Auth thinks... shrugging.

AUTH: Ah, well... mm, it's hard to describe. I think I have it written down somewhere...

On the empty bottle of Eterna Remedy is written the effect, just like in the Inventory. What a fortunate coincidence! Auth just shows her that instead... easiest way to go about it.

AUTH: On that topic, though, I think we could use another shot of the stuff... I hope it's not a bother.

Auth nods, watching the Fluxblood change colour and swirl around in Lutea's hands.

AUTH: I'm not exactly sure what it is, personally... I'd be impressed if you could find out.
AUTH: Wait, no, it came from that Husk thing... not that we know what that is in reality...
AUTH: Or maybe the others do. I don't. It's kind of frustrating.
AUTH: I'm very curious to see what you can do with it...

Auth nods, as Lutea walks away to stach the stuff. Auth smiles happily as Nana grabs his hands... he isn't sure if Nana has done that before. He nods, quietly, to her question.

AUTH: Sure thing. I can say, it's not a problem. I understand being a bit embarrassed to say...
AUTH: I'm not sure if I'd be able to say it to my sister, although she'd press me about it to get it out of me anyway... haha.

Auth firmly, but gently, holds Nana's hands in return. Auth gently brings his hands back to his side when Lutea gets back, after Nana lets go. He chuckles, quietly, as Lutea comments on how blushy Nana is right now.

AUTH: Hehe. Well, that's the thing... everything's alright with her, promise.
AUTH: Actually, things have been more than alright! Very, very alright...
AUTH: Because, well... the thing is... well...

Auth takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. Seems like he's having a little trouble saying it too...

AUTH: Nana and I are... kind of a thing.
AUTH: A special thing, y'know?
AUTH: ...We're... dating, that'd be right...
AUTH: So... that would probably explain all the blushing. She's okay, I promise.

----

At the same time, and yet a totally different time, Auth flies over to the baths, spawning in on C9 and casting his Special, Daybreak, on all three of the Wildcards. One shot each.

House stuff:

Calibri inspects the new sword. He seems intrigued by it, giving it a few test swings in the air to check the weighting. Does he need to do that, like, at all? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, he evidently approves.

"Nice. I... now feel like an idiot for having already respecced earlier, cause this would probably be more comfortable to use. Maybe I could just..."

Calibri opens his character sheet, staring at the stat arrangement for a moment.

"...hmm... Actually, that works out quite well. Bit of stat shuffling, and..."

Calibri: equip Comantem Surrexerunt, -1 SKI, -1 AGI, +1 STR, +1 INT

"There. That should..."

Calibri nods in approval at having found a way to resolve things, then briefly seems to have a bit of anxiety about something. One deep breath in, one deep breath out... He promptly turns around, wanders over to Chloe, and hugs her.

Has he ever hugged anyone before? Probably not. It might be worth noting he feels a bit... non-physical. And a bit like a cool midsummer's breeze, somehow.

"...Heh... Thanks for the gift, Chloe. I'll be sure to put it to good use alongside you."

If one ignores his slight case of nerves, that probably went about as smooth for him as it could ever go. He soon lets go of the hug, just standing off to one side for now. Which means it's time for sword dialogue! Sol Aeterna's... "region where the eye came from" shifts slightly as though trying to nod, then the sword hums.

"As requested, as shall be done. In the same order as I originally stated, of course. You already see my sword form, no need to repeat, but for the others..."

The blade and hilt of the gladius swiftly turn to dust, revealing a strange glowing spherical object encased in some kind of metal, swirling with what is definitely some type of ambient fire energy. That object looks familiar... The dust promptly reforms, shifting about to take on the shape of a warhammer. Up to interpretation whether it's the comical "big smack device" hammer of fantasy, or a more realistic look.

"Hammer. This form should be fairly obvious as to how it is used. I hope."

The hammer shape remains for a while to let Chloe take in the design, then turns to dust and reforms once again, this time into what's probably best described as a very long spear. Was it originally part of the design to have those two bits jutting out to the side half-way along? Probably not, but sentience does strange things.

"Lance. I took some liberty with the design. Historically, one weakness of a spear is that it's difficult to remove from a target after impaling it into them, resulting in some instances of mortally wounded combatants marching along the shaft of the spear to attack its wielder. I would not want that to happen to a wielder of mine."

After that bit of exposition, there's another shift. This time, into whip form. What can really be said here? Whips are handles with strings attached.

"Whip. Strangely counterintuitive to what I read of... someone's designs. Surely a whip would have long single-target range, not short multi-target range? No matter. It serves a niche."

One more time. This last form takes on the very stereotypical shape of a 3d star. You probably know the kind already. It also blatantly features that glowing spherical object in the middlemost section of the star...

"Star. This form is... interesting. I will need more time to understand it, but it feels quite natural. Easier to change to, so to speak. Perhaps I should develop this form further in my own time... Regardless, I hope you enjoyed that presentation."

Sol Aeterna rests for now, though could probably change forms again to suit whatever would register as coolest to be in.


And then there's Taeda, who's being so adorably cute that EN makes a possibly-not-that-uncharacteristic squeeing noise.

"Cuuuuute~"

Beat.

"Eheh... Ya might wanna give those there guns a testfire or two. Coul' prolly go convert th' duelin' hut int' a firin' range fer a while. Ain't like it's bein' used fer duelin'..."

==BATTLE==
In the Labyrinthine Chamber, Crystal spawns at O8, moves up to K6, and basic-attacks the Old Guard, followed by a War Scythe attack, also on the Old Guard. Using the movement from War Scythe, he moves to J5 and ends turn.

He also politely requests that Mari enter the Chamber and try her best to eliminate the Effigies.

RP - Auth

"Oi, Auth! I think we finally got a break from action for once, so I was thinkin' now's a good time to try an' bring Piggo back."

The Ork was holding a small, pig-sized metal box. "I kept wot I was able to find of 'im in the fridge, by the way. Figured it'd be best if he was in good condition before we did this."

Though, Irongutta appeared confused. "Wot are we gonna 'ave to do to revive Piggo, anyways? I may 'ave worked with a dok or two in my time, but I don't know wot goes on in the 'eads of those crazy gits!"

RP - Magnolia!

Irongutta then passes by the Christmas Tree in the house. He glances at it for a moment as he is walking, but comes to a stop when a thought crosses his mind: Magnolia can't really open her gift on her own, can she?

"Say, I actually got one more gift, Magnolia. 'Ere, lemme open it up for ya!"

Grabbing the rectangular red box from under the tree, he begins to open it in Magnolia's stead. Lifting the gift out of the box with both hands, he presents a deep blue silk sash. "I know I just gave ya a new coat of paint an' all that, but I felt an accessory couldn't hurt either! Plus it ought to bring ya good luck. Since yer an axe, I was just gonna have ya wear it like this."

Irongutta proceeded to gently wrap the sash around her grip, ensuring it was tied on well. He left a fair bit of the sash's length unwrapped, because everyone knows long, flowing lengths fabric are incredibly stylish.

"I hope ya like it! Now then, let's get outta 'ere. There's work to be done and gits to be stomped!"

Battle: The Labyrinthine Chamber

Irongutta spawns in at O8 and moves into the tunnels at K8. There, he casts Fury on himself and Crystal.

Pope Bill opens his gift! Next, he chooses Stimpackfor his Preparedness trait. He waits...

<ROUND TWO-HUNDRED AND SIX>

As per usual, we begin with stats.

---

Leaf pilfers some gifts! First, she tends to the box from Nia, facetanking the scent of the package. After ripping apart the box, she finds two tightly coiled balls of... something. It's... definitely fragrant, that's for sure! Nia, noticing the sudden influx of awful, heads on over.

NIA: Oh, hey! That's the thing I got for you!
NIA: Merry Christmas!
NIA: It's like... Yggcrawler Bait! I call it "Crawly Crunch"!
NIA: I know it works, because one chased me halfway across the woods, trying to take it from me.
NIA: This'll make sure you always have a friend!

Nia gives Leaf a hug, before skipping off to do other things. Storing the fragrant mess in the Inventory, Leaf decides to tend to the gift from Echoss. It's significantly more normal of a present. In the box, they find... a small plushie of a spider. It's a cutie! A quick tap of the spider reveals that it's full of Spiralfloof Floofballs, making it exceptionally cuddly! Spider Plushie obtained! Also, there's a note.

"Hello Miss Leaf, I hope you find this something useful. I mostly made this on a hunch, hopefully it turns out to be a good one.

-Echoss"

Meanwhile, a random thing fills in for Ziah, and asks for Marron to go and make the Shatterpoint Catalyst, then throws together the Soul Charm. This is actually a bit of catch up, as he never actually made the items properly! Marron happily(?) accepts 100 Credits (she wants cash, okay), while the Soul Charm takes a Hypnotic Orb(?), 2 Rosetainted Metal, an Electrum Ingot, and 2 Rubies.

In addition, some random person falls though... some weird black spacetime shattering storm, slamming into a patch of forest not too far from the House. While for many a mundane party, this would be a large, earth-shattering event, for people like Ette, it's a Tuesday. (Actually, I'm writing this part of the post on a monday, but shhhh.) Despite the commonality of these sorts of events, she decides to venture out to find the source of the noise. She's quite surprised to come upon a boy.

ETTE: Hi?
ETTE: Um, are you okay?

...The ex-puppet promptly facepalms.

ETTE: O-Of course you're not okay!
ETTE: Here, I'll help! Don't worry!

Ette lays the male out along the ground, pulling out a variety of medical tools. She immediately gets to work, bandaging his wounds and casting restorative magic on his deeper gashes. She's silent as she works, not knowing if her target's conscious or not. Maybe he'll gain consciousness soon, and they can have a chat? Who knows.

---

Echoss and Chloe continue their chat. The president of the Echo Collective thanks the swordswoman for her kind words, and notes that he wouldn't mind just chatting with her for a moment. Chloe claps her hands together gently, smiling.

CHLOE: Cool!
CHLOE: So, uh...

The blonde ponders possible subjects for a moment. Her eyes pop open the moment a proper topic formulates in her mind.

CHLOE: If you're cool with talking about work... what's the Echo Collective like?
CHLOE: Like... maybe not the inner workings of the company, but the people?
CHLOE: Or like, the planet it's situated on, yeah.
CHLOE: Is it a nice place to live?

CHLOE: ...And now I'm making myself homesick.
CHLOE: Eheheheh~

Elsewhere, around the Fortified Farm, a butterfly floats in and transforms into a hologram of Echoss. The figure dressed in armor resembling that of a samurai stares at the hologram, saying nothing. He then pulls out a radio. It seems to be a somewhat sophisticated device, with a long-ranged transmitter and a keypad with a dim red backlight. He can somewhat make out what he's saying...

???: Enemy defensive detail confirmed.
???: Unknown number of hostiles.
???: Artillery, standby for assault plan B.

The other rebels around him grow uneasy. While that's going on, one of his golems sneaks into the farm, and begins to harvest material. 4 Eterna Flowers, 4 Spiritblossoms, 4 Tornadopetals, 3 Cinderfruit, 6 Lumipods, 40 Uniform Logs, and 40 Fresh Manabloom (+40 seeds) are looted from the farm. This was definitely noticed, but it seems like the game's kind enough to let you have this last harvest. Anyway, the Rebels remain on standby, the deafening silence of unease filling the air.

Meanwhile, in the Everground, Pionobot applies some bandages to himself, recovering (8) HP. He then grabs the Exhibition's corpse, and yeets it into his inventory. Guess its safe, somehow.

---

Mustache Girl ropes down to Pionobot. Some bandages are then applied, handily curing what's left of his injuries. She also considers hacking apart the Exhibition, but as its in Pionobot's inventory, maybe she should ask first? It'd be polite.

---

The Reflector elaborates on their abilities a bit. Namely, they can't copy Nia's powers, as they're something that Nia's personally memorized or learned. Nia nods.

NIA: Huh, alright!
NIA: So, like... if I had really long claws, you could copy those, and claw things?
NIA: I mean, that's probably how it works. That's cool, though!

NIA: ...Also, why do you refer to yourself in the third person?
NIA: It's kinda quirky. Nia likes it!

The cyanette giggles, promptly forgetting that the battlefield isn't really the place to hold a conversation. Not that she'd care, anyway.

---

JOE returns to the field. He takes a look outside. These hooligans, the rebels. Who do they think they are? Threatening his harvest! Why, he's been here the whole time he's been AFK, watching over his crops! And they DARE overstep their bounds? The rebels, he thinks, need to GET OFF HIS LAWN!

To accomplish that, he does a few things. He gives the Harvest Golem tazer claws. While this seems rather helpful in theory, all the Harvest Golem knows is farming. It can now however, electrocute pests that attack the crops! Which will probably damage the crops, so that's not great. What's actually helpful though, is getting his assassin drones in the forest to prepare for combat!

He then also attempts some pre-battle actions- namely, summoning a group of illusions, acting as panicked farmers! They "flee" towards the Rebels. The samurai figure stares them down as they approach. Without a word, he pulls out his two... empty sword hilts. They're made of Gaiameld, and seem to be attached canisters of fluid upon his gauntlets via silvery tubes. There's a hole where the blades should be.

He swings towards both illusions with the bladeless hilt. A spray of some sort of oil spews out the end, which immediately ignites as it leaves the hilt. An arc of flame incinerates both of the illusions, which promptly launch blasts of light at the samurai. These blasts are blown apart with two arcs of flame, one from each of his "sword hilts". He calmly speaks into his radio.

???: Hostiles are beginning to make a move.
???: Prepare for a potential engagement with defensive detail.

...Seems like there'll be a battle, but it looks like they're not exactly moving in on the farm. They have mortars, though.

Oh dear.

- = S T R I F E ! = -

---

Malik climes up a rope. This is somewhat nauseating, but crossing into the second layer seems to make it less painful. They only take (4) damage, before tending to themselves for (7) HP.

---

Auth chats with Lutea. He asks for a bottle of Eterna Remedy. She swiftly heads back into the biodome, and returns with a bottle of the stuff. She hands it to Nana, who slots it into the inventory.

LUTEA: Here you go!
LUTEA: Just for you two, it's on the house!
LUTEA: Consider it thanks for all the help you've given me!

He then mentions to Lutea that he's been dating her sister. Lutea immediately becomes flush with green, much like Nana just has. That emerald blush must run in the family.

LUTEA: H-Huh?
LUTEA: Y-You picked up a g-guy?
LUTEA: And h-he's not even a Chairian, either...

Despite her worry, she loosens up soon enough.

LUTEA: Well, I'm not sure what to think of a human and a Chairian, together...
LUTEA: But, if you two are happy together, that's great!
NANA: S-So you're fine with us being t-together?
LUTEA: Huh? Of course I'm fine with it.
LUTEA: I'd be happy for you, even if you picked up a Tabletopian!
NANA: O-Oh, good!
NANA: I was worried you'd disapprove of us, b-but...
NANA: Well, I guess I didn't need to worry!

Nana too, loosens up. She breathes sigh of relief.

LUTEA: So...
LUTEA: How'd you two meet? I'd love to hear about it.
LUTEA: It's unheard of, you know! A Chairian and a human, together...

Maybe it's story time? Or maybe Auth would like to keep to business, or wrap things up. Who knows?

---

Calibri thanks Chloe for the gift, pulling her into a hug. She wasn't quite expecting the hug, her face going flush. She's confused as to whether she should shove him away due to having already rejected him once, or if she should just go with it. Obviously, she chooses the latter.

CHLOE: U-Um, you're welcome!
CHLOE: I know you'll put it to good use!

Once he breaks off, she gets to watch Sol Aeterna transform a few times! First, to a hammer, then a lance, then a whip, and finally, a star of sorts. The swordswoman admires each and every form, trying to consider how to best slash / stab / smash foes with them.

CHLOE: Ah! You're really impressive!
CHLOE: Obviously, I'm biased towards the gladius, because I like the weight and feel of the shorter blade...
CHLOE: ...but y'know, I've always wanted to try out a different weapon!
CHLOE: Maybe it'd be fun to try out a lance...

If she wasn't holding her before, Chloe picks up Sol Aeterna. Seems like she's quite interested in the weapon! Meanwhile, elsewhere around the house, EN squees over Taeda's guns akimbo. Sure, it's not the traditional sort of "cute", but there's something to be said about a small priestess with small guns. The priestess blushes, not saying anything. Up until EN suggests that she go to the Dueling Hut to try out her new armaments.

TAEDA: H-Hm? I guess I could.
TAEDA: It'd be good practice, so I don't see why not.
TAEDA: You can come watch, if you want!

Taeda runs off to south of the house, props up a sandbag using a conjured wooden pillar, then begins opening fire upon it. She's not very good at handling the recoil of her new SMG, but the pistol seems to be just fine for her. Wait, should magical guns even have recoil?

---

Irongutta grabs his gift for Magnolia! While perhaps Magnolia would've been happier to have been sent through the box to unwrap it, she's still overjoyed to receive a gift! The blue sash within the box is tied around her grip.

MAGNOLIA: Ah! It's cozy!
MAGNOLIA: Thank you for the present, Mr. Irongutta!

MAGNOLIA: Y'know, nobody's ever given me a gift before!
MAGNOLIA: Besides Father, of course!
MAGNOLIA: Wonder where he is? I wanna gift him, too!

Magnolia obtains a +1 to CRT due to the luck-enhancing sash. Seems like she's rearing to go and smash some "gits" as he calls them.

---

The game realizes it skipped over Tazz's post, so it goes and does that! Venia asks Bass if he'd be cool with exploring his memories. He shrugs.

BASS: i mean, i guess it'd be cool
BASS: if you wanna, we can
BASS: i'm not really in a hurry at the moment, so if you have anything better to be doing, go do that

Maria then decides to go open her present! Inside the brightly colored paper, she finds a... handgun! It's named the Grot Blasta, and... look, it's essentially a Glock. Maria is now the proud owner of a Glock. It's even loaded, too! Fortunately for Maria (and others in the area), the safety is... non-existent! Oh boy.

Then, in the new structure to the right of the House, Venia meets up with Mari, saying they should stop goofing around, and just trigger the thing. Mari nods as she heads over to the terminal, entering her credentials.

MARI: About time.
MARI: Let's get this show on the road then!
MARI: Switch, on!

Instead of flicking a switch, Mari slams a big red button located smack in the center of the keyboard for some reason. Immediately, warning lights flicker to life on the machine. Mari takes a few steps back, leaning against the back wall. She motions for Venia to join her.

MARI: Okay, so...
MARI: Rebooting the Sleuth, take... one!
MARI: This machine is about to get really gorillaing hot.
MARI: That processor you gave me is strong, but it takes immense amounts of power... and emits massive amounts of heat!
MARI: Like, literally eighty percent of this machine is coolant systems, because SOMEBODY didn't include a mysterious liquid coolant unit with their fancy CPU!
MARI: Thanks, Creation. Very cool-

There's a sparking as the back of the computer suddenly sets itself ablaze, plumes of dark smoke beginning to fill the room. Mari, hardly even phased, puts on a gas mask, and calls in her drones. Seems they're equipped with fire suppression units. They immediately begin to suppress the fire.

MARI: Maybe the machine should've been eighty-five percent coolant systems.
MARI: Whatever. I expected this.
MARI: You're a water transcendent-y chick now, right?
MARI: Help me extinguish this stuff!
VENIA: Uh, is this thing, y'know, uh, waterproof?
VENIA: I mean, uh, I guess you wouldn't even suggest it if it, like, weren't, so.

Venia points her hand at the fires, and after a few seconds of nothing happening, opts to instead just slam her body onto the fire instead, splashing into water on-impact and smothering a great deal of it instantly. Venia reforms swiftly, clutching her chest and surrounded by smoke.

VENIA: OK that wasn't very pleasant at all ow ow ow hot hot hot

Even with Venia searing herself, the fires are soon suppressed. Mari breathes a raspy sigh of relief through the filters on her mask. Then, a whole new shiny type of warning light begins to glow on the computer! On the left side of the machine, where the tank containing the Sleuth's head is, the "flesh" begins to convulse. It begins to rapidly clone itself, slowly forming a torso. Then arms, and ever so slowly, legs.

MARI: Hey, I think it's working!
MARI: Never thought that "rebooting" him would look this disgusting, though...
MARI: Guess organic programs are kinda freaking weird, aren't they?

The program continues to whir and run, with various other smaller fires breaking out upon the machine. Mari calmly suppresses the fires as they break out, much like how an oppressive regime would snuff out protests. Despite Mari's best efforts though, the room's getting incredibly hot- Mari's clothes are already soaked with sweat, and odds are Venia's would be as well, if she wasn't already a water transcendent.

The Sleuth continues to slowly condense within the tank to the left. Apparently, his clothes are a part of the regeneration process. It also seems that he's moderately conscious now. He presses his face against the glass of his regenerative tank. Interestingly, the glass is glowing red-hot...

THE SLEUTH: The Sleuth screams incredibly violently as he flails against the glass.
MARI: You're doing neither of those things.
MARI: And... wait, are you done regenerating?
THE SLEUTH: He considers responding, but his lungs and entire body are currently being fried by superheated air.
THE SLEUTH: So he cannot.
MARI: ...I'm not letting you out until you answer me like a normal person.
THE SLEUTH: The Sleuth attempts to communicate to Mari that this is just how he speaks, and to please let him out, because everything is burning.
THE SLEUTH: However, as his lungs have melted, his pleas fall on deaf ears-
MARI: please stop talking

Mari commands her drones to ram the glass, shattering it into thousands of pieces. She then grabs the Sleuth, yanks him free of the bundles of wires that he's attached to, and escapes the blisteringly hot computer room. Venia too, is dragged out by the arm. Mari slams the door shut behind her, before basking in the comparatively cool air just outside of the computer room...

MARI: I... I think we did it.
MARI: Thank gorilla.

MARI: You're not going to melt suddenly, right?
THE SLEUTH: Without warning, the Sleuth suddenly dissolves into a pile of sludge.
MARI: gorilla.

The Sleuth does not transform into a pile of sludge. What does turn into a pile of sludge though, is the computer. Or rather, it turns into a pile of coolant, and fast-flying shards, as the whole thing explodes, launching flaming debris throughout the room. The sheer force of the blast ends up destroying multiple walls and spreading ash everywhere.

MARI: gorilla gorilla gorilla
THE SLEUTH: The Sleuth considers raising a question about what's going on, why he's not dead, and why the room behind him is now on fire, but he supposes he can wait.
THE SLEUTH: He remains silent.
MARI: PLEASE SHUT UP.

Mari immediately gets to suppressing the fires. However, it seems like the Sleuth's survived his ordeal! You may want to check up on him... and consider conscripting him. Also maybe put out the fire, otherwise your house may become crispy-fried. That might be a slight inconvenience.

---

Pope opens a gift! The gift box spontaneously combusts, much like the computer from one post up. The gift inside is totally fine though, being the Creeping Flesh! He now has two weapons to choose from. Maybe he should try both?

---

Summa tends to her gifts! First comes the one from Marron, which reveals a scarf, much like the one she has right now. This one has metallic plates woven into it, a gentle layer of frost upon its surface. It's actually quite cool to the touch. There's also a note with it.

"Hey. I wanted to get you something, but I wasn't sure what you'd like. So, I got you a new scarf! I know you don't deal with the cold well, so it should help with that. Despite the frost on it, it should help you stay toasty, anyway! Enjoy, and merry Christmas!

-Marron"

Onto the second present! In the somewhat square package from Venia, Summa pulls out a brand new sword! Or... a sheathe? Summa sticks her sword into the sheathe, which immediately enchants her sword with immense magical power! This upgrades it into the Sterling Maria! How shiny! She'll still need to equip it manually, though.

---

Chloe decides to go and open her presents! Mostly because there's this sense of impending doom she's getting. Death flags. But not for her. The tree. She crouches down near the tree, and retrieves two presents- one from Venia, and one from Echoss! She hops backwards onto the couch, placing the one from Venia on her lap. Using her blade much like a potato peeler on the vegetable that is the present, she finds the Mind-Clearing Bracelet! Eagerly, she slips it on. Knowing that Venia's around, she decides to thank her personally.

CHLOE: Oh, Venia! Thank you so much!
CHLOE: Like, for the gift, and... everything!
CHLOE: You're great to be around, you saved Nia, and... well, I'm not sure where we'd be without you!
CHLOE: I don't think I can thank you enough for everything, really...
CHLOE: Merry Christmas!~

With that out of the way, she returns to the couch, and eagerly sets the present from Echoss upon her lap. She decides to open this one by hand, carefully peeling away the paper to find a curious little orb. Something that you might put onto a keychain, maybe? Confused, she looks at the provided note. According to it, the orb is something that'll enable her to continue casting magic outside of the Thymefield! It's also somewhat stylish. She also goes out of her way to thank Echoss.

CHLOE: Oh, heya!
CHLOE: Thank you for the gift!
CHLOE: It's really thoughtful of you to give me something that'll be more of use when I get back to my normal life!

CHLOE: ...It's really felt like a long time since I've been home.
CHLOE: I know I saw my mom like, yesterday, but...
CHLOE: I can't help but feel kinda homesick, y'know?
CHLOE: Now's maybe not the time for this, though.
CHLOE: Merry Christmas, Echoss!

She gives him a quick hug, before skipping off to do whatever it is she does in her spare time. Which is fortunate, because it allows me to slide a new character into frame: Omo! She's already retrieved her gift, this one from Echoss. She slides a small sliver of wood inside the wrapping paper, which promptly expands inside of it to shear the package. The librarian lifts a crystal-crafted dreamcatcher out of the box. Reading the provided note, she soon learns that this dreamcatcher is literally able to catch bad dreams! She quickly thanks Echoss.

OMORIKA: You are far too polite, sir Echoss.
OMORIKA: Thank you for the present. I am hopeful that it'll give me respite at night.
OMORIKA: You have my gratitude.

She curtsies toward him, before returning to work. The new portion of the house needs painting, and her summons are the most efficient way to do it! Elsewhere, off-frame, on the roof of the house, Bass has already unwrapped his present from Venia, and is randomly swinging it around. While the duchess might not know it, he's quite happy with his new scimitar. Especially since it's leveled his Attack to Tier 4!

Actually, he's holding two scimitars, spinning around and probably pretending that he's one of those Chairian Bladedancers. It'd also probably explain why he's dizzy, and why he's fallen off the roof just now. He's okay, don't worry. Then there's an explosion. This isn't related at all to Bass falling off the roof, but because R-8733 used a small breaching charge on his present from Irongutta. One that's weak enough to lightly damage the wrapping paper, allowing him to easily rip the rest of it apart. He finds a bag of ground-down, shimmering crystals.

He knows instantly what they're good for. He pulls out a hand grenade, pours some of the powder into it, and yeets it outside. A radiant blast of light releases itself from the grenade, a beautiful glimmer of light raining down from where the grenade landed. Having witnessed majesty, he quickly visits his master, Irongutta.

R-8733: Master! Thank you for the regent!
R-8733: I shall make our enemies look fabulous as they explode!
R-8733: It is the perfect gift!

Seems like he's excited to commit warcrimes, but in a shiny and family-safe method. Which means that he's not committing warcrimes. Just normal crimes, but they're shiny. Which makes them morally justifiable, and also cool!

Anyway, with those gifts out of the way, all the NPC's have looted their presents! And because of that, in just a few days, the Christmas Tree will explode! Unclaimed gifts will be moved to the inventory at the time the tree explodes. I hope you enjoyed this (really long) Christmas event!

---

<LABYRINTHINE CHAMBER, ROUND TWO>
Things seem to be going well enough, but the Old Guard in the back is summoning Damned! If you don't bonk him on the head, odds are he'll keep summoning them, making traversing these caves a huge pain! See if you can at least pester him! Also, watch for the Old Guards with Ordo. They'll ruin your life.

<RUINED BATHS, ROUND TWO>
Plenty of foes remaining. While most of them have had their damage neutered, those Electric Blossoms will deal a lot of damage if they connect with you while in the water! And the Shardnados promise to deal a lot of damage if you don't deal with them in a timely fashion! Tread lightly!

<FORTIFIED FARM, ROUND ONE>
...This'll be an interesting encounter. Not many Rebels, but that mysterious Samurai has the potential to hit hard! There's also an oppressive ranged presence, too. You'll need to take initiative here, and move in on their lines! Fail that, and they might just bombard those pillars in the back you need to defend! Good luck!

Angel, returning from a temporary hiatus, searches for the presents she apparently has and adds the following as stats:

+1 MMP
+1 AGI
+2 INT
+2 SPC

JOE sees the scenario before them and starts immediately jotting down notes. not one to waste effort, they also start a Crafting attempt; the notes are being written on ordinary paper with a crystal pen, and they get infused with a little bit of magic before being tossed into the inventory. Crafting is all the notes for before. I thought this was an amusing idea- make a crafting attempt out of planning- but if you disagree, feel free to ignore it. if its a valid attempt, I want to make some kind of consumable. maybe one to guarantee good rolls? influence enemy movements for planning? dunno.

If both the top and bottom approaches are taken care of, JOE spawns at D12 and moves to G12, then uses Illusory Trap to make an illusion at I14 and I10. The I14 illusion (and some hand-movements from JOE) depict him casting a Terraform-varient, thrusting his hand towards there, causing a shimmering and rumbling in the air, followed by something the spell failing and a reproduction of what a failing cloaking device would look like, making it look like he tried to shield a camoflauged vital support and it failed because he can't terraform that type of tile. The other illusion pretends to decloak alongside the other support in a chain reaction. Both then become simple illusory traps which look like vital supports.
the intent is for them to draw Ashstorm fire.
else If Verdana exists and is attacking along the bottom, JOE will move E3 to K5, sips some goneblossom tea, then make an Illusory Trap (double, mobile, and super) at M4 and M3, where the Traps take the apparent form of Verdana (mostly because they have skirmisher, though as a side effect this might make the other rebels hesitant to target Verdana in the near future) and... I dunno, wyvern? while flying? The point here is for the illusion to be believable. Both illusions act like they're winded.
else JOE moves from E21 to L20(yes this accounts from ZOC, take a detour through rubble) and casts an Illusory Trap on M21 and M22, where the traps are again wyvern and verdana illusions.

For both 'pretend its a person' illusion casts, JOE attempts to make the illusion visible a fair distance behind his location, so it can be seen as running there and not popping into existance, as a purely visual and non-mechanical effect.

(Oh jeez, been a while since I posted...)

Tsar'ina, after taking an unusually long nap, decided to go and redeem her two presents from the... Wherever she got them from, she didn't bother checking.

Play Valor (Enlightened)
Last Dream the Heart Wildcard with Cuteness Overload.
Power Nap Nia.

Bow Kid pushes in further, to (F9). She Manashocks Effigy 1 before retreating onto (D7). She also uses the Remote Airship Controller (Non-Overclock, obviously), selecting Light Laser Turrets 3 times, and pinning down Sinners 1 and 2, as well as disturbing <1>.

Nobody's sure how this works. But it works.

---

MU creates a long chain out of iron, and flings one end of it over to the cliffside to the left, aiming for the nest. She then attaches the other end to the side of the island she's on.

She then attempts to climb across the chain, and enter the cavern.

---

Boshi leaps into action to quell the flames, using a Cloud Cannon to spray stuff directly on the flames made by the computer. This probably also washes away some ash.

The Ruined Baths

Daskter moves to D4
Pep talks Conscript Leader
sends Twin bolts of distortions against Sprout3.

Conscript Leader moves to D5
Fires against Spout 3, summons a Conscript at D6

Conscript moves to F4 and targets fire the Sprout3.

Battle: Ruined Baths

Venia moves to E10 and casts Team March on the Reflector, Crya and her own Monument, teleporting each of them four tiles to the uttermost east, thanks to the Ultra Glove. (Venia would be at I10, Crya would be at I11, the Reflector would be at K13, and the Monument at I8).

"Nia, move that Diamond Wildcard into the lava!" Venia says. "Uh, Altnia," Venia says, looking at the Reflector, "Piss off the Netwyrm! Crya, freeze the Shardnados!"

The Monument uses Stockpile, casually. Venia scan-pings Spout 5.

---

AESTHETIC SLAYER

Mr. Krabs loots the cage and buries the rotting corpse on the spot. How quaint. He then performs the most important task he has done yet, inferior even to the importance of ending reality-he marches right up to the sole cage still occupied in the cellblocks here, and releases its truly legendary sapsqueal prisoner.

With this done, Mr. Krabs then whips way back to the front of the Church of Helix, and memorizes its seemingly-random glyphs, comitting it to paper. He then uses this exact combination of steps to meander about in the Projection Box and see where it takes him.

---

MariaaaAAAAAAAAAAH

Maria looks at her newest aquisition with a healthy amount of surprise and concern. She remembers exactly how serious guns are, given the mood Venia tended to take when she held hers and how much she said that it was very important that Maria be very careful around it. So her first thought is to grab it by the barrel, nowhere near where she could accidentally pull the trigger, stand up, and call for help.

"I need a responsible adult!" Maria shouts. "I need-"

BAM! The wall explodes and Maria stumbles backwards. Though she is decisively unharmed, the sheer shock of fear brings tears to her eyes, and she begins to cry out of fear.

"Chloe! Nia! Help Maria! I need to help deal with this!" Venia shouts, still trying (and failing) to leverage her powers at this time. After a few seconds of being useless, she turns to the Sleuth.

"Hi, uh, I'm not sure how much you recall or don't, being possessed has memory issues to my knowledge. You've been possessed for a very long while, but we eventually wound up in a fight with your possessed self and beat you, and then beat the butterfly out of you. It's still alive but that meant that its left your code clean, and your head was intact enough that we could extract it from there, so we tried recreating your body-and it worked! And also there's a fire, help appreciated!"

Venia opens a hole to the inventory and dumps out several things that might be useful to the Sleuth at this time-including a replica Armistyx. "Some of this stuff just seems to appear out of thin air so I guess that's lucky that we have replacement scythes for you, huh?" Venia says, turning back to the fire and trying to concentrate, though whatever she's trying doesn't seem to be doing much. The Sleuth might have better success with the Armistyx.

---

Because we may never get to this otherwise, Venia opens both of her unopened presents.

"Nia" considers answering Nia's question, but decides that the topic of her noun and pronoun usage will have to wait until after the battle.

The Reflector ("Nia") casts Suffocating Hatred, selecting Taunt, targeting the Large Netwyrm Head at space L9. The spell manifests as a cloud of multicolored smoke that fills the lungs (or just the bodies) of the Iti, warping their senses.

"NIA": Hey, uh... alt-alt-Nia! Handle those spouts, please!
""NIA"": Alright! I can do that.

The Mirror Reflector (""Nia"") moves to J13, basic attacks Spout2 in space I12, and uses Protean to switch their piercing resistance to slashing, a thick carapace growing over ""Nia""'s skin (adding up to 50% resistance). They also grant themselves Aquaveil3 for the round using the same trait.

Echoss blinks at Chloe's question.
"Ah... I thought you were there when I... Nevermind.
The Echo Collective isn't actually a company, it's actually... well, both country and empire don't feel like quite the right words..."
He holds his hand out and a glimmering golden image of the seven dyson spheres, with three of them still being cracked empty shells.
"But it is essentially a country, but larger. We're situated out in the void in a set of hyper-sized dyson spheres, with planets suspended inside of the residential sphere."
As he says this the image zooms in on one of the completed spheres, through the outer shell of it to show a mesmerizing dance of celestial bodies around a central core inside the sphere.
"It is... a rather large place. It is hard to make one sweeping statement about all of the people at once, but it is a nice place to live. There's plenty to do and most of the people are friendly."

In the house the echoss golems come to the rescue! A pair of raindrop crystals are used as fire hoses to put out the fire by one of the golems, while the other golem uses a magic ritual with an ashen crystal to dampen the fire's spreading abilities.
A butterfly flutters down and transforms into an echoss hologram.
"Miss Mari, would you care to explain what exactly just happened?"

In the everground, Pionobot anchors himself to the island with some robotic parts, and then uses the cyclone regalia's wind producing powers as an engine, pushing the floating island that he and mustache girl are on sideways a bit. Not all the way into the wall, but closer to the nest and ledge.



Echoss sighs
"And here I was hoping that we could at least do some talking before the inevitable bout of combat. Oh well"
STRIFE
Echoss goes after Verdana. Echoss spawns in at D13, and moves down to L17. He casts shopping spree (obtaining 4 ice el-ite knives) and then chucks an ice ice el ite knife at Firebomber 2 if they're still standing.

Crya walks up on the stage and first tries just asking for the drumset.
Hey there, you mind if I borrow the drums for a bit? I wanna play something.
If the Cultist complies then she takes over the drumset and plays a song.
If the Cultist does not comply, then she uses the Arctic Wind to freeze them in place on the wall and takes the drumsticks from their hands. She then plays a song.
Might be a bit rusty, haven't played the Drums since the Trials, but I'll give it a go for you miss.

Crya's Song.

---------------------------------------

Meanwhile, in the Ruined Baths, after Venia moves, Crya skates to J10 and uses Cold Snap on both Shardnados and the Saltling. She then retreats to her former position of I11.
Soldier also attacks the Nest.

- The Everground
Malik continues their climb up Mount Celeste the Everground.
- Labyrinthine Chamber -
Lukas activates Pink Like Petals, flies to I5, basic attacks <3>, then retreats to I4.

Auth gratefully accepts the free refill on the Eterna Remedy, placing it back in the inventory. He smiles, not sure what to say...

AUTH: Thank you so much... I don't really know what to say. It means a lot, Lutea.

Auth smiles, nodding at how much of a help he and Nana have been. And then... well, he sees that luminous blushing seems to run in the family.

AUTH: Well, yeah... and that guy is me. It's true, I promise.
AUTH: The, uh... "Not even a Chairian" doesn't need to necessarily be... true, per se, but that's neither here nor there.

Auth smiles, as Lutea relaxes again. She seems to be okay with them together...

AUTH: I'm glad that your approve of us. Your... open-mindedness is a virtue, Lutea.
AUTH: Hehe. It's not a thing to worry about, Nana... I didn't think it would be.
AUTH: Hey, here...

Auth opens his arms, as though to hug Nana. Assuming she lets him, Auth proceeds to give Nana a hug. There wasn't anything to worry about, so it should be a comforting hug...

AUTH: As for how we met? I don't really mind telling you, assuming Nana's okay with it. I-is it okay, Nana?
AUTH: I know that you've forgotten at least some of the story, so I wanna know if I'm OK to share the entire thing...

Auth waitis for Nana before starting on a real response.

----

Auth turns around suddenly as Gutta walks over to say hello. Piggo... yes, Auth remembers that.

AUTH: Yes - a break from the action is a good time for it. What we'll need? It depends on the state of decomposition, and the damage done. I'll need to see the body, if we're lucky it won't take much at all.

Auth raises an eyebrow at the comment of "what could be found"...

AUTH: You put what you could find in here? That's not a good sign...

Auth opens the box, to see how the body is. If it's in one piece. If there's anything obviously or in-obviously missing. Determining these things is important before working.

AUTH: I can't do much until I've assessed the damage... then I'll know what to do with it.

Auth doesn't appear to be surprised when Irongutta says that he doesn't really understand what the "doks" are thinking... Auth has no exposure to Orcs, so he can't really be of much help. For now: Assessing the damage and state of decomposition.

----

In the Baths, Auth casts Perseverance on himself, in preparation for future turns.

RP Stuff

Irongutta looked at the box in his hands - the one containing the late Piggo. He wasn't sure if all of Piggo was there, actually.

"Well to tell the truth, I sorta scooped 'im off the ground as soon as I could. Let's take a look 'ere."

He slowly opened the top of the box, revealing Piggo's corpse. His brow lowered slightly. At a distance it'd simply look like concentration, but there is the slightest hint of worry in his eyes. After closer inspection, it seemed like everything was there.

"Huh, Piggo's not missin' anything, though his body is all cleaved open in the back."

After Auth was able to thoroughly inspect Piggo himself, Irongutta gently shut the box.

"If we need to do any preparin' for this first, I can just put Piggo back in the fridge to keep him fresh."

---

Battle: Labyrinthine Chamber

Irongutta scoots up to L4, gaining Unstoppable Force with the benefits of moving 4 tiles. Once there, he cleaves <3> with Magnolia!

House:

Sol Aeterna shifts back into being a gladius for now. The weapon seems thoughtful. After a moment, she speaks up again.

"Perhaps, if you're feeling the mood, you could consider wielding myself for a while? It is not as if this part of me has anything else to do, besides wait in the inventory, or hope for someone else to pick me up instead."

Food for thought. Probably. Meanwhile, Calibri glances at the christmas tree.

"...Huh. That thing's been around for quite a while. Wonder if it'll be gone soon."


Meanwhile let's check in with EN and Tae at the dueling hut, namely EN because reasons. What's EN doing? She's watching Tae with the guns, noting the priestess's slight recoil management issue with that SMG. After a bit of time considering things, she seems to have a few ideas.

"Seems like th' recoil on tha' there SMG's a little 'ard on ya... Couple o' ideas fer fixin' tha'. Simplest one, y' coul' try short bits o' burst fire, couple shots an' stop then couple more shots an' stop, if ya can manage tha'. Me other ideas are ah coul' try tunin' it t' fire a lighter caliber o' bullet, tune down th' fire rate a bit, or add a bit more weight. Lighter bullets, slower rate o' fire, or heavier gun all means recoil piles on less."


Battle - Farmified Fort

Wait no. TAKE 2

Battle - Fortified Farm

Here we go. Verdana spawns into the battle at E21, mysteriously driving a bumper car.

"Tokyo drift!"

He proceeds to drive to O19, at which point the bumper car explodes into flames and vanishes. He's completely unharmed, of course, and stands up to figure out what he's doing, then notices the nearby Firebomber.

"...Alright, this probably won't kill you, but sorry in advance if it does anyway! Please don't dodge, by the way, it'll just draw this out longer."

He then yeets a Light-element Hidden Force at Firebomber2. The crystalline fortress's Energetic Flame passive then activates. Verdana turns to the nearby Scarlet.

"As for this, it definitely won't kill you, but fair warning, it's a fireball. Blame my armor."

A fireball promptly hurls itself at Scarlet2.