Charsheet stuff: NULL weakness should be Slashing 50% (fixing it to 50%), Shifting Rune resist should be a second 20% Light.

Remiel spawns in at P15 with Raindrop active, gets a modifier from Shifting Rune, then vwoops to V11. They Cherry Energy Aello1 and Aello3 four times each, as well as pinging the Praetorian with a single Cherry. gib accomplishment pls. They toss a Tornado Bomb between the Aellos, presumably killing both and dealing a little damage to the Nest.

Getting a down upgrades their Mana Manipulator; they take Mana Leech and immediately fire the weapon at Predator2.

For statstuff, Irongutta puts two points into DEF.

Battle: The Rosen Forge

Spawning in at (J17), Irongutta immediately rushes to (J12) and continues to (J7) with the help of the Momentum Lock. He will hit Effigy1 with a Momentum Slam and finish it off with a basic attack.

Provided all goes well, Magnolia's Dance of Destruction will trigger, which Irongutta will use to smack Yulania as well.

Time to stop being a useless sack of garbage!

---

Auth smiles, happily. Getting to go somewhere nice with Nana is very nice.

AUTH: Alright. I have some things to prepare before we go. You can watch, but I'm not sure if it will be all that interesting.
AUTH: Shall I meet you up there?

Either way, Auth walks to the kitchen. Due to the nature of Parabolan Orange Apples, this ought to be... an interesting experience. He is, after all, not working with the usual set-up he has for constructing such a dish. But he said he would - and so he shall.



With that completed, Auth puts the jars of marmalade into a box, and makes his way up to the Sky Labs.

---

Auth considers what Cypress says about the other side of the Skylabs.

AUTH: I haven't seen that entrance yet, but I think clearing it out at some point would be a good idea. Not only for the strategic advantage it grants... but because if we controlled it, it would mean that Iti couldn't jump out and ambush us in the middle of a battle.
AUTH: I don't know if we'd be able to ferry anybody stationed in Central across with our Airship if they need to leave before the cablecar can be prepared... do you know where the nearest entrance is, then? It will need to be examined, later, at the very least.

Auth pauses to think about how to handle that problem.

---

Auth is meant to join the Airship Battle, and he therefore does. He spawns on O20, and as his standard battle opening, he casts Dark-Perseverance and sets his Variable Resistance to Air.

Kalis invests their 2 spare Skill Points, putting one in SPC and one in HP. They also make some adjustments to their spell list, swapping out Siege Spire for Skeletal Toss, Deep Thinking for Focus Energy, and Encourage for Mirror Image.

They spawn into the Above the Forest battle on P21 and move to Q22. They cast Mirror Image, spawning the duplicate on P23, then cast Focus Energy as a bonus action.

<ROUND 272>
So, first order of business: stats! Yay!



Second order of business- MORE GIFTS! Yay! As the GM writes this, a few more presents warp beneath the tree.

---

Not!Echoss enters the Everground! Grabbing the Heavenpiercing Drill, he pierces through the rightmost crystal cluster that's lighting the room. In fact, let's call them "Sunlight Crystals". This disconnects it from the ceiling, and it begins to plummet! He then expends 20 Durasteel, 10 Mortar Shells, a Sanctified Shell, and 2 Incendiary Scraps to "arm" the Sunlight Crystal, also cutting through an island on the way down. He then rides this light crystal downward... then back up, as the payload goes off, dealing (40) damage to the head of the Coursing Shadow. The strain of ascent deals (7) damage to him.

Then, with an almighty YEEHAW, he sends the crystal right into the Coursing Shadow! The crystal detonates with the force of ten thousand- actually, just make that a singular sun. Which is still the force of a sun. The pulse of light deals (50) damage to the head of the Coursing Shadow, and then an additional (30) to all of its non-tail parts! It also seems to stagger the beast, making its action this round far weaker!

...As the light in the room fades, the shadows seem to creep closer. Not from below, but from the sides. While that certainly left a large mark, the fact that the room has gotten a fair deal darker could be bad. Still, it's probably fine. Right? It also seems like the creature may begin acting once all players have acted in the Everground.

---

Venia implies to Cypress that Wattle may be a traitor. He immediately hits the "dispute" button on the claim.

CYPRESS: Wattle: loyal. To myself.
CYPRESS: Spark: technologically inept. Correct. However, not alone. Many are aligned.
CYPRESS: Scientists from here. Many obey him. Some are competent.
CYPRESS: Also has machinery. Was in airship. Probably now dust. Still. Airship: remote access.
CYPRESS: Additionally: Chairheir position. Perks: Level 4. Highest access level. Can perform overrides.

CYPRESS: One upside. Can't access everything. Security footage: unhackable. Interface: forced local. Cannot remotely access.
CYPRESS: Usually unfortunate. But good now.

As Venia bids him farewell, Cypress quietly waves. He then returns to his maintenance work on Harmonia. A few rooms over, Maria spams Aoki with a barrage of questions. Can she weather the wave? Who is she? Is she a magical girl? As it seems, she can parry the questions almost as fast as Maria can pose them.

AOKI: My name is Aoki!
AOKI: Not a magical girl, but people say my voice is magical!
AOKI: I was sleeping here because I was tired!
AOKI: Fluffies are good! Four is really good!
AOKI: A-And...

...Okay, maybe she can't quite weather the storm. She coughs, a slightly raspy throat causing her a stab of pain.

AOKI: A-And... I don't know who your parents are. Apologies.
AOKI: P-Please... give me a second...
MARRON: Aoki, huh?
MARRON: ...Nope, doesn't ring a bell.
AOKI: Y-You... don't know who I am?

Her eyes go wide. Not with fear, or with anger, but... something else.

AOKI: Y-You really don't?
MARRON: Are you some sort of big shot or something?
MARRON: Because I could give less of a gorilla.
AOKI: Ah. It's been awhile since I've had someone speak to me with such... attitude.
AOKI: Such foul language. Such disdain.
AOKI: I... quite like it!
AOKI: Though, you may wish to watch your mouth around children.
MARRON: You... what?
MARRON: I'm confused.
AOKI: A-Ah, let me explain.
AOKI: It's rare that I meet with those who don't know about me or my career.
AOKI: Dare I say it, it's quite a nice change of pace!
MARRON: R-Right. Sure.

Marron stares blankly at Aoki, ever so slightly suspicious. How's Maria doing, though? Elsewhere, Venia asks Nia if she finally went and had her talk with Mari. She bobs her head, though a bit hesitantly.

NIA: U-Um, I should be good to go through the procedure.
NIA: I talked with Mari, and she made it sound pretty nice... but also kinda dangerous?
NIA: But... whatever it takes, right?
NIA: I'll be fine! I've dealt with some pretty tough gorilla. Don't worry for me. You should be worried for the universe when I go after it!~

Nia pumps a fist into the air, giggling to herself. Nia will take on the universe, and win! Probably! Probably not! But she'll do her best! Anyway, as a final act, one of Venia's Maid's infiltrates the Everground, and opens fire upon the Coursing Shadow! A barrage of bullets rockets strikes the crystal dangling from the "tail" of the beast, dealing (20) damage! Streams of light begin to leak from the shadowy void. What will happen when that crystal breaks? It might not be pretty for either side.

---

Calibri thanks Chloe for the gift. She smiles back, having just come back from working with Maple earlier. Calibri's gift still sits upon her head, stylish as ever.

CHLOE: You're welcome!
CHLOE: I quite like my gift, too. It looks good on me, right?

The two then share a quick hug, before Calibri asks whether he should head over to the picnic.

CHLOE: Alright!
CHLOE: See you there, then?
CHLOE: Oh! See if you can bring something nice, too!
CHLOE: We have sandwiches, drinks, and... really, that's it.
CHLOE: What we need I think, is... some sort of nice lil' side dish?
CHLOE: I dunno. Any ideas?

Anyway, the timeline proceeds to resolve itself a little as Chloe heads off to the picnic. Meanwhile, down in the Everground, some nerd called "SED", or the Shielded Engietech Drone appears! It lands on the Coursing Shadow's head for (10) damage, before travelling a short distance up the background wall. This deals (3) damage to them due to the strain of ascent. They then harpoon 26 units of Gravcore Ore into their inventory, and using specialized rockets, fire down two halves of a (formerly) floating island down towards the Coursing Shadow! This destroys one of the Wings, and deals (20) additional damage to the Head! Seems like mining that ore dampened the damage a bit. But oh well.

Despite lacking a wing, the Coursing Shadow still seems to be agile enough. While one would hardly call an entire wing a "redundant system", perhaps that's the case here? Also, from the broken wing, 5 Darkmatter Clusters enter SED's inventory. Neat!

---

The Scion brings Maxim over to the picnic. Chloe is... understandably nervous to see them in the area. What do they eat, anyway? Do sandwiches count as essence? Doing her best to calm down, Chloe waves hello to Maxim and the Scion.

CHLOE: U-Um, hello! Yes, w-we've met!
CHLOE: We met in an... interesting way. Maybe I'll tell you later.
CHLOE: B-But... d-do you want a sandwich?

Chloe holds a ham and cheese sandwich up to Maxim. For a brief moment, their entire wooden body twitches. Suddenly, with a violent jolt, it turns around and pops open, revealing the parasitic form of Maxim and the artificial core. With its bladed tail still embedded deep within the core as an anchor, Maxim lashes backward towards the sandwich. With a set of mandibles, it snags the ham straight out of the sandwich, before pulling itself back into its enclosure with the core. The awful sound of ripping and gnashing comes from within the wooden body.

CHLOE: I... guess they only eat meat. Carnivore style?
CHLOE: S-Still... c-couldn't they eat in a more n-normal way?
CHLOE: Scary...

Chloe pulls out a piece of Yggcrawler Meat from the inventory, offering it to Maxim. The same way as before, Maxim lashes out of their body, and claims the meat piece for themselves. Nom nom nom.

CHLOE: I-I... will not get used to that.

While Chloe continues to worry for her fingers, the Reflector continues their work in the Border Outpost.

---

Adria asks Taeda if she's ready to go to the picnic. The priestess nods her head, still wearing the formal robes of a Devout.

TAEDA: I'm always ready to go!
TAEDA: I'll come with you, if that's fine?

Taeda follows behind Adria, a little bit of a cute pep in her step. The two of them step through the portal, and soon enough, arrive at the picnic. Taeda immediately begins brewing a pot of tea for the group, as its the right thing to do. Y'know? Maybe Adria will get a cup, too. Maybe if she asks politely. Or maybe she won't even need to ask at all.

Scene transistion: Everground. Hannah finds and reads a tome of dark magic, skimming it incredibly quickly! Using this knowledge, she fires an arrow at the tail, a trail of purple following it. This trail allows her to fire a stream of homing arrows directly at the tail of the Coursing Shadow! The arrows manage to shatter the crystal there! Streams of light shoot from the crystal in every direction as it explodes!

Desperately, the Coursing Shadow begins to build up energy within its mouth. Light travels up from the broken shards of the crystal, up to its head. Like an invisible shark filled with fluorescent liquid, the path of light up its body is clearly visible, accumulating in the beak. That's...not good. At least its not attacking. In addition, its cries of pain seem to have attracted a few Reverie. Deal with those?

Then, as a final act, Carcia does her best to infiltrate one of the storage areas in Outpost Unity.

---

Auth prepares some marmalade. Nana watches, despite Auth's claims that it wouldn't be very interesting to watch. Still, she intently observes him as he works. A piece of Liar's Flesh. 3 Orange-Apples. 7 Fresh Manablooom. A bucket of water. A Fluke Core Fragment. 3 Spider Silk Spools. She's not even sure how some of those fit in a dish, but apparently preparing an Orange-Apple is a rather dangerous process. Soon enough, the marmalade is completed.

NANA: Huh.
NANA: That was actually pretty neat!
NANA: I'm not much of a cook, you know. This was really interesting!
NANA: Anyway... let's go!

Taking Auth by the hand, the two of them ever so slowly make their way to the picnic grounds. Chloe waves them over once they're in view, papping a free corner of the carpet for them to use.

CHLOE: Welcome, Auth! You too, Nana!
CHLOE: I see you brought the marmalade! I was waiting for this!~
CHLOE: Bring it here!

Chloe sets it out with the sandwiches, adding a well-needed splash of color to the meal. She also serves a small portion to Nana, who promptly takes a bite.

NANA: W-Wow!
NANA: I've never had anything like this!
CHLOE: Looks like its a success!
CHLOE: Thanks a bunch, Auth!

The two of them properly settle down at the picnic. Elsewhere, both spatial and temporal, Auth asks where the nearest entryway into the underground tunnel system would be. Cypress points to a location on the map.

CYPRESS: Usual answer: stairwells. However, blocked off. More aptly: detonated. Prevent Iti spread.
CYPRESS: Alternative route required. Solution: drone hangar. Access tunnel. Shouldn't be guarded.
CYPRESS: Warning. May be infested. Exercise caution.

Is that a viable way to travel? It probably is. Let's just hope there's no underground stairwells. Travelling such a long distance on foot would be exhausting. For possibly unrelated reasons, Chloe suddenly experiences a bout of PTSD regarding running to the House on foot back in Zone 1. :painpeko:

---

<ABOVE THE FORESTS, ROUND 2>
You're, uh. A bit short on manpower. Things cold get complicated, but don't lose hope! Use some nice items if you need to. Eat some food to keep healthy. And, more importantly, make use of some of the changes to accommodate the lower player cap! Mari's consoles are now Bonus Actions to use, so be sure to hack some turrets! And get those Bileprincesses out of the sky- the last thing you need is an extra horde on deck!

<THE ROSEN FORGE, ROUND 2>
Things are going pretty well, even if there are tons of Flux Mutations in the air! Not too many large threats left due to some plays by Bass and Crystal, so you might be good to aggress the big(?) man himself. Just remember that there's more surprises in store... so don't cast everything right away!

Destiny decides to quip.
I believe it shall be yours, cultist. Not only do you worship a monstrosity that threatens destroy all of us, you are a traitor to your people and your gods! This final bastion of yours shall be the grave of those who dare exalt such a foul creature!

Destiny proceeds to run up to J10 and use Whirling Blades, moving to I10, H11, G10, F10, E11, and finally D12.

----------

Crya, meanwhile, finally gets to the Picnic.

S-sorry I'm late! I, uh, brought some ice cream!
It's not exactly what I can whip up, but it's good old vanilla Häagen-Dazs! With ice cream it's kind of hard to go wrong, anyways.

Seemingly out of thin air Crya draws two tubs of said Häagen-Dazs.

I think that two big tubs like these should be sufficient. Enjoy, everyone!

Yulania's Stupidity Club

Venia feels very different in Nia's body. This was downright surreal. Seeing her own body move independently of her volition while moving another was almost taking her out of her element, and this one was very different from the one she just got. (She almost thinks it's lucky Nia can even stand, given how Venia struggled to maintain her form before.) She can almost feel Persephone in there-but really, she feels... Free. Whimsical, almost. Different brain chemistry at work? Who cares! Nia is awesome, and she's Nia now!

... But this is still a serious battle. No time for getting overly whimsical.

"Nia" waits for Generic to use the Eterna Tea on the Decaying Executioner.

Once that's done, "Nia" steps to I18, and uses the Luminous Rose to gain Ordo from "Venia" for 10 MP. "Thanks, cutie!" "Nia" says, blowing "Venia" a kiss with one hand, while pulling out the Elemental Blaster and firing at the Decaying Executioner with the Fire Element for a hopeful down. "...Hey, uh, can you, move me a few spaces that way, actually?" "Nia" asks, pointing to N20. Surely Nia-in-Venia's-body can figure out Hope Rides Eternal.

Anyways, once at N20, Nia actually performs the rest of her move to P19, and waves Boxican. "So your actual name is Ponderosa? That actually sounds cute!" "Nia" says as she waves Ponderosa to drag Scarred2 to R21, and Absolver2 to S21. Cue Glacier Drop, cue hopefully two downs and one Flux Royale.

"Nia! Uh... Just start blasting Yulania! Purge him with the Key, just aim and shoot, it's easy, and say something cool while you do! And get out of that pool before anything bad happens! And uh, have Batman support you! ... I'm saying way too much aren't I, I'm sorry!"

---

Niaaaaaaaaa

"Oh, yeah, it's stupid painful. Way I have it set up... What am I talking about, you already saw it, right?" Venia says.

Certain simultaneous conversations occur, which perhaps fuels her response here. "...Well, alright then. I think I missed a present from Chloe to open, so I'll open that down there, and then we can pester Chaos about the resources we need. And also, uh, some other thing I realize I need to do sooner rather than later."

---

Mariaaaaaaa

"... I like your dress, it's pretty, I like it. I want a dress like that when I am a big," Maria says, hugging Aoki, probably because cute things are huggable. "My name's Maria, I love the fluffies, and I want to hug all the fluffies, ever, and then have all the baby fluffies and love them so much they don't explode. ... Why do baby fluffies explode? That doesn't make no sense, that doesn't make no sense."

"Marron, I wanna find Ette to give her the present, then I wanna find Venny! Or Daddy! Or Mommy! I wanna do cool stuff! Let's go! Bye Aoki!"

Maria promptly wanders towards the exit, her mattress of spiralfloofs in tow.

---

Everground

Venia's Maid makes no overt motions-it's little more than a mouthpiece. The silence that follows serves well enough, though.

"... What?" Venia asks.

"Don't," Venia says, almost automatically, the instant her bearings return. "Not now, anyways. That kind of nonsense puts Maria into the crossfire-he'll think I'm responsible for it and act accordingly, he clearly thinks I'm in charge and know everything that's ongoing, becuase 'i'm a supergenius prodigy hurr durr.' He already did so for Maria before-that's why she's here now, in case you didn't realize that people generally don't throw their daughters into dangerous situations if they gave them a damn!"

"... Give me time," Venia says, assertively. "Don't even think about it before I have some sort of way to make sure Regalus can't hurt Maria, or so help me god..." Venia doesn't finish. Her tone is the kind that books no argument.

Woe betide Hannah, who has already made this move, should Venia ever find out. (Naturally, the laws of storytelling makes this scenario likely, if not entirely inevitable. I recommend Hannah prays to her nearest deity or deity-like figure, or failing that just hoards lucky charms.)

"... You can wait on acting on his life for me to figure out something with Maria? I just need to do one thing with Nia, myself... I think I already have at least one idea."

"... And before we go further-why?" Venia asks.

---

Regalus

Still reading. Still invested.

Move to J14, Chairian Brew Executioner1, Use Pustule Bonus action on Niessence2, Exertion, attack Niessence2.

==BATTLE==
Crystal moves over to O10, then once again trait-ports himself, this time over to M10.

He then proceeds to wait to actually act until Bomber's action finishes, at which point he'll have some extra Empowered (and Focused as well, from Charged Consciousness).

He takes a breath and focuses his chi, casting Focus Energy as a Bonus Action, before pointing his foam hammer westward and calling for a Broadside. Three ghostly cannons shimmer out of thin air, before firing replicas of the Occult Hammer of Banning westward. They promptly slam into the Exhibition, Niessence1, and Yulania, respectively. Maybe one of them will Ban the target?

He then stays there. He's not particularly concerned about the Scalenoid. 10 AC and 70 HP will do that to you.

==CRAFTING==
Crystal preps for a future build.

Not!Echoss decides that since nobody in the party wants to open the "to the party" presents someone outside the party should do it instead.
Not!Echoss proceeds to tear open all the presents addressed to the party as a whole (not the one that's from irongutta to a bunch of specific people at once, that's not the whole party)
Also a note: my movement still has the Operator's Suit passive listed on it, instead of the flight I now have.


Picanic
Echoss idly watches the others doing picnic stuff, and looks over at Nana.
"Are you alright Miss Markhamia?"


Not!Echoss bullies another monster, this time with friends
Not!Echoss looks up at the Coursing Shadow, and notices something immediately off. He quickly assembles a homemade magnifying glass out of a Reverie, some duct tape, and a magnifying glass.
He zooms up around the Coursing Shadow's head, and examines it thoroughly despite the thrashing anger of the Reverie he duct-taped to his magnifying glass.
Aha! he thinks to himself
Just as I thought! he also thinks to himself
The Coursing Shadow has a maximum SHP of 0! he continues thinking to himself
Therefore, they cannot have 50 SHP, as that's over their maximum! he finishes thinking to himself.
Noting to himself that he should probably put some italics on his personal thoughts next time he does that kind of thing (don't want people to start thinking he's the sleuth or whatever, that'd completely ruin his point of not actually being a defined character!) he throws away his magnifying glass (freeing the disgruntled Reverie) and cracks his knuckles.
Now, since he has logically proven to himself that the Coursing Shadow's SHP doesn't actually exist, he doesn't have to worry about it.
So he zooms forward next to what he assumes is the Coursing Shadow's ear, and whispers reeaaaaal close.
"hey there buddy chum pal friend buddy pal chum bud friend fella bruther amigo pal buddy friend chummy chum chum pal I don't mean to be rude my friend pal home slice bread slice dawg but I gotta warn you that if you diddly darn keep telling everyone you've got SHP when you clearly don't im going to have to diddly darn snap ur neck and wowza wouldn't that be a crummy juncture, huh? do yuo want that? do wish upon yourself to come into physical experience with a crummy juncture? because friend buddy chum friend chum pally pal chum friend if you keep this up well gosh diddly darn i just might have to get not so friendly with u my friendly friend friend pal friend buddy chum pally friend chum buddy..."
Obviously, the coursing shadow doesn't stop displaying itself as having SHP on its head because Not!Echoss is the only one who's realized it isn't actually there, and therefore it hasn't reached the critical threshold for not being displayed anymore.
So Not!Echoss does the only reasonable thing a person in his position can do.

He snaps the Coursing Shadows head clean off its neck, bypassing the SHP that isn't actually there to do so.


BATTLE CRY
In Above the Forest, Pionobot bonus action triggers the weapons console to shoot the predator cannon, so hopefully it can be removed soon. He also uses the Trio Signal, not really gonna be a better time for using it than right now.
Then he moves to R23, and basic attacks Aello 4. He also spawns a Basic Attack Chronoshade at R21 as a bonus action.

D31 Roll:

31 - Tem/Tem

oh for fucks-

---

CHARA: Chloe! Chloe! chlOE! Chl-

---

Failed to connect to the server

Internal Exception: java.IOException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

---

After several hours of wrestling with the Corte Francia’s WiFi connection, which can only be compared to using dial-up internet on an Arabic Nokia phone, Chara lags back onto Sussui - more precisely, onto the airship during the current battle raging above the forest. Doubling over, tem coughs up a sizeable cloud of dust over the floor, before rising back up, reopening tem eyes and -

CHARA: -oeeEEE

- meeting face to face with Auth of all people.

AUTH: Hey, uh… are you okay? That dust cloud certainly didn’t look very healthy.

Almost as if acting on second instinct, tem quickly pulls the Minute to Midnight out - right, still have that, good - and throws it right past his ear. The blade proceeds to make a smooth turn to the left, rounding the ballista and slashing across an innocent Predator.

CHARA: ...Never been better. Appreciate the concern, though.

Auth nods, politely ignoring the fact that Chara threw the Minute to Midnight towards his head.

AUTH: If you say so, then I’ll take your word for it. Glad to have you back, we’re short handed here.
CHARA: Sure looks that way. The hell happened? Last I heard, everyone was fighting some pyromaniac chick.
AUTH: There’s several people that could apply to… do you mean Acacia? Because she died, we’re making our way over to the center of the Skylabs and one of the reasons is to help resurrect her.
CHARA: Why would you… oh, right, Endless Magic is forbidden here. Disregard. Sucks for her, though. Is there anything more to the plan past that point, or do we pray she doesn’t decide to thank you by incinerating everyone?
AUTH: Considering that Spark was the one that murdered her to begin with, I don’t think that she’ll murder us in turn. Especially since we’re the reason she’s only dead and not completely incinerated.
CHARA: Oh? Well ain’t that a change of pace. Fully expected her to have a dramatic standoff with Venia or whoever and meet her end that way.
AUTH: Nah, she helped blow up Spark’s airship after she lost, dramatically, to our party in a battle. That was why Spark was going to kill her, for being completely unable to do anything to us and surrendering.
CHARA: I see.
CHARA: Or rather, I see one half and pretend to see the other, since I don’t even know who Spark is beyond the current arc villain.
AUTH: In that language… Spark is basically the main antagonist. He’s the current leader of the Chairian Council. That about catch you up?
CHARA: More or less. Was convinced either WARE or the Butterfly were the main antagonist.
CHARA: Speaking of vaguely meta shit, please give me a moment to edit my character sheet so I don’t die immediately. Talking is a free action only to a certain extent.

Changes:
+2 HP
+Obtain Pop Pop and Reflect Slash

Battle:
Spawn at N20, basic attack Predator2.

House:
Open present

The House

Calibri is more than happy to be part of the brief embrace.

"Heh. Looks like it was made for ya. Probably because it was, but, well, you get what I mean. It, uh. Suits you well."

Then, the matter of something to bring to the picnic. Now that's a good question...

"Hm... Gimme a bit, I'll see what I can do."

As Chloe heads off to the picnic, Calibri heads off to the kitchen. It's a completely different place, and hopefully he can assemble something nice there...



In case he didn't quite get the concept of a side dish correct, Calibri also brings a barrel of fresh fruit, because yes.

With that Hearty Yggstew assembled, Calibri wanders through the portal to go join the picnic. He has the Hearty Yggstew with him and is rolling the barrel of fresh fruit the same way one would roll out with a barrel of alcohol. That's what rolling out the barrel means, right?

"Sup people I brought some things."

---

Battle in the Forge

Verdana glances down at the tiny amount of injury he's sustained so far.

"You think bleeding will slow me down?"

He scoffs. Then, he performs a battle action. Well, sort of...

"...Erm... Bro, can you do me a favor real quick?"
"Yeah, on it."

Verdana activates Switch In, replacing himself on the battlefield with Calibri temporarily. Calibri then moves to K16, reaches unnaturally far across the battlefield with one bizarrely long arm, and manually sticks a Force Nail into Yulania's body.

---

House

EN observes her gift from Taeda. It's a pair of pants. The gray lass experiences Severe Internal Conflict™ as she wrestles with her own dislike of wearing pants and the fact that it was a gift from Taeda. Eventually, the gift side of things wins out, and she somewhat reluctantly puts them on.

"Mmh... S'pose they'll do fine, fer wha' they be."

Beat.

"...Wha' am ah gon' make in return... Ah right, th' plan."



After EN gets done with all that, a tiny critter with a spiral shell and big eyes waits peacefully under the christmas tree. Though not for long, admittedly. It knows that tree can't last long and is eager to get away from there. But there's only really one person who can help it out, going by the label. It reads...

To Taeda. I heard these little guys are sorta relevant to that Lord Helix fella. So I got ya one. Just don't ask how. From EN.

---

The Everground

SED realizes that there is continued existence of danger. It beeps in what is probably R2D2ese for annoyance, then aims upward and fires. A harpoon proceeds to skewer the other Reverie right through the middle, before SED pulls the harpoon downwards again, yanking the Reverie out of the air.

That would be bad enough for the Reverie, but then SED proceeds to manifest a giant pair of grinders, which link themselves together as the harpoon drags the Reverie through the middle, rapidly shredding it into paste from the lower end upwards. High pressure thyme matter bits paste either the darkness barrier or the lever, depending on which Reverie was skewered, and it smells disgusting. Plus now the harpoon is all covered in yucky stuff.

So SED promptly re-aims and fires it off at the Coursing Shadow's wing, making the same kind of high-pitched noise someone would make if they discovered a cockroach crawling on their hand.

BATTLES - THE ROSEN FORGE

"The Scion" uses the Violence Virophage as a bonus action to spread the Plague from the Executioner to Yulania, the Exhibition, and Generic (he's immune to Poison damage anyway, it's fine). As she does so, she copies Silenced to the Exhibition.

She then moves to I16 and uses her Catalyst weapon skill to double the intensity of the Plague on Yulania, before retreating to I18.

---

ZONE 5 - STILL THE PICNIC

"The Scion" noms on her sandwich. Nom.

---

THE BORDER OUTPOST

The Reflector decides to use the power of Christmas to make one last craft to get this Mechonis fueled. They take some Crystalline Conduits and wrap them around a Thunderous Regalia, with some Ette Floof as insulation. They then fashion an iron ingot into an electromagnet with the other side of the conduits and jack the magnet directly into the Mechonis's motors. Hopefully, the sheer electromagnetic force a Thunderous Regalia is capable of outputting can activate the turbines.
The Reflector tests their contraption to see if it's capable of getting them off the ground, and if it is, they head out.

Meanwhile, ""Lilac"" has a... rather dangerous idea.
She idles for a few minutes to lower suspicion, then carefully submerges an incendiary scrap into the oil pool as soon as she can verify all of the rebels are looking the other way / absorbed by their work. (She stands at the tile right above the door so that the Tabletopian soldiers can't easily see her.) She then palms a shock crystal from the inventory and glances at it for a minute, trying to get the exact timing of its electrical pulses down in her head.
Eventually, she gets the rhythm down well enough to whip the shock crystal out for the precise moment it sparks (and pocket it immediately afterward), sending a quick jolt of electricity into the incendiary scrap and starting an oil fire.

""LILAC"": Aaah! What the-- why would you leave a pool of oil next to an electrical device? Don't you know how dangerous that is?! One stray spark and this happens!

""Lilac"" runs for the alarm switch.

""LILAC"": Go get help! I have some thermal gel on hand; I can try to keep it under control for a bit.

Battle - Above The Forests

Adria looks around at the current situation. It's... not looking too great. Something has to be done to thin out the horde up at the front. After a while, she comes up with a plan.

ADRIA: Taeda, dear, can you run over there and work the Rangefinding Sensors? Then you might want to come back here and heal that pink-haired girl.
ADRIA: Speaking of... you there! Pink-haired girl! Mind operating the drill there for me? Pop a balloon, we don't want more of those things coming! Do it on my cue!

Meanwhile, Adria readies herself for a ton of movement.

ADRIA: I'll go up to that weapon console near the horde and activate it, then get rid of the horde coming up!
ADRIA: ...Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.

POST ORDER: AUTH -> KALIS -> ADRIA

Taeda moves to (N23), activates the Rangefinding Sensors, moves back to (L21), uses Practiced Prayer on Marron as a Bonus Action (Hopeful Voice due to not being hit, +30%), then fires at Bileprincess 5 to hopefully drop it. She then uses the Elemental Sniper (Ice) on either Bileprincess 5 and the Everbloom, or the Everbloom and Predator 2.

Adria waits for Kalis, moves to (O22), uses the Teleporter Node to move to (L16), Warp Rings to (P12), uses the Weapons Console next to her to Drill Bileprincess 3 for a clean down, works the Hacking Console nearby to try and hack the turret at (G13) or (X3), depending on if Kalis hacked the first, Hypercharges Remiel, and uses Full Attention To Praise! for +4 Buff Levels minimum. Adria uses Galeforce Sweep NorthWest, hitting Predators 1, 3, Bileprincess 4, and Reborn 1. Predators 1 and 3 are pushed off the edge, the Bileprincess is pushed to (P8), and the Reborn is pushed to (P9). Another Chronoshade appears at (N18), set to cast Galeforce Sweep.

Marron moves to (L20), uses the Weapons Console to Drill Bileprincess 4 for a clean kill. After that, it's up to her what she does.

---

Adria

Back in the Skylabs proper, Adria would be attending the picnic right now... but the various bits of tech lying around the place distract her, looking through the exhibits nearby.

ADRIA: Huuh. There are some very interesting uses of elemental crystals here...
ADRIA: And is that a gravity altering device there? ...It's missing something, though. It was probably stolen... sad, but what can you do?
ADRIA: Hoverseats, too! Ahh, reminds me of home... and a water statue! Though it seems like it's been modified by someone else. Mm, I'll need to ask about that later...
ADRIA: Though, not a very efficient method of modelling something; hardlight's way better; but it's still interesting!

ADRIA: ...O-oh, right!

After realizing she's been at this for a bit too long, Adria returns to the picnic. She deliberately sits down next to Dorothy, who was still nibbling away at her food, uncaring of the world around her. ...Actually, it seems like she's trying to ignore something that happened. Adria looks down at the child, a concerned frown on her face.

ADRIA: ...Dorothy?

Dorothy spares her a brief glance, not properly registering her presence at first. Then she realizes.

DOROTHY: A-ah?

She lifts her head up and turns to Adria. Perhaps in an unexpected turn of events, Dorothy immediately stands (leaving the last bit of her sandwich behind) and jumps at Adria for a hug, which she gladly receives.

DOROTHY: I-I missed you...
ADRIA: I missed you too, dear.

A moment passes.

ADRIA: You... looked upset. Did something happen?

Dorothy slowly points to the west, towards where the incident occurred.

DOROTHY: I... I-I think you should see for yourself...
ADRIA: ...Alright. You stay here, I'll check.
ADRIA: ...Pardon me, everyone. I'll be back in a moment.

Adria lets Dorothy down, walks off to the west, and moves out of view. Adria then returns to the picnic seconds later. She clearly hasn't checked it out yet. She sits back down next to Dorothy (who has picked her sandwich back up), picking her up again and setting her on her lap.

...At the same time, another Adria, again fully aware of what's going on, investigates the area Dorothy pointed to. She examines the wooden husk and the nearby Chairian quaking in fear. Oh, and the stench of ashes.

ADRIA: This... might be serious. No wonder Dorothy is upset...

She goes through the husks before noticing the nearby crowd of people looking somber. What is she walking into, exactly...?
Well, she found her answer soon enough. A very recent death. A giant gaping hole straight through a Chairian woman's head, piercing through to her most vital of organs and annihilating it. Sap was likely still spilling out onto the ground by this point.

Adria couldn't look at her for more than a few seconds before needing to leave, eyes dilated and body shivering. She sits down on the side of the husk opposite to the crowd of people.

ADRIA: O-oh Helix, w-what in the world did that!?
ADRIA: I-I know some beasts c-can be deliberate, and d-dangerous like this, b-but this is...

ADRIA: ...I-I think... I think I-I'm gonna be sick...

---

Hannah

Yep, Hannah expected as much from Venia. She doesn't twitch. She doesn't seem at all disappointed. She doesn't even sigh. Her entire demeanor was deadpan; a far cry from a few moments ago.

HANNAH: I was gonna wait anyway. Why do you think I'm back down here? ...Well, besides the conversation we're having?
HANNAH: You might've noticed something back then. How a note appeared on my face with nobody else approaching me? How a tome appeared out of thin air just now? Stuff like that?
HANNAH: That wasn't me. It wasn't anyone else down here. No, not even whatstheirface over there.
HANNAH: I'm acting on a contact's instructions. I need a couple things from down here. I'm getting a little extra help from them. I won't... can't... give any more details on that.

HANNAH: ...But. If you're looking to keep Maria out of danger... try getting Adria to help. From what the others told me, she'll do anything in her power to help a kid out. I think she's awake right now.
HANNAH: You'll find her. Not very hard to miss.
HANNAH: At least consider it, alright?

HANNAH: ...Oh, yeah, the other two. The ones that gave me this "poison".
HANNAH: You might wanna have a chat with The Reflector and Crystal.
HANNAH: Consider them your allies in this whole thing, along with myself.

HANNAH: There's likely others that'll sympathize. You don't need to be alone in this, y'know.

Hannah looks at the Maid directly in the eye-analogues. She looks... almost as if she knows much more than she lets on. Her frown and unwavering golden glare say it all, really. She's dead serious about this.

HANNAH: ...You really... really don't.

She averts her gaze from the Maid, back to the monster ahead of her.

HANNAH: Now if you'll excuse me... let's see if a shadow can bleed.

Hannah grabs the "string" coming from her bow, and yanks it. It appears to act like a physical string, dislodging the arrow with the "string" still attached. She reels it in, then nocks the arrow once more, this time aiming just above the upper-right wing. She fires it a bit less directly, causing it to visibly arc. Once the arrow flies over the wing, she yanks it in a certain way, causing the string to wrap around the wing. The arrow gets lodged in between the "string".

Then, Hannah nocks another arrow; the end of the "string" that was attached to the bow is now attached to another arrow, and a new "string" forms at the bow. She fires this arrow in much the same way as the first, only this time at the bottom-left wing.

She pulls on her bow, causing the "strings" to tighten around the wings. She keeps tightening, the magic augmenting her ability to pull it tight. Very quickly, the Coursing Shadow finds that the two wings are being bound closer, making it considerably more difficult to move them. She keeps pulling. Eventually, the "strings" start to take a different form; dark blue chains, solidifying as Hannah pulls harder. She's looking to pull at least one of the wings clean off.

If she can, she fires a couple arrows at the head in the meantime.

HANNAH: As for why? Well, remember this?

Hannah shakes the Silenced Bow a little bit.

HANNAH: Yew told me about him in her dying breaths. It seems you weren't quite careful enough in there, whatever you were doing.
HANNAH: Something about adapting to you, I think? Sentient weapons are good at that, apparently.
HANNAH: I was considering not even bothering, to be honest. But...
HANNAH: ...I-I dunno, I felt like I had to look into it more. Struck me as bad news. Hence all the prep.
HANNAH: Also, Maria. Us kids need to look out for one other, yeah? So in a way, we're in the same boat on that.

Carica
...Yeah, this seems like a nigh-impossible task right now. It'd be very easy to get caught in this storage area even if she was careful.

Hannah looks over to the communications hub, idly wondering what "Lilac" was doing. Then she probably sees the smoke from the oil fire. Hannah keeps her voice low as she mutters...

HANNAH: oh god what the hell are you doing

...This might make for a decent opportunity for doing da sneaks, though. She hides in the densest foliage she could find, waiting for the place to thin out. She might be able to sabotage the entire operation... that AA cannon looks like it'd be a real pain for the airship, nevermind the Chainknight suits. She could probably also rig that crate of explosives to violently explode if things get hairy in there, but she'll need to wait for everyone to be out of the place first. Or, maybe she could go around the side to do it? There's probably gaps where she could squeeze something in.

But that's for a little later. For now, she just waits to see if "Lilac"'s distraction works...

Bauhaus opens his eyes, and finds himself lying on the floor.

"Oh gorilla I overslept again!'

He quickly picks himself up and slips on the carpet. He is sent down the stairs, right into the basement portal...

- BATTLE: ABOVE THE FORESTS -
...and onto the Airship. Which is currently infested with monsters. Bauhaus readies his dual spears, fumbling a bit.

"How do you hold these things with one hand?"

Bauhaus spawns at P20, moves to Q18, and then uses his Earth basic attack, aimed to the east, and consequently, Harpy4.

Hey it's me look I exist.
Hey look it's a link hopefully

Let me know if that doesn't work I suppose I can just dm someone. I'm terrible at this whole formatting thing. ...also literally nothing is scaled to my stats have fun with that.

Anyways, the door to the house opens, a dramatic wind blowing through a mysterious figures cloak, the weapon in their hand very under leveled for the current weapon tiers. They should do something about that maybe. Their straw hat low, the figure remains mysteriously hidden, which certainly isn't setting up what will likely be an underwhelming reveal. Looking up at what appears to be the airship under attack, and yet somehow still keeping their face hidden (these camera angles sure are merciful!), they seemingly slink into a shadow...

...and somehow appear on N20 of the airship, casting Eagle Eye on themselves, and moving to the nearest non-taken High Ground.

Now that Nia's services are finally open, Nettle finally pays for the Singing Ring upgrade she got earlier. This costs 100 Credits and uses up a slot.

~~

"Aw, thanks! That's really sweet! (It's just like you to be sweet.)"

Asha slithers her hand out from under the quilt to grab a present. It lands on the present from Echoss, so she opens it! While her hand is out there, she pulls a small snack out of the quilt. Probably a cupcake or something. Monch.

~~

Meanwhile, Nettle opens the present from Ette. Her face is an entirely new emotion you haven't seen on her before. Could it be... gratitude? But she quickly replaces the expression with her usual, more deadpan look.

NETTLE: Thanks, I guess.

She decides to go a little bit further than that. Being cool and unapproachable is only good if you still have people hanging around by the end of it.

NETTLE: Thanks, really.
NETTLE: Did you grow it yourself?

~~

In battle, after Nia has acted, Nettle uses two uses of Yggdrassil's Blessing, then moves to (M17). She uses the Mitosis Membrane, causing a copy of herself to split to (N16).

Kalis (acting after Auth but before Adria) moves to Q23, teleports to R20, moves to P17 and then up and left to O16 (to skirt around the Everbloom's Zone of Control), and uses their special, Improbable Incantation! First, they cast Impromptu Caucus for 16 of their MP budget (gaining +2 buff levels from Loaded Spellbook and benefitting from Kalis's Focused10, as it's the first spell of the special), targeting Reborn1, and using Wild Magic's Magic Flux ability to cause it to randomly bounce twice. They take the True Caucus option, granting buffs to both Marron and Nidra. Second, they cast Simularum for 5 of their MP budget, creating a copy of the Edges, at the cost of a significant chunk of damage to themself. Third, they poke the Everbloom with Cherry Energy for 4 of their MP. And finally, they cast Relinquish Will with their remaining 8 MP, gaining control of the Edges. (This should leave Loaded Spellbook set to Relinquish Will, I think, though only the Caucus actually benefitted from Spellbook buffs.)

Then, satisfied with a job well done, they eat a Blockmelon to patch up their Simulacrum-induced wounds and missing shields.

Mirror Kalis moves to M19 and uses the console to attempt to hack the turret on G13. They then cast Skeletal Toss, sending Predator2 6 squares due left. If Predator2 is already dead, they instead cast Focus Energy as a normal action.

Above the Forests\
Wait to be revived.
Move to M14.
Last Dream Reborn2.
Retreat to M15.
Power Nap self.

Auth smiles as Nana compliments his cooking ability.

AUTH: Well, it's as much science as it is cooking in this instance... but thank you, Nana.
AUTH: I'm not as capable as Marron, I think, but I think I can cook quite well, in my opinion. Especially with unusual ingredients.

Auth happily holds Nana's hand as the pair of them make their way up to the Skylabs picnic. Auth nods, quietly, when Chloe greets the both of them, and smiles quietly when it appears that his cooking turned out well.

AUTH: I'm glad you like it, Nana. The resources I needed to use were... not what I would usually have in preparation of such a thing, I wasn't sure how it would turn out.
AUTH: You're welcome, Chloe. I hope everyone else likes it. I have extra if we need it.

Auth does see that Nana is awfully uncomfortable behind him... is it because of the people? Or because of something in particular...?

AUTH: Hey, Nana... are you doing alright? Is something up?

Auth isn't eating or drinking anything yet, happily sitting and waiting for Nana to... well, hopefully get a bit comfortable...

---

Meanwhile, and yet not at the same time, Auth appears back in the Aviation Chamber. He has decided that it would be a good idea to check in on Aoki, to see if she's up and about and... still alive, probably.

AUTH: I'm back... Hey, Aoki, are you still here? You doing alright?

He's asked that before noticing Marron or Maria. One of which he has interacted with on many occasions before, and the other whom he has never seen.

---

Battle action! At the appropriate time, I'm not sure when that is because this turn order is out of whack, Auth uses his Special from where he is to Revive Nidra.

He also asks Nana to use an Empowerment Dart on Chara, to augment tem's basic attack before it happens.