looking for some information about the Abyssal Fleet. How they fight, how they die, what kinds of spirits they leave behind, that sort of thing. Can you help me?" Blunt and to the point. Typical Geralt.