hexagon prepares to ruthlessly execute the cool elite enemies before they are allowed to act. i'm sorry. no gaming allowed.

Build Tweaks:
-1 HP
-2 MP
-Eager Beaver
+Fervent Emotion

Moments from Despair

Hexagon: N8 spawn. Spawn Mexagon on O8. When Irongutta spawns, use Power of Friendship on him (MP, enters Reloader). When Remiel spawns, Smith's Boon them.
Missiles spawn from Missile Commander on hopefully free tiles.
Mexagon: Be spawned.


[ACT FIRST, AFTER ASHA SPAWNS] Ette: N10 spawn, move to M12. Rescue Rope, infinite range use, grab ScKing1, place at N11.
- When Asha spawns, Safe and Warm her.

Omorika: Gaia’s Guardian. Gaia's Guardian gets 19 points from Omorika's 17 SPC. She takes Sacrifice, +5 SHP, +2 MMP, +5 MHP, +2 DGE and the Guardian Aegis SPC mod.

Acacia: Yggdrasil Rebirth the Bilequeen.

Chloe: M10 spawn, use Sword Beam. Move to M13 (Range 1 of Ette). Sword Beam grants a total of 1-5 Range, kill Seeker3, kill Seeker12, smack Coral to left.

Marron: Spawn M10. Weapon Skill. Retreat to L11.

Maxim: Spawn O9. Move to O10. Razor Focus self and Asha, when she spawns. Parasite Chloe.

Maria: \*rolls a die* K9 Spawn. Crawly Crunch spawn a Yggcrawler, tame it.

[END OF TURN] Ette: Use Guardian Classic, benefiting from Radiant Fluff. Grant Marron, Star, and Aoki Guardian.
All targets receive 10 Bonus SHP thanks to RF.
- Healping Reisz when she spawns with Bonus Action Basic Attack, for Mending3, 7 Bonus SHP, and Guardian3. If Reisz is not summoned this turn, give it to.. Chloe.

Battle - Moments from Despair

ADRIA: W-what in the world...
ADRIA: ...No. Not the time. I have to focus.

Adria spawns in at (O9). A few things happen.
-Watching Over You: Chloe
-New Project: Cantrip + Raw Healing + Potency
Nanomend Duct Tape (13 MP) (-2 MP from Calamitic Efficiency). Restore (23-24) HP to a target. Range 1-3. Bonus Action. Nobody has any idea how this works. Except Adria. And probably Mari if given the opportunity.

Adria walks to (P10) and uses the Helix Relic, boosting Empowered. She then uses Full Attention To Praise! to boost her Buff Levels even higher. She then casts Watchful Eye on (V13), wide-eyed. With her +5 Buff Levels and +1 Manafueled, Adria has 105% damage on subsequent hits, meaning that she'll kill a Seeker even if buffed by a Scourgeking.

If Thymebent is activated, when Chloe spawns, Hypercharge her.

She also Lengthens the Empowered.

---

biflora what the peck

Shelly stumbles back, perhaps as expected. Although, despite the obvious sting of a wooden hand, she merely dusts off her cheek as if it was only dust.

SHELLY: Hmph.

If her opponent wants to bleed out, who was she to stop her from doing so? The cell might not be big enough for a proper round of fisticuffs, but they're doing it anyway.

Shelly baits a reaction by feinting with her left fist, and immediately reacts to the inevitable follow-up with a swift grab from her right hand, catching any extended limb. She yanks Biflora forward while slipping behind her. She immediately grabs her opponent's foliage in her right hand and yanks that towards her.

SHELLY: And you're supposed to be trained by professionals?
SHELLY: Spark had abysmal standards, apparently.

Shelly simultaneously releases the foliage, wraps her leg around her opponent's, and shoves Biflora forward, causing the Hawkeye to tumble to the ground. Shelly, pressing her advantage, leaps above and stomps on Biflora's upper back. Or chest, doesn't matter. So long as it forces her down. She then steps on her head and shoves it down to the floor.

SHELLY: Pathetic.

She knows Biflora can't do anything lest she risk getting her hands ripped clean off.

---

Inscryption... or not.

In the room below the catacombs, Shelly catches a whiff of danger. Being smart enough to not, and because I have no idea how Inscryption works, she decides to call the exploration there and climbs up the ladder to exit. Someone else can handle it from here.

---

Airship

On the Airship, Cedar asks a question; how exactly are they gonna get into the Sphere without some wicked arbomancy? Lucky for him, Shelly's there to answer.

SHELLY: Judging by recent findings... we won't.
SHELLY: Boshi unfortunately has a very... how do I put this... grounded way of thinking? Basically, he expected an actual bridge.
SHELLY: While it makes sense for everyday things, it does not account for the esoteric nature of errata like the Sphere.
BOSHI: (Never before have I been so offended by something I 100% agree with.)
SHELLY: Anyway. the plan.
SHELLY: There's a portal that's opened at the very top of the Citadel. While not very large, it may just be big enough to allow weapons fire through.
SHELLY: In addition to that, we have a few deployables such as Mechoni ready for combat.
SHELLY: We can send those down as needed.

SHELLY: Time is of the essence, the others are in the Sphere already.
SHELLY: Fire up the engines, man the weapons, and get ready.

Boshi and the others either salute or nod.

BOSHI: (Engaging engines!)

Boshi starts the engines via the console on deck, each one flaring to life. Shelly heads to the front of the ship to navigate and take on the northern weapons console. Hannah and Sophia take the left and right consoles, with Dorothy hanging back and manning the Utility console. Anyone else on standby can replace them if they want to.

With everyone in position, Boshi has the airship take off to the top of the Citadel. It shouldn't take long, given the base is close by.

---

Medicine

Hannah blinks as Chi mentions that bandages are only a stabilization step. She silently ponders how the peck she survived on just bandages all this time.

Then more pour in. Poisoned folks, stung by Predators. As Chi begins her explanation, Hannah realizes that this is essentially what she's been looking for. As such, she listens very intently.

Once Chi starts explaining the process, and knowing how fast poisons can act, Hannah gets to work, placing the Frostleaves and Serena Flowers near an Aurora Crystal to dry. Once dry, one by one, she plucks the petals from the flowers and places it into the mortar bowl. She begins grinding the leaves into a fine powder. While normally she'd probably use some form of tech to help with grinding, manual work like this will be useful on the field.

With everything ground to a fine powder, Hannah takes the samples of red and yellow sap, places them into a beaker, and places said beaker onto a pile of aurora crystals off to the side. She surrounds the vessel with some of the crystals for a more even heating and stirs it about to mix it properly.

HANNAH: So, uh, while this mix is boiling, I gotta ask. Do we apply it to the wound like last time, or...?

That may be important.

Once the mix starts top boil, Hannah moves the herbal mixture from the mortar to the beaker and mixes. And once it's all mixed, Hannah removes the beaker from the crystals.

HANNAH: Alright, done.

Depending on what Chi recommended earlier, Hannah gets to work.

---

Fren(?)

Sophie tilts her head in confusion. The new person's acting really weird, her tattered royal dress and crown betrays her weirdness.

SOPHIA: ...Why you actin' all weird?
SOPHIA: Like, not the cool kinda weird, but... y'know?
SOPHIA: An' Echoss ain't my dad! My dad's...

...She trails off and glances to the side, very uncharacteristic of the child.

SOPHIA: ...Eaten by monsters...

And despite that grim comment, she quickly recovers her pep and continues.

SOPHIA: ...But I still have auntie!

She completely ignores the salad.

---

The Reflector

In the same unknown location, Shadow!Hannah finds The Reflector staring at a wall for no apparent reason. Just her luck, too, she was looking for them.

HANNAH: Hey Reflector! Hey Aegra! And everyone else in there, too!
HANNAH: I was lookin' for you.
HANNAH: Now that we've breached the Sphere, some of us decided to bring the airship for aerial support, and we need people to do things.
HANNAH: Me and the others would really appreciate the help.

I include a small note to remind ire that the summon items will have an added bonus so that anyone summoned with them will not actually permadie so that we can use all our cool things without worrying about our friends dying at the finish line.

Not!Echoss puts the Sock Collective into its final upgrade with Nia.

Portal:
I don't have any good funny dialogue for responding to Chloe so Echoss is kinda embarrassed but I guess the scene doesn't continue.

Droplet:
An Echoss butterfly floats down towards Star and Droplet as Star seems uncertain how to respond to Droplet.
"While my opinions on the late chairheir remains conflicted at best even with the knowledge that he has an eldritch god devouring his mind, I can perhaps offer you some relief on the latter."
A swirl of golden butterflies launches in through the one still-shattered window at the front of the cathedral, and forms into Echoss around the butterfly that had been sitting there before. He sits down crosslegged, looking at the two grey iti.
"Droplet, Star, this world is one that is very hostile to your kind. You are aware of this, and finding a way to deal with it is a great and injust burden. I think, perhaps, you should be made aware of some things that will be happening once the Sphere falls.
The Echo Collective will be, should the Butterfly properly fall and not obliterate a large swath of reality in its ascension, setting up shop so to speak on Sussui. Delivering care packages, mediating political disputes, and most importantly: preventing another repeat in the planet's cyclical history of genocide.
While I cannot say life will be easy for the sapient iti that survive the coming calamity... You will not be alone, if you wish to have aid. The land does not belong to you, and it is not mine to give, but I can talk with those who it does belong to and exert what pressure I can to keep you from being hunted. That you are at least given the chance to life that is rightfully yours.
And of course... The Echo Collective is always open to those who need a place to live. It will be very different from what you have known so far, but it is a place I can say for certain will treat you all with respect, and without malice."

Moments From Despair
Spawn with Cat Familiar (chimera out Nuzzle for Hopeful Glow).
Eagle Eye myself and Irongutta, gained Empowered.
Alter Reality empowered to enlightened. Chug both Energy Drinks
Echo Chocolate: Asha and Irongutta
+1 Scavenge
Movement: I never actually received help with this so just leave me by the spawn point with my cat next to me it doesn't really matter this turn.

Item chances: both energy drinks have a 20% chance to conserve and dupe. Echo Chocolate has no chance.


CONSUMABLE SPAM:
1. Upcraft the Blockmelons into guardian+mending consumables
2. Make orderlancers.
3. Turn Lumipods into a sniping consumable

Destiny spawns at K9 in Moments from Despair, waits for Irongutta's Fury as well as the Scourgekings to down, moves to F10, then uses Whirling Blades to E11, D12, E12, F13, F14, and G13. She retreats to G10.

Kalis ceases to have Fury equipped and has Skeletal Toss equipped instead. In fact, they never had Fury equipped in the first place, we established this several turns ago?

Kalis also removed Bag of Tricks from their special. Ire, we discussed this in DMs last month and then I forgot about it. I think you said this would decrease SP cost and minimum SP cost by 15? Feel free to adjust that number if you don't actually consider it reasonable on second thought. I just want a) more specials and b) no repeats of the NORTH incident.

Kalis spawns on K8. They cast Focus Energy on themself, then cast Force Nail on the Scourgeking which has been helpfully positioned on O11, activating Flux Cascade and with the HE Nail option active to apply Primed. This sets Loaded Spellbook to Force Nail and triggers Soul Hauler and Entropic Accumulation three times each.

BATTLES - MOMENTS FROM DESPAIR

Star spawns at L8 with Sol Ultima in Hammer form. They move to K9, Grasp JOE, and fly to J10, dragging JOE to K9, where they release the grab. Next, Star flies to H8, and smacks the Coral on G7 to destroy it. They switch to Gladius form, retreat to I10 and Infinidrop an Infinipizza into the inventory.

---

DROPLET (ALSO ECHOSS)

Star starts at Echoss's arrival, but nods.

STAR: I hope your dream can be unto a reality-world yellow insect-wielder
STAR: I will not harm the chair-folk but neither will I be obsolete so quietly
STAR: and we will not vanish into the dark so simple as they might desire.
STAR: perhaps I would visit your echo worlds someday;
STAR: But my kin do not know any other home
STAR: This is their world now too
STAR: and i am of a fearful premonition that this bloodshed is far from over

---

REFLECTOR AND HANNAH

The Reflector turns to the approaching shadow Hannah.

THE REFLECTOR: hello, hannah! we did not expect anticipate your--

Realizing what Hannah has just said, they suddenly gasp in a voice very much not their own.

"THE SCION": ...Did you just call me...
"THE SCION": But... where did you hear that? Where...

"The Scion" wraps her arms around Shadow!Hannah in a tight hug, extremely thankful that she is non-biological. She sniffles.

"THE SCION": I'm sorry... for freaking out on you.
"THE SCION": Aegra is her name, I don't really deserve it...
"THE SCION": I'm just a copy, right?
"THE SCION": Did... she tell you...

"The Scion" shudders.

"AEGRA": ...thankyouthankyouthankyou
THE REFLECTOR: (thank you.)

The dark, wooden confines of The Sphere's interior, the alarming number of eyes lining every wall of the cavity they all found themselves in, and now the angriest possible version of the Naclestial made Irongutta a little more nervous than he'd like to admit. So instead, he steeled his resolve while firmly clutching Magnolia in his hands.

"We were this close to endin' it all fer good. I- we ain't gonna let anyone stop us now!"

---

Battle: Moments from Despair

Irongutta spawns at N9 and casts Fury to buff himself and Destiny (before her movement).

Quick Reply: Daskter moves to/near around (P10) and summons All-Out Assassin somewhere 1 tile around them

Moments from Despair
Spawn at K9.
Toss pillow to Omo.
Move to G10.
Last Dream Symph3.
Retreat to H10.
Power Nap self.

Swiftly-mentioned stuff

Venia commissions the Fighter Jet trinket from Marron, as a single piece. Link to the stats here.

---

The Final Battle

-Actual RP here-

---

Battle Actions: The Really Edgy Location Name

Turn order as follows-these are the first things to occur and in this sequence exactly:
-Asha, Ette & Maxim spawn in.
-Ette moves first, uses Safe & Warm on Asha, moves to N11, Infinite range ropes Scourgeking1 to N11.
-Maxim spawns in, moves to O10 and Razor focuses themselves and Asha. They also apply the Parasite to Marron when she spawns in.
-Bauhaus does his move, see his post.
-Nia and Venia spawn in together at N10 and M10 respectively; Venia uses Kickstart My Heart to gain Ordo with her free use, and Nia uses the Luminous Rose to gain Ordo for 5 rounds for 5 MP as a bonus action due to being adjacent to the Ordo-possessing Venia.
-Nia moves to S9, consumes 2 of her Ordo's duration to move Scourgeking2 to O11, and then places a Glacier Drop at M14 before retreating to R10.
-JOE does his move, see his post.
-Kalis does their move, see their post.
-Venia does the rest of her action, see below.

-Asha's action is last, see her post.

Venia moves to K10, activating Unexisting Theorem no less than five times. For review; this gives her +50% MHP and MMP, +5 to all non-MOV substats, +1 MOV, and 5 uses of a free-action shove. And turns her into a massive spider eldritch abomination again, I guess I couldn't resist that. This also activates the Snowfell Star to buff her up.

Then she uses Purge, consuming her Ordo and blasting straight east-this should annihilate the Scourgekings (between primed and just having a lot of damage).

House

Verdana observes the construction work.

"...Yep, that looks fine to me. At least... Eh, there's like a 0% chance we'll see one last siege before this whole incident is over, so it should be good enough."

With that, Verdana makes sure he's outside, then promptly turns into a jet plane and blasts off in the direction of the Sphere.


Blacklight remains here. He doesn't see himself as fit for battle, and besides, he's not even sure if the thymefield would let him get away with trying... Plus he's fine with just staying around and chatting.

"...I'm not supposed to embody hope, it is as much anathema to me as doubt is to my counterpart, but... Hopefully, a good word will be enough, yes."

Blacklight nods. Then... Well, there's still time.

"If you're feeling hungry at all, there's stew, salad, and bread over in the kitchen area. Should still be plenty left, a weirdly high number of people skipped breakfast today..."

---

"Yey hug"

---

Zone 6

Calibri just stares at the sharpened hotdog for a while. Then at Chaos, who has given a demonstration on how to use said sharpened hotdog as a lethal weapon. This is a lot to take in. But at least he knows roughly how to go through things now.

"...Alright. I'll see what I can do."

With that, he concentrates, then activates the time machine...


Elsewhere, Lato struggles with plants. She eats the half of a chairian pastry to recover from the Sentinel flower attacks, then thinks up an idea on how to get through. Temporarily donning a Fragrant Flower in her hair, she hums in appreciation for the aesthetic, then reenters the room with the local wildlife (all Sentinel plants) as the thing it's set to keep her unbothered by.

"Hm..."

Hopefully that either lets her carry out her work uninterrupted so she can retrieve the Gardener's head from out of the Netwyrm's maw and also drag his body to an easier place to continue revival plans from, or she can at least retrieve the head and book it before the plants attack.

Either way, as long as she has the head, she needs to analyze the situation and figure out if a traditional form of resurrection would be effective enough here. If not, there's always that one ritual, but it's expensive...

---

Drop has been kicked

Calibri stares for a moment, visibly disheartened by the failure of Droplet to achieve anything. Still, he did arrange for some things elsewhere, so he can probably put those to use for his own purposes. No need to worry...

"...Huh... I'll just, uh, figure something out. Nice talking to you."

He stands there for a while, then abruptly self-ordos and uses a cast of Salvation, projecting a cone of healing energies via Reassurance to help mend Droplet's injuries. It's the least he can do. Then, he turns and walks away without another word, off to sort out some problems.

This is going to be... a rather long, hectic, and time-consuming adventure. I'll say that much.

---

Battle in the Sphere - Moments From Despair

Verdana performs a 9/11 on the Sphere, crashing through far too much material and ultimately arrives into the battle at K9. After turning back into humanoid form and brushing off some undesirable substances, he gets a sense of the battle around him and moves over to F11.

"Bring it on, all of you! Even combined, you can't get through my armor!"

He guards, his AC shooting up to a legendary 35. Gaia Eruption goes off, targeting Seeker13, 16, and 4. Pyralux Bombardment goes off, pinging Pillager1 twice. Stand By Your Side goes off, taunting Pillager1.

...Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah.

The Cherubian Helper uses [Construct] to summon a Crystal Spire on E9.

Auth nods vaguely to Taeda's comments.

AUTH: I appreciate that. I admit I was more concerned about what, er...
AUTH: Those outside our group might think of me being in a religious site, if that makes sense? Although, all things considered, I doubt they would turn away an offer of help, given the state of things...

Auth looks around the room, as he continues to patch up the most injured Chairians in the room. What are they doing? Saying? Looking at? Are they looking at him? He'd be shocked if their incursion into the church hadn't disrupted what was going on earlier.

AUTH: I don't think it would have stopped me, though. I think you've seen how religious icons interact with me. I knew that there would be people who needed help here, and it's help I can provide.
AUTH: I wonder how many people away from here can't get help because Spark transplanted so much of that required infrastructure into the military. It will bother me for some time.

Auth looks outside, for a minute, towards the horizon. Almost, but not quite, like someone trying not to be sick while riding in a car.

AUTH: I know it had to be done, and my head tells me it wouldn't have ended another way... but I'm still upset about how that fight turned out.
AUTH: My heart tells me there were other points to prod, that maybe he wouldn't have had to end up going out that way. That there was some other way for him to have been spared, that he might face fair justice, rather than... necessity.

It is probably unsurprising that Auth, bordering on being a pacifist, dislikes that Spark had to die. Also notably, and perhaps going without saying given the surroundings, Auth has avoided much in the way of detail. Taeda should understand clearly enough, though.

---

Just prior to floating up to the Sphere, Auth steps inside the main building, checking for anyone still injured, and checks the "interesting thing" on the shelf at BE19 in the Archives. He also reads the file on himself, out of pure curiosity.

---

Auth has also been looking out over other zones, and notices Shelly coming out of the Secret Chamber. This hidden area has piqued Auth's curiosity, and so he enters the room. It might be invisible, but Auth has handled far more difficult environs before. He "looks" at the "Cultist" "sitting" "at" "the table", and "approaches".

AUTH: Greetings.

What he does next... shall be determined upon the actions of "Leshy".

---

Actually in battle, Auth spawns on L8, floats gently over to J9, and resets Perseverance to Light/Fire protection. Then, he casts Perseverance set to Fire on Kalis and sets his own Variable Resistance to Fire.

He also stares down the Salt. He raises an eyebrow at this enragement entity. He sighs.

AUTH: Honestly, I don't know if you think such a transformation will be much help, but we have easily bested opponents dramatically more threatening and significantly more intelligent than you.
AUTH: The last time our party encountered you, the finishing blow was inflicted by me. The team healer. Which should be the greatest mark of shame that I imagine one could muster, given that I have next to no offensive capability.
AUTH: Get out of the way, or prepare to get curb stomped once again. Your victory is an impossibility, your defeat a certainty. A speedbump rising an inch further above the ground is still no greater an obstacle.

The irritation in Auth's voice may be manifesting, but his demeanour has changed little.

BY JOVE IT'S A RESPEC:
Swap off Stripe of Strife to Lost Soul.
-3 KP from AGI, -2 KP from SKI, +5 KP to RES.
This should result in minimal changes, just gaining 1 DGE/CAV/CNT/SHP.

Swap Encapsulate out with Mirror Image. :niaowo: :niaowo:

Shattering Storm rebalance:
(Lonely Storm) Before performing your basic attack, choose a target who is adjacent to you, an entity you control, or the attack's main target.
Spend X MP to include them in the attack, for half damage.

New Special: There Will Come Soft Rains
Fills By: Spending MP, Taking MP Damage
Bonus Action. Lasts one round per X SP spent. Remove your MP Cap and gain X MP. You may have any number of Mantled targets at once, and you immediately Mantle any number of allies. Effects based on your MMP, like Meditating, still use your original MMP.
MP gained scales with SPC.
Rainy Day Dream Away at 10 SPC. While this special is active, Mantled entities may give MP to you, at an X:X ratio.
(Modifiers above 10 SPC probably don't matter.)

COMBAT:
i typed this up once, then exited the tab on accident and it got ERASED. >:U

Aoki spawns and moves to O11. She Tempos to max Melody, then uses her special on Chloe. Remiel spawns and mantles her, then Mirror Images onto N10.

If nothing else has been posted for Chloe's second action, she just uses Nothing Ventured, taunting whatever's closest if there's even anything in range I guess.

Here's Keane's character sheet.

---

Far, far away, a lone Chairian farmer toils in the potato fields. It just so happens that today is this young Chairian’s birthday, and he is fucking sick to death of potatoes. Why can’t he grow something normal, like corn? God, he loves corn. He starts to work on the next row-

CRACK

He takes a step back, shading his eyes against the sun- and watches as a comet of electric indigo tears across the sky, heading directly towards the Thymium Communion.

Hm.

---

The party tenses up, ready for battle, and suddenly there is a second CRACK. Smoke fills the chamber, creating an ethereal, otherworldly effect as rainbows flicker and cascade around the room. Who could be the source of this beautiful CHAOS???

Then the party looks up and realizes there is someone lodged in the ceiling.

Keane wiggles comically, pointy crystal hair stuck firm in the thyme-encrusted wood, before the jetpack sputters out and he falls to the ground in a heap, small bits of debris landing around him.

KEANE: Yo, is this shit made out of real ass Waluigi Thyme???
KEANE: I’m just wondering. Because if it was, I could
KEANE: CONSUME
KEANE: it. I mean I could just, like, eat it, yaknow?
KEANE: Just transcend time and space and all that jazz.
KEANE: That would be so epic.

Keane lifts a bit of debris up to his mouth…

KEANE:
KEANE:
KEANE:

With a sickening CHINK, Keane’s head rotates 180 degrees to look at the Transcendant of Salt.

KEANE: GAMER DETECTED
KEANE: And what a fake fucking gamer you is.
KEANE: It will be sofuckingeasy to fulfill my GAMER KILLING duties and GAMER KILL you.
KEANE: Pro tip: real life is a roguelike.
KEANE: (you won’t respawwwwwwwwwwn~)
KEANE: You probably can’t even afford [[HealthInsurance!]]
KEANE: I can’t believe you are one whomst dares to call themselves Salt.
KEANE: (which is a crystallllllll~)
KEANE: You dumb fucking fake gamer TAX MAN.
KEANE: That’s right! No longer will the TAX MEN in their GREAT IRS HYPERCUBE TAX FORTRESS lord over the people and tax them.

Keane kicks off the floor, his jetpack’s engine purring, and pulls out a huge cannon and a staff with a credit card taped to the end.

KEANE: First, I will evade your attaxes.
KEANE: Then, I will KILL the CEO OF TAXES.
KEANE: (that’s youuuuu!!~)
KEANE: Finally, I will <3 Proceed. to the main TAX PROCESSING COMPUTER and DESTROY it!
KEANE: AND NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE TO PAY TAXES AGAIN.

An inexplicable neon sign reading APPLAUSE lights up. Inexplicably, everyone in the room starts clapping.

---

BATTLE - Moments From Despair - ACTIONS:

Keane spawns at O9, flying to Q10. He shoots the Bancannon at Seeker9, and then spends 8 mana to tap, shooting again at Seeker8.

One more craftpost. Before the end.



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

Battle: Moments From Despair

Using Eager Beaver, I move over to T12 and whack Symph4, and use two charges of Winter Wonderland.

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

Berg continues talking to Marron. He nods at her explanation.

cA: I understand completely. Defending one's honor is a worthy task.

cA: ...Although the frequency with which people's arms are stolen should probably be worrying.

cA: ...I haven't had the chance to ask: how have you, Ette, and Chloe been doing? Because of my... disappearance... I have missed important moments my allies' time here. I hope you all weren't hurt, I wouldn't want my oath to have been broken, even if I couldn't exactly control it.

<ROUND 328>

JOE learns that his actions have consequences! Which he refuses to face, so he lies to the cultist gang. He really didn't realize that he'd extinguish the Hellfire Pit! And he can't bear to live with himself anymore! So, he leaps into the bottomless pit. At least in theory; he creates an Illusory Trap to do so in his place, and teleports elsewhere with a bit of fruit.

With a series of warps, he makes his way to the Standard Barracks, disguised as an elemental of blood and garbage. He moves over to the corpse storage pit, and in his infinite wisdom, casts Terraform! A portal to the lava dimension manifests above the pit, and vomits about fifty billion hecktons of lava into a pit full of animate corpses before closing. The stench is immediate, burnt wood and meat obliterating JOE's probably-existent nostrils. He takes a moment to extract 5 Flux from the burning bodies.

Of course, the scent and smoke that lava usually generates draws the horde of cultists down the hall. JOE is forced to bolt down through the barracks and the Iti holding cells to get away, arriving in the Northern Chapel Hall. He climbs into the fountain to hide from whatever passerby may be following. However, by putting his hands in the fountain, he triggers the anti-theft countermeasure, and for the third round in a row, gets violently mauled.

As he gets violently mauled by the fountain, the cultists zip by, extract JOE from the fountain, and throw him the slammer to the south. He will be tried for his crimes in the upcoming days, unless he breaks out or something. That'd be a shame.

To pass the time while in jail, JOE performs a cryptic scheme that doesn't involve breaking out of prison. A Brainburn Crystal and some Lifeblood Sap is stuck together with Dried Paint and some paper to create 6 total Cryptic Schemes. I'm pretty sure the craftpost is really just you planning your action this round, but shhhh. Whatever works?

---

Shelly engages in fisticuffs with Biflora! Baiting a punch, Shelly grabs Biflora's arm and with what can probably be described as a "judo moment", slams Biflora into the ground. She then leaps up, stomping hard on Biflora's back. She lets out a splattering of sap from her mouth, but refuses to let up. She-

CULTIST: ma'am ur under arrest for assault and batteries
CULTIST: thank you for escorting yourself to ur cell
CULTIST: locking sound!

...Shelly promptly has a prison officer beating stick™ thrown at her noggin by the cultist guard. While she's dazed, the guard locks the cell door on her. Shelly is now locked in a cell-y. And of course, making use of this moment she's been given, Biflora grabs Shelly's leg, bringing her down to the ground with her. Though dazed herself, she manages to pull herself up onto Shelly.

BIFLORA: N-Nice going, i-idiot!
BIFLORA: Now we're cellmates! I-Is that what you wanted?
BIFLORA: 'Course, I won't have a cellmate soon enough!

Biflora throws a quick jab to Shelly's nose, doing her best to ground and pound her with her heavy fists. There's not too much force behind her punches with the damage she's taken, but it'll still certainly sting. Now, how to get out of this one? Though there's fighting in the cell, the guard seems pleased enough with their performance today. Maybe they'll treat themselves to a coffee for a job well done.

Elsewhere, Timeclone Shelly decides to leave the obvious Inscryption reference. She climbs up the ladder, restoring her proper vision. Weird how that works, huh? It's like she crossed a universal loading zone or something. It's really quite headache inducing.

Meanwhile, over at the Airship, Timeclone(?) Shelly #2(?) details a bit of errata for Boshi's airship plan. They'll simply be piloting the airship over the Citadel, and fire weapons through the portal into the Sphere itself. They also have a few troops they could deploy through the vortex as well if required, like a few Mechoni.

CEDAR: ...I see.
CEDAR: I'm not sure how well firing a bombardment through that portal would go, but... I suppose that might work.
CEDAR: Given that I've decided to serve my penitence within the boundaries of this airship... I may as well make myself useful to you lot.
CEDAR: I have experience crewing airships just like these. It's a fairly familiar model, though never has this model been outfitted for dealing with anymore more than a few light aerial threats.
CEDAR: Still. I will do as you ask.
CEDAR: Perhaps this too, is a form of penitence.

Maybe he'll be able to help out? Anyway, once the battle within the Sphere gets properly underway, this might have some kind of positive effect? Who knows? I'll probably think of someone at the start of next round. Hint hint. (if i forget please poke me thanks)

Next off, Hannah spends a moment wondering how she's survived on just bandages this whole time? In a puff of logic, Hannah pecking dies. She dares not question this line of logic further, just in case she dies in a puff of logic or something. Though, once presented with a poisoned patient, she immediately gets to work preparing the solution as Chi advised. Though, does she apply it to the wound, or not?

CHI: Hm? Oh, yes. Let it cool first, however.
CHI: My apologies. I've never been much of a teacher. I just assumed that you would know how to use this concoction.
CHI: I'll remedy this in the future, if required. As a general rule though, most of what we'll be using here today should be applied directly to the wound.
CHI: In fact, some doctors even recommend applying healing potions directly to the wound. An odd line of thinking, but it does seem to bypass the awful flavor of most concoctions...

Once the mix has cooled somewhat (at least, enough to not be scaling), Hannah slathers it into the wound. The pain seems to alleviate rather quickly, and the sap begins to thicken. Chi follows up Hannah's application by bandaging up the wound, and they repeat this process for a few more poisoned patients.

CHI: Excellent work.
CHI: It seems that most of the patients here have minor wounds. I'd imagine that most with anything more major... may have not made it.
CHI: Although... this poor, poor sap. I believe he's been hit by a carriage.
CHI: How reckless the driver must be, forcing their spiders to run someone over...

One of the Saints wheels over the Chairian hit by Sakura's carriage.

CHI: Hm, so. Impact wounds. Little damage on the surface, but the bruising must go deep.
CHI: In addition, it seems both of their arms have been somewhat... dislocated. It's an unpleasant situation, to be sure.
CHI: Hannah, I am unsure of your physical strength, but could you... "relocate" their arms? Move them back into place.
CHI: It sounds grisly, yes, but I'm sure you can do it. Don't want it to heal in an unnatural fashion.

CHI: I'll handle the bruising. Compressions and ice will do the trick once the Saints heal what's there.
CHI: If it weren't for our clergy here in the church, plenty of wounds could only be fixed by time.
CHI: Thankfully, healing magic is such a thing in this world. Useful, is it not?

As Hannah begins her likely final healing-based assignment, Sophie chats with this total weirdo resting on the couch. Why's she actin' weird? Also, Echoss isn't her dad! Her real dad was eaten by monsters. Sakura's face pales.

SAKURA: Oh gorilla. I'm sorry.
SAKURA: Don't tell your dad- erm, Echoss, that I said that, o-okay? He'll totally b-beat the gorilla out of me for that.

SAKURA: A-And... I'm n-not weird! Y-You're weird!
SAKURA: I-I mean... you're a very, very normal c-child! Yeah...
SAKURA: look if i offend anyone Echoss will definitely beat the gorilla out of me please don't be mad

Deep breath, in, out. How to handle a child? She's pretty sure that she can't give booze to a kid without getting arrested. A damn shame; alcohol fixes a majority of the problems she's come across in her daily life. This is truly a predicament.

SAKURA: ...Why are you here, anyway?
SAKURA: Child. Deadliest armed force on the planet. War crimes.
SAKURA: I feel like you get asked this a lot.
SAKURA: I'm like, ninety percent sure everyone in this house has killed someone.
SAKURA: ...Except for me.
SAKURA: A totally normal girl, in a house full of goddamned psychos.
SAKURA: ...N-Not saying you're a psycho, t-though!
SAKURA: seriously please don't tell Echoss
SAKURA: have i mentioned he's gorillaing terrifying and i shouldn't be swearing should i

Sakura is sweating bullets. She takes a bite from the salad out of fear, before remembering that it's peasant food. She sets it aside. There's no more bread or water. There is no solace from the threat of a random child. :sophiastare: :sakurahhhh:

---

Not!Echoss delivers the Sock Collective to Nia. Nia holds the Sock Collective up to her lips, gives it a gentle kiss, and whispers a few words to it.

NIA: You are free now, my children~

With that, the Sock Collective transcends existence, creating the Sock Sanctuary. Nia gently puts the abandoned civilization back into the inventory, where it will be forever preserved. Probably. Truthfully, the technology within the Sock Collective probably blows Echoss's mind. It's a shame he probably can't understand any of it, either. Probably because it's made of socks, and operates on whatever Nia's logic is.

Meanwhile, the dreaded ECHOSS BUTTERFLY descends upon Star and Droplet. Perhaps he can provide some relief to the two grey Iti? Though this world is hostile to their kind, he explains that a few things will be happening once the Sphere falls. One, the Echo Collective will do their best to support Sussui, and perhaps end their cyclical history of war and death. The Iti won't be alone-

DROPLET: ...A-Are you sure?
DROPLET: Y-You won't just... abandon us? Like every Descendant ever has?
DROPLET: We, the disposable? Pawns to an end?
DROPLET: Created without a second thought, just to die in service of a being we were never meant to question?
DROPLET: S-Swear on it. Swear you won't leave us alone.

So. Will he?

---

Verdana turns into a plane. This is apparently something he can do. He zooms off towards the Sphere, and is immediately forced to back off by a swarm of Seeker missiles- which is to say, a swarm of missiles that have Seekers taped to them for no real good reason at all. The missiles whizz harmlessly pass Verdana as he flees from the Sphere, the Seekers perishing as the missiles detonate in midair. It's quite disgusting, really.

Back over at the house, Blacklight offers Beech a meal. Oddly enough, much of the team has foregone breakfast today. A curious occurrence; normally Chloe would be loading up on buns and stew, but she's nowhere to be found. Nonetheless, Beech is more than happy to break for a meal.

BEECH: Ah, there's food? Much appreciated.
BEECH: Stew sounds quite nice. The other praetorians have a quite refined pallet, but I've always liked the taste of simpler times.
BEECH: I'll help myself, thank you.
BEECH: As for why everyone might be skipping breakfast... today's the day, isn't it? The day you siege the Sphere.
BEECH: Nervousness might be getting the best of everyone. Try and make sure they eat regardless.
BEECH: Can't fight on an empty stomach, after all.

EN meanwhile, gets a hug. yey

Then, over at the Citadel, Calibri ponders the existence of Chaos's sharpened chaosdog. How exactly, did he manage to kill someone with a delicious treat? And why'd he not eat it afterwards? Really, it's quite a lot to take in. Time machine in hand, he warps into the past, ready to hunt down the inventor of gravity himself. Sir Isaac Newton. Calibri warps into the past, and... arrives in some sort of mysterious temple near the beginning of time, or something like that. Is he on Earth? Where is he? There's a fair chance he isn't really anywhere.

Whenever / wherever he is, he spots three figures, sitting upon three thrones. One at a time, they stand up, and step forward. Sir Isaac Newton, Herrscher of Physics. Around him, a variety of armaments float in the air, all pointed towards Calibri. Guns from all eras, entire celestial bodies, miniaturized galaxies- there's nearly infinite ways he could kill a man! Next up is Albert Einstein, Herrscher of Space. Reality warps around him, the very cosmos at his fingertips. The power of the sun courses through a set of space-rending wormholes, ready to incinerate all. Finally arrives Galileo, Herrscher of Time. He hangs behind the party, his very power rendering all three of the trio immortal. Around him, the universe reaches its heat death, only to rewind back to a point of stability.

Calibri cannot forget his mission. He has to kill Sir Isaac Newton, Herrscher of Physics, with a sharpened chaosdog. Of course, doing this seems moderately impossible. At least he's not in the Thymefield at the moment. It's... still unclear where he is in terms of time and space. Scribbled on the floor of the temple, in black-tipped sharpie, is a message from someone. "good lu[c]k!", it says. Welp.

Meanwhile, somewhere a little bit more reasonable, Lato eats half a pastry to recover from acid bombardment, equips a Fragrant Flower set to ward off the Wildlife faction, and enters the room. The Sentinels completely ignore her. This allows her to go grab the Gardener's head and drag their body to a safer location. As for whether resurrection would be viable or not... uh, well, given general rules, no. The ritual could be performed, though. Given that it's been done a few times before, it'd be as simple as pestering Marron to go do it, as well as spending some materials. Wanna give it a go?

Finally, an alternate timeline Calibri decides to cast Salvation on Droplet, mending a good deal of her injuries. Though she appreciates it, well...

DROPLET: Y-You know there's like, two other people who haven't even been h-helped yet, right?
DROPLET: I-Idiot.

she's not really showing that appreciation is she

---

Star responds to Echoss. Though, Droplet still has her own thoughts to chime in with.

DROPLET: Think we can actually avoid fighting the C-Chairians?
DROPLET: T-They're people who've known nothing but war with the Tabletopians. P-Peace is not in their language.
DROPLET: We can h-hope that maybe they'll be... t-tired, for once in their lives.

---

Auth continues his tenure in the church. Really, if there was anything he was worried about with his time here, it was that he wouldn't be welcome at this religious site. Taeda waves her right arm dismissively.

TAEDA: Ah, don't worry about that!
TAEDA: We at the Church of Helix are very welcoming to those who are willing to listen! And we're still welcoming to those who don't!
TAEDA: Just as long as you don't worship the Dome, you're always welcome here!

Taeda spins her pistol ever so idlily. She's gotten, uh, really good at handling her firearms. A little too good, perhaps. Perhaps smol ladies are naturally drawn to high caliber firearms. Auth then takes a look around the chapel. Seems that there's no real services going on right now. Not enough priests around to do anything like that. Rather, many of the Chairians are either resting, or are in quiet contemplation. A common thing to happen post-near-death, probably. Auth ponders to himself how many people away from here couldn't get help because of all the aid transferred to the military.

TAEDA: Well, a vast majority of the population was evacuated into the city walls to keep them safe.
TAEDA: You won't need to worry about that too much. It's just that... well, we have a slight case of overpopulation at the moment.
TAEDA: Families sharing homes, or sleeping out on the streets... it's awful.
TAEDA: I believe to the east of the citadel, there's a whole town of tents and the like. Most of the injured are transferred here, though. There's only so many doctors, and we can't just travel about when there are so many patients to treat.

With Spark on the mind, Auth can't help but reminisce over what happened with Spark. Was there some other way the battle could've ended? Perhaps it would've been possible for him to survive the ordeal. Taeda shakes her head.

TAEDA: I-I... don't think there was any other way it could've ended.
TAEDA: Spark believed himself to be the one true hope for Locaa. When we extinguished that hope, and the hope the people had in him, he... just sort of snapped.
TAEDA: I think no matter what, even if we never did that, he'd kill himself trying to end us.
TAEDA: We Chairians are... very patriotic, after all.
TAEDA: It can't be helped.

Elsewhere, Auth decides to check out a few things around the Archives. While he can't quite reach the "interesting shelf" due to acid-spitting plants, he's more than capable of reading his own article.

"A heavenly entity from another world. Presumed to be an "angel", or another sort of mythological creature of that type. Radiates a holy aura which is said to purge heresy and sin from the world, as well as whatever opposes it. It's also estimated that his healing capabilities could allow a lone soldier to survive focused fire from ten individuals armed with splinter rifles, at the same time. Notably, a Chairian soldier appears to have tamed this entity, reducing his Threat Coefficient by 7. Final Threat Coefficient: 15."

...A curious little article, isn't it? Finally, Auth decides to greet the "cultist" sitting down at the table within the Secret Chamber. He pulls up a chair, sitting down in the ethereal darkness that veils this entire region. Without a word, the figure on the other end of the table hands the Author a wide variety of cards. These... uh, well, his hand's inconsistent, to say the least. It appears he's been challenged to a card game. How does it work? Uhhhh. Your guess is honestly as good as mine.

---

oh god it's keane. Keane breaks his way into this dimension, wishing to assimilate the Waluigi Thyme for himself. Is that a safe, sane thing to do? Absolutely not, but the Transcendent of Salt is in the way of him and his delicious spices! Plus, said Iti is a FAKE GAMER. It will be so easy to kill him.

SALT: Stop projecting your insecurities onto me.
SALT: Truly, I mourn that you believe me vulnerable to such feeble mental assaults.
SALT: ...I, of course, am. But I won't let that dissuade me.
SALT: It will just make your violent demise all the more sweet.

SALT: I will tax your corpse, and use the taxes to pay for more gun case skins on Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
SALT: That's right. Your demise will ultimately result in a singular five cent gun skin.
SALT: For the Negev.
SALT: What a meaningless existence you will lead.
SALT: It makes me wonder perhaps, if you're even worth taxing.

Despite his best efforts though, the various Seekers in the room clap as Keane's applause sign lights up. The Transcendant applies palm to face. Keane's face. Also his own. Anyway, Keane joins the game! He scares me on a fundamental level, and I sincerely hope he does not visit Creation. AHEM.

---

Bergilmir asks Marron a question. How's she doing? Has everything been fine? Marron's not entirely sure why he's asking, but eh.

MARRON: I mean, things have been fine. I guess.
MARRON: Like, honestly, I'd rather not be fighting all the time, but whatever.
MARRON: I'm... a bit bummed, though.
MARRON: Asha, Chloe, Ette, the Scion, a big ol' light golem, and I were gonna play a board game! It was gonna be cool!
MARRON: But then the Tabletopians attacked the house, and we haven't been able to get together since!
MARRON: Total buzzkills. Hmph.

:marronpout:

---

<MOMENTS FROM DESPAIR, ROUND 2>
Things are heating up already! There's a generally excessive amount of spawns on the map at the moment. Kill what you can, but be prepared for a vicious counterattack! May I suggest taking out the Vilebarons and Hiveminds? They're among the largest threats on the map, in my opinion. Also, a few members of the team have been whisked away to an alternate map! Hold your ground!

Sleuth consumable collection form is used to gather more blockmelons because those are a good fruit for crafting useful consumables.

Droplet:
Echoss thinks for a barely a moment, then nods to Droplet.
"I swear on the blood of all my fallen kin that I will do what I can for you and your kind.
That may eventually come down to emergency evacuation if things go poorly enough, but you will not be abandoned.
I am not a petty warlord, or a self-proclaimed 'chosen one'. My work is and always has been to take care of the people I can reach, I am, we are not going to abandon you just because a madman discarded you before."

Moments From Despair
Echoss moves to L10, uses the Airship Controller to do: (all of these get +30% effect)
-Light Laser Turrets on Vilebaron1 for a clean kill (10/11) (not valid if Adria foamcrits)
-Twin Railcannons on both Blossoms for a guaranteed kill (6/11)
-Light Laser Turrets on all three Predators (3/11)
-Twin Railcannons on Salt (1/11)
- If Adria foamcrits, the remaining two points are used to start a tractor cannon shot at M24, which yanks the three predators north 2 tiles, out of the thyme tiles the bilequeen's explosion spawn but enough to deal crushing damage to all 3.
- Otherwise the last point is used to kill an iti that has survived the northern purge but is close enough to die to unavoidable light damage

Then his cat moves to J10 and uses Hopeful Glow on Star to give them Empowered4 for 2 rounds, then retreats to K11

Echoss then Alter Reality's his Enlightened into Empowered and fires up his weapon skill.
Echoss fires Focused Shot, using a Lesser Evil and a Oneshot Railcannon.

Deep Pockets does not proc for any of the used items.



CONSUMABLE SPAM:
CRAFT 1: x2 Blockmelons, x2 Assassin's Kris (Weapons), x1 Maid Plate (Weapons), x2 yellow sap blobs, x4 manabloom seeds, x5 yggherbs, x1 Bronzewood, x2 Mighty Bananas, x2 Parabolan Orange-Apples
Not!Echoss grabs the Blockmelons out of the inventory and, instead of flash-forging a knife out of iron ingots like a reasonable person, grabs two of the Assassin's Kris out of the inventory and does an entire sushi chef knife twirling routine. The blockmelons sit there for a few seconds, then abruptly explode into into a bunch of balls of perfectly spherical melonflesh. Performing more overly elaborate motions he gathers them all back into place, and then does the same to carve two mighty bananas into slices and somehow safely process the parabolan orange-apples using only his expert knife technique before cutting those too into slices.
Next, he grabs a block of bronzewood, and does an even more impressive knife routine than the first one, including juggling firebreathing, and generally doing lots of things that have nothing to do with cutting or carving, but nonetheless when he is done the bronzewood has been carved into a massive pile of perfectly smooth food skewers.
Flipping the table sends everything into the air, and an entire kung-fu fight scene takes place, during which the hapless bystander Maid Tray is carved into two perfectly intact versions of itself except half the size, and the fruit is perfectly skewered onto the skewers, placed in aesthetically pleasing loss geometrical formations.

Melon Skewer trays created! Grant Guardian2, Empowered2, and Mending6 for 3 rounds. This is applied to up to (4? 5?) other allies within Range1-2 of the original recipient as well.


CRAFT 2: x5 Soulblessed Alloy, x5 Shackled Chain, x25 sanctified rounds, x5 synthfuel, x5 searing powder, x5 mortar shells, x14 silver ingots, xYes titanium ingots, x5 Diamonds, x5 Arkalloy, x5 incendiary scraps.
Not!Echoss pulls out a whole bunch of metal, applying the pure heat of ANGRY GAMER coming off of Saltboi (without Saltboi's knowledge of course, gotta keep the heat steady) to force the silver, titanium, and arkalloy all together into powerful, compact tubes. Fitting in the incendiary scraps to make a simple trigger mechanism (consumables are single use anyways), he then sets to making the important part: the payload. Centering around the diamonds as a focus gem known for strength and purity, the mortar shells are splintered and fractured in just a way to make them not go off until triggered, combined with searing powder for a high-power launch mechanism that will probably ruin the launchers anyways but that's okay because single use, the frame just needs to be strong enough for the recoil blast to not hit the user (which they are).
Synthfuel is contributed in along with the clusters of sanctified around around a shell made from Soulblessed Alloy and further reinforced by the sealing magic of the Shackled Chains, splitting into bolts of soulblessed sanctified energy aimed at the enemy once fired.
Does any of this make sense? Probably not, it's technobabble, but crafting usually doesn't anyways.

Orderlancers created! How many? I dunno however many is appropriate but I was aiming for 5.


CRAFT 3: x4 Lumipods, x8 Prisoner's Honey, x4 Gravcore Ore, x4 Platinum Ingots, x2 Darkmatter Clusters, x1 Fourth Coffin's Nail, x4 Tama's Toxin, x4 Reverie Fragments
Not!Echoss knows the power of dreams, and the power of dreams has been very prevalent here on Sussui as the nightmares of the fallen Chairheir threaten to consume reality whole. You know where else dreams are powerful? Fallen London. Mixing some globs of Prisoner's Honey in and around the Reverie Fragments, Not!Echoss creates a resonating material that not only threatens to make someone fall asleep but pull them into the dream. With fragments of a Fourth Coffin's Nail with extra Tama Toxin applies, the fragments seem to rot, gaining in their power as he scatters the Darkmatter Cluster's strength into them, a rotting black sleep that can consume the weak whole.
But it needs a delivery mechanism, grabbing some gravcore ore and putting it onto a set of lumipods, affixed by platinum ore engraved to channel and not disrupt the nightmare fragments' power, the lumipods' light serves as an extra vector to deliver the entire sleep dose at once, and the gravcore ore helps them retain their long-range flight pattern.

4 Nightmare Pods! These are Range 1-8 and inflict BadSleep (Sleep but psychic DoT) of high intensity for one round. If the enemy targeted would be killed by the BadSleep on downtick when the Nightmare Pod is thrown, it instead deals it as Unavoidable Very Lethal dark damage.



People to chat with before the end for sure:
Sophia
Ette

Moments from Despair

ADRIA: S-so many...

Adria thinks about her next move...

---

The airship slows to a halt above the Thymium Communion. Every weapon available is directed towards the open portal.

BOSHI: (OPEN FIRE!)

---

Act after JOE and Hexagon/Mexagon

Adria moves to (R10), eats 3 Critmas Cookies, and Basic Attacks Vilebaron1.

Adria then uses Timely Displacement to return to (P10), completely unconcerned by the incoming Destroyer.

---

a lucky punk

Shelly reacts to the stick being thrown at her, but not fast enough, hitting her right in the forehead immediately as she realizes, causing her to stagger backwards and be thrown to the ground. The roles had reversed and Shelly was at a disadvantage.

Or so it seemed.

After a quick jab causes her to recoil very briefly and cause a minor nosebleed... Shelly catches the fist going back with both hands; one grabbing the back of Biflora's hand and one grabbing the forearm immediately below the wrist. Something audibly awakens within Shelly; she growls with fury.

And then she pulls the hand and pushes the forearm with all her might lengthwise, causing one of Biflora's badly damaged wrists to crack, splinter, and snap like a twig.

Using her legs, she shoves Biflora above her head, moving the hand on the hawkeye's torn hand to the upper arm to keep it straight and use as a pivot point, sap dripping onto her face from the torn-off wrist.

In one swift arc, she flips Biflora straight onto their back, now one wrist down.

Shelly quickly gets back up and steps on Biflora's head while she's floored. Biflora has so little hope of recovering.

SHELLY: Congratulations, you lost thrice.
SHELLY: Two hits and a lucky assist. I've suffered far worse for far longer.
SHELLY: And yet, you've managed to lose an entire hand.
SHELLY: Incompetence at it's finest.

Shelly, sap dripping from her face and blood draining from her nose, swipes the nearest needle(s) from the floor before Biflora could even consider attempting a stab. Gives Biflora more than enough time to remember that she's bleeding out.

SHELLY: All bark, no bite.
SHELLY: How stubborn.
SHELLY: Pray that a medic comes by in time. I certainly won't help.
SHELLY: Prick.

With her foot, she shoves Biflora's head across the cold stone floor, scraping off the bark it comes in contact with. And as a final coup de grace, she kicks the front of her head like a soccer/football, hoping to knock her out for good.

And all the while, the Timeclone of Shelly from the puzzle, wearing a visage mask, stands out of sight, waiting for the guard to heck off. She definitely thought this through.

---

a not so lucky princess

Sophie shows some minor concern for Sakura's behavior. She rubs her hair a bit, moving her hat slightly as a result.

SOPHIA: Ummm.
SOPHIA: W-well, me and my friends ended up stuck here on a space adventure. The thymefield doesn't play nice with my ship...
SOPHIA: And, um, I guess me being weird for a kid is kinda a thing?
SOPHIA: I'm way stronger and faster than a lotta others, even back home!
SOPHIA: ...B-but if I had to fight someone I'd use my umbrella, I don't wanna kill anyone by accident.

Sophia's mind dwells on the psycho comment from earlier. She knows that's not true for at least half of the people here. She's clearly bothered by it.

SOPHIA: ...Why d'you think we're all psychos, anyway?
SOPHIA: I mean, yeah, there's a lotta people here with issues, but like, doesn't everyone have issues?
SOPHIA: I'unno if most of us here can be called "psycho"... an' the ones that actually kinda are are kept in check by everyone else.

She wonders if she should get Dorothy to help her out...

---

a fortunate civilian

After Hannah does as she's asked, Chi turns Hannah's attention to the run-over Chairian. She winces.

HANNAH: Ow... yeah, that one.
HANNAH: Echoss got to 'em first, near the west gate to the Citadel. I told 'im to bring them here.
HANNAH: (typical royalty, not caring for anyone but themselves...)

Hannah is then instructed to try and move both arms back into place. Hannah glares at the displaced limbs with a hint of uncertainty. Do Chairians even have proper bones? Would she even be able to lift them?

She approaches one of them.

HANNAH: I'll... give it a shot...
HANNAH: Sorry in advance, but uh... this might hurt. A lot.

HANNAH: HUP-

Hannah hoists the arm up as close as possible to shoulder height, and tries moving it into place. Given she might end up causing intense pain, she braces herself for any pain-induced noises. If there's anything she'd need direction on, though, it might be this one; she's not sure where the "socket" or equivalent is on a Chairian, so she's kinda just trying to find it. She's starting to sweat a bit...

---

a pair of friends

Hannah certainly did not expect that reaction. It startled her at first. Definitely didn't expect to be hugged as tightly as she was (and just as thankful that she's currently a shadow).

But, after a moment, she couldn't help but smile, laugh, and reciprocate the hug.

HANNAH: Ahahaha...
HANNAH: Don't mention it!~

She hesitates for a moment, struggling to formulate words in her head during it, before sighing, not of annoyance or exhaustion, but of acceptance.

HANNAH: Aegra?
HANNAH: ...Thanks. Thanks for being... you.
HANNAH: ...God that sounds so sappy and cliché, but I... can't really think of anything more fitting.

She lets the embrace continue for as long as needed. When the two eventually part, Hannah energetically speaks up again.

HANNAH: Anyway, airship.
HANNAH: Let's get moving! Everyone's waiting!

Regardless of whether or not The Reflector and co. move out immediately or get moving, Hannah's Shadow sticks around to keep them company, travelling with them.

[FLUXENING]
Jail? How am I going to get more Flux if I'm in JAIL? Man it's a good thing I'm totally prepared for a jailbreak.
the plan is simple: I just use the Will of the Crops. It's a tier eight weapon. I'm pretty sure that means it's very sharp and durable. And it's not deactivated by the field generator thing because it's not magic or technology- it's biology! because of all the plants! I use it to snip the bars away and run, while the pseudo-guard isn't looking, which is right now! I flee north, through the chapel and then right, returning to the fountain. I've learned my lesson, though. no entering the fountain. even with innocent intentions. Instead I attack the fountain! from two spaces away, because my attacks are range 1-2 and not just 1! It can't reach me from here! to speed things up, I equip the acidic/dirtmaking/abomination shovel I made back when the farm existed in my off-hand and use it too. But that's not enough! this fountain has mangled me! repeatedly! for maximum overkill I equip the Everdrill on my right foot! I have to terraform my left foot into the floor just to stay standing, but it's worth it to attack the fountain with three items at once! Eventually this should destroy the fountain, and I then harvest the flux which powered its curse.

Once I've destroyed the fountain, it's back to the hellfire room I go! see, this pit is bottomless, which also doesn't make sense for different reasons. But I'm not going to worry about those reasons because they have a small chance of being wrong due to my lack of knowledge of what this planet is made of! Instead of risking that, I simply terraform out the walls to make a bottom for the bottomless pit. Terraform can be used to make Abysses into not Abysses! The bottomless pit, now with a bottom, explodes in a puff of logic for FLUX!

if the cultists start capturing me again I eat another warpmellon and run away. This is an important thing, because if I get captured again I won't be free for this next thing:
I then volunteer to be Bypassed by Nia! I don't Think that happened in the last two rounds so the possibility is open and, more importantly, might generate FLUX!

[BATTLE]

move to H7, spend 4 GP on Manabloom, and cast Terraform(full), Terraforming D2 into a blank tile, allied doors onto J14, I15, J15 and K15(doors are not a Harmful tile), Shallow Water tiles on M13 and M14, and under Bloodhounds 1 and 3; either [Power Wells - M12, K11] or [O13, O14, L12: Become Allied Thymecorals for +60% damage from Maxim and +20% damage from Star.]; and a power well to R10 and L10 for Adria and Echoss.
[there is one more discretionary Terraform assuming Allied Thymecoral aren't a thing.]
I then use my item action to use a Warp Ring to teleport the F4 Seeker to D2, Basic attack all seekers in range If the vilebarons are both dead by now and I can do that, and retreat to I8.
If possible, I also deactivate the Crop Sign after everyone else has acted. Is that possible? (the intention being to have it be off at the start of next round so I can turn it on if I want to then, not to, like, cheese the SP cost for this round while still benefting or something.)

Moments from Despair
Note that Nidra's power nap should have activated last round.
Play Soft Chime Perseverance.
Move to G11.
Last Dream Symph3.
Retreat to H10.
Power Nap self.