>>5328857

“So!”

You and Gina both startle when Rath whirls around, plating all four of her hands on her hips and fixing the two of you with an enthusiastic grin. “What’s next?”

“Oh, was all this…” GG gestures down the sharply-angled cliffs to the still-burning aftermath of the massacre far below. “...not enough for one day?”

Rath glances at her handiwork, the last traces of her eternal fire lapping tongues of yellow flame at the ravine’s winding shadows. She shrugs, a dismissive wave of one flesh-and-blood hand extinguishing the pyres instantly.

“I didn’t say that, it’s just…probably best not to linger here, yeah?” Replies Rath, and the look she shares with your girlfriend tells you all you need to know about her haste.

“I’m fine, you two. Besides, we did good work today, and the power we gained will just help us save more lives before we breach the Cord.” You assure them, your newly-expanded vision allowing you to level a warm look at the pair while also keeping a compound eye on the fruits of your labor. Less than a hundred meters away, the rest of your allies attend to those whose lives you’ve just saved from a man-made grindhouse.

Almost a hundred innocent Daughters, saved at the cost of fifty (decidedly less-innocent) lives. A hundred for fifty. Two-to-one.

Simple math, you tell yourself.

“Well, with Aunt Heather getting the Sparagmos Engine back home and the lovebirds teaming up with the Doc to get the kids settled, that just leaves you, me, GG, and Amara.” Rath points out, her citrine eyes sparkling as they settle on your face. “Sounds like a team brutal enough to make some westward progress, to me.”

You focus, relishing the rightness of your body as you place thumb and chitinous forefinger on your chin, the sensation of shell on glossy shell helping you formulate what’s next for you and yours.

Unlike a few hours ago, you’re able to approach the task with a level of clarity that’s blessedly devoid of the panic that gripped you earlier. If the Daughters you rescued are being attended to, then that frees you up to address…what, exactly? The Cord’s inviolable pull only strengthens the close you get to the celestial-slash-umbilical structure, but there’s also the matter of keeping track of the friends and allies you’ve made in your journey thus far.

Staring up at the Cord, though? You feel—for the first time since you started—that you stand a chance.

Perhaps your boldness is inspired by your new powers, or maybe it’s the feeling of your own skin (shell?) fitting just right for the first time…or maybe, just maybe, it’s the lingering warmth between your fingers, a simmering heat that your bond with Gina tells you that neither of you can seem to shake.

At least she tries (bless her); your girlfriend’s eyes flare with the neon amethyst—her own particular flavor of Neuromancy—as she casts an appraising gaze westward.

(Continued)

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>>5328858

“The ravines continue until No-Man’s Land begins.” She clinically informs you, eyes narrowing at something only her enhanced vision can detect. “Well, *that’s* some bullshit.”

“What is it, what’s wrong?” Demands Rath, and you’re not surprised that your resident brawler was able to beat your own concerns to the punch.

“Some stupid, fog-of-war bullshit means I can’t see as far as I normally could.” GG mutters by way of reply, her calcite-greaved hands grinding into ivory fists. “Fucking insulting, honestly…but at least I could see where the next area starts. The valley takes a sharp dip, and then there are hills of…stuff, beyond it. The whole, y’know…”

“Mountains of corpses?” You helpfully supply.

“Yeah. That.” She confirms, grimly. “But hey! No other obvious negative effects aside from walking on semi-decayed bodies, so that’s nice.”

“Technically, Shu wouldn’t even have to walk…you can fly now, right?” Rath asks, and you only now realize the shorter girl’s slipped around you to admire your quartet of wings, their gossamer sheen folded along your fully-armored back.

“I can…and thanks to merging my Core with Spiritus ex Testa, you two would be able to fly, as well.”

“No shit, really?!” Rath exclaims, in front of you faster than you can blink.

“She shits you not…though I’ll happily give up my wings for our little angel over there.” GG regents, nodding to where Amara’s showing off her sword-fighting chops to a trio of enraptured Daughters…though whether they’re more focused on the lesson or just how adorable your ward is while trying to teach, it’s a toss-up.

“I can make up to three people Queens, remember?” You counter, and Gina freezes you in place with a smile whose effect is nearly Pavlovian.

“Aw, but I was thinking you could carry me. Y’know, like old times?” She winks.

“I’d carry you.” Rath offers, the latent flirtation flying right over her head of orange hair. “Plus, I’m stronger than Shu, so I’d have more maneuverability with you on top…no offense.”

“None taken.” GG replies on your behalf, folding her arms and arching one playful eyebrow at her friend; “Though I was offering in a purely sexy way, I’ll have you know.”

“Oh, I know.”

You stare at Rath, who’s fixed a thoroughly taken-aback Gina with her trademark shit-eating grin…an expression that lasts a good two or three seconds before both and and GG burst into laughter.

“Gah, seriously though…what’s the plan?” Your girlfriend manages to ask once she’s caught her breath, and you wind up with both girls looking up at you expectantly.

>>Continue across the valley with Gina, Rath, and Amara (on foot / by air).

>>You’d like to check in on one or two allies, while you have some down-time.

>>Wait for your family to reconvene at the Dragon’s Roost, then set out with a team of your choice.

>>Write-In

YOU ARE IN CONTROL

(Hello Everyone, it’s good to be back. I do hope the last two weeks have been kind to you all, and that you’ve been able to stay cool this summer season. Voting shall remain open for the next three hours, with posting to resume in four.)

(Also, this week is likely going to be a busy one with me working by myself for most of it, so I'll likely keep to two updates per day unless I get a sudden burst of energy. That said, things should lighten up next week, so I'm aiming to go back to three per day at that point.)

(Once again, thank you all for your continued participation, and I hope you've all had a pleasant time of things in the interim.)

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>>5328863
Welcome back bhop.

The muse was festering in my head so much so to the point that I've written two interlude stories.

Also here I thought we would get to the fashion vote, I had written a giant list of things make Shu's fashion choice appeal in a "scary but sexy" theme. But then again you did include the keyword "may" so that votes' likely in the flux.

One thing that has agonized me in the interim quest-wise that I didn't realize until it was way too late: We could've made a stasis womb to store Vulture's Pride like we did with Chromatophoria.

>>5328865
>>The muse was festering in my head so much so to the point that I've written two interlude stories.

(Oh, nice! I'd love to read then when you're ready to share!)

(And regarding the fashion vote, your family is still present, so if you'd like to make that your Write-In, then you're welcome to! Also, if you'd prefer to head back to the Roost to form your team, there'd be plenty of time for that.)

>>5328863
Past two weeks were mostly good, except for the immediate 18 hours leading up to this. I got hit by some super-fast virus, spent all night vomiting. I only just woke up a little bit ago.

Though hey, if I have to spend all day huddling in my blankets and shivering, at least I've got this quest to distract me. The latest in a book series I like came out today, too. In a way, this is really good timing to have a sick day.

>>5328861
>>Continue across the valley with Gina, Rath, and Amara (on foot / by air).
>>Write-In
>By air, riding on Knights for endurance, but ready to convert everyone to Queen mode the moment anything goes wrong. Stay fairly low, as well, and have everyone outfitted with Subversive Platelings (and the Knights be Subversive, themselves).

I don't want to touch the ground, but I also don't want to expose ourselves too much to any spotters. Fly in the grass, and stay stealthed.

>>5328888
>>5328869
Question: what/where is the Vagrant amalgam?

>>5328884
(I hope you get to feeling better soon!)

(Also, I recently finished Gideon the Ninth, and I'm about a third of the way through the sequel. It's a superb series, with the main character of the first one really reminding me of a grown-up Rath.)

>>5328892
(He's still observing you, and has not moved from the spot where he was apparently having tea.)

>>5328892
Oh, yeah, that's a good question.

>>5328893
>(I hope you get to feeling better soon!)
Thanks.

>(Also, I recently finished Gideon the Ninth, and I'm about a third of the way through the sequel. It's a superb series, with the main character of the first one really reminding me of a grown-up Rath.)
I keep meaning to get into that series, I hear it's got some good characters. And who doesn't like space necromancy?

>(He's still observing you, and has not moved from the spot where he was apparently having tea.)
Huh. Let's keep an eye on him, then, have some swarmlings...not follow him, because he might react negatively to that, but scouting around this area in general so that they'll still have him in their sights.

>>5328861
Adding to >>5328888

>Have some swarmlings and the Joyous Many patrol around the edges of the No Man's Land. Keep an eye on the Vagrant, and also anyone who might enter the No Man's Land after us.

>>5328924
a thought: Something about the Vagrant seems off on its behavior. Normally people would be running along to challenge us earlier. But like every other power player we've encountered they're enacting a wait-and-see approach. So what if the Vagrant is instead waiting for us to approach them?

>>5328869

What time is it on the Crucible clock day-night cycle?
And would you rather have me post the interludes in a gdoc or in-thread?
And to pose a question from the previous vein regarding the Cord's encroachment rate: Will the Calcite canyon be completely subsumed in 3 "earth" (24-hour) days or three "Crucible" (48-hour)days?

>>5328927
(It's roughly 'evening', or around 6PM.)

(The canyons will be subsumed three 24-hour days from now.)

>>5328927
>a thought: Something about the Vagrant seems off on its behavior. Normally people would be running along to challenge us earlier. But like every other power player we've encountered they're enacting a wait-and-see approach. So what if the Vagrant is instead waiting for us to approach them?
It's possible. But do we want to approach the Vagrant? Maybe it wants to talk, but it might just prefer to formally introduce itself before fighting.

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>>5328861
regarding the fashion choice: I'm likely to be tossed into a Sparagmos engine by other anons for posting this veritable laundry list of traits.
>write-in:
>Re-examine your body and ask for some fashion advice as you morph your body into something more comfortable and stylish:
>skintone are a near porcelain white for contrast while the "clothes" that Shu wears are a dark Emerald-onyx. closer inspection reveals that the "skintone" is made of "soft chitin".
>waist high insect wings that fold-up behind her back and form a pseudo-coattail.
>The dress that Julia has made for Shu has been modified into a pelvic curtain.
>The Chitinous plating that originated from Shu's spine and grew to engulf Shu's arms has fashioned itself to cover Shu's arms, upper body, neck, and breasts into a form-fitting long-sleeved "Chitinous Shrug", leaving the rest of Shu's is left bare and with plenty of room for Shu's ravenous stomach maw to move about and orient itself however it pleases.
>CHITINOUS THIGH-HIGH-STOCKINGS, so tight they leave a slight indentation where "skin" meets "clothing".
>There is a Calcite Spiral spur on the bottom of Shu's heels that act as natural spiral high-heels.
>The tongue Shu's Ravenous Maw can be occasionally seen licking its 'lips', or wrapped around Shu's waist as an impromptu sash. Expect it to reach out and give others a lick when entering Shu's personal space.
>The teeth of the Ravenous maw can ocasionally be seen flashing pearly whites, the positioning of the maw disguising it to be a stylish zipper.
>The Chitinous "Shrug", is Onyx-emerald green with gold highlights, adorned with downy white fur trimming around the collarbone area.
>On Shu's back, there is a debossed gold image of a stylized Holographic Fuzzbuzz stamped across the Chitinous plates where the brood spawn.
>Limbs have a tendency to leave colorful fractal afterimages whenever Shu moves about, most prominently her arms (Hundred Handed).
>Shu's face uses Sam's face as a base template but alterations are made to distinguish Shu from Sam while retaining enough similar features to give the impression that Shu is something akin to a more easily distinguished twin sister to Sam.
>Shu's mouth and lower jaw becomes pic related.
>Shu's hair length should be opposite to Sam's original hair length. If Sam is long and shoulder-length, then Shu's would be short ear length and vise versa. Hair color would be black with yellow-gold streaks.
>The Irises of Shu's eyes are rainbow-colored, the hue changes every time you look at her in the eyes, closer inspection reveals that the Irises are infact compound lenses.
>Shiny Stickers adorn parts of Shu's face near the ears and temples. Closer inspection reveals them to actually be miniature compound eyes.
>The Neurotic Halo's shining jewel, is nestled on Shu's cleavage.
>Hair retains the same style and color as Sam's pre-crucible hair, but two of Shu's bangs have colored streaks.

>>5328939
>>5328861
As for the combat form, I'm fine with the "Shu in the Armor of Kings" picture you posted Bhop.

>>5328924
We should send a single fuzzbuzz to join the Vagrant's tea time. That way, we can use our Rook ability to swap with the Fuzzbuzz should the Vagrant actually make a request to see us.

>>5328939
Sounds pretty good. I think it could be fun to experiment with alternate color schemes, I kind of like the idea of Shu having iridescent skin like a beetle carapace. But that can be something we try later, pale to contrast with an iridescent clothing works just fine. I think it will look nice.

I like the outfit. I'm not entirely sure about the FuzzBuzz hologram, but the rest sounds great. I really like the idea of using the Ravenous Maw as the "zipper" of Shu's top. And the fuzzy collar is classic bee-woman fashion. It's good.

>>5328940
Oh, good. I was hanging onto that for a while, I'm glad other people liked it too.

>>5328949
Wait, can we swap with non-Rooks now that we're part-Rook? Or do you mean a Rook FuzzBuzz?

>>5328958
>>5328861

I'm fuzzy on the details. as bhop for clarification as to which units a Queen/King class swarmling is capable of using the Rook Castling ability. At least that's what I think I remember how it works given hive lvl 9's ability detail.

>Once per combat, you may choose an ally to become a QUEEN-Class swarmling at the cost of 3000% BIO and 3 ACTs. They retain their current skills and abilities, and gain the following benefits; They gain the offensive and defensive abilities of the Knight, Bishop, and Rook classes, combined—They benefit from any abilities or augmentations you possess that benefit constructs originating from you—They gain a flight speed equal to twice their base movement speed—They only count as ‘constructs’ or ‘Swarmlings’ when it is beneficial for them to do so; abilities that negatively affect constructs will have no effect on QUEEN-designated allies—They do not count against your Swarmling Maximum. (HEALTH +400%, BIO +400%)
Bhop, and I ask for clarification?

>>5328966
(As you are a Rook, you may swap with any allied unit, as can any Queen-crowned allies.)

>>5328857
Also bhop. That link to the Gdoc for our character abilities isn't working. I got an access denied page. You might want to check those settings.

>>5328958
yup. Looks like we can swap with any allied unit given what Bhop just said.

>>5328966
>>5328970
Oh, dang, that's really useful. We can do a lot with that. That's a really versatile ability to relocate our team mates.

>>5328973
Cool. Okay, how does this sound, then?

>If the Vagrant shows any interest in our swarmlings, land a FuzzBuzz by it and start communicating. If necessary, move in three other swarmlings and use Rook-swapping in Queen mode to get our entire party over to him. Also be prepared to Rook-swap out of there if things go wrong.

>>5328974
Let try a more passive approach. Yes I like the idea of reciprocating interest should the Vagrant show the same as well as the Fuzzbuzz Envoy as well as the Rook-swap in queen mode but we should also mind our manners in a sense. If the Vagrant lets us get close with our envoy, then that means we're a guest in his view, and by that logic, we should let him have the first word before responding.

In addition, we technically are still scouting the Canyons, and teleporting immediately to the vagrant would make backtracking somewhat of a pain. Vagrant's definitely sticking around.

>>5328974
but overall this is good.

>>5328861
>If the Vagrant shows any interest in our swarmlings, land a FuzzBuzz by it and start engaging in diplomacy, keeping in mind your manners and etiquitee (remember if the Vagrant allows you to approach then you are technically its guest). If necessary, move in three other swarmlings and use Rook-swapping in Queen mode to get our entire party over to him. Also be prepared to Rook-swap out of there if things go wrong.

>>5328981
Okay, then

>>5328861
Adding to >>5328888

>If the Vagrant shows interest in our swarmlings, land a FuzzBuzz by it and give it a chance to communicate. Let it make the first move, for courtesy. Be prepared to use Rook-swapping and Queen mode to bring our party to it (bringing in other swarmlings to give everyone a point to swap to), and likewise to leave quickly should things go poorly. Also make sure to leave some of our swarm headed west, if we Rook-swap, so that we won't lose ground while we're interacting with the Vagrant.

>>5328995
>>5328993
gah. the last-minute hiveminding

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SIDE STORY: BATTLE OF KAPPA ISLAND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgSJBNkY3k8

Captain Anne swore as she ducked under a bus-sized Fly's bombing run and retaliated with her Bone Blunderbuss, knocking the oversized insect into the acidic sea as she steered the 'Bonnet' amidst the roiling storm of flies that surrounded the Island-sized Amalgam.

"Sheryl, how's the crew?"

"Just keep steering the boat!" replied her muscular first mate, tossing a 10-foot dead tadpole off the side of the deck by the tail.

"Just our bloody luck." cursed Anne as the crew of the Bonnet returned fire with the Calcite Cannons on their ship. Anne had planned for a normal fishing trip to hunt for Northern Shielded-Salmon-Sharks. But by some freak of coincidence and bad luck she got caught up in a scuffle with the 'Dead-Shimp Pirate fleet' who were chasing 'Spanish Lady' and the 'HF Majesty'. But just as things took a turn for the bad, it got worse when Kappa Island surfaced out of nowhere and swallowed many of the 'Dead-Shimps' pirate fleet in a single go before its bus-sized flies began picking off the rest. Which led their current situation: the 'Bonnet' pulling escort duty protecting both the 'Spanish lady' and the 'HF Majesty' as they attempted to out-run the island-sized amalgam.

In Anne's words: caught in a bloody storm without a sail.

Finally finding a brief break in the battle, Captain Anne reached for the Skintalker's Naval radio and called an S.O.S Message for what seemed to be the umpteenth time.

<MAYDAY MAYDAY! This is the fishing vessel 'Bonnet' alongside Passenger ship 'Spanish lady' and merchant vessel 'HF Majesty'! We are under assault by Kappa Island! I repeat, we are under assault by Kappa Island. Is there anyone out there who can help?>

Something large and sleek flew overhead in the midst of the storm, leaving a trail of burnt flesh and smoke before bursting with a thunderous explosion, the air-burst missile somehow blowing the storm of flies back as the Island Amalgam recoiled at the sudden daisy chain of pin-cushioning explosions in the air.

<Nice one Bonnet!> radioed the 'HF Majesty.

<That wasn't me.> replied Anne, her answer causing much to the confusion of the other two vessels.

A soft-spoken voice crackled to life over the radio.

<Fishing Vessel 'Bonnet', Passenger ship 'Spanish lady', Merchant vessel 'HF Majesty', this is the Yamato. We are enroute to your location.>

Captain Anne scanned the horizon and saw nothing. <Yamato, We do not have visual of your vessel!>

<You will soon. 12 'o clock, 12 degrees off starboard. Yamato, surfacing.>

cont.

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>>5329007
Hope swelled in Capt. Anne's breast as high as the upwelling seawater ahead as the Shipmaiden of the Seas broke through the surface tension of the oceans with a force of a depth charge, the silhouette of her citadel and highlighted by bioflorescent lights recognizable amidst the storm as it landed with a splash.

'We're saved' thought Captain Anne as Yamato's demure foghorn voice rang clear, unimpeded by the storm.

"Yamato to all vessels, rally to me, transfer any and all cargo or passengers you have aboard. I will provide cover!"

Thunderous roars of gunfire punctuated the warship's declaration of protection, an alpha barrage of Urchin and Swordfish battering the storm of flies and causing the island-sized beast to recoil with pain.

---------

Yamato furrowed what active eyes she possessed aboard her vessel in concentration as she surveyed the results of her latest bombardment on the approaching Amalgam. It had been ten minutes had passed since her arrival and all she could do is engage in a fighting retreat as the Island Amalgam kept up in its pursuit.

"Captain, the crew and passengers of both the 'Spanish lady' and the 'HF Majesty' have been successfully transferred onboard."

"And the 'Bonnet'?"

"They haven't transferred their crew or cargo, but they're also barely holding steady on their own." replied Yomi. "I'll admit, the captain of the 'Bonnet' is capable, as is her crew."

The helmswoman turned her gaze towards one of Yamato's many eyes with concern noting the living vessel's silence. "What's wrong?"

"The Kappa's grown stronger since we last saw it, and has developed countermeasures against me. I'm not dealing enough damage fast enough to ward it off, much less kill it."

"What about your star wave cannon?" asked Yomi.

Yamato ran the numbers in her mind, taking into account the last time she fired her main gun and the 'gift' given to her by a wandering leviathan, the results of the mental math was painful for her to bear.

"Yes. Yes! It could kill it, but-but then-!" she answered, doubt and guilt slowly flooding into the tone of her voice.

"No...I can't. I can't use it here! It's too dangerous!"

"Why?"

"I...I'd have to drop everything in order to ready the Star-wave cannon. If I drop what I'm doing in order to prepare the cannon then we'll be left vulnerable. The passengers...they'll-"

A deep baritone voice suddenly made itself heard over Yamato's shipwide intercoms.

<All hands and passengers, prepare for Star Wave Cannon firing sequence. Target: Kappa Island.>

The eyes of the helmswoman as well as the shipmaiden swiveled to focus on the Bearded FuzzBuzz who had coyly pressed a leg down on the button of the ship's intercom. "Buzzo..."

Immediately the comms went aflame with communication.

cont.

>>5329009
A response came from the crew of the 'HF Majesty': <That killer cannon needs prep aye? Can't have ye wasting a fine shot when your hands are already full.>

This was followed by a response from the crew of the 'Spanish Lady': <If you're in need of extra hands, we'll provide. Can't win a fight against turtle island with just a skeleton crew of a dirty dozen.>

Movement off the bow drew Yamato's attention as the fishing vessel Bonnet suddenly turned to engage the Island.

"Bonnet, what are you doing?"

<Save your words Sheila. Someone's gotta do the hard work of screening for the flagship. Whaling big beasties is my trade, and there's one right in front of me. If I'm to go down swinging, I'd rather do it against the biggest catch ever!>

Yamato's Eyes turned to look at Yomi. Only to see her helmswoman give her a knowing smile.

"You know what to do, Captain. We're doing on part to support you so you can do the same for all of us. As a crew. As a fleet. All that's left for you to do your part." said Yomi.

Yamato's gaze looked into Yomi's pitch black eyes, staring at her conviction, the shipmaiden's vision quickly flitted to and fro as she looked at the gazes of her extra passengers and saw the same look. A dogged determination, solidarity among all.

"You're right." Yamato breathed as her compass turned in alignment.

"All hands, prepare for Star-Wave cannon!"

The Fog horn order reverberated throughout her halls, yet no one minded it as they scrambled to contribute to the rare effort of slaying a Leviathan of the seas.

"Redirecting primary power and biomass into Star-wave engine. Initiating Star-wave cannon firing sequence."

Yamato's gun fell deathly silent. A suicidal move as biomass and power drained throughout the ship, allowing the Monstrous Island and its spawn to surge forward to greet the Vanguard that is Yamato's crewmates.

"Initiating emergency forge power generators. Redirecting and activating all secondary and auxillary armaments Opening weapon control access to all available passengers. Urchin AA, Swordfish Cannons, Barnacle Batteries, Dolphin Gunboats, Torpedo Sharks, Orca-Cruise missiles, Crab arms and walkers online."

Guided by a set of 44 extra souls onboard, the weapons on Yamato's vessel sung once again with a chorus of firepower and fury. The armaments powered by hands not belonging to Yamato herself.

cont.

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>>5329010

"Raising star-wave pressure. Closing emergency valves."

It was strange, to have the full force of her firepower be unleashed while she focused on her main cannon and her crew to fend off the tadpoles.

"Opening Star-wave Cannon barrel."

It was a funny feeling she had, as memories of the past came to her mind.

"Releasing Star-wave safety locks."

A foolish dream. A childish aspiration. Twisted by Hell, into an ironic punishment.

"Pressure approaching firing threshold. Releasing final safety lock."

And now, here she was. Embodying the very thing she once foolishly dreamed of.

"Star Wave engine pressure at 100% and rising."

A living shipgirl. With all its glory, and all its horror.

"Aligning bow to target. 10 seconds to firing."

If this was to be her punishment, then she will gladly shoulder it.

"Initiating anti-shock and anti-flash measures."As if sensing imminent danger, the Island amalgam surged forwards, smashing the Bonnet aside.

"10...9...8..."

Dainsleif Harpoons the size of freight trains lanced out from the Bonnet, stunning the Kaiju and jerking it back as Captain Anne's crew began waging a desperate tug of war to prevent the Island-sized Kappa from smashing the battleship.

"7...6...5..."

Dolphin Gunboats beached themselves and marked a point on the Island, guiding Yamato's guns to focus fire to devastating results. The binding fibrous ropes of the harpoons snap, and the Kappa breaks free.

"4...3...2..."

The smoke clears and a terrible wound presents itself, revealing a glistening Mother of pearls pulsating as the island's heart within. The Kappa is now mere meters away from the Yamato.

"1..."

Just as Yamato's Star wave cannon finished aligning itself to target the Heart of the Island.

"Star wave Cannon, Fire!"

...........

Across the ocean, on a continent far beyond the horizon. A living mountain watched with quiet admiration as a beam of power and radiance streaked across the flesh-covered sky, tracing the source of the phenomenon to its origin. For the second time in a this crucible's cycle the membrane sky was torn, this time the horizon wide tear revealing a beautiful gradiant of fading solar gold into a deep azure of the evening sky. To the delight of a titanic flyer before being sealed away by the Crucible yet again.

...........
cont.

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>>5329012
Back on the silently still seas, Yamato and company stared at the smoking corpse of the Island amalgam as it began to fall with the pace of a crumbling glacier against the acidic sea. Yamato only had one thing to say:

"Target eliminated." she declared to the erupting cheers of both passenger and crew.

"And here I thought you would call upon that favor." came a sonorous baritone voice reverberating from from the still waters, drawing alarm from those aboard save for Yamato's crew. Yamato's gaze focused towards the source to see a well put together humanoid construct standing on the surface of the acidic sea.

"Levi? Is that you?"

"That I am." he replied.

"You look...smaller than when I last saw you." remarked Hilda.

"Oh this?" replied the humanoid 'Leviathan', flexing and examining their limbs in idle curiosity.

"This is but a puppet avatar built to size of the average scale of all active daughters in this crucible for their comfort. Though if you insist upon seeing me for my true size..."

A wave of gasps and quite a few shrieks came from the gathered crowd as Leviathan's mountainous serpentine body soundlessly rose from the stilled waters of the acidic sea, rising up until its mountainous head was only visible, the grand scale of size differences made all the more palpable as the kilometer scaled aquatic titan continued to communicate through it's tiny 1.8 meter puppet.

"BETTER?"

The crowd wanted to say no, but were too intimidated by the size to speak out, opting to focus on Leviathan's humanoid puppet for comfort.

"So what brings you here?" asked Yamato.

"OH I WAS MERELY PASSING BY, AND COULDN'T HELP BUT WATCH WITH INTEREST AS YOU ENGAGED IN AQUATIC SURFACE BATTLE. AND DONE IN A MANNER AKIN TO YOUR CIVILIZATION'S NAVAL WARFARE!" replied the aquatic world snake in rapt excitement.

"MAKES ME WISH I WAS PRESENT DURING THE PERIOD ON YOUR PLANET WHERE YOUR CIVILIZATION BEHELD AQUATIC BATTLES ON THE GLOBAL SCALE. SUCH BATTLES LIKE THAT ARE SUCH A RARITY THESE TIMES. WHY THE LAST CRUCIBLE THAT HAD COMMONPLACE AQUATIC BATTLES LIKE THIS WAS AROUND 285 CYCLES AGO, AND WHAT A CYCLE THAT WAS!"

The Aquatic titan and its humanoid puppet gave a wistful sigh basking in aeons old nostalgia before a quiet cough from the crowd brought him back to the present.

"AH, BUT AS I WAS SAYING. YOUR PERFORMANCE HAS IMPRESSED ME VERY MUCH SO. FOR GIVING ME A WONDERFUL SHOW, I BELIEVE THIS SHOULD SUFFICE AS A REWARD?"

With a lazy flick of Leviathan's whisker tentacles or a wave of his arm depending on where you focused, the corpse of the fallen island monster stopped dissolving as the seas went perfectly still and grew alkaline until it reached a 7 on a ph scale. Titanic power enforcing a reality defying law as Leviathan bade the seas to preserve the island-sized corpse of the Kraken-Kappa.

cont.

>>5329013
"I'VE TAKEN THE LIBERTIES TO FREEZE THIS LITTLE SLICE OF THE SEA, SO YOU MAY FEAST UNIMPEDED. WORRY NOT, ITS CORPSE WILL REMAIN PERFECTLY PRESERVED UNTIL YOU ARE DONE WITH YOUR MEAL."

Yamato tilted her bow downwards as much as she could get away with bowing without unbalancing the passengers on-deck, astonished as everyone else to the Titan's generosity.

"I...I cannot thank you enough." said Yamato.

"OH DON'T THANK ME, THANK YOURSELF." replied Leviathan. "NOT OFTEN DO I COME ACROSS AN INTERESTING DAUGHTER. EVEN RARER IS THE MOMENT WHEN I GET TO WITNESS THE BEAUTY OF WHAT THAT DAUGHTER DOES WITH MY GIFT. THOUGH IT SEEMS..."

Levi trailed off, his gaze slyly focused on something far beyond Yamato's horizon. A continent away, a walking mountain quickly and unsubtly feigned disinterest.

"...THAT YOU MAY HAVE CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF MY YOUNGER BROTHER..."

"Y-Younger brother?" Yamato stammered out.

"OH YOU'LL RECOGNIZE HIM WHEN YOU SEE HIM." explained Leviathan in jest. "HE'S CERTAINLY HARD TO MISS BEING A WALKING MOUNTAIN AND ALL, ALTHOUGH LATELY HE'S TAKEN A PREFERENCE TO BECOMING A WALKING CITY AS WELL. HE'S QUITE THE GOOD NATURED SIMPLETON, DESPITE HIS LEGENDARY TEMPER."

Yamato couldn't help but try (and subsequently fail) to imagine the kind of being befitting of the title of 'Leviathan's younger brother'.

As if he could read the visible expression on her non-existent face Leviathan gave a good-natured sonorous chortle as he began to slip back beneath the still and silent sea.

"DO REMAIN INTERESTING LITTLE YAMATO, SUCH POTENTIAL IN YOUR VESSEL SHOULD BE REWARDED JUSTLY. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT."

"UNTIL OUR NEXT ENCOUNTER."

With a silent wave of his humanoid puppet, Leviathan dived into the abyss, leaving behind a stunned Yamato along with the passengers and crew of the 'Spanish lady', the 'Bonnet', and the 'HF Majesty'.

...........

"Anne. Anne." The petrified wooden end of an oar prodded the face of Captain Anne lying prone on her back staring at the space where Leviathan once occupied.

"What is it Sheryl?"

"Yamato said she's letting us and the others have a share of the Island." explained the first-mate. "We best get to carving our share of the spoils quick before the seas turn back into acid."

Capt. Anne spoke up. "Hey Sheryl?"

"Do you reckon I'd be able to catch that Fat lad of a fish?"

Sheryl bonked her captain in the face with the oar.

"ARE YOU DAFT?"

"I meant for recreation! Catch and release!"

For that, Captain Anne got another bonk.

"Take it up with the crew!"

SIDESTORY: END.

There you have it. That's one of the two side-stories done during the break.

Read and enjoy.

(Absolutely besieged, everyone. I'll likely be posting at 5PM, Eastern time one I take care of the chaos on my end. Thank you for bearing with me!)

>>5328971
(Yeah, not sure why it's like that. Once I finish things at work, I'll figure that out.)

>>5329065
No worries, BHOP! Hope everything goes well for you, feel free to post at a time that's convenient for you. :)

>>5329111
(I really appreciate that, and I was just able to finish the next update just before the final push of the day, so once I'm off at five, I should be able to post with no problem!)

>>5329191
Hope you get the time to enjoy the side story. I've got another one ready to publish after you're done pushing out yours.

>>5329192
(Excellent! Once I get home and make myself some dinner, I'm looking forward to sitting down to read it!)

File: The Vagrant.png (665 KB, 800x640)

665 KB PNG

>>5328861

“We’ll go on Knights for endurance’s sake. Cloaked, of course.” You announce, a troupe of scoutlings slipping silently from your hive and flitting off (just as silently ) to survey No-Man’s Land while another platoon emerges to gird the two girls before you, their newly-equipped carapaces shimmering in the Crucible’s wan light. “We’ll stay low, stay silent, and stay safe. This is just a scouting mission, for now.”

“Hear you loud n’ clear, chief.” Rath smirks as she fires off a two-handed salute before jerking one of her left thumbs over her shoulder. “So just to be clear, what’s the deal with that guy?”

Glancing over her head and in the direction of the smoldering digit, you find the Vagrant where you’d last seen him—the amalgam still cross-legged on a distant outcropping, still sipping his tea in a manner so measured and human as to be unnerving.

“Honestly? No idea, but I figure extending an olive branch wouldn’t be a bad idea.” You say, a quartet of basic constructs buzzing from the holes along your spine to go greet, escorted by a traditional FuzzBuzz envoy. “If he’s interested in communicating, then our scouts will still have made some western headway so we won’t lose too much ground.”

Your scouts and envoys headed in opposite directions, you shift your attention to Amara, who’s striding up to you and positively beaming with pride.

“Hey, kiddo…you show those girls a thing or two about fencing?” Rath grins, and your little one fixes the other girl with a smile.

“No, I taught ‘em about swords! I dunno nothin’ about fences.”

“Well I’m sure they appreciated it, sweetie.” Gina says, kneeling down as Rath tries to keep her laughter under control. “Now that you’re here, we can tell you what we’re planning to do next…”

The whole ‘stay silent’ aspect of the mission briefing is one you’ll have to keep reminding Amara about, since when GG pet slip that you’d be flying over No-Man’s Land she squealed with such joy that you were sure West Prime could’ve heard her. After briefly bidding what you hope to be a short-lived goodbye to Dorian, Julia, and the others, you quickly outfit Amara with a similarly cloaked exoshell just as your FuzzBuzz makes contact with the enigmatic Amalgam.

Up-close, you find him hunched over a worn set-up, an array of mismatched plates and cups surrounding a dented tea kettle, held over an open flame atop a rickety grate. He’s shrouded in a heavy leather cloak, the flesh still bright scarlet and betraying little of the being’s actual appearance aside from an angular frame and an array of spines that prop up the cloak along his back, though whether they’re part of his body or the Relics he’s rumored to be collecting is left to your imagination.

“Hello there.” You begin, watching as the Vagrant slips a gnarled hand from one ragged sleeve, beckoning your ambassador closer.

(Continued)

>>5329197

The surface of his hand is a mangled, manifold thing, with even your swarmling’s cursory glance revealing a limb composed of a dozen different skin tones and textures, looking as though their original owners were somehow glitching over and through one another.

“Please, sit.” The figure grumbles with a voice as layered as his fingers, leaning back with the tell-tale clinking of metal on stone. “Can your construct drink?”

“I…yes, he can. Much obliged.” You admit, taken aback with the amalgam’s gravel-textured eloquence as your FuzzBuzz examines the chipped teacup that the Vagrant delicately places before your swarmling. Trusting in your envoy’s own regenerative powers, you take a leap of faith by letting the little guy give the dark brown liquid a tentative sip and—finding it to his liking—allow him a tea break while you speak through one of the other swarmlings present.

“Saw what you did. Was going to challenge you, before that.” He growls with a good-natured timbre, only a pair of the seven or eight distinct voices you can pick out having anything other than an easy-going, if guarded, feel. “Still might, if you’re up for it.”

“To a fight?” You ask, and he gives you solemn nod as he brings his own cup to just under the flap of his face-obscuring hood. “One on one, or-?”

“One on one, yes. And to the death, of course.” He confirms, placing the empty cup face-down on the faded saucer that rests in his lap. “You may define the terms. It’s the least I can do.”

“For…what, exactly?” You ask, and gives a small tilt of his head down the valley.

“You gave the Daughters down there a chance, so you’ve more honorable than most.” The Vagrant intones, reaching out one multi-layered hand to deftly pluck your Fuzzbuzz’s empty cup and refill it without pause. “I like using Relics. Blades, specifically, so I’d only ask that I be allowed to wield them…but that would be my only request.”

“…I’ve met other Amalgams like you, before. Ones that can speak well, and have their own stories.” You begin, and something about what you said makes the figure chuckle, his shoulders disturbing the metallic objects on his back as they jingle together with a series of staccato tangs. “You’ve been kind enough to offer my swarmlings tea, and have a pleasant conversation, at that. So why would you want a fight to the death?”

The Vagrant leans back with something almost like a disappointed sigh. “Where I go, and how I die. Those are the choices afforded me. If I’m being honest, I never expected to make it this far, so every step I make westward at this point is just gravy.”

“So why journey west at all?” You ask, bewildered. “You’re capable of moving past your designated zone, and clearly strong enough to have a reputation, so why go to the Cord at all? Are you…are you trying to ascend and finish the Crucible yourself, or something?”

(Continued)

>>5329198

“A reputation, eh? Well, that’s a pleasant surprise.” He murmurs, giving another hearty chuckle. “But no, I know I can’t ascend because of what I am. Insofar as finishing the Crucible, though? I like to think I’m doing my part, in a roundabout way.”

“How so?”

“I’ve accumulated fifteen Relic weapons, and even more that augment their potential.” He explains, reaching back a powerful arm to tap at one of the Relics in question, still covered by his scarlet cloak. “I can’t stock power the same way you Daughters do, but the first one to finally take me down may have enough of an edge to finish this thing, once and for all.”

Wait, is he-?

“So this guy like, what?” Rath whispers beside you, her voice failing to carry over to the Vagrant unless you will it. “A self-appointed loot pinata?”

“A *professional* loot pinata, from the sound of it.” Gina mutters, clearly intrigued.

“Then you’re trying to help finish this, in your own way?” You say to him, aloud, and he gives you another solemn nod. “Then why fight at all? Why not give them to someone of your choosing, and continue living?”

“Pardon my saying, but things like me won’t have a place in the next world. Your people, sure. Maybe even constructs like this little guy here, if they’re as lucky as him.” The Vagrant says, reaching out to lay a (surprisingly) affectionate hand on FuzzBuzz’s head. “But Amalgams? Ah, we’re just bits ‘n pieces of people that’re prolly going to come back, anyway. No harm, no foul, but it’d be weird for us to stick around.”

“But there can be a place for you. I’m trying to make a world where every human can live, and Amalgams, too. They’re people, too.”

“Could they remember?” He asks.

“What?”

“The Amalgams you know. Could they remember their past lives?” He clarifies, and when you hesitate, he raises a hand to jam one gnarled index finger against his hooded temple. “Got a couple people up here. Memories, snatches of lives that aren’t me, not really. When you bring their families back, and I see someone on the street that used to be my kid? My brother? My mom, or dad? And there’s people walking around with faces that used to belong to me? Or what I *think* is me? Creepy stuff. Don’t like it. Also, I got some dogs, a couple cats, maybe, like…three bears rolling around in here, too. Less of a concern, but still weird when I think I smell honey. Or I see little critters running around. Or both, that one time.”

(Continued)

>>5329200

The Vagrant just stares off into space for another half-second before turning back to face your FuzzBuzz. “Anyways. Yeah, I’ve thought about this for a while. And if someone’s strong enough to take me down, then at least I may be the boost they need to climb that thing.”

He gestures up at the Cord, hooded gaze lingering on the tower for long enough for you to catch a pair of multifaceted eyes glinting beneath his shawl, and it’s then that you ask; “But surely you’ve got something worth living for?”

“Like I said before, ‘Where I go, and how I die’.” He intones. “I’ve got control of those two things. That’s enough, for me.”

“That’s it?” You ask, and he chuckles again.

“More of a choice than most get, from where I’m sitting.”

You heave a private sigh, your exhalation not transmitted to the swarmlings you’d been speaking through as you take a moment to consider your approach.

“This…doesn’t feel great, man.” Rath groans, folding each pair of arms in front of her muscled chest as she shakes her head. “He seems like a decent sort. Although, maybe we could knock some sense into him? I mean, if he wants to go out like that, then I could take a crack at him, mano a mano.”

“It’d likely be mano a sword-o, if we do things the honorable way.” Gina chimes in, staring at the Vagrant from half a mile away, her eyes shining orbs of neon amethyst. “Though taking him on in a swordfight probably won’t be easy, either, if our intel is to be believed.”

Amara’s blade is halfway out of its scabbard before you place a gentle hand on her elbow, considering how to reply as your daughter reluctantly sheathes her edge.

>>Ask the Vagrant something more about himself (Write-In).

>>Give the Vagrant what he wants—a duel, with your own conditions (Write-In).

>>See if you can’t offer to hire the Vagrant. You’ve no interest in killing him, but you don’t think he’d listen if you tried to get him to settle down, either.

>>You meant what you said; you’re making a world for everyone. It may be difficult, but try to convince the Vagrant that there’s a place for him, here and now…and in what’s to come, too.

>>Write-In

YOU ARE IN CONTROL

(Voting shall remain open for the next eight hours, with posting to resume tomorrow at 12PM, Eastern time. Apologies for the chaos of today, though I’ll likely have someone to intermittently help me out tomorrow, so I should be able to adhere to the regular posting times if all goes well. I wish you a good and restful evening one and all, and take care!)

>>5329007
Huh. Whalers and fisherwomen, trolling the seas for biomass. Makes sense that would happen, there are probably more and bigger Amalgams to be had there than anywhere on land. A cool idea.

>>5329009
Did Buzzo Okita just play to his role? Oh, you magnificent bee, I love you.

>>5329010
Now that's cool. Everyone working together for fire control while Yamato charges the Star-Wave Cannon. The power of friendship, right there.

>>5329012
Oh, that was magnificent. Nothing like living out your childhood dreams and being the Battleship Yamato. I'm proud of you, Yams. And it sounds like the Titans are, too. You got the attention of all three of them. I think Behemoth has a crush on you, now.

>>5329013
Oh, hey, Levi. Nice to see you here. Aww, you did a nice thing, too, neutralizing the acid for the girls so they could eat their catch.

>>5329015
Anne, do not try to fish for Leviathan. For one thing, that is allegorically an impossibility, see Job 41:4. For another, we'd be very disappointed in you for trying to mess with our friend. Leave them alone.

All in all, I liked this. A nice little vignette, seeing a cool naval battle and getting some brief but nice characterization of Yamato and Anne.

>>5329203
Hmm. Well, I'm not sure what to do with this guy. Not super stoked about fighting him to the death in a solo fight, he seems tough. Not sure we can convince him otherwise, though. He sounds tired. Like he doesn't want to be this existence anymore, but doesn't want to just kill himself. It's kind of sad.

Also, it occurs to me that if we did kill him, he'd probably wind up like Hamadryad and end up in our Dreamscape. Even if we didn't eat him, he'd be in the Cord's stored archives, probably. I'm not sure the solution is for him.

>>5329205
Thanks for running, BHOP. Sorry your day was so hectic.

>>5329220
Hang on...Given his preference to bladed weapons, he's very much a Crucible Version of a Wandering swordsmaster. And he's very much concerned about his past. He's very much disturbed by it in a way so much so that he can't help but imagine that he can't move forward in the future because of the memories he's inherited.

>>5329230
Sounds like it, yeah. He's got remnants of too many people in him, and doesn't know how to cope with that and what it would be like to interact with normal people. Which is an issue we've seen from Sir FuzzBuzz, or his buddy Rupert, but they're better at handling it. It's a shame that Shu doesn't know about Sir FuzzBuzz or Rupert in character, we could hook Vagrant up with a therapy circle and support network if we did.

Not an official vote yet. Just typing things down as part of a draft. will likely be interrupted by family soon.
>To the Vagrant:
>"Not quite. You've yet to realize what it means to have choices. You just simply need to be aware of those options. Not just simply choosing the time and place of your grave."
>"Have you given yourself a name yet? It's a choice completely unbidden and yet in your position, being cognizant and aware of yourself, you can afford to make that choice if you so choose."
>"And what about your legacy?"


>>5329237
So he's something of a Vector-lite but has a mix of people and animals inside him where-as Vector's got 108 humies.

>>5329220
The thing is whether it realizes or not, Vagrant's actually trying to find a way to justify its own death, and yet given its origins and nature as an amalgam, it can't quite grok why they can't bring themselves to literally hand all their gear to some random daughter and let themselves be killed.

They're cognizant of that desire to a degree, but there's something to be said about making a legacy out of it.

Besides, the problem with their strategy of dumping 15 mythic relic weapons and augments on a single daughter is that a single daughter can only do so much.

Also, I think if we want to have the Vagrant seriously consider alternative options such as running a dojo or handing out their weapons piecemeal after finding a daughter who best fits one of the weapons it has in its arsenal, we should give it (likely him) a name to call itself and a name to cultivate a legacy that they can feel satisfied with when they finally decide to croak.

>>5329238
That's a good possible avenue for this guy. Ask him if he's done anything other than seek out someone to die against. He thinks it would be weird to deal with a world of humans when his only experiences with them are from the inherited memories. But what if he got some other experiences, had something of his own to draw on.

Also, the "it would be weird to interact with people the memories I inherited knew" thing could be solved by him just moving. What are the odds that the people in his head are equally distributed across the entire world? They're probably all from the region around wherever he woke up first. Just live somewhere else. Go to Spain or wherever, never have to risk encountering them again. I think this is him not realizing how big the world is.

>>5329241
Yeah, that's also a good point. Dueling a Daughter to the death isn't the best way of ensuring she gets the best possible inheritance from him. Sure, she'll get to pick and choose from a bunch of awesome swords, but she could do that with him alive, too. No need for it to end in his death. If anything, him passing his swords off to multiple people would be better, give more of a fighting chance by widening the possibility space.

>>5329203
>Ask the Vagrant something more about himself:
>"Huh...so you're just like them...
>"Vector. The living lightning daughter. They're actually an amalgamation of 108 humans of varying backgrounds. Those individual selves originally didn't make the cut, but given how erratic the Crucible is..I think you'll find common ground with a fellow like Vector. They might help you with your memory problem."

>To the Vagrant:
>"Not quite. You've yet to realize what it means to have choices. You just simply need to be aware of those options. Not just simply choosing the time and place of your grave. Why not make the most of it with the choices you haven't considered?
>"For example, choosing how you wish to live before you die, or giving yourself a name to be remembered by for your deeds."
>"Have you given yourself a name yet? It's a choice completely unbidden and yet in your position, being cognizant and aware of yourself, you can afford to make that choice if you so choose. It's a simple thing, giving yourself a name, and I tend to find comfort in it. Knowing the people will remember me for who and what I am before death inevitably embraces me."
>"If you are willing to go that far to choose a daughter with the strength capable of striking you down, but then consider this:
>If possible, swap with the Fuzzbuzz envoy and show him Karma as an example.
>"For a daughter as powerful as I am, I tend to keep relic weapons that best fits me, even if it's only one."
>"There's only so many relic weapons a daughter can wield before they become over-encumbered. And I'll have to admit, even if I were to inherit your arsenal, 15 relic weapons are a bit much even for me. I'm more likely to give them away to people I don't know."
>"But you, you know the weapons on your back, how they work, and who among us would be best fit to wield them right?"
>"So why all your hopes on a single daughter in a duel to the death?"
>"Why do that when instead you can build a legacy outlasting your lifespan in the time we have by finding multiple daughters whom you can entrust a small piece of your arsenal to? Wouldn't that be a more satisfying way to live?"
>"We can start here. With Amara, and Rath."
>"Amara here studies the blade, while Rath is a veritable brawler with a major in Relic forging. I know they would be more than willing to accept your duel. But, I have a few conditions I'd like to add in. One: It will not be to the death. Two: You get to decide which part of your arsenal you feel they are worthy of regardless of the outcome. Three: Should you feel these challengers aren't worthy of wielding a relic within your arsenal, you can call off the duel. Should the challengers disrespect these conditions, you are free to cut them down. Of course, they may have their own conditions to add to the duel. Are you okay with this?"

Possible Alternative names for Vagrant: Ronin, Hanzo, Kensei
Also, inb4 Amara's condition is that Vagrant spends an hour as her sword sensei.

Hello everyone! I'm still in the process of catching up, unfortunately I haven't made a ton of progress recently because of real life stuff, but I'm still trucking along! I've just hit the interlude vein after the 34th, so I'm hoping to burn through it along with the other veins between me and here!

I didn't actually know that last vein had ended before I'd last posted, that's one of the problems with not reading any of the actual happenings in the thread I guess. I had some post-vein questions I had wanted to ask, but I'll just save them for the end of this one, which I can hopefully if not participate in, then at least catch up to in time for the end of!

I've still been having a great time with the story, I really adore the character interactions that've happened recently (for me) with Fran, Lara, and especially Magpie. Of course, the cuteness with Dorian and Julia is always nice, and Amara is constantly adorable, but those three were nice to see again/get more attention on. Oh, also the ant queen is just pretty rad, I sure do hope nothing bad happens to her.

Anyway, I'd best get back to it, I hope everyone currently participating, or even just reading the Vein is having a wonderful day, and thank you as always BHOP for authoring this very enjoyable story!

>>5329314
Gah. there's so many typos and missing words.

>>5329244
any thoughts on the current vote so far?
Once again, I'm up to the usual wordy bs. It's likely that Vagrant might refuse the conditions offered for the duel in favor of just a all-in duel to the death.

>>5329317
(Hello, and I'm glad you're still enjoying it! You're more than welcome to ask any questions you'd like, and if you do then I'll be happy to address them once I've had some time to sit down and read the other short story that was posted by one of the talented authors here.)

(It's a pleasure to hear from you, and it's mine to continue writing for such an awesome group of players and readers.)

>>5329317
Hi, Zealot. Yeah, the Laoc happenings were a good pair of Veins. Getting to meet up with Lara again was a nice treat. And the PyreAnt Queen is indeed rad.

>>5329328
Yeah, it's a bit wordy. Comes off almost as a lecture, I'm not sure that will get through to him. I'm about to eat dinner, my response here is delayed because I was cooking, but I'll give it a better look-over afterwards.

>>5329330
Well, certainly!

The main question I've been having is what the state of the world is. I understand that everything is a horrifying flesh scape, there's lots of descriptions of fields of skin, bone, so on and so forth, but I'm more curious about things like roads or cities. I know cities, and large structures still exist, such as Kosi's city, the factory where the... little girls who I've forgotten the names of were set up, those kinds of things, but are they the same as they were, metal and stone and wood, or have they been converted to flesh and bone? Or have they simply been covered over with a layer of meat?

A related question is how has the fleshscape actually affected 'normal' items. I know early on there's a mention of a book that's pages are so old and weathered that it basically turns to dust, but Gina's phone and the clothes people have found seem to have not suffered much at all, in addition to the Crucible only having been going for two-ish years.

Related to *that* last question, how thorough was Mother with getting rid of conventional weaponry? I know it's said that she swept away the nukes on the planet, but evidently missed some as the Disassociated are planning to space launch with them, but did something similar happen to conventional firearms as well? Aside from November's guns, and maybe Magpie's, it doesn't seem like there's any any infantry-scale ordnance still around, that I've seen as of yet anyway. It's something that's stuck out to me just because I'm a bit of a gun nut, and I live in America, so in the case of the Crucible my first thought would be looting one of the many gun stores or ranges that I know about nearby. Not to mention things like military bases and heavier weaponry like rocket or grenade launchers, and vehicles for that matter.

So, it basically all comes down to 'what exactly happened to the old world with the advent of the Cucible?', and I do apologize if this question in general, or these specific ones, have already been answered, yet another downside to speed-reading through the veins is that I've not been able to take the time to really read all the discussion topics, or Q&A sections, and when I do the info doesn't tend to stick for me. So, sorry if this is retreading already covered ground, it's just some stuff I've been curious about regarding the worldbuilding for a while now.

I think this might be the longest post I've actually made here... Well, questions are as questions do. I look forward to whatever answers you can provide! And, of course, if anything would be spoilers then do feel free to just say that and leave it there, I'd hate to reveal things prematurely with the story so near to the end.

>>5329343
Yes! All of this is entirely correct, I for one welcome our new fuzzy friend, and our new royal friend. The joy of FuzzBuzz is recognized by all true connoisseurs of cuddles, as we all know!

>>5329203
voting to rescind my vote here >>5329314 until better alternatives can be discussed.

>>5329010
>>5329012
(This is just...this is the *hypest* shit. From Buzzo Okita (which gave me one hell of a laugh, mind you), to everyone helping, to Yamato's reflections on her current state, and everything with the countdown. That was so freaking cool I literally cheered. VERY well done, my friend.)

(Levy showing up was absolutely excellent, and the ending of it all just got me good. I can't tell you how much I laughed at the end. Thank you so much for sharing, as that was a superb short.)

>>5329357
In the beginning it would make sense to immediately go for the military grade gear, but as the Crucible wore on much of it has been recycled or discarded in favor of innate weaponry or relic-forged weapons given that daughters are capable of innate regeneration. With so many mutations given to any given daughter and weaponized to varying degrees, firearms have been somewhat relegated to a specific niche, albeit in specific configurations while the bulk of the medium in delivering violence has been diversified.
Pre-crucible firearms would be useful but only up to a point before the pace of regeneration and survival-ability of eldritch flesh outstrips the physics bound weapons small arms fire unless said weapons were also augmented by the Crucible.

The same could be said for transportation. Way point stations exist to connect places half-way around the world while the transportation infrastructure has diversified given that some daughters have innate forms of fast transportation outside of way-station warping. The rest of the daughters though? well. It's back to pre-industrial era foot-travel or the age of sail, but without having to worry much about food and rest save for the true hunger within their stomachs.

>>5329414
I only hope is that we get to see the tear in the sky that Yamato made in the next update.

Thanks for enjoying the shit out of the short. I hope the linked song music set the mood for the short rightly.

>>5329422
Oh I realize they wouldn't be terribly *useful* at the point of the crucible this quest takes place, what with everything being kinda really strong, I'm just curious why there aren't more around in general, even as discarded tools. Although, even in the modern day November seems to do pretty well, I don't think her guns are special in any way, are they?

I'm mostly thinking for early game, crucible monsters are pretty strong and tough from what I've read, but let's not undersell firearms here, a full size rifle round, or even intermediate cartridge, is still putting *significant* force at high velocity on a very small surface area at considerable range, that's not something to scoff at. Add in, as you've mentioned, relic upgrades or special ammo types, and I think you could make it decently into midgame with a firearm doing most of the heavy lifting, leaving you free to really pick and choose your combat path, or focus more on utility/defense in the early term.

Of course, I could be understanding things wrong, but I can't think of many 'normal' monsters, or even daughters, in the past few veins (that I've read) that would be immune to bullet. And if immune to bullet, most things aren't immune to 40mm grenade.

Regarding transport, the waystations are obviously quite useful for great distance travel, but they're stationary, meanwhile something like even a normal pickup truck, if you could manage to make it run in the fleshscape, gives you free range distance travel capabilities, combined with cargo transport. Cargo transport that can be used for, as an example, meat like was done during the hunting section. If you combine the two, it doesn't seem like an unreasonable idea to range out hunting amalgams to pool their meat together for more long term rations, rather than living meal to meal. But again, I could be wrong in the mechanics behind that. I'm mostly just curious for BHOP's reasons behind stuff, I don't have any problems with how things have been presented or been done so far, just in case this is coming off as too harsh.

>>5329314
Right, okay, back. I like the idea of emphasizing the Vagrant leaving something behind that's specifically him. Not just inherited minds, but something that's just his. He can still die if he wants to, but he should leave behind more than just being a loot pinata. How does this look?

>"If you don't mind my asking, *why* is that the choice you have? Are you incapable of meeting a Daughter in person without having to fight her? I met a sapient Amalgam like that recently, she didn't want to fight people but was incapable of resisting Amalgam instincts. Or is it just that you can't see yourself living any other life?"
>"Maybe you can't. But if this is all you've got, I think you should make the most of it. Don't just be a wandering treasure trove waiting for someone strong enough to seize it. Why not actively cultivate that strength, and take a student? Find some promising seed and raise them up, pass on your skill with the blade until they're worthy of defeating you."
>"For that matter, you could take multiple students. Any one Daughter probably isn't going to want to wield fifteen swords. Which, really, is also a problem with passing your entire arsenal on to whoever defeats you. They'll probably just wind up passing the blades further on. It would be wasted on them. But if you had an entire dojo worth of swordswomen to inherit your legacy, you could be sure that all of them were put to good use."
>"It's just an idea. But I think it could make your life a bit more satisfying, before it ends. Give you something to do other than wander. And when you do find someone worthy of taking your life, you might leave behind some memories that are unique to you. Not of the people who went into making you, but yourself."
>"Speaking of...this is horribly rude of me, but I never asked your name. Do you have one? Would you like one?"

I feel the ending's a bit weak, but what do you think?

>>5329460
The sense I always got was that guns were mostly wiped out for the reasons you're saying. They're meant to be the equivalent of rare loot drops, something that if you can find and get working will carry you into the mid-game when you start getting access to Relic guns like Magpie wields (or just investing in other skills, I guess). But you want to restrict the supply of those, or else everyone will be cheesing the early game, so most guns were consumed by the Crucible. Same with motor vehicles, probably. A few people riding around in them is a neat bonus mechanic to expand the possibilities of the game, but if everyone gets them it's going to be unbalancing.

>>5329468
First half is good. Second half is weak, but we can transition that tangent into getting him in on the idea with a test-run concept in the form of a duel between him and Amara using the three conditions that I mentioned in the previous vote:
>One: It will not be to the death.
>Two: You get to decide which part of your arsenal you feel they are worthy of regardless of the outcome.
>Three: Should Vagrant feel these challengers aren't worthy of wielding a relic within your arsenal, Vagrant has the right to call off the duel.
>Four: Should the challengers disrespect these conditions, Vagrant is free to cut them down.

here's my suggestions in the dialogue transition:
>"For that matter, you could take multiple students. Any one Daughter probably isn't going to want to wield fifteen swords. Which, really, is also a problem with passing your entire arsenal on to whoever defeats you. They'll probably just wind up passing the blades further on. It would be wasted on them. But if you had an entire dojo worth of swordswomen to inherit your legacy, you could be sure that all of them were put to good use."
>"What do you think? Would that be a legacy worth dying for?"
>"We can help you build that legacy here and now."
>"And we'll start with a name. For you to call yourself by, to distinguish yourself form the memories you've inherited. For you to build upon throughout your life as you search for worthy inheritors of the blades you wield. For you to be remembered by when you finally choose the time and place for your grave."
>"What would you like to call yourself by?"
>"As for your first student...Hey Amara, would you like to see if you're worthy of a legendary sword?"

>>5329489
>>5329468
a typo on condition two:
it should be
>Regardless of the Duel outcome, Vagrant decides what weapon best fits the challenger.

>>5329489
I"m a little wary of immediately volunteering Amara, since taking on students is something that would be a longer-term commitment. We want to keep her with us, not studying the blade with Vagrant. We could have him examine her form and see if there's anything he can correct her on, though, to test his ability to pass on his skills. Something less than a full duel with prospects of training on the line, maybe each of them get one strike, blocking allowed. So he gets to see how she attacks and how she defends, and what he'd be capable of educating someone on in those regards.

But otherwise, looks good.

>>5329357
>>but I'm more curious about things like roads or cities. I know cities, and large structures still exist, such as Kosi's city, (...) but are they the same as they were, metal and stone and wood, or have they been converted to flesh and bone? Or have they simply been covered over with a layer of meat?

(I'd say the ratio of meat to masonry is roughly 100 to 1. You still have the vague outline of roads, and there's still metal, brick, and stonework to be found, but the vast majority has been either covered by biomass or converted into Crucible materials. That said, if you were familiar with an area, you'd be able to see traces of roads and old familiar structures, though whether they'd be shattered and broken or replaced with a biomass facsimile is a toss-up.)

>I know early on there's a mention of a book that's pages are so old and weathered that it basically turns to dust, but Gina's phone and the clothes people have found seem to have not suffered much at all, in addition to the Crucible only having been going for two-ish years.

(The way the Crucible is *supposed* to operate, everything would be either converted into biomass or dragged so far deep into the planet's crust as to be inaccessible. However, this current iteration is starting to glitch, meaning that clothing and even certain weapons and vehicles (like the Metall Geschoss) were left topside.)

>>Related to *that* last question, how thorough was Mother with getting rid of conventional weaponry?

(The Admin tries to be thorough, but there's been enough that's slipped through to make a couple of militias, though the efficacy of basic firearms and the like against biomass regen is iffy, the higher-level the Daughter is. That said, there are a few ways around this—the first is actively integrating biomass into the machinery, evolving the thing outright into a Relic or (as in Gina's case with her phone) allowing a thing to work with the 'rules' of the Crucible. There are also a few Daughters around whose favored firearms ended up being Relics, and they woke up with them in hand along with a Flesh Artisan Core attuned to them. Firearms are also a pretty common Calcite Armorer skillset, though they're pretty Bio-intensive.)

(All that being said, I have to admit when I started this Quest I made an active choice to limit the gun and tech, even though I'm a huge fan of both—that'll be the main focus of one of the other stories I'm working on is basically Blame! meets Borderlands in a megastructure Dyson Sphere, and guns/machinery are going to be the order of the day in Phantom Flame. Each of my storylines basically focuses on a handful of things I'm crazy about, so trying to lend too much focus on that sort of hardware in this particular story was something I intentionally put to the side so as to not split my focus too much.)

(...then again, November's a playable character, so I couldn't let it go entirely.)

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>>5329460
>>And if immune to bullet, most things aren't immune to 40mm grenade.

>>5329528
>Say my name.
M79 40mm Grenade Launcher!

Can't go wrong with the classics. Anyway, I appreciate the answers! The stuff regarding guns is about what I'd figured, regarding the balancing decision and all that, but it's cool to see that bio-guns are a legit development path for some of the cores, and the idea of 'legacy guns' pushes all my buttons in the right way! If you've ever played or heard of the Warhammer 40k tabletop RPG Black Crusade, there's a Legacy Weapon system in one of the splatbooks to represent weapons that have effectively gained power by being part of your character's legend, and I've always thought that kind of thing is just super cool.

I can't say I've ever read Blame!, though I have seen and heard about it, and I'm not the biggest fan of Borderlands, but please do maybe post either in the last vein of this quest, or on the twitter when that story goes live? I'm assuming it isn't already, anyway, since you say 'are going to be'. I've enjoyed your writing in this quest a ton, as I've said many times already, so I'm sure I'd love something I get to gun-nerd out in will be just as amazing and enjoyable to be part of.

Also, November best android lady, prove me wrong.

>>5329520
Fair points on the whole correction of getting Amara into a longer commitment of kendo as a side hobby, but volunteering Amara would be something of a test-bed for our idea of steering Vagrant into a walking a more productive life and legacy. Besides, you never know if Amara is actually good enough to earn a blade.

Man. Amara will likely grow up to be quite the tomboy with a girly side if this continues.

>>5329542
>>Warhammer 40k tabletop RPG Black Crusade

(I had no idea, I'm going to have to check it out, because that style of a legacy system sounds amazing!)

(Blame! and Nihei's other works are all very solid, though I have to say that Borderlands wasn't the best comparison. It's more like if Dark Souls was a Western (mainly in the 'immortal-but-at-what-cost' vibe of Souls), and set in an oppressive megastructure like is the main setting in Blame. Honestly, given that I'm hacking Lancer as the base system for Phantom Flame, I'll be checking out Black Crusade, since that Legacy Weapon system you mentioned would work *perfectly* given the main points of the setting.)

(Once Body Horror Quest wraps I'll do something akin to an AMA/Debrief to address questions and the like, but I'll obviously keep everyone informed as to what's coming next as far as quests/writing goes. I have...five?...stories that I've been beating away with a stick as I work through BHQ, so I'll be writing for as long as I have great players and readers.)

>>Also, November best android lady, prove me wrong.

(That's the thing—no one ever could.)

>>5329525
>That said, if you were familiar with an area, you'd be able to see traces of roads and old familiar structures, though whether they'd be shattered and broken or replaced with a biomass facsimile is a toss-up.
I like to think that there are a lot of Amalgams with Calcite power sets that started life as public statues, Calcite replacing their stone and then being animated into a monster.

>(...then again, November's a playable character, so I couldn't let it go entirely.)
And November has the best guns. She's got a railgun, even. I love that railgun.

>>5329549
Yeah, I'm fine with them doing a quick test, Vagrant testing Amara's skills and in turn her testing his ability to teach. I just don't think we should make her one of his students challenging her for a blade is something we should do right now.

>Man. Amara will likely grow up to be quite the tomboy with a girly side if this continues.
I think of older Amara being just on the "normie" side of Perky Goth. Like, not actually Goth, but her love of the macabre and unsettling makes her come off with a similar vibe. She's the sort of girl who would excitedly show her friends a cool skeleton she found.

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>5329571
(Not sure what you were rolling for, but a solid roll, regardless. I wish you well, and that you carry that luck to your next rolls, friend.)

>>5329568
>I think of older Amara being just on the "normie" side of Perky Goth. Like, not actually Goth, but her love of the macabre and unsettling makes her come off with a similar vibe. She's the sort of girl who would excitedly show her friends a cool skeleton she found.
It might even be the norm for people in the future to embrace a bit of the eldritch side.

A thought: Should we give Churem a Spirit-shell to inhabit? Given the seriousness of this potential duel, having one of the previous cycle's primo swordsaints spectate would help Amara with her form. Who knows. Maybe the inclusion of Churem would get Vagrant even more interested in the idea of teaching others or even the thought of offering one of his blades to Amara or even Churem for that matter.
>>5329557
Also, Excalibur Prime or Excalibur Umbra for Churem?

>>5329590
>>5329571
if it was the warhammer roll under system, that dice roll would be horrendously bad.

>>5329602
(Oh, Excalibur Umbra, full-stop.)

>>5329602
>It might even be the norm for people in the future to embrace a bit of the eldritch side.
Probably. What with all the young people who lived through the Crucible, it's definitely going to become some sort of style trend.

And yeah, we should definitely give Cheruem a Spirit Shell. If she's up for it, of course. But the Ascendants were some of the strongest contestants in their Crucible, even with all of the ones we have having died before they reached the Cord. Having them join the House of Tenno would be very effective. Plus, you know, it would be nice for them to get out and stretch their legs some.

I'm not sure we can build Cheruem one fast enough to watch the session. But giving her the option of finding the Vagrant later and comparing skills sounds kind of adorable. Vagrant and Cheruem, roaming sword instructors.

>>5329640
Well it takes quite a bit of time, but we can build it as we go along while Amara has her lesson with the Vagrant, besides, Churem will have a 1st row seat during Amara's duel, so when Amara's done with Vagrant, Churem's spirit shell should be done by then.

I do have to wonder however, is there an augment out there that allows Hive Mistresses to speed-build their bigger constructs? I'm mean sure we could get faster at it with proficiency, and I'm certain having multiple hands sculpt the body at once with a squad of swarmlings helping out with getting the proportions right would speed things along.

Also, we've got about 2.5 hours left in the voting window.

>>5329203
right. votes.

>"If you don't mind my asking, *why* is that the choice you have? Are you incapable of meeting a Daughter in person without having to fight her? I met a sapient Amalgam like that recently, she didn't want to fight people but was incapable of resisting Amalgam instincts. Or is it just that you can't see yourself living any other life?"
>"Maybe you can't. But if this is all you've got, I think you should make the most of it. Don't just be a wandering treasure trove waiting for someone strong enough to seize it. Why not actively cultivate that strength, and take a student? Find some promising seed and raise them up, pass on your skill with the blade until they're worthy of defeating you."
>"For that matter, you could take multiple students. Any one Daughter probably isn't going to want to wield fifteen swords. Which, really, is also a problem with passing your entire arsenal on to whoever defeats you. They'll probably just wind up passing the blades further on. It would be wasted on them. But if you had an entire dojo worth of swordswomen to inherit your legacy, you could be sure that all of them were put to good use."
>"What do you think? Would that be a legacy worth dying for?"
>"We can help you build that legacy here and now."
>"And we'll start with a name. For you to call yourself by, to distinguish yourself form the memories you've inherited. For you to build upon throughout your life as you search for worthy inheritors of the blades you wield. For you to be remembered by when you finally choose the time and place for your grave."
>"What would you like to call yourself by?"

>lay down some conditions for the duel if Vagrant is willing to accept them.
>One: It will not be to the death.
>Two: You get to decide which part of your arsenal you feel they are worthy of regardless of the outcome.
>Three: Should Vagrant feel these challengers aren't worthy of wielding a relic within your arsenal, Vagrant has the right to call off the duel.
>Four: Should the challengers disrespect or disagree to these conditions, Vagrant is free to cut them down or leave.

>"As for your first 'student'..."
>Ask Amara and/or Churem if they're up for testing the Vagrant.
>If Churem is up for testing the Vagrant for a chance to get a relic weapon, craft a spirit shell/Tenno-frame for the Hexane.

>>5329640
Given that we've discussed so far. looks like we're in tentative agreement on this current course of action.

>>5329643
I suppose we could try it. Connect to her and ask her if she wants to get instantiated. If we can build it in time, it could be fun to see her interact with Vagrant.

>I do have to wonder however, is there an augment out there that allows Hive Mistresses to speed-build their bigger constructs?
Probably. Would be really useful for Queen-type Hive Mistresses who have really big things to spawn.

>Also, we've got about 2.5 hours left in the voting window.
Oh, yeah, I haven't formally submitted a vote, have I? Okay, here goes:

>>5329203

>"If you don't mind my asking, *why* is that the choice you have? Are you incapable of meeting a Daughter in person without having to fight her? I met a sapient Amalgam like that recently, she didn't want to fight people but was incapable of resisting Amalgam instincts. Or is it just that you can't see yourself living any other life?"
>"Maybe you can't. But if this is all you've got, I think you should make the most of it. Don't just be a wandering treasure trove waiting for someone strong enough to seize it. Why not actively cultivate that strength, and take a student? Find some promising seed and raise them up, pass on your skill with the blade until they're worthy of defeating you."
>"For that matter, you could take multiple students. Any one Daughter probably isn't going to want to wield fifteen swords. Which, really, is also a problem with passing your entire arsenal on to whoever defeats you. They'll probably just wind up passing the blades further on. It would be wasted on them. But if you had an entire dojo worth of swordswomen to inherit your legacy, you could be sure that all of them were put to good use."
>"What do you think? Would that be a legacy worth dying for?"
>"We could help you get started. How about with a name? Forgive me if I'm presuming, but you didn't mention one. Do you not have one? It might do you some good to get one. It would be something to distinguish yourself from the memories you've inherited. For your story to build upon, as you search for worthy inheritors. And for you to be remembered by when you do finally meet your match. What do you say?"

>If the Vagrant seems interested in the idea, propose a test of their ability to pass on their skills. Not a full duel, but an exchange of blows to see how they can assess an opponent's fighting style and inform them of what they need to work on. If they think they can do it without going too far and turning to battle, see if Amara or Cheruem want to try it. Also, build Cheruem a Spirit Shell if they want to give it a go.

>>5329640
speaking of House of Tenno, we'd better dedicate a time slot solely to discuss with the incoming 52 new dream daughters and how they're feeling about everything. Otherwise, we won't be able to make the most out of the House, not to mention the time it takes to get the spirit shells sculpted.

I'm still rather pissed at myself for not having the thought to put Vulture's pride into another stasis womb until well after the previous vein has withered away.

>>5329701
Yeah. Next time we're back at the Lair, we've got a body crafting session to go through. Talk to our new head pals, ask around the old guard who wants to get embodied, and then go wild with Julia making Spirit Shells.

>>5329701
(A last contribution before I head to bed; I'd be more than happy to retcon that particular point, if you and the others are so inclined.)

(Let me know your thoughts, and I wish everyone here a restful evening.)

>>5329728
I honestly don't remember what Vulture's Pride does, but if the other anon wants to store it for later, I say go for it.

>>5329743
Vulture's Pride is an Unnatural Predator/Gluttonous duo hybrid ability that goes up to lvl 5.
It's a utility ability that deals with being a vulture in playstyle. Primary effect is that when a daughter is on death's door and has failed a death save, you may mercy kill them to full restore your stats and gain a percentage based stat boost while saving the dream daughter data of the dying daughter, in exchange for sacrificing any level up points gained from consuming. An optional consume action that reduces consumption into a single action instead of a full round action.

>>VULTURE’S PRIDE (Gluttonous / Phantasmal Conduit Hybrid, Lvl 1 of 5): You may CONSUME a Daughter that has failed her death saving throws in the middle of combat, absorbing her Dream Daughter and forgoing any associated Level-Up Points for the following benefits; Your HEALTH and BIO are fully restored, and your HEALTH & BIO MAXIMUMS are increased by 10% for the remainder of combat (Stackable), additionally, you are cleared of all status ailments and negative Artisan Stacks. (HEALTH +300%, BIO +200%)

Essentially a useful pragmatic ability for picking up dying allied low-powered daughters to use for house of tenno during the final push towards the Cord when Francine's revive ability can't cut it. I would liken this to an option of performing a Triage action if we have lots of allied daughters on death's door.

Francine or Shu would subsequently put this ability to good use.

Plus, this would subsequently be a good option to augment/hybridize our Ravenous maw in the long run. Though given the pragmatic and morally suspect nature of Vulture's pride...

>>5329728
Yes please. Although I will have to admit, I feel sorry for having pulled this sort of retcon request. It's poor etiquette.

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>>5329203

"If you don't mind my asking, *why* is that the choice you have?” You say, voice buzzing through your construct envoy. “Are you incapable of meeting a Daughter in person without having to fight her? I met a sapient Amalgam like that recently, she didn't want to fight people but was incapable of resisting Amalgam instincts. Or is it just that you can't see yourself living any other life?"

“It’s not like I’m lacking in self-control, or anything. We’re talking right now, aren’t we?” The Vagrant replies, his gravelly voice tinged with amusement. “I feel for your ‘sapient’ friend, though—it’s hard, resisting the pull to violence. There’s this kick in the guts we amalgams get when we see a Daughter, a pang of…envy, maybe? Perhaps anger’s more on-the-nose. Not sure how best to describe it, but it’s a feeling that gets easier to suppress the longer you’re up and active. And me? I’m old as balls, as the kids like to say.”

A beat and then; “They…they *do* still say that, yeah?”

Rath gives you a withering look, while Amara just shoots you a thumbs-up before you focus back on the vagrant through second-hand eyes, and he concludes with; “I think you hit it right on the nose, really…when it comes right down to it, I can’t see myself living any other way.”

"Maybe you can't. But if this is all you've got, I think you should make the most of it.” You counter as gently as you can manage.

“That so? You got an alternative in mind?” He asks coolly, planting the palm of his only visible arm atop one covered knee.

“Don't just be a wandering treasure trove waiting for someone strong enough to seize it. Why not actively cultivate that strength, and take a student? Find some promising seed and raise them up, pass on your skill with the blade until they're worthy of defeating you." You offer, a flicker of disbelief evident in the minute twitch of the Vagrant’s hood. "For that matter, you could take multiple students. Any one Daughter probably isn't going to want to wield fifteen swords. Which, really, is also a problem with passing your entire arsenal on to whoever defeats you. They'll probably just wind up passing the blades further on. It would be wasted on them.”

“Whoever’s skilled enough to take me down won’t have any problem with that.” The swordsman smoothly parries, his armament shifting on his back as he crosses one tree-trunk leg over the other, the vague suggestion of his monstrous form still concealed. “You can hand ‘em out one by one, sure. But my powers let me use all of them at once. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got enough hands, ‘cause they can go on auto-pilot, if the user’s interested.”

He shrugs his massive shoulders. “Besides, the strongest thing I’ve got doesn’t even have to be a sword, at all. It’s just taken that form because it’s what I favor. Ex-…my trump card alone would be more than enough to turn the tide of a match.”

(Continued)

>>5330189

“Maybe so, but if you had an entire dojo worth of swordswomen to inherit your legacy, you could be sure that all of them were put to good use. Besides, who better to teach someone how to wield those fifteen blades than the one who’s mastered them all?" You say, weaving around his guard with a hint of flattery. "What do you think? Would that be a legacy worth dying for?"

He regards you for a moment, eyes glinting at you from the darkened recesses of his hood.

“…I’m listening.” He finally growls, leaning back on one elbow.

"We can help you build that legacy here and now." You say, hopeful. "And we'll start with a name. For you to call yourself by, to distinguish yourself form the memories you've inherited. For you to build upon throughout your life as you search for worthy inheritors of-“

“Ha, hold on there, Miss. I never said I’d do it, just that you had my attention.” He stops you with one hand raised, the palm calloused and scabbed over with the weight of countless duels. “But as for a name, eh? Hm. I’ll…I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

“Fair enough. Now, as for that duel? I’m willing to accept, on four conditions.” You say, changing tack to something that you’re betting will hold the Vagrant’s attention…and you hit the jackpot, it seems. His posture shifts forward intently, and you raise four fingers, counting down from pinky to index. “First, and most importantly, it will not be to the death.”

“Ah, I expected as much.” He grumbles, but with no argument forthcoming, you continue.

“Two, you get to decide which part of your arsenal you feel they are worthy of regardless of the outcome. Three, should you feel these challengers aren't worthy of wielding a relic within your arsenal, you reserve the right to call off the duel. And, fourth and finally, should the challengers disrespect or disagree to these conditions, you’re free to cut them down or leave.”

“I accept.” He replies without hesitation or derision. He rises, his weaponry clanking noisily as he stands up to his full eight feet. “Who would you have me duel?”

Meeting the eyes of your chosen warrior with a questioning look, you place your faith in not just her skills, but her kindness. And as for her answer, well…

…the shine in her two-tone gaze tells you all you need to know.

"As for your first 'student'..." You conclude, ignoring the warrior’s snort at your choice of noun; “…I elect my daughter, Amara.”

The Vagrant obliges you by descending to where you, GG, Rath, and your chosen warrior await him at the mesa you’ve selected for the duel. It’s a flat slab of calcite, wide enough for you to stay at the fringes of the melee while flat enough to allow for as unobtrusive an arena as possible. The wandering Amalgam stands ten meters away, patiently awaiting his challenger as you kneel before her, staring straight into her eyes with your hand on her shoulder.

(Continued)

>>5330190

“You’re sure about this?” You ask, and Amara just plants her right hand on your shoulder in a mirror of you.

“Super-sure!” She replies with a grin, her left arm sheathed in the gauntlet of barbed calcite, her blade’s hilt mere centimeters from her impatient fingers. “Besides, it’s not to the death, so I won’t hurt Mister Vagrant!”

You hold your tongue, a dozen protests stamped down your throat as you choose instead to smile at the little girl before you, unwilling to taint her boundless confidence with your own shadows of doubt. With a wink and a spin on her heel, she strides off to the field of battle, and it’s only now that the Vagrant doffs his cloak, his full stature is revealed.

Five arms are relaxed at his sides, his form lopsided with four over-muscled arms on his left while a single over-sized limb flexes its thick fingers on the right side of his gnarled body. He’s garbed in heavy leathers, a patchwork suit of overlapping plates that seem cobbled from various sets. His face is a squat, piggish thing, resembling a boxer who’s seen ten brawls too many. His eyes tell a similar tale, the dark, deep-set orbs narrowed at your adoptive daughter, filled with a warrior’s resolve and a fighter’s caution. They’re a stark contrast to the six ears that frame his bruised visage; two pairs of cat ears and a single set of canine-esque lobes perk up, their edges frayed and fettered…not that his appearance gives your little one any pause as she points straight at the wanderer’s head.

“You got kitty ears, like me!” She exclaims, overjoyed as she gestures frantically between his weathered lobes and her own. “We’re matching!”

“Ha, that we are…but you wear them better than I.” He chuckles, right arm reaching behind him and into the array of weapons at his back…but then, he pauses, eyes widening at Amara’s sword, still respectfully sheathed. “Child. Where did you get that blade?”

“Oh, a really cool friend of mine called Cheruem helps me make it! She trains me a whole lot, too! She used to use it to guard a museum…sorry, ‘historical reposittery’, she says.” Amara replies, rolling her eyes with a giggle. “It’s cool, isn’t it?”

“…Very.” He murmurs, hand frozen in place, fingers dancing along the handle of a forbidding bastard sword that you realize is simply hovering next to its fellows, inches from the warrior’s back. He taps the metal thoughtfully before his dry lips part in an amused sneer…or maybe he’s genuinely amused. It’s hard to tell with how scarred and misshapen his features are.

“This ‘Cheruem’…they’re not human, are they?” He intones, grip shifting to seize the handle of a much smaller weapon, buried in the mess of blades and sheathes at his disposal.

“Um…no? How’d you-“

The Hexane Contender suddenly flares hot against your hip, its insistence nearly scalding, trapped as it is between layers of chitin.

(Continued)

>>5330193

Amara’s voice turns into a gasp as the Vagrant withdraws his weapon of choice for this particular duel; it’s a splendid thing even sheathed, the weapon held in a long, curved scabbard with sharp lines that're almost art-deco in their styling.

“Found this beauty a while back, buried deep. I’d always suspected this one’s original owner was neither Daughter nor Amalgam…nice to have my little hunch vindicated.” He grins, sliding the blade forth with one meaty hand to reveal a katana-like length of polished calcite, honed to a peerless edge.

>>HUNTER’S PRIDE—UNSHACKLED

[Master Shu, I beg you to call of this duel at once] Karma’s voice cries out, lancing through the forefront of your mind as her pistol form’s heat reaches uncomfortable levels.

“That thing…it’s Cheruem’s, isn’t it?” You venture aloud, earning a wide-eyes glance from Rath and Gina, both. “Amara can summon a copy, but that’s the real deal. The original.”

[Indeed, and as such it could shatter its inferior copy in an instant] Karma urgently informs you. [I know Amara is skilled for her age, but even a mock battle such as this is woefully one-sided]

Amara gathers herself enough to draw her own sword, the fully-formed scabbard locked against her elbow and forearm as she settles her grip—two hands firmly clasping a weapon that mirrors the Vagrant’s own.

“Judging by the look on your face? I can step in. Just say the word.” Rath whisper harshly, keeping an eye on the two combatants even as the Vagrant clears his throat.

“What’s your name, little one?”

“Amara!” She shouts back, nodding her head back at you, unwilling to take her eyes off her foe as she adds; “And that’s Shu, the Defiant! She’s my mom!”

“She must have a great deal of faith in your skill.”

“She does!” Your little girl replies with an audible smile, her confidence sending a feeling as sharp as her blade through your hammering heart. “I work real hard to make her and everyone else proud!”

“I respect that.” The Vagrant intones before glancing your way. “On your mark, Defiant.”

[Master Shu…] Karma pleads, Rath’s burning eyes locked on your own until a soft hand at your side prompt you to meet Gina’s far calmer gaze.

{She’s got this} GG says privately, unable to be heard even by Amara’s enhanced perceptions. {It’ll be okay}

Amara steadies herself, her white-knuckled grip on her sword contrasted with the weapon’s inspiration, clutched in the Vagrant’s massive right fist.

You take a breath.

You make a choice.

>>…Okay. Count down, and have faith.

>>Pause the match, and swap out Amara for Rath.

>>Let Amara know via Commling what Karma told you—she needs to know how outclassed she is.

>>Your little one needs all the help she can get—crown her as a Queen-class swarmling, as insurance.

>>Write-In

YOU ARE IN CONTROL

(Voting shall remain open for the next three hours, with posting to resume in four.)

>>5329758
(No need to apologize, it's no trouble at all! I want everyone to have fun, and if it's something like a simple oversight, then I'm more than happy to rectify it.)

>>5329455
(Also, I haven't forgotten this - it's coming, don't worry.)

>>5330195
Oh...oh god.

Is this what it feels like to be a parent?

On one hand, oh FUCK. That relic weapon will be such a huge boost if our daughter manages to win it. On the other hand. OH FUCK. Amara's outclassed in terms of the weapon department if Karma's going full red alert on this matter.

Also, I know it's not a duel to the death, but at the same time the possibility of a potential overkill if Amara gets hit...

Yet at the same time. Amara's been under Churem's tutelage for about 25 veins. the plant-museum cop would definitely recognize her blade and would likely chime up as a dream daughter, as well as what it does.

But do we crown her or even warn her? Vagrant might see this as interference if we crown her while Churem will likely have the information Amara needs when it comes to her relic weapon.

>Amara steadies herself, her white-knuckled grip on her sword contrasted with the weapon’s inspiration, clutched in the Vagrant’s massive right fist.
>white-knuckled.
Oh looks like our daughter knows exactly what she's facing.

>>5330195
>Found this beauty a while back, buried deep.
Bhop. So you're implying that insanely powerful relic weapons await us in the underground as a reward for braving the data leakage of the Crucible's leaking code?

>>5330215
(But of course.)

(High risk, high reward.)

>>5330195
>…Okay. Count down, and have faith.
As a mom, we love her. And as much as it pains me to say this. We should reciprocate that faith and go ahead with the duel. To crown her would be to betray her faith in us and to disrespect the Vagrant with the conditions that we've bound ourselves into.
Amara's trained precisely because she wants to help and show how much she's come. Win or lose, let us see how far our daughter's grown with the gifts that we've given her and the meals we've fed her.

>>5330195
Huh. That's kind of weird. Cheruem got a Core that gave her a lesser version of a sword she already owned? She must have really loved that sword, for her Core to form around it.

Okay, so if this is a greater version of Hunter's Honor, what can we infer about it? Hunter's Honor focuses around iai strikes, single blows of incredible power released directly from the sheath. If this is the greater version, it probably charges faster and has abilities to make it easier to hit the target with the strike. Maybe paralyzing the opponent, or a teleporting effect to bring the wielder directly into range. I doubt Vagrant is going to spend the whole time charging and not attacking, though, so I expect he'll do that thing where a swordsman strikes with a sheathed blade as a bludgeon.

Do we know what Cheruem herself thinks of this? We know Karma's not confident, but is Cheruem advising Amara? If the original wielder of this blade thinks Amara can match it, I'd be a lot more sure in Amara's odds.

>>5330244
(Cheruem is actively advising Amara, though the Hexane is never one to back down from a fight.)

>>5330249
Hmm, okay. That's good. What about the Joyous? I can see Amara spawning clones ahead of time and bringing them into the fight breaking the rules of the duel, but what about ones she spawns during the fight? Is that cool? Because Amara can survive one major blow by sacrificing all her Joyous currently in the battle, and when she suffers a critical hit (which a strike from Hunter's Pride is very likely to be, if it works like Hunter's Honor) she can teleport behind the enemy and get a free hit. And it would be just so delightful if Amara won this fight and proved her worth by doing the classic ninja fakeout of "you thought you hit me, but it was just my clone, now I'm behind you and it's nothing personal, kid".

>>5330244
One thing that I've noticed looking at Amara's char sheet from the previous vein (>>5330249 Bhop, that char sheet gdoc link you posted still is giving me an access denied page. You may have to import/download the gdoc linked from the previous vein and make a separate copy of it under your own name while giving access to anyone with the link in order for this to work. otherwise we may have to resort to trawling through the archive links for working gdoc links for the character sheets.) is that Amara's got quite a few defenses that protect her against getting insta-deathed. Queen Crimson max level and the Joyous many's marytr's many functionally give her at least 2 revives/retries while life's deathgrip gives Amara more breathing room to survive insta-death after effects with an increase in death save opportunities.

So theoretically Amara should have a good chance.

>>5330256
(Yes, Amara spawning clones is perfectly fine.)

>>5330267
(Damn, try the link below, and let me know if it works.)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wnWr-832IHNGQSOVr2rbib7cAPxO1UtTkyFRCQ_KNbY/edit#gid=1685687578

>>5330249
Also, where did the Red Devil's Engine relic go?
Who was the one who had it last?
Last I checked we mainly gave it to Amara as a gift but I swear it's been moved about with November getting a possible use out of that relic in one or two fights...Now I'm not sure where or who has it now.

>>5330271
this one works chief!

>>5330273
(I believe it's with November, but you'd have had plenty of time to shift it to Amara, if you'd like.)

>>5330276
(Excellent, I'm glad!)

>>5330267
Yeah, Amara's actually got a surprisingly good kit for fighting against someone who also does iai strikes. Between Queen Crimson and Many's Martyr, she can take two certain-death hits with no problem, and Hunter's Honor means she can respond to those hits with a free attack that doesn't deplete her charge and so gets full power both times. Combine that with her being able to cast a free spell before she starts, and she's actually got a pretty good chance here. Huh. She might have this.

>>5330278
please do so. Combat hasn't started so we would have plenty of time to do so in retrospect given our defacto policy about relic loadouts being fluid until locked in when combat begins. Besides, I wanna see what Amara can make use of it when put in a 1v1.

>>5330256
I think we may have underestimated the full extent of what Amara would be capable of. Remember that Amara at her core is a skintalker. And she's got a very extensive library of spells that she could cast to imbue her blade with a variety of effects from heat, to cold, to electricity, to radiant, and many more.

It isn't simple ninja swordplay, it's now Kimetsu no Yaiba breathing/lexicon style swordplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQhqRgK7s44

>>5330311
Yeah. And she gets a free spellcasting round at the start of combat that can't be interrupted, too. She probably has a good shot. I'm still just really hesitant to do this. I wanted Amara to show Vagrant her form, not or them to actually fight with stakes on the line. I'm tempted to pull her back, now, but it would crush her to show that lack of faith in her skill.

It'll probably be alright, right? Like, we said the fight wouldn't be to the death, and if Vagrant does go too far by accident Amara has a lot of protections against instant-death hits. Worst case scenario she has to sacrifice Queen Crimson and we immediately crown her so we can Rook-swap her out. Right?

>>5330324
If we queen her, it'll count as interfering with the duel, unless Vagrant intentionally goes too far.
Still the point of the duel is to showcase our idea of him taking on an apprentice with Amara as a possible apprentice. And given that he's got Churem's relic weapon, the idea may have borne merit in his mind given his genuine amusement for his current opponent.

>>5330330
I meant as a way of interrupting the duel if he goes too far and isn't listening to calls to stop it. We wouldn't do it otherwise.

But yeah, he does seem amused by this idea. Fighting against someone who was trained by the previous owner of his current weapon may give him some further appreciation of the idea of training others. Alright, I'll throw my vote behind this.

>>5330195
>>…Okay. Count down, and have faith.
>"You've got this, sweetie."

>>5330203
If I know my Akira Kurosawa...that tear in the sky's gonna be like a signal that starts the duel or a sign that ends the duel.

Man, an Akira Kurosawa scene in the Crucible? That's mad metal.

>DUEL IN THE CALCITE CANYONS

Some tactics I can think of for Amara:

>Use Oxygenic Artillery to interrupt the Vagrant's moves and attacks. If he starts prepping something, knock him prone with an air jet.

>Never meet his blade edge on. Karma's probably right that Pride would shatter Honor in a clash, so don't clash. Divert with their flats, guide the blade away. Also shows skill, so will be good for impressing Vagrant.

>Queen Crimson up at all times. It helps deflect melee attacks and can sacrifice itself to save Amara from a blow.

>Keep at least a few clones out at all times. Use them for intercepting attacks, both with their own blades and the Oxygenic Artillery idea. If we can get enough, try to distract which one of us is the real body and which the clones.

>Keep Neurotic Halo in lockdown mode in case Vagrant has some sort of paralytic ability. I can see it being possible. Likewise, keep Halo counter primed.

>Use Blade's Bounty to deny mobility, if need be. Cut off avenues of attack with a sword-field that we can just hop over.

>Listen to any advice Cheruem-sensei has to give. She knows this blade better than anyone. Also think to how she fought in the Dreamscape while training, likely Vagrant will have at least some similar moves when using this sword.

That's all that immediately comes to mind, any other ideas?

>>5330373
(In fact, a quick question—would you all (as the players) like to control Amara directly for this fight as you would in a normal combat scenario, or let the dice take their course and watch things play out over a single update? I'd intended on the latter, but I'm open to making it active gameplay, if you like.)

>>5330376
oh...you tempt me so. It's been a while since we had a POV switch on the mainline quest that involved actual combat. the last time I could remember was during the Pseudo Crimson Cord limbo with Isabelle's POV switch while Rath's spar with Meg was an interlude.


So tell me Bhop. which of the two options seems more narratively fun to write? An actual combat session where it's a 1v1 duel or a singular dice update?

If you ask me, I'm inclined for having a combat session as Amara. Also, it brings up the opportunity for bhop to Cheruem more as a character as well as an opportunity for Amara to showcase more of her extensive library that we haven't experimented with in combat. Besides, I wonder how things look from Amara's POV and how her age and mispronunciation of big words alters how the update's read.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5330376
Hmm, that's a tough one. I think I'd feel more secure if we controlled the fight. Less out of our hands, more something we can influence. But maybe it shouldn't be something we can influence. Let it fall on what Amara's learned and how her character has developed.


On the third hand, like>>5330384 said, it could be really interesting to see from Amara's perspective. Get to se what it's like to be her, the many-bodied psychic ninja child. That does sound pretty cool. So I'm going to give a tentative "yes" to playing out the fight. With the caveat of "which would be better for you to run", of course. If you don't think it would be fun to write, then we can condense it.

>>5330384
(Oh, that's a tough one. Both would be really fun to write, either with a POV switch or a frenetic duel from Shu's perspective in having to hold herself back. An active combat scenario would likely conclude tomorrow or early Friday, so it wouldn't take a ton of time since there'd only be two actors in play...which would also be pretty snappy and fun to write, not going to lie.)

(I'm extending voting to allow for a bit of extra voting time and to allow me some time to wrestle work back under control, so voting shall end at 4:00PM, Eastern time, with a tentative update time of 5:00PM)

(Hey, as I've said; you all are in control.)

>>5330373
Spell blade enchantments. Creating a sword field via blade's bounty essentially multiplies the number of swords on the field and made available for Amara to pick up as a free action. We can have Joyous clones also pick up a blade and trade blades while imbuing them with spells on an individual level. Another thought: Amara could augment Oxygenic Artillery with elemental spells as well for different flavors. Or even create stealth clones.

Terrain management/disruption. Subtle spells that mess with his footing or boost Amara's footing in the duel.

Classic clone shuffle. Amara will likely put her face into a neutral passive expression to mimic that of her joyous clones.

Wage information control as well as information warfare. Give the Vagrant false information. Pretend to act as a clone and willingly take a critical hit while a clone acts as the real 'you', or have a clone tank hits and keep fighting as if it's the real you as the primary combatant. Or pretend that each time you make a flanking attack, you bring along a stealthed clone to attack alongside to tank a hit before mixing up the positions and condition the Vagrant to ignore the stealthed clone in favor of a visible Amara when the one time Amara is actually in stealth.

>>5330278
>>5330281
speaking of relics, Relic loadouts for Amara during the duel. What should we equip her with? Shawl takes up her chest slot and Red Devil's Engine is an accessory relic that gets integrated into an ability as an accessory. But what else should we give her? keep in mind we can't really pile all the good relics onto her retroactively. iirc her headslot has VOCALIS NOCERE equipped. She also has a HEARTH ROD equipped and there's a Goregrowth box containing her Veruteilung that she has on her person.

And last I remember we also gave her Margrave's blade during the merkabah fight. Then there's VOCEM VIRTUTIS which is an accessory relic.

shalavev's Shawl (head/arm)
Red Devil's engine (ability augment/accessory)
Vocalis Nocere (head)
Hearth rod (arm)
Vocem Virtutis (acessory)
margrave's blade (arm)

Wait a minute...
Something's funky with this loadout.

>>5330430
Well, it doesn't leave her a hand free for Hunter's Honor. Huh. I guess she had the Hearth Rod tucked into her belt, yeah, that's what we'll say.

>>5330430
She could use some armor. I don't think we ever got her a proper defensive Relic. Not sure there's a chance to do that now, but next time we're at the Lair we should Forge her something lightweight that won't interfere with her ninja-ing.

>>5330189
>Besides, the strongest thing I’ve got doesn’t even have to be a sword, at all. It’s just taken that form because it’s what I favor. Ex-…my trump card alone would be more than enough to turn the tide of a match.

Well that's interesting of him to divulge. Him being old means his trump is likely something that lets him go all out with those 15 blades of his.

Last time I remember seeing an ability that starts with "Ex-" is something that starts in latin. and when it's in latin, then it's probably a very high level ability. probably at max level as well.

>>5330465
The most egregious thing about the relic loadout that we haven't even designed relic shoes for her to wear. Baby girl's been going barefooted the entire time she was born. This goes on top of the fact that her statline is among the lowest in our family.

And I have to leave for work soon.

>>5330469
>Last time I remember seeing an ability that starts with "Ex-" is something that starts in latin. and when it's in latin, then it's probably a very high level ability. probably at max level as well.
I'm guessing it's Excalibur. Vagrant is an expy of Gilgamesh from the Final Fantasy series, and that's the name of his strongest sword. Also, his weakest sword is named "Excalipoor". Though Excalipoor's stats are actually amazing and it just has a unique -100% Damage debuff, which makes skills that scale to weapon damage and which ignore the debuff incredibly strong with it. So maybe it's that, and he's using a Flesh Artisan power to cheese it.

>>5330480
well given that FGO's been out in around 2016, I'm guessing that Excalibur might include the sword BEAMU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRVf_3dE6y0

Off to work. see you in 7 hours.

>>5330486
Have a nice day, anon.

>>5330486
(Have a good day, and I hope your shift goes well!)

File: Amara.jpg (1.34 MB, 966x1420)

1.34 MB JPG

>>5330195

“On the fencer’s marks!” You declare, stepping forward on faith and raising an armored hand skyward. “Ready!”

The Vagrant gives you another slow, solemn tilt of his scarred head, while your daughter sharply nods her own. She’s shaking…but just as you hesitate, you see the look in her eyes, and the smile on her lips.

She’s excited, in the face of your fear.

Breathe in, breathe out.

“You’ve got this sweetie.” You say across her Commling, and her smile can’t help but make you do the same.

The duelists give each other one last nod of respect before they dispense with chivalry, the pair sheathing their blades as one, eyes locked and unblinking.

It’s time.

“BEGIN!”

—

Once upon a time, you had a name. Like some distant fantasy or willfully forgotten nightmare, it’s one you barely remember…one that’s tied to things you try very hard to forget. Things were bad, once…but you fell asleep, and woke up to a world of wonders, and change, and people nothing like those you’d ever known.

You threw that old name away, and you did so gladly. The old you went to sleep, and woke up with a new life a new name, a new family, and—you still can’t believe it—the best Mom in the world.

You gave her control, and she gave you a-

“What’s your name, little one?” The Vagrant demands across the battlefield, and you can’t help but smile, just a little.

Your name is-

“Amara!” You proudly shout across the distance, and, realizing that introductions are sorely overdue, you nod Mom’s way while keeping your eyes locked on the big guy standing a little ways off. “And that’s Shu, the Defiant! She’s my Mom!”

“She must have a great deal of faith in your skill.” He replies gruffly, trying to cover just how funny he thinks this whole thing is. Not ‘funny’ in a bad way, though! You can tell, if people don’t do a great job at hiding stuff.

“She does!” You announce with a smile you hope does something—anything—to help Mom’s heart not beat so quick. “I work real hard to make her and everyone else proud!”

“I respect that.” He says, and he means it, trying not to let his emotions show on his face as he glances behind you. “On your mark, Defiant.”

/ Gun gunnnn iss hothoton her hip / Karma talks baaaasedoucan’tlisten / Privatetalksssa about theirfears / Ppprivatetalksabout YOU/

Whispers surround you, their voices just as harsh as when you first heard them, so long ago.

/ Goinnnnng to switchyouout / sssssWitch you withRATH / Big guy tooooooostrong / you Ccccan’t do this / Caaaaan’t betrussssted /

You close your eyes, shutting out the voices with an errant whisper before they can scramble over each other again, trying frantically—like they always do—to drown out all light and sound like a swarm of roaches.

You sometimes think they’d get to you, if you didn’t have Mom there to keep them at bay.

(Keep Smiling)

>>5330556

You draw in a breath, trying to remember your training as your hands clamp down on the pommel of your-

“Pommel? You’re thinking of the ‘grip’, Amara. Come now; focus.”

Of all the voices that whisper in your mind, this is one you’re happy to hear. “Sorry, Sensei!”

“Just…we’ve been over this. ‘Cheruem’ is fine.” Your alien bestie (and the *best* sword teacher, obviously) sighs, as if this wasn’t the fifty-second (or was it fifty-third?) time she’s corrected you.

Eh, she’ll come around eventually.

“Keep focus on your target, and don’t let him out of your sight.” Cheruem continues, her voice back in teacher-mode. “I know you said he seemed nice, but some of the nicest people I’ve ever met turned out to be the most dangerous.”

“Oh, like Mom!”

Sensei makes a sound of hesitation before she’s forced to admit- “…Not what I was going for, but that’s rather apt. Now, that Amalgam may be wielding my original blade, but you have your training, your innate skill, and—most importantly of all—me.”

You almost laugh at that (at least, you *think* she was joking) before the Fleshscape’s whispers flare up once more.

/ Hearher heeeart how fast it’sbeaaating / worrrrrried you’llbotchit worrrrrrried you’ll fffffffuckitup / Watchwaaaatchshe’ll pull you backffffffor someone bettttter / sssssssSOmeone she trusts /

They used to say she’d leave you. No matter how much you tried to shut them up, or get them to talk about something else…if they had a moment to themselves, they’d voice every fear and doubt that festered in your chest. That’s all they ever do. Some Skintalkers have the same problem, but others hear nice voices, or a mix of something in-between. You read on the net that sometimes its just once voice, often a loved one from the gross old world, while others hear a bunch, so many they can’t even keep track.

They switched tactics, after the fortress-slash-furniture store. Mom sat you down, and talked to you, and—like they do whenever she talks to you—the voices went quiet. Completely still, as she cut all their words to pieces. You decided to trust her, and when you did? They started telling you how you’d disappoint her, how she’d love you just a little bit less if you didn’t keep on your best behavior.

So you smile, just like she does, and in the face of Mom’s bravery on your face the voices recede, just enough to where you hear her take a step forward. Your teeth dig into your lower lip, blood beading across them as your sharp incisors bite down and you send up a silent plea before Mom renders her decision.

Please. *Please*. You can do this, you know you can…you just hope she does, too.

You take a breath, and so does Mom…

…and then, she makes her choice.

“On the fencer’s marks!” Mom announces, her voice clear and resolute and exhilarating as your heart leaps in your chest.

(Keep Smiling)

File: Amara's Sight.jpg (291 KB, 640x640)

291 KB JPG

>>5330558

You and the Vagrant nod, the last thing you do as people before—like a name—you toss all that away to become something more. Something fast, and deadly, and amazing. Something that doesn’t have to mess up words to break the tension, to tug a laugh out of fear and worry. Something that the voices can’t reach, something that can keep your family safe.

Something to be proud of.

“You’ve got this sweetie.”

Mom’s words ring in your ears, and that’s all you need to hone every bit of your focus and skill to the task at hand as a smile breaks out on your face in time with the song in your heart. You find your center of gravity in the same smooth, practiced way you silence the world around you. The jeering voices fade, and it’s just you, now. Cheruem goes silent, awaiting the first move.

It’s so wonderfully quiet.

You’re only vaguely aware of the Vagrant’s nod of respect, and it takes a gentle nudge from Cheruem to prompt you to return the gesture. Meeting his eyes, you’re struck by the playful glint in them, swirling in his dark pupils alongside a sadness you can only guess at.

You’re not in danger, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve got everything in the world to prove.

Your Mom breathes in, and you’re ready.

“BEGIN!”

>>COMBAT INITIATED

Amara, the Slumbering Child

VS.

VAGRANT, THE MASTER OF MANY

HP: 3,740% (+530%, R.D. Engine)
BIO: 2,860% (+560%)
Joyous Many: 0, No AI Selected

Buffs: BONUS TURN ACTIVE, Lexcon may be used freely.
Debuffs: None.
Aggro: Sword sheathed, hand at the ready.

ACT: 4/4 (+1 for extra Lexicon turn)

>>Character Abilities: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wnWr-832IHNGQSOVr2rbib7cAPxO1UtTkyFRCQ_KNbY/edit#gid=75362991

>>Relics: https://pastebin.com/kHzW2hbd

>>ROUND ONE: COMMENCE

MAKE HER PROUD

(Voting shall remain open for the next eight hours, with posting to resume tomorrow at 12PM, Eastern time. Feel free to make any other adjustments to Amara's Relic loadout, and Ill apply it accordingly. Thank you all for your patience, kindness, and enthusiasm, and I wish you a restful evening one and all!)

>>5330556
>>5330558
Jesus, the fleshscape is a jerk to Amara. I thought the Skintalking voices were supposed to be her friends! And they do this all the time? Oh, Amara, I had no idea. Just you wait, fleshscape. Your time is coming. We're going to eradicate you and repurpose your biomass into plants. Let's see you talk shit when you're the great American redwood forest, punk.

Cheruem, however, is great. It's sweet, seeing how Amara has grown on her, even if she's still not onboard with this "sensei" thing. Sorry, Cheruem, you're a space ninja, just accept it.

Okay, anyways, our moves. We've got a free turn to cast our spells. I'm tempted to load Vagrant down with debuffs, but I think a better use might be to cast a conditional RHO TER. Set it to trigger when he attacks, that way his footing gets interrupted and his swing goes wide. SEL GRA RHO TER CUNT.

I think we should also take advantage of our first-attack teleport and strike decisively. It would be nice to charge up some more Iaido stacks first, but attacking first lets us keep the fight at our pace. Make him react to us, instead of the other way around. And at least the first strike doesn't use up Iaido stacks, so it won't cost us anything.

So here's my tentative plan for our opening moves:

>Cast SEL GRA RHO TER CUNT to set Vagrant up to slip on his first attack against us.
>Activate Queen Crimson and spawn two Joyous.
>Teleport behind and slightly to the left of Vagrant (since his sword is in his right hand) and slash, then Oxygenic Artillery to push him back.

I think it's a good opening move. Sets him up for a failure, then hits him with an attack hard for him to counter (though not impossible, he's still a very good swordsman) and knocks him off balance. While he's recovering we can mix ourselves up with the Joyous, start playing mind games.

>>5330622
Back from work.

Hang on.. hold the phone. hold the fucking phone. I had a friend who I frequently ramble with in terms of telling him about this quest, and he pointed out that the Crucible powers act more like a "poison pill." Power at a price.

And yet. Here we are playing as Amara and I can't help but notice OOC that the voices that Amara hears feels or rather behaves very much like auditory hallucinations of a schizophrenic. Even more telling is that the content of those whispers feel more in line with the hidden worries, observations, or even thoughts that a child would have in a troubled family, except those voices are always heard to the skintalker.

We can't really blame the skintalking, anon. The whole whisper is part and parcel to how the Crucible is designed to isolate a singular daughter. Singing praises for the optimists, worries for the anxious, and nihilist statements for the cynics, the voices do help but the side-effect is that their ramblings tend to push the skintalker to isolate themselves in any given social circle be it confidence into arrogance, or cynicism into rampant paranoia.

Anyways. let me take several minutes to think about our opening move while factoring in your proposal.

>>5330622
Also, keep in mind that we have two new words added to Amara's lexicon back in vein #51.

>>FIR (BIO-10% *2): A term for passion, rage, and raw emotion, this word carries the power of HEAT, imbuing the target’s attacks with the element and granting one level of resistance to it, as well.

>>ZIO (BIO-10%, *2): A term for alacrity, wit, and decisive action, this word carries the power of ELEC, imbuing the target’s attacks with the element and granting one level of resistance to it, as well.

>>5330561
Bhop, remind me about the Joyous summoning mechanic. We can't order them to do anything on the turn they're summoned due to the whole "summoning sickness" balancing issue right?

>>5330973
Oh, true. It's no different in principle from the Crucible's attempts to mess with anyone. But I still don't like the Skintalking voices being mean to our daughter. I guess because Amara always suggested she had a sort of playful interaction with the voices, like she lived in a funny cartoon world of talking objects. Learning that when her surroundings weren't giving her actionable information they were wearing down her self-esteem, and she was just lying about them being her friends, makes me sad. We need to get her in touch with more human friends. She's got Keane, and Nerada, and Anna from the Hyenas, and some of those girls from the Lords of the Flies, but she can't really contact any of them. I don't think any of them have FuzzBuzz phones. We need to fix that.

>>5330983
Yeah. I'm not sure they're immediately useful, would be nice to see what he's got in terms of resistances first, but still handy.

>>5330986
I think they can move and attack, they just can't use powers. Something to keep us from exponentially spawning infinite Joyous in one turn.

>>5330559
>>5330989
For some goddamned reason, when I look at the incoming sword duel between Amara and Vagrant (we really need to give him a name he feels worthy to wear), My mind goes to Thunderbolt Fantasy, an anime puppet show that has an overarching theme that explores the philosophy behind Chinese and Japanese swordsmanship. Check it out. Never before have puppet shows become so entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ38hNC5zy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HYXjcELQ3M

>>5331005
I've seen it. It's pretty good. I haven't caught up on the rest of the Thunderbolt series, though. I keep meaning to but so far the only installment I've seen is Fantasy.

Though personally, my own mind keeps going to Metal Gear Rising memes. The Only Thing I Know For Real is what I imagine playing during this fight.

>>5330989
So. Here's what I'm thinking about the opening move. Instead of using that spell phrase at the first go, we hold it in reserve and instead use the opportunity to buff ourselves.

My logic here is that in terms of swordsmanship, our first move would always to be testing our enemies as a baseline. "SEL GRA RHO TER CUNT" would work as a wonderful trap card and disrupt Vagrant mid-way into the duel's pacing to use alongside our Queen Crimson deflection and Oxygenic Artillery emergency maneuvers. Keep in mind that "SEL GRA RHO TER CUNT" pretty much gives away our action economy limit from the get go with that big of a spell chain.even if it's a free spell on round 1.

Although...we could abuse this idea of our spell chain via VOCALIS NOCERE. Throw our voice to make it so that our joyous can individually say a single verb or word but chain it into a chorus chain to make it look like the more clones that Amara has, the bigger the spells she'll be capable of casting.

As for our other actions on round 1, we should create 5..no 6 Joyous clones to create the chorus spell chain illusion. Have 5 of the joyous "mouth" the spell chain while the silent one (the real Amara) goes to attack the Vagrant to test his baseline skill.

>>5331032
on second thought, we should increase the number of joyous to possibly 11 or 12. 5 clones to act as the false chorus when Amara casts the free first spell but are charged with the duty of duplication. 3 clones aid Amara in close combat spawning swords and attacking in coordination with Amara and Another three clones to act as bodyguards of the false Chorus. All of the clones obviously should spend their first action equipping a copy of Hunter's Honor.

The first round will obviously boil down to the Vagrant and Amara testing each other's skills and defenses. Opening moves that probe for possible hidden trumps and traps.

>>5331005
(Excellent, I'm glad you like that show, too! I follow pretty much anything Gen Urobuchi makes, which is how I found out about it in the first place.)

>>5330986
(>>5330989 is quite correct; they can move and attack, but they can't use their powers straight away to generate a million kids running around in the span of approximately 0.32 seconds.)

>>5331032
Ooh, I like the idea of throwing Amara's voice to make it unclear who's casting each spell. I forgot we could do that. I don't think we can do it in the bonus round, though, that's just for spells and nothing else. But the next time we cast something, definitely a good trick to pull.

Okay, so if we were to buff ourselves, what should we do? GRA SAN THA to give Amara a big speed boost? That's pretty important in a duel.

>>5331039
Sure, let's make a bunch of clones.

Okay, how does this sound?

>Bonus Spell Round: GRA SAN THA to boost Amara's speed
>Activate Queen Crimson
>Spawn eleven Joyous Many. Set five to disperse around the battlefield and mouth along with spells while self-replicating, three to guard them, and three to assist in attacking. All clones should make Hunter's Honor swords as soon as possible, to make them less distinguishable from Amara.
>Teleport behind and to Vagrant's left, make free strike with Hunter's Honor, then Oxygenic Artillery in focused mode to knock him back and prone.

>>5331039
>>5331032
>>5330989
Additionally, we can use the hearth Rod as something of a Red Herring to lure Vagrant into prioritizing as a secondary target and make him believe the one holding the Hearth Rod is the "real" Amara given the Hearth Rod's ACT economy baton pass properties as if holding the Baton allows the Real Amara to consistently fight with an action economy on par with the Vagrant as the baton changes hands during each round.

>>5331044
So you're saying everything else is on the table except for a clone to spawn a copy of itself upon spawning?

>>5331050
(Yes, that is correct.)

>>5331046
it's missing something that lets us set up for the next round...Ah, I know, Misdirection!

For something more complex, have one of the clones activate the shawl and go invisible, probably someone from the false spell chorus. under the invisibility cloak, that clone would have free reign to act as a secondary backup clone generator and as a voice dummy when utilizing Vocalis nocere to free Amara of her ACTs when she's using any spell chain that takes up less than 2 acts.

To sell things further, have Amara call out attacks like any avid anime fan would do. get the Vagrant psychologically conditioned into reacting to Amara's voice call outs like
>Hexane style: Geometry cut! (note: the word"Hexane" is butchered into "Hexagon" because it's Amara, and Geometry is will be a reference to any flanking attacks via first attack teleportation)

>>5331065
oh...well that expands the list of what cloning shenanigans we can get away with.

>>5331046
Anon! new plan!

>>5331069
Sounds good. Okay, so

>Bonus Spell Round: GRA SAN THA to boost Amara's speed.
>Activate Queen Crimson.
>Spawn twelve Joyous Many.
>>Five to set up a self-replicating chain.
>>Three to guard the replicators.
>>Three to join Amara on the attack.
>>One to turn invisible with its copy of the Shawl to do secret replication.
>All Joyous should spawn Hunter's Honor as soon as possible, to make them less distinguishable from Amara.
>Take advantage of the voice-throwing abilities of Vocalis Nocere to mislead as to where a spell comes from, even having the Joyous split up spells between them, each seeming to provide a single word.
>Use Hunter's Honor's first-attack teleport to teleport behind and to the Vagrant's left, and attack.
>After the strike, blast him back with Oxygenic Artillery in wide mode for max knockback.

How's that?

>>5330559
Amara:
>Activate Queen Crimson
>Spawn Twelve Joyous Many.

>Call out your attack for each time you do your teleport attack in each round. Mess with Mister Vagrant, but throw your voice to make it look like one of your clones is the real you being the over eager one.
>Attack in sync with the three assisting clones.
>"Hexagon style:" (note: Amara meant to say "Hexane style" but being a child, she butchered "Hexane" into "Hexagon") as one of the clones appears to mouth and make the callout for the attack.
>Amara finishes with "4 corners strike!" as she Teleports to the back left side of the Vagrant, striking in unison with the three other clones.
>Disengage with an Oxygenic Artillery blast that knocks both you and the Vagrant away from each other, use the momentum to activate the shawl and prepare for the next round.


Joyous Many:
>Set five to disperse around the battlefield and mouth along with spells while self-replicating, three to guard them, and three to assist in attacking. One should go Invisible.
>All clones should make Hunter's Honor swords as soon as possible, to make them less distinguishable from Amara.
>Bonus Spell Round: GRA SAN THA to boost Amara's speed, this spell should theoretically be cast by the "false chorus".

>>5331079
thoughts on this?
>>5331079
Huh...looks like we're on the same page, but I added some psychological warfare in terms of our tactics with an attack callout, and having the real Amara disengage via oxygenic artillery and go invisible for the next part of the combat-long deception. It involves Amara making tandem attacks while invisible to keep up the illusion of the "hexagon style" attack callout but this time, Amara is invisible and attacking alongside the designated clone that mouths the "[insert number] corners strike".

Gotta set up for the mind games.

>>5331090

Amara:
>Activate Queen Crimson
>Spawn Twelve Joyous Many.

>Call out your attack for each time you do your teleport attack in each round. Mess with Mister Vagrant, but throw your voice to make it look like one of your clones is the real you being the over eager one.
>Attack in sync with the three assisting clones.
>"Hexagon style:" (note: Amara meant to say "Hexane style" but being a child, she butchered "Hexane" into "Hexagon") as one of the clones appears to mouth and make the callout for the attack.
>Amara finishes with "4 corners strike!" as she Teleports to the back left side of the Vagrant, striking in unison with the three other clones.
>Disengage with an Oxygenic Artillery blast that knocks both you and the Vagrant away from each other, use the momentum to activate the shawl and prepare for the next round.


Joyous Many:
>Set five to disperse around the battlefield and mouth along with spells while self-replicating, three to guard them, and three to assist in attacking. One should go Invisible.
>All clones should make Hunter's Honor swords as soon as possible, to make them less distinguishable from Amara.
>Bonus Spell Round: GRA SAN THA to boost Amara's speed, this spell should theoretically be cast by the "false chorus".
>>5330559
Adding this amendment to the plan above:
>When disengaging, the clones assisting Amara's strike should also disengage with Oxygenic artillery. Vagrant's retaliatory strike to Amara's "Hexagon style: 4 corners strike" would likely be aimed at cutting down the attacking clones before his next action would be to go for the "chorus" body guarded by the 3 other clones.

>>5331090
Can the clones spawn Hunter's Honor this turn? If so, then sure, let's do it. Otherwise, I don't think it would work.

>>5331096
Bhop quite literally said that the clones can do anything EXCEPT cloning themselves on the turn they're spawned.
see
>>5331050
>>5331065

So that means spawning a Hunter's honor, attacking, and then disengaging with Oxygenic artillery is valid.

>>5331097
Alright, if that works, then let's make Amara into the anime of her dreams. For this round and the next, I think. Rule of threes, the third strike should be when she stops being super anime and becomes dead silent. That will break the pattern best.

>>5331098
>>5331094
>>5331090
Hold the phone. What are we to do with the "false chorus"?

ordinarily their job would be to stand around casting spells and waiting for the summoning sickness to cool off before they can get to the population boom phase of the battle.

That's alot of natural actions left wasted for the battle, why not use the action economy we have to pass around the Hearth rod to the invisible clone and have the invisible clone mimic Vocalis nocere, throw the voice about and cast SEL GRA RHO TER CUNT with the false chorus still mouthing the spell chain?

>>5330559
Final version of my vote:
Amara:
>Activate Queen Crimson
>Spawn Twelve Joyous Many.

>Call out your attack for each time you do your teleport attack in each round. Mess with Mister Vagrant, but throw your voice to make it look like one of your clones is the real you being the over eager one.
>Attack in sync with the three assisting clones.
>"Hexagon style:" (note: Amara meant to say "Hexane style" but being a child, she butchered "Hexane" into "Hexagon") as one of the clones appears to mouth and make the callout for the attack.
>Amara finishes with "4 corners strike!" as she Teleports to the back left side of the Vagrant, striking in unison with the three assist clones.
>Disengage with an Oxygenic Artillery blast that knocks both you and the Vagrant away from each other, use the momentum to activate the shawl and prepare for the next round.


Joyous Many:
>Set five to disperse around the battlefield and mouth along with spells while self-replicating, three to guard them, and three to assist in attacking. One should go Invisible.
>All clones should make Hunter's Honor swords as soon as possible, to make them less distinguishable from Amara.
>Bonus Spell Round: GRA SAN THA to boost Amara's speed, this spell should theoretically be cast by the "false chorus".
>Bodyguard clones draw their copies of hunter's honor and guard the "false chorus"
>Assist clones should draw hunter's honor, attack, and then disengage with Oxygenic artillery. One of them should be mouthing the attack call-off: "Hexagon style"
>Invisible clone should play as the hidden spellcaster behind the scenes using the hearth rod to pass along the "false chorus" to gain enough Actions to cast SEL GRA RHO TER CUNT, using Vocalis Nocere to throw the voice amongst the "false chorus" while the false chorus mouths the spell being cast.
>When disengaging, the clones assisting Amara's strike should also disengage with Oxygenic artillery. Vagrant's retaliatory strike to Amara's "Hexagon style: 4 corners strike" would likely be aimed at cutting down the attacking clones before his next action would be to go for the "chorus" body guarded by the 3 other clones.

>>5331101
Works for me. Get our trip counter going as well. Though I think that will be enough Bio cost that one of the replicators wont be able to do much replicating. Should be fine, though.

I just hope Vagrant doesn't manage to outspeed Amara. She's fast, and will have a speed buff, but I'm sure he's fast too. We're planning this attack, but if he interrupts the stages it could go badly. Perils of having to write our moves ahead of time, I guess. Ah, well. Worst case scenario, Amara has to burn one of her 1-ups and gets a counter-attack.

Oh, wait, shit. Neurotic Halo! It probably goes without saying at this point, but still. Gotta put that up.

>>5330559
>Add "prime Halo counter" to plan, in case it wasn't already up for whatever reason.

Y'know, for the soundtrack to this duel, we gotta respect Amara's choice in media... Which is why I think of this as the soundtrack for her duel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XynTyxleH1Q

Oh, actually, how about this instead if the one I posted before doesn't do it for you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mi11pfUUrk

>>5331140
Amara likes Nero, remember? Clearly she pulls her Devil Trigger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WpnPSChVRQ

File: Hexagon Sensibilities.jpg (210 KB, 747x1070)

210 KB JPG

>>5330559

“GRA SAN THA.” You whisper to yourself, feeling every muscle tighten with the speed you hope will be enough to outpace the giant across from you. While your tendons strain your skin crawls, the familiar itch of burgeoning Joyous’ impatience to escape your prison-body, but they’re calmed as an (admittedly very pretty) latticework of blood starts to quietly thread out from your back, Queen Crimson just as eager to protect you as your clones are to escape.

And yet, despite your preparations, the Vagrant remains stock still. There’s almost a sort of…gentleness in the way he’s poised, for lack of a better word, Cheruem’s sword held at the ready with utmost care.

“Damn. He’s good.” Cheruem mutters irritably, and you can’t help but cock a silent eyebrow at her compliment. “He’s waiting for you to make the first move. Classic duelist strategy. Wait until you strike, then use that information to gauge your overall strategy and style.”

Then, sharply; “I would advise Form Seventeen.”

“I was kinda thinking Form Sixteen, followed up by Twenty-Two, actually.” You offer, giving her pause.

“…Well played. An excellent choice.” Cheruem remarks, voice tinged with pride. “With a few Joyous left behind to prepare-“

“Form Thirty-Six, of course.” You smirk, and your sensei makes a small noise of appreciation only you can hear.

“Are you ready?”

“When you are, Sensei.” You smile, and she doesn’t even correct you this time, as excited as she is to spar with a warrior of the Vagrant’s caliber. “Here…”

“…we…”

“GO!”

When you kick off from where you stand, the calcite buckles beneath you, and from where you once stood you leave behind a trail of afterimages made manifest, a dozen Joyous congealing into existence in your wake with three kicking off to join your frontal assault while another eight stay behind to enact your plan. Your foe’s hands tense but his blade remains sheathed.

“Hexagon Style, (‘Hexane!’ Cheruem archly corrects you) Form Sixteen—Wukong’s Fetters!” You announce, your own voice drowned out as your dozen clones echo your words, each one indistinguishable from their maker as you and your vanguard trio overwhelm the Vagrant with a flurry of feints. He’s fast, faster than you’d anticipated and with a fluid grace that ill-suits his imposing size.

He weaves between your clone’s strikes, dancing just out of blades’ reach with a dexterity fueled by inhumane strength—but when he slips up, you’re ready. He leans back, briefly off-balance and with his back foot flat on the calcite ground, and that’s when you make your real opening move.

“Hexagon Style, Form Twenty-Two—Four Corners Strike!” You yell from the mouth of one of your clones, your body and theirs dissolving as you come together behind the Vagrant’s left side, your trio of doppelgangers boxing him in with blades at the ready.

(Keep Smiling)

>>5331416

“It’s HEXANE!” Cheruem cries in frustration, but your teacher’s protests swept away by the flurry of movement that follows.


If it wasn’t for the hours you’ve spent in relentless training, you wouldn’t have seen it coming. It’s the muscle memory that saves you when the Vagrant’s blade arcs from sits sheathe to cleave through your clones, streaking towards you with an executioner’s finality as you draw in a breath—it’s not a gasp. It’s salvation.

Oxygenic Artillery activates as you loose a bone-shattering sneeze that flings you out of his reach with inches to spare.


“He cut through your constructs like they were nothing…that wasn’t something my blade could do, so-“

“Another Relic, got it!” You pant, swiftly landing in a stance that’ll let you give chase when the Vagrant inevitably goes for your chorus of-

“Amara, MOVE!”

Your elbow and thigh open up with your Artillery’s power, blasting you away from the downward stoke that threatened to cut you in half. The second your feet find purchase out of his range, it’s another step and sweep that carries the swordman’s blade towards your ankles. A third burst carries you skyward, and he’s impossibly, quickly THERE, right in front of you with another cleave from sky to stone. He’s closed the gaps between seconds, forcing you to recover one too many times and slowing you by enough fractions-of-a-second to add up to a lethal blow.

>>QUEEN CRIMSON—ACTIVATED

Your body’s flung backwards to solid ground as the Vagrant’s killing blow carves through a figure of bright scarlet, lithe and dignified even as it sacrifices itself on your behalf. Queen Crimson’s executioner lands, standing with a measured grace as the flings the remnants of your protector from his shining blade.

“Ah, there we go.” The Vagrant sighs, “One down.”

“Mister Vagrant?” You ask, measuring your breaths to ensure you’ll have enough air in your lungs to (hopefully) evade his next move.

“Yes?” He replies as casually as Aunt Julia does over tea.

“How’d you know which one was me?”

He chuckles, the sound reminding you of Uncle Dorian’s kindly voice when Rath jabs him about something he really should’ve explained earlier. “Relics that allow one to tell Constructs from Daughters are hard to come by, but incredibly useful. That said, your strategy was sound. Had I not possessed it, then you’d likely have landed…Form Twenty-Two, was it?”

You nod, even as the alien voice inside your head grits its proverbial teeth.

“Sensei? You’re tense.”

“Of course I’m tense!” She snaps angrily. “His form’s impeccable, and his speed is absurd! What more, he has *MY* blade. We need to come up with another plan if you’re going to make it through this unscathed, because that was much too close a call.”

“Hehe, are you worried about me?”

(Keep Smiling)

>>5331417

Cheruem collects herself enough to at least attempt a cool reply. “Hardly…but I still don’t want anything to happen to my star pupil, or else I’d have to get Shu to make a Spiritus Shell so I could show this brute a thing or two.”

“Aww, you’d really do that for me?” You grin.

“Focus.” Growls the Hexane as the Vagrant relaxes a hair.

“You’ve honed some impressive skills, Amara. You’ve got a good sensei.” The Vagrant hums appraisingly, earning an irritated ‘Oh, come ON’ from Cheruem that makes you crack a wider smile than you’d intended. “Does Cheruem have any hand in guiding your blade when you fight, or is that all you?”

“S’all me!” Comes your answer, and your foe nods in approval.

“Consider me doubly impressed, then.”

“Thank you, Mister Vagrant! But that’s not all I can do!” You inform him, and he just raises a meaty eyebrow. “Check this out!”

“SEL GRA RHO TER CUNT!” Your chorus bellows from the other side of the battlefield, your Lexicon’s power ripping through the air and spearing towards the Vagrant with a speed he couldn’t possibly match…

…but he’s just full of surprises.

With a flick of his sword hand, your Lexicon’s parried—no, *captured*—along the length of his blade, your power shimmering along its length and crackling with the threat that’s been added to his next strike. For a fleeting moment, you think the expression he’s fixed you with is anger in response to your trick, but instead your Skintalker’s intuition tells you it’s…

…guilt?

“Another Relic, I’m afraid…though I can only stock a single phrase per weapon.” He grumbles, turning slightly so he can keep both you and your chorus in easy view as you run the numbers. Okay, so…fifteen weapons, meaning you’ve gotta throw another fourteen spells his way before you can land one. And that’s only if he doesn’t manage to land a hit and turn your Lexicon back on you, so you’ll have to-

“I’ll be sticking to just this one, for your information.” He intones, and if Cheruem were here you have the feeling that both of you would have the same alarmed expression, right about now.

“Now…” He smiles warmly, his blade sliding back into its sheathe as he lowers into an offensive stance that gets Sensei’s hackles up.

“…are you ready to begin in earnest?”

HP: 3,740% (+530%)
BIO: 2,860% (+560%)

Joyous Many: x9 (5 in Chorus, 3 guarding Chorus, 1 invisible)
Iaido Stacks: x3
Queen Crimson: SPENT

Buffs: SPD boosted by ‘GRA SAN THA’ in 1st Round.
Debuffs: None.
Aggro: Sword sheathed and at the ready, infused with ‘SEL GRA RHO TER CUNT’. Focused squarely on you.

ACT: 4/4

>>Character Abilities: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wnWr-832IHNGQSOVr2rbib7cAPxO1UtTkyFRCQ_KNbY/edit#gid=75362991

>>Relics: https://pastebin.com/kHzW2hbd

>>ROUND TWO: COMMENCE

MAKE HER PROUD

(Voting shall remain open for the next three hours, with posting to resume in four. I do hope your day is going well, one and all!)

>>5331420
>>5331417
>>5331416
Damn, he's good. No wonder Karma says that Amara's outmatched.

Question: Did the Vagrant burn through Amara's Queen Crimson Auto revive skill?
If so...shit...he's just that scary.

>>5331433
(He did, yes.)

>>5331434
Oh, dang, he did? I kind of would have preferred him hitting Martyr's Many first, since Queen Crimson going down renews that. Wait, shit, we didn't actually prime it, did we? Ugh, our mistake.

Oh well. At least he seems to be having fun. I think Vagrant's starting to see the appeal of this idea. Fighting someone not to kill them, but just to experience their style and comment on it.

>>5331420
So...
Lets review on what Vagrant's revealed about himself and his defenses.

>A relic that acts as a spell storage and allows him to store one spell chain in a blade, even worse, it's the "terrain difficulty on enemy attack" spell.
>“I’ll be sticking to just this one, for your information.” He intones, and if Cheruem were here you have the feeling that both of you would have the same alarmed expression, right about now.
Oh. Goddammit. Vagrant's taking this easy, though it makes sense given the conditions of this duel.

His auto attacks were damn lethal.
>He chuckles, the sound reminding you of Uncle Dorian’s kindly voice when Rath jabs him about something he really should’ve explained earlier. “Relics that allow one to tell Constructs from Daughters are hard to come by, but incredibly useful. That said, your strategy was sound. Had I not possessed it, then you’d likely have landed…Form Twenty-Two, was it?”
So he's fine with the clones staying where they are because not only he could tell the real Amara from the constructs, but he's got a relic that lets him one-shot them regardless of health or condition. This means Vagrant's aggro focus will be focused solely on the real Amara. And given that Amara doesn't have any defensive abilities that let her tank a single hit, we'll have to use our Joyous Many clones to act as a buffer defense.

But that means, we have Joyous clones. That means the clones are capable of lots of cloning bullshit. Time for Hearth Rod baton pass shenanigans.

In addition, given that he's got a slot that infuses a spell into his blade, that means we also have the means to counter that shit.

God, just this one round has changed my impression of the Vagrant. He's no longer Gilgamesh, he's more of a Monk Maz Koshia from Zelda botw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fynGjkpO92I

>>5331448
>>A relic that acts as a spell storage and allows him to store one spell chain in a blade, even worse, it's the "terrain difficulty on enemy attack" spell.
That's actually pretty good for us. Amara's immune to hostile terrain. So it sucks that he absorbed the spell, but at least we don't have anything to fear from it. It's a much better outcome than if he had absorbed something like REV VITA. And Amara acting intimidated by it is a good thing, it means he'll think it's a bigger deal than it is.

You know, I just had a weird idea: Vagrant is hitting insta-kill attacks without them even counting as critical hits, because Hunter's Honor didn't trigger to give Amara a free attack in response. What if we boosted his crit chance with a HIR spell? He's already maximally deadly, at least this way we can get a free counter in.

>>5331458
That's ludicrous and completely out of the box thinking. You're just making Vagrant even more deadly. You son-uv-a-bitch. I'm in. But how are we gonna cast it on to him? He's marked as a combatant enemy. oh wait. hir doesn't differentiate friend from foe.

>>5331464
Another ludicrous idea: SIHL RHO TER. Turn the ground invisible and moving thanks to Grinding Earth. Put Vagrant in an invisible carnival ride, while Amara's immunity to terrain effects means her footing remains completely sure. What's underfoot for her? Doesn't matter, she's not going to trip anyway.

>>5331464
Also, wait, I just noticed that Martyr's Many has no limit to how many times it can be used per combat. And that's probably intentional, because it says that its effects stack with each use. So as long as we can keep some Joyous away from Vagrant, Amara won't go down.

Okay, so preliminary ideas:

>Prime MARTYR'S MANY
>Use the Joyous to cast OMA GRA SIHL TER and OMA GRA RHO TER, turn the fleshscape for a wide area around into an invisible tilt-a-whirl.
>Cast SEL GRA HIR CUNT on the Vagrant, with the trigger being him attacking, so that the crit boost catches him unaware.

And that's as far as I've got in this idea.

>>5331420
BHOP, a question: Do the swords created by Blade's Bounty count as hostile terrain? Because adding those to the invisible tilt-a-whirl could help put some pressure on Vagrant, but if Amara wouldn't be able to safely enter the zone they're spawning from then it's a poor idea.

Plan: Unlimited blade works

>"Just one magic sword?"
>"Well you're not the only one who can 15 different flavors of magic swords. I can make my own magic swords too!"

Amara:
>Blades Bounty in the middle of the arena to create a field full of replica Hunter's honor for the clones to imbue spells with.
>Stay on the defensive.
>Use Oxygenic Artillery to deflect incoming sword attacks.

Joyous:
>To All: Each spawn 4 clones. bring up the clone count to 36, 45 clones if possible.
>Prime Martyr's Many.
>Old 9 clones: support Amara by body blocking for her while simultaneously attacking the Vagrant. Keep him busy by giving him targets to cut down.
Fresh clones:
>Pass the Hearth Rod around for action economy shenanigans.
>Each clone who receives the Hearth Rod and has their ACT limit hit 4, Use that Action economy to Cast stronger spells to imbue into an existing instance of Hunter's Honor, or use it to Rev the Red Devil's Engine up 1 or two Revs if the action economy allows it.
>Have one of the Joyous whose gets their act limit up to 4 to cast Sihl Rho Ter before passing the baton.
>Have one of the Joyous cast Gra Hir on the Vagrant to give him a higher chance to proc a crit from his attacks.
>Put the imbued spellblades into the ground for Amara to pick up and use before using the final action to pass the Hearth Rod onto another clone.
>Ensure that as many copies of Hunter's honor gets imbued with different spells before Martyr's Many gets triggered.
Possible spells to imbue into the copies of Hunter's honor:
>Gra Fir
>Gra Zio
>Gra Sulk
>Gra Nuka
>Gra Baum
>Rho: (turns the sword into a broadsword or a heavy sword)
>San (double attacks for a single act)
>Shil (invisible blade)

thoughts on my plan?
>>5331458
Good thing we've leveled up Joyous many to the point where only the Joyous involved in current combat are sacrificed when Martyr's many is primed.

>>5331482
That's gonna require having a joyous clone with a baton passed thrice around in order to get that spell cast we're gonna need even more clones.

File: inverse blades bounty.jpg (114 KB, 1270x712)

114 KB JPG

>>5331420
To follow up on >>5331491's question, can we change the properties of Blade's Bounty to spawn multiple copies of Hunter's honor? because the logic that I'm getting from Blade's bounty is that it's essentially spawning multiple copies of Hunter's honor that shoot out from the ground pointy end first. But what if we made it so that the Pommel end comes out first and creates a field of Hunter's honor ready to be picked up?

>>5331491
(They can count as hostile terrain, yes.)

>>5331496
(This is absolutely possible, and was one of the intended uses of the power.)

>>5331420
>Cheruem collects herself enough to at least attempt a cool reply. “Hardly…but I still don’t want anything to happen to my star pupil, or else I’d have to get Shu to make a Spiritus Shell so I could show this brute a thing or two.”

Why is it that I can't help but imagine Cheruem being terribly tsundere for the Vagrant? She's getting very much hot and bothered at his swordsmanship to the point of wanting Shu to make a spirit shell just so she could confront him.

>>5331500
(This is absolutely possible, and was one of the intended uses of the power.)

oh oh my. this changes the calculus by a large margin.
Time to change the plan

Amara:
>"You're just gonna be using that one sword only?"
>"Well, if you're not gonna show of your collection of magic swords, then how about I show off mine!?"
>Stay on the defensive, draw out any unique abilities from the Vagrant.
>Use Oxygenic Artillery to deflect incoming sword attacks or reposition.
>Chain attack with the clones, attack in quick succession with you in the mid-rear line of the attack chain.


Joyous:
>All clones: Each spawn 4 clones. bring up the clone count to 36, 45 clones if possible.
>Prime Martyr's Many.
>Old 9 clones: support Amara by body blocking for her while simultaneously attacking the Vagrant. Keep him busy by giving him targets to cut down. Use an enchanted sword from the field of blades created by blade's bounty.
Fresh clones:
>Pass the Hearth Rod around for action economy shenanigans.
>Have one of the Joyous whose gets their act limit up to 4 to cast Sihl Rho Ter before passing the baton.
>Have one of the Joyous cast Gra Hir via hearth Rod Baton pass on the Vagrant to give him a higher chance to proc a crit from his attacks.
>Each clone who receives the Hearth Rod and has their ACT limit hit 4, Use that Action economy to Cast stronger spells to imbue into an existing instance of Hunter's Honor, or use it to Rev the Red Devil's Engine up to max if the action economy allows it.
>Ensure that as many copies of Hunter's honor gets imbued with different spells before Martyr's Many gets triggered.
>All clones who wield an enchanted Hunter's Honor: Use Blade's Bounty to spawn a veritable field of swords to save up on the action economy for future Joyouses.
Possible spells to imbue into the copies of Hunter's honor:
>Gra Fir
>Gra Zio
>Gra Sulk
>Gra Nuka
>Gra Baum
>Rho: (turns the sword into a broadsword or a heavy sword)
>San (double attacks for a single act)
>Gra Hir (keen with a higher crit chance)
>Shil (invisible blade)
>Shi Sel (anti-magic, triggering upon contact with a lexicon enchanted sword)

shit. forgot to link the second draft of my vote>>5331518 to >>5331420

>>5331482
Any other bright ideas?
I'm not sure if we're gonna have enough bag of tricks to pull after round 2 to keep him on his toes. Another thing we should consider is whether or not the Vagrant will be pressured enough to the point where he draws out another sword from his collection.

One thing we could keep in reserve for round 3 is to cast a spell that turns the field of enchanted swords invisible so that the Vagrant will have to keep guessing which blade Amara will pull out.

>>5331522
Yeah, I think I'm out of tricks for now. Maybe he'll do something in round two that inspires a new idea for round three, but I'm having trouble of thinking of anything here and now. Maybe something with Armory of the Infinite? Let him think he's shattered our blade, only to respawn it instantly and catch him by surprise?

>>5331420
Adding an amendment to >>5331518
regarding the possible spells to imbue into the copies of Hunter's honor, it should be revised to the following:
>Shil (invisible blade)
>Shi Sel (anti-magic, triggering upon contact with a lexicon enchanted sword)
>Shi cunt Gra Baum (regen drain on opponent using opponent's regen, triggers upon blade clash)
>The normal and the Gra* variants of the following enchantments
>Fir (fire imbued)
>Zio (electricity)
>Sulk (ice)
>Nuka (Radiant)
>Rho: (turns the sword into a broadsword or a heavy sword)
>San (double attacks for a single act)
>Hir (keen with a higher crit chance)

>This puts the variety of spell enchanted blades to 18, not counting the Red Devil's Engine Rev'ed up Variants.
If there are any spell combinations that can't be done, let me know.

>>5331545
Actually. you just gave me an idea to add to our battle plan when you mentioned Armory of the Infinite. Given that all the swords are instances of Hunter's Honor, I wonder...

Hey Bhop.
>>5331500
Is it possible to grab two different enchanted copies of Hunter's honor and fuse them together so that the resulting fusion would carry the enchantments of both component swords...?

>>5331550
(Why, yes.)

(Yes, it is.)

>>5331550
>>5331553
Ohoh, that will be a nifty surprise for him. Especially if we can keep gathering up swords into one big pointy katamari of doom.

>>5331420
third draft of plan:

Amara:
>"You're just gonna be using that one sword only?"
>"Well, if you're not gonna show of your collection of magic swords, then how about I show off mine!?"
>Stay on the defensive, draw out any unique abilities from the Vagrant.
>Use Oxygenic Artillery to deflect incoming sword attacks or reposition.
>Chain attack with the clones, attack in quick succession with you in the mid-rear line of the attack chain.
>As you move about the battlefield on the defensive or offensive, grab a second sword and keep it sheathed to the side. Hide it by putting Shavlev's Shawl over it. Begin the subtle collection of gathering different enchanted swords for Round 3 (if we somehow manage to survive Round 2).
>If Martyr's many triggers, disengage and respawn 12 clones.

Joyous:
>All clones: Each spawn 4 clones. bring up the clone count up to 36 clones if possible with 54 as the maximum ideal target if we're really trying to get the maximum mileage out of it.
>Prime Martyr's Many.
>Old 9 clones: support Amara by body blocking for her while simultaneously attacking the Vagrant. Keep him busy by giving him targets to cut down. Use an enchanted sword from the field of blades created by blade's bounty.
Fresh clones:
>Pass the Hearth Rod around for action economy shenanigans.
>Have one of the Joyous whose gets their act limit up to 4 to cast "Sihl Rho Ter' before passing the baton.
>Use the Joyous to cast OMA GRA SIHL TER and OMA GRA RHO TER, turn the fleshscape for a wide area around into an invisible tilt-a-whirl.
>Cast SEL GRA HIR CUNT on the Vagrant, with the trigger being him attacking, so that the crit boost catches him unaware.
>Each clone who receives the Hearth Rod and has their ACT limit hit 4, Use that Action economy to Cast stronger spells to imbue into an existing instance of Hunter's Honor, or use it to Rev the Red Devil's Engine up to max if the action economy allows it.
>Ensure that as many copies of Hunter's honor gets imbued with different spells before Martyr's Many gets triggered.
>All clones who wield an enchanted Hunter's Honor: Use Blade's Bounty to spawn a veritable field of swords to save up on the action economy for future Joyouses.
Possible spells to imbue into the copies of Hunter's honor:
>Gra Fir
>Gra Zio
>Gra Sulk
>Gra Nuka
>Gra Baum
>Rho: (turns the sword into a broadsword or a heavy sword)
>San (double attacks for a single act)
>Gra Hir (keen with a higher crit chance)
>Shil (invisible blade)
>Shi Sel (anti-magic, triggering upon contact with a lexicon enchanted sword)

>>5331558
any final changes to this plan?

We still have to keep some surprises reserve for round 3 or possibly round 4:
>Turning the field of blades invisible so that Vagrant will have to keep guessing what blade we pull out and force him to react to our moves, possibly forcing him to draw from his other sword collection.
>Neurotic halo to secure a sure-crit.
>Gathering up ingredients for our infinity+1 enchanted sword to land a major blow.
>Armory of the Infinite for blade-lock baiting or blade-break baiting.
>Casting tha vie shil to render our swords and joyous clones invisible (or simply have the clones activate Shavlev's shawl to go invisible should the Vagrant use another sword to absorb the aforementioned spell. Though depending on whether or not relic weapons count as constructs, this may or may not be a good thing)

Things to keep in mind:
We'll be forced to reveal the fact that Amara has an infinite number of regenerating 1-ups via Martyr's many in round two, so protecting our joyous clones will be paramount in round 3.
Vagrant may be forced to draw another sword to counter some of our enchanted sword effects.

>>5331558
a thought: we should name our katamari enchanted infinity+1 katana "Excalipoor" (Amara meant to say Excalibur but being a child, she unfortunately butchered the name yet again) to bait the Vagrant to using his trump card (most likely Excalibur) for Amara to witness.
And in doing so, we can bait a blade-lock into using our neurotic halo to force a critical counter and land an attack via armory of the infinite by baiting a sword clash and then remain at 1hp via Life's deathgrip if she does get hit by Vagrant's excalibur.

It's both deathly serious yet so childish that it's likely the vagrant can't help but humor Amara.

>>5331577
It looks pretty good. I think this is a good plan for this round.

I think the next round Vagrant will probably deploy some sort of anti-invisibility countermeasure. It seems likely he has one, and just hasn't deployed it yet as part of playing fair. So we'll have to put more effort into hiding our invisible Joyous, as a backup for Martyr's Many. We could hide some underground. Sure, the ground's invisible, but so are they, so if he wants to pierce invisibility the ground will still block his sight. I'm not sure what spell would be needed for that, though, maybe REV FOL TER?

>>5331582
I don't want him bringing out his trump card. But calling the sword Excalipoor could be fun. Alternatively, lean into the weeb side of the swordfighting and name it Mastermune, because Amara meant Masamune and got that wrong.

Oh, wait, weebery. We need to give this round's tactic a fancy name. We need to keep the name calling for at least one more round, then we can break the pattern and throw him off a bit. I'm blanking on a name other than "Unlimited Blade Works", though.

>>5331587
>Oh, wait, weebery. We need to give this round's tactic a fancy name. We need to keep the name calling for at least one more round, then we can break the pattern and throw him off a bit. I'm blanking on a name other than "Unlimited Blade Works", though.
You know, we could lean in a different direction and take notes from Bleach. "Bankai: Final spell release!"
And we could technically keep the name calling for 2 more rounds if we play our cards smartly, invoke rule of 4 (4 means death in asian cultures)

>>5331420
>Call out the attack for the Infinite Armory
>"Hexagon style: Unlimited blade works!"

>>5331420
Bhop. ignore >>5331594's green text. follow this one due to the typo:
>Call out the attack for the blade's bounty.
>"Hexagon style: Unlimited blade works!"

>>5331571
>>5331420
One final edit:
I totally forgot to add in:
>have the clones use "Blade's Bounty" as the set-up.

I'm not sure if you caught the greentext or the intent but this I definitely want to clarify as I have completely forgotten to add in.

>>5331600
(I surmised as much given the nature of the vote, but thank you for clarifying! Though, to confirm; Blade's Bounty is to be used after Amara's spoken lines about showing off her collection, correct? The me tal image is just too good.)

>>5331609
>>me tal image
>>metal image

(Well, that still works, despite being a typo.)

>>5331609
I'm imagining it as being done as she says the line, blades rising from the earth accompanying each word.

>>5331609
Timing is irrelevant, as long as the point is made and done in a way that impresses the Vagrant while looking cool.
>"Bankai style: Unlimited Blade works!"

Off to work. Have a nice day you two. I'll see you in around 7 hours give or take.

>>5331630
(Have a great shift!)

(Still writing, but will be posting shortly.)

File: Unlimited.jpg (425 KB, 3259x2444)

425 KB JPG

>>5331420

"You're just gonna be using that one sword only?" You ask, a wonderful idea springing into being and bringing a smile to your lips. "Well, if you're not gonna show off your collection of magic swords, then how about I show off mine!?"

As one, you and your Joyous scream to the heavens; “Hexagon Style, Bankai Release!”

“Wha-, that isn’t one of the fifty-two forms!” Cheruem protests as you and your clones raise your swords above your heads as a unit, their lethal tips aimed at the heart of the world. “We haven’t practiced it, we don’t know its-!“

Sensei’s warning is drowned out by the thunderous crack of calcite as ten sets of identical blades plunge into the ground, and a thousand more blossom across the polished field in a violent eruption of bone and steel.

“Unlimited!”

More blades, more chaos as the Vagrant takes a step back.

“Blade!”

He’s surrounded, his confident offense shifting to a wary guard.

“WORKS!”

…You stand in a field of gleaming calcite, countless blades shining like a field of rubies as they reflect the red skies above. The Vagrant breathes in, you realize with a start that it’s a gasp of surprise. Of something almost like awe. He meets your challenging gaze with dark eyes are wide, shining like black suns above a grinning horizon.

He’s smiling, and so are you…it hits you, then.

The Vagrant is just as completely, utterly thrilled as you are.

But you’ve only just begun.

He lunges, and you jet back with another violent burst of Oxygenic Artillery, baiting a cat-and-mouse chase to give your Joyous enough time to multiply. You’re dancing on a razor’s edge—it’s taking everything you’ve got to just stay at the tip of the Vagrant’s blade for the four seconds it takes before your nine original Many spring to your aid, their successors already chanting from your shared Lexicon, a murmur of mismatched phrases and utterances inaudible against the jackhammering of your heart in your ears. Yet another three of your mirror-images are cut down by a single, decisive stroke of your foe’s blade, but the other six form a relentless vanguard as you hang back, darting around as you wait for your opening…

…but not to strike.

(Keep Smiling)

>>5331688

Another two clones are shredded by a left-right cleave so fast you can barely track it, but three of the remaining four are on him in an instant, the last Joyous flanking him to drive her blade home. They’re fast, but he’s faster, the trio cut down by another flash of bone like steel while your sneaky fourth has her blade seized along with her arms by one of the giant’s four free limbs, the weapon shattering alongside her wrists as she’s hurled bodily over Mom’s head and into the ravine.

You can’t look. You can’t meet her eyes, not yet. You want to, so, so badly—but you have to focus, you have to make her proud. You know she’s worried, you feel like you can even hear the shout that would bring all this to a screeching halt held tight in her throat, but…she’s silent.

She trusts you.

That’s enough.

The Vagrant is a whirlwind of unstoppable power and peerless speed, and unceasing display of raw, undiluted skill—but he looks away from you, for just a split second, and that’s all the time you need to yank a blade from the ground, Shalaev’s Shawl draped over it and shrouding it from sight. It’s enchanted, bolstered by the words of your chorus with an edge that cuts twice and a speed to sever steel. It’s not enough, but it will be.

He’s on you in an instant, leaving you no room to breathe as he swings his blade in a perfect line to cut you down where you stand. It’d be perfect, if the ground didn’t suddenly and violently shift underfoot, the terrain separating you just enough to create an inch between his blade and your throat. It buys you the time to seize a few more blades, merging them with your cloaked dagger and stacking their enchantments into a single sliver of calcite. Terraforming, enchantment, and a little something extra—your chorus is ceaseless, your Skintalking enveloping the entire battlefield and your foe in a shimmering field of eldritch power, blades and warrior both rotating in winding loops around the mesa.

“Cloaked terraforming. An effect you’re immune to, no less.” The Vagrant grins while on a lazy arc back to you, his skin rippling with a Skintalker’s unknown effect. He’s smiling, still, but you can see something new in his eyes. The doubt, the anticipation—he knows your words hit home, now living on his physical form, but as for what they do? He doesn’t know.

Won’t know, until it’s time.

(Keep Smiling)

>>5331691

When he next moves, it’s with such speed and ferocity that you momentarily lose track of his position. His footfalls now only linger on the ground long enough to propel him to his next blindingly fast flash-step, and he’s suddenly in front of you. With a monstrous sweep of his blade, he misses you by inches—but he takes a mile as his blade annihilates two dozen of your duplicate swords in a single, brutal cleave. Shards glimmer like snow in the air, but with a tremendous swipe of his four titanic arms, they’re suddenly and savagely turned into a blizzard of calcite shards that take everything you’ve got to blast away with your Artillery. You’re thrown, back slamming against the hilts and pommels of countless blades as you struggle to find purchase on ground that’s moving too quickly underfoot.

But it’s you who’s moving too fast, and by the time you finally skid to a halt, he’s given relentless chase, looming over you with an inevitability that makes your blood run cold. There’s no time, no move you can make but to bring your sword up to meet its inspiration—and when horizontal meets vertical, your blade shatters like graphite against diamond.

He’s surprised. He’s strong, but you can tell by the shock in his eyes that his blade’s cutting with far more force than he’d intended to use. For his part, he tries to pull back but the deed is done, his sword coming down on your head with unerring finality.

>>VAGRANT—CRITICAL HIT

You think you hear Mom scream, and Rath roar, but GG holds them back. Out of them, she’d be the one to see what’s truly happened….

…because what happens next, happens very quickly.

>>MARTYR’S MANY—ACTIVATED

>>AMARA—CRITICAL HIT

(Keep Smiling)

>>5331692

You’re behind him, now, your hands trembling on your blade as your three-dozen Joyous crumble to dust. Their sacrifice granted you the chance you needed…the chance you were banking on. Your second set of ears swivel, waiting for a kickoff, holding your breath as you await his riposte.

But it doesn’t come.

A pair of heavy objects thud behind you, and when you hear them fall you turn to find two of the Vagrant’s arms on his left side lying near his feet, their stumps half-obscured the ruined blades that shine all around the two of you. He turns to face you, and that’s all it takes for a line of scarlet to shine along a perfect seam in his third arm, just above the elbow. It lingers in that state for just a moment before it, too, lands on the ground with a resounding thump. You stare at it for a half-second before your eyes snap back to his face.

He’s smiling, even now.

“HELL YES!” Howls Rath from the sidelines, pumping her fists into the air. “*FUCK* YES! THAT’S MY GIRL!”

“You’re doing AMAZING, sweetie!” Gina chimes in, eyes wide and shining violet with awe. And as for Mom, she-

“You bolstered my power to trigger the conditions of your own counter.” He murmurs, forcing your focus back on the titan before you, his voice thick with an emotion you can’t place. “I’ve…I’ve never seen that done, before."

And, more to himself, than to you; "Truly incredible."

Finding your center once more, you reply; “If you keep this up, Mister Vagrant? I’ll show you plenty of things you’ve never seen.”

He laughs, at that. It’s a deep, hearty, beautiful thing, only marred as you watch the three stumps on his left side rapidly start to generate new bone and fresh muscle to replace what you’d just robbed him of.

But then, all of a sudden, they stop. The wounds are sealed, but not truly healed.

“You took them, fair and square.” He chuckles deeply, and—for the first time since you started this thing—you watch as he holds Cheruem’s sword with his two remaining hands steady on the grip. Left and right, clasped tight to that peerless, ancient blade.

All this time, all this power…and he’d been wielding it one-handed.

Another dozen Joyous slither out from under your skin, but you feel something far deeper, a simple fact that runs straight down to your marrow.

One way, or another.

The next clash is what’ll end this.

HP: 3,740% (+530%)
BIO: 2,860% (+560%)

Joyous Many: x12
Iaido Stacks: x0
Queen Crimson: SPENT

Buffs: Wielding Hunter’s Honor with SAN x2, GRA HIR x4, SHI SEL x3.
Debuffs: None.
Aggro: Both hands clasping Hunter’s Pride, eyes unwavering on you.

ACT: 4/4

>>Character Abilities: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wnWr-832IHNGQSOVr2rbib7cAPxO1UtTkyFRCQ_KNbY/edit#gid=75362991

>>Relics: https://pastebin.com/kHzW2hbd

>>ROUND THREE: COMMENCE

MAKE HER PROUD

(Voting shall remain open for the next ten hours, with posting to resume tomorrow at 12PM, Eastern time. I wish you all a good and restful evening, and take care!)

>>5331700
(Also, I just have to say - your plan was an absolute stroke of genius. Very, very well played.)

>>5331695
>“You bolstered my power to trigger the conditions of your own counter.” He murmurs, forcing your focus back on the titan before you, his voice thick with an emotion you can’t place. “I’ve…I’ve never seen that done, before."
Well, I feel proud of myself for that idea, now. Though wow, we must have spooked Amara's moms something fierce. It's a bit hypocritical, since I suggested it, but once we get back to controlling Shu I want to tell Amara to never scare us like that again.


Okay, so one last clash. I'm tempted to just go all-in, contest of pure speed and skill, but we're down to no Iaido stacks so that won't go well. Wait, why are we at zero Iaido? Don't the crit-counters not consume Iaido, same as the first-round strike? Did I miss something we did that consumed them?

>>5331727
(You're absolutely correct, actually. You should still be at 3 Iaido.)

>>5331728
Ah, excellent. Okay, so we've still got our starting charge.

So I'm liking the "make sword invisible" idea from earlier. But Vagrant is smart, and can remember its length and judge the extent of Amara's reach. Can we lengthen or shorten the blade slightly, throw off his expectations?

>>5331738
(Not currently while in hand, but its range can be modified in conjunction with your other powers, such as Blade's Bounty or through comboing with other abilities.)

>>5331695
Okay, this is a plan that might not work, but the idea struck me and I kind of like it.

>Use the Joyous chorus and Hearth Rod to cast SIHL VIE and REV FOL VIE on Hunter's Honor to turn it invisible and distort its shape. Make it a blade that's shorter and straighter.
>Dash at Vagrant alongside our Joyous like we're going to go for one last clash of blades. But during the dash, pass our sword off to another one of the Joyous...
>...and then dash past Vagrant, avoiding his strike as the Joyous we gave our invisible blade to attacks him...
>...only for, when he "sees through" our ruse and moves to counter to Joyous with the invisible blade, we spawn a new copy with Armory of the Infinite and shoot it into him with Oxygenic Artillery.

The con man doesn't win his shell game by tricking you into picking the wrong shell. He wins by tricking you into thinking that picking a shell mattered.

>>5331820
>The con man doesn't win his shell game by tricking you into picking the wrong shell. He wins by tricking you into thinking that picking a shell mattered.

(...Well, that's one of the coolest things I've ever heard.)

Back from work. Let me take a moment to rest before posting the idle thoughts that I had cooking in my head regarding this update.

>>5331727
>It's a bit hypocritical, since I suggested it, but once we get back to controlling Shu I want to tell Amara to never scare us like that again.
More like Shu would be more concerned with having that internal tug of war fighting against her maternal instincts and sheer panic combined, before either Rath or Gina point out that the condition of the duel was not to the death and the point of the entire thing was to demonstrate the Vagrant about the point of having fun when it comes to sparring, and potentially picking a promising student to teach on the 15 different sword styles the Vagrant has mastered.

As for the post-combat dialogue, I feel like it would be more appropriate for Amara to hold the discussion with the Vagrant.
It's clear that both Amara and the Vagrant are enjoying this fight to the fullest, but I think the deal in terms of negotiating with the Vagrant could be sweetened into convincing him to teach Amara the other 14 relic weapons by the fact that:
A) Amara having a lack of a filter and being honest with her thoughts
B) Cheruem's is likely itching to spar with the Vagrant as well.
C) Amara wants to duel the Vagrant again but the next time having the Vagrant use a different relic weapon as well as a different sword-style.
D) Cheurem may or may not be getting enough practice in swording and asking him to not only teach Amara, but also Cheruem was well to have all three polish their swordsmanship skills by constantly sparring and testing each other.
E) Amara secretly thinks Cheurem may or may not have a crush on the Vagrant due to his peerless skill with the blade.


>>5331695
Other thoughts on this update:
As for the Vagrant's name...I think I've settled upon a name. Zatoichi. Named after the Zatoichi films. Zatoichi the character is a master swordsman who is coincidentally blind but also a wandering vagrant. Either that or Musashi of the Miyamoto Musashi fame.

Questions to Bhop:
What's the status of our hidden enchanted sword? How many spell enchantments and Red Devil's Engine Revs does it have?

>>5331820
a simple con like that is elegant, but if you wanna sucker the Vagrant in on the Ruse, you need to put up a very convincing bait that forces him to guess which part of Amara's plan is her "final strike" in the duel.
The fun part of the con is not only you trick the victim into picking a shell he thinks that matters, you also get to trick him into second guessing himself into trying to guess how many layers deep they've unearthed in the con. They know they're getting conned, they're just trying to find that "Ah-HA/Gotcha" moment where they think they've won against the conman.


>>5331862
hey bhop. A question regarding the field of swords: Are there any enchanted blades still left out on the field for Amara to fuse and pick up?
Also, would Martyr's many still trigger if there's only one joyous clone left in combat?

>>5331907
>>What's the status of our hidden enchanted sword? How many spell enchantments and Red Devil's Engine Revs does it have?

(It's stacked with SAN x2, GRA HIR x4, SHI SEL x3, and one REV. I left out the REV, even though I had s sticky note reminder. Bah.)

>>5331913
>>A question regarding the field of swords: Are there any enchanted blades still left out on the field for Amara to fuse and pick up?

(There are plenty, and they're obvious to Amara's sight. The Joyous did good work, so there's at least one of each enchantment that you could pick up.)

>>Also, would Martyr's many still trigger if there's only one joyous clone left in combat?

(Yes, it would.)