StormLord

(Bare bones post due to traveling) Confuse Ray on Gyrados #5.

Greg mostly kept pace with the other two Cadets he was with, once they reached the task at hand he decided to hold just a tad back up the hill. Mom always said 'scary water-snake-dragon-things were better appreciated from a distance'. "Wow, okay yeah five at once? That's a lot to take on." Reaching his chosen destination a few feet back he pulled out a ball and summoned Matilda with a small flash. The glorified white puffball uncomfortably pawing at the sand and debris. "Let's see if we can't some of them to take care of themselves. Matilda use Confuse Ray!" Confuse Ray on Gyrados #3.

Freidhold took Navin's objection with surprisingly little care, brushing it off with a sort of shrug and indifferent expression. If Navin didn't want to use all the resources available to him, that was on him. "If that is your choice." Dropping the previous subject and turning back to the notes regarding the biological agent. "I believe I may be able to synthesize a countermeasure against this spray...should a small sample go missing for some reason or another." He turned back to Navin while still holding the papers and look up. "A good deed I am sure anyone would approve of."

Name: Greg Johnson(male) Age: 18 Appearance: Tall, brown haired, and of average build. For better or worse Greg is largely "normal" and nondescript. Something compounded by his choice of standard and mute clothing. Personality: Often referred to as nice, polite, or "a good kid" Greg has yet to find anyone he truly can't get along with at all. Just enough work ethic and responsible streak to slide through Cadet school alive. Backstory: A denizen of Gear City where both of his parents work in management of shipyards and neither makes huge amounts of money, but between the two of the he managed to land a spot in the upper end Space Aether Academy, something many of his childhood friends didn't.  Starter: Vulpix(tropical variant) Special Skill: Explorer

As Mira moves forward the officer standing in the path is out of the way and off to the sidelines before she even gets the words out of her mouth. Square looks back and forth at what's going on before shrugging and jogging forward to keep up. "I'm going to follow Her." [43] The officer raises an eyebrow as Punch announces "guard guy". You hear a feint snicker that is quickly stifled coming from one of his colleagues in the background. Never the less he listens to Punch's question and seems to answer it the best he can. "Well after the initial attack he hasn't moved around much, just sort of sits in the middle of the park while his henchmen do the heavy lifting. Good for us and you I guess since it means things don't get done very quickly. If I'm remembering the news right last time he showed up he tried to kidnap the Goddess Candidates and hold them for ransom, didn't work out for him though." Notes: Init: Status:

The Maroon Dirge turns and releases it’s gathered ball of flames in a conical blast towards Stella(2-fail) and Vepr-12 dealing 10 fire damage each. Vepr-12’s counter attack rattles against the Taskmaster’s shield for another 7 damage. Zoe Walker releases arcing lightning that deals 9, 11, and 10 damage to the Neoshadows, the two shadows still formed slink back into their puddle forms. Hirata(6-hit) fires a spray of bullets from a rapidly spinning up gun that sort of splash and splatter into the pool of darkness with little to no effect. Akihiro clones himself while he desperately tries to manage all the adults shoving illicit substances in his face. Jack screams and charges to much effect, he seems to have caught much attention he may not have particularly wanted. Scarlet shoves the first of the illicit substances in Akihiro’s face, restoring 8 HP. Neoshadow A swipes at Hirata again dealing 7 damage and (22 vs 15) fails to pull her over, again. Neoshadow B similarly attacks Scarlet for 11 and (22 vs 15) also fails to pull her down. Neoshadows C and D rush forward into the previous room to chase Jack, they both swipe for(6-fail, 5-fail) 7 and 8 damage and (17 vs 15, 12 vs 15) between the both they manage to trip up Jack, knocking him flat until he spends an action to stand. As the Violet Hymn spins down the ice crystal above it breaks into smaller shards which it flings in Jack’s direction(2-fail, 1-fail) for 9 and 10 damage. Jack’s shot of grog is forced down Akihiro’s throat for another 11 HP restored. The Taskmaster reaches forward and slams his shield down on Jack for 5 damage. Stella summons up a ray of burning cosmic light that tears through the Taskmaster for 29 damage, leaving a glowing, burning hole in its chest. Vepr-12 sures up her own defenses before taking a crack at the Taskmaster for 19! damage. Init: Status:

The girl responded to Lyra with little more than an eye roll that amounted to "No shit Sherlock". "People call me Square, and I know more than enough magic and martial techniques to hold my own thank you."

Spicy HG's jovial tone faded and she took on a look of contemplative thought. She stood there for several awkward moments before releasing a held breath, looking directly at Mitsurugi, and saying simply. "You think you're becoming something you don't like. So, change again." She paused for just long enough to give a fleeting gesture to the crumbling shrine. "We're already helping people, inspire a few shrines along the way. Become Saigai Mitsurugi Vanguard of Otherworldly Calamities, Nature's own breath and will against disasters from beyond. Become anything you want. It could take a thousand years or more, but what's stopping you?"

The Maroon Dirge begins shaking and a great ball of fire is summoned up around the tip of its “hat” sending a heat wave across the room that slams into Zoe, Akihiro, and Stella(2-fail). They take 3, 1, and 6 Fire damage respectively and they become Superheated! Zoe Walker pokes and prods and the Dirge (2-fail)dealing 8 damage with her arming sword. Hirata spends some quality time getting her weapon up and running. Akihiro begin watching the Taskmaster with close scrutiny. Jack J. pops the Neoshadow at his feet with his “handgun” for 15 damage, the creature seeps back into the ground and sort of slides to the back of the room. Scarlet feels the need to one-up Jack with a blast of laser energy that deals 16 damage to another Neoshadow, which also seeps into the ground to flee. The first Neoshadow bursts from the ground and grabs at Hirata’s leg trying to both pull her to the ground and slice her leg as much as possible. It deals 4 damage and (21 vs 15) Hirata manages to keep her footing. Another two step forward and follow suit attacking Jack J. and Scarlet for 10 and 7 damage and (21 vs 15, 18 vs 15) knock neither down. The last takes a different approach, staying a slimy black soup at the feet of the combatants. The Violet Hymn spins around and around and summons up a spiky ice crystal around the tip of its “hat” that washes the room in bitter cold. The icy wind chills Vepr-12, Akihiro, and Stella to their cores, (3-success)Stella manages to pull herself out of the way at the last second, Vepr-12 takes 0 Cold damage and become Superchilled, and Akihiro becomes Thermo-shocked from the sudden changes in temperature, he takes 15 damage. Vepr-12 counter attacks for 18 damage! The Hymn bobbles and spins upside down for a moment from the force of the blast before righting itself. Jack A. slashes at the Neoshadow Scarlet shot dealing 13 damage and sending down into the ground again. The Taskmaster grunts and slams its shield into the ground hard enough to shake several glass objects off one of the tables. The shield starts glowing a soft erie blue. (Bodyblock: Sacrifice or Greed? The Taskmaster slams it shield into the ground and enhances it with a magical barrier to protect up to two allies from would-be attackers.) Stella decides to set off a bomb in close quarters. Only she finds that the puddle of Neoshadow to be quite resilient to them and that somehow most of the stardust landed on the Taskmaster. The Neoshadow takes 6 damage, the Dirge and Hymn make it out unscathed, while the Taskmaster takes the of it suffering 14, 6, and 8 damage. Vepr-12’s shotgun blasts too find their way strangely drawn to the Taskmaster, she manages to deal 7 and 7 damage to the...thing. Init: Status:

The officer produces what was once small park guide that has since had the map torn off and written on. He gestures to various points as he speaks before finally handing it off to the party. "Trick is hiding out around the central area of the park near the roller coaster entrance as of now. We've got a team engaged with a hostile group near the children's water play area on the east side of the park and we've seen another group of possible hostiles moving towards the large tent in the northwest corner." The "kid" from before sort of shifts awkwardly and quietly sighs at the party's approach. Having come closer it's a bit easier to see that they're a girl, probably in mid-teens, with drooping excessively spiky hair, an impractical collection of swords(one notably appears to be a slab of metal on a stick), and an equally impractical collect of belts, chains, and zippers holding all of them on. "Since I've spent the last ten minutes trying to convince this guy to let me in, can I just come with you to help already?" As the girl finishes the officer turns back to the group and shrugs. "That's up to you I guess. I was only ordered to keep people out until you got here with more information." Achievement get: Park Map

Spicy HG gave some pause while considering what Mitsurugi just said. The destruction of her home realm had been harsh on Mitsurugi in a multitude of ways beyond just losing everything she had once known, so it made some sense that the demon would try to prey on her desire to return to full power, but even the fact that it bothered to make one of them an offer spoke to the threat they must pose. Seeming to have come to a conclusion Spicy HG gives a slow understanding nod and replies almost as softly as she had been spoken too. "It isn't worth it, borrowed power. Trust me there. It's trying to divide us, which means it's at least concerned about our progress. A good sign." She felt like she could do better, but hoped it was enough. Having to fight a friend in a time like this would be devastating. Though she did feel like she needed to mention the Shrine and maybe try to lighten the mood. "Don't worry about the Shrine. The best of us make mistakes, the more mistakes you make the more you learn. Did I ever tell you about the time I got in a fight with a midget wielding a four ton sledge hammer? I learned not to get in fights with midgets from that mistake."

"I am capable of surrounding myself and one or two others in a field of warped light, rendering involved parties invisible. I can also create a powerful electrical pulse and powerful shockwaves." Friedhold paused considering more options. "Nessa is also adept at climbing through ventilation systems and avoiding...security detection." He considered mentioning why, but assumed explaining such would be superfluous and time consuming. Around that time a crash came from the background and a cup shattered on the ground at Nessa's feet. "Also adept at breaking fragile objects."

As the Gashadokuro fell Spicy HG gave a victory cheer. She put away her weapon and began walking over to remains. "Well that went great all things considered! If all the other fights are like this we won't have any trouble chasing these demons out of the land." Spicy HG reached down and grabbed up a couple of the core shards and held them up to the light. "I wonder how well these would do as etching? I should really add another verse to my gla-" It was at about the moment she said that that a blast of lightning rocked the shrine and caused it cave in. Spicy HG silently returned to the group and slowly approached Mitsurugi. "Are. . . Are you alright? This doesn't seem like something you'd do on purpose. . ."

Craft: 24 vs 17, Quality: 4, Random Blitz: 46, Atton and his crew pull down them megaphone but manage to break it in the process. This does still restore some of the banner's inspirational appearance. Level 4: The banner may no longer be activated for +3 Init, but gains an additional passive +2 Init(total +8). Craft: 24 vs 23, Quality: 81, Random Blitz: 71, Inspiration: Any time Atton uses a supporting action without Inspiration Inspiration gains one charge. When Atton uses a supporting action he may spend any number of Inspiration charges to increase his effective Int by that amount for that action use. Remaining charges dissipate at the end of combat. 0/3 Charges. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the flurry of movement and crafting finishes a guard steps in and ushers everyone on back in through the room full of pews and into another side chamber similar to the teleporter you took before, just larger. Using the intercom from a computer room above Histoire explains where exactly you'll be sent. "The closest we can send you is just outside the theme park in the Cubic Mountains. Terrain and forestry in the area doesn't give us many options and inside the park isn't on the table. Most of the civilians have already been evacuated, but there are still rescue teams trying to get the last groups out. Good luck." With a zap and a crack the party quickly flickers out of the teleporter room and into well, the middle of a road. The smell of pine trees and carnival food fills your lungs and as your eyes adjust you see you're on a bit of an inclined road, on either side is thick coniferous forest. The air is cool, but not cold. The road behind winds down into the trees, while to road ahead leads into a police roadblock at the entrance to a park of some kind. Approaching you all catch the tail end of a conversation between a Loween officer and a kid with excessively spiky hair. "Come on I want to help, can't you just let me in?" "Sorry, not gonna happen. You haven't got Guild approval and we've already got professionals on the way. Speaking of." The officer reached out and gestured towards the party as they approached. "Histoire sent word you would be arriving soon and that you were already briefed. We've got the thing trapped in the park, but there are still civilians and evacuation teams inside." Behind the officer you see how the Cubic Mountains got their name. A series of flat squared off plateaus at varying heights make up the land the park is build on. The roller coaster at the center of the park is anchored between several of the highest square spires and passes overhead almost anywhere in the park.

Crafting: 32 vs 25, Quality: 14, Random Blitz: 27, Mira infuses her sword once again, but this time something is off. Some other force is meddling in her work, energy becomes polarized in its presence drawing it towards the blade and Mira herself. By the end of it the blade has the faintest fringe of blue glow. Level 5 - Aura of Greed: Once per round when Mira lands a weapon attack Black Heart gains one charge. Mira gains +1 Syn and -1 global DR for every two charges Black Heart possesses. Black Heart looses all charges at the end of each encounter.

Crafting: 31 vs 20, Quality: 59, Random Blitz: 77, As Mira slams the helmet down and begins attuning it to herself it slowly shifts, taking on a form more similar to that of Mira's other armor, the horn and wings shrink while the metal starts looking more worn and cracked from age. "Level 4: May be activated more than once in an encounter, costs 1 Magra to activate after the first use in an encounter."

Lyra finds herself in an IT repair office about three doors down. They haven't got the most capable suit of tools, but it's better than a lot of the field repair she's had to do in the past. Teleporter repair: 22 vs 23, Quality: 7, Random Blitz: 67, It seems Lyra's item teleporter is a bit more damaged than she first thought. She can keep if functional for now, but it needs serious replacement parts custom machined for it. (No levels gained, further repair work halted until replacement parts are found/made) Swapper repair: 22 vs 18, Quality: 52, Random Blitz: 70, Lyra manages to rig her swapper to run almost instantly, but at the cost of much lower efficiency. "Level 3 - Safety Bypass Lyra can choose to activate her swapper as a free action at the cost of draining three charges instead of one." Shield repair: 10 vs 28, Quality: 22, Random Blitz: 7, Lyra slowly pries open the case to her shield generator to find a mess of half fried wires and a popped battery pack. Some basic repairs should keep it from electrocuting her next time she uses it.

"The militaries of Lowee and Lastation have both mobilized for evacuation and containment of the situations." Histore clicked off the hologram on the table and looked around waiting for any more questions. "Since that seems to be everything, I will be going to oversee the teleporter calibration, destination Lowee. It will take several minutes so if you need anything in preparation please ask the guard outside. I'll also send someone down with communicators." With that she left the room, a minute or two later a girl in a bright pink sweater steps in the room and speaks with a soft and timid voice. "I was told to uhhh drop these off here on my way by. Histore said something about them being communicators? Something like that." She reveals a small nondescript case and sets it on the table before showing herself out. Everyone gets 3 Crafting Tokens to be spent on whatever. Also some cell phones because reasons.

As Tim begins the process of burrowing into the earth motes the same color of the soil he was disintegrating quickly started flying into the dull grey gem in his hand. Noticing Kusuke's comment Tim takes a sideways glance in his direction while working. "Hasn't done anything yet, but we're about to find out." A few moments later and he slowly descended into the earth until he was well over his head. Eventually he spoke up again, turning to quickly announce nothing was wrong and stopping himself mid-thought. "Well that's... Can't say that's ever happened before." A couple more moments of pondering later and he spoke again. "My magic works fine, but I'm staring into a spacial anomaly, I'm going to try and dig around it." And dig around it he does, Tim uses he Gem of Eternal Density again to try and dig an alternate escape tunnel that doesn't involve warped looping spaces.

Friedhold simply glanced up and raised an eyebrow at Heidrun's irritable response and insult. He'd been called many many far worse things in his life by people far more intimidating than her. "It may ease you to know I gave up cutting on humans for academic purposes a very long time ago. Only so many times you can cut the same thing open over and over before it starts getting boring." With that he casually glanced back down and continued reading a bit. "I believe we are looking for an extremely lethal biological weapon designed to kill some variety of large insect. Someone spent quite a lot of money on this and--" He shook his head slowly with the look of disappointment that a master has being shown a beginner's first "success". "They can not even properly control it."

"Well CFW Magic is the only of the Four Felons to match or surpass CFW Judge in raw destructive potential on her own. Do not let this put you entirely at ease though, both CFW Brave and CFW Trick are likely to employ more advanced strategies than CFW Judge." Histore shifted the hologram once again to show a small floating sphere shaped drone with a glowing eye and several antenna on top. "CFW Brave has used these jammer drones in the past, some will interfere with you special abilities and others prevent you from making effective use of items. He'll also most likely be accompanied by some number of other more generic demolition bots all of which are more often than not weak to powerful electrical charges." The hologram flickered again and changed to show several generic looking thugs with various weapons such as bats, handguns, or submachine guns. "CFW Trick as I mentioned likes to keep some small number of followers capable of reaching smaller areas he is not. He has shown capacity for far more stealth than one might expect from someone his size. He also has paralyzing saliva and a surprisingly long reach with his uhh...tongue." Once more another change, this time the hologram started cycling through several images such as a huge fly plaid dolphin, a house sized turtle with a large tree growing out of the top of its shell, a shifting mass of colorful blocks each about two foot across, a small white creature vaguely resembling a cartoon bunny, and a large brown and dark red dragon. "Also worth noting is that the Lowee wilderness is home to many varieties of dangerous monsters that usually avoid civilization, but may come to investigate the sounds of destruction. For yet unknown reasons they often horde valuables, so if you must fight them they may leave behind something useful."

Spicy HG uses Flame Bind on Sorina adding 48 fire damage to her next attack.

Sha'Tith only vaguely bothered to pay attention to the screen, at least until the third channel flipped on. He walked over to the screen and pointed directly at the trash golem sweeping the streets. "What is that thing? It looks like a Vanguard, yet small, weak, and...vile. Its creator should be torn limb from limb for such a foul mockery."

Ignia was intrigued by the retelling of this place's history. SOULs? Probably a local term for Hearts...which meant that at least some of these "monsters" could absorb Hearts to fuel their power. It might've been a fluke or loss of translation, but it wasn't something Ignia felt she could let go lightly, she had to get to the bottom of this. "These creatures....capable of absorbing Hearts, or whatever they're calling SOULs, to fuel great powers. I've only ever witnessed or read of the truly desperate or depraved doing such things."