Auth, once the battle ends, immediately slinks out of the tree. Auth had nothing to do with Nia, at all, spoke to her once with the intent to speak to her more. Auth is still upset, the party has lost a friend and ally. So he slips down the tree to try and stop people from seeing the mask break.

Auth's face is mostly concealed, thanks to his ever-faithful black hat. Auth doesn't stick around to see what's there to collect - he prefers to make his own equipment. He just needs to not be there. He gets back to the house, walks over to the couch to see Taeda and Maria, then swiftly turns around and walks down into the basement. Perhaps unwisely, he crashes on the ground in front of Gibbet and stays there. He needs some time, but someone else going to see him might help.

He's currently experiencing that draining sort of misery. That sort of misery that physically exhausts. He'll be fine, he's just upset that Nia got brutally murdered.

<ROUND ONE-HUNDRED AND FOURTY-FOUR>

Project Thymium v1.3 (Of Creators and Creations) is out now! Concrete dueling mechanics, stat rebalances, and a plethora of other things added to the game! Take a look at your local Patch Notes tab for details!

Anyway, it's time for that part of the day where I process an entire onslaught of respecs and restats. I did have something typed up regarding the respecs and the like, but I accidentally... lost that write-up. Not that much of value was lost. Basically, every respec went down without TOO much trouble, save a few changes here and there for most of them. Among our newcomers are Crya, Verdana, and Adrian!

Anyway, with all of this out of the way, I can now get to the rest of the stat-based distributions!



...Huh.

Onwards with the update!

---

Toast extinguishes Scale Yggdrasil, with the help of Verdana. For once in the life of fire, something engulfs it- that being a wave of ice. Yggdrasil's flames are safely crystallized / extinguished / whatever. She then sits on-top of the frozen flames, taking a good look at the new view granted by the hole in the temple.

The moon is just starting to rise, casting Scale Yggdrasil in a beautiful twilight that reflects off of the ice. The outside is fairly tranquil, with a calm breeze moving through. As she takes in the view, a grappling hook with a bit of thread attached to it flies up next to Toast, and Marron pulls herself up to sit with her. The puppeteer fidgets with her hands.

MARRON: ...S-So.
MARRON: I can't b-believe that...

She seems entirely unsure of what to say. She clears her throat before speaking again.

MARRON: Let's just go home.
MARRON: I feel all weird inside after watching Nia explode, a-and I feel like what I need right now is to just... calm down, and have a nice dinner.
MARRON: I'll cook whatever you feel like. Even meat, if you feel like it.

MARRON: I probably sound insensitive right now, b-but... w-well, I don't really know what to do.
MARRON: I didn't even really know her well, and I still feel all gross n' gorilla.

Marron sits there on the ice, still wearing her parka.

---

Calibri, Verdana, and EN all continue to stuff™. Calibri tends to Chloe, crouching down near her and trying to reassure her.

CHLOE: ...

...No response. Somebody might need to carry her back to the house if she remains frozen like this. Elsewhere, EN fails to do much, Verdana seizes this opportunity to become a player character, stealing the controller from EN. Verdana then uses this newfound strength from being a Player Character to work on Airship assembly:
- 8 Gold goes into a Golden Gravcircuit for +5% Gravcore and +5% Aesthetic.
- 2 Aero Cores, 8 Circuit Boards, and 15 Wire Scraps, 1 AI Core, and 4 Ashen Crystals used to create the Self-Sustaining Turbulence System, for +15% Systems.
-The Coilbust Laser Drill, 8 Iron, 1 Joltwire, 12 Wire Scraps, 5 Circuit Boards, and 5 Titanium for the Breaker Drill, which grants +15% Weaponry.

The last craft ERR's, as you've technically done your limit for crafts today. Plus, there's really only so much one can do for an airship in a single round!

---

Venia dies. Like, on the inside. She opts to yeet Nia's body into the inventory. It's apparently a Unique item. Afterwards, Venia takes a moment to respec, her will solidifying somewhat. She ends up handing off Ga'aunt in the process.

GA'AUNT: ...I wish you luck, miss Venia.
GA'AUNT: I pray that you find your peace.

Elsewhere, Maria stops crying, tiering down to simple sniffling. She then asks Taeda for a banana. The priestess seems confused.

TAEDA: Um... I don't know what a Banana is.
TAEDA: But I'm sure we can find one for you!
TAEDA: I'll go and see if-

A small glitched portal appears, and a banana smacks Taeda square in the face. The portal disappears before the slightly dazed Taeda can process what just happened.

TAEDA: W-What just happened?
TAEDA: ...Anyway, is this a banana?

She hands the banana to Maria with a somewhat unsteady grip. She then begins to murmur something to herself.

TAEDA: Oh, you'd like a million credits? Well, I'm not sure if I can-

Another glitched portal appears, this time throwing a pebble at Taeda. It bounces off of her head, leaving a small bump.

TAEDA: O-Ow!
TAEDA: Well, it was worth a shot...

TAEDA: Anyway, do you want anything else, Maria?

While Taeda keeps doting around Maria, elsewhere, at some random time, Venia's hat goes and commissions an item from Marron, handing over 80 Credits.

MARRON: ...Uh, alright.
MARRON: Can't believe we've stooped to taking orders from literal pieces of headgear.

She gets to work on somethat that Mari calls the "Maccao Tailspike". Because Mari came up with what to make. Marron's just executing it.

---

Packo chats with the group, as he vents his frustrations- they decided that Nia should become that thing, apparently? Mari, who's in the area, takes offense to this, commanding one of her drones to ram Packo to get his attention.

MARI: You... you think WE decided for this to happen?

...She appears to be crying a little. She'd probably call it "sweating from the eyes", but there's no doubt about it.

MARI: What, do you think we WANTED to kill her?
MARI: I sure as gorilla didn't want that, you gorilla!
MARI: N-Nobody wanted this! W-Why would we do this to her? Why would we kill her?

Mari takes a few levels in standoffishness. A few more words and she'd probably start attacking. Before she can do that though, she bolts off downstairs, out of the temple. She finds a nice corner in the rounded room below, and plops herself down into it.

---

Boshi carries Chloe and Venia back to the house. The blonde swordswoman is dropped off at her room. He then goes to re-unite with Mustache Girl and the others, and also ends up meeting up with Bow Kid! Like, the hair bow. Not the shooty deathy bow. It's all kinda sweet and such.

---

Ziah chats with Marron. She's not doing too badly, but it pays to be nice, right?

MARRON: I-I'm... I could be better.
MARRON: Was I actually cool doing that? I honestly didn't really understand what was going on with my cloak.
MARRON: Besides, you still out-damaged me with a single attack, so...

He then admits to only being here because she's a teammate.

MARRON: ...Well, it's good that you admitted that.
MARRON: It's... actually kinda nice to talk with someone about this right now.
MARRON: You know what I mean, right?

MARRON: Anyway, there's nothing I'd ask you for. Not specifically, anyway.
MARRON: Except maybe killing someone. But Toast is plenty good at that.
MARRON: So... just, I'll see if there's anything that comes up?
MARRON: Maybe I'll need an extra hand in the kitchen. Who knows.

Ziah then yeets himself through the broken wall. Omo promptly manipulates a bit of wood from Yggdrasil into an arm as he jumps out, which promptly throws him back into the Upholstered Chamber. She seems... disappointed, yet sympathetic.

OMORIKA: I know that things are hard right now, but I do not believe that jumping to your death is a proper way to deal with these feelings.

Omo appears to have the wrong idea.

OMORIKA: I do not believe our party could handle another death at the moment, even if you are capable of respawning.
OMORIKA: If you wish to talk to me about something, I am available.

---

...And that concludes today's update! You have more time to prepare for the next day- maybe go and craft some new gear, or spend the remainder of those skillpoints? Expect a new day to dawn... soon.

Ziah seems rather injured, physically, but seems more or less fine otherwise. A strange feeling of guilt clouds his mind as he gazes at Nia, holding his bow loosely in his hand.

Ziah: Did... we win?
Ziah: It doesn't feel like a victory.

Ziah notices Packo seemingly go off at Marron, wincing slightly. He heads over to check on the clearly shaken girl.

Ziah: You... doing alright?

He pauses.

Ziah: You were pretty cool with the uh... the combo...

Ziah sighs, stretching out.

Ziah: I'll... be honest, I'm only here because you're my teammate and I really don't like seeing people like this.
Ziah: I'm not sure that there's much I can do, but it feels wrong to do nothing.

He throws his hands in his pockets, clearly not sure what to say.

Ziah: I'll be here if you need me. Or... not, if that's better...
Ziah: What I'm trying to say is that if there's anything you want me to do, just ask.

Ziah waits for a response from Marron, if any, before beginning to walk away.

Ziah: I'm... gonna pretend I didn't just help kill someone. I'll see ya whenever it is that I can hopefully pay you back.

Ziah glows with a golden aura as he dashes across the room, planting his tendrils into the ground before he flings himself through the window. Since he used Focus Energy, he should have some burst of luck that'll save him from... mild discomfort, really.

-=+=-

Kokichi, meanwhile (yes, Kokichi), silently creeps up the stairs to the Upholstered Chamber. He seems... surprisingly sympathetic. He takes a seat on the floor, up against the wall. It seems difficult to identify what he's planning, but it can't be anything but trouble... right?

Adrian slowly walks down the basement, into the cellar. "So, uh... what happened?"

The hooded man, pouring a glass of wine, tells him about the death of a teammate. "That's... I'm sorry." He looks at the glass. "I, uh, don't drink."
/more later, probably

"...Hmm..."

Calibri is quite worried for Chloe. He just watches as other party members deal with the task of carrying her home, then sighs, getting up and brushing himself off. There's some things to do... First, he teleports over to Bass.

"Hey. If you've got anything other than rose cult robes to wear, you might want to change into those. Or at the very least find somewhere to hide for a while. Or head home without being noticed. Going to say a few things to some people that will... really not reflect well upon anyone wearing rose cultist robes here."

He then teleports again, appearing beside Chaos. There's a pause as he wonders just how to phrase what he wants to say...

"Sup, shopkeeper guy. Things went poorly. I'm gonna have to say a few things to some people, and, well... look, you have a really shifty appearance, no offense meant. Either hide, disguise yourself, or head home without being spotted by the legion. They'll likely be inspecting soon and might mistake you for a hostile."

If that isn't enough to convince Chaos to head home, Calibri rolls his eyes and just bribes Chaos with a spare 10 credits to make him actually follow requests. Once both Bass and Chaos have been sorted out, there's one last destination to go to. This time, he walks normally to his destination, heading out to visit Hemlock. Once he's there, he just looks at her to check if she's paying attention, a somewhat grim expression on his face, then he speaks once he's sure she's listening.

"Heya. Things went really poorly. After the destruction of a rebel siege weapon, the Yggdrasil shields were lowered. We suspected that someone might make a move on the glyph during that time, and tried to get into position to intercept their attempt. It... didn't go so well."

"You heard of the Rose Cultists? They're active around here. A bunch of them got into the glyph room while we were stuck fending off a different assault, and... well, I'll honestly be shocked if you somehow didn't see it, but they did... SOMETHING in there. I don't want to say what it was, since it was quite unpleasant, but I'll give you the important details."

Calibri sighs. He appears to be quite disheartened about recent events.

"The bad news is, there appears to be an entity roaming around. We currently refer to it as The Husk, but from what I can tell, it used to be a different entity. Scanner says it was called The Sleuth once. It fled before we could take it down, so it may still be active."

"Now, the even worse news... The Rose. The Chaos Butterfly. Call it whatever one wants to call it. It... It has a manifestation active on the planet now. Tore apart one of our most important and cherished friends, and if I read the flight path correctly, it's gone straight for the Sphere. I can't extrapolate far enough ahead to understand what that means, but whatever is the case, there can come no good from that... THING... flying around anywhere, let alone over there."

At this point, Calibri decides to give his words a pause, just making sure Hemlock got all that and re-explaining any details she might have missed, then once everything is said and done, he slumps a little and turns to walk away. Before he does, he stops and takes another look over to her.

"...I'll be honest, this is the first time it ever feels like we've truly lost anything. Still, it isn't the end yet. We're continuing operations. I don't know how much influence you have, but we could really do with less hostile encounters with the legion, if at all possible. We want to keep Chairian casualties as low as possible, and there is a much greater enemy to focus on right now. So, uh. Yeah. That'd be cool."

With that, he waits a bit to listen in on what Hemlock's opinions and potential responses might be, then nods if there's anything favorable and promptly leaves the area, doing so by teleporting away...

Specifically, he teleported back to the house, just outside the front door. After a moment, he walks inside, and without saying a word immediately heads downstairs, going straight for Chloe's room. He pauses outside the door, hesitating on what to do, then knocking twice to announce himself and slowly moving to enter the room. Once inside, he apparently summons a chair out of nowhere, sitting down at a fair distance from the bed and... then being really unsure what to do, actually. This isn't his area of expertise.

"...Hi... I'm here if you need anything."

...That's pretty much all he's willing to risk saying, just sitting there unless asked to depart. The sound of rain can be heard from somewhere outside the house, a light shower of blue-tinted water providing a bit of background noise to help drown things out. After all, it's the best weather to cry in.

Just let them all wash away, all those Tears In The Rain.


Back at the tree, EN has no idea how to deal with Mari. Her decision eventually boils down to just heading over to the girl, sitting down beside her, and handing her a bit of Simple Fabric to cry into. She then tries to think of something to say...

"...No need t' talk or anythin'. Jus' take as long as ya need."

...Beyond that, she can't come up with anything. The best she can do is kind of... be there, really. Maybe that's all she needs to do? She sure hopes so. She'd have more of an idea what to do later.

It doesn't matter how durable you are if someone else is the one being hurt.


Elsewhere, Verdana is exhausted. He really does want to keep working, but right now he simply can't think of anything more to add to the airship, and the hour is getting quite late, and recent events have been quite stressful. He gets up, sighs, and leaves the airship be, wandering to the house. Once he's inside, he immediately decides he needs somewhere to lie down, and promptly walks over to the couch to sit down behind it.

"..."

Those who have some experience with him might remember that normally his emotions are a bit... catchy, to put it simply. This time, however, there's not a bit of the usual aura to be found. Hell, normally he'd be glowing, and right now he's not even managing to do that. Right now, there's just someone who could be mistaken for a normal-ish human, sitting there behind the couch.


"I am clearly the bestest master of flappy bird. Eat shit, Bob Ross."

Toast wordlessly leans over and places her head on Marron's parka-covered shoulder. Her breath is a little shaky.
"I... I feel the same. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before, so... I'm not sure what I'll do. I hate feeling helpless like this."
She eventually sits back up and wipes her nose on her collar.
"But... food would be good, I think. Maybe burritos would be nice? I think that's something anyone here could enjoy..."

Chatting is heard near the front of the house...



---

Boshi still can't sleep. Everything that happened today left him far too shaken to sleep. Every burden he's ever held... the weight's finally caught up to him. It probably won't take much more for him to have a mental breakdown.

Even the most hardened, compassionate, and patient person can only carry so much in their arms, after all...

---

He decides to explore the downstairs area of the house. Maria's alright. Sophia's safe. Everyone else seems a bit depressed, though. He descends further.

He notices a newcomer, Adrian. He overhears the fact that he isn't much of a drinker. "(Think there's some apple juice or something in one of those kegs. No reason to go thirsty.)"

He also notices Brutishace. "(Want some company? Today's been... for lack of a better word, hellish and depressing.)" He takes a glass of wine for himself.

RP: The House

They keep looking at her.

Venia keeps telling herself that they're hallucinations and they're all fake, every last one, but it doesn't help-the hordes of faceless Nia cast their faces upon her in eerie unison. They do not shout-they mutter, some damnation, others encouragement, all an uneasy murmur of proof she failed, again. She put everything she had into it and she failed Nia. Again. It was no fault of her own-it was that stupid Butterfly's fault! But no matter how much she repeated it, Venia couldn't make it stick in her own mind.

A cold aura hung around her. It felt like failure, hopelessness, uselessness. It was none of those things-it was just the coolant that had viciously stained her hair, leaving it a messy blotch of black intermixed with cyan, a remnant of a consuming cold. Venia adjusted to it fast-perhaps it was some effect of it staining her hair? Venia didn't know. She only knew it felt of her misery. If Nia was even alive (really only a hope; who says the feedback of dying didn't kill her actual body too?), she was gone forever, and the odds of Venia seeing her again before her inevitable return were nil. She had freed her of the Butterfly, but she hardly felt like she had made a victory at all.

Venia doesn't have the heart to tell Chloe she's suffering hallucinations along the way back. She just silently slides off of Boshi before they reach the house-the break from doing things the ride provided had given her legs the strength they needed. once there, Venia pulls out one of Nia's iconic sweaters from the inventory-albeit one for a child's side. Perfect.

Venia breathes in, wiping her face off with a generated hankerchief. There is no room for looking weak in front of Maria. Children feel fear like a shark feels blood, and Maria can't imagine how scary it must be if even Venia would look terrified. She tucks the sweater behind her back and opens the door.

"Venny!" Maria shouts, midway through peeling a banana. "Venny! You are not allowed to do stuff ever again, ever! Never ever ever!" She shouts, rather angrily.

"Little muffin!" She says, pretending Maria was being much nicer than she was. "That's not very possible, sweetie, but I have good news! I found a cure to the fuzzies today!"

"Never ever ever-wait what?"

"I found a way to make the fuzzies go away forever! Its a bit complicated but I think-"

"DO IT RIGHT NOW! RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW GO GO GO!!" Maria screams, abrupt elation in her voice.

"Maria, I can't do it right now! Its really complicated and I need a lot of time and other things to make it happen," Venia says. "But I'm trying to do it as fast as I can, I promise. And then I can do stuff, right?"

Maria nods her head energetically.

"Cool! Oh, Maria, I found a present for you today. A cute little present!" Venia says, presenting Maria the sweater.

"Its missin' a sleeve." Maria says.

"Yes, it is. Isn't it cute?" Venia says.

"It's missin' a sleeve, that sweater is Dee-fect-eeve!... I want it." Maria says, grabbing the sweater.

"It's not a defective sweater, it's a magic sweater!" Venia says.

"Magic?!"

"Yeah, magic! You have to put it on to make the magic happen," Venia says, watching with small glee as Maria hastens to get it over her head and over her little dress. As soon as she does, the holographic projector interwoven in the clothes flickers to life, generating a chibi Nia in a cheerleader's outfit behind Maria.

"Its on, its on! Where's the magic?" Maria says, looking at the sweater.

"Turn around, little muffin!" Venia says.

The chibi Nia decides to walk around to Maria's front just as Maria turns herself around, completely missing her. "...Nothin's there!" Maria says, confused.

Venia sighs internally, then reaches down and grabs the Chibi Nia by her body and carefully places her in Maria's field of vision. "Ta daaa! It's a magic friend. Magic sweater friend, playing a trick on you."

"Ni!" The Chibi Nia says, shaking a pom-pom.

Maria is left utterly slack jawed at the sight of it. Her little eyes scope out every single detail of the holographic Nia in front of her, completely entranced. Then, mouth still agape, Maria wraps her arms around the Chibi Nia, who embraces her in kind. "I love it! I love her. Sweater friend! Sweater friend!"

Venia leaves Maria to her new sweater friend, and sets herself on the Couch. "Hi, Taeda... Thanks for looking after Maria while I was gone. She hates being alone... She used to cry if she was left alone in a room when she was a baby," Venia starts. "... Tae, I'm not feeling too hot right now, so I'm just going to, uh, recover myself here. I'd suggest you hear the news from the others, today... Didn't end as well as we'd have hoped."

Venia sighs, and begins pulling out a series of straps from a shimmering distortion, as well as a plate of sushi, which she scarfs down fast before putting on the straps around her ankles, wrists and around her stomach. The purpose of these straps isn't outwardly apparent save for the crimson plus signs on them-these devices are simply the medical devices intended to keep Venia's body protected against the things that plauged it, devices she had neglected because it kept her in place for an hour or so, and she 'needed' that hour to do basically everything except take care of herself. No more of that. Not while they watched her. (They would still watch her.)

Venia sighs, and slinks into something like sleep on the couch as the bracelets begin to glow...

---

The Basement

Since Venia's undergoing medical treatment on the couch right now, Maria gets to do stuff. Or, well, after a while of toying around with her new sweater friend and introducing her to all her other friends, Maria and her party-consisting of four cats, one robot cat, one plushie and one holographic chibi person, plus herself-descend into the basement, because Maria wanted to go on an adventure and see "Buddy" (Gibbet) again.

The first thing Maria sees on the way down the stairs, and somehow only now and not sooner, would be the mollusk wallowing in misery since like the start of the zone, wow. Its been a while. Maria looks at the mollusk with curiosity. "Its a weird thing! I'mma look at it." Maria says, trotting down the stairs with her party in tow, approaching the mollusk.

"Hey, weird thing!" Maria shouts at the mollusk as she approaches, aware but not terribly caring of the fact the mollusk is unlikely to understand or talk back to her. "What're you? You look weird. You're a blue thingy in a shell, that's weird, I haven't seen nothin' like you before. I'mma hug you."

And Maria, thus indeed, hugs the Mollusk, trying hard to not get wet by stepping into the water. Who knows? Maybe this'll tame a mollusk. Or maybe Maria's magical animal befriending powers won't work and she'll get a water gun in the face and cry her little heart out. Who knows? Probably the GM. Probably.

---

Shopping and NPC services

Hat purchases Chaos's Pickaxe Fraud, and then three Panacea.

Hat then swings by Chloe and asks her for three separate things; salvage from R4, salvage from the fight at the base of Scale Yggdrasil, and wood, just, like, whatever wood she can find that looks useful.

Hat then swings by Chaos at Formerly Nia's Field Fraud, and asks for him to upgrade some Amethyst Archrobes to T5, handing him the appropriate sum of money.

---

Other

I guess I'll be doing more next round?

I ask Chaos to upgrade my Command Banner.



Crafting T5 Helmet ingredient list:
Soldier's Journal
6x Plasteel Ingots

A helmet made of Plasteel ingots, light and durable, it serves has a decent helmet. However that is not where its main power comes from. imbued with the essence of the Soldiers Journal, the Wearer will gain a soldier's memory.



I hang out on the nearly completed Airship.

Brutishace grabs several wine glasses and transports them down to his spot with a tray. He doesn't expect many visitors, so he prepares to pour some of the contents of the fourth keg. The intense draft of the spirits assails Brutishace's senses. He moves to the left of the curtains from Chloe's room, to Z58.

He spots Adrian enter the basement as he pours a glass of wine.

"Oh, hello. I remember seeing someone pass away- someone dear to our team, and quite young. A tragedy, truly. I would like to host a toast to her memory- I feel like it's the best I could do for her in this time. Would you care for a glass, or would you prefer something other than wine?"

Perhaps his speech is audible enough for Chloe to hear from her room...

Irongutta had been ready to break into a bout of boisterous cheer when, well, you know by now. Nia exploded.

For once, he stood in a stunned silence. His mouth hung open slightly as he struggled to form words. "Bleedin Mork..." Irongutta said to himself under his breath. Especially given how the others around him were reacting, the Ork really couldn't help but feel a bit sad given the situation.

His pilfering tendencies kicked in of course, but Venia had beaten him to the punch. Nia's body, or at least the mechanical parts that remained, was already tucked away in the inventory.

The relative quiet of the chamber after the battle unsettled him. He's too used to the air being filled with cheers that drowned out the sound of the dying enemy. Wanting no part in the scene any longer, he left Scale Yggdrasil with the rest of the party in silence.

---

Arriving back at the house, he makes a stop by Piggo's pen, specifically to let the little sapsqueal out. Opening the pen door, he gave his muddy companion a rub on the head before heading inside. He knew Piggo would follow and didn't particularly care about tracking mud inside.

For the time being, however, he decided to avoid the relative bustle of the main floor and instead retreated to the basement. Given that it's where the workshop was, he truly felt most "at home" down there. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he realized a few others had the same idea.

Irongutta approached Boshi, Brutishace and Adrian, who he didn't recognize. "Ah, so we're finally tappin' that keg are we?" He looked down at Brutishace's assortment of wine glasses and scoffed. "Don'tcha think that's a little... dainty? Suit yerselves. I gots a better idea." Always the resourceful type, he went to the workshop and rummaged around the desk. It was the prime definition of an anxiety-inducing mess, and Irongutta's crafting efforts on Sussui have been a large contributor to its current state. Eventually, he finds an empty can of oil that would be a more suitable vessel for his alcohol. Returning to the group, he tapped the keg, filling his larger (and cruder) mug.

"Bloody shame, innit? It ain't easy fer me to say it, but she was one of the best - next to me of course."

Taking a gulp of his wine, he reflected for a moment. "I'z seen a lotta good lads die before, but never 'ave I felt this bad 'bout it. So yeah, Brut, let's drink to Nia." With that being said, he took another drink of the wine. He noticed Maria was also in the basement playing with a giant mollusk. Sure, why not?

Peering around the corner, he saw Auth face-down on the floor. "So if he doesn't move wivvin the next five minutes I'm gonna declare 'em dead an' take his stuff. It's only fair." Irongutta stated to the trio in a very matter-of-fact manner. You know, like this statement wouldn't sound psychotic at all.

---

For stat distributions, Irongutta takes one point out of SPC. He then puts two into STR and one into HP. And as a note for Ire, I think that Irongutta's inheritance of Toast's Heart Bracelet needs to be edited out of his character sheet.

At some undisclosed point in time, Wyvern purchases the Slayer's Helmet, and equips that. He +2's SKI, equips the Wings of the Video Valkyrie, and swaps out Psycho Burst for Nothing Ventured.

<ROUND ONE-HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE>
Not many posts today. Well, it is an off round, so...

The game opts to continue with respecs and the like. Not that many, again. But still- pays to get it out of the way!



...Yeah. That's all for that.

---

Y'know, I'm not sure how to open your posts. Given that you're like, three characters. Four now, actually. Anyway, Calibri goes to clear the area. He tells Bass to go off somewhere, and maybe change his clothes.

BASS: actually the only thing i own is these robes
BASS: but yeah i'll go

He also tells Chaos to go and bugger off. He probably would've left for free, but he looked ahead into Calibri's post, and noticed the 10 credits that he would offer. He takes the 10 credits, edits a screen transition to warp him to a map in Zone 3, and takes Bass with him to avoid detection. He then goes to meet up with Hemlock, who's busy staring at the still-smoking Yggdrasil. He explains

HEMLOCK: ...So.
HEMLOCK: A bunch of Rose Cultists got into the temple at the top of Yggdrasil, blew it up, and apparently the Sleuth is still around, and there's also a second... Butterfly, you called it?
HEMLOCK: ...Geez.

HEMLOCK: Well, I did see that bugger flying off- it's hard to miss the sight of Yggdrasil bursting outwards when you've signed up for several straight hours of nothing.
HEMLOCK: I'm not sure if I could get any heat off of you, as I'm not all that high-ranking...
HEMLOCK: ...especially since you slaughtered a fair deal of soldiers at the base of the tree.

She doesn't seem all that pleased.

HEMLOCK: You didn't attempt to intercept anything. I know that much.
HEMLOCK: You wanted the Glyph. In fact, I bet you have it on you right now.
HEMLOCK: Why are you trying to cover this up, exactly?
HEMLOCK: "Checking up" on a valuable treasure? Like I'm that stupid.

HEMLOCK: ...Still, though.
HEMLOCK: You're not "bad" people from what I've seen.
HEMLOCK: And odds are, if you could take Yggdrasil that easily... the Glyph's better off in your hands.
HEMLOCK: ...

She goes silent for a moment.

HEMLOCK: I.... have absolutely no idea what you want me to say.
HEMLOCK: I could maybe keep a few friends off of your backs, but that's about it. Sorry.

Hemlock returns to her whole lotta doing nothing. Calibri leaves her be, going off to visit Chloe. There's still no response as he opens the door. She's still just lying there in bed, exactly as Boshi left her. She still doesn't respond as Calibri attempts to talk with her. He sits there wordlessly for some time. Then suddenly, Chloe speaks up.

CHLOE: I-I... lost Nia again...
CHLOE: I-I was so happy to see her a-again, a-and I... c-couldn't...

While she might be bawling her eyes out right now, at least she appears to be moving again. She's mostly incoherent at the moment, but... still, it's an improvement. Elsewhere, in an entirely different building, EN decides to sit beside Mari, and offer her a hankie of sorts, even if it's not actually a hankie and just a bolt of Simple Cloth. She refuses it.

Mari doesn't talk, only silently crying into her knees. It's rather tranquil up in the tree, now that all of the fighting has ended. After a few minutes, Mari rubs a sleeve over her eyes, staining it with tears. She wobbles a bit as she stands up, and heads for the elevator.

MARI: I... really just want to get out of this dumbgorilla tree.
MARI: Wanna join me?

Mari extends a hand behind herself as she makes for the elevator. Odds are, the two end up returning to the house together.

---

Toast rests with Marron for a moment, sharing her feelings on the matter.

MARRON: Well, at least I'm not alone in feeling like gorilla.
MARRON: It's probably more fun to wallow in misery with someone I like, anyway...

As Toast sits up, she notes her preference of dinner; burritos! Marron nods.

MARRON: Those are like... those meat-wrap things, right?
MARRON: With cheese and stuff?
MARRON: ...Not my cup of tea, but I'll give it a shot.
MARRON: Maybe I'll make myself something nice afterwards...

With that, Marron takes Toast's hand, and the two of them slip back into the Upholstered Temple. Carrying Ette along with her, the puppet sisters and Toast return to the House. Once they return, Ette signs something to Marron.

ETTE: (Tired...)
ETTE: (Ette's gonna rest.)
MARRON: Don't you normally not get tired?
MARRON: I can't really blame you, though. Go ahead.
MARRON: I'll handle dinner.
ETTE: (Okay...)

Ette slowly heads up the stairs, before flopping into a corner in the room where Toast and Marron usually sleep. Marron meanwhile, gets to cooking. Maybe we'll see the results of that at the end of this post?

---

Venia lays herself to rest on the couch. She thanks Taeda for keeping watch over Maria while she was out. Taeda nods.

TAEDA: O-Oh, it was nothing!
TAEDA: Back at the Church of Helix, I-I actually learned to deal with children pretty well...
TAEDA: There are lots of children without families, thanks to the Tabletopians... b-but we made sure to take care of them!
TAEDA: I'll happily take care of her later if you want! It's a nice change of pace from fighting all the time.

Venia then mentions that she's not feeling too well. Taeda nods understandingly, and takes her leave, waving goodbye to Maria. Maria then opts to head downstairs and investigates the Mollusk downstairs. She gives it a hug. The Mollusk isn't entirely sure how to react, but it doesn't seem to detect hostility. The Mollusk remains neutral, but seems to be a deal happier now. It stares at Maria blankly, in the way only an anarchic mollusk could.

Back in the SHOPPING DIMENSION™, Hat makes some purchases, tossing 1000 Credits at Chaos and 240 at Yung Venuz. Chaos takes the credits, and makes some pickaxes out of them! He promptly fills his inventory with them, then rapidly mashes Q to throw them at the blocks of stone downstairs. This somehow works, with Chaos managing to smash enough stone to create one whole room. This is also an incredibly inefficient way to use pickaxes, so he's unable to dig another room.

CHAOS: i am
CHAOS: [t]he mas[t]er builder
CHAOS: behold [t]hese luxury sui[t]es
CHAOS: for a generous price of fif[t]y [c]redi[t]s a nigh[t]
CHAOS: as[t]ounding

...The rooms are really pretty basic. Wooden flooring, and what's basically raw stone walls. They could use some refurbishing.

Also, a few more things; some Tier 5 Amethyst Archrobes are prepped for creation, and Chloe goes to gather some items! Or rather, Chaos goes to gather some items, as Chloe is currently a little too broken to do any harvesting. Chaos is gone for all of twenty seconds, before returning with stuff!

CHAOS: [t]his is illegal
CHAOS: i shouldn'[t] need [t]o work
CHAOS: or babysi[t]
CHAOS: i am a main an[t]agonis[t] darn i[t]

CHAOS: anyway mos[t] of [t]his may or may no[t] be s[t]olen
CHAOS: we've go[t]... lo[t]s of metal [c]hunks from r4 sin[c]e every[t]hing else useful is gone slash on fire
CHAOS: plenty of assor[t]ed [t]rash drops from [t]he ba[t][t]lefield...
CHAOS: ...and a few [t]rees! whole [t]rees. i forgo[t] [t]o [c]u[t] [t]hem bu[t] i don'[t] [t]hink [t]he game [c]ares

Chaos dumps a lot of stuff into the inventory! Looted 12 Iron Ingots, 12 Titanium Ingots, 8 Durasteel Ingots from R4! 27 Assorted Chairian Weapons, 12 Copper Gears, and 16 Assorted Gun Parts from Scale Yggdrasil! 18 Silverwood Logs obtained!

---

Brutishace gives a toast. Omorika heads downstairs just in time to help herself to a few drinks.

OMORIKA: ...To Nia.
OMORIKA: May we avenge her loss.

She downs her glass rather quickly, and serves herself another in a swift manner as well. A few sips into the second glass, and she already appears to be a bit tipsy. She sticks around, not entirely sure what to do with her emotions at the moment.

---

The game remembers to nab a post, and scrolls up to see Boshi and Packo have a chat. It is here where Packo has a realization that his home may or may not be a dystopian megacity, like you see in all of those young adult novels. I wrote this thinking it was a craft because of the spoiler title but I guess I've finished reading it now so uh this is awkward.

Still, a fine bit of roleplaying!

---

Irongutta allows Piggo into the house. While he seems happy to be out of the dark and into somewhere more social, he's tracking mud everywhere oh no.

---

...With everything settling down around the house, Marron gets to cooking right away, discarding her parka into the inventory and equipping Packo's apron for a moment. While she's not too experienced with cooking meat, she seems to find her groove quickly as she minces some Yggcrawler Meat, throws it into a pan, and begins to fry it up. While the meat begins to sear, Marron heads off to grab some food packets from Chaos, returning with a block of cheese, some lettuce, beans, and various other fixings.

She gets to preparing these as the meat continues to fry. She swifty shreds the cheese onto a small side plate, leaving nice strands of cheese upon it that one could easily sprinkle onto their burrito. The lettuce is also finely minced, the beans quickly fried, and the other toppings are other'd. They're all set aside on the dinner table.

She then adds a dash of herbs and spices to the meat as recommended to her by Chaos, and mixes up the grounded Yggcrawler meat to spread the flavor around. Soon, the room is overtaken by the marvelous aroma of cooked meat! She then takes the meat off of the heat, and places it into a large serving bowl, which she places near the toppings.

She then reveals her secret weapon- freshly cooked wraps! She pops oven the oven to reveal an array of perfect tortillas, which she stacks onto a plate and tosses onto the table. Now there's an array of perfectly-cooked ingredients on the table!

...Okay, maybe she burned the meat a little. As a baker, she's used to things taking ages to cook. Still though, there's only like, a light aftertaste of charring. Obviously, Marron's ashamed of that, and fears that she'll never live that down.

She opts to wrap up a burrito for Toast, tugging it and stuffing it in all the right ways to make it picturesque. She kicks open the door to the kitchen, allowing the scent to waft into the entire house. She happily carries the wrap to Toast, gifting it to her.

MARRON: Ta-da!
MARRON: I did it! I mean, I think I burned it, but...
MARRON: ...T-That's not important!

MARRON: Anyway, how does it taste?
MARRON: It smells amazing, and I really wanna have one, but the meat would make me... y'know, vomit.
MARRON: Probably not the best word to mention before eating something. Sorry.

The puppeteer stands next to Toast, a bit bashful. Then, her stomach rumbles.

MARRON: ...I-I, uh, should go and get something to eat, too.
MARRON: I'm actually pretty exhausted though, so... maybe you should make me something!
MARRON: Or I could like, eat the fixings.

MARRON: Point is, I'm tired.
MARRON: I kinda just wanna sleep and... forget about what happened at the tree for a bit.

She yawns, stretching her arms out wide. She'll probably help herself to a bed rather soon. Anyway, Marron completes her craft of 3 Burritos, which have been added to the inventory. There's still a lot of fixings for everyone though... so go and have a bite!

---

Anyway, expect for the day to end with next update! Odds are, you'll be thrown straight into a battle come morning, so it pays to be prepared! I'll suggest Armorpierce / Armorbreak / Sunder and Area of Effect spells for the next battle. You'll find them to be rather handy!

Also remember that with the end of the day, all "time based" things like Omo's Research, Marron's Crafts, and the Farm will instantly finish! Even if it doesn't really make sense. So go and commission those things if there's slots open!

Brutishace is glad to see some more company at the toast, even if it is a somber one. He takes note of Adrian's confusion, Boshi's exhaustion, Irongutta's sorrow, and Omorika's shock. After everyone else has been served, he raises his glass, and audibly but calmly raises his voice, as if to ensure Calibri and Chloe hears the ritual from Chloe's room...

"Very well. To Nia's life, to our fondest memories to her, and to the way she impacted each of our lives. And to ensuring that her death is meaningful."

Brutishace then puts forward his glass and imbibes most of the wine from it. He sets it aside and notices Omorika drinking considerably more than is customary. Nia's death must have affected her that much. Brutishace stands by, ready to guide and support her to where she may be if necessary, out of concern for her well-being.

However, some light enters the picture in the form of Marron's burritos. However, with Omorika in her state, he feels like he would put her in danger to leave her down here alone... He asks her something before heading up to join his teammates.

"Omorika? Do you feel like you need someone to help you up the stairs? The wine is affecting you heavily, and while I can understand why you'd drink this much, I worry about leaving you down here."

If she agrees, the necromancer escorts Omorika upstairs, ensuring that she keeps her footing and guiding her where the wine has blurred her senses and balance. If not, he bids her farewell as he ascends, but requests her to please take care of herself. Regardless of Omorika's reply, Brutishace prepares a burrito, stuffed heartily with meat and a fair amount of cheese, and enjoys it thoroughly enough that he grabs a second once everyone else has been served theirs. It's best not to try to process alcohol hungry.

In terms of battle stuff, he also equips the Unsettling Skull from the inventory, replacing the Sticky Note. It seems to have longed for the upcoming bloodshed... an expression of disquietude washes over Brutishace's face for a split second.

========

Brutishace also responds to Boshi during dinner.

"Sure, I'll be open to your question when you're ready to ask."

========

I'll also be including a craftpost in this...

Stats for stuff are on the second page of my theorycrafting sheet, as well as the trait, and skillpoint changes, and equipment.

~~

Toast was going to take a bite, but then Marron mentioned vomit, so she pauses. Then, she goes back in for the kill. She takes a bite. She pauses again, midbite. Marron sees her swallow. Toast suddenly rushes forward and embraces her girlfriend in a tight hug, careful not to spill any burrito filling on the puppeteer's back.
"I already knew you're perfect, but this is everything."

She eventually disengages the hug to finish her burrito. Marron mentions being hungry.

"...I was actually planning to improve my card deck by taking the 'calamity' out of the Calamity Cake from the other day. If you wanted, I could save you some magical cake essence?
...
To be honest, I suck at cooking anything that doesn't come in a can, so that's probably better than something I could make for you."

After this fun little interaction, Toast heads over to Y.V., and purchases 3 bottles of Bone Hurting Juice for some inexplicable reason.

She eventually returns, remembering a request she had for Marron.
"Hey uh, since everyone seems to be gearing up for tomorrow, do you think that you could upgrade my cloak for me? Like, as part of the gear crafting service thing you do?
...I'll just, uh, give you the design I had in mind."
She requests the Wright Cape as a one-of request, for 50 credits. The stats are in my theorycrafting doc.

~

"Also... I forgot to ask before, but what's the deal with your arm? Pretty sure it wasn't made of metal before our duel..."
She subconsciously rubs her jaw where she got struck.
"In any case, I don't think it really suits you. Like, magically. No offense, but as your girlfriend with magic powers it's my obligation to tell you this. Did you want me to make you something a bit more... synergistic, sometime? I like to think I'm pretty good with arms."

~~

Before she goes to sleep however, she excuses herself to do some quick crafting. She hops into an extra-temporal space, and gets started.



While she's in the north-west area of zone 1, she sees the Crystillery, and remembers something she's been wanting to do since she started. She collects a good double armful of random (?) crystals, and places them in the middle of the structure. Then, she infuses it with the last of her aura, leaving just enough for her to stay conscious and coherent.

"Awaken."

~~

As the night draws to a close, she leads Marron to the upstairs room with her, bundles them both up in blankets, and then rests.

By the morning, she's undergone a unique transformation- not in body or mind, but in niche. She's now fully accepting the role of a Wild Magic Sorcerer, but with less Metamagic. These (skillpoint and trait) changes are all on my theorycrafting sheet.



Skillpoint Reallocation:
+4 AGI. +1 INT. +6 MOV. +2 MHP.
-4 SKI. -2 SPC. -5 RES.

The Man opts to finally upgrade his trait to T2.



After that's all said and done, he wanders upstairs, specifically into the upstairs bathroom. He sighs, and looks straight into the mirror.


The Man steps out of the bathroom, looking thoroughly confused. He goes to loiter around downstairs, specifically next to the vase at N38.

RP: Dinner

1

"YOU MUST SURVIVE THIS TORTUROUS DISEASE AT ALL COSTS AND YOU KNOW WHAT MUST BE DONE. TO CLAIM THE CURE, YOU MUST SURVIVE TO REACH FOR IT. AND YOU KNOW HOW TO SURVIVE. NAUGHT BUT DAYS. THE HOURS NUMBER UNDER ONE-HUNDRED. HOW MANY HOURS WOULD ANY OF THESE PEOPLE GIVE YOU?"

"I will not assimilate their identity or anything like that and that is final! Not once, not ever!"

"MANY HAVE POWER. GREAT POWER. AND THEY MISUSE IT EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES. BUT YOU CAN TURN THEIR GREAT EVIL INTO A GREATER GOOD. TO DO NOTHING IS AMORALITY."

"I wouldn't be any better if I'd be willing to do something as awful as that to anyone! Destiny's worst crimes are against the people who offend and hurt her code of honor, as far as could be told-why would eating her identity be any different? That's a slippery slope."

"FOOLISH ONE. YOU-"

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRING! An alarm! Venia's straps ring her awake, and she springs to attentiveness! An uneasy dream-or the start of one.

She looks around. Her hallucinations from before have eased up. She sighs. She'll have to talk to someone about this eventually. Probably not Chloe, though. That on top of everything else would be too much.

...The scent of meat wafts from the kitchen, and Marron is presenting a burrito to Toast. Venia realizes what that means.

"Mariaaaaa! Its dinnertime!" Venia shouts, voice projecting into the basement. Maria hears from downstairs, and takes her whole party upstairs, sans Mollusk, giggling, as Venia hoists herself off the couch, herself descending into the basement to fetch the other party members.

First, she hooks around to Taeda's Door. "Taeda! It's dinnertime. We're having burritos, may be new to you." Venia says. Taeda comes out.

Then, she heads to Chloe's door. "Chloe! It's dinnertime... Chloe, I know, its awful right now, but you need to eat. Tomrorow's going to be a busy day and it won't wait for your mood to improve. I'll, I'll help you upstairs... I-I know. I understand. I-I understand. We're having burritos, and... I know that you like them! It'll make you feel better."

If Chloe allows herself to be escorted upstairs, Venia offers a hand. She gives an affirmative nod to Calibri as she does so, thankful for his help.

After that, Venia hooks around to the collapsed Auth. She sighs at the clear case of self-starvation catching up with Auth. "... I knew you looked too pale. Look-if you don't eat I'll put a formal complaint with... Genoa, wasn't it? I'll take it to her and she'll make you do it. Immortality, Vampirism, whatever-you have no excuse for this hunger striking nonsense. Please, you're concerning me with this behavior." Venia says, hoisting up Auth over her shoulder if he doesn't respond. "...If this is about Nia, then no, laying flat on the laboratory floor won't help you feel better. Food will help you feel better. Please, at least head upstairs. I'll help if you can't."

Once back upstairs with possibly Chloe, Taeda and Auth in tow, Venia hooks into the dining room, waits for everyone gather around, and clears her throat. Another speech for the end of the day.

"... So, we all know what happened. Or, wait, no-Taeda and Nana weren't there... To keep it simple, Nia's condition hit critical, another possession occured, and we successfully purged her! And then the Butterfly forcibly ejected itself from her body, ripped out multiple core components, and fled, leaving Nia to explode. Objectively speaking, Nia isn't dead. She just isn't here with us, now. She's safe and out of the fighting with no Chaos Butterfly in her head. Her current situation isn't much better, but we can-and we CAN-fix it after this is all over. Can't say it hasn't left a bitter taste in my mouth, though..." Venia says, forcing out every syllable. "While it was a very bitter victory, it was a victory-and proof that the Butterfly is far from invincible, at that."

"We now have two glyphs. This means our night watch will be especially important, as now we're relatively the 'biggest' target in terms of Glyph to resistance ratio, which means any number of unwelcome visitors may decide to darken our doorsteps. Anyone who doesn't need to sleep for whatever reason-and I mean 'biologically irrelevant,' Omorika, you do not count-they should try their best to keep watch, and alert everyone if anything suspicious is afoot. Everyone else needs to be in tip-top shape for tomorrow. I believe that this is going to be especially relevant due to an... Unresolved problem."

Venia breathes in a bit, and continues. "Xavier Elem. He's sent a message about 'seeing us soon.' I don't think he wanted us to make Nia explode, whatever the hell he wanted. I have no idea. But that little message hasn't come to fruition. He either changed his mind or his 'help' is en-route. I do not believe it will be a friendly encounter, though we shouldn't dismiss the idea. The point is, he may very well send a force to our base, and we may need to act to defend the house," Venia says. "As for the man himself... He's at the Skylabs, performing a siege against the local Chairians. Nia described it as a slow, grinding type of assault, so doubtless there he will stay to oversee it, among whatever else he can. Xavier is also the person who has kidnapped Nia and thus knows where she is held, and even if we do not wish for her to continue fighting alongside us-for reasons of her personal safety-fact is we need to get her out of there as reasonably quick as possible."

Venia pauses.

"... Which may lead you to be confused when I say we are NOT going to the Skylabs tomorrow," Venia says. "We do not have an airship capable of reaching the necessary altitude safely, though we are very close to it. We'll need to radically improve it tomorrow to have any chance of reaching the Skylabs. Instead, we are heading to the Old Pass-a location perhaps most familiar to miss Taeda than any other, for its famous Church of Helix. Now a Rose Cult hideout, of course, and what else the Cult haven't invested the Iti have picked up the slack. The Glyph, however, isn't in any of that-the Glyph's passing through on a heavily-defended caravan. In other words, it is time sensitive. We are only aware of the caravan in advance because Chaos's shopping drones picked up advance scouts on the camera. The Creation Glyph won't be leaving the Skylabs, but we can't afford to have the Ender Glyph fall into another heavily fortified area. Scale Yggdrasil was already hard to siege, R4 aside. Plus, with the nature of the Thyme Field established as empowering us over time, by saving the Skylabs for last, we simultaneously ensure the highest chance of victory over both the defense of the Skylabs and Xavier himself, meaning our retrieval of Nia Khioneas can go that much smoother. I'm very reluctant to say that this caravan siege will go smoothly... If anything I'm betting that events will conspire to make this take up the whole day and force us to root out everything over there. Like we probably wouldn't do so anyways-there's also Godblossom Extract to collect for Ette's sake."

"The last point of note is the Chaos Butterfly. I find it no coincidence that the Chaos Butterfly within Nia, once ejected, made it a point to beeline to the Sphere, where another Butterfly rests within WARE. There's also the Husk, still running around doing whatever they wish and basically a puppet to the Chaos at this point. To be swift-I believe the Chaos Butterflies are trying to form Trinity, aka the Rose Cultist's ultimate deity. Basically, three Chaos Butterflies in some fusion dance, by the looks of it. Even one can put up a hell of a fight, as Toast and Auth could attest to, so if there is any chance to stop its formation in advance, its worth it. And yes-I'm very, very sure. This is mostly just the obvious conclusion, given there's three Chaos Butterflies running about-all that's really needed is the jump in logic that there's some way to fuse them. But, even the Chaos Butterfly can't stand a Purge from the Blossoming Key, as we saw, a weakness I think the merged form will share."

"Adrian Syl!" Venia shouts, poitning at Adrian. "Welcome to the crew, and thank you for taking that sword-gun-thing up. I used to hold it, so any questions about it should be directed at me. But basically-you hold a very important weapon in your hands. That fiend's ultimate weakness is that key. We've seen it personally. It fled rather than try to fight us at all, despite an individual butterfly being powerful enough to pose significant threat to an equally well-equipped team. They say that we fear it-but we are its night terrors. And when we strike fear into the heart of something like that, we know we stand a chance."

"...Which is of course why I decided to make a second one."

Venia presents a second Blossoming Key to the party, and specifically to Chloe. It is perfectly identical to the first one, only in slightly better condition due to a lack of use. It is balanced atop a spellbook for Salvation.

"Chloe! This is rather sudden, but. I've been making this since... After our little Mindscape expedition. Automating the process was rather difficult. I didn't want to go at freeing Nia alone, though it didn't finish before the... Incident. Either way, you saw that thing and how it hurt her! Don't just pretend like there's nothing to do about it except cry-get mad at that gorilla! I, I understand if you don't want to wield this-this thing, over your normal Gladius, but I can't attune the Gladius very easily to fight Entropic foes... And this thing is as tuned to fight them as it gets, done right. You should hold these things-be our sword against the forces of the Rose, alongside newcomer Adrian. Nia wouldn't want to see you wallow in misery-she'd want to see you kick her killer to the curb! What say you?"

"... For Nia!" Venia says, as she begins digging into a Burrito.

3 (Response to Speed's post)

Venia doesn't respond to Auth until, serendipitously timed, his head falls face-first into the table. Her face is pure shock and disgust, and she trembles. A thought crosses her mind-

"HE WOULD KILL HIMSELF FOR NAUGHT MORE THAN THE MADNESS OF SELF-CONTROL AND THE ILLUSION OF SELF-MASTERY. HE WOULD DIE A LUNATIC. HIS HEALING POWER IS TOO GREAT TO LOSE. IF HE WOULD WASTE HIMSELF, IT SHOULD BE SO THAT YOU SHOULD NOT. HAVE YOU NOT ALWAYS DESIRED THE POWER OF HEALING?"

"I will not do it. I will not use that power. Ever. I'll do a million things to cure my cancer, to live, to honor Nia-but not that. It defiles all of my beliefs!... But if he wont' take care of himself, it certainly will fall to others. Isn't EN like his mom or something?"

"... Aaaaaand with that, you have completely proven yourself unable to properly perform proper self-care. EN, please, uh... "

Venia pulls out a rather large file from a distortion and sifts through it for a bit.

"... Right, you are related, by adoption. Uh, Please tell your adopted son why he's acting insane, or tell me about whatever extreme medical condition would make him do this that also means that he should, because otherwise this has gone on long enough. Its concerning the team-concerning me at least!-and that's not what we need right now."

Assuming EN doesn't do anything to change her mind (succesfully), Venia uses telekinesis to crudely mash most of the components of a given burrito into a paste, and lifts Auth's head up, also using telekinesis to hold his mouth agape and his tongue still. She places a hand on his head, attempting to discern his thoughts through cursory telepathy if necessary.

"Peter Bartholomew Geraldson-sorry if I butchered that-but the point is, you are no longer allowed to fight so long as you continue to perform this self-starvation. It's stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, and you know it and you still do it anyways, but no further. Do not make me push this issue-you have no argument and its crippling morale to see you like this. It's not necessarily polite, but this has gone on long enough. It may be rude to force you to eat. But. I'm forcing you to eat."

'Forcing' may've been an exaggeration, judging from how Venia cautiously hovers the paste into Auth's mouth, but she does, and she does not stop until roughly one (1) burrito's worth of burrito has passed his esophagus. (Unless of course EN has said anything that would sincerely indicate that feeding Auth is genuinely a terrible idea beyond the questionably ethical decision to force-feed him. Then she does not, at all.)

---

Crafting

Venia uses 10 Flux to create a copy of the Blossoming Key for Chloe, as detailed above.

---

Shopping!

Hat swings by the Stitching Station again, placing two new orders. With Toast's placement of the Wright Cape, this means they're maxed out. Hat gives them 50 credits for each order (so both are personalized pieces). They'll probably accept as the order is for them to upgrade their own gear. Mari is required to upgrade her weapon (or make a new, better one), while Marron is required to create an upgrade to her Needlebound Cloak. Hat specifies that Marron cannot in fact lower the DEF of the cloak any further than it is already. Any other details are up to them.

---

Other Stuff?

Venia equips the Maccao Tailspike in her spare Trinket Slot, doing her a whole lot of favors all at once.

>Rainbow Cloak has been purchased once before, but the Triangle Emporium lists it as not having been purchased at all.
>Venia's Affidavit Adjudication special should list the base cost for a charge (140 SP) in a note on her sheet.
>The Jetstream Jaunt weapon skill on Hex's Aeragaskates hasn't been scaled. (Should be (9-9) Psychic for Movethrough damage and (15-15) Air for targeted damage.) The movethrough damage also doesn't list a base.
>Chloe's CNT is wrong; She should have 6 CNT from equipment (Blossoming Key's 5 and Blade Charm's 1 for a total of 6), not 8, so her final CNT should be 26.
>Crya does not have any gear that boosts DGE, so her final DGE should be 4, not 6. Her CNT should likewise be 10, not 13.
>Inverse to the above, Adrian's CNT from equipment is 5, not 2; his final CNT should be 19, not 16. His equipment-based HIT is 7, not 5.
>Yet more CNT mistakes: The Man's equipment-earned CNT should be 4, not 6.
>Nidra has 7 Equipment-bequeathed HIT, not 6. Her CNT is also a point higher than what she's capable of, and she no longer has a special counter so the note on her weapon's CNT should be removed.
Ziah's CAV should be 6 from equipment. Not 2.
>Daskter's counter on his sheet still has a note for a special counter despite not having one.
>Packo's HIT should be 8, not 7.
>Flux has not gone down from purchasing the Blossoming Key.
>Not an error, but reminder to refresh NPC services and apply the God's Wrath & MMP booster upgrades to the totem/party, respectively.

Hex does a lot of stat stuff. It can all be found in this handy sheet down here (which also contains my equipment swaps and T2 trait!)
v v v v v v
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bdL...iTKI/edit#gid=0
(NOTE: I removed the stat equations due to them being messed up on that sheet, nor have I done scaling. Sorry if that breaks something.)
Gear Formats: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AdN...rQao/edit#gid=0
Contains all the crafts.

Hex gazes mournfully at Scale Yggdrasil, and the smoke rising from it.

HEX: ...well then.
HEX: I’ll be honest, I didn’t know Nia very well.
HEX: But...
He sighs.
HEX: Aaand I’m talking to the air again.
HEX: Nia, you won’t be forgotten. We’ll avenge you, I swear.
HEX: ...by killing the Chaos Butterfly. Even though we were technically the ones to kill you.

-=CRAFTS=-

Hex turns, and walks back through the gardens to the house, heading to the Workstation.
He sits down.
HEX: ..hm. How can I upgrade my gear? I was pretty useless during that fight...
He pokes through the inventory, and something catches his eye. Namely, a pair of skates. He yoinks them out.

Next up, Hex takes out the Salt Krab Skull and stares at it. It stares back. Hex continues staring. Unfortunately, the Salt Krab Skull is distinctly related to Mr. Krabs, meme lord, through a convoluted family tree, and as such is a master of staring, and Hex looses the staring contest. He sighs, and plops the Skull down on the table, and gets to crafting.

Hex proudly regards his new items, and finishes off his respec by purchasing and equipping the Rainbow Cloak from Y.V.

-=OTHER STUFF™=-

Hex then runs over to the River Crossing, rainbows trailing behind him, and plucks the Cinderfruit from the tree. After that, he speeds on over to the Terra Reviver, and kneels down. He then cuts open one of the Cinderfruit, and spreads the seeds around, planting a few Cinderfruit Trees around.
To speed up the growing process, he pulls the spell tome for Life Essence Augment from the inventory, casts it on his skates, and stomps the ground a lot. This probably looks really weird to observers, but whatever.


With that done, he trudges into the house, assembles a burrito, and eats it. He then gives a thumbs up to Marron, mouth full.
He eats a couple more burritos, before getting up and plopping down onto Couchtron 9,000, opposite Venia, and just laying there, exhausted. In other words, he's open to RP.

Boshi nods to the group, and joins in.
"(For Nia.)"
"(...I will not let this arc go unresolved.)"
Boshi takes a drink of his wine, which eventually leads into him going full tilt with drinking, leading him to down the entire glass. Then another. And another. Evidently, though, he's nowhere near tipsy enough to be considered drunk. Being a Yoshi comes with its perks, I guess.

He hears the call for dinner. Great, he's absolutely starving. He runs up to get a bite to eat. Burritos. He's never had them before, so he's willing to give 'em a go. He wraps one up, and... eats it whole. If you expected anything less, you clearly don't know what Yoshi do. He seems to have enjoyed, it, though.

He stays to listen to Venia's spiel on where they were going next. Thankfully, nowhere high up yet... but the entire thing about the Chaos Butterfly Trio doesn't really do him any favors in terms of staying calm... but he holds it together. Once Venia's done, he helps himself to another Burrito.

...A thought suddenly crosses his mind. He looks around the area... everyone around him seemed to have fairly standard magic; fire and stuff, y'know. Yet he notes that someone might have the answers he's looking for with Sophia. He didn't really think on it before, but...

"(...Hey. Brutishace, was it? I wanted to ask you something... probably tomorrow, though, assuming nothing bad happens around here. It's getting kinda late, after all...)"

Boshi walks upstairs, and leans against the wall near the Hat Tent. He really wasn't going to be going to sleep for a while, so it seems like he's gonna be on watch duty for a bit...

Stat Changes:
-2points in INT
+1point in SPC
+1RES
+2MHP

I replace Terraform with Earth version of elemental singularity


Looking at the destroyed R4-Sat0skr, I "noticed" that there's enough parts to build a mini-R4.

Grabbing the destroyed parts, I start sorting out the destroyed parts, and see what I could build out of those parts. It would too no good I design a tank too big or too small.