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Ziun asked how everyone was doing, and Chris was a bit too busy stabilizing himself to answer. He wasn’t even able to thank Ziun properly for giving him that armor he’d mentally asked for, even if he did acknowledge its usefulness. The pain hadn’t exactly subsided, but the existence of the magic armor gave Chris a bit of confidence as he tried to manage the issues in front of him. The first was Lana ducking down and getting grabbed by the hands on the floor again. Chris was already moving in that direction, and now that his vision was clearing up, he could aim properly with his sword swings, making sure not to hit his teammate as he did so. He pulled Lana up again. “Dodge to the side,” he said. “Like this:” He did a little shuffle step, slipping out of the grasp of another set of hands, and hoping that was demonstration enough for in the middle of a dungeon floor fight. He turned to face the cultist who had shot him. Just looking at the hooded figure made his shoulder flare up again, but Chris grit his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword to force it back down. When he moved, he moved almost in an arc, almost sideways to the cultist, but still spiraling inwards, juking the other way every so often just to keep the cultist from being able to lead its shot. It did not take long for him to close the gap and while he wasn’t able to knock the cultist’s crossbow out of its hands with his first swing, he did at least make sure it wasn’t pointing his way as he swung back and cut his sword deep into the cultist’s shoulder. The cultist staggered back, bleeding profusely, but still managing to keep it together enough to raise its crossbow again. But Chris had not stopped moving, and despite the close distance, the injury hampered the cultist’s aim. The crossbow bold ended up glancing off of Chris’ Mage Armor, and such an impact did not stop Chris from stepping in and swinging into the cultist’s other shoulder. Chris exhaled, and, as he made his way around the arms and back to Lana, remembered to respond to Ziun. “Better than I was,” he said.

Dead by Daylight and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax then. DbD cuz spooky month and Ultimax because you only got one other fighting game nominated here afaict.

“The gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon.” -Leviticus 11:30 (NIV)Trevor had greeted Melissa using half of her name, so Melissa responded in kind with half of a nod, not looking up from her pan full of bread, eggs, and breaded eggs. It wasn’t until Fen showed up that Melissa really allowed her attention to wander beyond cooking, mostly because Fen used a name Melissa did not recognize (and certainly didn’t catch in its entirety -- she had to ask her computer friends to repeat it for her). Once she was more focused and the conversation continued, she was able to grasp the context well enough. Like the wolf from the supermarket, this was another of Fen’s compatriots from her world. Melissa couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. She still had not figured out -- and had almost accepted that she never would -- Mauvache’s heuristics that somehow landed on her, of all people, to defend the city, but what little she had figured out excluded most anyone she knew back on Ambrosia. Did the person who gave Melissa the Rain Bozu card have more of those? Would other people even bother keeping their card around at all times? Because without that… Okay, Kyoko could handle herself in a fight, sure, but against that sandstorm woman? Frankly, did Melissa even handle that fight all that well? She shook her head. On the other hand, Duel Monsters had somehow made it all the way across the cosmos. Sure, it had a new name, but it was the same old game. With God, anything was possible. And besides, it wouldn’t do to outwardly act in jealousy. She had to play the part of the gracious host. Thankfully, breakfast did not take too long. Melissa slid eggs onto plates just as she heard Fen hovering behind her. “I am just about finished,” she said, also plopping two pieces of lightly browned toast onto both plates. “Let me know when I can come back and help with dishes. I don’t want to leave everything to you.” Melissa set a plate down in front of their new visitor -- Kasayee, right? -- and another across the kitchen table from her so Melissa might get to eat too. But before Melissa had even gotten comfortable in her chair, Kayasee had lifted up her plate and shovelled both sunnyside eggs and both pieces of toast into her mouth and somehow even managed to swallow it all down at once. Melissa was shocked that the lizard woman did not take the plate down with her! And yet, even that was not enough for Kayasee. “Why do people cook eggs? Seems like a waste of time.” Melissa popped her egg yolk and sponged up some of it with her toast. It wasn’t a question she had expected so early in the morning, and she had a sense that whatever answer she gave wouldn’t be good enough to satisfy Kayasee, but she did endeavor to try. “Um, I think it has to do with diseases? Like, there’s a chance that an egg might have salmonella or something, but if you cook it so its insides are hot enough, it kills all the germs… I think.” In any case, she was right. Kayasee shook her head and said, “Humans shouldn't have started cooking if that was how it would turn out,” a statement so oblique that Melissa did not know how to unpack it. For one, she was pretty sure that people started cooking because of the diseases, and not the other way around as Kayasee described. Not to mention demonstrable evidence of all the Ambrosians who insisted on raw food diets falling to completely predictable health issues. But Melissa was also no food scientist, and the social norms of the situation dictated she smile and change the subject anyway, just as soon as she finished chewing and swallowing. “So, um, if we’re all new to Prana still, what’s the one thing we should definitely try and do?” It was a stupid icebreaker question, and yet, the moment the question left Melissa’s lips, her posture shifted. Melissa leaned back like she was already dreading the answer.

Bloodborne Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise Yakuza 0

With the group having gotten their questions answered by the buffalo man Enzo, they were free to leave and continue their exploration of the enormous castle town area. Enzo himself closed the door immediately as soon as they had all left and if they were to stay by the door they would hear the same kind of muttering and shuffling, now mixed with gleeful laughter, that they had heard when they first made their way into the house. The path to take was clear, as it was simply a straight road to an incredibly large tower that was visible no matter where one was standing. As the group had made their way through the streets, dealing or not with the drengr however they pleased, they eventually came to a tall and wide collection of stone steps that lead into the tower. The tower itself was unguarded, at least on the outside, and was incredibly simple in design. A giant stone slab of a door stood between them and entering the building, the door itself was largely plain in design though this didn't seem intentional and more of a side effect of whatever adornments or garish design choices merely having worn off with time and weathering of the rough conditions near the building. And hanging above the large stone door was what appeared to be a stone wolf head, half of it seemingly missing from being broken off either intentionally or from similar weathering. All of this, however, was simple flourishing that made no difference to the task ahead. That was opening the door. To the side of the door were two glass orbs that seemed to have a carving in the flooring around them running up to the door, however one of these orbs had long since been shattered and the functions of them were unknown to the party, though perhaps a logical guess could reach them to the proper conclusion. The only answer they had available to them otherwise was to open the door with pure brute force. Thankfully, though they did not have the physique to back this, the party was stronger than the average person with two in particularly being closer to the average bear. And so with some effort they would be able to push the door open. Once they walked inside they would be met with nothing but darkness and the sound of some kind of low growling, the doors behind them closing as soon as they had all crossed the threshold and leaving the room entirely lightless. This did not last long, however. Electricity began to crackle from ahead of them and lines across the room started to glow as if in response to this, revealing all that would be able to be seen. Corpses of long past were strewn across the stone floor, the ground itself being relatively flat. While it looked like this might have been some kind of meeting greeting room or main hall in times long past, most of the furniture had long since been destroyed with the only thing still being intact being several stone columns that supported the ceiling above, and several stone tables and wooden chairs strewn about. And on the other side of the room there seemed to be a door, torn banners overhead it and with a similar wolf headed statue protruding out, likely leading to a staircase to take them higher up. But, beyond everything else the most noticeable room was the nightmarish creature that lied in the center. It's body was easily twice the size of the bear that they had met prior in the plains, coated in fur, yet what specific animal this belonged to would not be known to them. Looking at its tail for confirmation did little to help either, as it simply had five tails each belonging to a different breeds of animals flowing behind it. It had two pawed feet supporting it in the back, and in the front two sets of hooves. To one side was a large bear like arm, far too large even when taking into account the proportion of this monster's body. And to the other, three smaller fur covered arms each equipped with a lightning infused sword. And as if to make cartoonish mockery of this strange chimera's form its head belonged to that of the black tusked elephant that they had seen in the plains. And its second head, growing from out of the neck going into a second neck, was that of the large tusked, lion-maned giraffe like creatures. BGM The giraffe head let out a roar as the elephant's trunk trumpeted, seeing the invaders in the room with it now. It stood motionless where it was, the chimeric giraffe's tusks generating a ball of lightning between them before firing the blast at the entire party.

Jacklyn's pride continued to swell as Anneliese's cheering persisted. However, as the boy made his comment clear annoyance flashed across her face as she said, "hey! I didn't travel to a whole new region just to get called gross again, especially by some kid who doesn't like water! And Anneliese isn't gross either! But if that's how you want it then, Rus, let's show him a thing or two!" The Lepash was still fired up to keep battling, seeming more determined then ever. As the Thunder shock came towards the fire bunny, Jacklyn shouted, "alright Rus, dodge!" The lepash did not want to get hit, but it could still feel the electricity flowing through his body and preventing from moving as well as he wanted to. So, he didn't bother trying. Instead his fur blazed red as flames stronger than any others before had collected in the Lepash's mouth. Letting loose an ember, being struck hard by the thunder shock and barely able to hold on from it, the flame sailed towards the Elekid and struck true, the Elekid not expecting such a brash retaliation had made no effort to dodge as well. Frowning, Jacklyn admonished, "come on, Rus, you didn't even try there. Oh, well, fine, go and Ember again!" The Lepash started to gather flames in its mouth once again, ready to fire off yet another powerful blast. "Elekid, quick attack." However, Rus was never able to release this strike, as the Elekid had bolted from its original position and slammed its body into the Lepash the pokemon went flying back off its feet. "Alright Rus go on and...Rus?" As Jacklyn called out to her pokemon, she realized he wasn't responding to her. He wasn't even getting back up onto his feet. A concerned look crossed her face as she said, "well you did battle 3 in a row, I guess that was a bit much. Alright Rus, come on back." Returning her pokemon back to his ball she pulled out her second one. "If you think I'm just a one pokemon pokemon trainer than you've got another thing coming. Let's go Cherry, let's finish this off!" "Bu!" As the Buneary came out, confused as ever, it had immediately hyped itself up to get into the fight. "Thunder Shock!" Deciding to try the same thing for the second time Jacklyn shouted, "alright Cherry dodge!" At her trainer's behest, Cherry had swiftly leaped out of the way of the attack, the Thunder Shock striking the ground instead, only to then immediately get ready to hop again as Jacklyn shouted, "side hop!" Moving again immediately as its feet had touched the ground, it had managed to narrowly avoid getting slammed by the speeding Elekid's quick attack. "Now pound!" Once more as soon as it had landed it hopped forward and kicked the Elekid in the chest. As the spark plug pokemon was kicked back, static electricity discharged off of its body and traveled across Cherry's body. Grinning, the Elekid then followed his trainer's next command and unleashed a point blank Thunder Shock, knocking Cherry back with its electrical strike and causing electricity to crackle across the Buneary's body yet again. "Leer!" With the pokemon clearly having been struck by the static of Elekid's body he went to set up before going in for the kill. However the Elekid's nasty look towards the Buneary was interrupted as Jacklyn called out, "Cherry! Pound again!" "Bu bu!" Without any speed missing in its step, Buneary leaped forward yet again and took advantage of the opponent's lapse in judgement to go and kick the Elekid in the face once more. Though static discharged from his body yet again, the cotton fluff of Buneary's body managed to disperse most of it and their body proved too Limber to be bothered by what little remained. At his misreading of his opponent's abilities the boy hastily commanded the Elekid to let loose another Thunder Shock. Jacklyn, seeing the electricity crackle through the two plug like antennae on its head opted to for a follow up attack of her own. "Cherry, kick in its weird plug head!" As the Buneary landed, unable to dodge the Thunder Shock but seeing it coming, it managed to brace itself through the attack before leaping up and slamming both of its feet into the Elekid's head protrusions. Electricity sparked wildly out of the plugs as the attack critically struck its mark, and combined with the injury it had already suffered from Rus, proved enough to bring the pokemon down. Cherry landed back on her feet, though despite not being paralyzed barely seemed able to keep herself standing. "Way to go Cherry!" The girl cheered enthusiastically at her victory, the buneary raising an ear in joy as well, as Jacklyn looked back to the boy. "Now who's gross?"

Happy Spooktober, everyone!