Mr. Krabs heads back to the interior of the Fortified Cavern and loots everything, again; Crafting Station, the Hologram Projector, the CD, the Pipe and the Door, just in case. He then moves back to the Stone Spire, sets the Hologram Projector up next to it, and plays the CD. If this gathers no reaction he shoves the CD into the thin slot in the statue itself.

Why does he do these things?

He senses CAPITALISM.

Originally posted on 2017-12-18 03:43:00

"..."
"Oh dear... Chloe, I don't think attacking my sort-of-brother's goals was really the best thing you could have done, even if you are upset over it..."

Calibri's eyes have turned a completely solid black. This is not good.

"I suggest you take a good long look at the world around you before trying to call me out. Upon our arrival here, the locals quickly became an enemy of us, and I bet they'd consider you an enemy too no matter what you did. Then there's those creatures, the Iti, who seem hellbent on destroying every form of life they find. Also, your normal choice of sword has been rendered... mostly useless by the local weirdness here."

There's a pause.

"The recommendations were to ensure you'd have something to work with during your time here, no matter what you ultimately chose to do. You're not going to get anywhere by just trying to peacefully talk it out with the Iti. Maybe the Chairians, not the Iti."
"I can confirm this! One of the seekers got trapped under your bag earlier. It tried to eat my face off after I freed it."
"..."

Calibri does not seem to be very happy right now. Despite this, he's still managing to force a smile, even if that's starting to fail him. After a moment, he sighs heavily.

"...Still. Nice to know I'm just as horrible of a... something as I thought."
"Uh... Calibri, hold on-"

Too late. Calibri doesn't seem to want to stick around much longer. He pulls his hoodie up in a way that conceals his face, then just strolls off to the east, not knowing where he's going but knowing it's somewhere else, aiming to go as far west as he possibly can. His walking away just leaves Verdana standing there, staring at the fading view of the blue-hooded man, one hand partially-raised.

"...Ah... he took that way more personally than I thought he'd take a bad reaction. Uh..."

There's a pause.

"Chloe, I don't mean to bother you, but the word irredeemable is very serious! Back home, Calibri's in charge of judging the level of evil that a person has committed to. He's fine with letting some very morally shaky people walk free so long as he can convince them to behave, but once someone's done something bad enough to earn the label irredeemable, it's his job to kill them before they make things worse. As far as he sees it thanks to that choice of word, he's now just as hated by you as actual committers of genocide and other such atrocities."

Another pause.

"...Maybe... maybe, if you don't actually hate him that much, you should talk that out with him once he comes back. Or if you decide to follow him for some reason. I'd try it myself, but there's only so much I can do."

_________________________________________

Meanwhile, at the forest checkpoint, EN just stands there staring around at the aftermath of battle. At least it ended fairly quickly or something, but now what? Oh, the remaining chairians. They're probably not doing so well... Especially since the Devout in particular seems to have curled up into a terrified ball.

"Uh..."

She decides to head over to the Devout, tossing her rock launcher aside for a bit and crouching down in front of her. There's a pause.

"Sorry 'bout all that. But don't worry, since the battle ain't on no more, yer gonna be okay now. Shame about... yeah... things. Like... things."

Beat.

"So, uh... yeah. We were kinda intending to just pass on by. Maybe kill off some of those Iti things on the way, if there's any of those around. There's a lotta things we gotta do, actually... Eh, don't worry about it. We'll figure things out."

Another beat, and some awkward aside glances on EN's part. She then shrugs and turns back to the Devout, apparently genuinely clueless about what to do or say now.

"...Kinda curious, and I mean we ain't exactly fighting no more, so we might as well share names. Mine's EN-913. Prolly easier to just call me EN. Or 913. What's yer name?"

Originally posted on 2017-12-18 04:38:00

Hold on, this is at the last minute...

Brutishace slides over to K13, near Destiny and Joe, and casts Drain Life again on the second Chairian Fighter, hoping to catch Tera Robe in the spell's radius. This spell's damage will work to heal Destiny and Joe.

"Life to my friends, death to my foes!"

Damn, looks like my last-minute attack didn't go through. Of course, it has no need to now.

Brutishace advances to J12 and casts Cure on Destiny.

"This should keep you patched up."



Originally posted on 2017-12-18 05:00:00

Asuka switches out, and Shiki Ichinose switches in.

SHIKI: This is so cool~!

She proceeds to do nothing for the entire round.

Originally posted on 2017-12-18 11:15:00

The Idra work together, layering their shields, to create a makeshift bowl around the thyme matter. they then put the bowl in the inventory. more thyme matter cleared!

I turn away from the battlefield and walk over to the military drone shopkeep.
I then scan him to figure out how practical fighting him is.
Crafting:
x1: Godess's Servent: A chrome-plated pistol that controls a cute little mini hand-drone thing.
I preform analyse on the mini hand-drone, trying to find out what materials its made of, and check how much of the pistol is actually chrome.
then, I salvage a copy of the device for resources. we still have infinity more of them, so that should be fine.

Also both my skill points go to SPC if I didn't do that already.

Originally posted on 2017-12-18 11:15:00

Boshi glances at the moving Calibri, then at Chloe, then back at Calibri. He could feel a pit in his bottomless stomach.
"(That... that was harsh... and I don't like where this is going.)"
"(Kid, stay with Chloe. I've got matters to attend to.)"
Hat Kid stays beside Chloe while Boshi heads off in Calibri's general direction.

Hat Kid decides to try and help Chloe with combat techniques for self defense, by sketching stuff on the ground next to them, while in the meantime, showing Chloe that we should kill Iti on sight with no hesitation, as they did when they freed her; that the Chairian Legion just needs to be convinced (by force if need be) and should only be Downed; and the Chairian Rebels... well, nobody really knows what to do with them. She also takes out one of the Packed Lunches for Chloe, seems she was so hungry.

She also asks whether Chloe's ready to choose a combat style or not; Hat Kid'll understand either way.

-----

Boshi runs as fast as his legs could carry him, trying to catch up to Calibri before he does something rash.
"(Hey! Hold up!)"
If he manages to catch up to Calibri, Boshi walks alongside him.
"(You're... not thinking about what I think you are, are you!?)"
"(I admit, that was really harsh of her to say, but she's been through so much. She probably blurted it out uncontrollably from being so stressed out.)"
"(Perhaps it was just too soon to bring combat up, you know. She likely doesn't actually consider you 'irredeemable'. And even if she does, prove to her that you ARE redeemable.)"
"(From what I've seen and heard of ya so far, you're far from the former [small][irredeemable][/small]! And what's to say otherwise?)"

-----

Boshi buffs his SPC.

Originally posted on 2017-12-18 15:21:00

Emerald joins the ‘talking to Chloe’ party and decides to give her some combat advice ”Yo. Since you seem to have joined the party for one reason or another, it may be a good idea to equip some armor. (We seem to have an infinite amount of that stuff anyways)”

Originally posted on 2017-12-18 22:30:00

I realize that Destiny's weapon does Slashing and not piercing. Thus I change Overpowering Slash back to Overpowering Stab. I put a point in STR and a point in SPC. I then take out 3 points from SKI, put 1 in DEF and 2 in RES.
Destiny then switches out How to Roll for a Lucky Charm and the Ninja Hood for the Beholster Skull.

Originally posted on 2017-12-19 02:28:00

Toast puts two skillpoints into SPC and equips her charm. She breaks into a sprint after the Rebel Firebomber, leaping over the Barricade and into the forest. As much as she would love to assure the Devout that the deaths were an accident, she knows her party members too well- six of them will probably do it for her.

~~

Changes to Language of Sorcery:
- No Metamagic for starting battles.
- Metamagic now transfers through battles.
- Renewal is replaced with Virtuoso.

Virtuoso.
Gain +2 Retreat after casting. 2 MM. [+1 Retreat. Also gain Skirmisher while retreating.]

I'd also like to suggest the following changes to my special mods.
- At 14 SPC, Healing Allies becomes a fill condition.
- At 18 SPC, there is no SP cap.

~~

Somehow this crafting doesn't interfere with her pursuit.

She equips the Crystallised Mana, and sets the Magical Resistance to Ice.

Originally posted on 2017-12-19 02:34:00

Comet puts two points in HP. Something something whatever that means.

---

Hey, Chloe. You mentioned your brother... Is he...here? Should we...be looking for him?

---

Sometime in the past-present-future, or whenever she has the time, Comet sits down at the crafting station. She carefully takes off her lab coat and places it across the table. It's a solid, sturdy lab coat, but again, not exactly designed for combat. How to improve it though... that won't be as straightforward as it was with the Aeroskates™. There isn't exactly a lot of cloth available, at least none with any combat utility worth speaking about. Thin, very thin, sheets of titanium inside the coat, maybe? It'll have to do. It won't be very tough, but it'll still stop a blade or two. Probably.

Comet takes some titanium, places it inside a furnace, and waits. And waits. And waits. Finally, after far, far too long, she takes a few sheets of titanium out, and prepares tools for smithing. She knows nothing about smithing, but somehow, it seems to all work out. Some sort of... magic, no doubt. Magic. She shakes her head, carefully takes apart the lab coat, inserts the titanium sheets, and sews it back up. Almost as an afterthought, Comet also uses some spare parts to attach a small battery to the inside of the back of the coat.

---

Reinforced Lab Coat
- 20% Slashing Weakness
+ 1 MMP

---

Comet also customizes her Sonic Wave spell, but only changes it so that it scales exclusively with INT (at the normal rate).


Originally posted on 2017-12-19 02:50:00

DCCCV opens his eyes, and looks around. He slowly tries to stand up. Using his sword as a makeshift cane, he limps his way over to The Devout.

"Um, hey," he says. "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to say Thanks."
"Thanks for telling them not to kill me. It means a lot, knowing that there's someone who respects all life out there."

He shifts a bit.

"I know. Even though I'm not responsible for this, I feel that I should say I'm sorry for what happened here."
"Listen, don't beat yourself up over this. What happened here is not your fault, not this time."

He just stands there awkwardly.

An indeterminate amount of time later, in an indeterminate place, DCCCV makes some "food". After washing his hands, he grabs two Celefruits, and cuts them in half with a knife. He then juices both halves with a reamer, careful not to let any of the juice go to waste. Filtering out the liquid, he pours the juice out into a couple of shot glasses. Finally, to garnish, he takes a soulblossom, and picks the petals off, dropping them into the cups, giving the drinks that nice floral flavour.
whattheheckamidoing

x3 Celefruit mix made
When drunk, gives swift2 for one round, and mending2 for 2.??

x2 Celefruit rinds left.
When eaten, gives mending 2 for 2 rounds, because fibre.??

Originally posted on 2017-12-19 02:53:00

I put my point into MOV (if you haven't already done that) and stand guard near Chloe (Why am I placed at the Forest Checkpoint? If I said I went there, I must have mistyped).

cA: Do not worry child, we shall protect you while you are on... lunch break, I suppose.

Originally posted on 2017-12-19 03:18:00

The Voice puts his point in INT, then notices that the fighter's calling for backup. Yeah, that's not happening.

He walks over to the shack, looms in the doorway appropriately, and focuses for a second, casting some damageless Hidden Eye-analogue.
A pulse of mental energy metaphorically smacks the fighter right in the mind, causing the Fighter to suddenly change his tune.

He calls Acacia back on the phone, saying that there was an Iti attack on the outpost that caused a casualty or three -- hence the sudden hanging up -- but that they managed to drive off, and that the backup isn't really needed now that the Iti are driven off. He then hangs up the phone, puts it down on whatever flat surface may exist nearby, walks over to the Voice, and sits down to have his arms tied together by the Voice using a coil of vines from the inventory, upon which he regains his senses.

Look, friend. I understand you might be feeling a little annoyed about being bested, but I don't think any of us particularly wants to see more deaths here. Your higher-ups finding out about us means more time spent fighting Chairians instead of Iti, more Chairians dying, in all probability, and more time spent getting to the Sphere. Which, I might add, is going to explode and destroy your universe in approximately a week. Which, in turn, we are here to prevent. Are we clear?

The Voice makes sure the phone is as inaccessible to the tied-up Fighter as it can be without destroying it -- perhaps he puts it on a high shelf? -- then leaves the shack.

Originally posted on 2017-12-19 03:34:00

Auth nods to Chloe.

uA: Of course, Miss Chloe. You are under our protection, now. Please feel safe.

Auth then hears the scream from the Devout in the checkpoint, a few zones away.

uA: Ah! My medic sense is tingling. I believe there are wounded I should care for. If you wish, Miss Chloe, you may come with me. Or say here, with the others, that's fine.

Auth tips his hat to Chloe and turns around, his coat flowing out. The dragon walks to his side, and then keeps up with his fast pace as Auth moves swiftly along the ground to the Checkpoint.

gC: Well done, handling that, Author.

uA: Thank you, Genoa, but I was just doing my best to help someone in need. Like I may be rushing off to do now.

Auth runs to the Checkpoint, seeing his allies waking up after being Downed, the downed and dead Chairians and the Devout and her allies cowering in fear. He runs to the Chairians that are conscious, and kneels next to them, placing his hand on one of the wounded Chairians, if they're close enough, ink flowing off his hand and healing their wounds.

uA: Hey, I'm a medic. I've arrived to tend to the wounded, but I saw you guys like this, so I decided to come and check on you guys first. Are you all alright? I may have only just arrived to the aftermath, but I think it would be horrible for you all to be left untended, and I can help you first..[/b]

Genoa walks to the middle of the circle, looking at the Devout.

[b]gC: They aren't going to kill any of you now that the battle is over. You have nothing to fear, okay?[/b]

Auth looks around the field. He prepares a pulse of red ink, then looks at one of the mages, Likely the Devout but he can't tell who is who.

[b]uA: Please excuse me. May I have a moment of your time? It's to check your status, and as I think you hold a position of some notability, I think it's important to check on you first. I promise, I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Just be calm.[/b]

The pulse he releases gives him information about the Devout and her ilk, which he feeds into the Scanner. It also tells him the physical status of the Devout and the people around her, their HP and MP. He sighs, before smiling.

[b]uA: I think that you'll be okay, miss. So will most of the people around you. Please don't worry. You'll be okay.[/b]

He turns to Genoa, then asks her to bring the unconscious bodies around the field to him. She does so, quickly running around the field, grabbing Chairians in her claws gently and bringing them to Auth. When the unconscious Chairians are brought to him, Auth places his hand to their forehead, and a pulse of white ink restores their energy enough to bring them back to consciousness.

[b]uA: I may be pushing myself at the moment, with all the Ink I'm generating for this while my capacities are limited...[b][/b]

He does his best, reviving as many Downed Chairians as he can. It's unlikely he'll revive them all this turn, but he'll do his best. The high use of Ink allows him to access even more, as Auth puts his 2 Skill Points into MP.

Originally posted on 2017-12-19 04:01:00

The Man gets back up, and decides that it's time for something completely different.

Or, only mostly different.

He takes out exactly two pieces of refined wood. Doing some strange Chinese magic, he turns the wood into a piece of paper. Next, he grabs a bottle of Green Sap, and splashes it onto the paper. He takes out his gun, a bundle of dynamite, and a salve, and wraps them in the paper. He then stares at the paper for exactly 3.320392032 seconds. Thus, he learns the ancient art of Highly Advanced Judo. Somehow.



Materials expended: 2 Refined Wood, 1 Green Sap, the Not Really Silenced Pistol, 1 Bundle of Dynamite, 1 Salve.

He then pins on of those missing posters to the building in the Checkpoint.

Oh yeah, and he puts a skillpoint into DEF and a skillpoint into STR.

Originally posted on 2017-12-19 21:28:00

Well, first thing's first, skillpoints! Put my new one into AGI, and also, take my one DEF point and put it into RES. ...I probably don't need any DEF points.

Sprint into the forest in chase of the rebel! With my high AGI rating, I'm sure to catch him! With my low amount of pretty much every other stat, I'll figure out what to do once I've caught him later! ...Intelligence is one of my lower stats.

Originally posted on 2017-12-20 03:57:00

Zedros funkslings two points into SPC and assists in reviving the Chairians.

---

He also buys a CPU from the drone, then performs some crafting at the crafting station:

[/spoiler]
Zedros removes his Zen Ribbon and equips the Shield.

Originally posted on 2017-12-20 22:34:00

Irongutta distributes two points into SPC!

After that, he goes to the shack at the Forest Checkpoint to see if there's anything he can loot from the inside. Ducking through the doorway, he spots the tied up fighter. Scoffing at him, Irongutta returned to his objective. On the ground seemed to be what remained of the bomb that the rebel had set up. He sifted through the small pile of wreckage to see if there was anything useful left. Same goes for the shack as a whole. Anything he finds is put into the inventory.

Irongutta decides it is about high time to upgrade his weapon, which has served him well so far. He attempted to carefully take out the High Sun, but accidentally let the hot chunk of "sun" (which will be referred to as such without quotations from now on) at the end of the chain brush his hand. Recoiling from the heat and hissing, he reflexively let go and dropped it on the ground. "I'z gotta find a better way to 'old this thing." He blew on his burnt hand and remembered that he still had some of his old tools on him. Finding a large pair of metal tongs, Irongutta managed to pick up the High Sun without further injuring himself. Placing it on the workstation and grabbing 4 Titanium Ingots, 2 Iron Ingots, and 2 Incendiary Scraps from the inventory, he finally got to work.

Using a furnace, he heated the titanium ingots into a state where they could be worked. His intent was simply to hammer the ingots into large plates; no complex working required right now! With the ingots hot enough, he grabbed a forge hammer and began pounding the ingots until they were large sheets. They may be thinner before, but they were still heavy and durable. Using the metal tongs, he held one of the titanium sheets against the chunk of sun and began hammering it a little more delicately. Over time, the warm metal sheet was worked to fit the form of the chunk. While working, Irongutta noted that the metal remained hot enough to burn skin or other material while it was in contact with the chunk of sun. Perfect, this way it can still burn those gits!

With the four titanium plates shaped to fit the roughly spherical sun chunk, he used the two iron ingots he grabbed to fashion a handful of rivets that he'd use to actually attach the titanium plates to the chunk. Doing just that, he used the iron rivets to attach the titanium plates to the sun chunk in such a way that there were two holes, roughly circular in shape, at opposite ends of the hot titanium sphere. Careful to not burn himself, he used the tongs to place one of those sides up. The light from the chunk of sun projected out of the hole, while the remaining surface glowed a dull red color due to the titanium plates remaining hot; but not soft. In these two holes, Irongutta carefully installed the two incendiary scraps using a smaller set of metal tongs used for precision. Using some of the spare iron left over from making the rivets, Irongutta created two small hatches that would cover the incendiary scraps. With a bit of testing, the hatches would open up when he swung the weapon, releasing a gout of flame due to the incendiary scraps. His creation seemed to be ready.

Input: Titanium Ingot x4, Iron Ingot x2, Incendiary Scrap x2

Metal Sun created!
It'll be worth the weight.
The changes from the previous High Sun are as follows: +1 DEF, +1 DMG, and +1 Skill DMG (AoE; that is, exclusively a damage bonus to the AoE portion of the Weapon's Skill. If this is a little undertuned, feel free to apply this to the Weapon Skill as a whole).

Disinterested in sticking around with the defeated twig-people, Irongutta decided to head north to pursue the rebel. It quickly became apparent to him that he wasn't the only one doing this.

Originally posted on 2017-12-21 02:15:00

Updating tomorrow, most likely. Hand isn't in the best condition to actually update.

Originally posted on 2017-12-21 02:17:00

<ROUND FOURTEEN>
Teag upgrades his STR, then decides to quickly disarm the Chairian Fighter, stealing his phone. He hears a voice coming out of the receiver before he manages to shut it off.

ACACIA: Wait, what was that noise-

Beep. Teag hangs up the phone, and tosses it into the inventory before jumping down the hole the Firebomber made. He crawls through a somewhat long dirt tunnel. After some linear but blind crawling, Teag ends up popping out of a hole in a somewhat hidden grove... and right into the arms of some red-cloaked Chairians, of which there are two.

REBEL ASSASSIN: You're not one of us. Who the hell are you!?

A third one enters the scene. He appears to be the same one that tried to bomb the shack.

REBEL FIREBOMBER: Seize him! Not much time to explain; mission went south, and some of his friends were responsible for it!
REBEL ASSASSIN: Is that so...?

He whips out a knife, which he deftly spins around. He keeps spinning it around, flicking it up into the air and catching it. He then pulls out another knife, and begins to juggle them. The rebel armed with a rifle begins to clap, while the recently-arrived Firebomber facepalms.

REBEL FIREBOMBER: Wait, seriously?
REBEL ASSASSIN: Hey, I never get to show off to anybody. Give me this chance.
REBEL FIREBOMBER: Fine...

It appears that he'll kill Teag after he's done his rather fancy knife show. How convenient. Terry, oblivious to this display of raw talent and disregard for fingers, +1's his SPC, then swaps out a spell. Mr. Krabs then decides to take the Hologram Projector, the CD, the door, and the Pipe from that room in the Fortified Cavern. He then takes the Hologram Projector, places it down next to the Stone Spire in the Untamed woods, and inserts the disc.

The disc plays some music... Suddenly, out of the skies, a car comes into view. Mr Krabs doesn't have enough time to type down a description for it, as it nearly instantly careens into the Stone Spire, instantly obliterating it. Stone and debris fly everywhere, and when the smoke clears, there's a triangle floating in front of Mr Krabs. He quickly pulls the Holographic Projector back into the inventory.

???: POP POP!
???: HELLO THERE! I ASSUME YOU'VE COME HERE TO MAKE A DONATION TO MY VERIFICATION DRIVE?

...Mr Krabs isn't entirely sure what to say.

???: YOU SEEM CONFUSED. LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF!
VENUZ: I'M YUNG VENUZ. RAPPER GOD FROM VENUS. RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT SICK BEAT YOU JUST HEARD!
VENUZ: APPARENTLY, GETTING VERIFIED ON TWITTER (#verifyvenuz) TAKES A LOAD OF MONEY, SO I'VE STARTED A CHARITY DRIVE TO #verifyvenuz!
VENUZ: I HAVE A DEAL FOR YOU! FOR THE SMALL PRICE OF 100 CREDITS, I'LL GIVE YOU THIS AMAZING GOLDEN REVOVLER-

He pulls out a Golden Revolver from out of nowhere, and fires it into the air. Or at least, he tries. A puff of purple smoke comes out of it.

VENUZ: ...WHAT
VENUZ: HOLD ON A SECOND.
VENUZ: I'VE GOT THIS.

He floats off into the woods for a second, coming back with a pile of gear. None of it seems to be thymecursed.

VENUZ: SO APPARENTLY, NONE OF MY DONATION INCENTIVES WORK. THAT'S ALRIGHT.
VENUZ: NOW, I HAVE A PILE OF WARES, AND MONEY THAT NEEDS TO BE MADE.
VENUZ: POP POP! GET SPENDING! I CAN'T #verifyvenuz MYSELF, NOW!

...It appears that the Main Shop is now open! You may now spend your hard-earned Credits to get a strange variety of gear; some helpful, some probably less so! Elsewhere, a certain shopkeeping drone feels a disturbance in the force. Calibri and Chloe then have a totally friendly coversation. Needless to say, Chloe is left bewildered and confused by the talk.

CHLOE: W-Wait! I-I'm sorry!?
CHLOE: U-Um...

Before she can say anything legible, Calibri has left in a huff. She's left there with Verdana, who explains the word "irredeemable" to her.

CHLOE: ...Oh.
CHLOE: I guess I really screwed up then...
CHLOE: I-It's just that... who tries to conscript people they just met? I-I don't even really know anything about this planet; how was I supposed to know those things- the Iti, are everywhere?
CHLOE: There's also "Chairians" now, I guess? Who are they!?

She takes a moment to cool down

CHLOE: ...I really didn't mean it, though. I had absolutely no idea he had that sort of past...
CHLOE: I-I'm really sorry.
CHLOE: Could you tell him that for me? I... don't think it'd be safe to move from here, if everything is as dangerous as he said it is.

EN decides to go and talk to the panicking Devout. She flinches and screams as she hears the Rock Launcher hit the ground. After a few tense seconds, she gets the courage to look up at what she thinks is her assailant, who is now crouching next to her. She timidly sits up, getting a good look at EN. She listens to her talk for a moment, before she asks for a name.

DEVOUT: T-T-Taeda.
TAEDA: My name is Taeda. I-I, um...
TAEDA: ...Please don't hurt me.

Despite EN's inherent non-aggression, she's still terrified.

TAEDA: T-The last group of outsiders to arrive here... t-they killed our old camp leader.
TAEDA: H-He used these gigantic floating hands... a-and... a-and...
TAEDA: You... y-you won't kill us, will you?

She's left there, staring at EN. JOE meanwhile, gets some random dudes called the Idra to bowl away the remainder of the Thyme Matter blocking him from some Iron Ore. 4 units of the stuff are obtained. JOE then attempts to salvage a Goddess's Servant... and doesn't actually seem to get anything of value from it. He could probably just directly take the chrome from the pistol during a round of crafting...

Boshi then runs off to talk with Calibri (and to + his SPC), and leaves Hat Kid behind with Chloe. She tries to teach Chloe some self-defense methods... but she seems dismissive.

CHLOE: I appreciate the gesture, but... I already know how to fight.
CHLOE: At least, with a sword! I've spent a... stupidly high amount of time studying swordplay.
CHLOE: I-It's really cool, alright? It's... part of why I even brought a sword here, actually.

Hat Kid also then tosses Chloe a Packed Lunch.

CHLOE: O-Oh right! I packed these!
CHLOE: One of them's for Xavier... and the other one's for me!

She unwraps the burrito, and rather slowly and daintily nibbles away at it. Her light nibbles eventually devolve into a voracious munching, and soon the lunch has been polished off.

CHLOE: Ah... I needed that.
CHLOE: Thank you, Hat Kid!
CHLOE: ...Do you have a name, or anything like that? Hat Kid just feels a bit weird, not gonna lie.

Emerald then suggests for Chloe to equip a bit of armor. She nods... and... tries to pull something out of thin air.

CHLOE: ...
CHLOE: Where do you keep your stuff?
CHLOE: I noticed that Hat Kid just sorta... pulled my lunch outta thin air.
CHLOE: I'm assuming that it's some sort of magic that I can't have any hope of understanding, but eh.

Destiny meanwhile, realizes her errors in swapping her skill, and goes back to stabbing things before respeccing somewhat. Toast decides to join the edit train, equipping a few things and editing her trait. She also creates Crystallized Mana using 35 Credits sort of stuff, a blob of Green Sap, and a Manabloom. She then sneaks into the Hidden Grove, somehow undetected.Comet then talks with Chloe, whilst increasing her HP.

CHLOE: My... brother?
CHLOE: Y-Yeah. He's almost certainly here.
CHLOE: He normally slinks into his room for days on end... but about a week ago, he never came out.
CHLOE: I broke into his room, and bam. Interdimensional portal.
CHLOE: I came here to look for him. I... I hope he's not hurt.
CHLOE: He's not exactly the most fit; I'm worried for him.
CHLOE: And if weapons from outside this place are worthless... then, he's kinda useless here.

Then, since she somehow has time, she tosses together a piece of titanium, and...

CHLOE: N-No offense, but you seem to be having a bit of trouble with your work there.
CHLOE: Mind if I help? I'm somewhat adept at this sorta stuff. Comes with helping my brother with... science.

...Chloe (probably) helps Comet with her crafting, expending only a single piece of Titanium and 2 Wire Scraps (a battery) to upgrade her Lab Coat! She also modifiers one of her skills, causing it to fully scale with INT instead of anything else. It seems to be scaling at a two-third rate though, due to how powerful it'd be with full scaling. DCCCV decides to comfort the Devout. She appears to be more comfortable with his (slightly) familiar face.

TAEDA: H-Hm? Uh, y-you're welcome!
TAEDA: It's just... it's just that we're all in this together, right? Nobody deserves to have their bodies ripped open for food, whether dead or alive.
TAEDA: I j-just... kinda feel I could've stopped our leader from fighting. H-He's always been so a-aggressive, and ever since he was given control of an army, he only got worse...

DCCCV, somewhere else in the timeline, creates 3 Celefruit Mixes and 2 Celefruit Rinds using 2 Celefruit and a Soulblossom. He doesn't seem to get Swift 2 out of it, but he does increase the duration of the Swift, which is probably about as good. Bergilmir then continually increases his MOV, and stands guard near Chloe. The Voice meanwhile, improves his INT, and mind-controls the Chairian Fighter. He somehow accesses the inventory, pulls out the phone, and casually calls Acacia. He says something about everything actually being fine... and while his voice is calm and collected, his face has gone completely discordant from his calm tone. By the time the call is over, the Chairian has fallen to the ground, left defenseless against the Voice tying him up. The phone is then promptly returned to the inventory.

The Author then decides to go tend to the Devout, along with the other Chairians. He stabilizes those that are injured, while Genoa talks with Taeda, reassuring her that everything will be alright. She nods, fazed at the sight of the dragon. Auth then scans the Mages in the area, updating the Codex.

TAEDA: O-Oh! Thank you, mister!
TAEDA: I-It's alright, though! We should be able to survive... a-assuming we don't get attacked by the Iti.
TAEDA: ...H-Hey, could we be allowed to... retreat?
TAEDA: Even if you leave, w-we'd be unable to survive a raid without all of our calvary, a-and... well, I don't think that we're in the right state of mind to even battle...

She awaits some sort of response. Would it be worth letting them run off? That's not for me to answer, though! Anyway, Auth also +2's his MP, while Jon decides to learn the ancient art of Judo. Judo Scroll created, at the cost of 2 Refined Wood, a blob of Green Sap, his pistol, a bundle of Dynamite, and a jar of Salve. He also improves his DEF and STR, while Moniker increases his AGI and RES, at the cost of DEF. He too, then sprints into the forest, waiting with Toast in the Hidden Grove.

Zedros then throws together a CPU (60 Credits), 2 Circuit Boards, 4 Titanium, 2 Wire Scraps, a blob of Green Sap, and then some basic items to create the Spiked Shield of Static Shocking! It gets some minor damage changes due to being a one-slot trinket, but it's mostly unchanged. Do note that this is the sort of thing I'm incredibly likely to forget in-post, so don't forget to mention when it might be proccing, or if I forget to add charges to it. He then dons the shield, in the only way one can don a shield. Then, since crafting is incredibly hip, Irongutta joins in on the crafting train, tying together 3 Titanium and 1 Iron, along with 2 Incendiary Scraps to create the Metal Sun! He too, decides to sneaky beaky into the woods, after the Rebels.

Then, Colors decides to minmax themselves hard, completely respeccing their stats. He then ends up crafting a tapestry of a blanket out of nothing actually consumable, and promptly throws it over the Chairian soldiers. They feel somewhat awkward, but apparently they appreciate the gift. Then, one of the soldiers promptly rolls themselves up in the blanket, becoming a not-really-sad sushi roll of a person.

...And that's it for the update! To save time, I've loaded up the area to the East. Feel free to interact with whatever's over there; they're totally not a threat, right? RIGHT?

Originally posted on 2017-12-22 02:06:00