It's actually getting kind of annoying for me too. I need to discuss other ideas.
Any thoughts on a passive "people we would have killed are timefrozen for an hour" ability?
Sounds ridiculously useful, but I mean, how? That sounds like the domain of magic, to be honest. Not saying there's no way to create one using ki, but...
How about mass Instant Transmission? Say, carry everyone to a faraway planet and destroy their radios? It's not exactly what you were going for, but.
Energy web would probably be the most practical against large groups of weak enemies. Kind of a random, obscure move for Kakara to even know exists, but it would be handy.
Energy web would probably be the most practical against large groups of weak enemies. Kind of a random, obscure move for Kakara to even know exists, but it would be handy.
Many moves have been lost - you could check with Poptart, but I know that the Galactic Donut was ruled as lost along with all other moves invented by any fused characters.
You're right - it says any and all techniques invented by non-Freeza villains are lost. I'm not sure if that means we don't know of its existence or just don't know how it's performed (I wasn't expecting Kakara to know how to do any of those) - if we at least know that it's possible we might be able to re-invent it. The Spirit Bomb was lost and we re-discovered that. Energy web is a lot less important to reinvent, though, and possibly obscure enough that Kakara hasn't even heard of it.
Not for nothing do the Exiles claim that they are only just departing a dark age. Much of the knowledge of their ancestors has been lost -- either through its holders dying without sharing what they knew, or through the notorious tight-lipped nature Goku had regarding his most potent techniques. Some thing have been lost entirely. The following is the list of techniques that were never passed down to the modern generation of Exiles. This the first time the list has been put to writing, so it will be updated as I remember other techniques which are supposed to be here.
Ki Hypnosis.
Fusion Dance.
Spirit Bomb.
Any and all techniques invented by fusion gestalts in general.
Any and all techniques invented by non-Freeza, "villains," who never joined the Z Fighters.
Mafuba.
Thunder Shock Surprise.
Imprisonment Ball
Not only did his students never manage to learn more then a few of his more subtle techniques, but bloody Yamcha has had more of an impact on Exile Culture!
Not only did his students never manage to learn more then a few of his more subtle techniques, but bloody Yamcha has had more of an impact on Exile Culture!
Kind of a chicken-and-egg scenario as far as his impact (aka is it Roshi's fault, his students' fault, or the writers of DB, DBZ, DBGT, and DBZ fault?), compounded by his core style basically being "what all these guys built off of".
Kind of a chicken-and-egg scenario as far as his impact (aka is it Roshi's fault, his students' fault, or the writers of DB, DBZ, DBGT, and DBZ fault?), compounded by his core style basically being "what all these guys built off of".
@Deathbybunnies , so with your plan winning (and having enough support I have suspicions it might set a trend), I was wondering what your thoughts on the next few months are. Do you have a "break point" where you'd be switching your plans to work on a specific Style, instead of the "over-skills" for Combat? I get that you're very focused on "efficiency" and grabbing training bonuses due to leveling up super-skills/over-skills, but I'm concerned we may end up facing a similar issue as our fight with Yammar, aka "we suffer due to not having a specifically-developed Fighting Style to utilize".
@Deathbybunnies , so with your plan winning (and having enough support I have suspicions it might set a trend), I was wondering what your thoughts on the next few months are. Do you have a "break point" where you'd be switching your plans to work on a specific Style, instead of the "over-skills" for Combat? I get that you're very focused on "efficiency" and grabbing training bonuses due to leveling up super-skills/over-skills, but I'm concerned we may end up facing a similar issue as our fight with Yammar, aka "we suffer due to not having a specifically-developed Fighting Style to utilize".
@Deathbybunnies , so with your plan winning (and having enough support I have suspicions it might set a trend), I was wondering what your thoughts on the next few months are. Do you have a "break point" where you'd be switching your plans to work on a specific Style, instead of the "over-skills" for Combat? I get that you're very focused on "efficiency" and grabbing training bonuses due to leveling up super-skills/over-skills, but I'm concerned we may end up facing a similar issue as our fight with Yammar, aka "we suffer due to not having a specifically-developed Fighting Style to utilize".
I don't think there are any relevant superskills after Combat? I'd prefer to go after our overall psychic level instead of increasing individual skills piecemeal there too, but in the Combat tree I'm pretty happy just going for Tien style assuming Combat goes up this turn.
On the other hand, I'm not super stoked about reinventing Tien skills we don't already know without a trainer (4 Witches, Shin Kikoho), so I'd probably just get it up to around Journeyman level with the skills we already know and focus on discovering/reinventing skills that won't be easy to pick up when we return to Garenhuld - so Elite Ki Sense, Ki Stealth, Perfect Multiform, possibly that "Ki Absorption" research that was floated this vote. Maybe take a look and see if the Namekians have invented any cool tricks in the last few centuries.
If we're going to basically build a technique from scratch, it might as well be something new!
I don't think there are any relevant superskills after Combat? I'd prefer to go after our overall psychic level instead of increasing individual skills piecemeal there too, but in the Combat tree I'm pretty happy just going for Tien style assuming Combat goes up this turn.
On the other hand, I'm not super stoked about reinventing Tien skills we don't already know without a trainer (4 Witches, Shin Kikoho), so I'd probably just get it up to around Journeyman level with the skills we already know and focus on discovering/reinventing skills that won't be easy to pick up when we return to Garenhuld - so Elite Ki Sense, Ki Stealth, Perfect Multiform, possibly that "Ki Absorption" research that was floated this vote. Maybe take a look and see if the Namekians have invented any cool tricks in the last few centuries.
If we're going to basically build a technique from scratch, it might as well be something new!
I think we could get started on a Kakara style? It's not like we have instructors in the traditional styles anymore, so making up a style perfectly suited for our usage (e.g. incorporating Kamehameha and Instant Transmission) might just be better.
Amusingly, when I think of our personal moveset, it kinda ends up looking like a Cell-style.
I think we could get started on a Kakara style? It's not like we have instructors in the traditional styles anymore, so making up a style perfectly suited for our usage (e.g. incorporating Kamehameha and Instant Transmission) might just be better.
Amusingly, when I think of our personal moveset, it kinda ends up looking like a Cell-style.
There's a decent argument for taking what we know of Tien Style and getting started on Kakara Style from it, yeah. What we end up with is going to be so off-beat in comparison to orthodox Tien Style we might be better off spending the extra action and getting started on our own style. We've been told that we can create a style, improve other styles and then take that new understanding back and adjust our own style without being penalised.
I think I'd prefer to get Tien Style up to a "workable" level first though, just so we have something to use now/fall back on later.
There's a decent argument for taking what we know of Tien Style and getting started on Kakara Style from it, yeah. What we end up with is going to be so off-beat in comparison to orthodox Tien Style we might be better off spending the extra action and getting started on our own style. We've been told that we can create a style, improve other styles and then take that new understanding back and adjust our own style without being penalised.
I think I'd prefer to get Tien Style up to a "workable" level first though, just so we have something to use now/fall back on later.
Eh, we actually use the techniques individually in combat, Style just gives a bonus to them, so it's not like we can't fight if we don't have a style trained up yet.
@Deathbybunnies
and others it might be worth an action or question about finding out what styles and techniques actually exist in the galaxy.
Also, the Kamehameha (and presumably the Galick Gun) is a remembered technique associated with the Earth, however it is our most trained offensive skill I wonder if we could try to combine its and the Dodonpa properties with each other to make a similar but different attack (I am imagining a heat based yellow version).
The Dodonpa might also be a good focus, try to develop a quick fire version, and/or multiple finger version (I am partially thinking of four witches, combined with multiple finger beams being rapid fired), equally Freeza made a bending version of his finger beam attack. Also the Namekian's apparently have the Makankosappo (so an advanced finger beam technique) and may or may not have developed related techniques.
I wonder if the current Guru/(and Namekians as a whole) have any esotic things, we want a room of spirit and time what if there is already training equipment and such already available.
In my view Kakara isn't actually skilled enough to try and make her own style yet. She is an expert at KI manipulation and sense but actually in how to fight (outside of sparing) far less so
Also, KI stealth I see two ways, one hiding the KI so it can't be detected (may be harder for energy blast techniques), the other it appears less recognisably Saiyan. Figuring out how the Enemy tracks Saiyans would be important because we know of Psychic, Magic and KI plus who knows what other forms of energy.
I know that all saiyans use KI and train but the majority don't go that far into it (and might start later), so I wonder if they use KI to make tokusatsu shows... and if they might have developed some stage style like Saiyaman, Ginyu and a variant of Satan (for joke characters)... maybe use Roshi style for certain versions. I have to wonder what the Saiyan and Garenhuld (both the combined form and the Saiyan only) entertainment is like.
I could see entertainment techniques being deliberately flashy and changing the appearance of standard techniques
Eh, we actually use the techniques individually in combat, Style just gives a bonus to them, so it's not like we can't fight if we don't have a style trained up yet.
We know the Solar Flare, Multi-Form and Flight Techniques very well, and know the basics of the Dodonpa and Kikoho - it would only be the Shin Kikoho and Four Witches Technique we'd be missing.
Also, the Kamehameha (and presumably the Galick Gun) is a remembered technique associated with the Earth, however it is our most trained offensive skill I wonder if we could try to combine its and the Dodonpa properties with each other to make a similar but different attack (I am imagining a heat based yellow version).
We've been told the only remembered technique is the Kamehameha, with the Spirit Bomb and Dragon Fist (which we don't even know) also being a risk on account of being so distinctive.
In my view Kakara isn't actually skilled enough to try and make her own style yet. She is an expert at KI manipulation and sense but actually in how to fight (outside of sparing) far less so
We're hopefully about to hit Exceptional Combat, with Exceptional Hand-to-Hand, Exceptional Ki Manipulation and Exceptional Ki Tricks to boot. The only consideration at this point is the lack of other Style training, but we can port that in later.
I know that all saiyans use KI and train but the majority don't go that far into it (and might start later), so I wonder if they use KI to make tokusatsu shows... and if they might have developed some stage style like Saiyaman, Ginyu and a variant of Satan (for joke characters)... maybe use Roshi style for certain versions. I have to wonder what the Saiyan and Garenhuld (both the combined form and the Saiyan only) entertainment is like.
I could see entertainment techniques being deliberately flashy and changing the appearance of standard techniques
I think the answer here is tournaments, as we've attended in the past? And I suspect the general opinion is that they'd like to see a good fight with effective techniques over deliberately weaker-but-flashier variants.
If we were to make our own style now, what would it look like? Tien style boosts Solar Flare, Flight, and Multiform with no penalties, and we might want a non-Kamehaha blast since that's an infohazard, so picking up Dodonpa seems reasonable. Our own style would add Instant Transmission, maybe the Spirit Bomb (but we can't use that until we get back to Garenhuld anyways). It might also add a penalty to something.
Until we get some more non-Tien abilities, I'm not sure there's much point to spending an extra action making our own style to boost Instant Transmission instead of just training Instant Transmission directly.
The only reason I'd consider making our own style now would be if we're worried about the wasted actions from investing in Tien style after we switch to our own, but some of that Tien training might help us make our own style, and we'd probably need to spend actions later revamping our style to include whatever new stuff we pick up anyways.
If we were to make our own style now, what would it look like? Tien style boosts Solar Flare, Flight, and Multiform with no penalties, and we might want a non-Kamehaha blast since that's an infohazard, so picking up Dodonpa seems reasonable. Our own style would add Instant Transmission, maybe the Spirit Bomb (but we can't use that until we get back to Garenhuld anyways). It might also add a penalty to something.
Until we get some more non-Tien abilities, I'm not sure there's much point to spending an extra action making our own style to boost Instant Transmission instead of just training Instant Transmission directly.
The only reason I'd consider making our own style now would be if we're worried about the wasted actions from investing in Tien style after we switch to our own, but some of that Tien training might help us make our own style, and we'd probably need to spend actions later revamping our style to include whatever new stuff we pick up anyways.
From memory, my dream "Kakara Style" looked something like this:
Involved Techniques: Genki Dama, Perfect Multiform, Hand-to-Hand [Team Fighting], Solar Flare, Kikoho, Shin Kikoho, Flight, Instant Transmission, [Dodonpa/Kamehameha]
Penalised Techniques: Possibly Hand-to-Hand [Duelling]?
The logic being that with Perfect Multiform any serious fight will always have us using Team Fighting, and never Duelling. By the time we actually develop it, we'll probably have something else we want in there too.
We've been told the only remembered technique is the Kamehameha, with the Spirit Bomb and Dragon Fist (which we don't even know) also being a risk on account of being so distinctive.
We're hopefully about to hit Exceptional Combat, with Exceptional Hand-to-Hand, Exceptional Ki Manipulation and Exceptional Ki Tricks to boot. The only consideration at this point is the lack of other Style training, but we can port that in later.
So... what exactly do we know (currently) that would make our style meaningfully different from Tien style? Seriously, from my perspective stuff like creating a new style (rather than personalizing an existing one) is the domain of Masters or people who are Elite in multiple areas. Making a functional style should be tough and I see Kakara attempting to make her own style in the next year (even if we seriously dedicate her to developing her combat abilities) as extremely arrogant.
I do, eventually, expect a style to be developed, probably with the application of Multiform, Perfect Multiform and other similar techniques being the core distinction but I think she would need a lot of practical experience in serious combat to meaningfully develop her abilities to form a true style
I think the answer here is tournaments, as we've attended in the past? And I suspect the general opinion is that they'd like to see a good fight with effective techniques over deliberately weaker-but-flashier variants.
So. you don't see why people would want to have stories with actors and combat? That people wouldn't be interested in characters being flamboyant and chewing the scenery? You think they wouldn't want historical documentaries? That they wouldn't make alternative versions for different age ranges? That they wouldn't try to make some stuff for Garenhulders but utilizing their own abilities (if trying to conceal that they aren't just special effects)? The actors would be required to be hit by these techniques so weaker ones would have to be used, equally scenes would have to be shot and redone dozens of times and it would be a serious waste to use senzu beans or even regular healers. Replacing damaged scenery would also be annoying so using attacks that waste energy but still look real would be worthwhile.
So... what exactly do we know (currently) that would make our style meaningfully different from Tien style? Seriously, from my perspective stuff like creating a new style (rather than personalizing an existing one) is the domain of Masters or people who are Elite in multiple areas. Making a functional style should be tough and I see Kakara attempting to make her own style in the next year (even if we seriously dedicate her to developing her combat abilities) as extremely arrogant.
I do, eventually, expect a style to be developed, probably with the application of Multiform, Perfect Multiform and other similar techniques being the core distinction but I think she would need a lot of practical experience in serious combat to meaningfully develop her abilities to form a true style
Styles are, mechanically, +10/20/30/40 to actions that use an involved technique. We would comparatively gain +10/20/30/40 to rolls involving the Genki Dama, Instant Transmission and Team Fighting, which is actually quite a lot.
Given that we've been explicitly told that we can painlessly integrate any insight we get from mastering other styles into a self-made style after the fact, there's not really any point in waiting until after we've had the insights. The question is just "do we do this now, or learn Tien Style now to get something less ideal for our needs sooner", to which I'm leaning towards getting Tien Style up to Journeyman at least.
So. you don't see why people would want to have stories with actors and combat? That people wouldn't be interested in characters being flamboyant and chewing the scenery? You think they wouldn't want historical documentaries? That they wouldn't make alternative versions for different age ranges? That they wouldn't try to make some stuff for Garenhulders but utilizing their own abilities (if trying to conceal that they aren't just special effects)? The actors would be required to be hit by these techniques so weaker ones would have to be used, equally scenes would have to be shot and redone dozens of times and it would be a serious waste to use senzu beans or even regular healers. Replacing damaged scenery would also be annoying so using attacks that waste energy but still look real would be worthwhile.
I mean it's a nice idea, but I think if those things existed, we'd have seen them by now. I think that space is taken up by actual sparring/fighting, due to the Exile's cultural meme of Punching Is Good. If they want films/stories, the much larger Garenhulder population apparently loves stories.
I mean, like...why? We don't see every moment of Kakara's day-to-day life, and such subjects as these seem inherently likely to be left in the background given their lack of real stakes or relevance to most of what we've been doing.
Styles are, mechanically, +10/20/30/40 to actions that use an involved technique. We would comparatively gain +10/20/30/40 to rolls involving the Genki Dama, Instant Transmission and Team Fighting, which is actually quite a lot.
Given that we've been explicitly told that we can painlessly integrate any insight we get from mastering other styles into a self-made style after the fact, there's not really any point in waiting until after we've had the insights. The question is just "do we do this now, or learn Tien Style now to get something less ideal for our needs sooner", to which I'm leaning towards getting Tien Style up to Journeyman at least.
Oh, I agree with style training, I just feel it is too soon for our character to actually be able to develop our own personal style that is worth the name, technically all training is developing Oh, I agree with style training, I just feel it is too soon for our character to actually be able to develop our own personal style that is worth the name, technically all training is developing how we fight but something like a personal style is the thing which would take a fair chunk of our life... and frankly we haven't dedicated our life to martial arts training.
I think the weakness would be fighting large groups of people (as long as the number of opponents is more than our multiform at least) and I suspect perfect multiform will be fairly exhausting so regular multiform (and any other version we develop personally I imagine us being able to make one that works on the All is One principle where KI would be moved between the clones... which I feel would have greater difficulty with more clones) would still be a major part of the style
I mean, like...why? We don't see every moment of Kakara's day-to-day life, and such subjects as these seem inherently likely to be left in the background given their lack of real stakes or relevance to most of what we've been doing.
Oh, I agree with style training, I just feel it is too soon for our character to actually be able to develop our own personal style that is worth the name, technically all training is developing Oh, I agree with style training, I just feel it is too soon for our character to actually be able to develop our own personal style that is worth the name, technically all training is developing how we fight but something like a personal style is the thing which would take a fair chunk of our life... and frankly we haven't dedicated our life to martial arts training.
I think the weakness would be fighting large groups of people (as long as the number of opponents is more than our multiform at least) and I suspect perfect multiform will be fairly exhausting so regular multiform (and any other version we develop personally I imagine us being able to make one that works on the All is One principle where KI would be moved between the clones... which I feel would have greater difficulty with more clones) would still be a major part of the style
We are going to be Exceptional in Combat by the standards of our people. We know that beginning development of a Style takes 2 AP.
We've got a form of Perfect Multiform going, and are looking at improving it/making it viable this turn. Moving ki between clones would be neat, but our first obstacle is having any ki after technique execution at all.
I think that when developing a Kakara style, our real killer app is Sight. We already have combat precognition, and Carrick-sensei demonstrated a completely non-lethal Sight-based takedown on us when we first met, and on Dad when we were born: ki-poking to disable opponents a thousand or a million times his strength. Which I think would work nicely with the Four Witches technique to give us more fingers to poke with.
I think that when developing a Kakara style, our real killer app is Sight. We already have combat precognition, and Carrick-sensei demonstrated a completely non-lethal Sight-based takedown on us when we first met, and on Dad when we were born: ki-poking to disable opponents a thousand or a million times his strength. Which I think would work nicely with the Four Witches technique to give us more fingers to poke with.
[] Plan Setting Up For The Long Haul
-[] Sight - 2 AP (2 AP)
--[] Continue Your Training (1 AP) x2
-[] Training 3 AP (3+2)
--[] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Team Fighting] x2
--[] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Ki Refinement]
--[] Research Project (1 AP) [Ki Stealth]
---[] Do the Namekians have anything we could learn, like that black metal dome?
--[] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Perfect Multiform]
-[] Social- 2 AP (2+3)
--[] Strengthen Host Bond (1 AP) x2
--[] Talk to Dazarel (1 AP)
--[] Strange Sister (1 AP)
--[] Renewed Greetings (1 AP)
-[] The Outside World - 2 AP (2)
--[] Defense Plans (1 AP)
--[] Historical Insights (1 AP)
-[] A Cause - 1 AP (1)
--[] Learn about Magic, especially defending against it. (1 AP)
-[] Spend time in Human Masque where possible (but not when spending time with our new Saiyan friend.)
Why Are Minds So Weird?
You step through the endless grasslands making up the interior of Bassoon's mindscape, away from the shores and out of sight of the intermittent villages. As usual it is barren; barren and unnaturally silent. This time you're even farther in, and even the villages have dropped away. The rocks that used to break up the plains are gone; the rolling hills have smoothed away into a nearly flat plain, the blue grass the only variation visible.
You kneel for a moment, threading your fingers into the grass. You frown after a moment. "It's brittle." With a flick of your wrist, you snap off a handful of blades of the stuff. They come off like toothpicks, crackling in your grip. You lift them up, peering at them. "...what the hell does this?"
'Minds, and magic within them.' You look up at the voice, seeing Dazarel swooping in from overhead. He lands on your shoulder. 'Why? What did you find?'
"Oh, you don't know what it is, but you're just sure that it's magic, huh?" You reply, folding your arms.
'And what else would it be, in this place?' he asks, settling in.
"Fair," you sigh. "Find anything?"
'There is an eclipse up ahead,' replies Dazarel.
"I'm sorry, a what?" you say, your head snapping over.
'An eclipse of all three suns,' he says. 'Very strange. I was certain we'd find nothing at all of interest. I see I was wrong to doubt your impulse.'
"Intuition, thanks," you reply, starting to walk forward. The grass crunches into splinters under your boot and you glance down, bewildered. "What on Earth?"
'What?' sighs Dazarel. 'Has the grass offended you? Wounded your pride? Are you going to fight an honor duel with it?'
"Oh, yeah, that's definitely my thing," you say, rolling your eyes. "No. It's crunching. That's not normal." You glance at the lizard, only to see him giving you a thoroughly unimpressed stare back. You frown. "What? I know you've seen grass before!"
'I am at a loss to envision any mass of boredom, no matter how dense, that would cause me to give a second's thought to the vegetation underfoot,' he relies, his tone irritable. 'My scales can deflect gunfire. You think I notice grass?'
"Fair enough," you sigh. You sweep your foot through the grass, sending a shower of shards scattering. "Grass normally isn't like this. It's springy. It might prickle, but it bends."
'Fascinating.'
You reach up and smack him in the head. He snaps at your hand as you continue to speak. "It's unusual. Everything so far has looked real."
'I found an eclipse,' drawls Dazarel. 'Not here, just up ahead. A localized eclipse, which is absolutely a thing that exists. But no, you want to peer at grass-'
"The eclipse is weird, but it's the kind of weird I expect from a place like this," you say. "I'll bet that it looks realistic when we get there."
'It does,' he admits.
"Well, this doesn't," you say. "Grass doesn't get like this."
He sighs. 'Fair.' He glides down to the ground, sniffing at the grass for a moment. 'Well, I can't tell if there's something off with it, personally.' He sweeps a claw across the ground, trimming a swathe of blades. 'You say it's normally springy? Living matter often stiffens after death.'
"Grass gets brown," you say.
'Why the Hell do you know so much about petty vegetation?' asks Dazarel, exasperation boiling over as he turns to you. 'It's grass. It's not food. It's food for your food, and you're royalty! You've never met your food while it was alive in your whole life.'
"Nobility, not royalty," you say.
'Whatever.' He scowls at you. 'What possessed you to make such an intensive study of this worthless, stupid plant?'
"It's everywhere," you snap. "Just like this stuff, but green. I don't go looking for stuff about it, but I notice!"
'Well, that just moves the question up a level! Why is it everywhere?! It's- it's just grass! You mean to tell me that a specific species of grass just like this-'
"But green," you interject.
'Yes, thank you for interrupting, that was very important, just like this but it's green, across the whole of your planet?!'
"Well, anywhere there are people," you amend, thinking about your various trips into the untouched wilderness.
'Is it symbiotic?' asks Dazarel, looking repulsed.
You, however, simply blink. "Sim-bye-what-now?"
His tiny little fangs strike literal sparks off each other as they grind. 'Symbiotic. Do the plants rely on the people?'
"Uh, kind of? We plant it everywhere. It's kind of a decoration."
At that, Dazarel looks aghast. 'Decoration?' he asks, voice faint. Then, gaining strength, he says, 'Decoration? Grasses are the most boring plants I've ever seen!'
"Look, I don't have all of the answers for you," you reply, folding your arms. "It's everywhere we are, and we put it there."
You sigh. "One of these days, I'll have the words to explain us to you."
'Now that will be the day,' he sneers, wheeling about and taking to the air. 'Follow me. If the grass is as unnatural as you say, I can't help but imagine that the impossible eclipse has something to do with it. If you truly do hope for another breakthrough like last time, going deeper will be our best chance.'
You trudge after him, making a point of taking your time and ignoring his aggrieved snort up above.
* * *
Astonishingly, it's only a few more moments of walking before the world around you goes dark.
You glance briefly up at the now-shrouded suns, and sure enough, they are all having separate eclipses. "That's unsettling," you say, grimacing.
'It would be less unnatural if there was only one gigantic thing blotting them all away,' agrees Dazarel, landing again on your shoulder. 'I'm staying here until we find out what this is.'
"Such a brave dragon," you remark, stepping forward. "Such fire. Such boldness."
'Oh, shut up before I burn your clothes,' he snarls.
You roll your eyes and step forward. The world is still silent here, but not the dead silence of the plains before. No, as you step into the shrouded plains, you realize that now the silence is the hollow, ringing silence of an echo chamber with no noise. It sounds like the swallowed noises of thousands of voices are pressing at your ears, still present, but so long forgotten that they're below even your threshold of hearing.
That echoing, vast silence breaks as your next step forward produces the sound of shattering glass.
You look down, lifting your foot, and see another clump or broken grass. "That...isn't supposed to happen," you say.
You can't help but notice that despite the quality of the silence, neither the grass breaking nor your hushed pronouncement caused even the faintest echo to resound. They were just...swallowed...into the distance.
"I don't think Bassoon knows about this part of his mindscape," you say.
Dazarel doesn't reply, simply huddling closer.
Every instinct in your body screams at you that you're about to be attacked, and against your will, tension creeps into your muscles. Your stance widens. Your fists clench.
You feel Dazarel's claws pricking into your shoulder in a warning squeeze. 'No attack is coming.'
You blink, flinching. "What?"
'No attack is coming,' he repeats. 'This is a psychic attack. Reinforce your shields. It's trying to wear you out by keeping you constantly on guard.'
You comply, weaving the lightning barrier again, and to your relief, the tension subsides. "Psychic?" you say. "Bassoon isn't psychic."
'You of all people should know that psychic traps in somebody's mind are not necessarily indicative of their preferences or choices regarding the matter,' remarks Dazarel.
You growl. "...yes, okay." You shift nervously. "So, what do we do now?"
'Well, the trap has failed,' replies Dazarel, rising slightly on your shoulders and flaring his wings. 'Now, I would anticipate an attack.' His eyes narrow, and he crouches. 'Any moment, now.'
* * *
Three hours later.
* * *
"Aaaaaaaaany moment now, right, Dazarel?" you ask, trudging through yet more of the shattering grass.
'Shut up,' he replies, sulking.
"Could be just up ahead!" you say.
'I cannot be held to account for another psychic's shoddy trap design,' he snaps.
"Convenient," you sigh. You come to a halt, looking around. "Great. This was a complete waste of time."
'In that, we are agreed,' he says, shifting on your shoulders.
"Let's turn back now," you say, turning. "We can try again some other-"
You stop. You stiffen. The hair on the back of your neck stands on end.
The trail of broken grass you've been leaving behind you is gone. Instead, there is a perfect, unbroken plain of the stuff, swaying gently in-
...you swallow. "There's no breeze."
Dazarel rises slowly from his usual perch. '...there is not.'
Belatedly, you feel a whisper of air across your cheek. On the very edge of hearing, there is something very much like a sigh.
You pale. "Nope." You coil your legs beneath you, preparing to rocket off into the sky.
And then the grasslands erupt into chaos. The blades of brittle grass suddenly sprout and twist, racing into the sky before curving in to block you off.
You pour on the speed, transforming. "Nope nope nope nope- aah!"
A tendril of grass wraps itself around you and hurls you downward, slamming you into the ground. You feel skin tearing where it touches you; the damn things are sharp! As soon as you land, the undergrowth starts slithering all across you, trying to rip through your clothes to tear skin.
You grit your teeth and gather your ki. "Hah!" With a pulse of golden light, you blast free and clear an open space in the plains before spinning to your feet. To your right, Dazarel finishes off the tendrils trying to tie him down with a blast of flame.
What little light there is under the eclipses vanishes as the grass finishes sealing you in. You stand now at the bottom of a sphere of razor-sharp, glass-brittle, unnaturally-long grass blades.
Dazarel's wingtip brushes your leg. 'I told you it was a trap.'
The ground churns as more grass surges up to the surface, forming a swaying sea of blades that surround you completely.
"I think I hate grass now," you say, eyes wide.
'Finally, a proper attitude,' snaps Dazarel.
Of course, the mindscape would turn out not to be a totally safe space. You have been caught in some manner of psychic trap, of which you presume Bassoon is unaware. How do you respond?
[ ] Fight back. Try to take down whatever this is.
-[ ] Write in your approach.
[ ] Flee. There's nothing to transmit to, but you can build up a hell of a lot of speed. You do not care to deal with this.
-[ ] Write in how to win free from the sphere.
[ ] Attempt negotiations. This thing set — or is — a trap. Surely that implies some manner of intelligence?
-[ ] Write in approach.
APPROVAL VOTING. FOUR-HOUR MORATORIUM.
You know what DBZ was lacking? Grass monsters. Did it need them? Probably not. But I have filled the gap regardless. :lol
So! Bassoon's mind has some surprises in store, for him as much as for you. I hope you enjoyed this one.
Now, I hope you enjoy this update. I had fun writing it. But now I have to go, for a while, actually. Im going on vacation for a week starting now. Literally now. I am on board the plane, typing from my phone, and getting ready to take off. This is one of my last posts — anywhere — for the next ten or so days, most likely. I cannot guarantee internet access for that time. Still, I was bound and determined to give y'all one more update before I left.
See you all later, folks! I hope you have fun with the discussion. Bye!
