⇨ POLARIS 3.0

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 115
Where: Polaris
What: On the morning of day 115, a couple hours before the technicians would come to pick up the test subjects, the escape plan will officially come into effect. If your character has been left out of the loop up till this point, feel free that someone hastily explains the plan during the initial phase! The meat of everything else will be played out via megathreads and any private toplevels people want to make.
Warnings: Probably violence.

PEER REVIEW↴ The plan starts with getting everyone out of their cells. Childermass is going to be using his Gilded Mark to enhance his shadow movement abilities, unabling him to teleport himself and other people out of containment. If your character has other ways of escaping they are free to pursue that, but on a base level, it can be assumed that everyone gets out thanks to Childermass. (Thanks Childermass!) Once everyone has been removed from their cells by some means or another, they will be forced to split into teams as swiftly as possible, as the moment people start breaking out, negative attention from the staff will start building. The area is poorly guarded at first, but as people become aware of the breakout, more will arrive. Gild, speaking on behalf of her inside plant, will say that those that 1) want to get their stuff back, 2) want to find Ignatius, should get the assistance of their allied Deltas to access sector A5. From there, they will have to access Polaris's storage in A3, a neighbouring sector, and find access to C2, the station where Ignatius is being held. They should expect to be met with armed resistance, but with any luck allies will be there to assist them. In general, characters will be most effective if they back one of these major objectives: ► TEAM LOOT: This team is trying to get back the items and pets that were confiscated when the group was brought into Polaris. Their objective, according to their allies on the inside, is to get to A5, and then make their way to A3. The important thing is being able to locate their stuff among a sea of other items, and to make it through security in order to reclaim it. Gild's plant has said that they will assist with this. After getting these items, Team Loot may wish to merge with Team Rescue. ► TEAM RESCUE: This team's primary focus is to get to A5 and then make their way to C2. If desired, they may wait for or join with Team Loot, or they may strike out ahead in order to take advantage of the element of surprise. The key factors are obtaining a way to access C2, as well as being prepared for armed conflict with the technicians guarding it, as well as possibly the Mother of Invention herself. Though, the ideal is that Gild will be distracting here at that time. ► TEAM DISTRACTION: This team can do their thing wherever they please, as their main intent is to sew general discord and distract the staff from the teams doing more important things. They should be prepared for armed resistance, but what tactics they pursue beyond that point are highly variable. ► TEAM FORTRESS: This team is attempting to set up a protective base of operations in the original sector in order to survive the conflict and protect their noncombatant comrades. How they accomplish this is also highly variable. Other objectives may exist, of course, and can be made with their own separate top levels. Chunks of these megathreads will have to be played out in summary form, so when characters are simply trying to get from place to place and specifics aren't necessary, feel free to stick to that format. Assume that everyone is already out of their cells for the purpose of the megathreads. Here is a shitty map of how the sectors connect, from a side view of the central Polaris hub.

Comments

[prazerbutterfly]

Tsch, there's a lot of crowding on the skywalk and he's glad he's not on it now. He shifts Eruka more against his back and against his side, his tentacles emerging from his back into the air to help stable her so she doesn't have to cling to him. If that unnerves her, he'll just remove them or let her deal with it after. A quick scan confirms his suspicion and he realizes something is missing.

He brings his hand to his mouth for a moment, "Text to Mister Ram. Where the hell are you?!"

The skeleton brothers are firing and he glances down at Sans adding to the barrage. Well, if his partner is fighting he may as well do so as well. There's no point staying on the side lines any longer given how her range is. His hand outstretches with Dark Matter lacing around his hand. It fires rapidly in her direction, aiming for the exact spot as the others, hoping to add to the fire power.

[npcarnival]

[CURRENT BATTLE MAP HERE!]

It seems she has quite the gallery of attackers, now. Most random attacks being shot at her will sear the surface of the metal, but not do much to penetrate it. Even Ignatius seems to be having a hard time landing a solid blow - but that's mostly because her focus is largely on him, and keeping him from doing so. Whenever he dives in for an attack, she smacks him away with her arms, and raises fields of icy vapor to keep him back. These vapor fields are responsible for dispersing other people's attacks as well.

Yet, once the rows of people on top of the skyway start attacking in sequence, it seems to be enough to gain her notice. She stops firing her blasters, and instead moves forward - she start doing some kind of terrible pirouette, creating a tornado of metal limbs that will swoop through the group on the skyway and bash the shit out of the structure itself, as well as strike at the little bugs attempting to flank her.

She'll try to keep this up until the skyway is destroyed, or until something else distracts her. Ignatius, on the other hand, is doing his best to get in close - he lands on the patch of her chest that most people were targetting, and takes the opportunity to ride along with her spinning body, plunging his spear in as deep as he can get it. It's shocking difficult, even for a fae weapon like his.

"Rita, get back!" he yells.

[osteothropy]

Sans sees the first swipe of an arm coming for the skyway, and knows that not everyone is going to be as quick to get out of the way as he could be. So, instead of teleporting away, he teleports into the direct path of that first arm.

He sticks out the hand with the scarab bracelet attached, and hopes for the best. It's meant to stop all momentum that touches the hand that bears it - he's tested it in less ridiculous circumstances. Will it work now? He hopes so, or he might end up being toast.

If it can throw off her balance at all...

[npcarnival]

The arm strikes Sans's hand, and amazingly, it does stop it in its path for a moment. Yet, as anything with enough momentum hitting an obstacle, it doesn't stop it for good. Instead, it slips upwards and off of Sans's hand, trying to regain momentum, and ultimate swooping him down onto the surface of the skyway.

Still, at least that arm gets redirected upwards and away from the pack. But there are more coming.

[moonfang]

Woah! Not ideal. So much for leaving Syrlya behind while he tries to cover Peridot. The Mother comes out swinging, and Sans' bracer buys them some time. Enough time for Zangetsu to crouch down, sword in hand, and yell loudly at the plant-man to hold on tight. At the same time, he shapeshifts his long reptilian tail out, giving Syr something to sit on, more or less, while clinging to his back.

Then, they're airborne again, Zangetsu climbing quickly to get above the spinning arms of death.

[osteothropy]

Sans smacks into the surface of the skyway, obviously dazed. His wings flutter uselessly, trying to regain balance, but it's clear that the stunt has stunned him... which mostly means he's too busy recovering from the force of the knockback to teleport away from the other incoming threats.

[chronosynthesis]

They don't get a lot of time to survey. Syrlya sees her attention change, but before he can say anything the extra limbs are moving, fast, right for all of them.

"Move!" He jerks sideways and ducks, away from the center as one of the arms comes down. It narrowly misses his head, but he still feels it clip hard on his shoulder with a force that goes down to the bone--and the force drags him backwards, sliding off of the skyway as the arm smashes through it. His fingers tremble against his sword as he struggles not to lose hold of it while his arm numbs and falls limper.

Luckily Zangetsu is there. Before he teeters back too far he grapples with his good hand to his clothes and hauls himself closer while they take to the air. "Get--get my blade."

[prazerbutterfly]

Tyki and Eruka are thankfully away from the skywalk instead of on it but the flying debis of it being utterly decimated doesn't stop the destruction from reaching them. Tyki's shield is up and he's hugging Eruka to his back to take the brunt of the damage. The Tease can't hold it for long, cracking down the middle, sending him skidding back within the air with a grunt.

But it's Sans that catches his attention, choosing against his better judgement to dive back into the fray, reaching for him to snag and grasp him with a tentacle even if it means he has to jerk him. His hand is up, another shield in place but the brunt of her massive arm smacks into it, shattering it into pieces and knocking him and whoever in his grasp towards the water.

[spaghettimonster]

The thin wall of bones does nothing against the massive arms she brings their way, and Sans' bracelet is probably the only reason they don't get crushed. Instead the spinning arms crash into the skyway nearby, throwing shrapnel in all directions.

One piece crashes against Papyrus' side, knocking him down and cringing around sore, injured-feeling ribs. It's not as bad as it could have been, between the protection of metal and the complete lack of intent from the shrapnel... But it's a moment's effort to get back to his feet.

During that minute, he reaches out with magic and tries to check something in the Mother. She'd said, before when talking through Sans, that monsters were like very miniature fae. And he's heard before, from others of the carnival, that his magic works more like fae magic than any of theirs. So... that should mean she has a Soul to act on, right? One that might be affected by his magic, in ways he's used to?

As he finishes getting back to his feet, he does his best to ping her soul blue, and push her away.

[moonfang]

Zangetsu does manage to save Syrlya's sword from crashing to the ground, making sure his passenger gets it back.

Unfortunately, that distraction keeps him from moving out of the way of a large piece of weaponized skybridge debri. It hits him square in the chest and gut and sends him reeling back, losing precious distance and his bead on Peridot.

[periphrasing]

Okay, maybe being small is great for avoiding getting hit, but when you're airborne? It causes problems. Those arms are basically slicing through the air like giant fanblades, and the bat squeaks in distress as she's buffeted about helplessly in their current.

Desperate for something to anchor to, Peridot acts on sheer instinct. Her elemental form is a relatively new power that she's still getting the hang of, but something she knows for sure about it is that she'll be almost automatically drawn through the nearest metallic object and, hopefully, out of harm's way. If she gets into one of those arms, maybe she can even do some damage. Or, that's what she thinks for about two seconds anyway, before discovering why zapping into one of the Mother's metal arms is actually a terrible idea.

As a general rule, Gems aren't really bothered by the cold; they don't exactly have an internal body temperature that needs to be maintained, or true flesh that can be damaged by frigid conditions. But what Peridot feels when she makes contact with the construct isn't a natural cold; it's like horrible icy despair made tangible, a force that seems to try and crystalize within her very soul, threatening to spread and shatter it. What's worse, with all her exposure to the Ringmaster over such a long time, Peridot's soul has taken on an inclination towards fire and heat. What she's rubbing up against here is essentially the antithesis of that, and coming into contact with it is painful and terrifying to feel.

She's panicking almost immediately. The spell still technically does the trick, as, in a form of pure electrical energy, she's able to travel down the length of the arm and eject out the base of it to become solid again, successfully avoiding getting physically battered about.... But she's far from unscathed. Peridot practically wrenches herself out of the metal at the base, desperate to get away from that oppressive force. The lightning shoots out of the robot's back and turns back into a bat again... But the little creature tumbles helplessly to the ground, momentarily senseless and shivering violently.

[npcarnival]

Given that she's twirling around, her stance isn't exactly firm. This means that when Papyrus pings her soul, it will give enough leverage to push her a bit further from the skyway - at least enough to put a little space between them and the core of her body. She barely notices the shift, but Papyrus will feel it working, though with great effort.

[bananaspeedrider]

A dragon just doesn't match up against a True Fae's strength one bit. Not even against that chassis.

So when it's made very clear that plasma isn't doing much to disable those arms, Yugo clings onto his dragon's arm as it carries him toward the Skyway being demolished. Rescuing people on the frontlines seems to be a better idea that attacking from the frontlines right now.

Which also puts the two in danger from the violently swinging mech arms and pieces of the wrecked structure and Clear Wing isn't quite nimble enough to avoid a wayward graze from one or the other- sending the summon careening wildly and sending a jolt of backlash to Yugo's focus. But there! The card spirit reaches out with their other claw and just barely closes it around Gon's prone body by the tail (oops).

[starseedling]

Steven had been using his shield to defend the people still congregated at the shop, but upon seeing Peridot depart for the skyway and it promptly getting smashed, he really starts to lose his cool.

"No!" he yelps, leaping in their direction. He summons up all the faeblooded power he can muster, and attemps to grab grow a thicket of vines around the Mother's legs. Crystal vines grow and rise without a need for soil, clinging to nearby structures and reaching out for any part of the fae they can grasp.

[anti_nonsense]

Ignatius yells at Rita to get back, and she just yells back, "No way! This is my fight, too!"

But as she conjures another mass of fire, the Mother flails her limbs unpredictably, and one of those limbs smacks into Yuya's shield. The barrier holds well enough to spare them immediate injury, but the force is more than it can absorb, and the two of them are sent flying back, hurtling upwards and towards the wall between this zone and the Farm.

Rita lets out a cry of surprise and terror as they're knocked away. With her focus broken, her levitation spell falters and suddenly she's the one desperately grabbing at Yuya as she feels the pull of gravity and struggles to orient herself in a way to use her wings properly.

[hippocarnival]

If Rita stays, Yuya determines he's going to stay. He doesn't join her dramatic declaration, focusing on maintaining the shield--and then something hits it, hard, and it ripples into nothing as the resulting wind knocks them out of place, nut barely misses crushing them.

He lets out a cry of surprise and reaches for Rita as she reaches for him, latching firmly onto her arms with a tight grip to break her fall. "Rita! I've got you!"

[prazerbutterfly]

It takes him a minute to emerge from the water, his tentacles rising into the air to drag Sans and Eruka out from where he was dragged within. He took most of the damage, trying not to flail the both of them in the process of recovering, his body pressing against the water like he's climbing out of muck. He grimaces on his hands and knees on the water as if it was solid, his Beta clothes torn down one side and his hand moves upwards to check for his visor on reflex, ignoring the way his air refuses to enter his lungs or the blood dragging from his face. Oh, that hurt but his power is holding him upright, his arm grasping at Eruka to drag her back against him with his other hand reaching out to pull Sans closer.

His fingers dig into his now wet thigh pack to ease out his healing draught, taking a dose of it and glancing down at Sans with his dazed expression. His fingers lightly tap at his cheek, trying to get him alert and active enough to see the draught if necessary, "If you need this take it."

[betheman]

This has all been far less than ideal. Gongenzaka isn't ejected from the body or anything- not even when Peridot enters that electric form, though that in itself leaves his spirit shuddering and sputtering, seeming oddly faint for a few moments when she returns to solid state. But everything is a blur- the spinning of the Mother, the debris flying through the air.

What he does notice is that they aren't moving. "Peridot-!" he calls, ghostly voice echoing. "Peridot! Rouse yourself!"

It feels so cold somehow... ...He shouldn't be surprised, and yet he can't help but be stunned himself.

[fortuneglass]

Carly for her part...is not doing great. "H-HIIIH..." She shoots, and shoots- still using hellflame in the arrows- but as best she can see in the flurry of arms, that's really not doing great. "Gh-! We can't stay here!" she finally shouts, and of course it's as she says as much that the skyway starts crumbling around her.

Maybe if she hadn't dived for someone- Papyrus, actually- she'd have fared better. But with the crumbling debris, her tail and legs alike are clipped, at least one of the limbs no doubt broken in the process. Rather than calling for the skeleton as intended, she ends up yelping in pain-

And, also, she's sort of still falling toward Papyrus.

h e l p,

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya's grip on Zangetsu tightens as they fumble backwards a bit. His whole arm feels full of pins and needles, and he has a hard time forcing his fingers-- but he manages to tilt the blade from Zangetsu to slide it awkwardly into his belt so he doesn't risk losing it again.

"Are you all right?" He tries to see around Zangetsu's shoulder. "Where is Peridot?"

[osteothropy]

Sans shakes his head like a dog shaking off water as they emerge, clearly stunned by the whole thing but definitely more alert. He's barely cognizant of what just happened, mostly that it involved Tyki grabbing him in a tentacle and then everyone falling into the water. Unfortunately, Papyrus wasn't part of that.

"Hhk - Papyrus!" he wheezes. He would have teleported right that second, but he can't when Tyki is holding him. His eyes center on the healing draught, pupils worried pinpricks. He doesn't know how hurt he is, but he can't waste time debating it. He grabs the potion and quaffs it. The rush of healing energy is appreciated, what with his meager stamina, but then he immediately squirms to get away.

"Lemme go, I gotta-" He doesn't know what exactly, but he needs to get up there. He flutters his wings, trying to go upwards.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita grabs Yuya's arm and then clutches his waist in the sort of death grip one might expect from a drowning person. The two of them sink in the air as her weight starts to pull him downward. At some point, however, her flailing wings manage to lift them slightly, and it seems to alleviate her panic.

She takes a few breaths, and their descent stops. "I... I'm fine," she breathes, possibly trying harder to convince herself than to reassure Yuya. Still, she manages to conjure the levitation spell again, and their position in the air becomes steady.

It's only now that Rita's able to take note of what's happening with the others, and her attention is drawn to the shivering bat on the ground.

"Crap. Peridot...!" she hisses. As far as Rita's concerned, Peridot's a vital part of this fight. She'll shift so that she's holding Yuya by the arm again. Then, yanking him along with her, she dives down to the ground. She'll grab Peridot with her free arm, and then try to get back into the air to move back, away from the Mother. Hopefully Yuya can keep them from taking any fire while they're at it.

"Hey! Snap out of it!" she barks at Peridot as they move.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya makes a little choking sound as his waist is squeezed, holding still while clinging to Rita until she calms down and starts to levitate on her own again. He's very aware, suddenly, he can't go very far in any direction on his own.

So he obliges Rita pulling him around, making some movement like he's trying to futilely swim through the air (it doesn't speed things up). He pops the shield again whenever they stop, looking up in anticipation for anything coming for them--either debris or robot arms.

"Is she okay?"

[prazerbutterfly]

"I tried to grab him," he confesses, admitting his failure. His tentacle yanks and he lets go of Sans immediately, his voice urgent, "Go, go!

If anyone could reach Papyrus in a hurry it would be Sans. Family was more important than anything else here and he drags himself to his feet while helping Eruka up if she needs it, his eyes taking a moment to scan the surroundings and take what he missed in the moments he was momentarily knocked out of it from his injuries. His body feels knocked around but the healing draught at least stabilizes him. He'll worry about self healing later when they can take a moment to rest. First thing he needs to do is get off of this water.

[npcarnival]

Ignatius didn't really see where Rita went, after that, mostly due to the fact that the Mother has been spinning in fucking circles this whole time. One minute he was yelling at her to get back, then she was yelling that she wouldn't a brief moment before getting punted into space. Typical.

He doesn't see where she and Yuya go after that, but he can still sense her fire burning. He doesn't know where Strange is at all, he hasn't seen him since he was healed. It increases his resolve to finish this before anything final happens to either of them.

As the Mother's spinning slows, due to the combined factor of Papyrus shoving her off balance, Steven's rapidly growing vine snare, and other distractions - he raises his spear and strikes against her chest with as much force as he can muster. White light flares, and burning gasses erupt into obscuring fog around the two fae. Ignatius's spear pierces the chassis in its center even as Mother's coldfire tries to reject him. Guess what isn't his elemental weakness anymore?

It's only one small hole in a massive overall target, but it's something. Ignatius clings tight to his spear, trying to force through more energy to shock her from the inside - but its then that she grabs him with her massive, humanoid hands and rips him free from his spear. He really wishes she would stop grappling him, it's kind of making him lose his cool a bit.

"There's an opening!" Ignatius yells, trying to push free of her hands.

"Your elemental weaknesses appear to be gone," the Mother comments, looking him over as she attempts to crush him between her hands. She's no longer spinning, as Stevens vines grow up her legs. "Why not take the opportunity to stress test this theory?"

The Mother summons up what looks to be pure dark element in her hands, ostensibly trying to force it into Ignatius's body. He growls in immediate discomfort but keeps pushing against her hold, even as the effect of it starts gnawing against his will.