<ROUND ONE-HUNDRED THIRTY-ONE>
/inb4 processing all of the textdop will take less time than tazz's post
/okay probably not but it'd be funny

---

Wyvern tends to some NPC's. Or like, not medically, but still. That's a proper usage of the word, I think! He asks if Marron's alright.

MARRON: Physically? Yes.
MARRON: Emotionally? A-Also yes!

Wyvern mentally checks that as a "mentally no". Anyway, he then asks what happened- he wasn't here for a bit.

MARRON: Not much.
MARRON: I mean, I'm gonna beat the gorilla out of Toaster, but not much has happened.

Wyvern then heads off, and is suddenly ambushed by a girl in black! This person is apparently Lusiarre, a person that the GM doesn't quite know much about yet! Still, more roleplay characters are always nice.

---

The game is fortunately able to pass right over Tazz's post. After all, it was covered in length up there, was it not?

---

Emerald retrofits his special, then rotates his Portal Space Heater for some Physical Runes! He also +1's his SPC and MMP.

---

The Man rotates some items out- or really, an item. Electro Tie -> Tank Driver's Key.

---

Nezira does some logistics! This means... a lot of harvesting! The Crystillery yields 40 Seer Crystals, 20 Brainburn Crystals, 20 Luminous Crystals, 20 Shadow Crystals, 19 Crystal Pens, and 1 Bagua Cluster! The farm yields 54 Fresh Manabloom / Seeds, 27 Psychoid Leaves, 18 Psychoid Seeds, 31 Gaiaroot Potatoes, 30 Wheat / Seeds, 27 Hotpoints, and 27 Coffee Beans.

From there, she then asks Lutea if there's anything useful growing around the Endless Gardens. She shakes her head no.

LUTEA: There isn't too much scattered around the place, sorry.
LUTEA: We grow most of the helpful stuff further into this end of the garden, in biodomes much like these ones...
LUTEA: ...But, most of them were destroyed. I think we can recover eventually, but it'll take awhile.

LUTEA: However, I can recommend some of the plantlife near Scale Yggdrasil itself!
LUTEA: Everything around it seems to be somewhat invigorated! In fact, near the roots, you can usually find some potent medical herbs, and some other flowers with interesting properties!

With this advice in mind, she heads out and collects a few things! 9 Yggherbs, 4 Eterna Flowers, and 60 Pretty Flowers collected!

After collecting all of the flowers, Nezira tends to herself! She goes +5 MHP and -5 SKI, rotates for an Iris Circlet, then rotates a few spells. What's the Iris Circlet? Well, it's something she made with a Camera Cap (-1 Coupon), 5 Luminous Crystals, 5 Seer Crystals, 5 Silver Ingots, and a Crimson Idol! She also uses a Heart Key, unlocking the secrets of herself! Trait leveled up, and with it, a new scanning option!

Nezira then attempts to cast four more crafts at the same time. Unfortunately, this would violate a cap or two, so she's only able to craft the first two noted items. 2 Glacier Clusters, 20 Fresh Manabloom, 2 Food Packages (10 Crafting Credits), 5 Refined Wood, and 20 Wheat used for 3 bowls of Ice Cream, and 15 Fresh Manabloom, 20 Pretty Flowers, and 5 Refined Wood used for 3 Garden Potions! Those last things are identical to Mana Vials in terms of stats, so they promptly polymorph themselves into Mana Vials.

As an additional measure, Nezira tosses 200 Credits to Chaos, purchasing the Energy Surge and the Barricades! Defenses leveled up! Then, as everyone's preparing themselves for combat, Nezira takes a moment to chat with Mari.

MARI: Oh, hey.
MARI: Everything's been fine, honestly.
MARI: Sure, the whole "new planet" thing is jarring, but it beats Pane's gorilla dungeon.
MARI: Hah. You can't tell what word I just said. Now it's open to discussion.

MARI: ...Also, Chaos wants to talk? Uh, sure. I guess.

Mari wanders over towards Chaos, who is still busy being half of a shop stall.

MARI: So, uh.
MARI: Chaos you wanted to-
CHAOS: you're hired
MARI: ...the gorilla?
MARI: I don't think I agreed to anything-
CHAOS: h [t]o [t]he i [t]o [t]he r [t]o [t]he e [t]o [t]he d
CHAOS: dihre'd
CHAOS: wait he[c]k
CHAOS: poin[t] is, i legally own you

Mari facepalms.

MARI: No you don't?
MARI: I don't think I ever actually sold my soul to you-
CHAOS: [c]opyrigh[t] law
CHAOS: i[t] pro[t]e[c][t]s ideas
CHAOS: ideas [c]ome from people's heads
CHAOS: you are one of my ideas
CHAOS: i legally own you
MARI: Chaos, you're an idiot. I don't think that's how copyright law even works!
CHAOS: i also [t]e[c]hni[c]ally bough[t] you wi[t]h beans earlier so if you wanna ge[t] in[t]o seman[t]i[c]s abou[t] [t]ha[t] i [t]e[c]hni[c]ally own you [t]wice

Mari facepalms again. But harder.

MARI: So what the gorilla do you want, anyway?
MARI: God knows that you're going to keep pestering me until I give in.
CHAOS: a[c][t]ually i was gonna s[t]op bu[t] [t]ha[t]'s a grea[t] idea
MARI: go gorilla yourself
CHAOS: no u
CHAOS: anyway i wan[t] you [t]o join marron in my shop and make weapons
MARI: ...
MARI: That's... surprisingly tame.
MARI: You're paying me, right?
CHAOS: nope
MARI: Then, no-
CHAOS: wanna hear abou[t] all one hundred and [t]hree differen[t] ways [t]ha[t] i own you?
MARI: ...
MARI: I'll take the job.
CHAOS: [c]api[t]alism, ho!

Mari gets forcibly conscripted into Chaos's workforce! You may now use Marron's Stitching Service to create weaponry! The same rates apply to weaponry as to equipment.

---

Boshi attempts another Scooter Cap! He tosses together 1 Searing Cluster, 2 Plasteel Ingots, 1 Titanium Ingot, 1 Silver Ingot, 1 Joltwire, 1 Coilgun Part, 10 Wire Scraps, 1 Circuit Board, 1 Speaker System, and 1 LED System to create the Scooter Cap! It now allows vroom.

Anyway, Boshi explains something to Mari; exactly what Eliti are.

MARI: Oh, the Iti. Right. Those things.
MARI: ...So, Eliti. Elite Iti.
MARI: That pun actually makes me incredibly angry.

Mari seems genuinely irritated with the name. From there, Mustache Girl does a bit of digging in the Everground, and then shoves Hex down a hole. He takes (4) fall damage, and then promptly gets mauled by a Seeker for (4) more damage. This also alerts the rest of the Iti, and prompts more Seekers to spawn out of the Netwyrm Head. She then attends to the bars on the Vault, and quickly fashions together a sawblade from 1 Durasteel and 1 Titanium- it seems that the Durasteel cuts just fine! The metal tools somehow break right after use, but the vault has been opened!

---

Irongutta chats with Nia! After rotating a spell, of course. Anyway, he meets with her around R4, and due to timelines and whatnot, she's actually in a mood for talking!

NIA: ...We have an airship?
NIA: Ooh, that sounds awesome! We gotta like, make it so we can call in air support during our battles, and just sorta nuke the hell out of the Iti!

He then asks for a hand in combing the fiery wreckage of R4. While he's not even sure if he's scratched the surface for wreckage, the duo emerges with 8 Joltwire, 3 Plasteel Ingots, 2 Durasteel Ingots, and 4 Ashen Crystals.

NIA: Ooh, we should... try and see if we can find anything that we didn't exactly destroy during the fight!
NIA: Like... did any of R4's parts survive us? I bet we could find it!

---

Toast does some duel prep! +2 MHP, +4 SKI, and -4 SPC! Trait rotated! She also buys and equips a Snowflake Canister with a coupon!

---

Simeon +4's his SPC. That's it.

---

Calibri and Chloe chat a little more. What might Chloe prepare for the next meeting?

CHLOE: I... haven't given it much thought.
CHLOE: I'll try not to disappoint, though!
CHLOE: I'll also look forward to what you have in store~

Also near Yggdrasil, except timeshifted a little, EN chats with Mari. EN points out the tree- they're gonna climb it, and kick some butt while doing it!

MARI: ...We're climbing a tree? Sounds kinda tedious.
MARI: I'll go get a cauldron, and a sledge hammer...

She stops searching for the two objects once EN inevitably mentions there's an elevator. Then, EN decides that she wants to shoot something, but really, REALLY kill it. She combines R4's Barrel with the Infernal Sharpshooter's Rifle, creating the Reactor Rifle! Don't forget to equip it! That's the plan, right...?

---

To cap off this... maybe not too long, but still decently long update, The Author meets up with Mari. He notes that Chaos listed her price in binary.

MARI: As fun as that sounds, I doubt he's smart enough to know what a binary is.
MARI: ...Heh, I wonder how much you cheated him out of?
MARI: I bet the price tag was actually meant to be something stupidly high...

She laughs to herself.

MARI: So, Auth.
MARI: What have you been up to? It's been a long time since I've talked with any of you... and well, you're a pretty decent starting point for this, I'd think.

Her legs swing idly from the root as she awaits a response.

---

Everyone groups up at Scale Yggdrasil, in the great hollow at its base. Omorika gathers the select few who have volunteered to scale to the top of Scale Yggdrasil.

OMORIKA: Heroes. Your mission is simple; ascend the lift, and attain the Relic situated near the top.
OMORIKA: I fear that the Chairians stationed within may put up quite a fight... but do what you must to survive.
OMORIKA: We cannot falter now. And, for those of us who are remaining down below...

...A warhorn echoes from outside. A few of you peek out the entryway of Scale Yggdrasil- it seems like an entire army is beginning to march on Scale Yggdrasil! You can see a whole variety of troops among them- swordsmen, lancers, brutes, mages, sages, mounted infantry... the whole nine yards. One Chairian, a Gaiawall who has decked themselves out in gold and custom-made equipment, yells to the fortrees.

GAIAWALL: Scale Yggdrasil! Reinforcements have arrived!
GAIAWALL: We will help hold the base of Yggdrasil, in case those Outsiders make a push on-

...It dawns upon him that you've all made it here before him. He turns to his legion.

GAIAWALL: ...Men?
GAIAWALL: I believe that we're due for a change in tactics.
SNIPER: no gorilla, sherlock
GAIAWALL: Silence!
GAIAWALL: ...Wait, who's sherlock?
SNIPER: dunno, but apparently that's an expression

GAIAWALL: Anyway.
GAIAWALL: Men! Prepare for a siege! Today, we fight to reclaim Yggdrasil!
GAIAWALL: FOR THE LEGION!
LEGIONARIES: FOR THE LEGION!

...With an army looming only a few minutes away, Omorika quickly gestures to those scaling Yggdrasil.

OMORIKA: Hurry now. The sooner you reach the glyph, the easier things will be for us.
OMORIKA: Don't worry about us- holding them off should be easy, knowing what we're capable of.
OMORIKA: Now. Rise, you fools!

Omorika kicks a stereotypically large green "GO UP" button. Crystals begin to glow at the base of the elevator, and it begins to ascend up into the depths (heights?) of Scale Yggdrasil...

- = S T R I F E ! = -

...And, on the ground below, the army forms up. A shield wall. Mages. Flankers. They're coming in at full force now! I mean, they're coming in nicely organized waves, but still. Prepare yourselves!

- = S T R I F E x 2 C O M B O ! = -

<SCALE YGGDRASIL / THE ELEVATOR, ROUND ONE>
Two battles. Interconnected by a thread. Or a big, metal cable. Your objective is simple; ensure that the elevator reaches the top of Yggdrasil! On the ground, at Scale Yggdrasil, you'll be holding a defensive position and fighting off hordes of Chairians! On the elevator, you'll be taking a more aggressive stance, while also fighting off hordes of Chairians! Once Round 8 ends, you win! So, prepare yourselves! These battles won't be easy!

Also, note that the Elevator battle is being viewed from the side! Take care to not get screwed by gravity! You might also be able to use it to your advantage, though- blast multiple foes by moving them a space, and letting gravity line them up for you!

---

...Elsewhere, at the old Dueling Hut, a glitched salesperson and a sleepless librarian finish their remodeling. The Dueling Hut has never looked so good! And it's still decrepit, but who cares!

CHAOS: we did a good
OMORIKA: We certainly did, sir Chaos.
OMORIKA: Although, why are we doing this, exactly?
CHAOS: did you miss [t]he [t]ension ba[c]k [t]here or
OMORIKA: ...No.
OMORIKA: I'll admit though, this'll be fascinating to watch...

Marron and Toast have assembled their teams in the Dueling Hut. While Toast and Marron stare one another down, Chloe tries to lessen the tension.

CHLOE: S-So!
CHLOE: I-I think we laid out the rules earlier, but it wouldn't hurt to go over them again!

CHLOE: This battle is between Marron Needleworker and Toast... Toaster!
CHLOE: I-I'm sorry, I don't know your last name...
CHLOE: This battle will be fought until all members of one side are knocked out!
CHLOE: Or until one side surrenders. No need to get more bruises than we need to.
CHLOE: No items, players only, dueling hut!

CHLOE: Good luck, everyone! May the best woman win!
MARRON: Yeah yeah, sure. Whatever.
MARRON: Y'know, Toaster... you can back out now if you want to.
MARRON: We've cooked up a pretty nasty plan, and you might as well give up now~
MARRON: But, no matter what happens...

Marron sneers at Toast.

MARRON: ...try not to blow up your allies, alright?
CHLOE: ...A-And, h-have... fun?

Chloe sighs. Still though, she steels herself for battle.

- = S O M U C H S T R I F E ! = -

<VS MARRON 2.0, ROUND ONE>
A 4v4 battle within a newly renovated Dueling Hut! Pull out your best strategies to win this battle! I'd give advice, but Marron is watching me and I don't think she'd appreciate that. So... good luck! Don't die!

Terry joins the Elevator fight at P19, moves to P16, punches the nearby WMine, then dashes back to N16.

Upon being mentioned, a wild Lusiarre character sheet appears after a certain person forgot to actually post it!
Totally Not the Character Sheet trust me

Toast appears at the bottom of Yggdrasil, seeing as she's not technically moping anymore. Specifically, she appears at L11. She hops down to K14 and casts Sticking Place. With a flick of her hand, warding sigils appear at O18, L18, I18, and J17. She then hops back to L12.

~~

Meanwhile, Toast returns the favor to Marron with a sharp and witty retort. She can't think of anything right now, so she instead returns the favor with a sharp and witty middle finger.

She spawns somewhere, and moves to F10. There, she tosses down sigils near-identical to those she is using at Scale Yggdrasil. These are placed at C6, J6, H8, and F7. Then, she retreats to H11.

I'll get to RP tomorrow, but I wanna make sure I get my actions in before I forget to do anything.

---
Marron Duel: Auth spawns on I14, and moves to E12. He uses Perseverance on himself.
Elevator: Auth spawns on P19 and flies to O15. He attacks WMine 1.

The Man appears at K11 in the Scale Yggdrasil battle, moves to I12 and.... guards yeah sure why not.

The Duel

Packo spawns on J14. He decides to move forward and hide right behind the barrier.

"I-I'll sneak on them and then try and do my best!" He says, scared.

The Bumblebeeps reply to him in a loud voice.

THEYALREADYKNOWWHEREYOUAREDUMMYDUMMYDUMMY

"O-Oh..."

He stops at H10, and guards.

_____________________________________________________________________

The Elevator

Meanwhile, at the elevator, it's a Monster Hous- I mean, it's a Chairian Legion! Packo looks towards them, and then towards the cable, which miraculously seems to be pulling all their weight.

"W-Wait, where did all these ones come from? Were they waiting for us? Why? W-Why are they aiming at us...?" He asks questions, incredibly frightened by the idea of a mob attack. He spawns at J19 and then jumps towards the ledge!

...

Only to miserably fail and only reach H15.

"Uwaaaaaaaaa!" He starts falling down, closing his eyes in desperation.

"BEEP! BOOP! HELP ME!"

Blink.

Packo's feet feel solid ground again! Luckily, his legs don't feel any pain, it's almost as if he didn't jump at all!

"Oh my goodness... Thank y-" Packo suddenly stops talking.

He finds himself surrounded by three Chairians, looking at him with the weirdest faces they got. Thanks to the Bumblebeeps, he has teleported to E13.

He starts blushing like crazy, trying to think of something to say to these Chairians.

"S-So... Are you guys in favor or against of destroying the Ball? We could discuss this... R-Right? D-Debate time?"

They seem unimpressed.

"Uh..."

One of the Chairians starts pointing their weapon towards him.

"BEEP! BOOP! LET'S GO!" He sticks both Bumblebeeps into the railgun in his weapon's handle, only to throw them at full force with the propelled cannon!

ABOUTTIMEABOUTTIMEABOUTTIMEABOUTTIMEABOUTTIME

The Bumblebeeps screech in joy as they start moving towards Watcher1 and Brute! It's a chaotic skirmish!

SKABADABADABADOOBELIDABBELYDABBLADABBLADABBLABABBELIBABBELIBABBELIBABBELABBELODOOBELIDOO

"I'm sorry..." Packo whispers during the confusion, while he hits Devout2!

The Defense

Moving to H11 I summon a Railgunner at I12

Settings:
Main Attack: Electric
Light Shot: Fire
Weakness: 20% Crushing+30% Light
Resistance: 10% Slashing+20%Earth+20%Electric

Boshi seems to have a timeclone near the site of the duel, trying to hide his form from view. He's secretly praying that everything will work out between them in the end...

He watches on as the Dive Comp engages and tears Auth to shreds. Dayum.
He seems to be taking notes... if he wasn't trying to keep a low profile he'd totally be a commentator on the match. But alas, he is.

---/mightdomoreidunno---

---THE ELEVATOR---

"(Alright, up we go...)"

Boshi spawns in at (K19) and hops up to (K16). He then drops a Summon down at (J17)... which promptly lands with a thud down at (J19). A Behemoth-like Mountain Goat has appeared!



Meanwhile, Boshi looks up at the top of the tree... he wonders if he could ride up the walls on the scooter... probably. And it'd look bloody sick as heck.

First off, Irongutta does a little more stat tweaking!
-1 skillpoint from MP to put +1 skillpoint in SPC.

He then crafts!

If and when that craft succeeds, he equips the result immediately.

---

-The Duel-

Irongutta spawns in at J14. He moves to L12 and casts Fury on himself.

<DUELDOP>
...Before we begin, Irongutta does some crafting! 8 Wire Scraps, 3 Joltwire, 2 Durasteel, 3 Silver Ingots, and 1 Entrophy are combined to create the Magezappa Lens from the Gitzappa Lens! He equips it in preparation for the battle.

<VS MARRON 2.0, ROUND TWO>
DIVE COMP DIVE COMP

So anyway, The Author has already been downed due to a HYPER AGGRESSIVE play from Team Marron! Chloe's now totally vulnerable to attack though... or is she? It might be hard to hurt her! Whatever happens from here on out is bound to be interesting, no matter what! Marron and Chloe share a chat about their strategy as well.

CHLOE: That was a good plan, Marron! It really suits you!
MARRON: ...Thanks?
MARRON: Wait, is it because I'm aggressive, or what!?
CHLOE: U-Um, I can explai-
MARRON: Yeah, funny. I'm aggressive and angry and I can't control my feelings. Very funny.
CHLOE: I-I didn't mean it that way! Like I-I didn't base it off of you being aggressive, or anything...
CHLOE:I'd describe you as impulsive! You like to get things done! And while it might not always be the most efficient, or safest, or whatever... people can admire you for going right for it!
CHLOE: S-So...
MARRON: That's a... misguided complement.
MARRON: But sure, I'll accept it.

Marron sighs.

MARRON: Well, looks like things are going our way.
MARRON: It'd take a miracle for them to win! A mir-a-cle!
CHLOE: Don't jinx it!
MARRON: Alright, alright...

==DUELPOST (for above dueldop)==
Nezira moves over to G5 (J4, I4, H5, G5). She combines Blinding Eye and Quick Scan to splash-scan centered on G11 as a bonus action, applying Weakpoint Analysis to both enemies scanned.
(Scan-notes: SP gain, Blind applied from Blinding Eye...)

After Chloe's movement phase, she then casts Guiding Hand on Chloe, moving her down to G10.

NEZIRA: "Now, I believe the appropriate thing to say upon doing something like this is..."
NEZIRA: "DIVE COMP, DIVE COMP, GO GO GO"

==BATTLEPOST==
Nezira spawns at M10, moves to N11, casts Incantation to summon a Bastion at L9, then retreats to N12.



==CRAFTS==
run it back

RP: Far-off Field

Venia doesn't make any major expression. She stops crying, eventually, but she just doesn't seem to get happy either-she just seems... Tired, as Omorika and Chloe go on, even as she nods to respond to everything.

And then Omorika has to say they're made for each other. Her eyes perk up in mild surprise, but she doesn't speak. Not externally.

"... Made for each other... Wait. Wait wait wait. I heard Nia maybe having a crush on me, both of them said it, but... Wait, that would explain the hot flashes, and my perverted imagination, but, wait, that doesn't make any- I can't have been smitten by a girl I've met for all of a day, however wonderful she is! That's like love at first sight, that's a myth, right?"

Venia remains in this perpetual state of surprise, carrying this same train of thought, as everything winds down, and the duo give her hugs.

"This can't be right! I'm not that awesome, she even heard me say I committed patricide for being a hothead, and other stuff! She may be the best friend I've ever had and I get all these weird feelings but I haven't been thinking this way around other people, right? Have I? I, I don't-

"I-I do!"

Venia blinks. Her imagination is running fast enough to be considered a hallucination-and she's hallucinating kneeling in front of Yggdrasil at dawn's light, presenting her a ring, to her pure delight, the twinkle of some unfathomably valuable gem paling in comparison to the shine on her eager, emerald eyes, those pretty eyes she's never laid eyes upon. She eagerly takes it, smiling, almost crying from joy. Venia's heart is racing.

"...What-"

"I do! I do!"

Venia blinks. This is different. Some weird chapel of sorts, Taeda ministers despite it otherwise looking Christian, a mismash of every church and religious sanctum she's ever thought of. Venia and her are in bridal gowns of immense extravagance, Taeda's words a vauge mishmash of religious ceremony of a vaugely christian style, and Nia leans in for a kiss, Venia is sweating-

"I, I-"

"Oh, Venia, I do!"

Venia blinks. She is under a moonlit sky somewhere, a somewhere terribly similar, a lake like a galaxy shining beneath a cliff, actual galaxies shining above, Nia and Venia holding hands, Nia's happiness glowing like a sun, Venia is blushing, Venia is shaking, they lean in-

"... We have to go!" Venia says, abruptly standing up, completely missing Chloe's question, still sweating. She doesn't understand. She couldn't have imagined it yet she just did imagine it. She had snapped, and only just realized it. "... We have to go." Venia repeats, calmer. Even now, with all that she thought of having raced through her head, she was simply too tired to emote very hard.

"... Nia is at Scale Yggdrasil. She is gunning for the Glyph. She is nearly possessed-odds are we will be fighting her again. I'm sorry, Chloe. The Husk is almost certainly waiting for us up there, so if Nia does not break on her own, the Husk will do the honors, however he may," Venia says. "We just have to... Act natural, give her confidence, and prove her wrong about no-one caring about her. Hope she can hold back like before, and prepare for the worst if she can't. Get Anti-Entropic spells ready, among whatever else you may think works against a beefed-up Nia," Venia says, plans formulating as fast as she can make them. "As bad as it is... It may be our chance to free her from the Butterfly, thanks to the Key. Break the locks, set her free from that parasite. I can only hope."

"...Chloe, you're with me, wherever Nia's going we follow. Even if she doesn't want it. She is no longer in her right mind. Anything is game, but no talking about what we saw directly. Omorika, help the defense, the Legion is taking a push at the lake and may have an opportunity for reinforcements. Calibri, I think you or EN could help out in both areas pretty well, so decide tactically." Venia says. "We don't have much time. And... Thank you, all of you. You... You're great friends. And that's something I never thought I'd be able to say."

She shuffles with her Line Bracelet, and pops a few items out of hammerspace... Including a small plate of some very expensive looking sushi, which she quickly starts devouring (come to think of it, had she eaten today?) and a thin gray cap with a small wire leading to some kind of thin screen.

---

Battle: The Elevator

Venia spawns in at O19. "Nia... Thank god! We were worried about you, you know! We thought you might've gotten ambushed by Iti, or worse. Im so sorry for what I did, I know I should have been better than that! I'm not sure if you're in the mood for apologies or not, but we've got a tree to climb. We have to work together, reach the top, get the glyph, be heroes! Together! Let's rock!

Venia sets her Entropic Key to melee mode. Then, she makes a leap to S17, and sneaily pings the Blizzrobe with her hat, getting the scan data even if she doesn't actually deal any damage whatsoever. She then activates Purge before taking a step back, retreating to R18 and falling to R19.

"Nia, it'd be really cool if you could aim your special on those guys above us to the east. I'd really appreciate it..." Venia says, pointing roughly at the enemy formation to the upper left, around "Its pretty strong there, and some of us are already attacking to the west, so that side's covered a bit..."

"... Nia, you wanted to ask me questions about my past? Go ahead. I'm game. For anything." Venia says. "Only fair... Or are you curious about what I'm holding, perhaps?" Venia says, gesturing to the still-present hat of sorts she'sclutching with her free hand. "That is definitely of interest to you, I think."

At the probably-closed-by-now magic club, Calibri chuckles.

"Heh. Well, whatever you decide to do, I'll be looking forward to seeing it in action. Once the time comes, and all."

There's a pause...

"...So, uh. What should we do right now? Seems there's a few things on the itinerary to take care of... "


Back in the house, Verdana sighs, then heads on over to check on Gibbet. He seems to not like having decided to self-imposed exile himself to the basement, and as much as he tries to hide that dislike, enough of it is present in his tone of voice that the bird might be clued in on something having recently upset Verdana...

"Hi. Just checking up on you to make sure you're doing alright. It seems... boring down here, I don't know how you can be content to remain here for as long as you do without getting sick of it."

There's a pause. Verdana glances to either side of himself, then refocuses on the birb.

"...Wanna head out of the house for a while? I'll stay close to supervise, but beyond that..."

Something seems to imply that Verdana does not want to be in the basement, and also wants an excuse to leave the basement, but also feels like he shouldn't be leaving the basement in the first place. It's a complicated implication, for certain.


Meanwhile, over near the tree, EN appears confused as to what a cauldron and a sledgehammer could have to do with climbing a tree, but she does seem to figure it out once she's had some time. She then just chuckles at the mental image.

"Really now, flingin' yerself up a tree wit' th' force o' a hammer. Tha's a new one. One tha' actually sounds like it coul' work, huh... Ya know wha', ah'll try it later. Pretty sure we got a hammer..."

EN pulls out the Sapper's Sledge, demonstrating to Mari by showing example that the party does have a sledgehammer, albeit it does not seem to have a cauldron. She then puts the hammer away, about to say something more before hearing what Auth just said about the IFR, which is now a Reactor Rifle. She pauses, then turns to face him.

"Ya made tha' ol' thin'? Huh. How long ago'd'ya make it? Looks t' me like it were gon' a wee while without proper maintenance an' all."


Meanwhile in the Everground, the Engie drone gets frustrated at the white square on Q93 and slaps some dirt over it, then takes a look down the hole and realizes there is a Hex down there.

"Hey. You might not want to be there. There's purple things down there. They look purple."

With that very useful piece of advice, he promptly flings himself into the hole too, stopping himself from falling too hard by T-posing near the bottom and getting his arms stuck in the walls. He then retracts the arms and lands safely on top of Hex, then takes out a brush and carefully pushes him off-screen to the left entry/exit thingymajiggy. He then turns to face the several Seekers...

"Hello, purple things. I would appreciate it quite appreciatively if you all decided to... M̡͘͢O̧͢V̀͟͠E̶,̴̨ ̷̛͠͡F̶̵͜͡Ę͡͠C̸̨̡̧̕K̶̕͡͏L̀͠͝E̛͟҉S̷̢̛̕͡S̶̷͜͡͝ ̡̛͜҉̛W̵̛̛͡Ę̵̧͝A̛K̀͘Ļ̷͠I̡̕N̴̴̕͞͡G҉̵̨͘͞Ś̛͟.̶͢͠ Seriously, you're kind of in the way."

Upon his text going all weird like that, just imagine Frighten being cast at a horrifying amped-up level of power. Once the Seekers are out of the way, he proceeds to block up the path by dumping a fat set of Force Glyphs in there, then wanders off to the left to go investigate things.


Battle prelude stuff... Not strictly necessary, but hey, is any of this?

Calibri chuckles once Venia has her revelation in about the same way one would chuckle if they felt like they saw something nobody else got to see. The setup from earlier fully disperses as he decides to join in on getting to action...

"So, that's what gets you roused to action, huh. Interesting. Anyway, I suppose we have something to do now... I'll go get EN to the lift since she'll be perfect for it now that she's done with the new rifle. Speaking of which, Nia's standing on a lift inside the big tree. You'll see soon enough."

He chuckles, then turns and walks off into the woods, deliberately going away from Scale Model Yggdrasil. Moments later, he walks out of Scale Model Yggdrasil's main door, over around to where EN and Mari and Auth are.

"Sup, EN. You're up. Got that rifle ready?"
"...Whut?"
"Good enough."

He promptly grabs hold of her and a flash of darkness heralds him disappearing, along with EN. They both reappear on the lift, at which point Calibri lets go and flickers off the lift, down to where Mari is. She might be able to identify some aspect of someone kinda familiar in this particular odd fellow...

"...Huh. There's something... familiar about you. You've probably met my predecessor... Neat. Anyway, you might wanna go up there too. The battle looks like it's one that could use another rifle."


Battle proper:

Before things begin, EN equips the Radiation Rifle. She takes 3 skillpoints out of AGI. She puts a point in INT, one in HP, and one in STR.

"A'ight, ready."

Once it's time to act, EN spawns in on P19, then hops up onto O16. She orients the direction shield northeast (east is right, right?). She then takes a look around, seeking a target, and eventually finding the Gaiawall. She takes aim...

"Yo, tough guy o'er there. Ya got a healer on standby near ya? Ah better warn ya, this's gonna 'urt like 'ell. Also, ah don't wanna kill ya, so please don't die immediately."

She fires a single shot, the rifle shaking as a rod of something radioactive races up through the air and most likely embeds itself in the Gaiawall, or maybe near him instead. The rod also appears to be on fire. There's a pause... Then EN suddenly looks somewhat horrified.

"SHITE, THA' WEREN'T S'POSED T' BE ON FIRE!"

Toast watches in shock as Auth is cut down by blades of her own design.
"That's so-!"
She grits her teeth, stopping herself from saying unfair. Instead, she changes tune.
"Fine, but you're not the only ones who can play dirty!"
Her eyes dart across the battlefield, picking it apart piece by piece. She identifies the two primary threats: Nezira and Chloe. Pretty soon, she has a plan in mind. As Irongutta hops in front of her, Toast queries Chloe.
"Hey Chloe, question: Do you know what the counter to a dive comp is?"
She pauses for a moment, to give Chloe a brief moment to consider the question, and to give Irongutta a brief moment to prepare Skeletal Toss. As he does so, Toast points at Chloe victoriously and answers her own question.
"Operation: Hard CC, go!"
Irongutta does his thing, and Toast shouts after Chloe, matching the duelist's prior smugness.
"And don't forget to write!"

She then looks over at Packo, who seems a bit out of sorts. She tries to snap in his face like she's seen people do in movies, but her fingers are still completely worthless for doing that. Nonetheless, she continues in a quickened, but low voice.
"Hey, you're still all there, right? You gotta stay focused. They just bodied Auth just like that," she tries to snap again, still failing, "And I don't want any of us to end up like he is now. Keep your head in the game, yeah?"
~
Once her turn comes around, Toast moves to activates [The End] to cast Skeltal Toss on Nezira for 13 MP. "Get over here!" This throws her to H11, where she'll be accosted by T H E B O Y Z. Toast then retreats to F11 to activate her trait a second time. This time, she borrows Packo's Warp Step (12 MP), retreating onto Irongutta's egg.

(Currently doubtful on how balanced Arcane Transmutation is, so I'm just gonna pretend it doesn't exist.)

Unfortunately, there are gonna be turn order shenanigans.
1. Packo moves.
2. Irongutta moves and acts.
3. Toast moves and acts.
4. Packo acts.

Just so I don't forget to act, Keiko spawns at M10, moves to L12, and places a Patchwork Totem at L13 (Earth Resist), before also placing cover at K13.

The Duel

When he first arrived to Sussui, and it became time to fight, even the most difficult situations he had faced seemed like a forest fire happening in slowmotion. A preparation, followed by the first skirmishes, followed by the encounters and fights against the big bad, in their effort to destroy the Ball.

But just like these weren't enemies, but instead, their friends.

And he would have never expected someone in the crew to pull off something like that. Needless to say, Packo is absolutely terrified.

He starts taking a few steps back, in pure horror, until he reaches H12. He then proceeds to try and hide behind Toast. His hand, barely holding his roller anymore, is shaking like a seismograph.

At least that creature he met back at the space station seems to be just sleeping. Just like...

...

"..."

Packo's now lifeless eyes look at the battlefield. Toast seems more annoyed than terrified, and for some reason, she seems to be speaking to him, but he cannot hear anything. That said, she seems to be moving his fingers towards him and trying to do something... So that must mean he is talking to him... Right?

Is it then when Toast and Irongutta pull their plan off. An absolute chaos happens surrounding him, including some Toast magic that seems to make his Bumblebeeps glow with a faint, purple light. When all is done, for some strange reason, Nezira is standing in front of him.

Packo looks at her for a second. Is she Toast? No. Is she that ork, whose name he still doesn't know? No. Is she Ette? No.

"..."

...

HEYAREYOUTHEREWENEEDSOMETHROWINGPOWE-

"Shut up shut up SHUT UP! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Packo then furiously mashes the button, releasing the Bumblebeeps along with that scream, pressing it so hard that he almost breaks it.

It is then when he, absolutely out of his mind, starts bashing Nezira. But for obvious gameplay reasons, out of all his tries to bash her with his flail, he only hits once (or none, if the 1/18 chance to fail says something else).

"STOP. SCARING. ME. COME ON! TRY TO SCARE ME NOW IF YOU CAN! CAN YOU? HUH? HUH?"

The Bumblebeeps, which have been fired up, are unsure of what to do. Both of them decide to target the nearby Nezira. But while Boop does its usual job at annoying people, playing a perfect reproduction of the Howie scream at her, Beep first says somethting.

YEAHCOMEONJUSTTRYITIBETITWILLWORKJUSTFINEITHINKMAYBE It proceeds to make the enraged Packo glow with a faint light. Riposte Cast!

After Packo starts feeling tired from the constant flailing and screaming, he then stays there, heavily panting.

"I am waiting."

Nidra spawns in at Scale Yggdrasil, moves to N12, and activates Portable Pillow.

Right before running in to battle, Destiny goes to Marron's shop and asks for something to be made.

(T4 Armor) Watcher's Rags
"I'm watching."
Stats: +5 AGI, +3 SKI, +2 CNT, "Observe"
Resists: Dark (40%), Light (20%), Air (-30%)
Observe: Within Range 1-3, Observe an enemy. Inflict Blind2 on them until you switch to another enemy. You can only observe the same enemy for 2 turns, after which the debuff will automatically end and you will gain a 1 turn cooldown on Observe.

She quickly leaves to craft something.

(T4 Trinket) Clutch Emblem
"Saving 'em, one more time!"
Stats: +2 SKI, +3 CRT, +2 HIT, "Clutch"
Resists: Slashing (10%)

Clutch: If you have 33% HP or greater and take a blow that would Down you, survive it with 1 HP. Triggers up to once per battle.


After this, Destiny runs back to battle.

Destiny spawns at K19, runs to G17, and hookshots on to the Tonirobe.

Emerald swaps to earth and ice veil for his elveil types, spawns in and moves over to L14 to guard