#and she’s got a boss monster lifespan and experience

[stormcloudsandshadows]

Having so many thoughts about papyrus and how the fandom at large doesn’t get him. If you even care

[honourablejester]

I’m enjoying the solo play adventure book thing right now, after trying Wolves of Langston by Obvious Mimic, so I found an article on their site with recs for other solo 5e adventures, and on the strength of that I picked up Eight Petals Argent by Wraith Wright Productions. I’ve just finished running through the 1st book with a baby lvl 1 twilight cleric.

It’s a much different experience to Wolves of Langston, much more of a dungeon crawl (well, two dungeon crawls), and with much more note-keeping in the form of a play journal (I actually enjoyed that aspect, but I’m a note-keeping sort of girl). I can now say I’ve had the following (hopefully non-spoilery) experiences:

Got thoroughly lost in the dungeon, not because I didn’t have a map or didn’t understand the map, but because I was looking for a specific thing for a puzzle and couldn’t bloody find it. Which would be fine, except the dungeon is timed (there’s a deadline to hand in the macguffin).

Forgot completely about the Aid spell that had been cast on me (I noted it in the journal but NOT on my actual character sheet, so I never noted the extra HP), meaning I ran that dungeon with 5HP less than intended. I didn’t die, but I spent a significant portion of it with 2HP to my name.

Because you go straight from the dungeon to a chase with only a brief stop by a healer in between, and she only has one spell slot for you, I had to choose between getting a disease removed or getting HP back, and since the disease capped my HP, I chose to get it removed. Which meant I spent that entire chase scene, in which our gang’s glorious leader makes several questionable decisions, with 2HP. Stop doing silly things! If someone sneezes on me, I’m toast! I absolutely cannot get in a fight right now!

By the time all of that is sorted out and we can head home for the first long rest in this adventure, I get the reminder that the Aid spell has run out. You know. The one I forgot. So I’m standing there going … that would have been a really good thing to have remembered before now. Given that it would have added half again to my lifespan down there.

I didn’t get anyone else killed either, which I was a lot more concerned about.

Level 1 characters have no spell slots. Well, no, I had two spell slots. For the whole dungeon, plus the chase scene. I blew one in a panic while trapped with an enemy somewhere flammable (I wanted it dead fast before environmental things started happening) and the second on a mini-boss monster. Which was why, despite playing a cleric, I couldn’t heal myself. If you play this with a spellcaster, be aware that you get one long rest for two dungeons over the course of the book, so pack damage cantrips and/or a good old fashioned clobbering stick. And nab any healing potions provided. After the long rest, I lost a spell slot healing someone else before even getting to the next mission, so I did the second dungeon with exactly one spell slot.

(The second dungeon also has one little puzzle/obstacle that reminded me so much of a particular scene from the Neverending Story. You’ll know it when you come across it. It tickled me pink, once I was sure I wasn’t going to die of it)

The whole adventure is very much about resource management. The most agonising thing is that both dungeons are timed, because they’re missions to get specific objects, and the mission-giver gives you a deadline. So you are constantly weighing the need to explore vs the time it will take to explore. I actually came out with very little loot, because I was so paranoid about time. But you also have to explore, because you’re looking for puzzle pieces and quest items and what have you, so it’s a delicate balancing act.

You are level 1 for this whole book, and you do quite a bit during it. It is definitely a lot of fun. Probably more so if you’re at least comfortable with note-taking and minding your resources. But this book was definitely a very involved couple of evenings playing through, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Might try it on a non-caster and see how that goes. You kinda do want some decent mental stats for a lot of the puzzles, though, so as tempted as I am to try it with a barbarian, that might stall out some. Though, that could be the challenge …

Good book! Going to look at book 2 of the series now!

(And yes, my first instinct on making a character, pretty much every time, is to make a cleric. I should probably branch out a bit. I just like clerics)

[allnewalldifferentwildspider]

The Tragedy of Mina Loveberry

I’ve actually been wanting to write something like this for a while now. Since Coronation is right around the corner, I figured now was the best time. 

The character Mina Loveberry from Star vs the Forces of Evil was introduced as the greatest warrior to ever protect Mewni. It was obvious that she had more than just a few screws loose with her erratic behavior. When it came to why, my first theory was that she probably got hit in the head a few too many times while defending Mewni. But when I saw her superpowered form, it actually reminded me of another character. My theory changed, and I guessed that these two characters had the same (or at least, very similar) origin. Turns out, I was right and now I’m very concerned.

Believe it or not, there was a time where Final Fantasy games were fantasy games. It wasn’t a Japanese boy band cruising the countryside in a car you could never afford. It was a rag-tag group of misfits and heroes banding together to stop some jerk from collecting a bunch of magic rocks, but he’d end up collecting them anyways, making the world explode, and then you’d have to fix it. The most popular one is Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. The scariest one is Kefka Palazzo from Final Fantasy VI. 

Kefka Palazzo is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VI. In the game, Kefka is presented as a general and court mage for the Gestahlian Empire. The Gestahilan Empire wanted to, you guessed it, take over the world. Magic in that world had been lost to them for years and and was only just being rediscovered. They tried to augment it with technology in order to make it stronger, creating Magiteck. And because everyone likes Captain America so much, they decided to take it one step further and create supersoldiers using Magiteck. The first of these supersoldiers was Kefka.

According to what I’ve read, Kefka was actually unusually shy for a soldier. The experiment that had increased his magical and physical abilities by doping him up with magic had an effect on his mind. It wasn’t obvious at first. Kefka, once meek, would now put a lot of effort into his appearance and being more outspoken. Eventually he would start wearing make-up and would boss people around as his methods became more twisted and cruel. By the time he was pushing forty, his appearance was so outlandish he looked more like a clown than a soldier and his personality became that of a nihilist. He’s basically Final Fantasy’s version of the Joker. 

Mina’s origin is not that different. During the time of Queen Solaria, Mewni was in all-out war between the Butterfly Kingdom and the monsters. Solaria employed a triptych of three ancient spells that transformed an army of peasants into super-powered warriors by (you guessed it) doping them up on magic. Mina was one of the first and more successful of the experiments. She actually wasn’t a soldier in the first place. She was an ordinary peasant girl. Mina’s physical and magical abilities became extraordinary to the point of expanding her lifespan to over three hundred years. The years of war have taken a toll on her sanity. 

One of the many differences between Mina and Kefka is that Kefka has his own goals and ends, vowing to destroy the world and become a god (SPOILER: he succeeds). Mina has a strict, almost cult-like loyalty to the Butterfly Royalty and deep hatred for monsters. 

The thing about good villains is that they always think they’re the hero of the story. Mina believes that she’s protecting Mewni even though she might just end up helping destroy it. In Junkin’ Janna, she’s gathering pieces of a giant suit of armor. My guess is that she’s going to make her own version of the Destroyer from Thor, but we’ll see. 

[wesker20]

Fallen Hero 1.5 Episode 8: Broken Hearts

https://wesker20.tumblr.com/post/184819468347/fallen-hero-15-episode-6-parasites

           Years ago – Unknown Building

           Another day, another mission. Alpha and you infiltrated a local rising drug ring that was suspected of having several dangerous boosted. Although they did have boosts, they were not a danger that needed to be taken down so your mission ended quickly and the two of you were called to report back to Trevor. Kappa and Zeta were send on another mission that turned out to be rather easy apparently and were on their way as well.

           That day the location to report back to Trevor was not a government building, but rather a private one. At the time you did not know of course, but you realized soon after. While reporting to Trevor, she was talking to a man you did not recognized and did not cared to ask at the time. Soon after reporting in, Trevor, the man, Alpha, and you stood in front of a one sided mirror where you witnessed a young girl, being pitted against a re-gene. This was no surprise to you. You were all sometimes pitted against one another or new experimental projects. You surmised the girl was not a re-gene as she lacked the tattoos and blue skin, but a new experiment. She defeated the re-gene handily, showcasing incredible strength and speed, comparable to Alpha’s and Kappa’s respectively.

           Soon after the experiment you and Alpha were dismissed and the two of you spent time roaming the building, or at least the parts you were allowed too.

           “What’s wrong?” Alpha asked. You turned to her wondering what to tell. You were thinking about something that you witnessed back at the drug ring. There were two people, a male and female, and they were doing something you were not sure you had a name for. Their bodies were pressed together, as well as their lips. You may know now what they were doing, but back then, it was more or less a mystery. You were taught to feel and act like a person true. And that sort of training led to you actually feeling, but there were still things you did not know, or have names for. Hugs you knew but not by name, rather you knew them as an action between people who cared about each other. As such, you shared many with your team, Alpha in particular.

           “Nothing much. Just…” you doubt for a moment, trying to sort out what to say. Alpha stared at you, curious and understanding. She had a knack for knowing what you were feeling and sometimes knew what you did not. As the leader of your team, she was required to feel and think more than you. It was not by much, but she was smarter than you and more knowledgeable about social interactions. You finally just blurted out your doubts in no particular order or cohesion but she understood.

           “Let me think…”she said as she tapped her chin and walked back and forth. Suddenly, as if a light bulb turned on her head she turned to you. “That is called a kiss.” You stared at her dumbfounded, waiting for an explanation. “It’s an affection done by couples. You see, when two people care really really deeply about each other, they sometimes get together and become a couple.”

           Still dumbfounded, you said “Ok. But what’s the difference?” She begins to try and say something but nothing comes out. She tapped her chin to think but in the end she gives up with an “I don’t know.” Well, first time she fails you.

           “Hey come on, Even I don’t know everything.”

           “I didn’t say I thing,” you say.

           “No, but you were thinking it.”

           “I thought I was the telepath here.” Suddenly you feel your body being forced down and your head being wrapped by a slim but inhumanly strong arm. You manage to hear Alpha’s laugh and you groan.

           “Yeah but you are terrible at hiding what you think. Your face always betrays you,” she says.

           “I’ll keep that in mind,” you say as you managed to wrestle out of the hold, though you suspected she let you off. You have watched bigger foes being incapable of escaping her grip. You locked her in your own hold but she easily escaped it and ran away.

           “Last one to the sparring mat has to clean the beds,” she yelled. You followed soon behind and after a couple of minutes running around, and catching the confused attention of several employees, you found the gym, empty. It made you wonder if it was because it was night but you did not dwell too long on it. Alpha immediately gave you a challenging look. You remembered how this went; she goats you and you spar, only for her to completely own your ass with little effort. Not only was she super strong and durable, she was the best fighter out of the four of you. Yet you never stopped accepting the challenge, you always told yourself in your mind that one day you would finally beat her. And every time you sparred you told yourself that “this was the time,” but you did not. And you never did beat her. That night she defeated you just as handily as she always did. So what was so different about this particular time? It came in the form of a return to the subject of earlier.

           She took you down with a tackle, not even using a third of her strength, just destroying your balance with skill, and pinned you. You both laughed as you always did. But after the laugh ended, instead of her standing up and helping you up as she always did, she stared at your eyes and you stared at hers. Both of your breaths slowing down as she looked at you with curiosity, you’ve seen this curiosity before but never at this close of a distance. Then the words came: “You want to try it out with me?” she asked with an innocent look in her face. You knew what she was talking about, and that day you simply nodded. Your lips touched hers lightly, a fearful kiss that neither of you knew how to do, but you tried, and you liked it. And then the radio sound and you heard Trevo’s voice, ordering you to regroup as Kappa and Zeta had returned. And you both got up and knew things were different from there and on.

           Present – Hideout

           Oh so different. You close your fist as you bury the memory again. There was a reason you avoided them, it makes you dwell on what ifs, what if you had said no? What if you had stopped it there, what if you had not told her you wanted to be free, what if you had not accepted the name she gave you? What if you never became Jeremy? You would still be Beta 010, member of the cuckoo squad number 42, under the command of unit Alpha 203, and belonging to General Vanessa Trevor. None of what happened would have happened, your escape, Heartbreak… and Mastermind.

           You dig your gloved fist on the wall of your hideout, leaving a deep hole.

           “Boss?” you hear Rosie’s voice. You turn around to see her standing there. You sense a bit of fear but also a bit of sympathy.

           “What is it?” you ask, your voice coming out as distorted as always and hiding the current weakness of your normal one.

           “Zaza reported in. He spotted the silver lady heading to Bloodmoon Ave.”

           “Good. Tell the team to get ready. Tell Zaza to wait for us at the designated location.”

           “Yes boss,” she says and turns around. You can sense she wants to say something but does not do it. You let her go. At the moment, you have to focus on what’s about to happen. Bloodmoon Avenue. Originally just another street with no name, it gained its current one when a massacre happened. A scientist experimenting with the hero drug accidentally created an unstable variant that instead of either killing people or giving them powers, it turned them into monsters. But that’s not why you remember this place, oh no. You remember this place as the location of your first mission. Your first official mission after hundreds of test missions, the first time you worked with Alpha and Zeta. At this point, Kappa had not yet joined. Officially your mission was a success, you captured the scientist but the battle in his lab caused several creatures to escape and create chaos all around the street. Creatures tearing apart everything in their path, people, animals, and each other. It was a bloodbath, all in a night with a full moon, hence Bloodmoon Avenue.

           General Slyther held that against you forever, he never really trusted cuckoos, and saw them as a threat to the military and everytime you screwed up, he would that failure over your head forever. It’s a good thing then thst your team rarely failed. Although in hindsight you wonder if his paranoia was justified, after all look at everything you have done.

You grab your new Taser weapon and glue it to your right hand. This one is much stronger than the first. Much, much stronger according to Mortum.

           Two days ago – Dr. Mortum’s lab

           “Here you have it Ma chérie. New, more powerful, and more durable as you asked,” Mortum said with proud smile.

           “How so?” you asked more out of curiosity, and because you enjoy seeing her go on these speeches.

           “This one is at least, one hundred times stronger than the first one I gave you. Though I’m lowballing it here just so you know. It has a battery of the same size but much bigger lifespan. This little baby can power up a hundred houses and still have more than half energy to spare. The material is a stronger configuration of your boss’s suit, meaning it can take more than it can deliver.”

           You stared at her waiting for an oversimplification, just for the giggles. “You can electrocute a whale with this ma chérie.”

           “Nice. And the other order?” With a smile she goes to a stand and picks up a box. She opens it up to show you. You see several small black patches on tips of what appears to be plastic fingers. “This is it? I was hoping for a cool ice gun,” you say with a chuckle.

           “Please Ma chérie, a gun would look so unfitting on that suit.” You agree, you did not order the suit to fight from a distance. “No, instead I decided to keep with the theme of death touches. In this case, these little things stick to your fingers,” she puts one on her index finger. She signals you to step back as she touches the table in front of you. “and when you make pressure,” she says and part of the table turns white, freezing over.

           “Wow,” is all you managed to say as you pass your hand over the frozen part, never quite touching it, and feel the cold air coming from it. “How cold can it get?”

           “As cold as it’s needed. Truth is these do not freeze anything; they absorb all the heat of the body they are in contact with. Their range is small, approximately 30 inches each. That’s why I made one for each finger for ten in total. Five together can freeze a limb, or a head knowing how your boss likes to kill their victims.” You twitch at the mention of that. Because of that kill it’s why you asked her to make these in the first place.

           “How do you stop them from freezing your own arm? I mean, my boss uses a lot of punches.”

           “I know. That’s why I made them compatible with the suit’s systems. Just stick them to the gloves and they will reconfigure to follow the user’s will. The same goes for the taser.”

           You nod, satisfied. You wonder if you would ever find a scientist better than Mortum. Or if you would even want to.

           Present – hideout

            You put on the taser on the palm of your hand, and carefully place the patches on each of your fingertips. In your H.U.D the suit lets you know that it has connected the patches to its main frame. Mortum informed you that the patches transfer the heat you absorb into the suit, transforming it into energy, which means your suit will be able to go longer if you ever use the patches. The taser has its own battery so that’s another non worry. Overall, you have made your suit deadlier, much deadlier, without repercussions. If only things always went this smoothly.

           12:00am, outside the Army’s hideout.

           It’s funny to find this street in the same state as when you left it all those years ago. It brings you back to it, Alpha and you immediately clicking, and Zeta being the sad third wheel. He was nervous, more than you were and you were forced to act as the big brother and comfort him. Alpha smiled all the way through, friendly in a way the majority of the others were not. She was not empty or cold, but vibrant and full of life, you felt safe in her presence; and drawn to her. Alpha? Alpha! It’s me, Jeremy. Please, recognize me, I know you are there. Alpha! The memory floods your mind and in an instant you burry it with brutal mental power, enough that if you did the same to someone else, you would shut them down. This was no time to remember, this was the time to confront what has been hunting you, who has been hunting you, The Voice.

           You already hear her come but let her believe she has not alerted you. “I was doubting you would be here,” Argent says standing beside you, claws already out.

           “If there’s one thing you should know about me, is that I keep my word.”

           “I’ll believe it when I see that more often. Well…” she begins as she takes a stance, “if there is even a next time.”

           You chuckle a bit. “Apologies, I did not called you out here to fight,” you say without even turning to her. You can practically hear the confusion shooting out of her mind.

           “What?” she manages to say.

           “As you heard. I did not called you to fight. I wanted you to do me a small favor.”

           “What kind of favor?”

           “The Army.”

           “What about them? Aren’t they yours?”

           “They are not. Just a gang of goons who decided to take my name and use it.” You turn your head towards her and say “Without my permission. I want them out.”

           The look she gives you pretty much screams “Are you serious?” She puts her now clawless hands on her waist and says “Let me get this straight: you want me to take out your trash? Do I look like your servant? Better yet, why would I even do it?”

           Your turn your head back to the building in the distance, their hideout. “You won’t have a choice.” Her expression darkens and her claws come out again.

           “You’re going to make me?” she asks with a threatening tone.

           You chuckle a bit again. “Not me. They,” you say and point to the building. She turns just in time to notice the crowd of goons coming your way.

           “You son of a bitch. This was a trap, wasn’t it!”

           “Relax,” you begin as you take your own stance. “I’ll help you out for a bit.”

           “Who says I need it.”

           “Not doing it for you pretty silver. This one’s because I’m pissed,” you don’t lie. You are angry, angrier than you have been in a long time. This whole situation has brought back memories you buried long ago. Now these sad useless blobs of flesh will be on the receiving end, before you get the message of your crew that they are in.

           Quickly they all fall on both of you with bats, machetes, knives, chains, and every other useless weapon. You assume the ones with the guns are still inside the building. Big mistake, these goons are useless against you and Argent. Both of you move like liquid through their predictable attacks. Some land, but barely do any damage as you beat them up with well-placed fists and kicks, that dislocate bones and stops the movement of blood to certain areas. Argent does not even bother with her claws, hitting them by the dozens with one attack. Unstoppable, unbeatable, precise, and quick. No attack is wasted, one punch sends several of them meters away, every attack that lands on her bounces off with no visible damage. Alpha- no, Argent, has no trouble with these guys, they are nothing next to her; and you.

           At your feet lay dozens of them, injured and beaten. Others back off as the two of you take a step forward. They try to attack again, but once again you fight them off with little effort. Soon their numbers deplete even more and one of them calls for back up. At that point Pelayo’s voice sounds on your communicator. “Boss, you got guys with big guns coming for you.”

           “The building is empty?”

           “Some guys still remain but not many.”

           “Good. I’m on my way,” you say as you knock out one last goon. “Well, this is my cue to go. Have a good night,” you finish but before you leave you turn back to her and bow while saying “my lady.”

           “I will murder you!” you hear her screaming as you turn on your rockets and fly off. She can handle herself just fine. You manage to sneak through the houses and into the building without any hiccups. As Pelayo said, the building is almost empty, with only a couple of goons left. You take them out one by one, sneaking into the darkness, calling on not just your current training, but your older training, during extraction ops. You half expect to find Kappa standing right next to you but you quickly burry the memory.

           Finally you meet up with your crew.

           “Boss! Look I took out several of these guys myself,” Nehal is the first one to speak up and points at a group of goons.

           “It wasn’t just yourself, I shot several of those idiots before you knocked them out,” Zaza interjects earning an elbow from Nehal.

           “Good job. Both of you,” you say. Nehal’s eyes shine up and she nods while Zaza gives you a weak “thanks.”

           “Rosie turned off all of the cameras. Whoever was watching on the cameras never saw us,” Pelayo informs you.

           “Good. Stay here and create a perimeter. I won’t be long.”

           “Boss?” you turn to Pelayo who is looking at you with a neutral expression. If not for your telepathy you could not tell he was worried. “What’s going on? I know I shouldn’t question you, but between the bomb in the hideout and this mystery guy you’re going to face now, it feels that there is more going on,” he whispers to you, making sure the others do not listen. Though you imagine the others have their own suspicions as well.

           “I’ll explain later. After we are done here,” you tell him, making sure he understands your meaning. You agree with him, you should have told them something, but you didn’t. And if they doubt you, they might abandon you. But right now is not the time for explanations. Every lost second is a second more before The Voice realizes that you are here and if they don’t there is a possibility more goons might appear, and if you are too busy explaining they might catch you and your crew off guard. So you decide to leave explanations for later, right now the mission is more important. Just like Alpha told you the first time you were here. Once again you shake the memory away and leave as Pelayo begins calling positions.

           You turn to them once again. “Listen up, I don’t want any heroics. From any of you. You focus on surviving, understood. If that involves leaving, do so.”

           “Boss!” Nehal yells and you can feel the others also tense up but with a gesture you stop her.

           “I’ll be fine. No matter what, I will not let this place be my grave.” For the first time since you recruited them you tell them the truth. There is still too much to be done for you to fall so soon.

           With that they all nod and take positions while you head towards the main office through a long barely lid hallway. The hallway ends in a flight of stairs and you breath as you take your first step. Each step you take with caution, your heart beating faster, the darkness slowly surrounding you. To be honest with yourself, you don’t know if you will find the Voice here. You suspect you will but there is a possibility it will all be for nothing. So far they have been smart enough to hide their tracks. But then again they have made mistakes, and if the crowd of goons on the outside is any indication they are prone to quickly panic when things do not go their way. They are smart, but sometimes they let emotions get the better of them, like they always did.

           The final step and the door stand in front of you. Rusted, covered in claw marks from the creatures escape. You remember when you first stepped through this door, Alpha in front flanked by you and Zeta. This was the lab that you assaulted. Fitting you think, your first meeting with them as the Voice is in the same place when you first met as the slaves for the directive. Sentimental even until the end.

           No point in stalling any longer. You open the door with little care, no amount of cautiousness will stop that door from echoing through the now empty lab. You walk through the room, broken vials all over the ground, dried up liquids decorating the walls. Deformed skeletons lie around, some with burned parts, probably from the security system of the lab. Others have claw marks all over the bones, killed by other creatures. You even noticed two skeletons stuck together in mutual demise. But most importantly you see a figure at the end, clad in white. A suit similar to yours, but no hood, and instead of a cape it has a long coat. Their mask, although a mirror like yours, has a different shape. Whereas yours has a blade like edge on the front where the two halves of it join join, the Voice’s mask is flat, perfectly mirroring a face back with no distortions.

           “Must be a nightmare keeping that clean,” you begin. You want to probe them before you fight them.

           “It’s not, thankfully. I told the scientist to make it self cleaning,” they say. Their voice is ear piercing, a simple screech that burns it into your ear. Thankfully your filters reduce the screech.

           “Really? Mind telling me their name? I would definitely love something like that.”

           “I’m sorry, he’s dead. Had to kill him after you found one of my account owners. Couldn’t let you get another huge clue. Though I guess now that I think about it, that was all for nothing. You were always smarter than me.”

           “We are equals, actually. The difference is that you always let your emotions get the better of you. If you had more self-control, you could have destroyed me without me ever realizing I was being sabotaged. But instead you decided that your ego was more important than your success.” You take a step, the Voice does not.

           “Why do you speak as if I’ve already lost?”

           “You haven’t?”

           “I got some backups just in case this happened. All I have to do is get out of here.”

           “Too bad you wouldn’t.” As you finish saying that the lights on the room turn on. You are going to have to give Rosie a raise after this. Not only has she performed perfectly, her timing has been impeccable. “Force field is up.”

           “And?”

           “Teleportation,” you begin, pacing back and forth as if you were a teacher talking to students. “The ability to separate the molecules of your body and move them from one location to another before reuniting them back together. This also allows you phase through walls with ease and almost anything else. Though you cannot harm anything in that state either, but that’s okay. Force fields, however, do not let any molecule get pass them. Meaning you are not getting out of here. Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten power explanations back at the farm. It was practically a basic class.”

           “And you think that that can stop me from beating you?”

           “You never could beat me in our spars, even with your powers.”

           “I’ve changed Beta. While you were away, living your dream life, I learned, I became stronger, better. I no longer needed a team. And unlike you I escaped alone.”

           You sigh, “Are you seriously turning this into a dick measuring contest? I don’t care how much better you are. All I care about is that you are interfering with my plans.”

           He chuckles. “Figures. It’s always all about you, you are the only one that matters, everyone else be damned. I can’t believe I ever looked up to you. How could I have been so blind? But like you said before, we grow. Or rather, learn.”

           “I never asked to be your idol,” you pause. “Zeta,” you finally say. You finally said his name. It’s done, now it has completely fallen into place, now it’s real. No more denial, no more avoiding his name, no more referring to him as them or the Voice. The proverbial cat is out of the bag.

           “You sounded almost hesitant there. Afraid of the past?” You do not give him the pleasure of answering. You simply take a stance. “Fine. Let’s see how much better I have become.”

           “Bring it on,” you say ready to begin.

           Years ago – The Farm Training grounds

           Zeta tried to teleport behind you but you easily take him down with a sweep. You were trained to use wide sweeps and attacks to deal with teleporters since their favorite strategy is to always teleport around you. This way your attacks were always going to hit them if they teleported anywhere near you. Although even without that training, his mind was an easy read and he always thought about his attacks before he did them.

           “Come on, I know you can do better than that,” Alpha yelled.

           “Yeah, I- I know,” he said as he stood up.

           “Do try to remember the training. You know what I’m going to do already,” you told him. Indeed, he should know how is it that non teleporters fight teleporters. Wide sweeping attacks that cover all 360 degrees of the subject’s area, leaving no blind spots for teleporters to use. So he should come up with an idea to bypass that. He does, he feints a teleport to lure you into another sweep and when your back is turned he attacks. Sadly for him you knew what he was planning and you quickly turn his attack into a judo toss and pin him to the mat.

           “How do you always beat me,” he groaned as you helped him up.

           You pointed at your head and said, “Telepathy, remember? You think your attacks before you make them. Try not to think too much. Otherwise I’ll see it coming a mile away.”

           “But if I don’t think, then I can’t form a strategy to win.”

           You nod sympathetically to him. “That’s the thing about telepaths. Unless you have something that blocks their power, it’s better to just be random.”

           Present – former laboratory of Bloodmoon avenue.

           As you take your stance you task the Rat King to track Zeta’s movements. But suddenly a mental squeal echoes in your head. Something is wrong. Your answer comes soon after as you hear Zeta chuckle.

           “Trying to get in here?’ he points to his head. “Yeah, good try, but this baby will not let any telepathic influence in. You are locked out of my head.”

           Huh, he did learn. So that means this will go the old fashioned way; easier said than done. You try to do a sweep attack as he disappears in front of you but you notice the teleport was a feint as he reappears in the same place, making you look like an amateur attacking the wind. Off balanced, Zeta teleports again and this time appears behind you and delivers a kick that sends you flying meters away. Huh, his suit grants him superhuman strength, more than yours. Guess you don’t need much speed when you have the power of teleportation. That means he is already prepping the attack before he reforms.

           He does a feint again, but this time you recognize it and leap forward. As he reforms again you tackle him to the ground and prepare to hit him with a punch, but he disappears and your fist only hits the ground. He reappears in front of you and kicks you in the face, once again sending you flying several meters back with little effort. You roll back to your feet and just as he disappears you drop a smoke bomb. He reappears inside the smoke cloud, blinded, and you take this chance hit him in his pressure points, trying to pin down a weakness in his armor. But at the last second he disappears and reappears outside of the cloud.

           Right before you turn, you feel something heavy hitting you on the head. Then another, and another, and another, and another. Objects of all sizes and shapes rain down upon you, some of them inoffensive, others more annoying. You realize soon that he is teleporting and either kicking or throwing objects your way. You activate your rockets and leap into the air, dodging all incoming objects. Zeta tries to aim for you but you are a far more mobile target in the air and all of his attacks fail miserably. You continue this dance for some minutes, letting him try to get you but failing miserably. Seems that he has not overcome this weakness yet: fighting an opponent in the air. Teleporters are great on the ground. By themselves they are worth dozens of normal soldiers. But fighting opponents in the air is much more difficult. Sure, they could teleport into the air and catch them, but that leaves them in precarious situations, at the mercy of the flyer and in their territory. And fighting a flyer in their element is the worst mistake you can make if you yourself cannot fly. Zeta knows that, and it’s why he does not try to get you now, and instead continues throwing or kicking objects your way, using his eagle eye to try and nail you. But it is not working. You can see it in the way he moves, less thought, more instinct, instead of grabbing or kicking specific objects he is taking anything he can and aiming it at you. Desperation or frustration. Either way he is losing it once again. Too easy.

           In one final movement he throws a table at you. You easily evade but when you look, he is no longer there. You search and find him standing on a desk at the tail end of the room. He is aiming his open right hand at you, a small light emitting from the center. One that by the time you recognize it, it’s already too late and the blast shoots and hits you, moving at a speed that even with your suit you could not evade. You know only one person who dodged it at point blank range, Kappa, and this is that same blast: the blast that Jeremy Rodriguez’s gun shot, the blast that left you powerless and with a headache for a few hours.

           You scream as a screech fills your head and you fall to the ground. Through the distorter your voice comes out as a roar, you hold your head, the screech filling every part of your head. You don’t hear the rat king, or anything really. You feel disconnected, out of the world, empty; for a time.

           “Didn’t see that one coming did you?” you barely hear Zeta say, his voice an echo of in your head. “Was hoping I might not have to use it just yet. But you did always forced me to go all out.”

           You want to respond, but you can’t. Whatever response you come up with gets drowned by the screech in your head. And your dreams. Your memories. They swarm you like a wave of water, taking you with them, drowning you, taking you ever so deeper into the depths from which they come, the pressure of the water weighing on you, threatening to crush your very being. All the pain, all the misery, all the hunger, all the anger you thought you had buried come back. All of the helplessness you felt, all of the desperation, all of the fear, all the lost loves, all the people you miss, all the people you fear to lose, everything is here, in this sea of your own creation. It never occurred to you that all of this was inside of you, that you had buried so much in all these years. You thought you had forgotten who you were, that you had long left all of those things in the past, but you were wrong, oh so very wrong. They never left, they never disappeared, they were always there, with you, buried by your telepathy. You never thought that just as your powers can affect the minds of others, so can it affect yours. But even then some still resurfaced pushed up their way through your barriers. But now, there is now barrier, nothing stopping them from coming up. Powerless.

           And then you hear it, the desperate cries of the rat king, the minds of your crew, fighting and escaping from the building as they are chased away by more goons, Pelayo ordering everyone to run, Nehal refusing to leave only to have Ward pull her away, Rosie following soon behind. Argent’s mind as she fight’s off the goons outside, now aided by vigilantes who have joined the fray, and the minds of the people surrounding, some scared and others curious. You even feel one mind, consumed with fear and anger, Zeta’s. You look up to find him screaming and holding his head, sparks coming out of his helmet. But it doesn’t matter, none of that matter. All the hunger and the anger consume you, the pain of powering through the blast, a burning sensation on your head. You roar, you roar, not just outside, but in your head and you can feel what everyone else feels. The rat king cowers away from you, your crew stops right in front of the building, the fighting far beyond stops as well, Argent, the vigilantes, and the Army stop as they all hear the same deafening roar.

           You dig your boots on the ground and force yourself to stand up, your head screaming pain. You are sure you feel blood coming down your nose, but you pay it no mind. Zeta kneels in front of you, without a helmet. He’s is older, just like you, but cleaner, not a mess. If his mind was not open now, you could not tell he is broken inside.

           “Impossible,” he whispers, telling it more to himself than to you.

           “This ends now,” you say and with a mere frown you send a telepathic wave. A wave aimed only at the Army’s goons who are in the surroundings. A wave that delivers one, simple command, a command you have seen in action, a command that terrified a lot of people, a command that you yourself have felt and have been terrified off. The command to ‘end it’ right here, right now. Heartbreak.

           In the next several minutes you can feel the surprise and shock from those not part of the army. Your crew, the vigilantes, the crowd, even Argent stare in disbelief as they witness the Zeta’s goons take their own lives, one by one. And you feel nothing, nothing but pure rage. The Rat King still keeps their mind hidden, small, trying not to look threatening. You pant like hungry beast and look at Zeta, horrified. “Monster,” he says and before you can stop it, the building begins shaking. You notice a detonator in his hand right before the lights go out and he disappears, the force field out along with the rest of the lights. You don’t bother trying to escape, nothing will get out of here, even with your speed.

           But as the building buries you, you refuse to let it take you; you refuse to let the cold embrace of death take you. You push yourself out of the debris, powering through it the same way your mind powered through the weapon’s effects.

           “Boss!” your crew yells all at the same time. You walk pass them, panting and see helicopters in the distance; from the media and LDPD.

           “Back to the hideout,” you order, leaving no room for questioning.

           Hideout

           No words are exchanged, but you feel their eyes on you the whole way. You arrive at your hideout and your crew spreads out, only Pelayo following you. In all of this your head still screeches and hurts and the rat king remains just as quiet as your crew. You stumble a bit and use a wall for support. Pelayo tries to help you but you dismiss him with a gesture. He cannot help, your head is heavy, you need to get it out of this prison. You open the mechanism of your helmet and throw it away, not caring where it lands. You can hear their thoughts spark in surprise, Pelayo even turns away. In this angle they cannot see your face and you could probably hide it with your cloak, but you don’t want to, you are tired, too tired to care anymore. Before you turn to them you look at the one way mirror of your office; staring back it’s a man with pale skin and blood dried blood dripping from your eyes, nose, and mouth; a monster.

           You finally turn to them, letting them see your monstrous face and you can feel their fear spark up as they stare at you. You sit on the ground, resting your back against the wall and staring up at them.

           “I look better than this, trust me,” you begin, the humor more to calm you down than them. And it doesn’t seem like it eased any of them either. Your voice is raspy and your throat hurts when you talk. “I’m- I was something different a long time ago. There have been people I have hurt. Teams I have destroyed. The man responsible for what has been happening is one of those people. We… we worked together. And I abandoned him. Now he wants revenge. And he will target all the people I know,” you pause letting it sink it. “Including you.” You stare at them reading their expressions. Fear, confusion, indecision. You stand up, looking at all of them as the leader that you are. “From here on out, things will get worse. Much worse. Not just because of him, but because what I will do in the future. I will challenge individuals who will be just as, if not more dangerous as he is. Heroes, villains, and others, I will fight all of them. This is just a taste of what I will become. If you decide that this is too much, I wouldn’t blame you if you leave.” You turn around to head to your office, letting them dwell and think their options through.

           You lock the door behind you and strip off of your armor, letting all the pieces fall to the ground. Naked you enter the cold shower and stare at your tattoos. The marks of your past and your shame. For years you feared them, puked at even trying to look at them. Now? Now only anger comes up, anger and a twisted sense of pride. These mark you as nothing. Something that does not deserve or need anything, a tool to be used. You can’t hold back the chuckle, Nothing? If that’s the case, then what does that make everyone else you have beaten? Less than nothing? A familiar feminine voice echoes in your mind. You step out of the shower and stare at the mirror. Your face looks much better without the blood. Still a bit pale but nothing that will not disappear. Behind your reflection, on the left stands your puppet, Jane, a sinister smile on her face. On the right stands Mastermind as mysterious as you always imagined it.

           “We still have much to do,” she whispers in your ear. “Still very much to do,” Mastermind whispers. “Don’t let him stop us,” they both whisper. You hear the Rat King squealing, wrapping itself around your mind. But you stop it, you caress it with your mind, letting it know it’s all fine.

           “He won’t stop me,” you say out loud. “No one can.”

Episode 9

[bovivinator]

Flowey’s Mortality

I’d always wondered why Flowey, after thoroughly exploring his SAVE/LOAD/RESET powers, didn’t just let the timeline continue on to see what the future would hold. From a gaming perspective, the player only has the preset timeline to experiment in, but Flowey should have been able to just keep living and watching, right? Why live the same few years over and over again if those constraints don’t exist in-universe? Wouldn’t we all keep “playing” indefinitely if we could?

And then I realized.

Flowey’s not immortal. He can still die. As a boss monster, he would’ve had centuries to live, but as a flower? How long is his natural lifespan, really? Before Frisk’s fall, was he trapped in a loop simply because he couldn’t outlive it?

Of course, we don’t actually know what type of flower, he is, but a small, flowering plant’s lifespan could be anywhere between a few months and decades. Not centuries. Not even a human lifespan. Most will die in a year or two, after producing seeds for the next generation.

Now, we also don’t know exactly how long before the game’s events that Alphys’s Determination experiments took place, but she doesn’t seem to have been royal scientist for all that long.

It was Mettaton’s introduction to the monster world that got her the position in the first place, and, not only does his influence seem to have been quite recent, she hasn’t even had time to finish his EX form when Frisk/the player meets the two.

With this in mind, Flowey has likely only existed as a flower for a short while in the timeline proper (that is, excluding the unknown time spent in loops.) It’s entirely possible that he can’t go much farther without encountering biological restrictions that would force him to RESET just to keep living.

What does this mean for Flowey/Asriel post-game? Particularly in a Pacifist ending where he’s left soulless and alone in the Underground?

He’s still a plant with a limited lifespan...

...and he can’t use his powers anymore.

So...

How long does he actually have left? And-

[amratsu]

this one’s just for self indulgence 

Maya Drangleic / Jane the Alufiend (Half-succubus) 1) How did they meet? Maya and her XCrawler team (dungeon crawling but as a televised national spectator sport) picked up Jane as ‘loot’ from an asshole dungeon that got a few hundred other participants killed. Jane’s technically Maya’s ‘property’ slash ‘slave.’

2) Who developed romantic feelings first? Maya. She didn’t know it though, rough background in foster care and all. Jane, as her secretary for other stuff, had been teasing and flirting with her for a while at that point but Maya was the first one to realize it was more than just a scandalous baatezu/tanarri fling. (Natural blood instincts just made them needle each other for fun.)

3) Biggest shipper? The rest of Maya’s menagerie of non-human XCrawl monsters all join in and cheer their boss on. But surprisingly Big Annie Biggs ( @itspurvis‘s character in the same pathfinder campaign) was the most directly supporting of their relationship. Odd for a literal murder hobo.

4) When was their first kiss and under what circumstances? Jane’s teasing one day while they were doing paper work escalated. This was before they got ‘romantic’ though.

5) Who confessed their feelings first? Maya confessed some time after developing the feelings, not knowing how to feel about the situation when she legitimately was starting to feel strongly for Jane. The gap between the epiphany and the confession was awkward and standoff-ish, but that time period gave Jane enough time to put 2 and 2 together and realize she felt something similar. (Maya still being on a mortal age scale in comparison to Jane’s outsider status didn’t help.)

6) First official date? Dinner at a comfy hole in the wall Jane was told about by co-workers. Jane tends to take the lead in doing ‘stuff’, else they end up at a lot of libraries and museums.

7) Double dates/group dates? Exposure to Jane and all her other non-human subordinates has relaxed Maya’s standards to where it’s about an even 50/50 split between just the two of them and stringing along closer friends. Lily/Treya/Mary are most common tag alongs. 

8) What do they do in their down time? Maya’s downtime is dedicated to research, being an alchemist. Jane’s downtime is similar with her wizard abilities. But together they tend to just laze about and do surprisingly quiet things; Jane takes particular delight in showing Maya tv shows and movies she missed cause she was a stick in the mud during school.

9) First meeting of the parents? Ain’t it hilarious when your mafia contacts return a false positive on recent employee blood tests, resulting in you discovering the parents that had to give you up for adoption 26 years ago.

10) What was their first fight and how did they get past it? Maya found herself really confused and frustrated by her feelings after a certain point, and didn’t know how to go forward. She didn’t know what it meant to Jane, being so much older than her (and at that point almost entirely likely to outlive her), and she didn’t have much experience with relationships to begin with. It took a while for her to get brave enough to talk it out; blessedly, Jane was understanding and comforting.

11) Which one’s more easily made jealous? Neither are prone to it. Jane being a half-succubus means she’s kind of free-spirited to begin with, and since Maya has (for better or worse) modeled most of her relationship-based behavior on Jane, she is too. The only real snag is that Maya becomes self-reflective and brooding on her completely non-standard appearance sometimes.

12) What it their favorite thing to get to eat? Anything, as long as there’s a fuckton of it. (Maya eats a lot to sustain her biology.)

13) Who’s the cuddly one and what’s their favorite position? It took Maya a little to warm up to it but she grew into a cuddle monster. All positions are enjoyed but expect tentacles everywhere.

14) Are they hand holders? Maya commonly sneaks a tentacle over to Jane, who pets it like a cat. They link arms otherwise.

15) How long do they wait before sleeping for the first time? What are the circumstances? Their ‘game’ with each other reached a peak one day while they were doing paperwork and suddenly the coffee table wasn’t being used for coffee anymore.

16) Who tops? Jane most of the time. Maya has it in her though.

17) Worst fight? After the initial rough patch, the two honestly haven’t had much issue. There was a point where Maya met the source of her devil blood and that proved to be a major threat to Jane, but Jane wouldn’t let that get in the way of anything. (Once a few contingencies were up, of course)

18) Shopping and cooking? Maya shops, both cook. Actual grocery runs are kind of dates for them, though, since they mostly just order things online and get grateful handouts from neighbors and subordinates.

19) Who’s more organized and prone to tidiness? Maya. ~Alchemy~

20) Who proposes? Maya proposes both marriage and her crazy plan to remove the upper limit of her lifespan via turning herself into some sort of crazy alchemic jiang-shi/mummy at the same time.

21) Separate bachelor/bachelorette parties or together? Maya did a small thing with her XCrawl team.

22) Best man/maids of honor? Maya’s team were her guests of honor, of course.( @stuffman-main, @askanoarfish, @itspurvis, and PXtfd who isn’t on tumblr )

23) Big or small ceremony? Fucking huge, considering all the supporting cast our characters had.

24) Honeymoon?  The two plane hopped for half a month after the wedding.

25) Kids? Maya traded her fertility for the lifespan, but it was arguable if she was fertile to begin with after all the modifications already built in. She and Jane would become the immortal lesbian aunties to Maya’s entire birth family though.