Pardon shakes off the hit and sees perhaps the golden opportunity for him to activate his Special.

He runs over to L4 and activate his Special: Awakening.

Magic pouches are immediately created at J4 and L5 and…
A single note of a cosmic symphony plays out…and flowers bloom briefly amidst the cold.

All Magic Pouches are destroyed, Eroa,"Skylar & Paige",Des,Maria,Wooly Mollusk,Pardon,Basil, Lepidodendron A. Franklinia, Rhiannon and Bass gets Empowered3, Enlightened3, Focused3 for this turn, regenerate 7 MP and gain Energised7 for 4 turns

The Summit

Finally. The summit. The chilly alpine air blows past Debbie's thin labcloak, causing her to shiver. But hey, it's all downhill from here.

Although...

DEBBIE: ...W-w-where is everything?
DEBBIE: S-so far, our b-battles are... o-off the beaten path?
DEBBIE: ...W-well, not really "b-beaten", but... y-y'know.
DEBBIE: Strange... v-very strange...

Debbie floats next to the plaque and reads the rough engravings.

DEBBIE: Mt. Lichen...

She pulls out her clipboard and sits down. She takes a wary glance at the Meteos, but doesn't really care to make a move. Perhaps it'll only move when provoked? Either way, she's probably tough enough to survive a blow from it.

Debbie huddles up next to the plaque to conserve her energy and starts drawing a crude map of the area. Maybe it's unnecessary, but who knows, it might come in handy.

As she moves around the plaque area to get a better view of all of her surroundings, she wonders if she should continue forward... the town - or what looks to be the town - is in view. But she ultimately decides it's best to wait for the others to finish up.

Though she does take a cursory peek down the mountain at what lies ahead of her.

The Eliti poses a herculean task to Sakura. Defeat her, and she'll answer a question! Oh goddamn it. Why does everything need to be so hard!? Long does Sakura wish for the days where money would solve ninety percent of her problems. Also, said Eliti won't betray her people's safety. Oh, that's rich.

SAKURA: Hey, have you considered that fighting us and withholding information are putting your people at risk?
SAKURA: You're the one... somewhat rational Iti in the room. Surely we can talk instead of fighting this one-sided farce.

Nothing says "one-sided farce" like Chi lying dead on the floor, with sap, thyme matter, and maybe even possibly blood painting the room in a frankly vomit inducing pallet. Yeah.

SAKURA: But noooo! Let's do things the HARD WAY. Let's FIGHT TO THE DEATH.
SAKURA: How do people enjoy this? Acacia, that pink short flat Spherebreaker... uh, probably Maria over there- fighting is such a goddamn pain.
SAKURA: And that's before we factor in the physical pain of getting STRUCK DOWN BY GOD.
SAKURA: But fine, whatever. I'll humor you, because VIOLENCE SEEMS TO BE ALL ANYONE KNOWS.

Empowered by whatever the opposite of violence is, Sakura immediately gets to committing violence upon the Eliti, jamming their popsicle stick into them with extreme prejudice. Overloading her confectionary with mana, a barrage of splinters burst through the icy snack! One by one, they jet into the Eliti, dealing individual instances of (1) damage. OH THE HORROR. This gets an awful lot of shaved ice all over the Eliti as well. That'll definitely ruin their clothes.

How rude.

---

The Fragment:
- Swing your popsicle at the Eliti, dealing probably (1) damage.
- Expend 48 MP to deal (24) Unmoddable damage to them through Spelledge.
- Spend stacks of Favor until you are at full MP.
- Question if your potential MP regeneration through Favor is too high.

Rhiannon acts immediately after Pardon, accepting the MP and reviving Chi at a buffed 21 HP.

Battle: This is actually kind of fine

Another turn, another plan. Order is exact, even if it doesn't really need to be. Please consult player posts for exact shenanigans and only use this if that's somehow not an option.

PARDON: Special basically everyone bar Blacklight and Sakura.
RHIANNON: Revive Chi at 21 HP.
BASS: Move to I6, cast Illusory Trap at J8. Shouldn't break your disguise.
EROA: Move to K5, Target the Patche and drag it to J6 via Abduction.
MARIA: Deposit the Nanite in the Bileprincess Bag as a bonus action. Scan the Patche if it has any DGE left (EG: Eroa hit the Abduction damage), otherwise move to L6 and Guard.
BASIL: Scan the Eliti. Move back to L2 (or some other space on the 2nd row), use Nanostorm on J6. This should torpedo the Seekers and deal minimum of 15 damage to the Pageling and Patche (before Slip is accounted for), assuming no missing.
SKAIGE: Use Guardian Classic on Blacklight, Chi, and yourself Guardian4. Use your Trait on Blacklight to give him 23 SHP.
CHI: Roll up to I5, basic attack Southeast. Use Toxin Coating for Aching7. Hit the Patche and the Eliti, the range 2 hit inflicting BadlyPoisoned and not really dealing any direct DPS but setting up 13 damage during regen, while the Patche just eats damage. Retreat to J4, use your Salve to heal 7 HP.
LEPIDODENDRON: Use Flicker of Insanity (with just enough MP!) on the Patche, gaining control of it and all Pagelings. If a Seeker is still alive but damaged, have the Patche use their basic attack on it to finish it off. Otherwise command the Patche to scan the Mitocyst and have the Pagelings all use Tear Shot on the Jotunn. (When the Patche goes down, all the Pagelings expire at once.) If the Patche is downed already (due to crits) but a Seeker is alive, use Flicker on the living Seeker and force it to scan Mitocyst3. If they're both downed too, Flicker the Eliti for pure damage.
DES: Use Pow Hammer to stun the Mitocyst and the Jotunn.
BLACKLIGHT: Challenge the Eliti via Warrior's Challenge. Do *not* get into Cleave range.
SAKURA: Basic attack the Eliti, dump all MP on Spelledge to deal 25 Unmoddable damage.
WOOLY MOLLUSK: Water gun the Shuria I guess.

In accordance with the above, Maria waits until Eroa has gone, and will use her bonus action to grab the Nanite and desposit their body in the Bileprincess Bag. "Safe!" Maria quips. If the Patche that just got dragged in has any DGE left, Maria uses her action to Scan the Patche. Otherwise she Guards.

Meanwhile, the Wooly Mollusk moves to N3 and fires a Water Gun at the Shuria for being annoying.

EROA: Move to K5, Target the Patche and drag it to J6 via Abduction.

Use Flicker of Insanity (with just enough MP!) on the Patche, gaining control of it and all Pagelings. If a Seeker is still alive but damaged, have the Patche use their basic attack on it to finish it off. Otherwise command the Patche to scan the Mitocyst and have the Pagelings all use Tear Shot on the Jotunn. (When the Patche goes down, all the Pagelings expire at once.) If the Patche is downed already (due to crits) but a Seeker is alive, use Flicker on the living Seeker and force it to scan Mitocyst3. If they're both downed too, Flicker the Eliti for pure damage.

Battle - The Fragment

"...Hmm. The archer."

Blacklight cracks his neck, planning out an action...


Blacklight rotates over to I2, then Challenges the giant archer woman person.

"You certainly present yourself in an... imposing manner. Nonetheless, I sincerely doubt you possess sufficient force to kill me. Right here. Right now. In one shot. Though you are certainly welcome to try."

battlepost

Skaige: Use Guardian Classic on Blacklight, Chi, and yourself Guardian4. Use your Trait on Blacklight to give him 23 SHP.

63: Proximity Burst
46: Mass Animation
27: Resurrect
23: Pow Hammer

Des moves to I8 and casts Pow Hammer [GDG: Buff Levels] on Mitocyst 3 and the Jotun, via Kalis's Blessing. -27 MP, +54 SP. Before defenses, (10-10) Crushing and 2rd Stun to each.

<ROUND 25>

Debbie examines the summit! She uses the vantage point to assemble a crude map of the area. As she does so, the Meteos merely continues to watch. Menacingly.

Debbie then peers down the mountain to see what awaits. The trails on this side are similarly rough, although near the bottom, there appears to be a more intentionally cleared out section… but it’s hard to tell more from up here. She’ll have to go further to be able to tell.

---

Offtopic ventures east of Shoal Cave. He finds himself in an… empty cave? Nothing but bits of luminescent moss and rocks in here.

…Hmm.

---

<BATTLES: THE FRAGMENT, ROUND 6>
Blacklight can’t move very much, but otherwise, the end is in sight! It’s time to finally defeat this battle.

For the above dop!

Basil scans the Eliti! Finally, we learn its name, probably. Also we could just ask it.

She moves to L2 and drops Nanostorm on J6.

for the above dop
Offtopic goes back to Shoal Cave and goes through its eastern exit.

Pardon moves not an Inch as he utilises Purify on Blacklight, cleansing the later of all their debuffs by removing their duration. He heals for half that HP and passes the Pouch to Blacklight to use.

(oh when does the SP Lock on special end again??)

Mt. Lichen Summit

Debbie ponders the clearing at the base of the mountain. What could it be? If it were any normal time it could have been a wood source. If Chairians weren't wood, it'd be safe to assume it's for heat. And maybe it is, for truly extreme circumstances.

Though, another possibility would be those damnable Fell Beasts. Which isn't ideal.

Fae? Iti? Perhaps. Either way, it'd be stupid to march onward without proper backup. And also Debbie just cleared the way to the top of a mountain pretty much by her lonesome and is pretty bloody tired. A-and chilled. Gods, she really should've brought a winter jacket...

DEBBIE: Ah-choo!

...No way she's climbing down in her current state, anyway.

She, again, huddles up at the base of the plaque, patiently awaiting the others, spacing out and daydreaming about who knows what.

(AFTER BASIL) Eroa moves to O3, using Allure to drag the Shuria to R5, Arkwind4 to P3, and then using Abduction to Abduct the Vilebaron to O4.

BASIL: I should be able to optimise your shields for you...

Basil scans Blacklight (with her usual scanner, which she will always do for allies in future), allowing her to quickly provide some SHP improvements. She then drops a Nanostorm at J8.

"Okay, a dead end. Shoot. Where is the route to the next area even supposed to be?"

Offtopic decides to kick some moss loose from the stone for harvesting purposes anyway, and then tries to use the rest of this round to head to "A Summit", carefully navigating through the cleared path in "Long Climb"

Sakura doesn't really seem to be in the mood for chitchat at the moment. She's quite annoyed at the presence of the Giant Lady:tm:.

---

The Fragment:
- Step up to (J6).
- Swing at Skaði with your popsicle. Throw 42 MP at them to deal (21) damage.

Almost forgot.

Battle - The Fragment

Blacklight notices that he has not, in fact, died yet. He breathes a sigh of relief, then decides to actually take care of business.


Going as early as possible for this move to be legal and do things, Blacklight moves to I2, then drops an Armorbreak Decaying Sigil on L7.