Flipz

...oh yeah, Guffington actually specifically stated that in Hope's office after Hoke confronted him, said we'd be getting some kind of additional reward and everything. Forgot about that part.

"...something like that." Arthur, too turns his attention to Gnash and Bennetton. "I'm sorry we didn't have more time to catch up. I think you'd be surprised at the path my life took from that night. From one ex-Watchman to two others..." Arthur gives the pair a proper Town Watch salute. As Arthur reclaims his gear from his allies, he takes an extra moment to embrace Hans and Triad. "I just want to thank you for having my back again. Having the two of you there, fighting together once more...it helped me remember the better parts of those bitter memories. I'm so sorry that my mistakes--no, my selfishness--led to your deaths, and I hope that somehow I can live up to the legacy you've left behind." And speaking of legacies... Arthur glances back at Miirym, who sits standoffishly near the edge of the group. She waves him away with her wing, and though he complies, Arthur makes a note to speak with her--before their return to the world of the living. Returning his attention to the departing spirits, Arthur smiles at Zelphie. "I owe you thanks as well, miss. You took one Hel of a blow from Vonnetate, yet you kept on swinging even against impossible odds. Thanks for reminding me that not all Heroes put themselves ahead of the mission." Arthur turns toward Guffington, hand outstretched for a final handshake. "I imagine this is goodbye for us as well. Given what I told you in the ship's cabin, well...I think you can guess how unlikely it'll be for us to meet again. But never say never, I suppose. It's been an honor working for you. I'm glad I can count myself among the lucky few to join in the final adventure of the Great Gerald Guffington." --- While he waits for the others to say their goodbyes, Arthur takes a moment to lean towards Miirym, who has resumed her standoffish stance near the edge of the group. "You doing okay?" he asks her quietly. After a long moment, Miirym slowly nods. "<I know not what to make of what I have learned.>" Her tone is measured, careful. "<It seems...excessive, the lengths to which they went.>" Arthur shrugs. "If anything ever happened to me, I'd go just as far to see you again. Well, if I'd leave a soul when I..." Miirym exhales, a mixture of frustration and distaste expressed through a cloud of fine mist. "<I wish not to discuss it.>" The Dragon looks around warily. "<I do not like this place. My cousin and I are too young of our kind for this place of death. It does not befit us.>" Arthur stretches his arms wide in a helpless shrug. "I'm only human, Miirym. Death is a constant of my race." "<Perhaps.>" Miirym stares off into the blank abyss, her eyes tracking movements too distant for a non-Dragon's sight to follow. Perceiving a desire for solitude, Arthur strolls back towards the others, but to his surprise he finds Miirym's head resting upon his shoulder. "<D...Arthur?>" she asks quietly, her words nearly dying in her throat before she can utter them. "<When we return to Eubric, can we...that is, would you help me...?>" "...find out more about your father?" Miirym nods. Arthur looks away from his partner, his face unreadable. He nods, softly, once. "Of course." Vipera, perhaps, could have sensed the emotions running through him. Perhaps some of the others did. But as he set his sights upon the path back to the realm of the living, the face of Arthur Ziegfried betrayed not joy, nor sadness, but nothing at all.

Wait, do we now finally know who Vindsval's father was?

Making an artifact take up three Artifact slots on top of their physical location slots is a needless nerf, IMO; if you're trying to balance a powerful Artifact, the inconvenience of having to give up those extra slots at higher levels despite them being empty in terms of overall Artifact count is more than enough, and helps to justify traits like the Artisan's Fashionista trait existing; additionally, the entire point of the multi-slot Artifacts we already have is to give lower-level characters powerful Artifacts that let them stand with the higher-leveled characters, but in a way that doesn't scale up when they themselves become high-level. The only circumstance in which I'd make an Artifact take up multiple Artifact slots (as opposed to just multiple position slots) is if I was creating some kind of upgradeable Artifact (think Samus Aran's Power Suit from Metroid, and yes I have tried and failed multiple times to come up with a balanced and thematically appropriate way of making a Heroica equivalent), in which case it's not the Artifact itself taking up multiple slots so much as balancing the swappable upgrades like separate Artifacts without having to worry about physical locations on top of total slot limits. (Example: the Power Suit is a bodywear that takes up all six Artifact slots, but from there you can choose any six of Samus' power-ups in any combination, it just takes a turn to swap out which power-ups you want active [just like it takes a turn to swap out normal Artifacts].) Also (and this is a mild spoiler, but whatever), I do have allied and enemy NPC abilities in the works that change their stats based on how many Artifacts the Hero has equipped, as a means of being able to balance mixed-level parties; Artifacts that take multiple Artifact slots will put those players at a notable disadvantage in those fights.

Miirym blinks at this new information, but aside from a quick glance at Arthur she keeps her feelings closely guarded. Arthur, too, keeps his feelings as close to the chest as possible, but unlike his charge he is not able to hide the wheels turning within his mind. "Vorpalis and Lethauros..." he murmurs, filing the names away for later. At the sight of Passion, the ex-Mage's expression breaks out into a weary grin. "It is good to see you again, Passion. Yes, we are here for you. It's time for you to come back. Lord Guffington, would you like to explain?"

Teleportapples only work within the Fields. ...or at the very least, they can only teleport people to a Sanctuary within the Fields. I wouldn't categorically rule out their use in other locations in the world that might happen to have a Fields-like setup, at least not without Word of Sandy.

"Use your crossbow, it'll hit both halves of the phlegman and Zee as well."

Heavens above, this is stressful...there's a stupidly small chance that we kill everyone but Zee and Slim yscum in Chauncey's Spirit Burst, but Hans would have to get a SHIELD on Lethauros first. It would be supremely awesome if successful, though, and if Dyric manages his hit all of the Slim Yscum will be poisoned and cursed so mopping them up will be easier as well.

OOC: For own notes: next Round is Round 14. Battle Order and Actions: >Miirym uses Hope's Blessing on Chauncey >Triad uses Nostrum on Hans Hans v. Lethauros - Dark Spirit v. Lethauros - >Chauncey (Darkness) v. Slim Yscum - SHIELD Light Spirit v. Lethauros - Arthur lands Jump Hit v. Vorpalis Zee - >Dyric (Crossbow of Incessant Warmongers) v. Slim Yscum A - "Really hope this works..." Arthur mutters.

OOC: Did you roll for Zelphie's trap on her Special Damage/Free Hit? Arthur beams as Miirym boosts him high into the air before sweeping through a cloud of her own mist and setting it off. "That's my girl!" he praises. It's only then that he notices the carnage that occurred afterward. "...well, that went just about exactly as poorly as it could have possibly gone." Arthur gazes down upon the two enormous Dragons looming over the remainder of the party. "Are both of you Elder Dragons? What are your names?" Miirym shoots her Elders a suspicious stare. "<How can my strength, my worth possibly be reason for the souls of two Elder Dragons to rouse themselves from their slumber? I could see one, perhaps--some rite of passage for our kind, one Vipera had not enough time to teach me. I thought perhaps Torc might be facing her own Draconic opponent. But two?>" Miirym shakes her scaly head. "<That is no coincidence. Why have you singled me out?>" "Dyric, I'm going to need you to switch over to that crossbow of yours, on the first Phlegman. We need to get both it and Zee poisoned and cursed, we're not going to be able to take either one down otherwise. I'll see if I can somehow work our Battle Order to our advantage."

OOC: Are we missing any actions, or is life just busy?

Switching weapons doesn't take a turn, a Hastened Hero can choose to attack with Weapon A and then attack with Weapon B on their second turn just fine.

OOC 2: Looks like Arthur and Miirym should have more health from Blessed, it's noted in the rolls this Round but not in the stats. Miirym should have 54 HP, Arthur should have 37. Battle Order and Actions Dark Spirit v. Fahrenheit Ziegfried - Light Spirit v. Veken - >Chauncey (Darkness) v. Zee - >Zelphie v. Fheong - OR if Fheong KO'd, >Zelphie does nothing >Dyric (Dual Handcannon) v. Zee (twice) - Arthur v. Vorpalis - OR if Vorpalis KO'd, Arthur v. Zee - >Miirym v. Veken - OR if Veken KO'd, >Miirym v. Zee - >Triad uses Grand Potion on Hans OR if Dyric injured by 25 or less HP, >Triad uses Grand Potion on Dyric OR if Dyric injured by more than 25 HP, >Triad uses Health Core on Dyric Hans v. Elu - OR if Elu KO'd, Hans v. Zee

OOC: Zelphie should have taken more damage from that thanks to her Fragile, which should have KO'd and then insta-revived her, unless her trap triggered; did you roll for that?

OOC: No worries, it was just your wording earlier that confused me, doing it this way makes things a lot easier for me to understand.

OOC: Dyric and Zelphie shouldn't have been de-weaponed, if Elu was supposed to be using Special I. Thus, Dyric should have successfully used his Dual Handcannon, and dealt a total of 12 damage to Zee (15*2=30/5=6+6=12). (And Fahrenheit and Elu shouldn't have taken any damage from the attack.) Speaking of Fahrenheit, he should have used Family Pride again since he wasn't dead and revived by Zee, so Zed's, Arthur's, and Fahrenheit's SP should be higher again this Round. OOC 2: Also, I'm still confused by Chauncey's rolls. His summons are on independent cycles, then? That is, it solely depends on the element he's casting with? "A solid plan, let's run with it. You should attack, too, Triad, you've got a Jinx coming up, and if you can hit a tripleshot all the better. Lord Chauncey, we've got a free moment, let's see if you can't buff Dyric a bit." Battle Order and Actions Arthur v. Vorpalis - lands Jump Hit Light Spirit v. Veken - Dark Spirit v. Fahrenheit Ziegfried - >Miirym v. Azure Tao Warrior Elu - >Chauncey uses Scroll of Elemental Aura (Darkness) on Dyric - >Zelphie v. Azure Tao Warrior Feong - >Dyric (Unlucky Horseshoe) v. Zee - >Triad (Acerpusculum Blade) v. Zee - Hans v. Zee -

Battle Order and Actions: Arthur v. Vorpalis - Dark Genie v. Fahrenheit Ziegfried - Light Spirit v. Veken - >Chauncey (Darkness) v. Veken - Triad retrieves shuriken >Miirym makes Hans Lucky - Hans v. Zee - >Zelphie v. Azure Tao Warrior Elo - >Dyric (Double-barrelled Handcannon) v. Zee (twice) -

OOC: Arthur should no longer be Enraged. Also, Veken should only have 100 HP. Will post more later.

Arthur uses the Fenghuang Incence from the Front Row. "We've got a brief window, Dyric--you need to swap that quiver for those rags, no sense in your attacks being weakened for the rest of the battle. You can target Zee next Round." Miirym focuses her effort to make Hans Lucky from the Back Row. Battle Order and actions: Light Spirit v. Vorpalis - Dark Spirit v. Veken - 150*2=300 Damage, Veken KO'd (-1 ether Chauncey) Arthur uses Fenghuang Essence >Dyric swaps Quiver of Blinding Light for Cabin Boy's Rags >Zelphie uses Remedy on Arthur >Triad uses Mead on Chauncey >Miirym makes Hans Lucky - Dark Genie v. Fahrenheit Ziegfried - Hans v. Zee - >Chauncey (Darkness) v. Zed Ziegfried -

Is it just me, or does Queen Halbert's torso design look like she was meant to have a different leg design than the dress she was given in this set? Perhaps she wasn't originally planned to have a slope dress, or perhaps she's planned to have normal legs at some point later on? The change from gold to blue between torso and dress just seems really out-of-place to me, IMO.

Welp, one of my favorite recent Disney movies (and by far my most favorite setting in a Disney movie, seriously can San Fransokyo please become a real thing already?!?), done by the people behind one of my number one nostalgic TV shows. Time to go set my DVR!

Yeah, Skeleton Decoys are really underpowered, they definitely need a buff beyond just the Deluxe version; they have absolutely atrocious value for their cost, both in bones and in gold.

OOC: Hey, Zeph, could we get those fixes when you have a chance? I'm having trouble strategizing when I have to hold both my plans and the corrected stats in my head. "Indeed...I'm rather hesitant to take on Cousin Zed, his Abyss would wipe us clean off the map. But at the same time, I'm the only one who can safely withstand the great dragon's tail strike." Arthur glances back at Triad with concern, then makes up his mind. "Blast it. We need the extra layer of protection. Hopefully nothing worse than Zee decides to show up." "<Speaking of our Draconic opponent...who are you, great one? I would be remiss not to learn the identity of my opponent before I outmatch him.>" Miirym asks Vorpalis as she prepares to make an attack at Arthur's command.

Actually, the Skeleton Decoy absorbs all Free Hits until it breaks, at which point the remaining Free Hits begin to damage the rest of the party.

"No, you're the only one who can hurt Zee more than the rest of us. Looks like that double-barreled handcannon is going to come in handy. Do you think I should use my Fenghuang Incense, or just keep on attacking?"