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I leaned back in my recliner and took a sip of tea from my cup. At the moment, I was tired, yet still riding the wave of adrenaline and excitement from earlier. What I really needed was to relax and calm down a bit.
“I can’t believe we killed a god,” Teri exclaimed from the other side of the living room. “That was AWESOME!”
“We downed a boss and even got some XP from it,” Matt said in agreement. “Pretty impressive considering that our entire raid group couldn’t do anything.”
“And we owe it all to our very own demi-goddess,” Cassandra said with a smirk, knowing how much I didn’t like being called a demi-goddess. But before I could argue or protest, she came over and gave me a kiss. That earned my forgiveness…this time.
“We’ve taken Pfath down before,” I reminded everyone. “The only difference is, this time she didn’t get back up.”
“It was still pretty badass,” Matt said with a grin. “We should be able to beat those other two with no problem.”
That was enough to make me shudder. I might have won against Pfath, but I wasn’t looking forward to facing the other two…especially Arakthiel. Robe had been scary enough because of that soul killer attack, but after what Arakthiel did to Maelyne… He truly terrified me now, and for damn good reason.
“Somehow, I don’t think it will be that easy,” Cassandra pointed out. “We’ve fought those assholes before, and they’re pretty damn tough…”
“And I’m not really any more powerful than before,” I pointed out with a sigh. “Other than giving me a few extra attribute points, the only thing that divine spark did was give me a little divine power, and from what I can tell, the only thing that did was mess with Pfath’s ability to repair her body.”
“It’s still a great secret weapon,” Matt said.
“I’m not arguing that,” I said. “But it isn’t some silver bullet to solve all our problems.”
We all went silent after this as we considered the situation. Lauren was the first one to break it, hesitantly saying, “I’m glad you saved me and all, but I hope I don’t get hauled off to one of your competitions…”
“Lucky for you, there aren’t any more competitions,” Cassandra said. Then she gave me a curious look. “How long have you had a third companion slot?”
I let out a sigh. “Since I came back. Apparently, I either earned enough XP to unlock my next ability, or Maelyne gave me a freebee when she left.” I shrugged at that. “Honestly, I didn’t think that I’d actually use it on anyone…”
When I first saw that ability, I’d actually been both surprised and disappointed. After all, I’d been hoping that my next ability, if I ever gained another one, would have been something like Lauren’s force blast, or maybe even the ability to protect people who weren’t my companions. That would have been extremely useful when we went up against those remaining gods, especially if we were able to get any other champions to help us again.
I opened my screen and looked at my latest ability, letting out a faint sigh as I did so. It might not be the ability I’d wanted, but it had let me save Lauren, and that was the important thing.
COMPANION 3-
-PERMANENTLY BIND A COMPANION TO YOUR SERVICE. THIS COMPANION GAINS +2 INTELLIGENCE, +2 CHARISMA, +2 AWARENESS, LESSER HEALING, AND FORCE BLAST. MANA POOL AND MANA RECOVERY ARE UNLOCKED.
“That reminds me,” I announced. “There’s something I’d planned on doing once we got back from the shopping trip, but in hindsight, I think I probably should have done before it.”
“What’s that?” Cassandra asked.
I looked at the ‘equipment’ page of my status screen and the new addition that had appeared there after my resurrection.
STORAGE CHEST:
-CONTAINS PACKAGE FOR JAERI
-CONTAINS PACKAGE FOR TERI CORSKEY
-CONTAINS PACKAGE FOR MATT CORSKEY
-CONTAINS PACKAGE FOR COMPANION 3
A second later, I summoned the storage chest the same way I activated my armor and weapon. It suddenly appeared in front of me, a wooden box about the same size and shape as that old-fashioned foot locker my grandma used to store her old photo albums in.
“What’s that?” Lauren demanded, giving the box a nervous look.
“A little something that popped up in my equipment page when I came back,” I explained.
“Why didn’t you say anything about this before?” Cassandra asked me.
“I thought you liked secrets,” I teased. She gave me a flat look, then flipped me off.
The chest was unlocked and opened right up without any problem. Inside, I found four smaller boxes, each of which had a name on it. Well, one of them just said ‘companion 3’, but the other three were named.
“It’s like Christmas,” I said, handing boxes to Matt, Teri, and Lauren.
Teri tore into her box first, revealing that it contained a pair of black metal spheres, a large green crystal sphere with a silver metallic band around it, and a skill box with a silver metal band.
“Ohmygod,” Teri blurted out, nearly bouncing with excitement.
The first thing Teri did was open the skill box, then she let out a gasp of surprise. A popup appeared in front of me.
COMPANION 1 HAS AQUIRED THE SKILL KICKBOXING.
KICKBOXING- RANK 1
-YOU KNOW KICKBOXING. HIGHER LEVELS OF STRENGTH AND DEXTERITY INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS SKILL.
“This is AWESOME!” Teri exclaimed, jumping up and throwing a few punches and kicks into the air.
She immediately grabbed the crystal sphere and crushed it in her hand.
COMPANION 1 HAS CLAIMED A BONUS PRIZE: +1 STRENGTH, +1 STAMINA, AND +1 ENDURANCE.
“YES!” she exclaimed with a broad grin. She flexed her muscles and announced, “This is gonna be awesome. I’m gonna be so strong.”
I felt another stirring of jealousy at Teri’s good fortune. At this rate, I was never going to catch up to her.
“What do I do with these?” Teri asked, holding up the two black metal spheres.
“No idea,” Cassandra answered. “I’ve never seen black spheres before. Then again, I’ve never seen any skill boxes or crystal spheres that work for companions.”
Teri cautiously squeezed one of the black metal spheres in her hand, and it suddenly began to melt, grow, and take on a new shape. In mere seconds, Teri was holding what looked like a silver and black baseball bat, with metal studs all along the sides. It was a war club.
“Oooooh,” Teri said, swinging the war club a few times and grinning broadly.
She grabbed the other black sphere and squeezed it. Like the first one, it melted, then began growing and taking on a new shape. Seconds later, she held a shield. It was triangular shaped and a bit small to protect her full body, but would probably still be useful. I stared at both weapons, then checked out their stats.
WEAPONS:
CLUB-
-20% ADDITIONAL DAMAGE
SHIELD-
-HIGHLY RESISTANT TO DAMAGE
“Very nice,” I said in agreement. “And the best thing is, those can go into storage with your armor.”
“Now I’m really curious about these,” Matt said, revealing the contents of his box.
Matt had a skill box with a silver band, one black metal sphere, a blue crystal sphere with a silver band, and glass tube containing a dozen glowing golden spheres. Like Teri, the first thing he did was open the skill box.
COMPANION 2 HAS AQUIRED THE SKILL KUNG FU.
KUNG FU- RANK 1
-YOU KNOW KUNG FU. HIGHER LEVELS OF STRENGTH AND DEXTERITY INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS SKILL.
Matt grinned as he announced, “I know kung fu.” Then he crushed the crystal sphere.
COMPANION 2 HAS CLAIMED A BONUS PRIZE: +1 AGILITY, +1 REFLEXES, AND +1 DEXTERITY.
“Nice,” Matt said with a smirk. “Very nice.”
He followed that up by squeezing the black metal sphere. And just like with Teri, it began to melt and reform, growing and taking a new shape. Seconds later, he held a black and silver paintball gun. His eyes gleamed with excitement.
PAINTBALL GUN-
-DOUBLES RANGE AND ACCURACY
For a moment, Matt just stared at the paintball gun, then his eyes went to the glass tube with the glowing marbles. He held the tube up next to the paintball gun and I suddenly realized that this was a tube of ammunition, though I suspected they were more than mere paintballs.
“I guess it’s my turn,” Lauren said, revealing the contents of her own box.
Lauren’s box contained a black metal sphere, a white metal sphere, a red crystal sphere with a silver band around it, and a skill box with a silver metal band. She looked these all over and then followed Matt and Teri’s example by opening the skill box first.
COMPANION 3 HAS ACQUIRED THE SKILL STAFF FIGHTING RANK 1
“Well,” I said, gesturing to the black metal ball. “I think we can guess what weapon you’re getting.”
“I suppose I should see,” Lauren responded, looking a little nervous as she squeezed the sphere. A couple seconds later, she had a black and silver staff in her hand, with a clear crystal at the head.
WEAPON: STAFF
-ABILITIES COST 10% LESS MANA
“What does the white one do?” I asked Cassandra, though I already had my suspicions.
“No fucking clue,” Cassandra responded, giving the white metal sphere a curious look.
When Lauren squeezed the white sphere, melted and began flowing up her arm, earning a squeal of surprise. She jumped to her feet and began shaking it off, or at least trying to. However, the white liquid kept spreading up her arm, then over her entire body.
“Take it easy,” I told Lauren with a faint smile. “I think it’s turning into armor…”
A few seconds later my suspicions were proven correct. Lauren was now wearing her own set of clothie armor, very similar in style to my own. Hers was white with red trim, and like mine, also resembled a dress. I looked her over, then checked her armor’s stats.
ARMOR: LIGHT ARMOR
-ARMOR RATING 60
-20% PROTECTION FROM ALL MAGICAL DAMAGE
-PREVENTS THE WEARER FROM BEING PHOTOGRAPHED OR RECORDED BY NON-MAGICAL MEANS
“Not bad,” I said with a nod of approval. “About the same as my armor.”
“It looks good on you,” Cassandra assured her.
“Not exactly my style though,” Lauren said, looking down at herself with a skeptical expression.
The last item from Lauren’s box was the red crystal sphere. She crushed it in her hand and I immediately received a popup.
COMPANION 3 HAS CLAIMED A BONUS PRIZE: +1 INTELLIGENCE, +1 CHARISMA, AND +1 AWARENESS.
“That should be useful,” I told Lauren, who still looked a little stunned. “Plus three to all your mental stats in such a short time…”
“Just don’t go preening around like Heather did when she got the charisma,” Cassandra teased her.
Matt stared at Lauren for a moment, apparently noticing the increased charisma. I could feel the changes to her charisma, and a stronger presence from her.
“The intelligence boost should be really useful for classes,” Matt pointed out.
“True,” Lauren agreed with a smile. “But I’m not looking forward to any of this other stuff… She gestured down at herself and at the staff. “I’m not a fighter, and don’t want to put myself in danger.”
Cassandra said, “The contests are over, so you probably won’t be hauled off against your will. You can get the benefits, without all the risks.”
“And there are some great benefits,” Matt added with a nod of agreement. “If you’ve just been given a few points in intelligence, then there’s a good chance that you’re the smartest person here now.”
Lauren snorted at that, then gave me a wry look. “Jeri, how many points do you have in intelligence.”
I hesitated a moment before answering, “Fourteen.”
“WHAT?” Matt gave me a look of surprise. “But I’ve only got twelve.”
“I’m a clothie caster,” I pointed out wryly. “And I’ve earned a few extra points…”
“Like nine at once,” Cassandra added with a smirk. “Lucky bitch.”
“I guess she isn’t a dumb jock anymore,” Teri said with a snicker.
Matt glared at his sister. “Maybe not, but you are…”
“Bite me,” Teri responded, flipping him off.
“What did you get?” Cassandra asked, giving me a curious look.
I turned my attention to my own box, which I hadn’t even opened yet. I’d been too distracted by what everyone else had in their boxes. Mine looked nearly identical, though it had ‘JAERI’ written across the top. However, when I opened it up, I found that it was nearly empty compared to the others. The only things inside were two gold metal spheres.
“Wow,” Matt said. “And I would have thought that Maelyne would have given you a lot more than she did us…”
“She did,” Cassandra pointed out. “But she just gave it to Jeri a bit more directly.”
I picked up the gold spheres and saw that they each had some writing on them. One said ‘armor’ while the other said ‘spear’. That certainly narrowed down my options on how I should use them. I quickly switched over to my armor and summoned my weapon. Then I held one of the spheres against my armor.
“Here goes nothing,” I said.
The sphere melted and began flowing into my armor, reminding me a great deal of when I’d previously used a sphere to upgrade my staff. My armor shifted and changed, though not a great deal. When it was done, my armor looked much the same, though it now had some gold metal trim. Out of curiosity, I looked at the stats.
ARMOR: LIGHT ARMOR
-ARMOR RATING 200
-30% PROTECTION FROM ALL MAGICAL DAMAGE
-PREVENTS THE WEARER FROM BEING PHOTOGRAPHED OR RECORDED BY NON-MAGICAL MEANS
“Not bad,” I said with a faint smile. My armor rating had gone up more than three times, and I’d gained an additional ten percent protection against magical damage. “Armor upgrades are always good.”
Next, I took the second sphere and pressed it against my spear. The last time I’d done this, my weapon upgraded from a staff into a spear and gave me my first and only real offensive ability, so I wondered what would happen this time. Just like before, the sphere melted and flowed into my weapon, which shifted and changed just a little. Once it was done, my spear looked a little different, though not by much. Then I looked at my ‘equipment’ page
WEAPONS: MAELYNE’S SPEAR
-THIS WEAPON COUNTS AS BOTH A SPEAR AND A STAFF
-REDUCES MANA COST OF MAGICAL ABILITIES BY 15%
-INCREASES EFFECTIVENESS OF SHIELD ABILITIES BY 30%
-20% OF ALL DAMAGE ABSORBED BY YOUR SHIELDS IS ADDED TO YOUR NEXT ATTACK
My eyes widened a bit as I saw the new title that my spear possessed. I took a deep breath, then read over the rest. The actual upgrades were a lot less extreme than the last time, but they were definitely impressive. My damage buff had increased from ten percent of all damage absorbed by my shields, to twenty percent, and the bar that showed how much damage I had stored, had increased a great deal.
“I still only have one real attack,” I thought aloud, “but it charges twice as fast, and can potentially do five times as much damage with a single attack.”
“Now that sounds impressive,” Matt said.
“Yeah,” I replied, nodding in agreement. “But I still have to rely on other people to charge it up for me.”
“What?” Matt asked with a wry look. “Are you afraid people won’t try killing you enough?”
“Good point,” I responded with a sigh. “That hasn’t really been a problem so far.”
“Now I’m feeling left out,” Cassandra said with a look of annoyance. Since she was the only one who hadn’t been given a gift today, I could understand why.
“I’ll make it up to you later,” I promised.
“Do you have anything for a fourth companion slot?” Matt asked curiously.
“Nope,” I replied, shaking my head. “No fourth companion ability, and no box for a fourth companion.”
“Too bad,” Teri added with a grin. “I was hoping we’d be able to build a whole army of companions. That would be totally cool…”
I just rolled my eyes at that, then looked over at the three companions I did have. All three were now wearing their armor and had their weapons out, though Lauren still looked pretty self-conscious.
I didn’t know why Maelyne gave all this to me instead of sending it to Matt and Teri directly, the way she had their armor. Maybe it was because they hadn’t earned enough XP to unlock it, or maybe it was just a lot easier to let me distribute it instead. What I did know was that these upgrades would help us in our fight against those gods and could very well be the difference between surviving or not.
With a faint smile and a heavy heart, I whispered, “Leave it to Maelyne to try protecting her people, even after she’s done.”
I looked down at my storage chest which was now empty, and willed it to return to wherever it had been stored before. It vanished, making me smile just a little. I didn’t know if I could store just anything inside of it, but I had a strong feeling that I could. And if so, that meant I now had a real inventory space, just like from one of my games.
Since we were all focusing on new toys and upgrades, I turned my attention to the extra points that I’d earned earlier. Until now, I’d been too distracted to slot them.
I tried putting my unspent attribute point into ‘divinity’, hoping I could get another boost across the board. If I could boost every stat by spending only a single attribute point, then I’d be stupid not to do it. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t accept it. ‘Divine power’ wouldn’t accept the resource attribute points either.
“Too bad,” I muttered to myself. “That would probably have been too easy.”
Since that didn’t work, I put my unspent attribute point into my reflexes, because being able to react faster could save my life, and those of my friends. My mana pool was pretty good, so I split my new resource attribute points between mana recovery and health. As soon as I was done with that, I slotted the resource attribute points for my companions, splitting Lauren’s between her mana pool and mana recovery, while Matt and Teri got more health and regeneration.
Once I was finished slotting my points, I took Cassandra’s hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. My gaze swept over my friends and I shuddered as I imagined what Arakthiel could do to them. I wanted to keep them away from that monster, to protect them from his threat. However, the only way to end that threat was for them to help.
“Maelyne gave us a chance,” I said, looking at each and every one of them. “She gave us the tools we need to protect ourselves…and each other. Now…the rest is up to us.”
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Comments
A little more rule breaking
In part 18 it was established pretty clearly that companions couldn't open skill boxes. I recall they aren't supposed to be able to claim bonus stats as well. Clearly these are a bit different since they were directly addressed to their intended recipients, but this is unquestionably more game rules being stretched, if not outright broken.
Hmmmm
I'll go for stretching the rules a bit, but not breaking. Do take note that the skill buff for the companions are different in appearance with a silver band around them.
- Leona
One could argue that....
About that supposed rulebreaking:
We know companions can't open skill boxes. Only champions can.
But since Jaeri is now a demi-goddess one could argue that all her companions are now demi-champions of her.
Giving a possible explanation why the system allows them to use skill boxes.
Rule Breaking?
Which rules and for which game?
They are no longer playing the same game as Jerry was inducted to in Heather's Body.
Game not over
The competitions have certainly stopped, but the veil between worlds - and with it, the system that is continuing to grant stat increases and new abilities - is still functioning. There is clearly still some rule governing just how much can be given, as our heroes are still having to earn rewards based on their achievements, when you would expect with so much at stake that rules should go out the window to even the odds as much as possible; that this hasn't happened is a pretty clear indication there is a system in place that has yet to be broken, and can only be manipulated directly to a certain extent.
Yes
Formal warfare (arenas) is gone, but off-reservation fights have always been part of this ‘game’ and this is essentially what is going on now.
Hey, that is how the original Heather was killed.
What?!
No cliff hanger? Morpheus must be ill!
No cliffhanger
Yes, bummer.
And here I am hoping to raise my cliffhanging skill to Rank 6.
:p —> Morpheus.
Some of the characters
Seem to be getting a bit hung up on the whole "killed a god" thing. Even Jaeri is not making an effort to point out that they only destroyed the physical body of the god in this world, nothing more.
Yes, it hurt the god in their world and weakened them. I'd love to see how that goes from their end. It would be such a shame if Pfath was in the middle of a fight right at the time that 'Not Nadine' went down permanently.
- Leona
Maralyne may be gone
but she continues to leave her mark.
Typical consolidation episode after a fight
I had mostly expected that the divinity attribute could be raised but suspected it would not be.
So what can be done to raise it, if any?
I understand it is tough feeling left out, but Cassandra is getting a bit greedy considering her patron is supporting her pretty well.
So, as I thought, her divinity power seems to wall off the host body from its ‘rider’, preventing it from being regenerated.
Now, time for borrowing stuff from a military depot.
A tactical nuke, anyone?
How can she raise a divinity attribute?
Interesting question. I'd think the first way would be to kill of a God's host body. Either killing Pfath didn't give Jaeri enough XP or it isn't the way to do it.
Another way might be acting in her areas of divinity. Defense and loyalty. Defending her companions and allies and showing loyalty might earn divine XP.
If Jaeri returns to the Realm of the Gods, I'm betting her divinity points will climb rapidly . . . if she can stay alive.
Cheers
Zapper
Worshipers?
Does Jaeri up her divinity by gaining worshipers? I'd think that is possibly a way it could be done. How does she do that though? Have her companions go out and sing the praises of their goddess? By exhibiting loyalty? Probably a given. But I'd think that for a 'god/ess' one way to up their stats in divinity would be for others to acknowledge the 'fact' of that divinity.
Worshipers
I hadn't thought of that, but yeah, that would make sense. Time to find a TV evangelist and use some of that Charisma on him . . .
Cheers
Zapper
Nope
Facebook page FTW!
With links to youtube videos.
There are more than enough gullible and stupid people that she can get worshippers from, overnight!
A flash mob anyone?
She’ll have ‘turn up the heat’ though. ^_^
Those ‘basement dwellers’ will pant after her.
LOL
Hehehehehe
rule breaking - Game of Gods
I thought the rules no longer were in effect. The game was ended and turned into full conflict in both planes of existence.
That would likely negate previous rules for the more 'civilized' game and flip over to the rules of war --- anything goes.
Only restrictions I see are individual abilities and the ( possibly temporary) inability of the Gods to directly access Earth.
That would tend to indicate that anything that could be sent via the small pathway from the arena of the Gods to Earth could be allowed. That could be truly scary. The only real advantage I see for the 'team' is the inability of the Gods who 'occupied' their champions, to send 'improvements' to their champions. The God or Goddess is only capable of using the abilities and attributes they bring with them whenever they reoccupy their former champions. It might even be difficult for them to wage war on their own plane while simultaneously doing so on the Earth. At least that seems to be what I inferred from the past chapters. The bodies of the former champions were quiescent while the Gods were active in their own arena.
Even so, it is still going to be a 'pain-in-the-tush' to overcome the Gods possessed former champion bodies.
POOKA
Divinity
Pity that the attribute point couldn't go into divinity. I hope that Jaeri gets to divinity 2 soon, anyway.
-- The Rest is Up to Us --
Sure seems that way. The whole setup suggests to me that Maelyne -- or the entity behind the game screen, if one exists; see my "new" additional comment at the end of the previous chapter -- wasn't counting on any more help from the allied champions; it's mostly the five of them against the avatars of Kr'aethar and Arakthiel. Granted, the shield for Teri and the armor for Lauren may reduce the need for Jaeri to create temporary shields for them during the confrontation(s), and if they suffer less damage her healing power (and maybe Lauren's) could aid allied champions even more than it has already, if any show up. We don't know how many of them are left, actually, if K & A have been successful at hunting them down while Pfath was taking her arson break. We can hope that the Cleaner's still around to open escape hatches for them when they're attacked.
Apparently whoever prepared the boxes didn't know at the time who the third companion would be. The package for Teri would apply well enough to anyone with Companion #1's attributes, but the fact that it was a martial art that was chosen as the new fighting capability might reflect on her background -- after all, Companion #1 was set up originally as more of a brute-strength position and Heather's #1 used a warhammer.
Companion #2's box almost certainly had Matt in mind specifically: kung fu would be logical for any #2, going along with the other ninja-type skills, but the paintball gun wasn't even a consideration to the patrons or rules experts until Matt pushed the rules.
I'm pretty sure Lauren didn't become Companion #3 until after the chest reached the storage area, but it wouldn't have been all that surprising to see the game screen put her name on it, since at least some of the pop-ups seem non-generic and very possibly real-time announcements. Anyway, the Companion #3 box doesn't seem to have any personal attachment to Lauren that we're aware of. (Actually, I'm not sure what would have qualified: a bigger gun? Something from "Black Panther"?)
Anyway, the optimum strategy for our heroes would be to confront the two remaining threats when they're separated from one another, if that turns out to be possible. Upstairs, Pfath has undoubtedly let their patrons know what happened to her Earth body, though whether or not they feel threatened enough to take countermoves is probably an open question.
I'm assuming that K & A -- and for that matter Pfath, and/or Br'ieze, if her soul hasn't crossed over as Maelyne's did -- haven't recruited any divine avatars as reinforcements, and that they don't have any allies among the champions strong enough to cause trouble. (Don't forget that some of the patrons on the other side had loyal champions who'd undoubtedly rather help than have their god take them over -- and at least some of the champions of neutral patrons are going to figure that the anarchists have the edge and that their own survival depends on supporting them or at least not opposing them.)
Eric
Since Plan A Didn't Work, Let's Try Plan B
Increasing Divinity Attribute Plan B:
A friend of Cassandra knocks on the front door and gives Cassandra four (4) bags with a Party City Logo in return for an envelope...
Cassandra, Lauren, Matt, & Teri sneak upstairs for a meeting in Cassandra's room...
After a while, the four leave Cassandra's room and quietly sneak downstairs while JAERI sits in the front room watching TV...
Suddenly Cassandra, Matt, Lauren, and Teri are standing in front of JAERI and go down on their knees...
JAERI stares in horror as four (4) French Maids with cute cat ears chant in unison:
"We worship her cuteness JAERI DEMI-GOD OF LOYALTY AND PROTECTION!"
A Popup appears in front of JAERI...
"YOUR ACQUISITION OF LOYAL WORSHIPPERS HAS EARNED YOU DIVINITY 2: +1 TO ALL ATRIBUTES. +100 TO ALL RESOURCES ATTRIBUTES."
{giggling & laughing}}
"Aw, Crap!"
***
Hahahaha!!!
Hahahaha!!!
Hehehehehe
That is one darn funny scene. lol
Cheers
Zapper
New Weapons???
A Bat & a Paint Gun??? Maybe Eric is on to something...
The Bat is so Teri!
Regarding the Paint Gun:
I'm wondering if Matt has a limited ammo supply [Like Outlaw Star] or the ammo tube is always full when summoned???
So, if you're Matt, do you waste one shot to see what it does or do you wait until JAERI says "Aw, Crap!"
Right, The Bat...
Don't know how I missed that.
Eric
Something on my mind....
For awhile I have been feeling a weird sense of deja vu slowly reading through Morpheus's latest creation and then I remembered his Imprisonned story. Recap and explorer finds a cave where a goddess has been trapped by her fellow gods and she swaps bodies with him to escape. Are both stories in the same universe?
Yes yes and yes!
Very happy with their progress. The new upgrades are answer to my curiosity; how to get weapons ready for companions. Beside the magical weapons which can be stored magically, Jaeri's new storage chest can be use to provide back up weapons, one that cannot be magically stored like; Matt's extra ball bearing (aware that the gift only include 12 glowing golden spheres, definitely something special, limited and should be use only on the meat puppets), maybe extra guns and ammo.
Lauren's pistol is sure useful and even more effective compare to her force blast.
Way cool....
I'd think
That Jaeri should put something unimportant (a paperback book etc) into that chest and send it into storage. If she gets the book back when she calls it up, then next she ought to put in some ammo for Lauren's pistol. Store, call back, then shoot. Then store as much ammo as they can plus anything else they think might be useful to call back during a fight. If it is up to them, they need to be thinking a bit more creatively...
While using the chest
to store extra ammo may seem like a great idea, it is however a strategic and tactical black hole.
As Jeri would have to concentrate on their ammo supplies, use her 'Summon Companion' for ammo topups, wouldn't have her attention on her part of the battle and the chest could be destroyed if brought out during a battle.
Box
The box might be big enough to hold an IED?
The box
my Galaxy J320 arrived in is big enough (150mmx75mmx45mm) to be an IED!
But my point wasn't what the Chest could hold, more that Jeri would have to concentrate on the ammo levels others, retrieving the Chest and using her "Summon Companions" while she should be concentrating on with whom she is fighting, oh and the Chest could be destroyed if retrived during the battle, making it a strategic and tactical mistake.
Oops
Duplicate entry
JAERI's Raid
If JAERI can reconnect with The Cleaner, there is an opportunity to raid an indoor firing range before the next fight.
Cassandra, JAERI, Lauren, Matt & Terri wear clothing (to conceal their armor underneath).
Cassandra, JAERI, Lauren, Matt & Teri visit an indoor firing range mid-week in the early morning.
Using her Charisma & flirting ability, JAERI gets the staff to train them in how to safely use & clean .45(s), .44 Revolvers, & 9mm pistols.
During this time, Cassandra uses her Awareness to identify alarms, locks, and security cameras.
If they are no other customers or only a small number that can be easily be controlled, the raid could happen immediately. - If not, they would have to come back at night after the firing range has been closed.
Cassandra & Matt assist JAERI to disable the alarms, cameras, & open the locks (guns are usually kept in locked glass cases). Some pistols may even be locked to a security cable.
They grab a large number of pistols, ammo, and cleaning kits.
As they drive away with their booty, the Cleaner does his magic!
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Unless The Cleaner can do a good impression of "Dear Old Dad" (or Jeri is "Superflirt"), Teri (at least) will be a (age) problem. She may have to wait outside the shooting area (which may help keep an eye on the staff).
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I'm wondering how the Patrons knew Jeri would need the skill of lock picking???
Ditto for her companions needing Kung Fu & Kickboxing???
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You know you're getting old when you do a YouTube search for "Dear Old Dad" and you don't see a dog {sigh}
A possible possibility
I just got the feeling now that Jaeri a Demi Goddess of Loyalty and Protection, she might not in agreement to raid a guns store. That would betray her principal or something. Maybe a better choice would be to check their bank account and see if they can spend some for a few .45 revolvers and suitable ammo. Agreed with you if they got to have guns, they must go for some practice shooting and guns handling. And the storage chest conveniently provide them the storage and accessibility to it.
Matt should be ready with his own paintball gun with ball-bearings for distraction purposes, keeping the magical paint ball gun as 'the real deal' in his storage preloaded with the golden spheres. With only 12 golden spheres available, he only have about 6 shots for each meat puppet.
Lauren will sure keep her guns loaded and handy knowing that it has proven more effective against Pfath atleast to distract or buy time. I am not sure but cannot stop imagine she will come out with a sawed-off shotgun next time.
Skills and Patrons
The Patrons gave would need the skills of lock picking, Kung Fu & Kickboxing?
The Patrons are Gods, but I'll use a parallel in Star Trek when a Q takes a mortal to the Continuum thay are told
"This is a representation in a way your minds will be able to understand the Continuum'
With that in mind, in the realm of the Gods Jeri has to help Maelyne escape, the allied Patrons give Jeri a key to unlock the bindings holding Maelyne.
As to the fighting skills Teri is given Kickboxing and Matt Kung Fu, those skills seem to complement not only their existing skills but their personalities too.
Arakthiel is still going to be a problem
The chance to get within striking distance will still be difficult and is going to limit what Jaeri and companions can do. Even just using Mason's body, he's got his soul killer ability, so they need to keep some distance. Shields aren't going to last long with that ability. His ability made it through Maelyne's shield, and comparatively his meat puppets ability will be stronger than Jaeri's shields. If damage to shield ration is something like 1.5:1 Arakthiel vs Maelyne, it's likely to be 4.5:1 God Host vs Jaeri... or even greater.
I kinda wonder about Matt's ammo, it's not paintballs I'm sure, but is it maybe a concentrated burst of "Force Blast"? I have a feeling no matter what upgrades each of them got, Arakthiel is still going to put them through their paces, Cassandra included. They definitely want to move as a group so everyone will be together when they come across him.
Hopefully, The Cleaner, will be able to arrange atleast "some" backup. Cleaner could be very useful as well if he could arrange a meeting with the Maelyne's Allies with a portal that only the champions & companions could use to visit with Patrons for some strategic help.
I love your idea with the
I love your idea with the cleaner.
Soul killer
It is a potent weapon for sure. Maelynes shield was just too weak at the end due to her imprisonment so that is why it got through.
Jeri I suspect will be able to resist a soul killer glancing blow to her body as long as she has armor due to her new divinity which helps strengthen both body and soul.
Of the last two meat puppets, I agree Arakhiel will be hardest to put down.
Ramifications
I am curious:
What was the reaction of the Patrons to JERI destroying Not Nadine???
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What would be the reaction of the Patrons to JAERI acquiring Worshippers?
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What would be the reaction of the Patrons to Not Robe being taken out by JERI and her Possie of gunslingers?
What would be the reaction of
What would be the reaction of the Patrons to JAERI acquiring Worshippers?
More to the point what would be JAERI's reaction be?
Matt and Teri's home life
So Matt and Teri's parents haven't been mentioned in a while. I certainly can't help but think that with them recently being sequestered together during the short lived alliance, and Teri becoming more and more of a physical powerhouse, that the two have long passed the point that they can maintain the appearance that nothing out of the ordinary is going on. What did the extended absence do to Matt's day job? Wasn't Teri supposed to be in school? And how did both explain their absence from home?
Must be the cleaner help with
Must be the cleaner help with something that side.
Arakathiel
I wonder how they are going to safely deal with arakathiel he is the most dangerous. Jaeri needs more divine power and what happened to having a last name. I’m still hopeimg Jaeri gets more divine power and somehow Maelyne gets brought back or Jaeri gets s Rez ability.
hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna
"Now . . . The rest is up to us."
The team is geared up, rested up, and ready to fight. Will they go hunting or will they let the Gods come at them? Personally, I think they should contact the Cleaner use him to try to reach out to any Champions left and see if they can put together a raid party.
Cheers
Zapper
"Now…the rest is up to us.”
yep.
Preparing attack
Why doesn't Jaeri always have her attack prepared by having her allies bash at her shields? After all, she did it before the Harker induced trap.
Because it's
a double edged sword, while it strengthens her attack it depletes otherthings like her ability to use the shield for extended times when needed
The fight agnist
Arakthiel is going to be a tough one but if it can be faught from a distance they might just succeed in defeating him.
Love Samantha Renée Heart.
How Does the Divinity Attribute Increase?
Since success in combat does not result in an increase in Divinity, WHAT DOES?
Logically, the answer must be AQUIRING WORSHIPPERS! What is the difference (despite the size and abilities difference) between a Patron and a Champion? The logical answer is (the existance of or the ability to acquire) WORSHIPPERS!
If Cassandra looks at their situation and makes the logical leap, will we soon be reading about four (4) French Maids with Cute Cat Ears...
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Regarding Maelyne's Shield:
In the combat where Maelyne died, she was unable to cast Maelyne's Shield because Arakthiel was too close! Arakthiel's Soul Killer penetrated a shield wall not Maelyne's Shield.
This causes a problem for JAERI! In order to do her strike, she has to be close enough to throw or thrust Maelyne's Spear into Arakthiel.
Therefore, either JAERI must take a big risk, or she must carefully wait for the right moment. - The Champions win or lose upon the actions taken by JAERI. If JAERI dies, the Champions And Earth ALL lose!!!
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A .45 M1911 is a very expensive pistol. And the ammo is also very expensive!
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I am just guessing, but the ability to resurrect must be related to Divinity. I suspect that if JAERI increases her Dvinity Level to ??, She will be able to resurrect her Companions. With further increases, maybe Champions as well...
Increasing Divinity...
At first, I didn't think it could increase, and I'm still not totally sure it can.
Don't forget that Jeri would have lost all her powers and abilities (including her companions' status and powers) when Maelyne's soul departed, unless another way was found. There aren't any independent champions, and it's sounding as though it's difficult if not impossible to bind to a new patron. Demigod status was the way Maelyne and/or the folks behind the status screen found to avoid that, but just as "companion 3" got a healing power with a nominal mana rating that can't improve -- not being a champion -- Jaeri's divinity and divine power ratings seemed pro forma. (And for whatever reason, Jaeri was treating it that way, when the others kept calling her a goddess.)
But the description paragraph relating to divinity did say:
INCREASES THE MAXIMUM POTENTIAL FOR ALL ATTRIBUTES AND RESOURCES. HIGHER LEVELS OF THIS TRAIT INCREASE THE POWER AND RESILENCE OF THE BODY AND SOUL.
...which seems to infer that achieving higher levels of divinity is possible for her. Collecting worshippers makes more sense as a potential source than anything else, now that we've seen that defeating Pfath's avatar didn't do it.
As for resurrection powers, we haven't seen any indication that patrons can do so for anyone but their champions. That would suggest that Jaeri could do it for her companions, if it's not more costly than her divine power number can handle, but would never be able to do it for anyone else.
Not that it seems to matter, but Maelyne said in one of her scene-setting conversations that the end of the game would bring back the wars of thousands of years ago. Since she's "only" 1329 years of age, that means she wasn't alive when they were happening. She also indicated that although Arakthiel, Kr'aethar and Br'ieze had allies upstairs, none of those others had champions. So my speculation in my previous note about some champions joining the fight on their side (in order to avoid getting taken over themselves) apparently isn't a problem, though the part about neutrals considering it in their best interests to stay on the sidelines is still valid.
That line about "resilience of the body and soul" brings up the question as to Jaeri's lifespan. (Also whether the upgrade means that her soul can now survive to the "next phase" as Maelyne's did, even if Arakthiel's soul-killer claims it.)
Eric
Eric, I bet the Divinity
Eric, I bet the Divinity thingy is more like Medal of Honor kind of thing. So I am thinking maybe only heroic act or perhaps sacrifice can increase that.
Careful people
Matt and Teri are not taking their survival very seriously. They both act like they're playing a video game, where it's possible to regen if killed.
They are both getting a bit cocky with their increasing powers and skills. They need to step back and see how the gods in the host bodies are acting, and they'll see they are starting to act the same.
Matt thinks they will kick but the next time they encounter a host body. That type of thinking will get him killed and his soul obliterated.
Only Jaeri is thinking in terms of how hard it might be with the next host they encounter. She may even be thinking of who could be the next they lose. Hopefully with the next encounter Matt and Teri will follow Jaeri's oder and they all come home.
There's a fine balance between self confidence and arrogance. Lean to far to either side of the middle and they will become a memory.
Others have feelings too.