Cram Week [Player Plot]

[tiredcharmer]

Who: The Heroes of Light
When: January 15-22
Where: The Great McGard Library
What: The hunt for Alexander's Temple takes an unexpected turn into college cramming territory.
Warnings/Notes: The combat threads will go up as soon as the introduction as finished, as that should wrap up fairly quickly.

Comments

[bladeofconquest]

Corrin watches in alarm as Tyzias goes flying, but Kanji is quick to attend to her. With the healers doing their best to minimize the damage from the attacks, Corrin likewise switches to [Dark Knight]. Nohr Noble just isn't going to cut it.

Once her Dark Knight gear is in place, she charges a [Blood Weapon], using her own vitality to power her attacks. If the Tantarian thought she hit like a gnat before, it was going to be in for a rude awakening. Castor's buff helps tremendously in that regard.

The book's actions confuse her, though; it had been quick to retaliate against the initial salvo, but had done nothing when the healing had gone out; nor had it made any attempt to stop Kanji from going to Tyzias' aid. Why? What was the difference?

Then it hits her.

"Wait a second...it can't attack on its own!" Corrin exclaims. "It can only counter-attack!" Of course that probably wasn't true for the drone it had summoned, but was still a useful bit of information. "Ignore the book for now, let's clear that machine before it does too much damage!"

[peace_through_empathy]

Megatron is already bringing out his own Eos with a [Fae's Blessing] of his own, which turns her attention to Minimus, who took the Stonega near the start of the fight. The reading he got from the Advanced Libra is...troubling, especially the realization that despite all the attacks they've inflicted, they haven't actually hurt the Tantarian.

"We haven't succeeded in damaging the book at all." He states calmly, despite the difficulty of the opponent facing them; it pays to be cool and collected at all times, especially in an emergency. "All our attacks are doing are causing it to flip pages."

[pishirogane]

"... Then we should take this moment to recover. It seems to attack each time we flip pages."

And she doesn't know about everyone else, but she can't take too many hits at once. Taking out a Potion for herself, she took sips intermittently while considering the attacks. "It seems like stronger abilities turn more pages as well."

[wind_in_my_ears]

Kanji would get an ally in Klonoa, stepping up and holding his hand out to check on Tyzias. No patient of his is going to bleed on the floor!

"Tyzias, hold in there!" He shouts, letting the others take control of the situation. The full force of a max level white mage is brought to bear as healing light floods out from his glove and into her! Hopefully that will forestall the whole, y'know, dying thing.

[acapriciousreaper]

Kuja staggers to his feet after a time, in pain, bleeding- he snarls. He's had quite enough of this. "In one. Day. I have been burned, lacerated, incinerated, thrown about, and mind-controlled- and I. Am. Done."

MELODY LEVEL 3
TRANCE

He glows, then, with crimson light as silver-white hair and fur bleeds into crimson- and, as he launches himself into the air, away from the fray, gathering magic from the world around him like a black hole draws in light-

"Just. Die."

The fury of [Ultima] rains down, not widespread destruction like it might usually be, but with the laser focus that could only be acheived with [Spellshape], bolts of azure flame guiding themselves unerringly towards two targets- Tantarian, and this red menace.

[tiredcharmer]

This time, the Tantarian doesn't have any pithy comment. "Oh shi--" is all it manages to choke out before the spell impacts. Kuja's Ultima completely obliterates the drone, reducing it to dream mist. The Tantarian is nearly thrown off the roof, and it flips a total of 40 pages.

"I. Gah. Mawp?" is mumbles as another boulder is launched out of its pages, a Stonega with practically drunken aim.

PAGE: 54
STATUS: OUCH

[whirluendo_of_puns]

"...Yeaaaahhh, I'd say more power means more pages, for sure. Wow." Sometimes Kuja can be really scary.

Okay, so they can turn more pages by hitting harder. So what? What are they supposed to do? 'Basic arithmetic, remember?' Uendo chimes in. Patches racks his brain while Eos heals Kuja. Numbers, numbers... Uhhh...

"Hey, wait a sec! Those stolen pages were 32, 128, and 256, right? Dontcha think there's something missing there?"

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias, meanwhile, is slowly coaxed back to consciousness by the efforts of Klonoa and Kanji. Her eyes snap open, and she begins thrashing about wildly. It's obvious that she's... someplace else, mentally.

[songbird_slayer]

Madhuri finished her swap and readied her guitar. The drone burst into lovely confetti, and she clicked on her hover boots in case she needed to gain some extra air again.

But she paused, gears turning. "Thirty-two, one-hundred twenty-eight, two-fif... wait! A pattern, right?"

Her hands went to her hat.

"Sixty-four! Going by twos leaves sixty-four out!" The book was on page 54. Hoo boy.

"So we ought to take it easy, then. Easy, Kuja," she added, and smoothed her hands over the guitar strings with Spellblade (Divine).

May he enjoy a Cura ballad, and hopefully not decide to hurl more ultimas at this thing.

[topgun_textiles]

"She's awake! Thanks, Klonoa." He nodded to him.

As for Tyzias, Kanji set his jaw and pulled her in for a hug.

"Oi! Oi, sshh, you're fine. You're safe. Take a breath."

[legalcy]

"Carry them a safe distance from the battlefield," Minimus stated with far more authority in his voice than his frame would suggest. "We cannot risk their lives on the chance that the book will not attack." There was always that 0.01% chance of something terrible happening. They must be prepared for everything.

"I have heavy armor. Watch the book, and I'll stand in front while everyone recovers!"

[tiredcharmer]

Normally, Tyzias would recoil at being hugged by a random thuggish-looking human teenager. But right now? Yeah, she needed the comfort. She leans into Kanji's embrace, hyperventilating, teal tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Tyzias looks to be calming down, though, which is good.

[neverbeamemory]

Once Sephiroth's petrification status wears off, the momentum from the movement he was attempting to make in a dodge at the time catches up but other than a stumble-step or two at least his balance seems intact.

If there's not a heal that's already caught him he'll retreat in order to get in range of others, clutching the wound at his chest and making sure the grip around his sword is vice-like. He'll defend to the last if that's what he has to do.

Hearing Madhuri he raises his silver head in her direction. Having been stuck as a statue was disorienting in terms of keeping a track where exactly they were at in the fight.

"How many more pages?"

[chatwithdeath]

"It should be ten more."

Since everyone required some healing and they were ten pages off, Naomi raised her staff and decided to go with Medica. She would take the healing deferment in exchange for recovery to everyone.

[einspine]

Papyrus, though late to the party, takes a defensive stance. While surveying the battle, he prepares his Robuddy in assist mode, should the others need a convenient heal.

At least this way he can have a little added backup while providing his own offense or defenses as the situation calls for it.

That drone was a close call- how much more is left to face?

"IF ANYONE ELSE NEEDS HEALING, LET ME KNOW! THIS ROBOT SHOULD BE ABLE TO ASSIST, AND IF YOU NEED SOMETHING MORE POTENT, I CAN ALWAYS SWITCH TO CHEMIST OR USE MY SPAGHETTI!!!"

[songbird_slayer]

She nodded to Naomi. "Just ten more. Let's be careful."

A turn to Sephiroth, and she shook her tail, jingling the strings of bells tied to them. She offered him a quick, rather inspirational riff, weaving a Curaga into the notes.

[topgun_textiles]

He remained exactly where he was.

"I ain't movin' 'til ya need me to, got it? We crushed whatever that big bastard was. Now we'll finish this fuckin' book here n' now."

Kanji peered out into the group, and nodded.

"I don't really do 'gentle' with this Job Class. But I'll take care of whatever other tricks that book's got tucked in its sleeve."

[bladeofconquest]

Corrin leaps forward. "On it!" Given the low number of pages they need to turn, and Corrin's attack boosted by both Castor's buff and her own Blood Weapon, she settles for a simple sweeping slash with Shadow Yato across the Tantarian for [Physical] damage.

"How's that for a gnat?"

[littlemhigan]

"I can manage a love tap, aye!"

Castor closes in on Corrin's heels, ducking to the opposite side of the book from the swordswoman and delivering a simple kick of her own, about as gently as she can manage. She'd been lucky enough to avoid damage thus far, so taking a counterattack to the face wouldn't leave her down and out at least.

[whirluendo_of_puns]

Just weak attacks, huh? But he's doesn't have any weak spells right now, and the Scholar Job doesn't exactly come with any... weapons...

Patches looks down at his tome.

Patches looks up at the Tantarian.

Patches takes careful aim and throws his tome at the Tantarian.

"And that's how we punish evildoers! ...By throwing the book at them."

[legalcy]

Minimus watched the tome sail overhead, which was an easy task considering that he creates a short barrier.

"How can you break your books like this?!" He watches the precious bundle of paper and knowledge bounce off the Tantarian and onto the ground, possibly damaging the cover.

[tiredcharmer]

Empowered by [Blood Weapon], Shadow Yato strikes harder than it usually would for a basic attack, flipping 2 PAGES. "Um, have a taste of your own medicine. Or something. Shit, that was weak," the Tantarian mutters, clearly shaken by Kuja's Ultima. Spikes of shadow and crimson energy launch out of its pages to strike Corrin, the Shadowja dealing powerful dark damage.

Castor's punch flips open a single page... which, unfortunately, is quite devastating. A rainbow of -ga class elemental spells flies out towards the party, the Elemental Burst dealing heavy damage of all elements twice to everyone in the party.

Thankfully, Patches's tome bonks against the Tantarian before the Burst is unleashed, and Patches is hit with Sleep... although one of the other alters could potentially step up to bat in his place.

[topgun_textiles]

Kanji shifted to become a human shield for the fallen Tyzias. He watched as Patches was hit with something strange...

"Gonna need an Esuna on Patches! But we're almost there, keep goin'!"

[songbird_slayer]

Gently now... Madhuri needed to help keep everyone going, enduring the onslaught brought upon by the damned book.

She opted for something right out of salsa, something bold as her white magic-touched Thunderwave washed outward, filling the air with music. For the next pair of turns, she would focus on casting group Curas.

[pishirogane]

That was close... she would have to thank Uendo for that save with the tome later, but they might want to flip to another page. Opening her revolver, Naoto removed a bullet and replaced it with one of her Ice Shots, closing the chamber and taking aim. Concentrate wouldn't go into effect since she only replaced a bullet, but they would see what happened after she unloaded Trigger Happy this time.

She had placed the ice bullet to fire last - maybe the extra damage or chance of freezing the Tantarian would help. Shiva would cast Ice Veil over her afterwords.