Sometime during the night...

...The basement was quiet. Almost… too quiet. Save for the defensive machinery and the portal generating their gentle mechanical / magical whirring, it’s peaceful.

However, just as things were easing up, a metal canister rolls to the base of the Machinegun Turret next to the portal. Its angle suggests that it came from the portal itself. A number of moments later, the canister slowly releases a cloud of smoke, emerging quieter than the machinery it was next to. It doesn’t take long for the turret’s detection hardware to be obstructed, and someone sneaks through the portal and smoke, and around the turret’s hindered detection range. The person keeps a close eye on the turret as they head up the stairs.

In the living room, mostly everyone was asleep for the night. Though, going outside would easily be suicide; a significant amount of defenses have been installed prior to now, and multiple patrols and watches were happening. On the rug near the sofa, a familiar indigo dinosaur is curled up, snoozing away. The person takes extreme care not to wake anyone up - especially not Boshi - as she climbs further.

She makes it upstairs with minimal issues. Things are going quite phenomenally thus far. She notes the strange tent; her target was most likely in there. She cautiously approaches the tent, making little noise as she sneaks over. Cautiously circling the tent to reach the opening, she makes no sudden movements as she slowly opens it up.

Sure enough, her quarry, Sophia, was resting on the far left, nearest to the wall. Dorothy was sleeping on the right side. Unusually, though, no Hannah. Well, taking anyone but Sophia right now would be dangerous, so she slowly reaches in…

And hears a light tinkling sound as golden chains suddenly form around her arms, yanking her backwards towards the wall.

ECHOSS: Miss Adria, I presume?
ADRIA: gorilla, of course it wouldn’t be that easy...

Now that Echoss could get a good look at her, all the features described to him were present; a young woman with light brown hair and large purple and yellow hat, a purple wool blazer, grey cotton pants, brown boots, dilated pupils, and notably, dark red and black tendrils coming from her head, mostly concealed by her hair. She tries to break free, but to little avail…

Echoss's eyes narrow as he walks over and scans the tendrils. He bends down and pushes Adria's hat to the back of her head, trying to get a look at the crystal in her forehead he'd seen in the picture from Rosalina. Meanwhile, a glimmer of gold at the far end of the hallway flutters downstairs to wake Boshi.

Scans indicate that the tendrils are connected to the crystal, as evidenced by the scanner also showing the crystal itself. Jagged and grotesque-looking, and easily long enough to breach deep into the brain. However, this one hasn’t fully dug itself in yet; there’s a slight bump in the top of her hat. Even the scans paint a grim picture.

As Echoss gets near, Adria suddenly shuts her eyes, seemingly in pain, and the small bulge in her hat disappears; the crystal dug itself deeper. She opens her eyes. Angry, she tugs on her chains with enough force to dislodge that part of the wall, causing the chains to dissipate shortly thereafter. She quickly goes to slug Echoss and make a break for the tent.

Echoss is initially surprised by her pulling free, but by the time she gets to Echoss, he's regained his composure, and her fist is met with… absolutely nothing. Echoss's head explodes into a shower of butterflies right before it connects, causing Adria to throw herself off-balance, which Echoss takes advantage of by grabbing onto her arm, and twisting it around with enough force to toss Adria back down to the floor. The floorboards rattle and shake with the impact.

ECHOSS: Miss Adria, while I suppose such supplications are wasted in your present state of mind, I would request you calm yourself.
ECHOSS: I will not allow you to harm any of the children in our care, and your attempts to take them out into the iti-infested woods at this time of night will only put them in danger.
ECHOSS: So please, do everyone a favor and calm down.

Adria hops back on her feet after being thrown. Her hat somehow stayed on throughout, though it was certainly not tied down.

ADRIA: They. Are. Mine.
ADRIA: We will remove them.

That… was not Adria. Even though the words came out of her own mouth, the tone was completely different. Echoss frowns, taking a more active combat stance.

ECHOSS: Understood.

Adria rushes towards Echoss, only to attempt to fake him out as she gets close by hopping back and going around him. Echoss raises his arms in a defensive posture, causing a barrier of glittering light to form around him. Adria of course jumps back, but when she tries to go around Echoss slides his arms outwards causing the barrier to expand to the walls on either side, though growing somewhat dimmer in color as it does so. Adria smacks into it and bounces back, as if running into a trampoline.

...

Down in the basement, the noise from above causes Omorika to stir. Had she nodded off while working on research? That certainly hadn’t occurred in awhile. Of course, the usual nightmares had plagued her, but she felt a bit more refreshed than usual. She sits up, looking behind her. A plume of smoke had consumed the room behind her, wafting into her lab.

Holding her robes over her mouth, she moves out to investigate. Noises continue to come from up above, so Omo’s clogs click-clack up the spiral stairwell. On the way to the source of the sound, she overhears an Echoss hologram trying to wake Boshi. She sighs, and walks over then delivers a swift, yet gentle kick to Boshi’s leg. He wakes up, still groggy and disoriented.

BOSHI:(nnnngh… five more minutes… is it my shift already…?)
OMORIKA: Apologies, sir Boshi.
OMORIKA: We seem to have a problem.
OMORIKA: There are disturbances upstairs, and Echoss was trying to contact you.
OMORIKA: He likely requires our assistance.
OMORIKA: Shall we be off?
ECHOSS: Yes please, Adria has somehow made her way into the house. I've got her held down for the moment, but I believe backup would be prudent.

As soon as Echoss mentions Adria’s infiltration, he snaps fully awake in less than a second.

BOSHI:(Say no more, I won’t let her get away! Let’s move!)

The duo (or trio, if you count the hologram) proceeds up the stairwell, weaponry at the ready. Soon enough, Omorika reaches the apex of the steps, arriving on the second floor.

OMORIKA: Mmm…
OMORIKA: Good evening, sir Echoss.
OMORIKA: Are you aware that some vagabond has set off a smoke bomb in the basement?
OMORIKA: Although…

Echoss stares back at her as Adria steadies herself after rebounding from the barrier..

OMORIKA: ...It seems that you’ve already detected the intruder.
ECHOSS: Ah… the smoke bomb would explain how she got in, she must have used one of the extant portals…
ECHOSS: That being said, I would appreciate some help subduing Miss Adria, I believe her life may be in immediate danger if we don't take her down and attend to her now.
OMORIKA: I shall comply.
OMORIKA: In addition, please contact Miss Elem, or others who may aid us in combat.
OMORIKA: While I’d suggest against waking up the whole house, a few more hands would be appreciated.

Echoss nods, and elsewhere butterflies flutter out to acquire a bit more backup. Back against the wall, Adria looks at the approaching backup, sighing.

ADRIA: Of course… of gorillaing course…
ADRIA: The dinosaur, and some wood log.

She stuffs one hand in her pocket, and roots around in it. In the meantime, though, Boshi rushes to the tent and nudges Dorothy awake. Or he would, but the child was already awake and utterly terrified. The noise must have woken her earlier. She looks up at Boshi, hope in her eyes.

BOSHI: (Dorothy, wake up Sophie and we’ll get you two out of here!)
DOROTHY: I-I was trying, but h-her plushie’s still downstairs!

Boshi’s heart sank, but at least he knew what they needed to do.

BOSHI: (...Alright… but get yourself to safety, it’s not safe up here!)
DOROTHY: I-I’m… I’m not leaving S-Sophie up h-
BOSHI: (No, you’re coming with me, and that’s final!)

Without further ado, Boshi takes Dorothy’s arm and pulls her out of the tent, swiftly guiding her to the stairway and sending her down. She unfortunately has no choice in the matter… but she rushes downstairs after a brief pause. Adria is definitely not a fan of Dorothy escaping.

She eventually pulls out a small glass capsule containing a small Lumipod, and some other glowing liquid. She glares at the tent again, then back at Echoss, before throwing the fragile capsule at his feet as hard as possible. A bright flash emerges from the broken capsule for a brief moment.

In the flash, a dark streak of red comes down hard on Echoss’ barrier. The barrier cracks and shatters into a glow of golden sparks that quickly dissipates. The flash also dissipates with it, and Adria’s already swinging at Echoss again, punches charged with some sort of repulsive, dark energy, and taking care to not lose her balance this time.

A block of wood suddenly spits itself out of the wall, launching from behind Adria. It whizzes by her head, missing her by a few hairs. It promptly morphs and splits into an armored knight, gentle orange pulses of cinder flowing through it. Shield in hand, it moves in front of Echoss, parrying the strike. Adria’s fist rebounds off the shield, but the shield has a fairly nasty black mark on it. Immediately afterwards, the knight darts down to a crouching position, allowing Echoss (who has hastily equipped his weapon) to fire a spidersap snare right into Adria, attempting to stick her to the wall. She attempts to move out of the way, but it snags her arm, pulling her back again, and sticking her arm to the wall.

ADRIA: gorilla.

Echoss reaches out and his face contorts with strain for a bit. Another chunk of the wall suddenly lashes out, peeling parts of the wall around it up to form a large wooden tendril that reaches out and wraps around Adria's free arm, pulling it into the wall before resolidifying.

ECHOSS: Hmm… so that's much harder to do under the thymefield than I expected… good to know...
OMORIKA: Ah, was that woodmancy, sir Echoss?
OMORIKA: Impressive technique, I must say.
ECHOSS: Not quite, it works similarly but functions on different thaumic principles.

Up the stairs comes Chloe and Taeda. The blonde has bags under her eyes, and the priestess appears to be running on nothing but pure adrenaline. But still, the two of them are determined.

CHLOE: I’m here! Kinda short notice, but oh well!
CHLOE: I swore I wouldn’t let you touch them, Adria! So stand down!
TAEDA: Y-Yeah! G-Go away!
TAEDA: Y-You’re outnumbered, and you’re facing a member of the esteemed Highchair!
TAEDA: W-Which, to be clear, is Lady Omorika! N-Not me!


Chloe darts to Echoss’s side, blade at the ready. Taeda stands in the back, working her magic to apply some shielding to Omorika, whilst tending to the shield-bearing construct’s light injuries.

Adria looks over the newcomers with bitter contempt. Dorothy could be heard shouting stuff two floors below. Shortly after, Sophie darts out of the tent and down the stairs as Adria could only watch. She looks disappointed, with a hint of… sadness? Boshi, now freed up from guarding the tent, stands by the group with a hastily-equipped golf club.

ADRIA: And I was so close too… and then you came along.
ADRIA: …
ADRIA: ...Look- -at you all, coming to save the brats and this sorry whelp. How noble.
ADRIA…?: We would spit on you, but it appears you have done quite well in restraining us.

Echoss stalks forwards, his eyes blazing to fiery life as he does.

ECHOSS: I would tell you to close your mouth, demon, but that isn't your mouth to be using in the first place.
ECHOSS: Count yourself lucky for the thymefield being here, you'll have some time to contemplate your mistakes before we pull you out of Adria's skull and tear your essence apart.
ECHOSS: Chloe, Omo, be ready to restrain her if she tries to break loose. Boshi, be ready to slow her down in case she does get loose. Taeda, if you have some kind of purifying magic, please prepare it. We're going to need a lot of that.
CHLOE: Affirmative!
TAEDA: R-Right away!

Boshi nods.

Echoss reaches up and pulls Adria's hat off, trying to get a better look at the point where the crystal entered her head. Though as he does, a faint whisper comes out of Adria’s mouth. The real one.

ADRIA: T-thank you…

Echoss pulls the hat off without a hitch. Though, what was underneath was ghastly. On the front-left side of her cranium, a mass of red and black tendrils shows itself, as well as an oversized crystal, only somewhat taller than the height of her hat. The area around where the crystal struck and the tendrils lashed was charred a deep black and dark red. SImply looking at the crystal stirs up feelings of hatred and contempt in its onlookers. The crystal itself had that same color palette, and was jagged and somewhat arrow shaped, as if it were made for drilling into skulls.

CHLOE: W-What the hell!?
TAEDA: D-Disgusting…
OMORIKA: Oh my.
OMORIKA: Boshi. I believe you know this woman, yes?
OMORIKA: What exactly is this crystal?
BOSHI: (Yeesh...)
BOSHI: (I didn’t even know this existed prior to just a day ago… still have no idea what exactly it is.)

Echoss has meanwhile tilted his head, and is muttering to himself.

ECHOSS: Can't remove the crystal without extensive surgery, and lots of healing magic will be needed to restore the skull afterwards…
ECHOSS: Not enough medical equipment to do it here, unless we could assemble an operating table from what we have in the inventory? Hm, last resort option I suppose.
ECHOSS: That doesn't account for the tendrils either though… This would be much easier if I could bring her to the Collective for treatment but that might not be viable after this morning…
ECHOSS: We obviously can't just shatter the crystal, specimen like this might be worth taking home just in case there's more lurking about that we'll need analysis of anyways.
ECHOSS: It might also be a good idea to bring someone with a rez spell on hand, if things go poorly we'll want to have the option of trying again...
ECHOSS: Miss Loblolly! Do you think you could try a purification spell? I doubt it will be sufficient on its own, but it will give us at least a little insight into what we're dealing with I think.
TAEDA: U-Um… I can try.

Staff in hand, Taeda casts Holy Stream upon Adria. A few pulses of Holy Dew form around Taeda, soon forming themselves into a little stream. This arcs away from Taeda, soon surrounding Adria. The stream surges directly into the crystal upon her head. It does something; the black and red burns around the tendrils begin to shrink slightly, but are swiftly burned back. “Adria” grins wickedly.

”ADRIA”: While we would love to stay and chat - and we must say, that information you just gave us is rather… juicy - we have hope to kill.

Suddenly, the crystal plunges itself deeper. A spurt of blood comes out of the wound as the body shrieks in pain. A torrent of dark energy erupts from her hands…

...only to be anticlimactically stifled by the thymefield, suddenly just firing off puffs of purple smoke. The crystal was an external power after all. Chloe can’t help but giggle.

”ADRIA”: ...well drat.
ECHOSS: Impressive, you didn't do your research at all, did you?

Echoss looks around at the others.

ECHOSS: I assume that none of the rest of you have experience performing surgery.
TAEDA: I… do not.
TAEDA: Besides, working on a different species isn’t going to work well for anyone...
ECHOSS: Unfortunately for us, the only individuals of the same species as Miss Adria are the two children we sent downstairs. They look human but have a markedly different internal structure.

Echoss sits back, rubbing his chin.

ECHOSS: Let's bring her down to the basement. I'll wake Miss Needleworker. Ette, I mean. And see about one of our cohorts with resurrect on hand.
ECHOSS: Between them, we should be able to remove the crystal. Is there anything I'm missing?
BOSHI: (Be sure to keep her restrained, alright? Don’t want that… thing running around.)
TAEDA: R-Right!
CHLOE: Okay.
CHLOE: I wish I could help with the surgery, but… well, I don’t think I’d be much help on that front.
CHLOE: Also, I’m… a-actually really tired.
ECHOSS: Ah, yes, the fighting's done isn't it?
ECHOSS: You head on back to bed Chloe, we'll be okay.
CHLOE: Alright. Thanks, Echoss.
CHLOE: If you need me again… just grab me, alright?

Chloe yawns, before heading back downstairs. Omo meanwhile, stands besides Echoss with her construct, still on guard. Echoss stands up again, slowly. The fire in his eyes has faded, and they're rather dull now.

ECHOSS: Alright then, let's… Let's move her down. We shouldn't leave that thing in Miss Adria's head any longer than we need to.

---

Later, down in the basement…

Boshi, standing on guard at the recently blocked-off portal, looks around the room. The party has cobbled together a surgery table of sorts using some leftover stuff, with Adria securely fastened to it, incapable of moving. From the looks of things, the crystal has given up even trying to do anything at the moment.

ECHOSS: Miss Ette and Master Auth are both awake, they should be fairly shortly.
AUTH: You say that like I wasn’t awake to begin with.
ETTE: Hi hi, everyone!
ETTE: What’s going on?

Ette hops down the stairs, quite joyous and awake. Seems like even a few hours resting on Cushion’s floofy body is roughly equivalent to a full eight hours of sleep. Auth follows, seemingly none the worse for wear in the late evening. After hopping off the last step, Ette takes a moment to stand and stretch, smiling at Echoss. Echoss nods to her and Auth, motioning for them to join him by the table.

ECHOSS: Miss Adria over here is being… possessed shall we say, by this crystal lodged in her forehead.
ECHOSS: It has, in fact, drilled its way into her skull, so it will take some serious work to get it out without killing her.
ETTE: U-Um… okay!
ECHOSS: Or alternatively, to at least have resurrection spells on hand should it actually kill her and we're forced to remove it while she's clinically dead.
ECHOSS: Miss Ette, you have experience with medical work from your time with your sister, yes? Master Auth, you are easily the most accomplished magical healer in the entire party, your presence is effectively mandatory.
ETTE: I do have experience with surgery, but… I’ve never d-done anything like this.
ETTE: Are you s-sure I’m the right one for the job?
AUTH: My abilities are better suited for backing you up in this case. It will be okay, I believe.
ECHOSS: And you will not be working entirely alone, I'm currently talking with a small team of professionals in the Collective and if you need direction with what to do, I can relay questions and instructions between you and them.
ECHOSS: Fortunately, we have a bit more leeway here than usual. From what I've seen, Master Auth knows enough that we can restore any secondary damages that occur during the operation.
AUTH: I have faith we won’t have much to repair, though.
ETTE: And I have faith, because Auth has faith in me!
ETTE: …
ETTE: Wait, who’s Adria?

The tied down, possessed body of Adria looks incredibly pissed, and flips the group off. Rude.

AUTH: Her, I would presume.
BOSHI: (Yep, that’s the person you’ll be working on.)
ETTE: Oh!
ETTE: Hello! I’m Ette!
ETTE: It’s nice to meet you!
ECHOSS: The introductions should probably wait until after the surgery. Until we're done the only response you'll be getting is from the thing lodged in her head.
AUTH: On that topic - what will we do with whatever-it-is after we extract it?
ECHOSS: I will probably send it back to the Echo Collective for examination and containment. It has memetic properties, so I would rather not leave it in the group inventory.
AUTH: Are you sure destroying it wouldn’t be the best idea?
BOSHI: (Yeah, I’m not getting any good vibes from it...)
ECHOSS: That was my first thought as well, but it looks almost like it's a piece of something larger. I've dealt with worse than this back home, so I'm confident it's containable, and I'd like the opportunity to know how it works on the off chance us removing it attracts more somehow.

“Adria” raises an eyebrow at this prospect, but goes back to looking more pissed before anyone notices.

AUTH: I’m not sure if that would be safe for… the Echo Collective, I think you said? But you’d probably know better than I would, don’t let me stop you.
ECHOSS: Unless it spontaneously manifests universe-shattering levels of power it will be fine I think. Thank you for the concern however.
BOSHI: (Ahem... get ready, you three. We don’t have all day-- er, night here.)
AUTH: Indeed. Let’s get this started.
ETTE: Okay!

Ette pulls out a sharp needle instead of a scalpel. While perhaps the tool is questionable, she holds it with a degree of expertise, easily twirling it between her fingers. She heads over beside Adria, and produces a bottle of anesthetic from the inventory. The same stuff that Marron had used on Asha only a few hours ago.

ETTE: Auth, on standby please!
ETTE: Echoss! I’d like more info on the crystal thingy.
ETTE: And… Boshi?
ETTE: ...I dunno what you’re supposed to do, but make sure she stays still, maybe?
AUTH: Sure thing, although it looks like you might not need me.
BOSHI: (If needed, yeah.)
ECHOSS: Understood.

…
...
...SOME TIME LATER…

After what felt like an eternity, the last of the wounds have been closed up, leaving only a very nasty red and black scar where the crystal initially penetrated; harmless, but unusually unhealable and unsightly. Adria was still unconscious, but at the very least her breathing’s steadied, and it doesn’t look like she’s in too much agony. While the crystal and tendrils were difficult to take out due to its hazardous nature, Ette’s deft hands and Echoss’s advice from professionals, along with some much-needed healing from Auth after it was discovered that the crystal had breached into the brain already, were more than enough to completely dislodge it, leaving the crystal to be moved to a secure container, which was to be shipped to the Echo Collective.

Ette sits down near the operating table, totally pooped. That had taken far, far longer than she thought it’d take. And it was so stressful, too! But, with the ordeal behind her, she can’t help but smile. Auth sneaks back upstairs for a short while, but returns with a cup of tea for Ette.

AUTH: Here, this should help. You did a good job.
ETTE: Ooh, thanks!

The ex-puppet takes the cup, and gently sips it. As she rests, Boshi is seen finishing up with unblocking the portal again, and sweeping up the place. He was tired, sure, but he was by far significantly more relieved now that all this stress is over. Once he’s done, he flops back onto the nearby wall. Dorothy and Sophie both peek out at the situation from the top of the stairs, concern in their eyes. Sophie was holding out her plushie in front of her still.

SOPHIA: I-Is it over?
ECHOSS: Yes, it is.
ECHOSS: Your aunt will need time to recover, but she should be alright in the morning.

The two kids look at each other, and smile, breathing a sigh of relief. And then are immediately hit with tiredness now that the anxiety had hecked off. They both fall asleep on the spot.

BOSHI: (...Welp. Guess the poor girls were too scared to sleep...)
BOSHI: (Better get these tykes up to bed again.)

Boshi stretches and yawns as he stands up, very exhausted himself.

BOSHI: (And… probably get to bed myself… missed my night shift, but… oh well, this was more important… the rest of you should get some shut-eye once you clue up.)

He slowly heads upstairs, picking up the two sleeping girls on his saddle as he goes. Boshi was actually capable of picking up Sophie properly now… huh. He waves farewell to the others down in the basement.

ECHOSS: Alright, I'd better bring this to the portal and make sure it doesn't try to break containment once it's crossed over to the Collective.
AUTH: Alright. Make sure it doesn’t get out, we wouldn’t want to do this again.

Echoss nods, and takes the reinforced crate away on its journey to its new "home".

With all that done, the house falls into relative tranquility once more...

Crystal walks outside the front door of the house, plants the Nightmarron Custom in the ground, and fires a Dust Blast in the air to get people’s attention. Under the sparkling cloud of light, he proclaims, “Everyone! We’re shipping off to the Skylabs tomorrow, and the airship could definitely use some more upgrades before we go. Anyone up to join me in working on it?”

From outside the house, the Dust Blast goes off. This catches Pope Bill’s attention -- as he floats across the house and exits it, he hears Crystal’s announcement. ”Yeah, sure; count me in!” the triangle eagerly answers, hovering over the ground. He’s ready!

Hexagon emerges from the house, a faint red glow appearing as he finishes rebooting. ”TASK ACCEPTED. I WILL AID IN THE AUGMENTATION OF YOUR AIRCRAFT.

In response to the Dust Blast, Irongutta also came stomping out of the house. He hurried over with a toolbox in one hand and a couple of loosely-rolled schematics under his other arm. ”Count me in! That thing ain’t gonna get to the labs in one piece wivvout my help.”

Remiel hears the Blast and appears, then quickly surveys the airship to see what needs improved. ”I might be of some assistance. I know a few things about the skies.”

Crystal gathers everyone and leads them to the hangar. “Let’s get cracking! I think the hull, the weaponry, and the general systems could use some improvement -- a teleporter for boarding other ships (or some other way to board enemies and fight mano-a-mano) would be especially useful. I’ll work on the gravcore flight system myself -- after all, we now have some of its eponymous ore!” He takes out a few pieces of Gravcore Ore and scurries into the bowels of the ship to upgrade the gravcore with it. Down below, he begins melting the ore and delicately spinning it into the structure of the Super Aero Core, adding gravity manipulation to its repertoire and making it into a proper gravcore.

Hexagon extends a arm, and it Splits into a multitude of hands, each grabbing Plasteel and Gaiameld metal. They lay them on the ground and start to work them into plating for the ship, combining fire magic and the tools in the hanger.

Irongutta climbs to the top of the ship, hauling up some Gravcore Ore and Durasteel with him. There, he unfurled one of his blueprints to take a final look at all the essential measurements and dimensions. Getting to work, he got started on a large weapon that harnesses the power of Gravcore Ore to manipulate other ships.

Remiel hauls some Rosetainted Metal out of the inventory and fashions it into a giant crossbow, designed to launch entire Roseblight Logs as ammo. Before adding it onto the Airship, Remiel sets up a target and a few dummies a few hundred yards away behind a pane of glass to represent shielding."This class of weapon is officially for use on hulls." They load and launch a log, which blinks out of existence. While the glass remains untouched, the target is suddenly impaled. "But with a few modifications, it can do quite a number on crew, too." Remiel flips a lever, and a mechanism brings blades in front of the ballista's path. Remiel adjusts the aim and fires again. This time, the crowd of dummies is impaled not by a log, but by a cloud of dagger-sized splinters. "Yeah, that's probably a war crime. Maybe save that functionality for the non-sentients."

Wordlessly, Pope Bill turns his attention toward the ship, floating toward it; an idea as to how the teleporter would work begins to materialise in his mind. Thus, he sets to work devising a magical and technological teleporter that is able to bring individuals or groups aboard the ship almost instantaneously. It can also identify individuals or groups and whether they are part of the team or enemies, then allow or forbid entry based on the results. ”Just in case,” Pope Bill mutters to himself absent-mindedly, humming as the teleporter comes together. He levitates durasteel and electrum over to where he is, then smashes those metal parts together repeatedly and carefully until an acceptable shape begins to form (hey, you smash enough things, you get something). Next, Pope Bill includes a few magic-focusing diamonds, melding them into the teleporter's overall design. He looks all around the place for anything that might help with the technological parts; he spots a few stray wire scraps and circuit boards lying around. ”Good enough,” Pope Bill says, shrugging and reaching for them. He returns to his work and plugs in the wire scraps and circuit boards, lending a little of his magical energy to make them work as intended. Finally, he concentrates, lending his magic to top the teleporter off.

Belowdecks, Crystal is working on the Super Aero Core, which is now becoming less of an Aero Core and more of an Aero-Gravcore. Gravcore Ore is already being layered into the Core’s structure, filling in gaps both physical and metaphorical. A web of green-glowing metal grows on the metal of the hollow golden Core, arranged into subtle patterns that amplify the gravity-manipulating power of the Gravcore Ore while also feeding energy to the air-manipulating parts of the core. While Crystal works, he begins contemplating a sort of “centerpiece” to the core -- hollow it may be, but something hollow just calls out for something interesting floating inside it.

Atop the ship, Irongutta continued his work on the new weapon. A well-reinforced structure was created for the weapon out of Durasteel. It generally had the shape of a massive pole with a large generator on the rear end. He slotted a supply of Gravcore Ore into the inside of the power generator, which will act as the power source for the weapon. While it typically is powered to generate a force used to lift ships, Irongutta had the idea to redirect that force as a concentrated beam. With the Gravcore Ore inserted, he works on the generator’s internal wiring and welding jobs.

As Hexagon works, he turns to Remiel. ”QUERY. DID YOU SAY “WAR CRIME”?

Irongutta overheard Remiel’s comment as well, which broke his concentration while welding. He peers over the edge of the ship, flipping up his welding mask to peer down at Remiel and Hexagon. ”Oi! Wots this nonsense about a “war crime”? Swear, I’ll clean the clock of wot git came up wivv that one.”

Pope Bill blinks when he overhears the ongoing conversation while working on the teleporter. ”War crime? I gotta know more about whatever this is!” he says, probably a bit too enthusiastically.

”THERE ARE NO WAR CRIMES. JUST HAPPY LITTLE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.. ACCIDENTS.

Crystal normally wouldn’t be hearing any of this -- he’s inside the ship, after all. “Normal”, however, doesn’t really apply to someone who can read narration. He pops up and comments, “War crime? Yeah, let’s save the Piecemaker mode for Iti.”

”WHY? ALL OUR FOES OPPOSE US IN EQUAL MEASURE.”

Pope Bill gives an approximation of an approving nod toward the prior statement. ”That guy understands,” he announces before turning his attention to his work once more.

Irongutta scoffed. ”Bah, yer no fun Crystal. These grots want our ‘eads on a pike all the same.” With that, Irongutta returned to finishing his welding job. With that done, he turns his attention to the other part of the giant weapon: the focus at the other end. The Durasteel structure that the focal points would be mounted on was already completed. It was a five-pointed structure: a central pylon with four claw-shaped nodes around it. All he had to do now was complete the focusing devices. Taking another piece of Gravcore Ore, he began to refine it into multiple smaller pieces using a set of fine tools. This created one large sphere and four smaller ones made of Gravcore Ore. They are mounted to the tips of the five-pointed structure and appropriately wired to the weapon’s power source.

“Eh, I suppose they’re trying to kill us, so we shouldn’t worry about how we kill them. Besides, Chairians can recover from anything other than fire, so let’s just avoid that.” With that, Crystal goes back to working on his upgrade to the Gravcore -- he’s settled on a design for the core centerpiece, and has cast a perfect sphere out of Gravcore Ore; he’s now incising a complex lattice of runes on the sphere that will soon be filled in by platinum, as well as adding some diamonds on the inside of the hollow Aero-Gravcore that serve as mana channelers.

Remiel responds. ”In that case, I guess the splinter modification is fine. Just don’t tell anyone who cares about their Karma.”

”...THEY CAN’T RECOVER FROM FIRE? NOTED FOR FUTURE USE.”

”Yeah, they can’t,”” Pope Bill says casually, while working on the teleporter. ”Fire’s fun!”

”That gives me a glorious, terrible idea.” Remiel works some Searing Clusters into the ballista, then test-fires on splinter mode again. The target dummies erupt in a cloud of flame as the fiery splinters blink into them.

Crystal sighs. “What have I wrought?” He distracts himself from the future carnage his passing comment will unleash on hapless foes with finishing up his upgrades on the Gravcore. The solid Gravcore Ore sphere, filigreed with platinum runes, floats bright-glowing in the middle of the larger Aero-Gravcore, mana funneling into it through cut diamond foci. In turn, the powerful gravitational-manipulating energy generated from the mana-inundated sphere is focused, strengthened, and harnessed by the platinum patterns on its surface, and then directed to wherever it needs to go.

Hexagon unleashes a few balls of flame and magic, melding plates together.”CURIOUS. ARE THE ITI SIMILARLY WEAK, OR IS FIRE BEST ONLY AGAINST THE CHAIRIAN FOES?”

Irongutta provided his own input. ”Naw, most everythin’ on this planet burns. Though lightin’ the Chairians seems to get everyone all worked up.”

”Good things, that’s what, Crystal,” Pope Bill mutters.

”WHY WOULD THEY NOT BE WORKED UP? THEY WOULD BE ON FIRE.”

”Well, ya got me there! But from wot I’ve ‘eard, a Chairian catchin’ on fire is more than just them burnin’. Messes ‘em up in their ‘eads real bad. Just look at wot happened to… Acacia was it? Yeah, that’s the one.” Irongutta was climbing down from the top of the ship with his toolbox under his left arm.

Crystal pops up from belowdecks, his work on the Gravcore complete. As he walks around to see if anyone could use help (noting Pope Bill’s work on the teleporter), he adds, “Yep. Burning a Chairian causes permanent psychological and physical damage. They can heal from anything else by reshaping their body given enough time, but not if they’re attacked with fire. For lack of a better word, fire leaves scars on their very selfhood, leaving them completely unable to heal the damage.” As he speaks, he examines Pope Bill’s work on the teleporter. It looks good functionally, but there are a few aesthetic issues he could help with.

”CURIOUS.”
Hexagon lifts up the huge, mostly completed plating for the hull, beginning attaching it to the bottom of the ship.

Irongutta whistled. ”Zog, that’s bad alright. Glad I ain’t a burna boy or I woulda gone mad from some kinda withdrawal, knowing how those gits work.”

Crystal reworks the teleporter a bit. The magitech foundation looks sound, but he reshapes the durasteel into a proper platform inlaid with an electrum array (using its electricity and magic affinities to interface with both sides of the magitech). The outside of the platform is studded with a circle of diamonds that channel both magic, in the form of mana, and technology, in the form of scanning-and-teleporting lasers -- the two methods synchronized in the process to help each other out.

”Alright then, I guess we shouldn’t use the incendiary mode on Charians. That being said, I’m not gonna just remove that functionality; you never know when you’re gonna run into trolls or hydrae.”

”Hey, thanks!” Pope Bill’s expression lights up a bit when he realises what Crystal did for him. ”Aesthetics aren’t really my thing. If it works, it works, never mind how it looks.”

Crystal grins back. “No problem! I find that sometimes aesthetics can affect how something works (depending on the whims of reality), so I try to make things look good.” He goes over and helps Hexagon finish attaching the Gaiameld-Plasteel plating to the ship’s hull, making sure it’s a close, aerodynamic fit. Not entirely riveting, but hey, it’s getting on the hull either way.

Irongutta walks over to the side of the hull where Crystal and Hex were working on the plating. ”Lemme help you two finish this bit up.”Flipping down his welding mask again, he works on attaching the rest of the plating to the ship’s hull.d

Pope Bill steps back from the teleporter, satisfied with it. ”Looks like things are going good,” he says, glancing around at everyone else.

Crystal finishes attaching his part of the plating. “Yep, looks like we’re basically all done! Just might wanna test-fire that tractor cannon to see if it works, and then we’re as good as done here.”

Irongutta gave Crystal a wide grin. ”Don’t gotta ask me twice! I prepared a little pocket remote just for testin’ purposes. Tell me, wot should we test it on?”

”Let’s see some explosions!” Pope Bill exclaimed.

Hexagon retreats back to the edge of the hanger.

“Hmm, how about... a rock? We don’t wanna destroy the hangar, after all.”

Remiel raises his hand. ”Need someone to test it on? I’ve got Divine Shield for a reason.”

Irongutta scratched his chin, thinking for a moment. ”Hrm, I designed the Traktor Kannon to be used on ships, but if ya say it’s fine then I trust ya. Just uh, go stand over there at the far end of the hangar.”

Remiel stands where told and braces for the test fire.

Pulling out a pocket controller, he took a moment to calibrate the weapon. Atop the ship, it automatically adjusts itself so that it points straight at Remiel. ”Alrighty then, ‘ere goes test one. Brace yerselves!” With the push of a big, red button, the Traktor Kannon started to whir to life. Suddenly, a loud thrumming noise is heard as a force beam is shot out of the end of the weapon towards Remiel. However, the beam didn’t knock him back. Instead, it created a bubble around him that trapped him in a crushing grip. ”Well, important thing is it didn’t explode. That’s part one complete! Right, now I just gotta see how it moves ya. I’d tell ya to hold still but ya don’t really ‘ave a choice ‘ere.”

Turning a knob on the controller, the thrumming grew louder as the weapon angled upwards. Remiel was lifted off the ground toward the ceiling of the hangar. The force from the weapon rattled the ceiling a bit. Irongutta was overjoyed by these results. ”Haha! It works well, and I ain’t even on full power! I’z savin’ that for when we’re up against actual ships up there. Wivv this thing, we’re gonna yank ‘em outta the sky!”

Remiel gives a yell upon hitting the ceiling. ”I’m telling you, air like this is unreal. It doesn’t even happen.”

Irongutta gave Remiel a thumbs up. ”Roight, just gonna set you down now. Lemme just…” Fiddling with the controls a bit, Irongutta… accidentally released Remiel from the force bubble early before he could be safely lowered to the ground. ”Aw hell.”

Pope Bill snickered a bit. “That was hilarious.”

”Ouch, knew I should’ve put up my shroud beforehand. Wait, is fall damage even a thing here?”

Irongutta walked over to Remiel, pulling him to his feet. ”Ah, well ya seem fine to me. Walk it off. Important thing is that it works!”

“Yes, it works! And with that, is everyone ready to get back to the house? We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, after all.”

”Aye, we all put in plenty o’ hard work today. Gotta rest up now so we’re ready.”

“Yep, let’s get back in there,” Pope Bill agreed. “Really great teamwork today!”

”YOU’RE WELCOME FOR MY AID. THE SHIP WILL SERVE US WELL THROUGH THE SKIES.”

Everyone headed back to the house, leaving a much-improved airship behind them.