<ROUND 276>

Remiel asks about what goes on at Magic Club. Is it a showcase of personal magical systems? Or what is it, anyway? Chloe decides to pipe up, a veteran of exactly one magic club meeting.

CHLOE: It's... basically a showcase, I guess.
CHLOE: We show off our stuff, try to learn what we can from the others... things like that!
CHLOE: This was this nice lady, miss Nezira, who taught me some magic!
CHLOE: Asha also taught me a bunch, too!

Under her breath, she mutters the words "masith taso cartum". From thin air, a burrito made of blazing flames lands on the ground in front of her. She flicks it with the tip of her sword, sending it off into the fountain nearby. The burrito sizzles and fades from existence as it enters the water.

---

Pionobot blings out a valkryie! Through a long roleplay process (which I highly recommend reading), Maple obtains a beautiful golden trim to her armor! Pionobot also feels like he's gained an accomplishment. Also, post-armor creation, Maple decides to arrive at Magic Club! She jets up through the air and over the fountain, landing near Chloe.

MAPLE: Heeeey!~
CHLOE: Oh, heya Maple! Good to see you!
CHLOE: Welcome to Magic Club!
CHLOE: Y'know, I've seen you do some elemental magic. How'd you do that?
MAPLE: Ah, it's nothing much! Before joining the Rebellion n' junk, I studied a bit of magic on the side.
MAPLE: Just like, the sort of things that a simple Magi would learn, y'know?
MAPLE: You can actually learn that sort of thing just by going to a library. It took a lot of work, but like, shootin' stuff from your hands is hella cool!
MAPLE: Probably should've practiced at home, though- I'm officially banned from my local library!~
CHLOE: U-Um...
CHLOE: W-Well, it's impressive that you learned that on your own, y'know?
CHLOE: You're amazing!

Though Chloe's certainly concerned about how chipper Maple was about doing something to her local library, her slight bit of praise is enough to make Maple blush something fierce, a proud smile accompanying her.

Meanwhile, Echoss explains to Nana that this is more of a teaching opportunity than anything. Nana tilts her head. Could she become an archmagus?

NANA: A-Ah! I-It's like, a class!
NANA: I-I don't think I have much i-in the way of magical expertise, though...
NANA: I'll... do my best, though.

The apothecary paps herself on the forehead, trying to hype herself up. It's not really working, but it's honestly quite cute anyway.

---

Adria does a variety of things. First, she accepts a cup of tea from Taeda, who blushes gently as she's thanked for the cup.

TAEDA: You're welcome! Enjoy!

Elsewhere, but also still with Adria, she witnesses Chaos attempting to kidnap Maria. Seriously, what was he thinking with the windowless van? Yelling at the weird glitch-person-who-is-probably-male, she begins to make a point to Chaos. Still smiling, Chaos tilts his head towards Adria. What's the fuss?

CHAOS: ma'am you seem s[t]ressed
CHAOS: here, have a sni[c]kers i[c]e [c]ream [c]one
CHAOS: ur no[t] u when ur hangry and also wan[t] some[t]hing swee[t]

Chaos sticks his arm out of the truck, holding a double-scoop ice cream cone. Looks like it's caramel or something, with two snickers bars haphazardly jammed into it? Ette walks over, grabs it, and hands it to Adria. Probably hesitating to take the cone, Adria asks exactly who the hell this attempted kidnapper is. After taking a big lick of her ice cream cone, Ette stops to explain.

ETTE: That's Mr. Chaos! He's really, really weird and can be kinda spooky sometimes, but he's a really nice person!
ETTE: Kidnapping people is just par for the course for him at this point!
MARRON: Pretty much, yeah.
MARRON: Look, when Chaos decides to do something, it's better to just go with the flow.
MARRON: I'm like, pretty sure he's low-key one of the strongest entities on this planet, but he's too busy being a living gorillapost to make use of it.
MARRON: I mean, I think. Probably.
CHAOS: ex[c]use you
CHAOS: i am a human person
CHAOS: no[t] a living gorillapos[t]
CHAOS: you qui[t]e frankly offend me

Marron flips off Chaos. To prevent Maria from seeing such foul sights, Chaos summons a glitchy blob over Marron's extended finger, acting as a sensor bar. Marron shakes her hand around, trying to get the blob off. It kinda tickles.

MARRON: But... yeah.
MARRON: Chaos is like, friends with Maria, or something?
MARRON: Weird choice for a babysitter, I know.
MARRON: He's like, legit the last person I'd trust with a child.
MARRON: But he does good, somehow. At least I think, since Venia hasn't gone and broken his knees.
CHAOS: she [c]an'[t] break wha[t] i don'[t] possess

Chaos sticks one of his legs right through the front windshield, breaking right through it. As it would seem, his legs are basically just completely rigid sticks at the moment. He then tugs on his leg. Whoops. Looks like it's stuck. Oh well. He can probably drive like this, anyway.

Meanwhile, Hannah also does her tasks! Down in the Everground, Hannah erects a dispenser small crafting station. She decides to study the Fourth Coffin Nail, and making use of her magic, uses a floating glowing finger to press on the blunt end of the quill. Venom spews from the quill at an alarming rate, splashing across the workstation and onto Hannah's... protective clothing. Whew. Good thing she had that on. Far as she can tell, it doesn't seem to have any special effect on clothing, given that her protective suit hasn't decayed yet. Still, she absolutely does not want this stuff to enter her body. Skin contact might also be rough, too.

Losing control of the quill, the Fourth Coffin Nail drops, stabbing right through the table. It doesn't manage to burrow all the way through, but the tip is juuust visible through the bottom of her little workstation. It barely had any force behind it, too. Geez. Gotta be careful. And to think there's a beast that likely makes use of these.

Finally, Hannah makes her escape from Outpost Unity!

---

Maria boards Chaos's windowless van! She asks to sit up front as she hops in, her entourage of four spiralfloofs, four cats, and two different kinds of Nia's following. Fortunately, the van is weirdly spacious- almost certainly bigger on the inside. Though, the four Spiralfloofs still make it a bit cramped, anyway. Looking around, this is really more of like a portable crib than the back of a van. Carpets, pretty lights, furniture, a minifridge filled with kid-friendly snacks- the whole nine yards! Maria finds her way to the front, and sits down on at the passenger front seat.

CHAOS: hellooooooo
CHAOS: wai[t] aren'[t] you a bi[t] young [t]o ride shotgun
CHAOS: oh well
CHAOS: pu[t] on your sea[t]bel[t], and le[t]'s gooooo

Chaos makes preparations to leave. He passes a banana to Maria, pours each Spiralfloof a bowl of delicious Spiralfloof Foob, and attaches a laser pointer to a random shopkeeper drone he has lying around to entertain the cats. He then honks the horn while he waits for Maria to get comfy. Or maybe request something. Maybe she wants some ice cream too?

Meanwhile, down in the Everground, Venia does her best to tend to the gigantic fleshy, flux-y monstrosity. She loads a spray bottle with Rosewater, and spritzes it all over the face as she removes fragments of stone from it. This continues until the beast is de-masked. She then asks: does it feel better? The face slowly shudders as it moves up and down, dislodging chunks of stone from the cliff below. Ever so slowly, the beast begins to recede back into the wall. Then, with a sudden thud, it slams itself against the roof of the cave. A large chunk of rock dislodges itself, followed by a small chunk of Starite. How nice. Though, looks like its still on its way out. Maybe see if you can follow it, or talk to it more?

---

The Scion offers to do a demonstration at Magic Club! Chloe, blissfully unaware as to how the Scion does things in combat, bobs her head. The Scion probably won't unleash a pandemic, right?

CHLOE: It's fine if you don't know how to teach it, but I'd love to see it!
CHLOE: ...What can you do, anyway? I... don't know what you do.

Meanwhile, over at Omorika's office, the Reflector delivers the news. From what they discerned, Cypress is a Tabletopian scientist. It is unclear if they are a half-breed for anything of the sort. His throat was likely singed by Ikea for speaking out against him. He then disguised himself as a Chairian, and become a member of the Highchair. He had good intentions though- ultimately, he wishes to unify both Locaa and Tabletopia. For now though, his ultimate goal is to put an end to Spark's plans. Omorika is silent.

OMORIKA: He is a... t-tabletopian?
OMORIKA: That... that gorilla.
OMORIKA: To t-think that nobody was able to figure it out- how did he manage to keep his charade up for so long...?

OMORIKA: So... what should we do?
OMORIKA: He's a Tabletopian. Can we really trust him?
OMORIKA: He... w-what if he was responsible for the firebombings on Locaa?
OMORIKA: What if he led espionage operations against us? W-What if he...
OMORIKA: ...

OMORIKA: Hm.
OMORIKA: Have... have you told the rest of the party?
OMORIKA: We... may want to discuss what to do with him.
OMORIKA: To hold this from us... he cannot be trusted.

She may not have realized it, but she's morphed her tome into its hammer form. As a final action, the Scion- or perhaps, the Reflector- goes to investigate favors.txt. Logging back into the console, they access Kudan's files. When the password prompt appears, they enter the name "Isaden".

>ACCESS GRANTED. OPENING...

TO: Linnmon
FROM: Isaden

Hello. How long has it been, Linnmon? I'm sure you've been awaiting this day. The day I would be cashing in my favor. I remember that day rather well. The day I willingly took the fall for you. I managed to convince the Tabletopians that it was I alone who planned to work with the Chairians, in an attempt to end the End War. They never expected your involvement. But in exchange, they took my voice, and left me to die in prison. After I escaped, but before I left for Locaa to start anew, I'm sure you remembered that talk we had. Though it wasn't much of a talk, truthfully. You gave me your word that whenever I needed it, you would assist me.

The time has come to play my one card. The ace in my sleeve, which I've held for so long. I had hoped that I'd use this only to begin the unification of Tabletopia and Locaa, but that is unfortunately not the case. Circumstances are truly dire. Chairheir Spark has me under his thumb, through threat of incineration. I cannot leave the Sky Labs, or he will come after me personally. At least, until the construction of the Sphere's weaponry and propulsion systems are complete, he cannot make a move unless I force him to.

Linnmon. What I want you to do is simple. But in order for me to request this of you, I must give you some context. Shortly after the dawn of the Sphere, a small group of Chairians known as the "Rebellion" was formed. They wished to destroy the Sphere, not believing that Tabletopia's cruelty should be repaid with equal cruelty. With my sources, it did not take long to determine who their leader was. Stella Manchineel, former doctor slash physician, turned rebellion leader. I was ordered to squash the Rebellion. It would've been easy. They had little in the way of manpower, support, or even equipment.

I saw the Rebellion as a force for good. Something that could save not just Tabletopia, but also Locaa from itself. I did my best to aid the Rebellion from the shadows. Informed them of an attack force that was about to squash their main base, allowing an evacuation. Gave them the best soldiers I could possibly find, spreading rumors and deceit to get loyalists to go turncoat. Freed several prisoners, guiding them to join their ranks. (I hope I don't regret that particular decision.) To this end, I became their second leader. Kudan, I called myself. I couldn't have Spark figure out who was behind this.

But, if we are to accomplish our goal of destroying the Sphere, we require more power. Something which I am in no position to provide. So, I beseech you, Linnmon. I believe nowadays, you run a company of mercenaries. Simply put, I wish for you to aid the Rebellion in whichever way you can. Supplies, weaponry, troops- anything and everything would be of assistance. I could not fault you if you refused this offer, given the danger it would present to both you and your company. But this is my darkest hour. Two worlds are at stake, and I cannot give up either of them. There is nobody else I can turn to.

Should everything have gone to plan, you will have received this message through a drone that has arrived at your location. Contained within the drone is a device you can use to communicate with me directly. We can discuss specifics then. Please respond as soon as you can. Time is running out, and I am not sure how much longer I can keep things up before Spark finds out what I'm doing.

Thank you.

>MESSAGE END.

---

Calibri creates a portal! An interesting first display of power to display at Magic Club, but okay. There's the sort of "golf clap" one might hear at a fancy dinner party. Though, it doesn't seem like anyone's too keen to go and enter into this mysterious dimension he's just created. Well, nobody except for one person.

CHLOE: ...Where does that go?
CHLOE: Well, only one way to find out!

Chloe stands up and stretches her arms and legs. With a running leap, she flies right through the portal. She emerges in.. an oddly blue region, to put it simply. She can't really tell where she is. Is she outside? Inside, but in a sort of terrarium? She can hear birds, though. And, there's a house! It sort of reminds her of home base. She waves to Calibri, who is on the other side of the portal. He explains that she's inside of him.

CHLOE: Heya!
CHLOE: So... I'm inside of you?
CHLOE: ...S-Someone's gonna t-take that out of context...

She blushes gently, a bit of a put crossing her lips. Chloe cheers up quickly enough though.

CHLOE: So... where are we?
CHLOE: Is this your house?
CHLOE: Do you live inside of you? That's cool! If kinda weird! No offense, though!
CHLOE: By this point, I think I've seen weirder. Probably.

While Chloe vibes on the other side of the portal, EN pulls out a briefcase full of monopoly money, offering it to Chaos. With a single sweep of his arm, Chaos both pulls out a pair of handcuffs and clacks them together around her wrists. They're definitely the cheap sort of handcuffs, and made of flimsy plastic. Breaking it would take minimal effort.

CHAOS: you are [c]learly [c]hea[t]ing a[t] [t]he game, where [t]he game is life
CHAOS: nobody jus[t] has a brief[c]ase full of legal [t]ender lying around
CHAOS: i'm gonna need [t]o inves[t]iga[t]e you for [t]ax fraud and fraud fraud
CHAOS: i'll also be [c]onfis[c]a[t]ing [t]his [t]hrough [c]ivil asse[t] forfi[t]ure
CHAOS: gimme

Chaos attempts to snag the briefcase away from EN. Will he succeed? Who knows. Finally, down in the Everground, S.E.D. manages to retrieve the umbrella via usage of a harpoon! While maybe I'd argue the harpoon would be more likely to destroy the umbrella, whatever. It's a hardy umbrella. He yanks it back towards him, obtaining the Scaled Umbrella! This automatically yeets itself into the inventory. Looks like it's a Weapon. As they settle down to examine the umbrella, they also patch themselves up a bit. 5 HP restored!

---

Nia becomes a transcendent! I would recommend reading this post yourself, since I think it's a nice bit of roleplay! Also since Tazz has left a few important notes at the bottom. But the main takeaway is that Nia has become a Transcendent of Ice! This modifies her resistances somewhat, and gives her immunity to both Frozen and Slow. (Neither of which are all that common, but shhhh.)

---

Auth glares at Maxim. Who's idea was it to make him a party member, anyway? Oh right, the Reflector's. While it looks as if Maxim would love to fling another bone fragment, this one at Auth, it'd rather not die. Dying is bad. With all the people and Maxim considered, Auth asks Nana if she'd rather leave.

NANA: H-Hmm? U-Um, I'd like to s-stay!
NANA: Especially if you wanna stay h-here, too!
NANA: I-It's a bit stressful... b-but if I'm going to fight alongside e-everyone, I should get to know them better, r-right?

Then, Magic Club begins! With this on her mind, Nana tugs on Auth's sleeve.

NANA: A-Ah, um...
NANA: Since Magic Club is here to h-help us learn magic... c-could you teach me how you do t-that thing with your ink?
NANA: I-I can try to teach you woodmancy i-in return, if you'd like!'

Is it even physically possible for Nana to learn to manipulate ink? Maybe not, but where there's a will, maybe there's a way? Elsewhere, Auth notes to Aoki that there's likely not any way off the Skylabs for most people at the moment. At the very least though, there's a portal to their base through the airship. Her eyes light up for a moment, but soon dim.

AOKI: Is... that really my only way out?
AOKI: It... figures.
AOKI: So, could you help me? I'd like off this island, if at all possible.
AOKI: They must be worried about me, a popstar all on her own.
AOKI: And... hold on.

She looks around. The rest of the Chairian army has departed. Her expression goes blank.

AOKI: Um.
AOKI: Pardon me asking, but are you holding me hostage?
AOKI: I-I suppose that with my status, I'm a target of considerable v-value.
AOKI: The Spherebreakers have been kind to me thus far, b-but... y-your kindness does not explain why I wasn't given to the soldiers who were here earlier.
AOKI: So... L-Let's talk!

AOKI: I don't suppose you'd be kind enough to let me out through the portal you talked about?
AOKI: I... I know people. I-I can make it worth your while if you let me go!
AOKI: I-If nothing else, I'd be able to see my l-love again...
AOKI: How... how about it?

...With the way she's eyeing him, Auth can't help but feel the slightest bit uneasy. Is she evaluating his defenses, or trying to figure out if she can make a break for it? Would she be able to knock him out with a punch to the face? She's certainly not physically strong, but wooden arms might be good at bruising a fleshy face. Then again, Auth does have 200 Dangerous. Not that she knows that, though.

---

Asha vibes at a picnic! She asks for a cup of tea from Taeda, who serves it to her on a cute lil' saucer. Marron also asks for a cup, which she sets down next to her. Asha then takes a bite of... let's say, a Mana Fruit sandwich! It's sorta squishy and a bit odd, but rather energizing and refreshing. And, far as she can figure, it complements the tea nicely enough. Who knows if she actually likes the tea, though? Marron meanwhile, grabs two cookies and a scoop of ice cream, making a little ice cream sandwich.

MARRON: Behold! The ultimate sandwich!
MARRON: Ice cream! Cookies! The two really good things!
MARRON: nom~

Marron takes a bite. Though she'd probably like it more had she made the cookies herself, she's certainly content with her little meal. Someone should probably make sure she actually eats something healthy this picnic, though. The smol thing probably can't handle that much sugar. Regardless, Marron also offers a bite of the sandwich to Asha. Can she handle such power?

---

Kalis visits Magic Club. What sort of shenanigans will they witness today? I don't really know, but it seems that there's plenty of room for people to show their stuff off. It seems that R-8733 has arrived, and is preparing a firework rocket of sorts. He's scribbled the words "MAGIC" on the side. He waves towards Kalis.

R-8733: Hello there, weary traveler!
R-8733: I come bearing only the finest form of magic- the magic of art and entertainment!
R-8733: Wanna see?

...Is this even legally considered magic? Maybe Kalis could explain something. Or just, y'know, roll with it. Explosions are magical in their own way!

---

The Scion demonstrates their magic! Chloe watches in abject horror as the Scion causes themselves to "decay", for lack of a better term. (It is unclear how Chloe is observing this while also visiting Calibri's mindscape.) Her powers reach out to a target in the shooting range, causing it to rust, decay, and eventually snap into a worthless pile of rust. Once the Scion's spell has finished, Chloe immediately casts a healing spell on her.

CHLOE: A-ACK! A-Are you alright?
CHLOE: W-Why... w-why would you learn such magic?
CHLOE: Something that causes you so much pain... o-or at least, it looks painful!
CHLOE: H-Here, let me try and help you clean up...

Chloe equips a napkin, and does her best to try and wipe any sort of mess that might've ended up on the Scion's person. She also scoops the vomit into the inventory, where it will hopefully not bother anyone. bleh

---

<ABOVE THE FORESTS, ROUND 6>
Final round! The core's taken a couple hits, but it should be fine for now. Unless like, you kill nothing, and all the available Iti hit it. That'd be bad. So try and kill them off, y'know? Anyway, you win next round. Cool!

<THE ROSEN FORGE, ROUND 6>
Sensing his potential demise, Yulania brings down one of his Long Arms of God down upon Irongutta. The ork dodges backward, a balled fist slamming right into where he once was. It cracks and generally lays waste to the ground. Irongutta capitalizes on this, bringing Magnolia down hard upon the hand. There's a sputtering of sparks and fluxblood as Magnolia is jammed directly into the hand, disabling it.

Just then, a font of crimson energy begins to build at Magnolia's tip, where the Rosebomb grenade launcher is located. Using the now-crippled hand as a sort of "tripod", Irongutta takes aim. Magnolia steels herself. As it begins to crescendo, Yulania's eye opens wide. With the damage Ars Alas has taken, he's unable to jet out of the way. Yulania's voice, clearly trying to hide his fear, pleads with the axe.

YULANIA: Magnolia.
MAGNOLIA: ...Father.
YULANIA: Hold on for a second. Take just a moment to think about this.
YULANIA: I am your father. You... you wouldn't do this, would you?
MAGNOLIA: I... I would never hurt my father.
MAGNOLIA: But... a father should love their daughter.
MAGNOLIA: And if you never loved me... were you ever really my father?
YULANIA: My little Magnolia. You are my precious little flower.
YULANIA: So please-

BLAM. The Rosebomb fires, a flash of red signaling its launch. A single, pill-shaped grenade twists and spirals through the air, a coil-shaped trail of smoke following it.

MAGNOLIA: I'm sorry.

It makes the most gentle of "plink" noises as it contacts with Ars Alas. For a brief moment, it seems like the payload failed to detonate. It continues to spin violently, bouncing a short distance upward.

MAGNOLIA: But you never had the right to call me yours.

Yulania's gaze goes wide. Soon enough, his vision is utterly consumed by a fireball of epic proportions. He screams- not in pain, but with sheer wrath. One might consider it haunting, if he wasn't almost completely drowned out by the blast itself. Fragments of sentient metal are sent flying in every direction, blessed by the power of Purging. Many fragments are unexisted, souls being freed with their destruction. Hundreds of others are merely thrown aside, the power of Purging enveloping them. The souls within exit as a mist of white smoke, the tortured gazes of the metal plates finding solace. They then shut, never to re-open.

A series of smaller explosions rock the arms of Ars Alas. Whatever sort of connection they had with the main body has allowed the power of Purging to sweep into them. The hands too, are evicted of each and every soul contained within them. They soon fall apart, sheets of metal breaking away like a tumbling house of cards. The same slowly begins to occur to the main body of Ars Alas.

From the grenade blast, a rather important part of Ars Alas was launched a fair distance from the craft. A spherical pod, which appears to be the fragment of Ars Alas that held Yulania's soul. From the looks of things, it's meant to be detachable, and move on its own. However, it's suffered far too much damage to be mobile. Unluckily for Yulania, the powers of pulchritude are sweeping through it. Though, the process here seems to be rather slow- Yulania must be resisting it as much as he can. But, as one might be able to tell from the jet of crimson smog spewing from the eye itself (much like a high pressure stream of blood), this won't hold for long at all.

YULANIA: You, Spherebreakers... why?
YULANIA: Must you spite me?
YULANIA: There... is nothing you can do to stop the Reunion.
YULANIA: All I wished... was to fly alongside the Butterfly.
YULANIA: My death changes nothing... other than that I cannot witness the Reunion myself.
YULANIA: There shall... be... a...
MAGNOLIA: ...No.
MAGNOLIA: N-No, there won't be a Reunion!
MAGNOLIA: If the Butterfly m-made you like this, c-causing so much pain to so many people, w-when we all could've just been friends...
MAGNOLIA: T-Then... I won't let it happen.
MAGNOLIA: I won't let there be a reunion. And if it does happen, I-I'll make sure the Butterfly doesn't get any further than that!
YULANIA: Why... why do you care that the Butterfly made me like this?
YULANIA: Who's could say I wasn't always like this?
MAGNOLIA: If... If the butterfly never existed, t-then...
MAGNOLIA: M-Maybe, none of this would've ever happened.
MAGNOLIA: I-I... w-wouldn't h-have had t-to... d-do this...
MAGNOLIA: A-And then... I-I'd have... a-a real family...

Tears begin to drip from Magnolia's eye. Pure fluxblood falls in droplets to the floor, splashing in utterly unpredictable patterns. Yulania is silent.

YULANIA: ...
YULANIA: Your mother, Magnolia.
YULANIA: Do you know what's become of her?
MAGNOLIA: M-Mother? Y-You said that s-she died!
YULANIA: S-She... is still out there. She left... the rose.
YULANIA: P-Perhaps... you can h-have... what you want.
YULANIA: A... r-real... family...
MAGNOLIA: H-How do I know you're n-not lying?

The mist ceases its flow from Yulania's eye. With a few violent flickers, the crimson light of Yulania's soul departs from the vessel. And soon, it is still.

MAGNOLIA: F-Father...?
MAGNOLIA: W-Why would you... t-tell me that?
MAGNOLIA: Father...

She looks up to Irongutta. Or perhaps, just to the party in general.

MAGNOLIA: I-Is... mother really out there?
MAGNOLIA: Surely, t-that's... impossible. Right?

Magnolia sighs, just as Ga'aunt perks up.

GA'AUNT: Miss Praefortis. Everyone.
GA'AUNT: There is something that will be of interest to everyone, just to the north.
GA'AUNT: I believe that all threats in the area have been extinguished.
GA'AUNT: Let us proceed forward.

Pressing through northward, through Yulania's self-created ruins, the party arrives in a large chamber. It's still made of the deepest, darkest stone that Yulania could find, but against the back of the room lies a horrifying machine. The Rose Forge itself. What the place was named after, most likely. In the room is a single cultist, eyes bound in bandages. He pays little attention to the group as they stroll in. Ga'aunt, eye open, scans the room.

GA'AUNT: Now, I have not seen it in person before, but I believe this to be the Rose Forge.
GA'AUNT: This is where Yulania conducted his experiments, imbuing souls into weaponry.
GA'AUNT: I wonder, is there perhaps a way we could imbue the soul of a weapon into a body?
MAGNOLIA: A way to... turn back to normal?
MAGNOLIA: I...
MAGNOLIA: I wonder if... that's what I want.

With Yulania, Ars Alas defeated, you now have access to a new area! Named the "Final Forge", this is where one can create equipment with souls bound to them. Not that you're interested in doing such a thing... right? What you'll probably end up doing though, is use this to move souls from one piece of equipment to another. This'll probably grant them a variety of bonuses, based on the soul. You could also see if there's a way to get a soul from a weapon into a body... but that might be more difficult.

Skylabs - Picnic and Magic Club

The portal hums. In Calibri's voice, sure, but it does hum. After a moment, the portal then speaks, also in Calibri's voice.

"I should probably keep an eye on things out here too."

Several construct eyes manifest around the structure that Calibri has currently morphed into. They watch people nearby, slowly rotating in circles to keep a wide field of view.

---

Aftermath - Rosen Forge

"Yay, we won!"

Verdana performs the sacred victory ritual known as taunting, pulling out an accordion to perform the Surgeon's Squeezebox (For reference - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ednCWJITiE8). After a while where it becomes painfully obvious he can't play an accordion for shit, he puts it away, then gets down to business, pulling out a scanner and scanning the Rosen Forge with it. After all, might as well check what that says about it first. Then, he decides he no longer needs to be around. Not here, anyway.

"Anyway, I'm going now. I don't have much to do here, at least I think, but call me if something happens and it seems like having a healer on hand might be worth it!"

He wanders outside, rocketing off into the air. On the way out of there, he changes course to go nab the modified telescope from the top of the Southern Tower, storing it in the inventory for someone else to toy around with. Maybe it'll be him, if circumstances mean he has to do it himself. But otherwise, well, it'll probably be safe there.

---

The House

There's handcuffs on EN now. She raises one hand to take a look at them, inadvertently shattering the handcuffs almost immediately. There might not be any plastic on the planet that could hold her, at least not when it's in handcuff form. Either way, she glances at Chaos briefly, wondering whether she should retaliate, but just settles for treating that like an exchange, and promptly nicks the banana. She now has a banana. And no briefcase. And no monopoly money.

"Mine. Nice trade. Kinda feel like ah've jus' scammed meself, but ah well."

She promptly books it out of there on what appear to be V8-powered heelies. How a V8 even fits in those heelies, god only knows. How those heelies fit on EN's shoe feet, god only knows too. But that's happening. She's yeehawing out of the house on heelies with entire V8 engines in them.

...Hey, maybe those could be worth something.

---

The Everground

S.E.D acquired an umbrella and healed itself up a bit. All in all, a good day's work, if one replaces "day" with "turn", and "work" with "use". Now, it seems like it's time to move onwwwwwwwait a second that's a lot of items in the drone's inventory better go bank it rather than lose it. The drone promptly ascends back to the floating island via neat little helicopter propeller, shoves a bunch of Gravcore Ore and Darkmatter Clusters into the portal, and redescends back to the plant.

Once Mustache Kid/Hannah is ready to go, S.E.D gives her a cheery toot as the drone glides down into the depths below. The sound of it preparing weaponry can be heard - there appear to be missile pods mounted on the sides of the upper surface now, primed and ready to bombard things to death.

The following researches are purchased from the lab:
Anomalous+
Purger+
Encyclopedia of Madness
All told this costs 60 flux.


Picnic/Magic Club
Scion:
Echoss follows and watches as she annihilates the target dummy, he moves over to help but it seems Chloe's got it.
"That is some rather... volatile magic.
Are you alright?"

Maple
Pionobot waves at Maple, continuing to watch the proceedings somewhat awkwardly.
He seems conflicted, but then walks over.
"Hi, there's a lot of people here.
Also I feel slightly awkward watching everyone do all this stuff. Suddenly making me realize how much I took certain things for granted until I couldn't use them."


Battle
Pionobot presses the weapons console, firing up the light laser turrets. The ship shot hits one of the nests (doesn't matter at this point) and the mini shots target Harpies 5 and 10.
He then fires Aerobeam to the Southeast, passing through Reborn5, then turning south on Harpy5's tile and hitting Harpy10. Aerobeam has +10% DMG and HIT because of Air damage Armistyx.
He then does an item action to use the Remote Airship Controller, casting dual railcannons on Bileprincess2, which should release the next bileprincess down but in such a state as to be unable to act.

Battle - Above The Forests

ADRIA: Just a bit more...

Adria uses the Weapons Console to fire a Lucid Laser at Reborn 1, hacks the turret at (X5), moves to (P15), and shoots Aello 5.

After Yato, she uses the Remote Airship Controller to fire the Lucid Laser at Bileprincess 1.

With her turn done, Adria loads up a Spawn Point device onto one of her bolts. When the time comes, she'll fire the bolt into the labs for easier access; the airship is quite big after all.

---

Adria

Picnic/Magic Club

Adria watches the proceedings of Magic Club. She tilts her head curiously at the portal Calibri made.

ADRIA: I wonder where it leads...

She's about to go into the portal... but then she (somehow) sees the Scion get really sick to perform her magic. Immediate concern.

ADRIA: ...m-maybe not yet.

She approaches the Scion with a large glass of water. She hands it to them.

ADRIA: T-that... can't be healthy. Especially not long term.
ADRIA: Anyway, drink up. This should help a little bit.

Dorothy

It's time for Dorothy to step up to the Magic Club plate! She seems a little nervous...



Sophia

Sophia, having approximately nothing better to do, cleans up her workspace and heads into the Skylabs.

Once there, she heads inside and stumbles upon the picnic. And a strange blue portal. Ever curious (but kinda hungry), she grabs a fruit from the fruit barrel and jumps into the Calscape.

...Where she comedically falls flat on her face as she lands on the Landing Pad. Her hat slowly floats down onto her head. Despite what should have been a pretty hard fall, Sophia stands up without so much as a scratch on her face. She winces, still feeling a bit of pain from the fall, and shakes her head to re-orient herself.

SOPHIA: ow

Looking around, she sees a lot of blue. Despite the apparently weird nature of the place, Sophie doesn't seem at all fazed by any of it, instead marveling at all the blue.

SOPHIA: Woaaaah, it's so blue! ...Oh, hey Chloe, Cal!

She waves over to the duo, and runs over.

Chaos Why

The now thoroughly confused Adria stares at the van. It also looks like she's dreading something at the same time, though perhaps it's unrelated to current events.

ADRIA: Ah... uh... ummmmm...
ADRIA: ...
ADRIA: I-I mean, if you're both sure, I guess???
ADRIA: W-what the heck did I just hear...
ADRIA: Moreso what the heck did I just witness...
ADRIA: S-scratch that, what the heck is even going on anymore.
ADRIA: Crazy eldritch beings that for some reason are really good with kids.
ADRIA: ...T-this is gonna be a pain to write a report for later, isn't it...

Her gaze wanders to the snickers ice cream cone. She wanted it, salivating as she gets a better look at it.

She takes it eventually, since it was meant for her. She wastes no time in pulling the bars out with her mouth and devouring them before continuing with licking the rest of the ice cream. She's still mildly stressed.

ADRIA: ...T-this is surprisingly good.

...Adria looks over at the van once again, with Maria sitting at the front now. She gently clutches the right side of her forehead, as if she had a headache trying to think about all this at once. Her hair sweeps to the other side, revealing the scar just enough for a good look. She sighs.

ADRIA: ...Should I ask why this is happening at all, or should I just not bother asking?

---

Hannah

The two not doing much

The Hannah that was flying lands safely at the Old Pass, eventually coming to a halt near the Church. She takes another look around, assuring herself that nobody except Droplet's gang was watching her.

...Something's got her paranoid. That much is obvious. Regardless, she decides to wait and maybe take a look around for stuff to do in the meantime, to make herself look busy.

The Hannah in the Skylabs, meanwhile, stumbles upon the picnic and Magic Club. But, well, knowing her own track record around people, she remains at a sizable distance from the festivities. Again, she looks around, paranoid about something or other.

Everground

((As a note, Not!Echoss grabbed another quill for Hannah before skedaddling))

HANNAH: Wh-

Perhaps predictably when the venom started going everywhere (including in the vial probably), Hannah ducks away from the spray, the venom sliding off her protective wear and into the water. The quill then falls off the stand, impaling the wooden bench effortlessly.

On the one hand, her gambit worked, albeit a bit too well. On the other, yikes. getting poked by that would be a death sentence, nevermind the venom!

...Hannah sighs. She leaves the quill in the bench for now. She'll get it out when she wants to use it again. If she wants to extract more venom, she should do it via a more secure and safe setup.

She stoppers the vial, takes it out of its stand, and scrubs the venom off of the outside as best as she can with soap and (non-venomous) water. What little venom there is should be enough for her purposes later.

She then attaches it to a balloon, and lets it rise to portal height. A white-gloved extendo-hand reaches through the portal and grabs it. It pulls it through the portal, and whoever was using it shoves it into the inventory for later use.

As for the quill... it might be a good weapon against the Tamaugachi itself. Taking a large Plasteel rod out of the inventory, and Maxim's Razor near the blunt end of the quill, Hannah starts making a hopefully lightweight yet durable spear.

First, she cuts grooves into the quill's backside to help hold the rod. She then forces the Plasteel rod into place through a combination of close-range teleportation and adding more Plasteel bits to secure it. Deciding to go even further, she carefully starts sharpening the quill's sides to make a full-on blade's edge. Thanks to her protective clothing, Hannah has no fear of getting venom splashed on her skin (or worse).

What's created is just a basic-looking spear, but it's a spear that could very easily sever a limb and deliver a lethal dose of venom. She sets it to the side of her workbench for now.

...Though she's still not quite done yet. Hannah pulls out a simple iron box, and puts her other materials in it for safe keeping. She then swims herself over to the remains of the Coursing Shadow, and starts carving it for whatever's left. She also puts these items into the box. It's likely highly recommended to store any materials from before prior to fighting the Tamaugachi.

Once everything's put away, Hannah looks over the edge of the mushroom, new spear in tow.

HANNAH: ...Welp. Whenever you guys are ready, I'll send a chain down, or something.

Before Adria, Yato scowls at their watched zone being mostly handled by some weird storm cloud, only getting the chance to shoot down one harpy. Oh well, it seemed like Willow had enjoyed their assistance. Yato threw them a thumbsup, then turned that same thumb down. ...to press a button, and fire the ballista at E21, hitting Aelloe3, 6, and BP1. With that, they turned their eye on Harpy6. Anything that moved near (ie, within a 5x5 area) the Harpy was going to die. ...or get shot, at least.

...despite their singleminded focus, this didn't stop them from reassuring Nana. ...though Nana appeared to be asleep. They spoke once more in vague moonspeak, subtitles appearing again as a workable translation.
["Not to worry. A shot missed is practice to perfect."]

The Rosen Forge

"...That was so fun," Venia says, as a non-sequitor. "Being in Nia's body, I mean. That was the fun part. The rest of that was generally somewhat depressing given the familial breakdown and all. You did great, Magnolia. And we'll keep an ear out for your mother-if nothing else it's worth the shot to look around, right?"

Venia then looks and inspects the forge-and the apparently not-really blind dude managing everything. "OK, so. You're basically the last guy here. I'd like to know two things. First, your name-I'm Venia Praefortis and these are the Spherebreakers. Second, I would like to restore that broken mold, which I presume reverts the process to imbue souls into weapons. If I may-what would we need?"

---

Niaaaaa

Shortly after her conversion into a Transcendent, Venia gives a chat to Nia (both of whom at this time are still in the basement, right next to the Transcendent Machine). "How are you feeling? You're... Alright, aren't you? It does feel different, doesn't it, like everything's brand new and all, right? Kind of off-putting but also amazing at the same time? ... Is that sweater making you too warm? Might be able to make it work. Whatever the issue is we'll make it work, trust me."

"... Oh, idea! I think, uh, Magic Club might be a thing about now. Maybe we could go there? Might be an interesting 'testing ground' of sorts, and like, if you're not up to anything, uh, we could just sit back and watch, right?"

---

Maria's big road trip

"I don't know what any of this is!" Maria says. "I never been in a van before. What are we doin'? Where are we goin', mister Chaos? What's this?" She says, grasping the seat belt. She does, at least, quickly grasp how to put it in and wear it from looking at Chaos's likewise position.

---

Everground

"Hold on, wait!" Venia says. "I understand that you don't appear to be able to speak, or at least not willing, but this place-I really need answers. I'm... I'm trying to right the wrongs the Rose Cult have committed, and uh, set them back on the right track. I'm, I'm not trying to threaten you or anything, but I really just have to ask-who, what are you? if you're in any pain or anything, like-I feel obligated to help."

"It might be very ambitious of me, but I intend to become the newest leader of a reformed Rose Cult-and I suppose, then, my mission would be, in part, to help anyone like you. Can you give me any information? I appreciate your gifts, but I need knowledge on what the Rose Cult has done-to help-more than I need these things."

"... I can interest you in a trade, if you feel like such is necessary. Really, if you can't help me in that way, I would still at least like to scan you using this device-I assure you it's painless," Venia says, reaching for the scanner. "If you, uh, don't mind."

---

Regalus

Now, strictly speaking by all appearances he is still at the entrance to the library, reading to his heart's content. Given information previously formulated last round, however, I must also state I highly doubt this is the case.

---

Oh right I have three other RP characters

Because lunch is over and these people have lives, the other members of the royal family move around a bit. Cindy decides to stroll downstairs to the basement, to take a tour of things, having finished with whatever book she was reading, and soaking in the ambience with a cheery mood. She misses Venia and Maria in the labs and instead heads roughly in the direction of the back rooms.

Rosalind heads out front, but stops when she sees the multiple vehicles and immediately begins marveling at them. "... Wow. I wouldn't expect anything like this in a place this... Erm. Antiquated. Hrm... Perhaps..."

Any onlookers should realize she probably wants to try to ride one.

Rebecca, meanwhile, just kind of hangs around back, chilling, but not on the swinging seat. She's just standing next to a wall, all chill. Maybe she just wants some fresh air? She looks deeply uncomfortable and nervous... Which, to be fair, is exactly what she looked like before when Chloe and Echoss spoke with her, but perhaps maybe more so?

---

Auth thinks for a minute... if Nana would rather stay, he'll stay too. He especially does not feel comfortable leaving Nana in the same district as Maxim by herself, which is certainly justifiable reason for staying, if one is needed.

AUTH: Alright. If you want to stay, that's OK. I wanted to make sure you were still okay keeping up here.
AUTH: It is a little stressful... But I understand what you're getting at - getting to know the other people you're working with does help with collaborative effort.
AUTH: On a tangential, perhaps, line of questioning, is there anything you'd like to know about me? I feel bad being the one to always ask questions about you, while leaving myself somewhat mysterious. At least, that's the way I kind of see it.

Auth thinks again when Nana asks him whether he can teach her how he uses his ink.

AUTH: Well...
AUTH: I can teach you what I do, that's not really hard, but... the thing is, I don't know exactly how it originated so I don't know if you could do it or if I could actually, like... give you the ability to do so.
AUTH: So long as it's okay that there's a pretty hefty chance it won't actually do anything, I'm happy to try at least.

Auth figures Nana will agree to that, he thinks it's a reasonable point, so before she can even agree to it he's already fiddling with the button on his coat that sits near his left wrist. Soon, it pops open, revealing numerous pockets on the inside of his coat, and a bright red woolen sweater underneath. He pulls this back to reveal a thin, remarkably pale arm with several faded marks on it, that look quite like long-healed severe cuts. Around his wrist, though, is a black band with six large glass vials attached. Auth removes this, and hands it to Nana. He then restores his outfit, and waits for Nana to put it on. This latter request would be implicit, given that he's giving the armlet to her.

AUTH: I find this to be the most convenient method of carrying ink, given the way that I use it.
AUTH: Now, the core concept for making this work is being able to visualise the effect you want. Generally, that will be making it into some sort of shape - so you want to channel your focus and mana through the ink and out into the intended effect...
AUTH: Gesture is extremely helpful, but is not strictly necessary. You should keep in mind that the more ink you end up using, the more of a strain it is on your focus. You will seriously start to feel the weight of it after a bit, so being able to moderate and knowing when to quit is a good skill.

Auth demonstrates this, throwing his right hand out and allowing ink to flow out and form a larger hand in front of him, made of the fluid. However, his hand doesn't move, as the hand clenches into a fist before returning back to where it came from.

AUTH: Another thing to consider is the reality that when unexperienced, there's likely to be pretty hefty lag between the effect you intend and actually applying it. Experience helps reduce it, but it's always there a little and you eventually learn to counter-balance its effects.

AUTH: That was quite a bit, wasn't it? If you have any questions, please ask. Knowing where to elaborate helps me help you.
AUTH: If you haven't got any questions, though... how about you try to make an orb in your palm first? Something relatively basic. It should help to see if the possibility exists... stranger things have happened, I suppose.

That might have been a bit more than I'd meant to say.

---

With Aoki, Auth shrugs.

AUTH: It might be. I don't know if there's another way off the Skylabs right now. I doubt the drone hangar has an appropriate egress from the Skylabs.
AUTH: We're happy to help you off. I'm - ah.

Auth was about to continue when Aoki asks whether she is being held hostage. He should clear that up quickly.

AUTH: I suppose that it could be seen that way, couldn't it? It isn't our intention to do so, at all. As I was about to say, we'd be happy to drop you off wherever you wanted to go.
AUTH: I assume you thought that because of my vague comments earlier? It wasn't the intention - I am aware that the Legion might be starting to get desperate because of our progress and I personally was worried about your safety. Sorry, if it came off any other way.

Auth appears to be evaluating Aoki in return, and is attempting to calm her down. She appears to be quite nervous.

AUTH: If you go outside this room, follow the hall to the strange water statue and take a right, you should follow the path past reception out to the south bay. Our ship is there, it's the only vessel near the entrance so you won't miss it. If you head there, I'll meet you there in a few. I wanted to wake up the other person who was asleep here to help them off the station as well.
AUTH: When I meet you there, I'll do my best to get it to take you where you want to go.

Auth allows Aoki to leave, since the rail to Central is down she can't go that way and she's almost certain to encounter the picnic where the rest of the Spherebreakers are. Auth is merciful, but not stupid. He's pretty sure he can ensure she ends up at least heading the right way. As for Twig...

AUTH: Morning, Samurai. Time to get up, you're getting out of here.

---

In battle!

Auth repeats his action from last round - he casts Hope on M16.

Bonus Magic Club post:

As Magic Club continues on Echoss finally decides he's ready to show off some magic of his own.
"So, to everyone interested I was thinking I could perhaps show off a certain magic of my own.
While my butterflies haven't been out in force today due to certain circumstances, most of you are likely at least aware of my use of them.
It can be... somewhat difficult to master, but the initiate version of the spell should be castable by everyone here."
To demonstrate, Echoss holds his palm out, and a glimmer of golden light shimmers above his palm, coalescing into a small butterfly the lifts up and flutters around the party.
"While I could give a technical explanation of divine magic and omnicasting, I believe for the purpose of this event, most of you are just interested in learning how to make proxy avatars, yes?"

Magic Club RP:

When Echoss brings out the butterflies, Kalis immediately raises their hand. Then they look carefully at what Echoss is doing to double check what they're actually raising their hand for, but, like... it's magic. When would they ever not raise their hand for magic?

...They spot the Scion vomiting on the sidelines, and decide that, while they are 100% down for magic butterflies, that question has a definite non-rhetorical answer.

KALIS: Proxy avatars?
KALIS: Like, little allies you can control instead of or in addition to your main body?
KALIS: That's definitely an ability with a lot of potential, yeah.
KALIS: I've seen wizards do that with their familiars before, seeing through the eyes of owls.
KALIS: And of course I'm fond of Mirror Image myself, but that seems rather different than... whatever it is you do, I'm not the most in the loop, sorry.
KALIS: And yeah, I can empathize with difficult spell requirements. What are the prerequisites for casting the full version? Class level requirement, subclass restriction, some metamagic build you've got going on?
KALIS: Sorry, I'm rambling. Demonstrate away!

MAGIK CLUB

After finishing her share of sandwich, ice cream, and tea, Crya gets up.
Hmm, I guess, I should do something, too! Unfortunately, I don't think it's something I can really teach, though. It's an innate ability at this point.
But, without further ado, within the limits of the Thymefield, here is what an Ice Goddess can do!

Crya moves to a safe area and closes her eyes, concentrating for a moment, putting her palms together. After a moment, she opens her eyes and parts her hands, revealing a growing ball of ice. She slams it into the floor and it creates a ramp of ice, which Crya runs up. However, as she runs up, more and more ice is created in front of her feet, with Crya transitioning from a run to more of a hoverskate. She skates around for a couple moments, before she begins to go up and up and eventually creates a loop. As the loop begins to go down, Crya jumps off, ice no longer forming under her, and as she falls to the ground, a bed of snow forms, cushioning her fall. She gets up and all the snow promptly vaporizes.

Ah, well I had to decide in the middle whether I wanted to slam down and create a crater or to just land in some snow, but I think I'd rather not damage the infrastructure here.
It's too bad that my power is so limited here, without any limits this is nothing! I could easily create entire glaciers and stuff, it's super cool. Pun intended!

STATISTICS

+1 AGI. As Anomalous becomes Anomalous+, exclude Cripplingly Average, Dual Wielding, Chaotic, Compulsive, and Mercantile.

---

MAGIC CLUB

"The Scion" accepts the water / fresh air / healing spell from the many onlookers. Her complexion seems to better somewhat, although she still looks in pretty rough shape.

After taking a moment to recover, she holds her hand up to distance herself.

"THE SCION": Oh, I'm sorry! Did I worry you?
"THE SCION": It's fine. You know what they say... no pain, no gain.
"THE SCION": They do say that, right?
"THE SCION": Doing magic makes my... condition... worse, but there's something else in me making it better, so I don't die.
"THE SCION": You might be able to learn to do magic like me, maybe. But you wouldn't have the protection I have, so I think it would probably be pretty bad for you.
"THE SCION": But it's the law of equivalent exchange. Give up your own life force, and you make your magic stronger.
"THE SCION": Well, that's not exactly the real reasoning behind pathomancy, but it sounds cool!
"THE SCION": You should see what I can do out of the Thymefield! It's pretty devastating, haha.

She hacks up a bit of phlegm and smiles broadly.

---

ZONE 2

The Reflector frowns at Omo's outburst. Their skin rapidly turns green as tusks sprout from their mouth and a familiar icy chill returns to the room.

"THE THAUMATURGE": Miss Omorika. I understand your distress, but please, try to (ontain your emotions for a moment.
"THE THAUMATURGE": Isaden was silen(ed for speaking out against Ikea and his End War. Why would he be responsible for the tragi( losses your people suffered? Simply be(ause he is a Tabletopian?
"THE THAUMATURGE": Isaden is a (ompli(ated man who has made many questionable (hoi(es. Making Linseed part of the Zabuton may have been his biggest mistake. But I do not think he is a monster.
"THE THAUMATURGE": He is a man fighting desperately for pea(e between his (ountry of birth and his adopted home.
"THE THAUMATURGE": Remember, Lo(aa and Tabletopia were on(e one and the same. Perhaps his dream is idealisti( and naive, but there is something (ompelling about it nonetheless.
"THE THAUMATURGE": Besides, I think he trusts and believes in you more than you know.

"The Thaumaturge" looks Omorika straight in the eyes. His cold gaze is deadly serious, yet not without a small spark of compassion.

"THE THAUMATURGE": I propose a meeting. The two of us, Isaden, and Stella (hi. She deserves to know the truth about (ypress as well, if he has not already told her.
"THE THAUMATURGE": Oh, and perhaps the human girl Hannah. She already knows of this business, and perhaps (ould provide information I la(k.
"THE THAUMATURGE": We will make it (lear to Isaden that we have no intention of harming him or selling him out, provided he does the same to us.
"THE THAUMATURGE": We will (onfront him with the intelligen(e we have assembled. Politely.
"THE THAUMATURGE": We will (onvin(e Isaden that he (an trust us, and that he needs to let us trust him.
"THE THAUMATURGE": And we will make a plan for the future of Sussui. One that does not involve seizing the Glyphs for himself and allowing a poorly-planned Rebel assault on the Spherebreakers to go through simply be(ause he believes he (an work alone.
"THE THAUMATURGE": If Isaden's responses are untrustworthy, then you have my full san(tion to ki(k him out. But I beg you to hear him out before reje(ting him based on a mere hun(h.
"THE THAUMATURGE": You are smarter than that, and so is he.

==MAGIC CLUB==

Crystal decides to join in the magic demonstrations.

Above the Forests
Basic attack Harpy3 twice.

Rosen Forge

"Zog, R-8's gift worked out very well! Gonna 'ave to thank him again for it."

He quickly remembered Magnolia's fragile emotional state. "Uh, sorry it 'ad to be done in the end. Y'know, he lied to ya about a lotta things, but I got a gut feelin' that he ain't lyin' about your mother. I'm sure we'll come across her."

Irongutta wiped away Magnolia's tears with a finger and, remembering that it's fluxblood, quickly shook it off. "I thought ya got that new body now? Though I suppose it ain't quite the same, is it?" He pondered the idea of Magnolia no longer being an axe for good. "To tell the truth, part of me would miss havin' ya as my weapon, but I know it isn't my decision to make. I support wotever choice ya make in the end, 'coz I know that you'll be dead 'ard no matter what form ya take."

---

The Picnic: Magic Club Edition

Irongutta noticed R-8 made it to the picnic, perking up and waving him over. "Oi! Glad to see ya made it R-8. Come grab a bite when yer done setting up your 'magic' show."

Above The Forests

Remiel moves to L16, teleports to T18, and moves to ~~V22~~ [edit now that i have brain cells: Q22], then basic-attacks ~~Reborn4~~ [edit: harpy4]. Their special wipes everything in Range 1-3. Yeah, this needs nerfed.

/picnic

Woodthorne moves to O15, using his Bonus Action to use Wilderness Lore, removing the Poisoned status from Adria, and his action to cast First Aid on Adria.

Nettle does a few things. She buys and equips Paradise Lost (with a coupon), equips the Mini Bonsai, re-equips the Arboreal Domain, and changes the Telling Ring's flavor text to the following:
So you're telling me a shrimp fried this rice?

Then, she requests Nia upgrade her Netu Patch. The new tentative stats for this upgrade are listed on Nettle's sheet here. It also contains the rest of my 'respec but not':
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_xo...t#gid=807475807

-2 SPC
+1 MHP
Anomalous+ (Do not pick list: Overspecialised, Dual-Wielding, Vengeful, Hyperactive, Scrambled)

Due to reduced spell slots, she also loses Siege Spire and Relinquish Will. Them's the breaks. She'll probably get at least one of those spells back later.

~~

Asha bites down on the ice-cream sandwich, experiencing true joy for the first time in her life. For about a minute she becomes non-responsive as she wolfs it down.

"...That was delicious! I think I ate it too fast though, my head's starting to hurt."

She winces, experiencing sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia for the first time. It sounds serious, but its actually just a brain freeze. To warm up, she drinks some tea (which it turns out she quite likes).

"Anyway, hm. Maybe we should both try something we've never had before? Probably something not sugary though, I dunno how healthy that stuff is."

<ROUND 277>

To begin... a meeting convenes at the Whispering Library. A table is set out at a lonely balcony, little in the way of food or drink prepared.

---

Calibri's mindscape processes things! Is this a player-run sidequest? Is that even moderately legal? Sure, why not? Chloe leaps through the portal, bombarding Calibri with questions. He's nice enough to answer. Simply put, she's in his mindscape. And, she can look around! Chloe's attention is immediately caught by the House to the north. Should he be fine with it, Chloe immediately takes off in that direction, pretending she doesn't notice the t-posing fountain statue.

CHLOE: Huh, you have like, a full blown mansion!
CHLOE: I wonder what my Mindscape would be like? Would it have a nice lil' place like this?
CHLOE: Or maybe it'd be more like Omo's. Y'know, with all the space and books and... stuff?

Assuming that the Sentrees and GolEYEath are peaceful enough, she'll walk towards the front door and give it a patient knock. She's not sure if she really expects anyone to answer the door. Maybe someone will?

Anyway, back in the usual reality, Verdana performs a victory dance! Or uh, a taunt! He also takes a moment to scan the Rosen Forge. Unfortunately, the Scanner is incapable of producing a statblock for such a thing, but it does manage to get some very general readings. While it can't make heads or tails of exactly how the forge works, it reveals that like basically everything else here, it's loaded to the brim with sentient metals. They must ease the process along. Though, one can't help how he managed to create a machine using soul-infused metal without having a machine to create soul-infused metal. Maybe this is just the latest version?

He's soon out of the Final Forge, speedrunning his way to the Southern Tower. He decides to pilfer the <0>-infused telescope. Kaleidoscopic Iris obtained! It drops itself into the inventory.

EN then resists arrest by shattering the handcuffs that Chaos clacked around her wrists. Chaos, though he would like to uphold the law, realizes that someone who can shatter handcuffs in such a fashion cannot be trifled with. At the very least though, he's obtained the case of monopoly money, which he promptly eats. This restores (20) HP.

CHAOS: i am [t]he bes[t] nego[t]ia[t]or

...EN pockets the Banana. It appears to be distinct from the Mighty Bananas in the inventory, and is actually a Consumable item. It looks delicious. Finally, S.E.D. decides to go fly up to the portal to deposit their items! As they begin their flight upwards, something feels... off. Like how any ascent before would've gone, they're swept with nausea. Then, they feel somewhat damp. Though they're a tank of sorts, fluids begin to gush out of them. Oil. Plasma. Whatever it is this tank runs on, begins to drip and pour from every little hole there is. Missile pods, gun bays, any sort of battle damage... it begins to spew forth.

They barely make it halfway to the portal before they lose the ability to ascend any further, falling down into the mushroom below and instantly dying. As S.E.D. makes a splash, a roaring can be heard. The camera is more than happy to pan downwards to reveal the source. Splash! Splash! From mushroom to mushroom, a creature leaps. With how fast it moves, it's almost like one is seeing but a black blur as it flashes by. It comes to a stop just a floor below Hannah's. And it goes absolutely, completely still.

The Tamaugachi has arrived.

---

Pionobot does a variety of things. First, he (presumably) commissions a deal of things from the Lab. 60 Flux is spent to obtain Anomalous+, Purger+, and the Encyclopedia of Madness! Scary things, aren't they? Elsewhere, or maybe at the same location since it's never really established when or where you spend time to do lab research... Pionobot joins Maple at Magic Club! She waves his over to his spot, next to Chloe.

MAPLE: Heeeey! You made it! Good to see you!
MAPLE: Don't be shy, y'know? Everyone here's pretty cool.
CHLOE: Oh, heya Pionobot!
CHLOE: It's understandable if you're uncomfortable, so if there's anything I can do for you, let me know. Okay?
CHLOE: We also have sandwiches! If you're into that sort of thing.

Chloe offers Pionobot a sandwich, while Maple makes use of her air magic to fling a cookie on top of the sandwich. An unholy combination. The smart move would be to eat them separately, but a madman would eat the cookie and the sandwich at the same time. Before he takes a bite though, Maple poses a question to Pionobot.

MAPLE: Oh, hey. Echoss is here!
MAPLE: Want me to introduce you?
MAPLE: Not that I really know him, but I think people are pre-disposed to like me.
MAPLE: ...Is that arrogant to say? Probably, but a proper heroine is approachable!~

She flashes him another smile.

---

Dorothy gives a presentation at Magic Club! She takes center stage, despite there not actually being a stage to present on. Instead, Chloe's set out a separate carpet a short distance away from the main picnic area. Many attendees of the picnic cluster towards Dorothy, eagerly awaiting her performance. Though the gaze of the audience is utterly terrifying, Dorothy manages to find the strength to perform. She messes up a wooden dummy with a slash of air, flings a dummy around with a tornado, and... doesn't horribly shred the Scion with a medical bubble of sorts. Adria described it as a "medical device that brings pure oxygen from tanks to the patient", and that's probably accurate? I'm not a doctor, or a mage!

Once her performance finishes, there's a round of applause. Taeda does her best to make as much noise as she can, still failing to realize that she can do things other than clap. Probably shortly after that, Sophia decides she wants to visit Calibri's mindscape, where she meets up with Calibri and Chloe. Chloe gives her a wave.

CHLOE: Oh, heya Sophia!
CHLOE: What brings you here?

Elsewhere, over in a hallway with a truck in the middle of it, Adria receives some ice cream. She's still not really sure as to why Marron and Ette are fine with this random eldritch entity kidnapping a small child, but she goes along with it. Though, she has to ask. Why is this happening? Marron shrugs.

MARRON: I... actually have no idea.
MARRON: Like, I don't think he'd leave his shop unless he had a good reason to.
MARRON: Maybe somebody paid him off to kidnap Maria?
MARRON: ...Man, if Venia finds out, she's going to go will Chaos's kneecaps into existence, and then break them.

Finally, Hannah continues her expedition within the Everground. She takes the smallest sample of the quill's venom, storing it in a little vial. Then, using a balloon, she sends it back up to the surface. Since a balloon isn't really something that can be affected by the curse, it floats up to the portal, where a hand apparently snags it. Or maybe Not!Echoss does. Who knows? One dose of Tama's Toxin obtained! She then decides to combine a sheet of Plasteel with the Fourth Coffin Nail, creating the Early Burial. It doesn't actually have stats, but maybe it could later? She then heads over to the dead Coursing Shadow, and begins carving various materials from the corpse. From it, she finds 20 Darkmatter Clusters, 3 Blackhole Regalia, and... a crystalline feather called the Shadow Plume. It's a Trinket. Cool! These items accidentally instantly transfer themselves to the inventory because I did that already.

Oops.

---

Venia investigates the Rose Forge. As she does so, she notes how fun it was to be in Nia's body. To be smol, cute, and have a lot of gremlin energy: how couldn't it be fun? Nia chimes in as well.

NIA: Haha, yeah! Being you was fun, too!
NIA: I've always wanted a body like that, y'know?
NIA: Oh, and being tall! Being tall is so cool! I felt strong n' stuff!
NIA: How does it feel, being tall and sexy all the time? Must be pretty empowering, right?

Nia gives Venia a wink, before tagging along behind her. With Yulania dead, she's completely fine just sorta stomping around the area and getting a good look at everything that catches her interest. Venia then tells Magnolia that she'll see if they can keep an ear out for her mother. Magnolia bobs a little.

MAGNOLIA: A-Alright.
MAGNOLIA: I... doubt she's out there. But thank you.

...Gone is her childish voice, filled with wonder and pep. Is she faring okay at the moment? Regardless, Venia decides to check out the supposedly blind cultist in the corner. Far as Venia can tell, they're the last guy here.

CULTIST: i am the last?
CULTIST: finally
CULTIST: peace and quiet
CULTIST: can work without interruption

Venia then asks two questions. What's his name? And how might she fix the mold-type device over there?

CULTIST: no name, not important
CULTIST: i am here to work on the machine
CULTIST: recently damaged by the emergence of ars alas
CULTIST: requires maintenance

CULTIST: you wish to know about the mold?
CULTIST: was destroyed years back
CULTIST: never properly functioned
CULTIST: unknown how to repair apparatus
CULTIST: theorized that we would require an energy opposite that of the butterfly's
CULTIST: theory never tested by yulania: heathenous

...Well. It's a start. Meanwhile, down in the basement, Venia chatters with Nia, except at some different point in the timeline. Is she feeling alright? Is the sweater making her too warm? Nia shakes her head.

NIA: I'm fine! Just a bit hot, and generally bothered by the heat!~
NIA: Oh, yeah! I remember Chloe saying something like... a snow jacket actually helps keep a snowman cool?
NIA: It like, traps the coldness! Or something!
NIA: Plus, it's super stylish! So I wanna wear my sweater.

She also brings up the idea of Magic Club. Nia's certainly receptive to the idea, bouncing up and down on the spot.

NIA: Ooh, yeah! Magic club! That'll be fun!
NIA: I guess I could also learn how my snowy stuff works there, yeah!
NIA: It's a date! Yeah!

While Nia thinks about what to wear (completely forgetting she's a snow lady now), Maria rides within Chaos' van. She's never been in a van before. Where are they going, anyway? Chaos pulls on a chord on the ceiling, sounding a truck horn. It is unclear where this fits onto the truck.

CHAOS: we are going
CHAOS: somewhere
CHAOS: i[t] is a suprise
CHAOS: i [t]o[t]ally know where i'm going
CHAOS: bu[t] anyway

Like a good parent, Chaos double-checks Maria's seatbelt. While she would ideally have a seatbelt, Chaos does not have one prepared. But he's a safe driver, so she'll probably be fine. Probably. A lightbulb then pops out of Chaos's head, much like how toast would leave a toaster. It flies out the window, shattering upon impact with the tiles of the lab.

CHAOS: oh yeah
CHAOS: merry [c]hrimbus

Chaos takes a box out from the inventory, placing it as close to Maria as he can. A Christmas present!

CHAOS: anyway after you open i[t]
CHAOS: we will go
CHAOS: on an adven[t]ure

Finally, down in the Everground, Venia tries asking the beast in the Everground for information. It twists and turns, staring at Venia. Deep, guttural rumbling reverberations spill from its maw. They're completely unintelligible. At least it's not receeding backward anymore. When Venia pulls out the scanner, it doesn't seem to flinch. In fact, it seems to be rather interested in the device. With this in mind, Venia scans the beast.

...The results are very inconclusive. It... seems to insist that this creation is the First Sin. But also, not really? The overall mass is far, far smaller, far as the Scanner can tell. There's also no traces of Iti-based corruption. Odd. Is it a similar creature? If only it could actually properly communicate.

---

Auth checks up with Nana at the picnic. She's doing fine, but then he poses the question- is there anything she'd like to know about him? Nana places a finger to her chin as she thinks.

NANA: Um, hm...
NANA: So... you have a sister named Alicia, you live in a place called London, and you're also part... vampire, I think it was?
NANA: U-Um, what's it like in London? T-The people, I mean.
NANA: From what I know, it's a really weird place. Do you have any good friends there? Interesting stories?

According to the plotlines one can have in Fallen London, Auth might have a daughter, sacrificed said daughter to go NORTH, or maybe he has one of many love interests? One knows that marriage fraud to accumulate Nobility is something that happens. If Auth has done that, it might be a little hard to explain. As Auth thinks on this, he also decides to try his best to teach Nana how to do it. Sure, he's not sure how the power originated, but would that stop him from teaching it? I mean, probably.

NANA: You... don't know how you learned how to do it?
NANA: H-How does that happen? B-But... even if you can't really teach it to me, I'd like you to s-show it to me anyway!

Auth unbuttons part of his coat sleeve, revealing an array of long-healed cuts. Black bands hold many vials of ink to his wrist. He removes this band, handing it to Nana. She blushes gently as she takes the band. He then tells her that the most important thing to this whole "inkmancy" thing is visualizing what she wants to happen. A proper gesture helps, too! Try as Nana might to replicate Auth's actions, she's completely incapable of making an orb of ink manifest.

NANA: A-Aw...
NANA: W-Well, I gave it my best shot, right?
NANA: M-Maybe what gave you this power is related t-to those cuts on your arm?
NANA: What happened? I-If you don't mind me asking, o-of course!

Elsewhere, over in the Aviation Chamber, Auth addresses the situation with Aoki. She is absolutely not being held hostage. It wasn't their intention at all. The songstress calms down quickly enough once confronted with this comforting truth.

AOKI: O-Oh! Well, that's a relief.
AOKI: Though, I wonder why the soldiers left me behind?
AOKI: Surely, i-it wasn't because I failed to make an impact in the combat?
AOKI: T-Truthfully, even when I was conscripted by Spark, I d-didn't think I was fit for the battlefield at all.

She sighs, her dress following her exaggerated motions. Various adornments clitter and clink with her every movement. Auth then notes the pathway to the ship. Out the room, follow the hall, to the right at the statue, out past reception, and to the vessel. She bows her head, and immediately gets moving.

AOKI: Thank you. I'll see you there, then?
AOKI: If anything happens to me on the way... I'll try and return here?

Regardless, Aoki begins making her way through the Sky Labs. Auth then returns to the Aviation Chamber, where he goes to wake up Twig. However, by the time he's returned to the room, he's already gone. Where'd he go? Did he leave? Did he sink further into the foam pit? Or maybe he found a way into a ventilation shaft like a generally high number of people tend to do. Why are vents always large enough to hold a person, anyway? Couldn't we get away with having really small vents?

---

Echoss shows off his butterfly magic! He also offers to try and teach it to the group. From the NPC's currently present, Taeda raises her hand.

TAEDA: Oh, may I learn how to create those butterflies?
TAEDA: I-I'm always a bit worried about what's going on at the Church of Helix, and I'd like to be able to keep an eye on it myself!
TAEDA: Without actually being there, since we have a job to do!

Taeda should be a fairly gifted pupil. She already knows how to call upon Lord Helix for light magic, so surely she has plenty of magical talent, right?

---

Crya demonstrates her limits! Through the power of a large sphere of ice, she demonstrates her ability to skate around "in the air", creating a trail of ice for her to ride along. Taeda watches in awe, clapping her hands.

TAEDA: Wow! That was really impressive, miss Crya!
TAEDA: What else can you do, I wonder?
TAEDA: At the Church of Helix, sometimes when snow fell, we'd go outside and make little snow people!
TAEDA: Can you do something like that?

It's a fairly trivial request, but perhaps Crya can spice it up a bit?

---

The Scion explains how their magic won't kill them. Apparently, they have something making them better! Convenient, but... Chloe still seems against the idea in general.

CHLOE: B-But... even if you do have a way to recover, doesn't it still hurt to do this?
CHLOE: Surely, i-it'd be safer to try other schools of magic! Right?
CHLOE: Like... you can kill people with fireballs, a-and that probably won't cause you to get hurt!
CHLOE: S-So... why don't you do that?

CHLOE: I-I'm just... concerned for you, is all.
CHLOE: I know that not all magic can be so pretty, but... i-it's just awful, seeing how it can hurt the user.

Apparently though, fire magic is fine because harming the other person is totally cool. Just not harming yourself, apparently. In addition, the Thaumaturge proposes a meeting with Isaden and Chi, but... we've already seen the outcome of that meeting in the above spoiler, haven't we?

---

Crystal shows off their magic! Taking some quartz from the supplies he provided for the club, Crystal takes center stage on the blanket that Dorothy presented on. He then begins to demonstrate the principles of "crystal magic". It's not like, a homebrewed form of magic named after Crystal. It's just like, magic using crystals, which Crystal just so happens to be doing. Hopefully that's crystal clear?

They showcase a variety of things, like how a crystal can help focus and channel magical energy, or how you can store magical energy into a crystal for later use. You could even create a ritualistic setup with a whole array of magical crystals, doing some generally dumb stuff™. Marron, figuring it's something she can try without leaving Asha's side, conjures a needle to flick a chunk of quartz towards herself. With a bit of focus, Marron's natural magical talents allow her to shoot out a magical bolt which destroys a nearby sandwich. Which belonged to Maxim. They immediately begin forming another bone fragment to throw.

MARRON: Ooh, cool!
MARRON: Wonder if I could apply this to clothing design and make like... a scarf that shoots magical bolts everywhere?
MARRON: ...That sounds dangerous, though.

It'd be pretty, though.

---

Irongutta converses with Magnolia. He apologizes for what had to be done in the end. But, although he lied about many things, he probably wouldn't lie about her mother.

MAGNOLIA: B-But... if he lied about so many things, w-why wouldn't he lie about mother?
MAGNOLIA: H-He's just a liar...

The ork wipes away Magnolia's tears. They sorta make his fingers feel the slightest bit tingly, being drops of Fluxblood and all. He then remembers that Magnolia has that body he made for her. Though, that's probably not the same. Silently, Magnolia does her best to nod.

MAGNOLIA: M-Maybe I could keep using that.... but... it's weird, needing to carry myself around all the time.
MAGNOLIA: It doesn't feel... normal? I haven't known what normal feels like in a long, long time, but it can't be like that, right?
MAGNOLIA: But.... I like being your friend, too!
MAGNOLIA: Your big, cutty friend!
MAGNOLIA: If I'm in a normal body, I don't think I'd be able to do anything!
MAGNOLIA: I'd be a normal, boring child! Who can't cut heads off!

The axe gains another stack of Confliction. This is the life she's led for so long- what would happen if she changed now? A few hundred years of being a sentient axe. Would it even be possible for her to adapt back to a normal life, in a normal body?

---

Asha enjoys an ice cream sandwich! Just watching Asha enjoy the treat delivers Marron a visceral shot of joy, directly to the veins. Asha also suffers from moderate brain freeze, which causes Marron to giggle.

MARRON: Heh, you should see your face right now!
MARRON: It's probably this thing called "brain freeze". It happens when you have really cold stuff!
MARRON: But... here! Let me help you warm up.

Marron gives Asha a warm hug, which probably does little to alleviate any of the freeze she's feeling, but it's certainly comforting! She also takes a bite from her own ice cream sandwich... and fails to suffer from any sort of brain freeze because she's responsible. Or at least, not wolfing it down. Asha then brings up the idea of eating something they've both never had before. The seamstress, still snug around Asha, gives it some thought.

MARRON: Sure! Though, I think I've had just about everything here once before.
MARRON: But... ooh!

Marron's eyes settle on a jar of marmalade, made by Auth using Parabolan Orange-Apples. What's that? Marron mostly dabbles in the realm of baking. This sorta fruity thing is new to her.

MARRON: That! Let's try that!
MARRON: ...What is that, anyway? Do you know?

If Marron doesn't know it, Asha probably doesn't know it. Or maybe she does? For all we know, Asha's secretly a pro at making marmalade with things she finds on Between. Or she's committed culinary sins there that Marron is blissfully unaware of.

---

<ABOVE THE FORESTS, ROUND 7>
Situation sorted! With all of the Iti eliminated, it's a relatively smooth flight to the Central Sky Labs. In just a few moments, the ship docks with the Central Sky Labs, Omorika, Cypress, and Chi are the first ones off. Cypress takes a few steps forward, and is immediately shocked with what he sees.

CYPRESS: ...Slight problem.
CYPRESS: Rebels: breached area. Likely target: glyph.
CYPRESS: Situated below vessel. Let us move.
OMORIKA: Rebels have breached the Central Labs?
OMORIKA: Cypress. I thought your defenses were better than this.
CYPRESS: I did, too. Can't be helped.
CYPRESS: First priority: security. Disable lockdown procedures.
CYPRESS: Can't access glyph. Lockdown: floors restricted. Three and two. No floor one.

While Cypress begins to make plans of attack, Taeda hops off of the ship. She follows behind Chi. Having heard what Cypress said about a "vessel", she can't help but ask a question.

TAEDA: Oh, hello? Miss Chi?
TAEDA: I'm Taeda, a Devout who's part of the Spherebreakers. It's nice to meet you!
CHI: Oh, hello. It's... nice to meet you as well.
TAEDA: Do you know what Cypress meant about a "vessel"?
TAEDA: I haven't been here before, so... I'm a bit in the dark.
TAEDA: What is it?
CHI: You don't know? Well, I suppose it's not something that's commonly talked about.
CHI: I'm also no history buff, but I'll try my best to explain.
CHI: Tell me, miss Taeda. Have you heard of the Dream of Unity?

Taeda bobs her head.

TAEDA: A little bit...
TAEDA: I think it was a... big space ship?
CHI: Well, I suppose a "big space ship" is correct, at a very high level.
CHI: It's a collaboration between the Chairians and Tabletopians uring the brief ceasefire held between both nations.
CHI: Both factions worked together to create a magnificent work, a hybrid of science and magic!
CHI: Of course, relations fell apart, and the vessel was destroyed...
CHI: ...or so most believe, anyway!
TAEDA: Oh, I heard it was destroyed, yeah! I remember that!
TAEDA: But... what do you mean by that, miss Chi?
CHI: What I mean of course, is that the Dream of Unity exists here!
CHI: Cypress commissioned it to be repaired, and stationed in the Central Sky Labs as a monument.
CHI: He showcases it as his "ultimate goal"- the hybridization of technology and magic!
CHI: Though, I should note that it's nothing more than a hollow shell. No engines, no weaponry, no anything.
TAEDA: Whoa! Can... can I see it?
CHI: Of course you can! Though...

Gunfire rings out in the distance. Seems the Rebels are engaging with a few Chairians.

CHI: ...it seems we have a situation at the moment.
CHI: There'll be plenty of time for sightseeing later, alright?
TAEDA: U-Um... okay!

Anyway, Zone 5.5 is available! If Cypress is to be believed, the Glyph of Creation is somewhere below the Dream of Unity! Though, getting to it won't be very easy. There's Rebels, barriers, and probably some odd hurdles that need to be covered. Be prepared!

Stats: just throw 2 statpoints into DEF why not.

Magic Club
Pionobot + Maple/Chloe
Pionobot chuckles nervously and walks on over.
"Yeah I know I guess I just...
Don't have a lot of practice."
Pionobot blinks for a bit, then sits down.
"Thank you though you two, I haven't really had the chance to get to know people in the party yet.
But hey the two I do know are both cute so..."
Pionobot blinks again, then... well his cheeks are more red than pink but it's still probably blushing as he just looks down and facepalms.
"Sorry, just... yes I'll take the food thank you."
Pionobot, still looking at the floor, completely fails to notice the cookie placed on the sandwich, and proceeds to take a bite out of the both at the same time resulting in him doing an immediate double-take.
He stares at the sandwich/cookie with a bite taken out of them and then sighs again.
"Perhaps not the most optimal method of consumption.
Let's... try that again."
Pionobot takes the cookie off the sandwich, sets it down on the blanket in front of him, and starts to work on the sandwich itself.
Maple then posits her question.
"...yeah that'd probably be good.
Hopefully it goes better than uh.
That."
Pionobot suffers a temporary minus CHA debuff from self-humiliation.

Dorothy
Pionobot claps along with everyone else, he looks interested though also... shy almost?
Echoss on the other hand, examines the work, and then moves forwards.
"That's rather impressive, so you do something like... this?"
Echoss makes a slow motion with his arm, almost like pulling on a rope and motion of the air around him seems to gather in with it. He then pushes outwards towards the dummy and a small wall of air rushes out towards it... and totally breaks up and dissipates around halfway there.
Echoss frowns.
"Ah, hm. I don't seem to understand it quite yet."
He steps back a bit, muttering to himself and making motions with his hands. The air right around him seems to alternate between shimmering and going still. After a bit of that he sighs and stops. Seems he's not figuring it out.

Crya
Echoss nods at Crya's display.
"This is quite impressive, measure of power aside you have quite a good deal of control."

The Scion:
Echoss places a hand on Chloe's shoulder.
"Chloe, while I share your concern for their health it can be... rather tricky making a transition like that.
It is also worth noting that most forms of magic at the very least have the capacity to be detrimental to the wielder. While it's not pleasant... living with the pain becomes just a part of you for some people. When you have the ability to push through the hurt, the power to protect the things you consider important is worth it."
He looks over at the Scion.
"I believe at this point you either have some other options at your disposal anyways, yes? Or at least reasons why such a thing is less feasible."

Crystal:
Echoss watches Crystal's display with great interest, though he doesn't actively participate for this one.

Aoki:
Echoss notices Aoki staring at the picnic not-quite-longingly.
He waves at her, motioning for her to come over.
"If you would like to join madame, you may. There's plenty of food, we have enough to share."

Echoss (BUTTERFLIES HERE PEOPLE)
Echoss blinks at Kalis' response.
"They're more of a direct link. Tell me, do the gods of your home realm make use of avatars? Send a piece of themselves down to the world below that simultaneously counts as them for many beneficial purposes while still being separate enough that making an undesired connection back is effectively impossible?
That is the purpose of this spell, a direct connection, direct control over the creation, while simultaneously requiring very little energy or mana cost."
Echoss looks around a bit, then strokes his chin.
"Hm, I think I'll want to discuss your own magic with you a bit more at some point, you seem to be a bit... out of your element so to speak.
That aside, the actual casting has no real requirements beyond knowledge of how to do it and some degree of magical ability, though that second requirement is a good deal more lenient than you would expect.
The difficulty comes from the fact that as a trade off for the ease of casting you must actually maintain mental control over the construct. You essentially generating a small magical body and directly controlling it in addition to your own.
It requires mental discipline and multitasking capability, which can be difficult for many spellcasters who are more accustomed to putting forth all their concentration into a singular purpose.
...now I'm rambling."
He gestures to Kalis and Taeda, as well as anyone else who's interested.
"The version of the spell I'll be teaching you is one that was developed and refined for ease of use. It provides some amount of customizeability in its base form, but only enough to allow comfortable casting and... a rather extended explanation of metaphysics that I'm not awake enough at the moment to get right.
It can be cast with most magic systems and methods, even, though depending on how esoteric it is that may require a minute or two of one-on-one tutoring to use the 'access ramp' so to speak.
That being said, Miss Taeda I believe you'll find this spell particularly easy to cast even if you find maintaining it difficult at first. To avoid rambling further unless you're interested, I'll just say that the original form is quite similar to what you already do.
Now, all of you hold your hands out. Without a proper classroom setting I'll need to take a shortcut to do this quickly."
The butterfly Echoss created earlier flutters back and lands in Taeda's hands, Echoss forms a couple more, and places them in the hands of everyone else who's come over.
"I want you to focus on the butterfly I've placed in your hands, using whatever magical sensory capacity you have, if you have it. Otherwise focus on it the way you would on one of your own spells or magic. If your magic is far enough removed from focal point mechanics that doesn't work, let me know and I'll help you do it in a way more familiar to your own methods."
As people do this, they feel... familiarity. The 'spellwork' of the butterflies seems to have been deliberately loosened, allowing a glimpse into what it does. The magic in them seems... familiar, yet also foreign (the foreign feeling is, indeed, significantly weaker for Taeda however. Like trying to figure out which of your friends is wearing a costume, as opposed to a faint sense of deja vu. Interestingly enough Crya will have this reaction too though not as strongly).
"Good, look around a little bit, there should be what feels like a 'loose thread'. Ready yourself, and then try and tug on it mentally."
Upon doing so, the butterfly in the user's hands 'pops', shattering into shimmering golden light. Most of the people's reactions are likely to be a tad delayed because as they do so the "spellwork" of the butterfly opens up, almost like they were reading the working of it out of a pamphlet, except reading it through their magic connection. Interestingly, should anyone compare notes, the exact mechanics seem to differ from person to person but in general it involves manifesting your own will for a very minor expenditure of mana (think like half an MP or less in thymium's system).
"Now, those of you used to tinkering with your own spells feel free to mess around with some of the 'aesthetic' effects of it. I would recommend not interfering too much with the 'connector' piece for your own variants at the moment. Tampering with that without a knowledge of omnicasting will result in spell failure, though not backlash.
To everyone, simply focus on... splitting your attention as if you were trying to do multiple things at once. Perhaps reading something while holding a conversation? Cast the spell with that part of your attention, focusing on a small animal or object capable of self-locomotion. The initial color is something of a... subconscious thing. It will be the color that is most closely 'you' by default, and takes some work to change manually. The form however will be whatever you think of. I choose butterflies out of personally preference, but hummingbirds, dragonflies, dragonettes are all valid choices... I have a friend who does miniature helicopters."
Upon casting, a small thing of whatever the person was envisioning appears at or around the caster's hands (or perhaps above their head? Somewhere close and easily noticeable). The color is of course "their" color (default to dialogue color if you don't explicitly have something better in mind). Most likely at least several of these sit there for a few seconds, and then shatter into motes of light like Echoss' butterflies did when "unraveled" as the person summoning them abruptly realizes they're looking through their own eyes and the construct's eyes (or eye-analogues) at the same time resulting in moderate disorientation and a loss of concentration. No lingering effects besides perhaps very mild nausea for anyone who happens to be prone to motion sickness.


Side Action:
Since Assassination Classroom will probably happen soon, Echoss yoinks the Transcendency chamber down in the basement. As far as the game mechanics/world map care, it vanishes without a trace.


Not!Echoss surfaces in the Men's Washroom and steals the powerade sink before sinking back into the floor.


Central Labs
Pionobot passes by Omo and overhears her comment.
"Tabletopi...
Hm, perhaps my earlier guesses were right then?"
He stops again, looks out over at the chaos, then back at Omo.
"Omo, no offence but when we got to the library you were the only living Legion affiliated Chairian left.
The entire thing got overrun by a single Eliti, everything else just moved in after.
This particular fiasco took over a week of siege from:
The majority of the Rebel faction (while Cypress was providing insider knowledge).
A massive swarm of Iti that were already inside thanks to having numerous types specifically designed to bypass the defenses.
And Xavier, who knows how to bypass the Thymefield.
If he is Tabletopian maybe I understand your sudden dislike of him, but in regards to maintaining stability you really don't have room to take potshots at him like this. Let alone openly racist ones.
No offence to you, you basically had the world against you too, but this man's been working miracles to keep the Skylabs afloat as long as he has honestly, you of all people should know how hard it is to do."

Following this he walks over towards the gap, looks down, then moves back over to Cypress.
"Hey, Cypress, the security logs will be in the security hub, right?
I mean that's probably obvious but I need to check. I'm about to do something stupid and would rather not do said stupid for no reason."
Upon receiving assurance, Pionobot moves back to the main room. He conjures a... shield? It looks like some sort of shimmering field around him, and his shoulder begins wafting purple smoke as he does. Bullets from any railsnipers that try and shoot him seem to miss though, their paths slightly altered to hit the wall behind him instead.
He moves over to Gum.
"Hey there, just making a request that you three try not to hit me while I do something dumb."
Pionobot then shifts into a ready stance and flings himself upwards into the air, sailing across the gap over to where the rebels on the far side are. Bullets and attacks are knocked askew by his shielding as before, and when he lands he holds his hands up to show he's got no weapons.
"Hey, hey, stop shooting for a second please I'll back off again in just a minute. Take potshots then if you want to.
This isn't the usual "can we please work together" crap I know you guys won't listen to it. I do have a request though. Radio your guys in the security hub to not wreck it too much, if you can. There should be camera footage in there that will... well let's just say that we think Spark is sending saboteurs to destroy the place himself right now.
I don't care whether you guys think you can beat us or not. In this regard, I don't care if you ACTUALLY can beat us or not.
We get the footage? You guys get the footage? Either way works. Just so long as Spark doesn't get to see it torched. I want what he did plastered everywhere that people could possibly see it."
If the rebels don't stop shooting at him, he takes their guns by activating MAGNET HANDS, yoinking all their equipped weapons to him before he speaks. (just the ones on the top balcony).
If they stop shooting but also have specific questions, he stays for a little bit so he can answer them. Otherwise, after he gets general acknowledgement from the rebels, he backflips into the air then jets himself back over to the southern side of the railing, overshooting his intended landing spot and crashing into one of the benches.
"GORILLAing Thymefield."

The Forge

"... I'm going to call you Bandage," Venia says.

Venia then spends 5 Flux to use the Encyclopedia of Madness on the Mold to grasp the construction and its methods as much as possible. Before she does, though, any living Rose Cultists left in the area (bar possibly "Bandage") are immediately Freed via Purger, because let's face facts that's long overdue.

---

Nia & Magic Club

"I'll see you there!" Venia says.

She then proceeds to Magic club, arriving just in time for Echoss's butterfly how-to guide. She just slides into the demonstration, focusing on Echoss's butterfly as instructed.

Now, Venia isn't exactly unfamiliar with the esoteric arts of magic, nevermind some of the technical know-how Echoss is pulling to make this possible. The spell, of course, is as unfamiliar to her as any other. Multitasking with multiple bodies, on the other hand, is not. She figures the spell out relatively fast, probably being among the first to have the butterfly 'pop.'

Seconds later, a large amount of buzzing comes from Venia. She is now bees. (She was always going to be bees. She just was.) Venia is covered head to toe in gently glowing blue bumblebees. She also looks generally embarrassed.

"... I perhaps put in more power than I needed there."

Venia dismisses her horde of bees and sits down.

---

Mariaaaaaaa

"Present! Present!" Maria wastes no time in ripping it to pieces to uncover the secret present-y goodness within.

---

Regalus

You do not know where he's at, so I don't have to say anything. What a relief!

---

The Family

I really don't like feeling like a record, but there's nothing to report that changed from last round. Those were more RP prompts than anything, but I also don't know anyone around the house other than myself.

---

Stats 'n' Crafts

Venia gives Marron 120 credits to create a (single) T6 HP regeneration trinket; it can have other effects or resistances, but should at least have +3 HP regen, preferably more (IE, it should at least tie with the Chaos Sphagetti for HP regen; I'd just equip that, but then it'd compete for a T8 slot later on with the Entropic Key...).

Venia will then equip the result over the Whispering Gauntlet. She will also equip the Snowfell Star over the Valor Catalyst.

Venia then notices the Evasive4 attached to the Valor Catalyst, and promptly adds +2 to AGI.

Purchases

Might as well do this.

-1000 Credits are spent on Cypress's Drop Pod Coordinator
-His research is now done, so he's assigned to Discharge for the Shock Therapist.
-Mari's research is also done, so she's assigned to a Capacitor upgrade for the Shock Therapist
-1200 Credits and 16 Samples are spent delivering Nana the four T5 upgrades.
-30 Samples are spent researching Elemental Gear: Air.

-240 Credits are given to Mari to upgrade her stuff to T6 via the Temmie Shop's crafting services. Which things? Whichever she chooses, really.

-120 Credits are given to Omorika to upgrade her Amethyst Kimono by way of Nia, preferably to have a few more points in +SPC.