Not been too hot lately.

Auth moves to O10, floating above the Thyme Vortex, and begins Corpsedragging Cataria, while he waits for Wattle to shoot Cinder1. He then Liberates it, with the overheal going to Freja.

This is, of course, also requesting Wattle shoots Ember1.

Next, he retreats through the Vortex to E13, and puts Cataria into the Bileprincess Bag.

<ROUND 311>

Asha wonders about the logistics of magically punching people. Marron's not entirely sure about the answer to this, but Chloe knows things! She's good at knowing things. But first, she's gonna need something.

CHLOE: Hmm... I don't think there's anything like that in... Pathfinder?
CHLOE: ...What kind of game do we want to play, anyway? We never established it.
CHLOE: There's a lot to know, so I'm just gonna ask Chaos for something really quic-.
CHAOS: here's ur book [c]hloe
CHAOS: you order [t]his book abou[t] five minu[t]es in [t]he fu[t]ure, bu[t] my fan[t]as[t]ic [c]us[t]omer servi[c]e shaves five minu[t]es off of every order
CHAOS: always.
CHLOE: Um... thank you?

Chloe has obtained a Pathfinder Rulebook! It... doesn't appear to be from any legitimate source, and is more likely just a ramshackle approximation of wiki pages that Chaos grabbed off the internet or something. Chloe plops it down on the dining room table (whch is presumably where they're playing), and begins to flip through it.

CHLOE: flippy flippy flippy
CHLOE: Guess we're playing pathfinder. I know how this works too, so it should be fine!
CHLOE: flippy flippy flippy
CHLOE: Um... found it! "Elemental Fist". It's a monk feat that lets you punch people with fire and stuff!
CHLOE: It's normally kinda limited, but the rules are a suggestion, so we can make it... cooler!
MARRON: ...The rules are a suggestion?
CHLOE: Yeah. We can change what we want in the rules if it'd make things more fun, or more interesting!
CHLOE: Like, normally Elemental Fist can't be used too much, but why not make Asha a Monk of the Elemental Punchy or something, and let her punch a lot!
MARRON: Oh! I get it! It's like chess!
CHLOE: I-I... what? S-Sure?
CHLOE: I'm... not sure what kind of chess you've played, but s-sure!
MARRON: We play the cool chess. The one that destroyed the dining room that one time!

Chloe is a bit uneasy all of a sudden. She really hopes that whatever this game of Pathfinder brings about, it won't destroy the room.

---

The Echoss Twins continue their work. That's right. They're twins now. Not!Echoss and Echoss. It is unclear how this relationship works. To begin, Not!Echoss invokes the powers of Lesser God of Anarchy DRIL, summoning him to this realm by levying 3,500 SPONDULICKS. He bursts out of the chest of the nearby Meteos, beats said Meteos to death with the drill, then throws it back to Sophia before receding back into the corpse. Meteos slain??? 2 Meteorite is looted.

Upstairs, over at the house, Echoss interrogates Chaos. Should he send him the bill for wall repairs? Chaos silently and discretely shoves 500 Credits into Echoss's hands. These are promptly added to the party inventory. The man(?) cackles, having committed the strongest of japes.

CHAOS: [t]his is an advan[c]ed [c]api[t]alis[t] [t]e[c]hnique [c]alled "bribery"
CHAOS: [t]his means [t]ha[t] you no longer wan[t] me [t]o fix [t]he wall
CHAOS: i am a genius

...That's, uh, way more than enough to fix the wall.

CHAOS: and now, [t]he follow-up [t]e[c]hnique- fixing a problem i have [c]rea[t]ed for profi[t]
CHAOS: "oh no, a hole in the wall? how unfor[t]una[t]e"
CHAOS: "for[t]una[t]ely, i am more [t]han [c]apable of fixing [t]his unforeseen problem for 200 [c]redi[t]s"

It is a miracle Chaos is not out of business yet. But with techniques like these, his ability to be capital™ must be rather killer. Or perhaps he's just trying to lull Echoss into a false sense of security. Probably not. It is unclear if Chaos is capable of thinking that far ahead.

Finally, over on the battlefield, Echoss gives Spark a good staredown. His head tilts. Maybe he should feel pity for him. But nah. Could he just bend over and die a little quicker? Corruption seeps through Spark's gaze, a glossy purple veiling his left eye.

SPARK: Get off. Get off your high horse.
SPARK: I will kill you. I will kill you.
SPARK: It's not a question of "how", it's a matter of "when".
SPARK: I still have power. More than enough power.

Thyme Matter (or some similar substance) begins to drip from his mouth. That can't be good for his innards in the slightest. But if vomiting up Thyme Matter is a form of power, then he sure has a lot of power. Like, a lot a lot. Someone's gonna need to clean up all that raw power.

...Ew.

---

Adria freaks out a little. Just a little. Spark transforming into some rather disgusting hybrid creature would take a toll on anyone's stomach. Mari however, is completely unaffected. She doesn't completely get why Adria's screaming bloody murder like this, but alright. Having done a bit more of the post, Mari is suddenly aware of why Adria's like this, sending a drone to pat her on the back. Spark however, is more than a little miffed with Adria.

SPARK: As if I had a choice in the matter.
SPARK: T-This... was my only way forward. Yes.
SPARK: Not that it matters. We're all going to die.
SPARK: This pain, t-this sacrifice... it's only temporary.
SPARK: At the end of the day... do I have anything else left to lose?
SPARK: I shall use the Sphere this one last time... a-as I fall apart.

Elsewhere, the children decide to beat up a Meteos. They brutally beat it to death with chains and a drill, extracting 2 Meteorite from its corpse. Then, not making use of the Meteos at all, they decide to upgrade the Stormglider! Taking a thing of Airship Weapon Parts, 3 Assorted Elite Chairian Weapons, 4 Termite Remnants, 2 Arkalloy, and a Fourth Coffin Nail, Hannah creates Yet Another Horrifying Warcrime! Or uh, the Coffin Gatling. Hannah feels her Karma seeping out of her chest at a rapid rate. Even though Sophia made the damn thing. Probably because Hannah's been a bad influence.

Elsewhere, Shelly tells Chaos to get going onto their voyage into the sea. However, she understands if he's afraid to go in. He's afraid of water, right? Chaos bobs his head, but with an asterisk. An asterisk that is protruding from his head.

CHAOS: [t]he only s[c]ary kind of wa[t]er is pure wa[t]er
CHAOS: everyone knows you [c]an'[t] make a [t]hyme elemen[t]al
CHAOS: [t]hyme ma[t][t]er is no[t] wa[t]er

CHAOS: ...oh, yeah
CHAOS: bo[t][t]led wa[t]er is pre[t][t]y horrifying [t]oo
CHAOS: wha[t] sor[t] of mania[c] managed [t]o wres[t]le i[t] in[t]o a bo[t][t]le?
CHAOS: i hear [t]here's [t]his wa[t]er known as "pure life" whi[c]h somehow [t]as[t]es godawful despi[t]e being wa[t]er
CHAOS: i be[t] [t]ha[t]'s [t]he sour[c]e of all evil in [t]his universe

Now that the GM has had time to throw shade at PureLife water, Chaos decides to slide himself into the submarine. I guess he's coming along on this horrifying ride now? At the very least, he's a good mechanic. Should be able to instantaneously repair the submarine should anything bad happen.

Finally, Adria answers Mari's deluge of questions regarding Stasis City. First, regarding the bulb... apparently, it's similar to other towers on earth. This resolves the ambiguity of this text-based medium, but Mari's going to imagine it looks like a lightbulb anyway. Because it's funny. As for the concept of "chronoenergy"... well, there's a lot to swallow! While Chloe would be the type to blankly stare, smile, and nod, Mari totally understands. Mostly, anyway.

MARI: Kinetic electricity, huh...?
MARI: Sounds dangerous as hell, but if you're using it all around the city, it's honestly probably safe enough.
MARI: Who the hell figures this stuff out, anyway?
MARI: Like, discovering that cow liquid is drinkable? Sure. Why the hell not. They have a liquid. May as well try it. And now we use it in our breakfast cereal.
MARI: Discovering that you can use time as a sort of energy? Must've been one hell of a drunk bender.
MARI: A productive drunk bender, but a drunk bender nonetheless.

Oh, yeah. Minor detail. They're on a rogue planet!

MARI: ...You're on a ROGUE PLANET!?
MARI: How the hell do you even live? Like, shouldn't your ancestors have frozen to death some time ago?
MARI: Then again, maybe they settled it once they had the technology, but... who the hell though that'd be a good idea?
MARI: Like, you'll be freezing to death, hurtling into suns... all sorts of fun stuff.
MARI: We've gotta get that sorted out! Maybe we could like, get you into orbit around Earth's solar system or whatever.
MARI: ...Not that I'd know how to do that. Not yet, anyway.
MARI: Can't imagine there's like, any benefits to being on a rouge planet.
MARI: Unless there is?

Mari doesn't have much to say about the biofusion reactor, but the monsters... at least most of them stay away from the city. And their parts are valuable, too! While Mari questions again, how monsters manage to live on a rogue planet, she figures they just sorta have some way. Maybe they're space alien things that don't need oxygen. Hell if she knows.

MARI: Monsters, chronoenergy, and a rogue planetoid.
MARI: God, this sounds like it's straight out of science fiction! I love it!
MARI: I just hope you don't have any Dah'ren Mohran's lying around. God knows what a colossal beast like that might do to the city.
MARI: Then again, with all the tech you have on your side, you can probably just be like... click!

Mari, finger gun pointed straight forward, makes a "pew" sound. Were her finger capable of firing lasers, it'd deal at least (14-15) Fire Damage. The subject then drifts though, to the discussion of the the research wing. Mari shudders a little. Oh no.

MARI: O-Oh, u-uh...
MARI: T-That's a... sensitive subject, i-isn't it?
MARI: gorilla, I-I'm sorry...

The scientist tenses up, steeling herself for whatever PTSD she's just awoken within Adria's mind. And it's... not pretty, to say the very least. A mysterious crystal, probably either Keter or ALEPH class in terms of threat level. One day, it broke out. The facility suffered a 99.3% mortality rate that day. And then it went after the children... but fortunately for them, they managed to make it back here. Silently... Mari takes a step forward. She spreads her arms out.

MARI: U-Um...
MARI: H-Here?

...She gently nudges herself towards Adria. Her arms fidget as she tries her damned hardest to pull Adria into a hug. It's an agonizing, horribly awkward twenty-three seconds for Mari, but surely that pales in comparison to the hell Adria just managed to relive.

MARI: G-God, the old me w-wouldn't get emotional a-about all this stuff...
MARI: They'd shrug, probably dismiss it, o-or something like that.
MARI: Maybe i-it's hormones, or not needing to be all "manly" because society anymore, since I'm a chick now...
MARI: B-But... hopefully y-you're alright? Y-Yeah.

She blushes gently. When it comes time for her to back off, Mari stumbles and falls backwards, landing on her rear. She sighs, deciding to continue the conversation from down there. At least the immigration things are probably fine. And being human is probably not really an issue, and she's probably human, too.

MARI: Well, a-at least we have that going for us.
MARI: T-Thanks for the reassurance n' junk...

Mari sighs. She's... not really sure how to continue on after what Adria just talked about. Can she just sweep it under the rug, and not address it any further for today? Social politics are usually not something she needs to deal with. Mari trips on her own words for a few seconds.

MARI: Y-You, uh... w-wanna talk about it, or... something?
MARI: Maybe get a d-drink, t-too? I-I dunno.
MARI: Am I... doing this right?

...She's doing her best. Hopefully, Adria appreciates the effort.

---

Calibri urges on Spark. He can fight off the influence that's overtaking him. The clawing, gnawing, the screaming that's going on inside of his head. His heads tear into the sides of his head as he clenches it, fingers pushing into a now gel-like substance.

SPARK: Do you think the Sphere can be stopped?
SPARK: Nobody... no, nothing can stop it.
SPARK: Not that... it would be worth it to resist.
SPARK: All I can do is make use of this power while I have it.
SPARK: The power of the Glyph, and what the Sphere will give me...

Elsewhere, down in the depths of a mountain, EN decides to glock a pool of Thyme Matter. It zooms a few feet into the thymy substance. A second or so later, half a Seeker floats up to the surface. With that out of the way, Shelly, EN, and Chaos board the vessel, and begin its maiden voyage. While it's already had one of those as a boat, it's never had one as a submarine! That's how it works, right?

Chaos, deciding to take control of the vessel to streamline things along, presses the "down" button that's been crudely imbued into the steering wheel of the vessel. It's a bit hard to press as he keeps turning the wheel, but where else was he meant to put it? On a dashboard? Hell no. That's for weaklings. Real gamers have their gamepad rotating at all times. He guides it along a relatively smooth course, through the seemingly endless sea of thyme.

CHAOS: ...do i know wha[t]'s down here?
CHAOS: nope.
CHAOS: do i wan[t] [t]o find ou[t]?
CHAOS: also nope
CHAOS: bu[t] wha[t]ever
CHAOS: as long as i ge[t] paid

...You, uh, are paying him for his work, right? Nonetheless, he continues ever onward. Shelly and EN take the opportunity to take a look around the sea. The deck of the ship has a protective air bubble around it, providing an unobstructed view of the outsea world. Infected Fell Beasts are low in number, most of them having been horribly poisoned by the induction of whatever EN threw into the water. Those that do draw near are too hesitant to jump the vessel.

CHAOS: oh, hey
CHAOS: look down
CHAOS: if you [c]an
CHAOS: i don'[t] have windows on [t]he bo[t][t]om of [t]his baby so maybe like use your imagina[t]ion [t]o de[t]ermine how you look down [t]here

Should they find a way to look down, they'll find the remnants of some gigantic creature. While it's mostly bones now, large chunks of rotted, infected flesh are present all across the body. The torso and head of the beast are mostly intact, though hordes of Iti parasites are working their hardest to un-intact them. Parasites are present around the joints of each exposed bone, forming some sort of "bond" between them. And, sprouting from the back of the creature are... leathery wings? They resemble a piece of swiss at this point, but they're still wings.

CHAOS: is [t]ha[t] i[t]? the god [t]hing?
CHAOS: maybe go [c]he[c]k i[t] ou[t]
CHAOS: i don'[t] exa[c][t]ly have s[c]uba gear, bu[t] i [c]an swing [c]loser if you'd like

While the trio consider their best plan of action, the Engie Drone receives a USB stick containing a lot of footage! He flips through it. All the required footage is there, far as he can tell. And, besides the party's fighting tactics, there's not anything incriminating on display for the party. Except for one minor detail. IKEA is very audibly talking in some of the clips. If the Tabletopians realized he was there... well, there's an entire battalion of battleships on the outskirts of the city. You do the math.

(The answer is they won't do much, because the Thymefield will shut them down. Trick question.)

---

Bergilmir wonders if he can join a game of DnD. Or uh, Pathfinder. There'll never be a day where I don't mix the games up. Though, this conversation is not occurring on the battlefield; it's occurring at some undisclosed point in time, probably before / during the Spark battle. Are they cool with Bergilmir joining...?

MARRON: ...Ehhhhh.
CHLOE: W-What do you mean "ehh"?
MARRON: I mean, once we grab Ette, that'll be a party of four.
MARRON: Wouldn't five people be a bit much?
CHLOE: M-Maybe?
CHLOE: But if the Scion and Asha are fine with having them around, then I'm fine.
CHLOE: Personally, I think the more, the merrier!~

Guess it falls to them. (Legally speaking, this is their roleplay. Who knows if you should be involved? I don't. I'm just the guy that writes the text, and puppets fan favorite characters like Temmie With Knives Taped To Them #7.)

---

Venia calls Spark disgusting. That's... about it. Really, he's kind of underwhelmed this time.

SPARK: That's the least you've ever talked. It's almost disappointing.
SPARK: Perhaps your endless well of snarky remarks is finally running dry.
SPARK: You've realized it, too. Nobody's coming away from this alive.
SPARK: Nobody.

He really has the wrong idea here. Elsewhere, Venia decides to pick up Longavea. He's really quite heavy, being a Chairian and all. Legally speaking, if Taeda were to step on Marron's foot, she'd probably completely and totally crush it. Trees are heavy^{(citation needed)}. A lengthy trip back to the house later, and Longaeva is safe and sound. Better yet, it seems his legs have regained functionality, too! Venia places him down at the front of the house, where he stands. As the wind bellows, he turns to face its might, hood bellowing in the wind.

LONGAEVA: ...How long has it been since I've felt the wind?
LONGAEVA: If only the sun was up. How I would like to see its rays once again.
LONGAEVA: Ah, life...
LONGAEVA: It's been ever so long, hasn't it?
LONGAEVA: Hopefully, whatever I have left will be a good one.

He takes a step forward... and immediately falls over. From down below, he laughs ever so slightly.

LONGAEVA: ...Miss Praefortis, I seem to have forgotten how to use my legs entirely.
LONGAEVA: It has been many, many long years.
LONGAEVA: I don't suppose you could provide me some means of getting around for the time being? I would hate to burden a young woman like you any longer.

Upstairs, Maria has obtained a basic understanding of lego-based construction! With a bit of loose guidance from Chaos, it's not long until they've completely assembled a skeleton out of the lego blocks. Ever so quickly, Chaos disassembles parts near the joints, adding in long legos™ to give the skeleton a decent range of motion. A few dozen gears are then slammed into the construction, and presto- they have one robot endoskeleton! One that's roughly the size of Maria.

CHAOS: beau[t]iful
CHAOS: so beau[t]iful, [t]ha[t] i have [t]he urge [t]o dis[c]ard i[t] [t]o make a poin[t] abou[t] how li[t][t]le our de[c]isions ma[t][t]er
CHAOS: bu[t] nah [t]his is ar[t]

Chaos and Maria stand in awe of their creation. It's a mishmash of random colors, but it's Maria's mishmash of random colors. One with perhaps the most sophisticated lego engineering that anyone has ever done, ever. Chaos then smushes together a few balls of Spiralfloof Floof, making a little tophat out of them. He places it on top of the skeleton. Perfection.

CHAOS: dapper
CHAOS: now [t]ha[t] i[t] is dapper, we should do [t]he nex[t] s[t]ep
CHAOS: whi[c]h is probably [t]o give i[t] impor[t]an[t] [t]hings, like guns
CHAOS: hella guns
CHAOS: no[t] like, mus[c]le guns
CHAOS: no[t] [t]ha[t] i'm opposed [t]o a gun with huge bi[c]eps, bu[t] maybe you know wha[t] i mean???

CHAOS: poin[t] is, weapons.
CHAOS: i have provided you wi[t]h [t]he mos[t] sophis[t]i[c]a[t]ed design [t]echnology [t]his side of [t]he plane[t]
CHAOS: wha[t]ever i[t] is you wan[t], i [c]an make i[t]

Chaos hands Maria the keys to the kingdom. Which is to say, a few sheets of construction paper, glue, scissors, and crayons. These tools have created and destroyed kingdoms. And now, they are in Maria's hands. Will she make a weapon so horrid in the crimes it can commit, that even Hannah herself would blush?

nah she's like three she'll probably make like a fluffy gun

---

<THE END OF UNITY, ROUND 14>
Spark has not only scored a triple kill, but he's put into place his Dominion! Your defenses will be really quite low for the round... do your best to survive his onslaught despite this! It also might be worth kicking Spark down into Phase 3 if you can, but be sure to keep everyone's HP up! Also try to revive your dead- it's probably important. Pionobot is also down to two revive actions, so you might be able to kill him next round if things go well! Mostly because I have this intuition that he'll be using another special next round, hint hint.

Just survive! You've got this!

((For the above dop, yahoo))

Battle: End of Unity

It was pretty simple. Irongutta saw Spark (grot that he is) and wanted to smack him. And so he moved to M12 to hit him with an Ork-style basic attack.

Not!Echoss Adventures:
Having eliminated most of the meteos, Not!Echoss takes time off of bullying iti to bully different iti and shwoops down into the Southern Storage, pulling out a giant Hungry Hungry Hippos set. He rips off a hippo, and uses it to consume the entire thyme puddles in there. Along with the meteorite.


House Repair:
Echoss blinks at Chaos.
"A... fair deal... I guess?
200 credits it is."
Echoss pays Chaos 200 credits to fix the problem of the hole in the wall (not the tourist attraction the one in our house).


Praetorian Gulag is done, go help Aoki:
Forward in time, with all 15 praetorians gulag'd, Echoss quickly makes his way back to the house. Being suddenly mulched by Spark is not likely to be great for Aoki's well being, spawn point or no.
First off, he checks at the spawn point. Aoki is unconscious, but also unharmed. Echoss heaves a sigh of relief, sends Nana (or whichever NPC will be replacing Aoki) a message letting them know to be ready for combat deployment, then makes his way to Gum in the recroom.
"Gum, would you mind coming with me for a moment? I have bit of substitutional explaining to do and think you should be aware of something."
Echoss leads him out of the room, towards the spawn point.
"To summarize: Aoki requested to join the rest of us on the frontlines. She was given equipment and protection as best we were able to provide, and was, at least to what I saw once I arrived there, more than holding her own.
And then our showdown with Spark had its timetable abruptly accelerated."
The two reach around the spawn point, where Aoki is on the floor.
"Things went sour for her extremely abruptly, and one of our... last ditch mechanisms so to speak kicked in. She's alright physically, and under other circumstances would be able to rejoin the fight immediately.
But I'm breaking usual party protocol and sending someone else back in her place. She's likely to be exhausted, and the rest of us who've had to make use of the spawn point had a bit more combat experience under our belts before outright dying, so she's going to be shaken.
It's an unpleasant experience and she'll want someone she's close to with her while she recovers, so please save chewing me or whoever else out for after she's okay."
Assuming Gum agrees to wait to yell at people for later, Echoss motions for Gum to wake Aoki up, and stands against the wall while she does so that Echoss can explain stuff once she's awake and ready.


INFINITE CRAFT WORKS:
1: Stasis consumables that don't deal damage. (x1 Statipear, x3 Genericola, x1 Pail of Pure Water, x3 Effect Eggs, x10 Frostleaves, x3 Fresh Manabloom, x3 Yggherbs, x2 Glacier Clusters, x2 Electromagnet Clusters, x1 Platinum Ingot, x1 Aurora Crystal, x1 Ashen Crystal using Crafting Credits, x1 Food Package using Crafting Credits)
(Not!Echoss commits more not-quite-crimes-but-the-legislature-will-fix-that-shortly against cooking, pulling out the statipear and very carefully uses his brand new special Platinum Knife to cut it into cookable pieces without setting off its ability. He quickly pulls the water aside, and the genricola. He smacks the Genericola with the Ashen Crystal, boiling it away and leaving behind crystallized sugar and flavor bits. He takes out the sugar using freaky alchemical science which also transmutes the cola flavoring into cinnamon which is traditional flan fare. He mixes the sugar in with the water, hits it with the ashen crystal again to cook it into caramel, and then gets bored of following the entire recipe. Mixing the Statipear, seasonings (yggherb counts as vanilla here for some reason), caramel, and the interiors of the Effect Eggs which turn out to be actual eggs through the power of Not!Echoss not wanting this crafting sequence to be two pages long, and then combines in the glacier clusters, electromagnet clsuters, frostleaves, and manablooms in in a sort of ill-advised magic powder that will ignite an AoE freezing spell powered by the manablooms when the stasis ability of the pear/electromagnet cluster goes off. He sticks it in the oven, cooks it, then sticks it in the fridge where it cools. Flan complete!)
X? (probably 1-3, give durability % if it's multiple I only made one flan) Flash-Freeze Flan! The Flash Freeze Flan inflicts Stasis on the one who eats it for 1 round, and deals Ice damage to everyone in Range1 of them (maybe Range1-2 if you need to increase the consumable's power). It also gives the eater Moderate mending... but brain freeze as well, which in this case manifests as Brainburn of equal intensity.

2: Immunized consumable. (x2 Bot Accounts, x2 Rotted Phoenix Downs, x4 Hybridized Matter, x10 Goneblossoms, x8 Shadow Crystals, x4 Darkmatter Clusters, x1 Royal Magus Spelltome, x6 Eversteel, xfree circuit boards)
(Not!Echoss takes the two Bot Accounts and then goes through an elaborate linking ritual, carving up the Eversteel into containers by temporarily turning them into Neversteel to make them more pliable while he adds circuitboards. Then he combines the shadow crystals, darkmatter clusters, and goneblossoms together to make sort of "dark energy" catalysts, followed up with Hybridzied Matter that is linked in to itself, then applied to the rotted phoenix downs. The phoenix downs are applied to the Bot Accounts, which rez them as zombie accounts. Which have no real orders to do anything so they just sit there, zombie computers don't try to eat living computers so we're okay. The other halves of the hybridized matters are planted into the zombie accounts, sympathetically linking them back to the dark catalysts in the eversteel cores. Finally, using the Royal Magus Spelltome, Not!Echoss casts a dark voodoo enchantment, making it so that whoever uses the dark cores will be linked to the zombie accounts, causing the zombie accounts to take harm in their stead)
x2 Transferral Cores. These apply Immunized when used. If these somehow come out to being strong enough to need more on them, they remove weaknesses and grant a boost to SHP while active (flavored as some of the damage the person takes being passed off to the zombie accounts as well)

3: Mana Pots (x40 Clay, x8 Fluxfuel Cells, x8 Soulblessed Alloy, x2 Sulfuric Acid Vials, x8 Electrum Ingots, x2 Elemental Prisma, x1 Crystal Pen, x40 Manabloom Seeds, xfree gold ingots)
(Not!Echoss grinds up the manabloom seeds and makes them into a mana paste, and mixes it in with the clay before shaping it into aesthetically pleasing pots. Following that he melts down and laces the electrum ingots in around the shapes, making neat and definitely magical patterns that enhance the pots enchantability. He tosses them in the oven we have lying around at one of the crafting stations, making fully fired blueish clay pots. He then uses the Sulfuric Acid Vials to carve channeling runes into their sides with utmost precision, then uses the crystal pen to put his signature on each of the bottom of them (which is actually a QR Code for Never Gonna Give You Up). Finally he merges the Soulblessed Alloy in with the fluxfuel cells. This makes them no longer entropic, but also extremely volatile, so he carefully uses his patented crystal splicing technique to put the flashfuel cells and pieces of the elemental prismas into the pots, and wires them in with the gold ingots. When the fuels are disrupted they will rupture, and the power will be absorbed and channeled by the elemental prismas through the gold lining into the powerful mana conversion runes in the pots, giving whoever disrupted them a huge mana boost. It will also cause the pot to violently explode but you can't do everything at once, right?)
x8 Mana Pots. Range1 consumable that, on use, grants the target/user massive amounts of MP, with all excess MP being turned into Energized over the next three rounds. It also inflicts minor slashing damage and low grade bleed when the pot violently explodes causing the shards to harm the user.


Battle:
Echoss scoffs at Spark's response and moseys on up to (N7), then casts Eagle Eye with Shard Perspective, hitting himself and Adria. This gives the Echobot Focused6 and Empowered6, which he promptly swaps to Enlightened6 with Alter Reality.
"I've said it before, I can say it as many times as I am inclined.
You are very, very confident for someone who seems to be floundering at making any kind of progress to speak of.
Oh, yes, you managed to kill our primary support with help from one of your most recent mistakes."
Echoss flourishes, the treecle tart and a phoenix
"How do you feel about your odds of doing it again, little ember? Three times? Four? How about ten?
We can keep doing this all day, we aren't on the clock anymore. You don't seem to have nearly enough momentum left for this, however."
The Echobot throws down the Treecle Tart, Auth respawns, at full health, on (P7)

Summary:
RP
Echobot moves to (N7), casts Eagle Eye with Shared Perspective on Adria and himself, Alter Reality's his Empowered6 into Enlightened6, uses the Treecle Tart to full-heal revive Auth at (P7) (trait doesn't trigger, Know How To Use It bumps Empowered to 16), and tosses a Phoenix Up to Cypress (Know How To Use It restores Cypress at 52% health. Trait has 20% chance to dupe, 20% chance to conserve. Save in battle inventory on dupe).
Finally, Echobot retreats to O6.


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

End of Unity

ADRIA: Just another puppet... j-just another puppet...

Adria keeps repeating those words at Spark as she sharply turns to Pionobot, who has just killed two people in cold blood.

ADRIA: You.
ADRIA: You are going to regret even thinking about doing that.
ADRIA: Omorika.

...It's like she doesn't even need to say what she wants. Just from her tone, and what she has in her hand, it's obvious what she wants to do.

ACTUAL ACTION

Adria waits for Echobot. Then, she moves to (L9). She uses Full Power To Weapons, and loads an Overpowering Smash into her railgun. This grants it +11 Buff Levels total.

Omorika will then move to (I8), eat an Orange Variety Fruit Pastry for MP, and Null Somnum Adria. Once Star places a Thyme Vortex under her, she should retreat into the nearest Thyme Vortex to safety.

Adria shoots Pionobot immediately after.
-Railgun Hit: (38 * 1.1 Weakness * 1.6 Empowered & Emotion) - 1 AC = 66 DMG, 37 +80% HIT (Sniper + Focused) = 67 HIT, 21 CRT + 12 CRT (Sniper) = 33 CRT
-Overpowering Smash: (22 * 1.1 Weakness * 2.1 (11 Buff Levels) * 1.4 (OS Damage Bonus triggers)) - 1 AC = 71 DMG, 37 +95% HIT (Sniper, min. range is 1 + Focused) = 73 HIT, 21 CRT + 10 CRT (Load) + 21 CRT (Sniper) = 52 CRT.

...

Adria appears to be losing herself. This battle has been overwhelming on multiple fronts. In a desperate attempt to calm herself, she looks to the sky.

A small blip, a speck, really... a speck that's rapidly approaching. The sound of wind engines grows exponentially louder by the moment.

It's headed straight for the battlefield.

Sure enough, it zooms overhead. It's a fairly small yet zippy glider.

Machinegun rounds pelt some of the Perfect Chairians in the rear as it flings itself past.

A familiar voice can be heard from the comms as it passes overhead.

HANNAH: Kept you waiting, huh?

Glider Stats:
Has the stats of an airship gun (including Intangible), with a different basic attack, and no spells. It disappears in 4 rounds.
Basic Attack:
(6-7)x3 Piercing, Range 1-3 Laser. Armorpierce 2. Basic Attacks apply Fourth Thorn1 on hit, an Advanced status effect lasting indefinitely. Subsequent Basic Attacks increase Fourth Thorn's intensity by 1. During regen, Fourth Thorn deals Poison damage equal to double its intensity and reduces its intensity by 1. At 5+ stacks of Fourth Thorn, instead deals (12-12) Direct damage before being completely dispelled.

HANNAH ACTION

Appear at (H6), Basic Attack NorthEast, hitting PSoldier3 and PMagus1.

---

The Hunt

Shelly looks at Chaos as he responds... even though she was talking to EN. After a moment, she shrugs. Sure, more deckhands. Works for her. Though she does have a few words about a specific brand of bottled water.

SHELLY: Oh. That stuff.
SHELLY: We had a shipment of that "water" come in before.
SHELLY: And you are absolutely, 110% correct!
SHELLY: Tastes like peck, and you can't even boil it without getting your appliances gummed up!
SHELLY: Never again!

She's not as dismissive with EN's fears, of course. Primarily because she's not the wackyzany person that Chaos is.

SHELLY: ...Well, I was never the best with comforting people...
SHELLY: Just... try not to think about it too much?
SHELLY: That being said, I think you killed every reasonably big thing down there, so we shouldn't receive much damage.
SHELLY: And even if not... let's just say I never come unprepared.
SHELLY: I have my methods.

Chaos takes the wheel, while Shelly mans the parascope. As they descend into the depths, and Shelly watches the infected Fell Beasts draw near, Chaos points out the remains of something big.

It's a good thing that the parascope is telescopic. And oddly flexible.

Shelly maneuvers the parascope in a few odd directions before the glass arrives at the bottom of the sub.

Shelly sighs, almost... disappointed?

SHELLY: I... damn, I got our hopes up for nothing.
SHELLY: Target slain, I guess...
SHELLY: ...
SHELLY: I guess we could rip out the remains to take back before the parasites eat everything.
SHELLY: Might make for some cool gear later.
SHELLY: It'd be a waste to leave materials like these down here.

Shelly motions for Chaos to swing the sub closer.

SHELLY: Since liquids aren't the strong suit of you two, I'll handle any diving we need to do, if only to attach some wires or chains to bring the corpse up.
SHELLY: ...I'm gonna need a scuba suit though. EN, you're decently crafty. Mind helping out with that?

---

The Fusion

Adria's still diligently working away at it...

---

Mari

Adria doesn't resist as she's (rather awkwardly) pulled into the hug, though it rather taken aback by that. Mari would likely feel Adria's heart rate going a million miles a minute after the whole ordeal, eyes still drenched, and still rather shaky.

ADRIA: I-I...

It takes a moment for everything to register. When it does, she lowers her head, and hugs Mari back.

ADRIA: I... I-I'm sorry, I...
ADRIA: I-I shouldn't have... shouldn't've offloaded all that on you...

ADRIA: ...B-but... thank you. R-really.

When it comes time to back off, Mari starts to fall on her rear. Once she realizes what's happening, Adria was quick on the draw, catching Mari by the arm and setting her down gently.

ADRIA: I... s-should be fine after a couple of minutes.

Adria tilts her head when Mari mentions her old self. What's causing this change in attitude from her previous, masculine self?

ADRIA: W-well... I-I think it's a positive change, all the same!
ADRIA: Most, many people, even girls, f-feel like they have to act all tough a-and unfeeling, all the time, and all that...
ADRIA: It... could be for a-any reason, really. Afraid of being m-made fun of, seeming weak, that kinda thing.
ADRIA: I-It's a little silly to think about, in... y-yknow, a vacuum, but...
ADRIA: It takes a lot of courage to... well, b-be willing to show a little empathy. E-especially in s-societies where, y'know, it's seemingly shunned.

Adria sits there for a moment, reflecting on what she said. She kinda went on about a probably uninteresting topic.

ADRIA: ...Y-yeah.
ADRIA: B-basically, it's... it's all fine around me.

Mari then asks if Adria wants to head out for a drink or something. And if she's doing all this right. Adria nods understandingly; social stuff is hard. It also seems like she's keen on going to grab a snack.

ADRIA: W-well... there's a small cafe on this floor.
ADRIA: Wanna... pop over there? I'm a little hungry, a-and I could use some chips right about now.

The answer's probably "sure", in which case the science gals will head out to the cafe.

Regardless, Adria gets the conversation before all this back on track.

Adria giggles at the thought of the person who discovered Chronoenergy being so high off his rocker that they could have just hallucinated all of it. Mari also expresses her relative shock over being on a rogue planet.

ADRIA: W-well, think about it this way.
ADRIA: Nobody's going to expect life to be on a planet hurtling through the freezing cold of space.
ADRIA: And as I said, the solar pinhole supplies enough sunlight to the planet to stop us from freezing.
ADRIA: The reason why we're not orbiting a star is... unknown, shockingly enough.
ADRIA: Did our star go supernova? Was it intentionally flung out of orbit? Nobody has any clue.
ADRIA: In fact, despite all our temporal tech, something's stopping us from even just... looking that far into the past.
ADRIA: It's also the reason why we can't just look back to determine whether our origins are human in nature.

ADRIA: But, to me, that just makes the mystery behind our history more enticing!
ADRIA: Well, to me, anyway.

Mari also remarks that it sounds like something straight out of science fiction. Adria giggles.

ADRIA: Yeah, I guess it is, hmhm.
ADRIA: You don't realize how outlandish your home is until you leave it.

She also mentions a Dah'ren Morhan. Adria thinks for a moment, as if remembering something.

ADRIA: I remember Sophie came back with a couple video games from Earth...
ADRIA: I think I remember her getting far in one of them.
ADRIA: Monster Hunter, I think it was called?
ADRIA: ...Yeah, I think that's one of the monsters she was fighting against at one point.
ADRIA: I am SO glad that all of the huge real-life monsters are confined to the more extreme locales...
ADRIA: Deep in the most extreme desert, far under the ocean, that kinda thing.

I think the most shocking revelation here is that Sophia's a gamer. Maybe not a Gamer^TM, she's probably more like Chloe tier.

End of Unity
Move to F15.
Channel Magic from Rot to Beech.
Restful Nap self.

BATTLES

Before Adria/Omo:
Star moves to K20, then uses Soaring Rush to fly to G21. They stab Perfect Archer 1 with Sol Aeterna (Fire damage).
Next, as a bonus action, they activate Astral Birth, causing Thyme Vortices to swirl into existence at I8 and O10.
They then cast Phase Shift on Cinder 2, and from their new position, throw an Infinisyringe at themselves.

---

ZONE 5.5

The Reflector realizes there's actually another room we haven't explored yet! They head to Fusion Development and then go south to the Prototype Weapons Bay.

---

PATHFINDER

"THE SCION": Maybe I could play as someone strong, with a big weapon?
"THE SCION": I can't really carry much without terrible shooting pain normally, so, well... maybe that would be fun...?

"The Scion" goes outside to find Dawn.

"THE SCION": Um... hello, Dawn!
"THE SCION": Why... why are you standing out here alone...?
"THE SCION": I... would you like to come inside and play a game with us?
"THE SCION": We're, er, "roleplaying" as characters on an adventure.
"THE SCION": Asha and Marron and some people you probably haven't met, that is.
"THE SCION": But it will be fun! ...I think.

If Dawn does agree to come indoors, "the Scion" will craft something to make their light more bearable.

Asha nods excitedly at Chloe's suggestion.
"Ooh, an elemental monk sounds cool! Do I get to shoot fireballs and stuff?" She mimes shooting a fireball out of her hand, followed by a few punches.

At some point, Berg also shows up asking to play.
"I feel like five might be too much of a crowd? Sorry, I just don't want things to be too complicated for our first time around. If there's a next time, though, you'll be first one we ask!"

She then tries to look through the inventory for something to use as dice.

Battle - End of Unity

The Calfusion visibly frowns at hearing Spark's response. Clearly, they were hoping for something more encouraging. It probably doesn't help that Spark killed off a bunch of people at once.

"It would be worth it to fight the sphere, at least from what I can see. Look at what's happening to you. At what the sphere is doing to you... Ware's practically using you for entertainment at this point."

The fusion frowns further, then flares up violently, a surge of bright colours pulsing throughout their wings.

"Is that how you want this to end? Begging for power from the very thing that should be your hated enemy?"

---



---

The colours begin to fade.

"...Something doesn't... feel right."

The Calfusion's body shakes, then the blue segments of their form break down completely, colours fading to an ominous pitch black while the fusion's head slumps. Moments later, with a few sparks of red light, the fusion stands straight again, though their colour scheme does not change... Something seems different about their aura.

Something very wrong.

"Guys? Calibri's gone! Just letting you know ahead of time in case something happens. I'm in control right now, but... Don't be too surprised if I can't maintain it, okay?"

That is NOT the right voice. At all.


Battle action:

The fusion (technically still a Calfusion in form, but being operated by Verdana) moves to L13, taking a look down at Beech. Friendly reminder that 12 feet tall is a really tall height.

"Nice to meet you! It would've been nicer if the circumstances weren't so tense, but I'll take what I can get. Anyway, let's sort out this whole tricky business and then we can... I dunno, hang out or something?"

The fusion starts with using I Am Sparticus on Beech, several large red crystalline shields manifesting around her that have an obvious link to the fusion's core. That should help keep Beech safe by virtue of "not taking any damage until the fusion's giant healthbar is gotten through". Then, they cast Cure on her too, buff levels and hangover canceling out to provide the base spell effect.

...

Also they use a Panacea. Of course they do.

"If you had a hangover and access to a cure, you'd use one too!"

---

The Old Pass...?

EN observes happenings in silence. She seems visibly disappointed that the Fell God got killed off by random iti long before they'd ever gotten to it. But she does have some way to work with this turn of events, probably. All she needs to do is get a little creative, and also incredibly unethical. Then she could pull off... all sorts of things. So many possibilities lie at her fingertips...

...Better retrieve stuff first, though. She overhears Shelly asking for assistance,

"A'ight, lemme rig up wha' ah can."

She dives into the inventory, returning moments later with a Chainknight's Plate, which she soon pads with some Fireproof Gel, Raindrop Crystals, and an Iti Cell. The logic is simple here - Fireproof Gel has a "proof", the Raindrop Crystals have water, and the Iti cell has the Iti. Therefore, she has created something that is, by definition Iti + Water + Proof. As you know, thyme matter is Iti + Water, and Water + Proof = Waterproof, thusly this should qualify as a thyme-matter-proof diving suit.

...I mean, it works if you're willing to follow the absolutely delusional logic of the average Engietech associate, but hey, maybe that's exactly what one needs in this situation.

---

The Everground

I'll just leave this here for later.

---

Receptionist's Hall

"It's getting worse. Adria, I don't know if you can hear me, but-"

Another violent burst of static echoes across Calibri's body, though this time it doesn't stop, continuing to travel up until it's almost completely covered him. As it happens, his expression becomes one of increasingly severe panic, up until the point where his eyes suddenly flash pitch-black...

Then, in an eruption of similarly pitch-black lightning, the static falls off of his body, melting into the floor. Such a display would probably be cause to celebrate if that were all that happened, but that's not quite the end of it. After all...

That burst of black lightning also reveals that Calibri's body has gone monochrome. Every so often, sparks of electricity fly from the very edges of his holographic body. All those extra details from the fusion projection thing are gone, leaving him wingless and standing on the ground.

His eyes are also so pitch black they look hollow, reminiscent of a skull, and he has a very unnatural grin on his face. There's also the noose hanging around his neck...

"Oh, counterpart of mine. Between the strain of staying fused for so long and maintaining... whatever this was supposed to be, how were you supposed to fend off the butterfly, let alone me?"

The stranger in Calibri's body just intensifies his grin, clearly thinking some thoughts that he doesn't feel inclined to share. Then, he turns his attention to Adria. His eyes betray amusement, though the rest of him barely changes.

"Ahh... So that was the plan. Wait for a solution... and for my little insurrection to set up a recovery state. I see, I see. Very clever, counterpart..."

---

Star Aeterna to the battlefield...?

"Hmm..."

Lato seems to be taking her mind off things as best she can by focusing on Star's fighting style, quietly noting down what she can observe.

---

The House

"...That would probably be incriminating as GORILLA."

Engie decides to comb through the footage and see if it's remotely feasible to just... quietly get rid of the parts where Ikea is speaking, or if he'll have to leave those in. While the Tabletopians might be a bit unable to act right now, once the thymefield goes down, he suspects they'd be very willing to make a move, and it's not like he'd be able to get away with establishing a "definitely not military" force on the planet for protection purposes...

Right?

After Venia, Destiny moves to M17 and Hookshots Rot, landing at J14. She uses a Gravity Crush on Rot. She retreats to J13.

Battle: End of Unity

"Oh, I'm sorry, is your ego so big that you think me not having a lot to say is a win? I wanted to really believe you were worth something but the truth is you're just a pathetic man and a quitter. It's not even what your goals are but how you chose to go about them that got you here. None of what you did was 'necessary,' you just shoved every other good idea out and justified it after the fact because you can't tolerate a world where you're wrong. Well, you're about to experience it... And it looks like WARE is going to make sure you experience it just like Ikea did, like a severed head. You're not worth my time-you're a speedbump, and we're going to pass you by. Now excuse me, I have more important matters to deal with."

Venia looks over Spark and to Pionobot near to the other side of the map... Who probably already went down from Adria's attack before. "HEY YOU RUSTBUCKET BASTARD!" Venia screams. "YEAH, YOU, "GREAT DESTROYER"! What's an 'almighty warrior-god' who only seems to attack the defenseless and just quits when he can't kill something tougher than him? A big fat stupid schoolyard bully! Contemptable! Coward! If you're so tough, why don't you pick on someone who actually fights back?! Get over here already-I've always wanted to disassemble one of you!"

Venia moves to M16 and uses Phantasmal Force on Rot twice, racking up 72 damage. As the Praetorians are not elite, Venia also knocks off 4 DGE and 4 CNT by doing so. This also refreshes Venia's special buffs-which allows her to immediately follow up with a Material Transfer on Rot, healing Beech (who should not be healblocked), using Needle Conjuration to aim from M15 instead of her current tile.

---

Other stuff

-later-

Yato, lacking any particular remarks about the situation, simply grimaced, a pair of ethereal wings shimmering in and out of existence on their back, half alight, half the wings of crows. Perhaps attempting a summon spell while within the concentrated state of the Foenix wasn't the smartest idea, but ah well. They were at no risk of death, and nor was their mount.

Gibbet glares angrily at Compost. ...Super Big Cutty! Your

CODE

gorilla

ing life ends one round from now.

Yato, unlike their bird, is focusing down on the larger target at hand, Gibbler moving first to K10, Envenoming Yato's arrow with a triumphant screech, and also probably magic of some variety, before Yato loosed it at one very thymy boi. ...Spark, that is.

Remiel moves to H4, casts Cherry Energy to down PSoldier1, moves to J3, casts Cherry Energy on Magus1 with all remaining MP, and basicattacks an empty tile. Spike Storm hits all adjacent enemies for half of basicattack damage, which is at +70% DMG. Minicrits are upgraded to fullcrits. Yeehaw.

After this attack, Remiel should have enough MP to Cherry Energy everything to death, assuming RNG doesn't make me become back my money. So Remiel does that. If there's not enough MP to destroy all the corpses, just Cherry Energy Soldier1, then toss a Fragapple at Remiel's own tile.

Oh yeah, and retreat to K4. Thyme is bad for Remiel's health.

Lullaby restores 10% of MMP during Regen.

PLANNING: 7 / 10
----
< BATTLE: END OF UNITY >
[Bauhaus] Bauhaus moves to K13 and basic attacks Compost, boosting it with Oil Reserves (+20% damage, -8 MP, Fire element) and switching to Light with Seraphim Charm.

[Reisz] Reisz moves to N14, uses Jaunt() to the west, hitting Rot and Compost, basic attacks Rot if the former is alive, basic attacks Compost instead if not, then retreats to I13.

Turn ends. +2 Planning.
PLANNING: 9 / 10

Auth looks mildly bemused as he finds himself, rather suddenly, on a slow boat on a dark river. His body is enveloped in a golden light... but he knows he's stuck until the Thymefield permits him to return. So, in the meantime...

AUTH: How about a game of chess?

It is by sheer coincidence that by the time he has finished his game with the Boatman, he has been resurrected by EchoBot.

AUTH: Spark, perhaps we can put this simply for you. I don't think anyone has put it in as few words as I am about to.
AUTH: Death is a mild inconvenience for us. It is no worse than the flu. Cease and desist.

Auth has a compulsion to deliver a blow to the head of Pionobot. He is too far away for him to hit, alas.

AUTH: I can't say that your intended targets were folly, though. I can, at least, compliment you on intelligent target selection.

Auth, having now been revived, then turns to Acacia.

AUTH: I'm sure that you were being sarcastic, given that glare, but I am actually proud that you are eliminating threats with your words, instead of with murder.
AUTH: It's remarkable progress. I'm very proud.

On P7, Auth swaps Aoki out for the Sleuth on P6, and then revives Aoki. He helps to whisk her away from the Field.

---

Auth decides that it might be smart to help keep an eye on Aoki, once she's off-field and safe. Seeing as they both just died, although Auth has exponentially more experience than her with it, perhaps it would be a sympathetic ear.

Assuming that Aoki is awake, Auth looks slightly sad towards her.

AUTH: Do you want to talk about what happened? Do you need anything?
AUTH: What happened back there... it's rough that it happened. So we're here to talk about it if you wanted to. It's scary the first time.

Facing mortality is a horrifying prospect. Auth definitely wants to try and help out with Aoki, having suffered it for the first time.

---

Time for the final question, then.

AUTH: I'm sure that they'd all be quite pleased to be considered so highly.
AUTH: I'm sure it would be flattering for them.

Auth thinks momentarily.

AUTH: I was asked about post-Sphere Sussui before we recorded the video, so I suppose this question has been sitting on my mind. Do you mind my asking?
AUTH: Particularly, I mean, If you had the opportunity to join the Highchair, what would you think about it? Would you take it?

Simeon eats a Managlaze Yggapple and then moves to G18 with Zahlia. There, he drops the Sleuth right out onto H17 and uses him as a stand as he takes out a Sniper Rifle and shoots Compost with Si-Op's Light Rounds. At the same time, Zahlia herself uses Riposte.

Dream
Daskter moves to C16 and meditates

pikemen moves to H15 and stabs Spark

Battle: End of Unity

Irongutta just got hit by a violent wave of earth. Despite the serious damage unleashed by Spark's raw power, the Ork still stood with confidence. "Hah! That was it? You're gonna 'ave to try 'arder than that to kill me, Spark."

Boosted by the power of the Blast Suit, Irongutta moves to M15 to swing at Compost.

<ROUND 331>

Not!Echoss and Echoss continue their crime sprees. To begin, Not!Echoss decides to commit animal abuse, using the essence of the Great Hippo Spirit to create a giant Hungry Hungry Hippos board. This is then used to destroy an entire pool of Thyme Matter down in the Southern Storage, as well as a meteorite. However, the hippo will remain ever hungry, as these materials have phased out of its stomach and into the inventory. A tragedy. 100 Thyme Matter and 3 Meteorite obtained.

Elsewhere, Echoss performs negotiations with Chaos. 200 credits to fix the hole in the wall. Chaos's van collapses upon itself, before expanding outwards to fill the wall. While it looks beyond horrendous, it's hard to tell that it's different from a normal wall due to the medium of Google Sheets. It'll do. Probably.

He then heads down the stairs (and down the timeline), meeting with a dizzy, unconscious Aoki. At least she's still alive. The Sleuth (probably) is flagged over to replace Aoki on the field of duty. As for the next order of business, Echoss contacts Gum. There's... something rather important he must relay. They make their way over to the spawnpoint, where Gum immediately rushes over to Aoki's side. He doesn't even bother to let Echoss finish speaking.

GUM: wait wait you actually let her go on the frontlines!?
GUM: against spark himself? like, the literal goddamn dictator himself?
GUM: what were you even thinking? she could've been-

Actually, as Echoss explains, she... was. Kind of, anyway. Gum's heart, if he had one, would sink at this very moment. He gives her a gentle shake, prompting a weak moan. At least she's alive. Echoss explains that at the very least, she's alright physically. Mentally, however... things are what we'd probably call "pretty goddamn bad."

GUM: oh.
GUM: i... thought you guys were better than that.

GUM: were i an idiot i would kick your gorilla but i'm 99% sure i'd just die
GUM: and besides, she needs me more than you at the moment, and i can't exactly be there if i do that
GUM: ...i'll just. let you do what you do.
GUM: if your negligence has hurt her, though...
GUM: again, probably won't do anything as i'll get my gorilla thrashed, but if i could i would

Aoki's eyes flutter open as the commotion rises. Though she'd probably like to vomit, there's not really much left to expunge in that regard. Her eyes go wide as she realizes she's in Gum's arms, shooting up into a sitting position.

AOKI: I-I... h-hmm?
AOKI: This is... o-odd...

She feels up her chest where Spark delivered an arrow straight into her chest. Nothing. Were she to look even closer, there wouldn't even be a scar to remember the incident by. But perhaps she'd prefer a scar over this horrible, all-consuming nausea. Gum supports her, stopping her from keeling over and fainting once more.

AOKI: Echoss, G-Gum...
AOKI: W-What... happened?
AOKI: I-I... can't say I've f-felt worse...

As Echoss prepares to tackle this surely awkward job, Not!Echoss decides to commit consumable crime. Taking a Statipear, a Pail of Pure Water, 3 Effect Eggs, 10 Frostleaves, 3 Fresh Manabloom, 2 Glacier Clusters, 2 Electromagnetic Clusters, a Platinum Ingot, and an Aurora Crystal, the Flash-Freeze Flan is created! Three instances. Because it's simpler that way.

Then, 2 Bot Accounts, 2 Rotted Phoenix Downs, 4 Hybridized Matter, 5 Goneblossoms, 4 Shadow Crystals, 2 Darkmatter Clusters, a Royal Magus Spelltome, 6 Eversteel, and some amount of circuit boards are used to make 2 Transferral Cores! They're Tier 7: nice!

Finally, 20 Clay, 8 Fluxfuel Cells, 8 Soulblessed Alloy, 2 Sulfuric Acid Vials, 8 Electrum Ingots, 2 Elemental Prisma, a Crystal Pen, and 40 Manabloom Seeds are used to create 8 Mana Pots! These definitely aren't safe.

Ah, Echoss also scoffs at Spark. He then says it again: he's extremely confident for someone who appears to be making exactly zero progress against them. Even though he's quite literally just killed three whole party members. In what can only be described as a "sigma male move", Echoss immediately undoes most of Spark's progress through what can only be described as a "christmas hellspawn abomination".

SPARK: ...What is that.
SPARK: How can one's cooking be so atrocious that it defies the concept of death itself.
SPARK: But... how many times can you do that in a row?
SPARK: You will run out of delicious home cooking eventually, Spherebreakers.

Never before have such threatening words been uttered.

---

Shelly decides to investigate a corpse. She can't help but feel somewhat disappointed at the fact that the Fell God is already dead. At the very least though, perhaps she could harvest the remains of the fallen god? Shelly motions for Chaos to drive closer to the corpse. Odds are, Shelly's going to be the only one doing some diving. Could EN help with making a diving suit? Probably. As for Chaos though, he slaps the wheels. The sub shoots forward, stopping a very, very short distance away from the head.

CHAOS: how did [t]his [t]hing even ge[t] down here, anyway?
CHAOS: [t]unnels are [t]oo small for i[t]
CHAOS: maybe it grew down here, bu[t] [t]hen wha[t] are [t]he wings for? [c]an some[t]hing [t]ha[t] big even fly?
CHAOS: i[t]'s like a bee, bu[t] bad
CHAOS: evolu[t]ion, man. dropped [t]he ball here.

As Shelly awaits the creation of some gear, Adria and Mari share an awkward, if very nice hug. Though not really the thing she expected, it's enough for Adria to calm down somewhat. She probably shouldn't have offloaded all that onto her... but thanks. Mari continues to trip on her words.

MARI: U-Um... y-you're... welcome!
MARI: A-Anytime. Really.

Mari produces a noise from her mouth that can vaguely be textually transmitted as "appfgfghfhfhhfghphhhgffff", as she falls back. Fortunately, Adria's more than ready to stop her from tumbling over, instead helping her to the ground. She can't help but the slightest bit confused by something Mari mentioned earlier... when she was different? But, ultimately, it takes a lot of courage to show a little empathy. Slowly but carefully, Mari nods.

MARI: Y-Yeah.
MARI: Like, before I was... me, I was made fun of for being things that weren't "angry" or "cold".
MARI: M-Maybe you know how it is?
MARI: It's... pretty nice to just act how I want to, really. Not bottling things up all the time.
MARI: Perks of being an adventurer, maybe.

The subject of getting a drink then comes up. Adria brings up that there's a little cafe somewhere on this floor. Mari bobs her head. It's really small, but it's like, the ideal little corner cafe where one can spend countless hours writing a screenplay. While probably not hipster enough for Mari's tastes... it sounds nice.

MARI: Hm. Sounds good to me.
MARI: Think they got coffee? I'm feeling a bit low.
MARI: If not, maybe I can convince Omo to lend me a cup...

Not that she'd succeed. Omorika is fiercely protective of her coffee supply. A short while later, the science gals make their way to the cafe. There's this weird little concoction called "Radium Coffee", which while incredibly suspicious, sounds good enough to her. She orders a cup, not actually expending any credits. She also grabs a baggie of chips for Adria. She might notice that they're incredibly crunchy, even as far as chips go. Like, it'd be impossible to eat these sort of things quietly. At least they're quite good. It's here where they get their conversation back on track.

MARI: So... you really don't know why you're on a rogue planet?
MARI: Sheesh. Let's just chalk it up to "dumb luck", and leave it there.
MARI: Or "dumb unluck"? The opposite of Dream Luck? I dunno.
MARI: Whatever you wanna call it.
MARI: Wonder if someone could go and figure that out, though?
MARI: Like, maybe you can't go back in time, but maybe we can do some good ol' fashioned archeology.
MARI: Like, scientifically speaking, the odds of anyone living on a rogue planet without any sort of tech is... well, zero percent.
MARI: There has to be something left behind, right?

MARI: And... how do you guys get exports from Earth, anyway?
MARI: Like, I respect Sophie's taste in media, but how'd she get it?
MARI: Are you guys like Echoss, with this weird network of things that go everywhere?
MARI: Or has humanity been hiding all of the people like me underneath the floorboards, and they've secretly invented FTL travel n' gorilla?
MARI: ...What would we even trade you guys? Video games, I guess?
MARI: A currency built entirely on video games?
MARI: If that's the case, I have 95 copies of Bad Rats ready to go, pronto.
MARI: ...Not my best investment.

GM'S DISCLAIMER: I have never played Bad Rats. I feel as if I should remedy this somehow, but I don't know if I'm brave enough to fix this issue.

---

The Reflector visits a room! There's... a room there? I totally forgot. Reality violently reconfigures itself as a room is slotted into place behind that door. The Reflector finds themselves in the Prototype Weapons Bay. A room that likely would've been helpful earlier, but perhaps that "Protoforge" can be put to good use?

Over with Chloe, Marron, and Asha, the Scion wonders if they could be someone with a big, swing-y weapon. Chloe nods. She's much more familiar with what the Scion's talking about, swiftly navigating to a page that depicts a Fighter. She also bookmarks another page for future reference: a page for the Barbarian!

CHLOE: Fortunately for you, all good fantasy has strong people with big weapons!
CHLOE: If you just wanna hit people with big metal objects, there's two main options for that.
CHLOE: There's the Fighter who... does fightin'.
CHLOE: They're famous for their wide variety of weapons and armaments, whether it's a big sword, a big spear, a big sword AND a big spear... or maybe shields, if you're into that.
CHLOE: There's also the Barbarian, who goes berserk in combat and slaughters things with ease!
CHLOE: They're... less refined than the Fighter, though. But they're arguably better at swinging unreasonably sized pieces of metal.

Two very appealing options! If she wishes, Chloe allows the Scion to study the pages of the book. Maybe with gloves, though. Or she'll hold the book, and turn the pages for her. Either works.

Though, there's something not bothering the Scion at the moment. That being an eternal, radiant light. They head outside to look for Dawn. It takes all of five seconds to pinpoint their rough location. Why are they, the glorious, shimmering god of light, standing out here, all alone?

DAWN: HELLO, SCION.
DAWN: IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT... I AM NOT A GOD.
DAWN: MY PITIFULLY SHORT EXISTENCE HAS ALREADY BEEN EXPOSED AS A LIE.
DAWN: TRULY, LIFE IS BUT A SERIES OF ENDLESS TRAGEDIES, BLOWING IN UPON THE COOL SPRING'S BREEZE.
DAWN: WITH EACH COMING DAY, A NEW PLAGUE, A NEW PAIN.
DAWN: WHAT HELL AWAITS ME IN THE FUTURE?

That's, uh... great! But, perhaps they'd like to play a game? Roleplaying as characters on an adventure.

DAWN: THAT SOUNDS LIKE AN APPEALING WAY TO FORGET MY SUFFERINGS.
DAWN: LET US MAKE HASTE.

With significantly less swagger (which, since they're a floating rock, is going from 5 swagger to -78 swagger), Dawn floats off the ground, following the Scion. As they travel, the Scion takes 10 Simple Fabric and 2 Shadow Crystals, creating a magical darkness lampshade sorta thing. This is placed around Dawn, making their light almost bearable!

Almost.

Dawn respectfully punches a hole through the nearby wall to enter the kitchen. With their telekinetic powers, they seal the wall behind them so as to not get scolded by Echoss. Again. Chloe doesn't even need to see who's entered the room to know who's visiting.

CHLOE: Oh, heya Dawn!
CHLOE: Have you come to join us-
DAWN: CAN YOUR LITTLE GAME ALLOW ME TO PLAY GOD?
CHLOE: Uh...

Chloe flips through her sourcebook. There's nothing there about strictly being a god, but Chloe believes she could make something work. Maybe Dawn could be a disciple of some higher god? Or maybe they can be the incarnate form of a god... who's also as strong as the rest of the party, for balance reasons.

CHLOE: I... think so!
CHLOE: Welcome aboard, Dawn!
DAWN: THANK YOU, PEASANT.
DAWN: I SHALL DO MY BEST TO ENJOY THIS GAME.
CHLOE: Y-You're... welcome?

Chloe's only a little bit concerned about how this game is going to go as of now. In addition, Ette has found her way into the room. She bops the table as she takes a seat next to her sister.

ETTE: Hello! I'm here now!
ETTE: Can I play, too?
MARRON: Of course!
MARRON: You can be our... uh...
MARRON: ...Healer? Is there a healer?
CHLOE: Of course!
CHLOE: You can be a Cleric, if that's what you wanna be.
ETTE: Yaaaay! Thank you, Chloe!

Chloe is now increasingly worried. Not because Ette's a troublesome player, but because she'd feel bad if anything horrible happened to Ette's character. It'll be a tough balance between trying to slaughter everyone, and being cool plus good.

---

Asha must know. Can she fireballs? Chloe is generally unsure, so she spends awhile flipping through her rulebook.

CHLOE: Um... kinda?
CHLOE: Some kinds of Monks can use this thing called "ki" to cast things that are kinda like spells.
CHLOE: Or we can just sorta make things up so you can cast normal spells, like a wizard.
CHLOE: Like, you can be a... "Roaring Flames Monk", or whatever we wanna call it, who's punches can throw fireballs a short distance!
CHLOE: We can just make things up as we go along, y'know?

Marron meanwhile, has begun work on her character sheet, as given to her by Chloe. She's just a little bit conflicted, though. What to be? There's so many options, and only one sheet of paper to write on.

MARRON: Um... Asha.
MARRON: Should I be a wizard person? Or maybe an archer?
MARRON: Like, I'm an archer in real life, so it'd be a good fit... but at the same time, it'd be fun to be a cute wizard lady like you!
MARRON: C'mon! Help me pick!

While Asha ponders this surely very difficult decision, she looks through the inventory for something that could work as dice. Eventually, she finds a piece of Starite! While not a conventional material for dice, the fact that it can easily be morphed with just one's mind makes it ideal for having ALL THE TYPES OF DICE, EVER. In one die. Truly, this is the biggest abuse of power this universe has ever seen.

---

The Calfusion urges Spark to fight aginst the Sphere. He shakes his head.

SPARK: Fighting the Sphere in any form is useless.
SPA[color=#cc00cc]RK: I also lack the strength to deal with both the Sphere and you children at the same time.

Elsewhere, down in the depths of the Fell Beast Nest, EN-913 decides to craft a Thymeproof Diving Suit. Taking 4 Thermal Gel, 4 Raindrop Crystals, an Iti Cell, and a Chainknight's Plate, this is somehow made. Shelly should probably be feeling pretty worried about the odds of this actually working. But if it works for Engietech, it'll probably work for her. That, or instantly, violently mulch her.

Chaos meanwhile, has been working the Submarine's sonar. Apparently, this boat has one now. Then again, what sort of self-respecting non-sandwich submarine doesn't have a sonar? Though, Chaos appears to have a very loose understanding of what a "sonar" is. There's a lot of little flashes on his little readout.

CHAOS: wild
CHAOS: so [t]his [t]hing is [t]uned [t]o i[t]i
CHAOS: and apparen[t]ly [t]here's a[t] leas[t] like, a few million migi in [t]he [c]orpse of [t]ha[t] [t]hing?
CHAOS: not [t]ha[t] [t]here's mu[c]h lef[t] [t]o infe[c][t] in [t]ha[t] [c]orpse [t]hough

CHAOS: also, a reques[t]
CHAOS: [t]ha[t] [t]hing has a big ol' he[c]kin [t]oo[t]h
CHAOS: a [t]ier 8 big he[c]kin [t]oo[t]h
CHAOS: and i wan[t] [t]o hang [t]ha[t] above my man[t]le.
CHAOS: plz grab, [t]hanks

The beast does in fact, have one intact, absolute heckin' chonker of a front tooth. It's almost certainly bigger than the average mantle, and definitely big enough to cleave the entire submarine in half. We know this, because Chaos has swung the submarine really close to the tooth. How the hell will the party bring that home? If it's Tier 8 though, it's probably worth grabbing.

Finally, the Engie Drone skims the footage they've been provided with. It shouldn't take too much effort to do just that... and so, they do. Though the canister is impossible to avoid in some shots, IKEA's voice isn't present for much of the footage at all. At least IKEA's face can never be clearly made out. But... is this fine? Do the Tabletopians even know about the head canister in the first place? Regardless, it should be ready to send. Should he, though?

---

Venia resumes her mouth. Spark sighs. He really should've just not said anything. Trying to one-up her was a mistake. Not a game-losing mistake. Just an annoying mistake. It's like realizing you've forgotten your wallet when you've just opened the front door. That sort of annoyance. Except usually, you don't feel the urge to throw your wallet into lower orbit.

SPARK: If it flatters you, I was truly happy that you decided to SHUT UP.
SPARK: But nothing good can last forever.
SPARK: How does anyone tolerate your big mouth? These insistent, constant speeches about heroism, and being so unbearably smart that APPARENTLY, you can immediately dismiss my attempts as idiotic.
SPARK: As if you could come up with a better solution. You've said it yourself. We all die, don't we?
SPARK: You clearly can't come up with a solution. Nobody could.

SPARK: Please do us all a favor now, and shut up.
SPARK: Your grating voice makes me long for death even more than I currently do.

Spark's Will To Live fell! But it can't get any lower!

---

After an unfortunate incident (not dying, but being forced to have EN's cooking), the Author returns from the dead! He turns to Acacia, actually rather proud of her attempts at diplomacy. Acacia stammers, face going verdant. With rage.

ACACIA: W-WAIT, I WAS MAKING FUN OF YOU!
ACACIA: You can't just be p-proud of me a-after mocking you guys!
ACACIA: I was going to kill them, but then I thought it'd be a huge gorillaing bother c-cleaning up their corpse afterwards!
ACACIA: SO I DIDN'T.
ACACIA: The next time I attempt diplomacy, I'll shoot you instead of the enemy if it makes you so goddamn proud.

...Does she have the spirit? Maybe. At least if she shot him, he'd probably just come back from it. Unlike a random Chairian. Then again, it'd probably make Nana quite unhappy. Could Nana take Acacia in a fight? The answer is "absolutely hecking not". Nana hasn't even considered the fight, and yet she's already lost the battle of the mind.

Elsewhere, a just-revived Auth decides to have a nice chat with Aoki. Though... she doesn't appear to be much for talking at the moment. Dying is not good for one's... anything, really. It's a bit unfortunate, really. Oh well.

At least over in the Chapel, the Author has a more willing conversation partner. How would Taeda feel about joining up with the Highchair? If she had the opportunity, of course. Taeda blushes profusely, if she wasn't already. She sits on her answer for a few seconds.

TAEDA: W-Where'd this question come from, sir Author?
TAEDA: But... if I had the chance, I-I'd love to guide the people!
TAEDA: It's... been awhile since we've had a proper religious representative on the Highchair. Not since we lost Sequoia...

TAEDA: T-Though... I'm not sure if I'm skilled enough, or e-even mature enough to join the Highchair.
TAEDA: Even with Lord Helix's guidance, I-I'm not sure... a-am I skilled enough?
TAEDA: Maybe if I got guidance from Lady Omorika. S-She's good at her job, right?
TAEDA: B-But... ah. Maybe I shouldn't dream on this too much?
TAEDA: A girl like me, becoming a member of the Highchair... that's a bit too much of a fairy tale, isn't it?

So, want to break the news? Or bring in Omorika? I don't know. What do you want to do?

---

<THE END OF UNITY, ROUND 15>
This is it. Spark's down to his last legs. While he's undergone another metamorphosis, he's ultimately weaker than ever. Finish him off! You can do it! Failure to take him down quickly will result in him getting to use his new Special multiple times, which WILL wear down your HP at a rapid rate! Also see if Pionobot can be finished off as well- he's out of extra lives, so now's the best possible time to strike!

Berg moves to J17 using Royal Insurance.

cA: What is this... unbearable potential?...

On top of the Overwhelming Creation tile.

cA: ...I understand... so this is the power of the Creation Glyph...

Bergilmir looks up at Spark, inches away, energy sparking from every inch of his body. His normal bellicosity is gone, replaced with a glare as cold and hard as his home.

cA: ...Do you see this, Spark? Your own stolen power, turned against you. I am the thief of a thief, wielding strength that isn't mine. But unlike you, I have no problem accepting aid, no urge to control the source. My right arm was Nia's once, given after a scuffle early on.

SPARK: ...What?

Bergilmir roars a battlecry loud enough to crack the earth across the battlefield, and spirits soar out of them, converging on him. One by one, they turn into spheres of glowing light, until they all surge into Bergilmir's body, and eyes that aren't his begin to glow. Ancestral weapons start to form, swords, halberds, spears, arrows, and more. They freeze into steel-hard blades, and start rotating in a ring around him. Raising one hand, Bergilmir points it towards the Dream of Unity, and the weapons launch themselves towards the misbegotten ship in a rush of air.

In an impact that sounds out throughout the entire region, the weapons tear through the airship, rending foe and mechanism alike. The ancestors' iron wills drives them further, harder, until they shoot out the other side, and melt into mist. On the ship itself, one of its guns comes off of its joints, its internals exposed. A perfect target for him to take his stress out on.

cA: FURY OF MY ANCESTORS, MAY MY STRENGTH BE ENOUGH!

The cracks around Bergilmir turn into fissures, pushed open by the rapidly cooling liquids being pulled from the air. Not just water. Bergilmir pushes harder, and harder, until nitrogen also starts to solidify. He raises his fist one more time, pointing it defiantly at the sky. The freezing nitrogen shoots towards his arm and congeals around it, supercooling the mechanisms. The arm whirrs into motion, energy forming in a ball in the palm of Bergilmir's hand. Without saying a word, he launches the overcharged shot towards the airship gun. At first, the strike seems to do nothing, splashing over the gun harmlessly. Soon, however, fractures spread out from the point of impact, until the entire weapon shatters into countless shards, and falls to earth.

Their purpose done, the spirits fly from his body, and shrink into nothing on the horizon. His body spent from the effort of wielding pure creation, Bergilmir collapses to one knee, but uses the last dregs of it to rally himself back up, facing Spark. Through ragged breaths he taunts Spark again.

cA: A-Amazing... even after that... I could only damage it a little... It seems your subjects, both living and not... outpace you Spark.