A Piece in the Game of Gods part 39

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I walked across the mall parking lot, just so I could drop my shopping bags off at the car. Personally, I was done with shopping and wanted to go home so we could work on our plans for how to deal with those three bastard gods. Unfortunately, my friends weren’t done shopping yet, and since I was outnumbered and outvoted, neither was I.

“Maybe I should go check on Matt,” I said, looking for an excuse to get away from the clothes and jewelry that Cassandra, Lauren, and Teri were interested in.

Matt was probably still hanging out in the game store, testing out one of their latest games. I wanted to be doing that too, even if I hadn’t actually played many games lately. Being stuck in a real live video game, with serious life and death consequences, kind of took the fun out of playing regular games. Still, it would be way better than going through another clothing store.

“We don’t need Matt,” Teri exclaimed. “This is a girl’s day out…”

I groaned at that, wondering why I’d ever let myself get drafted by the other side. Oh yeah, because if I hadn’t, I would have been dead for good.

“You know,” Cassandra whispered to me. “There’s a costume shop on the other side of the mall, and I saw a Slave Girl Leia costume in the window…”

Though I wasn’t a big geek like Matt, I had definitely seen the movies. Who hadn’t? “You’d look pretty good in that,” I responded with a faint grin.

Cassandra smirked, asking, “Who said it was for me?”

I blushed at that, then blushed even more deeply when Teri exclaimed, “Get a room…”

Cassandra suddenly paused and looked around with a worried expression, sniffing the air as she did so. I immediately tensed up and tried to see what had caught her attention.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I smell smoke,” Cassandra answered.

She pointed towards large cluster of buildings across from the mall, and I could see a little smoke coming from one of them, smoke that became thicker and more noticeable as I watched. Then the whole building exploded into flames.

“Aw, crap,” I exclaimed, suddenly having a VERY bad feeling about this. “Pfath?”

Cassandra hesitated a moment, staring at the building with a look of intense concentration before nodding. “Fuck. Yeah, I can feel her…but just barely.”

A couple seconds later, the neighboring buildings caught on fire as well. I could only watch in horror, knowing that as bad as things were, they were only going to get worse. I’d seen Pfath’s real body and the kind of damage he’d caused with ease. Compared to that, this was a mild campfire. Pfath finally emerged from the flames and paused to look in our direction.

“How the fuck did she find us?” Cassandra demanded, touching the silver bracelet on her wrist. “I thought this thing was supposed to keep them from sensing my presence…”

“Yeah,” I responded with a deep scowl. “But I’m not wearing one.”

“FUCK!” Cassandra spat out, shifting into her armor.

I shifted into my armor as well, saying, “Honestly, I don’t think she even noticed us until now. I think she was either amusing herself, or trying to draw some champions out of hiding…”

“You should probably get going,” Teri told Lauren, shifting into her own armor as she did so. Unfortunately, her baseball bat didn’t go into storage the way her armor did, so she didn’t currently have any weapons.

Pfath started running towards us, leaving a trail of flames on the ground behind her. The sight of it all made me a bit nervous, or more honestly, terrified. Though I’d never admit it to anyone else, everything I’d been through had left me with a touch of pyrophobia.

Cassandra began firing arrows at Pfath, including some with a little extra ‘oomph’. The arrows hit Pfath and burned away, though a couple of them seemed to blow nice sized holes in the god’s borrowed body. Unfortunately, Pfath immediately healed and kept coming at us.

“No good,” Cassandra spat out bitterly.

I threw a shield on Teri, then summoned Matt to my side. He appeared beside me, looking a bit confused.

“What the hell…?” he started, obviously wondering why I’d pulled him away from whatever he’d been doing. Then he saw Pfath and gasped, “Oh…”

Matt immediately shifted to his armor, though the only weapon he had on him was the one dagger. Still, he was better off than Teri.

“I thought we were going to come up with a plan before going after these guys,” Matt said.

“Yeah, but she decided not to cooperate,” I responded.

“Armestia’s champion,” Pfath exclaimed once she was close enough.

Pfath gave Cassandra an odd look, probably wondering why she couldn’t sense Cassandra’s presence, even though she was obviously right there. And for someone with the kind of awareness that a god must possess, that had to be a bit frustrating.

“And Maelyne’s champion,” Pfath added a few seconds later while staring at me with a cruel sneer. “How do you live, mortal? Arakthiel destroyed you along with your goddess…”

“And he did a piss poor job of it,” I responded, making sure there was a shield wall in front of me that the others were using for cover. However, I was prepared to throw up some more protection the moment I needed it.

“This sucks,” Teri blurted out. “I can’t even go punch that bitch…”

“Yeah, and it’s not like I can sneak up on her,” Matt grumbled, giving his dagger a skeptical look. Of course, he could still throw it without getting too close, but Pfath had already demonstrated her ability to simply shrug off damage.

Pfath fired a blast of flame at me and it smashed against my shield wall and quickly burned through it. I immediately threw up another shield already knew that Pfath had much more powerful attacks, so this was either something of a warm-up, or she was up to something.

“You will die screaming, mortal,” Pfath called out in Oraevian, probably having no idea that I actually understood what she said. Then she said something else, though I couldn’t quite make it out. Apparently, I didn’t have the vocabulary for that yet, though I was pretty sure it was profanity.

“Bite me,” I called back in Oraevian, which earned me a look of surprise and confusion.

“Hey, bitch,” Lauren called out, making me gasp since we’d told her to run away.

I glanced back to Lauren and was surprised to see her standing there with a gun in hand. She’d obviously decided to pull it out of her purse, and while this would normally be a good time for something like that, it was a STUPID idea when dealing with gods.

Lauren opened fire, hitting Pfath several times in the chest and stomach. The god snarled in annoyance but didn’t seem to be seriously hurt.

“Damn,” Lauren gasped, taking several nervous steps back. “I always wanted to shoot Nadine, but in my imagination, it was always a little more…effective.”

Lauren took careful aim and fired one more time, this time getting Pfath in the middle of the face. It was a messy hit that would have killed any normal human, but unfortunately, Pfath wasn’t human. She dropped to the ground but caught herself and slowly stood back up. Her ruined mess of a face healed right in front of our eyes.

“Fuck,” Cassandra gasped, looking more than a little worried.

Pfath snarled and send a wave of flame right at Lauren. Cassandra screamed in horror and looked like she was about to run to Lauren’s side, but a wall of flame separated them.

“LAUREN!” Cassandra screamed.

The flames wrapped around Lauren and surrounded her on all sides, though left an island of safety in the middle. The wall of flames began closing in, and I realized that Pfath was messing with Lauren, trying to terrify her as much as possible before killing her.

If Maelyne had been there, she could have simply created a shield around Lauren and protected her, but I didn’t have that ability. Unlike Maelyne, I couldn’t create shields around just anyone. However, there was one way I could help her.

“Come on,” I exclaimed, desperately activating one of my abilities.

“What the hell?” Lauren exclaimed with a look of surprise. A second later, a new popup appeared.

LAUREN MICHELLE GAYLE IS NOW YOUR COMPANION.

I immediately summoned my third companion to my side. Lauren appeared beside me, much to her surprise, and that of my other friends.

“When Maelyne sent me back,” I quickly explained, “I got a third companion slot.”

I threw fresh shields on all three of my companions, then quickly glanced at Lauren’s status screen.

COMPANION 3

NAME: LAUREN MICHELLE GAYLE
GENDER: FEMALE
AGE: 19
HEALTH: 100%
MANA: 100%
STATUS: NO INJURIES OR ILLNESSES. NEGATIVE STATUS EFFECT: TERRIFIED.
SPECIAL ABILITY: LESSER HEALING AND FORCE BLAST.

STRENGTH: 8
STAMINA: 10
ENDURANCE: 9
-
AGILITY: 10
REFLEXES: 9
DEXTERITY: 10
-
INTELLIGENCE: 13
CHARISMA: 11
AWARENESS: 12
-
MANA POOL: 100
MANA RECOVERY: 100
HEALTH: 100
REGENERATION: 100

These stats weren’t bad, and as my third companion, she’d gained +2 to intelligence, charisma, and awareness, as well as a few abilities of her own, lesser healing and force blast.

“You’ve got a couple abilities now,” I told Lauren. “Be ready to use them.”

“I do?” Lauren asked in surprise.

“You’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly,” Matt told her, before asking me, “What abilities?”

“Healing and some kind of force blast,” I answered, not taking my eyes off Pfath. “But honestly, I don’t think your force blast will be any more effective than your gun.”

Pfath blasted us with flames, though this time I threw up a shield over all of us, and it was just in time. Unlike the last attack, this one was actually intended to hurt. I grimaced as my mana slowly dropped, though I was thankful that I now had enough of it available to make good use of this ability. And thanks to ‘loyalty’, adding Lauren as a companion had just given my powers a bit of a boost.

“Fuck,” Cassandra blurted out in frustration. “We’re trapped…”

I was suddenly reminded of the way that Maelyne had been trapped within her own shield, but this wasn’t the same situation. For one thing, I didn’t have enough mana to hold out nearly as long as she did, and for another, I was pretty sure that Pfath couldn’t lock us down on her own. All she could do was try to burn us out, so this had become a contest of stamina.

“How far can you teleport?” I asked Cassandra.

“What?” she blurted out in surprise. “How did you know?”

“You can teleport?” Matt asked her in surprise.

“Awesome,” Teri added.

“It’s not really teleporting,” Cassandra finally answered. “I mean, it’s short distance, and line of sight, but if there’s anything between me and where I’m trying to go…like fire or a force field…I slam into that instead.”

“Gotcha,” I replied with a nod of understanding. That meant she couldn’t just teleport out of here. That also explained why she hadn’t just teleported over to Lauren earlier. “When I drop the shield, get some distance so you can snipe this bitch…”

“Good idea,” Cassandra responded with a snort. “Except I can’t do it when anyone watches.”

“Why the hell not?” Matt asked in surprise. “You’re not usually that shy…”

Cassandra snorted. “Armestia is the goddess of secrets, so one or two of my abilities only work when I’m using them in secret…”

“Then get ready to run,” I told her with a scowl.

Even as the flames burned around my shield, Pfath screamed out, “YOUR DYING SCREAMS WILL BE AS PRAYERS TO MY EARS…”

“This bitch is an even bigger pain in the ass than the old Nadine,” Lauren exclaimed.

The flames finally died away and I let out a sigh of relief, not sure how much longer I could have kept that up. It seemed that as powerful as Pfath was, she had her own limits as too, at least, she did while using a human body.

Dropping my shield, I said, “Now!”

Cassandra immediately began running, as did Matt and Teri. I refreshed their shields, though they both quickly ran behind some of the parked cars. Lauren remained with me, looking scared and confused.

“Don’t worry,” I promised. “I’ll protect you.”

Lauren nodded relief, then asked me, “How do I use these powers?”

“Imagine that you’ve got a button or switch in your head,” I told her. “Then push it.”

“Got it,” Lauren told me.

A second later, she fired a beam of golden energy from her hand, hitting Pfath in the chest. The god staggered back a little but wasn’t harmed.

“Damn,” Lauren exclaimed in frustration. “I was hoping…”

“Yeah,” I told her with a scowl. “These bastards are like end bosses. They shrug off just about everything…”

I threw up a shield wall and then glanced at Lauren. She seemed to be holding up all right, at least for now.

For a moment, I considered the energy blast that she’d fired at Pfath. It was a much smaller, much weaker version of what I’d seen Maelyne do, and I couldn’t help but feeling a little jealous at that. That kind of thing really would have been useful, but instead of getting that, I get an extra companion slot. Then again, if I hadn’t been given the companion slot, I never would have been able to protect Lauren.

“At least I’m not the only healer around now,” I muttered, thinking of Lauren’s healing ability.

However, like Matt’s ‘stealth’, Lauren’s ‘lesser heal’ and ‘force blast’ didn’t have a rank on them, which probably meant that they were currently stuck at a base level and couldn’t be ranked up the way my own abilities could. And that meant, even though Lauren and I both had ‘lesser heal’, the same ability, mine would be a more powerful version.

My attention went back to Pfath, who’d now formed balls of flame in each hand. It appeared that she was done with her little breather and was ready to get going again. However, she hesitated and looked around, apparently trying to decide who she should target. I had an idea.

“You’re ugly,” Teri called out from where she was hiding behind a car. “And those flames make your butt look big…”

I chuckled at that. Teri might not have the stats for a tank, but she certainly had the taunts

“Good job, Teri,” I called out, making sure to throw another shield on her. As soon as Pfath threw the fireballs in her direction, I summoned Teri back to my side and told her, “Try to keep Pfath distracted…”

“Aye aye,” Teri responded, giving me a mock solute before running back off again.

Cassandra had gotten a bit of distance and was firing arrows at Pfath again. These weren’t doing a lot of damage, but the constant barrage of arrows kept the god distracted. Matt took advantage of that to throw his dagger at Pfath, hitting her right in the back with it. The dagger vanished as Matt put it back into storage, then Matt pulled it out and repeated the attack.

“What can I do?” Lauren asked me nervously.

I glanced at Lauren again. She had her gun and force blasts, but absolutely no armor. I hesitated a moment, then told her, “Go over near Cassandra, and heal her if she needs it.”

Lauren nodded and then ran do to as I’d instructed. I let out a sigh of relief that she wasn’t arguing with me and made sure to put another shield on her.

As soon as Pfath turned to deal with Matt, I made my move. I formed another shield wall and pushed it at Pfath as hard as I could. The shield flew across the space between us and hit the god, sending her flying back and onto her butt.

Cassandra and Matt both took advantage of this to launch more attacks, and even Lauren tried to join in, though her force blasts didn’t have enough range to hit from where she was now at.

I held my spear in front of me, anchored a shield wall to it, and charged straight at Pfath. As soon as Pfath was back on her feet, I slammed into her, knocking her back. She exploded in flames, but I held a shield wall up between us to keep from getting burned. Damn, this was HOT, and NOT in the sexy way either.

“I will burn you down to your bones,” Pfath exclaimed, “and the last of Maelyne will be gone…”

Pfath began increasing the intensity of the flames, and they were starting to go around my shield. I cursed at that, knowing that it was now or never. With that, I dropped my shield and immediately felt the burning heat, though I didn’t let that stop me. Instead, I rammed my spear right into Pfath’s guts, impaling her with everything I had. I felt a strange surge of energy, then saw a burst of light, and a moment later, Pfath exploded.

I staggered back, crying from the burns and desperately trying to heal myself. One heal and I felt better. Two heals and I was almost back to full health. I’d caught Pfath by surprise after she’d moved most of the heat to the sides, so I didn’t get hit nearly as hard as I would have if I’d dropped my shield a couple seconds earlier. Still, it hurt like hell.

I took another step back, holding my spear ready and preparing to use another shield. Pfath had collapsed to the ground with nearly her entire torso destroyed. An arm was on the ground about five feet away from the rest of the body. The whole thing was still covered in flames, but they quickly died out and vanished. I still expected Pfath to jump back up, but instead, a popup appeared in front of me.

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY DEFEATED AN OPPOSING GOD HOST.

REWARD: +1 ATTRIBUTE POINT. +300 RESOURCE ATTRIBUTE POINTS. YOUR COMPANIONS GAIN +200 RESOURCE ATTRIBUTE POINTS.

My eyes widened as I read the popup and realized what it meant. “We… We won. She’s…actually gone.”

“Awesome,” Teri exclaimed as she came out from behind a car. “Is she really gone?” She gave Pfath’s…Nadine’s remains a nervous look. They didn’t show any signs of coming back to life.

“Finally,” Cassandra said as she came over to join me with Lauren following close behind. “We finally got rid of that bitch for good…”

“You killed a god,” Lauren said, staring at me in surprise.

“Actually, we only killed her host body,” I said a little awkwardly. “And sent Pfath back home with a black eye.”

“But she isn’t here anymore,” Matt pointed out, “and that’s what counts.”

I nodded at that and looked around, finally noticing that a bunch of the cars in the parking lot had been damaged in the right, and some were even still on fire. Fortunately, my car wasn’t among them. The buildings across from the mall were still burning away and fire engines had arrived to begin putting them out. Another fire engine was coming towards us, along with some cop cars.

“Fuck,” Cassandra exclaimed with a look of annoyance. I saw where she was looking, and it wasn’t just at the cops. We had an audience, and there was no telling how people had been watching us. Since we were in the middle of a mall parking lot, it was a good bet that someone had been watching us from the very start. “We are so fucked…”

“Not necessarily,” a new voice said. I looked over and saw the Cleaner, though I wasn’t too surprised.

“I’m glad to see you’re all right,” I said. The last time I’d seen the Cleaner was after I’d helped him escape from Pfath, Arakthiel, and Kr’aethar.

The Cleaner gave me a polite nod, along with an odd look. “And I’m glad that you are doing well too…” He paused and looked around, scowling as he did so. “You had all better leave. I’ll take care of this…”

“But,” Teri started to protest.

“I may not be very good at fighting,” the Cleaner told her with a smile, “but I am very good at cleaning up messes like this. Now shoo. I have a lot of work to do here…”

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Comments

Nice, so with on attribute

Nice, so with on attribute point in divinity she can probably get another +9 everywhere else. I wonder if that'll get her companions armed as well!

So the big question now is........

D. Eden's picture

Can Jaeri use her one attribute point to bump up her divinity?

That would be the best application for it.

D

D. Eden

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus

Huh?

So, where are these rewards coming from?

Yes, up her divinity level!

Oh, and put resource attributes into divine power and mana, I think.

BTW, is Cleaner wearing a black suit, black glasses and one of those flashy things?

He will have to wipe those smartphones too.8

They Must be Automagic

The rewards must be automagic (built into the infrastructure of the game). It is surprising to me that the escalation of player classifications (beyond champion) would be built in given that a goal of the game (champion based competition) was to limit the damage caused by conflict among the gods. It's one of those things will likely never be explained.

When Morpheus posted The Trouble with Karma earlier this evening, I was concerned that we'd be waiting another day or two for this series, but Morpheus didn't disappoint after all. The every 2 day posting rate is like an addiction. I must have that next episode.

Morpheus, thank you for sharing.

I'm assuming it's not fully automated

We've seen improvised power ups that seem tailor made to the situation in the form of Maelyne's impromptu upgrade given to help free Jeri while she was captive. I'm assuming the game system is being maintained by the gods directly, even now, and while they still aren't directly taking a side they could very well be trying to stack the deck more in Jaeri's favor while still maintaining the guise of being impartial - or whatever separates the worlds doesn't let them do more.

Re:"Huh?"

JAERI's armor prevents her from being filmed or photographed by iPhones.

True

Though, I don’t think it is true for all of the rest of the group, especially Lauren.

Partly true

You have it right for Lauren, who has no armor to speak of, but the descriptions given for Matt's and Teri's armors have the same "can't be photographed by non-magical means" provision Jaeri's does.

It matters little anyway with the Cleaner on the scene.

Mostly agree

Yes, I vaguely remember that.

We don’t know if Cassie’s has that benefit either, but given her patron and possibly her bracelet, likely.

Armor

Sadarsa's picture

I'm sure all the Champion's armor's has that ability from the beginning. It's the companions that don't have it unless the armor is acquired through the game. So only one who has the risk of being photographed at this time is Lauren, and well; the Cleaner will probablly take care of that little detail.

~Your only Limitation is your Imagination~

Darn Good Fight Scene!

Now that they know they can take down a God's host, they need to come up with a strategy for getting the remaining two. Although, I don't think the story will be over at that point. The war rages on in the other realm. Will Jaeri and her companions get drawn into it?

Cheers
Zapper

Will Jaeri and her companions get drawn into it?

Well they are already in it.

But, yes I think I know what you mean.

Like I suggested in the last chapter, make this into a two front war.

The gods will do battle on their plane.

The champions will attack the Axis on Earth.

Didn’t these gods learn never to start a two front war?

Good Question and to the point

Sammi's picture

Didn’t these gods learn never to start a two front war?

didn't Maelyne tell Jeri (at risk of paraphrasing)

If you kill a 'Host Body' there, you weaken them here!

You know I'm suprised that a CO2 fire extinguisher wasn't used against Pfath, yep I know its obvious to us, but would a God see it as a danger?


"REMEMBER, No matter where you go, There you are."

Sammi xxx

Everyone knows you never

Everyone knows you never start a war on war on two fronts, never fight a land war in Asia, and never go in with a Sicilian when death is in the line!

LOL

Princess Bride quotes? I love these chat threads.

Cheers
Zapper

"Sneaky little Morpheus. Wicked. Tricksy. False."

Most likely, Lauren was using a Beretta 22LR (a smaller caliber version of the 9mm Beretta used as a sidearm by the US Military) with the (lighter weight) 4.5 inch barrel. A good choice for a petite women. Serious shooters will buy one as the first weapon for their sons. The grip is a bit small for a large male. This pistol is usually used for target practice and lacks the penetration and "Stopping Power" of a larger caliber pistol! WARNING - a .22 can kill a human! Never point a .22 at a human or animal you are not intending to kill - even if it is unloaded!

A larger caliber pistol or rifle would do more damage. At most indoor firing ranges, you should be able to rent a .45 Model 1911 or a .44 Magnum which are really popular weapons with a lot of "stopping power". Due to their popularity, Most indoor firing ranges will have several .45 M1911 and .44 Magnums as well as 9mm pistols for rent. THESE INDOOR FIRING RANGES USUALLY WILL PROVIDE INSTRUCTION IN THE SAFE USE Of THESE WEAPONS!!!

A casual reader of this chapter would conclude that firearms are useless against Not Robe, Not Mason, & Not Nadine. I suspect that was Morpeus' intent.

Looking at what happened, I conclude that firearms will work against both "Meat Shields" and Patrons.

Against a "Meat Shield (i.e. Not Nadine)", a small caliber (.22?) pistol did damage Not Nadine!

{{Chapter 39}}:

"Lauren opened fire, hitting Pfath several times in the chest and stomach. The god snarled in annoyance but didn't seem to be seriously hurt."
...

"Lauren took careful aim and fired one more time, this time getting Pfath in the middle of the face. It was a messy hit that would have killed any normal human, but unfortunately, Pfath wasn't human. She dropped to the ground but caught herself and slowly stood back up. Her ruined mess of a face healed right in front of her eyes."

First, a "snarl" is NOT an indication of "No Effect"!

Secondly, none of the other Champions were able to hurt Not Robe or Not Nadine. So far only JAERI (during the failed Champion Attack) and Lauren have been able to (temporarily) damage Not Nadine.

Using only a small caliber pistol, Lauren was able to (temporarily) incapacitate Not Nadine. Multiple Champions (working together) using large Caliber pistols or rifles should be able to significantly damage a "Meat Shield". Unfortunately, apparently only JAERI can inflict the fatal blow.

Not Robe & Not Mason being present when Jeri almost killed Not Nadine during the failed Champion Attack AND finding out what JAERI did in Chapter 39, WILL NO LONGER UNDERESTIMATE JAERI! The next meeting between JAERI & "Meat Shields" will be a fierce battle with ALL OF THE "MEAT SHIELDS" (and "possibly" more Champions [newly recruited by "The Other Anarchists"]) facing JAERI and her "Allies and Companions"!

It is apparent to me, that although the other Champions can effectively take care of any Champions on the other side using their special skills, using large caliber pistols and rifles will probably be more effective against Not Robe and Not Mason.

CAUTION: JAERI should be aware that Arakthiel may encourage allied Patrons to recruit new Champions to assist Not Robe and then commit them to the fight OR take over the bodies to overwhelm JAERI!!!

JAERI is going to need more help! I still feel that immediately opening fire with guns is the best strategy for the next fight!

IN CASE YOU MISSED WHAT I JUST SAID, ARAKTHIEL MAY CONVINCE OTHER PATRONS TO RECRUIT NEW CHAMPIONS AND TAKE OVER THEIR BODIES TO OVERWHELM JERI!!!

*************

Based upon what has been disclosed on armor and defensive attributes, most are designed to protect against "magical attacks" not projectiles (bullets).

************

Due to the larger body mass and endurance of Patrons, larger weaponry may be required (.50 Caliber Machine Guns, grenade launchers, phosphorus grenades) when JAERI invades the PATRON HOMELANDS.

********************

Looks like I'm not the only one confused about the effectiveness of the bracelet???

Properties

Sammi's picture

of metals are altered by heat.

Pfath controls fire, and extremely hot fire


"REMEMBER, No matter where you go, There you are."

Sammi xxx

Confused?

My5InchFMHeels's picture

"Looks like I'm not the only one confused about the effectiveness of the bracelet???"

I think Pfath was just creating havoc to draw out Champions. I don't think he actually sensed who was around, he seemed a bit shocked by both of them. It could also be that he could sense them but not able to sense anything specific... Higher awareness much like Cassandra's but his should dwarf hers by a great deal...

Could be either of those situations.

Seems to Me...

...firearms attacks affected Pfath's avatar the same way that magical attacks do. All that increasing the intensity with larger weaponry would do is require more recovery points -- but gods, even in avatar form, apparently have an awful lot. Guns aren't a game-chsnger.

Any thought that physical attacks couldn't be deflected by magical defense just isn't so -- which isn't that surprising; after all, things like falling into pit traps or getting hit by spears from booby traps, not to mention Matt's BBs, already had their place in the game, and those were physical and not magical attacks.

(When it comes to bullets, Arakthiel is different from the others, with his access to the Void. Maybe his avatar can be harmed that way -- I'm doubtful; his void-derived purple power seems to work just fine down here -- but there's no way, IMO, that it'd help or even unduly distract him if Jaeri tried taking the attack upstairs: the bullets wouldn't reach him, any more than Cassandra's arrows would.)

Anyway, it's a little annoying that Jaeri didn't see fit to tell us what all the pop-ups providing extra abilities could do -- like adding a third companion. There seem to have been other pop-ups: did they give her some new offensive capability? Maelyne did have one offensive power: the gold energy that took care of Br'ieze. Lauren seems to have been presented with a form of it, but did Jaeri inherit that too, and would it be effective against Kr'aethar's avatar? We don't really know about Robe's body: Maelyne did succeed in hitting Arakthiel with a couple. But he'd already thrown the purple blast that ended Maelyne's life, so we don't know how much damage, if any, they did, and there's little if anything for us to extrapolate from. It'd be beautifully ironic if the reason we haven't seen him yet this time around is because he's dead or disabled up there.

Cassandra got much the same incomplete explanation of the bracelet that Jeri did: "people and gods can't sense your presence". Jeri knew somehow that it didn't affect non-magical senses, and since Cassandra had been actively shopping, she probably wasn't being completely ignored by salespeople or cashiers, which should have told her something about half of that claim. (If it only affected magic senses, what was it supposed to do to people?) FWIW, the bracelet did work the same way for her that it had for Jeri: Pfath didn't read Cassandra until she got into sight, and never did pick up her magic signature.

Thing about recruiting other champions to take over new bodies as avatars is that apparently few if any of the patrons really want to do that; the five who came made the move during battles already in progress; four when they decided their champions were too ineffective, and the other when Mary's soul had been destroyed and there was no other way for her patron to compete.

Also, I'm not sure whether the other anarchists really think the battles on Earth are accomplishing much now that the game's over: if the anarchist gods are going to come down in person to be worshipped, the only way they can get here to do that are via portals or keys, and they can't get any of those down here. The ones who are already here probably figure they have more to gain than to lose by knocking off their opponents' champions one by one, since their risk is limited. (Then again, three out of the five have now died here.) But I'm not sure -- these are anarchists, after all, even if they're allies -- that they're going to take kindly to any suggestion that they spend their energy down here while they're under attack up there. We may or may not find out how much Pfath was affected upstairs, but Br'ieze didn't last all that long.

(As far as that goes, some of them may not mind seeing Pfath taken down a peg: his fire attack back while Jeri was up there destroyed allies as well as foes.)

Eric

Re: "Seems to me..."

I think firearms are a "game changer". With a single .22[?] bullet, Lauren caused Not Nadine to fall and pick herself up. With the exception of Jeri, none of the Champions could temporarily disable Not Nadine or Not Robe!

With larger caliber bullets and a large volume of fire, "Meat Shields" can be stopped and damaged enough to provide an opportunity for JAERI to kill them without losing all of the other Champions!

When JAERI invades the Patron's homelands, with enough firepower she could probably take out a Patron!

***********

Matt was not using BB(s), he was using BALL BEARINGS. Ball bearings are huge compared to a BB! Ball Bearings are made from hardened metal! BB(s) are made from soft metal.

During the Dungeon Crawl, Matt severely hurt a Champion by peppering her with ball bearings.

**********

There is now a reason for other Rebel Patrons to support Not Robe & Not Mason on Earth - FEAR!!!

I posted a comment to the prior Chapter:

"Re: "See my reply...""

In this comment I suggested (in a humorous way) that Cassandra, Lauren, Matt, & Teri get down on their knees and chant:

"We worship Your Cuteness JAERI DEMI-GODDESS OF LOYALTY AND PROTECTION"

Which would be followed by a Popup announcing "FOR AQUIRING LOYAL WORSHIPPERS YOU ARE AWARDED DIVINITY +1"

Now, they don't even have to do this! Just the possibility that JAERI's Companions and Allies COULD DO THIS should put fear into the minds of all the rebel Patrons!

JAERI has already invaded the Patron homelands ONCE!

There are BILLIONS OF POTENTIAL WORSHIPERS ON EARTH!

After driving off Not Robe & Not Mason, all of those potential worshippers could become JAERI's worshippers!

Now wouldn't that scare the pants off the Rebel Patrons???

********************

I'm wondering if the retreat of the Patrons and the development of the "Game" didn't happen around the time firearms started to dominate warfare on earth???..........

Pistol Calibre

I don't particularly want to get into an argument with you on this so I am going to just post my opinion, based on actual experience with firearms, once and leave it at that.

Let's take a closer look at what was written in the story.

"Lauren took careful aim and fired one more time, this time getting Pfath in the middle of the face. It was a messy hit that would have killed any normal human, but unfortunately, Pfath wasn’t human. She dropped to the ground but caught herself and slowly stood back up. Her ruined mess of a face healed right in front of our eyes."

While a .22LR most definitely can kill, the description of the damage done does not match up with the calibre you have chosen. A .22LR, even a hollow point, is not going to do as much damage as has been described. This is more along the lines of what is possibly a Lady S&W in .38 wadcutter or hollow point IMO. The Lady S&W is a very popular revolver for people with smaller hands and easily concealed in a purse.

- Leona

Re: "Pistol Calibre"

Lauren's Pistol could have been a Smith & Weston LadySmith .38 Special. A .38 Special would do significantly more damage than a .22LR.

Both pistols would be the type of handgun that would likely to be used by a woman. Both would likely kill a human with a hit in the face (what is behind the eyes of a human?).

The type of small caliber pistol used isn't the important point. The important point is that a single bullet in the right location (temporarily) stopped a "meat shield" that couldn't be stopped by the special abilities of all of the Champions (except Jeri).

I still believe firearms are a "game changer"! A number of Champions with large caliber pistols should be able to incapacitate both Not Robe & Not Mason long enough for JAERI to achieve "kill shots" WITHOUT LOSEING MOST OF THE CHAMPIONS!

When I attempted to describe the pistol, I clarified my description by either starting with "most likely" or ending with "[?]".

When I go to an indoor firing range, I usually use a .22 pistol or rifle. The ammunition is cheaper and my results are way better! With a Ruger .22, I usually get a good score. With a .45 M1911, I totally suck!

Pistol Calibre

Oh please don’t bore me with the details ^_~

I still say either go big or go home.

You don’t bring pistols to an RPG fight.

Wow!!! NIce battle scene

I say that she needs to pump it into her lowest attribute which at this point is divinity: 1 Hopefully by doing so it will unlock other capabilities like the force blast or even another companion slot.

Nice

Arakathiel is the one they really need to worry about though. She needs more divinity that may unlock new powers for Jaeri.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

somehow...

I just knew that shopping was going to be a bad idea not because Jaeri is still a bit male in her thinking, but because it would possibly expose them to attack. Though I suspect that the gods (demons/whatever) will begin searching for their base of operations or home. I would anyway, deny the enemy a place of respite if you at all can is always a good tactic.

Not going to work

Beoca's picture

Armestia has protected their home from being detected.

No rest for the weary

Beoca's picture

Throw that point into divinity. This new set of capabilities (divinity and divine power) are worth trying to build up and utilize, as they seem to be a difference maker against these gods when fighting in the mortal world.

One down

a lot more to go.

Vivien

Divine Power

We still don't know what Divine Power does. I think that Jaeri should throw all 300 points she got into divine power, and see what it does. Her other resource stats have already been boosted quite a bit.

Matt and Teri get health, as there is no need for them to have regeneration with two healers in the party. Lauren could use mana and mana regeneration, but her health is so low compared to the others that I would put most or all of these resources into health; mana can come later.

I am confused...

I am mightily confused. I get all the gun discussion and so on.
But no one addressed the elephant in the room.
There was no cliffhanger in this part!
Is Morpheus sick? Did he lose the status as the champion of the god of cliffhangers?
Who knows ...

PS Just kidding. I am looking forward to more.

One down 3 to go

Samantha Heart's picture

I hope the others go down too but rob & the iron guy will be hard as well as harker.

Love Samantha Renée Heart.

I Think Br’ieze in Harker's Body is a Goner

Maelyne's annihilation of Br’ieze in the God's realm likely also eliminated the possessed Harker on earth. It is of course up to Morpheus how it actually plays out.

Harker

Was already taken out by Mary’s patron.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

"Confirmation Kaminiski. I WANT CONFIRMATION."

"Confirmation, Kaminski. I WANT CONFIRMATION." - CAPT John Earle 12/7/41.

**********

JAREI confirmed the death of:

Not Mary [at the hands of Not Harker, Not Mason, Not Nadine & Not Robe]

Not Harker [at the hands of Not Mary]

Not Nadine [at the hands of JAERI]

*****

Maelyne confirmed that she has died [at the hands of Arakthiel]

******

JAERI reported the (apparent) death of Br'ieze in the Patron's homelands at the hands of Maelyne. However, her death has not been confirmed!

*****

Heather's Soul has been reported to be destroyed twice (in error)!

Way to go...

Pfath down. Now 2 more to go.

My question is why she mention "the last of Maelyne will be gone"?
Does Jaeri existent with the sliver of Maelyne power make a different back in the God&Goddess realm?

Lauren, never expected that. And her gun is useful what? Now we can be sure that a shotgun with slug ammo will surely be useful to distract the meat puppet.

since the rules went out the

since the rules went out the window why are they messing around with the little guns, break out the anti tank weapons. for that matter why can't Jaeri form a shield tight around a god possessed bodies head and cut of their air supply.

As meat puppet, they

As meat puppet, they obviously do not need to breath.

Deus Ex Machina: Overlooking the Obvious?

I wasn't going to return to a chapter comment page when the next part's presumably on the verge of going up today

But it (finally?) occurred to me this morning that we have what seems like a literal deus ex machina here in the form of the game control. As someone pointed out, it's doing its best to convince everyone, at least at the champion level, that it's "just" an AI that's keeping track of changes, and it's certainly doing that along with whatever else (if anything) it's doing. But:

1 - It -- or whatever's behind it -- is making physical changes to the champions as their score increases, to go with the points it's awarding via successful encounters with other champions, end-of-contest evaluations and "easter-egg" prizes. It's also implementing the ones, like Jaeri's nine added points and divinity status, from "gods' blessings", and recording status improvement from practices and the like. (In the latter case, we don't know if it's actually doing anything behind the scenes; Jeri's assumption is that it's not.)

2. It's handling new contingencies: in this case, demigod status and "defeat(ing) god hosts". These may have been part of the game all along -- they might even have happened before in previous rounds that used other champions -- but if they're new developments, it's creating new rules on the fly.

3. Perhaps most significantly, it keeps status screens for the patrons. If all those are doing is reflecting where they stand, then it's not a major point. But if it can make changes to the patrons on its own as it does to champions, then it's the "god of gods" element some people were looking for. That's a big if, of course; even Jeri was in no position to see any pop-ups or scores from Maelyne (and certainly not for the others on her level; can't call them patrons if they don't have champions) on her trip upstairs -- she just knows of the screens from the one that Maelyne showed her early in their relationship. We also don't know, even if it does fall into that category, whether it could re-embody Maelyne as at least one commenter was suggesting.

Finally, one last point, which I thought was a bug but may be a feature. The typos in the all-caps lines, especially in the report of Jaeri's new name and upgrade -- in a story that doesn't have any in normal type -- may be trying to tell us that they're being typed in real time by someone pretending to be a neutral AI. I thought initially that it might mean someone uncomfortable with English, but devine (sic) and divinity in the same sentence seems more like haste. The announcement also included ressurected (sic), with the word spelled correctly by Jeri on the next line. It seems very un-machinelike, anyway.

Eric

Arrogance produces overconfidence

Jamie Lee's picture

Pfath must not have known about the gift Maelyne gave Jaeri. But she learned of it when her butt was sent back to her world.

Pfath either forgot, or never learned, that arrogance tends to produce overconfidence and ends up producing unwanted results. She didn't want to be forced back into her world weakened more than she wanted. But it happened because the one gift given to Jaeri destroyed her host body. Aww...and she was such an unwanted bitch.

Now if they can isolate the other two host bodies, their little group might be able to taunt and destroy like they did Pfath.

The real question deals with them being dealt with once they return to their world. If the good gods can't take advantage of the pigs being wounded then they might return for more host bodies.

Others have feelings too.

Third time reading this....

Aine Sabine's picture

And just realized. Lauren may only have Lesser Healing but she might actually be able to heal her Dad and Sister. Maybe not totally but enough until she might get a better ability. Or at least until her Lesser Healing is higher rated.

Aine