SCALTA: Truly, this is something interesting to hear of. Not just because it is yet another new civilization filled with wonders, but with how its technology bears striking similarities to that of the Auten.
SCALTA: Powerful alloys used in great numbers of technology, automated systems, production powered by clean energy…
SCALTA: Replace electricity with magic… Arkalloy… Vosinum…
SCALTA: It’s funny, isn’t it? Magic and science, two completely different concepts, become nearly indistinguishable in their results at times. Of course, the Auten are yet to discover the power of interplanetary travel with portals or any other such things, but otherwise it rings true. I think there’s a beauty in it, that these opposing things both find ways to create utopia.

Scalta pauses for a moment.

SCALTA: I do believe that is the extent of what I desired to learn from this conversation, and now I must continue to keep dutiful watch of my realm in the absence of two of the Pantheon. I thank you graciously for your time. I must take my leave, but not without a gift.

Rather promptly, a moderately sized bronze colored drone pops in, many many crafting items in tow. It decides to borrow Cypress’s Pneumatic Staff and get to crafting.



SCALTA: I've upgraded the offensive capabilities of the staff. I can definitely see why you talk up Tabletopian technology so much, this goes even beyond what I had in the Place of Old.
SCALTA: And with that, I shall take my leave momentarily, unless you have any final questions.

----------------------------

In the meantime, now that Droplet is unconscious, Destiny steals some of her bathwater.
Destiny also buys Reborn Rites, 2 Crystal Energizers, and 2 Improve Energy Efficiencies from the Lab.

Asha makes a few small changes.

First off, she changes Blunt Stance:
Once per action, you can move one target 3 spaces (1 if Bonus/Free Action). Additionally, whenever you would move an enemy, you may forgo the movement to apply ExhaustedX for two rounds, where X is the movement value. If this becomes Collapsed, the duration is set to 1. Your Basic Attack is Crushing.

The Blunt counter now applies Exhausted1 for three rounds, rather than Stunning at low MP. This can't apply Exhausted to the same target more than once per turn.

Mirage Storm: Blunt now simply moves targets 2 spaces in any direction, rather than applying Omniblight at low MP.

-4 MMP. +4 DEF.

Finally, she changes Whirling Blades to Riposte.

~~~

"Yeow! I wasn't expecting that shock..."

She prods at her new arm gently, testing its new tactile response.

"It's been a long time since I've been able to feel anything but vague feedback from either of my arms, and now both feel real as the day I was born." She looks at Cypress and bows her head as thanks. Thank you for all your help, Cypress. I'll make sure that in the battles to come, I will put this to good use!"

She pumps her fist enthusiastically.

Asha gets new armor as a result of her arm upgrade: One Arm Army! It's identical to the Praetorian Armor: ATLAS, but Nanite Injection replaces Armaments and Royal Insurance.
[Nanite Injection]: Basic Positive Statuses have +1 Duration. Basic Negative Statuses have 1 duration, regardless of their original amount.
This has all been processed already, but I wanted to include it for posterity.

~~~

Now, Asha has a job to do- testing out her new arm! She meets up with Marron, and tries to convince her to help her make some juice. Juice must be easy right? With Marron's help she's able to make something surprisingly adequate! Though, undoubtedly Marron is responsible for the fine presentation of it.

Snow Covered Kiss
Restore (20-20) MP and gain Enlightened4 for three rounds. Non-damaging spells have +2 Buff Levels this round.

As a thank you (and at Cypress' suggestion), she gently pats her girlfriend's head, avoiding getting any tangles in her arm joints.

~~~

Next, she should attempt some more technical tasks. How about some weapons? She makes two for her own purposes. Portable tasers, and self-propelling rubber railgun bullets, for when you simply don't have enough stopping power.

Electromagnet Cluster x2, Plasteel Ingot x10, Gravcore Ore x2, Arkalloy x5, Crystalline Conduit x5, Thermal Gel x2, Uniform Logs (Rubber).

Portable Taser (T4)
Deal (6-7) Piercing Damage and apply Jolted7 for three rounds. Range 1-2.

Rubber Railgun Bullet (T5)
The doctor said the bleeding is all internal, that's where the blood is supposed to be!
Deal (15-17) Crushing Damage and apply Bleed3 for three rounds. Range 1-5

Not sure how many of each this should make. You decide.

~~~

Finally, something that requires precision: writing! Asha, while on break from this, scribbling some random lines and doodles, she accidentally creates a perfect replica of a diagram said to be made by Helix himself! A few materials anomalously disappear from the inventory in awe.

Sacred Geometry (T7)
Roll a number between 25% and 100% of your HIT. You ignore DGE below that amount for three rounds. This is an advanced effect.

House

"...Okay then?"

Verdana is clearly very confused about what to make of Dawn, but decides to get on with things anyway. Since the house layout got kind of fucked up recently, he goes and checks out the windows, which have been replaced with doors. He knows damn well that's not where they go, and so yanks them out and moves one over to where the actual front door used to be. Then, after retrieving the other door and taking it over, he stands there and stares...

"I don't remember how the doors went on. If anyone remembers the layout, that'd help a bunch. I'm gonna go reglass the windows."

He promptly goes over to reglass the windows. To make the glass for that, he takes some rocks and violently crushes them down into fine sand, then blasts the sand with fire, then apparently just sees fit to slap the glass in place and build up layer after layer of it.

Verdana is shit at making windows. Someone should probably be monitoring him.


Meanwhile, Blacklight continues conversation with Beech.

"Hm. Looking for a purpose in life now, I would assume? I'm just a former corrupted split personality, so my opinion likely won't be worth much, but..."

He pauses for a second, then shrugs, leaning against one of the intact walls of the house.

"Since Spark is gone... I suppose that raises a couple of key questions. Why did you join him? And what do you want to do now that he's no longer a factor?"


"..."

Loading.

---

Zone 6

The sound of cardboard crumpling can be heard as Calibri's neck collapses under the weight of over 51 hotdogs. It seems he wasn't talking about god's limit earlier. Good thing he doesn't actually need his head, as his core proceeds to do the speaking from somewhere inside his illusory form's chest.

"Ow. Yeah, this isn't working so great for me anymore. Might need to change technique."

Beat.

"Or, you know, find something that can actually support the weight of that many hotdogs. Or I can just forego having a head for a while but honestly it's kind of painful and I don't want Chloe to laugh at me later if my head gets stuck like this."


Meanwhile, over where Lato is, she can quite obviously tell that there are problems with letting things continue as they are. This Devout is gonna hurt someone. She should intervene. And so she does, wandering up to take a closer look at the Devout and the Ballista.

"...If you are absolutely certain you want to be using that thing, you should probably seek training with it. While I could improvise something, it would be better left to professionals, if you know where to locate any of them."

---

Drop has been kicked

"...Whew."

Calibri's a bit relieved that things didn't go as bad as expected. But what to do now... Better delegate some things. He sheathes the Azure Faith, turning his attention over to Reisz, the only one left standing.

"You should probably tend to Calypse and Yume. They're not that beat up... okay, maybe Calypse is, but still. Leaving them both there seems a bit unwise."

Then, he turns his attention to Droplet. There's a non-zero chance she's still KO'd. If that is the case, he revives her with a Phoenix Up. If she's not currently KO'd, though, he just offers her a Chairian Brew. Either way, that should help get her in a proper conversational state.

"...You fought well, Drops. Had me worried for a bit there. Don't get me wrong, you still lost, but... eh, that's beside the point. If you're up for it, I'd like to discuss how we're gonna bring Daikon back."

Beat.

"...Figured it's the least I could do, given... everything."

---

Resolution of Triangle

That's that battle dealt with. Calibri chuckles.

"Yeah, that blew up pretty well."
"...Assistance appreciated. Let us depart."

Yeah, this doesn't need to be very long. These two go their ways away from the scene.

<ROUND 326>

As a note, most equipment crafting has been handled by Eris and Sparked this update! Many thanks to them! As a result, I won't be going over crafts in the text of this update. Mostly, anyway.

---

Adria witnesses the Fell God's demise. It's a bit like across between a fountain, a volcano, and the five decomposing corpses they found at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria. Adria wanders off behind a rock and promptly empties the contents of her stomach. Mari wanders behind the rock, patting her friend on the back.

MARI: There, there.
MARI: Nothing to be worried about. Just a blood fountain full of blood n' gorilla.
MARI: actually if i'm being real with you it's a bit traumatizing but i've seen worse

MARI: Uhhhh, anyway. We should probably get away from this place. It smells almost as bad as your kitchen, and that's a feat that's really quite impressive.
MARI: I'll get you a drink, too? Yeah.
MARI: That'll do you some good.

As Mari gives Adria a few more pats on the back, Taeda is around to witness the return of the Boshi! Taeda hops up and down as she waves.

TAEDA: Oh, Mr. Boshi! Welcome back to the planet!
TAEDA: I thought you left? But that doesn't matter; I'm happy you're here!
TAEDA: And... well, don't worry about the cleanup. It's all just undead viscera.
TAEDA: Should burn up with the power of my lord's divine will!

Taeda raises her gun skyward, firing off a few rounds of holy light. On cue, Lord Helix unleashes his divine fury towards the planet's surface, incinerating a good deal of the remaining viscera in an instant. With that done, Taeda holsters her gun, and turns to face Boshi.

TAEDA: So, what brings you back here?
TAEDA: ...Did you miss us?

A few kilometers north, and a few feet down below the soil, Shelly pulls out two needles on Biflora. Technically four, but two of those have been safely stashed away in her hair bun. Biflora sighs, shrugging. Slightly worried, but still smug enough.

BIFLORA: W-Wow, you'd really fight me with those? When I'm unarmed?
BIFLORA: Hardly a fair fight, don't you think?
BIFLORA: Besides. You can't just shiv one of your prisoners to death, can you? That doesn't sound like it follows your guy's "moral code" or whatever.
BIFLORA: That thing you pretend to have. Y'know.

Next, over within the walls of Seatopolis, Hannah attempts to explain herself a little to Chi. Though admittedly, it's a bit complicated, the reasons as to why she wielded Yew. Fortunately, Chi really doesn't care why Hannah wants to learn, so whatever. Though Chi mentioned healing magic as a potential route for Hannah to explore, apparently it doesn't really "gel" with her.

CHI Ah a natural incompatibility Unfortunate
CHI The best I can do for you then is to teach you a few tricks and have you follow my lead
CHI Hopefully that

Chi follows Hannah along to the Temple of Helix, per her request. When they arrive, Taeda is still hard at work there, tending to those she can. She waves to Hannah as she enters the building for the second time.

TAEDA: Oh, hello again, Hannah! And welcome to our church, Chi!
TAEDA: Hannah, have you come to donate more supplies?
CHI: Actually, she's come to tend to the wounded. As have I.
TAEDA: Oh, okay!

TAEDA: ...Wait, her? Didn't she-
CHI: Yes.
TAEDA: U-Um, okay.
TAEDA: W-Well, I wish you two luck!
TAEDA: And... be careful, okay? Some of their injuries are pretty serious...
CHI: Of course. She will be under my strict supervision.

Wordlessly, Chi guides Hannah down the western wing of the church, settling down near two lightly injured patients. A variety of cuts cover their arms and faces- from the looks of things, it must've been a surprise case of aerial Seeker. A Seeker may not be very intimidating, but one's opinion may change on that front when a Seeker is airdropped onto their face via Harpy airlift.

CHI: So. I am unaware of any sort of previous background you may have in this field, but it's likely not relevant.
CHI: We've had a few "fleshy" visitors on this planet in my time. Treating them was rather alien to me, so odds are treating a Chairian will be rather alien to you.
CHI: While we can make use of bandages and the like to stem bleeding, anything more serious than a shallow wound typically requires the usage of magic. One can't exactly use needle and thread to piece together severed bits of bark.
CHI: I can't exactly teach you arbormancy, but most of my treatment techniques don't actually make use of magic. They're really quite "traditional".
CHI: My magic is actually... quite lacking, at least when compared to other doctors.

CHI: So, here. You might've seen me produce some of this on the battlefield.
CHI: A salve of sorts. Consider it a "dummy's medical kit" or something along those lines.

Chi uses Prepare Panacea, equipping a pre-prepared kit of her salve. She hands this to Hannah.

CHI: For minor wounds like these, a salve works just fine.
CHI: ...Normally, one would use arbormancy to seal these wounds shut, but the manipulation of a living Chairian's matter is quite strenuous. This is honestly far easier.
CHI: Anyway. Using your fingers, gently slather this on the patient's cuts. It contains a growth stimulant to encourage regeneration of the bark, and will also prevent any more sap from leaving their body.
CHI: Thick layers work the best. And, given our biology, it's best to really... "shove" it into the wound. It won't harm them, don't worry.
CHI: If you're interested in mixing your own, well... I suppose I could teach you that. But it's probably not what you're interested in, is it?

CHI: Ah, also. Once you've applied the salve, please apply a bandage over the wound. Stops the salve or sap from dripping out.
CHI: I know this isn't the most sophisticated of teachings, but their wounds are fairly minor. We should be thankful for that.

Chi begins the rather slow process of applying salve to one patient's wounds, looking at Hannah to see if she follows her process. Meanwhile, with the group Chi and Hannah left behind, Adria wonders if a more civilized approach would be the best way to handle the palace guards. Omorika nods her head.

OMORIKA: That would be for the best, yes.
OMORIKA: Perhaps we could gather a team of Spherebreakers? Your reputation is quite legendary at this point.
OMORIKA: No sane squadron would dare face us down at this point. Plus, I'm sure they'd be more willing to consider diplomacy when faced with such overwhelming odds as well.
OMORIKA: A bit... heavy handed, yes, but we really don't have time to waste, do we?

perhaps it's time to make use of the auth karma aura

---

Echoss. Not!Echoss. They do the do. Starting off strong, Not!Echoss throws 50 Credits at the Sleuth, prompting him to walk over a few feet to yet another Tabletopian wreck. He plucks it up from the ground, sets it on a table, scans it, then crushes it into dust with his face.

>Codex Updated!

Sakura, just outside of the house, isn't quite capable of formulating the proper question to ask when it comes to the Sleuth being alive. Or as to why he's bashing drones into dust with his face. What she can respond to though, is if she wants to be carried inside. She gives him a totally blank stare.

SAKURA: ...Please do.

Sakura remains equally despondent when placed upon the couch. She's soon brought a few bits of food- a bowl of stew, some salad, a bread bun, and a glass of water. Sakura finds the effort to slump against the arm rest, and sizes up the meal provided to her. She takes in a deep sniff.

SAKURA: U-Ugh!?
SAKURA: W-Who... m-made this garbage? T-That's definitely the scent of s-spider meat in the stew... h-how boorish! How l-lowly!
SAKURA: And... who puts s-sap directly on salad? Would it hurt to make a proper dressing? B-Barbarians!
SAKURA: And, this bread... i-it's...

...Sakura can't actually find anything wrong with the bread at first glance (much to a distant Marron's joy), so she snatches it up and rips a chunk from it. Ever so slowly, she chews it, testing the waters.

SAKURA: ...Okay, the b-bread is... fine. Complements to the chef.
SAKURA: It could certainly use some garlic butter on top. Or cream cheese. But really, all bread requires those things.
SAKURA: On a base level, this dish is fine.
SAKURA: I would like more bread, please. And perhaps something with a little more punch than water?
SAKURA: Get to it. Chop chop.

...It takes her a moment to process that she's talking to her captors, and not a servant. She gives Echoss a blank stare, perhaps hoping that he's somehow forgotten about the previous five words she's said. Her stare remains blank as he wanders off to go and do other things.

One of these things being continuing his conversation with the two Praetorians. First, he asks Beech if she has any sort of experience with adventure fantasy. She shakes her head as she erects another wall from a block of wood, reducing the draftiness of the building by about 25%.

BEECH: Adventure fantasy? Can't say I'm too acquainted.
BEECH: I had to work hard to become a member of the Praetorian guard. Apparently, a lot of us came from high-class backgrounds.
BEECH: Not me. I had to strive to get to where I am today. Didn't have time for things like "fantasy" and the like.
BEECH: But, regardless, even if I don't understand what you're alluding to, I'll help as much as I can.
BEECH: The accommodations are welcome as well. The stew seems simple, but certainly appetizing. I'll certainly help myself at some point, though I haven't had much of an appetite with... well, everything.

As for Cedar, Echoss finds him sulking in the hold of the airship. Still. Echoss brings up a quote from an old friend of sorts. "Who is this self pentience helping?" Well, it certainly isn't helping the people of Sussui, is it? As well, he isn't an active threat to LOCAA and its people, so really he's not in danger as long as he doesn't do anything stupid. But, if he wishes to atone for what he's done wrong... perhaps he should spend a day in contemplation. What will he do after the Sphere falls, and he's put to trial?

CEDAR: ...Perhaps I will allow the citizens to do what they deem fit.
CEDAR: I was meant to protect the people. If they believe that I have completely failed in this task, and they would prefer me sealed away... then I would be fine with that.

CEDAR: But... me staying here for the day would be for the best, I think. Perhaps
CEDAR: I need the time to think.
CEDAR: I have faith that you'll respect my wishes here.

Finally, Not!Echoss scoops up and collects the Grey Pin, bringing it over to Droplet. But, just so that it's amused, he assembles it a mech suit out of a Broken Cryotube, some metals, some amount of circuitry, and 2 King's Armor Fragments. When presented with the components, it... leaps into them, and immediately assembles itself into an Ohmnic. Huh. It seems more than happy to leave for Droplet's now, which it does.

All is well.

---

Star bonks Droplet with a heal. Coming from an actual weapon, it still stings a little, even if the healing far, far outweighs any sort of damage they just dealt. Droplet comes to rather quickly, swatting at the legs of the person nearest to her with her hands.

DROPLET: O-Ow, hey! I-I already gorillaing lost, d-didn't I?
DROPLET: I-It's just like you, t-to rub it in-

She soon realizes that she's swinging at Star, who poses a simple question- does she have memory of them? She gives them a blank stare, meeting their own narrow, purple glare.

DROPLET: H-Huh? Memory of you?
DROPLET: A-Are... are you talking about like, through the h-hivemind? Well, newsflash- I'm not connected to that anymore.
DROPLET: I can remember some things from back then, t-though...
DROPLET: It's hard to imagine when you're no longer a part of it, but I felt like I knew... everyone. And everything.
DROPLET: Like, I probably knew you. I knew everyone, even the lowest of the low. The seekers. All at the same time.
DROPLET: That connection, it was intoxicating, enlightening...
DROPLET: And so overwhelmingly... cruel...

DROPLET: ...What makes you think that I-I can even help against the Sphere?
DROPLET: Not even an entire team of so-called "Eliti" could stand up t-to your total bullgorilla. Sure, more cannon fodder always helps, but I'm not going to die for some hopeless crusade.
DROPLET: But, that... "hanged man", as you've called him... what a jerk.
DROPLET: H-He's really just going to use and destroy us, l-like every other creation of his!?
DROPLET: Every descendant is the same, giving life, only to spend it in their service...
DROPLET: I-It's... n-not fair...
DROPLET: A-And then he just... makes me like t-this, letting me think about t-this garbage? How hopeless e-everything is?
DROPLET: It doesn't... make any sense...

DROPLET H-How do you stand it?
DROPLET: T-The feeling of disconnection, t-the silence in your head? The ugly truth t-that we've been dealt?
DROPLET: The other Iti s-seem to be too simple t-to care... why us?

Droplet continues to sulk on the ground in front of Star, certainly aware of how awful she looks at the moment. Perhaps Star has something to say about this? Something that could maybe alter the lore of the game? Who knows. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

---

Hex has come to make an annoucement. GOD IS DEAD. THEY HAVE KILLED HIM. Okay, that's actually just a footnote of the message, but imagine if he led with that? That'd be a power move, right there. Though, mentioning that you've captured the former Chairheir's daughter can't be good for-

PERMAFROST ROBE: ...You have the means to enter the Sphere?
PERMAFROST ROBE: If you really think you can survive in the heart of the Iti, then there's no way we can do anything about it.
PERMAFROST ROBE: Not that we were going to, anyway. Someone needs to at least try to kill the damn thing, right?
PERMAFROST ROBE: Go right on ahead. I believe there's a location from which you can use the glyphs near the top.
PERMAFROST ROBE: In fact... complementary map. Here.

The entirety of the Citadel loads into the map. Huh. The members of the Highchair notice the commotion, or rather the lack of it up to the north.

OMORIKA: That was... simple.
CYRESS: Indeed. Let's be thankful.

The Highchair promptly takes the Citadel.

---

JOE attempts to obtain flux! But first, he rips off his right hand in a rather clean, if gruesome fashion. He then uses his freshly-detached right hand and his left hand, plopping them onto the Flux Altar within Zone 2. Sharp spikes shoot into each hand, and immediately begin to siphon blood! Joe's detached right hand is promptly drained dry within seconds, but it appears there's enough blood to make... a perfectly ordinary vial of blood. As it turns out, doing this by yourself doesn't make for the most interesting of concoctions. Maybe it'll still be useful though?

JOE then heads into the southern wing of the Whispering Library, and takes a look at the dark energy there. It's red, yes, but that doesn't automatically mean its flux. Which doesn't stop him from sweeping it up, obtaining 5 Flux somehow anyway. This could probably be considered "bootleg flux", but it's Flux nonetheless.

Next, he heads into the Endless Gardens, visiting Acacia's little vegetable patch. Using the Will of the Crops, he levels up the farm with his blessing. He then advances to the Projection Box, but feels that he probably shouldn't suck the Flux out of it. Next, he visits Zone 4, and hoses down the Great Sapsqueal. Though he's immediately mauled afterwards, he manages to extract 5 Flux from the sap he's cleaned off of its body.

He then dives down into the catacombs, and begins bashing things that don't belong to him. The Smith immediately wakes up, and pushes JOE out of his little hobble.

SMITH: WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?
SMITH: ABSOLUTELY NO MANNERS, YOU.
SMITH: IF YOU DESTROY THAT LOCK, THE GRAVITY MIGHT BE FREE TO SHIFT AGAIN. AND WE DO NOT WANT THAT.
SMITH: NOW SHOO. GET.

JOE warps over to the Hellfire Room, where he promptly Terraforms into the ground, attempting to find the bottom of the Hellfire Pit. He descends roughly 50 tiles before realizing that maybe there is no bottom to the Hellfire Pit. He may need to find another method to get down to the bottom(?) of things. Next up is the Calamatic Crater, which he promptly drills into. While the First Sin was sucked into what's practically a black hole, he does manage to find a surprisingly large chunk of absolutely disgusting, dead, severed, putrid flesh. He sticks a straw into it, and 10 Flux spews out.

...Such immense amounts of Flux harvesting. This unwanted intrusion into the Rosen Catacombs is likely going to draw some ire. Careful to not get the Rose Cultists on your tail. They may have been pacified, but they'll still stab whoever intrudes into their home and messes with their really questionable hellfire pits.

---

Scalta can't help but notice something. Magic and technology really are indistinguishable at times, aren't they? They make use so so many of the same concepts, despite being fundamentally different. And yet, their results usually end up being the same. Cypress bobs his head, setting his voice filter to "excited". This is definitely a feature he has.

CYPRESS: Exactly!
CYPRESS: My goal: harmony. Fuse magic, science. Create wonders. Improve the world. Eventually, reunite cultures. Chairian and Tabletopian.
CYPRESS: A lofty task. But surely possible. Two distinct worlds. Can become one. Science, magic. Chairians, Tabletopians.
CYPRESS: But ultimately. Not so different.

To conclude their little chat, Scalta decides to make Cypress a lovely little presence. Taking their staff, they reinforce it with some Arkalloy and replace some internal components, creating the Kinetic Railstaff. A staff that can go BEEEYOWWWW. That's not a sound Cypress is personally familiar with, but it's certainly very satisfying.

CYPRESS: Ah, admirable work. My thanks.
CYPRESS: Hopefully. Your work: smooth. Whatever it is.
CYPRESS: Farewell, Scalta of the Auten.

In the meantime, while Droplet is unconscious, Destiny decides to gather 20 more units of Iti Idol Bath Water. She also purchases a few upgrades from the lab: Reborn Rites, 2 Crystal Energizers, and 2 improvements to Energy Efficiency. This costs a grand total of 540 samples. The Elemental Sniper is now considered a Tier 8 item. Truly a powerful weapon!

---

Asha attains arm! There's a bit of a shock as the arm flares on- she wasn't really expecting that.

CYPRESS: Oh, right.
CYPRESS: Nerve endings, shocked. New stimulus. Connection process, surprising. Flare of pain. Completely natural.
CYPRESS: Apologies. No warning.

Asha then nicely ties things off as she heads to the kitchen with Marron. It's time to make JUICE making use of her new arm! But first, Marron has to run a test. It's a very important test.

MARRON: Ooh, shiny!
MARRON: I wonder if... this will work?
MARRON: BEHOLD MY ULTIMATE ATTACK-

Marron commences operation "tickle Asha's robot arm", which may feel the slightest bit weird to her. Is Asha even ticklish? This is very important science. After this bout of science, the two of them work together to make an appetizing batch of juice. Asha's fine motor skills are certainly improved, and she's able to (better) handle the tools that Marron hands her, like a a hand juicer. A couple Celefruit later, as well as a bit of milk, and they've created 4 cups of Snow Covered Kiss! Marron promptly consumes (half of) one of them, leaving three to enter the inventory. She hands the rest of the cup to Asha as she sighs happily.

MARRON: Ahh, tasty!
MARRON: It's a bit of a weird thing to do, but you can add milk foam to juice.
MARRON: Just... don't add it to orange juice, okay? It's a really, really bad idea. You'll probably go like "blehhhh" and make a huge mess.
MARRON: Ette made that mistake once back in the Mindscape. Never again.

To reward Marron for her hard work, a headpat is distributed. Fortunately, the gaps in her machinery bits don't allow Marron's hair to get caught within the folds, resulting in a very happy and unharmed Marron. Her head bobbles, and her body rubs up against Asha's, pulling her into a hug.

MARRON: yeeeahhhh
MARRON: more of that please

As Asha likely continues to pet Marron, she also prepares a few tools. Or maybe she does it after. Some variety of materials are thrown together, creating 4 Portable Tazers and 4 Rubber Railgun Bullets. She also throws together a few spellbooks from the "assorted elite weaponry" pile to create the Sacred Geometry, a curious little HIT booster. Marron gives it a quizzical stare. what do it do

---

Verdana and Blacklight continue their time at the house. Though they seem generally unsure what to make of Dawn, they ignore whatever odd thoughts they may have to focus on the task at hand. Examining the doors of the house- or uh, the windows that have been replaced with doors for whatever reason, he nudges them into their proper spot as Dawn slots some walls into place. Some windows are promptly erected in place of the new holes in the wall. They're bad windows, but a window is a window.

Over a few feet, Blacklight continues their little chat with Beech. Just why did she decide to join up with Spark? And, with him out of the picture, what does she want to do now?

BEECH: I joined the Praetorian guard so that I could make a difference in the world.
BEECH: I originally hoped to fight against the Tabletopians that threatened us from day to day. To be part of the Praetorian guard would prove that I had the strength to take them on.
BEECH: I trained, and trained, and eventually I got my wish. I never got to head out onto the battlefield, though.
BEECH: The whole of the Chairian army vanished rather suddenly, and then... well, after the firebombs, all that was left was what I had to fight for. Even if it meant working by Spark's side.
BEECH: We... saw how that turned out though, didn't it?
BEECH: I'm glad that you came around when you did. The way he abused his power was... sickening.

BEECH: As for what I want to do... I guess I'll continue to serve.
BEECH: Fight for the people, even if they hate me for my time with Spark.
BEECH: It's all I'm really good at, truthfully. I've wanted to be a soldier from birth.

Wordlessly, she continues to construct bits and pieces of the house. If only she could reconstruct Calibri's neck, which has perished under the weight of 51 hot dogs. The tower tips and smashes into the Temple of Helix, absolutely obliterating it dealing approximately (0) points of Crushing Damage to it. Chaos grabs hold of his smile, and rotates it 1 degree to the right to indicate sadness.

CHAOS: i [c]an'[t] believe i[t]
CHAOS: in [t]he end, i[t] was no[t] god [t]ha[t] s[t]ru[c]k me down
CHAOS: bu[t] [t]ha[t] dragon, gravi[t]y
CHAOS: new plan; we kill gravi[t]y, [t]hen we go and spi[t]e god wi[t]h [t]he [c]haosdog [t]ower
CHAOS: gravi[t]y lives jus[t] down [t]he s[t]ree[t] we [c]an [t]ake him by surprise le[t]'s go

Chaos throws Calibri a sharpened Chaosdog. Does... does he want to figure out who Chaos is planning to murder? Can Chaos really murder gravity, or is he just going to insist someone is gravity and then kill them? Or perhaps he'll kill anyone who dares obey the law of gravity, thus issuing in a new age where mankind is FREE OF THE SIN THAT IS GRAVITY, THE THING THAT KEEPS US BOUND TO THIS DAMNABLE EARTH-

Meanwhile, Lato insists to the Devout that she should get proper training with her ballista. The devout shakes her head as she continues to ride out of the barracks on her new steed. She shall bring war to the Iti, whether they like it or not! She continues to wheel forward at an incredibly slow pace. It's really quite whelming.

Finally, over in the basement of the Church of Helix, Calibri tells Reisz that they should probably go tend to their fallen allies. Reisz shrugs. Does it look like she knows how to perform healing? One, she doesn't have a healing skill to her name. Two, she's an Iti. Have you ever heard of an Iti healing someone? You haven't, because they don't get healing skills. This job is likely best left to someone who has a passing skill in Medical. As for Droplet, well... did she really fight well?

DROPLET: If we fought well, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have missed every attack that mattered.
DROPLET: A-And... do you really think you can bring h-him back, still!?
DROPLET: S-Stop taunting me w-with that... That's l-low, even for you. Simply irredeemable.

...May as well lead with that plan, right?

---

Venia meets up with Chloe and Nia. She plants a kiss on Nia's lips, the wizardess pulling Venia tight as their lips interlock. Chloe stands there, it dawning on her that she's become the third wheel to their relationship. "Whatever", she probably thinks to herself. These ladies gay. Good for them. Good for them. But... is this ragtag army of lesbians (and also non-lesbians) ready to lay siege to the Sphere?

CHLOE: I-I'd be lying if I said I was completely confident, b-but... we can do this!
CHLOE: We've survived everything, from an insane ruler to Tabletopian raiders! We've killed beaver-shaped gods and town-sized eldritch beings!
CHLOE: What's a weird purple guy gonna do after all that?
NIA: I dunno. Die, I guess?

NIA: We can totally do it! We've got Venia, Omo, Maple... a lot of cute, powerful chicks!
NIA: I think we have the support of most of the Chairian people too- and if not exactly them, we have their leadership on our side!
NIA: Chi and Cypress have the Rebellion under control, so maybe they'll help, then there's that cool Vulcan lady, and I bet all of our friends will come to help, too!
NIA: The power of friendship can and will conquer all!~
NIA: Friendship is totally overpowered!
CHLOE: I-I guess that's pretty cliché b-but we have lots of support!
CHLOE: It won't hurt to prepare more, but I'm sure we've got this!

Nia almost manages to question the fact that Mr. Krabs has just replaced her equipment, but figures that this is par for the course at this point. What's definitely not par for the course though, is what Chaos has just cooked up. Back at the house, he plops down a robotic endoskeleton in front of Maria. He downloads the "Magical Sparkly Princess Maria" app on his phone, which he promptly hands to his heiress.

CHAOS: okay okay
CHAOS: i have hired [t]he bes[t] in indie [t]emmie devs [t]o wri[t]e [t]he sof[t]ware for [t]his in[c]redible app
CHAOS: i[t] has mi[c]ro[t]ransa[c][t]ions, ads, and more impor[t]an[t]ly
CHAOS: g r a p h i [c] s
CHAOS: give i[t] a [t]ry give i[t] a [t]ry

Chaos jumps up and down like a giddy little girl on Christmas day. What does the activated Magical Sparkly Princess Maria do? I dunno. Maria designed all the important parts. Not even Chaos knows what it does, since he outsourced development. What does it do? Only one way to find out!

---

And with that, this round has been processed! Take the Glyphs up to the Thymium Communion, and perhaps you can enter the Sphere? Just... please make sure you're ready. These might be the most brutal battles in the game, and who even knows if you'll get a break between them. This is the P&S of Chaoslikes, maybe. Now that I've said that though, you'll probably steamroll WARE.

haha whoops

Berg notices something while looking for stuff to craft with.

cA: MY ARM

cA: WHY IS MY ARM A FLAIL

cA: AND WHY IS IT TIER 7?

He looks around in surprise, a constant flux of emotions on his face. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he manages to calm down to somewhere under a bellow.

cA: I mean... I wasn't doing anything with it, but it's still odd to see your arm as a weapon component. What reason did someone have for this?

cA: ... I'll admit to being somewhat curious.

cA: It's a bit of irony, I suppose. The arm I removed to put another in its place, used in turn...

Crafting

Mr. Krabs abruptly approaches Nia with a variety of high-tier items and promptly upgrades her gear at ludicrous speed. Truly, Mr. Krabs Cosplaying As General Greivous For Money is the hero we need.

---

Zone 6

Venia, after being very tired and one detour to murder a Fell God, catches up to Nia and Chloe in Zone 6, just after Mr. Krabs vanishes from upgrading all of Nia's gear.

"... Hey, Chloe! Hey, snowflake!" Venia says, reaching down to give Nia a kiss, as they do. "... This is it. This is it. I keep having to tell myself it. We're ready, right? To go into the Sphere? Take on WARE and the Chaos Butterflies? ... It's all happening today."

Venia looks at the Revelation's Ruin-she's had a few test runs before now, and by all logic the weapon works. Still, the handle detached from any source made her feel like she was carrying a knife instead of a high-power energy-based rifle-slash-laser cannon specialized to kill a false god.

"... I'm nervous. God I am nervous. I don't think we can prepare enough. We have to get everyone ready for the end, now-get everyone as good equipment as we possibly can. I have Mr. Krabs whirring up with that..."

---

Mariaaaaaaaaa

Maria is hopping up and down with excitement as her magical girl persona robot completes. It's almost time to surprise everyone with her new combat-ready form.

Not!Echoss slots the second to last of his insane T0 -> T8 targets in. The 3 remaining lilies of infinite quietus are upgraded to T8.
Next round? The Sock Collective.

Echoss expends a slot of Chloe service for himself. He goes down to the portal and comes out with 10 samples and 3 flux (thanks ire!).
"So, I suppose I have an apology to give.
I have been... shall we say... skimming off some of the spherebreaker's battle drops and looting?
Some of it has been registered in the update terminal, but not every instance.
A large number of very unique objects have presented themselves, and additionally I hoped that looking at the iti and remnants of the Butterfly's corruption would provide us with valuable research into how to destroy this threat more easily.
So far we have learned two things.
First: The things which we did not already have good understanding of close equivalents will take far longer to research than we had time for.
Second: Flux does not become inactive.
We may or may not have had a breakout of entropic decay and a small iti hive manifest itself from our samples last night. Everyone is fine, a little bit shaken, but the scientific council insisted that we not leave anything connected to the Butterfly on Sussui during the timeframe for the Sphere's detonation.
I am inclined to agree with them, so I have brought back what is left over from our containment breach.
There is.
Not much of it. I had to lend my personal key-based weapon to destroy a monster that wormed its way into the hazard lab's computer system and the resulting explosion when the purge mixed poorly with the...
Perhaps I don't need to share the entire story right now. Suffice it to say that the safe guards worked, there were no permanent casualties, and I do not want any more of this wretched stuff inside my realm until the Butterfly is dead. For good."


Sakura:
Echoss gives her a flat, unamused stare.
"Ma'am, we are not your servants. That bird has quite flown the coop for you.
I recommend you put some effort into reigning your superiority complex in. If your behavior incites someone else to assault you while I am not around the others may not be inclined to bail you out like I did with Miss Plana.
And he promptly bursts into butterflies, leaving Sakura no time to reply.


Praetorians:
Echoss's hologram simply nods and turns back into a butterfly, leaving Cedar to himself.


Prison Again:
Not!Echoss pops out of the ground and scans one of the tabletopian elites.


The Citadel:
Echoss's butterflies, scattering throughout the citadel to render aid to various chairians, also sending one cloud in particular to the upper floors of the citadel. Materializing in the throne room.
He looks around it and scowls. At least Spark is not here to tarnish the room's history further. He briefly checks on Cypress, who is alright, and ascends the stairs.
He comes to a stop next to Vulcan on Floor 6, staring at the Sphere with her.
"It has been a long time since I have seen the end of an era up close and personally.
...I hope that this time it can be better than the era before it. The people of Sussui have seen far too much calamity in their lives."


Ette's Plushsnake Scarf is upgraded with the free fastpass upgrade system into the Plushscale Scarf: x60 Godtorn Hide, x2 Woodreaver Scales, x20 spiralfloof floofballs, x1 Yggcralwer Blade, x2 Eversteel, x4 fireproof silkweave, x2 Fae Pollen.
Stats are increased to:
(+9 MHP) (+4 DEF) (+4 RES) (+2 SPC)
Slashing (30%) Piercing (30%) Ice (40%) Poison (40%)

The Sleuth's Pumpkin is upgraded with the free fastpass upgrade system into Death's Spooky Pumpkin: x5 Royalmatter, x10 Bones of God, x1 Abyssal Essence, x10 Tama's Toxin, x20 Migi Tainted Godflesh, x1 Predator Tail, x4 Large Pumpkins, x2 Flame Redirectors, x2 Aurora Crystals, x1 Darkweave
Stat changes:
loses -2 MHP, gains 10% fire resist, gains ability: Death's Other Boon
(When you are downed, you may revive with 50% HP. This takes your action.)

Cypress's Thermal Optic is upgraded with the free fastpass upgrade system into the Threat Sensor Optic: x5 Royalmatter, x1 Host Emitter, x2 Ohmetal, x2 Parabolan Orange-Apples, x2 Squall Clusters, x1 Creation Meteorite, x3 Tabletopian Components, x1 Hyperprocessor, x1 Void Liquid
stat changes:
gains +1 CRT and HIT, +10% to both resists, and the bonus action ability now also grants the attack Wallhack.

Also the Scavenger Satchel (on Echoss)'s Resourcefulness passive is changed.
(Every round during regen, you gain 1 Scavenge point. Scavenge can be spent to spawn consumables and put them into the battle inventory, costing 1 point per 2 tiers to the item, with a maximum of T6. For easier GM accounting, the Scavenge points will be listed along with what round it was last upticked/spent so that it doesn't need to be done every round and can just be changed when relevant)

Minor change to my character sheet- since I turned out to have 3 skill points left (I don't know how I mixed that up the first time), I take Limit Breaker for 1 KP (overall gaining me 1 KP because 2 of my stats, SPC and INT, are 1 past the softcap), and reduce my RES by one, so I can take Alter Reality.

more importantly... FLUX!
So I shouldn't extract the Flux from that projection box. understandable! but what about the projection box in the empty armory, which was destroyed through excessive probably hammers? Or did that one already have its Flux extract? If that box still has flux in it- and it doesn't seem like extracting flux from it will shut down all the Other projection boxes- I extract the Flux from That box! Then I head to the Northern Chapel Hall, where there is a water fountain! It is said that tossing in some credits might result in a blessing, but one it's dubious if I'd want. you know what that sounds like to me? Flux! I throw in some credits, prepared to extract the flux from any blessing the fountain bestows on me for my generosity!
I then dive into the fountain and collect all the credits on the bottom. As far as I can tell from the map, there's no cultists which are coincidentally facing the fountain, so my actions will surely be incredibly stealthy! Once I've stolen the credits, I keep an eye out for several minutes for any curses the fountain might bestow on me for my ... ungenerosity? is that a word? anyway I keep an eye out for the curses so I can extract Flux from them, if they exist!

Having dawdled for some time to do these things, especially given I was recently mauled and that sort of thing really slows down mad science, I return to the hellfire pit. Hopefully, the Cultist who wants to cook his apostrophe dog on hellfire is done now, but if not, I can probably handle one cultist, right?
(where by handle I mean repeatedly tank via SHP, AC and base regen. as far as I can tell by looking at the codex monstrum, tanking any one cultist-type this could reasonably be is within my capabilities.)
The first thing I try is dropping a rock into the pit to see if I hear it hit bottom. I doubt it, because I couldn't find the bottom by digging, but this is Flux we're talking about. Next I perform some very basic analysis using my skin, namely, 'is the fire hotter further down, equally hot throughout, or hotter further up?'. See, if the fire is hotter further down, that makes Ordinary sense, and also kinda suggests a bottom unless the hellfire will just keep getting hotter endlessly as you descend (because even though heat rises, it also disperses horizontally barring perfect insulation. strictly speaking for an infinitely deep pit the dispersion would be infinitely slow by the time it got here but since the world is not composed entirely of hellfire we can conclude that is not the case in at least some relevant ways.). If the fire is equally hot throughout, then that suggests one of two things: very good insulation (impossible because the doorway is open. at all times. with no door.), or heat is being produced in the air to match the dispersal, not just below but at the same height the door is at. And if it's hotter further up either a) we don't have a fire pit we have a room of hot, but not self-heating gas which is trapped in the originally-quite-insulated room and locked to its earlier temperature and positioning somehow or b) entropy wackery.
In the 'equally hot throughout' and 'hotter further up' cases, there is entropy wackery happening in an area I can reach without jumping into the hellfire pit, so I attempt to extract the flux from this entropy wackery. In the hotter further down case I cry simply continue terraforming down because there has to be a bottom, or the whole world would've been hellfire by now.


Always on the lookout for flux options, I notice that Nia can generate Flux from bypassing things, and Nia is curious what happens if she bypasses a person! I volunteer to be bypassed. For payment, I offer the credits I fished out of the fountain earlier and the satisfaction of finally knowing what happens if you bypass a person(or you know, the normal amount of credits I guess). I might die, but that's a risk I'm willing to take for a estimated +0.42% chance increase of the farm being reborn per battle!

Post-Battle

Adria wipes her mouth before addressing Mari. She cracks a faint smile.

ADRIA: ...T-thank you.
ADRIA: Let's get out of here.

The two probably opt to take off away from the fountain of no pecking thanks.

Meanwhile, Boshi, despite his giant nose, doesn't appear to be bothered by the stench. Oh, and Taeda also addresses him as he hops down.

BOSHI: (Yeah, I did leave. Stuff only took a day. Besides, making sure everything's not instantly deleted is more important.)
BOSHI: (Heard the princess saw something like that happen at one point. Scary...)

Also, did he miss everyone here? The answer was obvious.

BOSHI: (Yep, kinda.)
BOSHI: (Well, seems you have things covered, I'll head back home. Maybe get ready to help.)
BOSHI: (See ya.)

He starts walking off towards the house.

---

biflora you idiot

Michaela continues walking forward as Biflora talks. Only when she's right next to the cell does she respond.

By immediately and swiftly stabbing both of Biflora's wrists simultaneously. The needles push their way through without effort and pin themselves to the back of the cell. Biflora ends up stuck, bleeding, probably in immense pain, and completely incapable of a decent counterattack.

Knowing that Biflora can't do anything without pulling her wrists through the thicker bases of the needles, Michaela takes the needles out of her sleeves and enters the cell completely unopposed. She grabs Biflora by the jaw in a powerful, highly uncomfortable grip while simultaneously pinning her legs down with her own, and looks her directly in the eyes, the golden color of Michaela's eyes contrasted by their incredibly dead lack of reflection. She's pissed, though her face has barely moved from a neutral frown.

SHELLY: I'm simply returning the "favor" you did for my daughter.
SHELLY: Prick.

She slams Biflora's head against the nearest solid surface. Hard enough to cause a concussion. And even if it doesn't cause one, she'll just do it again.

Once Biflora's unconscious, she takes the needles out, bandages the wounds she left, spits next to her, and leaves the cell, closing and locking the door behind her.

SHELLY: Stupid peck.

She then leaves the cellblock altogether, hanging out in the room over from it. She decides to solve the puzzle.

First, she stands next to the Wisp trapdoor. She then pulls out some Warp Shurikens and climbs down, stopping once she can see the button. She tosses a shuriken at the button to push it down. She immediately leaves. She performs the same song and dance on the Stoat trapdoor and Orb of Chaos trapdoor.

---

Medic Practice

Hannah doesn't seem at all swayed by the potentially judgmental looks from Taeda. And despite Chi's notice that would be strict on her, Hannah remains calm and collected.

As the instruction begins, and Chi mentions to rub the Salve paste in, Hannah realizes that splinters would possibly be a major issue for her fleshy body. She quickly equips some gloves as Chi finishes. Other than that, Hannah listens intently. And once they're ready, she takes a breath.

HANNAH: Okay, here we go.

Hannah begins on one of the patients, following Chi's lead. She slathers some of the paste into a thick layer above the cut, making sure to push the paste into the wound. She's a good deal slower than Chi while doing it, but she's getting it done. She adds more layers as necessary.

Once the salve itself is done, she gets to bandaging the wound. Surprisingly, she's already got the bandaging part down pretty well, performing it surprisingly quickly. A tight fit to hold the salve in place.

HANNAH: I'll admit, I did a lot of bandaging in the past.
HANNAH: ...Mostly on myself, and mostly with makeshift bandages.
HANNAH: It's a lot easier to do it on someone else and with actual medical equipment, huh?
HANNAH: Though, I never used anything resembling a salve before, so this is nice.

Once she secures the bandage in place, if there are any other wounds, she does the same to those as well. As Hannah gets used to the process of applying the salve, she gradually gets faster at doing it. At least, until all wounds are bandaged up.

She takes a step back to give the patient some space.

---

New Fren(?)

After a while, Sophia looks around, energy restored and somewhat bored.

SOPHIA: Hey, Dorothy? I'mma look for stuff to do.
DOROTHY: T-that's okay. It was nice to just... relax for a bit with you.
SOPHIA: Same!

Sophie then trots off downstairs, down to the kitchen. She takes some of the bread from the kitchen and starts nomming on it.

SOPHIA: Mmmm... tasty, fluffy and soft! Marron doesn't miss!~

She finishes off her bread and brushes the crumbs off her mouth, and goes looking for stuff to do immediately after. The front of the house was already almost reconstructed, so her help would be no use there. So she continues wandering the house and comes across Sakura. She perks up at seeing a completely unfamiliar face and waves.

SOPHIA: Oh! New person! Hi!

Sakura... probably wasn't expecting a child to approach her.

---

Having very little to do herself, Dorothy decides to wander as well. Once again passing by the construction (nothing she can do there) and Sakura (Sophie's doing her thing), she walks up to the barracks on the second floor to find Maria and Chaos doing their thing. Dorothy, curious as to what the two were doing here, silently approaches. She doesn't bother them, though, and instead hangs out near the mattress of Spiralfloofs.

---

So Boshi comes back to the house and immediately gets to work on the Airship. But, wait, why would he be going for the airship when there's only one or two battles left? Simple.

He's going to pilot it himself.

Boshi slips into one of the Mechonis and, despite the complicated controls, flies on board the airship. He does the same for the second one. He then takes out the Stormglider Hannah used (though he doesn't know its origin) and takes off the wings, gaining some Plasteel and an engine. With some extra wiring, Boshi attaches the engine to the rear of the ship, granting it additional forward speed, however small it may be.

He then decides to go nuclear.



While he's up there, and while waiting for the final crafts to be processed, Boshi pulls out a comms device. A moment later, he lowers it. Likely the same type of temporal-based comms device the others use.

Michaela, ever vigilant, appears first. This is probably a timeclone. Or is the one in the Catacombs a timeclone? Who knows.

SHELLY: So. You want us to help pilot the airship.
BOSHI: (Yep.)
SHELLY: ...Sure. Beats doing peck all during the end of the world.
SHELLY: Side note, surprised you knew I was around.
BOSHI: (When are you not, though?)
SHELLY: Okay, fair.

A short time later, Hannah pokes her head up. Probably another timeclone for now.

BOSHI: (Glad you could make it, Hannah.)
HANNAH: Sure, sure. Dunno why I couldn't just walk up there myself and stab Iti, though.
SHELLY: Adria is already taking the front lines. Despite the fact she really shouldn't.
SHELLY: We don't need two on the front lines. Also, battle limits.

Hannah rolls her eyes and shrugs.

HANNAH: If you say so, 'ma...

Dorothy and Sophie hop up next. Sophia immediately notices Boshi and runs to him with immeasurable excitement. Cue hug.

SOPHIA: BOSHIIIIIIIII!~
BOSHI: (Hey, my girl! How were things?)
SOPHIA: Good!
BOSHI: (How about you, Dorothy?)

Dorothy thinks for a moment.

DOROTHY: U-um... some pretty bad stuff happened. I-it's resolved now, but...
HANNAH: Yeah... that... yeah.
SHELLY: Still kicking myself for not helping with that...
BOSHI: (...Ah. Remind me to ask about that after this.)

Boshi releases Sophie from the hug. He looks at the Sphere.

BOSHI: (So. The Sphere.)
BOSHI: (Once we start the assault on the Sphere, we'll take off and assist.)
BOSHI: (Then, we bombard the Iti as the front line crosses. After they're in, we should prioritize cleanup of the surrounding area for stray Iti, in case some try to sneak off and attack the front from behind.)
BOSHI: (I have supplied some Mechoni in case some of you want to fly down to assist.)
BOSHI: (I have also contacted some of the others who were on the front lines before to help on the ship, firing weapons, etcetera.)
BOSHI: (Once everyone's ready, it's go time.)

The others scramble to get everything ready on the ship. Boshi himself remains at the helm, looking for any others wanting some bombardment action.

---

Seatopolis

Adria blinks. Well, that was easy.

ADRIA: G-goodness, are we truly that infamous?
ADRIA: ...Well, nevertheless, we should push forth.
ADRIA: Give me a moment.

Adria pulls up her hardlight display and a hardlight keyboard. It's currently not RGB, but there's a 100% chance that it can be. She types in a message to the party.

ADRIA: To all Spherebreakers, we now have access to the Citadel.
ADRIA: We shall convene near the top of the building.
ADRIA: Once we begin our assault on the Sphere, there will be no turning back until either we succumb or succeed.
ADRIA: If anyone has any side objectives to clue up, please do so as soon as possible.
ADRIA: Otherwise, I will be waiting at the top.

After sending the message, she removes the display and keyboard, then looks skyward.

ADRIA: Okay then. Let's move.
ADRIA: Unless there's anything else anyone needs doing.

Assuming nothing else is needed from anyone, Adria, ever considerate, allows Mari to have a hardlight hoverchair if she wants it; that's one hell of a spire after all.

She then approaches the entrance, and lightly bows to those at the entrance, hands relaxed at her front.

ADRIA: Please excuse us.

She starts moving towards the central spire, and begins climbing up the tower. She essentially ignores all floors, stopping at Thymium Communion with some of the others. She also starts placing a Glyph, seems some of the others are doing it.

A Hexaclone scans the Nuclear Throne.
He then buys 10 El'ite Throwing Knives and 7 Disposable Rocket Launchers. The Sphere awaits.

---

Hexagon thanks the Permafrost Robe for his helpfulness, and then heads on in. He decides to COMPLETELY CHEAT, and just use the flight systems on his armor to bypass the long, long set of stairs.

Jetting up through the levels of the Spire, he takes a a moment to drop on into the Archives, idly picking out the files on the Spherebreakers and scanning them to copy, before returning them to their rightful place. He then waves to Acrea and Unnamed Chairian.
HEXAGON: I SEE YOU ARE PREPARING FOR THE BATTLE TO COME. ARE THERE STRATAGEMS OR FRAGMENTS OF INFO THAT YOU BELIEVE MAY BE RELEVANT TO WHAT LIES IN THE SPHERE?

---

After he's finished talking to them, he continues his ascent, jetting up past the Throne room (waving at Cypress and briefly considering stealing Spark's chair) and into the Thymium Communion. He comes to a stop next to one of the Glyph pedestals, staring at the mass of Thyme Matter in the room and seemingly not seeing Prinus. This'll end well.
HEXAGON: HAVE WE ALL PREPARED. FOR THE LAST FIGHT? IF SO, LET US INPUT THE GLYPHS.

---

Holding out a hand, the Twitchy Glyph appears in a flash of pink light. Seeing Asha prepare to input a Glyph, he does the same.

---

NOTE: The NPC craft here, and all NPC crafts made this turn in general excepting Armistyx+ , can be found neatly formatted and statted.. here.

Hexagon assembles the Ordofuel Suppressor, and presents it to Nia to synergize with her fancy buffed Rose.




HEXAGON: DIALOGUE PLACEHOLDER.

Auth, being Auth, knows that now that the big fight that Sakura and Plana were getting up to has been... defused, he supposes, that there's somewhere else he needs to be. Rather urgently, actually.

Auth floats over to the Church, and then remembers his minor allergy to religion. He winces, but... well, some things are more important than his own temporary discomfort. Auth steps through the threshold and immediately starts looking for the most grievously wounded, deciding to start over by Taeda.

AUTH: Sorry I'm late. I needed to help defuse a situation outside. How's it been in here?

Auth doesn't stop his work to talk, healing injured as he goes.

AUTH: Actually, is it okay for me to be in here? I presumed that there would be injured seeking treatment here, but, well...

Auth looks around. Did people notice him come in? Did he interrupt something important? It was probably rude of him to just barge in like that. It looks like it's bothering him just a little.

---

That's it for now, since I have nothing else to be doing.

Asha looks at the Sacred Geometry that Marron seems to have taken an interest in.

"...I don't know what this is. I was just kinda drawing and suddenly I heard Helixian chanting. Not sure if I should be concerned or not, but this definitely seems like some sort of holy magic."

She packs it away in the inventory; it's kinda nauseating to look at the paper for too long.

"Oh, someone asked me to make something for the Sleuth, so..."

After a long and complex series of crafting minigames using the following:
Eversteel x2 (If anything can accept an unacceptable metal, it's Armistyx.)
Creationmeld x1

Asha makes Armistyx+!
Its statblock is in the inventory, next to the original Armistyx.

"Oh, it seems like they found a way up to the Sphere so... we should probably get going! Wanna take the long way, or the long but slightly cooler way?"

Seeing as no-one has set up a Portal Glyph yet, the two of them walk to the Citadel. Then, Asha time travels them back to take a nice breather with her girlfriend, complete with a few snacks and drinks to refresh them. With their energy restored, they can now make the long trek up to the summit of the citadel. Asha steps over the now-sleeping body of Prinus (thank you Nidra), joining Hexagon at the Thymium Communion Platform. Standing before one of the podiums, she prepares to insert a glyph and open the way to the Sphere. This is probably one of those simultaneous locks, or something. Y'know, like in spy movies. So she waits for everyone else to arrive first.

House

Construction work continues, as expected. Verdana is pretty sure that most of the house has been sorted out by now, but there are a few things left. Things he can't quite arrange replacements for on the fly. He'll mention them, at least.

"Okay, looks like... We lost a potplant, three sandbags, a turret, and a bit of the bushes. If anyone can figure out replacements for those, that would help a lot."

With that noted, he gets onto what he can replace. Namely, another window at W39, and some of the pathway. The former is quick and easy (albeit awful), sand and heat. Not full fire, though, given the wood-based reconstruction of the walls. The latter is decidedly less quick, but still easy enough. Verdana just straight-up crushes rocks in his bare hands to make gravel, then fills in the missing bits of path. He can probably patch that up later if it's not good enough.


Meanwhile, Blacklight is decidedly useless at reconstruction, but at least decent at listening. Once Beech is done talking, he pulls a cigar out of nowhere and takes a long drag of it (despite the fact that the cigar is very obviously not lit), then twirls it between his fingers. Just a way for him to think, at this point.

"I see. A rather unenviable position to be in, for sure..."

A pause, then he crushes the cigar, which disappears in a puff of smoke.

"The time you spent fighting for and alongside Spark should not, and in my opinion does not, define who you will be forever seen as. Granted, I might not be the best authority on how people perceive one another... But I digress."

Another pause as Blacklight considers something...

"There should be some battles coming up soon. I'd have to consult with the actual Spherebreakers about it, but, hm... If you're open to it, maybe it'd be good to get in on one of those battles? It could probably help preemptively dispel any notions of you just being one of Spark's lackeys. And I'm sure even the most stubborn-minded folk would be happy to see a Praetorian fighting on their side. It's up to you, of course."

---

EN has received a crafting commission. She takes a look at it for a bit.

"...Heroine's Headdress, Scarlet Heroine, Runeblade Charm... A'ight, ah reckon ah can sort tha' out real soon, jus' 'ave t' git e'erythin' in order..."

I'll just do an ingredients list for each. Normally I'd write up a full craftpost, but... I've been kinda fucky on this front lately, so nah.

Heroine's Headdress -> Cobalt Wing Headdress
(yes that's the actual name)
Input: Heroine's Headdress, Ancient Breastplate, Sanctified Alloy, Sanctified Bricks

Scarlet Heroine -> Scarlet Embrace
(again the actual name)
Input: Scarlet Heroine, Solo Samurai, Incendiary Scraps, Joltwire, Flame Redirectors, Nanostorm Drive, Searing Clusters I guess

Runeblade Charm -> Sigil of the Duelist
(really this only gives +1 DGE and +1 counter range?)
Input: Runeblade Charm, Duelist's Guard, Origin String, Eversteel, more sanctified bricks since there's no way I used them all up this fast

---

Zone 6

Now that he doesn't have such crushing weight on his head, Calibri takes the opportunity to pull his head out of his body, resetting his neck to a more comfortable position and rotating it a bit to make sure it's still lining up properly. Then, he inspects the sharpened chaosdog...

"Uh. This is... a food item. How do you expect me to kill..."

Beat. The blue hoodie wearer pulls out a history book and flicks through it rapidly, then settles on one of the pages and nods before putting it away.

"How do you expect me to kill Isaac Newton, inventor of gravity, with a pointy hotdog?"



Elsewhere, Lato handles more serious business. Or, rather, doesn't. She knows she can't dissuade the Devout at this point, so she just wanders her way right up to the ballista.

"Hm... Very well. Let us move this along more quickly."

Lato proceeds to abuse the power of the Warp Ring's infinite charges and out-of-combat utility to help quickly move the ballista in... whichever direction the Devout is trying to go, really. Once she's moved it to a more suitable place, she then heads up north and enters the citadel proper, exploring around there for a while.

This means Lato heading down into the basement, drilling her way through the rubble via turning into a spear, and wandering through. The rot everywhere disgusts her, but it's of no concern, and neither are the Sentinels whether they decide to spit acid at her or not. She just explores the area...

Until she finds the deceased body of the Gardener, at which point she crouches down and inspects the body. Obviously the decapitation was probably the cause of death, but she'll still take the time to find out all she can about this unfortunate soul's situation. Who knows, maybe someone more skilled in the art of "making people not dead" will be able to help.

---

Drop has been kicked

Calibri shrugs early into what he's hearing.

"Well... Sometimes RNG just doesn't work out in your favor, doesn't mean you weren't trying, my first fight with Reisz..."

He got that far, at least, but then Droplet's choice of words touched a nerve. One of Calibri's eyes twitches. While he thankfully doesn't do anything too dangerous to anyone present, the poor banquet table nearest to him abruptly gets chopped in half as he slams the blade of the Azure Faith down onto it, exhaling in frustration as he sheathes it again.

"You have no idea how much I hate that word... Anyway, since you're still doubtful about it, how about we get on with the actual problem-solving, then?"

Calibri refocuses on Droplet, cracking his knuckles.

"I want to know how your time-related abilities work. What they can and can't do. Specifically... Whether or not it'd be possible to go back and see some things for myself. I wasn't there when Daikon... met whatever fate he met. It'd help a lot if I knew more about what went down - specifically from seeing events unfold in front of me, not just from someone else's recount of events."

DROPLET

Star shakes their head.

STAR: I do not hate him the man in the Sphere
STAR: he is torn between three colors,
STAR: To use us as a tool the purple and red insist
STAR: But; the grey essence, trapped inside tells me something whispered in dreams
STAR: An entity can be so much more than just a weapon.
STAR: They have a right to this world, even if they were once purple.
STAR: his compassion fights for us even still now

Star stares at the silhouette of the Sphere in the distance.

STAR: I dream of far-off worlds I have never been, of painting unseen-unheard-colors of the sky
STAR: we can be so much more..
STAR: we can find our own Path;
STAR: But before that we will have to fight the poison inside us
STAR: and the poison in the sphere that will drown this world.

---

ELSEWHERE

(This is RP between my own characters, so no need to respond to this. Unless you want to.)

In an undisclosed location, the Reflector stares at a wall.

THE REFLECTOR: number five?
"THE SCION": ...
THE REFLECTOR: apologies utmost sincere apologies. you know as well as we do we did not intend, did not intend at all for events to go that way.
"THE SCION": I thought this time might be different... Maybe that was naive.
"THE SCION": As soon as I woke up... they were all gone...
THE REFLECTOR: we can ask them again, simply ask them once more and i am sure positive after WARE has been defeated your new friends will be happy to see you.
"THE SCION": But... what if they aren't?
THE REFLECTOR: ...
"THE METALLURGIST": Kid, you've gotta stop worrying about what everyone thinks of you. Most of these Spherebreakers are just thinking about ways to speedrun WARE in five seconds, or how their outfit looks.
"THE METALLURGIST": I guarantee they do not give a single shit if you mess up during a roleplaying game.
"THE SCION": I... I'm worried I'm just imposing, and...
"THE THAUMATURGIST": Worry in (ir(les forever, and trap yourself in a prison of your own making?
"THE THAUMATURGIST": We taught you better than that, didn't we?
"THE SCION": ...Okay.
"THE SCION": Flecty...
"THE SCION": Why do you tolerate me? Whenever one of your other masks gets too introspective, you shut them down for a while.
"THE SCION": But not me.
THE REFLECTOR: because you are family.
THE REFLECTOR: and i am no one without my family.
THE REFLECTOR: no one at all.

Nidra sings Prinus a lullaby, putting him to sleep.

<ROUND 327>

Bergilmir can't help but notice a certain flail. His arm's been sufficiently upgraded! Though... why!? He looks around. Is there anyone around to explain this? Actually, yes. There's a Marron standing right there.

MARRON: Oh, yeah. That.
MARRON: I needed to slap Destiny, because she stole my arm. She gave me yours as replacement. So I made it into a flail to try and bonk her.
MARRON: ...I missed. She stole the flail from me, and slapped me with it.

MARRON: You understand, right?
MARRON: Woman has to protect her honor! Or at least, try to.

Marron rubs her cheek. She can still feel the slap reverberating through her memory. owie

---

Echoss does a few things! To begin though, Not!Echoss steals the show, shoving 3 Lilies of Infinite Quietus into Nia's mouth. She chews a little, before spitting out 3... entire miniature universes? Truly, Nia's power is as undefinable as it is powerful.

Echoss also wheels out into the Echo Collective, and wheels back with a collection of 32 Samples and 5 Flux. Where'd he find that? Apparently, he might've slightly looted the party a little. But it's probably fine. Right? Maybe. Chloe, who usually waits just outside the portal due to her assignments, is the first to hear of this. She pouts towards Echoss, biting her cheek gently.

CHLOE: I-I mean, I'm sure we would've given you whatever it is you wanted, if you just asked...
CHLOE: No need to be all secretive, y'know?
CHLOE: I'd be more angry, but I guess you've already learned your lesson.
CHLOE: So... I'll let you off with a minor punishment! Prepare!

Chloe rolls up a newspaper, and heckin' bonks Echoss on the head with it for (1) Crushing Damage. She then gently unrolls the newspaper, and puts it back into the inventory, safe and sound. Chloe then immediately casts a heal on Echoss, even though his SHP probably absorbed that absolutely wicked newspaper blow.

Then, just a few meters over, Echoss politely tells Sakura that the party is not her posse of likely unpaid servants. If she fails to reign her superiority complex in, there's a fair chance another being will assault her. And if he's not around to stop them, then... well, it might be a little unpleasant for her royal butt. Echoss then bursts into butterflies, vanishing before Sakura can reply. This doesn't stop her from yelling at the cloud, though.

SAKURA: H-Hey! W-Was that a threat!?
SAKURA: I'll h-have you know that...
SAKURA: gorilla.

As Sakura trails off (and fails to grab herself more bread), Not!Echoss breaks into the prison and scans Ekedalen for his Codex Entry. He doesn't... quite seem to get it? Weird, but... something's appeared!

>Codex Updated!

Finally, up on the Apex of the World, Echoss meets with Vulcan. He stands alongside her, staring at the Sphere as it floats in the distance. Seems like even despite Spark's death, Project Thymium has completed. The engines and capital-ship type weaponry have been successfully installed on the Sphere. None of which the Iti seem to be attacking. It's all really quite concerning. He mentions that he wishes that the upcoming era for the Chairians can be better than the one before it. Brushing her dead foliage away from her eyes, she turns to face Echoss.

VULCAN: We can only pray that the future you long for is within reach.
VULCAN: There's little most can do to stand in the way of the upcoming calamity.
VULCAN: Fortunately, I am not part of the "most".
VULCAN: To this end... allow me to lend you a hand.

VULCAN: I recently visited the Rosen Catacombs myself before coming here.
VULCAN: I managed to find a few things that may be of use for you.
VULCAN: Allow me...

She inserts 3 Orderlancers into the inventory.

VULCAN: The Old Guard. They were preparing something before they were taken by the Butterfly's will.
VULCAN: I'm sure they'd be happy to see the fruits of their labor put to good use.
VULCAN: In addition, at this point... it would be best if I came with you.
VULCAN: While the Remnant needs supervision, I have found it an... acceptable guardian for the time being.
VULCAN: Besides. It's in my best interest to see that the First Sin's future does not come to pass.

>Vulcan has forced her way into the party!

VULCAN: There's absolutely no time to waste.
VULCAN: Onwards.

Ah, Echoss also does some crafting. A wide variety of materials are used to create the Plushscale Scarf, Death's Spooky Pumpkin, and the Threat Sensor Optic. Ette, the Sleuth, and Cypress claim these items respectively. The Scavenger Satchel is also poked, upgrading it into the... same item, with a new passive! Cool.

---

JOE continues his rage against the universe. Or uh, the universe of Flux? Maybe his existence is simply an attack against the universe for destroying his farm that one time. Who even really knows. To begin his rampage, he pokes his stats a little, gaining the power of Alter Reality. While it cannot alter the farms that he's lost, it helps.

He then stabs a spigot into a Projection Box in the armory within the Rosen Catacombs, sucking 5 Flux into the inventory. Next, he relocates himself to the Northern Chapel Hall, and throws 5 Credits into the fountain. He promptly obtains the curse of INFINITE WEALTH- which he promptly rips from his body and mulches into 5 more Flux. He then dives into the fountain to scoop up all the credits from the bottom... and is then promptly mauled by the fountain. Apparently, the fountain is cursed to crush the hands of all those who stick their hands into its waters. Painful.

Once he's recovered in record time, he heads over to the Hellfire Pit. Examining the pit, he concludes that it really has no bottom. And yet, it gets hotter as he descends into the flames. Isn't this physically impossible though? The Hellfire pit pauses. It never thought about that. It a puff of logic, the Hellfire Pit collapses in upon itself, turning into a normal bottomless pit. 10 Flux sputters from its remains. This marks the moment the party hits 69 Flux. Nice!

...A group of Cultists have assembled just outside of the Hellfire Pit. Oh no. It appears JOE may need to make an escape. At the very least, with these cultists after him, it'll be super hard to loot the Rosen Catacombs of its fluxy contents now! Or get to Nia to try out that last test.

---

Boshi, the return. To the priestess, he explains that his duties only took a day to deal with. She nods. But... how'd he get here so fast?

TAEDA: So... you did things on another planet, right?
TAEDA: How did you travel t-that far in the span of a day?
TAEDA: Tabletopians have their portal technology... d-do you have something similar?

Also, Taeda's suspicions were right- Boshi did miss everyone! She blushes gently, flopping towards Boshi to give him a hug and a few paps on the back. Or neck. Whatever she can reach. Though, Boshi can't help but get the feeling Taeda also wants a ride...

TAEDA: We missed you too!
TAEDA: Welcome back!

As Taeda gives Boshi a flurry of paps, Shelly decides that it's time to commit a murder! Or something short of murder, anyway. She flings two needles through the bars, impaling right through Biflora's wrists and pinning her to the walls. Biflora winces- at least she won't be able to do anything without ripping her hands through the thicker bases of the needles! Unopposed, Shelly enters the cell-y. She grabs Biflora by the jaw, pinning the Praetorian's legs down with her own. Even as her jaw's being held, Biflora manages to mutter a few words.

BIFLORA: I-I... didn't become a Praetorian by being a lil' gorilla!
BIFLORA: HRRRNGH!

There's an awful squelching sound as Biflora rips her hand from the wall, pulling her hand right through the base of the needle. With her one free hand, she delivers an absolutely wicked right hook to Shelly's jaw- probably not enough to floor her by any means, but enough to at least get her off her. With another sickening rip, Biflora frees her other arm from the wall, extracting and throwing aside the other needle. She cracks her knuckles as she steps towards Shelly, less intimidated than she really should be.

BIFLORA: So. Missy. gorilla. Whatever you respond to.
BIFLORA: How about we do this the easy way? You step aside and let me out, or I'll go after your daughter once I beat you to a pulp.
BIFLORA: The choice is yours. But don't worry. I'm not the picky type.

With this slight change in events, the timeline fractures a little as a Timeclone Shelly (or a future Shelly, who knows) goes out to do some puzzlin'. She lobs a few shuriken at the Wisp, Stoat, and Orb of Chaos buttons. Click! A new passageway opens somewhere in the Catacombs. Where does it lead, though? Better go searching!

Next off, Hannah continues her medical work. She mentions to Chi that in the past, she's actually had plenty of experience with bandaging wounds and the like. Chi nods, smiling gently.

CHI: For someone without a specialty in treatment, that's probably the most important skill to master.
CHI: The mere act of bandaging and stabilizing an injured ally, however basic, buys them precious time for more experienced personnel to assist.
CHI: For most soldiers, that's enough. There's always someone who can perform the harder healing work.
CHI: But, for an scouting party with less members, what if your priestess gets hurt? It never hurts to learn more.

As Hannah finishes up her work on the patient, bandaging them up, a few more Chairians come in. One of them has been stung by a Predator, and is currently busy dying of poisoning. Chi ushers Hannah over to her side.

CHI: Ah, the Predator. Their venom causes sap to thin, causing it to spill like a river. Anticoagulants.
CHI: Fortunately for us, we have a very effective cure-all.
Mostly because the person who writes this dialogue is by no means an expert on any of these subjects.
CHI: Are you aware of the curative properties of Green Sap? It alone can nullify a poison... more or less.
CHI: ...We say that, but the effect only lasts a few hours at most. It's good to stabilize a poisoned victim before they receive better medical attention.
CHI: There's a few remedies we can prepare, based on what kind of poison they've been inflicted with.
CHI: For instance, given that they've been hit with an anticoagulant, we will require something that can... "recoagulate" the sap.
CHI: There are certain medical concoctions that can be brewed. Normally, a place like this would have a few on hand, but... well, times have been rough.
CHI: So. Shall we do a bit of alchemy?

Rummaging through the inventory, she produces a few Red Sap Blobs, Yellow Sap Blobs, Frostleaves, and some Serenea Flowers. She produces a mortar and pestle from her own personal inventory, handing another set to Hannah.

CHI: First, we'll need to dry the Frostleaves and Serenea Flowers. An Aurora Crystal should do the trick.
CHI: Then, pluck the petals from the Serenea and the Frostleaves. Place them into your mortar, and grind them down into a fine powder.
CHI: Once that's done, we'll need to mix and heat both the Red and Yellow saps. When the concoction is bubbling, we add the herbal ingredients to it, and mix thoroughly.
CHI: This will create a substance that can restore the original state of the sap, as well as restore whatever sap they've lost.
CHI: Any questions? if not, please get to work. Lives are at stake here.

As this newly-founded medical team gets to work, Sophia decides to say hello to a new friendo! Sakura glares at the small child. She... begins to talk to herself.

SAKURA: what the gorilla
SAKURA: God, I... don't have any child experience.
SAKURA: Just... act calm, and maybe they'll leave. You'll be in deep gorilla if you accidentally offend the butterfly guy's precious child or whatever.
SAKURA: ...Is he her father? God, probably? I don't know. Just act cool.

Sakura clears her throat, and does her best to chat with the smol enemy child.

SAKURA: Uh.
SAKURA: Hey, kid. W-Want some... candy?
SAKURA: gorilla no that sounds suspicious.
SAKURA: Y-You want some... salad?
SAKURA: And if you're looking for your dad, he, uh... turned into a swarm of butterflies. As he does.

Sakura offers a salad to Sophia. Still incredibly suspicious. At least she hasn't tasted the salad, so Sophia will get a full salad...?

Just south of the House, Boshi arrives near the airship. He figures that it's time to go NUCLEAR. And while the Nuclear Throne is within walking distance, he figures that he'll make his own nuclear engine. Taping some amount of Rads and other materials together, he creates a Nuclear Engine. This absolutely looks like a hazard. And now he wants to rally together a team to go airshippin'. Rallying together a team to fly at the Sphere... wait, that sounds incredibly dangerous. Cedar, still in the cargo hold, decides to voice his concerns.

CEDAR: ...Not to be rude, but how exactly do you plan to get the Airship inside of the Sphere?
CEDAR: You have the glyphs, so I assume you'd be warping inside to assault it.
CEDAR: The exterior of the Sphere is incredibly thick. Any sort of outside bombardment would likely fail, or cause the old Chairheir to perform a counterattack.
CEDAR: So. What's your plan?

Finally, Adria and Mari decide that it's time to ascend the Citadel. After making a quick announcement to the Spherebreakers, she offers a hoverchair to Mari. She's not one to reject a free ride, so she hops on, and the two of them ascend the spire. They spin as they rise up seven stories, soon arriving at the Thymium Communion.

MARI: Whoa, damn.
MARI: Whoever build this place has a sense for aesthetic.
MARI: Giant floating temple sorta thing in the sky, above the tallest building in Seatopolis? Awesome.
MARI: ...Though, I've gotta wonder. Who the hell built this? Did the Sphere do it? The Chairians?
MARI: Doesn't make sense, if you ask me.

...Perhaps we'll never know. It is absolutely scenic, though. Mari snaps a picture of the city. Perhaps she and Adria should take a group selfie? That's what young women do, right?

---

Hex does a variety of things! To begin, he scans the Nuclear Throne! Something comes up. Is it really a description, though?

>Codex... updated?

He then goes out shopping, taking purchase of 10 El'ite Throwing Knives (the game automatically specs them into one of each element), and 7 Disposable Rocket Launchers (all Fire-type). This costs a total of 790 Credits. Hexagon then zooms up the Spire, accidentally overflowing his position right into the basement. From there, he decides to read through the archives, looking up various files on the Spherebreakers. While he can't read them all due to the GM being angry and holding a big knife, he is able to pop open the file on himself.

"A sentient hexagon. How it breathes or moves is unknown. Possibly a robot? Observed to be very, very fast. Has a foam gun with a threat coefficient of 14. Why a gun made of foam is this threatening is also unknown."

...They, uh, really lack information on him. Looking through other articles, it seems that some people are much more defined than others. For instance, Venia has an entire article written on her, and someone like Omorika, well- actually, they just moved her folder here. Wow. That's one hefty heckin' folder. Chloe could probably knock someone out with it. As for Chloe's folder, well... someone's currently writing it at the moment, at it seems.

He then relocates himself across the Archives, poking two Chairians who are busy reading through some battle plans. Do these plans have anything that might be relevant to the siege on the Sphere? The woman in the trenchcoat, Acrea, turns towards the sound of Hex's voice.

ACREA: ...Hm? You misunderstand. These plans are not relevant to whatever will happen in the Sphere.
ACREA: We are preparing for whatever hell awaits us when the Iti stop nesting in there, and rush out towards us in unforetold numbers.
ACREA: Unfortunately, there's few recorded tactics that are valid against the Iti. Most troops would hesitate before entering a meat grinder, but the Iti would gladly jam their skulls into it until it jams, then overrun the grinder.
ACREA: And... pardon, but who am I talking to?
CHAIRIAN: It... appears to be one of the Spherebreakers, ma'am.
ACREA: A Spherebreaker? Ah, well.
ACREA: Should've mentioned that earlier.

ACREA: Well, I'm sure you lot will be fine. Your tactics seem to defy common sense anyhow.
ACREA: I've been told that you utilize tactics that you have called "dive compositions". I cannot fathom how that would work without massive amounts of casualties, but if you are going into the Sphere... bring someone who's capable of powerful Arbormancy.
ACREA: Sealing up the various tunnels that fill the Sphere could deny the Iti passage into key areas. This would allow one to funnel them into a kill zone.
ACREA: Were we capable of funneling the incoming waves of Iti into a single area, we would try that... but our city covers too wide an area.
ACREA: Add in the threat of enemy fliers, and there's really nothing we can do in terms of concentrating our foes...

Hexagon then also tapes together the Ordofuel Suppressor, causing Nia to owo aggressively. She will certainly commit a few warcrimes with this fantastical device! Whatever it looks like. It's probably hexagon-shaped.

---

Auth decides to join Taeda's Cult of Healing. That's what she's calling it, right? Though... is it okay for him to be in here?

TAEDA: Of course!
TAEDA: Out of anyone in the party, you're the one I'd trust the most to be here!
TAEDA: Besides, we need every hand we can get! Even Hannah's helping us!
TAEDA: There's too many injured, and they haven't received proper care for so long...
TAEDA: R-Really, I never realized how much of the country's infrastructure Spark shoved into the military...
TAEDA: I'm just thankful we got rid of him when we did, o-otherwise...

Well. There are certainly a lot of injured people in here. But with everyone working together, the piles of the wounded begin to fade ever so slightly.

---

Asha and Marron partake in crafting. Well, mostly just Asha. Marron is crafting some moral support though, so she's helping too! As she pieces together an improved Armistyx, Asha mentions to Marron that the Sacred Geometry she made was... well, she heard Helixian chanting while working?

MARRON: That's... weird.
MARRON: You sure Taeda's not like, pranking you in a holy fashion?
MARRON: I don't think that's something she'd do, though. Unless you've displeased her in some way.
MARRON: ...You, uh, don't happen to be a follower of Dome, do you?
MARRON: That'd probably cheese her off enough to prank you.

As Asha finishes her work, she explains to Marron that they should get going to the Citadel! It'll be a long walk, but Asha's come prepared- she's got snacks! Marron also has some snacks prepared as well, handing a chocolate bar to Asha. But, what way to take? The long way, or the long but cooler way?

MARRON: The long way, but cooler? Not sure what that entails, but sure.
MARRON: Lead the way, Toaster!

It's a lovely, if somewhat long walk. Many choco's are consumed along the trip. If only they had bikes, though. That'd probably save them a whole lot of effort. Maybe Marron should ask Chaos for some around Christmas or something. That'd be fun.

---

Verdana continues his construction work! He forges another simple window, replacing the broken windowframe. A simple enough solution. Verdana also manages to replace a few missing chunks of pathway by crushing up a few stones. A bit messy, but it'll do. As for the missing turrets and sandbags, well... at least Beech is able to replace the sandbags, creating another set of Splinter Sandbags.

Blacklight continues with Beech while she works on the sandbag array. What she's done in the past doesn't define who she'll be forever, correct? Beech nods, but sighs soon after.

BEECH: Well, at least we can hope their opinions will shift.
BEECH: People are known to hold grudges. I wouldn't be surprised if working for a megalomaniac dictator who wanted to destroy the entire town made me some sort of pariah.
BEECH: Hopefully, you guys can put in a good word for me at least.

Blacklight then offers Beech a work opportunity: the Spherebreakers are going to be engaging in combat soon. Once more, Beech sighs.

BEECH: ...If you want me to help out on the battlefield, just say so.
BEECH: It's what I'm best at, anyway.
BEECH: Take this. Call me when I'm needed.

Beech grants the Altered Teleportation Rune to Blacklight, which is promptly dropped into the inventory. Plus one good summon, nice! Elsewhere, down a floor, EN does some crafting. A few items are bonked into existence for Chloe, a few items being cobbled together to create each. As thanks, Chloe hugs the EN. glomp'd

Next, over at Seatopolis, Calibri receives a sharpened chaosdog. Is he really expected to kill Isaac Newton, inventor of gravity, with a pointy hot dog? It's a hot dog. How's he meant to kill someone with that?

CHAOS: *[c]haosdog
CHAOS: impor[t]an[t] differen[c]e
CHAOS: anyway you do i[t] like [t]his
CHAOS: wa[t][c]h an exper[t] a[t] work

Chaos teleports behind an unsuspecting Chairian passerby, and immediately shivs them in the chest with the Chaosdog. He shoves them over, pins them to the ground, and stabs then 36 more times. Sap pools all over the ground.

CHAOS: jus[t] like [t]ha[t]
CHAOS: if you're a newbie you [c]an ge[t] away wi[t]h less s[t]abs but more s[t]abs is more s[t]abs
CHAOS: wan[t] me [t]o demons[t]ra[t]e again?

...The dead Chairian poofs into nothingness. Were they just a trick of the light? As it turns out, yes. Bass steps out from behind Chaos's cart, Chaosdog in hand. He takes a bite out of hit as he and Chaos hi-five.

BASS: eyo nice one
CHAOS: yee
CHAOS: he[c]kin' go[t] [t]ha[t] fool
CHAOS: anyway off you go [c]hop [c]hop
CHAOS: or uh s[t]ab s[t]ab

Chaos hands Calibri a handheld time machine, and the still sap-stained Chaosdog. He has a job to do, right? If he fails to do his job correctly, Chaos will give Calibri a bad review on Tripadvisor. This will surely send his credibility straight into the ground, ruining his life and forcing him to become destitute.

A few feet south, Lato learns to teleport a Devout a considerable distance. She works with the Devout, warping a girl and her ballista all the way to the inner walls near the Citadel. She's nice and comfy up there, and ready to lay waste to whatever Iti approach the Citadel. Truly, this was her calling. As thanks, she gives Lato a half eaten Chairian Pastry. 0.5 Chairian Pastries obtained?

With that out of the way, Lato decides to advance into the basement of the Citadel. Armed with a drill, she punches through the rubble wall, and is immediately fired upon by a team of angry Sentinel plants. The acid is really not that threatening- but it has both Armorpierce and Slip! Lato is forced to retreat, but she does manage to examine the deceased Gardener before then. As it would appear, they died about a day or so ago. Far as she can tell, their head was eaten by... the deceased Netwyrm in the room. Perhaps their head is still in the corpse? That might help with any sort of revival efforts.

Finally, over with Droplet, Calibri refocuses his attention on Droplet. He wants to know how her time-related abilities work. Droplet groans. He's really not going to leave her alone, is he?

DROPLET: Ugh, fine. I'll show you. If it'll get you to leave me alone.
DROPLET: Let me just... unwind my wounds first, okay? Shouldn't take me long.

Droplet allows her eyes to flutter shut, as the broken chronology that curses her... fails to manifest in any meaningful way whatsoever. Droplet's eyes flop back open, a scowl firing from their gaze. Curious. Notably, no more of those odd Chronoshades are manifesting within the immediate area. A quick search around reveals that none have generated at all, not even spontaneously.

DROPLET: ...This normally works.
DROPLET: I'm not screwing with you. That's what you'd do, and I'm not you.
DROPLET: Maybe I like... pulled a muscle when doing that "timeclone" stunt. Paradoxes sting like hell, you know?
DROPLET: Or maybe I used up all of my chronological juice that Daikon gave me.
DROPLET: Great.

Droplet, though already flopped on the ground, flops with 50% greater purpose. How bothersome it is to be a Droplet. Get cursed with chronological energy, learn to use the curse to your advantage, then lose it immediately afterwards. As she said. Great.

---

Star and Droplet continue their little communion. Ultimately, despite what's been done, Star does not hate the man in the Sphere. He is torn between three worlds. But in the end, one essence shines through. The voice in grey, wishing to give all the Iti in this world a chance.

DROPLET: Is t-that... true?
DROPLET: I-If it is, maybe... it's the reason we're grey.
DROPLET: Maybe h-he... wanted t-to... save us?
DROPLET: Give us a right to this world, w-whatever the hell that means...

DROPLET: B-But... why? Why would he c-care now? I-It doesn't make sense! N-Nothing does!
DROPLET: An entire w-war of death, with him as the prince!
DROPLET: People c-can't just... c-change like that!
DROPLET: O-Once a monster... always a monster. Even if we've b-been given a right to this world, he's j-just... doomed us all.
DROPLET: The Chairians... t-they'll never accept us.
DROPLET: W-We'll never be able to... f-find those far off worlds, w-will we?

...But is this the truth?

---

Nidra sings Prinus a lullaby. Would such a simple trick work on him? As he falls to the ground, the answer is very clearly "yes". That's one way to solve a problem.

---

Destiny sins.

---

At the apex of the world, three Chairians ascend a set of precariously morphed wooden stairs: Omorika, Cypress, and Acacia. The wicked winds at this altitude threaten to send everyone tumbling, but at this point in their journey, could mere winds stop them from achieving their objective? Step by step, they reach the penultimate step of their journey.

The Thymium Communion.

A temple lifted from the earth, the Thymium Communion floats in the air, thyme-stained chunks of Gravcore Ore keeping the crumbling structure afloat. All sorts of jagged stone spikes and spires shoot from every surface of the aerial temple, the open sky roaring above. Four curved spires made of some organic material, lined with stones, shoot from the base. Tendrils extend from their tops, stone claspers longing for the treasures they so desire.

In the middle of the temple lies a deep well, the purest evil swirling within it. Dark, pure Thyme Matter, whirled into a unrelenting frenzy. Try as the Iti might to form and pour out of it, the rotational force tears them apart instantly. Omorika crouches at the edge of the well, peering down into the abyss. Eyes form within it, peering back at her.

OMORIKA: This is it, everyone.
OMORIKA: This is the culmination of our journey.
OMORIKA: We've scoured the entire land for these four Glyphs, and we're finally here.
OMORIKA: Once slotted in, these glyphs will create the portal that will lead us directly to the ultimate evil.
OMORIKA: The entity sealed away inside the Sphere.
OMORIKA: The Chairheir of Old, Ire.
CYPRESS: An incredible achievement. Survival odds: low. But somehow, defied.
CYPRESS: Spherebreakers. Continue to impress. Time, time again.
ACACIA: Can't pretend I'm sappy like the rest of you, but... it's insane to think that we're finally here.
ACACIA: No more Iti, no more bullgorilla.
ACACIA: Just us, and a rampaging Descendant hyped up on spices. No big deal.

Trailing up behind the Highchair Trio, Chloe finally reaches the Thymium Communion. From up here, she's able to see Locaa like she never was able to before. The forests near the House, where she arrived what felt like years ago. The grandiose library, surrounded by autumnal leaves, fractured by royal crystals. A tree that scrapes the horizon, blooming in a sea of flowers. The mountains draped in snow that flank the Old Pass. Off in the skyline, the Sky Labs are clearer than ever. And below her, she can see the life that still flourishes amidst the debris of a war long gone.

Though, she never bothered to ask, For what reason was she called here? To stand upon the Thymium Communion, the last gateway before the end... She's hardly the most important person in the party. She waves to Omorika, who's busy rummaging through the inventory.

CHLOE: Oh, lady Omorika! I'm here!
CHLOE: W-What is it you need from me? A-And... why me, specifically?
OMORIKA: Ah, miss Elem. Just in time.
OMORIKA: The reason I require you is simple; we need one more hand to put the four Glyphs in place.
OMORIKA: As for why you, specifically... well, this is the end of your journey.
OMORIKA: A traveler from another world seeking her brother, willing to fight a war for him. It's truly a dramatic tale. One that will surely be told for generations to come.
OMORIKA: In addition, you've been ever loyal to the Spherebreaker's cause, through thick and thin. I feel you're a perfect representative.
OMORIKA: If nothing else, the view certainly is worth dying for.

Omorika can't help but giggle gently as Chloe begins to blush.

CHLOE: It... certainly is breathtaking, up here.
CHLOE: I-I'm flattered t-that you think so highly of me...
OMORIKA: Truthfully, I regard all of the Spherebreakers in the same fashion.
OMORIKA: Without their help, I wouldn't be alive today.

OMORIKA: But now, everyone.
OMORIKA: The glyphs.
CHLOE: Right!
ACACIA: Alright. Took you long enough, Omo.
CYPRESS: I am prepared.

Omorika hands the glyphs out, one at a time. The Creation Glyph to Chloe. The Chair Glyph to Acacia. The Twitchy Glyph to Cypress. And for herself, the Ender Glyph. The quartet spreads out across the Thymium Communion, standing in front of their respective pillars. One glyph for each pillar.

With a degree of synchronization, their arms reach for the lofty heights of the stone spirals. An unseen force gently pulls the Glyphs from the tips of their fingers, accelerating as they launch into the stony graspers of the spires. The claws crack and rumble as they click into place, the Glyphs held firmly in their grasp.

The pool of Thyme Matter within the well begins to bubble, its rotation still unceasing. Energy begins to flow like a torrent from the Glyphs, swirling into the vortex of thyme. The pool of thyme, now whipped into a small twister, spins faster and faster. Thyme Matter begins to spew every which way, splattering across the surface of the Thymium Communion. The platform shudders, the Glyphs crack.

With a final, deafening bang, the Thyme Matter in the well shoots up like a geyser. As purple rains down upon the platform, Omorika once more gazes into the abyss. A swirling portal of energy lies at the bottom of the well, seemingly going down for all infinity, a drill breaching space-time. Omorika turns towards the stairwell as the party arrives, ready for the final battle. She slams her Tomehammer's handle against the ground, planting it here firmly. Her left arm sweeps in front of her as she addresses her comrades she's come to know and love.

OMORIKA: ...Spherebreakers.
OMORIKA: I once thought it impossible that anyone would ever make it this far. Not myself, not the rebellion- nobody could've done this.
OMORIKA: And yet, somehow, we've broken the unbreakable. The seemingly immovable fate that the world had in store for all us. We broke it, with our own two hands.
OMORIKA: Strike by strike, blow by blow. We shattered the beast Lucid. Defeated the avatar of the Butterfly. Slew the hybrid that was the First Sin. Taken out our own corrupt leader at the height of his power.
OMORIKA: Every step we took, every battle we fought, it was all for this.
OMORIKA: After every trial, every tribulation... we finally have the right to march into the Sphere. We have the right to take back our world. Destroy the last remaining vestige of Spark's reign.
OMORIKA: We have the right to claim our freedom!

OMORIKA: The war's end is at hand!
OMORIKA: Let us move onward!
OMORIKA: Onward, to a new future!

With that, Omorika snatches her Tomehammer, and falls backwards into the portal. One by one, the party follows suit, leaping into the vortex, being whisked away to the bowels of the Sphere. A place that no Chairian has entered and survived.

To a land unknown.

---

The party spills into a near pitch-black space. The sound of scraping, scurrying claws chitters up the walls, along the literal floorboards, and within the ceiling of what appears to be some sort of wooden cave. Curious growths line the cavern- some new form of Thyme Matter? They're like thick vines that grow in all sorts of bizarre patterns, sometimes capping out with pulsating hearts, eyes, or other organs. Their gentle glow is all that cuts through the shadow.

Cypress releases a drone from his grasp. It shoots into the ceiling, deploying an orb of light from its body. Radiant rays refract against the thyme-caked oak of the cavern, revealing a twisted ecosystem of spice, horrors, and as per usual, a truly concerning number of eyes. The walls aren't just made of wood, they're alive. Shelves of some sort of hardened Thyme Matter line the walls, Seekers nesting within them or crawling into tunnels positioned near them.

But most curiously of all, lying on the floor in the center of the cavern, right where the portal formed... is an oboe. It certainly isn't doing anything.

NACLESTIAL: MOTHERgorillaER HOW DID THAT gorilla NOT gorillaING WORK
NACLESTIAL: NOBODY SHOULD BE ABLE TO PASS THE gorillaING OBSTRUCTION DEVICE, FAULTY gorillaING PIECE OF gorilla
NACLESTIAL: gorillaING gorilla gorilla! WHY!?

Chloe picks herself up from the ground. Though the portal trip certainly was stomach bending, and a deal longer than she anticipated, what's annoying her more is the familiar shrieking of the Naclestial. Like they were back in the Sky Labs, they're in a somewhat gaseous state.

CHLOE: Y-You!? Again!?
CHLOE: W-Wait, why am I surprised? Of course you're here. You're always here.
CHLOE: And... where's WARE? Shouldn't he be around-
NACLESTIAL: OH YEAH, ABOUT THAT.
NACLESTIAL: AHEM.
NACLESTIAL INHALE MY gorillaING gorilla ENRAGEMENT CHILD, I HAVE gorillaING ENDED YOUR GAME BEFORE IT COULD EVEN gorillaING BEGIN, gorilla!
NACLESTIAL: YOUR WARE IS IN ANOTHER gorillaING SPHERE! OR REALLY, IT'S THE SAME SPHERE, JUST A COUPLE HUNDRED METERS THROUGH THAT WALL, BUT WHAT gorillaING DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?
NACLESTIAL: HE KNEW YOU WERE COMING! I KNEW YOU WERE COMING! SO HE JUST! MOVED! gorilla!
NACLESTIAL: THE ENTIRE THRONE ROOM! MOVED IT! HAHA!

NACLESTIAL: AND NOW. AND NOW!
NACLESTIAL: YOU'RE MINE! YOU'RE ALL gorillaING MINE! I WILL CONSUME YOUR gorillaING CORPSE AND THEN gorilla IT IN THAT ORDER gorillaING gorillaER
NACLESTIAL: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BABY-[/color]
CHLOE: I-I'm flattered t-that you've prepared this reception for us, b-but...
CHLOE: W-When have you... y'know...
CHLOE: How can I put this nicely...

Omorika, dusting herself off, decides to chime in.

OMORIKA: Pardon me, but when have your attempts to kill us ever been more of a minor inconvenience?
OMORIKA: Out of five attempts to take our lives, you have miserably, utterly failed in every attempt.
OMORIKA: What's more, you have proven yourself even incapable of killing an unarmed, injured young woman on her lonesome.
OMORIKA: Such a dramatic failure could only be interpreted as an act of mercy, but I'm sure we're not that dumb.
NACLESTIAL: HEY! HEY! WHAT THE gorilla, gorilla!?
NACLESTIAL: STOP TREATING ME LIKE I AIN'T gorilla
NACLESTIAL: IF I AIN'T gorilla THEN YOU'RE JUST A gorillaING gorilla I MADE WITH MY gorilla AFTER MUCHO GRANDO TACO BELL
NACLESTIAL: I AM GOING TO gorillaING KILL-
OMORIKA: -you are going to kill exactly nobody, and serve as a mere speedbump on our way to WARE, as per usual.

OMORIKA: While the gambit of moving his throne room out of the way of the portal's destination is certainly clever, he could've picked literally anyone else to hold an ambush at the location.
OMORIKA: Why, I'm certain we'd be more threatened by quite literally any other entity at this point.
OMORIKA: This is not myself being rude. This is simply a factoid.
NACLESTIAL: SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!
NACLESTIAL: THIS TIME IT'LL BE gorillaING DIFFERENT!
NACLESTIAL: SO COME HERE AND SUCK MY gorilla AND gorillaING CHOKE ON THE SHEER gorillaING-

The Naclestial begins to throw an absolutely amazing chain of obscenities and insults at Omorika, most of which are fairly incompatible with the Chairian biological structure. A Seeker in the background vomits at the sheer vulgarity of this occurrence, and then begins to cry. Chloe stands idle, as does Omorika. She simply takes it all in, trying to think of how she could-

NACLESTIAL: -SO I WILL USE MY THUNDER gorilla TO IMPALE YOU AND ALL YOUR gorillaING FRIENDS IT WILL BE A GODDAMN SHISH-KEBAB OF gorillaING BLOOD AND gorilla
NACLESTIAL: THEN I'LL 1V1 UR PUNK gorilla AND OUTPLAY YOU ALL THE WAY TO-
CHLOE: H-Hey!
CHLOE: J-Just... shut up already!
CHLOE: You're j-just... a-a fake gamer!
NACLESTIAL:
NACLESTIAL: what the gorilla did you just say to me gorilla
CHLOE: Y-You're... j-just a big bully, damn it!
CHLOE: You talk a big game, and put everyone else down, but you don't have anything to bring to the table!
CHLOE: You're as fake as it gets!

The Naclestial's jaw unhinges. Instinctively, Omorika plugs her ears.

NACLESTIAL: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
NACLESTIAL: W-WHY WOULD Y-YOU SAY SUCH A T-THING!?
NACLESTIAL: I AM AS REAL AS IT GETS I AM THE REALEST I AM THE BEST I AM THE BESTEST
NACLESTIAL: HOW DARE YOU HOW DARE YOU HOW DARE YOU!?
NACLESTIAL: I AM A GAMER I AM A WINNER I AM THE COOL
NACLESTIAL: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

A gleam of white emerges from the Naclestial's body. The radiance of pure, unabridged saltiness floods the room. Emotional limits are hit, then summarily breached. There's an explosion of salt from the Naclestial's body as they shatter, clouds of seasoning filling the room. In its place lies a singular orb of salt, floating aimlessly in the air. Limbs of pure salt shoot from it, a humanoid structure forming. A mane of absolutely luxurious salty hair sprouts from the orb, forming a "head" of sorts. No face is present upon it. No jaw from which to scream. And yet, it speaks as its body forms.

???: ...You.
???: You absolute imbicile.

It's... calm. Absolutely, perfectly calm. And yet, rage crackles through its every word. Fear strikes through every nerve of Chloe's.

???: I am.
???: So goddamn angry.
???: Everything feels different. My head feels clear, for the first time in my lifespan.
???: This is what I was missing. Clarity.
???: My ever swirling hatred for you, I thought it could only blind me.
???: But now, more than ever, I feel free. Free to pursue whatever I want. Do whatever I want.

A Seeker runs up to the side of this new creature. Salt is immediately pumped into its veins, its body violently cracking and distorting into a vicious glaive. This weapon floats into the creature's right hand, its end immediately thrusted towards the party.

???: Hahaha..
???: This new, unbridled fury... it's intoxicating. Enlightening.
???: With the world now open to me... I think I'll do what I was made to do.

???: Your words, your actions... they mean nothing.
???: I can ignore it all, in the pursuit of this one goal.
???: The name of the game is simple.
???: Exterminate the Spherebreakers. No time limit.
???: Begin.

It then thrusts its glaive into the air! Dozens of Iti pour out from the various winding caverns, rallying behind the non-existent warbanner this creature has.



You are accosted by...

THE TRANSCENDENT OF SALT
Emotional Level 6: Calm Wrath

PLAY - The Pursuer (Dark Souls II)



There's at least a few thousand Iti waiting in the wings to spill into the cavern. A prolonged battle here would be absolute suicide. Chloe turns to Omorika, weapon in hand.

CHLOE: O-Omo, what do we do?
CHLOE: T-There's too many of them to reasonably kill, a-and we can't waste all our energy here!
OMORIKA: If the Naclestial- or whatever it is now, is to believe, WARE's a fair distance to the north of our position.
OMORIKA: There are several cubic chunks of wood between us and him.
OMORIKA: A normally insurmountable obstacle, but... we have Acacia and myself here. And, if Cypress is no longer spending energy holding his Chairian form, his arbormancy should be far stronger than we previously thought...
CYPRESS: Correct assessment.
ACACIA: And? What's your point?
OMORIKA: It's simple. We use our powers to morph a tunnel to him.
OMORIKA: With a sufficiently concentrated effort, we should be able to cast a spell that not only opens a tunnel directly to WARE, but also prevents him from closing it on us.
OMORIKA: It'll take the concentrated effort of all three of us, but I believe in our abilities.
ACACIA: I mean, I could totally do that.
ACACIA: S-Still a dumb plan, though! T-There's no way we'll survive long enough to do that!
CYPRESS: There's a way. Spherebreakers. Cover us.
CYPRESS: Once spell completed. Will assist.
OMORIKA: I'm aware it's not the greatest of plans, but it's all we have at the moment.
OMORIKA: Spherebreakers, to arms! Cover us while we prepare access to WARE!
CHLOE: We've got you covered! Just make it quick, okay?

And so, the penultimate battle begins! Assist the three members of the Highchair as they prepare a spell that'll allow you to reach WARE's displaced throne room! There's just one catch, though- the Transcendent of Salt is here, and he's beyond pissed. Expect a tough battle, and endless droves of Iti! Best of luck, Spherebreakers!

You'll need it.

Bauhaus gasps in awe at the glory and muck of the Sphere. "So this is what we're dealing with, then." He twirls the rapier behind his back. "Let us be at our most ready."

< BATTLE >
Bauhaus moves to S11, Warp Rings to S14, casts Greatbow Abduction on ScourgeKing2, moving it to R13, then basic attacks ScourgeKing2 with the Greatsword.

Asha joins the fight at O9 in Guard Stance (Slash Counter!). Her hats for this battle are: Ice, Sprint, and Brewing.

She acts last after that, moves to T11, then Guards.

[FLUX] Oh jeez that's a lot of cultists. It's time for the greatest tactic ever: Lying!
"Oh my gosh. I didn't realize this would happen! I was just trying to understand the hellfire pit! So I could make my own hellfire pits! Instead, I've made a terrible mistake! I can't bear to live with myself!" and then he jumps into the bottomless pit.
...
No, not really. I make an illusory trap which makes me look like empty space and a second illusory trap which looks like me (this being the 'he'. though, do illusory traps have genders?) and the Second trap jumps into the bottomless pit. I, meanwhile, am safely concealed by my other illusory trap, on the far side of the hellfire rooms pit, which I teleported to by eating a melon. But I can't just teleport everywhere under the cover of illusions, so I pour fluxblood all over myself and glue some random junk onto all my clothes, items, and face. Now, instead of looking like a guy in armor with a crystaline arm which is alive, a chibi steve on my shoulder, and whatever Narehate Helm is, I look like some kind of ... garbage... and blood... elemental... with a garbage-blood tumour growing out of my shoulder.
If it works, it works! I give a cursory look to this area- is there anything there? it seems kinda odd for it to be here on the opposite side of the hellfire pit, like it should have an item on it or something- then, if I find nothing, use the warp ring to teleport through the wall into the standard barracks. Maintaining my disguise as a garbage and blood elemental, I slowly shuffle my way to the corpse storage, which really makes my disguise genius as I proceed to kneel down next to the pit and terraform it full of magma.
(Magma, being red, clearly looks like blood. This is just a normal blood elemental, absorbing all your dead bodies, and not someone harvesting them for flux, honest.)
Once the dead bodies are suitably harmed by the intense fire damage from this hot magma, I harvest the escaping flux. I assume they're animated by flux, but I mean, come on, this place is flux central, of course it's flux.
Since the hubbub probably hasn't died down yet, I'm forced to avoid the bottomless pit area, instead shuffling my disguised self back through the barracks, to the iti holding cells, then taking a random turn to arrive [1d2:1] in the hybridization lab, where the next random turn [1d2:1] taking me into the chairian holding cells, and then into my actual destination - the chapel hall, which is where I was going in the first place but gotta keep my disguise as not me up, y'know? I then shuffle over to the fountain. It's cursed to violently attack people.
That means it still has FLUX.
I carefully climb into the fountain. This time, I'm not stealing credits from it; I'm just hiding from anyone who might chase after me.
Also I'm going to destroy the fountain but that's not what the curse covers right? my arms and below concealed beneath the now-bloody-and-garbage-filled water, I use the sharp Will Of The Crops to carve away at the fountains... stone? I assume stone... until I find the Flux, which I extract. I then leave, without taking any credits- My intention was genuinely not to take credits this time, you see.
I then depart to see about volunteering to be Bypassed for Flux and Profit.


[CRAFT] as the original crafter of the Cryptic Schemes item, and I assume the only person to do so though I might be wrong, I am surprised to find that there are none left. apparently, they were actually good? The capitalistic solution here is clear. It's time for more scheming. just as cryptically as last time, which is not very! This time there is no crystal pen to use, nor a mental cluster. There is paper, though! But where am I going to get Ink?...
I retrieve the Dried Paint in the inventory and hit it repeatedly until it's crushed into powder, then mix it with some bottled bottled water, getting un-dried paint. I think this would work. probably. In the place of the Mental Cluster, I use a Brainburn Crystal, and to make up the difference I mix in a small quantity of lifeblood sap into the paint.


JOE joins the battle putting 3 GP into Eterna. He then moves to N11, places a Crop Sign at L13, casts Deep Thinking(gaining one Fruit in the process), and Swift-casts Terraform, raising barricades at G14, and terraforming away the O19 Coral*. And, if someone is going to stand on S14 which I am told is the case, then instead of raising a barricade there he replaces the L12 Cover with a Door because Doors are inherently superior to cover, they're actually faction-selective instead of proximity-based and only block Move for some, unlike cover a solid wall of doors is a good idea. He then retreats onto L10, firing the Elemental Sniper with a non-resisted Element (the resists haven't loaded in as-i-write-this) at Seeker 3 and Seeker 5, downing and harvesting the both of them due to the damage boost from the Crop Sign, and puts another 3 GP into Eterna.

(The above, and particularly the placement of the Crop Sign, should of course occur before the Purging of the Scourgekings.)

*Terraform is 1-7 from his stats, but Techie Steve grants +1 upper range to non-cone spells with an upper range of at least four or greater, so it's 1-8.