DragonRage

Lexiel tries to find an angle where she can get a narcojet payload dart into the obvious decker. If she can't hit him without exposing herself to all the dakka, she'll dart the more dakka guard instead with the narcojet payload. Hopefully, the paralyzing agents will spoil his aim. Her aura boosts the initiative of Visrii, the Bullet, and herself by 1. "Artificer!" She shouts, indicating the keytar guy. "Take him out before he summons his constructs!"

Hm. This looks interesting. Two minutes after looking, I already have character ideas. That's always a good sign.

Taylor consults with Jet the meditite, and after apparently confirming that the Pokemon is interested, follows the ice cream group. The fighting-type, a recognizably perplexed expression on his face, trots along behind.

Lexiel uses her superhuman hearing and smell to locate the invisible person, and throws some goblins at the problem. Goblins are usually a good solution. She orders them to grapple the invisible thing as best they can to smear smelly, not invisible barbecue sauce all over the target, then beat it into submission with their rocks if possible. Then, she kicks a table over to use as cover between herself, anyone else who wants to shelter behind it, and the door, and gets ready to shoot the invisible person or whoever's breaking in as needed.

"I don't think we're done here," Lexiel states, keeping her narcojet rifle at the ready, finger on the bayonet activation trigger, "I still hear eldritch chanting. Usually, a mage's workings disappear when they and their foci are destroyed, unless they went to the trouble to enchant the entire room."

Combat Continues! The Shoggoth Wrengler places its hand over its hip, where a pistol would be holstered if it had one, and starts glowing. The sky turns pitch-black, a full, silvery moon replacing the sun. “It’s hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh moon,” The cosplaying Trespasser declares in a gurgling drawl. Sombra flickers into visibility as she rises in the air behind the Trespassers, glowing purple orbs clutched in each hand. She throws her arms out with a shout of “Apagando las luces!” sending a wave of purple energy coursing over everyone. Purple skull symbols appear over each Trespasser, the unhacked Bastion, and every consumable in the party’s inventory, and the sky abruptly returns to normal. “Hit them now!” Sombra adds, “That thing didn’t just steal McCree’s clothes, it stole his moves too! You gotta ice it before the hack wears off, or it’ll kill us all!” Bastion 327 is hacked! It has no available actions! Venus blasts the Meka in its center of mass. Sombra Skull disables Not of This World! Sombra Skull disables Self Destruct! Sombra Skull disables Eject Gremlin D.Va! Sombra Skull disables Om-Nom-Nom! Venus sees a gnarled tree grow from a seed, flower, bear fruit, and die, as though through a time-lapse camera, in the creature’s final moments. Everybody else just sees a paint-covered bullet hit the Trespasser in exactly the right place to blow its guts out. The meka collapses into a pile of teeth and tears, which rapidly evaporate, leaving a Hard-Light Corsage behind. This floral bauble has a weight of 1, and grants the wearer +1 synergy. The Mutant Meka is deceased. (Damage roll is irrelevant, because there’s no scenario where the shot isn’t lethal.) Wyvis’s blood meter is filled! “I am too sober for this shit,” Bob declares, “We are all too sober for this. Embrace substance abuse.” Ignoring the Sombra Skull, incredibly tacky beer hats appear above every PC and Symmetra, and clamp down on their heads, before beginning to force feed all the wearers crappy beer. Isobel is healed 25 HP by the beer hats! Isobel is feeling slightly desensitized. LOTUS is fine, and pinpoints Bob’s weaknesses, giving attacks made on him a 5% chance to deal double damage. Symmetra is healed 25 HP by the beer hats! Grimacing with distaste at the distinctive flavor of Budweiser, Symmetra latches onto the Shoggoth Wrengler with her photon projector, dealing 17 points of damage as the energy lash gathers strength. Shield Generator is charged! Session Activates! Hikari blasts the Wrengler, dealing 7 damage to it. Kagari is healed 25 HP by the beer hats! Kagari is healed 25 HP by the orbiting beer can! Kagari loses control of herself, and passes out in a drunken puddle of twitching goo! The beer can and beer hat leave Kagari. Sachi is healed 25 HP by the beer hats! Sachi feels slightly desensitized. Sachi maintains her Tower Stance on Hikari because the Meka is dead. Hikari is healed 25 HP by the beer hats! Hikari’s blood alcohol level has yet to reach the unsafe driving threshold! Hikari uses Dia on Bridgett! Bridgett is healed for 13 HP! Wyvis is healed 25 HP by the beer hats! Wyvis’s blood alcohol level has yet to reach the unsafe equestrianism threshold! Wyvis strikes the Shoggoth Wrengler with a bleeding strike, dealing 15 damage. Wyvis’ blood meter is already full, so he gains no blood. Friedhold is healed 25 Hp by the beer hats! Friedhold is disgusted by the affront to his German sensibilities that he has been forced to consume, and his main attacking stat is doubled! Friedhold uses the Hacked Eve Hypo! Friedhold’s Eve is completely refilled! Friedhold gains 2 Adam! Bridgett is healed 25 HP by the beer hats! Bridgett expends a cartridge and shoots Bob in the face, dealing 21 damage! Bastion 861 is hacked! It has no available moves! Status: Initiative:

Lexiel examines the robot bits. Anything recognizably steampunk or magical for her to salvage?

Taylor and Jet the meditite take up their positions in the drill. Taylor reluctantly returns his Pokemon to his aether ball for travel, though the fighting type will not be staying in there any longer than absolutely necessary.

Alexandria begins the steps outlined above. This will likely take some time to complete, but a reliable power source is well worth the effort.

Combat Continues! The Shoggoth Wrengler takes a potshot at Bridgett with a glass of whiskey! Bridgett takes 9 damage as the shot glass bounces off her! Purple wisps curl around Wyvis from somewhere behind the group, and a skull icon appears above him! Wyvis has been hacked! EMP is charging… Bastion 327 is hacked! It has no available actions! Venus fires a healing bullet at the mutant Meka. Not of This World activates! Venus blasts a massive hole in the Meka, dealing 51 damage and healing himself 12 HP! Teeth and tears fly everywhere! Wyvis gains 25 blood points! Session activates! Hikari lays some dakka down on the Meka, which is promptly eaten. Bob moves the orb of chili to the Meka! “No! Feed and recover, my servant!” However, despite all its teeth, the Meka fails to eat any chili or heal any HP. Kagari, on the other hand, is feeling rather desensitized as she is overhealed 25 HP. Isobel heals Wyvis for 15 HP! The Sombra Skull over Wyvis vanishes. Symmetra powers up her photon projector and latches her energy beam onto the Meka! The Meka takes 6 damage. Shield generator is charging… Session activates! Hikari blasts away at the Meka, dealing 3 damage as a chili jet weakens her attack! The Mutant Meka releases another radial burst of static, blasting all its enemies for 7 true damage! Then, it fires a burst of entangling tentacles at Kagari, reducing her dexterity by 7! Kagari hip gatlings the Meka! Restricted by the tentacles, thrown off course by chili jets, she fails to make an impact on its heavy armor. Wyvis gains 23 blood points! Wyvis is overflowing with blood! Sachi maintains her Tower Stance on Hikari, and regenerates 5 HP. Hikari uses Dia on Venus, restoring 11 HP! Wyvis uses Blood Heal on himself, Friedhold, and Venus, unleashing the power of his blood! Each of them is healed for 16 HP. They gain +4 resistance for the rest of combat, and +2 resistance until his next turn. He also takes the large hacked health pack, which makes the tentacles binding him turn purple and wither away as well as healing him for 21 HP! EMP is fully charged! Friedhold uses unleashes a swarm of bees on the Meka. The bugs quite enjoy the chili, and pause for a snack before digging into the Meka itself. Not of This World activates! Some of the bees vanish just before impact. The Meka takes 7 poison damage anyway. Bridgett barrages the Meka with augmented magic arrows, dealing 46 damage in total as her arrows riddle the Trespasser with holes! The chili impacts her arrows, but does only blocks a tiny fraction of their power. Bastion 861 transforms into turret mode! Status: Initiative:

Lexiel switches to her healing aura, restoring 3 HP to herself, Visrii, and Edmond. She then summons her goblins, one in front of her and one in front of Visrii, and orders them to block.

"I suggest we ask Kalva to assist us with this, but remain close in case the Sableye proves aggressively hostile," Taylor says, "And Frederick, I do not understand your concern. The Sableye was released safely outside. Ghost Pokemon are immune to physical harm."

Reluctantly, Taylor approaches Gina, and addresses her. "Pardon me, ma'am, but it seems something has attempted to enter our vessel through the toilet. If Kalva were to need to use it in transit, he could be bitten on the butt, or just be soaked in toilet water, depending on what is in there. Most unpleasant either way. To prevent this, I suggest we flush this unwanted guest before it becomes entrenched."

Taylor chooses to search the toilet. Sableye are pranksters by nature, and he bets one would love to jump-scare somebody while they're using the facilities. However, since his meditite Jet can't actually touch a Sableye at the moment, he asks for someone with a more effective Pokemon to accompany him.

Alexandria sets up a forge with Mar's superheated rocks and gets to work. She mixes the silicon with trace elements leached from the castle's walls to create photovoltaic cells, and wires them with precursor metal coated in insulation made by trapping air with more silicon, since we've got an unlimited supply of the stuff. Mar's fixed position spell can keep the wires from contacting the sides of the insulation, making the vacuum chamber perfect for the job. A somewhat large quantity, assuming it can be synthesized, of hyper-reactive galvanium silicate is used to construct a shell of interlocking, hexagonal plates, several layers thick, carefully forged with the precision that only someone incapable of feeling boredom can manage. The shell will ensure that nothing leaks from the zero-point generator itself, and as they become more dense the hexes will shift with gravity and their changing size to maintain a seal. Next, she collaborates with Mar further to produce and program the precursor metal nanites to form the zero-point generator from themselves, silicon and more leached trace elements. This kind of detail work is far easier with nanites than DIY, though larger pieces are better suited for actual manufacturing than nanite construction. She assembles the pieces, and places the shell of galvanium silicate hexes around it. Again with Mar's assistance, she uses more precursor metal, more silicon, and lensite to construct a hyper-efficient radiator which directs large quantities of thermal and visible-spectrum radiation into the photovoltaic cells. She then feeds first the castle's generator output and then this new generator's output into her built-in meter, to compare the devices. The zero-point generator she has constructed would be sufficient to fuel a frigate back home, a warship between 500m and 700m in length and equipped with high-draw energy weapons, shields, and engines as well as a wide range of less greedy armaments and support systems, with a decent surplus of power. Therefore, in theory it should be able to power the castle, especially if its current, dilapitated power source could do the job, but it's still best to check one's work before trying to hook it up. Materials used: 20x precursor metal orbs, mostly for wiring and circuit boards, 2 metric tons of silicon for semiconductors, insulation, solar panels, and struts, 4 kg lensite for the energy focusing array, 6 metric tons of galvanium silicate for the radiation shields, 4 metric tons of precursor metal/silicate nanites to help construct the zero-point generator itself.

"Energy to matter is theoretically doable, but horrendously energy-inefficient," Alexandria explains to Mar, "I suppose you haven't heard of Pacifus, Metentimin, and Einstein's most famous theory? They're great physicists who independently discovered the relationship between matter and energy. The energy required to generate a piece of matter is equal to its mass times the square of the speed of light, and light is the second fastest thing that exists, after anything that teleports. So every piece of matter is, by my understanding, a frozen piece of immense amounts of energy. The conversion can happen, but creating even a single molecule from nothing would require an immense power supply. "Unfortunately, I do not possess any platinum. However, you are welcome to test your magic upon this," Alexandria offers Mar a Precursor Metal Orb, and a small slug of dull, grey metal she retrieves from inside her wrist. "The orb is made of something I found on my most recent adventure, created by a group the locals called "precursors". It is remarkably easy to work for its strength and durability. The slug, which I will need back intact by the way, is a piece of what is essentially my skeleton. It is called battleplate, an alloy smelted from iron, tungsten, and shed dragon scales. It is utterly impervious to physical force, and thus the most prized of all armors for infantry, vehicles, and starships. Especially starships, as it blocks everything from hard radiation to micrometeorites with ease. To my knowledge, only stellar-hot plasma, highly concentrated dark energy, the most powerful of metal-manipulating magic, and exposure to fluoroantimonic acid, the most corrosive of all acids, can weaken, bend, melt, or destroy battleplate. This is why it serves as my internal support and protects my most critical systems. If you can get something exceedingly useful from battleplate, I shall have to find a non-critical location to scavenge from until the strut in question can be replaced. "On the positive side, high heat is what I need to work metals, not the flame itself. Your heating techniques are likely sufficient for our needs. With stones that hot, I should have no trouble shaping the structures needed, and your linking magic will greatly cut down on wear of the device. I will have to construct a steam turbine to generate the electricity though, which will work but not as efficiently as what I am used to. Ah, well. For that I will need a great deal of water; we may have to pick that up the next time we stop. I can get the rest of the work done in the mean-time. Unless you can convert heat into light without losing lots of energy? I could create a solar generator and connect it to the zero-point generator instead. That would be at least ten times more efficient. Or if I had a lot of silicon I could make high-capacity photovoltaic cells to do the same thing. What do you think?"

"Sounds interesting!" Samantha chimes in, presumably startling pretty much everybody as she didn't appear to be in the room until now. "Oh, uh, sorry. I was taking that whole suggestion to practice more to heart. By trying to convince people that I was not in fact in the room. I guess it worked? But now I've got a killer headache, so I should probably ease off for a while."

"A test subject! Excellent. I was looking for a guinea pig for my latest spell. This will do nicely," Lexiel declares, pulsing her aura towards herself, Visrii, and Edmond to grant each of them +1 initiative. "Come on, let's drop this fool and get to the objective! Double time!" Pairing action to words, she shoots him with her narcojet rifle, activating its special ability Narcojet Payload to debuff Mighty Marx's dexterity and intelligence. Speed control wins battles.

Lexiel jots a quick reminder down in her notebook: 'Ask Sombra about Deus - Ironic Justice?' Then she attempts to quietly pick or otherwise open whatever is keeping the doors open, using the thieves' tools and Dimir infiltration kit she carries for just such an occasion. Should this fail, she attempts to remove the door's hinge-pins, so that it can be pushed down and allow us to enter. Should this fail as well, she attempts to cut her way in with the lava lightsaber axe.

The Showdown Continues! The Shoggoth Wrengler nails Wyvis in the face with a fistful of cutlery! Wyvis takes 11 damage! A blue capsule about the size of a football with a stylized purple skull printed on it appears out of nowhere in front of Wyvis… Bastion 327 transforms back into robot mode, beeping in confusion. A stylized, purple skull appears above it, flickering like a poorly-maintained neon sign. EMP is charging… Venus fires a healing bullet at the mutant Meka. Not of This World activates! Venus deals 20 damage, putting out an eye, and heals himself for 12 HP. Bob throws a beer can at Kagari! “I sense much sobriety in you. Fear not; I can fix that.” Kagari is healed for 25 HP! Kagari feels bloated, and slightly unsteady on her feet. A few of her extremities get a little runny as her concentration lapses a bit. LOTUS points out weaknesses in the Meka’s armor! Attacks made on it now have a 5% chance to be a critical hit, dealing double damage. Symmetra powers up her photon projector and latches her energy beam onto the Meka! The Meka takes 3 damage. Symmetra’s shields regenerate, restoring 2 HP. Shield generator is charging… The Mutant Meka opens fire with its dual automatic shotguns on Hikari and Friedhold, dealing 5 damage to Hikari, 5 damage to Sachi, and 14 damage to Friedhold. Symmetra’s sentry turret responds by zapping the Meka, dealing no damage but reducing its initiative by 5! Shield generator is charging… Kagari hip gatlings the Meka for 103 total damage. The Meka responds by eating her butt with a single button press before the attack lands, taking no damage. It also, you know, eats her butt, though this doesn’t seem to have harmed anything but her pride for some reason. Sachi maintains her Tower Stance on Hikari, and regenerates 5 HP. Hikari uses Dia on Symmetra, restoring 10 HP. Symmetra is at full HP! Wyvis uses Harvest on Venus and Kagari, to gain the damage they deal x1.5 as blood points for the next 2 of their turns. Friedhold uses Sonic Boom, dealing 1 damage to the Shoggoth Wrengler, 0 damage to the Meka and Bastions, and 6 damage to Bob. Not of This World activates! The Meka powers through the sonic blast without being hampered! Bridgett fires her mighty Mithral Buster at the Meka. Not of This World activates! Part of the blast seems to stall just above the Meka’s armored surface, and the buster only deals 13 damage. Bastion 861 continues firing at Venus, dealing 12 damage! Status: Initiative:

"What is making you so nervous, Murki, Meggie?" Taylor asks the Pokemon seriously, in a whisper, listening carefully to their answer. He does his best to keep others from noticing... but he's not exactly the most subtle or socially adept person in the world. "Hm. I believe we may have stowaways," Taylor states calmly, addressing the group as a whole. "I saw something moving out of the corner of my eyes. Don't Sableye sometimes travel in groups? I also seem to recall that they like to think they're clever. This one is being very ostentatious. I believe it is a distraction to allow its compatriots to board our vessel unnoticed. I also believe this Sableye could be a disruptive influence on, well, everyone around it. However, we are already accepting of many disruptive influences," Here he pans his gaze over the whole cadet group, not lingering on anyone specifically so it's impossible to tell who if anyone is the target, "So that in and of itself is unlikely to be a cause for concern."

"Hm. Interesting. I intend to replace the castle's current power source with a zero-point generator. Think of it as a sort of suction device. It will draw energy from the instability inherent in the multiverse, and new energy will then flow in to fill the depleted regions. In theory, I suppose this could become some sort of doomsday device, but I cannot imagine a sort of technology that needed so much energy as to deplete everything that exists. Running entire worlds off this technology does not produce measurable changes in the surroundings," Alexandria begins explaining, "I will need to construct a containment device of lead or some other dense material to keep the hard rads from making the meat creatures sick and messing with my sensors. I will also need to draw quite a bit of wire, produce a very hot fire to assist my work, and construct converters that transform the quantum instability into electricity. I can create devices to turn it into heat, but with the materials available any device I constructed to convert heat into electricity would be highly inefficient. I do have a significant quantity of a highly durable metal from my most recent adventures, which I could use in this project."

Alexandria returns to the engine room with her small hoard of crafting materials picked up from her adventures. Perhaps she can upgrade, repair, or replace some of the castle's badly damaged mechanisms... As she enters the room with her load of raw materials and junk, she crosses paths with Mar and his load of raw materials and junk. "Hello, Mar, was it?" She calls out, "I believe I have a proposition for you. I intend to upgrade the castle's systems. They are currently in poor repair, and frankly, were in many cases obsolete by my standards even when new. However, the castle also lacks the tools and equipment needed to produce everything I want. Based on my observations of your magic and techniques, I believe you may be able to work around this deficiency."

Lexiel descends the elevator shaft through the simple means of being able to fly. She has a Lightkeeper of Emeria help the less aerially adept members of the team.

Lexiel heads through the hole with the others and starts hacking away at the elevator floor. It's go time. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> A disco interlude is sure to solve everything.