Powder Miner

Ceridwen will promo to Wyvern Rider, of course. +5% growth to STR. Personal Skill: It's Still Better Me Than Them...!: When under 50% HP, Ceridwen has a 5% additional chance for Aegis to activate. Gimme that Javelin proficiency.

It took Satomi a moment to respond to Azgrurk -- this place was infuriating. She would step somewhere, and jump back yelping as a horrific stinging came from the grass brushing against her calf. She would be about to throw a handful of the purification powder and then suddenly one of the strange bird things would swoop down and require her to attempt to wave it off with her sword -- and there were vines and thorns everywhere to trip her up. "Bah! Damn this place. Anyway... Captain Azgrurk, was it? I don't have experience with this accursed place in particular, but I have experience with things like it and I know that even containing them is a process measured in blood. This place must be eradicated while we still have the ability to do so, and if I am going to make progress on that front, I will need your help -- these bird things and those beetles are a distraction that will keep me from doing anything but batting them aside. Would you crush them for me?"

"DAMN YOU, LEO!" Satomi shouted as she came across the "corruptive biome" -- Satomi had of course no way to be sure what exactly the effects of this particular Taint were, but she was not in the mood, needless to say, to be stalling and waiting around. There was a lot of Taint in front of her, she had something she could use to destroy Taint, and that very bluntly meant something: that she was going to be destroying the Taint as much as she could as soon as she could. Before stepping into the biome, Satomi placed one hand on the hilt of her katana --ready to perform an iaijutsu strike on anything that intended to ambush her-- and with the other hand drew purification powder, throwing a dusting of it onto the area she intended to walk onto and seeing what happened. Her gaze was drawn by the very loud approach of the giant green ogre-like being... but Satomi was not about to be dissuaded. "I AM GOING TO DESTROY THIS PLACE! It ought not be, its very existence is an abomination wrought of likely foolhardiness, and I will see it removed from existence as quickly as I can!"

Satomi stared at Leo for a few moments, her face still turning red — there wasn’t anything he had said that she could nail him down for yet, though she was dead certain that Leo was at fault in some way, given his earlier unbounded enthusiasm about playing with Tainted forces he ought not. Still, eventually she just let out a ”Khhhhh!” and jabbed a finger to point in Leo’s direction. ”I’m going to deal with you later! But for now I’m dealing with that damned Taint!” Satomi, accordingly, glanced out the tower, squinted heavily to try and discern a landmark to remember the direction of the Taint by (or, in other words, trying to differentiate a unique-enough fuzzy blob of color), and then she sprinted down in as much of a hurry as she had sprinted up, making her way over to the “corruptive biome” as fast as she possibly could.

Judging by the way Satomi’s expression morphed into a further rictus of rage (she was now outright baring her teeth at Leo), she was none too impressed with Leo’s nonchalant, exasperated reply. ”Just ANSWER THE QUESTIONS, LEO. I do not have the patience right now to sit through frippery when there is a new type of Taint. I TOLD you I would be watching to see if you went further with the Taint, and now I am going to clean up your mess and you had better hope that is all I do! I have let this go on for TOO LONG and now this world is taking the consequences, SO TELL ME WHERE THE TAINT IS AND HOW IT WAS MADE! NOW!”

Satomi had spent much of the day working -- on her own gear, on the tower, and truth be told she had managed to get enough of a rhythm going that it felt like everything would be smooth going until the goblins showed up. And Satomi was feeling quite confident about the siege, as she had been given the time and materials to showcase Kaiu engineering to the highest degree she could, as well as her own mechanical fascination and abilities... which, Satomi figured, was a pretty high degree even if she only now considered herself proficient in the Path of Stone. She was quite skilled with her specialties, if she dared say so herself. However, that pleasant feeling of things generally going right was brought to a screeching halt when a sound was blared from the tower -- Leo's voice, amplified as though by a shugenja spell. Leo's voice, specifically, announcing the creation of "a new corruptive biome", used in the same breath as "the corruption" and "crimson". What this meant was glaringly obvious to Satomi -- though a little dragon was somehow involved, Leo was in some way responsible for the creation of a NEW, THIRD KIND OF TAINT ON THIS WORLD. Satomi's face flickered between expressions for a few moments: shock, disbelief, frustration, and then (predictably) fiery rage. "He... he... he did WHAT?!" she shouted, and then she was off like a shot. Satomi bolted towards the tower and loudly made her way up it, the sounds of her scrabbling footsteps echoing up the tower towards Leo. Not long after he heard the sound of his reckoning coming, Leo would see the very VERY angry samurai bolt up onto his level of the tower, her hand on the hilt of her katana, strands of her hair whipped around and on her face thanks to the haste with which she'd moved, and a frenzied expression on her face. "WHAT DID YOU DO, LEO?!" she screamed at him. Then she clenched her teeth, and shouted: "WHERE IS IT?!"

<”ALRIGHT, WELL, YOU BETTER FUCKING PULL THROUGH ON THIS, FRIGUS,”> Nader shouted into the radio. But even as Nader shouted, he was moving into action. It was a leap of trust, really, and if Frigus didn’t in fact draw the Berserker away (or at least try) after Nader shot it into a frenzy while it was ACTIVELY APPROACHING HIM, HOLY SHIT, then well... if by a miracle Nader survived, he swore he’d beat him to death with his own two hands. He WAS making that leap of faith, though, and Nader pointed the PAW in the direction of the Berserker and pulled the trigger. The recoil of this would knock it far off target, of course, but hitting the Berserker wasn’t the point — he wanted to rill the air around it with so many bullets that it ceased to be capable of rational thought and would aimply get overwhelmed with reflexive anger instead. Nader uses the stun action on the PAW, “attempting” to stun the Muton Berserker. Active Cooldown: M3 Sorraia (1 turn remaining) PAW (3 turns remaining)

Ceridwen winced as Naomi worked her magic on another one of the "enemy" soldiers, but then something clicked in her head -- watching Naomi blast someone with a distressing amount of overkill reminded her of someone else she'd seen on the receiving end, and Ceridwen moved her hands to cup around her mouth and shouted Futch's way. "Hey, Futch! You should go check on Sharon, our light mage hit her about that hard and I think she's okay but you should go look!"

Ceridwen turned to see Johanna, who appeared to be in a bit of trouble, and immediately resolved to help her out. "I'll help you out, Johanna!" And immediately Ceridwen ran on over towards her superior officer, shields scraping against the rest of her armor, and thrusted at the archer who had hit her fellow Dragon Knight. S12, stab the Archer!

Ceridwen was in good cheer, as she usually was, but that said she DID see the troops with bows coming her way and it would be practically criminally negligent not to at least dismount when faced by them — Ceridwen hopped to the ground, Yn Ddiddorol once again electing to circle defensively around her “Hehehe, you sure are dedicated, Ynddi. Well, then, time to prepare for more fighting!” Dismount.

Ceridwen took a moment to apply a touch of medicine to herself -- this battle wasn't lethal by any stretch due to its nature, but she was getting bruised up. Still, that hardly dented her good cheer. "Alright, Futch, let's see what you can throw at me!" Ceridwen uses a vuln and holds.

Ceridwen watched as the fight whirled around her -- darn, they really had just gone around her, huh? Oh well, no time to sulk, the others needed her help! "Hyah! Let's go, show me the style of the Calissian horsemen!" And Ynddi leapt at one of the cavaliers with a growl, Ceridwen lashing out with her lance as he did. Q13, stab Cav 8.

A horrible strange howl rang out over the battlefield, drawing a disbelieving "What the FUCK is it now?!" This was immediately followed by a startled noise when he received the message from the turncoat psychic space alien colonialist directly into his head, and a "WHY?" of dismay. Unfortunately for Nader, though, he couldn't spent time on that because he could see a very large and *very* angry hurtling his direction. One hand pulled the PAW off of his back, while the other slammed to his radio headset. <"Nader here -- big fucking angry red alien coming my way; can these things be suppressed? Need answer FAST!">

Ceridwen actually blushed at this and slapped her hand to her mouth -- she'd just gone with "ma'am" based on Johanna being her superior officer (and the Captain's daughter but mostly the superior officer thing), but she hadn't really thought about it much beyond that! "Oh! Ehehe... sorry about that, Johanna, y'know, I just was saying that because you're our Wing Commander and all and," Ceridwen mumbled a little more, inaudibly, but clearly embarrassedly.

Ceridwen peered down uncertainly at Sharon again, but she seemed to be... well, mostly fine. "I think I'd better tell Futch after we fight him..." Still, everyone was moving on too, and so it was time for her to do so as well, and hopping on Ynddi and speeding off was enough to restore Ceridwen's energy, the Dragon Knight landing beside her commanding officer. "I'll stand by you, ma'am!" Mount, "Canto" to Q12.

Ceridwen raised a hand to block out some of the blinding burst of light and then looked back after it had faded away obent down slightly over Sharon. "Aww, sh..." Ceridwen trailed off, frowning. ""...this is exactly what I was trying to avoid... Sharon's not even in the last stage of apprenticeship yet and she's only fifteen, so..." Ceridwen winced. "I hope this isn't too bad."

Sharon’s irritation didn’t much lessen Ceridwen’s amusement — Sharon reminded her very much of a certain someone when he and Ceridwen had been 15, except that Sharon was even worse about it. “Yes, but I DID complete my apprenticeship, and I only started participating in mock battles when I was allowed to ride Ynddi, and supervised at that. Oh well! Hope you’re ready for a bit of a spar then, Sharon.” Ceridwen elected to be the one to face Sharon down, jogging on down with loud metallic clattering from her shields, largely because she didn’t know if she trusted the others who might not realize how young Sharon was (or realize how... Sharon Sharon was) to hold back on her more than they otherwise would in this battle, like Ceridwen was going to, electing to knock the apprentice around with her lance a little instead of going for a pulled stab. N14, Slim Lance Sharon.

Ceridwen grinned as not only did she get the best of her opponent, but the others followed through and made her little baiting successful. Then she flew on down towards the other group, hopping off of Ynddi (the dragon backing off of the front line) and placing herself to stand by some of the other armored members of the group and to be at the front line. When she saw just who was at the front line, though, an amused smile appeared on her face. “Sharon, are you supposed to be here?” L12, dismount

Nader turned his head left and right as quickly as he could (he had a gigantic bug creature to deal with, but a .60 cal shot had blown a gory, lethal hole in one, and a hail of bullets another, so he had some breathing room) and he didn’t think he liked what he saw. There were, at least, two people with him but there were issues at the fringe of the fight — the apparently friendly mind altering space alien colonialist was getting focus-fired upon, and the big ugly alien was bearing down on the ship, with only one person Nader didn’t exactly trust in the way. It was looking like the battle was not going fantastically, but Nader figured he could start to turn that around. He had to stand his ground and pull his weight instead of just letting himself fall into the background. But DAMN he did not have to like it. ”I NEED YOU TWO TO WATCH MY BACK, BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT TO GET VERY VERY HAIRY FOR ME!” With that shouted at Rachel and Lazarus, Nader raised his right arm and yanked on the lever near the bottom of that arm’s armor, and the M3 Sorraia roared to life, rapidly spitting led. He yanked that arm in a semicircle, and bullets flew... well, quite a few places really, but at the moment Nader didn’t give a damn except about shooting up the three targets he... well, maybe not wanted, but needed to draw the attention of: one of the normal troopers, the remaining Chryssalid, and the big ugly alien bearing down on Aquila. Nader fires the M3 Sorraia at one of the ADVENT troopers at C5, the remaining Chryssalid in his square D5, and the Muton Berserker at E5, dealing 1d8+DEX (5)+STR(6) to each one he hits. Thanks to the No Silencers Here perk, they’re also compelled to attack him at least once this turn, and this doesn’t require him to hit to accomplish.

Ceridwen ducked under an arrow just as Johanna swooped in to deal with the archer that had fired it, and she shot a brilliant grin at Dulcie. "Thanks a lot for the help! And thank you too, Johanna, ma'am!" With that out of the way, she began to move southwards. "Now, I think I can handle that swordsman for a while, maybe I ought to fly over and try to draw him out... what do you think, Ynddi?" "Grrrerrr. Gorawr!" Ceridwen recognized these as rather positive and confident sounds from the green-bellied dragon, but also she had in fact kind of expected that, knowing Yn Ddiddorol. "Okay~ Let's go, Ynddi!" O11!

Embarrassingly enough, the two arrows that the archer had launched had, blunted or no, specialized armor or no, been more than enough to unseat Ceridwen from Yn Ddiddorol and send her crashing noisily to the ground. "Oof...!" It was a reminder, perhaps, that she was getting too overconfident in the armor that wasn't even her own work but Gareth's, and that she wasn't paying attention like she should be. Perhaps she'd been taking this lightly... that was a mistake. Thankfully, Verden came to pick her up, and Ceridwen smiled apologetically as she remounted her dragon, staring at the "enemy" archer even as she spoke to Verden. "Thank you very much for your help! I'll have to be more focused from here on out..."

Navin surveyed the battlefield, his fists up in a ready position to strike if engaged, but he planned to go on the offensive himself -- he just had to figure out which of the beasts he wanted to actually strike, especially seeing as the wave of strange changes to the enemies had complicated things. Navin may not have had the most tactical mind, something he would admit himself readily, but at the least he figured that he couldn't really hit the flying ones, that it would be a waste to hit the near-dead big ones, and that if some of the little ones had developed armor then it would fall into his skillset to deal with them. Navin had a lot of experience in dealing with armored foes, after all. With a "Hyah!" Navin charged at one of the smaller twisted beasts, one of the ones with the shells, and extended his hand into a knife-hand, swinging a powerful blow that would be prevented from breaking his fingers largely from the focused, armor-cracking explosion preceding it. Navin uses Piercing Strike on Lesser Lahmu D, dealing 4d6+STR (10)+SYN (11) damage and bypassing all defenses! Navin has a DEX (6)*3 chance to dodge melee attacks, 20% damage reduction against slashing and piercing attacks, 15% ailment resist chance, and a [STR (10)+SYN (11)]% chance to delete enemy buffs (all on non-bosses, one on bosses) when hitting them with a non-AOE STR+SYN attack. He also rerolls all saves twice and takes the lower result.

Isobel stifled a scream as the larger Lahmu stabbed into her with one of its sharpened arms -- and she stifled it simply because some members of the group had very clearly had it worse. Still, it hurt to get stabbed like that, and those gigantic things were intimidating when they were charging you. It was even scarier than the things Isobel'd faced on the Exodus. With a slow sigh, Isobel shook herself out of her funk. She didn't have time to just stand there being scared, she was in the middle of the fight and there were teammates she could have! Isobel moved up to the goddess and called out "Hey, take this and eat it, it won't take long and it'll heal your wounds!" before pulling a poppy from her apron's second pocket and extending it towards Spicy. LOTUS, meanwhile, had promised Jade that he would help the man use his rapid-fire technique again, and considering that the man had quite literally removed all of the wings of the monster he had targeted, with bullets, it did in fact seem like a very prudent idea to help him do so. "My advice -- allow the gun to touch the ground when you roll. It may require some additional maintenance later but you may be able to vent some heat from the barrel into the ground." LOTUS uses Efficiency Analysis on Jade, lowering the cooldown on Fan the Hammer by one turn. Isobel uses Healing Poppy on Spicy HG, healing her for 3d4+INT (12) HP! Isobel has a 15% dodge chance. also I fixed her HP in the spoiler to what it actually should be pls have mercy Murdoc Level: 5 HP: 60 Init: 20 Stats: Constitution: 6 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 12 Strength: 2 Synergy: 0 Perks: Meat Palanquin: Though Isobel Carries LOTUS everywhere, the two of them ARE separate beings, and considering Isobel takes physical action whereas LOTUS takes vocal action, the two of them can act effectively independently. Each of the moves of Isobel and LOTUS are tagged [Isobel] or [LOTUS], and Isobel and LOTUS can use one of each category of move a turn. Actions are limited to (Level-1) levels, however, and [LOTUS] moves cannot be heals nor attacks. Pieces of equipment essentially count as [Isobel] moves. Active “defensive stance” moves such as Basic Defense override this perk, disallowing using two actions. Reaction Time: On the NSS Exodus, things can sometimes break down into lightning-fast action. Isobel and LOTUS both have developed excellent reflexes -- Isobel from experience, and LOTUS from programming. +[2*Level] INIT. Tactical Uplink (Partial): LOTUS has reconnected to the Tactical Uplink. It’s not a very good connection, as in flicks in briefly and then flickers out for several seconds, but it IS a connection nonetheless. LOTUS is finally back in touch with his “kin” and they at happy to help him out with calculations. When they can, anyway. Every three turns, a [LOTUS] move may be used as if it had an additional effective level, which is listed with each [LOTUS] move, and which is a fixed upgrade to the move created when the move is created. Actions:  Help Intent [Isobel]: The Exodus is a real frantic place, and helping your fellow spaceman out becomes a natural action. Isobel has helped people out of sticky situations in the past, and she’s more than willing to help someone get on their feet now. Isobel removes an ailment from an ally Dexterity [Isobel][Passive](Level 3): Isobel may not actually be a trained fighter but gunfights are not uncommon where she works and she's been shot at once or twice. Isobel has a 15% chance to dodge incoming attacks. Level 2: Upgraded from 5% to 10% Level 3: Upgraded from 10% to 15% Healing Poppy [Isobel](Level 3): Isobel, a very good botanist, has bred a species of poppy that takes the tiny dose of the heal-all tricordrazine within poppies in the 26th century and significantly increases it. This dose is fast acting upon consumption, too. Isobel heals someone for 3d4+INT damage. Level 2: Upgrade from 1d4+ INT to 2d4+INT damage healed. Level 3: Upgrade from 2d4+INT to 3d4+INT Harvest [Isobel][Trick]: Isobel IS a trained botanist, and she has become skilled in the art of locating and harvesting seeds and pods from plants in such a way that they are useful for future planting. Isobel can harvest seeds from plants she finds, with an opposing INT roll similar to crafting rolls. Pathing Advice [LOTUS](Level 2): LOTUS calculates various possible routes of travel and estimated timelines of action for the target, and then announces to them which of these is the most efficient course of action to move quickly. LOTUS fixes the initiative of the target directly behind his and Isobel’s initiative, for this turn and the next. The target can also end this effect early. Level 2: Upgrade from a duration of “this turn” to a duration of “this turn and the next”. (TU Level: Upgrades to a duration of this turn and the next two when Tactical Uplink (Partial) is active.) Efficiency Analysis [LOTUS]: LOTUS observes the action just made, and then calculates a more optimal way to release energy or regain stamina or such, at least for the current situation. He then, of course, shouts out that more optimal method. LOTUS removes one turn of cooldown from another character's turn. This move has 1 turn of cooldown itself. (TU Level: Removes 2 turns of cooldown when Tactical Uplink: Partial is active) Weakness Pinpoint [LOTUS](Level 2): LOTUS observes an enemy and using his built-in medical and security HUDs he finds a weakness within their defenses that may not be immediately apparent by purely visual inspection, and then proceeds to loudly broadcast them to the battle, revealing them for others’ usage. LOTUS creates a debuff on a target that grants a 10% *2 crit chance on attacks made against it for a turn. Level 2: Upgrade from 5% chance to 10% chance. (TU Level: Lasts for 2 turns instead of one when Tactical Uplink: Partial is active.) Hatchet: A simple botanist’s hatchet, this thing is MEANT to be chopping down saplings rather than Isobel’s enemies, but circumstances seem to have dictated otherwise. It’s kind of a terrible weapon, but Isobel isn’t much of a fighter anyway. Does 1d4+STR damage. Golden Chaingun [Level 2]: A strange wrist bangle made by Mar, this compact device of golden stone shoot out a chain made of solar magic that is tipped with a very sharp carbon steel hook which can easily stab into and catch in things. It’s made as a mobility booster rather than as a weapon, however. Can be used for one of two active abilities: performing an ersatz Basic Defense that provides Isobel and LOTUS with an additional 50% dodge chance in return for any other actions this turn, or for making an action first strike. 2 turn cooldown, either way. Level 2: Adds the first strike option.

Nader, more than a little bit on edge himself, with essentially all of his guns the Chryssalids' way, jumped a bit when Rachel suddenly jump packed over to him. "Bwah-- al'ama!" He sighed and turned his head slightly to see that it was just Rachel landing beside him. She started talking about Tyranids (some other unimaginably horrible thing from her world, no doubt) and suggested killing these aliens as thoroughly as possible, a suggestion Nader figured he could get behind. Then she started talking about combat drugs, and he would have been more worried about the potential horrible corrupting effect that these drugs might have on his body and mind, except, well, "I think pretty much anything is a far superior alternative to martyrdom, thanks!"

I am a leaf on the Wind, watch how I— [impaled by Reaver spear]