melodiesofeternity | Cram Week [Player Plot]

Looking up references to “Lulutu” barely narrows the field--it appears that the lalafell was something of a ladykiller back in the day, and many, many love poems were written about him. It’s anyone’s guess as to which one was scrawled on the 128th page of the Tantarian. With what happened to the group sent after the thirty-second page, Corrin, Naomi, Asriel, Serge, Castor, Regis, and Uendo are sent to scour the massive poetry archive for references to Lulutu.

Finally, luck strikes. In a particularly dusty corner of the library far away from the bulk of the Lulutu collection, a book labeled, “Lulutu and the 128 Lovers” is found, giving off a menacing aura that’s bound to have turned away whatever poor fools stumbled their way into this particular corner of the library. This is the book you’re looking for. But who’s going to pick it up?

Asriel just kind of looks at the book. Man, this is awkward. The love poetry he ended up reading back home was mostly puns, and he's not entirely sure how he feels about the prospect of going through some otherworldly person's dirty laundry.

He just kind of coughs, waving the others ahead as he clears his absolutely-100%-fine throat.

It's almost kind of sad how quickly Corrin steps forward to claim the book. If something bad is going to happen, better it happen to her than any of the others.

"I don't know what's going to happen when I pick this up, but it's almost certainly not going to be good, so...be ready for anything?" She tells the others.

Standing in front of the book, Corrin takes a deep breath. "...Okay. Here goes nothing."

She picks the book up.

As soon as she touches the book, it flies out of the shelves in a similar manner to the Tantarian--although for better or worse, there isn't any snarky dialogue this time. Rather, it opens up, flips upside down, and a disgusting green beetle the size of two people and covered in mucus-like slime crawls out of the book. Somehow. And it begins hissing at the party.

Page 128's mandibles click together, and it spews a fountain of the slime covering its body at Corrin in a [Slimer]. If it hits, it'll reduce her Attack Potency and Speed by two ranks each!

"Gah!" Castor cries upon seeing the bug, "Bad enough we're sent after poetry but even this can't go quietly, hey?"

She takes a second to check her asterisk, making sure it's set to the appropriate job before she rushes in, trying to land a Bootshine combo on the large insect.

"It would be too easy then..." Naomi sighed, already reaching into her bag. That moment of searching would give Castor time to land her strikes and hopefully she would back up enough by the time Naomi draws out an Unstable Reaction and throws it at the beetle.

Sasami gasped at the surprising beast appearing. Okay, time to take things one at a time. And as a White Mage, that thing is Protect!

Serge tries to interpose himself between Corrin and the beetle when it rounds on her, taking the time to center himself with a little [Meditation] "Hey. Big guy. Back off."

He seriously doubts it's going to listen, but if the thing's going to go around attacking people he's not just going to stand there and let it happen.

The explosion, while powerful in its own right (Naomi will definitely get yelled at by the librarians after this debacle), seems to barely dent the shell of the monster. Heedless of Serge's warning, it hurls a Bioga at Naomi through its chittering mandibles, which will deal medium damage ignoring defense at the beginning of her turn for three turns.

Corrin steps back and readies Shadow Yato as the beetle emerges and hisses at them; unfortunately the slime attack catches her off-guard and she's not able to dodge in time. Not even Shadow Yato's enchantments are able to help her avoid the attack.

No, instead she finds herself covered in gunk. "Oh...oh gods!" She cries out in absolute disgust. I think some of it went in my MOUTH!

Thoroughly drenched in the slime, Corrin doesn't waste any more time being disgusted; there'll be plenty of time for that once the battle is won. She knows she feels slower, and can instinctively feel that will impact her attacks...or at least the physical ones.

Fortunately, Nohr Noble is skilled with all kind of offensive tome magic. Unfortunately, the only one Corrin has access to right now is the simple [Fire] skill. So for the time being, that will have to do. Making a gesture with her free hand, Corrin sends a blast of flame towards the beetle, which will deal minimal damage, but also lower its chance for a critical hit by 10% (non-cumulative).

Edited 2019-02-13 03:05 (UTC)

"Have it your way."

Serge's aura explodes for a moment as [Staff of Inner Strength] activates, and he lunges forward with an overhand swing for the monster's skull.

Well, this was gross... but she wasn't going to let it bother her. In fact, if the beetle wanted to come at her because she's just throwing in another Unstable Reaction. Maybe next round a potion would be necessary, but this bug wanted to be here... maybe she would eat it later for some health as well.

Castor spins out of the way in time to dodge the gunk and slides back in, slamming her fist along a line in the bug's apparent exoskeleton. It seems like a rather harmless blow, but it had always taken time for Demolish to do it's work.

Corrin's Fire barely chars the monster's shell, but Serge's Staff of Inner Strength puts a fairly large dent in it, sending the monster reeling for a moment. Naomi's Unstable Reaction, while not exactly powerful, further unbalances the monster, and Castor's Demolish knocks it flat on its back, leaving its unprotected stomach exposed for the Heroes to attack! It still manages to spit another [Slimer] at Serge from its upside-down position, though.

With the insect over, Naomi would take the opportunity to switch from Chemist to White Mage. If they could keep the bug down for another moment, it'd give her a chance to cast.

Well, the Fire doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but at least the bug's on its back thanks to the others. Taking advantage of the weakness, Corrin leaps forward and attacks its exposed stomach with Shadow Yato, for [Physical] damage. Even with the slime reducing her attack potency, the sword is still a powerful weapon in its own right and might be able to make up some of the difference.

Precognition is a hell of a thing, Serge finds out, as the Time Mage's power traces the path of the slime through the air as it launches towards him. He ducks around the assault, charging for the prone beast and bringing his oar down on the insect's soft underbelly with all the force he can muster, augmented by the Stave Master's ultimate skill.

Castor hoots with joy as the bug exposes it's gut and she plows the full fury of a Perfect Balance combo into it's vulnerable form.

The Page is badly wounded, but it manages to flip itself upright before the party can finish it off. Hissing, it sprays some kind of noxious-smelling green gas all over the party--all who are affected by Slimer or Bioga take powerful nonelemental damage ignoring defense from [Corrosion].

And this, of course, is where Serge is glad for being good at dodging things. The gas doesn't exactly smell pleasant- but it's not hurting him like it might others. He charges in for the beast's blood, and moves in for a final [Inner Strength]-empowered whack in an imitation of that most vaunted of martial arts maneuvers 'McGwire Swings for Bleachers'.

Corrin, however, takes the full brunt of the attack due to the slime she'd previously been covered in. With a cry of pain, she falls to her knees, and Shadow Yato drops from her hand. Corrin leans forward, gasping, her hands clenched around her stomach.

"Ahhhhhghh...oh gods...everyone..." Then one of her hands uncurls...revealing a shining blue stone grasped in her palm. "Stand back...!"

[Melody Activated: Dragonform]

and then Corrin was a dragon.

Now a big, slime-covered Water Dragon, she leaps forward and slashes at the bug with one of her front claws for [Physical] damage. With her Dragonstone recovered, she doesn't have to worry about losing herself in the change. "I am so done with this thing!" She yells, being able to vocalize now, though with her voice taking on a strange, echoing quality.

Castor was halfway thought fiddling with her asterisk, trying to swap to Berserker when she felt the rush of power from Corrin and...

That's a twelve-damned dragon.

That is a twelve-damned dragon.

"Fury's frozen tits!"

"... Interesting choice of words. Is there a problem?"

Because that dragon was Corrin and she was on their side, Naomi doesn't see what the issue was. No worse than a gargoyle where she was from nor as hostile, the arachne White Mage would just use a Medica on the party to recover their health. If the battle still raged, she'd be ready to do more with their health back up.

"I uh....I've had some history with dragons," Castor gasps, falling back closer to Naoimi. "Surprised me, 's all."

Cram Week [Player Plot]

PAGE 128 - CORRIN, NAOMI, ASRIEL, SERGE, CASTOR, REGIS

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I'M GUESSING SHE'S HERE SINCE I GOT PINGED FOR HER ON DISCORD

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just gonna move things along since kiki hasn't tagged in yet

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