KALA (200/300)
[X] <CLASS MACHINATION>
-[X] PHANTOM THIEF
OWEN (190/250)
[X] <ATTACK>
-[X] MARS
LUCY (220/300)
[X] <ITEM>
-[X] Toss Very Soft Cat at Timothy
Going with that for now.
I think using PHANTOM THIEF is superior to just sneak attacking, because better hit chance and more damage.
If Mars is consistent he will use this turn to prepare himself and launch one of his special attacks next turn, so I want to reserve SPEEDY THING GOES IN until then. And even if not, then his attack this turn will only do horrible damage instead of totally devastating damage.
Tossing the cat probably won't achieve anything, but Lucy has trouble doing anything useful except rewinding time, and we can't do that every turn unless we want to eat ASCENDANCY.
TURN I: LUNA ASCENDANT (60 NIMBLENESS) > <SOTERIOLOGY GAMBIT> [PHANTOM THIEF] (ST: 20)
[+20 NIMBLENESS]
[+40 DAMAGE on next ATTACK]
(VIT: 200)
(ÉLN: 40)
(SG: 0 [-20])
TURN II: MARS ASCENDANT (30 NIMBLENESS) > <SOTERIOLOGY GAMBIT> [CASUS BELLUM] (ST: 40)
-> <TARGET> OWEN MARTINEZ
[OWEN MARTINEZ will now take double DAMAGE from all ATTACKS!]
(VIT: 330)
(ÉLN: 0)
(SG: 25 [-40])
TURN III: MERCURY ASCENDANT (20 NIMBLENESS)
> <SOTERIOLOGY GAMBIT> [SPEEDY THING GOES IN...] (ST: 10)
[The next attack of the targeted enemy MARS will be absorbed!] [... SPEEDY THING COMES OUT] will activate automatically next turn!
(VIT: 190)
(ÉLN: 225)
(SG: 10 [-10])
A hint of a flicker out of the corner of your eye is the only hint you can decipher of Kala, even with all the information streaming directly into your mind at a million miles an hour the most you can make out is the occasional momentary blip, the tiniest fragment of missing information making the patterns irregular and giving you a hint that she's there at all, or, rather, that she even could be there. As she dances her dance of not-being-there, Mars lets out another bellow, swiping and missing at Owen - but something is different this time, the red getting into the swirl of warping possibilities around Owen. You can see him getting angrier, his next step putting him off-balance even as his eyes glow a bright green.
You yourself stay where you are. You almost don't realise that Mars is bearing down towards you until it's far too late to move out of the way, every possible attempt leading to a future where those terrible chitinous horns that seem more jagged prismatic mineral than organic creature impale you. You don't know what to do - but you have to do something. He was a kid, once, you think to yourself. A kid like you, or Mari. A scared, lonely, anxious, kid. Half on reflex, half deliberately, you take the VERY SOFT CAT in hand and toss it in Mars' direction. It sails through the air with all the grace of a drunken gerbil...
And is caught, in a misshapen talon, by the creature that now begins to shake and shudder, claws twitching and fiery red eyes still glowing like lanterns. The nonstop growth of layer upon layer of soot-black armour and chalk-white bone and veins of pulsing blood-red light slows for a few seconds, and the creature looks directly at you. It speaks. The voice is that of a boy your age, somehow coming out of the creature's multifaceted mandibles.
"It went mad," the voice whispers, high and shaky and terrified. "It went mad... all those years in the sky, all those centuries hurtling through the cosmos, how could it not... the warrior, made to run and run until its whole existence was nothing but running."
You feel a twinge of guilt coming from somewhere deep inside you and you don't understand why.
I AM SORRY. WE COULD NOT HAVE FOUGHT. NOT THEN. WE WOULD HAVE PERISHED, THEN.
Mars - no, Moth, keeps shaking, the layers of armour looking more and more like some sort of horrible predator from the depths of the Amazon that strangles and constricts its prey. "Run. We have hope, if you--"
"It's open, get in, you bloody imbeciles, we can go!" Mari shouts from behind you, her voice filled with concern. That concern, you're pretty sure, is the only thing that snaps you out of the enraptured, paralysed trance you were just caught in. Turning around, you see her gesturing impatiently at the open elevator.
[] Run! Run like your life depends on it, because it probably does!
[] Stand your ground and fight. You can't keep running forever.
[] Leave, but first...
- [Write-in]
[x] Owen and Mars - Moth? - both have their Gambits activated, making the next attack on Owen deadly... to Moth. And it auto-connects.
-[x] Leave, but use your last free Soteriology Gambit on Moth to make sure it doesn't happen.
Technically, it's still a {BELLIGERENCE} phase, so if no one attacks, R&R has nowhere to go but to prevent Mars from attacking us as we get away. Would probably be a good thing for everyone involved, too, since Mars' VIGOUR buff expires next turn.
...do we say anything to him?
Edit: good enough, will add
-[x] apologize that we can't help more and wish he and the cat stay safe,
[x] Owen and Mars - Moth? - both have their Gambits activated, making the next attack on Owen deadly... to Moth. And it auto-connects.
-[x] Leave, but use your last free Soteriology Gambit on Moth to make sure it doesn't happen.
Technically, it's still a Belligerence phase, so if no one attaks R&R has nowhere to go but prevent Mars from attacking us. Would probably be a good thing for everyone involved, too.
I'm not sure how I want to vote right now.
The safe thing to do is leave and rewind/reverse any attacks we take.
Nevill has a point about saving Moth, but... I'm not sure he'd appreciate the effort in his current state.
I'm also tempted to go with the blatantly suicidal
[] Leave, but first...
- Give Moth a hug
He told us to run in the brief moment of clarity that he is starting to lose. If we run, there is hope.
Presumably, without the targets to go berserk against Moth might regain some measure of sanity or control. We need to vacate the premises and not linger here any longer than we have to. We could try figuring out if there is a way to help him once we find out more about the Ascendants.
Tell him that we will do what we can to get him out and scram.
[x] Owen and Mars - Moth? - both have their Gambits activated, making the next attack on Owen deadly... to Moth. And it auto-connects.
-[x] Leave, but use your last free Soteriology Gambit on Moth to make sure it doesn't happen.
[x] Owen and Mars - Moth? - both have their Gambits activated, making the next attack on Owen deadly... to Moth. And it auto-connects.
-[x] Leave, but use your last free Soteriology Gambit on Moth to make sure it doesn't happen.
-[x] apologize that we can't help more and wish he and the cat stay safe.
-[X] Make sure he understands that we'll be coming back. Next time, when we're ready, we'll be running straight towards him! And we'll fix things!
[x] Owen and Mars - Moth? - both have their Gambits activated, making the next attack on Owen deadly... to Moth. And it auto-connects.
-[x] Leave, but use your last free Soteriology Gambit on Moth to make sure it doesn't happen.
[x] Owen and Mars - Moth? - both have their Gambits activated, making the next attack on Owen deadly... to Moth. And it auto-connects.
-[x] Leave, but use your last free Soteriology Gambit on Moth to make sure it doesn't happen.
-[x] apologize that we can't help more and wish he and the cat stay safe.
-[X] Make sure he understands that we'll be coming back. Next time, when we're ready, we'll be running straight towards him! And we'll fix things!
!
