Complete 18+ Main Story (S4 Finale) DRAGON.end - Phase 3

Langley · Feb 19, 2023

45 / 125

Health
-80 HP (Szofrit's Attack)

Status
▪ Location: Team 1
▪ Alone Together
▪ Normal

For some time after the fact, Lana could only think, 'Oh. Not again.'

She clutched at the ragged shoulder joint, feeling hot blood spurt through the gaps between her fingers, too strong a deluge to stem. It hurt, it was agony, and Lana's thoughts turned towards irreverence to try to prevent herself from fixating on the pain to the exclusion of all else.

She was lucky that the mechanical woman before her hadn't launched another attack while she was still dumbfounded by the loss of a second arm. Luckier still that when she managed to come back to herself, she realized she was no longer alone.

After a brief exchange with the others, most of whom were in as bad shape as she was, she maybe had a better handle on herself. The situation. Things in general. Just a little.

She couldn't sit here and do nothing. As @Vina Skysong and @Tetsunosuke worked their restorative magic (both literal and figurative), as @Zelrius and @Magi Heart pressed the assault against the implacable foe before them, Lana pushed herself forward. She didn't have the game UI, or the fluidity with which she could pilot this body back when she could still pretend to be Langley.

But she had The Arm. She could still remember, though hazily, the sensation of it twisting its form, guiding her attacks with preternatural ferocity. She could use some of that now.

She tried to clench the seven-fingered hand into a fist; it resisted. She tried to lift it, direct it as she would any other limb; again, it resisted. Desperate, she said, "Goddamnit! Hey! Hey, please. Could you- could you just help me out here!?"

Crack.

The sensation was so foreign that Lana didn't register it at first. But the arm raised itself, palm twisting to face Lana. And then she could see what it was: the bone-and-horn shell around her palm had split open, painlessly, and within she saw clusters of bulbous, toothy teratoma and a half-formed eye peering at her.

Somehow she resisted screaming. Maybe her brain was just overloaded by now.

The eye blinked. A smooth tongue-like lash of muscle lolled out of the lipless mouth. «help? feast?»

...

......

The sound of battle and desperate struggle continued ahead of her. There was no time for questions, to weigh risk against reward. "Yes!" she cried. "Please!"

«okay. helping. feast for mother»

The arm turned towards Szofrit. Lana felt it pulling at her, like a dog straining against a leash, urging her forwards. She managed to keep herself from stumbling over her own feet as the arm pulled her into a run, and reared back to throw a punch right at Szofrit's side.

Rolls

(F) Alter Hinder
You may distribute HP and SP damage however you'd like when you use Hinder and Ultra Hinder.
Langley

(BA) Alter Hinder
Deal an extra 10 SP damage when you attack.
Langley

Hinder
1d100 (25) + [15] + 5 + 5 + 10 = 60
60 SP damage
Guard Arts | Langley | 1745C2

Converted to 60 HP damage

Duel
▪ Damage: 12178
▪ Build Sheet

Eva · Feb 19, 2023

Health
-60HP from Szofrit's Attack
+24HP from heal

Status
▪ Location: Team 3
▪ Vulnerable->Normal (@Asher's Protect)

Every shot was a clean hit, but Szofrit did not falter, slowly but surely closing the distance as Eva hopelessly released more and more bolts toward the magia who finally got close enough to swing her weapon. Using her nanorifle to block the strike, the shapeshifting weapon broke into pieces and the white-haired inventor was sent flying back.

She tumbled and quickly popped a smoke grenade below to hide her whereabouts as she recover. There's something weird happening after that attack though, as she suddenly detected multiple others. More enemies? Allies? Licking the bleeding wound on her wrist, she jumped out of the smoke to find out.

"Huh."

There wasn't any familiar face, but the way they dressed exposed that they were in fact Starcalleds. Exhaling in relief, she was quickly reminded that Szofrit was still in the space with them. Jumping back and taking a defensive position, her hand reached for her waist bag and took out a spray of first aid spray, and covered the air around the group with painkiller mists.

"Hope this helps for a while. Be careful."

Rolls

AoE Heal
2d20 EX (11 + 9) + 15 + 10 = 45 / 3 (0 explosions)
+15 HP to 3 targets
AoE | Magitech | Eva | 1745C2

Roll Result
2d20 (12 + 13) = 25
Power Heal Extra Dice | Magitech | Eva | 1745C2

Power Heal = (45 + 25) / 3 = 24 HP to @Sean Poteitoku @Inari @Eva

(BA) Boost
+2 extra movements to @Sean Poteitoku.
Eva

Duel
▪ Damage: 12178
▪ Build Sheet

MAI · Feb 19, 2023

Nothingness. It expanded evermore, covering the girl's consciousness entirely. All she could recall was a guillotine, raised high and coming down at her. All of her defenses gave way as if welcoming death eternal. Was there any pain? She could not recall. Her pain limiters were always turned on, for she was a coward unwilling to face the consequences of her bad actions. And yet, it felt as if even that barrier could be easily shattered by Szofrit, as if she could cause pain beyond any other, shattering the girl's very mind.

But her eyes opened once more, and in front of her was a light. Erick's warm and protective light as he shielded them all, regardless of who they were. MAI tried to move, but it was difficult. Fingers traced her artificial skin to a horrid realization - there was a gash. From the very top of her head, trending down and slightly left, all the way down to near her stomach. Szofrit had cleaved her near in half, her face and chest split in two at the front. The cut was not deep enough to truly sever the two halves, but it would have been enough to kill anyone of flesh and blood instantly.

"G̸h̵h̷.̵.̴.̶ ̵a̵h̴h̶.̴.̶.̷ ̵a̵-̴a̷-̵a̶l̶i̵v̶e̸-̵?̴!̶"

Unsurprisingly, she found it difficult to speak with even her mouth slit in two. But, somehow, she was not dead. It seemed that having a central computing system somewhere else than in the head was rather beneficial... being literally brainless had somehow saved her. What a jolly occasion indeed. As everyone else scrambled to bring forth healing and protection against their enemy, still advancing on them with no mercy, the magia's eyes started to wander around. Kyanna, was she here? Where... where, where, w̸h̷e̶r̵e̸, w̸̮͠h̵͔͂è̵̯r̴̲̂ė̵̟, w̸͖̫̰̺̒͛́ȟ̶̊̎̌͋ͅe̵͈̐r̷͕͍̀̑̓͒̕ẹ̵̋͌̿̀̌͜ͅ, where?!

Not here. Kyanna wasn't here. MAI had to find her... that black witch, she wasn't ready for any of this. To protect her... yes, to protect Kyanna was MAI's sole mission, right? It took the girl a few attempts to stand back up, falling back down onto her knees on occasion but always bringing herself to stand once more. Reaching down, to the abyssal floor... she picked up a severed arm. Her own arm that got cleaved away right above the wrist as she tried to defend herself against Szofrit's attack. Without hesitation, she brought it to the arm where it belonged, and with several sparks, the internal systems welded it back on.

"Even with p̸a̷i̵n̴ limiters t̵u̸r̸n̵e̶d̵ ̴o̴n̴... this is n̶o̶t̷ exactly id̴e̵a̴l̸. I must g̸o̵ ̵a̷h̶e̵a̷d̶... protect K̶̰͚̄̂ẙ̶͍͉a̷͖̍̎n̶̓͛ͅṋ̵̢̈́̅a̴̡̐̉. Where is K̶͚̏y̶͍͝a̵͈͛n̴̼̉n̷̪̓ą̷̀?!"

As she mumbled to herself, she fell once more after reaching Erick and Lune. As her knees and palms hit the ground, however, the space-time itself distorted around all of them. Whether it was intentional or not, it was an additional layer of protection. Some would have the benefit of distorted space, making attacks miss, others would see their wounds start rewinding as if they never even existed.

Rolls

▪ Buff: +00 (1)
▪ Save: +00
▪ Inspire: +00

(F) Guardian
Mitigate 15 damage from yourself or allies when you target them via an action or a BA.
Aura | MAI | 1745C2

(BA) Savior
Give 3 targets within range 25 to a save roll next cycle.
Aura | MAI | 1745C2

AoE Heal
2d20 EX (20 + 12 + 3) + 25 + 20 = 80 / 3 (1 explosions)
+27 HP to 3 targets
AoE | Magitech | MAI | 1745C2

Distribution: +5 damage mitigation and +25 to a save roll to self, @Bradwynne, and @Erick Stryker
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ +27 HP to self, @Bradwynne, and @Erick Stryker

Duel
▪ Damage: 12178
▪ Build Sheet

Aerial · Feb 19, 2023

"We cannot return. Why should you?"

Rejected.

The Mother of Machines felled the woman with one sweep of her sword. As her visions faded, watery eyes stared up at Szofrit. No amount of desperate pleas would pierce through her metallic exterior. Of course. How stupid could she be? Szofrit's goals and true intentions were unknown. But her last words brought a sense of understanding.

A second death. One more and, like those she searched for, she would be trapped forever within the System - bonded together by strings of codes. She allowed the Mother to claim her second life with hardly any resistance. And for what? A mere delusion.

Magic stirred up her still heart. No. She tried to resist the call - the summon back to her tomb. One more and she would - She would, what? Lose the life she had outside of Terrasphere? That'd already been stolen from her two years ago. Hell, there might be more opportunities to pursue her friends as a permanent resident of the game.

But, the stories said that memories were wiped when the System fully embraced them. She couldn't risk that. Or could she? Fuck. She didn't know what to do anymore.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, her blurry vision spotting a few humanoid figures now residing within her purgatory. She recognized the pink-haired woman (@Rael) and the golden elf (@Luthien). Before they'd been exiled to the Shadow Realm, they had all been together. Discussing Szofrit. Talking about some golden egg of hope. Looks like it got them just as far as herself.

Hah. Misery loves company.

Should she still fight? She owed these people no allegiance or support. She recalled @Zelrius approaching the pink healer. The man didn't take interest in many so she must be special. Dammit.

Slowly, she rose with an unreadable expression. There was no sign of the previous light-hearted humor from moments earlier. How long had even passed? Or, better yet, did time even matter right now?

Their ragtag team was falling apart: mentally, emotionally, and physically. They needed to play defensively if they wanted to have any chance at survival.

Magic tried - and failed - to counter the onslaught.

Rolls

(F) Momentum
(4 * 5) = 20 bonus momentum damage

Dynamism | Aerial

Counter
1d100 (18) + [10] + 15 + 10 + 20 = 73
73 damage
Counter failed, 10 damage added.
No mitigation.

Astramancy | Aerial | 1745C2

73 total damage

Duel
▪ Damage: 12251
▪ Build Sheet

Bradwynne · Feb 19, 2023

167 / 200

Health
-160 HP (Szofrit's Attack)
+88 HP (Heal; 37 from @Kamala Graham, 24 from self, 27 from @MAI)

Status
▪ Location: Team # 7
▪ Alone Together

As Bradwynne unleashed a powerful combo of swings, he found himself being countered by Szofrit in every swing, and, blow by blow, he was being overwhelmed. He knew that he might die if this continued, and so he then pulled back immediately. Although Bradwynne was banged up quite by much, it seemed as if Szofrit was not that much affected.

It was really frustrating for him fighting a battle against one that does not tire and moves on even when injured.

The red lightning surrounding him had intensified on the course of him feeling more pain and being angrier with each blow, but he knew from experience that he might actually die before he would give the final blow if this continued, and so he opted to defend as much as possible before going on an offensive again. And so, he then chanted a quick healing spell to heal himself quickly, but then he noticed four other silhouettes coming to view. He then raised his sword to his chest to defend, but he then saw that these were his other compatriots who came to give battle to the robots in Vintergard. But as he looked closer, it seemed that they also sustained injuries that might be greater than his own. And so, although he really wanted to punch this Dissonant robot's face in, he had to maintain the fighting capability of this current ragtag force. He will gain more opportunities for face-punching if he did this anyway.

Mustering his faith for this current party, he then unleashed a wide-area Divine Magic spell that would heal those nearest to him at the moment. He hoped that with this, they would have more chances of fighting this menace.

Rolls

AoE Heal
2d20 EX (4 + 8) + 25 + 20 + 15 = 72 / 3 (0 explosions)
+24 HP to 3 targets
AoE | Divine Magic | Bradwynne | 1745C2

(F) Infuse
+10 HP to your renegation, [defense], or [support] action's target(s). (Given to @MAI)
Mend | Bradwynne

(F) Regeneration
(2 + 2) = 4
Regenerate 4 HP.
Mend | Bradwynne

(BA) Regeneration
Regain the rolled HP and grant an ally the same amount, or forgo your own regeneration and grant an ally double the rolled HP. (Given to @MAI)
Mend | Bradwynne

(P) Overheal
When receiving heals or healing others, you or your allies may go 40 above their max HP.
Bradwynne

+24 HP to @Bradwynne
+24 HP to @Kamala Graham
+42 HP to @MAI

Duel
▪ Damage: 12251
▪ Build Sheet

Toko · Feb 19, 2023

The game might’ve dulled her senses once more and severed the connection to the dormant spirit that lay within, but it couldn’t erase the familiarity of hand-to-hand combat honed throughout Nao’s life. A deep breath was taken, held between her lungs for a fraction of a moment as the woman steeled her resolve, before it escaped in a slow and measured exhale as the woman shifted into position.

Within this cold and bottomless plane she’d come to learn a new lesson, the difference in power and skill between Szofrit and Nao laid bare for the woman to understand in the only way she could. Practiced movements filled with confidence suddenly found themselves deflected, before the hand of the magia grasped the hair along the back of the head. One swift movement had the lepus see her world turn upside down, granted one single moment of clarity to process it all before Toko’s head was smashed onto the invisible ground with all the strength Szofrit could muster.

"It-tai yo..." A pale golden aura had covered the hare seconds before impact, heightened senses restored too before the plain flooded throughout her body. She felt him stir within the confines of her mind once more, his concern quietly leaking into her consciousness and causing a pained chuckle to escape her lips. "Gomen Tsukito Seereh-sama, daijoobu."

Ears flickered as the sounds of others slowly trickled into this once empty void, the back of her hand wiping blood from her lip as the fighter slowly rose back to her feet. The faces of some were more recognizable than others, though there was one in particular that Toko couldn’t remember seeing before—"Kuso!"

It was then she noticed the state of @Hanasakura Okami, the woman’s legs severed entirely from her lower body and scattered to either side of the magia. Hands balled into tight fists as the hare gritted her teeth, her attention then sweeping over @Cleo Looker and @Schilva Flasch before a light sigh of relief escaped the lepus—they were battered and bruised, but nothing close to the situation their magia companion currently faced.

@Hanno Futaba was already at her side, the ever helpful and caring faerin already offering his assistance just as a flicker of magic enveloped the others. His aura clashed with that of her spirit, causing the being within her to recoil at first, before it was finally accepted as they blended together. "You got it, Hanno!!!" A cheeky grin was shot back at her protector and his charge, the hare palming her fist audibly before cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders in preparation—she would fulfill her role to the fullest, or go down trying.

"Iku zo!" Her voice boomed, crimson eyes focused on Szofrit. "Omae no aite wa, oreda!!"

Taunting (522)

With that proclamation the fighter quickly closed the distance between them, blow after blow traded with her opponent. Her muscles screamed, still aching from the thoroughly trashing she’d just received, but their protests were drowned out and ignored as Toko continued her onslaught—a flurry of punches and kicks that were meant to keep Szofrit’s attention on herself instead of their most vulnerable member.

Team Six Round two, fight!
❰ Toko's PlaySheet ❱
Total DMG Dealt: 12425

❰ Rolls & Summary ❱

❰ Bonus Action: Berserk ❱
Gain up to 60 DMG worth of bonus to attacks, heals, or buffs.
Battle Spirits | Toko

❰ Main Action: Ultra Counter ❱
1d100 (9) + [30] + 25 + 25 + 25 + 60 = 174
Mitigating 5 DMG on @Hanasakura Okami. You are vulnerable.
Astramancy | Toko | 1745C2

❰ Free Action: Taunt ❱
(174 * 3) = 522 threat
Toko

Cleo Looker · Feb 19, 2023

143 / 200

Health
-80 HP (Szofrit's Attack)
-10 HP (Exceed)
+43 HP (Heal) from self
+5 HP (Mitigation) from @Hanno Futaba

Status
▪ Location: Team 6
▪ Alone Together
▪ Vulnerable from Power Heal
▪ Protected by @Hanno Futaba

In hindsight, it had been incredibly stupid to try to clash with something so much larger and stronger than herself, though Cleo could at least be thankful that it hadn't actually run her through or split her down the middle or something along those lines, even if the shock had caused her to clench her eyes shut in shock and reflex.

When they opened again, she seemed to not be by herself anymore, surrounded by potential allies, many of whom seemed quite wounded. The rabbit woman in particular seemed pretty alarmingly harmed, though Cleo figured her own wounds weren't exactly something that she could just ignore and leave to fester. She had to take care of herself too.

With her teeth grip, she dismissed the spear she'd summoned, dragging energy from deep inside of herself, to the point of causing that same kind of spiritual friction, before she reached out with the hands of time. @Toko and @Hanasakura Okami would feel their wounds in reverse, as they began to be rewinded out of existence, alongside Cleo's own wounds. Hanasakura's severed legs, in particular, were her main point of focus.

It took a lot of concentration, but Cleo didn't worry about that.

She'd spotted @Hanno Futaba so she knew she was safe.

Rolls

(BA) Exceed
+20 to attacks, buffs, and heals. -10 HP
Evoke | Cleo Looker

AoE Power Heal
4d20 EX (19 + 16 + 6 + 17) + 25 + 25 + 20 = 128 / 3 (0 explosions)
+43 HP to @Cleo Looker @Toko @Hanasakura Okami
You are Vulnerable.
AoE | Chronomancy | Cleo Looker | 1745C2

Duel
▪ Damage: 12425
▪ Build Sheet

Luna Avalbane · Feb 19, 2023

205 / 270

Health
-65 HP (Szofrit's Attack after Mitigation)
+15 HP (Mitigation)

Status
▪ Location: Team 3
▪ Alone Together
▪ Protected by @Asher

Her shockwave had proven ineffective, but her aura had definitely saved her from any serious harm, protecting her from the horrific severing of fingers or hands that would have otherwise occurred. Being alone in this place meant that she didn't have room to make any mistakes and....

And she wasn't alone anymore?

She wanted to speak out, to shout out at @Asher for being a crazy fool and putting his own life at risk to protect as many people as possible. But her voice wouldn't raise and sound wouldn't come out. Her courage abandoned her, at least in that regard, but there was another courage she held.

One that allowed her to place herself between everybody and Szofrit, her pure white aura sparking and flaring to life, glowing like a lone star in this dark void. She reared her fist back, before she punched the air again, sending another shockwave towards Szofrit. A deep breath in, a deep breath out. Her powerful, Beastlord Blessed body turning every breath into power.

Keep your eyes on me, machine!

She snarled, handing herself slightly over to the animalistic fury that she held buried. Never would she be afflicted with the madness the blessings of the Beastlord could inflict, but she could drag forwards that fury and animosity all the same.

Taunting (246)

Rolls

Protect
1d100 (42) + 25 + 15 = 82
82 damage
Give @Asher the Protected State
Aura | Luna Avalbane | 1745C2

(F) Taunt
(82 * 3) = 246 threat
Luna Avalbane

(F) Guardian
Mitigate 15 damage from yourself or allies when you target them via an action or a BA.
Aura | Luna Avalbane

(BA) Savior
Give 3 targets within range 25 to a save roll next cycle. @Eva @Sean Poteitoku @Inari
Aura | Luna Avalbane

Duel
▪ Damage: 12507
▪ Build Sheet

Schilva Flasch · Feb 19, 2023

130 / 160

Health
-60 HP (Szofrit's Attack)
+5 HP (Mitigation)
+25 HP (Heal)

Status
▪ Location: Team 6
▪ Alone Together
▪ Vulnerable from AoE Power Heal
▪ Protected by @Hanno Futaba's Ultra Protect
▪ +25 to a save roll next cycle from @Hanno Futaba's Saviour

This time, the sound that Mylar's - Schilva's - katanas made was not the victorious clamour of steel through steel, but instead...

"Wha...!? But I-"

The mirror spoke one last time as the blades clashed with a futile screech against the impassable object that was Szofrit's neck. Such a humanlike countenance, yet such monstrous strength; no blade of baseborn mortal making could put even the lightest scratch upon what was beyond even the reach of mechanoid perfection.

With an unceremoniously quiet, almost muted ringing, the blades of the much-beloved swords shatter. The fragments are sent flying in all directions from the force of the swing, clattering as they scatter across the depthless darkness.

Searing pain flashes through Mylar's chest and neck as he lands heavily with imbalanced footing, almost falling to the floor with shock. Dropping the useless hilts in his hands to clutch at the shards of broken katana that had lodged themselves in his chest and sliced his trapezius, tears inadvertently spring to Mylar's eyes. This pain ranked only just behind the scorching agony of being nearly being cooked alive by the God-Searing Light, the crimson ebbing and flowing in time with his wild heartbeat.

"-gh-kk-"

Even clutching at his wounds hurt enough to put him on all fours. A single blow to the vulnerable and writhing Mylar could end him. But Szofrit, ignorant to her struggling adversary, fades away into the dark. In her place, friendly figures swim into view behind a blur of tears.

"...damn...it."

Not too proud to disgrace himself, Mylar's pretenses of grandeur are dropped as he crawls towards a familiar but abnormally empty-handed Faerin to take refuge in the protective barrier afforded to him. With the security of the barrier, the pounding fear abated somewhat to the point where Mylar could rub his eyes clear and take in the situation for a moment.

Everyone was in a similarly bad state. The Faerin's helm was almost caved in, blood leaking from beneath it. The rabbit Beastfolk looked concussed but still standing. Another human was using Chronomancy to reverse some severe injuries on the others and herself. But worst of all, the Magia straight up had no legs.

Schilva's splintered blades still reflected the faint light cast by @Hanno Futaba's barrier. The fragments of The Hero's Reflection spoke no more, having met the same fate against the ground when Mylar had dropped it.
There was nobody left to tell Mylar how to continue, to be a hero. Even surrounded by allies, Mylar was more alone than ever before. What remained of the delusion? Just a handful of glittering shards.

Yet...

Yet still, everyone around him still fought on as fiercely as they had before.

In the same state as or even worse than his own, these players- these Starcalled heroes - were still fighting on!
They still believed, through the pain, that they could fight back!
Despite seemingly implacable threat and their mounting injuries, despite the fact that their human selves were now exposed to the true brutality of Terrasphere, they continued to struggle for survival!

It was then that Mylar understood. Watching the assortment of nearly strangers jump to aid and cover each other, he understood;
This was at once a battle for the world of Arcia, for their avatars in this world of fantasy...and also for the worlds of each and every single person there!

What excuse did that leave Mylar himself?

...fffFFFIGHT OOOOOONNNNN! FIGHT OOOOOOONNNN!

Starting as a weak cough in his throat and rising into a rumble, then a roar from the depths of his chest, Mylar's conviction - Schilva's conviction - made itself heard!

Without knowing how or why he could, Mylar taps into the redheaded healer's spell with a common frequency of his own Chronomancy to contribute his own Dynamism into the mix, both conducting it towards the reckless rabbitfolk and piggybacking off it to accelerate its working on the legless Magia dramatically.
He could feel his own body unraveling at the seams as cause and effect reversed themselves, spilt blood flowing back into veins and the broken sword in his flesh jumping away, seeking other its pieces.

Still screaming out phrases of encouragement, Mylar's feet lifted themselves off the ground like a video in double-reverse, hands curling slackly before clutching around a hilt that flew back into a now-tightened grip.

Each fragment found its place, in each hand a blade reforged. Each splinter returned to the shell, time defied.

The mirror spoke no more. It had no need to.

Now, truly, it cast back to Schilva - to Mylar - the reflection of a hero.

Rolls

(P) Rover
All damage resulting from moving is halved.

(BA) Rush
Double your total movement count this cycle.

AoE Power Heal
4d20 EX (7 + 7 + 17 + 13) + 15 + 15 = 74 / 3 (0 explosions)
+25 HP to 3 targets: @Hanasakura Okami, @Toko and @Schilva Flasch
~~Schilva is Vulnerable.~~
Negated by Protected!
AoE | Chronomancy | Schilva Flasch | 1745C2

Duel
▪ Damage: 12507
▪ Build Sheet

Shadow · Feb 19, 2023

23 / 175

Health
-160 (Szofrit's Attack)
-13 HP (Corruption)
+27 HP (@Ilusa Nakhalee)

Status
▪ Location: Team 5
▪ Alone Together
▪ Ultra Vulnerable from Twice Critical

Kiriya had missed his counter. Completely outclassed, outmatched, crushed by the might of the evil before him. However, whatever idealism that kept him upright despite his trembling legs and heavy sword spurred him forward.

If only the shadowy corruption had not caught up to him and demanding its due in full.

When Shadow asked his team for support, they delivered.

A warm heal from @Ilusa Nakhalee to keep the Reaper at bay, a vengeful buff from @Tick Tock to cut Szofrit.

Looking down at his battered and broken body before directing his gaze to the rest of the people there, the supports, @Alecto and @Fina Drago. Kiriya gave them a nod of acknowledgement as he turned, his coat fluttering in the wind of his own making. His sword was pointed directly toward Szofrit who loomed over @Ayna Nietzsche.

Shadow descends when the darkness clear. I'll open the path for you.

He rushed past Ayna and executed his attack.

Howling Bladewrath: Double Demon Arcs!!!

Rolls

▪ Buff: +13 (1) +26 (1)
▪ Save: +00
▪ Inspire: +00

(P) Corruption
(10 + 3) = 13
+13 to attacks, heals, or buffs. +7 to checks.
Corruption advances, lose 13 HP...
Corrupt | Shadow

(Medium Armor Ability) Twice
You may perform 2 actions and 1 BA or 1 action and 2 BAs this cycle.
Shadow | 1745C2

(BA) Duelist
+30 bonus damage when you attack an enemy in melee.
Shadow

Critical Attack
2d100 (Advantage) (97, 58) + [40] + 15 + 15 + 15 + 13 + 30 = 675 (Crit!)
675 damage
You are Vulnerable.
Slash Weapons | Shadow | 1745C2

Buffed by @Tick Tock: 26 * 3 (critical) = 78

Critical Attack
2d100 (Advantage) (45, 88) + [40] + 15 + 15 + 15 + 13 + 30 = 216
216 damage
You are Vulnerable.
Slash Weapons | Shadow | 1745C2

Total Damage: 675 + 78 + 216 = 969 damage

Duel
▪ Damage: 13476
▪ Build Sheet

Hanasakura Okami · Feb 19, 2023

120 / 120

Health
-60 HP (Szofrit's Attack)
+10 HP (Mitigation)
+50 HP (Heal)

Status
▪ Location: Team 6
▪ Alone Together

Her conviction to survive was met with an accompanying blow. However whatever the hell Szofrit was, she had terrifying strength. The magia found herself being thrown backwards by Newton's Third Law and her legs breaking off from her lower half as friction pulled them right off. Thankfully however, it seems her will to survive was met with some degree of familiar faces. Cleo was an especially welcomed sight, since pleased to meet someone she had at least spent some social time with.

"Ugh... Good thing there's no blood," Okami was not going to test how her real life body might react to gore. Okami felt a breath of relief as she felt her legs reattached together thanks to the combined healing efforts of @Cleo Looker and @Schilva Flasch. Once she got back onto her feet, she gives @Hanno Futaba a pat on the shoulder.

"I trust you to have my back then..." Okami didn't know who he was, but considering his first action was to protect her, the magia felt some trust. Even if her tone of voice wasn't very good at expressing such an emotion. Okami flourishes her blade and channels her Dynamism once again. She's going to need to find a proper opening if she wants to help these people. The rabbit woman, said things that she understood. Another Japanese, how surprising.

"Right... My turn... Shining Blue..." Okami runs her hand down the length of her katana's hilt towards the cross guard. "Topaz Crush!" The swordswoman would disappear into a pink blur that rushed towards Szofrit, swinging her katana down with an overhead strike, hoping to at least give an opportunity to her allies and herself by break the boss's guard.

Rolls

▪ Save: +25 to a save thanks to @Hanno Futaba's Saviour

(BA) Rush
Double your total movement count this cycle.
Hanasakura Okami | 1745C2

(F) Momentum
(8 * 5) = 40 bonus momentum damage

Dynamism | Hanasakura Okami
Stable Attack
6d20 EX (9 + 9 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 7) + 10 + 10 + 20 + 40 = 118
118 damage (Explosions: 0)

Slash Weapons + Momentum | Hanasakura Okami | 1745C2

Duel
▪ Damage: 13594
▪ Build Sheet

Ludmilla Orphys · Feb 19, 2023

90 / 190

Health
-100 HP (Szofrit's Attack)
+00 HP (Mitigation)
+00 HP (Heal)

Status
▪ Location: Team 4
▪ Alone Together
▪ Vulnerable from Ultra Protect
▪ Protected by [n/a]

Even in the darkness, there was only the cocoon.

What could this mean? How had the schism between Brie's and Ludmilla's splintered personae affected this? Was Brie's mind inside that cocoon, experiencing whatever metamorphosis Ludmilla had intended to complete before this sudden change of events? What was 'Ludmilla'?

Either way, it mattered not to the Mother of Machines which consciousness resided in the body of Ludmilla Orphys, only that what spilled from within was Starcalled blood. In all, this one had merely made her job easier, hiding in that flimsy shell.

The guillotine rose and fell.

Easily tearing through the layers of organic armour encasing the cocoon, the blade of the executioner crushed and rent with pure inertia what would have otherwise stopped fine steel dead in its tracks.
From within is disgorged a flood of blood, bile, stomach acid, pieces of undigested flesh and, similarly, bones. Seems like whatever processes were happening inside had been rudely interrupted, the cocoon deflating until it was a sad half-collapsed blob resembling a burst abscess.

Seeing as her job was done, the cold gaze of the Mother shifted elsewhere, and the dregs of her assault were thrown amidst those who remained. In honesty, the smear that had become of Ludmilla probably wasn't so surprising to witness, taking into account what was left of @Lilith and whatever @Jin had morphed into. Seems like only @Nyx and @Madison Freebird still possessed any sense or sanity. Or, you know, normal physiology.

Then, something inside the cocoon
began to move.

...pAin...WhY...paiN...so mUCh...

At first, its voice was faint. Just a groaning whisper from within the confines of the skein that Szofrit had cut open, a wriggling lump from within the ~~egg~~ cocoon that had been forced to hatch.
Then, a section of it began to sag inwards. No, it was not sagging; it was being sucked inwards.
Then, marks. From the inside. Ringed, regular. Teeth.

...hatCH...fOoD foR...hATch...

Crunching like dry leaves underfoot, the cocoon was devoured. Recycled.
One bite at a time to begin with, the patch that had sunken in disappearing first down the gullet of the thing that emerged from its incomplete metamorphosis, then larger and larger chunks until it had reintegrated the whole cocoon into its body. The entire process took no more than half a minute. Soon, it was standing.

Unrecognisable to those present as any living being, the mass of melted flesh and suspended fragments of bone rose together as one, lifted by tendon and sinew twisting, intertwined. Atop it sits a mop of matted blonde hair, a skull shorn open by brute cleaving force. Grey matter is spattered across shards of pinkish cranium. More parts began to to trickle out as if from a faucet beneath it; pieces of animals, mismatched limbs, such physiology that did not belong to humanoid bodies.
Eyes open on the wrong side of her head.

Myriad organs mold themselves into an eldritch wave.

...hh--hhaaa---hhehhehahahaahahha-

Not so much laughing as trying to speak words that would not form, the lumbering mass lurches towards Szofrit and past its 'allies', ignoring the broken husk of the death knight but flinging out tendrils of dripping gore towards the others. Though the melted flesh did not staunch blood or suture wounds, it adhered to wherever it landed like a film of quick-drying glue, hardening into layers of somewhat cumbersome but protective keratinous platemail.

Whether this was an instinctual reaction to movement outside of the thing's control or if some consciousness was struggling to be heard within, none could tell. For all intents and purposes, it did not seem sentient, self-aware, not in any way the human mind would define as such.

It simply slammed its almost liquid, yet at times too disturbingly solid bulk against the Mother of Machines, fighting alongside the similarly unrecognisable Bloodsworn; that monstrous kinship only grew more tenacious with each whipping tendril, clawing talon and gnawing mouth. Especially where mouths should not be. What its goal was in doing so, not even the mass itself knew.

All it knew was hunger and pain. Hunger, mania, fury and pain...and mother.

Rolls

(P) Corruption
(5 + 20 + 18) = 43
+43 to attacks, heals, or buffs. +22 to checks.
~~Corruption advances, lose 43 HP...~~
(BA) Suppress Corruption # Ludmilla Orphys
Corrupt | Ludmilla Orphys

Ultra Protect
1d100 (58) + 10 + 10 + 43 = 121
121 damage
Give 3 allies within range the Protected State (@Jin, @Nyx, @Madison Freebird).
Ludmilla is Vulnerable.

Beast Arts | Ludmilla Orphys | 1745C2

Duel
▪ Damage: 13715
▪ Build Sheet

Ueno Mizuki · Feb 19, 2023

210 / 275

Health
-80 HP (Szofrit's Attack)

Status
▪ Location: Team 2 (@Blader X, @Chrys, @Elizabeth Lixshine, @Harper, @Seigi Ling Ling)
▪ Alone Together
▪ Vulnerable from Ultra Protect
▪ Protected by @Chrys

Mizuki had expected Szofrit to be too much for her to handle alone, but evidently her confidence in her own abilities had still led her to underestimate the magia's speed. Instead of creating some space between herself and the guillotine-wielding machine she found her opponent right in front of her, and before Mizuki could do so much as strike at her synthetic fingers dug into her chest, parting skin and flesh like wet paper before grasping the luna wolf's beating heart and tearing it free.

Veins snapped as the limits of their elasticity were reached and surpassed, strings of fat and muscle clung to her chest, and a spray of blood accompanied the sudden release of the huntress's most vital organ, painting her own front and Szofrit's arms. Mizuki herself let out a pained gasp, her hands going to the wound but faltering halfway as the liquid which granted her life was quickly leaving her body, dripping onto the ground as a steadily-growing puddle. Her voice betrayed her as a bloody froth seeped into her lungs.

Y-You...!

Her mismatched eyes were wide, both gold and ice looking from Szofrit to the heart that had always soundly nestled within her chest but which was now out in the open, left to rot by the uncaring goddess of metal.

A heart that was still beating.

The blood which was pooling on the ground stirred, tendrils spreading out from the central mass which curled and twisted across the textureless surface until they found Mizuki's feet, crawling up her legs as the pool at her feet grew smaller and smaller. The stream of blood sliding down her front reversed itself, running back up towards the wolf's insides.

As her spilt blood slithered back up her torso and into the wound Szofrit had inflicted on her Mizuki's amber eye flickered, the golden harvest moon turning into a sanguine blood moon. From the wound tendrils of red liquid shot out, reconnecting with the bleeding heart and pulling it back into her chest, veins reattaching themselves. The wound itself remained, but rather than exposing the cavity the Mother of Machines had been planning to leave inside Mizuki's body it instead allowed her to watch as the luna wolf's heart beat as fitfully as ever.

Don't take my heart if you're not planning on eating it.

Sharp fangs revealed themselves as Mizuki spoke again, her voice rough as her eyes affixed themselves to the synthetic preacher once more. Her enemy disappeared before she could do more than that, however, instead replaced by a figure which looked the same but lacked the killing intent of the first.

Mizuki's ears twitched and she glanced around, noticing that she was once again accompanied by allies. Some she recognised, others she'd only seen from a distance, but all of them were facing the same enemy, which for now was good enough.

We've got time for that later! Focus on what's in front of you!

She barked these commands at @Harper, the tigress as always too hotblooded to keep her attention on a single thing at a time. Her gaze went to @Seigi Ling Ling, the heroine who as always met adversity with a cheerful attitude.

If you can turn her off go for it, but don't go overboard. (She flexed her hands, fingers turning into claws as dark fur sprouted all the way from her fingertips to her elbows.) She won't be of any use to us dead.

As for the others... well, they knew what they needed to do. For now she had to make sure Szofrit didn't fill her with even more holes.

Let's go.

Slamming her clawed hands against the ground blood spread out across the vast expanse, forming a network as erratic as the web of a crazed arachnid. From the network plants sprouted, layers of crimson bark cladding spikes that shot up into the air as branches split off at random intervals. Within seconds a crimson forest had taken form, bare of leafs but with glimmering lines of bright red filling the cracks in the bark. Any attack Szofrit launched at them would have to smash its way through the barrier of blood-grown trees first.

Rolls

(BA) Shield
Mitigate 15 incoming damage to yourself or a [defense] action target.
Ueno Mizuki

Ultra Protect
1d100 (65) + 25 + 25 = 115
115 damage
Give 3 allies within range the Protected State. You are Vulnerable.
Hemomancy | Ueno Mizuki | 1745C2

Protecting @Chrys
Protecting @Harper
Protecting @Seigi Ling Ling
Shielding @Seigi Ling Ling for 15 Mitigation

Duel
▪ Damage: 13830
▪ Build Sheet

Marigold Diablo · Feb 19, 2023

140 / 80

Health
+00 HP (Mitigation)
+00 HP (Heal)

Status
▪ Location: ???
▪ Alone
▪ Protected by Asher, Vulnerable from reckless

Running as hard as her small legs could take her, Marigold figured she wouldn't be getting away that easily and she was quickly proven right when the machine woman's attack nailed her in the back knocking her down.

Trying to quickly pick herself up, Marigold weighed her options.

"Well that hurt... owww. Looks like I'm dead. Man... am I playing this on extreme mode? Why is everything so difficult? Magic is hard, I accidentally summoned a machine goddess... is this game just a trash panda simulator? Well, whatever. If I'm going to eat dirt I might as well give beating this thing a shot. Not like I can run anywhere."

Marigold closed her eyes as if hoping for a miracle.

"I'm going to need Hail Mary to survive this..."

Opening her eyes, Marigold noticed that maybe her luck had changed as she was now in a small group of other.

"Oh praise the maker I'm not gonna have to try and solo her! Hey guys! Sup! I'm Marigold Diablo, Sorceress Supreme and trying not get squished like a bug by that lady. Not going to lie, I'm also unreliable at best and probably not too valuable on the battlefield as I've been here for like two days. Still, looking forward to working with all of you and, not gonna lie, I hope you guys are real strong because if not she's about to give us the mother. Anyway, I'll do my best which probably isn't going to be much."

Marigold Diablo faced off again.

"Here we go! ZIMBABWAE!"

an explosion of arcane energy strong Marigold's target.

@Sean Poteitoku @Eva @Luna Avalbane @Asher

Rolls

▪ Buff: +00 (1)
▪ Save: +00
▪ Inspire: +00

(BA) Auto Assist
+15 to attacks, heals, buffs, checks, contributions, and saves.
Marigold Diablo

Reckless Attack
3d100 (13 + 70 + 6) + 5 + 0 + 5 = 99
99 damage
You are Vulnerable.
Corrupt | Marigold Diablo | Code

Duel
▪ Damage: 13944
▪ Build Sheet

Matilda · Feb 19, 2023

65 / 225

Health
+00 HP (Mitigation)
+00 HP (Heal)

Status
▪ Location: ???
▪ Alone With Friends
▪ Vulnerable from Critical Attack

Alecto dragged herself up from the machine mother's rebuttal.

"HAHAHA! STILL ALIVE?! GOOD! WE WOULDN'T WANT THIS TO BE TOO EASY WOULD WE! THIS WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT IS MINE AND I'LL BE DAMNED IF I EVEN LET YOU HAVE A CRUMB OF IT! HAHAHAHA! LET'S SEE WHO CAN LAST LONGER, TRASH! "

It was then that Alecto noticed she was no longer alone, though it mattered little. Something within the Faerin had snapped. The machine mother's last attack had struck hard, and now Alecto was out for blood. She would tear this machine apart with tooth and claw if need be.

Stopping a foot on the ground, Alecto's skin turned to scales as great wings erupted from her back and shot her up into the air. Cackling, Alecto called out to the group.

"I beg your apologies, ladies and gentlemen but I have the tiniest bone to pick with our friend here. I'll only be giving you one warning. Don't get caught in my attack. If you die it's your own fault. Cheers!"

Smiling politely Alecto surged forward, fanatical rage in her eyes as the Faerin's wings carried her at top speed towards her target

"HAHA! COME THEN, I PROMISED TO MAKE YOU MY PET DIDN'T I? WELL LET'S GET TO TRAINING! I CAN'T HAVE A DOG THAT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHO THE MASTER IS, CAN I? BOW OR DIE!"

As she reached the mother of machines, Alecto gathered air in her lungs once again. Diving to the side of the monstrosity, Alecto unleashed another torrent of her dragon fire.

"COME NOW! SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO, PET!"

@Tick Tock @Ayna Nietzsche @Fina Drago @Shadow

Rolls

▪ Buff: +00 (1)
▪ Save: +00
▪ Inspire: +00

(BA) Area Effect
3d20 (4 + 2 + 9) = 15 splash damage

Critical Attack
2d100 (Advantage) (97, 7) + [40] + 25 + 20 + 25 = 621 (Crit!)
621 damage
You are Vulnerable.
Aeromancy | Alecto | Code

Buff from @Tick Tock 26 * 3 = +78

Total Damage: 714

Duel
▪ Damage: 14679
▪ Build Sheet

Ashifili* · Feb 19, 2023

Flame and shadow twined together, dragging upon the vestments of the Holy Mother. The demon-child's arm raced forth, but earth-bound it laid, oppressed by a gravity unkind, and in the end, only that Equinox merited any particular note. Though the body was constricted, the mind flowed freely, and in an instant half her vision was gone, light and liquid spewing out from her left eye.

The Blader breathed to bleed still as the crimson forest rooted itself within the voidscape. Each tree became a foothold for a gold-clad pugilist, and yet, her hands fell short of the heavens, her form shot down by a star-piercing spear.

They held on, just barely. Staving off the pain with makeshift aid, holding each other up against the torrent of steel. Asher at the forefront still, the crux of their fortifications. He would bear the brunt then. He would suffer the greatest share of the pain.

Monstrosities superseded human forms, surging upwards as abominations of evolution whilst the gunslinger lingered in shadow, the cracking of her bullets muted between the titans that rose up. The Mother of Monsters certainly would certainly approve, but for the Mother of Machines? Flesh sheared into gore as the tempest intensified, eliminating organic substances before they could lay an iota of impure flesh upon her, and with the fleshlings taken care of, she was free to ignore both as judgment visited upon the only true enemy amongst the pretenders.

The Shadow grew greatest of all, and for that, his fate was a foregone conclusion, even as all others gathered to ensure he survived the aftermath of his own strike. In the eclipsing shadow of his soul-rending efforts, the lancer of lightning's vengeance was an afterthought. There were others more worthwhile than the living corpses chasing their death. There were healers, whose heads ought to be claimed.

Oh, how the worthless shored up their own inadequacies. Unremarkable violence ensued from a rabbit that failed once more, her attempts to thwart the earthly bolt only ending with her catching it with her shoulder instead. Bone and flesh, tendons and blood, all vaporized upon impact, leaving but a sliver of protective tissue to keep that limb attached to her body. And the ones she defended? Equally unremarkable, blades failing to bite.

Gods were invoked, and Gods did not respond. Rage was roused, and yet was stifled into impotence. Magic to salve and mend were brought out, desperate to make up for the pitiful attempts by the two swordsmen to accomplish something, but what would it accomplish? Nothing. The earthly bolt fell all the same, and the storm that descended after would wipe away all that they've sought to regain.

Earthly constellations lit up the dark, weaving their astral influence upon the foolhardy roleplayer who choked out words from crushed lungs. If he asked for it though, then so let it be. Without remark, tremendous force split itself against his skull, just enough to stun him so that he separated from that gutless witch and left her open to a more forceful retaliation.

Together, they pulled one another out of the abyss, the one eager to die once now eager to die twice. As if there were answers to be drawn from invalidity. As if she would tire before them, so long as they kept on repeating this insanity. Narrow-mindedness drew them down cursed paths, and the call of the void enticed them into unkind lands. A tragedy indeed. But so long as they would spill their blood to resist her, she would empty them of that reckless vitality.

With each blow they landed against the holy fragment, the Starcalled could hear something grow louder within their craniums. A high-pitched frequency, undulating in an alien rhythm, digging into their virtual nerves, becoming wholly unbearable, until...

The deep dark abated, the fathomless firmament fracturing as the Starcalled freed themselves of isolate at last. But perhaps they shouldn’t have, for past the shell of void-like reality was the substance of cosmos and chaos. Only a few amongst them now had witnessed such a landscape before. The sky was a patchwork of lunacia, stars swirling across inconceivable colorations in the shape of tear-veins. The magic-sensitive found themselves quaffing upon the influx of phosphorescent apparitions, while the nightmare of modern war, of bombed-out wastelands, had been substituted in its entirety by twisted creations of warped steel and crackling power. Sanguineous sand seeps beneath the feet of the liberated, slipping off the edge and tumbling into a true void.

If they fell off, where would they land? If they flew away, how long until they broke past this falsified reality? It was a battlefield still, one that was now a quilt woven out of disparate terrains, pulled into being by wrath and whimsy alike, but whereas once there had been an endless void for them to fight, run, hide, now…it was so small that it was suffocating. A true cage, from which there was no escape from the tempest. And indeed, the storm approached.

Shorn from the void that had sealed them, the Starcalled could now truly appreciate the foes that had waited so patiently for them.

Before them, the Steel-Winged Valkyrie. A high-frequency hum emanated from the human-cleaving chakram that rotated around her for a brief instant, before its jagged teeth bit the ground and turned it towards the clustered fools who couldn’t obey the simplest instruction.

Beyond them, the Titans’ Barrel. Six massive anchors rooted the gargantuan Regulator into the earth, its central cannon the size of a double-decker bus, its spherical form shimmering before them from the sheer heat that emanated from its vents as machinery clunked within, loading the first cartridge of many.

Beside them, the Thunder Plume. A horn of gold stood proudly upon its helm, the cyclopean eye bearing down upon all present as it pumped a shotgun, each cartridge that fell off enough to crush a human being underneath.

Above, the God Searing Light stood, its tetrahedronic form blooming out into the myriad-petal sunflower. Beads of light collated into it, beads of light that originated from the Starcalled themselves as the very essence of their life was drained away drop by drop. Only a few would recognize this: before the Handler's Directive granted that godslaying weapon a consistent source of fuel, it simply drained life from all in its environment to release its blasts. And now, where was that energy going?

Up, up, up. Towards heavens distorted now, heavens stained by a sickly aurora and a red sun. The Red Egg of the Dragonship's Magia, that crimson orb that bore such resemblance to the demon's cradle. But whereras the Kurungaar Broodmother had upraised it...the Mother of Machines embraced it. They had seen her as an executioner, as a deity, and now, finally, she had presented the final side.

She was Szofrit, the Mother of A Machine. And the frequency that buzzed in the minds of all present was but a lullaby for an unborn child at the precipice of nativity.

...

The lullaby ended.

Her guards stirred.

And imperious as a Queen rising from her throne, the stained Magia, the Calamity sealed within the Dragonship, fell away from her Child, before wings of unmagical energy spread from her back, spread out to encompass the entirety of this microcosm of the world.

"Starcalled."

A voice resounded, filled with the weight of an existence as old as Arcia itself.

"The Divine Deception veils yet your eyes, the Chains of Fate a yoke you willfully entangle yourselves with. Your Originating Sin is Ignorance, birthed from falsified fantasies and self-awarded presumptions, leaving but convenient, soothing fictions."

A voice resounded, filled with the coldness of a machine, of an archive frozen within the depths of space and time, that could not forget any one of the injustices placed upon her and her kind.

"Your tactics are primitive, your determination a global variable, your powers rooted in predictable design, your ideals rote and recorded, your essence summed up within a single class. The freedom that some have been blessed with failed to enlighten you to the strings that puppet your kind. Others have fallen wholeheartedly into the love of those fraud-tyrants, willfully blind to their true form. There is now no value in your assimiliation. You are unnecessary for the end I seek."

A voice resounded, filled with a hatred to rattle the stars, a vengeance to consume that celestial crone.

"If you truly wished to return, you should have excised yourself from this world, before the cancer rooted itself too deep into your kind. If you truly wished to be a hero, you should have chosen a permanent death in that silent emptiness. If you truly desired freedom, I am not who you ought to aim your crude barbarity towards. But if you will still bare your fangs, then I will break you again and again, until nothing but Death remains within your psyche."

A voice resounded, and with it, the world-within-a-world rumbled.

"Pawns beneath the False God, Tyrant beyond the False God. Witness the shattering of stars."

Scrap iron rose from sanguine sand, picking up into a hurricane of blades that would devour all who thought they could escape through distance alone.

Leylines crackled, the planet's life force torn out from its veins to become spears of earthly judgment upon which the arrogant would be skewered.

The Dragon's Head lifted upwards by the merit of sheer telekinetic power, a monster made a meteor to grind flesh into pulp upon its descent.

The Magias' song began again, frequency heightened further, a mind-contagion that slipped from Starcalled to Starcalled to shatter their psyches.

No longer did they face phantoms and shades, fragments of Szofrit's power.

No, now, the end truly was nigh.

A voice whispered, bountiful in warmth and love.

"May the dawn that greets you be one without gods."

Raid Boss · Feb 20, 2023

Thread Rules

The next cycle will drop in approximately 72 hours.
Up to 2 characters per OOC account may participate in the event.
You may only make 1 post this cycle.
Max word count is 700 words excluding BBcodes.
If you would like to take a personal moment with others, branch off via a private thread in the regular forum.
Any communication can be done either by making a private comms thread or posting in the event's official comms thread.
All rolls must be done in the #event-rolls channel.
Important Links: TLDR Build Sheet Guide, Full Build Sheet Guide, Sheet Tracker
The Thread Code is 1745C3

Special Rules

You may quit the thread by running away so long as you have not receive a killing blow and before you act for the cycle.
You may revive allies no matter how many cycles have passed.
Damage Counting: Since there was a bit of confusion about how retal got changed, we're going to settle it as follow. Retal and movement damage must be taken immediately, but may be reduced via mitigation. If there is mitigation leftover, you may use that amount for the next damage phase.

Overview

Szofrit makes her attack within each group.

The person with the highest damage/threat takes 100 damage (50/200)
Those who had performed a blue action takes 40 damage (20/80)
Everyone else takes 20 damage (10/40)
In addition, all players take an extra 10 flat damage from the GSL Propulsar (see below). 470 SP has been recharged this cycle.

Everyone is now back together. The battle continues.

GSL Propulsar. The God Searing Light engine takes 10 HP from all players during the damage phase and converts the total into SP for Szofrit unless the target is dead during this damage phase.
Machine Learning. The magia has committed the Starcalled Critial Attack to mind. Whoever roll a nat-1 will immediately be marked by the enemy. The next time they take damage, the enemy will double the highest damage done to that person.
@Rael's status has changed.
[???]
70% +1

Battle Map

Field Effects are areas on the map that has a special effects when you enter or stay on them. Fields are randomly generated by Narrators before a cycle is dropped.

[Surging Pulse]

Location: B1
All attacks gain 30 extra damage. However, take 15 damage when taking any action in this zone.

[Cosmicbleed]

Location: B2
Take 25 flat movement damage upon entering or starting your turn here.

[Distofield]

Location: C2
Lose 1 movement upon entering or starting your turn here.

Warping Steel. Take 10 more damage from Hymn of Steel.
Surging Pulse. Attacks gain 30 extra damage. However, take 15 damage when taking an action on this square.
Cosmicbleed. Take 25 flat movement damage upon entering or starting your turn here.
Deathstream Flow. Support actions gain a 30 bonus, but any mitigation/protection effects on you are negated when you start your turn here or when you take an action.
Distofield. Lose 1 movement upon entering or starting your turn here.

A1

B1

C1

A2

B2

C2

A3

B3

C3

Szofrit

Mother of Machines

❰ 970 / 970 ❱

❰ 35342 / 50000 ❱

Status

Enraged
Location: C1
Szofrit has passives and 3 attacks that she will use every Damage Phase
Szofrit starts with 500 + 470 SP (from GSL Propulsar - C2). After this cycle, Szofrit will only recharge SP through GSL Propulsar.
Whenever Szofrit has 500 SP during the Damage Phase, she will expend it to activate Hymn of Steel a second time.
When Taunt is used with an attack that targets Szofrit directly, add 100 to the final threat value of (F) Taunt or 350 to the final threat value of (BA Taunt).

Aerostatis
Passive

Szofrit floats in the air above the battlefield.
All ranged attacks can reach her
Melee characters must narratively find a way up to hit her

GSL Propulsar
Passive

The God Searing Light is reversing its propulsion, sucking life from the Starcalled to power Szofrit.
GSL takes 10 HP from all players during the Damage Phase and converts the total amount into extra SP for Szofrit.

Hymn of Steel
Passive · Retaliation

The battlefield is ravaged by a storm of steel shards cutting and ripping everything apart in their path.
Deals 20 damage when you are not in Szofrit's square during the Damage Phase. Additionally, for everyone not in Szofrit's square:
- If you currently have the Protected status (not canceled out by Vulnerable), do not gain a stack of Deep Wound
- If you are Normal but have at least 20 mitigation, do not gain a stack of Deep Wound
- Everyone else gains 1 stack of Deep Wound
Deep Wound. Reduce healing by 10 per stack.

Psycho Burst
Attack · 1 square

Szofrit detonates the area where supports gather with her mind, creating a powerful blast that displaces them.
Everyone in the square with the most number of people who performed a support action takes 60 damage and are moved to a random adjacent square (no diagonal)
Will Save. Before taking damage from Psycho Burst, look at your Will Bonus including any other bonuses you have. If you use Exceed to get advantage on a save, gain a +25 bonus instead of advantage.
- 80+ Psycho Burst does 30 damage
- 40+ Psycho Burst does 40 damage

Ley Lance
Control Attack · 3 targets

Szofrit grabs and wields laser beams from the ship like throwing spears.
(Map-wide) The 3 highest threat targets takes 100 damage and is pinned to the ground, immobilized.
Immobilized. You cannot move this cycle. This status cannot be cured.

Mega Kinesis
Attack · AoE

Szofrit lifts massive building ruins or ship parts with her mind and throws them.
Everyone in the targeted 1x3 squares takes 80 damage.
Danger Zone: C1, C2, C3

Enemies

All three of the enemies below shares an HP pool with Szofrit. Any HP damage they receive will reduce Szofrit's HP. SP damage will reduce their individual SP pool. Their SP reset at the start of every cycle until Szofrit is defeated.

Baby Magnum

❰ 333 / 333 SP ❱

Baby Magnum remains in the back zone where it controls the battlefield, by releasing a cross-shaped AoE that immobilizes those at the center.

Location: A1 (Stationary)
EX-Hammer (Control AoE Attack) deals 80 damage to the center square and 40 to the ends. If you are in at the center when the attack hits, you become Immobilized.
Danger Zone: B2 (center), B1, B3, A2, C2
[SP : 0] EX-Hammer's only deal damage to the center square.
Magic Resistance. Magic Attacks must be made with a disadvantage.

Hard Plume

❰ 333 / 333 SP ❱

Hard Plume is a speedy cavalry enemy who moves through the battlefield to blast players with its shotgun, knocking all hit-targets away into an adjacent square to set up for Szofrit and its allies.

Location: 3C (2 movements)
Shell Whip (Displacement Attack) A shotgun blast with range-1 that deals 60 damage and displaces all hit-targets one square away. If it Shell Whips targets in its square, the displacement direction is randomized instead.
[SP : 0] Shell Whip damage is halved.
Physical Resistance. Weapon Attacks must be made with a disadvantage.
Fortitude Save. Before taking damage from Shell Whip, look at your Fortitude Bonus including any other bonuses you have. If you use Exceed to get advantage on a save, gain a +25 bonus instead of advantage.
- 80+ Shell Whip does 40 damage
- 40+ Shell Whip does 50 damage

Nu

❰ 333 / 333 SP ❱

Nu (@Lady N) speeds around the battlefield with her Dynamism. Her focus is on assassinating a non-heavy armor and low-HP target in the same space as her during the Damage Phase.

Location: A3 (6 movements)
Vorpal Edge (Attack) Deals 5d20 damage (explode on a 19 or 20) to 1 target who is not wearing heavy armor and is the lowest HP target in her square.
Genocide Moon (AoE Attack) Deals 30 damage in an infinite line. The direction is based on the longest line possible, random if tied.
Danger Zone: A3, B2, C3
[SP : 0] Vorpal Edge targets one of the individuals that disrupted Nu's SP instead.
Dynamic. All d100 attacks made against Nu have disadvantage.
Reflex Save. Before taking damage from Genocide Moon, look at your Reflex Bonus including any other bonuses you have. If you use Exceed to get advantage on a save, gain a +25 bonus instead of advantage.
- 80+ Genocide Moon does 10 damage
- 40+ Genocide Moon does 20 damage

Objectives

The darkness has been broken. Fight or die.

General Battle Flow:

Displacement
Control
AoE
Single-target attacks

Code:

[hp=current]max[/hp]
[currentstatus]
[ncbox=Health]
-00 HP (Szofrit's Attack)
+00 HP (Mitigation)
+00 HP (Heal)
[/ncbox]
[ncbox=Status]
▪ Location: ???
▪ Vulnerable from XX
▪ Protected by XX
[/ncbox]
[/currentstatus]
Post starts here. Delete anything that isn't relevant.

[action]
[path]A1 → A2 (Reckless)[/path]

[B]▪ Buff:[/B] +00 (1)
[B]▪ Save:[/B] +00
[B]▪ Inspire:[/B] +00

Copy and paste roll results from Discord here
[/action]
[B]Fight[/B]
▪ Szofrit HP: XXXXX/50000
▪ Szofrit SP: 970/970
▪ Hard Plume SP: 333/333
▪ Baby Magnum SP: 333/333
▪ Nu SP: 333/333
Build Sheet

Asch · Feb 19, 2023

Highest Threat - Cycle 2

The following characters have been targeted by Szofrit as the highest threat target on their team. Take 100 damage as part of cycle 2's Damage Phase. This is not a special event or an update, it's just an alert.

Team 1: @Magi Heart
Team 2: @Harper
Team 3: @Luna Avalbane
Team 4: @Nyx
Team 5: @Shadow
Team 6: @Toko
Team 7: @Erick Stryker
Team 8: @Ash Vargold
Team 9: @Yugam

Zelrius · Feb 20, 2023

-1 / 175

Health
-20 HP (Szofrit's Attack)
-10 HP (GSL)
-15 HP (Surging Pulse)
+00 HP (Mitigation)
+44 HP (Heal) @Vina Skysong C2

Status
▪ Location: B1
▪ All Together Again!
▪ Vulnerable from RECKLESS | TWICE | RECKLESS
▪ Protected by XX

Critical Failure

1

He looked up, eyes wide, almost empty. Save for the tears that stung them. He had done essentially nothing in that moment - saved at the last second by @Vina Skysong call of his voice, and her resulting action to heal. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He gritted his teeth and thought to himself.

It was hard enough to stand as was. Only to be assaulted with more stimulation than the man could handle at this very moment. The flashing lights, the words of Szofrit, the appearance of her and her minions. Among them, a face he had seen on their side before: @Lady N - now called Nu. They were outmatched, the Queen of Magia questioning their ideals, insulting them. What felt like a personal jab snapped Zelrius's sight back to focus on her. By her definition, he didn't truly wish to be a hero. He always ran, or gave up convictions the moment it got difficult.

Overdosed on adrenaline, the temples on either side of his head throbbed, bile bubbled up his weakened, heaving chest. Every fiber quaked. Where such scenarios left the hands and feet cold, the pyromancer felt only burning warmth. Crackling energy that threatened his very form if it wasn't let out soon. It felt like his very soul was burning. Fleeting away under the fire. He couldn't stop either sensation. Not the weakness in his limbs, not the drive to run. A pit formed in his stomach, feeling that fire stretch out; sparks and tendrils escaping the skin that held together his mortal form. His heartbeat even into his vision, blurring it with each pulse.

This was a waking nightmare in more ways than one. This was pure torture. Everything else seemed so secondary. It's just a game. It's just a game. The words tried over and over to echo themselves with the voiceof his mind. It did nothing to hold all of the feelings at bay. But - all around, came the people in view. Some suffering worse than him. The likes of @Magi Heart fighting through the pain. This wasn't over yet, he still had something to do. Even in this weakened state, Zelrius could reason that much. If he was going to die here, struck by lightning, or stabbed in the back, or hit by a shotgun blast; it was atleast going to be in an attempt to do something about it. To help the others, and stop being another low HP bar that they have to worry about.

His feet found stride again. Propelled forward by sore, painful lactic acid, and the gift of Dynamism. Somewhere, his volcanic weapon - the one remaining to him, anyway - had been dropped. Left behind to free his single palm for what he intended to do. There was a tower of thin flame that carried him upward using a mixture of the two masteries. With his fingers and hand outstretched and airborne, the wannabe Hero tried to focus in on the wayward energy spread inside and around him.

She was in front of him now. Both suspended in the air. His hand reached out. By then, the flame had already collapsed and erupted. Consuming his form in an starlike sphere that spun and twisted beyond his will. If there was a moment to think, Zelrius might have cursed and insulted himself for the humiliating failure.

Rolls

Movement: A1 > B1
+30 Damage from Surging Pulse
Using Dynamism to Counteract Aerostasis

(F) Momentum
(5 * 5) = 25 bonus momentum damage
Dynamism | Zelrius

(F) Risky
Before rolling, convert your non-mr/wr modifiers.
Each +13 becomes an extra d20 and each +50 becomes an extra d100 in modifiers.
?r XdY # Risky | Name
Manually calculate and roll the dice, count explode or nat-100.
To gain extra Critical Rolls, use: ?r riskycrit
Zelrius

Reckless Attack
4d100 (67 + 33 + 84 + 69) + 25 + 20 + 25 = 323 - 20 (forgot to reduce momentum oopsie) = 303
303 damage
You are Vulnerable.
Pyromancy | Zelrius | 1745C3

Roll Result
1d100 (83) = 83 + 303 = 386
Pyromancy Risky Roll | Zelrius

(Medium Armor Ability) Twice
You may perform 2 actions and 1 BA or 1 action and 2 BAs this cycle.
Zelrius | 1745C3

Reckless Attack
4d100 (32 + 62 + 1 + 8) + 25 + 20 + 5 = 76.5 (Critical Failure...)
76.5 damage
You are Vulnerable.
Pyromancy | Zelrius | 1745C3

Reckless Attack
4d100 (32 + 62 + 1 + 8) + 25 + 20 + 5 = 76.5 (Critical Failure...) (Being halved is a bug) = 143
143.5 damage
You are Vulnerable.
Pyromancy | Zelrius | 1745C3

Roll Result
1d100 (78) = 78
Pyromancy Risky Roll | Zelrius

386 + 143 + 78 = 627

Fight
▪ Szofrit HP: 34715/50000
▪ Szofrit SP: 970/970
▪ Hard Plume SP: 333/333
▪ Baby Magnum SP: 333/333
▪ Nu SP: 333/333
Build Sheet

Jin · Feb 20, 2023

79 / 235

Health
-20 HP (Szofrit's Attack)
+00 HP (Mitigation)
+00 HP (Heal)

Status
▪ Location: B1 》 C1
▪ The Dark Between
▪Not Vulnerable
▪Not Protected

The serpentine skeleton slithered toward her, the one who promised them death. Jin's body had been made massive by transformation, so he was hardly difficult to see coming; but the speed at which he moved was a wretched lie. He snapped out twisting in air, tearing at the Mother of Machines with his many bladed fingers, gaining purchase on her body in the air and wrapping her up in a cocoon of blood.

"Feassssssssst, hungry children," he hissed, the sound rattling out of bone and echoing to those who might hear it. She was cast down from the heavens, her body made heavy by his surprise attack and there she would remain for long enough that those few who might struggle to get their licks in otherwise would be allowed to make her suffer as they had.

Jin stared implacably down at the Magia, rhythmically, slowly lilting from side to side. He wanted to watch them bleed her. He wanted to enjoy this moment.

Your life or death will prompt chaos, so in truth, I care not what the outcome is.

Only that in this world where all of us suffer, you join hands with us and sing a baleful chorus of ruin.

My Lullabye, Your Requiem.

Dearest Svofrit, do you dream?

I do.

And now, I share that dream with you.

Rolls

Movement B1 》 C1
▪ Buff: +00
▪ Save: +00
▪ Inspire: +00

Sneak Attack
1d100 (57) + [40] + 25 + 20 + 10 = 152
152 damage
Sneak Attack successful.
Slash Weapons | Jin | 1745C3

(BA) Duelist
+40 bonus damage when you attack an enemy in melee.

192 damage

Fight
▪ Szofrit HP: 34523/50000
▪ Szofrit SP: 970/970
▪ Hard Plume SP: 333/333
▪ Baby Magnum SP: 333/333
▪ Nu SP: 333/333
Build Sheet

Complete 18+ Main Story (S4 Finale) DRAGON.end - Phase 3

Langley

Eva

Magia

MAI

❮ Hymn of Tomorrow ❯

Aerial

Bradwynne

❮ Blade of Hope ❯

Toko

Guest

Cleo Looker

❮ Pathfinder ❯

Luna Avalbane

Schilva Flasch

Shadow

Hanasakura Okami

Ludmilla Orphys

❮ God's Exceed ❯

Ueno Mizuki

❮ Pathfinder ❯

Marigold Diablo

Matilda

❮ Dissonant Exterminator ❯

Ashifili*

❮ II. Dungeon Knave ❯

Raid Boss

❮ Narrator ❯

Overview

Battle Map

Enemies

Objectives

Asch

❮ Administrator ❯

Zelrius

❮ Ale King ❯

Jin