Story Twelve Climactic Boss Fight Part Two

<Uqbarian> I can't decide whether to spend my last 3 CPs on Spirit 3 or some MPs.

<Rand Brittain> A difficult decision!

<Uqbarian> Any tips? :)

<Rand Brittain> Hm.

<Rand Brittain> You should buy Secondary Domain (Kitties).

<Uqbarian> Not high on my list of priorities. Unless that's a hint that the Garden's defenders are kitties?

<Rand Brittain> In fact they are not.

<Rand Brittain> It merely means that your priorities are messed up.

<Uqbarian> Fair point.

  • Benhimself (~ten.tsacmoc.tc.1dsh.4BB38BA-ratScigaM|yarw.neb#ten.tsacmoc.tc.1dsh.4BB38BA-ratScigaM|yarw.neb) has joined #childrenofeve

<Uqbarian> Spirit 3 it is.

<Uqbarian> Hey, Ben!

<Rand Brittain> Hallo.

<Benhimself> Heyo.

<Uqbarian> Updated stats for Alexa at http://locuswiki.wikidot.com/alexa-fortis.

  • RandBrittain frowns.

<Rand Brittain> That domain name was expensive!

<Rand Brittain> Well, actually it wasn't but that's not the point.

<Benhimself> Mmm. I can't think of any one-point gift that would really be worth it, at this point.

<Uqbarian> Durant?

<Uqbarian> Or an extra MP.

  • crusher_bob (~moc.rotagivten.citats.9A86DB2B-ratScigaM|b_rehsurc#moc.rotagivten.citats.9A86DB2B-ratScigaM|b_rehsurc) has joined #childrenofeve

<Rand Brittain> Good evening.

<crusher_bob> hello

<crusher_bob> is this the appointed hour?

<Rand Brittain> Yep, just waiting for boroboro.

<Uqbarian> Hey, bob!

  • borogove (~zn.oc.artx.maertstej.0AF5B792-ratScigaM|rednaxelA#zn.oc.artx.maertstej.0AF5B792-ratScigaM|rednaxelA) has joined #childrenofeve

<borogove> hey people.

<Rand Brittain> Helloboro.

  • You are now known as HollyhockGod

<Benhimself> Durant seems a bit silly as an Immortal.

<Hollyhock God> You can never be too careful.

  • crusher_bob is now known as Ebba
  • Benhimself is now known as RyanSherbrig

<Uqbarian> Hey, gove!

  • Uqbarian is now known as Alexa

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Save up for Immortal… twice! Requiring twice as much negative gift to trump!)

  • borogove is now known as Fiona

<Hollyhock God> Fortunately for the Excrucians the Negative Gift triggers automatically when needed.

<Hollyhock God> So.

<Hollyhock God> It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (I thought that was only if they bought it as a focus. Hmm.)

  • Alexa lights lamp

<Hollyhock God> The stars stare down at you, oppressively.

<Hollyhock God> The trees and shrubs are black and twisted. Their roots squeeze at the ground as the plants strangle each other in a constant war of survival.

<Hollyhock God> You think you hear animals in the distance, but even Ebba isn't sure exactly where.

<Hollyhock God> The center of the garden is over that way.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "That way!"

<Hollyhock God> As you hurry along, your army comes behind you, making enough noise to wake the dead. No chance for subtlety here.

<Hollyhock God> The central area of the Sable Gardens is much like the Watcher showed you.

<Hollyhock God> The huddled figure of a man sleeps in the roots of a giant, ancient tree.

<Hollyhock God> In the shapes twisted into its bark you recognize the imagery of Shame.

<Ryan Sherbrig> ("Recognize? We've obviously never met.")

<Hollyhock God> "Intruders!" grunts the tree, whose name is Roots-of-Bone. "Crush them!"

  • HollyhockGod initiates combat time.

<Hollyhock God> Ebba, you may go first.

<Hollyhock God> The order is Ebba-Alexa-Ryan-Ryan's goons-Fiona-Shame-the First Lord.

<Fiona> (that seems a reasonable order to me)

<Ebba> Hmm, lets try to imitate hercules and uproot the tree and hold out of contact with the earth

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Presumably based on Aspect and Not-Being-Asleep)

<Alexa> (What alchemical trickey did Ebba end up bringing?)

<Alexa> (trickery)

<Hollyhock God> (I don't think she brought any.)

<Hollyhock God> What miracle level are you using, Ebba?

<Alexa> (Oh.)

<Ebba> 5

<Hollyhock God> Pen?

<Ebba> am out of regular AMPs, due to using an alchemy word of command

<Ebba> so well try lvl 4, pen 1

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Well, evidently she brought SOMETHING.)

<Hollyhock God> When did you use an Alchemical Word? You never declared that you made anything.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Part of its power is being secret from the HG)

<Ebba> eh, though we were going to be doing that at the start of this session

<Ebba> along with whatever ryan wanted to be calling up

<Hollyhock God> Everyone else go ahead and declare your actions.

<Hollyhock God> I know Ryan called two more Daughters but that's all I'm aware of.

<Alexa> Alexa is in Elemental Form; she uses Sovereign's Gift to throw herself at the branches of Shame.

<Alexa> (Sovereign's Gift is a Lesser Change equivalent; Alexa's version now has 5 Pen.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Nice.)

<Hollyhock God> Keep declaring!

<Alexa> Mundane action: "Nice tree you have here. *Shame* if it caught fire!"

<Alexa> (Sorry. :))

<Hollyhock God> One day I will have vengeance on you for all these puns.

<Hollyhock God> I need everybody to declare an action before resolution starts.

<Ryan Sherbrig> Ryan gestures imperiously, and turns the ground under the tree (and man) into lava. Spending 4 DMP from the focus for Lesser Creation, Penetration 5.

<Alexa> (That day could be this day, HG!)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (I will be sad if the first lord turns out to have spirit 6 or 7. Which Imperators can have.)

<Hollyhock God> (Well, you were already the only one vulnerable to being killed.)

<Fiona> Fiona will attempt to confine the sleeping man in a cage of brambles (lesser creation, 2 penetration)

<Hollyhock God> Very well.

<Ebba> (well, I was doing something, but then some scamp turned the ground underneath me into lava :D )

<Fiona> (oh, mundane action: move to stand next to Ryan)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (You're Immortal! You can handle it.)

<Alexa> (Lava, come back to me!)

<Hollyhock God> Ebba dances nimbly along Shame's roots to reach his trunk and begins to pull upward on him, while Alexa begins burning through the branches.

<Hollyhock God> Roots begin sprouting from the greasy earth and twining themselves around her ankles. She starts to fall.

<Hollyhock God> Fortunately, Ryan's transformation of the ground into lava burns those roots away.

<Ebba> (is that me or Alexa?)

<Hollyhock God> That's Ebba, who is on the ground.

<Hollyhock God> A torrent of what is technically rain but is more like an ocean falls from the sky.

<Hollyhock God> Suddenly, the Gardens are several feet deep in water.

<Hollyhock God> The First Lord is left bobbing Fiona's brambly cage. He still seems quite peaceful, so Shame yells "Master! We are in danger!" to wake him up.

<Hollyhock God> So far, it doesn't work.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Hmmm, dousing a large pool of lava with water, eh?)

<Alexa> (He probably knows we can't hurt him. Or he has a plan!)

<Hollyhock God> The torrent of water has a somewhat explosive reaction as it touches the molten lava. Those of you standing in it find yourselves being flung into the air.

<Hollyhock God> Alexa, the water fails to penetrate your Auctoritas, so you can continue burning, and do so.

<Hollyhock God> Leaves and branches blacken under your hands as you make your way to the trunk!

<Hollyhock God> I suppose Fiona's Auctoritas protects her and Ryan as well, so they're standing in an open circle in the middle of five feet of water.

<Hollyhock God> New round; declare your moves.

<Ebba> (have we figured out what his spirit is yet?)

<Hollyhock God> Less than 6.

<Ebba> (: D)

<Hollyhock God> I don't think Fiona's cage actually went inside the First Lord's Auctoritas, so you don't know there yet either.

<Hollyhock God> Alexa used a miracle with P5, and you never got near enough to know owing to being rooted.

<Fiona> (in that case, can I have my MP for penetration back?)

<Hollyhock God> If you like.

<Fiona> (ta.)

  • RyanSherbrig gestures at the First Lord, gripping his heart with inky black vulnerability. (spending the last of my focus DMPs.. negative gift requires one dmp, right?)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Assume I do that when it's my turn, anyway)

  • Alexa keeps drilling down with her Gift.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "The tree is a distraction! Strike for the First Lord!"

<Alexa> "In the name of the Light, we demand you surrender this place to us!"

<Ryan Sherbrig> (As a mundane action)

<Ebba> (as for what I intended to do with alchemy, I'd was planning on borrwing everyones hope for a little while to forge a weapon against the dark)

<Alexa> (The tree is a Noble, so a fairly good distraction! Also, Ryan probably has to Negative-Gift the First Lord, on the plausible assumption that the latter is Immortal.)

<Ebba> (a word of command gets me an imperial miracle with some limitations)

<Hollyhock God> So what are the limitations?

<Ebba> (I'm tempted to say that since I've borrowed everyones hope things are probably pretty interesting back on earth, but I'm not sure if that is an appropriate limitation)

<Fiona> (I'm not sure it's possible to take Fiona's hopes away from her)

<Hollyhock God> The limitation has to be bad for *you*.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (They know she did it?)

<Alexa> (Er… borrowing everyone's hopes seems like a rather un-Light thing to do.)

<Ebba> (hmm, since my hope went into it, I am technically not a servant of the light right now, and can't gain MPs from being in service to it?)

<Hollyhock God> That's really not a significant limitation, since you haven't done that once all campaign yet!

<Ebba> (heh)

<Hollyhock God> I think I do not want to figure out what you did now that the battle is already joined.

<Hollyhock God> You'll have to cope with immortality and the mere strength of a pre-Crisis Superman.

<Ebba> (ok)

<Ebba> since shame seems to think he needs to shout to wake up the first lord, I'll use aspect 7 to punch all the sound nearby into submission, so that there won't be anything to disturb his nap

<Ebba> (so we can deal with his nbole first)

<Hollyhock God> Is that likely to work when Ryan is over there applying the Negative Gift?

<Ebba> (heh, guess we should have come up with a plan, rather than an intention)

<Alexa> (That's not our style!)

<Ebba> (well, let's concentrate on the first lord then)

<Alexa> (But I suggest that before we reached the centre, we had our army form a perimeter a bit outside, watching out for local beasts and other defenders.)

<Ebba> (since bad things will happen to shame if we get rid of him anyway, right?)

<Hollyhock God> I hope they can swim!

<Hollyhock God> Impossible to know.

<Alexa> (Some of them can swim, some can fly, and they can help the rest.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (We had an island-chain chancel. I certainly /hope/ most of them could handle a few feet or water.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Although undoubtably some of them couldn't. Theirs is the noblest sacrifice of all!)

<Hollyhock God> You're thinking of Maebara, aren't you, Ryan?

<Hollyhock God> I think I have actions for Ryan and Alexa.

<Alexa> (… who can no longer swim after we changed him.)

<Fiona> lesser change to the bramble cage, so it constricts and attempts to strangle the sleeping lord (with 3 penetration, since I can't have only two)

<Ebba> (oh well, time for brute force approach)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Instead of hurting the tree-dude, maybe try throwing it far away?)

<Ebba> will try to get close again, so silly environmental miracles won't be able to shake me off

<Ebba> (aspect 5, pen 2)

<Hollyhock God> Close to who?

<Ebba> shame

<Ebba> as a prelude to throwing him out of the combat for a while

<Hollyhock God> Very well.

<Ebba> if there's enough pen, start with some uprooting

<Hollyhock God> Ebba leaps out of the water and clings to the trunk of the tree and begins pulling up.

<Hollyhock God> It's rather heavy. You aren't having trouble with his Auctoritas, but Aspect 5 isn't enough to lift and throw an oak tree.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (If only you had some way of becoming a giant tree yourself!)

<Ebba> (yes, that'd need something like aspect 6 or 7)

<Ebba> (but needed to see how much pen I'd need first)

<Hollyhock God> Ryan hears Pandora's voice say "Right" as the scarab flies out of his hands and clamps its legs around the First Lord's neck.

<Hollyhock God> He begins to jolt and move in his sleep as nasty black lines begin to appear under his skin.

<Alexa> (I'd have thought Aspect 5 would suffice, but this isn't an ordinary tree, of course.)

<Hollyhock God> Immortality is negated. Manufacturer's warranty is voided.

<Hollyhock God> I can't think of any animals that can lift and throw a tree.

<Fiona> (ryan gets 12 billion darkside points and becomes a fallen jedi)

<Alexa> (Machines, though. And we've totally been played, haven't we? :))

<Hollyhock God> Alexa gets her hands on Shame's trunk and begins sending blackened cracks as his trunk begins to split.

<Hollyhock God> Fiona's cage whips around to form a noose. I still don't think he really needs to breathe but trying to snap his spine and pushing that scarab farther in can't be doing him any good.

<Hollyhock God> Roots-of-Bone cries out in agony as Alexa gets dangerously close to his heartwood.

<Hollyhock God> His cry lasts for one second before abruptly ceasing.

<Ebba> (Hmm ?)

<Hollyhock God> For the second time in this campaign, Alexa finds herself in the middle of a vacuum.

<Alexa> (Ha!)

<Alexa> (Having experienced this before, I used a Lesser Change on my elemental fire beforehand so it doesn't consume air!)

<Alexa> (… HG permitting, of course. :))

<Hollyhock God> …Whatever.

<Hollyhock God> The First Lord's hand goes to his throat as he tries to get a grip on what's happening around his body.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (And of course, with immortality negated, that would include his ability to not have to breath in a vacuum, yes?)

<Hollyhock God> You feel a strange wave pass over you!

<Hollyhock God> (I have decided that it doesn't.)

<Hollyhock God> Things begin floating into the air.

<Hollyhock God> Earth and water begin moving upward, along with Roots-of-Bone and Ebba!

<Hollyhock God> Alexa, Fiona, your Auctorita block the effect, but you're now surrounded in bubbles of water and mud as the ground streams past you.

<Alexa> (Yuck!)

<Hollyhock God> New actions!

<Fiona> sustain miracle.

<Alexa> Burn out his heart.

<Ryan Sherbrig> Spend 2 DMP to command the Grix to kill the First Lord.

<Ryan Sherbrig> SMP, even.

<Ryan Sherbrig> Sorry.

<Ryan Sherbrig> Mundanely taking it out of my jacket in happy-fun-ball form and throwing it towards the melee.

<Ebba> kaiju tree form! so that people who are floating away (if any) have something handy to hold on to

<Hollyhock God> Ebba expands into a tree as big as the Chancel can hold!

<Hollyhock God> This is currently about a mile high.

<Hollyhock God> Also, you're orienting sideways in the air about five hundred feet up, which seems to be where gravity is now.

<Hollyhock God> Roots-of-Bone is left clinging somewhere in your branches. Apparently trees can't fly.

<Ebba> despite my huge size, and the possibility that our army might be crushed by me, I land on shame and no one else. (aspect 7, pen 2)

<Hollyhock God> But that's not really his worst problem, because Alexa is burning out his heart.

<Hollyhock God> You've already done your miracle for this turn!

<Hollyhock God> Oh, yeah, I suppose your army is floating around somewhere, too.

<Alexa> ("Wheeeee!")

<Hollyhock God> The bits that aren't squashed.

<Alexa> ("Eeeeee!")

<Ebba> (even if he only has aspect 0, won't it take at least 3 actions to kill him?)

<Hollyhock God> Alexa finds Shame's black, twisted heart!

<Hollyhock God> Look, there it is, just waiting for you to take it with one more miraculous action.

<Hollyhock God> (Alexa's burned him twice now. Three times, in fact!)

<Hollyhock God> Ryan tosses out his ball of Grix into the whirl of mud and water. Not sure where it is right now.

<Hollyhock God> Fiona, her killer instinct aroused, continues choking!

<Ryan Sherbrig> (It has Aspect 5, it can handle itself)

<Hollyhock God> Roots-of-Bone screams out his last miracle, which Alexa feels zooming past her but can't identify.

<Alexa> (Oh dear…)

<Hollyhock God> The First Lord gets a grip on the choking vines and withers them with a touch.

<Hollyhock God> "Excrucians, in my Keep? But… no. I see that you are merely traitors."

<Hollyhock God> New actions!

<Ryan Sherbrig> "You are the traitor… to all humanity!"

<Alexa> Heartburn.

<Ryan Sherbrig> I order to the Daughts of Night to join in on attacking the First Lord.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (And wish I had better than aspect 0 comebacks.)

<Fiona> (did those vines manage to knock off any health levels before they disappeared?)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Daughters, even.)

<Hollyhock God> I'm sure they hurt.

<Fiona> major creation, flowering plants everywhere. no penetration.

<Ebba> (still no handle on the pentration needed?)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (She's already redecorating. Such chutzpah!)

<Hollyhock God> On whom?

<Ebba> (the first lord)

<Hollyhock God> Well, it's more than zero.

<Fiona> (3 or less, given the vines)

<Ebba> (now how do you spend 90 cp, but still have enough stuff to buy to have spirit 3 or less? :D)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Piles of awesome gifts?)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Alternatively, Domain 7 with two secondary domains at 7 as well?)

<Alexa> (Making a proxy that people think is the First Lord?)

<Fiona> (worldbreaker's hand? or whatever that destroy anything gift is?)

<Hollyhock God> Domain is expensive for Imperators!

<Hollyhock God> Especially when many of your Estates aren't good at Noble-on-Noble combat.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (And, in this situation, remarkably tricky to use, given he's got all direct-estates and we're all immune to… yeah.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (and our army is immune to direct miracles, as are most of my summons.)

<Ebba> (well, lets get back to the maiming)

<Ebba> I'll try squeezing him in my branches (aspect 6, pen 3)

<Hollyhock God> Ebba reaches down from the sky to grasp the First Lord in her limbs!

<Hollyhock God> Alexa delivers a final blow to the heartwood with the flat of her palm. It cracks apart.

<Hollyhock God> Achievement Unlocked: Kill a Sovereign Power

<Hollyhock God> Achievement Unlocked: Great Service to the Light

<Hollyhock God> Alexa levelled up!

<Hollyhock God> Alexa received 5 MP!

<Alexa> Achievement Unlocked: Murder

<Ebba> (Secret Achievement unlocked: Servant of the Excrutians?)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Nah, that's just me)

<Hollyhock God> Ryan sends forth his Daughters, who were stealthing along behind him. You just didn't notice!

<Ryan Sherbrig> (So stealthy)

<Hollyhock God> The Daughters, as they drop their stealth, become vulnerable to the HG's notice, and thus fall into the sky along with everything else!

<Hollyhock God> Ryan and Fiona fall too as the reversal of gravity becomes part of standard reality.

<Ebba> (aren't they stealthy enough to hide from gravity? )

<Alexa> (Ha!)

<Hollyhock God> Fiona fills the ground with flowers as she goes.

<Hollyhock God> "I am merely a servant of what is," says the First Lord calmly from his vantage point on the ground.

<Hollyhock God> "Whereas your actions give the greater benefit to what is not. I confess, I had not thought anyone could be so foolish."

<Hollyhock God> New round!

<Ebba> (has he done anything but talk to us so far?)

<Hollyhock God> Oh, right, he should do a miracle.

<Alexa> (*golf clap*)

<Alexa> (;))

<Hollyhock God> He waves a hand vaguely at you.

<Hollyhock God> The earth, which has been falling into the sky now, becomes a ball and encapsulates you neatly.

<Alexa> (Just Ebba, or everyone?)

<Hollyhock God> Ebba, your crown and roots are sticking out of a giant ball of earth. Everybody else is stuck in the ball somewhere.

<Alexa> (Ah.)

<Hollyhock God> Fiona is technically falling through the ball.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "You seek to destroy humanity, nay, to transform humanity into an agent of its own destruction. A servant of what is, indeed!"

<Hollyhock God> He can't hear you because you're stuck in a ball of dirt.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Can I take light form and squeeze out before it closes? It technically doesn't resolve until his next action, right?)

<Hollyhock God> You can.

  • RyanSherbrig assumes elemental form!

<Hollyhock God> The rest of you?

<Alexa> (Will Alexa's Sovereign's Gift allow her to shove herself through the earth?)

<Hollyhock God> I suppose you can try.

<Alexa> (She'd try it anyway, so use an action even if it's not effective.)

<Fiona> steps through a nearby flower to one on the outside of the sphere of earth

<Alexa> (Handy!)

<Ebba> (hmm, me being the one the mirable was directed at, my action to get out may be harder)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Just grow bigger as needed)

<Fiona> (if you've still got the first lord in your clutches, why don't you just keep crushing him?)

<Fiona> (the earth can't actually harm you)

<Ebba> (but it makes me look fat! :D)

<Fiona> (I guess most of our army are coming down with a bad case of deceased?)

<Hollyhock God> Indeed!

<Ebba> (assuming the first lord is still in the ball of earth somewhere, I'll use my roots to try to make tunnels through it, so that the grix and daughters can get to him and have a go

<Alexa> (Awww.)

<Hollyhock God> Hey, that's a good idea!

<Hollyhock God> Ebba begins plowing her root structure through the earth, making a series of channels for the summoned beasties!

<Hollyhock God> Alexa attempts to move through the gaps in time to escape, but fails.

<Hollyhock God> Ryan shines out at the speed of light!

<Hollyhock God> Fiona teleports away.

<Hollyhock God> As the First Lord twists his grip into an angry fist, the earth crashes in upon Alexa and begins choking her as best it can.

<Hollyhock God> New actions!

<Alexa> (Alexa creates a blast of heat at volcanic-eruption level to drive a tunnel through the heart of the dirtball.)

<Alexa> (Major Creation, 2 DMPs, no Pen so it won't hurt Ebba's roots.. or the First Lord.)

<Alexa> (Just trying to make space to move, really.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> Spend 2 of my own DMP for a major creation of transformation, changing the earth into mist. No pen, but it should get rid of most of the bulk, at least.

<Hollyhock God> You don't have the Focus anymore.

<Hollyhock God> It's stuck in the First Lord.

<Ryan Sherbrig> Ah, wasn't sure. Hmmm.

<Ryan Sherbrig> I spend an SMP to make my virtue "Dedicated to the Light" manifestly obvious, hoping to draw his attacks away from my Familia!

<Ryan Sherbrig> And hope my minions are more efficacious.

<Hollyhock God> Ebba, Fiona?

<Fiona> lesser creation of rebirth, bring some of our deceased army back as burrowing soldiers

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Just a heads up, I've about ten minutes left.)

<Ebba> (we have the 'story' miracle point reserve right?)

<Hollyhock God> You mean Dynasty Points?

<Alexa> (Yeah, I don't think we've used any DynPs at all.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (And we get, what, one per session normally?)

<Hollyhock God> Ryan burned some a while back to do a Major Divination.

<Hollyhock God> Yes, one per session, so… you still have a lot.

<Alexa> (So we'd have 40! Minus Ryan's expenditure.)

<Fiona> it's a pity you can't lend miracle points to other characters

<Alexa> (We should save 25 in case we want to buy off an Imperator point. ;))

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Which would probably be… 3? Assuming I used my own DMP, and enough dynasties to get a full word in for penetration)

<Hollyhock God> It does in fact seem like you have 37.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Back to murdering the first lord!)

<Ebba> (yay, back to squeezing the first lord like an orange)

<Hollyhock God> Ebba squeezes him like an orange.

<Hollyhock God> But his Auctoritas makes this impossible! I guess it's more than 2.

<Hollyhock God> Alexa blows a hole in the ball of dirt to make her way out.

<Hollyhock God> Ryan turns into a "Kick Me" sign.

<Hollyhock God> The Daughters slash!

<Hollyhock God> The Grix munches!

<Alexa> (No, Alexa's trying to make her way *in*.)

<Hollyhock God> The First Lord falls to his knees.

<Hollyhock God> Either way. The First Lord is still on the ground, you know.

<Alexa> (Do you mean he's on the surface of the ball, not the inside?)

<Hollyhock God> No, the actual ground.

<Hollyhock God> Or, wherever the ground used to be.

<Hollyhock God> I presume the Chancel still has a floor.

<Alexa> (Oh, right!)

<Hollyhock God> Oh, what the hell, he's down to a last Fragile and it's eleven o'clock.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (/me mundane actionly kicks him.)

<Hollyhock God> Ebba crushes him as his Auctoritas finally fails.

<Hollyhock God> He tries to breathe out a final curse, but can't, so he resorts to mocking ironic laughter.

<Hollyhock God> He dies.

<Hollyhock God> Achievement Unlocked: Kill the First Lord of the Dark.

<Alexa> (:o)

<Hollyhock God> Achievement Unlocked: Great Service to the Light!

<Ebba> Hurry friends, to the phoenix signal!

<Ryan Sherbrig> (/me cues up "Now you're a hero")

<Hollyhock God> Achievement Unlocked: Basically Greater Service to the Light than Anyone, Ever.

<Hollyhock God> From above you hear, as promised, the song of the Phoenix.

<Alexa> (And possibly service to the Excrucians, a bit.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmuiwOGi5gA)

<Fiona> (Achievement unlocked: do the excrucian's work for them)

<Hollyhock God> As the black sky fades into the blue of the true Earth, she falls down from the sky.

<Hollyhock God> The noise and the pressure are almost deafening as she comes down, pulling the earth and water with her.

<Hollyhock God> You slowly fall to the ground as your Ymera falls quickly to the ground.

<Hollyhock God> She hits the earth with a heavy thud and a crack as her spine snaps.

<Hollyhock God> Fire pours from her body and into the soil.

<Hollyhock God> Ryan, you feel an unpleasant wrenching as your attunement to the Fire Isles vanishes, and an uncomfortable flapping sensation as a new domain prepares to replace it.

<Hollyhock God> There is fire, and light, and warmth, and the joy that pours into your hearts is so powerful that for a minute you fear it will consume what was left of your mortal selves.

<Hollyhock God> Time becomes fluid for a moment, and then it is day.

<Hollyhock God> Ryan finds himself replacing the uprooted plants into the soil.

<Hollyhock God> Fiona too! It's surprisingly easy.

<Hollyhock God> Already new greenery is sprouting from the soil, and the Phoenix sleeps peacefully in the central dais.

<Hollyhock God> It's quite vibrant in Eden, unsurprisingly. Anything Fiona plants seems to more or less jump right up.

<Ebba> anyone in the army survive?

<Hollyhock God> Nope, it was a TPK.

<Hollyhock God> But the standard system now applies.

<Hollyhock God> While Alexa is reforging the broken masonry, Ebba is watching a baby growing in a peapod.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Does Monothaia reappear as a peaceful garden goddess instead of a firey volcano goddess?)

<Hollyhock God> He's pretty in a way that Ryan would find vaguely annoying.

<Alexa> (Hahaha!)

<Hollyhock God> Monothaia is extremely annoying to find that she's an ordinary volcano again.

<Hollyhock God> *annoyed

<Alexa> (We'll send her a postcard.)

<Hollyhock God> Not really sure why you're fixing bricks right now; that's just where you were when you faded in.

<Hollyhock God> At the beginning of the next story you'll receive 5 MP of your preferred type for Great Service to the Light.

<Alexa> (And the Phoenix will soon emerge as … the Dark Phoenix! Muahahaha!)

<Fiona> so, how have we changed from how we were before? if we have?

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Is the scarab still handy?)

<Hollyhock God> I'd also like to congratulate you on your possession of a new Chancel, whose properties have changed since it was rebuilt by the Phoenix.

<Hollyhock God> (The scarab's whereabouts are unknown. Your magic cannot detect it.)

<Alexa> (Oops.)

<Hollyhock God> Eden has the benefits of Defender's Blessing 5, along with some other benefits you'll discover in time.

<Ebba> that's the same thing as destroyed, right?

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Sweet!)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (That will be handy when, oh, all of the dark come and try to kill us.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (And, um, Wanda.)

<Hollyhock God> You shall also receive a unique Gift from your Hollyhock God, as a reward for completing your original campaign goal.

<Alexa> (Tomorrow, the court summons arrives.)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Serve thy imperator before the war!)

<Alexa> "We did it!"

<Hollyhock God> For Ebba, "Roots of the World." You can decide not to move, and become immovable as per Aspect 9 as a simple miracle.

<Ryan Sherbrig> "This calls for a celebratory party!"

<Hollyhock God> For Ryan, "the Eyes of Light." You can Major Creation floating-eye spirits through which you can see.

<Hollyhock God> For Fiona, "Field of Poppies," a Major Creation of sleep-inducing spores as a normal miracle.

<Hollyhock God> And for Alexa, "Lightning Speed," giving you Aspect 6 speed automatically whenever you need it.

<Hollyhock God> These are the powers awakened in you by Eden's genitive properties.

<Alexa> (Sweet!)

<Ryan Sherbrig> (Nice!)

  • Alexa takes Elemental Form and shoots across the sky of the reclaimed Eden.

<Ryan Sherbrig> (And now I have to go. Updated my character sheet with the gift and presumed character point from last story and this one, and thanks for game all!)

<Hollyhock God> Glad to have you.

<Hollyhock God> Say hello to Lord Entropy on your way out, will you?

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