Dulcinea de Montréal Goes To Clavia (and Marefore Too)!

[Aeromage]

Beaky does seem interested at the prospect of a free house. Taking his appearance (and, now he's in close quarters, smell) into consideration, it looks like he's not been having too much luck with regards to having a place to stay. Unless said place is a fishing boat.

Beaky shrugs. "I've gotten to know a bunch of the Aptim fishermen in the area. THEY'LL listen to me, even if the hu-- the others won't. Mu-- Mrs. Fein can probably get the news hammered into the skulls of those LOACH-BRAINED IDIOTS. A lot of the Aptim in the slums have been getting sick from the fish, so telling them about this stuff IS important..."
His stomach growls.
"...after I've tested this food. To make sure it isn't DANGEROUS if you're going to sell it here."

Beaky finally takes off the mask in order to go about the business of consuming the bowl of ramen.

Beaky, as it turns out, is a fairly young-looking teenage catboy. He has bright blue cat-like eyes, blue whisker-marks on his cheeks which blend into the white, mossy-fur sideburns and fur-patches around his face which blends into the fur covering his head and running down his neck. A fluffy tuft of bright-red hair-fur crowns his head, dividing the space between his large cat ears.

He also bears more than a passing resemblence to Helen Fein.


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Dulcinea braves the deeps! The water is indeed a lot deeper here, and quickly becomes murky as she descends. An erratic, rhythmic muffled thoom issues from below, in time to sudden jumps in the Compass' needle.
A wash of damaging Atomic energy ripples upwards, dissipating against Dulcinea's defenses.
She's quite a distance above whatever's down there still, though, and the effect will likely get stronger as she continues to dive.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Ryuutarou and Willoughby put two and two together, and feel sad, but don't want to interrupt him eating, since they're both sure he needs it.

After he completes the eating, they take him down to Seabrook Square so he can select a storefront/residence.

"If you want to sell anything out of the storefront, feel free, but you'll probably get enough business from the restaurants for any fish you catch that I wouldn't expect you to need to sell fish here. As a Guild Member, you're entitled to free coffee from 𝔗𝔥𝔢 ℭ𝔬𝔣𝔣𝔢𝔢 𝔐𝔞𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔢, but I recommend no more than two cups a day, it's a busy place. Also, don't go in Crendall's Tailoring, it's a dungeon right now, we're working with the Spiritual Defense Force to get that taken care of, but plans were on hold while Dulcinea was frozen in time taking care of the almost-became-a-dungeon in Prier's Paradise, and she decided the fish-problem was higher priority when she got out."

-----

Dulcinea, uses the Prime Power of the Citadel of the Fisherman

* Links its owner's geomancy to its owner's health, increasing one while the other is healthy but allowing damage to one to damage the other

to try to link her Basic Defenses Against Atomic and Radiation-Proof into the Citadel with Geomancer to boost their power, and then use Apprentice Channeler to then channel that effect out into the Citadel's Not-Technically-A-Zone to defend her Summons.

[Aeromage]

Beaky, mask back on, tries not to give away his sheer disbelief at the size of the district now apparently owned by Nexans in the middle (or rather, south of the middle, due to unfortunate and obvious reasons) of the Marefore Bazaar.
He fails utterly, of course, but still pretends to be unaffected.

"I-I'll do fine selling fish directly to the Flying Catfish. Or MAYBE the ones you set up, I SUPPOSE. Besides, if I sell ANYTHING in a shop here, it'll be stuff like THIS."

He holds up a solid-green, faintly-glowing orb about the size of a fist.

"I've killed enough of those PONDSCUM COPIES to get a few of these. Those Spirit Hunter types will probably want SOMETHING like this. Or maybe people will just want them as decorations."


After a bit of wandering, Beaky chooses a property, picking one somewhat-away from the (now rather expanded) Seabrook Square on Mallow Road, although not the one directly next to the Quarantine Wall. Ryuu gets the feeling properties abutting that might not be very popular.

Marefore Shopping District 22-06-23.jpg (983.47 KiB) Viewed 1717 times

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Dulcinea links herself to the Citadel of the FIsherman and all of its properties therein! She diverts any incoming damage inward, and then shifts it through the geomantic flows to buffer through the properties and Citadel itself, filtering through its not-a-Zone and radiating out from its edges to keep herself and the gang of summons safe!

It succeeds, albeit not quite in the way she expects.

As she continues to descend, something about the way she's channeling the incoming Atomic damage through the Citadel's Prime Power trips the Atomic-Attracting Reef, which, through some complicated interaction or the other, flips the Citadel's Not-A-Zone-Of-Water to a Not-A-Zone-Of-Atomic while the incoming pulses of radioactive energy lash out against her.
This doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on her or the summons, due to the Citadel's power (although the incoming blasts are somewhat rattling the windows at present), but if she lingers overmuch she may end up introducing more radiation into the surrounding waters than the erratic blasts are alone.

The water grows murkier and murkier, the eerie aura from the not-an-Atomic-Zone surrounding her only serving to turn the surroundings into an opaque muddle of shifting greens. She reaches what she believes is the seabed, but there's a large hole that appears to have been melted down through it.

The blasts are getting stronger from this distance, and the water is getting noticably hot.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Ryuutarou smiles after Beaky picks a place.

"Glad you've found a spot you like. Do you have anything you'd want us to help you move over here before you go off to talk to the Aptim fishermen and we head back to the docks to wait for Dulcinea?"

-----

Dulcinea has Blazing Sultan and Apprentice Command of Fire, along with the Citadel's Minor Power:

* Can demarcate areas of water to be specific temperatures, types, and levels of saline content, preventing mixing of water types even when the water is in direct contact with other types of water

She commands the water that she and her summons are in to maintain a comfortable temperature, while demarcating a specific area inside her control as "this is where all the hot goes", with vague ideas percolating of using it as a sort of steam cannon against possible future foes.

[Aeromage]

"No, I've got a... friend... who can move my stuff in," Beaky replies.
Ryuu's picking up somewhat complicated feelings from that tone of voice, but the catboy seems certain enough to have things in hand.
"I'll head to the slums and let them know what to watch out for so they don't all DIE from what they catch. I can sort out the new place MYSELF later."

He turns and starts walking off towards The Eddy, presumably to make his way to the slums via the winding bazaar streets. Ryuu hears a mumbled 'thanks' as he goes, tail swishing under his oilskin coat.

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Dulcinea is the Lord Fisherman of the Citadel, and she will not put up with inconveniently-high ocean temperatures, Atomic meltdowns or no! The surrounding water immediately cools to a far more acceptable level, while a small bubble off to the side begins to churn and roil as the incoming heat is focused entirely into it.

The hole in the ocean floor begins to grow more claustrophobic as she descends further, the occasional THOOM pummeling against her geomantically-linked damage-radiator. The Citadel will probably be fine. It'll probably re-grout itself after some time in Nexus.

A few tiles slide off one of the many rooftops within her soulspace, eliciting a wince. Maybe a bit of DIY, too.

The next ripple-blast of Atomic force blows away the lingering sediment, giving Dulcinea a clearer view of the menace of the moment- a melted mass of glass and metal fused together, with unclear shapes within that look disturbingly like skeletal limbs.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Ryuutarou and Willoughby head down to the docks!

-----

Dulcinea has a suspicion that this is probably actually alive enough to be a fight and not just a thing in the water, so she starts off with a swing from the Rod of the Lord Fisherman enhanced with

Parallel Mageblast: Gaze of the Star Oculus- (Spell, Technomancy, Astral, 65,000 MP, 6,500,000 Gold) +6,500 Magical Attack, +6,500 Ranged Attack, Target's stats are scanned

to give it the old Punch & Scan!

Should the scan verify that it is indeed a creature, the Hippocampi use their Bronze Hooves and the Tritons their Great Tridents. The Fishy Physician holds back for defensive response.

[Aeromage]

The needs of their newest recruit seen to, Ryuu and Willoughby head down through their district and into the bazaar beyond, towards the seafront promenade and the docks beyond! The trip through the winding streets is pleasantly uneventful, although Ryuu can't shake the nagging feeling that it looks more empty than it should. Seeing a place that should be so busy with shoppers and merchants in such a state is somewhat unnerving, to say the least- but perhaps once their work here is done, the town will get a new lease of life?


----------------------------------------------------------


Dulcinea suspects sinister sentience, and swings a starry-spell-stare at the somewhat-skeletal-structure-showing scrap!

The rod's hook-end impacts with a muffled, distorted bell-like tone, prompting another blast of redirected Atomic destruction from the thing.

She scans:

Radioactive Relic of Marefore Recrudescent (3)- (Accessory, Quest Item, Atomic & Time & Fate, 10,000,000 Gold) +10,000 Magical Attack, Whenever a Zone of Atomic is created or restored in the same battlespace as wielder, wielder may deal 200,000 Flat Atomic damage to all entities within that battlespace and attach an effect to said Zone that deals 200,000 Flat Atomic damage to all entities within it at the start of each round that pierces 10,000 Defense and ignores the Resistances of individuals below Level 60

Looks like it isn't alive, although it is fairly violent and dangerous in its current state and situation.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Ryuutarou looks around for the previously-mentioned Dockmaster, and, if he is not found, settles in to wait for Dulcinea's return.

Willoughby climbs up on Ryuutarou's head and settles in for a nap once he does so.

----

Dulcinea directs her summons back while she opens up her soul-store of WONDERS OVERWHELMING to yoink up that angry zone-damage relic.

Once it is secured, she will check the compass again for any Atomic effects suddenly appearing or increasing in relative strength now that the three biggest sources have been claimed. If there are no unusual signs appearing or becoming more clear, she will return to the Docks to see if the Dockmaster has arrived.

[Aeromage]

Ryuutarou looks around for the Dockmaster! The man still seems to be absent. That's somewhat odd, Dong. but he has more important things to do than wait around for him.
Instead, he waits around for Dulcinea!

Willoughby takes a nap on the dragon-chef's head.


----


Dulcinea Citadel-grabs the angry atomic article out of the hole it apparently melted itself in the seafloor! It thunks down next to the other two, the inrush of now-dissipatingly-atomic-infused seawater clapping together in the physical world with a muted, bell-like sound.

Dulcinea re-checks her compass! The thing is now lazily spinning, occasionally turning to snap towards what she thinks is Marefore. It looks like she got the primary offenders with regards to irradiating the local ocean, as far as she can tell. Time, tide, and natural elemental breakdown in the absence of a good source of Atomic in the area should take care of the rest, although the fishermen in town will probably have to examine their catches and/or go further afield for their fish for a good while.

Thus assured, Dulcinea decides to return to the docks with her Atomic haul in tow!

Ding. This is an excellent idea.

Once again, the Lord Fisherman and Nightmare Scientist (who are one and the same) rise from the depths to re-board their wondrous vessel spun from saltwater and sea spray, returning to the town in triumph!


----

Ryuutarou is still waiting for Dulcinea, given the absence of the Dockmaster. Where is he, anyway? Dong. It's not important; he has more to focus on right now. Like Dulcinea, whose vessel has hoved into view and is making its way to the dockside at a fair clip!

Dulcinea, now in possession of all three Radioactive Relics of Marefore Recrudescent, steps off the boat, her foot hitting the promenade and, as such, enters Marefore proper once again with her Atomic, Time and Fate-infused cargo.

Which are currently in the Citadel, not in her physical possession.

Dong.

Absolutely nothing happens.

Ding.

Absolutely nothing happens? That's to be expected, isn't it? She just stepped off a boat, after all. Why would something happen if she did that? Dong. She has more important things to worry about right now, anyway. Like finding that Dockmaster.
Except it appears he still isn't here. That's odd. Ding. But she has other things to worry about right now.

Like... well. What else would there be to worry about, right now? She's gotten to the bottom of what was causing the Poison Poisson Problem. The relevant people know about it. Ryuutarou said he'd deal with spreading the word. The only person who probably doesn't know about it is the Dockmaster, who isn't here. Which is odd. Dong. But she has more important things to worry about right now.

Like why nothing is happening. But why would something be happening? She just stepped off her boat, after all. Why would something happen if she did that? It's not like anything should be happening for that. Ding. But anyway, she's got more important things to worry about. Like...

...why does she keep getting distracted? She feels like that's been happening a lot, lately. Dong. But it's almost certainly nothing, she has other things to think about. Like why she keeps getting distracted. Didn't the Professor mention something about that? Ding. But that's probably not important. Nothing is happening, and that's fine. She has more important things to worry about.

Dong.

Like why she's got that odd ringing in her ears, and has been for quite some time now. Ding. But that's not important right now, she has other things she should be focusing on.

Like why her soul seems to be hurting. Dong. But it's probably nothing.

All of the Citadel of the Fisherman's windows crack in unison as absolutely nothing continues to happen.

Ding.

And then a great many things happen.

Dulcinea is aware of the Nearby Baseball. It's always nearby, after all. It was always on the boat, bobbing in the waves, floating near her under the water. It's also in her soul, because that's where she keeps the Citadel, and the best place for a nearby baseball to be is on a mantlepiece somewhere.
It's also nearby the Golemstone Throne That Rose From [UNIVERSAL EXISTENCE FAILURE], because of course it is. Why wouldn't it be? It's always nearby, after all, especially when something is happening.

Dulcinea is then aware of falling over as every single one of the Citadel's obfuscating, contents-obscuring, scan-evading, divination-warding properties are abruptly pierced at the same time as someone or something forces their sight into her soul and her Citadel.

The Citadel where the Radioactive Relics of Marefore Recrudescent are kept.
The Citadel where the Nearby Baseball is.


The Citadel where the Golemstone Throne That Rose From [UNIVERSAL EXISTENCE FAILURE] sits, its barely-restrained power prevented from acting on as much a scale as it would due to the result of that [non]event.
The Golemstone Throne that made Dulcinea's head, heart, soul and mana pattern hurt just by looking at it for a few seconds.

Dong. But she has more important things to think about right-- Din--CRACK.

Suddenly, Dulcinea doesn't have more imporant things to think about right now, and, furthermore, wonders why exactly her attention kept getting drawn away from certain topics.

Suddenly, a fruitcart upsets itself, sending dozens upon dozens of apples rolling down a side-street as Ryuutarou watches on in confusion, their presence causing no issues because of Marefore's still-underpopulated nature.

A sign abruptly falls from its failing mountings, twisting in an unusual way and landing point-first in the street on top of nobody.

The entire array of windows facing the seaside crack in unison, in such a manner they become entirely impossible to see out of. This is only notable in the damage caused, because there's nothing to obscure out to sea to cause problems due to the lack of visibility.

A freak shift in the tides caused by multiple factors see currents sweeping in from the ocean, utterly failing to flood the docks with radioactive water because the reef that was once there has been taken.

Two men that haven't seen each other in years abruptly meet on the promenade, exclaiming with joy, and immediately promise to get a drink together. But they realise all the bars are closed because it's still early in the day.

A flock of birds takes off, veering suddenly over Vernon Pinna's airship business/hangar/docking station, and passing without issue because Vernon hasn't had enough time with the resources he's been given to build a prototype airship yet.

More things happen. A large number of events, mundane and notable-but-within-reason alike, all seem to suddenly, somehow go off concurrently.

The Nearby Baseball within Dulcinea's soul and next to her on the flagstones of the promenade looms, menacingly, as it Ends something.
Then something else.
Then something else.
Then something else...




Dulcinea thinks everything is starting to calm down when--

CLANGK-CRACK-THOOOOM.

A belltower, that definitely wasn't there before that she could tell, looming from part of the Bazaar and now-obvious against the skyline, explodes. Its roof erupts in a static-filled flare of [NON]-colour, a whirl of eye-twisting smoke, and the tattered shreds of a large working of horribly-perverted Divination Magic. A broken, blackened bell, trailing smoke and ghostly images of indistinct nature (which somehow remind her of that one Abstract she fought in the dungeon) is blasted free from its moorings and spins, end-over-end, landing in the ocean with a distant splash.


Dulcinea is just about to get her bearings in the face of that, when-

Dulcinea gains 3 Fame.
Dulcinea gains 3 Obscurity.

Dulcinea gains 4 Destiny Weaver or Gambler (her choice) Bonus Weeks.

Dulcinea and The Nearby Baseball gain five times the XP for a Level 75 entity.
Dulcinea and The Nearby Baseball gain ten times the XP for a Level 60 entity.
Dulcinea and The Nearby Baseball gain twenty times the XP for a Level 50 entity.

Dulcinea gains:
'Did Not Trigger The Return of the Nuclear Destruction of Marefore on Seirei'
'Inadvertently, Indirectly Destroyed The Carillon Impara on Seirei'
'Inadvertently, Indirectly Destroyed The Knell of Marefore Before It Could Be Completed As An Artifact on Seirei'
'Inadvertently, Indirectly Responsible For The Complete Annihilation of the Sixth Lesser Belfry and Everyone In It on Seirei'
'Inadvertently Responsible For The Complete Unraveling of All Fateweavings and Destruction of All Persistent Divinations Over Impara on Seirei'
'Inadvertently Managed To Ruin Most of House Aevus' Plans for Impara on Seirei Due To Accidentally Blundering Into The Sixth Lesser Belfry's Projects In Marefore After Having Emerged From [UNDEFINED] During [UNIVERSAL EXISTENCE FAILURE], Storing Fateweaving-Critical Items Inside A Divination-Warded Artifact, And Causing An Entire Faculty And Student Body To Fully Focus Their Divination Prowess On An Item Far Beyond The Power Of Most Of Lower Reality, Further Getting Off Unidentified And Scott-Free Due To Having An Unexpected Pseudo-Endbringer Permanently End Them Beyond Resurrection While Also Destroying All Divination Effects Over The Island'
'Freed Marefore From Its Predestined Fate(s)'


The Nearby Baseball gains, as an Indexed Ability:
Eversparkness of all non-Healize: Fire- 156,000 damage, Deals MP damage to targets above Level 59, Targets gain +5% Critical, +60,000 MP and deal 1/3 damage with Criticals as an effect that does not stack, 1 hit against X, where X is equal to the number of individuals in the Back Row of Caster's side of battle, Heals, Ice or Darkness & Ice or Psychic or (Any one element of an individual targeted by caster previously in the thread), 0 MP

'Ended Artifact: The Carillon Impara'


And here we witness the effects of somebody effectively derailing a huge chunk of Fate and careful planning.

[The Nottest of Daves]

"Ryuutarou, go to city hall immediately and tell Violet I need an emergency meeting with Fina Clavis! I need to go out and collect that chunk of bell first though!"

Ryuutarou and Hat-Willoughby head off to City Hall!

Dulcinea re-summons her vessel and sails out in the direction of the bell, checking her Compass along the way to see if it's radiating Atomic energy.

----

Dulcinea chooses Destiny Weaver weeks!

[Aeromage]

The group splits and hurries off!

Ryuutarou, Willoughby perched atop his head, rushes into Marefore Town Hall!

He's greeted by an unpleasant scene. The atrium now has an entirely different layout- the receptionist's desk, which was once backed by a blank wall, now has a large pair of polished mahogany doors behind it, a plaque reading 'Office of The Mayor' set into them.
The doors are open, and a terrible oppressive, cloying smell is washing out into the atrium from beyond.

Violet and the secretary are stood in the doorway looking in, in apparent shock.

The still-gardening-attired clerk turns as the dragon-chef barges in.
"M-mr. Ryuutarou, the M-mayor... he's... he can't be, I was contacting him through Memos and he was leaving his secretary messages to respond to our inquiries, but the doors... why didn't I notice the doors were missing? ...they suddenly appeared, and there was this smell, and when we looked in..."

----

Dulcinea sprints to the dockside, her foot almost falling through the condensing sea-spray as it forms her vessel.

Fortunately, she got a good look at where the bell went, and sails with all due haste in the direction it fell, checking her compass. There's a minor uptick in Atomic energy in the direction it headed, but it seems to be dispersing rapidly. Whatever link to the element the bell had, it's either gone or broken so badly it no longer registers in any decent capacity.

She's fairly sure she's found the right area, though. It's just that the bell likely sank beneath the waves.

[The Nottest of Daves]

It's time for Emergency Tactical Fleff Action!

Chef's Conflict-Calming Culinary Confrontation is deployed with Random Fleff! Psychiatrist/Psychologist/Therapist are also invoked with Ryuutarou's calming words.

"Dulcinea's got a decent idea what's going on, she needs you all to get Fina Clavis down here right away. However, she went off to recover a bell that went sailing off into the ocean after a bell tower appeared and exploded, so I think we can take a little bit of time to calm down and take the edge off first."

Willoughby wanders up to whoever looks like they need something fluffy to cuddle and starts headbutting their legs and rubbing against their shins.

------

Dulcinea dives overboard!

She attempts to set up a search pattern by summoning groups of 3 Hippocami and a Triton and directing them to search areas until she either locates the bell or runs out of summons (the Citadel caps at 200).

[Aeromage]

Ryuu moves to provide some calming Tactical Fleff, and--

Oh. Oh dear.

He decides to close the doors to the mayor's office first. The sight of the man's emaciated corpse clutching a sheaf of communication strips in a destroyed room covered in desperate scratches and debris (with an unsettlingly-untouched area on and around the door itself) is definitely not conducive to a therapeutic chat. Not to mention the smell.

The previously-unflappable secretary is in clear shock- likely the realisation that the mayor's office and the horror within it was right behind her the entire time has something to do with that. She remains staring at the closed doors even as Willoughby gets to work putting her divine adorable kitten-ness to the task.

"I... right. The Clavis. House. Yes. The Hosue with Clavis in it. Fina Clavis. I... I think I know where the strip-" Violet looks at the now-closed doors and shudders. "...the backup strip for official communications to it is kept. I'm just going to go. ...and get that."
She turns somewhat woodenly and marches over to one of the nearby doors, opening it. Then closing it, turning around, walking across the room to a different door, and opening that, poking her head inside, closing it, and opening it again before entering.


------

Dulcinea dives into the murky depths, summoning up a cadre of aquatics to assist her!
She swims down, down through dark waters and stirred-up silt, down through the skein of tangled threads that coalesce into a townscape of blurry figures that condense further into swimmy relief.
Dulcinea swims through a square of the bazaar at night, townsfolk drinking and eating and buying from the night-stalls. An elderly, armoured figure from somewhere else spins into being, caught in the skein, made central to events and granted leeway to affect things, made far easier by virtue of their natural ability to affect things on a narrative scale far beyond their normal means.
The armoured figure flips a lizard-like humanoid figure onto its back, sprouts wings, grows into a draconic form, and hops skyward. Green, sinister radiance builds and builds within it, seeping through the cracks until it goes supercritical and erupts, wiping out the town--

But that Fate was undone.

The skein and threads fall apart into disarray as time rewinds- not perfectly, not fully, but enough to prevent the destruction overall. Dulcinea swims through an island of atomic destruction, a blasted piece of nuclear apocalypse contained within high walls and centered around a deep, glowing well from which green light spills. Parts of the skein catch and anchor on it, tying to the power of Time, that it might once again be brought to bear--

But it could not adapt fast enough before being torn away.

The image falls apart into smoke and threads of seawater and... words? as all possibility of that future dissolves and a nascent Aspect dies, lost forever.

Dulcinea instead plunges into the ocean. Which is odd, because she's already in the ocean. Three glowing cores of green light fall from the sky and nestle in the depths. Time blurs forward. Green energy leaks forth, poisoning the sea, proliferating and tainting more and more areas in an indistict, blurry fashion, twisting and killing the sealife, poisoning the town which relies on fishing as a major industry and dooming it to a slow, cancerous death.

But that Fate was averted.

Time blurs backwards as the scene repeats, but this time a figure on a boat spun from salt spray and seawater dives into the depths, recovering each of the green cores and bringing them with her.

The Fate adapts.

The figure brings the green cores to the town, whereupon they link up with another of the Fates at play, bringing the nuclear destruction once more--

But the cores were not physically present.

With its primary narrative destroyed and the hastily-written secondary plan fallen apart, that scene, that Aspect- and the potential future with it- collapses like the first into lingering, dissipating smoke and threads and dissolving words written in ink.
Dulcinea is once again swimming in the murky depths.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Ryuutarou attempts to look as calm and comforting as a long noodly dragon can, while Willoughby applies Divine Adorableness to the distraught secretary. If she happens to want to speak, or if Ryuutarou can read her well enough to tell she wants to talk but needs a push to actually start, he will use his Draconic Wisdom to back up his Bartender, Psychiatrist, Psychologist, and Therapist.

-----

Dulcinea pulls the *Chronographic Dungeonwriter from within her Robes of the Lord Fisherman with a flourish! If they have written a series of fated time loops that are breaking down, she shall step forth to oppose them with her own story! The Lord Fisherman, after all, is Fated to be a keeper of Artifacts both powerful and dangerous, to protect the worlds from those who would misuse them!

She wields the power of the Storyteller, Rapidly Crafting a tale of how the Lord Fisherman sailed out upon the seas in search of a Dangerous Remnant of an Artifact that cannot be left to its own devices. "Death and Destruction were your wont!" she Accused, "But I shall see you turned to Protection and Blessings!"

And lo, though she was challenged many times by the specters of its fading evils, she overcame them all with discernment and wit, until she stood before the Bell, and claimed it from its makers by the power of the Citadel and the Blessings of Lord Gadigan upon all his Arena Members.

*Chronographic Dungeonwriter- (Weapon, Quill, Time, Lv. 39, 100,000,000 Gold) +100,000 Magical Attack, wielder regenerates the amount of MP used to cast spells that cost 100,000 MP or less at the start of the round two rounds after they were cast, Time-element spells cast by wielder that cost less than 100,000 MP to cast may repeat at the start of wielder's first action in the next round, to a maximum of one spell being repeated in this manner per round; wielder may, once per thread while in a Random Dungeon and so long as no entity of greater Level than this item or its wielder objects, choose to return to an earlier point and state in the thread, with all subsequent rooms, encounters and treasures being rerolled, has RP effects
XP: 0
XP Needed: 24,600,000 (Standard Multiplier x3, Standard Multiplier raised to x30 to bypass Level 40 cap)

Storyteller- (Passive Ability, Bard) +250 MIN, Possessor's buffs that increase stats do so by an additional 30 points, to a max of 300 additional points across all stackings on any individual

Crafter- (Passive Ability, Crafter) Consumables possessor uses that deal Flat HP Damage, Flat MP Damage, Flat HP Healing, or Flat MP Healing deal an additional (1,000 * Possessor Level) points
Rapid Crafting- (Passive Ability, Crafter) Abilities, recipes or items that create items for weeks spent in the ability shop have the required number of weeks reduced by 1, to a minimum of 1 week

Detective's Accusation- (Technique Ability, Diviner) Possessor may use Detective's Accusation in conjunction with a Magical Attack action, so long as no other technique is used and it is being used against targets whose stats have been scanned by possessor. This action gains an amount of Defense-Piercing equal to user's MIN (to a max of 10,000 points) and dis-buffs one buff from targets below Level 20
Uncounterable Accusation- (Passive Ability, Diviner) Possessor's attacks and actions involving the Technique Detective's Investigation may not be countered (including pre-emptively) by individuals below Level 40 whose stats have been scanned by possessor

Supporting Passage- (Technique Ability, Magewright) Possessor may use 'Supporting Passage' in conjunction with a 'Magical Attack' or 'Cast a Spell' action so long a a Tome is equipped and no other technique is used as part of said action. Possessor may use 'Relevant Quotation' and 'Supporting Passage' as components of the same action. Said action gains +15 Magical Attack if its performer has a Book and a Tome equipped that share an element.

High Self-Confidence- (Passive Ability, Mentalist) Possessor gains 20% Confusion: Depression Resistance
Mental Focus- (Passive Ability, Mentalist) All Psychic Power spells gain +15 Magical Attack and cost 20 less MP, 5% Mindblasted Resistance

Apprentice Book Training- (Passive Ability, Scholar) Possessor gains +50 Magical Attack when a Book is equipped.

Basic Wonder Synchronization

[Aeromage]

As far as Ryuu can determine, the secretary is going to need time and perhaps some therapy to come to grips with this whole situation. Finding out your boss was lying dead a few metres behind you while you were utterly unaware (and apparently while someone pretending to be him was distributing orders and memos as normal) has to come as one hell of a shock to the system.

He hears Violet talking in muffled tones from the room she entered. Presumably, she's found the communication strip she was looking for. Or maybe she's decided that talking to herself is the best use of her time. But it's probably the first option.

------

Dulcinea pulls forth the Chronographic Dungeonwriter, ready to rewrite fate to her own ends! She is somewhat stymied, however, by not being in a dungeon at this present moment. Or having any appreciable grounding in Destiny Weaver.

She does have the knowledge of a Storyteller, however, and these little dissolving vignettes she's passing through have the sense of being just that- stories. Perhaps stories originally crafted to force a certain narrative on reality, but now bereft of the ability to do so and fading from existence, colliding with reality-as-it-is where it applies. Maybe whomever was behind the bell was trying to create Aspects out of stories, forcing Fate to follow the narratives in order to spin them into being?

Either way, the ones she just swam through were too weak, too shattered, too dissolute to get anything tangible from to pull into the Citadel.

Dulcinea continues to swim down. Once again, the seawater around her wavers, and she finds herself swimming through a forest. A figure in Spirit Tamer's robes embroidered with a seal depicting a stylised lily blossom plants a seed in the loamy soil. Time blurs, and the seed sprouts rapidly. Woodcutters go about their business, but one by one are distracted by a beautiful, nude woman with pale-gold skin who turns her back to reveal the soul-sucking void within. Each and every one of the woodsmen collapses in turn, their souls torn from their bodies to be repurposed by the Ash Maiden into the cores of new forest spirits, their bodies sent to nourish the earth. More and more new spirits rise, filling the forest as the Ash Maiden connects to a gate to the Spirit World within the forest, bouyed by her growing court. The town stops sending woodcutters, instead calling for help from other places. Blurry figures converge on the forest to help the town, only to fall, time and again, to the Ash Maiden's forces. She sends waves of spirits to pour out of the wood to attack a town no longer capable of repairing itself, denied the wood from the forest, each time abducting more and more people to tear the souls out of and build new spirits around, in a cycle that would see the forest eventually encroach on and overtake Marefore--

But that future is no longer set in stone.

The scene rewinds. Woodsmen fall, their souls torn from their bodies. The town stops sending them to the woods, instead calling for help from other places. Nobody responds. Nobody has responded. Yet.

The scene begins to dissolve, the developing proto-artifact it's anchored to having been all but destroyed and unable to support the aspect-in-potentia anymore. Words begin to unspool and dissipate from the scene as it fades back into seawater. Dulcinea catches the terms 'Final Year Project' and 'The Forest's Revenge' as prominent, vanishing parts of the text, along with scattered names and terms.

[The Nottest of Daves]

Ryuu continues to wait for Violet's return, continuing to look friendly and approachable. He starts to mix a nice glass of something refreshing to drink for everyone.

-----

Dulcinea is greatly irritated that the Sixth Lesser Belfry members were apparently making multiple fateweavings of doom over Marefore as school projects. Truly, House Aevus deserves Punishment, but that is a task beyond her as she is now. Perhaps Celas, the mighty necromancer and weaver of fates, has the strength to step forth to oppose them and use their means against them. She will need to find him afterward. Fortunately, she can rest easy knowing that the tormentors of Marefore have been Rightly Ended.

She also knows Many Common Types of Spirits, and considers what she has seen of the Ash Maiden, attempting to reconstruct a likely powerset and level for the Spirit, beyond "Steals souls to make forest spirits", anyway.

Knows Many Common Types of Spirits- (Passive Ability, Binder) Possessor counts as 3 Levels higher (to a maximum of 99) for the purposes of scanning non-Unique Spirits