- Location
- florida
This raises several interesting things relating him and Death of the Endless.
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 (Young Justice/Gamer/Multicross OC)
- Thread starter Mister Ficser
- Start date
- Location
- Australia
Wait, how will the soul mechanics work for Alchemist? It's the currency in DS3 but his system automatically converts all currency into GP. I know it can transfer them back to their original currency, which is how he bought stuff in FF7 presumably, but he's got some interesting companions to explain the currency too. Diana who will probably be very much against the idea of bartering souls and using them to empower herself and then a demon who would shrug and ask how it changes anything.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Imagine the glorious confusion when Al offers to fix soul food.
But in the process, provided a certain four-metre demon with evidence that he is into masochism. In the grand scheme of things, I suspect that the long-term detriments are likely to outweigh the advantages offered by mentally compromising Wotan...
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
True, assuming Al can survive the fallout from not performing his best against Wotan and actually decides to enter that kind of relationship with, y'know, an actual demon.
That, and if he doesn't actually explain and yet goes through with it.
- Location
- Poland
He actually can't. It's either do or die. I'll dig up the relevant quote.
So he has to complete the quest
Actually, if I'm reading it right if he dies, that's it for the party, they are stranded wherever the IQ took them. Wchich would suck so much in DS.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Al isn't supposed to, but he can enter another I.Q. from an existing I.Q.
Also, the Plane Shift spell could likely get them back home, if need be.
Plus, he frequently has Bilocation up while in his I.Q.s, so if one of his bodies "dies," the other will be able to pick up where the other left off after healing up and casting Bilocation again. And since he doesn't like fighting using both bodies at the same time, since it's distracting, it's unlikely that both will die before being able to cast Bilocation again (thereby giving him another extra life to go again).
In short, him dying in an I.Q. is extremely unlikely.
Also, the Plane Shift spell could likely get them back home, if need be.
Plus, he frequently has Bilocation up while in his I.Q.s, so if one of his bodies "dies," the other will be able to pick up where the other left off after healing up and casting Bilocation again. And since he doesn't like fighting using both bodies at the same time, since it's distracting, it's unlikely that both will die before being able to cast Bilocation again (thereby giving him another extra life to go again).
In short, him dying in an I.Q. is extremely unlikely.
Chapter 133
My wife and I will be on vacation in a different part of the state starting tomorrow so I won't have access to my computer.
Who can guess what that means? If they're thinking it means an extra chapter- You are the Win!
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 1.3.3
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
The battle began with fire and fury!
The heroes scattered as balls of flame struck the ground, choking smog trailing heavily in their wake.
Well. Hero.
Wonder Woman had flown straight up to get a clear view on what was going on.
Alchemist didn't consider himself a hero. He also hadn't moved as Wotan began their attack.
He called his armor to him instead and let the flames consume him-
~~ +40 HP! ~~
-where they kept healing him instead of harming him.
Alchemist ran his fingers across the Materia in his gun. Added Effect paired with Destruct. The magical equivalent of a siege engine.
He pushed the magazine into the gun and pulled the bolt as Wotan blinked to the side over head, avoiding Wonder Woman's fists by a hairs breadth.
Alchemist cursed and dashed off instead of lining up a shot like he wanted to when Wotan telekinetically lifted a massive stone slab and dropped it over his position.
And then the bastard kept doing it!
Alchemist ran down a narrow chasm, passing by several tall, cloaked figures he knew to be mindless undead as great rocks were upheaved and thrown at his location, crushing them-
~~ Enemy Defeated: Grave Warden X3 ~~
~~ Experience + 150 ~~
~~ GP + 300 ~~
~~ Obtained Items: Cleric's Sacred Chime X2, Fading Soul X6 ~~
-until Alchemist broke through to a clear area. There was ankle deep water around the various ruined structure but he had a perk for that.
"You will pay for your foolishness, boy!" Wotan shouted at Alchemist from up above. "There are countless others that would gladly join me for even a scrap of what I offered you!"
Alchemist turned around and paused as Kar'Yashlan passed him, the water sizzling and steaming where it touched her flesh while she ran past him and down a chasm in the side.
That... Was going to take a bit of getting used to. Jinx kept back and away from the enemies leaving him with more than enough room to use his spells. Flare and Holy both caused damage around the targets while most of his other spells traveled from him to the target.
Wonder Woman and Kar'Yashlan engaging in melee made those spells harder for a variety of reasons. And he didn't want to turn Wotan into a toad-statue and have the bastard turn into a Macguffin of some sort or end up painfully critical in some contrived, stupid circumstances that didn't make sense.
The bread and butter of DC, sadly.
He barely had time to aim with his rifle once the aerial assault tapered off but Wotan had cast some other kind of spell creating a great golden sphere around themself, so at least he had a large target.
He pulled the trigger twice, Double Cut turning one bullet into two. The first broke the barrier that Wonder Woman was punching at ineffectively.
The second exploded out of the back of Wotan's shoulder. Missing their major organs but still knocking the reincarnate out of the air.
"You foul- You foolish little beast!" Wotan never reached the ground, however. Teleporting back into the air and clutching at the wound with their remaining good hand.
Blood poured from it freely.
"I will end your existence!" Wotan teleported again while Alchemist was lining up his next shot, disappearing from view just before Diana would have sliced through him.
"Alchemist!" Diana wasted no time in making her way to his side. "He's still nearby! We need to-"
"Suffer!" Wotan had returned, standing atop a ruined structure with both hands now raised above their head. Great balls of light growing brighter around him.
The wound in their shoulder looked to be sealed over with a heavy, rope-like scar. They brought their hands higher up, the balls of light radiating intense heat and-
Got knocked over to the ground as a giant lizard corpse was thrown at him, massive spines made of crystal tearing through Wotan's robes and flesh.
~~ Enemy Defeated: Ravenous Crystal Lizard ~~
~~ Experience + 5000 ~~
~~ GP + 10000 ~~
~~ Obtained Items: Titanite Scale X2 ~~
Alchemist covered the distance as quickly as he could, Kar'Yashlan coming in from the other side where she'd thrown the massive corpse at the sorcerer.
They'd forgotten about the explosives in the air, however. Even without Wotan to direct them, the fireballs fell to the earth from where they'd been charging.
The explosion was huge, obliterating the ruins and sending everyone- And everything- flying in a massive blast of light and heat!
~~ Enemy Defeated: Grave Warden X6 ~~
~~ Experience + 300 ~~
~~ GP + 600 ~~
~~ Obtained Items: Fading Soul X12 ~~
~~ Critical Hit! ~~
~~ HP -900! ~~
~~ VP -2! ~~
~~ Status Defect: Blind! ~~
~~ Immune! ~~
~~ Status Defect: Deaf! ~~
~~ Immune! ~~
It took a solid few seconds for Alchemist to get his bearings, to blink the spots out of his eyes and the ringing in his ears to subside enough that he could hear. Trying to shake his head to focus just hurt and it felt like he'd been clubbed across the back by an ogre!
How bad would that hit have been if he hadn't had his armor on? How much more damage would he have eaten if he didn't have a passive defense against critical hits from the Dragoon class? Probably not enough to kill him, but...
Next time he'd actually dodge instead of just expecting Wotan to throw fire.
Trying to get up, he just ended up falling off of whatever he'd landed on. Not far enough to take any more damage but it still hurt.
Once he could properly see again, Alchemist found himself inside of a ruined arena. And he'd landed on top of what had been placed in the middle, a massive titan of a man in cast-iron armor with a twisted sword embedded in his chest.
Iudex Gundyr. A failed champion and 'Test' for newly awoken undead, to see if they had the potential to rekindle the dying flames powering this cluster of reality.
He'd been thrown clear over a nearby mountain and still managed to land atop the only thing in the center of the crumbling, abandoned arena! He couldn't tell if his luck was good or bad.
Alchemist finally cast Cure, Esuna and Life on himself and the ringing finally stopped, his eardrums no longer protesting the abuse of being at the center of a literal explosion.
"-be punished! This impertinence will not stand! You will pay for this affront with your very life!" Someone was shouting nearby. Wotan, presumably.
Since Alchemist couldn't see him, he was probably nearby ranting at Wonder Woman.
Alchemist exhaled through his nose. Hard. Pushing out mucus and blood so he could properly breathe and barred his teeth. He placed one hand on the hilt of the twisted sword embedded in the undead next to him and began pulling.
Wotan was so casual and free about threatening to kill people, to end lives?
The ancient parasite had forgotten how to fear.
Alchemist would be all too willing to teach them!
Iudex began to stand up, but him, and his armor-
~~ Congratulations! ~~
~~ Toad has reached level: 17! ~~
~~ Additional Effect: Silence may occur! ~~
~~ Additional Effect: Theft may occur! ~~
-and glaive all disappeared, leaving a sickly, half-black toad on the ground where he had been a moment before.
~~ Boss Defeated(?): Iudex Gundyr ~~
~~ Experience + 4500 ~~
~~ GP + 9000 ~~
It only took Alchemist a moment to find Wotan, keeping Wonder Woman busy by throwing tombstones at her and trying to slam them into her blind spot!
"Wotan!" Alchemist shouted, getting the mages attention. "You want to know where we are? What this place is?!"
"Finally." The sorcerer looked ragged. Holes had been torn in their robes and they were covered in gashes or poorly healed injuries. "Come to your senses, then? This affront will not be forgiven easily, boy!"
"This is a dead world." Alchemist snapped his fingers once Wotan had turned around to fully face him, had turned away from Wonder Woman.
Wotan didn't see the green sparkles glow around Wonder Woman, nor did he see the small abrasions and cuts heal over under the effects of Full-Cure.
"A world surrounded by countless other dead worlds. Where there is no future, no new life. No victims for you to take over. There is no astral plane, no elemental plane. Everything is this! Every reality nearby is this!" Alchemist grinned and held out the twisted blade. "For you, this is the roach motel. And it's time for you to check in!"
Wotan's glare deepened the longer Alchemist talked until, finally, the mage just shook his head.
"Impossible. No, not just impossible, idiotic! Do you truly believe the other planes are so easily sealed? I know not what you've done to block distant teleportation here, but this farce- No." Wotan simply sighed and looked at Alchemist in utter disappointment. "I'd thought perhaps you were clever, or at least not an absolute fool. It seems, instead, I've wasted my time."
Wotan sighed, the energy simply gone from their frame. Their red eyes had lost that spark of fury and power, replaced with disappointment.
"I'm done with this farce. Lord Klarion sees something in you but..." Wotan held his hands out in front of him and gripped the air, their hands holding nothing. "He is free to waste his time on such foolish pursuits."
Alchemist buried the tip of his sword in the ground and leaned on it whilst Wotan fled. Wonder Woman watching on with razor sharp focus as Wotan tore open a hole in the air and stepped through it.
Once he left, however, Wonder Woman approached Alchemist.
"What was that?" She asked him. "Why did you just allow him to leave?"
"Why did you, Diana?" Kar'Yashlan's voice came from behind Alchemist.
He turned to look at her, watching her limp into view and cradle two of her six arms. Beaten and broken, however, she was still smiling.
"I did warn him." Alchemist simply shrugged and threw a healing spell at the demon. "He opened a gate to another plane and I wasn't going to jump into that."
-----
Wotan looked down at his hands in confusion.
His flesh and robes had all turned black, everything was but for a crimson aura which suffused his form.
"Hello!" A voice came from nearby, still in the blasted cemetery instead of the astral plane, somehow.
Wotan turned to look at the source of the voice and saw someone standing there. They wore a massive, heavy set of armor made out of what looked like granite! And carried an absolutely massive stone sword!
They threw something on the ground, shaped like a potato, which broke upon hitting the dirt- "Hello!"
And spoke.
Not the person. The potato.
Wotan was still staring at that spectacle when the person crouched a few times, bowed- And then tried to roll at him! It looked more like throwing themselves at the ground with how poorly they moved, but still!
Wotan threw fire at the encroaching madman!
...It wasn't very effective.
-----
"But I can't really help it if someone doesn't believe me."
-----
Diana did not know what to make of this world. It was... Barren. Dead in a very spiritual sense that itched at her skin and burned her eyes in a way that was difficult to describe.
As though everything, from the light in the sky to the wind on her face -was- but should not -be-.
Alchemist led her and Kar'Yashlyn around a cliff-side towards a large edifice after healing the demon, simply teleporting away the attacking madmen over a massive, seemingly bottomless pit.
The men... Their eyes were dead. They did not breathe. Unless they were attacking, they didn't move or talk or make even a single sound!
It was painfully unsettling.
Alchemist had just finished embedding the coiled sword he'd turned up with after being blasted away into a vessel filled with ashes when Diana finally managed to put her thoughts in order.
"What is this place, Alchemist? What is wrong with this- this world?!" Diana wasn't sure what all she felt here, but now that the battle was over with she definitely felt there was something wrong!
"A lot of things." Alchemist admitted to her as he sat down on a set of steps. Around them were various other people, though all of them were undead as well. They stood or sat and watched with patient, hungry eyes. "And this place... I'll try to answer that as best I can."
"Where we appeared was called the 'Cemetery of Ash'. It's where the champions of this reality are formed. How or why, I don't know. I suspect it has something to do with the way Time is literally twisted around itself here and so, eventually, a suitable host will form there, brought in from another age or time." Alchemist cleared his throat and removed his helmet, exposing the trails of dried blood that had come from his ears and nose. "This particular building is called the Firelink Shrine and it's where the handful of sane undead have been called or potentially summoned to assist the chosen undead, an Ashen One, in rekindling the First Flame, the metaphysical power source, the literal soul of the current age."
"As for what's wrong with the world?" Alchemist cast some kind of spell and the mess on his face and soaking into his under armor disappeared. "Order has prevailed."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Diana crossed her arms and leaned against a wall across from Alchemist.
Above her, a small corpse sat upon a throne and listened with rapt attention.
"He means that Order is responsible for the condition of this world." Kar'Yashlan stepped away from where she'd been talking to a woman wearing a robe and an odd headdress that covered her eyes. "The same pattern was repeated, endlessly and regardless of what resources were consumed or how much would remain. The world, perhaps even the gods have stagnated and rotted as they remained unchanged for eons. Whittling away in the same manner until nothing remained but dust and ashes and now it seeks to consume those too, to extend its dying gasp for another eon. Can you not feel it? As a child of Creation, this stagnant Order should be outright unpleasant for you!"
"Basically." Alchemist agreed. "The First Flame devours souls and it started off by eating the soul of a god. Gwyn. The patriarch, the local god of the Sun and consummate dragonslayer as well as the carrier of the first Lord Soul. For thousands of years he kindled the First Flame until, in time, even his divine soul wasn't enough. Then his allies and companions were sacrificed to it, too. He found the First Flame, the 'strongest' of the Lord Souls hidden away in the dark and he used it as a weapon to challenge and defeat the former rulers of the world. The ageless Archdragons."
"Nito, Lord of the Dead and first of the Undead." Alchemist held his hand out and a translucent image appeared over it. A massive skeleton, made up of even more skeletons appeared over his hand wielding a grand and wicked blade. "One of the four Lord-Souls. Even before being given to the flame he'd long since fallen into a deep sleep and left his duties unfulfilled."
"Izalith. The Witch. Hers was the soul of Chaos and it consumed her." Alchemist snapped the fingers of his offhand and the image changed. Instead of a skeleton it became a simple woman in a robe. She brought her hands up to the hood that hid her face and pulled it back, allowing a great tree to grow out of her. A tree that was filled with fire and dripped magma from its leaves. "She sought to make her soul the equal to Gwyn's... Well, she succeeded even as she failed. Her and her children were all warped into hideous monsters who suffered for existing, all but one daughter. Her new form would give birth to the Demons of Chaos... Though only a few remain, lingering on the embers of their mothers corpse."
"Finally, last and certainly least, was the Furtive Pygmy. He found the Dark Soul, an unwanted dreg that the others had deemed useless." The image that Alchemist formed over his hand was a small creature. Tiny and weak and frail. "He used the soul to create Humans. Gave them each just a tiny fragment of it, or maybe an imitation of it... Regardless, we do know for certain that he broke it up and passed it on to his direct descendants, the Pygmies of the Ringed City. The Dark Soul resonated with the Abyss, the darkness from which monsters were born, and humans that were especially gifted, that carried just a little too much of it..."
The pygmy was replaced by a ring of flame.
"They could stand up and fight, unburdened by death so long as they had the Will to keep fighting. The gods certainly didn't complain as they fought alongside them and helped bring low the Archdragons... But as soon as they'd finished their war? They branded every undying mortal with this symbol, them and the living, abyssal equipment they wielded. The brand of flames would go on to be known as the Dark Sign, its purpose forgotten as anything but a curse to mark the undead so they could be shunned and imprisoned by the rest of Humanity." Alchemist brought out a few bottles of water, handing one to Diana and offering one to the Demon of the party that rejected it with a wave.
"Of the various great and powerful souls, only the Dark Soul truly remains and even it is bound in dried blood. The First Flame is flickering and calling up whatever echoes are still strong enough to try and rekindle itself, but it's not going to be enough. Even if it devoured everything and everyone... It might get another age of fire out of them, but it wouldn't be a long one." Alchemist shook his head and closed his hand, dispelling the illusions he'd been using.
Diana took a long moment to digest what he'd said. Gods and Order and Chaos...
It was a bit beyond what she usually had to deal with. Even back home, the god she most often had to fight was Ares and half the time she was sure he was just doing it for the fun of things.
'War doesn't care about things like loyalty or brotherhood, not really. Every soldier on a battlefield is his priest. Every bullet fired is a prayer. Mutually assured destruction? Scorched Earth? He doesn't care. Just more and more and more, until he's glutted up like Dead getting ready to birth a new Titan slayer.'
Well... Maybe not.
"How does the whole... Dead world thing work, Alchemist? How is this reality, what was it, mirrored?" She recalled him saying that to Wotan, or at least something like that.
"Ah, right. Hang on." Alchemist held out both hands this time and, with a look of deep concentration, created a new construct of light. It looked like simple lines going up a few meters from the ground. "Here we go, this should work better with a visual demonstration."
"Try to imagine that every reality is a rope, like this one." Alchemist pointed to one of the threads of light in his illusion. "That encompasses all of one reality. Earth, Mars, the Milky Way- All of it. If you get closer- Come on! It's made up of a lot of surrounding 'fibers' or minor realities. You'll also see that it has tiny little threads branching off. Failed starts to alternate realities."
Diana did get closer, she could see what he meant. Tiny little hair-like threads that split off before dying.
"Our reality has some odd little rules to it. They're good and bad, though. Like the Source Wall. Has anyone told you about that yet?" The illusion changed, slightly. Fifty-Two lines were segmented off from the rest of the others around them by what was basically a pipe made of glass. "It's an isolation barrier, very difficult to get through and put in place by the Presence, the creator of the Silver City and all other things. Inside the Source Wall I mean. He doesn't like playing with others."
"I... Don't believe I've ever heard of any 'Source Wall'." Which didn't necessarily mean much. Diana was aware that there were countless things she didn't know about.
"That's fine. Any of the Green Lanterns should be able to tell you about it. It exists across all dimensional spaces, including the multiverse, and the Maltusians have spent a good bit of time researching it. Now-" Alchemist waved his hands and the illusion moved, the pipe disappeared and the image was replaced with-
"Is that supposed to be a yarn ball?!" The representation of reality certainly looked like a tangled mass of strings all bundled together! The other one had been a set of lines but this one just looked like a great big knot.
"More like a rubber band ball but, yeah, same idea. That's this reality cluster. If it had a beginning or an end, good luck finding them. Instead of the usual distance between realities, everything here is just rubbing together. With the right tools, any of us could literally travel right next door. Some people here do this just for fun, for the sake of hunting other people. Of finding other warriors that need help." Alchemist took a long drink of his own water and just stared at the tangled gordion knot.
"...I did not think this through." He finally said after a few minutes.
Diana simply drank her own water and let him think.
-----
Wotan dropped to the ground as he let his flight spell go and took off running!
He'd tried jumping to another reality, but it was just more of the same! Except this one had someone who was naked but for a loin-cloth and had a bow that was absurdly large! It fired arrows as long as he was tall!
Wotan dropped to the ground as his warning spell screamed at him! A great, dragon-killing arrow slammed through a nearby tree!
He turned around quickly, flinging a fireball at the naked man chasing him- Who literally just rolled over the projectile and continued to close in on Wotan without so much as slowing down!
Where the hell had Alchemist dragged him off to!?
Why couldn't he go home!?
-----
"I did not think this through at all."
Alchemist did not sigh at the mess he'd made for himself.
He'd let his anger get the better of him and he was going to have to deal with it. Again.
The upside, at least, was that this situation gave him time to get his head on straight and figure out what he needed to do. Especially when he got back.
Wotan had used fire on the civilians. Unless it was at an absurdly extreme heat, that meant those people were probably still alive and in significant pain.
He hoped. Sort of. He didn't want people to suffer, especially needlessly, but it was still better than being dead!
Upstairs, at the dead-end of a hallway, Alchemist set up the door for the demi-plane. He'd also gotten around to digging through a few of the nearby secrets while Kar'Yashlan and Diana busied themselves talking to the various undead.
Kar'Yashlan seemed to have fixated on the Firekeeper. A blind, nameless woman who'd been spiritually tethered to the bonfire of the Firelink Shrine. It was tradition that these poor souls be... Crippled.
Alchemist had never quite been able to find a reason why it was tradition in this world to blind, break or de-tongue the women attached to duties such as priestess or Firekeeper. Some twisted concept of suffering and martyrdom, perhaps? It was something that had changed over time and used to be far crueler than it was now.
He knew of two cases in particular where a person had been connected to a Bonfire for the sake of preserving their life, but they were the exception rather than the rule.
Wonder Woman had gravitated quickly towards a lounging warrior. Sirris of the Sunless Realms.
In this world, warrior women were treated equally to men. Diana was likely to enjoy the conversation.
Alchemist shook his head and moved on. There were a few things to be done here before moving on to the short, violent journey to leave these dead realms.
He exited the shrine from the upper floor and immediately turned to the right, passing by several hollowed Priests that had given in to the undead madness and made his way to a decrepit, crumbling tower.
Normally, the door would be locked and he'd need to purchase the key from a woman in the Shrine... But he had Knock.
As he approached, a red specter rose from the ground. It wore a very tattered shirt and a pair of handwraps and... That was it. In its hands was a katana, slim and agile with a cutting edge all too suited to slicing open arteries.
An invading dark spirit. The Sword Master.
He did not bow, wave or any other such activity that would come from the more civil of such spirits. The Sword Master simply charged, both hands on his weapon-
And then he found himself falling into the abyss of the deep, seemingly bottomless pit set into the side of the cliff the Shrine was built into. Courtesy of Teleport.
~~ Enemy Defeated: Sword Master ~~
~~ Experience + 2500 ~~
~~ GP + 5000 ~~
~~ Obtained Items: Uchigatana X2, Master's Attire X2, Master's Gloves X2 ~~
Meanwhile, another iteration of Alchemist was actually backtracking to the location where Kar'Yashlan had slain the Crystal Lizard. There was an item there, a ring. It was small and hard to find but it shone like a little beacon under Arcane Sight.
~~ Item Acquired ~~
~~ Speckled Stoneplate Ring+1: All magic damage is reduced by 7% ~~
Perhaps not a huge amount at first glance... But more importantly it told Alchemist that the world was going to be harder, the hollows and monstrous beasts stronger than he'd initially expected.
Both Alchemist's nodded and got to work. There wasn't a whole lot left to collect here but he needed to get a few extra things done.
-----
~~ Items Acquired ~~
~~ Wolf Ring+2: It's become significantly harder to break your stance and interrupt your blows! Poise +8! ~~
~~ Covetous Silver Serpent Ring: Is there no limit to your greed? Exp/GP +10% ~~
~~ Estus Ring: A final sip from a jade bottle of estus is the last desire of any fallen undead. What fool would be mad enough to carve such a thing into a ring? Healing items are 20% more effective ~~
-----
"Well." It had taken a little work to get Diana and Kar'Yashlan to focus, but he'd managed to get them both upstairs and situated in front of the demi-plane door. "I've got a base prepped and ready for us to use. We've just got one little problem."
"Such as?" Wonder Woman actually seemed oddly relaxed.
"The sooner we are done, the sooner we can return to your plane, correct?" And Kar'Yashlan wanted to get back to talking with Andre the Blacksmith.
"Yes." Alchemist nodded to the demoness. "But I'm still human enough that I need to rest periodically to remain adequately functional and Diana is basically an infant and needs regular naps."
"Hah." Diana did not find him amusing. "Hah."
"You're like, what? Eighty? Gaia is nearly as old as reality itself and Atlas has held up a chunk of reality for longer than anyone else can remember. You'll get there, don't worry." Alchemist was almost tempted to walk over to the woman and pat her cheek like she was a small child.
He didn't. He'd rather keep his hands, thank you.
"Eighty? Truly? She seems far older given her bearing and strength!" Kar'Yashlan's eyes went wide at the number, though.
"Eighty-five, thank you. Can we please focus? What is this problem, Alchemist?" Wonder Woman brought her hands up to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Right. The problem. Kar'Yashl- Can I just call you Kary?" And Alchemist immediately got distracted.
"Oh? A pet name? Of course you may, Alchemist! I love it!" Two of Kary's hands came up to cradle her face.
Was she blushing?
Alchemist legitimately couldn't tell.
"Right... Kary? You're a bit too big to fit through the door." Alchemist raised his hand and pointed over his shoulder to the door with his thumb. "Making it bigger is possible, I could carve and charge the glyph into a garage door, but I don't have all of the equipment or blueprints with me to do that and no place to put it."
"Ah, is that all?" Kary grinned and leaned down, her face directly in front of Alchemist's for a second before she stood back up fully. "That is a rather simple thing to fix!"
Kary... Twitched in place for a moment. Then her arms started to fold in on themselves and she began shrinking.
The sound of bones popping and cracking was distinctly unpleasant.
Her raven-black hair shimmered for a moment before settling on blonde and her skin changed from deep crimson to pale, almost milky white.
After nearly a minute the Kary that stood in front of Alchemist and Wonder Woman was completely unrecognizable.
She had a blonde pixie-bob cut, only two arms that were rather stocky and she wasn't four meters tall anymore!
Instead she was about one-hundred and twenty-two centimeters tall.
She'd become a dwarf. A dungeons and dragons style dwarf.
"Huh." It was Wonder Woman who spoke first. "Somehow this is less surprising than it should be."
"Do you like it? I spent almost two full years learning how to shapeshift like this!" Kary spun around. "I was hoping to surprise Toryn with it... But then he helped seal me into the heart of a mountain."
The toga that she'd been given sometime in the past fell to the ground.
"Yep." Alchemist didn't even know what to say... But he didn't actually have a problem, so- "Looks perfect. Let's get things situated, get some food in us and get the next step figured out!"
...He'd like to go back to dealing with insane man-eaters instead. At least those usually came with a simple solution.
Who can guess what that means? If they're thinking it means an extra chapter- You are the Win!
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 1.3.3
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
The battle began with fire and fury!
The heroes scattered as balls of flame struck the ground, choking smog trailing heavily in their wake.
Well. Hero.
Wonder Woman had flown straight up to get a clear view on what was going on.
Alchemist didn't consider himself a hero. He also hadn't moved as Wotan began their attack.
He called his armor to him instead and let the flames consume him-
~~ +40 HP! ~~
-where they kept healing him instead of harming him.
Alchemist ran his fingers across the Materia in his gun. Added Effect paired with Destruct. The magical equivalent of a siege engine.
He pushed the magazine into the gun and pulled the bolt as Wotan blinked to the side over head, avoiding Wonder Woman's fists by a hairs breadth.
Alchemist cursed and dashed off instead of lining up a shot like he wanted to when Wotan telekinetically lifted a massive stone slab and dropped it over his position.
And then the bastard kept doing it!
Alchemist ran down a narrow chasm, passing by several tall, cloaked figures he knew to be mindless undead as great rocks were upheaved and thrown at his location, crushing them-
~~ Enemy Defeated: Grave Warden X3 ~~
~~ Experience + 150 ~~
~~ GP + 300 ~~
~~ Obtained Items: Cleric's Sacred Chime X2, Fading Soul X6 ~~
-until Alchemist broke through to a clear area. There was ankle deep water around the various ruined structure but he had a perk for that.
"You will pay for your foolishness, boy!" Wotan shouted at Alchemist from up above. "There are countless others that would gladly join me for even a scrap of what I offered you!"
Alchemist turned around and paused as Kar'Yashlan passed him, the water sizzling and steaming where it touched her flesh while she ran past him and down a chasm in the side.
That... Was going to take a bit of getting used to. Jinx kept back and away from the enemies leaving him with more than enough room to use his spells. Flare and Holy both caused damage around the targets while most of his other spells traveled from him to the target.
Wonder Woman and Kar'Yashlan engaging in melee made those spells harder for a variety of reasons. And he didn't want to turn Wotan into a toad-statue and have the bastard turn into a Macguffin of some sort or end up painfully critical in some contrived, stupid circumstances that didn't make sense.
The bread and butter of DC, sadly.
He barely had time to aim with his rifle once the aerial assault tapered off but Wotan had cast some other kind of spell creating a great golden sphere around themself, so at least he had a large target.
He pulled the trigger twice, Double Cut turning one bullet into two. The first broke the barrier that Wonder Woman was punching at ineffectively.
The second exploded out of the back of Wotan's shoulder. Missing their major organs but still knocking the reincarnate out of the air.
"You foul- You foolish little beast!" Wotan never reached the ground, however. Teleporting back into the air and clutching at the wound with their remaining good hand.
Blood poured from it freely.
"I will end your existence!" Wotan teleported again while Alchemist was lining up his next shot, disappearing from view just before Diana would have sliced through him.
"Alchemist!" Diana wasted no time in making her way to his side. "He's still nearby! We need to-"
"Suffer!" Wotan had returned, standing atop a ruined structure with both hands now raised above their head. Great balls of light growing brighter around him.
The wound in their shoulder looked to be sealed over with a heavy, rope-like scar. They brought their hands higher up, the balls of light radiating intense heat and-
Got knocked over to the ground as a giant lizard corpse was thrown at him, massive spines made of crystal tearing through Wotan's robes and flesh.
~~ Enemy Defeated: Ravenous Crystal Lizard ~~
~~ Experience + 5000 ~~
~~ GP + 10000 ~~
~~ Obtained Items: Titanite Scale X2 ~~
Alchemist covered the distance as quickly as he could, Kar'Yashlan coming in from the other side where she'd thrown the massive corpse at the sorcerer.
They'd forgotten about the explosives in the air, however. Even without Wotan to direct them, the fireballs fell to the earth from where they'd been charging.
The explosion was huge, obliterating the ruins and sending everyone- And everything- flying in a massive blast of light and heat!
~~ Enemy Defeated: Grave Warden X6 ~~
~~ Experience + 300 ~~
~~ GP + 600 ~~
~~ Obtained Items: Fading Soul X12 ~~
~~ Critical Hit! ~~
~~ HP -900! ~~
~~ VP -2! ~~
~~ Status Defect: Blind! ~~
~~ Immune! ~~
~~ Status Defect: Deaf! ~~
~~ Immune! ~~
It took a solid few seconds for Alchemist to get his bearings, to blink the spots out of his eyes and the ringing in his ears to subside enough that he could hear. Trying to shake his head to focus just hurt and it felt like he'd been clubbed across the back by an ogre!
How bad would that hit have been if he hadn't had his armor on? How much more damage would he have eaten if he didn't have a passive defense against critical hits from the Dragoon class? Probably not enough to kill him, but...
Next time he'd actually dodge instead of just expecting Wotan to throw fire.
Trying to get up, he just ended up falling off of whatever he'd landed on. Not far enough to take any more damage but it still hurt.
Once he could properly see again, Alchemist found himself inside of a ruined arena. And he'd landed on top of what had been placed in the middle, a massive titan of a man in cast-iron armor with a twisted sword embedded in his chest.
Iudex Gundyr. A failed champion and 'Test' for newly awoken undead, to see if they had the potential to rekindle the dying flames powering this cluster of reality.
He'd been thrown clear over a nearby mountain and still managed to land atop the only thing in the center of the crumbling, abandoned arena! He couldn't tell if his luck was good or bad.
Alchemist finally cast Cure, Esuna and Life on himself and the ringing finally stopped, his eardrums no longer protesting the abuse of being at the center of a literal explosion.
"-be punished! This impertinence will not stand! You will pay for this affront with your very life!" Someone was shouting nearby. Wotan, presumably.
Since Alchemist couldn't see him, he was probably nearby ranting at Wonder Woman.
Alchemist exhaled through his nose. Hard. Pushing out mucus and blood so he could properly breathe and barred his teeth. He placed one hand on the hilt of the twisted sword embedded in the undead next to him and began pulling.
Wotan was so casual and free about threatening to kill people, to end lives?
The ancient parasite had forgotten how to fear.
Alchemist would be all too willing to teach them!
Iudex began to stand up, but him, and his armor-
~~ Congratulations! ~~
~~ Toad has reached level: 17! ~~
~~ Additional Effect: Silence may occur! ~~
~~ Additional Effect: Theft may occur! ~~
-and glaive all disappeared, leaving a sickly, half-black toad on the ground where he had been a moment before.
~~ Boss Defeated(?): Iudex Gundyr ~~
~~ Experience + 4500 ~~
~~ GP + 9000 ~~
It only took Alchemist a moment to find Wotan, keeping Wonder Woman busy by throwing tombstones at her and trying to slam them into her blind spot!
"Wotan!" Alchemist shouted, getting the mages attention. "You want to know where we are? What this place is?!"
"Finally." The sorcerer looked ragged. Holes had been torn in their robes and they were covered in gashes or poorly healed injuries. "Come to your senses, then? This affront will not be forgiven easily, boy!"
"This is a dead world." Alchemist snapped his fingers once Wotan had turned around to fully face him, had turned away from Wonder Woman.
Wotan didn't see the green sparkles glow around Wonder Woman, nor did he see the small abrasions and cuts heal over under the effects of Full-Cure.
"A world surrounded by countless other dead worlds. Where there is no future, no new life. No victims for you to take over. There is no astral plane, no elemental plane. Everything is this! Every reality nearby is this!" Alchemist grinned and held out the twisted blade. "For you, this is the roach motel. And it's time for you to check in!"
Wotan's glare deepened the longer Alchemist talked until, finally, the mage just shook his head.
"Impossible. No, not just impossible, idiotic! Do you truly believe the other planes are so easily sealed? I know not what you've done to block distant teleportation here, but this farce- No." Wotan simply sighed and looked at Alchemist in utter disappointment. "I'd thought perhaps you were clever, or at least not an absolute fool. It seems, instead, I've wasted my time."
Wotan sighed, the energy simply gone from their frame. Their red eyes had lost that spark of fury and power, replaced with disappointment.
"I'm done with this farce. Lord Klarion sees something in you but..." Wotan held his hands out in front of him and gripped the air, their hands holding nothing. "He is free to waste his time on such foolish pursuits."
Alchemist buried the tip of his sword in the ground and leaned on it whilst Wotan fled. Wonder Woman watching on with razor sharp focus as Wotan tore open a hole in the air and stepped through it.
Once he left, however, Wonder Woman approached Alchemist.
"What was that?" She asked him. "Why did you just allow him to leave?"
"Why did you, Diana?" Kar'Yashlan's voice came from behind Alchemist.
He turned to look at her, watching her limp into view and cradle two of her six arms. Beaten and broken, however, she was still smiling.
"I did warn him." Alchemist simply shrugged and threw a healing spell at the demon. "He opened a gate to another plane and I wasn't going to jump into that."
-----
Wotan looked down at his hands in confusion.
His flesh and robes had all turned black, everything was but for a crimson aura which suffused his form.
"Hello!" A voice came from nearby, still in the blasted cemetery instead of the astral plane, somehow.
Wotan turned to look at the source of the voice and saw someone standing there. They wore a massive, heavy set of armor made out of what looked like granite! And carried an absolutely massive stone sword!
They threw something on the ground, shaped like a potato, which broke upon hitting the dirt- "Hello!"
And spoke.
Not the person. The potato.
Wotan was still staring at that spectacle when the person crouched a few times, bowed- And then tried to roll at him! It looked more like throwing themselves at the ground with how poorly they moved, but still!
Wotan threw fire at the encroaching madman!
...It wasn't very effective.
-----
"But I can't really help it if someone doesn't believe me."
-----
Diana did not know what to make of this world. It was... Barren. Dead in a very spiritual sense that itched at her skin and burned her eyes in a way that was difficult to describe.
As though everything, from the light in the sky to the wind on her face -was- but should not -be-.
Alchemist led her and Kar'Yashlyn around a cliff-side towards a large edifice after healing the demon, simply teleporting away the attacking madmen over a massive, seemingly bottomless pit.
The men... Their eyes were dead. They did not breathe. Unless they were attacking, they didn't move or talk or make even a single sound!
It was painfully unsettling.
Alchemist had just finished embedding the coiled sword he'd turned up with after being blasted away into a vessel filled with ashes when Diana finally managed to put her thoughts in order.
"What is this place, Alchemist? What is wrong with this- this world?!" Diana wasn't sure what all she felt here, but now that the battle was over with she definitely felt there was something wrong!
"A lot of things." Alchemist admitted to her as he sat down on a set of steps. Around them were various other people, though all of them were undead as well. They stood or sat and watched with patient, hungry eyes. "And this place... I'll try to answer that as best I can."
"Where we appeared was called the 'Cemetery of Ash'. It's where the champions of this reality are formed. How or why, I don't know. I suspect it has something to do with the way Time is literally twisted around itself here and so, eventually, a suitable host will form there, brought in from another age or time." Alchemist cleared his throat and removed his helmet, exposing the trails of dried blood that had come from his ears and nose. "This particular building is called the Firelink Shrine and it's where the handful of sane undead have been called or potentially summoned to assist the chosen undead, an Ashen One, in rekindling the First Flame, the metaphysical power source, the literal soul of the current age."
"As for what's wrong with the world?" Alchemist cast some kind of spell and the mess on his face and soaking into his under armor disappeared. "Order has prevailed."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Diana crossed her arms and leaned against a wall across from Alchemist.
Above her, a small corpse sat upon a throne and listened with rapt attention.
"He means that Order is responsible for the condition of this world." Kar'Yashlan stepped away from where she'd been talking to a woman wearing a robe and an odd headdress that covered her eyes. "The same pattern was repeated, endlessly and regardless of what resources were consumed or how much would remain. The world, perhaps even the gods have stagnated and rotted as they remained unchanged for eons. Whittling away in the same manner until nothing remained but dust and ashes and now it seeks to consume those too, to extend its dying gasp for another eon. Can you not feel it? As a child of Creation, this stagnant Order should be outright unpleasant for you!"
"Basically." Alchemist agreed. "The First Flame devours souls and it started off by eating the soul of a god. Gwyn. The patriarch, the local god of the Sun and consummate dragonslayer as well as the carrier of the first Lord Soul. For thousands of years he kindled the First Flame until, in time, even his divine soul wasn't enough. Then his allies and companions were sacrificed to it, too. He found the First Flame, the 'strongest' of the Lord Souls hidden away in the dark and he used it as a weapon to challenge and defeat the former rulers of the world. The ageless Archdragons."
"Nito, Lord of the Dead and first of the Undead." Alchemist held his hand out and a translucent image appeared over it. A massive skeleton, made up of even more skeletons appeared over his hand wielding a grand and wicked blade. "One of the four Lord-Souls. Even before being given to the flame he'd long since fallen into a deep sleep and left his duties unfulfilled."
"Izalith. The Witch. Hers was the soul of Chaos and it consumed her." Alchemist snapped the fingers of his offhand and the image changed. Instead of a skeleton it became a simple woman in a robe. She brought her hands up to the hood that hid her face and pulled it back, allowing a great tree to grow out of her. A tree that was filled with fire and dripped magma from its leaves. "She sought to make her soul the equal to Gwyn's... Well, she succeeded even as she failed. Her and her children were all warped into hideous monsters who suffered for existing, all but one daughter. Her new form would give birth to the Demons of Chaos... Though only a few remain, lingering on the embers of their mothers corpse."
"Finally, last and certainly least, was the Furtive Pygmy. He found the Dark Soul, an unwanted dreg that the others had deemed useless." The image that Alchemist formed over his hand was a small creature. Tiny and weak and frail. "He used the soul to create Humans. Gave them each just a tiny fragment of it, or maybe an imitation of it... Regardless, we do know for certain that he broke it up and passed it on to his direct descendants, the Pygmies of the Ringed City. The Dark Soul resonated with the Abyss, the darkness from which monsters were born, and humans that were especially gifted, that carried just a little too much of it..."
The pygmy was replaced by a ring of flame.
"They could stand up and fight, unburdened by death so long as they had the Will to keep fighting. The gods certainly didn't complain as they fought alongside them and helped bring low the Archdragons... But as soon as they'd finished their war? They branded every undying mortal with this symbol, them and the living, abyssal equipment they wielded. The brand of flames would go on to be known as the Dark Sign, its purpose forgotten as anything but a curse to mark the undead so they could be shunned and imprisoned by the rest of Humanity." Alchemist brought out a few bottles of water, handing one to Diana and offering one to the Demon of the party that rejected it with a wave.
"Of the various great and powerful souls, only the Dark Soul truly remains and even it is bound in dried blood. The First Flame is flickering and calling up whatever echoes are still strong enough to try and rekindle itself, but it's not going to be enough. Even if it devoured everything and everyone... It might get another age of fire out of them, but it wouldn't be a long one." Alchemist shook his head and closed his hand, dispelling the illusions he'd been using.
Diana took a long moment to digest what he'd said. Gods and Order and Chaos...
It was a bit beyond what she usually had to deal with. Even back home, the god she most often had to fight was Ares and half the time she was sure he was just doing it for the fun of things.
'War doesn't care about things like loyalty or brotherhood, not really. Every soldier on a battlefield is his priest. Every bullet fired is a prayer. Mutually assured destruction? Scorched Earth? He doesn't care. Just more and more and more, until he's glutted up like Dead getting ready to birth a new Titan slayer.'
Well... Maybe not.
"How does the whole... Dead world thing work, Alchemist? How is this reality, what was it, mirrored?" She recalled him saying that to Wotan, or at least something like that.
"Ah, right. Hang on." Alchemist held out both hands this time and, with a look of deep concentration, created a new construct of light. It looked like simple lines going up a few meters from the ground. "Here we go, this should work better with a visual demonstration."
"Try to imagine that every reality is a rope, like this one." Alchemist pointed to one of the threads of light in his illusion. "That encompasses all of one reality. Earth, Mars, the Milky Way- All of it. If you get closer- Come on! It's made up of a lot of surrounding 'fibers' or minor realities. You'll also see that it has tiny little threads branching off. Failed starts to alternate realities."
Diana did get closer, she could see what he meant. Tiny little hair-like threads that split off before dying.
"Our reality has some odd little rules to it. They're good and bad, though. Like the Source Wall. Has anyone told you about that yet?" The illusion changed, slightly. Fifty-Two lines were segmented off from the rest of the others around them by what was basically a pipe made of glass. "It's an isolation barrier, very difficult to get through and put in place by the Presence, the creator of the Silver City and all other things. Inside the Source Wall I mean. He doesn't like playing with others."
"I... Don't believe I've ever heard of any 'Source Wall'." Which didn't necessarily mean much. Diana was aware that there were countless things she didn't know about.
"That's fine. Any of the Green Lanterns should be able to tell you about it. It exists across all dimensional spaces, including the multiverse, and the Maltusians have spent a good bit of time researching it. Now-" Alchemist waved his hands and the illusion moved, the pipe disappeared and the image was replaced with-
"Is that supposed to be a yarn ball?!" The representation of reality certainly looked like a tangled mass of strings all bundled together! The other one had been a set of lines but this one just looked like a great big knot.
"More like a rubber band ball but, yeah, same idea. That's this reality cluster. If it had a beginning or an end, good luck finding them. Instead of the usual distance between realities, everything here is just rubbing together. With the right tools, any of us could literally travel right next door. Some people here do this just for fun, for the sake of hunting other people. Of finding other warriors that need help." Alchemist took a long drink of his own water and just stared at the tangled gordion knot.
"...I did not think this through." He finally said after a few minutes.
Diana simply drank her own water and let him think.
-----
Wotan dropped to the ground as he let his flight spell go and took off running!
He'd tried jumping to another reality, but it was just more of the same! Except this one had someone who was naked but for a loin-cloth and had a bow that was absurdly large! It fired arrows as long as he was tall!
Wotan dropped to the ground as his warning spell screamed at him! A great, dragon-killing arrow slammed through a nearby tree!
He turned around quickly, flinging a fireball at the naked man chasing him- Who literally just rolled over the projectile and continued to close in on Wotan without so much as slowing down!
Where the hell had Alchemist dragged him off to!?
Why couldn't he go home!?
-----
"I did not think this through at all."
Alchemist did not sigh at the mess he'd made for himself.
He'd let his anger get the better of him and he was going to have to deal with it. Again.
The upside, at least, was that this situation gave him time to get his head on straight and figure out what he needed to do. Especially when he got back.
Wotan had used fire on the civilians. Unless it was at an absurdly extreme heat, that meant those people were probably still alive and in significant pain.
He hoped. Sort of. He didn't want people to suffer, especially needlessly, but it was still better than being dead!
Upstairs, at the dead-end of a hallway, Alchemist set up the door for the demi-plane. He'd also gotten around to digging through a few of the nearby secrets while Kar'Yashlan and Diana busied themselves talking to the various undead.
Kar'Yashlan seemed to have fixated on the Firekeeper. A blind, nameless woman who'd been spiritually tethered to the bonfire of the Firelink Shrine. It was tradition that these poor souls be... Crippled.
Alchemist had never quite been able to find a reason why it was tradition in this world to blind, break or de-tongue the women attached to duties such as priestess or Firekeeper. Some twisted concept of suffering and martyrdom, perhaps? It was something that had changed over time and used to be far crueler than it was now.
He knew of two cases in particular where a person had been connected to a Bonfire for the sake of preserving their life, but they were the exception rather than the rule.
Wonder Woman had gravitated quickly towards a lounging warrior. Sirris of the Sunless Realms.
In this world, warrior women were treated equally to men. Diana was likely to enjoy the conversation.
Alchemist shook his head and moved on. There were a few things to be done here before moving on to the short, violent journey to leave these dead realms.
He exited the shrine from the upper floor and immediately turned to the right, passing by several hollowed Priests that had given in to the undead madness and made his way to a decrepit, crumbling tower.
Normally, the door would be locked and he'd need to purchase the key from a woman in the Shrine... But he had Knock.
As he approached, a red specter rose from the ground. It wore a very tattered shirt and a pair of handwraps and... That was it. In its hands was a katana, slim and agile with a cutting edge all too suited to slicing open arteries.
An invading dark spirit. The Sword Master.
He did not bow, wave or any other such activity that would come from the more civil of such spirits. The Sword Master simply charged, both hands on his weapon-
And then he found himself falling into the abyss of the deep, seemingly bottomless pit set into the side of the cliff the Shrine was built into. Courtesy of Teleport.
~~ Enemy Defeated: Sword Master ~~
~~ Experience + 2500 ~~
~~ GP + 5000 ~~
~~ Obtained Items: Uchigatana X2, Master's Attire X2, Master's Gloves X2 ~~
Meanwhile, another iteration of Alchemist was actually backtracking to the location where Kar'Yashlan had slain the Crystal Lizard. There was an item there, a ring. It was small and hard to find but it shone like a little beacon under Arcane Sight.
~~ Item Acquired ~~
~~ Speckled Stoneplate Ring+1: All magic damage is reduced by 7% ~~
Perhaps not a huge amount at first glance... But more importantly it told Alchemist that the world was going to be harder, the hollows and monstrous beasts stronger than he'd initially expected.
Both Alchemist's nodded and got to work. There wasn't a whole lot left to collect here but he needed to get a few extra things done.
-----
~~ Items Acquired ~~
~~ Wolf Ring+2: It's become significantly harder to break your stance and interrupt your blows! Poise +8! ~~
~~ Covetous Silver Serpent Ring: Is there no limit to your greed? Exp/GP +10% ~~
~~ Estus Ring: A final sip from a jade bottle of estus is the last desire of any fallen undead. What fool would be mad enough to carve such a thing into a ring? Healing items are 20% more effective ~~
-----
"Well." It had taken a little work to get Diana and Kar'Yashlan to focus, but he'd managed to get them both upstairs and situated in front of the demi-plane door. "I've got a base prepped and ready for us to use. We've just got one little problem."
"Such as?" Wonder Woman actually seemed oddly relaxed.
"The sooner we are done, the sooner we can return to your plane, correct?" And Kar'Yashlan wanted to get back to talking with Andre the Blacksmith.
"Yes." Alchemist nodded to the demoness. "But I'm still human enough that I need to rest periodically to remain adequately functional and Diana is basically an infant and needs regular naps."
"Hah." Diana did not find him amusing. "Hah."
"You're like, what? Eighty? Gaia is nearly as old as reality itself and Atlas has held up a chunk of reality for longer than anyone else can remember. You'll get there, don't worry." Alchemist was almost tempted to walk over to the woman and pat her cheek like she was a small child.
He didn't. He'd rather keep his hands, thank you.
"Eighty? Truly? She seems far older given her bearing and strength!" Kar'Yashlan's eyes went wide at the number, though.
"Eighty-five, thank you. Can we please focus? What is this problem, Alchemist?" Wonder Woman brought her hands up to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Right. The problem. Kar'Yashl- Can I just call you Kary?" And Alchemist immediately got distracted.
"Oh? A pet name? Of course you may, Alchemist! I love it!" Two of Kary's hands came up to cradle her face.
Was she blushing?
Alchemist legitimately couldn't tell.
"Right... Kary? You're a bit too big to fit through the door." Alchemist raised his hand and pointed over his shoulder to the door with his thumb. "Making it bigger is possible, I could carve and charge the glyph into a garage door, but I don't have all of the equipment or blueprints with me to do that and no place to put it."
"Ah, is that all?" Kary grinned and leaned down, her face directly in front of Alchemist's for a second before she stood back up fully. "That is a rather simple thing to fix!"
Kary... Twitched in place for a moment. Then her arms started to fold in on themselves and she began shrinking.
The sound of bones popping and cracking was distinctly unpleasant.
Her raven-black hair shimmered for a moment before settling on blonde and her skin changed from deep crimson to pale, almost milky white.
After nearly a minute the Kary that stood in front of Alchemist and Wonder Woman was completely unrecognizable.
She had a blonde pixie-bob cut, only two arms that were rather stocky and she wasn't four meters tall anymore!
Instead she was about one-hundred and twenty-two centimeters tall.
She'd become a dwarf. A dungeons and dragons style dwarf.
"Huh." It was Wonder Woman who spoke first. "Somehow this is less surprising than it should be."
"Do you like it? I spent almost two full years learning how to shapeshift like this!" Kary spun around. "I was hoping to surprise Toryn with it... But then he helped seal me into the heart of a mountain."
The toga that she'd been given sometime in the past fell to the ground.
"Yep." Alchemist didn't even know what to say... But he didn't actually have a problem, so- "Looks perfect. Let's get things situated, get some food in us and get the next step figured out!"
...He'd like to go back to dealing with insane man-eaters instead. At least those usually came with a simple solution.
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- Location
- United States
HELLO! *Crouch* *Crouch*
I love how expressive Dark Souls is with insanely limited tools.
I love how expressive Dark Souls is with insanely limited tools.
- Location
- Philippines
So raised your hands that he will we accidentally pick up someone else in place of Wotan's slot
Edit
Have a great vecation
Edit
Have a great vecation
Red_Faux
私を終わらせる
- Location
- 'Straya M8
The Furtive Pygmy is also almost definitely Manus, The Primordial Man. That's an important detail he didn't mention. Also the Darkness of Humanity, the Dark Soul, and the Abyss are kinda the same thing. Kinda. The Abyss is a part of the Darkness that has gone mad (it is very unhappy with Gwyns perversion of the world order, its supposed to have been the Age of Man for a long time now), it also what causes hollowing, as it is present in every fragment of the Dark Soul, and despair, the same despair that plagues Manus, The Father of the Abyss, sets it free
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A day short of the one year anniversary.
Thanks for the chapter and have a good vacation!
Thanks for the chapter and have a good vacation!
Err, Alchemist? I'm not sure how you missed it, but Kary is an insane man-eater. She's just not going to be literal about it. You have acquired a Yandere, and you have no means by which to un-acquire her.
Not a big deal, since this is the only instance of this inconsistency, but I might as well bring it up. Anyway, yeah, Jinx isn't here and all that.
Thanks for the chapter, and I hope you enjoy your vacation.
I understood exactly zero of that.
Dark Souls has the plot of a Grimdark Anime.
Contradictory, metaphorical, overly conceptual and requiring a doctorate in Artistic Poetry to translate and understand.
And even then, random bouts of Fanservice and/or Waifus are injected into the story solely to distract and confuse you.
I just pretend that the Dark Souls franchise has no plot, and that it is just a gorgeous Arcade Game.
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Red_Faux
私を終わらせる
- Location
- 'Straya M8
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He was comparing differences in how people fought. When he had Jinx alongside, she'd keep distance which would free him up to use his bigger spells.
He's saying he can't do that with Kary and Wonder Woman because both prefer to get into melee.
Distraction obviously works.
- Location
- Right next to the butcher's shop.
I'm not sure Dark Souls 3 has an entirely dead population. There seem to still be a few humans around, and due to how wonky time is it shouldn't be too hard to get to a place with living humans. You don't even need magic to get to other time periods.
Sure, it's a shit place to live, but due to the (presumably)finite nature of the DC universe, Wotan might actually live longer here. Hell, he most certainly has longer if only because DC keeps getting reset.
Sure, it's a shit place to live, but due to the (presumably)finite nature of the DC universe, Wotan might actually live longer here. Hell, he most certainly has longer if only because DC keeps getting reset.
Well. Alchemist has a quote for you here in a few chapters!
One of the things I said several times over on Caer- Fromsoft doesn't tell a story. They put together a setting and throw details at the player in the form of item descriptions.
You want a cohesive plot that actually explains anything? Figure it out yourself.
Sounds about right fucking on point.
Frescko
King of Silver 🏳️⚧️
I and many others wouldn't have it any other way
- Location
- NA
The only thing I'm feeling eh about this chapter, is that Alchemist knows that unless you kill the villain personally and deliver their soul to death yourself....they always come back at the most inconvenient time. So yeah, I fully expect Wotan to show up and mess things up again.