melodiesofeternity | Player Plot: The Golsaucian Gauntlet

Player Plot: The Golsaucian Gauntlet

The OOC post for this event can be found here.

Sparks Golsaucia

A. Doom Coaster: Into the Void (and other rides...)

PuPuLand and Sparks Golsaucia as a whole are rife with exotic and exciting means of entertainment. The amusement park rides are second to none, probably because there aren't many in other towns! And since it's time for the Gauntlet, there's no end of tourists from around the world looking to celebrate and let loose. The lines sure are long... but you don't have to care about that since you've got a VIP pass! Show it to the employees and presto, you move to the front of the line!

...Assuming anyone told you that you could use it to cut in lines, that is. You could be waiting in a line that's not moving, because some other VIPs (outworlders or not) leave the ride and go right back in. Maybe you're one of those people riding a ride until the end of your days! Maybe you're people watching, or far from the line, gripped with fear over a ride that's crushed your resolve. Whether it's the teacups, the rickety old roller coasters, the drop towers, or whatever else your heart desires, you better believe it's popular.

The biggest, newest, shiniest ride, however, is the Doom Coaster. Modeled after an old, skeleton-like train that oozes rust and black fog, the Virtual Reality experience is so real that some passengers seem to have the souls ripped right out of them! (The g-forces got to them, but whatever works for marketing!) The senses are assailed by a played-up, spooky adventure into the afterlife, and anyone who stays conscious through to the end gets a free t-shirt reading "I CONQUERED THE DOOM COASTER" in a bleeding font, underlined by the train cars themselves.

Think you can take it?

B. How Do We Measure Vaikunthan Cholesterol?

High-velocity amusement park rides bring to mind nausea, and you can't lose your lunch if you don't eat! All through PuPuLand are vendors of... less-than-healthy foods. Deep-fried Geezard Gizzards, deep-fried calamari, deep-fried ice cream, funnel cakes (deep-fried dough), deep-fried pizza, and- is that- is that a deep-fried salad!? PuPuLand claims zero responsibility for any cardiovascular damage incurred as a result of eating their foods. But they're the only option in the park...

So maybe you decide to leave and get food in Sparks Golsaucia proper. There are food trucks, and they're on more street corners than worldwide coffee chain Cactuarbucks! The variety is immense and a dream for any Gourmand worth their salt or any self-preserving being who's not into artery-clogging. They're a little pricier, but when the trip itself is free, why not treat yourself?

C. Moogle Marketeers

Sparks Golsaucia is dangerous for many reasons beyond the park rides and the fried foods- it houses the Tactician Guild, which works intimately with local businesses. All businesses. See, there's profit to be had in pyramid schemes as long as you're at the top, and any Tactician worthy of their asterisk would make sure that's where they are.

It may seem innocuous enough, a Moogle fluttering up to you asking if you're interested in a little work on the side. They talk about selling cosmetics, poorly-made clothes, esoteric minerals and oils, or even natural mog enhancement pills (for the pom-pom's fuzziness, naturally) with a warm smile. This company is a spiritual movement, a means of both enlightenment and exponentially growing income. It gives you a place to belong in this world, and the ability to help the newcomers find their place too!

There's just a 40,000 gil registration fee and another 20,000 for the starter kit, all nonrefundable. But maybe your contact is nice- they might be able to waive the costs if you can get a friend to sign up!

D. Are You Talkin' to Me?

The largest city in Vaikuntha means there's no shortage of crime and ne'er-do-wells. There could be a back alley shortcut involved, or you might've taken a step into the wrong side of town. It's almost as if with the turn of a corner, the bright, pastel lights of the city dimmed and flickered, well... except for the occasional red light.

But they're watching you. From across the street. From the windows. From the shadows. It doesn't matter, they're there, and you look like a target. You might hear the throaty chuckle of a Bangaa or a condescending "sho shorry" from a Hypello that forcefully bumped you as they walked by, and... did they steal your wallet?

Or maybe they're more overt, emerging from the shadows and snapping their fingers rhythmically. For more cold-blooded species, these Bangaa/Hypello thugs sure bring a lot of fiery passion to their theatrics. Maybe they deserve the money, they could probably take this on the road!

E. When the Chips are Down...

Maybe you don't like gambling on business deals and social networks. If you're a fan of slot machines, card tables, and a spin of the roulette wheel, PuPuLand's got you covered in spades. There are two casinos within the park's walls and a third just a block away from the entrance. Bet your bottom dollar you can find any game of chance, maybe some chocobo races, and if you're of a more rough-and-tumble sort, maybe even a fight club. With white mages on hand, of course; what are we, savages?

Be careful not to get too lucky, or you could end up with the wrong sort of attention.

F. ...Clubs are Wild

Night after night of Sparks Golsaucia and PuPuLand is bound to be tiresome, so maybe you're looking to unwind from your vacation. Could be a drink, or even a few hours of loud, thumping music and frenetic dancing. Unsurprisingly, they've got you covered here!

Surprisingly, there are some clubs and bars that are the quietest places in town once the sun goes down. Insulated walls, multiple doors between the outside and the club itself, and... bookshelves?! Is this an all-night library with soothing piano accompaniment and a zen garden meant to mimic the sound of rainfall? You betcha!

G. Golsaucian Gauntlet

Competitors, win or lose, are encouraged to use the results of the first three rounds of the Gauntlet in their Top-Levels, if they want. Pre-Gauntlet pep talks with a friend or rival, walks of fame, walks of shame, swarms of fans, whatever floats your boat.

Von Oktavia

H. Movements of Tiny Houses

Since smaller sorts live in Von Oktavia like Lalafell and Moogles, their houses are similarly proportioned. Smaller rooms, smaller bathtubs, smaller houses altogether. That means that while a strong hop could get you on someone's roof, a particularly bad stumble could send the whole thing crashing down.

And that costs money. Maybe you'll just look. Carefully. And never touch. Or if you do, you might have the joy of escaping the scene of the crime. No big deal.

I. Tiny Food, Big Appetites

The Golsaucian Gauntlet and a week in the lap of VIP Luxury means you're probably used to portions more... normal than what's served around Von Oktavia. While it's not quite this small, it does seem a bit closer to food for ants. So if hunger pangs happen to strike during this pit stop (typical of any road trip, really...), maybe you're inclined to take the hit to your wallet for a little extra, or maybe you're hangry and become one of those customers making a scene.

J. Mognet Central

Mognet Central is big and imposing, a stark contrast to the smaller buildings of the city. They need all that space, given how vital the net is to Vaikunthan infrastructure. It's impossible not to see this place, and maybe you want to go in.

Lucky for you, the ground floor is actually the world's largest iMog Store, with special cutting-edge products that you can't get to as easily at the Curti Center. The employees are bright and bubbly, eager to help you with all your needs. Even if you don't have the money to buy anything- they're getting paid by the hour!

K. Say Cheese!

Eventually it's time to leave and return to the Curti Center, and so everyone's gathered by the offices of the Oktavian Triumvirate. The Under-Secretary of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of an Executive Assistant's Assistant all but appears out of thin air due to eldritch bureaucratic magics, and shouts that a picture will be taken in five minutes.

How's your hair? Is that what you're wearing?! You still look a bit rough from the night before, maybe. Or you might just be against this entire thing, and you're trying to hide behind the crowd or duck away. That's difficult, because the arrival of the Under-Secretary of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of an Executive Assistant's Assistant brought with it her assistants, who are cutting off a lot of the exits. Maybe you need to use a human shield.

Or maybe you're gonna dab on camera. They never said it had to be a serious photo!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Moogle puppet somehow manages to avoid Hunk's laser just in time. Likewise, both the Moogle and the Puppet managed to avoid the Whirlwinds and Shock Break, leaping out of the way right in the nick of time. It was as if they were able to see where an attack would hit before they'd even started using it.

Ah, how terrible and painful it was to fight an enemy who could see AoE symbols for all upcoming attacks.

"I am the weapon of light! Your efforts are pointless, Kupo!"

> Mog Bomb
The Moogle-shaped puppet flies over and delivers an explosive package.

This time however, rather than drop the package and leave, the puppet sits on Ira's head and waits as the timer ticks down.

They dodged everything?! Hunk just sighs to himself- he hates fighting fast enemies, because he's not fast. While that reminds him that can change his class over to Gourmand, which makes him a little faster, something else came up.

It's that puppet, again, now roosting on his ally's head. If that blows up? That guy could die, unless it's another smoke bomb. But why risk it?! So Hunk, with no words beyond an exasperated "Really?" under his breath, runs up to Ira and shifts his grip, rotating the gunblade to the broad side.

"Got it!" And then he swings it like a baseball bat, hoping his aim was good enough to send that puppet flying back to its owner a second time. Otherwise? The healer might end up with a concussion before his head blows up.

"Good to know." Just great, really. Because that sure is option number one that the moogle decided to take of the three that Castor just described. Before sending the puppet to sit on his head. With a bomb again. And stays there. Now normally, he'd be panicking, but then he sees something out of the corner of his eye-

"Whoa-!" Ira ducks instinctively at the sight of a blade incoming. He's six foot tall okay, what the hell?!

...

And that sure is some of his white hair getting cut in the process. Son of a-

"Stop that!" Terra himself isn't sure whether he's more frustrated by the moogle dodging his attacks or by her starting this fight in the first place. Maybe both? "We didn't do anything to you!"

Perhaps if he attacks while she's distracted... Terra lunges forward behind the returning puppet, swinging his greatsword.

It's easy enough to mark the puppet, and to mark Hunk's swing, and then Takeshi ducking and - with the speed that Whirlwind grants, Castor dashes forward and squarely roundhouse kicks the puppet, redirecting it's momentum from "away" to "towards that damn Moogle."

Not for the first time, she misses that heartbeat of insight the Echo afforded her back home, because as she rushes in after the puppet, she can only hope that it lands without enough time for Kupolu to get out of it's blast. Especially not with Terra following up like that. And especially not with Castor herself on Terra's heels, ready to Tackle the troublesome fluffball into the dirt.

As the puppet was flung away and exploded on the Moogle, Kupolu was much too distracted to stop Castor and Terra as they attacked her.

"Kupooooooo!"

It seemed victory was at hand, but then...

> The Echo....?
The Moogle of Light calls upon the power of the Echo!

A bright light falls upon the arena, engulfing everything for a couple seconds before fading away. Kupolu kicks at Terra and Castor before flying away from the two of them. All her stats are increased by 25%! The Puppet is fully repaired.

"Can't you see it's pointless, Kupo?" She raised her crystal again. "No matter how many times you defeat me, I'll come back even stronger, Kupo!"

Hunk just awkwardly laughed for a moment as some of Takeshi's hair was lopped off. Whoops. "S-sorry." Luckily for them both, the others swarmed that puppet and... yep, it's a repeat of last time! The moogle dodges attacks on it and comes back stronger. The puppet dodges attacks on it and gets healed up when it blows up on the owner. But as Kupolu raises her crystal, all of Hunk's readings on Magitek clicked. It's like a magitek battery!

While the enemy is gloats, Hunk pulls out his slate and switches from Magitek Knight to Gourmand. Elemental bullets and magitek weapons could cause a weird reaction, and it might be better for him to be faster. More precise. A chef's knife, clawed gloves, and an apron aren't exactly the most intimidating getup, but they're fighting a moogle. Nothing matters anymore.

"This isn't working! What if we keep the bombs away from the Moogle?" He asks the question pretty loudly, because they can't plan over a comms relay, groan. If the puppet explodes on its own, it can't come back, right? And then he has time to do something about that crystal. ...Right?

Castor dives back behind Hunk and uses Invigorate. She'd have to mind her step from here on out but this was becoming vexxing.

"I think we ought to separate it from that Crystal," she growls, hopefully low enough that the Moogle couldn't hear her, "seems like that's what's gettin' it back up. If that doesn't work...maybe just hangin' onto it'll be enough - if it can't move, it can't cause a ruckus."

"Eh, have had worse things cut." Like an arm, completely off, but this isn't the time to talk about this sort of thing. So instead, he focuses more on the others. By which he means casting Divine Caress on Castor, before closing some of the distance. "It's worth a shot."

Honestly, what do they have to lose save for, well, time?

A gourmand. Suddenly disgust and distaste crossed the moogle of light's face. As if feeling an impulse coming from another world entirely, Kupolu sets her sight on eliminating this scourge from the face of Vaikuntha.

> Mog Bomb
The Moogle-shaped puppet flies over and delivers an explosive package.

The Moogle Puppet latches onto Hunk's back with its bomb now!

Hunk lets out a gasp as the Puppet flies towards him. He's ready to smack it out of the sky with his knife, but then it swerves, latching onto his back! Just his luck. Just his luck! He thinks about telling the others to run, but they can't get far, with those electric fences in the way. But then he has an idea: he can be the one keeping the bomb away from the Moogle! He's distracted a planet-devouring beast, this should be nothing!

"Castor, sword guy, get the crystal! Don't hurt the Moogle!" No way he's gonna let them sit on their hands while he's enduring this exploding puppet. "Healer guy!" He looks at Takeshi, laments that he doesn't know everyone's names, and pulls out and starts chomping on a piece of jerky from maybe the nastiest Chocobo Eater in the world.

"Give me all the healing you can- you'll know when!" And then Hunk sets off at a sprint away from the Moogle, scarfing down the rest of jerky for a boost to Strength and more importantly a boost to Max HP. As soon as he gets to the other side, he whirls around slams his back, the Puppet, and that bomb into the electric fencing. Maybe the bomb and puppet will short-circuit but if not, the explosion is away from everyone else. While he's definitely screaming in pain, Hunk's not completely freaking out: he's actually been through worse and he knows it.

This is when, Healer Guy.

"It's Takeshi-" he starts to inform the big man, before he sees that wild look in his eye. "Big man- no, no don't-!"

Too late, he ate the thing and slammed his back into the electric fence and he mutters a curse. Congrats, you got the saltiest healer in existence. Casting Cura on your ass, Hunk.

"Hunk what are you---!"

Castor was about to break towards him, but there was no way for her to predict what he was about to do. She's torn for a moment, looking between Hunk and the moogle and...well, she isn't a healer.

"Look after him!" she calls back to Takeshi, and charges in after Kupolu. "Alright you flying furbrain, I'm gettin mighty tired of yer shit. This ends." And she Tackles in, hoping to grapple the puppet-less moogle to the ground.

"Wait -" Terra was on his way to rip the puppet off Hunk's back, intending to fling it into one of the walls, when Hunk starts dropping orders. As worrisome as those orders are, it's nice that someone has a plan, and Hunk will be fine with healing spells, right? Right.

Terra joins Castor in chasing after Kupolu, attempting to grab onto her and wrestle the crystal away.

Kupolu stared in awe as Hunk made the ultimate sacrifice to save his friends. Perhaps she had misjudged him... But then eyes widened as she came to the realization of just what his actions had done.

"M-My puppet, Kupo!!"

Never trust a Gourmand, they get you all emotional and take advantage of it to blow up your beloved Puppet. On the bright side, Hunk's distraction was enough so that Castor and Terra did successfully get a hold of the poor Moogle who was now struggling to keep ahold on her crystal.

"Don't take my crystal, Kupo! Father Yoshida gave it to me!"

She followed by trying to kick at Castor and punch at Terra with her free hand. It's not very effective.

Electricity never stopped being painful, Hunk realized. It was something he forgot, given how rarely he gets electrocuted. But as the puppet got fried if not altogether destroyed, the Gourmand tried to pry himself off of the wall. Instead, he ended up getting flung a few feet by the electricity and landing flat on his chest.

"Yeah...! Go team..." That's about all he could mutter out before he just sighed and stared off into space, only technically conscious. Doesn't help that his clothes have some smoke coming off them, too.

(( See also: I figured he'd be out of the fight after all that, so I'll only be tagging back in once the fight wraps, if necessary. Still lurkin' though! <3 ))

Takeshi just sighed aloud at the sight before him. Honestly, this is just ridiculous. The entire fight was dumb and a waste of time. So, he walks over to Hunk's side and begins casting Cura again.

"If you'd stop sending it over with bombs, we could have had a chance to talk instead of have to go on the defensive." He says more to the moogle than anyone else. "We weren't here to fight. We came seeking answers about the Dream Width, and why we're here. You and your friends escalated it."

Castor, arm full of moogle, can't spare the attention to check on Hunk and Takeshi. Instead, she's focused on at least trying to hold the Moogle still enough for Terra to grab away the crystal.

"Don't care who gave it te ye, we're takin it until ye calm the hells down!"

The moogle is wiggling for sure, but with Castor holding her down, Terra holds onto her little arm with one hand and makes a grab for the crystal with the other.

"Don't - attack - people!" he grunts. "We weren't - doing - anything - to you!"

When they take the Crystal, the energy walls surrounding them fade! Should they take a look around, they can see everyone else is done with their Moogle-- The Moogles and Magitek Armors are nearly all gone. Kupade Kuptiss is the last one leaving, blowing a kiss to his "enemies" from his Magitek Armor as it flies away.

Only Kupolu's Magitek Armor is left after that.

"K-Kupo...?"

In a fit of panic and fear, she gets free from castor and flails around panicked.

"It's your fault, Kupo! T-They're all dead, Kupo!"

The Replica stops, stares, but doesn't get up from Hunk's side. It isn't the first time that he's been accused of that. In fact, he's been accused by the very remnants of those people. He bites his lip, can almost taste something coppery when he's finally had enough.

"What are you even talking about?" Takeshi asks, barely audible as his eyes narrow into slits. He tries to keep his own emotions out of it, but... it's hard. Hits too close to home.

He's the only survivor, after all.

"Oh no ye don't! Don't go blamin' this on us, ye overgrown pom." Castor holds Kupolu up level with her face as she continues, "Ye started this mess, not us. Don't start fights ye don't intend on finishin'! Anyways, look what ye've done te poor Hunk! What'd he ever do to ye?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Player Plot: The Golsaucian Gauntlet

Sparks Golsaucia

Von Oktavia

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So remember how much Sam and I scream about dice rolls....

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icon comment text: "I'm sure I'll need this someday." I did.

<ANGRY HEALER NOISES>

meanwhile, becomes the tank

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