++Bloodriver & Xenon++ (Overlord verse)
Regarding "things to do in this top room before we head to the bottom room to back up the bottom room team", the first thing we got done besides recruiting Landslide actually happened just after the seraphim burst out of that tank of water, namely, taking a sample of the muddy water remnants from that tank before it splashed on the ground. I simply used my blood control to coat the ground with a thin layer of blood, before scooping up the muddy water and putting it into my powered armor's compartmentalized storage.
Notably, Landslide wasn't curious enough to question why I took that muddy water remnants sample, and the other Hero Squad members knew Magnus well enough to know that the psionic 'min would want a sample of this muddy water for later psychometric analysis.
Xenon (I) asked Landslide what information about the dormant seraphim, such as their personalities, likes and dislikes, did he know about. Landslide replied, "Eh, I mighta known some of 'em, but only in passing. They come and go so quick when you're fightin' fiends."
Hmm, that didn't inform me about each of the individuals here at all. Perhaps this calls for something more generic then, I thought, carving a message into the outside of the dormant Earth Seraphim's containers that only spirits could see. Notably, Landslide was curious enough to question this, so I explained to him thus: "Consider it a recruitment pitch of sorts."
We then all agreed to go down to the bottom room to back up the bottom room team, confirming to Landslide that yes, "we do have friends examining the bottom room, actually, and that we were going to head there to help them out."
"Would it be faster to bust through to the bottom room from here directly, or to just take the already existing passageway?" Candle asked, turning to look at Sigma and Landslide.
"Ah, you'd run into the roof of it that way, and whatever it's made of we never managed to get through it. Gotta take the path," Landslide replied.
"Well you heard him, let's move! Whatever they're screwing with down there, we'd better get it done before the seraphim show up," Sigma urged.
So we rushed down to the bottom room as fast as we could, Candle making a big ball of wax and rolling down in it, while the rest of us used our fastest means of getting down there. Since we had scouted this route earlier, we didn't have to spend additional time searching for hidden traps along this route.
When we made it to the bottom room and moved past the engravings, we came across a huge set of concentric rings, inscribed with glowing blue runes. Magnus was seated in the center of the rings, while Vika and Phi were fighting some suits of disembodied armor, covered in vicious spikes. These armor suits looked really tough, not taking as much damage from Vika and Phi as I had first expected.
Phi had ducked under one of the armor's extendable chain-connected fists, jamming one of his blades in an armor's joints to hinder it. Vika then slammed her staff charged with frost energy into the back of the armor, freezing it instantly, and then Phi grabbed it and slammed in into the ground hard, breaking the ice and cracking it. Even after Vika then blasted away at the armor, it got up again and resumed attacking with their extendable chains, so Vika fired a massive arcane beam into the armor, forcing the armor into another one, while Phi used an earthen jutsu to slam a huge rock into the two and pulverize them.
Only after a few more attacks was it confirmed for me that these armors needed to be pretty thoroughly smashed to stop them. Sigma reached the armors first, zipping up to one and then disintegrating it in a storm of blades, while I slammed a torrent of blood down onto another armor and then blasted it with light. Said armor attempted to get up again, but Candle then pinned it down even more with a lot of wax and we pulverized said armor into pieces.
Meanwhile, Landslide immobilized another armor with mud, forcing it to the ground, while Mars blasted away at said armor with fireballs and explosions.
Hmm, I (Xenon) think I'd like to experiment with a combination attack with water and microwave radiation later on.
Anyways, with most of Hero Squad now down here, it was a simple matter to deal with the armors now. Magnus the Red soon spoke, having figured out what this device was: "This device is a Weaver of Destiny, able to manipulate the threads of fate, specifically the fates of those currently in this room. Not to lock in their entire life from that point forward, but to edit their fates for the foreseeable future and point it toward something. It is not so grand as to accomplish something like Overlord Omicron's downfall, however; something smaller would be within its capabilities."
With all of us on a time limit, we quickly came up with suggestions on what to alter each of our fates towards.
Sigma didn't want the Weaver used on him, stating: "I don't think I'm comfortable with anyone screwing with my fate or whatever."
"Hmm. Perhaps... a chance to free one of the other Experiments controlled by the Overlord?" Phi suggested. This suggestion was quickly shot down as the Weaver only works on near-future fates, and we're currently on a planet-hopping trip far from Overlord Omicron who has little reason to divert his forces to chase a not-immediately threatening us when the Galactic cult are the Overlord's next door neighbors who are threatening enough to bash his face in should Omicron get cheeky and try to divert forces away from the Pikmin planet this early. Plus we doesn't want the Overlord to chase us this early on.
When Landslide was asked if he wanted anything from the Weaver, he replied, "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh THIRD ELEMENT!"
"A powerful new technique would suffice for me," said Mars.
"I guess I'll go and try and become an Archangel, but getting my second element would be fine too, and would be a step in that direction. Of course, I'd prefer if this happens without me having to die," I (Xenon) said.
"Secret," I (Bloodriver) said, then quietly and covertly communicated with Magnus, telling him in a whisper, "To restore my people and my allies from my past."
Following my (Bloodriver's) example, Vika and Candle also covertly told Magnus what they want from the Weaver of Destiny.
Hearing what Landslide and I (Xenon) said, Magnus specifically adjusted the Weaver so that it's set to "Landslide gets a THIRD ELEMENT WITHOUT DYING AND REBIRTH!!!" and not "Landslide gets a THIRD ELEMENT!!!" which raised the difficulty from low to very difficult. Magnus pointed this out to Landslide, who responded, "Ah. Probably shoulda figured on that."
When Landslide was asked which option to pick then, he responded, "Mmmmmmm. Not big on the dying route."
Magnus the Red then gave a further explanation of how the Weaver works, first stating that the Weaver provides clear feedback to the user whenever what they're trying to do is beyond its capabilities. Secondly, there was a limited amount of resources available to spend on the fates of the people in the room.
Magnus explains: "Let's say I have 10 points to work with. Life Equation is 3 points. Mars' request would take 2 points. Phi's takes 8, 7 if "Experiments who joined Overlord Omicron willingly" were excluded. Landslide low difficulty is 2 points. Landslide very difficult is 5 points. Bloodriver's is 6 points. Xenon Archangel is 1000 points, 100,000 points without dying and rebirth. Xenon second element is 2 points. Xenon second element without dying is 5 points.These point values are assigned arbitrarily and may not necessarily be accurate, I haven't tested all these inputs yet."
With this now known, I (Bloodriver) said, "... it may be better to omit my request if resources are limited, then. I should be able to accomplish what I had in mind... eventually."
Magnus tested out some troll requests as a control:
A meteor falls on the Overlord and kills him: 750
Control stops being cryptic: 1,000,000,000
Sigma eats a grape: 1 (Sigma: Wait, there's grapes on this planet?) Points value immediately shifts to 0
Stormwalker maps out a random nearby less hazardous planet: 2, which visibly surprised Magnus
As for what modifiers in general would make requests less difficult for the Weaver, Magnus quickly fiddled around with possible modifiers to figure out that:
Less specific tends to decrease the difficulty. Increasing the number of people it could possibly affect tends to increase the difficulty. Affecting entities that are very powerful greatly increases difficulty. The person whose fate you're altering can also have an effect; a more powerful person tends to be easier simply because it's less difficult for them to achieve this altered fate. Altering a weaker person's fate can be easier, but could also be much harder if you're trying to get them to do something above their power.
Manipulating the fate of a god, directly or indirectly, is almost always above the threshold.
Being more specific can lower difficulty, if it narrows the scope to something smaller.
An alteration that is in line with the person's character is decidedly easier.
Even if they don't actually know it's in line with their character.
After Magnus told us what modifiers do what and how they affect difficulty, he asked us if any of us wanted to to adjust their requests at all. Magnus noted that for Phi's request, there was a +2 point cost to guaranteed not lose anyone, as that risk was a part of the cost.
"Do we have time for this?" asked Sigma. Magnus replied, "I'm testing things out quite quickly, actually," moving the runes at rapid speed. "If I narrow it to Kappa specifically, does that help any?" Phi asked. Magnus replied that Weaver cost for just Kappa was reduced to 5 points.
Magnus also tested out the Weaver costs for a chance to free other Experiments from Overlord Omicron's control: Theta: 9, Crystalis: 9, Delta: Above threshold, Omega: Above threshold, Zero: Above threshold, Any (minus Omega and Zero): 6, Hyperline: Above threshold, Omicron Mark II: Above threshold
Red Pikmin Experiment Mark I: Nonspecific query, Red Pikmin Experiment Mark II: Nonspecific query
Zeta: No response, Alpha: No response, Delta Mark II: No response (invalid queries, indicating that these three weren't under Omicron's control)
When Vika brought up the possibility of testing out unrevealed Mark Is/Mark IIs, Magnus tested that out for the Upsilon line, and the Weaver cost for a chance to free Upsilon Mark I was 7. Sigma and Phi asked Magnus to input the Weaver costs for a chance to free their respective Mark IIs from Overlord Omicron's control if said Mark IIs were being controlled by him, and Magnus revealed that Sigma Mark II's cost was 7 and Phi Mark II's cost was 8.
The difficulty cost to get a generalized "method to get elemental spirits additional element(s) within a time frame we consider reasonable and timely that is not death and rebirth, and is accomplished without the help or influence of our enemies" is 8 points for Xenon, 9 for Landslide probably because he has a second element. This was suggested by Magnus, a fishing rod rather than an expensive fish, as an analogy might go.
The Weaver cost of a generalized item/person/whatever (that is different from the Life Equation) that would help free people from the Overlord's control would be 8 points.
The Weaver cost for a generalized method for powering up that isn't an Ebony Candypop Bud would also be 8 points.
There was an 8 point Weaver cost for a hint for finding Overlord Omicron's Zro farms.
Magnus added a modifier to the Life Equation request to lower it down to a 2 cost, which was partly possible since the point rating for that was originally more like 2.6 or 2.7.
"Okay, so we've settled on altering my fate to expedite the search for the Life Equation, as well as that generalized method for powering up, a fishing rod rather than a fish if you will. It's a pity that we could not fit Mars's request and all those fishing rods in there. Mars's request was quite cost-effective for a fish," Magnus noted.
"Eh, no big deal, was kind of an out there ask anyway," Mars replied.
Oh how I wish we had more points to spend..." Magnus mused.
"Ha static hahahahaha... static WISH GRANTED. Be prepared static PAY static PRICE." said someone, before the runes on the Weaver began rapidly being moved by an outside force.
"Dammit, Magnus!" Vika exclaimed.
"I didn't do it! I didn't agree to this!" Magnus cried out, futilely trying to stop this.
"Too bad... static you're getting it ANYWAYS! You will static understand WHY."
And this was when a massive amount of an unknown energy fluctuation occurred, instantly draining a significant portion of our current health/current hit points to pay for part of the cost in blood, or in the spirits' case, whatever representative of current health/current hit points would be for them.
Certain, if not all, Overlord verse Hero Squad members receive a vision of the Time of Agony, which they must prevent, or mitigate and seal. Besides the name, not much information could be gleaned from that besides an overwhelming sense of Agony. They also have been instructed to keep information of the Time of Agony secret, both as a need-to-know basis and to keep that information away from villains such as the Overlord and the Galactic cult. Some of the fates of the Overlord verse Hero Squad members have been moved to unknown fates.
"Uh, you lot okay there?" Landslide asked.
Sigma gave an exhausted groan and said, "I fucking knew this was a bad idea."
"That was... quite a lot of blood..." Phi noted, looking at all the blood that seeped out of us.
I moved to resuscitate Mars and Candle, both of who passed out from that HP payment, with my healing powers.
Magnus looked at the runes of the Weaver and told us that he sees that besides himself (Life Equation), Xenon (generalized +element(s) method for spirits), and Mars (powerful new technique), all of the other Squad members' fates had been tampered with by that outside force and could not be viewed yet. Magnus noted that even Xenon's (generalized +element(s) method for spirits) fate had been subtly altered, perhaps as an attempt to drive the cost of that down, and that even with that, it shouldn't have even been possible to fit both his, Xenon's, and Mars altered fates in at the same time and wonders what else would be needed for the cost...
That outside force then suggested to us to keep its existence a secret from outsiders as this would benefit us; that force didn't push super hard for that; it told us it knew that its unrevealed status was on a timer the moment it took action, but it would still be disappointed and annoyed if any of us told outsiders of its existence regardless.
"Get fucked," Sigma spat. "Even if it's a pain in the ass, it's giving a warning," Mars noted. "Hmm," mumbled Phi.
"Well hey if you want me a keep a secret that's fine, I can do that. Might ask next time ya think you got a secret to tell though, that's just common courtesy that is," said Landslide.
That outside force then warned us to prepare for combat immediately, as the retaliation for altering fate so much will come down on us soon...