Well. This probably exhausts my attempts to find a way to use the spell productively.
How large is the spell AOE then? And, assuming Summit sees the inside once, can she make it a destination for Gating?
With the limitations as described, it is probably best used to strand groups of enemies to deal with them piecemeal, or to get away from them by leaving where they cannot follow easily.
So we'd have to ask kelllogo what the intended use of her is supposed to be.
Honestly the "use Wiccan's world to sneak things behind enemy lines" was a good idea, and part of me wants to try it.
The other part is telling me that Kelll definitely didn't plan for that and to stop making his life more difficult.
And then Balrog starts spamming Roar of the Destroyer for 50+ thousands of damage per scream, that also conveniently has Omnipresent and (by reading of the Flames of Hell in an appropriately exploity way) Juggernaut to actually hit the Nightmare where it hurts. Big Bad Wolf is an excellent ally for the mission, especially since we can relegate the "bait" duty to it. But it isn't an insurmountable obstacle to the locals.
Based on the Edit to Canon version of Dwarven Overseer, there shouldn't be any Balrogs at all in a fallen level 4 fortress, because all of them would have been replaced by Titan Worms.
Based on the Edit to Canon version of Dwarven Overseer, there shouldn't be any Balrogs at all in a fallen level 4 fortress, because all of them would have been replaced by Titan Worms.
I don't think that pre-existing Balrogs would have been destroyed or switched over once the fortress gained Level 3 (when Titan Worms first appear). I also didn't see anything explicitly stating that the fortress stops growing once it is overrun by Happy Fun Stuff.
However, if we assume the fortress didn't trigger Too Deep until after it hit Level 3 (3 days of 5% chance, 7 days of 10% chance - 41% aggregate chance of this), nor did Dwarven Overseer cast it in the meantime (to use the monsters to drive out the demons) - then there indeed won't be any Balrogs.
Chances are (59%) there has been at least one Balrog.
I don't think that pre-existing Balrogs would have been destroyed or switched over once the fortress gained Level 3 (when Titan Worms first appear). I also didn't see anything explicitly stating that the fortress stops growing once it is overrun by Happy Fun Stuff.
However, if we assume the fortress didn't trigger Too Deep until after it hit Level 3 (3 days of 5% chance, 7 days of 10% chance - 41% aggregate chance of this), nor did Dwarven Overseer cast it in the meantime (to use the monsters to drive out the demons) - then there indeed won't be any Balrogs.
Chances are (59%) there has been at least one Balrog.
Huh. My reading of the Edit to Canon version was that the monsters start destroying the Fortress once Too Deep triggers, which would obviously make it stop leveling up.
Huh. My reading of the Edit to Canon version was very that the monsters start destroying the Fortress once Too Deep triggers, which would obviously make it stop leveling up.
A perfectly logical assumption, with another being that dwarves are the ones who keep building it up, and without dwarves there are no leveling up.
Another fridge logic example tells me that even once the fortress is overrun by the Happy Fun Stuff, both dorfs AND Too Deep triggers still keep happening, and there might theoretically come a time when dorfs actually manage to clean up their fortress.
Also, WTF Dwemer Elite! They're literally the worst nightmare of just about any Happy Fun Stuff! By strict reading, they're immune to everything HFS including Ancient Wyrms, and only excluding the Titan Worms attempting to gobble them up with a spell... Well, them and Snuggles - who both coincidentally stop spawning during the Too Deep triggers at that point.
Honestly the "use Wiccan's world to sneak things behind enemy lines" was a good idea, and part of me wants to try it.
The other part is telling me that Kelll definitely didn't plan for that and to stop making his life more difficult.
Not a bad idea. Wiccan tends to try shoving everyone stuck in her bubble out at once when she remembers to close it. Crimson has a nifty interaction that makes it easier for her to escapse the effect, most of the time.
Wiccan's illusion smacks down the zone of control effects. Only to replace them with its own crazy rules... World Sphere is a high-end effect.
Right. Unfortunately, I don't really have any ideas I'd call good on how to use Wiccan's spells and abilities properly in this particular mission.
So, here's the rough plan again for those who want to pick it up (slightly altered):
1) Nightmare of Crimson splits into a dozen or more monsters, all of them go finding and pulling (kiting) Titan Worms out
2) Magical Girls follow, covered by Summit who pops spiders who get too close. Also, grinds Ceaseless Warrior to max on those same spiders
3) If a Balrog appears, Summit shifts to its location and dices it into small chunks before it can cast Roar of the Destroyer
4) Crimson Hood is under the Guardian Touch spell to make a reliable guardian against spiders for when Summit is killing Balrogs
5) Keep an eye out for Unified Darkness trying to do the same as you do - except to send the locals after Millidia base
6) If, heavens forbid, Ancient Wyrm appears, Summit grabs the girls and Shifts IMMEDIATELY to surface/out-of-sight/the-fuck-away, and contacts the base to complain and ask for suggestions.
And finally:
7) Once the Titan Worms start coming after their quarry, SOMEHOW redirect them to move against the Unified Darkness
This last point needs work the most. From what we've been told about Wiccan's spell, it is unlikely to be directly useful to transport unwilling monsters.
Theoretically, finding a decent destination point for Summit will allow her to use her Gating to drop the Worms there, by having them touch the portal orb. Since they're huge, it isn't as difficult as it could be. But getting spiders is harder, and will need properly kiting them towards the UD strongpoints.
The way Boatshrieks is located you would head through the UD's front lawn to get to the fortress.
Dwarven Overseer estimates only a few of the Balrogs will have remained within the fort, three or four. She thinks all the Titan Worms are dead now -- either from dorf traps or from crashing into UD territory. She warns they're trickier than they first appear.
Also be aware of crocodile and giant crocodile men, the things that shout "tekeli-li", icewood traps, and the lava pump system. All of them have killed many dwarves.
Phone-posting makes it easy to lose track of things edit: The big critters have a cadre of lesser monsters that follow them. Slime monsters, rock monsters, and fire monsters are common.
The way Boatshrieks is located you would head through the UD's front lawn to get to the fortress.
Dwarven Overseer estimates only a few of the Balrogs will have remained within the fort, three or four. She thinks all the Titan Worms are dead now -- either from dorf traps or from crashing into UD territory. She warns they're trickier than they first appear.
Also be aware of crocodile and giant crocodile men, the things that shout "tekeli-li", icewood traps, and the lava pump system. All of them have killed many dwarves.
Phone-posting makes it easy to lose track of things edit: The big critters have a cadre of lesser monsters that follow them. Slime monsters, rock monsters, and fire monsters are common.
Frankly, I expected Titan Worms to be actually doing the thing such beings are supposed to do - as in digging through earth with impunity to make sudden attacks from below, or through the ceiling/walls (if underground).
Watching the knockout mask get administered to Silver Regent is a bit intense. You are unclear on how, exactly, word got out that she deserved to get beaten into the dirt, but eight different Magical Girls and the Hound are alternating blows.
It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for her, except for the clear memory of her trying to twist your mind to make you think getting killed by her would be a good idea. And the way she seemed intent on irritating everyone.
The spectacle comes to an end when Dark Steel gets hold of a leg and smashes Silver Regent into the ground several times in succession. The armored thing drops the now-unconscious Dark Magical Girl and chuckles.
As you follow Insight's lead a uniformed fairy (Magic) starts tying faintly glowing cords around Silver Regent.
You recognize the blonde girl you're brought to as Dwarven Overseer from earlier. Insight gives a quick "gotta go" and runs back to Twisted Metal.
Overseer offers a notebook with a grim expression, "I've been expecting someone is going to have to go down there to clear things out. Here's some maps and a quick overview of what the trap symbols mean."
"Thank you. Any advice for getting a large number of enemies riled up?"
"Tricky. Most of the ones that wanted to leave will have left by now. My suggestion would be to either flatten whatever territory the big ones have sway over or set things up so some of the other big monsters take the turf of another. My hunch was that the losers would rush out in a fury to take other territory, but I was always pretty busy during those times and it was hard to keep track."
You nod, "Destroy holdings so ones that no longer have territory to protect charge out. Did you ever breach the UD's tunnel network? Can I lead them there?"
She shakes her head, "When I Strike the Earth it gets a little weird. The place is mostly congruent with itself, but the fortresses sort of stretch out when it gets underground. I was trying to tap the UD's volcano, but only drained a weird alternate sub-realm volcano instead. So you'll have to lead the monster horde up and out to make them useful."
You flip through the notebook, "This sounds trickier than how Insight described it."
"I think the UD made some sort of treaty or arrangement with the denizens. It's only been a couple weeks since the site fell and it should be spitting out nasty critters much faster than its current rate. So tricky isn't a bad description."
"How many would you expect?"
Dwarven Overseer the palm of one hand with the other, "I think there were almost a hundred, maybe more maybe less, of the towering titans flame and darkness. The fort had them bottled up in the chasm until the digging worms showed up. I don't know how many worms there are since I was running as fast as my legs could carry me while they ate my entire blackout-drunk military. I know two were killed and the UD got one somehow. That might be all, or there might be more. And we had thousands of giant underground monsters crawling everywhere."
She grits her teeth for a second, "There should still be wanderers, but it's been quiet almost the whole time. It's really annoying and The Light Warriors didn't get far enough inside to find out why it's happening."
"I should go meet the people I'm escorting."
Overseer nods and walks back inside.
Primary Wiccan drifts close to you.
"Looks like you'll want my help." she smiles widely.
You look her over. She flies quickly enough, but you can tell that she can't fly and attack at the same time. There's also the way she feels… not entirely there. Maybe there's a gentle way to tell her that you won't need her help.
"I can overlay my world over this world. Which makes me the best at escaping from bad situations. All I need to do is pull my world to leave this one."
The hound that follows Crimson Hood strides closer, now in the shape of a tall werewolf, "The winsome morsel seeks my aid."
His tone grates on you. The way his tongue hangs out and reaches towards you is also annoying. You tilt your head away from him and focus on Overseer's notes.
"Don't dismiss me small one." the hound's tongue stretches out to an extreme length and grows a copy of him in front of your face, "You haven't yet realized you're terrified of me."
"Toothy," Primary Wiccan smiles mirthlessly, "Do I need to pull you into a time-out?"
"I don't scare easily." you fix your gaze on the hound's eyes.
"Let me alone, witch. I only need a moment to put her lie to test."
At that the hound -- no, monster -- opens a mouth that grows to engulfs you in inky darkness. The light of your Panoply shows motion, but the creature turns so black that you can't distinguish it against itself. It laughs.
Hands emerge followed by hulking silhouettes. For a few intensely uncomfortable moments you draw in on yourself to avoid being touched
Get Away
You Shift upwards in the blink of an eye.
Having gotten free form the hound's grip you reassess your surroundings. Crimson Hood starts to say something, then covers her mouth and looks away.
Primary Wiccan points at the hound, "Bad dog."
The oddly-proportioned creature isn't there via some process you didn't catch. Like a daydream that's just been forgotten. There isn't even a whisper of twisting space.
Crimson Hood looks between you and Wiccan and sighs.
"Is everything alright?" you ask.
"Toothy is in time out, doesn't that make you- ooh." Primary Wiccan pauses, "You think Summit is crazy! It's okay, she thinks I'm crazy too." she finishes by addressing you.
"No, it's..." Crimson waves her hand around for a moment, "You were panicking, I could see it in your eyes. Then you were calm all of a sudden. Normal people don't suddenly stop being scared like that."
Wiccan leans over on her broom and beams, "I told you she was special."
"I was not panicking, merely uncomfortable with being confined." you clarify.
Crimson rubs her forehead for a second and sighs, "You'll be keeping an eye on our surroundings while I try to keep Wiccan on task. I saw you teleport, and you've got the nerves to try to stare down my nightmare, I just hope you have the judgement to match so I can count on you to look after yourself."
She gestures at Primary Wiccan and continues, "Wiccan called you a chosen one. Which puts you in the august company of Magical Girl Red Rose, I hope you're up to it."
"I've gotten much stronger over the past two days." you comment.
Crimson Hood twitches slightly as she checks over her shoulder. She motions for you to follow her and points the hound forward.
You flip through the notebook to check the 'Traps Illustrated' section. There's a section about how an "ice-wood" trap killed a Titan Worm by freezing it after driving many magically-cold logs into its body.
Most of the other mechanisms look fairly easy to avoid. If you can fly at least.
"Hood. The fortress appears to be riddled with traps, do you have a way to avoid them?"
Crimson Hood gives a slight nod, "I'll be riding with Primary Wiccan."
"When Toothy is back he'll set off the traps for us." Wiccan grins.
Around you you see the Atlantis girls huddling around a Datamine and chatting about something. From Machine Code's direction a number of shipping containers fly into the air with fairies sitting atop them. One of the open sections shows it's a box launcher of sorts.
Following Crimson Hood brings you to an older officer drinking from a styrofoam cup.
Hood points her out, "This is our team's supervisor, I'm obligated to point out that she's Gay"
The lieutenant, with a namepatch reading 'Gay', grimaces, "I am Lieutenant Enola Gay. Have you been told about Primary Wiccan's issues?"
Crimson Hood points at Wiccan, "Sometimes Wiccan will just drop everyone nearby in her realm. If this happens without her warning us you'll want to avoid touching anything and follow me, I can usually navigate out because of my Magical Girl abilities. Which is why I get to keep track of her."
"I don't mean to. Sometimes it just gets closer on it's own."
"On the plus side, threatening to leave Toothy behind in her world has done wonders for my sanity and well-being."
Enola nods, "That's about right. Be careful, I think you knocked about a collective decade off the brass when Arc said you died."
"I need to practice dodging." you say as you run the incident through in your head.
Too long spent fighting in tight corners left you trying to roll with blows instead of rolling away from them.
Enola nods, makes an approving noise, and types at her Datamine.
"What are we waiting for?"
Crimson Hood has grabbed a chair, and Wiccan is flying in a lazy tight circle above you.
"For Scholar of Light to hop back and give us a ride to the fight." Hood answers.
For a few minutes no one says anything more. The hound trots in a circle and lies down on the ground. Another girl runs up (Food, Sun, Story-Maker).
"You're Summit, right? I've been messaging you on toe-hoe but you haven't replied."
"She's Magical Girl Breakfast Call, by the way." Primary Wiccan adds.
Breakfast Call blinks at your expression, "Throne of Heroes Online? Anyways, I wanted to ask about how you do that quick recovery thing with your transformation."
Crimson Hood perks up at that.
Breakfast Call continues, "I want to be able to do that. How can you tell when the right time to refresh is?"
"You…" this is hard to explain. Last time you put effort into it you were able to mimic parts of your explanation with special equipment. How to explain the sort of pressure your transformation exerts?
"If you time yourself then near the end of your time there's an empty feeling. For me it took a few times running out of time before I caught on to it. It's best if you're focusing on your magic when it happens."
Lieutenant Gay raises a finger, "Couldn't you refresh before then? Why is almost running out of time important?"
You shrug, "I don't know. Why doesn't every Magical Girl re-apply their transformations? I just know what works for me."
She waves her Datamine at you, "You should make a topic about that. Grey Champion probably knows something about that."
Wait… "I thought Grey Champion was dead."
Breakfast Call points accusingly at you, "You really need to catch up on the MG chatter section of ToHO. Some interesting events have happened."
You extrude your Datamine and bring up the forum. Primary Wiccan peers down at you.
That is a lot of red numbers.
"I don't think I have the time right now." you say while re-absorbing the Datamine.
The sound of a descending helicopter echos from the nearby cliff face.
"Hark! I see the ladies of the hour in the helicopter." Wiccan shouts.
You head into the air, there is indeed a helicopter with Scholar and Caster of Light in it. Notably riding instead of deciding to just teleport to you. Thunder from cannons echos and battle continues, yet you've been waiting on these two hitching a ride.
It's so... inefficient.
The idea of flying up to them occurs to you, but you refrain. Flying close to the rotors would be dangerous, you could knock the helicopter from the sky and endanger the passengers and others on the ground. Better to, sigh, wait for them to land and get to you.
"Did someone eat your kittens? You look pretty annoyed." Breakfast Call asks as you descend.
You shake your head and adopt a more neutral expression.
"We are waiting to be ferried for our mission." Primary Wiccan states.
"Try not to let the waiting get to you," Enola nods to indicate the MG building, "If you have a minute you can get some ice cream. The leaders got someone to fix the broken ice cream machine."
Breakfast Call does an abbreviated bow and holds her arms open to indicate you, "Summit fixed it, you should thank her."
"Really? I should have expected it was a Magical Girl. Thanks for fixing the ice cream machine Summit. Free ice cream is one of my favorite things."
You hesitate, "Thank you."
"Oh? I haven't done anything for you, except possibly bringing news. You've been answering questions and fixing beloved machines. Thanks again for that. I hope you don't need to wait too long." Breakfast Call gives a thumbs-up.
You watch her leave with a bit of a hollow feeling. It's barely been any time since you spotted the the Emissaries, yet you're already feeling stuck between staying put so you'll meet them sooner and trying to get something accomplished while waiting. No, it's not just the waiting, you've done plenty of that, there's an edge of nervous energy from something that's pushing you to do something.
Nervous isn't right either, you are calm. But somehow also nervous? This is making you want the mission to start faster. When you try to examine yourself it keeps ending up confusing, like always. You try to put it from your mind.
Thankfully a distraction appears. The booming, distorted voice of General Manners echos from the frontlines.
"Forces of Darkness, hear me. You have come here to die. The fiercest war machines of mankind are upon you, and we are unstoppable. Our shells will shatter you, our lasers will vaporize you, and our twisted magics have already crippled you. Behind us are the mightest heroes of Light and the grandest concentration of Magical Girl in existence. You cannot win. Supplicate yourselves before us and you may yet be spared according to our customs of war, if you resist you will be eradicated.
"We are the Counter Force! We are Mankind! We will not be denied our inheritance."
Then the explosions started.
----
For a few minutes there are distractions aplenty. From identifying jets overhead, to watching a curtain get deployed over the entire courtyard, and seeing Crimson Hood's wolf emerge from her shadow. Fortunately, the odd creature was more docile after its brief exile.
And Ninja of Light made her appearance.
"Yo, girl with the creepy, swirling backpack. Apparently you booked a teleport?"
"And my team too!" Wiccan chirped.
"Right, girl with the broom and creepy stare plus the girl with the terrifying dog monster. That's what I said."
The mentioned terrifying dog monster's ear perk up as it chuckles softly.
"Damn, that damned thing is creepy." Ninja mutters, "Caster and Scholar are at the circle space, I'm going to grab a snack quick. Good luck."
"Thanks." Wiccan waves as Ninja leaps away from your group.
You move towards the teleportation circle. Crimson's wolf stays put relative to you while appearing to stay still and lie on the ground. Mostly relative, it shifts to avoid collisions and stay near the edge of your sight. Your eyesight's sight, that is, you ignore it, pretending to be asleep is fine behavior as far as you care.
Caster of Light smiles at you when you approach. Scholar of Light shakes her head briefly.
"Oh, you're here. Last chance to back out of this." Scholar says without looking at you.
Caster claps her hands together, "I hope you have better luck than we did, Bard and Monk died…" she trails off.
"This is important, we all know that." you state.
"You warned them." Scholar steps onto a solid sub-circle and holds out her hand with index finger extended.
Caster lets out a breath and centers herself on another solid circle and touches her index finger to Scholar's.
There's a momentary sense of weight as the world falls away in light. A rush of colors sweeps over you and your group before fading away to show a gate hewn into the mountainside. Caster and Scholar briefly distort before vanishing with a multicolored afterimage.
You're standing on a slightly damaged path made of smooth bricks about half a meter wide by a meter and a half long. The road switches back on itself and is built up to make a smoother path down the mountainside. Smooth in the parts that don't appear to have lava dumped over them. There are eight sections where lava was pumped out to either pour over the road or create now-long-cooled moats of molten rock. Even the gate, upon closer inspection, appears to have flooded with lava to force it closed.
That isn't much of an obstacle for your group. You could either batter a hole yourself or fly up to a fortified section overlooking the gate and expand an arrow slit to let yourself in. Or just look through and teleport.
"Looks like they didn't want visitors." Hood comments, "Can you make one of the gates vanish?"
"No, it's too much like trying to pull the landscape around."
"I can get us inside." you say.
Crimson Hood jumps up to sit next to Wiccan on her broom. She puts one arm around Wiccan's waist and keeps her sword out in the other. "That sounds good. I remember you getting the map as well. We should head to the chasm once we're inside, the Light Warriors ran into a lot of crazy traps looking at the housing."
You pull out the notebook and flip through it again. If you're reading the map right there are two ways to get at the chasm, you could use some exploratory shafts accessed from the trading depot to reach a point high above the chasm, or you could head through the main hall and follow the outflow of an underground stream for access that's near the bottom of the chasm.
The latter is more direct, but you expect it would place you in the middle of things and takes you through the heart of the fortress. And something could be lurking along either route as far as you know.
----
[X] Be Indirect
Sneaking around has served you well before. Plus there's a better chance to avoid sticking your nose in a crazy trap.
[X] Hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle
You have a hunch that if there's a boss of this place they will be situated near where the fortress was first invaded. And if nothing else, this should be quicker than navigating the maze of mineshafts.
----
+50 EXP If I was crazy I wouldn't be wondering if I was crazy
2411 + 50 = 2461 EXP
[X] [EXP] EXP Plan?
----
Someone bother me to update the chara sheet tomorrow...
[X] Hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle
You have a hunch that if there's a boss of this place they will be situated near where the fortress was first invaded. And if nothing else, this should be quicker than navigating the maze of mineshafts.
I believe there was an intention to save for 1 of our capstones (the 3500XP ones) or purchase slayer abilities as needed... but its been quite a while and I'm not too sure.
Also, I think some slayer abilities got added OwO Mmm... Chaos, Void, Mage, Kingslayer.
Anyone remember what were the ones needed to get that uber slayer ability?
Also, I think some slayer abilities got added OwO Mmm... Chaos, Void, Mage, Kingslayer.
Anyone remember what were the ones needed to get that uber slayer ability?
[X] Hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle
You have a hunch that if there's a boss of this place they will be situated near where the fortress was first invaded. And if nothing else, this should be quicker than navigating the maze of mineshafts.
Woah, you updated?
It's real pity we can't just can't just mosey our way in saying "Yes, we do belong here, how do you do, fellow UD demons?" that was a damn badass move the first time.
As FatedBread said:
Current EXP priority is Pioneer, the Panoply-based capstone.
Alternately we could raise Panoply to 40, purchase Juggernaut and another Protean slot. 2420 EXP. And at 2500 EXP, add Rain of Light.
Or, get partway there for Paragon and/or Abomination capstones. 2250 for Abomination Anticipation (Ceaseless Warrior 30, 4500 HP, 9 more APT stacks), 2870 for Paragon Preparation (Aegis Field 30, Formidable Defenses x2, 3500 and 4500 HP, 500 and 600 RES).
Wave Force costs us 1685, 1590 EXP for two upgrades we see.
