Kalis equips the Jealous Jar in place of the Popsicle Staff.

They consider crafting a better robe, but realize their equipment is now already at the level cap.

-----

"Hmm... what a strange story. Perhaps you have an inkling as to what's going on?"

Unfortunately, Kalis does not. Though...

KALIS: Hmm. I've seen this kind of sudden descent into villainy before, though my guess as to his specific motivations is as good as yours.
KALIS: A poison spell is a little unorthodox from an artificer. Is he also a wizard?
KALIS: Oh, and we fought one of his lieutenants earlier, I think? A "Vamprobabilitant Commander," fighting alongside the Automtons. Is that some sort of vampire?

---

JJJ takes offense to Garnet's assumptions! How dare Garnet assume him a teenager! He's ten!

GARNET:
GARNET: ...T-ten?!?
GARNET: Ten years old, with a fully formed shell?!?!?
GARNET: what the hell kind of prodigy child is this

...It appears you may have run into some cultural differences.

GARNET: ...Moving on from that.
GARNET: My daughter is...
GARNET:
GARNET: ...It's a complicated situation.
GARNET: Moving here was especially hard on her, mostly because there aren't many people her age on the planet yet.
GARNET: Then, well... I suppose you can probably expect her reaction to having to leave our home again because of the Automatons.
GARNET: She's currently sulking in the caravan... but she certainly won't talk to me, let alone a stranger.

---

John enters the vicinity of Eksveai Tower!

As he enters the clearing, he looks up... and up... and further up still, to where the top of the tower meets the sky. Thunder booms, and lightning arcs from the upper floors of the structure into the dark grey clouds that hide the top from view.

???: LET ME IN
???: LET ME IIIIIIIIIN

The sheer presentation is almost enough to distract from the boy shaking the gate angrily.

???: LET ME INNNNNNNNNNNNNN

The rattling force the boy is exerting upon the gate only intensifies as his rage increases. Furious, he slams his skull violently into the gate, and immediately stumbles backwards.

???: ow, fuck

The boy flops onto his back, and eyes a rubber duck sitting a few feet away from his head. He can't be older than fifteen, maybe sixteen...? At least, going by human biology standards, anyway.

The boy tilts his head for a moment, before rolling his eyes in annoyance.

???: oh, shush
???: Did YOU have a better idea?

is he talking to the duck

???: Don't give me that sass. You don't have LEGS.
???: I could leave you here. But I won't. Because sitting next to that tower for months on end is cruel and unusual punishment.

oh god, he's actually talking to the duck

???: Also, if you're not here to remind me not to, then I'll probably bonk my head into the gate again and kill myself.
???: ouchies

The teen rolls haphazardly onto his stomach, opening a small tub of "Heal-Goo", before picking up a large glob of it and placing it gingerly on his forehead, where a prominent blue bruise is forming.

Then he notices John.

???: Oh, hi!
???: Yeah, uh... I dunno if you can help us with anything.
???: Unless you're skilled with shooting magical gates so hard they break, but not so hard that they explode and kill us all.
???:
???: ...Are you skilled in that? Because that'd be helpful.

You should probably ask this kid his name, or something.

---

A vessel is created, and freed. Warryn joins the party!

As he stumbles up into the Caravan Campsite, Garnet turns to greet him.

GARNET: Oh, hello there!
GARNET: Welcome to Shellestokar. We're a bit too tied up at the moment to properly welcome visitors...
GARNET: ...Say, where are all you coming from, anyway? Last I checked, the Teleportation Station had been disconnected...

---

Hangman DOESN'T commit murder! Shocking, I know. He responds noncommittally to Phineas.

PHINEAS: Fair enough! We'll be here if you or your friends need anything.
FERB: ...

Seems they're sticking around. Triangle Capitalism is eternal.

Hangman then travels toward the northwest, ending up in a greyish, dusty desert. A large sign, emblazoned with a crescent moon, proclaims "LUN LUN RANCH" to anyone who sees it hanging over a low wooden fence gate. A few cacti are dotted about, and you can see some buildings in the distance, as well as a large cornfield.

---

Chlorin begins an inquiry! The purple kid snaps to attention, fumbling their cell phone into their pocket.

???: oh shit they're talking to me already
???: uh
???: 'm chillin
???: the statue? oh, that's minerva
???: she's really important around these parts
???: the vaprobabibaiblo think she's hot shit
???: sorry, hang on, the vamporobaili-
???: vamprobahbibbal
???: vamporbabialb
???: VAMPROBABILITANTS
???: the vamprobabilitants think she's hot shit
???: supposedly minerva created their species or whatever
???: shows what they know
???: and they know absolutely nothing
???: ahahahaaaaa
???: but ye this is her temple
???: people used to come here all the time to donate offerings
???: then they stopped
???: for... some reason
???: idk i'm not people i don't know why everyone stopped coming here

Helpful...?

---

Periala wanders in after Chlorin. She then proceeds to ramble on to Minerva for a few minutes like a crazy person.

In response, Minerva says absolutely nothing.

???: oh pffffff you think minerva talks to mortals?
???: that's happened very rarely, if ever, for all the time i've been here
???: and trust me i've been here for a LOOOOOOOOONG time. get me OUTTA here
???: she doesn't talk to people because she's a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge-

There is a loud crack as the teen is spontaneously struck by lightning. He pauses for a second before continuing to ramble on.

???: -ly benevolent goddess who is very busy most of the time doing miracles and stuff.
???: usually she's off talking to her prophets and heroes and junk like that. at least i assume.
???: i haven't had a day off in ten hundred thousand years. or a raise.
???: actually a raise sounds good can i have twelve

This kid is such a weirdo.

???: wow, fuck you too

---

Kalis. I can't think of any good sentence to use here.

Anyway, Kalis has a few more questions!

GARNET: Hmmm... Due to our natural magical talents, we haven't had a formal wizard around here for several thousands of years.
GARNET: The spell was abnormally strong for even a trained magic-user, however, so I'm not discarding that idea...
GARNET: Oh, you fought a Commander?
GARNET: Despite the whole attempted coup thing and Axinite's general insanity, there are a few among us who still accept him as a leader.

GARNET: Vamprobabilitants are, to put it simply, luck vampires.
GARNET: There's more discerning between vamprobabilitants and vampires, but it's too much to explain concisely, and that qualifier does most of the legwork differentiating us anyways.
GARNET: I myself am a vamprobabilitant, as is my daughter.
GARNET: ...And speaking of vamprobabilitants...
GARNET: ...Your group isn't from around here, are you?

---

And with that, exploration update 2 is complete! Please note that the intended next battle is to the north of Eksveai Tower, though there's nothing technically stopping you from heading towards Lun Lun Ranch.

JJJ smiles. "I am a prodigy! Thanks for noticing!" I don't think Garnet meant it that way...

"But your daughter, doesn't she need food and stuff? She's probably just cranky because you stole her marshmallows. Twice! I'd be sulking in my room if my parents stole my marshmallows twice. I'm gonna bring her some!" I'm not sure that's the best ide- "After I check out that vibrate-y rock!" Sure. Let's think this through.

[ACTION WHATEVS]

JJJ stretches his legs and hops west to the cave entrance. His legs pogo up and down, up and down, until he reaches AL71. There, he stops and strikes a heroic pose.

"Rocks!" he shouts. "Prepare to be dislodged!"

Mining is a funny word. Back in the 1300's, it was used to describe getting under enemy walls or towers. In the 1400's, its root started referring to digging for jewels and stuff. At the same time, the root "mine" held the figurative meaning, "ruin or destroy by slow or secret methods."

Or course, that all was after "mine" referred to first-person possession (not ghosts). So really, mining is "bypassing an object's defenses slowly and secretly to ruin it by making it yours." Those be fightin' words if I've ever heard 'em.

This raises a few problems with JJJ mining this rock out. Firstly, JJJ doesn't want to do it slow. He's ten. He doesn't have the attention span for that. Second, he doesn't want to ruin it. That defeats the purpose of extracting it. And third, JJJ's too lazy to keep a secret.

So JJJ ignores all that! He draws Flail-Chion and points it at the rhythmic ore. He swings it once against the ground, chipping stone from the cave floor. The blade hums at the impact, speaking its Critical-Song. JJJ swings it again, notching the rocks on his opposite side. The soundtrack plays, growing louder.

With the hilt shaking in his hand, JJJ finally swings his blade against the cave wall, cutting a wide arc around the shining ore. The slice cuts a gorge into the wall, and the Crit-Sounds blare. They travel through the stone into the ore, which begins to pick up the sound. It echoes through the cavern, irresistible.

JJJ cuts at the wall one, two, three more times, and the Crit-Energy builds. Crit-Waves scream from the cavern, glowing with raw force. The ore seems almost dislodged.

With a final stroke, JJJ stabs Flail-Chion into the center of the deposit. The Crit-Song escapes his blade, rolling outward into the cave wall in a wave of blue light. The vibrating ore absorbs the vibrations, shaking ever more forcefully. They seem to pulse in the wall, shooting dust into the air.

Then, JJJ pulls his sword from the wall, and the ore follows. Pure chunks fall to the ground, still humming on the rocky floor. JJJ picks them up carefully and adds them to the group inventory. He wipes his forehead off and smiles. "These'll make a great class project!"

[Back to RP!]

JJJ hops out of the cave and goes back to the Caravan Campsite. He skips over to the bag of marshmallows, plucking one out as he asks, "Hey Garnet. Do you think your daughter would like a toasted marshmallow or not?" JJJ grabs a roasting stick. He shoves it into the center of the fire, getting it toasty fast.

"Actually, I could just bring her two," he says, nabbing a second marshmallow. He takes the roasting stick out of the fire and plucks the unroasted marshmallow onto another little branch. "Cover our bases, right?"

JJJ smiles, "Thanks Garnet! I'll tell you if I survive!"

He bounces over to BP67 and knocks on the door to the Caravan. "Hey!" he shouts. "You're Garnet's daughter, right? I know he stole your marshmallows, so I brought you some! -Well, I brought two. One roasted. One not. Didn't know how you liked them. Do you want some?"

And JJJ prepares for whatever might come. Garnet's talk about shells got him a bit freaked out, really.

Periala looks at her harp, and then it plays her another quick message that makes no sense to anyone but her. "Ah, good idea. Let's see if services are enough to get a response... but what can I do?"
The harp starts beeping at her in a manner that sounds almost indignant. "Wait, you can do that?" More indignant beeping, "Sheesh, alright, didn't realize you were that kind of Harp. Explains the robots going wacky though. Either way, let's see. You said to play this?"

She begins picking at the harp, playing a melody of nonsensical whirring, wheezing, and thudding that somehow almost sounds coherent. As she does, glitchy icons that almost look like clocks begin to spiral around the offering box. As they spiral nearer, the clocks begin to form symbols of spatial distances, like valleys, arrows, etc., and as they contact, the box seems to grow and contract in odd ways, seeming to almost reach the size of a full room in front of everyone before shrinking back to its prior size. "And you're sure this makes it bigger inside than outside?" Beeping "Fine, I'll check it myself. _{Stupid harp, need to find an attitude adjuster next chance I get.}"

Periala peeks into the box which has expanded in size due to the song she played.

After this she looks to the purple boy. "If this doesn't get her attention, you'd better tell me what she usually likes for these offerings, or else I'm taking that lightning strike as a sign she meant I should shove you in here."

John: Hm. Well.
John: First off, what's your name, kid?

Keeping an ear out for the kid's reply, John approaches the door to the tower, investigating the magical-y-ness of the door before deciding to just try to shoot it off its hinges. What's the worst that can happen, after all?

John: Oh, yeah.
John: This is a real piece of work alright.
John: Normally I'd call for an R&D guy, maybe even a technician or two.
John: But I ain't got those forms on me.
John: And I'm guessing you don't have a regulation blurple pen on you either.
John: So that's out of the plan.
John: So. When it doubt. Think Big.

John then starts firing willy nilly at the door for funzies.

QUOTE (King_Fuffy @ Oct 7 2022, 01:24 PM)

A vessel is created, and freed. Warryn joins the party! As he stumbles up into the Caravan Campsite, Garnet turns to greet him. GARNET: Oh, hello there! GARNET: Welcome to Shellestokar. We're a bit too tied up at the moment to properly welcome visitors... GARNET: ...Say, where are all you coming from, anyway? Last I checked, the Teleportation Station had been disconnected...

Warryn, not entirely expecting a commital response to his non-commital wave, looks over at Garnet and seems to pay keen attention to his words. Upon him asking about the teleportation station, however...

♡ Maybe it was connected remotely
- Let him know you're clueless

Warryn explains that a possible reason the teleporter's... working? He guesses? Either way, if someone here disconnected it, maybe it was re-established from the other side. He also states that he couldn't know for sure, considering he only got up in the field over there and didn't really...

It is just now that he realizes he might either have amnesia or was literally given sentience about 5 minutes ago, and the first seems slightly more likely. Speaking again and stating that out loud, he adds on that he doesn't even know what the heck he is, and he just groggily wandered up this way because there wasn't anywhere else to wander from down there... and will probably continue to do so.

[Action]
Giving a polite farewell to Garnet, he continues northwards, progressing forwards through the Crystal Tree crossing and over to Big Idea Clearing, where he sees Phineas and Ferb's time machine shop. Walking over and browsing the wares, he simply looks for a moment before his eyes stop on a strange key glowing in multiple, chromatic colors. Though hard to tell why precisely it attracts him so much, it seems to resonate with his very identity in a way. Before he even has time to think it over too much, 100 L is found in his fingers, and he gestures to the mysterious KEYGEN as he hands over the currency to Phineas.

With the KEYGEN in his hands, Warryn looks over his inventory... and realizes that although he could carry it, leaves it in the mysterious shared inventory that he seems to now have access to. The fighting style buried deep in his instincts is rooted in those trinket slots, and forfeiting them for whatever powers the KEYGEN may grant seems... risky.

Despite the fact that it is in the group inventory, Warryn also mentions to any passerby players that this thing is distinctly his and he swears he'll use it eventually.

[Back to Movement]
After doing that, he continues moving northward, before he finally comes across John. Standing off to the side as he comes into the exterior plaza of Eksveai Tower and watching John try and break through the magical seals, he politely sits back and waits for him to be done.

♡ You won't break that
- Let me try

After John's flurry of haphazard attacks, Warryn brings up that the lock is clearly magical and probably is going to need a good deal more effort to break than firing at it multiple times with a gun. Being honest, it probably has something to do with the sub-regions of this territory, and getting people to explore them... but that's just a hunch.

Done for now, Warryn simply stands for the time, waits for a motion from someone else, and leaves his turn off there.

Garnet asks if Kalis is from around here.

KALIS: No, no we are not.
KALIS: I arrived via the Teleportation Station, as did most of us.
KALIS: It was not looking particularly disconnected when I warped in.
KALIS: Though I'll note that I didn't exactly plan to warp in.
KALIS: For all I know it could have been disconnected and everybody else also triggered a wild magic surge and accidentally teleported themselves to a broken teleporter at the exact same time.
KALIS: Weirder things have happened.
KALIS: But mostly to me.
KALIS: Happening to that many other people at once would be a particularly weird kind of weird.
KALIS: Speaking of which, luck vampires, you say?
KALIS: I don't know whether I should be worried that I taste particularly good or confident that I'm entirely unappetizing.
KALIS: What damage type does a luck bite deal, anyways? Regular vampires are necrotic or dark depending on system, this would be... Light? Psychic? Glitch?

CHLORIN: Ah, yeah, I kinda get it, the vamprobabilibah- vamprowbabilitas- vampirobimba- vamprobabilitants! Have some sort of big sky mom then. Kinda like the humans then, some of them used to believe in a big sky dad, or so I heard. Called God or somethin'.
CHLORIN: Been a hot minute since my days in the Academy. Ancient Human studies was a pretty cool class though, maybe should look into that more one of these days. Keep forgetting though.
CHLORIN: Vanpirohabilitants is one hell of a word to name yourselves, though, real hard to remember. Kinda sounds like vampire! Guessin' they suck the somethin' outta folks.

Chlorin pauses for a moment.

CHLORIN: ...say, kid, kinda funny that you're just hangin all by yourself here. Are you a Vamprobabro yourself? Heard a lil' funny weather when you were talking to the lass over there.
CHLORIN: Just kinda curious, that's all.

Skillpoints: +1 MHP


Hangman takes a good look at the locked gate.

"It's made of wood. This should be easy enough to resolve."

He promptly summons a noose around the gate, then yanks hard, aiming to either rip the lock off, rip out some of the wood, or just pull the entire damn gate off. From there, he should have access through to the next area...

...But something tells him there's an opportunity elsewhere. He stands and stares for a moment, pondering what that feeling means. Then, he turns and wanders off...

...over to the Forgotten Trail. There sure are a lot of automatons over there. Or are they btomatons. Feels really weird to call them that even if that's the official name. Oh well.

"This should be fun."

He prepares for battle.

Quick reply for posterity: Currently, the game is on hiatus. It'll probably return sometime in 2023, though- currently shooting for sometime in early March 2023? No promises, though.

---

JJJ thanks Garnet for noticing his prodigyness! Garnet absolutely didn't mean it that way. Also, how dare he steal his daughter's marshmallows!

GARNET:
GARNET: What.

JJJ leaves the area, already planning to bring Garnet's daughter some marshmallows.

GARNET: Hey, wait, don't leave-
GARNET: Aaaaaand he's gone.
GARNET: Minervadamnit.

JJJ then uses his Crit-Song, slamming the Vibratium out of the wall with Flail-Chion! 15 Vibratium is added to the inventory. yee Haw

Then, he returns to the Caravan Campsite!

GARNET: Uh. Sure. Okay.

GARNET ascends the VAMPIRANKS to the vaunted rung of DONE WITH THIS SHIT. Resigned, he eats another marshmallow and sips tea from a flask as JJJ finishes up, approaching the caravan. Knock knock, marshmallow delivery!

...Inside the caravan, there is a loud thud noise. Then some clattering.

???: ...mmh...
???: buh
???: what. what is it. WHAT.
???: stoppppppppp yelllliinngggggggg
???: its like one in the afternoon, or something

The girl on the other side of the door pauses, listening intently to JJJ's rambling. Garnet stole your marshmallows, btw.

???: WHAT
???: DAD, WHAT THE FUCK?

Garnet spits out his tea in shock.

GARNET: Wh- Ruby, language!
GARNET: Is something wrong? You've been in your room for quite a while...
RUBY: Oh, only EVERYTHING!
RUBY: I was saving those marshmallows for my Magic Club presentation, Dad!
RUBY: I mean, that means significantly less because most of my peers have been murdered in the heckin' robot apocalypse, but still, thanks a lot!

There is the distinct sound of stomping, which recedes before the caravan shakes with the force of a slammed door. Garnet looks on sheepishly.

GARNET: ...I have a feeling that just lost me a lot of 'dad points'.

---

How many harps could a Peri-harp harp if a Peri-harp could harp harps? With an intense death metal harp solo a few strums, the offering box expands! It's now a serious chonker of an offering box. Still, ??? recoils with the threat of being shoved into it. Please do not the ???.

???: OKAY ANYTHING YOU SAY THREATENING GODDESS LADY PERSON
???: Uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
???: Man, does it LOOK like I know? She likes... Stuff. Cos' she's a materialistic needy birch tree. Mostly anything is fine, I think, 's long as it's not some kind of affront to God.

???: Oh, and while we're here...
???: If there's anything you need, lemme know? I can do, like, a lot of random miscellaneous stuff. Searching for materials, upgrading your junk into cool and poggers stuff, the works.

???'s Miscellany Handlement is now available! Take a peek, maybe? Lots of fun stuff there.

---

John asks this random kid his name!

???: My name?
???: It's,
???: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
???: Zacceri. Zacceri Meldpump.
ZACCERI: What's yours?

After that exchange, John then fires willy-nilly at the door! The bullets ricochet off in all directions. (One of them sustains enough momentum to enter low orbit, and accomplishes its dream of going to space. Not that it can have dreams, because it's an inanimate bullet.) Zacceri throws himself to the ground, realizes he's already on the ground, and rolls away from the ricochet zone™.

ZACCERI: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
ZACCERI: W-warn me next time, dude!! Holy shit!!
ZACCERI: I mean to be fair I think the bullets would have normally just bounced off harmlessly if this was a normal door so you really couldn't have known, but STILL

---

Warryn! Warryn explains that maybe, the teleporter uplink was reestablished from the other side? Also, he's got amnesia.

GARNET: ...Yeah, that makes sense.
GARNET: At least, I think? I don't know. I'm not a teleporter engineer.
GARNET: Axinite- y'know, the planet's Warden who went nuts?- was the only one of those we had. If I had the skills to fix teleporters, I'd have been gone by now.
GARNET: ...Amnesia, huh? That sucks- oh for gods' sake where is he going
GARNET: I should probably be intervening, what with the danger presented by sending amnesiacs and kids off to fight evil robots, but I'll be honest I barely have the mental bandwidth as it is.

Garnet spipps his tea, thinking about how to regain his lost DAD POINTS. What? It's a really important thought. Anyway, Warryn then trundles over to the shop, purchasing the KEYGEN! It gets added to the inventory. He continues schmovin', stopping by Richochet Town to put in his two cents.

ZACCERI: Oh, uh, hey... other guy.
ZACCERI: ...Makes sense that it wouldn't be openable without keys.
ZACCERI: Bahhh, but I don't have time for this! We gotta get in theeeere!
ZACCERI: ...Are you guys trying to get into the tower too? We could team up!

---

Kalis, questing talking. Garnet nods knowingly, pretending to understand how teleporters work. What damage type does a luck bite deal?

GARNET: ...I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure.
GARNET: ...Ruby probably knows. She's a smart cookie- much smarter than me, at any rate.
GARNET: Then again, I am a biased source, so... take that with a grain of salt.

---

Chlorin chats with our friend Three Question Marks some more! Would they happen to be a vamprobabilitant, too? The teenager freezes up.

???: UH
???: UHHHHHHHHHH
???: Sure, let's go with that.
???: real quick buddy i have to ask. are you a god
???: i was just wondering. you look kinda god-ish. please reply under your breath so as to not tip off the divinity fanatic over there

---

Hangman rips a gate off its hinges. That gate is now MIGHTILY uprooted. However, Hangman decides not to enter the newly opened area thankfully enough for my game, instead deciding to antagonize the BEASTS and Monsters in the Forgotten Trail. Oh cool, there's a chest here... surrounded by Automatons. This could get messy.

---

<FORGOTTEN TRAIL, ROUND ONE>
There are only a few dudes to deal with here, PLUS some cool loot! You should be able to clean it up quickly, instead of getting the floor mopped with you.

JJJ blinks. "Okay..." he tells the door, unsure of what he should say. "Um... I hope you feel better?" That's probably safe.

"If you want to talk about it, I'd... uh... be happy to listen!" He does his best to smile. Maybe pushing it.

"I... kind of get what you're feeling, maybe? I mean, my friends aren't dead, but I'm stuck here alone too, kind of... with my stupid History test..." He scratches his head. That was probably too far. Oh well.

With nothing else coming to mind, JJJ disengages from the door, which is almost certainly a good thing. He was about to be digging his own grave, there.

Regaining his happy disposition, JJJ skips over to Garnet. "Hey!" he tells Garnet. "I didn't die! Amazing!" I'm surprised too.

JJJ studies Garnet's expression, and notices he's a bit downtrodden. "Hey," he tells the wizard guy, "don't worry. She's your daughter. I'm sure you'll find some way to make it up to her. Like... getting her more marshmallows." Clearly, JJJ doesn't understand the larger metaphor the marshmallows represent in this context, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Suddenly, JJJ's Pause Menu blinks. A new encounter started! A grin spreads across JJJ's face. "Awesome! Another opportunity to improve my history grade!" That's not how that works.

Regardless, he waves to Garnet. "See ya!" He then scurries off to the battle in the Forgotten Trail, actually forgetting to try and craft a new vibrate-y sword. Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine.

[SPAWN]

In a hurry, JJJ faceplants onto C8.

"I'm okay!" he shouts. No one asked.

[MOV]

JJJ flips to his feet, but somehow keeps falling. He dominoes across the battlefield, ending up at G11.

[ACTION]

But JJJ doesn't stop there. He keeps going, using his R-R-R-ROLL action to go straight through the forest, finally stopping at J14.

[SHENANNIGAN

Dizzy from the roll, JJJ starts counter-spinning in place, waving Flail-chion around wildly into the woods around him. His blade cuts at a nearby tree, slicing through it like butter. He keeps swinging, spitting woodchips everywhere.

Eventually, the counter spin makes JJJ so dizzy, he doesn't notice he's dizzy! Incredible! He stops spinning and finds that he accidentally carved a perfect statue of himself into that nearby tree! It's like looking into a mirror. Somehow, he even got the colors right. Must have smeared some blueberries around to match his cape.

QUOTE (King_Fuffy @ Nov 26 2022, 03:56 PM)

ZACCERI: Oh, uh, hey... other guy. ZACCERI: ...Makes sense that it wouldn't be openable without keys. ZACCERI: Bahhh, but I don't have time for this! We gotta get in theeeere! ZACCERI: ...Are you guys trying to get into the tower too? We could team up!

Warryn looks over to the person now known as Zaccery.
♥ Sure, I guess.
- I mean, I can't really stop you, so...

Warryn states that the tower seems like quite the obvious objective and probably why this group came here. Considering that he is now associated with "this group", as he put it, and therefore is trying to also get in the tower, teaming up seems like a good idea. Warryn also lets Zaccery know that if he's looking to help immediately, there's probably a fight that's about to happen to the east of here. In fact, Warryn says he's heading there now, so if Zaccery wants to follow he can.

The vessel awaits a response briefly before moving to the east and into the battle at the Forgotten Trail. Despite the name, the trail doesn't seem very forgotten... mainly due to the battle happening there. Summoning the Wood Blade from seemingly nowhere, Warryn prepares for combat!

Spawn Action + Movement
Running into the battle, Warryn lets his momentum carry him onto and through the "spawn point" at C6, before he continues running and ends up at G8.

Action
Now that he's face to face with an enemy, Warryn takes a brief moment to familiarize himself with this method of combat... and realizes just how strange it really is. In his vision, a variety of statistics show up - his HP, shown in a gray bar, the enemies HP shown in a lime green, and... strangest of all, a "TP" bar that currently seems to be empty - well, almost. 3% TP isn't enough to do anything with, so it might as well be.

Working the display, Warryn manages to brush everything off just long enough to choose violence. Although it seems like it should be clumsy and a bit off-kilter, the vessel seems to recover from the sudden battle display and strikes Btomaton 2 with a diagonal slash. Despite the blade being nothing but wood at first glance, it manages to cut through the metal without issue - almost like Warryn's done this before and that wooden sword is a bit more than just wood.

Shenanigan
Having done a sizable amount of damage to the Btomaton in front of him, Warryn quickly realizes that the offensive slash he just did left him vulnerable. Hoping to amend the problem, he takes the new, downwards-facing position of the blade, and digs it into the dirt of the trail before flinging that same dirt up into the Btomaton's sensors. It probably won't do too much, but if aimed right, it could at least reduce the accuracy of the oncoming attack!

Chlorin spawns in and moves to C10. They draw their revolver, and in a split second, fire a Heartpiercing shot at Bmaton4!

(Heartpiercer on Bmaton4, procs Quickdraw)

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

Meanwhile, at the Temple... Chlorin responds to the adolescent.

CHLORIN: Don't exactly think so. Far as I know, just kinda... you know, I kind of forgot how I was born at this rate. Been too caught up in bein' a sheriff to remember that. Doesn't help that we Novakid don't really bother ta' write anythin'.
CHLORIN: Erm, well, if I were a big ol' friend upstairs, I think I would have known by now, and I probably wouldn' be here!
CHLORIN: The two things I'll always know are that us Novakid, we're kinda like the sun. Flamin' hot and full of energy!
CHLORIN: Not that that's always a good thing, though. Burned a Hylotl half to death over tea! Was never a fan of drinkin' anyways, a little hard to when you don't have a mouth.
CHLORIN: The other thing I know is that nothin' is more trusty than my ol' Red Dwarf!

Chlorin flips out their revolver, before doing a few cool flippy tricks with it.

CHLORIN: When I got problems on my tail, there isn't much a good ol' Sun Shot can't handle for me! I still owe a big ol' favor to Ethan for making this beaut. That's the third thing I know!

Battle time. Good. Hangman surveys the potential targets...

"Hm... Who to condemn first... How about this one? Seems like a prime target to me."

If Bmaton2 survived Warryn's attack, Hangman spawns on C7 and casts Overflowing Edge for future use, then moves to G8 and abruptly cuts off said Bmaton's head with a quick swish of the chainrapier. Probably. Even though that's not how that sword is supposed to work. No need to retreat, too.

If Bmaton2 is in fact dead, then Hangman does NOT cast Overflowing Edge, and instead uses his movement and a Lunge to stand on top of its dead body, poking Arcoton2 for what is hopefully good damage. Piercing type advantage and all that, yanno.

John: Huh.. normally those bullets do more..
John: Oh, y'said your name is Zacceri, right?
John: Welcome to the team, Zac,
John: Anyway, if the bullets didn't work.
John: I only have one more idea.

John then walks up to the door of Ekxveai Tower and starts knocking on it loudly.

John: Hey!
John: Y'got a lost kid out here!
John: And also your door is way above code!
John: Probably unsafely so!
John: How are first responders supposed to break this down in case of emergency!?
John: Honestly!

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

Meanwhile, in the same time but another place, John somehow spawns in on C7. A normal person would probably be confused if they were suddenly in two places at the same time, but John ain't the brightest tool in the shed, bless him.

Movement:
John sees the Btomaton nearest him seems to be handled well, so he moves forward to G7 to line up a shot further into the enemy ranks.

Bonus Action:
John uses Toxin Coating, loading a cartridge of Self-Combusting Fluid into his handgun to burn his next target.

Action:
John lines up his shot and fires at the Arcanomaton on I11.

---

JJJ tries to commiserate with Ruby! There is a LOUD sigh from the other side of the door.

RUBY: look
RUBY: i appreciate it
RUBY: but this really isn't helping
RUBY: just. go away.

JJJ then disengages, hopping over to Garnet. He didn't die! Yippee!

GARNET: ...Yes. I noticed.
GARNET: ...I suppose you're right about that. I'll have to consider some more on how to get her trust back...

JJJ then scoots off into battle! Yeeha.

---

waerryyn. is torix even alive

ZACCERI: Oh, yeah, sure, I can join the fray!
ZACCERI: We'll do our best!

Zacceri has joined the party! Yayayayyyyyyyy

---

ok actually i will respond to these other ones... next update. bc im lazyyy

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<FORGOTTEN TRAIL, ROUND ONE>
Huh, pretty good showing, there. A few new guys have appeared, but mostly because I wanted to playtest some more statblocks. Also, the guy with the Big Gun is preparing to Heckin' Shoot You.

Kalis spawns on C8, does not move, and casts Formulaic Spellcasting on BMaton1. If it's already dead, they cast it on Arcoton2, or on Bmaton3 if both are dead.

Kalis shuns their own blessing and does not cast Pow Hammer. Instead they cast Formulaic Spellcasting on Bigcrush, which should kill it dead. This spawns Cover on C9 via their Jar. Then they cast Illusory Trap as a free action, spawning an Illusion on E9.

...A burnt-up baseball lands in the middle of the Forgotten Trail. What could have done that...?

Suddenly, a young woman rushes in from spawn.

???: Sorry, sorry, don't know where I am, don't know why I'm here, all I know is that I must baesbol!

...She then recognizes hostiles nearby. She turns, her long crimson hair trailing behind.

???: Oh hey, enemies! Neat!
ABIGAIL: Time for the Abigail Special, then!

She readies her bat.

Abigail joins the party!

BATTLE - Forgotten Trail

Abigail runs to (G6). The sound of an offscreen machine begins to whirr up, and a baseball is then seen arcing in the air.

ABIGAIL: Oh, that's my pitching machine! I use it for practice all the time.
ABIGAIL: It also makes makeshift projectiles in this case!
ABIGAIL: Juuuuuuust gotta wait for them to get close enough to the ground.

Pitching Machine activated! Abigail's attacks gain some serious range and power! She stays put.

SHENANIGAN I GUESS

...Turns out that scorched baseball that landed earlier wasn't entirely put out. Embers start glowing on it, before bursting into flame once more, singing the nearby grass. H-how hard can this lady hit a baseball!?