Hal Henderics

--Engine Room-- Dackly uses Libra on the Creature, while Gozer uses Deleterious Bomb, spawning an invisible psychic explosive! --Outside-- Mar ceaces digging, and begins seeding his trap. He uses Chocolate>Lava Stone Mana in order to create a higher humidity in the area. This will surely attract animals, who in the desert, have a heightened sense of where water is.

"I saw some crippled dude walking outside with a shovel, does that sound like the guy? Laver comments simply.

--Hallway-- Laver looks torn until Masaru nods his head. He plucks the strings on his sword, the tone getting deeper and deeper until it's a low rumble, before Laver begins swinging it around seemingly at random, causing several more rumbles, before finally hitting Masaru himself with the weapon, causing several green glowing particles to be emitted from his body, like green leaves and laurels. His wounds visibly dissipate. "Sorry, sometimes people REALLY get angry when I heal them, because my Healing works by plucking their emotions and memories." --Outside-- Andre would find Mar and Ghost, also digging holes. Ghost seems to be sucking sand into her body, before glassing the walls with a Hell Shovel, while Mar is turning it into energy.

Laver approaches the man, hearing the groaning and fighting from the entrance hall, and draws his Heartstrung sword. Upon seeing Masaru, his eyes widen, who the heck could have done this kind of damage? "Hey guy, I'm going to try and help you out, Alright?" "Can you hear me? I need affirmative consent to heal you, if at all possible."

--Entrance Hall-- "I have this thing, so pardon me if I avoid it irrationally, really sorry best bud, Like, you are really cool too, but I am seriously freaked out by fire stuff!" "We'll do friend stuff later just without the whole touching thing and-" "Let's go." Gozer thankfully interrupts. --Engine Bay-- Samantha, Gozer, and Dackly rush in, spotting Aurora looking incredibly frazzled. "Waistline humanoiiiiiid!" Dackly shrieks like a moron, overjoyed at Aurora's Appearance. Gozer looks very nettled. The Stealth Sneak promptly Smashes Dackly in the face with a hammerfist, sending her flying into a ragged looking piece of machinery, and dealing (1d12+8=6+8=14) 14 Damage! Dackly makes a Dackly-Shaped Indentation in the important looking machinery as some rotating thing in it continually bonks her in the head. Gozer looks much more nettled. As it struck Dackly, it's camoflage dissolved, revealing it as a bright green lizard creature, about 5 times larger than a human, it's mouth opens and it shrieks at the rest of the party. A black Heart-like Emblem adorns it's chest proudly. Stealth Sneak Boss Theme: Squirming Darkness A hexagonal force field entraps the party in the engine room when this happens.

Aurora Enters the Engine Bay alone. Her senses detect something, it is impossible for them to pinpoint, but she knows it is here, slinking between the massive engine blocks that make up the engine room. A Clang From Behind her, then another from ahead? It Seems Impossible to Explicitly target this opponent. Maybe some form of implicit Targeting can catch it off guard, such as AoE or Counter Stances?

Mitsu Slams the Combee Wall with a Basic Attack, dealing (2d3+12+5=3+12+5=20*2=40) 40 Damage!!! Bees are sent flying everywhere as their compromised defences send them flying into oblivion. (1d100=2) Mitsu Strikes again! Dealing (2d3+12+12=6+12+12=30*2=60) 60 Damage!!! Bees become paste as the entire battlefield is cleared in an instant from the sheer whipping winds of her strikes, which pummel the very foundations of the air itself! (1d100=23) She thankfully does not attack again. Jade uses Aim to Cripple on the Dark Vespiquen, Dealing ((1d6+6+2+1=3+6+2+1=12)/2) 6 Damage, and disabling it's Melee Attacks! Since it can no longer use melee attacks, Dark Vespiquen uses Dark Acid Splash! It Targets Jade in it's rage, Dealing (1d12=4) 4 Pure Damage! (1d6=1) Jade's Hat is splashed with the black acid, reducing it's RES by 1 Permanently until repaired! It really HAS seen better days, it seems... Enma's Target has been spattered into mush already, and she does not want to get any more blood on her, presumably... (Double Turn Next Turn.) Kino uses a basic attack on the Vespiquen, dealing (2d4+5=6+5=11) 11 Damage to the Vespiquen! Ritsu's Target has been mushed, and presumably, she does not want to get the vespiquen's blood on her, if she can help it. (Double Turn Next Turn.) The Vespiquen Backs into it's Antechamber fully, a glowing hive of rainbow colors hidden in blackened combs, Larvae crawl around, ignorant of the danger. Rails spiral around a central pillar, at the top of the pillar is the other jagged half of the Portal Slablet, sitting on a pedestal, extremely high up. It looks REALLY heavy, like, 300 Kilos at minimum. It Spits another Dark Acid Splash at (4) Kino! Dealing (1d12=6) 6 Pure Damage (3) The Acid fails to harm her armor however. Vespiquen's Next Turn The Vespiquen takes (1d4+8=1+9=10) 10 damage from bleeding. Combat Screen: --Alexandria-- Alexandria bears witness as a silhouette begins to peak over the horizon, it appears to be some sort of Dinosaur, a twisted black thing is embedded in it's forehead.

"There are also four pillars, if you see one, the arrows on it point towards the center. Stay within those boundaries. Otherwise, yes." Mar summons up a deep red magic using a piece of something from a satchel on his person, heating the walls of a hole with magic until it turns to glass. He then summons magic to his hands, where sand that he touches is erased in blinding yellow light, and finally, he caps the old hole with the yellow energy made from the sand, turning it into sandstone. --Throne Room-- Vora touches the chair, poking and prodding it, something clicks, and suddenly a horrible keening noise of metal sounds out from another room. --The Castle-- Everyone hears a horrific metal noise resounding from the Engine Room, peeling cleanly through the air in a ragged attack on one's ears. Something is clearly going on there.

--Mar, Outside-- "I left several Hell Shovels in the smithy, if you wish, you can grab one for yourself and assist me digging, I made sure there are at least enough for everyone with a strong arm." Mar comments, testing a spot with a single foot to see the flex in it, before moving on to the next spot.

--Mar, Outside-- "It does not take animals long to travel where they are not pestered by people. Their senses are heightened, despite their ultimate flaw of lacking intellect, giving the illusion of their scarcity." "Any animal walking over one of these will be detained. And we require more meat desperately, Unless you want to take my boomerang and explain to the Glaivenus I resurrected that we have run out of meat." Mar says, sweeping sand over a pad to disguise it further. "I'll also be spending the rest of my wealth on meats and foods." --Dackly & Gozer, Entrance Hall-- "Oh Wow! I didn't think I'd get caught up in this again!" "Well don't you worry, this isn't my first rodeo, I've already had all the angst and arbitrary downsides removed from my Monster Template!" "Amazing what a bunch of adventures across the multiverse let you do!" "It's a funny story, I used to have the whole ugly gorgon thing where I uncontrollably turned everything that saw the light reflected from my eyes to stone, you know, the usual, but since then, I actually found out I was just some construct made out of souls, got turned into a real girl after I got enslaved to a soul stealing crystal for a few months thanks to an incompetent but good hearted adventurer blasting it with plant magic, turning me and everyone else living there into plant people instead of ghost people, then I had one of those soul searching things where I found out that all of my powers were actually controlled by my emotions, and that mastering myself freed me from my eternal curse of impersonal appearance!" She puts a twisted finger to her cheek. "Or, to put it simply, I'm cute as a button now, cause an actress taught me to do that thing where you use your facial muscles to change your face, so now I can turn off the automatic gaze attacks from my intense uglyness and shame in my appearance, hidden deep in my own subconscious!" Dackly rambles. In fact, she rambles in a single breath, to the point where it is most definitely questionable, a thing that can be questioned. "Also, I'm going to stay pretty far away from you, nothing personal, I'll just burn to death with no hope of surviving if I catch fire!" Dackly says, still doing her cute face. As soon as Dackly's Cheerful Tirade dies down, Gozer steps it with much more sensible things to say. "We have fought entities of that exact description once before, under identical circumstances. Though in our own supermultiverse, either they succeeded, or that reality suffered from some other fate, as we were cast into the void, forcing us to seek refuge with some desperate survival tactics to endure the harsh oblivion." "From there, we spent several years in one specific dimension, before using the skills we have gained to travel around. The Meteor you may have heard was indeed us streaking in at high speed."

--Outside>Entry Hall-- "Ok, time to hack into the door with my incredible hacking skills. Look away Gozer, I don't want to taint your innocence with my devious skills." "OK Dackly." He does not move at all. Dackly is still on his back. She opens the door, pressing the open button, and enters the Entrance Hall. "Hellooo, Meatbags and Assorted Non-meaters! Say hello to your newest best friends!" "He's Gozer!" "..." "I Saiiiid! He's Gozer!... That's your cue Gozey." "Oh. My cue for what, Dackly?" "Oh my goodness, Uh- YES! And I am Dackly!" She bows with a flourish from atop Gozer. Gozer sits there, looking all too pleased with the botched entrance.

"When the two of you finish, Pick up a Hell Shovel from the Smithy, I am going to dig Pit Traps to capture food." Mar says, nodding in approval at the fight. He stalks off himself, With his skillset, Picking up a Hell Shovel would be Redundant. He does however Sharpen his Boomerang, Bringing it's Damage up to 2d8, and granting it the Unholy Tag. The boomerang becomes royal purple at it's sharpened tip, as the bone takes to necromancy well. From there, he grabs two metal plates, and strikes them with a rock, cracking them into 4 perfectly carved shovels apiece, which are sharpened with the Necro Hellfire Grind Wheel until sharp. Once he gets outside, he begins digging holes, and covering them with thin layers of sandstone. They all have a small spike in the middle of the cover, so it can be detected by human eyes. The walls, being Sand normally, are heated until glassy, so that they will hold. Mar marks the trapped area with giant sandstone pillars, bearing arrows pointing towards the center, and a center pillar with an arrow pointing north, for ease of navigation. He continues doing this within line of sight of the castle until more people show up to help him. The intention is that anything that walks over a sandstone tile that is heavy enough will cause the thin shell to collapse, dumping them in the deep hole, and it's glassy walls prevent escape, While Mar knows where the Traps are, due to the landmarks he set within line of sight.

-Boss Theme: Legendary Vespiquen- Mitsu starts by rushing the Queen, slashing it across the face with her sword, and dealing (2d3+12=4+12=16) 16 Damage, and sending a spray of black blood out of the wound. Mitsu obtains a unit of Dark Eco. Mitsu takes 5 damage, and (112) Every item on her person gains the enchantment/special effect "Explosive Runes: Symbols appear on the object, when read, deal 1d6 Damage to the wielder, remove this effect." The Combee Wall Buzzes Menacingly, everyone deals 1 less damage. The Vespiquen Backs up, reeling in pain, it is about 1/3 of the way into the Antechamber it came out of. Jade fires on the wall of Combees, firing (1d6=4) 6 Bullets which all deal ((1d6+6+2)/3)=(5+6+2)/3=4-1) 3 damage, slowing the Combee by 6 init, and dealing a total of 18 damage to the wall! The Combee Wall Scatters. Dark Vespiquen attacks Jade, dealing (1d12=10-1) 9 Pure Damage! Enma attacks the Vespiquen with a Basic attack, dealing (3+5=8-1) 7 Damage to it, and splattering it's black blood over her intangible form. She takes 4 damage, (5911) But nothing else seems to happen. Kino, meanwhile, sprays a breath of Death at Vespiquen, dealing (2d4+5=3+2+5=10-1) 9 Damage, and Silencing them for 1 turn! It's venom turns to ash in it's mouth as the spirits assail it. Ritsu Lashes out at Vespiquen, dealing (1d4+9=2+9=11-1) 10 Damage, Spraying it's blood all over her, and causing it to bleed even more! Ritsu takes 4 Damage, (3783) But nothing else seems to happen. The Vespiquen backs up again, it is now 2/3rds of the way into it's antechamber, glimmers of blue light can be seen peeking out from behind it. The Combee Wall uses Ultraviolence, turning into multiple groups of violent Combees, instead of an impermiable wall. Vespiquen, unable to use Venomous Bite, Instead uses Dark Blast on (5) Ritsu, dealing (1d12=4-1) 3 Pure Damage! Vespiquen's Next Turn Vespiquen is no longer able to hide her health, and the swarm's health! Vespiquen sprays blood everywhere, taking (1d4+8=1+8=9-1) 8 Damage. Combat Screen: --Alexandria-- The Machine begins emitting a low tone, and a strange scent. Alexandria hears a faint buzzing in the distance, and the ground is shaking slightly.

"I've got Maize Seeds, but those do not count." "I will Supervise as well." Mar's face clearly demonstrates that he does not intend to supervise, so much as also watch them beat each other up.

--Smithy-- "It is no problem. I am an Orc, of the Stonerist Chi Tribe of Orcs, we are known for our Effective misuse of tools, skills with salvage, cludging, and scavenging, and hold the sacred abilities of our ancestors, the power to improve that which we break, this is a power inherent to Orcs, not simply my specific tribe." "For example, if you were to break a rope, it's ends would be frayed, correct?" "For me and mine, the ends would be superior to the rest of the rope." "So we are inherently drawn to making as many mistakes as possible, because for us, mistakes lead to improvements." "For others, that truth only exists for their lives, rather than their knives, eh?" Mar chuckles. --Outside-- Meanwhile, the sky cracks, as a green meteor smashes into the sand, throwing up clouds and clouds of billowing smoke and floating sand. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! Presenting, the one! The only! You either Love them or hate them!" "The Dynamic Duo, the Terrible Two-o, The Snake and the Stone! The Green and the Granite!" "He's Gozer!" "And She is Dackly." "And we are back and ready to P A R T, Y? Because we just gotta." The Smoke clears, revealing a cyclopic snake woman wearing a flak vest which one can clearly see feathers poking out of, it seems the armor plates were replaced with pillow stuffing for whatever reason, and a giant mass of Stone Tetrinominodes, in the shape of a bushy tailed animal. There is no one actually outside with them. "Oh Cocks. Man, I hate it when our Entrance speeches fall on a dull crowd, why, the audience practically Desert-ed us!" Dackly puns, waving to the sand surrounding them. "Ok Dackly." Gozer says simply. Dackly shoots him a glare. "Whatever, Let's find an audience with better hear-holes so we can hit them with that old Razzle-dazzle, Eh? I can't wait to make some new Friends!" "I agree." Gozer agrees. Dackly hops on Gozer's Back, and They walk into the Castle before them, knocking on the door politely.

Mar nods. "Don't worry, it hasn't damaged anything yet." Mar, taking the blade, begins to pedal the grindwheel, splattering purple goop everywhere in a spray as the fire on it roars. He runs the blade along this, staining it with a glowing purple pattern, before taking it to the second grit, making the edge even finer. When he returns it, the blade is stained a glowing purple, shaped like a wave running along the edge.

"It is this way, Allow me to lead." Mar points, and then begins walking. It is... pretty close by, actually. They would find a forge, a quenching tank, a pile of Iron Ingots, some miscellaneous things, and a grindwheel, it reeks of bacteria, and is glowing a bright necromantic purple, it is also on fire. Mar assembles another wheel, and attaches it to the side, made from Scales and Stone, made from magic. He gestures to it. "One of my friends, a demon who is among our allies, granted me crystals of his devlish magic and combined it with my own Necromantic Mana to create an extremely hard and abrasive wheel, able to sharpen weapons to unholy levels of strength, at the cost of tainting it. It has no real effects from this taint, but if you choose, you can have it sanctified by whatever you feel it needs to be done by."

"Interesting, most magics from my world do not have such a built in thematic, in many cases. Do you decide the dragon shape yourself, or is it a natural reaction of your inner magic?"

"In any case, I must leave soon, I need to attend to the smithy, I am currently enhancing the Sharpening Wheel with a new grit,so I can make shovels."

"It might surprise you, but the Stonerist Arts are actually entirely non-magical. They are commonly referred to as 'Anomalous' by some, but techniques such as that fall under a catagory called "Mundanus Extremus", Which is any mundane skill which has been trained past what is physically possible." "I suppose it makes sense, another example is when I struck a Steel plate once, and caused a single fracture which turned it into a single length of chain, and metal chips." "So yes, it is much more difficult than Gem Cutting, and is actually a much more advanced version of Flintknapping, a skill involving a similar process." "The Stonerist Arts were actually developed so that we can compete with modern technology. So many foolish mercenaries fail to realize the impressiveness of being able to create a Hardened Monomolecular edge in burnt sticks and rocks, and achieve carved tolerances higher than their guns." "I would also love to see a Demonstration."

"Intriguing, so it is a form of Skill. Actions in my world are divided into Spells, which use one's Mana, Skills, which use one's Bodily Energy, Strategies, which use one's Mental Power, and Actions, which use all, some or none of the previous ones." "What specific techniques do you possess? Some of these Bladeforms?" Mar looks curious himself. "To be fair, Magic is my weak area, My place in life as the Elder Hunter of my tribe has me learning the Stonerist Arts, a series of techniques which allow one to detect the exact point in an object, which, when struck, creates an exact fracture of any imaginable shape." "For Example, once, as a parlour trick, I smashed a piece of glass with my fist, cracking it so that it fall apart into an interwoven rose."

(18, 8) Ritsu Manages to cut down 7 Black Honeys Before the Wall Explodes, A Giant Bee crawls forth, it is a dark purple, and it's Massive abdomen tapers off into a hexagon behind it. The Dark Vespiquen Attacks! A wall of the same Bee Creatures from before form a wall around the party, Blocking off Escape! -Boss Theme: Legendary Vespiquen- The Walls of the hall fall away as the bloated body forces it's way into the hall, Revealing Rails off in the distance. The Vespiquen seems to be telegraphing it's intentions. Vespiquen's Next Turn Combat Screen:

"The challenge indeed lies in making them powerful. When even a humble farmer can draw lightning from a platinum coin, the standard is measured in strength and novelty." "What do you mean by Bladeforms, Might I ask?" Mar looks intrigued, the word Blade implies weapons, while the topic is about magic.

Mar shrugs. "You would be more upset if I told you a generalization and it was wrong." "Anything is possible, I just wanted you to know what was probable."

They turn to face a thumbs up from Mar. "Just like I had said. Underthinking it is usually the solution." It is by this point that the mana slowly begins to fade, like ink in a pool of water, it dissolves into the air over time.