Avaritia Underside Log

AVARITIA DUNGEON LOG
Once the Executors have steeled themselves for the confrontation with Greta (or whatever Greta might have become now her Authority has been reclaimed) it's time to descend into the Avaritia Underside. For those Executors new to the team, this is going to seem like a terrible trecharous climb down, but don't worry! The real danger waits down on the Underside below. And going by the lights and noise drifting up to meet you, it's not going to be any more welcoming than the Layer that came before...
THE UNDERSIDE
♪♫ MagiCatz – Sakuzyo Descending into the Avaritia Underside is like willingly throwing yourself into the deepest, darkest pits of sensory hell. The Greed Layer has never been a particularly friendly looking place but with it distorted into a labyrinth of flashing neon signs, oversized casino machines and Revenants swarming the streets, it's as though everything that makes Avaritia unbearable has been turned all the way up to eleven. It's... not a fun place to be! To make matters worse, things are loud here – as well as all the noise from the casino machines, music blares from an unseen source and the Revenants laugh and chatter and babble between themselves even as they fight and kill for the grubby Nova coins that can be found scattered around. It's a deeply unpleasant place to be, but this is where Greta has ended up and if you want to proceed then you have no choice but to plunge into this neon-drenched hellscape. AREAS OF INTEREST ⚝ Main Street: There are many other clusters of activity around the Underside, but the main street that makes up the center of the Underside is certainly the biggest and the busiest. Whatever buildings might have made up this street before are long gone, some crushed and destroyed by the regular outpourings of coins from the giant slot machines and some having been ravaged and destroyed in some fight or other between Revenants. The street is lined with grubby, battered novas that have changed hands so often that the metal has worn smooth. Even so, the Revenants here fight over the money viciously, biting and scratching and killing over even a single coin. The more novas any individual Revenant is able to keep its hands (or, uh... claws?) on, the stronger it appears to be. And lurking at the mouth of main street is an absolutely enormous Revenant, lording over a horde of coins bigger than any you've ever seen before – and it doesn't seem inclined to share them with you. ⚝ Fort Nyx: The already labyrinthine layout of Fort Nyx's underground vaults has somehow managed to get even more confusing with the transition to the underside. The upper layer that once housed the bank has vanished entirely, leaving wibbly wobbly corridors that snake down deep into the depths of the vaults. You'll want to move fast as you travel through here, as the vault doors will occasionally burst open and a particularly aggressive Revenant will burst out, intent on protecting whatever meager treasures it's managed to collect and keep in the safe. Press further in and you'll eventually find yourself at the Underside's equivalent of Vault #0. Greta isn't here to greet you, unfortunately, but you do at least have another Revenant to occupy your time with! ⚝ Et Voila Casino: See for yourself. HAZARDS ⚝ Sensory Overload: Avaritia's Underside is, unbelievably, even worse than Avaritia itself in terms of apparently doing everything it can to send you running with a migraine. Lights flash, neon signs blare and the noise is almost unbearable. With all this on top of the natural distortion to the Underside's geography, this makes trying to navigate extremely difficult and can be dangerously disorienting when it comes time to fight. ⚝ Structural Damage: Many of the buildings around the city have fallen into disrepair due to the presence of the Revenants here. Most concerningly, many of the signs have some degree of damage to their wiring or electrical supply and may spark or flicker or even shock Executors who get too close. Be on your guard! ⚝ Avalanche!: Occasionally, the oversized slot machines that line the streets will hit on a prize and immediately pour an wave of novas into the streets. On top of the danger posed by the rush of Revenants that will come hurrying in to claim the coins, there's a very real chance of an unlucky Executor being crushed under the tidal wave of metal, causing horrible injury if not outright death. ⚝ Revenant Types Present: Ficino, Rigaud

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MAMMON

Twisted into a beast befitting Greta's Sin, the Aberrant of Greed, Mammon takes flight. Her skin has been replaced with thick, leathery scales and her mouth is full of horribly cruel looking fangs. And worst of all, with her flying in the air just out of reach, it's going to be much harder for the Executors to land a clean blow on her.

Mammon doesn't have that same problem, though – she swoops down from the air, aiming to take a bite out of Ruin.

Its Movement is three. Its Durability is unknown. Its abilities are unknown.

The turn order is Mammon, Achilles, Medic, Ruin.

Edited 2021-06-05 17:21 (UTC)

[ Achilles is quick as soon as he realizes Greta-now-Mammon is coming down right for Ruin, strumming his fingers down his harp. As soon as he does a sun shaped shield appears in front of the three of them, centered at Ruin. It'll break right away but at least it'll protect them from for a few seconds. ]

Move!

[Medic is already moving as Achilles calls out, diving into a rolling dodge and pulling out her scissors.]

[She leans to one side and snakes the blades out around the edge of the shield, trying to snip and snap at the delicate-looking membranes of Mammon's wings- the better to hamper her mobility, she feels.]

[Ruin barely has time to register the shield the immediate, reckless thought in his mind flashing away as suddenly as it came. With the shield in the way the fire sparking at his fingertips dies and instead he's taking the opportunity to start running away and aside, summoning his steed as he goes. He's been practicing a lot of this mounting and dismounting during summons these last few months so it is not terribly difficulty to do just that, swiftly trying to pull her around in a tight circle to get behind the beast before she can recover or really even register where they've scattered to.

And if she follows him then it will give Medic and Achilles more time to get themselves in better positions.]

Achilles' shield is well-timed – Mammon crashes into it hard enough that the shield almost buckles right away, but it manages to hold for the precious few seconds needed to repel her initial attack. She reels back from the shield just in time to flutter away from Medic's scissors and takes off into the air again with an ear-splitting shriek.

It seems that Ruin breaking off from the group has disoriented her a little and rather than attack again, she chooses to stay hovering above them, swooping side to side as she visibly calculates what to do.

[ Once his shield shatters, Achilles also moves away from that spot, backing up and keeping his eyes on Greta. His powers are more support focused, so he waits to see what the others (and Greta) will do before making another move. ]

[Medic tilts her head thoughtfully and considers the situation. She keeps her scissors up and braced, poised to defend herself or leap aside as necessary, but doesn't move to attack yet.]

Achilles, can you make those shields behind her, do you think? Try to hem her in?

It's either that, or someone needs to throw me again. [She sounds pretty relaxed about the concept, honestly. Sometimes you're a projectile weapon, it's whatever.]

No one's throwing you!

[Snapped off as Ruin crosses back underneath her, lance raised to try to see just how far off he is from being able to strike her with the extra height of his steed. Then he pulls her around in a tight circle right in front of the beast that used to be Greta (and there's something sickening but familiar about that knowledge) making himself a target.]

C'mon, I'm the one you want, bitch!

[As he yells up at her he holds the Lance out, bracing for her to swoop at him again but not before he's throwing a fire spell at her face.]

Medic can be yeeted a little, as a treat! ... okay, maybe not, especially since there's no safe way to get her down.

On the plus side, whether by some faint recognition or an instinct for the person who carries her lost Authority, Mammon makes a beeline for Ruin and his steed. This puts her in the prime position to take his fire spell right to the face in a critical blow.. The impact makes her reel back with an unhappy shriek of surprise and she has to beat her wings furiously to retain her altitude.

Realizing that her intended prey is just a little too speedy for her, Mammon changes tactics. Instead of pursuing him further, Mammon throws back her head and lets out an absolutely ear-splitting screech that rattles everyone right down to their bones. It bounces off the walls and reverberates, seeming to go on forever and generally makes things extremely disorienting. It's not great!

All three Executors sacrifice one point of Movement for the next two turns.

I would also greatly prefer it if no one threw you Lady Medic-- augh!!

[ He only has one free hand to cover an ear with when Mammon shrieks. It makes him wince and he almost drops his harp--

--wait there's an idea.

Doing his best to play even with all that going on he starts to play his harp... specifically his drowsy song It won't put her to sleep, he knows, that part has so far only worked on specters... but it might hopefully slow her down. ]

Well, I have to reach her some- [She breaks off at the sound of the screech with a full-body wince, covering both her ears.]

Why is everything on this layer so loud?!

[In the spirit of "fuck this and fuck you", she closes her scissors and chucks them at Mammon point-first, like a javelin, with all the strength she can muster. She's aiming vaguely for the mouth, but it's not exactly a precision attack. Mostly she just really, really wants the noise to stop happening.]

[There's something distressingly familiar about that shriek but his ears hurt far too much to recall it just then. He can see Medic's lips moving but he can't hear what she's saying. He does recognize the opening for what it is, though. Ruin sacrifices the protection of his ears long enough to send another fire spell. This time, though, he's aiming to have it intersect with Medic's scissors, to heat the blade and increase it's damage potential.

And then he and his horse are veering off again, using every bit of space he can to force Mammon to chose between him and the others... and he's the only one with effective range and has her Authority so he's really hoping she focuses on him.]

Even under the horrible din of that scream, Achilles' spell does its trick. It slows Mammon down long enough that Ruin and Medic's sick combo attack hits home and strikes her directly in the face, dealing a single blow of damage. Medic's weapon dematerializes and she will have to spend a point of Movement to resummon it.

Their sick combo move combined with the disorientation of Achilles' spell brings Mammon briefly crashing back down to Earth. She immediately sets her wings flapping again to try and bring herself back into the air, but if you want to take a shot at her on the ground, now's your chance!

Edited 2021-06-09 17:04 (UTC)

[ Even he sees this as a chance to wail on her and so his playing shifts and quickly strums his fingers across the strings in a single motion, slash attacking Mammon. ]

[When Medic sees Mammon downed, she doesn't charge so much as pounce, leaping up to try and get on her back.]

[She grabs on, bracing herself with surprising strength, preparing to enter the afterlife's worst ever rodeo competition. Ride 'em, cowgirl.]

Edited 2021-06-10 17:49 (UTC)

[Ruin wants to follow Medic's lead, to clamber on this thing's back, anchor himself with his Lance and just blow fire spells into it's body until it stops. But he is large and bulkier and she has a better chance of actually staying on. So instead he drives Llamrei closer, making an attempt to push the horse up to trample Mammon's wing

Regardless of how effective it is or isn't he throws himself from the saddle, the well practiced motion he's been refining since the last underside far more precise now. So as he dismounts he raises the Lance, skidding to his knees atop her wing as best he can, aiming to bury the Lance into one of her wing joints. Hopefully she won't be able to maintain altitude with that damage.]

The instant Medic gets up on her back, Mammon begins to writhe and thrash around, throwing her whole body into the motion. Even with the enhanced strength of an Executor it's not easy to hold on and Mammon eventually successfully tosses Medic some distance with enough force to deal a critical blow's worth of damage when she lands.

It's not all bad, though – Medic distracts her enough that she can't take flight in time to avoid Ruin's attack. While it doesn't completely disable her wing, the combination of literal horsepower and his spear deals a critical blow's worth of damage to Mammon and will force her to sacrifice a point of Movement next turn.

This turn, however, Mammon does the reasonable thing and swings her head towards Ruin like some sort of big ugly battering ram, dealing a blow of damage and sending him flying a short ways, though thankfully not with as much force as Medic.

[Distantly:] I'm okay!

[What, you think a little thing like being flung at high velocity multiple yards onto a hard surface is going to upset her? Pfft, she's fine. A little aspirin and a bandaid and she'll be good as new, really.]

[...But she's a little concerned about Ruin, so she's just gonna reach over and slam dunk those two extra points of Durability she swiped from Greta at the beginning of the fight into him, heal-boosting him back up to five Durability.]

There you go, good as new! ...Unless you have new emotional trauma now, I don't have a degree in that.

[It's sort of hilarious, really, she's reaching over to check on him as he's doing the same to her. His magic isn't as strong as hers but it comes with a similar sort of warmth and serenity as he puts a hand on her shoulder, restoring one point of durability. He laughs, despite himself as he pulls her to her feet beside him, looking around for where Llamrei landed.

In the end it's easier, and faster, to simply dismiss and resummon her at his side, angled so she's in front of him and Medic just in case Mammon decides to dive bomb while he's remounting.]

We can deal with that part later.

[ Achilles panics when he sees them both fly back but is relieved to see them okay. To that end he tries to get Mammon's attention so they have time to get back up. He has one more use of his shield if he needs to use it he'll be fine.

To that end, he strumming the harp and hitting Mammon with the projectile slashes again, hoping the noise and attack gets her attention. ]

With her two main sources of pain out of the way (for now, anyway) it really does seem like Mammon had forgotten there was a third Executor in the room. She spreads her injured wings and manages to get herself back up into the air, but Achilles' attack immediately draws her attention and with it, deals a blow of damage.

She's still a little too stunned from the barrage of attacks earlier, so all she can is round on him in a threatening sort of way...

[Medic grins and resummons her scissors.]

Excuse me, miss, we were having a conversation!

[She's taking advantage of Mammon's currently slow and unsteady flight to try and snip at any bits of her that might still be in reach. In practice she's not really expecting to do anything except get her attention back off Achilles, but if she can get lucky enough to clip the trailing edge of a wing or a low-hanging tailtip, she's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.]

Don't ignore me for him, that's so rude!

[Yes, his horse is a gift, thank you. And being dead means he doesn't have to worry about floating her teeth anymore.

Having Llamrei under him again means he's able to outpace Medic and, hopefully, Mammon too. Once again he's going to try to put himselfbetween her and Achilles. The shield works great and all but Medic just dumped even more health into him so he's absolutely going to try to take the next blow.... It's what knights are supposed to do, yeah?

Besides, that's another fireball coming at her face.]

[ With those two both up, Achilles can focus a bit more on support rather than attacking again. And so he’s back to playing his drowsy song, trying to slow Mammon back down and keep her from getting back up into the air again. ]

While she's a little too high up to be in reach of Medic, Ruin's fireball scores a clean landing – clean enough to deal a critical blow's worth of damage. Nice!

Mammon reels and then very evidently runs out of patience. Trying to scatter them hasn't done very much so now she'll have to really teach them a lesson. She throws her head back, sucking in a whistling breath... and then choking up a stream of shining liquid gold that spills from her mouth in a grotesque waterfall. It splatters thickly against the ground and then begins to spread out quite quickly towards the Executors.

Hey, uh... is it getting a little warm in here or is it just me?

Either way, I probably don't have to tell you that letting the molten liquid gold touch you in any way whatsoever is a bad idea.

BOSS COMBAT ENCOUNTER: MAMMON

MAMMON

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MEDIC REMAINING DURABILITY: 3 | RUIN REMAINING DURABILITY: 3

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cw for etemo imagery