Paradigm_Shift

The Dev team has stated that they themselves never managed to even beat the old version of Hamidon. Haven't kept up with the dev digest, but as far as I'm aware, I don't think they've beaten the new one themselves either.

So yeah. Makes sense.

Black Scorpion, after all is said and done, expresses a desire to kick the crap out of you. No dice there.

Mind you, in the Project DESTINY arc, it is mentioned that Black Scorpion decides to side with the Player character rather than Recluse...

Really, Sirocco is the only Patron who takes their defeat with any humility.

I decided to log in a bit early, so I'll be there to greet anybody who shows up.

I will be there at BAB, at that time, if it's a good time for everyone or anyone else.

It would help if we started scheduling get-togethers.

The cake turret collapsed on itself, returning to its original appearance of a normal cake...with rocket thrusters.

***

The Hunter munched on some bark it had pinched off of a tree.

"...Fibrous." It said after some consideration.

***

Elsewhere...

WARNING, FIVE DAYS, ZERO SEVEN HOURS, THIRTY SIX MINUTES AND ZERO FIVE SECONDS UNTIL CONTAINMENT BREACH...

***

"Bastards." Tafari spat as he tromped through the desert.

The cake did not seem to mind Toy Dispender using it as a platform, only wobbling a bit as he landed and launched back off. And then, just because being a flying cake wasn't enough, it suddenly became hardcore. The upper layer lifted up from the first, elevated by four metal rods that hissed as they moved. The lower layer of the cake was apparently hollow, because an auto-turret suddenly arose from the depths to position itself in the newly provided gap. It then targeted the Harvester - But rather than aiming for the main body, it went ahead and aimed for the probably less durable claws and clamps, focusing on one at a time until it was either neutralized or 'target lost.'

The moment the cake opened up, the harvester's sensors would detect another human present in the fight. Somebody was riding around inside the cake, still hidden from view.

The Hunter shook its upper body in disapproval as Paxtera flew off without even aknowledging him.

'And that other primate even introduced us. Rude.' The hunter sighed inwardly. Had it been paying even the slightest bit more attention, it would have noticed its sensor suite pointing directly at Paxtera. However, for that one moment, it had been too busy insulting the local specie's physiology. The hunter started to wander at random, looking for somebody to point it in the right direction.

***

Toy Dispenser may have then heard the audible noise of rocket thrusters firing.

If he were to turn his head ninety degrees to the right, he would find that the cake was floating right next to him, still playing the annoying birthday jingle. Closer inspection (read: apparently obvious) would reveal that the cake was seated upon a small circular metal plate embedded with manuverable rocket thrusters, which were now being used to keep said cake afloat.

The arthropod followed Aineruda silently, but was quietly thinking to itself.

'...It is so very difficult to take these creatures seriously, considering they maintain their balance using their REARS...And every time they open their mouths they expel waste in the form of...hmm...smells like carbon...They have dead filth accumulating on their heads...and they smell like something dead and rotten in a swamp...' And many other similar lines of thought.

***

Steve the Shivan found an impact crater typical of most other impact craters: It was a dome-shaped indentation in the ground exactly six feet in diameter and three feet in depth. If anything had been there before, it was gone now...

Dr. Mechano's Camp

Right smack in the middle of the group, there was a giant explosion of multi-colored confetti. An unseen party-blower made a "pthween!" noise, and out from absolutely nowhere, a giant two-layered vanilla cake with pink frosting appeared, bedecked with eight brightly burning swirly birthday candles that ringed the lower layer. An obnoxious birthday-jingle oft encountered in animatronic birthday cards started to play.

And as if that wasn't bad enough...

The cake looked and smelled DELICIOUS. A radiant glow of warmth suffused it, and the smell of sugar invaded everybody's nostrils.

"There is a being here called a Kheldian, a species of beings who excel at manipulating energy." The Hunter replied. "It is critical that I speak with it. You, your culture, and your lands are entirely irrelevant. You are wasting time, and time means lives."

***

Not far from Dr. Mechano's Camp

The gravity slug that had been fired off from the vacuum land decided to make a crash landing nearby. There was a sudden flash of light, a massive rush of air, and the sound of rock grinding and crumbling. The earth shook as though a meteor had just hit the ground nearby, and then all was silent once more.

Change in plans. RL came and bit me in the ***. I won't be online today, and probably not tomorrow either. I'll post again if I become available.

'Oh hey. They're not shooting me. Score one for me.' The arthropod thought.

"I am a hunter." The arthropod chittered in response. "I was sent out to seek for help. Thousands of lives depend on me finding said help, and my sensors indicate the person I am looking for lies within your territory."

I'll be on tomorrow as well, then. Any particular meeting place in mind if people decide to hop in?

Miles.

Miles. And Miles. Of desert wasteland.

After landing in the jungle and gone through its crash, the Arthropod had been assaulted by a pack of large cats. A ways later, a tree had attacked it, along with the grass. And then a giant carnivorous plant had decided to fall on it from above. But that was just the jungle.

A giant worm had almost eaten it, what had looked like a giant sting ray had decided to reveal itself as a sand dune while walking on it, a nest of ants had decided that YES, they were numerous enough to take down a creature magnitudes larger than themselves, and sand and rocks kept getting stuck in its joints. Flies were buzzing all around its exoskeleton, hunting for a weak point.

And yet, even as it trudged through the desolate wastes, the arthropod looked upon them with a strange sense of awe.

'How long has it been...' The alien creature wondered as it trudged along the alien landscape and observed its vexing, unfamiliar wonders. '...Since I've actually had solid ground beneath my feet? Real sunlight beating upon my carapace? Since time actually mattered? How much time has passed on the ship so far? Did time even exist? How did I exist there? That...was no way to live. Especially since a ship, even one like that, is easier to destroy than a giant rock. It is...NICE to have an atmosphere that will not shut off, gravity that is consistent and unfailing, and dangers that can actually be combated.'

The creature approached its goal. It was getting closer - At least, the sensor suite that had been introduced to its biology kept telling it. There was only one last impediment. A large wooden gate, barricading the only way between the mountains. Despite it being in the way, the arthropod mentally sighed with relief - wood indicated a primitive culture, at least technologically. So perhaps they wouldn't be so inclined to try and kill it on sight.

'And yet, ironically...' The arthropod thought as it raised a massive pincer. 'Here I am, looking for a means to get us moving again. To live in that hellish existence as we travel to our ultimate destination. Here I am in a bizaar yet comforting alien heaven...Looking for a way back into an all-too familiar hell.'

The creature knocked on the massive door, and for the second time that day, the guards would hear a knocking noise - Though this was condierably softer and more obvious than Tafari's own knocking. It was a loud, sharp rapping noise clearly audible by anybody near the top of the gate, but not too far beyond.

"Is anybody up there?" The nightmarish, demon-creature impossibly chittered with multiple sets of mandibles that should have been incapable of producing ANY coherent set of sound.

The elven defenders may have sensed one more power sink firing off before Tafari's energy signature simply vanished. He was gone, and it did not look like he would be returning anytime soon.

I'm good for any time of the week, really.

Uh.

While the OP being gone is all very soul-crushing...

Our very endearing efforts to keep this thing alive have proven that he is virtually unneeded, if he never shows up. Why not just have one of ourselves become the official "organizer?" Bubbawheat, for example, has done a pretty good job of listing all the provided information, conveying choices and even with setting up a foothold for us to work with. That right there is proof that we don't need to hold back just because the OP decided to go silent.

And if we decide to move forward, and he decides to come back after we've moved on? He is free to join in with us.

Suggestion: Continue with elemental superteam, given that the absence of the author alone is not a crippling blow to its formation, assembly, convergence, or maintainence.

"Well, time for me to pull the obligatory rogue ultimatum." Tafari said, looking mildly depressed. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just speed around and set this entire damn forest on fire? I would think I could reduce this place to ashes in a few hours. And you wouldn't be able to stop me."

Another argument as to having such a low-level initial cap: It's right there in the title. Optimally, we are an 8-person superteam. We get an XP bonus from all enemies (of which there are more) and an increased mission complete bonus as well.

The pre-20 phase is NOT going to be slow.

Tafari took being stabbed in the face rather well, his aura reflecting the attack with a loud reverberating noise akin to a tuning fork going off and the level of entropy in his form increasing even more. For a moment, he thought that he had won - And then it turned out his opponent could either phase shift or teleport.

And while Tafari was not exactly keen of mind, he knew that when something turns into smoke and then flows around your body behind you, you turn around and try to get at it again. Or at least take steps to ensure you aren't stabbed in the back. (literally in this case) 'Two can play that game...' he thought. He abruptly vanished as he repositioned the conduit that fed him energy right behind Ildela. He didn't expect that suddenly being turned into a lightning rod for explosive and volatile energy would get Ildela down much...At least not while she maintained the fortitude Lazardarus had granted her. Tafari took advantage of the air being saturated with blinding energy to super-speed a small distance away from the two.

"This is ridiculous." He spat at the two, giving them a killer glare. "We're going to be here all day at this rate, and my mood is so wrecked I can't even ENJOY this little spat."