Kiri pops back into view as three rays of fire leap out, one targeted at each mecha component!
Chim raises his shield and sends a MEGA VOLT at the MEGA LESHY,
As the Leshy avoids the gouts of flame altogether the unstable stars flicker and wink out.
Alrinkiri lashes bolts at the MEGA but only one hits the creature, even flat-footed! Unlike last time the MEGA LESHY is not weak to fire… seems the leshies used greener wood this time, but it's also not resistant to it yet. Clearly they are improving their armor tech. . The torso pilot gets out a little fire extinguished and sprays out the burning embers. Alrinkiri reappears.
The MEGA SICKLE ARM cuts at the magus — again, again…
But cannot connext! The MEGA regroups, and is no longer frigtened.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
MEGA-LESHY TORSO
MEGA-LESHY SHIELD ARM
Chimwemwe
Kiri
MEGA-LESHY SICKLE ARM
➤ Wisps
➤ Akoril
➤ Soomdevi
⠀⠀Blinks
"See how we prevail?"
Wisps fires off two more shots.
With the MegaMechaLeshy in his face Akoril reaches out with Vampiric Touch
Akoril then backs off, trying to get some more space.
Wisps's arrows fly wide.
The MEGA SICKLE LESHY lashes out with an AOO, but misses.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
MEGA-LESHY TORSO
MEGA-LESHY SHIELD ARM
Chimwemwe
Kiri
MEGA-LESHY SICKLE ARM
Wisps
Akoril
➤ Soomdevi
⠀⠀Blinks
Soomdevi riles up the crowd, making the MEGA LESHY quale in its triple-headed boots!
The MEGA TORSO's chest cavity slides open — she crowd rushes back — revealing a spout that sprays fire over Chim and Wisps!
The MEGA SHIELD pilot grumbles and raises the shield.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
MEGA-LESHY TORSO
MEGA-LESHY SHIELD ARM
➤ Chimwemwe
➤ Kiri
MEGA-LESHY SICKLE ARM
Wisps
Akoril
Soomdevi
⠀⠀Blinks
Kiri, seeing the creature's opportunistic swing at Akoril, Kiri dashes just into reach of their weapon, then carefully steps in and slashes at the monstrosity, hoping to take advantage of the pilots' fear! They then cast a defensive ward as they prepare for a counterattack.
Chimwemwe very nearly trips on a rock as he tries to avoid the flames, but residual echoes of his earlier time magic surge. He blinks out of time for a moment, missing the hitch on the ground. Finely etched runes on several embellishments glow and absorb as much of the fire as they can.
"This is a monster!" he yells at Alrinkiri as he strides out of the smoke and flame to engage the clockwork battle rig. He slams his shield toward the wooden construct as his tattoos flare with power from his armor. Then he rocks back and raises his shield protectively over himself.
Chim dodges all the fire — the crowd roars!
Kiri and Chim get into place and finally get to work, slamming shield and slashing claws.
MEGA SHIELD ACTIVATE! The leshy pilot yoinks a lever and the shield pushes off some of the force of Chim's attack, blocking some of Chim's damage.
The MEGA SICKLE ARM spins and slashes at Alrinkiri!
The MEGA SICKLE Pilot is really having a bad day!
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
MEGA-LESHY TORSO
MEGA-LESHY SHIELD ARM
Chimwemwe
Kiri
MEGA-LESHY SICKLE ARM
➤ Wisps
➤ Akoril
➤ Soomdevi
⠀⠀Blinks
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Akoril spends a moment to concentrate, closing their eyes and letting a dozen arrows fly before picking the best one, opening their eyes and firing it.
Debris swirls around the arrow as it speeds towards the megaleshy. Akoril's mask gleams, almost seemingly pleased with itself.
"You use fire against me? I am the Blazing spider!"
Wisps keeps her allies inspired and fires another two shots.
Akoril's debris flies over the stands, and then reveses course and strikes the MEGA. Wisps takes a little fire damage before sending arrows wide of the MEGA as well.
Soomdevi keeps the crowd riled up!
The MEGA-LESHY SHIELD ARM bashes Alrinkiri!
The leshies seem to be having a difficult time with control. The MEGA SHIELD pilot again raises the shield.
The MEGA TORSO steps twice. The nozzles that sprayed fire sem to flicker back to life.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
MEGA-LESHY SHIELD ARM
MEGA-LESHY TORSO
➤ Chimwemwe
➤ Kiri
MEGA-LESHY SICKLE ARM
Wisps
Akoril
Soomdevi
⠀⠀Blinks
Chimwemwe begins to speak a word, but no one hears him finish it because from their perspective, he disappears from existence--
From his own perspective, the world is frozen in time. Since his intent was to escape the notice of the sharp-reflexed leshy controlling the sickle arm and the distance is not that great, he casually walks to a position where the construct is less likely to be able to catch more than one of his cohort in its flames.
--He reappears next to the battle rig as he slams his shield at the construct. He quickly steps into a defensive position.
Kiri, taking advantage of Chim's sudden appearance beside the xylomechanical monstrosity to dart in, a jab step one way, a juke the other, then slashing at some of the reedy sinew holding pieces together! Their eyes glow as they mutter an incantation, and their magical ward renews itself around them.
Chim almost crits, but thanks to the shield only hits. The MEGA blocks some of the damage.
Alrinkiri moves in and slashes away ropes and vines
The SICKLE opts to trip Chim:
The weapons wraps around the inventor's legs and yoinks him of his feet!
The sickle chops into the dirt. Maybe the fleshy has some alcoholic flower nectar before this bout because he can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
MEGA-LESHY SHIELD ARM
MEGA-LESHY TORSO
Chimwemwe
Kiri
MEGA-LESHY SICKLE ARM
➤ Wisps
➤ Akoril
➤ Soomdevi
⠀⠀Blinks
Akoril takes a step back, and lets his mask fire off a couple of ephemeral missiles.
While at a more comfortable range Akoril gathers the lightning and fires off another shot.
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Akoril sends a shot across the field… it lodges in an innocuous place in the armor plating. Sparks fly… then steam shoots out… then flame…
The MEGA LESHY pilots panic, pulling levers as the MEGA begins to judder around uncontrollably, swinging its MEGA SICKLE wildly, haphazardly raising and lowering its MEGA SHIELD, and stomping around on its MEGA TORSO crushing some of the nearby (unoccupied) benches along the way.
Ahhhh! Abandon ship!
The MEGA pilots leap out and deploy little parachutes, drifting to the ground as a roaring pillar of white-hot fire sopouts from a crack in the top of the MEGA head.
It lurches across the field and away through the forest, knocking over some trees before exploding, sending debris flying hundreds of feet into the air.
Kiri starts to chase after the wayward mech, then quickly dives for cover as the contraption explodes. "That was...something."
Chimwemwe raises his shield to protect himself from the raining debris. "I guess we've learned a few tricks since last time," he remarks with a chuckle.
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Several Tempest-Sun mages rush forward and leap into the air, flying into the sky and incinerating all the debris with Scorching Rays before it can fall back to earth and hurt someone. Haibram and Fire Pot weep tears of joy at all the burning flaming destruction.
Your friends rush to the field and cheer, lifting you on their shoulders as Mafika declares you the winners. However, Ignaci seems disappointed and pale as he hands out coins to everyone who bet for you.
The leshies laugh as they had over the Starday trophy, which is yours to keep until the next major bout Best two out of three? That was just a prototype!
Onyiji shoves fellow students out of the way, and shoulder-checks someone onto the ground just for good measure. She looks on Akoril admiringly. Maybe I can learn MORE than a thing or two from you, because, unlike these other weaklings, you won't accept defeat!
"Maybe," Chimwemwe says to the leshies with a laugh. "But maybe we should let the newer students have more of the sp--."
He pauses as Onyiji shoves her way through the crowd. "I hope you will learn that being cruel is not necessary for victory," he says with a pointed look at the fallen person and then goes to help them up. "And eventually learn that our strength comes from our diversity and not our individual power."
She blushes, but looks aty Akoril, the fellow magus. "I just wanted to get here first — if I'm strong, I should enjoy it. I've trained so hard!"
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Akoril looks to Onyiji "Chimweme is right, but also remember, last time we faced off against the Leshies on this field it is them who took the day. Defeat does not mean the end. Understand the stakes of a conflict so you know how much you're willing to lose.I foresee our 3rd bout should be one to not miss."
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The young woman nods. You’ve lost? I'll think on it. Count on me to watch your third bout! She walks off, but this time doesn't bully anyone as she moves through the crowd.
Mayor Asanda is waiting for you on the outskirts of the competition.
I hate to pester you after all you've done for me… however, the kitchen has had plumbing problems after your last visit. Can you help? I think this may also be a problem for the gifted student program if you want to bring them.
Binji, already hyperactively excited after the bout, clutches her MEGA LESHY doll (which snaps apart into smaller MECHAS, the grimple is getting much better at crafting 'friends'). She runs in circles.
BINJI HELP!
"If you don't think it too dangerous, then we can bring the younger students," Chimwemwe says.
Akoril nods "Binji could use an outting, they are getting a little obsessed with their MechaLeshys."
Asanda walks with yoou back to the manor. "We still haven't cleaned out the kitchen because it's spring a leak… well, you'll see.”
You have a pleasant chat as you walk to the Manor. It’s being repaired now — workers are busy scrubbing away mold, repainting walls, and repairing waterlogged flooring.
Asanda explains. ”There’s a plumbing problem. You see, my kitchen once boasted two amazing appliances! The oven remained hot at all times, and the sink remained perpetually filled with fresh water. Food cooked in the oven and drinks imbued with water from the sink were always extra flavorful because these devices each contained a tiny connection to the First World of the fey. The oven was connected to a scorching desert locale, and the sink to a cool and infinitely deep river.
”My guests always enjoyed the odd deliciousness of meals prepared with these appliances! Sadly, when the kitchen flooded the oven blew up. The shredded metal tore the portal in the sink wider. And there are… guests in there now, who refuse to leave! Worse still, they won't stop blabbering on and on, and the more they talk, the more the room floods! If it goes on any longer, the whole house will be overwhelmed again.]
”I’m hoping as Lore-Spekers and as budding students with their own tales to tell, you will have the patience to learn from them, and then tell them a story so good they agree to go away!
”I’ll treat you all to a nice dinner in the city — what's that spot with the playground, ball pit, and crusty party-cut pies? Ysok E. Cheese — that's it. We can go there after you all give it a go.”
YA YA YA! The kids are super excited about this prospect!
Akoril smiles and nods to his allies "Sounds like a job for the students to take point. Let us provide advice and guidance, only as they need it."
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"What is 'party-cut'?" Having only a passing familiarity with most foods, Alrinkiri waits for someone to explain the concept. "That sounds like a cutting method optimized for making messy hands. What an interesting choice for a restaurant that caters to children."
Kiri nods at Akoril's suggestion. "Agreed. They're definitely ready for the challenge here."
You head to the kitchen, stepping down into this sunken area of the manor and wading through water to the doorway, spiderlings peer over Wisp's shoulders and Binji clutches the brim on Akoril's fancy hat.
A fishlike creature perches on the countertop just above the waterline, standing upon a tangle of long, fleshy tentacles that writhe from his belly. A school of younger fishlike creatures listen with rapt attention as he orates like a bard. As the big fish-like creature talks, water burbles out of his mouth, slowly increasing the water level. Luckily the wall here is still broken, so most of the water is flooding the adjacent yard. Still, it threatens not only the manor but the entire countryside — even a trickle of water from an infinite water source could disrupt the ecosystem!
The creature turns two of its four eyes to you while it talks; the other two remain focused on his audience.
Their supernatural physiology includes a strange organ with an extradimensional space capable of storing untold quantities of water, allowing them to quickly transform any surrounding land into a lake or shallow bog.
They're foodies!
He continues talking, unwilling to be interrupted. The fish-children listen with rapt attention.
Mmmmm now where was I, hmmmm? The story about the fisher who made a series of silly wishes?
Zachva and Zanvi fidget:
Why's he talk so slow?
We wanna hear the one about King Thrushbeard!
Naw ask him to tell the one about The Frog King!
The other fish-children turn and give the kids a LOOK. Zachva and Zanvi stick out their tongues. Binji scratches herself impatiently and starts making noise with her MEGA LESHY dolls.
The big fish turns three eyes to you, seemingly flustered…
Akoril tries to set a good example by listening quietly himself at least even as the kids start to fidget and make noise.
"I'll tell you about the grodair later," Chimwemwe whispers to the junior students with a gesture toward the golden fish with four eyes. "But for now, we should be quiet and let him finish telling his story."
"Students!" Kiri says quietly but sternly, the lights on their face flashing briefly. "You must focus for a moment, please."
They refuse to listen!
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Wisps finally gets the kids to quiet down — none too soon!
The Grodair turns back to the school of children. Yes, the story about the hippo, was it? All the little grodair nod in assent. It seems they have all forgotten that just a moment ago the Great Grodair was going to tell a story about a fisher who made silly wishes.
Grodairs seem very easily distracted!
Hopefully this folktale is almost as good…
When the world was first made, the the hippopotamus was an animal of the forests and plains. But the hippopotamus was greedy and, finding plenty of food all round him and no enemies to worry about, he grew fatter, and fatter and fatter. And the fatter he grew, the more he suffered from the heat of the Equatorial midday sun.
Day after day, when he waddled down to the river for his drink, he gazed with envy at the delicious little fishes that swam in the pool which was cooled by the melted snows from the far-away mountains. "Oh" he would sigh, "how wonderful it would be if I could live, like the fishes, in the clear, cool, refreshing water!"
The hippopotamus pondered over his trouble for many days, and eventually decided to approach the great wizard Old Mage Jatembe for help. "Please, Old Mage Jatembe!" he cried loudly upon one particularly hot day, "Use your magics to change me so that I may leave the forests and the plains. I could live instead in the clear, cool waters of the rivers and lakes, for the heat of the fiery sun is blistring me!"
"No", replied Old Mage Jatembe, "the fishes, like all animals, are very dear to me, and if you were to live in the rivers and lakes, you might try a change of your eating habits, and begin to eat those little fishes. That would never do. No, you should continue to live upon the dry land."
So the hippopotamus stayed sadly in his home in the forests and plains, where the sun continued to beat down mercilessly on his unprotected hide. "This is more that I can bear!", moaned the hippo. So he instead approached one of our own Eldest, Ragadahn the Water Lord. "Please, please, Ragadahn the Water Lord, let me leave the forests and plains, and become a creature of the rivers and lakes! Old Mage Jatembe complained that I would eat all the little fishes and told me 'no.' But I promise to you most faithfully that I will not eat any little fishes."
Ragadahn the Water Lord thought the matter over, while he looked out from the First World upon the plains baking in the heat of the tropical sun. The idea of contravening a powerful mortal wizard like Old mage Jatembe pleased him greatly, but he worried about the water and little fishes, which he considered part of his rightful domain. "Very well," he agreed, "I will allow you to live in my rivers and lakes, but how will you prove to me that you are not eating my little fishes?"
"I will lie in the cool of the water by day, and at night time I will browse along the banks of the rivers, and in the vleis," replied the hippopotamus. "I promise that I will not eat your little fishes."
"But that will not be proof to me that you are keeping your promise!", pointed out Ragadahn the Water Lord.
"Well then," answered the hippopotamus, "I will come out of the water every time that food passes through my body, and I will scatter my dung on the earth with my tail. All that I have eaten will be spread out in your sight, and you will see for yourself that there are no fish bones. Surely this will be proof enough!"
So this is why, to this very day, the hippopotamus comes out of the water to scatter his dung as he looks around and says, "Look! No fishes!"
—
When the tale is done all the little grodairs — as well Binji and the Spiderlinegs — giggle at the silly hippo, proud of its fish-free poop!
Blech!
Yuck!
Binji no help clean dung!
The great grodair grins and burbles out a few hundred gallons of river water.
”Now it's your turn. Tell us a story or sing us a song about this strange land! It’s nothing like our cool river that’s forever deep, but it will be soon. Tell a story this school of young grodair will like. “
It’s time to spring into action and capture the easily-distracted fey’s attention with a story! You know that it better be a good story, because the Grodairs have shown their attentions spans are extremely short for anything else. A clever teacher might encourage the kids to tell a tale from their own studies that relates to the situation here, such how we can accidentally hurt the environment when we visit from far-away places, or why friends who're visiting shouldn't overstay their welcome.
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Akoril encourages Benji "You've seen a lot of the Magaambya from before you were a student. Surely they'd appreciate a story from your unique perspective, maybe about that time you found the hole in the back of the laundry room."
"Maybe you should tell them about your favorite stories! What stories did you always beg for when you were young?"
Kiri tells tidbits from the lives of Jatembe's magic warriors to prompt the kids toward some of their own favorite stories.
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Together, the kids perform a very… uhh unique story about Grandmother Spider and how she stole a piece of the sun and then goes home where she lives lives inside your head and weaves a strange and wondrous web that caught a flea who jumped of a stone-faced ghost right before he was shattered by a pickaxe swung by a Magic Warrior warrior in an orb-weaver mask. Also that magic warrior loved to sweep the kitchen floor and said "Spider help!" whenever she did nice things for her friends, because that's what friends do, they help each other. And so she swept up all the pieces of the stone ghost and took them outside where the wind and the sun wore the pieces to dust, the end.
The grodair kids cheer at the end of the story. The great grodair smiles and a few hundred more gallons of water flow out of his mouth. That was a good story! Just the kind we like with lots of twists and turns. We can be friends. Would you like that? We can teach you lots more stories.
The spiderlings and Binji nod.
This kids ask the Grodairs to love into the nearby swamp so they can share more stories. The
With Wisp's help, they agree. There will surely be more firld trips to the swamp!
Asanda takes everyone out for square-cur pir at Ysok-E cheese later on. Zachva and Zanvi master the hyperwing game while Binji sanitizes the balls in the ball pit one by one.
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You know you could do all o--" Akoril thinks better and decides to let Benji go about it their way.