Absolution Beyond Cloudburst | Page 3

Yukisa · May 18, 2018

62 HP

MAX 112 HP

104 EN

MAX 104 EN

-30 HP from big ow

Well, Yukisa’s best was enough to reach their desired progress rate… but it was also enough to overshoot it quite a bit.

The crew ended up in a similar pickle to the one they were before, still being bombarded by the massive whale, and still struggling to reach their destination. What was worse is that this time they were swinging like a pendulum back and forth as they tried to find balance, causing Yuki’s head to swirl significantly.

He was having quite a bit of trouble keeping in focus, what with the barrel rolls and other defensive maneuvers, however even in his dazed state he would always recognize the desperate cry of someone who needed him… and his propeller.

Slapping his cheeks gently to snap back to reality, Yuki looked towards @Seigi. “The name’s Yukisa!” he told her with a radiant smile, before rushing off to do what he did best: spin that motherfuckin’ propeller.

woo spinny spin
50 + 25 (Expert Aeromancy) + 20 (Captain Seigi's Orders) /2 = 47
Tracker / Roll
Progress: 400 / 400 PP

Ashifili · May 18, 2018

Absolution Beyond Cloudburst

The jaws of death rose up to meet them, and the Justice Crew ran straight into that maw of molten steel, more and more pieces of the Minerva splintering away as Seigi shouted out her orders. For a more rational crew, perhaps this was the height of madness. Perhaps they would be better served seeking solace at a higher altitude, where their helmsman would have more time to consider the options before them. But they were adventurers, immortals who had fallen into the underworld and clawed themselves out so many times before. So they plummeted, a shooting star against the kaleidoscopic barrage, spiralling downwards as their bodies lost sense of weight. Ivan in front, doing the best he could do make the Minerva dance one last time. Yukisa in back, the winds dancing to his command once more as they pressed towards the center of the whale, using it as a shield against the deadly updrafts that had pushed them so far off course before.

They could do it. Easily this time. With room to breathe. Room to heal. The Heroic Aura of their Captain pushed them onwards, attaining precision far beyond their natural talents as they got closer, ever closer to the innumerable cannons nestled in the sky whale’s body. Floorboards were ripped apart, Corvella almost lost in the descent if it wasn’t for Haru’s quick spiritual rejuvenation. Against the torrent, the air pressure, Portia couldn’t even slap Ivan anymore, pinned as she was against a deck that was disintegrating.

And then, meters before impacting, Ivan and Yukisa combined their abilities, shifting the Minvera’s vertical movement into horizontal movement as they drifted upon the massive magicannons of the sky whale, sliding sideways, the airship bumping up and down rapidly. Everyone bounced up and down, teeth chattering and feet pounding, until even that sensation disappeared.

They had crossed over to the side of the sky whale.

They were safe.

And then, it came down upon them once more, that devastating barrel roll.

Rushing up to meet them was one thousand concrete and steel buildings, swatting the Minerva out of the skies.

CRACK!

~~~

Warning: Minor Structural Damage in Zone 5-x12ut.

Query: Procedure = x

Recommendation: Set x as ‘reconstruct’

Response: Set x as ‘dismiss’

~~~

What…what happened?

It was a blur. It was hazy. Your head pounded, your body ached, and you coughed up blood. But you still lived. Your heart still beat, sending blood to your brain. Bits of wood were stuck into your body, while the air was too warm, even for a pleasant spring day. Thick oils splattered upon your clothing, while around you, your teammates gathered themselves as well. Everything hurt, but nothing was lost, nothing was broken.

You stand up shakily, your ears still ringing incessantly from the rapid air pressure changes that you had just gone through. Was the sky above you blue? Or were you looking down upon the ocean? It ached, whined, a thousand mosquitoes diving into your cranium.

Focus. Your name. Your age. Your self.

A deep, deathly breath, and your eyes took it all in.

It was a beautiful city. Steel and concrete scraped the skies, devoid of the dirtiness that one would expect from such a large town. It was a perfectly sterile environment, beautiful in its metropolitan feel, but there were splashes of color too. Buildings from another century, preserved impeccably. Stylish cafes. Avant garde apartment complexes. Glass business towers polished so finely they were like mirrors. This was a world that did not exist in Terrasphere. This was a world that could only be seen in a reality that transcended programming and self-delusion.

Further along the well-paved street, the remains of the Minerva laid there, broken and burning. It wasn’t too late to extract the engine. And if they could recover that, maybe there was a possibility of fixing it up further?

On the other hand, now that they were on top the Sky Whale, perhaps the Minerva has fully outlived her purpose. Now, maybe, it would be better to scout around this area, to get their bearings.

But their bodies were in pain as well, and whatever supplies they had on the ship was gone. Far from scouting, they should tend to their own wounds first, in case more threats appeared.

Or maybe, just maybe…if they shouted loudly enough, they could catch the attention of whoever lived in this wonderful city?

…

As they decided, Seigi saw it.

A fragment of a reality that she had lost.

A fragment of a reality that was too close for comfort.

The front of a restaurant, sandwiched between two taller buildings.

An old place, a casual place, a family restaurant that Sebastian would have never been caught dining in.

She had eaten there once, only once, with another girl that she had met once, only once.

The memory of clam chowder misted over her memories.

But it was just a phantom.

OOC
@Iván Carl @Seigi @Corvella @Yukisa @Portia Ahrens @Haru

Maximum 500 words, minimum 100 words. Any more or any less will mean that I smite you AND your post will be ignored. Brevity is the spirit of wit, after all.

I will be updating every day at 4PM PST. Sometimes, cycle updates will occur earlier, depending on how quickly players post. Due to the predicted length of this challenge, I may not be available at all times.

If you have pressing concerns (and not just meme questions), go ping me on #ask_a_dm. Seriously, you nerds.

If you wanna talk shop and verbally dunk on your newb party members in /all chat, go here and let loose!

If you need to roll dice because you plan on doing something drastic (or just action-y), go here and say a prayer!

Remember, this is a semi-freeform challenge. I will provide you actions, but I am also willing to let you do other stupid things, if I don't find them super stupid. So eyyyy, good luck!

Have fun~!
HTML:
[bg] [HP=100]100[/HP] [EN=100]100[/EN] [/bg]
[hr]x[/hr]
-XX EN for action
-XX HP from source
[hr]x[/hr]
Post here. Blah blah blah.


[tracker][d]Action here and target[/d]
[score]Your roll + Modifiers = Total[/score]
Tracker / Roll
Target: 000 / 000 HP
[/tracker]

Ashifili · May 18, 2018

Cycle 4: Cityscape

Minerva’s HP: 11/500 [BROKEN]
Progress: 400/400 [CLEARED]

Damage:
@Seigi @Haru @Portia Ahrens @Yukisa @Corvella @Iván Carl receive 40 HP damage (reduced from 50) from the crash.

The Minerva receives 189 (Reduced from 200) HP damage from the crash.

The Minerva is afflicted with the Heavily Damaged condition, and is unable to function. Intense repairs and spare parts will be required to patch the vessel up again.

Actions

As always, there are special actions one can take, depending on whether or not the situation demands it, or whether or not they have an Awakened mastery.

Strenuous Effort [Everyone] By permanently sacrificing HP (reduce both your current HP value and your maximum HP value), you can gain a bonus modifier to your roll equal to the amount of HP spent, up to a maximum of 50. This modifier can not be applied to Support actions.

Retrieve the Engine Risk your hands and retrieve the magitech engine of the Minerva from the burning wreckage. Roll a d100 + 5 per tier of Tinkering to determine how successful you are. You will take HP damage from the flames.

Investigate EN Cost 10. Activate Investigation mode and scan your surroundings for details. Roll a d100 and state what you are looking for. Depending on the result, you may receive a DM.

Scout Separate from the group and go off in a direction of your choice. In the next cycle, you will be considered isolated from the others.

Patch Up EN cost 15. Perform a Heal action at half effectiveness, with any mastery modifiers that may apply. If you are Haru, the Heal action's effectiveness is not halved.

Shout Scream at the top of your lungs to draw the attention of any resident that may exist in this cityscape. Roll a d100 + 5 per tier of Heroic Might or Aeromancy. Depending on the result, you may have an impact on the next cycle.

Heroic Aura
Stalwart Passive. No matter what maledictions are poured upon you, a hero will not falter. Excluding Beginner, each tier of Heroic Aura grants you a stack of Stalwart at the beginning of combat. Each stack automatically dispels a magical debuff, before being consumed.

Rouse Free action, costing 10 EN. Establish your Heroic Aura, the radiant banner that empowers all your allies. Grant either a +10 damage buff that stacks over other buffs, a +10 HP Shield, or immunity to a single debuff for the next cycle to everyone in your party.

Warcry Action, costing 20 EN. Can only be used once every three cycles. Unleash a devastating roar, stunning all minions on the battlefield and performing a Disruptive Attack upon all those in the same Zone as you. Use Heroic Might as the modifier. If the resulting score is high enough, enemies in the same Zone will be knocked back one space as well.

Limit Break[Seigi Only] ???

Chronomancy
Time Accel Passive. Human might may be limited to one’s muscles, but with the ability to manipulate time, even physical constraints can be overridden. Excluding Beginner, each tier of Chronomancy grants you a stack of Accel at the beginning of combat. Each stack can be consumed during your turn to double the movement speed of either yourself, or your ally. If you choose to, you can consume 3 stacks of Accel instead in order to grant one extra action to yourself or your ally.

Rewind Action, costing 20 EN and 20 max EN. Grasp the fabric of time and pull it back, returning yourself to your original physical state. Set your HP, status, and physical location to what it was in the start of the previous cycle, essentially negating everything that has occurred to your character in the current cycle. This ability can be applied to objects as well.

Terminate Action, costing 30 EN and 30 max EN. Can only be used once every three cycles. Dive into the depths of your time manipulation abilities, locking an enemy or ally in time. If this is used on an ally, they are immune to all enemy attacks for the next round. If this is used on an enemy, they are unable to act during the next cycle, and are immune to all damage from players. If this is used on an unwilling target, a d100, modified by Chronomancy, must be rolled to clear a hidden DC.

Limit Break [Ivan Only] ???

Iván Carl · May 19, 2018

24 HP

MAX 124 HP

137 EN

MAX 157 EN

Taking [Retrieve the Engine]
-40 HP from the crash

Safe... We were safe... Iván mumbled to himself, though whether he was actually speaking those words or just merely thinking them was hard to tell. There was nothing but darkness around him, nothing he could see but all that black. There was, however, some sort of ringing in his ears, an annoying ringing, a painful ringing, an impossibly hard to ignore ringing. What... What happened?

The whale happened. Apparently. He did his best, pushing himself beyond his limits, acting on a combination of fear and adrenaline. If he was alone, he would've probably just chosen to crash that ship against the fires of hell. But he wasn't alone. Not this time. He had a captain and he was part of a crew, and more importantly, he had people he knew, friends, on that same ship, Minerva. He couldn't just die. Not this time. Not again.

Opening his eyes was a battle he was not prepared for, but he tried his best. The pain that he was feeling, that was just as hard to ignore as that purple god-awful ringing in his ears, made sure he wouldn't, couldn't, just stay there, eyes closed. Blood, oil, wood, and fire, these were the first few things that registered in Iván's head as he slowly, carefully, struggled to finally get his wits about him. What was he fighting for this time? Why couldn't he just stay down, stay dead, like he's done numerous times?

"@Portia!" As if shocked awake, Iván bolted up, regretting it a few seconds later when all that pain came rushing back to him, but before it all did, his adrenaline rush was enough to allay everything else, put them all in the backburner, in favor of making sure his oldest friend was still alive and kicking. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found her, amid the rubble still breathing. She was still in one piece. Iván immediately went to her to help her regain her consciousness, careful this time to not get himself punched in the face.

As soon as he was confident Portia wasn't dying, Iván took stock of what he could around them. A city? Where... Are we on the... He swallowed air, tasted something copper-y. His breathing was labored but nothing that seemed in need of dire attention. Maybe just a quick heal or two. They had a medic on board, right? On the Minerva? Guide? @Haru? "Ca-captain? Where are you... The ship... She's..." He looked around him, taking stock of the damage the crew had suffered, endured, only to feel more pain at the sight of Minerva. The airship, the airboat, no longer resembled itself. It now looked more like... "Crap. Maybe I can still save the engine."

And that's what he tried to do.

Retrieve the Engine for Minerva, for the Justice Crew!
86 + 20 (Tinkering) = 106
Tracker / Roll

Corvella · May 19, 2018

49 HP

MAX 113 HP

70 EN

MAX 100 EN

Crow's Nest [Corvella Only]
-40 HP from crash
+36 HP from Haru
-10 EN for investigation

Just as she thought she couldn't hold on any longer, the suddenly bald member of the Witch Ops, the Guide came to her aid and held her. "Haru!" Corvella shouted in excitement that he came to help her. Not only the medic kept her from losing the grip, he healed her wounds, mainly the one she suffered from falling onto the deck earlier. "I appreciate the help, but yeah, we might want to go down."

With Haru's help, they slowly climbed down into the deck, still bracing on anything they could get their hands on before it got blasted to smithereens anyway. Once again the helmsman did a barrel roll, almost throwing Corvella off the deck, this time to steer Minerva away from the updraft, right into the void spot. As they escaped the high air pressure, the ship quickly plummeted down, before gaining stability to level itself with the whale, using it as a shield from the updraft.

"We made it!" Or not. They got too close to the whale's weapon systems, this time so close that they felt every barrage from the magicannons ripping the flesh from their bodies. It was mysterious that Minerva could withstand something like this, must be Precision German Engineering. There's nothing to hold on to anymore, the floorboards and the railings were ripped away by the assault. She was certain that they'll perish, either disappearing right in the sky or crashing below.

It was when miracle happened and the ship managed to bullshit itself into a kansei dorifto, bringing them to that sweet safe spot. Of course, before the whale did yet another barrel roll again, this time they were too close.

Was that gravity that pulled them into the whale, and keeping the buildings in place? Corvella doesn't know, she was just recovered from the near-fatal crash. Haru was able to heal her more than enough to withstand the crash damage. She looked around to find her crewmates, hoping that they'll still alive and well. "Captain? Haru? Iván and girlfriend? Propellerman?"

She stopped to look around her surroundings, alien to her and this medieval setting. Corvella quickly popped out the investigation mode, although her focus hasn't been regained yet. She needs to find out what this place really is.

Investigate
50
Tracker/ (Roll) Absolution Beyond Cloudburst

Haru · May 19, 2018

45 HP

MAX 105 HP

076 EN

MAX 126 EN

-15 EN for action
-XX HP from source

A figure on a broken deck sucks in a sharp breath and gets off of his back and onto his behind. Haru, just having gotten @Corvella somewhere that wasn't inherently suicidal, couldn't remember anything in the past.. he didn't even know how many minutes had passed for him to even forget.

He looks around himself only to find wreckage. And further beyond that... a city? It's grander than any that he's been to in his life, but Haru knows a metropolis when he sees one. This couldn't have been right.

"Where am I..?" He voices his thoughts as an awed whisper. The only shame of it all was the lack of people to decorate the place. What was a place like this even doing, existing in this game? His previous world wasn't this one. And this mockery, whatever it was, was still on the back of a giant whale.
He was starting to get the feeling that this wasn't programmed with the box cut game edition. Just a little bit of a hunch.

His reverie is broken with the sound of shifting metal. Ah, there Ivan was! And in a state that gave his own a run for his money. Haru gripped the staff on his back and ignored the whispers that came from it as he makes his way down the tower of rubble he woke up in. As he makes his way down, he By the time his palm reaches the man's back he already has something to say to the green man.

"You really want to die, don't you? You're getting first degree burns by grabbing at that engine you know. Let go of that. Did your mother ever tell you not to commit suicide? That's a really good piece of wisdom most people have. I swear that..." Man, he hadn't nagged people like this for years. The last time he'd gone off like this, he was working in his lab with that blunt-headed understudy of his. It was pretty refreshing to blow off steam like this. Maybe he should do it more...

Heal @Iván Carl
18 + 25 + 25 = 68
Tracker / Roll
Ivan: 092 / 124 HP

Seigi · May 19, 2018

91 HP

MAX 181 HP

116 EN

MAX 156 EN

-40 HP bodies hitting the floor
-10 EN Rouse

"Closer! Closer! CLOSER!" With a near-suicidal grin, Seigi gazed right into an abyss as the Minerva flew ever so closer to the death-bringing weaponry. Wooden and metallic debris closely flying past the girl's face as she simply stood there. Like a true captain, with her arms crossed. Confident. They would do it. She was sure of it. It hadn't even been an hour but she trusted her crew. Trust was essential. Though, then again Seigi was the kind of person who trusted people by default rather than having to earn it.

And indeed, they managed! With Ivan's air maneuvers and Yukisa spinning the propeller like a boss, together with Corvella's guidance, they managed. They escaped the fiery bombardment. Another moment of peace and serenity.

"Hahahahaha! TAKE THAT! STUPID BUT AWESOME SKY WHALE. JUSTICE CREW ONE, WHALE ZERO. CAN'T REACH U-" And then, the madfish did it. Once again. The big whale did another flippidy flop'd and while this time, the weapons still unable to reach them, they were close enough to the air-flow it created to be dragged alongside. The Minerva being more like a petal in the wind, simply dragged along.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Yet, here she was. Seigi laughed. This was great. This was fun. Maybe she had gone completely insane. Or maybe she was just that confident in not dying... yet. At least, until she hit the ground, hard.

...

The orange-hair wasn't aware how long she had been out as she slowly regained her conscious. There was the pain, though she had experienced worse, and it was warm. She could clearly hear how something was burning. "Urgh..." Still dazed, Captain 'The Fist' Ling slowly rose to her feet as she started to re-orientate herself.

"..." In a second, her light-headedness disappeared. She acknowledged the existence of the other five and the burning ship, yet, right now, something else occupied her mind.

Yes, these buildings looked just like the real world, which wasn't as surprising anymore as it was when a similar scenario happened fighting TItanius. However, there was a singular place the girl had been once before. A memory she held dear. A reminder strong enough to make her realize that this town was presumingly Boston?

Yet, even realizing that this was very likely just another illusion, Seigi couldn't hold back her feelings. For most, it might have seemed sudden. For her, it wasn't much of a surprise. Beyond the crazy and always happy surface was, after all, just a broken girl. Shattered by countless death afflictions constantly assaulting her mind and a UI-block-log-out-refusal that made her doubt her own immortality.

Thus, even if she didn't want to, she couldn't hold them back anymore. For once, tears were flowing down her cheeks as her desire to meet those close to her was stronger than ever.

"HEEEEYYYY!!! ANNNYYYOOONNNEEEE HEEERRREEE!???!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs with a teary and pained voice.

Hope was just an illusion too after all.

We be Yelling
74 + 30 = 104
Tracker / Roll

Portia Ahrens · May 20, 2018

74 HP

MAX 154 HP

126 EN

MAX 136 EN

-70 HP from bombardment and crashing
+10 HP from Seigi's Rouse
-10 EN from Investigation

As the entirety of their party decided it was best for their purpose to toy with death itself, there wasn't much she could've done to prevent them from doing so other than steel herself for what was about to come, summoning ice to hold herself up against her team's suicidal maneuvers, eventually giving in to the air pressure that forced her to the ground. Just when she thought of safety, of how lucky they were to make it in one piece, the whale adjusted and repeated the same movement it had done before, the airship knocked out of the sky by thousands of buildings all the player must have recognized. No long after that, her consciousness immediately faded to black.

Something pulsating at the very end of her fingertips, the steady beating of a heart other than her own drawing her attention from the chaos that was the crew's current state. ''Ugh...'' Opening her eyes revealed none other than Iván holding her with a worried expression on his face, leaving some space in between them out of sheer concern for his own well-being. All the previous times in which the pair had encountered themselves in this very same situation had only taught him to avoid extreme physical contact or he would earn a punch to his face. ''Oh, hey there...''

I'm alive, her mind kept whispering, struggling to believe the weight of those words. All around her were the remnants of the vessel that carried them to their destination, its purpose fulfilled but almost at the cost of their own lives. The raven-haired brawler gave a nod to her companion, reassuring him that she would be fine and that there were more pressing matters to tend to, the repairs of the Minerva and the safety of their fellow adventurers, to name a few.

Portia clenched her palms into fists, tightening her grip around the glowing runestone as she willed strength into her feet to push herself off the ground, her other hand moving upwards to draw a few strands of hair out of her field of vision. Allowed to properly take in her surroundings, her lips parted and a small gasp escaped them in what she thought was an obvious reaction to what her eyes finally saw: a city no different than those one might've seen many times outside Terrasphere, but not inside the very game itself.

Turning back to look at the scattered burning parts of the Minerva, it didn't take much for anyone to acknowledge their supplies might've been lost in the fatal crash as well, an essential part of their mission they would need if they were to stay on the whale longer than intended. A heavy sigh left her, pressing two fingers against her temples to activate her investigation mode to look for any supplies that could still be saved from the wreckage or any newer ones they could find laying around.

Investigating
23
Tracker / Roll

Yukisa · May 19, 2018

22 HP

MAX 112 HP

104 EN

MAX 104 EN

-40 HP from crash landing

Everything had been a hazy blur. One moment Yukisa had been doing his underwhelming job, blowing wind to get a bladed hunk of metal to spin. The next, the Minerva and himself were plummeting, g-forces causing his head to feel as pressurized as a can of coke that had been shaken by a 15 year old male who… spent a lot of time “doing homework in his room.”

The ground was rushing up to meet them, Yuki barely able to tell what was ahead of them with how rapidly they descended towards it.

800 meters.

500 meters.

100 meters…

As the airboat’s nose was about to slam straight into the whale below, the Aeromancer, still clinging to the railing desperately, made one final effort by blowing the wind against the sails, causing the ship that had already been veering upwards as a result of Ivan’s commandeering to finally reach a horizontal angle, turning their head-first dive into a slightly less dangerous crash.

Wood and metal scraps exploded around him as the world turned dark.

When the white-haired male came to once more, he half-wished he would have stayed unconscious. Immediately he was struck by throbbing pain, his skin covered in bruises, filled with wooden splinters and bleeding immensely. Everything hurt, even the legs in which he hadn’t felt pain for years.

Yet when he glanced around, the other half of him had no ragerts.

The city was stunning. As someone who had grown up in a relatively rural area, seeing such a steel jungle took his breath away. The sheen of well-maintained metal almost made it seem like this was some sort of mystical city of light.

But this was no time to be gawking at their finally achieved goal. People were injured, and on top of that, the Minerva itself was a wreckage.

“Is everyone doing alright?” he called out to his companions in a concern-filled voice, slowly getting up from the floor with soft ow’s. His eyes glanced about the scattered team, but fortunately it seemed that at least none of them were worse off than himself, causing a sigh of relief to escape his lips. Even the most injured amongst them, Ivan, who had decided to step forth and retrieve the engine from the roaring flames of the Minerva’s remains, was being taken care of.

That being said, there was no telling what would happen now.

‘I’ve ought to do something to help…’ he thought, looking back down the paved street. This was a big city, and though Seigi’s shouting was certainly impressive, it may not be able to attract anyone. But if they went out to search…

“I’m going to go look for some help!” he notified his allies, before rushing off despite how much his body objected like the careless idiot he was. Surely he could find something, if not help then at least supplies… right?

Scouting along the road, looking for anyone who might lend a hand
Tracker

Ashifili · May 20, 2018

Absolution Beyond Cloudburst

In any other circumstance, @Iván Carl 's singleminded obsession with retrieving the engine would have been a truly suicidal feat. Disregarding his own life, the masked tinkerer dove into the burning remains of the Minerva, his belt of tools exposed as flames licked hungrily at his skin, the heat and the poisonous gasses chipping away at his HP rapidly. But the madman did not stop, wrenching away bolts, bashing away screws, and, as his vision burned red, @Haru 's spiritual magic did its wonders once more, the bald medic’s medicine seeping out of his soul and soothing the burns. With the last of his violent excisions completed, Ivan wrenched the engine out, and immediately fell on his ass due to the weight. It was a hefty object to be sure, a veritable steel cube that pulsated with runic inscriptions upon its dented surface. Severed tubes sprouted from it, reminiscent of the arteries of a heart, and it was still hot to the touch. It was a beautiful object indeed, displaying a craftsman ship and attention for detail far beyond what any player was capable of.

But if one were to speak of beauty, it was clear that the bond between Ivan and Brad Haru was even more precious. The two of them shared a moment then.

Male friendship was a beautiful thing.

Beauty that @Portia Ahrens willfully ignored, as her own amber eyes darted through the wreckage that Ivan just escaped from in search of any supplies that would be useful. Most of it was just burning wood, a resource scarce in the steel jungle but not altogether useful, but the raven haired lady caught other silhouettes within the flames as well. Unmarked boxes that could be either medicine or rations. Tanks of coolant that sizzled and gave off immense heat in the conflagration. The few barrels of liquidfied mana that remained, that perhaps could be used to fuel the engine once more, if only they could find a way to utilize it properly. Even as she investigated, however, the heat continued to deform those valuable supplies. If she wanted to retrieve them, Portia would have to act soon. These things weren’t designed to be flame-resistant, after all. If a fire got bad upon an airship, death was almost a certainty.

@Corvella 's investigations, however, uncovered odder details. Though non-descript from a broad, unfocused glance, as the armored Empress scanned her surroundings more carefully, fragments of a ‘true’ reality began to expose itself towards her. This wasn’t just a metropolis that they were looking at. This was a perfect imitation of the real world, a jumbled up recollection of both the ordinary and the famous. Northwest stood the Empire State Building, proud and stately. To the right, farther off, was the Washington Monument, an obelisk of marble jutting out from behind steel and opaque glass. Closer by, the hourglass figure of the Hearst Building was camoflagued inbetween two similarly composited buildings, and slowly, slowly, she uncovered more snapshots of reality. The Eiffel Tower. The Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Sydney Opera House. The Twin Towers.

Recreated not with perfect detail, but instead with accentuating their most noticeable points, before being amalgamated into the surrounding scenery. Futuristic? No. This wasn’t futuristic at all. It shone like a beacon in Corvella’s mind. This was familiar. Eerily familiar.

And when @Seigi roared out, her voice echoing, echoing through the streets, it was clear that something was there.

A human, dressed in fine clothing suited for autumn. Blonde hair and red lips, with an accentuated bust and confidence etched upon her features. The entire crew sans Yukisa noticed her strutted down the street, eyes hidden by fashionable sunglasses as her Yorkie waddled past her. The fashionista didn’t even spare the odd group a glance as she took a small detour around the remains of the Minerva, before walking off, her obsidian heels going click-clack as her ass jiggled subtly with each step.

Out of place. So out of place. But in a city made up of their own reality…was that stranger out of place? Or were the adventurers out of place?

~~~

@Yukisa , however, did not notice those similarities. He did not search for supplies amongst the wreckage, and he did not try to fix the engine. Instead, he ran off by himself, down the road, cutting a corner, his feet desperately comfortable against the perfectly paved roads of this aberrant metropolis.

And soon, he began to hear a different sound. The sounds of pistons, the sounds of gears, the sounds of saws, the sounds of sparks.

It was a factory.

He had found, amidst the metropolitan cityscape, a large, shiny factory, three stories high, with a door large enough for trucks to drive into. Though all doors were shut and all windows too high up to peek his head over, the white haired aeromancer could still here it.

The sounds of pistons, the sounds of gears, the sounds of saws, the sounds of sparks.

People were inside.

…

But in a foreign land like this, could he be so sure of that?

OOC
@Iván Carl @Seigi @Corvella @Yukisa @Portia Ahrens @Haru

Maximum 500 words, minimum 100 words. Any more or any less will mean that I smite you AND your post will be ignored. Brevity is the spirit of wit, after all.

I will be updating every day at 4PM PST. Sometimes, cycle updates will occur earlier, depending on how quickly players post. Due to the predicted length of this challenge, I may not be available at all times.

If you have pressing concerns (and not just meme questions), go ping me on #ask_a_dm. Seriously, you nerds.

If you wanna talk shop and verbally dunk on your newb party members in /all chat, go here and let loose!

If you need to roll dice because you plan on doing something drastic (or just action-y), go here and say a prayer!

Remember, this is a semi-freeform challenge. I will provide you actions, but I am also willing to let you do other stupid things, if I don't find them super stupid. So eyyyy, good luck!

Have fun~!
HTML:
[bg] [HP=100]100[/HP] [EN=100]100[/EN] [/bg]
[hr]x[/hr]
-XX EN for action
-XX HP from source
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Post here. Blah blah blah.


[tracker][d]Action here and target[/d]
[score]Your roll + Modifiers = Total[/score]
Tracker / Roll
Target: 000 / 000 HP
[/tracker]

Ashifili · May 20, 2018

Cycle 5: Amalgamation

Damage:
@Iván Carl receives 30 HP damage from fiddling with a red hot engine.

@Iván Carl has obtained the Damaged Engine Core. This can not be carried in your inventory, and halves the movement of whoever's possessing it, due to its impressive weight.

Actions

As always, there are special actions one can take, depending on whether or not the situation demands it, or whether or not they have an Awakened mastery.

Strenuous Effort [Everyone] By permanently sacrificing HP (reduce both your current HP value and your maximum HP value), you can gain a bonus modifier to your roll equal to the amount of HP spent, up to a maximum of 50. This modifier can not be applied to Support actions.

Retrieve Supplies Dive into the burning wreckage and pull out whatever you can see that may be useful. Roll a d100 and state what sort of supplies you are prioritizing. You may take damage due to this.

Investigate EN Cost 10. Activate Investigation mode and scan your surroundings for details. Roll a d100 and state what you are looking for. Depending on the result, you may receive a DM.

Scout Separate from the group and go off in a direction of your choice. In the next cycle, you will be considered isolated from the others.

Patch Up EN cost 15. Perform a Heal action at half effectiveness, with any mastery modifiers that may apply. If you are Haru or Ivan, the Heal action's effectiveness is not halved.

Shout Scream at the top of your lungs to draw the attention of any resident that may exist in this cityscape. Roll a d100 + 5 per tier of Heroic Might or Aeromancy. Depending on the result, you may have an impact on the next cycle.

Heroic Aura
Stalwart Passive. No matter what maledictions are poured upon you, a hero will not falter. Excluding Beginner, each tier of Heroic Aura grants you a stack of Stalwart at the beginning of combat. Each stack automatically dispels a magical debuff, before being consumed.

Rouse Free action, costing 10 EN. Establish your Heroic Aura, the radiant banner that empowers all your allies. Grant either a +10 damage buff that stacks over other buffs, a +10 HP Shield, or immunity to a single debuff for the next cycle to everyone in your party.

Warcry Action, costing 20 EN. Can only be used once every three cycles. Unleash a devastating roar, stunning all minions on the battlefield and performing a Disruptive Attack upon all those in the same Zone as you. Use Heroic Might as the modifier. If the resulting score is high enough, enemies in the same Zone will be knocked back one space as well.

Limit Break[Seigi Only] ???

Chronomancy
Time Accel Passive. Human might may be limited to one’s muscles, but with the ability to manipulate time, even physical constraints can be overridden. Excluding Beginner, each tier of Chronomancy grants you a stack of Accel at the beginning of combat. Each stack can be consumed during your turn to double the movement speed of either yourself, or your ally. If you choose to, you can consume 3 stacks of Accel instead in order to grant one extra action to yourself or your ally.

Rewind Action, costing 20 EN and 20 max EN. Grasp the fabric of time and pull it back, returning yourself to your original physical state. Set your HP, status, and physical location to what it was in the start of the previous cycle, essentially negating everything that has occurred to your character in the current cycle. This ability can be applied to objects as well.

Terminate Action, costing 30 EN and 30 max EN. Can only be used once every three cycles. Dive into the depths of your time manipulation abilities, locking an enemy or ally in time. If this is used on an ally, they are immune to all enemy attacks for the next round. If this is used on an enemy, they are unable to act during the next cycle, and are immune to all damage from players. If this is used on an unwilling target, a d100, modified by Chronomancy, must be rolled to clear a hidden DC.

Limit Break [Ivan Only] ???

Iván Carl · May 20, 2018

62 HP

MAX 124 HP

122 EN

MAX 157 EN

-15 EN [Patch Up] on @Haru
-30 HP from the red hot engine, +68 from Haru's Heal

Did he really need to get that engine right away? Shouldn't he have asked for anyone to use their Hydromancy, if they even had one, first? Maybe he could've even just gotten himself a handful of dirt, somehow, someway, and dumped it all over that fire before taking the engine? So many things to have considered, so little time. Okay, maybe he had enough time, but to be fair, Iván was still reeling from all that explosion and chaos and action-packed destruction that the Minerva had suffered through, endured. His brain was barely functioning. It was all his adrenaline's fault!

"Gah! I got! I got it! It's freaking hot and heavy, but I got it. I got the engine!" Iván yelled as he tried his best to curb the heat of that Damaged Engine Core, not to mention its weight, against his skin, his efforts, as he pulled it out of the flames of Minerva's remains. Thankfully, before he could die once again, engulfed by the flames, this time before anyone else, he was saved by @Haru, Guide, his fellow Witch Ops operative. Witch operative? He made a mental note, as he sat on the ground, panting, heaving, to no longer confuse him with Guillotine Priest, Bradwynne. I owe him that much.

After turning to Haru to give him a thumbs up, Iván immediately gave the engine his brief but careful study. As a tinkerer, Bound Prince didn't take a long time to notice those runic inscriptions, no matter how dented the surface was. He made a mental note of how those tubes, severed as they were, looked a lot like the arteries of a heart. There was beauty in its craftsmanship, a marriage of science and art, and that attention to detail was something that forced his eyes wide and his mouth drop in complete awe. It was nothing like he had ever seen. It was, perhaps, the greatest engine he had ever laid eyes on.

All his gushing, however, was interrupted by a well-endowed trophy wife and her participation award, as human and pet strutted their way around what was Minerva, completely ignoring their crew like they were nothing. Iván narrowed his eyes at her, or at least at her ass, She didn't even ask if we were okay? Tch. I'm going to turn her dog into curry. Hehehe.

That's when Iván remembered something, rather someone. He looked around him, them, and noticed he was nowhere to be found."Oh, uhh, did anyone notice where Propellerman went?" Didn't he look terrible, just like Iván was before Haru healed him? That might not end well. "Haru, you look terrible. Let me return the favor."

Patch Up on Haru
8 + 20 (Chronomancy) + 12 (Magical Weapon) = 40
Tracker / Roll
Haru: 085 / 105 HP

Portia Ahrens · May 20, 2018

74 HP

MAX 154 HP

106 EN

MAX 136 EN

-20 EN from using Hydromancy

Not all had been lost in the crash, she told herself as a relieved smile found its way to the paleness of her face, wiped away as quickly as it had come when the illusionist pointed out a member of their crew who'd gone missing in the span of... Who knew how many minutes. The concern flickered vibrantly in the gold of her gaze, eyes drifting from one point to another to look for anything that might shed some light on his whereabouts, receiving a ping in her own player menu not long after she started looking for him.

''Found him...'' Portia pulled her menu palm and scanned the message one last time, unknown to her if there were others who shared Iván's condition of not being able to access their UIs. She gave Yukisa a quick response and turned to face the rest of her group, speaking loudly enough that any of the players present would've heard her voice if they decided to pay enough attention to it. ''He made a discovery not too far away from here, some sort of factory, I guess?''

Clenching her palm and letting go of it again returned her to reality, to the fire threatening to take away all that they could recover and would likely need to survive if they didn't dare do anything to stop it from happening. This setting, foreign to the medieval reality they all grew accustomed to inside of Terrasphere, but one most should be familiar with from real life could still hold a lot of threats, traps, hostile citizens waiting for them to make one wrong move. If their surroundings couldn't be trusted, at least what they brought with themselves to their expedition could be different than all they found atop the Whale.

''A little hand here, please?'' Her steps hurried her to where the investigation mode had located the most resources, only putting a stop to her feet when the heat became too much of a threat to keep going. Borrowing strength from her trusty runestone, she raised a hand and drew a small number of glyphs in front of her. They faded in and out of existence, appearing at different positions above their heads, above the burning wreckage, ready to be put to use once she commanded it. Portia casted a subtle glance over her shoulder to the people now standing behind her, arcs of bright blue light still flickering in her outstretched hand. ''We got food and medicine, and things that could work with the engine, take what you can but remember to prioritize your own safety.''

No sooner had the words stopped flowing from her mouth, she snapped her fingers and the glyphs released droplets of water, one after the other, at a steady rhythm reminiscent to that of rain. If anyone were to aid her efforts to rescue their supplies, they should probably act as soon as possible.

Extinguishing the fire
Tracker

Seigi · May 20, 2018

91 HP

MAX 181 HP

116 EN

MAX 156 EN

There was someone, someone else! And not some kind of soldier that threatened them or whatever else. But an actual living(?) human being that treated their appearance as if they had just witnessed a car crash. Simply going around instead.

"I..." The orange-hair was just about to blame Yukisa for running off like an idiot, but, wasn't she about to do the same? Did nobody else see the woman? Just another illusion? No! Seigi had to be sure.

Giving a look at her assembled Justice Crew around the wrecked ship, Seigi gave them a quick heads up. "I'm going to try catch that woman just now! Also..." The orange-hair bit her underlip. "I can't access my UI currently, so I won't be able to use the communication channel. BUT I won't be far! We shouldn't split up too much." There was no more time to waste, except, actually. "Just in case, Corvy will be second-in-command followed by Portia. And then... it won't come to this because we're too awesome! Guts and Effort." Before finally running after the woman.

"Heeeeeeeyyyyy! Laaaaaddddyyyy!" She cried out, too, where was the woman!? If Seigi managed to catch her she'd briefly tap the woman's shoulder with a - "Wait a second, please!" - hoping to catch her attention.

It was a miracle her bandages were still sitting tight around her arms.

We be Yelling
46 + 30 = 74
Tracker / Roll

Corvella · May 21, 2018

49 HP

MAX 113 HP

70 EN

MAX 100 EN

Retrieve Supplies

Pondering about the real-world buildings certainly didn't help, and nobody seem to dispute about it as much as her. Suddenly Propellerman ran off somewhere, and Seigi went off to chase the metropolitan girl. "Be careful, Seigi!" The captain doesn't have her UI, so if anything happened it would be very bad for them. But at least Corvella got the second-in-command(?) position temporarily.

There's still usable supplies on the burning wreckage, and they can make use of them if they save the supplies fast enough before it get consumed by the fire. Fortunately, Portia has the means to summon droplets of water, slowly extinguishing the fire. "I'm going in." Corvella told the hydromancer. There's upside of not wearing her usual tin can set, that she won't be fried alive inside the armor. Waiting for the fire to die a little, Corvella then rushed into the wreckage.

The supplies were scattered, but it's not hard to identify them by the shape. There's those things that caught her eyes though, liquified mana? As far as she know, they would need it if they want to make use of the engine Iván retrieved. She carefully tried to take the supplies in this priority order if possible : mana tanks, food, then medicine. She figured that the medicines won't be much of an use since the group has several healers. Except there's some kind of b-plot deadly virus here.

Retrieve Supplies - Mana tanks
27
Tracker/ (Roll) Absolution Beyond Cloudburst