Crafting

Inspired by Soul Blossom, I have no idea why I didn't create a potion with them.

I quickly grab 5 Fresh Manablooms, ground them to dust, which I then mix with 10 Soul Blossom. I pour it all in 5 individual water filled glass. Why didn't I think of this before!?




I move 2 SPC to 2DEF

"can't see gorilla captain"

Must be the fog of war or something like that.

Terry heads back to the Crystillery, jumps on a Dark Matter Rocket, then rides it into the Bouquet's face. He jumps off before it explodes.

Auth hears the sound of a cute animal. He has a supernatural sense when it comes to cute animals, and he nearly drops everything to go and see this cute animal. He drops another spectre in the Gardens, and appears at the house.

uA: Cute baby bird!

He appears behind Venia and Verdana with as much subtlety as he wish he had last night. Like a ninja, nobody would have seen him coming. He grins, seeing an adorable baby bird being an adorable baby bird. He must really love animals.

Auth waits for the bird to come over, and prepares a small cup. He fills the cup, carefully, with water and places it for the bird to drink from. He then peeks his head into the inventory to see what someone could make food with. Auth, almost a talented chef, would probably be the best person to cook.

At some point between now and the end of the turn, Auth scans himself. He wonders if there'll be an update to his entry in the Chairian database.

Nezira decides to go get some work done, to make up for her long absence.
 
First, she decides to go and help Cyan clear the Crystillery. As he rides a Dark Matter Rocket into the Bouquet's face, she provides covering fire by nailing each Petal near him with a Force Nail, then cleans up any stragglers with a quick Nail each. Following that, she harvests the remaining crystals, carefully disconnecting each Dark Matter Rocket from its growing place and catching any that shoot off with telekinesis, hopefully harvesting them all. She also cleans up the crystal fragments in H31, hopefully salvaging at least a few whole crystals from them.

She buys 3 Seer Crystals and 1 Shock Crystal for 40 Credits, and immediately refills the Crystillery, planting 3 Seer Crystals on F29, 3 Luminous Crystals on F31, 3 Shock Crystals on H29, and 3 Galeforce Crystals on H31.

She then goes to the Fortified Farm and harvests all the crops there, including the fungus -- which should hopefully all be boosted by the Farming Golem's passive, since they weren't harvested right away. With all those harvested, she replants the crops in this configuration:
9 Manabloom, 9 Soulblossom, 9 Silkweed
9 Soulblossom, 9 Manabloom, 1 Lumipod
9 Manabloom, 1 Celefruit, 1 Cinderfruit.
(The Manablooms are planted with seeds, of course.)

She then goes around and collects things from:
The Green Sap Tree in the Forest Crossroads;
The Celefruit Tree in the Ashen Canopy;
The Holy Dew Fountain in the Ancient Ruins;
The Lumipod Tree in the Forest of Departure;
The Cinderfruit Tree in the River Crossing;
The Fragapple Tree in the Ruined Village: Main Street;
The Red Sap Tree in Main Street, as well;
and finally, she carefully collects some water from the Mana Fountain in the Fortified Farm Entryway, in case the Manabloom leached any magical power into it.

---

Nezira changes her build around -- she equips the Starcrystal Scarf, swaps out her Meditative Orb for a Sticky Note set to Deep Thinking, and changes her actual Deep Thinking spell to Incantation.

---

Nezira responds to Venia. "Hmmmmm. Let me have a look..."
She opens the book and touches it, blue light flicking around its pages as they turn for a far longer time than should be possible for a normal book, before they settle and she looks down, scanning the page. "It's... not finding anything as a result for that, except for what appears to be a case study on a 'flesh infection' that infected... somewhere at one point, and half of that is just full-on erased somehow, I can only make out fragments. Antiperceptual psychomiasma... conceptobsorption... purging... unexistence... about all I can make out is that there's something that worked like a cancer and did roughly what you describe, but there's no information on what it was, who or what it infected, how it was treated, cured, or even if it was cured. Sorry."

Nidra finally wakes. She yawns, then looks around, if only to keep up appearances. A lot of people have already left the house. With a frown, she checks her pocket watch.

"Dammit."

Nidra drowsily reclaims her stuffed koala, having it fly toward her, then mechanically floats out of the house and towards Zone 3. She arrives just in time to hear Venia and the informant talk. She floats over.

"Now, now. There's no need to commit wanton murder."

She yawns again.

"Right, well. As a prolific serial killer used to say... Go to sleep."

Nidra snaps her fingers, hopefully putting the informant to sleep.

Either way, she proceeds to float northeastward to the Fireblast Encampment.

At the mention of "walk in and burn your crops", Simeon crinkles his brow. "That's... a kind of specific thing that could happen," he says. "But thanks!"
"I'm a bit curious, though. What exactly are you doing, looking for Chairian farms out here?"

--------------------
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Pepsi Man joins Thymium, and shows up in front of Omorika to hand her the words: Research the Static Discharger, please. Thanks.
-Pepsico, a valid source of caffeine!

--------------------
Back at the House, Zahlia replaces the mirror in the upstairs bathroom.

The Man moves over to the Fireblast Encampment.

MU, still hiding, notices the clearing directly west of her. The explorer is clueless, it seems. She momentarily considers frisking the map from him, but quickly decides not to.

She's gotta do something, though. Maybe now would be a good time to speak to the guy.

MU walks out from behind the rock (say, S20), and calls out to the Explorer; "Hey you! If you're looking for a trail, I think it's that way," she says, pointing down the Clearing directly west of her.

"You looking for treasure? Mind if I tag along?"

She waits for a reply. You know full well she's going to sneak around and continue to follow the Explorer should he refuse.

---

Boshi and Hat Kid head further West, into the Replantation.

Hex backs away, apologizing. He didn't mean it! Sorry sorry sorry!
He then steals everything within common sense and that's not at the Reception.
He enters Yggdrasil's Flank, looking for stuff that looks interesting.
Hex then enters the Garden House, looking at the mutilated dummy and wincing.
Oof. Who did that?

Destiny gently knocks on the door.

Verdana watches as the egg shakes. At least, he's probably watching. Given that he's currently not human-looking and kinda more of that ambiguous energy state mentioned earlier, it's hard to tell. Still, once the egg hatches and the baby bird hops out, his reaction is to squee over it in about the same way Venia just did. He then moves to drift over to the table, crouching down so that he's... "head"-height with the birb, reaching out with one "hand" that kinda looks like it's made from Medigun rays to start patting the babyGallows gently. Very gently. And also with a healthy dose of calming presence.

"Cute birdy~"

He then turns to watch how Venia and Auth are handling in terms of reactions to the birdy. If one looks really closely, they might note a slight shifting in his energy form. Bit hard to make out anything just yet.

"Such a cute birdy! I have no idea how I'm gonna look after the little one, or even if they're a he or a she, but I will love and cherish this bird child for as long as I live! That, of course, does not exclude the idea of helping! I have quite literally never raised a little one before! Help would be appreciated!"


In the meantime, Cal shrugs at Chloe on her way past him. As she continues moving on, he decides to wander up along with her.

"Well... to put it really, really simply? No. The nightmares still haven't faded for me. I can still see them now, whenever my focus drifts and my thoughts start going back to my own mind. Ah. The curse of being what I am... heh... No need to worry too much about me, though. I'll get over it. Probably."

Beat.

"Glad to hear you're... mostly doing okay in the sleep department. Okay, as in, uh. Only a bit of trouble sleeping. I think."

Another beat. He glances around. By now, he's ended up in the kitchen. There's food present. Meat. If one looks closely, they might see his form flicker, somewhat greener eye colour briefly and a slight darkening of his hair, but nothing that sticks. Might just be illusions.

"Nice. Bacon. The more I focus, the more memories surface. Seems like my predecessor, or Operative as some seem to call him, has... certain meal preferences. Heh."

Predictably, Calibri then teleports some bacon over to himself and begins chowing down. Even if he doesn't strictly need to.


In the meantime, EN just wanders around the garden. She seems to appreciate the beauty of the place, to a degree, even if she very obviously despises the water raining down and steers well clear of any puddle she sees.

"Heh. Nice place. Gahdammit, woul' be much easier t' appreciate, were it naw fer all this ruddy rain."

She then, upon discovering that there is a fight going on in Sequioa's Lake, suddenly gets quite the eager grin on her face. Granted, the way is apparently blocked, so she'll have to wait to do anything there, but oh well. Maybe the Fireblast Encampment might hold better matters of interest? Or, failing that, she could go to the Replantation, take a look around there...


The Engie drone seems disappointed at the lack of response from the Harmonizer, and just sort of hangs around for the time being.

"...Nothing much to say? Just singing for now? Hmm... Eh, suit yourself. Hmm..."

There's a pause. He proceeds to try a few music things himself, which mostly involves pulling out an electric guitar and giving it a look of deep consideration. His attention goes between the guitar and the Harmonizer, as though thinking... Since speaking doesn't seem to do anything to get the Harmonizer's attention, he decides that maybe a bit of musical prompting might get something. Quietly, at first, he begins to try a few strums, see if he can figure out some sort of tune that might fit nicely with the Harmonizer's singing. Granted, having big hands is not great for precision tasks like guitar strumming, but he's actually decent enough.


The sound of incoming rotors can be heard at the Ancient Ruins slash Crystillery. Odd. There wouldn't normally be something techy in Chairian territory, surely. Especially not any form of craft. Yet those are distinctly rotors of some kind, the ones used by a type of aircraft to be specific. Perhaps the Bouquet might feel a sense of odd curiosity at what's about to happen... Then, a rather unappealing-looking black-and-gray twin rotor helicopter rises up over the area, a large machine gun popping out from the underside of the Assault Craft, projectiles raining down onto the storm of petals gathered below. In one quick strafe, it aims to clear up the petals near the main bulk of the Crystillery itself, then it moves to hover closer to the land, right above the entrance of the Crystillery itself. That machine gun, along with a few other weapons including what is very obviously a bomb bay and a large rocket of some kind, are positioned in a way that's obviously a warning to the Bouquet. A warning to leave, or to be slain.
(It might also be noted that, by all appearances, the only reason why the Assault Craft hasn't ceased function and crashed upon entering the thymefield appears to be a rather notable investment of MP by some sort of robed figures standing in what appears to be the cabin of the craft. Mages of some variant, most likely. Also because arbitrary situational relevancy reasons but shush)

Pending a possible rework, i dump 5 points in SPC, 1 in HP, 2 in MP, 3 in str, 2 in ski.

I swap one lucky charm out for a toast plushie.
the winged headband is swaped out for a wireframe visor
i swap out the remaining charm for the upgraded varient

I then proceed to take the "master shells"- the template from which every AP shell and HE shell loaded into the 35.6 cm guns is copied and alter them. I then grab the Ignis inkwell, and, opening up the HE master shell with a tiny button on the bottom, empty out it's gunpowder filler and shove in the Ignis Inkwell. I then grind up 3 ashen crystals into a powder, before melting down some gold ingots and replacing the exterior of the shell with mostly gold. This works well because Gold is a very soft metal and will therefore fragment well upon the shell's explosion, making the explosion even more devastating due to the shrapnel. Also, Gold is a heavy metal and so should the shell directly hit, the impact hit a little harder. The addition of the Ignis Inkwell, combined with the Ashen Crystals, makes for a far more potent filler than before, resulting in a very small but deadly storm of flames around the shell upon explosion. Then, to further improve the shells, some Searing Powder is added to fill the rest of the shell, mixing with the powdered crystals and the Ignis Inkwell.

Next, the AP shells. The AP shells are made from mere steel, and we, of course, can do a lot better than that. Specifically, we can do Durasteel, whose natural hardness is a perfect fit for penetrating especially well-armored enemies. So, right of the bat, Kongou uses 4 durasteel bars to completely replace the shell, recreating the Type 91 perfectly, but with a far superior construction. Then, there is the matter of the filler, again, which is simple gunpowder: Effective enough, but with the new, stronger shell, a better filler is needed, both to properly augment it's damage and to ensure the shell properly fragments into splinters when the fuze actually goes off. Naturally, this is replaced with a unit of Searing powder mixed with two powdered ashen crystals. Finally, the propellant of the shell is also mixed with another unit of ashen crystals and searing powder as to make up for the heavier weight of a durasteel shell.

Toast swaps Hidden Glow / Shade for Hidden Spark / Flame, and Bag of Tricks for Mirror Image.
She also researches Sticking Place.

~~

Toast responds to Chloe.
"I'm really sorry, but my healing magic is pretty much limited to what I've taught you already. The language is versatile as can be, but in the same way, it's kinda constricting. And, although I'm sure it would be possible to teach you some through auramancy, I'm not nearly experienced enough to do that safely."
She scratches her chin with a crystalline fingertip, accidentally drawing a droplet of blood. Looking at the drop, she gets an idea. A wonderful awful idea. Grabbing the attention of everyone and everything within earshot, Toast starts her pitch.
"Okay, so here's something I think would be cool. We all have wildly different magical abilities, and I think we could all stand to learn something from each other. So... (drumroll please chaos who is in the living room)
After a pause for effect, Toast reveals her plan: "Magic club! Like, some sort of regular thing that we can do in our spare time here to teach each other how to do magic. I'm sure between us all, we can teach each other whatever we'd like to know!"
She avidly awaits a response from her friends.
(also how did toaster become my nickname i still dont know)

~~

Meanwhile, in the Endless Gardens, Future!Toast materialises just before the reception. She's wearing some sort of cloth wrappings around her hand, along with her hoodie. Gloves probably don't fit?

Shivering a little in the rain, the girl mutters something magical. As she does so, the rain starts to curve around her body, creating an unusual visual effect. Still cold, she decides to equip a Nice Coat from the inventory over her hoodie, and press forward to the Charian blockade. The combination of the hood and coat hide her more distinguishing features. Before she arrives, a Mirror Image takes her place striding forward, and she takes a sharp turn to the left, instead ducking into the trees to flank. Once there, she takes off her coat, and ties a piece of fabric around her mouth to act as a gag if the Mirror Image is killed. Then, she attempts to scan nearby Charians- specifically looking for a phone. If she can get a number to call by doing that- bonus.

Meanwhile, through the sound of the rain, her image shouts out at the detachment, "Hey, have you guys seen a girl around here? She's about yay-high-" Mirror!Toast makes a motion to show the person in question is about her height. "-green hair, artificial arms? Real hard-to-miss type. I hear she took down Acacia's detachment single-handedly. Heard of her?"

She patiently awaits a response.

If they scan her, the following scan result will be recieved in the same manner to the last one:
"Although she may not look it, 'Toast' is a highly skilled fighter who utilises mana absorption and perfect counterattacks to combat foes both magically- and martially-orientated. Her weakness lies in being fought one-on-one, as the style she uses primarily focuses on redirecting attacks to those around her, rather than her opponent. Her main weapon is also a fishing rod, which is believed to be a self-imposed handicap.
'Toast' (suspected alias) is a highly adaptable fighter, who appears to possess the ability to replicate any skill or ability performed against her or within her viscinity. Previously projected to be a short-range combatant, she appears to be able to adapt her fighting style depending on her attackers. In her most recent state, she has been recorded to have acquired the ability to petrify on touch and induce living nightmares by making eye contact- likely acquired from powerful Iti. Her weapon of choice is a cardboard box, which is believed to be a self-imposed handicap. If encountered, it is advised to non-violently disable her to ensure personal safety."

If they say they haven't heard of her:
"Well, that sure is a shame. If you see her, don't hesitate to tell me okay? She's dangerous, you know. If I were you, I'd avoid standing near walls. And! Most importantly, don't let her touch you with her crystal hand. It'll cause a chain reaction in your cells which hardens them, effectively petrifying you. In any case, if you need me, I'll be at the One-Fifth Scale Model of Yggdrasil."

If they say that isn't the story they were told:
"Really? That's what she told you?" she chuckles, "Certainly not what I remember. And I was there myself! If I were you, I'd avoid standing near walls. And! Most importantly, don't let her touch you with her crystal hand. It'll cause a chain reaction in your cells which hardens them, effectively petrifying you. In any case, if you see her, I'll be at the One-Fifth Scale Model of Yggdrasil."

Regardless of their and her response, Mirror!Toast pulls the coat tight around her body, ignores the Charians and presses forward. Upon being inevitably stopped by them, she takes action. Flinging the coat into the face of the YggRider, she reveals her identity. Not that it's actually her, but still. "Now this will make things interesting."

Without the coat to keep them in place, the wrappings unravel, and her arms become visible. In particular, her crystal arm swirls with energy. Probably some sort of trick of the light.
But they don't know that.

If they move to attack her at any point, just continue from the coat throw.

STRIFE!

Irongutta approaches Chloe in a rather forward manner. "Oi! I need yer 'elp wivv somethin', Chloe." Digging into his pocket, he pulls out a scrap of paper. It seems to be some plans for a weapon upgrade, complete with a sketch of the Metal Sun and everything. They're actually well-made.

"I drafted these up before I crashed on the couch last night, an' I needs ya to 'elp me find some parts I'm missin'. If ya wouldn't mind, of course." He points specifically to the center of the heavy metal ball at the end of the chain on the sketch. It seems to be marked with a lightning bolt. "This baby is gonna need a good power source, so I was thinkin' ya could make a trip over to that Library fer me and see if there's anythin' else those clowns left behind that I could use. Maybe check out that dance floor of theirs?" (Specifically, this request is for T3 materials).

Folding up the scrap of paper and putting it away, he lends an ear to Toast's brief announcement. "Magic club? Hrm, could be interestin' actually. Though I don't know much in the way of that, personally."

<ROUND NINETY-ONE>
The update begins with a quoteunquote "extremely fast reply". Venia begins by updating her special, before preparing a quick snack for the Baby Gallow. She carves up a Barkfin, 2 Celefruit, and 3 Gaia Crystals, creating a magically-infused meal! Oh, and also two Celefruit Rinds. The bird hops over to the variety of food, beginning to slowly pick away at the meal with its beak. When (most) of the meal is gone, the bird appears to be quite satisfied. It hops around, looking somewhat sleepy...

Venia gives it a quick headrub, probably only accepting because it got some food. Venia then places a request for Chloe to go and find some birdfood. She accepts, before running off down to the Chairian Outskirts. She comes back some time later with a basket of fish, and a variety of seeds.

CHLOE: Heya! You fed it a Barkfin, so I decided to go and get a bunch of them!
CHLOE: I'm actually looking forward to the fish too, eheheheh...
CHLOE: I didn't actually have a fishing rod, so I had to go spear-fishing! It was actually pretty fun, trying to learn how to do that... and it paid off!
CHLOE: I also found some nice seeds that may or may not be nutritious. Take a look?

Chloe's trip yields 6 Barkfin, 20 Wheat Seeds, and 20 Hotpoint Seeds. Venia then goes to talk with the Informant. She notes that she has a Glyph.

INFORMANT: ...Hm?
INFORMANT: Curious.
INFORMANT: You must've gone for one of the less fortified ones, or something.
INFORMANT: Yggdrasil is a hard nut to crack, I'm sure you're aware.
INFORMANT: We actually have measures in place to breach Yggdrasil, even if it destroys the damn thing. It can be repaired. It is a replica, after all.

INFORMANT: I also must applaud you for taking down a squadron of... what was it, five people?
INFORMANT: Wow. Amazing. You took down a group of grunts.
INFORMANT: I'm enjoying thinking about how you'll deal with our elite infantry...

Before much else can happen, Nidra casts Sleep! The Informant suddenly flops over to the ground, out cold. Sleep spells. Overpowered, amirite? Anyway, Venia strips the Informant of everything that isn't clothing, yielding an Itisa Bait, a non-descript, boring firearm that instantly breaks down into 5 Assorted Gun Parts and 2 Iron, a Ration, and a Revolution Radio. It doesn't seem like the Informant will be doing anything this round, due to Sleep. She then shovels up 13 Spiritblossoms, before heading to the Replantation. This area appears to be swamped with invisible walls, but it's still a rather nice looking area. Save for the burnt, dead plant-life everywhere. She also scans the Informant and the Baby Gallow. She doesn't seem to get any actual combat entry for the former, and gets scan data from the Gallow for the latter. She does learn that the Gallows... doesn't really have a gender, and gender pronoun usage doesn't really matter.

Daskter then grabs 5 Fresh Manablooms, and in his lust for potions, jams in 10 Soulblossoms, then grinds the two together and tosses them in water. Daskter obtains 5 glasses of Soul-Mana Distilled Water. You should probably at least like, boil it or something. Maybe don't boil it. I don't know. Anyway, he then slaps together 2 RAM Sticks , a CPU, a Glass Sheet, 7 Wire Scraps, and a Multipoint Witch. This creates the Designator! This eats 75 Crafting Credits. Daskter then rips up some writing in his Soldier's Journal, re-writing the effect. Terry, back at the Gardens, decides to ride a Darkmatter Rocket into the Bouquet's face. It explodes, dealing (25-2) damage to it. This also adds 10% Noise- less than before, but there's a bunch of Petals here so maybe you're already suffering from Noise or something, and the game's just being kind. I don't know how my own games work. This only works because of Nezira's covering fire, Force Nailing several (4) Petals and harvesting 4 Darkmatter Rockets. The Bouquet, not really able to retaliate against the players themselves, flings Petals at the Crystillery, taking out a few of each Crystal type. It also makes it a little hard for Nezira to harvest- it might be prudent to actually kill off the Bouquet before taking your crystal cash crop!

Auth then goes to visit the cute baby bird. He gives it a drink of water, which it happily laps up. The Gallow suddenly flies across the room, landing in the main part of the basement. It might be looking for a suitable place to roost. It might be worth finding it a place to rest. Nezira, now actually taking her action, decides to harvest and reorganize the Fortified Farm. 6 Soulblossoms, 19 Goneblossoms, 54 Manablooms, (and 27 seeds), 18 Silkweed, 2 Lumipod, 2 Celefruit, 20 Uniform Logs, and 8 Locustgrowth. These amounts are what you got after replanting. She then goes around and collects EVERYTHING (sorta), getting 15 Green Sap Blobs, 3 Celefruit, 2 Holy Dew, 1 Lumipod, 3 Cinderfruit, 5 Fragapples, 8 Red Sap Blobs, and then fails to get anything usable out of the Mana Fountain. She also then switches her gear around, also equipping Incantation.

The GM has a small aneurysm from all that harvesting.

Nidra then goes to visit the Fireblast Encampment. For a place called Fireblast, it's weird how there's only one actual tile of fire. Looks like there's a heavy rebel presence here, though. Simeon then asks why the Scout is at the Fortified Farm.

SCOUT: Oh, I'm not looking for farms, specifically.
SCOUT: It's pretty dark, and honestly far from the most reputable job, but I'm looking for Legion outposts.
SCOUT: I've passed by this area a few times before, but I never noticed the farm here.
SCOUT: Anyway, I report my findings to my superiors, and when I come back by, the outposts are usually gone.
SCOUT: They pay me incredibly well, so... I can't really complain too much.
SCOUT: Don't worry about me reporting this- I don't really stand to gain anything from it.

He remains in the area, since running would probably get him shot / stabbed / slept / shanked / s-word'd. Omo is then psychically compelled to start working on the Static Discharger, and Zahlia replaces the upstairs bathroom mirror. Hat Kid then goes to confront the Explorer, pointing out the trail.

EXPLORER: ...
EXPLORER: ...
EXPLORER: ...Ah, there is, isn't there?
EXPLORER: ...Thank you, weird outsider person.
EXPLORER: ...Feel free to come along...

...They're yet to actually look up from their map. The two of them wander through the grove and end up at the Old Gaiadiamond Mine, where several Yggcrawlers reside. The Explorer, without looking at their map, turns around and prepares to leave. Hex, back at the Garden, apologizes to the receptionist before moving to the Garden House. He inspects the dummy- if that were a Chairian, they'd be dead. Destiny heads up to the door of the Garden House, and gently knocks on the door. There's no response. Before Destiny can turn to leave, the door opens. There's a Chairian woman in there, wearing casual light clothing. She's rather short by Chairian standards, yet still has some sort of beauty to her. Even if she looks dreary and dead.

ACACIA: Oh.
ACACIA: It's you guys.

Acacia. The same woman from the Chairian Outskirts. There's something about her voice that makes her a farcry from the arrogant beast she was on the battlefield.

ACACIA: ...
ACACIA: I guess you've come here to gloat. Or something.
ACACIA: Way to beat someone while they're down, I guess.

ACACIA: Once he realizes he needs me, and lets me back in command...
ACACIA: ...then I'll be able to leave this dump again and go back to doing something I like.

She sighs. Acacia merely glares at Destiny before rather gently closing the door on her. Destiny escapes the conversation with all of her limbs intact: a stunning success! Back at the house, Verdana pets a birb. The birb hops onto Verdana's arm and tweets at him happily, before flying about the room, looking for a nice place to nap. Calibri also follows Chloe upstairs, and once at the dinner table, talks with her. Mostly about his nightmares.

CHLOE: H-Hm? You're having nightmares, too?
CHLOE: I guess it's to be expected...
CHLOE: Maybe it'd help to talk about them? I'm all ears, if you wanna talk.

She seems to enjoy the bacon on the table about as much as him. EN meanwhile, takes a trip to the Fireblast Encampment. Then, the random Engie Drone keeps trying to talk with the Harmonizer. He attempts to communicate with her, or at least play along with her music. It's a strange success- while it seems alarmed at first, it seems to eventually warm up to the guitar, and a somewhat pleasing harmony comes out of the two of them. As the drone plays, he notices something- while the Harmonizer has its general purple aesthetic, its eyes appear to be a deep grey. Curious. It continues to sing, trying to match pace with the drone's strums.

Oh, also, a gunship goes to slaughter (3) different petals, and deal (12-2) damage to the main Blossom. Kongou then rejoins the game, and brings a whole respec with her! She's one skillpoint off of getting her requested upgrades however, so she misses out on 1 SKI. She then rotates gear, and decides to upgrade her gun a few tiers using an Ignis Inkwell, 8 Ashen Crystals, 2 Gold Ingots, 3 Searing Powder, and 4 Durasteel.

Toast notes to Chloe how she can't really teach her improved healing magic. Chloe seems a little sad at this revelation, sighing heavily.

CHLOE: Oh...
CHLOE: I guess that's too bad, isn't it?
CHLOE: Thanks anyway, Toaster.

She then brings up the idea of a magic club. A club where they can show off and teach each other their latent magical powers. Both Marron and Chloe seem to be enthused about the idea.

CHLOE: Ooh! That sounds like it could be fun!
MARRON: Yeah! Let's do it!
MARRON: We can invite Ette too and stuff, I could bring cupcakes to our meetings or something...

CHLOE: ...Wait, how am I gonna contribute? I don't really know magic- just the few words you've taught me, Toast...
MARRON: Yeah, Chloe's right. She's not gonna fit, and I say that as our first official meeting, we boot her from the group.
CHLOE: W-What!? Seriously? We haven't even formed the group yet!
MARRON: I mean, you're just sorta copying Toast, aren't you?
CHLOE: I-I mean, I guess. I'm trying to learn, though! Didn't Toast literally just say this was about teaching?
MARRON: I... I guess.
MARRON: Fiiiine, you can stay.
MARRON: We'll kick you if you don't pull your weight, though.
CHLOE: ...Is there really weight to pull?
MARRON: Yes. Totally.

The two of them sigh, staring at each other. They both then turn to Toast.

CHLOE: But yeah, magic club!
CHLOE: I think we should do it.
MARRON: Yeah. It'll be fun!
MARRON: Also, Toaster's a cute nickname. Even if it isn't actually shorter...
MARRON: I-I like it, alright?

Somewhere else, Future!Toast appraoches Reception, slipping by and arriving at the detachment of Chairians on the way to Scale Yggdrasil. She asks if they've seen a girl matching technically her own description. The troops seem to be confused that someone would even approach the detachment like this. She does manage to scan a phone in one of the tents to the back. The Chairians themselves meanwhile, fail to get any sort of scan in. Perhaps they don't really scan things all the time or something.

YGGRIDER: Hold, outsider. TAke another step and you'll be blasted.
YGGRIDER: We're at least aware that Lady Acacia was defeated by not the efforts of just one unit, but an entire squadron.
YGGRIDER: Also, yes. We've heard of her.

Toast explains that she (technically her, anyway) has petrification powers, and to be incredibly careful around her. Toast then tries to advance. She's barred by the Yggrider.

YGGRIDER: Curious. That's... new.
YGGRIDER: Thank you for the information. However, since you're not part of our legion, I'm afraid we cannot let you advance.
YGGRIDER: Please stand down while we perform a profiling of your-

Toast then lobs her coat into the face of the Yggrider, causing him to lurch backwards. The Yggcrawler that he's riding meanwhile, takes action and slashes at Toast's mirror image twice. The image manages to narrowly duck out of the way of the blades... but there's still the pressing issue of a bunch of angry Chairians. Angry, semi-fearful Chairians. Despite their fear, they prepare for combat!

- = S T R I F E ! = -

Also, Toast researches Sticking Place and rotates her spells. Back at the house, Irongutta asks for Chloe to find a power source for his Metal Sun upgrade. Chloe scratches her head for a brief moment, before nodding and running off to the library quickly. She comes back with a big batch of electrical crystals. She seems... moderately paralyzed.

CHLOE: I-I found... a crystal! I-In the panels!
CHLOE: D-Don't drop it! I-It does s-shocky s-stuff!
CHLOE: I-It'll p-probably work! Eheheheheh...

Chloe flops over, little visible bursts of electricity rippling out of her as she twitches. 5 Electromagnet Clusters obtained! Chloe quickly recovers from her paralysis, and returns to the dinner table, just in time to see Ette carry a fresh load of bread from the oven to the table. With deft hands and quick knifework, Ette carves into the bread, and serves a slice topped with butter to Chloe, Marron, and Toast. Marron quickly nibbles at the bread, soon going from 'nibbles' to 'chomps'.

MARRON: gorilla, Ette! Lookin' and tasting good!
MARRON: Perfect browning, good inside color, firm but soft crust, perfect amount of sweet...
MARRON: It's a perfect loaf, as always! Surprised you managed it with the materials on hand, too...
MARRON: Good job, sis! Hi-five!

The two of them hi-five with their puppet arms, creating an unsatisfying 'ploomph' of fabric instead of any actual good noise. They both share a quick laugh, before returning to their breakfast.

<YGGDRASIL'S APPROACH, ROUND ONE>
The Chairians are bunkered in here for the long haul. They have Sappers to allow their rangers to take potshots without fear of retaliation, Gaiawalls to protect their squishier units in the back, and a buffed Yggrider who can and will rip apart low-AC targets! The Chairians do act with a sort of rationale, so be careful with how you approach them! It also might help to tame some Sapsqueals for the cause, hint hint...

Auth, wandering around, has a sensation that there's somebody to talk to nearby. Someone potentially hostile... which makes him absolutely perfect as a punching bag/target practice. He peeks his head around to the house in the Gardens, spotting briefly Acacia as she slams the door on Destiny. He sends out a Spectre over to Omo...

uA: Hey, Omo? I think you, er, may want to come over to where I am now. A-Acacia is here and she seems... down. You may want to have a word with her, or...
uA: Could you give me tips in dealing with her? We've only spoken briefly in combat...
uA: My intuition says she's an artist. There's an easel in the window. Beyond that, I believe she painted the paintings in our base... could that help in some way?

While waiting for a response from Omo, Auth knocks gently on Acacia's door, passing by Destiny. He heard nothing of the previous 'conversation' that was had. He just knows Acacia was there and looks miserable. So being the absolute wuss he is, the first thing he says is...

uA:Hey, uh, Acacia? Are you in there? Am I talking to the right person?
uA: You didn't look okay... would you like to talk about it? Would you like some coffee or something?

Auth is also present with the Baby Gallow that is wandering around. He grins gleefully as he watches the bird fly around liek the adorable little thing it is, then watches as it seems to be wandering around... looking for a place to roost. Well, Auth might be able to help with that. He walks over to the offside of the Workstation Prime to begin with.

uA: Hey hey, little one. Give me a second and I'll get you a nest.

Auth collects some wood from the inventory, and starts doing his best to chop it up into small sticks. When he cuts a uniform log into small enough sticks, he starts to test if they're pliable enough to work. On the assumption they do, he starts to bend them into the shape of a bowl, and then he starts building it up until it reaches a decent size, big enough to fit the baby Gallow. As he builds, he works a couple of green sap blobs into the nest, to get it to hold its shape. When it's finished, Auth draws out a feather noose, and untwisting it back into feathers, which he places around the inside of the nest. After that, Auth places the Gallowdown Fluffball in the middle of the nest, to provide some comfort to the bird.

He then pats the bench, just hard enough to make enough noise to get the attention of the bird. He waits for it to come over, and helps the bird up onto the side of the Workstation where the nest is. He doesn't seem to think building a cage for it will be intelligent at this point.

Finally, Auth initiates the Rebel battle, walking over in full view. He seems to be attempting to get their attention, with the loud cough towards the Rebel group.

uA: Cease and desist. We have no intention to fight you, but should you continue your plan to harm the people doing their jobs just over there, we will have no qualms in hurting you.

"Let's break a blockade shall we?"

I engage the Legionaries.

Also switch Cherry Energy for Terraform.

I spawn at H19, and summon a Rooted: Artillery at I19.

Set Attack type to Ice

Setting resistance:
Resist: 20% Slashing, 10% Crushing, 10% Electric.
Weakness: 10% Slashing, 20% Dark, 20% Fire

“Oh we have a magic club? Ill gladly join”.

Hex, not knowing Acacia is, decides to friendships.
He knocks on the door, and takes two of the Sapfilled cookies and a cup of coffee inside to Acacia.
uh, hi! You looked down, so uh, here! And for the record I have no idea what you mean by gloating.

Venia backs up, nervous. "Oh, no, sorry, I have no intention!" Venia says, backing off. "I just... Uh, stay safe, OK? It's dangerous basically everywhere between the Iti and the Rebels and all... It's just nerve-wracking. Especially with that Yaga about... Hey, know anything about that thing, by chance?"

Venia responds, after the information (if any), "OK then! Uh, just learned I have business to deal with. Stay away from the Approach to Yggdrasil, there's about to be fighting there. Hope you have a great day, and you're doing good work!"

Venia whirls around back to the flank, picking up the signs of conflict from the area known as the Fireblast Encampment.

"...Oh, jeez. Work's cut out for us already..."

Venia leers back at the unconscious Informant...

And then, Venia gets an idea.

An awful idea.

Venia pings Nidra psionically. Psionic communication between the two experienced psions is swift; Venia wishes to open 'dramatically' against the Rebels with shock-and-awe, and would like their presence to be revealed via immediate and terrifying action. Just wait for her to come over to kickstart the party.

This done, Venia picks up the still-unconscious Informant, binds his hands, and hoists him over her right shoulder, and most likely jostling the dude awake in the process.

"Wanted to see me deal with your elite infantry, pal?" Venia says, chipper. "Funny, that, just found a contingent feeling like they wanted a challenge after murdering a small encampent. Let's go meet 'em!" She says, a large smile on her face, like they were about to go to a theme park instead.

Venia practically skips across the Endless Gardens, moving somewhat slower than a full run as she goes to the Road to the Battlefield, stopping short of the Fireblast Encampment, singing as she goes. "La la la la la, la, Rebels we are meeting, la la la la la, la, beatings they are needing, la la la la la, la, victory we are receiving, la la la la la, la~"

Venia draws back a bit, preparing a Terraform spell through her boots. Its effects do not kick in immediately-they seep into the ground silently, preparing for Venia's little stunt, as the energies head north. "Now, let me repeat myself... We're the Thyme Squadron, the Rose Eaters, the Treason Club, 'those meddling Outsiders,' whatever you want to call us, just don't expect to beat us! "

Venia rushes forwards, right into the encampment, about as far as those already present, grabbing the Informant by his arms with both hands and starting to spin. At about this time, Venia's Terraforming power kicks in, forcing a large amount of stone to burrow upwards from Venia's position, creating Cover right underneath Venia (cover convenient enough for her allies to hide behind)-which, as a result of the force, launches her upwards.

"Cruisin' for a Bruisin, boys?" Venia shouts as her spinning hurl of the Informant abruptly stops at the apex of her ascent, enabling her a clear shot at that concerning Rebel Ashstorm fellow in the backrow. She lets go of the Informant at just the right time, sending him sailing directly towards the Ashstorm. The jump is distressingly high but not fatally so; it'll hurt but the Informant will definitely live.

Venia falls down back onto the rocks, wincing a bit at the recoil of the fall herself, before stepping back behind it. Her eyebrows furrow appropriately, but her smile remains. "If you're dumb as rocks, then we've got the scratch to your itch, but you gotta trust me when I say that we've got the claws to do it! Of course, you could just leave well enough alone..."

Venia's smile is pure audacity, and completely contrary to her typical calm demeanor-precisely the point. She needed to look invincible, like nothing could faze her.

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

Venia somehow gains a unique spell right before the fight begins! How? Entropic exposure over time? Ga'aunt's influence? Mr. Krabs? OOC desire to get a unique spell? The world may never know, except it's the last one.

This replaces Eagle Eye.



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

Meanwhile, back at the house (and probably a few minutes before), Maria, enjoying her breakfast in the kitchen (alongside her cats) and her pink dress labeled 'Tuff Stuff' in large yellow lettering, catches ear of this 'magic club.' Her pupils pop open at the thought. "Magic club! Magic club! I wanna join the magic club! It sounds cool! I wanna learn how to magic! I, I can magic, but I dunno how I do, and everyone says I can magic really good! So I want to do really big magic!" Maria says, waving her arms."I wanna be like Venny, because, she is a superhero for work! Magic club! Magic club!"

Boshi looks around, taking in the dead plant life, seemingly paying no heed to the chairians nearby. Slowly moving his head from side to side, scanning the horizon of burnt, dead plant matter, he says; "(Dear god...)".

Hat Kid does the same with her head, peering over the horizon looking for any signs of life. Not much; a few patches of grass, and that's it. No lovely flowers or vibrant bushes, just... cinders. Heartbreaking. She does notice the Chairian woman speaking to them, though, and directs Boshi's attention to her. There's a tinge of regret in his voice.

"(...Firebombings... figures,)" he says, clearly disapproving of the actions of the rebels now that he's seen their unethical tactics firsthand. "(They really are extremists, huh?)"

They then mention that they've heard things about the Outsiders. He blinks. "(Well, we're not the kind of people who'd go out of their way to attack helpless civilians and gardeners, and even soldiers if we don't have to. More often than not, we help them out of whatever bind they're in. I'm really not a fan of what those rebels did here.)"

Boshi glances across the horizon again, looking for Iti. Then, he walks up to the Terra Reviver. "(Hm... about how much power would this need... not much, probably...)"

Boshi tries to identify the power source input and output, then uses 3 Titanium to form a rather large battery. He hooks the negative output and positive input for the battery to the input and output areas (respectively) for the Terra Reviver with 10 Wire Scraps, and hooks up his guitar to the battery using 6 more wire scraps and a Gold Ingot to create a little adapter for his guitar; one that allows the battery to charge up as Boshi plays.

He proceeds to make a chair and a platform thing out of, say, 3 Uniform Logs total. He lifts the battery and chair onto the platform, and begins to play a nice tune. A very familiar tune (it's probably a cover of it let's be honest), but a nice one all the same.

It should generate some amount of power, as well as some nice tunes to those within earshot.

Any Iti or Rebels that decide to intervene get a smack over the head with an umbrella courtesy of Hat Kid. Also yes, she's doing a little dance to go along with the song.

"(Name's Boshi, by the way,)" he says as he continues playing.

---

"Ugh, dang it," MU says, frustrated. She taps her ear twice, and everyone in the party is suddenly aware of the Yggcrawlers blocking the way. At the same time, however, she notes that not everyone's available. She turns to the Explorer. "We should have more of us coming eventually. I know what I'm doing!" She also quickly and unceremoniously looks at the map the Explorer has by stopping time to get a good read on it before returning to her original location and resuming time, acting as if nothing happened. She does this in case the Explorer runs off somewhere.

---

It seems like Boshi and Hat Kid traveled back in time from the future, when they've helped out the Gardeners enough. They appear just outside the Fireblast Encampment.

Their plan was quite simple: have Boshi fling Hat Kid above the Rifler Yoshi's Island style, the latter turning into a block of ice, careening down on top of the Rifler at extreme speeds as her momentum vanishes all of a sudden. At this moment, Boshi's tongue sticks onto the ice, and he pulls himself towards the heavy ice block. Once there, he leaps off the heavy ice block, straight up into the air. Hat Kid keeps falling feet-first straight onto the Rifler's head, probably splitting it open.

Then Boshi begins falling at a rapid rate; he's ground pounding! His guitar is outstretched and poised to strike the Rifler. Looks like he's lost all remorse and pity for the Rebels.

Needless to say, he joins the Fireblast Encampment fight.