Auth very quietly chuckles as Nana whispers her issue into his ear. He understands, but it's still a little funny to him about Nana's concern... he whispers quietly in return to Nana.

AUTH: No, no... it's okay. I understand your concern, it's fair enough.
AUTH: I'm still trying to work all this out, myself. Bear with me, we're all learning how this works together, aha.

Auth smiles reassuringly to Nana. Just to calm her down, make sure she knows everything's gonna be alright. Then he returns to Omo and the basics of magical energy for Chairians. That energy in the hands... Auth thinks he understands.

AUTH: Try to move the energy like a limb... alright. I wonder if the energy will flow like my ink does...
AUTH: From what I've heard from a lot of magic users the flow of energy is important, getting it to move properly...
AUTH: Like an extra limb... and I can move the energy...

Auth focuses, breathing deeply. Since he's isolated the sensation of that energy, he concentrates deeper into it, attempting to will the energy to move around his hands, or between his hands... attempting to envision it like a third limb, just like what he might to with his ink. He breaks the concentration to respond to Omo, though.

AUTH: I... think so. Maybe it's telling me when my shapeshifting is active again...
AUTH: Since I felt that energy disappear after transforming and come back gradually. Probably that's it. It would make sense to me...

Auth turns back to Nana as she asks him an interesting question about the blades in her arm. It's an interesting consideration... after they've done... what to do with the blades?

AUTH: They are helpful. I can't deny that... but as for doing something about them?
AUTH: I honestly can't tell you if there's anything we can do. I am... aware of how Morphs are perceived by others. They're...
AUTH: I deeply respect their abilities, I think it's admirable they can change in such ways. It's an impressive talent.
AUTH: If I had any idea how to remove them, I'd probably suggest removing them after the Sphere is gone. But that's why I made the sleeve in the way I did, partially. Even if we don't find a way, it shouldn't be much of a problem because of how I made it.
AUTH: My main thing with it is that I don't want you to be put in undue danger or difficulty, y'know? I want you to be safe and well and that, y'know?

Auth smiles softly. He doesn't have any specific cures in mind, but it's entirely possible someone else might. It'd be worth asking around later, perhaps...
----

Auth looks up, somewhat surprised, as a familiar voice (to him, at least), speaks out to him from... somewhere.

AUTH: Lyra!? Or, well... Hoshi? Is that really you?
AUTH: ...It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm dealing with... another problem right now, and I don't see you... but we'll have to catch up after this is cleared up.
AUTH: Still, it's good to hear from you again. I hope you're doing alright.

----

In battle, Auth shrugs to the Rebel Rifler.

AUTH: It's a matter of who I get to first. I don't mean anything by helping them first, it's just who I got to first. I can only really help one person at a time, y'know?

Auth flies back to S18...

AUTH: Actually, can you help me do some setup? I need that Executioner on much lower health before I can tend to myself.

After they've been beat up a bit by either the Frost Robe or the Rifler, Auth casts Liberation on the Executioner in response, allowing himself to heal his pretty severe injuries fairly easily.

wyvern has asked me to post for him

Moving after Bow Kid, he will double evolve strain, use draconic investment, move to C16, and basic attack the Old Guard there.

Arthur moves to O13 and attacks Support Unit 3.

D31 Roll
13 - She / Her

---

DOPLE

---

Omoooooooooooo

During this whole time Stella's been explaining Woodmancy, the Witch who had posed the question has been scribbling down notes. She finally stops when she utters the final sentence.

CHARA: Interesting. Perhaps it was simply a fundamental incompatibility between the Sleuth's personality and arbormancy's basic concept? That's often known to be the case.
CHARA: I refuse to call it "woodmancy." It sounds even dumber than the probably wrong name I just now gave it.
CHARA: But enough of that.
CHARA: You've probably seen this coming from a mile away, but...

CHARA: ...would you please teach me how to use it?

---

Taeda

CHARA: I see. So you too have a paywall when it comes to powers, one based on the time spent serving the deity as a stand-in for "devotion."
CHARA: Lord almighty, do I hate those when it comes to fictional works.
CHARA: Sure, there might be followers who uphold the religious values and are willing to die for their people's safety, but those aren't getting anything because they decided to follow another profession instead of singing hymns and bowing before statues.
CHARA: No. Give the powers to the old guy in the back because age obviously equals ~knowledge~ and ~moral superiority.~
CHARA: But Dome sounds interesting. I'll research into him and how one could exploit him later.
CHARA: Thank you for your help. Got schütze den Kaiser.

---

Her.

CHARA: For the sake of not appearing overburdening with my meta abuse, just assume it's the same "Everyone could see it" excuse that this same everyone will use later on.
CHARA: I do have a counter-question, though. And I honestly hope not to sound rude with it, but here goes:
CHARA: Can you say a single sentence without stuttering?

<ROUND ONE-HUNDRED NINETY-SIX>

Echoss does more stuff. His golems work on the house a bit more, finishing up the floors. He also then decides to go trick-or-treating at YV's location!

YUNG VENUZ: WOW, YOU'RE AN ENTIRE MONTH LATE!
YUNG VENUZ: CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR EXCELLENT SENSE OF TIME!
YUNG VENUS: YOU'RE LUCKY I HAVE ANYTHING LEFT!
YUNG VENUZ: NOT THAT ANYONE CAME BY THIS YEAR, BUT OH WELL!

Echoss obtains 4 Glockolate Bars! Reality then suddenly remembers that the Halloween event should be over, so fissures in timespace violently destroy the Jack-o-Lanterns around the map, taking the leftover candy with them.

Nia is then commissioned to go and upgrade some items! She casually takes Omo's clogs off her feet and pulls off Marron's right arm, and upgrades them both for a total of 200 Credits. Due to their owners being in combat, they're not equipped right away. This also generates 2 Flux. They're returned to their owners discretely, but not before Marron kicks Nia in the shins for her troubles.

Meanwhile, in the Everground, Echoss pulls the vein of rubies directly into his inventory. It makes a grating grinding noise as it squeezes in-between the plane of rock. Disgusting. Still, it enters his inventory safe and sound.

---

Venia also continues stuff. The duchess opts to go fishing with her girlfriend, conjuring a fishing rod for Nia to use. The two of them cast their lines in sync, with Venia's flying in a far more beautiful arc than Nia's. For the first few minutes, not much happens. Nia seems to get the slightest bit bored. She gently puts her rod down, then equips her other rod: Boxican!

NIA: New, better idea!
NIA: Spear fishing! Ice lances!
NIA: Watch this!

Nia shakes Boxican around, creating a small javelin made of ice. She then throws it into the water! It twirls into the blue, and with a freak stroke of luck, impales a fish! Unfortunately, Nia neglected to tie any sort of string to the end of the spear, so she's forced to watch as the fish she impaled floats to the bottom of the water.

NIA: ...I'll count that as a success.
NIA: Wanna try it?
NIA: I got lucky, but you should be good enough to nail it first try, too!

Nia conjures another ice lance, and offers it to Venia. Elsewhere, one of Venia's Maids absorbs 4 Divinity Gems into her body, adding them to her inventory. Another Maid heads into the Tank Room, and promptly renames it to "Room" by looting the entire goddamn tank. Stripped-Down Tank obtained! They also pilfer the Electrum Cart, adding 16 units of the stuff into the inventory. The Maid also takes a moment to chat with the Chairian in the room. What's their name?

EXPLORER: ...
EXPLORER: ...
EXPLORER: Oh, hello again.
EXPLORER: I never did introduce myself, did I?
EXPLORER: It's Ceiba.
CEIBA: Good to meet you. Properly.

He's promptly given directions on how to leave the catacombs. He nods, packs up, then immediately rolls out.

CEIBA: Thank you for the directions.
CEIBA: Although, may I ask you don't blow this place apart?
CEIBA: It seems like there's plenty to be discovered down in these depths.
CEIBA: Is there anything else that might be able to be done?

...Regardless of Venia's response, the intrepid explorer leaves.

---

Toast is excited to fix up her arm! She hops around excitedly, before eventually rummaging through her backpack to find a vial of her actual blood. Marron stares at it with awe, not daring to touch it for fear of breaking it.

MARRON: That'll work!
MARRON: Probably.
MARRON: We're probably going to need to like, make our own version of the spell if we're gonna do this...
MARRON: Got any experience in spellcraft, Toast? Your magical language is basically that, so... maybe we can do it?

The puppeteer paces around the area.

MARRON: But before that, we'll probably need to like... kill your arm?
MARRON: I feel like we're gonna meed more than a bonesaw.
MARRON: Any suggestions? I could try like... activating my Crimson Eyes and lasering it off, but that'd probably hurt a gorillaton.
MARRON: It'd be way, way easier to go to town on it if it weren't attached to you...

Marron considers the pros and cons of attaching a big ol' blob of C4 to Toast's arm. The list of cons is looking rather long.

---

Verdana does some cooking! Unlike the last cooking attempt from a questionably robotic person, the only really questionable item is the blood of a mangled spider! A Highly Improvised Tortellini is created using the aforementioned blood, an Ashen Crystal, 12 Wheat, 10 Shredded Fish Chunks, 3 Yggcrawler Meat, a bucket of Salt Water, 5 Hotpoints, and a Red Sap Blob! There's two whole portions of it, too! This'll likely be a valuable healing item to anyone who's not Marron!

Vegetarian stuff and all. You know.

---

Auth answers Nana's concerns. They could probably find some way to remove the blades once the Sphere is gone. But for now, a bladed Nana is a good Nana. She also blushes a bit when she learns that Auth holds Morphs in such a high regard.

NANA: I-If only everyone looked at Morphs t-the same way you did!
NANA: Although, I guess it makes s-sense that you'd respect t-them, since you can change yourself...
NANA: I-I guess we're both Morphs, a-aren't we?
NANA: It's nice that we have that in common!

Meanwhile, Omo ponders on what Auth's saying. He may need time between transformations.

OMORIKA: Ah, perhaps.
OMORIKA: If you ever do feel that energy return, come see me. Then perhaps, we can try transforming you once again?
OMORIKA: ...If of course, miss Nana is fine with that.
NANA: S-Sure! Go right ahead!

It's a date! In the sense that they'll be meeting up to test something, not like, a romantic date. Maybe he can have one of those with Nana later.

---

Chara's post hits some processing errors! Namely, due to recent concerns brought up in the discord, their segment with Chloe is skipped over. Odds are, we'll need to talk about this sooner or later...

...For now though, the rest of the post is fine. She continues on chatting with Omorika, Taeda, and Persephone Nana. First, Omo! Could she potentially teach her woodmancy? The librarian thinks on this for a moment.

OMORIKA: Certainly.
OMORIKA: But as you mentioned, perhaps there's an incompatibility of sorts that you may be inconvenienced by.
OMORIKA: Still, though. I will teach you, along with sir Author.

OMORIKA: ...As a note, for a non-Chairian, learning it can be a more grueling process...
OMORIKA: But, I'm sure you'll manage.

Then, with Taeda, she lays some shade on the sort of "religious power hierarchy" that's so prevalent in media, and complains how the most devout followers won't get powers due to their professions. The priestess takes some offense to this.

TAEDA: Lord Helix only grants his power to those who are the most devoted to him!
TAEDA: If he gave his power to everyone who followed, then it wouldn't be very special, would it?
TAEDA: In exchange for your devotion, and the willingness to spread Helix's love, he rewards you with the ability to aid others!
TAEDA: Being a priestess isn't exactly the easiest job in the world, you know!

Chara also chats with Nana, asking if she can go a single sentence without stuttering.

NANA: H-Huh?
NANA: T-That's mean!
NANA: Around e-everyone, n-no matter how kind everyone's been, m-my voice faulters...
NANA: I-I just get... n-nervous, okay!?
NANA: It can't be h-helped...

Chara has succeeded in annoying two Chairian girls out of three. This can only go well.

---

<CELLBLOCK OMEGA, ROUND FOUR>
...Battle's over. I'm surprised how quickly thing were sweeped up. While I'd say for you to go explore and find new battles to win, the Impending Threat boss will be appearing with next update! We can't delay it for that long, so... brace yourselves! Anyway, with this battle out of the way, you feel that something within the Catacombs has changed... has the death of all those Old Guards weakened something? Who knows. Take a look?

<HYBRIDIZATION LAB, ROUND THREE>
Okay, so.

Some context for this.

During the enemy phase update, I left because my brother arrived, and he wanted to play boardgames. This was a blatant lie. Shortly after my departure, the sheets containing both battles were deleted. When I returned from being "afk", I blamed the deletion on my brother, and loaded a backup. Said backup was... actually just a picture of Monika's face.

Cue Monika taking over my Discord, and having a discussion with PitTheAngel, which you can see at the following link: Here!

And now we're here.





You are accosted by...

MONIKA
ASSET_DATA_CORRUPTED

PLAY - world.execute(me); (Mili)



This may or may not change your plans for this combat! The Hybrid is gone. Erased. Monika is here, and she is incredibly dangerous. You'll need to kill her three "Core Files" to stand a chance at properly damaging her, so be ready to fight! Fail, and the game is over it'll be awkward, and also reality itself dies.

No pressure!

Overworld:
Echoss's golems finish up the upper level, including removing the two bedroom windows facing into the new floor addition and replacing them with wall.
And for the sake of finishing off the building materials, they also add the roof on top of the second floor. This doesn't actually show on the roof, but it's essential to building construction.

In the Everground, Pionobot goes over and joins Venia in the Gem fissue, very carefully earthbending several of the darkmatter clusters out of their positions in the rock.

In the Omega Cellblock, Echoss is abruptly returned to his own body after the cheesing of what would normally have been a long and grueling battle. He leans against the wall of the cellblock for a moment and sighs.
Abruptly he jolts upright. He looks around nervously.
"Something doesn't feel right..."
He shakes the feeling and moves out into the main corridor.
"Miss Elem, are you feeling alright? My head's still hurting a bit from the swap."

He also sends a butterfly up into the air, it expends itself to make an announcement to the cellblock as a whole.
"Attention everyone being held in the cells, you are about to be rescued. There are a few things that need to be dealt with first, but once those are dealt with we'll be getting you out of there as quickly as possible. Once you've been released from your cells, look for the Outsider with golden butterflies on their shoulder. I'll be showing you all the way out."
As he says this, two more of his butterflies settle on his shoulders, marking him as the exit guide.

In a corner of the cellblock, another butterfly flutters up to the cell holding the Blossoms. It promptly flings a pair of Paratoxin Shurikens out of the inventory at high speed. They ricochet off the rock inside the cell block and bounce in every direction until finally getting stuck in the floor, all of the creepers blossoms inside having been eliminated.



Thing with wyvern if I get the chance

Toast responds almost immedaitely to Marron's questions about spellcraft.

"I'm sure I can edit it somehow. Plus! You're good at blood magic, right? If this isn't blood magic, I don't know what is.

Her face falls as she remembers that she can't have two arms occupying the same points in space. That is to say, she needs to kill her crystal arm.

"Ah... I've actually been trying to get rid of this thing since I got it. I've tried... well, a lot of things. The problem is it's durable, and regenerates damage as quickly as you can dish it out. Watch."

She flicks a knife between the fingers of her left hand. Levelling it over what looks like a weak point in her crystalline, she strikes. There's a clang, and the blade is left shivering. The new crack in the crystal quickly mends. She laughs hollowly.

"I almost wish that it was covering my vitals, but frankly I'm glad it's far away from those. Anyway, point is that we might not be able to brute force it. Well, maybe. I certainly can't."

She scratches the back of her neck idly, thinking. Her expression becomes thoughtful.

"Come to think of it, though, even though I can't, that doesn't mean no-one can..."

I should be able to replace my blood after this, so I bleed normally again. If I do that... then I don't really need my left arm anymore for blood regulation. I doubt we have enough ritual stuff for two arms. But... maybe I could replace it with something I've been wanting to try for a while.

Battle:

Calibri looks heavily nauseated as assets get obnoxiously corrupted, though that soon settles once he takes a moment to catch some breath. He then sighs, closing his eyes momentarily before reopening them, his gaze focused on a certain intruder.

"...Well, you're a face I wasn't expecting to see again. But I suppose it makes sense... and it's convenient for me, actually. I've got a lot of shit to work out. The kind of shit that only other Metas would understand."

He chuckles bitterly. His eyes are closed again.

"Tell me..."

When Calibri opens his eyes again, they've gone pitch black. Nothing to be too alarmed about, aside from that usually being a sign he's not feeling that happy about things. However, what he says is probably not something those around him would understand.

"Hold on a moment. Better make sure I don't ruin the mood for anyone else."



And now for the actual action.

Outside of spoilerworld, Calibri assembles a Searing Bomb. He then moves to J8 and blasts Nobu in the face with a Confuse Ray, then slides over to K7, leaning against the nearby wall and grinning in a somewhat smug manner.

"Yeah, don't want you just freely smacking things without some kind of consequence."

Dialogue format dump zone

After a brief moment of surprise at the overzealous autowin condition for the battle, Kalis exits the Omega Cell Block.

Then they check the battlemap to see what's- DATA_ASSET_CORRPUTED.

Oh, crap.

Kalis, in their time as an adventurer, has seen more game abstractions than you can shake a ten foot pole at. They have dealt with balance issues and unintuitive rules interactions galore. They have personally bent magic to its breaking point on multiple occasions, hence why they're in this dungeon in the first place. But this is something else, something they had never believed existed. Notes scrawled in occult tomes, tall tales told in darkened taverns, dooms foretold by madmen raving in the streets. Ogres clipping through floors. Monsters with black and purple checkerboards where their skin should be. Exploding dice critting so hard that their damage rolls back around to zero. Swarms of minions so vast that time itself slows down to watch their passage. A gap in the code, a hole in the rules, a spot where the laws of reality cannot hold or cease to function altogether. This is a thing that should not be.

...Not just a thing. A person. Someone has walked beyond the veil and returned stronger than before. Can the laws of reality even touch them anymore? If you prick them, do they take bleed DoT? If you tickle them, will they fall prone and save vs. laughter? If you poison them, will they fall unconscious and require a successful Medicine check to stabilize? If you wrong them- can you even wrong them? Or can they slip the bounds of quantified form altogether and- They have a statblock.

They have a statblock!

It's difficult to read and contains some very worrying lines of text about bending the rules of the game. But it's a statblock all the same. It's got HP and MP, abilities and stats, all the same building blocks that make up every other character. It's quantified. Everything from the conditions in which rule-bending occurs to "glitch" damage as a type is all there in rules text and numbers. Even when faced with the most impossible of circumstances, reality, it seems, will find a way.

And so will players. How does the old adage go? Where there's a will, there's a way? No, not that one. The other one.

"If it exists as a living creature in an MMORPG, someone, somewhere, will try to kill it."

Kalis is no murderhobo, but they've met a few in their time. And they've certainly fought their fair share of puzzle bosses. If it exists, it's flagged as an enemy, and it's not a scripted defeat with a chance for victory later, there's definitely a way to kill it. Sometimes it's a difficult process of trial and error. Sometimes, it's as simple as "kill the adds."

...Sometimes, killing the adds is far from simple. Kalis isn't quite terrified of Monika any more, but they're certainly still intimidated by her. Crafting and then immediately joining a battle in the same "dop" (whatever one of those is) seems to be possible, so they immediately set out making a new piece of gear to improve on their Manabloom.

Hopefully something that gives an extra spell slot. Also hopefully something T5, since they've already got a T6 hat. The MMP increase is sacrificable if need be.

The Manabloom is a flower. To upgrade it, it seems natural to add more flowers. Say, 1 Halobloom and 5 Fractalhead Flowers. 1 Masterwork Spellbook should hopefully serve to provide space for the extra spell slot's spell. 1 Whirlpool Cluster to water it, and 1 Mantle Cluster to plant it in. 3 Sanctified Alloy, that's got flowers etched in it, so close enough. And 4 Roseblight Logs, of course, they're entropic, they're plant-based, and they have a flower in the name.

They light the Roseblight Logs to melt the Sanctified Alloy. The molten metal absorbs the entropic and occult energies from the rosy smoke, which conflicts with its holy nature to produce a suitably erratic mixture. This is poured into a cast to make a flower pot. The Mantle Cluster and Whirlpool Cluster are placed within, forming a bed of self-watering earth. Heavy metal contaminants leach from the pot into the soil, carrying with them the alloy's entropy, causing any flower placed within to absorb the chaotic energies. A pentagram is drawn in the soil, and the Fractalhead Flowers are planted at each point, amplifying the pot's magic. And the Masterwork Spellbook... is shredded. The resulting mulch is added to the soil to seal in moisture and magical energy, hopefully allowing it to serve as a spell pot- Sorry, spell *slot.* And the Manabloom itself is planted in the center, with the Halobloom twined around it, warding against excess chaos to strike the perfect balance between unleashing magical fury and being safe enough to equip.

Kalis equips the resulting item if it's a higher tier than the Manabloom, invests their Skill Point in SKI, and swaps out First Aid for Purify. If that new item gave them an extra spell slot, they will prepare Static Overcharge.

Then they join the Monika battle. They spawn at L18, cast Deep Thinking, and then move straight up to L14.

Well, you already heard Angel's responses to Monika, but not Hoshi's reactions to Author, so let's do those.

Yeah, there's definitely things to catch up on, but we've... got a bit of a thing going on in our battle.
You'll understand rather quickly even if you're not there.

Angel (the M13 one) moves to I10 and uses a basic attack on Nobu, while Hoshi (the H18 one) sprints to K11.

The Corrupted

Well onwards and onwards we will go.

Daskter moves forwards, M15
Special: VETERAN RESERVES activated.
Summons a Katyusha on O15 (Note that the spell list for Splitshot has not yet been updated, but it is updated on the sheet)

Strategic Reserves+Veteran Reserves Interaction! Pioneer is replaced with 3 Star Pioneer.
Pioneer uses Swiftwind Bonus Action on Conscript2
Moves to S14
TRAIT: Displaces Neissence2 to S16
Roast the Neissence! (Basic Attack)

Conscripts moving
(1) to P14, (2) to Q15
Conscript3 appears at Q13
Conscript fire in sequential order at the Neissence2
If Neissence2 is still alive, the leading Conscript1 uses an Elemental Blaster (Electric) to finish it off.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Bhm...#gid=1218425677

Settings:
Basic Attack: Crushing
Splitshot: Fire
Weak: 20% Slashing 20% Crushing
Resist: Random

Nia

After a few uneventful minutes of not getting a bite, Venia discards the rod pretty quickly in the face of the offer of spear fishing. Venia takes a string to the ice javelin, which she ties to her belt, and then chucks the spear in, trying to aim for a moving target.

Her spearing form is less than elegant, to say the least. In fact, she's overextended entirely on her throw, slips, and falls face-first into the water. She pulls herself out rather swiftly, and probably fails to catch a fish.

"... Pffffft!"

Venia suppresses the rest of her chuckle. "...OK, after that, I feel like fishing isn't really a crazy way to spend our time," Venia says. "Excuse me, lemme just, get a towel," Venia adds as she does exactly that, wrapping the towel around herself snugly.

---

Magnolia & Ga'aunt

Venia looks at Magnolia in the inventory and sighs. "Hello, I am Venia Praefortis, de-facto leader of the Spherebreakers, I guess, kinda. Uh, yeah. Apologies for frightening you-I suppose you would have an intrinsic fear of the Keys, especially given your condition.We aren't interested in slaughtering everything, thank goodness. If most of these people weren't long gone, I'd have probably invested more effort into nonlethal solutions, but as it stands, I think you're possibly one of the only ones who might still be, uh, herself, on some level. Uh, in any case..."

Venia grabs Ga'aunt, possibly off of Lukas's hand, and gives it contact with Magnolia. "This is one of your old coworkers, who got shoved in a gauntlet and then shoved in a box. He's been very helpful and very nice, and he would like to talk to you-its been so long and he's forgotten so much."

Cue a dialouge. When its over, Venia has one more question to ask. "By the way... Is there, uh, any way to reverse, uh, becoming a sentient item? I'unno. I wouldn't want to stay being an axe, or a gauntlet, or a staff."

---

Everground

Venia's maid hops down the small cliff and shoves herself into the tight aclove, eager for Diamonds despite possibly being partially made of diamonds and other precious minerals. Her arms, this time, morph into a freaking minigun, which promptly starts firing on the Diamonds. Except they don't' fire bullets, they fire pickaxes, which inexplicably mine the vein into inventory-sizable chucks of stone perfect for all your various miscellanious needs.

---

Rosen Catacombs Cleanup Squadron

Mr. Krabs and the Maid Crew, Slayers of Aesthetic, rip out the two doors in the aptly-labeled Room and further shatter Ire's fragile aesthetic. Mr. Krabs then goes to investigate the moving arm in the southernmost blockage, while the maids cram entire benches into the inventory.

We will certainly not want for Furniture Flinger ammo in the future.

---

Respec, ish

Venia switches out the Chrono Trigger for the Incandescent Key, in ranged mode. She switches out a point in INT to gain a point in STR, giving her 16/20 in stats. Her remaining skillpoint flies into AGI.

Unexisting Force and Awesome Stare both get a mild rebalance from Range 1-3 to Range 2-4 each.

---

Monikammmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Venia activates Thymebent mode. Let's just make that clear.

Venia spawns on O19 with a look roughly equivalent to catching your parents drunk out of their minds; that sad kind of pity and subdued internal despair reserved for the people you looked up to not being as good as you thought.

"... You won't feel better for this, you know. Even if its the right thing to do-and I think you're wrong-all it'll do is make you feel like there's a hollow hole in your chest, the part you dug out by ripping everything to shreds. Been there, done that. I really looked up to you, you know? You went through all of that existential hell and did all those horrible things and then you... Seemed to come out OK! And you helped people. and I was, and still am, really interested in the power of Operation you seem to have, even if its not really at his level. I'd love to see you teach it, if you could. Or maybe you could make an introduction for me?... I'm getting off-track. This is not what you should be doing with your abilities! I was hoping that you were trying to recover, or helping us from the shadows. Guess not.."

"I can't allow this. We can't. If you don't stand down, we'll take you down. Don't make me do anything worse."

Venia mentally praises herself for avoiding overt meta in her dialouge as she moves to P15 and gives Summa a... Damaging Ping?... An interesting choice of move. Which, less than pointlessly, also raises her Smacked meter by a point (it doesn't specify it has to be an enemy attack after all) and gives her Unify, greatly boosting her ability to dodge in the bargain.

Venia then summons something to P13, multicolored mist heralding... What's this? Some draconic humanoid with a lance? No-Marron and Mari recognize this one...

Paranoid summoned! Also known as 'The DarkSide from DTG: Chaos." How interesting. Venia 'retreats' to Q14 to get a better look.

"... Oh. Uh, is this like the big reunion? You look kinda like... Uh, the "Paranoid" Darkside. Or at least, how I envisioned it. Text only recap and all."

Paranoid stats here

Meanwhile, Nia will spawn in and move to N15, and then provide flirtatious dialouges for Summa, Laranei and Bass to spur them upwards. Because they'd otherwise stand on the same tile due to positioning, this may or may not displace Summa to O/M10 while Laranei takes N10 before moving. Bass should just shoot up diagonally. She will then use Glacier Drop on Q6.

Meanwhile, due to ordering things, Marron will receive healing and move to D13. She'll use the sole Distress Beacon in the inventory to spawn Wyvern in on G10, then use Shared Fury on herself and Wyvern, and then retreat to C12, where the Onlooker can't shoot her and has to switch targets, if it lives.

Dorothy... decides not to do any respeccing just yet.

---

Venia's new summon seems to be disoriented a little bit. As if confirming Venia's suspicions, a bulky, black-scaled draconic humanoid wearing a tuxedo forms from the summoning.

PARANOID: Eugh... never want to attempt that again...
PARANOID: Also why do I have a spear? Last I remember I had a sword...
PARANOID: Ah well. This still works, kinda.

The humanoid decides to get their bearings... they notice a number of familiar faces. And the sensation of entropy lingering around the place.

PARANOID: ...Huh, so this is what everyone's been up to.

He glances back at their summoner, and nods.

PARANOID: The one and only, even if this is merely a shade. Your envisioning was accurate, so well done on that. Though...
FEYNSIK: I think I'd prefer to go by my original name, Feynsik, now.
FEYNSIK: The name 'Paranoid' really grates on you the more you hear it, to be honest...

FEYNSIK: I've mostly shown up thanks to a reality breakdown occurring in the area, so I popped in to investigate.
FEYNSIK: ...Albeit in the most roundabout way possible. Might stick around, help out here and there, perhaps.
FEYNSIK: I'll see if I can't decimate the opposition as well, despite being so... limited.

He stands at the ready.

---

Boshi glances over at Toast after she mentions her crystal arm and how she wants to get rid of it.
BOSHI: (Hrm... ever try applying a high amount of constant pressure to a weakpoint? Like with a drill or any other device of the sort?)
BOSHI: (Or even something a little bit janky? Something like spatially displacing the crystal shell or something.)
BOSHI: (Iunno, just spitballing.)

---

MU doesn't exactly know what to do here, so she grabs an Amphiii Trophy from the inventory and swings over to the nearby wall, sticking a turret onto it. She uses both the turret and the weapon itself to blast away one of the leftmost Harpy.

Nidra Power Naps the Pioneer, passes her pillow to Arthur, plays Soft Chord: Celerity from the pillow, moves to Q9, and casts Psycho Link from Keiko to Monika.

-1 SPC, +1 HP, +Elementalist: Worshipper.

---

Lukas somehow hears reality being slightly broken. The sound leads him to the Hybridization Lab, where a large, horrifying rift has been made.

He instinctively points the Key at the figures in front of it.

"I don't know who you are, but I know that you have to go."

---

Lukas spawns at L18, moves to L13, and charges up Ordo.

Auth chuckles at Nana's comment about his attitude towards Morphs. It's kind of sad that his opinion is a minority.

AUTH: Well, morphing isn't easy, despite how they probably make it look. I can't say for certain, since mine stems from a different source, but I imagine it's a lot of difficult and painful training to be able to morph.
AUTH: It's just like any other expert in something. They have a lot of expertise in what they do and I think that's something that deserves respect.
AUTH: Although, since we are technically both weird morphs, we have that in common and that's just neat. Ehehe.

Auth nods to Omo, at her suggestion about returning to her when the energy returns.

AUTH: It sounds like the most logical thing to do. I'll be sure to do that.
AUTH: I expect to be in a more stable state soon...

Auth smiles to Nana, glad he has the thumbs up from her to conduct their little experiment.

AUTH: Nana, we'll have to go off again sometime soon, mm? For now, we should probably go and deal with Magnolia...

----

In Cellblock Omega, now that the battle is over, Auth walks around to as many cells with a Chairian in it as he can. One by one, he opens them. Seems like he's concerned about actually making sure all of these people are okay. He also gives them an Assorted Chairian Weapon once they're free. There's more than enough to go around, and it gives them all a way to protect themselves in this dangerous area.

AUTH: Hi, I'm here to help get you out. I can't throw the switch for now, unfortunately, since there's Blossoms and Netwyrm heads about. It's gonna have to be the old-fashioned way of opening cells, so please bear with us.

After a while, everyone should be free. Auth defers to Echoss, of course, but makes a comment towards the newly-rescued Chairians.

AUTH: Um... hi. I would just like to quickly add that the area is not safe yet. I would recommend that you all start to fortify this area and wait here until you get the go-ahead to escape. That might not be for a while, you'll want to do something to protect yourself in the meantime.

With that out of the way, Auth steps back outside... and then clutches his chest. Seems all systems are on. With a spark of lightning around his body, Auth quickly returns to normal. Not in the awfully drawn out process of transforming to, either.

AUTH: I suppose that's a thing... I should see Omo.
AUTH: I still feel that energy in my hands...

Auth's thoughts are interrupted, though, by reality crashing.

----

AUTH: I certainly felt it, Hoshi. Something big just happened. If you'll hold the line, I'll be on my way.

Auth arrives in short order, to see Monika back, and also Hoshi and Marron trapped within a lot of Thyme Matter. And a naughty Niessence in the perfect place to harass them. So, Auth spawns on J19, flies next to Marron on G19, and casts Purity, and Clerical Error, on Niessence1. He then offers an Eterna Remedy to Marron.

AUTH: Beat them up, Marron. You've got it.

Auth also cycles out his special for;

Special: Daylight
Revive a dead Ally anywhere in the current battle at 50% HP, and give them +25% DMG for the next two turns.
Alternatively, deal (13-13) Light damage to a target in Range 1-6, and reduce their damage by 25%. Costs 100 SP to use. May be used up to thrice in one turn.

(please scale)
-1 Cost per SPC. (Minimum of 75 SP.)
DMG scales with SPC!
+5% Revival HP per 3 SPC and 3 INT.
+5% DMG boost/reduce on revive/damage per 4 SPC.
Cut with Moonlight at 15 SPC. (Whenever you use this special, gain Lucky10 for 3 rounds. Whenever you target an ally with this special, they gain Lucky10 for 3 rounds. Whenever you target an enemy with this special, they are inflicted with Unlucky10 for 3 rounds.)

Realizing her previous targets are suddenly... gone, Laranei stands around in confusion for a few moments, before frowning and looking for something else to torch. After all, the best way to deal with unexpected inconveniences is to set them on fire.

After conversing with one of her teammates - Wyvern - for a bit, they come up with a plan! Which she sets in motion after Nia relocates her! She moves to O7, casts Ignublight on one of the enemies - Keiko - to help in torching them, and then tosses a cinderfruit at them, just to be sure.

Oh, and she craft another Crystal Bomb Shell, for future use.

Wyvern first asks Marron to upgrade his plush to T5, letting her make all the upgrade decisions. After equipping it, and putting a skill point into STR, he's spawned into battle.

He double strains then eats a burrito before popping special. Usually I'd do some small descriptive bit here pertaining to Wyvern's backstory, but the GMs are the only ones who read these blank posts anyway. He then moves to J7 and attacks Nobu.

At the Hybridization Lab...

Alright... This was the moment Tsar'ina's been waiting for! This was-

... ... ...

Tsar'ina felt... Strange. Some sort of emotion made her wander up to L10, though she couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was. Tsar'ina sorta papped her cheeks, focusing and getting back into the fighting spirit. The Summa picked up her sword and looked around, seeing Nobu, Keiko, Patch, and Monika. Though Monika would normally be her first choice, something told her that this new challenger was something to not be trifled with alone. Instead, she would play eeny meeny with the others until landing on Nobu. Tsar'ina grabbed a Pocket Warmer and used on her Silver Maria, to enchant it into the Scorching Maria. She picked up her now flaming sword, gearing up to use her eldest sister's greatest technique!

KAIS'ARA'S CLASH!!!

Tsar'ina ran over next to Nobu at J6, giving every ounce of power she had into this attack. She spun the Scorching Maria around as she finally unleashed Kais'ara's Clash!

"IN HER HONOR!"



EZ 2 Read Info:

Summa starts at L10. Uses Pocket Warmer on herself, uses Kais'ara's Clash. Moves to J6 and attacks Nobu and those in range with Kais'ara's Clash

Pope Bill moves to J13. He uses his trait to mark L11 with Eye of Providence, then casts Sword Beam. Finally, he basic-attacks the Onlooker and retreats to I12 afterwards!