Quest Mingle: June-July

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Quest Mingle: June-July
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Questboard! This post is for playing!

Guideline

• These quests are valid from start of June until end of July.
• Characters don't need to be a member of the guild to do quests, and anyone can do any segment's quest! The quests are just marked this way to show where the quests are taking place.
• City Location Details | Segment Location details
• Remember to keep distances in mind: it takes 2 weeks to travel from the bridges to the edge of the map (barrier). Faster methods for travel exist, of course.
• For some of the monsters, additional details can be found from the Bestiary.
• Rewards are for one completion of the Quest, but characters can do it multiple times to earn more money from them, as the problems do repeat.

• Please see the guild page for permanent quests.

Quest Types
• Battle Quests: Usually deal with hordes of monsters or monsters that threaten the natives. Always involves battling.
• Boss Battle Quests: Boss Battles appear when a certain condition is met. Usually linked to normal battle quests and always involve battling. They can be "summoned" multiple times during the months.
• Gathering Quests: Ingredient hunting. These can be gathering minerals, plants or even capturing animals where necessary. Rarely involves battling - if there is it will be marked.
• Misc Quests: Quests that don't really fit into other categories.

City Quests

Even in your city... quests! [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Ellympic Mecha Judo	A set of sporting events has been organized that will be broadcast throughout the area to show off the capabilities of the city's heroes! In this event, climb into some of the Mecha Suit Hangar's basic models and try and fight each other without weapons to pinfall or submission.	All "official" Ellympic quests have a little camera drone following characters to film their event; the drone must be kept safe, but will generally try and stay out of danger to get good shots.	2,000 Moon Coins, a medal for the winner
If You're Not From The Prairie	There's a portal dimension that's being used to grow crops for the people of Nightwake since there's not enough farmland, but the natives aren't used to how the seasons change inside. Seeding was fine, but now summer has come to the Farm Dimension and they could use some help!	Crops are mostly grains and other field crops, such as wheat, barley, canola, or flax. The farm work involves irrigation (it doesn't rain so much in summer!), weeding, spreading fertilizer, finding ways to keep out pests like mice and gophers that are eating the crops, and possibly finding ways to protect the crop from hail or fires.	500 Moon Coins
I'm the Cash Man	An eccentric jeweller in the city has declared an offer of Moon Coins for something "special." He won't elaborate, though, only giving the cryptic clue, "I need something green and refreshing! Oh, yeah!"	What the jeweller really wants is an emerald from the Crystal Mines, which has magical properties that can be used in healing items, but he'll take anything else that fits the description, just giving smaller rewards.	1,000 Moon Coins (for the correct item), 250 Moon Coins (for anything else that can be said to be "green and refreshing")
Ten-Second Tidy	The city's a huge mess after the sun-and-moon incident, but worry not! We've got the perfect solution! This wand we've just developed can clean everything up in a snap! It just needs some testing.	Characters who agree to test the wand will find that it cleans up one area perfectly back to normal... but then just makes a mess somewhere else in the city. Characters might even be magically sending each other their trash.	500 Moon Coins, Cleaning Wand (Prototype)

Winter Segment

Lights, Snow, Quests [ Click to Expand ]

Battle Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Beaver Barricade	Snow Beavers seem to be fed up with the fish migration patterns changing and have dammed up the river between the Half-Frozen and Unfrozen Lakes. They won't be happy about this, but we need to clear out the dam before they cause a flood.	Snow Beavers will attack when anyone tries to destroy the dam in whole or in part. If characters succeed in destroying the dam, the beavers will rebuild it again and won't give up until the end of the quest period.	4,000 Moon Coins
Ellympic Snowboarding	A set of sporting events has been organized that will be broadcast throughout the area to show off the capabilities of the city's heroes! Downhill snowboarding is exciting enough in itself, but some Snow Sharks got past the barriers put up for the event. Better either evade them or fight them off while you're racing down the mountain!	All "official" Ellympic quests have a little camera drone following characters to film their event; the drone must be kept safe, but will generally try and stay out of danger to get good shots.	3,000 Moon Coins, a medal for the winner of the race
Jaws for Concern	A strange fish has started showing up in the Half-Frozen Lake, aggressively attacking anyone trying to fish or swim in the water. It's also having a terrible effect on the populations of other fish and animals in the lake. We've never seen anything like it before, and we need a few willing adventurers to head over there to cut down their numbers and protect the native wildlife.	This is a result of an unfortunate incident involving improper use of creation magic. The fish in question is a shrieker - a very large, very angry, dangerous creature that will put up quite a fight.	700 Moon Coins per fish

Boss Battle Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Face Off CW/TW: dismemberment	Be careful in the Winter Segment. Glamour Monsters have been spotted again, attacking people they find. They might even try to tear off physical features of someone they find beautiful.	This boss only appears upon the completion of another Winter Segment quest. A Glamour Monster will lurk in the shadows and then strike once the characters let their guard down after completing their objective.	6,000 Moon Coins

Gathering Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Moving Crew	Now that the dragons have settled into the Abandoned Castle, they need people to pick up anything they might have left behind in the Frozen Falls and bring it over to them.	The dragons' belongings can be anything (they do hoard, after all!) but there isn't much left there. The enchantment in the valley inside the mountain has faded without the dragons around, so items can be picked up without disintegrating and the fake sun and grass are gone.	1,500 Moon Coins
Suspicious Invitation	A lot of the newly turned vampires seem to just be getting up and walking out to the Winter Segment. The Forest of Spirits calls to the undead and then doesn't let them go! These poor souls have gone through enough -- they need rescuing.	The vampire-turned civilians still have the strength and speed of other vampires, but will likely be too captivated by the forest's ghosts to try and feed or attack unless provoked. Vampire-turned player characters may feel the pull of the forest also, but will be more resistant due to their season magic.	2,500 Moon Coins

Misc Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Plow 'Em Up	The road-building efforts have gone all right, but you know what happens to roads in the Winter Segment? Snow! Help us shovel the road from the city out to the Titanic Dome.	Characters can borrow plow trucks and sand trucks if they can operate them (hopefully not ending up in a ditch in the process), but otherwise, it's good old skid steers, magic, or anything else they can think of to clear the snow... even shovelling, if they've got the patience.	500 Moon Coins

Spring Segment

Breezing through quests [ Click to Expand ]

Battle Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Bud the Spud	We thought we dealt with the Giant Mutant Vegetables, but apparently not. Shipping trucks to and from the farmlands are being attacked by giant potatoes! If we want to get food in to the citizens, we need to deal with this.	While most of the attacking Giant Mutant Vegetables will be potatoes, other vegetables may show up to back them up.	4,000 Moon Coins
How the Cups Stole Solstice	Flowers are supposed to be brought into town from the Spring Segment for the Solstice celebrations, but those idiots from the Cups Gang announced that they'd be "stealing Solstice" and set loose enchanted lawnmowers on the meadows. Deal with those before they mow everything down.	Enchanted Lawnmowers will mow in a pattern until they're attacked, at which point they will try to chase the person attacking them. They're about as dangerous as a regular lawnmower, so try to stay out of their path and attack from the side.	3,000 Moon Coins
It Sucks To Be You	One of those weird holes in the ground that the Darkness left is sucking people and monsters alike into it out near the Valley of Wind. We haven't been able to find a way to stop it from out here, but what if someone went inside on purpose?	The hole will suck anyone in who gets too close and drop them into a pit, where various Spring monsters that have also been sucked in will attack in an attempt to pile up enough opponents to escape.	5,000 Moon Coins

Boss Battle Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
I Know, I Know	A Wind Reaper is behind the pit drawing people into it in the Spring Segment. Along with its powerful wind, this huge creature wields a blade that deals mental damage instead of physical, making those hit with it freeze with fear of death.	This boss only appears when enough monsters have been defeated in the pit in the "It Sucks To Be You" quest. Aside from resistance to wind and/or mind damage, the Wind Reaper's main weakness is earth magic that can deflect its wind attacks.	7,000 Moon Coins

Gathering Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Ellympic Fishing	A set of sporting events has been organized that will be broadcast throughout the area to show off the capabilities of the city's heroes! In this event, team up in pairs in a little wooden boat and see who can catch the most fish.	All "official" Ellympic quests have a little camera drone following characters to film their event; the drone must be kept safe, but will generally try and stay out of danger to get good shots.	2,000 Moon Coins, a medal if you get enough fish
Peacock the Walk	Sleepeacocks have come down from trees in the Spring Segment, and our potion makers are running low on their feathers. Go and gather the tail feathers they shed, but be careful they don't put you to sleep!	Sleepeacocks are a type of peafowl known for two things: their tail feathers (which are traditionally used in potions to help people fall asleep), and their cry, which instantly puts people to sleep when they hear it. The Sleepeacock's cry can be circumvented by blocking out the sound or by using magic that keeps the user awake.	1,000 Moon Coins, Sleep Potion

Misc Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Ambitious Little City	The Fairy Kingdom is up and running again, and they've opened up a store near the kingdom walls, selling supplies for your adventures in the Spring Segment. Sounds useful! Why not check it out?	The fairies don't take money for their wares; instead, every transaction costs touch energy. The more you give, the more you get, so hold onto your quest partner!	Potions and travel rations

Summer Segment

Get your hottest quests here [ Click to Expand ]

Battle Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Check Out the Crabs in the Bucket	The Temple of Death has a large moat right on the border, and Immortal Crabs from the Spring Segment and Killer Crabs from the Summer Segment are both fighting over it! Unfortunately, given the destruction both species tend to cause, we can't just leave them to it. Try and clear them out.	While Immortal Crabs are much sturdier, Killer Crabs are much larger and stronger, so any given fight will have a large swarm of Immortal Crabs per one Killer Crab.	2,000 Moon Coins
Go Pound Sand	The Deserter's Desert may have had its cracks filled in, but the ones in the Des(s)ert of Illusions are bigger and deeper, and Sandworms are starting to rise up and wreck shop. We need people to deal with them before they eat everything in sight! Just don't get eaten yourself.	Sandworms haven't changed much aside from location; they still try to eat people and things with their quicksand-like digestive system, and they're still weak to water.	5,000 Moon Coins
Watch Your Head	Imps are messing around in the Flaming Grassland, popping up to scare travellers and throwing things at them -- including fire and balls of flaming grass! Try and stop them before they can hurt anyone.	The Imps don't seem to mean any harm, but they don't seem to care what harm they do cause, either.	3,000 Moon Coins

Boss Battle Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
I Wanna Go Boom Boom	Wait, are those Explodies coming into the Summer Segment too? Now the Imps are throwing them! They need to be cleared out right away!	This boss only appears when enough Imps have been defeated (whether chased off or killed). The Explodies are more malicious and a lot smarter than the Imps, and they still have their aura of dark energy that powers them up, so they can't just be peacefully chased away.	7,000 Moon Coins

Gathering Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Hot Coffee	There's a lot of demand for coffee and chocolate in the city recently, and we'd like help harvesting it. Fruity Bats in the Rain Jungle always congregate where coffee cherries grow! Try following them to find the good stuff.	Fruity Bats are colourful bats that love fruit, especially the cherries that coffee beans come from. They give off the smell of fruit during breaks in the rain.	1,500 Moon Coins
Up is Down is Up	The ruins in the Rain Jungle hold among their treasures some ancient spell scrolls we want to study. You won't have to go deep in to find them, but the gravity spells in there make it tough!	Various rooms in the Rain Jungle Ruins can reverse gravity. The Autumn Dragon gravity skill can reverse this for individual people, or there are mechanisms hidden in the rooms to mess with the gravity to solve puzzles and advance.	2,000 Moon Coins

Misc Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Ellympic Beach Volleyball	A set of sporting events has been organized that will be broadcast throughout the area to show off the capabilities of the city's heroes! In this event, gather on the Great Ocean Lake's beach and see who can win in a game of beach volleyball. Strangely, this one has the highest viewership...	All "official" Ellympic quests have a little camera drone following characters to film their event; the drone must be kept safe, but will generally try and stay out of danger to get good shots.	2,000 Moon Coins, a medal for the winner

Autumn Segment

Maple scented Quests [ Click to Expand ]

Battle Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Have You Been Pumpkin Iron?	The Almighty Frogs have caught the spirit of competition and are challenging people to friendly fights! Looks like they might even give prizes to the winners, so why not check it out?	The prizes are just things found in the wilderness that kind of look like medals. Some poor soul might get a rock, another an enchanted jewel, another some loose change. It's really the luck of the draw.	Anything that resembles a medal (value and purpose up to player)
Maple Leaf Forever	Fall camping is in a boom, but Maple Mantises are attacking campsites in the Maybe It's Mapleline forest to eat their firewood. Try getting rid of them to keep the campers safe!	Maple Mantises still tend to come in threes and will attack without hesitation. They're dangerous and they're huge, which isn't great in a camping area...	3,500 Moon Coins
That Good Old Tokusatsu Quarry	Hit Sunday-morning program Starlight Warrior Sunstriker is filming its next season, and they need stunt doubles who can go out into the old rock quarry south of the Abandoned Mansion. Dress up in heroic spandex and helmets or goofy rubber monster suits and fight each other convincingly on camera so the actors can dub over you later!	A camera drone will follow the characters to film in the Segment; characters are warned not to damage it, but it will mostly stay out of range on its own.	1,000 Moon Coins

Boss Battle Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Smokey the Maple Bear CW/TW: Forest fires	Oh, no. All the tree-eating and campsite-attacking caused the Maple Mantises to knock a campfire aside and caused a forest fire! We need you to try to put out the fire and evacuate the civilians, all while still getting rid of those Maple Mantises!	This boss only unlocks when the Maple Mantises damage an active campsite while fighting them. The fire is an ordinary fire, so it can be neutralized with magic or mundane fire suppression techniques. The real challenge is balancing that with continuing to fight the Maple Mantises.	6,000 Moon Coins

Gathering Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Certified Gold	We're running low on Liquid Kintsugi Gold. Can you pick up some more from Lake Hange? Bringing rocks with the gold in is fine. Just be careful of the Apprentice Crows.	Kintsugi Rocks are still plentiful around Lake Hange (the former Lake of Healing), but the Apprentice Crows are still trying to take the gold for themselves. They may swarm characters trying to pick them up as well as use their fire and water magic.	2,000 Moon Coins, bottle of Liquid Kintsugi Gold
Home Savoury Home	I'm sure of it -- House Mushrooms from the Mushroom Sanctuary are the perfect building material! Big, sturdy, easy to hollow, and if you get hungry you can eat a piece of your walls! Bring me one back and I'll reward you!	The quest giver may have questionable taste, but House Mushrooms are big enough and heavy enough to make a house... which means it'll be hard to haul one back to town. Come up with a clever way to solve this problem.	1,500 Moon Coins

Misc Quests

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Ellympic Equestrian	A set of sporting events has been organized that will be broadcast throughout the area to show off the capabilities of the city's heroes! This event is open to those with a mount, who must compete in a series of horse jumps... even if the mount isn't a horse.	All "official" Ellympic quests have a little camera drone following characters to film their event; the drone must be kept safe, but will generally try and stay out of danger to get good shots.	2,000 Moon Coins, a medal for the winner

NSFW Quests
DO NOT use the Quest Mingle for these quests and instead play them on other posts! This questboard is only unlockable by characters that are 16 or older.

The Spice [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Find Me In the Stars	The sexy airship cruise line has a new cruise they're hiring temps for. This one is marketed as a week of debauchery flying over the scenic Spring Segment, with stops at the airship stations to resupply and a stop at the Creature-Nip Meadow to see the sights (and the aphrodisiac plants). The job involves serving food and drinks and facilitating on-board activities -- the Orgy Under the Stars on top deck is a must-do.	Due to the length of the cruise, characters will be away from the city for about a week. Of course, if they have powers or items that allow them to teleport off the airship during their breaks and back on again, that is allowed.	2,000 Moon Coins, employee uniform (glorified lingerie)
Ellympic "Wrestling"	Any TV program as big as the Ellympics will attract imitators -- if by "imitators" we mean "unofficial porn parodies." A studio in Nightwake's Red Light District is hiring for a film that asks the hard-hitting question: what if naked wrestling were an Ellympic event and points were scored by getting your opponent off?	While this is not an "official" Ellympic event, there is still a little camera drone following characters to film them.	1,000 Moon Coins, a copy of the finished movie

City Crime Quests
This questboard is on an app on the phone and is only unlockable if your character has received a (handwaved) code for it from one of the crime organizations or just criminals of Nightwake. Another way is to hack your way in if you know it exists.
You don't need mod permission to do these, just make sure you find a reasonably way for your character to get there.
Anyone can be a victim of these quests.
Should players doing these quests wish for IC consequences, they may report their character here - or just assume that NPC law enforcement characters are on a lookout for them.

Dark Side of Quests [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Ellympic Bet Rigging	Where there's this big of a to-do going on in town, there's money behind it. Go sabotage someone's Ellympic competition while we rig the bets for their opponent.	Can overlap with any of the other Ellympic-marked quests (except the NSFW one) with permission of the other player.	2,000 Moon Coins if successful
Not-So-Fun Run	Let's not mince words -- every gang in this city lost a lot of people during the blackout, and a power vacuum is a dangerous thing. If you're going for those promotions, come to these coordinates to prove you can handle it.	The coordinates lead to one of the shady establishments in the Underground Mall. It's set up like one of the attractions up above, an obstacle course to clear for bragging rights... but given the location and purpose, there are legitimate death traps inside, such as spike pits, spinning blades, and a hall full of Fire Dinosaurs that chase you.	4,000 Moon Coins, more respect from the city criminals

Quest Plotting Form

<u>Player</u> <b>Name:</b> <b>Contact:</b> <u>Character</u> <b>Name:</b> <b>Season:</b> <b>Quests:</b> Free space to talk about what quests interest your character and if you have any plans regarding them.


code bases by tricklet

Comments

Macaque | Lego Monkie Kid | Winter

[castaside]

Peacock the Walk // Face Off

Macaque fucking hates glamour monsters. Ever since they nearly took out the eye of his beloved daughter, he wants them nothing but dead. He grins as they try to use shadow magic to fight him, since he is the undisputed master of it.

"You're all going to die slowly, just like last time." he snarls at them, using his shadows to attack viciously.

Mid-fight, Macaque is shrouded in his shadows, using them to attack the glamour monster boss-- and then suddenly his shadows fade and start to creep back into the ground as he sways on his feet, eyelids drooping.

He's hearing the sound of the Sleepeacock, because his ears can hear everything. Usually he makes it into a boon, but it's unfortunate for him at this moment.

With the glamour monsters still looming, Macaque falls over, unconscious. The glamour monsters close in menacingly.

Help?

[abnormalizes]

"-Macaque?!"

Note to self, apparently glamour monsters can make you fall asleep?? Something to investigate later.

Right now, her primary goal is to keep Macaque safe. She multitasks between her scythe and her fire magic, using the fires to light up any shadows they might try to hide in and her scythe to slice them apart. Juggling them all and keeping any of them from getting too close to Macaque is, frankly, exhausting, and she takes a number of lashes herself in the process, but eventually - eventually she dispatches the last of them.

...And Macaque is still asleep. Okay.

Evangeline takes a moment to catch her breath, then puts her scythe away and gently scoops Macaque up into a princess carry to begin to carry him back towards town.

[castaside]

Macaque gives no reaction when picked up like a damsel in distress, except to unconsciously snuggle into Evangeline. He's secretly a snugglebug, take this secret to the grave if you please.

Once they're most of the way back to the city, Macaque's eyelids flutter open and he looks up at her with a bleary expression.

"Wha--?" He asks, intelligently.

[abnormalizes]

She will tell no one, promise.

"Oh, you're awake, that's a relief. You fell asleep in the middle of a battle somehow?"

-She makes no attempt to put him down.

[castaside]

"That's..." He pauses, trying to think back to what he last remembers, when he realizes that she's carrying him.

He tenses up, trying not to thrash. He blushes all the way to his ears.

"You can put me down. I think I'm okay now." His voice is pinched by embarrassment. Falling asleep in the middle of a fight, what the fuck?

[abnormalizes]

"Oh! Sorry, my bad." Evangeline sets him down on his feet.

...The blushing is really cute. She also will take this secret to the grave.

[castaside]

"Thanks." Macaque seems steady on his feet, at least.

"And thanks for saving my ass. I have no idea what happened." He is still blushing as he looks her over.

"You okay? Those things can be nasty. They almost took out one of Choco's eyes."

Let's just all pretend he's not blushing like a schoolgirl, yeah?

[abnormalizes]

"Any time." She's happy to help, even when it's not an emergency.

Evangeline looks herself over as well. She's got various slashes on her skin, but thankfully none near her face. "I think I'm alright? I've had worse, anyway."

[castaside]

Macaque takes a few breaths and gets the blushing under control, trying like hell not to compound his embarrassment.

"Yes well, if it's all the same to you, I want you looked after. I'm not about to have anyone injured because they saved me."

Saved him. His blushing returns a bit for a flash, just on his ears. He's not supposed to require saving!

"It's weird, though. Glamour monsters don't have that ability. Or at least they've never used it, and you'd think they would have last time before I kicked their asses. Slowly."

[abnormalizes]

It'd be weird if anything Macaque needed saving from didn't inflict injuries.

"Hhhhuh." She looks him over carefully. "Well, I can tell you're not cursed, so that's good... Maybe you're coming down with something? -If you want, I can bring you to the Research Center to get checked out."

After a moment she adds, "And I can also get healed there I guess."

[castaside]

He rubs the back of his neck self-consciously. "I don't usually get sick, but this place, you never know."

"You get checked out first, and you've got a deal." He also wants to know what the hell happened.

[abnormalizes]

"You drive a hard bargain, but okay."

To the Research Center they go. Luckily, they're almost at the city limits, and then they can just take a teleporter straight there.

[castaside]

For once Macaque opts not to use his shadow portals. Who knows what might be wrong with him, and if they get lost in shadow, she's done for.

So the slow(er) way it is.

"I appreciate it. Sorry for the inconvenience." His delivery is a little stiff, he's trying. Trying hard to be someone who is decent to others and not a bitchy, bitter hermit. It'll take time, but he's already come a long way.

[bluediligence]

[ Korone'd come out into the Winter segment to fight some fish and help with the road-building efforts. Nothing fancy or even particularly strenuous — it's just good, honest work, simple yet meaningful, like a long stretch before a workout.

It's getting on towards late afternoon when she finally bids farewell, thanking the others for their hard work and reminding them to eat the snacks she brought; they laugh and wave her off, chorusing see you tomorrows. She's smiling as she takes to the skies. She could teleport or shadow portal … but it's one of those rare clear days and the breeze is perfect.

Half an hour, maybe an hour to stretch her wings and cool down. Then she'll portal home. A quick shower and preening session before she gets started on prepping dinner —

Aaaaaaaaaand that's when she hears the screams.

She banks sharply in that direction before the thought to do so has fully formed. When it does, she tucks her wings in tighter, dives steeper, faster, plunging through a ripped-open shadow portal like a bullet. She's had enough practice to take the flipped axis in stride, even at this speed — and to parry the glamour monster's whip away from its would-be victim.

Glamour monsters. Nine of them. Three terrified natives. One Choco Korone. She bares her teeth in a smile. ]

Dad! [ She calls out as she fights, making full use of both momentum and over a year of hard work and dedication. ] Wanna help me take out some trash?

[castaside]

He is chasing a different quest, halfway across the map, when he hears her cry out, and all of him perks up before he instantly portals away, his task forgotten as he races to her side.

He pokes his head out of a portal and sees glamour monsters. These fuckers again. At least, this time, he's called to a battle and not to a rescue.

"Absolutely, babygirl."

His shadows rise up from the ground, forming clones and tendrils, all of them flaring with brilliant light as it envelops them. Hurting the glamour monsters this way was most effective, after all. They all launch toward the glamour monsters at once, pulling half of them from their shadows and holding them still, ready to be slain.

"You go get them." She deserves to get her revenge.

[bluediligence]

[ Last time she'd faced these things, she'd been lucky to get away with her life, let alone two working eyes. (... Mostly. Mostly working eyes.) This couldn't be more different. She has full faith that Macaque will answer her call and she isn't disappointed.

Even if she could maybe, potentially, have defeated these things alone — she wouldn't want to. ]

You're the best.

[ His arrival distracts the monsters enough that she's able to open up another shadow portal, this one big enough for the three terrified Ellipsans. A pair of shimmering disc-shaped shields slam down between them and the glamour monsters ] You three — that'll take you to the research center. I'll close it behind you, go!

[ They don't need telling twice, scrambling through just as Macaque works his magic and captures four at once. Korone uses her bo to parry a blow from number five, moving swiftly into a counterstrike that breaks many ribs and sends the fiend crashing into one of its fellows.

And while she's doing that …

Fun fact about Korone's pendant magic! She worked damn hard, for years, to push the boundaries of what's possible. What is a template, a base, if not a foundation upon which to build? To hell with the limiter, she'd always thought. To hell with leashes and rules and helplessness. It was her power now, and she chose freedom. She chose hope.

Her perseverance and creativity took her further than any other member of the Cat team. She'd figured out how to bend light with her shields before Ellipsa — before Imeeji, even. Camouflage is really fucking helpful when circumstances routinely force you to punch well above your weight class. But now? Oh, now she has some tricks up her sleeves. ]

I haven't shown you this one yet. I think you'll like it.

[ She subtly modifies the shape of the two shields, calculating angles on the fly — the sun, Macaque's light magic, the shadows — to catch the light and magnify it. And then she adds more. Her light creation magic is less powerful than Macaque's (for now), but it's plenty potent enough to give these monsters one hell of a bad day.

The two shields begin to spin, faster and faster and faster, and then they fly, like two large, spectacularly pretty light-wreathed buzz saws. Whether or not they'll actually cut remains to be seen — she hasn't pulled that off in training with any of her shield variants yet — but, 1) now seems like a great time to practice! 2) blades aren't the only ways to kill. ]

[castaside]

Macaque's shadows are stretching for the other five glamour monsters, finding them more elusive for whatever reason. Experience, probably. But it's only a matter of time before he snares them.

He spares an eye to watch his daughter create shields that reflect and amplify his light, spinning like those hyperactive stars he's read about. He watches with pride as they launch toward the glamour monsters, aiming to cut them instead, this time.

"Nice," he says, and for now that's all. No objective hitting when they're trying to fight, that's the rule he lives by in training.

[bluediligence]

[ And while she doesn't jump for joy when the discs actually kinda do the thing holy shit, she does allow herself a grin, brightening further at Macaque's comment.

(His mercy is, as always, appreciated. She gets why Donnie sometimes weaponises her objectives in spars and whatever, but also it's rude and he's a goddamn bully.)

The quick smile she shoots at Macaque is completely at odds with the viciousness of her attack. The former is warm, like a glimpse of blazing sunshine in the midst of a storm. The latter is … well, it's the storm, carefully controlled and yet unrestrained. She isn't holding back. Not this time. Korone summons another shield to guard her six and doubles down, felling one, then two, then three. The fourth … doesn't so much die as double over, at first; she was trying to correct a fumble and accidentally disc-bludgeoned it in the glamour monster equivalent of the crotch. Oops. That one she finishes with a fire dagger, flung with enough telekinetic force to rip clean through its chest. ]

- Any sign of the others?

[castaside]

He is duly impressed, but yes compliments come later. Murder now.

Macaque punches his way through one of the trapped monsters with a clone, and another with his staff wreathed in light, arcing down like a bright sword.

"Others? You mean the natives or the fucking monsters? I don't--"

He pauses, mid-attack. His shadows pause as well, and then fade away, back into the ground.

And then he's on the ground, his staff vanishing in a puff of inky purple. Unconscious.

[bluediligence]

[ Korone is about to clarify — she meant the monsters, having already sent the natives through a portal to safety — when he suddenly pauses. ]

Dad? [ She looks his way, concern quickly giving way to alarm when she sees his shadows fade. ] What's -

[ He falls. ]

Dad!

[ Korone has never moved so quickly in her life. One moment she's a dozen feet away and the next she's right by his side, wings bristled in a reflexive threat display, teeth bared and a vicious growl rising in her chest. It's a damn good thing her reflexes are so snappy, too — the handful of surviving monsters had pounced for him like starving lions to a fresh kill, and she gets there in time to intercept. ]

Don't you fucking touch him — [ She snarls. The vast majority of her focus is on the fight, on protecting him. They won't get past her, not as long as she's still breathing. Whatever it takes. She'll rip them apart with her bare hands if she has to.

Fire and light flare brighter than ever, so bright they're hard to look at. Her shields spin faster … and sharper, the different magics melding together in deadly harmony. The shadows answer when she calls upon them for help, and they, too, are sharp enough to rend limbs. And that's exactly what she does. Nothing gratuitous for the sake of it, she's the exact opposite of fucking around right now — she's meeting the bastards tit for vicious tat and then some. Her pack taught her well.

The one and only spot of gentleness in all this is Shigeon. The exercise ball-sized avatar pops up out of a pool of shadow and rolls to Macaque, nudging him and papping his cheek with one stubby wing. Dad? Dad? Hey, Dad? Dad. Daaaaaad. Wake up, Dad. Dad? Dad dad dad dad wake up dad c'mon wakey-wakey - ]

[castaside]

If Macaque was awake, he'd be tremendously impressed and touched at her display. But alas, he is dead to the world-- well, not dead. Sleeping to the world. Not even a shadow can force him awake.

He is unreactive as Korone mops up those fucking glamour monsters. When Macaque finds out, he'll be struck at how different this time is. This time, she saved him.

Like family is supposed to do.

[bluediligence]

[ How much time passes between Macaque collapsing and the last glamour monster falling very dead and more than a little dismembered at her feet, Korone couldn't say. ]

[ She stands for a moment, alert, breathing hard, scanning the wrecked disaster of a battlefield as much with her fledgling shadow senses as her eyes and ears. Nothing. She checks again, fingers flexing around her bloodied staff. Nothing. All is quiet, calm, and still, and her dad still hasn't woken up. ]

[ With the threats handled and nothing new coming (for now), she hurries to join Shigeon, dropping to her knees by Macaque's side. He isn't dead, she knows — and he isn't bleeding, isn't screaming. Not this time. It's just … like he's asleep, she realises as she gently, carefully checks him over. Deeply asleep. ]

Dad? [ Shigeon shifts, pancaking down some and tucking under his head like a makeshift pillow. Korone takes his hand in her free one and squeezes, following up with a couple of chirps. Protective, worried … and one that's best described as a kid demanding attention. ]

If you don't wake up soon, I'm gonna have to carry you home. Wash-nii'll take pictures. New wallpaper for our phones.

[castaside]

Macaque doesn't budge at his makeshift pillow. After a moment, though, his brow furrows and his eyes are frantic beneath the lids. He starts to mutter to himself.

Choco will have seen this before, and knows it too well herself. Nightmares.

But he doesn't wake. Not even with the taunts. But just as she's probably thinking she might as well scoop him up, his eyes flash open and he sits up with a start, and a gasp.

He forces a few deep breaths and, seeing Choco there, it's easy enough to calm down. He looks around at the broken glamour monsters, feeling a flash of pride as he realizes who much have felled them. But, unfortunately, there is one important question first.

"--The hell happened?"

[bluediligence]

[ Ah. Nightmares.

… Out in the open, in the middle of a literal battlefield -

Korone takes a deep breath. Holds it. Exhales. It's okay — okay in the sense that it's manageable; she's right here, and she's strong enough to keep him safe from anything that might try to do him harm. … Unless, like, Wukong loses his mind, of course, or MK, but that's what teleporting the fuck out of dodge is for. Not that it'll happen! … Probably? … Well, no, it definitely could happen sometime, that's exactly the kind of bullshit she's learned to expect, but there's no indication that anything like that is going on right now. So. It's okay. She's got this.

She stays right where she is, staff resting across her lap, one hand running gently through his hair while the other taps away at her phone. Maybe there's something on the network about people falling asleep? … Mmmnope, not so far. Damn. She checks around elsewhere online just in case, figuring that he'd probably appreciate a solution before a potential princess carry.

He wakes up seconds before she finally decides to call it. She leans back just enough to avoid an accidental headbutt, once again thankings her lucky stars he isn't the type to wake up swinging. The hand on his head slips down to rest on his arm. ]

You dropped like something hit you with a sleep spell. [ She peers at him, checking for signs of weakness, fogginess, or anything else Off. ] A strong one, it's been about thirty minutes and even [ chirps, dad! pay attention to me! ] didn't get through. No signs of a curse, nothing on the network so far.

How are you feeling?

[castaside]

He absorbs this information. Gratefully, he isn't very groggy, just a little disoriented and confused.

"Maybe someone was casting one somewhere and I overheard it?" Because of course he did.

"You think Donnie would want to check me out, make sure nothing's wrong? Or someone else?"