Crossworlds 16.6 (Headhunters)
- Location
- UTC -6
"Twisted! The openings!" Zoe screams.
Your Panoply twists like a balloon full of eels. A brilliant white light appears in place of its typical orange glow. Everything feels okay so you trust your aim and blast a volley to land around Twisted Metal's feet.
She doesn't react, instead firing two shots in tandem at the entrances to the tunnels. Bursts of angry red static fly out and explode against the floor. The stone crumbles and rubble floods into the entranceways.
Not too bad, everything is in small enough chunks to dig through fairly quickly.
Immediately after firing Twisted Metal unceremoniously falls into the aquarium. The rather deep aquarium. You spot a tuft of her grey hair floating before her 'tail' jerks and appears to push her further into the water.
That should keep her busy for a little while. You'll need the space.
Your next maneuver is already in progress. The pink-haired Magical Girl is leaving a streak of blood as she uses an arm to guide herself as she slides on the ceiling. She pushes down as you leap up, but you slam the ceiling with your Panoply to catch her.
As you fly towards her she points her scepter with one hand and a finger with the other.
"No Tele-"
"!!!"
(Wave Force: 7,360 Base Damage, Dice Withheld = 7,360 Damage
Magical Girl Silver Regent: Attack was Unstoppable!
Stately Bearing Triggers!
50%
3,680 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Silver Regent: 4,478 - 3,680 = 798 Health)
"Urgh!"
She stumbles, but retains her grip on her weapon. With one hand she flies through a pattern of attacks. It's easy enough to avoid, you're pretty sure she can't keep track of your movements, but a trail of energy follows the large scepter and prevents you from landing an attack unopposed.
Star Lancer touches ground and throws her spear at you.
No helping it. If you want to get hold of the leader you're going to have to bull through their attacks.
(Mythril Spear: 6,000 Base Damage, No Dice, +300 Legendary Power, -500 Trying to avoid hitting her friend = 5800 Damage
To Defy The Gods Triggers!
1,934 Total Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 1,000 Resilience, +342 Dice, +386 Reactive Field, -50 Divided Attention = 1678 Damage Reduction
256 End Damage
60% Ceaseless Warrior
103 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 14,500 - 103 = 14,397 Health
+1 Stack of Ceaseless Warrior (+1 Attack Per Turn)
Scepter: 4,450 Base Damage, Dice Unavailable, -500 Space-Filling Swings, +4,450 Rule Boost = 8,400 Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 1,000 Resilience, +128 Dice, +1,680 Reactive Field, -670 Armor Pierce, +167 Thick Armor, +500 Glancing Hit, +800 Resistant to Rule Effects = 3605 Damage Reduction
4795 End Damage
Kingdom! X2 Damage!
50% A Law Unto Yourself
60% Ceaseless Warrior
1918 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 14,397 - 1,918 = 12,479 Health
+1 Stack of Ceaseless Warrior (+2 Attacks Per Turn))
Starlancer's spear barely makes it through you field. Crashing into the energy the pink-haired girl was throwing around felt more like having a house fall on you. As soon as you've made it inside her swings you grab her arms to trap her and knock her weapon from her hands.
Zoe is in terrible shape. She lets out a hacking cough that sprays blood when she tries to take a breath. The wall behind her has gouges torn into it from the aftershock of her weapon.
Starlancer runs towards the center of the room, small craters torn in the stone floor from her sprinting. Where a hand wreathed in red static reaches from the water and tries to grab the edge, the stone crumbles to dust when grabbed and the hand slips under the surface.
You fire a curtain of light to block Starlancer. She slams her spear into the ground and tears out a vast quantity of pebbles to avoid running into it. The wall you strike starts falling into the room in chunks.
"I'm Summit and with the Counter Force, stand down or I will neutralize you." you shout.
There's a sense that everything in the room is taking a breath. The demon crouchs down lower and slowly creeps for the rough tunnel.
"Card! Kill me! Don't let her win!" Zoe spits out.
"Barrage!" High Card shouts without hesitation.
The stars the surround her focus themselves on a point, you.
(Barrage: 700 Base Damage, No Dice = 700 Damage
Echo: 0 Activations
To Defy the Gods Triggers!
350 Total Damage
Difficulty 1 Roll: 26 - Pass
Magical Girl Summit: 1,000 Resilience, +666 Dice, +70 Reactive Field, -802 Juggernaut, +200 Thick Armor = 1,134 Damage Reduction
Attack Ineffective!
+1 Stack of Ceaseless Warrior (+3 Attacks Per Turn))
A stream of stars streaks out to splash against your protective field. A dull green light counters her attack.
You thought you felt something for a moment, but the feeling doesn't linger.
"Oh." High Card sputtered.
A desk off to the side suddenly collapses, followed shortly by the other desks. Specks fall from the ceiling and the formerly smooth floor is gouged and pitted.
Starlancer glares at you and discards her spear, it bounces on the uneven floor. A spin there and direction shift there leads it to embed itself in the side of the aquarium.
"Standing down then." she says.
Twisted Metal's hand clamps around Starlancer's spear and she hauls herself out of the water.
You drop Zoe and rush to the center of the room. Just as Twisted starts to bring her head out of the water you slam her head back under. Her tail coils around to focus on you.
A quick thump to the wall where the spear is holding turns the rock into dust. Twisted Metal falls further into the water as her handhold falls loose. You jump around to stay ahead of where her tail is aiming.
Starlancer makes a quick jump over to where you dropped Zoe. She pulls a honey-colored orb out of a pouch and drops it on the pink-haired Magical Girl. It turns into sparks when it impacts the injured girl and she appears to have been significantly healed by the object.
(Magical Girl Silver Regent: 798 + 999 = 1,797 Health)
This close it's a simple matter to move out of the firing arc of the tail cannon. The odd mouth snaps in clear agitation.
Zoe sits up after the healing boost and mutters something at Starlancer. She tries to keep track of you for a moment before looking at the ceiling.
The cannons fire on an unoccupied corner of the room, well away from you. The attack trails red static that sinks into the walls and a wide section crumbles into rubble. Above you one of the lights goes out right before the fixture drops to the ground.
Your Panoply does its best impression of a caterpillar as dozens of tendrils yank you around in a tight circuit of Twisted Metal's appendage. Every two seconds you send a section to ensure she stays in the water, like a deadly game at a pool.
"Because she could kill me in one shot. And cute trick with my spear aside, I meant it." Starlancer says firmly to Zoe.
Another push to keep Twisted under the water.
High Card has moved to hide behind one of the couchs, she peeks out and points at your back, "Barrage."
(Barrage: 700 Base Damage, No Dice = 700 Damage
Echo: 0 Activations
To Defy the Gods Triggers!
350 Total Damage
Difficulty 1 Roll: 64 - Pass
Magical Girl Summit: 1,000 Resilience, +285 Dice, +70 Reactive Field, -802 Juggernaut, +200 Thick Armor = 753 Damage Reduction
Attack Ineffective!
+1 Stack of Ceaseless Warrior (+4 Attacks Per Turn))
A stream of glowing stars fails to accomplish anything when it strikes you.
Another push for the underwater girl.
"You're delaying the inevitable." Zoe says while not quite looking at you.
The demon starts burrowing into the rubble that fills one of the exits to the room. Twisted points her cannons upward and blasts the ceiling.
You fire back and turn the descending mass of rubble into pulverized dust. A haze fills a room darkened by half the lights going out.
"Twisted Metal will collapse the room before you get anywhere."
High Card skitters to hide behind another chair. The carpet tears where she puts her weight on it.
"And even if you have a trick up your sleeve to win this," Zoe continues to chatter.
With titanic effort you pull the tail back to keep it from curling to fire downwards. If that makes a big enough crater you wouldn't be able to keep anything underwater. You move out of the way just as it decides to try crushing you and avoid retaliation easily.
"You'll be stuck in a small room when hordes of demons rush in and your teleport will tear you to ribbons if you try escaping that way."
Twisted Metal's behavior shifts. Her weapon flails from side to side, crumbling the sides of the aquarium it touches without getting leverage. She appears to have lost any interest in attack to focus on trying to breathe.
You slam your Panoply into the murky water to keep her shoved to the bottom.
"At this point I'd offer you a place with Card, but there's no option for me to bring you in alive."
The tail vanishes. You reach into the water again and retrieve the scrambling girl. The chamber returns to its typical level of reality as the Herald of Ruin deactivates.
Zoe grinds her teeth for a moment before continuing, her arms crossed as she sits on the floor, "But I can kill you quickly and let Goddess Red work her magic on you. If you actually want your army of fools to win you should take me up on that."
You feel rumbling stone around you.
Starlancer side-eyes the sitting Magical Girl, "Really? that's your offer?"
High Card pokes her head up, "She's actually from the CF!?"
"Yes, I am." you answer.
Twisted Metal wheezes in your grip, but appears to still be passed out.
"Goddess Red has made some impressive blunders and I killed Red Rose and Goddess White yesterday. If I die she will take the field and recover me."
Everyone is mostly in the side of the room closer to where you entered. With the exception of the cowardly demon covering himself in rocks. An acceptable target if there ever was one.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't expect someone to recuse me from hell, I thought you were a monster!" High Card trips over her words while trying to apologize,
You assemble and toss Machine Code's device on the pile of rubble in the far exit.
"But if you let me kill you Red will bring you back to life and leave to do whatever it is she does. Are you better than Goddess Red? Or would the battle go better if you sacrificed yourself so she would leave?" Zoe concludes.
Oh.
That's a rather horrifying thing to consider. Goddess Red and Goddess Gold are famous for defeating armies. And odd as it is to consider that two of the Goddess Four are fighting against mankind you've seen firsthand the power they hold. Well, secondhand for Goddess Red's invasion.
A sinking feeling twists your gut. Zoe is right, your thoughts all turn around to that. Spending your own life and foregoing other actions is absolutely the correct choice when weighed against Goddess Red killing you and everyone else here.
You hesitate to give the unpalatable response. Zoe grimaces and starts moving towards where her weapon landed.
There's a small blast as Machine Code's device explodes. All the remaining lights go out.
What were you thinking again? This is no time to succumb to despair. There is never a good time to stop fighting.
You flare the light of your Panoply and grab hold of the ringleader before she can lay hands on her weapon.
With a howl you smash the offending mind-twister into the wall a few times. A few heartbeats later the would-be ruler has been rendered unconscious and a pattern of cracks from where her skull impacted decorate the closest wall.
Starlancer shakes her head, "I saw that coming. I presume you've gotten some sort of oracle to guide you into breaking our plans miss everything?"
"Detransform, now." you order.
"As you wish." Starlancer bows slightly.
In the orange tinted light her Magical Girl outfit vanishes. In its place a more substantial outfit appears. A slim black skirt covers her to below the knee, a pair of boots made of some unearthly leather, and a black and red jacket with a golden braid running from her right shoulder to the top of her breasts and down to her right hip. An unadorned silver band rests on her hair, which has shortened and is in a braided bun.
"I am your prisoner at the moment, and as such I will attempt to escape if I can." she adds with a note of defiance.
Irritation spikes at her saying that, but you are otherwise rather pleased with how this turned out. You rushed into a pack of enemies, scattered them, and subdued them without killing any of them.
Why Twisted was standing on top of water when she sinks like a rock is a little mysterious when you think of it. And there was something else you wanted to do…
Searingly bright light shoots forth from your Panoply to engulf the cowardly demon's hiding spot. He lets out a gurgle before bursting into white flames and falling over dead.
(Yeah… Darkslayer means he's dead, liek so ded.)
Starlancer smirks, "Silver Regent wanted to do that."
High Card rubs her eyes, "How are you getting out of here?"
You hear faint voices growing louder from the tunnel you entered this chamber from. The tremors have gotten fainter since the device exploded.
Putting that together: You have two knocked-out passengers to carry, possibly three if you decide to wallop Starlancer gently. The tunnels above are still occupied by thousands of lesser demons and several formidable leaders. And you suspect there's some way to make and close tunnels quickly from the state of the far tunnel's wall.
And a demon horde might be running towards you at this very moment, can't forget that.
A trial short-range portal oozes something that both catches fire and dissolves the stone it touches. If you have a minute to focus on it you could try Gating a portal, you avoided this effect when you teleported in before.
Do you have a minute? If you don't you'll have to either get a minute or fight upwards for every step. While burdened with several captives and a rescuee.
----
Phreaking Mission Status: You set them up the bomb.
Current Objectives:
(Primary) Exfiltrate from tunnels
Pick one:
[X] Stay put and try to use Gating to open a portal.
(Takes a minute for a safe escape option, but if you're interrupted you'll have to abandon the effort and be in a worse spot.)
[X] Run out into the maze of tunnels, you'll look for a better spot to make your getaway.
(Try to run through the enemy force and create a better site to hole up in. If you can shake the dangerous demons for just a minute High Card should be able to hold off the chaff while you make a Gate.)
[X] Head down deeper.
(The lower levels have been kept clearer. Something doesn't want the lesser demons breaking things. Look for a more secluded spot and hope you don't run in to the forces that are permitted to linger in the fancy tunnels.)
[X] Abandon everyone else and use Shifting to support your escape.
(You expect Shifting while carrying someone will kill them from the UD's Zone of Control. Escaping would be trivial if you could Shift...)
----
+500 EXP Resolved Headhunters Event
+1500 EXP No Odds Too Great
+20 EXP Killed a foul demon
+2 EXP You'll fight as long as you have breath
+200 EXP Payload delivered
159 + 2222 = 2381 EXP
[X] [EXP] EXP Plan?
Your Panoply twists like a balloon full of eels. A brilliant white light appears in place of its typical orange glow. Everything feels okay so you trust your aim and blast a volley to land around Twisted Metal's feet.
She doesn't react, instead firing two shots in tandem at the entrances to the tunnels. Bursts of angry red static fly out and explode against the floor. The stone crumbles and rubble floods into the entranceways.
Not too bad, everything is in small enough chunks to dig through fairly quickly.
Immediately after firing Twisted Metal unceremoniously falls into the aquarium. The rather deep aquarium. You spot a tuft of her grey hair floating before her 'tail' jerks and appears to push her further into the water.
That should keep her busy for a little while. You'll need the space.
Your next maneuver is already in progress. The pink-haired Magical Girl is leaving a streak of blood as she uses an arm to guide herself as she slides on the ceiling. She pushes down as you leap up, but you slam the ceiling with your Panoply to catch her.
As you fly towards her she points her scepter with one hand and a finger with the other.
"No Tele-"
"!!!"
(Wave Force: 7,360 Base Damage, Dice Withheld = 7,360 Damage
Magical Girl Silver Regent: Attack was Unstoppable!
Stately Bearing Triggers!
50%
3,680 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Silver Regent: 4,478 - 3,680 = 798 Health)
"Urgh!"
She stumbles, but retains her grip on her weapon. With one hand she flies through a pattern of attacks. It's easy enough to avoid, you're pretty sure she can't keep track of your movements, but a trail of energy follows the large scepter and prevents you from landing an attack unopposed.
Star Lancer touches ground and throws her spear at you.
No helping it. If you want to get hold of the leader you're going to have to bull through their attacks.
(Mythril Spear: 6,000 Base Damage, No Dice, +300 Legendary Power, -500 Trying to avoid hitting her friend = 5800 Damage
To Defy The Gods Triggers!
1,934 Total Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 1,000 Resilience, +342 Dice, +386 Reactive Field, -50 Divided Attention = 1678 Damage Reduction
256 End Damage
60% Ceaseless Warrior
103 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 14,500 - 103 = 14,397 Health
+1 Stack of Ceaseless Warrior (+1 Attack Per Turn)
Scepter: 4,450 Base Damage, Dice Unavailable, -500 Space-Filling Swings, +4,450 Rule Boost = 8,400 Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 1,000 Resilience, +128 Dice, +1,680 Reactive Field, -670 Armor Pierce, +167 Thick Armor, +500 Glancing Hit, +800 Resistant to Rule Effects = 3605 Damage Reduction
4795 End Damage
Kingdom! X2 Damage!
50% A Law Unto Yourself
60% Ceaseless Warrior
1918 Final End Damage
Magical Girl Summit: 14,397 - 1,918 = 12,479 Health
+1 Stack of Ceaseless Warrior (+2 Attacks Per Turn))
Starlancer's spear barely makes it through you field. Crashing into the energy the pink-haired girl was throwing around felt more like having a house fall on you. As soon as you've made it inside her swings you grab her arms to trap her and knock her weapon from her hands.
Zoe is in terrible shape. She lets out a hacking cough that sprays blood when she tries to take a breath. The wall behind her has gouges torn into it from the aftershock of her weapon.
Starlancer runs towards the center of the room, small craters torn in the stone floor from her sprinting. Where a hand wreathed in red static reaches from the water and tries to grab the edge, the stone crumbles to dust when grabbed and the hand slips under the surface.
You fire a curtain of light to block Starlancer. She slams her spear into the ground and tears out a vast quantity of pebbles to avoid running into it. The wall you strike starts falling into the room in chunks.
"I'm Summit and with the Counter Force, stand down or I will neutralize you." you shout.
There's a sense that everything in the room is taking a breath. The demon crouchs down lower and slowly creeps for the rough tunnel.
"Card! Kill me! Don't let her win!" Zoe spits out.
"Barrage!" High Card shouts without hesitation.
The stars the surround her focus themselves on a point, you.
(Barrage: 700 Base Damage, No Dice = 700 Damage
Echo: 0 Activations
To Defy the Gods Triggers!
350 Total Damage
Difficulty 1 Roll: 26 - Pass
Magical Girl Summit: 1,000 Resilience, +666 Dice, +70 Reactive Field, -802 Juggernaut, +200 Thick Armor = 1,134 Damage Reduction
Attack Ineffective!
+1 Stack of Ceaseless Warrior (+3 Attacks Per Turn))
A stream of stars streaks out to splash against your protective field. A dull green light counters her attack.
You thought you felt something for a moment, but the feeling doesn't linger.
"Oh." High Card sputtered.
A desk off to the side suddenly collapses, followed shortly by the other desks. Specks fall from the ceiling and the formerly smooth floor is gouged and pitted.
Starlancer glares at you and discards her spear, it bounces on the uneven floor. A spin there and direction shift there leads it to embed itself in the side of the aquarium.
"Standing down then." she says.
Twisted Metal's hand clamps around Starlancer's spear and she hauls herself out of the water.
You drop Zoe and rush to the center of the room. Just as Twisted starts to bring her head out of the water you slam her head back under. Her tail coils around to focus on you.
A quick thump to the wall where the spear is holding turns the rock into dust. Twisted Metal falls further into the water as her handhold falls loose. You jump around to stay ahead of where her tail is aiming.
Starlancer makes a quick jump over to where you dropped Zoe. She pulls a honey-colored orb out of a pouch and drops it on the pink-haired Magical Girl. It turns into sparks when it impacts the injured girl and she appears to have been significantly healed by the object.
(Magical Girl Silver Regent: 798 + 999 = 1,797 Health)
This close it's a simple matter to move out of the firing arc of the tail cannon. The odd mouth snaps in clear agitation.
Zoe sits up after the healing boost and mutters something at Starlancer. She tries to keep track of you for a moment before looking at the ceiling.
The cannons fire on an unoccupied corner of the room, well away from you. The attack trails red static that sinks into the walls and a wide section crumbles into rubble. Above you one of the lights goes out right before the fixture drops to the ground.
Your Panoply does its best impression of a caterpillar as dozens of tendrils yank you around in a tight circuit of Twisted Metal's appendage. Every two seconds you send a section to ensure she stays in the water, like a deadly game at a pool.
"Because she could kill me in one shot. And cute trick with my spear aside, I meant it." Starlancer says firmly to Zoe.
Another push to keep Twisted under the water.
High Card has moved to hide behind one of the couchs, she peeks out and points at your back, "Barrage."
(Barrage: 700 Base Damage, No Dice = 700 Damage
Echo: 0 Activations
To Defy the Gods Triggers!
350 Total Damage
Difficulty 1 Roll: 64 - Pass
Magical Girl Summit: 1,000 Resilience, +285 Dice, +70 Reactive Field, -802 Juggernaut, +200 Thick Armor = 753 Damage Reduction
Attack Ineffective!
+1 Stack of Ceaseless Warrior (+4 Attacks Per Turn))
A stream of glowing stars fails to accomplish anything when it strikes you.
Another push for the underwater girl.
"You're delaying the inevitable." Zoe says while not quite looking at you.
The demon starts burrowing into the rubble that fills one of the exits to the room. Twisted points her cannons upward and blasts the ceiling.
You fire back and turn the descending mass of rubble into pulverized dust. A haze fills a room darkened by half the lights going out.
"Twisted Metal will collapse the room before you get anywhere."
High Card skitters to hide behind another chair. The carpet tears where she puts her weight on it.
"And even if you have a trick up your sleeve to win this," Zoe continues to chatter.
With titanic effort you pull the tail back to keep it from curling to fire downwards. If that makes a big enough crater you wouldn't be able to keep anything underwater. You move out of the way just as it decides to try crushing you and avoid retaliation easily.
"You'll be stuck in a small room when hordes of demons rush in and your teleport will tear you to ribbons if you try escaping that way."
Twisted Metal's behavior shifts. Her weapon flails from side to side, crumbling the sides of the aquarium it touches without getting leverage. She appears to have lost any interest in attack to focus on trying to breathe.
You slam your Panoply into the murky water to keep her shoved to the bottom.
"At this point I'd offer you a place with Card, but there's no option for me to bring you in alive."
The tail vanishes. You reach into the water again and retrieve the scrambling girl. The chamber returns to its typical level of reality as the Herald of Ruin deactivates.
Zoe grinds her teeth for a moment before continuing, her arms crossed as she sits on the floor, "But I can kill you quickly and let Goddess Red work her magic on you. If you actually want your army of fools to win you should take me up on that."
You feel rumbling stone around you.
Starlancer side-eyes the sitting Magical Girl, "Really? that's your offer?"
High Card pokes her head up, "She's actually from the CF!?"
"Yes, I am." you answer.
Twisted Metal wheezes in your grip, but appears to still be passed out.
"Goddess Red has made some impressive blunders and I killed Red Rose and Goddess White yesterday. If I die she will take the field and recover me."
Everyone is mostly in the side of the room closer to where you entered. With the exception of the cowardly demon covering himself in rocks. An acceptable target if there ever was one.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't expect someone to recuse me from hell, I thought you were a monster!" High Card trips over her words while trying to apologize,
You assemble and toss Machine Code's device on the pile of rubble in the far exit.
"But if you let me kill you Red will bring you back to life and leave to do whatever it is she does. Are you better than Goddess Red? Or would the battle go better if you sacrificed yourself so she would leave?" Zoe concludes.
Oh.
That's a rather horrifying thing to consider. Goddess Red and Goddess Gold are famous for defeating armies. And odd as it is to consider that two of the Goddess Four are fighting against mankind you've seen firsthand the power they hold. Well, secondhand for Goddess Red's invasion.
A sinking feeling twists your gut. Zoe is right, your thoughts all turn around to that. Spending your own life and foregoing other actions is absolutely the correct choice when weighed against Goddess Red killing you and everyone else here.
You hesitate to give the unpalatable response. Zoe grimaces and starts moving towards where her weapon landed.
There's a small blast as Machine Code's device explodes. All the remaining lights go out.
What were you thinking again? This is no time to succumb to despair. There is never a good time to stop fighting.
You flare the light of your Panoply and grab hold of the ringleader before she can lay hands on her weapon.
With a howl you smash the offending mind-twister into the wall a few times. A few heartbeats later the would-be ruler has been rendered unconscious and a pattern of cracks from where her skull impacted decorate the closest wall.
Starlancer shakes her head, "I saw that coming. I presume you've gotten some sort of oracle to guide you into breaking our plans miss everything?"
"Detransform, now." you order.
"As you wish." Starlancer bows slightly.
In the orange tinted light her Magical Girl outfit vanishes. In its place a more substantial outfit appears. A slim black skirt covers her to below the knee, a pair of boots made of some unearthly leather, and a black and red jacket with a golden braid running from her right shoulder to the top of her breasts and down to her right hip. An unadorned silver band rests on her hair, which has shortened and is in a braided bun.
"I am your prisoner at the moment, and as such I will attempt to escape if I can." she adds with a note of defiance.
Irritation spikes at her saying that, but you are otherwise rather pleased with how this turned out. You rushed into a pack of enemies, scattered them, and subdued them without killing any of them.
Why Twisted was standing on top of water when she sinks like a rock is a little mysterious when you think of it. And there was something else you wanted to do…
Searingly bright light shoots forth from your Panoply to engulf the cowardly demon's hiding spot. He lets out a gurgle before bursting into white flames and falling over dead.
(Yeah… Darkslayer means he's dead, liek so ded.)
Starlancer smirks, "Silver Regent wanted to do that."
High Card rubs her eyes, "How are you getting out of here?"
You hear faint voices growing louder from the tunnel you entered this chamber from. The tremors have gotten fainter since the device exploded.
Putting that together: You have two knocked-out passengers to carry, possibly three if you decide to wallop Starlancer gently. The tunnels above are still occupied by thousands of lesser demons and several formidable leaders. And you suspect there's some way to make and close tunnels quickly from the state of the far tunnel's wall.
And a demon horde might be running towards you at this very moment, can't forget that.
A trial short-range portal oozes something that both catches fire and dissolves the stone it touches. If you have a minute to focus on it you could try Gating a portal, you avoided this effect when you teleported in before.
Do you have a minute? If you don't you'll have to either get a minute or fight upwards for every step. While burdened with several captives and a rescuee.
----
Phreaking Mission Status: You set them up the bomb.
Current Objectives:
(Primary) Exfiltrate from tunnels
Pick one:
[X] Stay put and try to use Gating to open a portal.
(Takes a minute for a safe escape option, but if you're interrupted you'll have to abandon the effort and be in a worse spot.)
[X] Run out into the maze of tunnels, you'll look for a better spot to make your getaway.
(Try to run through the enemy force and create a better site to hole up in. If you can shake the dangerous demons for just a minute High Card should be able to hold off the chaff while you make a Gate.)
[X] Head down deeper.
(The lower levels have been kept clearer. Something doesn't want the lesser demons breaking things. Look for a more secluded spot and hope you don't run in to the forces that are permitted to linger in the fancy tunnels.)
[X] Abandon everyone else and use Shifting to support your escape.
(You expect Shifting while carrying someone will kill them from the UD's Zone of Control. Escaping would be trivial if you could Shift...)
----
+500 EXP Resolved Headhunters Event
+1500 EXP No Odds Too Great
+20 EXP Killed a foul demon
+2 EXP You'll fight as long as you have breath
+200 EXP Payload delivered
159 + 2222 = 2381 EXP
[X] [EXP] EXP Plan?
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Choke out Starlancer and then Gate?
*Boggles* Boy. Did you even bother to read the end of the update?
- Location
- Elsewhere
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
Bullshit. Pull the other one, it has bells on.
Wait, wait, wait.
Kilometers/1000 or 12 minutes, whichever is less. How fucking far did we travel into UD territory? That's also kind of a silly big modifier, she can chain 1 mile Gates at 1 Gate per 0.0015~ minutes. That's 91 miliseconds.
Kilometers/1000 or 12 minutes, whichever is less. How fucking far did we travel into UD territory? That's also kind of a silly big modifier, she can chain 1 mile Gates at 1 Gate per 0.0015~ minutes. That's 91 miliseconds.
I did, but I couldn't actually find the relevant cost listings on a cursory search. Thus why I'm asking people who are better-versed than me. I assume then that the answer is yes?
- Location
- Elsewhere
I think there's an unlisted minimum Time of 1 minute?
A level costs the previous level*10 xp
So level 11 costs 100 xp, level 12 costs 110, etc..
Last edited:
Yes. *Sigh*
And no, it wouldn't help.
That'd do it, yeah.
- Location
- Elsewhere
I mean, maybe getting the spatial abilities to 15 so we can merge them (however that works) would help, but I wouldn't count on it.
EDIT SO I DON'T DOUBLE POST: Maybe we can finagle something with Instant Manufacture to buy us time, but otherwise I think we'll just have to knock Starlancer out and choose an option
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Messed up your BB Code there.
That's a lie if I ever saw one.
- Location
- Elsewhere
Gamble. We basically must knock Starlancer out first.
We have incoming from:
1. where we entered, but the tunnel entrance is collapsed
2. possible new tunnel opening
Hopefully, card can deal with them, as per the next option, but if not, we're in a worse option
Gamble, but you don't know the risks!
Another gamble.
no.
I suppose we could just try to kill everything that comes until there's nothing but chaff? We would be gambling on our ability to take on all the heavy hitters they can bring down on short notice, though. I'd rather that be a backup option.
My last idea...If the aquarium is big enough, we could hide inside it. Use our panoply to construct a fake bottom and an air pocket while we gate out. But we would need to be able to fit everyone, and I'm not positive our panoply can give them all an air pocket.
I doubt the demons will search it more than a quick glance in less than a minute.
@kelllogo How possible is this plan? (Is the aquarium big enough, and can summit's panoply construct a fake bottom quickly and hold an air pocket for a minute or so?)
- Location
- UTC -6
I was actually planning on having Summit hide on the ceiling for the stay put option. The aquarium is big enough to hold people, if a little cramped. The air pocket wouldn't last too long, but it would work as well.
Long enough to Gate? Because that's all we really need.
- Location
- Elsewhere
Okay then.
[X] Stay put and try to use Gating to open a portal.
-[X] Knock Starlancer out and hide everyone in the aquarium. (Reconstruct the lid if you can do so quickly, make your panoply look like a fake bottom if you can.)
Veekie has a point, but I like this one. Hmmm...
[X] Stay put and try to use Gating to open a portal.
-[X] Knock Starlancer out and hide everyone in the aquarium. (Reconstruct the lid if you can do so quickly, make your panoply look like a fake bottom if you can.)
Veekie has a point, but I like this one. Hmmm...
- Location
- UTC -6
It takes at least-
^
This
Gating is something you need to setup for a bit, even for short distances.
- Location
- madison
haahahaahahah! oh my god I missed this line the first way through. wow, that is a whopper. rose would splatter everyone here in less than a turn, her merer presence would shut down every ability on their sheets, and white's whole schtick is that she's almost impossible to kill or pin down. Not to mention There is a distinct lack of gold laying waste to the continent to avenge her sister.
Points for the big lie, but in verse both those people are hard to kill strategic assets, and out of verse their important enough characters that "oh yeah, they totally died off screen" would be shitty writing.
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- Location
- United States
Perhaps spend a few seconds blocking the entrance with something? If there are multiple it might not be worth it but it would probably buy more time than it costs unless they are willing to blow up their own tunnels.
Or we could blow it up ourselves and have the rubble block the entrance. Structural stability isn't exactly a concern for us.
Or we could blow it up ourselves and have the rubble block the entrance. Structural stability isn't exactly a concern for us.
ltmauve
"Excuse me?"
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Stay put and try to use Gating to open a portal.
-[x] Knock out Starlancer
-[x] Blast down the ceiling around the tunnel. Even if they can open a new one it'll slow them down.
-[x] Start forming a Gate. If the demons start breaking through the rubble or a new tunnel starts forming, grab everyone and hide on the ceiling.
--[x] Be sure to use everyone else's bodies, and maybe some rubble, to block as much of the light from your Panoply as possible.
Yeah, this is the idea. Slow them down enough for us to either Gate out, or make it look like we've Gated out.
-[x] Knock out Starlancer
-[x] Blast down the ceiling around the tunnel. Even if they can open a new one it'll slow them down.
-[x] Start forming a Gate. If the demons start breaking through the rubble or a new tunnel starts forming, grab everyone and hide on the ceiling.
--[x] Be sure to use everyone else's bodies, and maybe some rubble, to block as much of the light from your Panoply as possible.
Yeah, this is the idea. Slow them down enough for us to either Gate out, or make it look like we've Gated out.