Reborn Sword (Sallin Kari)

[porne]

Consuming all of it, the tether flexes and stretches before it seems to lodge on you, although the portal shudders and starts to shrink. Your experiment creates results of a kind. The bit of material you produce seems to stay put, but as you focus on it through the asteroid egg material, the object seems to jump around. It does, but it really doesn't, the effect is on your end now that you've absorbed the material, like it can't quite decide on exactly what position it's in and it teleports between the various places it could be.

With the portal shrinking, you've got a decision to make and quickly.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Visual approximation of the effect I'm going for:

[Sallin_Kari]

I try to wrap my head around this weird mess. Regardless, I recover the sample and escape this portal, using the return to wielder ability I have if required.

[porne]

You manage to make it through the portal, although when you get back, you confirm it is indeed you that's jumping back and forth. Or the part of you that is the strange alien metal. The rest of you seems fine, but that one little bit seems to be bouncing around a small area. You can detect with your mana sense where Karina is across the room, but with the wild jumps, you're getting a headache. Bladeache? Stowing the material back in your pocket dimension ends the effect, and summoning it brings it back, but only for the part. Once you're through, the portal collapses on itself, space seeming to scab over like an open wound.

[Sallin_Kari]

I stow the material for now, apparently the spatial nature of my own pocket dimension calms down whatever spatial effect this material has. As I return to Karina I briefly explain my findings, adding, [So it appears that there is some transdimensional monster that made its way to this dungeon, though I can't tell if it is on purpose or just some coincidence.]

[porne]

[Probably cosmic balance or something. Can't release a positive like you without a negative to balance it.] That's almost touching. [Do we head further in, or do you think that's enough?] You're fairly sure that since time is still going and you haven't gotten a reward of some kind, the quest isn't over. Still, how much you're willing to risk is up to you.

[Sallin_Kari]

[I'm not sure I can count as a positive... but thank you,] I say some what abashed at the praise, before adding, [If we do go back, it's to get backup... and I don't think we're ready for that. I'd at least want to see what kind of creature we're talking about or what it can do before we charge the entire party to slay it.]

[porne]

She seems a bit hesitant, and you recall that despite her skills, Karina is not a front line fighter with the heavy shield and healing magic that the tankier members of her party sported. Still, she nods, agreeing with you. Slipping back into her stealth field, you follow the microscopic remains of the tether's pull. Walking through the boss room, the Hob goblin barely got three steps before something crushed its skull. There's a bloody splattered print on the reset crystal, and it seems to be stuttering and cracked. That can't be good.

[Sallin_Kari]

[Don't worry, I don't plan to fight it unless we have to... in which case you just need to run. If you can escape, I can get out just fine. But at this point, information is key,] I point out.

As we enter the boss room, [I suppose that explains why the reset doesn't work... Let us continue.]

[porne]

Pushing further in, you see similar results as before, the denizens of the dungeon itself mentally destroyed by either the passage of the creature, or its damage to the crystal. As with the boss from before, monsters that the creature ran across are violently dismembered, although none seemed to have their core ripped out like the mimic had. Following the trail of destruction, the next crystal is similarly damaged. Each following floor is similar, smears of blood scattered where the things 'foot prints' were. After pursuing, you realize that you're a floor or two deeper into the golem side than what you've been on your own. The golems have begun to take various forms beyond that of the amorphous humanoid blobs, many having multiple legs and a few more closely resembling the golem knight you fought, although far less armored, usually just a chest plate and weapons.

Approaching the boss room, you hear what sounds like the first bit of resistance the creature has hit, loud bangs and splats the most obvious. Karina slows down when she hears this, hiding behind a wall without peeking around it. She seems to be waiting on a bit of advice.

[Sallin_Kari]

I'm not particularly surprised by the corpses anymore however the fact that their cores appear intact is... curious. [I believe that this creature might have me at a bit of a disadvantage. My hypothesis, considering how it went after the mimic's core, but no others that it is either consuming cores capable of spatial magic or perhaps it is simply offended by spatial magic and destroys the source.]

[porne]

[...Yes, I agree. That makes some degree of sense if the spatial distortion you mentioned before is the source. Whatever it is, it's fighting the floor boss, but I don't think it's that much of a tougher opponent, it's just big. Any idea why the monster is struggling?] Karina seems nervous, she's got one of the blades she was using earlier, and she's twirling it in one hand, seeming to check the balance on it over and over.

[Sallin_Kari]

[Only one way to find out... you're going to have to check. If it can detect spatial magic I don't think any amount of stealth magic will help me, so you're going to have to leave me back here... if something goes wrong... just run, and I'll buy you time. If you get away I can teleport to you. ]

[porne]

Karina sighs, not happy about the whole 'risk' thing. She fishes around in her gear, pulling a few items out and dropping them near you, including a small gauntlet that she apparently used for looting purposes. Finishing up with that, she forms a link with you and begins to edge out past the corner, taking a look at what's there. The golem seems like a massive blob, but the creature is what truly draws your attention, a large eight foot tall behemoth, constantly shifting flesh and shape as it seems to teleport around the blob golem. It takes swings, digging into the golem with claws, the impact wounds seeming to be slightly off from where the image of the beast actually is. The only reason it seems to be having a hard time with the golem is simply the fact that the golem is too fat for the creature to simply stab its core. And your own knowledge of golems elaborates that they don't have 'vitals' to puncture. The two are at a stalemate.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

If you'll recall, Karina has a special item that lets her tear out cores without having to gut the creatures. Also, it took a while to figure out a way to make the creature stall but be able to so quickly shred everything up to this point.

[Sallin_Kari]

[Fucking Displacer Beast] I idly comment, naming it after a creature I read about in a game I was always interested in, but never managed to get enough people willing to play with me. Problems for another time. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to capitalize on the situation. This might be a great opportunity to at least harm this creature. I have a few ideas if we can get it to be still for just a moment... perhaps if it dug into the golem to get at the core... but how would I get it to do that? Might be a good opportunity to pull out that material I gathered in the dimensional hole to see if it'll allow me to predict its movements... but I'm fairly sure that would tip it off... Worst case scenario I'd aggro it, and then the golem would also begin attack us... Shit what to do?

[You aren't seeing anything are you?] I ask Karina before adding, [Do you think that bringing the rest of the party might help us kill that thing?]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Sure, was that using spacial magic though? You never mentioned how it work, just that she had it.

Yeah, you got to be careful about that.

[porne]

The way the monster skitters across reality makes it hard for Karina to track it, and her eyes darting back and forth almost gives you a headache as you try to mesh it with your 'normal' visual system. Thinking about the material brings it to the forefront of your mind, and you think you could shape it, at least a little bit. You haven't had time to test the materials physical properties, so you have no idea how good of a weapon it will make.

[If this is how it fights... I don't think we'll be able to do much unless we bring in a number of casters and have them just pump out fire and flood the entire chamber. I've got tricks for the golem, but the creature doesn't even seem to be using magic, at least none I'm familiar with.]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

I like to think I've done a good job this game of setting up tasks way outside the characters skillset and having him wing it and basically play as a bard by seducing thinking his way through them.

[Sallin_Kari]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Though with his ever expanding skill set you'll have to pull bigger and bigger BS in order to do that I fear.

Headache... normal visual... Hold on... Didn't I get a headache when I tried to combine the magical sense with my visual? What if that is what is happening here? The physical properties don't matter too much. If I just coat it with steel, it should work just fine as an electromagnetic projectile... but the real question is if I can simply... sync it with the creatures movements...

[Sounds like we're going to have to solve this ourselves then... Alright... I have a really stupid idea, so get on your toes and prepare to run if need be,] I turn off all my visual senses, and pull the material out of storage, making it the majority of my 'body', as I focus on its movements, and see if I can sense the creature's as well, or at the very least, control it.

[porne]

The creature gets distracted when you summon the large amount of material, seeming to focus directly on you, straight through the wall. The golem its fighting is not distracted though, and nails it in the back of the head, the creature having to go back and focus on it while you work the material into a blade. As the material becomes more of your body, the creature seems to stop phasing, and instead, the golem seems to be slightly distorted as does the shimmer around Karina.

Based on what Karina is seeing, the creature is still phasing and jumping around, but to you, its movements seem perfectly normal, the large amount of unearthly material seeming to have synchronized with the beasts displacement jumps. You can at least challenge it in 'normal' physical combat now.

[Sallin_Kari]

[That worked better than expected. Unfortunately I'm uncertain if I can help you target it so that maybe a hurdle you must overcome yourself.] I round the bend and see if I can still conduct electricity to utilize my 'coilgun' to get an early advantage... I should prioritizing avoiding the golem. If it operates like others it might ignore me as an inanimate object until I attack it, meaning I can force this creature to fight two on one.

[porne]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

I think I'll make most of your power expansions non-combat oriented. Mostly to hobble the power creep.

You're conducting electricity just fine, but it seems like the spatial distortion is affecting you once it leaves your immediate surface. Your coil gun spell depends on making a solenoid, but is it becoming the proper shape, or do see a scattered string of points as a continuous spiral?

[Sallin_Kari]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

I mean that might be hard without bullshit since he's actively attempting to increase his combat potential.

Considering how to solve this, I decided that since I have one shot, I should take precautions rather than throw everything to the wind. I pull out some metal and form a coil around me, connecting it by a thin, purposefully weaken portion, designed to snap from the opposing forces cause by the acceleration.