<ROUND EIGHTY-THREE>
Hat Kid... or someone else, I guess, starts off the round by calling Glitch Temmie. They can hear the sounds of coffee sips in the background.

GLITCH TEMMIE: *slurp*
GLITCH TEMMIE: Hm, we've already given everyone enough coffee to keep them awake for at least a few days.
GLITCH TEMMIE: We even had some excess. *slurp*
GLITCH TEMMIE: Good stuff, this coffee. Chairian brand. We should place an order and see if we can get it delivered directly to the Mindscape. *slurp*
GLITCH TEMMIE: Anyway, goodbye, Mustache Girl.
GLITCH TEMMIE: ...Hm, perhaps there's a whole subset of females named after head-based features? Maybe there's a Necklace Girl, or a Tattoo Kid, or something weird like that...

She then heads to the Office, and not actually using any materials, sets up an encouragement array. While this has no actual effect on stats, encouragement is always nice! Mr Krabs then decides to do a spot of weird crafting, tossing together 40 Soulblossoms, 40 Goneblossoms, 3 Seer Crystals, 3 Reverie Fragments, 50 Thyme Matter Blobs, 1 Gold Ingot, and a Bag of Salt to create a Golden Dream Ring! A small problem is that you cannot fire a person who isn't the GM (as Ire is in the Sphere, and cannot be GMing this game), but a small technicality like that won't fail the craft. This actually yields a multi-use item, but it will still lose power eventually and become moderately useless and also Tier 1. Anyway, Krabs ventures into Calypse's Mindscape...

...He finds an endless, voidic expanse. There appears to be a gigantic sphere of sorts floating in this void, made not of wood, but of a similar, rune-laden material to Calypse's own makeup. A gigantic chunk appears to have been removed from the sphere, and the presence of floating fragments slowly drifting away from the central mass seems to suggest that -something- has been ripped directly from the core of the sphere. Glitched residue blankets the spiraling debris of the sphere, and beyond the cloud of debris lies the hollow center of the sphere. It seems like something is beginning to form there, a thin stream of purple slowly seeping inward. The purple appears to be condensing into a sphere, a thin purple 'wireframe skeleton' of sorts suggesting that this blob of purple matter wants to completely fill up the hollow core of the sphere.

It seems like some poking around will be required as to discern what's happening around here. Or maybe he could poke around in the minds of other creatures to get a frame of reference? There's a few avenues to take here...

Bergilmir meanwhile, goes shopping to obtain a Factory Fullplate and a Straw Effigy. He promptly dons them, becoming a pretty nice mixed tank + DPS. JOE then prepares a pot to throw for the upcoming battle, expending 4 Thyme Matter and his Clay Pot to do so. Before doing so however, he finds 10 Rupees Credits in the pot! He then gets his drone to head over to the Darkmatter Missiles in the Crystillery, and ties them up with Spider Silk. He then plucks the crystals out of the ground after creating little 'leashes' out of the silk. Almost predictably, the silk snaps instantly from the rocket-like forces of the crystals, and they spiral out of control! One of them flies off into the distance, while the other one curves and smashes into the ground, creating a large explosion that somehow doesn't harm anything, but increases the Noise by 50%! You should probably go and do something about that. On the bright side, another one of the crystals has grown!

Zedros then decides to level up, respec-ing himself in terms of trait and special! He also leverages his roleplaying as crafting power, creating the Cyclone Staff and the Robe of Clouds! This expends 5 Galeforce Crystals, 5 Shock Crystals, 5 Circuit Boards, 20 Wire Scraps, 15 Silkweed Bundles, 5 Gold Ingots, 2 Titanium Ingots, 10 Copper Gears, 3 Greatwood Logs, 10 Fresh Manablossoms, and a Turbulence Crafting Charge.

Also, just about everyone, who's pissed to a pretty high degree, goes in to break Lucid's face and crystal in every place possible.

<OMOQUEST, ROUND EIGHTEEN>
Final battle time! Well, it's not so much a battle as it is running from IKEA, who now has the ability to instantly kill everything if it so much as stands too close to him. Fortunately, Omo is a fast runner, so getting away shouldn't be too hard... just don't expect to get too large a lead, unless you sacrifice things to him. Anyway, get Omo to the tile, and the game is won!

<OMORIKA'S OFFICE, ROUND TWO>
...Meanwhile, inside the swirling darkness of Omorika's mind...



Reality exploded around Chloe, and she found herself tumbling downwards for a brief moment before smashing into a hard wooden floor, landing on her back. She groaned in pain for a few brief moments, as she took in the sights around her. Where was she? Moments earlier, she was back in that dreaded bunker, but this time without hope or quarter. And now, she seemed to be in some sort of weird library- passages and halls made of bookshelves, with dim lighting provided by what looked like old-timey oil lamps, the flames replaced with a glowing crystal. She dusted herself off as she felt a hand place itself upon her shoulder.

CHLOE: H-Huh?
OMORIKA: …
CHLOE: A-Ah! Omo! W-What happened? W-Where’s Marron and the others? Are they okay?
CHLOE: Where… Where are we, exactly?
OMORIKA: I… believe this is my Mindscape. I can’t say for certain, as I’ve never truly been inside my mindscape like this, but I’ve always sort of ‘seen’ it like this. I’m sure you understand what I mean.
OMORIKA: I saw you and the others up there, and it looked like you were in an especially high amount of agony…
CHLOE: Up… there? What do you-

Chloe looked skyward. Above her, attached to the wooden ceiling was an array of several pods, each looking like it was made up of a bulbous, somewhat translucent black material. Marron, Taeda, Calibri, Simeon- all suspended in these pods, a somewhat horrified expression on their face. Directly above her was the bleeding remnants of a pod, dripping a black ooze all over her.

CHLOE: J-Jesus! W-What the heck!?
OMORIKA: I’ll go and free them. I have a feeling Lucid will be here soon, so prepare yourself.
CHLOE: Lucid? It’s here too? How are you going to get them out?
OMORIKA: My special brand of magic… appears to be quite effective against Lucid’s constructs.
OMORIKA: Observe.

Omo begins to chant something to herself, before pointing her finger like a gun at Marron’s pod.

OMORIKA: Null Somnum.

An azure light shoots out of Omo’s finger, piercing the inky black pod and entering Marron’s body, not piercing through. Her eyes flew open, her hazy eyes being greeted by the pod’s explosion and sudden freefall. Marron hit the ground, landing on her puppet arm. Upon seeing Chloe, Marron’s eyes immediately began to tear up, and without hesitation, she started hugging Chloe’s leg with a deadly grip.

MARRON: P-PEOPLE!
MARRON: T-THANK GOODNESS I THOUGHT I-I WAS GOING TO BE…
MARRON: …
MARRON: Chloe.
CHLOE: H-Hi!
MARRON: ...I guess you count as a person.
CHLOE: ...
CHLOE: I-It’s good to see you too…?
CHLOE: A-Anyway, what happened?

While the two talk, Stella makes her rounds, preparing bolts of Null Somnum to send into the other pods. She targets Simeon and Calibri first, sending them down to the ground. The two girls are oblivious as they talk visions.

MARRON: I don’t know! I was back on Nightmare Mountain, and I was with a bunch of friends, and we were all having a great time…
CHLOE: Nightmare… Mountain? I definitely wasn’t there- I was back in that bunker where the Naclestial almost ate me…
MARRON: I’m not done explaining!
MARRON: Anyway, we were having a big party and it was really awesome! Ette was there, Toast was there, Mari was there, some people from the group were there…
MARRON: We were celebrating… something? I-I can’t really remember, it was like a dream…
MARRON: Ette and I made a cake together, Toast brought me a nice new hair ribbon, Mari was… being pretty chill…
MARRON: T-Then people started vanishing, and nobody seemed to notice but me, and then Mari vanished, then Toast, t-then Ette left me, too…
MARRON: A-And… I was alone.
CHLOE: That sounds… more pleasant than what I went through.
MARRON: I seriously doubt it! D-Do you know what i-it’s like, b-being alone like that!? I-It’s unbearable, b-being a-alone with y-your thoughts w-with nobody w-who likes y-you...

Marron begins helplessly sobbing into Chloe’s chest. Chloe begins to rub her back as if to tell her that everything will be okay, prompting Marron to remember that this is Chloe and to activate her natural reflex to punch her in the face. She does. Chloe gives a yelp.

CHLOE: O-Ow!
MARRON: …
MARRON: Don’t tell ANYONE, especially not Kokichi about this, a-alright?
CHLOE: S-Sure…?
MARRON: A-Anyway.
MARRON: W-What’d you see?
CHLOE: Ah, um...
CHLOE: T-The Naclestial was there, scraping on the door, my leg was busted and I-I couldn’t run, I was back in that bunker...
CHLOE: It kept gnashing, banging on the door, screaming about how it’d rip me from limb to limb, keeping me alive while tearing out my heart and eating it…
CHLOE: It’s just like back then… but nobody came to save me. Sometimes, the banging would stop, and I’d see it in the bunker’s gunports. Far more twisted and deadly than I remembered, though.
CHLOE: Sometimes, I’d see it slip in and I’d raise my arms in some feeble attempt to defend myself… but when I opened by eyes, i-it was gone. S-Sometimes, it’d vanish mere inches from my throat…
CHLOE: But one time, it got to me. It plunged its claws into my chest, threw me to the ground, bore its teeth into me a-and gorillaing t-tore a c-chunk out me…
CHLOE: It chewed and gnashed on it, it right in front of my face… and then it was gone. I felt my belly where it had bit me… and there was no wound. The pain was still there, but no wound.
CHLOE: Then reality sorta exploded and then I saw you and Omo.
MARRON: ...Ouch.
CHLOE: …
CHLOE: I-I don’t wanna die here…
MARRON: …

The two sit in awkward silence, Chloe on the verge of tears. Then, Taeda hits the ground, Omo helping her to her feet. The look in her eyes reveals that she’s sufficiently shaken.

TAEDA: it had literally infinite wings
TAEDA: one for each flap
TAEDA: do you know how inefficient that is
TAEDA: just reuse your wings damn it
OMORIKA: Taeda. Listen to me.
OMORIKA: It was all a dream.
TAEDA: okay cool

Stella charges another use of Null Somnum, this time using it as intended and pressing her palms against Taeda’s temples, the azure energy coursing through her. Taeda suddenly jolts to life, suddenly wrapping her arms around Omo whilst shrieking.

TAEDA: W-Wahh! M-Miss Omorika, I-I’m scared!
TAEDA: I-I saw… t-the monster…
OMORIKA: Calm yourself, Taeda! It was all a dream!
OMORIKA: ...Technically, this is all still a dream, but we haven’t much time.
TAEDA: H-Huh? What’s going on-
OMORIKA: Lucid is coming, and we’re all going to die unless we do something about it.
OMORIKA: Everyone, gather around!

There’s quite a bit of emotion and urgency in her voice. Her eyes sweep the area, searching for a threat that is yet to make itself seen.

OMORIKA: T-There’s little time! Lucid has seized control of most of my mind, but I believe that if we hurry, we can reverse some of the damage, and expel the-

There’s a quiet shattering noise. Then another. The lights in the area are slowly being snuffed out, one by one. A chill crosses everyone’s spine. Then, Chloe and Taeda shriek as Lucid suddenly fades into existence behind Stella.

LUCID: Host is experiencing issues…
LUCID: Attempting to find solution…
LUCID: Solution found. Please stand by.

Lucid’s entire form quakes, as the shelves around the group begin to sink into the ground. All around is an expanse- while there are walls of what appears to be a wooden skybox in the distance, it looks like flames are rapidly catching. The wooden panelling of the sky burns away, revealing what appears to be a star-filled sky in the distance, several gigantic books floating freely in space. Each book appears to contain some sort of world within its pages. However, these books soon fade from sight due to an excess of smoke in the air. The wooden floorboards are now ablaze, and a ring of fire is slowly closing inward.

Omo runs as fast as she can to the center of the ring, the fear visible in her eyes as the walls of flame close in around her and the group.

LUCID: If target is being uncooperative, apply nightmares until the target is willing to cooperate.
LUCID: Result; full control.

Lucid raises one of its arms, and Omo seems to move with it, floating upwards into the air. She kicks and struggles to break out of its psionic grasp, but her efforts are all for naught. Everyone can only watch as Lucid steps into the center of the fiery ring, which seems to have stopped closing in, creating the perfect arena of sorts. The floor suddenly turns a charred black, and now the world is that out of a nightmare- blazing walls providing no escape, no vision of the outside world. A marred, dark floor to hide the cinderous bodies. Lucid begins to morph its form, shrinking in size until it is humanoid in appearance. The same size and form as the shadowy figure it became in an attempt to lure Omo into the office. Lucid’s voice and inflection begins to change to that of a male Chairian as it finishes up its transformation.

Spite. Hatred. Disgust. Those are the words that seem to make up Lucid’s new voice.

LUCID: So, please tell me, Omo.
LUCID?: Why did you kill me?
OMORIKA: I-I d-didn’t intend f-for any of t-this to happen…
OMORIKA: I... I d-didn’t think I’d l-lose you then...
LUCID?: Of course you didn’t. But it’s all about you, isn’t it?
LUCID?: You simply had to kill him. You had something to prove. You blinded yourself and in the end, you used me as a means to an end.
LUCID?: A shame that everything we has was for nothing.
OMORIKA: Y-You’re... y-you’re not him. He would never speak to me this way!
LUCID?: I’m sure he wouldn’t.
LUCID?: After all, had you exercised common sense, he might still be here today. Your mistakes led to his death.
LUCID?: Now please.
LUCID?: Miss Omorika, won’t you join me in the flames? This will only take a moment.
LUCID?: Here.

Cinders erupt on parts of Lucid’s body- a sword and shield. Clouds of ash begin to form around its feet, eventually spiralling in a helix formation around it. It raises its blade towards the group in the flaming circle below her.

LUCID?: We’ll start by burning them to a crisp. You can watch the flesh melt from their bones.
LUCID?: You can’t run from what you did to me.
LUCID?: You can’t run from your past.
LUCID?: You can’t run from what’s inside your head.



You are accosted by...

THE ASHEN KNIGHT
Burned Into Her Mind



...Anyway, you're now going to be split between the waking world, and the world of Omo's Mindscape! Fortunately, going through this mindscape won't take either a week or two years- all you need to do is slay the Ashen Knight! This is easier said than done, as to get to this realm, you'll need to fall asleep! And if you do, your body is vulnerable to attack in the real world! Command and split your forces carefully- commit too much to the world of dreams and you'll be turned into a bloody mess in reality!

Also, don't die in reality. You'll instantly die in the dream, too. Try and avoid that.

OMOQUEST

OMO: Move to (C5), create Behemoth on (C7). SELECT: Focus Willpower
CONSTRUCT: Move to (F5)
FALLEN: Move to (E4), attack TSword1.
CONSTRUCT: Lethal Cleave TPyro1
BEHEMOTH: Move to (C8), Ironskin

---

Mustache Girl decides to create a timeclone of herself to keep shouting encouragement into the microphone. The two give each other a thumbs-up as the original walks past Bass. "hey"

And she leaves him there, probably not wanting to interact with someone who clearly doesn't want to be there, but also isn't a bad guy. She's got more interesting things to do anyway.

Anyway, she gets to The Absence easily enough. She looks down the hole, careful not to slip into it, trying to estimate what materials would be needed to get to the bottom of it. She then makes two large hooks out of a bar of Titanium, and climbs down with them as if they were climbing gear.

If the Absence is not so much a grater as a >90 degree cliff, MU sorta just forces a piece of it off with an Ashen Reap explosion; dusting themselves off and using a Health Pon to heal back up. The result should be a surface that's able to be scaled down.

Once down there, she gets to work with making an easy access. She melts down 6 Iron Ingots, and forms them into large, staple-like structures. She continues using the Ashen Reap to jam them into the wall she came down, forming a ladder for people to climb up and down from.

Once that's done (and whatever progress she made is recorded), she scours the hole for some caverns, ore, and whatever the heck else. I mean come on, there's gotta be something down here...

---

Boshi's head snaps to Hat Kid's location; she's pretty badly wounded. Boshi was having none of that, and only became more furious as a result.

He Phase Shifts with Reverie3. After Brutishace kills the Corpsetaker, he then sprints to (S11). He also conjures up a Rejuvenating Remedy for 4 Brew. Heals (12-13) MP.

Hat Kid, meanwhile, retreats. She sprints to (K19), hauling Taeda with her. Somehow. She leaves Taeda at (K18).

As Omo frees Simeon from his pod, he shouts, "I said this once, and I'll say this again! I'll never be you!"

Falling onto the floor, the first thing he does is touch at his bare neck. "I don't have my scarf, this is a mindscape."

Since everyone else has shared their fears, he shares his as well. "I was in some twisted gallery. As I walked around, I realized that every exhibition was about some promise I broke. If that wasn't bad enough, then I walked into a wing where I saw every promise I could still break. This...thing. It just gets into your mind, doesn't it?"

Seeing the Operative, Simeon cracks a smile. "Right, I never told you. sorry about that, my name's Simeon. It's good to see you."

After Lucid morphs, Simeon takes a look at his sword in his hand, and the one wielded by the Ashen Knight. He turns to Stella. "Omo? Please tell me, this sword, did it belong to him?"

Battle Actions:
After Marron, Calibri, Chloe, Taeda and Omo have done their actions, Simeon moves to J11 and raises his shield to guard. This throws up a wall of smoke in the Ashen Knight's face. While this is happening, he also throws a quick cut at the monster with the face of a fallen hero. With that done, his initial adrenaline rush wears off, and he scrambles backwards to H11.

"Alright, focus, you can do this, you've been in similar situations before, right? You got this," he mutters under his breath.

The Man shoots Reverie 1.

Battle of Omorika's Office

The Sapper waits for the other people to move before he moves to L17 and starts terraforming the area around him more useful for us. (Waiting for the people where the bookshelves would appear to move)

Bookshelves magically appear at I15, J15, L15, M15.
Power Wells at J16 and L16.
Mana Wells at K16, J17 and L17. If L17 is invalid then go with K18.

I move to N18, and call a Sniper, I then transfer my drone on it.
The Sniper appears at L19.

The Shocktrooper moves to R17 and starts shooting up the Reverie2

I move to K11 and fire Breath of Nia north!

an illusion is created at 10F.
silkweeds are harvested and replanted
Manablooms are calmly planted around the crystiliary- very quietly, which is easy given how small a manabloom is- in a pattern resembling an eye, open, but with the bottom lid twice as thick, as if there are two patterns, of a closed eye and an open one, overlaid almost exactly. the center of the eye is G40, and it is designed to strengthen illussory traps cast by one standing in the center (or perhaps allow for the creation of more traps per cast?).
I would like to also note that the strengths weren't to keep it restrained: they where to make it easier to inventorize, so that if the string is put into the inventory before the crystal gets too far, the crystal would come into the inventory too.

In the real world, not much is going on. Calibri/Operative's body is just standing there, both eyes having faded... then, it proceeds to collapse into a pile of blue eyeballs and mist, orbiting itself in the air faintly. Oddly enough, his voice speaks - and this time, it's Calibri's voice again.

"...Transmitting visual feed."

The eyes turn inwards, clearing out a space among the mist and the eyes, then proceed to fire beams into the space... After a few seconds, those in the real world would have a viewing window into the mindscape, where the NPCs and the Ashen Knight are. Calibri(?) remains silent now, evidently not being able to do anything more than show off what's going on and sit there.


In the mindscape proper, the Operative stands there, humming quietly while taking a look at all the fire. He doesn't seem too concerned, to be honest... After some time looking around, he decides to turn his attention to the people present. That is, the NPCs. And Simeon.

"Evening. If it wasn't obvious already, I am not Calibri."

He takes a moment to look at each person more directly. First, at Simeon, then over to Taeda.

"I know not your names. Mind introducing yourselves? I would say my name first, but I suppose it holds no meaning to the two of you."

Then, to Marron. He can't help but crack a faint grin.

"Well then. Hello again, Marron. Never thought I'd be seeing you again, but I'm not about to complain."

And finally, to Chloe. There's a pause, and he closes his eyes, breathing in softly and exhaling before he opens his eyes again. Another pause.

"So. You must be the realworld Chloe, huh... Nice to meet you. I'm the Operative. Perhaps you've heard of me? I'm sure Marron would have made at least one remark to you, or perhaps someone else, maybe one of the font pair, have spoken about me. I'm almost certain they'd be here if either of them were curious about their origins... and, of course, to fulfil a promise I made."

Another pause. He glances aside for a moment.

"Apologies if I seem slightly... reserved. I have to remind myself that you're not the Chloe I'm more familiar with, and in case nobody told you yet, I'm quite... close with her. Not trying to brag or anything, hah."

Beat. He shrugs. Then, his attention is drawn elsewhere, to Omorika.

"Ah. Almost didn't see you up there. Hello, miss Omorika. I suppose the flaming fellow over there is something that has been giving you quite the trouble. If it is, then that's alright. Don't mean to brag, but I do have quite some experience at dealing with nightmares."

He grins, then turns to prepare action...

"Now then. I believe I have a plan in mind. Analysing abilities... Transmitting relevant information..."

A memory orb flickers into existence. It has instructions to give.

Marron: move to G14, fury Chloe
Calibri: move the hand drone to Chloe, move to I12, confbeam the knight, use a Lumipod on the knight retreat to G11
Chloe: move to I12, straight-up annihilate fighter 1, retreat to H12
Taeda: sprint to G12 to get out of the line of fire, or perhaps more accurately the cone of fire
Simeon: bugger it do what you want to do I ain't your dad
Omorika: null somnum me and Taeda
Calibri2: force nail the knight
Taeda2: shell at your discretion, preferably apply a shell to those closer to the knight if you can reach that far

As with the plan's directions, the Operative waits for Marron to use Fury on Chloe, then pops the hand drone over to hover near Chloe, running up to I12 and firing off a Confusion Ray at the Ashen Knight, tossing a Lumipod at the fellow as a followup while practically gliding back to G11. He waits, and should Omorika follow through with his suggested instructions, he proceeds to Force Nail the Ashen Knight, retreating just a little further away to avoid retaliation.

"Shame I'm limited by what his body can do, rather than my own... I already sense that his is more fragile than my own, relatively speaking."



In the meantime in the real world again, EN-913 is currently hanging outside the battle in the office, watching in uncertainly. She can sorta see the audiovisual transmitter that Calibri has turned into, and so has a view both of the situation in the waking world and in the mindscape. There's a pause as she evaluates the situation, then... she turns around and heads away, moving to fetch Bass. Once she's got near enough to speak with him, she... greets him like a normal person, what did you honestly expect?

"Yo, Bass. How're ya doin'?"

She turns and glances back in the direction of the office, then back to the fellow.

"Now, ah get y' prolly ain't keen on goin' in there, seein' wha's goin' on o'er there. An' ah don't really blame ya fer it. But, th' thang is, if we ain't able t' take Lucid down, it ain't gon' end well fer anyone else nearby. Wha' makes matters worse is tha' it's actively splittin' our forces, makin' us fight two fights an' all. So, uh..."

Beat. She glances to one side for a moment...

"Might be a bit o' a big ask o' ye, but... Coul' ya go o'er there an' help th' rest o' th' team? It ain't matter wha'cha do o'er there, although seein' wha' y' got it's prolly better ya jus' go in there an' kill thin's... Iti thin's, not our-side thin's, heh."

She turns her gaze back towards Bass again, just giving him what she hopes is a reassuring smile.

"Ya'll be fine in there, ah'm sure. An' if somethin' do 'appen t' ya... Ah'll apologise an' try find a way t' make up fer it, heh."

"Wow, I almost casted that? That would have been embarassing."

With that mishap in his mind, Brutishace moves over to K14 and drinks another cup of Soulblossom Tea for some extra regeneration.

He then fires Twin Photons at the Corpsetaker, being sure to use the right form of death magic on it. Brutishace feels some form of satisfaction as the aberrant is felled.

If it dies, he uses Soul Siphon to heal up Boshi, topping off his health and hopefully letting him live a bit longer.

Brutishace hears his teammates beckon from the Mindscape as he moves... he feels himself getting drowsy as he descends to answer their plea.

"Hey Lucid, which side's odds of defeat are those?"
Airhorns blare in the background.
----
Terry moves to O13, fires upwards, then Ripostes.

Destiny moves to F14 and casts Whirling Blades, moving to G13, F12, E12, D13, and finally D14. Destiny then retreats to D15.

"Oh no, you ■■■■■, I see what you're doing. And I'm not letting you touch a HAND on my patients."

Keiko moves in to minimize the risk of Marron's death, via the art of having a lot of HP and being able to facetank. Daskter putting cover in front of her face helps, too. Keiko casts First Aid directly onto Marron to ensure that she doesn't die immediately, then places a Mana Well below Keiko's own feet.

Comet casts hailstorm at M10, then uses the Yggdrasil Vessel. She also retreats to L16.

Venia's trembling has slowly magnified throughout the fight until this point, when her whole body snaps into position. "OMORIKA'S MINDSCAPE DETECTED!... Wait, no! Lucid's? Uh, can't tell, but I think I've discovered a WEAKNESS in Lucid's mental offensive. But, how-"

She turns her head towards Calibri and the others, only to now notice the orbiting eyeballs projecting a clear view. "OH."

Venia grits her teeth and mentally scans it, protecting her mind from Lucid's means by a billion different internal wards. Venia was good at Telepathy. Naturally good. Her temporal abilities were the result of training and a lot of related tech aiding things, but she knew she had legitimate psionic powers, and not just the standard set either-the kind that may have even inspired the Dreamer. And while she can't delve into the depths very well...

"LUCID WEAKPOINT LOCATED! His primary control over the Mindscape has been broken thanks to Omorika FIGHTING BACK! YES! He's resorting to SECONDARY CONTROL via direct Mindscape-to-Mindscape linkup and has projected an avatar of his power. He CANNOT back out now, and if that linkup is DESTROYED, we win! We just need... To, uh. Send people. Into there."

The sheer audacity of that statement hits her.

"... The nightmares will be BRIEF. I assure you. Look, I'll go, just to prove it! I'm tough. I'll be OK. Just like ripping off a bandage. Nothing too crazy."

Venia sighs. 'Nothing too crazy' aside from one of the worst night terrors in her life, but that would just be like ripping off a bandage, right? She could do more there than here; her powers were best utilized when bringing down one big target, and between not wanting to harm Omorika and not having many 'high priority' targets, Venia feels better suited to just shooting a thing until it dies a horrible death. Which is exactly what was going on in there.

She would use Skeletal Toss on something to toss it into Lucid's line of fire, but she's silenced, so she fires upon Zweet 1... Then something else comes up. The Whispering Gauntlet-she looks at the hand so tightly clenched upon the Entropic Key. That's not a gauntlet, that's some poor person warped into a thing against their will. It almost stuns her into inaction.

"...Uh. WOW. I need to seriously remind myself you're not just a thing I wear. I am so sorry for forgetting about you for a while, you just seem to go silent sometimes and then I get focused on everything else around me and stress out, and, Uh..."

Venia pauses.

" Uh. Do you have a name? I really, REALLY would like something to call you. You DO NOT deserve to be a glove and you DO NOT deserve to be thrown in a riverside chest like trash for not wishing to KISS THE ASS of a MONSTER. I want to free you from your torment- uh, RIGHT NOW, actually, and I just can't do that, and I don't know if I ever will. There's a lot of 'you just can't do that's' in my life, actually. I HATE it. But I want to know that you, uh, what I mean is, uh..."

Venia's tone softens. It doesn't really stop being the weird voice that isn't quite Venia's, but echos it much better. The darkening of an area around what could be said to be her head is almost reminiscent of a blush.

"I want to know your name, if you can remember one. I just, I don't... I want to know your name, or know something to call you, because you're a person and deserve to be treated like one, and because I feel ashamed at myself for not asking sooner. I'm not actually sure if we'll live past this one, either. Even if we do, I'm not sure I'll survive very long afterwards... I'm not sure I'm going to find my cure and live past thirty years old. I'm not sure I'll be able to make the happy calm life I want for myself. I'm not sure I can save my friends from dying all of these awful deaths, or all these innocent people who don't want to fight, even if I'm forgotten afterwards because of me slowly fading from existence and memory slowly every second of my life. I. I actually can't take it very well, and I can't find anyone to talk about it. I'm only seventeen! It's not right! But I'm just supposed to suck up and take it. I don't think you've talked much about your past, but I think it was much the same? The unfairness of the cult, not accepting resignations? I'm, I'm not sure I could put up with that at all. You seem to take it well. Better than I can with my own condition. I feel kind of sorry for, uh, talking about myself so much because it's all about me and you're sitting there with almost no free agency of your own... So I just, uh. I just want to know your name, so I can't think of you as a glove again, because no-body has to be a glove, and I don't want to forget about anyone even if they'll all forget about me."

Venia has to mildly pause. She is talking to a glove. A glove everyone in the room agrees to be sapient, but it is a glove. It is also apparent to anyone with a brain that sheer drama power is enabling this conversation as there is just no way this would be possible otherwise.

"...I'm not sure whether or not Lucid will, uh, target us both for the horrific nightmare zone, actually. That will be relevant in a few seconds, so, uh... Uhhhhh... Brace yourself, and, uh, try to remember what you looked like before, uh, the Rose Cult. Or what you should look like now. If you don't remember, make something up, quick, it may be one of the few times you get for a long while... And we'll need help"

Venia breaks the rule of drama and the chaos of combat resumes with a gunshot-aimed straight at Zweet3, before stepping onto a space that Venia feels is going to be slapped with the bad times. Her hat pings it again for an additional insult. She then throws a Lumipod at Lucid, less to harm it and more to throw off its aim. She then steps to G15 because she has a bit of extra retreat...

"Just, just do it. I'm not scared of you. Nothing to fear but fear itself, and... and, I'M NOT FUCKING SCARED OF A SINGLE NIGHT TERROR!" Venia screams.

"... Kinda, easier to deal with when you keep having them," Venia muses back at the gauntlet.

----|<|0|>|----

Meanwhile, way back at Zone 0, The ground floor of the house is (mostly) silent and empty, save for Chaos, and has been so since the party left to fight Lucid-until right now.

"Knock knock, knock knock!" Said a small, juvenile voice. It sounds strikingly familiar (to Chaos), but not quite. The door, at the same time, reverberated with the sound of knuckles issuing their rapport.

The door was not locked at all, so the door opened right away, revealing a small, young girl with glasses, brunette hair, bright blue eyes, and a very large smile on her face... And a small gold crown, small enough to hang lopsided on her hair via clip. Whoever this girl is, she's wearing a small orange minidress with a white sun plastered on the front, she lacks shoes, she carries a small web-laden stick (distinctive from the sticks in the inventory) and is being followed by four cats, one slower than the other three.

The young girl, for her part, continues to knock the door well after it's already open and her cats have entered; "Knock knock, knock knock, knock knock, knock knock!"

Zed realizes he forgot to put a spell in his additional slot from his new weapon. Zed promptly slaps Phase Shift in, then heads into Omorika's office.

Zed spawns at M19 and flies to Q17, before channeling his Cyclone Staff at the wounded Reverie2. High-speed winds envelop and shred the Slumberer.

(+2 Ventus if the attack hits, or +3 if it kills.)

"I'll stay awake and try to get rid of some of these slumberers soon. Lucky me, the magic-proof ones aren't also thrown-through-a-window-and-subsequently-into-an-abyss-proof."

Toast moves to H14 and flicks a Hidden Glow at Reverie 3, then retreats to H15 and eats a corndog.
She also spends 10 HP on Puppet Lift.

Hidden Glow Damage = [16; base + intellect5] * [1.5; enlightened] * [1.4; light weakness] - [2; AC] = 32.
Assuming no glance or dodge, this is enough to kill.

~~

Toast purchases 2 Sap Cakes and a Waterdrank from Y.V. Possibly using time travel or something.
Who knows.
I certainly don't.
In any case, it's important to stay hydrated.

Gotta stay awake... else we're all Iti chow... or worse!

Irongutta's mind raced with similar thoughts as he moved forward. Adrenaline began to course through his veins.

He moved to H13, which activates his trait and Charging Vest. He then uses Skeletal Toss on Zweet1, with extra flavor.

Irongutta reached out, feeling his hand wrap around Zweet1, even though no physical contact was ever made. If one were to look, they would swear that they saw a large, ethereal green hand holding the Zweet in a vice grip. With a flick of his arm, Irongutta tossed Zweet1 through the window at C15 and released it into the Abyss at B16. This uses the maximum possible movement for Irongutta's Skeletal Toss for some extra overkill.

Auth watches his allies drift to sleep, and then he notices a vision to the Mindscape. It's not relevant to him at all, until he sees Omo strung up above the flames and in a desperate panic. She's definitely not happening, something is wrong. Auth doesn't know, having missed the entire conversation.

Auth places a black shield around himself to protect himself, and then he walks to I18, because then he's near Ette and Ette can give him some sort of protection. He's not prone to surviving fights, so having Ette there is a good thing.

uA: Omo...

He then shakes his head, and takes a deep breath. He seems very upset to see Omo in that much of a panic, and he can't even begin to comprehend what happened to her. He looks on sympathetically as he stands near the back of the office.

Emerald moves to I19 upon frowning at Lucid, holding his Umbrella out in front of him as he does so, using his other hand to gently lift Chloe up and Drag (well, lift) her to I20

<ROUND EIGHTY-FOUR>
Mustache Girl decides to explore the Absence. It's really not that steep, so she causes an explosion with the Ashen Reap, creating a nice way to scale down the hole. She then establishes a ladder... and finds a small tunnel that leads to a bit of a cave. Curious! There might not be nothing much down there, but that vein of Iron Ore certainly strikes a fancy. Perhaps there could be a whole wealth of minerals down in this cave! Or, eldritch horrorterrors, if the GM's style is taken into account. Making the cave readily accessible consumes 6 Iron, however.

JOE then plants some Manablooms around the Crystillery, expending 10 Manabloom Seeds and 10 Fresh Manabloom (low seeds) to create an eyeball that empowers uses of Illusory Trap. Just then, laughing is heard in the woods. Not innocent, or even malicious- just a... "trolololo" of sorts. Super fake, and still somewhat comical and terrifying at the same time. Something's likely coming. Also, do note author's intent when trying to do things like the strings- I didn't know the strings were to make them easier to inventorize. I mean, they probably wouldn't have worked still, but it'd be nice to know your intentions so I don't accidentally slaughter everything in a five-hundred mile radius instead of spawning a few crows or something.

EN then goes to talk with Bass. He shrugs as EN requests for him to move in.

BASS: mmm, alright
BASS: i'm not keen on dying to an eldritch dream god for you guys, but whatever
BASS: space-lynching and all that
BASS: just try and make sure i don't die, okay?
BASS: if something does happen to me
BASS: we need to... uh...
BASS: ...
BASS: heck i dunno.

Bass awkwardly struts off towards Omo's Office. Venia then goes to talk with her glove. This makes sense in context. Upon asking for a name, the gauntlet begins to speak to her.

GAUNTLET: Hm.
GAUNTLET: I often don't wish to partake in your conversations, so you know.
GAUNTLET: They are simply not of interest to me.
GAUNTLET: But if you want a name... call me Ga'aunt.
GA'AUNT: It is not my true name, because I cannot remember it. I gave you that name because I am a gauntlet. Gaunt. Gaa'unt.
GA'AUNT: New Rose naming conventions are idiotic. They've stuck to me, however.
GA'AUNT: New Rose...?
GA'AUNT: Ah, that's something I haven't thought about in awhile...
GA'AUNT: New Rose. Old Rose.
GA'AUNT: I'd tell you more, but I can't quite seem to remember...

Venia then begins to pity the gauntlet, in a sorrowful, remorseful way. The gauntlet begins to snap back at her.

GA'AUNT: Do not spare me your sorrows, girl.
GA'AUNT: If I was idiotic enough to stay around the Rose for so long, then I deserve this fate.
GA'AUNT: I should've seen it coming from decades away, yet I clung for reasons that I cannot remember.

GA'AUNT: ...
GA'AUNT: I cannot attest to if you will live or die, but the path you seem to be travelling is a good one.
GA'AUNT: At the very least, better than mine. You certainly have better odds of surviving. Becoming a glove barely qualifies as surviving.
GA'AUNT: I have some faith in your survival. You seem reasonable enough, and can understand your folly. Your own sorrow. So perhaps my faith won't be misplaced.

...The glove goes silent again. Meanwhile, at Zone 0, some random girl is cut to shreds by five billion different traps walks through a completely unguarded front door, due to Chaos's high security standards. He sighs.

CHAOS: uh
CHAOS: who are you
CHAOS: wha(t) is wi(t)h (t)his world and probably ©razy murder ©hildre-
CHAOS: ...
CHAOS: oh geez my (t)ex(t)
CHAOS: ©©©©
CHAOS: ohgodwhy
CHAOS: uhhh
CHAOS: hold on

Chaos hurls up a ball of glitch like it's a hairball, picks it up, fiddles with it for a moment, then stuffs it down his mouth again. He smacks his lips for a moment, then begins yelling loudly in probably caps.

CHAOS: okay go
CHAOS: [c]he[c]k one [t]wo
CHAOS: sibilan[c]e
CHAOS: yee[t]

CHAOS: okay anyway
CHAOS: i don'[t] [t]hink we're a[c][c]ep[t]ing np[c] appli[c]a[t]ions righ[t] now
CHAOS: if you're looking for [t]he swee[t]s shop i[t]'s [t]he las[t] house down [t]he s[t]ree[t]
CHAOS: [t]he [c]andy is all [t]ri[c]ks[t]ers in disguise and [t]he shopkeeper s[c]reams a[t] you [c]ausing your mi[c] [t]o ge[t] mu[t]ed bu[t] if you [c]an ge[t] over [t]ha[t] [t]hey [t]as[t]e pre[t][t]y alrigh[t]
CHAOS: [t]he [t]ri[c]ks[t]ers i mean
CHAOS: ...
CHAOS: bu[t] yeah
CHAOS: why are you here
CHAOS: jus[t] so you know marron probably will bu[t][c]her your [c]a[t]s if she sees [t]hem
CHAOS: [t]hey [t]ear up all her ni[c]e fabri[c], she says

<OMOQUEST, ROUND EIGHTEEN>
The screams in the distance fade. Keep running. Don't stop. Why did you do this? Keep running. Cinders. Foes still in your way. Screaming. Keep running.

<OMORIKA'S OFFICE, ROUND THREE>
Good progress on both fronts! As more allies funnel into Omorika's Mindscape, the Ashen Knight should take more and more damage! Just make sure to not leave yourselves defenseless in reality- but it seems like you've been doing a good job of taking out baddies there, so keep it up! Try and make sure that Toast and Daskter's Shocktropper aren't dropped in pits, though. That'd be awkward.