Auth remains in place, floating high into the air. Auth has recovered most of his MP, but people are downed. He'll need to get to work quickly.

As for Spark, Auth feels he has no need to add any more comments, merely smiling in a slightly menacing way that in no way would settle Spark's fears.

He then hears Spark mock the party for their "Dwindling numbers". Alas, such an event is not to last.

AUTH: Well done, Spark. In a battle much longer than most last, you have successfully incapacitated less of our allies than half of your underlings could have done in half the time.
AUTH: You truly are competent.

Auth then floats into the air, and Calibri and Daskter's unconscious bodies are enveloped in warm, golden light. They would then reawaken, empowered and luckier than before. And ready to direct that at Spark.

AUTH: Oh, oops. Darn, you forgot that the team medic is still functional. Better luck next time.

Auth proceeds to ignore Spark to talk to the new Praetorians.

AUTH: Ah, hello. You were the ones who were supposed to manage our broadcast? Sorry about how sudden it was, but we had to make sure that what we had to say was said.

AUTH: From the sounds of it, you didn't cut off the communications network? We were worried about that. Or, well, I was. Not because what we were saying wouldn't be heard, I was worried about what would happen to people after the network was destroyed.

AUTH: So the fact that you didn't destroy the network as we expected... is good. It's much appreciated. It means a lot that you haven't isolated everybody.

Auth gives them a significantly less menacing smile, taking a completely different demeanour to these new entrants than to Spark. Auth doesn't feel the need to point out Spark's mental decay to the Praetorians, they can obviously see it. Applying some gratitude for their actions would likely help sway them.

Action Summary: Auth does not move and Special Revives Daskter and Calibri.

---

Auth observes the Godblossom with Taeda as well, nodding to Taeda's comments about it.

AUTH: Indeed. It is rather pretty. Being a gift from Helix...
AUTH: Might explain why I have difficulty handling it, aha.

Auth hasn't burnt up in proximity to the flower, which indicates... something. Probably not a lack of God in the blossom.

AUTH: I had a question for you, actually, if you don't mind my asking.
AUTH: I was curious what you thought about the Highchair. Not, er, the people on it, but the body itself.

Auth isn't sure if this is too direct about it or not, but what he thinks he's doing is feeling out how Taeda is inclined towards the Highchair.

Battle: Grave of Civilization

"Futility is only for the weak in spirit," Venia says. "I can't give up, even if it looks hopeless. If I can save even a few lives, this will have been worth it. And speaking of that-"-and Venia turns to her allies-"Hey, you guys, grab those Praetorians and get them out of here! Before Spark tries anymore stunts like he almost did with Cedar!"

Venia moves to L13. Right next to Beech. "Oh, hey," Venia says, totally nonchalant despite standing directly next to a deadly melee-oriented Praetorian. "... Thank you, seriously. The Chairian people really needed to hear that message, and I think you were right not to destroy the entire network just because Spark wanted his pretty little image intact. Given Spark seems intent on destroying the Chairian people rather than go down in history as the despot he is... Well, I don't know, but I think that the slight chance that we may have a hope-that everyone comes out of this alive-that's better than nothing. What about you?"

Venia gestures to Cypress and Wattle to fire on the Perfect Leader. Cypress should move to M17 to grab ammo from the Ammo box, accordingly. (Venia also recommends, silently, that Cypress chug two shots from the Yggdrasil Vessel to restore his low HP.

Venia then activates Kickstart My Heart to regain Ordo, then moves the Ammobox to K13 through Hope Rides Eternal. She then expends her Ordo to fire a Purge on Perfect Leader 2, relying on Purge's innate Vampiric5 to restore her to full HP. She immediately takes some ammo from said ammobox to remove her Reloader on Purge and stays put.

---

Ga'aunt

Venia pauses. "I... Honestly I don't have any clean alternatives. But this is a modified version of a ritual we've been using to ressurect the dead and we've already used it quite well twice. I am positive it will work. When you're ready..."

---

Mariaaaaaaaaaaaa

Maria stares at the lego bricks for a while.

"What's a lego?" Maria says, quizzically picking up a brick. "They look weird," Maria adds, picking up a lego and experimentally clicking it onto another.

"... But these aren't fluffy. We need fluffiness," Maria says. "Are there balls of fluffy in the... In-vent-ory? I don't wanna take the fluffy from the fluffies, I want them to become super fluffies!" She asks.

Zahlia and Simeon move to E13, Teleport to I20 and proceed to J17 onto the Overwhelming Creation.

Simeon laughs as the Thymecurse is burnt away, replaced by a light rivalling Hyperion. From the fires of creation, he pulls out a long iron rod, both ends capped in gold. Planting it into the ground, he balances atop it as it rapidly grows upwards, pushing him into the air, sending him towards the airship gun. As Simeon flies towards the now-nightmarish Dream of Unity, rivulets of sap from countless trees fly towards him. Burning brighter with the fires of creation, he purifies the sap into a truly incredible syrup.

As he lands upon the barrel of the airship gun, Simeon summons a rainshower, attempting to put out some of the onboard fires, but he also did it for another purpose. Using the Longinus, he cuts into the now-softened bark of the barrel, and then cuts deeper, extracting a rolled-up stick of the fragrant inner bark. With a stick of Unity Cinnamon, he draws a magic circle where he stands, takes a spoonful of the 999% Sugar Syrup of Sussui he made, and transports himself to the alternate-dimension of Inssns.

Now in Inssns, Simeon takes in the atmosphere, resisting every urge he has to utterly chew the scenery. Finding a Cocoamound, Simeon takes a section and returns back to Sussui.

Back aboard the airship, he sets down the Cocoamound. Out flow White Chocolate Ants, which unlike Simeon can't resist chewing the scenery. Presented with a bounty of food from an alternate dimension, they set to work boring into the Airship Gun. As Perfect Soldiers begin to notice what had just happened, Simeon gives them a mocking salute and jumps back off the Dream of Unity, confident in their ability to stop the White Chocolate Ant infestation before it gets too out of hand. For gameplay reasons, Simeon creates a pair of wings to fly back to the Ruin of Civilization with the last of his Flames of Creation, which dissipate into embers just as he lands.

And there we go.

Battle: End of Unity

Irongutta notices the vortex behind him and spots an opportunity to deal with a threat on the other side of the room. A small part of him hopes that they don't end up spitting him outside the ship, but otherwise he throws caution to the wind.

Moving to D13, Irongutta enters the Vortex at E14 to warp out of the Vortex at O10, landing at O11. From there, he moves three more tiles to O13 to swing Magnolia at Otogi like a golf club.

...However, if Otogi happens to be downed, Irongutta will instead exit through the Vortex at Q21, landing at P20, take a step to P19, and cast a Shared Fury on himself and Star.

[b]Remiel acts last. Also, Remiel's meditate shouldn't have gone through, so MP needs fixed if it isn't already.[\b]

Note: Remiel has -25% Spell Cost.
-End Special.
-Cherry Energy to down and kill Magus1, if it's not dead already.
-Move to D13.
-Cherry Energy to kill Archer1 and Archer2 if they are already downed.
-Cherry Energy to down and kill Soldier4 if MP permits.

<ROUND 310>

The Scion decides to invite a god(?) to their D&D session. Marron blinks once, then twice. She equips some sunglasses pre-emptively.

MARRON: Uh.
MARRON: If that's what you want, sure, but... aren't they kinda scary?
MARRON: Like, they really, really hurt to look at. I have these sunglasses, but they don't do too much to stop my eyes from hurting.
MARRON: Unless you have a solution to that?

Marron takes a look at her sunglasses, spinning them around in her hands. It is a bit flimsy for what's meant to provide god-based protection. Where did Dawn go, anyway? She really doesn't know, but she's pretty sure she heard something suspiciously similar to a spiral staircase getting destroyed, multiple times.

MARRON: Uh... I think they're behind the house somewhere.
MARRON: Mostly because, y'know...

A radiant light shines from behind the house. It's not as bright as compared to how it usually is, but it's still rather eye-piercing. When people talk about "light pollution", they're obviously referring to the goddamn sun that is resting behind the Spherebreaker's house. As a final thing... the Scion chimes in on Marron's thoughts on who should GM.

MARRON: Well... Chloe's nice enough, I guess.
MARRON: She was even nice enough to help me out when I tried to fight Toaster that one time, despite me being... k-kind of a jerk...
MARRON: As for Omo... if you like her, I guess she'd be a good fit.
MARRON: Chaos is probably too much of a wildcard, and Mari is... Mari.
MARRON: Which isn't strictly bad, just a bit unhinged, y'know? The woman would french a weapon of mass destruction if it was aesthetic enough.

Elsewhere, the Reflector heads over to a coffee shop. How dare they refuse to serve an Iti for being a horrifying wood puppet? Which is like being a horrifying meat puppet, but for a Chairian. Actually, are puppets in general horrifying for Chairians? Answer: no. Anyway, they'd like a bag of chisps. 60 Credits are exchanged, and the bag thrown to Maxim. The contents are quickly and messily devoured, bag and all. Crunchy. As Maxim violates the existence of the bag, the Reflector shares a few stern words with the barista. The Iti might be sticking around once the Sphere falls.

BARISTA: sir... madam?
BARISTA: are you really sure they're gonna stick around?
BARISTA: they kinda... eat people. that's not normal.
BARISTA: i'm kind of surprised that your friend back there is fine just eating chips
BARISTA: maybe chips are just some sort of universal language
BARISTA: fried, thin potatoes with lots of salt
BARISTA: so good, i've bet people on other planets have invented them as well

BARISTA: i guess thanks for the warning, but we can't be sure what'll happen to them once the sphere falls
BARISTA: maybe they'll all explode, or they'll all become what's effectively wild animals
BARISTA: we can hope it'll be either of those two, and that they're not still pissed at everyone, ever

...The Barista is a little tempted to take cover as they watch Maxim devour those chips. They must be really damn good chips.

---

Adria retorts against Spark! While they're not used to fighting this long, they're probably as fine as long as their medic's still up. The forces of the narrative compel Auth to wave in the background. Spark sighs.

SPARK: One man cannot hope to sustain an entire army.
SPARK: As I continue to rip, continue to tear... he'll run out of energy eventually.
SPARK: Or perhaps, I should go a little further than just cutting you down?
SPARK: Perhaps I should make sure there's nothing left?

If he does that, he'd be wasting a whole lot of damage. So maybe that'd be a good thing? Except Chloe probably wouldn't be happy to die again in the slightest.

Elsewhere, as Hannah continues the painful ascent of thirty flights of spiral stairs, Sophia evades a plummeting Meteos as Not!Echoss freezes it. The Meteos continues its planned descent into the ground, shattering into dozens of bits. This, perhaps unsurprisingly, kills it instantly. Sophia then flings herself towards another Meteos, using the drill as god intended this time. She burrows a hole right through the poor Meteos, also killing it instantly. 4 chunks of Creation Meteorite obtained! What did these Meteos do to deserve this treatment?

Elsewhere, Shelly obtains a frag grenade from Chaos, which she promptly lobs at the boat. The Portable Corvette takes (100) damage, blasting into a couple dozen pieces which sink into the Thyme Matter. It really does sink on command. How useful. Chaos stares blankly at the wreckage, still smiling.

CHAOS: whoa
CHAOS: kids [t]hese days will really believe wha[t]ever you [t]ell [t]hem, huh?
CHAOS: you've jus[t] been
CHAOS: pranked

Chaos proceeds to default dance on Shelly. As he does so, his smile slowly translates itself into a frown.

CHAOS: okay [t]ha[t] was a perfe[c][t]ly good boa[t] i feel kinda bad
CHAOS: one se[c]

Chaos leaps into the gigantic pool of Thyme Matter below, collecting each boat fragment with blistering efficiency. He forms these all into a floating pile on the surface of the Thyme Matter, before lobbing yet another frag grenade at the wreckage. Notably, this frag grenade seems to have a reverse color filter applied to it. Naturally, this causes the explosion to have the opposite effect, re-creating the Portable Corvette. A submarine periscope awkwardly juts out of the front deck. Perhaps it's now somehow, magically a submarine? Chaos's far-too-wide smile has returned.

CHAOS: anyway i[t] should work as a des[c]endy boa[t] now
CHAOS: jus[t] don'[t] ques[t]ion how i[t] works [t]oo hard, or i[t]'ll probably explode again
CHAOS: also i may have repurposed [t]he onboard washrooms [t]o ge[t] [t]he ma[t]erials for all [t]he zubmarine s[t]uff
CHAOS: so probably go before you go go
CHAOS: okay bye

Chaos equips and eats a frag grenade. This one has been color shifted to have a brightness stat of 255. Chaos vanishes in a flash of light. Godspeed, you random red rasdfadfgdshsd you. It should now be a perfectly usable submarine, the Portable Corvette. An anxiety-inducing submarine, but still a submarine.

Finally, as Adria salivates over Mari's idea to air-drop robots on people, she remembers that she has a brochure now! She sends an electronic copy over to Mari's arm-mounted PDA, as well as a hardlight physical copy. Mari stares at the hardlight copy, giving it a few pokes.

MARI: Huh, thanks.
MARI: Still don't know how this hardlight stuff works.
MARI: Like... I wonder if I could rip this in half, since it's like, a brochure and all.
MARI: Or does it have the strength of one hardlight, however strong that is?
MARI: Cool as gorilla, though.

Mari spends a few minutes reading through the brochure. Her pace is really quite quick, easily consuming the 1,714 words in record time. She's not really sure as to what kind of brochure has no pictures, but maybe it's the limitations of hard-light technology or something. Who knows? She definitely has a few questions though, which rise up as she reads through the document.

MARI: What's that biggorilla lightbulb for?
MARI: Or, uh, the Spire of Eternity? Why's it shaped like a lightbulb?
MARI: Or is that a flower-based bulb? I... can't really tell for some reason. Abstract medium and all.

MARI: Also kinda wondering how you power all of this cool gorilla. Like, you have both electricity and this "chronoenergy", right?
MARI: Not gonna question how the latter works, but I'm guessing that you also have some sophisticated solar tech?
MARI: I'd assume it takes power to make chronoenergy, and that power's gotta come from somewhere.
MARI: Unless we're violating entropy or something, in which case, awesome. Screw entropy, getting in the way of everything fun...

MARI: ...Also, you destroyed an extraterrestrial division thing? Poggers.
MARI: Though, gotta ask. What happened? Did you accidentally declare war on an alien species or something?
MARI: Or did you like... do... I dunno. Did you get cancelled, or something?
MARI: Don't gotta tell me if you don't want to, but c'mon. You're dangling this plot thread, and I'm interested.
MARI: It's gotta be one hell of a story for it to shut down a whole wing.

MARI: Ooh, we also got like, a fantasy adventurer's guild thing!
MARI: A legal reason to blow things to bits with weapons! What more could a girl ask for?
MARI: Besides like, more fancy weapons to blow up things with.

Mari shuts the pamphlet, if that's even possible to do. Maybe the people of Stasis City have this weird interpretation of what a pamphlet is, and it's actually a fourth-dimensional hexagon with text on it. Why am I going off on this random tangent? I'm kinda hungry. Maybe I should fix that.

MARI: Welp. I'm sold.
MARI: I'm more than willing to sell my soul to the corporate overlords, for once.
MARI: Can you handle migration things? I mean, I'm assuming you can.
MARI: ...Also, are you like, human?
MARI: Like, you look human, but maybe you're human-adjacent? Any laws on that?
MARI: Legally speaking, I'm like, a mindscape figment that's part human, part cute anime girl.

Anime girls are serious business, especially after the Anime Girl Plague. But odds are, things will be fine. At least, that's what Mari can hope, anyway.

---

Echoss (probably) commissions the Sleuth to scan Spark. He runs up onto the battlefield, slaps him across the face, and flashes the scanner into his eyes before running off at some rapid pace. Spark is... surprisingly unconcerned with this.

SPARK: ...I hope you find the answers you're looking for, Spherebreakers.
SPARK: Perhaps you'll finally understand the extent of your crimes.
SPARK: Perhaps you'll finally understand that you're helping absolutely nobody.

>Codex Updated!

Anyway, over at somewhere, Not!Echoss DMCA's Mari. She's not allowed to touch those flowers! At least until they're finished! Ever so quietly, she slots them back into the inventory.

MARI: Uh, alright?
MARI: Pretty sure we're rapidly approaching the end of the game, so we should probably use them before we lose them, so...
MARI: But y'know, whatever. Go ahead.

Then, back at the house, Echoss takes 20 (10) Cobblestone, 10 Refined Wood, and 5 (0) Iron Ingots to repair the spiral staircase. Good as new! Though, what were the stairs made of before? I actually have no idea. Hopefully it wasn't one of those weird glass ones. That'd be a huge pain to clean up after Dawn decided to speedrun the stairs.

Next, Not!Echoss decides that they've always wanted to be a baker. Taking 7 Hotpoints, 2 Cinderfruit, 8 Pocket Warmers, 20 Spider Meat, 10 Wheat, 2 Buckets of Salt Water, an Ember Core, 3 Gaiaroot Potatoes, a Large Pumpkin, an Ashen Crystal, and two Frigid Crystals, they make some Superspicy Curry! They also use 10 Throwlem Crystals, 10 Yaga Scales, 20 Blossompetals, 5 Bileprincess Sacks, 10 (0) Silkweed, 2 Fell Blades, 2 Squall Clusters, and 10 Eversteel to create some... Pocket Throwlems? 2 Alchemy Toolkits, a Royal Magus Spelltome, 2 Sulfuric Acid Vials, 2 Elemental Prisma, 3 Shimmering Clusters, a vial of Widow's Venom, 10 (0) Lifeblood Sap, 2 Yellow Sap Blobs, and 5 Yggherbs are then used to make 3 Alchemical Remedies.

Finally, out on the battlefield, Echoss opens his menu, and attempts to Act! He slides his soul over to the "Talk" option, and does his best to win Beech over. At least, compared to everyone else, she at least seems to have her head screwed on the right way. Naturally, she's the slightest bit confused.

BEECH: Oh? You actually wanna talk?
BEECH: The plan was to take all of you out, but I'll hear you out.
BEECH: Spark's... definitely not a perfect-
SPARK: Excuse you. I'd like to see you do better.
BEECH: I WOULD DO BETTER, BY NOT MAKING THE SPHERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!
BEECH: Sorry. Yelling. Just... a bit stressed right now.

She sighs heavily, hearing Echoss out. Apparently, Spark was the one who re-routed the Dream of Unity into a crash course with the city. He's also decided that the Chairian race should be wiped out for his screwups. A bit of a hard pill to swallow though, isn't it?

BEECH: Spark. Spark.
BEECH: Please tell me you're joking.
SPARK: ...We are doomed, miss Beech.
SPARK: I... wanted to do everyone a mercy. One way or another, the Chairian people will die.
SPARK: Either by the hands of the Tabletopians, or the claws of the-
BEECH: Oh gorilla, you're actually serious.
BEECH: gorilla. gorilla, but in caps.

BEECH: Spark.
BEECH: I cannot just sit by and allow you to kill your own people thanks to your ego.
BEECH: Please... stand down.
SPARK: Really? You would allow yourself to be swayed by their words?
SPARK: You're just as weak willed as every last one of my subordinates. A pity.
BEECH: ...I was hoping to do this in a respectful manner, sir.
BEECH: It seems we've gone beyond that point, though.

Beech recruited! Perhaps not entirely through your efforts, but through Spark's incredibly high level speech skills. Way to sway your people, dude. A lie in time saves roughly 150 health points over the course of the battle.

Echoss also decides to unleash the forbidden art, sealed away roughly one hundred rounds ago or something like that. The storm spoken of in the legends. One that will wipe away the very earth, and start this world anew. The godly power that is the YAWHG AVARICE UNLEASHED: ITEMSTORM. Pick a fossil and pray. Neither will answer him, anyway.

SPARK: I do not grovel to WARE, nor do I pray for power from Helix or Dome.
SPARK: I am who I am. I shall weather any storm.
SPARK: I shall not be afraid of what little winds you can throw up.

famous last words before taking 500 damage in a single action

---

Calibri refuses to die. After getting promptly yeeted by Spark, he decides he's just gonna go get back up again. Spark delivers a sigh that could deal an upwards of a hundred damage.

SPARK: ...Word.
SPARK: All of you are stubborn.
SPARK: Even in the face of overwhelming power, you refuse to fall apart.
SPARK: Why not make it easier on yourselves? When I kill you, stay dead.

Speaking of getting killed, EN-913 decides to see just how hard the Thyme Matter can hit her. She stands in a shallow bit of the Thyme Matter, armed with as much SHP as she possibly can have. Given that Thyme Matter still deals an insane amount of %HP damage, EN is promptly slapped by a large hand that has shot out of the Thyme Matter. Yeah, you're gonna need a boat. Why does the boat not take damage? I dunno.

---

Asha considers D&D options. Not like, the really important ones like "what numbers determine how relevant your character is", but the factors that come into play before that. Also, they could invite Ette! Marron bobs her head.

MARRON: Yeah! Ette should join us! That'd give us a good adventuring party.
MARRON: I think that should be enough people, including our "mindscape master".

Asha also suggests that Chloe would probably run a beginner friendly game.

MARRON: That'd... probably be for the best.
MARRON: Like, as much as I wanna play this, I don't really know what I'm doing?
MARRON: Chloe's probably good at this sorta thing.
MARRON: Cause she's a neeeerd.
MARRON: But like, a nice nerd.
MARRON: I'll go ask her?

Marron wanders off to wherever it is Chloe happens to be in this timeline. As it would turn out, Chloe's just finished refurbishing her room after it got moderately obliterated. She's curled up on her bed, cuddling a gigantic burrito pillow. Truly, she is in bliss. Unfortunately for her, this bliss has just been shattered by Marron's natural ability to kick open doors.

MARRON: Chloe! Be our mindscape master!
CHLOE: Y-Your... w-what?
MARRON: Y'know, for like... one of those games where you pretend to be someone you're not?
MARRON: Everyone works together to beat up monsters and stuff?
CHLOE: R-Runescape?
MARRON: W-What? N-No!
MARRON: It's like... uhh...
MARRON: One of those really nerdy games, where you have a pen and paper, and you've gotta do calculations...?
CHLOE: Oh! Pathfinder!
MARRON: No!
MARRON: D-Dungeons and Dragons, y-you idiot! W-What other games are there like that?
CHLOE: I mean, if you wanna get into it, Pathfinder is the same as Dungeons and Dragons, pretty much.
CHLOE: Really, Dungeons and Dragons inspired Pathfinder, as well as a whole lot of other games, like-
MARRON: W-Wait, there's more than one nerdy pen and paper game?
CHLOE: There's a whole bunch! Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness... there's so many!

CHLOE: So... you wanted me to be your Dungeon Master?
MARRON: M-Mindscape Master! But yeah! Please.
MARRON: I'll pay you in cookies.
CHLOE: You... really have no idea how the game works, do you?
CHLOE: But... I'll do it!~
CHLOE: And for no pay, too!
CHLOE: I've never actually hosted a game, but I've played a few myself!
CHLOE: In fact, there's this really cool forum game I used to play, called Chao-
MARRON: Okay cool let's go-

Snagging Chloe's hand, Marron drags Chloe out of her bed and up a spiral staircase. It's a bit of a bumpy process that leaves Chloe dizzy, but she eventually sees her potential playerbase.

CHLOE: O-Oh! Heya, everyone!
CHLOE: So you guys wanted to play some DnD?
CHLOE: If that's what you guys want, I'll do my best, okay?
CHLOE: Before I explain anything though, I'll wait for everyone to show up.
MARRON: Yay! Thank you!

Marron gives Chloe a pat on the head, prompting the blonde to blush ever so slightly. Will she receive more pats before the day is done? Who knows? Anyway, Chloe will patiently wait for Ette and anyone else to arrive. Maybe she can take questions in the meantime?

---

Auth continues the Roast of Spark. A historical event that'll be infamous for just how badly Spark's day has been ruined. Anyway, in a like, thirteen round battle, Spark has successfully downed maybe like three people?

SPARK: Shut up.
SPARK: I can do more than any army. Because "any army" is apparently barely capable of killing a bunch of goddamned teenagers.
SPARK: Killing someone really isn't that hard. The neck is such a fragile little thing. Twist it the wrong way, and a life will cease.
SPARK: But for these imbeciles I call "soldiers", apparently that's too hard a concept to grasp!
SPARK: If you want something done right, do it yourself.

Elsewhere, over at the chapel, Auth delivers his Omo-given question. What does she think about the Highchair? Okay, maybe that's not exactly the question Omorika had in mind, but he's probably getting there. We hope.

TAEDA: W-Well... t-they're really inspiring people!
TAEDA: Omorika's an amazing sage, and super wise to boot!
TAEDA: Cypress is really smart, and has made so many positive changes to our way of life!
TAEDA: Acacia is... u-uh, really strong!
TAEDA: And Spark... i-is there, too!

TAEDA: B-Before all the firebombings happened, a-and the old Chairheir stole away our armies, the rest of the Highchair was really outstanding, too.
TAEDA: I wonder if I can hope to help as many people as they can? Hopefully Helix will allow that.

IT'S THE PERFECT TIME TO ASK THE MAIN QUESTION. QUICK GO GO GO

---

Venia continues about her day. To begin, Venia chats with Ga'aunt. She can't offer much comfort for the treatment that he's about to go though. There's no clean alternatives, but the original form of this ritual was worked cleanly twice. The gauntlet sighs telepathically.

GA'AUNT: If you insist...
GA'AUNT: I suppose there's really no way around this, is there?

GA'AUNT: ...Perhaps we should've kept Yew around for this.
GA'AUNT: I kid, of course.
GA'AUNT: Shall we try it out, then?
GA'AUNT: I suppose whatever could happen can't be worse than being trapped inside this gauntlet forever.
GA'AUNT: Please proceed, miss Praefortis.

Ga'aunt allows himself to be chained into device. Not that he can really resist; he is a gauntlet, after all. One by one, Venia fills each durasteel canister with a variety of materials. A single unit of Godblossom Extract. 20 (10) blobs of Lifeblood Sap. 10 Livingwood Logs and 3 Yggdrasil Splinters. 2 Elemental Prisma, and a Gaiadiamond. And finally, 5 Structured Matter. With each tank filled, Venia fiddles around with what she can make out from the controls. There's a whole variety of knobs and dials, as well as a singular lever that screams "ACTIVATE THE MACHINE". Quite literally, actually. Soul imbuement is one hell of a drug.

GA'AUNT: You don't happen to know how to operate this machine, do you?
GA'AUNT: Hopefully, this is not a sour point in our plan-

Wordlessly, before Venia can touch any of the controls, Bandage, the cultist still polishing up the machine, sits up. Ever so rudely, he shoves Venia out of the way. With incredible precision, he tunes each dial in a matter of seconds, only pausing to take the occasional measurement of Ga'aunt. After a minute of solid tuning, as well as using a bit of Arbormancy on the mold itself, Bandage snags the lever and shunts it downward.

Ga'aunt's eye slams shut, the casing around his eye suddenly cracking. It fails to fall apart, but the violent red that shines within the cracks is evident. Slowly and silently, the crimson glow leaves. It spreads out into the panel Ga'aunt was chained into, and flows forth into the mold. It suddenly clamps shut as the sound of machinery whirs into being. Slicing blades. The crunching of wood. The transferal of fluids. Surprisingly little screaming.

After a few agonizing minutes... a piece of bread shoots out of the area just above the mold. Bandage snatches the piece of bread, chewing on it. They also deliver a swift kick to the mold, causing it to pop open. Out falls a freshly minted Longaeva. Rather unceremoniously, he flops forward. Completely and absolutely dead. Once again, Bandage delivers a kick to the machine. A jolt of crimson shoots from it, flowing into the body.

LONGAEVA: Miss Praefortis.
LONGAEVA: I believe this is the single most nauseating sensation I've felt in my entire existence.
LONGAEVA: Please.
LONGAEVA: Never run me through this machine again.

...He's alive! And apparently decked in standard Rose Cult attire. Looks like the mold must also contain an automatic loom of sorts. Far as Venia can tell, he's a rather wizened old Chairian, probably around 160 years of age. He lacks any sort of foliage, instead bearing dead branches upon his head. As far as Venia can tell, he's free of any sign of the Rose Cult's influence. A quick scrub with the Entropic Scanner confirms these suspicions. He's 100% clean. His voice is also rather coarse and haggard, but deliberate and calm.

LONGAEVA: ...Can you take me away from this place, miss Praefortis?
LONGAEVA: It has been... quite the long day.
LONGAEVA: Thank you.

Elsewhere, back at the house, Maria snaps a lego brick together. What are these eldritch devices, anyway?

CHAOS: y'know mine[c]raf[t]?
CHAOS: i[t]'s like [t]ha[t] bu[t] in real life
CHAOS: grab bri[c]ks and s[t]i[c]k em [t]oge[t]her
CHAOS: like [t]his

In a blur, Chaos assembles one whole leg of a robot. Despite being made out of children's building blocks, this appears to have the durability of solid steel. However, Maria does have one complaint. One very valid complaint. It isn't fluffy.

CHAOS: i have plen[t]y of fluffy
CHAOS: however, [t]he fluffy [c]omes la[t]er
CHAOS: a skeleton canno[t] be made of fluffy, even [t]hough [t]ha[t]'d be [t]o[t]ally rad
CHAOS: bu[t] here
CHAOS: fluffy

Chaos very casually deposits 100 Spiralfloof Floofballs into the inventory. It is unclear where he's been getting these. Perhaps he's been taking spare fluff from the Spiralfloofs the Spherebreakers have encountered in combat? Or perhaps this is just a synthetic replica? Or maybe it's just Chaos's body pretending to be fluffy balls of cotton? One can never be too sure.

---

Bergilmir takes more time to yell at Spark. No matter how strong he becomes, fear will always rule him. He shakes his head.

SPARK: Strength... strength is absolute.
SPARK: Strength allows you to bend the people to suit you.
SPARK: Strength allows you to get the most out of your worthless soldiers.
SPARK: The endless strength of the Sphere shall be what wipes out both you and the Tabletopians.
SPARK: What is there to fear, when godly power rests upon your forehead?

Really, the Creation Glyph isn't resting on his forehead. It's resting in his forehead. Minor difference. One that's the difference between a headache and serious brain damage.

---

After the customary ten minutes of waiting for her troops to arrive, Pomme can't help but sigh. There's so few of them now. While she used to give speeches to crowds of hundreds of willing soldiers, only a couple dozen remained here at the base. Not that it surprises her, though. The writing's been on the wall for awhile. Every skirmish with the Chairian Legion has caused immense amounts of losses. And, since the Spherebreakers have arrived, those losses have only increased. The fires at Outpost Unity claimed many soldiers. The loss of Linseed caused many to leave. And of course, all the skirmishes against the Spherebreakers have caused many to fall apart.

But at the very least, she has this. A few more loyalists who are willing to listen to what she has to say. Those who have been around since the beginning, whose wills have remained steadfast even in the face of relentless failures. Truthfully, Pomme's surprised anyone could remain solemn when faced with this. She herself has suffered through many a sleepless night, thinking about how her ragtag band of rebels would conquer another, less organized, ragtag band of rebels. But perhaps now, she can finally stop stressing.

She gives her microphone a tap, the reverberation ricocheting around the room. A deep breath, and she begins to speak.

"POMME": Fellow members of the Rebellion.
"POMME": It has been... a hard past few days, has it not?
"POMME": We've been though countless hardships as of late. The loss of Outpost Unity was a huge blow, as well as the loss of most of our Tabletopian backing along with it...
"POMME": But today, we shall be taking a new path.
"POMME": The Rebellion has always been for the people. To fight the tyranny of Spark and his Sphere.
"POMME": And now, more than ever, the people need us.

Fiddling with a little remote, Pomme causes a screen to flicker on behind her. She prepared this little slideshow in just a few minutes with the help of Cypress. Hopefully, it lands well enough. She hardly had time to rehearse, only being able to go over the lines in her head as she walked here.

Anyway, the screen reveals a video recording of the interior of Seatopolis. The people are up in arms, pressing forward to the Citadel itself. A squadron of four Praetorians are recorded warping out of the area. The feed shifts a few times, showing a few different locales. Walls with the bare minimum of defensive personnel, struggling to hold off the Iti. Burrowing Iti bypassing the walls, left unhandled by what's left of the military.

"POMME": Spark... has abandoned his people.
"POMME": I'm sure at this point, you're all aware that Spark has taken the Creation Glyph, and transformed the Dream of Unity into his personal vessel.
"POMME": All in an attempt to kill the Spherebreakers. One which, like it or not, has completely failed.
"POMME": And now, he threatens the lives of everyone around him. He's mad, determined to take the entirety of the Chairian people with him.
"POMME": And... even if he's slain, with how much the people have suffered under his rule, and how much he's wasted trying to win his little grudge match... the people will fall.
"POMME": It won't be long now until Seatopolis falls.

"POMME": This is where we must intervene.
"POMME": Gone will be the days where we pit Chairian against Chairian.
"POMME": Now is the time we will come together, to succeed where Spark has failed!
"POMME": Ultimately, though the Spherebreakers have opposed us, their goal aligns with ours- to protect the people!
"POMME": we shall work with them to ensure that we, the Chairian peoples, shall live on forevermore!
"POMME": My orders are simple- march upon the Citadel, and defend our people!
"POMME": Ensure that not a single Iti will breach the city now, or ever again!
"POMME": The plan will be as follows...

The slides switch, revealing a plethora of military documents. The gist of the plan is simple- using what remains of the Rebellion's air force, they will drop troops on the walls of Seatopolis. A teleporter will be set up in the walls of the city, which will be used to ferry in more troops to secure the walls, as well as sweep the City of Iti. While Chi's unsure about how to deal with the people themselves, she's sure that with outright rebellion taking place against Spark, they'll naturally be acceptant of the Rebellion forces.

"POMME": The time to act is now, my fellow fighters!
"POMME": We will be moving out within the hour! Ready yourselves!
"POMME": Today shall be our finest hour!

Cheers come from the crowd. Though there's obviously some confusion from the idea of working with the Spherebreakers, it's blatantly clear to everyone now. Time is of the essence. To fail to act now would be to spell the end of the Chairian race as they know it. In organized rows, Chi's forces funnel out to arm themselves for the upcoming strife.

Once more, it's time to go to war.

---

<THE END OF UNITY, ROUND 13>
Spark's undergone a... moderate change in personality. With his phase transition, he's actually grown weaker! Of course, that doesn't mean he's out of the running just yet; his new Special will deal a lot of damage if you're not positioned properly, and he still has legions of Perfect soldiers to deploy! Just keep moving, as you always do. The end of his reign draws ever closer.

The processor in Bauhaus's pocket starts shaking and chattering with many voices. On its own, it is not quiet, but in greater scope of the End of Unity, it contributes very little sound. The voices range in tone, in volume, in content...

One says "monkaOMEGA". Another says "so can cataria join the spherebreakers now?" Still another tries to shout at Spark, saying "It looks like you have ligma! Better get that checked." The sheer activity going on in the processor would burn Bauhaus's leg, if it weren't for his immunity to Burn.
----
Bauhaus lifts the massive Transistor over his shoulder. "Strike! Now!"
-- BATTLE --
[Bauhaus] Bauhaus moves to L11, basic attacks Spark, uses 8 MP to turn on Oil Reserves (+20% damage, Fire element, eventually deals infinite damage), uses Seraphim Charm's effect (Fire -> Light), then uses his last free Trick on Spark. (counterattack, +2 Planning)

[Reisz] Reisz eats a Yggcrawler Pie Slice, moves around Pionobot to J14, uses Jaunt() north-east, bringing her to N10, basic attacks Spark, then retreats to N11.

Turn ends. +2 Planning.
PLANNING: 7 / 10

"So, I don't know much about this game, but I get that we make our own characters, right? Is there a punching class? But like, magic punching. I wanna do that!"

Not!Echoss Adventures:
Not!Echoss boogie boards on down to the southern room, finding another Meteor in the war. He short-term loans the drill from Sophia and performs a HEAVEN DRIL PIERCER attack. Before he can fix the typo wint breaks into the game, grabs the drill, beats the meteos to death with it, and then throws the drill back to Sophia.


House Repairs
Echoss climbs up to the second floor, and looks at Chaos, moderately unamused.
"Are you going to smash that hole right back into the wall if it's fixed right now or should I go ahead and send you the bill right now? People have to sleep in here, you know."


Praetorian Gulag:
Echoss continues (finishes?) stashing away praetorians in the gulag.
He also seems to be watching the End of Unity on what appears to be a large tv screen setup that he's deployed in the catacombs. Two of them. Where everyone there can see.
...I don't think those are for him.


INFINITE CRAFT WORKS:
1: Immunized consumable
2: Stasis consumables that don't deal damage.
3: whatever I think of


Battle:
Echoss stares at Spark. Or seems to be. His head tilts.
"...You had your bio all packed and ready then, it seems.
Perhaps I should feel pity for you, watching this all come crumbling down.
But now, after reading what you've been through and done...
I can't even manage satisfaction anymore.
I am almost impressed that I was giving you too much credit by calling you a petty warlord.
Would you mind if you finished lying down and dying more quickly?
We have more important things to do, and I'd hate to see you pass Acacia's track record on Spherebreaker knockouts. It took you nearly half an hour of trying to rig the fight to even approach her count."

Action:
Do some healing with item actions, move to where Cypress can use his special to move my debuffs to Pionobot, and then hit Spark with a purge.


To-do List:
Also hand the Subspace Grocery Box to Cypress when he heads back to the house

End of Unity

Adria waves to Mari as she tosses her out of the line of fire. Fortunately, Spark had higher priority targets this turn.

ADRIA: Thank you, Mari!

But when Spark transforms into a freak of a mutant, Adria glares at him in utter disgust, barely managing to suppress a gag.

ADRIA: Urp-
ADRIA: W-what the... w-what the heck...

And then... something speaks to Spark. Adria can't tell what, but it really didn't sit well with her. As evidenced by her seizing up.

ADRIA: o-oh my god...

She stands there in silence for just a moment. Just a moment enough to be uncomfortable. Then...



ACTUAL ACTION

-Move to (L5) with the help of Guiding Hand
-Drink Fresh Smoothie for +20 MP
-Overpowering Smash Catalpa (22 * 0.7 * 1.4 (Overpowering Smash mod) * 2.1 (6 Buff Levels, +50% from Watching) = 46 DMG to SHP) (21 CRT + 11 CRT (Watching) = 32 CRT) (Catalpa to (I8))
-Chronoshade @ (N10) (Load Spell: Overpowering Smash)
-Hypercharge Chloe (x2 buffs because of being Adria's Watching target)

---

The Wastes

As Sophia almost goes for another Meteos, Dorothy flags her over.

DOROTHY: S-Sophie, Hannah's almost back!
SOPHIA: Oh good! This drill is heavy and a little weird to use so.
SOPHIA: Better to let an expert handle it!

Sophia hops over to the vault door, where soft yet clearly exhausted footsteps could be heard from the opening below. Quiet panting slowly increases in volume.

SOPHIA: She sounds exhausted... um, how long are those stairs?

Hannah finally emerges from the doorway, barely managing to stay upright. Sophia offers her hand, as does Dorothy.

HANNAH: Th-thirty... thirty spirals...
HANNAH: N-never again...

She takes hold of the two hands, where Sophia and Dorothy pull her up with ease.

DOROTHY: U-um... wow. I-it's that far down?
DOROTHY: H-here, let me help...

Dorothy makes a spherical motion with her hands to form a large air bubble, taking care to filter out the ash and toxins. She pushes it over to Hannah's mask where it floods the suit. Hannah's breathing gets less painful and exhausted.

HANNAH: T-thanks, Dorothy.
DOROTHY: Y-you're welcome!
SOPHIA: So um, what about that person?
HANNAH: Oh, he's alive, just teleported out of there.
HANNAH: Spared me the heavy lifting, at least.
DOROTHY: Whew, that's a r-relief...
HANNAH: But, uh, one thing. The others are really struggling out there.
HANNAH: I should really, really go and help... somehow.
SOPHIA: S-so auntie's in trouble!?

Hannah nods as Sophia mildly freaks out.

SOPHIA: W-well, what are we doin' here then let's go-
HANNAH: No.
HANNAH: You really shouldn't.
SOPHIA: H-huh?
HANNAH: They're facing Spark.
HANNAH: And he's absolutely gonna plan to use you as leverage.
HANNAH: This... thing is so ungodly depraved. I wouldn't put child murder past him at all.
HANNAH: So long as he gets his way.
SOPHIA: B-but I can beat 'im up, just like always!
HANNAH: Also, you know Adria better than anyone.
HANNAH: You... do realize how she'll react when she sees you on that battlefield.
SOPHIA: ...B-but-
HANNAH: Right?

Sophia sighs, clearly disappointed.

SOPHIA: hhh... right...
HANNAH: This ain't like the others. Can't just smack 'em with your umbrella and jump on their heads and be done with it.
HANNAH: Also he'll probably pulverize you when he hits you.
HANNAH: For the same reason, I... can't let Dorothy go either.
DOROTHY: I-I mean, I didn't wanna anyway?
HANNAH: Right, right, haha.
HANNAH: Anyway, that leaves... me. Mom's off doing god knows what right now, so...
SOPHIA: Ooh, is she off on a secret mission? I want in!

Hannah facepalms.

HANNAH: Aaaand you're in a fighting mood today. Should've guessed...
HANNAH: Anyway, I have no idea where she is right now. So yeah, probably some sorta secret mission.
HANNAH: Not sure if you'll be able to join. I guess you could like roam around the old pass until you see her or something and ask her then.
SOPHIA: okey
SOPHIA: Beats sittin' around all day! I done that too much already...
HANNAH: Cool. Before that, though...
SOPHIA: ?
HANNAH: Can you make me a minigun of some description? Light enough to be used while flying.
SOPHIA: oddly specific but okey
HANNAH: Alright. I'll prepare a runway down here, you go nuts. Dorothy, you can act as support.

Sophia hands Hannah the Everdrill. Hannah stands up and takes hold of it in one hand, and has an empty hand ready to cast, probably.

HANNAH: Time for a bit of cleanup!

Sophia skedaddles back up the chain while Dorothy remains close behind Hannah.

Right as the Meteos at (AF161) lands on the ground, it suddenly finds it exceptionally difficult to rise off the ground. Hannah approaches, empty hand performing a grabbing motion, as if she's holding a ball tightly.

Once close enough, Dorothy blasts Hannah upwards with a gust of air so that Hannah's shadow overlaps with the Meteos. Once it does, a chain rips from the shadow and straight to Hannah's empty hand.

The chain rapidly pulls itself tighter as Hannah jolts towards her target and points the active Everdrill straight at it, boring a hole straight through it.

Once that's dealt with, Hannah takes out the Stormglider and places it nearby. Dorothy, meanwhile, gets to pushing the Thyme Matter out of the way with fierce gusts of wind.

Hannah starts scavenging around the broken turrets and machinery, scrounging up materials for a... spot to place a gun on the Stormglider. That's what she's using it for, then.

Meanwhile, Sophia enters the (then vacant) machining and fabrication to craft a gun.



With the weapon done, Sophia takes it back to Hannah.

SOPHIA: All done! I'm goin' now.

She leaves as fast as she came back. Hannah attaches the Coffin Gatling to the Stormglider. It fits well enough after a few adjustments.

HANNAH: All set.
HANNAH: ...Dorothy, I'd get out of here once I'm off.
HANNAH: Don't want you getting hurt.

Dorothy nods, and stands back. Hannah starts the engines.

HANNAH: Taking off in 5... 4... 321go

She takes off at high speeds, pulling up once she reaches the opening. She flies straight upwards for a time to clear the Skylabs, then takes off in the direction of all the ruckus.

...It'll still take a bit though.

Dorothy, back at ground level and not wanting to stick around much longer, rushes up the chain to relative safety.

---

The Fusion

ADRIA: Mm, that would be the fastest route-

She glances up at Calibri as he mentions something along the lines of "hurry up". Once she realizes his status, she panics.

ADRIA: O-oh peck! peckpeckpeck!

She catches herself pretty quickly after taking a few breaths, but she's still a little shaken.

ADRIA: Okay, o-okay... calm down... can't, can't panic now...
ADRIA: This might... call for s-something special...

Adria and her computer envelop themselves in some form of temporal bubble. From the outside, Calibri would see that Adria's moving at lightning speeds trying to get this done.

---

The Hunt

Shelly just glares at the now-destroyed boat. There's not really any visible emotion or even concern in her face as it happens. Not even reacting negatively as Chaos default dances on her supposed misfortune.

But Shelly knew better. Always did.

She can't help but break into a tiny smile as Chaos fixed up the boat and turned it into a submarine. Nailed it.

SHELLY: (All according to plan.)
SHELLY: Well, sub's ready. Let's go.
SHELLY: But I won't force you. I mean, I know you're not the biggest fan of water. Or I guess, watery thyme matter in this case.

She hops onto the vessel. She waits for EN to either come aboard or otherwise not because water.

---

Engie

...A fast-moving glider soars above the area Engie currently is. It appears to be moving at full-tilt toward a specific location...

...and out of the sky drops a USB stick attached to a letter parachute.

"'Sup boss, heard you needed footage of that whelp Spark!"
"Included is footage throughout the various battles he partook in. Acacia's, the Vault, up in the air, and the present down at ground level. Thank mom and Adria for the stuff later."
"Hope this helps!"

-H

Away she flies...

---

Mari

Adria answers some of the questions Mari has.

ADRIA: Ah, yes, that bulb-like thing...
ADRIA: I remember Shelly telling me once that they have similar-looking towers on Earth? It's like those.
ADRIA: A "bulb" might not be an apt descriptor, but if there's anything better to call it, it's eluding me...

She then asks about Chronoenergy and Electricity. How do they get all this energy?

ADRIA: Oh I could go on all day about the former!
ADRIA: But the simplest I can describe it is... well, I'm sure you know how electricity works. Electrons moving through a conductive material. Chronoenergy acts a lot like that.
ADRIA: Tiny, invisible threads which cause particles to knock against each other by speeding them up in a certain direction while slowing them in other directions. Some materials are more receptive to that than others. Particularly larger ones.
ADRIA: I suppose it's more like a kinetic equivalent to electricity. And yet, those threads are attracted to places with slower time dilation, causing that kinetic energy to pulsate like an alternating current.
ADRIA: Time flows onward like a current.
ADRIA: And that flow of time can be harnessed and manipulated in so many ways.
ADRIA: Much like electricity.

ADRIA: Speaking of... how we get all that electrical power.
ADRIA: Well... there's a lot.
ADRIA: Solar panels and batteries placed such that light from the solar pinhole-
ADRIA: -Oh, yes, forgot to mention! We're situated on a rogue planet; we're not orbiting any star.
ADRIA: My best guess is that some active artifact or unknowable force created that pinhole out of pity.
ADRIA: Regardless, we have plenty of ways to keep ourselves going in case it comes to pass that the pinhole dies.
ADRIA: As mentioned, we do have solar power and batteries, but that isn't our main source of power.
ADRIA: We also extract hydrogen from seawater for use as fuel - we have a pipeline that runs from the underground of the city to the ocean in the far distance. But that is only for emergencies.

ADRIA: Such as our biofusion reactor going out of commission for maintenance.
ADRIA: Biofuel is our primary source of energy. As crops are harvested to create worthless fibers and leftovers are thrown out from the restaurants and households, we collect the biological matter and feed it to the refinery in the production district to turn into biofuel.
ADRIA: The weirdest thing is that the refinery uses mostly rare monster parts to operate automatically. It works wonders for making the operation not only a net positive in terms of energy efficiency, but blows it sky-high!
ADRIA: Then, of course, we use that fuel in a fusion reactor to extract the energy with minimal, if any, waste material.

ADRIA: Oh, yeah, the monsters.
ADRIA: Almost all of them stay away from the city, save for the odd desperate one here and there along with the more docile ones.
ADRIA: Their parts are used for their highly variable properties. Used right, those parts can make some complex machinery which requires more than just raw energy.
ADRIA: And whatever we don't use, we chuck into the bioreactor processes! Why waste things, right?
ADRIA: ...Corpses belonging to anything man-like or woman-like are strictly prohibited from entering the thing though. Obvious reasons.
ADRIA: The dead deserve a proper burial, not be fed to some machine. Even if that machine is the very thing that keeps the lights on. It's also not much energy to begin with in the grand scheme of things, so there's no point anyway.

...She blushes, about to apologize for the ramble, but then remembers that Mari digs stuff like this and giggles quietly to herself.

Anyway, Mari then asks about the extraterrestrial division of the research wing. Adria couldn't help but shudder a bit as her smile quickly turns to a frown. She brushes aside her hair, almost... grasping at something invisible within her forehead; the area with the scar. She lowers her hand for Mari to see.



ADRIA: I-it's... i-it's all over now. It's all over now.
ADRIA: ...I... think I needed t-to vent about that. F-for the l-long term, I mean...
ADRIA: S-so um... thanks for listening, Mari.

Mari also mentions the immigration stuff. And is Adria human? After taking a few more moments of recovery, Adria responds.

ADRIA: Y-yeah, I'll handle the papers and stuff. No big deal, really!

ADRIA: As for whether or not we're human...

She stares out into the doorway, tilting her head ever so slightly.

ADRIA: I... don't actually know anymore?
ADRIA: I mean, for the longest I had thought we were very different from them. But after seeing so many of them here in our party... and how similar we look...
ADRIA: ...I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to collect a few blood samples from the others. We only had a sample size of two back home, after all... Hannah and her mother.
ADRIA: But like, just walking up and asking for a vial of blood.
ADRIA: It doesn't sit right with me at all.
ADRIA: B-but I really wanna know now...

...She's definitely troubled by that. Then, she shrugs.

ADRIA: Well, either way, we don't have any problems with that kinda thing. We're hard to find, but good people are always welcome!
ADRIA: Actually, I think the crystal drew in a friendly dragon person too, and he got everything sorted for himself no problem.

Adria takes another sip of water, now that she's okay.

End of Unity
Toss pillow to Maple.
Last Dream Cinder2.
Power Nap self.

Destiny uses a Panacea, moves to H20, TPs to P21 via Thyme Vortex, and attacks the Vilebaron. Wait for Xavier to perform his action, then use a Gravity Crush on the Vilebaron if it is still not downed. Retreat to Q20 once it is safe.

XAVIER: Move down to L20, attack east once, then use Abyssal Blade on Lodgepole. Throw their corpse up to J18 one they are downed. Retreat to L21.

GOD HAND: Once you move with Xavier, TP to N19. Attack Lodgepole.

Daskter moves to (F15)

Pikeman pokes Pionobot then fallbacks to (F14). Also at some point it's suppose to throw Lodgepole's Corspse into the AMF field after the mini-plan.

Battle - End of Unity

Calfusion pops out of stasis. They are, as expected, unharmed from the dunkage of a gigantic face right on their position. They brush some dust off their various wings, shake like a dog, then grin.

"Alright, back to business."

After that, they take a moment to read the scan results. Their expression changes from the usual smug form to something more dour. They then look over at Spark. Their wings droop, partially out of pity for having seen his past, partially now seeing what he's becoming... And maybe an element of something more personally dire. They close their eyes...

---



---

On the outside, the fusion trembles. Something's fighting a war on the inside. Flashes of black spiral off from its form, and when they open their eyes again... It looks less Calibri-esque. Which is probably cause for alarm. Their expression keeps flicking between one of alarm and one of confidence... They glance at Spark's partly mutated form, then speak, their voice... distinctly different.

"...You can fight off that influence, you know. Don't let yourself become a puppet to something else just because it's seemingly stronger. It might be dire, but... To keep oneself going on one's own true power in the face of assimilation... It's manageable..."

While their words could be interpreted as for Spark, the way Calibri speaks those words... They seem partially meant for himself. Especially given the colour palettes of the fusion, previously distinct from one another despite their overlap, are starting to blend together.

Better finish this quickly.


The fusion moves to I10, turning and facing Pionobot. Despite their own circumstances, they still have to put on a show to keep the destroyer occupied. So that's what they'll do. They grin, wings flaring bright, albeit the colours blending together and somewhat ruining the intended effect.

"I don't care what's happening to me, or them... I'll still beat you any day of the week! But since tomorrow is a busy schedule and I don't have many other free days, I'll make it today."

They then chug a Candy Corn Liquor, wind up for a moment, cast Reckless Revenge, cast Exertion, use Alter Reality to turn that gigantic Enlightened14 into a gigantic Empowered14...

...and whack Pionobot as hard as humanly imaginable. That's the second such whack. Given the fusion's deteriorating condition, it wouldn't be surprising if putting in that much effort started having backlash of some kind.

...

Oh yeah, the damage.

Base damage: (28-29)
Bushi Road: +20%
Daylight: +40%
Exertion with 10 buff levels: +145%
Reckless Revenge right now without anything extra: +138%
Turning Enlightened14 into Empowered: +70%

(28-29) + 413% = (143.64-148.77)
add Pionobot's 30% Glitch weakness = (186.73-193.4) -> (187-194)

And bear in mind, that's for if there's no further decreasing of the fusion's health prior, and if there's no minicrit. If either of those happen... We're getting devastation here.

...Also the fusion "retreats" to I11 after the strike.

And maybe prods Pionobot with a Pyralux Flare dink if that'd be legal and funny.

---

The Old Pass...?

"...Bloody 'ell."

EN gets up from having been smacked out of the thyme matter, clearly a bit miffed by the sudden solid smack. After a moment of standing around, she proceeds to pull out a comically large glock and shoots the thyme matter. Is a single bullet gonna do much?

...Well, no. But it's cathartic.

"A'ight... Guess we're boatin'. Or, y'know, submarine-in', but... yeah, le's jus' git this o'er with. Sorry in advance if ah end up 'avin' a panic attack an' the radiation kills ya or somethin'."

If that apology hasn't murdered any willingness to have her on board, EN hops on board the... submarine boat thing.

---

The Everground

I'll just leave this here for later.

---

Receptionist's Hall

"...A-Adria, I don't mean to alarm you, but... you might wanna get started on the actual change soon."

Calibri's body seems to be changing. Static is starting to crawl up his arms and legs, starting from his fingertips and the soles of his shoes. While one would probably expect the same static to be enveloping those wings, given those weren't meant to be part of him, they seem to be growing stronger...

---

Star Aeterna to the battlefield

"...Experiencing some minor interference."

The weapon's glow is a little off-colour. Something must be going on. Lato remains silent for a few seconds, then audibly sighs. Her humanoid appearance briefly flickers into existence as a silhouette near Star, but fades away again almost immediately. Still, for that brief moment in time, it was possible to see the beginnings of some abstract sign of decay.

"Do not worry too much about it. Duty demands that you keep up the fight. Even if I fall silent, my weapon form should retain functionality."

---

The House

"...Neat."

Engie decides to spend some time watching the footage (or listening to it) on his own, just to make sure there's reasonably qualifying stuff on there for what he'd described to the Tabletopians earlier. It'd be bloody awkward if he made all that bluster earlier and then couldn't even back it up.

...

Come to think of it, what bits of information on that USB might be too much to show off? Can't just hand every secret of the party/not party over to the Tabletopians. That'd be an immense risk. But it'd also be hilarious and based, so who knows...

While Zahlia drinks a Lively Concoction to deal with the Crystalline Scars, Simeon yeets Lodgepole over to G15, right next to the Pikeman. With that taken care of, it's time to move to a safer spot. For now i think they'll go to E20 and Guard. If anyone can think of a safer spot to Crystalline Scar or someone to shoot, let me know

Remiel acts after Yato. Remember, -25% Spell Cost. It moves to E6, then:
-casts Cherry Energy on Soldier2 11 times, on Archer2 4 times, and on Archer3 once.
-basicattacks Catalpa for (26-29)+55% Mana damage and equal Glitch.
-hits the three adjacent foes with Shard Storm for half of the above Mana damage, and equal-to-that Glitch damage.
-due to Deathlink, the Soldier should go down, followed by Archer2, then Archer4, then Archer3. If this somehow doesn't happen, add Cherry Energy until it happens.
-Remiel retreats to F5, casts Cherry Energy on each corpse to destroy, and finally downs-and-destroys Soldier1 with as much cherry energy as is necessary.

Remiel should easily hit maximum LOVE from this. Oh, and Remiel gets 20% HP and 10% MP restoration during Regen since it's asleep.

BATTLES - END OF UNITY

Star flies to J16, then casts Soaring Rush and flies to F13. They hit the Pikeman with a max Stellar Wind, Soaring Rush empowered healing basic attack. If the Pikeman isn't at full health yet, they throw an Infinisyringe at them as well. Otherwise, they throw an Infinidagger at the nearest conscious enemy (if any), or store an Infinidagger in the group inventory with Infinidrop (if not).

At the end of their turn, they change to Gladius form.

/no time for any rp aaaaa

Bergilmir turns to Chloe and Marron.

cA: Well, that does sound somewhat fun, I must admit. Very well, I'll join. What would you two suggest I play as?

Berg turns to look at Sephiroth Spark, currently somehow ranting at everyone at once.

cA: ...Although we are in the middle of a war zone.

cA: ...How have we been able to talk freely like this?

Berg turns towards Spark to add his two cents.

cA: You haven't attacked me in quite a while, Spark! Afraid I might be proven right in your inability to strike me down?

Berg moves to M9, attacking PArcher1. He then uses a Cinderfruit to burn its body to ash.

AFTER ADRIA, BEFORE REMIEL

With Spark undergoing a transformation right next to the samurai, Yato calmly reached out to snatch the creation glyph and- unfortunately, it seemed like Spark got to it before Yato could. Unfortunate. Ah well.

Yato shrugged, but without much to do in this round in particular, they may as well invest in another companion, on top of their current one. A flutter up to K11, with Gibbet's beady eyes (so many of them) noting a good grouping of wooden dolls. Verdict? Guilty. Sentence? Death.

Life Sentence on Perfect Soldier 2, Perfect Archers 2, 3, and 4, Perfect Solder 1, Catalpa, and Omorika.

...Yato casts Familiar on J11.
...
...
...
It appears to be a normal sized Gibbet. With slightly less eyes. Gibbet seems vaguely started by their smaller self, and it just trills. Curiously, it's beak and talons seemed to be dripping and glistening with poison... (Crow Raven familiar, replace Feather Burst with Envenom Weapon).

Battle: End of Unity

"... Spark, you look disgusting. I guess it's finally all the abomination coming out of you after so long burying it deep, mm? Now excuse me-I've got a hot date with getting away from yo' bitch ass."

Ordering occurs yet again. This time, Adria goes, then Yato, then Destiny+Xavier+Godhand, then Wattle, then Cypress+Venia(bonus action)+Echoss, then Remiel and Calibri, then Venia (main action), then Acacia, then finally Zahlia. This post covers what Venia and Cypress are doing, plus Acacia..

Wattle initiates an unexpected sibling team combo! It's unexpected because it wasn't planned, and also the two probably still aren't on the best terms. Anyways, Wattle uses Vital Readings, targeting Catalpa and Acacia. Acacia now has a massive HIT boost and a lot of extra, probably silly CRT on the Royal Shieldbearer. Oh, and gains +10 SP. Wattle then shoots Cinder1, utilizing his Wallhack and his absurd HIT to not care about the Cinder being in Forest or behind a wall relative to Wattle.

First, Cypress moves to J13. Venia uses Kickstart My Heart at this time and immediately regains Ordo, for the express purpose of using Hope Rides Eternal to scoot Cypress to J11. Cypress then waits for Echoss to finish his movement, before using A New Perspective on Echoss, Pionobot, Remiel and Calibri. All debuffs are shifted onto Pionobot, and both uses of copying are used to give Calibri and Remiel a brand-new Lucky40, for all their obsessive DPS needs.

Later, when Venia is actually ready to act, Venia moves to O16 and uses Unexisting Force on Lodgepole, refreshing her special-granted buffs and hopefully downing Lodgepole so Zahlia can move them to safety.

A conditional arises. If Lodgepole actually is downed now, Venia will Purge Pionobot for some fat damage. In the event Lodgepole is not downed and has less than 38 HP, Venia will aim a regular basic attack at him to avoid overkill. If as before but Lodgepole's HP at this point is between 38 and 68, Venia will Purge Lodgepole. Finally, if Lodgepole has not only not been downed, but also has more than 68 HP, Venia... Will be really frustrated by Lodgepole's RNG before doing as her first action-Purging Pionobot.

After this, Acacia, now sporting both a massive conditional HIT boost from Wattle and enough MP to cast Siege Spire from Echoss, will move to Q14 and gives Catalpa a taste of her signature sculpture work, "Annihilate your sorry gorilla so hard your grandchildren will feel it (assuming you have any and even if they're adopted)," also known colloquially as "Siege Spire with base 55 damage, Enlightened10 and Manafuelled3 for a 2.45 total damage modifier, and with +30 CRT."

---

Longavea

[color=#00C01D]"Thanks, Bandage," Venia says, before turning to Longavea. "... Man, you look exactly as old as I figured you were. Come on, Longavea... I'll help you up, we'll go home, and you can rest until you've gotten everything figured out, mkay?"

Assuming her help is appreciated, Venia picks up Longavea and begins travelling to the house.

---

Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaa

"Ooooooooh!" Maria says. "I get it!"

Maria does, indeed, get it, and immediately starts contributing properly to the skeleton of the robot with the full power and enthusiasm of a seven-year old having been promised the power of fluffy. Which is to say, perhaps way too much enthusiasm, or perhaps just enough-it depends entirely on how one interprets the ceaseless giggling.

---