Crya runs to M14 and uses Ice Stalagmites at Q10 before retreating to L15.

The Heart of Sin

Ranger1 moves to (Q17) to attack Bloody Pustule 2.

Daskter moves to (P17), and he Ignite Blood Bloody Pustule 2.

Ranger2 moves to (R17) to attack Bloody Pustule 2.

Combat Medic moves to (S18) to Sap Drain Bloody Pustule 2.
Heal Ranger1
and Protecta Ranger1
They retreat to (S17)

Responding to Marron's side of the meltdown.

Echoss reassembles on the path not too far down the road from the house. Or tries to. The butterflies stir into one form, but only do so piece by piece because Echoss is still trudging forwards as he reassembles, stumbling and staggering.
"Stupid, STUPID. STUPID. Not once but twice in one day! I need... I need to... No. Not yet. It can wait. Wait until this whole thing is done. Just two more days."
He stumbles again, losing his balance. He tries to do several things at once, none of them working. His form blurs slightly as he reaches his arm out to try and catch himself, but the arm shatters on impact, shards of light splintering outwards before reforming into butterflies. Echoss himself gets a facefull of dirt.
"GORILLA"
Echoss shoves himself up on one arm, form fizzling again, then moves to a sitting position. He readjusts his jaw with a crack, apparently knocked out of place by combined force of destabilized form and full speed crash.
"Calm down you useless piece of GORILLA there isn't TIME for a meltdown."
Echoss slows his breathing, closing his eyes as the butterflies swirling around him flow back to the jagged golden stump of his arm and it reforms. As he forces himself to calm down his form stops blurring out and returns to normal.
"There's still much to do, and sins to atone for.
This is just one more on the pile."
He scatters into butterflies again, heading off to where he met/meets Maple and the others.

Battle: Origin of Sin

Irongutta moves over to L15 to hunker down for the round as he approaches the heart. He drinks a Stardew Potion (thanks to Shopping Spree) to fill out his MP and Guards at his location.

"We're gettin' close now, Mags. Say, you mentioned that this thing used to speak, roight? That must mean you've talked to 'im before. Maybe he'd recognize ya if we got close and be willin' to speak! Just gotta cut our way a bit closer..."

...I guess I never actually apologized to either of you, huh. Not that I think it's enough, but... sorry I killed both of you. I'd say I'm never going to do it again, but I sincerely doubt that I won't trigger more Bagg-Sarons sometime in the future, so... further apologies in advance.
Meditate.

(oh yeah i guess move the ball to j13) (or i guess f11? if the mov bonus applies)

Auth smiles, as Nana is cornered by the fake exhibition. He reaches into the previously locked box, and pulls out that sphere. He then walks through the Exhibition to help Nana up.

AUTH: Poor thing... must have been quite a scare, yeah?
AUTH: Even though it's fake... I can see how you forget in the heat of the moment. I got you a present.

Auth hands the sphere he just picked up to Nana.

AUTH: Here's your Exhibition. Ehehe.
AUTH: Don't break that, I'm gonna get Omo to look at it later. See if we can't get something useful out of it.

With that out of the way, Auth pokes his head into the next room.

AUTH: Where is that Godblossom Extract? Droplet said there should be some in here... so where is it?

At the same time, a Specter creeps around the outside of the Boss Arena, pilfering all the Gaiadiamonds attached to the statues in the area. He's going to be putting them to better use.

----

Meanwhile, with the Duneyrr and Maple...

Auth nods, and smiles.

AUTH: Full disclosure: It'll have to wait for a little, since we're in the process recovering the materials we need for the spell... but it won't be too long, there's just one thing I need to find, and it's... around, somewhere.
AUTH: The, er, other thing is that I can't promise it will work. I'm, like, 80% sure it will, but... please don't be too upset if it's not perfect, or if it doesn't work at all. We tried it on a party member with a comparable injury, and it worked perfectly, just... they weren't a Chairian so...
AUTH: Please keep your expectations reasonable. However... I think I can do it. I'd be really happy if this lead to an effective treatment for burns somehow...

Auth seems taken aback by the question. He didn't seem to think being recognised was a possibility.

AUTH: I don't believe we have been introduced properly, no.
AUTH: I am The Eternal Author, indeed. Everyone around here just calls me "Auth", though. I'm glad to hear that the Chairians that I tended to have made it back safe and sound.
AUTH: Relatively safe and relatively sound. If I may ask, what gave it away?

Auth is very subtly asking about his reputation. Very subtly. Like a ninja with words.

----

In the meantime-meantime, Auth is, continuing from Gutta's post, prepared to interact with Magnolia. With his focus sustained, Auth takes the axe that is Magnolia in both of his hands, one near the handle and one near the blade, and holds it across his lap. It would appear his focus has shifted onto the axe by holding it there.

----

In Battle! Finally.

Auth moves backwards (strange, I know) to K27, and casts Curaga centred on himself.

AUTH: Are you two okay?

Hexagon rolls over to F12, then activates their weapon skill again, zooming from F12 to F9 (E11, F10,
G9, F9, E9), hitting a Pustule and the 1st Eye. They then smash the Fluxflesh at F10 with Fire Damage.

ORIGIN OF SIN
I and my mirror self both Meditate, should we not receive better actions. We then use Protean to swap our Water resistances to Earth and gain Pyroveil. Igniveil? The fire Elveil. Whatever the fuck.

"...well, not the best day I've had. I've got five shots of basic attack, though, so automatically the universe quivers before my powers."

Thankfully, Hoshi doesn't decide to force some lowly intern to calculate five attacks as she fires off another round of Material Transfer against the Corpsetaker2 with both healing and attacking for that sweet, sweet effectiveness, blockading H15 and G16 to abuse the power of no diagonal attacks against the Seekers who would want to try and eat her face.

Nidra:
Move pillow to Nia.
Move to M23.
Energizing Nap Asha.
Move to O24.
Throw a Light El-ite Knife at the Chosen.
Double Basic Attack the Chosen
Retreat to O23.

Pope Bill heads to P18 and basic-attacks the Pustule. Next, he orders his Malignant Tumor to move to E26; which it does!

==LOGISTICS==
Crystal finally belatedly places his defenses at the House.

The Glue Sprayers go at K40 and AB42, and the Overcharger Engine goes at Z51.

==BATTLE==
Crystal Proper moves over to I26, takes a scythe swing at the Breaker, then pivots, plants the scythe in the ground, and fires a series of three Rapid Rounds at Absolver 1.

Flux!Crystal reads his last Poem.

Mari.apply(Enlightened3, 3)
Mari.apply(Energized3, 3)

He then uses his action to edit the game a little, bringing Mari's HP up by 9.

<ROUND 223>

To begin, some NPC services have been processed! Omo's research has finished, and new projects have taken their place!

---

Venia chases after the Scale Reaper! Barging into the theater, kicking down a set of doors that have already been kicked down, she bares witness to the theater. It's eerie and dark, with the only sources of light near her being small, dim crimson lights to indicate the walkways between the seats.

Off in the distance, an unrealistic amount of distance away for a theater, lies the main stage. An array of stage lights are focused on a large ball of mysterious chains, similar in structure to those that the Shackled are held in. It seems though, that there's no malevolent entity being bound by them: instead, it's just a "solid" mass of chain. Dozens of chains are scattered about the rafters, each strained from the weight of the sphere it's holding up. Scattered around the sphere are about ten smiling wooden mannequins in outlandish costumes, each of them beholding the ball of chains. Blobs of crimson are present upon their joints.

Below the sphere is the injured Scale Reaper, still not recovered from its wounds. It watches intently as Venia enters the room, perfectly tracking her despite the dark of the theater. From a quick bit of mental math, Venia reasons that landing a shot from this distance might be hard. She'll need to close in. How to approach, though? The seats provide ample cover... or she could investigate what seems to be a technician's booth at the back. It's likely where a stagehand would operate most of the lighting. There's probably a switch in there for... something.

...The Bass Plushie tugs at Venia's clothing again, gently smacking her with its tiny, cotton fists.

BASS PLUSHIE: hey
BASS PLUSHIE: i think there's something really important in those chains
BASS PLUSHIE: i'm going to guess that you shouldn't destroy it, though
BASS PLUSHIE: since, y'know
BASS PLUSHIE: it's probably a part of me, or something

BASS PLUSHIE: not sure what the chains represent, though
BASS PLUSHIE: maybe i just really like chains now?

Elsewhere, Mr. Krabs uses the Heavenpiercing Drill to pierce the... pile of rubble to the south! Five tiles of rubble later, he drills partially into a spider carcass, sending chunks of meat across the room, and into his face. Seems like he's found a little hollow of sorts, and a Cultist. They're not wearing the trademark robes, though. Instead, they have a wielder's mask of sort, a blacksmith's apron, and some decently thick spider hides for a sort of clothing. Odd.

---

Disregarding his breakdown, Echoss assembles a Faraday Cage! This makes use of 4 (0) Iron Ingots, 9 (0) Wire Scraps, and an Electromagnetic Cluster. This is then promptly placed around Linseed's head, probably blocking his head tracker beacon thing.

MARI: Huh.
MARI: That's one way to solve that problem.
MAPLE: He looks kinda funny like that!
MAPLE: It suits him.

MAPLE: Ooh! I know what else would suit him!
MAPLE: Justice shall be served!~

Maple boosts over to Linseed, and produces a handy-dandy marker from... somewhere. She pops it open, and begins to doodle all over Linseed's body, giggling like a child as she draws hearts, stars, and this thing she's heard of called a "unicorn" onto his body. It is unclear as to why her unicorn has spider legs. Echoss also asks the group of Rebels if he could drop them off near Rebel territory. While the responses are varied, a general consensus is reached: "yeah that'd be nice."

Elsewhere, Pionobot wages war in the Everground! He decides to jet the island around with his Cyclone Regalia, successfully landing it on the nearby Edges. The Bilespawn just below him projectile vomits a Seeker up onto his island, joining him as an unwanted guest.

Then, just to wrap things up, some golems loot the cryotubes within the Scalefused Chamber. 2 Cryotubes, 1 Broken Cryotube, and 12 Scalefused Scales obtained!

---

JOE grabs some dirt from around the house! He obtains some miraculous 500% Fertility Dirt, and... for whatever reason, bits of Chaos's "flesh" is in the dirt. While the fertility may be sky-high... it's unclear as to whether that actually matters. For all he knows, whatever he grows in it will just turn into more versions of Chaos. That's likely the last thing people want.

---

The Engie Drone performs a heist! He scams 6 Gravcore Ore into his inventory. The island beneath the Jotun falls into the void. It takes exactly two seconds for gravity to kick in for the Jotun as well, who falls into the blast zone and freaking dies.

---

Hannah bombards a Bilespawn with Yew! The bow happily rains toxic blasts onto the Bilespawn, their sac melting, and its contents splashing across the island. It then flops over, and dies. The island is now devoid of Iti! A successful genocide! Yew's one eye beams with purpose.

At the lake, Boshi decides to pop off the Jotun's other arm. It falls into the water. With no remaining limbs, the Jotun attempts to charge Boshi, totally failing to realize that it needs arms to swim. It drowns. And dies. Looks like the lake's pretty clear of threats now!

---

Irongutta teams with up Auth to revive Piggo! Once the sapsqueal gets over the initial shock of death, it hops into Irongutta's arms, nuzzling against him. +1 Piggo get! This also consumes 7 Fresh Pork worth of Inventoried Piggo.

...Piggo oinks hungrily. They require tribute! Only the finest in... uh, whatever pigs eat, will do! Clearly, you must feed them chunks of Rose Cultists. Revenge shall be sweet.

---

Generic apologizes to Chloe. Perhaps understandably, she's... confused.

CHLOE: I-It's... okay? I-I think?

CHLOE: ...I-I'm not sure if I'm actually ready to f-forgive you yet...
CHLOE: Anything else I could forgive, b-but dying was... w-well...
CHLOE: I'm not in any hurry to stand near you when you cast A-Armageddon Bag again, l-let's say that much...
CHLOE: S-Sorry.

...Chloe's hands instinctively drop to where Flicker of Insanity had impaled her. There's not even a scar to commemorate the occasion, but it's kinda itchy.

---

Auth picks up the sphere! The moment he touches it, the Exhibition flickers out of existence. Instead, an illusory Auth stands in front of Nana. It whips out Inkscalibur, and holds it to her throat.

NANA: A-ACK!
NANA: M-MERCY! PLEASE! I-I'M SORRY F-FOR BEING A BURDEN!

...Uh. Anyway, the image within the crystal ball has changed to that of the Author. Nana's freakout continues. It'd be prudent to get her to stop freaking out before you head anywhere. Around the time time, just to be productive as he resolves this incident, Auth sends out a Specter to loot the Gaiadiamonds within the statues at the Origin of Sin. This succeeds, somehow! Auth comes back with 4 Gaiadiamonds worth of diamond.

At the Duneyrr, Auth notes to Maple that he'll need to go and find the material he needs for the spell. Maple nods, still smiling.

MAPLE: That's alright!
MAPLE: I'm sure you can do it. If there's anything I could do to help, like grab the materials you need... just hit me up, alright?
MAPLE: I can fly, so I can do it in a snap!

He then wonders what gave his presence away. Maple giggles.

MAPLE: Ah, you look a bit familiar...
MAPLE: Plus, there's just this... sense I'm getting from you. Y'know?
MAPLE: This sense of "overwhelming kindness".

The camera zooms out and changes filters, revealing a glowing blue aura around auth, labelled "Karma". After a few seconds, the camera returns to normal. Maple gives him a coy grin, getting close.

MAPLE: Y'know, I'm kinda... interested in heroic individuals like yourself.
MAPLE: Wanna go get dinner tonight, or something?
MAPLE: It'd be an honor to get to know you!
MAPLE: Unless you're busy. But we can just as well meet up later, if you want!

...Does she know about Nana? Probably not. Anyway, Auth also spends some time with Magnolia, holding her with both hands. One hand near the blade, one grasping the handle. The axe stares him down blankly. After a few moments, she utters a few words, cheerful as ever!

MAGNOLIA: Uh... hello!
MAGNOLIA: I'm Magnolia! I'm an axe! What's your name?

---

Crystal places some defenses! A Glue Sprayer is thrown to (K40) and (AB42), while the Overcharger Engine is deployed to (Z51).

---

Asha takes a moment to comfort Marron. She sits down close to her, and places an arm around her shoulder. Marron naturally leans into her girlfriend. She asks if she's alright, only getting gentle sniffles in response. A few moments pass in silence, Marron fidgeting and toying with her deattached arm. Soon, Asha berates Echoss, and showers praise upon Marron. Suddenly, the sorceress finds herself in a full-on hug. Marron is crying, her waterworks in full force.

MARRON: I-I'm glad y-you're here, too...
MARRON: I-It... f-feels like you a-and Ette are the o-only ones w-who... b-believe in me...

Marron cries into Asha's left shoulder, her bawling clearly audible throughout most of the ground floor. After a few minutes of crying, the seamstress's tears finally cease, once again replaced with sniffles. She remains in Asha's embrace, eyes ever-so-slightly red.

MARRON: ...
MARRON: C-Could you stay here? J-Just for a bit?
MARRON: T-That'd be really nice...

It's probably obvious what Asha's answer will be, but player interaction is key to running a successful game.

---

<ORIGIN OF SIN, ROUND FIVE>
TRIPLE ACTION OLD GUARDS. They will melt you if given the chance, so try to either kill them, stun them, lock them down, or SOMETHING. Hexagon has died as a result of them, so maybe give him a rez? Also, there's an Absolver at the bottom of the map who's about to explode. I hope you have a plan to deal with them. As for the underground, those Gorged are actually pretty scary. They'll be hitting for about (18-23) a swing, so neutralize them if you can! Also, watch for the cannons: getting pelted by Seekers isn't fun.

Clearing with the Duneyrr:
Echoss smiles at Maple's antics, though it seems a bit strained. Linseed having been "Brought to justice", Echoss moves on to making sure that the rebels can be dealt with safely.

Echoss uses another Chloe/Mari commission slot to finish repairing the Duneyrr, then sets about doing his own craft real quick:
20 Iron Ingots, 5 Durasteel Ingots, and 40 Refined Wood expended!
Echoss blurs as he quickly hammers together a large wheeled wooden trailer attachment for the Duenyrr. Wooden wheels, iron and durasteel bracings. Still kinda shoddy but it will hold together well enough to everyone where needed without letting the Rebels inside of the tank where they could try and perform a counter-coup.
He then realizes that with all the injured, there probably needs to be some kind of cushioning. So he takes 4 Rebellion Banners and 10 Silkweed bundles and creates a layered semi-cushioned bottom for the trailer. It's not exactly luxurious, but it'll make sure nobody gets hurt on the ride to the drop-off point.

Echoss also scans the Duneyrr real fast.

He approaches Omo:
"Is... is there anything else that needs doing?"


Everground:
Pionobot looks at the seeker.
PIONOBOT: "Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru"
SEEKER: *screeching sounds that probably mean "NANI"
And then he piledrives the seeker and snaps its neck.


Looting Zone 4:
Echoss's golems pause from their crusade to finish Mr. Krab's great work of stripping the catacombs of anything of value, and head up top, deploying the Grey Nanite out where the Grey Harpy keeping watch can see and call Droplet up to retrieve it.


Battle:
Echoss walks to N15.
He promptly loads a paratoxin Shuriken into his gun and fires it at the Festering Ulcer.

Benefits from Cyclone Launch and Railgun Inventory damage wise.



Also, NPC commissions:
Nia is commissioned to upgrade the Snowball Maelstrom and Hammer of Banning +5 by Not!Echoss.
Additionally, the Sleuth is commissioned to scan a Shackled.

It's probably too late to post in this dop, but if not, Kalis will move to K18 and attempt to cast Siege Spire on AmalEye1, or AmalEye2 if it's dead. If both of them are dead, they'll instead Meditate to restore MP.

Remember, they have Solar Singularity equipped instead of Deep Thinking.

The Heart of Sin
Daskter attacks then pings the Absolver2 with a Lumipod.

Both Rangers finish it off.

Combat Medic starts using Restora, and they move to (M15).

Move to F16 and I guess buy 2 Panaceas and a Rage Juice with Shopping Spree (+deal) Also toss a knife into my hat again.

"Of course. As long as you need."

She gets comfortable, closing her eyes and matching Marron's breathing with her own.

~~

Asha moves to R8, shoots N8 and the Aello, then swaps her Empowered to Enlightened.

Auth seems to be quite upset when he hears what Nana says about her. Auth, the real one, silently takes her by the hand and takes her outside. Once there, assuming Nana remains in a shocked state, Auth steps back and claps his hands in front of her face. Loudly. It should get her attention back on the real Auth.

And he looks furious. He dusts off his coat, then takes a deep breath. He doesn't look any less upset, but is unlikely to shout.

AUTH: Nana. I'm going to say this just once, okay? And I want you to take this to heart. It's important.
AUTH: You are not a burden. You are anything but that. You are a clever, innovative and kind lady, and you are more than certainly capable of managing anything if you put your mind to it.
AUTH: And even if you were a burden, which I hasten to once again state you are not, we wouldn't leave you behind or to fend for yourself anyway. I wouldn't, at the very least. I'd insist you be here because I love you and I want to make sure you're safe.
AUTH: I don't want to hear you say something like that about yourself, okay? Because it's a lie. It's a lie I won't let anyone, let alone yourself, tell.
AUTH: Got it?

Once Nana has acknowledged Auth's speech, he gives her a big hug.

AUTH: There is one part of that I'll repeat again. I love you. And I'll repeat it as many times as you need to hear it.

something something Third time's the charm for checking next door.
----

Auth chuckles as Maple says she can help find things by flying. Auth flaps his wings, and floats into the air himself.

AUTH: Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I can fly pretty well myself too.
AUTH: I appreciate the offer, but I don't think either of our flight talents will be much help where I believe the final ingredient is. Underground, cramped space. I'm sure you understand.

Auth nods as Maple points out where she's seen him before.

AUTH: I do believe we had an encounter with your squadron before, so that makes sense. Or, well, former squadron, I suppose. Are they doing okay?
AUTH: As for the second thing... it's not the first time I've heard something in that vein. Not that I'm particularly opposed to such a perception/

Auth listens as Maple invites him out for dinner. Auth thinks for a moment. Seems like he's putting some surprisingly deep thought into it - perhaps it's a hint to Maple there's someone he's thinking about, if she picks up on that.

AUTH: Hmm... the issue with that isn't that I'm busy, per se. I would like to, don't get me wrong, and I think it'd be likely I have time, but...
AUTH: I have someone special here, and I'm somewhat concerned she might get something of the wrong idea doing that. I trust you can understand my predicament? I apologise if that's... something of an issue.

Auth puts that up on the table quickly as well. Auth sighs, quietly. Seems he is troubled by something.

----

Auth is somewhat surprised at how quickly Magnolia responded to him. Speaking aloud, since he's not sure if he has to do that...

AUTH: Hello, Magnolia. I am Auth. I'm one of the primary medics for the team Irongutta is with.
AUTH: I need a favour from you, if you don't mind. It's just that I don't know many other prominent Rose Cultists who might have and be willing to share the information I need.
AUTH: I'm looking for Godblossom Extract, and I've heard there's some hidden in the Rosen Catacombs somewhere. Do you know where it is? Would you be willing to tell me?
AUTH: If you need something from me in exchange for the information, I'm happy to help however I can.

----

That was a big one! Finally, in Battle...

Auth flies fast over the heads of many allies, and lands on L18. From there, Auth revives Hexagon on J17.

AUTH: You should be good now! Go!

Hannah scoots over to (R21) and shoots the remaining Seeker. She stays where she is.

---

Hannah yoinks the Gravcore Ore on the crashed island above her (using the Heavenpiercing Drill), then gets out of the way before it probably lands on her.

---

Boshi lols at the Jotun's stupidity, and moves his boat over to the wrecked boat. He pulls it onto his own boat, and drives off to the Silverwood. Man, that is going to be a good harvest. He chops down the Silverwood with the Titanium Lumber Axe.

He also checks the damage to his boat (and i guess the boat he just picked up), and wonders where the best place to shore her would be.

---

...A soft, fabric-like presence could be felt on Marron's leg. It's the Hat Kid Plushie, giving her a little hug.