Complete Vintergard Into the Wastelands

[Hanno Futaba]

Pushing another door open, Hanno peeked his head in with his gargantuan shield resting on his back, watching the blind spots of the Faerin attentively. Stepping in, he searched for clues or any sort of tool, equipment, or item that could prove to be useful in this small journey in the depths of Vintergard. In his previous visit, he has been in the company of Corsair, but he didn't wish to keep bringing someone with him for something more... Selfish.

He wished to understand a bit more about the so-called Dragonfall, something he was supposed to be reaching closer and closer as he marched deeper into the wasteland that the ex-capital had become.

With a sigh, he pushed the door open again, this time exiting the building and turning to walk away until his shield rumbled.

Hanno halted his steps, quickly turning to look at what his shield was warning him of--

But turned out, it wasn't a sentry or an enemy. In fact, it was a very familiar figure, a surprise after four years.

@Majolica

 

[Matilda]

"Hehehe, long time no see."

Majolica waved. It had been four years since she had seen Hanno, but he was a welcome sight.

"You know I've been looking for you, hehe. Well, I've been looking for all the others but it looks like I've found you by accident.

Majolica was covered in a long dark cloak that covered all of her body except her face which was shaded by her large witch hat.

"I came here looking for answers about the Dragonfall. One of those things flew over and destroyed my house, hehe. I wanted to take revenge on it but first I think I should understand it first, hehehe, and what I've come to understand is that at the very least it's extremely powerful, more than I can take on my own. That in and of itself is very annoying. Whatever little goblins made that contraption must be punished."

The Grand Witch scratched her chin.

"And you, what are you doing here? Also interested in the Dragonfall or just exploring? I see you've still got your shield, hehe."

@Hanno Futaba
Majolica pointed to the massive shield on Hanno's back.

 

[Hanno Futaba]

At the confirmation that it was actually Majolica (as if such a thing was needed), Hanno beamed a smile and approached her almost as if he was going to tackle her in a hug, but he knew better than getting hexed, so he halted himself halfway. "Majolica! Leader, it is really you!" He said with a grin. "Yeah, it has been four hot minutes." Hanno nodded at the mention of it being a while. It was wonderful to see her again, though it brought a pang of concern in his chest.

"So your house was also destroyed? My cottage is a goner too." He sighed, rubbing his neck and frowning. "From the sounds of it, it was no ordinary little goblin either. But nothing we can't give a lesson." Hanno said, defiantly.

"I came here to see what happened with my own eyes, and try to understand what is going on in here." Hanno explained, smiling softly and elbowing his shield.

"Yeah, I still got my buddy." The shield rumbled, and Hanno looked at Majolica with a fainter expression. "You look almost the same as before... You... You aren't locked, are you?" He asked, pursing his lips.

@Majolica

 

[Matilda]

"Hehe, no I'm not locked though that's a little annoying as well! I was gone for four years and it feels like the world has forgotten the Grand Witch Majolica!"

The witch smiled.

"Though not my friends thankfully, hehe."

Crossing her arms Majolica continued.

"But I'm not longer the leader either, hehe. I have disbanded the Witch Ops. Everyone has their own lives and their own friends, and their own things to protect, hehe. I'm sure even you have that! The Witch Ops is no longer needed, hehe, so I'm no longer the leader, now I'm just a friend."

Majolica looked around and pouted.

"But this a big problem! I didn't realize that the Dragonfall was like this, hehe. Like I said, at first I thought I would just use my magic to blow it into itty bits, hehehe, but now I see that's not going to work. I'm going to need more firepower than what I have, hehe."

Nodding to herself as she thought and spoke simultaneously, Majolica apologized for Hanno's loss of home.

"Sorry about your house. I'm pretty sure this thing flew over it and shot it while I was gone, I'm very mad about it. But anyway, since we're both here why don't we see if we can explore and bit and get some information. Hehehe, maybe we'll even find a weakness or something good like that. What do you say?"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Four years is a lot of time. But hey, if anyone has forgotten you, it is the perfect time to make yourself well known again." Hanno said, resting a hand on his hips and smiling confidently. The mention of Witch Ops being disbanded made Hanno's ears drop slightly, but the words about friendship made him perk up, and a warm smile crossed his lips when she spoke about having something to protect.

"We all do. And of course, I would never forget you, Majolica. You was- you are important for all of us." Hanno grinned, looking around and pursing his lips.

"I will admit, I myself couldn't believe when I heard about dragonfall. And I still can't believe what I am seeing." He shifted a glance to her, giving a big thumb up.

"I am down for it, buddy! It is better to explore together. This place is crowded with those magic technological robots that wan to fry our arses of. But with four eyes-"

He peeked at Majolica's gear, then at his shield.

"Six eyes, it will be easy to not get caught off guard." Hanno said, getting ready for some exploration and investigation.

@Majolica

 

[Matilda]

"Hehehe, right you are! If this world has forgotten me, then I'll just have to make those dummies remember! And I'm glad that after all this time, hehe, we're still friends!"

Give a thumbs up, Majolica happily looked around the room.

"My spells also have eyes so if you count those, hehe, it's an unlimited number of eyes. Like an eye bonanza, hehe. But anyway, have you been around here before? It seems like you have, hehe. This is my first time in the area."

Majolica scratched her chin and continued.

"So it's not just one big robot, hehe, but one big robot and lots of little ones? I'm guessing they're powered by magitech, that new stuff that seems to be the thing here since we came back, hehe. I wanted to try and figure out how it works to see its weaknesses but I haven't had an opportunity to see any robots like the ones around here. Hehehe, maybe if we can fight one and take it apart then we can figure some things out? I don't know how hard they are to fight though."

Majolica looked at Hanno and waited for any input he had to give.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Yeah, me too!" Hanno beamed, certainly joyful that Majolica hadn't forgotten him either, every single friend he had made in this game was important to him, so it was nice to feel that this was mutual.

A laugh escaped from his lips at the words 'eye bonanza', something that made his shield rumble for a moment before Hanno nudged it to be discreet for now. He then crossed his arms and responded her: "Yeah, I've been here a while ago. But I've only really visited the very edge of the outskirts. I was with a newbie, and I didn't want to get her into trouble, even though it seemed like she really wanted it." He shrugged.

"I've also talked to a friend, he said that it took four people to defeat one robot. But honestly, when I fought one, it was easier than I expected... But the one I fought seemed to be a sentry only, apparently, this is the weakest one." Hanno explained, gesturing for Majolica to follow if she wished, and starting to march toward the center of the dragonfall.

"Which implies there are another kind of robots, much stronger and tough to fight against."

@Majolica

 

[Matilda]

"Hmm... so there are even different kinds Interesting. Hehehe, this is all very new all of this magitech. To think there's a civilization out there that's this advanced is worrying, hehe. But it also makes me wonder why they never attacked."

The little witch scratched her head as she thought out loud.

"If they were a peaceful people, they wouldn't have need for these kinds of weapons, but then they never really attacked anyone either, hehe In fact this is the first we're seeing of them. Even here, it doesn't seem like their main goal was to attack us, from what I've heard this one fell out of the sky so it could have just been a mistake."

Nodding, the witch continued.

"Still, even if this was a mistake they need to answer for it. Hehe, those dummies have caused a lot of problems for all of us and they need to be made aware of that."

Pointing outside Majolica motioned to Hanno.

"Let's get going. I want to see what these robot thingies look like and what they're capable of. Hehe, you can take the lead as usual."

It was like old times.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Maybe they don't want to attack. This seemed like an accident, after all... This, or they want us to get to some specific point before attacking. Like how someone waits for a pig to be big and fat before butchering it." It wasn't a pleasant example, but food analogies were the best way Hanno had to explain things. The way Majolica posed the questioning did make him pensive about it, now not being able to remove it from his mind.

"That's true. But it could also be that there is something even more advanced than them, and they need something to defend themselves." He could only guess, really.

A chuckle escaped from his lips at the usual way Majolica voiced her opinion, and while Hanno would usually rather do things in a peaceful way, it wasn't a situation that called for that. "Especially because they caused all that trouble and never came back to clean up the mess or give explanations." He said, considering what he had heard about it so far.

When she accepted the idea of going further, Hanno nodded. "Let's just hope my clank clank armor won't do too much noise." He sighed, moving along and getting his shield ready, with its central eye opening and looking around warily.

@Majolica (Let me know if you will want to pull out some sentries!)

 

[Matilda]

"Hehehe, better too much noise than not enough protection if you ask me!"

Majolica winked at Hanno and followed him out.

The area looked like a warzone with smoking ruins and craters all around. Great chunks of rubble littered the once pristine capital of Astorea. Looking around at the destruction, Majolica couldn't help but feel a little saddened.

"You know, at one point I thought I would rule over all of this, hehe. Or at least be a dark hero known and feared throughout this kingdom. And now look at it. Just rubble, hehe. Maybe taking it back would be a good idea eventually. Hehehe, maybe I could even commandeer the ship and make it into my new house! Hehehe, but we'll see. Maybe we can get a good look at it and see what we're dealing with, though I'm not sure how dangerous that is..."

Speaking of danger, suddenly Majolica got very quiet and still. Touching Hanno on the back, she pointed to a floating magitech machine and ducked quickly behind some rubble. Whispering, she would ask Hanno if he could identify what type of machine it was and if he had fought one before.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Now we are talking." He grinned at Majolica, moving along and having his shield armed and ready. Its huge, central eye, watched everything forward unblinking, while Hanno's more attentive senses took care of watching their surroundings.

"If anything, I am sure we can do something about it, Majolica. There must be a cote, some spot that power up or control all these robots. If we happen to find something like that, we could find a solution." Hanno said, quietly while continuing to move on.

Eventually, Majolica touched his back and caught his attention.

He looked at the direction she pointed, nodding while hiding with her and nudging Ghast to close his eyes, using him as an extra cover for both of them.

"A sentry. The weakest type of them." Hanno said, looking at his friend. "The problem is that they can set up alarms... that could get us swarmed or bring a more dangerous enemy. If we wanna destroy it, we must be quick."

@Majolica

 

[Matilda]

Keeping her voice down, Majolica nodded to Hanno. It was exciting, exploring and potentially fighting with her friend again.

"Then quick we shall be, hehe. If we defeat it fast then we can take it and run. After we get to safety we can see what makes it ticks and maybe get some ideas on what to do with it. In the end, hehe, the goal is to be able to take out the stronger ones efficiently, hehe, but we have to start somewhere and it might as well be here."

Nodding, Majolica took out her floating orb magic weapon.

"How should we do this, hehe? You're more knowledgeable about fighting these things. Are they ranged, melee, or both? If you can get in and distract it I can blast it with my magic, hehe, but it would be bad if it ignored you and shot back at me. Hehe, I might die."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

245 / 275

Play Sheet
-30 HP from Sentry

"Sentries are ranged, so they could probably attack you even if I'm in their way..." Hanno said, a bit concerned. Majolica was extremely powerful, but she was still a spell caster, which was expected for her to be a bit squishy. Her plan, however, was perfect for this case. "Don't worry, I will try to catch as much attention as I can from it." He grinned, waiting for his friend to be prepared before he darted off toward it.

Hanno wasted no effort in keeping most of the attention to himself, approaching the mechanical monster sharply and trying to shove his shield on it right away, nearly hitting it with full force.

However, the robot was wary of its surroundings, dodging the attack just in time.

Bzzzt- BZZZZZT-!!

It shrieked robotically, and its 'eyes' glowed with a dangerous bloodied color, not leaving Hanno's reckless attack unpaid. In a matter of seconds, the creature charged up a laser, shooting toward the faerin who was quick to put his shield between himself and the projectile.

Hitting his shield, the laser ricocheted in contact with the dissonant material it held, and as soon as it struck a surface, it opened a wide hole in it.

Hanno's eyes grew wide at the strength of that particular enemy, and he gritted his teeth. "Be careful, Majolica!" He warned, still trying to keep the attention, but the sentry was quick enough to multitask between them.

Rolls

Protect
1d100 (8) + 25 + 15 = 48
48 damage
Protecting @Majolica

Taunting (taunt)

❰ 4 / 4 ❱

DC 50 | 30 Retal​

​

 

[Matilda]

130 / 145

Play Sheet
-15 HP from Sentry (protected from Hanno)

As Hanno rushed out to meet the magitech construct in combat, Majolica would wait for him to engage the creature. When she was sure he had its attention, she dash out of the rubble and readied her magic.

"Good block, hehe, if that would have it might I would have been sad. I'm thankful you still have your shield, hehe! It's as good at blocking as I remember! Now it's my turn! This dummy will feel the wrath of the Grand Witch!"

Charging her mana, a purple magic circle appeared above magitech construct. The magic circle began to sping faster and faster as the spell grew.

"Be careful Hanno! Hehehe, I don't want to hit you with this! If it does hit you, it's going to hurt very badly, hehe."

From within the magic circles, dark sparks began to fizzle, faster and faster, until..

"MAJOLICA MAGICA! WITCH'S FLAME!"

A jetstream of black and purple fire erupted downward like a torch covering the creature in Majolica's Witch's Fire.

@Hanno Futaba

Rolls

@Malzel
Normal Attack
1d100 (77) + 25 + 20 + 25 = 147
147 damage
Dark Magic | Majolica

❰ 2 / 4 ❱

DC 50 | 30 Retal​

[/hp]

 

[Hanno Futaba]

215 / 275

Play Sheet
-30 HP from Sentry

Hanno grinned at Majolica's words. "We are just getting started." He said, knowing he was still a bit rusty, but also knowing that he still had the fighting spirit in him.

At the warning, he stayed wary at her charging up a spell, continuing to call the attention of the sentry and allowing the corrupted fire beam to explode on the robot's surface, sending it flying and making it hit a wall and stagger mid-air.

Bzz- tsss- bzzzzz-

"Nice hit!" As expected, Majolica's spells were as destructive as ever.

Charging, Hanno rose his shield once again, and now that the robot was momentarily stunned, he was able to easily shove his shield against it, crushing it against the wall and trying to keep the pressure.

Part of its body cracked, but as it tried to fight off, the sentry's eyes brimmed once again before blasting a laser that pushed Hanno and his shield away, nearly knocking him down and striking his shoulder. His teeth gritted feeling the burning sensation on his shoulder, but hopefully, he at least got his friend mostly covered from that sudden burst from the sentry.

Its eyes then started brimming, and a small alarm was just about to ring-

"Majolica, we need to get it down now!"

Rolls

Protect
1d100 (47) + 25 + 15 = 87
87 damage
Protecting @Majolica

Taunting (taunt)

❰ 1 / 4 ❱

DC 50 | 30 Retal​

 

[Matilda]

115 / 145

Play Sheet
-15 HP from Sentry (protected)

Ah, the robot got Hanno in the shoulder. We need to finish his fast before we take any more damage, hehe

From the looks of it, Hanno was thinking the same thing as he shouted to Majolica that they needed to finish it off immediately. Thankfully, it appeared that Majolica's magic was effective against the machines. Majolica was thankful for this as if they had been somehow immune to magic, she would have proven rather useless.

"Done and done! Majolica will finish it with this next spell, hehehe!"

Reading her magic once more, A small orb appeared next machine.

"Move, Hanno, hehe, it's gonna blow!"

A second later the orb exploded. Majolica had tried to place the magic bomb behind the machine so it would absorb as much of the force as possible while giving Hanno time to get out of the blast range. As the orb exploded, it blew the magitech contraption to pieces eliminating the enemy.

"Hehehe, we did it! Now hurry Hanno, let's gather up the pieces and carry them somewehre safe so we can look over them, hehe!"

Majolica would run towards Hanno and quickly start gathering as many pieces of the magitech monster as she could.

@Hanno Futaba

Rolls

@Malzel
Normal Attack
1d100 (30) + 25 + 20 + 25 = 100
100 damage

Dark Magic | Majolica

❰ 0 / 4 ❱

DC 50 | 30 Retal​

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno lifted his shield and took a few backsteps just in time, with Ghast closing its eye just before the sphere exploded, sending a shockwave that made Hanno slide across the ground, sinking his feet on it to make sure he wouldn't be knocked away while defending himself from the pieces of the robot that struck against his shield.

"Whew-!" Hanno whistled at the magical power, struggling to regain balance and shaking his head. "With this much firepower, maybe we can handle the bigger ones together." He said confidently, then nodding at Majolica's idea, rushing to collect the bits and pieces of the sentry, shoving them into his bag- Even using a bit of the Inventory feature of his UI, something he usually avoided just in case he ever lost the access to it.

With most of it picked up, the sound of something vibrating from afar caught Hanno's attention.

"Let's hurry, buddy. I think something may have heard our fight." He said, nodding toward the nearest building they could find and hurrying his steps toward it, opening the half broken door and letting Majolica step in first before joining her.

@Majolica

 

[Matilda]

"Hehehe, we make as good a team as we used to!"

Majolica spike chipperly as she picked the pieces of the destroyed magitech machine.

"With a bit more planning I agree, hehe, we can definitely take a bigger one. I think if we can ambush one while it's patrolling we can take it out before it can do anything about it, hehe. It might be good if we had more people to do that though, just in case something goes wrong. Hehe, I don't want you getting blowed up because we misunderstood something. But anyway, let's save this discussion for later. Like you said, hehe, right now we need to hurry, hehe!"

Picking up all the pieces she could, Majolica retreated back to a safer position. Once she was sure that she and Hanno were out of harm's way, she would begin to look at all the pieces, how they went together, what they were made of, and what powered them.

This is all very interesting, hehe, though I don't really understand much. Still, it's good that we can actually destroy them, isn't it? You said you fought one of these before, right?

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"We sure do." Hanno smirked, and as Majolica spoke about a plan, Hanno nodded at her thoughts, mostly agreeing with her idea. There was no need for them to fight so eagerly in a place so dangerous like Vintergard.

"I agree, it is better to build a good strategy first and then come back more prepared. Hopefully this sentry can give us some answers!" Hanno said, and as they finally got into a safe spot, free from the sight of enemies.

He analyzed every single piece of the robot, using the Investigation Mode to carefully peer at everything.

"I did fight one of these before-" Hanno peeked at Majolica. "It is the first time I am seeing it disassembled. My Guard Arts should help me to understand it better." As he continued to study it.

His enhanced investigation mode revealed a few particularities of offensive and defensive characteristics of it, but it didn't explain everything, in terms of magitechnology, explaining all he knew to Majolica before adding the most important part:

"I think we would need someone skilled in magitech to know more, but so far we know that these sentries are weak against electricity and other magitech." He said, glancing at Majolica to hear her opinion.

@Majolica

 

[Matilda]

"Hehe, I think your right. I can't make heads or tails of any of this. Very frustrating, hehe. Does this one look the same as the one you fought? Hehe, here's what I'm thinking. All of these came out from the ship, hehehe, so they're all made by the same people. Those people have to be advanced to have things like this, hehe. So if that's the case, is there anyone that we know or have heard of that can make something similar or even better?"

The little witch stroked her chin.

"I bet there isn't, because if there was someone who could do that or a lot of people that could, hehe, I think we would have already taken back the capitol, right? Hehehe, I guess that's what interests me. If we have so many powerful and smart people, why hasn't anyone tried to get a big group together to take the capital back? Ah, I heard there was a big laser gun in the middle, hehe, is that why?

@Hanno Futaba