Battle: The Dream of Unity - Armaments

"I can't begin to imagine it, huh," Venia says. "What have you been through then, Spark? What have you lost? What did you see when those firebombs came down, in that endless war? What did the Tabletopians do to you that you'd try to make yourself as a thing unto their scumbag of a leader? Come on, you coward-answer! "

All of these actions, in the order listed, are to be done first.

Auth moves to F19 and activates the Utility Console, using the Repair Drone and healing the consoles plus the core. He then uses Preserverence (with a Fire elemental Elveil) on Gibbet to patch up our favorite bird's defense.

The Vic Viper will toss Gibbet a batch of Goddess Ice Cream, Mint-Chip Flavor. The ice cream thus consumed, Venia+Gibbet moves to R20 with use of the Warp Ring thanks to Gibbet (smart bird), with their Vic Viper moving to O15. Gibbet double-uses Glitch Nooses on Magus3 and Archer6, slapping them with a plethora of debuffs. Venia follows up by using Hope Rides Eternal to drag the Archer to Q23.

"Gibbet! Hang 'em all!" Venia shouts. Gibbet hasn't used his action yet, he activates Life Sentences, splashing at R14 and probably triggering a cool attack cutscene.. Since there are nine entities in that range, counting the Hardpoint and the "Device?", but only seven are allowed, the Hardpoint and PSoldier8 are tactically skipped over. This leaves Magus4, Magus1, Soldier1, Soldier2, Soldier7, Soldier8, The 'Device?' and Throne Launcher2 as being Deathlinked. Venia will basic attack Throne Launcher 2, lacking anywhere else to reasonably use her abilities. Gibbet won't retreat anywhere.

Then, Venia wreathes herself in her Ordo. "Now, Gibbet, go beyond!" Venia uses Salvation: Reinvigorate, giving Gibbet a new action... And Venia uses her item action to feed him a Star Nectar to replenish his MP by almost as much as he just used. This done, Gibbet will use Super Big Cutty (again) on Throne Launcher 2. The psychokinetic guillotine rises... And when it falls, one more Throne Launcher will bite the dust.

R-8 will move to I12 and fire his basic attack on Magus4, using the Blind/Armorbreak option as the Vic Viper would be hit with an AoE. In the event R-8 misses or glances, Rosie will spend their main action firing their basic attack directly at that Magus, because it dying wouldn't really affect the plan.

Mari will pull out a Cryptic Scheme and move to K14 before activating her Devileye Patch and using Nanostorm on Q13. This will hit Soldiers1, 2, 7 and 8, Magus4, and the Hardpoint, and the Vic Viper. This combined with the previous attack on Magus4 will cause Magus4 to drop, activating Deathlink. The Deathlink, in turn, will cause the weakened Soldier2 taught in the to be downed, which will activate Deathlink again. This will down Soldier4 and Soldier1, which will activate Deathlink again, twice at once. This will destroy the 'Device?', flat-out kill Magus1, and trigger two more Deathlink activations. All these Deathlinks will deal damage to the 2nd Throne Launcher, though sadly the Deathlink doesn't appear to persist upon death. Oh, and because an allied entity was there, Nanostorm's bonus attributes kick in... Which doesn't mean anything, other than the Vic Viper is now fully healed. Finally, while Mari will only get one true down from this, Gibbet will get a full Pentakill due to the Deathlink chains, bringing his Hang Them High stacks up to maximum.

The Vic Viper will now actually act, basic attacking Soldier 8 for not-great damage, before retreating to P17.

Meanwhile, the newfound Praetorian is about to get a dose of reality-starting with Adria's cat. Quote Adria's post, "The cat uses the Weapons Controller to fire Twin Railcannons at Throne Launcher 2. It then runs to (I11) and uses True Vision on Biflora, sharply hissing at her in the process. She might find it cute at first until it shoots her with an Elemental Blaster set to Antimagic." This is still what happens, it just happens right now.

Back to the Boarding Spike, with the enemies now thoroughly obliterated by Mari and Gibbet's combat attack, the only major issue left is cleanup. The Nanotechnician will lob their basic attack at P14, obliterating all the corpses left there, before giving Yato Nanoswarm: Reinforce as a bonus action (given their basic attack only hit enemy corpses). He will then activate the Weapons Console to use the Traktor Cannon, dragging Biflora to I6.

One of the Agents-let's say Agent1-notices Biflora's proximity to the drill and casually uses another Weapon Console to activate the drill, pointing it at Biflora and introducing her to a world of pain. This agent then moves to G6 and fires at Archer2, bypassing its use of the ship's cover. Agent2 will then move to where Agent1 was and use its trait to fire at G2 as well, hopefully downing Archer2.

Rosie Warp Ring's Biflora to G7 (ensuring she doesn't fall to her death after she falls), using a hand formed from her livingmetal to manipulate the device, before Rosie's first Turret does the rest of the work to down Biflora, with spare shots trying to damage P.Soldier1, as well as the salvo from the second turret. The armorpierce works regardless of if the foe is Entropic or not (the wording is meant to only imply the damage boost works on Entropic), so that'll help. If they didn't use their basic attack earlier, Rosie will lay mines at D12, I13 and H15, to deter attackers.

(One of the Agents will loot Biflora's stuff if that's possible.)

"Nothing you can send my way is going to stop any of us, Spark! You can throw an eternity served cold at us-we'll blow it to hell! Your chances of beating us are NONEXISTENT!"

she said the thing everyone go home

"... I know I shouldn't expect it, but I have to offer it. Spark, if you surrender to us right now, come out of there with your hands off of the Glyph and weapons, you will be given the mercy that you most likely won't be on death row for all that you've done!... Otherwise, we will use... Ah, let's say we'll be going at eighty percent? We're not going to exhaust ourselves on someone that isn't even our main target. Talk all you want-you're just WARE's lapdog at the end of the day, and the fact he's feeding you his power right now is proof. Whether or not you'll acknowledge that is irrelevant, so I'll say it again. Surrender now, Spark, or face the consequences!"

Venia says this knowing full well she'll most likely be laughed off. That's OK. "Don't say we didn't offer you a way out!"

---

The Central Labs

"Uh, pardon me, geez-Uh, hello, Spherebreaker here," Venia says, returning to the Central Labs. "Uh, I'm looking for an 'Ash,' anyone seen 'em?" Venia asks.

When Ash inevitably answers, Venia does a polite bow. "Uh, hello, I'm Venia, with the Spherebreakers. Uh, we don't have much time. You see the absolute chaos going on out there? Uh, yeah. We need help. Uh, to be very swift, we need someone to pilot the Vedfolnir and Kudan is not available at this time to do so. Good news is the terminal is actually hidden in the Skylabs. I can show you the way-you can pilot it and help us blow Spark's plans to, to smithereens. Sound awesome to you?"

---

Below-decks

Somehow simultaneously-blame time shenanigans-Venia is making her way through the belowdecks of the airship, among the recently-rescued Chairians. "Cedar? Did he warp off? Where is he?" She asks.

Assuming Cedar is present, Venia uses an Encourage tome to revive him if necessary. "Cedar. Welcome to, uh, our Airship. I think we agreed its name was the "TC Express Airship To Hell," but we haven't bothered to paint it on there yet. Recent arrangement. Uh anyways, we need to talk about Spark. While you were out cold, he tried to, well... Kill everyone present. It was just us at first, but Spark got frustrated because circumstances prevented them from actually stopping us slightly so he just decided to kill everyone for failing him. I think this constitutes completely going off the deep end. Err, but I think you'd rather hear what happened from your subordinates instead... Anyone care to confirm?" Venia asks. "... And don't get me started on what Spark is talking about right now."

"... We're going to make a broadcast. An extended version of the one you saw, with a few more surprises, to expose these crimes and others. Would you agree to... Well. I guess there's no real point saying what I'd want you to do," Venia says. "Only whether or not you'd be willing to... Say it."

---

Cypress And the Broadcast

"Cypress," Venia says, walking into wherever the broadcast is being planned. "I hear you need help with setting up everything? Just tell me what you need, I have something that ought to really help speed this along."

---

The Everground

"Uh. I mean... I was referring to leaving so you could see Magnolia," Venia says. "If only for a little while. Care to see your daughter again right now or do you need time?"

If she affirms, Venia takes her to the portal to the house.

Mariaaaaaa

I can't tell you what happens next. Who can say? What machinations will Maria pull?

Well, Tazz has included my action, but just to reiterate...

Auth moves to F19 and activates the Utility Console, using the Repair Drone and healing the consoles plus the core. He then uses Preserverence (with a Fire elemental Elveil) on Gibbet to patch up our favorite bird's defense.

That being said, the prospect of Murder does make Auth resoundingly uncomfortable... despite the Perfect Wotsits just being fake puppets...

---

Auth continues to heal up Vulcan and then picks up the few corpses laying around the ground, and lifts them up into the air, to drop them somewhere out of sight. Auth is on his way out anyway - it's not too much trouble.

---

Auth laughs slightly. Seems he expected Nana to say something like that.

AUTH: Ehe. It happens that Aoki and I have some work we will be doing together later. Some coincidence, hm?
AUTH: I don't think anyone will mind having you there, and if they do mind I'll frown disapprovingly until they don't mind anymore.

Auth laughs more, indicating that he was joking about frowning until people stop caring that Nana was there.

AUTH: It's fine, you don't really need to. Unless you plan to make your own? But I don't think the technology exists on Sussui to burn CDs. Outside the Skylabs somewhere, I guess, maybe. I don't really know.
AUTH: I am oversimplifying, I don't think running a laser over you will get a useful data stream. Remember - too small for the eye to see.
AUTH: I do get it, I think what I'm describing to you is about the most advanced technology I can usefully explain. I'm not particularly... technologically inclined, shall we say? I'm no good with tech.

---

Auth nods quietly to Cypress, understanding what he'd want him to say after Aoki. Auth feels that he'd probably need to establish what the party's position actually is before saying anything, but he'd be more than happy to go through with that.

AUTH: I see. I shall consult the others in that regard, then. We come from all corners of reality - I suspect that the intentions of many of us for after Spark is defeated will be vastly different.
AUTH: I think... I'll need to ask around to get an idea of what the consensus is. If I had to quess right now, I suspect that most of us plan to just go back home after all is said and done. I can't imagine that the Chairian people will be terribly happy having a bunch of, er...

Auth looks down at himself, and then to any non-charians in the room.

AUTH: outsiders kicking around after we've finished our job.
AUTH: It's the sort of feeling I've had... I'm not inclined to lie about what people will do but... hm. Perhaps I might need more help than I initially thought.

Auth looks concerned. He doesn't actually know the party that well, and he's aware of this... but it's a little depressing.

PSoldier1 moves to F6, hits both enemy soldiers with Shadow Cleaver, and retreats to G7.

Remiel uses Cherry Energy to delete the two soldiers if they're still existant, then moves to J9 and Relinquishes the Archer (rember to check Soulless Suggestion mechanics, and also how reviving works when the corpse's square is occupied).

<ROUND 304>

Echoss explains Aoki's situation to Gum. I almost called him "Gun" there by accident. Whoops. Anyway, what's happened is rather simple, really. After being deployed in an attempt to assassinate Cypress, she got the snot beaten out of her, and eventually attended a picnic.

GUM: wait you what
GUM: you beat her up!?
AOKI: To be fair, I was trying to kill them.
AOKI: Really, it'd be Spark's fault for bringing me to the front lines. Me getting knocked out was a result of his decisions.
AOKI: Though, I don't appreciate the usage of toxins...
GUM: you poisoned her!?
GUM: seriously guys what the hell
AOKI: Don't fret about it, Redgum. I was tended to by the best medic they had.
AOKI: No permanent damage, burns, or anything like that to worry about.
GUM: okay, if you say it's fine
GUM: though personally speaking i'd like to put a bullet into someone's leg-
AOKI: Dear.
GUM: fine, fine

GUM: just at least treat her better than her producers, okay?
GUM: let her actually have a feast for once because she deserves it
GUM: and don't send her to the battlefield again
GUM: that'd just be incredibly irresponsible
AOKI: U-Um... yeah.

...Maybe don't mention the fact that she's dual-instanced on the deck of the Airship right now. And if he does learn, make sure nothing bad happens to her. It'd be really quite awkward to explain how she got perforated by flaming arrows or something like that. Also maybe watch the Scion's shins for them. Sniper bullets hurt. Then again, he doesn't really know who poisoned her, so maybe keep their identity a secret for now. Just to be safe.

---

Asha mentions doing some cooking. Marron, deciding to be helpful, pops into the kitchen and cleans up a few things. Leftover pots and the like. Though, when it comes to cooking with the Scion, she can't help but be the slightest bit concerned.

MARRON: Not that I'm... entirely against the idea of having more cooking buddies, i-it's just that... aren't they like, a walking bioweapon?
MARRON: I'd rather not contract the Bubonicoronatitus-23 or whatever it is they have on them because I ate a really good lookin' cinnamon bun.
MARRON: Though, maybe we can give them a hazmat suit or something? And run whatever we cook through like, a full decontamination tunnel thing. That sci-fi thingy.

Marron isn't entirely sure how they'll obtain a decontamination tunnel thing. Maybe Chaos sells one? Or maybe there's an option that she'll end up considering in a few posts.

---

Adria declares her intention to yeet the child. Or uh, to yeet the child-yeeter. Biflora has a few pointed words for her.

BIFLORA: Excuse me? That child was armed to the teeth.
BIFLORA: What was her name... Hannah? The ugly, tiny blonde?
BIFLORA: If you saw her, you'd paint the wings with her entrails too.

While Adria probably gives Biflora the sternest talking to of her life, Adria talks to a moderately exhausted Mari. A few updates ago, she mentioned living in a Mindscape. There, she had armies of drones to do all the heavy lifting for her. As a result, she's rather out of shape... but still somehow perfectly skinny. Perks of being a cute anime girl? Or maybe she just has a good metabolism. Who knows? Anyway, the two of them take a few moments to relax together. Adria pulls a chair up for herself and Mari, which she gladly accepts.

MARI: Whew. Thanks for the chair.
MARI: Know what this place needs? Teleporters. Or fancy air tubes to transport you everywhere.
MARI: Damn place is huge. I'd get hella buff if I worked here, just walking around so much all the goddamn time...

Adria then ends up asking about what exactly a Mindscape is. On cue, Chaos manifests a short distance away from Mari. Pulling out one of those classic teacher pointing stick things, Mari jabs it into the side of Chaos's skull(?). It actually impales right through his head, but that's not important.

MARI: So. This guy. Chaos.
MARI: I lived inside of his head. Lovely place, really. No rent, free food, free materials, and a pretty low number of disturbances all things considered. Probably because I used to be like, completely essential to holding the place together.
MARI: His mindscape's pretty large, all things considered. We had like, four total zones to explore? Forest level, cave level, cloud level, mountain level... pretty standard stuff.
MARI: No desert level, though. Kind of an oversight if you ask me.

MARI: Anyway, yeah. Basically a small continent in there.
MARI: Entirely new locales would manifest from time to time, based on what Chaos was thinking about, or what was important to him.
MARI: There were also like, a lot of references in there. Like, if Chaos saw some girl from some anime? She might manifest in the Mindscape. If he saw a cool weapon, it'd probably appear in there, too. Hellish abomination? YOU BET IT'LL APPEAR AND TERRORIZE EVERYONE.
MARI: gorillain' Butterfly.
MARI: Even his original characters were running around the place. You know that girl Marron? She originated from there, too.
MARI: We were... uh, neighbors. Totally didn't try to kill each other a few times. Totally.

She pauses for a few moments, looking from side to side. No Marron in sight. It is safe to continue. She continues wriggling around her pointer stick thing around through Chaos's head, who apparently doesn't mind at all.

MARI: Anyway, yeah.
MARI: If you want, you could probably visit. Not that I'd recommend it. Place is crawling with death, death, and more death.
MARI: The game engine is also like, incredibly archaic by this point. Only like, six stats to invest into. It's pretty bad, can't lie.
MARI: Plus, I'm pretty sure Chaos is dealing with things right now, so...
CHAOS: my head is [c]urren[t]ly [t]he subje[c][t] of many business deals
CHAOS: [t]emmie poli[t]i[c]s is a spe[c]ial hell i would no[t] wish on anyone
CHAOS: ex[c]ep[t] mark zu[c]kerburg
CHAOS: he is a lizard person who wishes [t]o undermine [t]he [t]emmie's [t]o[t]ally legi[t] demo[c]ra[c]y
MARI: You also need to deal with this idiot, too.
MARI: Huge negative.
CHAOS: i[t] really is

Chaos pulls out a keyboard, and inputs CTRL+Z. He reverts back to wherever he was before warping here. Any questions? Adria probably has a few. I'd have a few too, were I not the one who created the questions and could therefore solve them myself.

As a final note, Sophia, Dorothy, and Hannah engage in some co-op, piling themselves upon a glider and taking off for the Skylabs. Taking a look down at the Center Labs, it's a bit of a mess. While the central area / hangar was large enough to hold the Dream of Unity, it certainly was not meant for a ship to fly out of it. The entire ceiling is a write off, really. As well as the entirety of the ground floor, due to an entire swarm of meteors blasting the hell out of it. It looks like the various wings of the Central Labs are holding steady, though. Even if they're now almost their own separate buildings.

Maybe post-Dream, I'll update the map to reflect the damage the Dream of Unity has wrought upon the place? That'd be cool.

---

The Scion does a variety of things. First, they select their Mana Manipulator upgrade: more INT! Can't go wrong with that.

Elsewhere, the Metallurgist decides to take El Iti's hand. Shake shake. The plan is set. A raid on the Citadel. El Iti makes use of their new internet connection to look up some things on WARE's wi-fi, without reconnecting to the hivemind. Where does WARE keep all of there data, anyway? In their eyes, some really rough sketches of... some sort of structure appear. They're far too small to make out.

EL ITI: Alright then.
EL ITI: I have an idea where I'll make my assault. It's not the Citadel itself per say, but taking out that structure would make taking the Citadel gg ez.
EL ITI: I believe its where they manufacture their most overpowered troops? Something like that.
EL ITI: Unless you have anything to say, I need to go assemble a team.

Should the Metallurgist have no questions, El Iti will spam their roll to leave the scene, rolling off to god-knows where. It has a cooldown of like, ten seconds or so, so it's really quite inefficient. Oh well.

Elsewhere, the Scion responds to the offer of doing some cooking. They really shouldn't touch any food. Probably not even with a twelve foot pole. But, they could instead be a different them! Which them are they going to be? Inside the mirror, will they see? Marron nods, understanding what they mean.

MARRON: Oh, yeah! You can do that!
MARRON: Though, maybe take a bath after you switch? Maybe there's spare plague stuff, or whatever...
MARRON: As for expert chefs, I dunno who you know, but...
MARRON: ...I dunno. Someone who's good at making like, pasta? Something without meat.
MARRON: Can't eat meat. Makes me go "bleeeeh".

Marron hasn't really seen much in the way of other chefs. I mean, she supposes that she could count everyone in the Spherebreakers (barring Asha), but they're not professional chefs. What about someone who makes pizza for a living? That sounds like a good time. Marron should make pizza. Yeah. Pizza's good. Or pasta. Really, just Italian food. gm is hungy ok

---

Crya applies gorillas to rocks. Using 10 Cobblestone and the bag of gorilla, she creates a squadron of 5 rocks. This is an affront to the Geneva Convention, probably. Does this violate the Geneva Convention? I have no idea. They are just rocks, but now they're a deadly biological weapon. What have you done!?

---

EN asks the Sleuth where to find mythical beasts. A quick phonecall later, and the Sleuth is on the line.

THE SLEUTH: The Sleuth puts down his bubble pipe, and holds the receiver up to his ear.
THE SLEUTH: There's the slight drone of static, followed by a dame asking some sort of odd question. What would she want to do with monster hunting?
THE SLEUTH: He clears his throat. "Toots," he begins, "I'm not sure if you want to tackle a Fell God."
THE SLEUTH: A shudder crosses through his body. Tons of muscle and meat, held together by a whole lotta anger. While there are many large Fell Behemoths that act as mothers, there is only one Fell God. In theory, anyway.
THE SLEUTH: It's thought to be myth, but apparently it resides in a mountain not too far south of the Old Pass. There's a whole network of caverns that make up a gigantic Fell Beast nest.
THE SLEUTH: He recalls seeing something that might've been the Fell God for a few brief moments. Back when the Legion still made attempts to clear the thing out. The damn nest was just too big.
THE SLEUTH: There was no way these two would be able to take it on. So, he delivers his response. "I'm not telling you anything. It's far too dangerous."
THE SLEUTH: He hangs up the phone, before they can press him any further.

Immediately following that line, he hangs up the phone. Though... EN supposes that now they know where to find one. Dare they hunt it down, though? If the Sleuth is correct, there's a whole labyrinthine nest full of the things. That can't possibly be safe to navigate through. But maybe it'd be fun?

Ah, also. S.E.D fires a precision laser beam at the rock surrounding an Eversteel Vein. It falls into the inventory in one completely unusable gigantic chunk. Damn thing's too big! So, they opt to just slot it back into the Everground where it was before. Looks like breaking it apart is probably important.

---

The events of this roleplay happen! This destroys a staircase, and improves the quality of life for a certain mollusk. :taeyay:! As per usual, I recommend reading the roleplay yourself.

---

Venia continues yelling at Spark. What did he see during the firebombings? Spark's ramblings continue to blare through the speakers, like a boss monologuing during their fight. In the sense that they're still somehow perfectly audible over all the chaos, gunfire, and spellslinging.

SPARK: Tell me, Praefortis. Have you ever witnessed the end?
SPARK: Armageddon. The apocalypse. The end of days. Whatever you might call it.
SPARK: By all means, the Chairians should've been wiped out the day the firebombing happened. They had more than enough ships. More than enough bombs. More than enough men.
SPARK: We were fortunate to be spared that day. IKEA had bigger things to attend to. Bigger things then the extermination of his lifelong enemies.
SPARK: We were this close to the end. We saw what hell he was willing to unleash upon us.
SPARK: I think it's only appropriate that he experiences this same pain.

Ah, also. Venia asks Spark to surrender. She knew what to expect from trying to make peace with Spark, of all people.

SPARK: You must be joking.
SPARK: You boast as if you have untold power which you refuse to use on me.
SPARK: Why not just use it? You're going to die here anyway. It cannot possibly match up to the Sphere.
SPARK: The Sphere is my weapon. Unstable as it is, it recognizes me and my power. My potential.
SPARK: The power it has given me was ultimately mine to begin with. Who do you think gave WARE the Thyme in the first place?
SPARK: I am not his lapdog. He is my servant, now and forever. He is my gateway to eternity, to ultimate power. The one thing that will bring those damned Tabletopians to their knees, once and for all.

SPARK: I would offer you the chance to surrender if I had the intention of letting any of you live.
SPARK: There is no way out for you, Spherebreakers. This is where you all die.

Productive. I'd tell you to engrave what he's saying on his tombstone, but unless you're using font as small as the text you're seeing here, there's no way it'd all fit.

Over in the Central Labs, a few Rebels are dealing with a few fires here and there. While the Labs have their own fire suppression systems, it's a bit worrisome. There, Venia searches for an Ash. They pipe up as Venia calls out their name, wheeling over from their wheely office chair. Can they pilot a Vedfolnir?

ASH: Vedfolnir? Kudan's personal ship?
ASH: Wow, what an honor! Though... I'll admit I've never done any flying outside of simulators!
ASH: It'll probably be fine, though. Lead me to it!

After the rather difficult process of shoving Ash through some ventilation, he arrives at the terminal. Once Venia logs in, he's at the helm of Vedfolnir! Digitally, of course. Let's hope they know what they're doing! How hard can it be to pilot his personal warship, anyway?

Meanwhile, Venia pokes around the below-deck of the Airship. There, many Chairians have packed themselves into the inner workings. Fortunately, the installed cargo holds provide more than enough "living" space for the Chairians. I mean, they're kinda packed like sardines, but it's better than being dead! Is Cedar amogus? After a bit of poking around, he sees the Praetorian, in the middle of being tended to by a few of the retrieved Saints. Venia welcomes him to the airship. While it's apparent that a few of his limbs aren't exactly working at the moment, he does his best to wave to Venia anyways.

CEDAR: Ah, greetings.
CEDAR: That's an... interesting name for a vessel such as this.
CEDAR: May I ask where you got your hands on one of the Highchair's personal vessels? Normally, this sort of ship is for leisure and hasty travel for Highchair members...
CEDAR: Then again... perhaps Cypress or Omorika gave it to you.

Anyway, she brings him news- Spark just attempted to kill everyone. Again. He sighs like he just watched his child fall flat onto his face whilst walking down the hallway.

CEDAR: ...Again?
CEDAR: He's still our best option, but he's certainly making me reconsider that angle...
CEDAR: I can't believe it sometimes. He has actual experience with ruling a country, the knowledge of the Highchair, and an actual authority position where people to listen to him...

CEDAR: ...But nevermind that. You want me to make some sort of speech?
CEDAR: I'm afraid I'm not the type that's so good at that sort of thing.
CEDAR: I'm also not the type to turn against my lord so easily.
CEDAR: Truthfully, had Amabilis not pilfered my teleportation rune earlier, I would already be out of here.
CEDAR: Said she forgot hers, and needed it more than me. I can't believe my people sometimes.

...I guess he's stuck here. And not willing to work. Guess they're Praetorians for a reason. Speaking of the broadcast, Venia decides to make use of the Itchy Trigger Finger to instantly resolve some sort of problem that Cypress is having. Spontaneously, the Trigger Finger morphs into some sort of broadcasting satellite dish, which attaches itself to the recording booth.

CYPRESS: ...Convenient.
CYPRESS: Last requirement: scripts. Then, can broadcast. Will handle editing. Rather proficient.

Then, down in the Everground, Venia clarifies- would Vulcan like to see her daughter at the moment? She shakes her head, instead approaching the Remnant. She gives it a gentle pap.

VULCAN: I'd... appreciate a little bit of time.
VULCAN: The Remnant probably isn't the happiest after dealing with those Iti.
VULCAN: Tend to one child at a time, I'd say. Not that they're related to me in the slightest, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

Finally, over in the void with Maria, the child makes her final gambit! Setting up the mother Ouroboros, Maria rides the snake. It reaches from tile 100 to 1, and given that its eating its own tail, it cycles all the way back up, automatically! And, with the "Infinite Riding" perk it has, Maria can truly ride infinite. She sits down on the snake's back. The board game lags as it processes Maria's action. A few seconds of churning and physically smoking later, Maria obtains a stack of 2,147,483,647 coins. It appears that the game cannot physically handle more money. Given that each piece of gold is represented by an actual golden coin, most of the truck is now full of Maria's gold coins. Millions of coins spill out into the void beyond the truck, still legally Maria's.

With all of this monetary power, Maria immediately goes on a spending spree. She buys the most expensive, stylish items from the in-game item shop, increasing her character's style rating to a staggering 21,000. This maximizes her Adeptal Energy Generation, dragging Nidhoggr into reach. Nidhoggr is, of course, the ultimate snake. At least one Ultimate Being is required to reach a Zoo Grade of 100, and what else would Maria purchase at this point? Fusing her Adeptal Energy with a few of her coins, she reaches the 1,000,000 Prismatic Coins required to purchase Nidhoggr. Descending from the heavens, Nidhoggr hovers gloriously above her zoo. In mere seconds, her Zoo Grade pierces the heavens, hitting 100.

Chaos shoves another couple million coins out the truck, making room for a radio on the floor. He pulls out a disk, slotting it in. Out comes Charon's haunting boss theme. Chaos pulls out a dusty character sheet. The sheet reserved for Charon. It's rare that any players of Snakes and Ladders get the right to even observe Charon's character sheet, let alone take it out. As Maria expected(?), Charon's stats are absolutely absurd. 500,000,000 HP, a dozen party-wiping special attacks, and worst of all- double action! How will Maria succeed?

Fortunately, Charon is only here to visit. As zoos aren't built for combat, Charon could probably level the building in a round if he felt like it. Oar in hand, Charon pays an entry fee to Maria, obtaining access to her Celestial Elevator, Charon ascends to witness the full glory of Nidhoggr in the skies above. Near it is an ancient battle arena, where multi-colored fencers fight for the right to be devoured by the glorious beast. It's a sight to behold. And, of course, one can pay for admission into these battles. Charon forks over the gold required to partake in such festivities. He paid the fee for this elevator, and he's going to get his money's worth!

The battle is over near instantaneously. Charon has fragmented the entire arena, his opponent, and has now obtained the divine right to be consumed by Nidhoggr. Given that he's destroyed the arena, Charon pays back Maria the funds to rebuild the arena, setting her gold back to 2,147,483,647. Charon spreads his arms out to embrace Nidhoggr. He's devoured in one swift instant, dealing roughly 500,000 damage. Charon is now down to 99.9% HP! That's progress! Charon later pops out the back end of Nidhoggr... and into the eternal mouth of Ouroboros. THE NIDHOGGR WAS A RUSE.

Given that Maria's violated the infinite action rule by writing it out of existence with the help of her lawyer, there's nothing that Charon can do in retaliation as he's infinitely digested for 5,000 damage per tick! While that's barely anything, when repeated infinitely, that'll add up! In retaliation, Charon's lawyers emerge! They're Level 21 Dark Lawyers, each capable of lawyering one whole planet! Here, their only purpose is to reinstate the removed rule! How will Maria's Level 17 Bard Lawyer handle them? They're far too powerful! So, in response, Maria's lawyer does what they must. A filibuster.

However, those who debate against a Level 21 Dark Lawyer take 100 Dark Damage per minute engaged in debate, and they're going up against a whole army. For every minute that passes, given the game's tickrate, Charon will take 18,000,000 damage. Given that Charon has 499,500,000 HP left, it'll take about 28 minutes to kill Charon. The Bard Lawyer's odds of survival are bleak. But, it's all for the princess. For the snakes. The 27th minute of debate passes, and their HP pool hits 0. They vaporize into nothingness, giving a thumbs up as they fade.. Both Chaos and Maria salute them back, as the "Limited Infinite Loop" act is reinstated.

Charon, no longer stuck in a loop, instantly kills Ouroboros as they emerge. 13,500,000 HP. left, and they're BEYOND PISSED. They use one action to teleport right next to Maria's player character, and another to swing at her once with their oar. "Venia" facetanks roughly sixty million damage, and is turned into a fine paste. But, little did they know where they teleported. It's the middle of the zoo. And there are a lot of angry snakes. And Charon has wasted their actions this round already. The swarm of snakes descends, bitting Charon about fifty-seven times. And these aren't just any ordinary snakes. Each snake here is AT LEAST Level 20, higher than Maria's own character.

But, deadliest of all is Maria's prized snake. The Gold Snake.

The original snake she rode from Tile 100 to 1 so many times, infusing it with the very essence of gold. It's obtained a mutation that lets it deal damage equal to the player's own gold reserves. And Maria has the maximum amount of gold any one player can have. Though Charon is strong enough to eviscerate it in a single action, they've already acted! With a single closing of the fangs, it's over. Charon's character sheet sets ablaze, fading into nothingness along with the whole game of Snakes and Ladders and the billions of Maria's coins in space. In its place is a simple paper message.

A WINNER IS YOU
Final Score: 2,147,483,647

Medium Difficulty unlocked!

Chaos moderately freaks out, emitting an "ohhhhhh" that'll be heard all across the universe, if incredibly quietly. He vomits up a trophy, handing it to Maria.

CHAOS: i [c]anno[t] believe i[t]
CHAOS: you're [t]he firs[t] person [t]o win a[t] snakes and ladders in [t]he his[t]ory of his[t]ory
CHAOS: [t]his proves one [t]hing
CHAOS: [t]ha[t] you are a wor[t]hy su[c][c]essor [t]o my [c]ompany
CHAOS: [c]ongra[t]ula[t]ions
CHAOS: you [t]ruly are business

MARIA ACCOMPLISHMENT GET: Snakes and Ladders Champion
MARIA ACCOMPLISHMENT GET: Heir of Chaos's Company, Whatever That Is
MARIA ACCOMPLISHMENT GET: S&L Victory: Easy
MARIA ACCOMPLISHMENT GET: S&L Victory: Zoo

Truly, Maria is the most powerful entity in this side of the void. All hail!

---

Auth does some work! Down in the Everground, he begins by sweeping up some corpses. Given game rules, he's able to give them a kick, and they fade from existence. Convenient. Though, maybe he did dispose of them in a more civilized fashion? I dunno.

Elsewhere, Auth reassures Nana that Aoki probably won't be bothered. And if she is bothered, he'll stare at the idol until she relents! Somehow! Nana shudders a little, not entirely catching onto the joke. Still, she nods. He then also notes that running a red laser over her face probably won't make any music. Aw.

NANA: A-Ah, well... that's alright.
NANA: Maybe an experienced Morph could change their own face to play music, though. Like Miss Hersilia!
NANA: T-Though, she'd probably find that idea really dumb...

NANA: A-And... uh... what will you be doing with Aoki?
NANA: Can... Can I help? I-I'm not the best with technology, but I'll do my best!

Finally, Auth spends some time considering the views of the party. What will happen once the Sphere shatters? What's the consensus? Cypress, while generally unaware, has a pointer or two for him.

CYPRESS: Hmm. Consult Miss Praefortis? Has many plans.
CYPRESS: Also. May require Chairheir. Also full Highchair. Who will replace?
CYPRESS: Omorika: potential Chairheir. However, unsure. Tabletopian relations: questionable. But otherwise, professional.
CYPRESS: Myself: bad fit. Am hybrid. Not suitable. Likely large resentment. People would hate.
CYPRESS: Acacia: no.
CYPRESS: ...Difficult situation.

Ask around, though? Even Chloe or Nana could have some insight. Every last bit can help!

---

<SOME RANDOM LOCATION ON SUSSUI, ROUND 3>
It’s a quiet day in the forests of Sussui. Amidst the ruins of a small village, packs of Iti swarm the area. They vomit Thyme Matter to create little spawning pools, break apart buildings for vital bits of shelter, and capture and rip apart a small group of Chairians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those few Chairians on the ground desperately fight for survival, hordes upon hordes descending upon them.

But, from the skies! Hope! The Dream of Unity looms above, its menacing weaponry trained on the Iti! Or uh, a menacing… hose? Glowing with prismatic energy, it moves with a will of its own, sweeping down towards the Iti. In droves, the hordes of attacking Iti are sucked up into the hose. The raw suction force turns a few of the lesser Iti into a slurry, but many of the stronger entities survive.

The hose leaves as quickly as it arrived, leaving… a still very sizable squadron of Iti to go and nom on the surviving Chairian forces. Great. The pack descends upon them rather quickly. It’s a 5v30 or something like that, so I probably don’t need to mention the results.

---

<DREAM OF UNITY, ROUND 7>
Back inside the Dream of Unity, the third suction devices make horrible, grinding, churning noises. A short burst of prismatic energy forms a cannon, mounted on the device. BANG! Half a Seeker shoots from the gun, the body ragdolling across the floor whilst turning into paste like some sort of thyme crayon.

Next into the chamber is… an Ohmnic. A barely functional, heavily sparking Ohmnic, but still an Ohmnic nonetheless. A few Pins are visible within the wreckage, struggling to escape the mess of metal that is the Ohmnic. Spark’s voice flashes across the intercom.

SPARK: Hah! Just what I was looking for.
SPARK: Now, if I’m correct, you over there.
SPARK: You’re not like the other Spherebreakers, are you?

The cannon swivels towards Eren. It makes a dramatic cocking noise.

EREN: I know you were watching the cameras last time.
EREN: I know we've already established you as stupid but this seems pret-

Without another moment’s hesitation, the gun fires a spray of Pin-infected Shrapnel towards Eren. The sharpnel barrages towards him and something suddenly seems to click in him. The strangely pointed sword from his special suddenly rematerialize in his hands and pieces (and pins) are carved out of the air with blinding speed as they approach. Even with that however, no fewer than five Pins make the jump from the garbage remnants of the Ohmnic into the interior of Eren.

Eren freezes up. Purple lightning shoots across his body, lightning flickering in his eyes. He twitches, and spasms, before abruptly doubling over while clutching his head.

CHLOE: E-Eren! W-What’s happening? A-Are you alright?
MAPLE: O-Oh gorilla, n-not again!
MAPLE: I-It’s those Pins again! Stupid things!
MAPLE: T-There’s not much we can do, b-but...
MAPLE: Eren! Listen to me! You’re strong! You can fight them! I believe in you!

Eren is saying something. Muttering under his breath like a jumble of different voice that aren't his own spilling out of his mouth. It's hard to make out, but slowly getting louder... until suddenly the volume bumps up and he can be heard completely clearly.

EREN?: We can't-shut up-keep him-what's happ-Shut up.-losing-overloading-Shut Up!-take power-thymefield's weaken-SHUT! UP!

A wave of blue and red light washes over Eren, the purple sparks from the pins coursing through his body suppressed and snuffed out. He slowly lifts into the air, and his head snaps level. With a piercing, enraged scream, Eren plunges his own hand into his chest causing the metal to screech as his arm punches right through it, pulses of crimson flash around the hole as he rips it back out, holding all three Pins in his grip somehow containing them above his hand. The others try and jump out of him, but are disintegrated by bolts of red light that flash out of the body behind them as it seems to waver, like it's melting in place.

MAPLE: Looks like you got rid of those Pins! Knew you could do it!
MAPLE: B-But… Eren, are you alright? T-That looked nasty...
CHLOE: E-Eren, I’ll grab Auth! Maybe he can-
EREN?: Silence.
EREN?: For... for eight hundred thousand, nine hundred and thirteen years.
EREN?: For eight, hundred millenia the voices kept me there. Confined, imprisoned inside of my own body. Fighting, struggling to take back what is rightfully mine.
EREN?: And now. Now with this moronic lunatic's help...
EREN?: I'm back.
EREN?: I'm finally free.

Spark’s voice flutters through the speakers. He’s naturally, a bit confused.

SPARK: ...I don’t quite understand how exactly I helped you.
SPARK: Unless your software was written by the idiots Cypress has employed called “scientists”, I fail to understand how a Pin could improve your systems.

Eren(?) lets out a harsh cackle. A small pointed wand of bronze and brass materializes in his unused hand, and he throws the Pins across the room. His equipped hand snaps out and a searing white bolt of lightning punches through them, leaving a massive scorch mark on the wall behind them.

EREN?: Of course you wouldn't get it.
EREN?: You can't even see that you're being played for a fool by the incoherent wretch of a furniture mascot locked inside your precious "superweapon".
EREN?: I just needed an edge, an edge that you gave me.
EREN?: And now? Now I'm back, and I will start by burning this pile of splinters you call a planet to the ground.

As (probably not) Eren hovers in the air he holds his hands out, a variety of different ornate weapons and artifacts flickering into his hands, being looked over, then flickering out to be replaced by the next.

CHLOE: W-What’s going on? T-This isn’t you!
MAPLE: W-What…
MAPLE: W-WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH EREN, FIEND?

Eren(?) whips around, his arm lashing out and sending a shard of ice nearly as large as Maple right towards her, fast as a bullet. With a flurry of slashes, Maple bisects the ice shard, sending it scattering harmlessly around her.

???: I AM NOT THAT INSIDIOUS PARASITE!
PIONOBOT: I AM PIONO, THE GREAT DESTROYER, MASTER OF THE ELEMENTS AND RUINER OF PARADOX SPACE.
PIONOBOT: I WILL NOT BE HELD DOWN BY THE POISONOUS VOICES IN MY HEAD AGAIN AND IF YOU TH
EREN: SOMEBODY STOP ME!
PIONOBOT: I SAID SHUT UP!!!

Pionobot flashes with a radiant pulse of elemental chaos that sheers away part of the Dream of Unity around him, before Ircucvci materializes in his hands again. The purple smoke that was constantly pouring out of Eren's shoulder is gone, his form finishes rippling and solidifies once again to one that... nobody in the room is likely to be familiar with, but the ones there for the Second Godmodding War might. No fancy jacket, no clean shirt and pants. Just the teal and blue pants and shirt around the blocky body of a robotic Piono knockoff.

Maple prepares both of her blades, a somewhat nervous Chloe standing not far behind her. A vindictive gaze emanates from her, the crimson of her eyes practically shimmering. Jade winds spew from her booster greaves, lifting her a short distance off the ground. She thrusts her right blade forward, pointing towards Eren- no, whatever was in his place.

MAPLE: Y-You…
MAPLE: I don’t know what the hell you are, but you won’t get away with this!
MAPLE: Eren’s in there somewhere, and I’ll bring him back with my own two hands if need be!
MAPLE: I’ll save him! I swear on it!
MAPLE: Chloe! With me!
MAPLE: It’s time to be gorillaing heroes!
CHLOE: R-Right!
CHLOE: E-Eren, we’re coming for you!



You are accosted by...

PIONOBOT
Return of Destruction



...Uh oh. Have fun with that!

Anyway. Things are beginning to degrade on both fronts, because we're entering the endgame and I AM TRYING TO KILL YOU, PLEASE DIE. Fortunately, the Express Airship to Hell is still at high HP, and you surely have more fuel left in you... right? For threats on the Armament side of things, there's lots and lots of Perfect forces, and they will not be slowing down any time soon. In the Interior, Eren has been hijacked by a Pin... sorta! His incredibly aggressive antivirus(?) has rejected it, and caused him to go berserk! He'll take a LONG time to kill, so perhaps it'd just be best to not focus him down, and keep advancing inward? He'll go after Perfect Chairians and your troops alike, so see if you can... coerce him into attacking your foes?

Also, don't worry about the Saltlings copying Pionobot. He's far too complex to copy. Or something.

((Battle post for the above dop!)

Battle: Dream of Unity - Armaments

"That's one launcha scrapped proppa!"

Irongutta continued his anti-turret rampage by schmoovin' to T17 and basic attacking Throne Launcher 2. He gains Unstoppable Force, of course.

I guess Zahlia goes to R17 and uses Riposte as well as Meditate.

Dream of Unity - Biflora Kicks a Hornet's Nest

Adria's entire body immediately becomes about twice as tense as Biflora speaks.

QUOTE (Irecreeper @ Aug 27 2021, 09:41 PM)

BIFLORA: Excuse me? That child was armed to the teeth. BIFLORA: What was her name... Hannah? The ugly, tiny blonde? BIFLORA: If you saw her, you'd paint the wings with her entr-

Adria sharply interrupts the Praetorian as Biflora suddenly feels like she kicked a hornet's nest.

ADRIA: Shut your peck-peck up.

A simple, incredibly sudden statement that would make anyone flinch; up until now Adria hadn't sworn while not possessed.

ADRIA: I don't care. I didn't ask.
ADRIA: The mere mention of child murder is enough to place you on my pecklist, let alone initiating such an act against someone I know personally and flaunting openly about it.
ADRIA: Spherebreaker Policy be damned, I'd have you painfully executed on the spot for such a thing if it weren't for that single obstacle.
ADRIA: I would do worse but that would probably bump up the age rating
ADRIA: But, since you've mentioned little miss Hannah...
ADRIA: I feel like it would be very fitting to bring you to her myself so she can decide herself, don't you think?
ADRIA: She'll be a LOT more merciful than I'll be.
ADRIA: A LOT.

Biflora then gets dragged to the ship before getting battered every which way to sunday by a tiny subsection of the Spherebreakers' party, as per last round. Adria also drops a small, hand-sized Spawn Point capsule down off the side of the ship. It probably has a parachute or something in case it falls too fast.

She knows that going through the Legion below deck is a bad idea.

...Meanwhile, Adria's Drone, hovering by Chloe to assist her, beeps for a moment before speaking.

>Data received from Forward Timeline #________, Approx. Forward Diff.: 30m.
>A request was made to send data to Michaela Wolfe.
>Transmitting data...

The drone's "eyes" turn into those circular loading symbols you usually see when something's loading. It does this for a solid three seconds - all the while maintaining awareness of its surroundings - before going back to its normal face.

>Data sent. Please see Michaela for details.

>Also, energy levels have spiked. Please be careful.
>Video feed sent to Adria.

...Back up in Armaments, Adria receives the video. Really quickly, she opens it. Fear strikes where there was once confidence.

ADRIA: ...Oh gods. That's... really, really bad.
ADRIA: Attention all unaware Spherebreakers, Eren has gone haywire!
ADRIA: Please be EXTREMELY careful!

ACTUAL ACTION

Wait for Venia to act

Agent 3 will Basic Attack the Hardpoint at (L21), then toss a Morphbullet at it.

The cat, satisfied with its work, returns to (E14) and slaps the Weapons Controller, firing the Twin Railcannons at Throne Launcher 3. It waits there, not seeming to be much of a threat to the soldiers.

They'll have no such luck with Adria. She slaps a Fresh Smoothie on her Exosuit (don't ask how this works) for Swift1 and 20 MP and Adria eats a Sandwich from the Exotic Sandwich Stuffs (Mana Fruit + Cream Frosting) for Mending10, Energized5, and 10 MP, then casts Frighten on Calibri (though really it was more of a suggestion) to move him to (R17).

Her Exosuit begins charging Overacceleration Round in preparation for next round. Adria moves to (M20), swaps her Empowered for Enlightened, uses Full Attention To Praise!, and casts Abduction on Soldier 8. The soldier gets hit normally and falls at (M19). Adria retreats to the now open (L21), with a full special and the intent to give Chloe her regularly-scheduled Hypercharge. (seriously holy heck this special fills fast)

ADRIA: ..."Stop?"
ADRIA: Sorry, hon, you aren't going to stop this train by using words and a few puppets.
ADRIA: And the train has long since left the station!

Oh, yes, and the Symbiote Spike Bursts after Chloe's move completes.

---

House

At the House, one of Michaela's Timeclones pops over to the recording studio. She hands a standard USB drive to... Cypress or someone I guess.

SHELLY: You might need the footage if you want to edit your thing, don't you think?
SHELLY: This drive contains all footage from each camera present on the airship post-takeoff, along with footage from H-47, Adria's drone, in case you also wanted easy footage from pre-takeoff or from within the Dream of Unity.
SHELLY: The amount of tech that woman packed into that drone is a-astonishing...

...Is she blushing slightly? Though, she shakes it off in little more than a moment.

SHELLY: Well, I... suppose if you need any more dirt on all this, I could try my hand at getting it.
SHELLY: ...Also I'd recommend trying to edit out Adria's vitriol towards Biflora. Nobody needs to hear that stuff. Even if I do agree with her on all but that whole execution bit.
SHELLY: Brrr...

---

Above The Labs

Hannah couldn't help but blink a few times at the destruction.

HANNAH: Uh... woah.
SOPHIA: Yeah... woah.
DOROTHY: ...
DOROTHY: ...I-I sense something below th-that... crater...
HANNAH: Like...?
DOROTHY: L-like... I don't know, i-it's a really weird energy signature?
DOROTHY: I-it's a long way down, too...
DOROTHY: A-and... i-is that... air movement d-down there? O-or am I just, um, picking up t-the jet?
SOPHIA: ...I kinda wanna check it out.
SOPHIA: There might be someone under there!
HANNAH: Just what I was thinking. How we're gonna get under there is another story though...
HANNAH: ...Alright, hang on you two. We're going down.

Dorothy doesn't need to be told twice. Sophia and Dorothy hold on tight as Hannah dives down to the crater and into one of the previously cleared-out hallways, coming to a stop as quickly as she could in the Fusion Development Chamber, going around the plaque to try and slow down. After breathing a sigh of relief, she disembarks along with the rest of the entourage. Everyone rushes to the center.

Sophia attaches a rope to the busted hallway to help get everyone down safely. Hannah drops down first, then Dorothy, then Sophia last.

Sophia is currently resting her hand on the pommel of Andre's Occult Foam Hammer of Banning, holstered yet ready to strike an unsuspecting victim with glitter and ban. Dorothy seems to be trying to pinpoint where, exactly, she found the energy signature, wandering around and looking as Sophia trails behind her on lookout.

Hannah seems to be assessing the damages when she comes across what is likely the staircase to the Glyph Chamber. She tries prying it open with the old Razorwind Reaver pickaxe, hoping it's enough to wrench some rubble free. Otherwise she'll need to upgrade the thing to something more suitable.

---

Mari

ADRIA: Mm, the place is... sadly archaic when it comes to transport methods.
ADRIA: Not that I can completely blame the folks here, I doubt they had much time to design such systems.

Adria bobs her head up and down as Mari describes the Mindscape, strangely not taking any notes during the process. It was basically the size of a small continent with a number of different biomes, and whatever Chaos saw or otherwise imagined tended to pop up in there. There's also a horde of capitalistic Temmies running around in there. Marron was also there at one point, and Chaos's mindscape is basically a deathtrap.

She also doesn't appear too fazed by the mention of stats and such. Interesting...

ADRIA: Well I suppose the being named "Chaos" would have a chaotic mind, hm?

She chuckles quietly.

ADRIA: But to think that a place the size of a small continent could be present in someone's mind...
ADRIA: And I suppose Chaos isn't the only one with a mindscape either. I wonder what mine would look like...
ADRIA: Probably some sort of vast desert with a ton of ancient ruins lit by mysterious glowing lights, further augmented by modern engineering...
ADRIA: ...No, probably not. Odds are it would be much more varied than just that.
ADRIA: And probably have my little Sophia somewhere in there.

ADRIA: Anyway, tangent aside...
ADRIA: You mentioned that both you and Marron - and by extension I suppose Ette too - are from the Mindscape. And you managed to leave as full living, breathing entity.
ADRIA: Unless I'm mistaken, a mindscape is attached to the mind and is not part of the physical realm. Was some form of specialized tool utilized by yourselves or Chaos to permit this transfer?

ADRIA: ...Actually, while I'm thinking about it, how... recent was that?

---

Verdana

ADRIA: I know what I'm going to do.
ADRIA: I'm going to complete it.
ADRIA: Somehow.

ADRIA: Maybe if I just like... try to design something and then... maybe it'll magically start making sense?
ADRIA: ...Hm. Maybe.
ADRIA: It may even be as simple as modifying one of our Scanners... but that'd need some extra RAM and maybe a disc drive and a much, much better screen.

She pulls out the old Modified Scanner.

ADRIA: At least I could probably design an external module for this or something.
ADRIA: Or reverse engineer it into becoming my own program.
ADRIA: ...Or blatant plagiarism. But I'd rather not.

Destiny moves to R12 and attacks Perfect Archer 6. She retreats up to R11, observes Piono, then down to R12 again.

Destiny decides to ask the head a few questions.
You seem to be quite curious. Tell me your identity, and possibly which cruel person put you in this state?

CHLOE: Move to R15, attack Perfect Archer 5, wait for Symbiote to use Spike Burst, use Echo stacks to clear bodies. She then retreats to Q13.
MALESTROM DRONE 2: After PSoldier 7 is taken care of, move to M14 and use all attacks on Perfect Leader 5. Retreat to L14.
MAPLE: Move to P14 after Daskter moves, finish off the spawned soldier from the Exoknight and PSoldier 2, retreat to S15.
MALESTROM DRONE 1: Move to L14 and finish off any straggler Soldiers. Otherwise, use Vortex Chamber.

There is an impostor among us.
----
Bauhaus summons Reisz.

"Ah, a great warrior! Surely nobody can stop us now!"

Look, he physically can't see Pionobot, alright.
----
Planning: 2 / 10

Bauhaus:
- moves to I5,
- uses Abduction on PSoldier7, uses Surprise (basic attack used), turning on Oil Reserves,
- uses a Trick on PSoldier7 if survived,
- uses a Splinter on the Generator.

Reisz:
- moves to I6,
- basic attacks PSoldier7,
- summons a Hound within J6.

Broadcast
"I was not there, and strictly speaking I believe part of why some of the others have a fondness for poisoned weapons has something to do with the lower mortality rate.
It's easier to restore someone to full health if they're incapacitated through slow-working methods, instead of aiming an electrified sword half again their own height that will kill in a single blow if misaimed.
It's unpleasant, but so is dying, and most people tend not to get over the second so quickly."
Echoss sighs.
"It's not ideal but it at least helps keep less careful or "morally comitted" individuals from intentionally killing people.
Rest assured though, while unpleasant weapon choices are something that has to be dealt with for the time being if someone tries enforcing effective slavery on another party member they will be dealt with."

Shelly shows up with footage from the fuuutuuurre
Echoss looks it over. His expression darkens and the coloration of his form dampens somewhat.
"...I suppose this makes our work a lot easier at least.
Thank you, this should be enough. We'd better call Cypress over to get this finished before the fight for this footage starts at least..."
Echoss calls Cypress to let him know to come to the house, this should probably bring Auth and Omo with, to start the script-writing RP.


Crafting


To-do List:
Also hand the Subspace Grocery Box to Cypress when he heads back to the house
Anti-Spark measures (anti-magic in progress, have anti-artillery to deal with airstrikes and conventional artillery support, signal blocking to prevent Praetorian or Sentinel summoning, lots of EMP options, be ready for BOSS)
Praetorian jail in the catacombs needs to be established, ASAP.

Make sure party prep is ready. (save for near the end of the day)
Properly seal up Linseed's room so he can't try to dig out. (save for near the end of the day)

STATISTICS

"The Scion" upgrades her Mana Manipulator to the final tier, taking another spell slot. She uses that spell slot to grab Nightmare Singularity.

---

BATTLES - DREAM OF UNITY INTERIOR

"Scion" moves to L6 and casts Nightmare Singularity on N2. She also has some words for Pionobot and Spark.

"THE SCION": Umm... A problem just for us?
"THE SCION": But, Spark, I've heard of this guy... he's the Destroyer. He's really famous!
"THE SCION": Do you really think he couldn't destroy this ship if he wanted to?
"THE SCION": In fact, um... why are you hiding behind those red lasers if you're really so confident?
"THE SCION": I bet he could bust through this mouthpiece guy and the generator and crush the ship's core, and, and kill us all!

Wattle should move to M7 and cast Tactical Missile on N2.

---

EL ITI

"The Metallurgist" nods. This is fine. Hopefully El Iti can recruit a team before the end of the game considering how inefficiently they're rolling.

Battle - Base of Unity

This occurs after Gibbet and Adria does things. Also, yes, the RP part is absolutely necessary.





Summary for clarity in case everything got lost in there: Calfusion moves through a teleporter to S7, Purges the Throne Launcher 3, uses an Autoloader to refresh their Reloader, spends 10 HP to regain Ordo because the Focused should NOT have run out so soon, then casts Exertion and hits the Throne Launcher again. They also put up a hell of a display while doing so.

---

The Old Pass

EN stares blankly while listening to the Sleuth's reply over the phone, deciding not to point out that he just revealed the stuff he claimed he didn't want to reveal. Then, she shrugs, popping the phone away somewhere and turning her attention southward.

"A'ight then! Somewhere t' th' south. Big-ass mountain. Full network o' caves an' shite. We're in fer an 'ell o' a time if we're goin' in there..."

She loads a single shot into the Reactor Rifle, the weapon glowing a nasty green.

"Which jus' makes me all th' more eager t' go."

With that, the gray lady deploys her wings, turbines roaring to life as she rockets into the air, quickly carrying her in a southward direction. Truth be told, she has absolutely no idea where that nest or mountain is going to be, but at least it's something to look for. And by crikey, she'll look for it. Telescope, rifle scope, "special robot vision" scope, doesn't matter. Just gotta find the things.

---

The Everground

S.E.D runs some calculations. Collecting all of the materials in one heap simply won't do. But in theory, it should be possible to split up the chunks somehow. But the methodology, that matters, and to its awareness, Eversteel is really bloody tough. Probably won't be able to pickaxe it. So perhaps something else will allow it.

The drone proceeds to laser drill the same cluster out once again, but this time, instead of letting it go into the inventory, S.E.D maneuvers quickly to push it over and let it fall on the ground. From there, the drone drags the fallen Eversteel vein over to the area directly underneath the other one. Then, it hops on the resulting cluster and looks upw-

...ah. Slight problem, with a 2D view of things, S.E.D isn't entirely sure if part of the Remnant's body is in the way or not. Hopefully someone can move that. The drone proceeds to turn to face the Remnant expectantly, then turn and indicate upward to the Eversteel that's still on the ceiling, then to the Remnant again, hoping the power of Silent Protagonist Bullshite:tm: will allow the two to reach a mutual understanding on how to deal with the ores.

---

Verdy and Adria

"...I see. I see, I see, that could probably be dangerous if mishandled but I still see the general gist of the idea yes..."

Verdana thinks about things for a moment. A finger snap here and there help denote the process. He does have an idea of sorts, at least.

"Theoretically possible. Might be easiest if conducted through experimenting with creating general entities first. Maybe... I don't know. Isolate one of the scanners so it doesn't upload things to the wrong places, then put in some data and see what happens? Maybe it'll register it somehow? I'm not exactly well-versed on whatever my predecessor had planned, aha..."

---

Star Aeterna

While Star speaks, the weapon remains silent, simply listening and potentially making some mental notes to herself. She thinks she can figure out what the origins indicate to. Scan data from old conflicts, not to mention the exposition itself...

"Interesting. That would indicate... The other four. They were the components that comprised the Harlequin, were they not?"

A pause, as though Lato expects this to be confirmed post-haste. Regardless of the answer, she has things to mull over. Perhaps she herself could classify as a component. She is, after all, part of the trifusion...

"...Hopefully this does not mean Ware already has a solution to what he planned... That matter is for later, though. Presently, I am more interested in..."

Another pause. She's struggling to think of the phrasing for her speechy-stuff.

"Well. I suppose, partially in this graying phenomenon, its causes and effects. There are some fascinating implications in it being a factor. Of course, there is also another matter of interest. If... the purple one's reign brings pain and suffering, then would one consider it one's duty to bring that reign to an end? It is not right that suffering should exist in the world, after all."

Lato sighs quietly.

"This much, I know, for it is my domain. Whether ending the source of suffering is better manifested through alleviation or elimination, I do not know, for that is outside my domain. My brothers would be more informed, albeit they would naturally have their own biases. Without further consultation... Perhaps there is a choice to be made here."

The Inside of a Dream

The Hunter has a new mark. Exoknight 1 is going down. The Hunter moves to (M12) to pulverize the mech into pieces.


After Malestrom Drone
Pikemen moves to (M14) and Pikes the 2nd Soldier 2 tiles north while dealing damage () to them. They move on (N14)

Daskter moves to (M14). They use Nanostorm on the Soldier 2's future location.

Battle: Dream of Unity - Armaments

These actions first, again.

"Wait wait wait-'Stop that?'" Venia says, almost incredulous. "That's it? No 'insignificant feeble attempts at stopping me' speech, no sarcastic quips at how you could 'easily repair our damages at any time,' no exaltations of your 'limitless power?' Just, 'Stop that?' ... Is it finally sinking in that we're not making idle boasts here? Have you noticed your soldiers are having some fairly terrible accuracy, or how we keep killing more than you're able to replace? Did you think your soldiers were hopelessly incompetent? Did you really think loyalty was some all-solving hammer? Did you think I was joking with you, talking out of my ass? We're finally taking you as seriously as we can without crippling our chances against our ultimate target-or rather, now we are. This is the end of your powerhigh, Spark, and now you're about to come crashing down."
.
"Gutta, toss us over there!" Venia shouts, pointing to S14. Once she's over there, she adjusts herself a bit.

"... I see that you've opted to make a mockery of Omorika over there," Venia says. "Amethyst circlet, billowing robes, tears-kind of a dead ringer. I hear that inside there's one that's kind of like Acacia, as well.... Shame that now all you have are these inferior parodies! And now you won't even have that!"

Venia activates Phantasmal Force, unleashing the grotesque form of her soul and having it immediately divebomb on the Perfect Leader with hair-firsts of silver goop, crushing it six times within less than seconds. Trait? Unbreakable Divine Shields? 18 AC? Null and void-the Direct Damage bypasses all of it, downing it (and as it doesn't have Undying Loyalty it can't come back.)... And upping her Special damage from 16 to 28 (2 per use; 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26). Oh, and this triggers Snowfell Star on the very first use, but Venia's special doesn't benefit from having stat boosts other than Lucky anymore... But still, she now gets her Snowfell Star buffs.

As an afterthought, Venia spends her actual action scan-pinging the Perfect Leader. The tap of damage is used to destroy the corpse. Just in case. The more important part is the scan data.

Then, Venia takes out a smash ball and crushes it in her hand. She supercharges herself on the energy, and her soul reacts accordingly.

Venia uses three more Phantasmal Forces to destroy the Teleporter Node at X15 (28, 30, 32); then, she smashes up the Voidshield at V14 with two more Phantasmal Forces (34, 36), before destroying the Voidshield at V8 with two more (38, 40). Gibbet then throws a Cinderfruit at the one at V14, destroying that as well. This re-enables falling for Perfect Chairians. She pulls a final Phantasmal Force at Archer1 (42), instantly downing it. This leaves her with 100 SP and her next special's damage at 44.

Meanwhile, Gibbet will use two bonus action Glitch Nooses on Soldier8 and Archer5, which will likely greatly inconvenience them at the very least (assuming they don't dodge), before actually taking his move to fly to S9 and use his actual action to use Super Big Cutty Throne Launcher3, because the Spherebreakers are collectively incapable of chill. If this sounds like too much MP to be possible, Hang Them High at max stacks *halves* his MP costs on top of the damage boost, so he's spent 25 of his 27 MP (12 for 2 Glitch Nooses followed by a Super Big Cutty for 12.5, rounded up to 13). He retreats to S8.

"Brace yourself, Gibbet, I think they're going to start actually paying us attention..."

---

Others

-later-

Yato frowned in irritation at the path forward being cleared for them, only to immediately fill back up with more enemies. In no rush to be pincushioned full of holes, they moved back to L14, teleported to R7, and moved to T6. Immediately, they pointed their bow aggressively at the Xenophyte, Dueling them, and making a basic attack.

Armaments
Move to N15.
Last Dream PSoldier8.
Power Nap self.
Retreat to M15.

Battle: Dream of Unity - Armaments

Irongutta saw the situation getting a little hairy where he was. Nothing wrong with living to fight another day, he thought. He fell back a bit to O19.

Then, he heard Venia yell over the sounds of combat. Well, she actually wasn't all that far from him and heard her loud and clear.

"Roight then. Get in there an' give 'em hell!"

Irongutta then Skeletossed Venia + Gibbet over to S14.

Auth thinks for a moment, then laughs faintly.

AUTH: Possibly. It would be an... interesting method of secretly carrying messages, perhaps. I might not know how Morphs work that well... it just seems that the scale of the chances required is so miniscule it would be impossible for even the most advanced morph, you know?
AUTH: Perhaps, though. I wouldn't ask Hersilia, I do agree that she might find it a little silly.

Auth nods when Nana asks what he's doing with Aoki.

AUTH: We will both be recording a message to help sway the tides of the Legion against Spark. Although, perhaps that is a more accurate description of Aoki's part.

AUTH: I have been asked to represent the intentions for what we wish to do after our mission is complete. Something that I admitted I know little about. I believe I have been asked to present a new Highchair and Chairheir. It's not something I feel I know sufficiently, and not something I feel entirely comfortable giving input on. It doesn't feel like something we... I should be suggesting. Not like this, at the very least.

AUTH: It feels to me like presenting a new government like that... feels too much like a hostile takeover for it to sit right with people. Which isn't to say that ensuring the seats aren't filled quickly is bad... but it doesn't feel like something we should be doing in these circumstances and it would be better for them to be filled naturally.

AUTH: Er, outsiders like me and... the others, I mean. Don't... tell anyone I've said that though. I'm worried that the others might get upset that I feel like outside involvement in Sussui post-sphere should be minimal for the time being. Maybe I'm wrong, or being silly about it, but... it still bothers me.

AUTH: It does look rather bad to the others if something so... trivial bothers me.

Auth has a sudden realisation.

AUTH: Oh, although, on the topic... perhaps you've had a better grasp of the others than me. What do you think about it? Do you have any insight I lack about who would be good for the highchair?

Auth flicks open a blue notebook and prepares to take notes.

---

Auth nods.

AUTH: I suppose I may have to, yes. She would probably know what... the general plans are better than I would. I am, sadly, not entirely knowledgeable of the intentions of all of the Spherebreakers at present.

AUTH: For all my opinions count, I think your experience makes you invaluable as a member of the Highchair. I don't believe any other Chairian currently on Sussui could hope to rival your technical expertise. I confess that I don't know many Chairians well enough to be able to assess whether or not they would make for good members of the Highchair.

AUTH: I will ask around, of course, but it shall take some time for me to accumulate useful information.

Omo was present, wasn't she? Auth turns to look at her, silently asking her what her opinions are for who would make a good highchair. Especially since, insofar as he is aware, she is among prime candidates for the Chairheir's seat.

---

In battle, Auth reaches behind him to the Utility console and slams his hand on it, ideally activating the Stratoshield. From there, he moves to I13, and helps move Aoki to H13. He then activates the Weapons Console near him to fire the Twin Railcannons on Throne Launcher 3. Finally, he then Liberates Perfect Soldier 9.

Interior:

Both controlled Perfects writhe and collapse to the ground. They rise faceless—Spark's visage replaced with Remiel's rune.
REMIEL: Look on your work and despair.
The Archer steps to K7 while the Soldier remains in place. Both shatter momentarily before detonating For The Cause, the Archer engulfing Pionobot in a fireball, the Soldier engulfing itself and vanishing.

Remiel deletes the Archer with Cherry Energy, moves to L7, meditates, and basicattacks the PLeader.

NPC Orders: Omo advances and uses Null Somnum on the God Hand. The God Hand uses its first turn to move towards the leader (with a Warp Ring if necessary) and attack it, then its second turn to attack the leader again and finish it off with an item if necessary.

Rosen Catacombs:
Remiel's puppeted soldier reappears and gets to work, reinforcing the cells and adding magical wards and monitor, ready to switch to the broadcast when it goes out. The soldier shatters once the work is done.

Materials:
Amabilis
Biflora
Plasteel
Platinum

Outputs:
Amabilis and Biflora in Containment Units x1