10/29 --- Δ Haggard Traveler’s Reprieve?????

[gluttoning]

Who: ??? & you!
What: Something's starting...
Where: Δ Haggard Traveler’s Reprieve (Twilight Shoreline)
When: Sunday, 10/29
Warnings: Will be added as needed.

( Perhaps intrigued by the mail allegedly sent by CC Corp, perhaps visiting the Shoreline by chance, gating into the Area goes as it always does, until the music stays cut for longer than it should, and the black, liminal transition screen lingers for a little too long. The seconds tick on. They near turn to minutes. You can't struggle, you can't argue— you can only simply be, and it occurs to you that maybe you'll be trapped midway here, conscious, for maybe forever.

And then you hear static. Your vision warps; pixels strain into words, blurred and unstable. You see them combat for your attention; you see— )



( And then you load in. )

( POST NAVIGATION )
( Sign-in Comment (Mandatory) • How to Play • Mechanics

Phase 1 • Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 • Round 4 • Round 5 • Round 6

Phase 2 • Round 7 • Round 8 • Round 9 • Round 10 •
Round 11 • Round 12

Epilogue )

Comments

QUESTIONS/CONCERNS/COMMENTS

[gluttoning]

While we will have a thread open on the game Discord for chatter (check the threads under the general chat), please use this toplevel for all questions so that all players can see responses. Please reach out directly to the mods as needed for any immediate concerns!

SIGN-IN COMMENT (MANDATORY)

[gluttoning]

Welcome to the Barrett (Tarvos) and Mithrun (Macha) joint phase battle! Please leave a comment here if you intend to participate! This battle will be drop-in FFA combat, but commenting here before participating is mandatory. We will have a coordination thread in the general RP channel in the Discord to avoid flooding the main channels, so please feel free to join whether to plan and popcorn.

Please answer the following questions in your comment:

• What is your character's name and class?

• Does your character have a bracelet? What Core will your character have equipped during this battle?

• Are you okay with the chance that your character may be permanently killed during this combat? (Note that saying "yes" doesn't mean your character will be killed.) Y/N?

Please be aware of the following:
 • There is a chance of your character being critically injured during this battle. (Note that this doesn't mean your character will be critically injured. Critically injured characters will still have a chance to be healed.)
 • There is a chance that the charm and confusion status ailments may affect your character's actions during combat. (Note: dispel conditions for charm/confusion will be clearly delineated.)

[dissimulative]

• Oriade, Steam Gunner
• N, Armor Core
• N

[aphonik]

• Ramiel, Flick Reaper
• N, Damage Core
• N

[secondthoughts]

Hector, Harvest Cleric

Y, Heal Core

N

[ganymed]

• What is your character's name and class?

Ganymede - Macabre Dancer

• Does your character have a bracelet? What Core will your character have equipped during this battle?

A Zelkova owned bracelet so, yeah. Damage Core

• Are you okay with the chance that your character may be permanently killed during this combat? (Note that saying "yes" doesn't mean your character will be killed.) Yeah, that's fine! Ganymede has a score to settle, is all :>

[legendofthelion]

• FlameMane, Edge Punisher
• Y, Damage Core
• N

[trashtier]

• L3V147H4N, Adept Rogue (Blade Brandier, Wavemaster, Macabre Dancer)
• Yes + Damage Core
• No

[curvaceous]

KaraBear, Tribal Grappler

Y (Zelkova), Armor Core

N

[rebelles]

Haru, Steam Gunner
N, Heal Core
N

[threatmewted]

• Swallow, Adept Rogue (Flick Reaper, Blade Brandier, Tribal Grappler)
• Zelkova Bracelet, Healing Core
• N

[justonezero]

• Nanashi, Harvest Cleric
• No Bracelet, Armor Core
• N

[tinged]

• tabibito, wavemaster
• n, damage core
• n... unless???

*would prefer if someone could roll for me, ty!

[deto]

• updeto, tribal grappler
• n, damage core
• n

*would prefer if someone could roll for me, ty!

[userunfriendly]

• Winter, Blade Brandier
• N, Damage Core
• N

[bleatingedge]

• Faunus, Wavemaster
• N, Heal Core
• N (because unkie said so)

If I'm too late ignore this

[tylorific]

• Tylorific, adept rogue (lord partizan, flick reaper, tribal grappler)
• N, Armor Core
• N, probably

I'm still traveling so if someone could roll for me? I'll be back 11/1 to see what's going on fully. IM FLYING BLIND HERE, but I saw a note about anything past 10/30 (oocly??) needing mod contact--so I'm sorry if I'm too late??

If it's too much trouble or I'm too late, just disregard this, thanks !

[ophidie]

• Miharu (Scitalis), Edge Punisher

• N, Heal

• N with apologies to lum who i grow more fearful for every day

[murrmoire]

Memoir, Twin Blade

N, Damage Core

N

[insinning]

* Vogel, Lord Partizan
* No, Heal Core
* N

(I'll probably be able to actually play tomorrow but sliding this in here just in case)
(((also also - Sinclair is V. Injured so have fun with that


eff u gorre)))

MECHANICS

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DO NOT RESPOND - READ ONLY. Attack mechanics will be added as new toplevels here as needed.

HOW TO PLAY

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COMBAT MECHANICS
• Rolling to hit: A roll of 12 and above hits Tarvos; a roll of 6 and above hits Macha; a roll of 10 and above hits PCs. No contested rolls, and if your roll hits then any side effects (ex. Knockback, Debuff, Critical Hit, etc) also land. Since this is a FFA, we're keeping this quick and streamlined.

• Interacting with bosses: When engaging in combat, please make sure to mark in bold your intended actions, as well as its dice roll and any and all debuffs or attack effects. After a majority of players that are currently online have responded, bosses will react to all actions done to them simultaneously and declare their next moves, kicking off a new round. A new round will always be marked by boss combat actions. We will adjust this frequency as needed based on player availability and fight situation - ultimately our goal is to keep the fight moving and completed.

• Levels: Though we have up to an OOC week to complete the combat if needed, the battle ICly only takes place on 10/29, even if you OOCly drop in late after receiving your bonus AC rewards. Therefore, characters will be no more than level 75 during this battle.

• Availability (OOC): Players can drop in and out of combat as their schedule allows, and the battle will progress with whoever's available. If needed, we will establish round deadlines (ex. if boss character players will be asleep or otherwise unavailable.) We'll tweak the pace of rounds based on what participants find a comfortable speed.

• Availability (IC): While new characters can join the battle late, your character cannot leave the arena once the battle has started. We recommend checking in with the mods for advice if you want to do threads dated 10/30 and on before the battle is OOCly completed!

PHASE 1

[gluttoning]

( The music blares.

As you gate in, you find the Shoreline a Candyland fantasy: the sands made of cinnamon, the ocean candy glass, the clouds cotton candy, the sky sickly pink. The Gate doesn't work when you try getting back out. The Gate's only one way. Your map tells you where you really are: Ω Cruel Vindictive Scars. But what's in a name? It must be nice here.

But the air is sweet, sweet, and it reminds you, almost, of perfume worn too heavy with the intent to hide, powder laid on too thick. The lighting here is too harsh: it's too bright, too defensive, too argumentative about being okay. The colors here run ultraharsh, shadows cast vantablack. Nothing is easy to look at. Everything is aggressive on the eyes.

And on the ocean you see two figures.

Tarvos stands tall and furious, his chest heaving like a raging bull and his wings buzzing with violent warning; Macha sits at his feet, legs splayed and limp, arms wrapped around Tarvos's calf for support, and he gazes at you with miserable yearning. Their shadows cast sharp and long to the left - much larger than they are, much more distorted. Lily fixed them here with this task, the first two of the Waves to break shore, and they do not seem keen to stop short.

Make sure you comment under the sign-in thread before commenting!

Everyone present may take this opening time to act, speak to, or attack the bosses before the bosses engage. If attacking, please bold tag your actions taken so that we can log it. We will be starting combat at 4PM EST/1PM PST, and round speed will vary on player availability (please see How to Play for confirmation.) )

[trashtier]

["The next time I see you, I won't hesitate to kill you. If you care so much that your anger is going to burn, then make sure you have more than a matchstick of fire, or you're NEVER going to match me.

Make your choice. Make sure it's right."

"I... I will.

Wait for me, okay?"

The time has come for that fateful second encounter. With a determined look in his eyes, Leviathan stands ready among the others who came to fend off the Wave. Noticeably stronger, burning brighter. He sees that Barrett and Mithrun—Tarvos and Macha—have changed, too. It's time to fight, now more than ever.

It's time to find a way to get them back.

He brandishes his sword and points it toward the two.]

Barrett. Mithrun. I've made my choice.

PHASE 2

[tablescraps]

( These things don't last. He should have known that already. And yet, by nature, by design, he is always inclined to want what he cannot have.

The impact is sharp. Macha's thrown off his glass eye, and, as he's separated from it, a crack shoots through the sphere. The crack follows through into the ground and splits through the candy glass like a faultline, and after all Tarvos's punishment the floor just cleaves open beneath your feet like you're about to fall fifty feet under. Your stomach near flips at the sudden drop just as the crack bolts across the screen, splitting your vision into hairline fractures. It's like the whole Area's about to split open. The music cuts.

And then it all shatters.

Glass shards comprised of the Area's every saccharine texture come down on you like thousands of knives. Do what you can, but you can only protect so much of yourself— or others, if your instinct is to martyr. You don't fall, but all characters present are struck by the shards coming down, the blades lacerating your skin. It feels like heartbreak, your chest twisting in two.


The music grinds against your senses.

It's dark. It's a murky dark, it's a pitch black that swirls. You hear a rapid heartbeat resonate so loud you feel it in your teeth, and with every beat a cold red light flashes across the Area like a gritty rave. It's raining, it's raining industrial scarlet, and the sky's where the light's coming from: a light pulsing behind an endless strip of flesh, great eyes watching where clouds should be. The ground squelches at your feet, and best you can tell from every pulse of light and the stench of raw meat sickening your senses, you're standing in an ocean of raw heart-meat, the sands behind you a shore of raw cuts. Love unactualized in spirit and feeling, all that's left is the body and blood. All there is impatient consumption. Let him have you before you're cooked and ready.

Your UI tells you where you are now: Σ Graceful Tempting Fallen Angel. As Macha—Mithrun—told some of you in the week prior, though all of you saw the brilliant shoreline when you visited, all he could see when he looked out across it was red, all he could see was meat.


Macha remains fallen against the ground, shakily pushing himself up by his elbows in some attempt to regain himself, his hair and head sagging down broken neck like a woman drowned. That Tarvos struck and forgot him in his anger seems to have broken his heart, no matter how much he knew something like this was sure to happen, and he's too shaken to act.

Inspecting him tells you he no longer has his Well-loved buff— Macha is no longer invulnerable. You see his HP values now: startling low, and even lower than that with the damage he just took from Tarvos. He would be much faster and much easier than Tarvos to burn through. You notice something else, too: everything from Macha's waist down stays limp; he can't walk. And without his glass eye, from which all his skills came, it doesn't seem likely he can attack anymore. )

ROUND 7

[tablescraps]

EPILOGUE

[tablescraps]

( Slowly at first, and then all of a sudden, the rain thins, and stops. The red pulsing light above holds, and then lightens into a sunset orange, hues fading into yellows and evening blues, and the deep darkness dissipates.

Stars twinkle in the skies above.

The meat texture glitches at your feet, strings of data rippling outward— and in its wake leaving sea water, and the familiar beaches and bonfire of the Twlight Shoreline you've come to know.

The storm has passed, and the first Wave, at least, has failed to break shore. Things are okay; at least, for a little while. )

...? (1/2)

[tablescraps]

( Then.

A heat radiates from Sinclair's hand, where he holds Macha's photograph. He and all onlooking see a bright light spilling as the photograph drifts from his fingers as if caught by a gentle breeze, cutting through the evening hues. The photo, glowing a warmish white, flutters out, landing gently on the near shore, beside the bouquet Tarvos left behind.

It carries with the tide, back and forth, back and forth, with gentle repetition, its small form shifting into something a little bit bigger, but only by so much. A familiar size and shape. Familiar features, as the soft glow fades, and you're left with a body at rest on the shore, the waves rolling around it.

The hair is a little longer and glossier than you know it, styled with care (most certainly not his own), and the clothes are of expensive quality, largely comfortable, but not the sort of thing you'd see in Fragment. To those who have met and recall Mithrun1, Morgan Chatainne, in reality, you would know this is how he looks in truth, how he knows himself to be, as if he has stepped fresh from reality and through the looking-glass that Fragment is.

And whether you approach him or not, Mithrun begins slowly to stir. )