>>30942068
Time for a wild ride

>>30942068
Okay, just stay calm, and be polite to the Goddess.

We're currently on her good side, let's try to keep it that way.

All eyes in the room are upon the transformed beauty in the center of the stage, her powerful aura dominating as water feeds from her scalp, becoming a watefall of beautiful ephemeral hair with colors you'd see of the sea.
From a starry night, to the filtered ripples of day, a sight to behold.

You can't help but feel anxious as she walks forward. Instinctively backing off to give her space, you find yourself and Hot Rod staring on in lingering awe as she scans the crowd.
The feeling of a hand at your shoulder almost makes you jump out of your skin.

“She's beautiful... Did you have this in mind?” Helia whispers into your ear, and you slowly shake your head.

“My beautiful children...” The woman begins, as she clasps her right hand over her heart, her face contorting into a saddness one would wear if she hadn't seen family for a long time.
“For so long I have been forgotten... It is a joy for me to see you all again. Do not fear.” She shushes away the small chatter of the congregation as people keep to their makeshift pews before the goddess.

“A mother loves her children, forgotten or no.” She pauses, staring at them with her wonderous, illuminated eyes. “Yet my children.” She touches her lips,”Are unclean... They must be baptized.”

A shaky hand is raised from the crowd. It's the hand of an older woman, the black woman that Eshe had spoken with before.
Asherah pays her mind,”Speak child.”

The old woman clasps her hands together as if to beggar to a king or offer herself a prayer. Perhaps a bit of both,”Sacred... Mother. We have alr-eady been baptised... The good Lord-”

Asherah throws out a hand, water contorting from the floor to encase the woman, yet it does not cease there. You can see the woman struggle, gasping for breath as the scorned goddess stares on with a pained expression, as though she were on the verge of crying.

>>30942396
We all know she is gonna turn out to be yandere as fuck. So that plan will not hold for much.

Your left hand's gone completely numb, you can't feel it and the nerves are still activated, though there's no pain...

>[] Help the woman, dispell the water.
>[] Do nothing and watch.
>[] Avert your gaze.
>[] (Other)

>>30942643
>>[] Do nothing and watch.

>>30942643
>>[X] Do nothing and watch.

>>30942643
>>[] Do nothing and watch.

>>30942643
>>[ x ] Do nothing and watch.

>>30942643
>[] Do nothing and watch.

Note to self, don't praise Yahweh in front of her. She's very loving, but that does not mean she's nice.

>>30942643
I think Asherah is bound to our arm or something? Wonder how this works.

>>30942819
As if we were going to.

>>30942836
I think we're acting as a conduit for her. She's sustaining herself somehow, it might have to do with belief, but she couldn't get over to the other side without a summoner of sorts.

>>30942616
"Is that really necessary? Surely you must know we wish to awaken as many of them as is possible."
In other news, summoning has been quite the wild ride. I doubt hydrokinesis would have been this much fun.

>>30942643
>[x] Do nothing and watch.

You stare on at the woman, unmoving and unwilling to do something to contradict your possible benefactor. Nursing your numbed hand, you give a look to Eshe as you catch her about ready to move and slowly shake your head, hoping she gets the idea.

“Children must also be punished when they are bad. It's a foul word you've said in my presence, Rosa Woods.” With a burdened sigh, Asherah drops control of the surf as the old woman crumples to the floor in a wet mess, the people by her side hastily moving out of the way with their own terror conveyed through panicked breathing.

Some utter “Jesus Christ” and “Oh God!” And the slaughter resumes, the water claiming all of their lives through drowning.

“Many filthy children. So many that requires cleansing.” Asherah whispers as her face goes from begrudging to dispassionate and disconnected as their lives are swept away.

It's not long before you hear a familiar scream from the back and a deep green streak surge forward, water spraying behind the form of Aerin as she walks forward, the water falling only now,”Enough of this! Why are you killing them!? Asher!” Aerin looks to you, and you stare back from your one-way frozen mask.

Hot Rod's promptly backed the fuck off a few more steps, his hands raised defensively as he reaches for his gun,”Hey man, this aint you, is it?” He looks to you for reassurance.
Asherah's gaze falls upon Aerin, the lone one with even a chance and intention of stopping her.

>[] Do not respond, and do nothing.
>[] “This isn't me Aerin...”
>[] “Aerin, get back to the door.”
>[] You've had enough of this woman, destroy her.
>[] (Other)

>>30943240
>>[] “Aerin, this isn't me. You should get back to the door.”
I'd prefer for this to not turn into a brawl, but Asherah is far more valuable than Aerin.

>>30943240
>[] “This isn't me Aerin...”

>>30943240
[X] “This isn't me Aerin...”
[X] (Other)
Try to get Asherah's Attention. State that you have a duty to teach and enlighten these
people to awaken them. I doubt a surprise attack would work at all with her. She's seriously getting in the way of The Followers' goals

>>30943240
Welp, I guess we need to get involved before Asherah wipes out the whole congregation. Do,
1. Attempt to talk Asherah down.
2. Attempt to wrest away control of water.
3. Prepare for battle.
In that order.

“Aerin.” You say to get the stubborn woman's attention, her gaze driftining to you as you look past her, watching the people run from Asherah's only recently halted slaughter. They make for the door to save their own lives.
“This isn't me,” said halfheartedly.
“Get back to the door.”

Aerin grits her teeth, green running through half-crooked whites as she stares at you and Asherah's avatar with defiance,”No.” She raises her fists before her in a martial stance, fists up and elbows boxed, forming a frame around her head as she adjusts her feet upon the water.

Asherah glances to you for a mere moment before staring at Aerin,”Another filthy child.” She sweeps a hand, instantly throwing a wave that sweeps away empty seats and those that have yet to move from the middle aisle,”Begone with you.”

Hot Rod gives you an apologetic look before cheesing it to Eshe's exit, the fish woman in question finally stepping forward at that.
“Asher, you do not control this one?” She asks you authoritatively for confirmation. It seems that she's set to destroy Asherah, and you don't blame her. This was -NOT- in the script.

Helia pulls at your sleeve, forcing you back a bit as she puts herself in front of you,”We need to stop her right?”

>”Wrong, we need to stop them.” Asherah needs to do whatever she came here to do. You want your reward.
>[] “Right.” I'm one of the Followers. We can't have these people all just die. It's not what we came here for.
>[] Say northing and excuse yourself from the room, you'd rather not see what happens next.
>[] Asherah, you must stop this violence..." Try convincing her that this isn't the right way to go about things, though she could take offense.
>[] (Other)

>>30943511
Along with this, let's try to play up the guilt card. We were the ONLY summoner to listen to her, and now she is hurting our cause in the name of revenge.

>>30943702
>[] Asherah, you must stop this violence..." Try convincing her that this isn't the right way to go about things, though she could take offense.

We are NOT about to let another summon do what it wants. If she doesn't listen,
>[] “Right.” I'm one of the Followers. We can't have these people all just die. It's not what we came here for.

>>30943702
>[] “Right.” I'm one of the Followers. We can't have these people all just die. It's not what we came here for.

>>30943702
>[] Asherah, you must stop this violence..." Try convincing her that this isn't the right way to go about things, though she could take offense.

Try to state why The Followers are here. If she has the duty of a mother then we have a duty of a teacher. Our job is to enlighten and awaken them.

Drop to
>[] “Right.” I'm one of the Followers. We can't have these people all just die. It's not what we came here for.

If that doesn't work

>>30943702
>[] Asherah, you must stop this violence..." Try convincing her that this isn't the right way to go about things, though she could take offense.

"How are any of them to remember you if none survive your wrath? They will spread no tales of your mercy, and once again you will be forgotten.

Instead they ought be awakened to the magic that lies within them. Let this event mark them permanently so they may go forth and tell the world of your return."

>>30943702
>>”Wrong, we need to stop them.” Asherah needs to do whatever she came here to do. You want your reward.
This is our chance.

>>30943957
>This is our chance.
To get rid of Aerin? Really it is.

>>30943702
>Asherah, you must stop this violence..." Try convincing her that this isn't the right way to go about things, though she could take offense.

Prepare to slap her down if she doesn't listen. We are the real power here.

>>30943990
Please? I want her gone.

>>30943990
>getting rid of a meat shield.
Dranule, pls. Though, if it's just a choice between Asherah and Aerin, well....

>>30944082
Asherah wins

>>30943990
Tell Asherah that she can kill Aerin if she stops killling people and agrees to be our waifu.

>>30943702
>>[] Asherah, you must stop this violence..." Try convincing her that this isn't the right way to go about things, though she could take offense.
Fucking bitch. We need these people to awaken for Lucifer. YOU'RE RUINING EVERYTHING

>>30943990
How many people has Asherah killed so far?

I wish we could convince the church goers to accept their new goddess. I dont went to abandon the followers but I think its more ic for him to align with ashura for power. I want to keep our bros hunter and helia though. (Sorry eshe.)

>>30944795
I'd be willing to align with Asherah and start up an even more evil run. Unfortunately, I think Asherah is too unstable and will likely murder the fuck out of everyone.

>>30944795
Not a good idea. I said when she first came to us asking to drown a priest that she was going to start asking for more and more horrible things to be done. And look what happened.

I think it's best to just quickly move past this incident.

>>30944871
Honestly, fuck Asherah. Followers ideals coincide with Lucifers deal for power. Don't go out of our way to murder people unless we are trying to start our own follower type deal.

I was fine with her asking us to drown a single priest. Now she's casually murdering the whole fucking church. These people could have been potential followers.

Swallowing hard, you gently move Helia out of the way so as to speak with the goddess.
“Asherah!” You call out to receive her attention, yet she's focused first and foremost on the green body that braves her wave even as she lashes out with another.

“What is it child? What words do you have for your Mother?” The woman speaks with a disembodied voice, seeming to come from all places much unlike before.

“Not my mother, but a Goddess as her summoner.” You start, and flex your right hand to stop the progress of a third wave rising up against Aerin. As you smother it out, you find that the burn is much greater than you had anticipated, your nerves searing up as they did back in San Diego.

Lowering your trembling hand, Asherah stares at you, her full attention as a smile graces her face, undermining the rage that must be boiling within her depths. “What... are you doing child?”

You look to Aerin, taking control of this situation,”Stand down.” You call, giving the woman pause before she nearly objects, inching forward through the water pooling upon the floor.

Not much time then, you suppose. “"How are any of them to remember you if none survive your wrath? They will spread no tales of your mercy, and once again you will be forgotten.

Instead they ought be awakened to the magic that lies within them. Let this event mark them permanently so they may go forth and tell the world of your return."

Asherah seems to calm suddenly at that, relaxing as she realizes the truth in your words. “Indeed you speak the truth child.”

Your vision flicks to the green streak about to blindside the goddess. With a wave of your power, again you generate a wall of ice that halts her advancement.
Falling back into the water, Aerin punches at the wall to no avail as you assert strength to the wall before wrapping it around the angered woman. This time the cast is without resistance, in fact it feels aided. Must be Asherah... Aerin pounds away at the ice, stealing power and forcing you to fix the cracks as the tingling sensation rebuilds itself to burning.

Asherah holds a hand out as new waters surge,”Marked they shall be.” From her hand, water forms and spears into a few individuals of the crowd, penetrating their foreheads.

“Asherah!” You yell, believing the Goddess had ignored your word, yet she just shushes you as a light streams from the tendrils.

“So marked they are.” She finishes, removing the tendrils as the people fall to their knees in the water. Tears well up in their eyes, before streaming down their face amidst pre-existing moisture. With reverence they clasp their hands together, bowing their heads and showing the damage done.
Around a bloodied hole, there lies a strange shine. As they open their eyes, so too do those shine. Ripe with power.

Eshe moves beside the frozen dome, a hand upon it as she regards the two of you,”So she comes to reason.” She stares within the ice, “I will deal with this one.” A grim tone in her voice.

He sigh, relaxing as the slaughter's ceased. Fucking summons. You look to your left hand. Still limp with paralysis, and now it's actually starting to hurt. Prickles assailing your skin as though it's fallen asleep.

>>30945004

Diplomancy, erryday.

You find that Hot Rod's effectively tried to leave the scene until he realized that the doors are walled off with a thick ice.
You turn to Helia, your only other dependable ally... Wait. Dependable? You chuckle beneath your ice mask at that. Hell, that's still a joke.

“Guess it's time for us to get personal. Think they're shaken?” You scan the people as they look back with fear in their eyes and souls. Dead bodies litter the place and more stand to be injured from Asherah's little outburst.
Helia inclines her head, suddenly a bit bashful and anxious for the whole thing,”It's my first time doing this... Show me how, okay?” She smiles to you, the faint scars of her glasgow hidden by an afghan.

>[] Show her how for the first few...
>[] She can figure it out herself.
>[] Tell her to check on Hot Rod.
>[] (Other)

>Burn: (Moderate)

>>30945060
>>[] She can figure it out herself.

>>30945060
>[] Show her how for the first few...

>>30945060
>[] Tell her to check on Hot Rod.
Hot Rod is probably about to lose his shit after all that. Let's calm down our team before we start the awakening.

>>30945060

>Tell her to check on Hot Rod.
Make sure he is ready for this shit.
Then prepare them both to start awakening people.

>>30945060
>>[] Tell her to check on Hot Rod.

>>30944987
>>30945004
>Asherah not killing everyone anymore
>Eshe "dealing with" Aerin
>Ice stronk
This is a good day

>>30945060
>[] Tell her to check on Hot Rod.
Hot Rod is our bro. We can't have him be going the way of Aerin.
>[] Show her how for the first few...
After the HR situation is fixed up.

>>30945060
>[] Show her how for the first few...

It's worth the effort to make sure we get as much of the group awoken as possible. Give her a couple examples, and give her some advice like making it personalized, and telling her to be creative about it.

Keep an eye on Hot Rod, if we don't see him going to start some awakenings go and talk to him ourself after we get Helia started.

Helia is a good minion, sure she's not perfect, but at least she seems obedient. Though we should probably talk to her later and make sure she doesn't go the way of Fara on us, show some reciprocation to her obvious feelings.

>>30945060
>Asherah's little outburst.
I love how Asher thinks.
>Goddess going full asshurt rampage because some old black lady talked about YHWH
>little outburst

>>30945060
>[] She can figure it out herself.
>[] Tell her to check on Hot Rod.
Better to find out things for yourself. I remember when Asher told her this.

>>30945060
Give her some pointers. It has to hurt. It has to make them feel trapped. It has to make them truly fear.

Sometimes the threat of death isn't enough and you will need to make them think that there would be more to come if they fail to save themselves. They probably know that magic is real, but it never hurts to really drive that point home and remind them that they have magic inside them and -they- need to find it to survive.

These people are religious, so telling them that we can magic their souls so they never go to heaven would be a real good motivator. We can't really do that, but they don't know that.

>>30945060
Is Asherah causing burn to maintain her form? If so, we should probably ask her to unsummon herself so we don't end up frying our brains.

>>30945060
>>30945319
Oh and we should check on Hot Rod ourself after we give Helia the tips and then look her right in the eyes (err, mask) and try to say as sincerely as we can fake it that we believe in her. If she expresses self doubt, remind her that she was strong enough to awaken, to trek through the desert, to fight Fara and win, and so she'll certainly be strong enough to awaken these people.

>>30945319
>These people are religious, so telling them that we can magic their souls so they never go to heaven would be a real good motivator. We can't really do that, but they don't know that.

Makes me think of how superstitions should make a huge return. When it really gets out it's pretty much The Crucible.

How can you prove a nerve killed them and who did it when there's no actual evidence? Even a shade could be misguided or controlled to say otherwise.

>>30945194
Well, it was a little outburst, at least as far as divine wrath goes. If she was well and truly mad she wouldn't have calmed down that easily. This was the divine equivalent of a hissy fit, killing a few mortals doesn't mean all that much to her.

Something to keep in mind when dealing with Asherah, so far as I can tell she has extremely strong emotions. She loves her "children" with all of her heart, but she also has thousands of years of pent up spite, venom, and hate.

>>30945346
I don't think she is. I think she's sustaining herself somehow.

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81 KB JPG

>>30945405
>She loves her "children" with all of her heart
Yeah, I'm sure

>>30945386
I'm now picturing the neighborhood watch standing around a hobo in a cage while one of them shouts about how they say his eyes glowing. Buncha suburban middle-aged whiteys going full inquisition.

>>30945446
That's not even the best part.

The best part is that these local inquisitions are going to trigger awakenings due to all the false accusations and possible lynchings that will happen.

>>30945405
She's a pretty huge liability, but an incredible asset. We just need to make sure that we are on the same page as her when it comes to our respective goals.

Finally caught up with the quest, fun stuff.

Out of curiosity Dranule, did you base Friend's name off of the antagonist from Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? If you remove the r's from Arnold Friend, you get An Old Fiend. It also happens that Arnold has a hypnotic charm and malevolence, much like Friend.

>>30945630
Truthfully, no. Never heard of it.

I couldn't think of a name and I figured that he'd just be everyone's "Friend."

“Go check on Hot Rod, he needs to be ready for this.” You sigh as you try to shake out the tingles of your light show of a hand. These people are shared, and your little resident goddess has gone quiet as you give her a wary look.

“After that, get back to me and I'll watch you do one. We need to be quick so it'll need to be painful and hopefully not lethal.”

Helia nods, her eyes lingering on you,”Right, okay. I'll be right back.”
“Helia.”
“Yes?” she looks expectant of something.
You grip her shoulders, and stare at her intently, looking over her face as you try to modulate her tone,”I want you to know that I believe in you. You're strong. Remember that.”
Her face flushes from beneath the afghan, her body trembling a bit with mix of anxiousness and joy. “I know... Thank you.”
She jumps off the stage with a large leap to check on the kid. It's graceful, almost like a ballerina's leap. You watch her land and run over to him, your thoughts linger on her.

She's gentle, kind. Or at least she was once. She's sweet on you and you like that, it makes her useful. But... You feel your own heart beating a little faster. Maybe that's just from the tenuous situation? Or the fearful eyes of the people.

No. She doesn't matter.

Hot Rod was good in that motel last week but... This might've been too much for him you reckon. He wasn't good with Fara back when she was a mindless banshee, and it doesn't seem like he's gotten any better on that.

As you hop yourself off the stage, you feel water rise up to take your fall. You didn't do that. Asherah.

You look to the Goddess. Almost glaring through your mask before showing her your hand as the burning still begins to build, as though a delayed reaction,”Fix it?”

The goddess smiles as she ignores a stream erupting from the frozen dome. Her own body seems to have become less glorious, her light beginning to dim. [I've wasted far too much for this miracle. I will summon you next you sleep child.]
Dark blood seeps from her nose and eyes as the power eats away at the body flowing into the waters that pool upon the floors. Her body moves with far less vigor, power, and grace than before. “Be cleansed my children. Remember my name and my love. Do not let Yahweh mislead you. You are all so... Very... Spec-” The Goddess's light fades and a mangled corpse falls onto the stage. No eyes or light wherein.

A look to your hand shows that the light and the burn is beginning to go away. You surmise that she must've used you to summon herself or some other manner. You'll need to keep that from happening in the future. This is your power.

You approach a familiar older lady that's fallen and cannot get up. Ah, that librarian,” So we meet again. You shouldn't remember me. But you'll remember our gift.” You place a hand upon her neck and bring her up with the assistance of water gracing her body.

“Only you can stop this, you have power within you. Power I would like you to have so that you can make your own path in life... If you can't draw it out, you will die. I am sorry.”

With that word, you begin to run solid steam up and down her arms, repeating the serial process you used to awaken Cassie and Joanna. You're not going to know this woman's name. You're fine with that.

More screaming erupts from the little dome. In any case, this will take some time...

Hot Rod eventually joins in, using his commandeered gun as persuasion. The screams of others seem to accelerate the process. You're keen on incapacitating the people afterward. Can't have a room of four hundred magic-users out for your blood, right?

Helia does her own little method, stabbing into people with little icicles, going for sensitive parts. Eyes, tongues, nose, feet, wrists. She seems to be getting way to into it even as she inflicts more lethal wounds. Body count's a lot higher on her side overall, but between the three of you and Eshe who's fortunately masterful at this process you'd like to think the count's around one for every four.

The people pierced by Asherah maintain their own pious position, ignoring all else as they mutter unintelligible prayers under their breath. You'll need to ask the goddess what she did to them. It's kind of freaking you out.

You asked Eshe what happened in the ice dome as it's yet to fully thaw and you can't be bothered to take a look.
“I took care of her.” Is her only reply.

Eshe must've really been sick of her. That's good, you were too. Bitching and moaning too damn much. Helia's been less annoying than that.

It's around a half hour since the start of the event that you hear sirens outside. Took a pretty long fucking time for them to show up. Likely someone just got the idea to use their cell phones. No doubt though that the police are unprepared with the incoherent babbling that phone call must've been.

For fucks sake, this is going to be cake. There are still people left to put through the process...

Hot Rod seems pretty concerned about the fuzz showing up, saying he hears something else out there. Kid's always sounded pretty paranoid about these things though.

No windows in here though. You can't see outside.

>[] Keep on going. Everyone gets a turn.
>[] Get ready to engage.
>[] Get the hell out of here!
>[] (Other)

>>30946092
>>[] Get ready to engage.

>>30946092
>[] Get ready to engage.
I trust Hot Rods intuition, he's the one with the most perception on our team anyway. Most likely there's an overhuman coming to kick our ass. I wouldn't rule out some other crazy shit, like maybe the military sent a mech or something equally insane and intense. The point is, we gotta be really ready, and really careful.

>>30946092
If Hot Rod says there's something else, then there's something else. The only question is what. Military? Mages? Freaky giant robots?

>[x] Get ready to engage.
Summon the ravens. Have them scout it.

>>30946183
>>30946189
>"Hot Rod is right and maybe it's /m/ time"-mind

>>30946092
>[] Get ready to engage.
Let's make sure we have a backdoor in case we need to cheese it.

>>30946092
>[] Get ready to engage.

I'm inclined to trust Hot Rod on this, he's got damn good perception. I think we can lay in wait, set a trap, do some serious damage to our potential pursuers, and then bug out.

We should set up sheets of ice beforehand that we can project illusions onto, we don't want them to easily identify targets. And if Hunter can climb something and get to a good vantage point above the room that'd be nice, he can snipe some people, and jump down for an ambush.

Make sure that we have an exit out the back. We're going to want to leave fast leaving the Hydra behind to cover our exit if necessary.

>>30946251
Oh shit son, I totally forgot about hydra. Let's make sure we summon him and tell him to guard us.

>>30946189
>Summon the ravens. Have them scout it.
This.

>>30946302
Lets make sure to give him lots of power too, just like that time with fara in the desert

>>30946251
To clarify:

The room has the layout of an elementary school auditorium/gym. There's double doors to the front that are still frozen strong and an emergency exit that's also been frozen over.
Easy for you to remove, not so easy for others.

The "pews" were metal chairs set up in uniform that were swept around by Asherah's water manipulation.

There are metal supports up high, but no windows to see the outside. Hunter has relayed that it sounds like something big is coming a truck or something?

He can't tell much else from that, the sirens are fucking up his hearing.

You've got heaps of bodies that were left to where they lay.

The floor is flooded with at least an inch of water.

>>30946331
Can't tell if crazy or joking

>>30946368
Probably joking.

>>30946331
Nah, we're going to motheru Asherah.

>>30946368
I was making fun of you guys for making such a dumb decision in the first place

>>30946340
I'd really like to get our birds outside somehow so they can give us information on what's coming.

They'll probably do something destructive to get the door open so set up a sheet of ice in front of it and back far enough that whatever broke the door hopefully doesn't hit it, make it so that you can see through it from our side, but that we can project an image of a perfectly normal church room on the other side.

>>30946410
I'm sure you voted for the same thing and are just pretending that you didn't.

>>30946340
So if I have got this right, we have atleast 80 people turned out of what? 400-500? All knocked out, the rest are just bodies littered everywhere. Not to mention the fact the videos of our magic using are probably all over the social media, we should have anti-mages or the agency or whatever incoming.

Can we summon the hydra on the other side of the doors?

>>30946092
Question. Can Helia make her own ice at all or is she still using ours?

>>30946417
nope
I was the only one who voted against it actually
It's my claim to intelligence amongst the rest of you retards

>>30946434
Yeah, I'm sure.

>>30946434
Who cares, it happened, we all leaned regardless and we are here now. We don't have to power up the hydra until we get more gym badges- I mean power to control summons.

>>30946340
Could we stand up the corpses and freeze them in place? It would be confusing as fuck for the officers that storm the building.

Or could we try to puppet the dead bodies? They aren't alive anymore, so they shouldn't have the natural magic resistance.

>>30946368
He's probably joking, but pumping him up with power after summoning him outside the gym might not be a completely terrible idea. Yea, he would go out of control, but he would go out of control on the outside of the building, and he would be a police problem at that point, not ours.

Like a fire and forget nuke.

>>30946410
But seriously man, it's been a long time since Fara, stop fucking bringing it up literally every chance you get, I mean fuck, we get it.
I don't understand why you feel like it's necessary to drive the point home so much, is it how you stroke your ego?
>>30946434
Apparently it is. Damn you suck. Get over yourself and move on.

>>30946328
>>30946189

The ravens take a look outside. Their low intelligence and moderate perception tell you that screaming metal boxes are circling around.
A metal worm is coming up through, backing its butt against the god-house.

Something dangerous squirms and wiggles inside the worm... Iron scratches against iron. This is trouble.

One raven is shot down, causing the other to panic and flee away from the building. One of the summons has dispersed.

>>30946432
Yes. She can make her own.

>>30946426
You can if you want to. Asher found out early on that Fara couldn't see something that he couldn't though. He hasn't tested that further aside from the ravens... Raven.

>>30946482
Ice mixed with corpses would probably be harder to break through, both psychologically and physically.

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>>30946340
pic related?

>>30946482
You realize that you don't quite have time for that. It's a good idea though that you'll keep in mind for the future.

>>30946548
Pretty much.

I just thought of a reason that Florakinesis would actually be good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete

Pykrete is hard as fuck. Florakinesis + Ice control would result in far, far harder shields.

>>30946468
well, at least you guys learn from your mistakes
wish yall would just listen to me though
we could take 3 steps forward, instead of 2 forward and one back

>>30946489
>had her rebel in a way that alienated someone we awakened, and decreased our allies trust in us
>lost her focus somewhere, almost guaranteeing that she'll pop up again
>tee hee


you're dumb anon, and you made a dumb decision because of it. The sooner you stop living in denial the better.

>>30946511
Yeah, well, I can't be perfect. I was pretty buttbothered over the whole thing. I'm still sore.

>>30946532
>The ravens take a look outside. Their low intelligence and moderate perception tell you that screaming metal boxes are circling around.
>A metal worm is coming up through, backing its butt against the god-house.
>
>Something dangerous squirms and wiggles inside the worm... Iron scratches against iron. This is trouble.
>
So they're backing a truck up to the church? Ok. This is bad. Really bad.

Can we attempt to summon the hydra inside the truck and order it to kill everything inside?

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>>30946570
I'm sure every power can can potentially get has at least one sort of ability that's good, but is it worth putting precious LIMIT points into?

I think not.

>>30946613
Oh god, I forgot to remove my reaction image.

>>30946532
What side of the church is the metal worm coming up to? Because we can wait for them to break through the wall, and then immediately throw the hydra right at them.

>>30946660
Stop replying to him

>>30946660
Nope, I was. I looked.

>>30946570
I like the sound of it, it sounds useful.

That said, I'm just not really digging the aesthetic of it. I just don't see Asher as a plant wizard.

>>30946675
You're right, of course.

>>30946532
Tell everyone to brace themselves. A big metal worm is coming!

>>30946613
1 limit point opens up the ability to make our Ice over twice as hard. Pykrete has compression strength of 7.58MPa. Ice is 3.45MPa. Concrete is 17.24MPa.
It actually has a higher tensile strength than concrete as well. Ice is about 1.3, concrete about 1.7. Pykrete is 4.8. This means that anything we make out of Pykrete will be far more stable than had it been only ice.

It also opens up anything that could branch off of Florakinesis and would allow the use of the skill itself. We all know that nobody wants to take it to Divine, so putting an oath on it shouldn't be a big issue, giving us the ability to control plants on par with how our water is now.

Okay. So the plan is to summon the Hydra as the truck comes through after giving everyone some ice shields to block fire and potential shrapnel?

I'm going to start writing. tell me anything else you'd like to do in preparation for this unknown threat.

>>30946757
Yeah, I'm sure that's very impressive but I don't think it's worth even putting 1 LIMIT point into.

>>30946790
Can we use materia firma as armor yet? If so, we should do that to give us some extra protection.

>>30946790
Did the ravens see that any side of the church was open for escape or is it totally surrounded? If there's a side that is open, then we might inform Helia of that spot so that she can put a hole in the wall.

>>30946844
Fuck the police, kill em all.

>>30946800
>>30946757
Regarding this:

It becomes much easier to maintain things that don't completely alter the way of the world.
Pykrete would basically lead to constructs that can be maintained without any further burn aside from keeping it cold The mix of ice and sawdust would also lead it to be fireproof and possibly lightning proof, though it couldn't be weaponized due to the sculptor oath.

>>30946844
They're coming in from near the rear exit. The Ravens were flusteref before they could see more than that.

>>30946800
Actually if what >>30946757 is saying is correct I think it could actually be very effective. Hell imagine bindings 3-4 times as strong concrete just for one.

Also what Dranule just said >>30946873 really furthers my thinking that it would be worth putting a point into and a throwaway oath

>>30946873
Pykrete sounds awesome.

It doesn't have to be sawdust specifically, just cellulose. Stripping the bark from trees or tearing apart wood in buildings would be just as good.

>>30946873
1. Cover ourselves in fire,lighting proff ice-plant armour
2. Use water and summons as weapons
3.???
4. PROFIT!!

>>30946873
How exactly would we go about creating life anyway? We can't just summon water out of nothing, so I assume we can't just summon whatever type of plant/plant product we want without some sort of reagent. Would we have to buy some seeds, or could we just form this stuff out of dirt or something?

So is this Pykrete shit going to be something we can use very effectively with just 1 skill point put into it?

>>30946947
>We can't just summon water out of nothing
You saw Asherah do it with those water tendrils.
It takes another rank and way more burn but it's possible.

>>30946955
If we slap an oath on it too? Sure. May as well have it be another Oath of the Sculptor.

Why settle for shitty wood when we can get Graphene instead? You know, the material stronger than diamond and 1 million times thinner than paper? So strong that it would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil, to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of Saran Wrap?

Wood is shit tier. Metal manipulation when, Dran?

>>30946981
I just assumed she masterfully pulled them together from the ambient moisture.

>>30946988
Hmm... I'd prefer to do something that gives us a little more room than that since it would prohibit us from even making basic poisons from it

>>30947064
Oath of the Gardener? Something about giving some energy to the local plants whenever we stay in a place for a day or something?

>>30947048
Lol, graphenemancy. I don't think graphene would count as a metal (if that's what you were implying) since it's a covalently bonded material. Graphite is considered a mineral, though so maybe we could work with that. If Dran offers carbonkinesis though, we pretty much win the game.

>>30947133
>carbonkinesis
plants are carbon-based

>>30947086
That sounds pretty sweet. But I'd personally rather restrictions on what we can do with magic than have oaths that force us to have annoying ass rituals as part of our daily routine.

>>30947086
Hey thats actually a really good idea. We don't lose anything other than we would feeding a summon, which doesn't seem to be too big of a deal. I'd definitely support that in a vote

>>30947133
Someone would eventually find a way to thwart it.

>>30947150
Also so.

>>30947164
>Also so.
Plants ahoy!

>>30947150
Humans are also carbon based. Human manipulation when?

Alright guys, the plant joke has gone on long enough. Are we summoning the Hydra or not?

>>30947184
When we get over nat magic resist.

>>30947207
>joke

“Eshe, we've got incoming! They're backing up a truck! We need to take cover!” You hunker down by some of the bodies, contemplating the removal of your mask and deciding that it's better to leave it. Might save your life if it came down to it.

You set up frozen barriers of thick ice for cover, mixing in the metal chairs as you sweep them up with the moving water. A bit of added assurance.

Hot Rod takes himself up on high, readying his glock as he sets up in the rafters.

As you duck behind the ice and metal barricades, Helia scoots in next to you and armors herself up with ice. You stare at her a bit as she dons a mask and long, sharp frozen claws that form into a perfect spear when she brings her fingers together.
“I'll protect you,” She whispers through the mask before closing the mouth piece, air vents indiscernible from the front popping out from the side.

The ice covers her body uniformly as she glows with a bluish silver-white.

Eshe stands out of cover, her body reformed into a half-fish, part alligator humanoid visage as tough, armored scales push over her body underneath her clothes, pushing at the sports bra and straddling the skirt.
Jaw pushes out with crocodilian teeth and wicked claws to match powerful arms as
She's not a pretty lady right now. This is the shit that she used back in the desert.


It's quiet aside from the sirens continuing on and the occasional sobbing from the yet unawakened and the groans of the unconscious. No further rumblings from the outside. You saw it backing up with the ravens... What exactly is going on?

> What do you do?

>>30947207
See
>>30946790

>>30947224
Summon Hydra to deal with these scrub police

>>30947224
Burst open the door then hydra this shit!

>>30947224
Summon hydra. Tell hot rod to watch our flanks in case they bust down a wall.

Just throwing this out there. We have 1 limit point.

This building is made of wood. We could buy Florakinesis and Oath it, then shred some wood to mix with our Ice if they start shooting at us with more than our Ice can handle on its own.

>>30947224
Summon the Hydra inside their truck if we can. If we can't, then drop it on the cops and order it to kill them all.

>>30947224
Try to sense Water sources outside. We have Aquatic perception, and vehicles are going to have water in them, and people are going to be sweating in this weather and situation.

>>30947382
Can we do this?

>>30947224
Make illusory copies of your team on the ice barriers to draw some fire away and confuse the enemy

>>30947224
Tell the creepy Asherah zombies to help out too

>>30947414
This and hyrda.

>>30947414
Maybe we could try to make the ice depict the normal view of the room behind it?

Can we use MF to change more than just the hardness/temperature of materials? Like, could we make steam highly flammable?

>>30947616
That's almost certainly a possibility, but I don't think we can pull it off with Novice Materia Firma, and we'd probably want to upgrade or Oath Steam so it gets closer to Pyromancy if we're planning on doing that.

You weave the abundant water into form, as you call up to Hot Rod,” Any idea what's goin on?”
The water begins to snap and writhe as the hydra comes into form bearing its poison upon the room. As it whispers,[Kill?”] into your mind, you point to the wall, focusing intently on sensing for water that lies beyond.
(There.) You point, and it stomps off, taking your direction as it discolors the water it walks through, the heads eying the people, and stopping on one of those touched by Asherah.

Those people number seven, a “holy” number. They haven't moved from where they began praying, lost in whatever Asherah did to them.

As you weave more magic to create pictures and shadows upon the ice via illusion Hot Rod calls down to you from the rafters,”Nah man. Just the damn rumbling. Fuck'n truck out-”

Explosions erupt from the rear and front at once. A truck pushing in as a large and tanky metal beast hops on out. The whir of machinery and servos fills the room as it immediately dives to the side against a wall as a second one comes through. The two of them bear shields that they slam into the ground composed of a strange, almost translucent material with nothing more than framing giving away that it's actually there.

The two metal monsters cover the sides of a third that jumps in right after, wheels whirring at the back of its feet to accelerate its bulkier, less graceful movements of the other two.

As it lands, it immediately opens fire upon the hydra and whatever else is in the room. Even Eshe's forced to go into prone cover to avoid the sweeping fire. Hunter stays up where he is, out of sight and out of mind.

Bullets whiz overhead and take ice away as Helia makes to cover you, reinforcing her body and ice with magic. She clings tightly, with everything she has.

The hydras hiss and charge forward at the mechs as they seem to regard the creature rather passively. With the audible drop of something metal into a free mit, it glows and tosses a spear at your summon. What shoul've passed harmlessly through its watery body instead slides through its chest and pins it to the ground.
The hydras scream in wordless pain, like driving a nail into your mind.
You hear communication chatter as the trio quickly communicate, a pause in the sudden fire as flashbangs roll in from behind, a pair of shadows slipping into the room.

Understandably not “Normal” like the others, the shadows whiz about the room with the whir of wheels upon their feet. Thin armored frames with a human profile obscured by an opalescent onyx dome that seems to take in everything.

One of them sees Hot Rod in the Rafters and points.

Time to move...

>[] Freeze... Everything.(Will increase Burn to Moderate-High)
>[] Summon something. Doesn't matter what. Just something... better.
>[] Feed power into the Hydras. They need it.
>[] Surrender. You don't want to die.
>[] Get away.You need an escape route.. but what?
>[] Surrender.
>[] (Other)

>>30947726
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ1rL8Ts7Ro
Forgot this shit.

I didn't do the mechs too much justice descriptively I think.

They're a mix between Knightmares from Code Geass and the MECH suits from X-com: Enemy Unknown.

>>30947726
>>30947739
What the fuck is up with these guys?
2 SURRENDER options?
>[] Freeze... Everything.(Will increase Burn to Moderate-High)

>>30947739
Shit got real.
Dismiss hydra, freeze the 3 mechs in front.

>>30947803
Ah. My bad. Though gives me an idea for altering the choices to Asher's perspective.

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>>30947739
>[x] Summon something. Doesn't matter what. Just something... better.
We haven't fed power into the hydra yet anyway. It's not like it outclasses potential new summons.

>>30947776
>X-Com

>>30947739
Balls, I expected something bad, but not this bad.

Are the Seven doing anything, or are they still busy praying?

Make sure all the mechs are soaked in water, once we're sure there's water in their joints

>[] Freeze... Everything.(Will increase Burn to Moderate-High)

Hopefully the shadows are also wet at this point, it's humid as hell in here, and there's a lot of water on the ground, it ought to at least fuck with their wheels.

>>30947739
Look for sharp large chunks of broken ice to throw instead of making more, bypassing the oath of the sculptor limitation.

>>30947739
How much burn would a steam smokescreen give? Cover would be nice for Eshe to close the distance.

>>30947829
Still breaks it.
>Ice may only be used for non-offensive purposes.

>>30947844
Would >[] Freeze... Everything.(Will increase Burn to Moderate-High) break the oath too?

>>30947865
Nah, we've frozen people to walls and frozen Aerin into a dome.

>>30947834
Would raise you to moderate(low) from low.

So the leanings are on the freezing of everything paired together with a steam screen to help out Eshe.

>>30947865
It's being used defensively. "Best Offense is best Defense" doesn't break the oath.

>>30947865
probably?
even if it didn't do physical damage, it would still be doing cold damage
plus we aren't defending, we're attacking them in a way that removes their mobility.

>>30947891
nevermind, the definitions are a bit looser than I thought in >>30947901 (You)

You take a deep breath as Helia stays on you, trembling with a newfound fear as the two of you stay still. Behind your short and thick ice wall. You see that some of the rounds they sprayed shattered some of the metal chairs within the ice. You swallow.

You would've been dead meet had it not been for Helia.

The black-clad figure that pointed to Hot Rod in the rafters relays through some quick chatter the location, one of the mechs turning to look up at the kid sitting up there with nothing but a glock.

Alright. Time to act. Time to be a damn hero. After all what the fuck is with this? Kill some people in a church and praise Asherah. Response? Half hour later with mechs.
Note to self: Keep this shit short and sweet.

You dramatically slam a hand into the water, sending your magic through it to cause steam to burst up before hastily cooling it into a fog. Your nerves scream at you for a moment as you commit to FREEZE all the water in this room.

From your epicenter, the place turns into a goddamn winter wonderland as those shadow's wheels lock up, giving them lethal pause.

The room gets so cold that you can see your breath among the fog and visibility turns to shit.

You can only hope that Eshe does what she does with that... You hear the charge of electricity signe the air into Ozone and a sea-green flash streak through it all. You can only pray that Eshe kills them all. She's strong right?

You let out a haggard breath as Helia slips off of you, quiet and careful,”How do we kill them?” She whispers to you silently.
“We make them bleed. Red or black.” You return, as you gingerly raise your head. A black figure slips by you, suddenly snapping its black dome, as though it caught your presence.

There were two of these ones...

You hear a sudden clicking sound from the thing's form.

>[] Retaliate...
>[] Stay still. Maybe it didn't see you?
>[] (Other)

>>30948233
>[] Stay still. Maybe it didn't see you?
It might go after motion

>>30948233
>>[] Stay still. Maybe it didn't see you?
They sense movement. Maybe

>>30948233
>[] Retaliate...
Can we burn our LIMIT point to tear these things apart with water tendrils?

>>30948233
Can we make water solid with materia firma? WATER BEAM!

>>30948322
Yes.

>>30948318
Do you really want to burn a point for that?

>>30948332
No

>>30948332
I thought we were at almost maxed out burn and it appears that our freezing did jack diddily.

>>30948346
They're no longer moving via wheels, and Eshe's become able to engage the mechs.

The "shadows" are your more immediate threat.

>>30948233
>[] Retaliate...

Also, all of the enemies should have ice/water on that after what we just did, so we should be able to track their locations with Aquatic Perception.

Use Materia Firma to make the ice under it take on the properties of a liquid or a gas so it sinks into it before reverting it to proper Ice. That ought to give Helia a good chance to murder it.

Don't move, hopefully it won't see the glow if we're careful.

>>30948379
Seconding this

>>30948376
>The "shadows" are your more immediate threat.
What if we were to summon up something that -hates- shadows and dark things? Like a generic SMITE THE DARKNESS paladin thing?

>>30948432
Asher would also fall under its purview as a very shady character.

>>30948448
Then what about a straight up Light Elemental?

>>30948448
So, trap them in ice, water beam through the dome if possible.

>>30948457
Depends. Is it a light construct or a light summon?
One is programmed and moves as a golem. This would require photokinesid.
The other would be a thoughtform and require photokinesis to become that medium.

Going to go with water beam I suppose.

>>30948479
Can we trap her feet in the Ice first? It means she can't dodge, and we can Materia Firma'd Water beam/spike her in the throat.

>>30948479
If we bought Photokinesis, would we be able to do that?
>Buy it
>Slap a LaVeyan style oath on it Lucifer=light bringer and all that
>Light up the darkness.

>>30948515
I like this. Please purchase Photokinesiss. I strive for Lucifer's praise.

>>30948233
>>[] Stay still. Maybe it didn't see you?
>>[] (Other)
Attempt to puppet one of the corpses to draw it away from up / see how it attacks

>>30948535
Speaking of photokinesiss, it really is a much better medium to be creating stuff with. No having to bother with actually creating shit or worrying about there being enough water. Most of the things we can do with water we can do with light and even at night light is still rather plentiful, especially if we start including light outside the visible spectrum.

>>30948620
I really want to experiment with light manipulation and sound manipulation. Along with summoning of course.

>>30948620
>>30948535
>>30948515
I think it's something to consider in this encounter. We wanted it eventually for our Illusions anyway, and it would probably be helpful against these Shadows.

>>30948649
They aren't literally shadows, they're just dark, fast, and creepy robotic things that may or may not have people inside them.

>>30948649
As a note. they're only described as shadows. They're using wheels and clad in black with reflective domes of similar orient.

>>30948667
....
Don't do that in the future then? I thought these were shadow constructs from a mage nearby.

>>30948677
I thought that were robots made of shadows.

>>30948686
That's the same thing

>>30948698
I know

>>30948667
I thought it was excellent writing. Now ice trap, water beam!!

You stay still, very still as you consider your next course of action carefully. The room is fogged, it shouldn't be able to see you. At least, not well. It's walking on ice, your ice. There's a second one in the room, that you heard run off to rear exit a moment before you heard the click.

On ice... You center in on its location and let the ice soften like water. Your nerves flare as it happens. First time you've tried this... And... Success! You let the magic go, and you see the thing falter as it gets stuck. Yet, the click's already happened and in the next moment you hear a screeching sound like iron on iron, rusty nails on chalkboard blast into your ears with such intensity you wouldn't be surprised if they were bleeding.
You'd scream, but you don't think anything would hear it over this fucked up noise.
Your consciousness goes fuzzy as you barely hold on with your world spinning, equilibrium disrupted and seeing doubles of everything. This is quite possibly worse than the time you got hit indirectly with that banshee's scream.

Pain splits through your head as you find it hard to focus on your power, everything wobbling as you struggle to grasp your magic. “No... No...” You mutter.”

The thing blasts it a second time, and you're dimly aware of a frozen figure clad in blueish white light stab at the thing with frozen spear, being dodged fluidly before her wrist is taken, arm extended and broken with a quick palm strike.
She follows up with sheer abandon, gritting her teeth against the pain as she twists around to kick with a hastily made ice blade.The thing attempts to dodge only to be made to realize that it's foot is firmly stuck. As the blade cuts through the thing's body, blood is revealed in the evisceration, causing it to keel over in pain. With that, she finishes it off with an upraised leg dropped into a lethal axe kick with the same frozen blade, and more fully formed blade.

You reach out, grasping desperately for a hand up from the figure, withdrawing at the last moment in your disorientation that Fara must be back. You reel. No. Fucking no you think to yourself until the frozen hand grabs you anyway with its good arm and pulling you up and close as your vision makes out streaks of blood from the ears and nose of the icy mask.

The world is silent to you aside from the dull thud and beating within your head. Is this what being shellshocked feels like?

“Hel... Helia?” You say, unable to hear yourself.
She doesn't seem to be able to hear you either... You beg to wonder how she could move like that after getting hit by that noise... but it won't do you any good to ask right now as you visit the world of silence.

>[] Take cover, and clear up some of this fog. Try to snipe the mechs with focused water.
>[] Where the fuck is the other shadow? If Eshe gets hit by that sound... Clear fog and unload on it.
>[] Stay down, your brain hurts to much right now.
>[] Surrender.
>[] (Other)

>>30948787
>>[] Stay down, your brain hurts to much right now.

>>30948787
>[] Where the fuck is the other shadow? If Eshe gets hit by that sound... Clear fog and unload on it.

>>30948787
>[] Take cover, and clear up some of this fog. Try to snipe the mechs with focused water.

Assess the situation, look for a good opportunity for us to get the fuck out of here with our team. Maybe we can steal one of the trucks they put up right against the walls of the church.

>>30948787
Oh shit, foot blades? Helia is either copying Fara or possessed by her
>[] Take cover, and clear up some of this fog. Try to snipe the mechs with focused water

>>30948787
>[] Where the fuck is the other shadow? If Eshe gets hit by that sound... Clear fog and unload on it.
The shadow is the problem, not the mechs.

>>30948787
>>[] Where the fuck is the other shadow? If Eshe gets hit by that sound... Clear fog and unload on it.
we need to put that other one down before it gets Eshe

>>30948888
Hold on. Didnt we misplace the tear or something? If so, Helia probably has it. Hence the creepy Fara similarities and badassery

You cover behind the ice wall, stumbling in rather than ducking down gracefully as up feels like down and up feels like left. Your vision spins as you give your hand at moving the fog out of the way, seeing it clear like a seizing person trying to erase something as the magic crudely goes every which way as you clear your vision for a shot.

You see the shadow running across the ice to Eshe as the flash of gunfire fades in and out of your hearing. Eshe's smart though, she keeps close to the mechs as they let their guns fire. One's down already and the other two are taking issue with movement.

You conjure up a spear of solid water seeking to impale the nemesis only to find that the water's form keeps shaking and inadvertently swirling and falling apart with the aftereffects of that sound. When you finally make to throw it, it ends up splashing, sloshing out. The attack is only barely recovered as you resolve that to hit anything like this, you're going to need a shotgun.
The spray turns into high-speed hardened projectiles that zip through the air in a still haphazard fashion, catching the shadow by surprise for a moment before unreal superhuman motions have it twist out of the way of the attack, causing it to slip and fall in the final stretch of the attack, forcing it to halt its slide with the scratch of powerful claw-like implements.

>[] Use the same trick as before; Trap it.
>[] Go for the ki- Actually, let Helia do it.
>[] Feed the hydra. It's not dispersed yet.
>[] (Other)

>>30949085
>>[] Use the same trick as before; Trap it.

>>30949085
>[] Use the same trick as before; Trap it.

>>30949085
>Use the same trick as before; Trap it
Then another watergun blast!

>>30949085
>[] Use the same trick as before; Trap it.

It's claws are currently on our ice, let's trap as much as we can.

>>30949085
>>[] Go for the kill - Water shotgun!

>>30949085
>>[] Use the same trick as before; Trap it.
this thing survives on its mobility, lets take that away from it

You soften the ice it digs into, letting it firm once more, locking its claw in as it visibly panics, trying to pull the thing out in its precarious position.

You can't think much else though as you know only pain and silence after that sound hitting you. Squeezing your eyes shut against an reoccurring headache distracts you from your power and the task at hand.

You can't even tell if this is your power's backlash or the effects of that thing's sound splitting your eardrums.

Helia's the one to jump in, flipping through the air, just about riding upon the ice foot-blade, landing dead on upon the thing's trapped arm, severing it before spinning around and only just catching air as its inhuman reflexes kick in, forcing it away and into another slip that desires the use of hands to halt.

Eshe bypasses the other flanking mech's defenses with her natural electricity jumping between her hardened claws as she stabs them through and tears away at chassis, frying isolated, but delicate systems.

You see the shadow-nemesis fall soundlessly as something takes it from a blindspot in the head, dropping it onto the ice.
Looks like Hot Rod's still got his game on.

Three enemies down, one injured and just one more big stupid robot.

>[] These things bleed. Feed Hydra for poison.
>[] Head for an exit(Front or back)
>[] Try shooting it with hard water.
>[] (Other)

>>30949279
>>[] These things bleed. Feed Hydra for poison.
At least he tried.

>>30949279
>one injured
Is that the shadow thing that Hot Rod just shot? If so, do the trick to further catch it in the ice. Don't want to risk it moving.

>>30949279
>Try shooting it with hard water
Asher! Use watergun!

>>30949319
Nah, the mech that Eshe just shorted a part of.

>>30949279
>[] These things bleed. Feed Hydra for poison.
We should feed the hydra, it got pretty fucked up earlier

>>30949279
>[] These things bleed. Feed Hydra for poison.

>>30949279
>>[] These things bleed. Feed Hydra for poison.
What is this option even saying? Let the hydra eat the shadows? Feed energy to the hydras?

>>30949348
Feed them energy to allow poison to be spread.

...

You could also allow them to eat the shadows.

>>30949279
The mechs bleed? I thought it was just the shadow things bleeding

>>30949363
Are there any surviving members of the congregation? Are the seven who were touched by Asherah still doing their thing, or did they get mulched by mech-fire?

>>30949379
Suprisingly, you can still make out their forms... just sitting there praying in inch-deep water.

>>30949378
Yes. Though you're presuming in the bleed part that the mech have organic bits too.

>>30949379
The unconscious bodies may have been wounded.

>>30949279
>>[] These things bleed. Feed Hydra for poison.

>>30949389
Ah they're fine.

I hope you all realize that letting the hydra poison everything is going to kill a bunch of the people we just awakened. That shit turns all the water into poison and there's water everywhere.

>>30949389
>>30949279
Then we should probably shout that these guys are trying to keep the status quo a.k.a. stop the spread of magic/Asherah worship. This is something we can do while we are doing any other plans we might have. Odds are it would do nothing but that's no reason to not try.

>>30949430
Will it? I don't remember reading anything like that

>>30949407
Wouldn't the hydra poison kill all the people we went through all this trouble to awaken?

Can the hydra spit poison? Because spitting it into the cockpit of one of the mechs might work if we break the seal with a water spear.

>>30949448
The hydra is the worst idea ever. I thought we dispersed it ages ago? If not, do so now. Unnecessary burn.

Movement calls for Hydra to be empowered.

It's currently effective rank is 1. It can be brought up to rank 3.

>Rank 1: Child-like, yet feral intellect. Unrestrained control of poison.
>Rank 2: Improved intellect and the beginning of an "ego." better cohesive thought and the ability to hold back and increase the poison's potency.
>rank 3: Advancing intellect and further maturation of complex thoughts.. Not quite as smart as Asher, but it begins to understand what it is and gets... "Creative."

>>30949279
>[] Try shooting it with hard water.

>>30949475
I didn't say anything about the Hydra but alright my bad.

>>30949491
No no no no no no no! Not until we upgrade our summoning ability more.

>>30949491
>Rank 2: Improved intellect and the beginning of an "ego." better cohesive thought and the ability to hold back and increase the poison's potency.
This seems good enough.

>>30949491
I would rather not use the Hydra for this. Poison seems less likely to hurt the mechs than all the people in the church.

>>30949491
>>rank 3: Advancing intellect and further maturation of complex thoughts.. Not quite as smart as Asher, but it begins to understand what it is and gets... "Creative."
feed it to this

>>30949491
>Rank 2: Improved intellect and the beginning of an "ego." better cohesive thought and the ability to hold back and increase the poison's potency.

>>30949533
Rank 3 is too much.

>>30949491
>>Rank 1: Child-like, yet feral intellect. Unrestrained control of poison.
No more than this.

>>30949554
That's where we are now, we need to increase it

>rank 3: Advancing intellect and further maturation of complex thoughts.. Not quite as smart as Asher, but it begins to understand what it is and gets... "Creative."

>>30949491
>Rank 2: Improved intellect and the beginning of an "ego." better cohesive thought and the ability to hold back and increase the poison's potency.

>>30949565
No we don't. You're just choosing to increase it.

So, can summoning magic also be used for binding?

It isn't a priority, since if it is Fara, she still just wants to help / be loved, so it can wait until we've got a room in Vegas or something, but we could try locking her shade within an object (such as a tear shaped crystal, like she made). Just ask Helia/Fara for her participation in a ritual that should help protect her, and I mean ritual, go all out for maximum spellcasting bonuses to be sure; make a circle of salt, square the circle with incense at each corner, have a little symbolic sculpture of a woman made of ice in the center, and a necklace with an empty setting to hold the tear, both of us meditate for an hour, say an incantation at high noon (opposite of witching hour for shade weakness). The incantation can refer to a woman and ice and pain and loss, and only specify shade at the very end. If it does nothing because it really is Helia, then we can just explain that we were being extra cautious after all this summoning-based bullshit, and were worried about her.

If it does work, we've got Fara back on lockdown (I still want to give her a piece of Asher's mind) if she isn't reasonable or doesn't agree to a stronger contract, then maybe someone can consume her, either for a personal powerup or maybe we can use her to power some kind of enchantment.

>>30949491
>2
Though I'd rather he just helped Eshe tagteam it than rely on poison.
Was Fara up a 3 or did we get her all the way to a 4?

>>30949572
me and pretty much everyone but you

>>30949491
>>Rank 2: Improved intellect and the beginning of an "ego." better cohesive thought and the ability to hold back and increase the poison's potency.

>>30949577
4

>>30949577
Fara is gone for good, m8.

>>30949577
My theory is that Helia already consumed the tear. Im pretty sure it was mentioned a few threads back that Asher had misplaced it and now Helia is fighting exactly like Fara

>>30949636
I considered the possibility, and if she says as much afterward then fine, but we can't ask her without tipping our hand to possible--bodysnatcher-Fara. And if she did, what the fuck Helia, maybe warn a guy next time you're going to do something with the remains of his crazy summon that tried to kill people so he doesn't go assuming things. Also, hey, don't steal my shit. Even if you did do quite a bit of the work in putting her down, I imagine you'd accept a browbeating from Asher for it.

>>30949686
The fact that she's also become a bit clingy and (fortunately) super protective towards us is making me suspect possession. Maybe Helia was possessed when she consumed the tear?

>>30949741
No. Helia was always obsessed with Asher. I'm sure she'll go the same way as Fara did, though.

>>30949686
>>30949741
>>30949636
Isn't Helia a Vein? I thought only bones eat nerve magic.

>>30949764
That is how the rock-paper-scissors goes, but who knows how it works with magical objects. A vein might be able to do something with one, especially considering the tear seemed to be a permanent object that affected things through warped physics, not application of nerve-power.

>>30949753
Possibly, assuming we fuck up in the same ways.

We can't just leave her feelings for us unanswered, that'll cause the yan to build up to critical levels, and I don't want to lose her now that she's being useful. We need to reward her for good behavior if we want it to continue.

Granted this isn't something we do right this moment, but when we get a breather.

>>30949792
Just tell her that we appreciate what she does and she'll be fine.

>>30949764
Veins are actually prone to soul contamination and even soul loss. Which could easily lead to Faras possession

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>>30949895
So we should kill her now?

>>30949901
We should carefully investigate what happened, ask Helia about the tear, see how much alteration there was, if any, and proceed from there.

I doubt it has too much influence over her, and if we get on this quickly and steer her in the right direction we could get a loyal subordinate out of this.

>>30949938
>I doubt it has too much influence over her
This is Fara we're talking about. We have to take this seriously.

Ya'll just went full shadowrun.

>>30949953
I think this is a perfectly reasonable shadowrun, then again I am the one that wants to get her to unwittingly agree to a binding ritual.

>>30949961
>binding ritual.
What is this?

>>30949953
This one is justified shadowruns, the tear disappeared, Helia's been acting a bit differently, she's acquired some mannerisms of Fara like some sadism, combat style, and she's been a bit more attached to us.

It's probably still mostly Helia in there, but I'd like to know how far this goes, and how much of a threat it poses.

We need to exorcize her. Good thing we're in a church and can holy water her bitch ass.

>>30949965
I don't even know if it is a thing, but Dran seems to be fine with incorporating most forms of magic. Full idea delineated here:
>>30949577

>>30949577
>>30949980
Oh I didn't include a sacrifice, can't miss any possible bonuses; replace necklace with empty setting for a diamond ring. Sacrifice diamond (good for symbolic meaning, Diamonds associated with ice, and love/binding) tear takes the diamond's place in the ring's setting.

>>30949554
Ah, sorry.

Stopping here for early sleep.

Goodnight guys!

>>30950008
Goodnight, Dran

>>30950008
Does binding exist and is it an application of summoning magic?

>>30950008
Night man, when you running again?

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30942068/
Archived

>>30950013
Well, I guess that was a bit of a silly question, since half of our summoning is already binding, what with the contracts, but obviously I meant more unilateral binding.

>>30950018
Sorry about the sudden stop guys, fell asleep for a bit before I said that.

I'll tweet it tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be in the latter part of the week.

>>30950013
Yes. Performing ritual increases your sway over summons both of your own creation and those of mythos.