Large logs of wood had been sharpened into massive stakes, planted into the ground and forming walls twice the size of any man. Guards roamed up and down these makeshift, but sturdy, defenses, each and everyone warily watching the horizon for any sign of green-skin attack. None here would be caught napping on their watch. Danger was too omnipresent to afford even one man to be lax in his duties.
Their vigilance had been a surprise for Yu. As he'd approached, he'd been met with a well-place arrow at his feet, giving him pause as the guards called down to him, asking his name and purpose in Lubeck. Investigating the white tree that kept luring out the young men and women of the town. At that, they'd stared at him with harsh, appraising eyes before warning him to be cautious, though the Hunter had the distinct feeling that they didn't mean in his investigations. Friendly folk.
For now though, the man leaned against the wooden wall of a building just inside the town's walls, awaiting the other who'd be accompanying him. He'd only met her once before. In-game at least. And Yugam was reasonably certain that they'd met once outside the game, though he intended to confirm once she arrived.
The wary stares and vindictive glares of the guards however made him uneasy as he waited, as they also did to the sword at his hip. There was no need to share mental words between the two for them to know they needed to be careful while they were here. They weren't welcome here. That much was certain. "Ah, c'mon, Moonsong. Hurry up."
Lübeck, a small town downstream of a big lake looked like the perfect place to settle down and live peacefully, if not for the fact that a big goblin tribe is dominating a major city nearby. Militias patrol around the town 24/7 for any indication of greenskin raids, and the security wasn't a joke either.
The guys kept asking about her intentions in the town when they can clearly see the platinum tag hanging on her neck. Not to blame any of them, as the girl looked straight like a hellish supervillain looking to burn the town down to ash.
"White tree." She deadpanned, tapping at the tag a few times, signaling that the Guild is involved in the investigation. The guards nodded, before pointing out that there was already someone also waiting to look into it here; her partner for today, Yugam, who she was certain that she met twice in both worlds during summertime.
And there he was, leaning against a building with an uneasy look on his face. "Apologies." She stated, "Work held me up. I got us some intel though." Moonsong handed him an intel paper, which should be her signature move by now. A sketch of a tree, with a list of townfolks that allegedly went to look for it, left and refused to elaborate further. What gigachads.
The brunette looked left and right, noticing the militias' eyes occasionally glaring at them. "I think we should be on our way now. I don't know if I can stand being looked at like that any longer without skewering them." She suggested.
It was still several minutes before Moonsong finally made her appearance, receiving and equally warm welcome from the guards at the gate. Minus the arrow. Yu was a little jealous of that fact actually. As the heavily armored woman approached, Yu pushed himself off the wall so that he was standing upright.
"No worries," Yu replied to Moonsong's apology as he took the paper from her, unfolding it and examining it for a moment. An image of a tree, which unfortunately drawn in charcoal, looked like every other tree in the region, and a list of names, presumably of those who had ventured out to this mysterious tree, but had no memory of their little outing.
The man folded the paper again and handed it back to Moonsong. "Ok, so, just checking. That was you at Summerfest, right?" the man asked.
"Yep, that was me," she replied casually, apparently unfazed that her true identity had been discovered.
The man nodded briefly. "Dope. Well, your secret is safe with me," he affirmed before looking over at the guards who had not abated in drilling them full of holes with their eyes.
Moonsong said exactly what the man was thinking too. Their stares were unnerving at best, the sooner they got out town, the better. Yu wasn't exactly looking to get lynched today. Even still, the man couldn't help but give a sarcastic response. "What? Them? Lubeck's finest? But they're such lovely folk," he said dryly as he started to walk out of the town and back onto the road.
"Alright, so, any theories on what's up with our mystery tree?" the man asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the guards. The pair didn't really have a lot to go off of when it came to their investigation. Aside from crowds of teenagers heading out, and then coming back with no memory, there was no more information aside from what was on Moonsong's paper. Names, unfortunately weren't that helpful, not when no one would talk to them.
Unlike most others, Yugam just literally asked about their real-world meeting calmly. She would imagine some people who would actually freak out or ask these kinds of things in a roundabout way, but good thing they're both pretty straightforward too. She answered casually while snapping her finger, before chuckling at his response. "It's not a hard secret to crack to begin with. We both looked the same in and out." Maybe it was stupid, maybe they didn't care, or maybe they're already the perfect version of themselves. Who knows.
"Lovely folk indeed. If only they focused their sight more on the greenskins." She talked in the same tone as Yu, but louder as they passed the town entrance, glaring back at the guards. Should at least send some shivers to their skins.
Back on the town outskirts, they headed towards the west where the tree should be. Unfortunately, the intel was limited beyond the existence of the tree itself. "Teenagers." She spouted a keyword after turning her small brain over and over. "Only teenagers were drawn there, so probably...." Moonsong trailed off for a while, before making a completely random guess"... an evil tree entity-god-thingy promising young people power in exchange for virgin blood or something?"
Yeah, there were actually no clues on that. So instead of theorycrafting, she'd rather talk about something else. "So, I actually met your girlfriend Val—Luthien last week,"The brunette teased.
"Uh, we're not dating," he replied with a sheepish chuckle. "Where'd you two meet though?"
Not stopping the tease, the girl sarcastically replied while jokingly making a pouting face. "Really? She said the same thing."She then elaborated. "Vikform. Had to help the village with the harvest problem. Took her, like, literally half a day to recognize me. I don't think my makeup is that thick."
As they talk, the path stopped and the woods are already in front of them.
Yugam withheld a snicker of amusement at Moonsong's comment, her sarcasm quite the match for his own. A marked difference from her behavior out of game. But maybe this was just what she was normally like, when she didn't have the eyes of the public watching her every move. If nothing else, the Hunter found this change in personality to be amusing.
"Could also just be some kids partying it up and not wanting to tell their parents," Yugam pointed out, taking a more realistic approach. "Really think it's a cult or something though?" the man asked, casting an inquisitive look towards the woman. "I mean, that's not really outside the realm of possibility either." This was a fantasy game after all, so Moonsong's guess might not be too far off the mark either.
Yu couldn't help but laugh at the mention of Luthien struggling to recognize Moonsong as Dayeon. For how excited the girl had been to meet the idol at Summerfest, the man was a bit surprised. "I mean, it's thick but doesn't make you unrecognizable," the man said with a laugh. It certainly made her look like some kinda fantasy villain, or an ashen knight, probably the look that woman was going for anyways.
The path ahead of them ended abruptly, the dirt path coming to a halt just before the treeline. "Well, that's not ominous at all," the man said dryly before shifting his rifle from being slung over his shoulder to readily held to shoot at anything that might pop out at them. With all the goblins in the region, it felt like a necessary precaution. "Uh, do we know where this tree is?" Yugam asked his better informed compatriot. "I don't exactly fancy walking around aimlessly, and there are a lot of trees in there." Trees. Forests. What a concept.
She snickered at the thought of the teens having a party in the middle of the woods, surprised at the sense of humor the man has. He didn't speak much when they met during the Summerfest so maybe this is just a sneak peek at his personality."Cult is highly possible, as I've faced some." If there were so many people worshipping the Immortal Heroine statue, there's probably also a cult for this white tree.
Moonsong nodded at Yu's opinion on her makeup. Yeah, even with the amount of makeup, anyone would notice that it was the idol. So why it's taking some people a lot of time to put two and two together?
The hunter readies his rifle as they approached the woods. The girl took an opportunity to scan him; the man's combat equipment is different compared to the scythe-wielding, mecha-toting, element-bending adventurers of the Terrasphere. The long gun would probably be less effective in the tight forest, however, so she prayed that he might have alternatives.
"Yeah, about that. We don't know where the tree is," she put her brains to use, "But, there's a lot of trees that are actually white. This one is specifically mentioned as `the white tree`. My guess is, that it has something of a glow to it."
She knelt at the nearby tree, looking for anything that the kids might've left when they go back and forth. It is the only path towards the woods, so something must be here. "Here." She gestured for the male to get closer and inspect whatever she found on the ground. "Some kind of glimmering dust, with a faint glow on it. Think this is the right track?" When using the investigation mode, there's definitely a trail of whatever these particles are.
"Oh yeah?" Yugam had said at the mention of cults being a very real possibility, and that Moonsong had apparently faced off with them before. "You'll have to tell me about it after we finish up here," he said curious to know what it was like to fight religious zealots, the variety of which weren't just bound to keyboards, but wielded at least some semblance of power. Terrifying, if the IRL keyboard cultists were to serve as the non-powered baseline.
"Might be worth waiting till nightfall then," Yugam suggested at the mention of the tree glowing. At least then anything emitting light would be easily noticed by the pair. "And hey, maybe we'll catch some of those kids-"
"Here," Moonsong suddenly said, drawing the man's attention. The Hunter walked closer, kneeling down beside the woman, peering at the faintly glowing particles on the ground. The man's brows furrowed as he picked up a small amount of the powder on the tip of his finger. He rubbed his finger against his thumb, and the dust easily crumbled into an even finer powder, brittle as it was. He touched what little powder was left on his finger to his tongue. Bitter. Yu spat onto the ground. "Honestly, no clue what that is. What say we follow it?"
"Eh, they're pushovers. To the point that I felt like the bad guy after stomping them." That wasn't entirely false, apparently some people around Camp Hope IV really hated her after getting rid of the cultists, which is even stranger because the cult takes protection money.
"Waiting until nighttime would actually be good, but unfortunately goblins run around this area." The faster they can finish the business, the better. Moonsong was tracking the trail of the dust through her eyes with investigation mode before suddenly Yugam did something unthinkable.
"Did you just..." Moonsong stuttered with disbelief at what the man has done in front of her eyes, almost becoming speechless. "... Lick a random substance off the ground?" She felt like she witnessed the scene of that one android guy from Detroit Become Human processing a piece of evidence. Would be a cool moment if he was a magia detective.
She looked back and forth at the glowing dust and Yugam, before setting off following the trail into the woods. "Let's go, then." A few seconds into the woods, Moonsong couldn't hold her chuckle and decided to ask Yu,"How did it taste? The glowing MSG?"
"Oh...well, that's fucking lame..." the man replied, clearly disappointed. Who would've known that a group of pushovers would turn out to be a bunch of boring, spineless nobodies. You'd think the game would put more effort into crafting an interesting bad guy faction, but oh well. Lost opportunity.
"Did you just...lick a random substance off the ground?" Moonsong asked incredulously. Yu looked back at her with a confused look on his face. "You never seen the cops on TV do that?" the man asked as he stood, dusting his hands. "Ya know, with like cocaine and stuff." Dayeon must've seen it on TV at some point or another. Or at least, in passing, cops shows and movies were everywhere after all. It'd be more surprising if she hadn't seen it before.
"How did it taste? The glowing MSG?" Moonsong asked a few moments later, chuckling as she did so. "Uh, like MSG, but bitter," the man responded. "Apparently coke and meth are supposed to be super chemical tasting, but sweet. And I mean...MSG, tastes like a metric shit ton of salt. But that stuff was bitter. Fuck, really wish I had some chocolate now."
"Emphasis on the word TV." She rebutted, as the girl doesn't think real police do any of these things anyway. "It's highly unsanitary. On the ground and probably mixed with animal dung." Moonsong still cannot fathom that anyone would take something from the ground and put it inside his mouth."Besides, I don't think those teenagers went to the woods to do coke."
Feeling bad for the guy who just probably tasted mud and shit, the brunette materialized a chocolate bar from inventory, passing him one. "Here."It was lightly thrown towards him. "I have a lot of sweets stocked in my inventory."
She went back to investigating the trail, walking slowly deeper into the forest. The glimmering specks of dust were not only on the ground, some of them were also on the tree barks and leaves as well.
"Well, look at that." The ironclad girl pointed straight forwards, where a white glow could be seen among the trees. Looks like they find their culprit already after walking three minutes into the woods. Inspecting closer, the tree was indeed glowing white like a led bar, with no leaves on its branches.
As Moonsong moved one step closer, she could feel her nose getting itchy."Ah-choo!" She tried to cover her mouth and nose with both hands as the girl suddenly sneezed. Weird, it's not even cold in here.
Yu shrugged at the mention of his actions being unsanitary. He didn't get sick often, and he doubted he would in-game either. "Well, they're out here doin' somethin'," Yu said still not exactly sure what that 'something' was. "Besides, would you do coke in your parents' living room? Can't exactly rule out that possibility, or at least something like it. It'd be easier to handle than a cult, I think." Or it'd be harder. Who the hell knew, Yu didn't do drugs, nor did he ever care to.
Moonsong passed the man a chocolate bar, which he took with gratefulness, and mild confusion. This was actually the first sweet Yu had seen in the game thus far. "Thanks," he said, before unwrapping a corner of the bar and breaking off a few pips before handing the remainder back to the woman. Despite his comment, he'd never been much for sweets.
The man popped one of the pieces of candy into his mouth just as Moonsong sneezed. "Geitses," said, before he felt his throat beginning to itch, the urge to cough steadily coughing. The man coughed into his fist heartily, eyes watering slightly, before looking over at the woman. "Something in the air?"
With nostrils and eyes burning, @Yugam and @Moonsong staggered for a moment. Between coughs and sneezes, the world seemed fairly normal, despite the abnormal presence of the glowing tree.
The tree's presence, however, soon became strangely intense... The chilling night wind no longer prickled their skins, in fact, it felt numb, even if they could acknowledge it brushed their hairs and clothes. The many trees around the white one rustled in an endless cacophony... Yet... The white tree remained still.
It almost felt like the strange tree was a mere illusion, a fruit of their imagination.
Before they could think for too long about it, a quiet rumble slowly intensified from beneath their feet, and the glowing of the tree flickered, a moment before it erupted in a blinding brightness, enough to pierce through their skulls and sting their eyes. The firmness of the ground faltered, and as soon as the dazzle caused by the brightness was gone, the two of them felt the world falling.
Thankfully, the fall was cut short-
Perhaps by luck, being entangled by something before it was too late. Maybe by reflex, holding onto something as instinct. Or even for a helping hand, holding one another protectively.
Regardless of how it happened, what was avoided was impossible to not notice:
From below, a swirling abyss at the depths of a crater suddenly formed by countless wiggling roots, brimming with an alien color of an unknown spectrum. From above, a pitch black sky, where the only silhouette that was highlighted was the glowing tree, now moving and crawling its way toward the duo.
The roots slithered toward them, wrapping around wrists and necks, tactfully analyzing them while a outworld-ish whistle came from the entity that approached.
You have three ways to proceed with the spice:
Freeform - Straightforwardly, the players freeform the way they will free themselves from the hallucination, defeat the hallucination or just fall into it even deeper until their EN is depleted. While the hallucination is under effect, the two of them will be attacked by the eldritch tree entity.
Multi-cycle Saves - Fortitude or Will Saves, which must be done in three cycles. Each player will need to surpass a total value of 300 to beat the DC and free themselves from the effects of the hallucination. During these rounds, the hallucination will continue, and if a player can't surpass the total value, the player will continue suffering the hallucination until their EN reaches Zero. The outcome after the three cycles pass is up to the players to freeform.
Semi-Auto Monster Combat - Do not try to resist the hallucination, instead... Fight it!
The entity has 80 DC to hit, 1.000 HP, and 300 SP (breaking the SP will lower the DCs to 30) and it randomly does one of the four actions every round:
1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed.
2 - It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks.
3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others.
4 - It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage.
Massive headache went into her, as the brunette could feel the world crumbling below them. Quick to react, Moonsong instinctively summoned a flying sword and grabbed onto it, before holding on to Yugam as the outworld opened below them."Shibal." She cursed, trying to fight gravity so as to not get consumed by the swirling abyss down there, using her gravitational power to toss the man and herself up back to the ground.
The world is pitch darkness, and the white tree, now gigantic, walks toward them. Yes, the tree. Walks. What more couldn't be clearer?
The dimension doesn't feel entirely bound to reality, with the other dying trees phasing in and out constantly. Is this an illusion?
"--- -- ------- --- --- -----, ----!" The tree boomed, any of it Moonsong couldn't understand at all. "I don't speak vegan, you fucking tree." Does not matter, nothing in any dimension should shit-talk her with any kind of language. She materializes several blades and shoots them towards the massive tree, cutting its branches.
Taunting (taunt)
WARNING
UNKNOWN OTHERWORDLY ENTITY DETECTED
????????
❰ 904/ 1000 ❱
❰ 300/ 300 ❱
Rolls
Save
1d100 (66) + 60 = 126 (You know the hallucinations are not real, but that does not restrict your instinctual desire to flee in fear.)
Will | Moonsong | 1295 | How trippy is it
Protect
1d100 (51) + 25 + 20 = 96 96 damage
Give 1 ally in your zone the Protected status Astramancy | Moonsong | 1295 | Protect Yugam
This entity randomly chooses one of the 4 following actions on it's turn: 1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed.
2 - It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks.
3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others.
4 - It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage.
The wind began to pick up as Yu coughed again. But the ethereal breeze was mysteriously void of the cold night chill that had gently caressed his skin moments earlier. The man hardly noticed the changes, at least, until a soft glowing light caught his attention. White, brightly lit in the rapidly encroaching darkness. But it was still midday. A troubled look flashed across the Hunters face until the rumbling reached his ears, and the world suddenly fell away beneath their feet.
"Fuck!" Yu shouted in tandem with Moonsong before he felt a magical pull slow his fall until he settled softly on his feet upon pitch black darkness, made solid. He felt sightless with how black the world had become. If not for the bright light crawling towards them as it were some insectoid creature, creeping towards the prey caught in it's web, Yugam would have thought himself to be blind.
'This can't be real,' Yu told himself as he heard Moonsong taunt the strange entity. 'It's just like the brambles.' After all, the world couldn't simply cease to exist. Despite this knowledge, Yu could feel his heart racing, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
His lips peeled back into a snarl, as the man extended both arms before himself, one hand hovering above the other as blood began to flow between them, swirling in a dark haze of crimson, slowly forming a roiling sphere. Tendrils suddenly shot from the vermillion sphere, speeding towards the glowing tree creature, wrapping around whatever limbs they could find.
The creature struggled against the tendrils of crimson that bound it in place, writhing furiously. Sweat beaded along Yu's brow as he struggled to keep the creature in place as Moonsong conjured a barrage of blades. The nearly still target flailed as the blades trimmed it's branches, enraged, until the bindings suddenly snapped. The blood-tinged chains shattered before returning to liquid form, falling to the dark ground. Long vines lashed out towards Moonsong, the source of the elder being's pain, intent on punishing her. They whipped around the woman, cracking against her armor, leaving behind deep gouges in the plate.
Will Save
1d100 (65) + 40 = 105 You know the hallucinations are not real, but that does not restrict your instinctual desire to flee in fear. Will | Yugam | 1295
Ultra Hinder
2d100 (47 + 86) + 25 + 20 + 25 = 102 (Total halved) 102 damage to HP and SP. Gain the Vulnerable state Alter Hinder applied, 204 damage to SP Weapon Arts | Yugam | 1295
Roll Result
1d4 (2) = 2 It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks. cocaine tree action
This entity randomly chooses one of the 4 following actions on it's turn: 1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed.
2 - It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks.
3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others.
4 - It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage.
As the battle went on, Moonsong is slowly losing her grip on reality, as things kept popping in and off from her vision. Fighting her headache, the girl got distracted as the elderwood broke free from Yugam's bloodbindings and sent vines cracking towards her, sending her flying backward as they made contact with her armor. She quickly conjured a greatsword that halted her momentum through the air to a stop, before cutting the vines that were still coming towards her in a single slash.
The attack left a crack on her armor, something that shouldn't be possible as she had tanked more deadly attacks before. The girl also felt like some of her ribs broke just now, as indicated by her heavy panting. "The fuck is this thing? How did we get here?" Moonsong threw some questions that Yu most likely doesn't have the answers to.
"Can't get close at this point. We have to take care of the long vines." She suggested while coughing. The world is gradually getting darker, while the tree in turn gets brighter, or at least it looked like that from her point of view. "I'll cover you. Go."
The brunette manifested a set of blades that spins around Yugam, while keeping the tree's pressure on herself by wielding a bigger weapon. "-̵̲̈́̎-̴̢̖̐-̴̩͝ ̸͕͇̆-̸̺̓-̸̮̙͘͝-̵̛̰́͜-̵̹͋͝-̵̳͔͛̾ ̵͍̖̓̀-̴̹̣̆-̸̬̖̎-̴̰̗͊-̵̧͉͊ ̶͙͈͝͝-̵̲̪̉̚-̷̹͇͗-̸̊̂ͅ-̶͇̔͂-̵̟̯̿̊ ̵̜́-̵̘͖̓-̶͖͂͝-̷̢̲̋̍!̴̝̝͝" The gigantic glowing plant roared once more, ready to engage her.
"It seems mumble rappers have found this game and decided to be a giant tree."
This entity randomly chooses one of the 4 following actions on it's turn: 1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed.
2 - It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks.
3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others.
4 - It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage.
The massive glowing tree thing refused to back down, even when Moonsong conjured her giant greatsword and swung it at the hail of impaling vines and branches. "The fuck is this thing? How did we get here?" Moonsong shouted, a pained expression on her face.
"Fuck if I know!" the Hunter shouted back as he began to cast another spell, another orb of blood forming in his hands.
"I'll cover you. Go," Moonsong ordered as a halo of deadly blades manifested around the man. "On it!" The Hunter dashed forwards, the orbs of sanguine still growing as he sped towards the massive tree entity. He leapt upwards, bouncing off of branches, the speeding vines, anything that could give him enough purchase to propel himself further upwards. It wasn't until he was above their foe, and out of platforms to jump across, that the man finally cast his spell. Slamming the two orbs of blood together, Yugam thrust his arms downward towards the eldritch being. "Seal!" Blood burst forth, massive crystalline lances crashing into the dark earth around the tree, impaling some stray roots and forming a cage around the monster.
An eerie howl crackled through the air as the tree's body crashed into the immovable lances of blood. Refusing to be contained, the tree sprouted a new branch from it's torso, shooting towards Moonsong at high speed, closely trailed by vines.
Save
1d100 (75) + 40 = 115 You know the hallucinations are not real, but that does not restrict your instinctual desire to flee in fear. Will | Yugam | 1295
Ultra Hinder
2d100 (49 + 68) + 25 + 20 + 25 = 94 (Total halved) 94 damage to HP and SP. Gain the Vulnerable state Weapon Arts | Yugam | 1295
Roll Result
1d4 (4) = 4 It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage. what da tree do?
This entity randomly chooses one of the 4 following actions on it's turn: 1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed.
2 - It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks.
3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others.
4 - It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage.
Every time a tree in the surrounding phased out of existence, a sharp pain could be felt inside her head, as if the world she is perceiving was slowly breaking apart. She was going to write this off as a illusion, but the damage from the vine whip certainly felt real.
Dashing around on her greatsword like a surfer, Moonsong dodged the white vines sprouting from the grounds, circling the gigantic tree as Yugam tries to hold it in place. A blood cage slowly forms, trapping the tree inside. When it stops, they should be able to cut it open with one strike.
Or so they thought. The unknown being realized their plan and targeted the pesky sword-dancer. This time, the tree's echoing growl was audible to both of them.
❰TANK· B USTER❱
❰I V O R Y ·D O M I N A T I O N ❱
A massive white branch shot from its body towards Moonsong with unbelievable speed and force, sending the girl flying upwards like she was being uppercut by a truck. Vines quickly sprouted from the branch, grabbing her ankles and hanging her upside down. Before the brunette could swing her sword, another pair of thick vines wrapped around her wrists.
"Fuck." She exclaimed, suspended in the air dozens of feet high above. A bigger vine, now slithering around her upper body, applied pressure like it was trying to squeeze a soda can. "Heh, nice try. But my armor is..."Almost indestructive, but that boast alone resulted in Moonsong getting another concussive punch on her unprotected face by the massive branch, before it released a spray of white mist, akin to the white powder they found along the way.
Covered her body with the particle, it slowly eats through the protective layer of her full-body armor. As the vine applied pressure again, she felt her ribs being squeezed together. Wait, this is not possible.The claw gauntlets and her boots are crushed into pieces, while her upper body is still tightly wrapped with massive pressure. Cracks form on the impenetrable breastplate as pieces of it slowly fall apart. "Wait, wait, wait! Stop! Red light!" She shouted a useless command in panic with a reddened face like a balloon ready to pop. It doesn't help that the other vines are quickly wrapping around her upper thighs, scrapping apart the thigh plates of the black leggings like it was nothing, before slithering even higher up.
It was then she couldn't take the humiliation anymore. With monstrous strength, she pulled apart the hardened vine that was binding her right wrist."I said, wait!" With her right arm now free, she summoned a longsword to quickly cut the big branch itself with a big massive swing, causing her to plummet to the ground.
She could barely breathe. Her armor was barely intact. Her dignity is barely there. But if there was a wrong way to fight Moonsong, it's that you shouldn't make her angry.
"You. You will die for this." The brunette growled, massive weapons now pointed toward the tree while the girl tries to cover herself with her arms.
This entity randomly chooses one of the 4 following actions on it's turn: 1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed.
2 - It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks.
3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others.
4 - It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage.
The vines writhed around Moonsong's body, a cloud of white obscuring Yu's vision of the woman. Not that he was paying a lot of attention at the moment, focusing his efforts on keeping the overgrown tree contained.
Blood flowed freely down the man's arms, dripping from his finger tips, feeding the cage with more material for building. Spikes grew from the cage bars, pointed inwards, some snapping against the eldritch being's bark, other's pinning it in place preventing the creature from moving around the blackened arena.
Falling back to earth, Yu's feet struck the ground, his body tucking, rolling, tumbling until he popped back up to his feet beside Moonsong. "Armor's shredd-eh, woah! Your armor's shredded!" the man cried out in surprise. A part of him wanted to cover up his eyes, but the rest of him wasn't about to sacrifice his vision in the middle of the fight. Averting his sight towards the enemy, the man tried to keep his eyes locked on the tree. "H-his armor's gone, all yours," he said quickly.
The massive tree however was not happy to have it's prey running loose again. Another massive branch shot out from between the bars of the cage, swinging down towards the pair like a hammer. "Move!" Yu leapt to the side, but not quickly enough, the massive club slamming into his side and sending him flying alongside a cloud of white dust.
Save
2d100 (Advantage) (12, 83) + 40 = 123 You know the hallucinations are not real, but that does not restrict your instinctual desire to flee in fear. Will | Yugam | 1295
Ultra Hinder
2d100 (22 + 24) + 25 + 20 + 25 = 58 (Total halved) 58 damage to HP and SP. Gain the Vulnerable state Well those are some shit rolls... Weapon Arts | Yugam | 1295
Roll Result
1d4 (3) = 3 3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others. tree doin a thing
This entity randomly chooses one of the 4 following actions on it's turn: 1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed.
2 - It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks.
3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others.
4 - It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage.
Hopping behind the massive cut branch to take cover, Moonsong quickly opened her palm UI to check her status.
The nigh-indestructible armor set from hell was stripped down to nothing, and even the remaining ones are slowly being eaten by the white powder, the percentages dropping down by each second. It tanked Kurungaar Mother's earth-splitting laser just fine, so what's up with these particles? Does it only eat inorganic matter?
Yugam came tumbling and landed beside her, reporting on the successful strategy as he suddenly cried out looking at her. "Armor's shredd-eh, woah! Your armor's shredded!" Moonsong quickly covered herself and told him off. "No looking! Focus on the enemy!" Thank God he was quick to do so, else she would have to punch his lights out.
Quickly summoning her surfboard greatsword, she zoomed across the battlefield to avoid another big attack. With no more pesky armors to block her flying blades, she created a dozen spinning saws to cut the upper branches of the nightmarish tree, before it suddenly grows a face and screamed. Wait, is that a face on the gigantic tree? What the fuck? Could it be the weakness?
"̸̨̗̭͚͠S̷͇̎̕̚ū̵̡̙̮̓̐͝͠ͅb̸̪̄m̸̨̞̫̩̀͘͝ͅḯ̵̙͙̦͉̣t̴̪̟̗͓͂͒̈́ ̷̣͊t̷̛͈̟͍̰̖̒̉̌̃ŏ̸̺̮̬̠̇̈́̐͒ ̶̗̬̺̱͎̿͒̆y̵̭͍̕o̶̠͛͆ų̶̛̫͔̜̤̊͗͘͠r̸̘̟̥͍̪͐̐͑̓ ̸̭͆̀̆͘͘g̷̻͐ȏ̴̭͍̌̕ḑ̵̱̤͓̱̀̈́͂̿̾"̴͇̲̏̒ It boomed across the dimension, sending the whole world spinning once more as it brought down another gigantic branch slamming down, splitting the very earth below them into the abyss. The impact was enough them into the side, thankfully averting a fatal hit due to Yugam's reflex and Moonsong's precognition. Her left shoulderguard shattered as she hit the ground rolling. It does not take a second for the songstress to get up from this injury, however with almost no armor to cover her, the tumbling caused several cuts to her body. "Ow." She clutched her arm.
This entity randomly chooses one of the 4 following actions on it's turn: 1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed.
2 - It whips randomly three times with its roots. Each attack deals 15 damage. If taunted, the taunter takes all three attacks.
3 - It slams, attacking the area and hitting all the players. It deals 25 damage to everyone. If taunted, it deals 45 damage to the taunter and 5 damage to the others.
4 - It grabs a target's limbs and starts trying to rip them off by brute force. The target must roll a DC 80 Fortitude Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 30 damage. If taunted, the taunter is targeted by a Taunt Buster, receiving 100 damage.
A flurry of glowing spinning blades sliced through the air as Moonsong began to fly through the air on her sword-board, quicker than before given her missing pieces of armor. Yu watched her with an extended hand following her erratic movements as closely as he could, as the violet energy of his life force seeped from the pores of his skin, lancing their way to the woman swirling around her and sinking into her skin.
Above his head, the man heard a voice boom out, "S̶̞͖̗̑͒͒͛̚ǘ̵̳̪̹b̸̢̯̜͎̟̑͌m̶̦̻̿̿̋̇͐i̷̻̋̀ţ̷̝̀͛̏̉̈̚͘ ̵̭̐̋̐̐̔͠͝t̴͖̔͌̍̽͘o̸̢̗̱͔̠̝͑̽͂̓͘͜ ̷̛̗̺̖̣̞͚͈̕ỳ̸̜ō̶̱͈̝̤͉̈̋̃̓̽͝ͅu̷̞̦͒͗̓͋͘r̴̦̻͎̰̩̺̜̄͠ ̷̢̥̗̇͆͗̌́͘g̸̭͔̭̬̰̥̓̋̀̑̔͑o̸̺͎̹͈͕͗͒͋̓͝͝d̸̟̱̰̂̊̃͊̌͝ͅ!̷̢͉̖̲͌͛̀͆͐͛̎͜͜ͅ" The cacophonous voice grated against Yu's ears as he looked up at the 'god' as a face began to form in the flesh of the tree's trunk, a hideous caricature of an old man, one eye large that the other, the brow ridge drooping, toothless mouth gaping open. From the depths of it's open mouth a mass of writhing vines launched themselves at Moonsong again, so swift there was no way she'd be able to avoid the onslaught. Caught in the barrage of vines, Moonsong was knocked clean off her board, arcing through the air towards the ground as the vines rushed at her once more, intent on binding their victim in their inescapable grasp.
Save
2d100 (Advantage) (87, 25) + 40 = 127 You know the hallucinations are not real, but that does not restrict your instinctual desire to flee in fear. Will | Yugam | 1295
Roll Result
1d4 (1) = 1 1 - It attempts to grapple and strangle a random target unless taunted. The target must roll a DC 80 Reflex Save to avoid being grappled and receiving 45 damage. If taunted, the taunter must make the same save but receive 70 damage instead. A grappled target receives 10 damage at the start of every cycle until it is freed. tree goes brrt
