Player Plot: A (skele)ton of Work

[einspine]

Who: [AU] Papyrus and everyone else attending the expedition
When: January 7th
Where: The I.B. Magitek Tower
What: The I.B. Magitek Tower may rest on top of the ruins of Asura's temple. Thus, it's up to our heroes to investigate the tower in hopes of finding the great Eidolon within.
Warnings/Notes: Let's just say it's gonna get... topsy turvy. ;)

Everything is pre-arranged. The flight to the tower. The appropriate waivers. Naturally, everyone who accompanies Papyrus will have to sign to gain access- the Triumvirate was rather adamant about preserving the more confidential secrets within the tower, after all.

But once the appropriate paperwork gets signed away, the tower staff escorts the group toward the elevator. Though with the sheer turnout, it may take a few trips to get everyone down below.

[ooc: Info and sign ups are here!

As a quick clarifying note, here's the gist of how the temple and tower relate.

- Characters can access terminals on specific floors, which will open up stairways to an upside down and photo negative version of the I.B. tower without any people in it. Characters enter on the ceiling, which is now the floor, but must proceed to doorways that are on the floor (now the ceiling).

- The elevator does not function on these flipped floors, but it does function on the regular floors, which is what will allow them to skip around to key areas.

- For the trials, there are only terminals within three floors of the destination (as outlined in the comments).]

Comments

nice

[whirluendo_of_puns]

Huh. This is the first time Uendo's had Haste cast on him. What a trippy feeling.

Well, he's not going to look a gift goat in the mouth! This gives him all the time he needs to cast Fae's Blessing and call Eos to his side. Now he's definitely ready for those heals!

[mech_and_mutt]

...Well then. Richard sure did that.

Dog almighty, for someone who seemed to pride himself on cleverness and subtlety, that was an awful lot of brute force. On the other hand... it did seem to do its job.

Either way, it was an example worth following. And even if Red's rushing in with a •Magitek Sword brought to bear against the Chimera's mane wasn't halfway as impressive as an onslaught of dark force or... whatever it was that Richard did, it helped him keep himself at the front lines where he could- hopefully- pull the Chimera's attention if it did manage to pull itself together and counterattack.

[acapriciousreaper]

Kuja has to applaud. That was... impressive. If he's being totally honest with himself he is slightly drained from the casting of Ultima, but a breather has given him time enough to recover.

And now, it seems, the beast is stunned by Conway's beatdown, so he follows it up with a [Blizzaga]

[einspine]

The attacks all hit their mark, although while the Chimera thrashes and roars, it is not quite enough to end the vicious beast. In fact, now that it is no longer stunned, it rears back, eyes aglow. One of its heads unleashes a devastating Aqua Breath throughout the entire room.

The attack will hit all of the party members, but if that's not enough, the second reptilian head follows up with Fire Breath, yielding a similar effect.

It's a good thing the team has its healers, because with these sweeping AOE moves, they're in for quite a fight!

[peace_through_empathy]

Megatron's defense is bolstered slightly by the Moogle pin he picked up during the Mognet Express debacle the day before, but it's not nearly enough in the face of such a devastating attack.

Megatron's Eos, having been joined by Uendo's, gets to work, and lays a heal upon Kuja, as he is the most physically frail of the group. It's not particularly strong, but that hardly matters when Megatron's next action is power up his own Melody. While it's not as gruesomely damaging as Richard's was, it is exactly what the party needs at this moment.

[Melody Activated: Towards Peace Lv. 3]

A blue-ish light spreads out from Megatron, enveloping the party, while another shines down upon the Chimera. Several things now happen. In order:

1. The party is healed for a significant amount of damage.
2. [Libra] is cast upon the Chimera, revealing it's stats and weaknesses.
3. Based on the results of the scan, each party-member may now choose to be bolstered with either a [Protection] spell against physical damage, or a [Reflection] spell against magical damage.

[whirluendo_of_puns]

Oof, there it comes. He knew this was all going too well. Uendo is still mostly okay, and Megatron's Melody is a big help. He's definitely choosing Protection to make up for his shoddy physical defense.

Those breath attacks could become a problem if the Chimera does them again, though. Searching for those with the least magical defense, he directs Eos to heal Red while using his own turn to cast Adloquium Shield on Richard.

[acapriciousreaper]

And things had been going so well.

Kuja is rapidly drowned and then burned in short succession, leaving him significantly worse for the wear by the time Megatron gets to him. Even so, he offers a muttered thanks to the transformer before changing classes to [Angel of Death]. He'll take the physical shield as well, thanks.

[mech_and_mutt]

Well, no windfall like that would last forever. But if that Chimera had to use anything against them... at least it had the courtesy to use elemental attacks on him. The fire and water would condense into the conduits in the DAHAK's arms on impact, and each head in turn would find a •Magitek Sword brought out against it in a reprisal. This thing seemed to be almost as sturdy as he was, but a little chip shaved off here or there would add up over time.

After all, this thing may have had some heavy hits to dole out... but it didn't have Megatron and Uendo there to help make up the difference and keep its vitality up. Nor did it have the benefit of a nice little diagnostic of what, exactly, it was facing up against.

Not that Red had much of a use for it now... he already knew it exactly what he'd be flinging at this beast's three big, stupid faces. And thanks to the •Adrenaline Boost from those two breath weapons sent his way, he'd about to pay it back even harder.

Once he'd returned to his position in front of the others, he only needed a moment to line up his shot and drop down his eyewear; The upraised arms of the DAHAK began glowing and crackling with magic energy, and the soft blue glow that arced between them quickly precipitated into an enormous condensation of arcane power. Ohhhh, yes-- •Magitek Judgment was a lot more fun to use with the full power of the armor behind it.

Now it was just a matter of hurling it out on a collision course for the Chimera, and waiting for the fireworks.

[•Adrenaline Boost activated twice: +10% Defense and +30% attack for two turns]

Extra action

[bleating_heart]

Wait, there's a dog here?

Whatever. Dog, haste. No matter how bad an idea it probably is to make one hyperactive, Asriel tosses off another round of backseat buffing, still trying to pretend he's not really part of this fight as he speeds people up left and right.

[neverbeamemory]

He'll take that free Reflection, especially after that water-then-fire combo; thank you very much to Megatron's melody. Along with Uendo's dutiful healing, it's a matter of just a few moments before all that damage that went out is magicked away and left behind it a swell of energy within Sephiroth that he could only identify as maybe his own Melody coming to a point where it could be called on. As before though, the silver-haired man holds it all back behind gritted teeth; for now.

Forcing himself back up to his feet, breath was taken before he launched back into the offensive again; once more launching Fulminating Oblivion for the chimera off the back of a flurry of sword strikes.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias darts away from the Aqua Breath and lashes out at the Chimera with a Moonsetter Deduction Cutter, getting a critical hit, then following up with a Sunslammer Deduction Cutter, getting another critical hit. However, she takes the full brunt of its Fire Breath. Flying back, Tyzias barely manages to roll with the attack and land on her feet.

As much as a boon Sunslammer and Moonsetter were, they made attacks as powerful as that hurt like hell. Gasping for breath, Tyzias pulls out a Hi-Potion and guzzles its contents down.

[einspine]

The attacks are piling up on the Chimera. It starts to pant. It starts to limp. It lets out a pitiful cry.

But it's not going down without one final assault. One last attempt to counter and take its prey down with it.

So once again, it launches Aqua Breath and Fire Breath. Granted, with all the protection and reflection, it's likely futile in the end. The beast is on its last legs. The key is in sight.

And with haste in play, it's all just a matter of time.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias backflips out of the way of both attacks... which, unfortunately for the Chimera, means Moonsetter activates twice as well. The first combo lands two critical hits, activating Sunslammer, but the second combo doesn't strike anywhere near as deep, and neither does the third. Still, it's enough for one last Judgment Piercer: Tyzias jumps high into the air and plants both of her blades into the Chimera's lion head.

[mech_and_mutt]

Two more breath weapons, two more •Adrenaline Boosts tightening his focus, and two more •Magitek Wall sword attacks brought to bear against each head in return for their grief. At this rate, it almost felt like he was facing off against an enemy that was moving in slow motion!... or maybe it was the •Haste that the goat had so wisely decided to grant him.

Kind of Asriel, really. He'd put that boon to use casting a quick •Magitek Force on himself-- a countered, Adrenaline Boost-activating breath weapon was still a breath weapon, after all-- but it was more a flourish than anything else.

Because Red was ready to end this fight in one final punch.



One the thrusters popped open on the DAHAK, it was done in the blink of an eye and the thundrous boom of speed shattering the air... coupled with the crackling impact of the fist of his mech actually striking the Chimera with the strength of jet engines behind it. Those engines would continue to burn vigorously as he held position deftly in midair, ready to bring his thrusters to use in evading any reprisal the monster could hope to send his way...

...Assuming that there was going to be anything left other than a chimera-shaped hole in the wall of the tower.

[•Adrenaline Boost activated twice more: +20% Defense and +60% attack for this turn, +10% defense and +30% attack for the next two turns. Ouch.]

[acapriciousreaper]

The incoming breath attacks are, unfortunately, not something that Kuja is physically capable of simply taking. Magic collects around him, too slow to stop the Aqua Breath from smacking him out of the air but coalescing into a shimmering [Reflect] barrier just in time to nullify the following blaze. He's left sputtering, bruised, and completely soaked- but not burned to a crisp.

"Nnngh- why won't it just die already-" He's cut off, of course, by Red's Melody being unleashed, and now he's just impressed.

[bleating_heart]

Dang, Kuja ain't looking too good.

...Yeah, he can fix that.

Asriel snaps his fingers and everything gets kinda weird. It's like Kuja just save-stated to two hours ago, back to normal and perfectly healthy.

Woo!

[einspine]

With so much raw power, the Chimera gives one last pitiful roar before collapsing in a smoking heap from the continued barrage of attacks. As it falls, it drops a considerable pile of money. When split even among the party, each of them will get 10,000 gil!

Best of all, the chest is unguarded.

Should they open it, they will find a Temple Key. Congratulations!

[acapriciousreaper]

Kuja is, quite suddenly, fine. "Oh. What- Ah, time magic." He dusts himself off, and collects his share of the fee. "Thank you, Asriel. Now... this looks mildly important."

[mech_and_mutt]

Red's sole regret was that he wasn't able to punch all three faces. Oh, well; still showed that thing who was boss.

"Did we pass any locked doors on our way here?"

[whirluendo_of_puns]

Wow, everyone in this team has such cool moves. Uendo lets out a breath of relief. All in all, this could have gone a lot worse.

He joins the others while Eos continues to heal anyone who's still injured.

"Ah, this must be for one of the locks on the 100th floor. Great work, everyone!"

[peace_through_empathy]

Megatron nods. "Great work indeed. We worked well together." His Eos also joins with Uendo's to make sure everyone is healed.

"In any event, we should meet back up with the others now that we have the key. Let's..." he pauses for a moment, then smiles a bit, mostly to himself. "...Roll out."