Powder Miner

Pinecone's sudden realization and ensuing flurry of activity seemed not to have worn off, as he turned now to finally take out the last of these lesser Marauders. For his part, the swordsbug didn't even seem like he was going to try to fight back, just spreading his arms out, looking at Pinecone dead-on, and grinning. "You can go ahead, I've already won." Pinecone attacks Marauder D! Pinecone elected to oblige the Marauder, and tossed a javelin in his direction with a mighty hurl... only for the Marauder to make a little jump to his right, the javelin proceeding to sail through the empty air before landing sideways with a soft thump in the dirt. The Marauder widened his attack-welcoming arms and the gaze that he gave Pinecone visibly got even smugger. "Hah, well, you are going to have to try a little harder than that. I'm not gonna make it that easy." Bend crouched over the mosquito girl, unconscious and bleeding on the ground. "Ah, shit. You're probably like... 6 or 7, huh...? Well, I'm not going to just leave you down there." He'd known the kind of people who would, until perhaps the very last moment, but that wouldn't be him. "Sorry I can't do more than this, but..." He brought his magic flute to his lips and played a low, clear tone on it. The magic that came from that tone was terribly weak, but it did its job at least to some extent, clearing the dizziness from the punch that Sting had been dealt and allowing the heavily wounded mosquito girl to at least stand up. Bend uses Charming Flute on Sting! Map Notes Status EXP: 2/100 (LEVEL UP!)

All of a sudden, Sting was taking things completely seriously (although, of course, in her position it would be hard not to). And it showed in the way she suddenly dashed into the grass, her legs carrying her as fast as she could as she careened towards one of the remaining Marauders. Sting attacks Looter C! And the fight that followed was indeed a surprisingly efficient one. Sting leapt into the grass and moved her entire body in one twitch of motion, legs leaning forward, arm thrusting outwards, rapier stabbing out. The painful wounds on her limbs were ignored... bloodied more than anyone else had been in this battle, Sting had come to the sudden realization that they had to be. And that jerking stab found its target, piercing through the bug and leaving him to drop like a sack of flour. Looter C is dead! TURN 5 ~ ENEMY PHASE Slowly, the swordsbug looked around the battlefield. It was everyone but the boss's group that were dead now... these guys that they'd thrown themselves against had turned out to be real badasses, it was looking pretty hard to deny that. Well... actually, it was everyone but the boss's group and him. "Well then. I guess that's about that then, isn't it? Just one thing left to do." He raised his sword, took a breath in, and then dashed at Sting. Marauder D attacks Sting! The point of the plastic sliver that was thrust at Sting never actually reached her -- instead, it skimmed right past her face, the sword brushing against her without actually cutting her. But the things that came next, the hilt and the Marauder's fist, those didn't just skim past her. What had intended to be a stab turned into a punch, a shockingly powerful one that spun Sting around once before dropping her to the ground. (On the ground, the severity of her wounds became a little more obvious.) The Marauder stared at the dropped mosquito in surprise for a few moments, and then he laughed. He laughed, and then he flipped his sword over so that it was pointing downwards, and then he buried it in the earth, and crossed his arms, looking at the bugs of the Redoubt. "I win." Sting is downed! TURN 6 ~ PLAYER PHASE Map Notes Status EXP: 99/100

Even as the Raider elected to loom ominously over Stardust, another bug approached her from behind... but this time, it was Lotus, rather than an enemy. Lotus delivered her advice to Stardust, before raising her bow and aiming it at the odd Marauder, drawing the bow back, and then... Lotus attacks Raider B! It was probably something of a foregone conclusion, to be blunt. Lotus hadn't made a habit of missing her shots, and despite the grass that they were in, with as undefended and slow and obvious a target as the axe-wielding Marauder was, it would have been quite the shock if she had missed. The arrow cleanly sailed from Lotus, inches to the right of Stardust's head, into the broad and wounded chest of the red ant, and he toppled over with a long groan. (Chances are that this also helped avoid Stardust have something of a heart attack, as well.) Raider B is dead! Map Notes Status EXP: 92/100

"You should back off and find cover!" Navin replied to Heidrun even at the same time as he began to move again, backing off just a little and seeing where everything was, "We are going to be just fine for now, just worry about your own safety!" Navin uncurled one of his fists, changing it into a knife-hand and then sprung at the other medium meathook. If he did well enough here, perhaps he could blow the thing into pieces and leave only the central monster and the smallest hooks still around to fight. Once he'd done that, he figured that he could probably focus in on it fairly well, but he didn't want these large things interfering. Power flowered in a line from his arm to the tip of his fingers and back -- and then he concentreated it in his finger tips, bursting all of that energy into a couple of concentrated points as he slammed his hand into the hook. Navin uses Piercing Strike on Medium Meathook 2, doing 4d6+STR (10)+SYN (11) damage, and ignoring all damage resistance. Active Cooldowns: One-Two Punch (3 turns) Piercing Strike (2 turns)

Lyra began talking to Perlita not long after Perlita (ignoring the lightning bolts coming her way, since they felt like little more than particularly painful static shocks right now) surged over to her and brought her back to consciousness -- but already, Perlita was starting to back off. "I know, I know, I've got to help take care of everyone in this fight!" Without saying much more, Perlita made a tugging gesture violently through the air, and with then a call of "Crawford!" she summoned her Persona once again. She reflected on just what she needed to do right now -- the battle looked to be reaching another stage, with that Iowa ship lady dealing a whole bunch of firepower to basically everything, and of course with the new mech thing coming out... that was Brave, she guessed. She didn't really see herself as doing any sort of cataclysmic damage, and most people on the battlefield were mostly fine, with Lyra the biggest exception but with Lyra actively recovering. So then she would try to top a lot of people off, as that was the sort of thing Media was good for. (Though she really did want to get her hands on Mediarama... it would make all of this a lot easier.) Perlita uses Media, healing Lyra, Iowa, 6D, and Gabriel for 2d4+SYN (12) HP! Active Cooldowns: Media (1 turn remaining)

Isobel felt strange magical energy settle upon her... and a vicious dual effect settled down upon her. She opened her mouth and tried to comment on the fact that she felt something strange affecting her... but though she worked her lungs, no voice came out of her mouth. She paused for a split-second, and then tried again, and once again nothing happened. Isobel stomped a foot, frustrated (and LOTUS, undergoing a similar process, crossed her arms and just frowned) and then reached her hand for the bottle on her hip... but when she tried to activate it, she found that somehow the steps to do so had disappeared from her mind. She just-- couldn't work out-- how to operate-- even basic machines. She put the bottle back, simmering, and threw her hands in the air. Isobel does nothing because she doesn't even have any weapons for basic attacks oh god, unless she can put away her Golden Chaingun as a loadout-adjusting action, in which case she does that. Cooldowns: Tactical Uplink: Partial up in 1 turn! Efficiency Analysis: 0 turns remaining

Ebon's reign of terror continued as he whirled on top of his bird and struck out hard with his wooden lance, this time at the rather sardonic swordsbug. "Ah, fuck." At least he wasn't diving from the air this time. Ebon Knight attacks Marauder D! The way it shook out was this: the Marauder didn't die, although his face stretched into a grimace as the wooden lance solidly thwacked into him and left him barely on his feet. But he did not manage to retaliate... after all, it's very hard to hit a bug when he's on top of a big-ass crow with a long-ass lance and all you've got is a small, sad plastic sliver. A thrust upwards came well short of the mercenary, and the Marauder just ended up glaring up frustratedly at him. Pinecone, still riding that wave of confidence and determination, and emerging almost unharmed from the desperate all-comers assault that had just been launched upon him, raised a javelin high in the air and sent it hurtling at the ribboned archer with a decisive thrust of his arm. Pinecone attacks Pillager C! "D... damn...!" The decisive throw led to a decisive hit, and the javelin came to a quivering halt in the archer's belly. She took a stumbling step backwards, and then another, and then she fell down backwards. With his foe dealt with, Pinecone rose to a fully upright position, turning around to survey and look. He may not have been three inches of armored behemoth looking down on his foes --in fact, he was only two inches tall, making him a little short-- but at the moment that didn't seem to matter too much, with the two saner bugs of the remaining three in this group of Marauders backing up just a little. Pinecone had established himself as a truly imposing presence. Pillager C is dead! Meanwhile, Stardust continued to completely panic, scrambling around on the ground, bumping into Pinecone, and then screaming at the absolute top of her lungs, and floundering a little as she started to move to panic-fire at the Raider. Figuring that she needed a little more momentum, Bend brought his flute to his lips and played a low tone, but his gaze was into the distance, a wan look on his face. Man, I wish I had my sword right now. With the flute's magic behind her, Stardust whirled into a terrified, probably-still-screaming magical assault on her axe-wielding, phrase-chanting foe. Stardust attacks Raider B! Rapidly flung with terrified twitches of Stardust's hand, two bolts of lightning flew at the Raider, slamming directly into him -- one of them striking dead center mass with a frankly shocking amount of accuracy for such a terrified attack. The Raider, shirtless and clearly without much willpower to him, had no innate defense against the magic, and both bolts shocked and burned and sizzled... but when they finally fizzled away, the Raider was still on his feet. He was charred, severely wounded, but he wasn't dead, the blade of grass in front of him smoking with two holes at its edges where it had managed to sap just a little energy from the magic. And he was looking at Stardust now. Map Notes Status EXP: 87/100

"Y- yeah, uh, I suppose that'll suffice. Right then, well..." Lizaveta steadied herself and then advanced, slipping through allies to emerge behind the crowd of enemies, dark tome in hand and open. J13, Worm Cavalier A.

Lizaveta glanced at Arthur, and then glanced back at the knight. "Crimson! He looks big enough that though I'm sure I can cripple him, I'm not sure I can kill him all at once! I'll bore into pieces of his armor with Worm, strike for those!" Lizaveta uses Worm on Axe Knight B! Arthur moves to I6 and uses FIRE on Axe Knight B, and Presses the Assault with Lizaveta if he kills!

Blackwing and Ebon leapt up and swooped down at the archer, who didn't look like she was very surprised by this particular development, but who also looked very unhappy that it was happening, putting her arms over her head in an attempt to cover herself. She didn't say anything either, evidently having got her need to speak out with her earlier word and a half. Ebon Knight attacks Pillager B! To tell the truth, it's something of a foregone conclusion. One reason, there is a flash as a mass of black color swoops in at high speed from the sky and an archer rather resignedly looking up at it, and then there is a mantis knight on top of a crow and no archer around at all... or well so it appeared at first. The poor bug is visible some meters away on the ground, evidently having been part of a demonstration of the physical property of inertia, and its Blackwing Corollary, which states the following: "When Bird moves very fast, bug moves very fast." Pillager B is dead! Bend turned from boggling at Stardust's actually attacking (and, for that matter, succeeding), to watch Pinecone's internal struggle and the conclusions that he reached about pain. To say the least, Pinecone's sudden switch from emotional passivity to that sort of sudden determination was... "Uh... wh-- y-- yeah-- okay, uh, yeah, that's good Pinecone. I-- yeah, that works. I'll take it!" That musing and reacting done, Bend played a tweet on his magic flute for Ebon, if perhaps wondering about its necessity given the fact that Ebon seemed to be acquiring a lot of velocity. Ebon Knight is refreshed! "Ah MAN, he's coming for ME now!" A cockroach archer, who had decorated herself with little pink accessories, now found herself as the one with a very large bird coming in very quickly on her position, and judging by the way that she shrunk back into the grass, she wasn't super happy about that either. Ebon Knight attacks Pillager C! Sure enough, it's not a pleasant experience this time around either... but at least the accessorized archer can claim to have kept her feet. Perhaps slowed down or made a little more imprecise by the grass, or perhaps due to the second archer having more strength in her, she isn't thrown or knocked down, but she does have a tight grimace on her face, teeth clenched together. Watching the mercenary and bird swoop back off, her tone is a little pained (she's bleeding now) but mostly frustrated. "This guy is a pain. We can't seem to stop him! He's just coming in back and forth and tearing us to pieces out here!" TURN 4 ~ ENEMY PHASE "We're gonna be doing the best we can here, Ribbons, but, I mean, LOOK at them!" "It is... not great, I admit, but still!" "In battle comes solace from life's degradations...." While the other Marauders in the immediate vicinity mostly bicker among themselves out of a not-insignificant level of "oh shit" at their situation, the red ant axeman doesn't even slow down, trudging ponderously over towards Ebon and raising his axe. Raider B attacks Ebon Knight! So ponderous is the movement and attack from the rather ritualistic red ant, in fact, that not only does Pinecone have ample time to step in the way and shove Ebon Knight just a bit out of it, but he then has the time to lift his arm and grab the axe by the handle as it begins to descend, stopping it rather harmlessly before it can come down and do any real damage to him. The red ant Marauder doesn't seem terribly fazed by this, even when Pinecone darts his javelin forward to deal the bug just a little bit of a stab, but he does favor Pinecone with a "In death comes relief from life's depredations." The other Marauders, well... "You're SHITTING me! He just missed!" "Ohhh, man. This isn't going to go well." "Do any of you have any better ideas?" They stared at each other for a moment, and then they stared at Pinecone standing there in front of Ebon Knight, and then with shouts and battle cries all three of them charged at the armored bee, counting on him to stand in the way of their attacks as if they were attacking the mantis! "Yaaaaaah!" "AAAAAAAAH!" "Aaaaah." Looter C attacks Ebon Knight! The initial scrap of the three-man charge doesn't go well at all for the frustrated knife-wielding bug, who whirls around to strike at Pinecone from behind but finds himself taken aback as the bee whirls around much more quickly than the Looter or probably anybody else expected -- one arm smacks aside the Looter's knife arm, turning the blade away entirely, while the other arm stabs forwards, giving the unhappy bug a very solid stab to the chest as he practically runs into it. He's not dropped, especially considering the current environment, but Pinecone did him some damage. Marauder D attacks Ebon Knight! The second of these engagements gets very stupid, very fast, as the sardonic Marauder, a black ant, wades up to the somewhat imposing bee through the grass, raises up his sword, brings it down at Pinecone... and promptly bounces completely off of Pinecone's pauldron, not only failing to deal him any damage, but probably not even being felt by him. Pinecone has no such issues, however, as his javelin marks a decent hit on the Marauder, drawing a sharp grunt. Striking back, the Marauder brings his sword up into the air and then brings it crashing downwards, before promptly managing to stab the ground. "We'll, uh, we'll call this one inconclusive." Pillager C attacks Ebon Knight! Finally, an arrow is loosed from a bow, flying at high speed at Pinecone's direction... and actually, unlike the previous attacks made against him, striking the bee hard enough to feel! Mind, it was just one arrow penetrating only a little ways into his leg, which stung more than really hurt, but she could at least claim that much. Once again, Pinecone's response proved much more successful, and a hefted javelin caught the archer in the shoulder. She just grinned, swaying and barely standing on her feet but not down. TURN 5 ~ PLAYER PHASE Map Notes Status EXP: 76/100

DAMN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU DARK MAGESSSSSSSSS

Eulalia finally chimed in, having mostly been taking in and reflecting on her new surroundings until now -- to tell the truth, she was actually a little disappointed that her first challenge on the way out of here (not counting standing around and watching Argos make a bit of a fool out of himself) was some sort of test from a sympathetic figure more than anything else. She had been looking forward to paying back the guards in this place with interest, and it would have been more satisfying to simply carve her way through truly hostile opposition. Still... considering the nature of this place as some sort of massive component, perhaps many of these guards here really were loyal to Hades. "To chime in on the earlier discussion, my suspicion is that the "volatile" there simply means that that crystal will explode or release some form of destructive magic if we destroy it -- not only is that the usage typically meant in the dramatic, but it's also the way that it's been used in some of the magic items I've handled for effects in plays. Still, I would like to see it destroyed before we leave... we ought to wreak a little bit of revenge on Hades for keeping us tortured down here for so long, and blowing a ragged hole in his precious project seems like a good route to it to me. For now though... yes, let's dispatch the guards." She punctuated this last comment by jogging up, raising her tome (a light tome, an art she'd learned for the purpose of effects in her plays but which she was equally happy to use for more... dynamic purposes), and firing a bolt of magic off at one of the skeletons. I10, punch a(nother, when you think about it) hole in Sword Skelly B with Blessed Iron!

Despite having been performed for by Justine, Lizaveta found that there wasn't actually much left for her to do, so she sort of just... shuffled in behind Shin. In an attempt to save a little face, she did at least speak. "Man, we really just... got them. I'd want to try intimidating the others with that or something, but these guards seemed really hardened. I think we'll have to fight our way through all of them." H17

As a general rule, Navin Gopinath Mhasalkar did not curse. But that wasn't to say that he remained quiet at this sudden, horrific revelation -- he yelped somewhat, and then let out an almost hissing "Khhhhhh," sound of surprise and frustration as he had to leap back to avoid being skewered, Heidrun in his arms. That scream coming from the tunnel, too -- he wanted to hope that it was just the sound of whatever had caused this, and it maybe had been, but the girl down there was probably dead now. His grimace grew strong enough that his teeth ached a little, but then he shook his head deliberately and loosened his jaw as much as he can. Right now, it was time to fight. He could, at least, save the others in his group and whoever would come in the future to this evidently... life-eating place. Navin began to move, sidestepping in rough circles in front of everybody else and raising his fists in a boxing stance, as he got the circulation and the power that came with it moving throughout his body. "Understood! Do not worry about causing a little discomfort!" Navin had the opportunity now, while none of his power was expended, to do some fairly ferocious damage, and he was tempted to just lay into the thing... but both suspecting that it could potentially have a way to block damage to its core using its hooks to block and deflect like a martial artist, and suspecting that leaving all of those hooks up could result in them being torn to shreds before he could kill it, Navin instead elected to lunge at one of the larger hooks. He ignored the strange feeling already coming from Heidrun's magic in favor of simply bringing his power to the lowest segments of his finger and dealing a savage pair of blows to it, along with a pair of powerful explosions which would probably apply enough directional force to help avoid breaking his knuckles from punching metal. (The explosions would also help blow the hook to smithereens, of course.) Navin uses One-Two Punch on Medium Meathook 1, doing 4d6+STR (10)+SYN (11) damage, twice. (Also, reminder that the Shell-Shock perk in the loadout spoiler triggers on every attack, for all intents and purposes). Active Cooldowns: One-Two Punch (4 turns)

Perlita cringed hard, three times in quick succession. The first time was as 6D took multiple hits for her in short succession, struck repeatedly and overloaded by a bolt of lightning -- though at least 6D did appear to be recovering from that fairly rapidly. The second time, and the most extreme, was when despite Perlita's best and desperate efforts, Lyra ultimately fell to the poison that had ravaged her organs and driven the blood from her body. "No! ¡Mierda!" A full on panic attack, however, was this time averted by the abrupt realization that she DID have something which could help with even something this severe, the Life Shard she had received upon coming here... which then led to the third cringe from Perlita, as she realized that she could have used this on 6D! She just didn't have time to stay and feel guilty about it, though, because Lyra needed help fast. Summoning up the magical shard with a motion of her hand, Perlita sprinted up and applied it to Lyra with a grim but focused expression. Perlita uses Life Shard on Lyra, canceling her flaw, reviving her, healing her to 25% HP, and healing her for SYN (12) as well as herself for SYN (12) if removing Unconscious counts as removing a condition slash if the heal counts as using a heal for the purposes of her perks.

"Wait, you're actually--" In what everyone would have expected to be a very unlikely turn of events, Stardust came screaming out from behind Bend (only barely figuratively) with tablet in hand, and pointed at the enemy raider with a trembling finger, begging something (herself? some gods? the world? the Marauder?) to make it so that her spell didn't kill the Raider. Stardust attacks Raider A! "ARRRRH--" began the bloodied axeman, but this particular animalistic shout was cut off as a bolt of light buried itself in the dying bug's throat, finally dropping in and rendering his death, at least, mercifully silent. Raider A is dead! With anybody in her immediate group capable of any meaningful resistance now dead, the archer that had until now stayed silent finally took the opportunity to speak up. "Hmm... fuck." Map Notes Status EXP: 61/100

"Excellent!" crowed LOTUS in a very pleased tone, pumping her fists from Isobel's pocket. "Light her up, then! We're going to have to deal with some of her spells from that, taking a look at the danmaku, but we really aren't going to get anywhere if we let that slow us down, especially because she's not likely to return the favor! We're simply going to have to tear into her now and not stop, and Isobel and I are going to do our best to help facilitate that. UB-65, that was also an extremely impressive blow, and I've already voiced my thoughts on Masako's performance. If we can keep this up..." In an abnormally unguardedly excited mood, LOTUS proceeded to give Masako some advice on how to use her powerful attack more quickly. "Well, I'll be damned... there's not a whole lot for me to do. Except... hey, I'm going to spray one of these saplings! It's probably rare that I'll get another opportunity to use this thing, and this should maybe keep it from doing its thing, and will almost certainly eventually kill it!" Isobel produced a green bottle from her apron, with rather colorful labeling proclaiming it to be Nanotrasen-brand "Plant-B-Gone" -- and then she dashed in the direction of the saplings, spraying one with a healthy dose of the substance. LOTUS uses Efficiency Analysis on Masako, dropping the cooldown of Wind Sign "Fierce Gale" by one turn! Isobel uses Plant-B-Gone on Sapling B (lol), dealing INT (12) damage to it for 3 turns! Cooldowns: Tactical Uplink: Partial up in 2 turns! Efficiency Analysis: 1 turns remaining

Lotus attacks Marauder C! Lotus brings a sudden end to the debacle with the sword-wielding butterfly -- though the Marauder had paid little attention to her in the midst of his swordfight with Sting, she didn't precisely need him to pay attention to her to do what she did. And an arrow snapped quietly through the air, passing easily through the space between blades of grass and nailing the hemorrhaging butterfly in some other vital place in his chest. The man fell over quickly and shockingly silently, but his smile was still on his face even as he hit the ground. Perhaps he simply hadn't had time to drop it before he died, but perhaps also he genuinely did not regret this happening. Marauder C has died! Map Notes Status EXP: 56/100

Channeling the pain and fear that she was desperately trying to cover over, Sting made another lunge at the other swordsbug, sword flicking outwards. Sting attacks Marauder C! The end result, however, was terribly messy for everyone involved. Once more, Sting's wooden sword plunges into the Marauder's body, a solid slam right into his chest that probably hit a lung, causing him to cough up blood... but somehow, he was still standing. Worse, he was still fighting, and the shockingly sharp point of the plastic sliver he wielded ripped across her leg, now, causing another hot wave of pain, and yet more blood to stain the area of their combat. The butterfly responded to all of this by wiping his mouth with a sleeve, glancing down at the way the red blood played with the blue color of his sleeve, and then smiling. Speaking was a struggle, vowels dropped as it hurt to move the air for them, but he did it anyway. "Guess... 'm lucky. More... ev'n..., fight, th'n anyone 'lse has gotten. Thank you... f'r that..." Map Notes Status EXP: 51/100

Eulalia watched the figure enter the room in his very odd way, with an introduction that went far too hard and far too long... and she grinned, widely. Sure, his entrance had been dramatic to the point of being entirely silly, and she'd be dead before she ever wrote a character entering in the manner of this Argos von Bodin (well, actually, she was dead, she guessed, but still), but that wasn't what she found herself immediately liking. No, she watched him kick the door halfway off of its hinges, and all she could do was smile. If anyone was going to help her get up, get out of here, and kick some ass, it was somebody who had enough soul and energy devoted to it to casually knock a door halfway out of existence just introducing himself. Accordingly, she stepped forward and gave Argos a very thespian bow, before flashing him that grin more directly and starting to speak with a tone that was confident but just a teeny tiny little bit teasing -- she had already seen enough to want to throw in behind him, but of course he was silly enough that she couldn't help but want to mess with him a little, even if that in this case meant pumping his ego. "My my, a demigod? Son of Hades, no less... you're a very relevant figure, aren't you? If this all works out, Argos von Bodin, I guarantee you that you're going to show up in the world of the arts... satyr plays, I could imagine. But I've been looking for someone like you for a looong time. The whole time I've been down here, I've been waiting for somebody like you. I am more than ready to get out of here, whatever it takes, and I've sure got some justice to dispense."

Well, she'd started out terribly, hadn't she? Done all that yelling, and then missed, and been shoved back by fucking Baldur. Lizaveta felt the ever-familiar bile-filled frustration rising, and did her best to swallow it down... she had to try not to be overly-aggressive and ruin everything, right? "Damn it...! Alright... I'm going to back up a bit. Someone should take my place closer to our foes!" Rapidly backpedaling, Lizaveta circled around next to Kane and whipped out her Wind tome, squinting before firing magic off at the furthest foe she could reach. Maybe it would help make sure he got finished off, she hoped. G18, Wind Fighter A.

Eulalia did her best to try to rub her wrists past her manacles as she stood in the room with all of these strange other people. Sharp eyes took in the room's occupants, meeting for the time the eyes of the especially bizarre massive squid-man, and as she scanned the happenings of the room, she could practically see small plays in motion. The two dragonborn girls -- that was clearly some sort of tragedy, there. The squid-man... well, he was an opaque sort, boisterous, odd, and rather dead: that was the protagonist of a satyr play. Eulalia found that finding stories to create plays from was the easiest part of the whole affair; all that one had to do was look closely enough and a thousand dramas passed through each day, from a thousand people, and this small room that she'd been led to was no exception at all. Eulalia had kept these things in mind for the six years that she'd been in this terrible place... the whips and toil and exhaustion and, oh, more fucking whips, they hadn't managed to make her let go of these methods and ways of seeing the world that she so cherished. She hadn't let them. Eulalia had seen some of the people here, broken, dull-eyed, nothing but moving bodies with seemingly no soul or spark driving them. She'd always preferred to die than give herself over to mediocrity and be led around like a sheep... and she'd already died, so that one wasn't an option. Six years, six long, painful years, had all been spent struggling and rebelling and screaming out and fighting and planning, to what degree she could ever manage. Though she'd been tortured many a time for it, opposition had only ever made Eulalia flare up brighter and angrier. Now, she supposed it was time for a little more of that flaring up, because now was the opportunity that she had been holding close to her soul for so long. If they succeeded, she knew what she was going to do. If they failed, well, it would be a pain in the ass for the worms running this place, and she could be happy with that while she prepared again. "Maybe that kid is actually holding up to his word, huh? Sure hope so, though I'm not going back without kicking out someone's fucking kneecaps if not. I have places to be, I have plays to write, and I sure as shit have other things to do." By this, Eulalia meant that she had someone to kill.

"One might think this tragedy is about my fall but ohhhh no, ohhhhhh no, it's going to be someone else's entirely."

Isobel found herself barely able to react to Masako's change, besides faintly noting a sudden flip in demeanor and the now more dignified air with which she carried herself and, uh, a spear or something. This was because Isobel was awfully busy, running around to and fro to help keep everybody healthy and in the fight. It seemed like, for now, she had a break from preventing the sleep from catching everybody -- but there was still ever work to do. For now, Empi was looking rather banged up from the chaos and damage of the battle, and especially with how key she was to also keeping everybody alive, Isobel immediately made her way over to the romantic/sexual fairy, producing a poppy from her bag and stopping herself from hucking it at Empi to instead slide gracefully in and hand it off to her. "Empi, eat this! We can't have you going down!" As for LOTUS... the green lines along her skin pulsed, and for a moment she closed her eyes, as she communed with worlds far away. "I see you're taking things seriously now, Masako. Listen up, then. For ideal firing solutions, fire at these locations and angles, placed within reference points of fractions of height from bottom, width from left, angles from front:" Here, LOTUS rattled off a long list of fractional locations and angles and rates of movement of those angles, probably far too specific for most of the party to really understand -- computational, mathematical precision as created from the power of several different advanced AI, offered to Masako as unchanged as she worked, spinning her danmaku. Only afterwards, having trusted Masako to receive and interpret that data, did LOTUS restate a much simpler and more physical version for the benefit of the others. "Let's pursue success in our goals and contribution with our actions." And LOTUS began to spin up danmaku of her own... Isobel uses Healing Poppy on Empi, healing her for 3d4+INT HP! LOTUS uses Weakness Pinpoint on Reimu, giving all attacks aimed at her a 20% chance of nailing a critical hit for *2 damage -- for 2 turns, thanks to Tactical Uplink: Partial! Cooldowns: Tactical Uplink: Partial up in 3 turns.

Navin frowned at the reveal of the woman hiding under the hatch -- whatever was happening here, there was still at least one survivor, then. Who knew how long she had been here, hiding in this hatch under this corpse...? She would have to get medical help after they got here out of here, and probably a longer-term checkup than Heidrun could offer on the spot, too. But that could at least wait to be resolved for now; at this moment, the first priority was to at least get her out of there. "It is okay. We are just here to investigate this place, we are only going to want to help people like you." By this, Navin meant the victims of... whatever the hell was going on here, but he didn't want to panic her by making her try to explain. "We can help you out if you would like," and here he reached out, "and we can give you space afterwards if that is what you need, too."