The Artist decides to mass upgrade all of his gear. He really needs them at at least tier 1 before he can join the latest fight, since he needs the bonuses. He takes out 4x Iron Bars, 4x Uniform Logs, and 4x Wire Scraps. The 3 Materials used for the crafting sink into the items, as if they were a liquid, each one changing drastically.

Amber Artcap->Static Drill Hat:
Materials:Amber Artcap, 1 Iron Bar(s), 1 Uniform Log, 1 Wire Scrap
Crafting:The Artcap is still that in shape, but it's design has changed massively, the inside is now wood, likely from the Uniform Logs, the outside is completely metal, with metal drills, some hanging on wires, on littering the top of it. The metal drills and wires on the head draw lightning away from the head, dispersing it and reducing the harm it has on the wearer. The drills have a more symbolic protection, as drills are commonly used to dig through the earth, granting you protection, as earth will shy away from you.
Description:A very fancy art hat with drills on it.
Stats: [+1 Ski] [+2 Res]
Resistances: [Earth 20%] [Electric 20%]

3 Diamond Art Smock->Reinforced Smock:
Materials: 3 Diamond Art Smock, 1 Iron Bar(s), Uniform Log, 1 Wire Scrap
Crafting: The wood is carved into various small, scale shaped chips, bonded together by small, metal rings made from the Scrap Wire, metal sheet made from the Iron forming long strips of metal that cover the arms, legs, and torso. Provides quite a bit of protection.
Description:A metal and wood art smock cover, as it's still there, this stuff is just covering it.
Stats: [SPC +2] [DEF +3]
Resistance: [Slashing 20%] [Piercing 20%] [Smashing 20%]

Color Pallet->Metal Color Pallet:
Materials: Color Pallet, 1 Iron Bar(s), 1 Uniform Log, 1 Wire Scrap
Crafting:The wood of the pallet is replaced with metal from the iron bar, the places where the colors where now have small wood indentations there, with the color filling it a little. You see a long, rounded circuit form a place that would fit an paintbrush.
Description:A metal pallet, has something specifically for holding a paintbrush.
Stats: [+1 HP Regen]
Resistance: [Fire 20%] [Ice 20%] [Air 20%]

Art Brush->Steelwood Art Brush:
Materials: Art Brush, 1 Iron Bar(s), 1 Uniform Log, 1 Wire Scrap
Crafting:The brush tip is still the same, but the shaft has been replaced with iron. The wood and circuits are near the top, between the brush and shaft. It makes 3 rings, forming an equilateral triangle from their basses. There is a piece of wood in the rings, with one being purple, another white, and the last black.
Description:A metal art brush. Feels warm in your hands.
Stats:[+1 MP Regen]
Resistances: [Darkness 20%] [Light 20%] [Psychic 20%]

I also rearrange my stat points. Putting 3 into MP, 4 into Strength, 3 into SPC and 8 into Intelligence.
I equip all of my new gear and head into the battle with Nia, joining the left side, going to G9.

Originally posted on 2018-01-04 22:07:00

<ROUND EIGHTEEN>
JOE's random robots from somewhere keep working the Fortified Cavern's inner chamber, turning the area into a nice, usable farmland. At least, that's what it looks like! However, the whole process of breaking open the ceiling and replacing it with a shield has made quite a bit of noise! Attracting too much attention to that area might persuade a bunch of Iti to show up and eat the place, so be careful! Toast then discusses things with the Assassin. She mentions that they're here to destroy the Sphere.

ASSASSIN: Curious.
ASSASSIN: I guess there's more like-minded people here. Carry on...

The assassin gives a glance to his fallen comrades, before continuing with Toast, who is thinking about working together.

ASSASSIN: Perhaps we could work together.
ASSASSIN: If I get back alive, I'll see to getting one of our leader's subordinates to meet up with you. Discuss some things.

Then, Toast lays out some questions. Something about a stage.

ASSASSIN: The "stage"? What stage? Haven't heard of a stage.
ASSASSIN: As for the well... we don't have anything to do with it.
ASSASSIN: It might be a convoluted trap or an Iti for all we know.
ASSASSIN: The rest of that though... well, I can't say.
ASSASSIN: If you know what's good for you, wait for the leader's informant. If the leader is willing to let some information slide, then you'll know what you need to know.

She also lets on that the clones were actually just illusions. The Assassin facepalms.

ASSASSIN: ...
ASSASSIN: For the love of Dome...
ASSASSIN: I fell- we all fell for a simple trick of the light...

The Assassin quickly gets back on topic.

ASSASSIN: Anyway; let us go, and perhaps we'll be able to discuss an alliance. Deal?

He sticks out his hand to Toast. Elsewhere, EN and Verdana "gush" (mostly the latter) over Taeda's wood manipulation abilities. Her cheeks turn a flush green.

TAEDA: E-Eh?
TAEDA: I-It's really nothing s-special! B-Besides, I'm not even that good at it...
TAEDA: But, y-you can actually learn how to do it!
TAEDA: While there's been little overall success, some outsiders like the Sleuth and the old chairheir took it upon themselves to learn the art.
TAEDA: The Sleuth wasn't able to do it, no matter how hard he tried. The Chairheir, though; he was able to rival Lady Acacia and Lady Omorika...
TAEDA: I-I'm not really qualified to teach anyone how to use it, though.

EN then asks about the Chairian tr(ee)io they met with earlier; Salix, Willow, and Clausa.

TAEDA: Oh, Willow? Willow's a good friend of mine!
TAEDA: We met as saplings when learning simple wood manipulation, and we've stayed in touch since.
TAEDA: As for the others... well, I don't actually know. Maybe they're her friends? I haven't had many chances to talk with her ever since this whole Sphere thing started...
TAEDA: We actually saw each other a few times today, but that's because her division was hunting down rebel soldiers...

The Artist then performs the dreaded(?) QUAD-CRAFT, expending 4 Iron Bars, 4 Uniform Logs, 4 Wire Scraps, and 40 additional credits because one doesn't simply get away with doing that many upgrades with that little stuff. Strangely enough, the two trinkets jump directly up to Tier 2, but they don't get all the upgrades that were described. He also re-specs again, making the GM consider re-constituting the re-spec timer. Toast also inspects the Iron Pipe, and tries to check what's inside of it. She reaches in, and pulls out some sort of pistol... with a rather small Iti stuck to it. Clearly, this is a usable, serviceable weapon. Itisa Pistol obtained!

---

More people head off to the battle with Nia. Is Nia scared of all these people running towards her? Probably.

<RIVER CROSSING, ROUND THREE>
Careful, now. You've lost the Author (a 50 DKP minus), and there's a sizable amount of drones from earlier rounds. You might wanna clean some of those up; use items if you need to! Of note is the Dynamite Bundles, which will instantly kill those Blast Drones AND trigger their passive ability, which is handy for clearing multiple drones at once! For those of you near Nia, keep your damage up! Maybe use Deepen Cut if you have it, as that'll add quite a load of damage given her current status effect ball.

Originally posted on 2018-01-05 01:12:00

Noise is a problem? That gives me an excuse to talk about another one of the ROBOTS characters! woo.
The Abyss Stalker. normally runs off "Cold-water fusion", with its body being composed of "Plastic and stainless steel composite", its arms being "Cyber-crab claws", and its legs described as "Tentacle-like" despite ending in sharp, three-pronged appendages more akin to a stool.
They supposedly have unlimited maximum operational depth, but that is ridiculous so we're ignoring that. they have about three times the size of the "Earthbot"'s average member, and for once the meter-to-feet conversion checks out. they weigh a mere fraction of what the other bots do, meaning about 1/75 of the other bots weight. They have a maximum speed of 2.66* the other robots. they where also designed almost purely to fulfil the element of surprise. Translating into practicality of creation, that means they are big but flexible, able to easily bunch up their limbs and appear smaller, visually look like the images in the book, have extremely long battery life, are fast, are silent, and aren't very deadly (because they're attacking from behind and stuff.). they also don't show up on radar or Trion signature scanners.
since sound is bad, the Abyss stalkers have been chosen. They then get to work fortifying the area, setting up traps for the Iti. The whole time when they are doing this, they are Perfectly Silent and raise the sound level not one iota.
ACTION SUMMARY: fortify the garden things entrance against iti without making any noise.
In-battle: JOE calmly moves to I7, then uses Terraform, turning the tile I6 into a power vent to buff Commet's discharge, and turns tiles that nobody else is terraforming this round into power things with this prioritys: Wherever calibri's going, the place I'm standing, the tile to the left of me, and the tile to the right of me. even if one of those is being terraformed or is out of range, I should be fine, so... action decision done.

Originally posted on 2018-01-05 13:05:00

Toast thinks for a moment. She's not actually thinking, as she doesn't need to- her mind is already made up, "Fine. I'll take that deal. Feel free to leave, but I expect you to keep your word. If you don't... well, I'm sure you know better than that."

She takes the assassin's hand in her left (regardless of which he offered), and shakes once, firmly. Then, she disengages from the handshake and checks out the well while waiting for the Rebels to leave.

~~

Toast moves to F7 and Aerobeams downward- at F12 it curves northwest.

She stares at the fallen drones and comments on their overnumerousness, "This is a massive waste of parts. Where does Xavier even get this gorilla from?"

Originally posted on 2018-01-06 23:03:00

Destiny moves to U3, slashes at the Blast Drone 2 and retreats to U5.

Originally posted on 2018-01-06 23:12:00

The man moves to W4, JUDOs gust drone the 1st, and retreats to... V5.

Originally posted on 2018-01-06 23:13:00

Yeah, go ahead and change the name my character sheet is under to Simeon.

This last round, Simeon watched everything else happen while sitting in a tree.

He moves to H6, sword out, pointed directly at Nia's face. He tries to strike up a conversation with her.

"Yes, I know this is super awkward, but with the whole 'being forced to kill us' part, I'm just trying not to die."
"Is this making a difference? I don't know, do you feel as if your body is trying to kill me slightly less if I'm pointing this at you?"

He tries to lower his guard, but hesitates.

"Okay, I'm sorry, even if this didn't make a difference, I just feel safer doing this."

"Uh, you're not actually here, right? I remember you saying that this was a hologram, but I'm not sure. I don't want to cause any permanent damage."
"Where are you, actually?"

While saying this, he's moving his blade back and forth ever so slightly, waiting for an opportunity.

"You know, usually, when someone's talking in the middle of a fight, it's to distract. But you, you can't be distracted in this state, can you? It's a slight advantage, when you think about it.
"Just trying to look on the bright side of this whole situation."

Finally, he sees an opportunity, and seizes it.

"Gotta go, catch you later."

He makes an attempt to cut across Nia's sword arm, shuffling to H7.

Originally posted on 2018-01-06 23:28:00

"(God, these drones are annoying. Let's fix that.)"

Boshi performs a Whirling Blades, and moves to (V11 -> W10), retreating to (X10) and eating a Celefruit Husk "(bleh)" after.

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 00:22:00

Teag, acting after Mr. Krabs, heads up to I9.
Brace yourself, this might hurt a little.
He then shoots Nia with his railgun.

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 01:27:00

OK, new turn, new repiroirtization. Namely; those drones. Blow them up or they will ruin your life. 4 Move, ZoC ignore due to flying, and high damage plus an AI that prioritizes squishiness. They're more dangerous than Nia proper-not an exaggeration-so blow them up if and when you can. DPS to keep them down is just as important as DPS to Nia proper.

In any case; per Teag's request, Mr. krabs will move to G7 and use Terraform to put fortified tiles at I9, E9 and E5 for Teag's use.

"Chloe, uh, Ms. inexplicably powerful over there seems to be doing that unbecoming flirtin' right after she does her weird pixelly attacks, so maybe you should just cover your ears between them to spare yourself embarrassment? Almost sounded like you were gonna heave like a seasick sailor over there!" Mr. Krabs asks, turning to Chloe.

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 02:25:00

Brutishace notices Nia conducting some sort of magic on him!

He also notices Emerald giving him some orders. He doesn't know much about Nia's magic, so he may as well takes Emerald's advice.

"Alright, but this better not kill me."

Brutishace strafes across the map to R11, takes a hasty shot at the second Blade Drone, and slides on his side into Q12.

"I'm pretty vulnerable where I am, let's hope this works."

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 02:32:00

Terry moves to R6, plops down a Hailstorm on R10, then backs off to S6.

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 06:11:00

Comet moves to I6 and uses Discharge on Nia.

...

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 06:45:00

I wake up from my hibernation chamber! I'm back! I'm sure you all have been literally unable to progress without me there to be incredibly important!

Time to fight a boss... I spawn in at D8, and... sit tight. I think I'd better not take on Nia right now. I'll focus on cleaning up the drones.

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 18:07:00

The Artist moves to H8 and casts Roulette Crasher on Nia.
"So eh, Nia, right? How long do you think it's going to take to beat control of your limbs back into you?"

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 22:00:00

Crafting time!

Irongutta started by taking a Lifegem and an Iron Ingot. Using a furnace, he heated the iron into a molten, workable state. Using the rough shape of the gem as reference, he carefully shaped the metal into a socket that the gem could be set into. After his surprisingly delicate work, he had a finished Iron Pendant.

Next, he took the little metal that remained and used it to form a small metal loop at the top of the pendant. Afterwards, he took the Lifegem and quite simply slathered the Green Sap over it. The sap took a more gelatinous form and made the gem appear green. The best color, of course. With the gem set, he lastly took the leather and cut it into a long cord, which he threaded through the loop on the pendant to make it a necklace.

Input: Lifegem x1, Green Sap x2, Iron Ingot x1, Leather x1

Sapgem Necklace created!
Now with "delicious" syrupy flavor! Worn around the neck for style and accessibility.
It has +1 HP regen, but now it has an ability:
Consumable: Can be consumed once per battle as a Free Action, granting Mending4 for 2 rounds. The trinket's effects are nullified for the rest of the battle.

Irongutta then enters the River Crossing battle at D7!

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 22:57:00

The Voice moves to X4 (moving through W5), smacks Gust Drone 1 with his Stick, and tosses a bundle of Dynamite onto Blast Drone 2.

The Electroshock Bot moves to F5 and zaps Nia.

The Voice also quickly alters his trait to read "unalterable" instead of "shield-piercing", to better convey that the damage is basically straight to HP and unaffected by protection methods or damage boosters -- just a flat 5 damage no matter the circumstances.

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 23:46:00

Read Messagelog?


Monika moves to U9, and...

QUOTE (Code:)

Give me a second... I think I can figure this out. select.sheettab ("Battle: River Crossing") write.tile ("AC, 3") set "HP: 10 \ 24 (0 AC) (0R)"

Author suddenly feels a lot less dead, for reasons he can't exactly fathom.

Originally posted on 2018-01-07 23:57:00

Before Terry’s move, Emerald moves to R10 again and guards again (fuck accidentally hitting delete post)

Crafting?: Iti Stick x1, Sharpening Kit x1?
Emerald takes a moment to bring out the Sharpening Kit out of the inventory and whittle down the end of the Iti Stick that doesn’t have a gnashy consuming mouth at the end, and whittles it down to a sharp point.
Crafting Complete?
Sharpened Iti Stick
Everything the same really, but change the damage type to Piercing I guess

Originally posted on 2018-01-08 04:34:00

Bergilmir smacks Blast Drone 2!

Originally posted on 2018-01-08 04:48:00