[2/4] Worker 2022/07/12(Tue)08:38 No. 1037830 ID: 2d7e70
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One swap later, and we're in!

The bags on the floor are filled with mostly mundane stuff, including some cash and a couple nulling grenades.

NULLING GRENADE - 2
Consumable - Dispel all currently active spells and spell effects.

Hey, this looks interesting.


STRANGE KEY

No new clothes for Riede, sadly.

[3/4] Worker 2022/07/12(Tue)08:38 No. 1037831 ID: 2d7e70
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Well, there's only one door out of here s-

"Hey!"

Uh oh.

"I smell the very recent use of a Phase Rod on you cousin! and sewage. If it weren't for that I'd have taken you for an intruder! Did your regalia get lost somewhere?"

Uh-

[4/4] Worker 2022/07/12(Tue)08:39 No. 1037832 ID: 2d7e70
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"...Actually, I don't recognize you...? Been to any family gatherings lately? And what's with the exotic cosplayer?"

"worker if you don't shut him up i'm going to kill him"

>_

Tell the truth that the originally very modest outfit Riede had on got ruined and that was the only replacement on hand other than your own.
On a related note, be sure to bring up later you could give her your own clothes just so she isn't walking around in glorified underwear. Not because you actually WILL, she would never accept anyway, but it's the thought that counts.

Smile in a semi-dazed manner and lie like the wind.

"Hey cousin, yup, lost m'regalia! It's all quite simple, banal really. Y'know how time and space goes together? Got in a pinch and did a biiig ol' spatial rug pull - too fast it turns out - and sorta got stuck in the folds of one of those cosmic time gaps until I could inch my way out of there. Probably been a few years... decades...? Anyway, mind filling me in on what's been going on? Do I still got my pad here? OH, and is the plan to blow up half the solar system still on? Man, I hope I didn't miss the interesting stuff."

Gesture vaguely at Rieda if he asks about her rather than get distracted by all that.

"Oh her? I got together with a very professional professional, y'know, seemed like the thing to do after all that happened. She's just a bit upset about seeing Harley. DID you guys remember to feed them? Seemed kinda grumpy when we went by. Had to take that route if I wanted her along, though, so here we are."

Tell him that you're from a different Arcane City District and you were on your way to inspect if everything was going well with the COSMIC ULTRA NUKE stuff, but some random sewage got in the way. As for this female, you found her in a pile of crud. He should know how it is with those crud piles. Then redirect his attention by asking him if he knows when Harley was last fed.

[1/3] Worker 2022/07/14(Thu)15:37 No. 1038176 ID: 2d7e70
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Well. Here goes nothing.

"Haha! Yeah it really has been a while hasn't it? Lost all my stuff and regalia and stuff too! I've been spending most of my time in a different district back at the city for most of my years, when suddenly I had to do a big space magic ritual and got myself stranded in a pocket realm."

"Dimensional stranding? Surely that'd automatically trigger a search squadro-"

"It's more complicated than that! Some stuff was going on and you know how time and space work together right? So time kinda sort of slipped by me and I guess the search and rescue team couldn't find me through the timelines or whatever. And when I did pop out it was a few years later! Terrible right?"

"Time...? Oh! Right, this must be from the incident from several years ago when we tried to get the time dynasties to work with us again! Sad shame that they refused, but I didn't think they'd actively harm us after all this time. We shed blood for each other all those decades ago, after all!"


Riede's eyes widen and her figure stiffens for a moment, but doesn't speak.

[2/3] Worker 2022/07/14(Thu)15:37 No. 1038177 ID: 2d7e70
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"Still, what's with her?"

"Ah! Well you see, I've been out of commission for so long I kind of forgot where everything was so I enlisted this woman's help, Riede, to get up to speed and figure out how the dynasty's doing. She's a professional with connections! We kinda had to go through the sewers to evade the security systems but ended up running in-"

"Harley! Shit, you just reminded me to feed her today!"

Oh. Good.

"...Anyway, long story short Riede here got into a real mess because of Harley and we got all dirtied up by the experience but don't worry Harley is perfectly, perfectly ok. The dress was the only thing nearby that could replace her clothes."

"I see! Well, I'm glad everything turned out ok. Still Harley might need a new vessel if she ends up breaking her current one if you had to fend her off..." The rat seems to be too lost in his thoughts to notice the 500 holes in my story.

I really do need to ask Riede if she wants my clothes or something. Maybe later.

[3/3] Worker 2022/07/14(Thu)15:37 No. 1038178 ID: 2d7e70
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"Anyway... Enough of that. Time to get into the real big issue." Alright, time to see how much info I can grab here. "...What's up with the COSMIC ULTRA NUKE? Is everything proceeding as expected?"

"Of course, cousin! By the way, you can just call me Talow! What's your...?"

Years of being a corporate drone compel me to respond instantly, "I'm just Worker."

"Man, the other branch families must have some strange traditions."

I get the impression this man is a little too trusting for his own good.

"I'm not allowed to disclose information about The Plan(tm). At all. Heck, they wouldn't even tell me most of it. 'Security concerns' while glaring at me or whatever. But I can always ask Grandfather Yule to come down from the station to have a little chat!"

That sounds like an extremely bad idea.

"Orrrrrr I could show you around since it's been a while for you, Worker! Maybe see if you need any new equipment, and visit some rooms? Except the stairwell. I JUST NOW rigged it with multiple soul destruction and cosmic obliteration spells. Ha! Almost drained myself of mana after that."

I'm sorry wh-

"OH! I almost forgot to mention why I'm here. I'm here to fortify any entry ways into the station since I was just recently declared an archmage of destruction magic by the USCR! That's pretty crazy, right? A free giant hat and everything!"

Typically, an archmage is within the top 1% of mages AND must have developed a spellbook of at least 50+ cutting edge spells. Like a PhD on wizard steroids.

Riede's as white as a sheet right now.

>_

>>1038178
Ooh, a hat? Let's see it! And hey, show off a spell!

(yes, this guy is an archmage, but he's "almost" depleted his mana. Might be possible to take him down with a surprise attack.)

Stay calm, if you can’t comprehend how powerful it is, you’ll be fine…
Also, where’s his hat?

Helpfully point out all the places that need defensive spells. Do so until he is out of mana. Then hit him with the pommel of the broken magic sword from your boss. Or the pommel of the sword-stuck-in-the-portal if you kept it. You have two swords and neither has a usable blade, that's kinda impressive in a way.

Tell him that he has to turn off the soul destruction and cosmic spells right now. They just discovered that, with the ambient magical radiation the space station is emitting, they combine to generate and aura that turns you straight.

If he shows skepticism, tell him "are you SURE you want to take that risk?"

Compliment him on the achievement and allow him to show you his hat and stuff. Tell him that, yeah, it would be great if you could rotate some of your equipment. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to get a hat just like his some day~ And if he's got free time, then sure, you'd love a tour. Hmm, wouldn't it be dangerous to feed Harley without mana?

[1/4] Worker 2022/07/20(Wed)17:57 No. 1038748 ID: 2d7e70
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"I'm so happy for your accomplishment, Talow! Why not show us a spell, something a real mage can do?"

"Ha! Love the enthusiasm, but no. I can't." He sighs, "I've seen way too many would be colleagues get eaten by something because they blew all their mana on something and got wasted when their pants were down. Trust me, I put in so much work into the traps that I'm probably gonna be out of commission until after the NUKE goes off anyway." He scowls, "Grandfather doesn't even want me helping in the station. He doesn't want me to 'accidentally blow something up' like I'm some sort of novice."

"Come onnnnn...! I could show you some spots that need protection, too. Just one sp-"

"I can't Worker. Sorry."

[2/4] Worker 2022/07/20(Wed)17:57 No. 1038749 ID: 2d7e70
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Plan B then.

"So what about the big hat?"

"Oh! The hat's absolutely lovely, but enchanted so that it can't be teleported unless it's by the person currently wearing it. The other three people here are on lunch break, and we'll be heading back to the Spatial City in a few hours so they're also getting ready to leave. Although one of us will need to feed then transport Harley. So wait here, I'll go get it! "

He runs off into a hallway.

[3/4] Worker 2022/07/20(Wed)17:58 No. 1038750 ID: 2d7e70
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"Worker." Riede slowly regains her strong willed disposition, "Judging by your line of questioning, were you thinking of getting him to exhaust himself so we could whack him?"

"Yep. Figured he would be out of mana."

"A solid plan. However, not all magic requires the user to cast something, and as an archmage almost every single one of his possessions likely has an AT WILL ability like your Phase Rod. Archmages typically are prepared like that."

"Well, we have those Nulling Grenades don't we?"

"Hmmmm, yeah. We definitely do. But those are hard to come by. Those COULD equal the playing field, but at that point it will be a fight of brute strength since we won't have spells or usable powers either. Still. If you think it's worth it we could burn one to knock him down, even if he does claim that he's more or less out of the picture in a few hours."

"So what's the alternative?"

She sighs, "We bullshit hard enough so that we can gather as much equipment as we can, let them buzz off, and scooter our way to the station."

Good thing I still have that in my Company storage bag like all the other stuff. The miracles of modern magitech.

[4/4] Worker 2022/07/20(Wed)17:58 No. 1038751 ID: 2d7e70
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Man, Riede's on top of things today.

"By the way, I have some spare office worker clothes if you need something to wear."

"Worker, I strongly doubt what fits you will fit me." She stops to look at me, "...But I appreciate the thought."

Riede drops down on a mattress, and grows pensive, "Talow mentioned trying to recruit the time dynasties. That sounds just like the Gravity War from around a century ago. That war's the reason why we have anti-collusion laws these days..."

Wonder why she's so absorbed with history all of a sudden. Talow's gonna be back soon. We could stage an ambush, continue bullshitting and hope no one sees through us, or we could just leave and walk around on our own time.

>_

Bullshitting is how we do things in there.

Let's bullshit. We have the nulling grenades as a backup plan.
And about the Gravity War, well, the time dynasties are involved, maybe it will happen a century ago in about two days? Anyway thinking about that is above your paygrade, as are most things honestly.

Bullshitting is the way to go.

[1/2] Worker 2022/07/28(Thu)20:28 No. 1039475 ID: 2d7e70
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"Let's take our chances with deception. By the way, what's up with the Gravity War? Are we gonna have to deal with time shenanigans too?"

"It's ancient history at this point. Three magical schools try to take over, they lose, one of them got outlawed and its practice rendered verboten. The parallels are just strange, is all. Time mages generally aren't allowed to go 10 years from whichever is declared the present day so it's unlikely any renegade mages from that time period are here."

[2/2] Worker 2022/07/28(Thu)20:29 No. 1039476 ID: 2d7e70
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Good gods what is that hat.

"Do you like it? It IS kinda goofy looking. Anyway, where do you wanna go first? I can bring you to around two places before I have to start packing."

>Armory (Choice of 2 Equipment Items)
>Kitchen (3~ Food/Buff Items)
>Study (2~ Spells)
>Meeting Room (Random Enemy Intel)
>Other_

>>1039476
Armory, Study.

Meeting Room, then Armory, then convince him to go into the Stairs and trigger one of his own traps.

Study and Meeting Room to get new spells and intel on places to point them at.
And compliment his hat.

best hat 12/10

Knowledge is power, so go to the study and meeting room

armory, so we look like normal mages when we go to the meeting room

[1/3] Worker 2023/03/12(Sun)15:15 No. 1058354 ID: a2b62d
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>Meeting Room
>Study

The gods have spoken!

"First, I need a refresher on what's going on. Is there some sort of meeting room where you guys talked about the plan?"

"Oh sure, there's a meeting room nearby."

[2/3] Worker 2023/03/12(Sun)15:15 No. 1058355 ID: a2b62d
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A few flights of stairs later and we find ourselves in a pretty generic board room. There's a bunch of papers and scribbles. Lots and lots of scribbles. Some bloke got really bored.

[3/3] Worker 2023/03/12(Sun)15:15 No. 1058356 ID: a2b62d
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Hold the phone. There's a small diagram of the space station...

"There are 4 entrances to the station, north, east, west, and south.

"The North entrance will be guarded by Tyr the Shaper of Formless Beasts".
"The South entrance will be guarded by Earles the Opener of Gates".
"The East entrance will be guarded by Yand the Endless Blade".
"The West entrance will be guarded by Keth the Eater of Spells".

"People attempting to access the station without a pass will be violently erased from existence."

Hmmmmm, seems like whichever entrance we scooter into will lead to a different encounter. Should be good to know. Other than that, there's not much else to see. Th-

"TAAAALOOOOOOWWWWW! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Talow's ears perk up. "It's sister Rean! She's a bit yelly."

Shoot. More of them.

>_

>>1058356
Tell him he should go, you don't want to get him in trouble.

>>1058356
We're clearly taking the south gate, sounds like earles might just open it for us.

>Yand the Endless Blade
get your marriage papers ready because it sounds like it’s time for round two!

We pretty good at handling endless blades, so East should be a fine choice once we get to... aren't we already on the station tho?

Who's Rean?

[1/3] Worker 2023/03/13(Mon)08:12 No. 1058434 ID: 92e4c4
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There's some good entry point candidates already, though none of this is particularly useful until we actually hit the station.

Speaking of, there's the impending encounter I will attempt to divert.

"Talow, I'd rather you not get in trouble for my sake, why don't yo-"

"Don't be like that Worker! Rean'll understand. I bet you'll like her too!"

Diversion failed.

Talow approaches the door and opens it, "Hey Rean, was just bringing a cousin up to speed on the whole nuke plot!"

[2/3] Worker 2023/03/13(Mon)08:12 No. 1058435 ID: 92e4c4
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A grouchy looking rodent stands beyond the doorframe. Rean, I assume. There is a strangely high amount of women with big busts on this adventure.

"Cousin eh? Cosmic Kings, what creature did my uncle violate to yield something like you?"

ok rude

"And is that a hooker back there? If you're gonna debase yourself you might as well aim a bit higher ya know?"

[3/3] Worker 2023/03/13(Mon)08:12 No. 1058436 ID: 92e4c4
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Alright. "First off, she's a professional wizard. Second, we're just gathering some equipment to help out with The Plan."

Talow pipes up next, "Rean please! This isn't how we treat family!"

Rean cuts him off, "Family schmamily, I'm in this for the gravity magic!"

Riede practically freezes in the corner. Hold on. Isn't gravity magic illegal?

"Talow, stop wasting my damn time and start packing."

Talow looks worriedly between me and Rean. This place is big enough that without Talow's guidance we're likely gonna waste time getting lost and possibly run into something that'll see through our bluff, but Rean is gonna need a good convincing otherwise if we want to keep him around.

>_

Show Rean your "worker" abs. These wizard nerds probably haven't seen any in their life.

“So you’re gonna leave your cousin, who hasn’t been fully caught up yet, without a guide, map or even a list of important-things-that-I-shouldn’t-touch? That’s real professional of you.”

[1/3] Worker 2023/03/14(Tue)02:20 No. 1058519 ID: 92e4c4
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Unfortunately, 20 hour work days 6 days a week leave little time for things like personal fitness, so I'm not going to be winning any rolls to seduce any time soon.

"So you're just gonna leave your cousin to fend for himself without a damn clue what to do? Real professional of you guys. I at least need to visit the study first."

[2/3] Worker 2023/03/14(Tue)02:20 No. 1058520 ID: 92e4c4
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Talow squirms at the accusation, but the jab seems to slide off Rean like water off a duck.

"Like I give a damn about some dickhead I barely know. Talow, come on."

Talow sighs, and trudges along behind her as they both leave. He seems... focused on something. Wait, something sounds like it's burning-

[3/3] Worker 2023/03/14(Tue)02:20 No. 1058521 ID: 92e4c4
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Oh! Talow seems to have burnt a map to the study on the floor. Seems my small bit of verbal fencing convinced him to use some of his small supply of man-

Wait. How did he do that without a wand? Oh. Right, archmage.

Well, without Talow our risk of getting caught by someone who actually knows their extended family is fairly high but at least we're not gonna get lost.

We could either head out to the study now, try to grab some more info from the meeting room, chat a bit, such and such.

>_

Peek at the meeting room notes before you go.

Any info could be useful I suppose, so spare a few more minutes looking around the meeting room. Ask Riede what spells she knows. What spells should a cop know?

Time to use the most important skill in our worker drone arsenal: talking when we should be doing work.
Ask Riede if she found anything cool.

[1/4] Worker 2023/03/15(Wed)02:10 No. 1058632 ID: 92e4c4
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The meeting room table is rife with precious documents. Secrets hidden from the public for fear of backlash from authorities.

Like poorly drawn pets and angry rants about the soda machine not working, the water making a strange noise and curses scribbled on the edges. It reminds me of the break room back at Company.

Home.

[2/4] Worker 2023/03/15(Wed)02:10 No. 1058633 ID: 92e4c4
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Riede for her efforts actually finds something interesting.

GRAVITY LOCUS INTERACTION WITH MANA

It is well known among physicists that black holes have a strange interaction with mana. Mana is not destroyed but stored in black holes, similar to how mass and light are trapped in the event horizon. However, mana, unlike matter and light, can resist extreme gravitational force in that it can escape the event horizon with the proper spell. This makes the so called "mana core singularities" essentially mana batteries with nigh limitless capacity and were especially valuable to the now forbidden practices of gravity magic...

The rest of the document is smudged.

[3/4] Worker 2023/03/15(Wed)02:10 No. 1058634 ID: 92e4c4
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"Gravity magic," Riede mutters, "Was illegalized when House Ervant, the then current Gravity Dynasty, instigated the Gravity War."

"Why would they do something like that?"

"Gravity magic demands an exceptional amount of mana, second only to time magic. It's assumed that they were draining their home plane too fast for the plane to naturally regenerate mana, and they decided to try to take over other planes. They lost, and in return their plane was Locked via a complex Time and Space spell and the practice of gravity magic was made illegal."

Interesting.

[4/4] Worker 2023/03/15(Wed)02:10 No. 1058635 ID: 92e4c4
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"Riede, now's probably the best time to ask: What spells do you have?"

She looks thoughtfully at her own wand, a standard grade HELCASTER, "INFERNITI, an ignition spell, ELECTIS, a taze spell, and PARASYS, a limb binding spell. The usual cop suite."

"Igniting things is a cop spell?"

"Well, except for that one. That was my beginner spell."

Right. Well, looks like that should be everything here. We could hit the study or decide to defy fate and deviate from the map if we're feeling lucky.

>_

Well, time to go to visit the study.
Also ask Riede how nulling grenades work exactly, because if it messes with the mana itself then that gives me an idea for a really funny prank involving those black hole mana batteries.

>>1058635
Go to study.

[1/2] Worker 2023/03/16(Thu)04:24 No. 1058699 ID: 33c6d9
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We begin the trek to the study, which is supposedly a floor above us.

"Say Riede, how do nulling grenades work?"

"They cause the mana in the nearby area to scramble, destroying magical constructs and causing spells to fail. It usually causes magitech machines to blow up due to the mana batteries inside them. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason."

[2/2] Worker 2023/03/16(Thu)04:24 No. 1058701 ID: 33c6d9
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The walk over there is uneventful, but it appears that there's someone outside the study already. We're gonna need to finesse our way pass them to get in it seems.

We stop just along the edge of the corner. The person in question is deeply into a... cooking book?

If we try speaking to them, it'll be up in the air if they'll see through our bluff, and judging by their get up they seem to be ready for a tussle. Alternatively if we could figure out how to sneak past them that would also work until we need to leave the room.

>_

Set them on fire and knock them out while they're extinguishing themselves.

>>1058701
Walk up and pretend you are interested deeply in the delicious pie they are clearly considering making; then pull their hat over their eyes and punch their lights out! Our sidekick can kick up while they’re down.

Hmm, a large hat...
Smells like an archmage. Which means trying to assault them with magic would likely fail. Use a nulling grenade and then assault.

[1/4] Worker 2023/03/18(Sat)08:07 No. 1058960 ID: 1f325d
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The hat doesn't look big enough to be an archmage hat. Maybe we could just do this the old fashioned way.

[2/4] Worker 2023/03/18(Sat)08:07 No. 1058961 ID: 1f325d
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I stride just to the right of the reading wizard, with Riede still on the other side hiding behind the corner.

"Hey! Just noticed the book you're reading. I don't do a lot of cooking since most of my meals come from the vending machines, are you thinking of making a pie?"

The guard's hat tips upward, but I still can't see his face, "Oh. Yeah! I've been thinking of making some blueberry pie for the post explosion party. Gonna have to pick up the ingredients beforehand since, you know, the planet's gonna be gone soon."

He pauses, "By the way, who ar-"

[3/4] Worker 2023/03/18(Sat)08:07 No. 1058962 ID: 1f325d
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He yelps as his tail spontaneously catches fire, leaving his face open for a solid thwack. He crumples to the ground like a sack of potatoes, leaving us to our prize.

[4/4] Worker 2023/03/18(Sat)08:07 No. 1058963 ID: 1f325d
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Alright that is way too many books. We are only gonna pick one section to go through because otherwise we'll be stuck here until the nuke goes off.

>1
>2
>3
>4
>_

My senses are at a loss.

There's some skulls at #1, so perhaps magic related to killing stuff, offense.
#2 has a snow globe, ice, perhaps defensive spells.
At #3 there's some plants, maybe nature or healing.
The last one, #4, seems to be only books, but it's got the highest amount of books.

I'd go with #4 because, well, I don't particularly care what spells we learn as long as the variety increases.

First order of business, pull a Hitman and steal that guard's clothes so you don't stick out like a sore thumb anymore.
>>1058978
In that case my vote goes for #3. Healing is obviously good, but there's a lot of potential use for nature-related magic. Think of all the people we could crush into a pulp with the power of spontaneously growing trees at will!

I say we look at number 4 and, if we can't find more info on who the four guardians are, I recommend we go against Keth, the spell eater, as we don't have that many spells and planning an strategy to beat thi guys up without magic will be good.

But until then, take that guy's hat and magic items, if we are going to sabotage this guys, we should go all in.

[1/2] Worker 2023/03/21(Tue)15:24 No. 1059195 ID: 4b26a5
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Riede scavenges the mystery books while I rob a sleeping man of his possessions. There's probably a law against this somewhere.

I finally look like a wizard! Hat's a bit wonky though. Only things on him are another phase rod and a strange little fragment of space-time.


SPACE CUTTER
Consumable - Dimensionally cut a hit target, splitting their body apart in two non-lethally, as both parts will be connected via a semi-permanent portal neither part can escape. Requires a skilled space mage to dispel.

[2/2] Worker 2023/03/21(Tue)15:24 No. 1059196 ID: 4b26a5
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Riede exits the study with two books in hand.

"Nothing but junk in there. Almost anyway."

The books are beaten and the papers riddled with cuts, but the magical knowledge nonetheless sinks into my mind.


EXCLAMA - "Firecracker"
Spell - Fire a magic missile that bursts into a cacophony of sound and light, blinding and deafening anyone nearby.

RODEK - "Summon Ghost Rat"
Spell - Summon a vengeful spirit with a lust for cheese. Great choice for beginner necromancers and kids with really poor parents.

A quick peek out the window shows the dark blues of the night outside. Well, looks like that's all we're gonna be doing. Faffing around like this has put a dent in our schedule already, so we're gonna have to head to the station now rather than later unless there's something we just HAVE to do.

The staircase up there is in this facility, but it's booby trapped with dark archmage magic. We also have our space worthy scooter just outside where we entered the place, with all the benefits and problems such a thing would offer.

Riede also paid out the ass for it, so she'll probably get upset if we don't use it.

>_

>>1059196
Alright let's take the scooter.

Scoot the burbs.

[1/4] Worker 2023/03/29(Wed)17:18 No. 1059852 ID: c59677
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The walk back is relatively uneventful. We walk back to the dorms and run into Talow again, who was nice enough to lead us through the doors before he left.

[2/4] Worker 2023/03/29(Wed)17:18 No. 1059853 ID: c59677
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The space helmets seal shut as a transparent life system field cloaks our bodies. Beats clunky space suits.

[3/4] Worker 2023/03/29(Wed)17:18 No. 1059854 ID: c59677
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The time has come. The scooter shivers before floating in midair, and before we know it, we're halfway through the atmosphere.

[4/4] Worker 2023/03/29(Wed)17:18 No. 1059855 ID: c59677
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Huh. You'd think this would be a bit trickier given how visible we are right now.

>_

You must really freak wizards out, they seem to only ever attack you behind the safety of portals through space-time. Like, uh, right now.

EXCLAMA them as they emerge.

RODEK a rat or a dozen, so that whatever comes through may attack them instead of you.

[1/2] Worker 2023/05/10(Wed)07:34 No. 1063325 ID: 26fb8d
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"Fools!" A gruff voice cries out from the dark between worlds, "You cannot stop what is to co-"

His rambling is interrupted by a firecracker speeding into his mouth, and his silhouette is overcome by a blazing explosion.

[MANA 2/3]

Old(?) man defeated. That wasn't too ba-

[2/2] Worker 2023/05/10(Wed)07:34 No. 1063326 ID: 26fb8d
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Aw fuck there's another one. Instead of speaking he instead fires what looks like a tear in space at us, a sharp sliver of pure black soaring across the sky.

Before I can cast RODEK, Riede casts PARASYS, causing the tear to still itself in midair, vibrating angrily as though it was wrestling against a chain.

The remaining space mage scowls and his wand seems to start moving in several directions at once.

>_

simple, just dodge his attack by moving in several directions at once.

If his wand's moving in several directions at once, it must be doing so from a stable fulcrum, or else his entire body would also be moving in several directions at once.

Meaning he probably can't reposition while he's doing whatever multicast thing here without fouling up... what must be a complex bit of sorcery. In other words, he stuck so toss some crap over the rift at 'em. Maybe a nulling grenade.

Stopping the scooter for a bit to drop air (/furiously try to restart the engine) to dodge may also be wise.

Swap places with the space mage while Riede moves the scooter out of the way and releases her spell

If he's an old man, ask him about what he would do to fix the broken economy of your world or something involving politics. Hopefully his old man senses will trigger and he'll stop casting his spell to lecture you younglins.

[1/3] Worker 2023/06/17(Sat)07:27 No. 1066087 ID: a37bbd
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Riede appears to be concentrating; casting a spell directly on a living thing takes time. Time to try out some political distraction thingy. "So uh, what are your thoughts on the Cake Party?"

"Shut your damn mouth and die already, interloper!" Ok.

Just before the space wizard casts his spell(s), I immediately cut the engines and we plummet downwards.

Suddenly like 12 different spells go off right where we were and where we were going. Good gods.

[2/3] Worker 2023/06/17(Sat)07:27 No. 1066088 ID: a37bbd
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The engines burst to life again as Riede casts ELECTIS, causing the wizard to suddenly stiffen and freeze. He tries to mouth some sort of spell but his paralyzed mouth won't let him.

"That spell should keep him there for a few hours. At least whatever levitation spell he's using is keeping him afloat." Riede glances at the paralyzed wizard as we fly off.

[3/3] Worker 2023/06/17(Sat)07:27 No. 1066089 ID: a37bbd
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We lift up higher and higher into the atmosphere, the earth below a blur of color and light. Hey! I can see the continent wide hole left behind by the Great Wizard War!

"...So, Worker, do we actually have a plan for when we get there?"

"There are four entrances, each will a particular guardian. We can choose who to go for."

"And then what?"

Man, I wish Boss was here to do the thinking for me.

>The North entrance will be guarded by Tyr the Shaper of Formless Beasts.
>The South entrance will be guarded by Earles the Opener of Gates.
>The East entrance will be guarded by Yand the Endless Blade.
>The West entrance will be guarded by Keth the Eater of Spells.

>Opening Strategy_

...you're in space. How do you tell which is the north, south, east and west entrance?

Well, we are not very good at magic, but very good at hitting people with blunt objects, so Keth, the eater of spells it is.

Do tell him we came to do a last minute inspection no behalf of that cranky hag we met down on their base.

If that doesn't work, at least we will get close enough to hit him with a blunt object.

The East entrance. We've already met someone with an endless blade, and it went rather well.

Should've taken that guard's clothes.

East. Maybe we'll meet that lizard's sister.

[1/3] Worker 2023/07/28(Fri)07:56 No. 1069140 ID: d03c4b
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The yawning eastern gate of the space station. There are holes all throughout this side of the station. Maybe it was some sort of transit zone? Reality seems to peel from the seams all around it.

As we pass through the mouth we feel air and gravity assert themselves.

[2/3] Worker 2023/07/28(Fri)07:56 No. 1069141 ID: d03c4b
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Riede appears to tense, hands balled into fists. The pulsating, rhythmic flow of mana around the station is so powerful even I can feel it. Like a giant's heartbeat.

"Well, here we a-", as we dismount the scooter, a blinding light surges across from the other end of the room. A shape seems to coalesce from a tear in reality, it's-

[3/3] Worker 2023/07/28(Fri)07:56 No. 1069142 ID: d03c4b
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...Oh.

"You."


She's still tied up. And in a wedding dress.

>_

She looks happy to see you. Try to resume you wedding.
And reassure her you won't question why she hasn't asked anyone to untie her since you last saw her. I mean, it's been a while, at least an hour, probably ?

Should we... give her back the... Endless Blade? Is that how this sort of thing works?

>>1069148
This, but more transactional: Tell her in exchange for her marrying you, you won't question her surprisingly continued bondage.

>>1069151
we could, but im pretty sure it got abandoned since worker couldnt use it

Also, we should question her on why she's still tied up and wearing the wedding dress :3

Go for a hug and another wild story - the time traveller's tale.

"Hi again, dear! Still looking good!"

On the topic of looks, assure her that look, you were trying to properly do the marriage proposal thing, but Riede didn't seem keen, so the whole affair must go through later, whoops haha - hm, come to think of it, did it need to be approved by one of the elders of the house? Gah, you can't remember their name. July? Ule? Someone like that. She should rest assured you'll have a spare certificate on hand for the time when it comes, just like you had the dress. Speaking of, is the fit okay? You do hope you got her measurements right, at least.

That said, you get the disapppintment at being left behind at the not-so-literal alter - utterly scandalous - and will work hard to make up for it and honor her and her house, once the world is no longer under threat of their COSMIC ULTRA NUKE that...

... oh right, she still doesn't know what the actual The Plan(tm) is? Or was the story she didn't care and was just in it for the gravity magic, like Rean? Man, that woman - her brother is decidedly more pleasant. Right?

Take a step back, apologize for rambling and say that given the MANY time shenanigans that've been going on the last few months of subjective time, you get the order of events confused a lot: you just knew you couldn't tell her anything in that first encounter - but that's really not your fault, because she told you - nagged, really - that you didn't!

Anyway, it's important she pay attention, because she'll tell you some of this later, before you get here. Admittedly, she also said you could've explained things better and that she was too upset about something at the time to really pay attention when you informed past-her, so um, let's reset, like a proper time mage should.

Greetings, Yand! You are Worker, an undercover time dynast and her future-her/present-you husband! And what you're really here for is to prevent her house and her from getting tricked into making the worst mistake of their lives! That isn't marrying you, that is. Future-her jokes about this a lot, haha.

(And if she manages to overcome her shock and horror to cut through your lies and blather, I dunno, just shrug and capture her anyway? She's swordless and wandless.)

>>1069153
I think Worker still had it in the sewers here >>1037224.

Get on your hands and knees and BEG Riede to officiate the marriage papers!
It’s the only way we can possibly hope to beat Yand.

Yand’s teammates must really hate her if they didn’t even bother untying her

Gonna be hard to get married after your papers got burned. But hey, maybe something happened between her and her masters or whatever that can be of help. It would certainly be a good idea to first find out about her circumstances and then adapt to the situation.

In general you should act all lovingly towards "your dear"; be worried, tell her that you're sorry about what happened the last time, but that she shouldn't get any wrong impressions - the marriage wasn't official yet, so if she wants to call it off... Btw, she won't hurt you if you untie her, will she?