Zed throws a Twin Jolts at SDestiny, or at the Naclestial if SDestiny is dead. Zed also launches a Probe onto Nacl.

Irongutta moves to H13. If Yggcrawler2 isn't successfully tamed by Toast, he will use Skeletal Toss to move it to N16. However, if it is successfully tamed he targets Yggcrawler3 instead, moving it to N16.

"Oi, Omo! Could ya move yer minion aside? I'm sick of bein' waterlogged."

Whether or not she is actually able to move the Aurora out of the way, Irongutta retreats one space to H12.

---
Irongutta nodded in understanding towards Nia. "Nah, I think I gets wot ya mean 'bout the whole 'gettin' out' thing. Frankly, I haven't got a clue where I am. Everythin' out 'ere is all new an' weird to me, and I'm not just talkin' 'bout Sussui. Don't think I can really complain though, you lot sure know how to get into some good conflict, hah!"


Irongutta doesn't hesitate to answer Nia's questions, however. "Ah, well that one's simple! Orks were practically born fer fightin' and winnin'! 'Course I'm pretty good at wot I do, not to toot me own horn about it! Makin' all the shootas, big guns, trukks... zog, I even worked on buildin' a big krooza! Sorta how I wound up in this whole mess, actually..." He trailed off for a moment, realizing that he was getting himself into a tangent.

"Er, anyways, ya aren't really gonna find much else out there like Orks I don't think. We're the strongest, meanest, an' the toughest you'll ever meet!" Irongutta boasted, practically brimming with pride.

"W-What the hell is that thing? Ewewewewew!"

Packo looks at.. Whatever thing that Blossom is. It looks very nasty and bad. Scared by the prospect of having to smash that thing with his flail, he realizes that if he doesn't, the weird things near him, which seem to be friendly, are going to get destroyed.

Packo makes an attempt at catching the Blossom's attention!

"H-Hey! You look ugly!"

Afraid of the retaliation, he decides to... Turn his clothes inside out? This somehow gives him more SHP... Because... Magic! He casts Overload, doubling his SHP.

He then moves to E6, and uses his basic attack on Blossom1.

<ROUND ONE-HUNDRED>
Simeon attempts to make contact with Mindscape Nia. The radio attempts to dial her, but nobody picks up. Perhaps he'd have better luck with Glitch Temmie? Oh well. Anyway, Simeon attempts to craft something, but sorta lacks the words to do so. Hey, get back to me when you can, and maybe I can resolve the craft during this update? Item's probably balanced though, Slipthrough is always scary, but probably not game-breaking? Probably. That counter is actually one of the most terrifying things in the game though; Bleed5 is 25% of a target's HP! In total, that BadlyBleeding will deal 90% of a target's HP in damage. WHICH IS A LOT. If you have 5 INT, it becomes a delayed instant kill.

---

Chloe recieves encouragement. From like, a lot of people. I'll be addressing most of them here, but one of them will get a special mention in the update itself. So...

Daskter attempts encouragement! Chloe, a girl who's lived for years with the concept of being mortal, doesn't really seem to believe him.

CHLOE: I-Immortal people d-don't DIE! I-I s-saw him d-die...
CHLOE: I-I think he died before h-he hit the water...

Calibri attempts encouragement! She's still shaking, even when she hears about Resurrection magic.

CHLOE: R-Resurrection... m-magic?
CHLOE: E-Even if we r-really have that, h-he's still dead! I-I j-just... h-holy gorilla...

She then recieves reassurance that she won't die, and that the Naclestial isn't anything to worry about.

CHLOE: I-I mean, I-I want to believe in m-myself... b-but I'm not an a-actual warrior!
CHLOE: I-I'm just a girl with a s-sword! Not a knight! I-If T-Terry's died, h-how am I gonna do t-this!?
CHLOE: A-Also, the Naclestial i-isn't just a "nothing"! H-He was o-only a door away from f-freaking EATING me!
CHLOE: Alive. EATING ME ALIVE. I-I s-still...

...At least, she seems to be a little calmer now. Not total and complete terror, but she's not really ready to move forward.

Venia attempts encouragement! Chloe looks back at her friends behind her- the people she's working to protect.

CHLOE: I-I... I can... n-no, need to protect them!
CHLOE: I... I-I don't want anyone else to die! Not today!

She takes a look at the Naclestial, and it shrieks at her. She recoils in fear.

CHLOE: EEYYAAAAAH!

...Still terrified. You probably can't blame her. Anyway, it looks like her fear's lessened- at least a little. She has something she needs to stake her life for, after all!

Nidra attempts encouragement! Chloe seems to be... disgusted and interested with Nidra's wording.

CHLOE: Y-You're making it sound like y-you've died before...
CHLOE: ...
CHLOE: I-I don't know if I really believe everyone that T-Terry will be coming back, b-but... w-what's death like?
CHLOE: ...W-Wait, d-don't answer that! Please don't! I'll be dwelling on it for f-freaking years, a-and...

Chloe trails off. Her breath begins to steady. Nidra then apologizes if it didn't help.

CHLOE: H-Hm? N-No, i-it's fine!
CHLOE: I-I mean, y-you've been through it, a-and you seem fine...

Boshi, or I guess Hat Kid attempts encouragement! Chloe's mod seems to trend upwards as she gets a hug from Hat Kid. She returns the hug. Then, Hat Kid goes on about how she shouldn't listen to anyone.

CHLOE: H-Huh?
CHLOE: W-What are you s-saying!?
CHLOE: I-I think that V-Venia's smart, a-and kind, and well, at least knows me w-well enough...

Hat Kid still tells Chloe that they'll get through this together, sticking by her side. Chloe's spirits rise a little further.

CHLOE: Aw geez, all of you are too kind~

Brutishace attempts(?) encouragement! I mean, not really- he outright says that things are gonna get worse.

CHLOE: ...

...Two steps forward, one step back.

Nezira attempts encouragement! A tad aggressive, but it seems to help at least a little. Chloe doesn't really seem to have anything much to say anymore, being yanked back and forth emotionally. It's amazing she doesn't have emotion-induced whiplash or something.

...Why wasn't Destiny covered here? It'll probably have a special effect or something.

:thiswouldbeanmspaifitworked:

---

Maria then gives a prompt. Quick note; the roleplay with Acacia will be covered after the fightdop, due to resolution order or something. Anyway, Chaos takes those words, and begins to piece together a story...

CHAOS: okay i ran over your pi[t][c]h wi[t]h a bun[c]h of indus[t]ry professionals
CHAOS: [t]hey said i needed [t]o make i[t] appeal to a wider audience, so i asked [t]hem wha[t] [t]hey wan[t]ed [t]o see
CHAOS: so i did

Chaos begins reading a story to Maria. It's as terrible as you think it is, written by using whatever the hell came to mind at any given moment.

---

Irongutta gives Nia an orkish history lesson. First, he notes that he's not the only one who's confused by their new surroundings.

NIA: Yep! You and me both!
NIA: At least it's a nice planet... and we have a sorta cute-mature tour guide! Omo, I think she's called.
NIA: Aah, maybe I should introduce myself...

She then gets to learn about Orks! Nia seems pretty fascinated.

NIA: So you're like... really cool builder fighter people?
NIA: Awesome!
NIA: ...
NIA: ...What's a krooza?

---

<SEQUOIA'S LAKE, ROUND FOUR>
Bar'kwakh's almost down! Either tame him, or utterly obliterate him! Also, quite a few of you have sustained heavy damage- Omorika and Destiny in particular are sitting at 1 HP. It's probably in your best interest to make sure that they survive today's ordeals. Good thing you have healers... right?

<VS ACACIA, ROUND FIVE>
...The duel is over. While Hex might've been an unfortunate causality, the battle went off mostly without a hitch. Hersilia is lying bloodied (sap...ied?) on the ground, and Acacia has been left grovelling and burnt at your feet. Quite literally, as a Resurrection spell has teleported her there because game mechanics™. Venia begins to threaten Acacia, going into great detail to show how hopeless she is right now. She's desperately trying to find the strength to move- to do anything, to maybe salvage the fight- but her body is too badly burnt to really do more than conjure a root around Venia's leg.

Venia tells her that she's hotheaded, arrogant, stupid, and ultimately, destructive. She grimaces and bears the insults, still while trying to move. She tells her what she could've won. A Glyph.

ACACIA: A-A... g-glyph...?
ACACIA: Y-You c-could've s-said something a-about that...
ACACIA: Maybe I would've gotten someone w-who sucks less a-at their job to h-help me...

Venia then casually notes that she could do anything to Acacia. Make her a pyromancer that'd kill everyone around her. Conscript her. Or maybe take Hersilia. Maybe just kill her. Put a stop to her forever. Acacia grimaces. Her eyes shut tightly, and she curls up into a ball. on the ground. Sap begins to streak from her eyes, no matter how hard she tries to hold them back. Venia pauses, leaving Acacia to smolder.

MARRON: so do i shoot her, or-
MARRON: wait, you're still talking

Acacia's eyes shoot open as Venia loosens up, saying that she's free to go. She's absolutely bewildered...

ACACIA: ...
ACACIA: ...W-Why...?

She stares at Venia with immense hatred, barely kept in check with whatever gratitude someone like Acacia could muster. Venia then offers her a book- a compilation of Abies's tactics on warfare. She wordlessly takes the book... and then begins to cry. She holds the book tightly, still curled up on the ground. Acacia then begins to cry-yell at Venia.

ACACIA: W-Why...?
ACACIA: W-Why are you d-doing this...?
ACACIA: I-I...
ACACIA: I-I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I-I gorillaING H-HATE YOU...

...She's basically inconsolable at this point, trapped in the sweet, miserable hell between seething rage and crushing sorrow. Given that Chairians effectively cry blood, she's at a very real risk of crying herself to death. Fortunately, the resurrection magic is going to make that incredibly hard. Venia then gifts her with cold, hard facts- She's not going to re-enter the Highchair. Still cry-yelling-sniveling, Acacia speaks up.

ACACIA: H-He's... h-he's gonna t-take me... b-back... a-and I-I'll... k-kill you...
ACACIA: ...
ACACIA: N-No... h-he wouldn't want a broken, useless weapon like me...

ACACIA: L-Last time I-I was burned, C-Cypress s-said he c-could fix me... b-but h-his s-stupid science i-is pervading t-the lands t-that I love...
ACACIA: W-We used to b-be proud s-spellcasters... b-but Cypress, n-no, he wants to make m-me useless.
ACACIA: H-He w-wants to spit a-all over our heritage...

ACACIA: I-I c-can barely move w-with these burns. N-Now he's going to need to fix me. Augment me. I-I don't want t-that. I-I don't w-want a h-hand in his s-stupid r-revolution...
ACACIA: W-Why w-would Spark want me w-when he can h-have... t-the future?

Venia then notes how the Sphere is going to destroy everything.

ACACIA: ...
ACACIA: M-Maybe i-it'd be better i-if the Sphere d-destroyed everything...
ACACIA: I-I...

There's the humming of an engine. Something crashes into the ground not far from her position. Acacia stops wailing, her agony now replaced with the coldest, darkest fear.

ACACIA: Oh, gorilla.
ACACIA: Cypress. He's here, isn't he?
ACACIA: W-Why c-couldn't y-you just... k-kill me?

A hybrid of metal, wood, and some sort of magical electric bindings jumps atop the building that Venia and the gang are near. It appears to be a machine made up of several (about two-dozen) small wooden spheres, each of them bound together by those magical bonds of lightning. They make the shape of a humanoid. The sphere that's representing the head has a variety of devices elegantly integrated into it. Some magical, some technological. The perfect harmony of magic and metal. Four guns morph out of it, small electrical "targeting lines" linking themselves to the heads of Venia, Marron, Hex, and Keiko. They're even like, bending around obstacles and stuff. A voice comes out of the machine, obviously mechanical.

CYPRESS: Wattle. Requesting an explanation.
CYPRESS: Distress call received. Who are these peoplllllllllllllllll####L3l3##l3l#3-

Cypress's voice glitches out.

CYPRESS: Oops. Error. Too many words. Fixes still needed. Personal modulator: faulty. Thoughts to speech. Incredibly difficult creation.
CYPRESS: Explain.

Wattle marches forward through one of the houses, weapons lowered. Clausa marches behind, armed with a bucket of water.

WATTLE: Ah, sir Cypress.
WATTLE: These four are... simply put, people that miss Acacia wished to test her mettle against.
WATTLE: She challenged them to a duel, and one of them was in possession of fire weaponry. They slipped behind our lines, and took her out.
CYPRESS: Incendiary weaponry. Terrifying, but understandable.
WATTLE: ...Understandable?
CYPRESS: It is authorized. Desperate times. Desperate measures.
CYPRESS: While underhanded, needed. Would rather avoid. Legionaries use sometimes. Rarely, however.
CYPRESS: Anyway.
CYPRESS: Query. Terminate outsider forces?
WATTLE: No need. This was meant to be a friendly duel, after all. And I'd be lying if I said that I didn't take some satisfaction in seeing Acacia taken down a peg.
CYPRESS: Understood.

CYPRESS: How cruel, however. Shouldn't you care? For your sister.
WATTLE: She's trapped herself in the past. She completely rejects advancement. You. Me.
WATTLE: Did you know her house doesn't even have non-magical appliances? Even for things as simple as lights.
CYPRESS: Redundancy. I know this. Designed her home. Limitations in mind.
CYPRESS: Your feelings: understandable. However, Acacia.
CYPRESS: Admire her devotion. Power. Even if... abrasive. Cruel.

CYPRESS: Anyway. Purpose of trip. Beginning scan...

The guns on the machine fade out of existence, and pull back into the body. A beam of light sweeps over Acacia. She's silent and shivering, waiting for the diagnosis.

CYPRESS: Bad news. No good news.
CYPRESS: Massive torso damage. Considerable facial damage. Already bad alone.
CYPRESS: Consideration. Factoring old injuries.
CYPRESS: Body; effectively unusable. Repairs required.
ACACIA: S-Shut up. I-I d-don't need... y-you...
CYPRESS: Feelings; understood. However, sad truth. You require aid. No other way.
ACACIA: K-Keep your... f-freaking machines... a-away f-from my body...
CYPRESS: Apologies.
CYPRESS: I feel terrible. However, only way. I am sorry.

CYPRESS: Wattle.
WATTLE: Yes?
CYPRESS: Deliver Acacia. Skylabs. Quickly.
CYPRESS: Augmentations. Harder with time. Don't waste it.
WATTLE: Understood.

Wattle scoops up Acacia, carrying her in the "fireman's carry" sorta style. Acacia squirms and attempts to break free, but she's a little too weak to really do anything about it. Clausa, who's been quiet this whole time, finally speaks up.

CLAUSA: Uh. I-I've been wondering, sir Wattle...
WATTLE: Hm? Yes?
CLAUSA: W-What's the machine...?
WATTLE: Oh, that? It's his way of communicating with people without ever leaving the lab.
WATTLE: It's probably one of his single most advanced creations. Mobile woodmancy.
CLAUSA: ...
CLAUSA: Cool!
ACACIA: NOT COOL!

The group prepares to leave. It seems like they'll be leaving the moment people stop talking to them. In the meantime, Cypress's robot heads over to Hersilia. A nozzle emerges from the sphere that represents his hand, and fires a stream of energy over Hersilia. While it seems to do little for her wounds overall, she seems to regain consciousness. Her body doesn't reform into that of a spider, interestingly enough.

CYPRESS: Greetings, Lady Hersilia. Are you well?
HERSILIA: I-I've... been better.
HERSILIA: I... I guess we lost the duel, then.
HERSILIA: Acacia's probably pisse- OH HELIX WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU
ACACIA: ...
HERSILIA: ...W-We can talk about it later! Y-You'll be okay, though! I-I know it!

...And with that, the update is finally done! Perhaps take this moment to talk with Cypress, chat with Acacia, maybe learn what Hersilia meant by "Acacia's condition", things like that.

---

Oh, also: happy 100th update! While I'd like to do something special, I don't quite have the time for it at the moment. Maybe tomorrow? We'll see.

Anyway, you have access to two shiny new spells; Siege Spire and Material Transfer! One of them is a long ranged spell that deals incredible damage, while the other is a short-ranged option that combines damage and healing. Give them a look!

Koharu moves over to G9, pulling her KMC-301 along with her to F8. The KMC-301 then clones itself to G8, creating the KMC-303, which moves one space in the +R direction to H8. 302 moves over to G8 where 303 was, so now the three units are lined up in increasing numerical order left to right, forming a great fantastic wall.

Maria listens to the legendary story of Boris, Diogenes, Alexander the Great and Bob with immense intent. by the time the story is over, her jaw is hanging agape.

...She slowly slides right off of the armchair of the couch, falling onto her back

"That is the most amazing story everrrrr!" Maria yells, throwing up her arms and legs and wiggling around. Her cats just look at her funny.

"... I didn't understand, none of that!" Maria declares, after picking herself up a bit and rolling off the couch. "I love you, mister Chaos!" Maria says, approaching for a hug.

"...What time is it?" Maria asks.

---

-LAKE OF... LAKES-

Venia sees what Chloe does and looks like she's about to explode, but then Nia speaks up before Venia can-Venia catches herself and just breathes, shakily, before refocusing. After the exchange is done, she talks to Nia. "... You really haven't gotten over it completely, have you?" Venia asks, just kind of flatly. "Oh, no no no, don't say a word, you handled that very well, I'm not judging you either." Venia adds, putting her hand out to shush Nia. "Trust me, I understand. Everyone expects you to just forget about crap like that, and even if you really do forgive, you can't forget, it's life defining, it's... Written, all over your body, your mind, your soul, and such. It's best to remember that you both have something to learn from this... Also the goading comment was kind of, eh, uh, you know. Telling. I'll talk more about this, uh, later. With you. And her! We need to focus, but..."

"DESTINY!" Venia shouts. "Stop running your mouth and act like an assassin! Focus! Cal, do NOT respond! I can SEE those gears turning! Complain later, fight NOW!"

A bit later, when Nia's cataclysmic glacial drop occurs, Venia whistles. "Wow... Knew it'd hit big, but niiice!" Venia says. "Now let's keep it up!"

Venia also catches ear of that clicking noise Nana's making. "Nana, that sounds unusual, that clicking noise you're making." Venia says. "In any case, uh, let's move onwards."

Venia is a bit more acute (and far more paranoid) than that, though, and sends a brief psychic message to Auth. "Auth, please check on Nana's mind with the Golden Dream Ring... Stealthily! Don't look like you're doing it, or at least, do it out of Nana and Nia's direct view. That could cause problems."

"Yo, Marron, can you move up?" Venia asks. If she complies, marron would move to M9 and attack the Stormrobe2. Exposed position, but she can handle it, and the Patchwork Totem ought to make sure she has that extra durability.

Once Marron acts, Venia fires on the 1st Fighter. As she attacked first, she gains a retreat, which she uses to move to Marron's former space at I10.

---

Venia yelps in surprise as 'Cypress' barrels in and her nerves hit a crescendo-she shifts to protect Acacia-but then as Cypress chills, so does Venia. "... Whew, had me concerned. Name's Venia. I suppose I organized the whole thing... In any case, pleasure to meet a fellow engineer, despite the... Circumstances."

Venia breathes a bit, observes all incoming, and as Wattle moves to collect Acacia, Venia puts her hand on his arm, nonconfrontationally. "Don't be so hasty. We caused her damage, we'll fix it, or at least try our hardest. We're desperate, not heartless. I'd like to think our objective is to help you all as much as possible, really. Let us bear the burden before you try your hand... Also, uh, it's, erm. Kind of. Not considered ethical, to, err. Mechanize people against their, their will. Even if it would, err, even if the, uh, the alternative kills them."

Venia leans over Acacia, whistling for others to come heal her because she certainly expected quite a bit more fuss than just the duel.

"We'll all see what we can do. She's had enough punishment for one day-any more and she could develop mental health issues. Let us do the work. Or, uh, let my teammates do the work, as healing is not my specialty," Venia says, a tinge of regret in her voice. "I would like to help with the technophobia, but I don't have any knowledge of biotech sufficient enough to help out, either... I specialize in magic-enhanced tech, really, and my ability to use healing magic is... Very limited."

Why do I always feel so powerless in these situations...?

As her allies begin helping to treat Acacia, presumably, Venia talks with Cypress, a great deal, about many things.

"Your work is... Remarkably advanced. I'm surprised, given how you've basically been sent back into the medieval society enough to arm your basic troops with bows," Venia says, thoroughly looking upon the many-sphered robot "I guess you must have been working on this before the Iti became a major problem, otherwise I could never see you finishing this, between them and the Rebels fixing for every glyph they can get... Shame, the rebels. We tried reasoning with them for some loose partnership over our shared goal of removing the Sphere, even if our ideals clashed, then they nearly tried killing us with Iti bait later. Real shame... Though, I suppose, from their perspective, they're just making the hard decisions, same as the rest of us. Perhaps too hard, though, in my opinion," Venia says. "In any case, though I can't say we're perfect, my hope is that we finish this whole affair with a minimized amount of Chairian death, and so far it has been very successful."

"...OK, I could ask you of a lot of favors, none of which you owe any of us, but I'll just ask about something that isn't-"-Venia blurs, another gray goo covering her form out of the blue. One shudder and a release of weird ephemeral, fast-fading slime later, she looks a bit winded. "... Yeah, can I just... I think you can talk about... Something not classified... What do you know about Flux? That, thing the Rose Cult uses. We're very interested in knowing everything we can about it. It's important-I'm intending to learn how to manipulate Flux to reverse various maladies caused by the Rose Cult, among other things. I've made a whole weapon dedicated to defeating entropy-maligned entities... It's worked, to a lesser degree, on Eliti as well, on that note. That is concerning."

"I just got done talking to Acacia about our knowledge of events. Fast recap: The Glyphs and Sphere were sabotaged by Rose Cult to release Ire five days from now, approximately. The Rose Cult can do this because they made both. That's as quick as I can get it, without anything weird behind it. We're here to stop that from being a problem-find Ire, cure Ire's madness before he does stupid, hopefully get Ire to perform community service. The full story is... Less believable, honestly, and full of details, so that's the gist; stopping the Sphere from doing bad things. I'll give you the details if you ask for them. You did patch in that message program for Omorika, so I suppose that won't be much problem for either of us to talk in case we need to."

"Oh! And I guess I have one last thing for Acacia, now that I think about it," Venia says, fumbling around in her inventory. She swiftly pulls out a copy of a book, titled 'Liberation,' freshly bound, and given to Acacia, or Hersilia in case Acacia can't hold it right now. "We invented this spell recently, and we have backup copies of the base transcription so don't think its wasted. it's actually very similar to Acacia's Siege Spire, except its shorter range enables better aiming. More interesting, though, is that it can transfer damage done into healing for nearby allies, or themselves. Only real hurdle is that it operates off of 'light' magic, but I'm sure a mage of Acacia's potential can work with this."

Acacia recieves Liberation!

"Acacia, one last thing before I go... Gosh, I talk too much. Uh, uhhh, basically. I really think your artwork and such is, like, genuinely pretty. Same with your gardening. Omorika had... Nothing but praise regarding your artisan skills. Perhaps you should, uh, hone in, uh, on those? Beauty is something that people tend to underrate, but art, literature, that stuff? That stuff lasts forever. Timeless, and such. People ages from now will respect that. I think it fits you better than trying to kill people, really. And in general."

This done, Venia moves over to Hersilia. "Oh... Uh, Hersilia, sorry about all of that in the fight... Hang on, let's not forget about you here." Venia says, handing Hersilia a healing Chairian Pastry to properly start recovering from her wounds. "That ought to help. In any case... Two questions for you." Venia asks, well that she's driving ire mad being a motor mouth. "How did you do that... thing, with your legs, and what's this about Acacia's condition? Like, physical, or...?"

---

-CRAFT STUFF, KINDA-

Metaphysical balancing attaches the 'Inflexible' trait onto the Tesla Turrets.

Inflexible: Does not have a ZoC. Immune to all movement and prevention effects.

Venia (somehow) fills in the description of both turrets:

"Techno-magical fixed guns designed for short-and-long range point defense. These turrets use leyline channeling, itself created via inception leylines, to target foes at great distances and deliver their payloads-electric surges or dark magic bolts, respectively. While certainly painful, the method of attack ensures that there is no possible way for either turret variant to kill hostiles unintentionally; this has the unfortunate side-effect of being unable to take down foes unless they are at their last breath, but I would rather ensure the safety of any unfortunate Chairians or others that stumble on our property than have the turrets accidentally kill something. -V"

Venia's patience for crafting right now is exhausted, so yeah.

A wispy copy of Hex floats into Sequoia's Lake and silently readies for battle at C11

Destiny runs to J10 before rubbing her head a bit and looking Chloe straight in the eye.

Well, you punch me in the face, eh? Well, I am a goddess, and I am simply saying what is best, no spices, ambrosia and nectar on top, because I am not a nice goddess who comes to the children and throws them oranges and pears to get a good reputation. I am the Goddess of Space, I control the stars and all that is physical, and people respect me for that, not at all because I am a stock, cheery high schooler who is all loving. I am not merciful, I am benevolent.
Are you seriously this fearful of death? Even children can understand that running straight into the enemy is retarded because you are running at your own DEATH. Do you not understand that his death was completely predictable the moment he stepped into the line of fire? One too many times have I seen soldiers die attempting to win something "for glory" or a duelist making a fatal mistake "for glory." Glory is stupid, because it makes you do stupid things like these.
If we were not on Sussui and it was just me and you I would have given you a scar on your face! Some deaths are deserved and some are not, yes, but in this case Railgun Boy’s death was completely his fault. Do you understand, child? Sometimes, death is completely your fault.
Why I should give you a lecture on how to not die on the battlefield, because you seem completely uneducated in how people get killed.
(Urgh, why do people hate cold, hard truth...)

Venia then takes her turn to yell at Destiny.

The silent, cold deadly assassin is not me, I am just a deadly assassin. I think I've used up most of my anger on Chloe, so I won't yell at you too awfully.

--------------------------

Crya walks up to Marron and Toast.

Oh, hello, puppet arm lady! My name's Crya, and me and Toast have been acquainted already.
I'll show you a magic trick! Watch this.

Crya opens her hand, squints, and focuses. After a few seconds, a little statue of Marron and Toast next to each other comes out. Crya looks at it somewhat disappointed. She then touches it a bit and it turns into Marron and Toast holding hands, skipping together happily.

Do you like it? I can do all sorts of cool things with my ice magic, but my power's really limited around here. If I were out of this place I could make a giant sculpture of this.
Luckily, I still can ice skate! Look here!

Crya suddenly has two planks of ice form under her feet. She glides along, more ice forming below her, and she performs a few neat tricks. She hops around, pillars of ice forming to catch her before she decides to descend, using a ramp to make her speed up before combat rolling on to the ground.

Do you like it? It's great, isn't it?
Also, how come you hang around Toast so often? Is she an ally? Acquaintance? Associate? Friend? Giirrlllfriend? You two, at the very least, are bro-ettes for life!

The Battle of Sequoi's Lake

"Chloe, pardon us if we're so dismissal of each other... Some of us don't fear death, for we cannot die. Yes you see our body die, but it's only a temporary setback for us." I explain.
"Terry will be alive at the end of this. That I know for sure, trust us at the very least?"

I stand my ground and consume a manavial.

I then summon a Rooted: Sentry at E10.
Settings:
Attack: Electric
Weakness: Crushing+Fire
Resist: Piercing+Ice+Earth
Special: AP4

The Calvary once again thunders on the battlefield. Somehow moving through the lines of the enemy it arrives at B3. It crushes the Glacier Robe with its attack.

My characters find themselves inexplicably at the crystillery, where they harvest all the crystals. Then they start to craft for realsies?

Nezira senses the events of the duel Somehow, and resolves to try and help Acacia somehow before she's spirited away to what she likely considers a fate worse than death. Through the power of (Most Of) The Multiverse's Medical Knowledge™, plus a bunch of restorative items and healing spells, actual happiness shall prevail!

She casts a quick spell to split herself off from being in the battle and walks over to the duel location. She also harvests the Potted Plant at the House on the way.

(Items being used: 25 Soulblossoms, 3 Red Sap Blobs, 10 Fresh Manabloom, various Lifegems, 3 Compost Blobs, 1 Soulblossom Tea, 1 Green Sap Curative, 1 Salve)

When she arrives, she takes a moment to request that Wattle put Acacia down so she can work her magic easier -- or, in her words, "Oh dear. What happened here? I knew that Acacia had been challenged to a friendly duel by some members of our group, but I wasn't aware that the definition of 'friendly duel' included 'serious, crippling injury'. I'll have to have a talk with whoever decided fire weaponry was acceptable to use. Given it was our group that inflicted these injuries, I must request that we be given the chance to alleviate them first -- especially given miss Acacia's evident objections to technological solutions. You holding her
-- I'm sorry, I don't know your name offhand -- would you mind setting her down on the ground there, so I can work properly?"

Once Wattle begins to put Acacia down, Nezira conjures a magical cushion beneath her to make her transition to lying on the ground more comfortable, then closes her eyes and slams the haft of her Scrutinizing Staff down on the ground, eyes momentarily blazing with her blue magic, tinted with uncharacteristic streaks of red. A rough bed of clear crystal grows out of the ground under Acacia, shaping itself to match her body, before Nezira takes her staff and tosses it up into the air above the table. Its base catches on something intangible in the air, leaving it hanging upside down above Acacia. She takes out a handful of Lifegems and surrounds her hand in another aura of the same red-streaked blue magic, before effortlessly crushing the gems into fragments and tossing them up into the air. She focuses, and the gem fragments and dust swirl towards the Staff, collecting in its center. The lenses rotate into alignment, and a beam fires from the Staff, tracing out an intricate magical circle around Acacia that's seemingly made of a thin layer of fused Lifegem, enchanted to be durable so it won't accidentally break. The staff drops, its task complete, and Nezira lashes out a tendril of magic that returns it to her hand.

Nezira conjures a chair and table and sits down, first preparing a healing potion of sorts -- she takes out a cup of Soulblossom Tea, a Green Sap Curative, 15 more Soulblossoms, and two blobs of Red Sap, before stirring together the Red Sap and Green Sap Curative, making a plant-paste out of the Soulblossom petals and folding that in, and then slowly adding in the Soulblossom Tea. She reshapes the table to have a magical flame and a flask-holding device, and sets the combined flask to heat for a while, occasionally stirring it.

She decides to do something for the outer burns as well -- she takes out three Compost Blobs, as something of a base ingredient (as well as to serve as raw material for restoration -- compost does help plants grow, after all), and puts those in a bowl. To perform the actual healing action, she takes 10 more Soulblossoms and carefully grinds those into a paste, before stirring in a Salve and another blob of Red Sap. She carefully whisks that mixture into the Compost Blobs, focusing a little bit of healing magic into the compound before magically packaging it in a small container.

The potion appears to be nearing completion, having turned a unified red color... but Nezira still feels like it's missing something. She puts both her hands on her Scrutinizing Staff, the lenses aligning and realigning as a white orb of healing magic builds up in the center, before collapsing to a small semisolid drop, which Nezira catches in her hand and then gingerly drops into the flask. The entire thing blazes red-silver-white for a second, Nezira shielding her eyes, before settling down, now with a soft silvery sheen to the liquid and a subdued, but still-present, glow. She grins to herself.

Nezira steps up to the crystal bed that Acacia's on and puts her hand on it, channeling her magic once more. Thick veins of crystal grow out from it underground to connect to the Lifegem magical circle, and with her other hand she grabs ten Fresh Manablooms, crushes them in her hand, and forcibly infuses their mana into the crystal. The entire thing lights with a soft glow that snakes through the crystal veins to the Lifegem ritual circle, which activates and lights up a soft red-pink as the mana infuses into it, small motes of red-pink magic drifting off it and into the air.

"There. One extreme-strength healing draught and one unguent for the external burns, both to be used immediately, and one ritual-aided recovery bed that should amplify all healing performed on the occupant and direct it to where it will do the most good. Now, a healing spell to restore enough vitality for the two items to be properly utilized..."

Nezira takes her Scrutinizing Staff in one hand and passes a soft beam of light over Acacia, scanning her medically to make sure Nezira's spell is as well-directed and restorative as possible, before she stands back outside the ritual circle and plants the haft of her staff on the ground once more. The lenses and crystals of the staff's head shift and rotate, aligning into a configuration that should make the most optimal use of the ambient mana (Align Lenses), before Nezira raises the staff above her head carefully. She closes her eyes, and whispers a muted incantation, altering a known spell into one that should be purely restorative, instead of half-restorative and half-damaging -- and finishing it off with, "...Ebb and Flow -- Healing Stream."

She swings the staff in a wide circle around her head, the tip trailing softly-glowing magical water. Once the staff has described a complete circle, the water collects in an orb above her and floats over above Acacia, dissolving into a stream of healing water that gently floods over Acacia and absorbs into her. Nezira makes a point to direct the stream directly onto Acacia's burn wound, washing inside and diffusing healing power into the areas of greatest damage.

Once the spell is complete, Nezira walks over to the more-restored Acacia and hands her the flask of potion and the topical healing unguent, and if needed, puts the potion to her lips to help her drink. "Drink this, please, it will help you heal... There. Do you need any help applying the unguent to your burns, or would you prefer to do so on your own? I decided to craft some direct-to-wound healing to go with the more general potion and spell. Oh, and please stay on the bed -- it will amplify the healing effects of both my own efforts and those of others, and make sure they are as effective as possible...in fact, it seems some others are already coming to help. You're going to be just fine. You'll be okay."

---

SEQUOIA'S LAKE ACTION:
The Harasser flaps to J19 and casts Elemental Splitshot, hitting Salt Marron with all three shots.
The Realigner casts Displace, teleporting itself to I15.
Nezira herself moves to H17, and casts Ebb and Flow, targeting Bar'kwakh's tile at K17, then the NaClestial, then the same Bar'kwakh tile, then the NaClestial.

Auth was... not terribly well for a brief period. More or less invisible, as he usually is, but appearing to have been somewhat deep in thought. Unpleasant thought, possibly evoked by the heat of the flames. His conscious burns as Acacia's body did.

And now, he's returned to reality. Reality, where the duel is well over and people are seriously hurt.

uA: What... happened...

And then other disturbing words. 'Augmentation'. 'Repairs'. And Acacia's reaction. Auth steps out from the shadows to interrupt.

uA: I've seen this sort of thing before. It's not that bad - not yet. I won't let you turn her into some sort of mechanical amalgam. Not before everything is exhausted. Let me have a go.

Auth asks for permission out of a sense of moral obligation - he intends to try anyway.

uA: Sorry, Acacia. I know you said you didn't want my help... but... I fully believe this would be better than whatever Cypress is going to submit you to. I'm going to help you...

uA: I'm going to help you.

There's a faint spark of determination behind his normally pale and empty-looking eyes. And quite a lot of ink around his hands. Auth then proceeds to gently tap Acacia on the shoulders. A huge amount of ink, as though Auth is using his Special again, starts to bind Acacia's wounds and fill them - to heal the wounds that the others have caused. He expends as much ink as he can to make Acacia better again.

Anything to prevent her from being exposed to what she appears to be quite scared of - insofar as the modifications she's liable to undergo should she be forced through Skylab. The ink, too, reaches out to Herselia. She's less hurt, but she'd feel the wounds she already has tended to my an enormous amount of ink. Auth is truly giving it everything.

uA: I won't stop. Not until you're back to fighting form. I won't relent until everyone is okay, and you won't have to go up to Skylab for such a thing.

And suddenly, the ink starts changing colour. From pitch black, to deep red. A vibrant crimson. Such a bright colour, unforgettable. It seems to be significantly more effective now, as the wounds seem to be patching themselves up even more than they were before. Seems that the colour change is acting similarly to how his weapon does, as does the ink from Inkscalibur in the mindscape. His determination is making it even more effective than it usually is.

Like he's putting in so much more effort than he usually does with healing. Not to say he doesn't try... but he's working a lot harder than he usually does here.

[In Battle]

Auth also notices, now that he has returned to reality, that Bar'kwakh is wounded. Heavily wounded. Auth flies onto H13.

Because Auth has Flying. I'll say it as many times as I need to.

Auth then casts Curaga on Bar'kwakh. At any point he can target. It's a Splash spell so it doesn't matter.

And then he notices Nana. Nana doing very weird things. Weird things that may or may not be normal, and then there's a message from Venia.

uA: Y-yeah, I can, but...
uA: Why would I need to keep hidden about it? I will because I assume there's a reason, but...

He doesn't wait for a response before he starts working. A small string of ink starts creeping under the bridge - to where Keiko will inevitably be. It shouldn't looks that strange, as Auth uses several more on Bar'kawkh, presumable to help with healing. Anyone looking at it may think he's trying to reinforce the bridge.

The thread has the Golden Dream Ring on it, however. And the ring is aimed directly at Nana from under the bridge, through the gaps in the damaged crossing. And Auth connects a Spectre over to the end of it, and looks through to try and see what the problem with Nana is. He seems to be worried... not just about Nana though.

Pope Bill watches the activity from a distance. He cringes ever so slightly upon hearing and seeing what kinds of injuries Acacia sustained, and the dream demon feels somewhat compelled to help Acacia get better in some way - somehow. Kind of hard to do when he isn't physical, but still.

POPE BILL: Okay, how do I get someone to notice me so I can... help out?

He grumbles to himself about lack of physical form all the while while he looks around the area.

===

[note: this post will probably be touched up and made better some time soon.]

Meanwhile, at Zone 0.
Terry is spat out from the savepoint.

---

Battlestuff - Calibri seems to be breathing oddly heavily. Which is funny, since it's not as if he particularly needs to, surely? Perhaps it's some sort of exercise for him... He closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them again and turns to Chloe.

"Well. That was... something. As much as I'm also getting a bit frustrated with Destiny's behavior right now... yeah, this battle comes first. Now... you might not wanna stand there. There's a mortar shell incoming. Probably gonna bring the bridge down once it lands."

He then moves to O11, chugging a Meldblossom Tea in the process since there's more of those then there is sap cakes, then he turns back to face the area he was just standing on again. Some sort of energy is gathering in the... eraser sword thing he's carrying...

"And the second reason you'll want to move is what I'm gonna do to keep the bridge intact. Namely... I'm going to nullify the area for a moment. Don't get caught in there. That goes to you two too, Ette, Omorika."

Calibri waits until Chloe, Ette, and Omorika have moved off of the tiles they're standing on and out of the area near his target tile, then he unleashes his weapon skill on M11, watching as the tiles go blank.


divider line dot exe


Meanwhile, it appears EN has been spying on a certain duel. She sort of just wanders onto the The Way Forward scene via a route through the trees, takes a cursory glance at what's going on, and near immediately turns her attention to Acacia. There's a pause... Her attention flicks to Cypress, then to Acacia again, then back to Cypress.

"...Well... Ah couldn't 'elp but o'er'ear a few thin's. An' ah'm thinkin'. Far as ah've 'eard, she really don't want anythin' t' do wit' cybernetics or all tha' kinda thin'. So..."

Beat. She glances over at Auth, and also at Nezira, then over at Acacia. There's a pause... Assuming that Acacia's still hurt, she continues.

"Kay. Ah'm not tha' good wit' magics, but ah s'pose it's worth tryin' a few thin's. Got a couple o' spare stuff in th' inventory. Lessee... Celefruit... Couple o' Salves... Bit o' brew?"

EN takes out several of the mentioned items - two Celefruit, two Salves, and a Chairian Brew. If allowed, she straight-up heads over and applies the salves manually while also handing over the celefruit and brew. If not, well, there's always the tried and true method of vaguely handing items over.

After both that and the efforts from her comrades, if Acacia's still not well, EN sighs as magic gathers around her.

"Kay. If tha' weren't 'nuff, ah'm sure this'll work. Lemme check ah've got th' right spell... name, name, name... A'ight, cool. Hopefully there ain't no side effects from me doin' this. Not sure 'ow th' spell's gon' work wit' me 'ere..."

"Transfusion."

The moment EN says that word, she's almost torn apart by a very violent fluctuation of magic in the air around her, her eyes flashing bright. Going by sheer visuals alone, she's almost crippled herself with what she put into the spellcast. There's a sort of magical haze in the air around her, one that's tinted a rather unusual shade of grey that almost seems to be otherworldly in nature, something incomprehensible to the human mind on some higher level... That haze would then drift over to Acacia, flash for a moment, and then promptly moves to transfer itself into her. Given how much sheer toughness EN has available to herself, it'd be a dark miracle if Acacia still had physical harm issues after this.


Regardless of how things go down, EN chuckles afterwards, then turns her attention to Cypress himself once again. Or, well, his robot. She grins, albeit in maybe a pained way if she had to use Transfusion.

"Kay... Hopefully tha' did it... Neat drone thingy, by th' by. Kinda curious 'ow tha' works. Heh, bet th' Mechanicum woul' be all o'er checkin' out tha' design, if they was 'ere."

Beat.

"An' ah know it prolly weren't addressed t' me specifics, but how has day? Day has fine. Heh. How 'bout yer day?"

Teag goes to K11 and reloads a full-metal shot, and possibly does something else.

Future!Toast time travels from the future to meet up with Marron after the battle.

[Might have misinterpreted pope's post, so I'll just put this in a spoiler for now.]


Toast places her ear against the back of the Yggcrawler. She's probably trying to hear its heartbeat or something. Responding to Marron, she laughs nervously, "Ehehe... I don't think it'll be able to hold much more weight. A-and I really don't want it to collapse while he's over the lake."
She looks down. Fear briefly flashes in her eyes, and her gaze darts back up. She remembers that she's still talking to Marron, and gives an apologetic smile.

Once Bar'kwakh has been tamed, Toast activates Spite, moves to H15 on her Yggcrawler, and casts Ebb and Flow Bar'kwakh. It bounces to the NaClestial, then back to Bar'kwakh, then back again to NaClestial. The empowered pulse will be the last one.

The Man rolls to M13 and shoots the Naclestial.

"(Looks like Bar'kwakh is down low enough to tame...)"
He looks at the nearby Magirifler. "(Yeah, your job's done. Now go.)"

Boshi attempts to go first.

Boshi Phase Shifts with the Yggcrawler, then fires the Elemental Blaster (ICE) at Bar'kwakh's head. He then has Hat Kid attempt to tame Bar'kwakh!

Nia must act last. Before Nia acts, try to have Bar'kwakh move to (I15/K17), rotating its head south, if possible.

Hat Kid jumps up Bar'kwakh's neck, up to it's head. She proceeds to show it a Time Piece - a shiny hourglass holding a large amount of time magic. She activates it, and has it show Boshi obliterating its armored hide in a single strike, which allowed all the damage made by her allies, as well as the allies themselves beating down on his back. She shows how Boshi managed to help out the withering part of the gardens by powering the Terra Revivers.

She shows herself one-girl-armying around the library, slaying some rather tough Iti with all her weapons and her ingenuity. She shows the Spherebreakers drive back Neru and Acacia. She shows her and Boshi's river adventure, which allowed them to meet Ga'aunt, who was then referred to as the Whispering Gauntlet.

She then shows Bar'kwakh that one time she lifted a walrus with one hand while still doing all her fancy flips and tricks to escape a sinking cruise ship. She shows her saving a planet from becoming a lava-filled nightmare ruled by a confused young authority. She shows the time she saved a mountain range from a plague of purple plants and spores that turned things mad. She showed her braving a soul-stealing shadow, beating him, and beating him at his own game of contract signing. She showed her braving an absolutely terrifying mansion with an equally terrifying resident. She showed herself uncovering a conspiracy between two rivaling conductors, and beating one of them. She shows herself escaping a crumbling train and leading a parade, and her solving murder mysteries and successfully sneaking into a studio uninvited. She shows her endeavors in taking down a mafia boss.

Then, she shows herself. On Bar'kwak's head. Someone worthy enough to be its ally. Someone specialized in many fields for someone so young.

Hat Kid pats Bar'kwakh on the head, then sits on top for all to see.

Hopefully it's enough to tame Bar'kwakh.

---
/maybe more?

Nidra moves to O9 and drops a Nightmare Singularity on P3. She then retreats to P10.