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raeynbowboi · 4 years ago

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How to Play as Robin in DnD 5e

I’ve built Raven and Starfire, so now it’s time to move on to the boys, starting with the level-headed leader of the team: Dick Grayson, better known as the first Robin to serve under the caped crusader. We trained under a great detective, and we need to reflect that in the way we build ourselves.

The Boy Wonder is your garden variety human, no reanimated corpses here. So, we’ll treat Robin as a Standard Human. If you want to nitpick that Robin could kick Cinderblock without shattering his leg bones, then I guess go with Variant Human, but I’ll be balancing him as a Standard Human for this build.

Before we were Robin we were part of the Flying Graysons, a circus act. We’ll take the Entertainer Background as an Acrobat for Acrobatics and Performance. But if you’d rather focus on Robin’s tutelage under a master detective, take the Investigator Background for Athletics and Insight (but not Investigation for some reason). As a Rogue, we’ll take Investigation, Stealth, Perception, and Deception for our skills of choice, and put our Expertise into Investigation, Acrobatics/Athletics, Stealth, and Deception.

For Alignment, we can get pretty obsessive and unhinged when dealing with Slade, enough that Raven had to pin us down to keep us from injuring a civilian. We also went undercover as a villain to get close to Slade and fought our own friends to keep up the disguise. We’re Chaotic Good. Stopping the bad guy is all that matters by any means necessary.

ROGUE

Arcane Trickster. While this might seem like an odd choice, as Robin is not a wizard, there are a lot of Wizard spells that could be re-skinned as Robin’s tools, such as Fog Cloud for smokescreens, Jump, Longstrider, Spider Climb, and Haste for mobility. Darkvision for night vision goggles. Even more fantastic spells are within Robin’s skill sets by his building of Red X’s suit with things like teleportation (Misty Step), nets and pastes (Hold Person), Silencers (Silence) or holograph duplicates (Mirror Image).

Inquisitive. The Inquisitive Rogue is a natural detective, with an eye for details and an ear for deceit, they excel at solving mysteries and getting to the truth. You can even analyze your opponent, and develop a strategy to have advantage on an opponent, even without allies flanking the enemy, great for one-on-one combat.

Mastermind. A master of deception and strategy, playing the role of a tactician and a spy. You can pass yourself off as someone else by mimicking their voice and disguising yourself, you can Help an ally as a bonus action, and you can learn when an enemy creature’s INT, WIS, or CHA is higher, lower, or equal to your own.

MONK

Kensei. Robin is all about weapon combat. His tool belt is his greatest advantage, and the Kensei Monk hides a few extra tricks up its sleeve. This subclass gives Robin more tactics to employ, not unlike the Maneuvers of the Battle Master Fighter.

Shadow. The ninja subclass of DnD 5e, the Shadow Monk is highly focused on stealth and infiltration, with spells for sneaking and disarming, rather than dealing damage, which is perfect for an espionage-heavy campaign. The ability to teleport between shadows means that no amount of large windows letting in the moonlight will ever expose him.

FIGHTER

Battle Master. The Battle Master is all about not just fighting but fighting smartly. You get proficiency with an artisan’s tools, we’ll pick Tinkerer’s Tools to dabble with technology. Later, we can study a creature and whether their Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Hit Points, Armor Class, total Class levels (if any), and total Fighter Levels (if Any) are greater, less than, or equal to our own.

BATTLE MASTER MANEUVERS Ambush (UA). Add your superiority die to a stealth check or an initiative roll, helping Robin get the first punch more often. Bait and Switch (UA). You switch places with a nearby ally, letting you switch the target from you to a teammate who can tank the hit better (like Cyborg, Starfire, or wildshaped Beast Boy) Commander’s Strike. If it didn’t specify your teammates make a weapon attack, this feature would be great. Because there’s just going to be times when Robin’s not as effective against an enemy, and he can give one of his attacks to a teammate. If your DM is willing to homebrew this to work better, great. but as is, this sin’t a great option for him. Disarming Attack. A good strategy, making enemies drop their weapons, arcane focus, or magic items. It’s also made with a Strength score, which after Intelligence I’ve tended to find that STR is the second most commonly dropped stat, meaning it’ll likely be an effective tactic. Feinting Attack. You gain advantage against a creature and add your Superiority die roll to your damage. Thus, giving Robin a way to fight one-on-one and still make use of his Sneak Attack. Granted, you should usually have your party with you, but in the case of tournaments, solo-missions, and party separation, Robin doesn’t lose a cornerstone of his combat capability. Maneuvering Attack. Decent for repositioning your teammates. Get Starfire or Raven out of Melee range, or help Beast Boy and Cyborg bridge the gap between themselves and other creatures. Robin can also help move low HP character closer to Raven for healing, allowing them to disngage from hostile creatures. Parry. Reduce melee damage by superiority die + DEX. This plus Evasion will really make Robin hard to take out. Rally. Basically Inspiring Leader, but Robin’s not Charismatic enough. But you could build him to make better use of it if you want. Reposte. A counter attack you’ll get great use out of with a high enough AC. Sweeping Attack. This lets you attack two enemies that are near each other, making it easier to mow through Slade’s robot minions.

FIGHTING STYLE Blinding Fighting (learned from the snake master in “The Quest”) Duelist (one-handed quarterstaff) Great Weapon Fighting (two-handed quarterstaff) Thrown Weapon Fighting (UA) (darts) Two-Weapon Fighting (twin shock clubs) Unarmed Combat (UA) (1d8+STR)

CLERIC

Light. This one’s a bit of a silly option, but potentially viable, a 1 level dip into Cleric can allow Robin to use Warding Flare like a flash grenade equal to his WIS mod, giving enemies that attack him disadvantage.

TACTICAL MASTERMIND Mastermind Rogue (12) Battle Master Fighter (7) Monk (1)

STR 10 DEX 20 CON 14 INT 18 WIS 18 CHA 9

FIGHTING STYLE Dueling

MANEUVERS Disarming Attack Feinting Attack Maneuvering Attack Parry Reposte

The benefit of mixing these classes together is two-fold: The Battle Master can pick Maneuvers that aid and utilize their teammates, and the Mastermind’s Master of Tactics is great for Teamwork, allowing you to Aid your teammates. As team leader, Robin needs to be able to direct his teammates, which is why I made sure to give him Maneuvering Attack. Secondly, Robin can read any kind of enemy, getting a feel for their stats, and how best to fight them. I decided to neglect Monk as all it really offers is unarmed combat, a higher AC, and the same Evasion feature Robin already gets as a Rogue and the same Extra Attack he gets from being a Fighter. While Inquisitive Rogue was tempting, Feinting Attack also gives Robin advantage on an opponent, so it’s the best of both worlds. If your DM is willing to alter Commander’s Strike to work for spells and ranged attacks (such as with Cyborg’s Eldritch Canon), it becomes a lot more useful, and can replace either Disarming Attack or Parry, and lets Robin get help from his teammates. Because when the enemy is weak to Fire damage, you want to give Starfire as many attacks as possible.

I find that this build of Robin achieves everything we set out to accomplish. He’s a strategic fighter, with an excellent blend of stealth, sleuthing, and combat prowess. He’s a decisive leader who can direct his teammates on the battlefield, and yet, he can also handle one-on-one fights as well. This results in Robin being exceptionally well-rounded. The Fighter levels also go a long way to making Robin far more durable than a straight Rogue or Monk would have. Higher HP means Robin can fight on the front lines with greater ease.

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jq37 · 5 years ago

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The Royal Report– A Crown of Candy Ep 4 The Grand Tournament

An Extremely Normal Tourney

It’s time for the royal tourney! A tourney that Brennan, who would never lie to us, has assured us will be all fun and games and only simulated danger! What could possibly go wrong?

For an exhaustive answer to what should be a rhetorical question, let’s join our PCs on the tourney grounds where they’re getting ready for their respective events.

Just to give you guys a quick rundown of who’s doing what:

Theobald is in the Joust, facing off against Lady Plumbeline.

Liam, Ruby, Lord Citron of Fructerra (Banana man), and Lady Freccia of Cerecia (Spaghetti Illithid woman) are in the archery competition.

There are two melee bouts going on:

One is a Vegetanian knight (Bonathan--french fries dude), Anabelle, Grissini, and Jet

The other is Keradin (Bulbian paladin from last ep), a Ceresian Gladiator, Scravoya (wife of the meat dude Amethar called out last episode), and Amethar.

The only person sitting out the festivities is old-man Lapin who is chilling in the high rollers box with the Pontifex, Alfredi, and some of the other important peeps we met last episode.

Lord and Lady Cruller are watching Jet’s fight and also have taken Primsy under their wing to keep her away from Stilton who Theobald has warned everyone about.

While Brennan rolls initiative for a million NPCs, the PCs mess around with the Message cantrip and Jet worries that something bad might happen to her dad during the tournament. Ruby says that, if anyone tries anything, they’ll stop it.

On to the matches!

In the first round of the archery competition, Liam does well with a 23 (he’s only beaten by Citron who gets a 25) and Ruby (who’s not really equipped for bow shooting at this distance and can’t get a magic boost without putting herself in major danger) lags behind with a 10.

In the main melee battle, Scravoya (who is fully just a t-bone steak with eyes) outright threatens Amethar and he leans into it, saying they should take out their competition so they can 1v1 each other. A very good idea but with only an 8 Persuasion roll to back it up, it doesn’t work. Amethar tries to make the same deal with Keradin but, when he’s rebuffed, goes into a rage and goes for Scravoya, hitting her for 19 points of damage. On her turn, she returns the favor for 16 points.

Jet decides to take a page from her dad’s book and tries to ally with Annabelle...by bringing up her ejection from the line of succession, her refusal to wed, and also declaring that she also won’t wed--each of those statements probably being enough to cause a scandal on its own. But even with disadvantage on Persuasion, Jet gets a 20 which means that while the crowd is scandalized, Annabelle is touched by the show of solidarity and salutes with her sabre. Then Jet hits Grissini for 21 points of damage, giving us insight into what his type is because his response is to instantly go full heart eyes for her. Doesn’t stop him from dealing a bunch of damage to Jet on his turn though.

Meanwhile, Lapin--saying it’s a request from the king--has Lord and Lady Swirly (who are in the box with him) hold comically full glasses of wine for when Amethar’s match is done, something they don’t question at all. He foregoes a “real turn” so he can act when something actually happens.

In the joust, Theobald and Lady Plumbeline run at each other and Theo super hits with a 24. The joust is supposed to be three rounds long but on a 15 Athletics to her nat 1, Theo absolutely sends her flying off her meep and ends it--and the chance at getting to name herself as a candidate for the Emperor’s successor--right then and there. He hops down off his meep to help her up but she slaps his hand away, picks herself up, fully crying, and runs off the field.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Back in the main melee, Brennan asks for 3 Con saving throws from Amethar, activating both mine and Lou’s Fight or Flight. Brennan says that Amethar takes 8 piercing damage and then 22 points of damage that are not halved (even though he’s raging) which brings him down to 6 HP. And, on top of that, he’s suddenly having trouble breathing.

Zac decides that this is a good time for Lapin to take his turn but, on an 8, doesn’t notice anything is wrong. Like yeah, Amethar’s hurt but it would be weird if it wasn’t. It’s a melee. Amether also rolls Perception and, with an 8, though he knows that something sharp cut into his side when he bumped into Keradin and the gladiator (which is weird because they’re all fighting with blunted weapons) he thinks he could have just gotten scratched by their armor or something.

Liam and Jet both fail their Perception checks on their turns to notice Amethar is in dire straits.

Oh Amethar’s turn, having realized that something Weird and Bad is happening, he fully nopes out of there and Disengages so he can hop the fence to the pen where Jet’s fight is happening (the one Cruller is watching) and lie down to signal to everyone that he’s not fighting anymore and needs help.

Unfortunately for him, Scravoya fails her Wisdom save and jumps the fence to continue wailing on Amethar, knocking him unconscious.

Lapin, paying off the Looney Tunes gag that he set up on his first turn, hip checks Lord and Lady Swirlie to make them throw the wine in Alfredi’s face. While she’s distracted, he does some sneaky healing on Amethar (13 pts) which no one clocks though Brennan doesn’t tell *them* that.

Amethar, while unconscious, sees his sister Rococco in a field of wheat in the spot where she died, who tells him to get up. In the real world, he does.

On Jet’s turn, she prepares to exit the fight to help her dad. Grissini notices that she’s distressed and asks if something’s wrong. When she says that someone is trying to kill her dad, he stops fighting, throws down his weapon, and tries to get the Pontifex’s attention.

As soon as it’s his turn, Theo accesses the Speed Force, runs all the way to Amethar, and disarms Scravoya. Jet is suddenly more interested in learning a disarming blow.

Ruby runs over to Jet to help out if she needs to (and, mechanically, so their lockets are in play) and also sends Yak up to keep an eye on things.

Cruller jumps down to help stop the fighting and check on Amethar, finding that Amethar can’t speak. He calls for a healer and Keradin comes over. Ruby makes him drop his mace as he passes her but he gets there and kneels next to him.

Liam casts Detect Poison and Disease since Amethar looks pretty sick (his deception roll to hide it is only a 10, yikes) and Brennan says there’s definitely poison happening. But oh no Brennan. You’re not getting away with just that. The language of that spell says you ID the type and location of poison in range.

Brennan reads the card to confirm that his shit is thoroughly fucked and then narrates that Liam detects a poison cocktail in Amethar which delivered 22 points of poison damage (he saved so 22 was half), gives the Poisoned condition (which he also saved from), and also silences the person for an hour (which is why he can’t talk). And location? Liam smells the same poison that’s in Amethar’s body on two daggers on Keradin’s belt. Liam calls him out (without explaining what’s going on very well--luckily Theo starts yelling poison to make things more clear for the audience) and casts Hunter's Mark very openly without really disguising it.

Father in danger, Jet tries to attack Keradin but misses twice. Amethar, on his turn, gets up, goes into a rage, and hits Keradin (whose eyes go blank and soft) and then backs up from him.

Scravoya keeps fighting because she’s a woman in a rage and on a mission (rather than anything especially sinister, a previous check showed that she thinks Amethar is cheating or wussing out which is why she’s kept fighting).

Back in the box, Alfredi is still chewing out the Swirlies and not really paying attention to the other insanity going on. The Pontifex meanwhile is watching intensely and is so shocked she can’t really move or speak. Lapin yells for them to call off the fight (21 Persuasion) and, even though he probably shouldn’t be giving orders while sitting next to someone who outranks him so completely, the Pontifex ignores that and yells at Keradin to kneel and he does so immediately.

The horns blow, the fight stops--even Scravoya stops. But we’re still in initiative. Anabelle jumps over and knocks Keradin further down. Grissini starts mobilizing guards to stop anyone running away. Theo tries to get the daggers from him and fails. Luckily Ruby is next and she casts Hex (giving Keradin disadvantage to Dex) and just barely grabs the poison daggers from Keradin’s belt with help from Yak, holding them up and loudly declaring their existence to the crowd like the performer she wants to be. The daggers are made of pure water which is super deadly to sugar people. And luckily, on a nat 1, no one notices her spell. Cruller goes after the fleeing Ceresian gladiator and we exit combat.

Keradin is grabbed by guards and is double arrested by the Pontifex and Grissini in a church/state tag team. Alfredi glances at Lapin and then comes down and heals the Poison condition from Amethar.

Liam tries to do a better job at disguising his magic as just non-magical ranger knowledge but doesn’t do a great job, even with help from Ruby.

Jet tries to see if Anabelle is on the level and her read on her is shaky because it’s been a crazy like minute and a half for her. She then apologizes for inadvertently embarrassing her. Anabelle says she needs to learn to be less quick to run off at the mouth outside of Candia but she doesn’t seem to have any hard feelings (especially since her scandal is like only the 9th craziest thing that’s happened at this point).

Lapin’s Big Day

The security minded people start to arrange escorts and guards and all the stuff you do when an assassination attempt happens. Theo wants to be part of the investigation. Lapin sees Alfredi talking to the Pontifex and pointing to Liam. The Pontifex then comes over to Grissini and says that the church would see Keradin hanged for his actions. Grisinni tells her that the Candians want to talk to him first and she’s fine with that. She leaves, followed by the meat people. Before he leaves, Senator Ciabatta checks in with Amethar and, without explanation, says that he doesn’t believe Keradin acted alone.

Liam is ready to just peace out into the woods before he’s tried as a witch but Theo tells him to stay. Cruller comes back and says that they arrested the dude he had been chasing down. They decide to split up with the kids and Tartgaurd going with Amethar to lay low--and to protect Liam--while the old dude squad--Theo, Lapin, and Cruller--go to supervise whatever’s going on with Keradin so he doesn’t just get disappeared before they can talk to him. Theo gives Jet Sprinkle (whose eyes he can see through) and they split up.

Anabelle comes over and introduces herself to Amethar, calling it a great honor as her dad was good friends with him. Jet makes a comment about her thighs being weapons because she hasn’t learned anything from her talk with Anabelle (who, for the record, doesn’t disagree with the content of the statement, just the appropriateness).

Prince Cabbage also passes by and they get the sense that he was not paying attention to anything that was going on and just had it explained to him after the fact (which, dude, how do you sleep through that???? Unless he didn’t and he wasn’t paying attention for some wild, Pepe Silvia reason, but too much craziness is going on this ep for me to start Wild Mass Guessing for no reason).

Lapin lets the others know that the cat might be out of the bag re: Liam’s magic and Cruller points out that it’s way easier for the church to off him than Ruby so he’s potentially in a LOT of danger. Even the king might be powerless to stop any retribution. Theo suggests that maybe if Liam was made a knight, that would give him some protection. Lapin thinks he might be able to talk to the Pontifex about it. And if neither of those work, Cruller can try and spirit him away back to Candia.

Plans set, they go find Keradin who is chained in a dungeon guarded by Grissini and his men. Lapin does an Insight check with advantage (helped by Theo) and our boy gets a nat 20! On that nat 20, he knows that Keradin is of such unshakable faith that he is immune to being mind controlled. He’s just an extremely loyal follower of the church who’s never had an independent thought in his life.

Lapin asks for the room to be cleared so he can have a conversation with Keradin and Grissini says he’s under orders from the Pontifex to not let Keradin get-got before the church has the chance to do it. “Oh,” says Lapin. “So you’re calling me, a man of that that same church, a liar and also a murderer? Interesting.” Grissini is so cowed that even without Lapin rolling Intimidation or Persuasion, Grissini deeply apologizes and clears the room.

Lapin makes like he’s going to break him out of his chains and asks Keradin where he’s supposed to meet with his co-conspirators. On a 25 Deception (!) v. Keradin’s 3 Insight, Keradin says that there was no plan and he was supposed to just let Amethar die on the field and walk away. Lapin asks where he can get another dagger so he can complete the attack and Keradin says he got his three from Alfredi!

Information gleaned, Lapin slaps Keradin across the face and calls back in the guard, telling them to arrest Alfredi. On a 22 Persuasion, Lapin is able to get Grissini to agree to this bold order and they head out.

Keradin loses his shit and starts pulling at his chains, yelling, “Apostate!” at Lapin who leans in and drops the rawest line anyone could have at that moment.

“Where is your Bulb now?”

Medal of Honor

When Lapin DID THAT my first thought was, “Man, I wish I still had Honor Roll on my recaps so I could give it to him.” Then I remembered I make the rules here and I can do whatever the hell I want.

What an absolutely BEASTLY set of moves from Lapin. I’ve always said, Zac is quietly super smart but always hampered in-game by the himbos he chooses to play but man did he make up for every insane, “Are you my Dad?” from S1 with his CRAZY flex this episode.

One of the best things you can do as a player is do something so logical and natural and fitting that the DM can’t help but give it to you, roll be damned and he got that from Brennan this episode.

Not to mention setting up his distraction a round in advance, coming up with a *great* way to get info from Keradin (in the moment I had no idea how he was gonna play that), taking Alfredi off the board so early into the game, and that sick, sick, mic drop of a line that forced Brennan to end the episode.

He went from sitting out the entire tournament to undisputed MVP of the episode. What a champ.

*Also, would be remiss if I didn’t mention that his gag of just creepily appearing on the king’s shoulder is my fave of the season so far.

Things I’m Concerned About

Well the number one thing I’m concerned about is a thing I didn’t even notice until I rewatched for this recap. Ruby grabs two water daggers off of Keradin but then Keradin tells Lapin that Alfredi gave him three water daggers. Which means that either water daggers are one use (3 - the one he used on Amethar = 2) OR, both more likely (assuming max drama at least) and troubling, there’s a third dagger floating around out there. And that’s such an easy thing to miss in the heat of the moment when you’re playing. So the question is, who has that third dagger? It would be weird if Alfredi had it--why give it right back to the person who gave it to you? If this is a Bubian conspiracy, maybe one of the other officials like Onionpatch--he would be an unexpected candidate. Either way, I hope someone clocked that bit of info or will soon because that’s a dangerous thing to just be lurking.

I’m concerned about how far down this rabbit hole goes (pun unintended but consciously retained). When Brennan said Keradin’s eyes went blank and soft during the struggle, I was thinking maybe mind control but he’s apparently immune to mind control (which I think means he’s at least a level 8 Paladin since that’s when they gain immunity to charm spells and abilities--so I guess he was just surprised at the turn of events in that moment and that’s what that was?). So how corrupt is this church? Does it go all the way to the Pontifex? Do they want a specific person on the throne or do they just not want a Candian on the throne since they’re well known for being lax with enforcing the magic restrictions, something the church would surely hate.

I’m concerned Theo might have inadvertently made an enemy of Plumbeline. Or, like, driven her to do something rash. Like, we know he was just being a good guy but she was obv not in a good headspace in that moment. It wasn’t a bad move from him--if she’d reacted well it would have been a good relationship to have, but the dice just weren’t on his side.

I’m concerned about what it will take before the children start thinking about the ~implications~ of their actions. Like, Jet airing royal laundry and declaring to not marry in front of everybody and Liam not even trying to hide his Hunter’s Mark at Keradin? This is the Actions Have Consequences season! I keep saying that and I’m sure it’s gonna continue until someone dies! And speaking of..

Like...come on. It’s gotta happen, right? And the longer they murder-block Brennan, the worse it’s gonna be when it happens! And like...I realllllly wouldn’t want to be Liam right now. It occurs to me that this would be a good opportunity to throw Liam under the bus for Ruby’s sake. Not saying they SHOULD do it obviously or that they would--in fact they started doing the opposite immediately. But if my main thought was protecting Ruby, I would accuse Liam--son of the traitor who openly did magic at the royal tournament--of having done the magic on the road, and that clears Ruby and he’s a much easier scapegoat.

Five Six More Things

Very funny that Ally basically only refers to Anabelle as, “the hot one”. Like that’s the only thing about her that stuck.

Let’s say Plumbeline had won and put her name up for consideration. Do you think her dad would have named her over Amethar? Like, I’m sure Amethar would be fine with it seeing as he doesn’t really want the job but I dunno.

What would win? An intricately plotted assassination attempt or a level 1 spell and a disengage action? LOL, RIP Brennan. Truly, Brennan was thwarted at every turn this episode. Amethar running away alleviated the need for everyone to make some near impossible Perception checks. Theo Usain Bolting over and disarming Scravoya. Liam clocking the poison stopped Keradin from doing any funny business and narrowed their suspects to one instead of literally everyone on the field. Ruby grabbing the daggers made it clear what was going on and showed that they were the victims of an attack not whatever all that nonsense looked like out of context. If they had played this any differently, Amethar would probably be dead. And, at no point watching that do you get the sense that this was a planned story event they were meant to get through shaken but unscathed. Brennan was gunning for him (“Stop trying to kill my dad!/Stop having you dad be the king!/Fuck you!/Fuck you!”).

I think it is very endearing that Grissini, upon hearing that Jet needed help, immediately started to wildly flag down the Pontifex but, upon actually talking to the Pontifex later, was very formal and hesitant, showing that he really just dropped all his inhibitions and social graces to help Jet in that moment.

What an INSANE thing to witness as an attendee of this tournament. Like, truly a year’s worth of drama within about 2 minutes. WILD.

Emily and Siobhan have a quick conversation about whether Alfredi is working with the cheese bandits where Emily cites, “Pasta with cream sauce” as evidence and if this season’s plot twists occur in such a way that they can be retroactively tracked by something like “foods that go together,” I am going to scream. I am also fully prepared for this to be the case.

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #a crown of candy #a crown of candy spoilers #the royal report

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lordofcrowns · 5 years ago

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➤ “If I were to warn you, what would I say...?”

C A P T A I N C Y R I L S T A C Y

Cyril is highly defensive, hard to hit, and extremely quick to punish anyone that gets in his melee range. Melee to mid-range is where he’s the most dangerous, because that puts his opponent both within bullwhip range, and grabbing range. In combat, Cyril’s motive is always to subdue his adversary, not to kill. His goal is to force them to surrender, and he will employ whatever nefarious and cruel tactics he must in order to manage this swiftly. He will grapple, choke, bruise, beat and break bones without hesitation if he has to.

His bullwhip is the weapon he’s the most proficient and dangerous with, as well as being the weapon with which he can inflict the most pain and fear. Typically his whip is used for crowd control - it is most often utilized to halt someone’s retreat. It’s common for people to attempt to flee, only to be tangled up in the coils and yanked back into Cyril’s range. It’s common for individuals to suffer dislocated joints or snapped limbs when this happens, to say nothing of the way the whip cuts into the skin upon latching onto them.

Once someone is stunned, entangled, or otherwise slowed enough for Cyril to get a firm grasp, he can use his right hand to shock them and effectively paralyze them long enough to shackle or bind them. In most encounters, once he’s shocked someone, unless there is outside intervention - the fight between those two is over.

U N T O U C H A B L E

While it’s no secret the Captain keeps his right eye covered, the reason as to why widely remains a mystery. Those oblivious to his name and reputation will typically assume he lost that eye somehow, or perhaps that he keeps it covered as some sailors prefer to do, to allow for better sight in the darkness below decks as well as to sharpen one’s aim. Few ask, as it’s of course terribly rude to pry into such things.

Those who do know of him will often insist the covered eye is magic, a source of power and the very thing that renders him “untouchable”. Rumors often circulate that this magic eye is also the source of the crackling lightning that sparks and manifests from his right hand, allowing him to knock people down for the count so easily once he merely gets a hold of them.

As if to deliberately reinforce the frankly wild belief and ridiculous rumors that he is invincible, Cyril outwardly bears no scars nor marks on his body.

[ bold for often // italicize for situational // strikethrough for never ]

commander / duelist / “honorable” / dishonorable / would have others do their fighting / stealthy / long-ranged / melee / technological / sorcery / superhuman abilities / has fought in an illegal tourney / a lover of fighting / a hater of fighting / cowardly / reckless / strategic / uses underhanded tricks / renowned for their skill / trained ( sword and shield ) / untrained / keeps skills secret / won a battle / lost a battle / ruthless / merciful

╳ F L A W S

♔ S T R E N G T H S

Tagged by: @whitherliliesbloom�� & @windupzenos ( Thank you both! )

Tagging: @verdandir @manawalls @finalvalor @noscean-scholar @wanderlust-spirits @cero-tia @menphinasbow @windup-dragoon @thebratcat @mystellis @reshaepocan @pearlescent-scales @bastets-ocs @alun-ura @finalsongxiv @amurr-reha @ennochian @mieyun @deviri @ashadowatthefork @unmend @candideangel @alinteau @sati-ffxiv @bolt-from-the-dark @ishgardianblossom @shroudblessings @sunnythanalan @windupnamazu & anyone else interested!

[ I know I’m a bit late on this one, so no pressure & if you’ve already done it / been tagged - my apologies. Also, please feel free to use me as your tagger even if I didn’t mention you, I would love to read more of these! ]

Full stat breakdown & continued Cyril related ramblings under the cut:

C O M B A T M O D E : C A P T A I N C Y R I L S T A C Y

★★★★★★★★☆☆ — STRENGTH ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ — OFFENSE ★★★★★★★★☆☆ — DEFENSE ★★★★★★★★★☆ — SPEED ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ — DURABILITY ��★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ — ACCURACY ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ — AGILITY ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ — STAMINA ★★★★★★★★★☆ — TEAMWORK ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ — STEALTH ★★★★★★★★★☆ — MELEE ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ — BLADES ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ — BLUNT ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ — RANGED ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ — MAGIC ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ — TRAPS ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ — MEDIC & ★★★★★★★★★★ — BULLWHIP

G E N T L E D I S C L A I M E R : Cyril is written more akin to a thriller genre villain, sometimes teetering over into horror depending on the situation - while still being set in high fantasy. I just realize he might be a bit much, perhaps too dark or violent, depending on your preferred entertainment genre / expectations, so please consider this a soft warning if that’s not something you enjoy!

O V E R V I E W [ C O N T I N U E D ] :

When in a fight, Cyril typically will come across collected, poised and honestly rather cocky. Cyril is something of an expert at breaking people’s morale and shattering their confidence, and that kind of behavior on his part often starts the very moment he and an opponent, or potential opponent, meet. Cyril will insult, belittle, talk down to, and make a great display of pity towards his adversary - this usually includes offering them ample opportunities to surrender to him before things get bloody.

In the inevitability that someone refuses to surrender, he’ll then dare them to prove themselves to him, which he will equate to proving themselves worthy of autonomy. Cyril will demand their attention and effort, and rather playfully jeer at them the whole time, especially if they seem distracted in any way [ say, for example, if he’s holding their loved one(s) hostage ]. That, however, is typically only his behavior at a distance, or as the fight begins and the two are getting a feel for one another.

Once a fight picks up, and especially once Cyril’s genuinely in melee range - you can expect him to start pushing and forcing himself into his opponent’s personal space. Definitely a byproduct of his confidence, but also typically something he can get away with due to sheer size and strength. He’ll grab, grope, and try to get people into uncomfortable holds they can’t easily wriggle out of. Choke-holds are common, whether he’s wrapped his arm about their neck from behind, or simply clasped his hand about their throat. Getting up in someone’s space may also mean pinning them to the wall, or pinning them down on the ground - he’s skilled at grappling and comfortable with either. It’s also common, both as a way to disorient as well dishearten, for Cyril to slap an opponent if he sees an opening. Usually a slap in the face is paired with an insult - maybe they let their guard down, maybe their footwork is poor - whatever it may be, Cyril will capitalize on any chance to humiliate his opponent.

In addition to getting uncomfortably close, one can expect him to snarl, shout, curse, and even growl at his opponents. Words may still be exchanged, but instead of playful banter one might instead hear whispered threats or extremely dark insinuations and other foul comments. It starts to sound like he’s finished being playful, though that isn’t necessarily the case. After all, he usually treats people like playthings, and encounters are often a game played at his leisure. Cyril likes to scare people, and he likes to see their reactions. He also just so happens to be entirely too willing to make good on any threat he whispers.

At his worst, if an opponent refuses to go down, or say his temper is getting the better of him - Cyril’s restraint will falter and he’ll start being unnecessarily violent. His temper is notoriously fickle, so whether his reaction is appropriate for the encounter he lashes out in or not is hard to say. He has a history of beating people bloody - be it with his whip, his body, or both - until they pass out. Cyril has kicked and crushed people under his boot hard enough to shatter bones and crack ribs, as well as doubtless inflicting many a concussion slamming people against this or that structure. His temper boiling over to such a degree as to see such behavior is rare... but not as rare as it should be.

O U T O F C H A R A C T E R N O T E S :

Cyril is written to be a powerful and ideally ( if I’m doing my job right ;; ) terrifying villain to go up against. He’s supposed to feel impossible to overpower, coupled with losing to him of course having massive & heavy repercussions - both for a hero / heroine and for that individual’s loved ones. I really wanted him to be scary and unforgivable.

While not invincible in any way, he would like to have others believe he is. Therefore, he invests no small amount of effort into selling that invincible image, with a generally rather high success rate. Rumors abound of an “untouchable” Captain Stacy, who boasts no scars and loses no duel. Which... it’s true he’s not yet lost a duel, but why that is can be written about another time.

I’ve written Cyril to intentionally be a villain that someone cannot simply overpower with brute force. Winning against Cyril is going to take strategy, forethought, and ultimately in some cases, stooping to his level or even flirting with a diplomatic relationship. He is a pirate, after all, pirates love to parley.

He’s generally meant to put a hero / heroine in a difficult position, where they’re forced to make decisions and do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do in order to defeat him, because again - simply overpowering him is not going to work. And at the same time, he cannot just be ignored or avoided, because his trade and his tendencies are too cruel and intrusive to cast a blind eye towards. Morally, he cannot be allowed to continue what he does, and someone has to put an end to it. I wanted to make him a villain that challenged heroes on a deeper level than just physical strength.

At least, all of that is what I hope for when I write him. Did I succeed? Who knows.

Thank you for reading! 🌹

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gold-eyes-vengeful-heart · 4 years ago

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Biomech Lore Post

Because I may as well go about it already! (Though do note that these are referred to as “Weapons” in FFXIV-related universes; a coincidence of a project name, having little to nothing to do with the VIIth Legion’s Weapon program, given that it’s run by the IXth Legion instead.)

More under the cut!

I generally consider these guys to be fandomless, with various details tweaked to fit whatever universe or RP thread or etc they’re being used in. Of which there are a few...but one thing that’s consistent through all of that is that these guys are all, to varying degrees, part biological and part mechanical war-weapons, though their external appearances imply the latter over the former. They’re also all quite self-aware and sapient, even if for some of them, the way their telepathic “voice” speaks implies a more alien intelligence that has to actively bend itself to be understood by human pilots at all.

This telepathy is key to controlling a biomech; physical controls do exist, but a pilot (or pilots, plural, depending on the universe) must have a strong and consistent mental link with the biomech in question in order to truly utilize it beyond simple, slow movements such as those needed to move a biomech into storage. As for who exactly has this mental link of a quality high enough to pilot, this again depends on the universe: in some, the biomechs are built/grown “to order” for a specific pilot, and in others, the pilot (or pilots) have to be found in the ranks of the existing military. In the latter situation, it’s deemed far less than ideal to have this problem—there’s no guarantee that the military even has an appropriate pilot that can connect to it—but the benefits are considered to vastly outweigh the risks. Or, sometimes, the wider world situation (IE: ongoing apocalypses and/or specific enemies normal military hardware can’t touch) dictates that they have no other options.

This link, however, does not come without some risks. It’s particularly intense on single pilots, and in some universes actually causes a great deal of brain damage or mental deterioration from the neural overload if not spread out over multiple minds (whether this takes the form of a Drift-style multi-pilot setup or something more akin to a pilot hive mind). This has led to more than one rumor amongst rank and file personnel that biomechs steal their pilots’ souls...which in a couple cases in particular may not be unsubstantiated.

As for what a biomech is grown out of, that is kept a tightly-guarded secret. But it’s always (with only the FFXIV ‘verse being exempt) some variety of elder dragon or dragon-monster, hence their draconian appearances. (For the FFXIV ‘verse: they’re either grown out of or cloned from a concept-creature of the Ancients’ world, which took the form of a giant squid-like being.) They‘re essentially lab-grown into their mechanical shells and systems, and once fully integrated with them, then awoken. This process varies, again depending on ‘verse, and can be as simple as a Frankenstein-esque shock of immense power, or as complex as ritual magic. Their brains are not considered to be in their heads but in their “cores”, which are grown and built first to be buried in the biomech’s chest—meaning that, even though a headshot or decapitation would be traumatic for all involved (including the pilot) and remove a significant amount of sensory input, a biomech can indeed continue to “live” without a head and can, even, have one regrown. These cores are also part mechanical and part biological, taking the form of a mechanical shell over a biological inside, but very few have ever actually seen one outside of lab technicians.

Their personalities are considered set in stone, however. Even on the rare occasions that a biomech has been re-grown—as in cases with known pilot refusals—their general temperament and thought processes remain the same, though the regrowth process is supposed to obliterate their actual memories. (Supposed to. It’s known to have mixed results.) Pronouns and monikers used to refer to biomechs are generally the biomech’s call and are projected as a wordless overlay on the weapon’s thoughts (so the people hearing it or staying close to it “just know” what a given biomech wants to be called), save in the cases where the biomech itself genuinely does not care—in which case the pilot picks something.

While the military would like to consider biomechs as just tools, of course, there are in fact entire sheaves of ethics and legal arguments surrounding them, given their self-awareness and their status as ultimately manmade creations. This can sometimes cause fairly intense political struggles in certain ‘verses.

Though individual biomechs vary in their combat abilities, a few are fairly standard: they’re resistant to mental and physical corruption, have some self-repair ability (though severe damage requires human repair), and have some variety of energy-based shielding that can be deployed on command. They also all have a mouth-based cannon, though the strength of said cannon varies between individuals: in some cases (such as Hemlock’s) it’s basically intended as a last-resort self-defense weapon that’s fairly weak in power, and in others (such as Blue’s) it’s actually intended to be the primary offensive weapon. Biomechs are also intended to all have some degree of flight capability.

As for some lore on individual biomechs, in order of ascending age:

BLUE. The “youngest“ biomech of the lot. Is considered to be a “he”. Personality is best called “chirpy”, and either somewhat dog-like or child-like depending on who’s asked to describe it; he isn’t particularly eager to get into a fight unless he has to. Thought patterns mostly described in terms of feeling like water—splashing, flooding, “like raindrops on their mind”, and so on. Has two main armaments outside of those intended for melee combat:

Mouth cannon. This fires either a laser-like stream of raw energy (or aether in FFXIV), or can also fire a high-pressure stream of water capable of slicing steel. Can be used without any bracing or foot-locks, and pilots are well-advised to learn how to aim it straight mid-flight.

ARIL cannons. These are positioned on the back of the biomech, taking the form of two loosely-attached “spears” on either side of the biomech’s midline, with an unusually biological growth on the fronts of the spears. These cannons are capable of unleashing concussive blasts capable of throwing foes of a biomech’s size considerable distances, but Blue must be standing braced to use them in order to not get thrown in the opposite direction. It is also highly inadvisable to use these on biological constructs; see below section on the ARIL.

The growths in question are collectively called the ARIL, and their substance was also extruded into Blue’s wings and are directly responsible, through unclear mechanisms, for his ability to fly despite his wings’ ragged appearance. What the ARIL is, unfortunately, is also not clear, but it’s considered to be an ancient biological artifact that interacts strangely both with gravity and with biological matter.

Overall, Blue is considered to be a “jack of all trades”-style fighter, capable of long-range attacks while being well able to function in mid or close-range combat as well. In that same vein, his armor is considered middling in strength; enough to protect him from most things but certainly not enough to block rapidly-repeated or severe strikes. His preferred mode of combat is to stay in flight and strike at a distance until an enemy is weakened, then to finish off the foe at close range.

MORRIGAN. The next youngest biomech. Goes by “she”. Very reserved and almost slothful in personality, to the point of serving as a mental “damper” to more violent or energetic minds. Does, however, quite enjoy using her guns and will actively prod pilots to do so, which leads to some only half-jokingly noting that she might be a bit addicted to shooting things. Thought patterns usually described as a slow-moving smoke. Has a great many armaments:

Main cannons. These are positioned on her back, either side of her mid-line. These are exceptionally powerful and capable of punching through all but the thickest armor and the strongest of shields. These do, however, utilize physical shells, and so can and do run out of ammunition. Contains a dozen shots at typical maximum capacity, but this can be expanded by extra equipment. Does require bracing or footlocks to fire with any accuracy.

Mouth cannon. In Morrigan, this takes the form of a powerful, thin, and concentrated energy/aether beam. It is not, however, intended for continuous fire like, for example, Blue’s; it functions in a manner vaguely akin to a sniper’s rifle, its shots short in duration but huge on power. Due to this, however, it’s highly advised to fire from a stable platform of some kind to avoid mis-aiming.

Missile pods. Scattered all over Morrigan’s body. These function as, of course, pods for firing ordinary missiles. Can be fired in sets based on location on the biomech’s frame (head only, arms only, etc), or all fired at once for a devastating barrage. These are locked onto target via either Morrigan’s built-in Radar suite (preferred) or by visual targeting (less preferred, since it requires intense concentration on the target in question by biomech and pilot alike). The number of pods and number of missiles in each pod makes out-of-ammo situations unlikely but possible.

Small tail cannons. Shoot fairly low-intensity defensive energy/aetherial beams, and can swivel approximately 120 degrees to the left and right of biomech midline. Intended solely for deterrence of foes from rear or side attacks.

Tail gun. Composes the entirety of the end of Morrigan’s tail. Can be used for deterrence of rear or side ambushes, but can also be swung around to provide offensive fire at, effectively, any angle. Can shoot either shells or energy/aether shots, depending on pilot selection.

Wing guns. Positioned on Morrigan’s wings, one on each. Fires energy/aether shots of average strength, and can be used in continuous more laser-like fire. These also contain Morrigan’s extra thrusters, required in order to maintain level flight.

Morrigan is intended to be a “turret” of a biomech, planting herself in one spot and firing at long-range on foes. The slowness from her weight and heavy armor makes close combat difficult; in such situations, it’s best advised to get away and back into effective gun or missile range. Flight is mainly intended as a mode of transportation over a means of fighting, but her wings are also intended as a way to stabilize pilot aim.

RED. Goes by “he”. Very nervous and high-strung personality; this is considered to be a fault in a war weapon on multiple levels, including by anyone maintaining the jumpy biomech’s hangar bay, but he’s also considered too large an investment to simply discard (amongst other concerns about the ethics of bluntly destroying a thinking being). Notable for being one of the only biomechs without wings composed of either physical materials or energy/aether, due to a persistent glitch in growth patterns despite multiple attempts to reset it—therefore, is very much of the school of (design) thought of “anything can technically fly if you put enough active thrust behind it”. Thought patterns described as flame-like and flickering. Has only a few weapons:

Mouth cannon. Functions as Red’s main gun, and acts similarly to Blue’s, though with the secondary option of napalm streams instead of a water cannon.

Arm blades. Positioned on Red’s forearms. Has a dual purpose of both providing extra armor and providing an extendable and devastating cutting weapon, whose blades can be superheated to slash through armor layers like butter.

Tail blades. Composes the entirety of Red’s tail. Can also be superheated in the same manner as the arm blades, but are much thicker and stronger, lending themselves to large and violent swiping attacks. (This does, however, mean that any given pilot or pilots should be heavily resistant to motion sickness, given that this requires a large amount of whole-body spinning.) These are quite flexible, allowing a significant section of them to be whipped around to the front like a spear or a thrusting sword.

Armor spikes. All biomechs have some degree of spikes on their armor, but Red’s is particularly prominent. It serves as not only extra protection but can be wielded in a melee situation for extra damage.

Of course, Red is mostly intended as a close-range physical fighter capable of moving at incredibly high speeds, courtesy of the large amount of high-output thrusters attached to his frame. He also has fairly heavy armor because of this intended use. His sensitivity to change, however, also makes him decent at sentry functions.

HEMLOCK. Varies between going by “he” or “she” or sometimes “they”. Thought patterns generally described as serpentine and sinuous. Considered to be the biomech with the most developed sense of humor, though biomech standards for “humor” are very low indeed. Definitely the most prone to trickery. Weaponry includes:

Mouth cannon. Mostly intended as a short-fire backup weapon.

Acid spray. Located in the two “spikes” pointing forward on either side of Hemlock’s jaw. As the name might imply, they’re capable of firing compressed streams of acid of sufficient strength and composition to melt armor. Has what is described as a “startling” amount of range by most pilots.

Back cannons. Located on Hemlock’s back, either side of midline. Also contains Hemlock’s main thrusters. Fires either physical shells or energy/aether depending on pilot selection. Used as Hemlock’s main guns, and are considered fairly powerful (though they pale in comparison to, say, Morrigan’s).

Overall, Hemlock is intended as a more stealth-oriented biomech, capable of speedy but short bursts of movement in order to greatest facilitate ambushes--usually of a physical sort. Hemlock also has an optical cloaking ability that, while incapable of making such a large machine invisible, does disrupt the biomech’s outline so much as to make visual firing on it rather difficult. It also heavily disrupts non-visually-based methods of targeting.

LEVIATHAN/”NIGOKI”. Name varies slightly depending on ‘verse. Second of two prototype-level biomechs. Has no preference for how to be referred to. Significantly more “alien” in thought pattern than the later production-type units, who were deliberately built to be less intensely intrusive; tends to project single-word thoughts at most, preferring to project whole concepts instead. Most infamous for supposed “soul-stealing” of its pilots (and in one ‘verse is actively fueled by half of a long-departed soul, forcibly attached to the biomech through foul magic). Personality is best described as varying degrees of rage and anger, and rarely deviates from this. Weapons include:

Mouth cannon. Main weapon. Can be adjusted to fire wide sprays of energy/aether or single more powerful beams. Curiously, both prototype biomechs’ energy/aetherial usage takes a brilliant orange color.

Hind leg claw. One on each rear leg, behind the foot. The physical claw can, of course, be used for gouging and slashing, but can also channel energy/aether into a vicious blade-like protrusion to better hack through shields and armor.

Energy/aether manipulation. Unlike most biomechs, both prototypes are capable of utilizing energy/aether to create various offensive constructs, though they’re typically only intended for use in close quarters combat (and take the form of blades, claws, fangs, etc). While in use, however, the otherwise incredibly powerful shields cannot be utilized (with the sole exception of when this energy/aether is used to create wings).

Telepathic offense. Also unlike most biomechs, the prototypes are capable of using their telepathic abilities as a weapon, instead of just as a means of communication with their pilots. Most dangerous to those already sensitive to such things, but even the telepathically insensitive can sustain damage from a concentrated enough assault, barring intervention from another source (such as another biomech, magic, specially-designed tooling, etc).

Leviathan/Nigoki serves mostly as a proof of concept for the biomech design, and most ‘verses attempt to avoid using either prototype whenever possible due to the biomech’s propensity for flying into berserk rages.

SILVARRE/“SHOGOKI”. Name varies slightly depending on ‘verse. First of two prototype-level biomechs. Has no preference for how to be referred to. Significantly more “alien” in thought pattern than the later production-type units, who were deliberately built to be less intensely intrusive; tends to project single-word thoughts at most, preferring to project whole concepts instead. Unlike its brother, however, Silvarre/“Shogoki” almost never shows any extremes of emotion, only reacting strongly to any perceived danger to its pilot—even when said pilot is outside of the cockpit, which makes Silvarre/“Shogoki” rather dangerous as a war weapon even to its own side, given its idea of “danger” to a person can be significantly less qualified than an ordinary human’s. Weapons are identical to Leviathan/“Nigoki”s, and include:

Back spikes. Located either side of midline, three to a side. Can be superheated to cause immense slashing damage.

Nose spike. Located on Shogoki’s snout. Can also be superheated, but is intended for stabbing over slashing.

Silvarre/“Shogoki” is mostly meant as a proof of concept for the biomech design, and its usage is also avoided wherever possible in most ‘verses due to its unpredictability.

===

All art here by the lovely @saintgale! Thank you again, for finally bringing these guys to life in visual art. <3

#; headcanons #please note i don't claim to be /original/ just /having fun with it/ lol #just in RP stuff or fanfic or whatever #so yeah you could probably play 'spot the giant mecha stuff Merry likes' here :P #also: i can't guarantee that ALL these guys will eventually show up here in my ffxiv stuff...#but at least a few of 'em likely will :Dc #ol' Legatus Merceus never intended to ONLY have one ''Weapon''#especially not where the whole Garlean civil war thing is concerned #he knew about the VIIth's shenanigans with THEIR Weapons after all...

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realm-sweet-realm · 4 years ago

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Broken Strings, chapter 3: Showdown

Broken Strings is a story meant to complete the Showdown Bandit narrative and give it a proper ending. You can read the first part here and the second part here.

---

To Penny, there was a certain nostalgia to coming back to her shop. She could vaguely remember, months ago, going to sleep in the room above her store as she had every night since she’d come into existence, and somehow waking up outside of it on the streets. A sign reading “permanently closed,” was on it. After that, it didn’t take Penny long to figure out that her role had been changed slightly- from here on in, she had never had a shop and would have to ignore her previous memories of having one. Role changes like that simply didn’t happen anymore, thankfully. Hers had been the last one.

Putting now slightly-chewed eyes back in her sockets, she could see that the store was exactly as it once was- the equipment meant to forge weaponry in the corner, the supplies lining the shelves, the guns hung up on the wall behind the counter. It was time for Penny to go back to being the Penny she was supposed to be, back then. Rough and tough. A gunsmith and a tailor. Bandit’s trusty sidekick.

Firstly, she counted up the guns. There were eighteen in total. Not great, but… she checked in the forging area and found two partially complete guns that she’d been working on before her shop’s closing. Maybe she could complete them before the horde arrived.

“I need the twenty best shots we have here,” Penny said. “We have barrels and barrels of ammo, please make sure we know for sure. Without being too wasteful, that is.”

The puppets began testing their skills by shooting at a target at an outside range. A while later, Bandit strode in. His thinned, bitten wooden joints had been replaced with brass ones, and his paint had been redone. The leftover bites on his limbs didn’t seem to be holding him back any. He asked for the best gun she had. “No. You’re a Bandit, but that doesn’t mean you have the shooting skills of the Bandit. You’ll have to compete just like everyone else. Shouldn’t be a problem for you, though.”

“Ah mean, it won’t, but don’t you owe me one for fetching yer eyes?”

“Yes, and for that, I’ll upgrade your gun. For the invasion if I can, afterwards if not.” Bandit grumbled, but left without a fuss. Shooting a bullseye with his eyes closed was a good way to relieve his frustration, and Penny awarded him with a golden handgun- the best handgun she had.

---

Outside, Miss Lorelei and a few other puppets were positioning sandbags and other items for the combatant puppets to hide behind.

“You feel like helpin’?” she asked a farmer-looking puppet who was sitting back, drinking tea, and watching them.

“Nah. You’re a bunch of crazies as far as I’m concerned. I’m just enjoyin’ the show.”

Miss Lorelei rolled her eyes and kept working. When Doc Carver saw this, he immediately dropped the sandbag he was carrying and ran off.

“Where are ya goin’?” Miss Lorelei asked.

“To make sure someone I love will survive this,”

---

Doc Carver found Banker in his office- unsurprising as he never left it. “Banker? Did you hear the town meeting?” Banker’s office right at town hall. The only real reason he wouldn’t have seen it is if he were asleep.

“Y-yes. Do you believe all of that stuff, Doc?”

“Yes. I came here to make sure that you would be able to get out. When… is the last time you’ve been out of there?”

“N-not for a few weeks. I know I should try to stretch my legs more often…”

“This isn’t about your legs! Your legs are stiff wood!” Banker started shaking. “What?”

“You shouldn’t say that. You could be punished for breaking your role.”

Doc shook his head. “This is exactly what I was afraid of. Please, come out with me. I’ll ease you through it, but you need to break every rule if you’re going to survive.”

Banker stepped out of his building.

“Okay. now let’s look up together. That’s the most sacred rule of us puppets- if you can do that without losing your mind, then Bandit really is right. The rules aren’t real.”

This served a purpose other than to ensure Banker’s safety: Doc was rather afraid of having other puppets look up. They didn’t need more widespread insanity in Showdown Valley. So, having a relatively fragile puppet do it now instead of having numerous puppets do it later was simply practical.

The two looked up. Their box did indeed have a ceiling- not a good thing. Worse, it was made of metal. Doc could see the tops of their strings, held to the ceiling by magnets. If only he’d done this sooner, he could have healed so many puppets that he’d considered incurable. He looked over to Banker, who had dropped to his knees in reverence.

“We’ll find a way out,” Doc promised.

Banker snuggled up against him, tears falling from his eyes. "I know you will.” There was nothing that Doc couldn’t do. He was more crying over the sudden realization that the rules didn’t exist. Banker looked nothing like the puppet he was supposed to. He was too cowardly to properly fulfill his role. Most puppets thought that the punishment for that was insanity, but he’d always believed it had to be worse than that- some sort of awful retribution by whatever had forced them into their roles in the first place. Even if he died in the showdown, he couldn’t help but feel relieved and very overwhelmed at the thought that he didn’t need to be anyone but himself.

---

By evening, the puppets had everything in place for the Showdown. All in all, there were twelve puppets armed with handguns, and eight others armed with shotguns. Penny had swapped out the barrel and on Bandit’s gun so that he could shoot larger bullets- she figured that a slightly shorter-ranged but very deadly weapon would be just his style. In addition, four brave souls had agreed to stay and fight with only melee weapons, including Miss Lorelei and her trusty shovel, which she’d sharpened until it could cut a sliver off her arm. Doc Carver had given up on escape, but he’d found shelter for the defenseless puppets in a cabin as far from the Happy Mines as possible, guarding the door with a butcher’s knife and alongside two miners with pickaxes. Ten or so puppets had still refused to believe that anything was happening, and were wandering the streets or tucked into their homes.

According to Penny, the stringless weren’t coming until sunrise, so they all settled down behind their bunkers to sleep, while taking turns keeping watch.

Then, it happened.

A wave of enemies appeared from the happy mines- around three dozen puppets of all sizes, all packing melee weapons such as clubs and spears. None of them packed guns, but a sizable amount of them had sticks of dynamite hanging from their belts. The shotgun users began to shoot once the stringless puppets came into range, knocking off limbs but not stopping a single puppet’s advance.

“Big ones first,” Bandit yelled at the five handgun-wielding puppets he was hiding with. “Let’s overwhelm them one by one!” They obeyed this plan, filling one large, club-wielding puppet with lead until he fell to his knees and then focusing in on another. A group of eight stringless noticed this and charged Bandit’s hiding place.

“Aim for the legs!” he yelled. They managed to cripple two of the advancing hoard before one puppet lit a stick of dynamite and threw it into Bandit’s hiding place. The six soldiers of Showdown Valley dispersed, one having his legs and one arm torn off. Bandit lay in shock until Miss Lorelei appeared, using her shovel to stab a stringless who’d been about to club Bandit. She helped Bandit to his feet. With the horde upon them, Bandit was finally able to use his secret weapon. Putting those giant bullets into the joints of stringless, he crippled three while Miss Lorelei watched his back and drove away his would be attackers with her blade. It was as though the two of them were in a violent dance, dodging the dynamite, keeping themselves aware of their surroundings lest they be the ones crippled. Crippled puppet bodies became like landmines- ready to drag an agile puppet to the floor. Had this not been a matter of life or death, it would have been the time of Bandit’s life.

The only problem was that they weren’t winning. Bandit hardly had the time to count, but he saw so many causalities- many stringless, but a horrible number stringed. The horde was still advancing, the soldiers of Showdown Valley beign pushed back. Then, Bandit saw it- coming out from the Happy Mines was another horde- a smaller one-maybe a dozen strong, but a horde nonetheless when they were already outnumbered.

“Should we retreat?” Bandit asked Lorelei.

“Yes.

“RETREAT!” Bandit screamed.

---

Lookout had come with the horde. Too small and weak to fight, he was only there to carry in and hand out dynamite and matches. As soon as the last of the soldiers took off, he grabbed five sticks of dynamite and a match and took off. He ran past the village while everyone was fighting, giving the combatants a wide berth and slipping through the window of Penny’s general store. She was there, guarding the village’s store of munitions with a shotgun. He offered her his small donation of dynamite, gave her a regretful look as though he knew it wouldn’t be enough, then left.

Moments later, Penny was tearing through the streets, intent on taking Lookout’s gift to the only place it could be used. The coverage once given to them by the city streets gave way to an empty field. Penny looked back and saw the retreating puppets behind them, only a half a minute’s run away. The horde was nearly as close. The cabin guarded by Doc Carver grew closer.

Once Penny reached the cabin, Doc opened the door to let her in before coming in himself. “Alright. Banker- you know what to do with that dynamite. Do it quickly. Help Penny lead the others to safety. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”

Doc opened the door. This time it was the fleeing rebels who crowded in before Doc could step outside.

An explosion sounded behind him. The butcher knife was heavy in his hand. Within seconds, the horde was upon them.

---

Penny led the escapees to an empty box. They were a truly pitiful sight- many of the combatants had lost limbs, or received substantial scratching to their faces. Miss Lorelei had had half her face scratched out. The soot from the explosion that coated many of them was harmless, but only accentuated the fact that there was nowhere to wash off here. Nowhere to do anything, really- just a dreary, empty expanse.

Bandit returned. “I saw Doc Carver,” Bandit said somberly.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Banker croaked. He’d been crying in fear for Carver’s safety.

“Ah saw his body. It was ripped in two, with the limbs gone and the head ten feet away.”

Banker froze in shock. Penny and Miss Lorelei came over to comfort him, but to no avail- he still broke down crying.

“Did you find out anythin’ else?” Miss Lorelei asked.

“Sort of. I saw the stringless. They were just... makin’ themselves at home. I don’t think they’re gonna come after us. Ah think they just wanted our stuff.”

The room went silent except for Banker’s cries.

“Well...” said Miss Lorelei, “Ah guess we’ll just have to try an’ find their old village. It had enough stuff in it to make it by. And we can try to sneak in and take stuff back occasionally. Just like they used to. We can’t invade them- there’s even less of us now, and we have no Doctor to fix us.” Miss Lorelei pensively stroked one of her strings. With no magnetic ceiling to hold them up, they were dragging on the ground. “And ah guess we don’t need these anymore.”

Just as Miss Lorelei was about to pluck her string, Bandit interjected. “Hold up! We are not gonna live like them unless there is absolutely no other option. You know what I saw out there? a chink of light- like I was looking under their door. I’m gonna to see what else is out there. I’m gonna see if ah can get us some help.”

#showdown bandit #my fanfiction #bandit #penny hemsworth #miss undertaker #doc carver #banker

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hellyeahheroes · 5 years ago

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Building Amadeus Cho in D&D 5e

I really need to distract myself from how bad elections in my country went, so here is another build. I noticed about every single one I’ve made - Cassandra Cain, Nico Minoru, Virgil Hawkins, Laura Kinney, Emiko Queen - are all “let’s dump strength” builds. So why not do something about it and make someone who is all about Strength? Well, maybe not “all”, let’s make him smart as well. You can probably guess who comes to mind

Let’s start with our goals for this build. First of all, we need to be both strong AND smart, finding a way to show both of them in combat. Second, we need to express somehow Amadeus’ perk for invention and gadgets that aid him. And finally, we need to get knowledge skills to reflect well our status as the 7th Smartest Man on Earth.

As with Tulok the Barbarian, who inspired these pots, I will be using standard points array for Ability Scores - 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8. If you want to roll or use different point buy or your DM insists on that, treat these as a guideline

Strength: 14, you were once The Strongest One There Is after all

Dexterity: 12, You are somewhat agile, maybe more than an average Hulk

Constitution: 13, very important for both taking hits and not getting distracted when you do SCIENCE!

Intelligence: 15, you’re 7th Smartest Man on Earth after all

Wisdom: 8, dump it, Amadeus was always known for being really freaking reckless after all.

Charisma: 10, Amadeus has shown he has as much of a chance to woo a girl as to annoy his teammates, you may as well leave this one entirely to the dice

Now for Race, which in D&D terms mean species. Amadeus is currently a superhumanly strong, green-skinned individual with an ability to increase his strength by getting enraged. And you know very well what that means for people who make character builds in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

Seriously tho, Amadeus is a human who got transformed into this green form, but a human none the less. Variant Humans get +1 to two Ability Scores, even out Intelligence and Constitution. For your free skill pick up Religion, first of our Knowledge Skills - you didn’t hang out with Hercules without having that mythological knowledge run off on to you after all. Pick whatever is relevant to the campaign for the bonus language.

For the feat pick War Caster - it gives you an advantage on the Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on a spell whenever you take damage, lets you perform somatic components even with a weapon or a shield in both hands and you can cast a spell instead of attacking whenever a creature provokes an opportunity attack from you, as long at the spell has a casting time of 1 action.

For Background we will go with Sage, giving us proficiency in History and Nature, two more Knowledge Skills and you also learn two languages of your choice, again, pick whatever’s relevant. You also get the Researcher feature, allowing you to, if you do not know something, at least know where to easily obtain that information.

Now for the Class, let us get us some Brains. And as with Static, we will do a little trick and treat magic as science. Maybe your magic really is your technological inventions? Or maybe you just used your brilliant mind to study it like science? It makes sense really - a scientific mind in a world where magic is a tangible force and all sci-fi elements are nonexistent would study magic with a scientific approach. If only there was a class known for this. 1st Level Wizard gains proficiency with our last knowledge skill, Arcana, and one more - pick Insight, Investigation or Medicine. You get saving throws with Wisdom and Intelligence and proficiency with Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs and light crossbows

Wizard learns Spellcasting. You gain a spellbook containing six 1st-level Wizard spells and each long rest you can prepare a limited number of them that you can cast and you cannot prepare spells of a higher level than your maximum level known. You also get cantrips that you can cast as many times a day as you want but you only know a few of them. Finally, you can spend 2 hours and 50 gp to copy any spell you have found into your spellbook as long as you can cast spells of this level, adding them to a number of spells you can choose from. If your spell requires a spell attack, you make it with modifier equal your Proficiency Bonus + Your Intelligence Modifier and if it requires Saving Throw, you take that number and add 8 to get your Save Difficulty. You also gain Arcane Recovery, which lets you recover some of your spell slots on short rest, but they cannot be of higher combined level than half of your wizard level rounded up.

For Cantrips you get to know 3 and here are some good choices:

Prestidigitation is a multi-use tool that allows you to make all kinds of minor magical effects that last up to 1 hour

Either Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade - each is a spell that lets you make an attack and causes some effect if you hit, either making green fire leap from it to the second target to give it damage equal to your Intelligence Modifier, or deal the target additional 1d8 thunder damage if it willingly moves before end of your next turn. Either of those scales up with your total character level

Shocking Grasp lets you make a melee attack as a part of casting a spell as well, with an advantage if the target is wearing armor, and if you hit they take 1d8 lightning damage (again, scaling with your total level) cannot take reactions until the end of your next turn.

Now for the 1st Level Spells, we get to know six of them even if we can only cast two per long rest.

Fog Cloud lets you create a 20-foot radius sphere centered around you that makes an entire area in it heavily obscured.

Jump lets you triple your jump distance for 1 minute, getting that trademark Hulk jumpIdentify lets you learn all magical properties related to a touched item or what spells are affecting the touched creature

Grease turns an area within 10-foot square from a chosen point into difficult terrain for 1 minute and every creature standing on it or entering it must succeed on a Dexterity Saving Throw or fall prone.

Feather Fall has a casting time of a reaction and lasts for one minute and each from up to five falling creatures within 60-feet range, you included, slows down on falling to 60 feet and if it lands on the ground before the spell ends, it takes no damage

Finally, Find Familiar lets you summon a familiar. There is no dog or wolf on the list but I’m sure a GM can be persuaded into allowing you to have a coyote pup. Familiar acts independent from you but obeys your commands, if it dies you can bring it back by recasting the spell, you can communicate with it telepathically if it is within 100 feet from you and for action see through its eyes and if you cast a touch spell your familiar can deliver it to the target. This has a ton of uses and if done well it will make your puppy a beloved pet of the party.

We will now jump to Barbarian. You get proficiency light and medium armor, simple and martial weapons and shields. As you might have noticed, we do not get tavern brawler to deal better damage on unarmed strike. This is because I remembered that Amadeus was once wielding mace previously belonging to Hercules. I see no reason why not to return to it to give Amadeus more of his classic flavor. Also, it will mesh better with some features we will get than punching with your fist. You can also pick up that huge two-handed hammer he was using as Brawnhammer.

1st Level Barbarians get an ability to Rage, allowing you to enter a state in which you gain an advantage on Strength checks and saving throws, +2 to damage dealt by strength attacks and resistance to bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing Damage. It lasts for 1 minute, until you’re knocked out or if you ended your turn without attacking any enemy for your turn. You can do it twice between long rests. Sadly, you cannot cast spells or concentrate on those already cast in Rage. This will be a more last line of defense than a common go-to strategy.

You also get Unarmored Defense, allowing you to add your Constitution Modifier to your Armor Class, which helps since Cho isn’t known for wearing armor.

2nd Level Barbarian gets Danger Sense, if you are not blinded, deafened or incapacitated, you have an advantage on Dexterity saving throws against any effect you can see, such as traps or spells. You also gain Reckless Attack, allowing you to gain an advantage on your attack rolls made this turn at the cost of giving your enemies advantage on attack rolls against you until your next turn.

2nd Level Wizard gets a new spell slot to use. You also get to choose an Arcane Tradition. School of Lore Mastery gives us two features. Lore Mastery itself allows you to substitute your Intelligence modifier for Dexterity modifier when you roll for Initiative and doubles your proficiency modifier in all Knowledge Skills you are proficient with. Which are ALL OF THEM! You’re welcome. Spel Secrets meanwhile allows you to, whenever you cast a spell that deals acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, radiant, or thunder damage to just declare you change it to another type. Meaning you no longer care for resistance or immunity to damage. ON TOP OF THAT, if a spell requires someone to make a saving throw, it also lets you change whichever Ability they have to roll for. So if you’re fighting a group of Goblins, you don’t make them roll Dexterity but Strength o that Grease.

ALTERNATIVE: School of War Magic allows you to add your Intelligence Modifier to your Initiative rolls with Tactical Wit and with Arcane Deflection you can spend your reaction to give yourself +2 to Armor Class were you be hit by an attack roll or +4 to a saving throw you failed, but you cannot cast spells other than cantrips until end of your next turn.

Okay, we have brains, we have brawl, but Amadeus is both - not just a genius or a Hulk, he is Brawn and he combines these two sides of him. We will let him do that...in a moment

First Level Fighter gets to choose a fighting style. Depending on what you picked up as your weapon choose either Dueling (+2 to damage rolls if you’re using only one weapon in one hand) or Great Weapon Fighting (when you use two-handed or versatile weapon wielded in two hands you can reroll all 1 or 2 on damage rolls but must use the new roll even if it is as bad or worse). You also gain Second Wind, letting you once per short or long rest use a bonus action to regain health points equal 1d10 + your fighter level. This will get us some of that healing factor.

EDIT: if you really want Brawn who fights with his fists then pick a new Fighting Style from Unearthed Arcana on Alternate Class Features - Unarmed Fighting. It changes the damage dealt by your unarmed attacks from flat 2 to 1d6+your STRE modifier, 1d8 if you attack with both hands and grants you an extra 1d4 damage dealt whenever you successfully start a grapple with a creature and whenever you hit a creature you’re already grappling.

Second Level Fighter gains Action Surge - once per short or long rest you can gain an additional action for your round. This means an extra attack or lets you cast a spell and attack in one turn.

Third Level Fighter gains a Martial Archetype. And this is what we are here for. Eldritch Knight. First, it lets you learn a ritual that creates a bond between yourself and a weapon and you can have two such weapons bonded to you at once. As long as you hold one you cannot be disarmed unless you’re incapacitated and if you are to part from it you can summon it as a bonus action, making it teleport in your hand as long as you’re on the same plane of existence. Teleporting gear he needs into his hands does sound like a very Amadeus thing, gotta say.

But now to the real meat of Eldritch Knight. You get to learn spells as a fighter. As opposed to Wizard spells you know a limited number of them and you spend spell slots to cast them without preparations. Sadly you cannot cast Wizard Spells you know from Eldritch Knight spell slots or vice versa. However, two levels you took will count to determine your number of spell slots. Consult this table using the following guidelines - every 4 levels of Eldritch Knight you take count as 1 level on the table and every level of wizard counts as 1. If the table would give you access to spell slots of a higher level that you should know by normal class progression, you can only use them to cast spell slots of a level you know.

Also, since your casting ability is the same for both classes, your spell attack and save difficulty modifiers are the same.

You learn two Cantrips from a wizard spell list and they work pretty much as the wizard ones.

Thunderclap is a very Hulk thing - make a burst of sound forcing every creature within 5 feet to make Constitution saving throw or take 2d6 (since we are above 5th level) thunder damage. As you can guess, it scales with your total character level.

Lighting Lure forces a target to make Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 10 feet of you and take 2d8 lightning damage if it finds itself within 5 feet of you. And yes, it does too scale with your total level.

You get to know 3 1-st level spells from Wizard Spell list but they must be abjuration or evocation. As you will learn 4th one on the next level I will list all 4

Thunderwave forces every creature within a 15-foot cube from you to make a Constitution saving throw or take 2d8 Thunder Damage and be pushed 10 feet away from you. On a save it remains in position and takes only half of the damage.

Protection from Evil and Good lets you choose one type of creature - aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiend and undead - it is a concentration spell lasting up to 10 minutes and gives that type of creatures disadvantage on attack rolls against you and you cannot be charmed, frightened or possessed by them. This is for next time you run into the Enchantress

Absorb Elements lets you chose damage type you are about to take from acid, cold, fire, lightning or thunder, giving you resistance to that damage. The first time you hit on your next round you deal additional 1d6 damage of that type to the target, +1d6 per spell slot level if you cast it from a higher level

Chromatic Orb lets you make spell attack against the target, dealing it 3d8 (+1d8 for each higher level of spell slot used) of damage of your choice - poison, acid, fire, cold, lighting or thunder.

4th Level Fighter gains an Ability Score improvement, for now we will focus on increasing our Intelligence. 5th Level gives us Extra Attack, letting us make two attacks as a part of the same attack action. 6th Level is another Ability Score Improvement, Round up the Intelligence

7th Level Eldritch Knight gets to learn a new Spell and gains access to 2nd level spell slots. Snilloc’s Snowball Storm makes fury of snowballs explode in a 5-ffot sphere from the chosen target, dealing every creature in range 3d6 cold damage and a half on successful Dexterity saving throw. if you would rather go with the Hulk-lite theme, pick up Shatter instead - works similarly except dealing thunder damage, asking for Constitution save and dealing 3d8 damage instead of 3d6 and imposing disadvantage on the saving throw to creatures made out of inorganic materials.

You also gain a feature - War Magic. Whenever you cast a Cantrip as an action you can now make a single weapon attack as a bonus action.

8th Level Fighter gains another Ability Score Improvement, boost up your Strength. You can learn a new spell and this time it can be one out of any school. Hold Person lets you force a Wisdom saving throw on a target and if they fail then, for your concentration, they become paralyzed until they succeed a next Wisdom save on their round, you break your concentration or 1 minute passes.

9th Level Fighter gains Indomitable, letting you once per long rest reroll one failed saving throw.

10th Level Eldritch Knight learns Eldritch Strike, meaning that now whenever you hit a creature with a weapon attack, it has a disadvantage on the save against the first spell you cast until the end of your next turn. You also learn a new Cantrip and a new Spell and another one on 11th level

Ray of Frost makes you make a spell attack against a single target and if you hit you deal 3d8 (since it scales with a level) cold damage and reduce its speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.

Scorching Ray makes you pick up to 3 targets (+1 for each higher level from which you cast) to be hit with 2d6 Fire Damage.

Melf’s Acid Arrow lets you make a spell attack against a target. On a hit, it takes 4d4 acid damage now and 2d4 on the end on its next turn, on a miss it only takes 2d4 acid damage once.

11th Level Fighter also gains the third attack to be done as a part of the same attack action.

12th level Fighter gains an Ability Score improvement, this time increase your Constitution.

On 13th Level you get to use Indomitable twice between long rests, can learn one new spell and gain access to 3rd level spells. You get another one, this one from any school, on 14th level as well, alongside next Ability Score Improvement (which should go to Strength)

Counterspell allows you to interrupt an enemy costing spell. If it is casting a spell of a level equal or lower than that of spell slot you used, it fails immediately. if its level is higher, you counter it if you succeed an Intelligence Check with difficulty equal to 10 + spell level.

Haste is a concentration spell for up to 1 minute, it doubles your (or another target you used it for) speed, gains +2 to AC, advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws and on each of its turns gains one action it can use to make a single weapon attack, dash, disengage, hide or use object. Once it ends target must spend 1 turn doing nothing to regain its strength.

15th Level Eldritch Knight gets to use Arcane Charge, which lets you teleport up to 30 feet as a part of an action you gain by Arcane Surge. Our Capstone is 16th Level Fighter. Final Ability Score Improvement - round up Strength - and final spell to learn - Fireball lets you cause an explosion in a 20-foot radius from the target, dealing every creature in it 8d6 fire damage or half on successful save +1d6 for each higher level of spell slot you used to cast it from.

So here is how I would do Amadeus. School of Lore Mastery Wizard 2/Barbarian 2/Eldritch Knight Fighter 16. :et us see how valid this build is. For one, you are a good tank with multiple ways to reduce damage dealt to you and make up for not wearing armor - protection from good and evil, indomitable, absorb elements, rage (which works with some of these abilities), second wind, Unarmored Defense - and a lot of hit points. You also get a varied array of spells that deal different types of damage and many of them have various utilities attached to them, with added bonus you can fluff them as either gadgets or Hulk abilities, and your wizard levels let you cast them using 5th level slots (see the table again) which actually allows you to deal more damage with them than pure Eldritch Knight. You do not need to worry about having either too many or not spells of one damage type for any given situation with Lore Mastery either. Hell, you could refluff the same spells as different gadgets multiple times. You also have ways to get in more attacks and to make up for relatively poor Dexterity. If you run out of spells you can enter rage and go into full combat. Finally, you have all the knowledge skills to truly be 7th Smartest Man on Earth.

On the downsides, you are a jack of all trades but master of none, lacking real focus. Your array of spells is limited and even though you can learn more via wizard spellbook they’re only gonna be of 1st level. Spells you do know are only of 3rd level at best, meaning their usefulness will be limited. And Rage basically turns off your entire spellcasting and concentration spells, meaning you have to choose which one to use. We didn’t max out Constitution and Dexterity is low, meaning our AC is not as good as it should be. Finally, your Charisma and Wisdom Saves are low, meaning you should expect to be banished to another dimension or mind-controlled to turn against your party a lot.

However, you are a very balanced character who can be useful in many things and has an answer to all kinds of problems. You are brains and Brawl in one green package. Just remember you cannot do everything and you work much better as a part of a team. So don’t your teammates get sick of your ego.

ERRATA: Original build started with levels in Barbarian but it was pointed out to me that you need to take a casting class to take War Caster feat, I have made changes to reflect that.

UPDATE: Changed Wizard School to Lore Mastery, with War as an alternate option.

- Admin

#Amadeus Cho #Hulk #Brawn #Mastermind Excello #Totally Awesome Hulk #Prince of power #Marvel

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arkus-rhapsode · 5 years ago

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Rhapsode Reacts: RWBY Volume 3

Hey guys, Rhapsode here. So I’ve been on the record numerous times saying I haven’t watched the internet series RWBY. I haven’t. However, I have a rather close mutual @remnantoforario who tells me about most of the series and characters. Seriously, I basically have experienced the plot through osmosis. Now me and remnant work on a lot of fanfiction stuff and general discussions of video games and manga. And highly suggest anyone who wants a more in depth look at RWBY to please check him out. He’s great.

Now due to the fact he has basically told me the series up this point, its kinda been a bit frustrating when I forget something and ask him to reiterate. So I decided to knuckle down and watch some of the series.

I helped remnant get a non RWBY fan opinion, by basically live-blogging him in our PMs. And I thought I had some level of humorous reactions and Remnant had some witty observations to my reactions.

Anyway, if you didn’t catch it the first time, I must repeat, I’m not coming at this from the perspective of a fan. I have very little emotional or personal enjoyment going in the series up to this point. If I say something that offends you as a fan, I’m sorry in advance.

With that out of the way, let’s dive in:

Oh that’s a sweet scene of Ruby at her mother’s grave.

Why would you start Team RWBY’s preliminary fight in the middle of it?

the Vytal Festival feels like it should be reversed: you should start with 1, then go to 2, then for your finals, 4. Or just do a solid 4 v 4 all tournament

Remnantoforario: I dont know what the purpose of the tournament is, or why anyone would want to participate. There is no prize

Me: Bragging rights I guess. But the whole point of the festival is to celebrate peace. Lets celebrate piece with a bunch of kids beating each other up .

Ruby has a line of "we did it?" like she was surprised. Was that a concern?

Like I understand the festival has been built up since the second volume, but there's a reason most good tournament arcs ease you into the first round. Its to reaffirm character motivation and actually show you what a fight would look like

I do appreciate some of the “show don't tell” moments like the one girl using a heat crystal in her skate board to free her teammate

But usually even if the first round is jobbers, they're at least presented as a threat. I never really got that. The tide seemed more and Rwby's favor, but I can't tell if that was always the case because we started in the middle of the fight

the pacing just feels like you can't handle the story, so it wants to get to the fight scenes to keep your attention

Emerald is actually really funny, holy shit

“How can they be so happy?” And “It’s the heiress and the bimbo”

Still Weiss and Yang, better savor this duo while I can

Neo’s gothic Lolita is cute. Though I feel like their match should’ve gotten a focus

Like I mean not an episode but if they started with the instant eliminations of 1v1, I could easily see this cool intro of Rwby has met Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder, but then is shocked at who this fourth member even is

OK I feel like the scene with Rwby and JNPR should’ve happened before the first round. Given Nora’s rant would actually tie to Ruby’s whole “we won?” Surprise

“Cinder: Even if you know how the story ends that doesn’t make it any less fun to watch.” I’d agree with you if you know the story wasn’t Rwby. And it’s not really that fun to watch a bunch of fighting with no weight.

OK team JNPR vs team BRNZ is actually a much better introduction to the tournament than Rwby vs Abrn

We actually see how the field is chosen and we actually get some genuine strategy and coordination. And before all this we actually get some motivation about how the characters feel going into this battle

Me: OK why are these not the protagonists and why was this not episode one?

Remnantoforario: questions for the writers

I got admit I’m not very much of a fan of melee weapons that also turn into guns and just kind of makes the purpose of melee fighters and ranged fighters pointless

Logically it makes sense that if you’re making a weapon you do want it to have multiple functionality but at the same time it kind of makes a lot of that fighting less fun

I mean what do you want to see more a team complete each other or just one person who can just do everything with the right weapon?

Ehh OK the team meeting joke is running a tad too long

Okay, that was what I was mentioning before... Just cut out Nora with missiles. I feels more like a give and take as well as more unique to have that moment with her slamming on the ground

“Crow Bar.” Oh you go to the corner for that pun.

OK that joke with Weiss and telling Indigo to beat up Neptune was timed and delivered really bad

Also port makes a point that Sun is from Vacuo. Wouldn’t it be interesting if the leader or any membr of Indigo actually did know Sun from Vacuo?

I say that because no member of team Indigo has said anything, and it would at least add something unique to this fight

OK I have to bring up the weird use of western cartoon comedy

Neptune running up the mountain it’s super speed is kind of funny but this is also a fight I’m supposed to take seriously

Nora and Ruby kind of get away with it given their powers but Neptune just ran up a mountain like it was nothing

What is the tone here?

Sage went out like a bitch

you know if you wanted to eliminate someone to make me feel for this team being in trouble why didn’t you just eliminate Neptune?

OK scarlet’s scene actually really works

That nut joke didn’t. Again, tone?

Me: Why would you sacrifice the two characters we don’t know anything about just to do Neptunes stupid joke?

Remnant: COMEDY

OK this fight was bad

Me: I get the idea indigo was a bunch of jobbers so you decided to play the comedy angle. OK, well then tone down the serious rock music, turn down the cartoon physics

Remnant: For reference. That was a post Monty fight

I agree with Qrow, that was a mess

okay introduction to Winter is pretty good. Shame we don't really get that "Novice victory" vibe from their fight. Maybe if it last for more than 8 minutes and didn't start from the middle...

okay see, I don't mid Winter and Qrow having a fight in the middle of the square as it helps serve as an introduction to the characters and flexes their strength

though Im also starting to notice something else that bugs me in the fights, no banter or introspection or comments

its just fight moves

like there's times that's god, DBZ did it tons of times when its just Goku making "Hiyah" noises but there was still a bit of time to get in a line that both broke up the action and highlighted how two characters felt or through thought was able to give us a peek into their head

watching rwby fights makes me think, "This be better as a video game"

so... does no woman in this world wear a bra?

Ironwood: “If you were one of my men, I'd have you shot!”

Okay, that can't be legal

Ironwood is kinda becoming my favorite character

He's a flawed human being, and the narrative shows that, but it also shows he has a point

Okay, yeah I see what you mean, all this Fall stuff is happening in the background which is nice, but there's no real plot with the tournament

Okay Mercury and Emerald vs Coco and Yatsuhashi is actually really good

not much character, but its actually more intimidating seeing how strong these two are. Wish the music had a bit more ambiance

Okay, that's an interesting plot point. Qrow explaining how beating one high profile criminal hasn't stopped crime. And the fact there is zero crime is concerning and relating it back to Ironwood

Wow, its almost when you just slow down and lt characters breath and talk to each other and have them be characters without shoving in a fight scene, its pretty good

Why is team Cardin fighting a non faunus team? Feels like a waste of characters

disappointing that Ciel doesn't know Penny is a robot

mainly because the way its queued up with Ciel seemed like she was only spending time with Penny because ordered and her attention to the schedule makes it seem like she is a soldier just having to play dress up for the robot to make it comfortable

Me: Wow Weiss's heels... Never noticed them. I just thought they were boots

Remnant: Nope heels

Also Neon and Flynt actually have a pretty good intro

We know what Atlas is like seeing Winter and Ironwood, so Neon and Flynt make an interesting and immediate contrast

And it feels like there is something riding on our opponents side given Flynts history with the Schnee. Which makes him stand out from the other jobbers

And Neon's intentionally irritating personality actually is more character displayed by any other opponent character

I actually really like the OST in the fight too. This might be my favorite action scene

Flynt actually has a really cool semblance too

oh wow, some actual dread with Weiss getting eliminated

Imma let you get away with that Hulk reference Port

I like how Yang beat Flynt, but if I was gonna beat Neon, I'd have Yang punch the ground and through her off balance

Haha Ironwood doesn't have a heart, I get it, he's tin man

least they didn't go with Ozpin saying Qrow doesn't have a brain

Me: So... If Pyrrha is all these things, why aren't we following her team?

So abridged version of the four seasons story Four random chicks find a guy camped out in his house, be nice to him and he gives them super powers. If I were a kid being told that, I’d demand another story

Pyrrha: like a semblance?

Oz: Like magic!

Me: Like a semblance

Qrow is right, this selection is stupid

You’re keeping a woman in your basement in cryogenic suspension. Oz you and Rhea need to share notes

Oh god... Adam. You can’t act

Adam seems already psychopathic Or maybe that’s just his acting

So this is the famous Yang punching Mercury... It works I guess

Actually getting a chance to see some Jaune and Pyrrha moments in v3 and it’s good

Me: Velvet is British? Huh... never predicted that

Remnant: Australian

How can Ruby notice Emerald all the way across the arena? Actually wait she’s the only one not in a black uniform

Why did they leave Mercury behind where anyone could find him?

And Penny is dead and I do not care at this point

Cinder’s little speech is the first time I’m actually feeling like I’m getting a villain motivation out of her

She talks about how Oz and the headmasters are just men capable of making mistakes But she’s someone who would embrace and all powerful godly being. Though that seems and odds with the presumed motive that she’s working with Salem to potentially kill the brother gods

Okay, Blake and Weiss have a pretty good scene when all hell was breaking loose

Ruby versus the big ass bird was actually pretty cool and the scene of everyone’s lockers being what puts it down is really clever

Oh really cool scene of Port and Oobleck. Hey the fall is turning out pretty decent

Ironwood killing the wolf was pretty good

Roman is a breath of fresh air as a villain. And it’s namely his acting

You know I feel like you could let the more tertiary characters fight the robots while Weiss and Blake fight WF

OK I repeat this is just become a video game. Giant dragon that spawns mini monsters in a destroyed town

The spectacle fighting actually really works when your opponents are mindless and faceless brutes

You have Adam in a school full of terrified people, why aren’t you showing his nuance by showing he won’t hurt Faunus staff and is giving them an out?

Velvet’s scene be cool if it was powers she was mimicking. Looking at a lot of weapons really doesn’t do much for me.

That said, this could work if she ended up copying the mech and fighting against it

Okay I feel like Weiss finally being able to summon something should’ve been done with a lot more gravitas

And Sun proceeds to be the best male character

Neo is fucking beast. Y’know what, let her be final boss

Now I just have this image of Neo flying through the air with a sign reading “I’m Mary Poppins, Y’all”

Wow, Roman went out like a bitch

Like zero build up just dead. And his replacement is Adam... There is no justice

Ironwood: someone has done the unthinkable and taken control of my machines!

Watts: What? Like it’s hard?

Blake and Yang holding hands on the ground after Yang lost an arm. Yeah that’s pretty shippy

Also, I feel like the animation really limits a lot of the characters expressions. Like the time Ruby spent dwelling on her sister being mutilated is well timed. But usually a lot of the emotional devastation comes down to the expression.

a lot of faces seem stiff in transition expressions. Or they have this doll like quality

The most expressive person seems to be Emerald

Pyrrha and Jaune’s kiss is actually really tender

Me: Okay how the hell is Cinder’s dress still managing to cover her loins?

Remnant: maiden magic.

And Pyrrha died

Are you done with the whole line of do you believe in destiny was fine Personally I would’ve also accepted the Ted Kord response, Rot in Hell.

Ruby went super saiyan

Tai being the first person Ruby sees is nice

Yang’s bitterness works here. Though given how I wasn’t feeling too much of the sisterly bond between the two, it’s probably not as hard hitting as they wanted

Salem’s introduction isn’t bad

so after watching V3. my final opinion is meh

Strikes me as they wanted to the fall, and the tournament was just a lot of window dressing. Because the stuff with the Fall is the best part, but everything else has felt dull and fillery.

Maybe I’ll do this for the next season of a series I binge. But till next time, take care.

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keeper-of-the-lilacs · 5 years ago

Text

Character Profile - Hyacinth Delacroix

[ BASIC INFORMATION ]

[FULL NAME] Hyacinth Delacroix

[PRONOUNCED] ‘hahy-uh-sinth delah-kwAh’

[ALIASES] None at present

[GENDER] (Trans)female

[AGE] 28

[NAMEDAY] 24th Sun of the Third Astral Moon (5/24).

[RACE] Duskwight Elezen

[RELIGION] Patron Dieties are Halone and Thaliak

[LANGUAGES] Common, (whatever constitutes as French in Eorzea).

[ACCENT] Very, very slight French accent, ‘proper’ accent.

[HANDEDNESS] Right handed

[ APPEARANCE ]

[HAIR] A short hairstyle that just runs past her ears, the mess of wavy ash brown hair is kept clean and soft yet appears to grow too fast for the owner to keep it out of her eyes. Her bangs have a shock of white through them from a birthmark at her hairline.

[EARS] Long elezen ears that span outward.

[EYES] Light lavender, purple.

[COMPLEXION] Pale skin, constantly red from a telltale complexion.

[HEIGHT] 6′2″

[BUILD] Not entirely soft of features besides the innocent pudge to her face, Hyacinth is built for combat beneath her robes or armor. Her arms and legs are lithe with muscle, her long chest torso taut from years of training with the Holy See’s best. It has taken some minor fleshcrafting by an expert mage to bring a bit of feminine roundness to her form.

[POSTURE] Upright and proper, by years spent learning decorum and also from just general Anxiety.

[SCARS] Her body has light scars across her chest, arms, and legs. One can’t spend years as a knight without receiving a few mementos from one’s scaley foes.

[MARKINGS] No markings.

[MANNER OF DRESS] Hyacinth dresses modestly. If there is a gem or flashy bit of armor in her ensemble, it is guaranteed to be there merely for the magical or physical protection it brings and not to adorn her features. Before working in the company of Sthal’s companions and living in La Noscea, Hyacinth was typically in only armor or form-fitting masculine attire, however now she has broadened her range of clothes to include skirts and dresses for when she wishes to feel ‘pretty’.

[ COMBAT SKILL ]

[COMBAT CLASS] Lancer/Scholar -- ‘Academician’

[MELEE PROFICIENCY] None | Low | Intermediate | High | Masterful

[RANGED PROFICIENCY] None | Low | Intermediate | High | Masterful

[MAGICAL PROFICIENCY] None | Low | Intermediate | High | Masterful

[HEALING PROFICIENCY] None | Low | Intermediate | High | Masterful

[ATTRIBUTES] - - - STRENGTH: 14 (+2) - - - DEXTERITY: 14 (+2) - - - CONSTITUTION: 11 (+0) - - - INTELLIGENCE: 16 (+3) - - - WISDOM: 13 (+1) - - - CHARISMA: 7 (-2)

[WEAPONRY] A lance whose spear is topped with a crystal of dark purple hue and inconclusive material, sharpened to a deadly blade and nigh unbreakable (it has replaced her lance from her service as a knight, given to her by her mentor’s grandmother). Hyacinth also carries a grimoire with her on her belt. Occasionally she wields a rapier and dagger, or a bow.

[ARMOR] Hyacinth is typically in a mix of cloth and metal, preferred for the battlemage she has become.

[COMBAT STRENGTHS] Hyacinth is best at mid-range with her lance, which can take down foes much larger than her and keeps mounted foes at bay. It also keeps those with shorter blades from reaching her. The bow was part of her training as a knight and she is an acceptable shot by Ishgardian terms. Hyacinth can send ice attacks at her foes from mid-range to long range, which coupled with her lance attacks can be quite devastating. Ollie the fairy heals for her and her companions.

[COMBAT WEAKNESSES] Close range is Hyacinth’s downfall. Once an opponent gets past Hyacinth’s lance or bow, it is difficult for her to defend herself and gain back the advantage. Ollie also is not much for helping in combat, much preferring to heal and protect with shields; at close range, all he can do is shape-shift into something to surprise Hyacinth’s opponent to get her feet back under her.

[ EARLY YEARS ]

[HOMELAND] Ishgard

[PARENTS] Opert Delacroix, Aster Delacroix - Viscount & Viscountess Lavandiere

[SIBLINGS] Jacques/Jack the eldest brother (supposedly missing), Iris & Violet the eldest twin sisters, and Lily the youngest sister.

[REASON(S) FOR LEAVING] Hyacinth was originally a knight for House Hallienarte, but when they were under suspicion for heresy and Hyacinth was approached by the Holy See’s inquisition to join, she accepted to attempt to prove their innocence. The work was heartbreaking for the Echo user, who could see the innocence of the inquisition’s victims but could not prove to her colleagues that they were wrong; when her mentor Sthal got between the inquisitor Hyacinth was guarding--and proved he was a spy for the very heretics Hyacinth had been hunting--Hyacinth turned him in and then asked to be free of her service to Hallienarte. She visits her sister Iris there but never stays.

[ LATER YEARS ]

[PAST RESIDENCE] Ishgard.

[PAST OCCUPATION] Inquisition Knight.

[PAST AFFILIATION] Hallienarte, the Holy See.

[PAST FINANCIAL STATUS] Moderate, modest for a knight.

[PAST SOCIAL STATUS] Respected.

[PAST RELATIONSHIPS] Sir Gelert, brief relationship.

[PAST FRIENDSHIPS] Several friends among the knights under Hallienarte, before joining the inquisition of the Holy See. Several friends within the Scholasticate as well (open to connections in RP!)

[ PRESENT DAY ]

[RESIDENCE] A small residence in the Mists of Limsa Lominsa.

[OCCUPATION] Hyacinth would say she is just a ‘student’, with her time mainly spent either continuing her education of arcanum and aetherology under her mentor or in researching her various pet projects. However, she also deals in relic hunting and leads her own expeditions, and her projects typically have her hiring others to help her in dangerous areas. Her work goes towards the betterment of Eorzea with the Scions, though she might open her own adventurer company eventually.

[AFFILIATIONS] Hyacinth is affiliated with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, as a member of their order (this is something not RPed to the public, only to individuals interested with their own Scion/WoL OCs). She is also affiliated with the Scholasticate in Ishgard and the Arcanist Guild in Limsa Lominsa, although the latter is merely from her mentor being a professor there and her being considered his assistant.

[FINANCIAL STATUS] After her brother Jack’s return, and his naming Hyacinth as the heir to the estate of Lavandiere, the funds afforded to her by the will of her parents has allowed her to live comfortably in the Mists, and funded her many projects with the help of her steward, and her brother’s (perhaps sordid) businesses.

[SOCIAL STATUS] Though she’s the heir to minor nobility, this afford’s Hyacinth little regard outside of Ishgard. Her work as a scholar in her field of aetherology, however, gives her more aplomb in academic circles.

[RELATIONSHIP STATUS] Single, not terribly interested.

[PRESENT FRIENDSHIPS] Too bashful to make new friends, Hyacinth as a few acquaintances. Perhaps her only current friend is one Pfarblyss (@walkingflowerxiv)

[VICES] Exhaustion is a constant companion for Hyacinth; she is constantly overworking herself, especially if she’s close to finishing a project or has the need to finish it for an important/difficult matter. Hyacinth is also very gullible at times and sometimes duped into bad situations from believing a sob story she shouldn’t have.

[ ROMANCE & SEX ]

[GENDER IDENTITY] Transgender female.

[ROMANTIC ORIENTATION] Heteromantic

[EMOTIONAL ROLE] Submissive | Dominant | Switch | Unsure

[RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES] Close quarters with other, bawdier knights led an inquisitive Hyacinth to have several innocent relationships as a young adult; the last one she had was the only one that was physical as well as romantic. Ever since the death of her committed partner, Hyacinth has alienated herself from the idea of having another committed relationship.

[LOVE LANGUAGE] Hyacinth’s love is very verbal--she loves giving and receiving affection by words, in written or spoken form. Receiving gifts makes her uncomfortable in a relationship, and while she can show affection through touch, she couldn’t spend hours snuggling--holding hands and reaching out for the other, however, is a constant.

[SEXUAL ORIENTATION] Asexual (sex positive)

[SEXUAL ROLE] Submissive | Dominant | Switch | Unsure

[LIBIDO] Average/Below Average. Hyacinth does not feel sexual attraction, but her sexual urges are medium. She can warm up to the idea of having sex with a committed partner but prefers to handle it herself, alone.

[ATTRACTED TO] Empathy/kindness. Honorable. Calm decision-making. Intelligence, or a constant love to learn. Humor. Honesty. Reliable.

[TURN OFFS] Ignorance. Secrets. Excuses, or an inability to be responsible for one’s actions. Disloyalty.

[ PERSONALITY TRAITS ]

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

[ HOOKS ]

Knight of Ishgard Whether you’re a noble, a commoner, a fellow knight of Hallienarte or another noble house, or even a part of the Holy See, you have probably met or seen the brunette Elezen with a streak of white in her hair in Coerthas.

Student, Researcher, Mage In Ishgard it was hard to find an organized school for magick, outside the Scholasticate; one needs to either tutor themselves or seek one out if they have the means or money. Therefore it was in the last few years that Hyacinth has appeared in academic circles, with her being sighted in Limsa Lominsa on her way to the Arcanist Guild, or sitting in for talks or lectures at many halls in the city-states of Eorzea. She is known as a talented mage with arcanum and ice-aspected thaumaturgy, and the assistant of Sthalward Khannfyrsyn, a Scholar and professor to the Arcanist Guild. A perfect acquaintance for anyone academically inclined.

Expedition Leader Are you an adventurer in need of some gil? Looking for a job, and find protecting one skinny stick of an Elezen an easy way to line coin in your pockets? Hyacinth is regularly sending leves to the adventurer guilds of Eorzea for people to add to her expeditions, or in gathering miscellaneous ingredients needed for a project or two. Contact her for a job or a permanent position in her team, if interested.

Researching the Unknown of Summoning Magick Before her mentor left for the new world, he left Hyacinth with a curious gem that seemed to be all too similar to a Scholar’s soulstone. Inside was an arguable breakthrough in research for Allagan summoning and the techniques of the Nymian scholars--a shape-changing lesser elemental by the name of Oleander. This is the current overarcing plot for Hyacinth, who is constantly found with this carbuncle/fairy; his typical forms are a sheep or a mouse, and he can be determined by his occasional hiccuping of bubbles or random change to a different form. Hyacinth is very interested in meeting other summoners/scholars/allagan or Nymian interested individuals/masters of arcanum for this very reason.

Scion of the Seventh Dawn Mostly in personal writing, Hyacinth is a Scion, about the same in importance as Arenvald or Riol merely because she isn’t constantly interacting with the WoL but having a secondary role in information gathering and research. If anyone has any Scion OCs or NPCs, it can be RPed that she knows and works with them. Tentatively, I am also open to the idea of her knowing and working with WoL OCs as well, in assumed noncanon RP unless I feel that a WoL OC can eclipse the placeholder I have in my personal writing, my NPC Sthalward Khannfyrsyn.

Any other ideas? If you’ve read over Hyacinth’s profile and have a different idea for walk up RP or plot, feel free to message me about them! I am open to many different connections for her to help flesh her out further.

[ OOC ]

Please don’t contact me for ERP-heavy/only connections. My character is asexual and I would like that to be respected.

No f*ta or trap characters conceived for fetishistic reasons. Just...no.

I will not RP at minors. Sorry, but please be above 18 if you contact me.

Very Important: I work and am up mainly between 10 pm - 2 pm EST because of my work. If you can handle someone who has the hours of a vampire, that’s great! If you cannot, there at least is RP in google docs or discord that I can also do outside of in-game RP, though for any plot heavy RP I’d prefer to do some scenes in-game.

#mateus rp #crystal server rp #ffxiv rp #I did iiit I finally gave my main a rp profile

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razieltwelve · 6 years ago

Text

Bait (Final Rose)

“Why do I have to be bait?” Ruby whined.

“Because you’re the fastest,” Yang replied. “Besides, it’s not like you’re in any danger. We’re here and so is the professor.”

Ruby did not look very happy with that answer. “Why can’t you be bait? You’re stronger. You could probably just punch the lion if it tried to bite you.”

“Ruby, we’re trying to capture a lion, not beat one up.” Yang patted her on the back. “You’ll be fine. I mean, I’d suggest Weiss, but I’m not sure even a lion would want to eat her.”

“Hey!”

“And I’m not sure it would go for Blake. You know, feline solidarity and all.”

Blake raised one eyebrow. “I’m a cat Faunus, Yang, not a cat.”

“Anyway,” Yang continued. “You’re perfect for the job, Ruby.”

“I guess…”

Yang hefted a bucket. “Oh, and we’re going to have to slather you in sheep blood.”

“…”

X X X

The Mi’ihen lion is arguably the largest cat on Remnant. Stalking the plains and savannahs of Mi’ihen, it is one of the few predators capable of stalking and bringing down fully grown chocobos on its own. Specimens weighing in excess of 1200 pounds have been recorded, and there have been multiple incidents of adults attacking and killing elephants.

Unlike the similarly huge Mistral jungle tiger, the Mi’ihen lion is not a solitary creature. Instead, mated pairs raise their offspring together, often forming alliances with related lions to maximise hunting efficiency and ensure the protection of their young.

Although mature lions are rarely seen alone, young adults can often been found wandering on their own as they seek to claim territory and find suitable mates.

X X X

Ruby blinked… and something in the long grass blinked back.

“Lion!” she shrieked, turning and running. “Lion!”

In a blur of movement, she burst into motion. Of course, the lion wasn’t far behind her. Although a lion couldn’t hope to match a chocobo at full speed, it could try to use its excellent acceleration and incredible leaping ability to catch a chocobo by surprise.

Ruby was not a chocobo, which was a good thing. If she had been a chocobo, she would have been caught. Instead, she zipped out of range, the lion’s claws slashing the air where she’d been only a moment ago. As the lion stared in stunned disbelief, not quite able to understand how it had missed, there was a crackling sound, and it dropped to the ground.

A normal net could never have held a lion this large. Luckily, Vanille didn’t use normal nets. The net she’d fired from her net gun was made out of a special alloy with more than a thousand times the tensile strength of steel. It was also extremely conductive, which came in handy since it was a shock net.

The lion barely had time to growl before a series of increasingly powerful electric shocks knocked it unconscious. Once it was out for the count, the professor fired a carefully calibrated tranquilliser dart to make sure it stayed that way.

Ruby slowed to a stop. “Phew…” She glanced over at the others. “Is it safe now?”

“Yeah, it’s safe.” Vanille trooped toward the lion. It did not escape anyone else’s notice that she was wearing her power armour. “Good job, Ruby! Now, I just need to work some of my magic and then we can send this guy on his way.”

“What do you mean, professor?” Ruby asked.

“I’ve been hearing about a lion with an infected paw,” Vanille said. She removed the net and prodded the lion with her binding rod before kneeling to pick up its paw. “See this? Without treatment, this guy would be dead in a week, maybe less. One of the rangers nearby called it in, and I thought I’d fix it before we head back to Beacon.”

“Couldn’t you have captured him some other way?” Ruby asked.

“Maybe, but a wounded lion isn’t going to pass up an easy meal. That’s why we used sheep blood and asked you to suppress your Aura as much as possible. A lone figure that smells like a wounded sheep? Heh. That’s an easy meal. If you weren’t suppressing your Aura, he’d have been more cautious. As big as the lions get here, none of them would ever pick a fight with an Ancient Sheep if they could avoid it.”

“How long is this going to take?” Yang looked around. “And do we have to worry about other lions?”

“It’ll take about twenty minutes.” Vanille’s power armour released several drones. “But if you’re worried, I’ll set up a perimeter. You should keep watch, though, just in case my drones miss anything.”

X X X

Note:

The largest known group of Mi’ihen lions was a pride of fifty that formed after several related family groups joined forces. The resulting pride menaced the savannah for more than six months before finally biting off more than it could chew.

The pride attacked a group of chocobos, one of whom was able to flee back to the flock. The flock, which consisted of more than two hundred chocobos arrived shortly after and immediately swarmed the lions. Although the average Mi’ihen lion is more than capable of attacking and killing an average chocobo, the lions were outnumbered by more than four-to-one. Moreover, chocobos are social birds, and their tactics reflect this. When attacking as a flock, they instinctively flank, surround, and then overwhelm their opponents.

Given the sheer amount of damage that a chocobo’s claws and beak can inflict, even a single clean hit can prove devastating even to an animal as large as a Mi’ihen lion, which is why they typically rely on ambush and surprise attacks to defeat chocobos. When attacking as a group, some chocobos will typically target the eyes and face of the opponent, drawing their attention, which leaves their flanks and back vulnerable to attack from other chocobos.

The ensuing melee was captured on film by Professor Oerba Dia Vanille, Dr Diana Yun-Farron, and Raine Dia-Farron. Within ten minutes, ten of the lions were dead, and the rest were in full retreat with fifteen of the survivors bearing significant injuries.

Had the flock been led by a golden chocobo, it is likely the battle would have ended there. Instead, the flock was led by a black-and-red chocobo, a breed notorious for holding a grudge. The leader of the flock led a prolonged campaign of harassment, using the chocobos’ superior speed and endurance to constantly harry the retreating lions, attacking only when they were exhausted and only when the chocobos could bring their superior numbers to bear.

Over the next several days, the chocobos killed another thirty lions before the arrival of significant numbers of Grimm forced the chocobos to retreat, allowing the remaining lions to retreat.

The incident serves as a potent reminder of the value of teamwork and strategy. Individually, the lions were superior to their opponents. However, the chocobos were able to leverage their superior numbers to first rout the lions before using their superior endurance and speed to constantly attack them, leaving them no time to regroup or recover. As exhaustion overwhelmed them, the lions were then picked off by the vengeful chocobos.

The surviving lions were later observed behaving differently. Whenever possible, they went after lone chocobos, and when they did go after small groups, they made sure to let no members of the group escape. Conversely, members of the chocobo flock were observed moving in groups of no less than a dozen, most likely to discourage attack and to guarantee at least one survivor should an attack occur.

#final rose #fanfiction #team rwby #oerba dia vanille

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curupiracue · 6 years ago

Text

Planning (or attempts to)

“Dammit Novalue, we wasted too much time! Were i-?!” I suddenly interrupt myself when a certain bitch enters my field of vision, walking out of an alley. She notices me too, stops, sits down and all but flat-out tells me to go to the Mental World.

Novalue notices it too, and looks at me, silently asking what we should do.

“She probably knows the situation better. So if she isn’t pursuing the serial killer, that means there is not much I can do…” My tone of voice rapidly changes to something enthusiastic “Now! The question is, should we take this chance to shoot her in the head, or just shoot her in the head?”

“I’m not participating if you decide to fight her, unless it’s on the off-chance you’re about to get yourself killed.”

“Muri! How the hell would that happen? I’m as invincible as a diamond in a cutting contest, and she is no hammer! Nyahahah!”

‘This time, Novalue sighs.

“Well? Shall we go?”

“Mm. Yes, let’s.”

(Entering the nowhere of importance. Wait patiently, if you will?)

The moment we get there, Wims (tries) to joyfully greet us.

“Why, hel-”

“HOW IN THE SEVEN HELLS DID YOU MANAGE TO LET HIM ESCAPE!?!”

“...Well, so much for the passive-aggressive beginning.” She replies dryly, without any of the previous fake merriness

“Ooh~? I have no problems with that. I’m friends with passive-aggressiveness, differently from you and catching criminals~” Hahah! Now that caused some umbrage, I can see it in her expression~

“Well… Sorry if I can’t catch a coward that runs away. Maybe if I had your help… oh, but you couldn’t be bothered.”

“Oh? You’d need me? Heheheh, no, that’s not a surprise, see, I’m actually just shocked because you’re willing to admit this in all your arrogance.”

“Not necessarily in combat. I could have gathered as much info as I wanted about his powers and his schedule, if only you had told me about the circumstance. But you’re too petty for that, aren’t you Nim? Would rather let people potentially die, I guess.”

“Well, YEAH! I couldn’t care less about that. You on the other hand, seems to be enjoying playing little goody two shoes without actually being one. Or trying to be one. That’s as miserable as a fish out of water… on a volcano.”

“Oh, I’m not good by any stretch. I just meant to say that anyone with a shred of morality is more moral than you, you hyper-sociopath. Remind me to beat you to a pulp one of these days, yeah?”

“Huhh?! One of these days? Why not right now? The serial killer isn’t coming back, so you’re not risking anything other than learning the fact that you cannot possibly hope to beat me.”

“Last time says otherwise.”

“Last time you had an advantage, bitch.”

“Hohoh! Then I guess it’s about time I prove I don’t need one.”

She started walking in my direction, and I did the same.

“Wouldn’t write a thesis about that. Speaking of writing, considering you’ll be left mentally crippled for life, I wonder who is going to write the article about your demi-WAAHH?!?”

“Hu-Uwoooh?!”

(The prism spins, and senseless light is reflected with a different sense)

To say that I didn’t see this coming would be equal to lying, but it escalated a little bit too fast. Thankfully, I had time to set up two unreal areas while they were distracted. The moment they gave their first steps, their legs entered unreality, and without support, so did the rest of the body.

Pop.

Ttuumm.

“Guh!”

“Ugh.”

And then I popped the unreal areas back into existence, making both Nim and Wims fell on the ground.

“That’s enough, you two.”

(The prism spins, and senseless light is reflected with a different sense)

...Well, that caught me by surprise. Novalue’s the type of underdog that wins by being surprisingly powerful when and where you least expect it.

Unreality… His primary construction. The power to make it so that anything within a certain area ceases to affect the other world. Well. It’s annoyingly more complex than that. But who in their right would be describing that as their leg suddenly disappear and they fall nowhere? I mean… sure, the construction can’t actually hurt anything, since whatever is in unreality is still connected to the part that is still real, but like… explaining crap like this, it’s like we’re on a book or something!

(The prism spins, and senseless light is reflected in all different senses)

“Yes you are.”

(The prism spins, and senseless light is reflected with a different sense)

“(very) exasperated sigh) Nim, you’re being an idiot because you refuse to cooperate with her even though the situation calls for it. Wims, you’re being an idiot because you refuse to acknowledge the circumstance. What Nim wants to do would be hardly detrimental. Don’t say that he didn’t even ask either: it’s obvious you would have killed the murderer behind our backs if he did. Hell, you attacked them even when we were obviously planning something. I’m honestly sick and tired of having to watch you two degenerate into fighting like two brats every time we speak.”

“Ugh… I suppose I deserved that.”

“Tsk. Fair enough. But, Novalue, you’re wrong on one account: I didn’t attack him while knowing of your plan: I was just warned of something interesting and after sensing that man’s power, I guessed the rest.”

“You were warned through the crow… Then, did you receive information such as the killer’s face and overall appearan-”

“Of course not, dumbass. That crow… probably died...”

Oh.

Well, at least Nim’s being sensitive about it.

Wims seemed to have a rare moment of sentimentality. But her stoic nature and the ease to manipulate our Mental World’s avatars made it hard for me to see it.

“Yes, quite… So I’m in quite the sore mood now. That bastard killed Jesus… this can’t be allowed.” She clenched her fist with anger and looked at us.

“So. Here’s the reason I called you here, to the Mental World...” She put her hand on her head and pulled photos out of it, right before tossing them to us.

In those photos, were…

A knife.

A man shrouded in fog.

And an arm holding a knife, attempting to stab her.

“There are...”

“...Not reminiscence photos.”

“Huh?”

“Ugh, for fuck’s sake Novalue, you’re useless. ...They don’t have that feeling of power. These are probably… ordinary images, manifestations of her memory. They look like those photos cuz’ it was probably easier to re-use the frame.”

“Precisely. Well, normally, since these are just memories created and stored naturally without use of a construction, there would be inaccuracies… But since I am flawless, so are these.”

Nim took a good look at the photo he was holding.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Huh, what~?”

Ugh… What a pest. Well, anyway...

She couldn’t hear the word of Jesus, but still managed to come up with something of her own… So she is muslim?

...No, that joke was awful. Nim would complain about imprecisions too.

“Anyway! Ms. Fourt-”

“Oh, please dispense with the formalities~”

“...Alright bitch, tell us what you know.”

(Time passes...)

“In addition to that...”

“You’re going to say that he detected us, aren’t you? ‘Cause I already kn-”

“Stop being such a glory hound. That said… yes. You were far away, but he managed to detect you, that or he made a random turn for no reason, which is doubtful. Given his overall inexperience, I think it’s safe to say that’s another construction of his, rather than being good at Sensing.”

“So… Summing it up, there are four of them. Two primary, and two secondary, judging from their power. The primary ones are an utility construction that is presumably not combat applicable and that can be used to erase memories, and a combat construction that summons a shadowed arm. The secondary constructions are also combat constructions, most likely, though that doesn’t matter. One of them hides his presence, and the other can be used as a scout. But we don’t know what exactly it does. It might detect other minds, or it might warn him of danger, or it might allow him to see things that are far away… Well, out of these, the last one makes more sense for a combat construction. But now that I think about it, it could be a primary utility construction. Kind of a newbie’s move, but he IS inexperienced...”

“I doubt that arm would have so much power if he had divided his attention between 3 primary constructions… And we also don’t know much about that memory wiping one… though, I doubt we’ll need to worry with that.”

“Hmmm… naruhodo. Thanks for summing it up, Novalue. I think I got the general idea of his powers. On video game terms, he'd be a "Glass Canon" of sorts. He possesses devastating ranged attacks, that, while restricted and held back by a few weaknesses, are still tricky to avoid, his fog shit to cover his location and GPS to guarantee that we can't do the same. But when it comes to direct combat, his hand ability ends up lacking in proper versatility and defense capability, and he doesn't really have any good defensive or movement options. His Erasure power is pretty good, and works at melee, but it takes way to long and is too weak to make a difference. Not to mention, trying to touch someone with his kit doesn't really bode well.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?”

“(sigh...) You’re two useless idiots. Specially you, Wims.”

“What was that?!”

“I mean, Novalue has an excuse since he flat out wouldn’t be able to do this… but you came face-to-face with the killer and couldn’t be bothered? Guess you wanted to just end this quickly, but gathering info is your job… Are you that bad at it?”

“Why you…!”

“You know… When I was a kid, I wanted to be a babysister, but I can now see that this was a horrible mistake… Nim. What are you talking about? Don’t tell me that you managed to get a copy of his construction?”

“Ugh. He sure did. And by pure luck, by the looks of it.”

“Aww, did you view a little film of my pathetic life because you were feeling even more pathetic after losing to me? Better to win with luck than lose whe-”

“...No need to read your memories. You put a trap in someone, didn’t you? You were probably developing it as a minor construction, or maybe not even that, just a magic trick, every since you heard about about the memory erasures. A trap that made it so that, if someone with it got their memories erased, you would get a copy of whatever erased it.”

“Wow, you figured it out! Elaborate huuuh~? But you didn’t even need that! He was close to you. So you have just wanked it out of him, or read his memories concerning it. Even with the fog, you could probably overpower him with your superior stren-”

“Nim, shut the fuck up.”

“Hmmph. Prickly after losing your crow, I see. ...Well… let’s just present it:”

Suddenly, Nim summoned a shadowy figure.

“It’s just a being made of information. No way could I have gotten away with making a copy of the real thing. In essence, after the killer touches you, he can install this on your mind. Then after 4 hours of preparation and another 4 of waiting, it attacks. If it gets you, BOOM! Heart attack. Then it rummages through your memories, deleting them and only stopping whenever it finds someone. If it does, it will go to that person’s mind and delete the information about the original person as well as putting them into a “trance” for a while, during which they will ignore signs of the erased person’s existence. Quite the nice work, I must say~ ...I mean, I could do better, but still.”

“Huh. Sounds like it won’t present a problem to us after all. Incidentally, shouldn’t we make sure he can’t quit town?”

“...I already did that. The crows are keeping a close watch at the exits. For now, nobody left. I feel like he’s aware that it would be a bad idea… Well, at the very least, he knows what my crows can do, since he did me the FUCKING FAVOR of killing one of them...”

“Well, if you’re that pissed, how’s about we do something about it?”

“Agreed. Though now more than ever I DON’T wanna’ cooperate with you Nim, it was part of the plan from the get go.”

“Speaking of plans… Exactly how can I trust you not to backstab me?”

“Oh, you can’t~”

“...I’ll put you on a damn leash if I have to…”

“Ugh. Fine, you have my word… You’re an idealistic shit, Nim.”

“Why, thank you. Go live in a barrel with a staff, some rags and a loaf of bread. And remind me if I’m in front of the sun, bitch.”

“...Now that this is out of the way...” I butted in.

“Shall we start our plans?”

#stories #Mywhatamentalworld

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osmw1 · 6 years ago

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Dimension Wave Chapter 13 — Cheesy

I’m standing in front of the cave. In my hand is my fishing rod with a sinker threaded onto the line.

“Let’s do this then.”

They silently nod in response and I cast my line. I have fine control over my rod, thanks to Fishing Mastery IV. The hook sinks right into the Lizardman Dark Knight. It probably dealt a point or two of damage, but it can hardly be called an attack. But it did exactly what I wanted it to—pulling its aggro.

“It’s comin’! Get ready, everybody!”

I’m not even sure if I did any damage to it, but it’s rushing towards us at the speed of lightning. If this were any other monster, we’d be instantly destroyed, but…

Kaboom!

The Lizardman Dark Knight slammed into the mouth of the cave accompanied by a terrible crash. Yup. The Lizardman Dark Knight doesn’t fit through the entrance. There are a lot of games where you can trap monsters by getting them to clip against objects. It’s an easy way to level up, but devs usually patch stuff like this out pretty quickly. Fortunately, it works in Dimension Wave. And it goes without saying that there’s a chance of it not working, but after discussing it between the three of us, we decided to try it out.

“Let’s kick its ass!” “Understood!” “Aye!”

The rest was straightforward. All we had to do was use the weapons and skills we had to and keep on attacking the trapped monster. I took out my Cetus Longsword and started hacking away at the trapped Lizardman Dark Knight too.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m doing too much damage. My strikes connect with a dull clank. I couldn’t tell from a distance, but now I know that it’s not only clad in armor but also covered in scales. Its defense is accordingly high too. I look over and see Shouko endlessly thrusting and swinging as well. Yamikage has some kind of scroll-shaped magic tome by his mouth and begins chanting. Moments after, a black visual effect appears, and he starts absorbing green orbs from the Lizardman Dark Knight.

That’s probably his Drain, a dark magic spell. Shouko and I aren’t using any skills though. We don’t know how much HP this boss has, so it’d be hard to guess if we’d make up any energy expended.

“This guy is literally so tough. Can you even win fighting normally?” “I have heard talk of a party defeating it before.”

We strike up a conversation, but our hands hadn’t stopped.

“’Tis naught but a rumor, but supposedly, they had tanks occupying the monster while they blasted it with light magic from a distance.” “I see. Its physical defense is as high as it looks to be.”

It’s just a guess, but I don’t think we’re quite fit to fight this Lizardman Dark Knight. The folding fan doesn’t do much damage and Drain is a dark-type skill. Our chances of winning are zero if not for cheesing it. My attacks make an unpleasant clank when I hit it and that’s with my strongest weapon I have. Oh, and if I had to say, I think a metal axe or even a blunt melee weapon would fare much better.

“In any case, if it doesn’t make any strange movements, we can just keep on wailing on it.” “Okay!” “Aye!”

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step is what they say. Just gotta keep at it.

Thirty minutes later.

“I-It’s still standing. How much freakin’ HP does this bastard have…”

If we get too close, it’ll strike back at us. We’re barely managing to outrange it. Especially with Shouko. The range on her fan is short, so she’s gotta occasionally parry its attacks. Not to mention, the AI causes it to try to run away from time to time. Naturally, I summon it back with my fishing rod. Seeing how I’m able to manage that says a lot about how smart the AI is.

“Perhaps it has regenerating capabilities.” “Nay. ‘Tis but because our offense is lacking.”

Well, that’s true, but I’m about average, I’d say. It’s been seemingly forever since we’ve attacked this monster, resulting in its armor crumbling and even scales ripped off. Still, it’s tough mentally to keep this up for a whole hour on a single monster.

“Be nourishment for my spirit. Drain!”

Yamikage’s been spamming Drain endlessly for 30 minutes and now even has more Energy than Shouko. That’s to say, he has about 27,000 right now. The Lizardman Dark Knight sure has a lot of HP.

“Whoa?”

As soon as the familiar green orbs get drained by Yamikage, the Lizardman Dark Knight moved in a peculiar way like nothing seen before. It keeled over with a deafening wheeze. It crumbles and slams onto the ground while luckily, causing no earthquakes.

“Hath it finally perished?” “Hey! That’s a death flag right there!” “Hmm, aye. I have left my younger sister behind in my hometown. Therefore, death must wait!”

… god damnit. I like his enthusiasm.

“Goodness… whatever are you two doing?”

Shouko shot a chilling glance over at us while confirming that the enemy is dead. Bosses feign death too. I raise my guard and get closer.

“Be wary. It may be feigning death.” “Gotcha.” “That is unlikely.” “Why’s that?” “Dark it may be, but it is still a knight. I believe it would have more honor than to do something so cowardly.”

Hmm, she’s got a point. It’s normally the demons and tribals that play dead, I think. Well, I guess the Lizardmen are a tribe, but still, it’s a knight. It should be honorable. More honorable than us, at least. We’re the one who trapped it and cheesed it to death. But ignore that.

“As for drops… we obtain a Fragment of Darkness and Dark Spear Splinter.” “We may sell those for a hefty sum.”

It’ll make us a good bit of coin, though I’m not exactly broke. Well, it doesn’t hurt to have more money. According to Yamikage, that two-handed spear is a material and a very desirable one for spear-wielders because of its dark element.

“Such is the prowess of a gutting-type weapon, true to what the rumors say.”

The real issue now is what to do. I glance over to Shouko and give her a look. Honestly, I want to gut it. I don’t think I’d get another chance to gut it. And likely, what we’d get from the monster would be really good for weapons and armor. A side of me is saying to keep the secret but the other side of me really wants the boss loot.

“We’re buddies that took down a boss together, so I guess I’ll tell ya…”

There ain’t nothin’ better than boss drops.

“If you are fine with it, Kizuna, then I believe it is for the best as well.” “Hmm? What is the meaning of this?” “Well, just watch. Speed Gutting…”

After chanting the skill, I take my Cetus Longsword and start to butcher up the giant Lizardman Dark Knight. I can’t do anything about the armor and scales broken off of it, but I can harvest the rest of his scales, bones, flesh, teeth, eyes, skin, tail, and even blood. But, for some reason, I can’t make use of what I broke off of it in the fight. It’s like the complete opposite of that certain monster hunting game.

“Egads…”

Yamikage mutters out in shock. Since this is a boss monster, I got as much material as I did from the Giant Herring. The Giant Herring must’ve been the boss of its species too.

“What on earth is this? Hath the items increased? Doth gutting-type weapons not increase our drops?” “It is poorly explained in the manual, but this is the proper way of using a gutting weapon.” “Never have I been more surprised in this world before!”

I can’t tell whether he’s really that surprised or his acting is just overboard, but his words are filled with zeal. Well, even if he tells everyone about this, we can still make plenty of cash if we sell these boss items quick enough.

“Then, shall I keep this a secret too?” “Huh?” “It seems as though Misses Kizuna and Hakoniwa were both keeping this undisclosed. As gratitude for saving my life, I, too, shall bring this secret to my grave.” “W-Well, I’d appreciate it if you would…”

And to think he had almost killed us. I’m glad he changed his mind. If he’ll keep it a secret, then I really don’t have any problems with him.

“However, I doth have an issue to discuss…” “What is it?” “May I perhaps join your party?” “… why?” “I have been playing alone up till now.” “Is that right?”

Shouko questions him. He’s got such a weird build. It’s no wonder no one’s letting him in their party. I almost blurted that out loud, but I held my tongue.

“It may hath been on your tongues already, but I have a communication disorder.” “…?”

… what was that? Unfortunately, I had no clue. Some might think his roleplaying is over the top, but I think most enjoy it. At least Alto or Romina wouldn’t have a problem with it.

“Many times, I have wished to join a party, but I always end up unable to.” “I am sorry to hear.”

Shouko’s totally starting to let her guard down. It totally reeks of a scam.

“Question.” “Aye?” “You said you have a communication disorder, but you’re talkin’ to us just fine.” “Speaking like this—like a ninja—seems to help.”

What kind of reasoning is that? At least come up with a better excuse.

“Mine heart is pounding as we speak now.” “Goodness! Kizuna, let her travel with us. We are fellow Spirits after all!”

What is this feeling? Like I’m watching my friends getting swindled? W-Well, I guess a party wouldn’t be too bad… hmm?

“What did you just say?” “We are fellow Spirits after all?” “No, before that.” “We should travel with her? “Yeah. ‘Her’?”

Yamikage’s wrapped up in all black. That’s not something you could tell at first glance. There’s even black cloth wrapped around their mouth, so it’s hard to tell by their voice.

“I am embarrassed to show my true face in front of others, but if we are to fight together, then please, look at me.”

Saying that, Yamikage unravels the black cloth…

—and reveals a beauty girl with silver hair.

contents: /prologue/ /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /next/

(please support me on Patreon or Paypal)

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dantes-wombat · 6 years ago

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First in a hopefully long line of Malec prompt fills. Prompt “Don’t hide from me when you get hurt” provided by my lovely bff @oneiricjourney

read on ao3

Nephilim and Warlocks battling demons together hasn’t been known to happen very often – a historical fact that seems quite nonsensical to anyone witnessing what Alec and Magnus can do together.

Strictly speaking, they should both avoid close-range combat. Alec is lethal with a blade but it’s nothing compared to what he can do with a bow and some arrows, while Magnus excels at the occasional ball of warlock fire and defensive magic. They should need a skilled melee fighter to keep any demon getting too close at bay.

So far, nothing has ever managed to get too close.

Where before Alec had always been on some vantage point at the outskirts of battle, securing the perimeter and taking out threats to his teammates with carefully aimed arrows that never missed their mark, he’s now in the thick of it. Surrounded by a swirling circle of protective blue flames, he and Magnus now make up the impenetrable centre of the battlefield, raining down a destructive mixture of demonic fire and adamant arrows on their enemies. As long as Alec and Magnus are standing, their party cannot lose. The demons seem to know it, too, and keep throwing themselves at them in a way that makes it easy for Isabelle, Jace and the rest to pick off those that remain.

It’s the most efficient they’ve ever been while hunting. And while Magnus has a day job and a reputation to maintain that keep him from joining Shadowhunter missions too often, he insists on staying at his boyfriend’s side whenever Alec is suddenly called away. Somewhere deep down, they’re probably both aware that they enjoy it a bit too much – the heady rush of anticipating each other’s every move, of deadly synchronicity, of simply letting go.

Alec knows that he himself is not invulnerable, far from it; no demon hunt goes by without at least some scratches and bruises, though rarely something an Iratze couldn’t fix. His ever-growing collection of scars is a testimony to deeper wounds, a testimony that all Shadowhunters share. Magnus’ skin, on the other hand, is flawless, all traces of former hurts vanished by the touch of his own magic or others’. When he fights, Magnus is an awe-inspiring vision – fast and graceful, cat-eyes blazing golden, his raw power masterfully controlled but unleashed in the blink of an eye if danger approaches those standing beside him.

Which is exactly why at some point, Alec has mostly stopped being too worried about Magnus in battle. Not an easy step for someone whose defining characteristic is worrying about his loved ones, but when they're back to back and he can feel the strength emanating from his lover's body, it's hard to feel anything but invincible.

Their latest mission had been different, and not in a good way. While Valentine is gone and the Shadow World on its way to back to peace and strengthened collaboration in the aftermath, single cells of fanatics keep popping up and try to spread unrest. Always on their heels come the deformed shapes of demons, altered and tamed in a network of hidden laboratories.

Three hours later, Alec is still flat on the sofa, feeling sore all over. It’s been awhile since Magnus excused himself to the bathroom, and the loft’s been eerily silent since the water stopped running about twenty minutes ago. Getting up is still out of the question though, at least until the Chairman jumps up next to him and curls up into a dark, fluffy ball. Shaken out of the light doze he was dropping into, Alec decides to finally get up and investigate.

With soundless steps, he walks towards the slightly ajar bedroom door. For a moment, he can barely believe what he sees in there.

Magnus is in front of the high mirror, shirtless. His face is clean of make-up and his hair is falling into his face, soft and still damp after the much-needed shower that washed off all the sweat and blood and demon ichor. So far, this is part of their usual after-mission routine. What shocks Alec is what Magnus seems to be inspecting in the mirror, head bent over his left shoulder: a barely closed gash surrounded by discoloured skin right on his back.

Alec’s sharp intake of breath is loud in the otherwise silent room, and Magnus jerks around towards him, looking caught. It only takes him an instant to school his features into that neutral, bland smile that Alec has learned to recognize as fake.

“Alexander,” he says pleasantly, not an ounce of discomfort in his voice, “ready to go to bed?”

Alec steps closer, ignoring the question. “That wound on your back – when did that happen? And why hasn’t it healed? You must’ve closed it with magic.”

Magnus looks tempted to deny the existence of any wound, the well practised mask still in place, until he drops it with a sigh. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want to reply, but by now he also knows that Alec won’t back down until he gets an honest answer.

“It happened right when we were jumped by those would-be Circle members. I was grazed by a Seraph blade – it wasn’t – isn’t serious!” he adds hastily as Alec blanches.

Alec usually tries to avoid thinking about what his own weapons could do to the man he loves. What they have already done to other Downworlders. He’s right in front of Magnus now, instinctively taking his hand and moving a thumb over the rings the warlock never seems to take off, not even at night. Magnus would never hesitate to fall back behind Alec and his team if he were truly in danger, Alec is sure of it; nevertheless, this is a nasty reminder that they’ve grown overconfident, too convinced that their combined skills make them untouchable. It’s about trust, and his own failure to shield Magnus from harm.

“I...I’m sorry I didn’t notice, but-” As expected, Magnus waves his apology off impatiently, but Alec isn’t finished. “Why would you try to hide it?”

Alec is aware that Magnus’ make-up and flashy outfits are not simply expressions of his personality, but also act as a shield, a front that makes others see the High Warlock of Brooklyn instead of a person who needs to cope with 400 years of heartbreaks and crippling periods of loneliness. To Alec, he has never looked more vulnerable than he does right now, with this open and slightly ashamed expression on his bare face.

Magnus hesitates, eyes dropping.

“I see how you look at me when I fight,” he eventually says in a small voice. “I know how much you love it when I’m powerful enough to burn a bunch of demons down to ashes.”

The look on Alec’s face must be as incredulous as he feels, because Magnus only meets his eyes for a fraction of a second before moving as if he means to put some distance between them. Alec’s hand moves up to his cheek immediately. There’s no resistance when he turns Magnus’ face back towards him.

“If you know me so well, you must also know how much I hate seeing the people I love get hurt. How much I want to take care of them, protect them...how much I enjoy sharing my strength with you, whenever you need it.”

He’s cupping Magnus’ face in both hands now, a gesture he loves for its intimacy, the way he can softly trace his lover’s cheekbones with his fingers. Magnus always looks slightly broken when he does it, completely disarmed, but at least he’s listening to Alec now, really listening.

“You don’t have to be that untouchable warlock all the time. You’ve patched me up so often, you’ve saved my life more times than I can count...you’re allowed to need help sometimes, too.”

Magnus’ arms come up around Alec’s shoulders, his eyes brimming over with emotion, so Alec draws him in, lets him hide his face against the rune covering his neck. He brushes his fingers carefully through the shorter hair at the back of Magnus’ head, lips close to his ear.

“Never hide from me when you get hurt...okay?”

He feels the whispered “okay” against his neck more than he can hear it, but it is enough.

#shadowhunters #malec #malec fic #alec lightwood #magnus bane #prompt fill #my writing

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ruffsficstuffplace · 6 years ago

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The Viridian Vanguard (Part 30)

Note: I know I used “many” thrice last chapter, but it turns out it’s hard to make a number of unique, distinct weapons for Fascist Magical Space Hippies; think of ways to artfully demonstrate their effectiveness in one-to-one matches with a semi-experienced, talented human user whose opponent is essentially a human target dummy; while also trying to keep within self-imposed chapter lengths to avoid author burn-outs.

So, hope you don’t mind this chapter’s selection for the melee weapons, which hopefully gives the general idea of how the Fae have modified or made similar designs to humans, or works completely their own. The next chapter will either be a continuation of melee weapons, or move onto ranged weapons, depending on how many of these crazy ideas for weapons/ways for Jaune to get his ass kicked that you folks want to see.

“Are you sure you want to continue with this plan, Jaune?” Pyrrha asked, her voice modulated by the comm-unit inside her visor. “Even for training weapons, these seem awfully dangerous still, and that isn’t even going into the mediums I’m using!”

“I’m sure!” Jaune replied, making a thumbs up with his gloved hand, the surface still scarred from all his elemental mishaps earlier. “We’ll never get anywhere if neither of us ever get serious!”

(“That’s the spirit, Jaune!” Yang cried from the benches on the side.)

Pyrrha sighed. “Alright, if you’re sure...” she muttered.

From his position on the side of the dirt circle the two were in, Taiyang raised the dueling horn to his lips. “Fighters ready?” he asked.

“Aye!” Jaune and Pyrrha both cried, readying their weapons.

“Then fight!” Taiyang cried, before he blew the horn, starting a long series of one-on-one duels between Jaune and Pyrrha.

The first set of matches were with Fae equivalents of traditional human weapons, but with the advantage of the former’s engineering, materials, and of course, elemental mediums.

Pyrrha’s first chose was a Khopesh and shield, the blade infused with elemental earth. The two of them exchanged simple slashes and thrusts for a few moments, Pyrrha gracefully dodging and deflecting Jaune’s inelegant attacks, Jaune blocking with his sizable shield, or enduring her direct attacks.

It all seemed like a standard sword duel, until Pyrrha activated her weapon’s element, and caught Jaune’s sword in the hook of her blade.

Clang!

Jaune’s sword stuck to Pyrrha’s Khopesh, now magnetized. Pyrrha yanked backwards, Jaune staggered forward and tightened his grip, the two of them started wrestling and kicking up dirt, until with a swift bash of Pyrrha’s shield to the side of Jaune’s head, his sword flew out of his hand.

Pyrrha pulled back, deactivated the medium and dropped Jaune’s sword, before she spun back around and aimed a chop right at Jaune’s neck!

Thwack!

It stopped dead on the armor there, a great deal of sturdy material before even getting close to nicking his skin, but that didn’t stop him from making an incredibly undignified noise.

Taiyang blew the horn, Pyrrha carefully removed her sword; Jaune gasped, instinctively grasping at his neck and stepping back.

“Are you alright, Jaune?” Pyrrha asked as she sheathed her sword.

“… Yeah…” Jaune replied, calming down now. “Just… surprised. Straight for the killing blow, huh?” he asked, rubbing at the fresh nick with one hand.

“This is ‘full out’ sparring,’ after all,” Pyrrha replied. Her voice softened as she asked, “Would you still like to continue? I’m afraid I can’t pull back, as the other fighters at the Pits certainly won’t.”

“Yeah, I’m still game!” Jaune said, nodding as he put his hand away.

“Are you sure?” Pyrrha asked.

“I’m sure,” Jaune said. “That is why we’re wearing like an inch’s worth of armour all over, right?” he said, spreading out his arms.

“Right.” Pyrrha replied, before she stepped out of the circle and back to the collection of weapons on the side.

For the next round, she decided on a spear loaded with elemental water. For the sake of fairness, Jaune was given his own without the medium, though while Pyrrha could hold it straight and confidently, he could barely keep it steady.

“Will you be alright fighting with this, Jaune?” Pyrrha asked as they reentered the arena.

“I’m good!” Jaune said. “I’m trying to learn by experience, aren’t I?”

Pyrrha slowed down and looked at him for a few moments, before she nodded and continued on to her starting place.

Taiyang blew the horn, Pyrrha attacked immediately, aiming thrusts at Jaune’s chest, blocking his own jabs with her shield, or smacking his spear away with her own. It wasn’t long before Jaune lost his grip on his weapon, and was reduced to holding his shield up in front of him with both hands, trying to remain standing as Pyrrha stabbed him in the legs.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

It seemed like the match had reached a stalemate as Jaune blocked or powered through most of Pyrrha’s thrusts, until she activated the water medium in her weapon.

Thrust.

Jaune cried out and stumbled as he was stabbed in the ankle.

Thrust.

His shield rang as it blocked a blow meant for his chest, the force sending him staggering back till he was almost out of bounds; Jaune desperately flailed his arms, trying to keep from falling back.

Poke.

Pyrrha gently hit him in the thickest part of his breastplate, sending him falling flat on his ass, and out of the ring.

Taiyang blew the horn, Yang came up to Pyrrha as she put the spears away. “Word of advice: don’t do mercy if this were an actual match,” she said. “Folks love their epic, brutal finishers, and if you’ve got someone on the ropes like that for most of a fight, make sure everyone knows how bad of an idea it was to mess with you.

“Caring for your opponents is before, after, and outside of a match, not during it.”

“Noted,” Pyrrha said, before she looked at the vast array of weapons laid out before her.

The hours went by, and nearing the end of that set, Pyrrha started going for more exotic, “crowd-pleaser” weapons, like nunchuks infused with elemental air. Even just loading it with a fresh vial had the whole weapon sparking and glowing ominously.

“Are you sure you’re not gonna hurt yourself with those things?” Jaune asked as he watched Pyrrha carefully practicing with simple, practical swings.

“Not entirely, but our armour has proven itself quite durable, so I wouldn’t worry too much!”

“Alright, just be careful!” Jaune replied. “I don’t want you to accidentally shock and knock yourself out.”

“The concern is much appreciated, Jaune,” Pyrrha replied, before she got into a combat stance, one rod held firmly in her hand.

Taiyang blew the horn, and almost immediately, a miniature, violent thunderstorm erupted inside the ring.

Jaune couldn’t even prepare a single attack before Pyrrha rushed in, electricity arcing through the air as she swung her nunchuks, the rods landing on his armour and shield with explosive, thunderous force. The strikes were so many and so fast that everyone on the sidelines could barely watch the fight for all the sparks and electric discharges flying out.

With a sharp, piercing cry, Pyrrha pulled her nunchuks back and kicked Jaune in the chest!

Jaune went flying and crashed into the dirt, a smoking, twitching, slightly blackened heap; Pyrrha staggered and almost lost her balance as some of the leftover charge coursed into one of her legs.

“Oh, Great-Grandma, is he going to be okay?” Pyrrha asked as she rubbed her ankle, watched as Nora and Ren jogged forward with the first aid kit.

“Yes, actually!” Ren replied as opened it and put on a pair of non-conductive mender’s gloves. “We Fae have treatments for all sorts of things.”

“Yep!” Nora replied as she did the same, before she started pulling out equipment. “Cuts, bruises, all kinds of poisons, burns of all three degrees, crushed or blocked airways, partially severed limbs, fully severed limbs, internal bleeding, organ failure, chafing—we’ve got a treatment for pretty much everything!”

“I see...” Pyrrha muttered as she carefully pulled out the air medium from her nunchuks, before holstering it.

They took a break to allow Jaune to recover, along with Pyrrha rehydrating, refueling, and reviewing what weapons she’d already tried, and the many more she hadn’t. With her new experience of how vastly different Fae designs and elemental mediums could change even the most familiar tools and styles, she decided to go into Fae weapons for the next set.

For her first choice, she tried out Spiderdancers, a pair of weaponized gloves that covered her arms from the elbows down. “This is a beautiful and fascinating weapon,” Pyrrha said as she unwound some of its steel-silk fibers between her fingers, practiced weaving and tying them together using the needle-like points over her fingers. “I’m aware of the philosophy of copying designs and ideas from nature, but this is just a level beyond all that I’ve seen before...”

“Try your best to keep from getting too entranced by them,” Ren said, armed with his own pair. “These can very easily turn against their own users, not to mention how easily they cut and resist being cut themselves.”

“I will,” Pyrrha said, before the two of resumed practicing.

“You’re really going to fight me with just a bunch of strings?” Jaune asked as they returned to the circle. “I mean, yeah, they’re made of metal, but still—it’s just strings!”

“To be fair, with enough creativity and skill, anything can be turned into a lethal weapon,” Pyrrha replied as she went into a wide, low stance.

Jaune looked at her dubiously, before he shrugged, and readied his own weapons again.

Taiyang blew the horn, Jaune charged at Pyrrha with an overhead slash!

She brought her hands together, tying her silk-steel threads together, before stretching them out above her like a sheet!

Twang!

Jaune’s blade bounced off of the steel-silk; surprised, he staggered backward. Pyrrha didn’t hesitate to rush in and begin her counterattack, starting with wrapping her threads around his sword. Everyone watched as she proceeded to disarm him, before beginning to tie him up, binding his limbs to his body or into odd, painful angles. It was an inelegant, inefficient job with plenty of wasted steel-silk thread as Jaune managed to flail and free parts of himself, but eventually he was completely immobilized in a razor-sharp, messy cocoon.

Finally, Pyrrha straddled him, making a new sheet of steel-silk, wrapping it around Jaune’s neck from behind, and turning it into a garrote.

Taiyang watched Jaune struggle and squirm as he was strangled for half-a-minute, occasionally glancing at Ren with a vital scanner, before he finally blew the horn again.

Pyrrha snapped the threads of her garrote, Jaune wheezed. She climbed off of him, instinctively reached out with her hand, until she noticed just how convoluted and twisted her threads were. “Uh...” she muttered, sheepishly glancing at the side.

“I’ve got this,” Ren said, coming by with gloves, scissors, and a large seam ripper. “Try not to breath too deeply or squirm, Jaune, that will just make things worse,” he said as he knelt by his side.

Jaune whimpered, and did so.

“Holy hell!” he cried after he was freed, sitting on a bench with his helmet off, examining all the nicks and cuts all over the surface of his armor. “How is this even legal to use against other people?!”

“Literally thick skin!” Nora said, chuckling as she whipped up a large bowl of armour reinforcer paste. “Believe me, you wouldn’t believe what the most senior of senior watchers can survive, even without trying to defend themselves! Oh, did you watch any footage from the Eve attack?”

“Hard not to,” Jaune replied, “it was on the news everywhere 24/7, you could hardly find someone not talking about it.”

“Then you know that part with Taiyang and the giant Death Laser?” Nora asked as she started spreading the goop out on the cuts.

Jaune’s eyes widened. “… That was him…?!”

“Yep!” Nora replied casually. “Though I guess he’s not that good of an example, seeing as he’s been out of training for over a decade and a half. If he’d been at full capacity, he could have probably taken that Cinder Fall on and then some.”

“… Uh… huh...” Jaune muttered weakly.

Jaune’s armour repaired, Pyrrha put away the spiderdancers and tried Wingblades instead, the folding sheets spanning almost the entire length of her arms. “These are so beautiful...” she muttered as she spread them all out, admired the mid-morning sun glinting off the metal.

“Wait till you slap on some fresh paint and decorations on these bad boys!” Nora said, chuckling. “It’s why they’re one of the most popular weapons for choreographed fights!”

“And in the Pits also, because of their effectiveness in actual combat,” Ren added, wearing his own set and demoing it.

And after Taiyang blew the horn, both Pyrrha and Jaune would find out just how effective.

Jaune rushed forward with a slash!

Krsshh!

Pyrrha blocked it with the folded blades of one arm, sparks flying off Jaune’s sword as it slid right off and away from her. She unfolded the blades of her other arm and aimed a slash at his neck!

Jaune raised his shield, briefly wondered why there was no screeching noise of metal on metal, until Pyrrha grabbed his shoulder and kneed him in the crotch.

The several layers of armour there absorbed most of the blow, but it sent him staggering back nonetheless. Pyrrha hooked her knee into his leg, tripped him and sent him falling to the ground. Jaune landed on his back, limbs sprawled by his sides, he watched as Pyrrha prepared to fall on top of him, one arm of blades coming down on his neck like a guillotine.

After some praise from Yang at “what could have been a shoe-in for the highlight reel!” and another check to ensure that Jaune’s neck and armour were still fine, Pyrrha exchanged the wingblades for a King’s Claw, a nearly arm-sized blade that could transform into a pair of pinchers, with a heavy blunt edge on the opposite side.

“You sure you want to be using that?” Jaune asked as Pyrrha brought it into the circle. “That seems like it’s too heavy and big to be much use in an actual fight.”

“It’s surprisingly light, actually!” Pyrrha said, making wide, fast swings with it. “Maybe not as graceful, speedy, or versatile as your sword, but that doesn’t seem to be the point of it,” she said, before she got into a combat stance, holding the main body of the blade before her like a shield.

Jaune readied his own weapons, Taiyang blew the horn, and yet another match began.

Jaune charged first, aiming a thrust at Pyrrha’s head!

Krrsshh!

She blocked it, angling her arm and the claw so Jaune’s blade would slide away from her, before she punched him in the stomach with her other arm. Again, Jaune’s armour absorbed most of the blow, but the brief opening was all Pyrrha needed to wind up her arm and bring the blunt end crashing into the side of his head.

Thud.

Jaune staggered from the force of the blow, Pyrrha bashed his head again, then started slashing. Jaune reeled from each hit, huge gashes appearing all over his armour, his shield and sword getting knocked aside as he tried to block or parry, getting closer and closer to the edge of the arena, until he was once more desperately flailing his arms to keep from falling out.

This time, however, Pyrrha didn’t hesitate to thrust and pull the trigger for the pincers, trapping Jaune’s neck between them.

Jaune choked, bashed at the blade with his weapons, dropped his weapon and tried to wrestle it open, before he was desperately slapping at it. Pyrrha freed him, and he promptly fell out of the ring and onto his rear.

“Okay, now THAT was an appropriately badass way to finish a lopsided fight, I approve!” Yang said, applauding.

With Jaune needing to have another medical check for possible neck injury, and his armour definitely needing reinforcement once again, Pyrrha took the opportunity to choose and practice with one of the more versatile and complex weapons, a Grasping Vine Staff.

“If you were a weaver, the grasping vine could be an actual, living plant you control with your magic, which would be awesome, but since you’re not, you’re just going to have to make do with magitech controls,” Nora said as she demonstrated it to Pyrrha, making the staff curl, tighten, whip out, and do the rest of the impressive range of motion it had, thanks to the segmented design of the shaft and the flexible fibers keeping them together.

Pyrrha nodded. “It’s very impressive, and I don’t doubt it’s effectiveness in real combat… but can I ask why this feels like the Fae version of an animal control pole?” she asked.

“Because it is!” Nora replied cheerfully. “Lots of weapons are useful as tools and vice versa, don’t ya know?”

“I suppose I should have realized that...” Pyrrha muttered, before she continued practicing with it.

Sometime later, the two of them were back on the field, Jaune’s armour fully repaired. Pyrrha still had one concern, however: “Are you sure you want to stick to your sword and shield?” she asked. “We’re fighting one-to-one in a flat, circular arena, I’m going to have a severe advantage over you with my reach compared to your sword.”

“I’m sure!” Jaune replied. “These weapons are my family’s lucky heirlooms, you know!”

“Are you really sure?” Pyrrha asked.

“Yes,” Jaune replied as he went into a combat stance. “Now that I’ve had to think about it and practice, I’m sure I can fight better now.”

“If you’re this confident!” Pyrrha said, before she pulled the staff from her back.

Taiyang blew the horn, and the two fought once more.

Pyrrha struck first, thrusting several times at Jaune, before repeatedly striking him on the arms and his head. Jaune blocked some of the attacks with his shield, powered through the pain and the rest of the sharp blows as he charged at Pyrrha, closing the distance and swinging out with his sword!

Pyrrha easily dodged out of the way, thrust her staff towards his one of his legs, snared his ankle and pulled. Jaune stumbled but remained standing, Pyrrha started shuffling around the arena and yanking him right along with her.

He whacked at the shaft with his sword, tried to wrench his foot free, swung and thrust at Pyrrha, but the wood and the fibers wouldn’t give, its grasp was just to strong, and he could barely reach her, let alone get the leverage for a proper strike.

Pyrrha braced herself and swung her staff, trying to send Jaune out of bounds! Jaune stomped a foot in the ground, stopped himself, then yanked back with as hard as he could!

Pyrrha cried out, pulled towards him; Jaune let out a cry as he aimed an upward slash at her neck!

… Which missed as Pyrrha ducked her head, the blade sailing above her, before she let go of the staff and rammed herself into Jaune, sending him stumbling out of the circle.

Taiyang blew the horn, Pyrrha picked her staff back up and released its grip on Jaune’s leg. “Are you alright, Jaune?” she asked. “I doubt it could have been comfortable, having your leg constricted that powerfully for so long.”

“I’ll live...” Jaune muttered, rubbing idly at where the staff had held him. “Any weapons feel like the one for you, yet?”

“A handful, but I’d like to be thorough about this and test as many as I possibly can,” Pyrrha replied. “We might be here all day, at the most idealistic estimates. You don’t mind, do you…?”

“No, no, I really don’t mind!” Jaune said quickly. “Anything for you—and for Weiss, and Yang, and everyone else, ‘cause they’ve been so nice letting us live her and all!”

“That’s much appreciated, Jaune,” Pyrrha said, patting him on the shoulder, before she holstered her staff, and walked back to the collection.

As she started inspecting her options, Jaune quietly wondered just what he would be facing next...

Note: Spiderdancers usually come in two pairs, one for the arms, one for the legs. There is sometimes a fifth used for a tail, or attached to the back as extra leverage or storage for silk-steel spools. And for fairly obvious reasons, very young Fae wishing to train with them start with regular, non-metallic threads.

Though Wingblades were developed for flying Fae, it wasn’t long before Air Weavers took notice and started developing a version that could be easily used by flightless folks. While it remains one of the most popular foci of choice for said class of weavers, there are many watchers that enjoy it for its versatility, its freedom of movement, and of course, its looks.

A King’s Claw is more properly known as a King Crab’s Claw. Though the Fae explicitly copied the infamous defense mechanism of said species, many liberties were taken and limitations hit; aside from size reductions and ergonomic considerations, it was difficult to make the pincer mechanism shatter bone and sever limbs like the animals themselves without severe drawbacks to the other aspects of the design, or inconvenience to the user.

The Grasping Vine Staff is also useful for agriculture, tending to plants or animals; law enforcement; alchemy; construction; childcare; cooking; wilderness exploration; and a whole host of other uses that are far too long to list here. Modifications to the shaft, the fibers, and the control mechanism are extremely common and widespread, and oftentimes encouraged.

For those curious, the Grove’s shed really is the size of your average storage shed in a backyard—it’s just that there’s a few miles worth of waterproof, reinforced, temperature-controlled bunker storage underneath it, as storage for all the things that the residents of the Grove have acquired and can’t or don’t want to dispose of for one reason or the other.

#rwby #white rose #the viridian vanguard #fanfic

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postedbygaslight · 7 years ago

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You’ll Be the One to Turn - Part 40: The Resistance

...

Rose came to in the common room of the Falcon where she’d strapped in before the final descent began. She didn’t know exactly when she’d passed out, but it was probably when the ship jerked into a flat spin, because she couldn’t remember anything after that.

The interior of the ship was a sparking mess, and smoke was coiling out from the instrument panels near the cockpit. Whatever Ben had done bringing the ship in for a landing, it had grounded them for awhile. And right now was the worst possible time for that.

She looked around for Finn. She remembered he’d come back up from the turret, but she’d blacked out around that point. Scanning about for a second, she found him, sitting on the floor across the room, blinking awake himself.

“You okay?” she said, and he lazily turned his head toward her.

“I think?” he said, sitting forward and coughing.

The smoke was starting to be a concern, and Rose wondered if there might be a fire. She unlatched her safety harness and stumbled to her feet, crossing to the smoking panel to assess the damage.

It was about as bad as she thought. The circuits for the flight sequence had all blown. It was an easy enough fix— she knew for a fact Chewie had plenty of spares— but resetting them and making sure the program would run the thrust properly would take hours. Rose checked the datapad she’d linked to her terminal back on Vedic III and pulled up the geothermal monitor for the vent beneath them.

It wasn’t good.

“All right, let’s get moving,” Rey said, coming back from the cockpit. “How much time do we have?”

“Forty minutes?” Rose responded. “Less?”

Rey’s face didn’t betray any despair or shock, but there was something in her calm, resolute demeanor that seemed to slip a little, Rose thought.

“No time to waste, then,” she said, her voice softer, more distant. She started to turn toward the ramp controls, but Rose stopped her.

“Rey, wait,” she said. Something had been troubling her. “Ben. He said he can make the beam fire. How does he know he can do it?”

“The crystal in his saber is cracked,” Rey answered, still distracted.

“That... would give him some insight,” Rose said. “Sorry, just—“

She stopped short. Just then, Ben came from the cockpit and put his hand lightly on Rey’s back. They didn’t say anything to each other, but they exchanged a look that seemed so charged with meaning that it made Rose forget to breathe for a second. Then, without a word, Ben headed to the ramp controls, hit the release, and exited the ship.

“How bad is it?” Rey said, crossing to the panel.

Rose shook her head, snapping back to the moment. Finn had gotten up, and the six or seven others— volunteers from the base who knew how dangerous this was going to be— were now milling about, checking equipment and starting to make their way out to the hangar. Finn joined them by the panel, standing a few paces back, shifting nervously.

“Pretty bad. Six hours. Seven.”

Rey peered in at the smoky mess.

“Which means Chewie would say three hours,” she said, laughing softly. “And it would take five. But we’d have something fail mid-flight that’d need an emergency fix.”

She stepped back from the panel, sighed, and looked at each of them.

“Thank you for being here. It’s— this isn’t going to be easy.”

“Never thought for a second it would be,” Finn said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. She smiled at him, glanced over her shoulder, and started down the corridor toward the ramp.

“Finn,” Rose said once Rey was gone, “We really might not make it this time.”

He didn’t say anything. He gave her that look— the look of concern and understanding that communicated just how much he cared, and how much he felt responsible. She sniffed to keep herself from crying and grabbed his jacket with both hands.

“I love you. You know that, right?”

“I love you, too,” he said, and he was so earnest and sheepish that she thought she might literally die. “And I’m sorry I haven’t said it until now.”

She did actually cry this time, and pulled him down, and kissed him like it was the last time.

***

The sky was on fire, and Poe Dameron was rocketing through the thick of a dogfight, screeches of pursuing TIE fighters trailing behind him.

“Black Five to Black Leader,” the comm squawked at him, “The target is crawling with enemy craft. I’ve done one orbit, and I’m not sure how I’m still around to be saying this.”

“Black Five,” Poe responded, looking ahead of him to the looming orb, its dull gray durasteel contrasting sharply with the glimmering crystal of the massive lens, “there’s not really such a thing as enemy craft right now. Assume everything is hostile to everything else.”

Poe already had his throttle all the way open, but he needed more speed. Time was ticking away, and he still didn’t know how much he was going to have to hit the lens with the ion bombardment.

“BB-8, gimme some more juice, buddy.”

The droid objected with a rough screed of beeps and scratching sounds.

“Look, I know, I know. Just gimme a little more. We’re running out of time here.”

BB-8’s interface popped up on the main terminal screen, and Poe watched as the remarkable little droid somehow overclocked the thruster output another six percent.

“Atta boy, buddy, atta boy,” Poe said, a huge grin on his face. He punched the boosters and braced himself as the emitter station came hurtling toward him so fast he barely had time to throttle back and pull up. The X-Wing bottomed out to hover distance just above the broad curve of the station’s outer housing, and Poe throttled forward again, bending around the outer edge of the station toward the lens.

Coming up over the top of the orb, Poe could see the whole spread of the battle against the vast green-blue mass of Naboo. To say that there was any such thing as a First Order fleet anymore was complete nonsense. Of the twenty or so Star Destroyers that had been arranged in blockade around the emitter station, only three remained, and one of those had taken heavy fire and was listing badly toward the planet below. The battle was still raging, and at this point it seemed more like an exercise in tortured principle was playing out than any actual strategy. By this time tomorrow, there wouldn’t be a First Order.

But there also might not be a Taris. Or a Naboo. And that meant there was work left to be done.

Poe sped over the last part of the curvature of the sphere and made a sharp dive into the housing interior. The lens was crystalline and almost transparent. Once Poe entered the housing everything seemed to go ghostly quiet.

“All right, BB-8, this is it,” Poe said as he skirted the inner wall of the housing, rushing toward the surface of the lens. “Keep an eye on those readings. I’m gonna try to keep going until it’s done.”

BB-8 responded with a few apprehensive chirps, but Poe was already locked in, his jaw set, and his eyes piercing as he pulled back on the rudder and opened the throttle all the way, sending the X-Wing screaming around the outer edge of the lens. He brought the nose down slightly, tilting just enough to keep just above hover distance and started firing the ion beams.

If Poe had been the sort to have any tendency toward vertigo, the maneuver he was performing would have been fuel for nightmares. The world was tilted and dipping in and out of view, and Poe was on the outer edge of a centrifuge, spinning frantically and at tremendous speed. He was scoring confirmed impact after confirmed impact, and it was bizarre to watch the red bolts come blasting out of his cannons without some attendant explosion or other indication of damage. The lens just glittered and streamed beneath his ship, and he kept pulling the trigger.

“How we looking, buddy?”

BB-8 shot back a string of beeps and clicks.

“Four percent? After two passes? Are you sure?”

The droid confirmed. Poe did some quick math in his head. It would never work. The weapon would fire well before he’d be done.

“Okay, BB-8, listen up. I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing. But you have got to find a way to get me more ionization per blast.”

BB-8 replied skeptically, but Poe just shook his head.

“No way, little guy,” Poe said. “This is the plan. No time for anything else. Get me more charge per shot.”

And Poe pushed the throttle harder, and pulled the trigger faster, barreling just above the cold glimmer of promised annihilation.

***

The hangar bay looked just like a hundred others Finn had been in during his life. Only this one was littered with the bodies of stormtroopers and First Order officers, and the Falcon had left a long, jagged scorch mark along the length of the black mirrored floor as it crashed and skidded to a stop. The ship itself had seen better days. It had long smoky burns streaked across its gray-white surface where it was overheated during atmospheric entry, and parts were dangling and clattering off its frame.

It was probably a miracle any of them survived at all. Though, to be fair, Finn was hardly an expert. He was, however, an expert in First Order military protocol, and this hangar had been assaulted with devilish precision. Whoever this hunter was, she knew her business, and she was going to give them all cause for panic before the end.

Ben Solo was standing by the blast doors that led to the interior of the tower. The kyber heart— the giant crystal Ben was here to manipulate into completing its firing sequence— was housed in a focusing chamber somewhere beneath them. The blast doors, which had been closed by whatever unfortunate officer had been commander of this block, had been blown open by some particularly vicious ordnance, and looked like they’d been peeled back with a tin opener.

“What should we expect?” Finn asked, coming up to stand beside him.

“Missiles. Sonic devices. She has some customized battle droids. Mostly close range melee. Flamethrowers. I’d guess, with a group, she’ll use gas.”

“Or toxins,” Finn added.

“Yeah.”

“Kind of makes me wish I had my helmet.”

“You’re not alone there,” Ben said, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. “But we’re better off without them.”

“Can I ask you something? Before everything goes to Hell and we don’t know up from down?”

Ben tilted his head toward Finn, but kept looking through the gap in the blast doors.

“Why didn’t you kill me? In the forest.”

“Wasn’t trying to kill you. I was making a point.”

“Which was?”

“That I didn’t have to,” Ben said, turning back toward the small group mustering near the boarding ramp of the Falcon. “Turns out, not such a bad call.”

Then Ben turned to him and looked him in the eyes. His gaze was like magnetic ore, and his dark eyes burned with the same intensity Finn remembered seeing on Starkiller, what seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Listen,” he said, his face grim and resolute, “this hunter is smart. She’s going to see I’m wounded and she’s going to attack me first. She’ll probably keep attacking me. To get Rey to do something stupid. You told me you’d do anything for her. You meant that. When the time comes, you’ll keep her safe, right? No matter what’s happening with me.”

“What about the crystal? We need you alive.”

“I’m not worried about dying. When the hunter attacked last time, she went after Rey to draw me in. This time it’ll be the reverse. I need you to make sure she’s not missing a threat because she’s worried about me.”

Finn had to pause a moment to gather himself. Here was a man who possessed powers beyond anything Finn could imagine— a man Finn knew to have been cruel and callous and unfeeling— and he was asking for help. To protect someone he loved.

“You know, this may not be the time to say it,” he said, “but I had you all wrong.”

Ben’s expression didn’t change. Neither did his intensity.

“No, you didn’t,” he said, and went to join the others.

Finn stayed standing near the destroyed blast doors, and felt the cold air seeping from within. And somewhere, down in the depths below, that cold hid a burning center, roiling with reasonless bloodlust.

#reylo #reylo fanfic #star wars fic #finn #rose tico #finnrose #poe dameron #bb-8 #kyber crystals #rey #rey of jakku #ben solo #kylo ren #kylo x rey

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basklin · 7 years ago

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A love letter to Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

or how I learned to stop worrying and love the game.

Hotline Miami 2 turned 3 yesterday, I thought I’d write something up for it!

The following contains spoilers for both Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. I'm going to put it under a read more seeing as I got carried away.

I didn't get to play the game on its release date, I was busy with real life. My sister was playing a part in her university theatre troupe and had a role as Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest, it coincided with the date of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number's release and I was going to go back to the house me and my family were staying in at the time. It was a moment of respite during a time of year where I was working on my final art presentation for my school and I had worked non stop on it. I wanted to play the game since its announcement and having finished the first Hotline Miami less than a year before, I had waited so long, I could wait a day longer, my time was my own to work with. The comics by Dayjob Studio had gotten me really excited for the game at the time as well, more than happy to see my favorite medium put to use in promoting a game I was looking forward to.

I got back to my student flat in the early afternoon and made myself lunch, downloaded the game (updates and bug fixes included) and happily started it up. I'm ashamed to say now that I was expecting most of what the first few levels had to offer, since I'd spoiled myself on a leak that came out a few months before the official release of the game. I originally wasn't going to watch it, but a friend who'd watched before me said there was a character with my name in it, seeing as that was so rare to me, I caved in really fast. (Fun fact: it was the direct inspiration for one of the first comics I did for that game)

I have to point out that I'm thankful that the game's slasher style tutorial wasn't spoiled in the leaked gameplay footage, as it was a genuine joy to see the amount of details in the level design at my own pace. There was a big buzz around that level when journalists were framing it as an unwanted shocking sexual assault scene in a game about senseless violence and cartoonish gore. The game's meta commentary about sequels and how that kind of scene is used in horror movies for upping the shock value was lost on me too, but we can't be expected to get the point of a moment in media the first time. The presentation in most cases for this is frankly overblown and lasts around 3 seconds, a pair of pixellated buttcheeks over a woman I didn't even know the name of yet wasn't going to put me in a catatonic state, but a trigger warning asking a player if they want to be spared from that kind of scene before the start of the game is always a worthy inclusion.

Even today the first 5 levels of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number are the perfect representation of the rest of the game: big sprawling detailed areas, a diversity in those locations, playstyles associated with named characters, and an actual commentary on violent video game protagonists.

As mentioned before, I was very much looking forward to the game's release and getting around to playing it. I had gone cold turkey on playing the previous installment, wishing to discover the gameplay anew and making my patience feel like a reward when I got around to playing it.

I wrote “named characters” because giving them a name makes them more real, part of the world, with motivations unique to them. Not just an avatar the player can slip into and mirror back what the little amount of pixels with a human shape might be beginning to feel when committing violent acts. That also means there are more stories that come bundled together, they're more present than ever and harder to ignore for a player who wants to skip to the next action set. The arcade game format of the first game alongside its simplicity is lost, but more story is what I wanted in the sequel, so I can't complain.

Playstyles and characters were a joy to discover and experiment with these characters comprise of:

The Fans, covered in colourful war paint with their individual animal masks and expertise, all set out to go on a vigilante murder spree, chainsaws and guns in hand.

Manny Pardo, the detective whose motives remain unclear, with a more gun oriented gameplay.

Evan Wright, the writer with the one with the most unusual playstyle of the lot, seeing as he tries to do non-lethal takedowns of people he chooses himself to be around needlessly putting him and his family in danger in pursuit of the truth behind the first game's phone calls. This unique gameplay can be made into the default one by going too far on ground executions, making him go into a blind rage and seeing red.

The Soldier, limited to a single gun of your choosing whose ammunition must be replenished through carefully placed boxes throughout the level and an army knife for close range combat.

The Mafia, comprising of the Son of the former leader of the Russian mafia and his Henchman. The former wanting to reinstate the dominance of the Russian mafia after the Colombian cartel took over and the latter wishing to break free of this cycle. The Son has the same array of skills as the Fans, exception made of the chainsaw and gun combo, making him a reckless one man army, and a cool parallel between the Russian mafia and the vigilantes in animal masks.

And the last playstyle, what feels like the default way to play the game, is the one found in the first game. Simultaneously not making you feel contrived to play a certain way, but not making you feel overpowered either. It's shared between a handful of characters in the game: the Henchman , the Rat, the Pig Butcher, and the Snake. (although the latter is able to play in a fists only way with one of his masks)

Guns only, dodge rolling, fists only, a chainsaw and gun at the same time, double MP5s, and even non-lethal gameplay help to define everybody really well, beyond words and appearances.

Getting to explore levels that are massive and open was the biggest game changer, being tunnel visioned and sticking to melee weapons became a death sentence for some levels with frustration quickly rising. I remember reading the advice that guns made too much noise in Hotline Miami, the result was sticking to a melee weapon and executing fallen enemies; which rewarded you with more immediate points than firing with the different array of guns, but rising combo counters and being wary of cover definitely became the name of the game in the sequel, for better or worse.

Gone were the collection of small colourful appartement buildings, what felt like cardboard boxes with “Miami, Florida” scrawled in felt tip pen on them; instead we have unique looking buildings, that feel inhabited, grubby at times, and more unwelcome than ever for a gunfight. More windows, and getting shot from offscreen, and enemies for which you have to use a specific kind of weapons on to progress through the level, all at the same time.

Multitasking is asked from the player, being aware of the enemies in your surroundings along with the abilities and limitations of the character you are playing. Not to mention hard mode which you unlock after finishing the game for the first time, with more reaction time and ammunition conservation playing a bigger role by then. Hotline Miami's puzzle side could expand to its full potential and the developers have truly made a better game. More thought, more gameplay, more amazing music tracks from a variety of indie musicians, and more story was put into Wrong Number, it was everything I was hoping for and I wasn't disappointed by the game at all... At first.

This isn't going to relate to a few people, but I try to finish games as fast as I can. Not speedrun them mind you, I like playing games too much for that, but finish it from beginning to end in a timely fashion. In the past, my interest dropped very fast for games that require time, knowledge of all its controls, or reflexes to beat and will get frustrated if I can't get back into the groove of it after a few months of not playing it. I tend to start over because I've either lost track of the story or of the rhythm of later chapters. On top of that, I didn't want to be spoiled accidentally or put it off too long. I remember finishing Hotline Miami's main story in one sitting only coming back the next day to finish the Biker levels, why not do it with Wrong Number?

To this day, I regret playing Hotline Miami 2 in one sitting. After 3 hours without a break, I had a slight headache, by the time I had finished the game 6 hours later, I had a migraine. By playing it the way I had, I'd successfully completed the game, but gotten a feeling of disgust by the end of it. I've had hangovers that felt better.

On a side note, that day I got a call from a classmate who wanted my opinion on the direction of his end of the year comic presentation was going. He came round when I was in the middle of Deathwish, on the level with Corey, what felt like the ultimate test of skill at the time. And I definitely gave vibes that I wanted to get back into the action, despite taking the time to answer questions and discuss his comic project (if you're reading this Jean, I'm really sorry, come round for tea sometime!). Time feels very fuzzy for this, as I seem to remember spending too much time on that stage, listening to the track Roller Mobster by Carpenter Brut over and over and slowly growing to resent it. I've gotten better since then and like the song just fine now, but I still have trouble with that level.

The assault on the Russian Mafia's headquarter by the Fans is a 4 floor action packed romp, where they all have their own floor for themselves and aim to meet each other on the roof of the building. Things don't go as planned for reasons that weren't explained immediately. Only after Deathwish do we realise that the Fans we had played as had fallen in battle one by one and died during their siege as we were playing the next floor. Now, characters whose gameplay were unique at that point got killed offscreen, with one onscreen by the police, rightfully so as they had only themselves to blame for their demise. I felt drained by the time I had come to what I thought was the end of the game. It turned out that it was the midpoint of the whole story. A pit in my stomach was slowly forming: there was going to be more after all this?

More of everything is both a blessing and a curse, more music leaves room for tracks I'll have a hard time liking, more violence means I'll slowly be apathetic to the character's struggles, and more characters is forgetting the levels that features only one of them, wondering why they were even there in the first place and if they could have been cut in favour of a smaller cast with their unique gameplay. Excitement had passed and doubt had settled in: character driven stories are what I love most of all and the cast was slowly thinning down. Those who had died weren't seen again in the story, was it going to keep my interest? I certainly expected it to.

I finally took a break to have dinner and a stretch before coming back to continue Casualties, the final level featuring the Soldier. The stages between that one and Deathwish are wonderful, great even, but they felt as thought they don't fit into the main story, I remember later trying to rearrange all the levels, keeping in mind which levels concluded each chapters and found that everything fitted really well together as it did. I was still getting over the previous levels so maybe I wasn't enjoying them as much as I should at the time.

I'm going to be honest when I say I forget the Soldier is in the game every time. An actual wartime setting, in an alien looking Hawaii none the less, with a gameplay that's really enjoyable and prepared me for hard mode's ammunition conservation gameplay very well should be memorable. It may be due to the fact that his inclusion was to give a background to the protagonist of Hotline Miami and give the origins of the secret organisation behind the phone calls of the first game, with parallels to mission euphemisms over walkie talkies, commando style hits, and sense of loss to a cycle of violence that doesn't care for its victims or its players. The character's final moments didn't bite as hard this time, even though that one felt the most undeserved out of the whole cast.

The next four levels featuring Richter the Rat are some of the best I've experienced, by that point we were focusing on a new character we'd met in the previous game and of which I didn't think much of at the time. Seeing him was an unexpected surprise for me, a really good one because of all its touching cutscenes and tight levels. Even in his last chapter, with the track Le Perv by Carpenter Brut, reminiscent of Deathwish's nauseating track, was honestly a joy to play through, despite the difficulty. It also was a nice conclusion for the Writer's story, who instigates the Rat's recollection of the events, with a final choice between continuing the book about the vigilante group and its mysterious phone calls or reconnecting with his estranged family while there is still time and discontinuing the cycle of violence, neither choice affects the outcome of the finale, but there is definitely an obvious conclusion in there, for me at least.

Nowadays, I know all the elements and numerous characters were included in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number so that everything would be done in one game. Everything Dennaton wanted to experiment with, characters that tied different storylines together and both made sense of the first game and concluded its story for good. Hotline Miami didn't have room for flamethrowers or more storylines with other operators, it was an overarching story for the player, to be in the shoes of a hitman in an animal mask, with room to interpret the story for ourselves. The sequel doesn't stand on its own from a narrative sense: I'd be utterly confused by some of the stories of Hotline Miami 2 if I hadn't played the first game, since everything stems from the events of Hotline Miami. The result is that it all feels very heavy to take in all at once.

I really didn't care for Jacket's background, or why he did anything in the first game. He doesn't have a name, or a voice, or a personality, he's really boring in a story sense, but he's the perfect game protagonist. If he can be anything you want him to be, there's no room to dislike him, aside for his violent actions which he doesn't justify to himself in any way, he just does as he is told, like the soldier he once was. We feel what he feels during the violent missions, the sense that we get better and better at the game, the character doesn't improve, as there's no character to improve, we as the player are improving level by level.

So when the sequel explained that he was a veteran that fought in a war we never get the context for or care about, my first thought was that “he was just Rambo”. I hadn't watched Rambo at the time and only ever saw that character in old Atari games where you kill nameless soldiers. He'd always seemed like the generic action movie soldier that looks cool shooting away at his enemies. But since then, I've sat down to watch the first Rambo and saw the tale about young man coming back from war without education, aside from how to kill, back to a country that doesn't need him, and even despises him. It's an incredibly sad thing to watch a character broken by committing and being the victim of violence only to be rejected by the society they served.

The personal interpretations about Jacket is one of the best parts of Hotline Miami, as much as its gameplay, graphics, and music. Wrong Number builds upon that foundation by taking multiple interpretations of what Jacket could be and extends it to the cast of the sequel: he could be a jingoist with a burning hate for Russians (Jake the Snake) just as much as he could be scared for his life and willing to protect a person he loves (Richter the Rat). He's the now unwanted soldier of a war that is long lost (the Fans) just as much as he is the patriot in service of a minority struggling for his rightful place in a hostile environment (the Son). He's also a serial killer in an animal mask (the Pig Butcher) just as much as he is a killer with his own motives that don't have to be revealed to the player (Manny Pardo the Detective). And Biker’s search for answers is mirrored by the Writer, it was only fate that they would eventually meet up.

After the levels with Richter, we have the final 5 levels featuring another one of my favourite characters: the Son. He's the de facto leader of the Russian mafia, a scarred one man army with what feels like the strongest desire of the cast of characters: taking back Miami from the Colombian cartel, the new organised crime network in charge. His Father, the final antagonist of Hotline Miami, felt like a strong businessman with the plan of gaining power over the city through assimilation: striking a deal between the Colombians and their cocaine distribution, owning methadone clinics for the new addicts to heroin and cocaine, and gaining the favour of local politicians. The Son is nothing like that. He has a more aggressive show of power and control, separating himself from organically made drugs in favor for more potent artificial ones produced locally and actively killing his competition through violence, being in a revolution similar to the masked vigilantes in an attempt to undo the damage caused by Jacket in the first game.

As an aside, Manny Pardo has his final level in the middle, throughout the game we are teased with his personal investigation, the one of a serial killer called the Miami Mutilator, separate from the main plot of the game. It all comes to a head in his last level when it's revealed that he is the one behind the murders of the Mutilator, in an attempt to overshadow the media's attention of the masked vigilantes. The interpretation I developed over time was that his story arc was a meta commentary on sequels having their own story and an inevitable lack of interest from fans of the first game, curious instead about a continuation of the first game's narrative.

I remember originally thinking from the game's trailer that Manny Pardo was Jacket and getting really curious about how the story was going to go about, until I realised that he was in fact another character with his own motives and losing interest almost immediately in favour of the Fans revealed alongside him in the video. When it emerged that he was a detective, it seemed immediately more interesting than Jacket ever was, that it would be a character in search of answers, similar to the likes of Biker from the first game. The expectation was subverted, as it turns out that he has more current things to worry about and masked vigilantes are a thing of the past, crime doesn't stop happening and random violence is the norm in the world of Hotline Miami.

After the Detective's final level, we have what has to be one of the hardest challenges of the game: the final showdown between the Son and the Colombian cartel's Boss in his sprawling villa. Even after having been playing the game for almost 8 continuous hours, it really felt like what the game was leading us up to, from random street thugs to the drug army in Miami. And yet, even when the level was all said and done, there was yet another level after that. We are back to what felt like the finale a few hours ago: Deathwish, only this time it's the Son's side of the story, overdosing on his own artificial drugs and going on a overcoloured haze of hallucinatory violence.

Apocalypse is the name of that level, and it's a beautiful boss rush, where all the Fans are turned into monstrous animal shaped fever dreams that the Son has set himself out to destroy in his terrible drug trip, alongside his own men, turned into unrecognisable demons. It all leads to the rooftop, where a rainbow bridge invites us off into the void as the game's credits show up on the screen. The credits fade in favour of the rest of the cast, alive and unperturbed by the finale we as the player went through, only to realise that events offscreen trigger the end of the world, nuclear bombs vaporise them all and...

I didn't get it.

It took a good night's sleep and a bit of thinking to understand what Hotline Miami 2:Wrong Number was about: deconstructing Hotline Miami. The first game's conclusion had a hopeful tone to it, with mocking comments by the developer's stand-ins if we came back looking for more answers by playing Biker's additional levels, with actual answers that feel forced if you actually manage to find all the clues within the game. The sequel ends the world with nuclear clouds and if we start a new game, we get a new introduction at the start of the game essentially asking: “why are you back?”. There were no more answers the game could provide.

Violence is at the core of both of the games and it never seemed to stop. Hotline Miami left us wanting more, Hotline Miami 2 left us with the most violent thing known to humanity. I remember thinking that it was a deus ex machina ending, an answer to problems that seemed unsolvable. But inside the game there’s all this rising tension, focusing so much on the characters distracted me from the fact that it was culminating towards the end of the world. All the characters were trying to solve all their problems through violence, but the world wasn't going to get better through those methods. It was the only conclusion a game like that could have and I love it more than ever.

I cannot thank Dennaton enough for the incredible time I had and keep coming back to with Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. It has made me explore media I never would have discovered otherwise and draw things I never imagined I would come to draw. Happy 3rd anniversary to an incredible game, and I look forward to the future.

#hotline miami 2 #hotline miami #dennaton #writing

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